evill purposes God himself must come to withdraw and fetch him off or otherwise he will be driving them on The heart of man naturally hath no other purposes but evill purposes and upon them it is set as I may say to purpose that is he will effect and bring them about if he can When Moses reproved Aaron concerning the golden Calfe which he had made at the instance and violent importunity of the people Aaron answered for himself Exod. 32.23 Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot thou knowest the people that they are set on mischiefe they are bent to it they have such a mind to it that there 's no turning them from it they will hear no reason nor take any denyall when the fit is on them There is a setting of the heart of man continually upon evill the wind blowes that way and no other way the wind sits alwayes in that bad corner till God turneth it There are two gracious acts of God spoken of in Scripture which doe exceedingly shew forth the sinfullnesse of man every act of grace doth in its measure aggravate the sinfullnesse of man and alwayes the higher grace acteth the more is the sinfullnesse of man discovered especially I say in this twofold act of grace The former whereof consists in drawing the latter in withdrawing there is a gracious act of God in drawing the sinfull sons and daughters of men to that which is good Man is drawne First into a state of grace or goodnesse by this he is made good He is drawn Secondly to acts of grace or goodnesse by this he doth good Of the former Christ speaks Joh. 6.44 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him that is no man can beleeve for by faith we come to Christ except he receive power from on high God draweth the soul to Christ and that 's a powerfull act of divine drawing though not a compulsory act and as God must draw man into a state of grace which is our union with Christ by the Spirit in beleeving so he draweth him to the acting of his graces Of this latter the Church speaketh to Christ Cant. 1.4 Draw me and I will run after thee These gracious drawings shew that we are not only utterly unable but averse to the receiving grace and so becoming good while we are in a state of nature as also that we are very backward to doe that which is good even when we are in a state of grace Now as God acts very graciously in drawing man to good so Secondly in withdrawing him from evill from those evill purposes and evill practices to which all men are so easily yet so strongly carried The Prophet Jer. 2. 23 24. elegantly describes the exceeding forwardnesse of that people to evill while he compareth them to the swift Dromodary traversing her wayes and to the wild Asse in the Wildernesse that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure or the desire of her heart in her occasion who can turn her away As the wild Asse set upon her pleasure in her occasion when she hath a mind to it will not be turn'd away such is the heart of man That other Prophet Isa 5.18 telleth us of those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with a cart rope that is they set themselves with all their might to doe mischief When men are thus vainly bent upon vanity 't is a mighty work of God to withdraw them from their work When what men are purposed to doe they are fastened to it as with cords and cart-ropes what but the power of the great God can withdraw them from it Whence note Secondly Vnlesse God did withdraw and fetch us off from sin we should run on in it continually When man is in an evill way he hath no mind to returne till God turneth him let come on 't what will he will venture 'T is only through grace that the heart either abstains or returns from evill David saith Psal 18.23 I have kept my self from mine iniquity David kept himself from his iniquity yet he was not his own keeper It was by the power of God that he kept himself from that sin to which he was most prone even from that sin to which his own corruptions and the Devills temptations were alwayes drawing him David had some speciall iniquity to which his heart was inclined more then any other and from that he kept himself being himself kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation Of our selves we can neither keep our selves from doing iniquity nor leave off doing that iniquity which we have once done How can man withhold himself from sin while sin hath so great a hold of him yea the Mastery over him Thirdly Note God is graciously pleased both to withdraw man from doing evill and to draw him to repentance when he hath done evill Between these two the grace of God is daily working in and towards man and it worketh for the effecting of both many wayes First by his word and that in a fourfold consideration First by the word of his command he every where in Scripture forbids man to doe any evill and bids him repent of every evill which he doth Secondly by the word of his threatnings they are as thunderbolts to deterre him Thirdly by the word of his promises they are divine alluremenrs sweetly yet effectually to entice him Fourthly by the word of his perswasions they are full of taking arguments to convince and win him Secondly God withdrawes man from sin and drawes him to repentance when he hath sinned by his works First by his works of Judgment they break him to these duties Secondly by his works of mercy they melt him into these duties Thirdly God withdraws man from sin and drawes him to repentance by his patience and long-suffering Rom. 2.4 Despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth them to repentance As if the Apostle had said O man if thou knowest not the meaning of Gods patience towards thee and that this is the meaning of it thou knowest nothing of the mind and meaning of God towards thee Fourthly The Lord withdraweth man from evill purposes by seasonable counsells David was going on in a very bad purpose 1 Sam. 25. and God stirred up Abigail to meete him and by good counsell to withdraw him from his purpose This David acknowledged vers 32 33. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me As if he had said I was fully purposed to revenge my self upon Naball and had not surely left a man of his house alive by the morning light if thou hadst not met me therefore blessed be God who hath sent thee and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou which hast kept me this day from coming to shed bloud and hast by thy good counsell withdrawne me from that evill
out to use ill words to Magistrates though as Paul's case was we are ill used by them Shimei taking the advantage of David's affliction rose up to this height of impudence against him mentioned with indignation by Elihu in the Text he openly and to his face called him Belial 2 Sam. 16.5.7 Come out thou bloody man and thou man of Belial But we know what the issue was he paid dear for it at last though David forgave him at present and did not suffer Abishai to take a sudden revenge yet upon his death-bed he delivered him over to his son Solomon to deal with him as he should see good And so great is the offensiveness and unfitness of speaking thus unto a King that the Jewes joyned it with blasphemy against God himself We read 1 Kings 21.13 how two false Witnesses came against Naboth saying Naboth blaspemed God and the King as much as to say we heard Naboth say of the King Belial And as soon as these two had brought in their evidence against him that he had blasphemed God and the King they drew him out and stoned him Blasphemy against God was death by the express letter of the Law Lev. 24.15 16. It was also death by the same Law for any man to curse his Father or his Mother Exod. 21.17 And because the King is Pater Patriae the father of his Country it seems the cursing or blaspheming of him was also punishable by death The Apostle Jude useth an equivalent word in the Greek Ep. of Jude v. 8. reproving a wicked Sect in those times They fear not to blaspheme or speak evil of Dignities There is blasphemy against Princes who are titular Gods as well as against the only true God Kings are to be feared to be submitted to they are to be prayed for therefore not to be reviled Is it fit to say unto a King Belial Yet this doth not stop the mouths of all men from telling Kings and Princes their faults nor doth it justifie a silent dissembling of them much less doth it open the mouthes of any to dawb Kings and Princes with the untempered morter of flatteries Kings are no more to be flattered then they are to be reproached Dignities must not be spoken evil of yet they may be prudently and humbly told of their evils and informed of their failings plainly When Eliah met Ahab who said Art thou he that troubleth Israel Eliah answered 1 Kings 18.18 I have not troubled Israel but thou and thy fathers house in that ye have forsaken the Commandments of the Lord and thou hast followed Baal And we read how boldly Elisha carried it to the King of Israel 2 Kings 3.13 14. What have I to do with thee Get thee to the Prophets of thy father and to the Prophets of thy mother And Elisha said as the Lord of Hosts liveth before whom I stand Surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the King of Judah I would not look toward thee nor see thee Thus the Prophets dealt with much gracious severity towards mighty Princes The Prophet Isaiah feared not to say Isa 1.10 Hear the word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodome Give ear unto the Law of our God ye people of Gomorrah implying that the Rulers of Jerusalem were then but such as the Rulers of Sodome once were and that the people were no better then the people of Gomorrah and it is conceived that for this plainness and liberty of speech which the Prophet Isaiah used toward the Princes and Rulers of Judah he was put to death being cut or mangled asunder with a wooden Sawe One might think that Ezekiel did much forget himself when he gave those opprobrious terms to Zedekiah King of Judah Ezek. 21.25 And thou prophane wicked Prince of Israel whose day is come when iniquity shall have an end yet he sinned not in this harsh reproof of his sin because commanded of God to do it and specially directed by the holy Spirit The Prophets might not diminish a word but must give out what God gave in John the Baptist reproved Herod for Herodias his brother Philips wife and for all the evils which he had done Luke 3.19 And Jesus Christ himself called Herod Fox Luke 13.32 The Prophets were often Instructed and Commissioned to prophesie against the mountains that is against the Princes and Powers of the world and therefore take the state of the point and of our duty about it in these few conclusions that we may not run upon the rocks either way neither upon the rock of blasphemy against Kings and Princes on the one side nor upon the rock of flattery on the other First The Power or State of Princes must never be reviled nor evill spoken of kingly Power and Authority is alwayes to be reverenced and honoured though the Prince be wicked yet his Power is to be reverenced and that 's the purest reverence Regia per se dignitas nunquam non est colenda etiam cum princeps iniquus est For to reverence the power of Princes only because or when they are good and do us good and rule every way according to our mind this is but a piece of selfishness but when Princes are evill and bring evills upon us yet to bear respect to the Power and Authority which they Exercise this is to honour God and to give true submission to his ordinance Whatsoever the person is the power must be reverentially submitted to Secondly It is high wickednesse to speak evill of the persons of just and righteous Princes that every man will acknowledge Thirdly Kings and Princes must not be reproved for personall or private faults publickly To doe so is against the rule in any mans case much more in the case of Kings and Princes Fourthly Kings are not to be reproved for any of their faults but by those who have a Call to it that was the reason of the liberty which the old Prophets used towards Kings they were specially commanded and Commissioned by God for it and the peril was upon their own heads if they did it not it is not for every one to reprove Princes but for those that are called to it Lastly Even those that are called to it must doe it with much submission though they must not doe it to halves and deceitfully yet they are to doe it respectfully It is not fit to say to a King Belial such rough and unhewne language is not for Princes their faults must only be insinuated if that may serve as Nathan dealt with David who though he knew what his sin was yet he did not say to him Thou murtherer thou Adulterer but intimated the matter by a parable and made him covertly or in a third person charge himselfe before he charged him or applyed the parable personally to him with Thou art the man When Miriam the Sister and Aaron the Brother of Moses spake against him because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married
complained that he could get no counsel 1 Sam. 28.6.15 The Lord answers me no more neither by Vrim nor by Thummim nor by Prophet nor by Dreams as if he had said I cannot get a word of direction from God what to do in this calamitous and intricate condition wherein my self and my Kingdome are plung'd by reason of this Invasion I know not what to do and God will not at all give me any intimation what to do nor how to do what is safest or most conducing to my own safety and preservation The Prophet brings in the Church lamenting this effect of Gods hiding his face Psal 74.9 We see not our tokens there is not any Prophet nor any that can tell how long as if they had said heretofore God was wont to give us signes and tokens he would even work miracles for us or he would send a Prophet to instruct and advise us what to do we had those who could tell us how long that is how long our troubles should last and when we should have our expected end of them but now we are in trouble and no man can tell us how long now we are left to the wide world to shift for our selves as well as we can the Lord will not advise us what to do nor give us his minde what 's best to be done or how to proceed thus deplorable was their condition upon the hiding of Gods face from them Fourthly which is yet worse when the Lord hides his face from a people he doth not only with-hold his counsels but gives them up to their own counsels that is to their own hearts lusts Ps 81.12 Israel would none of me saith God they would not harken to my voice What then So I gave them up to their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own counsels and that was to give them up to a spirit of division to a spirit of discontent to a spirit of envie and jealousie to a spirit of ambition of self-seeking and emulation and so to a spirit of distraction and confusion and so to ruine and destruction such and no better is the issue when God gives a people up to their own counsels then they soon become a very Chaos and run themselves into a ruinous heap As good have no counsel from man as none but man's Fifthly When God hides his face from a Nation he is ready to declare his displeasure and the sorest testimonies of his fierce anger formally against them God looks upon a sinfully sinning people as a burthen upon his heart he is prest and even opprest with them he loaths them his stomack turns at the thought of them Isa 1.24 Ah! I will ease me the Hebrew is I will be comforted or I will comfort my self that is I will unburden my soul and satisfie my self by taking vengeance of my adversaries that is of my people who have rebelled against my command and have been disobedient to my word These the Lord counts no more as his children and friends but as his enemies and numbers them among his adversaries Ah saith he I will ease me of mine adversaries and avenge me of mine enemies I am grieved to do it yet I must do it I am resolved to do it As soon as the Lord had declared that he would receive no intercession for Israel he adds Jer. 15.1.2 Cast them out of my sight let them go forth and it shall come to pass if they say unto thee whither shall we go forth then thou shalt say unto them thus saith the Lord such as are for death to death and such as are for the sword to the sword and such as are for the famine to the famine such as are for captivity to captivity I will cause them to be removed into all Kingdoms of the earth vers 4. and as I will not pity them so none shall vers 5. All these tokens of displeasure fall upon a people when once the Lord hides his face from them Yea then the Lord himself will go forth against them as a fierce Lion Hos 5.14 15. He was to Israel as a moth and as rottenness vers 12. that is a secret consumption he would also be an open destruction to them as a Lion yea as a Leopard by the way would he observe them or lye in wait for them and meet them as a Bear that is bereaved of her whelps and rent the very caul of their heart Hos 13.7 8. The Lord God takes upon him the actings of the most savage beasts in righteousness to shew how much he is provoked when he seeth his people act like beasts in unrighteousness filthiness cruelties sensual pleasures when men behave themselves unlike men God will not meet them as he told Babylon he would not Isa 47.3 as a man that is either in the weakness of a man or in the compassions of a man but he will meet them either as a beast of prey who hath no compassion or as God in the fulness of his power not drawing forth but quite restraining his compassions Yea the spirit of God will strive no more in wayes of mercy with such a people but turning their enemy Isa 63.10 will fight against them He not only forbeareth to assist them against deliver them from their enemies but even assisteth their enemies against them or delivereth them up into their enemies hand Sixthly When God hideth himself from a people he removes their spiritual enjoyments he takes away his holy Ordinances his Worship the light and power of his Gospel or leaves them nothing but the shells and out-side forms of them they shall be fed with husks because they have not improved sweet kernels and wholsome food they shall have long shaddows but little true light or Sun-shine Vision shall cease God will take away his Ministers and be gone and then they are presently over-run with errour and superstition upon one hand or with ignorance and prophaneness on the other Seventhly He will spoil them also in their Civil enjoyments he will take away good Magistrates who are as a staff and a stay as a shield and a shelter to a Nation he will break the stay and staff of Government as he threatned Isa 3.1 2. and then as it followeth vers 5. The childe shall behave himself proudly against the ancient and the base against the honourable he will leave them to the corruption of Justice Judgement shall be turned away backward and justice shall stand afar off and then truth falleth in the streets and equity cannot enter Isa 59.14 and after all this what will he do with them He will either leave them to the worst of National evils total Anarchy or he will give children to be their Princes and babes shall rule over them When God hid his face from the Jewish Nation he broke their Government by taking away ten Tribes out of Rehoboams hand and putting them under Jeroboam and out of his hand they fell into the hand of several other
have performed the commandement of the Lord he was his owne trumpeter and would needs tell the story of his doings himselfe though he had done his businesse to halves Come thou blessed of the Lord I have performed the commandement of the Lord as if it would not serve him to doe his duty unlesse Samuel had seene and taken notice of him Abraham gave proofe of the highest act of faith that ever was in the world yet did Abraham say Come see my faith Moses led the people of Israel forty yeares in the wildernesse through a series of wonderfull tryalls and temptations to the very borders of Canaan which was one of the highest services that ever man undertook and was faithfull in all his house Heb 4.2 yet did he say Come see my fidelity Joshua victoriously expelled the Cananites and divided their land by lot among the tribes of Israel yet did he say Come see my fortitude We heare not a word of any of their doings from those who were sincere When we see men forward to invite the approbation of others by making reports of their good deeds it gives a strong argument of suspicion that they have done what they have done with a bad heart or that as it is sayd of Jehu they have not sought God with all their hearts But some may object Did not Samuel proclaime his own integrity before all the people 1 Sam 12.3 Whose oxe have I taken or whose asse have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith I answer Samuel spake this to upbraid their ingratitude and discontent not to extoll his owne justice yea some conceive that he made this challenge to give Saul a patterne how he ought to governe rather then to commend his owne government I find the Apostle Paul making large reports of his owne both doings and sufferings 2 Cor 11. But if we peruse that Chapter we shall find him hovering in a suspence of doubts and feares whether or no it were convenient or comely for him to doe so How many preambles and Apologyes did he make before he fell directly upon that unpleasing subject Would to God ye could beare with me in my folly saith he and indeed beare with me And againe I speake as it were foolishly in this confidence of boasting And yet all that he spake was not to make a boast of himselfe but to vindicate his Apostleship from unjust and envious calumniations 'T is most certaine He that is sincere desires not to be open but silently satisfieth his soule with the conscience of doing his duty and takes more content in knowing his own integrity then in knowing that others know it Vertue looseth nothing of her value in his esteeme no nor of her lustre in his eye because she is hidden from the eyes of men Like the earth in this poynt he keepes his richest mineralls and most precious gems of grace and goodness below in his bowells or at the center of his heart and will not let them be seene till a kind of necessity diggs them out When Moses after his forty dayes neere accesse to and communion with God in the Mount perceived that his face did shine Exod 34.33 he put a vayle upon it every true Moses whose acquaintance and fiduciall familiarity with God hath stampt upon him the impressions of divine light is so farre from affecting to dazzle the eyes of others with it that he rather puts a vayle of gracious modesty upon it and will not let so much as the light of his good workes be seene but as thereby in which case Christ commands it Math 5.16 He may glorifie his father which is in heaven And herein a Christian followeth the example of Christ in whom though the Godhead dwelt bodily yet he rarely shewed his divine power And when once by a miracle he had made the blind see he also by command made them dumbe concerning that miracle Math 9.30 See that no man know it It was our Saviours counsel to all his followers Mat 6.5 Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth and it was his consolation to them in the next words Your father which seeth in secret himselfe shall reward you openly yea which is a higher consolation then that Himselfe will be your reward Secondly As the designing hypocrite desires to be seene in doing good or to have the good which he hath done seene so he is exceeding censorious and rigid towards those whom he sees falling into evill Christ gives this discovery also Math 7.3 Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brothers eye but considerest not the beame that is in thine owne eye concluding at the 5th verse Thou hypocrite why doth Christ call him hypocrite surely because he was so quick-sighted to see a mote that is a smaller fault in his brothers eye but tooke no notice of the beame that was in his owne eye a spot upon his brothers coate was censured more by him then his owne wallowing in the mire I doe not say that the Patriarke Judah was an hypocrite but as those two other Patriacks so he acted one very grosse part of hypocrisie Gen. 38.24 For he no sooner heard that Tamor was with childe but he censured yea condemn'd her presently to death Bring her forth sayd he and let her be burnt and yet himselfe was more faulty then she How hard a Judge was he of that crime in another which was principally his owne Saul had sinned greatly 1 Sam 13.9 in offering sacrifice before Samuel came which was an usurpation of the Priests office and so great a sin that Samuel told him presently God would therefore rend the Kingdome from him yet he thought to put it off with a slight excuse But in the 14th Chapter when Jonathan only offended against a rash command of his putting a Curse upon that people if any did eate before the going downe of the Sun he sentenced him to death for it In the 8th of John How severe were the Pharisees to the woman taken in Adultery they haled her before Christ and pressed the Law that she should be stoned to death yet when Christ sayd v. 7. He that is without sin among you let him first cast a stone at her they being convicted by their owne conscience went out one by one We ought to reprove and not flatter sin in others yet they who are extreamely severe against a sin in others usually favour either the same or a worse in themselves He that is sincere piâtieth others as much as reproves them and he reproves them though wiâh sharpness yet with meekness at once considering himselfe lest he also be tempted Gal 6.1 and blessing God who hath kept him in or from these temptations Thirdly The designing hypocrite discovers himselfe by laying downe or departing from the profession of religion when his worldly ends are attained Feined zeale cooles or abates is lesse and
run into by any sin committed against man God only is the Creditor All that men can doe is but to forgive the trespasse against themselves so farre as man is wronged he may yea he ought to forgive as Christ teacheth us to pray Math 6.12 Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors All that we can forgive is only the trespass done to our selves and so forbeare personal and private revenge We cannot forgive the offence against God For when Christ saith John 21.20 Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted that remission is but the declaring of a pardon it is not the bestowing of a pardon or it is only a ministerial forgivenesse not an authoritative forgivenesse so to forgive is Gods Royalty He saith I forgive Secondly To God who saith I forgive c. Forgive what forgive whom Here 's neither what nor whom neither things nor persons named God barely saith I forgive Hence observe The pardoning mercy of God is boundlesse and unlimited Here 's no sin named therefore all are included no sinner specified therefore all are intended I forgive I pardon the pardoning mercy of God knows no limits it is not limitted First to any sort of sins or sinners Secondly it is not limited to any degree of sins or sinners let sins or sinners be of what sort they will let sins or sinners be of what degree they will they are within the compasse of Gods pardoning mercy And as this text intimates that the pardoning mercy of God is boundlesse because it expresseth no bounds So other Scriptures tell us expresly that it is boundlesse extending it selfe to all sorts and degrees of sins and sinners Math 12.31 Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven That a sin is great that it is extremely aggravated is no barre at all to the pardoning mercy of God he can as easily pardon great sins as little sins even sins that are as Crimson and scarlet as well as those of the lightest tincture The die or colour of some cloaths or stuffs is so fading that as we say the next wind will blow it off or cause it to dye away but scarlet and crimson in graine never change their colour yet the pardoning grace of God causeth crimson and scarlet sin to change colour and makes them as white as the naturall wool or snow that is takes them quite and cleane away Yea the greatnesse of sin is so far from being a stop to pardon that it is used asan argument to move God to pardon David prayeth Psal 25.11 For thy names sake O Lord pardon mine iniquity why doth he say because it is little or only a small sin a sin committed rashly unadvisedly or but once no he useth none of these excusatory pleas for pardon but saith pardon my sin for it is great Moses was not afraid to speake for pardon upon this ground also Exod 32.31 Lord saith he this people have committed a great sin and have made them gods of gold yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin c. There 's a great deale of divine Rhetorique in that speech Moses was not doubtfull whether God would forgive them their sin because it was great but he urged the Lord to forgive their sin because it was great Where sin aboundeth Grace doth much more abound Rom 5.20 and therefore God is said to pardon abundantly or to multiply to pardon Isa 55.7 and whom doth he promise to pardon there even the man of iniquity so that Scripture hath it Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man or the man of iniquity his thoughts c. If you who have sinned abundantly repent I will pardon abundantly The heart of God in pardoning sin is infinitely larger then the heart of man can be in committing sin and as the least sin needs pardon so the greatest may have it nothing hinders the pardon of sin but the sinners not coming for it or his not asking it The sin against the holy Ghost cannot be forgiven but the reason is because such as commit that sin utterly reject the grace of God and tread the blood of the Covenant under their feet as an unholy thing Thirdly The text speakes in the present tense God saith not I will pardon or possibly I may pardon but sheweth what he both actually doth and what he alwayes doth To God who saith I pardon Hence note God pardoneth presently he pardoneth continually I pardon is a present it is a continued act To pardon is Gods work to day and Gods work to morrow As every soule may say of himselfe Lord I sin not only I have sinned or I shall sin hereafter but I sin so saith God I pardon as men stand alwayes in need of pardon so God stands alwayes prepared to pardon He is Psal 86.5 plenteous in mercy ready to forgive The heart of God is never out of frame for that woâke never indisposed to it David found him so Psal 32.5 I said I will confesse mine iniquity he did not say I have confessed mine iniquity he was not come to a formall Confession onely he had it upon his heart to humble himselfe before God and confesse his sin yet it follows and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin While there was but a holy resolve upon his heart to confesse his sin the pardon of it was given him The holy history of his sin and of Gods mercy assureth us that the word was no sooner out of his mouth 2 Sam 12.13 I have sinned but instantly Nathan said The Lord hath put away thy sin Though God doth not pardon of course yet he is in a continuall course of pardon therefore Moses prayed Numb 14.19 That God would pardon the people according to the greatness of his mercy and as he had forgiven them from Egypt untill then As if he had sayd Lord thou hast been pardoning all along from the very first step we took out of Egypt to this day thou hast exercised abundance of patience long-suffering and mercy in pardoning this people now Lord pardon us as thou hast done from Egypt to this day doe not stop thy acts of Grace The very first act of pardon stands for ever he that is once pardon'd is alwayes pardon'd yet there are dayly renewings of pardon and fresh acts of it every day Fourthly The word render'd to pardon signifies to take away as to beare a burden upon our selves according to the former translation so to beare or lift it off from another Hence Note Pardon is the taking away or the bearing of sin off from us An unpardoned soul hath a burden of sin upon him ready to break his back yea enough to break his heart were he sensible of it the Lord by pardon takes this burden off from him David speaks of his sins under this notion of a burden Psal 38.4 My sins are gone over my head they are a burden too heavie for me to bear Yea sin is a burden too heavie for the strongest Angel in
with God If he will contend with him he cannot answer him one of a thousand Againe ver 20. If I justifie my selfe my mouth shall condemne me If I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse And while he affirmes the generall viciousnesse of nature he must needs imply his owne Chap. 15.14 What is man that he should be cleane and he which is borne of a woman that he should be righteous Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints yea the heavens are not cleane in his sight how much more abominable and filthy is man In this universall conclusion he includeth himselfe therefore Job was far from being righteous in his owne eyes in any proud opinion of his owne righteousnesse or freedome from any staine of sin So much for the opening of those words containing the reason why his friends ceased to answer Because he was righteous in his owne eyes It was the designe of these three men not only to convince Job that he was a sinner but to bring him upon his knees as a notorious sinner And yet all their allegations and arguments could not bring him to it My righteousnesse said he Chapt. 27.6 I hold fast I will not let it goe Now when they saw him thus resolved and stiffe in maintaining the goodnesse of his cause and the integrity of his spirit they quitted the businesse or as the text saith ceased to answer Hence note We cease to doe when we cannot attaine our end in doing Impossibilium nullus est conatus When we see it is in vaine to perswade we give over perswading Despayre of working our end puts an end to our working Industry is at a stand yea withdraweth when impossibilities appeare And though nothing be impossible unto God yet we find God himselfe giving over both speaking and smiting when he seeth he is like to doe no good by eyther Thus he expresseth his purpose Isa 1.5 when he had spent many rods of sore Judgements afflictions upon that people when he had stricken them till from the crowne of the head to the sole of the feete they were nothing but a continued wound and yet they received not correction he presently reasons thus Why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more As if he had said The end why I smote you was to amend you to bring you home to my selfe to cause you to turne back or returne from your evill wayes but I see I have lost my labour and spent not only my rods but my scorpions in vaine upon you therefore I will cease from this kind of work why should ye be stricken any more ye will revolt more and more And when God hath spoken long to a people who regard it not he ceaseth to speak any more but saith Why should ye be taught any more Let the Prophets tongue cleave to the roof of his mouth let him be dumb and silent as the word is Ezek. 3.26 Thou shalt be dumb and shalt not be a reprover why for they are a rebellious house After all thy speaking they continue rebelling therefore speak no more We read the like dreadfull prohibition Hos 4.4 Let no man strive nor reprove another let all wayes of reclaiming this people be laid aside For thy people are as they that strive with the Priest That is they are obdurate and desperately ingaged in wickednesse Hos 4.17 Ephraim is joyned to Idols he cleaveth and sticketh fast to them he will not be pulled from his owne inventions Let him alone Thus God saith to his Prophets and Ministers cease he saith to his Ordinances cease when sinners will not cease to sin and doe wickedly against the Lord. The same unprofitable and incorrigible people are threatned in the same manner by another Prophet Amos 8.9 It shall come to passe in that day saith the Lord God that I will cause the Sun to goe downe at noone And ver 11. I will send a famine in the Land not a famine of bread but of hearing the words of the Lord. God would stop the raining down of heavenly Manna and the people should not heare because they would not Such was the sentence of Christ against the Jewes Math. 23.37 O Jerusalem Jerusalem thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee how often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings but ye would not What follows this refusall read and tremble ver 38. Behold your house is left unto you desolate for I say unto you ye shall not see me henceforth c. As if he had said because ye have been so unteachable therefore ye shall be taught no more It is sad when we give God occasion to give over either speaking to us or afflicting us God will not alwayes strive with the unwillingnesse much lesse with the wilfulnesse of man nor will men be alwayes doing that to men which they see doth them no good So these three men ceased c. Secondly Note hence When men are obstinate and will not be reclaimed it is good to give over Why should they who in any kind are absolutely resolved be further moved Acts 21.14 When Pauls friends saw he would not be perswaded they ceased they had used much perswasion to keepe him from going up to Jerusalem because of the sufferings that were prophesied should befall him there yet when he stood out in an holy obstinacy against them cloathed with a gracious spirit of courage to suffer for Christ When he would not be perswaded they ceased saying the will of the Lord be done As it was the height of Pauls holiness that he would not be perswaded he was obstinate for Gods cause or for the doing of a duty so it is the height of many mens wickednesse that they will not be perswaded they are obstinate against God or against the doing of their duty Such as are infected with the lust of contending will maintaine that opinion pertinaciously which they cannot maintaine truely As some strive for the love of victory rather then of truth so others strive because they love strife even more then victory and had rather contend then conquer because that puts an end to strife In such cases they doe best who doe no more And if Jobs case had been such if he had held up the discourse not for truth but for victory or because he would have the last word like a clamorous Sophister who hath alwayes somewhat to say though nothing to the purpose In that case I say Jobs friends had done wisely in ceasing to answer They indeed did well upon their owne supposition though as to the truth of Jobs condition they failed greatly Job was not a man of that spirit he that persists in holding and defending truth is not obstinate but constant Further as to the ground why they ceased according to their supposition Observe To be righteous in our owne eyes is hatefull both to God and
and obscurely and they give the reason of it because in flattering there is a hiding of what men are and a shewing of what they are not The word signifieth also to give a nicke name or a by-name and so the sence is I will not give secret reflections nor gird at any man upon the by Jobs friends had done so sometimes though they after spake explicitely and directly enough Further the word signifies the giving of any additionall title Thus I finde it used in the Prophet Isa 44.5 One shall say I am the Lords speaking how persons shall flow into the Church and another shall call himselfe by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and sirname himselfe by the name of Israel He shall sirname himselfe that 's the word here used he shall take up that title that illustrious title he shall list or enroll himselfe among the people of God and thinke it his honour and glory to sirname himselfe by the name of Israel The word is so used againe Isa 45.4 For Jacob my servants sake and Israel mine elect I have even called thee by thy name I have sirnamed thee though thou hast not knowne me It is spoken of Cyrus I have given thee a glorious title God did not only name Cyrus but gave him a sirname he called him Cyrus my servant and Cyrus mine anoynted Thus the word signifies to give a title or a sirname now there are sirnames or titles of two sorts First disgracefull and reviling ones justly given to but commonly by vile men Secondly Honorable and advancing ones And these are of two sorts First Such as are true and well deserved many by the great acts which they have done have purchased sirnames Alexander King of Greece for his Warlike valour and successes was called The Great And among The Romans Scipio after his victories over the Carthaginians in Africa was sirnamed Africanus The Romane Histories supply sundry examples of this kind And when in Scripture Paul is called an Apostle Peter an Apostle They well deserved these honorable Titles because as they were meerely of Grace immediately called and sent of God to publish and plant the Gospel all the world over so they laboured aboundantly in it and by their ministery subdued and conquered the world to the faith and obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ Secondly There are also titles and sirnames which are meere pieces of flattery there being no worth in the person that may justly deserve them 'T is not sinfull to give titles but as we translate to give flattering titles unto men We should call men as they are and as they deserve I will call a spade a spade saith Elihu he that is good I will call him good and he that is bad I will call him bad and that which is ill done I will say it is ill done Let me not give flattering titles unto men Hence observe Flattery is iniquity to give flattering titles unto men is to transgresse the Law of God Some will not give true and due Titles to any man The most truly honorable persons and highest Magistrates shall have nothing from them but Thou and Thee Jacob a holy and a plaine man yet called his owne brother My Lord Esau Gen. 32.4 Gen 33.8 Luke The Evangelist called Theophilus Most excellent Luke 1.3 And Paul stiled Festus Most Noble Acts 26.25 Now as they erre upon one extreame who will not give true titles so doe they on the other who give which Elihu here disclaimes flattering titles There is a two-fold flattery First In promises Secondly In praises Some are full of flattery in promises they will tell you of great matters which they will doe for you yet meane no such thing Thus Psal 78.36 The children of Israel dealt with God when in the time of their straights and calamities they promised to doe great and good things they would turne to the Lord and serve him Neverthelesse saith the text they did flatter him with their mouth and they lied unto him with their tongues for their heart was not right with him c. Thus many upon their sick-beds or in a day of trouble what promises will they make How deeply will they engage for duty if God will restore them how holy and zealous and upright will they be they will leave their former ill courses and yet all is but flattery they really intend it not 'T is flattery in promises to God when there is not a purpose in the heart to doe what we say but only to get our ends upon him And we deale no better many times by one another men in streights will promise any thing and when they have gained enlargement performe nothing Secondly There is a flattery in praises and that 's here professed against This flattery in praising hath a double respect First To the actions of men 'T is flattery to call that act good that is nought Multi sunt qui vitia virtutibus vicinis honestare contendunt vitium omne palliant adumbrata nomenclatura è vicino subjectae virtutis Basil in Psal 61. that just that is unrighteous To put titles of vertue upon those things that are vicious to call that which is indeed a covetous act a thrifty one and to call that act which is cruell just at most but strict or severe this is to flatter men in what they doe Secondly There is a flattery of persons as to what they have and are when we speake more of them then is in them when we speake highly of them who are low in all abilities and attainments How grossely doe they give flattering titles who blow up very Ideors with a conceit of their learning who extoll fooles for wisdome and commend the wicked as vertuous yea recommend them as patternes of vertue We should give honour to all men to whom it belongs but we are not to flatter any man for that belongs to no man Rom 13.7 Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custome to whom custome feare to whom feare honour to whom honour There is an honour that belongs to men with respect to their degrees when none belongs to them with respect to their qualities He that is very honorable as to his place may not deserve any honour as to his worth yet he must be honoured as much as his place comes to And as there is an honour due to those that are above us so there is an honour due to those that are our equalls yea to those that are our inferiours and below us The Apostle gives that direction more then once we have it first Rom 12.10 Be kindly affectionate one to another in honour preferring one another The people of God should be so farre from an ambitious affectation of preheminence above others that they should fâeely and really not as many doe complementally give others the preheminence and offer them the upper place or hand The grace of humility doth not
the house of Israel to bud forth and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them and they shall know that I am the Lord That is I will give thee boldnesse and liberty of speech time was when thou didst not dare to âpeake a word for God or of God of his praise name and worship or if thou didst it was but in a Corner or whisperd in secret but the time shall come when I will give thee the opening of the mouth thou shalt speak my truth and praises boldly and the Enemy shall know that I the Lord have procured thee this liberty 'T is a great mercy when God gives his people the opening of the mouth or liberty of speech to speak boldly no man hindring no nor so much as discouraging them The Prophet makes that the character of an evill time when the prudent keep silence Amos 5.13 As in evill or calamitous times it becomes the Godly prudent to be willingly silent adoring the justice of Gods severest dispensations towards them with patience and without murmuring at his hand So in some evill times they are forced to keepe silence though as David spake Psal 39.2 their sorrows be stirred either lest by speaking even nothing but truth and reason they draw further sorrows upon themselves or because they see it but lost labour to speake to a people obstinate and resolved on their way Fourthly This phrase of opening the mouth to speake notes the things spoken to be of very great worth such as have been long concocted and digested and at last ready to be brought forth as out of the treasury of an honest and understanding heart Os aperire est bene discussa et praemeditata habere dicenda Bold The heart is the treasury of words there they are stored up and from thence issued forth as Christ saith Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh As there is a stock of evill words in the hearts of evill men so of good and gracious words in the hearts of Godly men and when they open their mouthes according to this notion it is to bring forth the treasures and riches of their hearts to bring forth the gold and silver and precious things stored up there all these are very usefull interpretations of this phrase and I might give distinct observations from them but it may suffice to have named them I shall only adde that the last is conceived by some to be chiefely intended in the latter branch of this verse My tongue hath spoken in my mouth This seems a strange Expression where should the tongue speak but in the mouth when the tongue is out of the mouth can it speak as the mouth cannot speak without the tongue so the tongue cannot speak out of the mouth why then doth he say My tongue hath spoken in my mouth The Hebrew is In my palate the palate being a part of the mouth and one speciall Instrument of speech Naturalists reckon five The lips the tongue the teeth the palate the throat 't is put for all but there is more in it then so for every man speaks in his mouth Palatum âris coelum est Drus Praemeditata et quasi intelligentiae meae palato praegustata sum prolaturus Bez Bene sapui verba mea antequam illa efferendo tibi aliisque sapienda et gustanda traderem Bold Non sequarverba aliorum sed propries conceptus enunciabo Aquin or by the palate which is the heaven roofe or cieling of the mouth Therefore when Elihu saith My tongue hath spoken in my mouth or in my palate The palate may be considered as the instrument of tasting as well as of speaking We say such a thing is very savory to the palate And we call that Palate wine which is quicke and lively briske and pleasant to the tast Thus when Elihu saith here My tongue hath spoken in my mouth or palate His meaning is I have uttered only that which I have wel considered what my tongue hath spoken to you I have tasted my selfe I have put every word to my palate For as a man that that tasteth wine or any other sapid thing must have it upon his palate before he can make a Judgement whether it be sweet or sharpe quick or flat so faith Elihu my mouth hath spoken in my palate I tasted my words before I spake them Hence note Judicious and wise men will tast and try what they intend to speake before they utter it The speaker presents his words to the tast of the hearer For as this Scripture hath it at the 3d verse of the next Chapter The eare tryeth words as the mouth tasteth meat now he that ventures his words to the tast and censure of others had need take a tast of them before he doth it My tongue hath spoken in my mouth Secondly From the scope of Elihu in adding this namely to gaine attention Note There is great reason we should heare that carefully which the speaker hath prepared with care They who regard not what they speake deserve no regard when they speake but a weighing speaker should have a weighing hearer And what any mans tongue in the sence of Elihu hath spoken in his mouth that we should heare not only with our eare but with our heart This a strong argument to quicken attention yet Elihu gives in another and a stronger in the next verse Vers 3. My words shall be of the uprightnesse of my heart my lips shall utter knowledge clearly In the former verse Elihu called for an open eare because he opened his mouth and was about to speak or had spoken what he had well tasted In this verse he presseth the same duty by professing all manner of Ingenuity and Integrity in what he was about to speake He would speake not only seriously but honestly not only from his understanding but his conscience My words shall be of the uprightnesse of my heart c. The meaning is not that the uprightnesse of his heart should be the subject upon which he would treat though that be a blessed and most usefull subject yet it was not the poynt he intended to discusse but when he saith My words shall be of the uprightnesse of my heart his meaning is my words shall flow from the uprightnesse of my heart I will speake in the uprightnesse of my heart or according to the uprightnesse of my heart my words shall be upright as my heart is the plain truth is this Sincerè et absque ullo suco proferam animi mei sensa Bez I will speak truth plainly I 'le speak as I thinke you may see the Image of my heart upon every word I will speak without dawbing without either simulation or dissimulation Some conceive this to be a secret reproofe of or reflection upon Jobs friends as if Elihu had suspected them to have spoken worse of Job then they could thinke him to be in their hearts But as
