of Learning were seated Jer. 49.7 Concerning Edom thus saith the Lord Is wisedome no more in Teman Two things may be gathered from that Text. First That Teman was in Edom or Idumea Secondly That it was a place wherein there was much profession of wisedome and learning So then we may take the word Temanite either as referring unto the Stock from which Eliphaz sprung or unto the place where Eliphaz lived The Hebrewes referre it unto his Stock or pedigree And the Caldee Paraphrase is for the place or Country Jobs second friend was Bildad the Shuhite All that I find for his pedigree is that he came from one of the sonnes of Abraham by his second wife Keturah of whom it is said Gen. 25.1 That she bare him Zimram and Jockshan with others and Shuah From which Shuah was the family of the Shuhites And it is conceived that Bildad was of that line and therefore here called Bildad the Shuhite And for the last Zophar the Naamathite there is lesse certainty concerning him Some will have him to be Zepho mentioned Gen. 36.11 who was Grand-child to Esau by Eliphaz his eldest sonne And for his additionall name Naamathite the best conjecture which I find takes it from Naamah the name of a City spoken of Josh 15.41 in the division of the promised Land to the Children of Israel Now it is said that these three upon the report of all the evill that was come upon Job came to visit him for they had made an appointment together to come or they all agreed together they came not by accident but by appointment The word signifieth to meete by solemne agreement Hence the place where the children of Israel used to meete to solemnize the worship of God before the building of the Temple was called the Tabernacle of the Congreation because they were to congregate or meete there at set times to celebrate the name of God according to his own institution And in the thirtieth Chapter of this Booke the grave is called Beth-mogned v. 23. the house of the gathering together of all men according to that Statute of Heaven It is appointed unto men once to dye Heb. 9.27 It is the fancie of Origen upon this place that these three friends came at adventure that they came all of them severall wayes unknowne to or without the privity of one another from their severall Countries and met as it were by miracle at Jobs house the same day and houre But the Text is cleere that there was a profest covenant and agreement made by which they came together They came saith the Text to mourne with him and to comfort him In these words we have the end or intendment of their coming First They came to mourne with him The word which we translate to mourne signifieth to move the body or to passe from place to place Cain after that sinne of his in murthering his Brother Gen. 4. hath this judgement pass'd by God upon him that he should be a fugitive and a vagabond he should be Nod a mover from place to place and afterwards it is said he dwelt in the Land of Nod which some interpret for a speciall place for a Country called Nod but it is taken by others thus hee dwelt in the Land of Nod that is where ever he dwelt he found the Land as it were moving it was a moving a shaking a trembling Land to him He dwelt in the Land of Nod His conscience quaking continually by reason of the guilt that was upon him for murdering his Brother the earth also seemed to quake under him wheresoever he went or dwelt That only by the way The same word here used in the Text by a Metaphor signifies to mourne or compassionate the afflictions and miseries of another So Nah. 3.6 Nineveh is laid wast who will be moane her And Isa 51.19 These two things are come unto thee who shall be sorry for thee And the reason why this word which signifieth properly to move is translated to signifie mourning in compassion with others may be either first this because such persons will runne goe or move from place to place to give and administer comfort to their friends whose afflictions affect and grieve them as we see here in these friends of Job they took a long journey they moved indeed when they came to mourne Or rather secondly as I conceive for this reason because such compassionate sorrowes and mournings when our friends are under deepe and sore afflictions are usually exprest by moving the body or at least moving some member of the body as many times the hand is lifted up and we strike our breasts or we shake the head It is ordinary in compassionate sorrowes thus to move the hand or the head and so the word is used to signifie mourning from that act which accompanies or testifies mourning And the same word is sometimes used to signifie that trepidation or trembling of the heart those convulsions of the spirit upon the approaches of our own troubles So Isa 7.2 That fearfull motion and disquietnesse both of Prince and people when they heard of the invasion of their Country by Rezin King of Syria c. is thus exprest The heart of the King and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the winde Secondly It is said they came to comfort him The word which is there used to comfort signifies likewise to mourne and especially the mournings of repentance or to repent for sin with sorrow the reason is given because true comfort doth spring from repentance Joy often ariseth out of sorrow and so the same word is applied to both Worldly joy and sorrow are contraries but godly joy and sorrow are con-causes mutually effecting and helping one another We have here an excellent patterne held forth unto us of our duty in reference unto distressed persons or Nations First thus It is both an act and an argument of true friendship to mourne with and comfort those that are in affliction A man doth then set his seale to it that he is a friend when he will partake and share in his friends afflictions when he will divide with him in all estates whatsoever it is whether sweet or sowre joy or sorrow he will have his part Many friends will come and rejoyce with you they will come to a feast with you they will meete at a house of mirth with you but they fall off and goe backe when they must weepe with you when if they come they must come to a house of mourning Solomon Prov. 17.17 gives us the true character of a friend A friend loveth at all times and a brother is borne for adversitie It is the note and triall of our love to God when we love him at all times what ever he doth with us And it is the argument of true love unto our bretheren when we love and owne them at all times whatsoever they
make Yee have heard of the Patience of Job and what end the Lord made Could we but heare of the Repentance of England all the world I am perswaded should heare and wonder at the end which the Lord would make Even such an end as he made for Job if not a better he would give us twice as much in Temporals double Riches double Oxen and Sheepe double Bracelets and Earings double Gold and Silver double Sonnes and Daughters And hee would give us which is not specified in the Inventorie of Jobs repaire seven-fold more in Spirituals seven-fold more knowledge of his Truth purity in his worship order in his house he would make the light of our Moone to be like the light of the Sunne and the light of our Sunne to be seven-fold as the light of seven dayes in the day wherein he bindes up our outward breaches and heales the stroake of our wound Thus we may looke to be restored not only as Job to more in kind but to better in kind I am sure to better in degree We may looke that for brasse we shall have Gold or our Gold more refined that for Iron wee shall have Silver or our Silver more purified that for wood we shall have Brasse or our Brasse better furbished that for Stones we shall have iron or our Iron better tempered We may look that our Officers shall be peace and our Exactours righteousnesse that violence shall no more be heard in our Land wasting nor destruction within our borders but men shall call our Walls salvation and our Gates praise When these glorious issues of our troubles shall be is in his hand who held Jobs estate in his hand so fast that Satan could not touch a Sheepe nor a shoe-lachet till himselfe willed and who when his time came restored Jobs estate double to a Sheep and a shoe-lachet whether Satan and his Sabeans would or no. We have already seen in Job an Epitome of our former prosperitie and of our present troubles the good Lord hasten the latter part of our National likenes unto him in the doubled and O that it might be a seven-fold restauration of our Peace and Truth In the meane time these Meditations upon this Scripture well digested and taken-in may be through the blessing of God upon them a help to our patience in bearing these afflictions upon the Land a help to our faith in beleeving to our hope inwaiting for the Salvations of the Lord. Whatsoever things were written afore-time were written for our learning but this Booke was purposely written that we through patience and comfort of this Scripture might have hope Nor doe I doubt but that the Providence of God without which a Sparrow fals not to the ground directed my thoughts to this Booke as not onely profitable for all times but specially seasonable for these times It is a word in season and therefore should as a word upon the Wheeles making a speedy passage into all our hearts And how should it not While wee remember that these Wheeles are oyl'd with bloud even with the heart-bloud of thousands of our dearest friends and brethren I finde that this is not the first time that this Booke hath beene undertaken by way of Exposition in such a time as this Lavater a faithfull Minister of the Tigurine Church opened this Scripture in preaching and printed it in the Germane tongue which was afterwards published in Latine by Hartmanus Sprunglius as himselfe expresses in the