on earth praying for those that live on earth Job was alive in the body and so were those three men to whom the Lord said My servant Job shall pray for you The Lord having assured Eliphaz and his two friends that Job would pray for them giveth them encouâagement to go and desiâe his prayers by a gracious promise For saith he him will I accept and threatneth them in case they should forbear in the next words Lest I deal with you according to your folly in that ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right like my servant Job First Of the gracious promise him will I accept The Hebrew saith his face will I lift up Acceptation with God is the lifting up of the face of man then man lifteth up his face with boldness when he is accepted with God When God refused to accept Cain and his offering his countenaâce fell or was cast down Gen. 4.5 Unless the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon us as David prayed Psal 4.6 we cannot with any comfort much less with true confidence lift up our face or countenance unto God That 's the significancy of the word Him will I accept God is no accepter of persons as the word is often used in Scripture Deut. 10.17 The Lord is a great God mighty and terrible which regardeth not persons It is the same phrase in the Hebrew with this in the Text he lifteth not up faces that is the Lord doth not accept persons upon any outward respect First The Lord doth not accept persons for their personableness as I may say the Lord doth not delight in any mans legs his delight is in them that fear him Psal 147.10 11. he doth not accept men for their goodly stature as he told Samuel when he would needs have poured the oile upon the first-born of the Sons of Jesse 1 Sam. 16.7 Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature because I have refused him for the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart 'T is the beauty of holiness and integrity in the heart not the beauty of fairness upon the face with which God is taken 't is a lowly mind not a high stature which God accepts Secondly The Lord is no accepter of persons as to the nation or country where they were born or live Thus the Apostle Peter spake Acts 10.35 I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him God doth not prefer Jews before Gentiles Barbarians or Scythians that a man had his birth in this or that Nation neither helps nor hinders acceptation with God Thirdly The Lord accepteth no mans person for his riches Prov. 11.4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath No mans person is acceptable to God for his purse or his penny no not at all Fouâthly The Lord âccepteth no mans person for his worldly greatness honour and dignity He poureth contempt upon Princes Psal 107.40 The day of the Lord is against the hills and mountains Isa 2.14 The great God regardeth not any man meerly for greatness the Lord accepts no mans person upon these or any such like accounts He only accepts the persons of those that fear him and do his will Suscipit faciem Deus quando precantem câaudit The Lords acceptance of any person in the sense of this promise concerning Job is First To shew favour and manifest affection to him Secondly To honour aâd highly esteem him Thirdly Which is here specially intended to answer his prayers and grant his requests not only for himself but for others When a person is once accepted his prayers shall not be denied nor suffer a repulse The Lord accepteth persons as a King the persons of those loyal Subjects who come to intreat his favour and pardon for those that have offended him and rebelled against him he grants their suit and treats them fairly In this sense the Lord maketh promise to Eliphaz and his two friends that he will accept Job Hence Observe First It is a very high favour and priviledge to be accepted of God Him will I accept saith the Lord of Job This was a favour beyond all the favours that follow after in the close of the book about the doubling of his estate If Jacob Gen 32.20 was so taken with a hope of acceptance by his brother Esau Peradventure he will accept me If when he was accepted by Esau he said chap. 33.10 I have seen thy face as though I had seen the face of God and thou wast pleased with me Then how much more should we rejoyce in this assurance that God hath accepted of us and that he is pleased with us If the Apostle Rom. 15.3 prayed so earnestly and desired others to strive with him in prayer to God that his service which he had for Jerusalem might be accepted of the Saints then how much more should we pray that our services may be accepted of God and rejoyce when they are accepted The Apostle made it his chief work to get acceptation with God 2 Cor. 5.9 Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent that is whether living or dying we may be accepted with him we are ambitious of divine acceptation The word which we translate labour noteth a labouring after honour which ambitious men labour much after implying that to be accepted with the Lord is a very high honour indeed the highest honour There is a two-fold acceptation First Of our persons Secondly Of our services The former is the ground of the latter and Jesus Christ is the foundation of both Ephes 1.6 He through glorious grace hath made us accepted in the beloved Jesus Christ is so dearly beloved of the father that he is called The Beloved as if only beloved The acceptation of our services is often promised in Scripture as a high favouâ Exod. 28.38 Ezek. 20.40 41. Isa 56.7 This Moses prayed for in the behalf of the Tribe of Levy which Tribe was appointed to offer sacrifice and to pray for the people Deut. 33.11 Bless Lord his substance and accept the work of his hands What was the work of Levies hands it was to offer sacrifice to which prayer and intercession was joyned That Levi who had the priest-hoâd fixed in the family of Aaron should be accepted in the work of his hands was a blessing not only to himself but to many more This David prayed earnestly for Psal 19.14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer He put up a like prayer Psal 119.108 Accept I beseech thee the free-will-offerings of my mouth O Lord. This was the prayer of Araunah for David 2 Sam. 24.23 The Lord thy God accept thee So great a priviledge it is for our persons and services to be accepted with the Lord
also accepted Job This gives evidence or witness to the goodness of Job and his eminence in grace how full of love how ready to forgive was he He did not insult over Eliphaz c. nor say now I have got the day God hath determined the matter for me Amicè ut amicos illos amplexus est he did not tell them ye have wronged and abused me ye have unjustly censured and reproached me but putting their unkindnesses into oblivion and laying aside the thought of them he laid out his soul to the utmost for the healing or making up of the difference arising from their folly between God and them For the better improvement of these words First Let us compare them with those in the eighth verse Here it is said The Lord also accepted Job and there the Lord said Him will I accept there it is a promise here a performance Hence note Whatsoever the Lord promiseth to do he will certainly perform and do A word from God is as sure as his deed our hope upon promise as good as possession In hope of eternal life which God who cannot lye promised before the world began Tit. 1.2 Christ will be Amen that is performance 2 Cor. 1.20 to all the promises 2 Cor. 1.20 As they are all made in him so they shall every one of them and in every thing be made good by him unto the glory of God by us that is we shall at last have abundant cause of glorifying of God in performing and making good of all the promises upon the undertaking of Jesus Christ for us No man shall fail of acceptance that is under as Job was a promise of acceptation get under promises and you shall partake the good promised Secondly Whereas upon their doing according as the Lord commanded presently it followeth The Lord also accepted Job Note Though the Lord will surely perform what he hath promised yet if we would have the good promised we must do the duty commanded otherwise our faith is but presumption If Eliphaz and his two friends had not done as the Lord commanded them they could not rightly have expected God should do what he promised accept Job and so themselves There are promises of two sorts First of preventing grace these are made to the wicked and unconverted Secondly there are promises of rewarding grace these are made to the godly who must perform the duty commanded if they would receive the mercy promised As many as walk according to this rule peace be on them and mercy Gal. 6.16 If you will have peace you must walk according to rule the Lord is not bound to fulfil promises if we take liberty to break Commandements or neglect to do them And they who have true faith in the truth and faithfulness of God to fulfil the one can never take liberty to break the other None are so sure to the Command as they who have fullest assurance in the Promise The Lord also accepted Job Here are but few words yet much matter and who knoweth how much mercy Here is much yea all in a little The Lord accepted Job Hence note Thirdly To be accepted of God is the answer of all our prayers and desires a full reward for all our services Acceptation with God is the happiness of man and should be his satisfaction If we are accepted in our services we are bountifully rewarded for them and if our persons are accepted we shall be everlastingly saved When the Lord accepted Job he he heard his prayer for his friends they were reconciled This good news The Lord also accepted Job was enough to make their hearts leap for joy Acceptation is a reviving word the sum of all that we can wish or pray for 't is enough enough to confirm our faith and to wind up our assurance to the very highest expectation of a supply to all our wants and of pardon for all our sins All the kindnesses of God are comprehended in this one word Acceptation Fourthly The Lord accepted Job Here is no mention at all of accepting his sacrifice yet that was accepted too Hence note The Lord having respect to our persons cannot but have respect to our services If our persons are accepted our services are and if the services of any are not respected it is because their persons are not 'T is said Gen. 4.4 5. The Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering but unto Cain and his offering he had no respect Respect or no respect to what is done alwayes begins with the person of the doer Yet further Job was accepted but uâon what account or how was Job accepted not in himself nor for himself but in Christ the promised Messias Hence note Fifthly That any mans person is accepted is from free grace through Jesus Christ When we have done all we deserve nothing we are only accepted The Lord accepted Job not for his own sake not for the worth of his service not for the worthiness of his person but for him whom he in that action represented and in whom he believed Jesus Christ Job himself needed Christ for his acceptation 't is in and through him that any are accepted The word Acceptance plainly implieth that there is nothing of merit in us acceptation notes grace and favour This respect to us is not for any desert in us From the whole we may infer First If the Lord accepted Job when he offered sacrifice and prayed for his friends how much more doth he accept Jesus Christ who offered himself a sacrifice for sinners and ever liveth to make intercession for them whose sacrifice he is Did the Lord presently accept Job and his friends or Job for his friends then what confidence may we have that Jesus Christ who is our everlasting sacrifice and Advocate who is entred into the holiest the Sanctuary of heaven and there pleads for us with his own blood is accepted for us and we through him Christs suit shall never be refused nor shall we while we come to God through him This act of divine grace was as I may say but a shadow or figure of that great work of Jesus Christ in reconciling sinners and making them accepted with the Lord and therefore as often as we pray Christs everlasting sacrifice should come to our remembrance for the confirmation of our faith and our encouragement against fears We may argue down all our doubts about acceptation by Christ upon this account that Jobs friends were accepted at his suit and their acceptation not bottom'd on him nor in his sacrifice but as both shadowed Christ Where the Reconciler is accepted they that are in him and for whom he makes request are accepted too What the Lord spake from heaven Mat. 3.17 This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased reacheth all believers to the end of the world whose head and representer Christ is Let us adore and ever be thankful that we have received such grace in Christ for though Jesus
ascend into the hill of the Lord c. and answered it vers 4 5. He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soul to vanity nor sworn deceitfully he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness that is a righteous reward or a reward according to righteousness from the God of his salvation Solomon asserts the present performance of what is only promised in this Psalm he saith not The just shall receive the blessing but they have actually received it Prov. 10.6 Blessings are upon the head of the just By the just man we may understand First him that is in a justified state or him that is just by faith Secondly him that walks in a just way or that do justly And they who are indeed justified are not only engaged by that high act of grace to do justly but are either constantly kept in doing so or are soon brought to see they have not done so and to repentance for it Just and upright men in these two notions are so much blessed that they are a blessing Prov. 11.11 By the blessing of the upright is the City exalted As an upright man wisheth and prayeth for a blessing upon the City where he liveth so he is a blessing to it and that no small one but to the greatning enriching and exaltation of it He that is good in his person becomes a common good to Cities yea to whole Nations such are a blessing because they receive so many blessings Pro. 28.20 A faithful man shall abound with blessings This faithful man is one that acts and doth all things faithfully as appears by his opposition in the same verse to him that maketh hast to be rich of whom the Text saith he shall not be innocent that is he must needs deal unfaithfully or unrighteously for in making such post-hast to riches he usually rides as we say over hedge and ditch and cannot keep the plain way of honesty Thirdly As they who are in a state of grace and they who act graciously in that state so they who worship holily or holy worshippers have a special promise of the blessing As Sion is the seat of holy worship so there the Lord commandeth the blessing upon holy worshippers Psal 133.3 And again Psal 115.12 13. He will bless the house of Israel he will bless the house of Aaron he will bless them that fear the Lord both small and great that is the generality of holy worshippers shall be blessed The fear of the Lord is often put in Scripture for the worship of the Lord and so they that fear him are the same with them that worship him Fourthly They are the blessed of the Lord who trust the Lord for all and so make him the all of their trust Psal 34.8 O tast and see that the Lord is gracious blessed is the man that trustith in him that is in him only or alone being convinced of the utter insufficiency of the creature That man is cursed who trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm Jer. 17.5 therefore pure trust in God hath the blessing Fifthly They that are a blessing unto others shall have the blessing from the Lord. What it is to be a blessing to others read at large in the 29th Chapter of this Book vers 11. and in 31. Chapter vers 20. They that do good to others they especially who do good to the souls of others are a blessing to others Now they who do good they shall receive good themselves Prov. 11.25 The liberal shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered also himself He that watereth is a common good a blessing to the place where he lives a blessing to the rich a blessing to the poor a blessing to relations a blessing to strangers upon such the Scripture assures the blessing of the Lord. Sixthly They who promote the worship and service of God they that are friends to the Ark of God shall be blessed 2 Sam. 6.11 The Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom because he entertained the Ark shewed kindness to the Ark and was ready to do any service for the Ark of God he will be a friend to the true friends of his Church Seventhly They shall receive a blessing of God who strive in prayer for his blessing Jacob was blessed but he wâestled for it They that would have it must ask it with a gracious importunity they that seek it diligently shall find it These are the chief characters of the persons whom the Lord will bless And seeing his blessing is so effectual for the procurement of our good we should above all things labour to procure his blessing When Jacob wrestled with the Angel he asked nothing of him but a blessing Gen. 32.26 He did not say I will not let thee go except thou deliver me from my brother Esau he did not say I will not let thee go unless thou make me rich or great he only said I will not let thee go except thou bless me let me be blessed and let me be what thou wilt or I can be What should we desire in comparison of the blessing of God seeing his blessing strictly taken is the fruit of his fatherly love A man may be rich and great and honoured among men yet not beloved but he that is indeed blessed is certainly beloved of God Esau could not obtain the blessing Now what saith the Lord by the Prophet of him as the Apostle quotes the Prophet Rom. 9.13 Esau have I hated Esau got much riches but he could not get the blessing for he was hated of the Lord and therefore it is said Heb. 12.17 He found no place for repentance though he sought it carefully with tears that is he could not make Isaac repent of blessing Jacob though through a mistake yet according to Gods appointment he could not prevail with him no not by tears to take off the blessing from his brother Jacob and place it upon himself And the reason why the blessing remained with Jacob was because he was loved of God The blessing must go where the love goes The loved of the Lord are and shall be blessed and they who are blessed have all good with a blessing Read Gen. 24.35 Gen. 26.13 Gen. 28.3 2 Sam. 6.11 Psal 107.38 Yea as God giveth all good with a blessing so he giveth himself who is the chief good best of all and blessed for evermore to those whom he blesseth Then how should we desire the blessing of God or to be blessed by God It is wonderful how passionately and even impatiently the Votaries of Rome desire the Popes blessing they think themselves made men if they can but have his blessing I have read of a Cardinal who seeing the people so strangely desirous of his blessing Quando quidem populus hic vult decipi dicipiatur said Seeing this people will be deceived let them be deceived But we cannot be too desirous of a blessing from
personal Judge of this so his Word must ever be the Normal Judge of all controversies Fourthly Note The Day of Judgment is like to be a terrible day Here was a little day of Judgement here God came to determine a matter between Job and his three friends and that was a terrible day in it we have an image or representation of the last Judgement Day God appeared in a Storm in a Whirlwind what think you will be the Lords appearance when he comes to judge the whole World The Psalmist speaking of some particular day of Judgement which should fore-run the general judgement sets it forth in dreadful Metaphors Psal 50.3 4. Our God These are the words of Gods faithful servants assuring themselves of a gracious deliverance from the cruelty of wicked men by the goodness and mighty arme of God Our God say they shall come that is he shall certainly come though he seem for a while to defer and put off his coming and shall not keep silence as he hath been thought to do either in not answering the prayers of his people or in not punishing the presumption of his and their enemies as he also said he did at the 21th verse of this Psalme and then woe to the wicked for A fire shall devour before him God will then appear as a consuming fire and a mighty tempest of wrath and indignation round about him so that there can be no escape either before or behind on one side or the other And then v. 4. He shall call to the Heavens from above and to the Earth that is to the heavenly and earthly Powers as witnesses against the ungodly and as aids and assistants that they may judge his people that is assert their integrity and maintain them in it Now I say if there have been or shall be such dreadful appearances of God in this world for the vindication of his people and the avenging of them upon their enemies what will his appearance be when in the end of the world he shall come as the Apostle Jade speaks v. 14 15. of his Epistle with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him That is either directly or reflexively in letting their tongues loose to speak against them The Apostle Paul having said 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things that is the fruit of the things done in his body that is while he was in the body whether it be good or bad he adds at the eleventh verse Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men As if he had said We know that will be a terrible day Christ will come and answer sinners out of a Whirlwind when he comes to Judgement and therefore We being fully perswaded of this our selves perswade men by all means to beleeve and repent and get the peace of their souls well and surely setled upon good Gospel terms in this world that so they may find peace in the great Day of Judgement which will be the commencement or beginning of another world They who know the terror of the Lord will both perswade others and be perswaded themselves to look after reconciliation with God that when Christ cometh terribly they may appear before him comfortably or that he may not be a terror unto them in that day Fifthly Forasmuch as the Lord answered Job out of the Whirlwind as was said to affect him with the awe and reverence of his great Name while he was speaking Observe The Word of God is to be heard with reverence with fear and trembling or with an holy awe of God upon our hearts Why did the Lord speak out of a Whirlwind Surely that Job might see his distance or that he was but as a feather even like a rolling thing or thistle-down before the Whirl-wind which the Lord could scatter and blow away with the least breath of his mouth as that allusion in the Prophet intimates Isa 17.13 And questionless all the wicked in the world who contemn the Word of God preached by his Ministers Locutione domini blanda dulcedo ejus ostenditur per tempestatem vero potestas ejus metuenda monstratur Greg. l. 28. c. 2. will be blown away by it as thistle-down or a rolling thing before the Whirl-wind of the Lords fierce anger and displeasure All such shall be carried away with a strong irresistable wind and cast into the bottomless pit of perdition for ever The Lord who sometimes speaks out of a Whirl-wind hath a whirl-wind alwayes at his command to scatter those like chaffe who obey not what is spoken as he threatned the enemies of Jacob Isa 41.16 Sixthly From Gods speaking out of the Whirlwind Note God is present with his in troublous dispensations 'T is no argument that God is not with us when storms and whirl-winds are up whether with respect to Nations and Churches or particular Persons Do not think God is gone because there is a storm Read Psal 18. v. 6 7 8. Psal 23.4 Psal 91.15 Isa 43.2 3. and you shall find that in the worst appearances the Lord is present The Prophet speaks it expresly Nahum 1.3 The Lord hath his way in the Whirl-wind and in the storm and the Clouds are the dust of his feet When and where it 's dark and troublesom the Lord is there and there he is most that 's the Prophets meaning also when he saith The Clouds are the dust of his feet By Clouds we may understand not so much the Clouds of the Air as cloudy Providences these are round about him while Judgment and Justice yea while Mercy and Goodness are the habitation of his Throne And these Clouds may be called the dust of his feet in a Figure we know where Travellers pass often their feet make a dust now it shews that the Lord doth act much in the Clouds that is in dark Providences because 't is said They are the dust of his feet as if he moved so much and so long in them that he raised a dust with his motion Do not think the Lord is gone when whirl-winds and storms that is outward troubles come The Lord answers out of the whirl-wind as often as he answers us by terrible things in Righteousness and thus he often answers us Psal 65.5 Seaventhly and Lastly comparing the manner of Gods coming and speaking to Job with his intent in coming and speaking to him The manner in which God came and spake was in a Whirl-wind but what was his purpose was it to blow the poor man away no it was but to himble him and then to comfort and restore him Observe The outward appearances of God are often very terrible when he intends nothing buâ mercy and love to his people What more dreadful
than a Whirle-wind yet Job found this storme ushering in a sweet calme and a most comfortable sunshine Job said chap. 9.16 17. If I had called and he had answered me yet would I not have beleeved that he had hearkened to my v ice for he breaketh me with a tempest or a Whirld-wind Now the Lord came in a Whirl-wind and Job finds the quite contrary God came in a Whirl-wind not to break him but to bind him up not to condemn him but to convince him not to discourage him but to comfort him comfort comes out of a storme Thus comfort hath come to many a poor soule and it comes thus sometimes to the whole Church of God When Jacob was in a stormy condition because of his brother Esau then the Lord came to him Gen. 32. but how came he to him one would have thought that Jacob being in such a condition the Lord who came to comfort him would have taken him by the hand and embraced him or walkt aside with him and told him I am come to help thee and deliver thee be of good cheer let not thy heart be troubled at the approach of thy bloody brother for I am with thee One would have thought I say the Lord should have treated him in some such manner but what saith the text v. 24 there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day Poor Jacob was tugging and swetting all night as if he would sweat his heart out here was a strange kind of greeting 't is not said the man saluted him or spake a kind word to him much less complemented with him he only wrestled with him and when he had toyled a geat while he put his thigh out of joyât which was very course usage and only said Let me goe which was very course language yet the Lord came at that time with a full purpose to bless him deliver him out of the hand of Esau Then be not afraid of storms for the Lord hath sunshine in his heart when there 's nothing but a storm in his face The Lord may come to you in poverty and sickness he may chasten you with pain upon your bed Perpetuum deo est vulnerare quos vult sanare percellere quos vult consulari ostendere se maximum cum vult optimum demonstrare and the multitude of your bones with strong pains till you say as Hezekiah in his sickness Isa 38.13 I reckoned till morning that as a Lion so will he break all my bones and yet intend so much mercy that you shll say as David Ps 35.10 All my bones shall say Lord who is like unto thee which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him yea the poor and needy from him that spoileth him The Lord hath gracious purposes towards his people in saddest appearances Then the Lord answered Job out of the Whilrl-wind and said What said he His saying was as stormy as his appearing Vers 2. Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge This Verse and ths next are a Preface to what God had further to say unto his afflicted servant Job The former verse was the Historians Preface these two are the Lords Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge We have here First A check lighting somewhere Who is this Secondly We have the matter for which this person is checkt and that is for darkening counsel Thirdly We have that by which he is charged to have darkned counsel and that is By words without knowledge and his ignorance or want of knowledge is implied as discovered in speaking or rather complaining so much concerning his own sufferings and the severity of Gods dealings with him whereby he had at once cast a cloud upon the Justice and reflected upon the goodness and mercy of God Who 's is this The words may be taken First as a bare enquiry after he man Who is this what man is this as Saul spake of David after the victory which he had got over Goliah Whose son is this youth 1 Sam. 17.55 but that I conceive is too flat and lean a sense in this place as if the Lord did only make enquiry after the man Therefore Secondly These words Who is this carry in them a rebuke who is it that hath done this As if God pointing at Job had said is it you I could not have believed that my servant Job would have so much forgotten himself or have been so bold with me as to reflect upon my just though severe proceedings by his weak reasonings which faith only can make him understand aright Such Questions in Scripture often carry a rebuke in them yea Thirdly more then a rebuke they carry a slight or contempt of the person about whom the question is put As when men presume as some blasphemously have done to say Who is the Lord What is the Almighty that we should serve him they speak contemptuously and slightingly of God So when God speaks thus to man who is this he may be said to speak slightingly of man Again as when man speaking of himself saith as Psal 8.4 What is man that thou art mindful of him he slights or vilifies himself so when the Lord saith who is this or who is the other it carryeth the same sense Interrogations are quick sharp speeches and usually those speeches are quick and sharp which begin with an Interrogation and doubtless this Interrogation hath a double sharpness or two stings in it First Of rebuke or reprehension Forma ipsa interrogationis qua nullum exprimitur proprium nomen solet ad contemptum pertinere exprobrationem Secondly Of a slight or diminution Job though indeed a man of an excellent spirit had been too bold with God and therefore no wonder if God spake though he contemned him not contemningly to him Who is this Yet here it is questioned who the person was whether Job or no that is aimed at or intended in this rebuking or contemning Question There are two opinions about it and the matter is carried on both sides as one expresseth it by no inconsiderable Arguments First Some conceive Elihu was the person concerned in this Question Who is this and they give several reasons for it I shall only mention two First because he was the man that spake last we had him speaking six Chapters quite through while Job spake not a word and therefore say they it seems most probable that when God came to speak he would undertake him that spake last Who is this Secondly Because Elihu had not carryed the matter so clearly and fully with Job as he should but had failed though not as Jobs three friends had done before and that therefore as the Lord reproved and taxed them by name in the 42d Chapter so here Elihu is taxed more covertly for obsâuring his Counsel Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge These are the two chief Arguments which fasten the
preparatory to serving or waiting Thirdly Cingulum operaturi Accinctus dicitur qui industrius discinctus qui negligens est Drus Accingere se ad opus aliquod It notes in Scripture preparation for any labour or work that we are called to whether of mind or body He is alwayes girt that is ready for work and industrious at it whereas carelesse and idle persons are alwayes ungirt and so unbless'd When Jeremiah was called to that great work of the mind or inner man the Lord said to him chap. 1.17 Thou therefore gird up thy loins and arise and speak unto them all that I command thee A Prophets work begins at his heart and ends at his tongue yet for that his loins must be girt Fourthly Girding up the loins Cingulum pugnaturi Antiquitas cingulum consecravit Mart. notes a preparation for Battel and War Thus David spake of Christ Psal 45.3 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh O most mighty So spake that King to his proud Challenger Let not him that girdeth on his armour boast as he that putteth it off 1 Kings 20.11 That is let not him that prepareth himself for battel carry it as he that hah won the day and got the victory When the Apostle describing our spiritual warfare minds us to stand having our loins girt about with truth Eph. 6.14 he would also have us stand with our loins girt for the truth that is as another Apostle speaks Jude 3. to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints or to undertake the defence and maintenance of the truth against all comers or opposers Girding in the Text is of this latter sort Appara te ad suturam disceptationem Vatab Disputing is a kind of fighting and warring Opponents and Respondents are like Combatants Arma te nunc armis tuis sicut vir strenuus ad committendum duellum mecum Ecce venio ad literarum duellum tecum Arma te scientiae armis Cajet Signanter de praecinctione lumborum facit mentionem quia per lumbos carnalis voluptas intelligitur quae praecipue inipedit spirituaalem auditum Aquin. In arcano sermone significat libidinis in lumbis residentis compressionem ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sonat virtutem fortitudinem quod opponitur blanditiis lenociniis infirmitati faemineae Ut vir emphatice animo viriti promptitudine virili Controversal Divinity is called Polemical Divinity Disputes are Word-Wars And there have been as hot wars made by the Pen as ever were by the Sword Thus the Lord seems to send Job a challenge to the battel by a further debate Arme thy self like a mighty man get ready for the duel for I am purposed to try what a man thou art in arguing or at an argument I have heard thee too stiffe in complaining or at a complaint Lastly This girding up of the loins hath as some conceive a spiritual intendment in it noting the mortification of lust or of the sensual appetite They that go about any business for God or with God had need to have their lusts subdued Gird up thy loins Like a maâ That is like a mighty man a Giant emphatically as a man with manly courage and activity shew thy self what a man thou aât let me see what thou canst do thou hast heretofore braved it and even challenged me and desired that thou mightest come to the battel O that I knew where I might find him that I might come even to his seat chap. 23.3 Now then Gird up thy loins like a man shew thy strength I mean to enter the list with thee I have taken up the glove as it were and am resolved to try it out with thee Gird up thy loins like a man Do not play the child do not trisle with me do not think that I come to trifle with thee Some carry the opposition thus Gird up thy loins like a man not like a woman who girds her self often for ornament only and sometimes for ostentation but like a man that resolves to go about his work and make a business of it Thus Gird up thy loins like a man To do a thing strenuously and with expedition is the work of a man who is neither recarded by difficulty not tired with labour nor frighted with danger therefore the Lord counsels Job to gird up his loins like as men do when they set themselves about or undertake any great business he would not have him do it as tender weak women or as effeminate men Taking these words in the first notion as an encouragement to Job or as comforting words which I conceive to be a good sense Observe God is ready to revive poor and afflicted souls when they are in any distress He knows how it is with us and he will not suffer any temptation to take hold of us but such as he will give strength to bear and encourage us in the bearing of it He saith to fainting ones as here Come gird up your loins or as Heb. 12.12 Lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees Secondly Take the words in that other general notion God calling Job to a great business saith Gird up thy loins prepare thy self VVhence Note We need actual preparation before any duty especially before great duties Never go about any work without your loins girt A man whose mind is ungirt is unready for any service though he may have much outward readiness and all manner of accomodations for it VVhen we pray we should gird up our loins to prayer The Prophet complained Isa 64.7 There 's none calls upon thy Name VVhat none at all Surely not so they were not come to that height of Prophaneness as to throw up or to throw off prayer quite Many among the Jews I may say all of them prayed but they did not gird up their loins to prayer That 's fully the Prophets meaning and almâst his language in the next words There is none that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee It is not enough to have a habit of grace unless it be stirred up to duty or unless we bestir our selves in duty The Apostle exhorts Timothy 2 Ep. 1.6 Stir up the gift of God that is in thee If fire be not stirred up it grows dead and gives little or no heat 't is so with our gifts and graces Therefore in prayer in hearing the VVord c. gird up the loins of your mind if you would either do any good in those duties or get any He that lies upon a sick-bed must gird up the loins of his mind to beat his affliction else he will never profit by it nor answer the ends of God in it No grace can be exercised by a soul ungirded Therefore remember St. Peters counsel 1 Ep. 1.13 Gird up the loins of your mind be sober and hope to the end hope perfectly for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ Notat promptam
ab omni alia cupiditatâ reductam spem Coc. As if the Apostle had said ye can never act your hope to purpose nor your faith to purpose unless you gird up your loins Habits of grace are unprofitable to us without this actual preparation and excitation of grace It is our duty Heb. 10.24 to provoke or stir up others to love and good works much more is it our duty to provoke and stir up our selves Thirdly In that he saith Gird up thy loins like a man Note God would have us do our best our utmost in every thing we do he would have us put our selves out in every duty Solomon adviseth Eccl. 9.10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with all thy might that is do it like a man vigorously strenuously do it with both hands Quit you like men in doing it be strong as the Apostle exhorts 1 Cor. 16.3 To do the work of the Lord negligently and slightly with half a heart or no heart with half a hand or no hand scarce with a little finger with half strength or no strength this is not to do it like a man VVe should be in doing like the Sun in moving which saith David Psal 19.5 As a Bridegroom cometh out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a strong man to run a race If we would run our race like a strong man strongly and prevailingly we must be sure to do two things First VVe must lay aside every weight and the sin thut doth so easily beset us Heb. 12.1 Secondly VVe must as here the Lord directs Job gird up our loins and buckle to it Fourthly As these words carry in them a kind of Irony or divine scorn put upon Iob by the Holy God Come let me see what a man thou art thou hast spoken often what thou wouldst do and what thou wouldst say if thou couldst have thy option thy wish now thou hast thy wish let me see what a man thou art thou wilt surely appear a brave man by the time that I have done with thee Hence Note God will make men see how unable they are to deal with him when 't is best with them or when they are at the best even when their loins are girt Every man at his best estate is altogether vanity How vain then is man at his worst Job was low and in a bad condition as to his outward man especially when God dealt with him and how did he carry it in the day when God dealt with him Did his heart endure or were his hands strong as the Prophet spake to those Ezek. 22.14 Did he carry it like a man In one sense not but like a child he had not a word to speak Once have I spoken but I will speak no more yet it must be confessed he never carried it so like a godly man as when like a child he had a word to speak God will make man see what a nothing he is in his best condition when girt and prepared when armed Cap-a-pe all over for any service for God even then man is a vain thing without the present assistance of God what is he then when he is to contend or plead with God! If the whole world should lay their forces or as we say compare notes together what could they do in dispute with God They that think they touch the clouds with their heads would moulder as dust at his feet That such was the contention to which the Lord here calls Job and bids him gird up his loins or be in a readiness for appears plainly in the next words I will demand of thee and answer thou me As if the Lord had said Thou gavest me my choice So Iob did chap. 13.22 whether I would be Opponent or Defendant well then saith God this is my choice I will oppose and do thou answer I will demand of thee That is put questions to thee and we shall see presently how thick questions or demands came upon him like hail-shot and he had not a word to answer though God required it And answer thou me Mr. Broughton renders And let me see thy skill ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Et notifica mihi The word is Instruct me or Make me to know Wise me as we say I would fain be informed by thee teach thou me notifie the matter to me as the word may be translated I will demand and answer thou me The Lord did not call upon him for Answers as to be informed by him Sunt quaedam interrogationes quae non fiunt ut sciatur veritas ab inâerrogante sed ut extorqueatur a respondente vel certo prodatur ignorantia respondentis cujusmodi esse solent magistratuum magistrorum interrogationes Ironia continuatur Non enim eo interrogaturus crat ut disceret sed ut doceret vel ut Job intelligeret fateretur se ignorare Coc. Ironia sed amica âua Jobum vult in viam reducere Merc. but only to convince him that he could not answer him as he confessed at the fifth verse of the fortieth Chapter Once have I spoken but I will not answer nor indeed could he To all the demands which the Lord made afterwards he made no answer at all so that these words Answer me or Instruct and inform me are a gentle irony whereby the Lord would make him know himself or be sensible of his own ignorance or small attainments in knowledge and thereby convince him that he had done rashly in desiring and wishing for such a debate or hearing of his cause The Lord was pleased to rebuke him thus secretly or in a figure and not to fall upon him in plain downright terms O thou weak and ignorant creature who hast presumed to appear before me and try thy cause with me Now Go to Let me see what thou canst do shew thy best skill put forth thy utmost strength of argument in reasoning about or against my dealings with thee Thus the Lord might have confounded him but he was pleased to carry it in a milder way yet in a way as effectual to humble and meeken Jobs spirit God needs not press man by power he can do it by reason or force of argument and so stop his mouth for ever The Apostle saith Rom. 3.19 All the world shall become guilty before God and in the same Chapter he saith God shall be justified in his sayings and overcome when he is judged The Lord alwayes doth things with so much justice and speaks with so much reason that no man is able to answer a word or reply upon him And though he might silence or stop any mans mouth by his meer Command and Authority yet he condescends to do it rather by reason and demonstration lest any should say or complain they were rather over-powered by the greatness of his Majesty than cast by the right and equity of his Cause Thus we see how the Lord in this Preface prepares Job to hearken to those demands
it is said that David smote Moab and measured them with a line casting them down to the ground even with two lines measured he to put to death and with one full line to keep alive and so the Moabites became Davids servants and brought gifts Some understand this act of David in measuring the Moabites with a line strictly and literally that David having made a full Conquest of their Country did cause it to be measured with a line and then appointed or allotted two thirds of the Land together with the inhabitants to ruin and destruction receiving only the third of the people to mercy and reserving only a third part of the Land to be planted by them Others take it only allusively that having conquered them he used them and their Country at his own pleasure as we do that which we measure out by line But whether we take Davids measuring the Moabites with a line in the one sense or in the other it fully reaches this third notion of it under hand Here in the Text when the Lord demanded of Job Who hath stretched the line upon it It is as if he had said Shew me if thou canst who hath given this great building this fabrick of the earth such symetry such a proportion and evenness that no fault or flaw can possibly be found in it From these two figurative expressions in the fifth verse implying the exactness of the earths frame Note The frame of the world is every way and in every respect proportionable and beautiful 'T is done as it were by measure and line The Lord is infinitely above the use of measures or lines yet condescending to our understanding he gives us to know that 't is as perfect a piece as if he had done it by measure and by line Survay the whole world or any part of it is it not a most exact piece The heavens are as the roof of the house the earth as the floor and foundation of it those elements aire and water as the walls and sides of it The lower parts of the earth are as pillars and bases hills and high mountains appear like emboslements of the earth to the eye of the beholder What can be added whether we consider the compleatness of the whole or the symetry of the parts Have we not reason to say admiringly or to cry out as Psal 104.24 O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thâu made them all the earth is full of thy riches so is the great aâd wide sea c. Our hearts should be drawn up by all the works of God to admire his workmanship That thy name is near thy wondrous works declare said David Psal 65.1 speaking of the Woâks of Providence and that the name of God is near his Works of Creation declare also his name is written upon them that is his power wisdome and goodness And therefore when we behold this Woâk of God in special his laying the measures of the earth we should admire both his goodness wisdom and power There are five things in this part of the Creation the earth as expressed to be done by line and measure which may raise up our admiration of God First The greatness of the work It is a vast peece or pile a huge fabrick though but a point to the Heavens We admire great buildings but what are the greatest buildings upon earth to the earth it self which the Lord hath built Secondly The harmony or uniformity of the building and so the beauty of it Thirdly The compactness of the building as knit close together and so the firmness of it Fourthly That all was done in so short a time We say Rome was not built in a day Solomon was seven years in building the Temple 1 Kings 6.38 And he was thirteen years in building his own house 1 Kings 7.1 And doubtlesse Solomon laid out all the power and skill he had for the setting up of those buildings But behold a greater building than either the Temple which Solomon built for God or the house which he built for himself set up as we say in a trice The Lord finished all his work in six dayes and that part of it the earth in one Nor did the Lord take either six dayes to finish the whole work or one to finish any one part of it because he needed so much time to do it in but because he would not do it in less Fifthly The Lord did all this without the use of any instrument rule or compass axe or hammer though here is mention made of a measure and of a line The skilfullest Aâchitect cannot raise up any considerable building without these though he hath the platform and idea of it in his head yet take away his line and his rule and he can do nothing But such is the glorious skill and power of God that though he is pleased to speak of a measure and of a line yet we must not be so gross as to think that he made use of any The whole work was natural to God and therefore he needed no artificial helps nor was any instrument employed in it but only his own creating word and will Some faithless Atheists of old and possibly there are such at this day asked in scorn with what tools and instruments with what ladders and scaffolds this building was set up But let us at once pity such in their unbeliefe and horrible prophaneness and labour to edifie or build up our selves in grace and holiness in the faith and fear of his great Name who built this world without tools or instruments without ladders or scaffolds Secondly As our hearts should be drawn out in admiration so in thankfulness forasmuch as God hath made such a world for us he hath laid the foundations of the earth he hath measured it out and stretched the line upon it that we might have the use of it that we might tenant and inhabit this house Man is the chief inhabitant of the earth that other creatures dwell there is for the service of man then let us be thankful Our greatest cause of thankfulness is that the Lord hath made another house for us of which the Apostle professeth his assurance 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that when the earthly house of this Tabernacle whether of our body or of the body of this world is dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens O how should we rejoyce in he thankful for that house But that we have this inferiour house built for us which is also a building of God an house not made with hands but purely and immediately by the power of God is and should be continual matter of great thankfulness Thirdly Seeing the Lord hath thus laid the measures of the earth and stretched forth the line upon it seeing he hath made such an exact building for us this earth let us walk exactly and orderly upon this earth which he hath made
holy so they fell not from that holiness in which they were câeated and therefore Christ is not to them a Redeemer for their restauration but onely a Head for their confirmation and establishment Col. 2.10 As for the Angels which fell they are reserved in chairs of darkness to the Judgement of the Great Day they have âo share in Redemption theiâ fall is irrecoverable Thus we see how the Angels are not the Sons of God But how then are they the Sons of God I answer Affirmatively The Angels may be called the Sons of God in a sixfold sense First As Adam is called the Son of God Luke 3.38 in his primary Constitution or by Creation so Angels are the Sons of God as they are his Creatures Secondly Angels are called the Sons of God because of Gods great affection to them as well as his creation of them Such as we much affect and love intrinsically we are ready to call our Children Sons or Daughters The Lord bears abundance of love to the Angels therefore he calls them his Sons Thirdly If we consider their place or station The Angels wait upon God they are near to him they stand about his Throne as Sons to receive his Blessing and Commands There are three things specially considerable in the Angels First Their Nature so they are Spirits or spiritual Substances Secondly Their Offices so they are the Messengers and Ministers of God Thirdly Their Dignity or nearness to God so they are his Sons Christ the onely begotten Son is in the bosome of the Father John 1.18 that is he is nearest him and hath most intimate communion with him The Angels are so near to God that though they are not in his bosome yet they alwayes behold his face Matth. 18.10 that is stand in his presence as being in high favour with him and are therefore in that respect called his Sons Fourthly Angels may be called the Sons of God because of that constant uniform obediential frame that is in them towards God A Son honoureth his father Mal. 1.6 It should be the disposition and in the heart of every Son to do so And seeing it is not only fully the disposition of Angels and in their hearts to do so but they have alwayes actually done so the holy Angels may truly say unto God as the elder brother is brought in saying to his father Luke 15.29 Lo these many years even ever since the Creation we do serve thee neither have we transgrest at any time thy commandment either by leaving undone what thou hast bidden us do or by doing what thou hast forbidden us therefore Angels having the genuine spirit of Sons towards God may in that regard also be stiled the Sons of God Fifthly They may be called the Sons of God because of their essential likeness to God or their likeness to him in Essence God is a Spirit he is incorporeal the Angels also are incorporeal they are Spirits though the difference between God and Angels be as great as can be conceived yea unconceivable God being the Creating Spirit and they but created Spirits God being an Infinite Spirit and they but finite Spirits yet the Angels bear a resemblance to God in their essence as well as in their qualifications and may upon that ground likewise be called the Sons of God Sixthly Angels are called the Sons of God because they imitate him Do good to them that hate you saith Christ Matth. 5.44 that ye may be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven that is imitate God carry it towards evil men towards men that are evil to you or do you evil as God doth and this will be both an evidence that you are the Sons of God and God will honour you with the Title of his Sons The Angels imitate God in mercy and love and compassion as also in their good works their ways being all holy just and good pure and righteous Further they shew much kindness and tenderness to the children of men they doubtless are patient towards the froward and do good offices as they are called and deputed to those who deserve little good Now being like God by imitation they may be called the Sons of God Thus we have some account in these particulars why or how the Angels are called the Sons of God But what did these Sons of God the Angels when Spectators of the Worlds Creation The Text tells us Signanter astris tanquam inferioribus laudem Angelis tanquam superioribus attribuit Jubilationem Aquin. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Est ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã significatur apprabatio illius operis cum gaudio They shouted for joy Some put a difference between that which is attributed to the Stars taking the Stars properly and the Angels as if here it were spoken signanter by way of excellency the Staâs did sing but the Angels shouted The word rendred to shout for joy signifies in general to make any great or loud cry sometimes for sorrow or consternation of mind When the army of the Mâdianites amazed wiâh Gideons stratagem of the pitchers and lamps ran and fled 't is said they cryed and their cry is expressed by this word Judges 7.21 When an army runs they make only a confused noise or shout for fear and sorrow But mostly and most properly the word signifies to shout for joy and in a way of triumph as when an army is victorious and ready to divide the spoil or as in the time of harvest or vintage when the fruits and good things of the earth are gathered in and such is the shouting here intended The Angels the Sons of God did not only sing as the Stars when the foundations of the Earth were laid but they shouted for joy It is but one word in the Hebrew which we render shouted for joy The Angels did not onely approve but applaud the works of God Further Consider the generality of this divine Plaudite or applause All the Sons of God shouted for joy As before the Lord saith The Stars sang together so here All the Sons of God not one of them was left out every one bare a part in this triumph they all with one accord with one heart and one voice joyned in it All the Sons of God there was not one dissenting voice shouted for joy Hence First I might refute their opinion who denied Angels and Spirits as the Sadduces did Acts 23.8 but I shall not stay upon that Further It being said All the Sons of God shouted for joy Note The Sons of God the holy Angels are of one mind It is a most blessed sight and hearing when all the Sons of God joyn in one thing It was not a part of the Sons of God it was not here one and there another but all of them Behold saith David Psal 133.1 how good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity The Angels who aâe Bâethren the Sons of one Father did all joyn together
they were created at the first by his command so they shine forth every day by the same command Matth. 5.45 He maketh his Sun to rise on the evil and on the good He that hath power usually saith to a person that is unwilling to do a thing I will make you to do it that is you shall do it whether you will or no. And 't is said by the Evangelist He maketh his Sun to rise c. which may seem to import a kind of unwillingness in the Sun to bestow its light promiscuously upon the evil as well as good evil men are indeed unworthy that the Sun should shine or the rain fall upon them but God who is infinite in goodness and to shew that our good deeds should not be shut up or narrowed to those onely who are good layeth an irresistible and an indispensible charge upon the Sun to rise and shine with that indifferency to the good and to the bad The Sun would be ashamed to shine upon wicked men the Sun would even with-hold its beams and rays and deny them light or any comfort it would not make the earth fruitful for them had it not a command from the Lord But having a command from him it cannot with-hold nor divert its light no not from those who are children of darkness and have constant fellowship with the unfruitful works of darknesse 'T is no small matter of consolation to remember that our God is a commanding God that he can command the morning which as it is a truth with respect to the natural morning of every day so to the mystical or metaphorical morning After a dark black and stormy night of sorrow and trouble upon his Church or People then the Lord can command the morning of joy and prosperity to arise upon them and comfort them 'T is comfortable living under and obeying his commands who can command away our sorrows and by a word speaking turn midnight into morning and the shadows of death into the shining light of life and therefore saith peremptorily without ifs or ands Psal 30.5 Weeping or sorrow may endure for a night but joy or singing cometh in the morning that 's a morning in a morning We may have a morning of Sun light and no morning of joy-light as the Lord threatned his people in case of disobedience Deut. 28.6 7. In the morning thou shalt say would God it were even and at even thou shalt say would God it were morning for the fear of thy heart wherewith thou shalt fear c. Onely God can make a morning of joy or inward light to rise with the mo ning light of the natuâal day else we may have day without us and darkness within us Sun-light but no soul-light And such was the intendment of that dreadful threatning against the wicked last mentioned out of Moses Whereas the godly in their darkest ouâward condition are under the sweet influences of that gracious promise Psal 97.11 Light is sown for the righteâus and gladness for the upright in heart And God can command that light to spring even in the hour and power of darkness as Christ expressed his saddest day in this world Luke 22.53 The light of every morning is called the day-spring at the latter end of this verse and the Lord can make light and gladness or the light of gladness to spring up in our hearts when and where he pleaseth Secondly Observe The course of Nature in all its turns and changes is moved by and obedient to the command of God As God commands the morning so the morning fails not to come at his command When did you ever know the morning stop or stay a moment beyond the time that God commanded it to come forth We could never say to the Chariot of the Sun as the Mother of Sisera said of his Why is his Chariot so long a coming why stay the wheels of his Charioâ There was somewhat stopt Sisera's Chariot that it could not come and God took off the Chariot wheels of the Egyptians in the Red Sea and they drew heavily yea the Lord can take off the Chariot-wheels of any though they drive as furiously as Jehu so that they shall not come at their time but who ever knew the morning stopt a minute or a moment beyond the exact time at which it should come or was expected And as the Sun so all natural things keep their course and slack not at the command of God No creature disobeys the command of God but man who of all creatures hath most reason and is most obliged to obey it God never said of the Sun O that it had hearkned to my voice but the sons of men put him often to say so as he once did to Israel his ancient people Psal 81.13 How seldome do we keep time with God! How seldome do we come or go just at his call I have called saith Wisdome Prov. 1.24 25. and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and none regarded God never looked one day of the year for the morning and it came not but he hath come three years as the Parable of the Fig-tree shews Luke 13. to man looking for fruit and hath found none Will it not shame us that the morning is obedient to the command of God if we are not And theâefore as the former note was matter of comfort to us so this may be matter of conviction to us that the morning that the Sun in the firmament a liveless creature receiving a command should constantly appear at the time which the Lord appoints and that we who are living creatures that we who are reasonable creatures yea that we who have not only reason but grace all believers have should not be obedient to and observant of the Lords command to come at his time to appear at his call how may it cause us to blush for shame The Prophet saith The Stork in the heavens the Crane the Tuâtle and the Swallow these know the time of their coming they come in their season I may say also the Sun Moon and Stars those lights in the heavens know their season and the time of their coming they obey the command of the Lord and shall not we know the judgement of the Lord and observe the appointed times of our duty which to observe is as much our interest or benefit as it is our duty As often as we see the morning coming according to the command of God let it provoke us to make hast and not delay to keep his commandements Thirdly Hast thou commanded the morning that is the morning light to come forth No it 's I that have done it Hence Note We are to acknowledge God as the Commander yea as the Former Maker and Author of the light This command of God hath respect not onely to his bringing forth the light every morning or to his bringing forth the morning light every day into the world but to his giving the light its being
