were too short were stretched longer Yet thus doe they who have but one word for all commers or for all they come to We would judge him a very unskilfull Physitian who let the disease be what it will should prescribe one and the same medicine or apply the same salve though a very soveraigne one to every soare As wee say That which is one mans meate is another mans poyson so we may also say That which is one mans medicine may be another mans poyson That which cures one disease may encrease another Therefore the Physician must consider to whom he gives the potion as well as what he gives and the Chirurgion must not onely know what his salve is but to whom he applyes it so in this case To whom hast thou uttered words weigh it wel whether they be babes or strong men in Christ whether they be under peaceable or troublesome dispensations whether obstinate or tender-hearted For these must be differently dealt with as their states doe differ We may else doe more hurt then good We may quickly as the Prophet speakes Ezek. 13.19 Slay the soules that should not dye that is grieve trouble the godly and save the soules alive which should not live that is harden and fatten the wicked in their sinnes The Apostle hath left us an excellent rule by his owne practice 1 Cor. 9.19 Though I be free from all men yet have I made my selfe servant to all that I might gaine the more and unto the Jewes I became as a Jew that I might gaine the Jewes to them that are under the Law as under the Law that I might gaine them that are under the Law to them that are without the Law as without Law being not without law to God but under the law to Christ that I might gaine them that are without Law to the weak became I as weak that I might gaine the weak I am made all things to all men that I might by all meanes save some and this I do for the Gospel sake that I might be partaker thereof with you In this context we see what was chiefely in the Apostles eye even that which is the highest and fayrest marke in the world the saving of soules And that he might attaine this end he critically observed the temper and state of his hearers striving to frame and sute himselfe and his speech accordingly He was not the same to all but he would be as they were to whom he spake or with whom he did converse yet Paul did not symbolize with nor connive at any in their sins he did not take upon him all colours he was not a man for all men or a man for all houres and humours The holy Apostle did not turne as flatterers doe with the times nor fashion himselfe to the severall garbes of men in a sinfull way Paul was so farre from any such base complyances that he having put the question doe I yet please men answers and concludes in the next words Gal. 1.10 If I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ But weighing the state of all men he formed his words and did accommodate his Ministery for their gaine or rather for the gaining of them Some are all things to all men that they may gaine by all that they may advantage themselves by all which is a spirit not onely unworthy of a Minister but of a man but Paul complyed with all that he might gaine them or bring them in the greatest gaine Or he complyed with all men that Christ might gaine and faith in him be propagated this I doe for the Gospel sake I doe not this for my owne sake I doe not put my selfe into all formes towards men for my own preferment in the world but that Christ may be preferred in the hearts and acceptations of all men with whom I have to doe before the world And that this was his purpose we have his sence fully from his owne pen 1 Cor. 10.32 33. Give none offence neyther to the Jewes nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God even as I please all men in all things not seeking mine own profit but the profit of many that they may be saved There are five things to be taken notice of that we may utter words to profit First The matter or what we speake Those words which have no worth in themselves can never profit others While the Prophet Hos 14.2 exhorteth the people to repentance He sayth Take with you words that is choise words select words consider what words you take with you when you turne to the Lord and plead with him for mercy saying take away all iniquity and receave us graciously And as we are to take words with us choyse words to expresse choyse matter in when we speake to the Lord so also in proportion when we speake to Men as from the Lord. Secondly We must consider to whom we are to utter words we must not shoot at random or without a marke Some doctrines are generall but there ought to be a speciall application of Generall doctrines Other Doctrines are peculiar to some We must not cast pearles before swine nor give childrens bread to doggs And we must be as carefull that we speake not to children that is to the truely Godly as we should doe to doggs and swine for so the Scripture calls them prophane and ungodly men Thirdly We must consider the season or time when we speake Those words will take at one time which will not at another There is as much care to be had and as much skill seene in a due timeing of our words as of our actions Fourthly We must consider the quantum or the measure of words uttered we may over-lay and over-charge those to whom we speake Every one cannot beare a strong shower of speech or words powred out like a flood upon such Our doctrine as Moses sayd his did Deut. 32.2 must drop as the raine our speech must distill as the dew as the smal raine upon the tender hearbe and as the showers upon the grasse Fifthly We must consider the manner in which we utter words whether to speake as a Barnabas or as a Boanarges whether as a son of thunder of wrath and judgement or as a son of peace of joy and consolation Of some have compassion that is deale tenderly with them Jude v. 22. making a difference and others save with feare pulling them out of the fire We doe but cast words into the ayre unlesse we thus make a difference in the manner of speech as they differ to whom we speake When we have duely weighed the matter which the persons to whom the season when the measure how much and the manner in which we ought to speake then we are like to speake to purpose and shall be above this reproofe which Job here gives Bildad To whom hast thou uttered words And whose spirit came from thee The word which we translate spirit signifyes also
