such a manner I give you my peace therefore let not your hearts be troubled neither be you afraid what-ever outward trouble the world can give you be not afraid of it before it cometh nor troubled at it when 't is come I will give you inward peace in the midst of all your troubles Christ invites the weary and the heavie laden to come to him with this promise I will give you rest Matth. 11.29 soul-rest he meaneth that Title or name of Christ Shiloh Gen. 49.10 The Scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come signifies tranquility peace and rest As Jesus Christ hath bought our peace and rest with his blood so he bears it in his name The fountain of our soul-peace is the heart of the father Grace and Peace from God the Father c. Col. 1.1 2. 1 Thess 1.1 The purchase or price of this peace is the blood of the Son Col. 1.22 He hath made our peace through the blood of his Cross Our peace cost dear it cost blood and that the blood of the Son of God The conveyance of this peace is made by the holy Spirit he is sent to bring the good tydings of peace unto believers the Spirit speaks peace from God and witnesseth with our spirits that we are at peace with God And as this peace is at first from God the Father as the fountain of it from God the Son as the Purchaser of it and from God the holy Ghost as the Speaker of it so the continuing and renewing of this peace is from the same God He establisheth and setleth the heart in that peace which he hath given and he restoreth that peace when at any time we have lost it and the heart is unsetled David's soul being unquiet and his peace ravell'd after his sin he addressed to God for the renewing of it Psal 51.12 Restore to me the joy of thy salvation David petitioned the restoring of his peace while he petitioned the restoring of his joy 't is possible to have peace without joy but there can be no joy in that soul which hath not first attained to peace We must wait upon God both for the restoring of our peace when it is departed and for the continuance of it when it is enjoyed When he giveth quietness to a man either as to soul or body or both Who can make trouble Note Secondly The quietness or peace which God bestows upon any person is an invincible an insuperable peace and quietness as to all that this world can do or he suffer in this world If God will give a quiet outward estate no man can disturb it when God gave Job outward quietness what a mighty man was he how did he flourish Nor could any break his outward peace Satan confest it in the first chapter Thou hast made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side there is not the least gap open no nor stake loosned in his hedge who can touch him who can come at him I cannot touch him Sabeans and Chaldeans cannot touch him While the Lord giveth and guardeth our outward peace it is inviolable And as to our spiritual peace if the Lord speak it who or what can trouble the soul First The afflictions tribulations and vexations which we meet with in the world cannot trouble this inward peace while storms are without there will be a calm within the soul may be at peace and the conscience quiet in the greatest visible confusions Let the world turn about and overturn let it shake and break into a thousand pieces this peace abides unshaken unbroken let the world rage in the heat either of war or persecution yet the heart is serene fixt and quiet like Mount Zion that cannot be removed Christ tells his Disciples John 16.33 These things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace and in the same verse he foretells them In the world you shall have tribulation as if he had said you shall have a peace concurrent and contemporary with your tribulation trouble from the world shall not hinder the peace you have from me yea my peace shall conquer the troubles you have in the world Thus the Prophet tryumphed in believing Hab. 3.17 Though the labour of the Olive should fail and the Vine yeild no fruit though there be no Calves in the stall nor Sheep in the fold c. yet I will joy in the Lord and rejoyce in the God of my salvation To rejoyce in the Lord is more then to be quiet or to have peace in the Lord. Joy is the exaltation of peace it is the most delicious fruit of peace The worst of worldly evils cannot despoil us of the least purely spiritual good much less of the greatest Him wilt thou keep in perfect peace whose minde is stayed on thee Isa 26.3 That 's perfectly perfect to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be taken away yet that is truly perfect to which though somthing may be added yet it cannot be either totally or finally taken away Such is the soul-peace of true believers in this life and therefore a perfect peace Secondly As outward tribulation cannot hinder the soul-peace of a godly man so the policy plots and temptations of Satan our arch-enemy cannot yea his charges and most spiteful accusations shall not The great designe of the devil is to destroy and devour souls his own condition being most miserable he at once envies all those who are not in the same condition and attempts to make them so and when he fails in that