and when he wills he can reach the life Secondly observe If God put out his power no creature can stand before it If God doe but let loose his hand man is cut off presently It is but as a little twigge or as grasse before the sith or before a sword there is no more in it As when God openeth the hand of his mercy he satisfieth the desire of every living thing Psal 145. 2. So when God looseth the hand of his judgements he takes away the life and comforts of every living thing God hath a hand full of blessings and mercies if he please but to open that hand all things are filled with comfort God hath another hand full of judgments and afflictions if he open or loosen that all creatures fall before him like a withered leafe The reason why the enemies of God live and are mighty is because God doth not fully loosen his hand against them if he would but unprison his power and let out his hand he can with ease destroy and cut them off in a moment Therefore the prophet prayes but for this one thing Psalm 74. 11. That God would pluck his hand out of his bosome why with drawest thou thy hand even thy right hand pluck it out of thy bosome Lord saith he this is the reason why enemies yet prevail thy hand is tyed up that is Thine owe act hath tyed up thy hand thy will stayes thy power or thy power is hid in thy will Gods power kept in by his will is his hand in his bosome Among men a hand in the bosome is the embleme of sloth Prov 19 24. Man hides his hand in his bosome because he will not be at the paines to worke God is said to hide his hand in his bosome when it is not his will and pleasure to work therefore he saith Lord if thou wouldest but let loose and put out thy hand all mine enemies shall be consumed And that 's the reason why there are such various dispensations of providence in these times when the enemy prevailes God with draweth his hand he keepeth his hand in his bosome And when at any time his servants have victorie it is because his hand hath liberty If God holds his hand men stretch forth theirs in vain Observe Thirdly Assurance of a better life will carry the soule with joy through the sorrows and bitterest pains of death It was not any Stoical apathy or ignorant regardlessenesse of life which raised the heart of Job to these desires He did not invite his end like a Roman or a philosopher or by the height and gallantry of naturall courage set the world at nought and bid defiance to destruction But he had laid up a good foundation against this day upon this he builds his confidence He knew as Paul that he had Christ while he lived and should have gaine when he dyed The joy which was set before him made him over-look the crosse which was before him So much of his request now he tels us the consequence or effect it would have upon him in case it were granted Vers 10. Then should I yet have comfort yet I would harden my selfe in sorrow Let him not spare for I have not concealed the words of the holy One Then should I yet have comfort If I had but this suit granted I were refreshed notwithstanding all my sorrows the very hope of death would revive me Nothing doth so much refresh the soule as the hearing of a Prayer and the grant of a desire when desire cometh it is as a tree of life saith Solomon therefore Job might well say when my longing comes I shall have comfort and lest any should think that as David would not drinke the water he so longed for when it was brought unto him So when the cup of death should be brought to Job he might put it off somewhat upon those termes which David did and say I will not drinke it for it is my bloud my death therefore he adds Yea I would harden my self in sorrow As if he had said though some call hastily for death and repent with as much haste when death comes yet not I I would harden my selfe c. The Hebrew to harden hath a three-fold signification among the Jewish writers though it be used but this once onely in all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat 1. Solidare roborare 2. Calefarere urere 3 Orare suppliciter praecari Scripture And hence there is a three-fold interpretation of these words I would harden my selfe in sorrow It signifies 1 To Pray or to beseech 2 To heat or to Warm yea to scorch and to burn 3 To harden or to strengthen strengthning is hardning in a metaphor According to the first sense the text is rendred thus Then should I yet have comfort yea I would pray in my sorrow that is I would pray yet more for an increase of my sorrow that I might be cut off If I had any hope that my request should be granted this hope would quicken my desire and I would pray yet more that I might obtain it Secondly as the word signifies to warm or to heat the sense is given thus Then should I have comfort yea I would warm my selfe in my sorrow And so it refers it to those refreshings which his languishing soul his soul chilled as it were with sicknesse and sorrows should receive upon the news of his approaching death This newes saith he would be as warm cloaths to me it Hac spe certissin â moriendi incalescerem refocillarer would fetch me again out of my fainting to heart of dying But besides a warming or a refreshing heat the word also notes scorching burning heat Mr. Broughton takes that signification of the word I shall touch that and his sence upon it by and by We translate according to the third usage of the word I would harden my self and so the construction is very fair I should yet have comfort yea I would harden my self in sorrow that is I would now set my selfe to endure the greatest sorrowes and afflictions which could come upon me for the destroying and cutting off the threed of my life And so he seems in these words to prevent an objection before hinted Why Job dost thou desire to be cut off and to be destroyed thou hast more pain upon thee already then thou art able to bear thou cryest out of what thou hast thou must think when death comes thy wound will be deeper and thy pain sharper Iob seemes to answer I have considered that before I know there will be a hard brunt at parting I prepare for it and am thus resolved I would harden my self in sorrow that is I would set my selfe to bear the pangs and agonies of death if I had but this hope that my miserie were near expiring The Apostle useth that phrase 2 Tim. 2. 3. in his advices to young Timothy Thou as a good souldier of Jesus Christ endure
which God raiseth his people shall be if he pleases like a mountain of Adamant which cannot be melted or like mount Sion which cannot be removed A high place is seldome a safe place All high things are tottering Nâ—tare solent excelsa omnia and the more high the more tottering Then how unsearchable is the wisdome how great the power of God who can set his people very high and yet very safe who can make a man stand as firme and steady upon the highest pinnacle of honour as upon a levell ground or in a valley of the lowest estate and condition He exalts to safety And hence wee may draw downe a difference between Gods exaltation of his own people and the exaltation of his enemies and wicked ones Wicked men are oft times exalted and God exalts them though they know it not but how He exalts them to a high place but doth exalt them to a safe place No the Psalmist after a long temptation concludes Thou hast set them in slippery places thou castest them downe into destruction how are they brought into desolation as in a mement Psal 73. 18 19. Haman was exalted high but not in safety Many are exalted as Jezabel exalted Naboth high among the people but it was to stone him rather then to honour him It is said of Pharaoh he lifted up the head of his chiefe Baker he lifted up his head out of prison indeed but he lifted up his head to the gallowes also he lifted him out of prison but it was unto his death Such is the lifting up of wicked men they may be set on high but they are never set in safety How many have we seen suddenly advanced and as suddenly depress'd We are never safe but where God sets us or while God holds us in his hand Fourthly observe It is a wonder a wonderfull work of God to exalt those that are low and set mourners in safety The 107 Psalme is a Psalme recounting the wonderfull works of God O that men would praise the Lord for his wonderfull works is the burthen of that holy song And all those wonders conclude in this ver 39. 40. Againe they are minished and brought low through oppression affliction and sorrow what then He powreth contempt upon Princes c. yet setteth he the poore on high from affliction and maketh him families like a flock How wonderfull is this that the Lord will give Kings for the ransome of his people and to raise his poore will powre contempt upon Princes The highest must downe rather then his low ones shall not be set on high There are foure things which encrease this wonder and make it exceeding wonderfull First These poore have no strength Deut. 32. 36. He sees that their strength is gone Secondly Many times they have no hope no faith When the Son of Man comes shall he finde among low ones faith this faith to be exalted upon the earth Luk. 18. 8. Thirdly They have many enemies subtill enemies powerfull enemies confident enemies enemies above hope arrived at assurance that they shall keep poore ones at an under for ever Lord saith David how many are they that trouble me So many they were that he could not tell how many Fourthly They are supposed to have no friends none to appeare for them Let us persecute and take him say they for there is Psal 71. 11. none to deliver him Not a man no nor God as they conclude They say of my soule there is no help for him in his God I need not say it is a wonder to exalt a people upon all these disadvantages The fact speakes should you see a man trod upon the ground and many there holding him downe one by the arme another by the leg a third laying a great weight upon his breast were it not a wonder to see this man rise up and rescue himselfe from them all Thus it is with the Church and servants of God when they are low all the world is upon their backs the world of wicked ones hang about them one with his power another with his policie all with their utmost endeavours to hold them downe yet the Lord sets them on high who were thus low and exalts them to safety who were thus in danger Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare his wonderfull workes to the children of men And this is further cleared in the 12th verse He disappointeth the devices of the crafty so that their hand cannot performe their enterprise As if Eliphaz should say would you know how God exalteth his people and setteth them in safety 'T is true they have many enemies many that plot and devise evill against them but the Lord breakes their plots he out-plots them He disappointeth the devices of the crafty c. And as this is a proof of the former so it is a further instance of Gods wonderfull works The first was in naturall things sending raine The second and third were in civill things first exalting his own people and secondly in defeating the policies and power of their adversaries so then this twelfth verse may be taken either as it hath reference to the former or as a further instance of Gods wisdome and power He disappointeth the devices of the crafty Or he defeateth the purposes of the subtill so Mr Broughton readeth it that their hands can bring nothing soundly to passe The Apostle in 1 Cor. 3. 