Title to support and refresh the afflicted mindes of the godly in that last as he then supposed and saddest decliyyning Age of the world Ferus a Popish Fryer but very devout according to the Devotion of that Religion Preacher at Ments chose this Scripture in the time of Warre and publick Calamity as the Title also of his Booke holds forth to comfort his Citizens In his fourth Sermon hee makes this observable digression You know saith hee to his Hearers that I began to expound this Historie of Iob to the end I might comfort and exhort you to patience in these troublesome times This was and is my Intendment this mooved me to handle and explaine this Booke But now in my very entrance upon it the Storme grows so blacke that I see you amazed dejected and almost desperate Some are flying others are preparing to flie and in this great Calamitie no man is found to comfort his Brother But every one encreases his Neighbours feare by his owne fearefullnesse Hee prescribes as farre as their Principles will admit Cordials for the reviving of their spirits and medicine for the cure of these distempers The whole Booke of JOB is a sacred Shoppe stor'd with plentie and varietie of both that you may open your hearts to receive and with wisdome to apply the Consolations and Instructions here tender'd from this part of it is and through the strength of Christ shall bee the desire and prayer of November 8th 1643. Your very loving Friend and Servant for the helpe of your Faith IOSEPH CARYL ERRATA PAg 3. lin 33. for more particulars reade in particular Pag. 5. l 24 for sinneâ— sinne p. 9 l. 2. for distinctions r distinct ones p 27. l 39. for whence r. whom p. 30 l. 21. for all grace goes r. all graces goe p. 40. l. 21. dele But. p. 106. l. 8. r. former p. 118. l. 34. r. and before in such p. 124 l. 1. dele the. p. 179. l. 40. for garments r. garment p. 1â—3 l. 21 for we r. he p 206 l. 39. r. lesse love p. 207. l. 5. r. of a Fathers love p. 239 l. 39. for si r. as p 273. l. 39. for troublers r. troubler p. 306. l. 15. misplaced p. 323 l. 34 for ceise r. seise p. 338. l. 38. for sight r. site pag 371. l. 16. for the r. then p. 402. l. 40. for interrupted r. uninterrupted p. 424. l. 8. adde that p. 452. l. 38. for utmost his r. his utmost p. 454. l 35. for was r. were Divers errors have escaped in the Poyntings which the understanding Reader may easily correct where the sense is obscured as p. 321. l. 11 there wants a Colon after the word Counsell c. AN EXPOSITION Vpon the three first Chapters of the BOOKE of JOB The Introduction opening the Nature Parts and Scope of the whole Booke IT was the personall wish and resolution of the Apostle Paul I had rather speak five words with my understanding then ten thousand words in an unknowne tongue And surely it is far better to speake or heare five words of Scripture with our understandings than ten thousand words yea than the whole Scriptures while we understand them not Now what an unknown tongue about which the Apostle there disputeth is in reference unto all the same is the Scripture unto most even in their owne tongue that which they understand not For as an unknowne tongue doth alwayes hide the meaning of words from us so doe oft times the spiritualnesse
for all the rest The Booke begins with the description of his person in the first verse where Job is described by that which is accidentall and by that which is essentiall By accidentals so he is described by the place where he dwelt There was a man in the land of Uz. 2. By his name whose name was Job The essentials are foure qualifications which were essentiall to him not as a rationall man but as a holy man And that man was 1. Perfect 2. Vpright 3. One that feared God 4. Eschewed evill As they who write the Acts or Stories of great men usually give us some description of their persons before they set downe their undertakings or atchievements as you see in the 1 Sam. 17.4 5 6 7. how the great Giant Goliah is described So here the Holy Ghost by the Pen-man of this Booke being to record a glorious combate a combate not with flesh and blood alone but with Principalities and Powers a wrestling with mighty and strong temptations first gives us if we may so speake the Prosopographie of this divine Heroes soule the lineaments and abilities of his spirit This was the heighth and this the stature of the Combitant such were his limbes and such his weapons there he dwelt and this was his name There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job There was That referrs us either to the truth of the Story or to the time of the Story Such a man there was that 's certaine Such a man there was but the time when is uncertaine It referres us to the time onely indefinitely There was such a man but when is not exactly and precisely set downe The Scripture we know doth often keepe an exact account of yeares the Scripture is the guide and key of all Chronology and sometimes it leaves things in generall for the time and onely saith thus much such a thing was or such a person was So here Yet some have undertaken to define what the Spirit of God hath left at large the precise time wherein Job lived and tell us in what yeare of the world these things were done But I desire not to be so accurate unlesse the Rule were so too Onely thus much we may safely say that Job lived betweene the times of Abraham and Moses and nearer Moses than Abraham and for that I conceive there is ground sufficient There are these two speciall Reasons why it should be circumscribed within that limit 1. Because Job offered Sacrifice at that time in his owne Country which after the giving of the law and setting up of a publike worship was forbidden all both Jewes and Proselytes They that were acquainted with the wayes of God knew they must not worship by Sacrifice any where but before the Tabernacle or after the Temple was built at the Temple 2. Because in the whole booke there is not the least print or the least mention of any thing which did concerne those great and glorious passages of Gods providence towards the people of Israel either in their going out of Aegypt or in their journey thorough the wildernesse to Canaan Now in a dispute of this nature such as was betweene Job and his friends there would have been frequent occasion to have considered and instanced some of those things There is scarce any booke in Scripture that beares date after that great and wonderfull dispensation of God but it makes mention of or referrs to some passages concerning them Againe for the time that which some collect to cleare it is from the Genealogie of Job there are three speciall opinions concerning the line of his pedegree One that he descended from Nahor who was brother to Abraham Gen. 22.21 It was told Abraham behold Milcah shee hath borne children to thy brother Nahor Uz his first-borne and Buz his brother c. This Vz who was the first-borne of Nahor Abrahams brother is conceived to have given denomination to the land of Vz and so from him Job to be descended Another opinion there is maintain'd by many that Job was of the line of Esau and that he was called Jobab by Moses Gen. 36.33 And Bela died and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah raigned in his stead This Jobab who was a descendant or one of the Dukes of the line of Esau they say was Job But why the name Jobab should be contracted into Job I see little reason offered A third opinion for his descent is that he came from the children of Abraham by his second wife Keturah Gen. 25. where it is said that Abraham by her had divers sonnes and that hee gave them portions and sent them Eastward into the East country and from Midian who was the fourth sonne of Abraham by that second marriage our Genealogies doe positively and directly affirme that Job was descended That may suffice for the time for bringing of him within a narrower limit I have no grounds but conjecturall A man He is not called A man here barely as the Phylosophers Animal rationale c. as man is opposed to a Beast Nor barely is he called a man to distinguish his Sex as a man is opposed to a woman But there is somewhat more in the expression he is called a man by way of excellency And for the clearing and opening of that we may consider that there are 3. words in Scripture originall by which man is exprest 1. Man is called Adam That was the proper name of the first man and it became the common name for all men since So man was called from the matter of which he was made Adam from Adamah because as the reason is given Gen. 2.7 God made man dust out of the earth or as we translate of the dust of the earth 2. Man is called Enosh So he is called in regard of the infirmities weaknesses and sorrowes which he hath contracted by sinne since the fall sinne made the red earth weake and brittle earth indeed earth moystened with teares and mixt with troubles 3. He is called Ish which the Critticks in that language say comes from and hath allyance with two words One signifying Beeing or existence and the other heat or fire So that the excellency of mans being the heat courage and spirit that flames in him is set forth in that word and that 's the word here in the Text There was a man it is Ish an excellent a worthy man a man of an excellent spirit a man of men a man fitted to honour God and governe men And that it is so used in Scripture I will give you an instance or two that you may see it is not a bare conjecture In the 49. Psalme David as it were summons and divides mankind In the first verse he summons Heare this all ye people give eare all ye inhabitants of the world In the second verse he divides Both low and high rich and poore together The word in the Hebrew for high is Bene-Ish sons of Ish
