be shortned in spiritualls the raine of holy doctrine shall not be removed from you or as vve translate thy teachers shall not be removed c. Some amongst us vvould have the teachers of holy doctrine removed lest by feeding them the bread vvater of the Land should fayle as if the charge of publick preaching the riches of the Grace of Christ would be an undoing or at least an impoverishing of the Nation Whereas I touch it onely by the way the Prophet comforts the people of God in the midst of all their wants outward afflictions that they should not want the presence of their teachers nor the showers of holy instruction by them Againe Joel 2.23 Be glad O Zion and rejoyce in the Lord your God for he hath given you the former raine moderately and he will cause to come downe the raine the former raine and the latter raine in the first month That vvhich vve render The former raine moderately others translate a Teacher of righteousnes Sanctè colludit propheta nominibus doctoris seu legislatoris pluvâ—ae seu imbris maturini serotini or according to righteousnes so you may finde in the Margin of your larger Bibles And that 's the great mercy vvhich Zion is to rejoyce in for can vve thinke that Zion the children of Zion should be called so earnestly to rejoyce meerly in natural raine or the effects of it because of the abundance of Corne and Wine and Oyle which the earth vvell vvatered usually produceth This is too poore a thing considered alone for Zion to rejoyce in Zion or the people of God doe and must confesse themselves unvvorthy of the least outward mercy even of a shovver of raine or of a sheafe of corne and they ought to praise God and be very thankfull for these But these are not properly the matter of Zions gladnesse and rejoycing In these the vvorld rejoyceth Who will shew us any good Psal 4.7 they are for Corne and Wine and Oyle but Lord saith David lift up the light of thy Countenance upon me Thou hast put gladnes in mine heart more then in the time that their corne and their wine encreased As if he had said Worldly men rejoyce in corne and vvine but I rejoyce more in the light of thy countenance The light of the favour of God and the light of the knowledge of God are the chiefe matters of a beleevers joy And this light of holy joy comes in usually vvith and by the raine of that doctrine which falls upon us from the mouth of God in the teachings of his divine Lavv. Receive the Law from his mouth But you vvill say What is this Lavv vvhich comes dovvne like raine from heaven and vvhich vve are to receive from the mouth of God I ansvver The Lavv may be taken tvvo vvayes First Strictly for the ten Commandements or the five Bookes of Moses vvhich are called the Lavv. Secondly More largely and so the vvhole vvord of God is the Lavv. Christ himselfe calls the Booke of Psalmes the Lavv tvvo or three times in the nevv Testament Joh. 10.34 Jesus answered them is it not written in your Law I have said yee are Gods vvhere vvas that vvritten in the 82d Psal v. 6. And so againe Joh. 15.25 But this cometh to passe that the word might be fullfilled that is written in their Law they hated me without a cause What Lavv doth he meane those vvords vve finde Psal 35.19 Take one text further 1 Cor. 14.21 In the Law it is written With men of other tongues and other lips will I speake unto this People Where is that vvritten Esay 28.11 So that the Law in a large sense is taken for the vvhole body of the vvord of God or for the general Revelation of the mysterie of his vvill in vvhich sense vvee may say the Gospel is the Lavv And the Gospel is expressely called the Law or rule of faith Rom. 3.27 So that by Law here vve may understand vvhatsoever the Lord hath given us eyther as a rule of life or as a rule of faith The Seaventy translate Eliphaz speaking in that latitude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Receive whatsoever God delivers declares or puts forth Receive I pray thee the Law from his mouth From vvhose mouth from the mouth of God how can that be Indeed Moses vvent up into the Mount and vvas vvith God fourty dayes and there received the Lavv from his mouth but could Job Receive the Lavv from his mouth as Moses did I ansvver If God had called him to it as he did Moses he might But that 's not the purpose of Eliphaz Neither are wee I conceive to understand him of such a Receiving from the mouth of God as the old Prophets had vvho received the minde of God by Immediate Inspiration dictates from God himselfe for though they vvere not called up solemnly into a Mount as Moses to receive the Lavv yet the Spirit was sent to make knowne the minde of God to them And in that sence the Prophet Jeremiah is said to warne King Zedekiah from the mouth of the Lord 2 Chron. 36.12 And he did that which was evill in the sight of the Lord his God and humbled not himselfe before Jeremiah the Prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord that is he received a vvord from God by an Extraordinary Revelation to carry unto the King vvho yet humbled not himselfe And so Esay 30.2 the Lord complaines of his people that walked to goe downe to Aegypt to strengthen themselves with the strength of Pharaoh c. and yet had not asked at his mouth that is had not asked direction in the thing according to the vvayes of Revelation then in use by enquiring of the Prophets or of the high Priest And the Lord tels the Prophet Jeremy Ch. 15.19 Prophetae sunt quasi os dei quia per ipsos loquutus est that he should be as his mouth if he would take forth the precious from the vile as if he had sayd if thou art faithfull in my vvork I will reveale my selfe to thee thou shalt speak even as if I my selfe spoke thou shalt be as my mouth Now I conceive Eliphaz doth not goe thus high when he bids Job Receive the Law from the mouth of God as if he vvere to expect Immediate direction and advice from him For then we may be sayd to receive a rule or a law from the mouth of God when vve receive that which God hath manifested at any time as a rule and lavv for us vvith the rest of his people to walke by they vvho receive that law once delivered from the mouth of God may be said to receive the lavv from his mouth though they are not the Immediate receivers of it yea though it were published some thousands of yeares before they vvere borne Some from these words collect that the books of Moses vvere written before this time and that Eliphaz did referre Job to those
desire is a death to the desirer A godly mans desires are active desires they put him upon enquiry lead him to the meanes of enjoying the good desâ—ered And though God be unexpectedly found of some that seeke him not yet no man can expect to finde God but he that seeketh him And indeed what should the Creature doe but be upon an enquiry after God there is a Naturality in it hee being the supream beeing that we who have our being from him should seeke after him And the Apostle tells us Act. 17.26 27. that this is the designe of God in making of one blood all Nations of men for to dwel on the face of the earth and in determining the times before appoynted and the bounds of their habitation namely That they should seeke the Lord if haply they might feel after him and finde him though he be not farre from every one of us for in him we live c. The Lord is neer all he hath a presence in all places with all persons but the Lord would have all seeke feele grope after him even such as have but a dim light of him as those have that doe not seeke so much with their eyes as with their hands they onely feele after the things which they would have There is a light in the spirits of all men that haply they may feele after God and finde him They who have not Scripture light Gospel light the highest light yet have some kinde or degree of light they have some glimmerings though no cleare discernings And that should put them on to seeke God much more should they seeke after him who have clearest light And where there is any heate of affection to God a little light will serve them to seeke after him they that are true desierers will be diligent seekers And they who seeking God have found him will seeke him yet againe yea they will seeke him more and more as long as there is any thing more of God to be found And there will alwayes be more of God to be found for here we know God but in part and therefore have found him but in part and hence it is that all the Saints in this life or on this side Glory even they of the highest forme and greatest proficiency in grace and knowledge are called Seekers this is the generation of them that seeke him Psal 24.6 not such seekers as we finde too many in these dayes who as if all were upon uncertainties in religion say they have as yet found nothing for as there is something wherein the most knowing and strongest Christians may be to seeke so there are many things yea all things necessary to salvation or without which we cannot be saved which the weakest may finde and know sufficiently though not sully And as they who desire to finde these things will be diligent in seeking them so they may know in themselves or be fully assured that they have found them and so even while they still continue to be seekers know that they are already Finders Lastly Observe God is every where yet especially some where to be found As there is a finding time so there is a finding place and finding meanes There is a finding time saith holy David Psal 32.6 For this shall every one that is godly pray to thee in a time when thou mayest be found The Hebrew is in a finding time though I would not give any one a stop from seeking God at any time yet I must say there is a speciall finding time And this the Apostle calls the Accepted time 2 Cor. 6.2 that is the time which we ought to lay hold upon or accept as also the time wherein we shall be acceptable or finde acceptation There is also a finding place there is a where as well as a when God specially is to be found I mean it not of a meere locality as if God were now to be found more in one place then in another for Paul saith 1 Tim. 6.8 I will that men every where lift up pure hands without wrath and doubting And Christ told the woman Joh. 4.21 The houre cometh when ye shall neyther in this Mountaine nor yet at Jerusalem worship the father not as if Christ had forbid the worship of the father in those places for the time coming but he enlargeth publick worship to all places or abrogates all differences of place under the Gospel as to the worship of the Father Yet if any man shall enquire where may I find God or say as Job here O that I knew where I might finde him I would answer First Seeke him in his promises search the Scriptures there you will finde God Secondly Look for him in his Ordinaces of prayer and preaching c. for there he hath promised to be present Where two or three are met together in my name there am I in the midst of them Math. 18.20 When the Church or Spouse in the Canticles Chap. 1.7 8. Askes the Question Tell me O thou whom my soule loveth where thou feedest where thou makest thy flocks to rest at Noone Christ her Beloved answers If thou know not O thou fayrest among Women goe thy way forth by the footesteps of the flocke and feed thy kids besides the Sheepherds tents That is follow the holy practices and examples of the Saints in all former ages which the Apostle calls walking in the steps of the faith of Abraham Rom. 4.12 And againe hearken to the voyce of faithfull Teachers who as Shepherds feed the flocke of God with knowledge and understanding Waite at these Shepherds tents saith Christ and there thou shalt finde a presence of God with thee and his blessing upon thee Thirdly And above all Seeke God in Christ The father is onely to be found in the Sonne Looke to Jesus Christ and in him you cannot but behold God for he is the brightnes of his glory and the expresse image of his person Heb. 1.3 and therefore as he that hath the Son hath the Father also so he that by an eye of faith and in the light of the Word and Spirit Beholdeth the Son beholdeth the Father also For the light of the knowledge of the glory of God is given us in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 The light of the knowledge of the goodnesse of God of his mercy Justice holines which are his glory shineth forth from Jesus Christ that is in and by Christ it appeares gloriously that God is exceeding good mercifull just holy Therefore to every wearied soule complaining of the losse of God and crying out O that I knew where I might finde him The summe of all the Counsell that I can give or indeed that can be given is this Seek God in Christ and he will be found O that I knew where I might finde him That I might come even to his seat Some conceive these words as the issue of a distemperd spirit others tax Job with too much boldnes that
