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A35538 An exposition with practical observations continued upon the thirty-eighth, thirty-ninth, fortieth, forty-first, and forty-second, being the five last, chapters of the book of Job being the substance of fifty-two lectures or meditations / by Joseph Caryl ... Caryl, Joseph, 1602-1673. 1653 (1653) Wing C777; ESTC R19353 930,090 1,092

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generation lying upon his death-bed a friend asked him whether the light shining into the room did not offend him he answ●red Hic sat lucis Oecolampadius putting his hand upon his heart Here I have light enough The heart of a godly man is the house of spiritual light there he hath and holds the light of divine knowledge about the things of the Gospel and the light of divine comfort arising from that knowledge It is also reported of Mr. Deering our Countrey-man that in his last sickness and towards his end being set upright in his bed for his ease a friend requested him that he would speak something for the edification and comfort of those about him Whereupon the Sun shining in his face he took occasion to speak thus There is but one Sun in the world and there is but one Sun of righteousness which graciously shineth upon me speaking further he concluded thus I bless God I have so much light of joy and comfort in my soul that were it put to my wish or choice I had rather a thousand times die than live As the hearts of these worthies were the dwelling place of light so is the heart of every godly person in his measure and degree the light of knowledge and of joy abide there The Apostle saith 2 Cor. 4.6 God who commanded light to shine out of darkness hath shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ And where that shine of God gives the light of knowledge the light of comfort cannot be withheld unless it be for a season that the soul may rejoyce the more in the end and at last without end For Lastly There is an eternal light the light of Glory and that hath a certain dwelling place that light dwelleth alwayes in heaven and the Saints at rest in heaven dwell alwayes in that light Eternal glory is called the inheritance of the saints in light Col. 1.12 Again Spiritual darkness hath its place and we should labour to know the place of that darkness to avoid it Ignorance is spiritual darkness and that dwells in the heart of every man by nature All that continue in that sad condition have their understanding darkened through the ignorance that is in them Eph. 4.18 and they who now are in the light were once in the dark yea they were darkness Eph. 5.8 Let it also be remembred in whomsoever this darkness of sin and ignorance abides they must abide under the darkness of wrath and judgement for ever The place where that darkness dwells is hell and there outer darkness as 't is often called in the Gospel dwells even such darkness as wherein the damned are not onely out of the possession of the least ray or glimmering of light but without any hope or expectation of it Hell is quite beyond the bound or boundaries of light there 's darkness and thick darkness nothing but darkness Thus we see light and darkness have their places natural light and darkness have theirs and so have spiritual and eternal light and darkness Secondly From the scope of these two verses Observe It is God who disposeth and ordereth light and darkness The question was put to Job whether he had disposed of them but he could not assume to himself that he had taken or laid the light to the bound thereof or knew the paths to the house thereof Light and darkness are at the dispose and under the command of God alone And as the work or power of God is wonderful in the dispose of natural light and darkness so 't is much more wonness in the dispose of civil spiritual and eternal light and darkderful these the Lord taketh to their bound and knoweth the paths to their house I form light and create darkness saith the Lord Isa 45.7 What light and darkness doth the Lord there speak of Surely of civil light and darkness as the next words import I make peace and create evil I make and create them I also direct and appoint them whither to go whether to a Nation or to a man only whether to this or that man or Nation Darkness is of me as truly as light And that not only civil but spiritual and eternal light and darkness are at Gods dispose is as evident from the Scriptures of truth Some lands may be called lands of light like Goshen others like Egypt under that three days plague may be called lands of darkness Of such lands that complaint is made Psal 74.20 The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty All places of the earth full of ignorance not knowing God of atheisme not acknowledging God of idolatry worshipping false gods or the true God ●alsly may be called lands of darkness or the dark places of the earth Now as the Lord maketh one land a place of spiritual light so he leaveth another to be a place of darkness And he often maketh changes from darkness to light that 's mercy and from light to darkness that 's wrath in the same lands Some lands which had sate in darkness for ages and generations the Lord hath visited with Gospel light and some lands which for ages and generations had that light are now laid in darkness How sad a witness of this are the anciently famous seats of the Asian and African Churches now under Mahometan power And