the spirit of the Almighty gave him understanding for the Government which he was called to for whereas before he had only a private spirit taken up about cattel and the affaires of husbandry then God gave him a spirit of prudence and valour a spirit of wisdome and magnanimity a Noble and an Heroicall Spirit befitting the Governour of so great and populous a kingdome both in peace and warre Every Calling is a mystery much more the Calling of Kings and Supreame Magistrates It was said to Imperiall Rome Tu regere im perio populos Romane memento Hae tibi sint artes Doe thou remember to Rule Nations and Kingdomes let these be thy arts This Art the Spirit of the Lord gave Saul even knowledge and skill to rule and governe yea he had a gift of Illumination not only for government but for prophesie he was found amongst the Prophets and when v. 11th they asked wondering Is Saul also amongst the Prophets As if they had said How strange and unheard of a thing is this that Saul should be furnished with the gift of prophecy and joyne himselfe with the Prophets They who before were acquainted with his person and manner of education were even amazed at the sight And while they were surprized with this amazement one of the same place as it seemes wiser then the rest Answered and said but who is their father ver 12. That 's the speciall word for which I alledge this text What Saul among the Prophets is it not strange that he should be Inspired Then one Answered and said who is their father As if he had said Doe not any longer stand wondering at this thing but consider who is the father of Saul as a Prophet as also the father of all these Prophets Saul was the son of Kish as to naturall descent but he had another father as he was a Prophet and so all these Prophets had besides theit Fathers as men one and the same father as Prophets Therefore wonder not that ye heare Saul prophecying for all these whom ye heare and see prophecying have not these gifts by birth from men nor by industry from themselves but from God who is a free agent and inspireth whom he pleaseth The same God who by inspiration hath freely bestowed those gifts upon the other Prophets hath also inspired Saul with a gift of prophecy The Spirit of God is his father in that capacity as well as the father of these other Prophets And hence that Scripture runs in the plurall number who is their father Unlesse God give power from above the understanding is darke the memory unfaithfull the tongue stammering It is light from on high that teacheth the skill of prophecy Solomon had the greatest measure of understanding of any meere man since the fall of man and of him it is said 1 Kings 4.29 God gave Solomon wisdome and understanding exceeding much and largenesse of heart even as the sand that is on the sea-shore Solomons heart had been as narrow as another mans if the Inspiration of the Almighty had not widened it When Moses was so sinfully modest as to excuse his Embassie to Pharoah supposing himselfe not fitted for such an undertaking Exod 4.10 11. O my Lord I am not eloquent neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue God presently put the question to him Who hath made mans mouth c. As if he had said Cannot he give words into thy mouth who gave thee a mouth cannot he act thy organs of speech who made them Now therefore goe and I will be with thy mouth Est deus in nobis sunt et commercia caeli sedibus aethereis spiritus iste venit Ovid. and teach thee what thou shalt say The Inspiration of the Almighty shall give thee understanding Heathen Poets have boasted of their â—â—ptures and inspirations The people of God have a promise of the Spirit to lead them into all truth and to helpe them in maintaining those truths From this generall that the furniture of the understanding is the gift of God or by Inspiration of the Almighty take these hints by way of Coralary First If a right understanding flow from the Inspiration of the Almighty then pray for an understanding pray for the Spirit Ye have not because ye aske not saith the Apostle James 4.2 God gives wisdome but he gives it to them that aske it Jam 1.5 If any man want wisdome let him ask it of God who giveth liberally and upbraideth not God upbraideth us not either with our want of wisdome or with the abundance of wisdome that he is pleased to supply us with and give out to us When Solomon was put to his choice what to aske he said Give thy servant an understanding heart God gave Solomon wisdome but Solomon asked it first All good things are shut up in promises and the promises are opened to give out their good things when we pray Prov. 23.5 When thou Cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voyce for understanding then shalt thou understand the feare of the Lord and find the knowledge of God To pray well is to studâ—e well because by prayer light comes in from on high to make studies successfull and the worke to prosper in our hand As the Almighty breatheth downe on us so we must breath up to the Almighty To expect and not to pray is to tempt God not to trust him Secondly