Christ hath one that Judgeth him the word that I have spoken the same shall Judge him in the last day The word is now the rule of living and it shall be hereafter the rule of Judging Now it is the rule by which we must live to Christ and then it shall be the rule by which Christ will Judge us Thirdly Where it is sayd They are of those who rebell against the light Observe Wicked men cannot abide to be seene in what they doe nor doe they love to see what they doe They would neyther see their wicked practices nor be seene in them They are darknes and they walke in darknes As they walke in the darknes of sin so they would walke in the darknes of secrecy that others should not see what evill they doe and in the darknes of ignorance that they might not see that what they doe is evill They are like those uncouth Creatures Batts and Owles that come abroad onely in the night knowing that if they doe but stirre out in the day all the birds in the ayre will gather about them and hoote at them because of their strangenes and deformity And doubtlesse if wicked men did but see the mishapen and ugly visage of their owne wayes in the light of the word they would abhorre and run from themselves as the most abhorred monsters in the world and so would all men who see the uglynes of sin in the glasse of the word abhorre them and poynt at them as monsters did they but see them in their sinfull workes And hence the Apostle hinting the general disposition of sinners saith 1 Thes 5.7 They that are drunken are drunken in the night And againe Ephes 5.12 For it is a shame even to speake of those things which are done of them in secret that is when they are out of the sight of men and possibly had it not been that they were out of sight or in secret themselves would not have done those things for shame For though some wicked men as they have cast off their honesty so their modesty too and act not onely wickedly but impudently the shew of their faces testifying against them they declaring their sin as Sodom yet as the most of sinners presume God doth not see them when they doe evill so they are unwilling that men should for though their Conscience puts no barre to their sinning openly yet their credit doth So that as every wicked man would be glad he did not know that what he doth is evill and doth what he can to hinder or extinguish the light of that knowledge in him so most wicked men would be glad that no man knew of the evill which they doe and they doe what they can to hinder others from knowing it as hypocrites love to be seen in all the good they doe and would doe no good were it not as Christ assures us Math. 6.5 to be seene of men They fast and pray and give Almes and all to be seene of men that is that men may applaud them and poynt at them with a Behold of admiration There goe the men The charitable men The humble men The devout men and if men see them not or applaud them not they are as in the shadow of death they are dead-hearted to every good word and worke Now I say as all grosse hypocrites love the light or to be seene while they are doing good so the most prophane and wicked usually avoyd the light and love not to be seene when they are doing evill For though they are not troubled at the dishonour they doe to God by sinning yet to be dishonoured among men is a trouble to them They can easily venture their soules as to the life to come but they are afraid to doe wickedly in the sight of men lest they endanger their ease and safety in this present life That God seeth them not is their hope that men may not see them is their care and that they may not see themselves is their desire They are unwilling to know their duty lest their consciences should check them for not doing or for doing that which is not their duty Thus in every sence They are of those who rebell against the light Fourthly As rebelling against the light is an argument as hath been shewed that wicked men desire not to know what they ought to doe so it teacheth us Further That wicked men will doe against that which they know Men will have fellowship with the workes of darknes while their eyes are dazzled with light if their hearts have not been changed by it They would be glad if they might never be troubled with the light but suppose the light doe come as many times it doth come whether they will or no suppose the light darted upon them so clearely and convincingly that they cannot but see and know what they ought and what they ought not to doe yet they rebell against it eyther they will not doe what they know or they will doe contrary to their knowledge When some of the Pharisees were offended at those words Joh. 9.39 For Judgement am I come into this world that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blinde What say they are we also blind Jesus said unto them if ye were blind ye should have no sin but now ye say we see therefore your sin remaineth that is it remaineth in the guilt and aggravations of it For as they eonfessed that they saw so Christ would convince them that they acted against what they saw or that though they had the light and so knew their duty yet they had done contrary to duty Man breakes through all the light that stands in his way he breakes through the light both of nature and Conscience both of the Spirit and Scripture till himselfe be made light The Apostle demonstrates the former in the example of the old Gentiles who though they were under a conviction of the power and presence of God by the workes of Creation and so were sayd to know God yet they did not like to retaine God in their knowledge nor did they glorifie him as God ver 21.28 but rebelled against that light which shone into their understandings from the creature And in the second Chapter of the same Epistle to the Romans the Apostle demonstrates the latter in the example of the old Jewes who though they were under a conviction not onely of the power and and presence of God but of the minde and will of God also by a divine Revelation or by the light of the word yet they rebelled against that word which they boasted of and while they judged themselves onely in the light and all the rest of the world in darknes they walked in darknes Behold saith he v. 17 18. thou art called a Jew and restest in the law and makest thy boast of God and knowest his will c. But how did the Jew answer this knowledge and this
oughtest of these truths that the Lord is in the height of heaven and that he hath made those high and glorious lights in heaven that indeed thou doest quite pervert his meaning in making them Thou sayest how doth God know In stead of honouring God who formed these lights thou art darkning his honour and ecclipsing the light of his omniscience For whereas thou shouldest have sayd seeing God is on high and hath made the Starres which are so high surely nothing can be hid from his knowledge Thou sayest How doth God know And there is a twofold saying of this first a saying with the tongue secondly with the heart The vaine heart of man hath many sayings and this among the rest Dicis 1 verbis prolatis 2 mentis cogitatione falsa persuasione How doth God know Psal 14.1 The foole hath said in his heart there is no God And he that saith in his heart How doth God know speakes as foolishly as that foole doth who saith There is no God To deny that or doubt whether God knoweth all things is not onely to doubt but to deny that God is at all He is not God who knoweth not all things And thou sayest how doth God know The conjunctive particle And is here put as a causal And thou sayest that is therefore thou sayest how doth God know So the sense is more cleare Is not God in the height of heaven c. He is And what then The use thou makest of it is this Thou sayest how doth God know so the particle is used Gen. 49.16 He saw that rest was good and he gave his shoulders to the burthen c. that is therefore he gave his shoulders to the burthen Thou sayest How doth God know Wee may answer First Negatively Not by sence as wee eyes and eares are ascribed to God improperly in Scripture nor doth God know by discourse drawing one thing from another but in the Affirmative he knowes intuitively he knowes every thing nakedly in it selfe Againe Some read What doth God know how farre doth his eye extend what are the objects of his knowledge To this we may answer God knoweth all things even the hearts of all the children of men There are no secrets to God But whether wee expound it of the manner or matter of divine knowledge the sence is the same eyther an affirmation that God did not know all things or at least a doubt whether he did or no. Thou sayest How doth God know But where and when did Job say this Job might challenge Eliphaz bring your proofes and witnesses against me why doe you impute such thoughts to me and frame such imaginations in my breast certainly Job never spake this and as surely Job never thought this yet Eliphaz puts it directly upon him What was his ground Existimabet haec consequi ex Jobi dictis quasi necesse sit eum qui dicat improbos prospere agere existimare etiam deum res humanas noncurare Merl. onely as the former crimes of uncharitablenesse and injustice his breaking the armes of the fatherlesse c. were fastned upon him because of the feares snares and darknesse in which he was as if he must needs have done those evills because he endured so much evill Jobs sufferings were great and therefore according to the Logicke of Eliphaz his sinnes must needs be very great So here he hath onely this to prove his supposition that Job said How doth God know because Job had sayd that God doth sometime prosper wicked men and afflicts the righteous As if he who sayth that God suffers wicked men to prosper in this life must needs also say that God regards not the things of this life so that Eliphaz seemes to speake thus We have heard thee saying that the wicked prosper and that the godly are afflicted what need we any further witnes that thy opinion is God neyther takes notice nor care of the things here below Out of thine owne mouth we condemne thee as Guilty of this blasphemy That Thou sayest How doth God know Hence observe First That good men are sometimes charged with saying and doing the worst and vilest things Thus 1 King 21.13 Naboth was accused of blaspheming God and the King Christ himselfe was taxed with blasphemy more then once Matth. 