it is Gods due and our duty to dedicate the morning the first and best of every day unto God Psal 5.3 My voice shalt thou heare in the morning in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will looke up We have a saying among us that the morning is a friend to the Muses that is the morning is a good studying time I am sure it is as true that the morning it is a great friend to the Graces the morning is the best praying time Againe In that Job did rise so early in the morning to offer sacrifice and did this because he was afraid that his sonnes had sinned as we shall see afterward Hence Observe 2. That it is not safe to let sinne lye a moment unrepented of or unpardon'd upon our own consciences or the consciences of others If a mans house be on fire he will not only rise in the morning or early in the morning but he will rise at mid-night to quench it certainly when you have guilt on your soules you have a fire in your soules your soules are on a flame therefore you had need rise and rise early and get up as soon in the morning as you can to get it quenched and put out And offered burnt-offerings There were divers sorts of Sacrifices among the Jewes when the law or rules of sacrificing were established There were first Whole burnt-offerings 2. Trespasse-offerings 3. Sinne-offerings 4. Peace-offerings That which Job is here said to offer was a burnt-offering an Holacost or whole burnt-offering so called because it was altogether consumed there was no part of it reserved for the Priest or for the people but all was offered up unto God Of other Sacrifices as the sinne-offering and trespasse-offering there were parts and portions reserved for the Priest and part of the Peace-offerings for the people as you may see by that expression of the Harlot Prov. 7.14 I have at my house Shelamim Peace-offerings now they did feast upon the Peace-offering for she invited him to a feast But the burnt-offering was wholly consumed the word in the Hebrew doth signifie an ascension or a thing lifted up He offered burnt-offerings word for word out of the Hebrew it is He lifted-up an elevation he caused an Ascension to ascend elevabat elevationem or ascendere fecit ascensionem And it was so called because the Sacrifice which was a whole burnt-offering was all consumed upon the altar And did as it were evaporate or ascend up unto God It was called a lifting-up or a thing lifted-up for three Reasons 1. Because when the Sacrifice was offered the smoake of it did ascend and besides there were sweet odours put upon the Altar which did fume up also with the Sacrifice towards heaven and so the Sacrifice took it's denomination from ascending and going upwards 2. Because the Priest when hee offered the Sacrifice did lift it up upon the Altar and hold it toward Heaven to God 3. Because at that time when the Sacrifice was a burning all the people that were present did lift-up their hands and their eyes but especially their soules and their spirits heaven-wards and powred themselves forth in prayer unto God That of David in Psal 141.2 will give some light to this Let saith he my prayer be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening Sacrifice David at that time as Interpreters note upon the Psalme was barred the enjoyment of the publike ordinances he could not come to sacrificing as formerly he had done now he seekes unto the Lord that he would accept of the lifting up of his hands and heart in stead of Sacrifice as if he should say Lord I have not a Sacrifice now to offer unto thee I am hindered from that worke I cannot lift that up but I will lift up what I have and what will please thee better then a Bullocke that hath hornes and hoofes I will lift-up my hands and my heart unto thee and let these be accepted for sacrifice and all Prayer which is a Sacrifice of the Gospell it is nothing else but A lifting up of the soule an elevation of the spirit unto God So some of the Ancients call prayer an Ascending of the soule unto God And in allusion unto this Hezekiah when he sent to Isaiah the Prophet to pray for him in that time of distresse and day of trouble saith Goe and desire the Prophet to lift-up his prayer for the remnant that are left alluding to the sacrifices which were wont to be lifted up The like expression of prayer you have Psal 25.1 Lord saith David I lift-up my soule unto thee Hence Prayers not answered not accepted are said to be stopt from ascending Lam. 3.44 Thou hast covered thy selfe with a cloud that our prayer should not passe through When you meet with such expressions in the old Testament concerning prayer you must still understand them to be allusions to the Sacrifices because the Sacrifices were lifted up and did ascend That for the Act. For the person It is said that Job offered these Sacrifices Job rose early and offered c. Was not this to usurpe upon the Priests office Was it not this for which King Vzziah was reprehended and told by the Priests It appertaineth not to thee to burne Incense unto the Lord but to the Priests the sonnes of Aaron and was he not smitten with leprosie for doing of it I answer in a word by that rule of the Ancients Distinguish the times and Scriptures will agree It was Job that offered and Job had right to offer The time wherein Job offered Sacrifice doth reconcile this it was before the giving of the Law as we have shewed in the opening of the former points about the time when Job lived now in those times the Father or the elder of the Family was as a Priest to the whole Family and he had the power and the right to performe all holy family duties as the duty of sacrificing and the like this you may see carried along in all the times before the Law was given in the holy Stories of the Patriarks they still offered up the Sacrifice But it may here be further inquired If it were before the Law was given who taught Job to offer Sacrifice Where had he the rule for it I answer this was not will-worship though it was not written worship For howsoever Job did offer Sacrifice before the Law of sacrificing was written yet he did not offer a Sacrifice before the Law of sacrificing was given for the Law of sacrificing was given from the beginning as all the other parts of worship used from the beginning were God could never beare it that men should contrive him a service therefore Job did not offer up an offering unto God according to his owne will a thing that he had invented to pacifie and to please God with God had been so farre from accepting that he could not have
adopted sons Came and presented themselves before God This should teach us to imitate Angels this we pray for That the will of God should be done on Earth as it is done in Heaven The Angels alwayes present themselves they alwayes stand before God ready to doe his will we should be ever in the presence of God in this sense that is presenting our selves standing as in the presence of God ready to take and receive instruction to doe his will what ever it is Lord what wilt thou have me to do Is as it were the voyce of an Angell standing before the throne of God It should be the voyce of every soul Lord what wilt thou have me to doe This is the presenting of the soule before God Then consider here who Satan was Satan was as good in his Creation as any of those who are called the sonnes of God They are called the sonnes of God and he is now called nothing but Satan an adversary His condition was once as good as theirs Note hence There is no created excellency but if it be left to it selfe will quickly undoe it selfe These Angels were as good at the first as any of those that were here called the sonnes of God They were not confirmed they stood upon their owne bottome they fell and had no tempter at all they turned about upon the freedome of their owne will and left their habitation saith the Scripture There is no trusting to any estate out of Christ Further note this what was the difference between those sons of God and this Satan only sin one was as good as the other in the creation nothing else made an Angell a Devill but only sin Sin despoyles the creature of all it's comfort and honour at once Againe note this the Angell falling and becomming sinfull hath his name presently changed he is called Satan an Adversary An adversary to God an adversary to man He that is wicked himselfe will quickly be an adversary an opposer of all goodnesse no sooner a sinner but a Satan Lastly Note this To be an opposer of good is to be conformable to the devill The devill is the Adversary the Satan and so proportionably as any one is an opposer of good so much of Satan so much of the devill he hath in him Therefore Christ said to a chiefe Apostle when he did oppose him in that greatest good of all the working out of our redemption in dying for us get thee behind me Satan Mat. 16. All opposition of goodnesse is a spice of the devill So the Apostle Paul Act. 13.10 when he speakes to Elymas the sorcerer saith O thou child of the devill thou enemy of all goodnesse To be an enemy of goodnesse is to be the child of the devill it is the very character of the devill He is a Satan in respect of all goodnesse and good persons And surely my brethren if this be a character of the devill and to be conformable unto Satan how conspicuous is that conformity in this age How many thousands beare this marke of the devill not only in their hands closely but in their fore-heads openly How many visible walking Satans are there among us enemies of all goodnesse oppressours of all righteousnesse opposers of our peace opposers of our liberty opposers of the Gospell opposers of Christ These are all as so many Satans in the world so many enemies Now is a time that Satans are let loose in the world the devill now if ever workes mightily in the hearts and spirits in the hands and tongues of these children of disobedience