AN EXPOSITION WITH PRACTICALL OBSERVATIONS CONTINUED Upon the Eighth Ninth and Tenth Chapters of the Book of JOB BEING The Summe of thirty two Lectures delivered at Magnus neer the Bridge London By JOSEPH CARYL Preacher of the Word and Pastour of the Congregation there PSAL. 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all LONDON Printed by A. Miller for Henry Overton in Popes-head-alley and Luke Fawne and John Rothwell in Pauls Church-yard and Giles Calvert at the west end of Pauls 1647. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER To those chiefly of this City who have been the Movers and continue the Promoters of this Work I Am your Debtour and because my stock cannot passe out great summes at once therefore I am constrained to discharge my credit by these smaller paiments I need not call upon you for acquittances or cancel'd Bonds I know your ingenuity will confesse more received then I have paid I have paid you in the Book now presented as much as I intended for this time But time will not suffer me to pay you what I intended and had projected for an Epistle And I beleeve your selves will easier excuse a short Epistle then a longer stay for the whole Book Accept both with your wonted candour and let all these Labours on your behalf be the return of your own praiers to the Father of lights by the help of the Spirit of Grace in Jesus Christ for January 12. 1646. Your affectionate Friend and servant in this work of the Lord Ioseph Caryl AN EXPOSITION WITH PRACTICALL OBSERVATIONS CONTINVED Vpon the Eighth Ninth and Tenth Chapters of the BOOK of JOB JOB 8.1 2 3. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said How long wilt thou speak these things And how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong winde Doth God pervert judgement or doth the Almighty pervert justice THe answer of Eliphaz to Jobs first complaint hath been opened in the fourth and fifth Chapters together with Jobs reply in the sixth and seventh In which he labours to disasperse and vindicate himself from what Eliphaz had rashly taxed him with Hypocrisie The name of an hypocrite like that of a heretike is such as no man ought to be patient under But while Job endeavours to clear himself in the opinion or from the imputations of one of his friends he runnes into a further arrere of prejudices with a second Some of those arguments which he had framed to pay his debt to Eliphaz and save his own integrity being again charged upon his account by his friend Bildad the Shuhite who presents himself a duty very commendable as an Advocate for God and he conceived there was but need he should Job in his reply having in his sense wronged the justice of God he takes himself obliged to stand up and clear it to shew Job his supposed sinne and provoke him to repentance both by threatnings of further wrath and promises of speedy mercy Thus in generall More distinctly there are four parts of Bildads speech First A confutation of Jobs reply to Eliphaz and he gives it us shadowed by an elegant similitude in the second verse How long wilt thou speak these things and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like the strong winde There 's a censure upon all that he had spoken Secondly He gives us an assertive Question concerning the justice of God to clear it from and set it above whatsoever might seem to stain it in the eyes of men This we have at the third verse Doth God pervert judgement or doth the Almighty pervert justice Not he Thirdly In the body of the Chapter he urges divers arguments to confirm this conclusion that God is just and there are three heads of argument by which he confirms it First From the example of Jobs children and from his own present with the possibility of his future condition in case he repent from the third verse unto the eighth The second argument is drawn from the testimony of antiquity and that 's laid down in the eighth ninth and tenth verses The third argument appears in the similitudes 1. Of a rush or flag in the 11 12 and 13 verses 2. Of a spiders-web in the 14 and 15 verses 3. Of a Tree flourishing for a time but anon plucked up in the 16 17 18 and 19 verses These are the arguments and illustrations of his grand assertion Doth God pervert judgement or doth the Almighty pervert justice No he doth not And thou maiest learn this lesson from thy own experience from the example of thy children from the testimony of antiquity yea the withering rush the spiders-web the luxuriant roots and branches of a tree may all be thy Masters and instructours to teach thee this truth That God is just The fourth and last part of the Chapter sets forth the favour of God to those who are faithfull and sincere for having maintained the justice of God and shewed how terrible he will be to hypocrites who deal falsly with him he now mitigates and mollifies his discourse by proclaiming the goodnesse of God to sinners repenting yea who are the worst of sinners to hypocrites if they repent pluck off their masks or disguises and truly humble themselves before him This is the subject of the three last verses of the Chapter Behold God will not cast away a perfect man c. As if he had said Though God be just to deal with hypocrites as he hath dealt with thee and thy children yet he will not cast away the perfect and upright shew thy self such and he will receive thee This he quickens by subjoyning the further severity of God to those that shall persist in their hypocrisie ver 20. and in the close of the 22. Neither will he help the evil doers and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought Thus you have both the generall scope and likewise the speciall parts of Bildads discourse which will give us some help towards a more clear discovery of particulars Verse 1. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said The Speaker is Bildad I shall not stay upon the person who this Bildad was of what line and pedigree was touched in opening the 11. verse of the second Chapter and therefore I shall passe to the matter about which he speaks Verse 2. How long wilt thou speak these things and how long shall the words of thy mouth be as a strong winde He begins very chidingly How long wilt thou speak these things The words import either first admiration How long As if he had said Could any man have beleeved that thou wouldst have spoken such things as these and these so long How strangely hast thou forgot thy self to twist such a threed and spin out a discourse so sinfully so frowardly so long Secondly The words may carry a sense of indignation in the Speaker How long wilt thou speak these things As if he had said I am not able
the Lord my God will enlighten my darknesse for by thee I have run thorow a troop and by my God have I leaped over a wall Psal 18.28 29. that is I have done great things and I have overcome the greatest difficulties through thine assistance Will God shine thus upon the counsel of the wicked Or will he help the evil-doer Iob denieth it and therefore praieth Shew me why thou contendest with me I know thou bearest no good will to those who are wilfull in doing evil nor takest thou pleasure in those who take pleasure in iniquity But doth not the Lord give good successe to those who are evil Doth the way of the wicked never prosper Prospereth it not so far sometimes that godly men stumble in their way and are offended I answer God maketh his Sunne to shine upon the evil and the good but himselfe never shineth upon the evil Wicked men receive benefits from God but they receive no blessings from God There is a two-fold light First The light of Gods providence Secondly The light of Gods countenance The light of Gods countenance never shines upon the counsel of the wicked they have only the light of his providence He never shines upon them to favour them though he often shines upon them to prosper them A man may have much good shewed him and yet no good will shewed him The clouds and darknesse which at any time cover the counsels of the righteous are clearer then all the light which shines upon the counsels of the wicked God varies his dispensations often but he never varies his affections whatsoever he doth against the righteous he never hates or dislikes them and whatsoever he doth for the wicked he never loves or likes them But who are the wicked intended in this text upon whose counsels God will not shine There are four apprehensions about it who are wicked all agree but who these wicked are is not agreed Some refer the word to his friends I know thou wilt not favour their sinfull censures and rash judgements concerning me Surely they shall receive little thanks and lesse reward for these discourtesies thou wilt not go forth with them or give witnesse to what they have done thou wilt not confirm or attest what they have spoken Job I grant found