is that when God comes to plead with Beleevers he pleads not against them with his power and righteousnesse seing Christ with both pleads for them He pleads for them not onely as he is Jesus Christ the righteous but as he is the mighty the All-powerfull God This is the chiefest ground of a beleevers confidence that God as Job here saith will not plead against him with his great power What then did Job beleeve would God doe with him the next words enforme us what his faith was in that particular But he would put strength in mee So we render the Hebrew is onely thus He will put in mee Veruntatem ille pones in me Heb. what he would put is not expressed in the Original which hath caused some variety of opinion what it should be that the Lord would put into him and I finde a threefold conjecture in the poynt First The supplement is made thus He would produce arguments or reasons against me and this is conceived most suitable to the context and scope of the place as also to the action of pleading before spoken of Poneret afferret in me suas rationes Merc. Ipse poneret coÌ„tentioneÌ„ in me id est non robore mecum ageret sed verborum contentione Ch would he plead with or against me with his great power no but he would shew me the reason of his dealings with me he would not proceed against me in a martiall but in a legal way not in a prerogative but in a discoursive argumentative way he would shew me the cause why he thus contendeth with me and hath so sorely afflicted me God would condescend so farre to my weaknes as to give me an account though I dare not presume to call him to an account and though he hath both power and right to deale with me as he pleaseth yet I am much assured that he would be pleased to tell me why he deals thus with me This interpretation is cleare to the generall scope of the context and argues nothing unbecoming that holy confidence which the Grace of the Gospel alloweth a beleever in yea encourageth him unto when in any distresse he approacheth unto God for the reliefe and comfort of his troubled Spirit Secondly Another thus Will he plead against me with his great power Fonet in me sc cor suum i e. compleâ—eretur me favoure Pisc no but he would put his heart upon me that is he would imbrace me with his favour and lay me in his bosome Though his hand hath been exceeding heavy upon me yet I believe his heart is towards me though he hath smitten me with the wound of an enemy yet he will receive me as a friend and give me signal testimonies of his love I should not feele the weight of his hand but see the tendernes of his bowels and his heart moving towards me This also is an interpretation full of truth and as full of comfort to a wearied soule Thirdly The supplement made in our translation reacheth both the former and suites also to the former branch of the Text with much elegancy Alij sub audiuÌ„t repetuÌ„t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in me robur poneret ad consistendum coram sâ— â—e infiâ—mum fulciens roborans Merc. Would he plead against me with his great power no but he would put power or strength into me he will be so farre from putting out his strength against me that he will put his strength into me he knoweth my weaknesse how unable I am to contend with or beare up against his power and therefore he would put power into me Mr Broughton renders clearely to this sense Would he by his great power plead against me no but he would helpe me helpe is power and he that helpeth another administers power to him he either puts new strength into him or joynes his strength with him So then Job was assured that God would put strength into him or be his strength to helpe and carry him through all the difficulties that lay before him Hence Observe First A beleiver hath no opinion of his owne strength or that he can doe any thing in his owne strength He trusts no more to his owne strength or power then to his owne righteousnesse or worthinesse As our Justification before God is purely founded in the righteousnesse of Christ so all the actings of our sanctification are maintained by the strength of Christ Holy Job spake nothing of his owne strength yea he spake as having no strength of his owne A Godly man knows his owne strength is but weaknesse and that when he prevailes with God it is with a power which he hath from God Paul useth a forme of speech which we may call a divine riddle 2 Cor. 12.10 When I am weake then I am strong he predicates or affirmes one contrary of another weaknesse is contrary to strength how a weake man should be strong and then especially strong when he is weake is hard to conceive by those who are spirituall and is unconceivable by those who are carnal This assertion is enough to pose and puzle nature He that is weake is strong or the readiest way to get strength is to be weake The truth and the Apostle Pauls meaning is plainly this When I am weake in my owne sense and opinion when I am convinced that I have no power of my owne then I feele power coming in then Christ strengthens me and I am strong then I experience that word My grace is sufficient for thee When I finde the waters of my owne cisterne low and fayling then I have a supply from the Spirit So the Apostle spake Phil. 1.19 I know that this also shall turne to my salvation through your prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ The first Adam received all his strength at