It becommeth us then that as there are many adversaries and opposers of goodnesse to shew our selves friends and patrons of goodnesse Christ hath many challenges let him find some Champions Now it is time to raise your spirits not only to love the truth but to maintaine the truth as it is the height of wickednesse not onely to doe evill but to oppose good so it is the height of holinesse not only to doe good but to oppose evill This is just to be on the contrary point to Satan he doth wickednesse and opposeth good let us doe good and oppose all evill To be a Satan against Satan is the glory of a Christian Now set your selves against the Sathans be adversaries to that Adversary and all his adherents so shall you approve your selves the friends of Christ JOB 1.7 8. And the Lord said unto Sathan whence commest thou Then Sathan answered the Lord and said From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and downe in it And the Lord said unto Sathan hast thou not considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evill IN the former verse we shewed you that great and glorious Session the Lord with his holy Angels about him and Sathan too comming among them In the verses following to the end of the 12th We have the businesse or acts of the Session recorded God Interrogates Satan answers Satan moves God grants This is the summe of all the businesse that pass'd in this Session God puts two Interrogatories to Satan one concerning his travells or where he had bin vers 7. The other concerning his observations or what he had done vers 8. In the 7th verse we have the first qustion the Lord beginneth with Sathan And the Lord said unto Satan whence commest thou How the Lord speakes is a point almost unspeakeable There are many disputes about it I will not stay upon them only to open this that you may take in all Scripture of the like kind wherein the Lord is said to speake We must know that as in Scripture God is said to have a mouth and a voice alluding unto man by that common figure so likewise when the Lord speakes we must understand it by the same figure it is but an allusion to the manner of men God is said to speake as men are said to speake but God doth not speake as men speake forming a voice by such organs or instruments of speech But when the Lord speakes it is either by forming and creating a voice in the ayre so God is said to speake sometimes As when Christ was babtized there came a voice from Heaven saying This is my beloved Sonne c. So Joh. 12.28 There came a voice from Heaven saying I have glorified thee which all the people heard sounding in the ayre Secondly God is said to speake when he manifests and declares himselfe either to the spirits of men or unto Angels who are spirits God doth speake unto the spirits of men sometimes without any forming of a voice so the phrase is usuall in the Prophets The word of the Lord came unto me which is to be understood that the Lord did secretly reveale himselfe to the spirits of his Prophets and not by any externall audible voice it was an inward not an outward word So when the
place is translated Psal 17.14 Deliver my soule from the wicked which is thy Sword you see a wicked man is Gods Sword and from men which are thy hand So that thy hand may be understood of an instrument Satan himselfe is Gods hand to punish in that sense as wicked men here are said to be Gods hand from the men that are thy hand though there be other readings of that place some reade it deliver me from men by thy hand and others Deliver mee from men of thy hand but our translation may very well carry the sense of the Originall in it from men which are thy hand as Nebuchadnezzar that wicked King is called Gods servant Jer. 43.10 I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar my servant God speakes of him as his servant or as his hand in the thing So then Put forth thine hand it may be understood I say either immediately or mediately doe it by thy selfe or doe it by Instruments strike him thy selfe or give me Commission or give others Commission to strike There is one thing further in this expression Put forth thine hand now Now. Some reade it put forth thine hand a little and some reade it I pray thee put forth thy hand The Originall word is translated to all these senses we translate it referring to the present importunity and instancy of Satan put forth thine hand now let not this businesse sleepe let it not be deferred a minute a moment let commission goe out speedily to afflict Job And touch all that he hath To touch notes sometimes a heavy and a sore affliction and sometime a light and a small affliction In the Scripture we find it both wayes used Sometimes I say to touch doth signifie the greatest and the sorest affliction or punishment that can be and so Job doth expresse all the afflictions that fell upon him at the last only by touching Job 19.21 Have pitty upon me have pitty upon me O yee my friends for the hand of God hath touched me Whereas Job at that time lay under the sorest and heaviest affliction that could be all his estate was gone and his body was full of diseases and his soule was full of horrour and all this he doth expresse by this the hand of the Lord hath touched me So Psalm 73.14 To be touched signifies the greatest affliction All the day long saith David have I been plagued That which we translate plagued is the same Originall word which we translate touch in the Text All the day long have I beene touched that is I have beene touched with the sorest plagues heavy afflictions have beene laid continually upon me So that to touch signifieth sometimes the greatest or the sorest stroakes of trouble Sometimes againe we shall find it signifies only a light affliction as Gen. 26. in two places of that Chapter at the 11th verse Abimelech charged all his people saying he that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death that is he that doth them the least hurt or wrong So at the 19th verse in that agreement betweene Abimelech and Isaac they conclude thus That thou wilt do us no hurt as we have not touched thee and as we have done unto thee nothing but good So that to touch notes the least ill or hurt that can be wee have not touched thee that is we have done nothing to thee but good Any thing on this side doing of good to them had bin touching of them We find the like expression in Ps 105.15 where the Psalmist speaking of Gods extraordinary care of his people He suffered no man to do them wrong he rebuked Kings for their sakes saying touch not mine annointed and doe my Prophets no harme Touch not mine annointed people that is the meaning of that place though in many other places we know Princes are called the annointed of God yet here it is meant of the people of God in generall they are Gods annoynted as the context clearely carries it for they have all received Unction from God an Unction of grace an Unction of the spirit and an Unction of Priviledge Touch not mine annoynted that is doe them not the least hurt And the sense that these words may beare Put forth thy hand now and touch all that he hath might be carried as if Satan here intended only a touch in the latter sense Give him but the least stroake lay but the lightest affliction upon him doe but touch him you are so confident of your servant Job that he is such a man do but give him the least touch and you shall see how he will discover himself So some expound it He doth not say wound him smite him breake him to peeces but touch him only Neither saith he touch him but his And if thou give him but a touch with the top of thy little finger thou shalt presently find the rottennes of his heart In that sense the word imports an extenuation of Jobs sincerity or heightning of Jobs hypocrisie as if he had been so rotten in his profession that the least touch would overthrow him and make him discover himselfe to be starke nought Like the Apples growing about Sodome which have faire out-sides but if you touch them they moulder away into dust and ashes Though the words have this sense in them and Satan carries it cunningly expressing himselfe in such ambiguous termes yet certainly Satan had a further intendment whatsoever his language may beare he had an intention that Job should be touched in the former sense namely that he should have a touch to the quicke as we say that he should have the sorest and deepest wound that his estate was capable of he would have him whippt not with cords but with Scorpions he would have the little finger of God heavier upon him than his loynes upon others Destroy him undoe him by your touching He speakes by the figure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is when we go lesse in our expressions then in our intentions when our words are lower then our spirits and that is proper for Satan who is the great deceiver the great jugler in word and deed to desire that Job should only be touched when he meant he should be utterly undone and ruined Touch all that he hath that is all his estate all his possessions his children his family his cattell whatsoever belongeth unto Job let all feele an undoing stroake from thy hand Before I come to that which he undertakes upon the affliction I shall observe two or three things from the words thus farre opened Put forth NOW thine hand We may note from that The extreame importunity of Satan to doe mischiefe He would not give God a minuts not a moments respite to consider this thing but doe it now presently let him presently be afflicted he makes haste to destroy he makes haste to shed bloud their feet are swift to shed bloud as the Psalmist speakes So Satan his feet are swift to
