alluding to the naturall conception formation and production of Children We have these three in the Text before us the order of the words being a little altered Here is first Conception They conceive mischeife Secondly Formation Their belly prepareth deceit Thirdly The birth Bring forth vanity More strictly to the method of Eliphaz we have first The conception secondly the birth of sin And as if one birth were not enough they returne to their work providing for a new birth of the old man Their belly prepareth deceit They conceive mischeife The word which we translate Mischiefe signifies properly labour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Labor molestia perversitas hard labour or labour accompanied with a great deal of paines and sorrow it signifies also wickednesse perversnesse We translate mischeife They conceive mischeife or some mischeivous devise to the dishonour of God and the wrong of man They conceive Conception is here the worke of the minde we ordinarily say We conceive such a thing that is We take it in or apprehend it by an act of the understanding Here 's the truest character of a wicked man he is one that conceives mischeife The allusion teacheth us First That a wicked man sins with much freedome of spirit or he sins freely He conceives mischeife The conceptions of the minde cannot be forced nor can the conceptions of the body and therefore the Law resolves it That there is no rape where conception follows These conceptions are the joynt actings of the will and understanding both concur in them an unregenerate person is free to doe evill he needs not be forced to it he cannot be forced from it and every evill is the more evill by how much the more freely it is done The more voluntarily we sin the more wickedly we sin Againe The conceptions of the minde are deliberate there is a collecting of one thing from another a debating in conceiving Hence Note Secondly Wicked men sin with deliberation They sit downe and meditate they lay the frame of wickednesse in their hearts and then set it up or act it with their hands Note thirdly All the conceptions of wicked men are wickednesse They are very fruitfull in wickednesse and they beare no other fruit Mischeife is not onely that which he conceives but all that he conceives he conceives nothing else A wicked man cannot think or conceive one good thought he may think of that which is materially good but he conceives no good Gen. 6.5 All the thoughts of the imaginations of his heart are onely evill and that continually All the Creatures which he formes in his minde all the children of his understanding are deformed and monstrous He conceives mischeife which as it notes a continued act so an act continued about or upon the same object Fourthly Observe To be a contriver a plotter a conceiver of mischeife is worse then then to be an actor or a doer of mischeife It is ill to have a hand in any sinfull evill it is worse to have a head in it but worst of all to have a heart in it Conceivers of mischeife alwayes have their hearts and heads in mischeife and if they are not stopt will have their hands to it too they who are plotters and designers would be actors Hence they are called Workers of iniquity They have an inward Shop and an outward Shop first they work it in their thoughts and mould it there and then it comes out To conceive mischeife is properly the Devils trade he rather deviseth then acts wickednesse There are many wickednesses in the World which he cannot act but he is or would be the plotter setter and contriver of them all This is the wickednesse of the Devill and every conceiver and deviser of mischeife is of the Devils trade A good man may possibly doe evill but a wicked man deviseth evill As it notes the spiritualnesse of a man in holinesse when he doth not onely act that which is good but his heart is upon it he conceives and frames it in his minde So it notes a man spiritually wicked when his minde frames wickednesse The Apostle concludes of himselfe Rom. 7.25 So then with my minde I serve the Law of God but with the flesh the Law of sin Not that he willingly gave up his flesh to sin but that he was carryed through the infirmity of the flesh to some sinfull actings while his minde his devisings and contrivings were according to the Law of God and he delighted in the Law of God concerning the inward man This is the spiritualnesse of holinesse and without this there is no outward act of any account with God It is what the minde moves to not what the mouth speaks or the hand doth which commends us to God What is it to God that we serve his Law with our flesh if with our minds we either serve the Law of sin or doe not serve the Law of God Man is not what he acts but what he conceives unlesse he act what he hath conceived They conceive mischeife And bring forth vanity Now they come to the birth they are in travell after conception they bring forth and the Childs name is Vanity The Originall word is rendred three wayes First We say Vanity Secondly Another saith Lyes A third saith Iniquity The word will beare any of or all the three translations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vanitat mendacium perversitas They bring forth vanity a lye iniquity They who conceive mischeife may bring forth any thing but what is good Those three words may serve the same thing every vanity is a lye and any lye is vanity and iniquity is both lye and vanity The persons of whom Eliphaz discourseth are sayd to bring forth