9.3 And behold certaine of the Scribes said within themselves this man blasphems There they did not openly averre it but they said it within themselves At other times they spake it openly Joh. 10.33 The Jewes answered and sayd for a good deed we stone thee not but for blasphemy because thou being a man makest thy selfe God And againe Matth. 26.65 He hath spoken blasphemy ye have heard his blasphemy To speak or doe well and heare ill was the portion of Christ and may be the portion of the holyest of those who are Christs Secondly Note That when men are heated in dispute they are apt to make false inferences from the tenets and sayings of their opposers Eliphaz sayth Job denied providence whereas Job adored it that he denyed Gods knowledge of the good and evil done in the world because he maintained that good men receive evill and evill men good in the world When we deny transubstantiation or that the bread is changed into the very substance of the body of Christ Papists inferre that we deny that Christ spake truely when at his Last Supper he said This is my body and they will hence force it upon us that we say God is not omnipotent because we affirme that it is inconsistent with the nature of a true humane body such as Christ hath now in heaven though glorified and spirituall to be in many places at once For as some deny the omnipresence of the divine nature so Papists affirme the omni-presence of the humane nature And say they while we deny this we deny the omnipotency of God Others charge us that we make God the author of sinne and that according to our tenet all the impiety and wickednesse that is in the world lyeth at his doore because we affirme That God hath passed an Eternal absolute and unchangeable decree concerning all the sonnes of men When all other arguments fayle how usuall is it to make the divinest truths guilty of the most uncomely and ugly consequences that are imaginable Further Thou sayest How doth God know Take it eyther of the inward or of the outward saying eyther of the tongue or of the heart saying so Eliphaz would prove from it that certainly Job was a wicked man And his inference had been true if he could have proved it true that Job had sayd so Hence observe That to have evill thoughts or to speake evill of God is the character of a wicked man He that is good must needs both thinke and speake good of God David doth often aggravate the wickednesse of his enemies from the language of their hearts and tongues Psal 10.11 He hath said in his heart God hath forgotten he
of thick clouds seclude his sight Nor is this the onely reason why thou art overcome with this ignorant perswasion Thou hast a second which though possibly thou wouldest conceale yet will not I and this is it Thou also sayest He walketh in the circuit of heaven As if thou hadst sayd suppose God can see through the thick cloud and so my former reason should fayle yet I know well enough that the Great God of heaven hath other matters to meddle with other affaires to busie himselfe about then to trouble himselfe with me He walketh in the circuit of heaven we are not to take walking as a meere motion but as walking notes imployment he walkes in the circuit of heaven that is he is wholly taken up there When the Lord asked of Satan Whence comest thou he answered Hoc verbo videtur connotari studium inquirendi Pisc From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and downe in it Now what doth Satan when he walks up and downe the world doth he walke like an idle vagrant that hath nothing to doe doth he walke with his hands in his pockets as having no businesse doth he walke meerly to take the aire or to take his pleasure to see and be seene no when Satan walks about the world his walking is working he goeth about to tempt to try to lay snares and baits to catch and captivate the soules of men So here when it is sayd God walketh in the circuit of heaven the meaning is his businesse yea even his whole busines lyes there He hath enough to doe in heaven and therefore hath no leysure to attend what is done on earth That 's the scope and tendency of these words which Eliphaz fastens upon Job He walketh in the circuit of heaven We are sure enough of him The words carry the same sence with that speech of the whorish woman Pro. 7.18 19 20. Come saith shee let us take our fill of love till the morning let us solace our selves with loves But the young man might possibly object your husband will come home and that will spoyle all No saith she never feare it he is farre enough out of the way The good man is not at home he is gone a long journey He hath taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the day appointed That is he will not come home till the day appointed he hath great busines abroad and he hath carried money enough with him to beare his charges till he hath don his busines He is riding and running in a farre Country and minds not home nor hath he the least suspition of what we doe at home Thus when the sinner is about to depart farre from his duty he puts or conceives God farre from him He walketh in the Circuit of heaven From the Generall scope of Eliphaz in the 13th and 14th verses Observe First Carnal men frame conceptions of God like themselves Thus the hypocrite is described Psal 50.21 Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy selfe Not that he thought God was a man but that God had such thoughts of good and evill as man hath As if what is right in mans eyes were so in the eyes of God also or as if what did not displease man were pleasing or not much displeasing unto God When the Lord sayth Esay 55.8 My thoughts are not your thoughts nor your wayes my wayes he doth plainly intimate that they did begin to frame thoughts of God like their owne but saith God as the heavens are higher then the earth so are my thoughts then your thoughts and my wayes then your wayes That is as my thoughts have a vastnes in them to all things beyond yours so especially in this thing the performance of my promise for the pardon of sinne O how unlike is God to man in this God is not more unlike man in his absolute freedome from the least inclination to commit any the least sin then he is in the admirable freenes of his inclination to pardon any even the greatest sinne Men are commonly not onely unmercifull to those who wrong them but revengefull and when once offended are hardly drawne to a reconcilement and seldome so fully reconciled but that somwhat of offence stayeth behinde But the thoughts of God are not so He is slow to wrath and ready to forgive He quickly pardons the offence and receives the offender into favour no more retaining the memory of his offence as to his hurt then if he had never offended Thus the Lord would assure sinners that his thoughts in pardoning sinne are not as theirs And it is but need he should doe so For when sinners begin to be awakened they frame such thoughts of God as to pardon of sin as they have in themselves when they looke upon their sinnes as too bigg to be pardoned by man they conclude presently the Lord cannot or will not pardon them And as many under temptation frame thoughts of God like their owne about the pardon of sinne so it is the constant course of wicked men which is indeed the worst of their sinnes to frame thoughts of God like unto themselves while they commit and continue in sinne Man should not dare to Imagine any thing of God in reference eyther to his justice or mercy eyther about the punishing or pardoning of sinne but what he hath declared of himselfe all that wee Imagine beside that is the making of another God There are many false gods made with mens hands but the hearts of men make many more The heart of man makes thousands of false or strange gods Every undue every wrong Imagination of God is the forming up of a strange of a new god When we ascribe to God such a kinde of power such a kinde of knowledge such a kinde of holines such a kinde of justice such a kinde of mercy as is common to the creature in all this wee frame up a new god to our selves And thus those Gentiles of whom the Apostle speaks Rom. 1.21 25. Became vaine in their Imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened in what was their foolish heart darkened in false notions of God therefore they are said ver 29. to change the glory of the Incorruptible God into an Image made like to Corruptible man and to birds foure-footed beasts and creeping things Now as there is the changing of the glory of the Incorruptible God into the Image of a Corruptible man that is into the Externall Image of a Corruptible man for some set up false gods in the likenes of men So there is a Changing of the glory of the Incorruptible God into the Internall Image of a Corruptible man that is into such thoughts and Conceptions as are ordinarily in men Let such consider that if to make a worship of our owne for the true God be indeed to set up a false god all they worship false gods who set up a strange worship for the
