a man which together with what followeth clears that this is not a Fiction And the word here rendred Man signifieth not an ordinary man but an eminent and excellent man such as Job was both for endowments and authority As for his Countrey the Land of Uz the name hath certainly been given it from some ancient possessour thereof Now we find in Scripture mention made of several bearing that name One the Grandchild of Shem Gen. 10.23 who is recorded by Historians to have given the name to the Countrey about Damascus toward the North border of the Land of Canaan Anonother the son of Nahor Gen. 22.20 21. where the name Huz is the same with Uz in the Original who gave the name to a part of Arabia the Desert And a third of the Posterity of Esau Gen. 36.28 whence a part at least of Edom in Arabia Petrea or the Stony seems to have taken the name of Uz Lam. 4.21 And because these two Arabia's bordered one upon another and possibly also these two Lands of Uz this may be conceived as a reason why the Land of Uz is sometime spoken of as a large Countrey comprehending several Nations and Kings Jer. 25.20 In one of these two last Countreys did Job live for it is expresly said ver 3. that he dwelt in the East which it seems must be understood according to the usual reckoning of Scripture with relation to the Land of Canaan as these Countries also lay And it seems most probable also that he lived in Arabia the Desert being either of the Posterity of Nahor or of the sons of Abraham by Keturah who settled also there Gen. 25 9. For in this Countrey or the Regions about did his Friends live It was here where Travellers were straitened with want of water from which he draws the comparison Ch. 6.15 20. It did border upon the Sabeans a people in Arabia Foelix or the Happy and stretched also toward the Caldeans from both which Countries Robbers came upon him Ch. 1.15 17. And not to insist any longer we find by the History it self that he lived in a Countrey so near the Sea namely the Red Sea as he was acquainted with the Sea-monsters there Ch. 41.1 And so near Canaan that he is not a stranger to the River Jordan Chap. 40.23 As for his Name Job or the signification thereof there is no necessity to insist on it We find one Job among the Sons of Issachar Gen. 46.13 But neither was he this man nor are the names written one way in the Original They walk upon as great uncertainty who take Job to be that Jobab Gen. 10.29 of the Posterity of Shem or rather another of the Posterity of Esau who reigned over Edom Gen. 36.33 whose name Jobab they say was contracted in and after his calamity into that of Job His name is indeed derived from a root which signifieth to be at enmity which being taken actively may point out what an enemy or opposite he was to all injustice and unjust persons in the exercise of his Office while he was in prosperity Chap. 29.14 15 16 17. And if we take it passively it may point out how much he was maligned for his Piety and Justice by Satan and his Instruments And if â—ithal we assert that he had not this name so contracted till his calamities came upon him for which notwithstanding there is no ground it may intimate what great opposition he sustained after that God once gave him up to be tryed But leaving these uncertainties that which is further remarkable in this verse Is The second branch of this description taken from his piety and fruits of his faith where albeit either of these expressions perfectness and uprightness when put alone in Scripture doth comprehend all that is here signified by both Yet being here both expressed they may be thus distinguished His perfectness points at his inward integrity sincerity and streightness of heart and his uprightness expresseth his streightness in outward conversation and in his dealing with men Unto this is added his fearing of God to shew that his honesty was not a meer moral uprightness but was accompanied with and flowed from true Piety and a Filial awe of God From whence also flowed his eschewing of evil or a guarding against sin with the occasions thereof and the insinuations and tentations whereby it assaulted and pursued him and an avoiding and turning from it by repentance when he was at any time overtaken with it And this also is added as a further qualification of his perfectness and uprightness that it was no sinlesness but a sincere wrastling against sin From this Verse Learn 1. Such is the freedom and efficacy of the grace of God that he can when he will raise up eminent servants to himself in very corrupt places and societies As here he hath a godly Job in the Land of Uz who was not of the blessed seed of Abraham So was there some awe of God in Gerar where Abraham did not look for it Gen. 20.8 11. a Melchisedeck among the cursed Canaanites and a Rahab in Jericho as well as a Job and his godly Friends in Arabia And albeit it be conceived that the Lord did not reject and wholly give up the body of all other Nations before the time that he entered into an express Covenant with Israel upon Mount Sinai And therefore it was nothing strange that there were then such eminent Saints in diverse parts of the world Yet these instances in that time may teach us to leave a latitude to free grace in all ages of the world and in all places how corrupt soever where any spark of the knowledge of God in Christ may be had And as it did much condemn and aggravate the Apostasie of the Nations that beside the knowledge of God to be gathered from the works of Creation Rom. 1.19 20. they had such eminent Saints who did contribute to keep in the light of the knowledg of the true God among them So their eminency in grace may condemn them who come far short under more plentiful means 2. As true godliness is a mans chiefest advantage and therefore it is named in the first place in this description of Job before his Children and Wealth So an approven religious man is he who hath inward simplicity and godly sincerity in his heart free from hypocrisie or any wicked byass For herein was Job commendable that he was a perfect man or single hearted and sincere And this is premitted to the rest as chiefly taken notice of by God next unto faith in the promised Messiah whereof this and the rest are fruits and effects 3. No man can prove his sincerity before God nor hath warrant to pretend to any such thing who doth not make Conscience of streightness and uprightness in his outward conversation whereby mens profession is adorned before the World Therefore it is added That man was perfect and upright 4. Moral honesty and uprightness in conversation
the wicked at any time prospered their prosperity was but momentany and ended in visible judgments And if the godly were at any time afflicted their afflictions speedily ended in visible blessings And therefore when they consider Jobs case being so suddenly turned out of his prosperity and so long and so sore afflicted beyond the ordinary tryals of faithful men especially carrying so ill under it as he had done chap. 3. They conclude that he behoved to have been either a grosly wicked man or a close hypocrite Hence they judge it their most seasonable way to prove him wicked and to bear him down and humble him that so they might have ground whereupon to comfort him being penitent That this was the drift of their Discourses will sufficiently appear from their several speeches and we may find Job noticing this as their particular and chief design chap. 21.27 28. chap. 32.1 they give him up as an obstinate man because he would not take with wickedness But Job upon the other hand maintains that neither love nor hatred can be known by outward afflictions but that Saints may be under as great outward trouble as the wicked And therefore he rejects their counsel to take with former wickedness and hypocrisie and begin anew to seek God and adheres to the testimony of his Conscience which bare witness to his Integrity notwithstanding all assaults from within or from without Hence he grants that he is a sinner but not that he is an hypocrite or wicked man That God is righteous who afflicted him and yet he is not unrighteous though afflicted by a righteous God albeit neither he nor they could sufficiently reconcile these two nor sufficiently clear how they were consistent That though he be not sinless nor perfect to seclude free grace Yet he was sincere according to the tenour of the Covenant of grace and perfect before men Those and many the like Principles we will find scattered throughout his speeches while he constantly insists to defend himself in the main cause 3. Having considered the state of the Controversie it is necessary We pass some verdict and censure upon the dispute on either hand whereby our thoughts may be regulated in going through it For albeit all that is here recorded be Sacred Scripture in so far as it contains an infallible account of what each of them said and that they spake so Yet when we consider that both parties are rebuked by God for what they utter in the debate and that they speak of many things in contradictory terms We can no further justifie the purposes uttered by them then we find the general consent of other Scriptures bearing witness thereunto as we cannot either justifie the complaints and tentations of Saints which are recorded in the Book of Psalms and elsewhere as sound Divinity but do look upon them as recorded in Scripture only for this end that their example and experience may serve for Caution and Instruction to the godly in all Ages Hence on the Friends part we may remark 1. They maintain a false principle throughout the Dispute That God afflicted none as he afflicted Job but wicked men which they insist so much upon because otherwise they were not able to reconcile such sharp dealing with the righteousness of God Whereas the Scripture elsewhere assures us that all things come alike to all Eccles 9.2 to which the Principle Job closely adhereth chap. 9.22 and elsewhere throughout the dispute 2. They do also express a rash and uncharitable judgment in their Discourse in that they judged of the godly mans state by his fits of tentation and disordered frame and expressions in the heat of his distemper Judging that to proceed from a wicked disposition and consequently to be the mark of a wicked man which was extorted from him through the violence of tentation and was only an evidence of that common infirmity of Saints which we find recorded in Scripture to have broken forth in David and other godly men as well as him Hence all their reflections upon his complaints do fall short of their conclusion to prove him a wicked man though indeed they reproved what was truly culpable in him 3. In their Doctrine concerning Gods Judgments upon wicked men which is the great Argument whereby they endeavour to prove him wicked we must acknowledge there is much truth if we take in eternal punishment among the rest to be inflicted upon the wicked whether they escape in this life or not and if we understand it of the deserving of all wicked men according to the sentence of the Law and that God useth so to deal with some wicked men whom he makes publick spectacles of his Justice to deterr others In these respects we find some of their speeches cited or at least alluded unto in other Scriptures as Job 5.13 with 1 Cor. 3.19 and several of their expressions will be found to have some parallels in other Books of the Old Testament Yet in their speaking of these outward and visible judgments that come on wicked men there is a double mistake One That they not only pleaded the Law-sentence and the Deserving of such men or that God did execute these threatnings accordingly on some even in this life which Job never denied chap. 27.11 12 13 14 c. But they pleaded also the real and actual execution of all that was threatned and that on every one of the wicked even in this life And so asserted that to be universally true which is only rue of some For Job agreeably to the Scriptures maintained that God exercised a great variety of dispensations toward wicked men in this life chap. 21.23 24 25. And as may be gathered from the scope of most of his speeches that oft-times God seeth it fit to spare wicked men in this life notwithstanding their ill-deserving yea and to heap prosperity upon them until their death That so he may exercise the faith and patience of the godly and may teach all to look out to a Day of Judgment and the eternal reward of Wickedness and Piety Another mistake is That they asserted these calamities to be proper to the wicked which are common also to the godly For albeit temporal calamities inflicted on a wicked man are real curses and fruits of his sin Yet the Scripture elsewhere cleareth that the same lots may also befal the godly either for chastisement or for the tryal of their faith and patience and that the supporting grace of God may he magnified in them as Jobs own experience doth witness Thus as to the external stroke there may be one event to the righteous and to the wicked c. Eccles 9.2 4. Their Doctrine concerning Gods Sovereignty Holiness and Justice whereby they laboured to drive Job from his confidence is true doctrine and therefore Job strives to out-strip them in commending those Attributes of God Yet they did ill apply this doctrine and made a bad use of it to crush a godly man as
