of such as make excuses to shift themselves off from acts of charity they will say we know not whether it be so with him or no possibly he may not be in such want as he pretendeth Take heed of these cloaks of covetousnesse and pitifull pleas to save your purses from shewing pity to the poor for saith Solomon Will not God search it out and render to every man according to his worke The holy Scripture abounds in this poynt Read Jer. 32.19 Ezek. 33.10 Rom. 2.6 2 Cor. 5.10 1 Pet. 1.17 Rev. 22.12 But some may say how doth God render to every man his work Is it not said He justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4.5 Are the works of an ungodly man rendred to him when he is justified I answer it is one thing what God will do through free grace and another what he will deale out in strictnesse of Justice The Apostle speaks in that place of the free grace of God to sinners not of his Justice against sinners Secondly though God justifieth the ungodly yet he never justifieth ungodlinesse or though he justifieth a man who hath done many evill works yea all whose works are evill yet he never justifieth nor rewardeth the work of an evill man Thirdly God acts according to justice and righteousness where he justifieth the ungodly he doth not shew favour to the ungodly in his own wrong Acts of grace from God are not opposite to his Justice much lesse doe they contradict or overthrow it He doth not justifie an ungodly man in himselfe or meerly considered in his ungodlinesse but he justifieth him in the righteousness of another even of Jesus Christ who hath given full satisfaction to the Justice of God with respect to the ungodly whom he justifieth Lastly we may say that God renders the work of an ungodly man to him when he justifieth him for though then he hath not done nor ever can doe any works which deserve the justification of his person yet God doth render to him according to that present work of faith in closing with the promise and the work of Christs righteousnesse therein tendered to him and applyed by him for his justification Further that other Scripture seems to lye in the way of this observation Psal 103.10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins or rewarded us according to our iniquities How then doth God render every man his work I answer as before Acts of mercy do not cross acts of justice When the Lord doth not deal with any man according to his sins it is because he hath freely pardoned his sins and he doth not reward a man according to his iniquity because his iniquities are done away thus he deals with all his own people who are received to favour through Jesus Christ but no wicked man no impenitent person in the world shall have cause to say that God hath not dealt with him according to his sin or hath not rewarded him according to his iniquity There may be some present stops of Justice through the patience of God to wicked men their works are not alwayes presently rendered into their bosomes but they shall God will render to every man according to his work one way or other one time or other The full rendering to all men according to their works will be at the great day in this world the godly doe not somtimes receive according to their good works nor doe the wicked according to their evill works Good men are often rewarded with shame and reproach with want and poverty with banishment and imprisonment with tortures and with death in this present world but the Lord will have a time to render to them according to their workes though at no time for their works so look upon wicked men and their workes they goe often unpunished at the present yea many of them prosper greatly as I have had occasion to shew more then once in opening this Book they have their good things many good things in this life but the time will come when God will render to the wicked their work and they shall be forced to say that he hath caused them to find according to their wayes Take two or three inferences from this generall truth If God will render the work of a man to him Then First Godly men have great encouragement to doe good yea to abound in doing good workes That 's the Apostles argument 1 Cor 15.58 Be ye stedfast and unmoveable in the worke of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord that is the Lord will render to every man his labour Hence also that of Solomon Eccl 11.1 Cast thy bread upon the waters for thou shalt find it after many dayes Charities done in faith as an holy offering to God produce a sure encrease To give with a right heart to the poore is the best way of growing rich For God will render to man according to that work And as it may incourage to doe good so to doe it against all discouragements We must not only doe good when the Sun shines when it is faire weather with us and all men applaud us but though men frowne and scorne though which Solomon reports as one of the great vanities of this world Eccl 4.4 For a right worke a man be envied of his neighbour let us not hold our hand from doing good though we are opposed and checkt though we are traduced and slandred though we are mis-interpreted and have the foulest glosses put upon our fairest workes though men call our zeale madness and our circumspect walking hypocrisie yea though we are persecuted and suffer the worst of evills though men cast stones at us as they did at Christ for his good workes yet let us not be deterred from doing good For howsoever men deale with us or what rendrings soever we find from the world yet God will render to us both according to the rightnesse of our worke done and according to the uprightnesse of our hearts in doing it Let this provoke us not only to doe the Lords worke but to doe it with much patience and perseverance for in due time we shall reape if we faint not where there hath been sowing there will be reaping and where the seed time hath been with teares the harvest or reaping time shall be with joy Secondly This is a dreadfull doctrine to evill workers Some as the Apostle calls the Cretians out of their owne Prophet are evill beasts slow bellyes and as they are slothfull or slow bellyes at doing good so they are very free and forward very quicke lively and nimble beasts in doing evill O how should evill workers tremble at this Scripture To every man will God render according to his worke as a cup of cold water given to a disciple in the name of a disciple shall not be lost but have a reward and the giver fully payd for it Math 10.42 so not any the least evill worke impenitently continued
hands Histories have given many examples and dreadful instances of such calamities falling upon Princes by the rising of the people and then they are said to be taken away Without hand That is Without any foreseen appearance of such a mischief a hand which was not thought of being lifted up against them It is said of wicked Zimri who slew his master that when he saw the people conspire against him and the City taken he went into the Palace of the King's house and in the heat of his rage set it on fire and burnt the Kings house over him and died 1 Kin. 16.18 Justine reports the like conclusion upon a like occasion of Sardanapalus that effeminate and voluptuous Monarch of the Assyrian Empire They who prosecute this Translation conceive Elihu reflecting upon Job in all this who was very uncivilly treated by his own people from whom he had deserved highest respects as he complained at the 30th chapter they raised up against him the wayes of their destruction they used him very rudely even despightfully and he was in a pining consuming condition as a man taken away without hand But I shall not insist upon this reading but take the words according to the scope before given as a description of a mixt judgement from God a judgement partly upon the people and partly upon Princes a judgement upon the many and a judgement upon the mighty In a moment shall they die 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Punctum momontum tempus exiguum Illipsis praeposition◠ב In a moment The Text is a moment they die Not that they shall die but a moment or be only for a moment dead but they shall die before a moment is over there is an Elipsis of the preposition Beth in the Hebrew which we supply in our Translation In a moment they shall die A moment is the least particle or parcel of time we cannot imagine any thing shorter then a moment 't is the very point of time Psal 30.5 His anger endureth for a moment saith David when he would shew how very short comparatively the anger of God towards his people is but in his favour is life Thus Solomon Prov. 2.19 He that speaketh truth his tongue shall be established but a lying tongue is for a moment A lye cannot last long he that speaks truth what he speaks to day is good to morrow and to morrow and will be good for ever but a lying tongue is for a moment that is his lies will be