our blessed Saviouâ the light and life of the world hath counselled us Let our light shine and so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorifie our father which is in heaven Matth. 5.16 We that have light commanded for us every day how should we be lights and go forth as the Sun casting out our rays and beams in a holy and godly conversation And while we go forth and walk in such a conversation we go forth and walk as the Sun in its strength we enlighten all the world where we come and dazel the eyes of the wicked world or of the wicked in the world Sixthly How should we who have light commanded for us avoid all the works of darkness yea We should as the Apostle exhorts Rom. 13.12 13. cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light we should walk honestly as in the day As in the day which the light of the natural Sun makes and as in the day which the light of the mystical Sun our Lord Jesus Christ hath made Seventhly Remember as God hath commanded a morning for us here so he will command a light or a morning a morning light for all our actions hereafter As God hath made the the light so he will bring all things to light Many now live in the light of this world whose works are in the dark as well as theirs are works of darkness Now as the Lord hath commanded a morning to shine for us to worke by so he will have a morning wherein all our works shall be seen 1 Cor. 4.5 He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and the manifest the counsels of the heart Men may dig deep to hide their counsels from God but God knows how to bring them and their counsels to the morning and will cause a light to shine upon them though they have no light of truth or righteousness in them God will bring every work into judgement with every secret thing Eccl. 12.14 We must all appear saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.10 or we must all be manifest we must appear and so must our works too Those works of men shall be light as to their discovery which are nothing but darkness as to their impurity Those deeds which have no light in them shall come in the clearest light and be plainly seen to the bottom both by Men and Angels The Lord who hath commanded this moâning light for us to do our work in will command another morning light to judge our works in and to give us the reward of them And let all the wicked of the earth to whom the morning of any day because they are in danger to be discovered by it is as the shadow of death Job 24.17 Let them I say consider how many thousand deaths that morning will be to them which will actually fully and impartially discover all their wickedness with all the secrets of it Lastly Consider if the Lord hath bestowed so great a mercy upon us in commanding the morning or in giving us light the light of the Sun then let us be minded how great a mercy the Lord hath bestowed upon us in commanding the light or morning of the Gospel to come upon us It was night with us and so it would have been for ever for any means we could have devised or used to help out selves out of it till God commanded Christ the bright Morning Star Rev. 22.16 and Sun of Righteousness to rise and shine upon us How unspeakable a mercy is it that such a light should appear to us who not only were in darkness but were darkness If we account it a mercy that God hath commanded a morning to shine to us O what a mercy is it that we have a Christ to shine upon us That the Day-Star from on high hath visited us That he who is the true light that enlightens every man that cometh into the world John 1.9 hath risen upon us both to scatter the darkness of sin and ignorance and to chear our souls with the sweet beams of his healing wings So much of the first part of the verse Hast thou commanded the mârning since thy day ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sâirâ ãâã auâârââ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mane ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã aurora dâssârunt Nam prima dici ãâ¦ã diâtum ãâ¦ã hâc a nigriâ ãâã specio ut vid tur Nam ãâã res sub diâârulo apparere inâpturâ nigricâââ viâentur Câc ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Eât nigrescâre bin nigrescentem lucem scil diluculum significat Sol varie nec uno loco oritur quotidie ejus loââs mutatirut sol ascendit aut descendit in signis Zodiaci Merc. And caused the day-spring to know his place That is when and where it should break forth and appear every morning The day-spring is exprest by a different word in the original from the morning light it implieth the first of the morning when the air is darkish or duskish we commonly call it the gray of the morning The word signifies to be dark or that darkness which we call twilight When the day-spring ushers in the morning there is a kind of dimness in the light Now saith the Lord Hast thou caused the day-spring to know its place hast thou taught it where to shew it self to the world The Lord speaks nere of the day-spring as if it were a rational creature that took instructions or a word of direction where to begin the morning light God not man hath taught the day-spring to know its place We have a like expression Psal 16.11 Thou wilt shew me or thou wilt cause me to know the path of life Thus the Lord makes the day-spring know the path to its own place The day never springs twice immediately in one place but is in a continual variation as Astronomers with experience teach The place of the light or Sun-rising differeth every morning and from thence we have the difference of the dayes The Sun passing through the twelve signs of the Zodiack beginning with Aries c. I shall not trouble you with their names which have been devised and are used only for learning sake the Sun I say passing every year thâough these twelve Signs all which Astronomers present unto us under various forms or figures such as themselves fancied most useful to subserve the understanding of that Art according to the situation of these Signs through which the Sun runs his course in the Heavens the day-spring to us on Earth changeth its place every day appearing sometimes more southerly and sometimes more easterly as the Sun either ascends to the Summer Solstice at which time the day is at longest and the night at shortest as about the eleventh of our Moneth called June or when it descends to the Winter Solstice at which time the day is shortest and the night longest as about the eleventh of our December To which we may add the Suns coming in its
signifie say others nothing else but the grave or those lower parts of the earth in which mens bodies deceased are buried and laid up to rest till the resurrection When we that are earth in our constitution Per portas mortis intâlliguntur loca subterraneana eò quòd ibimortui se peliuntur Pisc Dicuntur portae mortis i. e. mortuorum go out of the world by dissolution our return is into the earth into the lower parts of the earth we sleep in the dust According to this sense it is as if the Lord had said Hast thou seen the state of the dead or how it fares with them that are gone to their graves Hast thou visited the courts and palaces of the King of terrors Thus the gates of death are the gates of the dead Fifthly We may understand by the gates of death in general An nosti quae fiunt in visceribus terrae Vatabl. whatsoever is most remote and farthest off from our sight and view As if the Lord who said before Hast thou entred into the springs of the sea had said here Hast thou entred into the bowels or deepest abysses of the earth which are dark and uncomfortable as the grave or like the very gates of death Knowest thou or canst thou tell me what is done or how things go there Portae mortis umbrae mortis sunt ea loca ad quae vivus non penetrat quae nulla lux ââradiat c. Coc. Or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death These words are of a like intendment with the former The gates of death and the doors of the shadow of death are the same thing under a little difference of expression What the shadow of death is hath been shewed chap. 3.5 as alâo cââp 10.21 thither I refer the Reader Hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death Surely thou hast not Thou neither desirest nor darest visit the doors leading to those dismal shadows which no light can pierce or where as Job spake chap. 10.21 The light is as darkness The scope of both the queries in this verse is the same also with those in the former even to repulse Jobs curiosity in searching into the secrets of God or to convince him that God had secrets which were no more opened to him than the gates of death and which he could see no more than the doors of the shadow of death Hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death Taking death in a proper sense Note Fiâst Bodyly death hath gates and doors passages and entrances into it Deadly sicknesses and extream dangers are as was shewed in opening the words those gates and doors Many have been brought to those gates and have been stepping into those shadows who yet have been recalled and brought back again as David and Hezekiah were and as the Apostle Paul was who had the sentence of death in himself yet was delivered trusting in him who raiseth the dead 2 Cor. 1.9 10. And therefore in all such cases whenever we are brought to the gates of death and to the doors of the shadow of death let us have recourse to the living God to that God to whom belong the issues from death Psal 68.20 He that is our God is the God of salvation of eternal salvation and of temporal salvation of salvation from death by sickness and of salvation from death by danger and trouble our God is the God of salvation to him belong the issues from death As God openeth the gates of death to let man in so he can open the gates of death to let man out As there is a gate to go in unto so there is a gate to go out from or an out-gate from death As the ways to so the issues from death belong to God Davids heart was full of this when having said Psal 141.7 Our bones are scattered at the graves mouth as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth that is we are ready to be cut in pieces and perish by our enemies having I say said this he presently adds vers 8 9. But mine eyes are unto thee O God the Lord in thee is my trust leave not my soul destitute keep me from the snare which they have laid for me c. It is the royal priviledge of Jesus Christ to be key-keeper of the grave Rev. 1.18 I have the keys of hell and of death that is I have power to deliver over to and to deliver or keep from both hell and death The keys are an emblem of power and authority Stewards have the keys He that hath the keys of death can deliver from death Secondly Taking death properly note No living man knoweth how or in what way he shall die The gates of death are not revealed to any man he hath no certainty by what means he shall passe out of this world to the grave he cannot tell through what gate he shall go whether through the gate of a natural death or of a violent death as Christ spake to Peter John 21.18 When thou wast young thou girdest thy self and wentest whether thou wouldest but when thou shalt be old another shall gird thee and carry thee whether thou wouldst not this spake he signifying by what death he should glorifie God Peter did not know what death he should die whether a natural or a violent death till Christ signified it to him And if man knoweth not at what kind of gate he shall enter the house of death that is whether by sickness or violence then much less doth he know the particular sicknesse or violence by which as a gate he must pass into the house of death these things the Lord keeps in his own hand And seeing we know not these gates of death we should alwayes pray that we may know the path of life Psal 16.11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life was Davids assurance as a type of Christ And though Christ should not shew any man the gate of his own temporal death yet he sheweth every godly man the path of eternal life and that 's enough for us Thirdly Note God onely knoweth when how and in what way we shall die as also what the state and condition of the dead is Death is the darkest and obscurest thing in the world The grave is a gloomy place and filled not only with natural but metaphorical darkness yet all is light to God he knows the gates of death and the state of the dead Prov. 15.11 The grave and destruction are before the Lord how much more the hearts of the children of men Fourthly Taking the gates of death generally for any secret or hidden thing Note Man knoweth no more than God revealeth to him When God puts the question Have the gates of death been opened or revealed to thee it is as if he had said thou canst not know them unless they are opened to thee And who can open them if I my self do not As all the
the Armories or Arcenals of Heaven and the Scripture both in this Text of Job and in several other places besides those which have been mentioned sheweth what Ammunition what instruments of the Lords fierce anger and fiery indignation are stored laid up or reserved there against the time of trouble against the day of battel and war with the rebellious world Now Forasmuch as snow and hail c. are at once the Lords Host and his Arms by which he fights against the wicked we may take notice of these five following inferences for the help of our meditations about this matter and to make all that hath been already held forth from these two verses more profitable to us First God needeth not borrow help from man on earth when he would be avenged on his enemies If he doth but speak the word and declare his will it is enough The heavens the clouds of heaven will bâing him Armies and Arms without number He that covers the earth a foot deep with snow can cover all as we say over head and ears with it He that powres down showres of hail no bigger than a pease can send it of a talent weight as 't is expressed Rev. 16.21 God cannot want Armies at any time for his day of battel and war who can make any thing serve him effectively as an Army and therefore they who being in distress see no more help in man than David when he said Psal 142.4 I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me how well soever I was known to him refuge failed me there was no man that cared for my soul that is that regarded what became of me I was left at six and sevens to sink or swim to shift for my self as well as I could they I say who are thus distressed having an interest in God need not despair nor despond seeing the Lord can charge or press any creature for our aid and help yea can help us without the aid of any creature Secondly Take heed of provoking God who hath sâch Armes and Armies alwayes at command 'T is dangerous medling wiâh a prepared enemy God can never be suâprised not taken unprovided As the wicked bend their bow and make ready their arrow upon the string that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart Psal 11.2 So the Lord hath his bow alwayes bent and his arrow made ready upon the string openly to shoot at the false in heart Though it be usually long before he takes revenge yet 't is not because he is unready and cannot but because patient and will not take it sooner He is alwayes able to avenge himself not onely speedily but presently As he will do what he hath spoken so he can do what he will with a word speaking Thirdly Would we not fear snow or hail or any missive weapon of heaven then let us get God to be our friend in whose hand and at whose command they are No creature moves but by direction from God and surely he will never direct them to the hurt though often to the affliction and correction of those whom he loves As such are in league with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field are at peace with them so also are the stars of heaven and all the meteors snow and hail c. in the air Fourthly God will charge them with hardness of heart and impenitency who humble not themselves when he fights against them with these weapons Every judiciary shower of hail though it break not our heads yet it should break our hearts That hail which doth any hurt to the works of our hands should work good upon our hearts And therefore the Lord complained when his hail-stones left no more sign or impression upon his peoples hearts than they did upon a rock or stone Hag. 2.17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all your labours yet ye turned not to me saith the Lord. This Scripture teacheth us two useful lessons First When God smites any thing that is ours or belongs to us he smites us If our fields or gardens be smitten we are smitten Secondly God expects we should and even wonders if we do not turn upon such smitings He looks upon them as hardned sinners who melt not by every afflictive fall of hail from heaven They are even resolved to be bad who mind not being good or better when evils fall upon either them or theirs Fifthly Hasten to make peace with God when he gives signs and alarums of war God had no sooner said to Israel Amos 4.12 Therefore that is because thou hast not taken the alarum by former judgement therefore thus will I do unto thee O Israel that is I will bring some sorer judgement upon thee than any of those already brought but he adds and because I will do this unto thee unless prevented by speedy repentance prepare to meet thy God O Israel As if God had said Consider as Christ adviseth on another occasion Luke 14.31 whether thou art able with thy ten thousand to meet me with my twenty thousand all the power of man is not onely less by half as ten thousand to twenty thousand but indeed nothing at all to the power of God and if not as I know thou art not then I counsel thee while I onely tell thee I will do thus unto thee but am yet a great way off possibly from coming to do it prepare to meet me send an Embassage of prayers and tears and desire conditions of peace It will be too late to call for a composition or to think of a treaty when the trumpets have sounded and the battel is joyned If we get not through Christ our peace made before the day of battel and war in this world I mean before temporal judgements aâe actually come upon us and have taken hold of us we may smart soundly before we have our peace and pay dearly for it before we have it But if we prepare not to meet God and get our peace made through Christ before the day of battel and war in the next world I mean before Death and the Eternal Judgement come upon us we shall not onely smart soundly and pay dearly for that wretched neglect of our season but must perish for ever under an impossibility of having our peace made The Day of Gods battel and war with the wicked in the next world is Eternity Here in this world God saith to the worst of sinners to him that is but briars and thorns Isa 27.5 Let him take hold of my strength that is of my Grace or of my Son which are my strength to save sinners that he may make peace with me and I assure him his assay shall not be in vain he shall make peace with me I am no inexorable God yea I am easie to be intreated if treated with when and in whom and in such a way as I have offered my self
the Egyptians with all their learning could not tell the way how God parted the light then that it should be light in Goshen and darkness to feeling or darkness that might be felt in all the other parts of Egypt so who can give a reason of that distribution of Gospel light which God makes to some parts of the world while other parts of it sit in darkness and in the very shadow of death Secondly In that the Lord puts the Qâestion to Job Knowest thou c. for we are still to repeat those words in these questions though not exprest Knowest thou that is thou knowest not Hence Note Man is much in the dark about the light and how God distrubuteth disposeth and dispenseth forth the light Those things that are clear to our sense are often very obscure to our undeâstanding Nothing more clear to sense than that the light is parted yet what is more obscure than this in what way and how the light is parted And as this parting of the light is marvellous so also in the effect of it held out in the latter part of the Verse Which scattereth the East-wind upon the Earth Some because the relative Which is not expressed in the Original take these words as a distinct question ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ventum Orientálem seu trentem subsolanum signifiâat per synechdochen hic omnem ventum Sanct. Eurum ventum vehementissimum loco omnium ponit Scult Sol dicitur ventorum pater eurus dicitur subsolanus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quod sit sub regimine solis Knowest thou by what way the light is parted and taking up that again by what way he scattereth the East-wind upon the Earth But I shall speak of these words as intending this effect of light the scattering the East-wind The Hebrew Word signifies strictly the Eastern part of the World the Sun-rising and so the East-wind which riseth often with the Sun or upon which the Sun hath a great command and may be here put synechdechically for all the Winds Naturalists tell us that lightning which was the first interpretation doth raise the East-wind or causeth it to blow and that the light of the Sun or the Sun-rising hatâ also an influence upon the wind or raiseth the East-wind is both the observation of Naturalists and an assertion which hath ground in Scripture The Sun is by some called the Father of the Winds and especially of the East-wind and the East-wind hath denominations both in the Greek and Latine Tongue as the Margin shews implying that it is much as it were under the dominion of the Sun It is said Jonah 4.8 that The Lord at the Sun-rising commanded or prepared a vehement East-wind to blow upon the head of Jonah As if the rising of the Sun had some power in the bâinging the East-wind and without all doubt the East-wind as one elegantly describes it at that time by Gods Call fought under the banner of the Sun and was confederate with him for the affliction of that angry Prophet Jonah The East-wind is a vehement wind a drying wind a scorching wind Exod. 14.21 When the Lord lead the people of Israel through the Red Sea it is said He commanded a strong East wind to blow all night and divided the Sea The East-wind it seems was the most proper instrument to serve the Providence of God in dividing or scattering and then in gathering the waters of the Sea as here the light is said to scatter the East-wind upon the Earth Mr. Broughton renders these words as expressing the natural aptitude of the wind to spread it self thus And which way the East-wind scattereth it self over the Earth That is which way it will scatter or in what Country it will blow The winds are of a most diffusive nature they scatter themselves they disperse and pass through the air with much violence and vehemence But I shall not stay upon that The main scope and purpose of the Lord in putting this question being onely this To shew that as the light take it either for the lightning or for the light of the Sun is in the hands of God so also that the wind even the East-wind is at his dispose too Hence Note Winds the most vehement and violent winds are under the power of God He who commands the light commands the winds Prov. 30.4 He gathereth the winds in his fist he comprehends them all in his hand 'Ts a wonderful expression of the power of God that he hath the loose winds as fast as a man hath that which he gripes in his fist and 't is at the opening of his hand that they pass forth Whatever natural causes there are of the winds we must look beyond them all at the power of God as the cause reigning over all other causes Christ John 3. treating with Nicodemus about that most spiritual Doctrine of Regeneration or the New Birth to shew how free an agent the Spirit of God is in it compares his workings to that of the Wind of which he saith vers 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth which yet we are not to understand as if the winds did blow at randome or were carried out by their own power and impression Christ speaks of the wind there as if it had a will or wilfulness rather but we are to understand it thus The wind bloweth where it listeth for any thing man can do or say to it let man say what he will let man do what he can the wind blows where it listeth The wind is not under the controul or command of any man no not of the mightiest Prince on Earth yet it bloweth not absolutely where it self but where God listeth The power and skill of all the men in the World cannot alter oâ controul the wind Some indeed have traded with Witches for winds as if they had the command of them yet know it is onely the Lords chusing their delusions or his giving them up to those delusions and wickednesses which their hearts chuse if at any time any gain a breath of winâ by trading with them We should onely look by faith and trade with him by pâayer for the managing and disposing of the winds it is he that scattereth the East-wind over the Earth Knowest thou how the East-winds are scattered over the Earth or by what way the Lord scattereth the East-wind over the Earth Hence Note Secondly The way of the Wind is a secret to man as well as the way of the Light The Lord Christ sheweth mans ignorance with respect to the way of the wind John 3.8 Thou hearest the sound thereof but thou knowest not whence it cometh nor whither it goeth Which we are not to understand as if when a man perceives the wind to blow he did not know whence or out of what part of the compasse it comes or towards what point it goes We know when it comes from the East and when it comes from thence we know
not a Country of Mountains or Hills Now saith the Lord even as Egypt by the drawing of Water-courses is made fruitful and abundantly supplied with moisture though no rain falls there so I will water the Wilderness with rain from the clouds as well as they water Egypt Nemo aratorum in Egypto respicit coelum Sen. l. 4. Natur. quest c. 2. Plinius in Panegyr Te propter nullos tellus tuo postulat imbres Arida nec pluvio supplicat herbâ fovi Tibul. by sluces from the river Nilus Egypt grew very proud or atheistical rather because they had such an advantage by the river which caused one of the Ancients to say There is never a Plow-man in Egypt will so much as look up to Heaven They took not themselves at all beholding to God for the fertillity of their land they had it all from Nilus Well saith the Lord I will moisten the very barren wildernesse it shall be satisfied with rain even as Egypt with the waters of the river The Desert shall be as well watered by rivers from heaven as Egypt is by the river Nilus But whether the Lord had any respect to that or no I dare not assert yet it is plain that the Lord waters the wilderness where no man is even as well as Egypt is watered Now forasmuch as the rain cometh upon the wilderness where 't is very improbâble to have rain Vapores plâviosi elevantur maximè ex locis âumidis unde siâubes plâviae non impellerentur à ventis sequeretur quòd nunquam in loâis siccis plueretur Aquin. because vapours which are the matter of rain are raised uâually from moist places from the seas and rivers but from the wilderness and from heaths and deserts which are dry places how should vapours rise yet saith God though there is no rain begotten there yet I will send rain thither I will cause the wind to rise and carry the clouds and the thundeâ shall break the clouds and they shall pour down wateâs upon the wilderness Did not the Lord cause the winds to d ive the clouds over wildernesses and desert places and there to unburthen themselves they would be altogether without rain Hence Note Where Nature denies or natural causes produce no rain God can give it The clouds may deny rain to the wildernesse because the wilde ness yiâlds no moisture to make clouds yet the Lord sends rain thither Again Consider the wilderness and desert places as they are here hâld forth together with the providence of God concerning them And so Note The care and providence of God extends it self to all places even to places uninhabited It is no wonder that God should provide rain so places that aâe inhabi ed but where no man is there to water the eaâth to what puâpose is that yet the Lord will water such places as it were by his own hand and as 't is said Psal 107.35 Turn the wilderness into standing water and dry ground into Water-springs Though there be no man to eat the fruit which the rain produceth from the earth of which the Text speaks afterward yet God will send rain to make that land fruitful for the beasts sake that they may have grass and green things to feed upon God will provide for the beasts of the earth where there are no men to provide for them nor to be provided for God is a great House-keeper He nourisheth all living creatures as well as men as he preserves so he feeds the beasts of the Earth and the fishes of the Sea as well as men Psal 104.27 These all wait upon thee O Lord that thou maist give them their meat in due season the very fishes in the Sea wait upon God for their meat and so do fowls of the air together with all things moving upon the face of the Earth Psal 145.15 The eyes of all wait upon thee and thou givest them meat in due season and that he may do so he gives them rain in due season He causeth it to rain on the Earth where no man is and upon the wildernesse where there is no man God hath beasts to provide for where men are not and he will not let a beast that he hath made want food the very worms shall have a support of life Hence Christ argues away all undue care and thoughtfulnesse in man for the succours of this life Matth. 6.25 26. Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink nor yet for your body what ye shall put on Behold the fowls of the air for they sowe not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet your heavenly Father feedeth them are ye not much better than they Surely ye are therefore ye shall be better provided for than they Hath God a break-fast ready for every little bird that comes chirping out of her Nest Hath he a break-fast ready for every beast in the Wildernesse that comes out of his den and will he not much more provide for you O ye of little faith How encouraging an argument is this to our Faith that the Lord will provide for all men and especially for his own seeing he provides for the fowls of the air and the beasts of the earth where there is no man to give them any food or take any care of them This consideration may strengthen our dependance on God though we are brought into a Wilderness condition where there is no man to pity us or give us a morsel of bread Surely the Lord that feeds the wild beasts where there is no man can and will provide for his own people when the hearts of all men are shut up against them he can make the fowls of the air and the beasts of the earth to bring them food as the ravens did to Elijah Further This is an instance of the inexhaustible treasure of the Lords goodness For if he giveth rain in the wilderness for the beasts of the earth may we not thence infer surely the Lord will take care even of those who are unworthy What have the beasts deserved at the hand of God that he should provide for them Yea the Lord doth not onely give food to those that are of no desert as the beasts but to those that are of ill desert he gives rain to those who are but beasts in the shape of men men of beastly spirits The Lord feeds the Lions and the Bears the Tygers and the Swine of the World that is men like them he causeth his rain to fall upon the just and unjust Matth. 5.45 Satius est prodesse malis propter bonos quam bonis âcesse propter malos Sen. de Benef. lib. 4. cap. 28. He will rather give good to the bad for the goods sake than be wanting to the good because of the wickedness of the bad and therefore the rain comes not onely upon the just but upon the unjust too This is true also in a spiritual way The
of cold There have been such Frosts and Freezings that great waters mighty rivers yea some parts of the Sea have been turned into a stone Houses have been built upon these congealed waters and Battels have been fought upon them Strabo l. 2. The Army of King Mithridates overcame the enemy in a pitcht Battel upon the Ice And 't is fresh in memory how the late King of Sweden a few years since passed his Army over an arm of the Sea Danubius ripas golu jungit duratusque glacie ingentia tergo bella transportat Plin. in Panegyr in his wat with Denmark So fierce and violent is the cold in some parts of Muscovia that a mans spittle is frozen say some in its passage from his lips to the ground much more may it be so with cold water sprinkled in the Air. Now as the power of God is great in hardning that which is soft Concrescunt subitae currenti in flumine crustae Vndaque jam tergo ferratos sustinet orbes puppibus illa prius patulis nunc hospita plaustris Virg. l. 3. Georg. so in softning that which is hard He that turns water into a stone can turn stones into water So the Psalmist expresseth the miracle of bringing water out of the rock for Israel in the wilderness Psal 114.7 8. Tremble thou Earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob which turned the rock into a standing water the flint into a fountain of waters This is a glorious work the turning of a visible rock into water but the work of God is more glorious in softning a hard heart or in turning the rocky heart of an impenitent sinner or the invisible rock of an impenitent sinners heart into the waters of godly sorrow working repentance not to be repented of We should much more magnifie the power of God when we see hearts of stone melted and dissolved into those spiritual waters than when though that be a mighty work of God we see the natural waters turned into or as the Text gives it hid as with a stone or when we see as it followeth in the Text that The face of the deep is frozen That is the uppermost part of the deep is frozen and I conceive the Lord puts this in the face of the deep to shew that the cold hath not only power in the shallow standing waters but in that which is deep and deep to amazement so deep that it is called The Deep as if all other waters were but shallows compared with that So then not ponds only and rivers and shallow waters but the face of the deep where one would think the Frost could have no power is frozen The Hebrew is The face of the deep is taken The word notes taking as a Captive or Prisoner is taken Quasi ligata captivata esset The Lord takes the face of the deep Capâive and holds it as his Prisoner during pleasure They who inhabit or travel to the Northern Climes have so mââh experience that the face of the deep is frozen that I need not further insist upon any proof of it nor shall I further treat of these effects of Cold Frost and Ice as considered in a natural way Onely for the close of all and a little improvement of them in a moral or spiritual way we may consider them in a twofold resemblance First Ice and Frost resemble all humane things The things of this world are they not like a Sea of Ice that is First Very slippery Secondly Very Uncertain how long they will last or continue Some conceive that the Sea of glasse like unto Chrystal which was represented unto St John in Vision Rev. 4.6 15.2 signified the state of the world which is like a Sea because of the tumultuousness of it and like a Sea of glasse because of the brittleness of it and a Sea of glasse like Chrystal because of the clearness and transparency of it to God he sees quite thorow it to him all things are naked and manifest Such a thing is the world 't is a frozen Sea especially for the slipperiness and uncertainty of it For though the Sea be turned into a stone yet no man knows how soon a Thaw may dissolve it back again into water The things of this world suffer sudden changes Though men have worldly estates like to mountains of stone or rocks yet the Lord can make these mountains these rocks melt at and flow down at his presence Isa 64.2 The greatest mountains of worldly power and riches which seem to be as hard as rocks as compact as mountains of Adamant are yet but like mountains of Ice before the Lord if he let forth but a little heat of his anger and displeasure against them they melt like wax before the fire or like a heap of snow before the Sun and slow down presently like water Should we see men building upon the Ice as some have done in a proper sense we would presently say they build upon a very unsure foundation They who build their hopes upon any person or thing in this world are no wiser and do no better than they who build upon the Ice All things here below are uncertain they may yea they must soon melt and pass away from us or we from them Secondly Ice and Frost the cold season of which the Text speaketh resembles a state of affliction and adversity that 's Ice that 's Frost As warm Sun-shine resembles a state of prosperity so Cold and Frost a state of adversity and so it doth in a four-fold respect Fiâst Because Frost or Cold is unpleasant and pinching to the body eâpâcially to weak and tender bodies No chastening saith tââ Apostle Heb. 12.11 for the present seemeth to sense and slâââ to be joyous ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã but grievâus or as the Greek strictly seemeth to be of joy but grief Secondly Ice and Frost continue not they are but for a season a ânaw will come The afflâcted state of a godly man is unpleasing yet not lasting to be sure not everlasting Though some Fâoâts hold longer than others yet none hold alwayes Summer will come and usually where winter is fiercest Summer Heyl. Geog. for a recompence is pleasantest Oâ Modern Geographer having described the sharpness of Winter in Muscovia concludes thus Sâch is their Winter neither is their Summer less miraculous For the huge Seas of Ice which in a manner covered the whole surface of the Country are at first approach of the Sun suddenly d ssolved the waters quickly dried up and the Earth dressed in her Holy-day Apparel such a mature growth of fruits such flâurishâng of he bs such chirping âf birds aâ if it were a peâpetual spring And that the Church of God after a sad and cold winter of affl ction is relieved by a sweet and comfortable manner of proâperity is set forth in the highest stâains and most beautiful slowres of divine Rhetorick
duly given Mat. 18.18 Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Where man binds in Gods way God binds too and where man looses in Gods way God looses too but take it either in natural or spiritual things it is not in the power of man to bind where God looseth nor to loose where God bindeth Canst thou loose the bands of Orion If God appoint cold to bind the earth man cannot loose it and if God will bind man with the cords and cold iron of any affliction man cannot free himself In the hottest natural season of the year man may be in cold providential bands and under them he must abide till the Lord breaks the frost and set him free It is said of Joseph Psal 105.17 18 19. He was sold for a servant his feet were hurt with fetters he was laid in iron or as the Margin reads it His soul came into iron But how came he out did he himself loose the bands of that Orion who cast him into prison surely no the Text tells us otherwise he lay fast enough in bands until ver 19. the word of the Lord came the word of the Lord tryed him But what was this Word of the Lord some say it was the word of God to Pharoah in a dream concerning the seven years of plenty and famine which may be said to try Joseph none but he could interpret it that may be said to unloose his bands because it was the occasion of his deliverance and advancement But I rather conceive the word that came was the word of Gods decree and promise made to Joseph in a dream for his advancement above all his brethren Gen. 37.6 7 8. When once the time came that this Word of God must come to be fulfilled then the bands of Orion were loosed for then saith the Psalmist ver 20. The King sent and loosed him even the Ruler of the people and let him go free And as it was with Joseph so with Job and so will ever be If the cold winter blasts of any adversity bind up our comforts either in our callings or relations there is no unloosing them unâil the word of the Lord come Solomon giveth this counsel Eccles 7.13 14. Consider the work of God that is his working in the world The reason of this counsel follows For who can make that strait which he hath made crooked Solomon intends this specially of the dealings of God in the world not that there is any crookedness or unrighteousness any iniquity or injustice in the ways of God but he means by crooked that which is troublesom and grievous Now if God himself make a thing crooked till he himself make it strait it is not in the power of all the men in the world to do it The moral sense of that Text is the very same with the point in hand If God bind who can loose There is no striving no contending with the providences of God we must deal with and apply to God himself for the altering of them we cannot alter them our selves we must desire him to mend his work we cannot This Solomon plainly intimates in the next or 14. verse In the day of prosperity be joyful but in the day of adversity consider in a time of adversity things grow crooked and awry from what we would have and desire or from what is comfortable to us for God hath set the one over against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him Sometimes he makes things crooked sometimes strait sometimes he gives a day of prosperity sometimes of adversity that no man may be able to say directly what shall be next And seeing there is no loosing the bands of Orion till God himself loose them therefore let all who are companions in tribulation say one to another as they in a like case are represented Hosea 6.1 Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath wounded and he will heal he hath torn and he will bind us up Oâ as this Text speaks He hath bound us and he will loâsen us Thirdly From both the paâts of the verse considered together these negatives upon man must be resolved into affirmatives as to God He can bind the sweet influences of Pleiades he can loose the bands of Oâion Whence note God can both stop the ordinary course of our comforts and deliver us from our troubles when he pleaseth God can stop those things from comforting us and those persons from shewing us any favour whose dispositions are as benigne to us as Pleiades are to the earth and he can give us favour in their eyes who naturally are as churlish as Nabal and as sharp as Orion to the earth He can make a Wolf a Shepherd and those a safety to his servants whose hearts were to swallow them up The earth shall help the woman that is the worst of the world the Church God made Ravens feed Eliah 1 Kings 17.4 And he said of Cyrus whom he calls a ravenous Bird Isa 46.11 He is my Shepherd Isa 44.28 Thus the Lord looseth the bands of Orion And when he hardens their hearts against us who formerly were tender towards us or when he turns their hearts to hate us who formerly loved us and shewed us favour then the Lord may be said to bind the sweet influences of Pleiades What sweet influences of favour did the people of Israel receive from Pharoah and the Egyptians at their first coming thither and long after yet afterwards what grievous Task-masters were they to them their favours were all restrained and changed into yokes and bands whence was this The Psalmist answers fully Psal 105.25 He that is God turned their heart that is the heart of the Egyptians to hate his people to deal subtilly with his servants and cruelly too Thus the Power and Name of God is both wayes magnified Whenas we have the most benigne Pleiades dropping down sweet influences upon us God can stop them and when we have the hardest bands of Orion upon us the Lord is able to loose them This glory is due to God in all the changes which we meet with in this world whether from good to bad from the favours to the frowns of men or from bad to good from their frowns to their favours from their bands to their embraces all is of God And I conceive the scope of God in these questions was chiefly to bring Job to that conclusion The next verse bears the same sense Vers 32. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season or canst thou guide Arcturus and his Sons This also is a denying Question Canst thou thou canst not bring forth Mazzaroth in his season The word rendred to bring forth is applyed First to the birth or bringing forth of children Gen. 15.4 Secondly to the earths bringing forth flowers fruits Judg. 13.14 Thirdly to the rising of the Sun or
obeyed This readiness at the call of God David professed from his own experience Psal 27.8 When thou saidst seek ye my face my heart said unto thee thy face Lord will I seek That is as thou hast commanded that I should worship thee so I do or what thou O Lord sayest is my desire thy command is not only the resolution but the request and supplication of my soul We have the like readiness of that holy Prophet Isaiah who after the Angel with a coal from the Altar had touched his lips and cleansed him from his filthiness hearing the Lord enquire for a messenger Whom shall I send presently answered as the lightning in the Text Here am I send me Is 6.8 Lord I am ready to go whithersoever thou wilt send me This should be in some measure is the temper of all believers though they may have to their sorrow find many reluctancies and stops yet this is in the heart of every true believer to be ready at the call of God to say Here I am When the Apostle Paul had a call to preach the gospel of Christ which once he persecuted Immediately saith he Gal. 1.16 I conferred not with flesh and blood he made no delayes much less any excuses least of all any dânials but was obedient to the heavenly Vision As soon as he had that vision and call from God to go and preach the Gospel he never stood reasoning and conferring with flesh and blood he put no questions he asked not this or that mans opinion whether it were best for him to go or not neither did he confer with the flesh and blood in his own heart he conferred not with himself he consulted not his own safety nor any carnal interests but did as he was commanded And unless we do thus not only will the ordinary practise of servants to Masters rise up in judgement against us Mat. 8.9 I am a man under authority said the Centurion having soldiers under me I have a superior officer and I have inferior soldiers and I say to one go and he goeth and to another come and he cometh Such is or ought to be the carriage of soldiers and servants towards their Superiors Now I say unless we readily obey the voice of God not only will the daily practise of servants but the practise if I may so speak of the lightnings from the clouds will rise up in judgement against us and condemn us Shall a servant say Here I am at the call of man Shall the lightning say here I am at the call of God and shall not man say so at Gods call Shall men put questions to Gods commands Shall they query Will the world bear it if I do this or will this stand with my ease and profit with my credit or commodity when God requires it If any do so the lightning may flash in the face of their consciences and not only blast them as stubborn and disobedient but brand them for foolish and unwise or at least for want of wisdom about which the question is put to Job in the next verse Vers 36. Who hath put wisdom into the inward parts and who hath given understanding to the heart Some Interpreters conceive that at this verse the Lord enters discourse with or begins to question Job concerning living creatures and beginning here with man the chiefest of visible living creatures he proceeds to inferior living creatures the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the air as followeth in the 39th Chapter Yet the very next verse offers a great objection against this opinion for there return is made to the former matter the works of nature Vers 37. Who can number the clouds in wâsâom or who can stay the bottles of heaven And therefore I rather conceive that this 36th verse is to be joyned with the two former already opened as if here the Lord would convince man that as he hath not power sufficient to command so not wisdom enough to dispose either of the Rain or of the Lightnings under which by a Synechdoche all other creatures may be comprehended As if God had said Whatever wisdom man hath is of my putting into him now I have not given him wisdom enough nor taught him how to order and dispose the clouds and lightnings and if I have not given him wisdom for these things whence should he have it So then according to this way of interpâetation the 37th verse which followeth gives a reason why man cannot attain to this priviledge the government of the clouds the disposal of rain and lightnings even because God hath not given him any such wisdom All the wisdom which man hath is the gift of God but God hath not given man wisdom to order the clouds and lightnings therefore he hath no such wisdom Who hath pât wisdom into the inward parts Wiââââ may be taken either generally for knowledge which is the ãâã of the mind and may be called speculative knowledgââ ãâã pââticularly for prudence which is practical knowledge in the duâ ordering and manage of things before us Who hath puâ wâsâââ ãâã either sort Into the inward parts The word which we translate inward parts signifies sometimes the Reins and sometimes the Heart The Chaldee paraphrase renders Who hath put wisdom into the heart The matter is not much to which of them we determine it for though the heart in Scripture is usually put for the seat of wisdom and the Reins for the seat of the affections yet David saith My reins instruct me in the night season Psal 16.7 To instruct or teach is properly the work of wisdom The word is well rendred by us the inward parts for that takes in all wisdom lyeth within Psal 51.6 Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom The inward parts in the foâmer part of that verse and the hidden part in the latter are the same by both or either he means his soul in all the faculties or operations of it And indeed neither the Reins not the Heart nor any nor all the members of the body are properly oâ strictly wisdoms seat Wisdom is lodged in the soul in the man of man as some call it and therefore that must needs be intended here Sapientia non tantum in cordeâsed in renibus aliquo modo posita est ie Quòd omnis hominis affectus à divina quadam sapientia irradietur Coc. Renes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vocantur ut quidam volent quia sunt oblitae adipe Drus. but because Naturalists speak of wisdom as lodged and exercised in bodily parts some placing it in the heart some in the head others in the reins therefore we may well place it as our Translation expresseth it in the inward parts The original word strictly imports that which is covered over the root is rendred to cover and Grammarians give this reason of it because the reins and
done with it even before him who hath put all their wisdome into them Who hath put wisdom into the inward parts Or who hath given understanding to the heart ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã âppâllatio est cordis vel mentis à ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quod est prospicere unde ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã picturae quae prospiciuntur dictae metaphortcè picturae seu prospectus cordis i. e imaginationes seu species reriâ quae veâuti in corde pinguntur vel à delineatione conceptuum animi Merc. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Thargum interpretatur ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã cordi à ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quod est prospicereâ sic vocatur cor quia speculatur considerat omnia Drus Quisdedit gallo intelligentiam Vulg. This latter part of the Verse is of the same sence with the former only it is doubled to shew the certainty of the thing understanding in the heart is the same with wisdom in the inward parts Yet here is a word in the Original used for the heart different from what is commonly used and so occasions a difference among Interpreters and Translaters Grammarians derive it from a word that signifieth to look or behold to see and and foresee and the Noune signifieth a picture because pictures are pieces of art which draw all mens eyes to behold and look upon them and the heart is therefore exprest by this word because it forms and as it were by its imaginative faculty draws the picture of all things in it self or because in the heart or mind of man the forms of all things are represented Mans imagination delineates and shapes a thousand varieties within it self or man hath the picture and prospect of all matters in his heart and therefore the same word signifies the heart and a picture drawn and delineated to the life That 's the force of the word which here we render heart The Latine translation renders at a great distance from us yet the letter of the Text may bear that reading also Who hath given understanding to the Cock Interpreters following this translation conceive that here the Lord begins to question Job about irrational living creatures Having said who hath put wisdom into the inward parts to wit of man he now adds who hath given understanding to the Cock The same word that signifieth the heart signifies also a Cock as the heart foreseeth and looketh upon things afar off so the Cock foreseeth the rising of the Sun and the break of day and therefore hath his name from his fore-sight They who follow this Translation speak many things of the wonderful fore-sight of the Cock and surely God hath placed a natural wisdom in that creature constantly to understand the hours of the night A Cock is a natural clock to any family he hath his first and second and third crowings Talmundici in Judaicis precationibus dicunt at docent cum gallus canit dicendum esse Laudetur qui gallo dat intelligentiam Gallus enim haud dubio non aliunde quam à Deo didicit noctis momenta disâernere proclivius tamen estut pro corde exponamus Merc. Plin l. 10 c. 21. Cantavit Galluâ non ut tempora distingueret sed ut petrus paenitereâ Ambros and having a kind of natural instinct concerning the course and return of the Sun he claps his wings and crows as rejoycing at his coming and willing to awaken all to entertain him and prepare themselves for labour study and business at his approach But I shall not stay upon this And the general stream of interpreters keeps in the former channel expounding this latter part of the Verse as the former with respect to man Who hath given understanding to the heart It is a truth I grant which the Jewish Talmudists teach that God is to be praised who hath given such understanding to the Cock that he is able to distinguish the hours of the night and tell us of the approaching day that it surprize us not like sluggards unawares The natural Histoâian reports the useful qualities of the Cock And one of the Antients wittily takes notice of the Cocks crowing in the Gospel which awakened Peter according to Christs prediction Before the Cock crow twice thou shalt deny we thrice The Cock saith he was a Preacher to call Peter to repentance Christ made use of a Cock to press that eminenâ Disciple into a conviction of and sorrow for his sin for at the crowing of the Cock he remembred the words of Christ went out and wept bitterly But that the question propounded to Job in this Verse concernes the wisdom given to man not to beasts or birds is plainly proved by the questions put him in the two Verses following Which shew that though God hath given man wisdom sufficient for many great purposes yet not for the purpose there expressed as not for several other purposes Vers 37 38. Who can number the clouds in wisdom or who can stay the bottles of heaven when the dust groweth into hardness and the clouds cleave fast together In these two Verses we have two questions more propounded by God to Job The first whereof is about the numbring ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã the second though under another title about the stopping of the clouds Who can number the clouds in wisdom The word rendred clouds is sometimes translated heavens and so a learned Interpreter gives it here to which he adds this gloss Quis tam prudenter fecit caelus eo numero quo sunt Vatabl. Who hath made the heavens with such wisdom in that number wherein they are who can number them The word rendred number signifieth both to number things Arithmetically and to demonstrate them Logically and it may be taken in either or both senses here who can number the clouds in wisdom that is who hath wisdom sufficient to tell how many clouds there are Man hath not arithmetick enough to number them The clouds are many in their sorts or kinds and they are many more in their singulaââ or if I may so speak individuals there are many sorts of clouds and there are many of every fort as there are many sorts of living creatures and very many of every sort so of the clouds we may as well number the waves of the sea or the stars as the clouds of heaven If we look up to one part of heaven we may see more clouds than we can number how great then is the number of the clouds in the whole circumference of the heavens Again taking the word as it signifieth to demonstrate logically or to declare the question imports thus much Who can clearly and perfectly set forth the nature of the clouds or the various effects which they produce and services which they are imployed in Who can either in the former sense or in this number the stars of heaven Hence note The wisest among men can neither exactly tell how many the clouds are nor fully demonstrate what