fulfilled or done on earth as it is in Heaven Thus we see the second Propnsition cleared for the understanding of these words That as the Lord takes pleasure in those who are righteous by the imputed righteousnesse of his Son so even in those also who are reghteous by the Implanted righteousnesse or holinesse of his spirit Thirdly God takes pleasure to see a sincere and upright person justifie himselfe or plead his owne justice against all the false accusations and suspitions of men The Lord likes it well to hear a man who is falsly accused to stand up and maintaine his own innocency yea it is our duty and we are bound in conscience to maintain our own innocency So David in the seventh Psalm and in the eighteenth Psalm justified himselfe against Saul And thus Job all along in this Book justified himselfe against the opinion of his friends in this sense God takes pleasure when we are so righteous in all our dealings and perfect in all our wayes that we dare encounter whosoever speaks the contrary and can wash off all the aspersions which either misguided and mistaken friends or professed Enemies cast upon us You have now had those three affirmative Propositions for the understanding of the Text. Take three more in the Negative First God hath no pleasure to see us justifie our selves before him or to plead our own righteousnesse with him yea he is extreamly displeased at it This some conceive the chief thing which Eliphaz aimed at Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou doest justifie thy selfe No thou dost highly provoke him in doing so to plead with or to justifie our selves before God that we are righteous is worse then all our unrighteousnesse for this overthrowes the whole design of the Gospel which is 1 Cor. 1.29 That no flesh should glory in his presence but be that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. And Rom. 3.19 20. The Law convinceth all That all the world may become guilty before God therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall be no flesh justified in his sight God will have every mouth stopped or cry guilty and therefore for any one to open his mouth and justifie himselfe before God is to overthrow the Gospel They are ignorant of the righteousnesse of God who goe about to establish their own righteousnesse Rom. 10.3 And as God hath no pleasure in them who boast of their righteousnesse to justifie themselves before him so Secondly God hath no pleasure in them who boast of their owne righteousnesse and contemne others Though a man may assert the righteousnesse of his Conversation against all them who question it yet God resents it highly when any proclaim their own righteousnesse to the despising of others Christ speaks a Parable against those in the 18th of Luke v. 9 10 11. who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others Two men went up into the Temple to pray the one a Pharisee the other a Publican The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himselfe God I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners adulterers unjust or even as this Publican Here was one that advanced his owne active righteousnesse and he did it with the contempt of another I am not as this Publican The Lord takes no pleasure in this yea the Lord is highly displeased with this And Isa 65.5 the Prophet represents the Lords indignation against this pharisaicall spirit in dreadful eloquence Stand by thy selfe come not near to me for I am holier then thou Thus they pleaded their righteousnes in contempt of others These saith the Lord are a smoak in my nose that is greevous and displeasing a fire that burneth all the day Thirdly God hath no pleasure at all in any of our righteousnesse either in the righteousnesse of our Justification or the righteousnesse of our Sanctification as the least addition to his owne happiness The reason of it is because as was shewed from the former Verse God is self-sufficient and hath no dependance at all upon the Creature So that what pleasure soever the Lord hath in the righteousnesse of our Justification or of our Sanctification we cannot put it to this account that we add any thing to his happines All the pleasure which God taketh is in himselfe or in the fulfilling of his owne good pleasure in Christ And therefore the work which Jesus was to doe on Earth is called the pleasure of God Isa 53.10 Deus nullis rebus quae extra ipsum sunt tangitur aut mutatur It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soule an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand That pleasure of the Lord was the work which the Lord put into his hand or which he gave him to doe even the bringing about his eternal purpose for the recovery of lost man that 's a work in which the Lord takes pleasure so much pleasure that the Prophet calleth it His pleasure And thus the Apostle speaks Eph. 1.5 6. Having predestinated us to the adoption of Children by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his owne will c. The good pleasure of God is onely in his owne will that 's his pleasure The Lord delights to see his will accomplisht in the saving of sinners as well as in the obedience of Saints that 's a part of the good will of God why doth he take pleasure in the obedience of Saints even because his own will is done It 's not any thing in us that doth it So when he saves us the pleasure which he takes is in the fulfilling of his owne will rather then in our salvation Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous Vers 4. Will he reprove thee for fear of thee Or will he enter with thee into judgement The Question is to be resolved into this negative He will not reprove thee for fear of thee c. Will he reprove thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arguit redarguit corripuit judicavit The word signifies first to argue or dispute and so to convince by the authority of reason Secondly to plead so to convince by evidence of the Law and fact Mich. 6.2 Hear yee O Mountaines the Lords Controversie and ye strong foundations of the Earth for the Lord hath a controversie with his people and he will plead with Israel The Mountaines and the strong foundations of the earth are the great men of the earth or Magistratical powers with these the Lord threatens a Controversie and that he will plead or argue his cause with them Thirdly it signifies to argue or plead not with words onely but with blowes to reprove with correction Job 5.17 Happy is the man whom thou correctest The word which here we render reprove is there rendred to correct which is reproving by blowes Fourthly
