seemed to depart farre from the Church of the Jews with how much fervency do they cry after him Isa 51.9 Awake awake put on strength O arm of the Lord awake as in the ancient daies c They double and treble it upon him and cry with an out-stretched voice Art not thou he that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon What a clamour what a holy stirre was here to awaken God God himself sometimes seems as it were willing to take his rest as when he said to Moses Let me alone he spake like a man that is in bed or very sleepy Doe not trouble me let me alone as he in the Gospel Luk. 11.7 when he was awakened in the night to come and give bread unto his neighbour Doe not trouble me saith he the doors are shut and I am in bed with my children I cannot rise and give thee let me alone Thus in some sense the Lord expresses himself to his people I am now in bed doe not trouble me Let me alone What must we do in this case We must knock harder at the door as he in the Gospel did For whom though his neighbour would not rise and give him because he was his friend yet because of his importunity he rises and gives him as many loaves as he needed We must be the more importunate to awake God by how much he seems more unwilling to hear us our modesty in this case pleases him not we must call and call again He will take it well at our hands if we doe so We must give our selves no rest and let him take none so the Prophet resolves Isa 62.1 For Jerusalems sake I will take no rest I will never give over praying and at the sixth verse I have set watchmen upon thy wals O Jerusalem which shall never hold their peace day nor night you that make mention of the Lord keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth If the Lord should carry it in the present answers of his providence as if he were willing to rest and desired not to be troubled in this businesse be not you so put off but with a holy boldnesse and confidence come to him and awaken him take no answer till ye have an answer He is best pleased and most at ease when in prayer we give him no rest Lastly Observe If God doe but awake for us all is presently well with us If the eye of God be upon us for good that brings us in all good therefore Zech. 2. ult when the Church was in her return from Babylon the Prophet concludes with an exultation of spirit Be silent O all flesh before the Lord for he is raised up out of his holy habitation it is this word He is awaked out of his holy habitation now be silent O all flesh before the Lord All flesh ye that are the wicked of the world ye that are enemies be ye silent leave your boasting your reproaching and blaspheming for the Lord is awaked now he begins to stirre for his people he will stop your mouths shortly All flesh takes in the Church and people of God too O be ye silent in regard of your fears and doubtings murmurings and distracted complainings silence all these why The Lord is awaked he is raised up out of his holy habitation that is he that seemed before to confine himself to those higher regions and as the Atheist speaks in Job to walk in the circle of the heavens not intermedling with the earth This God is now awaked he is raised out of his holy habitation and now ye shall know that he orders all things here below therefore be silent O all flesh When Christ was asleep Matth. 8.25 A grievous tempest arose saith the text insomuch as the Ship was covered with waves When storms and tempests are upon the Church God is then asleep though even then he directs the storms and gives law to the proud waves But what did the Disciples in this storm They awoke Christ Master save us we perish and assoon as ever Christ was awakened He rebuked the storme and there was a great calm Thus when we are tost up and down with contrary windes and in danger to be split and sunke if God once awake all is calm How quietly may they sleep for whom God wakes I doe not say they should sleep carelesly but confidently they may God doth not wake for us to the intent we should sleep in security but we may sleepe quietly when He shewes himselfe awake for us who indeed never slumbereth nor sleepeth And if God awake not for us all our watchfulnesse is as uselesse to us as our sleepinesse The watchman waketh but in vain except the Lord keep the City Except he awake our watching can doe no good and if he awake good will come though we be asleep It is our duty to be carefull and it is our comfort that the care of God is enough for us The eye of divine providence helps us in many humane improvidences What their happinesse is for whom God awakes see in the next words He will make the habitation of thy righteousnesse prosperous This is the second degree or step of mercy promised when the Lord awakes he vvill awake to purpose We say of some men Early up and never the near They awake and doe little work but if God awakes see what he doth He will make the habitation of thy righteousnesse prosperous Some of the Rabbins understand these words as a description of the soul The habitation of thy righteousnesse that is Anima est justitiae omniū virtutum domicilium Aben. Ezr. thy soul shall prosper because the soul is the proper seat of righteousnesse and holinesse Righteousnesse belongeth to the inward man Righteousnesse being a spirituall thing is housed and lodged in the spirit that 's the habitation of it There are others of the Jews who take this habitation of righteousnes for the body because the body is the habitation of the soul in which righteousnesse is seated and so the habitation of righteousnesse by a second remove is the outward man The Lord shall blesse thy body which now lieth in a wofull plight distemper'd and disfigured with sores and sicknesses But rather take the word habitation in those two ordinary Scripture-senses either strictly for the place where Job dwelt or more largely for all that did belong unto him The habitation of a man is all his estate and all that appertains to his estate He will make thy habitation that is thy children thy servants thy fields thy cattell thy stock thy all to be prosperous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Chaldee Paraphrase readeth Significat domū vel speciem pul chritudinem justitiae tuae Tar. He will make thy beautifull place to be prosperous The word signifies beauty as well as an habitation as was shewed upon Chap. 5. ver 3. thither I referre the Reader
and the pillars thereof tremble This is a second instance but in higher expressions of the same power of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e terram universam Sept. Which shakes the earth out of her place He had said before God removeth mountains Mountains are great bulky bodies but no mountain is so great as the Globe of the whole earth Now saith he the Lord doth not only shake mountains some great parts of the earth but if he pleaseth he can take up the whole earth and throw it out of its place as a man would take up a little ball and throw it into the air He shakes the earth out of her place The word which we translate to shake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non significat motum naturalem sed commotionem quandaÌ„ ex metu trepidationem tremorem Didacus Astunica putat hunc locum illustrari posse ex sententia Pythagoricorum existi mantium terraÌ„ moveri natura sua Copernieus signifies a violent motion of the minde caused either by fear Deut. 2.25 or grief 2 Sam. 18.33 we read of a trembling heart from both Deut. 28.25 It is also applied to civill shakings and commotions by the troublesome spirits of men Prov. 30.21 For three things the earth is disquieted And to unnaturall shakings of the earth by the power of God 2 Sam. 22.8 c. So in the text Some expound this of a naturall motion Those men have surely a motion and turning in their brains who tell us that there is a continued motion of the earth that it turns and never stands still they would ground the motion of the earth upon this Scripture translating thus Which moveth the earth in her place But the text tels us that the earth hath pillars and not wheels Pillars are made for rest not for motion Further This text speaks of it as of an act of Gods anger therefore no ordinary act appointed in nature and the word notes a violent motion not a naturall But we need not stand to refute this motion As when some denied all motion a Philosopher to prove it rose up and walked So when any affirm or give reason for this motion we may shew their senses that the earth stands This shaking then is extraordinary the Lord who made the earth firm upon pillars can make the earth move as if it went on wheels This he doth first by earthquakes these shake the earth as it were out of her place and make it tremble Histories are full and many mens experience can give instances of such terrible shakings of the earth This earthquake is not meant here for there is a reason in nature for that Philosophers dispute much about it and tell us when there is a strong vapour included or imprisoned in the bowels of the earth that vapour seeking vent maketh a combustion there and so the earth shakes This indeed shews the mighty power of God but it is in a naturall way whereas the text seems to imply somewhat more somewhat beyond the learning of Philosophers and Naturalists Besides the text saith He shaketh the earth out of her place Whereas an earthquake shakes the earth in her place and causes it to tremble upon the pillars thereof But did God ever shake the earth out of her place We must understand the text conditionally We have not any instance that the Lord hath actually done so but this supposition may be put The Lord can remove mountains and shake the earth not only in but out of her place We finde such conditionall expressions often put in Scripture not as if the things ever had been or ever should be done but if the Lord will he is able to doe them Amos 9.5 The Lord God of Hosts is he that toucheth the land Terrificam capitis concussit terque quaterque Caesariem cum qua terraÌ„ mare sidera moâ—it Ovid. Met. and it shall melt that is if the Lord doe but touch the land he can melt it As the three children cast into a fiery fornace had not so much as a garment or a threed about them touched with it because the Lord forbad the fire to burn So if the Lord bid a spark but touch us it shall melt and consume us as if we were cast into and continued in a fiery fornace As a word made so a touch shall mar the world when God will yet he hath not done thus unto this day So in the text He shakes the earth out of her place imports what God can not what he hath or will do Note from it That the Lord is able to doe greater things then ever he actually hath done He hath not put the earth out of her place the earth is where it was but he can displace it God hath never acted any of his attributes to the height for they are infinite he never acted power so high but he is able to act it higher He hath never acted mercy in pardoning so farre but he is able to act it further a greater sinner then ever yet was pardoned may be pardoned A greater enemy then ever was overcome may be overcome He hath runne with foot-men and they have not wearied him and he is able to contend with horses in a land of peace he was never wearied and he knows how to wade thorow the swellings of Jordan It is comfortable to consider that the Lord cannot only doe the same things again which he hath done but he hath never done to the utmost of what he is able to doe he can out-doe all that he hath done as much as the shaking of the whole earth out of her place is more then to remove a mountain yea or a mole-hill of earth And the pillars thereof tremble We have the pillars of heaven Chap. 26.11 here of the earth The pillars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Columna erecta a stando dicta The word in the originall signifies to stand upright to be erect because pillars doe so There are two sorts of pillars upon which there is a different interpretation of the word There are first Supporting pillars And Secondly Supported pillars Or there are pillars for ornament and pillars for strength We set up pillars or pinacles upon the tops of great buildings for ornament and they are supported pillars We may call mountains such pillars for as when some stately palace is built great pillars or pinacles are set upon the towers and battlements so the Lord having framed the earth hath set up mountains as great pillars for the adorning of it He shaketh the earth and the pillars thereof tremble it is true of these upper pillars the mountains they tremble But I take it rather to be meant of supporting pillars under-pillars which bear the frame above and are as the bases or under-props of the earth Psal 105. Who laid the foundation of the earth the earth hath a foundation the Hebrew is He hath founded the earth upon her basis alluding to a building
Thus God seeth or looketh not as man seeth he looketh not disdainfully upon a poor afflicted soul as men do upon their friends in their affliction or as ye my friends do upon me in mine affliction This is the fourth dishonourable thought which Iob removeth from God His eyes are not eyes of flesh he seeth not as man seeth either in reference to the truth or manner the clearnesse or speedinesse the certainty or impartiality the infallibility or charity of his judgement Upon all which his former request is again to be inferred Shew me wherefore thou contendest with me He proceedeth to a fifth which he also by way of interrogation removeth from God and so virtually reneweth the same petition Verse 5. Are thy daies as the daies of men Are thy years as mans daies I know they are not Are thy daies at mans daies Some interpreters take the word day for judgement Are thy daies as mans daies that is Are thy judging daies Ponitur dies pro judicio ex Cilicum idiotismo Hieron Putarim Paulum potius diem maluisse dicere quam judicium u◠alluderet ad diem illum supremum in quo Dominus ipse judex sedebit Bez. or thy judgement given upon those daies like mans daies or the judgement which man giveth We have the word in that sense 1 Cor. 4.3 where the Apostle concludes in his own case It is a very small thing with me to be judged of you or of mans judgement the Greek is To be judged of mans day and according to the idiom of that language in some countreys the day of a man is put for the judgement of a man Though others conceive Paul calls it a day rather then a judgement in allusion to that last day wherein God will sit in judgement upon the whole world So the meaning of Job is plainly this The Lords judgement is not like mans judgement This Exposition falls in with the sense of the former verse men judge by outward proofs and probabilities by questions and interrogatories by testimonies and witnesses God needs none of these humane helps in his day of judgement yet in Jobs case he carried it as if he needed them The suit depending so long before him and such variety of experiments and trials being put upon or taken of him But we may better interpret daies for a part of time and so Enos cujus vitae duratio brevissima pene nulla Are thy daies as mans daies is Art thou short liv'd as man is The word