little comfort from his friends but I doe not finde that they gave him evil counsel much lesse that they took wicked counsel against him The Lord reproved them for the errour of their speech but he did not reprove them for the wickednesse of their persons Indeed Iob charges them deeply Chap. 13.7 Will you speak wickedly for God Yet I do not believe that he judged them wicked A thing in it self wicked may be spoken and yet the speaker not be wicked Therefore I would not think Job aims at his friends or fastens so deep a charge on them though they had charged him so deep Secondly Others conceave Job means the devil and his angels Wilt thou shine upon Satans counsel As when Ahasuerus being enformed of that conspiracy against the Jews enquired who is he and where is he that durst presume in his heart to doe so Queen Esther said the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman Chap. 7.5 6. So might Job have answered the Lord. My adversary and enemy is this wicked Satan He laid the plot and hath stirred up all these evils against me I know Lord thou wilt not take Satans part thou wilt not help him who would be the destroyer and murderer who is the great malignant and projectour against thy servant Thirdly Others take the wicked here for the Sabeans and Caldeans who were the instruments of Satan in spoiling and robbing Job of his goods and substance That they were wicked we need not question yet Fourthly Take it rather in generall for all or any wicked men upon whose waies God seems to shine when he gives successe to their works of darknesse Hence observe First Wicked men are sometimes prospered in their counsels and walk in pleasant though evil waies God gives delight to those in whom he hath no delight And they have many good things from him who never had one good thought from him Thousands are prospered and hated at the same time When Dionysius in the story had rob'd an Idol-Temple and at his return by sea had a fair gale and pleasant weather to waft him home with the spoils See said he how the heavens smile upon us and how the gods are pleased with what we have done The like conclusions many draw from the premises of outward prosperity surely the true God is pleased with us but there is a cloud upon this Sunshine and darknesse in all this light Observe Secondly The Lord hates the counsel of wicked men He is so farre from shining upon that he indeed darkens their counsels He casts darknesse upon them even the darknesse of his heaviest displeasure when themselves think and the world saith all is light about them Zech. 1.15 Thus saith the Lord I am very sore displeased with the Heathen that are at ease They had their pleasure but God took no pleasure in them I am very sore displeased with these Heathens that are at ease that is I approve not their courses yea my wrath is kindled against their persons The light which shines upon wicked men turns all at last into heat and they have alwaies the heat of Gods anger mixed with their light a heat not to warm but to consume and burn them up As when the Lord sends the clouds and darknesse of outward affliction upon his own people he sends likewise the beams of his everlasting love into their hearts So he clouds and darkens wicked men while his candle shineth upon their heads JOB Chap. 10. Vers 4 5 6 7. Hast thou eyes of flesh or seest thou as man seeth Are thy daies as the daies of men Are thy years as mans daies That thou enquirest after mine iniquity and searchest after my sinne Thou knowest that I am not wicked and there is none that can deliver out of thy hand JOB proceedeth upon the same argument and as in the third verse he had removed three things inconsistent with and dishonourable to the justice of God So in the two verses following he removeth two more And as he thus acquits the Lord from injustice or unrighteous dealing with him so he appeals to the Lord who was able he knew to do it upon certain knowledge to acquit him from all the unjust charges with which his friends had burdened him Thou knowest that I am not wicked c. Hast thou eyes of flesh or seest thou as man seeth The Question is to be resolved into this negation Lord Thou hast not eyes of flesh Lord Thou seest not as man seeth as if Job had thus spoken Lord I have been long afflicted with grievous pains I am as a man hanging upon a rack to draw out and force a confession from him Lord why is it thus
They have lightly esteemed me I am not so much to them as new clothes who am indeed their life I am not so much remembred as unnecessary curiosities from whom they receive all things necessary and whose favour is the one thing necessary 4. To forget God is to depart from God We stay with God no longer then we remember him as we cannot have communion with truth so not with the God of truth without an act of memory Heb. 12.5 Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord c. A word forgotten is to us of no more use then a word never spoken We are without all the good we forget and to forget God is Ephes 2.12 to be without God in the world or to live on earth as if there were no God in heaven either in regard of mercy to be received or of duty to be performed Hypocrites forget God all these waies though their naturall memory may be good yet spirituall memory and that only holds spirituall things they have none Observe hence First That the hypocrite is a forgotter of God Every wicked man is forgetfull of God Hence we finde these put together Psal 9.17 The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the Nations that forget God But this is the speciall character of an hypocrite he is a forgetter of God Consider this saith the Psalmist ye that forget God that is ye hypocrites consider this 〈◊〉 50.22 for he speaks of such as had taken their covenant of God in their mouths What hast thou to do vers 16. to take my Covenant in thy mouth As if he had said thou professest to be in Covenant with me to have an interest in me Yet when thou sawest a thief then thou consentest with him and hast been partaker with adulterers thou givest thy mouth to evil c. Hypocrites take the Covenant of God in their mouths but cast it out of their lives God is near in their mouths but from their reins Jer. 12.2 If the hypocrite did not forget that God is about his bed and about his path and espieth out all his waies he could not be so false with God so polluted in his waies so rotten in his inward parts If an hypocrite did not forget that God being a spirit delighteth to be worshipped in Spirit he would never be satisfied in worshipping him with his body If he did not forget that God is jealous that he will not hold them guiltlesse who take his name in vain he durst not which is his every daies work take the name of God in vain Secondly observe That forgetfulnesse of God howsoever it seems no great matter yet is exceeding sinfull a wickednesse of the highest stature Forgetfulnesse of God is therefore a great wickednesse because God hath done so many things to be remembred by What could the Lord have done more to make himself remembred then he hath done Have I been a wildernesse to Israel or a land of darknesse saith the Lord Jer. 2.31 the words are an aggravation of their forgetfulnesse As if the Lord had said I have been a light to you wheresoever you goe and wheresoever I goe my steps drop fatnesse for you and am I forgotten Where can we set a step but we tread upon a remembrance of God Every creature holds forth God unto us He hath left his remembrance upon every ordinance Doe this in remembrance of me saith Christ in that great ordinance of his Supper yea all the works of his providence are remembrancers of him He leaves an impression of his wisdome holinesse justice power upon all he doth Now for us to forget God who hath as it were studied so many waies to fasten himself in our remembrance must needs be extreamly sinfull Further it is very sinfull to forget God because God doth so abundantly remember us He hath not only done that which may cause man to remember him but he hath man alwaies in his remembrance especially his own people He hath graven them upon the palms of his hands and they are continually before him They who desire to preserve their friends fresh in memorie get their pictures in their houses or engrave them upon rings and jewels which they wear alwaies about them But he that cuts the image of his friend in his flesh or draws it upon his skin how zealous is he of his friends remembrance Pictures and annulets may be lost but our hands cannot fall off When the Lord would shew how mindefull he is of his Church he assures her that he carries her picture alwaies about him not drawn upon a Tablet or engraven upon the signet of his right hand but upon the palms of his hands as if he should say I must lose my self before I can lose the sight of memory