discovered and usually they are quickly discovered though he live long to tell lies or doth nothing but tell lies as long as he liveth yet his lyes are not long lived Job describing the joy of the hypocrite chap. 20.5 saith It is but for a moment like a fire of thorns a blaze and gone when the Apostle would strengthen and encourage the hearts of believers against all the troubles and sorrows of this present life he calls them 2 Cor. 4.17 First light Secondly short Our light afflictions that are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory And that we might know how quick the devil was at his work with Christ the Scripture saith Luke 4.5 He shewed him all the Kingdoms of the world in a moment of time As to shew the instantaneousness of our change from death to life in the resurrection it is said 1 Cor. 15.52 In a moment in the twinckling of an eye at the last Trump we shall be changed So to shew the extream suddenness of these mens change from life to death it is said here In a moment They shall die They Who Both great and small one and another of them shall die or be swept away by death in a moment There is a twofold death First Natural When either sickness or old age dissolves the earthly house of this tabernacle The natural death of some is very lingring and slow others are suddenly snatcht away they die in a moment Secondly There is a violent death thus many are taken away by the sword Martial or Civil others casually The Text is true both of natural and violent death either of them may overtake us in a moment yet I conceive the latter is here chiefly intended In a moment shall they die that is some sudden destruction shall come upon them they shall be surprized by an unlooked for disaster and removed out of the world while they had not a thought of their removal Hence Note First Death of any sort may befal all sorts of men None can plead exemption or priviledge from the grave It is appointed to men once to die most die a natural death and any man may die a violent death who knows how he shall go out of this world Christ told Peter John 21.18 When thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldst not This spake he signifying by what death he should glorifie God And what kinde of death was that The Church History assureth us 't was a violent death He as his master Jesus Christ was nailed to a Cross and dyed We come but one way into the world but there are a thousand wayes of going out Note Secondly Death comes suddenly upon many men and may upon all men The whole life of the longest liver in this world is but a moment compared to eternity and there is not any moment of our life but with respect to second causes we are subject to death in it We alwayes in some sense though at some times more carry our lives in our hand and how soon or by what hand they may be snatcht out of ours we know not Now if our whole life be but a moment and we subject to death every moment how should we stand prepared for death every moment And how sad is it to think that they who may die the next moment should for dayes and weeks and moneths and years never prepare for death Most are loth to think of the end of their lives till they are nearer the end of them yet no man knoweth how near he is to the end of his life Many put off the thoughts of death till it cometh yet none can put off the coming of death they would remove the meditation of death to the fall of their leaf to the winter and worst of their old age yet they are not able to remove death one moment from the Spring and best of their youth Note Thirdly Violent death by the sore and severe judgement of God often sweeps multitudes away in a moment God can thrust whole throngs of men yea whole Nations into their graves together it is said Numb 16.21 of Corah and his companions The earth did cover or swallow them up in a moment And the Lord commanded Moses to say unto the children of Israel Exod. 33.5 ye are a stiff-necked people I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment and consume
men but the blasphemy against the holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men As if he had said Though you sin against the Father and the Son it shall be forgiven you but if you sin against the holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven either in this world or in the world to come that is it shall never be forgiven Seeing then there is more in sinning against the holy Ghost then against the Father or the Son who are God the holy Ghost must needs be God For though there is no degree or graduall difference in the deity each person being coeternall coequall and consubstantiall yet the Scripture attributes more in that case as to the poynt of sinning against the holy Ghost then to sinning against the Father or the Son therefore certainly the holy Ghost is God Lastly The holy Ghost is the object of divine worship are not we baptized in the Name of the Father Son and holy Ghost Is the Father and the Son God and the holy Ghost not God who is joyned with them in the same honour Shall a creature come in competition with God And doth not the Scripture or word of God direct us to pray for grace from the Spirit as well as from the Father or the Son 2 Cor 13.13 Rev 1.4 Thus we see how full the Scripture is in giving the glory of the same workes upon us and of the same worship from us to the Spirit as to the Father and the Son And therefore from all these premises we may conclude That the Holy-Ghost with the Father and the Son is God blessed and to be glorified for evermore The Spirit of God hath made me And the breath of the Almighty hath given me life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritus ex ore egregiens halitus flatus anima proprie significat halitem pâ—r metonymiam effecti animam per synechdoâ—hen membri animal Pisc in Deut 10.16 The words carry an allusion as Interpreters generally agree to that of Moses describing the creation of man Gen 2.7 And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrills the breath of life and man became a living soule Elihu speakes neere in the same forme fully to the same effect The breath of the Almighty hath given me life or enlivened me As if he had sayd That soule which the Lord hath breathed into me hath made me live The soule of man may be called the breath of the Almighty because the Almighty is expressed infusing it into man at first by breathing And therefore the word Neshamah which properly signifies the breath doth also by a Metonymie of the effect signifie the soule it selfe which causeth breathing Thus our translaters render it Isa 57.16 I saith the Lord will not contend for ever neither will I be alwayes wroth for the spirit should faile before me and the soules which I have made As the soule of man was breathed in by God so the soule is that by which man breathes Breath and soule come and goe together Some comparing the originall word Shamaijm for the heavens with this word Neshamah which here we translate breath take notice of their neere affinity intimating that the soule of man is of a heavenly pedegree or comes from heaven yea the latine word mens signifying the mind is of the same consonant letters with the Hebrew Neshamah and as some conceive is derived from it So then I take these words The breath of the Almighty as a description of that part of man which is opposed to his body The Spirit of God hath made me that is hath set me up as a man in humane shape And the breath of the Almighty hath given me life that is this soule which the Almighty hath breathed into me hath made me a living man ready for any humane act or as Moses speakes God breathing into my nostrills the breath of life I became a living soule Hence observe First The soule of man floweth immediately from God 'T is the breath of God not that God liveth by breathing the way of his life is infinitely above our apprehension But 't is cleare in Scripture That the Almighty breathed into man the powers of life And therefore he is called by way of Eminence The father of spirits Heb 12.9 For though the Almighty is rightly entituled the Father of the whole man though both body and soule are the worke of God yet he is in a further sence the father of our spirits or soules then of our bodyes And here Solomon shewing how man is disposed of when these two are separated by death saith Eccl 12.7 Then shall the dust that is the body returne to the earth as it was and the spirit that is the soule shall returne to God who gave it The body is the gift of God but the body is not the breath of God it is not such an immediate gift of God as the soule is when the body of man was made at first God tooke the dust of the earth and formed his body out of it but when he gave him a soule he breathed that from himselfe it was an immediate effect of Gods power not dealing with nor working upon any prae-existing matter The spirit or soule of man is