once we now receive our strength by dayly fresh supplyes from the second Adam The word there used by the Apostle which we render supply signifieth an under-supply implying thus much that as the naturall body and each particular member of it is supplyed with sence and motion together with a suitable strength and ability from the head so beleevers who are altogether the mysticall body of Christ and each of them members in particular are supplyed from Christ their head by the Spirit with spirituall life motion and strength of Grace for every duty to which they are called or which is required of them And because as this is so in its selfe so beleevers are instructed in it therfore they disclaime and goe out of their own strength that the power of Christ may rest upon them Christ fills none but the hungry nor doth he strengthen any but the weake They who thinke they have any thing of their owne shall receive nothing from him unlesse Christ be all in all to us he will not be any thing at all to us Secondly Observe God himselfe puts strength into humbled sinners that they
numberless of our sins There is an Arithmeticall as well as a Geometricall infinity in sin Thus the Septuagint as was sayd before render the Text Are not thine iniquities innumerable That hath a kinde of infinity which cannot be numbred but cannot our sinnes be numbred are they infinite in number I answer sinnes may be considered two wayes first in their species and kinds secondly in their acts if we consider sinnes in their species and kinds so they are not innumerable for it is possible to number up all the severall heads divisions and kinds of sinne but if we consider sin in reference to acts so every mans sins are innumerable yet this innumerablenes of sins in reference to acts may be considered either absolutely or as to us The acts of sin are not absolutely or in themselves innumerable but as to us they are innumerable they are more then any man can number John sayth Rev. 7.9 After this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number besides those that were sealed of every Tribe of all Nations and kindreds c. This great multitude was not in it selfe without number but as to mans arithmeticke it was no man could number it The haires of our head and the sands of the Sea are numerable to God but to us innumerable David Psal 40.12 speakes first of innumerable evills and then of innumerable sinnes innumerable evills compasse me about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to looke up they are more then the haires of my head therefore my heart faileth me when he sayth they are more then the haires of my head his meaning is they are innumerable I can no more tell the summe of my sinnes then the summe of my hayres Christ to assure his Disciples in time of their afflictions and sufferings that he will take care of them tells them The very hayres of your head are all numbred Mat. 10.30 As if he had sayd seing God taketh care of those inconsiderable not parts but excrements of the body surely then he will take care of those more noble parts of your bodies and most of all of that most noble part of you which is your all your soules The hayres of our heads are innumerable to us but God numbers them The sins of our hearts and lives are all numbred by God Thou tellest my wandrings sayth holy David Psal 56.8 he meanes it of his wandrings by persecution and 't is as true of his wandrings by transgression But what man knowes the errors or wandrings eyther of his heart or life Psal 19.12 He that hath fewest sins hath more then he can number and therefore every mans sins are to him in number infinite Fourthly Iniquities may he called infinite in reference to the will or the spirit of him that committeth those iniquities those sinnes are without bounds to which man would never set a bound The natural man would never end sinning therefore his sins are without end or infinite The Prophet Jer. 13.27 speakes reproveingly to that people in the name of the Lord I have seene thine adulteries and thy neighings the lewdnesse of thy whoredome and thine abominations on the hills in the feilds wo unto thee O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made cleane when shall it once be As if be had said O Jerusalem thou hast no will to be made cleane or thou wouldest never be cleane if thou mightest have thy will When shall it once be The time is yet to come when thou wouldest have it to be so thou hast a mind to pollute thy selfe still but no minde to wash thy selfe from thy pollution The sins of a person or people are then infinite or without end when they discover that they have no minde to leave sinning A godly mans desires to doe good are infinite and so are the desires of a wicked man to doe evill This Prophet had spoken to Jerusalem in the same language Chap. 4.14 How long shall vaine thoughts lodge in thee when wilt thou be weary of these lodgers when wilt thou bid these guests be gone whom thou hast thus long bid welcome The Church of God doth sometimes suffer evill to lodge very long in her even in the middest of her as it were at her very heart but the world lodgeth or lieth continually in evill 1 Joh. 5.19 and there as it is the world it will lie for ever soakt and steept in evill Some give this as one reason to justifie the infinitnesse or everlastingnesse of the punishment that is laid upon impenitent sinners in hell The damned