wisely have withstood his Wives motion to blaspheme Hitherto certainly God had helped him It was the uncouth and unkind carriage of his friends concurring with the increase of his bodily paine besides the eclipse of inward comforts that drew from him those passionate expressions chap. 3. Ver. 11. And when Jobs three friends His familiar friends that did eat of his bread as Psal 49.9 that were as his own soul Deut. 13.6 his bosome friends and therefore precious Jewels such as could both keep counsel and give counsel Of such there are but few to be found Friends there is no friend said Socrates Faithfull friends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Another are in this age all for the most part gone in pilgrimage and their return is uncertain A Friend is a changeable creature saith a Third all in changeable colours like the Peacock as often changed as moved Job complaineth of these his chief and choice friends that they were miserable Comforters Physicians of no value chap. 16.2 c. Amicitia sit tantùm inter binos eósque bonos such as were Jonathan and David Corporibus geminis spiritus unus erat Heard of all this evil Whether by the ministry of the good or bad Angels or of neither it skilleth not Ill newes is swift of foot saith the Greek Proverb and like ill weather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which comes ere it be sent for The sins and miseries of good people are much talked of and soon bruited abroad The Chaldee Paraphrast here telleth of strange businesses viz. that these three here mentioned besides the report they heard of Jobs calamity were moved to visit him by the wonders that fell out with them at the same time for their trees suddenly withered in their Ort-yards their bread at their table was turned into raw flesh their wine into bloud c. But this may well passe for a Jewish fable The Author of that Paraphrase was R. Joseph Cacus nothing so ancient or authentick as he who paraphraseth upon the historical books but exceeding full of mistakes and seldome cometh he near the right meaning of the Text all along the Hagiographa They came every one from his own place More then these came to such a sight no doubt but these out of a desire and designe to condole with him and comfort him But it fel out far otherwise for they tormented Job well nigh as much as Satan himself though it were of ignorance and unwittingly rather then of ill will or malice fore-thought Their very silence and gesture before ever they spake a word did so torment his mind that at last he cryes out in that bitter manner as chap. 3. like a frantick man which through some grievous sicknesse hath lost his wits Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhitt c. Idumeans all likely and men of much estimation for wisdome Jer. 49.7 Is Wisdom no more in Teman and godlinesse as descended all of Abraham whose care was to catechise his whole Family and to teach them the wayes of God Gen. 18.19 Their following disputations shew as much wherein they admonish him to repent assuring him that he could be no lesse then a grosse sinner and an hypocrite because so grievously afflicted Job answereth their severall speeches tormented in body perplexed in mind but stoutly defending his own innocency and seeming to tax the Lord also like as dogs in a chase bark at their own Masters To this his friends reply sharply from chap. 15. to 22. and he answereth them again with greater boldnesse and courage then before Hereupon they begin a second reply and here Eliphaz and Bildad onely spake The third man fainted and spake no more for that Job was invincible c. till at length Elihu moderateth censuring both parties and God determineth to Jobs conviction and finall commendation For they had made an appointment together to come Not by accident or at adventure as Origen will needs have it against the Text but by solemn agreement it was a pitcht meeting Neither staid they till they were sent for but came as friends to do Job all friendly offices like as in a fright the blood and spirits run to the heart to relieve it A friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity Prov. 17.17 See the Note there To mourn with him Heb. To shake the head or other parts of the body in token of commiseration to bewail his condition as Cyprian did the persecuted Saints of his time Cum singulis pectus meum copulo saith he Moeroris pondera luctuosa participo c. Who is offended and I burn not 2 Cor. 11.29 And to comfort him This they intended but proved miserable comforters too by reason of the deceitfulnesse of their hearts fitly therefore compared to a broken or a deceitfull bow that carrieth the arrow a clean contrary way So Jonah prayed unto the Lord. chap. 4.2 He thought to have prayed but it proved that he brawled Psal 78.57 The word rendred to comfort signifieth likewise to mourn with the mourning of repentance to teach us here to begin our pity to others to bewail their and our owe sins see the Note there These mens words were as a murthering weapon in Jobs bones pious they were and divine all along but much mis-applied It is said of them that they handled an ill matter well and Job a good cause as ill especially when once he came to be wet through Verse 12. And when they lift up their eyes afarre off Hence some conclude that Job lay abroad as lepers used And knew him not for they had never seen him before but in a splendidous fashion now then to see him in such a pickle that he hà d lost all form and fashion more like a dead beast then a living man this amazed and amused them they might also by this so sad a spectacle be admonished of their own mutable and miserable condition Aut sumus aut fuimus aut possumus esse quod hic est and have the same thoughts as the Psalmist afterwards had Man being in honour abideth not Psal 45.12 he is like the beasts that perish pecoribus morticinis saith Tremellius the beasts that die of the murraine and so become carrion and are good for nothing Job was now no otherwise to be seene then as a stinking carcasse full of sores more like then a living man as he painteth out himself in most lively colours They lifted up their voice and wept Good men are apt to do so saith the Poet faciles motus mens generosa capit we are bound to weep with those that weep and to be both pitifull and courteous 1 Pet. 3. To him that is in misery pity should be shewed from his friend it was so to Job here at first but he forsaketh the fear of the Lord Job 6.14 Jobs friends did so when amazed with the greatnesse of his calamity they therehence concluded him an arrant hypocrite unworthy of any one
Redeemer lived c. So might Simeon because he had seen Gods salvation and so might Paul who had fought a good fight and kept the faith But how could Plato say in the eighth of his lawes The communion of the soule with the body is not better then the dissolution as I would say if I were to speak in earnest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato His master Socrates when to die was nothing so confident for he shut up his last speech with these words as both Plato himself and Cicero tell us Tempâ—â— est jam hinc abireâ— It is now high time for us to go hence for me to die and for you to live longer and whether of these two is the better the gods immortall know hominem quidem arbirâ—or sciro neminem it is above the knowledge I believe of any man living Thus he but Job was better perswaded otherwise he would have been better advised then thus earnestly to have desired death And cut me off Avidè me absumat quasi ex morte mea ingens lucrum reportaturâ—â— Let him greedily cut the 〈◊〉 so the word signifieth even as if he were to have some great gain Piâ—eda or get some rich booty by my blood Verse 10. Thou should I 〈◊〉 have comfort yea I would harden my self in sorrow c. I would take hard on and beaâ— what befalleth me as well as I could by head and shoulders had I but hopes of an end by death as having this for my comfort I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. I have boldly professed the true Religion Ps 40.10 116.10 119.43 not â—â—ared to preach the truth sincerely to others for Gods glory and their good however you may judge of me I never rejected the word of God but have highly honoured it so that my desire of death is not desperate as you may conceive but an effect of good assurance that by death heaven advanceth forward that happy term when all my miseries shall end at once and hence it is that I am so greedy after the grave Verse 11. What is my strength that I should hope q. d. Thou hast told me O Eliphaz that if I frame to a patient and peaceable behaviour under Gods chastisement I shall go to my grave in a good old age c. but alasse it is now past time of day with me for that matter my breath is corrupt my dayes are extinct the graves are ready for me chap. 17.1 Were I as young and lusty as ever I have been some such things as ye have promised me might be hoped for but alasse the map of age is figured on my forehead the calenders of death appeare in the furrowes of my face besides my many sores and sicknesses which if they continue but a while will certainly make an end of mee And what is mine end i.e. The later part of my life what is that else but trouble and sorrow see this elegantly set forth by Solomon Eccles 12.2 3 4 c. That I should prolong my life That I should desire my life to be prolonged or eeked out to that De re râ—st lib. 1. cap. 1. Rather let it be my â—are with Varro ut sarcinas colligam antequà m proficiscar è vita to be ready for death which seemeth so ready for mee Verse 12. Is my strength the strength of stones Or Is my flesh of brasse Is it made of marble or of the hardest metal as it is said of one in Homer that hee was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of brazen bowles and of Julius Scaliger that he had a golden soule in an iron body he was a very Iron sides but so was not Job he had neither a body of brasse nor sinewes of iron to stand out against so many stormes and beare so many batteries he felt what he endured and could not long endure what he felt As for the damned in hell they are by the power of God upheld for ever that they may suffer his fierce wrath for ever which else they could never do And as for those desperate Assasines Baltasar Gerardus the Burgundian who slew the Prince of Orange Anno Dom. 1584. and Ravilliac Ferale illud prodigium as one calleth him that hideous helâ—hound who slew Henry the fourth of France in the midst of his preparations and endured thereupon most exquisite torments this they did out of stupidity of sense not solidity of faith and from a wretchlesse desperation not a confident resolution Verse 13. Is not my help in me Have I not something within wherewith to sustaine me amidst all my sorrowes viz. the testimony of my conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity I have had my conversation in the world 2 Cor. 1.12 â—o this is my rejoycing this is my cordial c. Innuit innocentiam suam aâ— vita integritatem saith Drusius he meaneth the innocency and integrity of his heart and this was the help Job knew he had in store this was the wisedome or right reason he speaketh of in the following words and is wisedome or vertue driven quite from me no no that holdeth out and abideth when all things else in the world passe away and vanishâ— as the word Tushijah importeth Job had a subsistence still for his life consisted not in the abundance which he had possessed but was now bereft of The world calleth wealth substance but God giveth that name to Wisedome only The world he setteth forth by a word that betokeneth change for its mutability Prov. 3.8 and the things thereof he calleth Non-entia Prov. 23.5 Wilt thou set thine eyes saith he upon that which is not and which hath no price but what opinion setteth upon it Grace being a particle of the divine nature is unloosable unperishable Virtus post funera venit Verse 14. To him that is afflicted Heb. melted viz. in the furnace of affliction which melteth mens hearts and maketh them malleable as fire doth the hardest metals Psal 22.15 Josh 7.5 Pity should le shewed from his friend By a sweet tender melting frame of spirit such as was that of the Church Psal 102.13 and that of Paul 2 Cor. 11.29 Who is weakâ— and I am not weak sc by way of sympathy who is offended and I burne not when others are hurt I feele twinges as the tongue complaineth for the hurt of the toe and as the heart condoleth with the heele and there is a fellow-feeling amongst all the members so there is likewise iâ— the mysticall body From his friend who is made for the day of adversity Prov. 17.17 and should shew â—ove at all times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et cum fortuna statque cadisque fides and especially in evil times but poor Job bewaileth the want of such faithfull friends David also complaineth to God his onely fast friend of those that would be the causes but not the companions of his calamity that would fawn upon him in his flourish but forsake him in his misery