two interpretations First Some expound it of staying the rain when there is most need of rain or when the earth wants it most or in a time of drought For then the earth groweth hard like a molten-pillar and the clods thereof cleaving one to another make clefts in the body of the earth In a time of great drought the earth at once cleaves asunder and runs closet together as it were to succour it self Who stayeth the bottles of heaven when the earth is chapt and gapes for rain to soften and cool it Surely man doth it not nor can he be said to do it unless meritoriously It is God alone who efficiently stays the clouds from rain in a time of drought or when the necessities of the earth call aloud for it Taking the words in this sense Observe God can stop any of our mercies as here the rain when we have most need of them I saith the Lord Amos 4.7 have withholden the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest and I caused it to rain upon one City and caused it not to rain upon another City one piece was rained upon and the piece whereupon it rained not withered One months drought before harvest threatens a scarsity or dearth of Corn but two yea three months drought must needs usher in a dreadful famine Voceâ ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã âââo sermentâtiââm âerbo ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quâd ââgnificat âârmentari atque intâmescere E. Pisc The second interpretation of these words seems yet more clear Who can stay the bottles of heaven when the dust groweth into hardness and the clods cleave fast together that is who but God can stop rain when there is no farther need of rain As it the Loâd had said When the bottles of heaven have given out so much rain as may sit the earth for fruit-bearing or when the ground hath had its fill so that the light dust is turned into lumps of earth and that dust which was raised and tossed with every breath of wiâd is clodded and agglutinated by water into a massie substance when I say 't is thus with the earth who can stay or stop the bottles of heaven from raining more to the spâil of all but my self So then the true use of rain is held forth in this 38. vers namely that the dust of the earth being moistened with rain may coalesce or be joyned close together This I conceive is the most natural and proper sense of the Text. For the earth which by drought was cruâbled into dust rain falling plentifully upon it is knit again into one body like meal or flower into which leven is put and so is made ready to receive Humore aquae terrae puries continentur uniuntur quae ante disjunctae fuerant Merc. Vt perfusio sit formentandae terrae ut conglutinentur glebae Jun. Trans I. e. ut terram quum pulverulenta est ab ariditate immissis pluviis sermentet ad glebarum comâagem rerum ex ea nascentium alimentum Jun. nourish and b ing forth whatever grain is cast into the bosome of it Rain falling upon the dust embodies it The ground moulders in a time of drought but when rain comes that hardens it The dust as we commonly say slyes before but as drought cleaves the earth so rain causeth the parts to unite anâ then the earth which like a heap of sand would not hang together becomes solid and fit for tillage Now when so much rain hath fallen as prepares the earth and as the word imports fermentates or levens it to receive the seed cast into it then who stayeth the bottles of heaven Hence note First Rain compacts the earth As moisture loosens compacted things so it compacts or knit together loose things The earth is soon made dust by droughts and it would be a very dust-heap if it had no moisture to reunite it The Lord threatens his people in case of disobedience Deut. 28.24 to make the rain of their Land powder and dust that is they should have dust and powder instead of water Long drought turns the earth to dust In this learn how great a mercy there is in rain Secondly note The Lord knows when the earth hath had sufficient rain And therefore unless in judgement he will not let the clouds run wast he will stay his bottles from letting down one drop more when once the dust by rain falling upon it groweth into hardness and the clods cleave fast together Note Thirdly 'T is a mercy when the earth hath enough that God stops the bottles As it is a duty when we have drank enough to stop the bottle that is to give over drinking so 't is a mercy that the Lord stops the bottles when the earth hath drank enough When the earth hath enough the Lord sometimes will not stop the bottles of heaven but lets them pour down rain till the fruits of the earth are utterly spoyled and this he doth for the punishment of mans sin always and sometimes for the punishment of those special sins mans unthankfulness for and abuse of the fruits of the earth that is because he did not stay the bottle when he had taken enough Now if the Lord knows when to give rain and when to stop it with respect to husbandry and the natural fruits of the earth then doubtless he knows and will take care to give rain for the souls of his people when they have need Psal 68.2 Thou O God didst send a plentiful rain whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance when it was weary which is specially meant of spiritual rain There are bottles of heaven which water souls The Preachers of the word are those bottles or clouds which hold and destil the mystical rain the Lord will not stop them till he sees the hearts of men made fit to bring forth the fruits of righteousness holiness he will not stop I say that spiritual rain till this be effected unless in judgement to a people that have despised the rain and slighted those showers of divine doctrine against such the Lord will stop the bottles of heaven then their souls turn to dust and their hearts become hard as rocks or like the mountains upon which neither rain nor dew falls fruitless and barren of every good word and work JOB Chap. 38. Vers 39 40 41. 39. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the Lion or fill the appetite of the young Lions 40 When they couch in their dens and abide in the covert to lie in wait 41. Who provideth for the Raven his food when his young ones cry unto God they wander for lack of meat THe Lord having by a multitude of questions proposed to Job concerning inanimates or creatures without life such as are the Earth the Sea the Heavens the Clouds and Meteors having I say by these questions convinced him of his weakness and insufficiency as also of the transcendent power and wisdom which abideth
he waits for the innocent he draws him into his net he first entangles him and then devours him David gives a like description of evil men in another place Psal 17.11 12. They have now compassed us in our steps they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth like as a Lion that is greedy of his prey and as it were a young Lion lurking in secret places These Scriptures plainly shew the natural subtlety of the Lion waiting in his covert that he may do mischief unawares and that in this piece of mischievous policy wicked men are not behind him they shew as plainly Thirdly Whereas in the former verse the Lion is said to hunt his prey in the field and this in to abide in his covert to lye in wait for it Observe What some cannot do by strength they do by craft We say of craft or power 't is hard to say which is most dangerous or undesirable in an enemy Where these two meet where craft power ability and subtilty are joyned what will they not do We may say of men in whom these are united as the Lord said concerning the men of the new world soon after the Flood who were united in heart and tongue the people are one and they have all one language nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do Gen. 11.6 The devil is alwayes like a Lion both strong and subtle He is so strong that he sometimes hunts his prey as I may say in open field and overcomes by fine force He is so crafty that at other times he knows 't is best for him to abide in his covert and lie in wait to catch souls He goeth about like a roaring Lion saith the Apostle Peter 1 Epist 5.8 but he is craftier than to roar always like a Lion when he goeth about seeking whom he may devour he often fawns and flatters he useth his wits and puts tricks upon poor souls whom he would devour We saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 2. are not ignorant of his devices Christ adviseth all his Disciples to joyn the wisdom of the Serpent with the innocency of the Dove subtilty and honesty craft and innocency working together work well or make good work But where there is the strength and craft of a Lion without a dove-like integrity what sad work do men make Godly men or men truly fearing God sometimes have the wisdom of the serpent together with their dove-like innocency and when to both the former the Lions strength is joyned what good may they not do they may do as we say a world of good in an evil world Fourthly In that the Lion coucheth in his den and retireth sometimes to his covert we may take notice of the good providence of God towards man God hath ordered it that the Lion coucheth all day in his den and is quiet that men may go out quietly to their labour The Psalmist commends the providence of God in this Psal 104.20 21 22. Thou makest darkness and it is night wherein all the beasts of the Forrest do creep forth the young Lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God Thus they are roaring and raging for their prey all night but how is it with them or what do they in the day The next words tell us The Sun riseth they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens Then it follows Man goeth forth to his work and to his labour until the evening Such is the care of God that he clears fields and Countries of these ravenous beasts that man may go safely to his work and not be troubled When the Lion comes forth in the day 't is usually to execute some judgement of God witness that of the Prophet who going out of Gods way God told him by another Prophet a Lion shall meet thee and tear thee and so it came to pass a Lion met him and executed the judgement of God upon him because he went beyond the command he had received from God 1 King 13.24 We read also that God sent Lions to vex the people continually when they fell to idolatry and false worship 2 King 17.26 It was of the Lord that Lions which used to keep their covert in the day time were so bold as to come by day to their houses and destroy them And such is the mighty power of God that though hungry Lions are altogether for prey yet God can stop their mouths and check their appetite Dan. 6.8 When Daniel was cast into the Lions den amongst a company of hungry Lions yet not one touched him but were as meek to him as so many lambs whereas no sooner were his enemies and accusers let down into that den but they brake their bones before they came to the ground Thus much of the Lion a King among the beasts of the earth The Lords next question concerns the Raven none of the best if not one of the worst among the birds of the Air. Vers 41. Who provideth for the Raven his food When his young ones cry unto God they wander for lack of meat As the Lion is a devourer among beasts so is the Raven among birds The Lion as was said is so curious that he will not feed upon a carcase in the way but the Raven feeds upon any dead or corrupted body and that is the reason why in many great Cities there 's a Law or custom that Raven sneer them shall not be shot at nor terrified because they eat up the filth and carrion which might infect the air and breed pestilential diseases Now the Lord puts the question Who provideth for the Raven As if he had said I provide not only for the Kingly Lion but for the carrion-eating Raven The Lord made provision of food for Lions and Ravens for all sorts of beasts and birds and creeping things in the work of Creation and in his works of providence he makes all things ready and brings them to hand for their use and sustentation He as it were dresseth and disheth out meat for all his creatures and then sets it before them that they may eat and be satisfied Who provideth for the Raven The Hebrew word rendred provideth hath two significations Verbum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã notat indulgentissimam creatoris providentiam non solum necessaria sed etiam usque ad delicias which wonderfully set forth the care of God towards this creature First the certainty of their provision for the word signifies to establish as if the Lord did give them a necessary settled or constant diet Secondly It notes the sutableness and pleasingness of their food to their nature and constitution yea to their gust and appetite as if the Lord fitted their food as we say to their tooth or palate and gave them not only meat but savoury meat to them like that which Isaac bespake of his son Esau such as they love for though the food of Ravens be unpleasant to us
life of the Unicorn First By his unwillingness to serve man Secondly By his independence upon man for his livelihood Proceeds to confirm and illustrate the same thing the stoutness or pride of the Unicorn and so his utter unserviceableness unto man by his refusal to be engaged in any of those labours which are necessary to husbandry First The Plowing Secondly The Harrowing of the ground Thirdly The Inning or Bringing home of the corn His refusal of the first of these services we have in the former part of the next or tenth verse Vers 10. Canst thou bind the Vnicorn with his band in the furrow Thou canst not Beasts use to be bound with cords to their work they will hardly else abide by their work Neither reason nor religion binds beasts to their work ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã therefore cords must The word here rendred to bind signifieth very fast and strong binding and such is binding with cords Moses useth the word Deut. 11.18 with respect to the Divine Law which God commanded the people of Israel to bind as frontlets between their eyes and so to hold them fast for ever The word is used also Neh. 4.6 to note the fixing of stones in a Building or Wall by Lime Cement or Morter And all the Wall was joyned together unto the half thereof that is the Wall was fastened and cemented half high Now saith the Lord Canst thou bind the Vnicorn ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã propriè funis densus crassus cujusmodi est lorum quo boves aut equi ad aratâum ligantur Drus Fune suo forte vau in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã paragogicum est quâle in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã filius aut fune suo dicit quia tunc ipsius erit cum eo Vincietur Drus Canst thou make him fast with his bands The word signifieth a thick and strong band which will hold pulling and not break A three-fold cord saith Solomon Eccles 4.12 is not easily broken Canst thou bind the Vnicorn in his band Some make the Pronoune his in the Hebrew to be only Paragogical without any necessary signification in the construction but I conceive there is somewhat peculiar in it when he saith canst thou bind the Unicorn with his band Every beast hath his special band or way of fastning to his work so that when 't is said Canst thou bind the Vnicorn with his band it seems to sound as if it had been said hast thou a proper band for the Unicorn as I know thou hast for other beasts the Horse Oxe and Ass hast thou a band which will hold him to his work I know among all thy tackling thou hast none will do it he will break thy bands and cast thy cords from him as stubborn and proud men are said to do the bands and cords that is the laws and commands of God Psal 2.2 Many beasts have their bands the Unicorn will have none he will not be bound or if he be he breaks his bands and refuseth to obey either he will not come to hand nor admit bands or cords to be put upon him or he strives against them and casts them off In a word 't is as if the Lord had said Thou canst not get the Vnicorn into his gears as the Husband man speaks thou canst not harness him as thou dost a horse nor yoke him as thou dost an Oxe to Plow or Cart he will not touch thy work Canst thou bind the Vnicorn with his band In the Furrow or for the Furrow or to the Furrow The Plough makes Furrows ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã porca terra inter duos sulcos clata porcam appellant vel quòd frumenta porrigaâ vel quòd aquam porro arceat Drus Sulcus porca lira sunt arationis partes and Furrows laid together make Ridges Both are expressed Psal 65.10 Thou waterest the Ridges thereof abundantly thou setlest the Furrows thereof Canst thou bind the Vnicorn with his band in the Furrow Or will he Harrow the Valleys after thee When the Plough hath laid the Furrows harrowing followeth The Plow leaveth the clods too gross for the reception and growth of the seed therefore the Harrow is imployed to break the Plowed ground yet more and to crumble the clods yet finer We find both these parts of Husbandry set down Isa 28.24 Doth the Plow-man Plow all day to Sow doth he open and break the clods of the ground when he hath made plain the face thereof doth he not cast abroad the fitches c Here 's a description of this work of the husbandman Plowing and Harrowing or making plain the face of the ground all in an allegory intending a very spiritual work of God in breaking and harrowing the heart of man by affliction and making it thereby fit to receive the seed of the Word Thus also spake the Prophet Hos 10.11 Judah shall plow and Jacob shall break his clods that is Jacob shall Harrow The Prophets meaning is that the Lord would bring them into a labouring state of life even into captivity where they must Plow because they had Plowed iniquity and had not Plowed up the Fallow ground of their hearts by repenting of their iniquity Will the Vnicorn Harrow The Vallies after thee Some render the word Furrows which lye like Valleys between the Ridges But the word more properly signifieth Vallies and they are most commonly Plowed and Sowed with Corn as Hills are reserved for Pasture Will he Harrow the Vallies After thee That is will the Unicorn be led by thee The Harrower goeth before the Horse or that which draweth the Harrow and the beast followeth or thus will he Harrow the Valleys After thee That is after thou hast Ploughed them As if the Lord had said will he either be driven or led thou canst not make him Harrow thou canst not lead him on in that work Thus we have the Unicorns refusal of those labours in which other beasts the Oxe and the Horse especially are very commonly used Now for as much as the Husband-mans work is described by Plowing and Harrowing Note First We cannot get our ordinary food without much labour The Husband-mans life is a painful life Plowing and Harrowing are hard labours and what is all this for but to bring forth the necessaries of mans life bread to strengthen mans heart and by consequence what ever else is food for man Adam was commanded to dress the Garden and to keep it Gen. 2.15 Adam was not put into that pleasant Garden only to take his pleasure and to eat the fruit of it but he was put into the Garden to dress it and to keep it Even Adam was to eat upon his labour though not such labour as man now eateth upon that came in by sin after the fall labour was imposed upon man not only as a duty but as a penalty It was imposed upon man before the fall as a duty but it was imposed upon man after the fall as a penalty
Gen. 3.17 18 19. Cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return unto the ground Our ordinary bread is not easily come by remember the Husband-mans labour Hence the Apostle when he would shew what pains God taketh either immediately by the work of his Spirit or mediately by the labour of his Ministers to convert and build up souls in the faith he tells us 1 Cor. 3.9 That we are Gods husbandry and Gods building As if he had said great pains hath been or must be bestowed upon you that your souls may be saved and that ye may bring forth fruits of righteousness unto eternal life The Lord hath his spiritual Plow-men his Labourers his Oxen by these the faithful and industrious Ministers of the Gospel are emblem'd and set forth in the holy Scriptures 1 Cor. 9.10 Rev. 4.7 Note Secondly There is no Sowing without Plowing You must stir up and break the ground before you cast the seed into it 't is not else fit to receive the seed and improve it for a harvest The Scripture speaks first of Plowing then of Sowing Isa 28.24 c. The Plow-man opens the earth and breaks the clods before he casts in his seed the cumin the fitches and the principal wheat He doth not Plow for Plowing sake but for Sowing and when he hath Plowed he leaveth not his work till he hath Sowed what he Plowed This method doth the Lord use in his spiritual husbandry the Plow of repentance must break up the Fallow ground of the heart and the Harrow must smooth the face of the soul before it be fit to bring forth The Spirit makes frequent use of these Metaphors Jer. 4.6 Plow up the Fallow ground of your hearts read also Hosea 10.12 Further Harrowing comes after Plowing and either before or immediatly after sowing there is some variety as to husbandry in this point that the seed sown may be preserved from being devoured by the Fowls of the air it must unless sowed under Furrows be Harrowed Harrowing helps the seed to spring more freely and grow more thrivingly And thus it is also in spiritual husbandry When the seed of the Word is Sown the heart must be Harrowed else the Seed will miscarry In that Parable of the Sower Mat. 13. some seed fell upon the high-way which was neither Plowed nor Harrowed This High-way ground signifieth those careless hearers who receive the Word in a formality only the Fowls of the air evil spirits quickly picked up that because it was not covered by Harrowing Now there are two Harrows by which the Seed of the Word cast into the Vallies and Furrows of our Hearts is covered and secured that it may bring forth fruit to perfection these are meditation and prayer By meditation we hide the word in our hearts and by prayer we obtain a blessing upon it from God both for the securing of it and our fruit-bearing according to it There are two resemblances in Scripture setting forth the use of meditation and prayer about the word received The one is chewing of the cud the other is Harrowing Clean beasts under the Law chewed the cud and wise men both under Law and Gospel Harrow their land a godly man doth both in a spiritual way while he meditates in the Word and prays for a blessing upon it Thus husbandry for our daily bread teacheth us what course the Lord expects we should take for our souls that we may bring forth fruit and answer the end of receiving his Word The Unicorn will not be brought to either of these parts of the Husband-mans labour and his refusal is aggravated in the next Verse by the ability which he hath for both Vers 11. Wilt thou trust in him because his strength is great or wilt thou leave thy labour unto him The Vnicorn hath strength sufficient he is a beast stronger say Naturalists than either the Ox or the Horse but Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great The word notes trusting with much confidence and rest of the mind as 't is said Isa 12.2 I will trust and not be afraid Confidence upon a good ground leads us into a full as well as a good security I will trust and not be afraid for the Lord Jehovah is my strength saith the believing soul in that place But saith the Lord here to Job Wilt thou trust this strong beast without fear or jealousie Wilt thou trust him Because his strength is great The strength or force of his body is great very great but the force or stubbornness of his will that is his wilfulness is far greater ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Propriè significat vigorem illum corporis animalis qui consisit in humido radicali even so great that it will not suffer him to lay out the strength of his body for the service of man We find strength often attributed to the Unicorn in Scripture Numb 23.22 He that is God or Israel through the presence of God with him as was shewed before hath as it were the strength of an Vnicorn 'T is not said he hath as it were the strength of an Horse or of an Ox which are very strong creatures but of an Vnicorn thereby implying that the Unicorn is a creature of such great strength that he knew not where to find a stronger The Unicorn hath strength enough for his work but he hath no mind to his work and therefore wilt thou trust him because his strength is great Hence note First Great strength is required for great work There are some works that are done not so much by strength as by art or as it were by slight of hand such a work a feeble weak man may do but there are other works which require great strength all the wit and skill and learning cunning of men cannot do them unless they have a sutable that is a great portion of strength for the doing of them David Psal 144.14 describing the temporal felicity of his people makes this request for them That our Oxen be strong to labour The labour of the Ox is great and therefore he needs great strength to do his work and go through with his labour Note Secondly They who have great strength may do great works Great strength is a great advantage for service If the Unicorn would imploy and put out his strength he might do much Strength of body is a talent much may be done by that strength of mind is an excellent talent much more very much more may be done by that But when a man hath much strength of body and mind together what may not he do Let those who have much strength consider how they use it For a man to have the strength of an Unicorn much bodily strength and make no use of it is to become more beastly than the Unicorn A strong man rejoyceth to run
though women should turn Ostriches and forget their own issue yet will I not forget thee that is I will have thee in everlasting remembrance as it followeth in the next words of the Prophet vers 16. Behold I have graven thee upon the palmes of my hands thy walls are continually before me And as the Lord will not forget his Sion the Church nor leave her to the danger of being crusht by every foot so whatever is left to hazard or danger whether First by any unreasonable creature as here in the Text Or secondly by unreasonable and foolish men from whom to be delivered the Apostle begged earnestly 2 Thes 3.2 Or Thirdly which the wisest men with all their care and power and diligence cannot secure from danger and hazzard there is a wakeful eye of providence that will take care in all such cases especially in the last For when men have done their utmost to keep the foot from crushing us and the wild beasts from destroying us but cannoâ then the care of God appears most in doing it And in the case of that double necessity when good men have done their best to keep us safe but cannot and bad men have done their worst to expose us unto and leave us in danger we may and must leave all to God who naturally takes care of all creatures and is the Saviour of all men both as to temporal and eternal salvation 1 Tim. 4.10 especially of them that believe Thus we have the first part of the description of the Ostrich who being so very foolish not to discharge her duty to her eggs God himself doth it his providence orders the Sun to warm them and the Sand to bring them forth And as the Ostrich is careless of her eggs before they are hatcht so she neglects her young ones as much when they are hatcht as is shewed in the next verse Vers 16. She is hardened against her young ones as if they were not hers This verse gives us a farther description of that Bird-beast the Ostrich by her unnaturalness to her off-spring having left her eggs carelessly to hatch or perish in the dust she is as careless of her brood when they are hatched when the heat of the Sun say some by the providence of God hath done one part of her duty to bring them forth she neglects the other part of her duty which is to bring them up and so the pains that she took in laying so many great eggs one tells us her nest is usually stoâed with fourscore eggs others say with twenty the least say with twelve or ten seems to be in vain she taking no care of them not having any regard to them This the Spiâit of God expresseth in the beginning of the 16th verse She is hardened against her young ones she is as forgetful of her chickens if I may so call them as she was of her eggs Rabbie Abraham reads thus God hath hardened her against her young ones and the reason that he gives for it is because the word is in the Masculine Gender which cannot well agree with the Feminine her And we find it in an active signification ascribed to God Isa 63.17 Verbum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã non alibi quam hic Isa 63.17 occurrit ac penè idem valet quod ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in Hiphil obduravit Merc. O Lord said the Church there why hast thou hardened our hearts from thy fear Nor is it any where else found in the whole Bible but in this place of Job in this sence the Rabbin expounds it here nor is it either an impertinent or an unprofitable sense For as God sometimes judicially hardens the hearts of men so he doth also naturally harden the hearts of some beasts and birds and makes them of a cruel disposition against their own kind and then they l t them sink or swim and expose them to the greatest danger without any the least provision for them The Septuagint or Greek Interpreters do not read as we She is hardned against her young ones but taking the same active signification of the ve b say thus She hardneth her young ones that is she doth not bring them up tenderly nor delicately but leaves them to shift for themselves and so hardneth them And the reason of that rendring may be this because there is no particle in the Hebrew expressing the word against we say She is hardned against her young ones but the preposition commonly rendred against is not in the Hebrew that saith only ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã conâra non habeturin fonte ideo malui duriter habet aut tractat filios suos potius quam indurat se contra filios suos Drus She hardneth her young ones or She is hardning her young ones but the sense riseth much to the same point whether we read She hardneth her young ones or is hardned against her young ones for by being hardned against them or by using them hardly she hardneth them Many parents harden their children by being hard to them If we put the sense of both readings together it will make the matter more compleat she hardneth her young ones by hardning her self against them Our reading is full and clear She hardneth her self against her young ones or children so the word strictly taken signifies As though they were not hers Implying that the consideration of them as hers should have made her more tender of them yet she carrieth it as if she had no relation to them The Hebrew is For that they were not hers which here as in other parallel Scriptures is rightly sensed in our Translation ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Videtur hic positum esse pro ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ut saepe alias Lamed pro Caph usurpatur sic erunt in carnem unaÌ i.e. quasi caro una Drus As though they were not hers As if it had been said she could not do otherwise nor worse by them if they were meer strangers to her or such as she had no title to She deals no better with them than as if they either were not hers or as if they were nothing to her and she no way concerned in them Such is that complaint of the Church Lam. 1. Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by and see my sorrow is it nothing to you are you not at all concerned am I to you meerly as a stranger that you pass by and take no notice of my sufferings Thus the holy Ghost describes the Ostrich she is hardned against her young ones as though they were none of hers or as if she had nothing to do with them Hence note First They that deal hardly with others are hardened against them When Pharoah dealt so extream hardly with the people of Israel when he increased their number of bricks and denied them straw and made them serve with rigor he was extreamly hardned against them That spiritual judgement hardness of heart was deeply
meet the armed men he doth not stand to receive a charge but he seeks it What any have a great mind to that they are very forward in you need not press a volunteer nor spur a free a valiant horse on to the battel you can hardly hold him in with bit bridle 'T is so in any service where there is a heart set to it with a love to it O how do we go forth to it we need not to be haled nor driven to it So in spirituals a heart of that temper answers every call Psal 27.8 When thou saidst seek my face my heart said unto thee thy face Lord will I seek He presently answers the Lords call to any duty who hath a heart for it What zeal what freedom what forwardness have we to that we have a will and a mind to An up-hill way is all down-hill to a willing mind JOB Chap. 39. Vers 22 23 24 25. 22. He mocketh at fear and is not afraid neither turneth he back from the sword 23. The quiver ratleth against him the glittering spear and the shield 24. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet 25. He cries among the trumpets Ha ha and he smelleth the battel afar off the thunder of the Captains and the shoutings THese four verses continue and compleat the description oâ the goodly valiant War-horse in his second qualification of boldness and courage of which this Text gives as many proofs as can be imagined or expected Vers 22. He mocketh at fear And what greater argument of valour than that Fear ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Spârnit quod plenum est timoris Vataâl Contemnit omnia metuenda Elegans prosopopeia est qua tribuitur experti rationis animali quod hominis proprium est sc ridere arma the abstract is here put for the concrete he laughs at fear that is at those things which are most to be feared or which carry the greatest command of fear in them It is usual in Scripture to express things greatly to be feared by fear As things greatly ly hoped for are called our hope and things rejoyced in greatly are called our joy so things greatly to be feared are called our fear and in that sence above all God is called the fear of his people he is so much the object of fear that the Scripture calls him fear Jacob in his treating and contract with his Uncle Laban Gen. 31.53 Sware by the fear of his father Isaac that is he sware by God who alone hath this high honour to be sworn by in a sacred way To swear is a great part of divine worship and is sometime put for the whole of worship Jacob sware by the fear of Isaac that is by God who his father Isaac feared and in whose fear he walked all his dayes Thus spake the Prophet Isa 8.12 13. Sanctifie the Lord of Hosts in your hearts and let him be your fear which is quoted by the Apostle 1 Pet. 3.15 Now as God himself is called fear because he is so exceedingly to be feared so those things which carry in them much fear or which are much fâared in Scripture sense and eloquence are called fear He scorneth or mocketh at fear Those things which make others tremble he as it were makes a sport at and plays with them So the words are an exposition of what was spoken at the close of the 21th ver He goeth on to meet the armies or the armed men who are much to be feared and dreaded In general whatsoever is or may be matter of fear that the horse mocks or laughs at that is he counts no more of it than we do of those things we laugh at Quae non curant hominis rident What men regard not care not for that they laugh at mock at We say of a valiant stout-hearted man he knows not what fear means When once a Noble person in great danger was admonished not to be afraid he laid his hand upon his breast and said Fear was never here yet and I hope shall never enter Thus the Horse is here represented as one into whose heaât fear never entred he mocketh at fear And as it followeth is not affrighted ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã dejectus abjectus stratus metaphocè consternatus fuit mente jacuit The word which we render affrighted imports the greatest consternation of mind when the mind lyes as it were prostrate under utter dispondency breakings of spirit and discouragements Deut. 1.21 Neither any dreadful noise nor terrible sight neither the appearance nor the reallity of danger abate the spirit or prowess of the Horse He is not affrighted Hence Note Danger is the element of courage We see it in the Horse and it is much more seen in couragious men You can no more cast down true courage by representing dangers than you can drown a fish by casting it into the water it is in its element It was the speech of that great Alexander being in a most hazardous undertaking Now I see a danger sutable to my mind Jam video animo meo par periculum a match for my courage The Horse mocketh at fear Note Secondly That which is not feared is usually derided It is so with beasts and it is so with men and what more usual with some men than to mock most at those things which they should be most afraid of As there is a nobleness of courage in some men which makes a mock of fear so besides that there is a baseness of spirit a stupidness in other men that make a mock at fear Such was the spirit of Lots Sons-in-law Gen. 19.14 who when Lot reported to them the most dreadful thing that ever was in the world a shower of fire and brimstone ready to fall down from heaven upon the whole City to consume it He was to them as one that mocked the meaning is his Sons-in-law mocked at what he reported they laugh'd at his admonition Such a kind of mocking at fear we read in those hardned and debauched spirits among the ten Tribes when that good King sent and admonished them to return to the true worship of God and laid before them those dreadful judgments that would surely overtake them if they did not 2 Chron. 30.10 They laughed to scorn the messengers and mockt them As if they had said What do you tell us of the wrath of God and of his judgments if we persist in our way and course we scorn your admonition we regard not your threatnings The character given of that people 2 Chron. 36.16 when wrath was breaking out upon them without remedy was this They mockt the messengers of God and despised his words To such mockers at fear I might take occasion to say as the Prophet in a like case Isa 28.22 Be ye not mockers least your bands be made strong There are some fears that it is our honour to mock
gives them this character 2 Sam. 1.23 They were stronger than Lions and swifter than Eagles that is they were exceeding swift Our adversaries were swifter than the Eagles said the poor captivated Church when the Assyrian came in against them Lam. 4.19 Read also Deut. 28.49 Hos 8.1 Hab. 1.8 Cicero the Orator in his second book of Divination tells us that when one who was to run a race reported to an Interpreter Vicisti ista enim ave volat nulla vehementior Cicer. l. 2. de divin that he dreamed he was turned into an Eagle the Interpreter presently answered Then you shall overcome or get the mastery For the Eagle is the strongest and swiftest of all flying fowls Secondly The Eagle exceeds all as in swiftness so in the uprightness of her flying She flies right up that 's it which the Text takes notice of She mounteth up she mounts up like an arrow out of a bow Non obliquo tramite ut caeterae aves vel per gyrum ut accipiter sed recto sursum fertur Aelian lib. 14 c. 10. Aquila derem volatu superat sublimius evadit Oppian Aquila in nuhibus whereas other fowls when they flie high they do it obliquely or side-long by gyration or fetching a compass but the Eagle asceâds directly not as I may say by winding stairs but in a right line Thirdly As the swiftness and uprightness of the Eagles motion so the highness of it is wonderful The Eagle mounts till she is quite out of sight no bodily creature can reach the Eagles altitude One of the Ancients saith The Eagle soars above the air he means I suppose the lower region of the air as if she would visit the starry heavens And hence it is said proverbially of any thing which we cannot easily reach or come at 'T is an Eagle in the clouds Her common attribute or epithete is The high-flying Eagle If it be questioned why doth the Eagle mount up so high these two reasons may be given of it First That she may come down or stoop with greater force upon her prey and that makes the Eagle so formidable to all the fowls of the air Aquila ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã à âoetis dictus And hence the Poets call her a Thunder bringer because she mounts up on purpose to that amazing height that she may come down upon her prey more forcibly even like a thunder-bolt And thus proud men desire to get on high that they may more easily make a prey of and crush as the Eagle doth those that are below them Secondly The Eagle mounts thus high to please her self 't is sutable to her spirit Every one would be in action as he is in disposition The Eagle hath a high spirit and she must flie high and at high things The Eagle will not catch flies she scorns that game Doth the Eagle mount up At thy command The Hebrew is At thy mouth so the word is rendred in several other Scriptures Numb 13.3 And Moses by the commandement of the Lord sent them from the wilderness of Paran that is he sent the men that were to search the Land The Hebrew is Moses by the mouth of the Lord sent them to search the Land Again 2 Kings 24.3 Surely at the commandement of the Lord came this upon Judah to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseth As if it had been said When the enemy made inrodes upon the children of Israel and Judah how came this to pass surely at the command of the Lord or at the mouth of the Lord came this upon Judah It is the word in the Text Doth the Eagle mount up at thy command or at thy mouth One would think that it is not only the Eagles nature to mount up there is somewhat in that but that 's not all it is at the Lords mouth at his command and that we are specially to take notice of here What means this discourse about the Hawk and Eagle but to make us mount up our hearts to God and acknowledge him in the motion of every creature It is at Gods mouth that the Eagle mounts up but what 's the command that the Eagle receives from God Doth not the Eagle mount up by a natural instinct or according to the Law of nature planted in her I answer she doth Yet because that natural instinct of the Eagle is of God therefore we are to look upon the Eagle mounting up as by a special order and command of God And thus we are to understand the motion of all the creatures Facit hoc aquila naturali instinctu Omnis autem naturalis cursus rerum est quaedam motio creaturae ad praeceptum Dei Aquin. Dedistinè hanc naturam aquilae ut attollat se in altum Vatabl. as consequential of a command given out by God Psal 148.8 Fire and hail snow and vapour stormy wind fulfilling his word or his command Though there be a natural cause of the creatures motion of the motion of the wind of the vapour of the snow and hail yet we must not stop at the natural causes and look no farther neither rain nor snow fall nor winds blow but at the command of the Lord Not doth the Eagle mount up at the bidding or teaching of man but at the command of God acting her natural instinct in doing so Doth the Eagle mount up at thy command Hence Note The special motions of the creature are of God Mans mouth or command cannot make any creature stir foot or wing Who can make the Eagle mount the wind blow or the rain fall besides God Secondly As to the manner of this motion it s a mounting motion Note The motion of the creature upward hath much of the command of God in it Some have I know mounting motions at the command of the Devil the Lord hath the command of them though they are not commanded by him that is the proud imaginations the lofty thoughts of man these mounting motions are not at the command but against the command of the Lord the Lord suffers them but they are from Satan he puffs men up he blows them up with pride But both the natural mounâings of the sensitives creatures and the gracious mountings of the new creature on high are by the command of God True believers have lowest or lowliest spirits yet highest and noblest aimes not grovelling on nor bowing to the earth but like an Eagle mounting up on high As this high flight of the soul is highly pleasing unto God so 't is made by his strength and at his command A believer flies high First In the contemplation of divine things What towering thoughts hath he concerning God and the concernments of salvation by Jesus Christ he is not mingling his soul with the dust nor mudding it upon the dunghils of this world As his conversation or trade is for things above so his mind and meditation is upon them Secondly As he flies high
man and made him vile even viler than the dust out of which he was made Thirdly Man is vile with respâct to all those evil consequences and effects of sin which have possessed or are ready to possess First our bodies such are weakness sickness pains and all manner of diseases Secondly our names such are reproach infamie and disgrace Thirdly our estates such are poverty and want Fourthly our persons imprisonment and restraint Fifthly our souls such are blindness and ignorance in our minds stubborness in our wills inordinacy in our affections These consequences of sin as well as sin it self especially those consequences of sin which are themselves sinful as those last mentioned are render us vile From this first Observation take these four inferences First If man be vile in that threefold respect before spoken of he is so in many more then let not any man prize himself much We do not prize vile things without us why then should we much prize our selves who are vile We are very apt to have thoughts of our selves beyond our selves or to think of our selves beyond what is meet Did we remember that we were vile high thoughts of self would soon down and we would cease from our selves as well as from other men saying Wherein are we men to be accounted of Isa 2.22 The best man of meer men hath but a little breath in his nostrils and he hath much sin in his soul wherein then or for what as a natural man is any man to be accounted of Did we know our selves more understandingly we should know our selves less valuingly In which sense Job said Chap. 9.21 Though I were perfect I would not know my soul It is our ignorance who and what we are which causeth us to have high thoughts of our selves as it is our ignorance who and what Christ is which causeth us to have such low thoughts of him and such slow or slight desires after him Joh. 3.10 Secondly As because we are vile we should take heed of prizing our selves much so we should more take heed of being proud of our selves at all Indeed where the former is where any person man or woman sets too high a price upon self it is very hard to abstain from pride in self for pride in self arises from over-prizing of self We first think too well of our selves and then are lifted up in our selves As it is through the power of faith that our hearts are lifted up to God and in God so whensoever our hearts are lifted up in our selves glorying in our own attainments or to our selves gaping after our own ends it proceeds from pride Thirdly See the exceeding goodness of God who hath put honour upon vile man We have made our selves vile and so we should reckon our selves yet the Lord is pleased to esteem his people highly and make them honourable Isa 43.4 Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable Job was vile as he confessed in his own sight yet he was precious in Gods sight And thus the Lord estimates all that are godly all that are true believers âhough vile and of no value in themselves nor in their own sight yet precious they are in his sight Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable We are never truly honourable till precious in the sight of God There is a bubble which the world calls honour a wind of fame with which many are much affected and with which some are invested who are not at all precious in the sight of God The best the truest honour ariseth from preciousness in the sight of God they who are esteemed by God are indeed persons of estimation His grace shewed favourably and freely to us his grace working mightily and effectually in us puts a blessed worth upon us though we are vile in our selves and so accounted by the world Fourthly See the goodness of God in this also that though we are vile yet he is pleased to set his heart upon us and to mind us We little mind vile things light things trifles we lightly pass by We are but a light thing a vile thing in our selves yet God not only hath us in his heart but sets his heart upon us Thus spake Job in the lowest ebbe of his outward felicity and he spake it admiringly as well as truly Chap. 7.17 What is man that thou shouldst magnifie and that thou shouldst set thine heart upon him When he saith What is man it is as it he had said Man is but a vile thing yet the Lord is mindful of him yea magnifieth him And though the Lord forbids us to set our hearts or affections on earthly things Col. 3.2 on the best of earthly things all which are comprehended under that one word or title Riches Psal 62.10 And though the reason why he forbids us to set our hearts upon these things is because they aâe vile yet he is pleased O infinite goodnesse to set his heart upon us though we are vile and considered as sinful much more vile than they even than the vilest of them We have the like question put again Psal 144.3 Lord what is man that thou takest knowledge of him or the son of man that thou makest account of him What is man 'T is a diminishing question implying that man is a vile thing or a nothing Is it not then a wonderful thing is it not the fruit of rich and free grace that God should take an account or make such an account of man And if God sets his heart upon man who is so vile how should man set his heart upon God who is so infinitely excellent God may be said to descend surely he condescends exceedingly when he sets his heart upon vile man The Lord humbleth himself saith David Psal 113.6 to behold that is to take any notice of or to take into his consideration the things that are in heaven and in the earth how much more doth he descend condescend and humble himself when he sets his heart upon vile man Now doth God set his heart upon vile man which is an humbling to him and shall not vile man set his heart upon the great and glorious God which is not only his duty but his felicity his honour and exaltation Again Job saith I am vile What was Job a godly man sure a holy man by Gods own testimony yet even he speaks at this low rate of himself Behold I am vile Hence note Secondly The better we are the less we esteem our selves and still the better and better we grow the lower are our thoughts of our selves There is no greater argument of height in grace than low thoughts of self Next to faith in Christ self-denial or to deny our selves is the great duty of the Gospel Mat. 16.24 Now as to deny our selves is to be very low in our own eyes so it is one of the highest acts of grace in us and requires not only truth of of grace but
much strength of grace to act it And hence it comes to pass that the higher and stronger any are in grace they are still lower and lesser in their own sight bacause true height and strength of grace works the soul to more self-denial And therefore as a godly man is vile so he is made more sensible of his own vileness the more he encreaseth in godliness so that if any have low thoughts of him he hath lower of himself None can think him lower in truth than he thinks himself I am light saith he I am vile Though he well understands his state his priviledge and his interest in Christ through grace and understands it so well that he values it above all the world and would not part with it for the whole world yet he is still vile in his own eyes and low in his own rate-books Abraham the chief of believers said Gen. 18.27 Behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord who am but dust and ashes So David 2 Sam. 7.18 What am I and what is my fathers house that thou hast brought me hitherto How sensible was he of his own vileness who spake thus who yet was a man after Gods own heart and the best of Kings Further Consider the time when Job was brought to this humble confession and acknowledgement of his own vileness he had not spoken thus before but was much in justifying himself especially as to the sincerity of his heart and wayes and he did it even to offence but the Lord having dealt roundly with him he cryes out I am vile Hence Observe The dealings of God with man aime mostly at this great mark to humble him and to make him see his own vileness We quickly see or are quick-sighted to see and take notice of any good in us or done by us to make us proud instead of thankful but we are dull of sight to see or take notice of that in us or done by us which may humble and lay us low And therefore we put God to it to shew us our vileness by severe and humbling dispensations There are two great things which God would bring man to First To make him know how vile he is Secondly To make him know how excellent how glorious himself is The Lord never left battering Job by afflictions and following him with questions till he brought him to both these points Behold I am vile saith he in this place I know thou canst do every thing and that no thought can be with holden from thee said he afterwards Chap. 42.2 in which words he highly exalted God in the glory both of his power and wisdom As one great purpose of the Gospel is to exalt man and lift him up unto a most glorious condition in and through Christ so another great purpose of the Gospel is to lay man low in himself or to take him quite off from his own bottome The Apostle often insists upon that as one grand design of the Gospel with respect to man 1 Cor. 1.26 Ye see your calling brethren that not many wise men after the flesh c. are called He tells us at the 29th verse why it is so Even that no flesh should glory in his presence But ver 31. that according as it is written he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. All the dealings of God both in Law and Gospel both in his providences and in his ordinances tend to bring man off from and out of himself and till that be effected neither ordinances nor providences have their due effect upon him We must come to Jobs acknowledgment that we are vile that we are nothing and that God is all to us in Christ before we are Christians indeed Fourthly The former discourse sheweth that God was come very near to Job he spake to him out of the whirl wind his appearance was very dreadful And then Job cryed out Behold I am vile Hence Observe The more we have to do with God and the nearer God comes to us the more we see and the more we are made sensible of our own vileness Vnusquisque sibi dum tactu veri luminis illustratur ostenditur Greg. Man is clearly discovered and known to himself when he beholds God in the shinings of divine light and not till then Job was higher in his own thoughts than became him till God came thus near to him and when God came yet nearer to him and discovered himself as he afterwards did yet more fully to him then Job did not only say as here I am vile but I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes This first approach of God in so eminent and illustrious a way or manner wrought much upon him but the second more The light of God shews us our darkness the power of God our weakness his wisdom our folly his purity our uncleanness his Majesty our vileness and his Allness or alsufficiency being seen gives us to see our utter deficiency and nothingness Still in proportion to the nearness of God to us or our nearer and clearer apprehensions of him by faith we are carried further out of and further off from our selves and thus 't is in our attendance upon God in the Ordinances of worship The reason why many come to ordinances with proud hearts and go away proud is because they have little or no communion with God in them by faith or God doth not manifest himself to them by his blessed Spirit They who have seen the power and glory of God in the Sanctuary as David professed he had sometimes done and longed to see it again Psal 63.1 2. they will say with the same David Psal 131.1 2. Lord our heart is not haughty nor our eyes lofty our soul is like a weaned child Lastly Job was waiting for the goodness of God to him or for deliverance out of his sad condition and doubtless he was convinced that the most probable way to it was to leave off contending with God and to be found humbling himself before him in this or a like confession Behold I am vile Hence note There is nothing that doth more sweeten and molifie God or I may say any ingenuous adversary towards us then an humble acknowledgement of our own vileness and unworthiness When our hearts are truly humbled mercy and deliverance are at hand Job was no sooner made deeply sensible of his vileness but mercy came in The only skill of this excellent wrestler as one calls him was to cast himself down at Gods foot There is no way to get within God and to prevail with him Sciebat Jobus contra spiritum humilem inermem esse Dei manum but by submitting to him The Lord layeth down his rod when we lay down our pride and casts his sword out of his hand when we cast our selves at his feet And in all our afflictions whether personal or national till we acknowledge not formally but in a deep sense of our own vileness
spare his Servants and Children when they sin he is no cockering Father he will correct his own Children he will not only sweep his house but he will shake his house and he shakes it because it is no better swept nor kept more cleanly And if for these and such like reasons we at any time see judgment beginning at the house of God we may say with astonishment What will the end of those be who obey not the Gospel What will become of the wicked and ungodly of those who openly prophane and blaspheme his Holy Name O what appearances shall they have of God and how shall they appear before God! We read in the 25th of Jeremy of a Bowl of blood given him to carry about to the Nations A terrible message he is sent about he carries a Cup of blood about and bids the Nations drink they must drink it and saith the Lord If they shall refuse to take the Cup at thy hand to drink then shalt thou say unto them thus saith the Lord of hosts ye shall certainly drink Why For lo I begin to bring evil upon the City which is called by My Name and shall ye be utterly unpunished As if the Lord had said I have brought evil upon Jerusalem upon my own people and they have drunk very deep of that bitter Cup and do you O ye uncircumcised nations think that you shall escape We may conclude the Lord hath a terrible storm to bring upon the wicked and ungodly of the world when we hear him speaking to his own people in whirlwinds Consider this ye that forget God as such are admonished Psal 50.22 lest he tear you in pieces and there be none to deliver For our God shall come and shall not keep silence a fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him as 't is said at the 3d verse of that Psalme And Then as 't is threatned Psal 2 5. shall he speak to them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure That speaking will indeed be speaking out of a whirlwind which shall hurry them away into everlasting darkness Thus far of the manner of Gods speaking to Job the second time It was still out of the whirlwind Now followeth the matter spoken or what he spake to him Vers 7. Gird up thy loins now like a man I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me I shall add but little about this verse because we have had it almost word for word Chap. 38.3 where the Lord thus bespake Job Gird up now thy loins like a man for I will demand of thee and answer thou me These words this second time spoken or repeated by God to Job fall under various apprehensions these four especially First Some look upon them meerly as a challenge sent of God Gird up now thy self like a man come stand to thy work or rather stand to thy word do thy best Secondly Others expound them as an irony or divine scorn put upon Job to humble him Come Gird up thy loinâ like a man Don't flinch for it stand to it thou wilt surely make good the day with me Thirdly Many in a milder sense look upon these words meerly as Counsel given to Job as if the Lord had said I mean to deal further with thee Therefore come now prepare and address thy self to the business I give thee leave to make the best thou canst of thy cause Fourthly We may take these words Esto bono animo c. as spoken to Job for his Comfort and encouragement The Lord seeing him as it were sinking and refusing to speak saith to him be not troubled be of good chear man Gird up thy loins like a man As the words are taken for a challenge and under the notion of a scorn put upon Job I shall not stay upon them This phrase Gird up thy loins was opened at the 38th Chap. 't is a metaphor taken from Travellers or those that go about any business who wearing long garments used to gird them up that they might be more expeditious whether for labour or for travel Thus the words are matter of Counsel and encouragement given to Job and under that notion I shall Note two things from them First As they are words of counsel the Lord having further business with Job or more to do with him adviseth him to gird up his loins like a man Hence Observe When we have to do with God we should put out our selve to the uttermost To Gird up our loins like a man imports our best preparation and such preparation we need for every holy duty When we are to pray we had need gird up our loins like men for then we are to wrestle or strive with God we must work it out with God in the duty of prayer and if our garments hang loose that is our affections be upon the earth and our hearts in the corners of the world how can we prevail with God in prayer we must gird up our loins like men when we declare our desires and requests to God in prayer and expect that God should answer us The holy Prophet complained of the Jews failing in this Isa 64.7 There is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee Doubtless many called upon God in those days but they did not stir up themselves to take hold of God by faith and so their prayers went for no prayers And when we go to hear the word wherein God deals with us we had need gird up the loins of our minds else we cannot mind the word while we hear it nor remember much less practice the word which we have heard The Scripture often calls us to preparation for every duty What can discomposed persons loose-spirited persons loose-loin'd persons do with God or for God When we have any thing to do with God any thing to do for God we should do our best and be at our best we should play the men Master Broughton expresseth it well though not clear to the words in the Original Let me see thy skill or how skilfully thou canst handle the matter with me The Lord would have us shew our skill when we have any thing to do with him or to do for him we should then play the men and not the children much less should we play the fools be sloathful sluggish and careless Especially we should do this with respect to the appearing of Jesus Christ in the great day of our account Christ himself gives the rule Stand with your loyns girt and your lamps burning as those servants that wait for their Lords coming When Christ our Lord comes all must come before him but none shall be able to stand before him but they who stand with loyns girt that is who are ready and in that readiness wait for his coming Secondly Taking these words as words of encouragement Gird up thy loyns like a man Poor heart do not