here made to such a particular case as we may hear But all those together do contain in the opinion of Eliphaz the sum of Gods gracious purpose concerning his people in all their tryals that he will deliver or hide keep them from evil make them laugh c. All which promises may be admitted in a sound sense though they contain not a perfect enumeration of all the good things which God intends unto his afflicted people We may take up both the sense and the use of those promises in these few lessons 1. As the tryals of the people of God are many and various So every one of those tryals need a Promise and Cordial from God For here a word is added to every one of them An ordinary hazard as well as a singular calamity hath a promâ—se and needs a promise a new exercise after we have essayed and gone through many even the seventh trouble after we have gone through six needs new influence and furniture The change of one tryal for another needs a promise from God And as this points out the fulness of Gods allowance who answers all our cases So it warns us in every one of those to be upon our guard lest we succumb when we least expect it Least an ordinary exercise drive us off our feet through want of faith and dependence while through faith we prove victorious in sharper tryals and least multiplicity variety or change of tryals prove a sharp tryal if in all these cases we do not eye God in the promises 2. In so far as is for the good of Gods people they may expect either that their troubles shall be prevented or they delivered from them if it be needful they be inflicted for time For those two are the main branches of this promise That of deliverance is expressed ver 19. and divers of the rest being taken in their latitude and full of extent may be so understood and that of prevention is held out in that promise ver 23. We ought to study both those mercies For our not observing of preventing mercies makes us need delivering mercies and preventing mercy ought to be studied even in the midst of trouble Lam. 3.22 3. Albeit the Lord neither prevent nor keep off troubles Yet it is a mercy we are not under the power or hand of trouble but still in Gods hand v. 20. 4. It is also a mercy that there is a deliverance in trouble ver 19. as well as from trouble when we succumb not 2 Cor. 4.8 9. 16.9 10. and when we meet with much of God under trouble to uphold our hearts Psal 31.7 5. It is a great evidence of deliverance in trouble when God keeps men from the evil of trouble that it do not touch nor hurt them nor prove deadly or to death though they be in the midst of it As is promised ver 19.20 This was miraculously performed to the three Children Dan. 3. and to Daniel himself Dan. 6. and is performed to every believer who finds all things even troubles work together for good Rom. 8.28 6. Albeit God do not hide his people from the outward dint of trouble yet they are richly made up who are hid in the secret of Gods presence that so they may get no hurt by it For so is that promise ver 21. expounded Psal 31.20 7. Though troubles do their worst yet they are conquerours who are delivered from the slavish fear of trouble ver 21 See Dan. 3.16 17. 8. God is sometime pleased so far to support his people in the midst of trouble as not only to deliver them from fear but to make them triumph and glory over them For it is here promised they shall laugh Not that God allows stupidity or unseasonable carnal mirth But they laugh and rejoyce in trouble 1. As a mean of doing them much good Rom. 5.3 4. 1 Pet. 4.14 2. As affording them many opportunities to act for God and to give proof of the grace of God in them of their love faith self-denial c. and in this they rejoyce as the valiant souldier rejoyceth and touzeth up his spirits in a day of battel so also the couragious horse Job 40.19 20 c. 3. As being a fore-runner of much good to follow if trouble be well improved Heb. 12.11 Luk. 21.26 28. 4. As being in their better part and in their happiness above the reach of trouble Rom. 35.36 c. 2 Cor. 4.16 17. Doct. 9. It doth commend the great kindness of God to hâ—s people that when their tryals are greatest and doubled upon them then he communicates most of his refreshments and supporting grace unto them For this promise that he shall laugh is more particularly applyed to the time when the sad strokes of Destruction and Famine and those both at once are imminent or incumbent Hence Saints do not only rejoyce but even glory in pressing tribulations Rom. 5.3 10. It is also a special kindness that in performing those promises there is a redemption of the godly ver 20. Either he delivers them by a strong hand as redemption is taken Isa 52.3 Or if he do not that he puts a difference betwixt them and the wicked though they be in one and the same trouble as the word redemption imports Exod. 8.22 23. in the Original And above all whatever he do for them it is a fruit of their redemption by the bloud of the Son of God And this last 11. is further cleared from that Promise that they shall be in league with the Stones of the Field Or that Covenant which God hath made with them in Christ shall be forth coming to them in less and more even to secure them against the Stones and Beasts See Hos 2.18 19 20. Matth. 6.33 As no mercy is sweet to a right discerner if it flow not from special love much less if it be sent in anger So it is the advantage of the godly that their common mercies come to them by purchase and as a reward promised in the Covenant of Grace As all the Creatures are Enemies to faln Man so being reconciled all things become his so far as may do him good and so far as they may not prejudge his true happiness Rom. 8.28 1 Cor. 3.21 22 23. And their confederate God and Father doth concern himself in all their affairs both less and more As all those particulars are very refreshful to the godly So this may crown all That however they are put to acquiesce in one or more of these Promises here mentioned according as God is pleased to dispense that he may humble and exercise and yet support them Yet in the issue they will see a blessed end of all their troubles Psal 34.19 and get their hand beyond all their sorrows Thus died old Jacob Gen. 48.16 and David 1 King 1.29 Vers 24. And thou shalt know that thy Tabernacle shall be in peace and thou shalt visit thy habitation and shalt not sin 25. Thou shalt
in the world and what they ought to submit unto if it be made their loâ— As 1. When they are in a settled estate and all things go smoothly with them they may meet with a breach and wound For he breaketh me and there are wounds 2. This breach may be made suddainly and violently as if it were in great displeasure He breakâ—th me with a tempest This may teach us to digest breachâ—s and find them more sweet when come on in a more mild and calm way 3. This breach may be made by many strokes reaching uâ— in many of our concerns in body mind goods fâ—â—â—nds c. and reaching each of them by stroke after stroke He multiplieth my wounds This may teach us when we are under calamity rather to be looking and preparing for more then quarrelling what is lying upon us and to account it a mercy to want any tryal which in probability might befal us and that one waye of trouble is not following upon the back of another 4. These multiplied breaches and wounds may come upon us incâ—ssantly not suffering us to take our breath that we learn to acknowledge the mercy of breatâ—â—ng times See also Chap 7.19 5. Upon all these sâ—d ingredients in the Saints cup there may follow the sad affliction of being imbitterâ—d yea filled with bitterness at and because of them See King 4.27 Hereby the Lord discovers his mercy to those who possess a quiet mind under trouble and calleth them to be humbled whose bitter dispositions he permits to break loose and so discovers what is in their hearts Doct. 4 In all these sad tossings of Saints it is their duty and advantage not to lose the sight of Providence but to see an hand of God doing all these things that they may be humbled before him who puts them in the furnace to discover their dross and may be comforted when they know they are in his hand who is infinitely wise compassionate and faithful Therefore doth Job ascribe all this to God He breaketh me c. Yea even his bitterness he looks upon it as his weakness which God will have for wise ends discovered See Lam. 3.15 5. Saints are also bound to believe that all their sad lots from God may consist with their being righteous and approved of him For notwithstanding all Gods terrible dispensations toward him yet he asserts God did them without cause This is Gods own verdict concerning Job and his tryals Chap. 2 3. The meaning whereof is not that God had no cause nor end in doing all this nor yet that Job wanted sin to deserve all of it if that were his meaning it were a most passionate and unjust complaint even when he is declining to complain or contend But that he was not guilty of gross wickedness and hypocrisie which are the evils which God pursues with his wrath This Job was not convinced nor guilty of and therefore refuseth to take with it And this teacheth godly men not to mistake as if sad afflictions did prove them wicked and were sent to cause them renounce the testimony of their own Consciences And it may warn the wicked who may expect sad things when such things as these are done even to the righteous 6. The strokes which are inflicted upon Saints walking in their integrity should humble them and make them afraid of gross provocations for so much doth the scope of all this argument teach He who was so afflicted being innocent could not expect that contending with God would prosper in his hand It is a very sweet frame of spirit when mens good Conscience under trouble makes them the more tender and afraid to sin though oft-times their corruptions and weakness over-drive them to do otherwise Vers 19. If I speak of strength loe he is strong and if of Judgment who shall set me a time to plead The fourth ground of Job's resolution not to contend is the same in substance with that general Argument v. 12. taken from the power dominion of God which he repeats and acknowledgeth to be of force in his case to keep him from contending The sum is as if Job had said It were madness in me to offer to