true God now I say if they who do but set up a new worship for the true God make a strange God what then doe they who in their hearts set up a new God that is who frame Conceptions of God which himselfe never gave ground for in his word Such was the Conceit which Eliphaz had of Job when he presumes him saying How doth God know Can he judge through the dark cloud Secondly From the particular misapprehension of God imposed by Eliphaz upon Job And thou sayest How doth God know c. Observe Sinfull men fancie to themselves that God eyther doth not or cannot take notice of them in their sinfull wayes Thus they reason Can he see thorow the dark Cloud and conclude Thick Clouds are a Covering to him that he seeth not and he walketh in the Circuit of heaven What Eliphaz layes to Jobes charge falsely is often charged by the Holy Ghost upon wicked men truely Psal 10.11 Hee hath said in his heart God hath forgotten he hides his face he will never see it Who this He is whose heart speakes this language appeares clearely in the former part of the Psalme where he is more then once called The wicked ver 2 3. and where more then one of his wickednesses are described ver 7 8 9 10. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud under his tongue is mischiefe and vanity he sitteth in the lurking places of the villages in the secret places doth he murder the innocent c. After all this he sayth in his heart God hath forgotten that is he hath forgotten the poore whom I have under my power therefore I may safely oppresse them He hideth his face he will never see it that is God will never take any knowledge either of my doings or of their sufferings We have a sample of the same impiety Psal 73.11 And they say how doth God know and is there knowledge in the most high behold these are the ungodly in the world c. And againe Psal 94.6 ver They slay the widdow and stranger and murther the fatherlesse here are their workes of darknesse yet they say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard Not onely did they presume that the Lord did not see but that he should not The Lord shall not see As if they could stop or blinde the eyes of God as easily as they had blinded their owne Consciences Take one Instance further Ezek. 8.12 Then said he unto mee Sonne of man Seest thou what they doe hast thou seene what the Ancients of the house of Israell doe in the darke Every man in the Chambers of his Imagery for they say the Lord seeth us not he hath forsaken the Earth Much like the language here He walketh in the Circuit of heaven hee hath other busines to doe then to minde us As God is sometimes sayd to forsake the Earth in wrath to punish the sin of Man so wicked men say he alwayes forsakes the Earth in neglect both of their sin and punishment And as Idolaters who have a minde to other gods are willing to beleeve that God hath forsaken the earth as to the protection of them Wee say they are in danger God takes no care of us therefore blame us not if we betake our selves to other Gods for protection If he had not forsaken us we had not forsaken him So all sorts of resolved transgressors who have a minde to any sinfull way are willing to beleeve that God hath forsaken the earth as to any observation of them Wee may doe what we list for God doth not minde or regard what we are doing If we thought he did indeed see us we durst not thus sinne against him But seeing he doth not trouble himselfe with any care about us why should we trouble our selves with any feare about him Now this Presumption that God doth not see us in what we are doing opens a doore to the doing of all Evill Security from danger is the great encouragement unto sin Though wicked men would not be lesse sinfull yet they would not sin so much or be so full of sin did they not vainely flatter themselves out of the sight of God Every Man would faine beleeve that God doth not see him when he is doing that which he would not have seene or be seene in doing it And how do men please themselves in this false hope that God doth not see them when they doe that which is displeasing unto God! From the Intendment of Eliphaz to Convince Job that the Clouds are no Covering to God and that the Circuit of heaven doth not Confine him Observe Thirdly God is omniscient hee knowes all things Thou sayest thus How doth God know I tell thee God doth know And thou hast an argument upon thy backe if thou hast none in thy heart to prove it thy sence or feeling may teach thee if thy reason or understanding doe not and by thy suffering thou mayest see that God seeth what thou hast been doing This great truth That God is omniscient or knowes all may easily be knowne and ought to be beleeved by all When the Lord had made the world in six dayes Gen. 1.31 He saw all that he had made All was in view at once hee had a Prospect of the whole Creation in his eye And as all his own Creatures so all our Creatures are seene by God hee seeth all that himselfe hath made and hee seeth all that wee have made or are making day by day Gen. 6.5 God saw that the wickednes of man was great in the earth and that every thought of the Imagination of the thoughts of his heart was onely evill Continually or every day The Lord saw that is the Lord knew fully infinitely more fully then we know those things which wee see every Imagination or figment of the thoughts of mans heart The figment of our thoughts is what the minde fashioneth or maketh up within it selfe by thinking corrupt nature keepes a constant mint of evill imaginations in the head as it hath a sinke of filthy affections in the heart The minde of man hath a formative faculty in it And the same word which the Holy Ghost useth to signifie the worke of God in making man Gen. 2.7 The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the earth or dust out of the earth the same word I say is used in the Noune Gen. 6.5 to signifie the imagination of man because that is alwayes shaping moulding or forming one sort of thoughts or other naturally none but ugly evill thoughts These are the creatures which man as fallen is the maker of and he maketh as I may say infinite creatures he is forming them continually in his imagination that 's the shop wherein there 's a dayly Creation such as it is of monstrous wickednesses till God by his new Creation changeth the frame and nature of it Now I say as God seeth his owne creatures so he seeth
eyther speaking his minde to their eares or sending it in to their consciences This light of God is not onely not pleasing but vexing They who love darknes cannot abide the light of direction much lesse the light of conviction So that if ever God be neere in their mouth neere in their eare or neere in their conscience yet as the Prophet speakes Jer. 12.2 He is farre from their reines that is though they speake heare or thinke of God yet they delight not in him they have no desirings no breathings after him yea the more he offers himselfe to them the more weary are they of him What David spake in a temptation they speake from their disposition Psal 73.3 I remembred God and was troubled It troubles them when they are put in minde of God it troubles them when God comes into their minde God is holy and they are unholy The holy God must needs be a burden to an unholy heart The Prophet puts the Question Amos 3.3 Can two walke together except they be agreed they cannot That company is alwayes unpleasant to us which is unsuitable to us They who are not at one are best pleased when they are furthest asunder The wayes of God are grievous to wicked men much more is God himselfe They say what a wearisomnesse is it to serve the Lord they say his yoake is heavy and his burden insupportable the very outside of heavenly and spirituall worke is burdensome to them how then can they maintaine communion with God in truth of spirit Who is a Spirit and will be worshipped in Spirit and in truth Thirdly Note Naturall men are blind and foolish they know not wherein their owne happinesse doth consist they forsake and throw away the mercies offered them for lying vanities They who are not taught of God are full of mistaken and false principles among which this is a principal one They suppose they can doe well enough without God whereas indeed there is nothing can doe us good without him who is the chiefe good Now that the natural man beleeves he can doe well enough without God is plaine from this abominable and hatefull motion which such make to God in the Text Depart from us No man would desire God to depart from him if this perswasion did abide upon his heart That he could not subsist without him or that he depended upon God for his subsistence Therefore this is their opinion though possibly they are as farre from acknowledging it as they are from the true knowledge and love of God That they can do well enough alone that they can stand upon their own bottome without God yea that they are selfe-sufficient as God is for whosoever doth not see an emptinesse and insufficiency in himselfe and so place his all in God makes himselfe a God This is the way of wicked men and this their way is their folly as the Psalmist speakes Psal 49.13 Though their posterity approve their sayings Who but they they can maintaine their being yea their well-being without God they can live and live happily whether he will or no. Surely if they thought they were beholding to him eyther for being or well-being eyther for life or a happy life they had never been heard saying to God depart from us And if this be a truth that they have sayd so and say so still every day wee need not stay to prove this a truth that they shew their blindnes and foolishnes in saying so Is not he foolish who would have the Sunne depart from him which enlightens him or who would have the Sheild depart from him which protects him or who bids the fountaine be gone which gives him drinke God is all this to all men in some degree or other and he promiseth himselfe such in the highest and best degree to all such as walke uprightly even to be their Sunne their Sheild their fountaine their spring Then can folly it selfe utter more foolishnes then this To say to God depart from us Further how foolish are they to refuse that as if it were a hurt to them which Saints who have the true wisdome have prayed for and still doe pray for as the greatest blessing and priviledge The presence of God with them How foolish are they who aske and desire that as a blessing which God the onely wise God threatens as the soarest curse Jer. 6.8 Be instructed O Jerusalem lest my soule depart from thee lest I make thee a Land desolate not inhabited Utter desolation is the consequent yea the effect of the Lords departure from a Land and when he ceaseth in regard of his favourable presence to inhabit a Land eyther none shall inhabit it or none shall have a comfortable habitation in it The Lord threatens this departure as the last and soarest or as the summe of all his judgements and wicked men desire this as if to be without God were the chiefe or summe of their enjoyments See another instance of this folly among all the threatenings of God against sinfull men this is one of the greatest that he will take away his Gospel and the light of his Word from them yet this a wicked man desireth let the Gospel goe let the light of the word goe He wisheth it gone 't is but a trouble to him he is sicke of it it is a death to him The best of good things is refused and the worst of evills chosen by those that are evill As their understanding is so blinded and distempered that they call evill good and good evill that they put darknes for light and light for darknes that they put bitter for sweete and sweete for bitter Isa 5.20 So their will and affections are so perverted that they choose embrace darknes for light evill for good and that which is most bitter for that which is sweeter then the honey and the honey-combe Observe Fourthly Wicked men are not onely foolish but wild and furious See at what a rate they speake even as if they had God at their command They say to God depart As if God could not be where he pleased as if God were at their limiting and disposing Here 's madnesse like madnesse it selfe As there is madnesse in the heart of man in the enjoyment of the creature I said of laughter it is mad sayth Solomon Some are so over-acted with joy and laughter in their creature-enjoyments that whereas laughter is the proper passion of a rational creature there is nothing more irrational then their laughter 'T is plaine down-right madnesse Now I say as some carnal men are mad in their manner of enjoying the creature so they are more mad in refusing the enjoyments of God the Creator Who can tell how mad they are who desire God to depart from them They are mad to purpose who would put God from them yet they more who thinke they can Fiftly Note That the godly and the wicked have quite contrary both desires and fears What are the desires and feares
