Si non castè saltem cautè say the Popish Shavelings who are sometimes taken in the manner as was that carnal Cardinal Cremonensis Acts Mon. fol. 1065. Ibid. 1905. Barns Funccius Luth. Coloq the Popes Legat here in Hen. 8. dayes and Dr. Wâ—ston Dean of Windsor in the Raign of Queen Mary apprehended in Adultery and for the same deprived of all his Spiritual Livings by Cardinal Pool Pope John the twelfth being taken a bed with another mans wife was killed immediately by her husband In Germany a Gentleman of note and his Harlot were served in like sort as Luther relateth So was Reâ—â—â—ldus the Eighth King of Lombardy and Sergui a King of Scotland Of all these P.Mel. Chron. Lang. Chron. and many more esusdem furfuris it may well be said as here that being noted and notified they were in the terrors of the shadow of death Which death to escape Verse 18. He is swift as the waters He stayes not long in a place but flies away swiftly like the River Tigris swift as an arrow out of a bow to avoid punishment Heb. He is light upon the face of the waters The meaningâ—s saith One they are as a light thing upon the streams of water running swiftly and carrying it away with speed Some that it is spoken in respect of their swift passing on from one wickednesse to another or their never being settled after such wickednesse committed but alwayes ready to be overturned as a ship that is unballasted and so to be drowned in the sea Their portion is cursed on the earth Cain-like they wander up and down à corde suo facti fugitivi but their sin will surely find them out neither can they run out of the reach of Gods rod c. This Job saith lest any should gather from what he had said before that it should be alwayes well with the wicked and ill with the godly Some take it curse-wise thus Let their portion on earth be accursed neither let them turn themselves to the Vineyards scil either to dresse them or to taste of the fruits of them He beholdeth not the way of the Vineyards That is say some to run away by them which were common wayes to Cities but by some other obscure by-way that he may not be found In Vineyards something is to be done at all times that way therefore they take not lest they should be discovered and punished Beza rendreth it He turneth not into the way that is the nature of the Vines which by cutting and pruning sprouteth out and becometh more profitable Others sense it far otherwise The concise brevity and ambiguity of the words together with the change of number hath caused a cloud upon them Verse 19. Drought and heat consume the snow waters Here also brevity hath bred obscurity Snow waters as they are more subtile so they sooner sink into the dry earth so dye the wickeds quickly and easily See chap. 21.13 31. There are that read the whole verse thus In the drought and heat they rob and in the snow waters they sin to the grave that is they rob and run into other flagitious practises in all weather Summer and Winter and never give over till they dye They persist in their sins saith Calvin wherein they have been nuzzelled up even to their grave This is a good sense Luther tells of one filthy Adulterer so set upon that sin that he was heard to utter these abominable words If I were sure to live here for ever and that I might still be carried from one Brothel-house to another I would never desire any other heaven then that Vae dementiae impietati Theat Hist pag. 568. This beastly man breathed out his wretched soul betwixt two harlots Once I knew a most odious Adulterer of seventy years old saith another great Divine who having wasted his flesh and state with harlots and lying neer death was requested thus Potter call upon God M. Dan. Rog. he replyed with his ordinary oathes Pox and Wounds is this a time to pray I knew saith a third Reverend man a great swearer who coming to his death-bed Satan so filled his heart with a madded and enraged greedinesse after sin Mr. Bolton that though himself swore as fast and as furiously as he could yet as though he had been already among the bannings and blasphemies of hell he desperately desired the standers by to help him with Oathes and to swear for him Athenaeus reporteth of one covetous Mammonist that at the hour of his death he devoured many pieces of Gold and sewed the rest in his coat commanding that they should be all buried with him And our Chroniclers write of King Edward 1. that he adjured his son and Nobles Dan. Hist 202. that if he dyed in his Expedition against Bruce King of Stots they should not interre his Corps but carrie it about Scotland till they had avenged him on that Usurper Verse 20. The Womb shall forget him Some read it The merciful man forgetteth him scil because himself was mercilesse Or because he was a trouble to the world and a common Pest therefore good men are glad to be so rid of him and in stead of sighing over him say Let the worm feed sweetly on him 't is well he is gone as he lived wickedly so he dyed wickedly let him be no more remembred or honourably mentioned but moulder away and fall as a rotten tree Others interpret the words of the sudden and easie death of the wicked thus The womb shall forget him that is saith Beza being once dead neither his mother nor his wife do bewail and lament his death because without that pain and torment that many suffer when they depart the world The wormes shall feed sweetly on him Moritar impunitus he maketh the worms a feast with his fat Corps as Dr. Taylor Martyr made account to have done if buried in Hadley Church-yard and feels no pain He shall be no more remembred And this is reckoned up as a piece of his happiness See Eccles 8.10 with the Note there And wickednesse that is the wicked person that crooked piece that can hardly ever be set straight again Shall be broken as a tree As a rotten tree blown down by the wind Verse 21. He evil intreateth the barren that beareth not Who had more need to be comforted then further afflicted But Homo homini Daemon Jacob and Elkanab loved and comforted their wives under this crosse The Vulgar rendreth it He hath fed the barren whereupon some expound it of wicked mens feeding Whores and maintaining them for their pleasure keeping them barren that they may keep their beauty And doth not good to the widow i.e. Doth her much hurt for not to do good is to do evil Mark 3.4 He hath afflicted his barren wife and evil intreated the poor desolate widow his mother What marvel then if the womb forget him c. if his wife bewail not so unkind an husband
upon him as silver and although he now crushed him together and brake him to pieces as the silver-smith doth an old piece of plate which he means to melt yet that he would in the grave as in a furnace refine him and at the Resurrection bring him out of a new fashion Lo this is the right Logick of faith to make conclusions of life in death and of light in darknesse to gather one contrary out of another Verse 16. For now thou numbrest my steps Or But now thou numbrest c. thou keepest an exact account of every sin of mine of every step that I have trod awry yea though it be but some wry motion of my mind as the Septuagint here translate so curious art thou and critical in thine observations of mine out-strayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See chap. 10.14 But is this Job that speaketh or some other How confident was he 〈◊〉 while and comfortable in the hope of a glorious resurrection but now down again upon all four as we say and like an aguish man in a great fit of impatiency which holdeth him to the end of the chapter But for this who knoweth not that every new man is two men that in the Saints the flesh is ever lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh that in the Shulamite is as it were the company of two armies maintaining a continual contest Cant. 0.13 â—said I am cast out of they sight yet I will look againe toward thine holy Temple Jon. 2.4 See the Note there Dost thou not watch over my sin This is the same with the former but without a figure The Rabbines have a saying that there is not any doubt in the law but may be resolved by the context the Scripture is its owne best Interpreter Verse 17. My transgression is sealed up in a bag As the writings or informations of a processe which is ready to be sentenced Deut. 32.34 Hos 13.12 Thou hast as it were sealed up and made sure work with all my sins saith Job to have them forth-coming for the increase of my punishment Look how the Clark of Assizes saith one seals up the indictments of men and at the Assizes brings his bag and takes them out to read the same against them so God dealt with Job in his conceit at least The truth is God had not sealed his transgressions in a bag but had cast them behind his back a bag God hath for mens sins and a bottle he hath for their tears Psalm 56.8 Now Job was one of those penitents that helped to fill Gods bottle and therefore he saw at length though now he were benighted all his sins bag and all thrown into the sea and sinking as a waighty milstone in those mighty waters of free-grace and undeserved mercy And thou sowest up mine iniquity Adsuèsne aliquid iniquitati meae so the Tigurines translate i. e. Wilt thou sew or adde any thing to mine iniquity wilt thou tye to it that tag as a Martyr phraseth it of the Lawes malediction conjoyning the punishment to the sin Adsuere ad iniquitatem est poenas poenis continenter adjungere Merl. Some make this an explication of the former q. d. the bag is not only sealed but for more surety sewed too and that purposely for a purchase of punishment as some sense it Verse 18. And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought q. d. If thou Lord proceed to deal thus rigidly with me viz. to number or cipher up my steps to watch over my sins to seal them up in a bag c. and all this in fierce wrath that thou mayest lay load upon me what mountain what rock what other creature is ever able to abide it chap. 6.12 chap. 7.12 Job had said before Is my strength the strength of stones Am I a sea or a whale Were I these or any the like robustuous creatures yet could not I expect to stand before the displeased Omnipotency who takest the hills like tennis-balls and crackest the rocks like a Nut-shell See Hab. 1.4 5 6. with the Notes And the rock is removed out of his place As in earth-quakes it sometimes falleth out See on chap. 9.5 or by reason of the sea underlaking it decayeth in time and waxeth old as the Hebrew word signifieth Verse 19. The waters weare the stones Gutta cavat lapidem c. the weakest things wear out the hardest by often falling upon them or continual running over them so doth Gods wrath though let out in minnums secretly but surely consume Hos 5.12 I will be unto Ephraim as a moth and to the house of Judah as rottennesse or that little worm teredo that eats into the heart of wood and rots it Thus he plagued the Egyptians by lice and flies There may be much poison in little drops Thou washest away the things that grow out of the earth Or Thou ever-flowest as once in the general deluge when the face of the earth was grown so foul that God was forc'd to wash it with a flood and frequently since we see that after great rains there are huge floods that marre whole meadows and corne fields not only discolouring but drowning all their beauty and plenty This is the fourth comparison used in this and the former verse where a man would wonder saith an Interpreter Olymp. audire Jobum in medus â—rumuis philosophantem to hear Job in the midst of his miseries making use of his philosophy and travelling thus in his thoughts for illustrations of his own case over mountains and rocks c. Thou destroyest the hope of man viz. In destroying the things above-mentioned or so thou destroyest c. though some reserve the raddition to the next verâ—â— so Thou prevailest against him c. i.e. So thou never ceasest with thy might to cast down sorry men till such time as they changing countenance and departing with an heavy and sorrowful heart thou violently throwest them out their lives and hope ending together if they have been wicked as if godly yet their vain and groundlesse hopes of prosperity and plenty c. come to nothing though over the red sea yet Gods people may be made to tack about two and forty times in the wildernesse Verse 20. Thou prevailest for ever against him This and the rest of the words to the end of the Chapter some make to be the Application of the Similitudes Others an Amplification only of what he had said Thou destroyest the hope of man Thou must needs when thou overmatchest and over-masterest him and art never worsted Exod. 15.3 the Lord is called A Man of War the Chaldee there hath it The Lord and Victor of Wars And the word here rendred Ever cometh from a root that signifieth to finish conquer and triumph And he passeth scil Out of the world by a violent or untimely death Violenâ—â— mortâ— aut certe immaturà Merlin with as ill a will many times as the unjust Steward did out
Verse 19 The Topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it Of the Topaz see Plin. lib. 36. cap 8. It seemeth to have the lustre of Gold and purity of Chrystal and those agreeable mixtures of colours which make the purple of Kings The operations of this Stone are many and rare as Rueus sets them forth Lib. 2. cap. 9 Neither shall it be valued with pure gold Plato saith as much of moral wisdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No Gold or Gem so glistereth And elsewhere he saith that if moral vertue could be beheld with mortal eyes mirificos sui amores excitaret it would wonderfully enamour men Aurelius the Emperour would say That he would not leave the knowledg he might learn in one houre for all the gold that he possessed Alphonsus King of Arragon professed That he would rather chuse to lose his Jewels then his Books his Kingdomes whereof he had many quam literas quas permodicas scire dicebat Val. Max. Christian 118 237 then that little Learning he had attained unto Many have been so taken with the study of the Mathematicks that they could have lived and dyed in it Vae igitur stupari nostro Leo Digges Wo then to the world because of wisdome This incomparable Wisdome of God in a mystery as the Apostle calleth it Haec quia prâ— vili sub pedibusque jacet Ovid Money is most mens study not without an horrible neglect of pietie which yet is the principal thing Prov. 3. and profitable to all things 1 Tim. 4.8 as that which hath the promise of both lives ibid. Now the Promises are exceeding great and precious things 2 Pet. 1.4 even the unsearchable riches of Christ Ephes 3.8 Such gold as cannot be too deer bought Matth. 13.44.46 nor too far fet no though so far as the Queen of Sheba came to hear the wisdome of Solomon and could have been content to have changed her throne for his footstool Sure it is she was no niggard but parted with abundance of precious things and sweet odours for that wisdome which she held and worthily far more sweet and precious then all her annual entradoes Sure it is that if the mountaines were Pearle the huge Rocks Rubies and the whole Globe a shining Chrysolite yet all this were nothing to the worth of the wisdome here commended How greatly bound then are Gods people to blesse his Name for communicating unto us this unvaluable treasure by his Word and Spirit 1 Cor. 2. Hath he not written for us excellent things in counsels and knowledge Prov. 22.20 hath he not made his Son that essential wisdome of his to become unto us Wisdome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 Should some earthly Prince give us a rich Ring off his finger wherein there were a Chrysolite a Saphire a Topaz or some other precious Stone how highly would we honour him and what would we not be ready to do or suffer for him And shall we not much more do so for God rich in mercy plenteous in goodnesse abundant in kindnesse and in truth who giveth us all things richly to enjoy O pray for that blessed sight Ephes 1.18 and 3.18 and reckon one grain of grace more worth then all the gold of Ophir one remnant of faith beyond all the gorgeous and gay attire in the world Verse 20. Whence then cometh wisdome c See the Note on verse 12. q. d. No where surely is she to be found but with God the fountain of wisdome vers 23. To seek her elsewhere is but laborious losse of time witnesse the Philosophers anxious but bootlesse disquisitions after the Summum Bonum the true blessedness of chief good about which there were eight several opinions and yet all out Verse 21. Maxima pars eorum quaescimus est 〈◊〉 pars corâ—m quae nescimus Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living As hath beene before set forth verse 13. They that see most into it see but in part and must needs say that the greatest part of their knowledg is the least part of their ignorance Something they know of his revealed will but nothing at all of his secret Whereunto we may add that there are many occult qualities in nature the reason whereof the wisest men undertand not And kept close from the fowles of the Aire Which yet fly very high and seem to touch the clouds of heaven as the Eagle which delighteth in high-flying Some wil have the Angels elsewhere set forth as winged creatures to be here meant who although they stand alwayes in Gods presence and see much of his Majesty yet not at all nothing neer Isai 6. they cover their faces with their wings as with a double scarf as not not able to behold his glory and make their addresses unto him with greatest self-abasements Verse 22. Destruction and death say c That is the dead in the grave and damned in hell Junius as some glosse it Others man in his corrupt estate though a child of death yet capable of salvation and the wisedome of God hath found out a way to save him by his Son letting in life by the car according to that Hear and your souls shall live The dead in sins and trespasses shall hear the voice of the Son of God in the preaching of the Word and shal live Vatabl. Isaiah 55.3 the life of grace here and of glory hereafter John 5.25 These have heard of Gods wisdome in his various dealings with the sons of men and that with their ears both with the gristles that grow on their heads and with the inward ears of their minds so that one sound hath pierced both but yet the one half hath not been told them they can truly say as the Queen of Shâ—ba said to Solomon Thou hast added Wisdome and goodnesse to the fame 1 Kings 10.7 And as David in the person of Christ Psal 16.11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life whereby is hinted that Christ himself as man did not so fully understand in the daies of his flesh the unconceivable joies of heaven as he did afterwards when his whole person was glorified with the glory which as God he had with the Father before the world was John 17.5 Verse 23 God understandeth the way thereof The only wise God who alone knowes her price knowes her retreat Haec sunt inferni mortis verba saith Brentius These are the words of hell and of death But we may better take them as spoken by Job himself which yet are to be understood not as if Job thought that there was any place out of God where his wisdome might be sought or any way out of himself to go to it But these things are spoken after the manner of men saith Merlin for wisedome is in God yea God is wisdome it self For the wisdome of God is nothing else but the most wise God sith whatsoever is in God is God Therefore seeing he is well known to
extraordinary palpitation or as the Tigurines have it luxation Thunder is so terrible that it hath forced from the greatest Atheist an acknowledgement of a Deity Suetonius telleth us of Caligula that Monster who dared his Jove to a Duel that if it thundred and lightned but a little he would hood-wink himself but if much he would creep under a bed and be ready to run into a mouse-hole as we say Augustus Caesar also was so afraid of thunder and lightning that alwayes and every where he carried about him the skin of a Sex-Calf which those Heathens fondly held to be a preservative in such cases and if at any time there arose a great storm he ran into a dark vault The Romans held it unlawful to keep Court Jove tonâ—nte fulgurante in a time of thunder and lightening as Tully telleth us De Divin lib. 2. And Isidore deriveth tonitru à terrendo thunder from its terrour and others form its tone or rushing crashing noise affrighting all creatures At the voice of thy thunder they are afraid Psal 104. which One not unfitly calleth Davids Physicks Verse 2. Hear attentively the noise of his voice Conjunctam commotione vocem ejus the great thunder-crack that now is that angry noise as the word signifieth Hear in hearing you cannot but hear it with the eares of your bodies hear it also with the eares of your minds tremble and sin not contrary to the course of most men who sin and tremble not drowning the noise of their consciences as the old Italians did the thunder by ringing their greatest Bells discharging their roaring-Megs c. But what saith Elihu here to his hearers Audite audite audite etiam atque etiam contremiscetis vos vos testes adhibeo as Mercer paraphraseth it out of Kimchi Hear ye hear ye hear ye again and again and then ye also will tremble I take you to witnesse whether ye consider his greater thunder-claps ringing and roaring in your eares See Psal 29.4 87.7 or the lesser rumblings called here Murmur vel Mussitationem vel habitum citra quem sermo non profertur the sound or breath that goeth out of his mouth Aristot Pliny All 's ascribed to God though Naturalists tell us and truly that there are second causes of thunder and lightning wherein neverthelesse we must not stick but give God the glory of his Majesty as David teacheth Psal 29. and as blind Heathens did when they called their Jove Altitonantem the high Thunderer The best Philosophy in this point is to hear God Almighty by his thunder speaking to us from heaven as if he were present and to see him in his lightnings as if he cast his eyes upon us to see what we had been doing His eyes are as a flaming fire Rev. 1.14 and the school of nature teacheth that the fiery eye seeth Extra-mittendo by sending out a ray c. Verse 3. He directeth it under the whole Heaven Heb. He maketh it to go right forward meaning the thunder the vehement noise or sound whereof not altogether unlike that of cloth violently torn or of air thrust out of bellows or of a chesnut burst in the fire but far louder is brought through the air to our eares with such a mighty force that it drowns all noises clappings clatterings roarings even of many waters making the earth to shake again Lavat and all things tremble non secùs quà m siquis currum onustum per plateam lapidibus stratam ducat And this dreadful noise is by God directed to this or that place under the heavens at his pleasure The word rendred directeth signifieth also Beholdeth whence some interpret this text of Gods seeing all things under heaven But the former sense is better And his lightning unto the ends of the earth God commands the lightning to cleave the clouds and to scatter its flames through the world Lightning is the brightnesse of a shining flame running through the whole air in a moment rising of a small and thin exhalation kindled in a cloud see Psal 18.13 The natural end and effect of thunder and lightning is to clear the air by wasting poysonous vapours The supernatural is to shew Gods excellent Majesty and Might which the Mightiest must acknowledge Psal 29.1 2. to be his officers about him to make room for him Psal 97.1 4. to execute his wrath upon his enemies Exod. 9.23.27 Psal 77.18 19. 1 Sam. 2.10 Isai 29.6 and his mercy toward his people for the humbling of them 1 Sam. 12.18 19 20 c. raising them again to an assured confidence Psal 29.11 c. But that God can shoot these arrows of his so far Mat. 24.27 Psal 77.18 97.3 4. and here yea and that at the same time when it raineth when one would think that the one should quench the other Psal 135.7 this is a just wonder and Jeremy urgeth it twice as such chap. 10.13 51.16 Verse 4. After it a voice roareth After it that is after the lightning it thundereth indeed before or at least together with it but the lightning is seen before the thunder is heard because the sense of hearing is slower than the sense of seeing thus fire is first seen in a Gun Segnius irritant animos demissa per aures c. Horat. ere the report is heard the Ax of the Wood-cleaver is up for a second blow ere we hear the first if any way distant c. And besides as R. Levi well observeth here that the sight of the lightning may come from heaven to us there needeth no time because our eyes reach up thither in an instant but that a sound may come therehence to us in regard of the distance and because the air must be beaten and many times impressed as into so many circles there must be some space of time neither can it be done so suddenly He thundereth with the voice of his excellency Or of his height or of his pride Proud persons think themselves high and use to speak big-swoln words of vanity bubbles of words as St. Peter calls them If they be crossed never so little verbis bacchantur cum quodam vocis impetu loquunter Oh the tragedies the blusters the terrible thunder-cracks of fierce and furious language that follow thereupon Some have been threatned to death as Cornelius Gallus was by Augustus Caesar and Sir Christopher Hatton Lord Chancellour by Queen Elizabeth How much more should men quake and even expire before the thunder of the most high or wriggle as worms do into their holes the corners of the earth And he will not stay them when his voice is heard Them that is new flashes of lightning or rain and haile which usually break out either while it thundreth or presently after in a most vehement and impetuous manner Verse 5. God thundereth marvellously with his voice Or God thundereth our marvellous things with his voice Marvellous indeed if we consider the effects of thunder lightning and