A COMMENTARY OR EXPOSITION Upon the BOOKS of Ezra Nehemiah Esther Job and Psalms WHEREIN The TEXT is Explained some Controversies are Discussed sundry Cases of Conscience are Cleared and many Remarkable Matters hinted that had by former Interpreters been pretermitted In all which divers other Texts of Scripture which occasionally occurre are fully Opened and the whole so intermixed with pertinent Histories as will yield both pleasure and profit to the Judicious Reader By JOHN TRAPP M. A. once of Christ-church in Oxford now Pastour of Weston upon Avon in Gloucestershire LUKE 24.44 45. And he said unto them These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalmes concerning me Then opened he their understanding that they might understand the Scripture LONDON Printed by T. R. and E. M. for Thomas Newberry at the three Golden Lions in Cornhil near the Royal Exchange and Joseph Barber at the Holy Lamb in the New Rents in St. Pauls Church-yard 1657. To the Worshipful his much Honoured Friend EDWARD LEIGH of RVSHIL-HALL in Stafford-shire Esquire Master of ARTS of both UNIVERSITIES HONOURED SIR BEsides the much help I confesse and not now the first time * See my Notes on the New Test passim to have had from your learned Lucubrations already extant those many real Courtesies lately done me a meer stranger in mine eldest sonne whom you have freely beneficed and fairely encouraged call hard upon me for a grateful acknowledgement And forasmuch as like another Nicias you are known to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yea Stobaeus Serm. 117. as that renowned Richard de Bury Extatico quodam librorum amore potentèr abreptus so that you may well say Hiâ—fuit episc Dunelmenfis An. Dom 1333. as that Emperour once did of himself Quidam equis hi avibus nonulli feris delectantur Ego vero inde usque à pueritiá librorum cupiditate arsi Julian ep ad Ecdicium I cannot bethink me of a fitter Patron then your worthy self nor yet of a better Present then this of a Book beseeching you to own it and honour it with your kinde acceptance as a token of my true respects and a testimony of my cordial thankfulnesse I need not here for an Apologie tell you Sir what Seneca saith There 's no Book so bad but some Commodity may be gotten by it Let it be for me a praise proper to Hippocrates that in his Aphorismes there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let Scaliger say of Virgil and Lipsius as much of Tacitus Ecujus ore nil tenierè excidit Aristotles Rhetorick saith one is sufficient to make both a Scholar and an honest man His Politicks Tully calleth Aureum flumen or ationis for the purity of the stile and preciousnesse of the matter Averroes admireth and extolleth him above measure in whatsoever he hath written And yet others no lesse judicious deem that his deep Theoremes of Philosophy as they make men learned so seldom better and oftentimes worse meer Atheists Sure it is that compared with the holy Scriptures they are but straminea candela a rush-candle that yieldeth but a small light and is quickly out To the Law therefore and to the Testimony saith that Evangelical Prophet that is to the Old Testament and the New as some sense it If any speak not according to this Word it is because there is no light in them As if any either by speaking or writing bring the least light to these sacred Oracles Quae latent lucent They are not to be defrauded of their due commendation This you have done worthy Sir in all your Theological Treatises which are auro contra non cari Your elaborate Annotations on the New Testament especially On the Old Testament also we hope to see you shortly and are so far from censuring you for thrusting your Sickle into our Harvest that we all highly accept and applaud your learned Labours heartily wishing you length of days and help from Heaven for the compleating of so good a work Bern. Deus praecepit nobis ut discamus non argutias Platonis nec versutias Aristotelis sed doctrinam Filii Dei Hereunto therefore we do humbly crave and call for your utmost furtherance which shall be nothing at all to your hinderance at the last for beside the reward of eternal life assured you by Christ our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bodin Theat Nat. p. 9. Scientiarum ea vis est ac natura ut quo plus doceas ac alteri de tuo largiare eò ditior ac doctior fias there is no losse in laying out your talent Your much desired Commentaries now in the Presse as is reported and which you are yet further preparing for the publike will be most welcom to the world and I wish they may take as well as did Aretius his Examen Theologicum printed twelve times in three yeares As for these or any other of mine let them veil and strike sale to yours whereever they meet them and let me be ever reckoned among many others Welford Sept. 8. 1656. SIR An Admirer of your indefatigable industry and rare abilities JOHN TRAPP Viro Ornatissimo Affini amantissimo doctissimóque D' JOHANNI TRAPPO NImirum solvenda fides At quomodo carmen Panxerit exaret cui vena Musula muta est Qui Consorte tori quâ non praestantior unquam Et quâ ter fueram quatuor per lustra beatus Ereptâ Niobes possim nunc esse maritus Expectes ut laeta canam Lapidescere coepi Proh dolor infelix At felicissimus idem Quòd sic Vxori Monumentum fio sepultae Vt praestem promissa tamen quae debita dicunt Et solvi par esse ciens in carmina Musam Exigis An Lapis emittat charissime vocem Imò ais hoc usu venit ut Monumenta loquantur Vicisti experiar Doleot antum esse dolorem Vt calamum impediat cupientem promere laudes Et meritis se implere tuis Tu voce disertâ Me prope confectum reficis prohibésque sepulcro Tu mea damna doles tanquam propria defles Méque mihi ereptae quaete sic jure colebat Dum recolis raros mores solaris abundè Sic facis Scriptis O quae mihi Pharmaca praebent Quae priùs edideras queis Sacra Oracula pandis Et quibus ut grandi Thesauro Ecclesia gaudet Dicere sunt ea visa Hinc lucem Pocula Sacra Hinc pete qui impensè luges mentemque serena Ecce profundemus solatia summa jacenti Haec quaque quae celeri video jam subdita Prelo Vt mihi praevideo pariter Medicamina cunctis Sic Symmystis gratissima credo futura Altera jam Pentas facilem se praebet offert Quas modò condiderat dias ditissima gazas Gestat Ornamenta quibus non anteà fulsit Cultior
aske what he would asked nothing but that the Church might be disempestered of Arians And when the Emperour being himself an Arian tore his Petition he said he would never aske any thing for himself if he might not prevaile for the Church Theodor. l. c. 32. So I prayed to the God of heaven Darting up an ejaculation a sudden and secret desire to God to order and speed his Petition Begin all with prayer and then expect a blessing Call in the Divine help if it be but by darting out our desires to God Crebras habere orationes sed brevissimas raptim ejaculatas Thus Moses cryed to God yet said nothing Exod. 14.15 Hannah was not heard and yet she prayed Austin reports the custome of the Egyptian Churches to pray frequently and fervently but briefly and by way of ejaculation ne fervor languesceret lest their heat should abate Verse 5. If it please the King Silken words must be given to Kings as the mother of Darius said neither must they be rudely and roughly dealt with as Joab dealt with David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Sam. 19.5 who therefore could never well brook him afterward but set another in his place And if thy servant have found favour Pellican observeth here that Nehemiah was a great favourite of this Kings as appeareth in that having so many Nobles he chose him to this Office rather then any of them He therefore pleads it as a pledge of further favour so may we with God as being no small favourites in the beloved One Ephesians 1.5 That thou wouldest send me unto Judah Not only give me leave to go but also send me with a Commission to be Governour This was a bold request but modestly proposed and easily obtained The King is not he that can deny you any thing Jer. 38.5 Love is liberal charity is no churle Verse 6. And the King said unto me He yeelds for the thing only indents for the time as being loth to deny Nehemiah his suit and yet as loth to forgo so faithful a servant Ipse aspectus viri boni delectat Seneca The Queene also sitting by him And assisting his cause likely Some think this was Esther the Queen-mother But the Hebrew word here is Wife Now the Kings of Persia were noted for uxorious For how long c. The departure of a dear friend is so grievous that Death it self is called by that name So it pleased the King to send me As a Governour chap. 5.14 This was the fruit of prayer and therefore so much the sweeter And I set him a time sc Twelve years chap. 5.14 But more probably a shorter time at first Verse 7. Moreover I said unto the King He taketh further boldnesse upon the former encouragement so may we with Almighty God the Sunne of our righteousnes the Sea of our salvation Conclude as she did A company comes God never left bating till Abraham left begging Let letters be given me to the Governours Those nearest neighbours but greatest enemies That they may conveigh me over He committed himself to God and yet petitions the King for a Convoy In all our enterprizes God is so to be trusted as if we had used to means and yet the means is so to be used as if we had no God to trust in Verse 8. Epit Hâ—st Gall c. 114. Keeper of the Kings forrest Heb. Paradise probably so called for the pleasantnesse of it The French Protestants called their Temple or Church at Lyons Paradise Davids delight Psal 27. and 84. Of the palace that appertained to the house Id est To the Temple which is called The house by an excellency as the Scriptures are called the Bible that is the Book as being the onely best Book in comparison whereof all other books in the World are no better then wast paper And for the house that I shall enter into Id est A dwelling house for my self when once the publike is served Junius understands it of a Common-hal or Shire-house wherein he might sit and judge causes brought before him And the King granted me It was but ask and have and so it is betwixt God and his people When there was a speech among some holy men what was the best trade One answered Beggery it is the hardest richest trade Common beggery is indeed the poorest and easiest but prayer he meant A courtier gets more by one sute oft then a tradesman or merchant haply with twenty years labour so doth a faithfull prayer c. According to the good hand He calleth him his God as if he loved or cared more for him then for the rest of the World It is the property of true faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to make all its own that it can lay hold upon See the Note on Ezra 7.6 Vers 9. Then I came to the Governours Josephus saith that the next day he took his journey and delivered his letters to Saddeus Governour of Syria Phoenicia and Samaria A strange example saith one to see a Courtier leave that wealth ease and authority that he was in and go dwell so far from Court in an old Torn and decayed City among a rude poor people where he should not live quietly but toyl and drudge like a day-labourer in dread and danger of his life But this is the case of earnest and zealous men in Religion c. Now the King had sent Captains This was more then Nehemiah had desired and as much as he could have done for the greatest Lord in the Land God is likewise usually better to his people than their prayers and when they ask but one talent he Naaman-like will force them to take two Verse 10. When Sanballet the Horonite That is the Moabite Isa 15.5 Jer. 48.3 5.34 His name signifieth saith one a pure Enemy he was come of that spiteful people who were anciently irked because of Israel Num. 22.3 4. or did inwardly fret and vex at them as Exod. 1.12 who yet were allied unto them and did them no hurt in their passage by them yea had done them good by the slaughter of the Amorites their encroaching Neighbours And Tobiah the servant A servant or bond-slave once he had been though now a Toparch a Lieutenant to the King of Persia Now such are most troublesome Prov. 30. ver 22. Asperius nihil est humili cùm surgit in altum A' 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio. lib. 60. Rer. Rom. Heard it As they might soon do by means of their Wives who were Jewesses And the Jewes to this day are generally found the most nimble and Mercurial wits in the World Every Visier and Basha of State among the Turkes useth to keep a Jew of his private counsel whose malice wit and experience of Christendome with their continual intelligence is thought to advise most of that mischief which the Turk puts in execution against us Blounts Voyâ— P. 114. It grieved them exceedingly Heb. It seemed to them an