are under endlesse sufferings because they would have sinned without end Vellet sine fine vivere ut posset sine fine peccare Greg. A wicked man would live long yea he would have no end of his life here he would live ever that he might sinne ever therefore the Lord giveth him a life not such a one as he would have but such a one as he deserves to have which is indeed a death for ever They dye eternally for sin who would have lived eternally in sin Take a Scripture or two more to illustrate this way of the infinity of mans sinne Jer. 8.5 Why is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetuall back-sliding they hold fast deceite they refuse to returne Here are three phrases noting this one thing First They hold fast deceit secondly They refused to returne thirdly Their's was a perpetuall back-sliding or as some reade it an eternall rebellion an obstinate rebellion a strong and mighty rebellion the Seventy call it an impudent shamelesse rebellion all these are proper Epithites of that obstinacy and setlednesse of resolution which is in the heart of man by nature to continue in sinne yet there is a further rendering of the words which as the Originall will beare so it hath an elegancy in it Why is this people of Jerusalem slidden backe by a conquering or a prevailing back-sliding A perpetuall back-sliding hath conquest or triumph attributed to it upon a twofold consideration first in reference to other sinnes finall obstinacy or impenitency lifts up its head above all other sinnes and sits as King among them impenitency under any sin committed is greater then the sin committed not to repent of the evill we have done is worse then the evill which we doe Impenitency seales the soule under condemnation Repentance conquers sin but impenitency is the conquering sin Secondly 't is called a triumphing or conquering sinne because it seemes as it were to carry the day against the mercy and goodnesse of God that 's a sad conquest indeed not that any sinne no nor impenitency for sinne exceeds the mercy and goodnesse of God for his thoughts of mercy are as high above our acts of sin as they are above our thoughts of his mercy that is as high as the heaven is in comparison of the earth Isa 55.9 But the mercy of the Lord is said to be overcome by perpetuall backslidings
thirsty and pineing and empty and starveing and dying till he had God till he had this speciall Enjoyment of God for so wee are to Expound that text as this A wicked man can take up on this side God Cares not to finde him nay is afraid to be found of him he then saith according to the text touched before as Ahab to Elijah Hast thou found mee O mine Enemy He would be glad if God would never finde him nor he finde God Ps 10.4 The wicked through the pride of his Countenance will not seeke after God The seat of pride is in the heart but the prospect of pride is in the face through the pride of his Countenance that is by reason of that pride which doth discover it selfe in his Countenance which breakes out there he will not seeke after God his pride will not let him seeke after God He that is proud seeth not his need of God and he that seeth not his need of God will never seeke after him Such a one is so farre from longing after God or saying O that I might know where I might finde him that hee will not so much as looke after him when he is told where he may be found And not onely so but God is not in all his thoughts or as some render it all his thoughts are there is no God yea not onely are all his thoughts but all his hopes are that there is no God if hee can but strengthen himselfe in the unbeleef of a God then he is well all the thoughts and hopes that please and delight him are that there is no God so farre is he from being solicitous to know God 'T is a condition equally sad eyther when all a mans thoughts are that there is no God or when God is not in all his thoughts A wicked man may talke of God sometimes but God never comes neer his heart as the Prophet speakes Jer. 12.2 Thou art neare in their mouth but farre from their reines that is from their desires and delights 'T is what our reines say not what our mouthes say that God respects A Godly mans chiefe care is to be accepted with God his thoughts are for God and of God and were it not for this thought that God is or that there is a God and he a holy God a just God a gracious God he would not thinke himselfe as wee say worth the ground hee goes upon And as all his thoughts are that there is a God so all his hope and faith is in him and his desires are after him O that I might finde him enjoy him graspe him take hold on him who is The All of my desires and hopes and thoughts Secondly Observe That a Godly man is sometimes at a loss for God and cannot tell where to finde him He hath no sensibly-spirituall Enjoyment of him The children of light often walke in darkenes They who feare the Lord much may be without the feelings of his love and they who obey his holy commandements without the comfort of his pretious promises Even Christ himselfe was at such a loss for God when he cryed out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me Psal 22.1 Christ being to suffer for sinners tasted of all those sorts of sufferings which are due to sin He endured not onely the punishment of sence in the paines of his body but the punishment of losse in the hidings of his fathers comfortable presence