19. sets the holy stampe of divine authoritie upon this whole booke by quoting this or the next verse as a proofe of his doctrine For it is written saith he He takes the crafty in their own counsell He disappoints the devices of the crafty saith Eliphaz and He takes the wise in their own craftinesse He disappointeth The word signifies to breake to breake a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fractus contritus thing to peeces and by a metaphor to disappoint or to defeate because if an engine or instrument with which a man intends to work be broken he is disappointed of his purpose and cannot goe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Confregit dissipavit Metaphoricè irritum fecit Latinè potest reddiâ—abrogari on with his work So here He breakes the devices of the crafty the crafty frame very curious engines and instruments they lay fine plots and projects but the Lord breakes them and then they are defeated or disappointed The word is often used for breaking or making voyd the law as Psal 119. 126. Ezra 9. 13 because wicked men as much as in them lies would defeate and disappoint the holy purpose designe of God in giving those lawes They would repeale abrogate the laws of God that they might enact their own lusts They would doe that by the will of God which the Lord doth with their wills Null and disappoint it The devices The word which we translate devices signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉
or as soone as ever he is a servant to it Thus without the wisdome of the world Christ overcomes the wisdome of the world And by the foolishnesse of preaching as men count foolishnesse saveth those that beleeve 1 Cor. 1. 21. the foolishnesse of God is wiser then man That is those instruments which Christ impioyes how foolish soever men account them shall foile all the wisdome of man Therefore let no man boast of his natural parts unles they be spiriualiz'd and resign'd up for such Christ commonly uses though he can make use of others to the service of Christ Consider to whom you are instrumentall with your parts and knowledge All wit out of Christs work degenerates into craft and wisdome into wickednesse It is Satans worke to sollicite the learning of men even as an Adulterer sollicites the beauty of women that he may commit folly with it and beget some monstruous birth of mischiefe and villanie For when such appeare on Satans side they are a great credit to his cause and by the reputation of their learning and parts draw others to it Doe ye not see will he suggest to inferiour ones such and such wise learned men goe this way such learned Divines such learned Lawyers such deepe Politicians and doe you scruple And how many have been caught in this snaâ—e and led aside by the noise of their abilities whom Satan abuseth to his own side what such wise men such learned men thinke thus and doe you simple ones stand off Hath he not reason then to say of wise men as it was once said of one Seeing ye are such I wish you Cum talis sis utinam noster esses Habeo Themistoclem Atheniensem would come over to me and to bragge of them as much as ever that Persian Monarch did of Themistocles whose revolting to him from the Grecians transported him so that he broke suddenly out of his sleepe with these words I have Themistocles the Athenian I remember what Augustine observes it is a very remarkable passage in an Epistle unto a young noble man of great learning who it seems had been sometimes his Schollar Augustine having received from him a Poem or copie of accurate verses but Augustinus ep 39. ad Licentium Juvenem nobilem doctuÌ„ Da Domino meo te qui tibi illud donarit ingeniuÌ„ c. Accepisti a Deo ingenium spiritualiter aureum ministras inde â—ibidiâ—ibus in illo Satanâ— proâ—inâ—s teipsum Ornari abs te diabolus quaâ—it perceiving that he abused his wit to wantonnesse or uselesse curiosity returns him answer to this effect I have read this Poem and I know not with what verses or with what lamentation to mourne over it because I see an excellent wit sparkling in every line but such an one as I cannot dedicate unto God A little after he thus exhorts him Give thy selfe unto my Lord who hath given thee this excellent wit If thou hadst found a golden Cup what wouldst thou have done with it Wouldst thou not have given it to some good publicke use God hath given thee a golden wit Thy understanding is a golden Cup and wilt thou let thy lusts drinke out of it or wilt thou drinke thy selfe to the devill in it I tell thee thus much the devill would faine make thy wit his ornament and thy parts the oredit of his Court and Cause Satan serves himselfe of the best wits and his is the worst service of wit Such shall be paid at last with crying We fooles Of all fooles the knowing wise fooles will be in the saddest condition Observe thirdly The craftie are full of hopes that their devises will succeed and full of trouble because they succeed not Otherwise it could not be said that God disappointeth the devises of the craftie Disappointment implies expectation And it is no afflicting affliction to misse of that which we never looked for These thought all sure These doubted not to over-wit and over-power all at last This brought them somewhat beyond hope even to the borders of assurance at least it so endeared them their hopes that they would rather hazzard their souls than loose their plots they were burthen'd to be delivered Having conceived mischiefe they were in travell with iniquity Psal 7. 14. As the Lord suffers his own people to feare much that when deliverance comes their joy may be full so he suffers wicked men to hope much that their sorrows may be full when they cannot be delivered A woman forgets the pains of her travell for joy that a man childe is borne into the world And these men shall remember the paines of their travell for sorrow that a monster such are their designes is not borne into the world That their mischiefe comes not in their sense to light leaves them in desperate darknesse Fourthly observe What such plot and devise they labour to act and effect Their hands cannot performe their enterprise which intimates that they put their hands to the worke as well as their heads as soone as they have layd their plot they fall to acting We should in this imitate our enemies not to stand devising and consulting this is a good way and t'others a good way and then doe neither or then sit still and moulder away in expectation love to and zeale for Christ and his truth should render us as full of action as of invention of execution as of designe Fifthly though they did attempt it with their hands yet they could not effect it with their hands Their hands did not performe their enterprise Hence note That Craftie men may devise strongly but they have not strength sufficient to accomplish their devices The Pharisees after all their confederacies against Christ were forc't without any racke but that of their owne consciences to make this confession Joh. 12. 19. Perceive ye how we prevail nothing At this day they have many fine devices and Idaeas ready framed in their heads but the hand shakes They cannot performe their enterprise They want not counsell nor craft nor skill nor will nor desires nor endeavours only they want God with them Hence it is that though they gather very proper materials and lay very strong foundations yet they cannot reare up their building And in the issue Luk. 14. 29. All that behold it shall mock saying These men began to build and were not able to finish It is the maine worke of God to stop evill men in their workes what they would doe he saith they shall not and what they would not doe he saith they shall Pharoah devised a devise against the children of Israel but his hands could not performe his enterprise Haman devised a devise against the Jewes but his hands could not performe his enterprise Achitophel gave craftie counsell against David but his hands could not performe his enterprise Herod the Fox plotted against Christ to hinder the course of his Ministerie and Mediatourship but he could not performe his
Israel in their wicked counsels and bring to light their stoln wedges of gold and their Babylonish garments There is one thing further considerable from the sense of that Greeke word which the Apostle uses 1 Cor. 3. 19. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Manu capio firmiter teneo fugientem in cursu deprehendere â—anuque injecta capere quicquam ut nâ—n elebatur unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 manipulus pugillus Erasm He taketh the wise c The Apostles word signifies properly to take or a taking with the hand a laying hold upon one that is flying As in a battell when the enemy flies and runnes the pursuer takes hold of him and will not let him escape And so the sense is that though these crafty ones think to make an escape when they have done mischiefe to out run the justice of men yea to get out of the reach of God yet he taketh them as flying enemies or malefactors that would make an escape he catcheth them by the back takes them by the shoulder layes fast hold on them so that they shall not be able to get away He takes the wise in their owne craftinesse Lastly It is observeable that the Preposition in he takes them in their craftinesse may be understood instrumentally Plerosque astus illorum facit Deus instrumentum ad arcendum ab ijs quod cogitant Rab. Levi. and so it as much as the Preposition by He takes them in that is he takes them by their devices That preposition is often put instrumentally Gen. 32. 10. Jacob saith In my staffe I passed over this Jordan we translate with my staffe or by my staffe I passed over this Jordan And so Heb. 1. 