wise may he profitable to himself The Lord hath designed all our wisdom and obedience to our own benefit So Moses spake to the people of Israel Deu. 6.24 The Lord commanded us to doe all these statutes to feare the Lord our God for our good alwayes that he might preserve us alive as it is at this day It is not for the Lords good but it is for our good that he commands and we obey And as the Lord commanded all things in the Law for our good not for his own so he commands us to believe the Gospel not for his good but for our own he is not to be saved by it it is we that are to be saved by it He doth not call us to work as men do their servants that he might play the good husband and get some profit by keeping us hard at labour Indeed the Lord keepeth his servants hard at labour night and day they must be continually upon duty But he doth it not as I may say to play the good husband to encrease his stock by it but it is for our profit That which Christ speaks Mar. 2.27 about the Sabboth is true of all other the commands of God we are apt to think that God requires a seaventh day because it is for his profit and advantage no saith Christ the Lord hath not an eye to himselfe but to man The Sabboth was made for man that is for mans advantage that he might look heaven ward that he might worke in the things which concern his owne blessednesse therefore hath the Lord appointed him a resting day The Sabboth was made for man and not man for the Sabboth Sixtly Then our disobedience cannot hurt God our sinnâ— cannot disadvantage him impaire his blessednesse oâ— diminish his glory As mans obedience is no profit so his disobedience is no disprofit to God Sinners shall be punished as they who have wronged and dishonoured God they shall be dealt with as such But really all the sinnes of the world doe not bring any damage or disadvantage to God Elihu is expresse to this point in the 35. Chap. of this Book vers 6 7. If thou sinnest what dost thou against him Every sin is against the mind of God but no sinn is against the happinesse of God or if thy transgressions be multiplyed what dost thou unto him is God impair'd by it Surely no God doth not loose a pinn from his sleeve as I may say by all the sinnes committed in the world He hath no dependance at all upon our obedience for his blessedness our sins cannot hurt him as our obedience cannot help him which Elihu shews in the next verse If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand Seventhly hence see the honour of God that hath made so many creatures and man especially of whom himselfe hath no need that hath so many to serve him and yet needs none of their services Give God this glory Wee think those men are very glorious and honouurable who have but as much of the creature as will serve thier turn all creatures are the Lords yet he is not necessitated to serve his turn by any of them Eightly then see what an obligation lyeth upon us continually to blesse God to be thankfull to him to walk humbly with him who gives us so many profits when as we doe not profit him at all God prizeth that highly by which himself hath no benefit hee prizes the actings of faith and holinesse highly but he hath no advantage by them God gives us profit by these though himselfe be not profited though he is not the better by any thing we do yet we are the better The Lord binds himself by promise that the least good we do in sincerity shall have a good reward He that gives but a cup of cold water to a Disciple in the name of a Disciple shall not lose his reward But if we give thousands of Gold and Silver to poore Disciples what profit hath God by it And yet though none of the profit comes to his hand yet he reckons it as if all were put into his hand All the charity and compassion shewed to his people Christ taketh to himself Matth. 25. In that yee have done it unto these ye have done it unto me Christ had no need of alms of visiting or cloathing yet he counts it as done to himselfe when we do it to any of his Can a man be profitable to God as he that is wise may be profitable to himselfe Some give the meaning of the words thus Doth it follow that a man can be profitable unto God because a wise man may be profitable to himselfe our reading reaches the same sense Can a man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable to himself It doth not follow because A man may profit another man or profit himselfe that therefore he may profit God That 's the summe of the argument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intellexit prudens fuit per Metonymiam faelix prosper fuit quod prudentibus omnia feliciter cedant prudentiam faelicitas fere sequitur As he that is wiâ—e The word in the root of it signifies to Understand to be Prudent and by a Metonymie to be happy or to prosper because usually affaires succeed well and prosper in the hands of wise men and happinesse usually followes wisedome therefore to be wise and to be profitable are signified by one and the same word in the Hebrew So in this Text He that is wise is profitable to himselfe that is his affaires shall prosper We finde this Title prefixt to divers Psalms Maschil Maschil intelligens prudens carmen erudiens ode didascalica In titulis Psalmorum ter decies legitur which is as much as A teaching Psalme a Psalm making wise a Psalm for Instruction This Title is given those Psalms which as they have some extraordinary matter so usually they are Psalmes of complaint under affliction and the reason of that is because there is much instruction in correction much light of holy knowledge is to be had in the School of the Crosse therefore usually those Psalms that describe the afflictions of the Church are called Maschil Psalms of Instruction Schola crucis Schola lucis Luth. He that is wise and instructs or he that is wise as having received instruction may be profitable to himselfe All wisedome is not profitable to man for there is a wisedome of which the Scripture saith that God will destroy it a man cannot profit himselfe by that and there is a wisedome which is earthly sensuall and devillish Jam. 3.15 A man be he never so wise according to this wisedome shall not profit himselfe by it There are a sort of wise men whom the Lord will take in their craftinesse 1 Cor. 3.19 and how can such profit themselves by their wisedome There are wise men whose thoughts the Lord knoweth to be but vaine that