or of Instructions upon conviction And therein was found written Perquà m durum est so it might seeme to Ammonites and Moabites sed ita lex scripta est Ulpian p. The Law was perpetual and indispensable a signe of great wrath That the Ammonite and the Moabite Lots by-blowes and the Churches constant enemies Into the Congregation of God i. e. Assemblies of Gods people whether sacred or civil unlesse proselyted Ver. 2. Because they met not the children of Israel A bare omission of observance subjected them to divine vengeance As God requiteth the least courtesie done to his people be it but a cup of cold water so he repayeth the least discourtesie or but neglect of them to whom the glorious Angels are ministring spirits and may not think themselves too good to serve them Heb. 1. ult But hired Baalam against them With the rewards of divination Num. 22.7 the wages of wickednesse Jude 11.2 Pet. 2.15 which he greedily ran after and not so much as roving at God made the world his standing-mark till he had got a sword in his guts Howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing So he did the Popes curse to Queen Elizabeth Tom. 1 Epist and before her to Luther Quò magis illi furunt eò ampliùs procedo saith He in a certain Epistle the more they rage and ban me the more I proceed and prosper The Pope excommunicated him Scultet Annal. the Emperour proscribed him c. Omnium animi tum erant arrecti quid illa Caesaris pontificis fulmina essent effectura All mens minds were then set an end and stood on tip-toes as it were to see what would be the issue saith mine Author A wonderful work of our God surely and worthy to be chronicled Luther is conveyed out of the way by the Elector of Saxony for ten moneths till he would be hid no longer Mean-while Pope Leo dieth the Emperour Charles the fifth is first called into Spain to suppresse seditions there and afterwards is so busied in his wars with the French King that he hath no leisure to look after Luther After this when the French King was beaten by the Emperour and carried prisoner into Spain he was released and sent home again upon condition that the Emperour and He should root out the Lutheran Heresie as they called it But our God broke their designes and turned this curse also into a blessing For the French King returning home and conceiving that the conditions that he had yeelded unto to get off were unequal entereth into a League with the Pope and the State of Venice against the Emperour The Pope that he might cover his false dealing with the Emperour sends abroad his Bull and therein calleth knave first The Emperour on the otherside complaineth of the Popes malice and double-dealing exhorteth him to peace and concludeth that it were fitter for them to unite against the Lutherans And when he could prevaile nothing by writing he abolisheth his authority throughout all Spain sends his armies against him under the Duke of Burbon claps him up prisoner in Saint Angelo proclaimes open war against the French c. So that Religion got ground and all things fell out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel Phil. 1.12 Let them curse thy Church Lord but do thou blesse when they arise let them ever be ashamed but let thy servants rejoyce Psal 10 â— 28. and speed the better for their ill wishes So be it Verse 3. Now it came to passe when they had heard the Law And were transformed into the same image therewith by the Spirit of grace who had made their flinty hearts to become fleshy c. We use to say As hard-hearted as a Jew But they that relent not repent not at the hearing of the Word are worse then these Jewes and it may be feared that the Lord hath a purpose to destroy them The Law of the Lord when but read only is perfect converting the soul Psal 19.7 but woe to the irreformable 2 Corinth 4.4 And they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude Vulgus promiscuum the rabble of strangers wherewith this people were haunted and pestered from the very first Exod. 12.38 Num. 11.4 These moved with miracles removed with them out of Egypt but for a mischief to them for they drew them into sinne then as those here did also and were therefore worthily put away as the Law required Verse 4. And before this Before the Commandment came as a Lamp and the Law a Light as Prov. 6.23 causing a Reformation As Toads and Serpents grow in dark and dirty sellars so do sinful disorders in ignorant places and persons Eliashib the Priest The High-Priest but such an one as from whom profanenesse went forth into all the land Jer. 23.15 The sinnes of Teachers are Teachers of sins Having the oversight of the chamber i. e. Of all the chambers of the Temple by vertue of his office and therefore thought belike he might do what he listed with them now in Nehemiah's absence without controul Was allied unto Tobiah A bitter enemy to Gods people but sly and subtile seeking to insinuate by alliances and letters of perswasion such as Cardinal Sadolet wrote to the Genevenses in Calvins absence and Cardinal Lorraine to the Protestant Princes of Germany that he and his brethren the Guises those sworn swordmen of the Devil would embrace the reformed Religion Verse 5. And he had prepared for him a great chamber Called chambers verse 9. for he had laid many chambers into one saith Junius by taking down the partitions and furnishing the same for his friend and ally Tobiah Verse 6. But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem And thence it was that things grew so farre out of order So when Moses was gone into the Mount the people set up the golden Calf they turned aside quickly saith God Exod. 32.8 So were the Corinthians and Galatians so sooâ—â— as Saint Pauls back was but turned upon them Gal. 1.6 Levitate prorsus desultoriâ And so were these Jewes notwithstanding their better purposes promises Covenants yea and beginnings of Reformation See chap. 10.30 And after certaine dayes Heb. At the end of dayes that is at a years end as Vatablus and Genebrard expound it No longer then a year was Nehemiah away from his Government to shew his dutiful respect to his Master the King of Persia and to negotiate for his Nation but all things were out of frame so well had the Devil and his instruments bestirred them But Junius rendereth the text exactis aliquot annis certaine years being past and Lyra thus at the end of his dayes or of his life when he now waxed old he had a desire to go and reforme things amisse at Jerusalem and to die and lay his bones there So likewise Funccius the eighth year after his returne to Artaxerxes which was also the last year of his reigne And indeed one would wonder how in
charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ c. 2 Tim. 4.1 So Saint Austin to his hearers Per tremendum Dei judicium vos adjuro I require and charge you by that dreadful day of judgement when that doomes-day book shall be opened c. It is a weaknesse to be hot in a cold matter but it is a wickednesse to be cold in a hot matter He that is earnest in good though he may carry some things indiscreetly yet is he far better then a time-server and a cold friend to the truth like as in falling forward is nothing so much danger as in falling backward Eli was too blame with his Do no more so my sonnes And so was Jehoshaphat with his Let not the King say so And the people in Ahabs time who when they were pressed to expresse whom they were for God or Baal they answered not a word 1 Kings 18.21 And yet how many such cold friends hath the truth now adayes Luke-warm Laodiceans Neuter-passive Christians c When Callidus once declared against Gallus with a faint and languishing voice Oh saith Tully Tu nisi fingeres sic ageres Would'st thou plead on that manner if thou wert in good earnest Mens faint appearing for Gods cause shewes they do but faine their coldnesse probably concludeth they do but counterfeit Mordecai plays the man and chargeth Esther to improve her interest in the King her husband for the Churches deliverance See here how he turneth every stone tradeth every talent leaveth no meanes unused no course unattempted for the Saints safety And this the Spirit of God hath purposely recorded that all may learn to lay out themselvs to the utmost for the publike to be most zealous for the conservation and defence of the Church when it is afflicted and opposed by Persecutours seeing they cannot be saved unlesse she be in safety neither can they have God for their Father unlesse they love and observe this their deare mother Vtinam iterùm autem utinam diligentiùs à cunctis ordinibus haec hodiè considerarentur saith one Cypr. Aut. l. de unit Eccles Oh that these things were duely considered by all sorts now adayes To make supplication unto him Heb. to deprecate displeasure and mischief as 1 Kings 8.28 Zech. 12.10 And to make request before him Ad quaerendum à facie ejus so Pagnine from the Hebrew to seek for good from his face an effectual smile a gracious aspect that they may live in his sight For in the light of the Kings countenance is life and his favour is as a cloud of the latter raine Prov. 16.15 The ancient Persian Kings were most fond of their wives doing them all the honour possible in Court as Partakers of all their fortunes and carried them and their children into their farthest warres by the presence of so dear pledges the more to encourage their mindes in time of battel Now therefore Esther whom Herodotus also witnesseth to have been Xerxes his best beloved is to try what she can do with him for her people who were haply grown too secure upon Esthers preferment as the French Churches also were upon the Queen of Navarres greatnesse and the promise of peace by that match God therefore shortly after shook them up not by shaking his rod only at them as here at these Jewes but by permitting that bloody Massacre Verse 9. And Hatach came and told Esther He acted the part of a faithful messenger so must Ministers those servants of the Churches declare unto the people all the minde of God Acts 20.27 and not steal Gods word every one from his neighbour Jer. 23.30 not deal deceitfully with it but as of sincerity but as of God in the sight of God let them speak in Christ and let them speak out not fearing any colours He that hath my Word let him speak my Word faithfully saith God Jer. 23.28 Aarons Bells were all of gold the Trumpets of the Sanctuary were of pure silver they did not as those inverse Trumpets of Furius Fulvius sound a retreat when they should have sounded an alarm No more must Gods Messengers Whatsoever the Lord saith unto me 1 Cor. 11. Heb. 3.5 that will I speak saith Michaiah Paul as he received what he delivered so he delivered whatsoever he received Moses was faithful in all Gods house c. Verse 10. Again Esther spake unto Hatach Having before found him a fit and faithful messenger she further employeth him so those that minister well do purchase to themselves a good degree and great boldnesse in the faith which is in Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 3.13 when others shall be laid by as broken vessels whereof there is not left a sheard to take fire from the hearth or to take water withal from the pit as the Prophet hath it Esay 30.14 Verse 11. All the Kings servants His Courtiers and Counsellours who haply were as very slaves to him Turk Hist 1153. as now the greatest Lords of the Court are to the great Turk no man having any power over himself much lesse is he Master of the house wherein he dwelleth or of the land which he tilleth but is in danger of being whipped upon the least displeasure of the Tyrant especially if he be not a natural Turk borne Ibid. 361. And the people of the Kings Provinces do know i.e. All both far and near this shewes that the Law here mentioned was no new Law procured by Haman to prevent Jewish Suppliants as Lyra would have it but long since made and known to all the Kings subjects That whosoever whether man or woman Yea though she be his dearest Consort who should cohabit with him and not be sundred for a season but by consent 1 Cor. 7.5 Shall come unto the King The Persians usually hid their King tanquam aliquod sacrum mysterium as some precious businesse and that for two reasons First for State and Authority lest familiarity with their subjects should breed contempt and make them over-cheap Philip the second King of Spaine was of the same minde and practice For after that he had gotten into his hands the Kingdome of Portugal and therewith the wealth of the Indies inclusit se in Curiale he shut up and immured himself in his Court Val. Max. Christ and was seldome seen of any though never so great a man but upon long suit and as a singular favour This made him to be adored as a demi-god Secondly for security and safety lest if all should be suffered to come that would the King should be assassinated and made away as Eglon was by Ehud Ishbosheth by Baanah and Rechab Gedaliah by Ishmael and many Kings of Israel and Emperours of Rome were by their own servants The Turks at this day suffer no stranger to come into the Presence of their Emperour but first they search him that he have no weapon and so clasping him by the armes Turk Hist under colour of doing him honour dissemblingly they
Chronicles which because it somewhat suiteth with the case in this text I will here relate King Edward the third laying siege to Callice they desired parley and had this final sentence that six of the chief Burgesses should be sent to the King bareheaded bare-footed in their shirts with halters about their necks the Keyes of the Town and Castle in their hands and submit themselves to the Kings will for the residue he was content to take to mercy Those came and the King commands them presently to be carried to execution Dâ— Hist 240. and would not on any suit be diverted in regard as he said of his oath till the Queen great with childe fell on her knees before him and with teares obtained their pardon and had them given unto her Nescit Antipater said Alexander the great Knoweth not Antipater that one teare of my mother Olympias can easily wash off all his accusations of her to me To put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite She doth not say to reverse the bloody decree of the King of Persia for this might have irritated that waspish Prince and made him to have rejected her request as unreasonable impossible She therefore useth a great deal of commendable prudence I wisdom dwell with prudence and finde out knowledge of witty inventions Pro. 8.12 and picks out her best time that she may set her words upon the wheels as Solomon hath it Prov. 25.11 and utter right words that may be forcible Job 6.25 Such another was Abigail the woman of Tekoah and the Matron of Abel And his device that he had devised against the Jewes All the blame is laid upon Haman who was indeed a man of wicked devices and had taken counsel both crafty and cruel against Gods people Him therefore she maâ—â—th the only Authour and Actour in this businesse not once mentioning the King who yet had ratified the decree but by his late dealing with Haman had sufficiently testified his utter dislike of his own act therein 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and cried Had I wist Verse 4. Then the King held out the golden Scepter It appeareth by this that she once more put her life in her hand hazarding it for her peoples safety as Arsinoe interposed her own body betwixt her children and the murtherers sent to slay them and so performing her promise made to Mordecai chap. 4.16 Gods children are all such as will not lie Esay 63.8 if they swear to their hurt yet they dare