Man signifies man in his worst condition Are thy daies like the daies of a weak man of a miserable sickly man Are they like the daies of a man whom we number among the dead and who is giving up the ghost every hour There are some men whom we call long-liv'd that is men who in probability may live very long we say of a healthy strong man we would take a lease of his life or if we were to take a lease for lives we would put his life in for one he is a man of a good complexion and constitution a man like to live and see many daies But saith Jo◠Are thy daies as the daies of Enosh As the daies of a weak sickly man as the daies of one who looks as if he would drop into the grave every day as the daies of a very borderer upon death of the next neighbour and heir apparent to the king of terrours Lord I am sure thy daies are not as the daies of such a weakling of such mouldring sickly clod of earth This sense may have a double reference Perslat Iob in excludenda ignorantia à Deo judice Dies hominis significant vitam bre vissimam quae cum multa ignorantia conjuncta est Sanct Ars longa vita brevis Hypocr 1. To the knowledge of God concerning Iob. 2. To the manner of Gods dealing with Iob. 1. Thy daies are not as the daies of man thou hast had and hast time enough to gather knowledge and experience if thou didst need such help to make thee more knowing It was the ancient complaint of that great Physitian when he saw how much of his art he had to learn and how little time he had to learn it in Art is long and time is short what can I learn in such a span-long life as mine Hence it is conceived that though the fathers before the flood some of whose lives reached eight or nine Centuries wanted the help of Libraries and Academies which we enjoy yet that by the experience of so many years they gathered a great stock of knowledge and proved men of eminent learning Men whose daies are not as the daies of ordinary men attain knowledge beyond ordinary men How then can the Lord want any perfection of the most perfect knowledge who numbereth not only by hundreds and thousands of years but by an eternity of years His knowledge must needs be full concerning the state both of things and persons who not only hath Antiquity of daies but is the Ancient of daies Dan. 7.9 Many men have lived so many daies that they are justly called Ancient but no man ever lived or shall live so long as to deserve this title Ancient of daies God is called the Ancient of daies not only because he hath been many daies yea all the daies that ever have been but because he is ancienter then daies He is the daies ancient for he made the day His daies cannot be like mans daies who made five daies ancienter then man God hath more then all daies therfore he hath all knowledg he hath all experience therfore he hath neither ignorance nor nescience Upon this ground Job argues it out with God that he must needs know all thing who was before all times and that he was acquainted with him better then all men who lived at that day because he lived and was acquainted with what he would be before man had a day even from eternity 2. These words Thy daies are not as mans daies may refer to the dealing of God with Job As if he had said Lord why then doest thou make such haste to enquire after me why dost thou so incessantly follow me with afflictions Why dost thou keep me upon the rack from day to day night and day and wilt give me no rest Lord thou needest not fear to loose time for thou hast all time at thy command thou canst not want opportunity who hast eternity The reason why man is called upon so earnestly to redeem the time is because he hath so little time given him and no time at all but what is given him His daies are short daies and they are but few and which should provoke him more to make haste he knows not how few unlesse he lay hold upon the present day he is not sure of any day But Lord thou art Lord of time and Master not only over thy work but also over thy daies thou canst allow thy self as many daies
word that he saw a little cloud arise out of the sea as big as a mans hand would any one thinke that a prognostick of great rain Elijahs servant might despise this and say this is no sign of rain but Elijah knew better that little assured him there was a mighty showre at hand he knew how it would work presently Go bid Ahab prepare his Chariot and get him down that the rain stop him not Thus it is respecting daily providences if you see a mercy comming but as bigge as a mans hand be psrswaded that the Lord sends it as a forerunner as that which shall usher in large and extensive mercies If we see the glimmering light of day break we are not angry because it is not presently high noon or because we have not full light we know the light will come by degrees Thy beginning shall be small but thy later end shall greatly encrease JOB Chap. 8. Vers 8 9 10. For enquire I pray thee of the former age and prepare thy self to the search of their fathers For we are but of yesterday and know nothing our daies upon earth are a shadow Shall not they teach thee and tell thee and utter words out of their heart WE have opened the first argument by which Bildad confirms his proposition laid down at the third verse That God is just both from the example of Gods dealing with Jobs children vers 4. and from what God was ready to do for him in the 5 6 and 7. verses The context now read contains a second generall argument to prove the former assertion and it is grounded upon the testimony or authority of the Ancients as if Bildad had said thus I will not presse thee with my own bare sentence and say so with my own reason and authority but I wish thee to search the records of former times to consult the wisest and the holiest men that ever were in the world and let them judge in this case Enquire of the former age and prepare thy self to the search of their fathers It is here observable that Bildad manages his counsell by the same arguments which Eliphaz had used before him Eliphaz bid Job Enquire who ever perished being innocent Chap. 4. and promises him peace upon repentance Chap. 5.23 24. Bildad runs the same strain If thou were pure c. and here Enquire of the former age c. The strength of his argument may be cast into this forme That is true which the holiest and wisest in all antiquity with one mouth and one consent agree in But the holiest and wisest in all antiquity agree in this that God is just Therefore this is a truth Hereupon he inferreth that God had dealt justly with Job in consuming his estate in destroying his children and in afflicting his person That 's the logicall meaning or argument of these three verses Enquire I pray thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat petere postulare quidem cum precibus Etiam sciscitari in dubiis The word notes a very earnest and a diligent search or enquiry To enquire with industry yea with importunity The grave hath it's name in Hebrew from this word and so hath hell because the grave as it were cals for or enquires after all flesh and hell with much earnestnesse gapes for wicked men Eccl. 2.10 Whatsoever mine eyes desired The eye is a strong asker It is applied sometimes to persons and then it signifies to enquire or consult what is to be done De persona sic consulere de rebus sic petere Merc. Sometimes it is applied to things and then it signifies to ask that a thing may be done Prayer is an enquiry after God and the things of God 1 Sam. 1.17 20 27. This word is used about Hannah's prayer to God for a childe Hannah conceived and bare a son and called his name Samuel saying Because I have asked him of the Lord. Further The word is applied to God when he enquires after or asks somewhat of us as if he made his request and sute to us Deut. 10.12 And now Israel what doth the Lord thy God require of thee Or what doth he enquire after in thee It is this To fear the Lord thy God c. Here to enquire is to use all endeavours and means to finde out the best informations and resolutions which the fathers in those former ages were able to give Job in the controversie then a foot between him and his friends Enquire I pray thee Of the former age By the former we are not to understand those that were immediately preceding only or those that were preceding for some few generations past 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but as the Septuagint well renders it by former generations we may understand the first generation begin at the first and so come down all along begin as high as thou canst Enquire not only of those who lived since the floud but of all who have been since God created man upon the earth draw the line of thy search thorow all ages and thou shalt finde the pedegree of this truth from age to age 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Continuè successivè vixit duravit sensu sono idem quod vox latina Duro from generation to generation Enquire I pray thee of the former Age. This word age is taken three waies 1. For the whole space of mans life which when it is doubled signifies a very long life Psal 61.7 Thou shalt prolong the Kings life or according to the letter of the Hebrew thou shalt adde daies to the daies of the King and his years as many genâ—rations or as generation and generation age and age long and long that is very long Two lives or two mens ages being as it were laid into one 2. For some speciall part of mans life Mans life is divided into severall ages Some divide it into four alluding to the four parts of the year Some into five infancy childehood youth mans-estate and old-age comparing them to the five acts of an interlude the Prologue whereof is infancy and the Epilogue decrepid old-age Others into seven in allusion to the seven Planets 3. It is taken for an age of men or the state of the time present Aetatem vocant Hebraei genus hominum simul viventiuÌ„ sic aetas prava adultera Apud Graecos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat intervallum septem annoruÌ„ unde medici vetant duas aetates habenti i. e. annos quatuordecem nato venam incidi quod sanguine egeat Suidas So in the Gospel Christ calleth the Scribes and Pharisees A generation of vipers and an adulterous generation As if he had said You of this time and age of the world are a viperous and an adulterous brood So Psal 14.5 God is in the generation of the righteous That is he favours that generation or sort of men God is in all generations but such he delights in
most the wicked have cause enough to fear those in whom God delights Tâ—â—t of the Prophet which text hath variety of interpretations is taken in this sense Isa 53.8 Who shall declare his generation It is the word of the text Who shall declare his age or the generation of Christ Some understand it of his eterâ—â—â—â— generation Others of his â—â—â—â—â—rall generation when he was â—â—â—â—rnate the mystery whereof was beyond words A third of that eternity which followed his passion As if it were an Antithesis to those words He was taken from prison and he was cut off but who shall declare his generation You may quickly write up the daies that Christ lived here upon earth they were but few even his pilgrimage was short on earth but who can declare his generation Those infinite and eternall ages and revolutions thorow which he shall passe though now you have quickly cut off his life Others by his generation understand the holy seed and issue the children of Christ His Crosse was fruitfull and his sufferings productive of an infinite generation Who can declare it Though you cut off the Father yet this father by dying will give life to an innumerable posterity Who can declare his generation So vers 10. He shall see his seed But besides all these we may with good probability interpret the word generation for the time when Christ sojourned in the flesh Quis cogitare aut dicere potest quam perversi fuerint homines qui tempore ejus victuri sint Pined Who can declare his generation That is who can describe the time or the age wherein Christ lived As if he had said you see here in this glasse of prophecy how they will use Christ how bloudily and cruelly they will deal with him he shall be imprisoned he shall be cut off and numbred among transgressours Who can declare his generation What pen is able with lively colours to paint out the several wickednesses and tyrannies of that age acted against and inflicted upon that holy and innocent lamb Iesus Christ who came to die for the sins of the world Surely his generation or the story of his age will be such as no pen is able to draw out or fully to delineate Who shall declare his age The age which Bildad cals Iob to enquire into is not a part of mans life or the whole life of a man or one age of men or state of times but the whole space of time from the very beginning with all things done or suffered and the persons who have been active or passive doers or sufferers in those times Thus enquire of the former age The reason why he called him to enquire of the former age was because in those times the will of God was not reduced to writing The divinity of the first ages was traditionall The Scriptures were not composed for more than 2000. years after the creation buâ—â—he minde of God was either immediately revealed or carried from father to son from generation to generation being preserved not in paper and 〈◊〉 or other formall records but in the memories and hearts of tâ—â—â—â—ithfull untill the giving of the Dâ—â— Hence it was that Bildad refers Iob to those revelations or to the experiences of the fathers concerning the dealings of God in former ages Columnae duae inscriptae à nepotibus Adami characteres quosdam figuras mathematicas pro siderum observatione potius quaÌ„ ullam historiaÌ„ aut exquisitam de Deo ejus providentia doctrinam habuisse dicuntur Beros l. 8 Ant. Berosus in his eighth book of Antiquities reports that the fathers after Adam set up two great pillars upon which some affirm they inscribed many divine truths but he tels us that those pillars of which some monuments were seen after the floud were filled rather with Astronomicall observations Mathematicall scheams of the heavens and figures of starrs we cannot put much value upon either of these opinions The former cannot warrant us that any thing was registred and written by Gods appointment till the writing of the Law And therefore Bildad according to the usage of those times sends Iob for information to the traditions and reports of the fathers For after the Law was written the Prophets in case of emergent doubts and controversies sent the people not to the traditions or experiences of former ages but To the Law and to the testimony if they speak not according to this word it is because there is no light or no morning in them Isa 8.20 The word once written was the rule and though it cannot speak yet it must teach us how to speak If we speak not according to this there is no light in us But the word not being written Bildad advises Job well Enquire of the former age And prepare thy self to the search of their fathers Having counsel'd him to enquire of the former age he addeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prepare thy self to the search of their fathers as if he had said Fundare aptare parare ordinare stabilire significat though I bid thee enquire yet I would not have thee rush hand over head upon this enquiry Prepare thy self The word signifies to lay a good foundation Due preparations are the foundations of action Hence it signifies also to establish because a matter is established and confirmed by wise preparations and considerate addresses to it Those things stand fastest about which we make not too much haste Further the word signifies the fixing of the minde Fix thy heart upon this work keep thy spirits intent Psal 108.1 My heart is fixed saith David which some render My heart is prepared I will sing and give praise Prepare thy self To the search of their fathers Before he advised him to enquire of the former age here To search their fathers as if he had said Do not confine thy self to the immediately fore-passed times but go as high as thou canst The former age as was touched upon that passage may include all times past but here to avoid all mistakes he gives it in expresly The fathers of the former age are the fathers of every age All that have lived before us come under the relation of our fathers The fathers were dead but they lived in their monuments and works these he must search so farre as any mark or remembrance of them could be found Hence observe First That as it is a duty in all so it was a custome in ancient times carefully to record the dealings of God with them for the use of ensuing generations To what end should Job search if nothing were to be found The Jews were commanded to remember the works of God for their learning after the word was written Psal 78.5 He established a testimony in Jacob c. That they should make them known to their children God hath alwaies had a book of his acts and monuments as well as of his laws and institutions Names given to children and yearly feasts