strive with God For if I presume to do it by the strong hand he is strongest and invincible and I am lying on a dunghil like a filthy Leper And if I offer to plead by way of argument and law there is no Superiour Judge to set a day for pleading betwixt him and me to cause parties compeere to give security to me in pleading and to execute the sentence But he is Supreme Judge who can do no wrong and from whom there is no appeal Hence Learn 1. God is the Omnipotent and strong Lord for whom nothing is too hard and with whom no creature can grapple for If a speak of strength lo he is strong This may teach Saints to trust in him in greatest difficulties and when he maketh use of weak means of help 1 Cor. 1.25 and to stoop before him 1 Cor. 10.22 2. As God is Omnipotent and invincible in power so he is also supreme and soveraign Judge accountable to none and before whom none can stand in judgement by the help of any creature For If I speak of judgment who shall set me a time to wit to plead as is well added in the Translation For the word imports an appointing of a solemn time for any affair and here for judgment and pleading in judgment as the context makes clear 3. God is then rightly known and acknowledged in his power and soveraignty when it humbleth us and makes us stand in awe to sin before him for Job brings in those as an argument here why he will not contend with God Vers 20. If I justifie my self mine own mouth shall condemn me If I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse The fifth ground of his resolution is taken from the prejudice that would redound to himself by his pleading himself to be righteous and perfect before God Which is not to be understood as hath been marked before of his righteousness by justification nor of his sincerity and integrity in begun renovation and sanctification For these and even this last particularly he pleads before his friends and before God also according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace But it is to be understood of perfect righteousness and sinlesness before God and according to the Law and Covenant of Works and of his pleading of this or any other righteousness to the prejudice of the Righteousness of God who afflicted him And so the meaning is as if Job had said If I should presume thus to plead my righteousness He could not only put my Conscience to it to make me condemn my self with my own mouth but that same very proud speech in justifying my self were sufficient to condemn me not only by reason of the many failings which God would find in the way of my managing my defence
God thou shalt plunge me whereas before and after he is speaking to his Friends Vers 32. For he is not a man as I am that I should answer him and we should come together in judgment 33. Neither is there any days-man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both 34. Let him take his rod away from me and let not his fear terrifie me 35. Then would I speak and not fear him but it is not so with me Job's second proof that he is righteous is his humble offering if he might to justifie himself before God that he was sincere and free of that hypocrisie wherewith his Friends charged him In this discourse he both gives a further reason of his declining to pretend to sinlesness and therefore it is connected with what precedes by the particles For by shewing that as the matter stood he could not noâ— durst debate the matter with God considering the inequality of the parties in themselves v. 32. and that there was no superior Judge to whom recourse might be had v. 33. And yet he proves his sincerity by offering to plead his cause on more equal terms v. 34 35 In sum the purpose and his offer may be thus conceived That albeit there can be no pleading against God as unrighteous nor any contending with him according to the strict rule of justice For God is Supreme Lord and he being but a poor creature could not answer nor defend himself against his challenges who knew him better then himself did nor were they equal parties to engage in a debate v 32. Nor yet is there any Superiour Judge or aâ—guer or reprover that is to reprove him who did wrong his party â—n pleading and by his sentence reprove him that had the wrong cause who might lay his hand upon them both or use his power to bring both parties together to judgment to ordain a Law and enforce the parties to stand to the sentence But God is Supreme having dominion over him at his pleasure and by the rigour of the Law might condemn him v. 33. Yet if God would take away the present rod that was upon him and remove his terrour which confounded him he would plead his cause without fear and maintain that he was sincere according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace and no hypocrite v. 34 35 This reasoning whatever sound truths be in it is not handsomely expressed For it speaks an indirect challenge that he was put to a disadvantage in maintaining of his integrity Nor can it be denyed but this way of offering to maintain his integrity savours of too much height of spirit though he haâ— a good cause And as this began his ill humour of complaining which breaks out Chap. 10. So it is at this and the like speech Job 13.20 21 22. which Elihu hinâ—s in his offâ—r Job 33.6 7 And God himself gives him the check for these and the like speeches when he calls him to dâ—bate with him Job 38.3 40 7 Hence we may be warned how hard it is to keep a right frame of spirit toward God under trouble and to bear and manage a good Conscience when we are afflicted so as it may be a support to us and not an occasion of challenge against God that such as we are afflicted But laying aside this weakness in his discourse we may Observe these Truths in it 1. However vain man swell high in his own eyes and do carry so as if he had no equal or Superiour and Lord over him yet there is an infinite distance betwixt God and Man For saith he He is not a man as I am but the great Lord. See Eccl. 6.10 Jer. 49.19 This distance both in respect of his dreadful Majesty and blessed perfections we should mind in all our ways when we are presumptuous in sinning Psal 50.21 when we approach to God Eccl. 5.1.2 when we expect good things from him according to his promise Hos 11.8 9. Num. 23.19 c. 2. When God is rightly taken up in his Majesty and Holiness man will see that he cannot answer God nor defend himself before him or abide his strict enquiry and judgment who seeth more of man then he can see of himself and who judgeth not only on words and actions but on a mans nature and inclinations For He is not a man as I am that I should answer him See 1 Cor. 4.4 Psal 143.2 3. As the man who knoweth God will see that he cannot abide his strict judgment So far less will he dare to quarrel so Supreme so Holy and All-seeing a Party or deal with him as if he were his equal For He is not a man as I am that we should come together in judgment as equal Parties who have liberty of mutual accusations Every quarreller would make God but his equal but they dare not attempt that who know that all they have is of him 4. God ought also to be acknowledged to have supreme and absolute dominion and to be accountable to none For neither is there any days mâ—â— betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both And the study of his Soveraignty is enough to silence all our reasonings against him 5. Afflictions may give a sore daâ—h to mâ—ns câ—urage in maintaining their integrity even according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace For saith he let him take his rod away from me before I dispute my honesty Saints ought not to stâ—mble albeit sorâ— afflictions shake their confidence and courage not a little 6. That which makes trouble so apt to shake Saints is their apprehending God as terrible and dreadful through that Perspective of 〈◊〉 Therefore he addeth being under the rod and let not his fear terrifie me God may seem to be terrible to them whom he loveth dearly And albeiâ— it be the Saints weakness â—ot to sâ—e love under that yet it iâ— an evidence of their tenderness that they are apprehensive of iâ— when afflicted and can bear it woâ—â—t of any other ingredient in their cup. 7. Integrity as it hath sâ—â—ll to do with God as its Judge and Witness So it will not decline his Judgment on a Mercy-seat and looks fâ—â— best quarters at his hand As knowing that he sâ—eth infirmities in his sincere servants to cover and â—mend them Psal 139.23 24. For on these terms formerly mentioned Then would I speak saith he and 〈◊〉 feaâ— him Where though the height of his spirit in this offer cannot be justified yet he seems â—o mean no other thing by this not fearing but that he would speak without fear of perturbation not without fear of reverence 8. Whatever disadvantage integrity meet with yet it will never quit its claim For then would I speak saith he He is ready to dispute though as mâ—â—â—ers stand he dare not So that they who have a good Conscience and want these disadvantages may be bold As for that which is subjoyned in the end of v 35. by way of regret But
his hazard of what may ensue upon it as he elsewhere resolves Chap. 13.13 But the meaning is That when his weariness was like to make him complain and cry out grace and submission would as formerly Chap. 9.35 yet have smothered it and rather have sunk under the pressure then utter any thing of his passion to God or against his dealing Whence Learn 1. Much trouble affords occasion and matter of many lamentations and complaints and it is a demonstration of mans frailty that when he is hardly pressed he can do no more for his own relief but complain and lament Psal 102. in the Title For here it is supposed that Job's hard case pressed him to a complaint 2. Men do not a little feed and encrease their complaints under trouble by their own wearying and so making their burden uneasie For it is when he is weary of his life that he hath a complaint But formerly till his spirit wearyed he got it borne down Chap. â— 10 3. Albeit afflicted and grieved Saints may find great ease by pouring out their case to God yet the ill and bitter frame of their spirits is better suppressed than vented For saith he I will leave my complaint upon my self Thus did he labour not to sin with his lips Chap. 2.10 as not knowing but his passion if once it bâ—â—ke loose might utter worse language then simple complaints 4. Albeit men be driven from their good resolutions through the violence of their tentations yet it is their duty to essay them again For after his endeavours to ease himself Chap. 9.27 28. and to smother his grievances are overturned he will yet again essay to leave his complaint upon himself 3. Flesh at last over powers all his good resolutions I will speak in the bitterness of my soul or I am so put to it with grief and bitterness that I must give my self a vent Whence Learn 1. Saints may be put from their resolutions over and over again For here after he hath again resolved to bury his complaint he is put from it and he must speak and his passion for this time carrieth all before it This may teach Saints not to mistake such humblings in the matter of their resolutions and such violent fits in themselves 2. Saints resolutions of submission and patience will not hold when they only smother their sorrows and do not labour to cure that inwardly and at the root which they endeavour to suppress outwardly For therefore comes he at last to this I will speak notwithstanding all his former resolutions because he did not labour to remove the cause of his complaint by reading Gods dealing aright and seeking patience but did only leave it upon himself 3. Resolutions also will not hold when men take their burdens upon themselves and do not roll the grievancâ—s they would suppress over on God For