1. God who at sundry times spake in time past to the fathers in the Prophets so the Greek we translate by the Prophets because they were the meanes or the instruments which God employed to speak by Thus here He takes the wicked in their craftinesse or by their craftinesse their craftiness is the very meanes and instrument by which God apprehends and takes them So much for the opening of the first clause We may note hence first That No wisdome or craftinesse of man can stand before the wisdome and power of God He not only takes them in their foolishnesse but in their craftinesse He stayes not till they begin to dote and doe weakely before he takes them but when they are in their height of wit and in the depths of worldly wisdome and policie when they put forth the quintessence of craft and give counsell like the Oracle of God 2 Sam. 16. 23. then God takes them He takes them in their craftinesse Pro. 21. 30. There is no wisdome nor understanding nor counsell against the Lord. No counsel against the Lord. How is it then said in the second Psalme The Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsell together against the Lord and against his anointed There are many counsells opposed against the Lord but there are none prevailing against the Lord. The meaning of that holy Proverbe is That no wisdome not the most sublime and refined wisdome no counsell not the most machivilian or Achitophelian counsell can prevaile against the Lord. Men usually catch others when they are at a fault or take them upon some advantage and error in their counsels Most successes of men are made out of the slips and defects of their adversaries They take upon mistakes either in advising or acting but after the most deliberate and grave debates the choicest and best grounded resolves the Lord takes them For 1 Cor. 1. 25 The foolishnesse of God is wiser than man And if the wisdom of man cannot match the foolishnesse of God how shall it contend with the wisdome of God As the Prophet Jeremiah speakes in another case If I have runne with footmen and they have wearied me how can I contend with horses so if these men are not able to deale with the foolishnesse of God how shall the deale with his wisdom Not that there is any the least imaginable foolishnesse in God for as God is light and in him there is no darknesse at all so God is wisdome and in him there is no foolishnesse at all but the holy Ghost speakes thus to put God as low as the foolishest thoughts of man can put him which is to think there is foolishnesse in God yet in that or then he is wiser than they Secondly observe That God turneth the counsels of wicked men against themselves He taketh the wise not only in but by their craftinesse He beates their own weapon against their heads He wrests their weapons out of their hands and with them wounds their hearts Those counsels and contrivements by which they thought to secure themselves are their destruction He destroyes them in their counsels and by their counsels This wonderfully magnifies and commends the wisdome of Qui scipserunt de arte militari di unt summum genus demicandi quoties calcato uâ—bâ—me adversarij se in hostilem clyâ—eum eâ—igâ—t mâ—les â—a contra stanâ—is vulnerat teâ—ga Sâ—â—v in Vâ—rg Aen. 1 â— God He doth not trouble himselfe to devise some new way or stratagem to take these men but he makes use only of that which they have devised It is the noblest way of conquering to conquer our enemy with his own weapon such was that victory of David over Goliah and that was a type of Christs victory over the Devill and all spirituall wickednesses And such will his victory be over all the wickednesses of this world The Lord is and shall â—ver be known by the judgement which he executeth the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands Higgaion Selah * Rem meditâ—â—dam sumâ—è Jun. in loc Marke and meditate Psal 9 16. It was the plot of Satan to tempt man who was made in the image of God for the doing of good and avoiding evill to desire to be as God knowing good and evill he tempts man to affect a Ditty or a God ship and his plot was to ruine man below the beasts by aspiring to an equality with God or to make man less then he was made by seeking to be as much as his maker Now the Lord takes as it were this weapon out of Satans hands and destroyes him by it Satan would have man aspire to be a God that he might be ruined and God becomes man to ruine Satan This was the greatest counterplot that ever was God took the Devill in and by his own craftinesse As if God had said Satan thou shalt see what a fine device thou hast devised I will meete thee in thy owne way and turne it upon thee Thou wouldst have man become God so to ruine him now God shall become man and by that I will at once ruine thy counsels and repaire the broken condition of man Josephs brethren had a device to hinder his prophecies make his dreames but
estate is pronounced a blessing is because the poore in spirit are full of desires after spirituall riches They are ever craving and seeking to be filled with that fulnesse which is in Christ with grace for grace they would have every image of every grace in Christ engraven upon their souls Or in a holy covetuousnesse they would be as rich in grace as Christ is Grace for grace as a covetous man would have penny for penny pound for pound with his richest neighbour or as an ambitious man would have honour for honour title for title with his greatest neighbour That Christian who sees his estate lowest usually set his desires highest his affections are ever upon the wing for supplies from Christ Both the civill poor man and the spirituall poor soul would fain be enriched He saveth the poor from the Sword from their mouth and from the hand of the mighty Some reade this by apposition he saveth the poore from the Sword their mouth making the latter to be but an exposition of the former From the Sword their mouth that is their mouth is the Sword from which God saveth his poore So taken it is a truth for the mouth is a sharpe Sword as killing as any instrument or engine of warre Hence others who keepe this sence reade it thus A gladio orâ—â—â—orum Vulg. Ab oâ—â—isione oris eorum Chas Vt 〈◊〉 gennâ—ivum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gâ—adâ—â— oris est ipsa lingua mala i. e. calumnia falsa quâ— homo tanquam gâ—adio neâ—aâ—ur Sed meâ—ius a gladio qui â—x ore ipsoâ—um i. e. a falsis Testimoniis Drus He saveth the poore from the Sword of their mouth or from the killing stroake of their mouth making the particle Mem in the Originall to governe the genitive case The Sword of their mouth or the Sword comming out of the mouth There are two Swords of the mouth two comming out of the mouth or one double edged 1. Slander 2. False-witnesse by which often the reputation and sometime the person of a man is murthered But I conceive that the clearest meaning of the Originall though both are good is to reade these as distinct evils from which He saveth the poore namely 1. From the Sword And 2 From their mouth 3. From the hand of the mighty That is From Nimrods mighty hunters oppressours of the poore or from the violent man I returned saith the Preacher Eccles 4. 1. and considered all the oppressions that are done under the Sunne and behold the teares of such as were oppressed and they had no comforter and one the side of their oppressours there was power but they had no comforter Oppressours are alwaies cloathed with power and the oppressed seldome find so much pity from men as to be their comforters Therefore for the oppression of the poore and the cry of the needy the Lord arises and he saves his poor From the slaying Sword slandering tongue oppressing hand These three wayes crafty powerfull men seeke to destroy the poore First by the Sword to cut off their lives Secondly by slander to blemish and blot out their good names Thirdly by strong hand to captivate their persons or oppresse their estates and liberties To be saved from all these destructions is compleate salvation Let the wicked attempt as many wayes as they will or can to destroy the Lord both will and can find out as many wayes to save The malice of man shall never out act or over-match the mercy of God He saveth the poore from the sword c. I should here more distinctly open these great evils The Sword The mouth and the hand of the mighty with the goodnesse of God in saving his poore from them But these particulars occurre againe v. 20 21. Where you may find a more distinct explication of them From these words thus farre opened Observe First to what all the devices and crafty counsels of ungodly Politicians tend Here we have the issue or English of their counsels the meaning of their State mysteries is interpreted Oppression Their craft concludes in cruelty and their witty devices in drawn Swords slandering tongues or the hands of violence We may say of them as Jacob of his sonnes Simeon and Levi Gen. 49. 5 6. Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations O my soule come not thou in their secret for in their anger they will slay men and in their selfe will digge down a wall Secondly observe their method First here is the bloudy Sword they will cut them off and rid their hands of them if they can They could wish as that bloudy Roman Emperor that the heads of their smpposed enemies possibly their best friends were set upon one shoulder and that they might cut them all off at one blow But if God save his poore from the mouth of the Sword then the next weapon is the Sword of their mouths Slanders and defamations lyes and false accusations shall reach them whom iron and steele pike and shot cannot The tongue is a little member but it is a world of iniquity and beasteth often acteth great things Jam. 3. 5 6. But if God saves his poore from both mouth and Sword so that their enemies cannot prevaile at sharpes Then they try at blunts by a heavy hand to over-loade oppresse and keepe them down in their estates liberties and priviledges Observe thirdly That Salvation is of the Lord. The faith of David grasped this as his richest treasure Psal 68. 20. He that is our God he is the God of salvation The Lord is called the God of salvation as the God of comfort both affirmatively and negatively Salvation is to be had in him and there is no salvation to be had without him Truly in vaine is salvation hoped for from the hils and from the multitude of mountains from Armies or from counsels from the power and polices of men In the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel Jer. 3. 23. Fourthly it is observeable against whom these crafty cruell men muster up and levie the united forces of sword tongue and hand They are the poore He saveth the poore Why will not God save the rich will he not save the mighty the Princes of the earth Yes God will save all that feare him both high and low rich and poore Why then is it said He saveth the poore As it were determining Salvation upon them The reason is because as the poore are most easily opprest so usually they are most opprest where the hedge is lowest men goe over fastest And because for the most part Gods people are poore comparatively to others they are the vallies the lower parts of the earth and wickednesse is commonly advanced upon the mountaines of wealth honour and greatnesse therefore the denomination is taken from them He saveth the poore They whom God loves most the world loves least and they have least of the world The world gives most to its own And God hath given his own so much beyond the