of a wicked man he desires to have God depart he is afraid of the presence of God what are the desires of a godly man he desires nothing more then the presence of God he sayes as Moses Exod. 33.15 If thy presence goe not with mee carry me no further I desire to be no where but where God manifests himselfe to be let me see the day of my departure out of the world rather then the day of Gods departure from me in the world Let riches goe let liberty goe let friends and relations goe so God stay with me All company is solitarines to me all fullnesse is emptinesse to me and the most populous City worse then a desolate wildernes to me where I finde not the presence of God with me I feare nothing like this The departure of God from me I read indeed Luke 5.8 that Peter once sayd to Christ Depart from mee for I am a sinfull man O Lord. But the reason was not because he was weary of the presence of Christ but because he thought himselfe altogether unworthy of the presence of Christ And therefore at another time when many of Christs Disciples went back walked no more with him and hereupon Christ sayd to the twelve Will ye also goe away Then Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we goe thou hast the words of Eternall Life Joh. 6.68 He who would not go from Christ could not indeed desire that Christ should goe or depart from him They who have tasted how gratious the Lord is can never totally depart from God nor can they at all beare it that God should depart from them Thus the Church complaines Jer. 14.9 Why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the Land and as a way fayring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night Why shouldest thou be as a man astonished as a mighty man that cannot save yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name leave us not Whatsoever thou doest to us doe not leave us let any evill come but doe not thou goe let sword come let famine come let plague come but doe not thou depart leave us not Thus the Saints cling about a departing God while wicked men are willing he should depart And cōsidering the opinion which these wicked men had of God 't is no wonder though they presse him to depart for what should God do with them if he can doe nothing for them or doe them no good Such was their apprehension of God as appeares in the next clause And what can the Almighty doe for them They should rather have said What cannot the Almighty doe for them If the question be put what the Allmighty can doe The answer is at hand he that is Allmighty can do any thing yet these wretches say What can the Allmighty doe for them Et quid operabitur omnipotens eis Heb. Allmightinesse it selfe is questioned as weaknesse and omnipotency as impotency by unbeleevers From the generall sense of this infidel question Observe First That worldly wicked men have low and slight thoughts of God It is sayd of a wicked man Psal 10.4 God is not in all his thoughts that is he is in none of his thoughts or God is not at all in his thoughts But is any man so voyd of God that God is not in all his Thoughts can any man utterly extinguish or blot the thoughts of God out of his heart is not the notion of a God written with indelible characters upon the heart of man by nature if not how is the Law written there by nature I answer wicked men have thoughts and cannot but have thoughts of God But first They like not to retaine God in their thoughts or which is the same in their knowledge Rom. 1.28 Secondly The thoughts which they have of God are unworthy of God while they thinke of God they thinke below God and so indeed their thoughts are not at all the thoughts of God While we thinke of God otherwise then he is and hath revealed himselfe to be we doe not thinke of the God that made us but we make an Idol-God in our own thoughts Now wicked men thinke either that God hath no strength power goodnesse and wisdome or can do little with what he hath What can the Allmighty doe for them They who are afarre off from God by unbeliefe are not able to discerne his power his goodnes his wisdome his faithfullnesse his Allsufficiency They neyther understand what God affirmes of himselfe nor give credit to what he hath promised unto us We say of those things which appeare more then they are that they affect more afarre off then neere at hand but those things which are more then they appeare affect more when they are nigh then when they are afarre off God is infinitely more then he appeares And he being neere to those who beleeve affects them wonderfully But God is farre from unbeleevers and they are farre off or in a state of farthest distance from God therefore they are not affected with him But say who is God what is Gods power what is his allmightinesse Wee have heard much of him but wee see little in him They looke upon God as if he were like the Idolls described Psal 115.4 5 6 7. Who have eyes and see not eares and beare not hands and handle not c. All the attributes of God that he is allmighty unchangeable c. are but a sound of words or empty titles in their eares A beleever can make a living out of any attribute of God for when the Scripture saith he lives by faith the meaning is he lives upon the goodnes mercy and power of God revealed in the promise and layd hold on by faith Thus the just live by faith upon God but the wicked and unbeleevers cannot live upon those termes They see little or nothing in God to make a Living of and therefore they say What can the Allmighty doe for them Secondly Note That carnall men count the service of God unprofitable What can God do for them if they serve him what profit is it His is a leane service they shall but starve themselves by attending upon him and undoe themselves by doing his worke Thus they sayd in the former Chapter and so they say againe in this The carnal man accounts nothing good but that which is outwardly good Who will shew us any good Psal 4.6 they know not that all good cometh through the hand of God that it cometh in at the doore of the promise They can looke no further then they see and therfore becuse they see no profit they looke for none They doe not see that God doth any thing for them and therefore they conclude he cannot What can the Allmighty doe for them Thirdly Note That The spirits of worldly men are meerely mercenary If they doe any thing for God or at the command of God they doe it only upon hopes of reward they
said to be the midst or Center of the body now saith he keep the law in the very midst of thine heart in the safest place as the heart is the safest place the middle of the body so the middle of the heart is the safest place of the heart So vve may understand that of David I have hid thy Commandements in my heart Psal 119.11 And Deut. 6.6 These words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart that is thou shalt lay them up there Of this laying up the law in the heart vve are to understand Eliphaz here as if he had sayd O Job thou hast often heard of the law but thou hast been a forgetfull hearer now heare it and hold it now as the Apostle exhorts the Hebrewes Heb. 2.1 give the more earnest heed to the things which thou hast heard or shalt hereafter heare lest at any time thou shouldest let them slip or thou shouldest run out as we there put in the margin as a leaking vessel Further This laying up the vvord in the heart is opposd unto a bare barren knowledge it is not enough to have the vvord of God in our heads that is to know it it is not enough to have the word of God upon our tongues that is to speake of it but we must lay it up in the heart For though the heart in Scripture takes in the understanding and the whole soule yet chiefly it respects the affections lay up the word in thine heart that is let thy affections be vvarm'd with it vvhile thy memory retaines and keepes it and thy understanding is enlightened vvith a true notion of it Hence Observe First The word of God is a precious thing We doe not lay up trifles and trash but precious things and treasure vve lay up our Plate and Jewells our Gold and Silver the vvord of God should be more to us than thousands of gold and silver it is the most precious Jewell 't is treasure and therefore it must be laid up Secondly The heart is the Arke or Cabinet in which the word must be laid up There was an Arke or Chest provided for the law Exod. 25.21 and that Arke was Christ he was typified by it and indeed the law would be too hot for our hearts too hot to lye there if it had not first layne in the heart of Christ wee since fallen could never have been an Arke for it if he had not been The tables of the law were laid in the Arke and the Arke in which the lavv vvas put had a mercy-seat vvhich did cover it all over The dimensions of the Arke and of the mercy-seate were exactly the same two cubits and a halfe in length and a cubit and a halfe in breadth Exod. 25.10.17 so that nothing of the law could appeare or rise up in Judgement against poore sinners The propitiatory or mercy-seate covered all Now as Christ hath been the Arke of the law to protect and cover us from the condemning power of it so the hearts of beleevers must be the Arke of the law where it must be layd up with a readines of minde to yeeld our selves up to the commanding power of it David prophecying of Christ saith Psal 40.10 I have not hid thy righteousnesse within my heart yet he had said before I delight to doe thy will thy law is within my heart To cleare which Scripture take notice that there is a twofold hiding of the righteousnesse or vvord of God in the heart First so as to obscure or conceale it from others in that sence David saith I have not hid thy righteousnesse in mine heart I have declared thy faithfullnes and thy salvation and not concealed thy loving kindnesse and truth from the great Congregation And thus no man ought to lay up the truths the law the promises of God in his heart to conceale and stifle them there Secondly There is a hiding of the law in our hearts first that it may be safe lest Satan or the world should snatch it from us Secondly That we may further consider of it when a man hath got an excellent truth or Scripture he should lay it up in his heart to ponder and meditate more upon it to draw out the sweetnes and to experience the power of it Thirdly That vve may have it ready at hand for our use and so the Scribe instructed for the kingdome of heaven is described by bringing forth out of his treasury things both new and old How sad is the condition of many that have heard much but laid up little or nothing at all of all that vvord which they have heard Some having laid it up in their note books are satisfied with that 't is good and usefull to doe so but doe not let it lye there get a Copie of it in your hearts a few truths in your hearts are better to you then many truths in your bookes no man was ever saved by the vvord in his booke unlesse that vvord were also written in his heart God commanded the Jewes Deut. 6.8 9. to vvrite the law upon the post of their houses and on their gates to bind them as a signe upon their hand and as frontlets between their eyes They were commanded also to put fringes upon the borders of their garments Numb 15.38 vvhich our Saviour calls Phylacteries Math. 23.5 these were ribands of blue silke or as some say scroles of parchment upon which the law being first wrought or written and then bound upon their garments they were to looke upon it and remember all the commandements of the Lord Num. 15.39 Vanissimi profecto pharisaei illi qui cum ipsi non servarent in corde mandaâ—a at membranulas decalogi complicantes quasi coronaÌ„ capiri facientes phylacterium eoc sua proprictate Custoditâ—rium est Bold Now saith Christ they make broad their Phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their Garments as much of the lavv as you vvill upon theiâ— Clothes but none of it in their hearts Thus the proud Scribes and Pharisees went about as it were Clothed with the vvord of God but his vvord was farre from their hearts nor did it appeare in their lives it is a meere vanity to have much of the law in our bookes while vve neglect to keepe it in our hearts and act it in our wayes The former is good but it doth no good without the latter The want of this the laying up the vvord in the heart causeth the great want of Saints in the things of God and as many loose that Grace which they seemed to have so many are at a losse in the use of that Grace which they have because they have not laid up the vvord of God in their hearts so carefully as they ought We say proverbially Sure bind and sure find They who would surely finde the comfort of the word of God when they need it had need to bind it sure when they receive it JOB CHAP. 22. Vers 23 24.25