further as the Lord disposeth that outward spiritual light and darkness giving the knowledge of the Gospel to or taking it away from Nations as he pleaseth so he dispo●eth inward light or darkness to every soul Some gracious souls walk in the light of Gods countenance and under the sweet shinings of his face every day others who also as the Prophet speaks Isa 50.10 Fear the Lord and obey the voice of his servants walk in darkness and see no light Now whence cometh this difference Is it not of the Lord who hath the command of our joys and of our sorrows and who appoints this kind of light and darkness their several and special places according to the soveraignty of his own Will From all that hath been said we may draw down this conclusion which the Lord did chiefly aim at in dealing with Job That we are to own and acknowledge the hand of God in every condition be it light or be it darkness be it joy or be it sorrow 't is all of God There is nothing which concerns either the comfort or trouble of man but comes forth from God and is ordered by him like as in all ages and revolutions of time light and darkness have held their course and kept their place according to his institution and direction Job was in darkness both as to his outward and inward estate his body was pained his soul was grieved anguish ●●ll●d 〈◊〉 spirit and God would have him see know and acknowledge his hand in all As if he had said Thou canst no more dispose the peace
took impression upon my heart heretofore but I never had such an impression as in this tempest I never heard God speaking thus immediately to me nor did he ever give me any such visible demonstration of his presence as he hath vouchsafed me at this time speaking out of the whirlwind And from all we may conclude that as Job had a powerful illumination of the Spirit so an outward apparition of the Glory and Majesty of God or of Gods glorious Majesty to convince and humble him So that though Job had a saving knowledge of God formerly yet this discourse of God with him and discovery of God to him had made him a better Scholar than all his earthly teachers I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear But now mine eye seeth thee That is now I have as clear a sight or knowledge of thy mind and will of thy justice and goodness of thy power and soveraignty as if I had seen thee with mine eyes and had seen or looked into thy heart Or thus Not only hast thou graciously instructed me by speaking so much to me but thou hast manifested thy self present with me by an aspectable sign Mine eye hath seen thee that is thou hast given me to see that which assures me thou art neer unto me namely the Cloud out of which thou hast been pleased to speak and make known thy mind to me who am but dust and ashes The Lord may be seen these four wayes First In his Word Secondly In his works Thirdly In outward apparitions Fourthly And above all God is seen in his Son our Lord Jesus Christ whom the Apostle calls Heb. 1.3 The brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and in whose face the light of the knowledge of God shineth 2 Cor. 4.6 And hence Christ saith John 14.9 He that hath seen me hath seen the father The invisible father is seen in his Son who was made visible in our flesh John 1.18 Thus God may be seen But in his nature God is altogether invisible he cannot be seen Moses saw him that is invisible Heb. 11.27 that is he saw him by an eye of faith who is invisible to the eye of sense I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee Hence note First It is a great mercy and much to be acknowledged that we have the word of God sounding in our ears Faith cometh by hearing Rom. 10.17 The Prophet saith Isa 55.3 Hear and your soul shall live Now if faith and life come by hearing to have the word of God sounding in our ears must needs be a great mercy Though to have the word only sounding in our ear will do no man good yet 't is good to hear that joyful sound Though that sad Prophesie mentioned by Christ Mat. 13.14 be fulfilled in many By hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive Yet he said to his faithful followers vers 16. Blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear They receive a blessing by hearing whose ears are blessed when they hear O how many souls are blessing God that ever they heard of himself and his Son our Lord Jesus Christ by the hearing of the ear To have an ear to hear is a common blessing but to have an hearing ear or to hear by the hearing of the ear is a special blessing Observe Secondly We should hear the Word very diligently That phrase I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear as the Hebrew Writers note signifieth a very attentive hearing Every hearing is not an hearing with the ear nor every seeing like that we intend when a man saith I saw it with my eyes One may see and not see hear and not hear The Word of God is to be heard with a hearing Such doublings in Scripture have a great emphasis in them As when the Lord saith They are cursed with a curse it notes a great and a certain curse is coming so to hear by the hearing of the ear implyeth fruitful hearing and a laying up of that in the mind which hath been heard Psal 44.1 We have heard with our ears O God our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their dayes in the times of old They who thus hear with their ears treasure up in their hearts and do with their hands what they have