have esteemed or hid the word of his mouth according to my former manner or as I was wont to doe As if he had sayd what I now professe is no new thing with me I have not taken up this estimation of the word now on the suddaine upon my sick-bed I have done so long before now and so I doe still As it was said of Timothy that from a childe he had learned the Scripture Againe Taking the same reading the sence may be given thus Vpon election and deliberation I esteeme the word of his mouth As if he had said I doe not esteeme the word of God for nothing or as not having considered it and judged of the excellency of it but upon long debate consultation and tryall I have pitcht my election upon it Further Some in these words conceave Job alluding to those things which men doe out of long custome or according to their ancient course of life As if he had sayd There is nothing more fixed and setled eyther in my heart or in my practise then the Law of God Obedience to it is now become to me as another nature I slight in comparison of that all humane Lawes and Constitutions as also all my owne most practised formes and customes We render I have esteemed the words of his mouth more then my necessary food The Original word signifies a statute or a law and so any thing which is established or appointed for our use as a law or statute is And because our food our necessary food is that which is cut out or appoynted to us eyther by God or man therefore this word is applyed to signifie dayly bread or necessary food Banquets and great feasts are without all measure and bounds they know no law but are usually full of excesse both as to what is prepared and to what is consumed 't is seldome that either providers or eaters keepe the rule in feasting But a due necessary food which is for the maintaining of our lives and the renewing of our strength to goe on in our callings this food hath a bound and we eate as it were by measure or by statute therefore we translate necessary food others appoynted food or a portion So the word is used Gen. 47.22 Onely the Land of the Priests bought he not for the Priests had a portion assigned them of Pharoah and they eate the portion which he gave them their assigned portion is expressed by this word a portion it was to live upon such as Schollers have in Colledges and Almes-men in Hospitalls by the Statute of their Founders And in the booke of the Proverbs we have it twice used in such a sense Pro. 30.8 Remove from me vanity and lyes give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me or with my statute bread that is give me so much onely as the law of nature or the law of my necessity and conveniency calls for to fit me for duty with this statute bread let me be fed let others have their full tables this shall serve my turne Againe Pro. 31.15 Shee ariseth also while it is yet night speaking of the good house-wife and she giveth meate to her house-hold and a portion to her maidens she doth not throw the house out at windows or make havock of all as not caring which end went forward And as she is no prodigal waster so she is neyther niggardly nor scraping neither pineing nor pinching but giveth a meete portion to her maidens So here I have esteemed the word of thy mouth more then my necessary food This small proportion of food greatens the sense of the Text and heightens Jobs holinesse and piety very much for when we come to full tables where there is excesse our stomacks loath the meate and the more meate there is the lesse some are able to eate because the stomacke is over-charged with the sight of it Appetie may be dull'd with abundance but when we finde onely a convenient necessary statute portion as it were so much as is needfull to satisfie hunger and give some moderate delight this pleaseth most and is more esteemed by temperate persons then the greatest feast in the world A man doth not nautiate his necessary food or loath what hunger craves a crust of bread and that which is course is pleasant then necessary food is the sweetest food and we are best satisfied with that which breeds no satiety We live most comfortably with that food without which we cannot live at all comfortably So then when Job saith here I esteemed the word of his mouth more then my necessary food it is as if he had plainely sayd I tooke more care for and had a higher esteeme of the food of my soule then for that food of my body which necessity forceth every man to esteeme Hence note First That a godly man hath a high estimation of the word of God First He doth not onely esteeme it but he esteems it as food Secondly He esteemes it as necessary food Thirdly He esteemes it more then necessary food Here are three steps by which his estimation of the word of God is to be taken David saith of a godly man Psal 1.2 His delight is in the law of the Lord. The word there used signifies both will and delight Some render it voluntas will and others voluptas delight We may take in both his will and his delight is in the law of the Lord or he delightfully wills it Would you know where the delight and joy of a Godly man is it is in the law of the Lord there 't is fixed and no where else comparatively but in the Lord of the Law These two are inseparable he that delights in the Law hath first delighted in the Lord and he that delights in the Lord cannot but delight in the Law There are two metaphors used in Scriptute which shew the estimation and delight which Saints have in the law of God or in the word of his mouth First As the word is compared to food secondly as the word is compared to treasure the word is often compared to food and the most delicious food Psal 119.103 How sweete are thy words unto my taste yea sweeter then honey to my mouth And Psal 19.10 They are sweeter then the honey and the honey-combe He doth not meane the honey-combe barely as the vessell wherein the honey is kept but by the honey-combe he means the honey that flows or drops immediately and as I may say naturally without any art or pressing out of the combe which is esteemed the purest honey such is the law of God to the spirituall palate of a Godly man That feast Math. 22.2 Luke 14.16 to which sinners are invited is onely the declaration of the word and minde of God in the Gospel The word of Grace is the greatest feast which God makes his people Againe the word is as often compared to treasure what the esteeme and desire of man is to