himselfe from them Surely God hath never toucht the hearts of those lazie professors that would faine be saved but will goe neither forward nor backward neither North nor South after Jesus Christ whereas if their desires were true and genuine they would use all meanes goe all due wayes leave nothing unassayed that might probably bring them to the knowledge and enjoyment of him O how busie was Job's spirit to finde out God And so busie should our spirits be to finde him out both for comfort and for counsel in all the turnings of our lives Lastly Observe That after the use of much meanes to finde God yet possibly God may not be found by us as to our apprehension Job spared no paines to finde out God and yet he could not speed at that time after all his search he found him not he perceived him not he did not behold him you may pray and seek and advise and waite follow this meanes and that meanes to finde out God or to recover the sence of his gracious presence with your soules and yet for a long time misse of him This is one of the exercises which God is pleased to put his people to hee therefore hides that we may seek him he doth not hide himselfe because he will not be found but he hides himselfe because he will be sought and yet when he is sought and sought in a right way too he will not presently be found For though none that seek him in sincerity but shall finde him at last He hath not said to the seed of Jacob seek yee my face in vaine that is seek mee and never finde mee the Scripture speakes no such thing nor did Job alwayes seek and not finde yet as he in his time so we in ours may seek him long and not finde him and yet still we must continue seeking because God hides himselfe that we may seek him more not that he would have us give over seeking And therefore in times of desertion in hideing and withdrawing times doe not give over seeking for the reason why God doth withdraw is that we may seek him more and follow harder after him that we may seek him as Job did East West North and South that is in all meanes duties ordinances he will not alwayes hide himselfe that 's the summe and scope of the 8th and 9th verses Vers 10. But he knoweth the way that I take when he hath tryed mee I shall come forth as gold Connecto hunc versum cum 70. obtinerem a judice nam is novit Est igitur aetiologia spei caetera autem quasi per parenthesin interseruntur illo loco Coc Job could not finde the wayes of God well saith he though I cannot finde out Gods wayes yet God hath found out my wayes though he is pleased to vaile his owne wayes yet mine are open He hideth himselfe from me but I am not hid from him Hee knoweth the way that I take Further In this verse Job seemes to give a reason of his hope to speed well at the seate or throane of God whether he had appealed v. 3.7 As if he had said Seing my heart tels me my way is good and my Judge knowes it to be so how can it be but that my judgement from him should be Good He knoweth the way that I take Quamvis illum non possit homo perspicere aâ— ille perspectas habet omnium mortalium actiones To know may be taken here two wayes first as an act of the Understanding onely hee knoweth that is hee fully perceiveth and apprehendeth what my way is Secondly As it takes in an act of the affection too Hee knoweth that is he approveth the way that I take my way is pleasing to him When God is said to know the way of the righteous Ps 1.6 the meaning of it is he is wel-pleased with their way and will prosper them in it they shall have good successe in what they goe about Againe whereas we translate Hee knowes the way that I take that is my course of life or conversation among men The Hebrew is Hee knoweth the way that is in mee hee doth not onely know my outward way or the way that is without mee but hee knowes my inward way the way that is within mee Wee have a way within us and that is the way of our thoughts and we have a way without us and that is the way of our workes Hee saith Job knowes the way that is in mee therefore much more the way without mee hee knowes mee through and through As if he had sayd what though I cannot finde him yet I will leave my cause with him for he needs no information of mine to lead him into the understanding of it He himselfe knows all things by himselfe Hee knoweth the way that I take or that is in me There are three things which Job might aime at in this sentence First an account why he was sure of a right judgement from God because he was not onely a Judge but an eye-witnesse of all the wayes that he had ever gone Secondly A confutation of his friends opinion of him as if he were a man that did not feare God whereas he did acknowledge that both himselfe and all his wayes were visible and manifest unto God Thirdly A strong assertion of his owne innocency seing he could speake thus rejoycingly that God knew all his wayes Hence observe First The way of man even his most secret way or the way within him is knowne to God God wraps up himselfe often in the darknes of secrecy as to man but man is never in that darknes as to God the very children of darknes and the wayes of darknes are in the light to him And as the wayes of evill men and the evill of their wayes so the wayes of good men and the goodnes of their wayes are knowne to God We need not feare that the good we doe or have done though no eye of man see it shall be lost in the darke We scarce know our owne wayes and wee cannot know our owne hearts but God doth Jerem. 17.9 The heart of man is deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked who can know it No man can know all the wayes of his heart he cannot come to the bottome of his owne heart though he may know the bent of it but saith God I search the heart much of our heart is a secret to our selves but to God nothing of it is he knowes our inside fully As he knowes our actions so the grounds upon which wee act and the ends for which we act and the heart with which wee act thus God knowes the way that every man takes And thus none but God can know the wayes of man Wee can trade no farther then upon the borders of mens wayes their outward acts as for the spirit and principle of them whence they flow as for the aymes and ends of them whether they are flowing with these
these hidden things of darknes and Counsels of the heart wee are to understand not onely evill things and wicked counsels sure enough God will bring them to light but even those righteous things and good Councels of the heart which have layne in the darke or unrevealed God will bring to light all the hidden things of darknes the good as well as the bad and then shall every man that is every good man every godly man have praise of God The praise of man is very pleasing unto man but O how unspeakeably pleasing is the praise of God! And this opens a vast difference between the hypocrite and the sincere Can a hypocrite rejoyce in secret saying thus God knoweth the way that I take Hee cannot say thus and I may say three things of the hypocrite in opposition to this First The hypocrite endeavours to hide and put his wayes out of the sight of God as much as he can As he hath not the light of Gods countenance or of his favour shining upon him so he desires not to have the light of his knowledge shining into him Isa 29.15 the Prophet describes some seeking deep to hide their Councels from the Lord and their workes are in the darke both in natural and moral darknes and they say who seeth us and who knoweth us The endeavour of the hypocrite is that he may be hid And Secondly He cryes all 's hid as it is his endeavour that God should not so it is his hope that God doth not know his wayes much lesse his heart He is often sure that men doe neither see nor know he alwayes presumes that God doth not and therefore as one out of doubt he puts his doubts who seeth and who knoweth Though flashes of feare come in upon him sometimes yet he flatters himselfe with presumptious hopes and false perswasions that God knowes him not sees him not and that his dark way shall never be discovered and as in that place of the Prophet they speake indefinitely thereby inferring that God doth not see them so wee have them in the Psalme speaking directly that God shall not Psal 94.5 6 7. They breake in pieces thy people O Lord and slay the widdow and stranger and murther the fatherles yet they say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it As if they had sayd though God should set himselfe to search us out and would never so faine see what we are doing yet he shall not We will carry it so closely and cunningly that the eye of God shall not reach us Their workes were so foule and bloody that the Sunne might be ashamed to looke upon them and they were so close that they beleeved God could not look upon them or bring them to shame for them Thirdly 'T is a terror to an hypocrite to remember that God knoweth his wayes That which Job saith of the wicked in generall is most proper to hypocrites Chap. 24.17 The morning is to them even as the shadow of death if one know them they are in the terrours of the shadow of death The Hebrew is very concise if know we make up the sence thus if one know them that is if God or man know them and their wayes if they be apprehended and discovered any way in their abominable wayes they are in the terrours of the shadow of death that is they are ready to dye with the fright and terror of it Hypocrites are so farre from rejoycing in this that God knowes the way which they take that to be knowne eyther of God or man is their torment Thirdly Consider why doth Job appeale to God in this Cause depending between him and his friends The reason was because he knew his friends mis-judged him through their ignorance Therefore he desiered to be heard by