not the chastning of the Almighty The chastening rod is in the hand of Shaddai the Almighty This is one of the glorious names of God And he is so called first from his power to goe thorough with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Variè derivatur Primò á radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vastavit spoliavit populatus est perdidit quasi vastatorem dicas ie invictum potentem cui nemo resistere possit Et volunt non nulli Deum hoc nomen traxisse á vastatione mundi facta in dâ—luvio Graeci reddunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 latini Omnipotens what he takes in hand His worke never stickes in the mid way for want of strength to bring it to the end Despise not the correction of an Almighty hand Further the word notes not only power enough to correct but power to destroy spoyle and lay all waste before him God hath gained this Title or Attribute from destroying or wasting his enemies Some of the Rabbins designe the Originall of it to that speciall act of his destroying power The drowning of the old world he shewes his Almighty power in destroying and pulling downe as well as in making and setting up this goodly frame To this the holy Prophets are well conceived to allude when they say that Shod scil Destruction commeth from Shaddai The Almighty We have it in two expresse Texts Isa 13. 6. Howle yee for the day of the Lord is at hand it shall come as a Destruction from the Almighty It shall come as Shod from Shaddai So Joel 1. 15. Alas for the day for the day of the Lord is at hand and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come It will be profitable for us to consider under what name God is expressed when he is chastening his own children Secondly others derive this name from the conjunction of two Hebrew words whereof the one Dai signifies it Sufficeth or is sufficient And the other though it be but a letter Shin yet Nonnulli putát 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 composituÌ„ esse ex verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sufficit litera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae supplet locum sensum relativi Ascher ita denotat Deum sibi sufficientem qui omnibus largitur sufficientiam respoÌ„dens Graeco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Drus Alii dedurunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod Mammam significat quasi mammosum dicas quod omnia alet Drus it supplieth the part or place of the Relative Ascher which and so the word put together sounds thus much Who is sufficient or who is All sufficient Despise not the chastning of him that is All-sufficient Thou art under his correction who doth not take from thee because he wants himselfe who doth not let thee want because his owne store is spent out of which he used to supply thee He alone hath sufficiencie in himselfe and he is at all times Allsufficient for all others and gives sufficiency to as many as he pleaseth That of the Apostle fils this signification of the word Act. 17. 25. Neither is he worshipped with mens hands as if he needed any thing for he giveth to all life and breath and all things Thirdly the word is conceived to come from Shad which in the Hebrew signifies a breast the mothers breast or pap by which she suckles her child And answerable to this notion in most of those places wherein God is expressed in that act of his providence making fruitfull and giving increase he hath this name Shaddai as noting that he hath the Great milkie breast which nourishes and suckles which feeds and strengthens all creatures that is the word of his blessing not only makes fruitfull multiplies but preserves and keeps alive Thus Gen. 49. 25. The Patriarch old dying Jacob blesses his son Joseph in this forme And by the Almighty Shaddai who shall blesse thee with blessings of heaven above blessings of the deepe that lies vnder blessings of the breasts and of the wombe His Father Isaack had sent him to Padan Aram under the influences of the same blessing almost in the same words Gen 28. 3. God Almighty blesse thee and make thee fruitfull and multiply thee And the Lord himself speaks thus to Jacob when be appeared the second time to him after his coming from Padan-Aram I am El-Shaddai God almighty be thou fruitfull and multiply Gen. 35. 11. that is I can make thee fruitfull and multiply thy posterity and I can feed them as fast as they multiply and give thee fruit for thy family as well as make thy family fruitfull Thou shalt not over-charge me with the greatnesse or numerousnesse of thy house Trouble not thy selfe let thy children be my care at my finding how many soever they are let my purse pay for all I am El-Shaddai God Almighty â—o then as the justice and exact wisdome of God are set forth in the former branch under the title Elohim Happy is the man whom God Elohim corrects So least we should thinke of God under that notion only his power and alsufficiency his goodnesse and tendernesse are set forth in the next branch Despise not the chastening of the Almighty You are under the rod of Shaddai an All-powerfull an Allsufficient an All-nourishing God The verse following seems to joynt in with and suit this fully He makes sore and he bindeth up he woundeth and he healeth One part shewing us God as a Judge wounding and making sore the other as an Allsufficient Friend and father or Physitian healing and binding up Take two or three Notes from the consideration of the name under which God is here expressed First The lightest chastnings come from a hand that is able to destroy When the stroak is little yet a great God strikes Although God give thee but a touch a strip which scarce razes the skin Yet he is able to wound thee to the heart Know it is not because he wants power to strike harder but because he will not because he is pleased to moderate his power Thou hast but such a chastning as a child of a year old may well beare but at that time know thou art chastned with a hand able to pull down the Pondus est â—n voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noli â—speâ—nere clementiam ejus in quo vivis qui te uno momento potest comminuere Coc. whole world The hand of Shaddai The Almighty gives that little blow Men seldome strike their brethren lesse then their power they would often strike them more their will is stronger then their Arme. But the Lords arme is stronger in this sence then his will He doth but chasten who could destroy And this carries a mighty perswasion with it not to despise the chastning of the Lord how little soever for he can strike harder if thou slightest this He can break thy bones who hath not yet broken thy flesh Feare him as our Lord Christ argues who
I cannot heale you your troubles are past my skill to remedy or redresse Thus man is sometimes at a stand he cannot heale what men have wounded but God is never at a stand your old festred sores and wrankled wounds which have taken wind discourage not his chirurgery When a people are in such a pickle or pittifull plight as the Prophet Isaiah describes the kingdome of Judah in Chap. 1. 5 6. The whole head is sicke and the whole heart is faint from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundnesse in it but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores they have not been closed neither bound up neither mollified with oyntment When I say the case of a people is thus and they can get no healer Yea though a people like the woman Mark 5 25 have had an issue of blood in bloody battels which is now almost Englands case many yeares and have suffered many things of many Physitians and have spent all that they have and are nothing bettered but rather grow worse yet if Christ doe but touch such a sicke diseased bleeding people in mercy and they touch him by faith they shall be healed and their fountaine of blood will immediately dry up Or if their condition requires some longer operation he can effectually take such a course for their cure He is abundantly furnished with all instruments and abilities for the making of a perfect cure It is well observed that three things are necessary for a Chyrurgion First He must have an Eagles eye one that is good at healing had need be good at seeing Secondly He must have a Ladies hand soft and tender to handle the sore gently Thirdly A Lions heart a stout strong heart for if he faint how shall his patient keep up his courage These three are exceeding necessary in Chyrurgery about naturall bodies but much more in Chyrurgery about Civill and Ecclesiastical bodies the healing of Churches and Kingdoms And where shall we find whither shall we send for Physitians qualified with this Eagles eye to look into all our sores and sicknesses with this Ladies hand to deal gently and tenderly with our wounds with this Lions heart stoutly and couragiously without fears and faintings to go thorough with the work Well if men should not be found thus furnished the Lord is He hath an Eagles eye an All-seeing eye seven eyes of providence and wisdome to look through our sores and into all our distempers He hath as in allusion we may speak a Ladies hand soft and tender to deal gently and graciously with a people He can dresse our wounds and paine us little scarce be felt while he doth it And he hath the Lions heart infinite courage and strength of spirit to undertake the most gastly wounds or swolne putrified sores Let us therefore rest our selves assured that whatsoever our personall or our nationall sores our personall or our nationall wounds be be they what they will or what we can call them desperate incurable such as have discourag'd many from medling with their cure or sham'd those that have yet our Shaddai the Almighty God can bind them up and heale them fetch the core from the