not change Psal 15.4 dare not say and unsay 2 Cor. 1.18 19 Of many Promisers it may be said as Tertullian doth of the Peacock that they are all in changeable colours as often changed as moved Holy Esther was none such no more was that blessed Martyr of Jesus Christ Mr. Hawkes when in the flames remembring his promise to certain friends to give them a signe whether the rage of the paine were tolerable he reached up his hands burning on a light fire and clapt them over his head three times together to the great astonishment of the beholders but especially of them who understood the matter Act. Mon. 1446. So Esther arose and stood before the King Experience had bred confidence They likewise that humble themselves under the mighty hand of God shall be exalted in due time 1 Peter 5.6 And as the lower the ebbe the higher will be the tide so the lower we descend in humiliation the higher shall we ascend in exaltation Verse 5. And said If it please the King See chap. 5.8 Thus when we pray to God we must take unto us words and speak in a low language as broken men The poor speaketh supplications Prov. 19.23 And the thing seem right before the King She taketh not upon her to prescribe but is willing to subscribe to the Kings good pleasure let us do so to the only wise God John 2.3 The mother of Christ doth not over-earnestly in words presse him to do that she desired but only layes open the case They have no wine referring all to his discretion so ought we in our prayers for temporal things Socrates taught his scholars to ask no more of God but this that he would do them good but how and how much they should leave that to him as best understanding what is best and fittest for us Those in the Gospel that would needs be at a certainty and bargain with the Master of the vineyard for a penny a day when they had their penny they went grumbling away that it was but a penny Mat. 20.11 And I be pleasing in his eyes If my beauty please him which is the best letter of recommendation to a Prince as the Queen-mother of France was wont to say Let is be written to reverse the letter She did not request to rule the whole Empire for three days as Semiramis once did nor to set Persepolis on fire as Alexander the great did at the motion of his Concubine but that the King her husband would revoke and rescind the letters of Hamans device that he would by new letters correct and over-rule as the Vulgar Latine hath it those former devised by Haman that he would antiquate and abolish the plots and projects of that wicked man And albeit this request of hers might seem to some uncivil and over-bold yet in a case of such great consequence wherein the glory of God the preservation of his people and the honour of the King were so much concerned she doubteth not to present and prosecute it Hincigitur satis est conspicua Esterae sancta audacia Act. Mon. fol. 1037. saith an Interpreter such as was also that of Cranmer in the Parliament house when the six Articles were in Agitation and that of George Marquesse of Brandenburg who professed at the Imperial Diet at Ausborough Malle se flexis ibi coram Caesare genibus spiculatori cervicem foriendam statim praebere Sculter Anual that he had rather lose his head presently there in the Presence of the Emperour then so yield his assent to the Popish Interim Verse 3. For how can I endure to see the evil c. She had her life already given her at her petition but unlesse she might have her people at her request who were sold as well as her self to be destroyed to be slain and to perish chapt 7.3 4. her life would be unto her a joylesse that is a lifelesse life Mortis enim habet vices quae trahitur vita gemitibus It is rather a death then a life that is spent in heavinesse and horrour And this would be Esthers case if her people should be massacred as was designed and decreed Such was her holy sympathy and endeared affection to her Countrey-men and fellow-Citizens of heaven that she could not live to behold such a sad and bloody spectacle Absit ut excisâ possim super vivere Troiâ said Anchises to his son Aeneas that would have saved him life in that common destruction of
in him to suspect 〈…〉 whilest he intended their good and turned his 〈…〉 That his children were godly is put 〈…〉 whether they had sinned But how then doth it follow And cursed God in their hearts And not blessed God so Calvin rendreth it not done him right So Sanctim and therefore wrong they have not high and honourable conceptions of him answerable to his excellent greatnesse but by base and bald thoughts cast him as it were into a dishonourable mould and not given him the glory due to his Name that holy and reverend Name Psal 111.9 Great and dreadful among the Heathen Mal. 1.14 In the Hebrew it is And blessed God for cursed by an Euphemismus or Antiphrasis as when an harlot is called Kedesha a holy woman by contraries So aurisacra i. e. execranda fames The Hebrews so abhorred blasphemy against God as they would not have the sound of it to be joyned to the Name of God whom they commonly call Baruc-hu the blessed One. So they would not take the name of Leven that prohibited ware into their mouths all the time of the feast of the Passeover Elias Thisâ— So in their common talk they call a Sow dabhar achar an other thing because they were forbidden to eat swines flesh Thus did Job continually Heb. all the dayes that is in the renewed seasons he was not weary of well-doing but stedfast and unmoveable alwaies abounding in the work of the Lord alwaies renewing his repentance and faith in Christ figured by those sacrifices for the Ceremonial Law was their Gospel Verse 6. Now there was a day Haply that day wherein Jobs children were feasting their last The Rabbines say the first day of the year and some say the sabbath day But who told them so this is to intrude into things which they have not seen Col. 2.18 and where of there is neither proof nor profit Certain it is that as God hath before all beginnings decreed all things so he hath set and assigned the times or seasons which he hath put in his own power Act. 1.7 when every thing shall come to passe as himself hath appointed Now then saith Beza the time being come which he prefixed for the actual accomplishing of that he had decreed concerning Job he revealed the same to Satan being before altogether ignorant thereof as whom he had appointed to be the chief instrument in executing this his will and purpose The children of God i.e. the Elect Angels called Sons of God here and elsewhere not because they are so by eternal generation as Christ alone nor by adoption and regeneration as the Saints John 1.12 but by Creation as Adam is called the Son of God Luke 3. ult and Resemblance for they are made in Gods image and are like him as his children both in their substance which is incorporeal and in their excellent properties which are Life and Immortality Blessednesse and Glory wherein we shall one day be their comperes Luke 20.36 Came to present themselves This is spoken in a low language for our better apprehension by allusion to the custome of earthly Princes and their attendants and officers coming to give an account or receive directions The Angels are never absent from God Luke 1.19 but yet employed by him in governing the world Ezek 1. and guarding the Saints Heb. 1.14 This the heathens hammered at for both Plutarch and Proculus the Platonist say that the Angels doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 travel betwixt heaven and earth carrying the commands of God to men and the desires of men to God Jussa divina ferentes ad homines hominem voâ—â— ad deos And Satan came also among them That old man-slayer envying Jobs holinesse and happinesse as much as the good Angels rejoyced in it and promoted it for he was seen of Angels of both sorts would needs make one among those Sons of God not without Gods over ruling power although he regarded not so much Gods authority as wanted an opportunity and license to do mischief In reference to this history George Marsh Martyr in a certain letter of his writeth thus to his friend the servants of God cannot at any time come and stand before God that is lead a godly life and walk innocently but Satan comes also among them that is the daily accuseth findeth fault 〈◊〉 persecuteth and troubleth the godly c. Yet unlesse God do permit him he can do nothing at all not so much as enter into a filthy hog But we are more of price then many hogs before God Acts and Mon. fol. 14 23. Before the Lord Or By or Near the Lord. But can Satan come into the presence of God Mr. Caryl Surely no otherwise saith a grave Divine then a blind man can come into the Sun he cometh into the Sun and the Sun shineth upon him but he sees not the Sun Satan comes so into the presence of God that 〈…〉 of God he is never so in the presence of God as to see God Verse 7. And the Lord said unto Satan either by forming and creating a voice in the air as Matth. 3.17 Job 12.28 or by an inward word after an unspeakable manner manifesting his wil as he willed to Satan The School men have great disputes about the speech of spirits but this they agree in that the intention of one spirit is as plain an expression of his mind by another spirit when he hath a will that the other should understand it as the voice of one man is to another Whence comest thou This the Lord asketh not as if he were ignorant for he knows all things and that from eternity neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and open before his eyes Heb. 4.13 yea in him all things subsist Colâ—â— 1.17 So that there can be no motion of the creature without his privity God therefore thus interrogateth Satan that he might shew himself to be his Judg and that he might exact a confession out of his own mouth Then Satan answered the Lord the word signifieth to speak in witnesse-bearing Exod. 20 16 From going to and fro in the earth He saith not from instigating men to all manner of wickednesse from ranging up and down as a roaring Lion to devour soules from sinning that sin against the Holy Ghost every moment c. All this he cunningly dissembleth and saith in effect as once Gehezi did Thy servant was no where or for no hurt to any when as he is never but doing mischief as Pliny saith of the Scorpion that there is not one minute wherein it doth not put forth the sting Is not the hand of Joab in this businesse So is not Satan in all the sins of the wicked and in most of the troubles of the godly Heâ— quà m furit Satan impellis secures homines ad horrenda flagitia c. saith Luther O how doth Satan range and rage that he may glut himself
My lovers and friends stand aloof c. they looked on him and so passed by him as the Priest and the Levite did the wounded passenger Luke 10.32 But God takes it ill that any should once look upon his afflicted unlesse it be to pity and relieve them Obad. 12.13 and hath threatned an evil an only evil without the least mixture of mercy to such as shew no mercy to those in misery Jam. 2.13 But he hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty Which wheresoever it is in the power of it frameth a man to all the duties both of piety and charity Oâ—adiah feared God greatly and it well appeared by his pity to the persecuted Prophets Cornelius feared God and as a fruit of it gave much almes Acts 10.2 Not so Nabal that saplesse fellow whose heart was hardened from Gods holy fear nor Judas the traitor who had no bowels of compassion toward his innocent master and therefore he burst in the midst wâ—â—h an huge crack and all his bowels gusht out by a singular judgment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 1.18 There are many other readings of this text as that of the â—igurine translation It were fit for friends to shew kindnesse to their friend that is in misery but the feare of the Almighty hath forsaken me as you please to say See what Eliphaz had said to this purpose chap. 4.6 with the Note Others read it thus to him that is afflicteâ— should reproach be given that he hath forsaken the feare of the Almighty q.d. Must a man therefore be reviled as irreligious because he is calamitous The vulgar translation runnes thus He that taketh away pity from his friend hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty c. Verse 15. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brooke Even you whom I esteemed as my brethren for to them he applyeth this speech verse 21. prove hollow and helplesse to me like the river Araris that moveth so slowly that it can hardly be discerned saith Caesar whether it flow forward or backward or rather Cas de bell Gal. l. 1. to a certaine fish in that river Araris called Scolopidus which at the waxing of the Moon is as white as the driven snow and at the wayning thereof is as black as a burnt coal Job here elegantly compareth them not to a river which is fed by a spring and hath a perennity of flowing but to a brook arising from rain or melted snow the property whereof is in a moisture when there is least need of them to swell in a drought when they should do good to fail It is reported of the river Novanus in Lombardy that at every mid-summer-solstice it swelleth and runneth over the bankes but in mid-winter is quite dry Such were Jobs deceitfull brethren good summer-birds c. The same Author telleth us that in that part of Spaine called Carrinensis Plin. lib. 2. cap. 103. Idem ibid. there is a river that shewes all the fish in it to be like gold but take them into thine hand and they soon appeare in their natural kinde and colour Job found that all is not gold that glistereth And as the stream of brooks they passe away i. e. as an impetuous land-flood they faile me and now that I have most need of their refreshments they yeild me none but the contrary rather like as land-floods by their sudden and violent overflow doe much hurt many times to corn and cattle I can goe to these streames of brookes saith Job and shew my friends the face of their hearts in those waters Verse 16. Which are blackish by reason of the ice Or frost a black-frost we call it which deceiveth those that tread upon it Or if hard enough to beare up passengers it promise to be a store-house of preserving snow and water against the scortching time of Summer yet there 's no trusting to it for these waters as they are in winter lock'd up with frosts so they will be in Summer exhaled and dried up by the Sun Verse 17. What time they wax warm they vanish when it is hot c. Lo such is the fruit of creature-confidence of making flesh our arme of trusting in men or meanes whereas Deo coâ—fisi nunquan confusi they that trust in the Lord shall never be disappointed This thou canst never do unlesse unbottomed of thy self and the creature thou so lean upon the Lord as that if he fail thee thou sinkest and not otherwise Verse 18. The paths of their way are turned aside i. e. They being as it were cut into divers small rivers running here and there by little and little Beza and being resolved into vapours at length quite vanish away They go to nothing and perish Metaphâ—ra insignis Hieroglyphicum saith an Interpreter this is an excellent metaphor and a lively picture of the vanity of such as make a great shew of piety and charity which yet floweth not from the spring of true faith and therefore cannot but after a while go to nothing and perish A failing brook saith another is a cleare emblem of a false heart both to God and man Lavatâ—r thus explaineth the comparison 1. As brookes run with waters then when there is least need of them so falfe friends are most officious when their courtesie might best be spared 2. As the ice of such brooks is so condensed and hardened that it beareth men horses and other things of great weight so counterfeit friends promise and pretend to be ready to doe their utmost to suffer any thing for our good and comfort 3. But as those brookes are dried up in summer and frozen up in winter so that we can set no sight on them in like sort these are not to be found when we are in distresse and affliction 4. As brooks in winter are covered with snow and ice so these would seem to be whiter then snow when their aâ—fections towards us are colder then ice 5. Lastly as the ice that was hard and firm upon a thaw breaketh and melteth so false friends leave us many times upon very small or no dislikes as being constant only in their unconstancy Verse 19. The troopes of Tema looked the companies of Sheba waited for them The troops that is the travellers the Caravan or company of merchants from those parts passing through dangerous and dry deserts expected reliefe from those brooks which they had marked out for themselves against summer But with what successe Verse 20. They were confounded because they had hoped c. Heb. They blushed or they were abashed because disappointed and defeated of their hope and expectation See Jer. 14.3 4. Joel 1.10 11. Gods people have a promise that hoping in him they shall never be ashamed Joel 2.26 Rom 9.23 Their hope is unfallible Rom. 5.5 because founded upon â—aith unfained 1 Tim. 1.5 Hence they are commanded to rejoyce in hope Rom. 12.12 and to conceive gaudium in re gaudium in spe gaudium de possessiâ—e
in Gods heart and which he was well assured could not have befallen him without Gods will and decree the mercies which in the former verses Job had recounted and reckoned up viz. his conception quickening preservation all which he looked upon as love-tokens coming out of the heart of God and from the spring of special love Here then we see whence we may fetch comfort when most hardly bestead namely from those effects whereby God sealed up his love to us in forming us in the womb but especially in his Covenant of Grace that bee-hive of heavenly honey whereby he hath ingaged to be our God even from the womb to the tomb yea to all perpetuity Hereunto Job had respect and so had David Psalm 22.10 11. and Psalm 25.10 Verse 14. If I sin then thou markest me Though through humane frailty only I offend niâ—is dedignatur mortalitatem qui peccasse erubescit Enphorm thou soon notest it thou followest me up and down as it were with pen ink and paper to set down my faults How then say some that God sees not sin in his children Job thought the Lord was over-strict with him which yet could not be and that he put no difference betwixt him and those that were notoriously wicked as the next words import And thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity That is from the punishment of mine iniquity Verba diffidentis saith Mercer words spoken according to the judgment of the flesh saith Diodate which holdeth Gods visitations to be punishments and vengeances Verse 15. If I be wicked wo unto me Here he bringeth a Dilemma whereby he declareth himself every way miserable faith Mercer whether he be bad or good suffer he must without remedy If I be wicked woe unto me wo is the wicked mans portion tell him so from me saith God Isai 3.10 11. Though he love not to hear on that ear but can blesse himself in his heart when God curseth him with his mouth Deut. 29.19 And a godly man setteth the terrour of sins woes before his flesh that slave that must be frighted at least with the sight of the whip Wo be to me saith Paul if I preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.16 Or if when I have preached to others I my self should be a cast-a-way verse 27. which to prevent he kept under his body his corruption and gave it a blue eye for we are not debters to the flesh saith he Rom. 8.10 We owe nothing but stripes and menaces cursing it in every cruse c. And if I be righteous yet I will not lift up my head Indeed I cannot because I am so bowed down with changes of sorrows armies of afflictions my pains are continued and I shall surely sink under them much adoe I have now to keep head above water Others make this a description of Jobs humility I will not lift up my head viz. in pride but humble my self to walk with my God as that poor publican did who stood afarre off and would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven Luk. 18.13 I am full of confusion Cast upon me by my friends who reproach me for an hypocrite and make my cheeks glow The fulnesse of an aspersion may possibly put an innocent person to the blush and it is the property of defamations to leave a kind of lower estimation many times even where they are not believed This was the confusion that Job complained of the stomack of his mind was full of it even to satiety and surfet Therefore see thou mine affliction My pressing and piercing affliction see it and remedy it as Psalm 119.153 Let not all my trouble seem little unto thee as Nehem. 9.32 See Lord see behold it is high time for thee to set in Verse 16. For it increaseth Heb. For it lifteth up it self it even boyleth up to the height or it waxeth proud as the proud surges of the sea Broughton rendreth it Oh haw it fleeth up Why how Surely as a fierce lion so it hunteth me it riseth upon me as a Lion rampant doth upon his prey or as a Lion when he is pursued gives not place hides not his head but comes into the open fields as holding it a disgrace to withdraw so some sense it Or Thou huntest me as a fierce Lion Tanquam â—e God when he afflicteth men is oft compared to a Lion or Tanquam leonem as if I were a ravening Lion so thou huntest me Isa 38.13 Hos 5.14 Hos 13.7 setting thy nets and toyls making thy snares and pits ut capiar ad occisionem so the Septuagint that I may be taken and destroyed as 2 Pet. 2 12. And again thou shewest thy self marvellous upon me Heb. And thou returnest Here Job sheweth saith an Interpreter what a confidence he had that God returning to him in mercy would do wonderfully for him in the end the word turning here Ab. Ezr. and the turning his captivity chap. 42. so aptly answering the one to the other to approve this exposition But others understand it of the continued or repeated acts of Jobs affliction unâ viâ—e post aliam as if he should say thou clappest on one affliction upon another my pains know not only no period but no pause thou layest upon me extraordinary sorrows as if thou wouldst declare in me alone quà m mirus sis artifex what an excellent artisan thou art when thou pleasest and what thou canst do against a poor creature surely thou hast made my plagues wonderfull Deut. 28.59 So the Apostles were made a gazing-stock a theatre a spectacle of humane misery 1 Cor. 4.9 Verse 17. Thou renewest thy witnesses against me These fresh witnesses were divels say some Jobs friends say others his dolorous sufferings rather saith Austir those open witnesses of some secret wickednesse in Job as the world would esteem them See chap. 16.8 Ruth 1.21 Thus the Jewes censured our Saviour Isa 53.3 4. The Barbarians Paul Acts 28. and those in the Gospel them that perished by the fall of the tower of Siloam And how many precious men as well as Job have been cast upon this evidence for traitors and rebels against the highest majesty Jâ—â—uâ— thinks that when Job uttered the words of this text he felt some new pains growing upon him and increasing Thou in reasest thine indignation upon me Or within me as chap. 6.4 and this was it that put a sting into his sufferings Gods heavy displeasure seemed to be kindled against him Be not thou a terrour unto me ô Lord said Jeremy and then I shall do well enough with the rest Changes and warre or armies are upon me or against me Variety of troubles come trooping and treading as it were on the heels of one another fluctus fluctâ—um â—rudiâ— there is a continual succession of my sorrows fresh forces sent against me c. We see then that Job complained not without cause though he kept not alwaies within compasse as appeareth by that which followeth
bespeaking us as once hee did Jacob Fear not to go down to Egypt so down to the grave for I will go with thee and will surely bring thee up again Gen. 46.4 Or as he did his labouring Church Isa 26.20 Come my people enter thou into thy chambers and shut thy doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the indignation be overpast That thou wouldst keep me secret In limbo Patrum say the Papists in parabola ovis capras suas quaerentes Vntil thy wrath be passed For it is such as I can of my self neither avoid nor abide Turn it away therefore or turn it into gentlenesse and kindnesse Psal 6.4 and be friends again Jer. 2.35 Or secret and secure me til the resurrection when all thy wrath will be gone from me That thou wouldst appoint me a set time Heb. set me a statute set down even what time thou pleasest either to send me to bed or to call me up again so that thou wilt but be sure at last to remember me And remember me Job is willing to die out of the world but to die out of Gods memory to be out of sight but not out of mind that God should bury him in the grave but not bury his thoughts of him he could be content to be free among the dead free of that company but not as the slain that lie in the grave whom God remembreth no more Psal 88.5 Job would be remembred for good as Nehemiah prayeth and be dealt with as Moses was whose body once hid in the valley of Moab did afterwards appear glorious in Mount Tabor at the transfiguration Verse 14. If a man dye shall he liâ—e again This he speaketh in way of admiration at that glorious work of the Resurrection See the like question chap. 15.11 Gen. 3.1 and 17.17 So the Apostle Rom. 8.30 31. having spoken of those glorious things predestination vocation justification glorification concludeth in these words What shall we say then We cannot tell what to say to these things so much we are amazed at the greatnesse of Gods goodnesse in them Surely as they have a lovely scarlet blush of Christs blood upon them so they are rayed upon with a beam of divine love to them that are in Christ We read of that godly and learned Scotch-Divine Mr. John Knox that a little before his death he gat up out of his bed and being asked by his friends why being so sick he would offer to rise and not rather take his rest he answered that he had all the last night been taken up in the meditation of the Resurrection and that he would now go up into the pulpit that hee might im part to others the comforts which thereby himself had received And surely if he had been able to have done as he desired I know not what text fitter for his purpose he could have taken then these words of Job If a man die shall he live again He shall without question and those that deny it or doubt of it as the Sadduces of old and some brain-sick people of late they erre not knowing the Scriptures this among the rest which are express for it and the power of God Mat. 22.29 being herein worse then divels which believe it and tremble worse then some heathens who held there would be a resurrection as Zoroastres Theopompus Plato c. worse then Turks who at this day confesse and wait for a resurrection of the body at such a time as the fearful trumpet which they call Soor shal be sounded by Mahomet say they at the commandment of the great God of the judgment All the dayes of mine appointed time or warfare will I wait till my change come i. e. till my death Prov. 31.8 men appointed to die are called in the original children of change or till the resurrection come when we shall all be changed 1 Cor. 15.51 our vile bodies shall be changed and conformed to Christs most glorious body the standard Philip. 