to his people bee it but in an unseemly gesture as Labans lowrings See Matth. 27.39 and sets them upon record against the day of account Vers 8. Hee trusted on the Lord that hee would deliver him Is this a prophecie of of our Saviours sufferings or an History rather See Matth. 27.43 with the Note Seeing hee delighted in him A most virulent Irony whereby they sought to cajole him of his confidence and so to drive him into utter desperation and destruction Vers 9. But thou art hee that took mee out of the womb When but for thine almighty midwifery I might have been strangled or as an untimely birth never seen the Sun It is no lesse than a miracle that the child is kept alive in the womb and perisheth not in the midst of those excrements and that in comming forth it dyeth not c. The very opening and shutting again of the body when the child is to be born is a thing so incomprehensible that some Naturalists acknowledge the immediate hand and power of God in it But because it is a common mercy little notice is taken or use made of it Thou didst make mee hope Or keptst mee in safety for puerilit as est periculorum pelagus a thousand deaths and dangers little ones are subject to but God preserveth and provideth haec non sunt per accidens saith Kimchi these things are not by chance but by divine providence Vers 10. I was cast upon thee from the womb Id est a Patre Matre mea saith Kimchi by my Father and my Mother whom thou Lord feddest and filledst her breasts Veluti exposititius tibi fui a Matrice Vat. that she might suckle mee Did men but seriously consider what kept and fed them in the womb and at the breasts when neither they could shift for themselves nor their Parents do much for them they would conclude hee would much more now by their holy prayers honest endeavors c. Thou art my God from my Mothers belly This is a privilege proper to Children born within the Covenant and they may claim it they have God for their God from their nativity and they may lay their reckoning so in all their addresses unto God Vers 11. Bee not farre from mee for trouble is near And so it is high time for thee to put forth an helping hand Homimbus profanis mirabilis videtur hac ratio to profane persons this seemeeh to bee a strange reason saith an Interpreter but it is a very good one as this Prophet knew who therefore makes it his plea. For there is none to help Set in therefore O Lord and help at a dead lift poor mee who am forsaken of all other hopes Vers 12. Many Bulls have compassed mee Young Bulls which noteth their lustiness and courage Tauri bene saginati petulci Strong Bulls of Bashan A farre Country beyond Jordan famous for fat and fierce cattel Hereby are meant Princes and Potentates persecutors of Christ and his people against whom they run and rush with utmost might and malice but not alwaies with desired successe Of the wild Bull it is said that of all things hee cannot abide any red colour Therefore the hunter for the nonce standing before a tree puts on a red garment whom when the Bull seeth he runneth hard at him as hard as hee can drive but the hunter slipping aside the Bulls hornes stick fast in the tree as when David slipped aside Sauls spear stuck fast in the wall In like manner saith a Divine Christ standing before the tree of his Crosse put on a red garment dipt and died in his own blood as one that cometh with red garments from Bâ—zra Isa 63.1 Therefore the Devill and his agents like wild Bulls of Bashan ran at him But hee saving himself their hornes stick fast in the Crosse as Abrahams Ram by his hornes stuck fast in the briars Vers 13. They gaped upon mee with their mouths As if they would have swallowed mee up at a bit like so many Lycanthropi or savage Canniballs As a ravening and a roaring Lyon Rapiens rugiens Leâ— licet non sit mos Boum rapere Bulls do not use to raven though they roar Kimchi but the malignities of all fierce and fell Creatures are to bee found in cruell persecutors Would any man take the Churches picture saith Luther then let him paint a silly poor Maid sitting in a Wood or Wildernesse compassed about with hungry Lions Wolves Bulls Loc. cum de Persec Boares and Beares and with all manner of cruell and hurtfull beasts and in the midst of a great many furious men or rather Monsters assaulting her every moment and minute for this is her condition in the World Vers 14. I am powred out like water i.e. I am almost past all recovery as water spilt upon the ground And all my bones are out of joynt Or disparted as on a rack or by a strappado Who hath not heard how Lithgow the Scot was used at Maligo in Spain Lithg traâ— by the bloody Inquisitours after that hee had passed thorough the greatest part of the known World and travelled thorough Forrests Wildernesses and Deserts where hee met with theeves and murderers Lions Bulls Bears and Tigers and escaped them how they starved him wounded him dis-joynted him in ten houres space laid seventy severall torments upon him though they had nothing against him but suspition of Religion And yet after this God wonderfully delivered him so that hee was brought on this bed wounded and broken to King James whose letters of recommendation hee had for his safe travell through the World and to whom hee made this relation to the face of Gundamour the Spanish Ambassadour This was much but yet little or nothing to Christs sufferings whence that passage in the Greek Letany 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. By thine unknown sufferings good Lord deliverus My heart is like wax c. Fear and faintnesse causeth an extreme sweat such as was that of our Saviour in his agony Luk. 22.44 it disableth also the Members from acting their parts and softeneth the heart Job 23.16 Vers 15. My strength is dried up like a potsheard My spirits are utterly spent Viror metâ—â— Humidum radicale membra in 〈◊〉 conglutinans Abon-Ezra my naturall moisture quite wasted and dryed up so that I am even like a skin-bottle in the 〈◊〉 c. For my strength some read my palar And my Tongue eleaveth to my jaws That which â—eedeth and facilitateth the motion of the tongue in speech is exhausted Consider here the greatnesse of the divine displeasure poured upon Christ our suerty Words are too weak to utter it And thom haft brought mee into the dust of death Here is the utmost of our Saviours humiliation Whilst alive hee was a worm and no man but now hee is lower for a living dog is better than a dead Lion saith Solomon O humble Saviour whither wilt thou descend Oh that
aske what he would asked nothing but that the Church might be disempestered of Arians And when the Emperour being himself an Arian tore his Petition he said he would never aske any thing for himself if he might not prevaile for the Church Theodor. l. c. 32. So I prayed to the God of heaven Darting up an ejaculation a sudden and secret desire to God to order and speed his Petition Begin all with prayer and then expect a blessing Call in the Divine help if it be but by darting out our desires to God Crebras habere orationes sed brevissimas raptim ejaculatas Thus Moses cryed to God yet said nothing Exod. 14.15 Hannah was not heard and yet she prayed Austin reports the custome of the Egyptian Churches to pray frequently and fervently but briefly and by way of ejaculation ne fervor languesceret lest their heat should abate Verse 5. If it please the King Silken words must be given to Kings as the mother of Darius said neither must they be rudely and roughly dealt with as Joab dealt with David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Sam. 19.5 who therefore could never well brook him afterward but set another in his place And if thy servant have found favour Pellican observeth here that Nehemiah was a great favourite of this Kings as appeareth in that having so many Nobles he chose him to this Office rather then any of them He therefore pleads it as a pledge of further favour so may we with God as being no small favourites in the beloved One Ephesians 1.5 That thou wouldest send me unto Judah Not only give me leave to go but also send me with a Commission to be Governour This was a bold request but modestly proposed and easily obtained The King is not he that can deny you any thing Jer. 38.5 Love is liberal charity is no churle Verse 6. And the King said unto me He yeelds for the thing only indents for the time as being loth to deny Nehemiah his suit and yet as loth to forgo so faithful a servant Ipse aspectus viri boni delectat Seneca The Queene also sitting by him And assisting his cause likely Some think this was Esther the Queen-mother But the Hebrew word here is Wife Now the Kings of Persia were noted for uxorious For how long c. The departure of a dear friend is so grievous that Death it self is called by that name So it pleased the King to send me As a Governour chap. 5.14 This was the fruit of prayer and therefore so much the sweeter And I set him a time sc Twelve years chap. 5.14 But more probably a shorter time at first Verse 7. Moreover I said unto the King He taketh further boldnesse upon the former encouragement so may we with Almighty God the Sunne of our righteousnes the Sea of our salvation Conclude as she did A company comes God never left bating till Abraham left begging Let letters be given me to the Governours Those nearest neighbours but greatest enemies That they may conveigh me over He committed himself to God and yet petitions the King for a Convoy In all our enterprizes God is so to be trusted as if we had used to means and yet the means is so to be used as if we had no God to trust in Verse 8. Epit Hâ—st Gall c. 114. Keeper of the Kings forrest Heb. Paradise probably so called for the pleasantnesse of it The French Protestants called their Temple or Church at Lyons Paradise Davids delight Psal 27. and 84. Of the palace that appertained to the house Id est To the Temple which is called The house by an excellency as the Scriptures are called the Bible that is the Book as being the onely best Book in comparison whereof all other books in the World are no better then wast paper And for the house that I shall enter into Id est A dwelling house for my self when once the publike is served Junius understands it of a Common-hal or Shire-house wherein he might sit and judge causes brought before him And the King granted me It was but ask and have and so it is betwixt God and his people When there was a speech among some holy men what was the best trade One answered Beggery it is the hardest richest trade Common beggery is indeed the poorest and easiest but prayer he meant A courtier gets more by one sute oft then a tradesman or merchant haply with twenty years labour so doth a faithfull prayer c. According to the good hand He calleth him his God as if he loved or cared more for him then for the rest of the World It is the property of true faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make all its own that it can lay hold upon See the Note on Ezra 7.6 Vers 9. Then I came to the Governours Josephus saith that the next day he took his journey and delivered his letters to Saddeus Governour of Syria Phoenicia and Samaria A strange example saith one to see a Courtier leave that wealth ease and authority that he was in and go dwell so far from Court in an old Torn and decayed City among a rude poor people where he should not live quietly but toyl and drudge like a day-labourer in dread and danger of his life But this is the case of earnest and zealous men in Religion c. Now the King had sent Captains This was more then Nehemiah had desired and as much as he could have done for the greatest Lord in the Land God is likewise usually better to his people than their prayers and when they ask but one talent he Naaman-like will force them to take two Verse 10. When Sanballet the Horonite That is the Moabite Isa 15.5 Jer. 48.3 5.34 His name signifieth saith one a pure Enemy he was come of that spiteful people who were anciently irked because of Israel Num. 22.3 4. or did inwardly fret and vex at them as Exod. 1.12 who yet were allied unto them and did them no hurt in their passage by them yea had done them good by the slaughter of the Amorites their encroaching Neighbours And Tobiah the servant A servant or bond-slave once he had been though now a Toparch a Lieutenant to the King of Persia Now such are most troublesome Prov. 30. ver 22. Asperius nihil est humili cùm surgit in altum A' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio. lib. 60. Rer. Rom. Heard it As they might soon do by means of their Wives who were Jewesses And the Jewes to this day are generally found the most nimble and Mercurial wits in the World Every Visier and Basha of State among the Turkes useth to keep a Jew of his private counsel whose malice wit and experience of Christendome with their continual intelligence is thought to advise most of that mischief which the Turk puts in execution against us Blounts Voyâ— P. 114. It grieved them exceedingly Heb. It seemed to them an
of Haman yet God was righteous in measuring to him as he had meted to others by belying and slandering so many innocents as he had designed to destruction The devil was and still is first a liar and then a murtherer he cannot murther without he slander first But God loves to retaliate and proportion device to device Mic. 2.1 3. frowardnesse to frowardnesse Ps 18.26 spoiling to spoiling Esa 33.1 tribulation to them that trouble his people 2 Thes 1.6 As the word went out of the Kings mouth Either the former words or else some words of command not here related such as are Corripite velate vultum take him away cover his face And this word was to Haman the messenger of death driving him from the light into darknesse and chasing him out of the world Job 18.18 Nay worse That book of Job elegantly sets forth the misery of a wicked man dying under the notion of one not only driven out of the light by devils where he shall see nothing but his tormentors but also made to stand upon shares or grinnes with iron teeth ready to strike up and grinde him to pieces having gall poured down to his belly with an instrument raking in his bowels and the pains of a travelling woman upon him and an hideous noise of horrour in his eares Job 18.18 20.24 15. 15.20 21 26 30. and a great Giant with a speare running upon his neck and a flame burning upon him round about c. and yet all this to hell it self is but as a prick with a pin or a flea-biting They covered Hamans face In token of his irrevocable condition See Job 9.24 Esa 22.17 The Turks cast a black gown upon such as they sit at supper with the great Turk Grand Sign Serag 148. and presently strangle them Many of their Visiers or greatest Favourites die in this sort which makes them use this proverb He that is greatest in office is but a Statue of glasse Plutarch wittily compareth great men to counters which now stand for a thousand pound and anon for a farthing Sic transit gloria mundi Quem dies veniens vidit superbum Hunc dies abiens vidit jacentem Haman for instance and so Sejanus the same Senatours who accompanied him to the Senate conducted him to prison they which sacrificed unto him as to their god which kneeled down to adore him scoffed at him seeing him dragged from the Temple to the Goale from supreme honour to extreme ignominy Ludit in humanis divina potentia rebus â—ertinax Imp. fortunae pila dictus est One reason why the King flang out of the room and went into the Palace-garden might be because he could not endure the sight of Haman any more Wherefore upon his return they instantly covered his face Some say the manner was that when the King of Persia was most highly offended with any man Tanquam indignus qui regem oculis uâ—rparet Drus Sen. Tac. Tull. pro Rab. Liv. his face was immediately covered to shew that he was unworthy to see the Sun whom they counted their god or to be an eye-sore to the displeased King Among the Romanes it was Majestas laesa si exeâ—â—ti Proconsulimerettix non sun movetur high treason for any Strumpet to stand in the Proconsuls way whensoever he came abroad The statues of the gods were transported or covered in those places where any punishment was inflicted That in Tully and Livy is well knowen Iâ—lictor colliga manus caput abnubito arbori infelici suspendito Go Hangman binde his hands cover his face hang him on the Gallow-tree This was their condemnatory sentence Verse 9. And Harbonah one of the Kings Chamberlaines c. See chapter 6.14 with the Note Said before the King Not a man opens his mouth to speak for Haman but all against him Had the cause been better thus it would have been Every curre is ready to fall upon the dog that he seeth worried every man ready to pull a branch from the tree is falling Cromwell had experience of this when once he fell into displeasure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Speed by speaking against the Kings match with Lady Katherine Howard in defence of Queen Anne of Cleeve and discharge of his conscience for the which he suffered death Steven Gardiner being the chiefe Engineere Had Hamans cause been like his albeit he had found as few friends to intercede for him as Cromwell yet he might have died with as much comfort as he did But he died more like to the Lord Hungerford of Hatesby Speed who was beheaded together with the noble Cromwell but neither so Christianly suffering nor so quietly dying for his offence committed against nature viz. buggery Cromwell exhorted him to repent and promised him mercy from God but his heart was hardened and so was this wicked Hamans God therefore justly set off all hearts from him in his greatest necessity and now to adde to his misery brings another of his foule sins to light that he might the more condignely be cut off Behold also the Galloweâ— fifty cubits high See chap. 5.14 This the Queen knew not of when she petitioned against Haman But now they all heare of it for Hamans utter confusion Which he had prepared for Mordecai At a time when the King had done him greatest honour as his Preserver and near Ally by marriage as now it appeared This must needs reflect upon the King and be a reproach to him Besides the King looked upon him as one that went about either to throttle the Queen as some understand the words verse 8. or to ravish her and this was just upon him say some Interpreters eò quò aliis virginibus matronis vini intulisset because it was common with him to ravish other maids and matrons and hence the Kings suspicion and charge whereof before Who had spoken good for the King All is now for Mordecai but not a word for Haman the rising Sun shall be sure to be adored And the contrary Sejanus his friends shewed themselves most passionate against him when once the Emperour frowned upon him saying that if Caesar had clemency he ought to reserve it for men and not use it toward monsters This is Courtiers custome ad quamlibet auram sese inclinare to shift their sails to the sitting of every winde to comply with the King which way soever he enclineth It is better therefore to put trust in the Lord then to put confidence in man It is better to trust in the Lord then to put confidence in Princes Psal 118.8 9. If Harbonah spake this out of hatred of Hamans insolency and in favour of Mordecai's innocency and loyalty he deserved commendation Howsoever Gods holy hand was in it for the good of his people and overthrow of their enemy and little did this night-sprung-Mushrom Haman that suck't the earths fatnesse from far better plants then himself take notice till now of the many hands ready to
and confesse themselves to have been in an errour Hence right or wrong their laws must stand and if any demand a reason Sic vol◠sic jubeo must stop his mouth And Quod ego volo pro Canone sit Let my will be your reason and rule as Constantius said to the Orthodox Bishops refusing to communicate with the Arrians But God who tameth the fiercest creatures had for his poor peoples sake brought Ahashuerus to a better bent so that rather then contract the staine and sting of such barbarous cruelty he will run the hazard of being accounted inconstant and not care though a Retraxit be entred against him as is usually against the Plaintiffe when he cometh into the Court where his plea is and saith he will not proceed In the Kings name an t seale it with the Kings ring He was well perswaded of their fidelity piety and prudence Otherwise it had been too great weaknesse in this Prince who had been so lately abused by Haman to have trusted his whole power in the hands of strangers But natural conscience cannot but stoop to the image of God wheresoever it meeteth therewith and have high thoughts of such as Pharaoh had of Joseph Nebuchadnezzar of those three Worthies Darius of Daniel c. Surely when men see in the Saints that which is above ordinary or beyond their expectation they are afraid of the Name of God which is called upon by them Deut. 28.10 and will entrust them more then any other whatsoever It is a Probleme in Aristotle why man is credited more then other creatures The answer is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he alone reverenceth God therefore you may trust him ◠honesty floweth from piety For the writing which is written in the Kings name c. Therefore you must not take it amisse that I reverse not Hamans letters for I also am under a Law whatever my Predecessour Cambyses held to the contrary neither need you doubt but that what you write in my name and signe with my seal will be authentick and passe for a current countermand feare it not Verse 9. Scu'tet Then were the Kings Scribes called This verse is noted to be the longest in all the Bible It was Robert Stevens the Printer I trow that first distinguished the chapters by verses and this he hath done not so well in some places as were to be wished These Scribes were as ready at Mordecai's call as before they had been at Hamans chap. 3.12 neither cared they much what they wrote so that they might be sure it was the Kings pleasure they should do it As for their Religion it may seem to be the same with that of Gallio the Pro-consul Act 18.17 a meer irreligion their Motto Mihi placet quicquid Regiplacet Whatsoever pleaseth the King shall please me and if their hearts could be ripped up there would be found written therein The god of this present world At that time So soon as the word was out of the Kings mouth delay might have bred danger Habent aulae suum citò citò Courtiers are quick of dispatch as they carefully observe their mollissima fandi tempora so when once they have got a grant they lose no time they know that opportunities are headlong and once lost irrecoverable Hannibal Plutarch when he could have taken Rome would not when he would could not Vincere scis Hannibal victoriâ uti nescis said one to him Mordecai made use of the present the nick of time Esther could tell him by experience that a well chosen season is the greatest advantage of an action which as it is seldome found in haste so it is too often lost in delay It is not for Mordecai to drive off any longer the whole Church was in heavinesse and needed comfort and some might be slain ere notice came to the contrary Ad opem brevis hora ferenda est Orid-Metam l. 4. In the third moneth Two moneths and more the poor Jewes lay under the sentence of death in a forelorn condition God loves to help such as are forsaken of their hopes to help at a dead lift to comfort the abject 2 Cor. 7.6 Though Jacob be a worm yet God will not crush him but cherish him And I will restore health unto thee and I will heal thee of thy wounds saith the Lord because they called thee an out-cast saying This is Zion whom no man seeketh after Jer. 30.17 The seasonablenesse of Gods mercies doth much commend them These poor wretches cried and the Lord heard them and saved them out of all their troubles Psal 34.6 This is the moneth Sivan That is May when all things are in their prime and pride and the earth checkred and entrailed with variety of flowers and God is seen to be Magnus in minimis great in the smallest creatures Then did the Sun of righteousnesse arise to these afflicted exiles with healing in his wings Mal. 4.2 Like as the Sun-beams did to the dry and cold earth calling out the herbes and flowers and healing those deformities that Winter had brought upon it On the three and twentieth day thereof The precise time is thus noted not only to set forth the certainty and truth of the history but also to let us see what was the present state of the Church and what is Gods usual dispensation and dealing with his people For two moneths and more they were in a very low and as it might seem a lost condition Now they have eight moneths space of breathing and preparing themselves to their just and lawful defence yet are they not without divers difficulties and discouragements until God had given them a full and final victory over their enemies The Saints prosperity here like checker-work is inter-woven with feares and crosses They must not look for a perpetual serenity till they come to heaven I shall die in my nest said Job I shall never be moved said David How apt are the holiest to be proud and secure to settle upon their lees unlesse God poure them from vessel to vessel This the wise God well knoweth and therefore exerciseth them with interchanges See the circle that he goeth in with his Davids Psal 30.5 to 10. and reckon upon this that if our sorrows be long they are light if sharper the shorter as thunder the more violent the lesse permanent Flebile principium melior fortuna sequetur And it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded Had he not been a man of singular parts he had not been fit for such a service It could not otherwise be but that many eyes were upon him and some evil eyes that would more curiously pry into his proceedings then Laban once did into Jacobs stuffe It behooved him therefore to look to his behaviour and to weigh well his words in dictating such a ticklish edict as this to the Kings Secretaries But God who had called him to this high emploiment did likewise gift him for it He was