a fitt or a convenient time implying that time in that notion is not hidden from God Isa 50.4 God hath given me the tongue of the learned that I might speake a word in season to him that is weary Which some translate thus That I might know the appointed time to the afflicted An afflicted soule must be watched and a season taken these times are not hidden from the Almighty he knoweth the opportunity and therefore can direct him that speakes to a wearyed soule as to speake proper and taking matter so to speake it in a proper and taking time when it shall be as welcome to the soule as raine to the dry and thirsty ground David saith to the Lord Psal 119.23 It is time Lord for thee to worke for they have made voide thy Law that is now is the season and opportunity for thee to work if ever thou wilt shew thy selfe doe it now And when David confessed Psal 31.15 My times are in thy hand He meanes that the seasons of his comforts Per tempora intelligit rerum vicissitudines divitias et pauperiem pacem bellum c. Theodoret and of his sorrowes all the turnings and changes of his life from one condition to another were cast and ordered by the power and wisdome of God Why seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty Doe they that know him not see his dayes Thus Job describes the persons that see not the dayes of God they are such as know him Which character as was shewed before belongs to every Godly man though it be more peculiar to some Hence note First Every Godly man knoweth God And none but the Godly know him indeed many ungodly men professe they know God and they may know him notionally but no ungodly man knoweth him truly experimentally or practically Many ungodly men have a forme of knowledge and of the truth in the Law as the Apostle speakes of the Jewes Rom. 2.20 but no ungodly man feeleth the power of knowledge and of the truth in the Law Pietas est cognitio scientiaque dei Trismeg And therefore the wicked are spoken of in Scripture as not knowing God Jere. 10.25 Powre out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not And when the Prophet describes the wickednesse of the Jewish State he saith Hos 4.1 There is no knowledge of God in the Land Which the Chalde Paraphrast renders thus Neither are there any who walke in the feare of God in the land where there is no knowledge of God there is no feare of God We neyther love nor feare him of whom we have no knowledge nor can we beleeve in or trust him whom we know not Psal 9.10 They that know thy name will put their trust in thee That is the truly godly will trust in thee for they know thy name but they that know thee not how can they trust upon thee and therefore the Prophet calls us to boast in the knowledge of God Jere. 9.23 Thus saith the Lord let not the wise man glory in his wisdome neither let the mighty man glory in his might let not the rich man glory in his riches but let him that glorieth glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord whech exercise loving kindnesse judgement and righteousnesse in the earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord. There is nothing in this world worth the boasting in but the holy knowledge of a holy God or such a knowledge of God the fruit whereof is a godly life here and the end whereof is an eternall life hereafter Joh. 17.3 This is eternall life that they may know thee the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent This knowledge of God doth not floate in the braine but sinkes into the heart and is rooted in the affections Thus the Apostle John argues 1 Epist Chap. 2. v. 3 4 5 6. Hereby we know that we know him if we keepe his Commandements he that sayth he knows him and keepeth not his commandement is a liar and the truth is not in him As if he had sayd The true knowledge of God is an obedientiall knowledge so that if any man sayth he knoweth God while his life is not sutable to what he knoweth this mans profession is vaine and himselfe is a lyar Whosoever keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected that is he loveth God with a perfect or sincere love and the love of God is perfected towards him The scope of his whole discourse there is to shew that the true knowledge of God is the keeping of the word of God Many are so ignorant of God that they know not the word which they should keepe and all they who knowing the word keepe it not will at last be numbered among the ignorant or among those that know not God But their condition will be worse and their punishment greater then theirs who never knew God according to the teachings of his word Their estate will be bad enough who perish for want of the knowledge of God then what will their end be who perish in the neglect or abuse of plentifull knowledge From the second notion of the words they that know him as they intimate a sort of Godly men who have neerer acquaintance with and freer accesse to God then others Observe That as all godly men know God which the wicked doe not so some godly men have such a knowledge of God as many who are godly have not Though the knowledge of all godly men be of the same nature and kinde yet not of the same degree and height We reade of some who in old time were called Seers 1 Sam. 9.9 as if they onely had been endued with sight and all others were blinde in the things of God They were the onely seers yea they were fore-seers because God did often reveale himselfe and declare to them what he was about to doe in dreames and visions Now as in those times there were some men called seers so in these times some may be called knowers as if none knew any thing of God comparatively to them or as if other godly men were ignorant and understood nothing of him When God 1 Sam. 3. appeared to Samuel in a vision and revealed the doome of Elies house to him the Text sayth at the 7th verse Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord surely Samuel did know the Lord as other godly did in those times though he were but young yea it is said The childe Samuel ministred before the Lord and did not he know the Lord no doubt he did The meaning therefore is Samuel did not yet know the Lord by any speciall intimacy with him or particular revelation from him as afterward he did he became a knower of God at last though then he did not know God in this peculiar sence But God having revealed to him the secret what he would doe to Elies house then he knew God he