purely of God solely of God And hence we may inferre First Then the soule is not a vapour arising from the crasis or temperament of the body as the life of a beast is Secondly Then the soule of man is not traduced from the parents in generation as many learned men affirme especially to ease themselves of those difficulties about the conveyance of originall sin or defilement into the soule Thirdly We may hence also inferre then the soule is not corruptible it is an immortall substance How can that be corruptible or mortall which hath its rise as I may say immediately from God or is breathed in by the Almighty who is altogether incorruptible and immortal And whereas there is a twofold incorruptibility First by divine ordination that is God appoynts such a thing shall not corrupt and therefore it doth not so the body of man in it's first creation was incorruptible for though it were in it selfe corruptible being made out of the earth yet by the appoyntment of God if man had continued in his integrity he had not dyed And therefore it is said By sin came death yea doubtlesse if God should command and appoynt the meanest worme that moves upon the earth to live for ever or the most fading flower that groweth out of the earth to flourish for ever both the one and the other would doe so Secondly there is an incorruptibility in some things not meerely by a law or appoyntment of God but as from that intrinsecall nature which God hath bestowed upon them and implanted in them Thus the Angels are immortall they have an incorruptible nature and likewise the soule of man being breathed from the Almighty is in it's owne nature
commanded a deep sleep to fall on Adam when he tooke the rib out of his side and formed the woman We read also Gen 15.12 that a deep sleep fell on Abraham when God revealed to him what should become of his posterity and how they should be in Egypt and there much oppressed foure hundred yeares c. It is said also 1 Sam 26.12 A deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them that is upon Saul and his guards who lay round about him And that might be called a sleep from the Lord both because it was a sleep which the Lord sent and because it was an extream deep sleep Secondly there are dreams in ordinary sleep or in very slumbrings or noddings upon the bed we may call them waking dreames Thus Elihu sheweth God taking severall times or seasons for the revealing of himselfe in dreams sometimes in deep sleep and often in the least and slightest sleeps called slumbrings I shall not here insist upon or discourse the way of Gods manifesting himselfe to the Ancienrs by dreams visions but referre the Reader to what hath already been done upon the 4th Chapter at the 12th and 13th verses where Eliphaz speaks almost in the same manner as Elihu here about visions And indeed there is a very great Consent between their two parts in this booke that of Eliphaz and this of Elihu They were both holy and propheticall men both of them had the same designe in speaking about dreams and visions namely to convince and humble Job and both of them expresse themselves in terms of a very neere Cognation So that if the reader please to consult that place Job 4.12 13. he will find these words farther cleared as to the nature and severall kinds of visions And if he turne to what hath been done upon the 14th verse of the 7th Chapter he may find the doctrine of dreams further opened Only let me adde here a note or two First It hath been the use of God to reveale his mind by dreams And I may give you five reasons why God used to apply himself to man in dreams First because in sleep man is as I may say at best leisure for God to deal with him he is not distracted with businesse nor hurried with the labours of this life but is at rest Secondly when we are awake we are very ready to debate and discusse what we receive by our own reason we are ready to Logick it with God but in sleep we take things barely as offered without discussions or disputes Thirdly in sleepe when all is quiet that which God represents takes and leaves a deeper impression upon the mind of man Common experience teacheth us how dreams stick and how those apprehensions which we have in our sleep dwell abide with us when awake Fourthly I conceive the Lord doth this chiefly that he may shew his divine skill in teaching instructing man or that he hath a peculiar art in teaching he teaches so as none of the masters of learning were ever able to teach and instruct their Schollars There was never any man could teach another when he was asleep they that are taught must at lest be awake yea they must not only be awake but watchfull but now God is such a teacher such an instructor that when we are asleep he can convay instruction and teach us his lessons this I say doth wonderfully magnifie the divine skill and power of God who is able to make us heare and understand doctrine even when we are asleep and cannot heare There may be also a fifth consideration moving God to this Possibly God would hereby assure us that the soul is a distinct essence and hath its distinct operations from the body and that even death it self cannot deprive the soul of man of its working For what is sleep but a kind of death sleep is a short death and death is along sleepe Now when the body is upon the matter laid aside the soul can goe to work when the body lyes like a block and stirs not the soul can bestir it self about many matters and run its thoughts to the utmost ends of the earth yea and raise them up to the highest heavens in blessed intercourses with God himself There 's no need to prove the matter of fact that 't is so what night with reference to some or other doth not utter this poynt of knowledg nor need I stay to prove that this is if not a demonstrative yet a very probable argument of the distinct substantiallity of the soul from the body namely its operations when the body with all its proper and peculiar faculties and powers is a sleepe and contributes nothing to those operations For though it be granted that some irrationall creatures who have no immortall part nor any thing substantiall in them distinct from their bodies though it be granted I say that these may have dreames yet their dreams differ as much from those of men as themselves doe Secondly Note The revelation of the mind of God by dreams and visions was much yea most used in those ancient times When God had not so fully revealed his mind by Scripture or his mind in the Scripture then he spake often in dreams and visions and hence the old Prophets were called seers The Apostle reports God speaking at sundry times and in divers manners in times past unto the fathers by the Prophets Heb. 1.1 The Greek text hath two very significant words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the former most properly implying how God gave out his mind in divers measures or how he parcelled it out the other implying the severall wayes in which he gave it out As the measures were various sometimes more sometimes lesse of his mind about divine matters and mysteries being dispersed so the wayes manners and formes of this dispensation were very various yet the most usuall way was by dreams and visions Numb 12.6 If there be a Prophet among you saith the Lord I the Lord will make my self known unto him in a vision and speak to him in a dreame Yea we find that in the first dayes of the Gospel dreames and visions were frequent The Apostle falling into a trance had a vision Acts 10.10 He saw heaven opened and a certain vessell descend c. And when Christ would have the Apostle Paul carry the Gospell into Macedonia a vision appeared to him in the night Acts 16.9 There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him saying come over to Macedonia and help us The same Apostle saith 2 Cor. 12.1 2. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord whether in the body I cannot tell or out of the body I cannot tell Pauls soul was wrapt up in such high and intimate converses with God that he even forgot how it was with his body or had little to doe with it Which suites well with that description which the Apostle John gave of himself when he had the whole mind of God
