dares come within his lips or jaws which look like a double bridle Surely no man dares make such an adventure seeing his jaws are so vast or wide and terrible that it may even strike a man of courage with terror or into a fit of trembling to look into them Secondly Others because the jaws are spoken of afterwards understand this double bridle of any thing which man may attempt to put into his jaws to subdue him with as if it had been said who can coerce or bridle him though he have never so strong a bridle though he have a double bridle The word rendred bridle properly signifies the reine of a bridle Fraena nominantur eae partes quae utrinque ad maxillat desinunt Quis cum fraeno duplicato audeat accedere ad eum ut ejus rictui inserat sicut fit equo Sed malo parabolicè intelligere pro labiis Merc. There are two words by which a bridle is expressed the one signifying the bit which is put into the mouth of a horse the other the nead-stall and reins which a horseman holdeth in his hands Here we may take it for the whole bridle and that the strongest bridle as we render a double bridle As if it had been said who dares come neer Leviathan as we commonly do to a horse to put a bridle into his mouth who will undertake to halter or bridle him with all his skill and strength Thus the Relative His doth not respect Leviathan but the man who comes to bridle him And this is most probable because if by the double bridle we understand the jaws of Leviathan this would be the same with what is spoken plainly in the next words Vers 14. Who can open the doors of his face The Lord compareth the gaping jaws of Leviathan to doors to which also the lips are compared in Scripture Psal 141.3 Keep the door of my lips As by a Metaphor our lips are called doors so Leviathans jaws bear the similitude of a two-leav'd door which who can open This seems to carry on the allusion to a horse whose mouth must be opened before he can be bridled Who can force Leviathan to gape that he may put a bridle into his mouth That which is said of him in the latter part of the verse may make any one afraid to do so for His teeth are terrible round about or terrour is round about his teeth His teeth are not to be meddled with they are so terrible As the holy Prophet said to Pashur that false Prophet Thy name shall be called Magor Missabib terrour round about Jer. 20.2 So the teeth of the Leviathan are terrour round about Per gyrum deutium ejus formido Hieron If any one come near him he will see reason enough to be afraid His teeth are terrible Dread dwells round about his teeth and why so why are his teeth so terrible Surely because they are so hurtful he being able to tear any man to pieces with or to break a mans bones with his teeth Hence note That is terrible to us which we perceive hurtful to us The teeth of Leviathan are terrible round about because he can soon crush those that come near him with his teeth Now if that be terrible which we see can hurt us let us remember how terrible the unseen God is His teeth as I may say are terrible round about The Apostle tells us so while he saith 2 Cor. 5.11 Knowing the terrour of the Lord that is knowing how terrible the Lord is we perswade men God loves to save but he can destroy us sooner than Leviathan can crush us were we between his teeth The consideration of the terribleness that is in any creature should lead us to consider how terrible the Lord is to those who provoke him Are the teeth of a Leviathan or the teeth and paws of a Lion teâ—rible is the sting of a Serpent or the poison of Aspes terrible how terrible then is the wrath of God! As what is sweet and comfortable to us in the creature should lead us to consider how surpassing sweet and comfortable God is so that which is dreadful and terrible in the creature should lead us to consider how dreadful and terrible God is And as it is good for us often to say unto our selves O how good is God! so to say O how terrible is God! Yea David would have us say so unto God Psal 66.3 Say unto God that is acknowledge with admiration how terrible art thou in thy works And ver 5. Come and see the works of God he is terrible in his doings toward the children of men Yea God is terrible to his own people Psal 68.35 O God! thou art terrible out of thy holy places that is out of the Church and Church assemblies the Lord many times declares himself very terribly in those sacred assemblies How terrible was God in his Church when he devoured Nadab and Abihu with fire for offering strange fire before him which he commanded not Levit. 10.1 2. How terrible was the Lord out of his Church when he struck Ananias and Saphira dead Acts 5.5 10. how terrible was the Lord out of his holy place the Church to the Corinthians concerning whom the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 11.30 For this cause that is their unworthy partaking of the Lords Supper many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep God deals terribly with those who are not regardful of him who prepare not themselves with due and reverential respect to his holiness for holy duties He is a jealous God and he will not hold them guiltless that is he will hold them very guilty or deal with them as with guilty persons who take his Name in vain Exod. 20.7 When the Law was given so terrible was the sight that Moses said I exceedingly fear and quake Heb. 12.21 The Lord appeared thus terrible at the giving of the Law to shew how terrible he will be to sinners who transgress the Law and repent not of nor turn from