3.23 in beauty agility impassibility and other Angelical perfections When I awake saith David sc at that general Resurrection I shall be full of thine image Psalm 17.15 I shall be brought from the jawes of death to the joyes of eternal life where are riches without rust pleasures without pain c. Three glimpses of this glorious change were seen 1. In Moses his face 2. In Christs transfiguration 3. In Stevens countenance when he stood before the council Such a change as this is well worth waiting for what would not a man do what would he not suffer with those noble professors Heb. 11. to obtain a better resurrection I would swim through a sea of brimstone saith one that I might come to heaven at last The stone will fall down to come to its own place though it break it self in twenty pieces so we that we may get to our center which is upwards c. Sursum cursum nostrum dirigamus manantem imminentem exterminantem mortem attendamus ne simul cum corporis fractura animae jacturam faciamus Let us wait and wish every one for himself as he once did Mî sine nocte diem vitam sine morte quietem Det sine fine dies vita quiésque Deus Verse 15. Thou shalt call and I will answer thee At the Resurrection of the just thou shalt call me out of the grave by thine All-powerful voice uttered by that Archangel with the trump of God 1 Thes 4.16 1 Cor. 15.52 Psalm 50.3 4. and thou shalt not need to call twice for as I shall not need then to fear as the hypocrites will to shew my face so I will readily answer Here I am Mr. Boroughs yea as that dying Saint did so I will say I come I come I come I will even leap out of the grave to obey thine orders and I doubt not but to draw me out of that dark prison thou wilt lend me that hand of thine whereof I have the honour to be the workmanship Thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands I know that thou thy self for the love thou bearest me of thy goodnesse who am thy creature Abbot and on whom thou hast shewn favour and reprinted thine image wilt long after the consummation of my happinesse for then I shall be like unto thee more like then ever for I shall see thee as thou art and appear with thee in glory Col. 3.4 1 John 3.2 being next unto thee Luke 22.30 Yea one with thee John 17.21 and so above the most glorious Angels Heb. 1.14 The King shall greatly desire my beauty Psal 45.11 and rejoyce over me as the bridegrom doth over his bride Isa 62.5 See chap. 10.3 The word here rendred Thou wilt have a desire signifieth Thou wilt desire as men do after silver The Lord seemed to deal by Job as men do by drosse to put him away as wicked Psalm 119.119 neverthelesse he believed that he would look
in changeable colours as often changed as moved Gods name is I am Exod. 3.14 And if Pilate could say What I have written I have written nothing shall be altered how much more may the Lord who is the same yesterday to day and for ever His Decrees are immutable his power irresistible Some think that Job complaineth here of Gods absolute power and little lesse then tyrannical exercised against him an innocent person If so Job was surely much to blame sith Gods absolute power is never sundred from his Justice and it must be taken for an undoubted truth that his judgments are sometimes secret but alwayes just And what his soul desireth even that he doth Id est Cupit ac facit statim ejus voluntas est executio that is He desireth and doth it forthwith his will is present execution It is his pleasure to lay load of afflictions upon me but wherefore it is I know not But Job should have known that as God is a most free Agent so his wil is not only recta but regula neither may any man here presume to reprehend what he cannot comprehend Verse 14. For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me He hath performed all my necessaries so Vatablus rendreth it 't is the same word that was used for appointed or necessary food ver 12. Voluntas Dei necessitas rei God hath decreed thus to deal with me and therein I must rest satisfied And many such things are with him I know not but that there may be many more sufferings yet decreed to come upon me in his secret counsel Fiat voluntâ—â— Domini Godly people though they know not many times what the Lord will do and how he wil deal with them yet they always know that he is a merciful father to them and wil order all for the best This should content them and keep them from chatting against God and from nourishing hard conceits of him or heavy conceits of themselves as if wicked because afflicted Verse 15. Therefore am I troubled at his presence At the consideration of his formidable Power and Majesty I am troubled and terrified troubled at my present calamities and afraid of fiercer This verse then seemeth to be a correction of that wish of his above verse 3. and not unlike that ch 13.21 Withdraw thine hand far from me and let not thine dread make me afraid Then call then and I will answer c. When I consider I am afraid of him I have alwayes imagined that as it were weakness to fear a man so it were madness not to be afraid of God Let me be accounted timorous rather then temerarious Verse 16 For God maketh my heart soft Methinks I feel it fall asunder in my bosome like drops of water and dissolved with manifold afflictions so that I am hardly able to hear up any longer I am almost done as we use to speak and my heart faileth me How should it do otherwise when God with-draweth from his the supplies of his Spirit Phil 1.19 that Spirit of power of love and of a sound mind 2 Tim. 1.7 Dr. Preston Acts 20.22 saith that great Apostle And now behold I go bound in the Spirit up to Jerusalem c. Whereupon One gives this good Note The Spirit hemmeth us about comprehendeth and keepeth us When a man 's own strength would fall loose this supernatural strength stayeth and strengtheneth it Hence that of David Psal 138.3 In the day when I cryed unto thee thou answeredst me and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul So Psal 27.14 Be of good courage and he shall strengthen thy heart which else will melt as did the hearts of the men of Jericho Josh 2.11 like metal melted with fire or like ice thawed into water and spilt upon the ground which cannot be taken up again And this is the soft heart Job here complaineth of God had dispirited him and The Almighty troubleth him sc With the thoughts of his Almightinesse See Psal 39.11 Tot malis ingruentibus Jun. and with so many miseries growing upon him Now it is not amisse for Gods people thus to be melted and troubled otherwhiles for by this meanes shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Isai 37.9 Verse 17. Because I was not cut off before the darknesse i.e. The afflictions that now are upon me It is a mercy to some to dye betime as Josiah and those righteous ones Isai 57.1 who were taken away from the evil to come when Gods glory was to passe by he put Moses into the hole of the rock so he sometimes doth his servants till the glory of his Justice hath passed upon others Neither hath he covered the darkness from my face i.e. He hath neither prevented my troubles by death as I wished he would have done chap. 3. Nor yet will he put an end to them by the same means for Mors erumnaruns requies Chancers Motto Death is a rest from trouble To the tossed soul it is as Mount Ararat was to Noah where the Ark rested as Michal was to David a means to shift him out of the way when Saul sent to slay him or as the fall of the house was to Samson an end of all his sorrowes and servitude CHAP. XXIV Verse 1. Why seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty HEB. Why are not times hidden from the Almighty q.d. Who could think any otherwise that had not been at the Sanctuary Ps 73.17 and there heard Wo to the wicked it shall go ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be sooner or later given unto him Isai 3.11 The Jew-Doctors conclude but falsly from this Text that Job denyed the Divine Providence And the Vulgar Latine to salve the matter and save Job from the imputation of Epicurisme takes the boldnesse to leave out the Interrogative Why and rendreth it thus The times are not hidden from the Almighty lest by making it a question Job should affirm that times and events are hidden from God or at least should wish and desire that they were so Vatablus thinketh that Job here putteth on the person of one that denyeth Gods Providence or at least doubteth of it as if he should say Ye my friends say that nothing is hidden from God and I now demand of you how the times and those things which are done in time can be otherwise then hid from him when as we see wicked men so to take their swinge in sin and yet for ought we see to escape unpunished It should seem by his winking at wicked practises that he takes no care how things are carried in this present world Brent as certainly he would do were he diligens mundi Oeconomus an t rerum humanarum conscius This indeed might stagger a David or a Jeremy in a passion as Psal 73.2 c. Jer. 12.1 and make a Diagoras or an Averroes turn Atheist But Job was better instructed in
forsaken of fortune And as James 5 of Scotland was called The poor mans King so might Job well have been for no sooner could a poor body cry to him for help but he relieved him Cassiodor and rescued him out of the hands of his oppressor Theodorick of old and Gustavus King of Swedes of late are famous for so doing Mr. Clark And the fatherlesse and him that had none c. The fatherlesse and friendless from whom he could not expect any reward He was not of those who follow the administration of Justice as a trade only with an unquenchable and unconscionable desire of gain but held out a constant course of integrity and righted those whom others would have slighted Verse 13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me Such poor creatures as were destined to destruction and seasonably delivered by my meanes gave me their good words and wishes yea they cryed me up for their gracious Deliverer with a Courage as the Grecians did Flaminius the Roman General as the Christian Captives did Hunniades Plut. Turk Hist Val. Max. Christ 41 who had set them at liberty from Turkish slavery as the drowning man pulled out of the water by King Alphonsus cryed Arragon Arragon and as the Italian prisoners in 88 released and sent home by Queen Elizabeth Sainted her and said That although they were Papists yet they would worship no Saint but her And I caused the widowes heart to sing for joy scil By ready righting her upon her Adversary and this out of conscience of duty and not for her importunity as that unjust Judge Luke 18.5 or because she conjured him to it as that widow did Adrian the Emperour to whom when he had answered That he was not at leisure to hear her Cause Dio in Adrian she boldly replyed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Then lay down the Empire Whereupon he turned again and did her right and sent her away a joyful woman Verse 14 I put on righteousnesse and it cloathed me It was not ambition popularity or self-interest that put Job upon these and the following good practices and proceedings â—omem horum officiorum aperit Merlin but the care he had of discharging his trust and the pure love he bare to Justice and upright dealing For although he desired more to be loved then honoured as it is said of Trajan the Emperour yet he would not do any thing of popularity or partiality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio. Declinatione detorsione judicii Merlin by writhing or warping but retained the gravity of the Law which is a heart without affection an eye without Lust a mind without passion a Treasurer which keepeth for every man what he hath and distributeth to every man what he ought to have Job did put on righteousnesse and it put on him so the Hebrew hath it By which similitude he declareth that he could as little be drawn from doing Justice as he could go abroad without his cloathes or suffer them to be puld off him My judgment was as a robe and a Diadem Righteousnesse is that whereby the innocent is delivered Judgment is that whereby the guilty person is punished saith Brentius With these was Job arrayed and adorned far better then was Alcist henes the Sybarite with his cloak Athenaus sold by Dionysius to the Carthaginians for an hundred and twenty talents or Hanun with his massie Diadem the weight whereof was a talent of gold with the precious stones 2 Sam. 12.30 Some Judges have nothing more to commend them then their Robes which are oft lined with rapine and robbery So were not Jobs He made the like use of them that old Eleazer did of his hoarinesse he would not do any thing that might seem to be evil because he would not spot his white head No more would Job lest he should stain his purple disgrace his Diadem Salvian He knew that dignitas in indigno est ornamentum in luto Ruledom without righteousness is but eminent dishonour Verse 15 I was eyes to the blind Here he saith the same in effect as before vers 12 13. Mercer only he setteth it forth Pulcherrimis allegoriis per synathroismum velut conglobatis by a heap of most elegant allegories He meaneth here I gave advice to the simple and support to the weak and impotent But how many great men are there qui etiam videntes circumveniunt fallunt who put out the eyes of men as Korah falsely accused Moses Numb 16.14 And cut off their legs as that Tyrant in the Story served his Guests that were too long for his bed by disabling or discouraging them to follow their just causes so that they are ready to say with Themistecles that if two wayes were shewed him Plut. whereof the one led to hell and the other to those corrupt courses of Justice he would seriously chuse the former rather then the latter Verse 16. I was a father to the poor Ab lacbionim an elegant agnomination as Mercer here noteth Job was not only a friend to the poor as aforesaid but a father providing for their necessitites Sueâ— and protecting them from injuries So Augustus Caesar delighted to be called Pater Patriae the Father of his Country And our Queen Elizabeth would many times say that she could believe nothing of her people Cambden Eliz. that parents would not believe of their children And the cause which I knew not I sought out Sifting it to the bran and not pronouncing sentence till I had fully understood each circumstance of the controversie Judge not according to the appearance but judge a righteous judgement John 7.24 Thucydides well saith That there are two things most opposite to right proceedings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Haste and Anger A Justicer must do nothing rashly but with greatest deliberation and industry to come to a right understanding of matters in capital causes especially lest he repent it too late as that Sir James Pawlet did who out of humour and for revenge laid by the heels Thomas Wolsey Negotiat of Card. Wolsey then a Country Minister afterwards a Cardinal and Lord Chancellour of England for the which he suffered long imprisonment And as that Judge mentioned by Fortescue who having condemned a Gentlewoman to death for the murder of her husband upon the bare accusation of her man which afterwards was found false saepius ipse mihi falsus est He afterwards confessed unto me saith the Authour that he should never during his life be able to clear his conscience of that Fact We know what paines Solomon took in the case of the two harlots that strove before him And we have read of a Judge who to find out a Murther caused those that were accused to open their bosomes and felt the beating of their hearts And when he found one of their hearts to beat extraordinarily Tu inquit fecisti Thou art the Murtherer certainly said he The man