a Judge that perfectly knew his wayes and so was able to make a righteous judgement of him Hence Observe God is every way fitted to be a righteous Judge There are two things especially that fit a man to be a Judge First That he hath a principle of righteousnes in him that he be not byassed and turned aside from doing right indifferently without respect of persons Secondly That he hath a principle of light in him that he be as Jethro adviseth Moses a man of knowledge Both these meete perfectly in God He is just and righteous in all his wayes and hee knowes all our wayes Some Earthly Judges erre for want of a Principle of righteousnes and so in things which they plainely know and see as cleare as the light are ready to be drawne and wrought off by respects and interests Againe there are other Earthly Judges who are right and honest enough in their Principles nothing can take them off or mislead them to the right hand or to the left but they want knowledge and understanding to discerne between good and evill right wrong they cannot see into the merit of the Cause or the integrity of the person before them and thereupon stumble in Judgement Indeed the best of Earthly Judges cannot alwayes when they have done their best finde out who hath the good Cause and who hath the bad and many times they that plead blinde them with their Rhetorick setting a faire glosse upon a foule Cause or making a faire Cause looke foule and so the Judge is deluded seing he judgeth of things as witnessed and represented as alledged and legally proved and so it may fall out that while he judgeth righteously his judgement may not be right But we as Job here have cause to rejoyce that we have to doe with a Judge who as he is both righteous and knowing so he knowes all things and persons in themselves and not from others He needs not that any should testifie of man for he knoweth what is in man Joh. 2.25 Hee knowes the way that is in me or the way that I take and as it followes When he hath tryed mee I shall come forth as gold Mr. Broughton reads thus Tryed he me I should come forth Gold that is if God as I desire would vouchsafe to try me I should appeare what I am indeed not what I now appeare When he hath tryed mee There are divers wayes of tryall three especially God tryes first by prosperity that 's a tryall a full estate discovers a man as well as a low and empty estate doth To know how to abound is as high a poynt of grace as how to want Phil. 4.12 to have power in our hands discovers us as well as to be opprest by power Magistracy shewes the man and it shewes many to be but men Magistratus indicat virum Great power over men is a great temptation to man and so likewise is the praise of men 2 Cor. 6.4 But in all things approving our selves as the Ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses c. and by what else by the Armour of righteousness on the
withdrawes his presence from us Quod non fuerim excisus a praesentibus tenebris quod a facie mea averterit caliginem Bez Another reading gives it as an admiration I am exceedingly troubled because I was not cut off by the present darknes and that he hath turned away darknes from my face As if Job had stood wondering that his life was thus prolonged that his sicknes and sorrowes had not made an end of him that ever hee should continue so long in such a storme as hee had done and who or what power it was that in those his great pressures both of minde and body did hinder or stay him from being covered with the shadowes and darknes of death A third renders Because hee hath not cut mee off through darknes Calvin but hid darknes from my face and he gives the meaning of it thus the reason why I am so much troubled and afflicted is because God hath not cut mee off through darknes that is because I have not had some secret or private affliction but all the world hath taken notice of what hath been done to mee God hath not chastned mee in the darke these things have not been done to me in a corner Job might speake as the Apostle I am made a spectacle to the world to Angels and men all beholding mee in this pitifull condition And this occasions mee much trouble of minde because as I see plainely that the hand of God is gone out against mee so all others see it too and they make severall Interpretations of it Had I been lost in the darke I should have borne it better now I am made the common talke of the world and how to answer their descants upon my condition is more then a little trouble to mee This translation hath a faire sence as to the generall truth but the textuall Construction as they who are skilsull in the Grammer of the Hebrew know will not beare it And therefore I shall stay in our owne translation which is faire and cleare as to the scope of the Chapter shewing this good mans passion breaking forth into some kinde of quarrell with the dispensations of God because hee was not carryed out of the world before these troubles came in or if hee must needs stay and be contemporary with them because hee found no cover no shelter from eyther the beholding or feeling of them Thus I have done with the first part of Jobs Answer to the third and last assault which Eliphaz made upon his Innocency But as Eliphaz spake much against him so he could not be satisfied to speake but a little for himselfe He had more to say both for his owne vindication and the refutation of his opponent What he sayd the twenty-fourth Chapter will tell us which comes next in order to be opened JOB CHAP. 24. Vers 1. Why seing times are not hidden from the Almighty doe they that know him not see his dayes Ad propositam questionem rectè pargit Jobus rursum affirmans deum eum in assertundis probis tum in puniendis sceleratis non palam semper sed plerūque acculta quadam ratione notis ipsi vni temproibus agere Bez. THis Chapter containeth the second part of Jobs answer to Eliphaz the generall scope whereof is to pull up the foundation of his friends suspition of him and dispute against him shewing that many men doe much evill in this life who suffer none and that many who are innocent suffer much evill and are not releived from both he concludeth that the suffering of evill can be no concludeing argument that any man is so for then it must be so with all men which most mens experience contradicteth So that here Job falls downe-right upon the poynt in debate affirming what he had often affirmed before that God both in asserting the innocency of the righteous and in punishing the sins of the wicked useth much variety and that his proceedings with the sons of men are so farre from being alwayes open and plaine that usually they are very secret concealed and so much in the darke that there is no print of his steps to be found This seemes to be the designe and tendency of the whole Chapter and the argument of it may be formed thus Yee my friends have said that God punisheth all evill doers in this life seing then he knoweth the length and continuance of their dayes in this world why doth he yet suffer them to slip out of this world unpunished And if they are so frequently punished in this world as ye affirme why doe not they who know God see it and take notice of it But so it is that many wicked men slip out of the world unpunished and the godly who know him doe not see judgement executed therefore surely it is not the way of God presently in this life to punish every offendour nor can yee conclude that they who are afflicted are wicked seing many of his people are not onely afflicted by himselfe but lie under the rod of the wicked a long time unrevenged and undelivered In the whole Chapter we may observe these three parts First A questioning proposition in the first verse Why seing times are not hidden from the Allmighty doe they that know him not see his dayes Secondly We have the confirmation of this proposition and that in two branches First of innocent persons not releived secondly of wicked persons not punished Thirdly he concludes his whole discourse in the last verse of the Chapter by a stronger affirmation of what he had said before And if it be not so now who will make me a liar and make my speech nothing worth Againe More distinctly in this Chapter we have the proposition in the first verse secondly the confirmation of it made by an enumeration of many grosse sinnes which wicked men commit and feele no smart but passe unpunisht and those sinnes are either first against man or secondly against God Against man first by removing of the Land-markes in the second verse secondly violently taking away of cattell in the third verse Thirdly turning the poore out of house and home in the fourth verse fourthly lying in waite and watching their opportunities to rob get their prey like wilde beasts at the fifth verse fifthly reaping and carrying away other mens corne out of the fields by violence at the sixth verse sixthly using all manner of oppression upon the poore 7 8.9 10 11 12 verses Secondly Job discovers their rebellion against God their ignorance of his wayes for though both these be included in the former acts whosoever sins against man sins against God too yet there are sinnes that are more peculiar and immediate against God And of these he speakes at the 13th verse They rebell against the light against the light of the knowledge of God shining with much evidence and clearenes both in his word and in his workes And then takes occasion more perticularly to describe
as indeed though not in thy sence it is so what hast thou done how hast thou helped him that is without power how savest thou the arme that hath no strength how hast thou performed the part of a friend eyther in comforting me or in counselling me so the words are a close Ironicall rebuke of what Bildad sayd in the former Chapter Thou camest to strengthen and helpe me consider how well thou hast made good thy owne intendment how hast thou helped him that is without power thou hast spoken words fitter to weaken then to strengthen to cast downe then to raise up and so hast quite mistaken the matter Thou shouldest not have amplyfyed the power and majesty of God before a man in my condition Thou shouldest rather have opened the doctrine of free-grace and of the fatherly affection of God to his poore servants and children while they are under his sharpest corrections Thy words should have been like oyle like milke and honey but thou hast spoken very hard words if not gall and wormewood to my wearied soule Though what thou hast spoken be in it selfe true yet it is to me improper and unsuitable out of time and unseasonable and therefore weigh with thy selfe How hast thou helped him that is without power We may paralel this context with that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.8.10 where with much holy derision he rebukes the over-weening and high opinion which the Corinthians had of their present attainements and perfections in spiritualls Now ye are full now ye are rich ye have reigned like Kings without us and I would to God that ye did reigne that we might reigne with you As if he had sayd I could wish with all my heart it were as well with you as you thinke it is that we also might have a part with you in those gloryes of the Gospel But I feare ye are onely puft up with notions and that your