to stones and pillars have been the preservatives and memorials of his wonderfull works The works of God are his holinesse justice power mercy truth made visible The administrations of God in one age are for the instruction of all ages God spake with Jacob only in person at Bethel yet there the Scripture saith he spake with all his posterity Hos 12.4 He found him in Bethel and there he spake with us It is then a debt to posterity to shew them what God hath done for us Observe Secondly That it is our duty to enquire into the dealings of God in all ages It was their duty before the word was written and it is a duty still The works of God are to be studied and read over as well as his word Deut. 4.20 32. Ask now of the daies that are past which were before thee since the day that God created man upon earth and ask from one side of heaven to another enquire every way to see whether ever God dealt with a people as he hath dealt with thee whether God did ever assay to take to himself a Nation from the middest of another Nation by temptations and by signs and by wonders c. Enquire this of all the former times So Deut. 32.7 Remember the daies of old consider the years of many generations ask thy father and he will shew thee thy Elders and they will tell thee The Psalmist promises to rehearse what these were enjoyned to record Psal 78.3 4. I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us Our speaking of and enquiring into what God hath done shews the harmony between his word and works And the former providences of God are food for our faith as well as the promises of God Thirdly That which I shall rather insist upon is this True antiquity ever gives a testimony to the truth Hence the Prophets send the people back to antiquity Jer. 6.16 Enquire for the good old-way Every old way is not a good way but in every good old way we may walk safely and see the footsteps of truth Quod antiquissimum verissiâ—um It is a received rule That is truest which is ancientest It is certainly so for truth is not only ancient but eternall Truth is as old as God himself for truth is nothing else but the minde of God truth was with God from everlasting Truth is commonly called the daughter of time yet in a sense it is the mother of time for it was before time was and therefore no question that which is ancientest is truest Yet there is a great abuse of this principle Look back to antiquity and consult with your fathers say many and see what they did how they believed But what is the antiquity they call us to consult with It is not as Moses spake in that place of Deuteronomy antiquity since God created man upon earth or since Jesus Christ was upon the earth and gave out his Gospel-laws but it is the antiquity of some later ages and editions an antiquity far short of what is indeed the ancient time The Apostle 1 Joh. 2.7 gives us the definition of an old commandment This is the old commandment which was from the beginning Our sinfull nature is called the old man and yet it is a corrupt man It is called the old-man not that it is older then the new man the new man is not of a younger house or later date then the old man Holinesse was before corruption And the image of God upon man elder then sinne the image of the devil There are many corruptions in doctrine in opinion in worship in practice which go for very old And there are many doctrines which we call new truths Is it because those corruptions are older then these new truths No new truths are elder then the oldest corruptions That which we call the new world was created in the beginning though discovered but yesterday So new truths were given from the beginning only they were unknown till of late and we may well conceive that some goodly regions of truth are still terra incognita undiscovered God having reserved them for the honour and industry of some divine Columbus who may give us an exacter sea-card of divine mysteries then the world hath yet seen though enough hath been seen from the beginning for the safe steering of our course to heaven He that would enquire and make a diligent search for truth must goe to the first institutions That 's the old commandment which was from the beginning The Prophet Ezekiel Chap. 23.43 speaks of some who were grown old in adulteries that is old in adulterating and corrupting the truth and worship of God That which is old may be old in evil and fuller of errours then it is of daies We finde when the good Kings of Judah reformed they did not search only into what was done in the ages immediately before them or what their next fathers had done but they searcht what was done in the times of their godly fathers how many removes soever distant from them Hezekiah 2 Chron. 29.6 tels the Levites that their fathers were in an errour that they had trespassed and done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and had forsaken him and Chap. 30.5 speaking of the observation of the Passeover he saith They had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written therefore v. 7. he dehorteth them saying Be not ye like your fathers which trespassed against the Lord God of your fathers he doth not mean that they should not be like their first fathers who had the truth purely committed to them and so worshipped God purely but be not like your immediate fore-fathers or your corrupt fore-fathers how many descents and generations so ever ye can number from them And this was a thing so strange that when Hezekiah sent the Posts from City to City thorow the Countries of Ephraim and Manasseh with this message that he would have a reformation according to the first institution or patern and would not have them stay in what their fore-fathers had done It is said vers 10. That they laughed the messengers to scorn and they mocked them what must we now be wiser then our fathers Yes saith he you have done evil a long time you and your fathers therefore I must bring you back to your first fathers in comparison of whom the fathers you claim by were but children and those degenerate children It is said of Josiah's reformation 2 King 23.22 That there was not the like from the daies of the Judges nor in all the daies of the Kings of Israel and Judah he went to the very beginning of all there had not been such a thing done before So that if any should have objected why may not such a reformation serve us as served those Kings and Judges No saith Josiah I will search
what was beyond their time into the remotest antiquities The Church makes humble confession Psal 106.6 We have erred with our fathers let not any turn this into a stubborn resolution and say We will erre with their fathers if that be an errour which our fathers believed and practised we will erre with them So those rebellious Jews pleaded Jer. 44.17 We will doe as our fathers They who will doe as their fathers may suffer with their fathers they who will needs erre by their fathers copy may goe to hell too by their fathers copy Ierome once desired leave of Austin to erre with seven fathers whom he found of his opinion I should not desire that leave nor envy any one the priviledge The Fathers are but children when they erre and they who will erre with their fathers are worse then children Consider then to what antiquity and to what fathers you appeal Many practices are very old yet very erroneous Many old sayings and old doings must be unsaid and undone or we shall be undone for ever How many old sayings of the Jews doth Christ gain-say Mat. 5. Ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time thus and thus But I say unto you c. And Mat. 19. answering the Question about divorce Moses indeed for the hardnesse of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives but from the beginning it was not so Besides some like the Gibeonites feign antiquity they can put a gray beard upon a green head and their opinions will be found fennowed and mouldy with errour not with age As we must take heed of novelties so we must be cautious about antiquities Some antiquities of old men are no better than old wives fables of which the Apostle bids us beware unlearned old wives fables are as authentick as many learned mens antiquities pleaded for To have an itch after novelties and to dote upon antiquities are alike vain and dangerous Old fables and young fancies are with me at the same rate No man having drunke old wine saith Christ Luk. 5.35 strait way cals for new for he saith the old is better Old is better then new if it be as good as new But any new truth is better then the oldest errour and every errour the elder it is the worser it is Again Bildad advises Job to prepare himself to the search of his fathers Hence observe We must not presume to finde truth with ease or to come sleightly by it Prepare thy self Prov. 2.3 If thou criest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding if thou dig for it as silver and search for it as for hid treasures then thou shalt finde c. A man that will finde silver must prepare and fit himself to search for silver That lies not upon the surface but in the bosome and bowels of the earth There are four things wherein this preparation consists 1. Humility God doth not teach but resist the proud he gives more grace humility is much grace to the humble A lowly minded man shall know the minde of the most high God 2. Holinesse submitting to and practising the truth we know prepares us for the receiving of more truth He that doth the will of Christ shall know his doctrine Ioh. 7.17 3. Prayer Doth any man want wisdome let him ask of God Jam. 1.5 Truth is the daughter of God and he will not bestow her in marriage upon our mindes unlesse we ask him 4. Love unto truth Truth is a beauty and deserves our love to love truth is not a civility but a duty to search for truth without love to truth is a dishonour to truth and as the not receiving the love of the truth is the cause why many apostatize and fall from it so it is a reason why many are still ignorant and cannot come at it As God the Father of truth must be askt his good will before we can have her So truth the daughter of God shall be loved before we have her Bildad having thus advised Job to search antiquity giveth him a reason of his advice a modest reason reflecting upon himself and upon his friends Verse 9. For we are but of yesterday and know nothing our daies on earth are a shadow As if he had said the reason why we referre thee to the former ages is because we are able to say so little of our selves and from our own experience we are but of yesterday that is the time we have lived is very little our daies have been few upon earth Truth is the daughter of time and we are scarce sons of time we are but of yesterday 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heri dicitur de die praeterito tam de propinquo quam de longinquo quasi diceres antea Rab Dav. Apostolus Hebraizans sâ—c utitur vocaâ—ulo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb 13.8 Yesterday Taken in our common speech signifies only the day immediately going before 2. It is put for the time a little before and is as much as lately 2 King 9.26 Surely I have seen yesterday the bloud of Naboth and the bloud of his sonnes That is It is not long since Naboth and his sons were slain and their bloud is as fresh in my memory as if it were in my eye 3. It is put for all time how long so ever past Heb. 13.8 The Apostle Hebraizing saith Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever yesterday is not put for the day immediately before or for many daies before but for all daies before even from the beginning of the world yea not only are all daies past included in yesterday but the eternity which is past Heri nudius tertius dum simul junguntur proverbialem conficivet hyperbolem tempus ruâ—er actuÌ„ significantem Sic etiam apud Graecos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bold Yesterday and the day before are often translated before or heretofore Gen. 31.2 5. Exod. 40.10 Ruth 2.11 2 Sam. 5.2 noting time not much past the present In this place by yesterday we are not to understand all time past nor the time immediately past but small time past We are but of yesterday that is we have lived but a while in the world yet they were old men the daies which we have seen are as nothing he expresses their lives by the least compleat time past to shew that they had lived but a little time past So in Scripture this phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usurpatur inâ—efinitè de tempore praeterito ut cras de futuro Drus to morrow opposite to yesterday signifies not only the day immediately to come but any time to come indefinitely 1 Sam. 28.19 the devil answers Saul To morrow thou and thy sonnes shall be with me he did not know exactly and precisely that it should be the very next day but he useth a word which would save his credit if it should have fallen out many daies or some years after To morrow may be