vanity on these three grounds First Because they somtimes bring forth no fruit at all they are conceiving mischeif but they can make nothing of it their conceptions end in abortions they devise and plot but all is hatching of winde The Church is so expressed though in a different case Isa 26.17 18. Like as a Woman with Childe neer the time of her delivery is in paine and cryes out in her pangs so have we been in thy sight O Lord Wee have beene with childe we have been in paine The Church had conceptions for good shee hoped that the Lord would have done some great thing for her yet after her conception and travell see what shee brings forth We have beene in paine and brought forth winde that is nothing at all it proved a meer timpany for so he explaines it We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth neither have the Inhabitants of the World fallen that is we have not obtained that deliverance that we hoped for in the earth neither have our Enemies who are called by the Prophet The Inhabitants of the World been subdued under our power they have not fallen Now as the Church and people of God sometimes are disappointed in their expectations they conceive yet
case a man in nature is composed or constituted of sin and a naturall man is nourished and preserved by sinning Vt deficienti humido resarciendo nihil aptius est aqua utilius ia hominis beatitudini quae ipsi de est consummandae natura nihil suggerit nisi peccatum Coc. Continuall acts increase the habit and as a godly man is nourished by holy acts and strengthened in spirit by spirituall obedence doing the will of God is the food of the soule As Christ speakes John 4.21 so doth every true Christian in his degree It is my meat and drinke to doe the will of my Father which is in Heaven or as Job professeth of himselfe Chap. 23.12 I esteeme the words of thy mouth more then my necessary food Thus also the old man saith It is my meat and drink to doe the will of the flesh and that is indeed the will of his Father which is in Hell The words of his mouth his Counsels and Lawes I esteem more then my necessary food So much for the opening and illustration of this Scripture-phrase Drinking iniquity like water I shall propound one Quere in generall concerning the whole Verse and so conclude it Here is a full description of sinfull man But whether Eliphaz speakes this strictly of a person unregenerate and so applyeth it to Job or whether this description be not also applicable to a man who is regenerate and godly for the maine and was so intended by Eliphaz is here a question Some conceive that the words will suite none but an unregenerate man and t is granted upon all hands that they are most sutable to him An unregenerate man is abominable and filthy he drinks iniquity like water And yet in a qualified sense we may say all this of a man regenerate Even He in reference to the remaines of corruption is abominable and filthy and He under some distempers and temptations drinks iniquity like water Agit Eliphaz cum Jobo non ut improbo sed ut errante Coc. which words of Eliphaz a moderne Interpreter paralels with those of Paul concerning himselfe Rom. 7.25 With the flesh I serve the Law of sin And delivers his opinion in this case That though Eliphaz aimed at Job in all this yet he deales with him not as with a wicked man but as with an erring brother For whereas he had sayd Chap. 13.23 How many are mine iniquities Eliphaz might judge by his words that surely he thought his iniquities were not very many and whereas he had sayd at the 26. Verse of the same Chapter Thou makest me to possesse the iniquityes of my youth Eliphaz might collect surely this man thinks his elder yeares have been so free from sin that God can finde nothing in them which might justifie him in these severe punishments Now Eliphaz opposeth these apprehensions and would both teach and convince him that as originall sin pollutes every man wholly till he is washed and borne againe by the spirit so no man is so farre washed by the spirit but that many spots and pollutions of the flesh doe still cleave to him and often appeare upon him And Eliphaz may be conceived to handle Job in this manner First To shew him that though a man be in a state of regeneration yet he can deserve nothing at the hand of God because his holinesse is still imperfect and his corruptions are abominable Secondly That the greatest sufferings and afflictions of good men in this life are very consistent with the Justice of God Thirdly That he might humble Job who as he feared was still too high in his owne opinion and thought better of himselfe then did become him Fourthly To provoke him to resist his owne corruptions stedfastly And lastly To beare the crosse which the Lord had layd upon him for his good especially for the taming and subduing of his corruptions patiently So that Eliphaz doeh not dispute with him upon this hypothesis or supposition or not upon this onely That man by nature and without the grace of God is filthy and abominable drinking iniquity like water but upon this or this in consort with the former That man in a state of grace or a godly man is filthy and abominable in reference to the flesh that dwelleth in him and that in reference to his frequent sinnings he may be sayd to drink iniquity like water And therefore Job had no reason to be proud how good so ever he was or how much good soever he had done and that there was all the reason in the World he should be patient and take it