And the decree was given at Shushan the Palace So had the former decree against the Jewes been chap. 3.15 the Post also hastened as now There is no doubt but many disaffected persons would jeare at this last decree as extorteth from the King by the Queens importunity and would perswade themselves and others that the King was of the same minde as before to have the Jewes rooted out only to give his wife content he had set forth this counter-edict which they would not take notice of Thus those that are ripe for ruine harden their own hearts and hasten their own destruction Verse 15. And Mordecai went out from the Presence of the King Whether he went is not set down It is probable he either went to Hamans house the oversight whereof was committed to him by Esther or that he went to some other parts of the City upon the publick emploiment whereof now he had his hands full and therefore all his faculties were in motion and every motion seemed a well-guided action as one saith well of Queen Elizabeth when she first came to the Crown In royal apparel Suitable to his new condition This he might lawfully do no doubt as did Joseph Daniel Solomon Generally those that are in Kings houses are clothed in softs and go gorgeously There is indeed a blame-worthy excesse herein Zeph. 1.8 Isa Athenaeus 3.18 Alcisthenes his costly cloak prized at one hundred and twenty talents Demetrius King of Macedony his robe of State which none of his Successours would weare propter invidiosam impendii magnificentiam Herâ—ds cloth of silver which by refraction of the Sun-beams upon it gave such a splendour that the foolish people for that and for his speech cried him up for a god Good Mordecai thought never a whit the better of himself for his gay clothing neither did his heart rise with his habit as the boat doth with the water that carrieth it He affecteth not this change but rather accepteth it he endureth it rather then desireth it Sheeps-russet would please him every whit as well as cloth of tissue but that the King will have it so and being now the second man in the Kingdome he must go accordingly lest he should be sleighted as Agesilaus King of Sparta was by the Persians for his over-plain habit Vestis virum facit a man is esteemed as he is arrayed cultúsque concessus atque magnificus comely and costly attire addeth authority as Quintilian long since observed And with a great crown of gold We reade not that Haman had any such It may be the King had bestowed it upon Mordecai as a special favour for having saved his life chap. 2. Sure it is that he gave it him for a better cause then Alexander the Great did his crown of one hundred and eighty pounds provided by him at a great Supper and promised to him that should drink most Mordecai had his temporal Crown upon far better termes and yet looked for a more massie one in heaven 2 Cor. 4.17 even such a weight of glory as that if the body were not by the Power of God upheld it were impossible it should beare it And with a garment of fine linnen Or of silk which was anciently sold for its weight in gold Plin. l. 19. c. 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verb. frequentativum as Pliny testifieth This rich glutton is taxed for the too frequent use of it Luke 16.19 It was his every dayes weare as the Greek word importeth And purple This was also much worn by great ones of old Dives was daily clothed with it and was so far from cloaking his pride that he proclaimed it in his cloak This purple colour was made saith Lavater here of the juice or blood of a certain shell-fish Now they say there is no right purple Perhaps when the foure Monarchies ceased purple ceased with them And the City of Susan rejoyced and was glad Time was when they were in perplexity chap. 3.5 now in jollity Then said they among the Heathen the Lord hath done great things for them The joyful Jews there by way of Antiphony answer The Lord hath indeed done great things for us whereof we are glad Psal 126.2 3. Tremelius Lucebat after Aben-Ezra rendreth it And the City of Shushan shone the Lilly was now most lovely and lightsom The word signifieth properly hiâ—â—ivit neighed as an horse which he doeth not but when he is well-pleased The whole City was well a paid but the poor Jewes were over-joyed so that their mouth was filled with laughter and their tongue with singing This is the import of the Metaphor here used Verse 16. The Jews had light and gladnesse Truly the light is sweat and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the Sun Eccl. 11.7 Such as have been long shut up in a dark dungeon as Joseph will surely say so These Jews had for two months more layn buried alive as it were in heavinesse and horrour they walked in the very vale of the shadow of death the darkest side of death death in its most hideous and horrid representations stared them in the face Luctus ubique pavor plurima mortis imago Virg. Their Motto at the best was that of the City of Geneva out of Job Post tenebras spero lucem after darknesse we have some faint hopes of life Job 17. But now it was otherwise with them Light was risen to these righteous and joy to these upright in heart Judaeis fuit lux laetitia or as Tremelius rendreth it illustris laetitia famous gladnesse gaudium gloria unspeakable joy and full of glory as St. Peter phraseth it an exuberancy of spiritual joy and inward comfort fitter to be believed then possible to be discoursed For we may not think that the joy and gladnesse here mentioned was no more then that of profane and carnal people upon the receipt of some special mercy or signal deliverance They rejoyce harlot-like in the gift but not in the Giver they gnabble upon the shell but taste not of the kernel The joy that these Jewes had was the fruit of fasting and prayer according to that of our Saviour Ask that your joy may be full Pray that ye may joy The fountain of it was the light of Gods loving countenance it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Josephus hath it here a salvifical light The matter of it was the happy change of their late lamentable condition and this as a pledge of that light of life eternal See Psal 23.5 6. the end of it was a testification of their hearty thankfulnesse to God for his unconceivable loving kindnesse a breaking forth into those or the like words of the Psalmist Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with benefits even the God of our salvation Selah He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death Psalme 68.19 20. And gladnesse Habitual joy
they say much lesse sheep and oxen children and servants c. Psal 22.9 10 howbeit God provided for me then and as he took me out of the womb so he made me to hope when I was upon my mothers breasts I was cast upon him from the womb c. And shall I now cast away my confidence which hath so great recompense of reward No though he hath stripped me stark-naked and left me with as little as he first found me yet I will trust in him It is he that maketh poore and maketh rich he bringeth low and lifteth up againe 1 Sam. 2.7 The will of the Lord be done Here I am let the Lord do with me that which is right in his own eyes 2 Sam. 15.26 He is Lord Paramount the true proprietary and Owner of all I have been only his steward his tenant at will Jamque meos dedo Domino tibijure penaâ—es Tu mihi jus dederas posse vocare Meos And naked shall I return thither again sc to the womb of my Magna Parenâ— the earth Magna parenâ— terra est Ovid. fitly called a Mother because as thence we came in Adam so there-hence shall we be born again as it were at the resurrection called therefore the Regeneration Matth 19.28 for so some read the words there Ye which have followed me shall in the Regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in his glory sit upon twelve thrones c. See Psal 2.7 with Acts 13.33 This Plato hammered at in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or great Revolution To the grave therefore that womb of the earth that Congregation house of all living as Job elswehere calleth it chap. 30.23 shall I return saith he implying that our life is nothing but a coming and a returning Repatriâsse erit hoc saith Bernard concerning death It is but a coming and a going saith a Divine it is but a flood and an ebb and then we are carried into the Ocean of Eternity I read of one who being asked what life was made an answer answerlesse for he presently turned his back and went his way The truth is wee fetch here but a turn and God saith Return againe Psal 90.3 To live is but to lye a dying the earth receiveth us like a kind mother into her entrailes when we have a while troden her underfoot we haste to our long home Eccles 12.5 Heb. to our old home sc to the dust from whence at first we were taken Tremellius rendreth it in domum saeculi to the house of our generation where we and all our Contemporaries shall meet Cajetan in domum mundi the house which the world provideth for us and to this house much in Jobs mind and therefore he here saith Thither this house of the grave as the Chaldâ—e paraphraseth men must return naked As he came forth of his mothers womb naked shall he return to go as he came saith Solomon and shall take nothing of his labour which he may carry away in his hand Eccles 5.15 Death as a porter stands at the gate and strips men of all their worldly wealth leaving them ne obolum quidem unde naulum solvant Haud ullas portabis opes Acherontis ad undas Nudus ab inferna stulte vehêre rate Propert. Some have had great store of gold and silver buried with them but to small purpose more then to proclaim their own folly Some wiser then some if I must leave all the rest yet this I le take with me said a silly fellow when giving up the Ghost he clapt a twenty shillings piece of gold into his mouth Athenaeus telleth of one Rog. of Lou. that at the hour of his death devoured many pieces of gold and sewed the rest in his coat commanding that they should be all buried with him Hermocrates being loth that any man should enjoy his goods after him made himself by will heir of his own goods These muck-muck-worms like those ten men Jer. 41.8 having treasures in the field of wheat barley oyle c. are full loth to part with them and having much cattle as those Reubenites and Gadites Numb 32.5 they would faine live still on this side Jordan having made their gold their God they cannot think of parting with it they would if possible carry the world with them out of the world But what saith the Apostle We brought nothing with us into this world and it is certain see how he assevereth and assureth it as if some rich wretches made question of it we can carry nothing out nothing but a winding-sheet 1 Tim. 6 7. as Sultan Saladines shirt which he commanded to be hung up at his buriall a bare Priest going before the bier and proclaiming Saladine the mighty Monarch of the East is gone and taketh no more with him then what you here see And to the same sense the Poet speaking of Annibal saith modò quam fortuna sovendo Congestis opibus donisque refer sit opimis Nudum tartareâ portârit navita cymbâ Sil. Ital. The Lord gave It is his blessing upon the diligent hand that maketh rich Pro. 10.22 as without that all pains and policies are but arena sine calce sand without lime they will not hold together Not only every perfect that is spiritual blessings in heavenly things but every good gift that is temporal blessings in creature-comforts come from above from the Father of lights Jam. 1.17 as pledges of his love to those that are his and as an earnest of better things hereafter Psal 23.67 Gen. 27.28 God give thee the dew of heaven saith Isaâ—k to Jacob. Esau likewise hath the like but not with a God give thee he profanely sacrificed to his owne net not having God in all his thoughts He said with that Assyrian Isai 10.13 By the strength of my hand have I done this my power and the might of my hand hath gotten me all this wealth c. Is not this great Babel that I have built c Job Deut. 8.10 11. uttereth no such bubbles of words he arrogateth nothing to himselfe but ascribeth all to God whom the heathens also acknowledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hom. The giver of all Good And the Lord hath taken away As well he might for though I had the possession yet he hath the property neither can he possibly do me wrong sith he is Lord of all and may dispose of me and mine as he pleaseth Hierome teacheth his friend Julian to say Tulisti liberos quâ—s ipse dedoras non centristor quod recepisti ago gratias quòd dedisti Thou hast taken away the children which thou hadst given me I grieve not that thou hast taken them but give thee thanks for giving them Vitam reposcenti natura tanquam debitor bona fidei reddituras exultâ— Ammiâ—n l. 25. Julian that vile Apostate said at his death I gladly render up my life to Nature requiring it as a thankfull and faithfull debtâ—r This was sure
I am judged I am damned Pet. Sutor de vita Carth. This very much wrought upon the heart of Bruno saith he and occasioned him to found the Carthusian order Waldus a French Merchant was so affected with the death of one that died suddenly in his presence that he thenceforth became a right godly man and the Father of the Waldenses those ancient Protestants in France called also The poor men of Lions But oh the dead lethargy the spirit of fornication that hath so besotted the minds of the most that they can see death and yet not think of it they can look into the dark chamber of the grave and never make the least preparation for it if for present they be somewhat affected and have some good impressions yet they soon vanish as the water circled by a stone cast into it soone returns to its former smoothnesse as chickens run under the wings of the hen whiles the kite is over them or in a storm but soon after get abroad againe amd dust themselves in the Sun As Nebuchadnezzar had seen a vision but it was gone from him so here if men at the house of mourning have â—ome good motions they improve them not to resolutions or draw not forth their resolutions into execution c. Verse 21. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away Journyeth not their excellency with them so Broughton rendreth it By their excellency here some understand the soule called by David his glory A Philosopher said Favorium there was nothing excellent in the world but man nothing in man but his soul The Stoicks affirmed that the body was not a part of a man but the instrument or rather the servant of the soul Hence the Latines call the body Corpus or Corpor as of old they speak quasi cordis puer sive famulus And Plato saith Camer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that that is not the man that is seen of him but the mind of a man that 's the man And in the 19 verse of this chap. man is said to dwell in an house of clay that is the soul to inhabit the body The soul goes away with the name of the whole person the soul indeed is the man in a morall consideration and is therefore elsewhere called the inward man 2 Cor. 4.16 1 Pet. 3.4 and the hidden man of the heart the body compared to it is but as a clay-wall encompassing a treasure a course case to a rich instrument a leathern sheath to an excellent blade Dan. 7.15 or as a mask to a beautiful 〈◊〉 Now at death this excellency of a man departeth returneth to God that gave it Eclesias â— 7 His breath goeth forth he returneth to his earth in that very day his thoughts perish even the most excellent effects of his mind and spirit as the word signifieth Psal 146.4 And as that so all other excellencies go away at death Psal 39.11 and 49.13 even the whole goodlinesse of man Isa 40.6 whether it be the good things of the mind as wisedome science conscience judgment or of the body as beauty and health or of fortune as they call it as favour and applause together with plenty of prosperity No mans glory goeth down with him into the grave Psal 49.16 Where is now the flourishing beauty and gallantry of Caesar saith one his armies and honours his triumphs and trophies where are the rich fools great barnes Nebuchadnezzars great Babel Agrippa's great pomp c Have not all these made their bed in the dark leaving their excellency behind them Are they not many of them gone to their place as a stone to the center or as a foole to the stocks They dye even without wisdome Heb. They die and not with wisedome They die like so many beasts but for their pillow and bolster without any care to lay hold on eternall life 1 Sam. 3.33 they die as a fool dieth Not in wisedome that is in abundance of folly saith Pineda and this is most mens case their wit serves them not in this weighty work of preparing to die they put farre away the thoughts of it and hence they die tempore non suo Eccles 7.17 when it were better for them to do any thing rather then to die To live with dying thoughts is an high point of heavenly wisedome Psal 90.12 Deut. 32.29 How might one such wise Christian chase a thousand foolish and hurtfull lusts 1 Tim. 6.4 which drowne mens soules in perdition and destruction CHAP. V. Verse 1. Call now if there be any that will answer thee THe beginning of this chapter is hard saith Mercer till you come to the seventh or eighth verses and then all is plain and easie That which Eliphaz driveth at here is to drive Job out of all good conceit of his own condition and to perswade him that never any good man suffered such hard and heavy things as he or at least suffered them so untowardly and impatiently Call I pray thee saith he call over the roll look into the records of former Saints and see if thou canst find among them all such another knotty piece as thy self that needed so much hewing and made such a deale of complaining Was there ever the like heard of Call now if there be any one answerable to thee Broughton rendreth it Call now if there be any one that will defend thee that is be thy Patron or advocate in word or in the example of their lives And to which of the Sâ—â—nts wilt thou turn q. d. Thou art alone neither maist thou hope to meet with thy match in the matter or manner of thine afflictions unlesse it be among hypocrites and gracelesse persons as verse 2. The Septuagint read it To which of the Angels wilt thou look And the Popish Commentators think they have here an unanswerable ground for their Doctrine of invocation of Saints and Angels But did not the buzzards take notice of an Irony here and that Eliphaz assureth Job that it would be in vain for him to call to any Saint c Is it not plain or probable at least that he here meaneth the Saints living in this world or if not yet is Gregory the great of no authority with them who acknowledgeth none other to be called upon here meant but God and that the Saints are mentioned to Job in derision as if it were a ridiculous thing to call to them departed out of this life who cannot hear us Verse 2. For wrath killeth the foolish man Such as thou art Job hot and hasty pettish and passionate fretting thy self to do evil and so provoking God to fall soule upon thee as a just object of his wrath to thine utter ruine without repentance Surely with the froward God will show himself froward Psal 18.26 Neither hath ever any one hardened himself against the Lord and prospered Job 9.4 For why he is wise in heart and mighty in strength as it is there every way able to
Redeemer lived c. So might Simeon because he had seen Gods salvation and so might Paul who had fought a good fight and kept the faith But how could Plato say in the eighth of his lawes The communion of the soule with the body is not better then the dissolution as I would say if I were to speak in earnest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato His master Socrates when to die was nothing so confident for he shut up his last speech with these words as both Plato himself and Cicero tell us Tempâ—â— est jam hinc abireâ— It is now high time for us to go hence for me to die and for you to live longer and whether of these two is the better the gods immortall know hominem quidem arbirâ—or sciro neminem it is above the knowledge I believe of any man living Thus he but Job was better perswaded otherwise he would have been better advised then thus earnestly to have desired death And cut me off Avidè me absumat quasi ex morte mea ingens lucrum reportaturâ—â— Let him greedily cut the 〈◊〉 so the word signifieth even as if he were to have some great gain Piâ—eda or get some rich booty by my blood Verse 10. Thou should I 〈◊〉 have comfort yea I would harden my self in sorrow c. I would take hard on and beaâ— what befalleth me as well as I could by head and shoulders had I but hopes of an end by death as having this for my comfort I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. I have boldly professed the true Religion Ps 40.10 116.10 119.43 not â—â—ared to preach the truth sincerely to others for Gods glory and their good however you may judge of me I never rejected the word of God but have highly honoured it so that my desire of death is not desperate as you may conceive but an effect of good assurance that by death heaven advanceth forward that happy term when all my miseries shall end at once and hence it is that I am so greedy after the grave Verse 11. What is my strength that I should hope q. d. Thou hast told me O Eliphaz that if I frame to a patient and peaceable behaviour under Gods chastisement I shall go to my grave in a good old age c. but alasse it is now past time of day with me for that matter my breath is corrupt my dayes are extinct the graves are ready for me chap. 17.1 Were I as young and lusty as ever I have been some such things as ye have promised me might be hoped for but alasse the map of age is figured on my forehead the calenders of death appeare in the furrowes of my face besides my many sores and sicknesses which if they continue but a while will certainly make an end of mee And what is mine end i.e. The later part of my life what is that else but trouble and sorrow see this elegantly set forth by Solomon Eccles 12.2 3 4 c. That I should prolong my life That I should desire my life to be prolonged or eeked out to that De re râ—st lib. 1. cap. 1. Rather let it be my â—are with Varro ut sarcinas colligam antequà m proficiscar è vita to be ready for death which seemeth so ready for mee Verse 12. Is my strength the strength of stones Or Is my flesh of brasse Is it made of marble or of the hardest metal as it is said of one in Homer that hee was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of brazen bowles and of Julius Scaliger that he had a golden soule in an iron body he was a very Iron sides but so was not Job he had neither a body of brasse nor sinewes of iron to stand out against so many stormes and beare so many batteries he felt what he endured and could not long endure what he felt As for the damned in hell they are by the power of God upheld for ever that they may suffer his fierce wrath for ever which else they could never do And as for those desperate Assasines Baltasar Gerardus the Burgundian who slew the Prince of Orange Anno Dom. 1584. and Ravilliac Ferale illud prodigium as one calleth him that hideous helâ—hound who slew Henry the fourth of France in the midst of his preparations and endured thereupon most exquisite torments this they did out of stupidity of sense not solidity of faith and from a wretchlesse desperation not a confident resolution Verse 13. Is not my help in me Have I not something within wherewith to sustaine me amidst all my sorrowes viz. the testimony of my conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity I have had my conversation in the world 2 Cor. 1.12 â—o this is my rejoycing this is my cordial c. Innuit innocentiam suam aâ— vita integritatem saith Drusius he meaneth the innocency and integrity of his heart and this was the help Job knew he had in store this was the wisedome or right reason he speaketh of in the following words and is wisedome or vertue driven quite from me no no that holdeth out and abideth when all things else in the world passe away and vanishâ— as the word Tushijah importeth Job had a subsistence still for his life consisted not in the abundance which he had possessed but was now bereft of The world calleth wealth substance but God giveth that name to Wisedome only The world he setteth forth by a word that betokeneth change for its mutability Prov. 3.8 and the things thereof he calleth Non-entia Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine eyes saith he upon that which is not and which hath no price but what opinion setteth upon it Grace being a particle of the divine nature is unloosable unperishable Virtus post funera venit Verse 14. To him that is afflicted Heb. melted viz. in the furnace of affliction which melteth mens hearts and maketh them malleable as fire doth the hardest metals Psal 22.15 Josh 7.5 Pity should le shewed from his friend By a sweet tender melting frame of spirit such as was that of the Church Psal 102.13 and that of Paul 2 Cor. 11.29 Who is weakâ— and I am not weak sc by way of sympathy who is offended and I burne not when others are hurt I feele twinges as the tongue complaineth for the hurt of the toe and as the heart condoleth with the heele and there is a fellow-feeling amongst all the members so there is likewise iâ— the mysticall body From his friend who is made for the day of adversity Prov. 17.17 and should shew â—ove at all times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et cum fortuna statque cadisque fides and especially in evil times but poor Job bewaileth the want of such faithfull friends David also complaineth to God his onely fast friend of those that would be the causes but not the companions of his calamity that would fawn upon him in his flourish but forsake him in his misery