bottome and close the skin upon the top so tenderly dresse and so perfectly cure them that a scarre shall not remaine unlesse it be to mind us of his infinite skill and goodnesse or of our own duty and thankfullnesse JOB Chap. 5. Vers 19 20 21. He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evill touch thee In famine he shall redeem thee from death and in war from the power of the the sword Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh ELiphaz still prosecuteth his former Argument to take Job off from despising the chastnings of the Almighty spoken of at the 17th verse And having shewed first in generall that they are happy whom the Lord corrects and secondly That the Lord heals as well as wounds is as ready to bind up as to make the sore he illustrates this by giving First An assurance of deliverance from evill and that 1. In the generall at the 19th verse 2. By an enumeration of particular cases of greatest dangers and outward evills And secondly to shew the happinesse of those whom God corrects he gives an assurance of positive blessings which shall in due time be heaped upon their heads whom God had before wounded with sorrows and loaded with afflictions The nineteenth verse is a promise of deliverance from evill He shall deliver thee from six troubles yea in seven there shall no evill touch thee To deliver notes here the snatching or pulling of a man out of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spoltavit rapuit eripuit tanquam ab hoste â—ut malo Eripere praedam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Augustia interdum significat hostem quasi angustiatorem dicas the hand of an enemy out of the mouth of danger The Hebrew word for Trouble comes from a roote which signifies to straiten or to narrow a thing up in a little compasse and so by a metaphor to vex and trouble because they who are straitned in any kind are pained and troubled And when we heare of any in trouble we usually say such are in straits And this word is often translated a strait 2 Sam. 24. 14. I am in a great strait saith David when he was put upon that hard election between sword pestilence and famine So Judg. 11. 7. and 1 Sam. 13. 6. The holy language expresses an enemy or adversary by this word because an enemy puts us upon straits and so to much trouble And to raise the force of this word to the highest it is used to signifie the pangs and throwes of women in child-bearing in which the mother labours in grievous straits while the infant labours for enlargement Troubles ever meet us in or bring us into straits they may well change names which are so neere in nature I find the word so translated here in some books He shall deliver thee in six straits and in seven when thou art so encompast about shut in and incircled by evils on every side that thou knowest not which way to move or turne much lesse to get out then the Lord will give enlargement and either find a way out for thee or make one as he did for Israel at the red sea through those mighty waters In six yea in seven This phrase of speech is very considerable Some numbers in Scripture have a kind of eminency or excellency in them I intend not any large discourse about numbers only in briefe Those three numbers Three Six and Seven are applied to a speciall signification by the Holy Ghost A great number a perfect number is expressed by any one of these three numbers A three-fold cord that is a cord of many or sufficient folds is not easily broken Eccles 4. 12. Three times thou shalt
and there shall be no herd in the stalls Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation He was feasting upon God while he imagines the world starving he sees all things in God though the world should afford him nothing That soule is well fed and taught which can be rejoycing while it 's own body is starving And in war from the power of the Sword War is the second evill Famine and war goe often together yea they two seldome goe without a third the Pestilence 2 Sam. 24. Jer. 18. 22. And though in the order of the words famine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bellum à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vesci edere per Metaphorà pugnare quia gâ—adius in bello devoraâ— hominum corpora In bello se mutuò homines devorant obsumunt be set before war yet usually war is the fore-runner of famine The sword cuts off provision and when it selfe hath devoured much flesh it leaves no bread for those who survive It is observable that the originall word for war here used comes from a root signifying to eat or to devoure and so by a Metaphor it signifies to fight or strike with the sword And the reason why the same word which signifies war signifies to eat is because the Sword is such an Eater or rather a Devourer and it eats two ways First the Sword eats up the bodies of men drinks up their bloud dispeoples a Land And then Secondly It eates up and consumes the fruits of the earth and hence War is the mother of Famine Therefore we find that when the great peace and so the plenty of the Church of Christ is prophecied of and described Isa 2. 4. and in Micah it is thus expressed They shall beat their swords into plow shares and their speares into pruning-hookes As if he should say while the sword is abroad in the field the plow shares will do little there For the most part Justice is silent in time of war the sound of the trumpet Inter arma silent leges and drum is too loud for the Law and when the Law stands still the plongh stands still Therefore when the sword is in motion both are at a stand Hence the promise that Swords shall be beaten into plow-shares and speares into pruning-hookes that is with peace you shall have bread and wine which note the abundance of all other things The ancients embleam'd peace by Eares of corne and Concord by a Cornu-copia a horne of plenty riches are the fruit of peace And safety is the priviledge of the Saints in time of war In war they shall be delivered from the power of the sword The Hebrew is They shall be delivred from or out of the hand of the sword Sometime in Scripture we read of the face of the sword which notes the sword coming and approaching to a people And sometimes we read of the mouth of the sword which notes the sword come devouring and eating up a people And here we have the hand of the sword they shall be delivered out of the Gladius manu apprehensus elevatus symbolum est extremi discriminis praesentis hostis Quasi diceret etiam in ipsa pugna vel inter tot manus gladios agitantes contra te vibantes salvaberis hand of the sword which notes as we translate the power of the sword Or that forme of speaking may be understood by an Hypallage From the hand of the sword that is from the sword in the hand which phrase imports present danger when the sword is unsheathed and drawn out when it is in the hand ready to strike then the enemy is ready to charge and then the Lord delivers He shall deliver from the sword in the hand or out of the hand of the sword So Psal 127. 4. Children of the youth are as arrowes in the hand of the mighty that is as arrowes ready to be shot And Psal 149. 6. Let the high praises of God be in their mouthes and a two edged sword in their hands noting actuall revenges taken on the enemies of God and actuall praises given to the name of God at the same time So then the meaning of these words He shall deliver thee from the power of the sword or out of the hand of the sword is this suppose thou art in such a condition that the swords are drawn about thy eares and thou art in the midst of a thousand deaths and dangers in the very heat of a battell yet then the Lord God can and will deliver thee And this likewise is a comfortable promise for us to lay hold on in these times It is a time of war to us all and there are many of our friends and brethren as it were in the very hand of the sword Desires are often sent to the Congregation by one for a husband by another for a brother by a third for a servant by many for their friends gone forth to meet a sword in the hand of an enemy skilfull to destroy Here is a promise to comfort and support such The Lord in time of war can deliver out of the very hand of the sword or when swords are in hand when thousands of swords are drawn together preparing for or smiting in the day of battell know then God is a deliverer In the most present dangers God shews the most present help Psal 23. 5. Thou shalt spread my table and cause my cup to overflow before the face of my enemy even then when my enemy is nearest and looketh on As when the sword is in the hand of the Angel so when it is in the hand of man A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee Psal 91. 7. Not nigh thee what when they die on this side and one that side on every hand of a man doth it it not come nigh him Yes nigh him but not so nigh as to hurt him The power of God can bring us nigh to danger and yet keep us far from harme As good may be locally near us and yet vertually far from us so may evill The multitude throng'd Christ in the Gospel and yet but one toucht him so as to receive good so Christ can keep us in a throng of dangers that not one shall touch us to our hurt Yet we are not to take this or the like holy writs of protection as if God would deliver all his people from famine and from the sword we know many precious servants of his have fallen by these common calamities The Lord knows how to distinguish his when sword and famine doe not Neither doth this word fall though they doe If the servants of Christ are not delivered from these troubles they are delivered by them and while they are overcome by one trouble they conquer all Vers 21. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue neither shalt