Ephesus 1 Cor. 15.32 which I grant may be expounded properly and possibly best so It being usuall in those times of persecution under Heathenish power to cast the Christians to the wild beasts and for the common sort to cry out Away with the Christians to the Lyons yet it is as true that Paul did fight or contend with beasts in the shape of men And he speakes particularly concerning bloody Nero A man in the highest honour of that age 2 Tim. 4.17 I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lyon The Baptist called the Pharisees a generation of vipers Math. 3.7 And Herod is called by Christ that Fox Luk. 13.32 And 't is sayd of all ungodly men at once Rev. 22.15 Without are Doggs Wolves Lyons Foxes Vipers Serpents Doggs the worst of Creatures for rapine and spoyle doe but expresse the inhumanity and cruelty of wicked men And because they are compar'd to wild Asses in the text I will give you some paralels between them and the wild Asse First In their lawlesnes and unsubjection to command carnal men are lawles Libertatis symbolum est Onager The Apostle calls them so 1 Tim. 1.9 Knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous man but for the lawles and disobedient not that they have no law but they live as if they had none they who love to disobey the law are lawles and embrace libertinisme in stead of liberty Thus the wicked man is as the wild asse for his licentiousnes and lawlesnes for so the wild asse is described in the 39th Chapter of this booke verse the 5th Who hath sent out the wild asse free or loosed the bands of the wild asse what 's the freedome of the wild asse not like that of men who have the priviledge of freedome in an order but to be free without order The wicked would be where they will and doe what they list this is the freedome of the wild asse Now as God himselfe there puts the Question Who hath sent out the wild asse free who hath manu-mitted him Surely no man hath done it but God hath planted it in the nature of the wild asse to be free and to live without bands or bounds And if we should ask the Question Who hath sent out wicked men free and who hath loosed the bands of the wicked The answer must be Satan hath done it and their own evill hearts have done it they have broke the bands and cast away all coards from them they have set themselves free in such a freedome as it is which is indeed perfect thraldome to their owne lusts and the lawes of the Prince of darknes they are not free by being deliverd from the bondage and condemnation of the law but by casting off all obedience and submission to it Secondly Wild asses are extreamly violent and Impetuous in their desires or lusts Jeremy expostulating with the Jewes about their revolting from and rebellion against God compares them Chap. 2.24 to A wild asse used to the wildernes that snuffeth up the winde at her pleasure in her occasion who can turne her away all they that seeke her will not weary themselves in her moneth they shall finde her there 's no medling no dealing with the wild asse while lust is upon her she will have the desire of her heart if she can Thus wicked men are given up to and transported with their pleasures and inordinate affections in their occasion that is when the heate of their intemperate desires or lusts of any kinde are upon them there is no turning of them onely in their moneth when sorrowes and paines are upon them they may be spoken with We may also read both this sin and the reproofe of that people in a like allusion Hos 8.9 Thirdly The wild asse is an Embleme of the wicked man especially as he is an oppressor or tyrant in his unsociablenes for as the asse refuseth society so these are unfit for society and are indeed enemies of mankinde They are unfit not only for spirituall but also for Politicall or Civill Society God speaking of the wild Asse in the 39th Chapter of this booke v. 6 7. sayth Whose house I have made the wildernes and the barren land his dwellings Hee scorneth the multitude of the Citie neither regardeth hee the crying of the driver the range of the mountaines is his pasture and hee searcheth after every green thing Though the oppressor live in the City yet hee is like the wild asse in this he cares not to maintaine society as hee ought hee cares for the society of others onely for himselfe hee scorneth the multitude of the City he is for the range of the mountaines where he may take all he can get he searcheth after every greene thing whatsoever hath pleasure or profit in it he pursues it for himselfe This paralel might be drawne out further wild asses as Naturalists have observed are fearefull Belocitas timiditalis subsidium Those Creatures that are most swift are naturally most fearfull and their swiftnes is a releefe to their fearfullnes Thus wicked men are fearfull They onely have true Courage who feare God and where the feare of God is not Timida est omnis Nequitia every other feare is or every other thing is feared They who finde not a friend in their owne consciences are ready to suspect every one for an enemy So that though every wicked man would have all that he can get to himselfe alone yet he dares not be alone in getting it And upon those termes onely he is willing that others should joyne with him in the profit because he would have them joyne with him in the sin Pro. 1.11.14 Come with us let us lay wait for blood c. Cast in thy lot with us we will all have one purse Wicked men are not for society unlesse it be in wickednes and yet theirs is not so much a society as a conspiracy A wicked man let his sin be what it will is glad when he hath partners in doing it or that others doe the same with him not onely because he hath a suscipicion of the lawfullnes of what he doth but also because he suspects some suddaine danger in doing it And hence some have noted that the woman who committed the first sinne did not like to be alone in it and therefore having eaten her selfe shee gave the fruit of the tree to her husband to eate also shee desiered an associate both to countenance her in the act and to helpe beare her out in the consequents of it And when they had both sinned they shewed themselves like wild Asses indeed running into the thickets at the approach of God there to hide themselves both for shame and feare Behold as wild asses They goe forth to their worke Hence note To wrong men to sin against God is the worke of wicked men That 's their busienes Therefore in Scripture they are often called workers of Iniquity Implying 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