well at the hand of God how much evill so ever he should suffer This resolution of the Quere as it is profitable so probable For howsoever Jobs Freinds had branded him in diverse passages of this dispute as a wicked man and an hypocrite and were so understood by Job as appeares in his answers and replyes yet 't is most likely his Freinds spake so in reference to his actions not in reference to his state That he had done like an Hypocrite or a wicked man was clearely their opinion but there is no necessity to conclude from what they sayd that they judged him absolutely to be one JOB CHAP. 15. Vers 17 18 19 20. I will shew thee heare mee and that which I have seene I will declare Which wise men have told from their Fathers and have not hid it Vnto whom alone the earth was given and no stranger passed among them The wicked man travelleth with paine all his dayes and the number of yeares is hidden to the oppressour ELiphaz having argued against Jobs supposed opinion of Selfe-cleannesse and personall righteousnesse proceeds to the confirmation of his owne position to which he leads us by a new Exordium or Preface in the 17 18 and 19. Verses of this Chapter Secondly he largely handles and illustrates it from the 20. to the 31. Verse Thirdly hee applyeth the whole Doctrine to Job by way of dehortation at the 31. Verse and so forward to the end of the Chapter The generall argument which he brings to confirme his Tenet may be thus formed up That is true which continued experience and the consent of wise men in all ages have taught and delivered to us But the experience and consent of wise men in all ages have taught and delivered this that a wicked man travels with paine all his dayes that he is punished outwardly by want and sicknesse and inwardly by the gripes and scourges of his owne conscience Therefore this is a truth The major proposition is the sum of the Preface contained in the 17 18. and 19. Verses The minor or second Proposition is held forth in the 20. Verse and is prosecuted to the one and thirtieth I will shew thee heare thou me and that which I have seene I will declare So the Preface begins He layes downe a double proofe in this Preface a proofe first from his owne experience secondly from the
his Sons necke and kissed him So in heat of wrath an Enemy runs upon the neck of his Enemy and wicked men who are enmity against God run upon the neck of God Some conceive that this running upon the neck of God imports two things First That the wicked man imagines himselfe as having an equality of strength with God Erat paenae genus ut Magistratus si quem suo imperio parum obedientem viderit in collum invaderent intorquerent Liv. l. 4. And secondly That he hath authority above God or that he is Gods better and superiour This latter they ground upon an old custome among Magistrates who finding an offender contumacious were wont to command the Officer to take him by the neck and dragg him out of the Court to receive his punishment But I shall not insist upon that Criticisme especially considering the incongruity of it with the next words Even upon the thick bosses of his buckler Malefactors are never permitted to come armed before the Judge to their Arraignments The word which we translate Thicke signifies also Fat because fat is thick Hence the Vulgar Latine translates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In densitate altitudinum scutorum ejus in crassitiem corporum scutorum ejus Me c. Alludit ad pervetustum praeliandi modum cum clipeo in cujus medio erat prominentia quae dicitur umbo in quo erat cuspis quo cominus concertabatar Boâ—d He is armed with his fat neck But I passe that According to our reading which keeps closer to the Original Eliphaz describes the ancient and present forme of Bucklers which as they are defensive weapons so also offensive and therfore have not only Bosses for ornament but one especially in the center or middle with a sharpe pike in it for use For as the whole Buckler secured the body against the Arrow or Sword of the Adversary so if he pressed neer this high Bosse or Pike of the Buckler served to pierce and wound the Adversary So that while the wicked man is sayd to run upon God even upon the thick bosses of his Buckler it shewes the highest valiancy of a wicked man in opposing God he fights not onely afarr off but neer at hand and presses upon him though within the reach and danger of his Weapon Hence Observe There is no danger can keep a wicked man off from sin Like the Horse in this Book Chap. 39.22 He mocketh at feare and is not afrighted neither turneth away from the Sword hee swalloweth the ground with fiercenesse and rage he saith among the Trumpets Aha aha though God have a Buckler man will come upon him yea though God have a Bosse upon his Buckler to strike and wound him yet on he comes The Buckler of God is the Law or Word of God and the Bosses of this Buckler are the threatnings and curses of the Law Now when man sins notwithstanding the Law which is the Buckler by which God saves and protects his honour and his holinesse his name and glory from the wounds which sinfull man is ready to give him then man may be sayd to run upon his Buckler And when notwithstanding the sharpe threats and terrible curses of the Law which are the thick Bosses with which he wounds those who transgresse his Law when I say notwithstanding these man adventures to sin and transgresse the Law he may rightly be sayd To run upon the thicâ— bosses of his Bucklers