portion is but smal in true solid spirituall knowledge I feare ye have little except in conceit and there ye have a great deale too much and upon the same account he puts it upon them againe at the 10th verse We are fools for Christs sake but ye are wise in Christ we are weake but ye are strong ye are honourable but we are despised Thus Job here ye looke upon me as a weake man as a man of no power but you are wise and learned see how you have played your part and discharged your duty you thinke you have a wonderfull faculty in helping the weake in saving those who are ready to perish in teaching the unlearned in counselling the unwise whereas I am neyther so weake nor ignorant nor destitute of counsel as you thinke I am and if I were your oration is wide of the marke or reacheth not my case and therefore can doe me no good How hast thou helped him that hath no power And which is the same in other words How savest thou the arme that hath no strength The arme is an eminent member of the body and in Scripture it often signifies strength because the arme holdeth out and acteth the strength of the whole body How hast thou saved the arme that hath no strength that is the man that hath no strength There is a threefold strength first naturall which is twofold first of the mind or inward parts secondly of the body or outward parts secondly there is a civill strength which is the command or Authority which a man hath over others thirdly there is a spirituall strength which is the command which a man hath over himselfe both in doing good and in avoyding evill or both for the due enjoyment of good and induring of evill When Job saith How savest thou the arme that hath no strength we may expound it both of the first and third sort of strength For Job had indeed lost the strength of his body and his friends thought he had lost the strength both of his parts and graces Which is more cleare in the next interrogation Vers 3. How hast thâ—s counselled him that hath no wisdome To give counsel is the worke of the wise and they who are unwise have most need of counsel though they seldome thinke so And it may be a very disputable question who is the wiser man he that gives good counsel or he that readily receives it makes good use of it Good counsel directs how to judge of things how to speake and how to act In the multitude of Counselers there is safety saith Solomon and they must needs be unsafe who eyther have none to give them counsel or refuse wholesome counsel when 't is given Counsell is to a man without wisdome as bread is to a man that is hungry or as cloaths to a man that is naked Master Broughton translates What doest thou counsel without wisdome Right counsel is the very spirits of wisedome but thy counsel is flat and hath no spirits in it Thus his translation referrs the want of wisdom to the counsel which Bildad gave Job but ours refers it to Job to whom Bildad undertook to give counsel How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom As if he had sayd Thou O Bildad lookest upon me as a man without wisdome If I am so I doe not perceive that thy counsel is like to make me much wiser Thy counsel will even leave me where it found me and 't is wel if it doe not put me backward What strange kinde of counsel is thine How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdome From all these cutting questions put together Observe First They who are weake and without wisdome should be holpen and tenderly dealt with by grave and gratious counsel The words of the wise conveigh strength to the weake comfort to the sorrowfull and counsel to those who know not what to doe See the tendernesse of Christ to the weake Math 12.18 19. Behold my servant whom I have chosen and my beloved in whom my soule is well pleased I will put my spirit upon him and he shall shew judgement unto the Gentiles He meaneth not judgement as judgement is opposed to mercy Jesus Christ did not come in that sense to shew judgement to the Gentiles he did not come to bring wrath upon them but he came to shew mercy to the Gentiles to those who were sinners of the Gentiles who sat in darknesse and in the shaddow of death he shewed mercifull judgement he shewed them the knowledge of God he reformed and purged them from their sins and sinfull Idolatryes he brought them into a holy state and order under Gospel Government this is the judgement which Christ brought to the Gentiles this judgement is a mercy he shall bring Judgement to the Gentiles How shall he doe it he shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man heare his voyce in the streets that is he shall not deale boysterously and contentiously he shall not be vexatious and rigorous he shall not act as a
a house for the comfort of our lives here who never deserved the meanest cottage how should we pray that he would Garnish our soules by the Spirit as a heaven for himselfe to dwell in or as the Apostle speakes Eph. 2.22 That we may be builded for an habitation of God through the Spirit God hath two houses an upper house and a lower house The heaven of heavens is his upper house and the heaven of an holy and humble heart is his lower God is every where but he dwelleth no where but in a heaven He dwelleth not in the heart of any man till that be made a heaven and that a heaven Garnished by the Spirit As the Sunne Moone and Starres are the garnishing of the naturall heaven so holy knowledge and the graces faith hope and love are the Garnishing of those spirituall heavens the hearts of the sons of men And untill their hearts be thus garnished they are not an heaven for God but a hell or habitation for the devill and he puts furniture and garnishings into them sutable to himselfe and fitting his owne entertainement We read in the Gospel Math 12.43 44. That when the uncleane Spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none Then he saith I will returne into my house from whence I came out and when he is come he findeth it empty swept and garnished Lusts and corruptions unbeliefe pride wrath envy these are the Garnishings of Satans house And as he delighteth most to dwel there where he findeth most of these Garnishings so God delighteth most to dwel in that soule which is most Garnished with grace Then pray and pray earnestly that God who hath garnished the heavens by his Spirit for our use would also garnish our hearts by his Spirit for his owne use Thirdly As this should provoke us to pray that our hearts may be garnished as a house of delight that God may dwel in us So it should provoke us to garnish our lives that God may be honoured by us And as God hath not onely made a good world for us as to the matter but made it pleasant and adorn'd it for us so we should strive not onely to doe that which is good for the matter but to put ornaments upon it and make it pleasant to our utmost in the eyes of God We should garnish our workes as God hath garnished his God hath as it were polisht and engraven his workes for us by exquisite art and skill so that the workmanship is better then the matter and shall we satisfie our selves if we doe that which is good for the matter though we bestow no cost no holy skill and workmanship upon it shall we serve God onely with plaine worke when we see how curious and elaborate his workes are I grant plaine worke is best and most pleasing to God as plainenes is opposed to hypocrisie but plaine worke is not best as plainenes is opposed to exactnes God loves to see some lace and trimming in sincerity upon what we doe that is it pleaseth him when he seeth that we do our best and that we not onely doe good but garnish to his prayse the good we doe he would have us not onely walke in the truth but honour the truth by our walkings He would have us not onely obey the doctrine but as the Apostle speakes Tit 2.10 Adorne the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things or to use Jobs language Garnish it as he by his Spirit hath garnished the heavens And his hand hath formed the crooked Serpent His hand that is his power hands are ascribed to God in a figure or in allusion to men who doe all their externall workes by their hands The hand is a noble and most serviceable Organ or Instrument and therefore the Great things which God hath done especially the heavens are called the worke of his hands and his handy-worke Psal 19.1 yea the heavens are called the worke of his fingers Psal 8.3 Which notes I conceave the exactnes and curiosity of the worke for such are those things which are wrought by the fingers God being a Spirit invisible and incorporal hath no formal hands but he hath a vertuall hand That Executive power by which he performeth and bringeth about his will in every thing is his hand This hand Hath formed the crooked Serpent There are severall opinions about this crooked Serpent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Serpentem vectem Pagn Serpentem fugacem Mont Serpentem oblongum Jun who or what it should be that Job here meaneth The Hebrew is The Sepent the barre That is The serpent which is like a barre or bolt of iron Some render the flying or running serpent because as the bolt or barre of a doore runneth from side to side so that from place to place Mr Broughton translates the long serpent But what is this serpent Divers interpretens connect the sence of these words with the former part of the verse and so place this crooked serpent in the heavens as belonging to the Garnishing of them or as if Job were giving a particular instance of what God hath done towards the garnishing of the heavens His hand hath formed the crooked serpent By which they understand the coelestiall circles or spheares which are wrapt and involved one within another as a serpent wrappeth or twineth himselfe in several rounds Another following the same sence expoundeth it of that which Astronomers call the milkey way which is a beauty in heaven It being as it were the coalition of a number of little starrs Vatablus viam lacteam intelligit which because they looke white and milkish are therefore called the milkey way Which also hath somewhat of the forme of a serpent as is evident to the eye of any diligent observer A third keeping still to that sence expoundeth it yet more particularly of that speciall constellation in the heavens knowne among Astronomers by the name of the dragon or serpent Which is supposed to be spoken of here by Job synecdochically putting a part for the whole or one for all the other Constellations with which the heavens are garnished As if it had been sayd His hand hath formed the crooked serpent that is all the Starres in their severall shapes and configurations among which one representeth the forme of a Lion another of a Beare another of a Ram and among many others one appeareth in the forme of a Dragon or Crooked Serpent shooting himselfe forth or forward like the bolt of a doore I finde a fourth sort who though they keepe the crooked serpent of the Text still in the heavens yet they bring it downe to a lower heaven that is from the starry heaven or from that heaven which is the Subject of the Starres to the ayery heaven which is the subject or shop in which the meteors of all sorts are bred and formed and among them there is a meteor called by Naturalists the flying serpent As