heard The Lord charged Ezekiel Chap. 44.5 Son of man mark well and behold with thine eyes and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee that is mind diligently what I shew and say unto thee The Lord called for the exercise of both senses in attending to what he spake to the Prophet He did not only say Hear with thine ears but see with thine eyes that is hear as if thou didst even see that which thou hearest For though possibly the Lord presented somewhat to the eye of the Prophet as well as he spake to his ear yet the former notion may well be taken in yea and intended in that command Many hear as if they had no ears and see as if they had no eyes One of the Ancients taking notice of that saith Such kind of hearers are like Malchus in the Gospel who had his ear cut off From those words But now mine eye seeth thee taken distinctly Observe Thirdly God revealeth himself more clearly and fully at one time than at another Seeing is somewhat more than hearing though it be attentive hearing As the full and clear manifestation which we shall have of God in the next life is expressed by seeing and called vision so the fullest and clearest apprehension which we have of God and the things of God in this life is a degree of seeing both him and them 't is the sight of faith and may also be called vision A true and strong believer tasts and feels and sees the truths of the Gospel which he hath heard his faith which is the eye of his soul is the evidence of those things to him which are not seen nor can be seen by an eye of sense He by the help of the Holy Ghost looks stedfastly into heaven and with this eye seeth the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God in his measure as blessed Stephen did Acts 7.55 This sight of God and spirituals hath three things in it beyond that ordinary though real knowledge which comes in by the hearing of the ear First a surpassing clearness Secondly an undoubted certainty Thirdly a ravishing sweetness and the overflowings of consolation Fourthly Note According to the measure of Gods revealing himself to us such is the measure of our profiting in the knowledge of God The word is spoken to all in the publick Ministry of it it is scattered upon all but they only learn to know God themselves truly to whom God doth inwardly reveal it whose hearts he toucheth and openeth by
field it will not fit a sheep nor a bullock What is said of Behemoth exceeds the proportion and constitution of all such and many other beasts Fourthly Behemoth is said to feed where all the beasts of the field do play ver 20. and therefore we cannot understand all the beasts of the field by him no nor which some of the Jewish writers insist much upon all the greater beasts of the field And therefore we may conclude that this word Behemoth though in it self a plural word is here intended of a singular beast and because there is no greater beast upon the earth than the Elephant therefore most interpreters both ancient and modern determine it upon the Elephant to whom among all the beasts of the earth those six particulars mentioned in the following description of Behemoth are supposed most fitly to agree Behemoth forma plurali nuncupatur Elephantus more Hebraeorum qui pluralibus nonnunquam pro superlativis uti solent Latini quoque historici saepe cum de Elephanto loquuntur Belluam absolutè nominant Drus And whereas 't is objected the word Behemoth is of the plural number that is easily answered and wiped off for nothing is more usual in the Hebrew language than to express great things by a plural word and so the Elephant may be called the beasts Either First with respect to the vastness of his body as if he did comprize or were a comprehension of all other beasts Or Secondly with respect to some extraordinary qualification or eminency found in him in which respect it is said at the 19th verse He is the chief of the ways of God As the Hebrew sets out excellent things by words of the superlative degree so likewise by words of the plural number or it useth the plural number to signifie the superlative degree The Elephant is the Beast the Beast of Beasts a beast above all beasts Thus Prov. 1.20 Christ is called in the plural number wisdoms because of the excellency of his wisdom Again Prov. 9.1 Wisdom so we translate but the word is wisdoms hath built her house that is Jesus Christ hath And he is exprest by a plural word to note that all sorts and degrees of wisdom meet in him according to that of the Apostle Col. 2.3 In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg As David when he would shew how very foolish and beastly he had been in mis-judging the dispensations of God First in afflicting the godly Secondly in prospering evil men When I say he considered how foolishly he had done in envying at or in being troubled about their prosperity he concludes ver 22. So foolish was I and ignorant even as a beast before thee The Hebrew useth the word in the Text Behemoth even as beasts before thee As if he had said the beastliness of all beasts centred in me and all their ignorance while my spirit was so troubled in this matter concerning the providences of God towards my self who serve him and those who serve him not Thus David that he might fully acknowledg how very a beast he was in so speaking and so thinking calls himself Behemoth Beasts This may suffice to satisfie the Reader why we expound the Text of a particular beast and why most