object cannot be immoderate but in temperals they quickly may and therefore as to them our moderation should be known to all men Yet if God give in abundance of temporals in the lawfull exercise of our callings we may warraÌ„tably enjoy it as a blessing from him The providence of God doth often bound us to a little and we ought to be contented with the least portion of outward things with bare food rayment but the word of God doth not bound us to a little nor doth it say it is unlawfull to have much And as it is not unlawfull to have much of the world so it is a great exercise and tryall of our Graces to have much As there are some Graces of a Christian which come not to tryall till we are in want so there are other Graces which come not to tryall unlesse we have aboundance Want tryeth our patience and our dependance upon God for a supply of what we have not and aboundance tryeth our temperance our humility our liberality yea and our dependance upon and faith in God for the sanctifying blessing and making of that comfortable to us which we have When a rich man seeth an emptines in his aboundance without the enjoyments of God in it he exerciseth as high a grace and sheweth as heavenly a frame of mind as that poore man doth who seeth and enjoyeth a fullnes in God in the midst of all his emptines And therefore Paul puts both these alike upon a divine teaching Phil. 4.12 In all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need And had it been unlawfull to enjoy plenty Eliphaz had never pressed Job to repentance by this motive The Almighty shall be thy defence and thou shalt have plenty of silver JOB CHAP. 22. Vers 26 27. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty and shalt lift up thy face unto God Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him and â—e shall heare thee and thou shall pay thy Vowes IT hath been shewed from the former context how Eliphaz encouraged yea provoked Job to repentance and returning to God by the proposall of many promises by promises of outward and temporall mercies gold silver and protection He might have what he pleased of God for the comforts of this life if his life were once pleasing unto God In this latter part of the Chapter he riseth higher and proposeth spirituall promises And he begins with the best of spirituall promises the free injoyment of God himselfe Vers 26. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty c. As if Eliphas had said If thou dost indeed repent and turne from sin thy conscience which now troubles yea torments thee shall have sweete peace in God and thou who now grovellest with thy eyes downe to the ground by reason of thy pressing guilt and misery shalt then with confidence lift up thy face unto God in prayer and thou shalt finde God so ready at hand with an answer that thou shalt see cause chearefully to performe thy Vowes which thou madest to him in the day of trouble That 's the generall scope of this latter part of the Chapter I shall now proceed to explicate the particulars For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Allmighty The first word implyeth a reason of what he had said before Having spoken of temporall promises he confirmes his interest in them by assuring him of spirituall for then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty As if he had said God will not deny thee outward comforts in the creature seing he intends to give thee the highest comforts even delight in himselfe 'T is an argument like that of the Apostle Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his owne Sonne but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things Thus Eliphaz seemes to argue seeing God will give thee himselfe to rejoyce in or to rejoyce in himselfe how can he deny thee gold and silver with those other conveniencies which concerne this life these being indeed as nothing in comparison of himselfe Then shalt thou delight c. Then that is when thou returnest to God and not till then then thou mayest expect to receive much sweetnesse from him such sweetnesse as thy soule never tasted or experienced to this day Then shalt thou have thy delight The word signifies to delight or take contentment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delectatus fuit coâ—pore vel animo Sonai etiam aliquâ—d delicatum â—oâ—â—e whether it be outward contentment or inward contentment the delight of the body or the delight of the minde And so an universall delight thy whole delight shall be in the Lord. Moses Deut. 28.56 describes those women by this word who were made up of delight Thy tender and delicate woman that is such as are so delicate that they are the delight of all who behold them or who are themselves altogether devoted to their delights who as the Apostle Paul speaks of the wanton widdow 1 Tim. 5. live in pleasure These are threatned with such calamities as should render their very lives a paine to them The word is used againe Isa 58.13 14. where the Prophet speaks of keeping the Sabboth If thou turne away thy foote from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight what then then shalt thou delight thy selfe in the Lord thou shalt have curious delight all manner of delight in the Lord if thou call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him if thou hast a delight in duty thou shalt have the delight of reward Thus Eliphaz then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty And 't is considerable that he doth not say thou shalt have thy delight in the mercifull or gracious God but in the Allmighty in him thou shalt have thy delight whose power is over all and who is able to doe whatsoever pleaseth him Even the power and allmightinesse of the Lord shall be as pleasant to thee as his mercy and loving kindnesse Further delight in the generall nature of it consists in these two things First In the suitablenesse and conveniency of the object and the faculty whether sensitive or intellective Secondly It consists in the reflection and application of the faculty upon the object So that to delight our selves in the Allmighty hath these two things in it First A suitablenesse in our soules to the Lord. Secondly The soules reflecting upon the Lord as good and gratious unto us This reflect act breeds and brings in delight and works the heart to an unspeakeable joy in God By this last and highest act of faith we take in the sweetnesse of the Almighty and delight our selves in him mightily This faith doth not onely suck the promises wherein the love of God is evidenced to us but is it selfe an evidence of the love of God to
abscondere negare fraudare Subtrahebas ei si habebat prohibebas si non habebat i. e. nolebas ei panem dare Dâ—us Esurientium substraxisti fructum panis Ambr. and sometimes to deceive a man of that which is due to him Our translation Thou hast withholden carries that sence in it Properly we are sayd to withhold onely that from a man which he hath a right to Thou hast withholden Bread from the hungry As hunger and thirst are put for all manner of Extreamity so bread and water are put for all manner of supplyes generally The Greekes and some Latines Interpret this strictly of a morsell of bread Thou hast withholden a morsell of bread as the rich man in the Gospel did Lazarus desired but the crummes that fell from his Table but could not get them So here thou hast withholdden not onely a full Table but a morsell of Bread This latter clause and the former are of the same sence yet from that word withholden which Implyeth a wrong done to the poore note first That the poore have a right in what rich men have And if they withhold all from them they shall be condemned not onely as uncharitable and illiberall but as oppressors and unjust not onely as not having given them reliefe but as not having done them right Prov. 3.27 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due when it is in the Power of thy hand to doe it A thing is due upon a double account first by the Law of Justice secondly by the Law of Love I conceive here that the Proverb is to be understood of a dueness not by the Lawes of Common Justice as if a man have his brothers Estate in his hand he cannot withhold it from him without transgressing the Law of Justice but of a dueness by the Law of Love or more strictly by the Law of Charity thus 't is a duty to doe good to those that are in want it is not onely a favour that wee shew to them when wee releive them but there is a duty in it which wee owe to God who hath commanded that their poverty should be supplyed by the plenty abundance which he hath given to others If therefore it be demanded who are they to