God gave Adam a Law Of the Tree of knowledge of good and evill thou mayst not eate Here was the Buckler and when he added this threat In the daye thou eatest therâ—of thou shall surely dye Here was the Bosse God sent a word to Pharaoh Let my people goe this was a Buckler If thou refuse to let them goe I will slay thy first borne this was the Bosse Adam run upon the Bosse of the Buckler so did Pharoah and so doe all wilfull sinners A wicked heart will goe on sinning whatsoever God is speaking or doing Isa 57.17 I was wrath and smote him yet he went on frowardly in the way of his heart Neither the wrath of God nor their owne smart stopt their progresse though smitten yet they went on Saints sometimes goe on sinning though God be smiting they have run upon the Bosses of the Buckler to the wounding both of their soules and of their outward comforts wicked men will run upon them to the damning of their soules and bodies Though they see yea feele the bosses judgement not onely threatned but executed yet on they will and like wicked Ahaz in the time of their affliction sin more against the Lord. This is the height of sinfulnesse As it shewes the truth and height of holinesse in the Saints when they will not onely run to God in faire times when men approve but in the worst times when men oppose when they venture to doe their duty upon the Bucklers of men yea upon the Bosses of the Buckler extreamest danger So it shewes a like strength and height of wickednes when men venture upon the Bosses of the Buckler upon the point of the naked Sword of Gods displeasure they will venture let it cost what it will though the Lord set a flaming Sword in the way of lust as he did in the way of the Tree of life Gen. 3. though the Lord set an Angell with a drawn Sword in the way of lust as he did in Balams way when he was going to curse Israel yet on they will Till the heart be changed neither Swords nor Bucklers nor Bosses neither wrath threatned nor executed can cause a sinner to change his course This the Prophet complaines of Isa 9.13 The people turneth not to him that smiteth them neither doe they seek the Lord of Hoasts Their incorrigiblenesse under severest corrections is elegantly described by another Prophet enumerating five speciall stroakes or smitings to every one of which he subjoynes Yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord Amos 4.6 7 8. c. When the bellows were burnt and the lead consumed of the fire that is when all instruments and meanes of refining them were spent and worne out yet their drosse remained in them The Founder melted in vaine for the wicked that is their wickednesses or evill things were not plucked away Jer. 6.29 30. They went into the Furnace full of drosse and they came out as full of drosse as they went in The Founder blowed his fire till he burnt his bellows but their lusts had no sent of fire upon them his lead by which he seperates the drosse from the metall was all consumed and evaporated but the drosse of their corruptions wasted no more then the purest gold doth in the fire Hence the Lord resolved to wast no more of his judgements upon them Why should you be smitten any more ye will revolt more and more Isa 1.5 To revolt from God and to run upon him are sins of the same straine and they who
pro corde cor pro intellectu mente accipitur in Scriptura A wise man should desire that his heart may be filled with the sweet gales and holy breathings of the spirit of God by heavenly inspirations And shall hee fill his heart with the East-wind of earthly passions The word which we translate East wind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rab. Mardoch Observat hunc ventum a Graecis appellari Apeâ—â—oren quod a sole spiret atque eadem ratione appellatur a Latinis subsolanum signifies onely the East Should he fill his belly with the East we rightly add the East wind he compares Jobs passions unto the winde and unto the East wind to the wind because of the vanity of them to the East wind because of the hurtfulnesse of them For as by wind in the former clause he meanes worthlesse things so by East wind in this he meanes dangerous things There are two reasons why he expresses such inwaâ—d motions by the East wind First The East wind is a vehement and strong wind wee read Exod. 14.21 Portae Eurum Appellans truculemum rapidum animosum tumidum indomitum that when God divided the Red Sea to make a passage for his people he caused an East wind to blow all night and divided the Sea with the force of it Poets describe the East winde to be feirce heady turbulent and impetuous that 's one ground of it Secondly The East winde is observed by Naturalists to be a hot and fiery winde Ardore Hence the Vulgar translates Thou fillest thy belly with heate The East winde parcheth and blasteth Corne and Fruits Pharoah beheld in his Dreame seven eares withered Sub calidi aestuantis aeris similitudine sermones ejus exspaeratos excandescentia plenos describit thin and blasted with the East wind Gen. 41.23 So then under this notion of the East winde Eliphaz closely censures Job First that his thoughts were violent and impetuous Secondly that they were angry fiery furious as if coales were kindled in his bosome and a flame ready to blaze at his lips As if like Paul while Saul Acts 9.1 he breathed out threatnings and slaughter or was inwardly heated with resolutions of revenge The Prophet Jeremie saith The Word of God was as a fire in his bosome and he could not refraine Jobo attribuit