of them together Sometimes we see a duell or single combate one man matcht with one trouble Bellum atque virum Here a man and an affliction there a man and an affliction but another time we may see a man and an army as he spake in the story when one made good a passe against a whole host of the enemy in the spirituall war one soul grapples with a multitude of troubls and conflicts with a thousand temptations As there are legions of evill spirits so legions of spirituall evils assaulting at once Secondly Observe God sometimes appeares as an enemy to his own servants The terrours of God and the arrowes of God saith Job God shootes the arrowes and sets the terrours in array Job expected favour and succor from God but he finds terrours and arrowes Those wounds make our hearts bleed most which we apprehend given us from his anger whom we have chosen as our only friend The Church had that apprehension of God Lam. 3. 3. Surely against me is he turned he turneth his hand against me all the day The Church speakes as if God were quite changed as if he having been her friend were now turn'd enemy So Job I that was wont to have showers of sweet mercies shot and darted into my soule now feele deadly arrowes there shot from the same hand my spirit was wont to drinke in the pleasant influences of Heaven but now poison drinks up my spirits I was wont to walk safe under the guard of divine favours but now divine terrours assault me on every side Thirdly observe When God appeareth an enemy man is not able to hold out any longer See how Job poor soul cries out as soon as he found that these were Gods arrowes and Gods terrours Job was a man at armes a man of valour and of an undaunted courage A man that had been in many skiâ— mishes with Satan and had often through the power of God foiled him and come off with victory Chaldeans and Sabeans were indeed too hard for his servants and conquer'd his cattell yet the spirit of Job beate those bands of robbers and triumphed over them but he was never in battell with God before and perceiving now God himselfe to appeare as an enemy in the field he cries out O the terrours of God O the arrowes of the Almighty When God is angry no man can abide it 2 Cor. 5. 11. Knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men We saith the Apostle who have felt by experience or by faith have understood the terrour of the Lord we knowing it experimentally or knowing it beleevingly we being fully perswaded that the terrour of the Lord is most terrible perswade men O take heed you put not your selves under the terrour of the Lord or provoke the terrour of the Lord against your selves Those terrours of the Lord which come from pure wrath are altogether intollerable And those which come from love and are set in array by the infinite wisdome and gratious providence of God ordering all things for good to his in the issue even those are very dreadfull no man not the holiest of men and they are the strongest in this warre are able to stand before them Psal 38. 2. Thine arrowes stick fast in me and thy hand presseth me sore there is no soundnesse in my flesh by reason of thine anger that is I am as a man who hath not a whole peece of skin all his body over all is a wound or I am as one whose flesh is all rotten by reason of his wounds As Ely speakes to his sonnes 1 Sam. 2. 25. If one man sin against another the Judge shall judge him but if a man sin against the Lord who shall intreate for him So we may say on the other side if man contend with man some one may helpe him he may have a Second to releeve him but if once a man be contending with God who will be his Second who will undertake for him who can come in to the rescue when God is fighting and contending with us We wrastle not against flesh and blood saith the Apostle Ephes 6. 12. when he would shew what a terrible thing it is to wrastle with the Devill but against principalities and powers against spirituall wickednesses in high places Flesh and blood is no match for a spirit though a created spirit though an uncleane spirit a Devill how then shall flesh and blood be able to wrastle with the creating Spirit with him who is a most holy Spirit with God who is The Principality The Power The High the Srong The Almighty Shaddai In other battels it is man with man or at worst man with Devils but here it is man with God weaknesse and frailty contending with omnipotency and therefore when once God appeares against the soul the soul can hold out no longer His anger who is The Spirit quickly drinks up our spiirts Fourthly observe Inward wounds and terrrours are most terrible Doe not think that the soares upon Jobs body fetcht all these complaint from him He shewes you now what it was that made him complaine indeed The arrows of the Almighty are within Tanto poena intolerabilior quanâ—o spiritus corpore subtilior me the terrours of God set themselves in array against me As the joyes and exultations of the spirit doe infinitely exceed all the pleasures which come in from the senses all bodily pleasures so the troubles and afflictions which are upon the spirit infinitly exceed all the troubles and afflictions which fall upon the body As God hath such comforts such joyes to bestow upon his people as the world can neither give nor take away so likewise he hath terrours and troubles which all the world is not able to remove or mitigate There are no medicines in the whole circuite of nature that can heale a wounded spirit All your friends all your relations all your riches yea all your naturall wisdome will be but as the white of an egge to your tast in the day when God smites the heart with these terrours These arrowes and terrours are often preparatorie to conversion when some men are overcome to receive Christ an Army of terrours is sent out to take them captive and bring them in There are many I grant whom God wounds with love he shootes an arrow of favour into their hearts and overcomes them with Troopes of mercies Againe An army of terrours is sent out to try the holy courage of those who are converted as well as to conquer the unholy enmity of person unconverted That was Jobs case here and these second armies may be as terrible to the soule as the first and often are more terrible And we have such cases a man that was converted without an army of terrours may have an army of terrour sent against him after conversion The dispensations and methods of God are various though both his rule and end be ever the same But whether this army of terrour comes
of man in whom there is no help why not For his breath goeth forth that 's one reason he must die he must return to the earth therefore trust him not But besides that we may say trust not in Princes c. while their breath tarrieth in them for it is possible their help and faithfulness may goe forth though their breath doth not Therefore trust â—eâ—ly in the living God he will never leave us though men doe God only is unchangeable he only hath preserved this honour without touch or stain never to forsake those who trusted him how forlorn and forsaken soever their condition was JOB Chap. 6. Vers 22 23 24 25. Did I say bring unto me or give a reward for me of your substance Or deliver me from the Enemies hand or redeem me from the hand of the mighty Teach me and I will hold my tongue and cause me to understand wherein I have erred How forcible are right words but what doth your arguing reprove JOB Having shadowed out his friends unfaithfulnesse by an elegant similitude in the context fore-going now aggravates their unfaithfulness to him in his wants by his own modesty in seeking to them for supplies Did I say bring unto me or give a revvard for me of your substance As if he had said I have not been burthensome or troublesome to you I have not called for your contributions and benevolences or sought to have my estate made up out of your purses Why do ye charge me with impatience at my loss as if that were it which pinches and presses me did I ever charge you for my reparation or redemption That in deed might have been either burdensome or dangerous to you All that I expected from you was your comfort and your counsell these would not have put you to much expence or if you could not have reacht so far as to comfort me yet you might have forborn to contribute so largely to my sorrows by overtaxing me with impatience and charging me with hypocrisie Did I say I was not clamorous or importunate no I did not so much as open my mouth to move you in that point I have been so far from begging that ye have not heard me saying bring to me Bring unto me The word is Give unto me Hos 4. 18. Their Princes love Give ye or bring ye so saith Job I did not say bring ye or give ye my spirit was not set upon money or the repair of my losses out of your estates I did not either write or send for your charity you were not invited to visit me that you might contribute to my necessity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proprie munus quod datur ad corrumpendum Iudicem a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uuus quod unum facit dantem scilicet occipientem The word here used for a reward properly taken signifies that which is given to a Judge to corrupt or turn him aside in judgement One of the Rabbins gives this reason why it notes a bribing reward because it is compounded of a word signifying One and a bribe makes the giver and the receiver the Judge and party One or of one mind A Judge should ever stand indifferent between both parties till the cause be heard but a bribe makes him One of them Yet ordinarily this word is put for any gift or help subsidy or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Humor nativus in quo vigor corporis consistit opes nam in opibus Consistit potentia hominum supply of anothers wants Of your substance The word implies the native naturall strength which supplies the wants or supports the weaknesses of the body As also the strength of the earth by which it puts forth fruit Lev. 26. 20. And because riches are a mans civil strength therefore the same word expresses both Verse 23. Or did I say deliver me from the enemies hand The enemies Or the hand of those that have brought me into straights For the original imports the shutting a man up in a narrow compass so that he knows not how to get out he that is in the hand of an enemy is in a straight hand Ahab commands 1 Kings 22. 29. Goe carry Micaiah back and feed him with the bread of affliction or with the bread of straights such bread as an enemy provides The Greek word used by the Apostle 1 Cor. 4. 8. reaches this fully We are troubled but not distressed or straightned Now saith Job did I say deliver me out of the hand or power of mine enemies who have brought me into these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 straights alluding as is conceived to those Chaldeans and Sabeans who had spoiled his estate and slain his servants Or redeem me out of the hand of the mighty Redeem me That is my goods which they have carried away captive To redeem signifies the fetching back of a thing by price or force Christ is a Redeemer in both sences he redeemed or fetch'd back captivated man by compact and by price in respect of God his father We are bought with a price 1 Cor. 6. 20. that is bought with a full prize Christ did not compound with the justice of his father but satisfied it to redeem us and he redeemed us by force out of the hands of Satan Spoiling principalities and powers and making a shew of them openly Col. 2. 15. As in Triumphs the Romans used to doe with their spoiled captivated enemies Job had not begged redemption of his friends from the power of his enemies either way did I desire you by compact and by price to ransome me Or did I desire you to levy an Army with power and force to recover my estate out of the hands of those mighty oppressours The word Mighty signifies also terrible the hand of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Terribilis sua potentia formidabilis terrible one It is often applied to God when he shewes himself in terrour to wicked men Psal 89. 7. God is greatly to be feared Isa 2 19. He shakes terribly the earth But most commonly to cruel powerful men who make no other use of their strength but to be a terrour to innocents The Apostle Phil. 1. 28. explaines this word while he saith and in nothing be ye terrified by your adversities that word in the Greek answers this in the Hebrew your adversities are terrible men men who think to beat down all with their great looks but be not ye terrified by these terrible ones So here Did I call unto you to redeem me out of the hand of the mighty the terrible out of the hand of those cruel plunderers the Sabeans and Chaldeans De manu Tribulationis Vatab Puto cum Allegoricè tam graves vehementes calamitates intelligere Merc. Further Some understand by the hand of the mighty not the persons afflicting him but the affliction it self which was upon him Trouble is sometimes compared to a mighty enemy Prov. 6. 11. So shall thy poverty come