attempt the destruction of souls yet he will not cease to attempt their molestation and to trouble those whom he cannot utterly devour Now as Satan cannot at all prevail in the former attempt the destroying of souls so he cannot wholly prevail in the latter the troubling of souls Hence that gallant challenge of the Apostle Rom. 8.33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again c. As if he had said let all the enemies of our spiritual peace rise up and combine together they shall not be able to condemn that is wholly to discourage or disquiet the heart of a believer he having received his quietus est rest and peace from God in the justification of his person and the pardon of his sins Satan can do much and would do more if his chain were lengthned and he not restrained to the trouble and molestation of our souls there 's not a godly man living should rest an hour in quiet for him if he might have his wish or his will but because God gives quietness to some believers and will not have it so much as stirr'd therefore Satan cannot make any trouble at all in their souls but they live in the constant light of God's countenance and in
only forbid us to exalt our selves above our betters but it also in many cases bids us set our selves below those whose betters we are One of the Ancients hath made three degrees of this kind of humility The first is when we make our selves inferior to our equals The second when we make our selves but equal to our inferiors The third when we make our selves inferior even to our inferiors and lesse then those who are lesser then we Of this third sort of humility the Apostle speakes againe in that serious admonition to the Church Phil 2.3 Let nothing be done through strife or vaine glory but in lowlinesse of minde Let each esteeme other better then himselfe As it is good to judge according to truth the worst of our selves and the best of others so it is good to have a better opinion of others then of our selves So then the poynt lyeth not against giving honour to any man or to men of all sorts but only against the giving of undue honour to any Of that the Apostle speakes Gal 1.10 If I yet please men I should not be the servant of Christ that is if I should please men by flattery smoothing them up in their sins or errors I could not be the servant of Christ They that were the strick observers of Christ could not but observe this in him that though he came to save man yet he was farre enough from pleasing that is humoring any man Luke 20.21 And they asked him saying Master we know that thou sayest and teachest rightly neither acceptest thou the person of any but teachest the way of God truly Yet caution is to be used here For some goe so farre to the other hand that while they thinke they ought not to flatter or pleaâ—e they care not how they slight or disrespect the persons of men and in stead of so bearing as they ought to give undue titles they will not as was toucht before give so much as those that are due that 's a sin in defect as the other is in excesse And they sin much more who while they refuse to give flattering titles aâ—e free to give reviling titles There are these two gâ—eat tongue-evills among men Some give flattering titles others give reviling titles detracting calumniating and biting titles it is as dangerous not to forbeare the one as to be free and forward in giving the other and therefore we should take heed of both these extreames that our speech may have an equall respect to truth both while we praise and while we reprove Vers 22. For I know not how to give flattering titles Nescio cognominare i. e. Blendiri Bez It seemes to have little vertue in it or matter of commendation not to give flattering titles when we are not able or know not how to give them To heare one that is as we speak a meere Countryman or a clowne say I will not give flattering titles speakes not his praise at all because 't is supposed he at most can but speake sence or true English but to heare a learned man or some Great Courtier say I will not give flattering titles this is something this shewes that his honesty masters his ability and that his conscience is too strong for his parts How is it then that Elihu saith I know not to give flattering titles Had not Elihu wit and skill words and language at command to give them Was he so coursely bred that he could not reach them I answer Those words I know not may have a three-fold interpretation First I know not is I have not made that piece of knowledge my study I have not set my selfe to learne the art of flattery nor to gaine the skill of carnal Courtship Thus I know not to doe it is I have not set my selfe to doe it I have not made it my businesse or my ayme to doe it A good man hath or at least desireth no skill in that which is evill or not his duty how much soever any man knows to flatter yet we may say he knows not to flatter who abhorreth flattery And can say as the Apostle speaks Ephes 4.20 He hath not so learned Christ that is he hath heard no such lessons nor received any such instruction in the schoole of Christ Thus Elihu saith I know not to give flattering titles And