Doe not onely pray for wisdome but use meanes and be industrious for the obtaining of it The gift of God doth not take off the diligence of man God doth not worke in us that we should sit still Prov. 2.4 Then shalt thou know wisdome when thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasure And where is this treasure to be had Surely in the mines of Scripture and in all those Appoyntments wherein God hath promised to meete his people to shine upon them and give them the knowledge of his wayes in Jesus Christ Thirdly Be thankfull for any gift of knowledge for every beame and ray of light be thankfull It is God who commands light to shine out of darknesse and that God who at first commanded light to shine out of darknesse dayly shineth into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 Fourthly If understanding be from Inspiration then they who have received much understanding must be caution'd against two evills First not to be proud nor high minded that our gifts come from on high should make us very low in our owne eyes What hast thou that thou hast not received and if thou hast received it why doest thou glory as if thou hadst not received it These are the Apostles soule-humbling and pride-mortifying questions or expostulations rather 1 Cor. 4.7 You that have received the greatest gifts whom the Inspiration of the
we labour as much for the favour of God as ever any of the sons of ambition laboured for the favour of Princes or regard with the Kings of this world No man ever plotted or flatter'd and crouched so much to the Kings of the earth for favour as we doe to God for favour herein we labour We make it our business to be accepted with him if God once accept a man you may turne him loose he will shift for one How compleately happy the condition of such a favourite is will appeare yet furtber in opening the next clause of this verse And he shall see his face with joy When once God is favourable to a poor sinner then he shall be used or dealt with like a favourite Great Favourites stand in the presence of Princes and frequently see their faces Whomsoever any man favours he freely admits to his presence and takes delight in his company Thus Elihu speaks of Gods Favourite He shall see his face with joy There is a twofold interpretation of these words tending both to the same spirituall sence Videbit deus faciem ejus cum laetitia i. e. hilaritèr cum intuebitur vultu laeto et facili eum respiciet cum ante vultum iratus avertebat Merc First Some by the Antecedent He understand God himselfe and by his face the face of the humbled sick man and so the sence of this assertion he shall see his face with joy is plainly this God will look cheerfully and smilingly upon the face of this poor suppliant God will look upon him as we doe upon friends whom we favour and have much respect for Friends may see content and joy shining in or stampt upon our faces when we look them in the face The content which we take in seeing the face of another is visible in the smiles and joyes of our own faces As when we look sowrely angryly sorrowfully sullenly upon a man when darkness is seen in our faces and clouds gather in our brows ready to dissolve into a storme this speaks we beare him no good will or rather that we bear him much displeasure So when we looke pleasantly upon a man doth it not say that we are highly pleased with him To be sure when God is at peace with a repenting sinner he no longer frownes upon him nor turns his face from him as an enemy but entertaines and welcomes him as a friend which is directly opposite to Jobs apprehension of God at the 10th verse of this Chapter Behold he findeth occasions against me he counteth me for his enemy This is a sweet soul-reviving and ravishing truth God beholds the face of his people with joy he beholds them smileingly cheerfully delightfully David calls it The light of Gods countenance Psal 4.6 Et videbit homo faciem dei cum jubilo Merc Secondly and I rather conceive that to be the meaning of the place most relate the He to the sick man who having been upon his knees humbling himself before God and finding God favourable to him he then seeth his face that is the face of God with joy God fills his soule with a great deale of peace comfort and sweetness in his approaches to him Before possibly if he did but think upon God he was troubled as Asaph found Psal 77.3 I remembred God and was troubled To a man in great trouble especially in trouble of mind the very thoughts of God who is our only help in trouble may be troublesom but when he is set right and restored to the favour of God or God being again favourable unto him he beholds his face with abundance of joy Here are yet two things to be opened or two Queries may be made and answered for the clearing of these words First What is meant by the face of God Secondly what is meant by seeing his face To the former query I answer First the face of God is the essentiall being or perfect Majesty of God of which himself saith to Moses Exod. 33.23 My face shall not be seen Secondly the good will and favour of