of thee Isa 49.16 He remembers her so that he cannot forget her And because the characters and stamps of nature are more abiding and indelible then those of art therefore he saith vers 15. Can a woman forget her sucking childe that she should not have compassion on the sonne of her womb Yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee A woman may break the bonds of nature but God will never break the bonds of his own free-grace May not all this raise us into Davids rapture of holy admiration Psal 8. Lord what is man that thou art mindefull of him and the sonn◠of man that thou visitest him with such remembrances What is a wicked man that God should give him bread to eat and clothes to put on And what is a godly man that God should give him Christ to eat and cloath himself withall That God should remember us is a wonder of mercy but what a wonder of unthankfulnesse is it that we should not remember God What or who is God that man should be so mindelesse of him Is not God worthy of all our remembrance Is it losse of time to call God into our thoughts Do we ever or in any thing remember our selves so much as when we remember God most It is a wonderfull favour that God should be mindefull of us at all and is it not a wonderfull sinne that man should be so unmindefull of God Thirdly Observe That Forgetfulnesse of God is a mother-sinne or the cause of all other sins It is the cause of this sinne of hypocrisie Bildad puts it as a fruit of forgetting God Forgetfulnesse of God is three-fold First A forgetfulnesse that there is a God Secondly A forgetfulnesse who or what manner of God he is Thou thoughtest that I was such an one as thy self Psal 50. Thou forgettest what manner of God I am thou presumest that will serve my turn which serves thine or that every thing will please me which pleases thee thou saiest because it is no great trouble to thee to steal and lie c. therefore it is no great trouble unto me neither Thirdly To forget
your confidence Heb. 10.35 The Apostle had shewed how close God would stick to his people now saith he if it be so if he will bring his promises to passe then cast not away your confidence There is a great strength of engagement in it when we read that God will not cast away his people that they should not cast away their confidence in God which hath great recompence of reward Thirdly to all take heed of casting of casting off or sleighting any perfect man we should act towards men and thinke of them as God doth It is best to love where God loves and to love most where he loves most Negative promises and negative threatnings have greatest force in them God holds them fastest and loves them dearest of whom he saith I will not cast them away God will not cast away a perfect man There 's a negative promise Now see the portion of the wicked that 's given out in a negative threatning God saith not what he will doe against them but what he will not do for them Neither will he help the evil doers He will not help them Some read it He will not put forth his hand to evil doers Non perrigit manum malignis Vulg. Ad aâ—â—â—tiae foedus pertinere videtur So the letter of the Hebrew imports And there may be a three-fold sense given of that reading Putting forth the hand notes first our taking men into society fellowship and familiarity with us when we would shew a man how we love him at our hearts we put forth a hand and take him by the hand Now saith he God will not take an evil doer by the hand to welcome or entertain him to countenance and respect him Exod. 23.1 Put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witnesse Be not of the same side communion and fellowship with him in giving witnesse Secondly As the Septuagint gives the sense He will not put forth his hand that is to receive a gift or an offering from wicked men When a gift or a present is brought the receiver if he would testifie his liking and acceptance of it puts forth his hand and receives it Nec ullum munus impij accipier Sept. q. d. Non porriget manus accepturus manus impiorum dona non sunt Deograta Pined Now saith Bildad God will not put forth his hand to receive any offering or gift from wicked men the oblations of wicked men are an abomination unto the Lord The good deeds of evil doers are evil in his sight He had no respect to Cain and his offering He did not put forth his hand to receive Cains offering but he put forth his hand to receive Abels offering This is a profitable sense Thirdly It rather refers to Gods not assisting wicked men So Mr Broughton renders it He will not maintain the hand of the mischievous To put forth or stretch out the hand according to this Hebrew phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Denotat fortiter apprehendere aut potiùs apprehendendo consortare roborare hoc est praestare auxilium Improbis non favet nec eos juvat Merc. implies strong holding or the taking of strong hold upon any thing so as by taking hold of it to strengthen and confirm it to give it help and assistance A man that would give assistance to another in any businesse or work puts forth his hand to him When we want help we usually bespeak a friend Pray lend me your hand Now here The Lord will not put forth his hand to evil doers that is the Lord gives them no assistance or help in their wickednesse If wicked men say Lord lend us thy hand no saith he I will not lend you my hand We finde this phrase frequent in Scripture That Gen. 19.16 illustrates it fully where Lot being warned to go out of Sodome vers 16. while he lingred the men that is the Angels laid hold upon his hand and upon the hand of his wife and upon the hand of his two daughters the Lord being mercifull unto him and they brought him forth and set him without the City They laid hold upon their hands It is the word of the text When the Lord sees wicked men in any distresse or danger as Lot was in Sodome or when they want help and assistance in any businesse he will not be mercifull to them in taking them by the hand or in laying his hand strongly upon them either to pull them out of the danger or to give them help in difficulties The sinne of Jerusalem is charged upon her in this language by the Prophet in a parity with that of filthy Sodome Ezek. 16.49 Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy that is she did not relieve comfort or help them The sinne opposite to this is charged upon the false Prophets by Jeremy Chap. 23.14 They strengthen the hands of evil doers either by counsell or by countenance by flatteries or connivence We read Nehem. 6. how often the enemies sent false alarms to Nehemiah and the people that were with him to terrifie and affright them Nehemiah shews the enemies design in it vers 9. They all made us afraid saying their hands shall be weakned from the work that it be not done therefore in the close Nehemiah praies Lord strengthen mine hands it is this word as if he had said Lord help me put thine hands to mine So Isa 35.3 strengthen the weak hands put your hands to their hands Psal 73.23 David acknowledging how he had almost fallen at the rising of the wicked shews yet what kept him up Neverthelesse I am continually with thee thou hast holden me by my right hand the hand of providence is the power of God upholding our being as the hand of Creation was the power of God giving us our being Isa 42.6 I the Lord have called thee in righteousnesse and I will hold thine hand and help thee So Isa 41.13 that is by holding of thine hand I will help thee The same word in the originall is used for hardening the heart Exod. 9.12 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because hardnesse of heart strengthens it to doe evil A hard heart is armed for any sinne So then we see when the Lord refuseth to put forth his hand or to take strong hold as the word imports upon the hand of evil men the meaning lies in one of these three things 1. That he bears no favour to them he doth not approve their cause or businesse 2. That he gives them no assistance nor encouragement in their businesse 3. That he will not deliver or rescue them out of their distresses when they are sinking and falling he will not put forth his hand to hold them up or to keep them from sinking God is hot a Patron or a Protectour an Adjutor or Aider of evil doers Evil doers We must not take these evil doers for all and every one that doth evil for then whom would God help