doubtlesse 't is best being an Ideot or a bungler at the doing of that which is not good or as the Apostle saith some are to every good work to be reprobate to every evill work and word How knowing are they who can say in truth they know not how to lie or flatter c. I dare not say with the Papists that ignorance is but I am sure this nescience is not only the mother of devotion but a great poynt of devotion it selfe And in this sence every godly man and only a godly man knoweth not how to doe evill For as the wicked may have the Theory of good workes and know what it is to pray what it is to heare the word of God yet they have no skill they are not studied nor fitted for the practise of those workes So a godly man may know in speculation what it is to doe wickedly and how to doe it as well as the most wicked man in the world yet he is not at all disposed nor ready for the practise of any wickedness As nature makes us reprobate to good so grace to evill workes The Prophet saith of a bad sort of men Jer 4.22 They are wise to doe evill but to doe good they have no knowledge Were they an ignorant people No the meaning is they had not set themselves to learne the doing of that good which they knew theirs were not sins of ignorance but of wilfulnesse and perversnesse So on the other hand 't is the commendation of the people of God They are wise to doe good but to doe evill they have no knowledge I know not to give flattering titles Secondly As to know a thing or person imports the allowance and approbation of it Psal 1.6 The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous that is he approveth it Psal 101.4 I will not know a wicked person that is I like him not I regard him not I will never give him testimony he shall neither have my hand nor my heart So not to know a thing or person notes our disallowance and distast of either in this sence Christ will say to those great knowing professors Luke 13.27 I tell you I know you not whence you are depart from me c. Thus here when Elihu professeth I know not to give flattering titles his meaning is I like not yea I cannot abide to doe it I may be as much skilled as any man to speake high words possibly I could Court it as well as others but I have no heart to doe it yea it is the abhorrence of my soule to doe it A good man doth not approve the doing of evill and
affliction which appeared to admiration at the beginning of it The state of grace abideth alwayes 't is not as some affirme loseable 't is not like the best things of this world perishing But though a state of Grace abideth alwayes yet every mans grace if any mans doth not alwayes abide in the same state A true frame of grace shall never be destroyed but the heart of a gracious man doth not alwayes continue in the same frame The heate of grace may be cooled the hight of it abated the strength of it weakned and the beauty of it faded He that a while agoe walked and acted very humbly may upon another temptation act very proudly and walke as if he were above all his brethren He that one while hath acted very self-denyingly may at another time act very self-seekingly He that hath acted very lovingly the very law of love being stamped upon his words and workes may at another time act very unlovely and lovelesly and doe things which are very much beside and below yea contrary to the fulfilling of that royall Law He may be so far from bearing his brothers burden which is the fulfilling of that law of Christ Gal 6.2 that he may be a burden to his brother And while at one time you might have done and spoken almost what you would to him and he could beare it at another time doe what you can or speake what you can he is offended Such changes and varieties are found upon the most gracious frames of spirit which the best of Saints have in this world We have only this to hold to the state of grace is unchangeable and we are waiting for such a frame of grace as shall never change That gracious frame in which the hand of God will set us up in the day of our resurrection to glory shall never change nor decline a haires breadth to all eternity We shall be as pure and as holy and as spirituall and as heavenly and as meeke and as full of the praise of God for ever as ever As full to eternity as in the very first moment in which that glorious frame shall be set up But in this life to how great a degree of grace soever we attaine we seldome retaine the same degree but are flowing and ebbing like the water waxing and waining like the Moone Job was sound striving with God who a little before had so humbly submitted and was so fully resigned unto him Secondly Observe There is a spirit in man very apt to strive with God Doe ye thinke saith the Apostle Jam 4.5 that the Scripture saith in vaine The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envie or as the margin hath it enviously surely no the Scripture doth not speake this in vaine and if any thinke it doth their thoughts are vaine Now as there are lustings in men to envie against their brethren because of the gifts and good things of God which they enjoy so there are lustings in men to discontent against God because