as an Exposition of the former As if the Lord had said Either I must be condemned that thou mayest be righteous or thou must be condemned that I may be righteous now whether it be meet that I or thou must be condemned do thou judge While thou insistest so much upon thine own innocency thou seemest to cast blame upon my Justice Either I have wronged thee by afflicting thee without just cause or thou hast wronged me by intimations that I have done so One of these must needs be true seeing there is no middle between them Consider then which is most probable that I have wronged thee or thou me These are immediate contraries so that the one being granted the other must be denied Now wilt thou accuse me of injustice in afflicting thee that thy cause may be esteemed just But did Job ever accuse or condemn the Lord I answer Not directly as hath been shewed heretofore It never came into Jobs heart to accuse God of unrighteousness but because by some misunderstood speeches of his they about him judged he had therefore the Lord put this question home to him that he might exonerate and clear himself The onely matters in which he might seem to condemn God as unrighteous was his speaking so much of his afflicting the righteous and prospering the unrighteous or his insisting so much upon the defence of his own righteousnesse before men seemed to derogate from or intrench upon the righteousnesse of God So then Job did not intentionally cast any aspersion or blot upon the Justice of God he onely intended in what he said to shew that the affliction that was upon him was not for his sin but for his trial when he spake so much of his own righteousnesse and yet because he was a little too lavish in speech and too passionate the Lord here puts this question to him Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be righteous 'T is I that justifie thee and wilt thou condemn me The Lord is righteous and all men are unrighteous and shall any man do that which casts a note of unrighteousnesse upon God Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be righteous Hence Note First He that is much in the justifying of himself when he is under the Judgement or afflicting hand of God doth upon the matter condemn God Job was much in justifying himself though not with an intention to condemn God yet the very action spake this in the opinion of others that he thought himself not righteously dealt with or at least rigorously dealt with He that maintains his own right too much in affliction chargeth God with wrong though he never meant it And therefore the Apostle saith Let God be true Deum injustitiae accusare videbatur qui justos affligerei Merc. and every man a liar A godly man in a good frame though he cannot charge himself with any crime nor is conscious of any way of wickedness that he hath lived in yet approves and justifies the Lord in all his dealings with him and therefore we must take heed it is a tender point how we justifie our selves especially under the afflicting hand of God If we justifie our selves there is somewhat of condemnation cast upon God therefore still you shall find that the holiest servants of God in their Confessions charge all upon themselves Righteousness belongs to God but to us shame and confusion of face So spake Ezra and so spake Daniel It is very dangerous to and we quickly may reflect upon the justice of God and derogate somewhat from him by our justifying of our selves Observe Secondly 'T is our duty in all things whatsoever God doth to justifie him In dubio semper adversum nos pro deo sentiendum est Merc. As it is the highest grace which God manifests to the creature to justifie man It 's God that justifies who shall condemn So it is one of the most excellent duties of man to justifie God It is a high grace of God to man to justifie man but it is onely the duty of man to justifie God in all things Let him do what he will with persons or Nations let him break them all to pieces let him lay all waste and desolate in all this we are to justifie God We should rather be willing to appear sinful and that we are punished for our sins and evil deeds than so much as in appearance to question or make the least doubt of the justice of God or give others the least shadow of an occasion to question or doubt it That of the Schoolman bears much weight in this case Aquinas If saith he two are equal and a fault is to be laid upon one of them it is not reprovable if one of them purge himself of the fault charged although he be blameable in the opinion of others because man naturally loveth himself more than another But where there is so great a distance as between God and man man should rather take the blame to himself though unjustly laid on him than cast it upon God which he cannot do but unjustly And therefore God in arguing with Job proposeth the superlative excellency of himself above man Observe Thirdly We should be much in judging our selves Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be righteous Thou shouldest condemn thy self and judge thy self thy judgement is upon a wrong object Self judgement is good but judging of God oh how sinful is that 1 Cor. 11.31 If we would judge our selves we should not be judged of the Lord. Our businesse is to judge our selves and for not judging of our selves it is that we meet with so many judgements from the hand of God Therefore God judgeth us because we do not judge our selves And therefore let every mouth be stopt it shall be so at last as the Apostle concludes Rom. 3.18 Every mouth shall be stopt and all the world shall become guilty before God We are self-guilty and therefore should be self-condemned 'T is a dreadful thing in one sense to be self-condemned as it is spoken of the Heretick Tit. 3.11 He is condemned of himself He is condemned of himself while he doth justifie himself 'T is the worst of condemnations to be condemned of our selves by justifying of our selves but it is good to condemn our selves in judging or in humbling our selves David was much in self-censuring and self-judging when he found himself envying the prosperity of the wicked and said he had clensed his heart in vain he soon after censures himself for both Psal 77.22 So foolish was I and ignorant even as a beast before thee As if God had said what a foolish creature am I thus to condemn God in his proceedings to talk of my own innocency Let us not boast of but as Master Calvin expresseth it upon the Text let us win our spurs by condemning our selves For that is the only way to honour and exalt God If we would get honour to our selves it must not be
draw in or hide his arm but when he delivered them then he was said to stretch it out Thirdly As the arm of God is for the protection and delivering of his people so for the destroying of his and their enemies God hath a destroying arm and of that Moses spake Deut. 33.27 The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee that 's sometimes the work of the everlasting arms of God and shall say destroy them Fourthly The Lord hath an assisting helping strengthning arm to carry us thorough any good work or duty which he calleth us unto Isa 53.1 Who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed that is who hath received power to believe and do according to what the Lord hath revealed The arm of God works powerfully not only upon the outward man but upon the heart of man for the converting and saving of souls Psal 110.3 In the day of thy power thy people shall be willing The power of God put forth upon the inner man for full conviction and sound conversion is greater than any power that worketh upon for or against the body of man God hath a mighty arm for all these purposes and for many more even for as many as he is pleased to make use of it or employ it in And if any ask How mighty is his arm I answer No man knoweth how mighty it is only this we know It is Almighty What the might of Almightiness is who can understand Moses spake admiringly more than knowingly to this point Psal 90.11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger The anger of God is beyond comprehension and so is his love Who knoweth the power of his love We are exhorted Eph. 3.19 To know the love of God which passeth knowledge What the heighth depth length and bredth of divine love are anger no man knoweth nor doth any man know the dimensions of divine power The Apostle speaking of God as a Spirit saith 1 Tim. 6.16 Whom no man hath seen nor can see So we may say of God as powerful no man knoweth nor can know how powerful he is He must be as powerful as God who knoweth how powerful God is Only this we may say First his power is so great that he can do all things and he can do all things with ease There is nothing hard to God Hard things are easie to God Some things are hard and others easie to men but to God all things are alike Not only is nothing too hard for the Lord as he said to Abraham Gen. 18.14 but the truth is nothing is hard to him Secondly His power is so great that he can do whatsoever he willeth or hath a mind to do Job 23.13 He is in one mind and who can turn him and what his soul desireth even that he doth And as the Lord can and will do whatever he hath a will to do so to clear the point a little further we may boldly say he hath a will to do all things of these three sorts First He hath a will to do whatsoever he hath promised purposed or determined to do Now if we duly weigh what great things there are in the promises and purposes in the counsels and decrees of God to do in the world we may soon conclude with truth and sobriety that great things will be done in their proper times and seasons Secondly The Lord doth assure us he hath a will to do whatsoever we ask of him in faith and according to his will If we have a rule for our asking or if we ask by rule we have a Gods word for it that it shall be done and given to us according to our askings 1 John 5.14 And this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us What is that is it only that he perceives or knows what we ask no his hearing is the granting and giving what we ask God is engaged by his gracious promise that his arm shall do all that we pray for right for the matter and aright for the manner in faith and in sincerity Thirdly It is the will of God to do whatsoever is for the real good of his people though possibly they ask it not It is the will of God not only to do what we ask but many times more than we ask As God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think Eph. 3.20 so he actually doth for us much more than we ask or think The Lord expects we should pray for every good thing which he hath promised and therefore he had no sooner made many large and most gracious promises of doing great things for the Church with this assurance Ezek. 36.36 I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it But presently he adds vers 37. Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them We should extend our prayers and our seekings to the utmost line of the word or our prayers should be commensurate both to prophesies and promises Prayer helps them all to the birth and they seldom bring forth alone And indeed prayer is nothing else in the matter of it but a turning or putting the promises into petitions t is a suing out the good of the promise Yet there are some good things in the promises which we cannot reach or at least are not mindful of There is a great latitude in the promises The Commandements of God are exceeding broad Psal 119.96 Who can find out all the duty of them And doubtless the promises are exceeding broad who can find out all the mercy in them The Apostle Peter 2 Epist 1.4 calls them exceeding great and precious promises they are exceeding good and they are exceeding great they are as great as they are good and who hath a heart great and good enough to see and sue out all the good and great things in them Now I say though possibly we ask not for all the good of the promise at least not expresly yet it is the will of God to do all that for us and to bestow all that good upon us which he hath promised He hath preventing grace his first grace he alwayes giveth unasked When he begins to manifest himself to a poor soul to bring him out of a state of darkness is such a soul begging this of God no he is running from and rebelling against God I am found of them that sought me not saith the Lord Isa 65.1 Now as they who are not the Lords receive grace to become his unasked so they that are the Lords through grace receive many mercies unasked God will not fall in giving all that he hath promised though we fail in asking some things promised His arm is powerful enough to do what he willeth and this is the will of
God to fulfil or make good all his promises Men often out-promise themselves but God doth not Hast thou an arm like God Hence take these inferences First If the Lord hath such a mighty arm Then let us take heed we do not provoke the Lord to turn his arm against us That 's the use which the Apostle makes of this point and which naturally floweth from it 1 Cor. 10.22 Do ye provoke the Lord to anger are ye stronger than he The Apostles sense hits the language of the Text fully as if he had said Have you an arm like God There 's no comparison between yours and his He can crush you before the moth Job 4.19 that is as soon as or before a moth is crushed which crumbleth to dust with the least or lightest touch of the hand or little finger Secondly If the Lord have such an arm Then let us labour to get and engage the arm of the Lord for our help Men love to be on the stronger side and some resolve to be on the stronger side though it should be or not regarding whether or no it be the worser side Now seeing all have a natural desire to interest themselves where the greatest strength is because there probably and rationally the greatest safety and best shelter is then how should we labour to get and assure an interest in God which cannot be done but by being on Gods side that is by keeping close to him in all the duties of holiness and righteousness for doubtless he is strongest his side is not only a good but the best not only a strong but the strongest side Hath any man an arm like God can all men should they joyn all their arms in one make an arm like Gods They cannot Nor is there any arm strong but in or by the strength of Gods arm As old dying Jacob spake while he was blessing his son Joseph Gen. 49.24 The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him but his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. How were his arms made strong How did his bow abide in strength It was by the hands that is by the power of the mighty God of Jacob. Nothing made him strong nor to abide in strength but the arm of the mighty God In this arm of God the Church triumphed of old Psal 124.1 2 3. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side now may Israel say If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us then they had swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against us Their wrath was kindled into a burning flame yet we were not burnt much less utterly consumed because the strong God was with us or because as the Psalm concludeth Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth What help can we need at any time which he cannot give us who made heaven and earth without any help or helper It is an impregnable Tower of comfort that at what loss soever we are we may find help or help is to be had in God Thirdly If God hath such a mighty arm Then let us trust him We may trust to his strength and when his strength is indeed trusted to our trust is withdrawn from all other strengths We may use the arm or strength of creatures while we trust in the arm or strength of God but while we trust in the strength of God we must trust in no strength but his nor if we really trust him can we When Senacherib King of Assyriah invaded Judah with a mighty Host Hezekiah thus incouraged his people 2 Chron. 32.7 8. Be strong and couragious be not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria nor for all the multitude that is with him for there be moe with us than with him with him is an arm of flesh but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battels and the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah King of Judah They had an arm what arm not an arm of flesh like Senacheribs but the arm of the Lord for their help and that carried the day Created power is too slight to be trusted but the power of the Creator calls all for our trust We cannot trust creatures too little as to success nor can we trust God too much Hath any man an arm like God A fourth Inference may be this If the Lord hath such an arm such power This should encourage us to the duty of prayer We are easily perswaded to seek to him for help who hath strength to help especially when we know that he hath an inclinableness of will to help us Hath not the Lord a strong arm hath he not an inclinable will Let us then in all our needs pray as the Church did Isa 51.9 Awake awake put on strength O arm of the Lord the Lord and his arm are the same awake as in the ancient dayes in the generations of old art thou not it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon The Lord hath a mighty arm yet his arm or power seemeth to be sometimes as it were asleep that is not to act or not to take notice how it is or how matters go with the Church Now when at any time it is thus our duty is to awaken the Lord by earnest prayer Awake put on strength O arm of the Lord. It is a mercy when we have an heart to pray and a God to pray unto who can quickly put on strength that is give undeniable evidences that he hath a strong arm yea infinitely the strongest arm which may be A second observation taken or arising from these words as spoken comparatively Hast thou an arm like God The arm or power of the creature is nothing to the arm or power of God no creature hath an arm like Gods There is nothing in the world considered in a gradual difference so unlike another as the arm of God and the arm of man are Mans arm is so small a thing compared with Gods that it is a very nothing not so much as a candle to the Sun nor as a drop to the Ocean nor as one single dust to the globe or body of the whole earth No Rhetorick can speak diminutively enough of mans arm compared with Gods nor can any divinity uttered by men or Angels yet how apt is man to have too high thoughts of mans arm and too low of Gods Were it not that men are apt to have too high thoughts of mans arm and too low of Gods this question had never been put to Job Hast thou an arm like God Job had been a man of as big an arm as most in his dayes 'T is said of him that he was the greatest of all the men of the East Chap. 1.3 And he said of himself Chap. 29 25. That he sate
God having many Idol gods nor did he own them as his people and therefore the Apostle did not nor could he in truth say of the Gentiles They changed their glory c. But thus he saith They changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things The Gentiles did not change the incorruptible God their glory into an image but they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image c. And in that respect the idolatry of the Jews a people knowing the true God yea and glorying in him was worse than the idolatry of the Gentiles who knew him not nor ever gloried in him nor accounted him their glory But to the point in hand As that is Gods glory which manifests his glory So in general any thing which maketh man shine forth commendably or honourably to others or gives him a preheminence above many others as neer relation to God specially doth may be called his glory Whatsoever is best in us or to us is our glory The soul of man is his glory because it is his best part The body is a poor thing to the soul the body is but a shell the soul is the kernel the body is but the sheath as the Chaldee calls it Deut. 7.15 the soul is the sword though usually we take more pains for the body than for the soul as if we prized it more When Jacob said Gen. 49.6 O my soul come thou not into their secret unto their assembly mine honour be not thou united he meant some say the same thing by his soul and by his honour or glory because the soul is the most glorious and honourable part in man and that which men should be most careful of Thus likewise the tongue of man is called his glory Psal 57.8 Awake my glory that is my tongue The tongue being that organ or instrument whereby the wisdom and prudence of man is held forth and he made glorious in the world 't is therefore called his glory The tongue of man is also called his glory because with that he giveth glory to God by praising him and confessing his name together with his truth unto salvation And as glory is the best of man so of any other creature 1 Cor. 15.61 There is one glory of the Sun and another of the Moon and another glory of the Stars for one Star differs from another Star in glory that is there is one excellency uâe or operation in this Star and another in that Or One Star differs from another Star in glory that is their light influences effects differ some being more others less operative upon sublunary bodies When the Lord said to Job Array thy self with glory his meaning is shew thy best and he means the same when he adds Array thy self with beauty ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Beauty is the natural ornament of the body of the face or countenance especially These two words glory and beauty are often joyned together in Scripture Psal 21.5 Psal 45.3 where we render them honour and majesty We may thus distinguish between them taking the one for that which appears outwardly in vestures and gestures in actions and works and the other as importing that revââence veneration which is given to such Verba originalia fero sunt synonima as appear in that splendor and dignity or which their splendor and dignity stirs up in others But we need not stand to distinguish them the words being often used promiscuously And here the Lord is pleased to imploy many words to the same purpose to shew what great state he had need be in that contends with him As if he had said O Job although thou didst not sit upon a dunghil or wert not bound to thy bed by the cords of thy affliction but didst sit upon a Kingly throne shining in robes of royalty couldst thou in all those ornaments equal thy self to me in majesty and excellency in glory and beauty Deck thy self with majesty and excellency c. Hence note First God himself is full of Majesty of Excellency of Glory and of Beauty I put them all together in one Observation because the tendency of them all is one The Scripture often sets forth the Lord thus adorned thus decked Psal 93.1 The Lord reigneth he is cloathed with majesty he is cloathed with strength wherewith he hath girded himself Again Psal 69.6 Honour and majesty are before him strength beauty are in his sanctuary Psal 104.1 Bless the Lord O my soul O Lord my God thou art very great thou art cloathed with honour and majesty This cloathing this array which the Lord called Job to put on is properly his own and though God will not give his glory to another yet here he bids Job take his glory and shew himself in it to the utmost if he could Many have affected or invaded Gods glory but none could ever attain or reach it God calls man really to partake of glory with him but man cannot take his glory upon him and be man The humane nature of Christ could never have received nor born that glory but as united to and subsisting in the person of the Son of God according to that prayer of his John 17.5 More distinctly If God be thus cloathed Then First We should tremble before him Majesty is dreadful The majesty of Kings who in nature are but men is very dreadful how much more the majesty of God who is King of Kings the King immortal and reigns for ever We have this trembling three times repeated with respect to the majesty of God Isa 2.10 19 21. where the mightiest and greatest of the world called there high Mountains and strong Towers Oaks and Cedars are said to go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his Majesty when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth And though the people of God have great cause to rejoyce at his majesty as 't is prophesied they shall Isa 24.14 They shall lift up their voices they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord nothing causeth the hearts of the righteous to rejoyce more than the majesty of God yet they ought to rejoyce and so they do with trembling Psal 2.11 or with a holy awe of God impressed upon their hearts for the majesty of God is a very dreadful tremendous awful majesty And the more we have truly tasted the goodness and mercy of God the more shall we tremble at his majesty yea the Lord will have his majesty not only taken notice of but trembled at and therefore he reproves those Isa 26.10 who would not behold his majesty The majesty of the Lord like himself cannot be seen or beheld in it self yet it sheweth it self many wayes though few behold it or tremble at it and the reason why they tremble not at it is because they do not
or rather as the Prophet there speaks will not behold it no not when it shines in the plainest demonstrations whether of wrath against wicked men or of love and mercy to the godly as clearly as the Sun at noon day Secondly As we should tremble at the majesty of the Lord so admire his excellency they that excel others especially they who excel all others in any kind are much admired The Lord is cloathed with excellency how then should we admire him and say Who is a God like unto thee This God is our God Thirdly Seeing the Lord is cloathed with glory we should glorifie him and that First in his essential glory Secondly in the glory of his acts and operations We should glorifie him for the greatness of his power especially for the greatness of his grace because the grace and mercy of God are his glory as the Apostle spake in that prayer Eph. 3.16 That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory that is of his grace and favour towards you to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man And as the grace and goodness of God is his glory so also is his holiness Exod. 15.11 Who is a God like unto thee glorious in holiness Let us glorifie God in and for all his glories in and for the glory of his power mercy grace and holiness Fourthly God is arrayed with beauty Beauty is a taking thing then how should our souls delight in the Lord We delight in things that are beautiful we love beauty how should this draw forth our love our affections to God! All the beauty of the world is but a blot 't is darkness and a stained thing in comparison of the Lords beauty the beauty of his holiness and therefore if we have a love to beauty let us love the Lord who is arrayed with beauty even with the perfection of beauty Lastly In general Seeing the Lord is deckt with majesty and excellency arrayed with glory and beauty let us continually ascribe all these to God What God is and hath shewed himself to be we should shew forth 1 Chron. 29.11 Thine O Lord saith David is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in heaven and in earth is thine David ascribed all to God there as also Psal 145.10 All thy works praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee they shall speak of the glory of thy Kingdom and talk of thy power to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his Kingdom thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations Thus Saints are to blazon the name of God and to make his praise glorious The Apostle Jude concludes his Epistle with this Doxology To the only wise God our Saviour that is Jesus Christ be glory and majesty and dominion and power now and ever Amen Further to remember the majesty and excellency of God may and should be First an incouragement to serve him Who would not serve a Prince who is decked with majesty and excellency who is arrayed with glory and beauty who would not serve such a King as this How ambitious are men to serve those who are deckt with worldly majesty and excellency shall not we have a holy ambition to serve the Lord who is thus decked and arrayed Secondly This may exceedingly hearten and embolden us against all the danger we may meet with in the Lords service If we encounter with hardships and hazards in Gods work let us remember he that is cloathed with majesty and excellency c. can protect us in his service and reward us for it we can lose nothing by him though we should lose all for him life and all Thirdly This should fill our souls with reverential thoughts of God continually Did we know the Lord in these divine discoveries of himself in his majesty and excellency in his glory and beauty how would our hearts be filled with high thoughts of him we would neither speak nor think of God but with a gracious awe upon our spirits Fourthly This should provoke us in all holy duties to do our best The Lord reproved the Jews Mal. 1.8 when they brought him a poor lean sacrifice Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person Shall we put off God who is full of majesty and excellency of glory and beauty with poor weak and sickly services such as our Governours men in high place power will not accept from our hands but turn back with disdain upon our hands The worship and service of God consists not in a bodily exercise nor in any outward beauty he is a spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth that is in truth of heart and according to the truth of his word which the Apostle calls the simplicity that is in Christ 2 Cor. 11.3 The glory and beauty of God is spiritual and the beauty that he must be served with is above all the inward beauty of faith and love and holy fear in our hearts Fifthly If God be thus deckt with majesty c. This may assure us in praying to him and calling upon him that we shall not seek him in vain It is worth the while to attend such a God and pour out our hearts before him We may safely depend upon God for all seeing majesty and excellency are his The Lords prayer by which we are to form or unto which we should conform all our prayers concludes with this thine is the kingdom power and glory all is thine and therefore we have great encouragement to ask all of thee Men can give to those that ask them according to the extent of their power There is a confluence or comprehension of all power in the majesty excellency and glory of God and therefore he can give whatsoever we ask Now as that God is thus deckt and arrayed with majesty and excellency is implied in this Text so 't is also implied that he hath thus deckt himself while he saith to Job Deck thy self with majesty and excellency Hence observe Secondly The majesty and excellency the glory and beauty of God are all of and from himself He is the fountain as of his own being so of the majesty and excellency of the glory and beauty of his being he decks and arrays himself he is not decked by others Moralists say honour is not or resides not in him that is honoured but in him that honoureth yet here honour is seated in him that is honoured We honour God and give glory to him but we cannot add any honour to him all is originally in himself he is the beginning without beginning of his own majesty And as Gods majesty is his own so of his own putting on he borroweth nothing from the creature nor needs he any creature to deck him He is not what others will make
of all men James 4.6 God resisteth the proud The proud contend with God they as it were wage war with God and therefore God will wage war and contend with them he resisteth the proud Prov. 3.34 Surely he scorneth the scorner but he giveth grace to the lowly The Lord hath two great works to do in the world The first is to lift up and exalt the humble The second is to humble and pull down the proud These two are the daily products of divine providence And the Lord is so much an enemy to pride that if he see it in any of his own servants he will abase them and lay them low for it as we see in the case of that good King Hezekiah His heart being lifted up not in thankfulness nor in zeal for the ways and things of God as once it was but in pride there was wrath upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem 2 Chron. 32.35 The Lord will not bear it when his own bear or behave themselves proudly Prov. 29.23 A mans pride any mans pride shall bring him low that is he shall be brought low for his pride or his pride will bring him into such extravagant wayes as will be a means to bring him low Thirdly Note God can easily abase and cast down proud ones If any ask how easily can he do it I answer He can do it with a look Look upon every one that is proud and bring him low saith God to Job shew thy self like me in this I can do it as easily as look upon him God by a cast of his eye can cast down all proud men as the Lord can help his people with a look David desired no more for his portion but that God would lift up the light of his countenance upon him Psal 4.6 that is that God would look upon him favourably And that prayer is made three times Psal 80 4 7 19. Cause thy face to shine upon us and we have enough we shall be saved we shall be delivered we shall be protected A good look from God is all good to man God with a good look can save us and if God withdraw his eye from any and will not look upon them if he turn his back upon them or hide his face from them his favour is withdrawn and they are helpless Now as God can save his people with a smiling look so he can destroy his enemies with a frowning one His look is as powerful and effectual to destroy as it is to save though to look savingly be much more the delight of God if I may so speak than to look destroyingly It is said God looked through the pillar of fire and the cloud upon the Hosts of Pharoah and troubled them and took off the chariot wheels Exod. 14.24 Surely God abaseth the proud men of the world easily when he doth it with a look He indeed as the holy Virgin spake in her song Luke 1.51 52. Sheweth strength with his arm or the strength of his arm when he scattereth the proud in the imaginations of their hearts and puts down the mighty from their seats and exalteth them of low degree yet all this the Lord can do with a look from heaven The habitation of his Holiness and of his Glory Now If the Lord deal thus with proud men take these inferences from it First Hath God such an evil eye upon proud men will he cast them down will he certainly do it and can he easily do it Then woe to proud men 't is the word of the Prophet Isa 28.1 Woe to the crown of pride to the drunkards of Ephraim that is to those who crown themselves with pride and make that their glory and their honour which will pâove their shame and downfal and these the Prophet calls the drunkards of Ephraim I conceive he means not those that drink themselves drunk with wine but those that are drunk with their own presumptions with the pride of their spirits or as many also are with vain hopes and expectations We have vain confidents and expectants so expressed Nahum 1.10 While they are folded together as thorns and while they are drunken as drunkards they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry that is while they are drunken with pride and self-confidence to carry all before them while they are thus folded together like thorns in their plots and contrivements while they are drunken with false hopes they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry that is they shall be utterly consumed and devoured Secondly If there be such a woe to proud ones if the Lord hath such a bad eye upon them and is able to lay them low and will certainly do it and can easily do it we had need consider who are the proud ones Pride is an evil weed yet it groweth many times in the best soyl even in a good heart and it is no easie matter to find out who are the proud men intended in this Text and Point yet I answer In general First All they are proud who value themselves very highly yea they are proud who put any undue value upon themselves we can scarcely value our selves any thing at all but we shal over-value âur selves for we are worms and no men saith David He said also What is man O Lord that thou art mindful of him Man is so small a thing that the Psalmist could hardly tell what he is or what to make of him sure enough man is no such thing as most men make of themselves Doubtless if we have any high thoughts of our selves we over-think our selves and usually they that have least true worth have greatest thoughts of their own worthiness Man hath lost all is stript of all as he cometh into the world yet he is proud as if he had all As they that have much are proud or in great danger of pride so it is a truth that they who have nothing are often proud too The Apostle bids Timothy 1 Tim. 6.17 Charge them that be rich in this world that they be not high-minded And among rich men they who as I may say according to the phrase of the world have raised their own fortunes are most apt to be proud and there are two reasons of it First Because of the change of their state they were low and empty but now they are high and full This change of their condition changeth their disposition and as we say Their blood riseth with their good Secondly That which they have is say they of their own getting they think their skill and their diligence hath got it Hence Job protested If I rejoyced because my hand hath gotten much Nebuchadnezzar boasted of his great Palace because he had built it Is not this great Babel that I have built Now as they are apt to be proud who have much especially when it is of their own acquisition though indeed we have nothing meerly of our own acquisition so they who have little or nothing are not out of
the danger of pride poor proud is so common that it is grown into a proverb And they especially who are poor in spirituals grow proud in spirit as it was with the Laodicean Angel Rev. 3.17 But further they are proud who lift up themselves in any thing of self As First in their natural parts wit understanding memory elocution Secondly in their acquired parts learning knowledge skill Thirdly in their moral vertues sobriety temperance justice Fourthly in their spiritual graces faith love self-denial 't is possible to be proud for a fit of these or to have a fit of pride come upon us upon the exercise of these Fifthly in their holy duties and performances prayers fastings c. Sixthly in their legal righteousness and good deeds alms charities We seldom do well or any good especially as we ought and duty binds us much good but we think too well of our selves that we are better than we are or too much both of the good we have done and of our own goodness As the great goodness of God or the greatness of his goodness appears chiefly in this that he can make all things even evil things and those not only the evils of trouble but the evil of sin work together for our good Rom. 8.28 so the great evil of mans heart or the greatness of that evil appears chiefly in this that it causeth all things even good things and those not only the good things of this natural life but the good belonging to and done in the power of a spiritual life to work to our hurt sometimes for a time and would to our ruine for ever did not the Lord over-rule it Seventhly the favour which they have with men whether they be the mighty the Princes and powers of the world or the many the common people of the world How are some lifted up because they are the darlings of the people because the multitude eyes them points at them and applauds them To be lifted up in any of these things or in any thing else and what is there not only of an earthly but of an heavenly pedigree and extraction in which the vain heart of man is not ready to be lifted up unduly forgetting God from whom all good comes to be lifted up I say in any of these things layes man open to the wrathful resistance of God and all such God will bring down and abase therefore let us be empty of our selves and beware of being found among the proud yea of being in any kind or degree proud It is dangerous to have any pride found in us but woe to those who are found proud Thirdly If the Lord hath such an eye to and upon proud men and will thus bring them low Then let us not be afraid of proud men why should we be afraid of them who are falling Prov. 15.33 The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honour is humility But what saith the same Solomon Prov. 18.32 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty As soon as ever we see any man shewing a proud heart by pride of life we may quickly conclude the Lord is about to pluck him down One very great reason why the Lord hath laid many who were once as mountains low as valleys was the pride of their hearts When pride buds the rod blossometh that is God is preparing for the correction if not for the destruction of proud ones And as it is sad to see pride bud at any time so then especially when the rod blossometh that is when God is correcting us with his rods Fourthly Then do not envy proud ones We are apt to envy those that are high in place though they are proud in spirit but do not envy proud ones how high how great soever you see them for they are in danger of falling according to the truth of this Scripture and many others When proud men are in their fullest ruff and highest ascent then they are nearest a dreadful downfall Before destruction the heart of man is haughty saith Solomon Prov. 18.12 and before honour is humility And the Apostle Peter having given this counsel to those who are humbled by affliction 1 Epist 5.6 humble your selves under the mighty hand of God subjoyns this comfortable promise in the close of the verse That he may exalt you in due time Fifthly Then pride is a very provoking sin The Lord who declares himself against all sorts of sinners declares himself most against proud sinners Prov. 16.5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord mark what followeth in the same verse though hand joyn in hand he that is the proud man shall not be unpunished Pride is the Devils sin the Devil is that Mystical Leviathan spoken of in the 41th Chapter of this Book who is a King over all the children of pride They who are not subject to God proud men above all men are not are the Devils subjects He is a King over all the children of pride There are four things in which the provocation of the sin of pride consists any one of which may provoke God to pull down proud ones First Proud men set themselves in the place of God Lucifer by whom the proud Babilonian is meant said Isa 14.14 I will be like the Most High Thus the Lord said of the Prince of Tyrus Ezek. 28.2 Because thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said I am a God I sit in the seat of God in the midst of the seas yet thou art a man and not God though thou set thy heart as the heart of God See how that proud Prince thought to carry it as God as if he had been the founder of his own strength How can the Lord but be provoked with such an affront as this Proud Babilon spake this language and at as high a rate Isa 47.8 I am and none else besides me is not this to speak just like God I shall not sit as a widdow neither shall I know the loss of children Secondly As pride is an usurpation of the place and power of God so of the providences of God A proud man knoweth not how to acknowledge God in any mercy nor how to be humbled under the hand of God in any affliction He mindes not God either in what he enjoyeth or in what he suffereth is not this a provocation Thirdly Pride must needs provoke God as a proud man sets himself against all the Commands Laws of God God cannot but be provoked to see all his Laws and Commands slighted by man A proud man will keep no bounds nor would he be kept in any Fourthly Pride is a Mother sin it brings forth many other sins As Unbelief is a Mother sin so is Pride Hab. 2.5 He is a proud man neither keepeth at home who enlargeth his desire as hell and is as death and cannot be satisfied but gathereth unto him all Nations and heapeth unto him all people The
them down O Job canst thou do thus or do thou thus Tread down the wicked in their place And as it followeth in the next verse to the same effect Verse 13. Hide them in the dust together and bind their faces in secret That is Bring them to utter destruction to condign punishment even to death Some expound hiding in the dust by laying in dungeons and filthy prisons Secondly Others say to hide in the dust notes death or to lay them in their graves Dust thou art said God to Adam Gen. 3.19 and to dust thou shalt return That is thou shalt die and be put in thy grave which possibly is called the dust of death Psal 22.15 Hide them in the dust of the earth let them appear no more above ground to trouble thee or others Hide them in the dust Together That is either First All at a time Thus the Lord can do he can destroy all the wicked at once at one time in one hour Or Secondly Together that is in one place God can gather the wicked all together and so make an end of them together both as to time and place Yet I conceive neither of these are here intended for God doth not usually destroy the wicked all at one time nor all in one place he hath several times and stages to act his providences in and upon so that to hide them in the dust together is but this to hide them alike to put them all into the same condition at one time or other in one place or other that they may be able to do no more mischief And bind their faces in secret That 's the last expression shewing what God doth and what he bid Job do Bind their faces in secret There may be a twofold interpretation of these words either First In allusion to men condemned whose faces use to be covered a Sentence of death being pronounced and passed upon them they were as it were hid from the light of the living Thus as soon as Ahasuerus the King had passed sentence against Haman they covered his face Esth 7.8 or Secondly This covering their faces may be an allusion to actually dead men whose faces if they die among men especially among friends are alwayes bound up and decently covered When Christ called Lazarus out of the grave the Text saith John 11.44 He came forth his face being bound about with a napkin So then to bind their faces in secret is as if it had been said bring them to death or put them to death Thus the Lord calls Job to that in three particulars which himself will certainly do First To Tread down the wicked Secondly To Hide them in the dust together Thirdly To Bind their faces in secret The Notes which I shall give from these words will be grounded upon that three-fold interpretation of the word wicked And First As the wicked are taken for the same with the proud in the former verse Observe Proud men are wicked men Behold saith the Prophet Mal. 4.1 The day of the Lord shall burn as an oven and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be stubble The proud ââd they that do wickedly go together The proud do wickedly and are therefore deservedly numbred among the wicked Pride is the first of those seven things which are an abomination to the Lord Prov. 6.16 17. There are six things that the Lord hates yea seven are abomination to him A proud look that 's first and if a proud look then certainly a proud heart and a proud spirit Proud persons have not onely a chief but the first place by name among those whom the Lord abominates And in that black Catalogue of eighteen sorts of wicked ones that shall trouble the world in the latter dayes the proud are not the last nor the least 2 Tim. 3.2 3 4 5. In the last dayes perilous times shall come why what shall make them so The reason follows For men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud Now though the proud man comes in the fourth place by name yet he is in the first place as to influence for what is the reason why men over-love themselves is it not because they are proud and have too high thoughts of themselves David Psal 119.21 sheweth the wickedness of proud men or that proud men are extreamly wicked while he saith to and of God Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed which do erre from thy Commandements The proud are such as continually wander out of the wayes of truth and holinesse Pride will not let us keep Commandements 't is the humble soul which keeps them and therefore pride may be called the breach of all the Commandements and if so proud men must needs be the very first-born of the wicked and therefore David saith of them that they are not onely under the rebuke of God but under his curse which is the peculiar portion and punishment of the wicked And what the way of proud men is both in doing and speaking the same David tells us Psal 75.45 I said unto the fools deal not foolishly and to the wicked lift not up the horn lift not up your horn on high speak not with a stiffe neck that is be not proud Wicked men lift up their horn and tongue they cannot but shew their pride in word and deed The Devil is the wicked one Matth. 13.19 The high-way ground having received the seed 't is said the wicked one that is the Devil cometh and catcheth it away And when the world is said to lie in wickedness or in the wicked one 1 John 5.19 The meaning is the Devil over-rules the carnal world Now as the Devil is the wicked one so he is the proud one also Pride was that wickededness for which God trod him down and his wickedness still continueth in tempting men to or in puffing them up with pride It is the businesse of the wicked one the Devil to make men proud because he knows pride will make them wicked and do wickedly Pride hardeneth the mind as Daniel saith it did Nebuchadnezar Chap. 5.20 Now what wickednesse is there which a hardened mind will not attempt to do Pride put Herod upon seeking the bloud of Christ who came to save and wash sinners with his blood Proud men are very wicked as they despise other men a proud man thinks no man so good as himself or himself too good for all other men Some proud men are so wicked that they despise even God himself The proud man lifts up himself against the Word of God slights the promises regards not the threatnings of God his heart is lifted up against the Commandements of God nor doth he value the comforts of God he neglects the Ordinances of God nor doth he reverence the Providences of God He that doth or is ready to do all this is surely a despiser of God himself How wicked a man is he whose heart is lifted up both against God and man
time of Behemoths making I made him the same day with thee for all the beasts of the earth were made upon the sixth day the same day in which man was made Fourthly Which I made with thee that is I made him to be with thee I did not make Behemoth as I made Leviathan to play in the Sea but I made him to be with thee on the Land that thou shouldst behold him and take notice of him or that he should be under thy hand yea not only so but contrary to the nature of wilde beasts to love thy company and to desire converse with thee to be guided by thee and in many things to act with a kind of reason and understanding like thee or as thy self and other men do Fifthly Which I made with thee that is for thee I made him for thy use I made him to serve thee Though he be thus great and vast yet he will be thy humble servant There will be occasion afterwards to shew further how serviceable and useful Elephants are to man Sixthly I made him with thee that is I made him as nigh to thee as any of the unreasonable creatures yea nigher to thee than any of the unreasonable creatures for I have made him excel them all as thou excellest him he is above other irrational creatures as thou art above all irrationals He next to Angels and men is the chief of my wayes The word made may import this also and so it is used 1 Sam. 12.6 The Lord advanced the Hebâew is Made Moses and Aaron The Lord hath so made the Elephant that he hath also advanced him above all the beasts of the field I have set him as near the seat of reason as might be and not be rational In all these respects we may understand the Lord saying to Job concerning Behemoth I made him with thee He is thy fellow-creature and how great soever he is he is my creature I made him the same day that I made thee and I made him to abide in the same place with thee or where thy abode is I made him also for thy service and that he might be a meet servant for thee I have made him almost a partaker of reason with thee so far at least a partaker of reason that he will very obsequiously submit to and follow the conduct of thine and though he be the strongest beast on earth yet thou mayest find him acting more according to thy reason than his own force or strength There is yet another interpretation of these words given by Bochartus which favours his opinion that Behemoth is the Hippopotame or River Horse Whom I have made with thee Tecum vel potius juxta te or rather near thee or hard by thee that is in thy neighbour-hood in a Countrey which borders upon thine As if saith he God had said to Job I need not fetch arguments from far to prove how powerful I am seeing I have them at hand For among the beasts which I made in Nilus which is near thy Countrey Arabia how admirable is the Hippopotame And that the Hebrew word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifies by or near as well as with he gives many examples Josh 7.2 Judg. 9.6 Judg. 18.3 Judg. 19.11 2 Sam. 6.7 2 Sam. 20.8 which the Reader may peruse and consider Thus the Elephant was made with man But how lives he how feeds he Not like man He eateth grasse as an Oxe From these words also the Authour last mentioned collects an argument for the strengthening of his interpretation The Oxe and Elephant saith he are alike labouring beasts and therefore no wonder if they feed alike or live upon the same kind of food but that the Hippopotame which is an aquatical Animal and abides for the most part in the bottom of Nilus should eat grasse like an Oxe this is strange and matter of wonderment Nor is it for nothing that he is compared to the Oxe whom he resembles not onely in his food but in the bignesse of his body and in the shape of his head and feet whence the Italians call him Bomarin that is the Sea-Oxe Yet these words may very well be applied to the Elephant It being not onely true that his food is grasse but a merciful wonder that it is so For ââd this vast creature live upon prey or the spoil of other beasts what havock yea devastation would he make to satisfie his hunger So that these words He eateth grasse as an Oxe may carry this sense As if the Lord had said Though I have made this beast so great and strong yet he is no dangerous no ravenous beast he doth not live by preying upon other beasts by tearing and worrying sheep and Lambs as Lions and Bears and Wolves do this great and mighty creature eats grasse lâke an Oxe Thus God would have Job take notice what way he hath provided for the subsistence of the Elephant He eateth grasse as an Oxe yet not altogether as the Oxe His food is as the food of an Oxe for the matter both eat grasse but he doth not eat in the same manner as an Oxe Why how doth an Oxe eat by licking up the grasse with his tongue into his mouth as he is described Numb 22.4 but the Elephant gathers up the grasse with his trunk and then puts it into his mouth Naturalists give these two reasons why the Elephant cannot eat like the Oxe Ne ore pascatur adminuculo linguae ut boves impedit colli brevitas linguae quoque quae illi animali perexigua est interius posita ita ut eam vix videre possis Decerptam proboscideherbam dentibus quos utrinque quatuor habet commolit Arist l. 2. de Histâr Animal c. 5 6. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Pasco First Because of the shortnesse of his Neck Secondly The littlenesse of his Tongue which lies so far within his Mouth that it cannot easily be seen and therefore he crops the grasse with his trunk and putting it into his mouth grindes it with his teeth He eateth grasse like an Oxe He is like the Oxe as to what he feeds upon not as to the way of his feeding So then though the Elephant be so bulky and big-bodied yet by the Lords Ordinaâion he is as harmlesse as a labouring Oxe he will not hurt any beast of the field This phrase Eating like an Oxe is used to set forth the peaceablenesse of his Nature Thus those blessed times are described when the power of the Gospel shall overcome the wrath and enmity which is in the Serpents seed against the seed of the Woman Isa 11.7 The Cow and the Bear shall feed their young ones and the Lion shall eat straw like the Oxe Lions will be quiet that is the spirits of those men who have been like Lions and Bears even they shall eat straw like the Oxe they shall not hurt the Lambs and Sheep of Christs flock and fold
Quoties de feris bestiis dicitur quod faenum comesturae sint sicut bos metaphoricè innuitur eos mansuefieri cicurari The same Prophet shadows the peaceablenesse of those Gospel times under a like Allegory Chap. 65.25 where having shewed Verse 24. the goodnesse and tendernesse of God in hearing the prayers of his people It shall come to passe that before they call I will answer and while âhey are yet praying I will hear he presently shews how good and kind God who hath the spirits and passions of all men in his hand will make the most ruffe-spirited and passionate men to his people The wolfe and the Lamb shall feed together and the Lion shall eat straw like the Bullâck That is they who were sometimes as fierce as evening Wolves shall quietly and sweetly converse with the Lambs of Christ c. Thus here the Lord speaks of the Elephant eating grasse like an Oxe to shew that though he be exceeding strong yet he is of an exceeding quiet and harmless disposition Non alitèr quam perparvuli catelli ex hominis manu gaudet cibum sumere Aelian cap. 9. 30. And Naturalists tell us he is so gentle and harmlesse that he will take meat out of a mans hand like a Dog or Spaniel Thirdly The Elephant is described by his strength Verse 16. Lo Now or Behold it is the same word As in the former Verse God awakened the attention of Job to consider this Beast in general with a Behold so here coming to particulars he reassumeth the same note of admiration and serious meditation Lo now or Behold His strength is in his loins He hath strength proportionable to his greatness And as Sampsons strength was symbolically in his locks so the Elephants strength is naturally in his loins there 's the seat of strength in most creatures His strength is in his loins that is he hath very strong loins and is therefore very strong the loins being as was said the natural seat of strength To gird up the loins to do a thing is to do it strongly A weak man a man of little strength is said to have no loins Elumbus sive elumbis quasi sine lumbis i. e. viribus Drus or to be if I may so speak a loinlesse man And hence the failing or shaking of the loins notes the failing of strength and want of spirits to atchieve any great thing David speaking of the woful condition of the rejected Jews and the curse of God upon them gives it thus Psal 69.23 Let their eyes be darkened that they see not and make their loins continually to shake that is let them alwayes be in a weak and low condition let them not gather strength nor courage The effect of which curse is evident upon that people at this day their loins shake they gather no considerable strength they do no considerable thing nor shall till they return to the Lord. It is said of the vertuous woman Prov. 31.17 She girdeth her loins with strength that is she is ready and able for any work or action within her sphere or becoming her sex Non rectè nostri quod de lumbis dicitur adlibidinema commodant cum Eliphas tradatur esse animal maximè pudicum Merc. And when the Lord called the Prophet to lay to heart the grievous evils of those times he saith Ezek. 21.6 Sigh to the breaking of thy loins that is sigh mourn and lament till thou hast sighed away all thy strength till thou art become feeble with mourning lamenting and sighing The Elephant is mighty and strong His strength is in his loins And his force in the Navel of his Belly As much as to say he is strong every-where he is strong in back and strong in belly The Navel is the strength of the lower parts of the body as the loin of the upper The Navel is as the center of the body there is a colligation or knitting of several veins and arteries which pass from thence into several parts of the body as Anatomists observe There is so much force in the Navel that it may well be called the second seat of strength When the Lord would encourage us to fear him and depart from evil he makes this a motive Prov. 3.8 It shall be health to thy navel and marrow to thy bones that is thou shalt have much health and strength much comfort and sweetness in thy life His force is in the Navel of his Belly His strength is not in his horns to do hurt as the Bulls and Unicorns nor in his claws to tear as the Lions and Bears but in his Loins and Navel As if the Lord had said I have placed the strength of Behemoth where it may be most useful or serviceable and least hurtful I have endowed and furnished him with wonderful strength but how and where Not in any offensive part his head hath no horns his feet no claws to do mischief with but to the end he might be more serviceable to man in bearing burdens I have placed it chiefly in his Loins and Belly Yet saith the learned Bochartus This latter part of the verse doth not agree with the Elephant seeing both Pliny and Solinus teach us that the Elephant hath indeed a very hard skin upon his back but a soft one under his belly whence it is saith he that the Rhinoceros fighting with the Elephant aimes chiefly at his belly which he knows is his tenderest part He gives many other proofs of this as also that the Hippopotame hath a skin so extreamly thick and hard that 't is even impenitrable To this I may answer That though it be granted that the Hippop tame hath a very hard skin all over his body and not at all denied that the skin of the Elephant is softer by much under his belly than upon his back yet it cannot in my understanding be hence concluded that he hath not a great force in the Navel of his Belly For though he hath not a hardnesse there to resist the point either of a natural or artificial weapon yet he may have a force there enabling him to do mighty things 'T is rather from the compactness or well knitting of the Navel that he or any other like creature hath his force than from the hardnesse of it nor doth the Hebrew word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã here rendred force signifie any force depending upon the hardnesse of any part but that force which ariseth from the good constitution of the body Gen. 49.3 or from the plentifulnesse of a mans outward estate or substance Job 18.7 Hos 12.8 What the Elephants strength and force is appears yet further in that which followeth Verse 17. He moveth his tail like a Cedar Some take the tail properly Secondly Eâsi caudam habeat quae magnitudine cedrum aequare videatur tamen eam fâcile movet Insignis hyperbole Merc. Sunt qui caudam hic putant appellari promuscidem Elephantis planè alienè