vanitatem in sententia tempestatem in affectu imbecillitatem in argumento superfluitatem in verbis Coc. Many a mans breast is like a heated Oven he is ready to consume all with the breath of it But why doth Eliphaz charge Job with such unruly perturbations Some assigne the reason from those words Chap. 14. v. 14. where he desires that God would even hide him in the grave he was so vext and troubled at the state wherein he lived that he preferred death before it and thought a not being in the World better then a being in his condition But we may rather leave the reason more at large to all that vehemency of spirit with which Job had prosecuted and pleaded his sorrowfull case From the scope of Eliphaz in this part of his reproofe we may observe First That violent passions are the disguise of a wise man We cannot see who he is while he acts unlike himselfe anger lodgeth in the bosome of fooles and when it doth but intrude into the bosome of a wise man he for the time looks like a foole Secondly Passions in the minde are like a tempest in the ayre they disturbe others much but our selves more Many a man like a Ship at Sea hath been overset and sunke with the violent gusts and whirle-whinds of his owne Spirit Observe thirdly He that fills his owne minde with passionate thoughts will soone fill the eares of others with unprofitable words this is cleare from that which goeth before He utters vaine knowledge and it is clearer from that which followes after when a mans thoughts are like a winde his words which are the first borne of his thoughts must needs be windy A passionate man speakes all in passion and sometimes cannot speake at all for passion his extreame desire to say much stops him from saying any thing But whatsoever he saith is the copy of his present selfe fierce and boysterous The image and superscription of our hearts is stamped upon our words Some can speake better then they are but usually men speak according to what they are and then especially when they are which passionate men alwayes are not themselves Thus it followes in the next Verse Vers 3. Should he reason with unprofitable talke Eliphaz speakes all Interrogatories and these speak him in anger if not in some distemper Should he doe this and should he doe that doe shew that either another hath very much done what he should not or that he who reproves him hath not such a spirit of meeknesse as a reprover should Gal. 6.1 The words shew the effect of what he taxed him with before as if he had sayd Cum interrogatione stomacho legenda sunt haec Merc. Would you know what to expect from a passionate man from a man whose belly is filled with the East-wind You shall have him shortly filling your eares with an East wind even reasoning with unprofitable words And as the next clause gives it which is onely an exposition of this with speeches wherewith he can doe no good Some words are great doers they doe much hurt or they doe much good and those words usually doe some hurt which can do no good yea that which is weake and unable to doe good may be strong and powerfull to doe evill However not to doe good is to doe evill because it is every mans duty whatsoever he doth to be doing good Here Eliphaz reproves Jobs words as evill while he onely saith they doe no good And yet he saith somewhat more then that for he saith They can doe no good It is ill not to doe good actually but not to have a possibility of doing good is farre worse When the Apostle would say his worst of the best of mans sinfull flesh he doth not onely say It is not subject to the Law of God but adds Neither indeed can be Rom. 8.7 So here Words wherewith a man can doe no good how bad are they Hence observe First That which can doe no good should not be spoken Before we speake a word we should aske this question to what purpose Cui bono to what profit is it shall he that heares it be made more knowing or more holy by it Observe secondly Vnprofitable talke is sinfull and speeches which doe no good are evill Every idle word that men shall speake they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgement Matth. 12.37 and though a man be very busie and take much paines in speaking yet if his words be unprofitable and his speeches such as can doe no good they will come under
to come while he saith My dayes are past My purposes are broken off 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cogitavit plerumque in malum ali quando in bonum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cujus singularis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod antiquitus legebant Zemma ferre scelus denotat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 autem quod ab eodem themate vocabulum est medium Drus Rupti sunt articuli cordis mei Sept. Convulsae sunt compages corporis mei Aug. The word which we translate Purposes signifies most usually an evill purpose or wicked designements yet it is used also as among the Rabbins so by the Penmen of Scripture in a good sense for a warrantable yea for a holy purpose In the Booke of Proverbs Chap. 1.4 Chap. 2.11 it is translated Discretion or Advisement proceeding from the teachings of wisedome which stirrs up gracious purposes in the soule towards God and every good My purposes are broken off The Septuagint render My heart strings are broken The heart-strings by a metaphor may be taken for purposes because purposes are as Bands or strings upon the heart and therefore when purposes are broken we may say the bands or strings