have been dumb because thou didst it But it is a faire step to perfection and victory when one can kisse Gods rod and say as Psalm 44.17 All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee nor declined from thy way Job was not without his impatiencies but being he was right for the maine and at length bewailed them God looked not upon him as he doth upon those refractaries who to their impatience adde impenitence and to their passive disobedience active That thou set test a watch over me That thou surroundest me with sorrowes and wilt not suffer me to die Psal 191. â—sal 141.3 Here Job should have set a better watch over his lips then thus boisterously to have blustered against God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to be called to an account for his proceedings like the raging sea or unruly whirle-poole He should have considered that the best men have somewhat of the sea in them that must be bounded and somewhat of the whale that must be watched and kept under and that God never layes more upon a man then there is need though he may think otherwise Verse 13. When I say my bed shall comfort me The bed was the most proper and probable meanes of refreshment but it is not the bed that can give sleep nor the couch ease Creatures are not able of themselves to give out the comforts committed to them their common nature must be assisted with a special word of blessing or else they do us no good Man liveth not by bread only c. God maketh the merciful mans bed Psalm 41.3 So he giveth his beloved sleep quiet sleep Shena with an Aâ—eph quiescent Psal 127. He is the God of all mercies and the Father of all consolation 2 Cor. 1.3 It is he that shines through the creature which else is but as the aire without light Look now the aire lights us not without the Sun nor fuel heats us not without fire so neither can any man or means comfort or content us without God My couch shall ease my complains Heb. Shall lift up or take away viz. the burthen of my cares and griefe some part of my load at least but it fell out otherwise for Verse 14. Then thou skarest me with dreames Extremam tentationem describit saith Vatablus and the divel doubtless had a great hand in this business for it was within his commission and he would not neglect any part of it but Job taketh notice of none but God the chief agent and to him he applieth himself His providence is exercised even about dreams which in melancholy people fall out especially when they are sick to be oftentimes very horrid and hideous as that they fall down from some high place commit some capital offence are slain torn in pieces by divels c. Bishop Foliots terrible night-vision was before mentioned Richard the third after the murther of his two innocent Nephews and Charls the ninth of France after the Parisian massacre had such dreadful dreams that they became a terror to themselves and to all about them But to instance in better men Beza in vitae Calvin in the year of grace 1562 being sick of the gout dreamed that he heard a great noise of drums beaten up most vehemently as they use to be in warlike marches Pareus also Anno 1618 saw in a dream the City of Heidelberg set on fire in may places and the Prince Electors palace all on a light flame this he set down the next morning in his day-book and added these words O Deus clementissime averte sinistrum omen c. Such fearful dreams cause a sick sleep and a worse waking This Job complaineth of here Philip. Par. in vita Patris and yet more fully in the next words Verse 15. So that my soul chuseth strangling i. e. Quamvis durissimam sed praesentissimam mortem any violent or ignominious death so it were a speedy death Hippocrates telleth us that may have been so affrighted with dreams and apparitions that they have hanged themselves leaped into deep pits or otherwise made themselves away Let those that either have not been so terrified or so tempted or so deserted of God bless him for that mercy And death rather then life Heb. Rather then my bones that is any kind of death rather then such a body which is no nothing else but a bag of bones or then such rotten bones full of sores and ulcers he maketh mention of his bones because his pain had pierced as farre as his very bones the putrefaction had sunk down into his marrow Verse 16. I loath it I would not live alway I loath or abhor it that is my life or I loath them that is my bones verse 15. I would not live alway that is Aug. de civitato Dei l. 9. c. 10. long in this world and in this condition Plotinus the Philosopher held it a special mercy of God to men that they were mortal and did not alwaies live to labour under the miseries of this wretched life Caâ—o professed that if he might have his age renewed as the Eagles so that he might be made young again he would seriously refuse it Cic. Cato Major How much better might Job say thus sith the righteous hath hope in his death and might well take up that of the Poet. Vsque adeóne mori miserum est The dayes of the best are so full of evil both of sin and pain that it is good they are not fuller of dayes if they should have length of life added to heaps of sorrows and perpetuity with all their misery how miserable were they Christ promiseth it as a point of favour to his that the dayes of trouble should be shortned Matth. 24.22 and that he may put an end to the world he dispatcheth away the generations with all the convenient speed that may be Therefore let me alone Some read thus I cannot live for ever or very long Quod citò cessat deficit Mercer in Pagnin therefore let me alone that is give over afflicting me and let me go quietly to my grave Psalm 39.13 Here one well observeth that the world and time while they continue are alwaies ceasing and therefore have their denomination from this word which signifieth to cease For my dayes are vanity Hebel a puffe of wind or a bubble on the water Mans body is a bubble his soul the wind that filleth it The bubble riseth higher and higher till at last it breaketh so doth the body rise from infancy to youth from youth to age c. till at length it cracketh and dissolveth The life of man is a vain life This Job often beats upon and why see the Note on ver 7. Verse 17. What is man that thou shouldst magnify him i. e. make so much adoe about him or look upon him as a fit match for the great God to grapple with Psalm 14.3 or to take care of his
themselves that will needs go to God in their own righteousnesse as the proud Pharisee Luke 18. The calamity of these merit-mongers shall rise suddenly Behold a whirle-wind or a tempest of the Lord goeth forth in fury even a grievous whirle-wind it shall fall grievously upon the head of these wicked ones Jer. 23.19 This Saint Paul knew and therefore did his utmost that he might be found in Christ sc when sought for by the justice of God not having his own righteousnesse which is of the law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith Philip. 3 9. And multiplieth my wounds without cause i. e. Without any other cause then to try me and prove my patience which now Job began to perceive as Philip gathereth or without any manifest cause and perceivable by an afflicted man so Aquinas senseth it God hath not told me the reason of his chastenings but to increase my grief he concealeth from me the cause of them and yet he multiplieth still my sores and my sorrows Or without cause that is without any such cause as his friends alledged against him viz. that he was a rank hypocrite Verse 18. He will not suffer me to take my breath I am so far from a period that I have no pause of my troubles I cannot get any interspiria's or free breathing-whiles See chap. 7.19 And in the former verse he had complained that God had stormed him Interim per Pathos saith Mercer here he returns to his old practice of expostulating about the greatnesse of his grief and spares not to hyperbolize Beda and others understand this text of a bodily distemper upon Job which had made him short-winded And Lavater hath this good note here Hoc cogitandum nobis est c. Let this text be thought upon when our spirits begin to sink as also when by reason of the Ptisick or any other like disease we feel a difficulty of breathing and a straitening of our pectorals or be otherwise compassed about with great sorrows But filleth me with bitternesse Heb. He satiateth me with bitternesses i. e. with sore and sharp afflictions which are no way joyous but grievous to the flesh Heb. 12.11 Job had his belly-full of gall and worm-wood he had not only a draught or two but a diet-drink made him of most bitter ingredients Of this he complaineth heavily what then will the wicked do that must suck up the dregs of Gods cup Psalm 78.8 which hath eternity to the bottom Verse 19. If I speak of strength lo he is strong Neither by might nor right can I deal with him Broughton renders it As for force he is valiant the Lord is a man of warre saith Moses Exod. 15.3 Yea he is the Lord of arms saith David Psal 84. Yea He alone is a whole army of men Van Rere both saith Isaiah cap. 52.12 there is no doubt then but he will carry the day sith no creature is able to grapple with him The weaknesse of God if any such thing there were is stronger then men 1 Cor. 1.25 and by weakest means he can effect greatest matters as once he did in Egypt And if of judgment who shall set me a time to plead Who shall appoint the time and place of our meeting If I shall go about to sue him at law I shall have but a cold suit an ill pull of it for who shall make him appear or bring him to his answer and where shall I find an advocate a patron to plead my cause yea where shall I get a witnesse for so the vulgar reades it Nemo audet pro me restimonium dicere No man will be so bold as to give an evidence for me or be a witnesse on my side Verse 20. If I justifie my self If in default of other pleaders I should undertake to manage my cause my self I should be never the neer Mine own mouth shall condemn me i. e. God out of mine own mouth as finding mine arguments weak and worthlesse He knowes us better then we know our selves and when he comes to turn the bottom of the bag upwards as once Josephs steward did theirs all our secret thefts will out and those will appear to be faults that we little thought of A Dutch Divine when to die was full of fears and doubts said some to him you have been so employed and so faithful why should you fear Oh said he the judgment of man and the judgment of God are different Vae hominum vitae quantumvis laudabili si remotâ misericordiâ judicetur Wo to the most praise-worthy man alive if he meet with judgment without mercy The best lamb should abide the slaughter except the ramme were sacrificed that Isaak might be saved If I say I am perfect What if God had said so chap. 1.1 yet Job might not Prov. 27.2 2 Cor. 10.18 Or if he do at any time justifie himself as chap. 29. 30 he doth it is in his own necessary and just defence against the charge of his friends Real apologies we must ever make for our selves when wronged verbal if any must be managed with meeknesse of wisedome Verse 21. Though I were perfect That is of an unblameable conversation yet could not I know mine own soul that is those secret sins Psalm 19.12 those litters of lusts that lurk therein therefore I despise my life I have no joy at all of it but could wish to be out of the world to be rid of these evil inmates that will not out of doors till the house fall upon the heads of them till the earthly Tabernacle that harboureth them be once dissolved Others read and sense the words thus I am perfect or upright neither do I know mine own soul i. e. quicquam perversi in anima mea any allowed sin in my soul yet I am so afflicted that I despise my life as being but a continued death Aben-Ezra reads the verse with an admiration thus Perfect I am and think you that I know not mine own soul that I am so great a stranger to my self or that I have so little care of mine own good as that I despise my life and walk at all adventures Tremellius thus I am upright whatever you my friends would make of me neither value I my life or soul in comparison of mine integrity my life is but a trifle to my conscience c. Verse 22. This is one thing therefore I say it And will stand to it though I stand alone this being the one thing wherein I differ in opinion from you and because it is the hinge upon which the whole dispute betwixt us is turned therefore I will abide by it and be Doctor resolutus resolute in the maintenance of it viz. He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked A harsh doctrine yet a good one saith an Interpreter Grace is no target against the greatest affliction See Eccles 9.1 2 3. Mal. 3.14 Ezek. 21.3 Heb. 11. shewes that
forth that he will not once offer to contend with God he here humbly begs of God no further to contend with him but to grant a truce at least-wise during the treaty and either to take away or howsoever to mitigate his sorrows and sores See the like chap. 15.20 21. And let not his fear terrifie me i. e. His formidablenesse see chap. 7.14 let it not scare me or put me as it were beside my wits Psalm 88.15 Ne me transversum agaâ— Sept. Verse 35. Then would I speak and not fear him I would come boldly to the throne of grace and freely pour out my soul into his bosome If he meant that he would maintain his own cause against Gods proceedings as some understand it grounding upon chap. 33.6 7. he was questionless in a very great error and the flesh had got the hill of the Spirit But it is not so with me So how so as you imagine Vatab. Non sum talis qualem me esse putatis I am no such one as you take me for viz. an hypocrite I am not so self-guilty say the Septuagint or thus It is not so with me that is I do not find God answering my suit for I am still scourged and frighted so that I scarce know what I say CHAP. X. Verse 1. My soul is weary of my life BEcause it is a lifelesse life Mortis habet vires a death more like Life is sweet and every creature maketh much of it from the highest Angel in heaven to the lowest worm on earth The Scripture setteth it forth as a sweet mercy Gen. 45.28 Lam. 3.39 Esth. 7.3 Jer. 39.18 and 45.5 But God can so imbitter it with outward and inward troubles that it shall become a burthen I am weary of my life saith good Rebecca Gen. 27.46 and what good shall my life do me David forced to be in bad company cryes Oh that I had the wings of a dove c. Wo is me that I sojourn in Meshech c. Elias fleeing from Jezabel requested for himself that he might dye saying It is enough Lord take away my life for I am not better then my fathers 1 Kings 19.4 No Heb. 1â— but God had provided some better thing for him as the Apostle speaketh in another case for he was shortly after translated and taken out of the reach both of Jezabel whom he feared and of death which he desired Sed multi magni viri sub Eliae junipero sedent saith one Many good men sit under Eliâ—s his juniper wishing to be out of the world if God were so pleased that they might rest from their labours and be rid of their many burdens and bondages as in the mean while they rather endure life then desire it as holding it little better then hell were it not for the hopes they have of heaven hereafter I will leave my complaint upon my self Liberty I will take to complain whatever come of it I will lay the reins in the neck and let my passions have their full swinge at my peril See the like chap. 13.3 Verùm Job hac in re nimius saith Mercer but Job was too blame in doing and saying thus and it is to be attributed to the infirmity of his flesh wherewith although the spirit do notably combat yet the flesh seemeth sometimes and in some sort to get the better Nimis augusta res est â—â—spaim errare saith one Barclai Euphorm Triste mortalitatis privilegium est licere aliquando peccare saith another The snow-like swan hath black legs and in many things we offend all Gold is not to be refused because it wanteth some grains and hath a crack c. I will speak in the bitternesse of my soul And so seek to ease my grief by giving a vent unto it But it is evident that such out-bursts and overflowings of the gall and spleen come from a fulnesse of bad humours Verse 2. I will say unto God Do not condemn me You may say so as an humble suppliant but not as holding your self innocent and therefore harshly dealt with The Hebrew is Do not make me wicked rather do good ô Lord to those that be good and to them that are upright in their hearts but lead me not forthwith the workers of iniquity as a melefactor is led forth to execution Psal 125.5 Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me i. e. Quare sic me affligas saith Vatablus why thou thus afflictest me whether for sin or for triall and this Job desired to know not to satisfie his curiosity but his conscience as one well observeth and that the world might be satisfied the rash judgment of his friends confuted and answered by a determination from heaven Verse 3. 〈◊〉 it good unto thee that thou shouldst oppresse It is the guise of wicked judges to take this counsel to follow this course whom thou being a most just and righteous judge Beza canst not confirm or encourage by thine own example as it were by a light shining from above Thus Job rhetoricateth his complaints are high yet ever with an allay or mixture of modesty That thou shouldst despise the work of thine hands i. e. Me thy poor creature wilt thou do and undo make a man and unmake him again for thy minds sake Builders use not to ruin what they have built Artificers love and plead for their own handy-work Fathers foster their children with all tendernesse Some Authors dote upon their own doings as Laurentius Valla did upon his Logick as if there had been none such calling it in a bravado Logâ—câ—m Laurentinam and as Caâ—pian the Jesuite did upon his ten leaden reasons which he deemed and boasted to be unanswerable Heliodâ—rus would rather be unbishopped then yeild that his Ethiopick history a toilesome toy but the brat of his brain should be abolished The Saints are Gods building 1 Cor. 3.9 Handy-work Ephes 2.18 Children Job 1.12 Epistle known and read of all men 2 Cor. 3.2 3. This if we plead when sorely afflicted as the Church did Isa 64.8 And David Psalm 138.8 and Job here we may have any thing See that notable text Isaiah 45.11 And that other Isai 59.16 And shine upon the counsel of the wicked That is favour and further their designs God makes his Sun to shine upon such but himself never shineth upon them he may be angry enough with men though they outwardly prosper yea to prosper in sin is a most heavy judgment See Zacâ— 1.15 with the note there Verse 4. Hast thou eyes of flesh Which see but the surface of things and not that neither in the dark Hast thou not fiery eyes Rev. 1.14 that need no outward light but see by sending out a ray and pierce the inward parts also Hast thou not made the eye yea the optick vertue in the eye which seeth all and is seen of none If the Sun be the eye of the world God is much more the Greeks give him his name from seeing 〈◊〉
drunkards that they deserve double punishments first for their drunkennesse and then for the sin committed in and by their drunkennesse so do all men deserve double damnation first for the corruption of Nature signified by those legall pollutions by bodily issues and then for the cursed effects of it Gen. 6.5 Rom. 7.8 But it may bee Job here had an eye to that promise made to Noah after the flood Gen. 8.21 where the Lord moveth himself to mercy by consideration of mans native corruption even from his child-hood for he knoweth our frame c. Psalm 103.14 that is as the Chaldee Paraphrast explaineth it he knoweth our evill figment or thought which impelleth to sin hee knoweth it and weigheth it See the like Isa 48.8 9. Wee may beseech the Lord to spare us when we act sin because our natures are sinful but let not any go about either to palliate or extenuate their acts of sinne by the sinfulness of their natures as those doe who being told of their evil pranks and practises plead for them saying Wee are flesh and blood c. Not one Fortes creantur fortibus bonis but no meer man can bring forth a clean child out of unclean seed Adam begat a son after his own image Gen. 5.3 Corruptus corruptum That which is of the flesh is flesh John 3. Sin is propagated and proceedeth from the union of body and soul into one man That phrase Warmedin sinne Psalm 51.5 is meant of the preparation of the body as an instrument of evil which is not so actually till the soul come But we should not be so inquisitive how sin came in as how to be rid of it like as when a fire is kindled in a city all men are more careful to quench it then to question where and how it began Now there is one only way of ridding our hearts of sinne viz. to run to Christ and to believe in him For if the Son make you free ye shall 〈◊〉 indeed and hereunto both the Chaldee Paraphrast had respect likely when he rendred this text Cannot One that is Cannot God As also the Vulgar Latine Nonne tu qui solus es Canst not thou alone sc by thy merit and Spirit according to that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.11 Verse 5. Seeing his dayes are determined c. God hath set every man both his time whether shorter called here his dayes or longer the number of his months they have both their bounds which none can passe and also his task Acts 13.25 Hieron ep ad Fu. John fulfilled his course in brevi vitae spatia tempora virtutum multa replevit and he lived long in a little space he wrought hard as not willing to be taken with his task undone So verse 36. David after hee had served his owne generation and had done all the will of God fell on sleep See more of this on chap. 7.1 Thou hast appointed his bounds Heb. His statutes It is appointed for all men once to die Heb. 9.27 once for all and for ever it is appointed and this statute is irrepealable Here then we see the cause why some likely to live long die soon and others more infirme live longer God hath set the bounds of each ones life to a very day Virg. The bounds may be passed which our natural complexion setteth the bounds cannot be passed which the providence and will of God setteth Stat sua cuique dies Verse 6. Turn from him that he may rest Heb. Look away from him i. e. from me look not so narrowly and with such a critical eye upon mine out-strayes thus to hold me still on the rack look not so angerly afflict me not so heavily but let me rest or cease from my present pressures and doleful complaints and spend the span of this transitory life with some comfort and then let the time of my departure come when thou pleasest Till he shall accomplish as an hireling his dayes That is saith the Glosse till I am as willing to die as a labouring man is to go to supper and to bed The word rendred accomplish signifieth properly to acquiesce and rest in a thing and vehemently to desire it The Saints when they die shall rest in their beds Isâ—i 57.2 they rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 presently straight upon the stroke of death no sooner have they passed under the flaming sword of that punishing Angel but they are forthwith in Paradise Here they are seldome quiet but tossed up and down as the ball upon the racket or ship upon the waves and hence it is that they sometimes fret or faint as Job and speak unadvisedly with their lips these firm mountains are moved with earth-quakes these calm seas are stirred with tempests and truly whosoever hath set himself to do every dayes work with Christian diligence to bear every dayes crosses with Christian patience and is sensible of his failings in both libentèr ex vita qunsi pleno passu egredietur saith one he will be full glad to be gone hence and be as weary of his life as ever any hireling was of his work See the Notes on chap. 7.1 2. Verse 7. For there is hope of a tree c. Here Job setteth on his request verse 6. with a reason God loveth a reasonable service and liketh well that we reverently reason it out with him And for the literal sense all things saith Gregory are so plain that there is no need to say any thing to that it being no more then this either I shall have comfort in this world before I die or never here therefore grant me rest now This argument Job illustrateth 1. By a dissimilitude here 2. By a similitude Merlin verse 11 12. The dissimilitude betwixt a tree and a man is this a tree may be hewed and felled yet feel no pain Again succisa repullulat imbribus irrigata a tree cut down if well watered will spring and sprout up again But now man as he is very sensible of every stroke of Gods hand neither can he suffer sickness or other affliction without smart so when once cut down by death he can by no means be recovered he cannot revive without a miracle Verse 8. Though the roots thereof wax old in the earth And so the more unlikely to shoot forth again Trees also have their old age wherein they decay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the stock thereof die in the ground Heb. in the dust as it needs must when cut off from the root it lieth along on the earth It was by a miracle that Aaroâ—s rod flourished not only all the plants of Gods setting but the very boughs cut off from the body of them shall 〈◊〉 and be fruitful Verse 9. Yet through the sent of water it will bud Heb. from the smell of waters a sweet Metaphor saith Merlin sense being attributed to things senselesse as smelling to the fire Judg. 16.9 and