whom this doing of good is due I answer not onely they to whom thou art endebted in Justice witnes thy hand and seale but even they to whom thou art endebted in charity witnes their want and need The poore have a right to what we are able to give and can conveniently spare yea sometimes their right may lye somewhat beyond the line of our conveniency So then there is a poynt of Justice in it as well as of charity in releiving the poore and if as the next words in Solomon imply it be sinfull to delay them till to morrow it must needes be a wickednes to deny them for ever Therefore the same Solomon Prov. 22.2 speaking of the poore and the rich puts them together The rich and poore meet together the Lord is the maker of them all Now the Lord is the maker of the poore and of the rich not only in their naturall constitution as they are men consisting of body and soule so indeed he hath made the poor as well as the rich and they are both alike the worke of his hands but the Lord is the maker of them in that capacity or state wherein they are he makes the rich man and the poore man that is hee makes the one rich and the other poore he 〈◊〉 the maker of them both and Solomon I conceive puts that in to shew first that poore men should not envy the rich man why for the Lord hath made him rich why should thine Eye be Evill because the Lords Eye is good And againe that the rich man should not despise the poore or withdraw the bowells of his Compassion from them the Lord could have made thee poore too if hee had pleased therefore be Compassionate towards them for the Lord is the maker of you both And this answers that objection commonly given by some why are not my goods my owne may I not do with them as I please I have not stolne them I have wronged no man in the obtaining them it is well when men can say thus that they have done no wrong in getting riches but this is no argument how justly soever any man hath got his Estate that he should keepe it all to himselfe and not give a portion to those that are in want The rich man withholds what is due to the poor when he withholds releife from them It is true your Estate is your owne it is yours no man can challenge or claime it from you I but God can claime it from you you are possessors and masters of your Estate in reference unto men but you are but Stewards and Servants of your Estate in reference unto God Now a Stewards buisinesse you know is not only to receive and lay up the Estate of his Lord or Master but 't is his buisines also to pay or lay out according as he receives command or order from his Lord thus it is in this Case Rich men are but Stewards to the Lord in reference to all that they have Therefore as they receive from him and partake of the fullnes of the Earth which is his for the Earth is the Lords and the fullnes thereof so they must issue it according to his order and command Now he hath left a standing order for all times that the rich should distribute to the necessities of the poore and hungry Rich men must not thinke themselves Stewards onely to receive in but also to pay out what their Lord calls for and therefore as they would give a good account of their Stewardship at the great Audit day let them take heed how they withhold bread from the hungry I might shew further that the rich are not onely obliged to give or that it is their duty to give but that they ought to give chearfully and readily not upon constraint 2 Cor. 9.7 that they ought to give liberally and bountifully noâ— with restraint and that they ought to give sincerely not thinking thereby eyther to merit at the hand of God or to get the praise of men Secondly From the matter of this charge Thou hast withholden bread from the hungry we may observe That Not to doe good or the omission of doing good to the poore renders us culpable as well as the doing or Commission of that which is evill or injurious to them Not to releive the poore is a sin as well at to injure or oppresse the poore yea not to releive hath injurie and oppression in it The reason of it is cleare from the former poynt because the poore have a right to so much of a rich mans estate as is a releife of their pressing necessities to preserve them from perishing And every man must acknowledge that to deny any man his right
good It is not enough for a man to say he doth not judge his brother maliciously he ought not to judge him ignorantly Though to speake or judge ill of another because wee wish him ill be the greater sinne yet barely to speake or judge ill of another by whom we know no ill is very sinfull And then 't is most sinfull when wee doe it not onely as not knowing any evill they have done but because we know heare or see the evills which they suffer 'T is dangerous as well as improper to make the hardest and harshest dealings of God with any man the ground of our hard and harsh thoughts of him Thirdly Consider who they were whom Job is supposed to have oppressed they were not the great ones not the mighty men of the earth but the fatherlesse and the widow Whence note That the poore are usually the subject of oppression The greater fish in the sea of this world devoure and live upon the lesser The strong should support the weake and they who are upper-most should uphold those who are under them But because the weake and the underlings may most easily be opprest therefore they are most usually opprest As Covetousnesse is cruell so 't is cowardly and dares not meddle with its match God in reference to Spiritualls filleth the hungry with good things and the rich he sendeth empty away Luk. 1.53 Ungodly men in reference to temporals would send the rich away empty if they could but they are so farre from filling the hungry with good things that they take away all the good things they can from the hungry they care not if they starve the hungry if they make the poore poorer and take all from them who have but little Fourthly Job having been a Magistrate and so by his place a Minister of Justice is strongly pressed with the doing of injustice Whence note First That they who have power may easily though not alwayes justly be suspected for the abuse of it To have a power in our hands whereby we may doe good is a temptation to doe evill 'T is hard to keepe power within its bounds and to rule that by which others are ruled The Prophet Isa 1.10 calls the rulers of Sion rulers of Sodome because they ruled like them or rather worse then they eating up the people under their charge rather then feeding them and vexing those whom they undertooke to governe and to be a Shield unto against the vexations of others Secondly Note That as oppression is a sinne in any man so it is most sinfull in those who have power in their hands to releeve the oppressed Such act not onely contrary to a common rule but contrary to their speciall duty by how much we have the more obligation not to doe a thing by so much we sin the more if we doe it Thirdly Note That as it is very sinfull in Magistrates to wrong any man so it is most sinfull to wrong them or to deny them right who have most need of it the widow and the fatherlesse Magistrates are called Gods And God who hath honoured them by putting his name upon them expects that they should honour him by imitating or acting like unto him What a Magistrate doth he should doe like God he should doe it so that every one may be convinced that God is in him and with him of a truth As God takes care of the widow and of the fatherlesse so should he God is knowne by this Title A