he invited them into the City as poore birds into a snare to destroy them presently He was seemingly troubled at their affliction and wept but his were Crocodiles tears he murthered them as soone as he had them in his power Thirdly Some speake against their hearts doctrinally or in the Doctrines which they propound and teach There are three sorts who speak amisse doctrinally First Some speak that which is not right in the uprightnesse of their hearts or I may say they speak that which is false with a true heart that is they think it to be a truth which they utter when 't is an error and will be found so at last When ever we see different opinions stifly maintained among honest and godly men which though it be a very sad sight yet it is too often seene in that case I say one side alwayes speaks that which is false with a true heart and utters error uprightly The truth is some men defend an error with better and more honest hearts then some others defend the truth For Secondly There are such as speak right without any uprightnesse of heart or they speak truth with a false heart this Elihu specially professeth against he would not only speak that which was right but with uprightnesse The Apostle found several teachers of this second sort Phil 1.16 17 18. Some preach Christ that is the Gospel yea the truth of Christ in the Gospel else the Apostle would not have rejoyced in it as he professeth he did at the 18th verse I therein doe rejoyce yea and will rejoyce Yet these men did not preach in the uprightnesse of their own hearts for saith he Some Preach Christ out of envy and strife and some out of good will they preached Christ pure Gospel yet not with pure hearts for he adds they did it supposing to adde affliction to my bonds They preacht to oppose the Apostles more then to set up Christ and though they preached the truth yet they did it more in pretence then in truth as 't is sayd at the 18th verse The same Apostle speakes of others 2 Cor 11.13 14. who preached what was true for the matter and yet he calls them false Apostles deceitfull workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ and no marvell for Satan himselfe is transformed into an Angel of light They formed and shaped themselves into Angels of light and tooke up the doctrine of the faithfull Apostles of Jesus Christ in some things yet they did it not in the uprightnesse of their hearts but that they might weaken the estimation of the true Apostles in the hearts of the people and set up themselves there that so in other things they might with greater efficacy or more effectually mis-lead them or draw them into error Thus some are found speaking lyes in the truth of their hearts and others speaking truth in the falsenesse of their hearts Thirdly Many speak that which is false with a false heart This is the height of wickednesse The Apostle prophesieth of such 1 Tim 4.2 Who shall speake lyes in hypocrisie the matter they speak is a lye and they speak it with a base and false heart too And therefore he saith of these in the same verse Their consciences are seared with a hot iron that is they are insencible both of the mischiefe they doe and of the misery they must suffer Elihu professeth himselfe to be none of all these He spake that which was right and true in the uprightnesse and truth of his heart Such a one the Apostle directs the Gospel Deacon to be 1 Tim 3.9 Holding the mystery of faith in a pure Conscience which is the same with an upright heart And he tells us 1 Thes 2.4 5. That himselfe did not use any guile in the ministration of the Gospel He had truth on his side and he had truth in his heart as he also professed to his Brethren the Jewes Rom 9.1 2. I speak the truth in Christ I lye not my Conscience also bearing me witnesse in the holy Ghost c. And againe 2 Cor 2.17 We are not of those that Corrupt the truth we speak the truth and speak it truly He is a better speaker that speaks with an upright heart then he that speakes with an eloquent tongue He is the happy speaker who speakes more with his heart then with his tongue that can say with Elihu to Job My words shall be of the uprightnesse of my heart Words spoken of that subject and words flowing from that subject are lovely words Of this latter sort saith Elihu to Job My words shall be And my lips shall utter knowledge clearly Job had charged his three friends Chap 13. 4. that they were forgers of lyes Quia tribus amicis Jobus imposherat quod essent fabricatures mendaâij hoc a se exâlâdit dicens sententiam labia mea puram loquentur Aquin ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã purum planum perspicuum a fuco alienum sincerum ab omni scoria doli aut mendacij purgatorem Merc This Elihu engageth against while he saith My lips shall utter knowledge clearly The word here translated Clearly is rendered two wayes First As an Adjective Secondly As an Adverb Many render it as an Adjective My lips shall utter cleare knowledge or distinct knowledge cleare as to the matter pure plaine without any adulteration deceit or guile as to the manner So the word is often used I might give you many Scriptures for it The Prophet speaking in the person of Christ Isa 49.2 saith He hath made me a polished shaft the Hebrew is a pure shaft a glittering shining shaft Jer 5.11 He made bright his arrowes there this word is used It is applyed also to Chiefe men 1 Chron 7.48 These were Choyce men pure men So saith Elihu My lips shall utter cleare shining pure knowledge Hence note We should speak cleare truth Truth without mixture truth well winnowed doctrine well refined The commandement of the Lord is a pure word Psal 19.8 There 's not any dross at all in it 't is like silver tryed seven times in the fire Psal 12.6 The Prophet among other blessings which God promiseth to his Church and people hath this Isa 30.24 The Oxen likewise and the young Asses that eare the ground shall eate cleane Provender free from the straw and chaff dust and darnel But may we not here renew the Apostles question 1 Cor 9.9 10. Doth God take care for oxen or saith he it altogether for our sakes for our sakes no doubt it is written That the mouth of the oxe treading out the corne should not be muzzl'd was written for the Ministers sake to assure them that while they labour in the Gospel to feed souls their bodies should be fed And that the oxen and young asses shall eate cleane provender was written for the peoples sake to assure them that Christ would send them such Ministers as should feed them with pure holy wholesome doctrine not with
And if we look into the first of John ver 2 3. we read thus In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God the same was in the beginning with God all things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made There our maker for the making of all things is attributed to him is the Son the second person in the holy Trinity or the Word who as it followeth in that Chapter was made flesh Why then doth Elihu here ascribe his making to the Spirit And how are these Scriptures reconciled I answer By that received Maxime in Divinity The workes of the holy Trinity towards the creature are undevided So that while this Scripture ascribes the making of man to the Spirit or Third person in the Trinity it doth not at all crosse those which ascribe it to the first or second the Father or the Son The Spirit of God hath made me Hence note First Man as to his bodily making or the making of his body is the workmanship of God As we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good or holy workes Eph 2.10 so we are his workmanship created to common and naturall workes We have heard of that divine consultation or resolution rather Gen 1.26 Let us make man The Father made man and the Son made man and the holy Spirit made man The Father by the Son through the holy Spirit made man What a glorious what a mighty power is put forth for the production of such a poore creature as man is And this is true not only of the first man in his creation but of every man since the creation there is a concurrence of a divine power and workmanship in the setting up of man as man Psal 100.3 It is he that made us and not we our selves God doth not only make us holy men but he makes us men Hence David Psal 13 9-14 I am fearefully and wonderfully made He speaks there of the frame of his body though that be much more true in reference to the admirable frame of the new creature which is set up in the soule so indeed we are fearefully and wonderfully made Isa 27.11 This is a people of no understanding But did God ever make a people without naturall understanding Surely no but they were a people without spirituall understanding they did not understand what the mind and meaning of God was and what their owne duty was Such are a people of no understanding how wise soever they are in their owne eyes or in the eyes of the world what followeth Therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour That is God who made and formed them both in their naturall capacity as men as also in their civill and spirituall capacity as a Church and Nation or as a Nationall Church understanding it of the Jewes will not have mercy on them will not favour them We read the same Church at once looking to God as their maker and most earnestly moving and imploring his pity upon the same account Isa 64.8 9. But now O Lord thou art our father we are the clay and thou our potter and we all are the work of thy hand As if they had sayd Thou O Lord hast moulded us as thy creatures and fashioned us as thy Church when we were but a rude masse or heape without forme or comeliness therefore doe not marre thy owne worke doe not breake the vessels of thine owne making or as it followeth in the same Chapter Be not wroth very sore O Lord neither remember iniquity for ever behold we beseech thee we are all thy people Hence consider First That we owe not only our well-being but our very being unto God And therefore Secondly No man ought to looke upon himselfe as his owne So the Apostle argues 1 Cor 6.19 Know ye not that your body is the temple of the holy Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and ye are not your owne No man is his owne he is Gods who hath made him Saints and believers especially are not their own in that repsect as also because their bodies are the temple of the holy Ghost that is the holy Ghost hath sanctified them for himselfe for his peculiar service and for his habitation Now as the bodyes of Saints are the temple of the holy Ghost because he doth sanctifie them so they are the temple of the holy Ghost because he hath reared them up and built them That consideration should urge us to duty our bodies are temples built as well as temples sanctified by the holy Ghost And therefore we are not our owne at all nor in any respect and if we are not our owne at all but the Lords then we ought to be alwayes for the Lord. Hence Thirdly Hath the Spirit of God made us as Elihu saith then let the Spirit use us how sad is it that when the Spirit of God hath made our bodies and soules we should let the wicked spirit use either as he doth both the bodies and soules of carnall men to his base services The evill spirit did neither make your bodies nor your soules why should he have the command of either Therefore as your members have been weapons of unrighteousnesse to sin so let them be instruments of righteousnesse unto God Seeing the holy Spirit hath made us let not the evill spirit use so much as a little finger of us for he hath not made not only so much as a little finger of our hand but so much as the least haire of our heads as Christ saith we our selves cannot Math 5.36 white or blacke And therefore let not the evill spirit make use of one haire of our heads white or black as a flagge of pride and vanity or to be an occasion of sin to others He that maketh the house ought to have the possession and service of it either to dwell in it himselfe or to receive rent and profit from him that dwells in it The spirit having made us should not only have the rent and revenue but the full possession of us for ever That which is of God should be for God for him alwayes and only for him Secondly In that the making of man is attributed to the Spirit Observe The Spirit of God is God The holy Ghost is not only a power of God or a word gone out from God but the holy Ghost is God This is cleare from the efficiency of the holy Spirit The Spirit of God hath made me The work of creation is attributable to none but God That power which at first set up man in his creation continueth him to this day this power and great prerogative is given to the Spirit therefore the Spirit is God Psal 33.6 By the word of the Lord his substantiall Word or Son were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath or
truth there be nothing They had which may be a fifth step of this wickednesse a secret hope that he would halt and give them occasion of insulting Peradventure say they he will be inticed peradventure we shall catch him in this snare this was their hope and if attained their joy Which makes a 6th step of this wickednesse For so David describes his enemies Psal 38.16 17. They rejoyce when my foot slippeth for I am ready to halt or as we put in the margin for halting There is a double halting a halting by transgression and a halting by affliction that I conceive David chiefly spake of in that place because he presently adds in the close of the 17th verse And my sorrow is continually before me He shewes his enemies possessed with the same evill spirit and in the same posture Psal 35.15 In mine adversity or in my halting they rejoyced The same word is used in this Psalme for adversity which we had in the 38th for halting This is as true of evill men as halting is taken in the other notion for sinning The wicked are as if not more ready to rejoyce at falls or halts by sinning as at falls or halts by suffering In both these cases as David found in this 35th Psalme v. 15. the very abjects will teare the best of men as they did David and not cease But what doe they teare their flesh if they can but to be sure and so 't is meant there their good names and reputation by slanders and accusations O how contrary is this practice and that joy to the spirit of the Gospel The Apostle tells us the Grace of charity utterly abhorres it 1 Cor 13.6 Charity rejoyceth not in iniquity It neither rejoyceth in doing iniquity it selfe nor to charge others with iniquity Seventhly which is the highest step Some rather then faile will forme and frame occasions against others they will forge or fancy them in their own braine and then accuse their brethren as if they had been acting what themselves have been imagining Such the Apostle Peter speaks of 1 Pet 3.16 where admonishing Saints to much strictnesse and exactnesse in walking he gives this account why they should doe so That whereas they speak evill of you as evill doers they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ They who have not so much as a shadow of truth will make something out of a lie they will falsely accuse and strongly impeach knowing that if they doe so some of the dirt at least will disfigure the faces and stick upon the skirts of those who are impeached Thus I have given seven degrees of this wickedness every one of which plainly discover and all put together mightily aggravate the sinfullness of this sin the seeking of occasions against any man whosoever much more against any good man And therefore which was the second poynt proposed for the clearing of this truth you see how great a matter of charge was brought by Elihu against Job when he saith Job hath sayd He that is God seeketh occasions against me Hence note Secondly To charge the Lord with a willingnesse to breake with us either upon no occasion or to seeke an occasion that he may is exceeding sinfull and dishonourable to his Majesty neere to Blasphemy How sinfull is it that we who give the Lord so many occasions against us that he needs not seek any should yet say he seeketh occasions against us The people of Israel as it appeares intimated at least that God had broken with them or sought occasion to doe it this word is used in that text Numb 14.34 while the Lord to shew how ill he resented such thoughts and jealousies of him tells them According to the number of the dayes in which ye searched the Land even forty dayes each day for a yeare shall ye beare your iniquities even forty yeares and ye shall know my breach of promise or as read in the margin my Altering of my purpose As if he had said Ye shall know whether I have sought occasion against you Cognoscetis confractionem meam si dici possit latinè irritationem non a verbo irrito sed ab adjectivo irritus q.d. videbitis ut ego omnia aââa vestra per hos quadraginta annos irrita faciam conatus ac instituto impediam Merc whether I have frustrated your hopes and endeavours these forty yeares in the wilderness or no ye shall know whether I have done any thing to breake and entangle you or whether all this hath nor proceeded from your owne frowardness and unbeliefe The Lord who searched their hearts and saw the utmost scope of their complaints found this evill thought lying at the bottome of all that he surely had put them upon all those difficulties or brought them into those straites on purpose to breake with them And therefore he saith Ye shall know my breach of promise Ye shall see one day or at last whether I have kept covenant and stood to my engagement or you whether I have sought an occasion against you or you have given me occasion to deale with you as I have done So that when the Lord sayd Ye shall know my breach of promise his meaning was ye shall know that I have kept my promise to you exactly or to a tittle and that ye only have been the promise-breakers 'T is infinitely below the nature of God to seeke occasions against the creature And 't is strange that the Jewes had any the remotest suspition of him as doing so after they had heard of those glorious stiles and titles in which he proclaimed his name Exod 34.6 The Lord the Lord God gracious and mercifull slow to anger abundant in goodnesse and in truth pardoning iniquity transgression and sin What can be speld out of this name that should yeild the least shaddow of a jealousie that the Lord would seeke occasions against them A good Prince desires to finde many good subjects who deserve to be rewarded but it troubles him to finde any who deserve to be punished or whom he is necessitated to punish Now what is the goodnesse of the most benigne and gracious Princes in the world to the graciousnesse and benignity of God! Againe his precious promises evidence the unworthinesse of such a surmise all which are full of mercy and goodnesse and patience and pardon and tendernesse to poore sinners so farre is the Lord from seeking occasions to charge any one with what is not that he seekes all the wayes and occasions he can to doe good and to extend compassion to those who have done amisse He even labours to deliver poore soules from their dangers and from their sins How farre is he then from desiring to find them tripping and sinning or from urging sin hardly harshly or causlesly upon them yea all the experiences of Saints bring in witness against this blasphemous apprehension They will tell us from what they have found and felt that when
they have given the Lord occasion to destroy them when they have put a sword into his hand to smite them when by their unbeliefe and pride and neglect of knowne duties they have layd themselves open to ruine and destruction even then he hath held his hand and spared them Is it not then a great a grosse sin to charge the Lord that he seekes occasions against us Yea indeed as was touched before the Lord needs not seek occasion against any man for as much as the best of men give him too much occasion and too often He needs not stand to spy advantages against us we lay our selves too open and naked to him continually As in Fenceing when two that are very expert at that art are engaged there is watching for an occasion or advantage to get the mastery but if an expert Master of Defence be to deale with an ignorant fellow that knows not his postures nor how to use his weapon he needs not seeke occasion he may have him here and there and every where It is so with the best of Saints when they have to doe with God He needs not watch for an occasion where to hit or smite them for they through their ignorance and folly lay their naked breasts open to his stroakes every day Were he not infinite in mercy to cover our sins Ecce invenit in me vacillationes Scult ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vocat ea quae pij faciunt praeter rectum sed citra animum a deo aversum c. Coc and to pardon our transgressions we must needs perish under his justice Againe The word is rendred Infirmities faylings or lesser sins that 's another translation of the text and 't is a usefull one For as the former supposeth the Lord taking occasion where none at all was given so this supposeth him to take the least occasion As if Elihu supposed Job saying Behold he seeks out my little faults Quaesivit deus parva quaedam imo penè nulla peccata propter quae velut si nefanda crimina commisissem atroci me sententia condemnavit Bold my vacillations my trippings my stumblings in a word my infirmities We may take them two wayes First for his youthfull sins the slips of his youth Secondly for his dayly sins commonly called faylings As if Job had sayd Though I can charge my selfe and freely doe with many sins and weaknesses yet I am not a man chargeable with any crimes nor wickednesses mine are no black nor bloody sins no crimson no skarlet sins I have not sinned presumptuously or with a high hand I have not given scope to my lusts nor indulged my corruptions I have not pleased my selfe with displeasing God nor hath the bent of my soule been to breake his commandements as bonds yoakes or shakles put upon me by an enemy I have not rejected his dominion or rule over me in any wilfull defection or departure from his word Yet notwithstanding God findes out my infirmities and faylings and urgeth them sorely against me yea he deales with me as if I were his enemy even for those sins which I have committed through inadvertency or meere humane frailty Some Interpreters insist most upon this signification of the word as if the matter which Elihu charged Job with were that he should say God carried it towards him as an enemy for small faults or lesser sins Nor doe I see any thing which hinders the joyning of this and the former reading together for surely he seekes occasions to punish and vex anoâher who insists upon his lesser sins and imperfections as if they were great and grievous crimes From this laâter or second sence of the word Observe First in General To take strict notice of the faylings infirmities or lesser sins of others is a poynt of very great severity Some are pleased with nothing more then to heare and discourse of other mens faylings 'T is a great fault to be picking up the lesser faults of others yet how many are there who if they can but see as it were any bare place they will be charging at it if they see but the least scratch or sore they as the fly love to be feeding upon it or raking in it 'T is our holinesse to take notice of the least sin in our selves and the more holy any man is the more quick-sighted and quick-sented he is in taking notice of his lesser sins when the least neglect of duty and of the least negligence in performance of duty any ill frame of heart any vaine thought any idle word any undue carriage any uncomelinesse is taken notice of and corrected this shewes an excellent frame of spirit and a great measure of Grace but it is not good to do so by others yea it is an argument we are very much wanting and fayling in holinesse our selves when we are so apt to take notice of and aggravate every want and fayling in our brethren Yea when as Christ saith Math 7.3 We see a mâte in our brothers eye we seldome see the beame in our owne And it is an argument men have beames in their owne eyes when they are so quick-sighted in looking after motes in their brothers eye I grant it is a duty to be watchfull over one another as brethren and to take notice for right ends of the least faylings and faults of any This is a duty if we doe it with a purpose to pray for them that they may walke more circumspectly or that we may lovingly reprove admonish and counsell them as also that we may consider our selves and our owne wayes lest we fall as they have done Thus to take notice of the least faylings of others is a great Gospel duty But to take notice of mens faults to censure or defame their persons to insult over them or accuse them this is the spirit of a Cham who mocked at his fathers nakedness And thus to be critticall about the faults of others argues that we are careless of our owne Secondly As to the particular case in the text for which Job is tax'd by Elihu that he said thus of God Observe To say or think of the Lord that he takes a strict and severe notice of our infirmities to reckon with us riggedly for them is very sinfull Such thoughts are a great derogation from the goodnesse and mercy of God The Lord doth not willingly see the faults of his people Though he seeth them yet he doth not willingly see them he is glad when it is with his people as it was at that time with Israel Numb 23.21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob neither hath he seene perversness in Israel But was there no sin to be seene in Jacob Was Israel altogether innocent at that time Surely they even they and even then were a sinfull people and had their faults neither few nor small but because there was no iniquity no perversness nor prevarication against God found among them at that time therefore he over-looked
all their ordinary faylings and transgressions As the Lord is so holy and of such pure eyes that he cannot behold any sin the least iniquity to approve of it Habak 1.13 so the Lord is so gracious and so full of compassion that he doth not severely take notice of nor look upon the lesser sins of his people David exalts the name and glory of God at large for this Psal 103.8 9 10. The Lord is mercifull and gracious slow to anger plenteous in mercy he will not alwayes chide They are alwayes chideing that are alwayes spying faults in children servants or relations they who take notice of every little fault shall finde chiding-worke enough in a family But the Lord will not alwayes chide neither will he keepe his anger for ever He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities Like as a father pittieth his children so the Lord pittieth them that feare him A father doth not enquire into much lesse punish every neglect of his child I will spare them saith the Lord Mal 3.17 as a father spareth a son that serveth him If a father seeth or is well perswaded that his son hath a heart to serve him he will not curiously spy out the faults of his service but saith to his child It is well done or at least I take that well which thou hast done Yea the Lord is so farre from a strict inquiry after such faults that he passeth by great transgressions Mic 7.18 Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his people he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Though Asa 1 Kings 15.14 was not through in the reformation the high places were not removed yet the Lord did not charge this upon him for presently it followeth in the sacred Story Neverthelesse the heart of Asa was perfect with God all his dayes Yea though Asa did fall into severall sins afterwards imprisoning one of the Prophets and oppressing some of the people and in his sickness seeking to the Physitians and not to the Lord yet the Lord did not charge these acts upon him He was so farre from a strict inquiry after his lesser sins that he tooke no notice of those greater sins but saith His heart was perfect all his dayes So in the case of David the Lord would not see many of his sins he would not blot David nor burden his owne memory with them but passed an Act of Oblivion upon them for ever Sarah Gen 18.12 spake very unhandsomely when the Angel came to her and told her she should have a son yet the Apostle 1 Pet 3.6 referring to that story gives Sarah a very high testimony or commendation for one good word that was mingled with a great many ill or undue ones yea and actions too for she laughed Notwithstanding all which Peter sets her as a patterne for all good women professing the Gospel to imitate He would have them be in subjection unto their owne husbands even as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord whose daughters ye are saith he as long as ye doe that which is well That one word which she spake well is recorded yea reported to her praise and all that were ill are buried in silence forgotten and covered The Lord hath respect to a little pure gold though mingled with a great deale of dross and ownes a little good Corne though a great deale of chaffe be in the same floore or heape Surely then he will not bring our infirmities and slips to account against us while our hearts are upright with him Thus you see what matter of charge there was in these words when Job sayd God sought occasion against him when he had given none or that he had only given some smaller occasion and yet God dealt with him as an enemy But did Job ever say That God sought occasions against him or tooke notice of his lesser sins so severely I answer Though some acquit Job wholly of this charge and recriminate Elihu with this accusation as a slander yet Job had spoken words which might give occasion to charge him thus as was shewed also concerning those former speeches I am cleane from transgression I am innocent there is no iniquity in me though Job had not spoken these or such like words with that scope and spirit as Elihu might seeme to alledge them yet he had given Elihu cause enough to say so while he spake more of himselfe then came to his share considering that he was a sinfull man and more then did become him in his condition being an afflicted man Upon both which accounts it had better becom'd him to have been much in humbling himselfe rather then at all in justifying himselfe Now as Job had spoken words which might beare out Elihu in his former charge Secundum veritatem neutruÌ diuit Job in sensu quem imponit in Elihu so we finde severall speeches or complaints concerning God which may justifie him in this As for instance Chap 14.16 17. For now thou numbrest or numbring thou numbrest my steps dost thou not watch over my sins As if he had sayd thou watchest me so strictly so narrowly that I cannot in the least step awry but presently I am observed and shall be sure to heare of it Yea my transgressâon is sealed up in a bag and thou sowest up mine iniquity that is thou keepest the memory of my sins thou dost not passe them by but hast them ready by thee When chast Joseps wanton mistresse disappoynted in her lust was resolved to seeke an occasion of revenge she layd up his garment by her untill her Lord came home Gen 39.16 To lay up the evill deed of another presageth ill to him And therefore when Elihu heard Job speaking thus might he not say Job hath sayd God seeketh occasions against me yea which is more as it followeth in the verse under hand And counteth me for his enemy These words having been insisted upon somewhat largely from other passages of this Booke Chap 13.24 19.11 Chap. 30.21 In all which places Job spake this complaint sometimes expressely alwayes Equivalently I shall not here stay upon the explication of them only for as much as Job having sayd That God took hold of small occasions given or sought occasions not given is presently charged further by Elihu with saying He counteth me for his enemy From this Connection of the former with the latter part of the verse Note To seek or take easie occasions against another is an argument that we beare no good will to him or It is a signe we look upon a man as an enemy when we are apt and ready to seeke or take occasions against him There are two things which we are very ready to doe towards those we beare no good will unâo or whom we account our enemies First to diminish the good which they doe to speak lightly of
lusts may be in the stocks too Thus he told the Church Hos 2.6 Behold I will hedge up thy way with thornes and make a wall that she shall not find her paths The thorne-hedge was as a stocks to stop them that they should not walk disorderly nor act inordinately as they had done This course God takes with many he puts them in the stocks that he may keepe them from the wayes of sin or give check to some unruly affection When we need this discipline we may looke for it and 't is a mercy to be under it Will you not keep order saith God then you shall to the stocks Secondly afflictions are a restraint to our comforts as well as to our corruptions As this expression notes the taking of lusts short so the taking of us short as to lawfull liberties and enjoyments Sickness upon the body sowres all that this world hath to us and will not suffer us to use much of it how much soever of it we possesse Many have enough to eate who never eate in pleasure as Job sayd Chap 21.25 And when in our prosperity we run out and take unlawfull liberty God sends an affliction as his stocks to hold us from our lawfull liberties When we have had vaine out-goings and excesses of spirit all going well with us and comfortably in the world we may expect the stocks next or that things should goe ill with us yet for our good Thirdly To be in the stocks is a disgracefull thing it is not only a paine and a restraint but it is a reproach He that is in the stocks or in the pillory is exposed to shame every one poynts at him and many revile him Affliction as to the eye of the world carrieth a disgrace with it or at least subjects the person afflicted to disgrace And it hath been shewed from severall passages of this booke how Job's afflictions were interpreted to his disgrace and he lookt upon as I may say like a vagabond in the stocks that God had brought him thither and clapt him by the heeles for his misdemeanours Though afflictions diminish no mans honour or esteeme with God or with his people an afflicted Saint is as precious and honorable in their eyes as when in the greatest prosperity The clouds of trouble cannot ecclipse the glory of Grace nor render the gracious contemptible to those who know them such yet as to the eye and opinion of worldly men they doe Job sayd his afflictions were a witness against him as if all were not right with him yea as if he had been very unrighteous The stocks are a witness against a man that surely he hath done some ill thing Thus you see there is paine in affliction restraint in affliction disgrace in affliction especially in the opinion of the world and therefore to be in affliction is to be as in the stocks He putteth my feet in the stocks He marketh all my paths Which some expound as if when the Lord had let him out of the stocks yet he was but like a prisoner with his keeper at his heels He marketh all my paths I have spoken to this also before I shall now only Note There is no stepping out of the eye or sight of God He markes all our paths not only our open paths but our secret paths not only what paths our feet walke in but paths our hearts walke in He marketh what our thoughts are what our scope is what our aymes and ends are He marketh not only our day-paths but our night-paths He watcheth all our paths Take this Caution from it As the Lord marks all our paths so it will be our wisdome to mark our owne paths If the Lords eye be so strict over all our wayes shall we be carelesse of our wayes If he look upon our walkings shall not we look to our walkings There are many arguments from love from returns of thankfulness for received benefits which should provoke the people of God to heed and marke their own wayes but surely this ought to be a very cogent argument because God marks them He marketh all our paths Therefore as the Apostle gives counsel and admonition Eph 5.15 See that ye walke circumspectly not as fooles but as wise What our wisdome is yea whether we have any wisdome whether we are wise or fooles will be seene by our walkings Some can talke and discourse very wisely who yet walke very foolishly and whose whole course is folly So much for the opening of this charge brought by Elihu against Job his over-justifying of himselfe and his reflecting upon the goodnesse and love of God Elihu proceeds yet further to deale with and refute him as also to answer for God Behold in this thou art not just c. This I charge thee with and will prove it thou hast spoken sinfully and unbecommingly of God and of thy selfe in all this JOB Chap. 33. Vers 12 13. Behold in this thou art not just I will answer thee That God is greater then man Why dost thou strive against him for he giveth not account of any of his matters IN these two verses Elihu gives the first part of his answer wherein we may take notice of these five things First He tells Job that he had erred and was mistaken Behold in this thou art not just Secondly He sheweth him wherein he had been mistaken or what his error was In this thou art not just or Behold this thou are not just in it Thirdly Elihu lays downe the generall ground upon which he intended to convince Job of his error and mistake The greatnesse of God I will answer thee that God is greater then man Fourthly from that ground he drawes out a check or reproofe in the beginning of the 13th verse Why dost thou strive against him Fifthly and lastly He gives a reason of that reproofe which ariseth also out of the former ground the unquestionable Soveraignty of God For he giveth not account of any of his matters Vers 12. Behold in this thou art not just Behold he calls for serious attention and diligent consideration Behold This so the Hebrew rendred strictly we render Behold in this thou art not just What is this what 's the antecedent to this we may assigne the antecedent in three things or make it three-fold according to what Elihu hath layd downe before in way of charge against Job in the former Context First This that thou hast boasted thy selfe so much of thy innocency and integrity Vers 8th Thou hast spoken in my hearing and I have heard the voyce of thy words saying I am cleane without transgression c. Behold in this thou art not just Secondly In this That is in that thou hast complained so much of the severity of Gods dealings and proceedings with thee 10. 11. Behold he findeth occasion against me and accounteth me for his enemy He putteth my feet in the stocks he marketh all my paths Behold in this thou art not just
their pardon of God who is great in mercy David made the greatnesse of his sin his argument to move the Lord to pardon it Psal 25.11 Pardon my sin for it is great who could speak thus unlesse he had that upon his heart that he spake to the great God who is greater in nothing and hath magnified his greatnesse in nothing more then in acts of mercy to Greatest sinners Thirdly If God be a great God then he must have great services and duties He must have great praise Psal 48.1 great is the Lord and greatly to be praised he must have great love we must love him even with all our heart and with all our might He must have great feare Psal 89.7 Great faith Math 15.28 Great honour from all his people When David was about to make great preparations for the building of the Temple he saith 1 Chron 29.11 Thine O Lord is greatnesse and the power and the glory c. And when Solomon was about to build the Temple he saith 2 Chron 2.5 The house which I build is great for great is our God above all Gods We see David prepared and Solomon builded in proportion to the God for whom the one prepared and the other built a house Thus I may say of all you doe for God or to God let it be the greatest your stocke and ability can reach to because he is a great God The Lord himselfe useth that argument by the Prophet to urge his people to doe their utmost in whatsoever they were called to doe Mal 1.14 Cursed be the deceiver which hath a male in his flocke and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing that is who when he is able to performe a greater service to the Lord puts him off with a lesser one for I am a great King saith the Lord of hosts c. Therefore take heed of putting me off with weake female services I expect a male your best that service which is most spirituall and masculine Fourthly If God be great then they who are but little themselves having an interest in God may doe great things too The least creature having an interest in the great God is as great yea infinitely greater then the greatest in the world who stand in their owne strength Moses saith Deut 4.38 Deut 7.1 that the presenâe of God with Israel was such that by it they overcame Nations greater and mightier then they their littlenesse did not hinder them because the great God was with them in their workes and wayes yea God loves to use small instruments that his owne greatnesse who is the efficient may appeare That question which was twice put in the Prophet Amos 7.2 5. is very often put in that case By whom shall Jacob arise for he is small That which made it so questionable whether Jacob should rise was his smallness And could we remember the Greatness of the God of Jacob we should either never make such questions or easily answer them Fifthly Seeing God is great we should be alwayes ascribing greatnesse to God we should lift him up in his greatnesse Thus Moses exhorted others Deut 32.3 Because I will publish the name of the Lord ascribe ye greatnesse to our God And David at once prophecieth the same of others and promiseth it for himselfe Psal 145.6 Men shall speake of the might of thy terrible Acts and I will declare thy greatnesse Againe Consider these words as they are expressed comparatively God is greater then man As God is great so greater then the greatest men God is great above all Gods that is above all the Kings and Princes of the earth Now I know sayd Jethro Exod 18.11 that God is greater then all Gods greater then Rharoah and his Egyptian Princes for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them David challenged all the Gods on Gods behalfe Psal 77.13 Who is so great a God as our God Let any man name him if he can He is a God above all Gods that is above the greatest powers in this world who are called Gods Thus Christ comforts believers with an assurance of safety for ever John 10.29 My father is greater then all then the devill and all But some may say who knoweth not this that God is Great or that he is greater then men or devills Job himselfe spake much of this subject yea his friends made it their businesse to exalt the greatnesse of God as we may see in severall passages of this Booke So that Elihu seemeth to say no more here then had been sayd already and doth no more then hath been done already Is not this then a cold way of arguing to tell Job that which he knew already For answer to this I shall stay a while as was promised before I goe off from these words to shew why though for the matter this is no more then hath been sayd already that yet Elihu had reason to bring this argument for the conviction of Job that God is greater then man for though the Greatnesse of God hath been often spoken of in the course of this disputation between Job and his friends yet neither Job nor his friends did handle or improve it to that poynt or in that extent as here intended by Elihu as may appeare by these following Considerations First When Elihu spake of the greatnesse of God we are not to understand this greatnesse abstractly or alone but concreetely or in conjunction with his goodnesse and righteousnesse with his mercy and faithfulnesse c. Job confessed the greatnesse of God but he seemed to intimate severall things to the disparagement of the goodnesse mercy and righteousnesse of God For though in his frequent complainings he did not question yet he did much darken and obscure these Divine perfections And therefore Elihu speaking of the Greatnesse of God urgeth it in conjunction with all his perfections and indeed they cannot be dis-joyned except in notion or discourse Secondly Elihu insisted so much upon the greatnesse of God to humble Job and to convince him that he had done amisse in his bold appeales to him and complaints about his dealing with him Elihu doth wisely to hold out the greatnesse and soveraignty of God for the keeping downe and repression of his yet unhumbled spirit Thirdly Elihu mannageth this argument for another end and purpose then his friends did They used it to prove Job was wicked or had done wickedly in the former passages of his life He to shew that Job ought to be patient under and quietly submit to the present providences of God Fourthly This argument which Elihu brings from the greatnesse of God hath not at all the lesse force in it because grounded upon so common and generally received a principle the greatnesse of God yea it hath therefore the greater force in it for what is more unreasonable then for man to intimate any thing which reflects upon God or to complaine of what God doth when as God by the
common consent of all reasonable men doth infinitely surpasse all men both in greatnesse and in righteousnesse both in Justice and in goodnesse When the greatnesse of God appeares in all these things what can be more unreasonable then for man to insinuate any thing complainingly concerning God From the consideration of this scope which Elihu had in arguing from the greatnesse of God Note We may speake and believe aright that God is great and that he is greater then man and yet not answer it in our practise nor be duly affected with it Elihu did not at all question whether Job thought God greater then himselfe that was not the poynt in controversie but he saw this principle was not answered in Jobs practise or that he did not demeane himselfe sutably to the Greatnesse of God which he had proclaimed to others and professed himselfe to believe And thus it is with many most of all with those under great temptations and pressing afflictions How apt are they to speake and act below yea beside those principles which they believe and hold forth in their profession It is an easie matter to say and in words to acknowledge what God hath revealed himselfe to be but O how hard is it to live and walke up to such sayings and acknowledgements Many tell us God is greater then man yet while they doe not fully subject themselves to God they in effect deny that God is greater then man Many acknowledge fully that God is righteous yet when they rest not in his dealings with them they imply some unrighteousnesse in God Many say God is wise only wise yet while they will be their owne carvers and are unsatisfied with Gods allowances and providences they make themselves wiser then God or at least imagine things might be ordered with Greater wisdome then they are Many say God is great in mercy greater infinitely then man yet when they should act faith about the pardon of their sins they act it as if God had but the mercy of a man or as if his thoughts were as our thoughts and his wayes in dispencing favours like our wayes and so they bring God downe to their owne size and scantlings If these had been asked the question whether God hath not greater mercy then man they would have answered doubtlesse he hath and yet they are no more in believing then if the mercy of God were of the same measure with the mercies of narrow-hearted man Thus we modle the Great God and our Idea's or apprehensions of him according to what we see in our selves not according to what he is and hath said of himselfe And what are our rightest notions of God but hoverings in the ayre till we bring them downe into practise or live up to them till every thing we doe be an exposition of what we speake and believe of God And when we believe indeed that God is greater then man we make our selves just nothing before God if we are any thing to our selves or glory in any thing of our owne be it little or great before God we do not give God the glory of his greatnesse The Lord speaking of his owne greatnesse by the Prophet saith All nations are but as the drop of the bucket to him yea they are as a little thing as nothing lesse then nothing if therefore you make not every thing little yea nothing before God you detract from the glory of his greatnesse Againe they only acknowledge God in his greatnesse who both agree to all he doth as just and receive it as good yea as best how bad soever it be to nature or bitter to their sence Once more they only acknowledge God fully in his greatnesse who though God changeth and varieth his dispensations every day with them though he empty them never so often from vessell to vessell yet sit downe and say God is unchangeable to them It is because the Lord changeth not that we are not consumed Mal 3.6 therefore what changes soever his people meete with his heart and thoughts towards them are not changed Secondly Note The very reason why we doe not stoop to God in silence why we doe not suffer him quietly to doe with us and dispose of us how he will is because we doe not lay to heart as we ought the greatnesse of God Did we remember that the great God is great in goodnesse and great in wisdome as well as great in power in a word did we when we say God is great and greater then any man know what we say it would presently stop our mouthes and for ever silence all our discontents complainings whether in reference to our personall or the publick concernments We may pray that God would remove any affliction or evill that is upon us to doe is so not only our liberty but our duty but we may not complaine of any affliction as an evill to us nor would we ever make such a complaint if our hearts were taken up with this thought that God is great in Goodnesse Why doe we say at any time Surely we have suffered enough or too much already Why doe we demand so curiously wherefore God should use such severity against us What is the reason of all this even this we doe not consider enough of his greatnesse All our inward troubles at our outward troubles arise from this because we doe not enough believe or not remember who God is We by our ignorance and unbeliefe divest God as much as in us lyeth of his great goodnesse and wisdome when we feare especially when we conclude things are not ordered for our good And though every man is ready to say he loathes yea trembles at such thoughts yet we may lodge many such guests befoâe we are aware Whensoever we are over-grieved at any affliction our owne or others or would without much free submiâsion to the will of God have things goe otherwise then they doe we upon the matter make our selves greater and wiser then God And though this be farre from our purpose yet we cannot avoyd the imputation of it That which is not as some distinguiâh the aime scope and intendment of the speaker or actor may yet be the aime and scope of his action worke or speech no doubt Job was very farre from the least thought of diminishing much more of denying the greatnesse of God either in his power wisdome or goodnesse yea as was granted before he spake very highly of him in all these his glorious and divine perfections It was not his end when he spake so impatiently and complainingly Finis operis licet non operantis to rob God of that honour of his greatnesse yet Elihu did him no wrong when he sayd his impatience and complainings did it And if any shall be found complaining like Job though they doe not formally deny that God is greater rhen man yet that interpretation and construction may justly be put upon their complaints But some may here object and