of the evills which themselves suffer When God seemes to contend with us we really fall to contending with God The waters of Meribah will be an everlasting winess of this of which Moses sayd Numb 20.13 This is the water of Meribah because the children of Israel strove with the Lord and he was sanctified in them The Apostle doth more then intimate this readiness of man to strive with God while by a vehement expostulation he checks it and reproves all men for it 1 Cor 10.22 Doe we provoke the Lord to jealousie are we stronger then he They presume much upon their strength who are forward to strive they especially who provoke and challenge others to strive with them There is a spirit in man which stouts it with God even to a provocation of strife with him But you will say When may we be sayd to strive with God I answer we doe it these foure wayes First Man striveth with God by disobeying his commands that 's a strife with his holiness The lawes of God beare the image or stampe of his holiness All disobedience is an unanswerableness to the Law wilfull disobedience is a making voyd the Law He that is resolved to sin wisheth there were no Law to stop him from sinning or to punish him when he hath sinned What greater strife can be raised against the Law-giver then to wish he had given no such Law Secondly Men strive with God by not believing or distrusting his promises That 's a strife with his faithfulness or with his power Unbeliefe is one of the worst wayes if not the worst of all the wayes of striving with God The reason why that place at the rock in Horeb was called Meribah Exod 17.7 was because the people did not believe They thought they must dye with thirst in the wilderness when they saw no water They fell to this sin againe a second time upon the like occasion while they abode in Kadesh Numb 20.1 2 3. And as the people strove there with God by their rebellious unbeliefe so also did Moses and Aaron by their unbeliefe that God would give water to such rebells as it follows in the same Chapter v. 10 11 12. There is no sin so often or so properly called a provocation as unbeliefe is Yea by unbeliefe we strive so much with God that we are sayd to weary him Isa 7.13 O how doe they weary God who either thinke him so weake that he cannot or so unfaithfull that he will not make good his word or performe his promises The first of these is alwayes in unbeliefe the latter often Thirdly We strive with God by not bearing his hand or by our impatience under the cross which his hand layeth upon us while we quarrell with the rod we quarrell with God who chasteneth us with it This was the most speciall way in which Job strove with God and the sinfulness of it hath been severall times toucht upon in this booke Fourthly any murmuring word about yea any discōtented thought with our owne condition though not vented by words though it be kept in and lye close in the bosome is a striving with God And so likewise is any tumultuating thought about his providences towards others and his stating of affaires in the world Now as there is such a sinfull principle in man to strive with God so considering as hath been shewed how many wayes it workes and many more wayes of its working might be shewed this I say being considered we may be found striving with God before we thinke of it yea while we oppose the very thought of it Therefore as Gamaliel warned the Jewes saying Acts 5.39 Take heed what ye doe lest haply ye be found even to fight against God Those Jewes did not thinke their opposing the Messengers and Ministers of Christ was a fighting against God But Gamaliel told them plainely it was So in many other cases we may do say that which brings us under the same
wise If we would compare our selves with other men who are above us it would mightily keep down the pride of our spirits for who is there but might see more in some yea in many others then in himselfe Now as it is an excellent means to keep the soule from murmuring and discontent to consider that many others are below us so it is an excellent means to keep us from pride to consider that many others are above us so much above us that our knowledge is but ignorance to their knowledge our strength weaknesse our faith unbeliefe our patience unquitenesse of spirit our very fruitfullnesse barrennesse compared with theirs or to speak allusively that our fat kine are but leane to the fat ones of others and our full ears but withered looked upon with their full eares And as it is a good meanes to keepe the soule humble or to cure it of pride to compare our selves with men who are much above us so especially if we would but remember how much God is above us in comparison of whom all our fullness is indeed emptiness our strength weaknesse our riches poverty and our light darkness And therefore when Job Chap 42. began to compare himselfe with God and to set God before him then he was in the dust presently though he spake over-valuingly of himselfe sometime yet when once he came to set himselfe before God then saith he I have spoken once but I will speak no more I abhorre my selfe and repent in dust and ashes And when the Prophet Isaiah