God is his face Ps 80.3 Cause thy face to shine that is be good to us and we shall be saved Thirdly the face of God in Scripture is put for any manifestations of God to man God manifesteth himself in wrath to some men Psal 34.16 The face of the Lord is against them that doe evill Facies dei iram quandoque favorem notat Drus That is he is angry and greatly displeased with them He manifesteth himself in love to others and all such are said either as in the Text to see his face or as other Texts express it to have his face shining upon them God is a spirit he hath no face properly but as the face of a man is that by which he is knowne if a man hide his face we know not who he is though we see all the other parts of his body he is a concealed man so that whatsoever it is by which God is clearly knowne that in Scripture language is called his face And hence Thirdly the worship and holy ordinances of God are called the face of God Gen. 4.14 because they are great manifestations of God or because God is manifested in his Ordinances in his word and worship who and what he is After a sick man through the help of God is recovered he goes into the congregation to give thanks and then he may be said to see the face of God because there be exhibits the signs of his presence doth as it were shew his face There as in a glass we behold the face of God that is the discoveries of his holiness of his love goodness The face of God is seen in his works as the Apostle teacâ—eth us Rom. 1.20 The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternall power and godhead much more in his word and Ordinances and above all in Jesus Christ is God seen and manifested Jesus Christ is the face of God the brightnesse of his glory the expresse image of his person Heb. 1.3 The light of the knowledge of the glory of God shineth to us in the face of Christ Thus the face of God is beheld in the face of Christ There we may see how holy how just how good and mercifull God is all this glory of God appeareth to us in the face of Christ who is the highest manifestation of God Here in the Text by the face of God we are to understand any demonstration of Gods favourable presence in which sence of the word Aaron was to blesse the children of Israel Numb 6.25 The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon thee and give thee peace That is the Lord manifest himself to thee in wayes of grace and peace in favour and in mercy David prayed in the same
a strict inquisition for my sin My iniquity is not charged upon me to the utmost I have sinned grievously but God hath dealt graciously with me and hath not measured out to the full of mine iniquity 'T is an argument of true repentance to justifie God in afflicting us This is a pious and a profitable rendring of the text Whence observe First The punishment of sin in this life is not equall to sin As all the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory of the next life Rom 1.18 so neither are they comparable with the sins of this life When a man is under very sore affliction chastened with paine upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong paine So that his life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty meat yet he must confesse his sufferings are less then his sin The Church of the Jewes acknowledged this as to that great affliction their captivity in Babylon Ezra 9.13 After all that is come upon us for our evill deeds and for our great trespasse seeing that our God hath punished us lesse then our iniquities deserve c. It was no little punishment which that people endured yet they confessed it was lesse then their iniquity The least sin is so great that no punishment which man is capable of in this life can equall it nor can that in the life to come equall it as to present degree but only by the everlastingness of its duration Secondly Note A soule truly humbled is ready to confess to the glory of God that his punishment and suffering is less then his sin As a godly man doth not thinke any sin little so he doth not thinke any affliction great compared with his sin Cain sayd My punishment is greater then I can beare but he did not say it was greater then his sin How hot soever the furnace of divine wrath is heated yet sinners must acknowledge there is sparing mercy in it and that God might have made it seven times hotter and therefore hath afflicted them less then their sin As a godly man is ready to acknowledge his mercy more then he hath deserved Gen 32.10 I sayd Jacob am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant as if he had sayd I am less in my good actings then any of thy actings towards me for good have been so he is ready to say his greatest afflictions or evills which he suffereth are less then his sins or then the evills which he hath done Secondly The word signifieth to profit so we translate Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 expono profuit non fuit mihi conducibilo quod peccaram Merc And it profiteth me not Other Scriptures comply with this sence Hester 3.8 Haman in his malicious and envious suggestions