7. And because ten righteous persons vvere not found in Sodome fire from heaven consumed it Gen. 18. God seeks for Saints many times to stand in the gap and save a Kingdome Ezek. 22.30 Jer. 5.1 and yet sometimes Kingdoms are not saved though many such stand in the gap Except the Lord turn away his anger these Porters of the world shall not support it these spirituall Atlasses shall faint and fall under him The Heathens had a fiction of a mighty Gigantine man vvhom they called Atlas him they fancied bearing up the frame of nature it is most true in a spirituall sense the Saints bear up the vvorld yet if the Lord turn not away his anger the vvorld must totter and fall too notwithstanding these helpers For the Saints doe not bear up the vvorld or save Kingdoms from vvrath by giving the least satisfaction to the justice of God that 's the sole Prerogative of Jesus Christ but onely by imploring the mercy of God Or they are therefore said to turn away the vvrath of God from a people because God vvill not pour out his vvrath upon that people vvhile his Saints are mingled vvith them The tares are let grow lest in pulling them up the vvheat should be pulled up also It is good for the vvorst to have the neighbourhood of those vvho are good Rab Sol. Ei succumbent conspiratores potentissiâ—â—i Illi scilicet qui cum arrogantia superbia alijs autcilium pollicentur Vâ—tabl Further More generally these proud helpers are supposed to be Kings and Common-wealths joyned in strongest confederacies and then the sense is If God come against a Nation though it joyn with other Nations though hand joyn in hand the hand of one King in the hand of another yet it shall not escape or go unpunished The proud helpers shall stoop under him There is yet another interpretation which restrains and limits the word Rahab particularly to Aegypt Superbi eoruâ— patroni Appellatur Aegyptâ—â— hoc nomine propter summam suam superbiam Vnlesse the Lord turn away his anger helpers out of Aegypt shall stoop under him or Aegypt helping shall stoop under him We finde frequently in the Scriptures of the old Testament that Aegypt is called Rahab And that name did well sute with Aegypt which was both a strong and a proud Kingdom Psal 87.4 We will remember Rahab and Babylon that is Aegypt and Babylon Aegypt and Babylon are matcht together for pride and for oppression persecuting the people of God And Isa 51.9 Art not thou it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon That is Art not thou O Lord he that didst cut Aegypt in pieces when they opposed thy people and woundedst Pharaoh in the midst of the red sea In the 26th of this book of Job verse 12. some translate Rahab Aegypt Ex circumstantijs horum locorum non valde incongruum est hanc vocem sumi pro Aegypto prophaarone in mare demâ—rso Bold Rab. Sol. we render the Text thus He divideth the sea with his power and by his understanding he smiteth thorow the proud so we By his understanding he strikes thorow Rahab that is thorow Aegypt say others And so they make that Text and this an argument that the book of Job was penned after the deliverance of the people of Israel out of Aegypt and that in these passages Job had reference to the mighty work of God in destroying the Aegyptians at the red sea Taking the word thus the Text is Vnlesse the Lord turn away his anger Aegypt shall stoop under him as if he had said Doe you not remember a late instance of Gods power Aegypt thought to contend with God to hold his people in bondage whether he would or no when he had a minde to bring them forth but you know Aegypt stooped God brought down the pride and abated the strength of it And that other place Chap. 26.12 may be glossed thus He divided the sea by his power that is the red sea and by his understanding he struck thorow Rahab that is Loquitur propheticè Bold Adjuâ—ores Aegypti i. e. angeli ejuâ— gentis Vt in prophetiaâ— Danielis princeps Persidu Drus when the Aegyptians pursued his people he destroied them Which interpretation carries a very clear proof that Job alludes to the deliverance of Israel out of Aegypt and therefore lived after the time of that deliverance though others who grant the exposition deny the inference maintain that Job spake this prophetically not historically This we know that Aegypt was a place much sought to for help and therefore it is elegantly said If the Lord turn not away his anger Aegypt shall stoop that Nation which hath bin so often called out to help and relive other Nations that Nation which hath so often helped and relieved other Nations shall not be able to help Isa 31.1 They goe down to Aegypt for help as if Aegypt had been as a City of refuge or the place of common resort for help And Isa 30.7 The Aegyptians shall help in vain the Text is very appliable to this point we read it thus The Aegyptians shall helpe in vain and to no purpose therefore have I cried concerning this their strength is to sit still Their strength shall not deliver you they shall help in vain therefore I have warned you saith the Prophet to sit still to be quiet with your own strength and it is better to doe so than to go down thither for help But the word which we translate strength Superbia tantuÌ„ est quâ—esce fortasse vult dicere nihil aliud esse in ea quam superbiam is that in the Text Rahab and we may render the whole thus The Egyptians shall help in vain and to no purpose therefore I cried to them in this thing They are proud or only pride Therefore sit still As if he had said Will ye goe to Aegypt for help Ye go but to a proud people for help and ye had better have no helpers then proud helpers ye had better be quiet and sit still at home for they shall help you in vain So it is an elegant allusion to their nature and disposition The truth is proud helpers are very unsafe helpers for the Lord resisteth the proud and I wonder how they can help us to resist our enemies who are resisted by the Lord himself They will prove but ill friends to us who have the Lord for their enemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They shall stoop under him Est valde dejici penitus humiliari hoc loco servilem potissimum conditionem designat The word is often used for worshipping it imports likewise any casting down or abasement because we in the worship of God ought to be exceedingly abased and humbled before him Psal 38.6 I am troubled I am bowed down greatly So Habak 3.6 The perpetuall hils did bow that is the power for it is conceived to be a continued Allegory of
be at the highest most violent and impetuous then the Lord will be a refuge from the storm The same God who saves many from the storms of man did himself storm Job He breaketh me with a tempest Job was storm'd yet supposes his praier was answered Hence observe Praiers may be heard and answered when greatest afflictions are upon us Doe not thinke your praiers are lost because your afflictions are not removed or that God doth not hear you Quaedam non negantur sed ut congruo tempore dentur differuntur Aug. because he doth not presently relieve you God forbears when he doth not deny He answers to our profit when he answereth not to our feeling He answereth to our spirituall interest when not to our corporall The sick man calleth to the Physician to take away the bitter loathsome potion Exaudit saepe ad profectum licet non ad votum Aquin. in loc Saevitur in vulnus ut homo sanetur Aug. and the wounded man calleth to the Chyrurgion to take away those corroding plaisters and to forbear those torturing operations But the one gives him his potion and the other lances his sores and laies corrosives to his flesh both these while they vex the patient answer him for what 's the reason why the patient would have his bitter potion taken away is it not because he would be better And why would he have those painfull operations forborn is it not because he would have ease Now for those very reasons the Masters of those professions keep him to both neither could they give him his desire but by doing contrary to his will Thus also the Lord is healing us when we think he is only wounding us and fulfilling our desires while we cry out he is crossing them Secondly Observe Even while we are praying the Lord may be thundering he may be breaking us when we are beseeching him We must learn to keep to our duty whatsoever the dealings of God be whether it be fowl weather or fair pray still whether it be storm or calm go on in praier still Pray still though God break still It is our duty to pray and it is Gods priviledge to break Thirdly Observe from the loftinesse of the language That the Lord laies very sore afflictions upon those that are very dear to him Job expresseth his afflictions by breaking with a tempest Strokes from the clouds are most terrible The same afflictions and scourges which he laies upon his enemies he laies in the matter yea and often in degree upon his best friends What can the Lord doe to his greatest enemies but break them with a tempest He doth not only chasten with a rod but sometimes scatter with a storm He hath not only a sword but a thunder-bolt for his servants He hath terrible stroaks and blows for them who lie in his arms and live in his embraces Therefore we cannot distinguish men by the matter no nor by the measure of their