their sins and transgressions yea the Lord for their trial shews himself very terrible to good men to broken-hearted and repenting sinners Heman had long and sad experience of this Psal 88.15 I am afflicted and ready to dye from my youth up while I suffer thy terrours I am distracted And for this Job made that grievous complaint Chap. 6.4 The arrows of the Almighty are within me the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit the terrours of God do set themselves in array against me Now if the Lord make such a terrible war upon Saints if he terrifie them even till he hath distracted them how will he draw up his terrours as an army or his army of terrours in battle array against the wicked and ungodly How often doth the Lord express himself by terrible things against such As he sometimes destroyeth sinners secretly or without any appearare of terrour Hosea 5.12 I will be unto Ephraim as a moth So often openly
it goeth to the West and so when it comes from the North and goes to the South but we know not whence it comes and whither it goes as to the way of it we know not how it comes to passe or is brought about That 's done by the sole command of the Lord who hath the whole Creation at his beck and whose word every creature obeys moving and going where and when he himself gives order It is the Lord who by the light or by what means seems good unto him scattereth the East-wind or any other wind upon the Earth The next Question concerns the waters Vers 25. Who hath divided a Water-course for the over-flowing of waters The former Question was about the parting of the Light here we have a Question about the Division of the Waters Who hath divided c. The Hebrew Word for a River comes from this Root and so also doth the Latine Word Pelagus Quis dedit imbri vehementissimo cursum Vulg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rivus Pelagus nomen habet quod ex illo dividantur deriventur flumino which signifieth the Sea out of which Rivers are derived and divided into the Land From this word also the Elder or First-born Son of Eber was called Peleg Gen. 10.25 and the Text gives us the reason why he was so called For saith Moses in his days the Earth was divided that is it was distinguished into several Coasts and Countries and by several Names which before lay all as it were in one Common There have been too many hurtful divisions in the Earth that is of men on Earth ever since in another sense and are at this day It is sad to see the spirits opinions and practices of men so much divided but it was and is useful to have both the soil of the Earth and the body of the Water divided Here we have the division of the Waters Who hath divided a Water-course for the over-flowing of waters There is a two-fold division of water We read of the former in the description of the Creation Gen. 1.7 where the Lord divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters that were above the firmament and it was so The division here intended is of the waters above theâ—e the Lord makes a division of the waters and gives them their courses The word rendred Water-courses signifies to ascend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ductus aquae or to be on high because the course of the water is from above or from on high Water moves alwayes from a higher place Water naturally floweth downward 't is a heavy body and cannot ascend naturally therefore the course of the water is from above Quis nisi ego cursum dat aquis è coelo defluentibus veluti percanales ab hominibus manu-factos Homines suos Aquae-ductus per terram efficiunt sed deus per aerem nubem distribuit Merc. Inundationem aquarum non terrestrium sed c. Merc. As men make Aqueducts Water-courses or Conveyances for water by artificial pipes of Lead or Wood as we see in this City or by Channels cut in the Earth so the Lord hath his Water-courses above he hath his Pipes his Channels in the Clouds Who hath divided a Water-course For the over-flowing of waters The Word signifies a great inundation or a pouring forth of water a Chataract Moses describing the Deluge saith Gen. 7.11 The windows of heaven were opened And when at any time it rains it may be said the Lord in some degree opens the windows of heaven We are not to understand as was toucht before this over-flowing of water of the waters flowing upon the Earth but of the waters flowing from Heaven down upon the Earth for the Lord speaks not of Floods on Earth to destroy but of plentiful and seasonable rain to nourish the fruits of the Earth as is clear from the 27th verse Now saith the Lord Who hath divided a Water-course for these waters that they might not come down as I may say in a Full-sea but as by or in pipes and channels to refresh the Earth The Lord hath his Water-works in Heaven as men have theirs on Earth This elegant Metaphor shadows out that certain Rule or Law of Nature which the Lord hath given those waters above when they are commanded to slow down for the use and service of Man and Beast here below The Lord enquires of Job for the Author of these upper Water-works Who hath divided a Water-course for the over-flowing of Waters Hence Note God makes a division of his stores and treasures of water in the clouds as himself pleaseth or the course of the water is directed by God where to fall and when As God hath divided the Earth to the Sons of men Acts 17.26 as he hath determined their times and the bounds of their habitation so he hath also divided the waters for the Earth the waters that are above and he proportions them according to his own will Amos 4.7 I caused it to rain upon one City and I caused it not to rain upon another God is so good that usually he causeth his rain to fall upon the jâ—st and upon the unjust Matth. 