say how was Job such a mirror such a patterne of patience as the Apostle James makes him Chap 5.11 if he manifested so much impatience as might be interpreted by others though not intended by him a deniall of the Greatnesse of God I answer though all agree and the testimony of the Spirit of God is enough to confirme it though all should not agree that the patience of Job was exceeding great yet no man may say nor doth the Spirit of God in Scripture say it that his patience was perfect his patience was such as exceeded the most yea for ought that we know the best of men yet his was but the patience of a man of a man compassed about with the like passions as other men His patience was sincere and without hypocrisie but his patience was not compleate nor without infirmity or his patience we may say was perfect as to the kind but it was not perfect as to the degree His patience deserved both commendation and imitation yet he shewed at times such impatience as deserved reproofe and should not be imitated but mortified and avoyded Good men doe not only act lesse in goodnesse sometimes but ill and much amisse And while we see tallest Cedars fayle they shall not utterly fall Job did not Let him that thinketh he standeth that is who hath a strong opinion of his owne strength take heed lest he fall as the Apostle cautions him 1 Cor 10.12 for even the impatient complaints of Job in his sufferings like those sufferings of the Israelites for their sins spoken of in the former verses of that Chapter fell from him for an ensample or type and are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come Thus you see the reason why Elihu tooke up this common principle Quae pueris ipsis deâantata sunt nobis in gravi lucta perturbatione ut nova quaedam proponenda sunt Mert. which every Child learnes out of a Caâechisme to convince this holy man with What was more knowne to Job or to any knowing man then this that God is greater then man yet Elihu chose this as the most commodious and effectuall argument to compose his spirit and quiet him after all his distempered and tumultuating complaints nor hâth Elihu yet done arguing downe the hight and unquietnesse ãâã Job's spirit We have him both reproving him for it by way of question and giving him another unanswerable argument against it in the next verse Vers 13. Why dost thou strive against him for he giveth not account of any of his matters The words are a reproving question As if he had sayd Thou dost ill very ill to strive There is a four-fold striving three of which are held forth in Scripture under the word of the text First There is a striving with outward force and power ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã contondere pertinet ad judicialem forensem litem ad dei tribunal instituendamâe quod saepe pustulavit Job either personally man with man properly called contention or more generally nation with nation properly called warre Secondly There is a legall striving a striving by way of plea about matters of right and title The word in the text chiefly imports such a judiciary striving a strife in law when the adverse party or Plaintiffe impleads and commenseth his suit against the Defendant Striving is taken in this sence and joyned with warring in the description of that contest which Jephtah had with the King of the Children of Ammon Judg 11.25 And now art thou any thing better then Balak the son of Zippor king of Moab did he ever strive against Israel or did he ever fight against them That is did he either make warre with Israel or did he so much as challenge and plead his right to their land by law That other name which Joash Gideons father occasionally gave him Judg 6.31 32. takes part from this word Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal saying Let Baal plead against him because he hath throwne downe his altar As if he had sayd Let Baal come and enter his action against my Son if he please and let my Son alone to answer him Thirdly There is a logicall striving or a striving by dint of argument and reason Thus disputants strive and Books of controversie about matters of faith and worship are called Bookes of Polemicall Divinity Nor indeed hath any kind of strife been carried on with higher and hotter animosities then those mannaged by tongue and pen in writing and disputing Foutthly The word is applyed to any angry passionate chideing and complaining Thus 't is used in that famous history Exod 17. where thâ people of Israel having journeyed from Sin and pitched in Repââââm v. 1. did chide with Moses from which act v 7th He called the place Massa and Meribah because of the chideing of the chidren of Israel and because they tempted the Lord sayiâg Is the Lord among us or not Because the people of Israel strove with Moses or rather with God himselfe Therefore to keepe them under the sence of this sin and provocation Moses called the name of the place Meribah which signifieth Striving In this last sence as striving is used by way of chideing and complaining we are to understand it here Why dost thou strive against him saith Elihu That is why doest thou chide and complaine about the dealings of God with thee or because he will not render thee a reason of his dealings with thee in this affliction Job made many striving and chideing complaints his first were eminently such Chap 3.11 Why dyed I not from the womb why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly why did the knees prevent me or why the breasts that I should sucke He chideth hard about the hardnesse of his condition in this life who chideth because he liveth Read him in the same language Chap 10.18 and in a language not much unlike it in severall other places Yea Job doth I say not formally yet vertually call out or challenge God more then once to plead with him and make good his cause against him Why dost thou strive with him For he giveth no account of any of his matters ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The word signifieth properly to answer and so the text might well enough be rendred here out of the originall he answereth not Mr Broughton saith He will not speake for all his dealings If If any man demand of God a reason of his doings he may chuse whether he will give it him or no He will not be brought to a reckoning He will not he needeth not to answer or give an account Of any of his matters or of any of his words ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã 'T is frequent in the Hebrew to expresse matters or things by this word which in strictness signifieth but a word Chap 19.28 Seeing the root of the matter the text is the root of the
purpose Lastly consider God withdraweth man from his sinfull purpose all or any of these wayes by putting forth his mighty power with them For his word alone his works alone his patience alone the counsell of man alone would not doe it if God did not stretch forth his own arme in and with these meanes for the doing of it Nothing is any further efficacious then as God is with it Numb 22. Balaam was going on in his wicked purpose being sent for by Balak to curse the people of God And though the Lord sent his Angell to be an adversary to him in his way vers 22. so that his Asse turned out of the way into the field yet Balaam went on in his purpose yea though the Angell standing between two walls caused his Asse to turne so suddenly that she crusht Balaams foot against the wall vers 25. yet Balaam went on in his purpose Once more though the Angell went further and stood in a narrow way where there was no way to turne to the right hand nor to the left so that the poor Asse fell down under him v. 27. and speaking as the Apostle Peter expresseth it 2 Epist 2. with mans voyce rebuked the madnesse of the Prophet Yet so mad he was that all these checks and warnings could not withdraw him from his purpose And what the Lord did at that time to Balaam by an Angell that he doth by some other means and providences to stop many from their evill purposes who yet will not be stopt He speaks to them in the ministry of his word he speaks to them in his works he spreads their way with roses he hedgeth up their way with thorns he bestoweth sweet mercies upon them he sends sharp afflictions upon them to withdraw them from their evill projects and purposes yet on they goe like Balaam unlesse he send more then an Angell even his holy Spirit to withdraw them Lastly Elihu reports it as a speciall favour of God to withdraw man from his purpose Whence note It is a great mercy to be hinder'd in sinfull purposes and intendments Disappointments are acts of grace when we are acting against grace If God stop us from doing evill not onely by his word but by blowes or by a hedge of thorns yea if he stop us by a drawn sword it is a great mercy Though God throw us to the ground as he did Saul afterwards Paul when he went with a bloody purpose to vex and persecute the Saints Acts 9. let us count our selves exalted and rejoyce in it more then in any worldly exaltation 'T is a rich mercy to be kept from executing an evill purpose though by our owne poverty and outward misery The doing of that which is sinfull is worse then any thing that can be done to us or endured by us as a stop against sin Sin hath death in it sin hath wrath in it sin hath hell in it sin hath Devill and all in it therefore to be kept from sin let it be by what means it will if by paines and pining sicknesses if by reproaches and disgraces yea if by death we have cause to blesse God The greatest and sorest Judgement which God powres upon sinfull men is to let them alone in or not to withdraw them from their sins To be suffered to goe on and prosper in sin is the worst of sufferings the last of Judgements the next Judgement to hell it selfe and an infallible signe of an heire of hell Thus the wrath of God waxed hot against Israel when he gave them up to their owne hearts lusts and they walked in their owne Councel Psal 81.11 This was the highest revenge that God could take upon that sinfull people He sayd a little before Israel would none of me when God wooed them they were so coy they would have none of him and then said he goe on take your fill of sin I give you up to your owne hearts lusts The Lord did not say I gave them up to the sword to the famine or to the pestilence but to their owne hearts lusts and to walke on in their own way That person or people may be sure God hath purposed evill against them whom he will not withdraw from their evill purposes The severity of the wrath of God against the Gentiles is exprest and summ'd up in this Rom 1.26 28. He gave them up to vile affections he gave them up to a reprobate mind to doe things which were not convenient A naturall man left to himselfe will soone doe such things as nature it selfe abhorreth and blusheth at The same dreadfull doome is denounced Rev 22.11 He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still I will not withdraw him from his way let him goe on and perish let him goe on and sink downe to the pit of perdition for ever As St. John in the Revelation foretelling the Church given up or left to not in great sufferings of all sorts Here is the patience of the Saints So when we see the world given up and left in great sinnings of any sort especially if to sinnings of all sorts we may truely and sadly say Here is the wrath of God 'T is therefore a great mercy if God will any way withdraw man from his sinfull wayes and purposes especially when he taketh such gentle wayes as dreams and visions counsels and instructions to withdraw man from his purpose and as it followeth in this verse to hide pride from man ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã texit operuit imponendo aliquid quo tegas The word which we render to hide is to hide by casting a covering a vayle a garment or any other thing over what we desire should be hid Prov 12.23 A prudent man concealeth knowledge it is this word he doth not pretend to know so much as he knoweth he puts a vayle upon his own abilities as Moses upon his face when there was such a shining beauty imprinted there rather then reveales them unnecessarily or uncalled 'T is the foolish man or he that hath but a shew of wisdome who loves and affects to be shewing it But to the text The word is used also to note that gracious act of God his pardoning the sin of man Psal 32.1 Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered God covers our sins in the riches of his grace by the perfect righteousnesse of Jesus Christ Now there are two wayes by which God hideth pride from man First by pardoning it Secondly preventing it Here to hide pride from man properly is not to pardon it when acted but to prevent or keep man from the acting of it God indeed hides the pride of man by pardoning it and that 's a high act of grace and he hideth pride from man by keeping man from doing proudly or from shewing his pride in his doings ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã superbia excellentia The word rendred pride
you may save them make them afraid that they may not be damned save them with fear plucking them as it were out of the fire Sinners are runing into the fire and do not perceive it they are tumbling down to hell and consider it not they must be pulled out of the fire else they will burn in it for ever The great businesse of the Gospell is to pull souls like firebrands out of the burning Fourthly note They who turn from their evill purposes and the pride of their hearts escape wrath the pit and the sword The wages of sin is death and well are they that escape that misse such wages If a sinner turne from his purpose from his sinfull way if his pride be subdued and he emptied of himself then his soul if kept from destruction and his life from perishing by the sword JOB Chap. 33. Vers 19 20 21 22. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pain So that his life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty meat His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen and his bones that were not seen stick out His soul draweth neare unto the grave and his life to the destroyer THe context of these foure verses containeth a description of the second meanes which the wisdome of God is pleased often to use for the humiliation of man and for the discovery or revelation of his mind unto him He speaketh in a dream in a vision of the night as was shewed before he speaketh also by paines and sicknesses as is now to be considered Vers 19. He is chastened also with pain That particle which we render also gives the text an emphasis He is chastened also For it imports that here is a further addition or supplement of meanes whereby the Lord doth awaken sinners to attend and obey his voyce The subject of these foure verses is a sick man or the sickness of man A sorrowfull subject And the sickness of man is set forth in these foure verses by foure sad symptomes or effects The first is paine grievous paine ver 19. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong paine The second symptome of this sickness is loss of appetite and his nauceating all manner of food v. 20. So that his life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty meat The third symptome of his sickness is a generall languishment or consumption all his body over v. 21. His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen and his bones that were not seene stick out The fourth and last symptome of this grievous sickness is fainting swooning or a readiness to expire and give up the ghost v. 22. His soul draweth near to the grave and his life to the destroyer That is he is sick and even sick to death All these are speciall symptomes of a sick man or of the sickness of man I begin with the first Vers 19. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed The word which we render to chasten hath a twofold signification in Scripture ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a reguit reprehendit corripuit verbis sive factis First to reprove or convince both by authority and reason Lev 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke him or reproving thou shalt reprove him that is Thou shalt surely reprove him And in that famous Prophecy concerning Christ Isa 11.4 He shall reprove with equity we put in the margin He shall argue with equity or convince by such reasons and arguments as shall carry the greatest equity in them Thus when Christ had finished his Sermon on the mount it is sayd Math 7.28 29. The people his Auditors were astonished at his doctrine for he taught them as one having authority and not as the Scribes This Sermon carrying so great a reproofe of the Scribes and Pharisees both as to their life and doctrine throughout may well be expounded as a fullfilling of that ancient prophecy It being confessed in another place of the Gospel even by the Officers that were sent to attach him John 7.46 Never man spake like this man The words of Christ had so much evidence so much equity in them that they who came to take and catch him were taken and caught if not to conversion yet to such a conviction by what he spake that they could not though they highly displeased their Masters in saying so but say Never man spake like this man As if they had sayd Surely the man that speakes thus is more then a man Secondly The word often signifies to correct which is also to instruct correction is for instruction Chastning is the most reall reproving And so we render it He is chastened Man is instructed not only by speech and counsell but by stripes and corrections Thus David prayed Psal 6.1 O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure The first word which we render rebuke is that in the text As if he had sayd Lord doe not rebuke me by angry afflictions let me not find thee greatly displeased and my selfe sorely chastned at once He deprecates the same againe and how grievous the effects of such dispensations are he sheweth Psal 38.1 Rebuke me not in thy wrath Psal 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity He means it not only of word-rebukes but of hand-rebukes also when thou with such doubled rebukes dost chasten man for iniquity What then The effects of it follow even the staining of the glory of all flesh Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth And so some interpret that Psal 105.15 He reproved Kings for their sakes speaking of his owne people the Lord did not only speak to those Kings but made them feel his hand for his peoples sake Abimelech felt his hand for Abrahams sake And so did Pharoah that hard-hearted King in a whole decade of plagues for Israels sake whom he had oppressed and would not let goe We render the word in this second sense for a rebuke by blowes or by correction which yet hath a language in it and speaks with a loud voyce to man He is chastened with paine upon his bed Paine is both the concomitant and effect of sickness The word noteth First the paine of the body caused either by the violence of inward distempers ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã doluit corpore vel animo or from the outward stroake of a wound Gen 34. When the sons of Jacob had prevailed with the Shechemites to receive Circumcision It came to passe on the third day when they were sore or pained with the wound of it Simeon and Levi came upon them Gen 34.25 Secondly the word signifieth as bodyly paine caused any way so paine of the mind which is griefe or sorrow Psal 69.29 I am poore and sorrowfull Sorrow is alwayes the effect of paine either outward or
Psal 38.3 Legendo vocem ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã et lis ossium ejus vehemens est i. e. dolor ossium ejus per quem cum ipso velut litigat Pisc Sunt ex Hebraeis qui ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã multitudo quia per × scribatur ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã etsi legatur per × exponunt pro contentione quasi deus cumossibus ejus contendat Merc As if Elihu had sayd the paine and anguish by which God doth contend with all his bones is strong or God hath a strong controversie with his bones upon his sicke bed Lastly The vulgar translates He maketh all his bones to wither decay and rott When there is a consumption or a withering among the bones how intolerable is the paine Broken bones cause the acutest paines but decaying bones the most constant paine Withering bones are opposed to fatned bones in that promise made to him that fasts spiritually not carnally only in abstaining from flesh Isa 58.11 The Lord will make fat thy bones As if he had sayd Doe not feare that thou shalt pine by spirituall fasting I will make fat thy bones Which is true even in regard of that which is naturall the Lord reneweth bodily strength to those who humble themselves soule and body The body shall not suffer in this service of the Lord if the soule be truly afflicted in it Yet when he saith he will make fat thy bones it respects especially their spirituall strength that thrives best in a day of holy abstinence and fasting Here when 't is sayd their bones shall wither through paine it notes the declining of the whole body because as the bones are strong in themselves so they are the strength and support of the whole outward man When God smites the bones then he shakes the pillars and rafters of our earthly house and threatens the downfall of it He is chastened with paine upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pain Taking these words in connection with the former where Elihu spake of those dreames and visions by which God speakes to man and supposing as there he doth that because the man is not well awakened by those dreames and visions from his security therefore the Lord sendeth pain and sickness upon him as a second meanes to humble him and make him understand himselfe Observe They that will not be instructed by dreames that is by gentler meanes shall be instructed by paines They who will not take instruction even in their sleep shall be taught by that which will keep them awake Severall Scriptures tell us of the Lords proceeding with man from words to blowes And if the Lord proceeds from dreames which are warnings in sleepe to blowes if when he hath spoken to us in a dreame we hearken not he will chasten us with paine even the multitude of our bones with strong paine And then much more will he proceed from words to blows with them that are warned to awake if they heare not and take warning That 's an awakening word to those who sleepe waking Psal 7.12 13. If he turn not he will whet his sword He bath bent his bowe and made it ready If men will not returne upon word-admonition and reproofe the Lord hath his arrowes and his sword to reprove them with Turne ye at my reproofe saith the Lord Pro 1.23 I give you warning to turne but if you doe not then as presently it followeth I will laugh at your calamity and mock when your feare cometh As you have seemed to mock at my counsels so I will mock at your calamities that is I will shew you no pity as you have shewed me no respect Thus the Lord deales with proud rebellious man who casts off his yoake yea sometimes he deales very severely with his owne people for they may put him to it if words will not serve their turne words in sleepe and words when awake they may expect blowes next and be made to feele the hand of God because they have not understood or not obeyed his will Secondly From the manner of expression He is chastened with paine upon his bed The Spirit of God useth a word referring to instruction both by smiting and speaking to shew that there is a voyce in the rod. Hence note The chastisements of God upon us are our documents When God sends sicknesse and grievous paines he reproves sinners from Heaven and chides them for the errours of their lives The chastenings of the Lord are speakings He speaketh by his rods beyond all the eloquence of words Mic. 6.9 Hear ye the rod. The voyce of God is in his rod that speaks so loud from Heaven in many stroaks that the prophanest sinners on earth are sometimes forced to heare and acknowledge it As those Magicians were forced by the plaine evidence of the fact to say Ez. 8.19 This is the finger of God So they must say This is the voyce of God He speaks to us and speaks to purpose in these afflictions The voyce of God in affliction exceeds all the rhetorick and perswasions of mortall-men The crosse is a schoole in which they who are dull at hearing what God speaks to them in his word are wonderfully quickened up by his rod. The words of the wise saith Solomon are goads And surely these goads of affliction are pricking piercing words for the promoting and putting on of a lazy soul in Gods worke Job had desired God to speak with him Elihu answers Why dost thou desire more answers or directions from God Hath not God spoken to thee in these soares and sicknesses in these chastisements with pain upon thy bed Is God wanting to thy instruction hath he not clearly told thee his mind and thy duty hath he not written yea engraven his will upon thy diseased flesh What are the paines the corruption the consumption the strange deformity and sad transfiguration of thy body but as so many voyces of God speaking and speaking aloud to thee repent and humble thy selfe Therefore attend hearken to and meditate upon the answers which he hath impressed or printed legibly upon thy head face and wrinkled forehead Thou hast his answer his own way therefore be satisfied and doe not stand defiring that God would answer thee after thy way nor complaining because he doth not And we may reply not only to obstinate sinners but to many of the people of God when they enquire what the mind of God is or what he intends towards them His providences give you many items and memorandums which if you can spell out and read you may know his meaning This lesson the signification of the word offereth us as the connection of the words offered in the former Thirdly learne hence Man is a poor crazy creature subject to all diseases and infirmities Yea he is not only subject to them but he is the subject of them His body is as it were a vessell of naturall corruption as his soul is a vessell of morall
corruption Man is called not only Adam noting the matter of which he was made earth red earth but he is called Enosh that is sorrowfull sighing groaning man he is a pined and a pining man He is also called Abel vanity a poor vain man which two latter Titles have befallen man since man fell from God Fourthly which may check the grosse Atheisme of many Observe Pain and sicknesse come not by chance nor are we to stay in nature for the cause of their coming They come not at all by chance nor doe they come altogether from naturall causes Nature hath somewhat to doe in their coming but somewhat else much more even so much more that in respect of that naturall considerations may be quite shut out and the whole cause ascribed to that But what is that surely nothing else but and nothing lesse then the will of God He is pleased to give commission to pains and sicknesses and then they come Elihu would teach Job what he owned before that God was the sender and orderer of all his afflictions as of the losses he had in his estate and children so of the pains and sicknesses which he felt in his body Moses tells the children of Israel not only that sword and captivity but the Pestilence Consumptions Feavers and burning Agues are sent by God himself Deut. 28.21 22. What are diseases but the Lords Messengers When he pleaseth he can trouble the temper and cause the humours of the body to corrupt He can make them contend with one another to the death let Physitians doe what they can to quiet and pacifie them Yea though some skillfull Physitians have kept their own bodies in so due a temper and to so exact a diet that they could not see which way a disease could take hold of them or have any advantage against them yet sicknesse hath come upon them like an armed man and carryed them away to the grave Further When Elihu saith of the sick man the multitude of his bones are chastened with strong paine Note No man is so strong but the Lord is able to bring him down by pain and sicknesse He that is strong as an Oake and hath as it were a body of brasse and sinews of iron yet the Lord can make him as weak as water The Lord hath strong pains for strong men and can quickly turne our strength into weaknesse Thus Hezekiah lamented in his sicknesse Isa 38.13 I reckoned till morning that as a Lion so will he break all my bones God can arme diseases with the strength of a Lion who not only teareth the flesh but breaketh the bones with his teeth David saith Psal 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth surely every man is vanity The word there rendred beauty signifieth desire ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Desiderabile bene sanum et bene curatum corpus denotat thou makest his desire or that which is most desireable in him to fade away we well translate beauty because beauty draweth the desires of man after it and is so much desired yea lusted after by man Now as when the Lord doth but touch the body he can make the beauty so also the strength of it to consume away as a moth Sixtly whereas it is said He is chastened with pain upon his bed We learne The Lord can make those things easelesse and restless to us which use to give us most ease and rest He that being up is weary weary with walking riding or labouring hopeth to find ease in his bed yet then doth pain deny him rest there and filleth him as Job complained Chap. 7.4 with tossings too and fro unto the dawning of the day The Lord can make the Stocks or a Rack easie to us and our beds as uneasie to us as the Stocks or a Rack usually are Lastly observe The purpose of God in chastening man with sickness is to teach and instruct him not vex and destroy him The Lord hath many designes upon man when he afflicts him about all which he instructs him by affliction He designes First To humble and breake the stoutness of mans spirit hence sicknesses and afflictions are called humiliations and the same word signifies both to be afflicted and humbled Secondly To make men taste how bitter a thing sin is This is thy wickâdness saith the Lord of his sore Judgements brought upon his people Israel Jer 4.18 Because it is bitter Ye would not taste the evill or bitterness of sin by instruction therefore I will teach you by affliction Thirdly To put sorrowfull sinfull man upon the search of his owne heart and the finding out of the errour of his wayes While men are strong and healthfull they seldome find leisure for that worke And therefore they are confined by sickness to their houses to their chambers yea to their beds that they may attend it and read over the whole book of their lives Lam 3.39 40. Wherefore doth the living man complain a man for the punishment of his sin Let us search and try our wayes and turne to the Lord. That 's mans worke upon his bed and 't is Gods aime in binding him to his bed that he may have liberty for that worke Fourthly Afflictions are design'd by God to bring man out of love with sin yea to stirre up a holy hatred and revenge in him against it as upon many other accounts so upon this because it rewardeth him so ill and he finds such unsavoury fruits of it A little digging will discover sin to be the roote of all those evill and bitter fruits which we at any time are fed with in this world Sin is the gall in our cup and the gravel in our bread and we are made to taste bitterness and finde trouble that we may both know and acknowledge it to be so Fifthly The purpose of God in afflicting us is to set us a praying to and seeking after him We seldome know our need of him till we feele it Hos 5.15 In their affliction they will seek me early affliction puts man upon supplication yet every man who is afflicted doth not presently seek God many in their affliction mind not God they seek to men not to God a crosse without a Christ never made any seek God but affliction through the workings of the Spirit of Christ is a meanes to bring the soule to God and we see the effect of it at the beginning of the next Chapter in the same Prophet Hos 6.1 Come let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heale us c. Sixthly God is pleased to exercise us with crosses for the exercise of our Graces or to set grace aworke Grace hath most businesse to doe when we are taken off from all worldly business and are layd upon our bed our sick-bed Some worke is not done so well any where else as there And many graces worke best when 't is worst
be seasonable if not when we see them dying and going to the grave yet some when they visit sick friends will not speak a word of either they fear it may hasten death to hear of it that speaking of the grave may put them into it then which I know no fear more foolish or more to be feared Yea some will forbid visiters to mention death when their Relations lye sick O doe not speak of death to my Husband saith the Wife c. But remember it if the sick are drawing near to the grave they that visit them should remember them of the grave both in prayer and in conference to speak of death cannot hurt the body but the not speaking of it may hurt the soul and hinder it from getting out of the snares both of spirituall and eternall death Yet godly prudence and great caution is to be used about it none should doe it bluntly nor suddenly but having by discreet insinuations first hinted to the sick man his danger of death we should then by faithfull counsells prepare him for it and by comfortable Scripture cordialls strengthen and arme his spirits against it Such savoury and well mannaged discourses of death may through the blessing of God be a savour of eternall life to the sick man and will not in the least prejudice his recovery from sickness when his soul draweth near to the grave Aâd his life to the destroyers ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Mortificantibus Mont The Hebrew is to those that kill or to lâfe destroyers There is a difference among Interpreters who are here intended by these Destroyers to whom the sick mans life draweth near or who are these life destroyers First some thus his life to the destroyers that is to his enemies that are ready to destroy him But that 's improper to the text which speaking of sickness cannot intend any destroying enemy but the last enemy which is to be destroyed death or the antecedents and usuall attendants of it sicknesses Ad Angelos morti praefectos non incommodè resertur sequentis versiculi ratione habita ubi Angeli vitam annunciantis unius de mille mentionem facit ut ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã intelligas mortis âumcios Merc Secondly by the destroyers others understand Angells who are commission'd and sent of God to cut the thread of life and to take mortalls out of this world by mortall diseases and so the destroying Angell in this verse stands in opposition to that comforting Angell spoken of in the next verse if there be a messenger or an Angell c. That Angells have such a Ministry is clear 2 Sam. 24.16 Where David having chosen to fall into the hands of God an Angell is presently dispatcht to doe execution upon his people And when the Angell stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it the Lord repented him of the evill and said to the Angell that destroyed the people it is enough stay now thine hand c. That destroyer so he is called Exod. 12.23 who slew all the first borne of the Egyptians Gods last and greatest plague upon them his tenth plague is by most interpreted to be an Angell yea by some a good Angell because appointed and directed by God to spare his people the Jewes and to poure out his vengeance upon the Egyptians his and their enemies For most usually the wicked are plagued by good Angells and the good as Job in this book was are afflicted by evill Angells Howbeit that text say some Psal 78.49 leadeth us rather to beleeve that it was an evill Angell He cast upon them meaning the Egyptians the fiercenesse of his anger wrath indignation and trouble by sending evill Angells among them Yet possibly those Angells which destroyed the Egyptians are called evill Angells not because they were so in their nature but because they were Ministers of evill to that hard-hearted people Which way soever we take it there is a truth in it applicable to the Scripture here in hand And so some expound that of Solomon Prov. 17.11 An evill man seeketh only rebellion therefore a cruell Messenger shall be sent against him The text may be rendred a cruell Angell that is an Angell with a Message of wrath and destruction shall be sent unto him The Apostle 1 Cor. 10.10 speaking of those dreadfull judgments which God sent upon his people the Jewes in the Wildernesse such as we are like to find in these Gospell times if we provoke him for all those things are said to have happened unto them for Types or examples vers 11. And there he gives us warning neither murmure ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer That is by the Pestilence or Plague as 't is expressed Numb 14.12 37. which the Apostle Paul calleth a destroyer because doubtless it was executed by some invisible destroyer or Angell The Devill whom John in the Revelation Chap. 9.11 calleth the Angell of the bottomlesse pit is there also set forth by this Title whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon The Devill is the Apollyon the Abaddon both which signifie a destroyer yea the Devill Heb. 2.14 is said to have the power of death as if he were set over that sad work and Lorded it over dying men yet let us know to our comfort the Devill hath not the power of death as a Lord or Judge but only as an Executioner thus the sick mans life may be said to draw nigh to the destroyer that is to the destroying Angell or to the messenger of death Thirdly we may take the destroyers not for persons sent to destroy but for diseases and sicknesses these are destroyers And thus it may be said of a sick man his life draweth nigh to the destroyers that is he is in the hand or under the power of such diseases as probably will destroy him That seems to be Mr. Broughtons understanding of the words Praestat generale est et ad omnia mortis signa et mortifera quicquid illud sit referre Merc who renders his soul draweth nigh to the grave and his life to killing maladies Whatsoever is a death-bringer whatever is deadly or mortall to man may be comprehended under this expression The Destroyers And so these words His life draweth nigh to the destroyer may signifie only thus much he is deadly or as we commonly expresse it mortally sick There 's no hopes of him he is past recovery the Physitians have given him over Heman Psal 88.3 4 5. speaks to this sence and near in this language of himself My soul is full of troubles my life draweth nigh unto the grave I am counted with them that goe down into the pit I am as a man that hath no strength Free among the dead like the slaine that lye in the grave whom thou remembrest no more Heman was alive yet with respect either to the anguish of his soul
his soule v. 26. He shall pray and God shall be favourable to him and he shall see his face with joy for he will render to man his righteousness Thus you have the parts and purpose of these words I shall now proceed to the particulars If there be a messenger with him Hypothetica locutio significat libertatem dei in conferendo hoc beneficio Indicatio contingit quibus deus vult Coc. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã inde ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã missus legatus nuncius These words are Hypotheticall or by way of supposition if there be noting that it is not alwayes so every one hath not this mercy to have a messenger sent him it 's a speciall priviledge granted by God to some If there be A messenger What or who is this messenger The word in the Hebrew hath a three-fold signification all which are insisted upon by interpreters upon this place First It signifieth an Angel Now Angels properly taken are spirituall or incorporeall substances whose both office and high dignity it is to attend about the throne of God and to be sent forth upon his speciall service Psal 103.20 Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excell in strength that doe his commandements and hearken to the voyce of his word God hath thousand thousands of these servants ministring to him and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him Dan 7.10 Some stay upon this exposition affirming that here we are to understand an Angel by nature And hereupon ground the ministring of Angels to those who are either sick in body or troubled in mind Yea the Popish writers would hence prove the intercession of Angels for man and mans invocation of Angels but though the exposition be granted yet it yeilds no ground for this Inference For what though God should send an Angel to instruct and comfort a sick man will it therefore follow that the sick man should pray to him and so give him the honour which is due to God Secondly The word is applyed in particular to Jesus Christ the uncreated Angel or the creating Angel the Lord of Angels who by way of eminency is called The Angel of his presence Isa 63.9 and the Angel or messenger of the Covenant Mal 3.1 He also was that Angel of whom the Lord spake to the children of Israel Exod 23.20 saying Vides quam clarè hoc loco Elihu de Christo concionetur per quem omnis conscientia quontumcunque per legem occisa vivificatur per quem omnis crux vitae et liberationis initium est Brent Behold I send an Angel before thee to keepe thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared Beware of him and obey his voyce provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions if you persist in them for my name is in him that is he is of the same nature with my selfe and with that nature he hath my name Jehovah Thus some carry it here as if Elihu specially intended the ministration of Jesus Christ the Angel of the Covenant to the sick sinner for his restoring both as to the health of soule and body 'T is true Jesus Christ is the great Angel or messenger and he primarily and chiefly doth all the business for poore sinners he is the messenger sent from God and he is the interpreter of the mind of God he came from the bosom of the father and reveales the mysteries of heaven to us by his holy Spirit He indeed is the one of a thousand the chiefest of ten thousand to shew unto man his uprightness Yet I conceive that in this place not the Lord of Angels alone but some Angel of the Lord is also intended And therefore Thirdly The word Angel is applyable to every Messenger The Scripture gives it first to those that are sent by men about any errand or business 1 Sam 23.27 But there came a messenger unto Saul saying hast thee and come for the Philistims have invaded the land We read of an evill messenger Pro 13.17 who is either such a one as brings an evill message or is himselfe evill Isa 14.32 What shall one then answer to the messengers of the Nation the Lord hath founded Zion and the poore of his people shall trust in it And as it notes a messenger first by man so a messenger sent by God The ancient Prophets were in this sence the Angells of God his messengers and so are the Ministers of the Gospel at this day The Epistles to the seaven Churches are all directed to the Angells of the Churches that is to the severall Pastors or Ministers of the Churches respectively And thus we may conclude that by the messenger in this text we are to understand any faithfull Minister of Christ sent to convince convert or comfort a sick troubled soule And as was intimated before we may very well gather up both these latter interpretations into one that which applyeth it to Christ and that which applyeth it to the Ministers of Christ For so we have here both the author and the instrument of this comfort to the sick man Jesus Christ is the chiefe messenger and comforter of poore sinners and the Ministers of the Gospel are instruments in his hand sent out by him for the perfecting of that worke The word is applyed to both Mal 3.1 Nuncius est propheta aliquis seu doctor à deo missus Pisc Behold I will send my messenger or my Angel and he shall prepare the way before me John the Baptist was Christs messenger as Christ himselfe an infallible interpreter assureth us Math 11.10 And presently it follows The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in Behold he shall come saith the Lord of hosts In the first part of the verse John is called the Lords messenger and in the latter part Christ is called the Lords messenger Both were messengers yet with a mighty difference and therefore John the messenger of Christ saith of Christ the messenger Math 3.11 He that cometh after me is mightier then I whose shoes I am not worthy to beare And againe John 1.26 He it is that coming after me is preferred before me whose shoes latchet I am not worthy to unloose If there be a messenger Hence note First The Ministers of Christ are the messengers of Christ Christ is the fathers messenger and they are messengers sent out by Christ As my father hath sent me so send I you said Christ to his Apostles John 20.21 And though that Title of Apostle which signifieth One sent or a Messenger be most properly attributed to those who were immediately called and inspired by Christ yet in an allayed sence it may be applyed commodiously enough to any true Minister of the Gospel for he also is sent he hath both his mission and commission mediately from Christ Yea the word Apostle is applyed in common to all or
the meaning scope and mind of any sentence or the purpose of man in what he speaketh Thirdly there is the divine of spirituall interpreter who labours to bring the truths of God and the heart of man together The Apostle having treated about prophecying concludes 1 Cor. 14.25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest and so falling down on his face he will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth as if the man that beleeved not or one unlearned for of such he speaks vers 24. had said surely these men understand what is in my heart for they have brought the truth of God and my heart together so that I must confesse God is in them that is there is a divine wisdome or interpretation in them When Elihu faith If there be an interpreter we are to understand him in this last sence not of one that can interpret words like a Grammarian or give the scope and sence of words like a Logician but of one that hath a divine skill to bring the truths of God home to the heart of man that is to convince informe an ignorant conscience and to comfort relieve and support a troubled conscience If there be an interpreter Hence note The Ministers of Christ are the interpreters of the mind and good will of God toward poor sinners They interpret the mind of God as to peace and reconciliation as to grace and salvation as well as to duty and holiness of conversation 'T is the nicest and hardest thing in the world to interpret the mind of God aright to a sinner to bring his heart to a closing with the great truths and promises of the Gospel he that can doe this skilfully is worthy the name of an interpreter The Apostle saith of him who is but a babe in Christ and useth milke that is lives upon the lower and more easie principles of faith he is unskillfull in the word of righteousnesse Heb. 5.13 that is he knowes not how to make out and mannage for his own comfort the doctrine of free grace through the alone righteousness of Jesus Christ And therefore as first God himself is the author and fountaine of this grace as secondly Jesus Christ is the purchaser or procurer of the fruits of this grace to sinners as thirdly the effectuall worker of our hearts to receive this grace as also the witness-bearer and sealer of it to our souls is the holy Spirit as fourthly the word of the Gospell is the Charter and Covenant of this grace so fifthly the Ministers of Christ are the interpreters of this grace and they are or ought to be skillfull in this word of righteousness Their skill and duty is first to explaine what the Covenant is and rightly to lay down how the sinners reconciliation to God is wrought Secondly to make a sutable and seasonable application of it or to bring it home to the souls and consciences of poor sinners as they find their state to be And as the Ministers of Christ are Gods interpreters to his people so they are the peoples interpreters unto God They are the former two wayes First by opening the mind of God to his people Secondly by urging and pressing them to receive it both for their direction and consolation They are the latter four wayes First by laying open and spreading the peoples wants and weaknesses before God Secondly by confessing their sins and transgressions to God Thirdly by intreating the Lord for them or by praying for mercy pardon and forgiveness in their behalfe for sins committed Fourthly by giving thanks in their name for mercies received Thus they are first Gods mouth to the people in preaching declaring the Gospel Secondly the peoples mouth to God in prayer and thanksgiving And in both performe the worke and Office of an interpreter And if the Ministers of the Gospell are interpreters Then First Every Minister must be acquainted with the mind of God He must have skill in the mystery of the Gospel How shall he be able to interpret the mind of God to sinners who is not acquainted with the mind of God We have the mind of Christ saith the Apostle of himselfe and his fellow-labourers in the Gospel 1 Cor. 2.16 and when he saith we have the mind of Christ his meaning is not only this that they had the mind of Christ written in a book but they had a cleare understanding of it and so were fitted to interpret it to others Secondly As he must have the knowledge of the mystery so he must have the tongue of the learned Isa 50.4 That he may be able to speak a word in season to him that is weary that is to the wounded and troubled in conscience This is the interpreter intended by Elihu He is one that hath learned and is taught of God Humane learning the knowledge of Arts and Sciences is good and hath its use but divine learning or learning in divine things that is to be divinely learned 't is possible for one to have learning in divine things and not to be divinely learned is absolutely necessary to make him an interpreter It is not enough to know divine things but he must know them divinely or by the unction and teachings of the Spirit The Apostle John Rev 10.8 is commanded to eat the book this eating of the book signifieth the spirituall knowledg of divine truths in this sence we know no more then we eat then we as it were turn into our own substance that which is eaten becomes one with us the mystery of the Gospell must be eaten by the interpreter of Gospell mysteries A man cannot interpret the mind of God till he knows it and he cannot know the mind of God unlesse God himself reveals it so the Apostle argueth 1 Cor. 2. from 12 to 16. As no man knoweth the mind of a man but the spirit of a man that is in him so the things of the spirit of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God and he to whom the Spirit of God doth reveale them And therefore though a man may have an abillity to interpret the word of God as 't is an excellent book a book full of admirable knowledge he may I say have an abillity to interpret it soundly by humane learning yet no man can doe it savingly and convertingly but by the help of the Spirit Psal 25.14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant he will shew it effectually he will make them know it Thus David prayed Psal 119.18 Lord open thou mine eyes that I may behold wonderous things out of thy Law Naturall parts and humane learning arts and languages may give us an understanding of the tenour and literal meaning of the Law of God but none of these can open our eyes to behold the wonders of the Law much lesse the wonders and mysteries of the Gospell The opening of our eyes to behold these