that service commanded them by the Lord Jehoiakim was angry and sent to take them but saith the Text The Lord hid them So the Lord moved Obadiah to hide his Prophets by fifty in a cave from the wrath of Ahab and Jezebel 1 King 18. Now as the Lord keeps his servants by hiding them from those who are enraged against them so Secondly By meekning their spirits as he doth the Elephants towards the beasts of the field shewing them much kindness and suffering them in a sort to play before them that is to enjoy great tranquility The Psalmist saith it was the Lord who turned the heart of the Egyptians to hate his people and to deal subtilly with his servants Psal 105.25 And 't is doubtless of the Lord that any shew them favour and deal kindly with them Again from these words Where all the beasts of the field play Note Secondly A playing life is the life of a beast All beasts would live so wilde beasts do live so As it is said of the Leviathan in the Sea Psal 104.26 There go the Ships there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein A life of play is a beastial life It is said Zach. 8.5 in a way of promise That boyes and girles should play in the streets but men and women must work it were a shame to describe them playing The life of man is not a playing life but a labouring life How beast-like do they live who as it is said of the people of Israel Exod. 38.6 Eat and drink and rise up to play that 's just like a beast feed on the mountains and then play upon the mountains Let us follow Solomons councel Eccles 9.10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with all thy might We have seen Behemoth feeding let us now see him lodging and reposing himself Vers 21 22. He lieth under the shady trees in the covert of the reed and fens the shady trees cover him with their shadow the willows of the brook compass him about These two verses hold forth the manner of Behemoths repose how and where he takes his ease He lieth under the shady trees c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Et cubo dormio saepius cubo nam dormio potius ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã dicitur Drus Some of the Jewish Rabbins read these two verses with an interrogation Negative thus Doth he lie under the shady trees in the covert of the reeds do the shady trees cover him with their shadows or the willows compass him about Implying that Behemoth is so vast a creature that he can hardly find trees to shadow him or willows of the brook to compass him about But though Behemoth be a great and tall beast yet I nothing doubt but there are trees in and about the places which he frequents great and tall enough to shadow him from the Sun when he stands upright yea and reeds of a sufficient height to be a covert to him when he lieth down And therefore as it was an over boldness in those Rabbins to put an interrogation where they found none so there is no need that an interrogation should either be found or put there Indeed Bochartus who judgeth reeds much too low to make a covert for the Elephant tells us out of Aelian That Elephants go by very great trees as we by standing corn and that some of them they are taller than trees Which I conceive Aelian l. 7. c. 6. can be understood no other way than by a high strain of Rhetorick But suppose it true in plain and proper sense yet this gives the learned Bochartus no advantage to which end he alleadgeth that of Aelian for the accommodating of this part of the description of Behemoth to the Hippopotame rather than the Elephant because he tells us from several Authors first Bochartus part poster l. 5. c. 15. p. 755. that the Hippopotame is not only three times bigger than the horse but secondly that he is of equal ability with the Elephant and for the most part greater Whence it is saith he that some Writers compare the Hippopotame with the Elephant both in strength and stature or prefer him before the Elephant which reports saith he although they be a little stretcht yet 't is manifest that the Hippopotame comes behind few animals either in bigness or stature that is tallness of body And if so then the Reeds of the Fen fit him as ill for a covert as the Elephant yet I am enough satisfied that they may very well fit either of them And though the Elephant usually sleepeth standing and rarely lyeth down to sleep yet which is not denied he if sometimes or at any time lyeth down to sleep 't is sufficient to answer the purpose of this Text which saith vers 21. He lyeth under the shady trees in the covert of the Reeds and Fens And Vers 22. The shady trees cover him with their shadow the willows of the brook compass him about 'T is usual with and even natural to cattel of all sorts Sicut aquas odere cupressi Juglandes castoneae ita non nisi in aquot sis proveniunt salices alni popali Plin. l. 16. c. 18. Elephas amat amnes quamvis fluviatile non sit tamen riparium dici potest Arist l. 9. c. 46. to seek shelter under shady trees when the fiery heat of the Sun offends them and as Behemoth seeks out any sort of shady trees so it seems he hath a peculiar delight in and possibly a phancy to The willows of the brook Willows are so called because they mostly grow near to brooks and always prosper best in marish or moorish-grounds Some trees will not grow in watery places such are the Cypress and Chest-nut-trees others will not grow well any where else such are the Aldar and the Poplar trees Willows especially Willows love brooks and Elephants love both brooks and Willows if those ancient Natural Historians mentioned in the Margen mis-report them not Elephantes gaudent amnibus manimè circa fluvios vagantur cum alioquin nare propter magnitudinem corporis non pâssunt Plin. l. 8. c. 10. The Elephant saith one of them loveth rivers and though he be not a river Animal yet he may be called a river-side or river-bank Animal and saith the other Elephants are greatly pleased with rivers and wander much about streams of water though they cannot swim by reason of the greatness of their bodies That is I confess a rare notion and singularly subservient to his opinion that Behemoth is the Hippopotame which the learned Author so often already mentioned gives us namely that by the word rendred brook we are here to understand the river Nilus in Egypt And therefore he translates the Text not as we The Willows of the Brook but The Willows of Nilus compass him about And that the Hebrew word Nahal signifieth Nilus he puts beyond contradiction by quoting many express places of Scripture where it
God to error from the true worship of God to idolatry and from communion with God to creature-comforts and contentments you go after vain things which cannot profit To be vain and to be unprofitable are the same thing Take heed of sin for you cannot make any profit of it you cannot raise any true revenue out of it you will one time or other be ashamed as the Prophet speaks of all those revenues your hope that way is vain Secondly Then how vain a thing is it to oppose the Church of God! Why because there is no ground of hope for success in that attempt The world hath been upon it all along but they could never effect nor accomplish what they have imagined they have done all but prosper in it they never had their end which is the end or total destruction of the Church Pharaoh would oppose and vex Israel the Church of God and keep them low but he could not attain his end for the more he oppressed them the more they multiplied therefore all such are said to imagine a vain thing Psal 2.1 2. Why do the Heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing the Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed but all in vain Nothing less came of it than what they imagined or their imaginations came to nothing yea brought them to nothing I saith the Lord Zach. 12.3 will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces If any meddle with Jerusalem they will find they lift at a very heavy stone and that they meddle not with their match they shall surely be not only overmatcht but overthrown at length who do so The Church is founded upon a rock and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it Mat. 16.18 that is neither the counsels nor confederacies neither the power nor the policy of men or devils shall be able to prevail against it The History of the Church saith of Dioclesian a cruel persecuter that for very vexation he gave up the Government of the Empire because he saw he could not suppress Christianity by all his machinations against the Christians And doubtless they in the Gospel John 12.19 were not a little troubâed when they said among themselves Perceive ye how we prevail nothing Behold the world is gone after him Thirdly Note The loss of hope or hope lost is the greatest loss When God would shew mans worst condition he saith His hope is in vain he doth not say his labour is in vain but his hope is in vain that pincheth most of all and that 's it which will pinch Hypocrites most at last who were in hope of injoying God but not only their labour but their hope shall be in vain when they come big with expectation and say Lord Lord we have done thus and thus when as the foolish Virgins they shall knock boldly and cry earnestly Lord Lord open to us the answer given them will be only this I know you not that is I know you not for mine as you presumed your selves to be even while you walked not as mine in wisdom but in your own folly This loss of hope will grieve more than the loss of Heaven As Christ told the Pharisees You shall weep and gnash your teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out You thought that you should be saved above all men but saith Christ you shall be thrust out and lose your hopes This the Lord speaks to shew the worst of their condition who attempt to take Leviathan Their hope shall be in vain In the latter part of the verse the Lord gives us a farther account why their hope is in vain Shall not a man be cast down at the sight of him Is there any hope of taking him at whose very sight a man shall certainly be cast down There is a twofold casting down First a casting down by outward violence when a man is thrust down as we speak by head and shoulders Thus David cast down Goliah by a sling and a stone Secondly There is a casting down by inward trouble as we usually say such a man is mightily cast down Trouble of spirit heart-vexation and fear cast down many before any hand toucheth them Christ speaking of Capernaum saith Luke 10.15 And thou Capernaum which art exalted to heaven shalt be thrust down to hell As if he had said thou hast been high in thy expectations and highly priviledged in thy enjoyments having had the Gospel preached to thee but thou shalt not only fall down but thou shalt be thrust down into hell with a kind of violence When the Lord in the Text saith Shall not one be cast down we are to understand it of a casting down by the strong impression of astonishment and fear of dread and trouble seizing upon the mans spirit who comes near Leviathan and therefore it followeth Shall not one be cast down At the sight of him A man shall no sooner see him but he shall sink and if so then how little hope hath any one to grapple with him and to take him There is small hope of overcoming this Leviathan when a man at his sight or as far off as he can see him is so afraid of him as to be cast down with fear The very sight of a Whale is a terror to Mariners and Sea-men they are afraid their Ship may be overturn'd and spoyled by him Some read the words thus Will he be cast down even at the sight of him and they give this meaning of it Will the Leviathan be cast down at the sight of a man when he cometh prepared to take him Thou thinkest Leviathan a poor spirited fish or that he will be afraid of thy looks or to see thee as other fishes are who when they see or apprehend a man near scuttle away as we say but thou wilt find Leviathan is a fish that will not be afraid at the sight of thee This is a good sense but I conceive that before given more sutable that the sight of Leviathan or a Leviathan as soon as seen is so terrible that a man will be stricken with fear as soon as he seeth him Shall not one be cast down at the sight of him Hence note First The sight of the eye worketh much upon the heart The Lord saith not Shall not one be cast down by the force of him but at the very sight of him The eye hath a mighty operation upon the inward man yea upon the whole man the eye hath a mighty force upon the heart as to three things First It hath a mighty force upon the heart as to joy If we see a person that we have a great deal of love for how do we rejoyce presently at the sight of him 'T is true also of things It is
to Joshua Josh 1.5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life What a promise was here to a man Joshua was indeed one of the worthiest warriers that ever was upon the earth and may well be reckoned not only one of but the cheif or most worthy among the nine Worthies of the world seing no man could stand before him nor should in way of opposition all the days of his life Now if the Lord promised such a power unto Joshua and made it good that none should be able to stand before him all the days of his life then who among the children of men shall be able to stand before God The Prophet Malachy speaking of Christs coming Chap. 3.1 saith Behold he shall suddenly come into his Temple even the Messenger of the Covenant But what follows ver 2. Who may abide the day of his coming If there was such a terribleness in Christs coming in the flesh as to the spiritual power and effects of it that the Prophet saith Who may abide the day of his coming O then who shall be able to stand before Christ when he shall come in glory to judge the earth If they could not abide the day of his coming when he came with refiners fire and fullers sope how will they be able to stand before him when he cometh with consuming fire No man can stand before God in any of these four ways First In his own wisdom to plead it out with God If we plead with God our wisdom will be found foolishness and we our selves shall be confounded as fools The Lord saith Job Chap. 12.17 maketh the Judges fools Judges are usually full of wisdom yet God maketh even them fools God in strict sense maketh none nor would he have any made Judges but the wise yet he himself can make the wisest of them fools And if so then there is no standing before God in our own wisdom Secondly There is no standing before God in our own strength or power Our strength is but weakness yea rottennâss to his as the Prophet speaks Isa 5.24 Their root shall be rottenness and there blossome shall go up as the dust Thus it is with all flesh if they stand in their own strength their root which is their strength shall be as rottenness and their blossome which is their beauty shall go up as the dust Thirdly There is no standing before God in our own righteousness to be acquitted accepted and justified There are many deficiencies and flawâ in our righteousness therefore we cannot stand before God in it there is much unrighteousness in our righteousness therefore we cannot stand before God in it and how righteous if I may so speak soever our righteousness is or may be yet we cannot stand before God in it because he hath appointed another righteousness or the righteousness of another even the righteousness of Jesus Christ for us to stand before him in So then if we would stand before God all these must be laid down we must lay down our own wisdom we must become fools that we may be wise we must lay down our own strength we must become weak that we may be strong and we must lay down our own righteousness and look upon our selves as guilty creatures as condemned persons as cast and lost in our selves we must have nothing but the wisdom and strength and righteousness of God to stand before God in that is we must stand before God by faith God is not terrible to such they may stand before God the poorest sinner may stand before God in the wisdom and strength and righteousness of Jesus Christ Thus we may answer the question Who can stand before me saith God I can stand before thee saith a believer I can stand before thee with boldness being quit of self-wisdom strength and righteousness and looking to Christ Jesus for all How sweet how gracious and how delightful is the presence of God to an humble believing soul to a broken-hearted sinner The Lord saith I will dwell with such a one he shall not only come and stand before me but I will come and sit down with him I will take up my abode in an humble soul in an empty soul Who is able to stand before me saith God None can in their own wisdom strength or righteousness but in Christ we may From hence we may more than conclude Fourthly That there is no standing before God in our sins God is terrible to sinners that is to those who continue in the love and practice of their sins God is of purer eyes than to behold and approve evil David having spoken of those Psal 1.1 that stand in the way of sinners saith at the 5th ver there is a standing for them in the Judgment They that stand in the way of sinners cannot stand at the Judgment-seat of God Job said Chap. 13.16 A hypocrite shall not come before him that is he shall not come with acceptance before God Though hypocrites will thrust themselves into the presence of God yet they shall not come before him though now an hypocrite may come before God in any outward performance yet not with any acceptance and to be sure he shall not come before God in glory and if he shall not come before him how can he stand before him The Lord will even blow him away Only they that fall down before God are able to stand before him We must fall down before God in a sence of our own vileness and wretchedness and then we shall be able to stand before him and to behold his pleased face by an eye of faith A stout sinner shall never stand before him It is said Zech. 3.1 Joshua stood before the Angel of the Lord. He had much ado to keep his standing why because the Devil stood there to resist him and pointed to his filthy garments but the Angel pleaded with the Lord to take away his filthy garments and when they were taken away then he was able to stand before God It is said Zech. 4.14 which is conceived to be meant of Joshua and Zerubbabel These are the two anointed ones which stand before the Lord of the whole earth And as they in the type so all that are Olive-branches that have the pure oil of the Spirit may and shall stand before God We become Olive-branches in Christ having the oil or the graces of the Spirit sent down into our hearts according to the promise Holy and humble souls Olive-branches they that are full of the grace and Spirit of our Lord Jesus shall stand before God but as for man himself that is man in himself in his own wisdom strength or righteousness above all in his sins and unrighteousness can never stand before God If he cannot stand before Leviathan how can he stand before the Lord This is a great Gospel truth given in by himself while he is treating of this sea-monster There is no standing before
me or in his undertaking me about this matter And when that 's done I shall easily and quickly convince him or make him both see and confess that he is a poor weakling that he is nothing or if any thing vile compared with me For if I do but oppose to him the parts powers and comliness of Leviathan he will find himself over-matched Thus I say some conceive the Lord referreth to the former words as promising to him right that should accept the challenge there made and say that he had prevented God or had been aforehand with him Alii non tacerem mendacia ita sumitur ejus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã enim cap. 11.3 Merc. Others give it thus if any man shall venture to answer my challenge I will not conceal his lies so the word by us translated parts is rendred Chap. 11.3 nor his boasting words not the rhetorical ornaments nor the comely proportion of his speech in pleading and arguing with me all which will be found upon trial to be but lies vain flourishes and mear sophistical fallacies But I rather take this verse as a general Preface to that which the Lord intended further to say in the description of this mighty creature Leviathan As if he had said O Job that thou mayst be yet more fully convinced how unable thou art to deal with this mighty fish and mayst therein see yet more clearly how unable thou art to stand before my power who have given both being and power to this creature I shall go on to give thee a more lively picture a more particular narrative a fuller character of him and as it were anatomize this sea monster in all his parts powers and proportions So then in this context and forward to the end of the 32d verse we have the fourth part of the description of Leviathan even by the distinct parts of his body together with the wonderful powers effects and operations that appear in them as acted by that courage stoutness and greatness of spirit with which God have clothed him I will not conceal his parts The Hebrew is I will not be silent about his parts And when the Lord saith I will not conceal nor be silent his meaning is I will fully Meiosis celebrarem ejus membra Drus largely and evidently declare the parts the power and the comely proportion of Leviathan I will view as it were all that is most observable in and about him I will do it exactly not slightly or perfunctorily but like an Oratour declare all his excellencies I will not let slip nor omit any thing that is material or conducible to his commendation So that when the Lord saith I will not conceal he intends much more than he expresseth As the Prophet also did Isa 62.1 when he said For Zions sake will I not hold my peace meaning that he would pour out his heart and make a loud cry in prayers and supplications for Zions sake That 's the import of his words I will not hold my peace As also of those vers 6. Ye that make mention of the Lord or ye that are the Lords remembrancers in the concerns of Zion keep not silence The meaning is speak much for Zion A man doth not keep silence nor hold his peace who speaketh only a word or two But the Lords remembrancers must speak to the full much and often they must urge him with many arguments and plead hard till he bring forth salvation in Zion I urge this Scripture as parallel to the Text in hand where the Lord saith I will not conceal when his purpose was to speak copiously and largely And here the Lord setteth down three things concerning Leviathan which he will not conceal First His parts Secondly His power Thirdly His comely proportion To these three heads all that can be said of Leviathan is reducible I will not conceal his parts or members ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã This creature is made up of several heterogeneal parts or members The word rendred parts properly signifieth the bar or bolt of a door as also the boughs of a tree There is a great elegancy in that metaphor because the members of the body in any creature are as so many boughs shot out from the stock of a tree I will not conceal his parts But what are the parts which the Lord mentions or would not conceal I answer The word parts in our language and common speech signifieth the inward abilities and faculties of any man We say such a one is a man of excellent parts or he hath good parts that is he is a wise man an understanding man a well-spoken man But here in this place the word parts notes only the limbs members and organs of the body or the several pieces of the whole compages or frame of the body Of these parts the Lord speaketh in the following part of the Chapter And he speaketh First Of his skin ver 13. Secondly Of his jaws and teeth ver 14. Thirdly Of his scales ver 1â 16 17. Fourthly Of his nostrils eyes and mouth ver 18 19 20 21. Fifthly Of his neck ver 22. Sixthly Of his flesh all over ver 23. Seventhly Of his heart ver 24. All these if not more particular parts the Lord mentions in this Chapter and therefore he might well say I will not conceal his parts Nor his power Parts are one thing and power is another There may be great bodily parts where there is but little power That which maketh parts excellent is when they are full of power or when outward parts are accompanied with inward parts which are the accomplishments of them I will not conceal his power Notum ut ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã prore sumatur Drus The Hebrew is The word or matter of his power Master Broughton renders I will not conceal the speech of strength that is the matter of his strength The Hebrew word signifies not only a word but matter or thing I will not conceal the things of his power These powers are expressed afterwards First In his nostrils By his neefings a light doth shine in the former part of the 18th verse Secondly In his eyes They are like the eye-lids of the morning in the latter part of the 18th verse Thirdly In his mouth Out of his mouth go burning lamps and sparks of fire leap out ver 19. Heat riseth out of the vital power of any creature Leviathans heat is so great that it is called fire and from thence smoke goeth out of his nostrils as out of a seething-pot or cauldron ver 20. yea his breath kindleth coals and a flame goeth out of his mouth ver 21. All these expressions shew the mighty heat within him Fourthly In his neck ver 22. In his neck remaineth strength He hath not only a neck but a strong neck Fifthly In his heart ver 24. His heart is as firm as a stone yea as hard as a piece of the nether mill-stone Sixthly Such is his power
might declare himself in Leviathan Hence note The parts powers and comely proportions of the creature clearly evidence the excellencies of God The Lord chiefly proclaimed his own name when he proclaimed the name of Leviathan Rom. 1.20 The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead The unseen God hath made all things that he may be seen in them When he makes a Comment upon his own works why is it but that he may make a Comment upon himself and expound his own glory in them And as the excellencies of the Lord are seen in the works of creation so in the works of providence and he hath therefore made so many declarations of them to us that his power wisdom and justice may shine through them to us Psal 75.1 That thy name is neer thy wondrous works declare And he said to Pharaoh Exod. 9.16 For this cause have I raised thee up for to shew in thee my power and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth All that the Lord doth to or in the creature is to get himself a name and a glory therefore let us give God the glory of his power wisdom and goodness in all his works Negare Pagaganus Christum potest negare Deum omnipotentem non potest August ser 139. de Temp. It was the saying of one of the Ancients A Pagan may deny that there is a Christ but a Pagan cannot deny Almighty God A Pagan may deny Christ for that 's meerly matter of faith but sense will lead a Pagan to believe there is a God or some omnipotent power that hath wrought all these things If we see a stream that assures us there is a Spring or Fountain if we see a goodly Palace built that assures us it had a builder a maker And if the stream be full what is the fountain If the Palace built be great and magnificent how great how magnificent was the builder Every house as the Author to the Hebrews said upon another occasion Chap. 3.4 is builded by some man but he that built all things is God Fourthly Seeing the Lord is pleased to read such a natural Phylosophy Lecture upon this creature we may take this Observation from it God would have man know the parts and powers of the creatures Why doth the Lord in this book speak at large of them and of their powers but that we may take notice of them and understand them or that we should search and study them What the Psalmist speaks concerning the works of providence is true of the Lords works in nature Psal 111.2 The works of the Lord are great And vers 4. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembred that is that they should be spoken of and memoriz'd And therefore having said at the beginning of the second verse The works of the Lord are great he adds in the close of it Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein His work is honourable and glorious c. The works of God are to be searched to the bottom though their bottom cannot be found by all those that have pleasure and delight either in God or in his works and they therefore search them out also because they encrease and better their knowledge of God the Creator by encreasing and bettering their knowledge about the creature From the whole verse we may infer First If God will not conceal the parts the power and comliness of his creatures then let not us conceal the power the glory and the excellency of God Yea let us with heart and tongue declare the glorious perfections of God how holy how just how wise how merciful how patient and long-suffering a God he is When God makes the creature known to us he would much more have us know himself and make him known Davids heart was set upon this duty Psal 9.14 Thou hast lifted me up from the gates of death that I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Sion As if he had said This O Lord was thy design in lifting me up from the gates of death that is from deadly dangers or killing diseases that I might declare thy praise in Sions gates or that I might declare how praise-worthy thou art to all who come into the gates of Sion And again Psal 118.17 I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. In the 40th Psalm which is a Prophecy of Christ he speaks in the words of the Text vers 10. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation As the Lord saith here concerning Leviathan I will not conceal his parts so saith the Prophet I will not conceal his loving kindness and truth c. Which as it is most true of Christ whose work it was to do so as also the end of all his works so it sheweth what we ought to do and what should be the end of all our works not to conceal the righteousness and goodness of God but declare them in the great congregation And as Christ declared the glory of the Father so should we the glory of Christ We read the Church engaged in this As I shewed before Christ could not conceal the parts of the Church so the Church could not conceal the parts of Christ Cant. 5.9 There the question is put to the Church What is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou dost thus charge us The Church being asked this question will not conceal the parts nor the power nor the comely proportion of Christ her Beloved but gives a copious Narrative of his gracious excellencies vers 10. My Beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousand his head is as most fine gold his locks are bushy and black as a Raven his eyes are as the eyes of Doves by the rivers of waters washed with milk and fitly set his cheeks are as a bed of spices as sweet flowers his lips like Lillies dropping sweet smelling myrrh his hands are as gold rings set with Beryle his belly is as bright Ivory overlaid with Saphyres his legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold his countenance is as Lebanon excellent as the Cedars his mouth is sweet yea he is altogether lovely This is my beloved and this is my friend O daughters of Jerusalem Thus as Christ concealed not the parts of the Church so the Church concealed not the parts the power and comely proportion of Christ And did we more consider who Christ is and what he is both in himself and unto us we should be more both in admiring within our selves and in reporting to others his parts his power and comely proportion Secondly If God hath not concealed the knowledge of his creatures from us if
of Leviathan in opposition to Israel Herod and Pilate once no good friends laid down all their animosities and cleaved close together like the scales of Leviathan to crucifie Christ and so have evil men in all ages to hinder the progress of his kingdome It is said Revel 17.12 13. of the ten horns which are there expounded to be ten Kings these have one mind They who seldome agree in their own affairs agree all in assisting the beast as 't is there said These have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast The Scripture takes notice of this their union not as a good thing but as a strange thing that ten Kings of different nations of different interests and dispositions should agree in giving their power and strength that is their civil power the power of their kingdoms to the beast that is to uphold his kingdom which is doubtless the kingdom of Antichrist How may this shame those who profess a love to and themselves subjects of the kingdom of Christ for their divisions Godly men should cleave together as the scales of the Leviathan which cannot be sundred in that which is good And are not their differences and divisions their distances and breaches to be lamented which are so very great and wide that not only the thin circumambient air but gross circumventing bodies may come between them So far are they oftentimes from cleaving together in duty to God and man like the scales of Leviathan that they hang together as we say like ropes of sand The Evangelist Luke speaks of a time Acts 4.32 When all believers were like the scales of Leviathan Then the multitude of them that believed that is all they that believed were of one heart and of one soul Here they were not only joyned like the scales of the Leviathan but they were joyned as if they were all but one scale Godly men should carry it towards one another as members of the same body and acted by the same spirit They who have relation to those seven ones mentioned Ephes 4.4 5 9. should labour to be one should be found endeavouring as 't is there said ver 3. To keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace Further by way of allusion The lusts of carnal men in general are like the scales of Leviathan sticking so close to them and one to another that the Spirit of God in the Ministery of his word finds no passage between till he makes one yea hardness of heart obstinacy and impenitency are expressed by this word Lam. 3.65 Give them O Lord saith he hardness of heart thy curse unto them Give them sorrow of heart so our translation renders it The Hebrew is Give them a shield upon their heart The word is the very same which is here translated scales the scales of Leviathan being as so many shields so strong and thick that nothing can enter It is sad when we have scales on our eyes It was said of Saul when in that vision he was stricken blind that before he received his sight scales fell from his eyes Ananias being sent to him said Acts 9.17 Brother Saul the Lord even Jesus that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest hath sent me that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the holy Ghost and immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales c. All men naturally have scales on their eyes It is sad to have a scale on the eye any thing that doth hinder the sight of spiritual things but how sad is it to have scales on the heart also To all impenitent persons their lusts are as so many scales and shields upon their hearts and they have so many scales upon their hearts and those such hard ones that nothing but an Almighty power can make entrance or impression None are in so much danger as they that are fenced and armed with these scales It is best for man to open a naked breast to receive every stroke which the sword of the Spirit the Word of God makes upon him JOB Chap. 41. Vers 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25. 18. By his neesings a light doth shine and his eyes are like the eye-lids of the morning 19. Out of his mouth go burning lamps and sparks of fire leap out 20. Out of his nostrils goeth smoak as out of a seething pot or caldron 21. His breath kindleth coals and a flame goeth out of his mouth 22. In his neck remaineth strength and sorrow is turned into joy before him 23. The flakes of his flesh are joyned together they are firm in themselves they cannot be moved 24. His heart is as firm as a stone yea as hard as a piece of the nether mill-stone 25. When he raiseth up himself the mighty are afraid by reason of breakings they purifie themselves IN the former context the Lord spake of the covering or skin of the jaws and teeth of the face and scales of this Leviathan In this he proceeds yet further to draw out the description of this vast creature First By his strong neesings vers 18. Secondly By his shining eyes in the latter part of that 18th verse Thirdly By his flaming mouth vers 19. Fourthly By his smoaking nostrils vers 20. Fifthly By his fiery breath vers 21. Sixthly By his stiff neck vers 22. Seventhly By the firmnness of his flesh vers 23. Eighthly By the firmness and hardness of his heart vers 24. Ninthly By a twofold effect of all these even upon the mightiest of the sons of men when he appears to them or when they behold him in his motions First He makes them afraid vers 25. Secondly He causeth them to purifie themselves in the close of that verse In these particulars we have a prospect of the whole context I shall but lightly touch at the most of them and a little insist upon the last which we shall find most useful for instruction and admonition The four first verses hold out upon the matter the same thing Est frementis irascentisque oeti descriptio Bold namely the fierce and furious spirit of Leviathan discovered in his neesings eyes mouth nostrils breath all which are expressed by elegant metaphors alluding to or by comparisons made with light and fire with lamps and sparks with smoak and flame Vers 18. By his neesings a light doth shine The first thing described in the former context Sternutatio efficitur ex subtili vapore incluso in ventriculis cerebri conante natura vehementius expelre expurgare Galen l. 2. de sympt causis c. 2 3. Inter orandum bonum est signum sternutare Sernutamentum bonum est signum aegroto Dicta Rabbinorum Merc. was Leviathans terrible head the first in this is the power of his brain Naturalists teach us that neesing is caused by the thin and subtile vapours included in the ventricles of the brain which nature striving to expel and put forth causeth that which we
him It is said of that Land-leviathan Alexander the Great before mentioned that he even leaped for joy when he was engaged in great dangers and hazardous attempts then he would say exultingly Now I see danger suitable to the greatnss of my spirit Jam video animo meo par periculum In such a sense it may be said here of Leviathan sorrow is turned into joy before him But whence was this surely from his strength and the confidence he had in it Hence note They who have great strength think themselves above sorrow and danger Leviathan is so strong that sorrow is turned into joy before him how full of joy or how joyful then is he as Christ saith Mat. 6 23. If the light that is in thee be darkness how great is that darkness so if our sorrow be turned into joy to us how great is our joy Some good men have found it so according to their faith and most stâong men hope it shall be so to them according to their pre umption A st ong man rejoyceth to run a race whereas a weak man is afraid of it going is grievous to him much more running Whatsoever we have strength to do if we have hearts also to do it we rejoyce to do it yea we are so apt to rejoyce in our carnal strength of any kind that the Lord by his Prophet Jer. 9.23 forbids it in every kind of strength in strength of understanding Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom he forbids it also in strength of estate Let not the rich man glory in his riches and lastly he forbids it in this particular strength of body Let not the mighty man glory in his might And there is great reason we should take heed of being found Leviathans in this seing none have been more oppressed and weakned with sorrow than they who upon confidence in self-strength have thought themselves above it or that it should certainly be turned into joy before them Further It will not be unuseful to consider That as here it is said Leviathans sorrow is turned into joy before him so it is promised to and the priviledge of all true believers to have their sorrows or that their sorrows shall be turned into joy before them John 16.20 Verily I say unto you said Christ himself that ye shall weep and lament and the world shall rejoyce here 's the case of Christs Disciples in this world they shall weep and lament that is they shall have cause to weep and many times shall actually weep and lament but your sorrow shall be turned into joy As ye shall rejoyce in spirit under those dispensations which have the greatest occasion and matter of sorrow in them or as Eliphaz said Job 5.22 At destruction and famine ye shall laugh ye shall laugh at destruction it self so at last all the very matter of your sorrow shall be turned into joy The most sorrowful things shall not now be able to swallow you up with sorrow and at last you shall not know by any then present experience any sorrowful thing All your tears shall be not only wiped off from but out of your eyes Christ will then renew that miracle in a metaphorical sense which be once wrought in a natural of which we read John 2. he will turn water into wine the waters of sorrow and tribulation into the wine of joy and consolation Which blessed priviledge is also clearly prophesied Isa 65.13 14. Lastly If by reason of Leviathans strength his sorrow is turned into joy surely the faithful who have the Lord for their strength may turn their sorrow into joy into such joys as none shall take from them or turn back or again into sorrows Thus far concerning the strength of Leviathans neck and the effect of it his joyful or merry life The next words shew him strong all over or in all the parts of his body Vers 23. The flakes of his flesh are joyned together they are firm in themselves they cannot be moved This compactness of Leviathans flesh argues an universal strength His flesh is so compact as if it were a molten thing or as the word rendred firm in the latter paât of the verse signifies like brass or bell-mettal moulton in a furnace and cast into a body Such is the force of the Hebrew The flakes of his flesh are joyned Though Leviathan be a fish an inhabitant of the waters yet the Scripture calls the bulk of his body flesh So Levit. 11.10 11. All that have not sins nor scales in the seas and in the rivers of all that move in the waters they shall be even an abomination unto you ye shall not eat of their flesh In Scripture sence fish is flesh the Apostle useth the same language 1 Cor. 15.39 All flesh is not the same flesh that is it is not of the same kind but there is one kind of flesh of men and another flesh of beasts another of fishes The fish of the sea have flesh as well as the beasts of the earth And that which Job denied of his flesh Chap 6.12 we may affirm of Leviathans flesh His strength is as the strength of stones and his flesh as of brass As the scales of Leviathan without so now his whole flesh within is spoken of as if it were made of solid brass The very refuge the vilest parts of his flesh as the word which we translate flakes is rendred Amos 8.6 are firm and strong being joyned or glued fast together as the Septuagint express the significancy of the word by us rendred joyned And as it followeth They are firm in themselves they cannot be moved That is one part of his flesh cannot be taken from the other or he cannot be moved that is Leviathan is so strong that nothing can stir him or cause him to give ground unless himself pleaseth And as his flesh covering his bones is thus firm so is his heart covered and defended by both Vers 24. His heart is as firm as a stone yea as hard as a piece of the nether mill-stone Corin omnibus animantibus spissum nervosum bend compactum est Arist l. 3. do part c. 4. Superior molo ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã dicebatur ab inequitando The heart is the principal internal part of any creature and the flesh of the heart in every creature is harder than the flesh of any other part of his body the heart is a very compact and hard piece of flesh And the Lord would have us know that the heart of Leviathan is so hard that the heart of any other creature in comparison of his may be called soft and tender His heart Is as firm as a stone That is 't is extraordinary hard which is further intended by the last words of this verse Yea as hard as a piece of the nether mill-stone Mills have two stones an upper which in Hebrew is expressed by a word which signifies to ride because it seems to ride moving
soft on the ouze or mire but laying as it were sharp stones upon it shews what he can endure without hurt And so I conceive these words He spreadeth sharp-pointed things upon the mire may be thus understood and read He spreadeth himself upon sharp-pointed things as if it were upon the mire Secondly We may expound this verse as to the falling off of darts cast and stones slung at him or as to the breaking of swords and spears upon his scales when assaulted with them As if it had been said If you cast darts or sling stones at him they do not enter but drop down under him or if you assail him with sword and spear the sword breaks the spears point is snapt off and falls under his body Thus he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire or spreadeth the mire all over with sharp pointed things As after a well-fought battel at Land we may see the field spread over with pieces of swords and spears and other broken weapons so is the bottom of the Sea could you see to the bottom of it after a skirmish or day of battel with Leviathan This is a probable sense but I rather take the former as shewing the hardness of his skin and scales by his insensibleness of any sharp or hard thing that he rests himself upon All that I shall add is this It were well for us if in this case we could be like Leviathan if we could harden our selves or inure our selves to hardships to lye with sharp stones under us Surely our flesh is much too tender and soft and our skin too delicate for the endurance of a lodging upon hard stones and sharp pointed things The Apostle gives a sutable word of advice to Timothy 2 Tim. 2.6 Do thou endure hardship as a good souldier of Jesus Christ We should labour to endure hardship and to fare hard and to lye hard Edmond a Saxon King in this Land was called Iron-sides I fear there are few Iron-sides among us such I mean as are fit and ready to endure hardship to suffer hard things at Christs call and for his Name sake We should be content as the Church once was Psal 68.30 to lye among the pots yea as Leviathan upon the pot-sheards in that behalf The old Martyrs were patient while they lodged in a coal-house and russeled among the straw Though the Lord doth not exercise with such hardships yet 't is the duty of every Christian to get his heart into readiness and willingness to endure them Though all the followers of Christ are not honoured with sufferings for him yet they who have nor at least who pray not that they may have a spirit of suffering are not worthy to follow him nor to be called his Disciples Mat. 10.38 Mat. 16.24 Luke 14.26 Vers 31. He maketh the deep to boyl like a pot he maketh the Sea like a pot of ointment As Leviathan troubles Sea-men so he troubles the Sea Totum oceanum turbat Jun. he macerates and vexeth the waters he disturbs the whole Ocean where he is or wheresoever he comes This is illustrated by a double similitude First of a boyling pot He maketh the deep like a boyling pot Secondly He maketh the Sea like a pot of ointment Or as Mr. Broughton renders it He sets the Sea as a spicers Kettle that is all in a sume and foam Spices mingled in a kettle to make ointment boyl vehemently upon the fire any liquor boyling is moved and the more it boyles the more it moves Thus Leviathan blustring in the deep causeth it to look like a boyling pot or like a pot of ointment This shews the force of Leviathan he makes such a bussel that he as it were raiseth a storm in the Sea a fiercely boyling pot over the fire much resembles the Sea when the waves foam and the waters are enraged by the winds The mighty power of God is set forth in Scripture calming the Sea when 't is stormy and raising storms when it is calm as might be shewed in many Scriptures Leviathan can trouble the Sea when God hath made it quiet but he cannot quiet nor calm it when God hath made it stormy Leviathan is of a turbulent nature and he deals only in storms his restless spirit will not let the Sea rest he makes it boyl like a pot c. That which is said of Leviathan in his turmoiling the Sea may well represent the spirit of wicked men who in this are like Leviathan they as the Prophet speaks Isa 57.20 are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest and as themselves are like the troubled Sea having continual tumultuations in their own breasts so they often make others like a troubled Sea I shall not here omit what the learned Bochartus takes notice of in this verse both for and against his Assertion That Leviathan is the Crocodile First Though it cannot be denied that the Whale makes a greater stir in the Sea and troubles the waters more than the Crocodile the Whale being much the greater of the two yet he conceives the latter part of the verse where 't is said He makes the Sea like a pot of ointment very peculiar to the Crocodile For saith he many Writers commend the fragrancy or sweet smell which the Crocodile sends forth much like that of musk or the Arabian spices insomuch that some think Amber-greese is taken from that Animal And hence he concludes it may well be said that he where he comes makes the Sea like a pot of ointment which gives a fragrant smell then especially when stirred as Leviathan is here said to stir This is indeed a rare observation and such as Bochartus might well say he could not enough admire that the Ancients should give no hint at all of his testimonies for it being from Authors of somewhat a late date which the Reader may peruse for his fuller observation if he please I would not raise any suspition about the truth of the thing which Bochartus saith cannot but be true it being asserted by the unanimous vote of people of all Nations Indians Arabians Egyptians Assyrians and Americans All that I shall say to it is only this That the Text in Job having this scope to describe the turbulency of Leviathan in the Sea seems not to respect the savour or smell of the pot of ointment but only the troubled motion or ebullition of it when 't is boyling over the fire And in that respect the Whale maketh the Sea like a pot of boyling ointment as much as yea more than the Crocodile The second thing which Bochartus takes notice of in this verse is an objection which may be raised from it against his opinion The Lord speaks of Leviathan as being in the Sea and which is a word of the same significancy in the deep Now the Crocodile is not a Sea-animal but a River-animal therefore Leviathan is not a Crocodile To this he answers First That the River Nilus is called the
as one gives his character pride throughout or nothing else but a piece of pride extreamly proud Videre pro contemnare Totus superbia est Nicetas Thus to behold is to contemn and in that sence we find it used in many Scriptures so some expound that Cant. 1.6 Look not upon me because I am black because the sun hath looked upon me that is do not contemn me saith the Church because of my blackness by persecution So Job 37.24 He that is God respecteth not any that are wise of heart The Lord looks upon the wisest men of the world as unworthy of a look he looks upon them as infinitely below him and if any are proud of their wisdom he looks upon them with disdain he beholds them and despiseth them and their wisdom It is said of Goliah 1 Sam. 18.42 when David came to him he beheld him and disdained him that is he beheld him with disdain When the Giant looked about and saw David a youth he disdained him as no match for him Leviathan is such a Goliah He beholdeth all high things be they never so high with a kind of disdain Hence Note They who are great in any kind are very apt to despise others or to look upon them with disdain as if they were nothing to them Looks of disdain despising looks are very common in the world With what a disdainful eye did the Pharisee behold the Publican Luke 18.9 11. I am not as other men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers or even as this Publican this pittiful fellow Pride in self is always accompanied with contempt of others and causeth it The Title of that Parable in the 16th of Luke is He spake this Parable to certain that trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others 'T is the spirit of a Leviathan he beholds all high things how much more low things with disdain Yet Thirdly Some expound these words as an argument not of the pride Nihil meditatur non magnum est peririphrasis animi res magnas consectantis sc respicere ad id quod sublime est et nunquam in re humili sensum aut intentionem defigere Sanct. Non vacat exiguis rebus adesse Jovi but greatness and nobleness of Leviathans spirit who as he is the highest of elementary animals so he beholds all high things he will not meddle with inferiour matters they are below him Great men are for great matters The Heathens said of their Jupiter He had no leisure to attend upon or have to do with small affairs Small matters will not go down with Leviathan he is alwayes looking at great Such is the spirit of worldly men they like Leviathan behold all high things not the high things of Heaven but the high things of earth they are not heavenly-minded but high-minded A godly man is heavenly-minded a carnal man is high-minded David professed Psal 131.1 Lord my heart is not haughty nor mine eyes lofty neither do I exercise my self in great matters in things too high for me What was too high for a King for a David yet King David said his heart was not haughty nor his eyes lofty looking at high things he looked at those things which concerned his duty to serve God and his generation by the will of God or as God would have him Acts 13.36 he was heavenly-minded and not high-minded Solomon speaks of a generation Prov. 30.13 O how lofty are their eyes and their eye-lids are lifted up What generation was this Habet hoc magnanimus ut mediocribus contentus maxima negligat Sen. Superbus vero pusillum animum habet ergo nunquam mediocribus contentus est sed inhiat ad majora It was the generation of proud vain men O how lofty are their eyes who can tell how lofty they are no mean thing will content them They have such a hunger after high things that nothing low is food for them A godly man is not satisfied with matters which are truly low and small to him the greatest things in the world are so yet the lower the lesser the least things of this world will serve his turn as to contentation with them Leviathan beholdeth all high things and therefore as it followeth He is a King over all the children of pride That is he is the chief of all proud ones Master Broughton renders it thus he is a King over all wild kind And a Modern Interpreter abroad Estque regina super omnes feras Jun. Ipseque regem agit in feroces universos Tygur Inter omnia superba primas tenet est facile princeps Merc. Filias superbiae i. e. superbos juxta idioma Hebraeorum Filius rei alicujus nuncupatur phrasi Hebraico qui re aliqua insigniter excellit rendring the Hebrew word by a Latine feminine saith she is a Queen over all the wild kind or over all savage beasts Thus several render it according to the strict words of the Hebrew he is a King over all wild beasts The Septuagint translate he is a King over all that are in or that inhabit the waters others that move upon the earth as the learned Reader may see in the margin Now because those wild ones of one kind or another are proud and prouder than tame beasts therefore we render He is a King over all the children of pride That 's an Hebraisme children of pride for proud children or for those that are extreamly proud They who excel in any thing are ellegantly called the children of it as if they were begotten by it or born of it they bear the likeness of it as children do of a parent Some persons as Leviathan here are so like pride that they may well be called children of pride as if pride it self had begotten them and were their father or the mother that brought them forth and nursed them or brought them up But why is Leviathan called a King over all the children of pride I conceive the chief reason to be that which I shall give in this Observation because Leviathan hath more to be proud of than the proudest of the world They that have most to be proud of in nature have not so much to be proud of as Leviathan What had any natural man as to the body to be proud of in comparison of him is he proud of his strength 't is weakness to the strength of Leviathan Is he proud of his comeliness or the exact composure of his body Leviathan excels him in that In many particulars Leviathan hath that in him which may occasion pride or him to be proud beyond thousands And we may conceive that the reason why the Lord brings this in the close is to humble Job who had carried it too proudly In superbis narrationem terminat ut ostentat hoc praecipuè Job fuisse timendum ne Diabolus qui cum expetierat adtentandum praecipuè eum ad superbium inducere conaretur Aquin. and stoutly towards God And