from his soule If this were done to the Greene tree much more to the dry and if our head found an interruption of the presence of God much more may we who are his members Thirdly Observe That while Saints are at a loss for God their desires are often quicker and more stirring after God It is a sad thing not to finde God but it is farre sadder to have no desires after him Unbeleevers are alwayes at a loss for God they live without God in the world such a life is a very death but this is more deadly that they have no desires after God that they make no enquiry no search after him Though Job were at a loss for God yet his heart was full of desires to finde him and God I may say is most desireable to Saints while they are at a loss for him Thus the Spouse speakes Cant. 3.1 By night on my bed I sought him whom my soule loveth I sought him but I found him not But because she found him not when shee sought him did shee give over seeking him No her desires of seeking and finding him were enflamed by her not finding him when she sought him as it follows in the second verse I will rise now and goe about the City in the streetes and in the broad wayes I will seeke him whom my soule loveth I sought him but I found him not Thus her second labour in seeking of him was lost also But doth not this quite discourage her and kill her desires after him will she not now give over seeking him No not yet ver 3. The watch-men that goe about the City found me to whom I sayd saw ye him whom my soule loveth Shee is still enquiring and seeking and at last shee found ver 4. It was but a little that I passed from them but I found him whom my soule loveth I held him and would not let him goe c. Many who enjoy Christ have not such strong desires after him as they who enjoy him not as it is with other mercies so with this which is the highest and chiefest the summe of all mercies the Enjoyment of God our desires to him grow quicker upon his absence and wee seldome prize his presence as we ought till he is departed or withdrawne from us Againe we may consider Job here in a very afflicted Condition what doth he doe now O that I knew where I might finde him Note Fourthly God is most sweet to an afflicted soule The presence of God is sweet precious and delicious to Saints at all times but then sweetest when they finde most bitternes in the world How pleasant is the love of God when we are sencible of mans hatred Some good men have so much sweetnes and love in the world that they cannot so well relish or taste the sweetnes of the love of God though indeed nothing argues the Excellency of the spirit of a Saint then this Extrema calamiâ—as aba lienatio amicorum justum hominem ad deum confugere compellebat Pined that the sence of the love of God to him takes off the relish of all creature-love in the midst of his highest Enjoyments of it That soule is purely spirituall which having abundance of worldly enjoyments riches friends relations all that he can desire yet in the affluence and highest floate of all these can say that the sweetnesse which he tasteth in God drownes the relish of all these and makes them as tastlesse as the white of an Egge in comparison of that sweetnes which
golden pipes which did empty the golden oyle or according to the letter of the Hebrew the Gold out of themselves That spirituall oyle was called golden or gold because like gold shineing pure and precious The gifts and graces of the Spirit are golden oyle indeed So Jer. 51.7 Babylon hath been a golden Cup in the hand of the Lord Which some expound tropically taking the Continent for the thing contained The cup for the wine Called golden wine because of the splendidnes and beauty of it as Solomon speakes Pro. 23.31 When it giveth his colour in the cup. Or Babylon is called a Golden cup first because of the great glory wealth and illustrious pomp of that Empire described in Daniel Chap. 2.32.38 by a head of Gold and marked out in Isaiah by the name of the Golden City Isa 14.4 and secondly because God had caused other Nations to drinke deep of his wrath by the power of the Babylonian Empire Upon which account Mysticall Babylon is sayd to have a Golden cup in her hand Rev. 17.4 Gold is the King the chiefe of metals gold is among metals as the Sunne is among the Starres and Planets of Heaven the glory and Prince of them all So that when Job saith I shall come forth as gold his meaning is I shall come forth pure and in much perfection Gold is first the most precious metal secondly the most honourable metal thirdly the most weighty metal fourthly the most durable metal fifthly the most desirerable metal Every one is for gold Aurum per ignem probatum symbolum est jâ—storum nam illâ— minime laedit examen â—gnis per ista igitur verba vir sanctus candorem suae innocentiae conscientiae puritatem maximam cirâ—umloquitur Bold So that when Job saith I shall come forth gold his meaning is as if he had sayd my tryall will not diminish but rather adde unto me I shall be precious honourable weighty durable desireable after I have been in the furnace or fineing pot of my sorest and severest Tryalls And he speakes thus in opposition to his friends who had an opinion of him as if he were but drosse or the off-scoureing of all things as the Apostles were reckoned in their time I shall come forth not drosse and trash but gold as if he had sayd Were I once tryed I should be for ever quit of