father of the fatherlesse and a Judge of the widow is God in his holy habitation Psal 68.5 That is in Heaven for that 's the habitation of his holines and of his glory there he dwells Judging for the widow and the fatherlesse And as that is the speciall businesse as it were of God in Heaven so they who are Gods on earth ought to make it their speciall businesse to judge for the widow and the fatherlesse Hence wee finde the widow and the fatherlesse commended by name to the care of the Magistrate The fatherlesse have no naturall parents living or none neere of kinne remaining to maintaine and defend them therefore the Magistrate who is pater patriae the common father of his Country should be their Foster-Father They who want power are the charge should be the speciall care of those in power Thus they are commanded Psa 82.3 4. Defend the poore fatherless doe justice to the afflicted needy deliver the poore and needy rid them out of the hand of the wicked Here 's their worke and the neglect of this worke how busie so ever Magistrates are about other worke is often complained of aloud in Scripture as a crying sinne as a sinne that ruines Nations and drawes downe publicke Judgements upon a people Isaiah 1.17 Cease to doe evill learne to doe well seeke Judgement relieve the oppressed Judge the fatherlesse plead for the widow And at the 23 verse They judge not the fatherlesse neither doth the Cause of the widow come unto them Againe Jer. 5.28 They judge not the Cause of the fatherlesse It is a sin not to judge any mans Cause not to judge the Cause of the richest of the greatest yet it is more sinfull not to judge the Cause of the widow and the fatherlesse And when he saith They judge not the Cause c. the meaning is they judge not the Cause of the fatherlesse impartially and righteously And indeed he that doth not judge righteously doth not judge at all and when the Prophet saith They judge not the Cause of the fatherlesse it is as if he had said Among all the Causes that lye unjudged this is the Cause that God takes most notice of and is most displeased with the neglect of it even when the Cause of the fatherlesse is not pleaded or judged All are forward enough to plead the Cause of the rich but when the Client is poore and appeares in forma pauperis his cause seld me finds any but a poore and formal pleading We read Acts 6.1 That there was a great murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrewâ—s because their widdowes were neglected in the daily Administration Church-Officers in their capacity as well as State-Officers in theirs ought to have a carefull eye upon widows that are in want And the Apostle James Cha. 1.27 summes up as it were all Religion into this one duty Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherlesse and the widow Not as if this were indeed all religion or the all of religion but as when the Spirit in Scripture hath to doe with prophane persons or meere moral honest men who place all religion in civill righteousnesse and workes of charity then he calls them to first Table duties or to the sincere worship of God so when the Spirit is speaking to those who place all their religion in worship or in first Table duties neglecting the duties of charity and righteousnes then we finde
Lord is God of the hills and not of the valleys therefore will I deliver this great multitude into thy hand As if he had said however you deserve not in the least that I should owne you or assist your cause yet that I may confute the blasphemous and derogatory principles of these Syrians I will give you a second victory against them even in the valleys where they suppose they have you at an advantage and shall deale with you beyond the extent of my power and Territory Though God had no cause to respect the honour of the Israelites yet he could not forget the honour of his owne name which was obscured by those superstitious Syrians The most received Doctrine Divinity of the Heathens confined their Gods to certaine places some to this City some to that some to the hills some to the plaines some to the Sea others to the Land 'T is sayd that the same night in which Alexander the Great of whose Conquests Daniel Prophesied was borne that the Temple of Diana at Ephesus was burnt to the ground And the Heathens gave this as the reason of it because Diana was absent from hir Temple being gone to assist at the birth of Alexander implying that their Goddess was so in one place as she could not attend what was done elsewhere Such were the grosse conceits which they had of their Gods and they imagined the God of Israel to be such a one as their owne The veriest Idolater in the world presumes his God as good as any is But Jehova the living God hath taught us to say Who is a God like unto thee and our experiences have sealed to it that there is none like the God of Jesurun who rideth on the heavens for thy helpe and in his excellency on the skyes Deut. 33.26 And wee have learned to comfort our selves in all places and streights in this assurance that he is the God of the hills as well as of the valleys of the Sea as well as the dry Land and that he is as truely present in the lowest depths as in the highest heavens Is not God in the height of heaven And behold the height of the Starres how high they are The Hebrew is Behold the head of the Starres The head of a man is the highest part of him and the head of any thing is the top of it Behold the head or height of the Starres how high they are Starres are high but God is higher many creatures are high but God is high above all creatures The creature is strong but God is stronger the creature is wise but God is wiser the creature is glorious but God is infinitely more glorious The glory wisdome strength and highest height of the creature is but a glimpse of what God is The Starres are high I shall not enter into an Astronomicall Discourse about the Starres or the height of Starres I shall not meddle with a Jacobs staffe to take the elevation of the Starres no need of such Discourse here all that is intended by Eliphaz is a proofe that God is infinitely exalted in his highnes and majesty above the Starres Behold the height of the Starres how high they are This word behold in Scripture is often applied to things of wonder To say behold is not a calling for the bare act of the eye to see the height of the Starres but it calls for a worke of the minde duly to consider of and to wonder at their height Some creatures especially the heavenly are not onely usefull but wonderfull and 't is as hard to understand them as it is comfortable to enjoy them The Hebrew word for Heaven cometh from a roote which signifies to amaze and astonish And indeed there are naturall wonders and mysteries enow in the heavens to astonish any considering man And the true reason why we are no more astonisht at them or doe no more admire them is because we doe so little consider them We often see or looke upon the Starres but we seldome behold them And therefore David saith Psal 8.3 When I consider the heavens the worke of thy fingers the Moone and the Starres which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindfull of him As the beholding and consideration of our owne workes will make us ashamed because they appeare so bad so the consideration and beholding of the works of God will make us astonisht because they appeare both so good and great Behold saith the Apostle 1 Joh. 3.1 what manner of Love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God