in this also his resolution was defective that he will leave his complaint upon himself or smother it and take all the weight of it upon his own spirit and therefore it came to this issue I will speak 4. Much trouble and perplexity is apt to breed much soul-bitterness especially when nature and corruptions are let loose to read our lots and grapple with our difficulties For Job here confesseth his trouble had produced bitterness of soul 5. Bitterness of soul is not only a fountain of complaints and resentments against Gods dealing but it is very boisterous carrying down all good resolutions and a very bad Oratour before God For saith he I will speak in the bitterness of my soul Which imports that it was his bitterness that furnished those complaints which before he would have suppressed that it was bitterness also that overturned his former resolutions to be silent and drave him to this I will speak and that all the faults in his following Discourse slowed from this Fountain of bitterness which prompts a man to speak not what he ought but whatever it suggests were it such as the Disciples Prayer was Mar. 4.38 Vers 2 I will say unto God Do not condemn me shew me wherefore thou contendest with me In this verse we have Job's Proposition of his complaint which contains the second Argument justifying and pressing it He not only insinuates that his Friends should not censure those complaints which he dare propound to God leaving them as unfit Judges though this do not conclude strongly seeing men in passion may dare to speak that to God which is not meet But in the very Proposition of his case he insinuates this Argument against Gods present dealing and why he should deal more tenderly with him That it was very hard measure thus to condemn him before he be convinced of his crime The meaning is as if Job had said Lord by this way of Procedure thou seemest to deal with me as with a wicked man whom thou hast condemned to be thus consumed and cut off as such Now in this I request for a just procedure that I may understand the quarrel thou hast against me who am a righteous man before thou give me such hard measure and I expostulate that it is not so that either thou wilt not cease to proceed against me as a guilty and wicked man for so the word to condemn is in the Original to make wicked or to declare one to be such by the sentence and stroke of a Judge or else shâ—w me the cause and quarrel In this reasoning we may observe thâ—se Truths for our Instruction 1. Whatever distemper be in our spirits which we cannot get suppressed and calmed it is better to go to God with it then to mâ—â—â—â—ur and complain of him as it were behind back and albeit there may be much failing and dross in the way of such addressâ—s yet it is faith that goeth God with them and it evidenceth a man to be given to Prayer when even his very complaints run in that channel For albeit this address be full of distemper and passion as we may observe all along yet in so far Job is right that when he must speak v. 1. I will say it unto God saith he 2. To be condemned as a wicked man is sad to a Saint Any dispensation will be tolerable but that seeing therein a sight of mens own wickedness hides a sight of Gods favour and love in their lot Therefore Job deprecates his being condemned as a wicked man as the word imports when it is suggested by sense that it was so with him 3. A justified man whose sin is pardoned and who walks with God may plead against condemnation as a lot he cannot in reason expect seeing there is no condemnation to any that are in Christ Rom. 8.1 Therefore doth Job plead against that when suggested by sense and tentation as a thing that could not be and for which there was no cause according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace Do not condemn me shew me wherefore thou contendest with me as such a one
4.4 2. Cor. 10.18 And being clean in his eyes or having his approbation we ought not much to regard misconstructions from men Psal 35.11 12 13. Job 16.20 3. Men even good men may be so far blinded as to judge Truth to be Errour either simplie mistaking the one for the other or misconstructing mens true expressions and charging more upon their speaches then they meant by them For so doth Zophar quarrel and intend to refute this true assertion of Job In the first branch thereof condemning his pure Doctrine as unsound and in the second relating to his Conversation and purity of life reckoning it unsound that he who was so afflicted should reckon himself a regenerate and purified man or at least judging him an insolent lyar in asserting that he was without sin This should warn godly and Orthodox men to be guarded against such exercises as these 4. As men ought not to quit the testimony of their integrity so they ought to speak very soberly and humbly of it before God Not only that they may avoid guilt and sin which they contract by pride and insobriety but that they may also prevent the misconstructions of others For herein Job failed as God afterward marketh and by his way of managing his good cause in bitter Complaints and Expostulations with God gave some occasion of this challenge and misconstruction as if he had thought and spoken too highly of his own purity Vers 5. But O that God would speake and open his lips against thee 6. And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdome that they are double to that which is know therefore that God exacteth of thee less then thine iniquity deserveth In the second place Zophar in these verses subjoyns his intended Refutation of this Assertion of Job wherein for the more distinct understanding of the words we are to consider First The way he takes to refute Job Which in stead of arguing with him himself is by wishing and desiring that God would take him in hand to dispute with him according to his own desire Chap. 9.34 35. and refute and convince him v. 5. He speaks of God in terms taken from among men and wisheth that God would not only speak or make him know his mind which might be done by inward Inspiration but that he would open his lips against him or speak with an audible voyce to him and convince him in the hearing of all of them Consider Secondly That whereby he expects God could convince him and wisheth he could do it is by shewing him the secrets of wisdom that they are double to that which is v. 6. For understanding whereof we are to remark 1. This wisdom the secrets whereof he desireth may be shewed is the wisdom and knowledge of God which though it be in it self a great depth and be unsearchable in his Providences and Dispensations in the world Rom. 11.33 and is commended as such in general v. 7 8 9. to confirm his particular conclusion intended here yet in this place it is only to be understood of his secret or infinite wisdom in knowing of men and what their faults are as may be gathered from the Inference in the end of the verse And what is more expresly asserted v. 11. 2. These secrets of wisdom are said to be double to that which is which is not to be understood of any exact Proportion as if they were only double and no more to it but generally the meaning is that those secrets of wisdom are much more then that which is so Isa 40.2 3. But the great obscurity in these words is occasioned by the word rendered here that which is It signifieth sound wisdom a law and that which hath an essence or being and really exists or is as here All those agree and come to one purpose here That the secrets of Gods wisdom in knowing man and his faults according to the strict rule of the spiritual law which was then imprinted in their hearts and otherwise revealed to them though not as yet written were double or much more then any thing man can know of himself or then what exists in mans soundest judgment and knowledge of himself or he can see and take up in that law And that therefore God knew that of man which deserves double to any trouble that is or exists and lies upon him This last clearly followeth upon the former considering the demerit of sin and doth sute well with his Inference which is the Third thing to be considered and a Key to open the former words v. 6. wherein he would have Job know and consider that notwithstanding all the afflictions had befaln him yet God did exact less then his iniquity deserved or God so to say forgets of his iniquity and doth not remember all of it when he chastiseth him Or he lends out of his iniquity as the word will also bear upon interest or to a day when he afflicts him that is he oâ—eth God more then he hath yet payed and is obliged by reason of his sin to greater punishments then he yet fâ—lt Thus the meaning of this whole purpose in short is That if God would interpose to debate this cause with Job and let him know how spiritual the Law is how much he knoweth of man according to that Law above what man knoweth of himself and how much man sins according to the sentence of that Law deserve above what is inflicted upon him in this life Job would not have spoken so much as he did of his own purity but would have looked upon his sufferings as far short of his deservings This is sound General Doctrine That Gods Law is most spiritual and perfect That his Wisdom and Knowledge of Man is above what he can know of himself That mans sins transcends his own knowledge and even godlies mens deservings are above their saddest calamities But all this proves nothing against Job who whatever his failings were in the heat of the debate never pleaded perfection according to the strict rigor of the Law nor sinlesness but only that he was sincere according to the tenor and condescendance of the Covenant of Grace Nor did he deny his own ill deservings but only pleaded that he was not wicked notwithstanding his afflictions and his afflictions being very sharp he resented that they should have been inflicted upon him a reconciled man as if God were about to destroy and cut him off in anger In this purpose considered abstractly and in general we may observe those sounds Truths and Instructions 1. Errours are such bewitching and intangling evils that whatever be mens duty to oppose them yet the rooting out thereof is above their reach Therefore doth Zophar quit this task of refuting Job's supposed Errours as too hard for him and prayeth that God will interpose in it Man is neither able to hold out clear grounds of light for every thing he knoweth and believeth to be a truth nor though he had clear light is he