pitch it upon the Elephant among all beasts in special though the word be of the plural number There being no proper or peculiar name in Scripture for the Elephant it is most probable that he is here named by this Appellative word plural Yet before I step further into that large description which the Lord gives of Behemoth I cannot forbear to take notice that the same industrious and learned Author Bochartus parte poster lib. 5 c. 15. who varyeth in opinion as was there shewed about the Reem by us rendred the Vnicorn varyeth here as much in his Opinion about Behemoth intimated by our translators in the Margin and affirmed as himself confesseth by the most general voice of modern interpreters to be the Elephant I suppose it will not be unacceptable to the Reader if I here offer a brief account of those reasons which prevailed with him to turn off from the common opinion concerning this Animal which he gives as followeth In the fortieth and forty-first Chapters of the book of Job saith he Behemoth and Leviathan are so described ●hat 't is apparent they are beasts of a huge bulk Whence it comes to pass that most of the later Writers have thought Behemoth to be the Elephant and Leviathan the Whale this being without controversie the greatest Animal that lives in the waters and that the greatest that lives upon the Land To whose Judgement I should have willingly assented but that considering the matter more narrowly I saw many things spoken of them even in approved versions which no way agree with the nature of the Elephant and the Whale I shall not say that Interpreters prepossessed with this opinion have wrested some things another way which if they were rightly unfolded according to the Hebrew it would appear as clear as the light that under these names Behemoth and Leviathan two animals are characteriz'd extreamly different from the Elephant and the Whale but which they are is not easie to determine Yet it doth not a little please me that Beza and Diodate men of a most clear judgement and of no ordinary learning do conclude Leviathan to be the Crocodile of Nilus Whence I have a strong conjecture that Behemoth is an animal of the same neighbourhood even an Inhabitant of Nilus called Hippopotamus or the River-horse I would have none troubled with the newness of this opinion but first weigh my reasons whereof let this be the first That as upon the former stage in the close of the 38th and throughout the 39th Chapter only terrestrial animals were presented so it seems most congruous that upon this only aquatical or water-animals should be presented lest the course of proceeding should be disordered So that Leviathan as all agree being a creature that lives in the water 't is probable Behemoth doth so too both being described in the same series of discourse That the ancient Jews were of this opinion may be collected out of the second Book of Esdras Chap. 6. vers 47 48 49. where Behemoth is placed among the aquatical Animals created the fifth day Further the Hippopotame and the Crocodile are fitly joyned together because there is a great likeness of nature between these two for both are very big and fierce and amphibious and four-footed and both have one common habitation the River Nilus which Pliny also takes notice of lib. 28. cap. 8. and therefore most Writers handle them together Nor doth the name Behemoth unfit the Hippopotame seeing the Hebrew word Behema is appliable to all four-footed beasts to those especially which are of greater bulk as is the Hippopotame of which the Ancients speak variously because the stature of beasts of the same kind is also various None
he hath not concealed the parts c. of Leviathan from us Then certainly he will not conceal the knowledge of himself and of his Son from us We may get to heaven or be saved though we know not the creatures thus distinctly but without the knowledge of God in Christ we know no salvation Acts 4.12 If therefore the Lord hath acquainted us thus particularly with the knowledge of the creatures which is an inferior and not so necessary a knowledge doubtless he hath acquainted us with the knowledge of himself which is altogether necessary This is life eternal to know thee the only true God Deus non deficit in necessariis and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17.3 It is an useful knowledge to know the creature to know the Leviathan but it is of absolute necessity to know God the Father Son and Spirit God hath not concealed himself from us nor his will from us neither what he would have us do and believe nor what he will do for us The Apostle Paul could say to the Church at Ephesus I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God Acts 20.27 The Lord hath not shunned to declare his counsel for our direction for our instruction for our caution and for our consolation he will not conceal the knowledge of himself from us in what is needful for us to know unto salvation The Lord having thus prefaced his purpose to declare the parts c. of Leviathan comes in the next words to declare his parts Vers 13. Who can discover or uncover as some the face of his garment That is his garment The word rendred face is redundant As to flie from the face of a man is to flie from a man and to flie from the face of the sword is no more than to flie from the sword The face of any thing strictly taken is the superficies of a thing or that which is uppermost The face of the earth is the upper