even this transcendent Love of God in our Adoption is passed by as a small matter by those who will not take the paines or rather the pleasure and leysure to behold and consider the manner of it No mervaile if the power of God in making the highest Starres be passed by as a low thing by those who doe not behold that is diligently consider them Behold the height of the Starres how high they are Wee are called to consider this Hence note That it is our duty to contemplate the excellency of the creature God hath not onely given us the booke of the Scripture but of the creature and we must attend to the reading of this as well as of that even to the reading of every lease and line of it There are foure great leaves of this booke First the heavens secondly the earth thirdly the Sea fourthly the aire These are the foure great leaves of this booke of the creature in every one of which we should labour to be expert Scholars and spel out the name and minde of God in them For though as I said before beholding notes wondering yet wee must not behold them to wonder at them like children but we must behold them to learne somewhat from them or to be instructed by them as men Behold the Starres First In their number As God said to Abraham Gen. 15. 5. Looke now towards Heaven and tell the Starres if thou be able to number them and he said unto him so shall thy seed be 'T is matter of wonder that God should make so many of those eminent Lights that he should set up so many flaming torches in heaven for man to see his way and worke by on earth That God who hath spread this Canopie over our heads should also embroyder it with such a multitude of Golden spangles which render it as much our delight as it is our duty to behold them Secondly Behold the Starres in their order they move by rule they keepe their rankes none of them goe out of their place or forsake their station They who are skilled in the motion of the Starres know where to have them a hundred yeare hence In the 5th of Judges it is said The Starres in their courses fought against Sissera Thirdly We should consider the Starres in their magnitude what vast bodyes they are Some of them are bigger then the whole body
owne hearts may vow more care and diligence in and about all these things And thus wee are to understand that of Jacob Gen. 28.21 vowing that the Lord should be his God as also that of David Psal 119.106 I have sworne and will performe it that I will keepe thy righteous judgements David kept them before but now he would be more strict then before in keeping them So then when we vow things already commanded or forbidden we must pitch and place our vow not upon the matter of the commandement but upon the manner and intensenes of our spirits in keeping it Fourthly Let not vowes about indifferent things be perpetuall All vowes about things expressed in the Law of God must be perpetuall because the things themselves are allwayes a duty For the affirmative precepts of the Law are at all times binding and the negative binde at all times But as for things which are not precisely under a Law As for example in the affirmative to pray so many times in a day to reade so many Chapters of the holy Scriptures in a day to heare so many Sermons in a weeke and in the negative not to drinke any wine or strong drinke not to weare silke or lace for or upon our Apparrel not to take such or such a recreation in it selfe lawfull I say in these cases let not vowes be perpetuall but limited to a season lest thereby wee entangle our owne soules and cast our selves into temptation while through a zeale not according to knowledge we use such meanes to avoyd it Make no vowes to binde your selves at all times in things which are not necessary at all times eyther to be done or not to be done From the whole verse Observe That the answer of prayer received from the Lord doth call us to pay and performe all the duties that we have promised or vowed to the Lord in prayer Though we doe not alwayes make strict and formal vowes when we pray yet every prayer hath somewhat of a vow in it so that having prayed at any time we may say The vowes of God are upon us for when we pray we promise and then especially we doe so when we pray under any pressure of trouble or when we have any extraordinary request to make then I say we engage our selves in a more solemne manner to serve and walke with God And so the returne or answer of such prayers ingageth us more strongly to duty For wheresoever the Lord soweth there he lookes to reape and where he hath sowed much he looks to reape much but then and there chiefly when we promise him fruits of duty for our receipts of favour and mercy Did we take notice of this we should not be found as we are so much in arreare to the Lord eyther for our private or publique mercies What promises have we made in the day of our distresse that we would be holy that we would strive against and mortifie our sinnes or the deeds of the body through the Spirit power of our Lord Jesus Christ Now let conscience speake have wee performed our promises have we paid our vowes we can hardly say that we have put up a prayer which hath not had an answer by blessings and successes God hath been to us a prayer-hearing God have we been to him a vow-paying people Who amongst us is now more active for God or more carefull to please him then before Who amongst us is more watchfull over his heart or more circumspect in his walkings then he was before Who is more carefull over his family that it may be holy or more zealous for the publicke that it may be reformed then he was before What manner of men should we be in all holy conversation and Godlines did we but pay those vowes and make good those engagements which have gone out of our lips and we have layd upon our selves before the Lord in the day of our trouble how just how pure how righteous a Nation should we be were we what we promised our utmost endeavours to be the Lord hath done much for us let us up and be doing for him let us make good what we have spoken to the Lord in vowing and promising seing the Lord hath performed what we have spoken to him in praying and calling upon his name God hath answered us at the first call yea sometimes before we called let us not put God to call a second and a third time much lesse often and often for the payment of our vowes For though the Lord in patience waite many dayes for the payment of vowes yet according to righteousnes we should not let him waite one day for it All these spirituall debt-bills are payable at sight or upon demand God shewes us our owne bills and bonds wherein we stand engaged to his Majesty every day and every day by some or other of his Atturneyes that is by some meanes or other he makes his demand therefore pay to day pay every day for we can never come wholy out of these debts to God or say we owe him nothing how much soever we have payd him And know that if when God hath heard us we be sloathfull in paying our vowes eyther God will heare us no more or wee shall heare of him and that as we say with both eares till he make our eares tingle and our hearts ake for not paying them Swift Judgements have often followed these slow payments And though they have not been swift in comming presently upon the neglect yet when they have come they have come swiftly upon the neglecters And as wee may alwayes say of the evills and Judgements which come upon any of the people of God as the Prophet in a like case doth to the people of Israel Jer. 4.18 Thy way and thy doinâ—s have procured these things unto thee this is thy wickednes So in most cases when evills and judgements fall upon and afflict the people of God we may say Your not doing what you have promised hath procured these things unto you This is your vow-breaking or your neglect of paying your vowes And how just is it that their troubles should not onely be renewed but even doubled and trebled yea seventimes more encreased upon them who slight and throw off those very duties which they tooke upon them in the day of their trouble in expectation to have their troubles removed Every mans mouth will be stopt when he suffers for not doing that good which the mouth of the Lord hath spoken how much more will his mouth be stopt and he have nothing to say for himselfe who suffers for not doing that good or for not forbearing that evill which his owne mouth hath spoken and solemnly charged upon himselfe as a duty in the presence of the Lord. They will have least to say for themselves who goe against or come not up to what themselves have sayd Then pay your vowes JOB CHAP. 22. Vers 28 29 30. Thou shalt also decree