ears to receive the word and then sealeth instruction upon them The Apostle speaking of some persons converted who were the fruit of his ministry saith Ye are the seale of mine Apostleship 1 Cor 9.2 3. that is ye confirme and ratifie my ministry that it is of God and that God is in it Now as the conversion of sinners and the building up of Saints is the seale of our ministry so the sealing of instruction upon the soule is the conversion of sinners and the edification of Saints When a sinner is converted his instruction is sealed upon him and when a Saint is built up and edified and increaseth in the things of God then instruction is sealed upon him also And untill we thus profit by the word we have the word as I may say without a seale nothing fastens upon us Thus much of the first designe of God in sending dreams and visions in those times it was to open the ears of men and to seale their Instruction This being only a generall benefit aymed at by those meanes we have those which are more speciall set downe in the words which follow Vers 17. That he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man This 17th verse containes two of those blessed ends or designes of God in revealing himselfe to man by dreams and visions or by visions in a dream of which Elihu spake in the two former verses as then he takes an opportunity to open the ears of men and seale their Instruction to fasten and fix his word upon them to make it stick and stay by them so in all this his purpose is That he may withdraw man from his purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 auferre erit vel mutare in melius The word rendred to withdraw signifies to take off or put away to remove or change for the better Isa 1.16 Put away the evill of your doings that is doe no more evill or as the Lord speakes by another Prophet Jer 44.4 O doe not this abominable thing that I hate we render the word in the other sense Job 27.2 He hath removed my Judgement farre from me There is in man a kind of settledness and resolvedness upon his purpose he will on but saith Elihu the Lord withdrawes him he stretcheth forth his hand and pull's him back He withdraweth Man Adam the earthly man The proper name of the first man is the common name of all men Man is earthly by nature and so are all his naturall purposes To draw an earthly man from that which is earthly is no easie matter only the power of God can doe it He withdraweth man From his purpose The word which we render purpose properly signifies a worke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fecit and so it is translated not only elsewhere but here by severall Interpreters Mr. Broughton is expresse That the earthly man leave off to work and then by work he means an evill work as by purpose an evill purpose The word work set alone usually signifies an evill work as the word wife put alone is taken for a good wife Prov. 8.22 He that findeth a wife findeth good every one that findeth a wife doth not find good there are many bad wives only he that findeth a good wife findeth good Vt a mâ—vâ—aâ— homo opus scâ— suum et animuâ— malum Iun So on the contrary the word worke standing here alone implyeth a bad work And to withdraw man from his work or from his purpose is to withdraw him from his evill work or purpose The Septuagint gives it clearly so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept that he may withdraw man from unrighteousnesse And Mr. Broughton glossing his own translation saith that he leave off mans work and do the work of God Againe This terme work seemes opposed to the thought or concupiscence of the inner man he withdraweth man from his work that his hand may not effect what his heart hath contrived that the bitter root may not bring forth evill and bitter fruit Or if we follow our translation the sence will be the same He withdraweth man from his purpose that is he checks and stops the inward motions and workings of mans heart and so keeps him from bringing it to perfection by an outward evill work Jam. 1.15 Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished brings forth death God in great mercy takes man off from his purpose when he finds him upon an evill device or purpose he crusheth the Cockatrice's egge that it may not be hatched and destroyeth the conception of those Babylonish brats that they may never come to the birth Mic. 2.1 Woe to them that devise mischief on their beds when the morning is light they practice it because it is in the power of their hand The work begins at the heart there 't is plotted and contrived the heart is the work house of sin now the Lord withdraws man from his purpose and will not suffer the inward work to be accomplished by the outward work Further we may refer these words either to what is past or to what is to come some translate referring it to what is past that he may turn Vt avertat hominem ab iis quâ— fecit Vulg. or withdraw man from those things which he hath done that is from those evills to which he hath already set his hand this is done by giving man repentance which is our being humbled for and turning away from any evill already committed Our translation refers it to what is intended to be done for that 's a purpose So the meaning is God doth these things that he may keep man from doing that evill or mischief which he hath resolved upon or at least is forming and hammering in his thoughts Abimelech had an evill purpose for the matter though possibly the purpose of his heart was not evill for he said to God and God said he spake true in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this Gen. 20.5 6. he was I say about an evill purpose for the matter when he thought to take Abrams wife from him but the Lord came to him in a dream and withdrew him from the evill of his purpose Laban intended evill or hard dealing to Jacob but the Lord met him also in a dreame and withdrew him from his purpose saying Gen. 31.24 Take heed thou speak not to Jacob neither good nor bad that is hinder him not in his journey either by threathings or by promises Thus man is taken off or withdrawn from evill purposes by preventing grace and from evill workes by repenting grace I shall prosecute the words according to our reading only which imports that when man hath some evill purpose upon his heart the Lord visits him in dreames and visions of the night to withdraw him from that purpose Hence observe First Man is very forward and eager upon
be seasonable if not when we see them dying and going to the grave yet some when they visit sick friends will not speak a word of either they fear it may hasten death to hear of it that speaking of the grave may put them into it then which I know no fear more foolish or more to be feared Yea some will forbid visiters to mention death when their Relations lye sick O doe not speak of death to my Husband saith the Wife c. But remember it if the sick are drawing near to the grave they that visit them should remember them of the grave both in prayer and in conference to speak of death cannot hurt the body but the not speaking of it may hurt the soul and hinder it from getting out of the snares both of spirituall and eternall death Yet godly prudence and great caution is to be used about it none should doe it bluntly nor suddenly but having by discreet insinuations first hinted to the sick man his danger of death we should then by faithfull counsells prepare him for it and by comfortable Scripture cordialls strengthen and arme his spirits against it Such savoury and well mannaged discourses of death may through the blessing of God be a savour of eternall life to the sick man and will not in the least prejudice his recovery from sickness when his soul draweth near to the grave Aâ—d his life to the destroyers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mortificantibus Mont The Hebrew is to those that kill or to lâ—fe destroyers There is a difference among Interpreters who are here intended by these Destroyers to whom the sick mans life draweth near or who are these life destroyers First some thus his life to the destroyers that is to his enemies that are ready to destroy him But that 's improper to the text which speaking of sickness cannot intend any destroying enemy but the last enemy which is to be destroyed death or the antecedents and usuall attendants of it sicknesses Ad Angelos morti praefectos non incommodè resertur sequentis versiculi ratione habita ubi Angeli vitam annunciantis unius de mille mentionem facit ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intelligas mortis â—umcios Merc Secondly by the destroyers others understand Angells who are commission'd and sent of God to cut the thread of life and to take mortalls out of this world by mortall diseases and so the destroying Angell in this verse stands in opposition to that comforting Angell spoken of in the next verse if there be a messenger or an Angell c. That Angells have such a Ministry is clear 2 Sam. 24.16 Where David having chosen to fall into the hands of God an Angell is presently dispatcht to doe execution upon his people And when the Angell stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it the Lord repented him of the evill and said to the Angell that destroyed the people it is enough stay now thine hand c. That destroyer so he is called Exod. 12.23 who slew all the first borne of the Egyptians Gods last and greatest plague upon them his tenth plague is by most interpreted to be an Angell yea by some a good Angell because appointed and directed by God to spare his people the Jewes and to poure out his