here to trees which are said to turn themselves and their roots after a sort to take in the smel of the water and thereby refreshed to bud and bring forth boughs like a plant This is check to those that live under the droppings of the ordinances and yet are like the Cypress-treâ— which the more it is watered proves the lesse fruitful and being once out down it never springs again whence the Romans who believed not a resurrection were wont to place a Cypresse-tree at the threshold of the house of death as Pliny and Serâ—iâ—s tell us Serv. in Virg. l. 4. Plin. lib. 16. cap. 32. Verse 10. But man dieth and wasteth away Heb. strong and lusty man Homo quantumvis rooustus Vat. dieth and wasteth away or is cut off sc worse then a tree for he growes no more or is discomfited vanquished as Exod. 17.13 and 32.18 sc by death and so carried clean out of this world Yea man giveth up the ghost Homo vulgaris plebeius All of all sorts must die whether noble or ignoble as Rabbi Abraham here observeth Job is very much in this discourse about death and surely as Nazianzen wisheth of hell so could I of death Vtinam ubique de morte dissereretur oh that it were more in mens minds and mouths then it is And where is he q. d. No where above ground or if he be putrefit teterrimè olet he putrifies and stinks filthily and as his life is taken away so is his glory yea being once out of sight he growes by little and little out of mind too little thought of less spoken of many times not so much as his name mentioned or remembred in the next generation Eccles 1.11 There is no remembrance of former things or men neither shall there be any remembrance c. So Eccles 2.16 and 8.10 and 9.5 Hence the state of the dead is called the land of forgetfulnesse Psalm 88.12 And Psalm 31.12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind Heathens also say the same Hor. lib. 4. Carm. 7. Cum somel occideris de te splendida Minos Fecerit arbitria Non Torquate genus non te facundia non te Restituet pietas Verse 11. As the water fall from the sea He sets forth the same truth by an elegant similitude drawn from the drying up of waters Look how these after some exundation of the sea or some great river are separated and left upon the reflux thereof behind the rest upon the land which cannot return for then they must ascend which is impossible to nature nor continue but do utterly dry up Sanctius Abbot and evaporate So c. verse 12. Others read it thus As when the waters from the feafail the flood decaieth and dryeth up so when mans life is taken away it returns no more while this world lasteth God hath made in the bowels of the earth certain secret wayes passages and veins through which water conveigheth it self from the sea to all parts and hath its saltnesse taken away in the passage Thence are our springs and from them our rivers but in hot countryes and dry seasons springs are dry and rivers want water exceedingly as at this time they do March 7. 1653. So when natural moisture decayeth in man he faileth and dieth the radical humor that supplement and oyl of life is dried up and can be no more renewed till the last day when yet it shall not be restored to the same state and moisture but instead of natural rise spiritual 1 Cor. 15. Verse 12. So man lieth down sc in the dust of death or in the bed of the grave his dormitory till the last day Vt somnus mortis sic lectus imago sepulchri And riseth not scil To live again among men so Psalm 78. Man is compared to a wind which when it is past returneth not again If it be objected that we read of three in the old Testament and five in the new raised from death to life besides those many that arose and came out of the graves after Christs resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared unto many Matth. 27.52 53. It is answered 1. These few raised by Gods extraordinary power do not infringe the truth of what the Scripture here and elsewhere affirmeth of all mankind according to the ordinary course of nature 2. Even those men also afterwards died again and vanished no more to return or appear again in this world Till the heavens be no more i. e. Never say some interpreters to wit vi suâ by his own strength and to a better condition in the land of the living so the word until is used 2 Sam. 6.13 Matth. 5.26 and 1.25 ut piè credimus How sound and clear Job was in the point of the Resurrection we shall see chap. 19. and because he falls upon it in the words next following here some understand these words thus They shall not rise till the general resurrections when these heavens shall be changed and renewed Psalm 102.25 26. Isaiah 65.17 2 Peter 3.7.10 11. Rev. 21.1 They shall not awake Out of the sleep of death nor be raised viz. by the sound of the last trump till the last day But raised they shall be and sleep no more viz. when the heavens shall be no more And till that time the bodies of the Saints are laid in the grave as in a bed of down or of spices to mellow and ripen this is matter of joy and triumph Isa 26.19 Dan. 12.2 when they were to lose all so Heb. 11.35 The wicked also sleep in the grave Dan. 12.2 but shall awake to everlasting shame and contempt ib. their sick sleep shall have a woful waking for they shall be raised by vertue of Christs judiciary power and by the curse of the law to look upon him whom they have pierced and to hear from him that dreadful discedite Depart ye cursed c. Verse 13. O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave As in a sweet and safe repository sanctuary Sepulchrum est quasi scrinium vel capsa in quam reponitur corpus my soul mean-while living and raigning with thee in heaven expecting a glorious Resurrection and saying How long Lord Holy and True The fable or fancy of Psychopannychia hath been long since hissed out though lately revived by some Libertines that last brood of Beelzebub our Mortalists especially who say that the body and soul die together But what saith the Apostle Rom. 8.10 If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sinne but the spirit is life because of righteousnesse Now that Job thus woos death and petitions for the grave it is manifest that he saw some good in it and that he promised himself by it Malorum ademptionem bonorum adeptionem freedom from evil and fulnesse of good we should learn to familiarize death to our selves and put the grave under the fairest and easiest apprehensions think we hear God
as was Alphonso the wise the Fool rather who feared not to say openly Roderic sanct Hâ—st Hispan p. 4. ch 5. That if he had been of Gods Council at the Creation some things should have been better made and marshalled The wisest men are benighted in many things and what light soever they have it is from the Father of Lights whose judgements are unsearchable and his wayes past finding out what a madness were it therefore for any mortal to prescribe to the Almighty or to define whom when by what means and in what measure he must punish offendors Herein Jobs friends took too much upon them and he gives them the telling of it wishing them to be wise to Sobriety and not to give Laws to God who well knoweth what he hath to do and how to order his earthly kingdom To disallow of his dealings is to reach him knowledge which is greatest sawciness Seeing he judgeth those that are high Excelsos in excâ—lsis the Angels who are so far above us in all manner of excellencies and yet are ignorant of the wisdom of Gods wayes which they know but in part for how little a portion is heard of him Job 26.14 His judgements therefore are rather to be adored than pryed into Mirarioportet non rimari let us rest contented with a learned ignorance Verse 23. One dieth in his full strength Iste moritur There 's one dieth in his very perfections or in the strength of his perfection when he is in the Zenith in the highest degree of earthly felicity And he seemeth to point at some one eminent wicked person well known to them all Confer Eccles 9.2 God is pleased to do wonderful contradictory things in mans reason so that we must needs confess an unsearchableness in his wayes In hoc opere ratio humana talpâ magis caecâ—est saith Brentius In this work of his humane reason is blinder then a Mole Averroes turned Atheist upon it and Aristotle was little better as being accused at Athens and banished into Chaelcis quod de divinitate malè sentiret Being wholly at ease and quiet At ease in body and quiet in minde The common sort ask What should ayle such a man The Irish What such an one meaneth to die Verse 24. His Brests are full of milk and his Bones c. He is well lined within as we say having abundance of good blood and fresh spirits in his body fat and plump and well liking He is enclosed in his own fat Psal 17.10 His back is well larded and his bones are moistened with marrow which Plato saith Plat. in Timâ—â— is not only the sourse and seminary of generation but the very seat of life Now such a state of body as is here described is no defence at all against death saith Job Nay it is a presage and a forerunner of it many times For ultimus sanitatis gradus est morbo proximus say Physicians the highest degree of health is nearest to sickness We many times chop into the earth before we are aware like a man walking in a field covered with Snow who falleth into a pit suddenly Verse 25. And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul Heb. And this dieth with a bitter soul in a sad and sorrowful condition having suffered many a little death all his life long as godly men especially use to do being destitute afflicted Heb. 11. tormented seldom without a cross on their backs and then dieth not only in the sorrows of death but in the sorrows of life which to him hath been a liveless life because a joyless life And never eateth with pleasure Either because he hath but Prisoners pittance which will neither keep him alive nor suffer him to die Or if he sit at a full table yet his body is so ill affected by sickness or his mind with sorrow that he finds no good relish in what he eateth That it is better with any of us see a mercy and be thankful Verse 26 They shall lye down alike in the dust and worms c. Death and Afflictions are common to them both as Eccles 9. How then do ye pronounce me wicked because afflicted and free among the dead free of that company c And the worms shall cover them Who haply were once covered with costliest cloathing The best are but worms-meat why then should we pamper and trick up these Carcasses câ— Verse 27. Behold I know your thoughts sc By your words as it is no hard matter for a wise man to do Prov. 20.5 for otherwise God only knoweth the heart 1 Pet. 1.24 Psal 139.3 it is his royalty But when men discover their thoughts by their discourses looks gestures c. we may say as Job doth here I know your thoughts and that by the wicked wretch described by you my self is intended this I am well aware of though you hover in generals and speak in a third person Lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oblig Bartolus writeth of Dr. Gabriel Nelâ— â—hat by the only motion of the Lippes without any utterance he understood any mans thoughts The like some say they can do by looks The Italians have a proverb That a man with his words close and his countenance loose may travel undiscovered all the world over And the devices which you wonderfully imagine against me viz. To take away as it were by violence my Credit and Comfort this is the foulest theft avoid it Verse 28. For ye say Where is the house of the Prince Ye say though not in so many words yet upon the matter Where is this mans Jobs princely pomp and port that but even now was so splendidous A Prince they called Job in a jear Per ironiâ—m antiphrafin Vaâ—ab and by contraries saith Vatablus because he had been rich and should have been liberal and munificent but had not been so The Apostle calleth the Pharisees and Philosophers in like sort Princes of this world 1 Cor. 2.8 And where are the dwelling places The Palaces large and lofty Junius ut sunt pratoria et principum aedes as the houses of Princes use to be Lavater rendreth it Taberâ—â—cillum babitaculâ—t 〈◊〉 The Tabernacle of Tabernacles as Gentlemens houses amongst us are called Places Halls Courts c. Of the Wicked viz. Of Job and his Children the eldest sons especially which was blown down chap. 1.18 As if it might not befal a good man also to have his house plundered burnt his children brained c. They had often in their discourses jerked at Jobs children Verse 29. Have ye not asked them that go by the way The cause of that their rash judgement Job sheweth here to be their ignorance of things known to every ordinary passenger and such as whereof there are many pregnant proofes and Examples every where Some by them that go by the way understand men by experience such as have gone many voyages c. made many observations in their Travels of things
the Papists falsely infer from Matth 5.22 dispossessing a man of his wit and reason and disfiguring his body with fierinesse of the face swelling of the veines stammering of the tongue gnashing of the teeth and many other impotent and unmanly behaviours Hence angry men were counselled in the hear of their fit to look themselves in a glasse where they may see themselves swolne like a toad glowing like a divel c. But Elihues anger was not of this kind A fire it was but the 〈◊〉 of God as holy Zeal is called Cant. 8.6 a most vehement flame as it is there rendred kindled upon the hearth of his heart by the spirit of judgement and of burning Isai 4.4 and such as many waters could not quench for this zeal is the extreme heat of all the affections and the coales thereof are coales of fire Cant. 8.6 only we must see that it burn clear and quick without all smoak of sin wherein though Elihu somewhat faulted yet because he was right for the main all was well taken We are apt to mingle sin with our best actions and so to plow with an Oxe and an Asse But God considers whereof we are made and graciously layes the finger of mercy on the scars of our sinnes as that Limner in the Story Of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite Descended he was of good parents Fortes creantur fortibus bonis who gave him a good name signifying He is my God or My God is Jehovah to inmind him of his duty whereunto we have need of all helps that may be His fathers name Barachel signifyeth One whom God hath blessed He had blessed him indeed in so good a son as could not but make him a glad father Prov. 10.1 The Buzite he is called either from his Progenitor Buz the son of Nahor who was the brother of Abraham and had by Milcah Huz his first-born of whom some think Job came and Buz his brother Gen. 22. 21. Tradit in Gen. Or else from his country the City of Buz a City of Idumea Jer. 25.23 Hierom will have this Elihu to be the same with Balaam who whiles young was a Prophet of God and dealt thus divinely with Job but afterwards being corrupted by Balac he became the Divels Spelman This I look upon as a Jewish tradition not much to be credited His pedigree is here more fully described Vt certitudo hâ—st ria ostenderetur saith Mercer That we might not doubt of the truth and certainty of the history so circumstanced as also because Elihu did better then the rest of Jobs friends who proved no better then Satans instruments How he came to make one amongst them we know not It is conceived that hearing of the going of the other three by consent to visit Job he also went to hear their conferences not doubting but that he should thereby very much benefit his understanding But failing in some sort of his expectation and finding both parties out in their discourses he steps forth and takes the boldnesse to interpose as an Arbiter or Moderator blaming both sides and beginning in the six following Chapters that determination of the difference betwixt them which God himself will afterwards finish Mean-while it is well observed by learned Beza Beza â—rafaâ—â— this chap. that Elihu in blaming Job as there was cause doth for the most part interpret Jobs words far otherwise then he meant them and moreover that even in finding fault with those things that were justly to be found fault withal he kept not alwayes that moderation that was meet which is evident to godly men and especially such as are of a more earnest nature and disposition so hard a thing is it even when we do well not to offend on the one side or on the other But if we consider how far Job being thereto driven by the importunity of his Accusers and his most intolerable calamity did range out of the right way and how we are all given even to the uttermost to defend and maintain our credit and estimation especially when we are therein touched by those men who ought least of all others to have done the same We shall confesse that it was very requisite and necessary for Job rather to be censured in this sharp manner as he was then after any milder sort to the end he might the better acknowledg and humble himself before God as alwayes he had done till through the slanderous speeches of his friends he was drawn into these altercations Of the kindred of Ram â— E familia Syra so Tremellius as if Ram were put for Aram. The Chaldee saith it is put for Abraham who was first called Râ—m secondly Abram thirdly Abraham But Elihu was of the family of Nâ—hor rather then of Abraham and Ram seemeth to have been some famous man of that family Because he justified himself rather then God This he did not directly totidem verbis but by consequence and Elihu was kindled at it It is a blessed thing to have a stomack for God and to be blown up in his Cause as was Moses Exod. 22. Eliah with his Zelando zelavi Phinehas David Christ Job 3.17 the Angel of Ephesus Rev 22. To be all on a light fire with love to God and indignation against all that do him any dishonour by word or deed Jâ—b had uttered some discontented speeches against God which reflected upon his Justice and Goodnesse he had also despaired of a restauration and most earnestly wished for death c. and thereby seemed to justifie himselfe rather then God this good Elihu could not brook Verse 3. Aâ—so against his three friends was his wrath kindled True zeal is of a most masculine dis-ingaged couragious nature like fire it catcheth on every side and is impartial Elihu was a man made â—ll of fire walking among stubâ—le as Châ—ysosâ—om saith of Peter And surely he that is not angry against sin whether in himself or others it is because either he knowes it not or hates it not as he ought He also kept within the bounds of modesty and moderation and expressed himselfe without bitternesse We read of Idacius that he would needs be doing with Sâ—lvianus and Instantius both Priscillianists Sulp. Sever. l. 2. p. 17 1. But by his passionate and intemperate language he not only not converted them but made them worse Because they had found no answer They were gravelled and non-plust Act. Mon. as the Popish Doctors were oft by the Martyrs Philpot Ridley c. yea by those of the weaker sort as Anne Askew Alice Driver c. Speed 11 45. ex Grafton Hollinsâ—cad c. The Prolocutor in Convocation Anno 1553 confessed that those dejected Ministers afterwards Martyrs had the Word on their side but the Prelates in place the possession of the sword and that was their best answer to the others Arguments And yet had condemned Job condemned him for a wicked man as the word signifieth So the Popish