5.44 But he can cause the rain to fall distinguishingly and not promiscuously It was the saying of a Heathen in his fourth Book concerning the bestowing of benefits chap. 28. The gods give many benefits to unthankful persons Dii multa ingratis tribuunt sed illa bonis paraverant contingunt autem etiam malis quia separari non possunt Nec poterat lex casuris imbribus dici ne in malorum improborumque râ—ra defluerent Sen. de â—enef l. 4. c. 28. they provided them for the good but they fall to the share â—f the bad because it is impossible to divide them And instancing in rain he saith No law can be given to the falling showers or to the showers when they fall that they distill not upon the lands of wicked men Thus what that Scâ—ipture in Matthew saith God doth out of choice to shew his goodness that this Heathen said their Gods did but of necessity because they could do no otherwise If they sent rain upon the just the unjust must have it too he thought there was no avoiding of that but this Text in Job and many more up and down the Scripture teach us that God can put a law upon the showers of rain he hath his Water-courses and câ—n direct the rain to what place and persons he will he can command it to fall by his law when and where and upon whom he appoints God retains his sâ—veraignty for a distinct distribution of the wateâ—s though to declare his bounty and mercy he usually makes no difference but distributes it alike to all The Lord is so good that he feeds his enemies and nourisheth a world of wicked ones or the wicked world every day yet he retains his Empire over the clouds still and he divides a Water-course
canst thou guid them as a Father guids his Family his Wife Children and Servants canst thou direct them their course how or which way to go Some think he useth the word guid because this constellation represents the form of a Wain or Wagon and is by us commonly called Charles-wain or the greater Bear Canst thou guid Arcturus That 's another Constellation seated in the Northern Pole notably conspicuous to us in a clear night 'T is the Sea-mans mark or guid The Lord who guids that Star hath made it a guid to the Sea-man in the night by looking to that he knows how to make his course Canst thou guid Arcturus With his Sons Some read Arcturus and her Daughters Master Broughton and her Children We render in the Masculine Gender and his Sons There is one principal Star and several other Stars that stand as Children about their Father or Mother and therefore the Lord expresseth them by that familiar Allusion Arcturus and his Sons canst thou guid them Hence Note First The Stars have a Guid a Governour The Stars move as directed God himself is the guid of the Stars not Man As a Shepheard guids his flock in the fields so the Lord guids the Stars in that spacious field of the heavens yea he names and numbers them as a Shepheard doth his flock Psal 147. He telleth the number of the Stars and call's them all by their names The Prophet exhorting the people to lift up their eyes on high that is to the heavens presently adds and behold who hath created these things Isa 40.26 that is the heavens and the fuâ—niture of them he bringeth out their host by number that is the host of the Stars As an Army is enrolled and numbered how many thousands they are so doth the Lord bring forth that host by number and calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might for that he is strong in power not one faileth There 's not one of the host of heaven not one of the Stars that faileth but comes forth at Gods call and appears as it were in rank and file when and where the Lord gives command Thus the Prophet speaks of the Stars as Gods host and of the Lord as a Commander or General of an army knowing their number nature place and office mustering and marshalling them oâ—dering them out upon service as he pleaseth And whereas in the best disciplin'd armies of men many fail when drawn out to service some for fear others through unfaithfulness not a few through weakness and sickness here 's neither weak nor sick neither an unfaithful nor a fearful one in this host not one faileth Nor doâ—h the Lords memory fail for he calls them all by their names which shews the perfect remembrance and exact knowledge which the Lord hath of them all It is reported as a wonder Plin. lib. 7. c. 24. Valerius Maximus lib. 3. c. 7. of Cyrus King of Persia that he having a vast Army yet knew them by face and was able to call every man by his name What then shall we say of this wonder The Lord who guideth Arcturus and his Sons who leads out this innumerable Army of the Stars knows every one of them by name and sends them forth by name upon what enterprise or service he pleaseth The Lord having questioned Job about those four eminent and well known Constellations Pleiades in the Spring Orion in the Winter Mazzaroth in the Summer and Arcturus with his Sons in the Autumn to convince him that as he was not able nor any man else to alter the natural motions or courses of the Stars so that neither he nor any man else was able to alter the course of his providence The Lord I say having done questioning Job about these four notable Constellations of heaven in special proceeds to interrogate him more generally about the whole heavens in the next Verse Vers 