think things sufficiently refuted by the learned which yet had need to be further inquired into 5. That one younger man may see further sometimes into a matter then many others of longer standing and experience 6. That men may be esteemed obstinate and opinionative who are nothing less 7. That multitude and antiquity are but ciphers in Divinity c. Verse 13. Lost ye should say we have found out wisdom Or See that ye say not we need not search out words as verse 11. For we have found out wisdom rem acu pertigimus We have hit the nail on the head and said sufficient to convince him if any reason would do it whilst we affirm that God thrusteth him down as it were with a thump on the back and not man Who might do amisse but so cannot God who for as much as he fighteth against Job tossing him as a Tennis ball or as the wind doth a withered leafe from one affliction to another who can doubt but that he holdeth him a wicked man This saith Elihu is a very weak way of reasoning therefore never please your selves in it as convincing Hoc argumentum tam facilè dilustur quam vulpes comest pyrum as one merrily phrased it There is no judgement to be made of a person or cause by the good or evil successe of things sith none out of hell ever suffered more then Gods dearest children witnesse that little Book of Martyrs Hebr. 11. Neither have any sped better here then those worst of men Turks Papists Persecutors c. Verse 14. Now he hath not directed his speech against me And so I have no particular edge or grudge against him he hath no reason to think that I come prejudicated or exasperated This Elihu speaketh purposely to get within Job that he might the better perswade with him We must endeavour to preserve in the party with whom we would prevaile an opinion of our love and good affection to him for else we shall lose all our sweet words sith man is a cross and crabbed creature duci vult trahi non vult lead him you may drag him you must not Neither will I answer him with your speeches But with better He shall have from me soft words and hard Arguments I will come over him in a milder manner and to better purpose whilst moved merely by a zeal for Gods glory I shall shew him his miscarriages not in mine own words but in Gods That 's a true saying of learned Junius Personatae reprehensiones frigent plerimumque interest ex animo omnia ut conscientia fert animusque facias an de industria Verse 15. They were amazed As if they had seen Medusa's head or some such terrible spectacle that had rendred them dumb Talkative enough they have been when there was no such necessity but now that they might speak to some purpose they stand like stocks and are mute as fishes whereby they bewray their ignorance and folly Silence in some cases is sepes sapientiae as the Rabbins speak Pirke aboth the fruit and fence of wisdome Amos 5.13 See the Note there But withal there is a sinful silence which Luther wished never to be found guilty of Modò impii silentii non arguar Luth. And it is the divel doubtlesse that gaggeth people when being called to speak of or for God as these friends of Job were at this time they answer no more They leave speaking The desert a good Cause or betray it by a cowardly silence It may be feared the spirit of faith is no indweller where the door of the lips move not right 2 Cor. 4.13 He speaks thus of those three seniors in a third person by way of irony and contempt turning his talk to the by-standers whereof its likely there were many or as Tremellius thinketh to Job with whom he seeketh to ingratiate Verse 16 When I had waited for they spake not but stood still Or Seeing I have waited but they have not spoken c. Nothing appears but a dumb shew a deep silence such as Elihu much marvelled at and therefore setteth it forth in many words all to one purpose See verse 15. Verse 17. I said I will answer also my part It is a vertue to be forward and forth putting in that which is good and a vice to be shye and shame faced A Christian should catch at opportunities of doing and receiving good he should be ready to every good work as the busie Bee so soon as ever the Sun breaks forth gets abroad to gather honey and wax I also will shew my opinion Heb. My knowledg as verse 6. and so the Vulgar readeth it Hereupon Gregory taking Elihu but not well for an arrogant person sheweth that such love to vaunt themselves and out of ostentation to set forth their good parts to publick view and are therein like unto a vessel without a cover touching which the Law saith that it shall be counted unclean Thus He. But to utter a mans knowledge for the benefit of others as good Elihu did is not pride but zeal however the world censure it And they have doubtlesse an heavy account to make who hide their talents and having a great treasure of rare abilities will not be drawne to impart them the canker of these mens great skill shall be a swift witness against them Vile latens virtus Verse 18. For I am full of matter Heb. Of words such as are weighty and stuffy steep'd in mine understanding as Plutark saith Phocions words were and very well digested I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in very good case to speak as full of solid Arguments as the Moon is of light Whether Elihu speaketh this arrogantly and from the flesh or from the Spirit I determine not saith Brentius here But sure it is that such words as these howsoever they may seem arrogant and carnal Possunt tamen esse spiritualissima yet they may be very spiritual as Jer. 4. and 20. And as sure it is that we should be in company like full clouds or paps that pain themselves with fulness till eased of their milk The Spirit within me constraineth me Heb. The spirit of my belly that is Gods Holy Spirit inhabiting mine heart and exciting me to so good a work The love of Christ constraineth us 2 Cor. 5.14 It hath not only an impulsive but a compulsive faculty Sicu◠flatus in ventre conclusus magno impetu exitum quaerit sic zelus mentis quaerit exitum per sermonem Pisc Rumperer medius si non erumperet sermo intra me conceptus as Brentius here paraphraseth I should even burst if I did not vent my conceptions which like a child in the womb at full time or as wind in the bowels want room and presse to come out Psal 39.3 Jer. 20.9 Verse 19. Behold my belly is as wine which hath no vent By this elegant similitude Elihu illustrateth what he had said before wherein as Merlin well observeth he compareth words shut
As a dutiful and docible Scholar who should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will ask thee questions and hang upon thy holy lips for an answer Verse 5. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear God hath ordained that as death entred into the world at first by the ear poisoned by that old Man-slayer Genes 3. so life shall enter into the soul by the same door for it is Hear and your soul shall live Isai 55.3 And The dead in sins and trespasses shall hear the voice of the Son of God sounding in his Ordinances and shall live the life of grace here and of glory hereafter John 5.25 This great mercy Job had received and he thankfully acknowledgeth it But behold a greater But now mine eyes hath seen thee Not only in the temple and whirl-wind those clear testimonies of thy presence but by some other special glorious apparition so some think and by a Spirit of Prophecy as the Hebrewes would have it by the inward teaching of thy Spirit howsoever as Vatablus senseth it Et quando Christus Magister quà m citò discitur quod docetur saith Austin When God by his Spirit taketh in hand to teach a man he soon becometh a skilful Scholer Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia saith Ambrose The Spirit is not long in teaching those that commit themselves to his tuition The hypocrite knowes God but by hear-say as a blind man knoweth colours such may say as those in the Psalm Audivimus famam something we have heard and some confused notions we have got concerning God and his will but they are meerly disciplinary but not intuitive id est Per speciem Propriam c. Such as transformes the soul into the same Image it is not that claritas in intellectu quae parit ardorem in affectu That light in the understanding that kindleth the affections Job was such witnesse his next words Verse 6. Wherefore I abhor my self Aspernor illa so Tremellius I utterly dislike those my former base and bald conceits of thee my hard and unsauoury speeches mine impatient and imprudent carriages Horreo quicquid de meo est ut meus sins as Bernard expresseth it Reprobo meipsum so Brentius I do utterly reject my selfe I condemn mine own folly I eat those words of discontent at thy righteous proceedings Dignasanè quae per jugulum redeant Abiicio vitam meam so Mercer and Lavater render it Displiceo mihimetipsi ac pervelim ut aliter dixissem ac fecissem Lavat Jerem. 6.26 and 25.34 Virg. Aeneid lib. 12. I cast away my life and look upon it as lost if thou shouldst take the forfeiture I humbly put my self into the hands of justice yet in hope of mercy I repent in dust and ashes As in an expresse and publick pennance I throw my self here upon the ground I put my mouth in the dust Lam. 3.24 Canitiem iâ—â—mundo perfusam pulvere turpo I sprinkle dust and ashes upon mine head in token that I have deserved to be as far under ground as now I am above ground I repent my presumptuous misbehaviour with as lowly a spirit as ever I sinned with an high Lo this was paenitentiam agere quod est pro malo bonum reponere saith Brentius This was true repentance to change evil for good as piety for blasphemy chastity for fornication charity for envy humility for pride Christ for Satan And Reformation is the best Repentance saith Luther Such as so repent are sure of comfort The word here rendred I repent signifieth also to take comfort as Ezek 32.31 It is repentance unto life Acts 11.18 and such as accompanieth salvation Hebr. 6.9 Neither is it wrought in any man but by a saving sight of Almighty God in his Greatness and Goodness such as may make him at once to tremble and trust as Job did here and Isaiah chap. 6.1 5. Verse 7. And it was so that after the Lord had spoken these words to Job And Job those other again to God it soon repented the Lord concerning his servant Pro magno delicto parum supplicii sat is est patri A little punishment is enough to a loving father for a great fault Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith the Lord for alass they have received of my hand double for all their sins Terent. Isai 40.1 2. So it seemed to him who is all bowels and who in all their afflictions is equally afflicted God weeps on his peoples necks tears of compassion they weep at Gods feet tears of compunction Oh beautiful contention The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite Because he was the ancienter man of greatest Authority and he that passed the heaviest censures upon Job doing enough to have driven him into desperation My wrath is kindled against thee Thus God passeth not sentence on Jobs side till he had first angerly repressed and reprehended those three friends of his who had assailed him without all right and reason Let Gods servants hold out faith and patience sooner or later they shall be righted And against thy two friends Bildad and Zophar Who stuck so close to thee and chimed in with thee against a better man then any of you all As for Elihu he is neither commended here nor condemned He spake well for the main but many times took Job at the worst and misconstrued his speeches He is therefore punished as Ambassadors are used to be when they commit undecencies with silence which is the way royal to correct a wrong The other three had great cause to be much troubled and terrified at that short but sharpest speech of God My wrath is kindled against you for Who knoweth the power of Gods wrath saith David It is as the Messenger of death Psalm 90.11 and Harbinger of hell God never said so much to Job in all those long and large speeches he made unto him for he knew that milder words would do and he loveth not to over-do Ille dolet quoties cogitur esse ferox By the way observe That although these three had offended more then Job yet he was afflicted and they escaped free Judgement beginneth at Gods house neither have any out of hell ever suffered more then those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy Heb. 11. For ye have not spoken the thing that was right And yet they seemed to be all for God and to plead his Cause against Job throughout But as in some things they were much mistaken so they had their self-respects and were much byassed in their discourses Hypocrites and Heretikes saith Gregory here seem unto men more righteous but God accepteth them not for all their plausible pleas and specious pretences Luke 16.15 Ye are they said our Saviour to the Pharisees who justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination in the sight of God As my servant Job hath They also were Gods servants but because they had lent