shame for they were at liberty but it is therefore said that the men were greatly ashamed because amongst them it vvas a marke of shame and slavery to be shaven Hereupon David giveth order that they should tarry at Jericho till their beards were growen it was a dishonour to be shaved And it is noted in Plutarch concerning Demosthenes that when he had a mind to sit close at his study and vvould not goe abroad or be interrupted by visits of friends at home that he would shave himselfe that so he might be ashamed to goe forth or see any body but be constrained to keepe to his booke for tvvo or three moneths together till his haire vvere grovvne againe The bondage and reproach that Nebuchadnezzar brought upon Tyrus is thus described Every head was made bald And Aristotle observes that the haire vvas a token of liberty Thus the shaving of the head in Job might be a signe both of his sorrovv and great reproach that vvas come upon him being one novv that vvas ready to be mocked and made the scorne and by-vvord of the vvorld as vve see afterward he was during this affliction Yet it is considerable from Scripture example that the cutting off the haire and shaving of the head had not alvvayes either of these significations hitherto discuss'd but did vary according to the diversity of places and of times In the Booke of Genesis we reade that cutting and shaving of the haire vvas a token of joy and liberty both together When Joseph vvas delivered out of prison it is said that he shaved himselfe and came to Pharaoh And it is noted concerning Mephibosheth as a matter of his sorrow for Davids absence that he let his haire grovv He trimmed not his beard being much troubled at the Kings absence I confesse neither of these instances come home enough to the point both of these neglecting the care and culture of their bodies in their troubles now being delivered prepare themselves by shaving and trimming the hayre for the presence of those Kings But it is in some Nations shaving hath beene a marke of Honour All the Romane Emperours were shaved till Nero. And it was an ancient Proverbe Thou art a slave for thou wearest lockes or long haire There is an Objection that may be made concerning this act of Job because afterward it is said that in all this Job sinned not whether or not Job might shave his head without sinne for you have an expresse rule to the contrary Levit. 19.27 cap. 21.5 You shall not round the corners of your heads neither shalt thou marre the corners of thy beard and so you have it againe in Deut. 14.1 that they should not cut their haire or make any baldnesse upon their heads for the dead namely by shaving or cutting off the haire How is it therefore here that Job shaved himselfe for the death of his children and in regard of those great troubles that were upon him I answer briefly for that first Job lived as we have cleared when we spake of the booke in generall before that Law was given which did prohibit the cutting of the haire in that manner Secondly It appeares in those places where those Lawes are set downe that the Lord did forbid only conformity to the Heathen they must not shave or cut themselves as the Heathen did who cut their heads round like a halfe globe as it is observed concerning them and were wont to dedicate their lockes to their Idoll-gods That vain fashion and grosse superstition were the things forbidden in that Law of Moses Thirdly Though the Jewes were forbidden to shave their heads as mourning for the death of their friends yet in the judgment of learned Junius the shaving of their heads was not only permitted but commanded in case of mourning for sinne or in times of solemne repentance and humiliation He instanceth in two places before mentioned First the Prophet Isaiah reproving the unseasonable mirth and desperate security of the Jewes in a time of publike trouble and treading downe tells them In that day did the Lord God of Hoasts call to weeping and to mourning and to baldnesse and to girding with sack-cloth Isa 22.12 Secondly There is councell given answerable to that reproofe by the Prophet Micah cap. 1.16 Make thee bald and pole thee for thy delicate children enlarge thy baldnesse as the Eagle for they are gone into captivity from thee We will observe something from these two actions the renting of his garments and the shaving of his head These referre to the expression of his sorrow for those losses in estate and the death of his children As the other two actions his falling upon the ground and worshipping referre to the expression of that homage and honour that he tendered up to God in the middest of these sorrowes From those two acts of sorrow learne we First That when the hand of God is upon us it becommeth us to be sensible of it and to be humbled under it Job hearing these sad relations doth not stand out stoutly as if nothing had touch'd him but to shew that sorrow did even rent his heart he rent his garments to shew that his affliction touch'd his spirit he shav'd his head There are two extreames that we are carefully to avoyd in times of affliction and the Apostle doth caution all the sonnes of God against them both in one verse Heb. 12.5 My sonne despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him Those are the two extreames despising and fainting when God doth correct He would not have us despise his chastning to say I doe not regard this let God take all if he will If my estate must goe let it goe if my children die let them die this is a despising of the chastening of the Lord and God cannot beare it that we should beare it thus lightly There is another extreame that is fainting If when goods are taken away the heart be taken away and when children die then the spirit of the Parent dies too this is fainting Take heed of these two extreames Job walkes in the middle in the golden meane betweene them both He doth not carelesly despise neither doth he unbeleevingly faint he riseth up and he rents his garments He would have it knowne that he fainted not under the stroake and he would have it knowne that he felt the stroake he was not like a stocke or a stone he would not carry it with a stoicall apathy but with Christian fortitude and magnanimity Sencelesse ones are taxed Jerem. 5.3 Thou hast striken them and they have not grieved Such are compared by Solomon to him that lyes downe in the midst of the Sea or as he that lyeth upon the top of a mast secure and carelesse in the greatest dangers They have stricken me shalt thou say and I was not sicke they have beaten me and I felt it not Prov. 23.34 35. The Prophet
another and it is an abatement of our troubles to see those whom we love in peace Two are better then one saith Solomon for if one fall the other may helpe him up but if both fall who shall helpe And if every member suffer there is passion in all but compassion in none much lesse support or helpe Thirdly observe Job in this condition was left of all Doe not thinke it strange if you be brought into such straights as to be left alone when you have most need of assistance Job was as a man friendlesse Physitianlesse wifelesse servantlesse all forsooke him It is the comfort of the people of God that they know how to be alone and yet can never be alone though they be left of all visible friends yet they have an invisible friend who will visit them stay with them by day and watch with them by night for he hath said I will never leave thee nor forsake thee In the Greeke there are five negatives to affirme this that God will not leave his Heb. 13.5 And he that hath him alone hath infinitely more then all the world in one When friends and Physitians will not come neere when wife and children take their leave or stand afarre off when servants hold their noses being not able to beare the stinch and ill savour that cometh from the body yea when a man comes to be an abhorring to himselfe yet at that time God delights in him Christ at that time imbraceth him and takes him in his armes and kisseth him with the kisses of his lips which are better then wine yea better then life Job was never so neer God so in the bosome of God as when no creature in the world would so much as touch him Job was never so beautifull in the eye of God as when he had nothing but boiles upon him Fourthly I may present you with Job as he was upon his Ashhill in want of all things from thence be admonished That the children of God his dearest servants may come to uttermost outward extremities When a man is among the ashes then he is at the lowest what can a man be lesse then that The Apostles were made as the filth of the world as the off-scouring of all things as sweepings and off all which are cast out upon the dunghill So was Job in the sense of many interpreters They who are of most worth may be used as if they were worth nothing Job was a pearle though upon a dunghill They who were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghils saith Jeremie in his Lamentation for Jerusalem chap. 4.5 We may say They who are brought up and clothed in better then scarlet even in the robes of righteousnesse and in the Garments of Salvation may yet be brought to embrace a dunghill There is no judging by Appearance No man knowes love or hatred by all that is before him or upon him Eccles 9. Lastly looke upon Job sitting in the ashes as a voluntary act and then observe which is of much concernement and use for us now in regard of the present condition we are in That as the afflicting hand of God doth increase upon a people or upon a person so ought the humiliation and repentance of that person or people to increase When the hand of God was upon Job before he rent his Mantle he shaved his head these were acts of great humiliation but now Job having a neerer and a deeper affliction upon him humbleth himselfe yet more Then he fell upon the ground but now he sitteth among the ashes Greater afflictions call to greater humiliation