not that is doe not thinke of this and so be proud of it Be not lifted up upon an outward priviledge which will stand you in no stead at all if you stand upon it Except you be changed and born again of the Spirit it will not avail you that you are born of Abrahams flesh If Abrahams faith be not in your hearts it shall be no advantage to you that Abrahams bloud runs in your veins The word is so used again Phil. 3.4 If any one thinketh he may be confident I much more If any one may have an opinion of himself in regard of outward priviledges surely I may but I will not So then an opinion or a conceitednesse of our knowledge blasts all our knowledge such a man knoweth nothing as he ought to know he knoweth somewhat by rote but he doth not know any thing as a Christian ought by heart By how much we have the more true knowledge of the highest objects by so much we have the lower thoughts of our knowledge It is best to know as much as we can of the best things and to thinke as little as we can of our selves Our daies upon earth are a shadow But were not the daies of all the fathers a shadow Yes the longest life is but a long shadow he means comparatively our lives are shorter by much then theirs were and therefore but a shadow There are three sorts of shadows 1. Naturall 2. Civill 3. Spirituall First A naturall shadow is a dark light caused by the comming of some thick body between us and the Sunne This is a shadow in a proper and strict acception Secondly Besides the naturall there is a civill shadow Protection is a shadow and to be under a shadow is to be protected We translate Numb 14 9. Their defence is departed from them the Hebrew is Their shadow So Isa 4.5 25.4 Thirdly A shadow is taken for a dark or imperfect representation of things spirituall so all the Ceremonies of the old Law are called shadows Heb. 8.5 10.1 9.9 Col. 2.17 Ceremonial vvorship is expressed by a shadow because it was but an obscure representation of the truth The Ceremonies were interposed between Christ the true light and us and so cast a shadow of him Or as a Painter vvho is to draw the lively figure or shape of a man at first makes an obscure draught or some imperfect lines of the body but afterwards gives it beauty and lustre to the life The Mosaicall rites were such a shadow of heavenly things Yet further a shadow vvhich comes nearest the meaning of this text notes the least imaginable sign or semblance of a thing So Jam. 1.17 when the Apostle saith That with God the Father of lights there is not so much as a shadow of turning he means there is not the least sign or token of turning with God When Bildad saith Our daies upon earth are but as a shadow vve may understand it either of the time past and so our life is but as a shadow that is gone Or it may be meant of the whole life of man taken together The life of man take it from the beginning to the ending from the Alpha to the Omega from the first to the last of it is a shadow The comparison is frequent in Scripture I shall not need to stay upon it See two or three particulars of the resemblance 1. The life of man is as a shadow Vmbra est quid tnane nihil habens solidae substantiae because it hath little in it that is substantiall a shadow is opposed to a substance our life rather seems to be then is it is so quickly gone 2. A shadow though sometimes it be put for protection and safety yet implies unsetlednesse and uncertainty Vmbra denotat malefidam stationem protectionem fugacem nam qui sub umbra dormit proditur statiâ— atque traditur radiis soâ—is Pined if a man stands or rests under a shadow the shadow will leave him 't will be gone from him and betray him to the scorching Sunne-beams a shadow never keeps long in one place but varies with the motion of the Sunne and vvhen it is high noon the shadow goes quite up and is not There is such an uncertainty in the life of man it holds not one tenour it staies not in any state there is a deceitfulnesse in it changes are upon it The greatest certainty of our lives is that they are uncertain In generall the life of man being compared to a shadow teaches us that it is short moveable and unconstant there is no hold or tack in it Psal 102.11 My daies are like a shadow that declineth The encrease of our daies hath a declension in it 1 Chron. 29.15 We are strangers before thee and sojourners as were all our fathers our daies on the earth are as the shadow How doth he explain that There is none abiding in our daies as there is no abiding in a shadow Homo vocatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pin. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soph 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aesch Many of the Ancients have represented the life of man not only as a shadow but lesse then a shadow A dream of a shadow a shadow of a shâ—dow an Idol of a shâ—dow which is the lowest expression that can be as much as to say a nothing of nothing An Idol is nothing in the world God made no such thing in the world And though our daies be made by God in the world yet they are no such thing as God made or as the world makes them We have met with points about the shortnes and transitorines of mans life often in this book I shall therefore only adde a word here It is our wisdome forasmuch as our life on earth is as a shadow that we improve this shadow to gain assurance of eternall light Life here is but a fleeting shadow that to come is an abiding substance Shall we for the pleasures and comforts of a life which is no more enduring then a shadow hazard the pleasures and comforts of a life which endures for ever A man hath not a shadow of reason Attendat igitur homo in diebus umbrae suae ut faciat aliquid dignum defide ratae lâ—cis suae Aug in Ps 143. not a shadow of true wisdome and understanding who will spend out a shadowish life in those things which are but a shadow neglecting that which is the true light and will bring us to eternall light Bildad having put in this parenthesis as a reason why he sends Job to the fathers gives him an encouragement at the tenth verse to make this enquiry he tels him what he shall get for his pains in consulting with those former ages and with the fathers Verse 10. Shall not they teach thee and tell thee and utter words out of their heart As if he had said Thou shalt not lose thy labour by enquiring into those ancient times shall not
go on boldly till he meets with opposition he will work in a fair day till he meets with a storm and dangers threaten but there he gives over He that is not acquainted with the assurance office of heaven will seldome if at all runne hazards here on earth True trust brings God and the soul together but the hypocrite never comes near God and then no marvell if he be afraid to come near danger Note from it before we put the words together thus much That an hypocrite hath a trust of his own a trust like himself Whose trust An hypocrite doth most things which the upright and sincere hearted doe and he seems to have every thing which the upright and sincere hearted have Doe they pray so doth he Doe they hear se doth he Do they fast so doth he Have they faith He hath a faith too Have they the fear of God he also hath a kinde of fear Have they zeal so hath he yea the zeal of hypocrisie burns hotter for a blast then the zeal of sincerity He hath grace proper to his state false grace for his false heart he hath trust such as it is a trust which belongeth to all of his rank see the character of it in the next words It shall be a spiders web 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tam animal quam rete ejus quod solet contexere significat The Hebrew is It shall be the spiders house the web is the house of the spider We have the same word Isa 59.5 They weave the spiders webbe Isaiah speaks of such pretenders They trust in vanity and speaklie These were the spiders web which they weaved But why is the trust of the hypocrite compared unto the spiders web I shall clear that in four or five particulars which will be as so many notes upon this text 1. Because the profession and all the works of an hypocrite are very weak and unstable as the spiders web is There is a kinde of curiosity in them but there is no strength or stability in them The spider works very curiously but her house will not bear any stresse of weather much lesse force of battery The spiders web is no match for a broom or a whisk Thus it is with the profession the trust of hypocrites you may see a neat spinning a fine threed of profession accurate weavings and contrivances but when it comes to a push it is not able to stand if you doe but touch it 't is gone Some will stand out longer then others yet all fall as Christ assures us Mat. 7. ult it is the hypocrite who buildeth his house upon the sand to have a house built upon the sand is no better then to have a house built in the cicling when the storm comes that house fals and when the broom comes this must down 2. The trust of an hypocrite is called a spiders web because he fetches and frames it as it were out of his own bowels that whereunto he trusteth is wrought out of himself That 's the nature of the spider she hath no extrinsecall materials to build her house with she doth not hew her stones out of any quarry or fetch her timber from any forest as we may allude the materials which she hath she fetcheth out of her own bowels The Bee makes an house and fetcheth the materials from this and that flower so the Bee makes a comb for a house but the spider sucks no flowers Thus it is with hypocrites their trust and hope is as the spiders web made out of their own substance they eviscerate themselves they fetch all out of themselves The meaning is all their trust is in their own duties in their own strength in their own stock in their own gifts upon these they build these are their house We finde the Pharisees trust thus grounded such was his house Luk. 18. I fast twice a week I give alms I pay all men their due He was very exact in righteousnesse according to the Law upon this and out of this he makes his house this is to make an house like a spider Though it be our graces we trust upon our trust will be a spiders web The believer is well compared to a Bee the Bee hath an house and honey but the Bee fetcheth all from abroad from herbs and flowers Believers have their house to dwell in and their honey to feed upon but they such all from the promises of Christ yea they suck it from Christ himself they rest not in the letter of the promises but they go to Christ who is the matter promised and the accomplisher of all the promises Here they build their house and hew out the pillars of it 3. Their trust shall be a spiders web in the issue it shall perish like a spiders web How is that Assoon as the house comes to be cleansed down go the spiders webs when the house is swept the cob-webs are first swept away Thus it is with the trust of all hypocrites when God sweeps his house his Church he quickly sweeps out these spiders webs Isa 14.23 the Prophet speaks of the besome of God the judgements of God are the besome of God by which he sweepeth his house God hath a double besome or a double use of his besome he hath a besome of destruction and a besome of purgation It is a besome of destruction to hypocrites and it is a besome of purgation to his Saints When either the besome of destruction or the besome of purgation is in hand the trust of hypocrites is swept away When the Prophet describes the Lord in his great and terrible judgements Isa 33.14 the text saith The sinners in Zion are afraid fearfulnesse surprizeth the hypocrite who shall dwell with devouring fire God provoked is a devouring fire How shall stubble and spiders webs stand before him When trouble comes the trust of hypocrites goes to wrack they tremble then for their trust is but a spiders web it cannot stand one stroak or endure the flaming heat The hope of a godly man grows strongest in times of trouble he is purified in the fire and the hope of an hypocrite weakens till it be none at all in times of trouble it is cast out of doors amongst the rubbish or is consumed with the fire 4. Take this parallel between the spiders web and the profession of hypocrites The spider makes his web to catch and ensnare others to catch the poor flies She hath a double use of her house to lie in it and to entrap flies in it Her house is a snare The profession of an hypocrite is a spiders web in this notion he makes it to catch flies with to ensnare and deceive the simple that he may prey upon them He would count godlinesse a poor thing did he not make a gain of godlines That brings him in food and cloathing he lives upon it This his deceitfull web is so fine spun and fairly woven that you cannot easily discern any
somewhat besides the Lord causeth his joy He rejoyces in his green boughs in his goodly branches in his supposed strong root but to rejoyce in God as God he knows not how Davids joy was the opposite of this Psal 4.6 Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me and that will put gladnesse in my heart more then in the time that their corn and wine encreased Let me have the Sun-shine of thy love and then though I have nothing but darknesse and clouds from the world I shall rejoyce But what saith the hypocrite let my corn and wine encrease let the Sunne of outward prosperity shine warm upon me let me have my greennesse of creature-contentments let me have credit and fair repute among men these will put gladnesse in my heart These glad his heart when he hath not a dram of grace or goodnesse there Thirdly The joy of an hypocrite is but for a moment It is a perishing joy This is the joy of his way you see what it amounts to how well it last His greennesse is turned into withering his root rots and his fruit fals off This is his joy He is like those spoken of in the Epistle of Jude vers 14. Trees twice dead and plucked up by the roots That 's the conclusion of the hypocrite he hath a name to live but he is dead twice dead naturally dead in sinne and judicially dead under wrath he was born spiritually dead and his whole life is a passage to eternall death He hath rejoyced a while but he must mourn for ever The portion of hypocrites is weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 24.51 Their joy is but for a morning or a day weeping comes at night that night hath no morning after it And out of the earth shall others grow Some read Out of the earth shall somewhat else some other thing grow We out of the earth when these are removed other persons shall grow who shall inherit the place and possesse the dwelling of these prosperous trees For he follows the similitude of a tree when or where one is pulled up another is planted and grows up in it's room Or others shall possesse what he hath gotten In which sense Job speaks Chap. 27.16 17. Alij qui alieni erunt ab eo quasi è terra alia germinabuÌ„t in bona ipsius su cedeâ—tes juxta illud repositâ—e sunt justo opes peccatoris Dâ—â—l Though he heap up silver as the dust and prepare raiment as the clay he may prepare it but the just shall put it on and the innocent shall divide the silver Which words may be a Comment upon these Out of the earth shall others grow that is others shall rise up God will bring a new generation to enjoy his ill-gotten substance and eat the sweet of all his labours Solomon Eccles 2.18 was much afflicted because he knew not who should grow up after him I hated saith he all my labour which I have taken under the Sunne because