vengeance upon the Egyptians his and their enemies For most usually the wicked are plagued by good Angells and the good as Job in this book was are afflicted by evill Angells Howbeit that text say some Psal 78.49 leadeth us rather to beleeve that it was an evill Angell He cast upon them meaning the Egyptians the fiercenesse of his anger wrath indignation and trouble by sending evill Angells among them Yet possibly those Angells which destroyed the Egyptians are called evill Angells not because they were so in their nature but because they were Ministers of evill to that hard-hearted people Which way soever we take it there is a truth in it applicable to the Scripture here in hand And so some expound that of Solomon Prov. 17.11 An evill man seeketh only rebellion therefore a cruell Messenger shall be sent against him The text may be rendred a cruell Angell that is an Angell with a Message of wrath and destruction shall be sent unto him The Apostle 1 Cor. 10.10 speaking of those dreadfull judgments which God sent upon his people the Jewes in the Wildernesse such as we are like to find in these Gospell times if we provoke him for all those things are said to have happened unto them for Types or examples vers 11. And there he gives us warning neither murmure ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer That is by the Pestilence or Plague as 't is expressed Numb 14.12 37. which the Apostle Paul calleth a destroyer because doubtless it was executed by some invisible destroyer or Angell The Devill whom John in the Revelation Chap. 9.11 calleth the Angell of the bottomlesse pit is there also set forth by this Title whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon The Devill is the Apollyon the Abaddon both which signifie a destroyer yea the Devill Heb. 2.14 is said to have the power of death as if he were set over that sad work and Lorded it over dying men yet let us know to our comfort the Devill hath not the power of death as a Lord or Judge but only as an Executioner thus the sick mans life may be said to draw nigh to the destroyer that is to the destroying Angell or to the messenger of death Thirdly we may take the destroyers not for persons sent to destroy but for diseases and sicknesses these are destroyers And thus it may be said of a sick man his life draweth nigh to the destroyers that is he is in the hand or under the power of such diseases as probably will destroy him That seems to be Mr. Broughtons understanding of the words Praestat generale est et ad omnia mortis signa et mortifera quicquid illud sit referre Merc who renders his soul draweth nigh to the grave and his life to killing maladies Whatsoever is a death-bringer whatever is deadly or mortall to man may be comprehended under this expression The Destroyers And so these words His life draweth nigh to the destroyer may signifie only thus much he is deadly or as we commonly expresse it mortally sick There 's no hopes of him he is past recovery the Physitians have given him over Heman Psal 88.3 4 5. speaks to this sence and near in this language of himself My soul is full of troubles my life draweth nigh unto the grave I am counted with them that goe down into the pit I am as a man that hath no strength Free among the dead like the slaine that lye in the grave whom thou remembrest no more Heman was alive yet with respect either to the anguish of his soul
breath bloweth away sickness if he doe but speak to a disease to a feaver to an ague to a dropsie to a consumption O killing malady spare him thou hast done enough any disease might prevaile to death did not God say spare him hold thy hand not a blow more not a fit more O killing malady Death it selfe much more sickness heareth the voyce of God And it may be said to heare him because it doth that which they who have the power of hearing ought to doe that is it obeyeth or yeildeth to the voyce and command of God will no longer afflict the sick man Diseases may be said to deliver a man from death the pit when they depart from him Yet Secondly I conceive this warrant for the deliverance of the sick man is given out to the messenger or interpreter to the one among a thousand that visiteth him in his sickness He having been with him and dealt with his conscience he having brought him into a good frame the Lord is gracious Sequestrem illum Jubebit ei renunciare impetratum esse sibi liberationem Bez and in answer to his prayer sets it upon his heart that he shall recover and warrants him to tell him so which is declaratively to deliver him from going downe to the pit This act of mans delivering the sicke is like that act of man pardoning the sinner John 20.23 that is 't is ministeriall or declarative not originall nor Authoritative The interpreter doth not deliver him but tells him God will We have the Psalmist speaking thus after his supplication and prayer made to the Lord for a sick State or Nation or for a sick Church that 's his scope Psal 85. Wilt thou not revive us againe that thy people may rejoycâ— in thee v. 6. Surely thou wilt and he expresseth his confidence that God would v. 8. I will heare what God the Lord will speake for he will speak peace unto his people and to his Saints When he had prayed he would harken for news or for a message from heaven whether or no the Lord would order him to speak peace to those for whom he had been praying and say deliver them from going downe to the pit Thus did the Prophet Habakkuk I will stand upon my watch and set me upon my tower and see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer when I am reproved Chap 2.1 In the next verse The Lord answered and sayd write the vision and make it plaine upon tables that he may run that readeth it And what was the answer surely deliverance for having sayd in the end it shall speake and not lye v. 3. he concludes v. 4. The just shall live by his faith Believing deliverance he shall at last be delivered from the pit of captivity and live Here in the text we must suppose this messenger had prayed and having prayed he did not neglect his prayer but was hearkning what the Lord would say Elihu was confident the Lord would give a gracious answer though not by an immediate voyce or revelation to his eare yet by an assurance of the mercy given into his spirit When that good king Hezekiah was not only sick unto death but had received an expresse message from the Lord Set thy house in order for thou shalt dye and not live 2 Kings 20.1 'T is sayd at the 2d verse He turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord saying c. And at the 4th verse The word of the Lord came to Isaiah the Prophet saying turne againe and tell Hezekiah the Captain of my people Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father I have heard thy prayer I have seene thy teares behold I will heale thee c. Here God gave a word formally and put it into the Prophets mouth Goe deliver him from going downe to the pit And though the Lord doth not thus now in such an explicite and open way nor may we expect it yet there is a virtuall saying of this word from the Lord and that sometimes mightily imprest upon the hearts of those who have prayed and sought unto him for the sick man whereby not by an ungrounded vaine confidence but by a scripturall holy confidence comparing the promise with the mans condition they are enabled to tell him The Lord hath delivered thee from going downe to the pit And he shall as certainly be delivered as if the Lord had sent an expresse from heaven to tell him so Then he is gracious to him and saith deliver him from going downe to the pit Hence observe First Death is a going to the pit a going to destruction Thus it is ordinarily with all who dye to the pit they goe Many dye and goe downe to the bottomless pit all who dye may be sayd to goe to the pit To goe to the bottomless pit is the circumlocution of eternall death as to goe to the pit is the circumlocution of temporall death Secondly Forasmuch as the man being sick the Lord gives out this word deliver him from going downe to the pit Note Sickness hath in it a tendency unto death The sick stand as it were upon the borders of the grave Some not only put death farr from them in health but in their sickness untill they are even dead they scarce thinke themselves dying It is good for us in our health and best strength to be looking into the pit and considering upon what grounds of comfort we can descend into the grave How much more should we be thinking of and looking into the pit when we are in a languishing and dying condition Thirdly Observe The word and work of deliverance is from God alone Then he will be gracious and say deliver him from going downe to the pit God can and God only can deliver from death no creature in heaven or earth can speak this but by commission from God none can open this secret till God interpret it Deliverance is the Lords salvation and the word of salvation from sickness as well as of salvation from hell comes out from the Lord. But is it not sayd Pro 11.4 Righteousness delivereth from death I answer when it is sayd Righteousness delivereth from death The meaning is God delivereth the righteous from death He delivereth them from the sting and terror from all that which is properly called the evill of corporall death and he delivereth them wholly from the least touch or shadow of eternall death And this righteousness which delivers from death is not our own but the righteousness of Christ made ours by the appoyntment of God and received as ours by faith 'T is neither any righteousness wrought in us nor any righteousness wrought by us but that righteousness which is wrought for us which delivereth from death and that delivereth us from death because God saith of such a righteous person deliver him as often from temporall death or going downe to the pit of the grave so alwayes from