those Charges brought in against mee and of those scandals cast upon mee I should shine in reputation and honour like pure gold coming out of the fire I should recover my good name and be found a man loyall to God and righteous towards men Hence note Grace renders man excellent and precious Every godly man is gold yea he is more precious then fine gold The finest gold is but drosse to Grace the wicked of the world are reprobate silver or refuse silver Jer. 6.30 the Saints are finer then Gold refined in the fire for they are precious they are honourable they are usefull they are dureable and lasting they shall endure everlastingly they are weighty in their worth and their portion is an eternall weight of glory Secondly Whereas Job saith when I am tryed I shall come forth as gold Observe A godly man is no looser by being tryed yea he gaines by it He who before was reputed but as drosse and had much drosse in him comes out of the tryal as gold and loseth nothing of his weight worth or beauty by being tryed he onely loseth a good losse his drosse and the rubbish of his corruptions Grace is not onely grace still but more gracious even glorious after tryall Some speake of grace as if it were but drosse consumeable in the fire as if every temptation and tryal endanger'd it to an utter consumption or as if like lead it would quite evaporate and spend to nothing in the fire They sticke not to affirme that a true beleever may lose all his graces and how much soever enricht before by the Spirit yet prove a bankrupt in spiritualls Job was Confideâ—t that his gold would hold the tryal both of the hottest afflictions and of the strictest examinations He had been tryed long in the furnace of affliction heated seaven times more then ordinary and yet held his integrity and though he should come to tryal at the Judgement-seate of God which is more then seventy-times seven times stricter then the Judgement-seate of man according to truth can be yet he nothing doubted that nothing as to the general bent of his heart and frame of life should be found or appeare but integrity still That is but drossie grace natural grace if not hypocritical grace or a counterfeit onely of grace which aâ—ides not in the day of tryall They who loose the grace which they have shewed had onely a shew of grace Hypocrites shall â—oâ—e all at their tryal their paint their varnish will not endure the fire eyther of a lasting affliction or of that last examination when once a hypocrite is tryed then he is sham'd He may goe currant for pure gold a great while but at last he appeares but as a gilded sepulcher or drosse of gold Psal 119.119 Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like drosse And the Lord speaking of the degenerate house of Israel Ezek. 22.18 saith The house of Israel is to me become drosse all they are brasse and tin and iron and lead in the midst of the furnace they are even the drosse or drosses of silver That is though they are a professing people and hold out my name yet I having tryed and examined them throughly finde them to have nothing but a name of profession They being tryed are come forth like drosse The Apostle 1 Cor. 3.13 Allegorically shadowing out all sorts of superstructive doctrine by Gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble saith If any man build upon this foundation that is Christ Gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every mans worke shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire Dum pâ—obantur toti in fumum abeunt and the fire shall try every mans worke of what sort it is If any mans worke abide which he hath built thereupon hee shall receive a reward if any mans worke shall be burnt he shall suffer loss c. The wood hay stubble shall be burnt but the gold silver precious stones will abide the tryall of fire Whether it be the fire of persecution tribulation and temptation nothing but holy truth can abide these fires or the fire of the holy Spirit who in Scripture is often compared to fire and who together with the light of the Word revealeth the soundnes or falsenes of all doctrines delivered by men and like fire consumes what is false but gives a further brightnes and lustre to the truth Even truth untryed may be counted drosse but being tryed it comes forth like gold Now as the truth of doctrines so the truth of persons in
till God unlocke it Thirdly This also is wonderfull that when at the word of God the cloud rents yet the waters doe not gush out like a violent flood all at once which would quickly drowne the earth as it did Gen 7.11 When the windowes of heaven were opened but the water descends in sweete moderate showers as water through a Cullender drop by drop and streame by streame for the moystning and refreshing of the earth And God caryeth the clouds up and downe the world as the keeper of a Garden doth his watering pot and bids them distill upon this or that place as himselfe directeth The clouds are compared to bottles in the 38th Chapter of this booke v. 37th these God stops or unstops usually as our need requireth and sometime as our sin deserveth Amos 4.7 I have withholden the raine from you and he can withhold it till the heavens over us shall be as brasse and the earth under us as iron I sayth the Lord of his vineyard Isa 5.6 will also command the clouds that they raine no raine upon it The Reader may finde further discoveryes about this