Ministers are said to be in Christs stead 2 Cor. 5.20 A great mercy that he will treat with us by men like our selves I also am formed out â—f the clay Et non ex meliore Intoâ—ffictus of the same make and matter with thy self cut out of the same lump dig'd out of the same pit He alludeth to Gen. 2.7 the wonderful formation of those Protoplast as a Potter moldeth his Pots cutting them out of the lump And the like God doth for men still by that viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in the seed making it prolifical and generative Verse 7. Behold my terrour shall not make thee afraid This Job had earnestly desired of God chap 9 24. 13.21 and Elihu as a cunning Disputant presseth him with his own words I am not saith he neither is it fit any mortal man should by his terrour and power ravish another of his right Religion Giants are called Emim Formidable and Nephilim because men fell before them through fear as some Zanzummims do the meaner sort of people by their belluine greatness as the Pope and his Janizaries do the Hereticks as they call those of the reformed Religion that will not reneague it not once hearing what they can say for themselves Either you must turn or burn say they This is monstrous immanity Neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee Brentius rendreth this verse thus Ecce frons mea non terreat te inclinatio mea super te non gravet Behold my forehead cannot fright thee neither can my bowing down upon thee surcharge thee I shall neither brow-beat thee nor quell thee with my weight that thou shouldest refuse to reason the case with me Periculosum est contra cum scribere qui porest proscribere illi contradicere qui pâ—â—â—st aqua igni interdicere It s ill meddling with those that are armed with great power and can as easily undo a man as bid it be done I must needs acknowledge you the better scholer said Phavorinus the Philosopher to Adrian the Emperour qui triginta habâ—s legiones Aelius Spart who hast thirty Legions at command But here was no such disparity or cause of fear in Job from his compere Elihu Verse 8. Surely thou hast spoken in my hearing Here beginneth the Charge Pro Plancis and it is for words Quae levitèr volant non levitèr violant Nihil tà m volucre quà m maledictum nihil faciliùs emittitur saith Cicero Nothing is so swift as an evil word nothing is more easily uttered But should a man set his mouth against heaven and utter errour against the Lord Isa 32.6 Should he toss that reverend Name of God to and fro with such impiety and prophaneness as if his speech could have no grace but in his disgrace as if Augustus Caesar were dealing with some god Neptune Lonicer theatr historic or the three sons trying their Archery at their fathers heart to see who can shoot nighest Surely as God is the avenger of all such so an Elihu cannot hear it and not be kindled Good blood will not bely it self Psal 139.20 21. They speak against thee wickedly and thine enemies take thy name in vain Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee I hate them with a perfect hatred c. The very Turks have the Christians blaspheming of Christ in execration and punish it in their Prisoners when through impatiency or desperateness they break out in this kind What a shame is it then that our Kanters that last brood of Beelzebub should till alate be suffered to affirm That Christ is a carnal or fleshly thing and to contemne him by the notion of The man dying as Jerusalem c Can we hear these hellish blasphemies without ears tingling hearts trembling c When Servetus condemned Zuinglius for his harshness he answereth In aliis mansuetus ero in blasphemiis in Christum non ita In other things I can bear as much as another but when I hear Christ blasphemed I am altogether impatient for why in this case patience would be blockishness moderation mopishness toleration cowardise Madness here is better than meekness c. Verse 9. I am clean without transgression Clear as the picked glass without defection Nitidus ego 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à Syriaca voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pectere I am innocent Heb. Neat and compt not a hair out of order as it was objected to Pompey the great Neither is there iniquity in me Nothing crooked or obtort But had Elihu ever heard Job saying thus Or did not he rather misinterpret his words Some proud Monk hath been heard to say Non haheo Domine quod mihi ignoscas I have not done any thing Lord that needeth thy pardon The reporter of Bellarmines life and death telleth us that when the Priest came to absolve him he could not remember any particular sin he had to confess till he went back in his thoughts as far as his youth But good Job had no such conceit of himself as may appear by many passages of his as chap. 9.2 and verse 20 21. chap. 14.4 c. Only out of the greatness of his grief and the unkind usuage of his friends who spared not without all reason to revile him as a most wicked and ungodly liver he did estsoones cast out some rash and harsh words against God see chap. 10.7 16.17 23.10 11. 27.5 and hence this Accusation here laid against him as a Perfectist or self-justitiary Verse 10. Behold he findeth occasions against me Or Breaches he picks quarrels with me and would fain find out somewhat in my carriage wherefore to break friendship with me and to break me in pieces But did Job ever say in this sort Not expresly so but by consequence and to the same purpose chap. 9.17 13.24 14.17 16.9 19.11 He counteth me for his enemy This indeed he had said and somewhat more chap. 13.24 16.9 30.21 as if God of his meer pleasure had made cruel wars upon him and exercised all kind of hostility against him as a vanquished enemy See the Note on chap. 13.24 19.11 Verse 11. He putteth my feet in the stocks c. See chap. 13.27 14.16 with the Notes Verse 12. Behold in this thou art not just In this thy Expostulation with God as if he had dealt unjustly with thee think the same of thy postulation or unreasonable request that God should give thee a reason why he so grievously afflicteth thee verse 13. thou art nothing less then what thou holdest thy self to be viz. just pure innocent Sorex suo perit indicio the Mole betrayes himself by casting up the mould and so dost thou good Job by throwing forth words without wisdom as God himself will once tell thee chap. 38.2 Canst thou be just whose words are thus unjust Never think it Thus Elihu is as nimble with Job but far more ingenuous as that Jesuite
those Ancients also called God by this sweet name of Father See John 8.41 Beza makes Elihu thus bespeaking Job for honours sake O my Father Job shall be yet still tryed The Tigurines read Haec autem in medium affero These things I produce that Jobs things may be most exactly discussed and wicked mens mouthes stopped Because of his answers for wicked men Who will take liberty by him to excuse their iniquity and speak dishonourably of God as he hath done Verse 17. For he addeth rebellion unto his sin Or He will adde viz. unlesse he be exercised and subdued by more and longer load of afflictions there will else be no hoe with him no ground will hold him The crosse is of singular use to tame that rebel Flesh and is therefore prayed for by Jeremy for himself chap. 10.24 and here by Elihu for Job who had before advisedly chosen affliction rather then sin and reckoned it as a mercy to be visited every morning and tryed every moment chap. 7.18 He clappeth his hands amongst us By way of irrision and as insulting over us This it may seem Job had done in a disdainful way against all that had beene spoken which maketh Elihu thus fiercely to charge him And multiplyeth his words against God By a strange pertinacy He delivereth him therefore unto God to be further afflicted as St. Paul did Hymenaus and Alexander unto Satan to be inwardly buffetted and bodily tormented as Act. 13.11 and 19.16 Vt castigati discerent that they might learn not to blaspheme 1 Tim. 1.20 CHAP. XXXV Verse 1. Elihu spake moreover and said HIs speech was for God as before and therefore he spake moreover For as Austin faith of the Feast of Pentecost Gaudet produci haec solennitas so we may say of a Discourse of this nature Gaudet produci haec sermâ—cinaâ—io the longer it is the better sith of God and his righteous dealing Non satis unquam dici potest as Lavater here hath it never can enough be spoken For although we all yeeld that God is just yet if any crosse befall us we are apt to question it and to think our selves hardly dealt with Verse 2. Thinkest thou this to be right Heb. Reckonest thou this to be right q.d. I appeal to thine own conscience This is a signe of great confidence in the Appealer yet may it be done by men of corrupt minds destitute of the truth Witnesse that bold Anabaptist Scult Annal. that in a solemn Dispuation at Tigure appealed to Zuinglius as if convinced in his own conscience he had inwardly favoured Anabaptism And those impudent Papists Gagge of the New Gospel Preface that report themselves to our consciences to tell them Whether our condemnation be not so expresly set down in our own Bibles and so clear to all the world that nothing more needs thereto then that they know to read and to have their eyes in their heads at the opening of our Bible To tell them more-over Idem ibid. whether England hath not brought forth within these few yeares past to the number of twenty several sorts of Bibles farre different one from another That thou saidst My righteousnesse is more then Gods Heb. My righteousnesse is before Gods Diodate rendreth it My Righteousnesse is from God that is I am sure God will justifie me though men condemn me But it is better to render it Prae Deo more then Gods see a like expression Heb. 12.24 understanding it of the justice of his Cause and not of his Person But taking it so too when and where did Job ever say that his righteousness was more then Gods No where surely in so many words for then doubtlesse Satan and not Job would have carryed away the victory in this conflict Neither surely could this be rightly gathered out of Jobs words but detorted and misconstrued Elihu therefore reproved him with two great austerity neither can any thing be pleaded for him but this that he pleaded for God of whose glory he was so very tender that he could not brook or bear with any syllable of a word that seemed to detract from it Verse 3. For thou saidst What advantage will it be unto thee Here he indeavours to prove the charge grounding upon some words of Jobs as chap. 9.22 and 10.15 which seem to hold out thus much that no good was to be gotten by leaving evil wayes sith good men and bad suffer and perish together But we must know that Job herein reasoned not of those things that fall out after death but only of the prosperous or unhappy estate of this life present denying and that rightly that we are hereby to judge of Gods love or hatred or of any mans honest or dishonest conversation Neither yet did he stand in defence of his own righteousness against God but only appealed to God as a most wise and just Judge against the false accusations of his fo-friends who by powring oyle into the fire as it were very much vexed and disquieted him all along Or what profit shall I have if I be cleansed from my sin Or What profit shall I have by it more then by my sin This if Elihu could have proved that Job had said he might very well have justified what he had wished to him and affirmed of him in the two last verses of the precedent Chapter Verse 4. I will answer thee and thy companions with thee Thy three friends who have not so well quit themselves in this Controversie as having answered little or nothing to this unsavoury saying of thine and to the rest of the by-standers which approve of thine opinion as people are apt to favour the weaker side as it is reputed and to encourage them Thus it befel Luther when he began first to reform Verse 5. Look unto the heavens and see Yea look into them if thou couldst as did Steven the Proto-Martyr Act. 7.56 and as our Saviour Christ as man could do say some with his bodily eyes and as a believer by the eye of his faith through the Perspective glass of the Promises may do doubtlesse The further we can look unto heaven or into it the better shall we conceive of that infinite distance that is betwixt God in heaven and men on earth God is far above the highest heavens therefore higher then any mortal can attain to him much lesse contribute any thing unto him by his righteousnesse or assault him by his wickedness Herodotus writeth That the Thracians once were so mad against their god Jupiter for raining downe upon them when ready to joyn battle with the enemy that they threw up their darts against heaven which shortly returned upon their own heads And of Caligula the Emperour it is storied that he thundred and lightned with certain Engines he had and if at any time a thunderbolt fell from heaven ipse contrà jaciâ—bat lapidem Dioin vit Calig he on the other side threw up a stone and used that Hemistich in
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
is like the beasts that perish Fecoribus morticiuis saith Junius the Beasts that dye of the Murren and so become Carrion and are good for nothing Vers 13. This their way is their folly This their fond conceit of an immortality is an egregious folly fully confuted by every days experience for the longest liver dieds at last as did beside the Antediluvian Patriarches Jounnes de Temporibus Armour-bearer to Charls the Great who dyed Anno Dom. Asteds Chronol 475. Naucler Purchas Pilâ—â— p. 481. 1139 aged three hundred sixty one years So the old man of Bengala in the East-Indies who was three hundred thirty five years old when he came to the Portugals from whom for his miraculous age he received a yearly stipend till he dyed He that lived in our days till one hundred and fifty years or thereabouts yeelded at length to Nature and yet men doat and dream still of an immortality The first doom that ever was denounced was Death Thou shalt surely dye and the first doubt that ever was made was concerning Death ye shall not surely dye ever since which time there is something of the spawn of that old Serpent left in our natures prompting us to doubt of that whereof there is the greatest certainty and although every man granteth that he shall dye yet there is scarse any man that futureth not his death and thinketh that he may live yet and yet and so long this is folly in an high degree and we should be sensible of it labouring to become neither fond of Life nor afraid of Death Yet their posterity approve their sayings Selah Heb. Delight in their mouth are as wise as their Ancestors tread in their tract take up their inward thoughts ver 11. observe the same lying vanities and so forsake their own Mercies Jon. 2.8 Selah q.d. O wonderful for see the issue of their folly Vers 14. Like sheep they are laid in the Grave These fatlings of the World these brainless yonkers that will not be warned by other mens harms but walk on in the same dark and dangerous ways whatever cometh of it these chop into the grave as a man that walketh in the Snow may do suddenly into a Marl-pit and there be smothered or rather are there pent up as Sheep are thrust up in a stall or stable to be slaughtered there and in Hell their souls they lye as Grapes in a Wine-press pickled Herring in a Barrel Stones in a Lime-furnace Tiles in a Brick-kiln c. Tanquam pecudes like sheep saith the Psalmist here and Junius his Note is Morticinas puta in cloacis exquiliis vel puticulis project as 3 like sheep that dying of the Murrain are thereupon cast into Ditches Jakes Boggs Death shall feed on them They shall be meat for Worms yea they shall be killed with death Rev. 2.23 which is worse than all the rest sin as an heavy grave-stone presseth them to death c. And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning i.e. at the Resurrection when the Saints shall share with Christ in his Kingdom when the wicked shall be his foot-stool and shall judge the World yea the Angels Others by morning understand suddenly or seasonably as Psal 46.5 And their beauty shall consume in the Grave All their pomp and bravery wherein they came abroad whiles alive as Agrippa and Bernice came to the Tribunal with a great deal of phancy Acts 25.23 and with which they affect to be buried in state Sic transit gloria mundi 1 Cor. 7.31 From their dwelling Whence they are carried to the Grave that dark house of all living Job 30.23 Some render the text thus Infernus habitaculum ipsis Hell shall be their habitation Tremellius thus Et formam corum consumat infernus receptam exhabit aculo ejus and Hell consume their shape that is their bodies now re-united to their souls received out of its House that is out of the Grave Vers 15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave Heb. From the hand of Hell q.d. I am and shall be in far better condition both in life at death Spe bona Doâ—ab indoctis diâ—forunt disisâ— Chilo and after death than any of the Worlds darlings why then should I fear as vers 51. why should I envie their seeming happiness which will have so sad a Catastrophe as vers 14 I shall have heaven and that is more worth than all For he shall receive me Selah A notable Text indeed and well worthy of a Selah a clear testimony for the immortality of the soul and for a better life after this as is well observed He sunt parabola hac sunt anigmasa saith a good Interpreter These are those Parables and these are those dark sayings mentioned vers 4. riddles to the wicked but cordials to the faithful Vers 16. Be not thou afraid David was comforted and so he would have others to be for as it was said of a certain Bishop of Lincoln that he held nothing his own but what he had bestowed upon others Hoc babeo quodcunque dedi so the Saints think their comforts nothing so comfortable unless others may share in them and fare the better by them When the glory of his house is increased viz. By a numerous Off-spring stately building gay furniture great rents and revenues for as they say of the metal they make glass of it is nearest melting when it shineth brightest so are the wicked nearest destruction when at greatest lustre Vers 17. For when he dyeth he shall carry nothing away Nothing but a Shrowd as that great Emperour caused to be proclamed at his Funeral He was a fool that on his Death-bed clapt a peece of Gold into his mouth and said Some wiser than some I will take this with me See Job 1.21 1 Tim. 6.7 with the Notes there His glory shall not descend after him No nor be able to breath one cold blast up-on him when he is burning in Hell O that wicked rich men would think of this before the cold Grave hold their bodies and hot Hell hold their souls Vers 18. Though whilst be lived he blessed his soul As that rich fool did Luk. 12. and that King of France who puffed up with the Marriage of his Sister to the King of Spain called himself by a new title Tres-bureuse Roy the thrice happy King but was soon after accidentally slain by the Captain of his Guard running at Tilt with him at the solemnizing of that same Marriage in the very beginning of his supposed happiness And men will praise thee when thou doest well to thy self Feathering thine own Nest and pampering thine own Carcass thou shalt bee sure of Parasites and Trencher-flies who will highly commend thee though against their own Consciences Rom. 1. ult The world generally admireth the happiness of such as live at full and ask what should such a one ayl The Irish ask what they meant to dye Vers 19. He
bosome-friend one that stood even with mee and upon the same ground as it were My guide In all mine affaires and actions so that I thought nothing well done that I did not by his advice and counsel my Duke my Doctor my Rabbi Davidis as Rabby David hath it out of Kabuenaki Vers 14. We took sweet counsell together It was my great delight to conferre and consult with him Religio a religandâ— especially about the things of God and the exercises of Religion which is or should be sacratissimum inter homines vinculum the straitest tye of all And walked unto the house of God in company But so do those false Italians who carry a pocket-Church-book with a pistol hid in the binding which turning to such a page dischargeth Il Mercurio Italico Introd a plot to intrap him whom they hate even while they are in their devotions together when there 's lest suspicion Vers 15. Let death seize upon them Irruat super illos mors as a mercilesse Land-Lord as a cruel creditor or as he in the Gospel who took his fellow by the throat and said Pay that thou owest mee A sad time it must needs be with the wicked when death shall come upon them with a writ of Habeas corpus and the Devil with another of Habeas animam Capiat illos mors so Aben-Ezra rendreth it Exigat mors in eos so Kimchi a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 89 2â— Here it is written saith he without an Aleph as it were with a swift hand and as if death and seize were all one word to note the sudden stroak of death and that it will soon dispatch them To which sense also some render it Decipiat eos mors Let death deceive them be too nimble for them And let them go down quick into Hell As did Dathan and his complices Numb 16. See on verse 9. According to this imprecation Ahitophel and Judas hanging themselves went to Hell alive that is hail and well not infeebled by sicknesse first Augustine saith that Hereticks do the like falling with open eyes and self-condemned For wickednesse is in their dwellings and among them Heb. In their so journing-place for here we are but guests or sojourners and in the middle of them that is in their hearts and houses both undique circumfluunt malitia maleficiis they are as naught as need to be Vers 16. As for mee I will call upon God Or I have called upon God sc for good to bee done to my self verse 1. c. and for evill to mine enemies verse 9. c. of which sort of imprecations see the Note on Psal 35.4 And he hath heard mee I know he hath both for my self vers 17 18. and against them 19 20 21. for why first they fear not God 19. secondly they break covenant 20. thirdly they use deceit 21. These courses will work their ruth and ruine Vers 17. Evening and morning and at noon will I pray So Daniel prayed three times a day chap. 6.10 and in the Temple they prayed at the third sixth and ninth hour of the day The Saints set themselves certain hours to pray in besides extraordinary occasions puttinâ— them upon that daily sacrifice the better to arrouse their spirits and to keep constant intercourse with God Papists have their set times and Mahometans what occasion soever they have either by profit or pleasure to divert them will pray five times every day This they do of form and custome not of conscience take we heed of those ordinary marre-goods formality and customarinesse it hath been bewailed before that many hold only a certain stint of daily duties as malt-horses their pace or mil-horses their round and rest upon them when they have done using the means as Mediators and so fall short of Christ And cry aloud Rousing up my self and wrestling with God not in a customary frigid bedulling way but with all intention of spirit and contention of speech And he shall hear my voice How should he do otherwise I comming upon him with such earnestnesse Preces fundimus caelum tundimus misericordâ—as extorquemus said those Primitive Christians whose prayers came before God as the noise of many waters Rev. 14.2 Vers 18. Hee hath delivered my soul in peace from the battel This he speaketh upon his prayer by the force of his faith as being assured of victory before the battel was fought or stroak struck as they say For there were many with mee i.e. Gods holy Angels as 2 King 6.16 17. Vel multi ex Israele orantes pro Davide sic Aben-Ezra Vers 19. God shall hear sc My prayers which are on the file before him and as Sollicitours with him Mittamus preces lachrymas cordis legatos saith Cyprian Up go prayers down come deliverances And afflict them Ludit ambiguitate verbi The same word signifieth to afflict and to answer q.d. he shall answer mee but afflict them answer them with blows with bitter answers Even he that abideth of old And is therefore no changeling Sedet Deus ad judicandum surgit ad puniendum Aug. the Eternity of Israel cannot lye nor repent for he is not a man that he should repent 1 Sam. 15.29 neither can mine enemies hide themselves from him in any starting-holes Selah Id est modo honorabili saith R. Gaon Or So be it O Lord. It is set in the middle of the verse as respecting both parts of it Because they have no changes therefore they fear not God Changed they are not by repentance which is such a change of the heart as bringeth forth a reformed life but continue obstinate and obdurate neither have they any alterations in their outward estate they are not poured from vessell to vessell have a constant prosperity such as Demetrius called mare mortuum a dead Sea and do therefore settle upon their lees cast away all care of God and his service Vers 20. He hath put forth his hands c. That wicked Ahitophel hath The Fathers understand it of God and his Judgements He hath broken his Covenant His oath of allegiance and a particular oath when he was sworn of Davids counsel Herod Melp The Scythians were strict covenant-keepers and the Carthaginians infamous for the contrary as now the Turks are Vers 21. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter Full finely he could sooth and smooth mee up whiles he was my counsellor with his Pithanologie Mel in ore verba lactis Fel in corde frans in fact is But war was in his heart Heb. His heart was war so in another Psalm David saith of himself I am peace but when I speak of it they are for war His words were softer than oyl So were Joabs to Amasa Judesses to Christ Ctesias Cambyses's to his Brother whom he slew Andronicus's to his Nobles put to death by him whiles he wept over them as if he had been the sorrowfullest man alive Turk Hist sol