afflictions That which is a judgement to one is but a chastening to another with the same weapon he wounds a friend and destroies an enemy Fourthly Observe That afflictions continued cause us to suspect that our praiers are not answered Why doth Job thinke that God hearkned not to him I would not believe saith he that God had hearkned unto my voice why because still he continues to break me Faith is put hard to it at such a time Licet Deus verè exaudiat tamen homo in miseriu constitutu◠se exaudiri non credit Aquin. and this is the thing which stumbled Job he could not tell how to make it out that God had heard his praier for him because he heard so great a noise of tempests and storms against him It is very difficult for faith to see mercy thorow clouds of trouble It is a hard thing for faith to look upon the pleased face of God thorow a lowring tempest or to believe the calmnes of Gods heart to us in troublesome dispensations Therefore he speaks here as if his faith were even master'd The providences of God are often too hard for man And with this temptation Satan helps on unbelief If he come to a soul in affliction which keepeth close to his interests in Christ Yea saith he you may doe so though afflictions were upon you but yours are more then afflictions yours are tempests and storms God dealeth with you as with an enemy yours are no ordinary matters yours are like the portion he gives to those he hates I would not weaken your faith because of a chastening rod but you are beaten with scorpions and will you still believe Can God love you and deal thus with you Thus the serpent whispers in those louder tempests of affliction Fifthly Observe That Afflictions continued cause us to suspect that our praiers shall not be answered And so I finde some rendering the former verse in connexion with this If I have called and he hath answered me yet will I not believe that he will hearken to my voice As if he had said I know God hath heard me heretofore but I fear he will hear me no more because I finde his hand so heavy upon me Surely then he hath forgotten to be gracious and hath shut up his tender mercies Former experiences can hardly keep faith whole while we are under present breakings Lastly If we take the words as importing a calling to God for answer in a way of provocation as was shewed before then the sense is If I had an ambition to contend with God and he had answered me by condescending to that course yet I could not believe he had hearkned to my voice that is I could not believe that he had yeelded the cause to me why because he goes on still to break me with tempests he follows me with trouble still he shews he hath done me no wrong in my former afflictions by his going on to afflict me still he is so farre from acknowledging the least injustice in what is past of my sufferings that I suffer more He breaks me with a tempest and Multiplies my wounds without cause But is not this injustice to multiply wounds without cause 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gratis Is not this a charge of blasphemy upon God May we not think that now Satan had his wish and that Job cursed God indeed The Hebrew word which we translate Vulnera sine causa sunt mala flagella quae non ob aliquod mittuntur peccatum without cause hath been opened Chap. 1.9 and Chap. 2.3 and it hath occurred elsewhere Here He multiplies my wounds without cause is not a charge of injustice upon God Jobs heart was farre from the least thought of that as you may see in all the dispute But it is an acknowledgement of the soveraignty and power of God Though he hath wounded me already yet he may wound me still without giving me a reason or though I have given him no cause What Doe
perfect Whereas in other places he justifies himself and saith that he was perfect if you read the 29th and 30th Chapters of this book you shall finde them to be but a continued justification of himself or a manifest of his own innocency There he proclaims how holy he had been and how righteous in all his waies that he had put on judgement as a robe and justice as a diadem that he had delivered the oppressed and distributed of his fulnesse to the necessities of the poor Those two Chapters being a professed Catalogue of his good deeds why is he so shie and modest here I answer In this and the like expressions Pius sensus pulchrè expressus in hac Jobi disputatione nunc peccatum suum dimisse confiteÌ„ t is nuÌ„c justitiaÌ„ suam acerrimè defendeâ—tis Merl. while Job saith He will not justifie himself or say he is perfect he declines the plea of personall righteousnesse or perfection in the sight of God as hath frequently appeared in this argument But in those Chapters and in other places where he is upon his defence he speaks only in reference to the charge of his friends As if he had said Ye accuse me for an hypocrite and censure me deeply I can justifie my self and plead my innocency with you though I have not a word to say for my self before the Lord I will bear any thing at his hands let him say of me and doe with me what he pleaseth I will take shame to my self and give him glory but as for you my friends I will justifie my self in your sight I am not the man ye take me for These speakings are not crosse to each other but helps us to understand Jobs sense in this argument He stands much upon his integrity but it is to his friends he humbles himself in the sight of his own vilenesse but it is to God Paul Rom. 7.24 bewails his sinfulnesse O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sinne and of death I finde a law in my members rebelling against the law of my minde Yet when he answers false Apostles about his personall carriage and the discharge of his Apostleship then he saith I know nothing by my self 1 Cor. 4.4 I am charged thus and thus I am slandered so and so but my conscience acquits me I know nothing by my self The sinfulnesse of his nature made him groan and sigh out O wretched man that I am The sincerity of his heart made him boast and sing out like a happy man as sorrowfull but alwaies rejoycing A man may be conscious of his own naturall corruption and yet confident of his own practicall integrity If I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These words in strictnesse of sense referre to the inward purpose of his heart ad facta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad animuâ— referuntur or bent of his minde as the former did to the outward way of his life If I say I am perfect that is if I say there is no meditated obliquity in my heart no intended goings astray or wanderings no close hypocrisie or falsenesse there if I should say I am perfect in the bent and purposes of my heart yet this is not such as I dare appear before God in As if I justifie my self by the actings and puttings forth of my life My mouth will condemn me So if I say I am perfect in the thinkings and secret motions of my spirit it will prove me perverse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word which we translate perverse signifies to wander as a man uncertain of his way Prov. 28.18 Who so walketh uprightly having the frame of his inward man right he shall be saved Qui certo est proposito 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui vago diverso qui se dividit distorquet in duas vias Coc. In Hebraâ—o simplex est perversuaevit me but he that is perverse in his waies having a wandering vagrant minde going sometime this way and sometime that holding somewhat of this and somewhat of that but nothing to purpose or steadily of any thing this man shall fall at once a man of an uncertain spirit shall have a certain downfall But was Job thus perverse No Job was perfect and not perverse yet a boast of his perfection had been a proof of his perversenesse Nothing discovers an evil heart more then a profession of it's own goodnesse It shall prove me perverse What shall prove me perverse Some referre it to the former clause My mouth or the speaking of those words I am perfect shall prove me perverse Penversus evadaâ— Others referre it to God God will prove me perverse if I justifie my self The Seventy leave it without restriction to any antecedent If I say I am perfect I shall go away perverse or I shall appear perverse Observe hence that famous Gospel-doctrine No man can be justified before God by the works of the law Nobilis locus clarissimè ostendens neminem ex lege justificari Coc. It is as noble a proof of free justification in the old Testament as any in the new The Saints have been acquainted with this truth from the beginning That man is nothing in himself and that free grace doth all The doctrine of free grace is no new doctrine the doctrine of free will is Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sinne And that he must say who justifies himself before God Every legall justiciary takes up this language I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sinne It is a task too hard for men yea for all the Angels in heaven to make one heart clean only Jesus Christ is able to fetch out the filth and rubbish that lodgeth in and pollutes our spirits To be a heart cleanser is the peculiar work and honour of Christ. Quot tenebrae quot nubes quot maculae quem non pudebit si fidem suam innocentiam ad illustre illud legis speculum contempletur Coc. A man that knows himself and sees his face in the glasse of the word which flatters no man will never say I am clean nor will he say I can cleanse my self How many spots and blots how many defects and deformities will that glasse represent unto him which he is not able to heal or fetch out Every mans face will blush who sees his heart or his life in that glasse unlesse he Who beholding himself goeth his way and straight way forgetteth what manner of man he was Jam. 1.24 Secondly Observe Job had received testimony from God He could produce Letters testimoniall subscribed by the hand of heaven that he was a just and a perfect man one that feared God and eschewed evil Yet this Job let God speak as well as he will of him will not