I shall leave it to a man and I know not what he shall be whether a wise man or a fool It is a part of the vanity which lies upon man-kinde that after all a mans labour and pains he must leave all unto some body he knows not certainly who But there is a greater and sorer vanity upon the hypocrite he seldome staies to take his part He shall not rost that which he hath takâ—n in hunting Pro. 12. that is he shall not have the benefit himself of what he hath but others unthought of shall come out of the ground and grow in his place This is the upshot or summe of all his misery he hath laboured for others in temporall things and he hath got nothing for himself in spirituall things Further the words may carry this sense That When wiâ—ked men are taken away the righteous shall grow in their roome Pull up the bryars and thorns and then vines and fig-trees lilies and roses will grow the better When wicked men are removed good men will prosper Again Out of the earth shall others grow they were not worth the ground they went upon though they were worth a great deal of ground therefore out of the ground shall others grow God will raise up a generation which shall be more faithfull and serviceable unto him There is a fourth sense of this expression Out of the earth shall others grow that is out of the meanest and lowest condition others shall grow and so it carries an opposition between the condition of an hypocrite and of a godly man The hypocrite in his flourishing greennesse shall be cut down to the ground but they whose hearts are sincere and upright though they are as low as the ground though they are upon the earth and are trodden down as mire in the streets yet they shall grow up They who were growing high shall be cut down and they who were below shall grow up such as they feared not nor suspected shall prevail over them They who are lowest even as low as the earth shall be raised built up and set on high in the world when God speaks the word There is an Exposition of this whole context about which because many close with it I shall give a brief account Divers of the learned understand this third similitude not as describing the state of an hypocrite but as an instance in opposition to the state of an hypocrite set forth by the rush and by the spider in the former verses Hence it is that the Italian version begins the sixteenth verse thus But the perfect man is green before the Sun c. And so the sense may be given to this effect As if Bildad had said Though hypocrites wither like a rush or like a flag though they are suddenly swept down like a spiders web yet a godly man is a green tree before the Sunne he is not like a rush without water but like a tree planted by the rivers side which is able to endure the heat of the Sunne yea the hottest Sunne of persecution His branches shoot forth in his garden he is no wilde tree no tree of the forest or of the wildernesse he is a tree of the inclosed garden which if it want the water from the clouds the Gardener will take care to water it with his hand Or his roots are wrapped about the heap about the fountain he is strongly set and he hath water continually to feed and supply his branches Thus the Church is so described by Balaam Numb 24.6 How goodly are thy tents O Jacob and thy tabernacles O Israel as the valleys are they spread forth as gardens by the rivers sides as the trees of Lign aloes which the Lord hath planted and as Cedar-trees besides the waters Thus the godly mans roots are wrapped about the fountain and there he is fruitfull though the Sunne shine hot upon him yet it cannot exhale his moysture faster then the river can supply him with
but I have not set them for Prophets If any presume to declare or resolve what shall be done I resolve to punish their presumption I take delight to frustrate men who delight in this and to befool them who would be thus wise This is my name The God that stretcheth out the heavens alone and that maketh diviners mad Great disappointments enrage and some men lose their reason when they lose the credit of doing things above reason Because they cannot be as Gods to fore-tell good or evil they will not be so much as men He makes the diviners mad The Law was peremptory and severe against them Deut. 18.9 There shall not be found amongst you any one that useth divination or is an observer of times why not an observer of times may we not observe times and seasons May we not look up to the heavens and consider their motions Yes we may observe times holily but not superstitiously as if some times were good others bad some lucky others unlucky as if the power of God were shut up in or over-ruled by his own instruments and inferiour causes this is dishonourable unto God and thus the Jews were forbidden to use any divination or to observe times The heavens and stars are for signs but they are not infallible signs They are ordinary signs of the change of weather Mat. 16.2 3. They are ordinary signs of the seasons of the year Spring and Summer and harvest and winter they are ordinary signs of a fit time to till and manure the ground to plow sowe and reap The earth is fitted and prepared for culture by the motion of the heavens The heavens are at once the Alphabet of the power and wisdom of God and of our works we may read there when to do many businesses Gen. 8.22 While the earth remaineth seed-time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease Those seasons shall continually return according to the time of the year measured by the Sun Moon and Stars Thus they are signs of ordinary events And God sometimes puts the sign of an extraordinary event in them Mat. 24.29 Immediately after the tribulation of those daies shall the Sunne be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken which some understand allegorically others literally of strange apparitions and impressions in heaven either before the destruction of Jerusalem or the day of judgement So Act. 2.19 20 c. Thus God puts a sign in them of extraordinary events But shall man from them prognosticate and fore-tell extraordinary events as when there shall be famine and pestilence war and trouble in Nations This the Lord abhorreth The counsels of God about these things are written in his own heart what is man that he should transcribe them from the heavens But if men will say they are written there God will blot out what they say and prove theirs to be but humane divinations yea that they were received from hell not written in heaven Isa 47.13 I will destroy the signs of them that divine let now the Astrologers the star-gazers the monethly Prognosticatours stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee Behold they shall be as stubble they shall not be able to deliver themselves It is good to be a starre-beholder but a wicked thing to be a starre-gazer that is to look upon the stars so as if we could spell out the secret providences of God and read future events in the book of those creatures It is our duty to look upon the heavens as they declare the glory of God but it is a sin to look upon the heavens as if they could declare the destinies fates and fortunes of men All which vanities are largely and learnedly confuted by M Perkins in his book called The resolution of the Countrey-man about Prognostications Now that the successe of every creature is in God not in the stars we may see first in the order of the creation God created the earth and commanded it to bring forth fruit upon the third day but the lights in the firmament were made the fourth day The earth can bring forth without the midwifery or help of the heavens God himself made the earth fruitfull without yea before the stars were made Philo Judaers de opificio munâ—i Upon which one of the Ancients gives this observation Surely saith he the Lord in his providence made the earth fruitfull in all its glory before he put the stars in the heavens to the intent to make men see that the fruitfulnesse of the earth doth not depend upon the heavens or stars God needs neither the rain of the clouds nor the warmth of the Sun to produce these effects He that made all second causes to work in their ranks can work without the intervention of any second cause And because the Lord fore-saw men would dote much upon second causes and venture to prognosticate by the heavens the fates of men and the fruitfulnesse of the earth therefore he made the earth fruitfull before he made Arcturus or placed those constellations in the heavens Secondly The providence of God works under the decree of God His providence is the execution of his decree Therefore we must not bring the decrees down to providence but we must raise providence up to the decrees Thirdly The heavens and those heavenly bodies Arcturus c. are but generall causes there are speciall causes besides of the earths barrennesse or fruitfulnesse of tempests at sea and troubles at land and the Lord is able to invert all causes to work beyond causes without causes and against causes So that nothing can be infallibly fore-told from the positions conjunctions or revolutions of those heavenly bodies Lastly Observe That it is our duty to study the heavens and be acquainted with the stars In them the wonderfull works of God are seen and a sober knowledge in nature may be an advantage unto grace Holy David was such a student Psal 8.3 When I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained Consideration is not a transient or accidental but a resolved and a deliberate act Shall we think that God hath made those mighty bodies the stars to be past by without consideration Shall men only pore upon a lump of earth and not have their hearts lifted up to consider those lamps of light Shall man make no more use of the stars then the beasts of the earth do namely to see by them When I consider thy heavens saith David Heaven is the most considerable of all inanimate creatures and more considerable then most of the animate and Davids when when I consider the heavens notes not only a certainty that he did it but frequency in doing it Some of the Rabbins tell us that when Isaac went out into the field to meditate Gen.
24.63 The subject of his meditation was the starres or the heavens It is good to take field-room sometimes to view contemplate the works of God round about Only take heed of the former folly of Astrologicall curiosities confining the providence of God to secondary causes avoid that and the heart may have admirable elevations unto God from the meditation of the works of God Psal 19.1 The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work if the heavens declare the glory of God we should observe what that glory is which they declare The heavens preach to us every day Their line is gone out thorow all the earth and their words to the end of the world Psal 19.4 Sun Moon and Stars are Preachers they are universall preachers they are naturall Apostles the world is their charge their words saith the Psalm go to the ends of the earth We may have good doctrine from them especially this doctrine in the text of the wisdom and power of God And it is very observable that the Apostle alludes to this text in the Psalm for a proof of Gospel-preaching to the whole world Rom. 10.18 So then faith commeth by hearing and hearing by the word of God But I say have they not heard Yes verily their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the end of the world The Gospel like the Sun casts his beams over and sheds his light into all the world David in the Psalm saith Their line is gone out c. By which word he shews that the heavens being so curious a fabrick made as it were by line and levell do clearly though silently preach the skill and perfections of God Or that we may read divine truths in them as in a line formed by a pen into words and sentences the originall signifies both a measuring line 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat lineam non modo extensam hoc est funiculum sed etiam scriptam hoc est scripturam Par. in Rom. 10 and a written line Letters and words in writing being nothing but lines drawn into severall forms or figures But the Septuagint whose translation the Apostle citeth for Kavam their line read Kolam their sound either mis-reading the word or studiously mollifying the sense into a nearer compliance with the later clause of the verse And their words into the ends of the world Pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus I have endeavoured to make those things plain which are here represented to vulgar ears under strange unusuall and hidden expressions Job is full of Philosophy and Astronomy he was a great student in the heavens doubtlesse and a holy student Job having given these severall instances gathers them all into a generall conclusion in the tenth verse Verse 10. Which doth great things past finding out yea and wonders without number These words are repeated from the discourse of Eliphaz in the 5th Chap. v. 9. I would seek unto God and unto God would I commit my cause which doth great things and unsearchable marvellous things without number I will not stay in a particular disoussion of them but refer the Reader to the place before cited where the text is opened at large and particular observations given from it Take only this observation in generall That A godly man labours to exalt God both in his thoughts and in his words with heart and tongue when God depresses and humbles him most Mark in what a condition Job was when he speaks thus honourably of the name and power of God One would think Job had little reason to extoll the power of God which he felt to his own smart Job was stript of all he had his outward comforts were taken from him and the arrows of the Almighty wounded his very spirit Now when he had wounded Job thorow and thorow thorow flesh and thorow spirit even at this time when God appeared making no use of his power but to undo Job Job is in his Encomium all in the praise and commendation of God He endites a Chapter on purpose to set forth the power and wisdom of God while he imploied both to make his afflictions both great and accurate This shews the admirable frame of his spirit in all his distempers his heart stood right and he would speak good of God what evil soever befell him from Gods hand Let God afflict with his power yet a gracious heart rejoices in it A gracious heart will lift up that power which weakens and throws it down Let the Lord imploy his wisdom to undo to impoverish such a man to bring him into such straits that he cannot get out yet he hath enlarged thoughts of that wisdom He sees God is as wise in troubling us as he is in delivering That language of Spira is the right language of hell I judge not his person but his speech who in a great temptation spake thus I would I had more power then God or O that I were above God He was angry that God had so much power because God used his power against him A carnall man would be above God especially if God at any time puts forth his power against him When he is hard bestead and hungry he frets himself and curses his King and his God looking upward Isa 8.21 to murmur at God not to pray unto him or speake good of him Tertullian Illud est impiorum ingenium ut Deum non ulterius celebrent quam cum benefacit Fer. It is observed by one of the Ancients concerning the Heathen That if God did not please them he should be no longer God Such are our hearts by nature if God do not use his power wisdom mercy for us we presently wish he had no power wisdom nor mercy for any in the world we would be above God unles God will serve us but an holy heart saith thus Let God improve his power and wisdom which way he pleaseth if to afflict and chasten me yea to destroy and cast me to hell his be the power for ever I extoll his power Nature can only praise God and speak good of him when he is doing of us good But grace prompts the heart to indite a good matter and bids the tongue be as the pen of a ready writer to advance God when sense feels nothing but smart and sees nothing but sorrow round about Then grace is in her heights when she can lift up God highest while he is casting us down and laying us lowest When we can honour God frowning as well as smiling upon us smiting and wounding as well as kissing and imbracing us then we have learned to honour God indeed JOB Chap. 9. Vers 11 12 13. Loe he goeth by me and I see him not he passeth on also but I perceive him not Behold he taketh away who can hinder him who shall say unto him What doest thou If God will not withdraw his anger the proud helpers doe stoop under him JOB having in