We ought not only to be humbled when God afflicteth but to be humbled in a proportion to the affliction As it is in regard of sin committed Great sins call for great sorrow And as it is in regard of mercies received Great mercies call for great praises so Great troubles call us to great humiliations and still the greater troubles are the greater our humiliation ought to be This is one way of accepting the punishment of our iniquities and of improving present evils for our everlasting good Consider whether this be not the work of this day We have had the hand of God upon the Nation in lesser judgements heretofore we have had warning-peeces shot of amongst us but now we heare the report of murthering-peeces every day Divers yeeres God made warre upon us with the sword of the Angel by which thousands have fallen in our streets but now God hath put a sword into the hands of men The former sword was a favour compared with this Those wounds a kisse compared with this Both David and experience resolve it thus Many of our dear brethren are slain and fallen by the sword their bloud hath been spilt like water and their bones have been scattered as when one cleaveth or cutteth wood upon the earth The spoyled cry to us for bread the sicke and wounded for helpe and healing Many towns have been plundered many Matrons and Virgins have been ravished many families have been scattered many wives and children deprived of their husbands and parents many parishes bereft of faithfull Pastours some of our dwellings turned to ashes And is it not time for us not only to rent our garments but to sit in ashes do not these things call us to eat ashes like bread and mingle our drink with weeping Is it not time for us not only to write but to act a Lamentation and to say For these things I weepe mine eye mine eye runneth down with water There is one thing yet which may and ought to be a Lamentation to us beyond all our own sufferings namely this God is dishonoured his name is blasphemed his people are reproched The enemies strike this sword in their bones A scornfull enquirie Where is now your God Psal 42.10 Should not teares be our meat day and night as they were Davids while they say continually Where is now your God Psal 42.3 our not sitting in the ashes for such things as these will bring us unto ashes and if we will not sit upon the dunghill of our sins in humiliation our sins will bring us and our land unto a dunghill of desolation In this day as of old by his faithfull Prophet Isai 22.12 doth the Lord God of hosts call to weeping and to mourning and to baldnesse and to girding with sackcloth And not only to these but to Jobs posture of sorrow sitting in ashes the voyce of the rod calleth to this the voyce of the trumpet heard daily in our streets cals to this We have cause to cry out as the Prophet Jeremie in his fourth chapter ver 19. My bowels my bowels I am pained at the very heart my heart maketh a noise in me I cannot hold my peace because thou hast heard O my soul the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war And because the sound of the trumpet among us like that on mount Sinai Exod. 19.19 doth not only sound long
their polishing was of Saphire But see the change Their visage is blacker then a coale they are not knowne in the streetes Famine had eaten up not only their flesh but their forme misery had altered their very complexion and visage they who shined before like Rubies and Saphires for colour and comelinesse were now darke as a coale or dusky like ashes they were not knowne to be the same men and women It is said of Christ in his affliction Isa 52.14 That his visage was so marred more then any man and his forme more then the sonnes of men Great afflictions change the very forme and utterly blast the beauty of the body Sinne doth so change the soule and disfigure the mind it so deformes the spirit and defaces the image at first stampt upon it that God saith I know you not you are not like the men that Imade But this is the comfort of a Job of a godly man that when his face is most deformed his soule is most beautified and though a disease may disfigure him so that his neerest friends know him not yet God knowes him still No sicknesse can weare out the markes by which Christ knowes thee When thy face is blacker then a coale he sees the face of thy soule shining like the face of an Angell A person or a people are then in a wofull condition indeed when God shall say to them as he did to those hipocriticall professors Mat. 7.23 Depart from me I know ye not We may be in such a wofull condition that our friends and acquaintance coming to visit us cannot know us yet for the maine well enough blessed enough at that time beautifull in the eye welcome into the presence of a glorious God They knew him not What then Then they lifted up their voice and wept This is the first act of their mourning And we may observe five acts of mourning here specified whereof one is a naturall act and the other foure are ceremoniall The naturall act was this of weeping They lifted up their voice and wept The ceremoniall acts were these First They rent every one his mantle Secondly They sprinckled dust upon their heads towards Heaven Thirdly They sate downe with him on the ground seven dayes and seven nights The fourth ceremoniall act was their silence And none spake a word unto him for they saw that his griefe was great First They lifted up their voice and wept The word is Baca and from that the place Judg. 2.5 is called Bochin where the people are said to lift up their voice and weepe when the Angell reproved them In Psal 84.6 We reade of the valley of Baca which some translate the valley of weeping or the valley of teares Others from Baca a Mulberry-tree the valley of Mulberry-trees which being a dry place the travellers to Jerusalem at the solemne feasts did so digge for water that they made all as one well Further It is said they did not only weepe but they lifted up their voice and wept We may note two things in that phrase First the vehemency of their sorrow as when a man doth lift up his voice and speake he speakes vehemently Isa 58.3 Lift up thy voice like a trumpet that is speake with a loud and strong voice So here They lifted up their voice and wept that is they wept vehemently they wept exceedingly Secondly To lift up the voice and weepe notes the easing of the mind in sorrow for it is an ease to the mind burden'd and oppress'd with sorrow to lift up the voice and weepe to cry out in sorrow le ts the strength of the sorrow out We say that sorrow which is included strangles and stifles the spirit sorrow kept in is like fire kept in more augmented As David speakes Psal 39. concerning himselfe While I kept silence even from good my sorrow was stirred my heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned His sorrow was increast when he had not a vent for it Silent mournings are the sorest mournings lifting up the voice vents the sorrow The holy Ghost expresses great sorrow by that of a woman in travaile crying out To cry out notes I grant great paine and yet crying out is a lestening or mitigation of paine It is observed that the Midwife seeing a travelling woman hold in and conceale her paines will bid her cry out Some lift up their voice and weepe when they are not in paine when they mourne not at all There are Crocodiles teares teares and voices too of dissimulation Ismael had teares in his eyes and revenge in his heart Jer. 41. Others are in paine and mourne when they lift not up their voice nor weepe Like one that hath a deadly wound they bleed inwardly But when there is the highest flood of sorrow in the heart weeping will make an ebbe and you may let much of those waters which are ready to drowne the spirit out at those sluces of the eyes That is the first act the naturall act They lifted up their eyes and saw such a spectacle as made them lift up their voice and weepe There are 4 ceremoniall acts First They rent every man his mantle We have spoken of that when we opened the 20th verse of the former Chapter together with the grounds of rending cloathes sorrow indignation c. I shall referre you thither for further information in this point The second ceremoniall act of their sorrow was The sprinckling dust upon their heads toward Heaven In the 20th verse of the former Chapter Job shaved his head Here is another ceremony They sprinckled dust upon their heads And which is yet more considerable They sprinckled dust toward Heaven There were two wayes of sprinckling dust There was first a taking the dust and sprinckling it upon the head barely And then there was another way of taking the dust and throwing it up in the aire and so letting it fall upon the head This act was significative It typed that all things were full of sorrowfull confusion the earth and the aire were mingled the Heavens also were cloudy and darkened therefore they cast dust toward Heaven For as by a stormy wind and tempest the dust is raised which thickens the aire and obscures the Heavens so by that act of casting or sprinckling dust in the aire stormy tempestuous and troublesome times were signified In the Acts chap. 22.23 those wretched Jewes to whom Paul preached being vexed and enraged cryed out and casting off their cloathes threw dust into the aire Their action had this voice in it This man hath or will if let alone fill all the world with trouble and disturbe the peace of Nations This they expresse together with their own rage by throwing dust into the aire It was a judgement which God threatned his people with that he would make the raine of their land dust Deut. 28.24 And when men make it raine dust by sprinckling it towards Heaven it shewed great trouble or judgement