the antecedent to be the wicked As if he had said Who but a wicked man will cover the faces of the Iudges and hinder the execution of justice And so they acquit God accounting it blasphemy to attribute the act of covering unto him The Lord is a God of justice he loves judgement he opens the minde and clears the eye he doth not cast clouds and mists before it It 's true so farre as the act is sinfull God forbid we should ascribe it unto God But as was shewed before we need not use this subterfuge left we should lay any aspersion upon his justice and holinesse God can leave men to their injustice without any thought 〈◊〉 or touch of injustice in himself Others interpret this Question as a challenge It is thus Si non ubi est scil qui me falfi arguat prodeat si quis me potest falfi arguere Merc. Vbi est qui mentiri me censet Pagn If it be not where and who is he Who and where's the man that will argue or implead me of falshood in what I have asserted Who is it that undertakes to convince me of errour in the doctrine I have delivered This is my opinion these positions I have laid down for truth That the Lord destroieth the perfect and the wicked that he laugheth at the triall of the innocent that he gives the earth into ohe hand of the wicked that he covereth the faces of the Judges If it be not thus if any one hold otherwise Let me see the man Let him appear as my Antugonist or Opponent Where and who is he that dares charge me with errour I am ready to answer him But rather take it in the sense before given If it be not the Lord who doth this then shew me who it is Where and who is he There is an elegant concisenesse in the Hebrew which speaks only thus If not where he or who he The sense is If it be not God who doth this shew me tell me Who is it And so the words are an exclusion of any other power ordering and disposing the things of the world When old Isaac was disappointed in his intention of giving the blessing to Esau he trembled exceedingly and spake in the language of this Text Who where is he Gen. 27.33 As if he had said I thought thou my sonne Esau hadst brought me venison before and if it was not thou I know not who it should be I was never so deceived in my life if it was not thou Such a broken speech Job uses here If it be not God who doth these things I am much deceived for I know not any in the world to whom I might probably assign them but only unto him You must be wiser then I if you finde any thus powerfull besides God If not where and who is he Whence observe First That The greatest confusions in the world are ordered by God What greater confusion then this to see the earth given to those who deserve not to live upon the earth that they should rule the world who are unworthy to breathe in the world Yet even these things are disposed of by the Lord and are the issues of his counsels That wherein we see no order receives order from the Lord. Secondly Observe The very confusions that are in the world are an argument of the power of God For seeing the world continues in the midst of such confusions it shews there is a mighty power balancing these confusions so exactly that they cannot ruine the world If there were not an over-ruling power in God wicked men ruling would soon ruine all There are mysteries of providence as well as of faith And many are as much puzzl'd to enterpret what God doth as what he hath spoken I finde Heathens often stumbling at this stone and ungodding their Idol gods at the sight of such distributions among men Cum rapiunt mala fata bonos ignoscite fasso Sollicitor nullos esse putare Deos. Ovid. Marmoreo Licin◠tumulo jacet Cato parvo Pompeius nullo quis puter esse Deos When evil takes away good men this is my next thought saith one of them I am sollicited to thinke there are no gods Another observing how unequally men were buried buries God in that observation Licinus a cruell oppressour lies interred in a stately monument Cato a sober grave wise and just Senatour hath a mean and poor sepulchre scarce looking above the ground Pompey the great that famous Commander and Conquerour had no tomb at all he was buried no man knoweth where When we see saith he things go thus who would thinke that there are any gods Thus they stumbled at the supposed uneven dispensations of their idol gods And we finde great offence taken and an horrible blasphemy belched out against the true God upon the same occasion and almost in the same terms Mal. 2.17 Ye have wearied the Lord with your words yet ye say Wherein have we wearied him When ye say Every one that doth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them or where is the God of judgement Though they fell not directly into the former blasphemy to conclude there was no God because wicked men prospered yet they fell into a blasphemous opinion that God delighted in and loved wicked men because they prospered Wherein have we wearied the Lord Yes ye have Not that the Lord is at all moved or troubled in himself with the contumelious speeches of men but thus if any thing would tire and weary him this may to hear himself arraigned and judged by the world as a lover of evil men because he doth not presently smite them with the visible marks of his displeasure that because the earth is given into the hands of the wicked therefore the Lord must needs be a friend to the wicked Thirdly Observe That No creature is master of his own waies or ends The Lord giveth the earth into the hand of the wicked Man cannot get the earth into his own hand let him be as wicked as he will The Lord covers the faces of the Judges If he enlighten them no man can cloud them if he open no man can shut No creature can doe good without the directing and enabling hand of God No creature doth any evil without the supporting and over-ruling hand of God Isa 41.23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are gods yea doe good or evil that we may be dismaied and behold it together Let us see you doe any mischief if ye can Man is set upon mischief but he cannot act mischief unlesse God at least permit We were in an ill case if man could doe all the evil he hath a minde to It is matter of comfort ☜ to consider that the waies and issues of good and evil are in his hand who is good and doth no evil JOB Chap. 9. Vers 25 26. Now my daies are swifter then a