eternall death or going downe to the pit of hell Fourthly In that this word deliver him is given to the messenger Observe God conveighs deliverance and mercy to us by men like our selves He will have the creature beholding to the creature for his mercy though mercy come freely and only from himselfe God delivereth the sick and the sinner in such a method that we may owne though not stay in his messengers as the instruments of his favour God who can doe all things by himselfe will not doe many things but by meanes He saith to the messenger Deliver him from going downe to the pit You will say How can a Minister or a Messenger deliver the sick from going downe to the pit I answer as was touched before he delivers him by declaring to him the minde of God by acquainting the sick with the promises of deliverance and by pressing him to believe and rest upon them by assuring him that as God is able to performe the promise so he is faithfull and willing to performe it yea that he hath given some tokens for good that he will deliver him from going downe to the pit Thus the worke of Gods free grace mercy and power is oftentimes attributed to instruments and second causes because they have their place and use in the bringing about the purposes of God for the good of his people Hence some men are called Saviours And Saviours shall come up on mount Zion Obad v. 21. No man can save either from temporall or eternall destruction He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death Ps 68.20 yet saith the Prophet there shall come Saviours that is God will rayse up worthy men principall men as another Prophet cals them Mic 5.5 who shall destroy Zions enemies Thus Paul admonisheth Timothy Take heed to thy selfe and to thy doctrine continue in them for in so doing thou shalt save thy selfe and them that heare thee 1 Tim 4.16 The Apostle James Chap 5.20 speakes the same thing He which converteth a sinner from the errour of his way shall save a soule from death and shall hide a multitude of sins And the same Apostle faith as to the case in the text at the 15th verse of the same Chapter The prayer of faith shall save the sicke Though none can save yet many are means of our salvation And the Lord is pleased to honour those who are the meanes of any salvation so farre as to say They save It is indeed the duty of all to ascribe the all of every worke and piece of salvation and deliverance to God only When the people stood wondering at Peter and John after they had healed the lame man Peter answered Acts 3.12 Ye men of Israel why marvel ye at this or why looke ye so earnestly on us as if we by our own power or holiness had made this man to walke The God of Abraham c. hath glorified his Son Jesus As if they had said Therefore doe ye also glorifie him not us for delivering this lame man Though God is pleased to put much honour upon man by speaking of what himselfe doth as if man had done it yet he will not give the glory of what he doth to any man nor may any take it God saith to the messenger deliver him from going downe to the pit but woe to that messenger who saith when he is delivered I have delivered him from going downe to the pit Thus we see the spring of the sick mans recovery it is from the graciousness of God and we see the meanes of it God gives a warrant to his messenger saying Deliver him from going down to the pit But what is the procuring or meritorious cause of this deliverance As the Text hath shewed us the first moving cause The grace of God so it shewes us the meritorious cause by which his deliverance is procured Things are so ordered in the Covenant of grace that though the Lord acts with infinite freeness yet he hath appointed and ordered a way in which alone he will doe what he freely doth This is expressed in the last clause of the verse Fer I have found a ransome But where did God find it certainly in his own bosome in his own heart Jesus Christ came out of the bosome of the Father there he was God found him in and with himself God did not find the ransome by chance nor did he find it by advice and consultation with others but he found it in himself in his own infinite wisdome and goodness that is he contrived it he invented i◠there This rare this most excellent thing a ransome is the Lords own invention I have found it I know how to doe this man good I know how to save him and doe my own honour and Justice no hurt no wrong my honour is saved Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotet expiationem aut redemptionem tum etiam pretium quod pro redemptione offertur Significat etiam cooperire linire aut operire bitumine quasi pristinam faciē rei alicujus aut immunditiem abscondere quod elegantèr refertur ad ab stertionem peccati Pined my Justice is satisfied in doing it I have found a ransome The word here rendred a ransome signifies in the Verb to cover or to hide that which before lay open that it appeare no more Grace brings another face upon things a new face I may say upon our souls The covering of sin elegantly denotes the pardon of sin And what reason have we to be thankfull and rejoyce when sin our soul durt and deformity is covered We have very foul faces I meane outward conversations and more foul souls or inward inclinations till the Lord is graciously pleased to put a covering upon them If we cover our own sins we shall have no mercy but if the Lord once cover our sins he cannot deny us mercy that being it self our greatest mercy and the fruit of his great mercy The Mercy-seat so famous in the Mosaicall Poedogogy is exprest by this word which properly signifieth a Covering The Mercy-seat was it self a Covering of pure gold laid over the Arke in which Arke the Law was put Exod. 25.17.21 Thou shalt put the Mercy-seat above upon the Arke and in the Ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee And as the dimensions of the Arke were two Cubits and a halfe in length and a Cubit and a half in breadth so the same were the dimensions of the Mercy-seat Vers 10.17 which figured that as the Mercy-seat fully covered the Arke wherein the Law was so Christ should fully cover all our sins which are transgressions of the Law The righteousness of Christ is as long and as broad as the Law and so our sins being covered with that shall never appeare against us Therefore also from above this Mercy-seat between the two Cherubims the Lord said vers 22. I will meete thee and I will
poor that 's the case of some it is the Lords with-holding of his blessing which makes all his labours fruitless and successless such a man is indeed one of God's poor or a poor man of God's making and God will surely make the poverty of such a man if he continue in a believing dependence upon him and in an humble submission to him if he know how to want as well as to abound how to be hungry as well as to be full and in every estate hath learned therewith to be content as the holy Apostle had then I say God will surely make the poverty of such a man better to him then riches or the largest portion of this worlds enjoyment The poor of God's special making are under his special keeping and blessing As they have but little so they want nothing God himself will always be not only enough but all to them Take two further inferences from the whole verse First Princes great and rich men must not expect to fare better with God because of their greatness or riches For He doth not regard the rich more then the poor Secondly The meanest man needs not fear that he shall fare the worse before God for his meanness The most high God will not overlook those in a low estate he regardeth the poor as well as the rich and that 's matter of great comfort to the poor when disregarded by the rich Though the Lord doth not make all men of an equal respect in the world 't is his will that some men should be more regarded by men then others are yet himself in the sence opened beareth an equal respect to them all He regardeth