poynt at the 5â—h Chapter v. 10th Onely here I shall adde First That we depend upon God not onely for grace and pardon of sinne but for raine and fruitfull seasons Secondly When we have raine let us acknowledge that God hath rent the cloud and given it us that he hath loosed the Garment wherein he had bound the waters Pro. 30.4 that they may issue downe upon us Thirdly When the cloud rents not let us goe to God to doe it Are there any among the vanities of the Heathen that can cause raine Surely there are none Jer 14.22 And therefore the Prophet Zech 10.1 sends the people of God to him for it Aske ye of the Lord raine in the time of the latter raine so the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of raine to every one grasse in the feild Onely he who bindeth up the waters in his clouds can unbinde the clouds and cause them to send out their waters Job having thus shewed the power of God among the clouds and upper waters riseth yet higher in his discourse and from these waters wherein as was toucht before God layeth the beames of his chambers he ascendeth to the chambers themselves even to the throane of God there Vers 9. He holdeth backe the face of his Throane and spreadeth his cloud upon it There are three things to be enquired into for the explication of the former part of this verse First What is here meant by the Throane of God Secondly What by the face of his Throane Thirdly What by holding it backe To the first Querie I answer That according to Scripture Heaven or that place above in opposition to the earth or this sublunary world is called the throne of God and that not the inferior heaven or ayre which in Scripture is more then once called heaven but the supreame or highest heavens Thus the Lord speaketh by the Prophet Isa 66.1 The heaven is my throne and the earth is my footestrole where is the house that ye build unto me c. Thus also our Saviour in his admonition against swearing Math 5.34 saith Sweare not at all that is rashly neyther by heaven for it is Gods throne nor by the earth for it is his footestoole Againe Mat 23.22 Hee that sweareth by heaven sweareth by the throne of God The reason why heaven is called the throne of God is because there he manifests himselfe as Princes doe upon their thrones in greatest glory and majesty as also because there he is more fully enjoyed by glorifyed Saints and Angels God fills heaven and earth with his presence yet he declares his presence more in heaven then here upon the earth Heaven is the throne of God but Quidam faciem esse hominis putant os tantum oculos et genas quod Graeci prosopon dicunt quando facies sit forma omnis et modus et factura quaedam totius corporis a faciendo dicta sic mentis coeli Maris facies probe dicitur Gel libâ— 13. c. 28. Secondly What is the face of his Throne I answer The face of a thing is taken for the whole outward appearance or for the appearing state of it As the face of a mans body is not onely that fore-part of the head which we strictly call so but the forme and structure of the whole body is the face of it And in that sence the word is applyed both to those great naturall bodyes the Heaven and the earth as also to a civill body or to the Body-politicke of a Citie and Common-wealth Thus whereas we render Isa 24.1 Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty and maketh it wast and turneth it upside downe c. The Hebrew is and so our translaters put it in the margin he perverteth the face thereof that is he changeth the state and outward forme of things and putteth them into a new mould or model respecting order and Government And so we commonly speake after great publicke changes The very face of things is altered or things have a new face And thus the Psalmist expresseth the gratious and favourable changes which God maketh in the things of this world Psal 104.30 Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are created Coeli vultus est coeli superficies concavastellata quae nos respâ—cit Albert and thou renewest the face of the earth that is all things appeare in another hiew and fashion then before So then the Face of the Throane of God is that part of heaven say some which looketh towards us or which we looke upon All that Greatnes and beauty of heaven which our eye reacheth unto and which appeares to us as a vast Canopy set with spangles or studs of Gold such are the Starrs to our sight But I rather conceave The face of the throne of God to be the visible and full demonstration of that infinite light and glory wherein God dwelleth and which appeareth or is given forth to the blessed Saints and Angels who are sayd to be about his throne according to their measure and capability of receaving it The face of his throne taken thus he holdeth backe from us alwayes in this life and as the face of his throne is taken in the other sence he often holds it backe from us About which it remaines to be enquired Thirdly What is meant by holding backe the face of his throne To hold backe seemes to be the same as to hide cover Est tollere apparentiam coeli Cajet or conceale the face of his throne for when any thing is held backe it is concealed and hidden out of sight Thus God doth often hold backe or cover the face of his throne as the face of it notes the Appearances of heaven towards us with clouds as it is sayd in the report made of that terrible storme wherein Paul had almost suffered shipwracke