against the Jews tells the King It is not for the Kings profit to suffer them to continue He useth the same word againe Hest 5.13 where after he had reported all the great things that he enjoyed he concludes What doth all this profit me or all this availeth me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the Kings gate Thus here saith the sick man I have sinned And it profited me not or I have got nothing by it And when he saith it profited me not we are to expound it by a usuall figure in Scripture whereby more is intended then is expressed so that it profiteth me not is it had been very detrimentall dangerous and deadly to me I feel and smart under the sad issues of my sin my perverting that which was right hath done me though I have had but my right much wrong I have sinned and it profited me not Hence note First Sin pretends profit and advantage to a sinner There is no temptation comes without a bait Though some sin purely for sins sake yet it is rare that sin cometh without the offer of a bribe and profit is one of the greatest both baits and bribes that the Devill puts upon the hook of temptation when he fisheth for soules You shall get by it saith that deceiver But the repenting soule can truly say it profited me not I had thought to have gotten by my sin it promised me very faire but I have got nothing but blows The temptation with which the Devill assaulted our first parents was of this kinde He told the woman of profit she and her husband should gaine knowledge by it that 's a noble gaine They should be as Gods knowing good and evill there 's all profit imaginable in such a knowledge Christ himselfe who was God and perfectly knew good and evill was also tempted with profit Math 4.8 9. The devill shewed him all the kingdomes of the world and those not with bare walls but ready hung and furnished and the glory of them and sayd unto him all these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall downe and worship me If our head and the heire of all things was tempted with profit how much more poor we No marvaile if Satan provide him Agents to say to us as they are represented Pro 1.13 Come cast in your lot among us we will all have one purse or a joynt stock in this wicked trade What they hoped to get by it is told us in the next words We shall find all precious substance and fill our houses with spoyle We shall get enough and you shall share with us if you will but come and goe with us We see what sin promiseth But what doth the sinner find himselfe answers It profited me not Hence learne There is nothing gotten by sin no good is gotten by it The Apostle puts the question to sinners Rom 6.21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed Cast up your account and tell us what you find at the foot of it Possibly some may say we have gotten hundreds and thousands we have gotten houses and lands our barnes are full of corne our fields of cattel and our bags are full of treasure But is it profit to have house and land gold and silver come in by sin Let that Scripture answer Math 16.26 What is a man profited if he shall gaine the whole world and loose his own soule But some may say they that are in Christ cannot loose their soules by sin I answer First though they that are in Christ cannot be such sinfull soules as to sin away their soules though they cannot sin at such a rate nor in such a height as to loose their soules who have indeed found Christ or rather who are found of him and planted in him yet the dammage which every sin unrepented of and unpardoned puts man to is the losse of his soule Secondly suppose a sinner repenteth what hath he got by sin but the sorrows of repentance And though no man shall have cause to repent of true repentance for sin yet no man shall
others judge what the Word of God no! but whether they speake according to the word of God or no In this sense every one must judg sor himselfe we must not take all for granted but try what we heare by the eare as we doe what we eat by the mouth Thirdly Note A spiritually judicious and considerate man will take time to judge of things that are spoken as the pallate doth of meates that are eaten The eare tryeth words as the mouth tasteth meat God hath given man a faculty for that end and he is to use his faculty We commonly fay Look before you leape Surely then we should tast before we eate and prove all things whether they are good or no before we electively hold that which is good 1 Thes 5.21 The noble Bereans received the word with all readinesse of mind yet they would make no more hast then good speed to receive it for as the Text saith Acts 17.11 They searched the Scriptures dayly whether those things were so Fourthly Here are two Organs of sense spoken of the ear and the mouth both are of great use to man but one of them the eare is of a more frequent and noble use Beasts have both mouths and eares but because theirs is only a sensitive life they make more use of their mouths then of their eares Whereas man whose life is rationall yea and spirituall too must or ought to make more use of his