need not stand upon such nicities in distinguishing between the poore and needy But it may be enquired why doth the murtherer kill the poore what doth he get by that where are the spoyles which he brings home There 's nothing to be had from them who have nothing The poore and needy And it hath been antiently said The empty traveller will sing before the Theife why then should the Theife or the murtherer meddle with especially why should he kill the poore and needy What have they or what have they done Two things may be sayd in answer to these queries first it is thus exprest to shew the extreame wickednes of the murtherer who doth not care so much for booty as for blood 'T is for that he thirsts his delight is in cruelty therefore he kills the very poore and needy the next man he meets with let him be what he will 'T is the sin it selfe or to doe wickedly which some men delight in they care not whether any advantage or profit come in by it when they have their will when they have don what they would that 's reward enough for them Hence Note Some will doe wickedly though they get nothing by it All the true servants of God love the work which he sets them better then the reward which he gives them and so doe some servants of the Devill Even the Devill hath servants who scorne to be mercinary The act of sin is sweeter to them then any profit that sin can bring in They are exact and perfect sinners who sin out of love to the very act of sinning As the highest acting in holynes is to be pleased with pure acts of holines To doe them though wee should get nothing by doing them though we make no earnings though we see no present fruit in doing them Thus I say to goe onne in wayes of holynes when the wayes of holynes appeare barren and unprofitable to us yea when they are unsafe and dangerous to us here 's the perfection of holynes So the perfection of wickednes is to be wicked when nothing is gott by it it shewes a sincere love to sin as I may say to love sin for sins sake as it shewes a sincere love to Grace and goodnes to love them for their owne or Gods sake Hypocrites love the wayes of God for the spoyle which they finde there for the carnal advantages which they meete with there were those wayes poore and needy leane and empty they should not at all be filled with their company The prophane will rise up in Judgement against these professors for they kill the poore and needy They doe evill where they cannot have any hopes of receaving good by it Secondly For answer By The poore and needy wee may here understand the Innocent and honest not as if all who are poore and needy were also Innocent for there are many wicked poore nor as if all who are innocent were also poore and needy for there are many godly rich but because usually they are so men that are rich and great may be Innocent and holy but these are rare conjunctions usually the Innocent are poore and needy Againe wee are not to take the poore and needy for them who as wee say have not a peny to buy them bread but by the poore we understand those of the midle or rather Inferiour ranke such poore and needy they kill But what 's their quarrell at them First Because such poore honest men stand in the light of wicked men that is the wicked cannot be so wicked as they would because some good men are neere them and therefore they must be removed out of the world that they may be out of their way Or secondly because such poore honest men eyther have given or are ready to give evidence or be witnesses against them before the Magistrate now eyther to prevent or revenge this they rise with the light and kill the poore and needy Hence Observe That a wicked man will doe his utmost to remove those who stand in his way or oppose him in his wickednes He will kill some that he may vex others that 's his ayme here the poore and needy are not his utmost ayme but the poore and needy stand in his way they hinder him in his other projects And whatsoever interposeth between him and the enjoyment of his lust he will remove it if he can And as he will kill some that he may vex others so he will much rather kill those who vex him Holy David being left under the power of a strong Temptation slew Vriah an innocent man only because he could not perswade him to do that which might have bin some covering of his sin from the eyes of men How much more will the prophane doe so when honest men doe eyther professedly oppose them in their sinfull workes or discover the sinfullnes of them Further In that Job upon the fresh account which he gives of the wickednesses of men brings in the murtherer in the first place riseing with the light and killing the poore and needy Wee may here take notice a little of the greatnes of this sin of murther and demonstrate how great a sinner the murtherer is The murtherer is a sinner of the highest forme and there are two Scripture Considerations in generall upon which we may make this out First How sinfull is it for a man to murther a man when as the Scripture tels us that if a beast kill a man he must suffer for it Exod. 21.28 If an oxe gore a man or a woman that they dye the oxe shall be surely stoned and his flesh shall not be Eaten A beast is not capable of subjection to a moral rule or law as not being capable of reason yet a beast who is not properly under any Law must dye for transgressing this Law Thou shalt not kill And this surely First to convince man of the greatnes of this sin secondly to admonish him lest he commit this sin thirdly to assure him that if he do he must dye For if a beast must dye for killing a man then much more must man seeing that Law against the killing of a man was given to men not to beasts Secondly The Lord gave a rule to the Jewes what to doe for the removing of the guilt of blood in case a man were found slaine and no man could tell who was the Author of that murther read this at large Deut. 21. from the beginning of the Chapter to the end of the 9th verse If one be found slaine in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee and it be not knowne after diligent enquiry or hue and cry who hath slaine him Then the Elders of thy Judges shall come forth and they shall measure in case there be a doubt which City was neerest to the place where the slaine was found unto the Cities which are round about him that is slaine And it shall come to passe that the City which is