33. Knowest thou the Ordinances of heaven canst thou set the Dominions thereof in the earth Surely as thou knowest not the special laws by which I govern the Pleiades Orion Mazzaroth and Arcturus so not the general laws by which the heavens are governed Knowest thou the Ordinances of heaven The word here rendred Ordinances is often rendred in the Psalms statutes laws decrees knowest thou the laws or statutes of heaven The word rendred heaven is of the dual number as Grammarians speake because in what part soever of the earth any man stands the heaven is cut in two parts as to him by the Horizon whereof one part is over him and the other under him As there is a heaven above us so a heaven below us though wheresoever any man is on earth heaven is above him Knowest thou The Ordinances of heaven Now the Ordinances of heaven may be of two sorts First Those which God hath given to the heavens The heavenly bodies move according to his constitutions who made heaven and earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly Those which the heavens give to the earth or to man on earth The heavens may be said to impose their laws upon the earth men being guided and directed by the changes and motions of the heavens how to order many of their motions and actions on the earth those especially which concern the earth The heavens give these common laws as I may say to men concerning the earth First When to Till the earth Secondly When to cast their Seed into the earth Thirdly When to reap and gather the fruit of the earth When to perform any part of Husbandry to the earth is known only by the heavens that is the heavens by their motions and vicissitudes shew men the seasons of doing these and these works on earth And if men obey not these laws of heaven nor observe their seasons they loose all their labour and cost bestowed on the earth Again when he saith knowest thou the Ordinances of heaven the meaning may be this Are the heavenly bodies disposed or impowered by thy wisdome hast thou given them vertue to work upon inferiour bodies I hast thou made the statutes by which they are governed or by which they govern That 's the Lords Prerogative Hence note First The heavens are under a law they have their statutes They are under a law in a three-fold Respect 1. In respect of their motion how and whither they shall move 2ly They are under a law as to their influences where and on whom they shall drop them down 3ly Which necessarily follows the former They are under a law as to their effects and operations upon the Creatures whether for good or for evil The heavens can neither hurt nor help us but according to higher order This threefold law may be understood in that one Scripture Jer. 31.35 Thus saith the Lord which giveth the Sun for a light by day and the ordinances of the Moon and of the Stars for a light by night Note Secondly What all the Laws and Ordinances of heaven
by a curse from God Thus he turns a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of those that dwell therein Psal 107.34 Now as some lands are made barren besides the general curse which befel all lands upon the fall of man into sin by some special curse for special causes so 't is meerly an act of Divine Soveraignty that some lands as to their very soil and constitution are barren while others are fruitful Fourthly Consider where do these Asses dwell 't is in a barren land Hence note They that do little work deserve but little reward a barren land may serve them who refuse service As every land the best land is barren and unprofitable to them who will not take pains to improve it so 't is pity they should dwell in a fruitful land who will not take pains in it Fifthly Note There it no place so bad or barren but it hath its use God hath use for barren wildernesses as well as for the richest pastures Sixthly The wilde Ass living according to nature is satisfied with a barren Land Hence note Nature is content with a little They have alwayes enough who desire no more A cottage is as good as a Palace and a barren Land as good as a fruitful one to a contented mind Yet I cannot approve either their principle or practice who have a kind of ambition possibly they call it self-denial and reckon it a high piece of their Religion to dwell as the wilde Ass in the wilderness such are those popish votaries called Hermites from the wilderness where they dwell These in devotion such as it is make the wilderness their house and the barren Land their dwelling that they may be free from the cares and temptations of this world these retire themselves utterly from converse with man that they may more freely converse with God an excellent end but that way to it is no where commanded by God Let such remember that God hath not appointed the wilderness and desert places for mans dwelling but for the dwelling of wilde beasts Qâ—id prâ—dest solitudo corporis si defuerit solitudo cordis Greg. lib. 30. cap. 23. Let them also remember that they who have the wilderness for their house may yet have the City in their hearts It was said by one of the Ancients concerning such retirements What doth it advantage us to have a solitary place for our bodies whilst our souls are in the thickest throâ—gs of the world There are only two cases wherein men should desire such solitary places First In case of persecution to get out of the hands and reach of cruel men Thus David desired the wilderness Psal 55.3 4 5 6. Because of the voice of the enemy because of the oppression of the wicked for they cast iniquity