breath bloweth away sickness if he doe but speak to a disease to a feaver to an ague to a dropsie to a consumption O killing malady spare him thou hast done enough any disease might prevaile to death did not God say spare him hold thy hand not a blow more not a fit more O killing malady Death it selfe much more sickness heareth the voyce of God And it may be said to heare him because it doth that which they who have the power of hearing ought to doe that is it obeyeth or yeildeth to the voyce and command of God will no longer afflict the sick man Diseases may be said to deliver a man from death the pit when they depart from him Yet Secondly I conceive this warrant for the deliverance of the sick man is given out to the messenger or interpreter to the one among a thousand that visiteth him in his sickness He having been with him and dealt with his conscience he having brought him into a good frame the Lord is gracious Sequestrem illum Jubebit ei renunciare impetratum esse sibi liberationem Bez and in answer to his prayer sets it upon his heart that he shall recover and warrants him to tell him so which is declaratively to deliver him from going downe to the pit This act of mans delivering the sicke is like that act of man pardoning the sinner John 20.23 that is 't is ministeriall or declarative not originall nor Authoritative The interpreter doth not deliver him but tells him God will We have the Psalmist speaking thus after his supplication and prayer made to the Lord for a sick State or Nation or for a sick Church that 's his scope Psal 85. Wilt thou not revive us againe that thy people may rejoycâ in thee v. 6. Surely thou wilt and he expresseth his confidence that God would v. 8. I will heare what God the Lord will speake for he will speak peace unto his people and to his Saints When he had prayed he would harken for news or for a message from heaven whether or no the Lord would order him to speak peace to those for whom he had been praying and say deliver them from going downe to the pit Thus did the Prophet Habakkuk I will stand upon my watch and set me upon my tower and see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer when I am reproved Chap 2.1 In the next verse The Lord answered and sayd write the vision and make it plaine upon tables that he may run that readeth it And what was the answer surely deliverance for having sayd in the end it shall speake and not lye v. 3. he concludes v. 4. The just shall live by his faith Believing deliverance he shall at last be delivered from the pit of captivity and live Here in the text we must suppose this messenger had prayed and having prayed he did not neglect his prayer but was hearkning what the Lord would say Elihu was confident the Lord would give a gracious answer though not by an immediate voyce or revelation to his eare yet by an assurance of the mercy given into his spirit When that good king Hezekiah was not only sick unto death but had received an expresse message from the Lord Set thy house in order for thou shalt dye and not live 2 Kings 20.1 'T is sayd at the 2d verse He turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord saying c. And at the 4th verse The word of the Lord came to Isaiah the Prophet saying turne againe and tell Hezekiah the Captain of my people Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father I have heard thy prayer I have seene thy teares behold I will heale thee c. Here God gave a word formally and put it into the Prophets mouth Goe deliver him from going downe to the pit And though the Lord doth not thus now in such an explicite and open way nor may we expect it yet there is a virtuall saying of this word from the Lord and that sometimes mightily imprest upon the hearts of those who have prayed and sought unto him for the sick man whereby not by an ungrounded vaine confidence but by a scripturall holy confidence comparing the promise with the mans condition they are enabled to tell him The Lord hath delivered thee from going downe to the pit And he shall as certainly be delivered as if the Lord had sent an expresse from heaven to tell him so Then he is gracious to him and saith deliver him from going downe to the pit Hence observe First Death is a going to the pit a going to destruction Thus it is ordinarily with all who dye to the pit they goe Many dye and goe downe to the bottomless pit all who dye may be sayd to goe to the pit To goe to the bottomless pit is the circumlocution of eternall death as to goe to the pit is the circumlocution of temporall death Secondly Forasmuch as the man being sick the Lord gives out this word deliver him from going downe to the pit Note Sickness hath in it a tendency unto death The sick stand as it were upon the borders of the grave Some not only put death farr from them in health but in their sickness untill they are even dead they scarce thinke themselves dying It is good for us in our health and best strength to be looking into the pit and considering upon what grounds of comfort we can descend into the grave How much more should we be thinking of and looking into the pit when we are in a languishing and dying condition Thirdly Observe The word and work of deliverance is from God alone Then he will be gracious and say deliver him from going downe to the pit God can and God only can deliver from death no creature in heaven or earth can speak this but by commission from God none can open this secret till God interpret it Deliverance is the Lords salvation and the word of salvation from sickness as well as of salvation from hell comes out from the Lord. But is it not sayd Pro 11.4 Righteousness delivereth from death I answer when it is sayd Righteousness delivereth from death The meaning is God delivereth the righteous from death He delivereth them from the sting and terror from all that which is properly called the evill of corporall death and he delivereth them wholly from the least touch or shadow of eternall death And this righteousness which delivers from death is not our own but the righteousness of Christ made ours by the appoyntment of God and received as ours by faith 'T is neither any righteousness wrought in us nor any righteousness wrought by us but that righteousness which is wrought for us which delivereth from death and that delivereth us from death because God saith of such a righteous person deliver him as often from temporall death or going downe to the pit of the grave so alwayes from
eternall death or going downe to the pit of hell Fourthly In that this word deliver him is given to the messenger Observe God conveighs deliverance and mercy to us by men like our selves He will have the creature beholding to the creature for his mercy though mercy come freely and only from himselfe God delivereth the sick and the sinner in such a method that we may owne though not stay in his messengers as the instruments of his favour God who can doe all things by himselfe will not doe many things but by meanes He saith to the messenger Deliver him from going downe to the pit You will say How can a Minister or a Messenger deliver the sick from going downe to the pit I answer as was touched before he delivers him by declaring to him the minde of God by acquainting the sick with the promises of deliverance and by pressing him to believe and rest upon them by assuring him that as God is able to performe the promise so he is faithfull and willing to performe it yea that he hath given some tokens for good that he will deliver him from going downe to the pit Thus the worke of Gods free grace mercy and power is oftentimes attributed to instruments and second causes because they have their place and use in the bringing about the purposes of God for the good of his people Hence some men are called Saviours And Saviours shall come up on mount Zion Obad v. 21. No man can save either from temporall or eternall destruction He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death Ps 68.20 yet saith the Prophet there shall come Saviours that is God will rayse up worthy men principall men as another Prophet cals them Mic 5.5 who shall destroy Zions enemies Thus Paul admonisheth Timothy Take heed to thy selfe and to thy doctrine continue in them for in so doing thou shalt save thy selfe and them that heare thee 1 Tim 4.16 The Apostle James Chap 5.20 speakes the same thing He which converteth a sinner from the errour of his way shall save a soule from death and shall hide a multitude of sins And the same Apostle faith as to the case in the text at the 15th verse of the same Chapter The prayer of faith shall save the sicke Though none can save yet many are means of our salvation And the Lord is pleased to honour those who are the meanes of any salvation so farre as to say They save It is indeed the duty of all to ascribe the all of every worke and piece of salvation and deliverance to God only When the people stood wondering at Peter and John after they had healed the lame man Peter answered Acts 3.12 Ye men of Israel why marvel ye at this or why looke ye so earnestly on us as if we by our own power or holiness had made this man to walke The God of Abraham c. hath glorified his Son Jesus As if they had said Therefore doe ye also glorifie him not us for delivering this lame man Though God is pleased to put much honour upon man by speaking of what himselfe doth as if man had done it yet he will not give the glory of what he doth to any man nor may any take it God saith to the messenger deliver him from going downe to the pit but woe to that messenger who saith when he is delivered I have delivered him from going downe to the pit Thus we see the spring of the sick mans recovery it is from the graciousness of God and we see the meanes of it God gives a warrant to his messenger saying Deliver him from going down to the pit But what is the procuring or meritorious cause of this deliverance As the Text hath shewed us the first moving cause The grace of God so it shewes us the meritorious cause by which his deliverance is procured Things are so ordered in the Covenant of grace that though the Lord acts with infinite freeness yet he hath appointed and ordered a way in which alone he will doe what he freely doth This is expressed in the last clause of the verse Fer I have found a ransome But where did God find it certainly in his own bosome in his own heart Jesus Christ came out of the bosome of the Father there he was God found him in and with himself God did not find the ransome by chance nor did he find it by advice and consultation with others but he found it in himself in his own infinite wisdome and goodness that is he contrived it he invented iâ there This rare this most excellent thing a ransome is the Lords own invention I have found it I know how to doe this man good I know how to save him and doe my own honour and Justice no hurt no wrong my honour is saved Verbum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã denotet expiationem aut redemptionem tum etiam pretium quod pro redemptione offertur Significat etiam cooperire linire aut operire bitumine quasi pristinam facieÌ rei alicujus aut immunditiem abscondere quod elegantèr refertur ad ab stertionem peccati Pined my Justice is satisfied in doing it I have found a ransome The word here rendred a ransome signifies in the Verb to cover or to hide that which before lay open that it appeare no more Grace brings another face upon things a new face I may say upon our souls The covering of sin elegantly denotes the pardon of sin And what reason have we to be thankfull and rejoyce when sin our soul durt and deformity is covered We have very foul faces I meane outward conversations and more foul souls or inward inclinations till the Lord is graciously pleased to put a covering upon them If we cover our own sins we shall have no mercy but if the Lord once cover our sins he cannot deny us mercy that being it self our greatest mercy and the fruit of his great mercy The Mercy-seat so famous in the Mosaicall Poedogogy is exprest by this word which properly signifieth a Covering The Mercy-seat was it self a Covering of pure gold laid over the Arke in which Arke the Law was put Exod. 25.17.21 Thou shalt put the Mercy-seat above upon the Arke and in the Ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee And as the dimensions of the Arke were two Cubits and a halfe in length and a Cubit and a half in breadth so the same were the dimensions of the Mercy-seat Vers 10.17 which figured that as the Mercy-seat fully covered the Arke wherein the Law was so Christ should fully cover all our sins which are transgressions of the Law The righteousness of Christ is as long and as broad as the Law and so our sins being covered with that shall never appeare against us Therefore also from above this Mercy-seat between the two Cherubims the Lord said vers 22. I will meete thee and I will
Princes of this world that come to naught But we speak the wisdome of God in a mystery c. which none of the Princes of this World know Ecclesia ex Judaeis paritèr ac gentibus collecta quasi speculum est in quâ contemplantur Angeli mirì ficam dei sapientiam quam antea nesciebant Cato who use to be the most knowing men in the World for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory As if he had said surely the Princes of the world would have adored not reproached and crucified Christ had they understood who he was or the worke which he came about And therefore the Apostle calls it not only a mystery but a great mystery and that there is not the least question but 't is a great mystery 1 Tim. 3.16 Without controversie great is the mystery of godlinesse God manifest in the flesh this great mystery which from the beginning of the World hath been hid in God Eph. 3.9 that is in the counsell and decree of God hath been also some way or other revealed by God almost as soon as the world began It was revealed to Adam by the promise of the womans seed and to Abraham by promise that in his Seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed It was revealed to the Church of the Jewes in Ceremonies and Prophesies and it hath been revealed to the Church both of Jewes and Gentiles by the Spirit in the preaching of the word ever since Christ paid this ransome to this day and it had been hidden to this day if the Lord had not revealed it 't is therefore the Lords invention Let me add this by way of inference We honour men that bring forth any rare invention And if it be an invention which also produceth profit and advantage to mankind how are the Authors of it admired and their names recorded All the inventions of the most refined wits in the world are dull pieces to this invention the redemption of man by Christ And as there is the stamp of an infinite unchangeable wisdome upon it so the profit which comes in by it to mankind is infinite and inestimable How then should we honour God both for bringing this wonderfull invention to light and giving us the benefit of it freely It had been great mercy if God had delivered us upon our finding out and proposall of a way to him but he hath not only delivered us but found out a way himself and plotted how we might be delivered What a glorious mercy is this When Darius saw how Daniel was insnared by his act or decree he was extreamly troubled and saith the Text Dan. 6.14 he was sore displeased with himselfe and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him and he laboured beating his braines and studying till the going down of the Sun to deliver him yet could not but cast he was to the hungry Lions only he told him vers 16. Thy God whom thou servest continually he will deliver thee Darius could not find a ransome any meanes of deliverance for his servant and great Favourite Daniel But when we had brought ourselves into a snare and must have been cast to the Lions for ever to be torne by them the Lord brought forth this rare invention a ransome whereby we poor sinners are delivered out of the mouth of the roaring Lion who goeth about continually to devoure us Secondly Inasmuch as deliverance is got by ransome Observe Our deliverance is costly Soules are precious they are dear ware Blood and that the blood of Christ is their ransome Math. 20.28 Rom. 3.2.5 Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 Heb. 9.12 Rev. 5.9 in comparison of which all the treasures of this world are trash our Gold and Silver corruptible and our very righteousness a corrupt thing Deliverances are obtained three wayes First By power or plaine force thus Abraham delivered his Nephew Lot when he was carryed captive Gen. 14.14 He armed his trained servants born in his house three hundred and eighteen and rescued him I may say the Lord Jesus hath delivered us thus even by force and power he hath beaten all our enemies and having broken and spoyled principallities and powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it his Crosse spoken of in the former verse or in himselfe that is in his own personall power not by any aide or forreigne assistance received from men or Angells Secondly Deliverance is obtained by price or payment When our friends or country-men are taken Captives by Turkes or others we cannot send an Army to rescue them but usually we doe it by ransome we buy them againe out of the enemies hand or out of bondage Jesus Christ hath delivered us not only by power but by price it was not as hath been already shewed by gold or silver but by his own most precious blood 1 Pet. 1.18 Jesus Christ hath delivered us out of the soul destroying hand of Satan by force but he delivers us out of the sin-revenging hand of his Father by price Christ owed the Devill nothing nor doe we but blowes but having undertaken our cause he owed his Father as much as our debt and deliverance from it amounted to a vast summe yet he had enough to answer it to the utmost farthing and did and so delivered us There is a third way of deliverance and that is by supplication and intercession which may be considered two wayes First by our own prayers and supplications Secondly by the prayers and supplications of others which prayers of others are properly called intercessions The intercession of a man with man may deliver him from the wrath of a man And the intercession of a man with God hath wrought the temporall deliverance of some both persons and Nations and therefore when the Lord was resolved not to spare his people he forbad the intercession of the Prophet Jer. 14.11 Pray not for this people for their good And he professed Jer. 15.1 Though Moses and Samuel those two mighty Advocates stood before me praying he meanes for them yet my mind could not be towards this people cast them out of my sight In that God would not deliver his people upon their intercession is an argument that he often doth But 't is the intercession of Christ alone which carryeth it with God and that alwayes carryeth it for the Father alwayes heareth him that is granteth his requests for the deliverance of his people both from temporall spirituall and eternall evills This intercession of Christ is the fruit of his blood shed or of the ransome paid down for us For as his blood purchaseth our deliverance so by his intercession it is given in or applyed to us We have the impetration of our pardon by Christs sufferings and the application of it by Christ interceding for us So then we are delivered both by power and price and prayer in severall and distinct respects But the present text speaks of deliverance only by a
the land of the living Secondly From the way of expressing this in allusion to a childe or a youth Note God he can quickly make the greatest changes in nature either for the better or for the worse He can turne youth into old age and old age into youth That is he can make a young or a healthy man weake as an old man and an old or sickly man strong as a young man and as it is with naturall so with politicall bodyes as with persons so with nations A nation that is flourishing in its youth heate strength and glory rich and full of peace and plenty God can bring an oldness upon it and cause it to decline every day The Prophet spake of the state of Israel in this notion Hos 7.9 Gray haires are here and there upon them and they perceive it not they thought ttemselves to be in a very youthfull flourishing condition as a state but the Lord brought gray haires that is they were decaying withering weakning and became a decrepid nation And when a nation is gray-hayred old and withered he can make it youthfull he can recover the honour and power of it and cause the dread of it to fall upon the neighbouring nations round about He turnes a land into a wilderness which before was as the Garden of God And he can change that land into a Garden of God which now is a desolate wildernes The unchangeable Lord is visible and glorious in all these changes The health and strength both of the body politick and naturall are at his dispose He can bring a decay upon what is built and repaire what is decayed whether in nations or persons When the earthly house of this Tabernacle is ready to drop downe into the grave and crumble into dust God by a word speaking repayreth it to as much beauty and strength as when the first stone being layd the top-stone was set up When Naaman had once submitted to and obeyed the Prophets counsell which at first he despised washed in Jorden His flesh saith the text 2 Kings 5.14 came againe like unto the flesh of a little childe The holy Psalmist charged his owne soule to praise the Lord and all that was within him to blesse his holy name Psal 103.1 5. Who had satisfied his mouth with good things so that his youth was renewed as the Eagle This renovation of his youth may be understood three wayes First as to his naturall state or bodyly strength Secondly as to his civill state or worldly successes as to his honour and kingly renowne Thirdly as to his spirituall state or the hightning of his gifts graces and comforts 'T is probable David had found a declension in all these and at last through the goodness of God and his blessing upon him the renewing of them all from that oldness to a youthfullness againe like that of Eagles We find the same allusion in the Prophet Isa 40.31 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up as with Eagles wings Some Naturalists say the Eagle reneweth her strength by sucking blood when her stomack is so weake that shee cannot seed upon the flesh of her prey Saints indeed renew their strength as the Eagle while by faith they sucke the blood of Jesus Christ and they get cure of their owne weaknesses while they believingly lay hold upon his strength Thirdly We heard in the former verse of a divine warrant issued out for this mans recovery Then he is gracious to him and saith deliver him Here we have the warrant executed His flesh shall be fresher then a childes Hence observe The commands and warrants of God are effectuall they shall be obeyed and made good to man If God say deliver him from a sick bed he shall be delivered I will worke saith the Lord Isa 43.13 14. and who shall let it for your sake I have sent to Babylon and have brought downe all their Nobles or barrs as the margin reads it I will have it done I will breake all those Nobles who are as barrs in the way of my peoples deliverance So when the Lord sends his warrant for the delivering of a sick man he will break all those barrs and bands by which diseases and sicknesses hold him as a prisoner in his bed Nothing can stand against the word of God as by a word speaking he gave the creature a being when it had none The Lord only spake the word Let there be light let there be a firmament c. and it was so Thus also the word or warrant of God reneweth a wel-being to those with whom it is worst or a comfortable life to those who are compassed about with the sorrowes of death The word of God prevailes over all or is effectuall to every purpose Psal 33.9 He spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast Further In this restoring of the sick we have a shadow of the resurrection The raysing of a dying man from his bed is like the raysing of the dead from the grave The spring of the yeare is a shadow of the resurrection because then the earth returnes to her youth and is fresh as a child In winter all things are dead and desolate their glosse and beauty is gone but then cometh the spring and all revives againe the face of the earth looks fresh corne and grasse trees and plants flourish and put forth their buds and blossomes Now what the spring of the yeare is to the body of the earth the same is the returne of health to the body of man In both we have an exemplar of the resurrection as also in the regeneration or new birth of the soule by the power of the holy Ghost For till then we are like old sickly men in the old man yea we are dead But no sooner doth the Spirit bring us forth by a second creation into the life of the new man but we become in spirit fresh like Children our youth returnes to us againe that is we returne to that state wherein we were first created and set up by God in righteousness and true holiness yea into a better and surer state then that Man through grace is not only as he was in the first day of his creation but better He returnes to the day of his youth and receives such a youth as shall never decay into old age yea the older he is in nature the younger that is the stronger and more beautifull he shall be in grace He shall according to that promise Psal 92.14 still bring forth fruit in old age he shall be fat and flourishing This renewed youthfullness and flourishing condition of the restored sick man in spiritualls is specially and fully set forth in the next verse For Elihu having shewed the recovery of the sick mans body he proceeds to the recovery of his soule which eminently returnes to the dayes of its youth both in the puttings forth of or exercising the grace of God
received and in receiving more grace favour and comfort from God as will appeare in opening the words Vers 26. He shall pray to God and he will be favourable to him and he shall see his face with joy for he will render to man his righteousness Elâhu gave us before one meanes of the sick sinfull mans recovery from his bodyly and soule sickness that was the counsell and instruction given in by the messenger the interpreter one of a thousand And here he sets downe another meanes by which he is restored to both especially to the sweetness of both He shall pray unto God The word here used to pray signifieth not barely to pray ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã multiplicavit propriè verba fortia et magnacopia fudit in oratione inde ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã supplices Zeph. 3.10 or put up requests to God 'T is a word with an emphasis implying the Multiplying of prayer and that not the multiplying of prayer so much by number as by weight the powring forth or multiplying of strong prayers or as it is sayd of Christ In the dayes of his flesh Heb. 5.7 the offering up prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares There may be a multiplying of weak insignificant words in the eares of God by prayer But the faithfull people of God through the Spirit powre out many strong words in prayer as Christ did in the dayes of his flesh to him who is able to save them from death or danger and give them life When Elihu saith He shall pray he intends such prayers even the urgency importunity or vehemency of the soule in prayer When Isaac saw his wife Rebecca was long barren he was forty yeares old before he married and many yeares being elapsed in marriage there was no appearance of Children Then saith the Text Gen 25.21 Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife because shee was barren and the Lord was entreated of him and Rebecca his wife conceived It cannot be imagined that Isaac being so holy and gracious a man had not prayed for that mercy before Doubtless he prayed that God would fullfill the promise to his father Abraham in giving him a childe but when he saw the promise so long delayed or stick so long in the birth then he intreated the Lord 't is this word he powred out many and strong prayers The word is used againe concerning Manoah after his wife had received a promise from the Lord of hearing a Son afterwards called Sampson Judg 13.8 Then Manoah entreated the Lord and sayd O my Lord let the man of God which thou didst send come againe unto us c. Fearing they might not fully follow the instructions given his wife for the education of their son he earnestly begged of the Lord further direction in that matter That prophecy either of the Gentiles to be converted or of the returne of the dispersed Jewes expresseth them by this word Zeph 3.10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants shall come even the daughter of my dispersed shall bring mine offerings As if the Prophet had sayd They shall spend themselves in supplications at their returne they shall come with strong petitions with mighty prayers as making prayer their business They shall not come with frozen affections and cold requests but with hearts flaming up in the ardency of their desires and urgency of their supplications to the Lord. That 's the force of the word He shall pray As if Elihu had sayd He shall not come with dead-hearted prayers and petitions as many doe in their sicknesses and sorrowes nor with a formal Lord have mercy upon me and helpe me but he shall make a business of it he shall pray to purpose he shall pray with his whole strength In which sence the Lord bid Ananias goe to Saul afterwards Paul Acts 9.11 For behold he prayeth intimating that he had never prayed all his dayes before nor indeed had he though being brought up a strict Pharisee he was much in the forme of prayer ever prayed in power before He shall pray Some understand this He relating to the messenger praying for the sick man He shall pray and God will be favourable to him That 's a truth 't is the worke and duty of the messenger to pray for as well as advise the sick man But I conceive rather the person here intended praying is the sick man for himselfe who after he hath been counselled directed and advised by the messenger what to doe applyeth himselfe to the doing of it Further Some who agree that the sick man is the person praying yet understand it of prayer after his recovery who finding himself healed and strengthened prayeth unto God for grace or for a right use of his health strength But I rather understand it of his prayer unto God in the time of his affliction who when his sins and transgressions have been laid before him by the messenger and his soul-soars searched to the bottome and faithfully dealt with and so brought to a sight of himselfe and of his sin with the sad effects of it visible upon this pained and consumptive body is then stirred to seek the Lord and entreat his favour He shall pray unto God Hence Note Sicknesse is a prayer season Prayer is a duty never out of season yet at some times more in season and most in season in times of affliction Is any man afflicted let him pray James 5.13 And among all afflictions the affliction of sickness seemes to be a speciall season calling for this duty Therefore in the 14. verse of the same Chapter assoon as he had said is any man afflicted let him pray it followeth is any sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him 'T is high time for us when sick to look about us to call in prayer-aide or helpe from others in prayer yet 't is not enough fot the afflicted or the sick to get others to pray for them they must pray for themselves some put off the duty of prayer to others and think it sufficeth if they send bills to ministers or move friends to pray for them I know sickness indisposeth to prayer bodily paine and weakness hinder continuance and abiding in the duty but that doth not excuse the sick from praying for themselves To desire others to pray for us in bodyly sickness and neglect it our selves is an ill symptome of a sick soul yea to desire others in that case to pray for us when we have no heart to pray for our selves is too cleare a prognostick that their prayers will not profit us nor be prevailing for us Pharoah when under those dreadfull plagues could send for Moses and Aaron more then once and said unto them entreat the Lord for me Exod. 9.27 28. Chap. 10.16 17. But we read not that he entreated the Lord for himself Simon Magus when struck with the terrible threatnings of Peter said Pray ye to the
Lord for me that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me Acts 8.24 But we read not that he prayed for himself The prayers of others are rarely beneficiall to any unlesse they either pray or have a desire to pray for themselves Elihu represents the sick man praying for himself he shall pray Vnto God There 's the object of prayer Hence Note Prayer in sicknesse and in all other cases must be directed unto God and to him only Divine addresses are fit for none but God For First none are worthy of this honour but God Prayer is so great a part of that honour and worship which is due to God that it is often put for his whole worship Mine house saith the Lord Isa 56.7 shall be called an house of prayer for all Nations Secondly none can heare that is answer prayer but God there is no help to be had but in him As it is his glory to be prayed to and such a glory as he will not part with to any other so it is in vaine to pray to any other In vaine is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of Mountains that is from the greatest worldly Powers truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel Jerem. 3.23 God only was David's Hills Psal 121.1 2. I Lift my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my helpe what these hills were himselfe explaines in the next verse My help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth Baals Priests called upon Baal they cryed Baal hear us but saith the Text thâre was neither voyce nor any that answered 1 Kings 18.26 It is not only sinfull but senceless to pray to any other then God alone That popish Doctrine of invocation to Saints and Angells is not only a will-worship but folly and dotage Fourthly He shall pray c. Hence Observe If we would have any mercy from God we must ask it God is ready to give but he looks to be intreated and he will be intreated What God hath promised to doe for us his doing of it must be obtained by prayer Working prayer worketh the promises to their issue yea prayer worketh the prophecies whether of salvation upon Sion or ruine upon Babylon to their issue Promises and prophesies are the express will of God and shall certainly be fullfilled in their season yet if we desire their fullfilling we must pray that he would fullfill them and 't is a token for good that God is about to fullfill them when the hearts of his people are drawne out much in prayer for their fullfilling There are some mercies in the promises rightly called preventing mercies they come upon us before we ask such is the mercy of out vocation conversion or turning to God we are naturally so far from praying while we are in the state of nature that we are continually blaspheming or dishonouring the name of God but as for persons converted who are eminently called heires of the promise that is of the good in the promise if they will have any good out of a promise they must aske it When the Prophet had declared many prophesies of good and great and glorious things which God would doe for his people he concludes with this direction from the Lord. Ezek. 36.37 I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to doe it for them As if the Lord had said I will not doe these things unasked as you looke I should doe these things for you so I look you should pray unto me that they may be done A promise was made to Abraham Gen. 22.17 that his seed should be multiplyed as the Stars of Heaven now might not Isaac his Son have said God hath promised me children what need I pray for them but Isaac knew better he knew that the promise was to be brought to the birth by prayer therefore he entreated the Lord that he might have children Fifthly from these words He shall pray compared with the next and he that is God will be favourable to him Observe The Lord is ready to hear when we pray ready to give when we ask As prayer is honourable and delightfull to God so fruitfull to man Ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find Math. 7.7 He shall pray unto God and he will be favourable unto him Prayer shall not be lost nor vanish into aire There was never any faithfull prayer lost though the prayers of many have not been answered in kind that is they have not had the very thing they asked for yet they have had an answer to their prayers and though prayer be not alwayes answered in our time yet there is a time wherein all faithfull prayers shall be answered one age reaps the fruit of those prayers which another age hath sowne The seed time is one age the harvest in another Latter Generations get good by the prayers of the former Though we who pray see not the fruit of it yet many shall find the fruit of it and how often doth the fruit of prayer appear presently how often doth the answer come in upon the very putting up of the request Isa 65.24 Before they call I will answer and while as they are yet speaking I will hear While the word is in their mouth the mercy shall be put into their hand While the Church Acts 12.5.16 was praying Peter came in among them As if God had said there 's your prayer What the Propâet Elisha said 2 Kings 6.33 of the messenger sent to apprehend him Is not the sound of his Masters feet behind him The same may we say somtimes of this messenger holy and fervent prayer is not the sound of the mercy prayed for at the very heels of it Thus close doth Elihu put the sick mans prayer and the answer of God he shall pray unto God And he will be favourable unto him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Graecis est ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã significat vehementer velle ac delectari Merc That is he shall have a gracious and a speedy answer he will be favourable unto him or he will accept him as Mr. Broughton renders 'T is a very comfortable word it notes not only to wish well to or to be at peace but to be well pleased with another yea to be delighted and take pleasure in him 'T is not barely to be appeased and reconciled to lay down wrath and displeasure conceived against a man but it notes much sweetness of spirit towards him and full content or complacency in him Psal 149.4 The Lord taketh pleasure in his people they are as the joy of his heart he will beautifie the meek with salvation he will not only save them but adorne them with salvation they shall not only be delivered after they have layen among the pots Psal 68.13 from the blackness and filth of their adversity but they shall have a beauty put upon them or as it followeth in that Psalme last
cited They shall be as the wings of a Dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold God will be favourable to them that is he will give them favours to wear for him he will put markee of honour upon them they shall not only be benifited but beautified and crowned with salvation God expressed that highest favour and most indeared affection which he bare to his own Son as serving him by no better nor more emphaticall word then this Isa 42.1 Behold my serâant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth What is or can be more delightfull to God then his Son and what can be more comfortable to man then to hear and know that God delighteth in him and bears favour to him through his Son with the same affection as he doth to his only begotten Son He will be favourable unto him Whence note First God is well pleased with he is favourable to and delighted in an humble sinner When a sinner is brought upon his knees and becomes a suppliant when as he is laid low by affliction so he lyeth low in prayer and supplication then the Lord will be savourable to him and shew his delight in him The Lord delighteth not in the strength of the horse he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man Ps 147.10 11. No man is favoured by God because of his outward favour because he hath a beautifull face or strong cleane limbs yea not only hath the Lord no pleasure in any mans legs but not in any mans braines how reaching soever nor in any mans wit how quick soever nor in any mans judgment how deep soever nor in any mans tongue how eloquent or well spoken soever but the Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy in those that walk humbly with him and call upon him Let me saith Christ to his Spouse Cant. 2.14 hear thy voyce for it is sweet he meanes it not of an artificiall singing voyce but of a spirituall praying voyce That 's the musick which the Church makes for Christ Nothing is so tunable nor takes the eare and heart of Christ like the voyce of prayer and praise from a gracious heart All the beauties and rarities both of persons and things are dull and flat yea wearisome and loathsome to God in comparison of a gracious honest humble soul Princes have their favourites they are according to the language of this Text favourable to some above many either because they are beautifull and goodly persons or because they are men of excellent speech prudence and comportment All godly men are Gods Favourites he is favourable to them not only above many men in the world but above all the men of this world who have their portion in this life And he therefore favours them because they are the purchase of his Son and the workmanship of his Spirit convincing them of and humbling them for their sins as also creating them after God in righteousness and true holiness Such shall be his favourites Secondly Consider the coherence or dependance of these words He shall call unto God and he will be favourable unto him Whereas before all his complainings and outcryes stood him in no stead now being humbled effectually and taking hold of the righteousness shewed and offered him by the Messenger of God he no sooner makes suit to God but is heard Hence Note God first shewes regard to the person then to the offering to prayers and services This truth may be understood two wayes First in reference to the state of grace When Abel and Cain brought their sacrifices or offerings God had respect to Abel and his offering but to Cain and his offering had no respect Gen. 4.4 5. Abel was in a state of grace Cain was not so the Apostle states their case Heb. 11.4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice then Cain by which he obtained witnesse that he his person was righteous God testifying of his gifts and what did he testifie surely that his gifts were brought in faith and were presented from a principle of grace which Cain had not and therefore God did not approvingly testifie of his gifts Till we close with God by faith God doth not close with our services by acceptance Secondly as this is true in reference to the state of grace so in reference to somewhat in the present actings or dispositions of those who are gracious 'T is possible for a godly man to act so sinfully and to be so ill disposed to the frame of his heart that God may seem to deny acceptation to his prayers and services David said Psal 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not heare me And God told the Jewes his Covenant people Isa 1.15 When ye make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood Thus while they who have a state interest in Christ walke unworthy of it they are under the frownes of God and his dis-acceptation of all their duties till they renew their repentance and humble themselves And I conceive this was the case of the sick man in the Text in whom doubtlesse he aimed at Job whom Elihu granted to be a godly man yet under great distempers of spirit which must be healed removed before he could so call upon or pray unto God as he would be favourable to him or give him testimonie of his favour Thus we see in both these references how the person of a man must be respected and in favour before his prayers can For as we can have no benefit by the intercession of Christ till we accept his person so God will not give us any benefit by our supplications till himself accepteth our persons which he doth only in Christ Many would be saved by Christ they would be pardoned and get to heaven they would enjoy the benefits and priviledges which he hath purchased for his people but they neglect Christ himself nor doe they think of closing with his person Now I say as unlesse we have respect to the person of Christ and desire union with him we have nothing to doe with his benefits so unless God hath respect to our persons we get no benefit no answer of our prayers Thirdly Note To have the favour of God or to be accepted with him is the top and summe of all desireable favours 'T is the Alpha and Omega the first and last of all other favours to find God favourable to us if God be favourable to us it matters not much who frowns upon us or what foul weather we meet with in this world And as to be in his favour should be the chief of all our desires so to be assured of his favour should be the chief of all our studies and cares 2 Cor. 5.7 Herein saith the Apostle we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him The word notes to labour ambitiously as if he had said
we labour as much for the favour of God as ever any of the sons of ambition laboured for the favour of Princes or regard with the Kings of this world No man ever plotted or flatter'd and crouched so much to the Kings of the earth for favour as we doe to God for favour herein we labour We make it our business to be accepted with him if God once accept a man you may turne him loose he will shift for one How compleately happy the condition of such a favourite is will appeare yet furtber in opening the next clause of this verse And he shall see his face with joy When once God is favourable to a poor sinner then he shall be used or dealt with like a favourite Great Favourites stand in the presence of Princes and frequently see their faces Whomsoever any man favours he freely admits to his presence and takes delight in his company Thus Elihu speaks of Gods Favourite He shall see his face with joy There is a twofold interpretation of these words tending both to the same spirituall sence Videbit deus faciem ejus cum laetitia i. e. hilaritèr cum intuebitur vultu laeto et facili eum respiciet cum ante vultum iratus avertebat Merc First Some by the Antecedent He understand God himselfe and by his face the face of the humbled sick man and so the sence of this assertion he shall see his face with joy is plainly this God will look cheerfully and smilingly upon the face of this poor suppliant God will look upon him as we doe upon friends whom we favour and have much respect for Friends may see content and joy shining in or stampt upon our faces when we look them in the face The content which we take in seeing the face of another is visible in the smiles and joyes of our own faces As when we look sowrely angryly sorrowfully sullenly upon a man when darkness is seen in our faces and clouds gather in our brows ready to dissolve into a storme this speaks we beare him no good will or rather that we bear him much displeasure So when we looke pleasantly upon a man doth it not say that we are highly pleased with him To be sure when God is at peace with a repenting sinner he no longer frownes upon him nor turns his face from him as an enemy but entertaines and welcomes him as a friend which is directly opposite to Jobs apprehension of God at the 10th verse of this Chapter Behold he findeth occasions against me he counteth me for his enemy This is a sweet soul-reviving and ravishing truth God beholds the face of his people with joy he beholds them smileingly cheerfully delightfully David calls it The light of Gods countenance Psal 4.6 Et videbit homo faciem dei cum jubilo Merc Secondly and I rather conceive that to be the meaning of the place most relate the He to the sick man who having been upon his knees humbling himself before God and finding God favourable to him he then seeth his face that is the face of God with joy God fills his soule with a great deale of peace comfort and sweetness in his approaches to him Before possibly if he did but think upon God he was troubled as Asaph found Psal 77.3 I remembred God and was troubled To a man in great trouble especially in trouble of mind the very thoughts of God who is our only help in trouble may be troublesom but when he is set right and restored to the favour of God or God being again favourable unto him he beholds his face with abundance of joy Here are yet two things to be opened or two Queries may be made and answered for the clearing of these words First What is meant by the face of God Secondly what is meant by seeing his face To the former query I answer First the face of God is the essentiall being or perfect Majesty of God of which himself saith to Moses Exod. 33.23 My face shall not be seen Secondly the good will and favour of God is his face Ps 80.3 Cause thy face to shine that is be good to us and we shall be saved Thirdly the face of God in Scripture is put for any manifestations of God to man God manifesteth himself in wrath to some men Psal 34.16 The face of the Lord is against them that doe evill Facies dei iram quandoque favorem notat Drus That is he is angry and greatly displeased with them He manifesteth himself in love to others and all such are said either as in the Text to see his face or as other Texts express it to have his face shining upon them God is a spirit he hath no face properly but as the face of a man is that by which he is knowne if a man hide his face we know not who he is though we see all the other parts of his body he is a concealed man so that whatsoever it is by which God is clearly knowne that in Scripture language is called his face And hence Thirdly the worship and holy ordinances of God are called the face of God Gen. 4.14 because they are great manifestations of God or because God is manifested in his Ordinances in his word and worship who and what he is After a sick man through the help of God is recovered he goes into the congregation to give thanks and then he may be said to see the face of God because there be exhibits the signs of his presence doth as it were shew his face There as in a glass we behold the face of God that is the discoveries of his holiness of his love goodness The face of God is seen in his works as the Apostle teacâeth us 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 eternall power and godhead much more in his word and Ordinances and above all in Jesus Christ is God seen and manifested Jesus Christ is the face of God the brightnesse of his glory the expresse image of his person Heb. 1.3 The light of the knowledge of the glory of God shineth to us in the face of Christ Thus the face of God is beheld in the face of Christ There we may see how holy how just how good and mercifull God is all this glory of God appeareth to us in the face of Christ who is the highest manifestation of God Here in the Text by the face of God we are to understand any demonstration of Gods favourable presence in which sence of the word Aaron was to blesse the children of Israel Numb 6.25 The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon thee and give thee peace That is the Lord manifest himself to thee in wayes of grace and peace in favour and in mercy David prayed in the same