upon themselves or upon their Land Further the sprinckling of dust upon the head was a memento of mortality They put dust to dust that man might remember himselfe to be but dust And they sate with him upon the ground seven dayes and seven nights Here is the third ceremoniall act of their sorrow In the 20th verse of the former Chapter it is said Job fell upon the ground these sate upon the ground As falling so sitting upon the ground is the posture of a mourner of a mourner greatly humbling himselfe under the hand of God and the sense of his own or other mens afflictions When God layes us low he can lay us lower and therefore it is best for us to lay our selves as low as we can so doth he who sits upon the ground if his heart sit downe with him too It is possible for the body to lye groveling upon the earth when the spirit is nestling among the starres not in faith as the Saints doe but in pride as Lucifer did Isa 14.13 However he either is or appeares to be humbled to the lowest and emptied to the full of worldly comforts who with Jobs friends sits downe upon the ground especially if he sit long there as Jobs friends did seven dayes and seven nights The time seemes almost incredible How could they hold out to sit so long or how could Job a sick and diseased man For it is said They sate downe with him seven dayes c. I answer We need not interpret it for seven continued dayes and nights without any intermission it is frequent in Scripture to put a part especially a greater part for the whole that which is often done is said to be alwayes done as Luk. 24.53 The Disciples were continually in the Temple praising and blessing God And Luk. 2.37 It is said That Anna the Prophetesse departed not from the Temple but served God night and day Not that she was there without any intermission but the greatest part of night and day or at the usuall time both of night and day Paul testifies before the Church of Ephesus that by the space of three yeares he ceased not to warne every one night and day with his teares Act. 20.31 Did he therefore actually preach three yeares night and day without intermission That had been a long Sermon indeed Then his meaning is but this that in those three yeares he watched and made use of all possible opportunities both by night and by day to preach the Gospell So we may understand it here they sate downe seven dayes and seven nights that is a great part of seven dayes and seven nights or all the time of those seven dayes and seven nights which were fitting for such a visit Origen will have it seven nights and seven dayes without intermission In maintenance of which assertion he saith they were preserved by miracle without sleep and without meate all that time But here is plaine truth without a miracld Secondly Whereas it is said seven dayes and seven nights we may note further that the number seven as other numbers may be understood indefinitely a certaine time being put for an uncertaine as Jer. 15.9 The Prophet saith She that hath borne seven that is many children languisheth And Eccles 2.7 Give a portion to seven that is to many Thus we may interpret it here they sate downe seven dayes and seven nights that is many dayes and many nights as it is expre'st of Nehemiah chap. 1.4 That when he heard of the calamity of Jerusalem he mourned many dayes Thirdly We may take it strictly for seven precise dayes and nights and then it referres to the ceremony of mourning for the dead it was a custome to mourne seven dayes for the dead Jobs friends looked upon him as a dead man and so they mourned for him according to the manner of mourning for the dead Joseph made a mourning for his father Jacob seven dayes Gen. 50.10 We have the like time of mourning mentioned 1 Sam. 31.13 The time of mourning varied both in times and places The Egyptians mourned for Jacob threescore and ten dayes Gen. 50.3 The Israelites mourned for Moses thirty dayes Deut. 34.8 which custome of mourning thirty dayes for the dead continued long after among the Jewes For Josephus reports that when the Jewes thought he had been killed they mourned thirty dayes for him So that we may take it here precisely for seven dayes and seven nights and referre it to the custome of mourning for the dead or in cases of extreame sorrow among that people It followeth And none spake a word unto him This is the fourth ceremony of their mourning their silence In great mournings silence makes up the solemnity So Lam. 2.10 These are joyned together The Elders of the daughters of Zion sit upon the ground there is the former ceremony and keepe silence Now whereas it is said they kept silence we need not understand it so strictly as if for seven dayes and seven nights they never spake a word It is usuall likewise in all languages and very frequent in Scripture that what is but seldome done or done but a little is said not to be done at all as in Acts 27.33 Paul saith of those that were in the Ship that for fourteene dayes they had fasted having taken nothing a thing beyond the strength of man take it strictly to fast foureteene dayes taking nothing But it is usuall to say that is not done at all which is but a little done They tooke nothing to eate that is they tooke very sparingly they did eate only so much as would according to our language keepe life and soule together In Isa 20.3 it is said that Isaiah walked naked and barefoote for three yeares Now it cannot be conceived that the Prophet walked as we say starke naked for three yeares together He is said to walke naked because he had not such or so much cloathing as formerly and usually he had worne So here they spake not a word to him that is they did not speake much they spake very little to him Or secondly thus Restrictively to the matter they spake not a word by way of dispute or argument which was the businesse they fell upon afterward either to convince him or reprove him The reason of this fourth ceremoniall act of mourning their silence is added in the last words of the Chapter For they saw that his griefe was very great The word here used for griefe though it had bin alone without any epithite to heighten the sense notes a very intensive a deepe and great sorrow And it is put sometimes for griefe and sorrow arising from the paine of the body and sometimes for griefe and sorrow of mind Now here I conceive it may carry both senses they saw that the griefe and paine of his body was very great his body was in a wofull plight and they saw that his spirit was much perplext too his mind was troubled But if this
word alone signifies as it were all degrees and all kinds of sorrow then consider both the variety of kind and intention of degrees collected in Jobs sorrows which a word so comprehensive is not sufficient to expresse the aid of two other words is called in to helpe out our conception of his sorrowes They saw his griefe they saw his griefe was great yet you have not all They saw his griefe was very great exceeding great this aggravates his griefe and winds up his sorrow to the highest as if now the affliction were growne to a full stature God threatens Babylon Isa 47.9 These two things shall come upon thee in a moment in one day the losse of children and widdow-hood these things shall come upon thee in their perfection Sometimes imperfect judgements are upon a people or a person they are as it were infant judgements judgements beginning anon they grow to a greater height and anon they come to a perfect stature to be mighty ones giantly judgements at that time God had even brought Jobs affliction to its perfection and his griefe was proportionable very great For this reason his friends kept silence this reason hath an influence on all the acts of their sorrow but especially upon this their keeping silence For they saw his griefe was very great From these ceremoniall acts of sorrow I have observed divers things heretofore Now take one thing in generall That great sufferings call us to and warrant us in solemne mournings Iobs friends doe not only mourne but they mourne as it were in state there is a kind of magnificence in mourning a pomp in mourning I approve not a proud pomp but an humble pomp they mourne you see with all the formalities of mourning so it becometh us sometimes as great mercies call for great rejoycings so great afflictions call for great lamentings There is a decency in it when our affections keepe pace with the dispensations of God whether they be mercies or judgements comforts or afflictions Secondly Forasmuch as Jobs friends seeing his sorrow to be thus very great kept silence Observe That in great in over-whelming sorrows the mind is unfit to receive and take in comfort When griefe is very great words give little ease pretious words are wasted and throwne away comfort it selfe is a trouble in the greatnesse and height of trouble I am sure a mind full charg'd with sorrow hath no roome for comfort is not at leisure for counsell It is a profitable rule in visiting friends that are sick or in distresse when you see them in extremity of paine of body or in extremity of anguish and trouble of spirit keepe silence waite a while Let the waters asswage a little and the winds fall before you meddle Let them come to themselves before you move them As sodaine anger so sodaine sorrow is a kind of phrensy No wise Physitian will give a medicine in a fit The body must settle before it is fit for physick and so must the mind too silence is as good as physick in some distempers both of mind and body A talkative comforter is another disease to a sick man unseasonable councell is a wound instead of a plaister and instead of healing tortures the patient It is as high a point of prudence to know when as to know what to advise a distressed friend Solomon tells us in generall Eccles 3.7 There is a time to keepe silence and a time to speake Let me