take Jobs picture as in the day of his afflictions must draw him thus A man clothed with worms and clods of dust there 's his garment his skin scabby and discolor'd full of chaps and running sores angry biles and enflamed ulcers his posture lying on the ground scraping himself with a pot-sheard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 caroper Synecdochen corpus in Piel Bisher significat Evangelium My flesh is clothed with worms My flesh That is my body by a Synechdoche and the word which we translate flesh springs from a root or hath neare relation to it which signifies to bring and publish good tidings or welcome news and therefore the Gospel is exprest by it Evangelium is the same in Latin or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke with this in the Hebrew And some Criticks give the reason why flesh is exprest by this word which signifies to publish or bring good tydings because there should be a taking of flesh or a making of flesh namely the incarnation of our Lord Iesus Christ which should be the best tidings and the most joyfull news that ever the world heard of Is clothed with worms In the first Chapter of this booke at the 21. verse Iob describes himself thus Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I return but now it seemes Iob hath got clothing and being ready to lie downe in the grave he had a vesture put upon him now it seemes Iob should not goe naked out of the world for he said My flesh is clothed but what is this clothing My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust that 's a suite of clothes very fit and sutable for the grave but it is usually put on in the grave Iob is in his grave-clothes before he dies or he speakes this to shew that he accounted himself dead while he lived or as Heman mourns Psa 88. Free among the dead A member of that Corporation a brother of that society already For he was now in their habet or livery A gown of worms set or embroidered with clods of dust My flesh is clothed with wormes It is frequent in Scripture when the holy Ghost would heighten the sense of what we are enjoy would to note the abundance of Quavis re vestiri dicimur Cujus accessione vel dedecoramur vel ocnamur a thing or how man is adorned or defiled with it all over then to expresse it under the notion of cloathing God himself is exprest cloathed with Majesty because he is Majestie all over and there is nothing but glory upon him God is also described clothed with judgement and with justice why Because these are his honour and his ornament he is justice and judgement all over we find Job in the 29. of this book at the 14 verse speaking thus of himself in his state of Magistracy I put on righteousnesse and it clothed me my judgement was as a robe and a diademe that is I was full of righteousnesse I was altogether reghteous in dispensing re wards and punishments in exercising my power among the people To be cloathed with humility to be cloathed with the Spirit to be clothed with Christ are phrases of the same importance So on the other hand to be cloathed with pride with shame with dishonour Let mine enemies saith David be cloathed with shame Psal 109. 29. Let them be cloathed with dishonour Psal 35. 26. that is let them be ashamed and dishonour'd all over or exceedingly ashamed or dishonoured And so a great desolation is called a cloathing with desolation Ezekiel 7. 27. That which stripps a man naked is in this sence called his cloathing cloathed with desolation Thus we are to understand Job when he saith That his flesh was cloathed with wormes his meaning is he had many wormes crawling upon his flesh or lying within his flesh and so were as a lining to his upper garment of nature These worms spread themselves all over him as a filthy and loathsome garment covering his whole body And besides this figure Job spake properly while he was thus full of sores and botches and boyles to say he was cloathed with wormes wormes are proper to sores many sores breed wormes and wormes are a disease in the flesh as well as within the bowels and such diseases are accounted the foulest and filthiest diseases of all other Such was Jobs his sores and boiles corrupted and bred wormes which made him an abhorring to himself Putrifaction is the foyle out of which worms grow Rotten flesh breeds wormes and a rotten conscience breeds a worm Isa 66. 24. Their worme shall not die why doth the holy Ghost say of those men who were never washed nor healed of their sinne-sores of their soul-sicknesses and pollutions that when they die they have a worme that dieth not It is in allusion to this because as a corrupt body or corrupt putrid flesh breeds noisome wormes so a corrupt conscience a soule full of filthinesse and uncleannesse which was never washed or healed in the fountain of the bloud of Christ this soul this conscience breeds wormes even that gnawing worme which shall live with it feed upon it and cloath it for ever Both the naturall and the spirituall worme arise from rottennesse and derive their pedigree from sores sicknesses and putrifaction And clods of dust Wormes and clods of dust Here are strange materials course stuffe for Jobs cloathing clods of dust Some conceive that Job sate in the dust and so the dust gathered about him as a garment Others that these clods of dust were the scrapings of his sores for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word signifies the filings of any mettall or the scrapings of an uncleane thing It is said expressely in the second Chapter that he tooke a pot-sherd to scrape himself those clods of filthy dust or scales scrap'd from his putrifying sores these with the crawling wormes bred in them cover'd his whole body like a garment and therefore he complaines I am cloathed with worms and clods of dust You see what his garment was see now to carry on the allusion his skin upon which this garment was put My skin saith he is broken and become loathsome The skin is the immediate garment of the flesh his sicknesse had worne out his skin he had many holes and rents in that garment which needed mending and it was all over so filthy that it needed washing My flesh is broken and become loathsome Sores breake the skin and defile the skin Jobs skin was so broken and chapt so defiled and filthy that he was loathsome to all beholders and to himself This is the picture of Job A few daies before you might have pictured or drawn him thus Job cloathed with silk and scarlet his garment set with precious orientall stones his skin smooth and beautifull his face cheerfull and manly his eye quick and piercing But now Job is cloathed with worms and clods of dust his skin is broken and become
Thirdly They as the sea have huge treasures in their houses yet all satisfies not their desires they are as greedy as if they were not worth a groat Looke upon man in the other comparison He is a whale a devourer In the worst of bruits you may see the picture of mans nature They who have power to doe what they will and will doe when their advantage is in it to the utmost of their power These are your Leviathans upon dry land Senacherib was a mighty whale gaping to swallow up the people of God and therefore the Lord expresses his dealing with him in a word very sutable to this sence 2 King 19. 28. Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine eares therefore I will put my hooke in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips c. See how God uses him Senacherib came raging and threatning to swallow all up God uses him like an unruly beast of the earth or like a devouring fish of the sea He puts a hooke in his nose It is said of Leviathan that he scorns the hooke and the angle Job 41. Canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hooke implying that no hook no tackle is strong enough to hold this sea-monster but God hath a hooke can hold him Some men are like this sea-monster no tackling of mans making will hold them no power under heaven can stop them then the Lord prepares his engines and inctruments he can make a hooke will catch Senacherib the great whale as if he were but a sprat I will put my hook into his nose and turne him about or pull him up What devouring enemies have come out against us threatning to swollow or as the Moabites said of the children of Israel Num. 22. 