able to make it convincing to others nor though his light were convincing as to that point of Truth is he able to search out and discover all these idols and lusts which imbarque men in ways of Errour and against Truth And though he could discover all these yet he is not able to over-awe man nor put him from his pride which will not suffer him to be convinced or to retract what he is engaged in for another man All this lets us see what a Tyrant Eâ—â—our is when men once give up themselves slaves to it And how much need there is of humble self-denyal and humble dependance on God in those who would effectually oppose it Job 32.13 2 Cor. 10.4 5. 2 Tim. 2.25 26. 2. God is able to convince and argue a man out of his Errours were he otherwise never so stiffe and obstinate in them For he puts it upon God to speak and open his lips against him as knowing he could effectually convince He can hold out light clearly and make it convincing He can turn mens idols and lusts which do engage them into dâ—ttays which their Consciences cannot refuse and he can cause his terrour drive men from their Errours This sheweth that matters are not hopeless in times when Errour prevaileth though mens abilities and diligence prove ineffectual And it warneth these who will not be convinced of their Errours by others to beware of making God their party 3. The wisdom of the Lord is a secret a great and unsearchable depth and his footsteps in his proceedings are not easily traced For there are the secrets of wisdom See Psal 147.5 This calls for sobriety in our inquiries about the counsels of God and that we avoid presumption and conceit of our knowledge and wisdom 4. God himself is the only discoverer of his deep counsels to men in so far as is for their good and behoof For He must shew the secrets of wisdom He must not only give us his Word whereby we may understand so much as is needful of his working but must open our eyes to take up what is revealed there Psal 119.18 And therefore we must not go about this search in our own strength 5. It is in particular one secret of the wisdom of God that he knows much more of us then we can know of our selves For in this the secrets of wisdom are double according to the Law to that which consists in our own soundest judgment and knowledge as hath been explained His Law is spiritual Rom. 7.14 And the best sight of our selves cannot bring us up to know the truth of our selves according to the sentence of the Law beside that we are oft-times blinded with tentation desertions lusts self-love c. and so cannot discern what otherwise might be obvious enough unto us This tells us that in our best estate within time we should be far from any conceit of perfection 1 Cor. 4.4 And that we should rather beside our laying to heart our known failings be bewailing our hid and secret Errours which we cannot comprehend Psal 19.12 6 God can do no wrong in afflicting the most righteous man For beside that God may by reason of his absolute Dominion afflict the most innocent every son of Adam though regenerate hath sin in this life which deserves all his afflictions and much more according to the rule of strict justice Ezra 9.13 And therefore in stead of quarrelling what God doth when he afflicts him he is bound to admire that God doth not prosecute him with greater severity considering his deserving Lam. 3.22 Therefore saith he Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less then thine iniquity deserveth Besides these Truths Zophar's mistakes in this way of Reâ—utation are useful to be observed And 1. He is earnest in his wishes that God would appear in this cause expecting certainly that God would approve of his sentence and opinion And yet he was deceived for God condemned him among the rest when he determined in the Controversie It teacheth That even godly men should be sober and cautious in their appealing to God in the matter of their opinions And should take heed that their self-love do not blind them and cause them dream of Gods approving of that which indeed he abhors So also tentation may represent God as a pâ—â—ty as Zophar suggests to Job here when he is none 2. He doth here assault Job by laying before him such found Truths of Gods knowledge of man mans ill deservings c. which had they been as pertinent as they are true in themselves the debate had been at an end yet Job is not convinced by them as concluding nothing against him to prove him wicked It teacheth That a sincere man who hath fled to Christ for refuge may in his affliction look upon and acknowledge the Omniscience of God the perfection of his Law his Justice in afflicting the desert of sin and his own impurity and yet all those not discourage him nor prove him wicked because afflicted For 1. Albeit all that be true yet such a man hath fled to Christ in whom he is hid and his sins covered And so God deals not with him according to all these faults which he by his Omniscience findeth in him nor according to strict Justice or the rigour of the Law which are satisfied in Christ but according to the tenor of the Covenant of Grace 2. Albeit there be sin in godly men beyond what they know of themselves yet all their afflictions are not chastisements for sin but some are sent only for the tryal of their faith patience and other graces 3. Albeit God be pursuing sin in his Saints by afflictions and might pursue them yet more yet it followeth not that they are wicked For he pursued David for his further humiliation and for the vindication of his own glory whom yet he had pardoned 2 Sam. 12.9 14. Thus ought we to joyn the Law and the Gospel acknowledging the just sentence of the Law and yet having recourse to Christ in the Gospel to be secured against the execution thereof Otherwise such as make not use of Christ must be at the poor shift to turn Atheists Psal 14.1 2. to pervert the sense of the spritual Law and mince their own sins to procure to themselves security and stupidity in stead of true peace Vers 7. Canst thou by searching find out God canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection 8. It is as high as heaven what canst thou do deeper then hell what canst thou know 9. The measure thereof is longer then the earth and broader then the sea In the third place that he may inculcate this Doctrine of the Wisdom and Justice of God upon Job he subjoyns to v. 12. several amplifications and considerations concerning God and his Attributes And First in these verses he commends the unsearchable wisdom of God shewing that although he had wished God might shew Job so much of it as might convince him that God
him More particularly Learn 1. Men that would attain to sound and approved knowledg ought to be very accurate observers of Gods works and ways of Providence Isa 5.12 Psal 28.5 Such was Job's practice here mine eye hath seen or observed all this or all these works of Providence formerly recorded He hath a treasury of those Observations This was the practice of the godly especially before the Word was written and much more ought we to study those and profit by them now when we have the written Word by which we may read them One eye upon Providences without us and another upon our heart and condition within will make wise men if we look upon them through the Perspective of the Scriptures 2. Approved Students of Gods works will not grow proud of their own Observations but knowing how short their time is and how much they may be blinded in present things and times they will take the help of others either in their Discourses or Writings to better their knowledge For Job not only saw this but he took help of hearing mine ear hath heard whosoever know any thing as they ought to know it they will be far from conceit of their own knowledge or from neglecting means whereby they may be helped to make proficiency 3. Such as are right Students of those excellent things will not content themselves with bare observation and hearing of them as many go no further but will be careful to digest them in their understandings and to ponder them that so they may become practicable and be solidly rooted in their hearts For Job also understood it Notional men who have some Thoughts of Divine Truths only fleeting in their brain are upon the matter but fools 4. The example of others should stir up men to know God and his works and not to come behind with any in those necessary things For saith Job What ye know the same do I know also as being excited by what they spake on this subject to give proof that he had known the same things also 5. This comparison betwixt him and them beside what is already marked Chap. 12.3 That it is necessary to vindicate and commend our selves not out of contention or from any contempt of others but when Truth and a good cause suffers through our sides may Teach That it is needful to see what God hath done to us or in us even for our own comfort when others would decry us it being very comfortable when we find our selves to be in a better condition then others judge us to be As Job finds it was with him when they undervalued him as an ignorant Vers 3. Surely I would speak to the Almighty and I desire to reason with God Followeth to v. 20. Job's appealing from them and his betaking himself to debate his cause with God which here he propounds as his professed desire yea and delight to set about it Zophar Chap. 11.5 6. had wished that God would take him in hand and then he was sure Job would be made to see his own ignorance of the Wisdom and Power of God and God would condemn him and pass sentence against him in his cause Now Job as formerly he hath declared and proved that he is not so ignorant as they took him to be So here he declines not Zophar's overture but doth himself also wish and desire to reason his cause with God as not fearing to compeer before him as a Father in Christ according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace He saith he desires or as it is in the Original it would be his delight to reason with God whereby he not only signifieth his eagerness to be at it but implyeth also that there were disadvantages and discouragements in his way such as sharp rods humbling desertions and apprehensions of Gods terrour which he would gladly have removed out of the way that he might deal with more freedom and boldness in defence of his cause And so his meaning in desiring to reason with God will be that he would gladly set about it if he durst And albeit afterward he both resolves v. 13. and actually enters upon the debate v 23 c. upon all hazards Yet he still retains the sense of those disadvantages and his desire to have them taken away that he might go about it more confidently v. 20 21 22. What faults were in Job's actual reasoning with God will come to be considered in their own place Only while he desires to reason or argue with God we are not to conceive that he resolves to plead his own sinlesness Or to accuse God or to justifie his own boisterous fits in debating with God But only humbly to maintain that he is righteous notwithstanding his afflictions which was a true and just plea though his passion did over-drive him in the prosecution thereof And in this he is not to be justified It Teacheth 1. Men should debate Controversies as in the sight of God and not dare to maintain that before men which they dare not avow in the presence of God For Job dare speak that to the Almighty which he hath spoken before them When men forget thus to mind God their Parts Interest and Reputation may bear them out and not only make them stiffe in their own way but afford them much to say for themselves which yet would be found empty and vain before God 2. Albeit Honesty and a good Cause may be borne down and so traduced as if it were but lies and mens humours that it will get no entainment in the world Yet it is enough if God approve of it And men should satisfie themselves with that not being discouraged that they are left upon God alone for hâ—s approbation For notwithstanding all the mistakes of his Friends Job is satisfied that he may reason with God and hopes for his approbation It is good that men be sometime thus mistaken in the world that they may try how matters stand betwixt God and them how they will be satisfied with divine approbation when other testimonies are denyed them and how they have taken with former applause in the world And this is needful to be well adverted unto for those who are much affected with applause in a right way may readily take a wrong course to retain it or to recover it if it be lost 3. Mâ—intainers of a good Cause may not only be deserted by all and lâ—ft on God but in coming to him for his approbation they may have sad discouragements desertions tentations afflictions c. to weaken their hands though they be right in their cause For so Job can but desire to reason with God if he durst as hath been explained See Job 19.5 6. 23.3 10. Psal 80.4 The right cause must go against all winds and tides and the maintainers thereof must be throughly tryed Their desertions tentations discouragements and cross lots ought not to be misconstructed as if thereby God intended to condemn them 4.