will according to his measure carry him through a world of evills and incumbrances to the doing of that good which duty and conscience or the conscience of his duty calls him to Now as Godly men labour to approve themselves the Ministers or servants of God so ungodly men will approve themselves the servants of sin in much patience in afflictions in necessities and in distresses they will run all hazzards and venture through all extreamities rather then leave the law of a lust unfulfilled The Lord put the Jewes to much suffering for their sins yet sin they would Why should ye be stricken any more saith he Isa 1.5 Ye will revolt more and more while I have been striking ye have been revolting The same pertinacy is complained of Isa 57.17 I smote him and was wrath yet he went on frowardly in the way of his heart that is in a sinfull way The heart of man knowes no other way till himselfe is formed after the heart of God and in that sinfull way he will goe though God make his heart ake as he goes I smote him and was wroth yet he went on c. In drought and heate they rob and in the snow water Againe we may take drought heate and snow water not onely as importing their sufferings while they were doing in such times but also as importing the severall seasons of time as if he had sayd they will sin both winter and summer that is continually wee say of some they are never well neither full nor fasting As full and fasting imply all the conditions of man so hot and cold summer and winter imply all divisions of time Hence note Evill men will doe evill allwayes Sinning time is never out with them they doe not sin by fits or starts in an ill mood onely or through a stresse of temptation but they sin from a principle within they have a spring of wickednes within and that will ever be sending and flowing out A good man may be overtaken with sin at any time but he doth not sin at all times in winter and summer in heate and cold Corruption will be working where Grace is but where Grace is not nothing workes but corruption If wicked men be not doing evill in every moment of time it is not because they at any time would not doe evill but because at all times they cannot And therefore the translation now underhand speakes of their whole life as one continued act of sin They sin to the grave That is till they dye and so are caryed out to the grave So that this manner of speaking They sin to the Grave signifyes the utmost perseverance of wicked men in sinning as if it had not been enough to say they sin in heate and cold winter and summer but they sin out the last inch of time even till they come to the graves mouth Whence Note Wicked men will not cease to sin while they continue to live The Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 2.14 saith of that generation who have eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin sin is their nature it is not what they have acquired but what is implanted in them and borne with them And because sin is naturall to them therefore they cannot get it off untill their nature is changed And hence it is that conversion or regeneration is the change of our nature as well as of our actions A man unregenerate sins as naturally as he lives he sins as naturally as he sees or heares or exerciseth any of those naturall faculties so naturally doth he sin and therefore he sins to the grave And this is a rational demonstration of the Justice of God in awarding eternall punishment for sin committed in time or in a short time the whole time of a mans life in which sin is committed is but a short time a nothing to eternity wherein sin shall be punished This I say is a demonstration of the Justice of God in punishing wicked men because if they could have lived to eternity they would have done evill to eternity they doe evill as they can and as long as they can Seeing then there is a principle in man to sin eternally it is but just with God if he punish sinners eternally did not the grave stop him his heart would never stop him from sin In heate and cold they rob they sin to the grave Further as these words are put into a similitude they intimate the easinesse and naturallnesse of their sinning as well as the continuance of it Like as the hot earth drinketh up the snow water so wicked men sin to the grave they sin to death and they sin with as much ease and naturalnes as the earth when dry and thirsty drinks up the snow water Sinners are sayd to drinke iniquity as water Job 15.16 They are sayd to draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with cart ropes Isa 5.18 The last of these comparisons notes their strength and grossenesse in sinning The second notes their wit and cunning in sinning The third which suites with the present text notes their readynes and easynes to sinne They can doe it as easyly as drinke as easyly as the hot earth drinketh up the snow water So much of that translation I come now to consider our owne Drought and heate consume the snow waters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 siccitas propriè ariditatem terrae significat unde pro terra arida inculta sumitur Drought or drinesse The word notes the drinesse of the earth and is often put for dry earth as also for earth undrest or for a desert place because in such places the earth is usually parcht with heate and over-dry And hence the word Tsijm in the plural number signifyes a people that dwell in a wildernesse or in a desert So the people of Israel were called while they marched slowly throught it to Canaan Psal 74.14 Thou brakest the head of the Leviathan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 populo soâ—itudâ—nicolis aut de serta incolenti and gavest him to be meate for the people who dwelt in the wildernesse And as men so those wild beasts that dwelt in deserts or solitary places are called Tsijm Isa 34.14 The wilde beasts of the desert shall also meete with the wilde beasts of the land and the Satyre shall cry to his fellow the Shrich-Owle also shall rest there and finde for her selfe a place of rest Tsijm are such uncouth creatures as inhabit Tsijah dry and desert places Drought And heate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 caluit Hebâ—aeis Cham calidum et chum nigrum sonat hinc chami nomen a calore vel nigredine Jupiter Hammon C ham the originall word signifyes both to be hot and to be blacke The second sonne of Noah who mocked his father was named Cham and it is supposed that the posterity of Cham inhabited Africa which is also called Ammonia being a hot Countrey and the people of it blacke And