4. to licke up all that were round about as the oxe licketh up the grasse of the field Yea they thought as it is said of Leviathan that they could draw up Iordan into their mouths that is remove the greatest difficulties and overcome all opposition But how often hath God put a bridle into the lips of the horse and a hooke into the nose of these whales Further if we consider the words as Iobs question in application unto himselfe Am I a whale Am I a sea Observe Man is apt to have good thoughts of himself Iob would not be the whale or the sea Secondly note Man is apt to judge that God layes more upon him than there is need Am I a whale or a sea as if Iob had said Lord thou needest not deale thus strictly and severely with me or bestow so much care to watch me I would have come in at a call thou needest not have bounded me with these afflictions and put such a hooke in my nose a nod or a beck would have fetched me in Wise men suite their preparations to their occasion we carry not out a peece of Ordinance to shoot at a flye which we can kill with a phillip so saith Job Lord I need not all this a little admonition a little chastning or a check should have reduced me such are mans thoughts But the most wise God never layes more upon man than he hath need of when God streightens us with such afflictions he seeth there is somewhat of the sea in us he must bound us somewhat of the whale in us he must watch and bring us under If we see God bestow more rods and blowes upon us we must conclude we could not be without them some apprehend that such is Jobs meaning in the sixteenth verse What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him as if he had said it is too great an honour for man to be afflicted by thy hand If we see a King make great provisions of warre to goe out against an enemy we say he magnifies the enemy It is an argument they have great strength against whom we prepare great strength So Job Lord thou magnifiest me thou makest me to be lookt at as some powerful creature a sea a whale against whom thou actest so much of thy power Job having as he resolved begun to complaine of his sorrows now amplifies them Verse 13. When I say my bed shall cemfort me my couch shall ease my complaint 14. Then thou skarest me c. He amplisies his sorrows upon this generall ground because they were such as he could not find any ease or abatement of no not at any time no not by any meanes As if he had said my griefe and my paine is so remedilesse that neither artificiall nor naturall meanes give me any ease those things which have the greatest probability of refreshing yeeld me none He instances in those ordinary wayes which give sick and distempered bodies some abatement or intermission of their paines lying down upon their bed or couch When I say my bed shall comfort me my chouch shall ease my complaint As if he had said while I was wrastling all day and conflicting with my sorrowes I yet had some hope to find comfort at night and that I should meete with rest in my bed but my hope failes me ever or while in the day time my thoughts are overburthened and my spirit overwhelmed within me I think sometimes to deceive my paines a little by taking a nap or a slumber upon my couch but alas my paines will not be deceived when I say my bed shall comfort me my couch shall ease my complaint I find in stead of ease farther trouble and in stead of comfort terrours For then thou skarest me with dreames When I say my bed shall comfort me The word signifies to mourne and repent as well as to comfort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doluit paenituit per antiphrasin dolere desijt consolationem invonit because comfort usually followes holy mourning and repenting Godly sorrow is the mother of spirituall joy In the words we have either that ordinary figure Prosopopeia the fiction of a person when acts of life and reason are ascribed to things without life and so Job brings in his bed as his friend speaking to him when I say my bed shall comfort me my bed and I will conferre together I am perswaded that will afford me a word of comfort Or we may rather understand it by a Metonymy of the effect when I say my bed shall comfort me Comfort is the common and usuall effect or benefit of lying down upon the bed The bed is said to comfort because ordinarily we find comfort in resting upon the bed that being a meanes or instrumentall cause of comfort is called a Comforter My couch shall ease my complaint The words are indifferently translated in Scripture either for a bed or for a couch but if we take them distinctly then the bed is the place where we rest in the night and the couch by day When Job saith My couch shall ease my complaint It notes his complaint or sorrow lay as a heavy burthen or weight upon him for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
But I conceive our translation carries the sense fairer in a reflection upon his owne tired spirits So that I am made a burthen to my selfe that is thou dost even throw me upon my self whereas heretofore thou wast wont to bear me and take my burthen upon thy self Alas I faint I cannot stand under my self I am weary of my life because I am left alone to bear it I know not what to do with my self I am so burthensome to my self Hence observe First Outward afflictions poverty sickness want c. are burthens and they make a man burthensome to himself It is a great burthen to have our comforts taken away from us The removing of comforts lies like a heavy weight upon the spirit the removing of health from the body is a weight upon the soul fear is a burthen care is a burthen and so is pain Therefore God cals us to cast all those burthens upon him Psal 55. 22. Secondly observe Man left to himself is not able to bear himselfe Man is much borne down by the weight of natural corruption Hence the Apostle cals it A weight and the sinne which doth so easily beset us Heb. 12. 1. or dangle about our heels to burden us as long garments do a man that runneth Our ordinary callings and affaires left upon our own backs presse us to the earth much more do our extraordinary troubles and afflictions And therefore he adviseth Cast thy burthen upon the Lord he assures in the next words and he shall sustaine thee As implying that man cannot sustaine or beare his owne weight And though it should seem we have strengh to spare for others and are therefore commanded to bear one anothers burthens Gal. 6. yet no man of himself no not the holiest Atlas nor the spirituallest Porter on earth is able to bear his owne self unless Christ be his supporter who is also therefore said to uphold all thiags by the word of his power Heb. 1. 3. Because no creature in a natural or man in a spiritual capacity can bear his own weight Thirdly From the connexion between these two phrases Thou hast set me as a marke against thee so that I am a burthen to my self what is it that makes my life to be so burthensome to me It is this because I am set as a mark before thee that is because thou seemest to be an enemy to me And so the note from the connexion is this That which presses and burthens the soule ahove all is the apprehension that God is against us Job in many things looked unto God under these temptations with sad thoughts as if he were his enemy so he express'd himself in the sixth Chapter The poyson of his arrows drinks up my spirits he setteth himselfe in battel array against me In these temptations and desertions this was the burden of his spirit that God appeared as an adversary Why doest thou set me as a marke against thee Let the Sabians and the Chaldeans shoot at me as much as they will let fire and windes contend with me and make me the marke of their utmost fury I can beare all these Job was light hearted enough when he thought he contended onely with creatures and that creatures onely contended with him but in the progresse of this triall he finds God against him withdrawing comforts from and shooting terrours at him now he is a burthen to himself he can beare this no longer As Caesar said in the Senate when he had many wounds given him yet this wounded him most that he was wounded by the hand of his son What thou my sonne So when a believer looks this way and that way and fees many enemies Satan and the creatures all in armes against him he can beare all their charges and assaults but if he apprehend God opposing and wounding him he weepes out this mourneful complaint What thou my Father What thou my God Thou who hast so often shined upon me dost thou darken thy face towards me and appeare mine enemy These apprehensions of God will make the strongest Saint on earth a burden too heavy for himselfe to beare That which causeth the most burdensome thoughts in the Saints is the inevidence of their pardon Sin unpardon'd is in it self a burden and our not knowing sin to be pardon'd is a greater burden but our jealousies and fears that it is not pardon'd is the greatest burden of all and that which adds weight yea an intolerableness to all other burdens Hence Job in the next verse and with the last breath of his answer points directly at that which pincht him Verse 21. And why doest thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquitie for now shall I sleep in the dust and thou shall seek me in the morning but I shall not be In the former verse we found Job humbly confessing his sin and earnestly enquiring of the Lord a reason of his sorrowes why he had shot him so full of arrows that now he was not so much wounded as loaded And become a burthen to himself In this verse he sues for the pardon of those sins and so for the removal of those sorrows That the bow might speedily be unbended and not a shot more made at his bleeding breast In the answer of which suite he desires speed and expedition lest help being retarded come too late for he professeth that he cannot hold out his siedge long he must needs make his bed in the grave and then being sought for he shall not be found And why dost thou not pardon my trangressions We may consider the words two waies 1. In the Forme of them Matter 2. In the forme they are a vehement expostulation Jobs spirit hath been heated all along with the fire of his sufferings and here he speakes in the heat of his spirit and with fiery desires after mercie He keepes up his heart to the same height and tenour still There it was Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee Here 's another Why and why dost thou not pardon my transgression As before he was grieved to be set up as a mark for afflictions to aime at so now he desires to be made a marke for mercy to aim at I shall note one thing from hence before I come to open the words They who are sensible of the evill of sinne will pray heartily for the pardon of sinne Expostulation is earnest prayer expostulation is a vehement postulation a vehement enquiring after or desiring of a thing Why dost thou not pardon my sinne may be resolved into this O that thou wouldest pardon my sinne Or Wilt thou not pardon my sinne The matter of this prayer requires such a forme such a vehemency of spirit in him that prayes If there be any petition in the world about which the spirit should be fired it is in this when wee pray for pardon of sinne Will not a man whose body is defiled by falling into the mire call hastily for some to