with God and his service as Isai 33.14 2. From this it followeth That they prove themselves honest men who in the height of trouble will abide by it and go to God and keep his way and will not cast away confidence and dependance come what will For this is Job's proof of his honesty that he will come before God which an Hypocrite will not do Thus honesty is proved in troubles by waiting and desires Isai 26.8 by cleaving to Gods way Psal 44.17 c. by persevering in Prayer Psal 88.13 14 15. and by confidence in these Prayers expecting wonders to be shewed to the dead ere the honest seeker of God be utterly forsaken Psal 88.10 11. In a word when Saints blush and are ashamed to come to God Ezra 9.6 when they are affrighted with trouble or whatever their disadvantages be yet to come to God and cleave to him is good and a proof of honesty Vers 17. Hear diligently my speech and my declaration with your ears 18. Behold now I have ordered my cause I know that I shall be justified Unto all these commendations of his confidence and evidences of his sincerity Job subjoyns an inference and conclusion wherein he wisheth they would diligently attend to what he was to say to God both by way of declaration of his sorrow to plead for pity and especially by way of pleading his own integrity being confident as one who had considered and examined his own cause exactly that God would justifie and absolve him not approving every escape in him especially in the way of managing the debate but declaring him a righteous man in a Mediatour and that he had better cause in this debate betwixt him and them Hence Learn 1. Men in trouble should have much liberty and allowance to speak their mind and what they say should be well attended to as not being rashly spoken but from real pressure of mind For saith he hear diligently my speech and my declaration either of my sorrows or integrity or both with your ears This he presseth that so they might see what Truth is in what he said and what his case was that made him speak as he did Men get pressures to teach them to speak solidly and not at random and what such speak should not be sleighted but albeit all they say cannot be justified yet their pressures should plead for much allowance and compassion as in another case 2 King 4.27 2. Even good men when themselves are unconcerned are ordinarily but little sensible of the condition of others and do little regard their complaints Therefore he must double Exhortation that they would hear and hear diligently and with their 〈◊〉 The neglect of this duty is an ordinary presage â—f trouble to come upon our selves as Reuben observed Gen. 42.21 22. And the Disciples who were little tender of the multitude who crowded after Christ to enjoy his company which themselves had without interruption are sent away to Sea without him that they might learn to pity others who could not at all times be with him Matth. 14.15 22 c. 3. Saints may attain to assurance of Gods approbation As here Job knoweth he shall be justified This assurance hath been attained even in sad distresses Rom. 8.35 38. And for godly men to doubt of it is their sin though every doubting be not inconsistent with faith nor even with some degree of assurance And therefore such ought not to habituate themselves to unbelief and doubtings which may have sad fruits But they should study to attain assurance that they may manage their approaches to God with hope and confidence 4. Such as would maintain their confidence assurance and integrity ought to try and examine their own estate well For saith he Behold now I have ordered my causes or taken notice of all I have to say for my self Not only is a delusion in the main matter dangerous but even in every particular evidence of our sincerity and ground of confidence For if we build upon any unsure Principle the discovery of that may readily cast all loose when yet there is no cause why we should do so seeing one may be truly honest who yet may be mistaken of some evidences of it And therefore we ought to be very exact and cautious 5. Albeit men having searched themselves never so exactly cannot conclude that they can abide Gods search and judgment as he is a severe Judge nor yet that they are perfect according to the tenour of the Covenant of Works which is the meaning of Paul's words 1 Cor. 4.4 Yet it is of Gods great mercy that upon mens impartial search of themselves and finding things right they may believe God will absolve them and approve them as sincere according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace For so Job having ordered his cause knows that he shall be justified If our hearts do condemn us upon just grounds and not upon a mistake the thoughts of Gods Omniscience may indeed affright us 1 Joh. 3.20 But if our hearts upon solid grounds condemn us not thoughts of his Al-seeing eye need not weaken our confidence 1 Joh. 3.21 Vers 19. Who is he that will plead with me for now if I hold my tongue I shall give up the ghost In this verse Job concludes his first Argument upon which he hath so long insisted taken from his confidence professing that since he know of such a Judge as God was and had so studied his cause he would gladly know his party being ready to enter the lists with any of them in this quarrel Unto whâ—h 〈◊〉 subjoyns the Second Argument confirming and 〈◊〉 his resolution to plead his câ—use with 〈…〉 is taken â—rom his great pressure and dis◠〈◊〉 He dâ—clares that as his assurance to be 〈…〉 of which he hath already spoken is not â—mall so his pâ—nt pressure to speak was not little 〈◊〉 if he should hold his peace as they judged was his duty it would cost him his life Not only was he to dâ—e shortly hâ—ng in such a weaâ— condition and so if he spake not in time he would leave his integrity unclear'd under all the bloâ—s they had cast upon him and Gods severe dispensations seemed to charge him with But unless he got a vent to his grief by speaking and complaining it would crush him and hasten his death And this Argument is so pressing upon Job's own spirit that having once named it without more ado he betakes himself to God and begins his address to him in the following verses Doct. 1. Saints must resolve that they will not always get their assurance held up in confident assertions not contradicted by any person or thing but must lay their account to have it questioned with pleadings and fightings As Job here supposeth 2. They must not resolve to cast away their assurance when it is ooposed not only by temptations from within but by misconstructers from without But they ought valiantly and resolutely engage against whatsoever
and by God himself yet he expressly denied there was any perfect purity in man Chap. 14.4 and so yielded what is asserted here 2. This Doctrine seem to be repeated by Eliphaz from that Vision which he had Chap. 4.17 18 19. But beside his mistake marked there we have this further here That whereas thâ—s Doctrine was propounded comparatively Chap. 4 17. that Man cannot be more just then God here he repeats it as absolutely true that Man cannot at all be righteous at least any comparison is but very darkly if at all hinted in the following verses Now there is a great dâ—fference betwixt those two For no Man can compare with God in this and yet some may lawfully say they are righteous These mistakes in the Application may teach 1. Passion and heat in debates will cause men very far and grossly mistake one another For so doth he fasten that on Job which he had expressly denied 2. It is most necessary for preventing of mistakes in dispute that men be accurate in stating the Question and particularly that in debating about mens integrity and righteousness we distinguish bâ—twixt mens state and their condition betwixt their state by Nature and by Grace betwixt reigning sins and infirmities Otherwise we will never judge rightly of persons nor of things For the confounding of these bred this mistake of Job His Assertion doth indeed hold true of Man considered in himself and by nature that he is neither clean nor righteous which Job nâ—ver denied and yet a Man as regenerate may be righteous by imputation and by begun Sanctification and Sincerity which Job maintained It is true even Saints are not righteous as to freedom from original corruption and infirmities yet they may be free from wickedness which he would fasten on Job It is true also no man can prove himself perfect before God or compare with him in righteousness and purity yet he may prove himself righteous and sincere according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace 3. When men are once byassed with their own Principles they will be ready to adulterate were it even Revelations given to them and will understand all light offered to them only as it is represented by their own prejudged understandings For that Vision which Eliphaz expounded wrong Chap. 4. he now alters the words of so as might make more for his purpose 4. It is our mercy that Divine Revelations are not entrusted only to our memories but do stand registrated in the written Word For Eliphaz's memory faiâ—s him and he doth change and alter what God had said From the General Proposition considered in it self Learn 1. There is no perfect purity to be found among the sons of men who come of Adam by ordinary generation For Man is neither clean nor righteous Where if it be necessary to distinguish these words cleanness may point at that purity in Nature whereof Man is destitute and righteousness at their straightness in Conversation which cannot be attained where the Fountain is so corrupt or at any other thing which Man can attain unto to supply the defect of this cleanness whereof he is altogether unprovided 2. They who think otherwise of Man and dream of his being perfect are very ill acquainted with Mâ—n and his Original They do not well enough discern that he is frail man nor do they read aright what his miseries do say of him nor consider that he is born of a woman see Chap. 14.1 So much is implied in Man's Name here that he is frail wretched Man and that he is born of a Woman which are put in the assertion to verifie the truth thereof 3. The heart of Man ought and being godly will rise and swell with indignation at any conceit of Man's puâ—ity or worth For those pungent questions What is Man that he should be clean c do speak indignation in Eliphaz that any should have such a thought 4 The best way to refute any such conceit of Man's Purity is to bring home the matter of our condition to be cognosced upon by our Consciences For therefore doth Eliphaz propound these question to Job that himself might seriously consider of the matter 5. Whatever self-justifiers pretend they have to say yet their Consciences will not still be able to stand out against Gods verdict of sinful man For so much do these questions also import that Job's own Conscience would at last whatever he thought in his passion be forced to acknowledge this truth Vers 15. Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints yea the heavens are not clean in his sight 16. How much more abominable and filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water In these verses we have the Amplification and Confirmation of this Proposition That if Saints and the Heavens be not clean before God nor trusted in by him v. 15. how much more vile must Man be who greedily drinks in iniquity v. 16. By Saints here taken in opposition to Mâ—n Angels are to be understood who though they be holy oneâ— yet do stand by the grace and favour of God And by the Heavens we may understand the pure Heavens themselves those celestial Bodies and the Lights that shine in them which are free of spots and blemishes and do shine brightly and yet are not clean in Gods sight So Chap. 25.5 Or the same Angels formerly designed by the name of Saints who are heavenly creatures Of this see Chap. 4.18 Doct. 1. Albeit the Lord have made creatures which are excellent above Man especially as he is now faln by sin yet none of these are so perfect as that they can boast of purity before him For it is here again inculcated that Saints and the Heavens are not clean So that whatever perfections there be in some creatures above others yet all of them must be sensible of imperfection before God 2. As the Lord is so infinitely glorious and all-sufficient that he needs not trust on any thing without himself so no dependant goodness in the creature can bear the weight of the trust and confidence of any For God who knoweth his own creatures best puts no trust in his Saints to shew that men are fools when they lean the weight of their confidence upon them or any other creature 3. The best Sight will be got of the emptiness of the creatures perfections when we look to God how perfect he is and what his thoughts are of the creatures For they are not clean in his sight saith he whatever others may think of them 4 Men may not only see their pollution but the grossness thereof when they compare themselves not with themselves but with more excellent creatures who yet are not pure in Gods sight For if Saints and the heavens be not clean in his sight how much more abominable and filthy as Man Or How much less is abominable and filthy Man to be accounted clean 5. Filth and being abominable should go together in our estimation and account whatever is
me Behold my desire is that the Almighty would answer me and that mine Adversary had written a book 36. Surely I would take it upon my shoulder and bind it as a Crown to me 37. I would declare unto him the number of my steps as a Prince would I goe near unto him Job having made this fair Profession and Apology wherein he haâ—h produced so many evidences of his integrity so solemnly confirmed and proved and being now about to câ—ose this discourse He breaks out for further confirmation of all he hath said in a solemn wish and desire That One even the Almighty would hear and answer him v. 35. The meaning whereof is not That he would have God appearing as his Party either as Plaintiff or Defendant as Chap. 13.22 For here he speaks of another Adversary or Party But that God would appear as a Judge to give him a fair hearing and to judge of his whole Cause that so he might be vindicated from all calumnies and aspersions that were cast upon him On this condition he professeth 1. That he would contemn the accusations of all forts of Adversaries and would be content they should write a Volume of them and produce all they had to say against him v. 35. 2. That he is sure these accusations would tend to his commendation and should be an ornament and crown and not a reproach to him and he would bring them as such before his Judge v. 36. For he was sure their accusations would prove him a just man seeing he had made himself no enemies but such as opposed him for his justice and for his fortitude in prosecution thereof of which he hath been speaking v. 34. Or his Friends could charge him with no real crime but he might glory that he was innocent and free of it 3. That he would not only defend his integrity against all accusations of Adversaries but he would generally lay open his conscience and give a reason of all his actions to his Judge v. 37. 4. That he would not behave himself as a guilty man but as a Princely confident man in so good a Cause both before his Judge and Accuser v. 37. This his confident desire and profession somewhat like unto that he had desired before Chap. 19.23 24. doth indeed say more to prove his integrity than all the particulars he hath mentioned before For what guilty man being in his right wits and already so sharply afflicted durst wish God to be a Judge and to have a quick Accuser and would not rather seek to decline judgement Yet he carrieth the matter too confidently for which he is afterward reproved and without that submissiveness which is due to such a Judge though the pressure of his miseries and his unjust vexation from his Friends plead some excuse or extenuate somewhat his failing in it From this purpose Learn 1. As sincere men will decline no tryal so it is oft-times their lot to lye buried under mis-constructions without fair hearing and judgement For his general desire O that one would hear me imports both that he declined not but earnestly desired to have his cause heard and his integrity tryed before any Judge whatsoever so he were impartial and indifferent and yet that he could not get a fair hearing that his integrity might be cleared 2. God is the Judge who is most eyed by godly men in the matter of their integrity As being he whose testimony alone can be leaned unto in this matter whose Tribunal when he proceeds according to the tenour of the Covenant of Grace a righteous man needs not fear and who is the Patron of those who are unjustly judged by others Therefore doth Job thus instance his general desire My desire is that the Almighty would answer me or It is my sign or evidence of my righteousness and integritry that the Almighty would answer me or that I desire him to answer not to his questions or pleadings but to his sute that he would give him an hearing as a Judge See Ps 26.1 and 43.1 3. The support of a good conscience in a trial is admirable and to be marked by all both to invite others to be sincere and to terrifie accusers Therefore he prefixeth a Behold to this desire that all might remark how confident he was of his integrity and how it supported him 4. Even these who are most righteous and approved of God must expect not to want opposers and calumniators For Job intimateth that he would have an adversary 5. When a man is sincere and upright though he may expect that observers will notice and mark his wayes yet he may sleight all they can say when God sits Judge For he cares not though his adversary had written a book So long as the Book of a Mans conscience is right he needs not care what books others write against him See Acts 23.1 6. Unjust accusations are so far from prejudging the integrity of the righteous that when they have vindicated themselves they clear their righteousness the more and are matter of their gloriation For not onely would he not smother them but take them openly upon his shoulder as no burden but he would binde them as a crown to him or crowns in the plural number even so many Crowns as Accusations This will be the issue of all calumnies cast upon godly men when either they are aspersed with the evil they have not done or when the good they do is called evil and therefore they need not lye drooping under them 7. Such as are truly godly men are exact numberers of their steps that in so far as can be nothing may escape them and they do not huddle up their walk in confusion For he hath the number of his steps to declare at least all the kindes of his steps though he could not overtake every particular 8. God should be ingenuously dealt with by such as would approve themselves as righteous in laying out their way before him For saith he I would declare unto him the number of my steps at least he would not hide any fault whereof he knew he was guilty 9. Whatever pain there be in circumspect walking yet the comfort of it will be as great when men look back to it in a day of tryal For now it affords Job peace that he may declare unto God the number of his steps See Ps 44.17 18 19 20. 10. The godly man may have much confidence in coming to God For saith he as a Prince would I go unto him A godly man who is justified is Israel a Prince with God and may come boldly to the Throne of Grace in full assurance of Faith and when he is calumniated he is a Superiour and Prince over his adversaries as having the better of them in the quarrel and he may come forward to God with an heroical spirit See Rom. 8.33 Heb. 4.16 and 10.22 Prov. 28.1 11. It is hard for godly men when under tentations and afflictions to manage a
for the connexion betwixt this and the former Verse we are not to conceive that God is thus gracious upon the Messengers shewing only unto man his uprightness but it must be so shewed as the afflicted man doth learn the lesson before these evidences of Gods love break forth of which more afterward 2. If it be enquired What a deliverance from the pit is here meant Answ It is not to be doubted but deliverance from eternal destruction which even a godly man deserves because of his sins for which he is chastened is the fruit of that ransome on which the penitent man layeth hold by faith and so that may be included here Yet since Elihu is principally speaking of mens bodily sickness and their deliverance from that v. 25 28 30. I incline rather to understand this of the preservation of the mans life opposite to that destruction wherewith he was threatned v. 22. Yet so as this must be looked upon as a pledge of his everlasting deliverance from Hell And albeit such a temporal preservation and deliverance be not alwayes afforded to godly penitent men Yet the sense will run clear enough thus That the penitent afflicted man closing with Christ shall get temporal deliverance from his affliction according to the tenour of the Covenant of grace about those things namely when it is for Gods glory and his good to get it and that as a pledge and earnest of his eternal deliverance 3. If it be enquired To whom it is that God saith Deliver him Answ The phrase may import no more but this That his effectual providence and operation shall be forth coming to deliver and to remove all impediments and so he may command sickness to spare him as when he spake at the Creation and the thing spoken was done But more particularly this Commission seems to be directed to the Messenger who instrumentally saves and delivers men 1 Tim. 4.16 and who must intimate these glad tydings to the afflicted man for his encouragement In summ this Verse imports That if this afflicted man repent and close with Christ according as Gods Messengers reveal to be his duty God for Christs sake will spare him and will give Commission to his Ministers to intimate