inane Other Kingdoms have their times and their turns their rise and their ruines not so Christs and this is great comfort His name shall be continued Filâ—â—â—â— nomini 〈◊〉 it shall be begotten as one Generation is begotten of another Heb. His name shall be childed that is so continued as Families are continued there shall bee a constant succession of Christs Name to the end of the World there will still be Christians who are his Children Heb. 2.13 14. The old Hebrews tell us that Jâ—nnâ—n the Hebrew word â—ere used is one of Christs Names And men shall be blessed in him Or they shall bless themselves in him viz. in Salomon but especially in Christ of whom Salomon was but a shadow All Nations shall call him blessed If all Generations shall call the Mother of Christ blessed Luke 3.48 how much were Christ himself Vers Sunt verba leribae ut hodit Aben-Ezra ex R. Jehudah 18. Blessed be the Lord God 〈…〉 these are the words of the Psalmist say the Rabines blessing God who had given Leâ—â—gneph church strength to him fainting to finish the Second Book of the Psalms as he had done the Firsst or rather praising God for all the 〈…〉 the Lord Christ Vers 19. And blessed 〈…〉 so unsatisfiable and unweareable are the 〈…〉 a Christ And 〈◊〉 God expecteth that 〈…〉 by all his at all 〈…〉 Vers 20. The Prayer 〈…〉 PSAL. LXXIII A Psalm of Asaph Who was not only an excellent Musician but a Prophet also an Oratour and a Poet not unlike for his stile to Horace or Persius This and the ten next Psalms that bear this name in the front consist of complaints for most part and sad matters Vers 1. Truly God is good to Israel Or Yet God is c. Thus the Psalmist beginneth abruptly after a sore Conflict throwing off the Devil and his fiery Darts where-with his heart for a while had been wounded It is best to break off temptations of corrupt and carnal reasonings and to silence doubts and disputes lest wee be foyled Hee shoots saith Greenham with Satan in his own bow who thinks by disputing and reasoning to put him off To such as are of a clean heart Such as are Israelites indeed and not Hypocrites and dissemblers For as for such as turn a side unto their crooked wayes the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity as malefactours are led forth to execution but Peace shall be upon Israel Psal 125.5 upon the Israel of God Gal. 6.16 Vers 2. But as for mee my feet were almost gone i. e. I was wel-night brought to beleeve that there was no divine providence as the Athenians did when their good General Nicias was worsted and slain in Sicily as Pompey did Thucid. when having the better cause he was overcome by Cesar as Brutus did that last of the Romans as he was called for his courage when beaten out of the field by Anthony he cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now I see that vertue is nothing but all things are moderated by Fortun whom he charged his children therefore to worship as a goddesse of greatest power My steps had welâ—nigh slipt Quasi nihil effusi sunt gressus mei that is as Kimchi interpreteth it Status meus crat tantillus quasi nullus esset pre figendo peds locus I had scarce any fastening for my feet my heels were gone almost What wonder then that Heathens have been stounded and staggered Cum rapiaent mala fata bonos ignoscite fasso Sollicitor nullos esse putare Deos. Saith Ovid. And to the fame purpose another Poet. Marmoreo Licinies tumulo jacet Cato parve Pompeius nullo quis putet esse Deos Vers 3. For I was envious at the foolish Heb. At the Bragadochies the vain-glorious the mad-boasters I aemulated and stomached their prosperity Jact abundis compared with mine own far-worse condition Godly men though cured of their spirituall phrenzy yet play oft many mad tricks one while fretting at the prosperity of their adversaries and another while murmuring at their own afflictions or plotting courses how to conform themselves to the World c. When I saw the prosperity of the Wicked This hath ever been a pearl in the eyes not of the Heathens only but of better meu See Jer. 12.1 2 Habbak 1.3 Psal 37. c. Yet Seneca writeth a treatise of it and sheweth the reasons if at least he beleeved himself therein Erasmus passeth this censure of him Read him as a Pagan and he writeth Christian-like read him as 2 Christian and he writeth Pagan-like Vers 4. For there are no bands in their death Or No knots and knorles they dye without long sicknesse or much pain or trouble of mind If a man dye â—ike a Lamb and pass out of the World like a bird in a shel he is certainly saved think some The wicked are here said to dye quietly as if there were no loosening of the band that is betwixt soul and body Julian the Apostate dyed with these words in his mouth Vitam reposcents natura tanquam debitor bonae fidei redditurum exulto Anomian that is I owe a death to Nature and now that she calleth for it as a faithfull debtour câ—â—t lib. 7. 〈◊〉 Diodor. I gladly pay it The Princes of the Sogdians when they were drawn forth to death by Alexander the great carmen more latumtium etcinerut tripuâ—isque gaudium animi ostentare caperunt They sang and danced to the place of execution But their strength is firm They are lively and lusty they are pingues praevalidi fat and fair-liking fat is their fortitude so some render it Others strong is their porch or Palace Vers 5. They are not in trouble as other men But live in a serene clime under a perpetuall calm as he did of whom it is storied that he never had any crosse but at last was nailed to a cross Polycrates I mean King of Egypt Marullâ—â— telleth us that Ambrose comming once to a great mans house who boasted that he had never suffered any adversity Marul l. 5. c. 3. he hasted away thence and said he did so we una cum â—omine perpetuis prosperitatibus uso periret lest he should perish with the man that bad been so extraordinarily prosperous And no sooner was he and his company departed but the earth opened and swallowed up that mans house with all that were in it Vers 6. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain The pride of their hearts breaketh forth in their costly habits whiles they are torquati auro ac gemmis amicti setting up their plumes as Peacocks which have their names in Hebrew from the joy they take in their fair feathers so do these glory in their pride and are puffed up with a foolish perswasion of their own prudence Vermis divitiarum est superbia Charge the rich that they be not high-minded 1 Tim. 6.17 He is a great rich man saith
their lives leaving all behind them The Rabbines expound it they are spoyled of their understanding infatuated They have slept their sleep Their long Iron-sleep as the Poets call it of Death The destroying Angel hath laid them fast enough and safe enough And 〈◊〉 of the men of might Viri diviliâ—rum the vulgar rendreth it Men of riches such as are all 〈◊〉 but men of might is better these men of their hands could not finde their hands when Gods Angel took them to do Vers 6. At thy rebuke O God c. i. e. with thy mighty word of command and without any more ado God can nod men to destruction Psal 80.16 blow them into Hel Job 4.9 rebuke them to death as here do it with as much ease as he that swimeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim Isa 25.11 The Chaiâ—â— and the Horse The Chieftains of the Army Vers 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈…〉 Herodotus saith that 〈…〉 was written 〈…〉 〈…〉 is Gods Wrath revealed plainly and plentifully Rom. 1.28 and 〈◊〉 he oft appeareth for his people and out of an engine The earth feared All was 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 Thunder 〈◊〉 Vers 9. When God 〈…〉 Being stirred up as it were by the prayers of his people as vers 2 3. To save all the 〈◊〉 of the earth Who cease not to seek the Lord to 〈◊〉 righteousness and judgement Zeph. 2.3 Vers 10. Surely the wrath of man shall praise theâ— As when 〈…〉 army was destroyeth the Istraelites sang praise yea the Aegyâ—ians built Altars as Isa 19. God by his wisdom ordereth and draweth the blinde and brute motions of the worst Creatures unto his own honour as the Hiâ—ts-man doth the rage of the Dogge to his pleasure or the Mariner the blowing of the Wind to his voyage or the 〈◊〉 the heat of the fire to his Work or the Physician the bloud-thirstiness of the Leech to a Cure saith a Reverend man The remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain Heb. Shalt thou gird 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is curb and keep within compass The Greek hath it It shall keep holy day to thee that is cease from working or acting outwardly how restless â—oâ—ver it be within Vers 11. Vow and pay to the Lord A plain precept and yet Bellarmine saith Lib. 2. de Monach cap. 17 De cult Sanctor cap. 9. 〈…〉 est praeceptum As for vowing to Saints hee granteth that when the Scriptures were written the Church had no such custom Saint-worship then is but new worship Let all that he round about him All the neighbouring Nations and so they did after Ashurs overthrow 2 Chron. 32.21 23. To him that ought to be feared Heb. To fear that is to God the proper object of fear called therefore Fear by an appellative property Vers 12. He shall cut off the spirit of Princes Vindâ—â—â—iabit he shall slip them off as one would do a bunch of Grapes or a Flower between ones fingers easily suddenly Auferet de 〈…〉 as he dealt by 〈◊〉 Princes He is terrible to Kings Enemies to his Church as most Kings are PSAL. LXXVII A Psalm of Asaph Or for Asaph Davids melancholy Psalm some call it made by him when he was in grievous affliction and desertion Out of which he seeketh to wind by earnest Prayer by deep Meditation upon Gods former favours and unchangeable nature and lastly by calling to minde Gods wondrous works of old both in proving and in preferving his Church and chosen Vers 1. I cried unto God with my voyce c. I prayed instantly and constantly and sped accordingly No faithful prayer is ineffectual Vers 2. In the day of my trouble The time of affliction is the time of supplication Psal 50.15 My fore 〈◊〉 in the night Heb. My hand was poured out that is stretched out in prayer or wet with continual weeping Non fuit remisse nec 〈◊〉 in lectum And ceased not Or was not tired in allusion belike to Moses his hands held up against Aâ—â—leck though My soul refused to be comforted I prayed on though I had little heart to do it as Daniel afterwards did the Kings work though he were sick or though with much infirmity whilst I rather wrangled with God by cavelling objections than wrastâ—ed with him as I ought to have done by important prayer Vers 3. I remembred God and 〈…〉 troubled 〈…〉 for God seemed to be angry and to cast out my prayers this made mee mourn and little less than 〈◊〉 My 〈…〉 With sense of Sin and seat of Wrath. This was a very grievous and dangerous temptation such as we must pray not to be â—â—d into or at least 〈◊〉 to be left under 〈…〉 Vers 4. 〈…〉 That I cannot speak Cura lâ—â—es loguuntur ingâ—ntes stupent Vers 5. I have considered the days of old What thou diddest for Adam Abraham Israel in Aegypt c. all which was written purposely that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope See Deut. 32.7 Vers 6. I call to remembrance my Song in the night i. e. My former feelings and experiments being glad in this scarcity of comfort to live upon the old store as Bees do in winter I commune with mine own heart Psal 4.4 see there And my spirit made diligent search For the cause and cure of my present distempers Vers 7. Will the Lord cast off for ever No not at all though the extremity and length of the Psalmists grief put him upon these sad Interrogatories with some diffidence touching the Nature and Promise of God Will he be favourable no more So the Devil and carnal reason would have perswaded him and did haply for a time But this very questioning the matter sheweth he yet lay languishing at Hopes Hospital waiting for comfort The Soul may successively doubt and yet beleeve Vers 8. Is his mercy clean gone for over They that go down into the pit of Despair cannot hope for Gods truth Isa 38.18 but so doth not any Saint in his deepest desertions Doth his promise fail for evermore Hath he retracted his Promises recalled his Oracles confirmed with Oath Seal No he will not suffer his faithfulness to fail nor alter the thing that is gone out of his mouth Psal 89.33 Vers 9. Hath God forgotten to be gracious So it seemeth sometimes to those that are long afflicted and short-spirited But what saith the Prophet Can a Woman forget her sucking childe that she should not have compassion on the Son of her womb Hâ—yt Geor. yea they may forget they may prove unnatural and grow out of kind as Medea and those Suevian women who threw their young Children at the Romanes under the conduct of Drusus Son in Law to Augustus instead of Darts yet God will not forget his people Isa 49.15 Indeed he can as soon forget himself and change his nature Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies These things the Psalmist speaketh not as utterly despairing but as one couragiously wrastling against an
musick far beyond that of the materiall Temple All my springs are in thee i. e. All my thoughts run upon thee with greatest delight My eyes are wholly fixt upon thee Calvin R. Solomon so some read it Others My bowels are in thee making these to be the words of the Psalmist But methinks they do better that make them to be the words of God promising plenty of grace and comfort to his people as from ever-flowing over-flowing fountains PSAL. LXXXVIII A Song or Psalm Psalmus totus luctuosus a dolefull ditty beginning and ending with complaints and therefore sung in the primitive times among other penitentiall Psalms at the publick confession of persons excommunicated Upon Mahalath Leannoth A musicall instrument sounding heavily as a shaulm doth and therefore called Infirmity for humbling or for Antiphonies A fit title Maschil of Heman the Ezrahite i.e. The instruction of Heman who was a very wise man 1 King 4.31 descended of Zerah the son of Judah 1 Chron. 2.4 and thence called the Ezrahite Brother to Ethan who penned the next Psalm 1 Chron. 2.6 Nobile par fratrum Vers 1. O Lord God of my salvation This is the only one expression of his faith found in this whole Psalm and it must be understood that he thus beleeved and prayed as here and verse 2 when he was at worst and most despairingly complained I have cryed day and night before thee Though in such a state as they were Act. 27.20 when neither Sun nor Star appeared yet he cast anchor and prayed still for day Vers 2. Let my prayer come before thee He did not cast out brutish and wild complaints and moans in misery as 't is naturall for people to do but poured forth his soul into Gods blessed bosome and now prayeth an answer Vers 3. For my soul is full of trouble Hypotyposis hominis luctuosissimè affecti Here we have the lively picture of a man under bitter affliction Extraordinary wise he was and extraordinary troubles he had None out of hell suffer more than Gods dearest children This good man felt himself in the suburbs of hell as it were And my life draweth nigh unto the grave Or Vnto hell The same word signifieth both because death is hells harbinger and would be so to the â—â—ect but for Christ Vers 4. I am counted with them c. I am looked upon as irrecoverable given up for desperate Conclamatum est I am as a man that hath no strength A man no man weak as water 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 5. Free among the dead Free of that company A mundo manumissus one of the Many among the Manes or Ghosts a free denizon of that society of that moiety of mankind that are dead Yea I am mortuorum minimus as R. Jonah rendreth it according to the Arabick Like the stain that lye in the grave That are thrown on heaps into a pit as after a field fought R. David Whom thou remembrest no more As to this present world and as it way seem to others with whom out fo sight out of mind dead folk are soon forgotten Varro thinks Lethum death hath its name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from forgetfulness because they which have now forgotten all the world should soon be forgotten of the world And they are cut off from thine hand Thy providence over them in matters belonging to life is at an end Vers 6. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit In cisterna infimbrum in the deepest dungeon in lutoso lacu such as Jeremy was cast into chap. 37. In the deeps In voraginâ—bus out of which none escapeth nothing can be boyed up as they call it Vers 7. Thy wrath lyoâ—b hard upon mee So it did upon David Psal 32.3 but especially upon the Son of David the Lord Christ of whose sufferings these were but types or as chips of his cross And thou hast afflicted mee with all thy waves But all this while it is thy doing and that carrieth comfort in it Vers 8. Thou hast put away mine acquaintance c. Job and David complain of the like misery Optimum solatium sodalitium but woe to him that is alone I am shut up Miserably inclaved in this forlorn comfortlesse condition a perpetual prisoner Vers 9. Lord I have called daily upon thee Which he would not have done if he had cast away his confidence for how shall they call upon him on whom they have not beleeved Rom. 10 The Saints when they want the Sun yet they have the day-star in their hearts Vers 10. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead Wilt thou delay to deliver mee till I am dead and then raise mee again by a miracle that I may praise thee But he should have considered that God neither needeth our poor praises not can his help ever come too late Shall the dead arise Heb. The Giants that is those that are swallowed up of death as the Giants were of the deluge Vers 11. Shall thy loving kindness c. The same again and verse 12. a third time pro more delentium See Psal 6.5 30.9 Vers 12. In the land of forgetfulness So the state and place of the dead is called and why see the Note on verse 5. Vers 13. But unto thee have I cryed O condescend to thy poor crying creature in extremity In the morning See the Note on Psal 5.3 Vers 14. Lord why castest thou off c. Luther saith of himself Just Jon. Ep. ad Melan. that after his conversion he lay three days in desperation And afterwards he sometimes suffered such desertions ut nec calor nec sanguis nec sensus nec vox superesset saith an eye-witnesse Vers 15. I am afflicted c. He was brought up in the School of temptations and kept in this form from his youth He was put soon too 't and so deep lessons had he set him that he had like to have lost his wits I am distracted saith hee I am held upon the wheel Vers 16. Thy foirce wrath c. As rivers of brimston Have cut me off Multis excisionibus ideoque duplicatur Tau Vers 17. They compassed mee about As the water compasseth the earth like a girdle Vers 18. Lover and friend c. See verse 8. and mark how mournfully he concludeth as doth also the Church Lam. â— ult PSAL. LXXXIX MAschil of Ethan the Ezrahite Who having out-lived Salomon and seen both the defection of the Ten Tribes from the House of David and the woful work made by Shishack King of Aegypt in the Kingdom of Judah 2 Chron. 12. composed this Psalm as it may seem and left it for an erudisive or instruction to all succeeding Ages what to do in such dismal changes and concussions That Jew-Doctor mentioned by Aben-Ezra was more nice than wise who would neither read nor hear this Psalm Quia videtur dura de Deo proferre because it seemeth to speak hardly of God vers 39. Vers 1. I will sing of
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
present wheresoever present The Heavens have a large place but they have one part here and another there Not so the Lord hee is not commensurable by the place but every where all-present But the Earth hath hee given Or let out as to his Tenants at will for he hath not made them absolute owners to do therein what they will and to live as they list Yee have lived in pleasure on the Earth and been wanton Jam. 5.5 A heavy charge Calvin tells of a loose fellow that used in his cups to alledge this text Vers 17 The dead praise not Therefore bee active for God while wee are upon Earth where for this hee give thus life and livelihood See Psal 6.6 Vers 18 But wee will blesse the Lord For if hee lose his praise in us hee will lose it altogether and so all things will come to nothing quod abfitâ— PSAL. CXVI VErs â— I love the Lord Heb. I love because the Lord hath heard c. Vox abrupta ecliptica an abrupt concise ecliptical expression betokening an inexpressible unconceiveable passion or rather pang of love such as intercepteth his voice for a time Saâ—â—â—beo Tremel till recollecting himself and recovering his speech hee becometh able to tell us not only that hee loveth or is well satisfied but also why he loveth and is all on a light flame as it were viz. Because hee hath heard my voice Though but an inarticulate incondite voice Lam. 3.56 Thou hast heard my voice hide not thine ear at my breathing at my cry And my supplications My prayers for grace when better formed and methodized Vers 2 because hee hath inclined his ear As loth to lose any part of my prayer though never so weakly uttered therefore hee shall have my custome Psal 65.2 O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come As long as I live Heb. in my dayes that is say some whilst I have a day to live Others sense it thus In the time of my affliction confer Psal 137.7 Lam. 1.21 which by the word dayes hee noteth to bee of long continuance Vers 3 The sorrows of death compassed mee See Psal 18.4 5. Pictura poetica ingentium periculorum Sorrows or pangs and those deadly ones and these compassed mee as a bird in a snare or a beast in a grin The pains of Hell or the griefs of the grave gat hold Heb. Found mee as Num. 32.23 I found trouble and sorrow Straits inextricable cause sorrows inexplicable The word signifieth such sorrow as venteth it self by sighing Isa 35.10 51.11 Vers 4 Then called I upon the name of the Lord That strong Tower whereto the Righteous run and are safe Prov 18.10 Others have other refuges the witch or Endor the god of Ekron the arm of flesh c. O Lord I beseech thee Ana blandiontis deprecantis particula The Psalmist here hath a sweet way of insinuating Sic Nâ—ì Philem. 20. Rev. 1.7 and getting within the Lord which oh that wee could skill of Deliver my soul q.d. It is my soul Lord my precious soul that is sought after oh deliver my soul from the sword my darling from the power of the dog Psal 18.20 Vers 5 Gracious is the Lord c. Gracious God is said to bee and mercifull that wee despair not Righteous also that wee presume not Or faithfull in performing his promises as 1 Joh. 1.9 and this was Davids comfort amidst his sorrows Vers 6 The Lord preserveth the simple Heb. The perswasible opposed to the scorner Prov. 19.25 the plain-hearted opposed to the guilefull 2 Cor. 1.12 11.3 Rom. 16.19 the destitute of humane help that committeth himself to God and patiently resteth on him for support and succour Psal 102.1 17. I was brought low Or drawn dry I was at a great under at a low ebbe I was exhausted or emptied as a pond strengthlesse succourlesse clean gone in a manner And hee helped mee The knowledge that David had of Gods goodnesse was experimentall See the like Rom. 8.2 A Carnal man knoweth Gods excellencies and will revealed in his word only as wee know far Countries by Maps but an experienced Christian as one that hath himself been long there 1 Cor. 2.14 15 16. Vers 7 Return unto thy rest O my soul The Psalmist had been at a great deal of unrest and much off the hooks as wee sayâ— Now having prayed for prayer hath vim pacativam a pacifying property hee calleth his soul to rest and rocketh it asleep in a spirituall security Oh learn this holy art Acquaint thy self with God acquiesce in him and bee at peace so shall good bee done unto thee Job 22.21 Siâ— Sabbathum Christi Luth. For the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Of Sertorius it is said that hee performed his promises with words only And of the Emperour Pertinax that he was magis blandus quam beneficus rather kind spoken than beneficiall to any Hinc dictus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Noâ— so the Almighty Vers 8. For thou hast delivered my Soul c. The better to excite himself to true thankfullnesse hee entreth into a particular enumeration of Gods benefits It is not enough that wee acknowledge what God hath done for us in the lump and by whole-sale See Exod. 18.8 how Moses brancheth out Gods benefits So must we rolling them as Sugar and making our utmost of them Vers 9. I will walk before the Lord Indefinenter aâ—bulabo I will not onely take a turn or two with God go three or four steps with him c. but walk constantly and in all duties before him with him after him Hypocrites do not walk with God but halt with him they follow him as a Dog doth his Master till hee comes by a carrion they will launch no further out into the main than they may be sure to return at pleasure safe again to the shore In the land i.e. here in this world called also the light of the living Psal 56.13 and 52.5 Job 28.13 Vers 10. I beleeved therefore have I spoken Fundamentum et fulcrum vera spei est fides viva Hope is the daughter of faith but such as is a staff to her aged mother and will produce a bold and wise profession of the truth before men as also earnest prayer to God It is as the Cork upon the Net though the lead on the one side sink it down yet the Cork on the other keeps it up Some translate the words thus I beleeved when I said I am greatly afflicted I beleeved when I said in my haste all men are Lyars q. d. Though I have had my offs and my ons though I have passed through several frames of heart and tempers of soul in my tryals yet I beleeved still I never let go my hold my gripe of God in any perturbation Vers 11. I said in my haste in my heat trepidation concussion out-burst Saints may have such as being but men subject to like passions and as