saith he men are not my Judges God is my Judge It is a comfort to the Saints to remember that God is their Judge Job vvas not afraid of God in that relation no it was a rich consolation to think that God vvas his Judge He is a righteous Judge a mercifull Judge a pitifull Judge we need not be afraid to speak to him under that notion Iob saith not I vvill make supplications to my father vvhich is a sweet relation but vvhich is most dreadfull to vvicked men he considers God as a Judge The Saints are enabled by faith to look upon God as a Judge vvith assurances of mercy Lastly Observe The whole world stands guilty before God Rom. 3.19 Every mouth must be stopped Iob vvill only make supplication he had nothing else to doe or say We doe not present our supplications unto thee for our righteousnesse but for thy great mercy Dan. 9.8 We can get nothing from God by opening our mouths in any other stile or upon any other title then this of an humble acknowledgement of our unworthinesse the lower we goe in our own thoughts the higher we are in the thoughts of God and we finde the more acceptance with him by how much the lesse acceptance vve think vve deserve Nothing is gained from God either by disputing or by boasting All our victory is humility JOB Chap. 9. Vers 16 17 18. If I had called and he had answered me yet would I not believe that he had hearkned unto my voice For he breaketh me with a tempest and multiplieth my wounds without cause He will not suffer me to take my breath but filleth me with bitternesse THis holy man having abased himself in the sense of his own inability and unrighteousnesse before the Lord and disclaimed the least intendment of contending or disputing with him as vvas seen in the former context now confirms it by a further supposition in the 16 17 18. verses and so forward As if he had said Ye shall finde I am so farre from vvording it with God or standing upon mine own justification vvith him though I have pleaded mine integrity before you my friends that I here make this hypothesis or supposition If I had called and he had answered yet would I not believe that he had hearkned unto my voice There is much variety in making out the sense of these vvords 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. The Septuagint read it negatively If I had called and he had not answered me I would not believe c. Most of the Hebrew vvriters fall very foul upon Job and tax him harshly for this speech What Would he not believe that God hearkned unto him when he had answered him Is not this unbelief a plain deniall of providence Atrae loliginis succum hic aspergit Rab. Levi. Asserons JobuÌ„ nâ—gare provident tam sivecuram particularium Coc. Verba diffiâ—entis desperantis de divina misericordia Opinio Rab. Moyses R. Levi. apudi Merc. or at least of speciall providence I would not believe that he had hearkned unto my voice is in their sense as if he had said I thinke God takes no care or makes no account of particulars he looks not after this or that man what he speaks or for what he praies I can scarce believe that my condition is under the care of God or that he will take notice of me if I should call upon him or if I plead before him what shall I get by it Doe ye thinke he will descend to the relief of such a one as I am Why then doe ye move me to call upon him c. If I should pray and if he should answer me I can hardly be perswaded that he will pity me and do me good A second opinion casts him into the deeps of despair as if Job had altogether laid aside hope of receiving any favour by calling upon God or of comfort by putting his case to him Iudaicum commentum atque Jobi sanctitate indignissimum Pined But all these aspersions are unworthily cast upon Job a man full of humility and submission to the will of God his frequent praiers and applications of himselfe to God doe abundantly confute all such unsavoury conjectures But the Jewish Commentatours carry on their former strain being all along very rigid towards this holy man very apt to put the vvorst constructions upon doubtfull passages and sometimes ill ones upon those vvhich are plainly good More distinctly There is a difficulty about the Grammaticall meaning of one word in the text vvhich carries the sense two vvaies If I had called and he had answered me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alij invocare alij provocare vertunt The Hebrew vvord vvhich vve translate call signifies sometimes to pray and sometimes to plead or challenge An act of invocation or an act of provocation it is rendered both waies here By most as we If I had called upon him that is if I had praied or made my sute unto him By some If I had sent in my plea as to begin a sute of law with him or my challenge as to enter the combate with him c. As it is taken for a challenge so the sense lies thus If I should stand upon terms with God and call him to an account to make good what he hath done And he had answered me that is if he had condescended to give me an account of his vvaies yet I would not believe that he had hearkned unto my voice that is that he had yeelded to me or acknowledged that he had done me wrong Shall I who am but dust and ashes prevail in my sute and get the day by pleading and contending vvith the great God of heaven and earth Take the word as it signifies invocation or calling by vvay of petition Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee And so two or three interpretations are offered Tam infirma est caro ut etiaÌ„ propositis divinis promissionibus nolit credere Isidor Clar. First Some in favour of Job conceive that he speaks this only through the infirmity of his flesh that it was sin within him that spake and not Job according to that of the Apostle Rom. 7. Not I but sinne that dwelleth in me So Job speaks as if he did not believe that God would hear him when he praid but whose voice was this Not Jobs but his sinnes the corruption the infirmitie of Job gave out such language not he As we may say in reference to an action I did it not but sinne that dwelleth in me so to a word I spake it not but sinne and corruption that dwelleth in me gave out such language Secondly I would not believe that God had hearkned to me Plerique Latini ad eas conditiones referunt quas oratio efficax requirit quarum defectus non exaudimur atque ea ratione sibi timere Jobum though he had answered me may referre
with it because it staies so little with us Hence Job concludes this similitude They see no good My good daies run so fast that I cannot see the good of them Not to see good is not to have the least experience of good For the eye takes in it's objects and judges of them so much Philosophers teach sooner then any other sense The eye is not long about it's businesse It is the sense of quickest dispatch So that it is as if Job had said The good things of this life are so transient that I am so farre from feeling or tasting them c. that which is done with the least delay Omnia mihi praerepta sunt priusquam ea senserim Bez. and expence of time I have not time enough to see them When men ride upon speed or when any thing passes swiftly before us we have but a glimpse scarce a sight of those objects Besides To see good is to enjoy good as was shewed Chap. 7. vers 7. And when he saith they scil his daies saw no good his meaning is that he saw no good in his daies Till there is a consistency or a fixednesse of good there cannot be a full enjoyment of good The reason why in heaven we shall have so much happinesse is because all the good in heaven is a fixed good Time passes but eternity stands Eternity is a fixed Now. The things of heaven shall not perish in the using nor shall the fashion of them passe away In heaven vision will be everlasting we shall ever see good and that ever-seeing shall be an ever-enjoying of good Here on earth we see God thorow a glasse darkly and we see all good in such post-haste passingly that we rather see it not then see it Especially while we remember that good passes by us in the company yea in a croud of evils our sight of it as when we are called to behold one man riding speedily among many must needs be hindered Yea oftentimes evils stand so thick about us while good posts by us that we cannot look thorow them to the good which is before us In heaven as good stands to our eye so it stands alone there 's no interposition of evil to eclipse the beauty or darken the sight of it There we shall see and see nothing but good Here we see much besides yea see either none at all or very little good and that but a little They flee away they see no good From the Post who runneth upon the Land Jobs next comparison carries us to the motion of a ship at sea and anon to that swifter motion of an Eagle in the air Verse 26. They are passed away as the swift ships as the Eagle that hasteneth to the prey They are passed That is my daies are passed and with them all the contents and comforts which I had in those daies we are to take daies as cloathed with all their contentfull occurrences and circumstances They are passed away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or they are glided away insensibly As the swift ships 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Navis ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not only as the ships but as the swift ships A ship is a fabrique for the sea In Pibil obvenire occurrere fecit quae sic dicta est quod remigum aut ventorum impetu impedatur seratur a house upon the sea a moveable house and as it moveth variably so it moveth swiftly The inconstancy of the windes makes the motion of the ship unconstant and the strength of the windes makes the motion of the ship swift So that to say His daies passed as a ship is an aggravation of their sudden passage A ship passeth without any stop from it self The ship needs not stay to bait to sleep or rest while it is upon it's journey whatsoever they doe who are within the ship the ship moves on if they prepare it for motion Job puts an emphasis upon this comparison His daies were not only as a ship but as a swift ship there is much in that addition The Hebrew is My daies are as the ships of Ebeh which is diversly rendred Ebeh flumen rapidissimum in Arabia Rab. Sâ—l Bold 1. Some take the word Ebeh to be the name of a river in the Eastern part of the world about Arabia neer the place where Job lived A late traveller hath observed a river of a very swift motion neer Damascus and not farre from the sepulchre of Job Now a ship that moveth in a swift river besides that it may have the winde hath also a great addition to the speed of it's motion from the force and strength of such a current Thus saith Job My daies move as the ships upon Ebeh as ships upon the streams of that fierce swift river which goe down with speed as we see boats with the tide and so proportionably greater vessels where there is a river and a current proportionably to bear and carry them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desideravit Naves voluntarie vel desid rij sc summo desiderio ad portum properantes 2. Others conceive the word not as a proper name but as signifying desire from Abah to desire with earnestnesse and then the sense is rendered thus My daies are passed away as ships of desire that is as ships which being laden with rich commodities the Master and the Pilot desire earnestly to bring the ship speedily to her port that so they may put off the commodities and make sale of the rich lading that is in her The winde doth not so much fill the sails of such a ship as desire doth the mindes of her mariners Vir defiderioruÌ„ Thus Daniel was called a man of desires because he was a man so precious and desirable A ship richly laden is much desired such a ship is a great charge to the owners and merchants they therefore send to speed the ship home as fast as they can Thus saith Job My daies passe as a ship that hath the most desired commodities 3. The Chaldee and others give a further note upon it deriving the word from Abah whence Ebih which signifies a stalk growing up early from the earth Fructus primitivus and bringing forth the first ripe fruit of any kinde and so it is put for any early ripe Summer fruit for early plums apples cherries c. Naves poma portantes Vul. And then the sense is My daies are like to a ship which carrieth early fruit So the Vulgar Like a ship carrying apples Now a ship that carries such fruit makes great haste Pertranseunt cum navibus fructus delicatos portantibus Targ. because the fruit will spoil and rot if not speedily put off Ripe fruit is a commodity that will not keep unlesse they have a quick passage all is lost My daies saith Job passe even as a ship that carries ripe Summer fruit which are hasted away with all speed lest they perish before they