so much unto him From this Verse Learn 1. The first thing that men should be careful to learn under affliction is their own duty before they come to know more of Gods mind in it For first man must be shewed his uprightness v. 23. and brought to repent and believe and then God is gracious c. It is true God hath preventing mercies and grace whereby he brings his people up to their duty he may also see the way of his froward people and heal them Is 57.17 18. Yet we are bound to mind our duty that he may appear for us and our neglecting of this method makes our troubles oft-times stick long with us 2. It is supposed here that the Messengers instruction v. 23. hath had success upon the afflicted man otherwise a step of this procedure should be wanting here For as hath been said it is not to be conceived that upon his shewing only unto man his uprightness God will be gracious till he understand and improve that lesson wherein he is instructed And this comprehending of the success of the message under ehe publication thereof may not only point out That however faithful Ministers will be approved when they have done their duty though it have no success Is 49.4 5. Yet as to the hearers part that message is as good as not told yea much worse which produceth not suitable effects That may be said in some sense not to be shewed which they see not and whereof they make no use See Jer. 8.8 But further this may import 1. That God who hath instituted a Ministry hath also promised to bless it and that if they declare their message he will bless it at least to some and therefore honest men may goe about their work in faith even in most difficult times 2 That imputed righteousness when it is preached in a right and lively way is very apt to gain ground upon hearts especially upon godly men to draw them to repent and close with it and to every other duty For that is the Doctrine here the shewing or publication whereof is supposed to be successful 3. It is the duty and property of godly men when in affliction especially to be tender and learn Gods mind from his Word and to be then humbled in the sense of sin and affected with the offer of grace For it is here supposed that when this godly man is chastened with sickness a Messenger from God shall not shew his message to him in vain See Ps 119.67 71. 4. That when God condescends to take pains upon any of his Children by Sickness and by his Messengers he will in mercy follow them with those means however they may prove stubborn for a time till they take effect upon them that so he may be gracious to them For it is supposed that those means will certainly have this effect at last Doct. 3. Whatever be the care and diligence of godly men in affliction to follow their duty Yet it is grace and grace only that must do their turn and the more diligent they are grace will be seen to be the more free For whatever success the message have yet God is gracious to him in delivering him And this may be another reason why no mention is made of the afflicted mans profiting by the message even because what he doth is not worthy to be mentioned in the day when grace appeareth to do him good and because this is one evidence of his sincerity in profiting by the Word that his diligence is nothing in his eyes and grace is all in all 4. It may encourage miserable sinners and particularly afflicted Saints that there is graciousness in God which will condescend to stoop and reach them even in their lowest condition For even then when he is lying at the gates of death and made sensible of his sinfulness and need of a Saviour he is gracious to him 5. No graciousness in God can be expected to be let forth unto sinners but in Christ and because of that ransome which he hath paid for satisfying of justice For this ransome or attonement is given here as the reason and procuring cause of all this gracious dispensation Not that Christ did purchase that God should be gracious in himself for that is one of his Attributes nor yet that God should have a purpose of grace and favour to his Elect for it flowed from his gracious purpose and eternal love to them that Christ was sent to dye for them But the meaning is that Christ by his ransome hath purchased the communication and effects of his love and grace to sinners in a way agreeable to his justice And this doth not only evidence that the Gospel was savingly though not fully revealed in
did wrong and did take away mens judgement and smote them without cause as Job had said v. 5 6. In unfolding this Argument 1. He declares how inconsistent it is with the nature of the Almighty and All-sufficient God to do wickedly and unjustly and that therefore all such thoughts of him should be rejected with abhorrency and indignation v. 10. 2. He asserts possitively that his way of rewarding men according to their works doth abundantly clear his justice v. 11. 3. This his just procedure is yet further confirmed by assuring men that he will do no wrong For being God even the Omnipotent and All-sufficient God he not only cannot be unjust his nature being infinitely holy and his will the rule of righteousness but he cannot be pressed with any necessity of doing wrong which would speak him to be impotent and not Almighty v. 12. Withall as that positive assertion v. 11. points out what will be his righteous reward to all men at last So those negatives v. 10 12. assure us that not only he will judge righteous judgement at last when men shall receive their final sentence but that at no time he is doing wrong to any however they cannot discern so much at some times which was Jobs weakness and fault From Verse 10. Learn 1. Men have frequent need to have their attention excited and quickened when they are hearing the things of God Therefore here again after that exhortation v 2. they are exhorted to hearken unto him 2. Wisdome is required to judge aright of God and to read all his dispensations as becometh and it speaks men to be truly wise when they attain to this Therefore Men of understanding or men of heart which in Scripture-language is the seat of understanding because mens light should affect their hearts are called to hearken in this matter 3. Whatever be the practice of those concerned or how slow of heart soever they prove in receiving convictions others ought to hear truth and to joyn with those who are for it to convince the stubborn Therefore doth he call to wise men to joyn with him that Job may be yet further convinced 4. Whatever be the thoughts of mens hearts under tentation Yet it is certain that God can do no injury and wrong to any For this is a fixed truth That wickedness and iniquity or the committing thereof are farr from God See Deut. 32.4 Psal 91.15 Rom. 9.14 He is just in his dispensations and true in his promises and that immutably See Psal 145.17 2 Thess 1.5 6 7. Heb. 6.10 5. Gods Almighty power needs not affright men as if he would abuse it to injustice For though he be the strong God as the name here signifieth and the Almighty yet he will not do wickedness nor commit iniquity or he will not do injustice which were both wickedness and iniquity See Chap. 37.23 Ps 99.4 6. Mens low thoughts of God contribute much to their mistakes and quarrellings of his dispensations Therefore also doth he call him the Almighty to convince Job how injurious he was in reflecting upon so high and All-sufficient a Lord. 7. Whoever they be that complain of Gods dispensations they do upon the matter quarrel God as unjust For so is here insinuated that Jobs complaints said God was not just 8. Men should hold that principle of Gods righteousness so fast that they not only quit it not whatever suggestions there be to the contrary Psal 22.3 with v. 1 2. But do entertain all contrary thoughts with detestation and abhorrency For saith he Farr be it from God c. intimating not only how contrary that was to the nature of God and so Abraham presseth this Argument Gen. 18.25 But that he abhorred to think so of God and so Paul entertains such a thought with a God forbid Rom. 9.14 From v. 11. Learn 1. Gods recompence will in due time abundantly clear his justice and righteousness Therefore he subjoynes by way of confirmation of what he had said v. 10. For the work of a man shall he render c. intimating that the righteousness of God will not need alwayes to be evidenced by dispute but will at last speak for it self in his publick actings though sometime his dispensations may be so wrapped in a cloud as we cannot discern by reason of our weakness that righteousness which is eminent in them See Psal 62.12 Prov. 24.12 and many the like places marked in the Margin of our Bible 2. Albeit no good works of men do merit a reward but only evil works Yet all rewards are according to mens works For the work of a man shall he render to him and every man shall find according to his wayes This doth not seclude Gods Soveraignty in free grace who doth make them who are evil become good that he may through Christ reward and crown his own grace in them and who may pass over the ill deservings of his people and do them good Psal 103.10 But the meaning is That God is not injust if he reward men according to their woâ—ks and consequently none of Adam's posterity have cause to complain of any hard Lot seeng they deserve much more and That his full and final reward at last will be according to mens works 3. God in rewarding men doth not look so much to every single act of men as to their wayes as here mans work which God renders to him is expounded to be his wayes that is to the tenour and general course of their lives and to their end in their undertakings as men choose a way to lead them to some place So that however every the least sin deserve eternal wrath and no multitude of good and excellent things beside can expiate or cover the least fault in men Yet according to the tenour of the Covenant of grace when men have closed with Christ and their hearts are sincere and the general course of their life is streight which necessarily imports repentance for their deviations the reward of free grace will be according to their better actings and not according to their failings and escapes And upon the other hand it will not avail men that they have some good practices if their hearts be unrenewed and the general course of their life abound with sinful actions Withall if God look to mens end in the good they do their doing of good things for evil and sinistrous ends will come in among the rest of their sinful actions and will be rewarded accordingly 4. God will make his rewards according to mens works effectual For he will cause every man or man where the indefinite expression is to be taken universally in this necessary proposition to find according to his wayes He will cause the wicked find their reward whether they will or not and it shall find them out in all their lurking places and he will find it for the godly as the word may also read and bring it to them and them to it when they know not