part of the earth not the whole earth But here the face of Leviathans garment is his whole garment But then the question is what is this garment Quis potest illam è mari in siceum adducere nudam fistere coram hominibus Jun. Pisc Indumentum ceti vocat cutem qua tanquam indumento tegitur q. d. quis detraxit ei cutem quis ex●ori●vit cum Drus Merc. I may give you a fourfold answer First Some learned Interpreters are of opinion that the Sea it self is here intended by this garment because the Whale doth as it were wrap himself in the waters as we do in a garment The Sea is his garment saith Mr. Broughton who can take that from him and bring him to Land Secondly Others conceive that by this garment we are to understand the skin of the Leviathan The natural garment of every creature is his skin At first mans not only natural but only garment was his skin and afterward his artificial garment was made of skins Who can discover the skin of the Leviathan that is who can fley off his skin and so strip him of his garment De balena scribitur quod oculi ejus gravi supercil●orum pondere operiuntur prominentia illa quasi vestiuntur nemoque audat corium illud quod facies indumenti appellatur attollere confestim à belluo vorandus Paraph. Paraemialis locutio esse videtur q. d. quis audet vel cuticulae ejus particulam detrahere ut de homine superbo iracundo dicimus ne pilum quidem barbae audes ei extrahere Bold Thirdly Others who interpret this garment the skin yet conceive it spoken not of the skin of his whole body but the skin about his face and which hangeth over his eyes which no man is so hardy unless he be fool-hardy as to open and take away Fourthly Some take these words as a proverbial speech who can take away a piece of his skin or touch his skin As we commonly say of a proud and wrathful man who dares touch him or pull off so much as a single hair from his beard I shall pitch upon the second interpretation that by the garment of Leviathan is meant his skin which is his natural garment There are many remarkable things spoken afterwards in this Chapter about the skin of Leviathan Here 't is called his garment Whence note God hath given every creature some kind of garment or covering The Whale hath his garment he could not abide the water without it All trees and plants have a garment the rind or bark they could not abide the air without it Every beast and bird hath a garment they could not abide either heat or cold without it 'T is said of man in the state of innocency that he was naked Gen. 2.18 And the man and the woman were both naked and were not ashamed yet they were not quite naked they had a natural garment though not an artificial one their skin yea they had a better natural garment than their skin their innocency and that was the reason why they were not ashamed Since the Fall mans natural garment is not enough to keep him from either cold or shame he must have an artificial garment over that nor is any artificial garment how thick or rich or costly or fashionable soever enough to keep him from shame he must have a spiritual one he must as the Apostle exhorts Rom. 13.14 Put on the Lord Jesus Christ he must put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4.24 else he hath reason to be ashamed All are naked till they put on this garment Christ and his Graces And they that have put on this garment shall be cloathed with the garment of joy and glory Being cloathed thus we shall not be found naked as the Apostles word is 2 Cor. 5.3 The Lord hath bestowed a garment upon every creature and upon man garments of beauty and glory Who can discover the face of his garment Or who can come to him with his double bridle There is much contending about the meaning of these words or what is meant by this double bridle but I shall not make any stay about it The text may be read thus Who can come within his double bridle The Geneva translation is near ours Who can come to him with a double bridle But what is this double bridle First Some understand this double bridle as a part of Leviathan Intelligit o● aut labia quae diducta fraene duplicati sp●ciem habent Drus Who can come to his double bridle or into the doubling of his bridle As the verdure or greenness of grass is put for green grass so say some the duplicature or doubling of his bridle is nothing else but his double bridle that is his jaws or mouth which have some resemblance to a bridle when they are opened or at their end Now according to this reading the meaning is who
thus Now at length O Lord I know more fully than ever that thou hast a most just right and power to command and dispose of all things and that thou both dost and mayst effect whatsoever pleaseth thee nor ought any to murmur at much less resist thy counsels or dealings seeing every thing is and cannot but be just and righteous which thou dost We conclude then Job knew this truth before but not as he knew it now Hence note First Knowledge is a growing thing And it were well if we were all found growing in knowledge That 's the Apostle Peters charge 2 Epist 3.18 Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He puts both together There is a growth in knowledge as well as in grace and in proportion to our spiritual growth in knowledge is our growth in grace for though many grow much in notional and speculative knowledge who grow little in grace yet they cannot but grow much in grace who grow much in spiritual and experimental knowledge