To draw backe is perdition as they who draw backe are the most forward to destroy others Hos 5.2 The revoulters are profound to make slaughter so they shall be sure to be destroyed themselves The people of Israel in their travels through the wildernes to Canaan did often discover this spirit of Apostacy Psal 78.41 They turned backe and tempted God We finde them at a consultation about it Numb 14.4 They said one to another let us make us a Captaine and let us returne into Egypt Our Lord Jesus had such a sort of men who followed him in person Joh. 6.66 From that time many of his Disciples went backe from him and walked no more with him They were Disciples who went backe and there were many of them so many that Christ in the next verse sayd to the twelve Will ye also goe away Then Peter answered Lord whether shall we goe thou hast the words of eternall life As if he had sayd we cannot mend our selves whether soever we goe why then should we goe from thee As a Godly man goeth on so he seeth reason why he should 'T is as irrationall as sinfull to goe backe from him who hath the words of eternall life or from the commandement of his lips who hath given the promise of life The Apostle Paul had a reaching spirit and he was alwayes reaching forward Phil. 3.12 13. Not as though I had already attained or were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus As if he had sayd I would to the utmost answer the designe which Christ had upon me when he first tooke hold of me effectually by his grace Paul was so farre from going backe that he forgot what was backward Some remember what is past or what they have done so much that they forget what is to be done But saith Paul this one thing I doe forgetting those things which are behinde and reaching forth unto those things which are before I presse towards the marke for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus The marke and the price are alwayes before us there is no coming at the marke nor winning of the price by turning backe Prov. 4.18 The path of the just is like the shining or morning light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day The path of the unjust if it have any light in it is but like the evening light which shines lesse and lesse which declines and goeth downward till the perfect night and till himselfe be wrapt up in everlasting darknesse The Sun in the firmament went backe by miracle for a signe to Hezekiah that he should recover the health of his body But if we see any goe back who have heretofore shined like the Sunne in a Gospel pofession we have just cause to looke upon it as a sad symtome that their soules are in a dangerous if not in an irrecoverable condition I have not gone backe sayth Job from the commandement of his lips Againe from all these expressions in that Job speaking of the same thing calls it the way of God the commandement of his lips and in the latter part of this verse the word of his mouth to which he had cleaved and wholy devoted himselfe for the guiding of his whole man in the duty which he owed and had been carefull to pay both to God and man Observe The word of God is the onely rule of life And in this poynt the word or commandement of God is to be taken in a double opposition first to our owne devises and rules secondly to the devises and rules of other men man must not prescribe to himselfe nor may we receive the prescriptions of men to order our practise by God is the onely Law-giver and we must receive the Law from his mouth He that will please God must shutt all his own imaginations out of doores and have nothing to doe with them 'T is not what man hath a minde to doe but what the minde of God is he should doe that pleaseth him or is eyther a worship or a service acceptable to him We never dishonour God more then when we take upon us to serve him our owne way and leaving his rule make a rule for our selves Such a serving of God is rebellion against him as was told Saul by the Prophet 1 Sam. 15.22 Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voyce of the Lord. Saul thought he had done very well when he saved the sheep and oxen for sacrifice But he was told that to obey is better then sacrifice and to hearken then the fat of Rams God had commanded burnt offerings and sacrifice but he had no delight in them when his owne voyce was not obeyed or when they were offered eyther beside or against his command Luk. 16.15 That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to the Lord His thoughts are not our thoughts eyther in the doing of what is good or in the pardoning of what is sinfull As man is apt to thinke that God will not pardon what he hath done sinfully so that he will accept of what he thinkes he hath done holyly though he hath no rule for the doing of it but what himselfe hath devised We alwayes fayle in our measure while we measure God by our selves And it is as dangerous to take the rule of our actions from men as not to take the rule of God In this sence we must call no man Master nor may we be the servants of the wisest men And as we must not be the servants of men because which is the Apostles reason 1 Cor. 7.23 We are bought with a price that is dearely redeemed by Christ so neyther may we be the servants of men in following their dictates because we have received a word from God whom alone we ought to follow and none else but in subordination to or complyance with his word and the commandement of his lips or as it followes in the conclusion of this verse the words of his mouth I have esteemed the words of his mouth more then my necessary food Job having given us two negatives I have not declined I have not turned backe as proofes of his integrity and holines now gives us an affirmative to make up the fullnes of his proofe Not to doe evill is commendable but to doe good is a higher commendation I have esteemed the words of his mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Hebrew word signifies two things first to hide or conceale secondly to prise value or esteeme Some render this Text by the former not as we I have esteemed the words of his mouth In sinu meo abscondi verba oris ejus Vul◠Graecos secetus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 legit non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at ventit ac si scriptum esset 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in sinu meo abscondi Merc.