eares then of his mouth How doth this reprove all those who are more in trying meats then in trying words or more for tasting then they are for hearing It was a complaint of some in the former age that they made themselves like bruit beasts which having both those powers of hearing and tasting have yet no regard to hearing but are all for feeding and eating They carry it like beasts and are more bruitish then a beast who employ their mouths more then their eares A beast is made in that low forme to live to eat and worke and so to dye man is of a higher forme next to that of Angells and for him to spend his time in eating and drinking as if his worke lay at his mouth not at his ear is to degrade himself and lead a bruitish life The Apostle brings in such bruits speaking thus 1 Cor. 15.32 Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall dye not a word of using their eares they say not come let us hear the word of God let us seek bread for our soules but come let us eat and drink now for a man to be so much in eating as to neglect hearing and meditating what doth he but make himselfe like a beast of the earth who should be like the Angels in Heaven dayly rising up to a spirituall and heavenly life God lifts us up to Heaven as I may say by the eares Our eares were not given us only to heare delightfull sounds or to commune one with another about the affaires of this life the use of the eare is yet more noble even to helpe us in the receiving of all saving and sanctifying knowledge Faith comes by hearing Rom. 15.17 and so doth every grace both as to the implantation and growth of it till we come to glory Therefore consider how you use this excellent sense of hearing and how you improve in spirituals by what you have heard We were made after the Image of God in knowledge and righteousnesse and it should be the great designe of our lives to get this image renewed and that is done at the eare 't is wrought by hearing faith repentance and every grace come in and are wrought at the eare Some scoffe at this latter age calling it a hearing age not a working age we say they are much for ear-work little for hand-work all for Preaching nothing for doing nor can this reproach be quite wiped off seeing with our plenty of Preaching there is so little practising as if men had turned all the members of their body into eares and were nothing but hearing To doe nothing but heare or to heare and doe nothing to heare much and act little is a high provocation To have a swel'd head and a feeble hand is the disease of Religion Yet let not voluptuous Epicures who are all for the palate and belly-cheere think to excuse themselves for not hearing or for seldome hearing because some who hear much are found doing little or seldome do what they hear for as these shall be condemned by the word which they have heard and not done so shall these for not hearing the word which would have shewed them what to doe It hath been anciently said The belly hath no eares nor will they either mind hearing or mind what they hear who mind their bellyes not for hunger and the support of nature that is as Solomon speaks Eccles 10.17 for strength but for drunkennesse or surfet Cum eo vivere non possum cui palatum magis sapiat quam cor Plutarchus in vita Catonis When a voluptuous person desired Cato that he might live with him No said Cato I like not your society I doe not love to converse with a man who useth his mouth more then his eares who is busied more to please his tast in eating and drinking then to enrich his understanding by hearing and discoursing The Apostle Tit. 1.12 referring them to one of their own Poets calleth the Cretians evill beasts slow bellies They were not slow to fill their bellyes but their full bellyes their belly being their God as he told some among the Philippians Chap. 3.19 made them slow yea reprobate to every good word and worke Solomon gives man a great charge when he saith Prov. 23.23 Buy truth and sell it not The mart for those most precious commodities grace and truth is kept not at the belly but at the eare there we buy without money and without price both grace and truth to get these is to be wise merchants The best market we can make the best trade we can drive is with and at our eares The eare tryeth words as the mouth tasteth meat And from this Elihu infers Vers 4. Let us chuse to our selves judgment let us know among our selves what is good This verse containes the second request which Elihu made to Jobs friends The summe of it is that they might proceed judiciously and fairly in the cause before them As if he had said Seeing it is the office of the eare to try words as the mouth tasteth meat let us see what we can do with our eares towards the determination of this matter Job hath often wished to find one with whom he might debate and try this cause in judgment let us give him his wish and having throughly weighed the matter and merits of his cause let us see what justice will award him Let us chuse to our selves judgment c. Let us chuse To elect or chuse is the worke of the will And to chuse