advise this for one particular time or season to keepe silence namely the extremity and height of trouble The Prophet Amos c. 5.13 speakes of a time wherein the prudent shall be silent and he shewes us why in that time the prudent shall keepe silence for it is an evill time Some interpret this as an addition to the common calamity of those times They should be so evill that wise-men would hold their peace The Apostle prophecies of such times wherein men will not endure sound doctrine 2 Tim. 4 3. in Religion And such times may be wherein men will not endure sound doctrine in policy Then the prudent hold their peace and none speake but fooles or flatterers such times make the quickest market for their sophisticated wares no other will goe off Such are very evill times and this is a sore judgement upon those times There is hope of good when wise men speake A word from their mouthes may cure and deliver a nation Yet I conceive that this Text of Amos may be understood as a description of a wise mans duty at least of his property in some high and great distempers upon a people He sees them uncapeable of counsell to give them good advice is at that present but the casting of pearles before swine all is lost and undervalued if not trampled on Yea he sees that the more he labours to reforme the more he enrages them therefore till this fit be over prudence teacheth him to keepe silence Thus also it is with private persons in regard of the evills they endure they cannot endure faithfull counsell in such an evill day upon any private person let the prudent keepe silence and waite for an opportunity which may open a passage to let in their reproofes or directions or consolations with a taking advantage into the hearts of their afflicted friends and bretheren The Prophet Isaiah seeing the troubles approaching Jerusalem resolves to take his fill of mourning Therefore said I looke away from me I will weepe bitterly labour not to comfort me chap. 22.4 He either thought that the beholders would faint to see him and therefore saith looke away from me or that seeing him they would say he fainted and so would be giving him comfort that therefore his sorrow might have full scope He saith Looke away from me I will weepe bitterly labour not to comfort me When a man is resolved to mourne let him mourne your advise may anger him but it will not help him Let sorrow have its way a while and that will make way for comfort We have thus farre carried on the sad story of Jobs visitation his griefe is now come to the height It is very great We have also seene his friends visit with a double intendment both to mourne with him and to comfort him We have seene them mourning they fully reacht that end We leave them now silent waiting for a time to attempt and accomplish the other end they miserably failed in that it was to comfort him but they proved miserable comforters Which in the progresse and processe of this Booke will receive a large and full discovery JOB 3.1 2 3 c. Verse 1. After this Job opened his mouth and cursed his day And Job spake and said Let the day perish wherein I was borne and the night wherein it was said There is a man-child conceived c. THE former Chapter concluded with the astonishment and silence of Jobs three friends This Chapter beginneth with an astonishing speech of Job
night And it is as if he had said let that night be uselesse and stand for nothing in the Calender of the yeare To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the Heaven saith the Preacher Eccles 3.1 So every season hath something to doe and there is a purpose for every time under Heaven A purpose for summer and a purpose for the winter a purpose for the day and a purpose for the night And for any of these to be disappointed of their purpose is so farre as they are capeable of affliction their affliction We may observe hence That it is a great curse upon any creature to be made an uselesse creature to stand for nothing This is to loose the end of its being and therefore it must needs loose the happinesse of its being Every thing was by the Law of its creation ordained for some use and therefore cannot but be unhappy when it is made uselesse And if it be the glory of inanimate creatures when God will use them or when men make use of them for God how unglorious then is the condition of those men who are as God speakes of that King Jer. 22.28 Like a despised broken Idol which hath no honour and is of no use who are as vessels wherein there is no pleasure vessels laid by the walls as we speake laid aside as unfit or unworthy to be lookt after and employed in any publike service Loe let that night be solitary let no joyfull sound come therein This solitarinesse of the night may have respect to the former words He would not have it joyned to the dayes of the yeare he would not have it come in the number of moneths What then then it must needs be like a solitary widdow all alone Let that night be solitary Or secondly his meaning may be this Let there be no meetings that night The night is not solitary in it selfe but then the night is called solitary when the society of friends is stopt and interrupted It was the custome of those times and it is a custome continued in many places to these times for friends to meet in the night and such meetings make night as day good society is comfortable A solitary condition is a sorrowfull condition So then Job compleates his curse in this verse and makes up a full summe of misery upon his night What can be said more against it then now he saith He had before wisht it darke in it selfe divided from the day of no number in the moneths And now he would not have friends meete or refresh themselves by mutuall communion and loving converse that night Much of the comfort of our lives is brought in by the society of friends Man is defined a sociable creature as well as a reasonable creature solitarinesse is opposite both to the nature and happinesse of man Woe be to him that is alone saith Solomon two are better then one and especially in times of trouble As our comforts are multiplied upon them that are neere us so our sorrowes are allayed and eased by them There is a solitarinesse which is the sweetest part of our lives when we retire a while from the world from the throng of men and businesse that we may be more intimate with Christ and take our fill in communion with him To goe alone that we may meete with God is Heaven upon earth but to be so left alone and scattered that we cannot meet with man is if not a hell yet one of the greatest afflictions upon the earth Such solitary times are sad times Let no joyfull voice come therein As if he should say If men will meet that night and converse together let them meet only to mourne together and let their conversation be made up with mutuall sorrowes let them only tell each other the sad stories of their afflictions Thus let them meet to lament together but let none meet to rejoyce together let there be no meeting with any joyfull voice that night He alludes againe to the custome of those times which were wont to have as meetings in the night so to rejoyce in those meetings They feasted with songs and musick a joyfull voice was in their meetings Musick is sweetest in the night The stillnesse of the night gives advantage to the voice The Romane History tells us that their greatest feasts their most luxurious banquetings and curious musick was in the night The Apostle alludes to that custome when he saith They that are drunken are drunken in the night 1 Thes 5.6 Workes of darknesse seeke times of darknesse He that doth evill hateth the light Joh. 3.21 principally the light of knowledge and withall the light of sense There are two opinions about this joyfull voice which I shall but name and passe on First The Chaldee Paraphrast will have this joyfull voice to be the voice of the Cock Let not the Cock crow that night the crowing of the Cock is a comfortable voice in the night The Cock is a naturall clock and by his crowing tells us the houres of the night As if Job had said instead of the chearefull voice of the Cock let that night be filled with the dolefull voice of the Owle or of the Shreech-owle A second opinion saith this joyfull voice which Job puts from and denies his night was the voice of the Starres spoken of as they would have us conceive Chap. 38.7 When the morning Starres sang together and all the sonnes of God shouted for joy But to leave these as fancies rather then expositions The interpretation given is cleare and sutable to the method of the curse Job would have no meeting on that night or if any were he forbids their joy Let no joyfull voice be heard therein It is a great evill upon any time when the voice of joy is taken away from it it is a great evill upon times when joyfull meetings can no more be observed when if any do meete they meete and sigh together they meete and lament together they meete and bemoane each others losses and calamities The Prophet Amos speakes of a time when the songs of the Temple shall be howlings Chap. 8. v. 3. And ver 10. I will turne your feasts into mourning and your songs into lamentation It is very sad when the songs of our private houses are changed into howlings but much more when the songs of the Temple Both these are pronounced against Babylon as a part of that dreadfull curse which God will powre out upon it when his wrath comes to the utmost Rev. 18.22 The voice of harpers and musitians and of pipers and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee and the sound of the mil-stone shall be heard no more at all in thee and the voice of the bridegroome and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee That is O Babylon there shall be no joyfull voice any more at all in thee Not the voice of