upon me and in wrath they hate me my heart is sore pained within me and the terrors of death are fallen upon me c. And what followeth O that I had wings like a dove for then would I flie away and be at rest Lo then would I wander afar off and remain in the wilderness It is better to be in the wilderness among savage beasts than to live among beastly savage men The Apostle Heb. 11.38 tells us the reason why many worthy ones of the Jewish Church of whom the world was not worthy inhabited the wilderness They were stoned and sawn asunder and were slain with the sword c. And what then then they who remained alive to avoid those extremities avoided the society of men and wandred in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth In such a hot day we may chuse the shadow of a desolate wilderneâ—s rather than a City to dwell in And thus it is said Rev. 12.13 14. When the Dragon that is Heathenish Rome persecuted the woman that is the Church which brought forth the man-child then to the woman were given two wings of a great Eagle that is sufficient means strength and opportunity to make her escape that she might flee into the wilderness which as it hath been often verified in a metaphorical sense Professors then lying close and retired in their several places so it hath been true in the letter the Church hath sled into the wilderness for safety and hath there been preserved from the face of the Serpent Secondly We may desire such retirements to and a dwelling in solitary places in case of the extream wickedness of those among whom we dwell though they break not out into open persecution yet their evil conversation makes their society in t llerable This caused the Prophet Jeremiah to cry out Chap. 9.2 O that I had a place in the wilderness that I might leave my people and go from them why for they be all adulterers an assembly of treacherous men For as it is better to dwell in the corner of the house top than with a brawling woman in a wilde house Prov. 21.9 so it is better to get into a corner or into a wilderness than to live in a City or in the fairest Palaces among men of wicked and ungodly spirits such as vexed Lot in Sodom 2 Pet. 2.8 In these two cases we may imitate the wilde Ass and dwell in the wilderness but for any to make it their choice let them consider where they have a rule for it Man is a sociable creature and ought to be helpful and useful to others and not wholly to confine himself to himself as they do who are and are called Anchorets and Hermites To serve our Country and to observe the Law of Nations for the common good of mankind is better than upon any pretence of devotion or converse with God to seclude our selves totally from the company and converse of men And seeing God hath made us for the good of humane society it is inhumane voluntarily and electively to disjoyn and exempt our selves from the Laws of society Aristotle said concerning decliners of society He that affects solitude Deus sit aut bellua oportet qui posset in solitudine vivere Aristot is either a God or a beast hâ— either lives above man as God doth or below man as beasts do The Reader will easily pardon me this short diversion against unnecessitated solitude thus occasioned by the solitary dwelling of the wilde Ass in the wilderness and barren Land And I have the rather touch it because I find the wits of some running somewhat wild in the Allegory of the wild Ass in the Text as if he were a very fitting resemblance of a contemplative man I grant a godly man should be and the more godly any man is the more he will be I am sure the more he would or desires to be free from the thoughts and loosed from the bands both of love to and cares about the things of this life that he may be the more in the meditation of and preparation for a better life In those meditations he retires from the throng of
two-fold demanding First as a Disputant Secondly as a Supplicant Job would now demand as a Supplicant unto God M◠interrogantem doce benignè qui me tuae disciplinae planè submitto Merc. not as a Disputant with God We may be said to demand or enquire of God when we consult his word not humane reason It an innocent person as Job be afflicted where shall he enquire the reason of it if he only respect his affliction and compare that with his own innocency he will quickly murmure at and complain of the dealings of God with him But if he look to the Word of God which tells him that God is a Soveraign Lord and that God hath promised not only to be with his in trouble but that their troubles shall work their comforts he will not only be patient under but glory in his tribulations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interrogobo tc sc petendo orando pulsando Aquin. The Hebrew word which we translate demand may well be rendred petition or crave The common sense of the word demand seems too high for Jobs spirit and condition Master Broughton renders I will make petition unto thee or an humble suit unto thee as if he had said I will pray for and beg this favour of thee that thou wouldst teach and inform me better It is not an authoritative demand Qui regat nescit Interrogare sapientem dimidia sapientia est Apotheg Arab. which is a kind of command but a submissive demand this demanding is the asking of a question not the requiring of a right He that asks a question implyeth that he stands in need of information and that he is desirous to learn And to put questions to a wise man is half wisdom I will demand or put questions unto thee Declare thou unto