have esteemed or hid the word of his mouth according to my former manner or as I was wont to doe As if he had sayd what I now professe is no new thing with me I have not taken up this estimation of the word now on the suddaine upon my sick-bed I have done so long before now and so I doe still As it was said of Timothy that from a childe he had learned the Scripture Againe Taking the same reading the sence may be given thus Vpon election and deliberation I esteeme the word of his mouth As if he had said I doe not esteeme the word of God for nothing or as not having considered it and judged of the excellency of it but upon long debate consultation and tryall I have pitcht my election upon it Further Some in these words conceave Job alluding to those things which men doe out of long custome or according to their ancient course of life As if he had sayd There is nothing more fixed and setled eyther in my heart or in my practise then the Law of God Obedience to it is now become to me as another nature I slight in comparison of that all humane Lawes and Constitutions as also all my owne most practised formes and customes We render I have esteemed the words of his mouth more then my necessary food The Original word signifies a statute or a law and so any thing which is established or appointed for our use as a law or statute is And because our food our necessary food is that which is cut out or appoynted to us eyther by God or man therefore this word is applyed to signifie dayly bread or necessary food Banquets and great feasts are without all measure and bounds they know no law but are usually full of excesse both as to what is prepared and to what is consumed 't is seldome that either providers or eaters keepe the rule in feasting But a due necessary food which is for the maintaining of our lives and the renewing of our strength to goe on in our callings this food hath a bound and we eate as it were by measure or by statute therefore we translate necessary food others appoynted food or a portion So the word is used Gen. 47.22 Onely the Land of the Priests bought he not for the Priests had a portion assigned them of Pharoah and they eate the portion which he gave them their assigned portion is expressed by this word a portion it was to live upon such as Schollers have in Colledges and Almes-men in Hospitalls by the Statute of their Founders And in the booke of the Proverbs we have it twice used in such a sense Pro. 30.8 Remove from me vanity and lyes give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me or with my statute bread that is give me so much onely as the law of nature or the law of my necessity and conveniency calls for to fit me for duty with this statute bread let me be fed let others have their full tables this shall serve my turne Againe Pro. 31.15 Shee ariseth also while it is yet night speaking of the good house-wife and she giveth meate to her house-hold and a portion to her maidens she doth not throw the house out at windows or make havock of all as not caring which end went forward And as she is no prodigal waster so she is neyther niggardly nor scraping neither pineing nor pinching but giveth a meete portion to her maidens So here I have esteemed the word of thy mouth more then my necessary food This small proportion of food greatens the sense of the Text and heightens Jobs holinesse and piety very much for when we come to full tables where there is excesse our stomacks loath the meate and the more meate there is the lesse some are able to eate because the stomacke is over-charged with the sight of it Appetie may be dull'd with abundance but when we finde onely a convenient necessary statute portion as it were so much as is needfull to satisfie hunger and give some moderate delight this pleaseth most and is more esteemed by temperate persons then the greatest feast in the world A man doth not nautiate his necessary food or loath what hunger craves a crust of bread and that which is course is pleasant then necessary food is the sweetest food and we are best satisfied with that which breeds no satiety We live most comfortably with that food without which we cannot live at all comfortably So then when Job saith here I esteemed the word of his mouth more then my necessary food it is as if he had plainely sayd I tooke more care for and had a higher esteeme of the food of my soule then for that food of my body which necessity forceth every man to esteeme Hence note First That a godly man hath a high estimation of the word of God First He doth not onely esteeme it but he esteems it as food Secondly He esteemes it as necessary food Thirdly He esteemes it more then necessary food Here are three steps by which his estimation of the word of God is to be taken David saith of a godly man Psal 1.2 His delight is in the law of the Lord. The word there used signifies both will and delight Some render it voluntas will and others voluptas delight We may take in both his will and his delight is in the law of the Lord or he delightfully wills it Would you know where the delight and joy of a Godly man is it is in the law of the Lord there 't is fixed and no where else comparatively but in the Lord of the Law These two are inseparable he that delights in the Law hath first delighted in the Lord and he that delights in the Lord cannot but delight in the Law There are two metaphors used in Scriptute which shew the estimation and delight which Saints have in the law of God or in the word of his mouth First As the word is compared to food secondly as the word is compared to treasure the word is often compared to food and the most delicious food Psal 119.103 How sweete are thy words unto my taste yea sweeter then honey to my mouth And Psal 19.10 They are sweeter then the honey and the honey-combe He doth not meane the honey-combe barely as the vessell wherein the honey is kept but by the honey-combe he means the honey that flows or drops immediately and as I may say naturally without any art or pressing out of the combe which is esteemed the purest honey such is the law of God to the spirituall palate of a Godly man That feast Math. 22.2 Luke 14.16 to which sinners are invited is onely the declaration of the word and minde of God in the Gospel The word of Grace is the greatest feast which God makes his people Againe the word is as often compared to treasure what the esteeme and desire of man is to