in our flesh was afraid of his sorrows which yet he knew he should overcome how much more may the fear of sorrows overcome us while we are in the flesh Lastly Observe That the fear of afflictions assaults and oppresses some most when they set themselves most to conquer and overcome them I saith Job would comfort myself but I am afraid of all my sorrows I fear they will be doubled and trebled upon me therefore I had rather sit still then by striving to unloose straiten the cords of my affliction faster upon me The next clause seems to hint this as a reason why his sorrows hung so close upon him I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent But how did Job know this As God said to Adam Gen. 3.11 Who told thee that thou wast naked So I may say to Job Who told thee that God would not hold thee innocent Or where hadst thou this assurance of thy condemnation The Saints may know or be assured that God will pardon them but a wicked man cannot know or be assured that God will not This knowledge of Job was but a suspition or at the most a conjecture And the giving out of this conjecture was but the language of his fear his faith could say no such thing for God had no where said it The best men speak sometime from their worser part Their graces may be silent a while and leave corruption to have all the talk When the flesh is under great pain the spirit is hindered from acting its part and then sense gets the mastery over faith Had it not been upon such a disadvantage Job had never offended with his tongue by saying he knew what he could not know I know that thou wilt not hold me înnocent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word which we translate innocent commeth from a root which signifieth pure and clean purus mundus per Metaphorae innocent insous and in the verb to cleanse and make pure And because innocency is the purity or cleannesse of a person therefore the same word signifies to cleanse and to hold or make innocent In which sense it is used frequently Exo. 20.2 Thou wilt not hold him guiltlesse or innocent that taketh thy Name in vain The counsell that David gave upon his death-bed unto Solomon concerning Joab was Therefore hold thou him not innocent or guiltlesse 1 King 2.9 that is let the bloud which he hath shed be upon him let his honour and his name continue stained and blemished in thy thoughts and judgement Hold him not innocent Here the Question is To what antecedent we are to referre the relative Thou I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent Thou who There are two opinions about it Some referre it to God and some to Bilaad to whom Job maketh answer in this place They that refer it unto God make out the sense thus Either first taking the word properly for cleansing and healing the sores and wounds which were upon his body Adversus illud quod amici statuunt probos videlicet etiam castigatos nunquam succidi hoc pro certo statuam ô Deus nunquam esse me ab istis quibus totus scateo foedissimis ulceribus ac vermibu◠repurgandum Bez Novi quod non sis me liberum dimissurus Coc. I know thou wilt not cleanse my body from this filthinesse from these diseases that now anoy me And so it is an answer to the words of Bildad telling Job that in case he sought unto God and humbled himself before him he would awaken for him and remove those judgements No saith Job when I think of ease and deliverance all my fears return upon me and I know God will not yet cleanse ease or deliver me from them Again Taking it tropically as we render it for a judiciall cleansing or purification so Thou wilt not hold me innocent is as much as this Lord such sorrows and troubles are upon me that I fear thou wilt not declare or pronounce or give testimony concerning me to the world that I am an innocent person Because the sores and troubles upon him were as an evidence against him in the judgement of his friends that he was a wicked person therefore saith he Lord I am afraid Thou wilt not hold me that is Thou wilt not declare me to be innocent by taking away these evils Non mundabis i. e. purum justum vel etiam innocentem non declarabis that so this opinion of my friends concerning me may be removed or confuted From this sense note First That even a godly man in deep afflictions may have misgiving thoughts of God The soul misgives sometimes about the pardon of sinne and is even swallowed up with despair concluding I know God will not hold me innocent he will not be reconciled unto me or blot out my transgression But especially which is rather the minde of Job the soul misgives about release from punishment Some being hamper'd in the bands of affliction conclude God will never let them loose or set them at liberty again Such a conclusion Davids unbelief made against himself I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul 1 Sam. 27.1 When Jonah was cast into the deep in the midst of the seas when the flouds compassed him and all the billows and waves passed over him then he said Chap. 2.4 I am cast out of the sight of thine eyes Indeed Jonah began to recover quickly his next words being a breath of faith Yet I will look again toward thy holy Temple Secondly Observe That untill fear of guilt be removed fear of trouble will not remove Job was not very clear about the pardon of his sinnes somewhat stuck upon his spirit while he was under the clouds and darknesse of this temptation therefore saith he I am afraid of all my sorrows Till the soul is setled in the matter of pardon or freedome from guilt it can never be setled about freedome from punishment Hence the Apostle Heb. 2.10 15. speaking of the Saints before the comming of Christ cals Christ the Captain of our salvation and assures us he took flesh that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil and deliver those who through fear of death were all their life time subject unto bondage The language is very near this of the Text I am afraid of all my sorrows As Job was in bondage under his afflictions through the fear of his returning sorrows So they were all their life time subject unto bondage through the fear of approaching death All the Saints before the comming of Christ were under such a bondage for the Apostle speaks as of a generall state That he might deliver those who through the fear of death were all their life time subject unto bondage The reason hereof was because they had not so manifest and convincing a light concerning the pardon of sinne the freenesse of grace
together in judgement Neither is there any Daies-man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both JOB doth two things in the close of this Chapter First He again renounceth all thought or intendment of answering God by any worthinesse or goodnesse in himself A point he had often touched before it being the grand objection which his friends brought against him as if his spirit were heightned up to the presumption of a triall or contest with God himself 'T is a duty to clear our selves most where and in what we are most suspected This he doth in the 32. and 33. verses He is not a man as I am that I should answer him and we should come together in judgement Neither is there any Daies-man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both In which words Job offers two things to assure them that he was farre enough from such an engaging with God First From the disparity of their condition vers 32. He is not a man as I am God is not like me I am no match for God and I will not be so fool-hardy as to contend with one who is infinitely above me Secondly Lest any should thinke that though himself hand to hand as we speak would not venture upon God yet he might possibly get some friend or second to interpose and umpire it between them or to determine whether Gods dealings with him were just and equall or no And so though not alone yet by a friend or a third party to them both he would try out the matter No saith Job in the 33. verse Not so neither as I alone will not undertake him so neither is there any Daies-man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both In the two last verses Job makes a petition to the Lord desiring a favourable condescension that he would be pleased to abate of the present height and extremity of his pain and then he hoped yet that he might answer him though he would not contend with him answer him in reference to his own integrity about which his friends had charged and wounded him though not in reference to his own righteousnesse about which the Lord might charge and condemn him Let him take his rod away from me and let not his fear terrifie me then would I speak and not fear him but it is not so with me He concludes with the difference of his state from what he desired of God it might be And he begins with the difference of his person from what God himself is It is not with me as I could wish and God is not such an one nor can be as I am and must be Verse 32. For he is not a man as I am c. He doth not say God is not such a man as I am but God is not a man as I am One man may say unto another man Thou art not such a man as I am Every different degree or endowment among men may bear a man out in saying so and pride will prompt a man to say so when he is not in degree better but in kinde worse then other men Such was the language of the Pharisee Luk. 18.11 God I thank thee I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this Publican yet no man can say to another man Thou art not a man as I am But seeing God is not a man at all what is there in this assertion of Job He is not a man as I am The words import a double difference First A difference in qualification Secondly In nature here Job chiefly intends the difference of quality which yet in God is his nature that he was not wise Non tam essentiae ad essentiaÌ„ quam qualitatis ad qualitatem i. e. suae ad divinam puritatem collatio fit denotatur Bold and just and holy and pure as God Moses in his song Exod. 15.3 after the overthrow of the Egyptians in the red sea speaks thus The Lord is a man of warre that phrase intends not a humane nature to God when he saith God is a man of warre he meaneth