O that my people had hearkned unto me and Israel had walked in my wayes I should soone have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves but their time should have endured for ever I should have fed them also with the finest of the wheate c. As if the Lord had sayd How glad should I have been if my people had been but fitly qualified to give me occasion of removing all evill from them and of doing them all manner of good The holy Prophet speakes the heart of God in the same readiness Isa 30.18 Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you As if he had sayd The Lord expects your reformation that he may not proceed in rigour against you or as some conceive rather he only delayeth his putting an end to your troubles till ye are humbled expecting a seasonable time to shew you that mercy in bestowing of which he will exalt and advance his owne name and honour when once he seeth you fitted and duely prepared to receive it The Lord saith David Psal 14.2 looked downe from heaven upon all the children of men to see if there were any did understand and seek God There he is represented looking downe from heaven to see if any did understand as here he looketh upon men to see if any doe repent saying I have sinned c. The Lord often yea alwayes looketh downe upon Nations Cities and people to see if any have a right understanding of him or a will with upright affections to him The Lord at this day is looking upon the sick and looking upon the sound to see if there are any who are going on faithfully in a right way or repenting that they have gone wrong He looketh upon men And if any say I have sinned c. In this latter part of the verse we have the matter expressed which the Lord looketh upon men for 't is repentance and godly sorrow for sin If any say I have sinned That is if any repent When the Lord saith If any say I have sinned he doth not meane it of a bare saying so but if any say so laying his sin to heart if any say so from a true sence of the evill of sin if any say so burden'd with sin and tasting the bitterness of it if any shall say I have sinned and say it thus then c. The word which we translate sinned notes a mistake of our ayme or way As if it had been sayd If any man say I have gone besides the line and done besides the rule Sin is in all men a missing of the mark and a stepping out of the right path it is also in very many as 't is expressed in the next clause a perverting of that which is right If any say I have sinned and perverted that which is right ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã curvus obliquus contortus perversus Latini dicunt curvos mores The word implyeth more then ordinary sinning more then sins of infirmity which arise from ignorance and mistake even those which are committed with a resolvedness of spirit and purpose of heart or they imply not those sins which a man falls into unadvisedly and unawares but those which he commits upon deliberation and in the eye of the Law that shewing him plainly what is right and that he ought not to pervert it So then in strictness of sence to pervert that which is right is to be willingly yea wilfully unrighteous The Church making a graduall confession of her sin by three steps puts this word in the midst Psal 106.6 We have sinned with our fathers we have committed iniquity 't is this word or done that which is crooked and perverse we have done wickedly Cain the first man born sinned thus Gen 4.13 My punishment is greater then I can beare so we render or as we put in the margin mine iniquity is greater then can be forgiven Cains sin was a perversness he knew he perverted that which was right in slaying his brother So that here we have the confession of sin with the aggravation of it a notorious sin The penitent person doth not only say I have sinned but I have sinned greatly or I have perverted that which was right To sin and to pervert that which is right are materially the same only the latter intimates the manner how a sin is committed namely when we would not be ruled by the Law but accommodate the Law as if it were a leaden or lesbian rule to serve our lusts so perverting that which was right that we might countenance and embolden our selves in doing wrong If any aske What is right Surely right is First The Law Secondly that which is done according to Law The statutes of God are right rejoycing the heart Psal 19.8 The word of God is right and the rule of right yea it is a ruling right To pervert that which is right or to pervert the law of righteousness is to act against the light and convictions of conscience which will be our Judge One of the latine interpreters useth a harsh and course word to presse this by yet full and proper to the scope Peccavi et rectum torrificavi Cajet Praevaricatus sum à probitate Tygur I have târtified or writhed and bended that which was right Another renders it I have prevaricated from that which was right Our word gives the sence fully enough I have sinned and perverted that which was right Hence note First Sin must be confessed The Lord looks for it He looketh upon men to see whether any will say I have sinned He will have their sin out of their own mouths When Nathan brought the parable home to David and sayd Thou art the man he presently fell into confession I have sinned 2 Sam 12.13 But some may say Is this confession of sin sufficient to say I have sinned I answer First a generall confession of sin or that we have sinned is not sufficient unlesse we are also willing and ready to confesse before the Lord all our particular sins Some are ready enough to say they have sinned who yet will scarse be brought to acknowledge any particular sin yea many say Peccatores se esse plerique confitentur etiam qui se vel peccasse non credunt Greg l. 24. Moral c 12. they are great sinners who know not how or in what they have sinned not what it is to sin Therefore barely to say I have sinned is not a Gospel confession of sin I answer Secondly Though a generall confession is only expressed in this and many other Scriptures yet a speciall confession is intended The prodigal Son Luke 15.19 sayd I will returne to my father and I will say to my father I have sinned against heaven and against thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son He did not
againe Gen 12.11 It came to passe when he was come neere to enter into Egypt that he said unto Sarah his wife Behold now I know that thou art a faire woman to look upon Read Psal 132.6 Ezek 30.9 Luke 1.32 In the present text it may have all these intendments for is it not a wonderfull thing that God should be gracious to poore creatures is it not strange that he should take so much paines with and exercise so much patience towards them Secondly Lo God worketh all these things He is ready to doe them he waiteth to be gracious or to magnifie his grace in doing them Thirdly Lo God worketh all these things is not this a matter of great consideration ought we not to sit downe and weigh it well Fourthly Lo all these things worketh God certainly God hath and will work all these things this is a truth out of all question a truth of which there is no doubt to be made As the Apostle saith 1 Tim 3.16 Without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh So I may say without controversie great is this mystery of Gods manifesting himselfe to frayle flesh and doing all these things here spoken of awakening the consciences of men by dreames and working upon them by grievous sicknesses sending an interpreter one of a thousand to declare unto man his uprightness and at last delivering his soule from going downe into the pit Lo all these things worketh God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã operatus est egit perfecit usurpatur etiam pro gubernatione rerum creatarum There is somewhat peculiar in that expression he worketh The native sence of the word implyeth First a willing worke not forced or constrained Secondly a full and compleat worke not an essay or offer not a worke begun only but carried on to perfection The wicked are called workers of iniquity Psal 5.5 because they are free and ready to sin they have a strong tyde and bent of spirit to doe evill and they doe it not to halves but throughly they doe not only begin or nibble at the baite a little as a good man often doth but greedily swallow it downe hooke and all they are fully in it and doe it fully they make a worke of it and so are workers of iniquity The Lord doth good as the wicked doe evill All these things worketh God He worketh them willingly he worketh them compleatly Isa 26.12 Lord thou wilt ordaine peace for us for thou also hast wrought all our workes in us Thou art the Author and finisher of them We are invited Psal 46.8 to come and behold the workes of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the earth The building workes and the desolating workes of God whether respecting persons or nations are perfect workes Lo all these things worketh God Hence note What ever good we see wrought among or for the children of men God is the worker of it As he over-ruleth the evill which is done and both sendeth and ordereth the evill which is suffered so he is the worker of all the good that is done God worketh it all either immediately by himselfe or mediately by second causes and what instrument soever is set a worke yet the worke as to the matter and manner of it as also to the result and issue of it is the Lords He was the worker of all that hath been spoken of in the former context though we reade of a messenger of an interpreter yet the work was Gods 'T is sayd Gen 39.22 The keeper of the prison committed to Josephs hand all the prisoners that were in the prison and whatsoever they did there he was the doer of it Not that he did every thing with his own hand in the prison but he gave the rule and ordered all that was done Much more may I say of the Lord whatsoever is done in the world especially among his people God is the doer of it All goes through his hand Lo all these things worketh God Further From the prefix Lo. Observe The workes and dealings of God with men are wonderfull those especially which he worketh for the humbling of a sinner and for the delivering of a soule from going downe to the pit The breaking of the heart the raysing of it by faith the renewing of its peace and comfort are wonderfull works of God And the reason why we wonder no more at them is because we consider so little of them Hence againe from the word Lo. Note The workes of God are to be deeply considered to be stayed upon We must not passe them by lightly whether they be towards our selves or others God hath made his wonderfull workes to be remembred saith David Psal 111.4 or to be considered that 's the designe of God in his works he hath made them for that end that they should be remembred and attended to or they are such as cannot but be remembred they leave their markes and memorialls behind them God sets such a stamp of his power wisdome justice and goodness upon his workes that they will not be forgotten And as his outward providential workes are such so his spirituall workes are much more such The godly-wise understand them so they have a criticall eye in discerning those invisible workes of God with a poore soule in reducing him from sin and bringing him to himselfe David calleth all the godly to the consideration of those workes in his owne case Psal 66.16 Come and heare all ye that feare God and I will declare what he hath done for my soule What God doth for our bodyes is very considerable but what he hath done for our soules can never be enough considered nor admired Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with man ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The originall is twice thrice so we put in the margin and render it often-times in the text Some expound it of those three distinct wayes in which God dealeth with man before described The Septuagint are expresse for that ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Sept ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Schol. All these things worketh the strong God three wayes with man Which the Scholiast exemplifies in the three wayes here noted by Elihu First awakning him by dreames and visions Secondly troubling him by sicknesses and afflictions Thirdly teaching him by Prophets and Interpreters Yet I conceive the text doth not strictly recapitulate those three severall wayes before spoken of in these words twice thrice but only shewes us that God useth all these wayes or any other as his wisdome shall thinke fit many times or oftentimes for the producing of those blessed effects Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with man Twice thrice is a double certain number put for any single uncertain number And it only teacheth or assureth us that God debateth with the sons of men in all or any of these wayes oftentimes or more then once If they doe not answer his call or purpose which they
praeparat terram ante seminatorem 'T is but one word in the Hebrew which we translate hold thy peace and it signifieth properly to dig or plow the ground and by a metaphor to thinke of or to meditate because thoughts goe deep in the soule a man doth as it were plow up his own spirit while he is meditating or thinking seriously Pro 3.29 Devise not evill or it is this word plow not up evill that 's a bad soyle indeed to be plowing up They that plow evill shall sow the wind and except they repent reape the whirlewind The prophet exhorting Ephraim to break up their fallow ground and sow in righteousness that they might reap mercy Hos 10.12 reproves them v. 13. for a very unprofitable piece of husbandry by this word Ye have plowed wickedness ye have reaped iniquity ye have eaten the fruit of lyes that is ye have plotted devised and contrived wicked things and ye have fared accordingly Now as the word signifieth to meditate by a metaphor from digging or plowing so by the figure antiphrasis or contrary speaking it signifies to forbeare doing or speaking to sit still or as we render it here to hold our peace and say nothing Isa 41.1 Keepe silence before me O Islands Psal 50.3 Our God shall come and shall not keep silence that is he will speak aloud Elihu bespeakes Job in the affirmative hold thy peace be silent Some conceive Job began to interrupt Elihu Vidatur Jobin se avertisse vel displiceÌtiae signum dedisse illum igitur ad so audiendum invitat Scult or gave some token of dislike while he was discoursing as if he had received his speech with disgust and not only inwardly stomacked at it But did not forbeare to discover it by some significant gesture or frowne and that Elihu perceiving this desired him to hold his peace As if he had sayd If you desire to reape any benefit by what I speak be patient and doe not interrupt me But I conceive there was no such height nor heate of spirit in Job at that time He began now to be sedate and quiet enough being somewhat convinced of his former error and intemperance of speech But some may say was it not an over-bold part in Elihu a young man to impose silence upon Job or to bid him hold his peace I answer Elihu doth not bid Job hold his peace either first as if he had seene him unwilling to let him speake or would not heare him any more Job was a very patient hearer he heard his friends patiently and he had heard Elihu too with silence and patience yea though Elihu offered him leave yea almost provoked him to speake v. 5. yet he did not but gave him scope to speake out Nor did Elihu speake this secondly as if he slighted Job or thought him a man unable to answer him or speake to purpose for presently in the next verse he desireth him againe to speake Nor thirdly as if he had such high thoughts of his owne wisdome and loved so much to heare himselfe speake as some men doe that he cared not to heare others but would engrosse all the discourse Nor was it fourthly because he saw such an affectation in Job to speake that he needed as the Apostle speaks of some Tit 1.11 to have his mouth stopt It was not upon any of these or such like reasons that Elihu desired Job to hold his peace but it was either first that himselfe might speak more clearely and carry his matter through to his understanding or secondly that he might set the matter more home upon his conscience and move him to consider yet more seriously what he had sayd of the various wayes of Gods dealing with man to humble his soule and bring him neerer to himselfe or lastly that Job might perceive and take notice that he was the man aymed at in all the foregoing parable As if he had sayd Sir downe quietly and consider with thy selfe whether all this discourse hath tended or whether or no thou art not the man intended in it As Christ when he had spoken that parable of the sower concluded Math 13.9 He that hath an eare to heare let him heare that is let him take it home to himselfe or as Christ concludeth his Epistles to the seven Churches in the second and third Chapters of the Revelation with He that hath an eare let him heare what the Spirit saith to the Churches so doth Elihu to Job in speciall Mark-well O Job and hearken unto me hold thy peace This silence was made of old in great assemblyes Majestate manus by putting the hand to the mouth and then stretching it forth Acts 12.17 Acts 13.16 Chap. 19.23 Chap. 26.1 If any would know yet more distinctly what Elihu meant when he bid Job hold his peace I answer First Negatively not a bare silence or saying nothing but affirmatively when he sayth hold thy peace it might note these two things First That he would have him much in the worke of consideration or to forbeare speaking that he might be more in meditating and weighing and laying things to heart he would have him bring what he had spoken to the ballance of the Sanctuary and then to his owne heart A man is never more busie then when he thus holds his peace Secondly When he saith hold thy peace it might note that he desired his submission to the counsel given or to be given him He would have him bridle his tongue in token that his spirit was brideled He would have Jobs silence say speake on I will say nothing let the truth of God reigne and rule over me by thy word What Samuel answered to the Lord himselfe 1 Sam 3.10 Speak Lord for thy servant heareth that should we answer to those who speak to us from the Lord speak ye we will heare and hold our peace or we should say with good Cornelius when Peter came to him Acts 10.33 We are all here present before God to heare all things that are commanded thee of God When a man holds his peace upon these termes 't is a signe he layeth downe his owne wisdome and his will he doth not stand upon his pantofloes as we say nor abound in his owne sence but is ready to be delivered or cast into the mould of any holy and wholesome doctrine which shall be delivered unto him They are in the fittest frame to hold the truth which others speake who can withhold themselves from speaking Further There is a two-fold holding of the peace First at the works of God or at what God doth Lev 10.3 when God had smitten the two sons of Aaron dead with fire frâm heaven Aaron held his peace that is he did not murmure at nor contradict what God had done That also was Davids temper Psal 39.9 I was dumbe I opened not my mouth because thou Lord didst it The Prophet Jeremy describes an humbled soule in the same posture Lam 3.28 He sitteth alone and
they have directly done or spoken yet stand it out in pleading their excuse and will never fall downe before reproofes though what they have done or spoken amisse be so plaine that it needs no proofe We should be carefull to speake and doe such things as are not subject to reproofe but when through ignorance or rashness we have run into an error either of speech or practise we should be so humble as to subject our selves to reproofe and take it well that we are rebuked for any evill As it doubles an offence to undertake the defence of it so not to defend an offence abateth and lesseneth it And as he who goeth about to cover his fault by finding out arguments and pleas for it sheweth that he hath a will or purpose to continue in it so he that is silent and hath not a word to say for it gives a good testimony both of his sorrow that he ever committed it and of his resolution never to commit it any more They are highly to be commended who live unblameably and they deserve no small commendation who being sensible of their owne fayling can patiently beare the blame of it without replying upon their reprovers JOB Chap. 34. Vers 10 11. Therefore hearken unto me ye men of understanding far be it from God that he should doe wickednesse and from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity For the work of a man shall he render unto him and cause every man to find according to his wayes ELihu having done with Jobs charge for severall unwarrantable sayings in the former context begins his refutation here and directs his speech First To Jobs friends speaking to them from the 10th to the 16th verse Secondly To Job himselfe from the 16th verse of this Chapter to the 34th In the two verses now read we have two generall poynts First A vehement deniall of any unrighteousnesse in God v. 10. Secondly A strong proofe or demonstration that there is no unrighteousnesse in God at the 11th verse He enters this confutation of Job or the vindication of the honour of God from what Job had sayd with an inviting Preface Vers 10. Therefore hearken unto me ye men of understanding Elihu like a cunning Orator often stirr'd up his auditors to attention and made frequent insinuations to winde himselfe and what he had to say into their good opinion Here he bespake not the promiscuous multitude or common sort of hearers but wise men or men of understanding such as are most fit to judge the weight and strength of those arguments and reasons by which any poynt is proved and confirmed Hearken unto me ye men of understanding The Hebrew is ye men of heart so the Margin hath it As the heart is the principle of naturall life so the principles powers of the rationall life are often ascribed to the heart Job told his friends Chap. 12.3 I have a heart we render I have an understanding as well as you Egregiè cordatus homo i. e. valde sapiens Cic 1. Tuscul and in good Authors a hearty man signifies not only a man of courage or a man of spirit but a man of knowledge and understanding a man more then ordinarily wise a man of the highest Elevation for wisdome is called a hearty man Naturalists have ascribed the moving of severall passions to severall internall parts of the body laughter say they riseth from the spleene anger from the Gall love from the liver but to the heart they give more then a passion understanding which is the noblest faculty of reason Here Elihu calls upon men of heart or of understanding to hearken to him Hence note First The best may need to have their attentions quickened Some will not heare at all they are like the deafe adder Psal 48.4 5. that stoppeth her eare which will not hearken to the voyce of the charmtr charming never so wisely The Prophet reproves such Jer. 6.10 To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may heare behold their eare is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken behold the Word of the Lord is to them a reproach they have no delight in it they cannot hearken that is they will not or they cannot hearken that is spiritually and obedientially though they have a naturall yet they have not a gracious eare as the same Prophet chap. 11.6 7 8. upbraided them yet they obeyed not nor enclined their eare This sinfull deafnesse the Lord complained of also Psal 81.8 Heare O my people saith God and at the 11 verse My people would not hearken to my voyce Now as bad men will not heare at all to purpose so the best seldome hear so well or to so good purpose as they ought and might Men of heart or of understanding are sometimes slow of hearing and may need to have their eare awakened Secondly note It is an incouragement in speaking to have understanding hearers When a people have not only eares but hearts to heare then the word is heard indeed We may suppose understanding men will probably prove the best hearers the Prophet was in hope to find it so though he failed of his hopes Jer. 5.4 Surely these are poore they are foolish men of low parts and thin intellectualls for they know not the way of the Lord nor the judgment of their God I will get me to the great men and will speake unto them for they have knowne the way of the Lord they are wise surely and understanding yet he was disappoynted in his recourse to them as it followeth in the same verse but these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds There is a naturall wisdome which hindereth the hearing of the word therefore the Apostle saith Not many wise men after the flesh are called that is savingly called the word hath its full effect upon few of them they are not prevailed with to beleeve and obey they are called but they come not Though wisdome be an advantage to profitable hearing yet all naturall wise men doe not hear profitably nor indeed can any by all the wisdome of nature Thirdly note A man without understanding is a heartlesse man Headlesse men are heartlesse men It is said Hos 7.11 Ephraim is like a silly dove without a heart All the people of God are or should be innocent doves like doves for innocency and gracious simplicity but how unbecoming is it that any of them should be doves for sillinesse or silly doves without a heart that is without any spirit or courage for God and the things or wayes of God To be without a heart is to be without a due apprehension of the mind of God or any true conformity thereunto 't is to have no knowledge either to doe good or to be good all such are silly doves without a heart without understanding and all such are yet unfit and unprepared hearers Hearken to me ye men of understanding Farre be it from God that he should doe wickedly The Septuagint
of such as make excuses to shift themselves off from acts of charity they will say we know not whether it be so with him or no possibly he may not be in such want as he pretendeth Take heed of these cloaks of covetousnesse and pitifull pleas to save your purses from shewing pity to the poor for saith Solomon Will not God search it out and render to every man according to his worke The holy Scripture abounds in this poynt Read Jer. 32.19 Ezek. 33.10 Rom. 2.6 2 Cor. 5.10 1 Pet. 1.17 Rev. 22.12 But some may say how doth God render to every man his work Is it not said He justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4.5 Are the works of an ungodly man rendred to him when he is justified I answer it is one thing what God will do through free grace and another what he will deale out in strictnesse of Justice The Apostle speaks in that place of the free grace of God to sinners not of his Justice against sinners Secondly though God justifieth the ungodly yet he never justifieth ungodlinesse or though he justifieth a man who hath done many evill works yea all whose works are evill yet he never justifieth nor rewardeth the work of an evill man Thirdly God acts according to justice and righteousness where he justifieth the ungodly he doth not shew favour to the ungodly in his own wrong Acts of grace from God are not opposite to his Justice much lesse doe they contradict or overthrow it He doth not justifie an ungodly man in himselfe or meerly considered in his ungodlinesse but he justifieth him in the righteousness of another even of Jesus Christ who hath given full satisfaction to the Justice of God with respect to the ungodly whom he justifieth Lastly we may say that God renders the work of an ungodly man to him when he justifieth him for though then he hath not done nor ever can doe any works which deserve the justification of his person yet God doth render to him according to that present work of faith in closing with the promise and the work of Christs righteousnesse therein tendered to him and applyed by him for his justification Further that other Scripture seems to lye in the way of this observation Psal 103.10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins or rewarded us according to our iniquities How then doth God render every man his work I answer as before Acts of mercy do not cross acts of justice When the Lord doth not deal with any man according to his sins it is because he hath freely pardoned his sins and he doth not reward a man according to his iniquity because his iniquities are done away thus he deals with all his own people who are received to favour through Jesus Christ but no wicked man no impenitent person in the world shall have cause to say that God hath not dealt with him according to his sin or hath not rewarded him according to his iniquity There may be some present stops of Justice through the patience of God to wicked men their works are not alwayes presently rendered into their bosomes but they shall God will render to every man according to his work one way or other one time or other The full rendering to all men according to their works will be at the great day in this world the godly doe not somtimes receive according to their good works nor doe the wicked according to their evill works Good men are often rewarded with shame and reproach with want and poverty with banishment and imprisonment with tortures and with death in this present world but the Lord will have a time to render to them according to their workes though at no time for their works so look upon wicked men and their workes they goe often unpunished at the present yea many of them prosper greatly as I have had occasion to shew more then once in opening this Book they have their good things many good things in this life but the time will come when God will render to the wicked their work and they shall be forced to say that he hath caused them to find according to their wayes Take two or three inferences from this generall truth If God will render the work of a man to him Then First Godly men have great encouragement to doe good yea to abound in doing good workes That 's the Apostles argument 1 Cor 15.58 Be ye stedfast and unmoveable in the worke of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord that is the Lord will render to every man his labour Hence also that of Solomon Eccl 11.1 Cast thy bread upon the waters for thou shalt find it after many dayes Charities done in faith as an holy offering to God produce a sure encrease To give with a right heart to the poore is the best way of growing rich For God will render to man according to that work And as it may incourage to doe good so to doe it against all discouragements We must not only doe good when the Sun shines when it is faire weather with us and all men applaud us but though men frowne and scorne though which Solomon reports as one of the great vanities of this world Eccl 4.4 For a right worke a man be envied of his neighbour let us not hold our hand from doing good though we are opposed and checkt though we are traduced and slandred though we are mis-interpreted and have the foulest glosses put upon our fairest workes though men call our zeale madness and our circumspect walking hypocrisie yea though we are persecuted and suffer the worst of evills though men cast stones at us as they did at Christ for his good workes yet let us not be deterred from doing good For howsoever men deale with us or what rendrings soever we find from the world yet God will render to us both according to the rightnesse of our worke done and according to the uprightnesse of our hearts in doing it Let this provoke us not only to doe the Lords worke but to doe it with much patience and perseverance for in due time we shall reape if we faint not where there hath been sowing there will be reaping and where the seed time hath been with teares the harvest or reaping time shall be with joy Secondly This is a dreadfull doctrine to evill workers Some as the Apostle calls the Cretians out of their owne Prophet are evill beasts slow bellyes and as they are slothfull or slow bellyes at doing good so they are very free and forward very quicke lively and nimble beasts in doing evill O how should evill workers tremble at this Scripture To every man will God render according to his worke as a cup of cold water given to a disciple in the name of a disciple shall not be lost but have a reward and the giver fully payd for it Math 10.42 so not any the least evill worke impenitently continued
heed we be not found disobeying Secondly Seeing God hath the Charge of all the earth we should as readily submit to his dispensations works and dealings as to his commands The Jewes of old complained Ezek 18.29 The way of the Lord is not equall They did even tell him to his face his wayes were not equall and therefore they would not submit The Church in captivity spake well Lam 3.28 Out of the mouth of the most high proceedeth not evill and good that is whatsoever the Lord hath pronounced to doe or hath done concerning us is morally good and not evill though it be penally evill and not good Eli spake wel also to this poynt 1 Sam 3.18 It is the Lord let him doe what seemes good in his owne eyes yet the thing which God was about to doe was such v. 11. as at which both the eares of every one that heard it should tingle To have the heart quiet while the eares tingle is pure submission And any unquietness or murmurings at the dealings of God whether respecting our persons or our familyes Churches or Nations are in some degree rebellions against the soveraigne power of God Thirdly If the Lord be supreame and have the charge over all the earth then let us set him up as supreame in all things let his ends be above our ends let us designe God in all we doe He who is over all ought to be honoured by all All our actions as so many lines ought to center in his honour who is the Center of power Of him and through him and to him are all things saith the Apostle Rom 11.36 Because all things are of him creating them and through him governing them therefore all things should be to him that is all persons should in all things they doe yea in all things that are done ayme at and designe his glory as the Apostle expressely concludeth the verse before cited To whom be glory for ever Thirdly Whereas it is sayd Who hath given him a Charge over the earth or who hath disposed not a part or parcell or canton or corner of but the whole world Observe The power of God is an universall power It is extended throughout the world to every patch and inch of it What David saith of the Sun Psal 19.6 His going forth is from the end of heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heate thereof The same may we say of the circuit of Gods power there is nothing hid from nor set beyond it There is a four-fold universality of the power of God First In regard of persons Psal 97.9 Thou Lord art high above all the earth thou art exalted farre above all Gods that is above the Kings and powers of the earth whom the Scripture calleth Gods If God hath a power over the Kings of the earth then surely over the people of the earth yea God is not only exalted and farre exalted above this or that God or King but above them all This is a supremacy with utmost universality Secondly His power is universall as to places and nations some places claime priviledge and are exempt from the jurisdiction of Princes if obnoxious persons get thither they are free from the course of the Law There were Cities of refuge among the Jewes and Sanctuaries in the dayes of old among us where evill-doers could not be toucht But the power of the Lord reacheth all places even to the hornes of the Altar Psal 83.18 Thou whose name alone is Jehovah art most high over all the earth Thirdly His power is universall as in all places so over all things it extends to the starrs of heaven and to the fowles of the ayre to the beasts of the earth and to the fishes of the Sea to whatsoever moves in this world they are all at the command of God if he doth but speake they run and execute his will Fourthly His power is universall in reference to time 't is never out nor shall ever end he is King immortall and King eternall his Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome The power of God is an universall power in all these considerations His power of Governing is of the same extent as his power of creating was that which he created at once he governes alwayes He did not set up the fabrick of this world and then leave it to it selfe but he preserveth and ordereth all things in it The wel-being the orderly being of the creature is as much of God as the being of it Some say God made the world at first and set all the wheeles of it a-going but now things goe on by chance by fortune or by accident at least particular events are not under his government but come to passe as the wisdome or folly of men is most active in the production of them I answer to set up blind fortune and chance yea or the wit and policy of man as governing the world is to set up other Gods in the world if chance and fortune or the wit of man governe any part of the world then they had a part in making the world If you divide one power you divide the other For those invisible things of God his eternal power and God-head are as much or as evidently seene in the things which are done as in the things which are made 'T is true indeed God useth many hands in governing ordering and disposing the things of this world The Princes of this world are eminently his hand but God doth not use any power in governing this world Non eget alienis adjutorijs ad regendum mundum qui non eguit ad fatiendum Greg Lib 24. Moral ca. 26. to diminish his owne nor doth he withdraw his owne power what power soever he useth 't is his power that acts effectually and gives successe in the acting of all power It was sayd to that King who prided himselfe in what he had done in the world Shall the Axe boast it selfe against him that heweth therewith or shall the saw magnifie it selfe against him that shaketh it Isa 10.15 As if the Lord had sayd to that proud Assyrian Prince Dost thou looke upon thy selfe as if thou didst all and governedst all thou art no more in the governing the world though the chiefe earthly Governour of all the world then an Axe is in the hand of him that useth it And though the artificer cannot doe his worke without an Axe though he cannot divide his Timber without a saw yet I the Lord am able to doe my worke without thee At best and most men are but instruments in the hand of God and he serves his owne turne by men not to signifie that he cannot worke without them nor that his worke is done either with more ease to himselfe or more successe as to it selfe by their helpe he is not so weake as to need helpe nor is at all strengthned by the helpe he useth but only to shew that as he
all flesh perisheth and turneth again unto what it once was dust ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Hebrew word which we render to gather signifieth to add one thing or person to another When Rachel had conceived and bare a son Gen. 30.22 23. she called from this word his name Joseph and said the Lord shall add to me another son Thus here If God add or gather to himself his spirit and his breath that is the spirit and breath of man c. We may distinguish between these two Spiritus animam flatus vitam quae ab anima provenit conservatur significat ego opinâr idem esse hoc loco Sanct. spirit and breath Some insist much and curiously upon this distinction The spirit denoting the soul or the internal rational power of man and the breath that effect of life which followeth or floweth from the union of soul and body The life of man is often expressed by breath Cease ye from man whose breath or life is in his nostrils Isa 2.22 If once man's breath goeth out his life cannot stay behinde the spirit of a man is in this sence distinct from his breath for when the breath is vanished and is no more the soul or spirit liveth The Apostle in his prayer for the Thessalonians 1 Thess 5.23 puts soul and spirit together The very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved harmless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ There 't is most probable by the soul he intends the inferiour powers in man or his affections and by the spirit his higher powers of reason and understanding yet the spirit is often put for that whole part of man which is contradistinct to his body Into thy hands I commend my spirit that is my soul not forgetting my body And I conceive we may safely expound it here in that latitude as comprehending the whole inner man Yet it is all one as to the sence of this place whether we take spirit and breath distinctly or for the same the spirit being so called from spiration or breathing If he gather unto him his spirit and his breath The gathering of the spirit and breath of man unto God is but a periphrasis or circumlocution of death or of man's departure out of this life when man was formed or created Gen. 2.7 it is said God breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living soul And when man dyeth his breath or spirit may be said to be gathered or returned back unto God so then the meaning of Elihu in this double supposition If he set his heart upon man if he he gather to himself his spirit and his breath is clearly this if God were once resolved or should but say the word that man must presently die die he must and that presently Hence Note First God can easily do whatsoever he hath a minde to do If he do put his heart upon the doing of any thing it is done Men often set their hearts yea and their hands unto that which they cannot do if men could do that which they set their hearts to do or have a minde to do and thereupon set their hands to do we should have strange work in the world 'T is a mercy to many men that man is often frustrated in his thoughts and purposes in his attempts and undertakings and 't is a glorious mercy to all that have an interest in God that God never lost a thought nor can be hindred in any work he setteth his heart upon He that can lett or stop all men in their works can work and none shall lett or stop him What God will do is not defecible or undoeable if I may so express it by any power in heaven or earth And as God can do what he will and ask no man leave so he can do what he will without trouble to himself 't is but the resolve of his will the turning of his hand or the cast of his eye all which are soon dispatcht and 't is done Thus God breathed out his wishes for the welfare of Israel Psal 81.13 O that my people had hearkned unto me c. I should soon have subdued theâr enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries As if he had said I could and would have eased them of all their enemies even of all that rose up against them easily even with the turning of my hand What is more easily done or moâe speedily done then the turning of a hand Many things are hard to man and indeed very few things are easie to him except it be to sin or to do evil he can do evil easily some things are not only hard but too hard impossible for man but there is nothing hard much less too hard for God he can easily do the hardest things yea the hardest things are as easie to him as the easiest for as Psal 139.12 Darkness hideth not from the sight of God the darkness and the light are both alike to him so hardness hinders not the work of God hardness and easiness are both alike to him if he set his heart upon it From this general truth take two inferences First How should we fear before this God How should we tremble at the remembrance of and walk humbly in our highest assurance with this God We are much afraid to displease those men who can easily hurt us and in whose hand it is to ruine us every hour But O how little are we in this thought to fear the Lord to take heed of displeasing the Lord who can with ease either help or hurt either bring salvation or destruction who in a moment can thrust the soul out of the body and cast both into hell Secondly We may hence make a strong inference for the comfort of the people of God when their straits are most pinching and their difficulties look like impossibilities and are so indeed while they look to man when their enemies are strongest and the mountains which stand in the way of their expected comforts greatest if then God will be entreated to set his heart and cast his eye upon them their straits are presently turned into enlargements difficulties become easie and mountains plains If we can but engage the Lord his own promise is the surest engagement and indeed all that we can put upon him or minde him of if I say we can thus engage the Lord to be with us who can be to our hurt many will be to their own against us Secondly Note Our life is at the beck dispose and pleasure of God He can gather the spirit and the breath to himself whensoever he pleaseth Psal 104.29 Thou hidest thy face and they are troubled and thou takest away their breath they die and return to their dust If God hideth his face from us 't is death while we live but if he take away our breath we cannot live but die Psal 90.3 Thou
fully instructed that they will hear no more instruction nor learn any other lesson they are past the School yet alwaies they who know much in their own conceit are least knowing in truth and reality there is nothing doth so much hinder the receiving of knowledge as an imagination or proud prepossession of it The sluggard saith Solomon Prov. 26.16 is wiser in his own conceit then seven men that can render a reason They which have least reason are the greatest neglecters of it only an understanding man is willing to hear that he may gain more understanding Therefore Elihu admonisheth Job If now thou hast understanding hear this and hearken to the voice of my words What Elihu would have Job hear and hearken to followeth in the next verse and in those which follow to the end of the 33d verse Vers 17. Shall even he that hateth right govern and wilt thou condemn him that is most just This is matter indeed worth the hearing and hearkning to Shall even he that hateth right govern Shall he He shall not or at least should not he ought not he of all men is the unfittest man to govern that is to do all men right who hateth right The Interrogation leads us to this strong Negation or indignation rather What! He that hateth right whose very spirit is against it whose affections withdraw from it is he made up for a Governour ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Judicium significat ordinem quo quicquid in loco convenienti constituitur sic odiens judicium est qui non subscribit divino ordini Coc. The Hebrew word notes right from man to man Justice or righteousness consists in the due order and comly disposition of things and affairs transacted and dispensed in this world from man to man or between man and man it imports also that order into which the most wise providence of God placeth both things and persons we may take it here in both or either of these sences Shall he that hateth right Govern ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ligavit alligauit Dominari etiam significat quod qui dominatur suis liget praeceptis legibusque transgressores Pagn The word rendered to Govern hath a threefold signification in Scripture First and most properly to binde up Secondly by a Metaphor to heal because there is so great a use of binding in healing the skilful ligature of a wound or of a broken limb is of so much consequence in Chirurgery or the art of healing that binding alone is put for healing that which is well bound is in a fair way to healing We finde both these acts put together in that great promise of the Churches glory under the Gospel Isa 30.26 Moreover the light of the Moon shall be as the light of the Sun c. in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people and healeth the stroke of their wound Many learned Translators render the word here by binding or healing or by binding as it refers to healing The Vulgar Latine gives it passively Numquid qui non amat judicium sanari potest Vulg. Can he who doth not love right be healed The sence of which reading is this God doth not use to heal or binde up the wounds of those who hate Right or Justice Why should the wounds of those Magistrates be healed who have no care by doing right to heal the wounds of others I shall not stay upon this Translation because the Original Text clearly carryeth an active signification And some who retain this sence of the word translate it actively An etiam odio habentis judicium obligaret sc vulnus Jun. Shall or will God heal him that hateth right Surely he will not If a man hate Justice and right how can he expect that God should be a healer to him And thus it is expounded in reference to Job who complained that God did not heal him of his wounds his wounds though great were not cured now saith Elihu Will God heal him that hateth right that is who doth not approve of that which is right or as it followeth An etiam is qui odio habet jus obligaret vulneratum Pisc who condemneth him that is most just as Elihu charged Job to have done Again another renders Will he that hateth the right heal the wounded The sence of which reading is given thus Surely God who is ready to binde up and heal the wounds of those that are afflicted when they repent is no hater of right no perverter of Justice as thou O Job hast said God doth seeing God is ready to heal the wounds and binde up the sores of humbled sinners how unjustly hast thou charged him with perverting of justice The Tygurine version gives it thus Will he that hates right An qui odit judicium Chirurgos imitaretur Tygur act the part of a Chirurgion Will he binde up and heal Doubtless he will not but will rather wound and afflict vex and trouble more and more instead of being a healer Either of these renderings bear a good sense of this Scripture yet I shall rather take up our Translation and insist upon it And therefore Thirdly The word signifies tropically to rule or govern Verbum ligandi ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sumitur pro imperare vel rerum potiri quia qui imperant ligant c. Merc. Leges a ligando dicuntur and the reason ariseth clearly from the proper signification of it because he that is a Ruler or a Governour is also a binder and a healer Magistrates binde the people that are under them to order they binde them by their Laws Laws are as bonds they have a binding power they binde either to obedience or to punishment and therefore Magistrates are binders they binde the unruly and disobedient they binde with the rule of the Law and with the penalties of the Law When any break the rule of the Law then they fall under the penalties of the Law so that every way a Magistrate is a binder and as he is a binder so a healer The Laws of Government by which people are bound are for their healing for the healing of their manners and corruptions as also for the healing of those whom they have oppressed or wounded by their evil manners and corruptions Further all Governours should and righteous Governours will improve their power and authority for the healing of those differences that arise among their subjects or those over whom they are set In all these respects Magistrates are healers and binders Thus the Prophet Isa 3.6 7. expresseth them When a man shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father saying thou hast clothing be thou our Ruler and let this ruine be under thine hand Here is a breach a ruine in the State or Commonwealth let this be under thy hand do thou undertake the cure of this but in that day shall he swear v. 7. I will not be a healer We
hands Histories have given many examples and dreadful instances of such calamities falling upon Princes by the rising of the people and then they are said to be taken away Without hand That is Without any foreseen appearance of such a mischief a hand which was not thought of being lifted up against them It is said of wicked Zimri who slew his master that when he saw the people conspire against him and the City taken he went into the Palace of the King's house and in the heat of his rage set it on fire and burnt the Kings house over him and died 1 Kin. 16.18 Justine reports the like conclusion upon a like occasion of Sardanapalus that effeminate and voluptuous Monarch of the Assyrian Empire They who prosecute this Translation conceive Elihu reflecting upon Job in all this who was very uncivilly treated by his own people from whom he had deserved highest respects as he complained at the 30th chapter they raised up against him the wayes of their destruction they used him very rudely even despightfully and he was in a pining consuming condition as a man taken away without hand But I shall not insist upon this reading but take the words according to the scope before given as a description of a mixt judgement from God a judgement partly upon the people and partly upon Princes a judgement upon the many and a judgement upon the mighty In a moment shall they die ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Punctum momontum tempus exiguum Illipsis praepositionâ × In a moment The Text is a moment they die Not that they shall die but a moment or be only for a moment dead but they shall die before a moment is over there is an Elipsis of the preposition Beth in the Hebrew which we supply in our Translation In a moment they shall die A moment is the least particle or parcel of time we cannot imagine any thing shorter then a moment 't is the very point of time Psal 30.5 His anger endureth for a moment saith David when he would shew how very short comparatively the anger of God towards his people is but in his favour is life Thus Solomon Prov. 2.19 He that speaketh truth his tongue shall be established but a lying tongue is for a moment A lye cannot last long he that speaks truth what he speaks to day is good to morrow and to morrow and will be good for ever but a lying tongue is for a moment that is his lies will be discovered and usually they are quickly discovered though he live long to tell lies or doth nothing but tell lies as long as he liveth yet his lyes are not long lived Job describing the joy of the hypocrite chap. 20.5 saith It is but for a moment like a fire of thorns a blaze and gone when the Apostle would strengthen and encourage the hearts of believers against all the troubles and sorrows of this present life he calls them 2 Cor. 4.17 First light Secondly short Our light afflictions that are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory And that we might know how quick the devil was at his work with Christ the Scripture saith Luke 4.5 He shewed him all the Kingdoms of the world in a moment of time As to shew the instantaneousness of our change from death to life in the resurrection it is said 1 Cor. 15.52 In a moment in the twinckling of an eye at the last Trump we shall be changed So to shew the extream suddenness of these mens change from life to death it is said here In a moment They shall die They Who Both great and small one and another of them shall die or be swept away by death in a moment There is a twofold death First Natural When either sickness or old age dissolves the earthly house of this tabernacle The natural death of some is very lingring and slow others are suddenly snatcht away they die in a moment Secondly There is a violent death thus many are taken away by the sword Martial or Civil others casually The Text is true both of natural and violent death either of them may overtake us in a moment yet I conceive the latter is here chiefly intended In a moment shall they die that is some sudden destruction shall come upon them they shall be surprized by an unlooked for disaster and removed out of the world while they had not a thought of their removal Hence Note First Death of any sort may befal all sorts of men None can plead exemption or priviledge from the grave It is appointed to men once to die most die a natural death and any man may die a violent death who knows how he shall go out of this world Christ told Peter John 21.18 When thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch forth thy hands and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldst not This spake he signifying by what death he should glorifie God And what kinde of death was that The Church History assureth us 't was a violent death He as his master Jesus Christ was nailed to a Cross and dyed We come but one way into the world but there are a thousand wayes of going out Note Secondly Death comes suddenly upon many men and may upon all men The whole life of the longest liver in this world is but a moment compared to eternity and there is not any moment of our life but with respect to second causes we are subject to death in it We alwayes in some sense though at some times more carry our lives in our hand and how soon or by what hand they may be snatcht out of ours we know not Now if our whole life be but a moment and we subject to death every moment how should we stand prepared for death every moment And how sad is it to think that they who may die the next moment should for dayes and weeks and moneths and years never prepare for death Most are loth to think of the end of their lives till they are nearer the end of them yet no man knoweth how near he is to the end of his life Many put off the thoughts of death till it cometh yet none can put off the coming of death they would remove the meditation of death to the fall of their leaf to the winter and worst of their old age yet they are not able to remove death one moment from the Spring and best of their youth Note Thirdly Violent death by the sore and severe judgement of God often sweeps multitudes away in a moment God can thrust whole throngs of men yea whole Nations into their graves together it is said Numb 16.21 of Corah and his companions The earth did cover or swallow them up in a moment And the Lord commanded Moses to say unto the children of Israel Exod. 33.5 ye are a stiff-necked people I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment and consume