and proper to it Further as God hideth his glory from man because he is not able to beare it all so he hideth much of that from him which he is able to beare both to make him hunger and thirst the more after it and to draw him into the greater reverence and estimation of it We usually esteeme that more which is veyled and under a cloud then that which is very cleare and openly revealed and according to our present state and frame that is most reverenced by us which is most concealed from us When a cloud hath dwelt a while upon the Sunne we desire the more to see the face of it and are the more affected with the sight of it God will not hold backe the face of his throne from us in glory nor will he ever spread a cloud upon it and yet we shall have fresh desires after it and high valuations of it everlastingly But while we dwel in this corrupt and corruptible flesh wee are apt to neglect that which is alwayes with us especially if it be alwayes alike with us And therefore as the wise and gracious God will not let us see his throne here at all in the full glory of it because we cannot beare it so he will not let us see that glory of it continually which we are able to beare lest we should grow eyther carelesse of it or unthankfull for it It is even best for us that we have but a darke and imperfect sight of God in this world both in reference to what he is and to what he doth or first in reference to himselfe in his nature and Excellencyes Secondly in reference to his wayes or workes in their speciall reasons and ends As our darkenes cannot at all comprehend the light of God so God is pleased to cover much of his own light with darkenes that we should not comprehend it How many glorious truths are there the face of which he holdeth backe from many of his precious servants how often doth he spread a cloud as upon the truths which he sendeth in his Word so upon the graces which he hath wrought in us by his Spirit so that the soule is not onely hindred from beholding what is without but what is within and is so farre from beholding the glorious perfection of God and his workes abroad that it cannot so much as discerne any of the gracious workes of God at home He spreadeth his cloud upon it Vers 10. He compasseth the waters with bounds untill the day and night come to an end Job having described marvaylous acts of divine power in the heavens descends againe to shew his marvayles in or about the Seas and mighty waters He compasseth the waters with bounds The word which we render to compasse Proprietas pecaliaris verbi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est lineam vel circulum describere quasi circino Forte etiam in dicatur eodem circumdandi verbo unum effici globuÌ„ ex terra et aqua atque unum idem utriusque elementi esse centrum Pined signifyeth properly to draw a line or make a circle as Mathematicians doe with a payre of Compasses so that it notes the shutting up or circumscribing any thing to a certaine place or measure beyond which it cannot move And thus God compasseth the waters At the 8th verse Job shewed how God compasseth the upper waters the waters in the ayre He bindeth up the waters in his thicke clouds Here he sheweth how God by the same almighty power compasseth about the lower waters the waters of the Sea The Hebrew is The face of the waters as in the former verse The face of his throne The face of the earth is the upper part of the earth Gen. 1.29 I have given you every herbe bearing or seeding seed which is upon the face of all the earth And so the face of the waters is the upper part of the waters because the upper part of the water as also of the earth lyeth open to the eye as the face of a man doth And it may therefore be sayd that he compasseth the face of the waters because though the whole body and bulke of the waters swel and rage yet the face or upper part of the waters is that which at any times breaketh over and overfloweth And therefore the face of the waters onely as to us is compassed about with bounds The word noteth a legal bound a statute or decree and is frequently used in Scripture especially in the 119th Psalme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 stanuum constitutie dec câ—etum sign ficat praecepti constantiam durationem nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est insculpere seu incidere lapidi ligno vel Metallo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septu for the Law or rule which God hath given man both for his worship and continuall course of life And hence the Prophet Jeremiah speaking to the Jewes about this thing useth another word to signifie the bound of the Sea and the word which here we render Bound is there rendred Decree Jer 5.22 Feare ye not me saith the Lord will ye not tremble at my presence which have placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetuall decree that it cannot passe it And there is so much of a Law or of an appoyntment in it that the word is applicable to any thing which is put under a certaine law or appoyntment So it is put for an appoynted time in the 14th Chapter of this booke v. 13th and for appoynted foode in the 23d Chapter of this booke v. 12th as here for an appoynted space or circle within which as within a wall or with gates and barrs the waters of the Sea are kept He compasseth the waters with bounds Hence Note First The Sea is bounded by the power of God As God hath given man understanding to provide a bit and a bridle for the mouth of the horse and mule which have no understanding lest they come neere unto him Psal 32.9 that is neerer to him then they should or neere to him not to serve him or be used by him but to kicke him or tread upon him Thus God himselfe who is infinite in understanding hath put a bit or bridle into the mouth of the Sea which is further from understanding then eyther Horse or mule lest it come neere to drowne and overwhelme us Neyther shoares nor sands neyther cliffs nor rockes are the bound and bridle of the Sea but the Decree and command of God Observe Secondly It is an unanswerable argument of the glorious power and soveraignetie of God that he is able to compasse the waters with bounds Who shut up the Sea with dores was Gods humbling Question to Job in the 38th Chapter of this booke v. 8.10 11. and sayd hitherto shalt thou come and no further here shall thy proud waves be stayed The Psalmist Ps 104. having shewed how at first Gen. 1 1. the whole earth was covered with the deep as