humiliation before the Lord and in that we may consider these two general parts First Jobs Testimony concerning God Secondly His Charge brought against himself His Testimony concerning God we have in the second verse that is twofold or he commends and exalts God in two of his most glorious attributes First About his Omnipotency That thou canst do every thing Secondly About his Omnisciency as most expound the words And that no thought can be with-holden from thee Jobs Charge or Accusation which he brought against himself hath these four things in it First The Confession of his own ignorance and rashness in the third verse Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge I have spoken saith he things which I understood not things too wonderful for me which I knew not Thus he chargeth himself with rashness and ignorance Secondly The Submission of himself to the better instruction and teaching of God or to what God should be pleased yet further to reveal unto him at the 4th verse Hear I beseech thee and I will speak I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me He begs yet a word more with God and he begs a word more from God or that God would speak a word more to him Thirdly A Thankful Acknowledgment that he had already received much more light from God than formerly he had attained to at the 5th verse I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear I had a knowledg of thee O God before but now saith he mine eye seeth thee now I have more knowledg and clearer light concerning thee than ever I had before Fourthly The Issue or Effect of all this and that is his repentance Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Thus we have both the general parts of the whole Chapter and the more particular resolution of this first part which I call Jobs humiliation And in this manner he humbled himself before the Lord as followeth Vers 1. Then Job answered the Lord and said These are the words of the Divine Historian connecting this Chapter with the former And all that I shall say upon this first first verse shall be but to Answer this Question How came it to pass that Job answered the Lord again seing he had professed before chap. 40.5 that he would answer no more Once have I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no further There Job seemed to take up a resolution to answer no more how is it then that here this Chapter beginneth with Then Job answered the Lord and said I shall give a three-fold answer to this doubt First Thus we may conceive Job in the former promise that he would answer no more meant it of such a kind of answer as he had given the Lord and his friends before he would answer no more in that way or after that sort and so it was not an absolute resolve not to answer but not to answer as he had done As if he had said I will answer no more justifying my self no nor so much as excusing my self or taking off the weight of any charge the Lord hath brought against me There being such a change in his answer he may very well be said to answer no more for he answered no more as once he did The best and safest way of justifying and excusing our selves is to lay our selves at the foot of God A confession of or a charging our selves with our sins is the best way of acquitting our selves before God from our sins I mean 't is the best that we can do to justifie or acquit our selves Secondly we may answer thus 'T is true Job said he would answer no more but it is as true that the Lord commanded him to answer again chap. 40.1 For when Job had said there at the fifth verse Once have I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no further The Lord saith at the 7th verse Gird up thy loyns like a man I will demand of thee and declare thou unto me God called him forth and bad him speak I have somewhat to say to thee and do thou answer me so that the Lord took off Job or released him from that bond that he had put upon himself Thou hast said thou wilt answer no more but I will have thee answer yet more Now though we take up a resolve to do or not to do such a thing yet a word from God must over-rule us As a word from God must over-rule us not to do what we have resolved to do so a word from God must over-rule us to do that which we have resolved not to do Thirdly The Lord had not only given Job a command to answer but inclined and moved his heart to answer The reason why Job resolved not to answer was the lowness of his own spirit and the terror of the Lord that was upon him The majesty and dread of the Lord put him upon a resolve for silence but now some favour appearing and the Lord giving him hopes of a gracious acceptance he was encouraged to speak and had a freedom of speech restored to him and accordingly he answered the Lord. Thus we may salve Jobs credit from lightness much more from a lie though after he had said he would answer no more we find him answering again Then Job answered the Lord and said The Lord having set forth his own infinite power and wisdom in that long and accurate speech which he made out of the whirlwind concerning his works of creation and providence especially by his discourse about that unparallel'd pair Behemoth and Leviathan the greatest of living creatures upon the land and in the sea I say the Lord having by this discourse humbled Job he saw and was convinced there was no disputing with God nor enquiring into much less complaining of or murmuring at his secret counsels and judgments he now saw it was not for him to call God to an account about any of his dealings and proceedings as sometimes he had done but rather to adore them and therefore he submits and answers only with exalting God and abasing himself He begins with the exaltation of God Then Job answered the Lord and said Vers 2. I know that thou canst do every thing That 's his first word and it teacheth us That when we begin to have high and great thoughts of God we cannot but have low and mean thoughts of our selves Our own humiliation begins at the exaltation of God and our self-emptiness and weakness at the sight of his fulness and Almightiness Thus Job began his humiliation I know that thou canst do every thing This verse exalts God both in his omnipotency and in his omnisciency Non exigit à nobis Deus multa verba sed multam fidem 'T is a short yet a full confession of his faith in this matter and though it were short yet it pleased God much and fully because Job uttered it in
worthy and learned men are of opinion that by thought we are to understand the thought of God Gods own thought and so these words are but the carrying on of the same thing or a further explication what was said before I know that thou canst do every thing that is whatsoever is in thy thought or in thy heart to do no power in the world can with-hold thee from doing it no thought that is not any one of thy thoughts can be with-holden from thee that is from thy fulfilling it or bringing it to pass what thou hast in thy mind thou wilt perform with thy hand If thou hast but a thought to do such a thing thou canst not be hindered of thy thought it shall be done The words hold out a very glorious truth concerning God if we take thought in this sense and as it is a great truth in it self so it is a very useful one to us The Observation is this Whatsoever God hath a thought to do he will do it he cannot be hindered in the effect of a thought As none of Gods thoughts are vain so none of them are in vain or ineffectual they all reach their end Isa 43.13 I will work and who shall lett it God will work if he hath but a thought to work and if all the Powers in the world set themselves against him they shall not be able to disappoint any one of his thoughts Prtv. 19.21 There are many devices in a mans heart yet the counsel of the Lord shall stand that is there are many thoughts in mans heart opposite to the counsel and thought of God Men think this and that they make up many things in their thoughts yet can make nothing of them because against the thoughts of God for all the devices that are in mans heart cannot hinder the effect of Gods counsel his counsel shall stand fast and firm without any bowing without any bending while their devices fall and are utterly broken The conclusion of wise Solomon is Prov. 21.30 There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord. Let men take or give counsel as long as they will against the Lord they cannot avoid the effect of his counsels We have both these the standing of the Lords counsel and the overthrowing of all counsels that are against him in that one Scripture Psal 33.10 11. The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought he maketh the devices of the people of none effect The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all generations God never lost a thought all come to pass This sheweth the mighty efficacy of the counsel of God this is more than can be said of any man or men in the world the wisest and greatest have had many thoughts withholden from them They have thought to do this and that but could not effect it nor bring it about Psal 146.4 Their thoughts perish they have a great many plots in their heads but they prove not they often live to see their own thoughts dye Their thoughts perish not only when they dye but they live to see them perish and dye The Prophet Isa 44.25 sheweth how the Lord frustrates the counsels of men and turneth them backward he shews also that without him they cannot go forward Lamen 3.37 Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth it not But some may object the Lord speaketh of the builders of Babel as Job here speaketh of him Gen. 11.6 Behold the people is one and they have all one language and this they begin to do and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do as if he had said there will be no with-holding of them from their thoughts 'T is very true amongst men there was nothing to stop them they being all as one man and of one mind would have accomplished any thing that they did imagine but though there was nothing upon earth nothing among men that could restrain them yet God could do it and he did it he confounded their language and one brought morter when he should have brought brick and another brought stones when he should have brought timber they thought to build a tower that should reach as high as heaven they would be drowned no more but they and their thoughts were soon scattered and blown away This point hath in it also abundance of comfort as the former for take thought for the thought of God and it runs parallel with what I spake before of the work of God he can do every thing every thing that is in his thought to do we may take fresh comfort from it Can no thought be with-holden from God what a comfort is this to all that he hath good thoughts of or thoughts for good The heart of God is full of good thoughts to his people though he many times speaks hard words to them and doth hard things against them yet he hath good thoughts concerning them Psal 40.5 Many O Lord my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done and thy thoughts which thou hast to us-ward Thoughts to us-ward are thoughts for us that is thoughts of good intended us Now hath the Lord many good thoughts for us and none of these shall be with-holden is not this comfort When the Church of the Jews was in Babilon the Lord dealt very hardly with them though not so hardly as they deserved But what were his thoughts Jer. 29.11 I know the thoughts that I think towards you you do not know the thoughts that I have towards you but I do what are they thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end that is the end which you expect and wait for What a mercy is this that no thought of God can be with-holden whenas he hath so many thoughts of mercy and good things to his people Again I might shew how dreadful this is to wicked men for the Lord hath nothing but thoughts of revenge and evil towards them But 't is enough to hint it Before I pass from this interpretation some may object If all the thoughts of God shall be brought to pass and none can withhold them if God will do what he hath a purpose to do then what need we trouble our selves so much in prayer For if God hath any thoughts of good to us it shall be done but if not we cannot bring it to pass by prayer And so some urge what need we repent and humble our selves the thoughts of God shall be fulfilled To this I say in general take heed of such reasonings for as they are very absurd and reasonless so they are very dangerous and leave us remediless More particularly I answer thus Though God hath thoughts and purposes of good to his people yet whatsoever good he will do for his people he will be sought unto to do it for them and therefore prayer repentance and humiliation are needful to
bring forth thoughts of good from God to us And though not man can hinder the bringing to pass of any of his thoughts yet we may help their birth and bringing forth So much of the first interpretation of these words And that no thought can be with-holden from thee Secondly no thought that is no thought of man can be withholden from thee thou knowest the thoughts of every one what they are of what kind they are The Latine translation is express There is no thought secret to thee Some read the whole verse thus Thou knowest that thou canst do thing every and no thought is hidden to thee As if Job had said O Lord as none know what thy power is better than thy self or as none know like thy self what thou canst do even that thou canst do all things so none know better than thy self not I my self what my thought or opinion or faith rather is concerning thy power and self-sufficiency to do all things Which manner of speech importeth the deep submission of himself unto God or a kind of demission or letting of himself down into God while he saith nothing expressly of himself or what his thoughts were of Gods power but refers all to God as knowing him and his mind fully and subjects himself wholly to his testimony So that he seems to call God to witness or appeals to God as a witness of the sincerity of his heart in the acknowledgment which he made of his All-sufficiency as the Apostle Peter of his love to Christ when so often pressed him even a third time with that searching question Simon son of Jonas lovest thou me Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee John 21.17 Peter would not be confident that he loved Christ more then those but referred himself in that matter to the judgment of Christ who knew all things and himself both as to the truth and degree of his affections to him perfectly Thus said Job thou knowest and I acknowledge that no thought can be with-holden from thee therefore not mine Hence note Our very thoughts are plain to God neither is there any way of concealing our thoughts from him We cannot put our thoughts into a secret place where God cannot see them we cannot with-hold them from God as we easily may from man if we can but hold our tongues and not let our thoughts drop out of our mouths in words Psal 139.2 The Lord knoweth our thoughts afar off He knew what thoughts there were in the hearts of the Jews Jer. 4.14 O Jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou maist be saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee These vain thoughts were thoughts about their continuance in that peaceable condition that the enemy should never come to molest them or they should never come into the hand of the enemy as others afterwards had vain thoughts that they should be speedily delivered out of their hands First They had vain thoughts that they should never go into captivity And Secondly They had as vain thoughts that they should be presently delivered out of captivity These are your vain thoughts and these I know saith God Our thoughts are as open to God as our works all our thoughts good and bad are alike known to God He knoweth our good thoughts and the thoughts which we have to do good If we have a thought of good to any man the Lord knoweth it and if we have a thought for evil to any man the Lord knoweth it The Lord knoweth not only what thoughts are evil in their own nature but what are detrimentally evil unto others Thus spake distressed Jeremy in the person of the whole Jewish Church Lament 3.60 61 62. Thou hast seen all their vengeance and all their imaginations against me Thou hast heard their reproach O Lord and all their imaginations against me and their devices against me all the day long The Lord knoweth all the good thoughts that others have for us and all the evil thoughts which they have against us Now If no thought of ours can be with-holden from God then keep guard and watch over your thoughts hold your thoughts in good order for you cannot with-hold your disorderly thoughts from God bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.5 Secondly If the Lord knoweth all our thoughts then certainly all good thoughts shall be rewarded as well as good words yea even as well as good deeds As the Lord will not lose a good thought which was shewed in the former point so we shall not lose a good thought God will reward them fully for he knoweth them fully There was a good thought in Davids heart to build the Lord a temple and the Lord said as Solomon his Son reports it 1 Kings 8.18 Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house to my name thou didst well that it was in thine heart I take it as well as if thou hadst done it God takes notice of our thoughts And therefore this is comfort when we can do but little yet God knows what we would do what work our thoughts are at and our thoughts are our best and choicest works they are the first-born of the soul Wicked men may do works and speak words good for the matter but they cannot properly think good thoughts Thirdly if the Lord knoweth our thoughts then evil thoughts shall not go unpunished When the Lord brought the deluge upon the old world we find him speaking thus Gen. 6.5 God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually God spake not of their works but of the imagination of their hearts their thoughts The Apostle counsel'd Simon Magus to repent of his wickedness and pray God Recognoscit so interius fuisse aliquo cogitatione superba pulsatum quod Deum non latuisse cognoscit Aquin. Latini existimant loqui Jobum de suis tumultuantibus cogitationibus sive superbiae de sua sanctitate sive iniquae expostulationis cum divina providentia Accusat cogitationes suas Philip. if perhaps the thought of his heart might be forgiven him Acts 8.22 There lieth the danger take heed of evil thoughts we are in as much danger by them as by the worst evil actions Take heed First of proud thoughts though pride blossom not that is though it appear not openly nor hang out its flag in words and works yet take heed of it Secondly take heed of wanton and adulterous thoughts though you act not wantonly nor commit adultery Thirdly take heed of covetous thoughts though you proceed not to covetous practices Fourthly of envious thoughts or of being troubled at the good of your neighbours though you hinder not his good Fifthly take heed of revengeful thoughts or of devising evil against your neighbour though you hurt him not nor bring evil upon him Sixthly take heed of hard thoughts of God
his Spirit Every man saith Christ John 6.45 That hath heard learned of the father cometh unto me that is All that are taught of God believe on me And the more any learn of the father the more they come to abide the more closely with the Son Job understood more of God and the mind of God more in all those questions he put to him concerning the heavens the earth the Sea concerning the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the Air concerning Behemoth and Leviathan than ever he did before The more immediate and extraordinary revelations of God are alwayes accompanied with notable effects And though few profit in knowledge according to the measure of the mediate and ordinary Revelation yet probably the more revelation we have of that kind the more we profit Fifthly Job had these great discoveries after God had kept him long in affliction Hence note God doth usually reveal himself most to his people after great sufferings Hence some are of opinion that in these words Job pointed at his two states First that of his prosperity then he heard of God only by the hearing of the ear Secondly Of his adversity then his eye saw him that is he greatly profited in the knowledge of him There are two things which God usually bestows upon his people in the day of or soon after their affliction First more cordials and consolations He gives that strong drink to those that are ready to perish that wine unto those that be of heavy hearts He bids them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more as Solomons metaphors may well import Prov. 31.6 7. Secondly as the Lord gives more consolation in such a day so more illumination the head is bettered by it as well as the heart Many have got much inward light or knowledge both of God and of themselves of their mercies and of their duties by being or after they have been brought into much outward darkness Davids experience taught him this else he had never said Psal 119.71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes He had never learned either to know the Statutes of God better or to keep them better by his affliction if God had not been with him and revealed himself further to him in the day of his affliction Lastly Note When God manifests himself much to any man great impressions are left upon him As will appear further in opening the next verse Vers 6. Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes This verse concludes that part of the Chapter which I call Jobs humiliation He made confession before of his own ignorance uttering things that he understood not things too wonderful for him which he knew not he confessed also the great goodness of God to him in that he had both heard of him by the hearing of the ear and also that his eye had seen him from all which he inferr'd this resolve of deepest self-abasement before God Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes This word wherefore is diligently to be attended for 't is the hinge upon which the whole matter turneth This wherefore may have a double reference First To the sight which he had gained of his own folly weakness and vileness of which having made confession in the former words he adds wherefore that is for as much as I am thus convinced of mine own sinfulness I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Secondly This wherefore may have reference to those higher clearer and fuller manifestations of God to him He had heard of God by the hearing of the ear there was much in that but now his eye had seen him he had a light or a discovery of the excellency and Majesty of God as much surpassing and exceeding what formerly he had as eye-sight doth the hearing of the ear Wherefore the light being come thus fully in upon him concerning the glory soveraignty goodness faithfulness and all-sufficiency of God he cryeth out I abhorr my self c. The Hebrew word signifieth the greatest disgust against himself a kind of reprobating himself ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã significat nauseare vel reprobaro cum fastidio abjicere abominare or as we speak a turning of his stomack at the thought and remembrance of what he had said and was Some render wherefore I reprehend or reprove my self but to abhor our selves is more than to reprehend or reprove our selves Others I reject I despise I slight my self I turn away from my self All these renderings shew to how little or low an account Job was now come in his own sight Our reading I abhor takes in all the rest and more The Lord useth this word negatively concerning his people Levit. 26.11 I will set my tabernacle amongst you and my soul shall not abhor you the meaning is my soul shall greatly delight in you And at the 15th verse of the same chapter affirmatively of them If you shall despise my statutes or if your soul abhor my judgments then c. despising is less than abhorring To abhor the judgments of God is to cast them not only out of our affections but out of our judgment too and to judge them unworthy or unfit to be owned and obeyed Again at the 30th verse of same chapter I will destroy your high places and cut down your images and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols and my soul shall abhor you that is I will manifest the utmost and highest of my displeasure against you Once more in the same chapter When they be in the land of their enemies I will not cast them away neither will I abhor them To abhor is to cast away and to look upon a person or a people as cast-aways Read also Deut. 7.26 Deut. 23.7 Psal 5.6 Psal 129.163 Prov. 24.24 Jerem. 14.21 Amos 5.10 chap. 6.8 Zech. 11.8 from all which texts we may collect the weight and great significancy of this word To abhor things or persons imports the deepest displicency or dislike towards either I saith Job abhor My self The word my self is here supplyed by our translators The Hebrew is only this wherefore I abhor leaving us to suppose what he did abhor Our translators make the suppliment thus I abhor my self that is whatsoever may be called my self self-wisdom self-righteousness self-strength self-ends and I would see the end of sinful-self Another translation saith I abhor those former things Illa priora q. d. non tantum illa prius à me cogitata dictaretracto sed etiam detestor Bez. that is whatsoever I formerly thought or spake amiss I do not only dislike them I do not only retract and recant them but I abhor them And if you would know what those former things were which here he renounceth and abhorreth you may take it in these seven words First I abhor that ever I cursed the day of my birth Secondly I abhor that
respect First because 't is that which the wisdom of God the Father hath provided for us and Secondly which the worthiness of God the Son hath wrought out and procured for us Take two or three Inferences from the general Observation thus far prosecuted That true repentance is joyned with self abhorrence First Then self-admirers are no repenters They are at the furthest remove from abhorring themselves who admire themselves Secondly Self-justifiers are no true repenters Christ told the Pharisees Luke 16.15 Ye are they which justifie your selves They are far from abhorring themselves who justifie themselves such surely are highly pleased with themselves and have much confidence in themselves therefore very far from self-abhorrence Thirdly What shall I say of their repentance who instead of abhorring themselves abhor others Luke 18.9 Christ spake a Parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others and presently instanced in the Pharisee who despised the poor Publican and called him in contempt This Publican he would as we say hardly touch him with a pair of tongs They that despise others are usually if not alwayes much pleased with themselves Fourthly If these self-boasters and self-admirers c. are not repenters then do they repent who are so far from abhorring sinful self and righteous self that they take pleasure in sin and unrighteousness whether their own or others The Apostle speaks of such Rom. 1.32 Who knowing the judgement of God that they which commit such things are worthy of death not only do the same but have pleasure in them that do them That 's a dreadful word 2 Thes 2.12 That they all might be damned who believe not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness O how far are they from abhorring their own righteousness who take pleasure in unrighteousness How are they puffed up with that which hath but a shew of righteousness who please themselves with that which is really unrighteous Fifthly If true repentance be accompanied with self-abhorrence then do they repent who return to those sins which they say they have repented of do you think the dog loaths his vomit when you see him go back and lick it up again 2 Pet. 2.22 When once the Jews loathed or abhorred Manna they had no mind to eat of it though it was Angels food When Job loathed his life he said he would live no longer Chap. 7.16 I loath it I would not live alwayes that is not at all not an hour longer in this world He that is weary of his life thinks to live but a day or a little longer is to live alwayes or that his life will never end Thus if a man doth truly loath and abhor his sin he will not return to it again though it hath been as sweet to him as Manna yea as life it self I do not say that he who loaths and abhors his sin can never relapse into the same sin or be overtaken with it again but this I say he that truly repents never delights in sin again he never goeth back to it and licketh it up as a dog his vomit A good man may fall into the same sin but he never returneth to the same sin he may be overtaken with the same sin but he never taketh up the same sin again That 's the Apostles word Gal. 6.1 If any of you be overtaken with a fault c. A good man may be overtaken with the same fault but he never taketh up that fault nor runs a course in that sin again I shall only add these two words for the working of our souls to this self-abhorrence First The more we abhor our selves the more God delighteth in us the more we are displeased with our sins the more is he pleased with our persons the worse the viler we are in our own eyes the better we are and the more beautiful in the eye of God Secondly Unless we abhor our selves God will abhor us I may say unless we so repent as to abhor our selves God will abhor our very repentance There is no true repentance without some degree of self-abhorrence yea of self-condemnation Let us not take up this word repentance too easily that is when we know not what this word self-abhorrence meaneth We defile this holy this precious thing called repentance when our hearts are not fully taken off from that or thole sins of which we say we repent All such would have that go for repentance towards God which indeed is but a mocking of God and can never be joyned from which true repentance cannot be separated with faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20.21 I abhor my self said Job And repent in dust and ashes I shall here give somewhat about the nature of repentance in general and then gather up those particular Observations which arise from these words about it Repentance is a grace of the Gospel wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Word and Spirit turning the whole man from all sin to God in the sincere and universal obedience of his holy will In this description of repentance we have four things considerable First The nature of it or what it is A grace of the Gospel Secondly The seat of it or where it is wrought The heart of a sinner Thirdly The means by which it is wrought and that twofold First Instrumental The Word Secondly Principal The Spirit Fourthly The issue or effect of it Conversion or turning wherein two things are to be taken notice of First the term from which the turn is made Sin and all sin Secondly the term to which the turn is made God thus explained In the sincere or universal obedience of his holy will or in the practice of every known duty First I say Repentance is a grace of the Gospel Some possibly may say Job was before the Gospel I answer no The Gospel was published long before Job was born even as soon as God promised the seed of the woman Christ Jesus should bruise the Serpents head Gen. 3.15 The whole body of Gospel duty moves upon these two feet Faith and Repentance Some have questioned which of these two graces hath the precedency or takes the first step in the motion of the soul heaven-ward All that I shall say in answer to it is First that where these two graces are mentioned together in Scripture usually repentance is named first because it appears first and is most visible to us in its actings yet Faith is to be understood first because without that no man can come to Christ as a true penitent for pardon of sin and reconciliation unto God Secondly in those Scriptures where true saving repentance is spoken of alone it supposeth faith also and where true saving faith only is spoken of it necessarily implyeth true repentance This repentance is so much a grace of the Gospel that the first Sermon that ever was preacht at the approach of Christ or at the opening of the Gospel in the new
Testament was Repent ye for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand Mat. 3.2 And the end or design of the first Sacrament or seal of the Gospel-covenant is expressed to be repentance Mat. 3.11 I baptize you with water unto repentance yea the first word of the first Sermon upon record which Christ himself preached in person was Repent Mat. 4.17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say repent This also was the substance of the Apostles Sermons when first sent forth by Christ to preach the Gospel Mark 6.12 They went out and preached that men should repent The first word of counsel which the Apostle Peter gave to the Jews crying out men and brethren what shall we do was Repent Acts 2.38 And the Apostle Paul saith that the whole of his work in preaching the Gospel was his testifying both to Jews and Gentiles repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Act. 20.21 'T is through the Gospel only that repentance is possible And this appears two wayes First Because we have not a liberty to repent or we are not admitted to repent but by the Gospel We find no place for repentance in the Law strictly taken or as opposed to the Gospel The Law speaks thus Gal. 3.10 Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them Where we see First the Law requires personal obedience every one must do for himself Secondly The Law requires perpetual obedience every one that continueth not doing Thirdly The Law requires universal obedience every one that continueth not in all things If any one continue not at all times in all things saith the Law or if he fail but once in any one thing he is gone for ever he is cursed The Law doth not say if a man continue not to do all let him repent that admits no second thoughts but claps the curse presently upon the offender If Adam as soon as he had eaten of the forbidden tree had bewailed his sin and said I repent no favour could have been shewed him while under the Law Secondly Under the Law there is no ability given for repentance All the promises of a broken heart and of godly sorrow are appendants of the Gospel This spiritual curse which falls upon the soul sinning under the Law is impenitency for sin Death in sin is the punishment of sin and therefore when Adam had sinned he never gave the least intimation of nor shewed the least inclination to repentance all he did was to hide himself from God among the trees of the garden and to hide his sin from God as well as he could by vain excuses he had not a heart to mourn for his sin nor a tongue to confess it till the Promise came and the Gospel was published and then though his repentance be not mentioned yet doubtless he repented And hence the Apostle concludes Apostates from the profession which they once made of Christ under an utter impossibily of repentance Heb. 6.4 5 6. And the reason why the fallen Angels never repented was because they had no Mediator nor did Jesus Christ take their nature on him Heb. 2.16 Thus far of the first thing in the description of repentance the general nature of it 't is a grace of the Gospel Secondly Consider the seat or subject of it where 't is wrought the heart of a sinner Repentance is heart-work or it is a work upon the heart There repentance began in those converts Act. 2.37 whom the Apostle Peter advised to a thorough work of repentance vers 38. The promise of repentance runs in this tenour I will take away saith the Lord Ezek. 36.26 the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you an heart of flesh When David said Psal 51.17 A broken and contrite heart he means only a repenting heart O God thou wilt not despise As faith is wrought in the heart and with the heart man believeth Rom. 10.10 so repentance is wrought in the heart and with the heart man repenteth Neither a weeping eye nor a confessing tongue nor in case of wrong done to man a restoring hand will be taken for repentance without a broken heart Thirdly Consider the means by which saving repentance or repentance to salvation is wrought 1st the Word 2ly the Spirit The Word of God is the usual the ordinary instrument in the hand that is in the power of the Spirit of God working repentance in the heart of man The word of a Philosopher with all his reasonings the word of an Orator with all his flourishings cannot do it only the Word of God spoken in plainness and simplicity hath strength and efficacy to do it The Word is compared to a fire which melts the hardest heart 't is also in the same place Jer. 23.29 compared to a hammer which breaketh the rock in pieces The Word passing through the ear pierceth the heart Acts 2.27 Now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart And when even the devils Devotionists they that used curious arts burnt their books Acts 19.19 it is said vers 20. so mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed The word of God cloathed with the Spirit hath as to this matter a fourfold operation First to awaken a drowsie soul Eph. 5.14 Secondly to enlighten a dark soul Acts 26.18 Thirdly to convince a gain-saying soul Fourthly to convert a wandring soul Acts 26.18 1 Thes 1.9 Till the soul is awakened it cannot be enlightned till it is enlightned it cannot be convinced till it is convinced it cannot be converted and until it is all this it hath not truly repented For Fourthly as was said in the description first laid down the effect of true repentance is the turning of the whole man from all sin to God All the members of the body the hand the foot the eyes the ears the tongue are turned all the faculties of the soul the understanding will affections are turned from all sin First of what kind soever whether of omission or commission against God neighbour self Secondly of what degree soever little as well as great appearances of evil as well as apparent evils Further as in repentance there is a turning from sin so unto God in the sincere obedience of his whole will We read in Scripture First of Gods returning to us Secondly of our returning to God both are acts of repentance When God returns to us he repents of the evil of trouble brought or threatned to be brought upon us and when we return to God that 's a fruit of our repentance for the evil of sin committed against him Unless our repentance bring us neerer to God we as we say are never the neer for our repentance that is our repentance is not good nor shall we have any good by it The Prophet found Israels repentance defective in this Hos 7.16 They return but not to the most high Some in repenting return only to self
keep his sin upon him and continue in it notwithstanding our severest and discreetest rebukes yet he that rebukes a sinning brother doth not suffer sin upon him but hath done his duty and used the means appointed by God for the removing of it And as we should not let the Sun go down upon our wrath against other men nor give place to the devil in our selves Eph. 4.26.27 so we should not suffer the Sun to go down upon the sin of other men nor give place to the devil in them by our forbearance to rebuke them for their sin Thus the Lord dealt with Jobs three friends he speedily reproved them for their error in not speaking of him the thing that was right Further consider The Lord begins with Job and then proceeds to deal with his friends Job had the first reproof his friends the second Hence note The Lord reproves them first whom he respects most who are dearest to him We cannot shew our selves more friendly to any man than by an early reproof of his error or as the word is Lev. 19.17 by not suffering sin upon him 'T is a mercy when we reprove not our selves to meet with a reproof though late from others but to be soon reproved is much mercy Every good the sooner it comes to us the better it is To be helpt out of sin-evil is a great good and therefore when we are in a fault with others 't is a priviledge to be reproved before others and with all possible speed to be brought unto repentance The Apostle Peter saith 1 Pet. 4.17 Judgement begins at the house of God The Lord judgeth his own house before he judgeth the world and it is in mercy to his own house that he doth so for when God judgeth those of his house he chastneth them that they should not be condemned with the world 1 Cor. 10.32 And as God usually begins to judge his own house before he judgeth the world so the neerer and dearer any of his house are to him the sooner he begins with them as here Jobs three friends Eliphaz Bildad and Zophar were of Gods house but Job was more eminent than any of them and therefore God reproved him before he reproved them It was so that after the Lord had spoken these words unto Job The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite my wrath is kindled against thee c. The Lord said These words contain the second thing to be considered in this verse to wit the manner of proceeding He said that is he openly declared it he did not whisper it in the ear of Eliphaz he did not speak it to him inwardly by his Spirit there are inward reproofs conscience-checks he did not speak to him in his sleep or in a dream that opinion of one upon this place that God reproved Eliphaz in a dream is but a dream but openly that all might hear and so the innocency of Job and the fault of his friends might be manifest to all Some are of opinion that the Lord said this to Eliphaz out of the whirlwind as he spake to Job And though I do not assert that yet it cannot be denied but that as such a manner of speaking did best suit the Majesty of God so the matter spoken which was a sore reproof in which the Lord manifested much displeasure The Lord said openly and and angerly To Eliphaz the Temanite He spake not to Bildad nor to Zophar but to Eliphaz the Temanite But why did the Lord direct his speech to him personally and by name while the business concerned them all I might answer as some do because what any one of them said to Job was as if said by them all And though their opinions differed yet their persons did not all three agreeing in this though upon several grounds to oppose Job And therefore the Lord in speaking to one spake to them all But I shall give three other Reasons for it and from each a Note First Eliphaz was the elder man the graver person as all agree and therefore God reproved him personally Note this from it The elder and greater any are the greater is their offence when they offend though others offend with them When many are in a fault the chiefs or heads of them are most faulty and deserve chiefly to hear of it When Israel had committed that great sin in Baal-peor Numb 25.4 The Lord said Hang up the heads of the people before me that is the chiefs of the people So in proportion when the Lord came to deal with these three he fell upon Eliphaz first as the more eminent or first of the three Secondly as Eliphaz was the elder or first of the three so he began first with Job he was not only the first and chief in person but he was the first and chief speaker Hence note They who are first in a fault shall be first in reproof It is dangerous to follow or be a second in a bad matter but more to begin and be leader Thirdly Eliphaz was more sharp with and violent against Job than the other two and therefore the Lord began with him Hence note The deeper any are in a fault of any kind and the more of the heart appeareth in it the worse it is the more blame-worthy are they and they shall be more blamed for it All the three friends of Job did much mistake him but the spirit of Eliphaz was hottest therefore the Lord culled him out first The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite What said the Lord My wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two friends My wrath is kindled These words are used by Elihu Chap. 32.2 3. Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite against Job was his wrath kindled and against his three friends was his wrath kindled Here the Lord taketh up the same words concerning Eliphaz My wrath is kindled against thee thy two friends Elihu's wrath was kindled not only against Jobs friends but against Job himself but the Lords wrath was kindled only against Jobs three friends not against Job He indeed displeased God and was sharply reproved by him but the wrath of God was not kindled against him 'T is useful to consider the difference between Gods judgement and mans both as to things and persons Elihu thought Job was faulty as his friends and therefore his wrath was kindled as against his three friends so against him too but the Lord thought otherwise and therefore said to Eliphaz My wrath is kindled against thee and thy two friends he said not so to Job Again consider the Lord spake much with Job but he spake little with his friends he did not vouchsafe them any long discourse and the words he spake to them were very hot words he in few words as angry men use to do told them their own Once more consider the difference of the Lords dealing with him and them The Lord fetcht a great compass to reprove Job as
Nathan the Prophet did to reprove King David but he told his friends at first word My wrath is kindled against you Though they were good men yet not so dear to God as Job and therefore he dealt in a more fatherly and favourable way with Job than with them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Exarsit incensus inflammatus est Inter septem voculas Hebraeorum quae iram significant haec omnium est gravissima Scult they had only hot words My wrath is kindled against you c. I am more than angry As the coals of spiritual love spoken of Cant. 8.6 so the coals of divine wrath are coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame There are seven words in the Hebrew language which signifie anger and this notes the most vehement of them all My wrath is kindled The Latine words Ira and Irasco seem to be derived from it The word is sometimes applied to grief there is a kind of fire in grief Thus 't is said 1 Sam. 15.11 It grieved Samuel and he cryed unto the Lord all night Samuel was vehemently grieved becauâe of the ill performance of Saul in his expedition against the Amalakites 'T is also translated to fret Psal 37.8 9. Fret not thy self in any wise to do evil fretting hath its burning My wrath saith the Lord is kindled There is a wrath of God which is not kindled as I may say it is not blown up 't is covered in the ashes of his patience and forbearance but here saith God My wrath is kindled This is spoken by God after the manner of men God feels no change by wrath or anger no impression is made on him by any passion Wrath in God notes only his change of dispensations towards man not any in himself When he acts like a man whose wrath is greatly kindled then 't is said his wrath is kindled as when he acteth like a man that sheweth much love it may be said his love is kindled Further when God saith My wrath is kindled it implieth there is some great provocation given him by man as in the present case Eliphaz and his two friends had done The Lord threatned a sinful Land with brimstone and salt and burning like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and this being executed all Nations shall say wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this Land what meaneth the heat of this great anger Then men shall say because they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord God of their Fathers c. Deut. 29.23 24 25. The wrath of God is never kindled till blown and that which bloweth it up is mans sin nor doth the ordinary sins of man kindle the wrath of God for then it must be alwayes kindled even against the best of men Doubtless when the Lord said in the Text to Eliphaz My wrath is kindled against thee and thy two friends there was somewhat extraordinary in their sin which kindled it and therefore the Lord directed them an extraordinary way as to circumstances for the querching of it and the making of their peace But here it may be questioned why did the Lord say his wrath was kindled only against Eliphaz and his two friends had he nothing to say against Elihu he had spoken as harshly to Job as any of them yet Elihu was not at all reproved much less was the wrath of God kindled against him I answer 'T is true Elihu spake very hard words of Job yet we may say four things of Elihu which might exempt him from this blame which fell upon those three First He did not speak with nor discover a bitter spirit as they did Secondly Elihu objected not against Job his former life nor charged him as having done wickedly towards man or hypocritically towards God he only condemned him for present miscarriages under his trouble for impatience and unquietness of spirit under the cross Thirdly That which Elihu chiefly objected against Job was the justifying of himself rather than God as he speaks at the beginning of the 32d Chapter not the maintaining of his own innocency nor the justifying of himself before men Indeed Job failed while he insisted so much upon that point that he seemed more careful to clear himself than to justifie God Fourthly When Elihu spake hardly it was more out of a true zeal to defend the justice of God in afflicting him than to tax him with injustice Now because Elihu did not carry it with a bitter spirit and hit the mark much better than his friends though in some things he also shot wide and misunderstood Job therefore the blame fell only upon Jobs three friends and not upon Elihu The Lord said to Eliphaz my wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two friends but his wrath went no further Hence note First The Lord knows how to declare wrath as well as love displeasure as well as favour He hath a store of wrath as well as of love and that is kindled when he is highly displeased Secondly Note Sin causeth kindlings or discoveries of divine wrath Had it not been for sin the Lord had never declared any wrath in the world nothing had gone out from him but kindness and love favours and mercies Wrath is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and against unrighteousness only Rom. 1.18 Unrighteousness kindleth wrath sin is the kindle-coal When we see wrath or displeasure going out we may conclude sin is gone out Moses said to Aaron Numb 16.46 Take a Censer and put fire therein from off the altar and put on incense and go quickly unto the congregation and make an atonement for them for there is wrath gone out from the Lord the plague is begun Now as in this latter part of the chapter Moses shews that wrath was gone out against that people from the Lord so in the former part of it he shews that sin and that a great sin was gone out from that people against the Lord. Thirdly Note The Lord sometimes declareth wrath even against those whom he loveth Wrath may fall upon good men such were these friends of Job All the Elect whilest they remain unconverted or uncalled are called Children of wrath Ephes 2.3 Though they are in the everlasting love of God yet they are children of wrath as to their present condition whilst in a state of nature and unreconciled to God Now as the children of God are children of wrath before their conversion so when any great sin is committed after conversion they are in some sense under wrath and the Lord declareth wrath against them till the breach be healed and their peace sued out It is dangerous continuing for a moment in any sin unrepented of or we not going unto God by Jesus Christ for pardon When once the wrath of God is kindled how far it may burn who knoweth There is no safety under guilt Therefore kiss the son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed
neglects of good to his people to himself so the Lord taketh all that evil which any speak of his people to himself He saith God that speaketh amiss of mine speaketh amiss of me The Lord accounteth himself interested in all that good or evil which is done and spoken to his people and he is very angry when any thing is mis-spoken of or misapplied to them though with respect to himself or as a service unto himself Fifthly Consider Jobs friends spake many excellent truths yet saith the Lord ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my servant Job hath Hence note The Lord is greatly displeased when truth or that which is right in it self is wrong applied Jobs friends were mostly right in their Doctrine but often out in their Uses all their open assertions had some truth in them but so had not all their secret Inferences God will not bear it to have truths put to any ill use especially this to grieve and discourage any of his suffering servants To speak of the holiness justice and righteousness of God so as to terrifie an afflicted soul is to make a bad improvement of the best things 'T is a fly in the box of ointment Dead flies saith Solomon Eccles 10.1 cause the ointment of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking savour so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour Jobs friends were in reputation for wisdom and honour yet this little folly sent forth an ill savour in the Lords nostrils and caused him to say Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right Sixthly Jobs friends certainly meant well and had a zeal for God yet God was angry and said they had not spoken right Hence note Our good intentions yea zeal for God will not bear us out when we do or speak amiss These men had a zeal for God else Job had not said as once he did Will ye lye for God Though they did not knowingly speak a lye yet a lye was in what they spake and therefore their speaking for God would not bear them out Seventhly The Lord said to Jobs friends Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right as my servant Job hath Though Job spake some things amiss yet the Lord did not charge him with them as he did his friends Hence note The Lord over-looketh many failings and will not upbraid his servants with them Job had his failings but the Lord took no notice of them but made a determination in his case as if he had spoken right in all things The Lord will not flatter his servants when they fail yet he is very favourable to them even when they fail he told Job plainly enough that he had darkned counsel by words without knowledge while he asked him who did it Chap. 38.2 He intimated also that Job had contended with him and reproved him that he had consequentially attempted to disannul his Judgement and condemn him Chap. 40.2 8. yet here when the Lord came to make up the matter between Job and his friends he spake as if he had forgot both his own censures of him and the occasion of them Holy David acknowledged Psal 130.3 If thou Lord shouldst mark iniquities O Lord who shall stand The Lord doth not mark iniquity where he seeth much integrity the Lord doth not mark every arrow that flies beside the mark when he seeth the mark was honestly aimed at We say he may be a good Archer that doth not hit the white if he come but somewhat near it he indeed is a bungler that misseth the Butt Job aimed at and came neer the mark though he did not alwayes hit it The Lord will give a good testimony of us if we aim right at though we sometimes miss the mark It is said of Zachariah and Elizabeth Luke 1.6 They were both righteous There 's not a word spoken of their failings though doubtless they had their failings both as to the Ordinances and Commandements of God Eighthly The Lords wrath being kindled against Jobs friends we might expect he would thunder upon them yet he only saith Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right Hence observe The Lord dealeth mildly with sinners He did not give wrathful words though his wrath was kindled he did not call Eliphaz and his friends Hereticks nor tell them they had belyed him and slandered his proceedings he did not aggravate their fault by grievous words he did not upbraid them particularly but without bitterness or hard reflections comprehended their all faults in one general soft word Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right This should be our pattern in dealing with an offending brother whereas many if a brother do but differ from them a little if he do not say as they say and concur with them fully in opinion are ready to censure him hardly and give him reproachful language The Apostles rule is Gal. 6.1 Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye that are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering thy self lest thou also be tempted God who is above all temptation meekly restored these faulty men yea though his wrath was kindled against them yet his speech was mild and cool only saying and what less could he say if he said any thing Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right As my servant Job Why doth the Lord call Job his servant Surely at once to put an honour upon him and to comfort him Eliphaz and his two friends were Gods servants yet because of their miscarriage in that service God did not own them at that time as such God was wont to call David his servant at every turn yet when he had numbred the people Nathan was sent to him with a hard message and is bid Go and say unto David not my servant David 2 Sam. 24.12 Hence note Ninthly God honours man much by owning him as his servant To serve the Lord is as much our priviledge as our duty and when the Lord calleth us to his service he rather puts a favour up-us than a burden The Lord is the highest master and they are highly honoured who are his servants It is an honour to serve Kings and Princes what is it then to serve the King of Kings the Prince of the Kings of the earth as Jesus Christ is called Rev. 1.5 'T is also profitable as well as honourable to serve the Lord for he is the best master his work is the best woâk and his wages is the best wages And not only so but 't is easie to be the Lords servant for as he expects we should do his work so we may expect help and strength hearts and hands from him to do it If the Lord doth but own us for his servants we shall not faint at his work whether it be doing or suffering work God upheld his servant Job in and carryed him through all those
though they had judged him an hypocrite or an ungodly man Thus the Lord sent them to Job that they might eat their words and receive a full conviction of their error Thirdly God would have them go to his servant Job to make them sensible that the favour he intended them was very much for Jobs sake and that they must in part be beholding to Job for it Fourthly The Lord sent them to Job that he might give a high evidence of his grace especially of his charity in forgetting injuries and requiting good for evil His friends had reproached him ten times and grieved his spirit very much yet he must shew how ready he was to forgive them and pray that they might be forgiven Fifthly God would have them to go to Job that they might know that Job was reconciled to them as well as himself Sixthly God would have them go to Job that this might humble them or that they might shew their humility and submission It was a great piece of self-denial for them to go to Job after such a contest and entreat him to speak for them of whom they had spoken so hardly and with whom they had long contended so bitterly Thus the Lord tried both Job and them the Lord tried Jobs charity and their humility We are hardly brought to confess that we have wronged others or have been out and mistaken our selves 'T is no easie matter for a man to acknowledge himself overcome 't is extream hard to become a suppliant to one whom we lately despised and trampled upon All this is his hard meat and not easily digested yet Eliphaz and his two friends must digest all this before they could acceptably obey the Lords command in going to his servant Job Nor was it an easie matter for Job to forget so many affronts and unkindnesses as he had received from his friends ' T is hard for a man that hath been wronged and reproached yea condemned to pass air by and not only embrace his opposers and reproachers but pray and solicite for them Thus the Lord in sending them to Job took tryal both of Job and them The Lord commanding them to supplicate him whom they had offended and expecting that he should make suit and supplication for them who had offended him put both their graces to it and in a most sweet and gracious way at once healed the breach which had been between Job and them as also that between them and himself Who ever took up a difference more sweetly or reunited dissenting brethren thus wisely Go to my servant Job And offer up for your selves a burnt-offering That is those seven bullocks and seven rams Here as was said before was the facrifice but who was the Priest The text saith Offer up for your selves which may intimate that that as they were to offer a sacrifice for themselves so that they themselves offered it But as Interpreters generally so I conceive Job was the Priest who offered it in their behalf We read chap. 1.5 that Job offered sacrifices for his children and there it was shewed that he was the Priest Every sacrifice must be offered by a Priest the people brought the sacrifice unto him to offer for them No sacrifice is acceptable without a Priest Therefore Jesus Christ who was our sacrifice was a Priest also none could offer him but himself he was both sacrifice and Priest and Altar So then whereas the Text saith they were to offer a burnt-offering for themselves the meaning is they were to bring it unto Job and he to offer it for them The Priest offered and Israel offered that is Israel offered by the Priest they brought the matter of the sacrifice to the Priest and the Priest slew and presented the sacrifice to the Lord. It is one thing to offer another thing to slay the sacrifice They offered a sacrifice who brought it or at their cost caused it to be brought to the holy place and this any of the people might do They offer it upon the Altar to the Lord who were especially appointed thereunto These were the Priests only Before the Ceremonial law as given by God to Moses the Priest-hood lay in the eldest or father of the family upon which account Job was a Priest whereas afterwards the Priest-hood was settled in the family of Aaron and it was forbidden to any but one of hs line to offer sacrifice So that when the Lord said to Eliphaz and his two friends Go to my servant Job and offer up for your selves a burnt-offering he directed them to Job Non est hic curiousè captendo distinctio holocausti aboliis victimis cim haec ante legem contigovint Quasi latinè diceres-holocaustabitis holo caustum i.e. in solidum offeratis ut in auras totum abort officietis Merc. as having the honour of Priest-hood in him and so the power of doing it for them or in their behalf Offer up for your selves A burnt-offering That is a sacrifice wholly consumed by fire The Hebrew is very elegant make an ascentton to ascend The whole burnt-offering was the most perfect offering and therefore the Hebrews express it by a word that signifieth the perfect consumption of it in the fire and so the ascention of it to heaven in smoke and vapour as a sweet odour in the nostrils of the Lord as the Apostle speaks Ephes 5.1 and as David Psal 141.2 A part of many sacrifices was saved to feast upon afterwards as the harlot spake Prov. 7.14 I have peace-offerings with me this day have I payed my vows but the burnt-offering was wholly consumed and sent up unto the Lord. Go to my servant Job and offer up for your selves a burnt-offering Hence note First The Lord is very ready to forgive and to be at peace with those that have offended him Though the fire of his wrath be kindled as it is said in the former verse yet he is willing to have it quenched The Prophet Micah chap. 7.18 makes this report of God He retaineth not his anger for ever that is he retaineth it but a little while he is speedily pacified and forgives and sometimes as here he forgives without any higher signification of his anger than a bare rebuke The Lord did not lay the least mulât the least chastning or affliction upon Eliphaz and his two friends though his wrath was kindled against them I grant it is not so always some smart sorely and pay dearly for their errors When the anger of the Lord was kindled against Aaron and Miriam Num. 12.9 for speaking against Moses as those three had against Job he was not then so easily pacified for first it is said in the close of the 9th verse he departed and ver 10. the cloud departed from off the tabernacle here was much displeasure yet not all for it followeth and behold Miriam became leprous white as snow In this case God was angry with two that had spoken against a servant of his and they felt