thee As if the Lord had said I will take no long time for it I can quickly dispatch you how many soever there are of you I will do it in a moment We have a like description of the sudden and quick dispatch of men at the Lord's word of Command Psal 73.19 How are they brought into desolation as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors The final ruine of Babylon was thus prophesied Isa 47.9 These two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day the loss of children and widdowhood they shall come upon thee in their perfection Thou shalt utterly be destroyed and perish at once for ever The Prophet Jeremiah Lam. 4.6 bewayled the destruction of Jerusalem whose calamity was greater then that of Sodome and Gomorrah which God destroyed in a moment Sodome and Gomorrah were great Cities yet how soon consumed In some sense there is a greater evil in a lingring destruction then in a speedy one so the Prophet aggravates death by famine beyond death by fire because to die by famine is a lingring death Caesar being warned that some lay in wait to destroy him suddenly slighted it and said unexpected death is most desireable And that 's the lot of many great men to which some conceive the Psalmist had respect when he said Psal 82.7 Ye shall die liâe men and fall like one of the Princes that is suddenly But though in some sence a speedy death is more eligible then a lingring one yet in many respects to die suddenly or in a moment may be concluded a far greater judgement then to see death coming by degrees and destruction walking towards us step by step Solomon Prov. 1.27 speaks of swift destruction of destruction coming like a whirlwind swift destruction overtakes them who are slow paced to receive and obey instruction Thus the Lord can deal both with persons and with Nations he needs not make any delays nor take time to do it their destruction shall come if he will send it in a day in an hour yea in a moment shall they die And the people shall be troubled at midnight ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Populus consociatio hominum That is the body or generality of the people the many shall be troubled they shall be as men amazed or as the Metaphor imports they shall be disjoynted Men associated under due Laws of Government are as so many members of a well compacted Body ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã a verbo ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã videtur significare laxationem compagum but when broken and scattered they are like a body whose members are dislocated or out of joynt unfit for any use or service And as there is a laxation of the members of the body a disjoynting of the bones so there is a disjoynting of the faculties of the minde In times of great trouble not only is the body Politick which consists of many men but the minde of every body or of every single man is much out of joynt The word is applyed to those great concussions of the world Psal 18.17 The earth shook and trembled the foundations also of the hills were moved and were shaken at the presence of the Lord because he was wroth which we may interpret of the Princes and Powers of the earth who are as hills and mountains if the Lord do but touch them in anger they move yea tremble The word is applyed also to the waves of the Sea Jer. 5.22 which roar and toss themselves we commonly say as in the Text the Sea is troubled or 't is a troubled Sea a tossing Sea That expression is also common among us when we see a man much disquieted he is we say in a great toss even as a ship at Sea upon the proud waves Thus saith Elihu the people shall be in a toss they shall feel a storm in their mindes sudden gusts of fear and sorrow shall carry them they know not whither or they shall be lifted up to heaven in vain confidences and then fall down to hell in despairing thoughts as the tempest at Sea is described in the 107th Psalm There is yet another rendring of the Text in allusion to Drunkards who are overcome with wine Jer. 25.16 And they shall drink and be moved and be mad the word which we translate move is that in the Text now we know drunkenness moves men and puts all into disorder and disquietment Thus the people through the fierce anger of God and the wine of astonishment which he gives them to drink shall be moved they shall reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man Great troubles and afflictions are called in Scripture the wine of astonishment because they make many say and do they scarce know what great troubles bereave men not only of their comforts but of their reason they do not only straiten them but astonish them They who have drowned their wits in cups of worldly pleasure may soon have them drowned in full and overflowing cups of worldly sorrow Besides this Exposition of the peoples being troubled with perplexity fear and doubt with anxiety and uncertainty of spirit what to do I say besides this there is another way of being troubled upon which some Expositors specially insist The people shall be troubled that is shall be in a tumult they shall rise up seditiously and as we say make a commotion they shall gather together as many waters with a roaring noise Many people are compared to many Waters and there is somtimes a confluence a great confluence or flood of them tumbling together The Poet tells us elegantly what rude work a people make when they rise up like a flood of troubled waters Ac veluti magno in populo cum saepe coorta est Seditio saevitque animis ignobile vulgus Jamque faces saxa volant furor arma ministrat Virg. Aeneid 1. Their rage saith he findes out weapons one throws stones another throws firebrands till all 's in a sad combustion These waters if let alone may quickly put all into a flame The Psalmist ascribes the quieting of the Sea and the quieting of the people to God in one verse yea I conceive the one is but the explication of the other Psal 65.7 Which stilleth the noise of the Seas the noise of their waves and the tumult of their people Thus saith Elihu the people shall be in a tumult this suits with that exposition first given ready to destroy whomsoever they meet next or those especially who never did nor meant them any other hurt but to keep the peace or bridle their headstrong fury Yet I rather adhere to the former Interpretation The people shall be troubled that is they shall be in a great consternation of spirit neither being able which they seldome are to advise themselves what to do nor fit to receive which they seldome will advice from others And as Elihu adds they shall be thus troubled At midnight Or In the half
of the night as the words may be rendred that 's a great aggravation of the judgement The night is a time of rest and midnight is the time of deepest rest so that for the people to be in a tumult or troubled at midnight is to be overtaken with matter of fear when fear seemed furthest off or when they suspected nothing to make them afraid David saith of some Psal 3.5 There were they in great fear where no fear was To fear at midnight is to fear when usually no fear is that is when people are at rest in their beds And so to say the people shall be troubled at midnight signifieth either First the coming of trouble upon a secure people Cum maximè securi upon a people who thought themselves and while they thought themselves not only out of the noise but reach of danger Or secondly It may signifie the coming of trouble upon a people altogether unfit to help themselves when a man is asleep he cannot give counsel how to prevent danger and while he is in his bed he is in no posture to oppose it All this may well be included in what Elihu saith The people shall be troubled at midnight Hence Note First There are National troubles as well as personal God can scare not only a family or this and that particular man but a whole people at once he cannot only make a childe or a woman but a multitude yea an Army of mighty men tremble like a childe and faint as the weakest woman A people are many yet every man shall be as if he were alone or but one in the midst of innumerable dangers and of a thousand deaths Moses in his Song foresaw the dread of Nations upon the report of the Lord 's miraculous conduct of Israel through the red Sea Exod. 15.14 15 16. The people shall hear and be afraid sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina all the inhabitants of Canaan shal melt away And when Christ speaks of those dreadful Prognosticks of his coming he not only saith There shall be signes in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars but upon the Earth distress of Nations with perplexity Luke 21.25 Secondly Observe Both personal and publick troubles are at the command of God as both publick and personal peace are A people as well as a person may and shall be troubled even at the midnight of their greatest security if God give the word I make peace saith the Lord Isa 45.7 and create evill that is the evill of trouble There will be occasion afterward to speak further of this poynt from those words v. 29. When he giveth quietness who can give trouble and when he hideth his face who can behold him Whether it be done against a nation or against a man only trouble of all sorts is at the command of God if he saith to such or such a mischiefe goe to a nation it will goe if he bid the sword trouble them if he bid pestilence trouble them if he bid famine trouble them if he bid their owne divisions trouble them the people shall be troubled yea they shall be troubled at midnight Whence note Thirdly Trouble takes or seazeth upon many when they least expect it God can send trouble when no man thinkes of it At midnight every one is in bed all are for rest and quiet The Lord usually executes his judgements upon the unwary world upon a secure people Exod 12.29 At midnight the Lord smote all the sirstborne in the land of Egypt c. And Pharoah rose up in the night he and all his servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in Egypt We read also 2 Kings 19.35 In that night the Angel of the Lord went out and smote in the campe of the Assyrians an hundred four-score and sive thousand It was not a day-battel but a night-battel When they were all gone into their tents and were at rest when the Army was secure In that night did the Lord fight them by an Angel and made a mighty slaughter among them Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slaine in the night Dan 5.30 even in that night wherein he made a feast to a thousand of his Lords and dranke wine before the thousand v. 1. In that night not only of his security but of his jollity and sensuality when he had even drowned himselfe and his great Lords with wine and belly-cheare in that very night the City was broken up and Belshazzar slaine History tells us what dreadfull work was made upon the Babylonians that night The great Judgement day is so described Jesus Christ will at last trouble the world at midnight The Day of the Lord so cometh saith the Apostle 1 Thes 5.2 as a thiefe in the night when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them c Christ himselfe shadowing his coming under the parable of the ten Virgins who all slumbred and slept tells us Math 25.6 At midnight there was a cry made Behold the Bridegroome conteth goe ye out to meete him Though some were in a better condition then others some wise some foolish yet all slept and it was a kind of midnight to them all Christ will come and the people shall be troubled at midnight and then there will be a dreadfull Cry among the secure drowsie world Therefore the Counsell of Christ is most proper Math 13.35 Watch because ye know not at what houre your Master may come whether at even or at midnight or at Cock-trowing or in the morning It is hard to be put to it at midnight 't is sad to be in a sleepy or slumbring condition when evill comes The Gospel sheweth us how much that man was troubled when his neighbour came to borrow bread of him at midnight Luke 11.5.7 Trouble me not my children are with me in bed I cannot rise and give thee If it be matter of trouble to be called out of our bed to doe a courtesie for a friend at midnight O what will it be to be called up to Judgement or to be surprized with any Judgement at midnight Therefore prepare and be ready for all changes At midnight the people shall be troubled And passe away These words are a third part of the description of the Judgement of God upon a people they shall die they shall be troubled they shall passe away that is some of them shall die all shall be troubled others shall passe away There is a three-fold notion of passing away First Some expound it thus They shall be carried captive out of their own Country This with the former two make up a perfect Judgement upon any people Some shall die or be slaine all shall be troubled and vext they shall be at their wits end and the rest shall be carried away captive Secondly They shall pass away that is they shall pass into their graves the forme of speech here used may well beare that
sense for death is a passing away a passing out of this world Psal 37.36 Transire intelligo non pro migrare aliò sed pro abire in sepulchrum Merc Loe he passed away and was gone that is he died And that which is as death to the heavens and the earth their great change when ever it shall be is called a passing away Math 5.18 Till heaven and earth passe away one jot or one tittle shall in no wise passe away from the Law till all be fullfilled that is the Law shall stand in force as long as the world stands Thus to passe away is to die But I conceive we are to expound this third branch of the Judgement distinctly from the former two and therefore for as much as we have death in the first words it will not be proper to take in death here againe or to expound passing away by dying The third notion of they shall passe away is they shall run or flee for it they know not whether they shall flee for their lives from the danger impending over them As some shall die and all be troubled so not a few shall endeavour to save their lives by flight Christ in the Gospel foretold the great troubles and afflictions which should come upon Jerusalem and in them there was a sad concurrence or meeting of these three Judgments in the text For when after forty yeares the Romans invaded and ruin'd their City many dyed were destroyed by sword and famine all the people were troubled Oh in what a hurry were they to see the Romane Eagle displayed before their Gates and then they passed away that is as many as could withdrew and got out of the danger It is reported in history that before the Seidge of that City a voyce was heard in Jerusalem saying Migremus hinc let us passe from hence they who believed that warning departed soone after And as some passed away before the Judgement came so when it was come many were striving to be gone or to passe away Therefore Christ admonished them Math 24.20 Pray that your flight be not in the winter nor on the Sabath day I conceive we are to understand this text distinctly of such a passing away In a moment shall they die and the people shall be troubled at midnight and passe away they shall doe what they can to secure themselves by out-running the danger Note from it First God hath variety of meanes to humble a sinfull people Into how many wayes doe the Judgements of God divide themselves severall persons beare severall parts here is death to many trouble to all flight to some That in the Prophet answers it fully Jer 15.1 where the Lord protesting that nothing no not the intercession of Moses and Samuel should take him off from his resolve against that people saith Such as are for death to death and such as are for the sword to the sword and such as are for the famine to the famine and such as are for the captivity to the captivity There 's pestilence and sword and famine and captivity ready at the call of God to take away a provoking people Secondly Note To passe away or to be put to our flight is a grievous Judgement To flee from the face of the pursuer to run for our lives who knows the trouble and terror of it but they that have been in it what a mercy is it that our dwellings are continued to us that we abide in our places that we neither die in a moment are not surpriz'd by midnight-feares but rest quietly in our beds though feares at midnight have been ready to surprize us What a mercy is it that we are not passing away running fleeing into the wildernesse as the poore Churches of God have done in severall ages So much of Judgement upon the people in that three-fold notion of it We have here also Judgement upon Princes And the mighty shall be taken away without hand Not only the many but the mighty shall feele the Judgements of God For as 't is sayd in the former verse He accepteth not the persons of Princes nor regardeth the rich more then the poore The mighty and the meanest of men are alike to God when they are alike in sinning against God If they doe evill alike they shall suffer evill alike God accepteth no mans person The mighty shall be taken away ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã fortis robustus excellens fortitudine pluraliter Abirim in genere forte significat The word rendred mighty taken plurally is used in Scripture to denote not only mighty men but any creature that excells in might And therefore according to the exigence of the place it signifies sometimes Angells who being spirits exceed all flesh in might The people of Israel in the wilderness did eat Angells food Psal 78.5 the food of the Abirims of the mighty or strong ones And as it is applyed to Angells who exceed the strongest men in strength so it is applyed to any sort of strong beasts to the horse Jer 47.3 to Bulls Isa 34.7 Jer 50.11 Psal 22.13 Psal 68.31 Thus the word riseth above man to Angells and falls below man to the beasts of the earth here 't is applyable only to strong and mighty men of whom yet there are three sorts First Some are men of a mighty arme Secondly Others are mighty in Armes Thirdly There are men mighty in Authority The first of these is a natural mighty man he hath a mighty arme a strong body or he excells in bodily strength The second is a marshall mighty man a souldier a man of warre The third is the Magistratical mighty man he is cloathed with power both to punish and reward Possibly he may have no bodily might yea possibly he is no souldier yet a man of such power he is that he commands whole Nations Now take the word Mighty in any of these three senses and it is a truth the mighty shall be taken away the mighty in strength of the Arme the mighty in strength of Armyes the mighty in power and dignity are by the hand of the Almighty God taken away They shall take them away saith the Hebrew text that is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã et amovent potentem impersonaliter Pisc say some according to the first translation mentioned the people shall violently take away the mighty But by an usuall Hebraisme we may read it Impersonally the mighty shall be taken away concealing or leaving it to be understood by whom Like that speech to the rich man Luke 12.25 This night doe they require thy soule of thee so we put in the Margin that is as the text hath it this night thy soule shall be required of thee they shall take thy soule that is it shall be taken away so here they shall take away the mighty that is the mighty shall be taken away or removed We may take notice of a two-fold remove or taking away First There is a
mighty God Isa 9.6 called himselfe a worme and no man in his humiliations for the redemption of lost man Psal 22.6 What are the mightiest men but wormes to God who is so mighty that if he say the word wormes become their Masters The mighty Giants are before God but pigmy's punyes or children The Prophet gives a good warning Jer 9.23 Let not the mighty man glory in his might Let him not glory in the might of his arme Let him not glory in the might of his armes or Armies though man have an Army of mighty men about him yet let him not glory in them no nor in the might of his power or authority If any man useth his might against God what is his might unto God Psal 58.1 Why boastest thou O mighty man that thou canst doe mischiefe If a man be mighty and have a mind to doe mischiefe with his might especially if he boasteth in his might because he can doe mischiefe with it he is not only sinfull but weake and foolish There is no greater morall weakness then to boast either of naturall martiall or civill strength Could any of the mighty men of this world stand before the might of God they had somewhat to boast of Read the word of the Lord against the mighty Isa 2.10 Behold the Kings and Captaines of the earth trembling before the presence of the Lambe Rev 6.15 and then judge how weake the strongest are before the Lord All ages are full of teaching examples that there is no might to his who is Almighty Secondly Note What ever God will doe he can easily doe it He can effect it with a looke with a cast of his eye he can doe it with a breath of his mouth he can doe it with a word It is said Exod 14.24 God looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and through the cloud and troubled the host of the Egyptians and tooke off their Chariot wheeles that they drave them heavily To looke upon them was an easie thing God did not give them a stroake with his hand but only a looke with his eye and that overthrew them Thirdly Note God can do the greatest things alone He can subdue the mighty though none come forth to his help against the mighty they are cursed who do not help the Lord against the mighty when they set their might against the Lord Judg. 5.23 Curse ye Meroâ saith the angel of the Lord curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not forth to the help of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the mighty But though it be the sin of man not to help the Lord against the mighty yet the withdrawing of their help doth not hinder the Lord in his purpose against the mighty For He taketh away the mighty without hands Though men stir not though angels should not stir to his help yet his own arm can bring either salvation or destruction It is said of the Lord Isa 44.24 He stretched out the heavens alone there was none to help him to unfold that vast canopy of heaven he stretcht out the heavens alone As in the Creation he made all alone so in Providence he can act and effect all alone It is a great glory to God that he hath many instruments to help him many tongues to speak for him many hands to work for him but it is a greater glory to God that he needs none to help him none to speak or work for him In this the glory of the Lord infinitely outshines the glory of all the mighty Kings and Princes of the earth They have done and can do mighty things but not without hands and therefore they have the hands of thousands at command for them 't is not their place to put their hand to the work 't is enough that they give commands and orders 't is the duty of others to execute all their righteous commands and fulfil their orders But the Lord hath not only a commanding power but an executing power too in himself though no hand move yet his affairs stand not still God and all creatures put together are no more then God alone without any creature Many are useful but none are necessary unto God Take two inferences from it First This is matter of terror to wicked men though they see no hand in the world against them much less any able to match them least of all to check them yea though they see all hands for them yet this is no security to them this is no assurance of one hours safety seeing the Lord taketh away the mighty without hand and he usually doth it when they see not which way any hand can reach them It is the conclusion of one of the Ancients upon this place in reference to a mighty oppressour He is invisibly pull'd down Invisibilitèr rapitur qui visibiliter rapiebat Gregor who did visibly pull down He ruined others with hands but himself shall be ruin'd without hand he saw him whom he took away but he shall not see him who takes him away Let them who live without fear of any hand remember the Apostles admonition Heb. 10.31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hand of the living God who takes away the mighty without hand Secondly This is matter of wonderful comfort to all that fear God and trust upon him whether Princes or people whether mighty men or mean men What though ye see no hand for you yet 't is enough if he be for you who saves you without hand The protecting and saving power of God is as great and as effectual as his destroying power is yea he oftner saves without hand then he destroyes without hand As the Kings of the earth so the great King of heaven and earth loves to deal his favours and bestow his rewards immediately with his own hand but usually afflicts and punisheth by the hands of others That 's a most pregnant Scripture to this purpose Hos 1.7 where the Lord promiseth to save Judah But Judah might say I am in a very low condition and no help appears Therefore he addeth I will save them by the Lord their God and will not save them by Bowe nor by Sword nor by Battel nor by Horses nor Horsemen Judah shall be saved though there be no hand to save them I will save them saith the Lord by the Lord their God I will do it immediately And the Lord doth not only say in the affirmative he will save them without hand but he saith also in the Negative that he will not save them with hands But I will not save them by Bowe nor Sword nor Battel nor Horses nor Horsemen there shall be no appearance of these helps I have heretofore destroyed you by Sword and Bowe by Horses and Horsemen but I will have all the honour and thanks of your salvation to my self Though the Lords people have neither horses nor horsemen though they are as
helples as is imaginable yet the Lord is able to save them he wil do it in the fittest season As this is true in reference to Princes and Nations in their publique capacity so private Christians may take up the comfort of it What though great distress and affliction be nigh and no hand to save you yet the Lord can save without hand if you are low he can raise you though none lend a hand to raise you if poor he can enrich you if weak he can strengthen you though you have no means for either It is an everlasting spring of comfort that the Lord can do all things without hand that he needs not be beholding to the creature nor stands in need of their help to effect either threatned judgments against Babylon or his promised mercies unto Sion Thus we have seen Elihu describing the righteous though severe dealings of God both with people and Princes who despise his counsels and provoke his wrath The reason why they fall under his wrath is further discovered in the next words JOB Chap. 34. Vers 21 22. For his eyes are upon the wayes of man and he seeth all his goings There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves IN the former verse Elihu reported the judgement of God both upon the people and upon the Princes of the earth In a moment shall they die c. In these two verses he gives us a proof that the Lord is righteous in judgement both upon Princes and people or he assignes the ground of it That the words are a reason of the former the Causal Particle in the beginning of the 21th verse puts it out of question Vers 21. For his eyes are upon the wayes of men As if he had said God doth not these things he troubles not Nations and Nobles People or Princes by an absolute and soveraigne power or because he will but he finds just cause to do it What men do is enough to justifie God in what they suffer He hath alwayes power enough in his hand to destroy all men and to turn this world back into its first nothing but he never useth his power nor puts it forth without cause For his eyes are upon the wayes of man c. God is a Spirit the simplicity of his Essence is his first and highest perfection he is purely incorporeal yet as the passions of man's minde so the members of his body are often in Scripture attributed unto God we read of the face of God of the hand of God of the ear of God and as in many other places so in this of the eyes of God Now as the ear of God notes only his power of hearing and the hand of God his power of working so the eye or eyes of God note only his power of seeing knowing and discerning the wayes of men And when Elihu saith his eyes are upon the wayes of man his meaning is only this he clearly discerns and understands the wayes of man These words his eyes are upon the wayes of man intimate First A present act he doth not say they were or they will be upon the wayes of man but they are Secondly They imply as a present so a continued act his eyes are so upon the wayes of man that they are never off them The eyes of God dwell as it were upon the wayes of man His eyes are said indeed to run to and fro through the whole earth 2 Chron. 16.8 yet they do not wander from one object to another but are fixed and setled upon every one Thirdly they imply an intentive act or the seriâusness of the heart of God upon the wayes of man We may behold a thing and yet take no great notice of it but when our eyes are said to be upon any thing this imports they are busied much upon it Fourthly This manner of speaking signifieth not only a clear sight but that which is operative carrying with it a most exact scrutiny or disquisition of the wayes of men according to that expression of the Psalmist Psal 11.4 His eyes behold his eye-lids try the children of men God doth not only behold but his eye-lids try the wayes of men that is he so looks upon them that he looks through them and discerneth what they are to the utmost God doth not only behold the body and bulk of our actions but the soul and spirit of them and while he seeth them he seeth into them All this and much more then we can apprehend is comprehended in those words His eyes are upon The wayes of man The word is plural not way but wayes which shews the extensiveness of the sight or knowledge of God The word being put indefinitely is to be taken universally His eyes are not confined to this or that object to this or that place to this or that person but his eyes look over all His eyes are upon the wayes of man Yet further the wayes of man may be distinguished First As they are either internal or external The internal wayes of man are the wayes of his heart as the Prophet hath it Isa 57.17 He went on frowardly in the way of his heart And these wayes of the heart our inward wayes are first our thoughts what we imagine and conceive secondly our affections what we love and what we hate what we rejoyce in and what we mourn for declare the way of our hearts Thirdly The wayes of the heart are a man's purposes resolutions and intentions what to do Fourthly The wayes of the heart are man's designes or his aims what he drives at or proposeth as his end in all that he doth In this latitude we are to understand the present Text when Elihu saith the eyes of God are upon the wayes of man remember they are upon his thoughts upon his affections upon his purposes upon his designes and aimes all these are before the Lord as it is said of Christ Johâ 2.25 He needed not that any should testifie of man for he knew what was in man that is both the state of his heart and all the movings of it And if the Lord's eyes be upon the internal wayes of man then certainly they are upon the external wayes of man if he knoweth what work the heart is at or about certainly he knoweth what the hand is at or about He that knoweth which way the minde goeth cannot but know which way the foot goeth His eyes are upon the external wayes of man but 't is his chief glory that his eyes are upon the internal wayes of man Gen. 6.5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth He saw man's actions or outward wayes were very wicked but besides that saith the Text He saw that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually He saw the wayes within what was formed up or as the word there notes what creatures were made and fashioned in the minde of
man Thus if we take the wayes in that distinction of internal and external the eyes of God are upon them Secondly Take the wayes of man as differenced in their kinds as they are either good or evil the eyes of the Lord are upon both They are saith Solomon Prov. 15.3 in every place beholding the evil and the good that is the evil wayes and the good wayes of men But saith not the Prophet Habbak 1.14 Thou art of purer eyes then to behold evil Which may seem at first reading to imply that God doth not behold the evil wayes or actings of men I answer if we distinguish the word behold we shall soon reconcile these Scriptures To behold is either to discerne what is before us or to behold is to approve what is before us There is a seeing of knowledge and there is a seeing of contentment now when the Prophet saith the Lord is of purer eyes then to behold evil his meaning is he doth not he cannot behold evil with contentment or approbation otherwise the Lord beholds evil even all the evil in the world both good and evil are before him who is himself only and altogether good His eyes are upon the ways of Man ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Not only upon the wayes of this or that man but of every man let man be what he will for a man let him be a great man or a mean man let him be a rich man or a poor man let him be a wise man or a fool let him be an ignorant or a knowing man let him be a holy or a prophane man let him be a subtle or a simple man his eyes are upon him Those things which difference men among themselves make no difference at all among them as to the eye of God His eyes are upon the wayes of whomsoever you can câll man And he seeth all his goings This latter clause of the verse is of the same sence with the former therefore I shall not stay upon the opening of it The Scripture often useth Synonoma's and repeats the same thing in other terms to shew the truth and certainty of it and surely the Spirit gives a double stroke here to strike this truth home into our hearts and fasten it in our mindes He beholdeth the wayes and he seeth alâ the goings of man The word translated seeing ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã signifieth a very curious or critical sight as was opened before Again these latter words say he seeth All his goings Where we have the universal particle exprest which was only understood in the forme And though these two words wayes and goings may be expounded for the same thing yet in this conjunction we may distinguish them by understanding the word wayes for the constant course of a man's life and the word goings for his particular and renewed motions in those wayes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã incedore cum pompa propriè deambulare The Original word rendred goings signifies somtimes going with much caution yea with a kinde of state or pomp yet frequently any ordinary going Now when Elihu asserts The Lord seeth all his goings we may sum up the matter under these five considerations He seeth First Where he goeth what his path is Secondly He seeth whether he is going what he makes the end of his journey or travel Thirdly when he goeth or sets out what time he takes for every undertaking Fourthly how far he goeth the Lord takes notice of everystep what progress he makes in any business good or bad Fifthly he seeth in what manner he goeth with what heart with what mind or frame of soule he goeth Thus distinct and exact is the Lord in beholding the wayes and in seeing all the goings of man Hence note First Surely the Lord is a God of knowledge If we could conceive a man to have his eyes in all places and upon all persons an eye upon all hearts and an eye in all hearts as wel as an eye upon all hands you would say this man must needs be a knowing man especially if he have such an eye as the eye of God is a discerning eye a distinguishing eye a trying eye an eye which seeth to the bottome of whatsoever it seeth Hannah sayd this in her song 1 Sam. 2.3 Speak not so proudly let not arrogancy come out of your lips for the Lord is a God of knowledge and by him actions are weighed 'T is not a slight superficial knowledge which God hath of things or persons by him actions are weighed and so are the Actors God puts all into an even ballance and he will weigh both persons and actions to a graine yea every word and thought shall goe into the ballance It was said to that great Monarch Belteshazer by a hand-writing upon the wall Thou art weighed in the ballances The Lord weighed that great King he weighed all his power and the exercise of it and he that weigheth Kings will not leave the meanest subject unweighed by him actions are weighed We many times passe over our actions without consideration and never take the weight of them at least we never weigh them in the Sanctuary ballance If they will beare weight in the ballance of the world we presume they will in Gods ballance also But as the Lord is a God of knowledge otherwise then man is so by him actions are weighed otherwise then by man It is said of Idolls Psal 115.15 They have eyes and see not but we may say of the Lord Jehovah the true God the living God he hath properly no eyes yet he seeth and his faculty of seeing is infinitely above that which himselfe hath planted in man The Atheist while he is about the worst work in the world the breaking in pieces of the people of God and afflicting his heritage while he is slaying the widow and the stranger and murdering the fatherlesse while he is I say at such kind of worke as this he saith Psal 94.7 The Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it But what saith the Psalmist to him and such as he v. 8 9. Vnderstand ye brutish among the people he that formed the eye shall not he see Those words of the Prophet to King Asa 2 Chron 16.9 The eyes of the Lord run too and fro through the whole earth are an allusion to a man who having a desire to know much or to see all in the world runs up and down travels from place to place from Country to Country for information The Lord would have us know that he knoweth every thing as exactly as they who run from place to place to see what 's done in every place It is prophecyed of the latter times Dan 12.4 Many shall run too and fro and knowledge shall be increased that is many shall be so graciously greedy of knowledge that they will refuse no labour nor travel to attaine it They will run too and fro to inquire and search for it they
will not thinke any time or labour lost if they may but gaine that precious commodity by it called true knowledge or the knowledge of the truth And that expression of running too and fro may wel be expounded they shall by discourse and arguing beare out the truth In discoursing the mind runs too and fro faster then the feete can in travelling In discourse we run from poynt to poynt from reason to reason from objection to objection from question to question till we come to solid answers and conclusions and so knowledge is increased The Lord is surely a God of knowledge whose eyes run too and fro without motion and see the bottome of all things without discourse or argumentation Secondly Note The Lords knowledge of man never abateth he is alwayes observing and alike observing what men doe and what men are The best the most waking men have their slumbrings and sleepings but the Lord neither slumbreth nor sleepeth his eyes are upon the wayes of man And when the Scripture saith The Lord doth neither slumber nor sleepe we may understand it in a twofold reference First as to the protection of his people Psal 121.4 Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep that is he watcheth over them so uncessantly so unweariedly that no danger can approach them without his knowledge Secondly he never slumbereth nor sleepeth as to the observation and consideration of all people he never takes his eye off from the wayes of man Thirdly Note The Lords knowledge or sight of mans wayes is universall and everlasting The All-seeing God seeth all our wayes and he seeth them alwayes And he seeth them all alwayes by one act The Lords view or prospect of things is not successive one after another but conjunctive all at once The Lord hath a large eye and an everlasting eye yea is all eye He knows all things First past or that have been Secondly present or that are Thirdly future possible or that shall be Thus saith the Lord in the Prophet Isa 46.10 I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done And upon this read the Lords challenge of all the Idolls in the world Isa 41.21 22 23. Let them shew the former things what they be that we may consider them and know the latter end of them or declare us things to come Shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are gods As if the Lord had sayd if ye can tell us all that 's past or any thing that is to come as I can then ye may take the honour of God otherwise ye are but lyes and vanities Againe the Lord knows all things First without distraction and secondly he knows all things with clearest distinction it is no more trouble to the Lord to see all things then to see one and he seeth all things as if he had but one thing to see From the consideration of this knowledge of God let me give foure or five inferences for instruction First which is most naturall to the text if the Lords eyes be upon the wayes of man if he seeth all his goings then all the Lords Judgements are right The Judges of this world may have a principle of righteousnesse in them and we may call them just and righteous Judges yet all their Judgements are not alwayes right For as some men are so ignorant that they know nothing at all so there are none so knowing as to know all things the clearest sighted Judges doe not see all that may concerne them in giving Judgement even among them some may be blinde and many blinded some are blinde and cannot see much others are blinded and will not see all that they see they are blinded possibly with bribes and gifts with hopes or feares with passions and prejudices And how cleare-sighted and honest-hearted soever any are yet they cannot see all somewhat may lye out of their sight Hence it cometh to passe that a just Judge may doe that which is unjust he cannot see quite through every matter though he set himselfe to search the matter before he giveth Judgement But as the Lord is all righteousnesse in his principle and beares an everlasting love to righteousnesse so he hath a cleare sight of all things and persons and therefore he must needs give a righteous Judgement concerning all things actions and persons Though he overthrow nations he is righteous though he overthrow Princes he is righteous because he seeth into all things and proceedeth upon certain knowledge of every mans case and condition He cannot erre in Judgement who hath no error in his Judgement nor any deviation in his will Secondly If the Lords eyes are upon all the wayes of men then certainly sinners whose wayes are evill shall never goe unpunished For if he have a principle of righteousnesse in him and an eye to see all their unrighteous wayes they cannot escape his justice Say to the wicked woe to him for he shall eate the fruit of his doings Isa 3.11 The righteous God knoweth the unrighteousnesse of man and therefore woe to the unrighteous man Thirdly Take this conclusion Then no godly man no good man shall goe unrewarded or loose the reward of that good which he hath done The Lord is righteous and he seeth every one that doth right or the righteousnesse of every mans way and it is his promise to reward the righteous therefore they shall be rewarded This is matter of strong consolation and great encouragement to all that are righteous If the Lord seeth all they doe nothing which they have well done shall be lost in the dark or lie in the dust God will bring forth their righteousnesse as the light and their just dealing as the noone day And as the knowledge which God hath of their wayes assureth the righteous that they shall be rewarded for so that they shall be assisted and protected in their doing righteousnesse The Prophet makes that inference in the place before-cited 2 Chron 16.9 The eyes of the Lord run too and fro through the earth what followeth to shew himselfe strong in the behalfe of them or as we put in the Margin strongly to hold with them whose heart is perfect towards him The Lord is alwayes strong and alike in strength his hand is not shortned at any time that he cannot save yet he doth not alwayes shew his strength but as he is strong so he will shew himselfe strong for the perfect or upright in heart that is he will act his strength to the utmost for the safety and assistance of those whose hearts are perfect with him So then as they that are good and doe good shall be rewarded for the good they have done so they shall be protected in the dangers and evills they incurre while they are doing good Another Prophet speakes both these inferences from this principle of the knowledge or
But if what is awarded against him be right according to Law and sutable to Justice let the sentence be what it will let him be able to beare it or no much more if he be able also to beare it as in this case it is he hath no cause at all to desire a review of it Thus it is saith Elihu in all the dealings of God with man He will not lay upon man more then is right that he should enter into judgement with God To enter or goe into judgement as the word is is either to begin or renew a sute and to desire the hearing of the cause againe God makes no faulty Judgements why then should any cause determin'd by him come to a second hearing there may be reason enough among men to heare a cause againe but what God resolves needs not be reviewed much lesse reversed Here then Elihu meets with those frequent complaints of Job under his afflictions and likewise with those his severall motions and earnest petitions to have his cause heard afresh as if God had prest him too sore or at least had not done him right in suffering him to be so sorely prest by men Thus Elihu seemes to say God never gave any man any just cause to plead his cause over againe with him nor hath he given thee O Job any cause to desire it of him 'T is true carnall men yea and sometimes godly men when as Job here they are greatly afflicted are ready to thinke and say they are over-severely dealt with But the reason of Elihu stands good and firme against all these thoughts and sayings For he will not lay upon man more then is right Hence note God never wronged nor will wrong any man There are two speciall cases in which God never did nor ever will wrong man First he will not wrong man by denying him that reward which he hath freely promised no man shall serve God for naught he shall not say God hath promised but he hath not performed The experience of his people seale to the truth of his promises as wel as their faith imbraceth it That hope of man which is anchored in a promise of God never miscarried not made any man ashamed Secondly God will not wrong man by laying upon him a greater punishment then he hath threatned The Magistrate cannot be charged with laying more punishment upon an offender then is right if he punisheth him not more then the Law alloweth There may be a great deale of severity I grant in punishing up to the rigor of the Law but there is no unrighteousness in it The Mosaical law allowed of forty stripes now if they had layd forty-one upon any offender they had layd upon him more then was right because they exceeded the Law and to have layd full forty stripes which was the utmost they could by Law had been severe therefore they usually abated one stripe at least Hence the Apostle Paul saith 2 Cor 11.24 Of the Jewes five times received I forty stripes save one if they had given Paul forty stripes they had done no wrong as to the Law though one had been too many for and a wrong to him who had not broken their law Seeing the Lord lays no more upon the worst of sinners then the law alloweth he doth not lay upon man more then right Yea not only the chastisements which the Lord layeth upon his owne servants but the greatest punishments which he layeth upon the worst of the wicked in this world are much lesse then might with Justice be inflicted This was Ezra's humble acknowledgement before the Lord Ezra 9.13 And after all that is come upon us for our evill deeds and for our great trespasse seeing that thou our God hast punished us lesse then our iniquities deserve The punishment that was upon the people of Israel was exceeding great in so much that Daniel saith in his prayer Chap 9.11 12. Vnder the whole heavens hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem yet Ezra speaking of that very dispensation saith Thou hast punished us lesse then our iniquities deserve In this life the greatest of our punishments are lesse then the least of our sins Every sin or transgression of the Law deserves eternall death therefore in this life the greatest punishments that fall upon sinners are lesse then their sins As the least mercies which God bestoweth upon them are greater then the greatest of their deservings That was Jacobs free confession Gen 32.10 I am not worthy of the least of or I am lesse then all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant So the greatest punishments that fall upon them in this life are lesse then the least of their sins And in the next life where sinners shall have full measure heaped up pressed downe running over and that for ever yet then they shall not have one graine more either of weight or measure then they have deserved The Lord layeth upon no man in this life so much nor in that to come more then is right Hence it followeth Secondly Man hath no cause to complaine of God or God hath not given any man any cause to complaine whatsoever his sufferings are Why should he complaine who hath but his right As God hath not given any man a liberty to complaine so he hath not given any man just occasion or a true reason to complaine If the burden of punishment be heavy upon any man let him thanke his own sin or selfe for it he hath but his due from God We are often cruel to and wrong our selves God is usually mercifull and never but just to us yea how great soever any affliction is 't is a mercy that 't is no greater and God can quickly make it greater how great soever it is and still be just As he never doth more then he may so he never doth so much as he can in punishing us The Lord hath more in the treasures of his wrath then yet he hath powred upon the worst of sinners Nor indeed can the most capacious vessels of wrath hold all his wrath 't is as himselfe is infinite Cain sayd My punishment is greater then I can beare Gen 4.13 yet God could have made his punishment greater then it was Therefore Jeremy confessed Lam 3.22 It is of the Lords mercies that we are not consumed because his compassions faile not Whatsoever is lesse then utter consumption hath some mixture of compassion in it every punishment hath somewhat of compassion in it except that of everlasting damnation O then let all flesh feare and tremble to enter into Judgement with God to complaine or take offence at any of his proceedings with them There are foure things considerable in God which should stop all mens mouths from daring to doe so First He is most powerfull there is no escaping out of his hands Secondly He is most wise and seeth quite through all that man hath done with his hand