me The Hebrew is make me to know make me a knowing man As if Job had said Lord if thou wilt teach me I shall soon get knowledg and understanding and therefore I resign my self wholly to thy teachings The true submission of mans will to Gods will is to hearken to the counsel or wisdom of God and not to sit down in our own But as it was questioned at the first verse how Job could answer seeing he had said I will answer no more so here it may be questioned why the Lord spake no more to Job seeing here he desired to receive further instruction from him I answer First Job made this suit to God upon this condition that God would please to enform him if he saw need or should think fit to do it Secondly Job spake this doctrinally to shew what he and others ought to desire submit to even the teachings of God Thirdly I answer that the Lord seeing his submission saw there was no need of speaking any further to him but broke up the whole disputation determining for Job and giving him the day against his three friends as will appear further in the sequel of the Chapter From this verse Observe First The sence of our wants puts us upon prayer When Job was sensible that he wanted understanding and knowledge he came to God for it Give me to understand cause me to know True and fervent prayer floweth from a sence of our wants If we see not our selves in need why should we pray And when really we shall have no need as in heaven there will be no need of prayer all will be praise and all shall be in everlasting praises Secondly The person to whom Job maketh his application for teaching being God himself Note We know nothing of God nor of our selves aright till God teacheth us till he declareth and maketh it known to us Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the father of lights c. Jam. 1.17 As no man can either make or redeem himself so no man can teach or instruct himself What we know of God we know from God 'T is in his light that we see light The light may shine round about us and we see it not unless God enlighten us as well as send us the light we are never the better As in conversion the Lord first opens the eyes and then turns from darkness to light Acts 26.18 So under every dispensation we are in the dark till God opens our eyes and give us by his own immediate or mediate teachings light about it Thirdly note If we desire God should teach us or if we would be taught of God we must ask it of him We find the godly often putting up this request to God David was much in this petition Psal 119.33 34. Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I shall keep it unto the end Give me understanding and I shall keep thy law He did not only desire God that he would teach him but give him a faculty to receive his teachings vers 35. Make me to go in the path of thy commandement See how the Psalmist joyneth these petitions together First Teach me the way of thy statutes Secondly Give me understanding as if he had said else thy teachings will do no good Thirdly Make me to go in the path of thy commandement as if he had said though I understand thy statutes yet unless thou help me I shall not be able to walk in them no nor to take one right step in them therefore Make me to go in the path of thy commandement Again Psal 143.10 Teach me to do thy will for thou art my God thy spirit is good lead me into the land of uprightness As the Lord teacheth us our way and hath promised to teach us always in all things needful for us to know and do so he hath taught us by the written practise of many as well as by his written precept that we must pray for his teaching Fourthly Job was humbling himself and now he begs of God that he would teach him Hence note Humble souls desire and give up themselves wholly to be taught by God They hang upon his mouth for instruction and renounce their own wisdom Eliphaz gave Job that advice Chap. 22.22 Acquaint thy self now with him and be at peace and good shall come unto thee Receive I pray thee thee law from his mouth and lay up his words in thy heart Fifthly In that Job prays for teaching in this form according to the Hebrew make me to know Observe The teachings of God are effectual they make us know Men may teach others knowledge but they cannot make them know God can make a very dullard quick of understanding Men may instruct the understanding but they cannot give understanding God doth both The teachings of God are effectual to all purposes First to enlighten the ignorant Secondly to convince gain-sayers Thirdly to convert sinners Fourthly to comfort those that are sorrowful Fifthly to resolve such as are doubtful Sixthly to encourage the fearful And Seventhly to raise up and recover those that are fallen Thus Job is become a