not the rich more then the poor for they are all the work of his hands JOB Chap. 34. Vers 20 21 22. In a moment shall they die and the people shall be troubled at midnight and pass away and the mighty shall be taken away without hands For his eyes are upon the wayes of man and he seeth all his doings There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves IN these three verses Elihu doth two things principally First He sets forth the judgements of God Secondly He gives an account of the equity of them He sets forth the judgements of God First More generally Upon People and Nations Secondly Upon Princes and Governours All this in the 20th verse And in this judgement of God upon Nations we may take notice First Of the nature of it and how it is described and that is laid down three wayes First They shall die Secondly They shall be troubled Thirdly They shall pass away Under these Notions the judgement of God upon People and Nations is exprest Secondly We may here consider the suddenness of all this In a moment they shall die Thirdly We may consider the season or rather as to man the unseasonableness of it it shall be though in a dreaming time when they little dream of it The people shall be troubled at midnight Thus we have the judgement or sad dispensation of God described in this 20th verse both as to the acts of it and likewise as to the manner of it upon the people Elihu having shewed the judgement of God upon the people in the former part of this 20th verse declares also his judgement upon the Princes in the latter end of it The mighty shall be taken away without hand Where we see First How Princes are expressed or called They are the mighty Secondly What kinde of judgement befalleth them They are taken away Thirdly The manner how this is brought about They are taken away without hand From the matter of the judgement of God both upon people and Princes Elihu proceeds to give the reason why the Lord deals thus with both This he doth in the two verses following First Because of their sin They are workers of iniquity in the close of the 22th verse Secondly Because as they are workers of iniquity so God is fully acquainted with all their iniquity c. He seeth all their works and the iniquity of their works nothing can cover it or them from his fight and therefore as Elihu asserts the omniscience of God positively in the 21th verse so negatively in the 22th verse There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves Now seeing the works of those Nations and Princes were naught and the naughtiness of them was evident to God how could he but punish them And how just and righteous is he in punishing of them By all this Elihu clears his general Assertion or the point he drives at all this chapter over namely to prove that God is righteous against which position he tells us before Job having spoken dangerously he was engaged to maintain it vigorously which he doth here especially in that eminent branch of it mentioned at the 19th verse That he accepteth not the persons of Princes nor regardeth the rich more then the poor For Princes as well as common people fall under his hand So much for the parts and resolution of these three verses as also for the general scope of them Yet before I go on to the particular explication of them I would only minde the Reader of another Translation of the whole 20th verse which varieth somwhat from ours rendring it as a description of the judgement of God upon Princes by the violence of the people whereas according to our Translation it is a description of the judgement of God both upon people and Princes The Translation I mean is that of the Vulgar Latine which runs in this form Vers 20. Suddenly shall they die Subito morientur in media nocte turbabuntur populi per transibunt auferent violentum absique manu Vulg. at midnight the people shall be in a tumult and shall pass over and take away the violent man without hand This Reading and the expositions given upon it prove That God is so far from accepting the persons of Princes that he does not only tell them their own and reprove them to their face for their wickedness and Apostacy as was shewed from the former reading of the 18th verse but deprives them also of their dignity and pulls them from their power And he doth it in such a manner that every man may understand and see the hand of God in it because they see no hands in it The less of man appears in any work of providence whether it be in a way of mercy or of judgement the more of God is to be acknowledged in it and where nothing of man appeareth all or the whole must be attributed unto God The judgement which Elihu speaks of here seems according to this Interpretation to have much of man in it yet because the men supposed to be in it are looked upon as such as can do little in it or ought to do nothing in it therefore 't is said to be done without
spiritual state may be under great spiritual evils great soul afflictions and troubles may fall upon him which I conceive David intended while he shewed such high confidence Psal 23.4 Though I walk through the valley of the shaddow of death I will fear none evil as if he had said Though I were in the worst of soul-afflictions having no light of the favour of God shining upon me nor any comfort in my spirit though as Heman bemoans his deserted condition Psal 88.3 My soul is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh unto the grave though I am laid in the lowest pit in darkness in the deep yet I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staffe they comfort me Again the shaddow of death is often put in Scripture for the worst of outward worldly evils Jer. 13.16 Give glory to the Lord your God before he cause darkness c. and while ye look for light he turn it into the shaddow of death that is while ye expect good times and things ye fall into the worst or the worst befal you Now as these words the shaddow of death signifie the worst of both in spirituals and temporals so here they signifie the closest concealment of moral evils some sinners think themselves as much out of sight as a buried carcass and they vail their wickedness with such darkness as is like the very shaddow of death Sin is it self a shaddow of death yea death it self and they who are dead in sins and trespasses will do their best that their sins may be no more seen then the dead are But there is no darkness nor shaddow of death Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves What it is to be a worker of iniquity was opened at the 8th verse of this chapter and thither I refer the reader Only in general know Workers of iniquity are more then ordinary sinners they are cunning at the committing and cunning at the hiding of sin Some are but bunglers at sin they cannot sin with such an hellish skill as others do and when they have sinned they have not the art of hiding it but others are as we say their crafts-masters both wayes and they are properly called workers of iniquity Yet saith Elihu the very workers of iniquity they that make it their profession their study and their business to do evil and to hide the evil they have done to work mischief in the dark and to keep their works in the dark even they cannot be hid in any darkness And when the Text saith there is no darkness c. wherein the workers of iniquity may hide themselves the meaning of it is they stand naked and in the open light before the eyes of God For though Elihu doth not say from what they cannot hide themselves yet we may take it two wayes they cannot hide themselves first from the sight of God he will discern them The Prophet saith of God Isa 45.15 Thou art a God that hidest thy self it is the word of the Text in another construction that is as I conceive it may be expounded Thou art an invisible God God hides himself naturally or in his own nature for that is invisible likewise God somtimes hideth himself voluntarily as somtimes he manifesteth or sheweth himself voluntarily but he is a God alwayes hid as to his nature because he is invisible and so he is called a God that hideth himself in opposition to Idols or false gods who are obvious to the eyes of men Idols have eyes and see not but themselves are seen by every eye Jehovah the true God seeth but hath no eye neither can any eye see him Thus he is a God hiding himself in the spirituality of his own being which gross Idols cannot the following words in that Text in the Prophet seem to make out this sence vers 16. They shall be ashamed and confounded all of them that is all Idol-makers and Idol-worshippers shall be ashamed and confounded they shall go to confusion together that are makers of Idols Now as God hideth himself both these wayes somtimes voluntarily or in his will he resolves to hide himself from his people as David complain'd Psal 13.1 How long wilt thou hide thy face from me alwayes in the spirituality of his own nature