As a godly man groweth in knowledge so in grace too Knowledge is a growing thing The rising and encreasing waters of the Sanctuary were a type of the encreasings of knowledge those waters were first to the ancles and then to the knees and then to the loyns and then to the neck And as knowledge increaseth with respect to the several times and states of the Church for so that place Ezek. 47.3 4 5. is to be be understood so it is a truth that there is an increase of knowledge with respect to the state of every particular believer his knowledge is first to the ancles and then to the knees and then to the loyns and then to the neck As some points to be known are so easie or shallow that according to that clear and common similitude a Lamb may wade through them others so difficult and deep that an Elephant may swim in them so the degree of knowledge in the same person which at one time was very small and shallow at another time may be swelled into a great deep and he called a man of deep knowledge We have a general promise of such an increase Isa 11.9 The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the Sea that is there shall be a wonderful increase of knowledge That 's also the import of Daniels Prophesie Chap. 12.4 Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased Particular persons shall improve in knowledge and so shall the whole Church So then this increase of knowledge is of two sorts First it is a knowledge of more things and Secondly of every thing more We should labour to know more truths we must thus add to our knowledge For though it be true that every believer hath received the anointing whereby he knoweth all things that are of absolute necessity 1 John 2.20 yet he may come to the knowledge of more things which are exceeding useful and helpful to him Secondly We should labour to know every thing more as in the Text. Job knew before that God was omnipotent and could do all things but now he knew it more and so much more that the knowledge which he had before might be called ignorance compared with the knowledge which he had now received Then we increase our knowledge fully when we get the knowledge of more things and of every thing more Again we should labour to increase as in speculative so in experimental knowledge Speculative knowledge alone goes no further than the notion of what we know experimental knowledge finds and feels the power of what we know it subjects us or makes us subject to what we know the motions of the Will follow the light and dictate of the Understanding This is the best knowledge Knowledge which is felt and acted is better than that which is heard and declared What the Apostle John said of himself and his fellow Apostles who were personally present with Christ while here on earth with respect to their sensitive knowledge of him is most true of the spiritual and experimental knowledge which believers have of Christ now in heaven and they absent from him 1 John 1.1 That which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life that declare we unto you we declare that unto you which we have seen and felt 'T is a blessed thing when we can say that the things which we declare to others we have felt them and even handled them our selves Many as our usual expression is handle Texts and handle truths learnedly and excellently in a discourse who never handled no nor so much as toucht them by any experience of their sweetness or efficacy either in their hearts or lives Further consider in what way Job came to this proficiency in knowledge he had been a great while in the School of affliction before he said I know and I know to purpose that thou canst do every thing Hence note Afflictions and sufferings are a special means to increase our knowledge and wise us in the things of God The godly never increase more in knowledge than under the Cross under afflictions of one kind or another David saith Psal 119.71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes Did not David know the Statutes of God before doubtless he did he was all-along trained up in the statutes of God but when God took him into the School of affliction then he lea●nt the Statutes of God much better Let us consider what profiting we find at any time under affliction as to the knowledge of God and of our selves if we do not better our knowledge by one cross we may expect to meet with another and another till matters mend with us Solomon saith Prov. 27.22 Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a morter among wheat with a pestle yet will not his foolishness depart from him that is an obstinate sinner he is the fool there spoken of though extreamly afflicted is not bettered but a godly man profits by his affliction both as to the departure and riddance of his folly as also to his growth in spiritual experimental knowledge Once more which will give us a third note Job was not only in affliction but God taught him in his affliction Job had not only a rod upon his back but a tutor by his side His three friends had been long with him and spoken much to him but he learnt little by them When Elihu had been speaking to him he yielded somewhat to him though not fully but when once God undertook to tutor and instruct him Job learned amain and profited greatly in knowledge Hence note Then we profit indeed under afflictions when God teacheth us in our afflictions If we have nothing but the rod we profit not by the rod yea if we have