Ezek. 6.9 They shall loath themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations And when the Lord had promised to bring the children of Israel to their own land he tells them what work they shall be at there Ezek. 20.43 There shall you remember your ways and doings wherein you have been defiled and ye shall loath your selves in your own sight for all the evils that ye have committed Once more in that Prophet chap. 36.31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations In all these Scriptures we have loathing of self for sin and evil done And as there is a loathing of sinful self in true repentance so Secondly Of righteous self or a loathing of our selves in the good in the best that we have done We may soon see that in the best of our duties which will stir up this self-abhorrence or which gives us cause enough to abhor our selves So Job did as to all the glitter of his moral vertues of which he spake so much before in several places especially in the 31. chapter He that truly repents doth not only abhor his sin so as never to commit it again but he abhorreth his righteousness so as never to trust in it at all Thus the Apostle spake Phil. 3.7 8. I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ What did he account loss not only the evil that he had done but all the good that he had done he accounted that but dung that he might be found in Christ not having his own righteousness which is of the law Self-righteousness is gold and to be embraced in conversation but 't is dung and to be abhorred in justification Job abhorred his own righteousness from the beginning of this dispute in that point though he spake so much of it chap. 9.31 If I wash my self with snow water and make my hands never so clean yet shalt thou plung me in the ditch and mine own cloaths shall abhor me or as in the Margin my own cloaths shall make me to be abhorred What means he by his cloaths Surely not the cloaths that were upon his body but his moral cloathing his own works of righteousness according to the law These cloaths saith he will make me to be abhorred I see I cannot be accepted in them nor justified by them Job was clear in that before but now he doth not only abhor his own righteousness as to trusting in it but as to talking so much of it or so much as to talk of it Christ saith Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth that is take not much notice of thy own good deeds As a repenting person will not touch at all with his former evil deeds so he will not talk nor take much notice of his own good deeds The best of himself is little to himself Before I pass this point it may be enquired First what this self-abhorrence which accompanies true repentance works in those that have it with respect to sin or sinful self I answer It works these five things First A dislike of sinful self he grows into a distast with sin it relisheth not his renewed palate and so will not like unsavoury meat go down with him Secondly A hatred of sinful self 'T is but an easie step from distast and dislike to hatred That soon falls under our displeasure which pleaseth us not No sooner did Amnon dislike his sister Tamar whom he inordinately liked a little before but the Text saith 2 Sam. 13.15 He hated her exceedingly so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her Thirdly An indignation against sinful self The spirit of a true penitent riseth against sin as against an open enemy or a false friend 2 Cor. 7.11 Fourthly An utter aversation or alienation from sinfull self As they who live in sin are averse and alienated from the life of God that is from holiness so they who repent of sin are alienated and turned away from the sins of their former life Fifthly and lastly An opposition against sin There is not barely a turning away from it but a war against it a desire to destroy and mortifie it to do it as I may say the greatest mischief we can Thus dislike is followed with hatred and hatred with indignation and indignation with aversation and aversation with opposition wrought and rising up in a penitent soul against sin But Secondly it may be asked why doth a repenting soul abhor sinful self I answer He doth it upon these four considerations First Because it appears to him as a filthy thing Ezek. 16.5 Psal 38.7 Prov. 12.22 All which Scriptures shew that as sin is a filthy thing in it self so it appeareth such to a repenting soul They that love their sins look upon them as fine things or as their beauty but to a repenting soul nothing appeareth more dirty and filthy and who abhors not that which is so to him Secondly A repenting soul looketh upon sin as a hurtful thing to him We naturally turn from and abhor that which is so We abhor the poyson of a Toad and the sting of a Serpent To taste the one or to be bitten by the other is no more deadly to the body than sin is to the soul Thirdly A repenting soul is sick very sick of his sins they have burdened his conscience as unwholsom food doth the stomack Now if a man abhors that which hath made him stomack-sick much more will he abhor that which hath indeed and not so much from the quantity as from the quality and nature of it made him conscience-sick Fourthly A repenting person hath vomited or cast up his sins by an humble confession of them alwayes to God and in some cases to men Repentance is the souls vomit Now as any man loaths his own vomit so a man truly repenting loaths the sin which he hath thus vomited Upon all these accounts a repenting soul loaths sinful self or sin in himself Thirdly But why doth a repenting soul abhor righteous self I answer First Because he is convinced that self-righteousness is a weak imperfect thing even in sanctification and therefore he is so far from boasting of it or trusting in it that he hath a kind of abhorrence of it Secondly He seeth that as to justification it is a filthy abominable thing Isa 64.6 All our righteousness are as filthy rags And as he abhors it because 't is unfit and incompetent in it self for that use so because 't is utterly inconsistent with the tenour of the Gospel wherein God hath removed all mans righteousness how pure soever it may be from that use and directed us to look only to the righteousness of Christ for that use which the Apostle calls the righteousness of God Rom. 10.3 and that in a twofold