so sinful men would be hidden too though they cannot be hidden as to their nature that being corporeal yet they would hide themselves in their will their wits are bent upon it to make covers and shaddows for themselves that they may keep out of the sight of God or that they may not be seen of him who cannot be seen but is in that sence a God that hideth himself And as men cannot hide themselves from the sight of God so not secondly from the revenging power of God This followeth the former for he that would keep out of the sight of another doth it usually that he may be hid from that danger and evil which he fears that other might bring upon him Thus it is with the sinner he hath his hiding places he would withdraw himself from the revenging power of God like a malefactor who is unwilling to appear and come to the Bar before his Judge but all in vain Meer natural or unregenerate men are much hidden from themselves that is they see little what themselves are they know not their own condition nor upon what terms they stand even a godly man is much hidden from himself his life is hid with Christ in God Col. 3.3 his life is not only hidden from the world but in a great measure from himself the excellency of his spiritual state surpasseth his present sight but a wicked man is much more hid from himself he doth not see the wickedness of his own heart nor the danger the desperate danger he is in he seeth not that he is within a step of the pit or that there is as it were but a wainscot between him and hell fire he seeth none of these things Thus a wicked man is hidden from himself and 't is his work to prepare darkness and shaddows of death to cover his dead works from God But there is no darkness will serve his purpose nor shaddow of death wherein he may hide himself Hence Note First It is usual for and natural to sinners to seek hiding places When Elihu saith There is no darkness c. he plainly intimates that it is the designe and business of sinners to make darkness to hide themselves it is as much their business to hide themselves when they have done evil as it is their business to do evil while the workers of iniquity confess in general the eyes of God behold their ways they deny not in word that God is All-seeing yet as they often blear the eye of man so they are not out of hope to put darkness and raise a mist between themselves and the eye of God Or if they rise not to this vain thought that they can
But if what is awarded against him be right according to Law and sutable to Justice let the sentence be what it will let him be able to beare it or no much more if he be able also to beare it as in this case it is he hath no cause at all to desire a review of it Thus it is saith Elihu in all the dealings of God with man He will not lay upon man more then is right that he should enter into judgement with God To enter or goe into judgement as the word is is either to begin or renew a sute and to desire the hearing of the cause againe God makes no faulty Judgements why then should any cause determin'd by him come to a second hearing there may be reason enough among men to heare a cause againe but what God resolves needs not be reviewed much lesse reversed Here then Elihu meets with those frequent complaints of Job under his afflictions and likewise with those his severall motions and earnest petitions to have his cause heard afresh as if God had prest him too sore or at least had not done him right in suffering him to be so sorely prest by men Thus Elihu seemes to say God never gave any man any just cause to plead his cause over againe with him nor hath he given thee O Job any cause to desire it of him 'T is true carnall men yea and sometimes godly men when as Job here they are greatly afflicted are ready to thinke and say they are over-severely dealt with But the reason of Elihu stands good and firme against all these thoughts and sayings For he will not lay upon man more then is right Hence note God never wronged nor will wrong any man There are two speciall cases in which God never did nor ever will wrong man First he will not wrong man by denying him that reward which he hath freely promised no man shall serve God for naught he shall not say God hath promised but he hath not performed The experience of his people seale to the truth of his promises as wel as their faith imbraceth it That hope of man which is anchored in a promise of God never miscarried not made any man ashamed Secondly God will not wrong man by laying upon him a greater punishment then he hath threatned The Magistrate cannot be charged with laying more punishment upon an offender then is right if he punisheth him not more then the Law alloweth There may be a great deale of severity I grant in punishing up to the rigor of the Law but there is no unrighteousness in it The Mosaical law allowed of forty stripes now if they had layd forty-one upon any offender they had layd upon him more then was right because they exceeded the Law and to have layd full forty stripes which was the utmost they could by Law had been severe therefore they usually abated one stripe at least Hence the Apostle Paul saith 2 Cor 11.24 Of the Jewes five times received I forty stripes save one if they had given Paul forty stripes they had done no wrong as to the Law though one had been too many for and a wrong to him who had not broken their law Seeing the Lord lays no more upon the worst of sinners then the law alloweth he doth not lay upon man more then right Yea not only the chastisements which the Lord layeth upon his owne servants but the greatest punishments which he layeth upon the worst of the wicked in this world are much lesse then might with Justice be inflicted This was Ezra's humble acknowledgement before the Lord Ezra 9.13 And after all that is come upon us for our evill deeds and for our great trespasse seeing that thou our God hast punished us lesse then our iniquities deserve The punishment that was upon the people of Israel was exceeding great in so much that Daniel saith in his prayer Chap 9.11 12. Vnder the whole heavens hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem yet Ezra speaking of that very dispensation saith Thou hast punished us lesse then our iniquities deserve In this life the greatest of our punishments are lesse then the least of our sins Every sin or transgression of the Law deserves eternall death therefore in this life the greatest punishments that fall upon sinners are lesse then their sins As the least mercies which God bestoweth upon them are greater then the greatest of their deservings That was Jacobs free confession Gen 32.10 I am not worthy of the least of or I am lesse then all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant So the greatest punishments that fall upon them in this life are lesse then the least of their sins And in the next life where sinners shall have full measure heaped up pressed downe running over and that for ever yet then they shall not have one graine more either of weight or measure then they have deserved The Lord layeth upon no man in this life so much nor in that to come more then is right Hence it followeth Secondly Man hath no cause to complaine of God or God hath not given any man any cause to complaine whatsoever his sufferings are Why should he complaine who hath but his right As God hath not given any man a liberty to complaine so he hath not given any man just occasion or a true reason to complaine If the burden of punishment be heavy upon any man let him thanke his own sin or selfe for it he hath but his due from God We are often cruel to and wrong our selves God is usually mercifull and never but just to us yea how great soever any affliction is 't is a mercy that 't is no greater and God can quickly make it greater how great soever it is and still be just As he never doth more then he may so he never doth so much as he can in punishing us The Lord hath more in the treasures of his wrath then yet he hath powred upon the worst of sinners Nor indeed can the most capacious vessels of wrath hold all his wrath 't is as himselfe is infinite Cain sayd My punishment is greater then I can beare Gen 4.13 yet God could have made his punishment greater then it was Therefore Jeremy confessed Lam 3.22 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions faile not Whatsoever is lesse then utter consumption hath some mixture of compassion in it every punishment hath somewhat of compassion in it except that of everlasting damnation O then let all flesh feare and tremble to enter into Judgement with God to complaine or take offence at any of his proceedings with them There are foure things considerable in God which should stop all mens mouths from daring to doe so First He is most powerfull there is no escaping out of his hands Secondly He is most wise and seeth quite through all that man hath done with his hand