yea all that hath been contrived in his heart Thirdly He is most just and will not be taken off from doing less neither can he be provoked to do more then is right to any man Fourthly How should man fear to enter into judgement with God seeing his judgments are past finding out they are as the Scripture saith a great deep we are not able to fathome them therefore wo unto those that complain of or murmure against them we should alwayes pray with David Psal 143.2 Lord enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no man living be justified and we should alwayes be afraid to enter into judgement with God for he will not only justifie but magnifie himself and his works in the sight of all men living We should be so far from entring into judgement with God which many do when they think they do it not that we should continually beg him not to enter into judgement with us for we are not only unable to stand before him but must certainly be broken before him as it followeth Vers 24. He shall break in pieces mighty men without number and set others in their stead As Job had often complained of his own troubles so he had somtimes of the prosperity of wicked men or that God suffered them who were not worthy to live yet to live in pomp power and pleasure Thus he expostulated the matter chap. 21.7 Wherefore do the wicked live become old yea are mighty in power c. We may conceive Elihu removing that stumbling stone and answering him in these words while he telleth us what work the Lord often maketh in the world in those his lesser and particular dayes of judgement among the mighty of the world He not only striketh and woundeth troubleth and vexeth them but breaketh them yea breaketh them in pieces ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã est ictibus subigere mollire The words are a comparison between the mighty a potters vessel of whom David saith Psal 2.9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron thou shalt not only give them a knock or a crack but dash them in pieces as a potters vessel and he can break them so small that there shall not be found in the bursting of them as the Prophet speaks Isa 30.14 a shârd to take fire from the hearth or to take water withal out of the pit Thus the Lord shall break in pieces not the poor and weak and mean but Mâghty men Or as some render He shall break in pieces many men Hieronymus interpretatur multos the Hebrew word refers to both quantities to great in bigness and great in number but because we have their innumerableness mentioned distinctly in the next clause ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ad utramque quantitatem refertur sed malo fortes Merc. it is best to render the word by greatness in power or might here For least any should think God could break only a few mighty men therefore it is said he shall break in pieces mighty men in all the notions of might the mighty in corporal strength the mighty in civil strength power or authority yea martial mighty men if they stand in his way and hinder his work Without number All these God breaketh in pieces like a Potters vessel as if they were but a swarm of flies and sweeps them away in a moment As if he had said ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã pro ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ita ut numerus eorum investigari non possit Pisc Certo numero contineri non possunt quos propter peccata Dei justitia conteret Aqui. God will give innumerable examples of his infinite power and unbyass'd justice in destroying the wicked he hath and will destroy so many of them that no man knoweth how many he hath destroyed or will destroy There is another reading of the words Our Translators put it in the margin of our Bibles He shall break in pieces mighty men without searching out which may have a two-fold interpretation First He shall break them in pieces and no man ought to search or enquire into his doings or say unto him as that mighty Monarch confessed Dan. 4.35 What doest thou And thus it answers what was said in the former verse They shall not enter into judgement with God Some have a priviledge at Sea to pass without searching no man must enquire what they carry or what their lading is surely when the Lord breaketh mighty men no man may search into his doings or enquire into his actions further then for his own instruction and admonition that he may answer the purpose of God in them and give him glory Secondly He will break them in pieces without searching that is Deus cui omnia nota sunt non opus habet in facta hominum inquirere Drus without any formal examination or usual wayes of Process at least without any known to us The Lord needs not to stand searching as men do to finde out matters against the mighty to frame articles or to bring in his Bill of Attainder against them God needeth not search to know because he knoweth all things without searching and therefore may justly break men in pieces without this kinde of searching or He will break them in pieces without inquisition that is without shewing cause why God doth not alwayes publish the reasons of his proceedings his judgements are often secret though never unjust We render well He will break in pieces mighty men Without number That is how many soever they are or though they are innumerable yet he will break them in pieces as one man Thus the word is used chap. 5.9 chap. 9.11 In both which places the Reader may finde the extent and emphasis of this expression without number further explained only consider that these mighty men without number may be taken two wayes First Collectively as combined by leagues or as marshall'd by orders into an Host as if he had said though an Army of them be gathered together even a numberles Army yet the Lord can break them in pieces Isa 8.9 Associate your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces Secondly We may take these mighty men singly or personally Thus the Lord breaketh in pieces mighty men without number one after another one at this time and another at that time how many of them soever arise up one after another to oppose him to oppress his people or to do wickedly they shall surely be broken Mr Broughton renders to this sence He bruiseth mighty men without end he doth not break them without end as having no end in breaking them but as without end notes his breaking them endlesly or for ever If men will sin without end he can break them without end he can renew destruction as fast as they renew transgression Hence Observe First God can easily ruine the mightiest men of the world He can break them
to stand The Lord can establish those whom he setteth up The Lord doth not only set up but keep up whom he pleaseth Though they are weak whom he setteth up yet he can keep them up though they whom he setteth up are opposed by the strong yet he can keep them up He can make a shrub stand fast though opposed by a Cedar and a reed to stand firm like a rock though opposed by an Oak Thirdly Note The Lord taketh care of the Government of the world He is not for breaking work only he is for setting and setling too God will not let the body of a people perish for want of a head but when in judgement he hath broken one in pieces he in mercy sets up another Mighty men are like pillars which bear the weight of a whole Commonwealth or Kingdom God rarely deals with Nations as Sampson did with the house wherein the Philistims were assembled who at once pull'd away the pillar and pull'd down the house but if he pulleth away one pillar he puts in another that the house may stand God will not leave the world without rule or rulers when he takes with one hand he gives with another when Judas the Traytor was broken Christ found out a better man Matthias to set in his stead And when the whole Nation or Church of the Jewes was broken and rejected God called in the Gentiles and set them up for a Church and people to himself in their stead and which is the greatest instance of all when Jesus Christ was taken from the earth when he left the world who was the mighty one he was first broken in pieces for our sins and afterwards taken away yet he gave a supply and left us another in his stead I will not leave you comfortless saith he John 14.18 I will come unto you though not till the great day in person yet every day in the gifts and graces of my Spirit I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever John 14.16 Again John 16.13 When he the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all truth God sent the Spirit in Christ's stead he doth that for us which Christ did for us while he abode on the earth and therefore the holy Spirit is not unfitly call'd the Vicar of Christ here on earth he feeds the flock of Christ he looks to his people he teacheth he comforteth them in Christ's stead And thus in Nations when God breaketh one Governour he sets up an other in his stead he will not leave Nations without guides and leaders nor suffer the staff of Government to be utterly broken which is the greatest plague that can come upon any people From the whole verse take these tree deductions First There is a vanity and an uncertainty at least the vanity of uncertainty in all worldly greatness and powers God blasts and breaks them as he pleaseth The most substantial things on earth are but as a shaddow or like the Land-sea's continually flowing and ebbing One is cast down and another is exalted one is broken and another is set up yea the same man who was lately exalted and set up may quickly be cast down and broken There is no assurance to be had of the best things here below but only this that we cannot be sure of them and 't is good for us that we cannot be sure of the best things here below both because we are so apt to say It is good for us to be here where yet our best things are not to be had as also because by this consideration we may be provoked to look after and make sure of better things then any are here enjoyed even those best things which are under hope Secondly Great examples of God's judgements are to be eyed and marked Why doth Elihu call Job to this consideration but that he might be humbled and give God glory it is not for nought that God breaks in pieces the mighty ones of the earth 1 Cor. 10.11 All these things have hapned unto them for ensamples and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come As all those things among the Jewes were Types so all that God doth to this day upon the Princes and Powers of the world Nunquam culpam suam reprobi nisi in poena agnoscunt Greg. lib. 25. Moral cap. 9. are but as types and ensamples they are for admonition that we should consider those sins which have brought such judgments upon men such breaking judgements and avoid them some will never see sin in it self but in the judgments of God all may see what sin is when mighty men are broken in pieces what will God do with the rest if they sin against him and provoke the eyes of his glory Zenacharib that proud Prince who invaded the land of Israel in the time of Hezekiah being broken in pieces by his own bowels his sons slew him it was ordered to be writ upon his Tomb In me intuens pius esto Herod lib. 2. Let every one that seeth me learn to fear God and not to defie him as I have done The breaking of the powers of the earth should exceedingly exalt the fear of God in our hearts Quicunque celsa dominatur aula me videat tu Troja nunquam documenta dedit sors majora quam frogili loco starent superbi Senec. in Troad de Hecuba Act 1. Sc. 1. It is better to learn wisdome by the punishment of others then by our own Thirdly If God will break the mighty though many yea though innumerable This is comfort to the people of God when they are opprest and broken by oppressors let them remember God is able to break their oppressors though they rise up like Hydra's heads one after another read the whole fifty and second Psalm as also the 39th and 40th verses of the 107th Psalm as a clear proof of this Elihu having shewed what sad breaches God makes upon mighty men makes a fourth inference in the words following Vers 25. Therefore he knoweth their works and he overturneth them in the night so that they are destroyed For as much as God breaketh them it is an argument that he knoweth what they are and what they have been doing There is a threefold reading of these words First Some read them as implying God's making others to know their works God maketh the secret sins of men visible Propterea facit ut nota sint facta ipsorum Bez. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã cognoscit aliqui exponunt faci cognoscere sc facit ut ab omnibus eorum scelera cognoscantur Merc. by his visible judgements Wrath seen may give us a sight of sin Some insist much upon this exposition and 't is a truth the Lord by his judgments brings to light and doth as it were spread open as in the face of the Sun the wickedness and wicked deeds of
confusion in his temporal punishments upon others Thus he threatned his owne people for their confidence in Egypt and contempt of his holy word Isa 30.13 This iniquity shall be unto you as a breach ready to fall swelling out in a high wall whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant And he shall breake it as the breaking of a potters vessel that is broken in pieces he shall not spare so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth or to take water withall out of the pit that is ye shall be made utterly uselesse and unserviceable That piece of a vessel is of no use which will not serve for either of those little uses the taking of a little fire from the hearth or a little water out of the pit And if God sometime breake his owne professing people thus small for their sins how small will he breake his professed enemies read for this the last breaking and down-fall of Babylon Rev 18.21 22 23. Therefore take heed how you fall into the Lords hand for he can not only break you in pieces but break you to powder he can break you to destruction The Lords purposes and the effects of them his works are never without effect for good or evil for the better or for the worse JOB Chap. 34. Vers 26 27 28. He striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of others Because they turned back from him and would not Consider any of his wayes So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him and he heareth the cry of the afflicted ELihu having in the former words shewed the impartiall vengeance of God upon the wicked proceedeth to shew two things further about it in these words First The manner of it v. 26. He striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of others Secondly The causes grounds or reasons of it in the 27th and 28th verses why doth God strike them it is because they turned back from him and would not Consider any of his wayes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã percussât volam ad volam adversas manus collisit Significat aliquid cum sono deijcere vel coÌplodere unde aliqui de ejectione ignominiosa cum sibilis exponunt Alij volunt peti metaphoram à vesica vento turgente quae pede compressa cum sonitu rumpitur Scult Pro improbis complosit eos Tharg In loco improborum complodit eos Jun So that they cause the Cry of the poore to come unto him their impiety in turning from God and their iniquity in oppressing the poor provoked the Lord to strike them as wicked men in the open sight of others Vers 26. He striketh them as wicked men The word which we render strike specially notes the striking of one hand against the other our hands clasht or struck together make a sound or noise Thus some Interpret the word here He strikes them with an Ignominious sound Many rejoyce and clap their hands when they fall They are destroyed with shouting Others take the metaphor from a bladder filled with winde which being cast on the ground and stampt upon with the foot breaks with a noise or gives a crack in the breaking Wicked men in all they thinke and purpose and doe are but wind and when they break they break like bladders which have nothing of solidity only breath and fume in them Such an Elegancy there is in this word hitting the vanity and vacuity or emptiness of wicked men all their filling being but like that of a bladder which puffes them up but never makes them wise or solid men Further I find this word used for striking in a three-fold sense First For striking with sorrow and shame such was that of repenting Ephraim Jer 31.19 Who when he thought on his wayes was ashamed and smote upon his thigh Secondly For striking with scorne and derision Lam 2.15 All that passe by clap their hands at thee they hisse and wagge their head at the daughter of Jerusalem Thirdly There is also a striking with anger and indignation Thus Balak being vext because he could not have his purpose to bribe Balaam to curse the people of God Smote his hands together Numb 24.10 and the Lord himselfe is exprest expressing his angry indignation against his owne people the Jewes by this gesture Ezek. 22.13 Behold therefore I have smitten my hands at thy dishonest gaine c. There is then a speciall Emphasis in the smitting or striking here intended besides the generall meaning of it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Extinâit autem impios Sept Pro impijs strinxit eos Bold i. e. vinculis funibusque ligare fecit eos tanquam impios atqueââa spectandos palam deduci et proponi Bold ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã causalis est propterea quod impij sunt illud quasi saepe non similitudinem sed veritatem significat et idem valet quod utpote c. The Lord destroyes wicked men in such a manner that all who behold it are filled with the admiration of his righteousnesse and with a detestation of their lewdnesse The Septuagint say He hath Extinguished wicked men As if they were but smoaking firebrands or the stinking snuffe of a candle Another renders it He binds them the word signifying also to bind or straightenâ The Lord brings forth evill men as it were bound hand and foot to Judgement We say clearely He striketh them and that in no ordinary way but As wicked men So we translate yet the particle which we render as may here according to its frequent use else-where carry in it a reason He strikes them because they are wicked so some read the text not as we by way of similitude how God striketh them but as giving an account why God striketh them even because they are wicked men Mr Broughton saith For the wicked he maketh plentifull riddance of them which hath a good sense in it but takes somewhat too great a liberty with the original text And because the reason of this striking is held forth in the verses following it is more distinct to say he strikes them not because they are wicked men but as wicked men that is as wicked men use to be strucken or as they use to be proceeded against in a way of Justice God striketh the mighty men of whom he spake before as common offenders or malefactors Though they are great on earth yea though they are in title Gods upon earth yet God strikes them as the basest of wicked men they shall not only dye as 't is sayd Psal 82.7 or fall like one of the Princes but they shall dye like the worst of men like wicked men Hence note First They that doe like the wicked shall be dealt with by God as the wicked how high or mighty soever they are in this world And as they who are openly wicked shall be dealt with as wicked men though they be high in the world so
they that are really wicked shall be dealt with as wicked men though they make a high profession of godliness in the Church even them will God strike also as wicked men Christ speakes of some Math 7.22 who made a lââd profession of religion with whom yet he dealt as with wicked men Depart from me saith he I know ye not ye workers of iniquity Though God doth not deal alike with all wicked men yet he deales with them all like wicked men There is not one wicked man in the world but he shall be dealt with according to his kind that is as a wicked man and shall have that for his portion which is the portion of their Cup who are wicked As the Godly so the wicked whether prophane or false and hypocriticall shall be esteemed and handled by God like themselves or as they are Secondly From the first word as it is taken causally upon which many insist Note The reason why wicked men âne stricken is because they are wicked Were not men wicked they should never feele such stroakes from the hand or rather iron rod of God If any smart and are ruin'd they may thank themselves for it that is their sins for it their sufferings are the fruits of their sin The Prophet told the sinfull Jewes so Jer 4.18 they had an affliction upon them which did reach even to the heart God made their hearts ake he struck them to the heart but why did he so the answer is Thy sin and thy doings have procured those things to thee c. He striketh them as wicked men In the open sight of others Locus videntium locus patens frequens celebris omnium oculis expositus Par Importat visionem paradigmaticam et exemplarem Merc These words are a further description of the manner how God strikes the wicked he doth it openly or as we put in the margin In the place of beholders that is in such a place and in such a manner that all may behold it we say He strikes them in the open sight of others that is he punisheth them in an exemplary way or that they may be an example of warning unto others For The place of seers or of beholders is some open and eminent place oppos'd to a Corner as Paul sayd pleading his cause before king Agrippa Acts 26.26 This thing was not done in a Corner no it was done as upon the house-top even in the place of beholders The Lord will not have to doe with wicked men only in a Corner He will have witnesses of his doings with them There shall be enow to take notice how he handles them therefore he often takes open vengeance on them in the frequent assembly and concourse of many beholders both approving and reverencing yea adoring the impartiall equity of the supreame Judge and his care of humane affaires So then the words are an allusion to the execution of Common malefactors who dye by the Judgement of the Magistrate such being condemned and sentenced by the Judge are not put to death in the prison or in a hole but are taken out and carried to some noted place of execution or a Scaffold is purposely erected where a multitude of spectators are admitted to come and behold the Tragedy When our Lord Jesus Christ who to deliver us from our transgressions was numbred with transgressors when he I say was crucified The Evangelist saith Luke 23.35 The people stood beholding and the Rulers also with them derided him Christ himselfe was strucken as a wicked man in the place of Beholders And so have many thousands of his faithfull witnesses The wicked deale with them often as the Lord dealeth sometimes with wicked men they are brought forth from prison to death and executed in the open sight of others All things in this world come alike to all no man knoweth love or hatred by all that is before them Eccl 9.1 2. The Apostle Paul speaking of himselfe and his fellow-Apostles to shew the publick disgrace which they were put to saith We are made a spectacle to the world to Angels and to men 1 Cor 4 9. The Greeke is we are a Theater to the world c. As if he had sayd all see how we are used And as bloody persecuters make the faithfull servants of Christ a spectacle so Christ will at last make wicked men a spectacle to the world to Angels and to men Thus it is prophecied Isa 66.24 that all flesh who come to worship before the Lord shall goe forth and looke upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against him c. They shall be stricken in the place of Beholders or Seers Some expound that word Seers Videre saepe significat cum voluptate aliquid spectare Scult as implying more then ordinary seers or more then barely such as see what is done namely such as are delighted and pleased with what is done yet not as it is a suffering of paine by man but as it is an act of Justice from God Hence note God oftentimes doth Justice upon sinners openly The Judgements of God are of two sorts Some are secret others are manifest he can doe execution upon men when none see it nay he doth the severest executions upon some men when they themselves doe not see it that 's the sting and severity of the Judgement that they have not so much as any sence of the wrath of God when the full vialls of his wrath are powring out upon them But many of the Judgements of God are open As he striketh some so secretly that none can see it so others so visibly that all may see it Thus the Lord commanded Moses Numb 25.4 when Israel had joyned themselves unto Baal-peor Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the Sun By the heads of the people we may understand either the capitall offenders those who were most active and ready in that wickednesse or their principall Rulers who in stead of stopping them from or punishing them for those offences gave way to them or at least wincked at them These must be hanged against the Sun that is as Elihu speakes here in the open sight of others or in the place of seers Thus they were made an example of caution that all might see and feare and doe no more presumptuously Read the like executions of divine Judgement threatned 2 Sam 12.11 12. Isa 26.11 John in the Revelation Chap 15.4 prophecyeth of the Saints triumphing at the fall of Babylon and singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lambe saying Great and marvellous are thy workes c. for thy Judgements are made manifest God hath now stricken Babylon his great enemy in the open sight of others his Judgements were right before they are alwayes right but till then not manifest David saith Psal 9.16 The Lord is knowne by the Judgement which he executeth now if the Lord be knowne by the Judgement which
he executeth then the Judgement which he executeth must be knowne it must be an open Judgement and such are very many of the Judgements of God they are acted as upon a stage And I may give you an account in three particulars why the Lord will sometimes doe Justice in the place of beholders or in the open sight of others First That there may be witnesses enow of what he doth and so a record of it kept at least in the minds and memories of faithfull men for the generations to come Secondly The Lord doth it not onely that he may have witnesses of his Justice but also that his Justice and the proceedings of it may have an effect and a fruit upon those who did not feele it nor fall under it This was the reason why the Lord threatned to punish Jerusalem in the sight of the nations Ezek 5.5 6 7 8 14 15. Jerusalem dicitur medium terrae ut pote quae su in quarto climate ideo autem urbem in medio mundi constitutam et quisi in loco videntium elegit deus ut sicut beneficia ita et supplicia eorum omnibus essent conspicua Pined Thus saith the Lord God this is Jerusalem I have set it in the midst of the nations and Countryes that are round about her God is sayd Psal 74.12 To work salvation in the midst of the Earth that is in Jerusalem or among his people who were placed as it were in the Center and middle part of the world not that Jerusalem stood exactly in the midst of the world but because many Nations stood about it that might well be called a City standing in the midst of the nations and therefore it is added v. 8. Thus saith the Lord God Behold I even I am against thee and will execute Judgement in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations God would execute Judgement in Jerusalem a City placed in the midst of the nations that as the nations had taken notice of the extraordinary favours benefits deliverances and salvations which God wrought for Jerusalem so they might also take notice of his judgements and sore displeasure against them Jerusalem was not seated in some nooke corner or by-place of the world but in the midst of the nations that both the goodnesse and severity of God towards them might be conspicuous And that the nations round about seeing the sufferings of that people for their sin might feare and tremble to sin as they had done for if Jerusalem the seate of instituted worship and Gods peculiar people were not spared when they provoked God their neighbours might well conclude surely we shall not be spared As the Lord himselfe argued it against those uncircumcised nations Jer 25.20 Behold I will bring evill upon the City that is called by my name and should ye goe utterly unpunished Certainly no! If God punish his own people in the sight of the heathenish nations when they doe wickedly what then are heathen nations to expect who doe nothing but wickednesse And this by the way may give the Alarme and be a very awakening consideration to all the Churches and people of God at this day throughout the world If God did strike Jerusalem of old that is his people there as wicked men even in the open sight of others if the Lord was so wroth with his people that he polluted his inheritance and gave them into the hand of the Chaldeans Isa 47.6 If he forsooke his house and left his heritage and gave the dearely beloved of his soule into the hands of her enemies Jer 12.7 and sayd v. 9. Mine heritage is to me as a speckled bird the birds round about her are against her yea if he in the close of that verse invited the worst of men under the name of beasts to spoyle them Come ye assemble all the beasts of the field come to devoure Now I say If God struck his ancient people the Jewish Church as wicked men by wicked men in the open sight of others O let the Gentile Churches take heed lest they also be stricken after the same manner Many Churches in Germany and else-where have been stricken so already in this last age let the remnant both there and else-where remember themselves and give glory to God before he cause such darknesse to come upon them and strike them also as wicked men in the open sight of others God lets some sinners suffer or punisheth them openly both because he would have all others take notice that he dislikes what they have done as also because he would not have others doe the like lest they be made like them both in the matter and manner of their sufferings 'T is a favour as well as our duty to be taught by other mens harmes and to be instructed by their stroakes to prevent our own And as the Lord strikes some wicked men openly that others may feare and not doe the like so that they who have done the like may be humbled for and repent of what they have done God doth not alwayes powre out the same Judgements upon all those that have done the same wickedness the whole world would be in blood if he did so but he takes here and there one that the rest bethinking themselves and with repenting Ephraim smiting upon their thigh may prevent the Lord from smiting them at all especially from striking them as wicked men in the open sight of others It is sayd Rev 11.13 that after by a great earth-quake the tenth part of the City fell and in the earth-quake were slaine of men seven thousand the remnant were affrighted and gave glory to the God of heaven And surely the reason why after one man hath been chastised or stricken others take their turnes too is because they did not take warning by his chastisements and sufferings Did we but mind the scope of God in punishing any openly the striking of one might save hundreds or thousands from being stricken but because men are so secure and so slow to take warning by what God doth to others therefore they are called forth one after another to suffer and feel his heavy hand in their own persons Thirdly God strikes some wicked men in open view or in the place of beholders for the comfort of his own people and for their encouragement Psal 58.10 11. The righteous shall be glad when he seeth the vengeance not that he shall be glad of the vengeance purely as it is a hurt or a suffering to the creature but the righteous shall be glad when he seeth the vengeance of God as it is a fulfilling of the threatning of God against the sin of man and an evidence of his own holiness Psal 64.9 10. God shall shoot suddenly at the wicked all that see them shall flee away that is they that see how God deales with them shall get away least ruine overtake them or they shall flee away which is their best course from such courses
and practices as procured them that ruine Thus the righteous rejoyce when they see the vengeance yea they wash their feere in the blood of the ungodly that is they get comfort and encouragement by seeing the Lord avenge their cause against their adversaries It is sayd Exod 14.30 31. that God having overwhelmed the Egyptians in the red Sea the Israelites saw the Egyptians dead upon the shoar God did not suffer the carcasses of the Egyptians to sink to the bottom of the Sea but caused them to lie upon the shoar that the Israelites might see them And when Israel saw that dreadfull stroak of the Lord upon the Egyptians It is sayd The people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant Moses Thus they were confirmed in their faith by Gods open Judgements upon the Egyptians They were smitten in the place of beholders or in the open sight of others There are yet two other interpretations of these words which I shall touch He striketh them in the place of beholders In loco videntium i. e. exiflentes in statu in quo videre poterant tum per naturalem rationem tum per sacram doctrinam quid esset faciendum et quid esset vitandum Aquin that is saith my Author in such an estate or condition wherein themselves might see both by that natural light which every man hath especially by the light of doctrine and instruction what they ought to doe and what to shun or avoyd In this sense to be smitten in the place of Seers is to see and behold to have light and understanding what to doe or forbeare doing and yet to act against that light and so provoke the Lord to strike us which is a great aggravation both of the sin and punishment of man A second gives it thus He striketh them in the place of seers or where they saw that is he striketh them in the eye of their understanding or in their Judgement he striketh them with spirituall blindness as the Sodomites were with corporall so that they are not able to see their way or what becomes them to doe This is a most severe stroake There are many who when they have abused the light and would not doe what they saw they ought God hath struck them with such blindness that they should not see what they ought to doe Both these are rather tropologicall Expositions then literall yet they may have their use and improvement by way of allusion In this place Elihu having thus held out the openness and exemplariness of the judgements of God upon wicked men proceeds in the following words to shew the equity and righteousnesse of them Vers 27. Because they have turned back from him and would not Consider any of his wayes Here I say lest any should surmise that God takes vengeance without cause the cause is named and assigned why God takes vengeance 't is because they turned back from him they in the pride and stoutnesse of their hearts which great men especially are much subject to refused to obey and follow God and therefore his wrath followed and brake them They turned back from him ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Verbum è verbo de post eum sic alibi scortati sunt de post dominum i. e. deserto domino There is a two-fold turning back First Corporall Secondly Morall or spirituall none can corporally turn back from God though some attempt it to what hiding place soever we turn our selves we cannot be hid from him who filleth every place But there are many who morally turn back and depart from the living God Sinners would turn their persons back from God and hide their heads they would get quite out of his sight and reach though they cannot but all of them turn back from God in their hearts In two respects sinners in generall may be sayd to turne back from God First when he commands and they will not obey him or withdraw their obedience from his commandements Secondly when he entreates and invites them and they will not come to him nor accept his tendered respects and favours Thus the Lord complained of his owne people Psal 81.11 Israel would none of me God wooed them but they had other lovers and after them they would goe even Israel lightly regarded the God of Israel yea they made a defection from him More distinctly There is a three-fold turning back from God or they who turne back from God are of three sorts First There is a turning back from God by those who have openly followed him or made profession of his name Thus hypocrites and formalists turne back from God This the Scripture calls back-sliding revolting and going a whoring from God Such as these are like perfidious Souldiers who enter and list themselves in an Army marching with them for a while taking their pay yet soon after forsake their colours and turn to the enemy Thus many apostatize from God to the Devill and to the creature or as Paul sayd of Demas they forsake Christ and embrace this present world Luther was charged by his enemies that he was an Apostate and he acknowledged he was but he thanked God for it he indeed turned back from what he did once professe but it was to a better profession he did not turne from God to the world but he turned from the world to God and that 's a blessed Apostacy he did not turn from truth to error but from error to truth he did not turn from pure worship to Idolatry and superstition but from Idolatry and superstition to pure worship How wretched is their condition who are indeed Apostates who turn from God to the world from truth to error from pure worship to Idolatry and superstition from a holy conversation to prophaness loosness and libertenisme to a complyance with the world and a symbolizing with them in their lusts and wickednesse This abominable apostacy is a fruit of hypocrisie Hypocrites turne only their faces to God and Apostates turne their backes upon him or turn back from him And all they who turn only their faces unto God will for their owne advantage or to save themselves turn their backs upon him Hypocrites when put to it when the storme comes ever prove Apostates Secondly There is a turning from God found even in the best followers of God who is there among the Saints on earth that keepes constant un-interrupted communion with God The least degree of inordinate letting downe or turning the heart to the creature is a degree of turning back from God As holiness is our motion toward God and to act holyly is to keep the eye of the soule alwayes upon God so unholiness is an aversion from God David did not say nor could he say though as holy a man as lived that he had never turned from God he could only say that he had not wickedly departed from God Psal 18.21 Thirdly There is a turning back from God proper to all unregenerate
of his hands Indeed God doth much in the world he walketh in many dark and hidden wayes which though we consider we cannot fully understand Thy way saith Asaph Psal 77.19 is in the sea and thy path in the great waters and thy foot-steps are not known God hath many invisible works both of mercy and of judgement yet we should be though not curiously yet seriously searching as much as possibly we can Arcana imperii even into those wayes of God which are unsearchable we should consider though we cannot search them out But as for those works of God that are visible and plain which are written as it were with the beams of the Sun which are so plain and obvious that he who runs may read them to neglect the consideration of these or lightly to pass them by how sinful is it Those works of God which are most plain have wonders in them if we could finde them out As in the plainest Text of Scripture there is a world of holiness and spiritualness and if we in prayer and dependance upon God did sit down and consider it we might behold much more of those wonders then yet appear to us It may be at once reading or looking we see little or nothing as Elijah's servant when he went once he saw nothing therefore he was commanded to look seven times What now saith the Prophet O now I see a cloud rising like a mans hand and by and by the whole surface of the heavens was covered with clouds So you may look lightly upon a Scripture and see nothing and look again and see little but look seven times upon it meditate often upon it and then you shall see a light like the light of the Sun 'T is thus also with the works of God we pass many of them by as small matters but when throughly considered there is a wonderful depth in them now not to consider those wayes of God wherein he is so visible and which are the actings and exercising of his power goodness wisdome and faithfulness this must needs be a very great sin Isa 26.11 Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see they take no notice of it much less lay it to heart but they shall see they shall be made to see one way or other and be ashamed for their envie at the people or as the margin hath it towards thy people As godly men see the hand of God and are both confirmed and comforted for his mercy to his people so wicked men shall see and be both ashamed and confounded because they both envyed the people of God that mercy and opposed it They who will not see the works of God to give him glory shall see them to their own shame God hath given us his works of Creation that we should consider them daylie as David did Psal 8.3 When I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained What is man c. How was the Psalmist ravisht with that contemplation And so may we while we consider the works of Providence whether works of judgement or works of mercy whether vengeance upon the wicked or deliverance for the godly Let us therefore set our selves to this soul-ravishing and God-exalting work the consideration of the works of God And we are the more engaged to do it because God hath fitted man among all creatures in this lower world and he hath only fitted man to give him glory by considering his works The beasts of the earth cannot glorifie God by considering his works 't is true both they the fowls of the ayr with the fifh of the sea according to their kinde praise God but man only is fitted and furnished with an intellect or understanding faculty to consider and so to draw out from all the works of God those peculiar excellencies which make his Name glorious Now for man to leave such a faculty unexercised and unacted as they who consider not the works of God do is not only a dishonour to God but a degradation of himself As it is the priviledge and happiness of a man to enjoy the benefit of the works of God so it is his holiness and his duty to consider the beauty of them And to all who brutishly lay by the works of God without consideration let me adde this consideration God considers all your works or wayes and will not you consider the works the wayes of God! Of this be sure whether you consider the wayes of God his Word-wayes or Work-wayes of this be sure God will consider your wayes certainly he will those wayes of yours which in themselves are not worth the considering or looking upon your sinful wayes though they are so vile so abominable that if your selves did but look upon them and consider them you would be utterly ashamed of them yea though they are an abomination to God while he beholds them yet he will behold and consider them The Lord who is of purer eyes then to behold any the least iniquity to approve it will yet behold the greatest of your iniquities and your impurest wayes to consider them Thou saith David Psal 10.14 Thou beholdest mischief and spite to requite it God beholdeth the foulest dirtyest wayes of men their wayes of oppression and unrighteousness their wayes of intemperance and lasciviousness their wayes of wrath and maliciousness at once to detest detect and requite them If the Lord thus considereth the wayes of men even these filthy and crooked wayes of men should not men consider the holy the just and righteous wayes of God And that God considers all the wayes the worst of wayes of the sons men appeares further in the next verse Vers 28. So that they cause the cry of the poore to come up to him and he heareth the cry of the afflicted If the wayes of men come up to God then surely God considers the wayes of men even their vile and base wayes their wicked and unworthy wayes how can he but consider those wayes the cry of which cometh up to him So that they cause the cry of the poore to come up to him Effectum hujus malitiae affectatae ostendit Aquin Here Elihu expounds to us or gives us more particularly what those wayes of God were which those men would not consider as also what the sin of those mighty ones was which provoked God to strike them as wicked men in the open sight of others The wayes of God which they would not consider were the wayes of his righteousnesse and justice of his compassion to and care for the poore they went quite crosse to those wayes of God For they caused the cry of the poore to come up to him But doe ungodly men bring the cry of the poore up to God Certainly they have no such purpose and therefore those words So that they cause the cry of the poore to come up unto him Note only a consequent of what those
hide his pleased face or withdraw his favour who can behold him confidently or come to him with hopes to speed Fierce Abner sayd to Asael 2 Sam 2.22 Turne thee aside from following me wherefore should I smite thee to the ground I could easily doe it and he did it presently how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother As if he had sayd I can have no confidence to come to Joab thy Generall if I should kill thee Guilt of evill done to others drawes a jealousie that others will do evill to us especially they who are neerely concern'd in the evill which we have done we cannot hold up our face to or behold them with expectation of acceptance and favour to whose neere relations we have been unkind or injurious Thus if God hide his face who can behold him either with confidence or with comfort Some referre the relative him who can behold him to man not to God as if the meaning of Elihu were this if God hide his face from any man all men will hide their faces from him too no man will looke kindly upon such a deserted person Quis favorem ei exhibebit a quo deus vultum averterit Drus or give him a good look he shall have but frownes from men from whom God withdraweth his favour that 's a truth He that is out with God cannot keep in long with men Usually all sorts disowne him that is forlorne and forsaken of God As when a mans wayes please God because then God is pleased with him his enemies shall be at peace with him Pro 16.7 so when God is displeased with a man his very best friends shall turne enemies to him Yet I conceive the text carrieth it rather the other way referring to God himselfe If God hide his face who can behold him that is who can confidently behold God or draw neere to him with comfort And so it generally comes to passe or thus it is Whether it be done against a nation or against a man only As if Elihu had sayd What I have affirmed that when God giveth quietness no man can make trouble or when he hideth his face no man can behold him is appliable to whole nations as well as to particular persons This is an extensive truth a truth of large concernment and therefore a truth of necessary and important consideration That which may be any mans or all mens case should be studyed by every man Whether it be done against a nation c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The particle which we render against signifieth also for We find it so translated Psal 32.6 and at the 36th verse of this Chapter Now to doe a thing for a nation or for a person notes the doing of it with respect to or in favour of either Thus we commonly speake in our language pray doe such or such a thing for me To this sense some render here whether it be done for a nation or for a man only So Mr Broughton whether it be done for a nation or for an earthly man alone But whether we read for or against the generall truth is the same The word and power of God in sending good or evill upon nations or persons in acting for or against them is uncontrouleable and irresistible Further to cleare the text that word in the close of the verse ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã trio significat simul pariter solum rendred only signifieth sometimes together Ezra 4.3 sometimes alike Psal 34.15 and sometimes as we understand it alone or only whether it be done against a nation or a man together or against a man only or alone the matter is alike or the same to God Many or one make a great difference among men in any matter but they make no difference with God he can deale with whole nations in wayes of Judgement or mercy as well as with single persons yet because of the opposition which the text makes between one man and a nation it is most sutable to translate it either only or alike not together Thus we see how the Spirit of God by Elihu hath made a double application of the fo mer part of the text when he giveth quietness who can make trouble c. in this latter first to a nation secondly to a person If the text were not thus exprest it might be thus expounded and improved without any streine at all to it But forasmuch as the Spirit of God hath told us distinctly that this great truth concernes nations as well as persons This Lecture was preached upon the Fifth of November 1658. therefore we have a cleare ground besides the great usefullness of it to speake to the words in both their references And this present memorable day as also their native order leades me specially to speake of them first under a National consideration When he giveth quietness to a nation who can make trouble or disturbe the peace of it And the text may well respect that national blessing peace because the word translated giveth quietness signifies such quietness primarily as is opposite unto warre sedition and tumult in a nation Josh 11.23 And the land rested from warre it is this word so Judg 3.11 The land had rest forty yeares Judg 3.30 And the land had rest fourscore yeares 2 Chron 14.1 In his dayes the land was quiet ten yeares Zech 1.11 And behold all the earth sitteth still and is at rest in all these places we have the word here rendred quietness in opposition to warre who knows not how great an unquietness warre makes wheresoever it comes and by a like analogie the word is sometimes rendred to be silent Warre is full of clamour Isa 9.5 Every battell of the warrier is with confused noise Not only is it so in some battells but saith that Scripture 't is so in all battels Every battel of the warrier is with confused noise What a noise is there in an Army especially when joyning battell with another Army what beating of drums what sounding of trumpets what neighing of horses what clashing of armour what groanings of the wounded When God gives quietness or peace there is none of this noise none of this confused noise of the warrier Hannah saith in her song 1. Sam 2.9 The wicked shall be silent in darkness that is either they shall be destroyed and thrust into their graves where there 's nothing but rottenness and stench darkness and silence or they shall be so affrighted confounded with the horror and darkness of those miseries which shall come upon them while they live that they shall not have a word to say the mouth of iniquity shall be stopt In this manner the wicked are silent in darkness but the Lord can make his people silent in light that is he can give such quietness as shall at once silence the noise of warre and all their own complaints When he giveth quietness this blessed silence to nations who then can