recruit as far as God seeth fit Multadies variâ—squo Labor mutabilis avi Rettulit in melius multos alterna revisens Lusit in solido rursus fortuna locavit Virg. Aen. l. 11 The best way is to hang loose to these things below not trusting in uncertain riches but in the living God 1 Tim. 6.17 who will be our exceeding great reward and give to his Sufferers an hundred fold here and eternal life hereafter Mat. 19.29 Optandâ— nimirùm est jactura quae lucro majore pensatur saith Agricola It is doubtlesse a lovely losse that is made up with so much gaine Well might Saint Paul say Godlinesse is profitable to all things as having the Promise of both lives 1 Tim. 4 6 Well might Saint Peter call it The Divine Nature 2 Pet. 1.2 For as God brings light out of darknesse comfort out of sorrow riches out of poverty c. so doth Godlinesse Let a man with Job bear his losses patiently and pray for his enemies that wrong and rob him and he shall be sure to have his own againe and more either in money or moneys worth either in the same or a better thing contented Godlinesse shall be great gaine to him 1 Tim. 6.6 Besides heavens happinesse which shall make a plentiful amends for all The Rabbins would perswade us That God miraculously brought back again to Job the self-same cattle that the Sabaeans and others had taken from him and doubled them Indeed his children say they therefore were not doubled unto him because they perished by their owâ—â—ault and folly as one of his friends also told him But of all this nothing certain can be affirmed and they do better who say That his children being dead in Gods favour perished not but went to heaven they were not lost but laid up so that before God Job had the number of his children doubled for they are ours still whom we have sent to heaven before us and Christ at his coming shall restore them unto us 1 Thessal 4.14 In confidence whereof faithful Abraham calleth his deceased Sarah his dead That I may bury my dead out of my sight Gen. 23.4 and so she is called eight several times in that one Chapter as Paraeus hath observed Verse 11 Then came there unto him all his brethren Then when God had begun to restore him As his adversity had scattered his friends so his prosperity brought them together again This is the worlds usage Dum fueris foelix multos numerabis amicos Tempora si fuerint nubila solus eris Summer-birds there are not a few Samaritans who would own the Jewes whiles they flourished but otherwise disavow them as they did to Antiochus Epiphanes Rich Job had many friends Prov. 14.20 Qui tamen persistebant amicitia sicut lepus juxta tympanum as the Proverb is All this good Job passeth by and forgetting all unkindnesses magnificently treateth them as Isaac in like case had done Abimelech and his train Gen. 26.30 And did eat bread with him in his house It 's likely they came with their cost to make Job a Feast of comfort such as were usual in those dayes Jer. 16.7 Ezek 24.17 But whether they did or not they were welcome to Job who now never upbraids them with their forsaking of him in his distresse which yet was then a great grief to him but friendly re-embraceth them and courteously entertaineth them This is contrary to the practice of many fierce and implacable spirits in these dayes whose wrath like that of the Athenians is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 long-lasting and although themselves are mortal yet their hearts are immortal And they bimoaned him They condoled with him and shook their heads as the word signifieth not by way of deriding him as once they had done chap. 16. but of sorrow for their former deserting him and assurance that they would henceforth better stick to him in what estate soever And comforted him over all the evil c. So they should have done long before A friend is made for the day of adversity but better late then never Nunquam sane serò si seriò See here saith Brentius the change of affaires and the right hand of the Most High and learn the fear of God for as he frowneth or favoureth any man so will the world do Every man also gave him a piece of money Or a Lamb to stock him againe Beza rendreth it Some one of his Cattle and paraphraseth thus Yea every one of them gave him either a sheep or an Ox or a Camel and also an Ear-ring of gold partly as a pledge of their good will and friendship renewed toward him and partly in consideration and recompence of that losse which he had before by the will and fore-appointment of God sustained Honoraria obtulerunt saith Junius they brought him these presents as Pledges of their love and observance for so were great men wont to be saluted with some gift Sen. Epist 17. 1 Sam. 10.27 2 Chron. 17.5 And the same custome was among the Persians and Parthians whose Kings might not be met without some token of congratulation and Symbol of Honour And every one an Ear-ring of gold Inaurem auream an Ear-pendant of gold at the Receipt whereof Job might well say as the Poet did Theog 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 To thee this is a small matter but to me a great Verse 12. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job According to Bildads Prophecy chap. 8.7 And S. James his useful observation Chap. 5.11 Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy If he afflict any of his it is in very faithfulnesse that he may be true to their souls it is also in great mercy Deut. 8.16 that he may do them good in the latter end and this they themselves also shall both see and say by that time he hath brought both ends together Psal 119.71 Be ye therefore patient stablish your hearts James 5.7 Patient Job had all doubled to him Joseph of a Slave became his Masters Master Valentinian lost his Tribuneship for Christ but was afterwards made Emperor Queen Elizabeth of a prisoner became a great Princesse But if God deny his suffering servants Temporals and give them in Spirituals they have no Cause to complaine One way or other they shall be sure to have it Great is the gain of Godlinesse For he had fourteen thousand sheep c Cattle only are instanced Pecuma à pecâ—de 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pecudes posteà opes significant Melancth Dios because therein especially consisted the wealth of that Countrey but other good things also doubtlesse were doubled unto him as his family possessions grounds houses and especially Wisdom to make a good use of all for commonly Stultitiam patiuntur opes and what 's more contemptible then a rich fool a golden beast as Caligula called his father in
acclamation yea my bones shall say c. that is whatsoever strength and vigour is in mee it shall be spent in celebrating thy praises Or although I have nothing left mee but skin and bones so poor am I grown yet I will not be wanting to the work Vers 11. False witnesses did rise up So they did afterward against the Lord Christ and sundry of his faithfull servants as St. Paul Athanasius Enstathius Bishop of Antioch Alsted Chronol Act. Mon. falsely accused of Adultery and deposed about the end of Constantine the great 's reign Cranmer charged with Adultery heresy and treason Philpot with paricide Latimer with sedition whereof he was so innocent that he feared not to say in a Sermon before the King as for sedition for ought that I know methinks I should not need Christ if I may so say They laid to my charge things that I knew not Such as whereof I was not only innocent but ignorant also The Hebrew is They asked mee and so would have by cunningly contrived questions made mee mine own accuser Vers 12. They rewarded mee evill for good To render good for evill is divine good for good is humane evill for evill is brutish but evill for good is devilish To the spoyling of my soul i.e. Intentant caedem Kimchi To the depriving mee of that life which I have so often hazarded to save theirs Or this their devilish dealing with mee erat mihi quasi mors amarum was as bitter as death to mee Vers 13. But as for mee when they were sick i.e. Any way afflicted when they ayled any thing My cloathing was sackcloath I put my self in mourners habit Incedebam atratus to testifie my good affection to ward them I humbled my soul with fasting In die designato in a solemn day set apart for the purpose Kimchi De Elia jejunio cap. 8. as the a with a pathach sheweth Jejunium est humilit as mentis miserationis expensa charit at is illecebra allevamentum infirmitatis alimentum salut is saith Ambrose Fasting is the affliction of the soul the cost of compassion c. And my prayer returned into mine own bosome i. e. Though they had no benefit by it yet my self had 2 Sam. 1.22 for no faithfull prayer is ineffectuall like Jonathans bow it never returneth empty I received the fruit of my prayers for them upon my bosome Vers 14. I behaved my self as though he had been c. My Brother a thousand times This was much to do to an enemy but possibly all this might be before they fell out I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth c. The Mother is usually most dearly-beloved and not without cause as having been ante partum onerosa in partâ— dolorosa post partum laboriosa Kimchi Or as a suckling cryeth in the losse of his Nurse Vers 15. Morbus est sic dictus quia incedere nequit nisi cum dolore quasi claudicando Aben-Ezra Dum illum rideâ— pene factus sum ille Epist 9. lib. 2. But in mine adversity Heb. In my halting when through weaknesse I could not but halt before my best friends as we say Yea the abjects gathered themselves together Claudi congregati sunt secundum claudicationem meam claudicabant ut me deriderent So the Syriack senseth it They halted as I did by way of derision but they should have known first that mocking is catching as we say Tully confesseth that whiles he laughed at one Hircus a very ridiculous man he became as bad almost himself Secondly That such cruell mockings are grievous sins and such as God severely punisheth Some render it the Smiters that is the tongue-smiters as Jer. 18.18 Others the smitten that is the abjects the vile persons the basest can mock as did Tobiah the Servant Neh. 2.19 and those Pests Psal 1.1 And I knew it not Or Such as I knew not took no notice of they were so base See the like Job 30.8 They did tear mee sc With their tongues as doggs tosse and tear carrion with their teeth Scindunt illud quod reparare nequeunt non per poenitentiam saith Kimchi They tear that which they cannot make good again no not by repentance viz. my good name Or. they rent sc their garments as if they had been very sorry for mee as Gen. 37.34 Job 2.12 This they did as Austin speaketh simulatione miseriae non compassione misericordiae out of deep dissimulation Vers 16. With Hypocriticall mockers in feasts Cum sannionibus placentae vâ—lcibi with hypocriticall mockers for a cake or dainties there is an elegancy in the origiginall which sheweth it to be proverbiall and cannot be englished R. Solomon telleth us here that they who delighted in flatteries gave their flatterers cakes baked with honey to make them the more to flatter them Solomon telleth of some that will transgresse for a peece or bread Prov. 28.21 So those parasiticall Prophets Mensarii scurâ—â—â— Ezek. 13.19 Or I am made their table-talk as Hos 7.8 scornfully deriding mee at their feasts and in their cups Vers 17. Lord how long wilt thou look on i.e. carry thy self as a Spectator of my miseries and a tolerator of mine enemies those architects of mine afflictions Rescue my soul from their destructions i. e. Their snares and ambushes whereby they seek to destroy me My darling from the Lions See the Note on Psal 22.20 Vers 18. I will give thee thanks in the great Congregation For examples sake to others for Magnates magnetes Acts 18.8 when Crispus the chief Ruler of the Synagogue beleeved many of the Corinthians beleeved also Great men are the Looking-glasses of the Country according to which most men dress themselves many eyes are upon them they had need therefore to be exact for they are sure to be exemplary Vers 19. Neither let them wink with the eye Which is the gesture of a malicious Scoffer Prov. 6.13 10.10 Ne amarulenter Ludificentur me Trem Vers 20. For they speak not peace Which yet God doth to his people Psa 85.9 and that is their comfort I am for peace saith David elsewhere but when I speak of it they are for war Psal 120.7 Against the quiet of the Land i.e. Against my self and such as I am who study to be quiet and to do our own business 1 Thes 4.11 affecting rather quietness from the World than acquaintance with it Vers 21. They opened their mouth As if the very banks of blasphemy had been broken down Our eye bath seen Eye for eyes unless we would say that all the wicked are so conjoyned that they may seem to have but one Eye Heart Head c. and then they say as Hannibal did when he saw a ditch full of mans bloud O formosum spectaculum O gallant fight O rem regiam as Valesus said when he had slain three hundred Protestants Vers 22. This thou hast seen O Lord This answereth to that before vers 21. Our