of the heart are broken Another reads The bindings or fastnings of my body are loosned or torne asunder which translation as also the former taken literally notes onely his neernesse to death for when a man dyeth we say his heart-strings breake and his whole body is in a fit of convulsion My purposes are broken The word signifies a violent forcible breaking as if a Giant had broken them But what was it which broke his purposes The violence and continuance of his afflictions was this Breaker or his purposes were broken by the confused motions and troublesome representations of his owne fansie to which sick men are very subject Againe what were those purposes of his which were broken If they were evill purposes he had reason to rejoyce not to complaine if they were good purposes was it not his sin as well as his affliction that they were broken off I answer to that Purposes may be good and yet broken without the sin of the purposer if himselfe be not the cause of that breach and the impediment of their performance If our holiest purposes are broken off by the inevitable providence of God the holinesse of man receives no blemish by it The purposes of Job were good doubtlesse eyther spiritually good or civilly good and they may be taken eyther for those purposes of doing good which hee had before hee fell into trouble or for those which hee had layd up in his brest to doe when he should be againe restored and delivered out of trouble As if he had sayd I once had an expectation of life and I purposed with my selfe what to doe with or in my new life but now those purposes are all broken off for I see my life is ready to be broken off The next clause seemes to explaine this and in that wee shall see more fully what he meanes by these purposes Even the thoughts of my heart Every thought of the heart is not a purpose yet every purpose is a thought of the heart our thoughts are made up into purposes eyther what to doe or not to doe Hence it is usuall to say I thought to have done such or such a thing that is I purposed to doe it Therefore Job might well say My purposes are broken off even the thoughts of my heart because purposes are nothing else but a frame or pack of thougts there is an elegancie in that word which we translate Thoughts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Possessiones cordis a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cogitationes meae avulsae sunt quas possidere solebat animus meus Jun. The Hebrew is The possessions of my heart so we put it in the Margin of our Bibles A learned Translator renders it thus The thoughts which my minde was wont to possesse are puld or snatcht away he meanes it not of all his thoughts as if his power of thinking had been lost but of those speciall thoughts which he had or hopes which he nourished about his restoring to happy dayes these once possessed his heart but they were gone Thoughts are called the possessions of the heart two wayes Dicuntur cogitationes possideri a corde quid enim magis proprium aut innatum cordi quam suae ipsius cogitationes Drus Coc. First In a passive sense Secondly In an active sense Passively Because they are possessed by the heart the heart doth enclose and hold our thoughts The hear◠is the naturally proper vessell or receptacle of thoughts therefore they are called the possessions of the heart The heart is the soyle and seat of thoughts there they are planted and there they dwell Actively For as thoughts are possessed by the heart so thoughts possesse the heart thoughts are full of activity they trouble and they comfort the heart looke what our thoughts are such is the state of our hearts if our thoughts be quiet our hearts are quiet if our thoughts be unquiet our hearts are unquiet if our thoughts be joyful our hearts rejoice if our thoughts be sad our hearts are sorrowfull 'T is sayd in the Gospel L. 24.38 Why are ye troubled why do thoughts rise in your hearts that is Why doe troublesome and disconsolate thoughts rise in your hearts 'T is as natural for thoughts to rise in the heart as it is for water to rise in a spring therefore Christ did not chide them because thoughts but because such thoughts did rise in their hearts We cannot hinder our hearts from thinking no more then wee can hinder the fire from burning or water from wetting but 't is our duty to hinder our hearts from undue or discourageing thoughts and to check them for thinking so Thoughts rule the heart and put it into severall frames and formes according to their owne likenesse and therefore it is both our wisedome and our holinesse to put and keepe our thoughts in the best likenesse The heart in a figurative sense is nothing else but the frame of our thoughts and our thoughts in a proper sense are nothing else but the possessions of the heart Tabulae cordis Chald. Further The Chaldee Paraphrase saith The Tables of my heart are broken so it is an allusion to writing The Law was written at first in Tables of Stone and now a heart of flesh not a fleshly heart is the Tables of the Law our hearts are Tables both for our owne writing and for Gods Job had written many purposes upon those tables therefore he might well say as in this case My purposes or all that was written upon the Tables of my heart are broken In my thoughts I had written and set downe many particulars which I purposed to have done Scriptura cordis nunc litura est Pined but now those lines are crossed or quite blotted out God writes many of his owne thoughts in