Gods Precepts but wee must practice them if wee would bee happy To keep thy Precepts diligently Nimis valde vehementer Odi nimium diligentes saith One but where the businesse is weighty and the failing dangerous one can hardly bee too diligent Let a man here do his utmost hee shall not overdo Vers 5 O that my wayes were directed c. David can wish well to that perfection which hee cannot attain unto The whole life of a good Christian is an holy desire saith Austin and this is alwayes seconded with indeavour without the which Affection is like Rachel beautifull but barren Vers 6. Then shall I not bee ashamed i. e. I shall bee highly honoured both by thee and all thy people able to look thee and them in the face free from an evill conscience When I have respect unto all thy Commandements Mine obedience being universal both for subject and object this is a sure sign of sincerity such as entitleth a man to true blessednesse vers 1. An Hypocrite is funam bulus virtutum as Tertullian phraseth it hee hath a dispensatory conscience his obedience is partiall and such as goeth in a narrow tract it extendeth not to the compasse of the whole Law and is therefore lost labour Vers 7 I will praise thee with uprightnesse David was yet but a learner and if God would teach him to profit in knowledge and holinesse hee would lift up many an humble joyfull and thankfull heart to him Vers 8 Lucan I will keep thy Statutes Yea and that very much or with vehemency as some read it usque valde this hee had said before was Gods command vers 4. and hee would do it Jussa sequi tam velle mihi quam posse necesse est O for sake mee not Or if at all as thou mayest without breach of promise yet not very much not usque valde not utterly Christ saith Greenham was forsaken for a few hours David for a few months and Job for a few years seven years faith Suidas for the triall and exercise of his faith and patience This might seem to them usque valde but it was not 〈…〉 Leave them God did to their thinking but forsake them hee did not forsake them he did in regard of vision but not in regard of union 〈…〉 Vers 9 Wherewith all shall a young man 〈◊〉 a lad a stripling who hath his name in Hebrew of 〈◊〉 to 〈…〉 and the same word 〈…〉 when â—hiâ—â—led 〈…〉 vanity of youth and 〈…〉 once affections begin to boil within them The Greek word for a youth comes from another that signifieth to bee hot and to boil up or scald 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such a one therefore had need if ever hee think to bee blessed as vers 1. to cleanse his wayes by cleaving to the word sith an impure heart and an undefiled inheritance will not stand together Cleanse his way Mundabit idest emenâ—abit The Hebrew word signifieth the cleansing of glasse which though it bee very clean yet will it gather filth even in the Sun-beams and of it self which noteth the great corruption of this slippery age and what care must be taken that it may shine as picked glasse or clearest Chrystall By taking heed thereto according to thy word Which is of a purifying property Job 15.3 17.17 and can cleanse the heart of a young man also where lusts are strong stains deep and will not out without fullers sope There is a sharpness in these wholesome or healing words that maketh us sound in the faith and sincere in practice as it did Mr. Paul Bains whose conversation when hee came first to Cambridge was so irregular that his Father being grieved at it before his death left with a friend forty pounds by the year desiring that his son might have it if hee amended his manners else not Hee did so and had it c. Mr. Clark lives When a Child is come to bee thirteen years and a day old the Jews account him a man and call him Barmitsuah a child of the Commandement because bound to live by the law Leo Mâ—denâ— oâ— Jewâ—riteâ— Vers 10. With my whole heart have I sought thee And that of a child little being nourished up in the words of faith and of good Doctrin 1 Tim. 4.6 I did all the wills of God and so became a man after his own heart Act. 13.22 O let mee not wander As I shall surely if thou but withdraw thy grace for I subsist meerly by thy manutension Vers 11 Thy word have I hid in my heart Ut peculium in Apotheca as treasure or as an amulet in a case or Chest as the pot of Manna in the Ark. That I might not sin against thee Set but the commination against the temptation and it will bee a speciall preservative Eve held the Precept but faltered in the threat The Rabbines have a saying In cuâ—us corde est lex Dei imâ—ginatio mala non habet in eum dominium Hee who hath the law of God in his heart is armed against evill lusts Vers 12 Blessed art thou or hee thou O Lord viz. For what thou hast already taught mee of thy will and my duty Teach mee thy Statutes Gratiarum actio est ad plus dandum invitatio David had never enough but craveth more Teach mee thy Statutes saith he that I may bless thee better Vers 13 With my lips have I declared Heb. Have I sipâ—ered up these have been the matter of my discourse and out of the good treasure of my heart vers 11. have I brought forth those good things for the good of others Mat. 12.35 Vers 14 I have rejoyced Heb. I have inwardly rejoyced Pleasures of the mind are unspeakably joyous Eudoxus was content to have been burnt by the Sun presently might hee but come so near it as to learn the nature of it Pliny perished by peeping into the fire of Etna Archimedes lost his life by being too intent upon his Mathematical studies As much as in all riches Heb. In all oppulency and affluence Vers 15 I will meditate Or Confabulate talk freely of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. as worldlings do of their wealth and wayes to get it And have respect unto thy wayes As an Archer hath to his mark Vers 16. I will delight my self Deliciabor the Arabick hath it lectitabo leges tu as I will oft read over thy laws I will not forget Men do therefore forget the word because they delight not in it they seldom forget where they lay their mony Vers 17 Deal bountifully with thy servant Per indebitam gratiam â—etribue Of thy free grace confer good upon mee and that not scantily or niggardly but liberally and like thy self The word sometimes signifieth to repay to recompense but therehence to infer matter of merit on mans part is too sandy a foundation foâ— such a lofty Babel That I may live Who am in deaths often and that I may comfortably
shall hunt him into Hell saith the Chaldâ—â— Of the black-birds 〈◊〉 is made bird-lime to catch him â— Marâ—â—s was slain with the sword hee made when 〈◊〉 was a Cutler 〈◊〉 â—â—â—â—â— peâ—ire 〈◊〉 est was Juliâ—â—s Mâ—â—â—â— Gods Judgements against sinners are â—â—thered from themselves as a foul 〈◊〉 with an arrow feathered from her own body Vers 12 I know For I have a promise for it and that 's infallible Vers 13 Shall 〈◊〉 Hee shall have no other cause 〈…〉 When the 〈…〉 shall 〈…〉 Job 23.16 PSAL. CXLI VErs 1 Lord I cry unto thee No distress or danger how greatsoever shall stifle my faith or stop my mouth but make mee more earnest and my prayers like strong streams in narrow strains shall bear down all before them Make haste unto mee Lest help come too late Vers 2 Let my prayer bee set forth before thee as incense Faithfull prayer is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Daâ—asen the ascension of the heart to God Dim de fide In this incense how many sweet spices are burned together by the fire of faith as humility hope love c all which come up for a memoriall before God Act. 10.4 and the Saints as Manoahs Angel ascend up in the flame and do wonderously Judg. 13.19 20. whilst their pillars of smoak are perfumed with myrrhe and frankincense with all powders of the spice-Merchant Cant. 3.6 that is with the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ Heb. 9.24 those sweet odours poured into the prayers of Saints Rev. 5.8 8.4 for want whereof the incense of the wicked is abomination Isa 1.13 as stinking of the hand that offereth it As the evening Sacrifice The sacrificium juge that was offered every morning and evening Exod. 29.39 Numb 28.4 in reference to that immaculate Lamb of God slain from the beginning for an offering and a sweet smelling savour Ephes 5.2 Chrysostom telleth us that the Greek Church made use of this Psalm in their evening-Liturgie Vers 3 Set a Watch O Lord before my mouth Orat pro patientia saith One here hee prayeth for patience lest by giving himself leave to over-lash hee make the matter much worse The best patience long tryed and hard put to 't may miscarry to its cost Keep the door of my lips That it move not creaking Dal pro Deleth per Apoâ—cpâ—n pocâ—icam and complaining as on rusty hinges for want of the oil of joy and gladness David had somewhat to do with his tongue as wee see Psal 39.1.3 and when hee had carted the Ark how untowardly spake hee as if the fault were more in God than himself that there was such a breach made in Uzzah 1 Chron. 15.2 It was but need therefore thus to pray Vers 4 Incline not my heart Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh For the better ordering of his words therefore hee prayeth not to be delivered up to Satan and to his own hearts lust as hee was 1 Chron 21.1 with 2 Sam. 24.1 for God tempteth no man but the Devill and his own concupiscence Jam. 1.13 14. but to bee bent the better way by Gods over-powering efficacious grace and to bee stablished with his free Spirit To practise wicked works The Vulgar rendreth it ad excusandas excusationes in peccatis to frame excuse for mine offences but that when I have over-lasht Gnalaâ— significat operaticut occasione pratexâ—u causa I may confess and forsake and so finde mercy And let mee not eat of their dainties Their murthering morsels of iniquity The Chaldeeâ— expoundeth iâ— of their songs at banquets or their tid-bits and baites whereby Sauls courtiers sought to insnare him Vers 5 Let the Righteous smite mee c. In case I do offend in word or deed let mee never want a faithfull reprover who may smite mee as with a hammer so the word signifieth reprove mee sharply Prov. 23.35 Zech. 13.5 Tit. 1.13 cuttingly as the Apostles word importeth yet mildly and lovingly Gal. 6.1 Prov. 9.8 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 19.25 25.12 with soft words but hard arguments It shall bee a kindnesse David thought the better of Nathan for so roundly reproving him 2 Sam. 12. and made him of his Councill 1 King 1. Peter thought the better of Paul for dealing so plainly with him at Antioch Gal. 2. and maketh honourable mention of him and his writings 2 Pet. 3. T is said of Gerson that great Chancellour of Paris that 〈◊〉 râ— alia tantopâ—â—â— laetaretur In vita Johâ—â— Gerson quam si aâ— aliquo fraterne charitarive redargueretur hee rejoyced in nothing so much as in a friendly reprehension great pitty it was that none bestowed a shiâ—ing on him for being so active against John Hâ—â— and Hierâ—â— of Pragus at the councill of Constance Of Queen Anne Bullen it is reported that shee was not only willing to bee admonished but required her Chaplains freely and plainly to tell her of whatsoever was amiss Mr. Clark Matryroloâ—â— p. 78. Her Daughter Queen Elizabeth was well pleased with Mr. Deerings plain dealing who told her in a Sermon that once shee was Tanquam â—vis but now Tanquam indemita juvenca as an untamed Heifer and speaking of the disorders of the times These things are so said hee and you sit still and do nothing c. It shall bee an excellent oil Heb. A head-oil such as they poured on their friends heads and that was of the best Which shall not break my head My heart it may Or Let him not make it â—ail my head let him not cease to do mee this good office daily I shall count it a courtesie and requite it with my best prayers for him in his greatest necessity For yet my prayer also shall bee in their calamity I will not curse them for their good counsell raile at them for reproving mee or insult over them in misery as justly met withall but pray for them and prize them as my best friends Vers 6 When their Judges are overthrown As I like just reprehensions so I suffer unjust Persecutions from the Grandees of the Nation who shall shortly bee dejected from their dignity and dashed as it were against the rocks And then They shall hear my words The common people that have been seduced by their evil Rulers to think the worst of mee shall be brought to a right understanding of things and undeceived so that they shall set by those words of mine that they have vilipended and sleighted Vers 7 Our bones are scattered at the graves mouth i. e. I and company are in a dying condition free among the dead yea if taken wee should be put to most cruel deaths Non una simplici morte contenti sunt hewn in peeces or pulled limbmeal and left unburied and our dead bodies mangled by a barbarous inhumanity as wood-cleavers make the shivers flye hither and thither This is the perillous case of mee and my partisans Vers 8 But mine eyes
of so great vertue This Zophar promiseth Job upon his true repentance with a daily increase thereof as the Sun shineth more and more unto the perfect day Fame followeth vertue as the shadow doth the body at the very heels If there be any vertue if any praise saith the Apostle Philip. 4.8 Where the one is the other will be Abel for his faith and righteousnesse is yet spoken of as some render Hebr. 11.4 though dead long agoe The Righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance Psalm 112.6 Thou shalt shine forth thou shalt be as the morning Isai 58.8 Or If thou dost wax obscure yet thou shalt match the morning which disperseth darknesse and conquers it by the approaching light Look how the Moon wadeth out of a cloud so shall thine over-cast righteousnesse break forth as the light and thy judgment as the noon-day Psalm 37.6 Verse 18. And thou shalt be secure because there is hope It 's a spiritual security that 's here promised which is a fruit of faith quelling and killing distracting and distrustful fears faith I say unfaigned 1 Tim. 1.5 which produceth hope unfailable Rom. 5.5 Hope is the daughter of faith but such as is a staffe to her aged mother Yea thou shalt dig about thee That is saith one Interpreter by searching to find out how to do all things for the best thou shalt prosper in all Others sense it thus Eugub Tigur thou shalt be secure as they that lye in trenches Rabbi David Thou shalt dig only about thy city and not need to make any walls about it for thy security Others Lavater thou shalt labour hard and sleep soundly thereupon Or thus God shall so encompasse thee with his safe protection as if thou dost but dig a place to pitch thy tent in thou shalt enjoy thy self safelier therein then otherwise thou wouldst do in a walled city And thou shalt take thy rest God will keep off those gnats of cares and fears that might disquiet thee We read of some great Princes that could not sleep as Ahasuerus Esth. 6.1 Daniel Thulin Richard the third of England and Charls the ninth of Franc after that barbarous Massacre at Paris but David could Psalm 3. and 4. because God was his keeper No marvel that Philip sleepeth soundly when Antipater his fast friend watched by him the while Job and all Gods beloved ones shall sleep on both ears Psalm 127.2 rest securely and comfortably What should hinder In utramvis aurem when the keeper of Israel who neither slumbreth nor sleepeth shall watch over them for good Verse 19. Thou shalt lie down and none shall make thee afraid Thou shalt walk about the world like a conquerour being ever under a double guard the Peace of God within thee Philip. 4.7 and the Power of God without thee 1 Pet. 1.5 neither shall any enemy come upon thee in the night to fright and to disturb thee which is a great mercy It is not long since we of this Nation did eat the bread of our souls in peril of our lives neither could we rest in our beds for the sound of the trumpet the alarm of warre Destruction upon destruction was cryed c. Jer. 4.19 20. Should this ever be forgotten Yea many shall make suit unto thee Heb. Shall intreat thy face yea they shall tire thee out with their intreaties Many seek the Rulers favour Prov. 29.26 he is even thronged with suitors so that he cannot be without a Master of Requests Hence the Poet Orpheus faineth that Litae or Supplications and Petitions are Joves daughters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orph. in Arg. and that they are ever attending at his throne Here then Zophar promiseth Job that upon his return to God he shall be as great a man as ever and that many yea that his very enemies shall not only not molest him but fear his power Jer. 30.17 and beg his favour And whereas once it was this is Job whom no man feeketh after then the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour Psalm 45.12 and all that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the foals of thy seet Isai 60.14 See Isai 45.14 Rev. 3.9 Prov. 19.6 Lo this is the honour God putteth upon holinesse Holy and reverend is his name and therefore reverend because holy so also is ours Psalm 111.9 Isai 43.4 Howbeit we have cause to complain that in these last and worst times Omnes quodammodo mali esse coguntur ne viles habeantur Sal. lib 4. as the Turks count all fools to be Saints so men with us account all Saints to be fools and not a few turn to unholinesse lest they should be despised Verse 20. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail Contraries illustrate one another and Zophar willing his words should stick and work thinks to leave a sting in Jobs mind by telling him what he must trust to if he persist in his sin And first his eyes shall saile Vt vehementiùs vellicet fodiat inopinatum ut putabat Job◠animum Merl. Speed The eye is a principal part of the body and the failing of the eyes followeth either upon some sudden fright or upon much weeping Damen 2. Psalm 88. and 38. we read of one Faustus son of Vortiger King of Britain who wept out his eyes or too long looking after the same thing or on the same object The wicked saith Zophar shall never want frights and griefs they shall also look many a long look after help but none shall appear Lam. 4.17 their hopes shall be fruitlesse their projects successelesse And they shall not escape Heb. refuge or flight shall perish from them◠miseries and mischiefs they shall never be able to avert or avoid many sorrows shall be to the wicked Psalm 32.10 and although they may think to get off of out-run them yet it will not be Amos 2.14 Psalm 142.4 Saul for instance God hath forsaken me saith he and the Philistims are upon me 1 Sam. 28.15 Their hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost Broughton rendreth it Their hope is nought but pangs of the soul Of that which yeildeth but cold comfort we use to say It comforteth a man like the pangs of death the Vulgar hath it Their hope shall be the abomination of their soul the Tigurine Their hope shall be most vain even as a puffe of breath which presently passeth away and cometh to nothing Some Rabbines make this the sense Their hope shall be as the snuffing of the breath that is they shall be so angry at their disappointments that they shall vex and snuffe at it According to our translation the wicked mans hope is set forth as utterly forlorn and at an end for any good ever to befall him The godly mans hope is lively 1 Pet. 1.3 and the righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 Cum expiro spero is his motto whereas the wickeds word when he dieth is or may
be spes fortuna valete my life and hope endeth together Spes eorùm expiratione animae so Tremellius rendreth the text Death causeth in the wicked a total despair and a most dreadful schreek giveth the guilty soul when it seeth it self launching into an infinite ocean of scalding lead and considereth that therein it must swim naked for ever CHAP. XII Verse 1. And Job answered and said BEing nipped and netled with his friends hard usage of him and harsh language to him but especially with Zophars arrogant and lofty preface in the former chapter he begins now to wax warm and more roughly and roundly to shape them an answer Verse 3. No doubt but ye are the people The select peculiar people the only Ones as a man is put for a good man Jer. 5.1 a wife for a good wife Prov. 18.22 a name for a good name Eccles 7.1 As Athens was said to be the Greece of Greece Silius and as one promising to shew his friend all Athens at once shewed him Soloâ—â— or as the Latine Poet saying of Fabius Maximus Hic patriuest murique urbis stant pectore in uno So saith Job by an holy jear not to disgrace his friends but to bring them to more modesty and moderation if it might be Certes ye are not one or two men Vatab. but specimen totius orbis an Epitome of the world or at least the Representative of some whole people ye have got away all the wit from my self and others whom ye look upon as so many wilde asses colts in comparison of your selves Thus the Pope Simon Magus-like gives himself out to be some great thing Acts 8.9 even the Church-virtual and that in his brest as in Noahs Ark is comprehended all wisedome and worth ye know nothing at all saith he Caiaphas-like to all others Job 11.49 So do his Janizaries the Jesuits who will needs be taken for the only Scholars Politicians and Orators of the world The Church say they is the soul of the world the Clergy of the Church and we of the Clergy the Empire of learning is ours c. And wisedome shall dye with you As being lookt up in your bosomes Suetonius telleth us of Palaemon the Grammarian that he was heard to say that Learning was born with him and would dye with him The Gnosticks would needs be held the only knowing men Illuminates in Spain the only spiritual men Sweâ—kfeldians in Germany stiled themselves the Confessors of the glory of Christ our Antinomians the Hearers of the Gospel and of free-grade But what saith Solomon Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth Prov. 27.2 And that which had been much to a mans commendation if from another soundeth very slenderly from himself saith Pliny Aben Ezâ—â— and Rabbi Levi set another sense upon this verse Ep. 8. lib. 1. as if it were no 〈◊〉 but a plain assertion to this effect Questionlesse you are to be counted 〈◊〉 the common sort of people see John 7.49 Neither is there in you any thing excellent or extraordinary that ye should be looked upon as drained from the dregs or sifted from the brans of the very vulgar your wisedome if ever you had any is even dead and decaied with you and you have out-lived your prime c. Verse 3. But I have understanding as well as you Think not that you have engrossed all the knowledg and that you have the monopoly of wisedom in your brests for surely I may come into the ballance with you and claim as great a share in understanding as your selvs Zophar was pleased to call me hollow and heartlesse chap. 11.12 But I have an heart so the Hebrew here hath it that seat of understanding and that shall appear in the ensuing discourse where Job proveth that by solid arguments concerning Gods power wisedom c. which Zophar had but barely propounded And whereas this patient man was not without his impatiencies yet he discovereth more grace even in his distempers then his friends did in their seeming wise carriages Breaking out in the body shewes strength of nature Some infirmities discover more good then some seeming beautiful actions I am not inferiour to you Heb. I fall not lower then you See Nehem. 6.16 Esth 6.13 Job 13.2 He meaneth that he was much their superiour and did better understand the doctrine of Gods providence then they This he speaketh not out of any vain-glory or ambitious boasting but as David and Paul and others after them did commending themselves either in defence of their own wronged innocency or when it appeared unto them that the concealing of their good parts and practises might turn to the hindrance of the truth or to the hurt of the Church or to the impairing and impeaching of Gods glory In these cases self-commendation is not unseemly but a Job may lawfully stand upon not his comparisons only but his disparisons also Yea who knoweth not such things as these Viz. That God rewardeth the righteous and punisheth the ungodly The Heathen saw this by the rush-candle of natures dim light Doth not nature it self teach you saith Paul 1 Cor. 11.14 And again This ye know that no whoremonger c. hath any inheritance in the kingdome of God and of Christ Eph. 5.5 Verse 4. I am as one mocked of his neighbour Those that should countenance and comfort me contemn and scorn me I am their laughter and pastime so he took it sith they sat so heavily upon the skirts of his conscience and would not weigh his reasons brought in his own defence Who calleth upon God and he answereth him i. e. I Job do make God my refuge when these jeering neighbours of mine do shame my counsel Psalm 14.6 and would mock me out of my religion but God favoureth me though men frown and where humane help faileth divine appeareth Or thus rather I am derided of those who professe to call upon God and to hear often from heaven They are hard-hearted to me though themselves have liberally tasted of Gods tendernesse and they pull up the bridg of mercy before me which themselves have oft gone over The just upright man is laughed to scorn Shame shall be the promotion of fools Prov. 3.35 and such a dissembler as Doeg may well be derided Psalm 52.6 7. But what hath the righteous done And why should just upright Job be laughed to scorn Isa 8.18 But this is no news Christ and his people have ever been for signs and for wonders in this mad world alwaies besides it self in point of salvation He that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey or is accounted mad Isai 59.15 If he will needs be a just upright man if he will live godly in Christ Jesus if he be so set upon it that none shall hinder him he shall suffer persecution this of the tongue howsoever 2 Tim. 3.12 A wolf flieth not upon a painted sheep we can look upon a painted toad with delight it is