saw the Lord in his Glory and compared himselfe with him he cryed out I am undone I am a man of poluted lips all his graces and all his gifts vanished into nothing when he considered the Lord before whom he stood Thus we may keepe downe pride by considering our deficiencies and comparing our selves with others who are above us especially by comparing our selves with God to whom we are not so much as a drop of the bucket to the whole Ocean nor the dust of the ballance to the body of the whole earth Sixthly For the hideing and keeping downe of pride often reflect upon your own sinfulnesse our defects in good may keepe our hearts low but our abundance of sinfull evills may keepe them much lower While we consider sin in a two-fold notion how should it humble us First as dwelling or abiding in us Secondly as acted and brought forth by us in either of these wayes look on sin and the heart must needs come downe thus poyson may expell poyson the remembrance of sin abiding in us and acted by us may be a stop to the further acting as of all other sins so especially of this sin pride Seventhly Let us be much in the meditation of Christ humbling and abasing himselfe for us What can kill pride if the humblings of Christ doe not O how may we schoole and catechise our proud soules with the remembrances of Christ in his abasements What! an humble Christ and a proud Christian an humble Master and a proud Disciple did Christ empty himselfe and make himselfe of no reputation and shall we who are but emptinesse be lifted up with a reputation of our selves or with the reputation which others have of us did he abase himselfe to the forme of a servant and shall we lift up our selves as if we reigned as Kings he humbled himselfe and became obedient to death even the death of the Crosse and what have we to glory in but the Crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ Gal 6.14 if we have any thing to be proud of 't is the Crosse of Christ God forbid saith Paul that I should glory or rejoyce and triumph save in the Crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ whereby I am crucified to the world and the world to me Think often and much of the humblings of Christ and then you will think of your selves as meere nothings This is the most effectuall means through the Spirit to bring downe the swellings of our hearts and to hide pride from man Thus much of the second designe of Christ in speaking to man in dreames and visions of the night the third followeth Vers 18. He keepeth back his soule from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword This verse holds out another gracious intendment of God in revealing himselfe to man by dreames and visions of the night He doth it thereby to give man warning and wisdome to prevent and escape that destruction which is ready to fall upon him He keepeth back his soule from the pit Some referre this He to man himselfe that is when God hideth pride from man then man keepeth his soule from the pit that is thereby man is both admonished and instructed how to keep his soule from the pit They who avoyde the mountains and precipices of pride are most assured of escaping a downe-fall into perdition Solomon tells us Prov 16.18 Pride goeth before destruction and a high mind before a fall such a fall as Elihu here speakes of falling into the pit therefore turning from pride is the escaping of the pit But rather as most Interpreters the relative He referrs to God himselfe who both begins and perfects this great worke of Grace As he speaketh with a purpose to withdraw man from his purpose c. so he having effectually withdrawne him from it and hid pride from him he thereby humbleth him in the dust of repentance and so keepeth back his soule from the pit The word rendred keepeth back notes a threefold keeping back First by force as a man holds another from falling into a pit or running into danger he holds him whether he will or no. Secondly there is a holding or keeping back by perswasion or entreaties by seasonable advice and counsel so Abigail kept David from shedding blood 1 Sam 25. Thirdly there is a holding or keeping back by authority when a Command or an injunction forbids a man from going on and so stops his proceeding Thus we see there is a keeping back 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ita prohibere significat ut cum do initio dicitur prohibetur no quid omnino à principio fiat quod propriè inhibere dicitur hic autem non ad initium refertur sed ad jam caeptum quasi jam esset homo in via ad exitium nisi deus eum monuisset Coc either by outward force or by counsel or by command And there is a keeping back according to any of these three notions two ways First such a keeping back as hinders the very attempt such a keeping back as stops the first motions or step into an undertaking Secondly there is a keeping back when a man is deeply engaged in an undertaking when he is gone on and is neere the journeys end of his owne purpose Thus David was kept back from destroying Nabal when he was far advanced in that enterprise and Abimeleck was kept back from taking Sarah Abrahams wife when the matter had made a