to the widow That is he administers no helpe to the widdow in her wants no counsel to her in her straites nor any Comfort to her in her sorrows And this Negative he doth not good to the widow hath an Affirmative in it hee doth her wrong hee grieveth and vexeth the widow For as Negative Commandements alwayes containe the Affirmative while we are forbidden to doe any evill wee are enjoyned to doe the contrary good so negative practices usually imply the affirmative and while we neglect to doe good we are active in doing evill Or as the Negative threatnings of God containe affirmatives Exod. 20.7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine for the Lord will not hold him guiltles that taketh his name in vaine that is hee will hold him very guilty or look upon him as very sinfull and punish him accordingly that takes his name in vaine and as Negative promises containe affirmative promises Psal 51.17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise that is thou O God wilt highly esteem accept of and delight in a broken heart and as negative conclusions imply the affirmative Prov. 17.21 The father of a foole hath no Joy that is hee hath much sorrow and griefe Prov. 28.21 To accept persons in Judgement is not good that is to accept persons in Judgement is very bad so negative practices of sin containe the affirmative as elsewhere so here in the Text hee doeth not good to the widow that is he wrongeth and troubleth the widdow the widdow who is helples is hurt by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod significat câ—llâ—gare obmutescere The word which we render widow signifies in the verbe both to binde and to be silent Both which significations are complicated in the widows Condition For first the widow is bound though shee be loose from her husband shee is bound and that two wayes first with troubles that 's her affliction secondly shee is bound to be or stay much at home that 's her duty secondly as the widow is home-bound so she is tongue-bound too the widows eloquence is silence she speakes most to her owne commendation when she speakes little The Apostle Paul reproves widows about two things which discover two faylings in them opposite to both these latter bindings 1 Tim. 5.13 And withall they learne to be idle wandering from house to house As if he had sayd it is not comely for the widow to wander abroad she should stay at home the widow should be a fixed starre not a planet Not that the widow is to be a prisoner in her house but she should be so much there that shee may deserve the name of a House-keeper not of a wanderer from house to house The Apostle proceeds in his charge against the faulty widow And not onely Idle but which is the second vice Tattlers also and busie bodyes speaking things which they ought not Tattlers are such as use their tongues overmuch and usually much more then their hands whereas the widow should be much in busienes little in discourse alwayes doing seldome speaking We see the wisedome of God in teaching proper dutyes in common names in which thing the Hebrew language is most exact fruitfull But I shall returne from this digression if it may be so called about the word when I have onely added that the sence given from this Etymologie of the word doth not onely shew the widow much of her duty but aggravates the sin of the wicked man in the neglect or omission of his duty unto hir He doth not good to the widow no not to the widow who is bound downe with many sorrowes he speakes not a good word for the widow who is as David speakes in another case Psal 39.2 even dumbe with silence I have already both in this Chapter as also in the 22d shewed how sinfull it is eyther to neglect or afflict widows yea that to neglect them is to afflict them therefore I shall not prosecute those poynts here Onely from the forme of speaking Note Not to doe good is sinfull as well as to doe evill yea as sinfull as to doe evill Not to doe what we are enjoyned is as bad as to doe what we are forbidden We are not onely forbidden to wrong the widow Jer. 22.3 but we are often enjoyned to relieve and helpe her to visit her and doe her good therefore the widow hath wrong done to her when good is not done to her The spirit of wickednes is not yet drawne to the full length see the wicked man still at worke in the next verse Vers 22. Hee draweth also the mighty by his power hee riseth up and no man is sure of his life In the former verse the wicked man had to doe with the weake with the barren with the widow but now he grapples with the strong mighty Hee draweth also the mighty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 traxit per traxit occulto impetu aliquem impellere quo velis verbis atque rationibus aliquem trahere Drus The word may denote a twofold drawing First drawing by a secret hidden imperceptible power a moral power the power of perswasion working upon the heart and influencing the affections There is an internal atractive vertue which draweth the mind as the loadstone doth iron when nothing is seene nor so much as a word heard The word is used in that sence Judg 4.6 7. where the people of Israel being sore oppressed by Jabins Army under the conduct of Sisera Deborah the Prophetesse who at that time Judged Israel sent and called Baruch and said unto him Hath not the Lord God of Israel Commanded saying goe and draw toward mount Tabor and take with thee ten thousand men of the Children of Napthali and of the Children of Zebulun Thus God bid them draw to that place But what had God promised Deborah tells him what in the next verse And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera the Captaine of Jabins Army with his Chariots and his multitude and will deliver him into thine hand But it may be questioned how God would draw Sisera with his Army thither It was not by any outward force onely God put a purpose into his heart to draw up his Army to that place that so he might fall into the snare Sisera had a secret motion or impulse upon his spirit which he could not withstand though he fell by obeying it Thus also God draweth soules to himselfe by the invisible power of his Spirit in their effectuall vocation and Conversion Joh. 6.44 No man can come to me except the father which sent me draw him how doth God draw hee drawes by perswasion not by compulsion his perswasion carryes a mighty commanding power with it This drawing is not a bare moral perswasion by the proposal of an object before them and so leaving