heart-burnings among friends and brethren We have a proverbiall speech among us A lean arbitration is better then a fat judgement It is better to the parties they shall get more by it the charge of obtaining right by law many times eating out all and sometimes more then all alwaies a considerable part of that which the law gives us as our right We use to say to dissenters Be friends the Law is costly 'T is very costly to most mens purses and to some mens consciences 'T is rare if a man wrongs not his soul by seeking the rights of his credit or estate Secondly Observe That no creature can umpire the businesse betwixt God and man There is a two-fold reason of it Oportet ut in judice sit altior sapienâ—ia quae sit quaâ— regula ad quam examinantur dicta utriusque partis First He that is our umpire is supposed wiser then our selves They who cannot agree need more wisdom then their own to work their agreement But there is no creature wise as God yea there is no creature wise but God who is therefore called The God only wise God is best able to judge of his own actions No man hath been his Counsellour Rom. 11.34 much lesse shall any man be his Judge Men sometimes abound too much in their own sense but God must abound in his His will is the rule of all much more his wisdom or rather his wisdom is the rule of all because his will is his will and wisdom being the same and of the same extent both infinite Oportet ut in judice sit major potest as quae possit utramque partem comprimere Secondly He that is a Daies-man or Vmpire must according to the rules before spoken of have power to compell the parties to submit or stand to what he shall determine But as we cannot lay any restraint upon God from doing what he will so we cannot lay any constraint upon him to do what we will Who shall force the Lord To whom hath he given an assumpsit or ingaged himself under a penalty to perform what he shall award The Lord doth whatsoever he pleaseth both in heaven and earth and he will do no more then he pleaseth Perswasion cannot move him much lesse can power compell him He that is above all in power cannot be dealt with any way but by perswasion And he who is above all in wisdom cannot be perswaded by any against his own will There is indeed a Daies-man betwixt God and man but God himself hath appointed him God hath referred the differences betwixt himself and man unto Jesus Christ and his own good will and free grace moving him thereunto he stands engaged in the bonds of his everlasting truth and faithfulnes to perform what Jesus Christ as Mediatour should ask for us unto him we may safely commit our cause and our souls with that assurance of the Apostle 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day Christ God-man is umpire between God and man what we trust him with shall not miscarry he will make our cause good and our persons acceptable before God at that great day It is infinite mercy when we were neither able to mannage our own cause nor to finde out any in heaven or earth who could that then God himself should finde out one in wisdom and power like himself one who thought it no robbery to be equall with God to be our Daies-man Many of the Ancients interpret this Text either as Jobs desire and praier that Christ would come in the flesh O that there were a days-man betwixt us or as a prophecy of Jesus Christ to come as our Daies-man in the flesh There is no Daies-man yet but a Daies-man shall come The sense is pious but the context will not bear it In the 16th Chapter v. 21. and Chap. 17. v. 3. We shall finde Job speaking clearly of the Mediatour Jesus Christ and of his great work of atonement between God and man But here he seems to keep to the present controversie about the businesse of affliction not of salvation Take two or three consectaries flowing from the whole matter First Job at the lowest speaks highly of God and humbly of himself The greater his afflictions were the purer was his language He was not able to grapple with God and there was none to be found who could umpire the matter betwixt them The will of God is the supreme law What he will do with us we must be content he should The secrets of his providence are beyond our search and his judgements above our reach Secondly The greatnesse and transcendency of God should keep us low in our own thoughts Our knowledge of God is the present cure of our own pride The knowledge of God causeth us to know our selves and that which makes us know our selves cannot but make us low in our selves Though a proud man is commonly said To know himself too much yet the truth is he doth not know himself enough no nor at all as he should know himself Many are proud of and with their knowledge yet pride is the daughter of ignorance Some pride lodges in every mans heart because more then some ignorance doth Job had some of both in his why doth he lay the thought of the infinite glory and soveraignty of God so often to his heart but to keep down or to cure the swellings of his heart Thirdly It is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of God He is not a man as we are we are not able to match him and there is among men no Daies-man betwixt us David made it his election 2 Sam. 24. To fall into the hands of God and not into the hands of man And it is best for us to fall into the hands of God as David put himself into his hands with respect to his great mercies But woe unto uâ— if we fall into his hands as contenders with his great power Shall we thus provoke the Lord Are we stronger then he It is our duty when we do and our priviledge that we may cast our selves into the hands of God when the hand of man oppresses us Satis idoneus est patientiae sequester Deus si injuriam deposueris juxta eum ultor est si damnum restitutor si dolorem medicus si mortem rescuscitator est Tertul. l. de Patient for as one of the Ancients speaks sweetly and feelingly If thou doest deposit thy injuries with him he is able to revenge thee if thy losses he is able to repair thee if thy sicknesse he is able to heal thee and if thy death he can raise thee up and estate thee in life again Thus I say it is best to fall into the hands of God in expectation of mercy through the Mediatour but it is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the
becomes us to have patience till the harvest though it be a late one Lastly There is an opinion which gives this verse connexion with the first of the next Chapter Quia non ita est sc quia à me terrorem suum non eximit ego mecum sc Loquar mecum ipse querar omnem aserbitatem animi effundam apud me ut facit in sequenti capite As if Job had thus resolved upon the Lords not answering his petition Had the Lord condescended to take away his rod and remove his terrour as I requested then I had somewhat to say and I would have spoken it out unto him but because it is not so or because I am not answered therfore I with my self The word Speak is not in the text but such supplies of a word are frequent not only in the Hebrew but also in other languages Seeing I have not liberty to speak to the Lord I will pour my complaints into mine own bosome and commune with my own heart He pursues this tacite resolution in the tenth Chapter which begins thus My soul is weary of my life I will leave my complaint upon my self JOB Chap. 10. Vers 1. My soul is weary of my life I will leave my complaint upon my self I will speak in the bitternesse of my soul JOB having in the former Chapter justified God in afflicting him and maintained his own integrity notwithstanding those afflictions now returneth to that work about which he had been too busie before yet that Afflicti saepe se exonerari putaÌ„t si laxis habenis de suo dolore querantur suas enumerent calamitates uberrima oratione Merc. wherein it seems he only found as the case stood with him some little ease and refreshing The breathing out of his afflicted spirit in sad complainings He resumes his former lamentation and renews afresh what he had been more then large enough in at the 3d 6th and 7th Chapters of this book Here as there he shews how ill it was with him and what cause he had to be in heavinesse under the pressure of so many evils And here more then there Argumentis utitur à natura Dei ante-acceptis ipsius beneficijs quibus mala haec quae immifit Deus magnopere repugnare videantur Merl. he remonstrates that he conceived himself more hardly dealt with then stood not only with the goodnesse of God in his nature but with that goodnesse which he had formerly acted both towards others and himself This encouraged him about the close of the Chapter vers 20 and 22. to petition again that he might have a little refreshing before he lay down in his grave and that God would after these storms return him some of those fair daies he had enjoyed before he returned to the earth and should be seen no more His complaint is very rhetoricall and high Vehemens quideÌ„ partibus omnibus gravis est querimonia â—ed medesta fi unum â—â—â—ud optatum exceperis ver 18 19. Merl. yet with an allay or mixture of modesty Indeed his spirit brake out and passion got head at the 18 and 19 verses where he expostulates with God in the language of the third Chapter Wherefore host thou brought me forth out of the womb c But abating that excesse of his tongue and spirit his complaints are knit up with solid arguments and his Queries put the point resolutely yet humbly home to God himself that he would be pleased to shew the reason of his present dealings and why he varied so much from what he had done in former times The first verse gives us a generall ground of this and of all his sorrowfull complaints The wearisomenesse of his life My soul is weary of my life I will leave my complaint upon my self The argument may be formed thus He hath reason to complain of his afflictions whose afflictions are so heavy upon him and so bitter that he hath reason to be weary of his very life But thus my case stands my afflictions are so bitter to and heavy upon me that I am weary of my life Therefore I have reason to complain The assumption of this syllogisme is contained in the first words of the verse My soul is weary of my life And the conclusion in the latter Therefore I will leave my complaint upon my self I will speak in the bitternesse of my soul My soul is weary of my life Life and soul are often in Scripture put promiscuously for the same but here they differ The soul may be taken two waies First Strictly as it is opposed to the body Secondly In a more large sense by a Synecdoche of the part for the whole for the whole man consisting of body and soul If so here then the meaning of Job in saying My soul is weary of my life is no more but this I Job am weary of my life that is of the marriage or union of my soul and body O that this band which I though most are grieved at the weaknesse of theirs finde too strong were broken or a bill of divorce granted for their separation Life is the band or tie by which soul and body subsist together And when that band is broken or cut asunder by the stroke of death the body goes to the grave and the soul or spirit returns to God who gave it Again When Job saith My soul is weary of my life Life may be taken either for the act of life and so the sense is I am weary of living or it may be taken for the manner of life and so the sense is I am weary of that course or state of life wherein I am Life is often put not strictly for the act of living but for the state or condition in which a man lives or with which life is cloathed The circumstances and concomitants of life are called life Thus in our common speech when a man is in misery another saith I would not have his life or what a life hath he The Apostles character of all naturall men is that they are alienated from the life of God Ephes 4.18 that is they cannot endure to live such a life as God lives or as he commands them to live they cannot endure to be holy as he is holy or holy as he cals them to be holy in all manner of conversation Thus Job was alienated from his own life I saith he am weary of my life that is of a life thus imbittered thus afflicted My soul is weary The word which we translate weary varies the understanding of this sentence It signifies properly to be weakned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Debilitatus languefactus per metapheram taeedio affectus offensus fuit as also to be melted or molten with heat because a man that is extremely heated or melted by heat is weakned his spirits and strength being drawn forth and dissipated But it is most commonly applied to that wearinesse which arises from
longest in duration and the shortest in fruition not that the enjoyment of any thing there is short but because in the shortest enjoyment there is all Every moment of eternity being filled with all the blessednesse of eternity Thirdly This shews the reason why the Lord taketh such leisure to do his work he doth not precipitate or thrust on his designs because he may take what time he will God hath all time at his command Men bear sway and rule over persons and places God only ruleth times Man hath not one day in his power not only not the day to come but not the day present Go to now saith the Apostle James chap. 4.13 14. ye that say to day or to morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow Nor indeed doth any man know whether he shall be on the morrow or on all the day wherein he is God can boast of to morrow that is of eternity or of all time to come Man cannot boast of tomorrow that is of the next day no nor of the next time to come of the same day Hence it is that man must hasten lest he misse his season When David had Saul at an advantage 1 Sam. 24.5 they about him advise him to make use of it and not to let it slip Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee c. Sr having such a day take hold of it if you let this go you may never see such another Time is no part of the dominion of Kings So likewise Abishai counsels David upon the same advantage 1 Sam. 26.8 God hath delivered thy enemy into thine hand this day let him go this day and probably thou shalt never have the like day again Now therefore let me smite him I pray thee with the spear even to the earth at once and I will not smite him the second time I can dispatch him at one time and possibly thou shalt not have a second time In a good work it is good yea t is best to do our work at once and not to expect what we may or may never have a second time when we have a time To day if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts He hath much hardnes but no wisdom in his heart who hopes to do that good to morrow which he resolvs to neglect untill to morrow A wise man may hope to do that to morrow which he cannot do to day but it is highest folly to resolve upon a neglect of any duty this day upon a hope of doing it next day It is said Revel 12.6 Woe to the inhabitants of the earth because the devil is come down having great wrath why so angry because he knoweth that his time is but short When the devil knows he hath but a little time he will do as much work as he can and do it presently he sees all will scape out of his hands else Only the Lord hastens not neither needeth he to hasten his work at any time upon this ground because he hath but a short time He can take what time he will and make his day as long and his daies as many as himself pleaseth for the acting of his counsels whether to punish or to shew mercy And hence it is that he delaieth till wicked profane spirits wonder yea scoff at his delay and think surely the Lord will never do any such thing as he hath threatned or promised because he staieth so long before he doth it wheras indeed to him that inhabiteth eternity deferment is no delay though to us it seem so whose times are measured out by inches and hours by moments and by minutes Those profane wretches Isa 5.19 call the Lord and provoke him to action Let him make speed and hasten his work that we may see it The Lord appears slow and slack to many men but the Lord is not slack as some men count slacknesse 2 Pet. 3.9 Men think he is slack when he is only patient and themselves ignorant That a thousand years to the Lord are but as one day God doth not measure time by our pole nor cast it up by our Arithmetike Eternity doth not only like the unjust steward bid us write fifty for an hundred but one for a thousand and which bears the disproportion of divers hundreds in every one of that thousand one day for a thousand years Time is not only a small thing but nothing unto God Mine age saith David is nothing unto thee Psal 39.5 And if all Nations before him are as nothing if they are counted to him lesse then nothing Isa 40.17 Then not only the age of one man but the ages of all men added together are before him as nothing and are counted to him lesse then nothing Surely he cannot want time to do all things before whom all times are nothing He cannot want time to pour out his judgements and to empty the vials of his wrath upon wicked men nor can he want time to fulfill his promises and to make good every word of blessing which he hath spoken to or concerning his own people Wicked men Doe not ye hope Godly men Do not ye fear God will not doe what he hath said because he hath not already done it He hath not lost his time or season because he hath not accepted that which ye thought to be the time or season Christ warns his Disciples Joh. 9.4 to make haste about their work for the night namely of death cometh wherein no man can work while you have the day do your work for I know what day yours is your day will be gone and the night will come then you can work no more But Gods day fears no night what ever comes he can do his work The Preacher gives the same counsel upon the same ground Eccles 9. Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do do it with all thy might lay hold upon the fore-lock of time why There is no wisdom or counsel in the grave whither thou goest When thou diest there is an end of all thy working time doe thy work well for thou canst not recall a day of thy life to mend thy work in neither canst thou work at all in that night of death The Lords day knows nothing of a grave nor is his Sunne acquainted with going down if he seem slack to his work or slack at his work this day and the next c. yet he hath another day at his call and after that another and another all which are to him but one day Therefore he takes or leaves defers or hastens comes or goes at pleasure Are thy daies O Lord as mans daies Are thy years as the daies of men I know they are not But why doth Job make so many of these negative queries The next words will answer Verse 6. That thou enquirest after mine iniquity and searchest after my sinne Here
should not have sipt or tasted Est non est Octimestris partus Hippocr much lesse have drunk so deep of this cup of sufferings It is said of Abortives who die in the womb and of such as die immediately after they are born They are and they are not they who live but a moment in nature shall live for ever A life here lesse then a span long Abortivuâ— pro non nato ceâ—setur in jure will be eternity long yet as to the world such a life is no life such a being no being Lawyers say They who die before or as soon as they are born are reckoned as unborn they make no change in states they never had a name or an interest in the world and so they go for nothing in the world The Prophet Obadiah verse 16. threatens Edom That they shall be as though they had not been that is they must perish and their memoriall with them Some are so thrust out of the world that they shall be as if they had never been and some come into the world so that their being was as if they had never been A short life is by common estimation no life As in heaven where we shall live for ever we shall be as if we had ever been So on earth some live so little that they are as if they never were That which hath an eternall duration and shall never end is as if it had ever begun and that which is but of a short duration and ends quickly is as if it had never begun The reason why the fruit of sinne goes for nothing is because the pleasure of sinne is but for a season and that a very little season What fruit have ye of those things whereof ye are now ashamed That is Ye have no fruit or your fruit was nothing we may say of all the pleasures of sin their cradle is their grave or more near Iobs language they are carried from the womb to the grave So he speaks next of himself I should have been carried from the womb to the grave I should have passed without noise or notice There would have been little trouble with me in the world I should have made but one journey and that a short one The speech is proverbiall From the womb to the grave Proverbiale est ab uâ—ero ad sepulchrum cum quis simulac natus est moritur is the motto of Infant-death The Septuagint read it as an expostulation Wherefore was I not carried out from the womb to the grave It would have been a happinesse to me either not to have been at all or to have had a being but equivalent in common account to a not being And thus it had been with me if my first step out of my mothers womb had been into the womb of that grandmother the earth Iob is often upon the same point renewing his desires after death he did so as hath been toucht at the third Chapter and at the sixth and now he is as fierce and fresh upon it as ever A godly man may often discover the same infirmity Whilest the same stock of corruption remains in us it is productive of the same corrupt fruit There is a seminall vertue in the earth look how often it is plowed and sowed so often it sends forth a crop there is a seminall vertue in the earthly part of man which makes him to put forth evil as often as occasion plows and temptation soweth his heart Verse 20. Are not my daies few Cease then and let me alone that I may take comfort a little Are not my daies few There is a difference in the reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Primo adjungunt colo Numquid non paucitas dierum meâ—rum finiatur brevi Vulg. Annon pauci dies mei cessantes sc deficientes â—arg Annon paulisper diebus meis cessabit Juâ— Many translatours joyn the verb Cease with this clause so that whereas we read Are not my daies few Cease then and let me alone they read Will not my few daies cease then let me alone that I may take comfort a little M Broughton and he hath a second varieth yet further Will not he leave off a little in my daies Instead of applying the word few unto daies Are not my daies few they taking in the verb joyn it to the act of God Will not he leave off a little in my daies That is Will not God forbear a little to trouble me Will not he give me a breathing time in my daies which are but few Surely he will he will not be so strict with me I doubt not of a gracious answer to this humble petition But rather follow our sense and let the first clause be a question Are not my daies few And then the next words are an inference or use which he makes from it Cease then and let me alone c. Are not my daies few The question doth affirm Yes my daies are few The sense may be made out one of these three waies and not unprofitably by all three First thus As a justification of his former wishes and desires to die Have I not upon good reason wished that I had never lived Who can be in love with a short life and a long trouble Are not my daies few Or Secondly As an answer to such as objected against him for wishing he had not lived Doe you know said they what you have said Is life such a small matter with you Or doe you understand what you desire when you desire death Is deformed death become a beauty in your eye What ever you think of it life is a precious jewel Yes saith Job I know very well what life is and I know of I had died before I was born I had not lost much life What 's the life of a few daiis The life of eternity is worth the having and esteeming but why should you think I have wished away a matter of moment when I wished away this life For are not my daies few Whence observe The losse of a whole life in this world is no great losse We cannot lose a great deal when all is but a little nor many when we have but a few in all He looseth but a few daies who dieth the first day then what have we got when we have lived according to the calculation of nature many daies Job makes this an argument to satisfie others about his wish that all his days had bin cut off May not we satisfie our selves by it when a piece or a part an end the worst end of our daies is cut off What if we have abated ten or twenty of those years which possibly we might have lived Twenty years are but a few daies for a whole life consisting of three twenties and ten is but a few daies This we are sure of that the few daies we loose on earth shall never be missed in heaven it will be no abatement to our comfort there to
think we lived but a little here all the sorrows of this life will be swallowed up in the next and so will our sudden parting with this life Thirdly The clearest sense of these words Are not my daies few is that they are the ground of a petition for the mitigation of his troubles As if he had said Lord I have but a while to live in the world my daies are few therefore doe not think much that I should have a little comfort and refreshing in these my daies Consider my life is short O that thou wouldest slack thy hand and yeeld me some ease and comfort in this short life He had used this argument at the seventh Chapter verse 16. Let me alone for my daies are vanity Paucitas dierū i. e. paucissimi dies Abstracta significationem incitant acuunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imminutionem decrementumque significat q d nunquam crescit sed descrescit ad angustias majores indies reducitur in perpetua consumptione evanescit Bold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quanti aevi ego Mont. here Let me alone for my daies are few The fewnesse of our daies is one of the vanities of our daies Are not my daies few The Hebrew is Is not fewnesse of daies mine Yes That 's my portion Abstracts often encrease and sometimes they diminish the sense Here the sense is diminutive as if he had said My daies are so farre from many that they are fewnesse it self Mine are not encreasing and growing but declining and abating daies My daies are going down they are brought into a lesser and a narrower compasse every day The Chaldee renders Are not my daies ceasing My daies fade and wear out every day Shew me how short my life is closer to the originall how soon ceasing I am or as others What or of what quantity mine age is how transitory how temporary I am Cease then and let me alone Some read it in the third person Therefore let him cease from me and let me alone we in the second Cease then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deponat à me sc flagellum aut supplicium Deponat exercitus suos procul à me Jun. and let me alone Job looks upon himself as one besieged and straitned with afflictions Now saith he I beseech thee raise thy siege and draw off thy force from me or if thou wilt not make a finall peace with me yet grant me a cessation let me have a truce for a limited time let me not have such continuall alarms or be forced to stand armed continually Let me rest saith the Septuagint Issachar stooped to burdens because he desired rest Some are so burdened that they cannot rest how much soever they desire it Job desires God to give him rest because his daies were few Hence observe First It is an argument moving the Lord to forbear sending us many troubles because we have but few daies Thus David praies Psal 89.47 Remember how short my time is wherefore hast thou made all men in vain Lord I have but a few daies and shall my daies be nothing but clouds and darknesse The same argument is used Psal 39. ult O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more I shall soon be gone let me have some ease while I stay here Observe Secondly That except the Lord withdraw his hand nothing in the world can give us ease Cease then and let me alone that I may take comfort as if he had said If thine hand be upon me in vain do friends comfort me creatures offer me their help in vain Cease then and let me alone From the matter of his argument Observe The life of man is short It is a common theame and every man thinks he can declaim upon it and speak to it but there are very few can live to or act by it A multitude of instructions arise to us from the fewnes of our daies And did men know indeed that their daies are few their evil deeds would not be so many and their good would be more Again That mans daies are so few yeelds us not only many instructions but many wonders Is it not strange that we who have but a few daies in our lives should have so many afflictions in our lives That we should have few daies and many sorrows Is it not strange that we should have few daies in our lives and many cares about our lives Many cares and few daies yea many cares upon one day Thou art carefull about many things saith Christ to Martha Is it not strange that we should have so few daies and so many sins Few daies and innumerable sins so many sins as no man can number them and so few daies that a childe may number them And is not this a wonder above all the rest that we should have but a few daies and yet be gravell'd and puzl'd so as we are in numbring them A little humane learning will serve to number our daies but we need a great deal of spirituall learning to number them A little study in the Mathematicks will do it but we need more then study experience in Divinity before we can do it and yet neither study nor experience can do it unlesse God himself be our Tutor He only can teach us so to number our daies that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome We shall commence fools at last if we have not one wiser then the wisest upon earth to teach us this truth That I may take comfort a little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Roboravit confortavit respiravit vires collegit The word which we translate to take comfort signifies such comfort as they finde who being heated extreamly and extream thirsty come to drink at a fountain of sweet waters The Vulgar readeth it Let me alone that I may mourn a little yet taking in the former sense He seems thus to explain himself If the Lord would let me alone I would go and ease my self with complaining the waters of my head the fountain of mine eyes would be a refreshing to my wearied soul Sorrows are sometimes joyous and moderate mourning gives the minde a reviving But rather Take it in the generall Let me alone that I may comfort my self and that these sorrows may abate I desire to rally and recollect my scattered thoughts a while and so take in somewhat of the sweetnesse of this life before I die Si dolorem amov re non vult respirandi locū aliquem spacium concedat Merc. Cease from me for some refreshing saith M. Broughton I do not expect much Lord let me have some before I go whence I shall not return Here observe one common principle of nature Man desireth his own good A well-being as well as a being What is there in life for nature to prize if there be nothing but sorrow in it Secondly Observe That great sufferings make us very modest in our demands Job was in