be collected from that in the Prophet Ezek. 14.14 where he is joyned with Noah and Daniel Job being here called to pray for his friends was put upon another piece of the Priestly Office There were two parts of the Priestly Office and Job is adorned with them both First the Priest was to offer sacrifice Secondly to pray for the people Jesus Christ filled up both these parts of the Priestly office for us First he offered himself a sacrifice for us Secondly he interceded yea he ever liveth to make intercession for us Heb. 7.25 Job as in offering up a sacrifice so in praying for his faulty friends was a type of Christ My servant Job shall pray for you But for what should he pray in their behalf Surely that their sin might be forgiven and they find favour with God The word here rendred to Pray for is elegant and significant Verbum pertinet ad rem forensem judicialem significat orare vel deprecari more ejus qui ad judidicem appellat illum supplex adit precabundus Coc. implying a forinsecal act when an advocate in Court moves the Judge in behalf of an offender so that when the Lord saith My servant Job shall pray for you his meaning is he shall deprecate the wrath and vengeance that your sin hath deserved and entreat my favour for you and seek your peace with me My servant Job shall pray for you Hence observe First It is a duty to pray for those that have wronged us Not only is it a duty to forgive them and be reconciled to them but to pray for them and heartily wish their good The Apostle James having said Chap. 5.16 Confess your faults one to another presently adds Pray for one another yea Christ commands us to pray for the good not only of those that confess they have wronged us and desire reconciliation to us but to pray for our enemies that is such as still hate us and continue to contrive all the mischief they can against us It is a duty not only to pray for them that acknowledge their fault but for theâ also who go on in their fault against us enemies do so Bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you These are Christs not only counsels but commands Mat. 5.44 Even for them we should pray that God would pardon their sin turn their hearts and give them repentance which is the best we can pray for them Again the Lord saith My servant Job shall pray for you Hence observe Secondly God undertakes and gives his word for a good man that he will do his duty God having spoken to Job about this matter undertook for his performance My servant Job shall pray for you I will put it into his heart to do it The Lord may very well be bound for a good man that he shall do his duty because as he hath promised so he will help him to do his duty Thus the Lord engaged for Abraham Gen. 18.19 Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I am doing I know Abraham I am well enough acquainted with Abraham that he will command his children and his houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. I know him I will be surety for him The Lord speaks with confidence concerning his people that they will do this and that they will humble themselves before him and that they will forgive and pray for their enemies he knows they will do all these things because he knows he hath given them power and a heart to do them The Apostle was confident of the obedience of the Church of Galatia Gal. 5.10 I have saith he co fidence in you through the Lord that you will be none otherwise minded When the Apostle undertook that they should do their duty he did it respectively to a divine assistance and presence with them I have confidence in you not in your selves but through the Lord c. but God undertakes absolutely My servant Job shall pray for you Thirdly Note The prayers and intercessions of the righteous prevail much with God The Lord having assured them that his servant Job should pray for them tells them in the next words Him will I accept which intimates that his pâayers should have a great power with God for them James 5.16 The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much and it doth so in a twofold respect First For himâelf A godly man gets much good of God in his own case by prayer Secondly It prevails very much with God in respect of others 'T is a great honour with which the Lord crowns the prayers of his faithful servants that they prevail not only for themselves but for others Thus the Lord spake to Abimelech Gen. 20.7 Now therefore restore this man meaning Abraham his wife for he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee And his prayer was answered When the Lord had smitten Miriam with the Leprosie Moses cryed unto the Lord saying heal her now O God I beseech thee and she was healed Numb 12.13 Thus Samuels prayer prevailed 1 Sam. 7.9 And Samuel took a sucking Lamb and offered it up for a burnt-offering and Samuel cryed unto the Lord for Israel not for himself but for Israel and the Lord heard him And in the twelfth Chapter of the same Book vers 19. the people begged prayers of Samuel And all the people said unto Samuel pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God that we die not And at the 23d verse Samuel said As for me God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you but I will teach you the good and the right way and he prayed for them and the Lord spared the people at that time Not to pray for others proceeds from uncharitableness not to desire the prayers of others proceeds either from ignorance not knowing of what value the prayers of others who are godly are or from pride that we will not be beholding to others for their prayers It is a great mercy to have the prayers of good men going for us Fourthly Note The prayers of others may prevail with God when our own cannot Eliphaz and his two friends were good men yet the Lord did not give answer to them but to the prayers of Job The prayers of others may be answered when ours are not in a double respect First Others may be in a better pâaying frame than our selves Every one that is in a praying state is not alwayes in a praying frame especially not in such a praying frame as another may be in another may be in a better praying frame and so may prevail more for us than we for our selves Secondly Some other persons may be more accepted with God than we some are as it were favourites with God God shews favour to all his servants but all his servants are not his favourites Moses was
a favourite Abraham was a favourite God called him his friend and Job was a favourite The Lord shews favour to many who yet are not his favourites Kings and Pâinces shew favour to all their faithful subjects yet but one possibly is a Favourite The Lords chief favourite is his Son Jesus Christ he hath his ear continually I knew said Christ John 11.42 that thou hearest me alwayes Now as Christ is a favourite above all men so among good men some have favour with God above others A King will hear a favourite when he will not a common person Our Annotators upon this very place tell us out of Mr. Fox that when Sir John Gostwich had falsely accused Arch-Bishop Cranmer to King Henry the VIII he would not hear him nor be reconciled to him till Cranmer himself whom he had wronged came and spake for him Thus the Lord will not be reconciled to some till the wronged party intercedes for them Yet we must remember that the power or effect of all our prayers depends upon Jesus Christ alone by him it is that any have access to the father and he is the way to the holiest the beloved in whom God is well pleased whom he heareth always and through whom God heareth his best beloved favourites on earth Observe Fifthly It is a great mercy to have the prayers of a good man going for us The Lord told not Eliphaz and his two friends of any thing else that Job should do for them he only saith Job my servant shall pray for you If the Lord doth but stir up the heart of a Job of a Moses of a Jacob a Wrestler in prayer to pray for us who knows what mercy we may receive by it And therefore when the Lord forbids his favourites to pray for a people as sometimes he doth it is a sign that such are in a very sad condition yea that their case is desperate Jeremiah was a mighty man with the Lord in prayer and the Lord said to him Jer. 14.11 Pray not to me for this people for good Jeremiah was forward to pray for them but the Lord stopt him Pray no more not that the Lord disliked his prayer but because he was resolved not to forgive them though he prayed for them therefore he said pray not The Lord would not let such precious waters run wast as the prayers of Jeremiah were They are in a remediless ill condition of whom the Lord saith pray not for them Of such the Apostle spake 1 John 5.16 If any man see his brother sin a sin not unto death he shall ask and God shall give him life There is a sin unto death I say not that he shall pray for it The pardon of a sin unto death is not to be prayed for Every sin deserves death but every sin is not unto death They who sin so are past prayer and in how woful a plight are they whose sins are past prayers They who have been much in prayer themselves and afterwards fall off from or walk contrary unto their prayers come at last to this miserable issue that either they give over praying for themselves or others are stopt from praying for them And though an outward bar be not laid upon their friends prayer as in Israels case yet there may be a bar upon the spirit of such as used to pray for them It is a bad sign when the Lord shuts up the heart from praying for any one and it is a sign of mercy when the Lord inlargeth the heart of any that are godly to pray for others Sixthly Observe Prayer for another doth not profit him unless he be faithful himself I ground it upon the text Job shall pray for you but you must carry a sacrifice which implied their faith and they must carry a sacrifice to Job and that implied their repentance and both implied that they prayed for themselves also It is in vain to offer a sacrifice without faith and repentance being in this frame My servant Job shall pray for you Conjunctis precibus nihil impetratu impossibile est Conjunctae autem preces esse non possunt ubi est offensio Coc. vid. The prayer of faith prevails not for those that go on in their unbelief and impenitency Job prayed for his friends and they repenting and believing he prevailed for them The reason why the Prophet Jeremiah in the place before mentioned as also chap. 7.16 was commanded not to pray for that people was because they were a hardened people in their sins and therefore his prayers could do them no good Yea the Lord told him cha 15.2 that though not only he but other great favourites joyned in prayer for them it should do them no good Though Moses and Samuel stood before me my mind could not be towards this people The reason why those eminent favourites and mighty men in prayer could do no good was as was said before because they were unbelieving and hardned in their sins as appears upon the place The Prophet Ezekiel speaks the same thing chap. 14.14 Though these three men Noah Daniel and Job this Job that we have in the text were in it they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness saith the Lord. Jobs prayers obtained good for his friends but the children of Israel were in such a condition that though Noah Daniel and Job were praying for them they should get no good by it their sins were so high and their hearts so hard that the prayers of the holiest men in the world could not prevail with God for mercy It cannot be denied but the prayers of a godly man may profit a wicked man an unbeliever an impenitent person for his conversion to the faith and the bringing of him to repentance but they profit not any man who as he hath not faith so continues in his unbelief Yet I grant that the prayers of a believer may profit such an unbeliever as to the avoiding of some temporal evil or as to the obtaining of some temporal good as is clear in Abrahams prayer for Abimelech Gen. 20.7 But how much soever a godly man prayeth for the pardon of a wicked mans sin or the salvation of his soul he shall never be pardoned or saved unless himself repent and believe They who never pray in faith for themselves shall not get favour with God by any prayer of faith made by others for them Now as from this and such like Scriptures it appears that the prayers of godly men for good men here on earth are very pleasing unto the Lord and receive great answers So they do absurdly who from this Scripture infer that the Saints departed pray for us as if they knew or understood our condition and they do more absurdly who living here on earth pray to the Saints in heaven to pray for them The Scripture speaks nothing of prayers to departed Saints nor of departed Saints praying for us the Scripture speaks only of the living
that when once we have it we may rejoyce all our days Eccles 9.7 Go thy way eat thy bread with joy and drink thy wine with a merry heart for God now accepteth thy works Solomon doth not mean it of a sensitive joy only much less of any sensual joy but of a gracious and spiritual joy In this joy we may eat and drink when our work is accepted and our work is never accepted till our persons are Now if it be so great a priviledge to be accepted with the Lord how great a misery is it not to be accepted this inference floweth naturally from that great truth And how great a misery it is not to be accepted of God several Scriptures hold out The Prophet Amos 5.22 declareth no other judgment upon that people but this The Lord accepteth them not And the same declaration is made by several other Prophets Jerem. 14.10 12. Hos 8.13 Mal. 1.8 10. Acceptance is our greatest mercy and non-acceptance our greatest misery and that 's the reason why the understanding and faithful servants of God are so strict or as the world accounts it precise and scrupleous that they will not turn aside no not in those things which are called small matters and of which many think God will take no notice They desire to be accepted of God in every thing and because they know in some measure what is acceptable to him therefore they would do nothing no not the least thing which is unacceptable to him Prov. 10.32 The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable The lips are organs or instruments of speech not of knowledge the understanding knoweth the lips only speak Yet here Solomon ascribes the work of the understing to the lips and this he doth because there is or should be a great cognation between the understanding and the lips we should speak nothing but what we understand we should speak only what we know and according to our knowledge The lips of the righteous have such an intercourse with their understanding that their very lips may be said to know what is acceptable and therefore they speak what is acceptable It is said of David that he guided the people with the skilfulness saith our with the discretion saith another translation with the understanding of his hands saith the original Psal 78.72 The hand hath no more understanding skill or discretion seated in it than the lips yet because David consulted with his understanding in what he did with his hand it is said He guided them by the skilfulness or discretion or understanding of his hand Thus the lips of the righteous understand and know what is acceptable and they know that unless they have an aime to honour God in small matters yea in all matters they greatly dishonour him and so cannot be accepted with him at all The excellency of a gracious heart appears greatly when he maketh conscience of doing the least thing which he knows ye only fears will be unacceptable to God or wherein he may run the hazard of this priviledge his acceptation with him There are three things which shew why it is so great a priviledg to be accepted with God and why his servants are so careful not to do any thing that is unacceptable unto him First Because Once accepted with God and always accepted For though possibly a person accepted may have some frowns from God upon his uneven walkings or sinful actings yet his state of acceptation continues firm in the main The Lord doth not utterly cast off his favourites no nor any whom he taketh into his favour or a nearness with himself Secondly If we are once accepted with God he can make us accepted with men and that not only with good men Rom. 14.18 but even with bad men God can give us favour in the eyes of those men who have not an eye to see that we are in his favour Daniel who was so careful to keep up his acceptation with God That he purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the portion of the Kings meat Dan. 1.8 9. Of him it is said ver 9. God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the Prince of the Eunuches He a conscientious Jew had great acceptation with him who was an idolatrous Heathen Thirdly If once accepted of the Lord we need not be much troubled though we are reprobate to the world though the world reject and cast us off yea cast us out The Lords acceptation of us will bear or may bear up our spirits in the midst of the worlds reproaches repulses and rejections Again When the Lord saith Him will I accept Observe The Lord accepts some godly men more than others Jobs three friends were godly men questionless they were yet they had not that acceptation with God which Job had All that are godly have acceptation with God but they have not all alike acceptation Acts 10.35 In every Nation they that fear him and work righteousness are accepted with him Which we must not take meerly for a moral or legal righteousness but as in conjunction with an Evangelical righteousness Now let them be who they will that fear God and work righteousness they are accepted but all are not equally accepted him will I accept saith the Lord concerning Job with an Emphasis why was it so because Job was one of the most eminent persons for godliness yea the most eminent at that time upon the face of the whole earth as was shewed at the 2d verse of the first chapter Noah was a man highly accepted of the Lord above others and he was righteous above others Gen. 7.1 Thee saith God have I seen righteous before me in this generation Possibly there might be others righteous but there was no man so righteous as Noah and none so accepted as he And if it be enquired who amongst good men are most accepted or accepted beyond other good men I answer First They among good men are most accepted who live most by faith As without faith it is impossible to please God in any degree Heb. 11.6 so they that live most by faith please God most or in the highest degree and are most accepted by him Abraham who lived so much by faith that he was called the father of the faithful was so much accepted of God that he is called The friend of God Jam. 2.23 Secondly Among godly men they who are most upright in their walkings who walk with a single eye and with a right foot are most acceptable such a man was Job The character given him Chap. 1.1 was A man perfect and upright Thirdly They that walk most humbly are most acceptable unto God For ãâã God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble Jam. 4.6 so he sheweth grace that is favour or graceth and adorneth them with his favours When one said Mich. 6.6 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord c. The Prophet answered vers 8. He hath shewed thee O man what is
good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God That is as he requireth of thee to exercise justice toward all men and mercy to the poor or any in misery so to walk humbly with himself that is to acknowledge thou hast need of the righteousness of a Saviour and of the mercy of a God how much righteousness and mercy soever thou hast exercised towards others When we are low in our own eyes then are we highest in Gods eye when we as it were reject our selves and all that we have done as unworthy of any acceptation then are we most accepted of the Lord. Fourthly Among Believers they are most accepted with God who are most fruitful in their lives and do most good in their places and according to their opportunities The Lord loveth a fruitful Christian Many are barren trees unfruitful ground little can be seen of good which they do these are a burden to God But when a Christian as it is said of Christ Act. 10.38 goeth about doing good when a Christian as Christ giveth the account of his own life John 17.4 Glorifieth God on earth and finisheth the work which God gives him to do O how acceptable is such a one to God! And therefore Let us labour to know and do what is acceptable to the Lord. The Apostle would have us prove what is acceptable to the Lord Eph. 5.10 that is First study the Word to find out what is acceptable to the Lord. Secondly approve and embrace with our whole hearts what we find to be so Thirdly practice and do what we have so approved or embraced And because the Scripture speaks of some duties which are specially acceptable to the Lord I shall instance the Point in a few particulars First Doing right to every one Prov. 21.3 To do justice and judgement is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice This is true or may be affiâmed of justice both commutative and distributive To do justice in our dealings with men called commutative justice is more acceptable than sacrifice that is than any outward worship given to God without this 'T is true also of distributive justice which is done by Magistrates in rewarding good men and in punishing them that do evil these works of justice also are more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice Secondly The true worship and service of God which the Apostle calls sacrifice is highly acceptable to God Rom. 12.1 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service These first Table-duties when in consort with those former second Table-duties are highly honourable and therefore cannot but be highly acceptable to the Lord. Sacrifice to God without justice to man is meer hypocrisie Justice to man without sacrifice to God is no better than Heathenish morality Both united are the beauty of Christianity Thirdly To serve Christ that is to aim at the honouring as well as the enjoying of Christ with our Gospel-priviledges and liberties is exceeding acceptable The Apostle having said Rom. 14.17 The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost presently adds vers 18. He that in these things that is in righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost serveth Christ is acceptable unto God that is this shews he is a person accepted with God The doing of things purely acceptable to God is a clear and strong argument of our acceptation with him Fourthly To do any good we do be it little or much with a willing mind is very acceptable to God 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath Though it be little that we have yet if the mind be free if there be much of the will in it though but little of the purse if we have no more to give or give according to what we have if there be much of the heart in it though but little of the hand if we do according to the power that is in our hand the Lord hath a very great respect to it Fifthly To be much in prayer for others especially for those that are in power over us is very acceptable to the Lord 1 Tim. 2.2 3. I exhort that supplications c. be made for all men for Kings and all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour As it is good and acceptable in the sight of God that we should lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty under Kings and all in authority so that we should pray for Kings and those that are in authority Sixthly When children do well requite their parents that saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 5.4 is acceptable unto God Seventhly To suffer patiently for well-doing is greatly pleasing unto God 1 Pet. 2.20 In a word they among good men are most acceptable of God who are most zealous in doing any thing in a right manner which for the matter is acceptable unto God Observe Thirdly As the Lord accepteth some godly men more than others so he accepteth some godly men for others The Lord doth not speak here of accepting Job strictly for himself but of his acceptation in the behalf of his friends Him will I accept that is for you I will be intreated by him I will not give you the honour to be intreated by you but to him I give it I will be intreated by him The Prophet Elisha said to the King of Israel 2 Kings 3.14 Were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the King of Judah I would not look toward thee nor see thee he would not vouchsafe that bad King a look but for the respect that he bare to good Jehoshaphat And it is a truth that God would not have so much respect to some good men were it not for the sake of some others who are better Yet that the Lord accepts one mans person more than anothers or one mans person for another is primarily and principally in and for the sake of Jesus Christ Job had acceptation with God more than his friends and for his friends he had the former by his being in Christ and the latter as he was a figure of Christ No mans person no mans work is accepted of otherwise than in relation to Christ The Apostle affirms this fully Eph. 1.6 He hath made us accepted in the Beloved Christians are beloved but Christ only is the Beloved we are accepted in him the beloved as to our selves and 't is in the beloved that any are accepted more than others or for others Take this Inference from the whole The Lord accepted Job praying for others then he will accept a good man praying upon right
they carried it on a new Cart when it should have been carryed upon the Levites shoulders that was a failing in the outward manner of that work Hence that confession of David when he undertook that work a second time 1 Chron. 15.13 The Lord made a breach upon us at first for that we sought him not after the due order We must worship God aright for the outward manner of his commands and institutions else we dishonour him while we intend to worship him Secondly The inward manner must be according to the command of God 'T is possible we may hit the outward form of worship yet miss in the inward manner of it The Lord searcheth the heart he knoweth what is within and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth John 4.24 that is according to the truth of the rule made known in the word and in truth of heart The inward manner of worship is First That we worship in faith Without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 If we have not a justifying faith yea if we have not a perswading faith Rom. 14.5 23. that what we do is according to the will of God our worship iâ not according to what the Lord hath commanded and so becomes sin to us Secondly That we worship in love Though we do never so many holy services to the Lord if we do them not in love to him we fail in the inward manner of our worship The sum of all the Lords commands is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might It is not heaâing and praying but these in love which is the fulfilling of the commandement Every duty must be mixt also with love to man We may do many things commanded to men yet if we do them not in love to men we do nothing as the Lord commandeth Thus the holy Apostle concluded peremptorily 1 Cor. 13.1 Though I speak with the tongue of men and angels c. and have not charity I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cimbal and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burnt and have not charity it profiteth nothing Thirdly To do all that the Lord commands according to the inward manner is to do all in humility that is First Acknowledging that we have no power of our own to do any thing Secondly That we have deserved nothing how much soever we have done or how well soever we have done it Thus in doing the Lords commands we should labour to answer the mind of the Lord fully and to hit every circumstance to omit nothing no not the lest thing Moses Exod. 10.16 being to carry the people of Israel out of Egypt would not compound the matter with Pharaoh Ye may go said Pharaoh after he had been broken by several plagues Only let your little ones stay no saith Moses that is not as the Lord hath commanded me And at another time he said Go only let your cattle stay no saith Moses this is not as the Lord commanded I will not leave so much as a hoof behind me And so said Moses concerning the observances of the law For thus I am commanded or this is as the Loâd commanded as we read all along the books of Exodus and Leviticus We are not full in our obedience till we obey fully It is said of Caleb Num. 14.24 He had another spirit he followed the Lord fully that is as to matter and manner as to out-side and in-side Let us labour to be full followers of God not out-side followers of God only but in-side followers Let us not rest in the in-side when we are not right in the out-side nor please our selves with an out-side service when we are careless of the inward Thus of their obedience as considered in general They did according as the Lord commanded Further consider their doing as the Lord commanded them in that special matter their reconciliation first to himself and then to Job Hence Observe Fourthly What the Lord appointeth for our reconciliation we must do and we must do it as he hath appointed Cur te pudeat peccatum tuum dicere cum non pudet facere Bernard in Sentent Erubescere mala sapientiae est bonum verò erubescere fatuitatis Greg. l. 1. in Ezek. hom 10. Though the means which God appointeth seem to us improbable and weak though it be troublesome and chargeable as here the offering up of so many bullocks and rams yet we must do it Yea though it put us to shame before men by the acknowledgment of our errors and mistakes as here Eliphaz and his two friends also did yet we must do it They who are ashamed of sin will not be ashamed to acknowledge their sin But what must we do to be reconciled to God or maâ They who desire reconcilion with God must go out of themselves and go to Jesus Christ they must as Eliphaz c. did bring a sacrifice to God not as they did of bullocks and rams but which was shadowed by those legal sacrifices the sacrifice of Jesus Christ himself Who by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 They who desire reconciliation with man must do that which God here appointed these men go to him whom they have wronged and acknowledge their error or that they have wronged him they must also desire his pardon and prayers Thus did these men and they did as the Lord commanded for their reconciliation first to himself and then to Job Fifthly We may consider this their obedience as to the spring of it What made them so ready when the Lord commanded them to go and do as he had commanded them doubtless this was one thing the men were now humbled God had brought them to a fight of their sin Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right this they were made sensible of and confessed and so obeyed Hence Observe They who are truly humbled and touched with a clear sight and deep sense of their sins will do whatsoever the Lord commandeth and as he commandeth They who are made sensible of the wrath of God deserved by and kindled against them for their sins will do any thing which he commands for the obtaining of his favour God may have any thing of an humble soul had the Lord commanded these men to go to Job and offer sacrifice before he had convinced them of their sin they might have flung away over the field and not have kept the path of his commandments but having humbled them they submitted When Peter had preached that notable Sermon which prickt his hearers at the very heart Acts 2.37 Then they said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do They were not only ready to do what they were commanded but did even ask for commands What shall we do They as it
Christ in his person is of infinite worth and his sacrifice of so great a value that it became a price sufficient for the ransom and redemption of all sinners yet it was of free grace that Christ was made a ransom for sinners and we accepted through him Secondly Take this Inference If the Lord be ready to hear a Job for his friends then the Lord will much more hear a Job for himself That the prayers and supplications which Believers put up to the Lord obtain mercy and good things for others may strengthen faith that they shall obtain for themselves Thirdly We may infer Job was become a great favourite with God after his humiliation and self-abhorrence He no sooner fell out with himself for his former miscarriages but the Lord as it were fell in love with him afresh What a favourite was he grown who could thus readily get an answer and obtain favour for those against whom the Lord said My wrath is kindled Thus much concerning the judgment and determination of God in this matter which put a period to the long continued controversie between Job and his three friends and reconciled both parties both unto God and between themselves O how blessed is the issue of the Lords Judgment and undertaking towards his servants and children When once he was pleased to appear in the case he soon silenced both sides and made them in the conclusion both of one heart and of one mind And no sooner was this humbling and reconciling work done and over but restoring and restitution work followed as will appear in opening the third and last part of this Chapter which is also the last part of the whole Book JOB Chap. 42. Vers 10. 10. And the Lord turned the Captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before THis verse begins the third part of the Chapter We have seen Jâb humbled before God in the first part we have seen Jobs friends reconciled to God and his anger turned away from them in the second In this third we have Job himself restored or the restitution of Job to as good yea to a better estate than he had before and this was done when he prayed for his friends The Crown is set upon the head of prayer The restitution of Job is set down two wayes First more generally in this verse where it is described three wayes First by the Author of it The Lord it was he that turned the Captivity of Job Secondly by the season of it When he prayed for his friends Thirdly by the degree and measure of it Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before His was not a bare return or restitution but with advantage and that to a duplication And the Lord turned the captivity of Job Before I open the words as translated by us I shall briefly mind the Reader of another translation Probarem si esset ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ubi nunc ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã nam ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã conversio paenitentia Drus Dominus quoque conversus est ad paenitentiam Job Vulg. The word which we render Captivity is by some rendred Repentance and there is a twofold interpretation of that rendring First Some refer it to God and read the words thus The Lord was turned to repentance concerning Job And then the meaning is the Lord repented or changed his dispensation with respect to the affliction of Job when he prayed for his friends The Scripture speaks of the Lords repentance two wayes First that he repenteth of the good which he hath done for or bestowed upon man Gen. 6.6 It repented the Lord that he had made man he seemed as one troubled in his mind that ever he had set up man in such a condition And as there the Lord repented of his making mankind in general in that good natural state so elsewhere he is said to repent of his doing good to some men in particular as to their civil state 1 Sam. 15.11 The Lord repented that he had made Saul King that he had set him upon a Throne to rule men on earth who had no better obeyed the Rule given from his own Throne in heaven Secondly The Lord is said to repent of the evil which he hath either actually brought upon man or threatned to bring upon him In the former sense Moses saith Deut. 32.36 The Lord shall judge his people and repent himself for his servanss when he seeth that their power is gone and there is none shut up or left that is when they are in an afflicted low condition the Lord taketh the opportunity or season to restore them and then he is said to repent concerning any afflictive evil brought upon his people In the latter sense as he is said to repent of the evil threatned it is said of repenting Niniveh Jonah 3.10 The Lord repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them and he did it not Thus the Lord is turned to repentance with respect to evil either brought or threatned to be brought upon a people for which we have that remarkable promise Jer. 18.7 8. At what instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdome to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil I thought to do unto them If they turn I will turn Another word is used in the Hebrew there but it imports the same thing Repentance in God is not any change of his Will Counsel or Purpose it only notes a change in his providences and dispensations The Lord is of one mind who can turn him Job 23.13 But he is not alwayes of one way he repenteth that is he changeth his way somtimes and so he did towards Job He once cast him down and left him as a captive bound hand and foot under the power of Satan as to his outward man and worldly enjoyments but the Lord turned and repented that is turned his Captivity This sense and reading is much insisted on by several Interpreters and it is a comfortable truth yet I am not satisfied that it is the truth intended in this place Secondly Others who follow that translation refer this repentance to Job and so the sense is this The Lord turned at the repentance or upon the repentance of Job when he prayed for his friends of which repentance we read in the foâmer part of the Chapter The Observation which naturally ariseth from this interpretation is clear from many other Texts of Scripture When persons or Nations pray and depart from iniquity when they joyn true repentance with prayer the Lord turneth to them in mercy and turneth evil away from them The Lord turned in mercy to repenting Job when he prayed for his friends And this was promised to Gods peculiar people the Jewish Nation 2 Chron. 7.14 If my
found matters mending with himself and the answers of prayer in the mercies of God coming tumbling in thick and three-fold His captivity fled far away when he had thus drawn near to God he had as a very full and satisfactory so a very speedy answer When he prayed Prayer is the making known our wants and desires to God It is a spiritual work not a meer bodily exercise it is the labour of the heart not lip-labour Jobs prayer was a fervent working or effectual prayer as the Apostle James speaks chap. 5.16 not a cold slothful sleepy prayer when he prayed he made work of prayer Many speak words of prayer that make no work of prayer nor are they at work in prayer Job prayed in the same sense that Saul afterwards Paul did Acts. 9.11 when the Lord Jesus bid Ananias go to him for Behold he prayeth implying that he was at it indeed He had been brought up after the strictest rule of the Pharisees who prayed much or made many prayers but he prayed to so little purpose before that we may well call that his first prayer and say he had never prayed before Job prayed for his friends as Paul for himself he was very earnest with God for them and prevailed Extraordinary cases call for extraordinary layings out in duty It was an extraordinary case When he prayed For his friends The Hebrew is When he prayed for his friend Singulare partitivum pro plurali Merc. It is usual in the Grammar of the holy Text to put the singular for the plural 'T is so here either First because he prayed for every one of them distinctly and by name or Secondly because he looked upon them all as one and bound them up in the same requests When he prayed For his friends They are called his friends to shew the esteem that he had of them notwithstanding all their unkindness and unfriendliness towards him He prayed for them in much love O raram singularem virtutem quae in paucissimis vel Christianis reperiatur Merc. though they had shewed little love to him and his heart was so much towards them that the Text speaks as if he had forgot himself or left himself at that time quite out of his prayers Doubtless Job prayed for himself but his great business at that time with God was for his friends Now in that Jobs prayer is said expresly to be for his friends not for himself though we cannot doubt but that he prayed and prayed much for himself Observe A godly man is free to pray for others as well as for himself and in some cases or at some times more for others than for himself He seldom drives this blessed trade with heaven for self only and he sometimes doth it upon the alone account of others 'T is a great piece of spiritualness to walk exactly and keep in with God to the utmost that so our own personal soul concerns may not take up our whole time in prayer but that we may have a freedom of spirit to inlarge for the benefit of others Many by their uneven walkings exceedingly hinder themselves in this duty of praying for friends and of praying for the whole Church Uneven walkings hinder that duty in a twofold respect First Because they indispose the heart to prayer in general which is one special reason why the Apostle Peter gives that counsel to Husband and Wife 1 Pet. 3.7 to walk according to knowledge and as being heirs together of the same grace of life that saith he your prayers be not hindred that is lest your hearts be indisposed to prayer Secondly Because uneven walkings will find us so much work for our selves in prayer that we shall scarce have time or leisure to intend or sue out the benefit of others in prayer He that watcheth over his own heart and wayes will be and do most in prayer for others And that First For the removing or preventing of the sorrows and sufferings of others Secondly For the removing of the sins of others yea though their sins have been against himself which was Jobs case He prayed for those who had dealt very hardly with him and sinned against God in doing so he prayed for the pardon of their sin God being very angry with them and having told them he would deal with them according to their folly unless they made Job their friend to him This was the occasion of Jobs travelling in prayer for his friends and in this he shewed a spirit becoming the Gospel though he lived not in the clear light of it And how uncomely is it that any should live less in the power of the Gospel while they live more in the light of it To pray much for others especially for those who have wronged and grieved us hath much of the power of the Gospel and of the Spirit of Christ in it For thus Jesus Christ while he was nailed to the Cross prayed for the pardon of their sins and out-rages who had crucified him Father forgive them for they know not what they do Luke 23.34 Even while his crucifiers were reviling him he was begging for them and beseeching his Father that he would shew them mercy who had shewed him no mercy no nor done him common justice And thus in his measure Jobs heart was carryed out in his prayer for his friends that those sins of theirs might be forgiven them by which they had much wronged him yea and derided him in a sort upon his Cross as the Jews did Christ upon his This also was the frame of Davids heart towards those that had injured him Psal 109.4 For my love they are my adversaries that 's an ill requital but how did he requite them we may take his own word for it he tells us how but I give my self unto prayer yea he seemed a man wholly given unto prayer The elegant conciseness of the Hebrew is But I prayer we supply it thus But I give my self unto prayer They are sinning against me requiting my love with hatred But I give my self unto prayer But for whom did he pray doubtless he prayed and prayed much for himself he prayed also for them We may understand those words I give my self unto prayer two wayes First I pray against their plots and evil dealings with me prayer was Davids best strength alwayes against his enemies yet that was not all But Secondly I give my self to prayer that the Lord would pardon their sin and turn their hearts when they are doing me mischief or though they have done me mischief I am wishing them the best good David in another place shewed what a spirit of charity he was cloathed with when no reproof could hinder him from praying for others in some good men reproofs stir up passion not prayer Psal 141.5 Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindness smite me how with reproof so it followeth Let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oyl which shall not break my
head for yet my prayer shall be in their calamities that is if ever they who are my reprovers fall into calamity though they may think they have provoked me so by reproving me that they have lost my love and have cast them out of my prayers or that I will never speak well of them or for them again yet I will pray for them with all my heart as their matters shall require I will pray for them when they have most need of prayer even in their calamity Some heighten the sense thus The more they sharpen their reproof the more I think my self bound to pray for them It shews an excellent spirit not to be hindred from doing good to others by any thing they do or speak against us nor by their sharpest though perhaps mistaken reproofs of us Thus it was with this good man Job prayed for his friends who had spoken much against him and not only reproved him without cause but reproached him without charity and God turned his captivity when he prayed for them Hence observe Secondly Prayer for friends especially for unkind friends is very pleasing to God and profitable to us We never reap more fruit or benefit by prayer our selves than when we lay out our selves in prayer for others and then most when we pray for those who have deserved least at our hands Prayer for unkind friends is the greatest kindness we can do them and the noblest way of recompencing their unkindness Holy David was much in this way of duty and found the benefit of it Psal 35.12 13. They rewarded me evil for good to the spoyling of my soul but as for me when they were sick my cloathing was sackcloth I humbled my soul with fasting that is I was greatly affected with and afflicted for them in their affliction and see what followed My prayer returned into my own bosom There is some difference about the Exposition of those words but I conceive that is clear in it self as well as to my purpose that David received fruit and a good reward for those prayers As if he had said If my prayer did them no good it did me good if it did not profit them it profited me my prayer returned into my own bosom I found comfortable effects of it We never gain more by prayer than when we pray for those by whom we have been losers we never find more comfort by prayer than when we pray heartily for those by whom we have found much sorrow whatever good we pray for in the behalf of others falls upon our own heads and the more we pray for good upon the heads of those that have done evil to us the more good is like to fall upon our own heads and hearts Christ saith Mat. 10.13 When ye come into an house salute it Christ means not a Courtly complemental salute but a Christian spiritual salute wishing them mercy and peace as is plain by that which followeth and if the house be worthy let your peace come upon it but if it be not worthy let your peace return to you As if he had said When ye come into an house good or bad salute it if the house be good they shall receive the benefit of your prayer if not you shall have the benefit of it your selves though they get no good by your good wishes to them or prayers for them yet you shall This is more expresly assured us again by our blessed Saviour Luke 10.6 Into whatsoever house ye enter first say peace be to this house bestow a prayer upon them and if the Son of peace be there your peace shall rest upon it if not it shall turn to you again your prayers shall not be lost nor shall ye be losers by your prayers Hence take these two Inferences First If when we pray for friends for unkind friends God be ready to do us good then he will be much more ready to do us good when we as he hath commanded us pray for professed or real enemies The worse they are if not so bad as to be past prayer by the Apostles rule 1 John 5.16 for whom we pray the better are our prayers and an argument as of our greater faith in God so of our greater love to man Yet this is not to be understood as if we should pray for the prosperity of enemies or evil men in their evil purposes or practices this were to pray at once for the misery of Sion for the downfal of Jerusalem and the dishonour of God Our prayer for enemies should only be that God would change their hearts and pardon their sins as was touched before I grant we may in some cases pray Lord overturn overturn them or as David against Achitophel Lord turn their counsels into foolishness yet even then we should also pray with respect to their persons Lord turn them turn them The Gospel teacheth us to do so Luke 6.28 Bless them that curse you pray for them that despitefully use you Not that we should pray for a blessing on them as they are cursers and despisers but that they may repent and give over their cursed cursings and despiteful usages The Apostle is full for this Rom. 12.14 Bless them that persecute you bless and curse not vers 19. Avenge not your selves And as we should not avenge our selves so we should be sparing in prayer that God would take vengeance and if ever we put up such prayers beware they flow not from a spirit of revenge We indeed are sometimes afraid to be over-gentle and kind-hearted towards them that offend us and this bad Proverb is too much remembred If we play the Sheep the Wolf will eat us up as if to do our duty were to run further into danger and that it must needs turn to our wrong not to avenge our wrongs But know if we carry it meekly like sheep we have a great Shepheard who will take care of us and is able to preserve us from the Wolf Consider these two things in praying for enemies or for those that have any way wronged us First If by prayer we gain them 't is possible by prayer to turn a Wolf into a Sheep then it will be well with us they will be our friends Secondly If they continue Wolves and enemies still God will be more our friend and turn the evil which they either intend or do us to our good A second Inference is this If God be ready to deliver us from evil and do us good when we pray for others then he will be ready to do us good and deliver us from evil when we pray for our selves This Inference appears every where in Scripture And as the Lord himself hath often invited or encouraged us to the duty of prayer for our selves by this promise take one instance for all Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me that is thou shalt have both occasion and a heart to glorifie
Spirit in it and therefore it must needs make great turns God turned the captivity of Job when he prayed Sixthly Jesus Christ presents such prayers the prayers of faith the prayers of repentance unto God his Father Christs intercession gives effect or gets answer to our supplications The Father hears the Son always John 11.42 and so he doth all them whose prayers are offered to him by the Son Revel 8.3 The angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne The angel there spoken of is the angel or messenger of the Covenant prophesied of Mal. 3.1 that is Jesus Christ 't is he he alone who offers the incense of his own prayers with the prayers of all Saints upon the golden altar which is before the throne and being there represented doing so presently as it followeth ver 5. There were voices and thunders and lightenings signifying the wonderful effects of prayer till it should come after many turnings in the world or as I may say after a world of turnings to the Lords turning of Sions captivity as here of Jobs Seventhly Jesus Christ doth not only present the prayers of believers to God but also prayeth in them when saints pray he prayeth in them for he and they are mystically one And as Christ is in believers the hope of glory Col. 1.27 so he is in them the help of duty and so much their help that without him they can do nothing John 15.5 Now a believers prayer being in this sense Christs prayer it cannot but do great things Lastly As Jesus Christ presents the prayers of believers to the Father and prayeth in them or helps them to pray by the blessed and holy Spirit sent down according to his gracious promise into their hearts so he himself prayeth for them when they are not actually praying for themselves For saith the Apostle Heb. 7.25 He ever liveth to make intercession for them The best believers do not always make supplications for themselves but Christ is always making as well as he ever lives to make intercession for them The Apostle speaking of Christs intercession useth the word in the present tense or time which denoteth a continued act Rom. 8.34 Who is even at the right hand of God who also maketh intercession for us The sacrifice of Christ though but once offered is an everlasting sacrifice and this other part of his priestly-office his intercession is everlasting as being often yea always or everlastingly offered The way or manner of Christs making everlasting intercession for us is a great secret it may suffice us to know and believe that he doth it Now it is chiefly from this everlasting intercession of Christ that both the persons of the elect partake of the benefits of his sacrifice and that their prayers are answered for the obtaining of any good as also for the removal of any evil as here Jobs was for the turning of his captivity Thus I have given a brief accompt of this inference that if prayer prevails to turn the captivity of others then much more our own Prayer hath had a great hand in all the good turns that ever the Lord made for his Church And when the Lord shall fully turn the captivity of Sion his Church he will pour out a mighty spirit of prayer upon all the sons of Sion The Prophet fore-shewed the return of the captivity of the Jews out of Babilon Jerem. 29.10 After seventy years be accomplished at Babilon I will visit you and perform my good word towards you in causing you to return to this place for I know the thoughts that I think towards you saith the Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end But what should the frame of their hearts be at that day the 12th verse tells us And ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken These words may bear a two-fold sense First The sense of a command Then shall ye call upon me and then shall ye go and pray That is your duty in that day Secondly I conceive they may also bear the sense of a promise then shall your hearts be inlarged then I will pour out a spirit of prayer upon you And ye shall go and pray unto me and I will hearken We may conclude the approach of mercy when we discern the spirits of men up in and warm at this duty Many enquire about the time when the captivity of Sion shall fully end we may find an answer to that question best by the inlargement of our own hearts in prayer David speaking of that said Psal 102.17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute the meanest and lowest shrubs in grace as the word there used imports and not despise that is he will highly esteem and therefore answer their prayer How much more the prayer of the tall cedars in grace or of the strong wrestlers when they call upon him and cry unto him with all their might day and night The Lord turned the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends Nor was it a bare turn As Job did not offer a lean sacrifice to God in prayer but the strength of his soul went out in it so the Lord in giving him an answer did not give him a lean or slight return but as it followeth Also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before The Hebrew is The Lord added to Job to the double Some translate too barely The Lord made an accession or an addition but that doth not reach the sense intended For a little more than he had before had been an addition to what he had before but double is more than a little or the common notion of an addition the Lord gave him twice as much or double to that great estate which he had before This doubling of his estate may be taken two ways First Strictly as four is twice two and eight twice four See the wild conceits of the Jewish Rabbins about the doubling of Jobs estate in Mercer upon the place In that strict sence it may be taken here as to his personal estate but as to persons it will not hold the number of his children was the same as before If we compare this chapter with the first chapter ver 3. we find his estate doubled in strict sence Whereas Job had then seven thousand sheep now saith this chapter ver 12. he had fourteen thousand sheep and whereas before he had three thousand camels now he had six thousand camels and whereas before he had five hundred yoke of oxen now he had a thousand yoke of oxen and lastly whereas before he had five hundred she asses now he had a thousand she asses Here was double in the letter In duplum i. e. in plurimum Quam plurimum numerus finitus pro infinito