only this God is a great warriour We call a Ship of warre A man of warre As a man of words signifies an eloquent man though with some only a talkative man So a man of warre signifies a famous warriour or one trained up for warre in which sense Saul saith of Goliah that he had been a man of warre from his youth 1 Sam. 17.33 God is a great warriour the most potent Commander The Generalissimo of all the Armies in heaven and earth The Lord of hosts is his Name He is a man of war though he is not a man Further when Job saith He is not a man as I am he gives us the reason of all he had said before Ratio est omnium superiorum et si justus sim cum Deo tamen contendens pro soâ—te habeor quia non est par utriusque nostrum conditio Merc. especially of what he had said immediately before Though I wash my self with snow-water and make my hands never so clean yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch For he is not a man as I am that is though I by washing my self should thinke I were all white and not a spot to be seen upon me as hypocrites by covering themselves thinke they are all hid and not a sinne to be found about them yet he would throw me into the ditch again as like to like dirt to dirt for he is not a man as I am he hath other eyes and thoughts and waies then creatures have Secondly As they contain a reason why the Lord would judge him impure though he should wash himself with snow-water so also why the Lord would afflict him though he should wash himself with snow-water He is not a man as I am As if he had said Should I see a man without spot or speck without blame or fault yet full of wounds and stripes full of troubles and sorrows Should I see him afflicted of whom I could not say he had sinned it were beyond my reason But though I cannot yet the Lord can see reason to afflict a man in whom I see no iniquity He knows why and wherefore he may and doth cast them into the fire in whom I can see no drosse He is not a man as I am God exceeds man in his actings as much as he doth in his nature as he is what man is not so he can doe what man cannot Every thing is in working as it is in being God alwaies works like himself and infinitely above man As to the present businesse he works above man chiefly in two things First Man cannot justly commence a sute against or contend with another man except he be able to charge him with some wrong that he hath done him or lay some crime to his charge Secondly A humane Judge cannot condemn or cast a man unlesse he first
right only in the free grace of God and in the righteousnes of my redeemer According to this exposition he returneth to his first proposition laid down in the second verse of this Chapter How should man be just or righteous with God I am not right in my self as I said in the beginning of my answer Man is not righteous so I now conclude in my own particular case I am not righteous in my self and being righteous in another if God would but give me a little respit from these sorrows I would speak and not be afraid This teaches us First That the confidence and holy boldnesse which the Saints have in comming unto God is grounded upon the righteousnesse of Christ not upon any worthinesse in themselves Secondly Observe He that is most upright in heart is most forward to acknowledge and most constant in acknowledging his own unrighteousnesse They who are most proud are most empty And they who have least usually speak with the most Sincerity rates it self low I am not right that is righteous saith upright Iob. Thirdly Say others I am not right in my self that is I am at present uncomposed and unsetled in my own spirit As if Iob had said I desire that the Lord would remove his fear and mitigate my afflictions that I might speak with him and not fear for as yet I am not right in my self my spirit is so overwhelmed and my thoughts are so troubled within me Quia non sic sum apud me ut nunc sum sc in hac affl ctione uti me nunc rractat exagitae Deus sum velut extra me animi impos Merc. Neque enim metuens possum respondere Vul. that I have not the free use of my own understanding nor can my reason doe its office much lesse my grace I am scarce in my right minde but rather as a man distracted so was Heman with the terrours of the Lord I know not how to manage faith under such fears the majesty and dreadfulnesse of God oppresse my spirit as I am I am not myself The Vulgar gives this interpretation instead of a translation For I cannot answer while I am afraid Hence note A godly man in sore temptaions may for a while appear lesse then a man Fears hinder him from shewing the best of his naturall self much more any thing of his spirituall self Further note two things experienced by many of the Saints in the day of their distresse First A godly man under greatest afflictions keeps to the opinion of his own integrity yet builds his comfort upon the free grace of God He can according to the first interpretation of these words challenge all with this Question Am I not right in my self Is there not integrity in my spirit And according to the second he is ready to make this negative confession I am not right in my self I stand not upon my own integrity Secondly The Saints in great afflictions are often so overwhelmed with the majesty of God that they are not able to expresse their interest in God much lesse make out the comforts of that interest The former of these arises from that seed of holinesse and stock of grace abiding in them The other ariseth from the naturall weaknesse of flesh and bloud in which they abide and from the morall corruption of nature abiding in them Thus we see how the sense of the text rises as the word Chen is understood nominally for right or just We translate it adverbially But it is not so with me or For it is not so with me This reading bears a three-fold interpretation First In construction with the former words thus Let him take away his rod c. then will I speak and not fear him for it is not so with me that is I am not so fearfull or of so low a spirit I am not such a stranger or of so little acquaintance with God that I should not know how to speak unto him or that I should be afraid to speak unto him If the Lord would but hide that brightnesse of his own glory which dazles me and ease me of my own pains which distract me I should sure enough speak unto him 〈…〉 But secondly We may rather refer it to the false and unkinde opinion of his friends who judged him a wicked man or an hypocrite which here he denies It is not so with me as if he had said If the Lord would be pleased to grant what I have petitioned I would speak unto him without fear or doubt of being heard for it is not so with me namely as you have suspected and imagined all this while or as you think it is I am not the man you take or rather mistake me to be if I were then though the Lord should take all his afflictions from me and all with-draw his terrours yet I should be afraid to speak unto him yea I should be afraid to pray unto him every prayer were I wicked would be a praying down judgement upon my self But seeing I can boldly affirm my conscience also bearing me witnesse that though I sinne yet I love not to sinne that though I am weak yet I am not wicked as ye have charged me Non sic impius ego apud me Pagn Non sum talis qualem me putatis Vatabl. Merc. my heart being thus clear before God I cannot fear to open my mouth and report my cause before God Hence observe which hath been offered from other passages in this book and therefore I shall only observe it That A godly man standeth to and knoweth his own integrity in the midst of all the clamours and slanders the misapprehensions or aspersions of friends or enemies Whosoever loads and charges him with studied or approved hypocrisie he will and he ought to unload and discharge himself at least with Jobs plain deniall you suspect me thus but I am sure it is not so with me Thirdly The words may bear this meaning I have sought and earnestly entreated the Lord to abate my afflictions and to remove his terrours But it is not so with me Alas I doe not finde that the Lord hath done any of these things for me His rod is still upon my back and his terrours stand as thick about my soul as ever was ever poor man in such a plight as I T is not alasse with me as I have praied or as I would have it The rod smarts and terrours amaze me still Hence note That a godly man may pray in affliction and not presently be relieved in or from his affliction Many a soul can say It is so with me as I have praied I have the wishes and desires of my soul yet many and I believe many more then can cannot say so The Lord lets precious praiers lie unanswered to our sense We may pray long before we finde it so with us as we have praied and yet those praiers are not lost but laid up not buried but sown And it