is said ver 7. How much she hath glorified her self and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her Now as no man can tell nor imagine how much she hath glorified her self nor how deliciously she hath lived so no man can tell how much torment and sorrow she shall have Yea we read not only of a double and quadruble but of a seven-fold reward of wrath for evil men Psal 79.12 Render unto our neighbours seven-fold into their bosome And surely that Scripture means bad neighbours Now as the Lord doth plentifully reward the proud and evil doers in a way of wrath so he will plentifully reward well-doers and well-sufferers whether under his own hand or the hand of man in ways of mercy And if so then First Fear not to lose by God and that in a two-fold respect First When he cometh to borrow of you for the poor He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord Prov. 19.17 Every time we are asked to give to the poor upon due occasion God sends to borrow of us and he will surely repay what he hath borrowed therefore fear not to lose by God when he borrows of you for the poor Secondly Fear not to lose by God when he takes all from you and makes you poor Sometimes God doth not come a borrowing but he cometh a taking he will have all whether you will or no He will sometimes take all away by fire by losses at sea or land in these and such like cases fear not âo be losers by God But First Trust him as Job did Secondly Be patient as Job was They that have an interest in God and a portion in the promise need not fear they shall lose a thread or a shoe-latchet by God though his providence takes all away and strips them as it did Job naked What God takes from his servants he keeps for them and will restore to them either in the same kind with much more as he did to Job at last or in some other kind which is much better as he did to Job at first While Job was deprived of his all worldly good things God gave him much patience at first so that when all was lost and gone he could say Naked came I out of my mothers womb and naked shall I return thither The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken blessed be the name of the Lord. While this frame of heart lasted it was better than all that he had lost and though through the extremity of his pains and temptations it was somewhat abated and his patience somewhat ruffled yet it was never wholly lost and when it was worst with him his faith failed not which was best of all Now what the Apostle spake concerning those troubles which befel the Israelites in the wilderness They happened for examples 1 Cor. 10.11 So all these troubles and takings away happened to Job as our example or which the Greek word signifieth as a type that we should be patient under the Lords hand in taking and remember for the encouragement of our faith the Lords bounty in restoring For this end the Apostle James calleth us to consider this dealing of God with Job Jam. 5.11 Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord. What is that to us may some say that Job was patient Yes all the matter is to us it was written for our example and admonition and saith the Apostle ye have not only heard of the patience of Job but have seen the end of the Lord. Here is an exercise of those two noble senses Hearing and Seeing mentioned and doubtless for great purposes both But why doth he adde ye have seen the end of the Lord Some interpret these words as a second instance the Apostle mentioning Job in the former words and Christ in these Ye have seen the end of the Lord that is how it was with Christ in his sufferings The Lord Jesus Christ was well rewarded for all that he suffered God highly exalted him Phil. 2.7 because he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross 'T is a truth if we take those latter words of the verse Ye have seen the end of the Lord for the issue of Christs sufferings But I rather conceive that the whole verse relateth unto Job and so the end of the Lord in the latter part is the end which the Lord made with Job As if the Apostle James had said Hath it not been set before your eyes what end the Lord made with him or how he gave him double in the end Be not afraid to lose by God either borrowing or taking for he is a bountiful rewarder Secondly As we should not be afraid to lose by God when he comes either to borrow a part or as the case was with Job to take all from us so let us not be afraid to lose for God which was toucht before together with the former Inference upon the 11th verse of the 41 Chapter We have no ground in the world of fear when all that we have in the world is taken from us for Gods sake that is for righteousness sake seeing God who here restored to Job double all that himself had taken from him hath also promised to give his faithful servants double for all that is taken from them upon his account by men or which they lose for him That 's the meaning of the Prophet Isa 61.7 For your shame ye shall have double that is ye having suffered shame or been put to shame for Gods sake or for doing that which is honourable and commendable in it self shall receive double What double As by shame we are to understand any evil suffered so by double any good promised as a reward for suffering that evil especially such good as stands in direct opposition to that evil As if it had been said ye shall have double honour for shame and double riches for poverty and double health for sickness and and double liberty for imprisonment and captivity 'T is much to have double reparation of any loss yet this doubling is a poor matter to what is promised in another place to those who lose for God We have Christs word with an asseveration for it Mat. 19.28 29. Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel And every one that hath forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name sake here are great sufferings but behold a greater reward followeth not like Jobs twofold but an hundred-fold so saith that Text shall receive an hundred-fold and which is ten-thousand-fold more than that shall inherit everlasting life Be not afraid to lose for God Job had double who lost by God and so may you but if ye lose
in sickness as well as in health in disgrace with men as well as when most honoured and cryed up by them when naked as well as when cloathed as well in rags as in the richest array Hence that confident conclusion vers 38. I am perswaded that neither death nor life c. shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And if so then we see where our true interest lyeth Let us make sure of Christ he will never leave us all earthly friends may Friends are a great mercy but they are not a sure mercy Again Consider Jobs friends who came not at him when in that afflicted condition yet as soon as ever God turned his captivity and made him prosper in the world then they would own him then they came Hence note Thirdly Such as are no friends in adversity will readily shew themselves friendly in prosperity That they came then is an intimation if not a proof that they came not before but then they came What Christ spake in another case I may apply by way of allusion to this Where the carcase is thither will the Eagles be gathered together When Job was up his friends appear'd All are ready to worship the rising Sun When the face of things and times change with us then the faces of friends change towards us then they have other respects and countenances for us this spirit of the world hath been anciently observed Si fueris foelix multos numerabis amicos Tempora si fuerintnubila solus eris even by Heathens If you be happy or restored to happiness you shall number many friends though you had none before Such friends are like those birds that visit our coasts in Summer when 't is warm weather when every thing flourisheth and is green then some birds visit us who all the Winter when 't is cold frost and snow leave us Faâther it may be conceived that several of Jobs friends left him not only upon the occasion of his poverty and want but upon the supposition of his hypocrisie and wickedness many of them might have the same opinion of him which those three had who particularly dealt with him that surely he was a bad man because the Lord brought so much evil upon him Now when the Lord restored Job they had another a better opinion of him the Lord also giving a visible testimony of his accepting Job Hence note Fourthly God will one time or other vindicate the integrity of his faithful servants and set them right in the opinion of others God suffered Jobs integrity to lie under a cloud of supposed hypocrisie but at last the Lord restored him to his credit as well as to his estate and made his unkind and not only suspicious but censorious friends acknowledge that he was upright and faithful The Lord promiseth Psalm 37.6 to bring forth the righteousness of his servants as the light and their judgement as the noon-day that is a right judgement in others concerning them as well as the rightness of their judgement in what they have done and been or his own most righteous judgement in favour of them They who had a wrong judgement and took a false measure of Job measuring him by the outward dispensations of God and judging of his heart by his state and of his spirit by the face of his affairs these were at last otherwise perswaded of him 'T is as the way so the sin and folly of many to judge upon appearance upon the appearance of Gods outward dealings they conclude men good or bad as their outward condition is good or bad and therefore the Lord to redeem the credit of his faithful servants that lye under such misapprehensions sends prosperity and manifests his gracious acceptance of them that men of that perverse opinion may be convinced and delivered out of their error Note Fifthly The Lords favouring us or turning the light of his countenance towards us can soon cause men to favour us and shine upon us See what a change the Lord made at that time both in the state of things and in the hearts of men when the Lord outwardly forsook Job friends forsook him children mockt him acquaintance despised him his very servants slighted him yet no sooner did the Lord return in the manifestations of his favour but they all returne desiring to ingratiate themselves with him and strive who shall engage him most God can quickly give us new friends or restore the old Expleââ contumelias honoribus detrimenta muneribus execrationes precibus The hearts of all men are in the hand of the Lord who turns them from us or to us as he pleaseth When God manifests his favour he can command our favour with men Though that which is a real motive of the Lords favour to his people their holiness and holy walkings gets them many enemies and they are hated for it by many yet the Lord discovering or owning the graces of his servants by signal favours often gets them credit and sets them right in the opinion of men Thus it was with Job all his friends returned to him upon the Lords high respect to him in turning his captivity Again in that Jobs friends came to him Cui dominus favet ei omnia favent Observe Sixthly It is the duty of friends to be friendly to come to and visit one another It is a duty to do so in both the seasons or in all the changes of our life It is a duty to do so in times of prosperity when God shines upon our Tabernacle When any receive extraordinary mercies it is the duty of friends to shew them extraordinary courtesies and to bless God for them and with them When Elizabeths neighbours and cousins heard how the Lord had shewed great mercy upon her they rejoyced with her Luke 1.58 It is a duty to rejoyce with those that rejoyce and to come to them that we may rejoyce with them It is a duty also to visit those that mourn and to mourn with them Friendly visits are a duty in all the seasons of our lives Once more Then came all his brethren c. It was late e're they came but they came Hence Note It is better to perform a duty late than not at all They had a long time even all the time of his long affliction neglected or at least slackned this duty of visiting Job yet they did not reason thus with themselves It is in vain to visit him now or our visiting him now may be thought but a flattering with him or a fawning upon him No though they had neglected him before they would not add new to their old incivilities We say of repentance which is a coming to God Late repentance is seldom true yet true repentance is never too late None should think it too late to come to God though they have long neglected him nor should sinners who have long neglected God be discouraged Though
received Sixthly There are gifts of incouragement to those that are industrious and deserve well which we may call remunerative gifts These are as oil to the wheel of ingenuous spirits in a good work it is lawful at any time and sometimes necessary to bestow such gifts Seventhly There are gifts of bribery which pervert justice and put out the eyes of Judges They are not the rewards of industry but the wages of unrighteousness such as Balack would have given Balaam he offered him great gifts I will promote thee to honour But what was it for even to hire him to curse the people of God Let all take heed of giving or taking gifts to pervert justice or to encourage any in the doing of any wickedness or unworthiness these are corruptive gifts Further Whereas they gave not only a piece of money or a lamb but every one an ear-ring of gold which we may consider not only as to the matter as it was gold but as to the form as it was an ear-ring or an artificial piece of gold that an ornamental piece of gold they might have given gold and probably they did in the pieces of money which they gave him but they gave him ear-rings also in which the fashion or use is most considerable and the workmanship more worth than the mettal Hence Note It is lawful to wear ornaments Not only may we wear that which serves for a covering to the body but that which is for the adorning of it An ear-ring is an ornament As all are to wear cloths to hide their shame and nakedness so some may wear robes to shew their state and greatness Job received ear-rings he did not cast them by as vain things When Abraham sent his servant to take a wife for his Son Isaac he stored him with cabinets of precious jewels to bestow upon her Gen. 24. and when he found Rebeccah at the well and found who she was he took a golden ear-ring of half a shekel weight and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold and gave them to Rebeccah And afterwards when her parents had given consent to the marriage then ver 53. The servant brought forth jewels of silver and jewels of gold and raiment and gave them to Rebeccah c. Abraham would not send such things to a Wife for his Son had they been vain in their own nature or sinful in their use Yet take the point with these cautions We may wear ornaments but First We must not be proud of them Secondly We must not set our affections upon them Thirdly We must beware of an affectation in wearing them Fourthly We must take heed of wastfulness we may not lavish out an estate upon ornaments nor make our selves poor to make our selves fine I grant some Scriptures speak negatively in appearance as to the use and wearing of jewels and ornaments 1 Tim. 2.9 In like manner also let women adorn themselves in modest aparel in shame fastness and sobriety not with broidened hair or gold or pearl or castly array This Scripture seems to cross the point directly and so doth that other 1 Pet. 3.3 Whose adorning speaking of women let it not be that outward adorning of plating the hair and of wearing of gold and of putting on of aparel but let it be the hidden man of the heart How then can good women wear these ornaments I answer These Scriptures do not absolutely forbid the wearing of ornaments but only as to those exceptions before given to wear them in pride or to set our affections upon them or to affect them or to wear them wastfully beyond our purse and place such wearing of ornaments is indeed unlawful Again it is not sinful to have or use ornaments but to make them our ornaments that is sinful our adorning must be the hidden man of the heart that must be grace That this is the Apostles mind is clear because he saith their adorning must not be the putting on of apparrel as well as not the plating of the hair and wearing of gold Therefore the negation is not absolute but comparative let not them count these their ornaments but grace or the hidden man of the heart As the Lord saith I will have mercy and not sacrifice that is mercy rather than sacrifice so I will have the hidden man of the heart not costly jewels and apparel your ornament that is I esteem the one much rather than the other and so ought you to esteem both your selves and others accordingly Take this caution further Times of affliction and suffering are very unseasonable to wear ear-rings of gold and ornaments When there is any great appearance of the displeasure of God against a people then how unsutable are all our pleasant things The Lord said to the people of Israel Put off your ornaments that I may know what to do with you Exod. 32. When we live in such a time in humbling days or are called to humbling duties we should be very watchful about these things and rather appear in raggs than robeâ with dust upon our heads rather than with ornaments upon our backs Thus far of the first part of Jobs restauration the return of his friends and the significations of their friendliness towards him eating bread with him bemoaning him comforting him and presenting him with gifts of honour if not of enrichment pieces of money and earings of gold Yet all their civilities and bounties reached but a little way if at all towards that restauration which the Lord intended him the doubling of his whole estate which he soon received in full measure heaped up pressed down and running over as will appear in opening the two next verses and those which follow to the end of the chapter JOB Chap. 42. Vers 12 13. 12. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning For he had fourteen thousand Sheep six thousand Camels and a thousand yoak of Oxen and a thousand She-Asses 13. He had also seven sons and three Daughters IN these two verses we have the second and the third part of Jobs restauration His friends were restored to him in the former verse his further restauration is set down in these two verses First generally at the beginning of the 12th verse So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning Secondly Particularly and First With respect to his Cattle of outward estate for he had saith the Text Fourteen thousand sheep and six thousand Camels c. Secondly With respect to his issue or children vers 13. He had also seven Sons and three daughters Vers 12. So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning In these words we may take notice of four things First the means or as I may call it the procuring cause of Jobs increase or of his growing and flowing prosperity it was a blessing Secondly We have here the Author or Fountain of this blessing it was the Lord. Thirdly
We have the Subject of this blessing as here exprest and that was the latter end of Job or Job in his latter end Fourthly We have the quantity or greatness of this blessing which is exprest comparatively it was more than his beginning The Lord blessed his beginning but his latter end was more blessed I shall consider the two first together the cause of his flowing prosperity a blessing and the Author or fountain of it the Lord the Lord blessed There is a twofold way of blessing First a wishing or desiring of a blessing We are not thus to understand it here as if the Lord did only wish a blessing upon Job Secondly There is a commanding of a blessing and so we are to understand it here The Lord blessed that is the Lord commanded a blessing or effectually poured out a blessing upon Job The word blessed The Lord blessed hath two things in it First It implyeth plenty and abundance a copious and a large provision of good things For as the word abundare in Latine and to abound in English Sicut abundare ab undis Latinè dicunt ita videri possunt Hebraei ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quasi affluentiam denominare à fonte aut piscina quam appellant Berecah comes say Grammarians ab unda from water because waters abound and flow so this Hebrew word Beracah which signifieth a blessing comes from or at least is near in sound to the word Berecah which signifieth a Fish-pond where there is a great confluence of waters and a great multiplication of fishes or a Fountain from whence waters flow continually So that to bless notes the bringing in of abundance or of a great increase like the waters of a Fish-pond or Fish in the waters To increase as Fish is to increase abundantly It is said of the Children of Israel They multiplyed like fish that 's the significancy of the word used Exod. 1.12 while they were under the oppression of the Egyptians Secondly This Expression The Lord blessed Dei benedicere idem est quod benefacere Beatum non facit hominem nisi qui fecit hominem August Epist 52 ad Macedon imports a powerful effect following it The Lord blessed the latter end of Job that is he made his latter end very blessed As the Lords saying is doing as his word is operative and will work so the Lords blessing or well-saying is well-doing his saying is doing whether for good or hurt Man blesseth man by wishing or praying for a blessing upon him or that God would do him good Man blesseth God when he praiseth him for his goodness and for the good which he hath done either to himself or others But when God blesseth man he doth more than wish he makes him blessed Man blesseth man ministerially God blesseth man effectually as he also did the seventh day Gen. 2.3 And therefore the Lord is said to command the blessing Levit. 25.21 especially in Sion even life for evermore Psal 133.5 Nor was it less than a command by which The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning Hence Note The good word or blessing of God is enough to procure the good of man Every word of God hath its effect he speaks no vain words his Word going out of the mouths of his Ministers returns not to him void but accomplisheth that which he pleaseth and prospers in the thing whereunto he sends it Isa 55.11 that is either for the conviction or conversion of those that hear it Surely then the word of blessing going out of his own mouth shall not return to him void or without effect David spake thus of or to God Psal 145.16 Thou openest thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing When the Lord opens his hand he also opens his heart and when his heart and hand open his mouth opens too that is he gives forth a word of blessing and he gives it forth to satisfaction Thou satisfiest every living thing And again Psal 104.28 Thou openest thine hand they are filled with good They that is whatsoever lives upon the earth or in the Sea wait upon thee as it is said vers 27. that thou maist give them their meat in due season that thou givest them they gather thou openest thy hand they are filled with good The hand of God is full of good and his blessing fills all with good out of his hand This may comfort the godly in their lowest condition What was it that raised Job from poverty to riches from weaknes to strength from the dunghil to the throne Only this The Lord blessed him Though all be lost his word of blessing will restore all again If estate be lost his blessing will make us rich if health be lost his blessing will make us well if strength be lost his blessing will renew it if credit be lost his blessing will repair it and get us honour for disgrace or reproach The blessing of the Lord is every good thing to us and doth every good thing for us As it is dreadful to stand under the droppings of a curse to be cursed is every evil so happy are they who stand under the sweet influences of a promise to be blessed is every good And if God blesseth us the matter is not much who curseth or wisheth ill to us The curse causeless shall not come nor can any curse come where God hath blessed But some may enquire who are they that the Lord will bless To be blessed is not every mans portion A man may be rich yet not blessed great yet not blessed healthful yet not blessed A man may have many blessings for the matter yet not be blessed This then is a material question Who are they that may expect a blessing from God upon their souls upon their bodies upon their estates upon their families upon their all I answer First In general They that are in a state of grace they that are in the Covenant or as the Apostle calls them Heb 6.17 Heirs of promise These are the blessed of the Lord and these both great and small the Lord will bless Eph. 1.3 Blessed be God who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Being in Christ we are in Covenant and being there we cannot miss being blessed with all spiritual blessings and with whatever is a needful blessing in outward things to He that blesseth in the greater will not with-hold his blessing in the less according to our need Secondly As they are the general subjects of the blessing who are in the Covenant of grace or in Christ so are they more specially who act graciously and walk as they have received Christ for a person that is in a state of grace may hinder the blessing from flowing down upon his soul upon his body upon his estate upon any thing upon every thing he hath and doth by acting sinfully and walking unevenly David put the question Psal 24.3 Who shall
the Lord if we have a blessing from him and he bless us we cannot be deceived we can never miss of comfort if he bless us But whence is it then that some look so much after creature-helps not minding the blessing of God Doubtless it slows or springs from one of these three bad fountains or bitter roots First From ignorance they know not what the blessing of God means for as Christ told the woman of Samaria Acts 4.10 If thou knewest the gift of God thou wouldst have asked c. So did they know what it is to be blessed of God they would ask it above all things It proceeds Secondly From a spirit of profaneness in many they despise God in their hearts and think it below them to call for his help or blessing Of such David speaks Psal 14.6 Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor because the Lord is his refuge or because 't is all one in effect he lives upon the blessing of God you are ashamed of this this is poor counsel think you as it is the counsel of the poor this trusting in God this making God our refuge this living upon the blessing of God is a pitiful life say you The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God God is not in all his thoughts or not at all in his thoughts to seek unto him and depend wholly upon him Psal 10.4 As Ezra was ashamed to require of the King a band of soldiers and horsemen to help them against the enemy in the way because he had spoken unto the King saying the hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him c. Ezra 8.22 So prophane persons are ashamed to ask help of God and his blessing at any time but then especially when they have bands of soldiers and horsemen to help them as will appear further in the next thing For Thirdly This mindlessness and regardlessness of the blessing of God proceeds in some from confidence in an arm of flesh either their own or others The Prophet reproved the Jews for this in the day of their trouble Isa 22.8 9 10 11. And he that is God discovered the covering of Judah that is what Judah covered himself with or thought himself safely sheltered by from all danger what was that the next words tell us thou didst look in that day to the armour of the house of the Forrest ye have seen also the breaches of the City of David that they are many ye have fortified the wall c. but ye have not looked to the maker thereof neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago The meaning of all is this ye relyed upon and put confidence in your own strength but looked not after nor sought unto me for my blessing ye thought ye should do well enough if your magazines were well stored and your City well fortified and therefore neglected me The same Prophet Chap. 31.1 shews the same reason why they neglected God why they looked not to the holy One of Israel nor sought the Lord it was because they went down to Egypt for help and stayed on horses and trusted in charets because they were many and in horsemen because they were very strong We cannot trust in God and creatures too If God alone be not trusted to he is not at all trusted and they who put their trust in any creature withdraw it from God and make that creature their God They cannot so much as mind much less seek a blessing from the true God who chuse to themselves another God Again seeing the Lords blessing is effectual then whatever our successes and increases are let us ascribe all to his blessing Do not sacrifice to your own nets nor burn incense to your own drags but say this hath God wrought the blessing of the Lord hath brought it to pass As the Apostle spake about spirituals 1 Cor. 3.6 I have planted Apollo watered but God gave the increase so 't is in temporals all our encreasings are of God Therefore let us say with the Psalmist Not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name be the praise Do not thank your wit for riches nor your industry for increase nor your strength for victory not any humane help for any of your attainments The race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding c. Ecrl. 9.11 All is of God it is his blessing upon the means which makes the means successful But some may say are all men to ascribe all their successes and increases to the blessing of God I answer Negatively All encreases and outward successes are not to be ascribed unto nor fathered upon God A man may encrease in riches and double his estate as Jobs was yet not by the blessing of God Only that comes by a blessing from God which is got in Gods way or by good means according to the characters before hinted of the persons whom the Lord will bless for they who either make a profession of dishonesty or are dishonest in their profession let them take heed of pinning their successes upon God and of thanking him for them Many say in their hearts and some are not ashamed to say it with their mouths Honest dealers must die beggars They never came by riches in the way of a blessing who say honesty is the way to poverty much less they whose consciences know and tell them though others know it not and so cannot tell them that they have enriched themselves by the wrong or raised themselves by the ruin of others Job was enriched and raised high and the Text assures us what enriched him what raised him The Lord blessed The latter end of Job more than his beginning We have seen the Author of this blessing These words shew the subject of this blessing The latter end of Job ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Prae initio ejus or Job in his latter end together with the quantity and abundance of this blessing More than his beginning The Lord blessed The latter end of Job That is Job in the latter part of his life and he blessed it more than his beginning that is than the former part of his life God blessed and greatly blessed the former part of Jobs life for he was the greatest man of all men in the East but now Job shall be greater than Job he shall be greater than himself His affliction razed down his house and all he had to the very foundation but when God would hold the plummet in his hand and rebuild him to what an amazing height did his house arise The Lord blessed his latter end more than his beginning The words are plain and need no comment From them we may observe First The latter part of a good mans life is the best part of his life It is often so I do not say it is alwayes so in
Can I said he to David who invited him to a Court-life Can I any more tast what I eat or drink c. That 's a blessed old age when we live long and enjoy comfort with our lives chiefly when we enjoy the comforts and act the duties of a spiritual life Thirdly Consider Job was afflicted but a few months we are sure not many years but God gave him an hundred and forty years of prosperity in this world after his affliction Hence note God sometimes doth and alwayes can recompence our short sufferings with long comfortable enjoyments even in this life Joseph for his thirteen or fourteen years slavery and imprisonment in Egypt had fourscore years liberty and high advancement there And though the Lord doth nor alwayes nor often make such compensations in this world yet he will compensate all the sufferings of his faithful servants with longer not only comfortable but glorious enjoyments yea with an eternal enjoyment of glory in the world to come 2 Cor. 4.17 Fourthly Note The Lord can make our old age our extream old age even a youth to us or as comfortable to us as our youth He can give health and strength to the very last he can give a spring in the winter of our age Thus it was with Job he did not only live long but flourished in the health of his body as much as in the plenty of his estate The Lord can forbid diseases he can forbid the Gout the Stone or any other pain to touch the person of an old man if he pleaseth Some are even afraid to be old because of the infirmities of old age but God who continues life can prevent or preserve us from the natural as well as the providencial evils of it Solomon Eccl. 12.1 calleth old age the evil day and the years wherein there is no pleasure and he useth it as an argument to move those who are young to remember their Creator yet God is able to make old age a good day to us and to lengthen out our pleasures those pleasures that are sutable to old age as long as he is pleased to lengthen out our lives so that the comforts and contentments of our lives shall run parallel with the length of our lives to the end of our lives Thus Job lived he lived comfortably he lived healthfully the Lord preventing the decays or usual dilapidations of his house of clay as will appear further in the next words After this Job lived an hundred and forty years And saw his sons and his sons sons even four generations That is Job lived to be a great great Grandfather he saw his sons Quartam generationem intelligo inclusivè ita ut intelligatur vidisse etiam abnepotes hi enim sunt in quarto gradu à progenitore scil Abavo Pisc and his Grand-children and his great Grand-children and his great great Grand-children four generations Joseph Gen. 50.23 lived to see but the third generation he was only a great Grand-father Many among us live to be great Grand-fathers and great Grand-mothers but to be a great great Grand-father that is to see the fourth generation is very rare This is recorded of Job not only to set forth the greatness of his age but also to shew the greatness of his blessing and the exceeding greatness of the mercy and goodness of God to him in multiplying his Family he saw a numerous issue to take comfort in all that latter part of his life He saw saith the Text his sons and his sons sons even four generations The learned in that Language take notice Verbo videndi pucundissimus filioram ac nopotum conspectus significatur that the Hebrew word rendred saw implieth delight and doubtless Job had a most delightful sight of his sons and his sons sons It is no where said that Job saw his sheep or his oxen or any of his riches to take delight in them but Job saw his sons and his sons sons this sight was thousand times more pleasing to him than the sight of his fourteen thousand sheep or of his thousand yoak of oxen Hence note To have and enjoy a numerous family is greatly contentful to man and a great blessing of God Job received a great blessing when he had sons and daughters of his own as many as before but when he saw his sons and his sons sons even to the fourth generation that was the crown of all his outward blessings Eliphaz fore-spake this of him upon supposition of his repentance and profiting under the correcting hand of God Chap. 5.25 Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great and thy off-spring as the grass of the earth The children of all men or all the children of men are as grass for fadingness Isa 40.6 But when Eliphaz said Thy off-spring shall be as the grass of the earth his meaning was they shall flourish as the grass and they shall be many very many as the grass of the earth David Psal 127.3 4 5 speaks of this great blessing the multiplying of the seed of the righteous as their great contentment Lo children are the heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward As arrows in the hand of a mighty man so are children of the youth happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them that is he hath a great outward happiness Many children may contribute to our happiness many wayes though some have had many unhappinesses in one The next Psalm insists upon the same mercy under other metaphors Thy Wife shall be as the fruitful Vine by the sides of thy house thy children like Olive-plants round about thy Table Lo thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. And vers 6. Yea thou shalt see thy childrens children and peace upon Israel It is a great affliction a grief of eyes yea a breaking of the heart to behold bad children but how sweet a sight is it to behold good and obedient children and them many There are two conditions very grievous to see our children in First to see them in misery Rachel Jer. 31.15 Mat. 2. mourned for her children and would not be comforted because they were not she saw them murdered before her eyes Such a sight had Zedekiah Jer. 50.10 the King of Babilon brought his children and slew them before his eyes he made him see that horrid spectacle and then put out his eyes vers 11. Secondly to see children sin and going on in a course of sin that is a greater a far greater affliction than the former It is said Gen. 26.34 When Esau was forty years old he took to wife Judeth the daughter of Berith the Hittite which was a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebecca To see their son match among the prophane and uncircumcised both in heart and flesh was a cut a wound a deep wound in their spirits Again Chap. 27. ult Rebecca said to Isaac I am weary of my life because of the daughters
faint Note When God intends and purposeth to humble his people most he would not have them despair in the least When God layes them in the dust he would not have them sink in despair but be of good cheer God loves to see his people humbled but he doth not love to see them dejected As God would have us sensible so comfortable Comfort ye comfort ye my people said the Lord Isa 40.1 when he saw they were ready to sink he commanded comfort to be spoken to them He gives Cordials and Restoratives when he is speaking out of a whirlwind and therefore he said to Job Gird up thy loyns like a man But however the Lord is either counselling or comforting Job in these words he checks and reproves him in the next Verse 8. Wilt thou also disanul my Judgement wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be righteous These are words of reproof and a very great reproof they are Here the Lord begins to chide and expostulate with Job Wilt thou 'T is a quick kind of speech Irritum facere est simplex verbum contrarium verbo confirmandi aut natum firmumque aliquid faciendi such Questions have much spirit and life in them How now Job Wilt thou disanul my Judgement But what is meant by disanulling what by the Judgement that God saith Job was about to disanul To disanul is to make void to frustrate to break a thing so as it shall not stand in any stead or be of any force it is applied to the breaking of an Oath to the breaking of a Covenant and to the disappointment of counsels and purposes Read Num. 30.14 15. 1 Kings 15.19 Jer. 35.20 Psal 33.10 11. Isa 8.10 Thus saith the Lord Wilt thou disanul or make void my Judgement ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ne repellas judicium meum Sept. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Numquid repelles judicium meum Symach The Septuagint render it as a Negative Command Do not thou repel or resist my Judgement An ancient Greek Translator renders it as we by way of Question What wilt thou repel or oppose my Judgement The word is applied to great sinnings Ezra 9.13 And after all this that is come upon us c. seeing our God hath given us such deliverance as this should we again break thy Commandements c. But did Ezra think that after that they should no more break the Commandements Taking a breach of the Commandements barely for sinning he could not expresse it so therefore by breaking the Commandements he means disanulling the Commandements What is that 'T is so to break the Commandements as if we would rescind and repeal them There is such a kind of sinning as if men would not onely sin against the Law but sin the Law away or out of doors as if men would sin the Bible out of the world that 's the meaning of the word there If we shall again break thy Commandements for it followeth and joyn in affinity with the people of these abominations 'T is not breaking the Commandements by any sin but to sin so as if we would make them all void and reverse the statutes of heaven Thus the word is used by David Psal 119.126 An etiam mutabis judicium meum Targ. which doth much clear the sense of this Text Lord it is time for thee to work Why for they have made void thy law 'T is the same word here in Job They have disanulled thy law 'T is high time for God to awake to bestir himself and look to men when they come to this height of sinning to make void and disanul his Law by setting up their own lusts Some would even enact their own lusts and throw down the Law of God That 's the significancy of the word here used saith God to Job Wilt thou disanul my Judgement Wilt thou make it void or break the course of it Wilt thou change it and put or introduce somewhat of thine own in the room and place of it as some glosse the words Wilt thou disanul My judgement Judgement I conceive in this place is taken for that course of administration which God uses in the World whether with particular persons or with Nations As if the Lord had said Thinkest thou thy self not only able to comprehend the reason of all my administrations towards thy self or others but wilt thou also presume to subject them to thy will and wisdom as if thou couldst administer them with more equality and righteousness or to better purpose than I have done The course or way of Gods dispensation is Gods Judgement and 't is called his Judgement First Because it proceeds upon the highest reason upon the clearest acting of Judgement and understanding and in that sense 't is alwayes Judgement For God is a God of Judgement Isa 30.18 That is of the highest reason and understanding in all matters that he doth Secondly 'T is called Judgement because oftentimes these administrations are as a sentence pronounced and given out by God whether against particular persons or Kingdomes and so have Judgement in them that is wrath and punishment Judgement is often put for punishment In this sense we are to understand it here Wilt thou disanul my Judgement particularly with thy self I have taken this course with thee I have brought all these afflictions upon thee I have broken thy estate I have broken thy body I have broken thy spirit this is the course I have taken with thee wilt thou disanul this course that I have taken with thee surely thou shouldest not I know thou canst not So then the Lord expostulates thus with Job as if he would have crossed all his proceedings and dealings with him or would have rescinded as it were the sentence and decree of God concerning him Wouldest thou have me to change either the matter manner or measure of thy chastnings No my will not thine shall be the rule of them Wilt thou disanul my Judgement Now from this sense of the words Note First It is impossible to reverse rescind or disanul the Judgement of God The Lord speaks to Job as attempting a thing beyond himself or beyond his power What saith the Lord wilt thou disanul my judgement surely thou wilt not venture at that thou wilt not offer that 't is more than thou or any man can do The Lords judgement or the way which he will take with any man no man can supersede or stop no man can hinder him in it What the Lord determines what he gives forth it shall stand Balaam could say Numb 23.20 The Lord hath blessed and I cannot reverse it The judgement of the Lord at that time towards Israel was a Judgement or Sentence of favour and mercy therefore saith Balaam The Lord hath blessed and I cannot reverse it And if the Lord gives out a Sentence of affliction or commands a crosse upon any man who shall reverse it Psal 33.10 The Counsel of the Lord shall stand and the thoughts of
his heart to all generations They shall stand who then shall make them fall The Sentences or Judgements of men are often disanulled by men and they may alwayes be disanulled by God Lam. 3.38 Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass when the Lord hath not commanded The Lord can disanul all the Judgements of men of the wisest men in the world but none can disanul the Lords Judgements and make them void There are but two wayes by which the Judgement that is the Sentence or the resolution and purpose of a man is disanulled First By the power of the party against whom the Judgement is given Sometimes there is a Sentence given against a man which comes to naught 't is made void why there 's no power can execute it upon him David spake much in that language Ye sons of Serviah are too hard for me Secondly Sometimes the Judgements of men are disanulled by a superiour Authority one Court recalls or takes off the Judgement of another But neither of these wayes can the Judgement of God be disanulled If God give out a Sentence against a person his power how powerful soever he is shall never hinder the execution of it though he be as it 's spoken in Amos as high as the Cedar and as strong as the Oak yet he shall not hinder the Judgement of God And as there is no man hath power of arm or of arms to hinder the Judgement of God so there is no Authority superiour to or above Gods There 's no Court above the Court of Heaven to which appeal may be made to get Gods Sentence disanulled or his Judgement reversed therefore the Judgement of God cannot be disanulled And seeing the Judgements of God as taken for the Sentence which he hath declared against sinners such as that Rom. 2.9 Tribulation and anguish upon every soul that doth evil c. cannot be disanulled what cause have we to blesse God for Christ who hath endured that Judgement in his own person which could not be disanulled nor made void and hath also as the Apostle speaks Col. 2.14 blotted out the hand-writing of ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Crosse Yet Observe Secondly The Judgements of God are by him accounted as disanulled or made void by us when we do not submit to them nor humble our selves as we ought under them This was Jobs Case Why doth God aske him whether he would disanul his Judgement surely because he had made many complaints as hath been shewed in this Book about the dealings of God with him The Lord interpreted this as a disanulling of his Judgement If we are not satisfied with the Judgement of God though it be a Judgement of anger and displeasure towards us we as much as in us lies disanul the Judgement of God Let us often remember this The way of Gods proceeding with us his way of administration towards us is his Judgement now if it be a way of affliction if he speak terribly to us let us take heed of complaining lest we be found disanulling his Judgement We may come under the compasse of this Charge before we are aware As for instance If we shall say we could bear any Judgement but this any affliction but this this is to disanul the Judgement of God Let us say whatever the affliction is it is best for us and God hath most righteously brought it upon us Again If we shall say we could be patient even under this Judgement of God for the matter of it but when we consider the degree of it that it goes so far and wounds so deep who can bear it Thus Job complained Chap. 6.2 Oh that my grief were throughly weighed and my calamity laid in the ballances together for now it would be heavier than the sand of the Sea therefore my words are swallowed up It was not so much the matter of his affliction as the degree or weight or extremity of it which put him to those grievous complaints Now if we are not patient and quiet under that very degree of the Judgement which God is pleased to heighten it unto this is a disanulling of his Judgement therefore let us take heed of complainings upon that account Yet further Others will say If this Crosse had been for a short time we could have born it but it hath been long upon us already and we know not how long it may continue we can see no end of it Take heed of these complainings for this also is to disanul the Judgement of God if we find fault with the length of the Crosse Though we may cry with the souls under the Altar How long Lord how long yet we must not say it is too long Lastly There is this also at which many are much troubled and so even disanul the Judgement of God for say they if it were but in some one thing that we were afflicted we could bear it but we are afflicted in body and afflicted in mind and afflicted in our children and afflicted in our estate we are afflicted in our credit and in all our comforts if it had been in some one thing we could have sat down quietly under it but now it 's affliction all over Take heed for this also is to disanul the Judgement of God And if any of these be to disanul the Judgement of God how soon may we do it And if they are not as to either free from this charge who shew some impatience and trouble of spirit under the severer dealings of God what shall we say of those who openly murmur and even rage against them Thirdly Wilt thou disanul my Judgement Note God takes it as a high affront and a dishonour when his Judgement is touched or when his Judgement is not quietly submitted to Wilt thou saith he What! disanul my Judgement The Apostle saith Let God be true and every man a liar Let the Judgement of God stand though we fall Fourthly Consider what a huge boldnesse it is in a creature to do or say any thing which may be interpreted a disanulling of the Judgement of God Fifthly Consider how sinful a thing it is for any to go about to crosse the administration of God Somewhat we may do in all the judgements or sad dispensations of God we may pray about them and we may in an humble submission expostulate with God about them but we must take heed of an unquiet spirit under them or of any risings of heart against them Pray we may about them earnestly instantly and importunately and the more the better yet still quietly submit and the more quietly we submit to them the more fit we are to pray to and wrestle with him about them that he in his own good time and in his own way would remove them from us Wilt thou disanul my Judgement Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be righteous These words may be taken
petitioner to the Lord for instruction having confessed his own ignorance and weakness And that he had formerly profited under the teachings of God and was now in a further way of profiting is evident by that which followeth Vers 5. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee Job had no sooner asked for teaching but God taught him though not formally and explicitely as he desired yet really and effectually as he needed For this verse seems to be a real answer to the petition he made in the former verse and in it Job asserts two things First That he had heard of God by the hearing of the ear Secondly That now his eye did see him There are two opinions about the general sense of this verse and I shall conclude in a third First Some conceive these discoveries of God to Job were only inward to his soul so that when he saith I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee we are not to understand him as if he had had any visible appearance of God but that these words may be taken First as a comparison between a slight hearing when the mind is not intent upon what the ear heareth and a serious hearing which brings the mind fully into the ear As if Job had formerly been a careless hearer but now an attentive one and so the knowledge which Job had of God formerly was little compared with his present knowledge He had a knowledge of God by hearing only before but his mind was not intent upon it he heard only with the hearing of his ear but his eye did not see that is he had not a clear sight or knowledge which is an intellectual sight of the things which he heard But doubtless Job was no slight hearer of the word in former times he did not hear the word in the dayes of his prosperity as if he had only as we say given it the hearing for had he not seriously hearkned to the voice of God in those dayes he had never obtained such a testimony as God gave of him towards the end of those dayes yea this very phrase I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear implyeth serious and attentive hearing Secondly Others who deny any visible manifestation of God to Job grant that the first part of the verse notes serious hearing and receiving of the word the latter more so that here say they is a comparison between that lesser light or knowledge which Job had of the will of God before and that fuller light which he got upon this discourse which the Lord had with him the former being but as of a matter heard this as of things seen The Scripture sometimes calls clear knowledge sight So that look how much that which we see with our bodily eyes is clearer to us than that whereof we have only heard the report by so much the knowledge which Job had now of the things of God especially about the whole mystery of Gods dealing with him was clearer and fuller than what he had before even as if he now saw what before he only heard As we say One eye-witness is better than ten ear-witnesses so one eying of the word of God the eye of the mind fully and distinctly taken in what is heard is better than ten earings of it that is when little or nothing is taken in at the ear but a sound of words For then only we may be said to know divine things by the seeing of the eye when we know them not only from without by the report of others but from experience within our selves The Apostle saith of those who took joyfully the spoyling of their goods for the truths sake They knew in themselves that they had in heaven a better and a more enduring substance Heb. 10.34 that is they had even got a sight of that heavenly enduring substance Hence in Scripture vision is applied to spiritual things heard and we are said to see the Word of God Jer. 2.31 O generation see ye the Word of the Lord have I been a wilderness c. As if the Lord had said Ye have heard it before but now see it Seeing notes the highest knowledge then we see what we hear when we fully understand what we have heard Thus they expound this Text who judge there was no outward vision at all but that Jobs seeing was only spiritual and intellectual Secondly Others affirm that Job had an outward apparition and that the eye of his sense was affected And concerning this First Some are so much of this opinion that they say Christ appeared in humane shape to Job as he did to many of the holy Patriarks and Prophets of old which apparitions are by the Ancients called preludes to his incarnation And some Jewish Writers tell us that Job upon this sight of God had a spirit of prophesie given him but they need not insist upon that for several have had apparitions who were no Prophets Secondly others say the appearance of God to Job was only in or by a cloud with the whirlwind But that he had a vision or sight of God one way or other is asserted as by many of the Jewish Writers so by most of the Christian Ancients And doubtless when the Lord spake to him out of the whirlwind he had a vision or an extraordinary manifestation of God even to his eye Not that God in himself can be seen No man hath seen God at any time 1 John 4.12 It is reported by the Jewish Writers that the Prophet Isaiah was sawn asunder by his own Nation for saying that he had seen the Lord Isa 6.1 I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up This they counted blasphemy and put him to death for it say some yet others say he was put to death for his plainness in reproving the Princes and people of Israel in those words Isa 1.10 Hear the word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodom give ear to the Law of our God ye people of Gomorrah But of that by the way I say God in himself cannot be seen he is seen only by those visible demonstrations of his presence which he is pleased to make of himself as here he spake to Job out of the whirlwind I conceive we may take in both so that when Job speaketh of his hearing by the ear he intends that teaching which he had in former times by the Ministry of his Ancestors And that when he saith But now mine eye seeth thee he intends that teaching which he had from the present appearance of God to him for his instruction and humiliation I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee As if he had said Lord heretofore I heard of thee for I was religiously brought up I had Parents and Ancestors who declared to me who the Lord was and I heard many things of thee which
took impression upon my heart heretofore but I never had such an impression as in this tempest I never heard God speaking thus immediately to me nor did he ever give me any such visible demonstration of his presence as he hath vouchsafed me at this time speaking out of the whirlwind And from all we may conclude that as Job had a powerful illumination of the Spirit so an outward apparition of the Glory and Majesty of God or of Gods glorious Majesty to convince and humble him So that though Job had a saving knowledge of God formerly yet this discourse of God with him and discovery of God to him had made him a better Scholar than all his earthly teachers I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear But now mine eye seeth thee That is now I have as clear a sight or knowledge of thy mind and will of thy justice and goodness of thy power and soveraignty as if I had seen thee with mine eyes and had seen or looked into thy heart Or thus Not only hast thou graciously instructed me by speaking so much to me but thou hast manifested thy self present with me by an aspectable sign Mine eye hath seen thee that is thou hast given me to see that which assures me thou art neer unto me namely the Cloud out of which thou hast been pleased to speak and make known thy mind to me who am but dust and ashes The Lord may be seen these four wayes First In his Word Secondly In his works Thirdly In outward apparitions Fourthly And above all God is seen in his Son our Lord Jesus Christ whom the Apostle calls Heb. 1.3 The brightness of his glory and the express image of his person and in whose face the light of the knowledge of God shineth 2 Cor. 4.6 And hence Christ saith John 14.9 He that hath seen me hath seen the father The invisible father is seen in his Son who was made visible in our flesh John 1.18 Thus God may be seen But in his nature God is altogether invisible he cannot be seen Moses saw him that is invisible Heb. 11.27 that is he saw him by an eye of faith who is invisible to the eye of sense I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye seeth thee Hence note First It is a great mercy and much to be acknowledged that we have the word of God sounding in our ears Faith cometh by hearing Rom. 10.17 The Prophet saith Isa 55.3 Hear and your soul shall live Now if faith and life come by hearing to have the word of God sounding in our ears must needs be a great mercy Though to have the word only sounding in our ear will do no man good yet 't is good to hear that joyful sound Though that sad Prophesie mentioned by Christ Mat. 13.14 be fulfilled in many By hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive Yet he said to his faithful followers vers 16. Blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they hear They receive a blessing by hearing whose ears are blessed when they hear O how many souls are blessing God that ever they heard of himself and his Son our Lord Jesus Christ by the hearing of the ear To have an ear to hear is a common blessing but to have an hearing ear or to hear by the hearing of the ear is a special blessing Observe Secondly We should hear the Word very diligently That phrase I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear as the Hebrew Writers note signifieth a very attentive hearing Every hearing is not an hearing with the ear nor every seeing like that we intend when a man saith I saw it with my eyes One may see and not see hear and not hear The Word of God is to be heard with a hearing Such doublings in Scripture have a great emphasis in them As when the Lord saith They are cursed with a curse it notes a great and a certain curse is coming so to hear by the hearing of the ear implyeth fruitful hearing and a laying up of that in the mind which hath been heard Psal 44.1 We have heard with our ears O God our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their dayes in the times of old They who thus hear with their ears treasure up in their hearts and do with their hands what they have heard The Lord charged Ezekiel Chap. 44.5 Son of man mark well and behold with thine eyes and hear with thine ears all that I say unto thee that is mind diligently what I shew and say unto thee The Lord called for the exercise of both senses in attending to what he spake to the Prophet He did not only say Hear with thine ears but see with thine eyes that is hear as if thou didst even see that which thou hearest For though possibly the Lord presented somewhat to the eye of the Prophet as well as he spake to his ear yet the former notion may well be taken in yea and intended in that command Many hear as if they had no ears and see as if they had no eyes One of the Ancients taking notice of that saith Such kind of hearers are like Malchus in the Gospel who had his ear cut off From those words But now mine eye seeth thee taken distinctly Observe Thirdly God revealeth himself more clearly and fully at one time than at another Seeing is somewhat more than hearing though it be attentive hearing As the full and clear manifestation which we shall have of God in the next life is expressed by seeing and called vision so the fullest and clearest apprehension which we have of God and the things of God in this life is a degree of seeing both him and them 't is the sight of faith and may also be called vision A true and strong believer tasts and feels and sees the truths of the Gospel which he hath heard his faith which is the eye of his soul is the evidence of those things to him which are not seen nor can be seen by an eye of sense He by the help of the Holy Ghost looks stedfastly into heaven and with this eye seeth the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God in his measure as blessed Stephen did Acts 7.55 This sight of God and spirituals hath three things in it beyond that ordinary though real knowledge which comes in by the hearing of the ear First a surpassing clearness Secondly an undoubted certainty Thirdly a ravishing sweetness and the overflowings of consolation Fourthly Note According to the measure of Gods revealing himself to us such is the measure of our profiting in the knowledge of God The word is spoken to all in the publick Ministry of it it is scattered upon all but they only learn to know God themselves truly to whom God doth inwardly reveal it whose hearts he toucheth and openeth by