Balak I will give thee a good fee if thou wilt no saith Balaam Numb 23.20 The Lord hath blessed and I cannot reverse it We may put this query When he giveth quietnesse who can make trouble especially to three sorts of persons First To politick men some presume they can trouble nations and shake the surest foundations of peace with the engine of their braine with their wit and subtlety Yet this engine proves uselesse and unserviceable to that end where the Lord gives quietnesse Ahitophell was as an oracle of God for wisdome in his times and he stretcht his braines upon the tenters to make trouble but God sayd there should be peace and therefore as David prayed his wisdome was turned into foolishness There is no wisdome saith Solomon the wise Pro 21.30 nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord. Secondly We may put the question who can make trouble to mighty men their power the strength of their Armies and arme cannot doe it Senacharib came with a mighty host to disturb Israel but he could not make trouble he could not so much as shoot an arrow against Jerusalem when the Lord forbad it Thirdly We may put the question who can make trouble to magicall men or sorcerers They cannot doe it by their wicheryes and enchantments by their closest correspondencies with the devill himselfe This was Balaams conclusion who it seemes traded that way to doe mischiefe Numb 23.23 Surely there is no inchantment against Jacob neither is there any divination against Israel according to this time it shall be sayd of Jacob and of Israel what hath God wrought When God is resolved to give a people quietnesse though the devill would he cannot disturbe them We need not feare witches or magicians who correspond with hell to trouble the earth if God say there shall be peace neither policy nor power nor witchery can prevaile against the purpose of God Then happy are that people who have the Lord for their God Psal 144.15 what can a people desire more to make them happy then to have the Lord for their God if we consider these two things First God hath a negative voyce upon all the counsells of the wisest men in the world if he saith it shall not be it cannot be whosoever saith this or that shall be Lam 3.37 Who is he that saith and it cometh to passe when the Lord commandeth it not if he gives not his assent nothing can passe into a law The Lords single negative stops the affirmative votes of all men joyned in one Secondly The Lords power is paramount He can effect what he willeth whether men will or no. That 's plaine in the text If he give quietnesse who can make trouble To come a little nearer This day this fifth of November which we solemnize in a thankfull remembrance of our deliverance from the Gun-powder treason is a very great confirmation of this truth Who is there that was alive at that day as severall here I know were yea who is there that hath heard of that day of the substance and circumstances of the matter and manner of the Gunpowder treason but can tell us that a Popish party at home with their correspondents abroad intended to make trouble in this nation surely there was a purpose to make trouble in the nation that day if ever there were a purpose to make trouble in any nation What did they leave unattempted to promote the trouble of this nation Counsels were joyned for a conjunction of forces to trouble this nation The men ingaged in that plot may properly be called Trouble-makers It was their business or their designe to trouble the waters that themselves might fish in those waters of trouble We may with respect to their purpose though God prevented it graciously truly say to them what Ahab sayd falsly to Elijah These were the men that would have troubled our Israel they would have made trouble in every way and in every thing wherein trouble could be made by men Would it not have made trouble to destroy the King the chiefe Governour of these three nations with his royall issue in one day Would it not have made trouble to blow up the representative of the nation the Parliament in one day Would it not have made trouble to put the whole body of the people into a confused heape without a head in one day Would it not have made trouble in the nation to have seene Papal power with Popish Doctrine and worship brought in againe upon us within a few dayes Would it not have made trouble to have seene poore soules imprison'd persecuted and consumed to ashes for their conscientious witness-bearing to the truths of the Gospel Would it not have made trouble to have lost our civil liberties and to have had a yoke of spirituall Bondage layd upon our necks by worse then Egyptian task-masters Would it not have made trouble to spill the blood of thousands Was it not an attempt to make trouble to attempt all these things which would probably that I say not certainly have been the issue of that plot if it had succeeded Let us therefore praise the Lord who was pleased to prevent it and sayd it shall not be They did every thing to make trouble but make trouble they did every thing but prosper in their designe They took secret counsell they took oaths yea they took the Sacrament to assure the secrecy of those counsels and oaths All this they did towards the making of trouble yet they could not God sayd at that time let England be in quietness and therefore only those Romish Emissaries and incendiaries could not make trouble Againe If we consider the present season wherein we live 't is a confirmation of this truth God hath given us quietnesse for some yeares and hath he not preserved this quietnesse hitherto against all those both persons and things that would have made trouble if God had not confirmed our peace we had been in trouble long before this time but yet our peace continueth yet it continueth and is it not wonderfull that it should continue if we consider First The sins of the nation which are the seed of trouble especially those two generall sins first unthankfullnesse for our peace Secondly our ill improvement of it How have many abused their peace to nurse up their pride wantonness and vaniy and being delivered from the feare of men have even cast off the feare of God! what just cause is there that we should loose that peace which we have used so ill and have almost turned into a warre with God himselfe yet hitherto the Lord hath given England quietness and none could make trouble Secondly If we look upon the divisions both in opinion and affection that are found among us is it not a wonder that yet we have peace if God had not given quietnesse doubtlesse these differences of which we are so sadly full had filled us with trouble long before this time Thirdly While
we consider the different interests which have been abetted and hotly pursued by too many in this nation is it not marveilous in our eyes that our peace is continued divided interests make greatest distances open those breaches through which trouble usually enters upon a nation When a people are of one mind of one heart and way trouble can scarce find any way to come in among them But only God who peremptorily gives quietnesse can give quietnesse to and prevent the trouble of a people who are divided in opinions affections and Interests As therefore it is the most desireable mercy that a people may be all united as one man in one mind heart and way according to the mind heart and way of God so it is a most admirable mercy to see their peace continued while any considerable part among them are dis-united in any of especially if in all these Fourthly Consider that since the time of our peace we have had many changes we have been emptied from vessel to vessel from hand to hand from government to government and from governour to governour and is it not matter of astonishment as wel as of thanks-giving that yet we have quietness how many have waited and hoped yea desired and longed for our day of trouble by these changes revolutions and vicissitudes but yet we have peace Must we not then conclude If God giveth quietnesse none can make trouble neither our sins nor our divisions nor our animosities nor our changes shall put it into any mans power though they put an advantage into many mens hands to make trouble where the Lord our God is graciously freely pleased to give us quietness Yet let us be in a holy feare lest we at last provoke God and sin away our quietness and make trouble for our selves The condition of a people who doe so is very wofull for surely as it followeth in the text If he hideth his face who then can behold him This latter part of the verse is applicable to a nation as well as the former and therefore before I come to speake of either with respect to a single person or a man only Observe God sometimes hideth his face from whole nations even from those nations that have the outward profession of his name As there are national mercies so national calamities as his people in common may have the shinings of Gods face upon them so the hidings of his face from them Did not God hide his face from the people of Israel his peculiar people when they were though a professing people yet a very sinfull provoking people Isa 59.2 Is it not sayd Jer 7.12.14 15. Goe ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh where I set my name at the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel God would not alwayes owne that place which he signally called his owne and had set his name there and that at first which was a great endearement of it to him but when they sinned much against him he would not so much as give them a looke of favour no nor of pitty till they turned from their wickednesse yea he made his severe proceeding with them a president to his people in another Generation as it followeth in the same place Therefore will I doe unto this house which is called by my name wherein ye trust and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers as I have done to Shiloh And I will cast you out of my sight as I have cast out all your brethren even the whole seede of Ephraim There 's a nation cast out of the sight of God To be cast out of Gods sight is more if more can be then Gods hiding his face from a people The Church complained bitterly of this latter Ps 44.24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face and forgettest our affliction and our oppression We use to say Out of sight out of minde and when God leaves a nation under affliction as if he did not minde them nor cared what became of them then the Scripture saith he hideth his face from them or casteth them out of his sight I shall only adde three things about this hiding of the face of God from a nation First This hiding of his face is not a sudden act of God he doth not presently nor easily hide his face from a people He tells them often he will doe it before he doth it once The Lord warned the old world long before he brought the flood Gen 6.3 And the Lord sayd my spirit shall not alwayes strive with man for that he also is flesh yet his dayes wherein I will spare him and wait for his repentance shall be an hundred and twenty yeares Of this patience the Apostle spake telling us 1 Pet 3.19 20. That Christ by the Spirit which quickned him went and preached to the spârits in prison not in prison when he preached to them but in prison ever since for not obeying what he preached as the text saith which sometime were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah while the Arke was a preparing wherein few that is eight soules were saved by water God did not presently hide his face from that debauched Generation who had corrupted all their wayes but gave them long warning even an hundred and twenty years And how often did God give warning before he withdrew or hid his face from the people of Israel his special people He sent his Prophets rising early and sending them saying Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate Jer. 44.4 And in another place O Jerusalem be instructed lest my soul depart or be disjoynted from thee Jer. 6.8 as if he had said I am loth to depart yea I will not depart if thou wilt but now at length hearken to my voice and receive instruction Secondly As God is long before he begins to hide his face from a Nation so he doth it not all at once but gradually or by several steps we read Ezek. 9.3 how the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the Cherub whereupon he was to the threshold of the house Then chap. 10.18 The glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house and stood over the Cherubims And then chap. 11.23 The glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the City and stood upon the Mountain which is on the East side of the City When the Lord was departing from them he did it by degrees he withdrew and hid himself by little and little as in the Eclipse of the Sun whether partial or total we observe the light gradually shut in and hidden from us Thirdly As God is long before he hideth his face and long in hiding it from a Nation so which makes it dreadful his face being once hid continueth long hid from Nations He doth not return presently to them as he often doth to particular persons
The Eclipses of Divine favour abide long upon Nations and Churches We commonly say Great bodies move slowly And God is usually slow in his motions both from and towards great bodies as he doth not quickly remove from them so he doth not quickly return to them He stayeth long before he hideth his face and he makes them stay long before he causeth his face to shine upon them again When for the sin of Israel God gave up both them and the Ark into the hands of the Philistines though the Philistines vexed with the hand of God upon them sent it back shortly after yet it was long before it was fully setled among them 1 Sam. 7.2 And it came to pass while the Ark abode in Kirjath-jearim that the time was long for it was twenty years and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. The Ark which was a signe of Gods presence with them being removed was not soon restor'd to its proper place yea it was 20. years more after that before it was set in its place by David 2 Sam. 6.17 And whereas it is said that in those first twenty years they lamented after the Lord this signifieth that all those years God was comparatively to what he had somtimes been but as a stranger in the land leaving them under the cruel oppressions of the Philistines nor did they recover his favourable presence till they solemnly repented and reformed putting away their strange gods and Ashteroth preparing their hearts unto the Lord to serve him only as Samuel exhorted them to do at the third verse of that chapter The Jewish Nation in after ages had sad experience of this in the Babylonish captivity when God hid his face from them it was seventy years before he lookt upon them again and since that Nation provoked him by their rejection of the Gospel to lay them aside God hath hid his face from them above these sixteen hundred years and they are to this day a scattered unsetled people and wanderers among the Nations having their hearts hardned and their eyes shut against the light of the glorious Gospel And as the Jewes so many Christian Churches have for a long time felt the sad effects of these Divine hidings and withdrawings Those seven famous Churches in Asia mentioned in the second and third chapters of the Revelation Ephesus Smyrna c. have been under this woful Eclipse many hundred years nor have those ancient Churches in Africa where Tertullian and Augustine once flourished recovered the presence of the Lord to this day Let the Nations and Churches abroad remember this and tremble to provoke the Lord to such departures and desertions God hath long hid his face from the Bohemian Churches subjected them again to the Papal yoke several parts of Germany are under the same hidings the light is departed from them and they are left in much darkness their state is very deplorable and their former purity both as to doctrines of faith and practise of worship as to humane help irrecoverable And should not the dealings of God with them awaken us in these Nations and Churches to remember and consider the wonderful patience of God in continuing our peace notwithstanding all our provocations lest at last he hide his face from us also and then who can behold him A throng of evils and mischiefs will soon appear to us with open face if once God hide his face And it will not be unuseful to instance a little in this place what those evils and mischiefs are which throng and croud in upon Nations and Churches when God hideth his face from them First When God hideth his face from a Nation he layeth down his former care of them and watchfulness over them he takes little or no notice of their case and condition of their troubles and streights as was toucht in opening the Text he regards not how it is with them nor what becomes of them Such apprehensions the Prophet had in reference unto the people of Israel Jer. 14.8 where he humbly expostulated with the Lord Why art thou as a stranger in the land as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night a stranger or a wayfaring man intending to stay but a night in a place thinks not himself concerned with the state of that place if he can but get a supper and a lodging for his money that night he troubles himself no further whether it be well or ill with the place whether it be sickness or health if he can make shift for a night he is satisfied Thus the Prophet conceived the Lord even as a stranger among his people little minding what became of them whether they did sink or swim whether it were peace or trouble joy or sorrow with them And further he represents the Lord not only as a stranger but as a man astonished not only as a man who cares not to help but as a man who cannot An astonished man how mighty soever he is hath no use of his might He that can do little with his reason that 's the case of an astonish'd affrighted man can do less with his hands Now such a one is God to his people that is he will do no more for them then such a one when once he hideth his face from them Secondly When the Lord hideth his face from a Nation he hath no regard to their prayers and supplications no not to their fasts and humiliations that speaks sadly Prayer is our best strength it engageth the strength of God by prayer we have our resort to God and fetch all our help and succour in a day of trouble from his All-sufficiency If once God say to a people I will not hear nor answer your prayers they are in a most forlorn condition Thus God resolved against the people of Israel Jer. 14.12 When they fast I will not hear their cry And as he would not regard their own prayers so he forbade the Prophet to pray for them vers 12. The Lord said unto me pray not for this people for their good yea he tells them he would not regard the prayers and intercessions of any others for them Jer. 15.1 Though Moses and Samuel stood before me that is should become Advocates in their behalf yet my heart could not be towards this people that 's a sure and a dreadful prognostick of ruine as it followeth cast them out of my sight and let them go forth Thirdly When the Lord hides his face from a Nation he refuseth to give them counsel or to direct their way We need the counsel of God as much as his strength as we cannot do what we know unless he strengthen us so we know not what to do unless he counsel us And when ever God hideth his face from a people he hideth counsel from a people When God hid his face from Saul who was in a publick capacity and in a publick case his war with the Philistines O how he
the joy of the holy Ghost And because the quietness which every believer hath is the gift of God through Jesus Christ who hath made their attonement and established their peace through the blood of his Cross therefore Satan cannot make any such trouble in any of their souls as shall for ever destroy their peace or dissolve their quietness though for many reasons all serving his glory and their good God suffereth satan many times possibly for a long time to entangle and interrupt it Temptations to the committing of sin and accusations or charges about sin committed may exceedingly hinder and shake the peace of a believer but as the sins to which he is tempted cannot hurt his peace when he resists and overcomes them so the sins into which he falleth through temptation cannot destroy his peace because those sins shall certainly be destroyed both by repentance and pardon Thirdly The thunders of the Law cannot take away the peace of that soule to whom God giveth quietness Christ having in his owne person fullfilled the Law for beleevers both doing the duty and enduring the penalty of it he hath delivered them from the terror and curse of the Law himselfe having been made a curse for them Gal 3.13 So then if neither tribulations nor temptations nor the terrors of the Law can make trouble where God giveth quietness we may conclude nothing can There is a double Consideration upon both which we may demonstrate that if God giveth quietness either outward or inward none can make trouble First Because as God is soveraigne and so may dispose peace and quietness to whom he pleaseth or at his pleasure when he will or to whom he will so he hath an all-sufficiency to maintaine and confirme to preserve and protect the outward peace of any man against all the powers of this world and the inward peace of a godly man against all the powers of hell against the terrors of the Law and the accusations whether of Satan or of his owne Conscience Secondly None can destroy the peace of a godly man because it is a perfect peace as was shewed before from that promise in the Prophet Isa 26.3 Him wilt thou keepe in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee For being a perfect peace it will not decay of it selfe and because 't is perfect God will neither destroy it himselfe nor suffer any else to destroy it Marke the perfect man saith David Psal 37.37 and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace He is a perfect man whose end is peace and that is perfect peace which holds to the end or which shall never end The peace which God giveth is perfect First because 't is established upon perfect righteousnesse the righteousnesse of God That righteousnesse which is the roote of our peace is called the righteousnesse of God both because God hath appoynted it and because God hath wrought it Jesus Christ God-man is the Lord our righteousnesse and the Prince of our peace or as the Apostle expresseth it Heb 7.1 2. He is Melchisedec being by interpretation King of righteousnesse and after that also King of Salem which is King of peace Isa 32.17 The work of righteousnesse is peace and the fruit of it is quietnesse and assurance for ever Righteousnesse is such a foundation of peace as cannot be shaken and therefore that peace which is built upon it cannot be utterly overthrowne how much soever it may be shaken Secondly 'T is a perfect peace because it was obtained by an absolute victory over all the enemies of it That people must needs be in perfect peace who have got a perfect conquest over all their enemies and have got their opposers under their feet Now the spirituall peace which God giveth his people ariseth from a perfect conquest over all their enemies First the world is perfectly conquered by Christ John 16.33 Be of good cheare I have overcome the world Secondly the Devill is perfectly conquered by Christ Heb 2.14 He hath destroyed him that had the power of death that is the Devill He is more then conquered who is destroyed Christ hath destroyed the Devill who is the destroyer though not as to his being though not as to his will to destroy yet as to his power to destroy those whom he hath redeemed and will eternally save Thirdly Christ hath also perfectly conquered the Law not by destroying but by fullfilling it Christ was above all that the Law required or commanded and so he did at once freely submit to it and fully as to any hindrance of a believers peace subdue it he holdeth it under him as well as he was made under it And he was contented for that very reason to be made under the Law that he might hold it under him and that we might not be under the dread of the Law though we must walke and worke by the rule of it but under grace 'T is matter of strong consolation to poore soules that when the Lord giveth quietness none can make trouble And hence we also learne that all the breaches which are made upon the peace of the people of God are from God himselfe As those breaches are meritoriously from themselves so efficiently from God himselfe till he breaks their peace none can Thirdly From the second branch When he hideth his face who then can behold him This being applicable to a single person as well as the former Observe God sometimes clouds his face from his owne servants and children These words When he hideth his face suppose that God sometimes doth so and the Scripture else-where testifies that God hath often done so God hath love alwayes in his heart towards his children but he hath not alwayes favour in his face towards them his appearances are not alwayes the appearances of a friend he may appeare angry and turne away his face as if he would not be spoken with Of this we find frequent complaints in Scripture and I might speake much to this poynt but I have already met with it Chap 13.24 and therefore I passe from it Only from the connexion of these words When he hideth his face who can behold him Note The hiding of Gods face or the vayling of his favour is exceeding grievous unto any person When he doth it who can behold him This manner of speaking doth not only hold out that if God will hide his face no man can see him or know him for God is a secret to all men untill he is pleased to reveale himselfe yea all the truths of the Gospel are secrets and mysteries till God is pleased to reveale them and make them knowne Math 11.25 Father I thank thee saith Christ that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes that is thou hast not opened them to the wisest c. there needs no other hiding of them from the wisest of men than a forbearance to open them but to the babes who are
though weake yet humble and teachable thou hast opened them and opened their eyes and hearts to see and receive them This speech holds out not only this truth that when God doth not reveale himselfe no man can know him or any thing of his minde or that neither his nature or his will are knowne but by some way of revelation but this forme of speaking Who can behold him plainly tells us that if God hideth his favour he is so terrible that none can have the boldness or courage to behold him For the hiding of his face implyeth an appearance of anger and displeasure and when he is angry who can behold him If the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance as the Apostle speakes 2 Cor 3.7 surely then no man can stedfastly behold the face of God when his countenance is filled with wrath Some said to Christ John 14.8 Shew us the Father and it sufficeth that is reveale to us the love and good will of the Father and that will satisfie us that will fill up all the desires and longings of our soules we shall have nothing more to wish for nothing more to look after if thou wilt but shew us the father Now on the other side if the Father will not shew himselfe if the Father will hide himselfe from the soule what then can suffice what can comfort where is our refuge or rest Tranquillus deus tranquillat omnia As when God is quiet and favourable to us he can make all things favourable and quiet to us So if God be displeased nothing can be pleasing to a soule that is sensible of his displeasure A believer looses not only the joy and triumph of his faith but his very peace he is not only in a dark but in a disturb'd condition not knowing where to repose himselfe or rest his head when God hideth his face Take this inference from it If the hiding of Gods face be so terrible then take heed of provoking him to hide his face For though we are not tenants at will for our peace in reference unto the world in reference to men in reference to devills yet we are only tenants at will for our peace in reference unto God He can take away our peace and he doth usually continue our peace only so long as we behave our selves well As some have Letters Patents for great offices which run in that tenour They shall enjoy them quam diu se bene gesserint as long as they carry themselves well but upon default or male-administration they may be turned out of all so I say though we are not at the will of the world nor of any creature for the holding of our peace yet we are at the will of God for it And as he sometimes meerly out of prerogative hideth his face as was shewed Job 13.24 that he may try what a soule will doe in a dark condition and that he may declare what the strength of his invisible grace can doe when nothing is visible no not any the least ray or shine of favour from himselfe to support and comfort the soule I say though God doth thus in a prerogative way sometimes hide his face yet usually he doth it not but upon some default in us especially our neglect of him when we regard not the face of God and grow slight as to our valuations of his presence then he withdraweth his presence and vayles his face towards us and when we fall into any grosse sin such was the case of David Psal 51. God takes us upon default and leaves us in a sad condition as he did David who complained that even his bones were broken and that he had lost the joy of his salvation which upon the renewing of his faith and repentance he begg'd earnestly might be restored to him and it was Therefore if you would keepe the light of Gods Countenance keepe close to the light of Gods Commandement No marvaile if we be under the hidings of the face of God when we are turning our backes uâon God! Sin is a turning from God a turning our backs ãâã Gâd and is it any wonder if God turne his face from sinners To turne our backe upon God is the worst of a sinfull condition and to find God turning his backe upon us or hiding his face from us is the worst of a miserable condition What can comfort us when the God of all consolation will not look upon us unlesse in displeasure What pleasure but the pleasure of sin for a season which ends without repentance in endlesse torment what pleasure I say can that soule take in whom God taketh no pleasure or with whom he is not pleased It is very sad with the soule when we loose the sight of our owne graces sometimes a gracious heart cannot see any worke of grace nor perceive any workings of grace in him but thinks he hath no faith in God no love to God no sorrow for sin this is sad but it is much more sad to loose the sight of the face of God to have the favour of God withdrawne from us This made Jonah complaine Chap 2.4 I am cast out of the sight of thine eyes he lookt upon himselfe as an outcast and then Jonah thought himselfe as cast into the belly of hell v. 2. When God hides his face from us or will not vouchsafe us a sight of his pleased face we are as in the belly of hell as Jonah bemoaned himselfe What is the glory and happinesse of heaven Is it not the sight of the face of God is it not the cleare vision and manifestation of God Glory is that estate wherein God will never once hide his face nor look off from his glorified Saints no not one moment to all eternity Now the happinesse which we have here the heaven which we have upon earth consists in this also when we live neere God by believing and behold his face by faith when God lifts up the light of his countenance upon us we are as it were lifted up from earth to heaven As vision in heaven will make us happy for ever so hidings on earth make us miserable for the time And that which is the very hell of a godly man upon earth the worst hell he can or shall have is this when God hideth his face from him Therefore take heed you doe not put the Lord upon withdrawing from you through your default This favour the shine or light of Gods face is continued or denied to us usually upon these termes as we behave our selves well or ill towards him JOB Chap. 34. Vers 30. That the hypocrite reigne not lest the people be ensnared THese words are the conclusion of Elihu's discourse about the executions of divine Justice upon the sons of men And in them we have two things First the power Secondly the impartiality of divine Justice God is so powerfull that he can pull downe
the Mighty and he is so impartiall that if there be cause he will not spare to doe it Or in the words we have to consider these three things First The character of the person upon whom the Justice of God is executed The hypocrite Secondly The Judgement it selfe 't is a stop to his greatnesse that he reigne not Thirdly We have the grounds of this Judgement which are two-fold First His wicked purpose against the people He if suffered would lay snares for the people Secondly Gods gracious protection of the people He will not have the people ensnared That the hypocrite reigne not lest the people be ensnared ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã significat sceleratum profanuÌ plerumque autem vertitur hypocrita What a hypocrite is and what the importance of the original word is here translated hypocrite hath been opened from some other passages in this booke I shall only say thus much further that the word imports First a filthy thing disguised or covered For a hypocrite is a filthy prophane person under the cover or disguise of holiness Our English word knave is neere in sound to this Hebrew word chanaph and some conceive 't is derived or taken from it And to be sure every hypocrite is a prophane person though all prophane persons are not hypocrites Some wicked and prophane ones care not who knoweth they are so yet very many who are indeed prophane and wicked cover it what they can and shew that only whereof they have only a shew somewhat of godlinesse or of goodnesse Againe There are hypocrites of two makes or straines First Religious or Church hypocrites Secondly State or Civil hypocrites and somtimes these two are combined in one 'T is possible for a man who pretends not to Religion yet to be a hypocrite A Magistrate whether supream or subordinate may offer very fair for the profit and liberty of the people whom he governeth when he mindes no such thing yea he may not only offer fair for the good of a people as to their outward profits and liberties but as to the good of Religion and the benefit of their souls and yet minde no such thing we may take the hypocrite in this Text as twisted up or compounded of both these The State hypocrite and the Religious are somtimes bound up together That the Hypocrite Reigne not To reigne is the priviledge of Supream Powers By me Kings reigne saith Wisdome that is Christ Prov. 8.15 and when Paul saw how high the Corinthians carryed it in spirituals he by way of allusion tells them 1 Cor. 4.8 ye have reigned like Kings without us ye are got as ye suppose to the top and into the very throne of Religion and you think your selves able to manage all difficulties and can do well enough there without our help But to the Text. This not reigning of the hypocrite may be taken two wayes First As a stop given him by the providence of God In ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ne regnat Mem Negationem includit juxta linguae morem in ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ab offendiculis similiter ut dei magis extolletur justitia simul potentia qui reges de throno suo dejicit ut populum ejus laqueis irretitum liberet ab illius tyrannide Merc. from getting up into the throne or from getting the power of a Nation into his hands thus somtimes God saith to the hypocrite Thou shalt not reigne that is thou shalt not exalt thy self though thou attempt it Secondly This not reigning may be taken for a stop to the progress of his power when he hath both attempted and attained it and that two wayes either first by taking him away from his power or secondly by taking away his power from him as Daniel told Belshazzar while he minded him of the greatness of his father Nebuchadnezzar who had all the world upon the matter at his command as also of his fall from that greatness Dan. 5.19 20. Whom he would he set up and whom he would he put down but when his heart was lifted up and his minde hardned in pride he was deposed from his Kingly Throne and they took his glory from him He was deposed or as the Chaldee hath it so we put in the margin He was made to come down from his Princely throne either of these wayes doth God who is the King of kings and Lord of lords when he pleaseth put a stop to or check the progress of false hearted Princes that have either got their power by flatteries and pretensions to that good which they intended not or who exercise their power so That the hypocrite reigne not Lest the people be ensnared The root of the word here rendred to ensnare signifieth the spreading of a Net or the setting of a Grin such as Fowlers and Hunters make use of to take Beasts or Birds with and thus God himself spake concerning his dealing with Babylon Jer. 50.24 I have laid a snare for thee and thou art also taken O Babylon and thou wast not aware litteral Babylon was a snare to the people of God of old and so is mystical Babylon at this day The great Hypocrite or Snare-setter reigns in or over Babylon therefore saith God thou who hast set snares for my people shall be ensnared thou shalt be taken unawares I have set a snare to catch and hold thee fast When Elihu saith lest the people be ensnared it seems to intimate that God will prevent the ensnaring of a people by the hypocrite He shall not reigne lest the people be ensnared or lest they should come into snares There is another reading which gives the reason from the snares which the people have already been entangled with because of the snare or because the people have been ensnared therefore saith the Lord let not the hypocrite reigne thus God revengeth the peoples wrong and doth justice upon those that had set snares for them So much for the general sence of these words and the opening of them There is a second reading of the whole verse which carryeth the sence somwhat another way and yet may be of use and yeild us some profitable considerations but I shall not meddle with that till I have prosecuted those observations which arise clearly from our own reading The words in general hold forth the heart of God towards false hearted men he cannot abide them nor will he suffer them long to abide especially not to abide in power and greatnesse That the hypocrite reigne not lest the people be ensnared Hence Note First A hypocrite is a person hated of God and hurtful to men He is therefore hated of God because hurtful to men And therefore God is not pleased he should reign either as to reign is taken strictly for the exercising of Soveraign power or as to reign may be taken largely for the exercising of any power and living in the height of prosperity For the clearing of this truth that a hypocrite
in a pretence made long prayers As it is a very great point of ungodliness prophaneness indeed to say What profit is there in serving the Lord So it is gross hypocrisie to take up Religion meerly for profit there is profit even worldly profit in Religion Godliness is profitable for all things 1 Tim. 4.8 and hath the promise of this life as well as of that to come but wo to those that take it up designing profit and the filling either of their purses or their bellies Our Saviours Divine Spirit quickly discovered this carnal spirit in his followers John 6.26 Ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled Judas followed Christ but the motive of it was in the bag John 12.6 The zeal of Demetrius to his Idol Diana was kindled by as pure a fire as the zeal of these hypocrites to Jesus Christ Acts 19.24 By this we get our living They know nothing of the life of Religion who are religious only that they may live If profit be the Loadstone of our profession our profession will never profit us for what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world by a profession of the name of Christ if he lose his own soul Sathan charged Job with this gross hypocrisie chap. 1.9 Doth Job fear God for nought as if he had said Job findes 't is no lean business to be religious and therefore no wonder if he be found so religious Who would not do and be as much as he in Religion to have his fields full of Cattel and his folds full of Sheep and his house full of Riches He knows well enough which side his bread is buttered on what makes for his profit all the account he makes of Religion is that he perceives by his books and the inventory of his goods that it turns every year to a good account Jobs slander is the just charge of many they use Religion but as a stalking horse to catch worldly riches Fourthly The grosse hypocrite often designes that which is higher in the esteeme and more taking upon the spirits of many then worldly riches even worldly power or to get very high if not uppermost in the world 'T is no new thing for men to make religion a stayre to ascend the highest roomes among men or a stirrup to get into the saddle of honour and when they have got high enough then downe with the stayres or 't is no matter for the stirrup by which they ascended Jehu was very zealous in the cause of God and for reformation but his designe was for a kingdome or his owne exaltation 2 Kings 10.16 he made a noyse of much piety Come see my zeale for the Lord yet all was but a piece of State-hypocrisie His care in destroying Ahabs house and Baals Priests according to the command of God was but to pave the way to the throne The same way Absolom was taking to his fathers Crowne he told the people he was troubled that they were no better governed that they had no quicker dispatch in their suites and businesses he told his father he had made a vow and desired the liberty of his absence from Court that he might goe and performe it all he pretended was righteousnesse and religion yet he intended only to get an advanââge to make his party strong that so he might thrust his fa her out of the throne and get up himselfe He seemed a Saint whilâ he meant to be a Traytor The History of the Church reports of Juliaâ the Apostate Socrates Hist Ecclesiast lib 3. c. 1. that when his predecessor being a Christian held the Empire he highly pretended the profession of Christ and read a Gospel-Lecture in the Church of Nichomedia yet while he was in shew a Christian and in hope an Emperour he was in heart a pagan He saw the times served him not to act the pagan openly and therefore he subtlely betooke himselfe to his disguise and personated the Christian even in the mortified way of a monasticke life ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Tandem simulationem professionis christianae penitus deposuit Socrat ubi supra that he might smooth his way to the Empire To which having once attained he presently put off his disguise and to his utmost disgraced and opposed the name and faith of Christ which he had formerly owned and professed Thus I have touch't upon the foure grand designes of the Grosse hypocrite First praise among all men Secondly revenge upon some men Thirdly the gaine of worldly riches Fourthly the attainment of power dominion and Greatness in the world These are as the foure wheeles of Satans chariot wherein he hurrieth thousands to the land of darkness while they would be esteemed children of the light Or some one of these is as the primum mobile first mover of which Philosophers speake in their doctrine of the heavens carrying many with a rapt and violent motion in the spheare of religion while they have in the Interim a secret undiscerned natural motion of their owne directly opposite to this by which they hope at last to steale on faire and softly to their wished periods Having thus farre shewed the close purposes of the designing hypocrite who is so hatefull to God and hurtfull to man I shall a little discover and unmaske his hypocrisie by shewing how we may know him how we may looke through these vayles and see his ugly face Designing hypocrites are usually discovered these foure wayes First By their affectation to be seene and taken notice of they that will have praise and glory with men must needs affect to be seene of men for no glory comes to man from men but by what falls under the eye and observation of man Job saith of murderers Chap 24.13 They are of those that rebell against the light they know not the wayes thereof nor abide in the paths thereof The murderer cannot endure the light either natural or moral because that tells who he is or what he hath been about The contrary in one sense is true of the hypocrite he loveth the light and will doe nothing willingly but as he may be taken notice of and seene of men as for those acts or exercises of religion which are private retirements between God and his owne soule he is a great stranger to them he cannot delight in them but any thing that may fall under publick observation he can be forward enough in Christ Math. 6.5 gives us this plaine discovery of the hypocricall Pharisees They love to pray standing in the Synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may be seene of men This was so much in Jehu's heart that he could not but blab it out with his tongue 2 Kings 10. Come see my zeale A false fire kindled his zeale else he had not made such a blaze It was insincere rotten-hearted Saul that sayd 1 Sam 15.13 Come thou blessed of the Lord I
which some Princes have held out to all the world as the rule of their reigning He that knoweth not how to dissemble Qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnore knows not how to reigne Dissimulation is a great part of hypocrisie there is dissimulation both as to the things of God and the things of men Some if they knew not how to dissemble in both at least with men would not believe that they knew how to rule over or governe men Now as many who are great and in power make little conscience to dissemble or make use of hypocrisie to carry on their government and secure themselves so most hypocrites have a mind and will use all meanes not forbearing those which are bad enough to get into power and make themselves great The spirit of hypocrisie is an aspiring spirit Againe Elihu saith That the hypocrite reigne not lest the people be ensnared here 's not one word of the good government or protection of the people which should be the maine businesse of those that reigne The text speaks only of snares That the hypocrite reigne not lest the people be ensnared Hence observe Thirdly Hypocrites getting into power doe either secretly or openly wrong and oppresse the people They lay snares for them in stead of being shields to them Hypocrites in power ensnare chiefly two wayes First By their ill example there is a great snare in that Inferiors are very apt to be formed up according to their mould and manners who are above them Râgis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis the example of Kings and Princes are seldome unconformed to by their Subjects There is a great power in example what is done perswades as wel as what is spoken And the errors of those that rule become rules of error men sin with a kind of authority through the sins of those who are in authority Jeroboam made Israel to sin not only by commanding them to worship the Calves at Dan and Bethel but by commending that Idolatous worship to them in his owne practise and example Secondly They ensnare the people by sinfull and bad Lawes The Prophet denounceth a woe distinctly unto men of severall ranks and places Hos 5.1 Heare ye this O Priests and hearken ye house of Israel and give ye eare O house of the King he directs his speech in that three-fold division First to the Priests Secondly to the body of the people Thirdly and chiefly to the house of the King why to the house of the King Because ye have been a snare on Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor That Scripture may be interpreted First as an allusion to such as were wont to hunt upon those mountaines Mizpah and Tabor were famous places for hunting there they were wont to set netts and lay snares to catch their game now saith the Prophet ye have been even like hunters spreading netts and laying snares Nimrod is called a mighty hunter before God He was a hunter of men more then of wild beasts Now look what nets and snares are to wild beasts the same are sinfull lawes to the consciences of honest and upright-hearted men And it is wel conceived that the Prophet there referrs to those ensnaring Lawes made by Jeroboam and the succeeding Princes in the Kingdome of Israel whereby they endeavoured to draw off the people of God from his true worship and vexed those who kept close to it Secondly some expound those words Ye have been a snare on Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor to signifie their setting spies upon those mountaines to watch and so to give information who went to the solemne feasts that so they might be proceeded against according to those ensnaring Laws Which way soever we take it 't is cleare that Scripture reproves and threatens Judgement against the Priests and Apostatizing people of Israel complying with if not provoking the the ruling powers to trouble those who could not digest the Idolatrous worship set up by Jeroboam at Dan Bethel upon a politique consideration lest the people going to Jerusalem should fall off from him and weaken the kingdome of Israel in his hand Another Prophet complained Mic 6.16 The Statutes of Omri are kept Omri was a king of Israel a successor of Jeroboam both in his power and hypocrisie he also pretended a zeale for the worship of God after his owne devising and therefore made ensnaring Statutes to entangle those that were sincere and persevered in the true worship which the Statutes of God appoynted The Prophet speakes of a strange kind of bridle or of a bridle used for an unusuall purpose Isa 30.28 There shall be a bridle in the jawes of the people causing them to erre A bridle is put upon the head of a horse or mule as David speaks Psal 32.9 not to cause either to erre or goe out of the way but to keep them in the way 'T is evident by the context of this Chapter as also by the expresse text of the 37th Chapter v. 29. that this bridle was the Lords power against Senacharib and his host whereby as with a bridle in their jawes he diverted them from their purpose of besiedging Jerusalem 'T is a truth also to which we may warrantably enough apply those words of the Prophet in a way of allusion that good lawes are like a bridle in the jawes of a people the multitude or the most would else be like head-strong horses if authority did not keep them in 'T is a great mercy when Laws are as a bridle to keep us from erring but 't is sad when any Lawes are a bridle in the jawes of a people causing them to erre or go out of the way of the Laws of God such Laws are not which all Lawes should be rules but snares Such were the Lawes of Jeroboam and the Statutes of Omri in Israel of old and what Nation is there that hath not had experience in one age or other of such Lawes as have been a bridle in their jawes causing them to erre or a snare to their souls and consciences Fourthly When Elihu saith That the hypocrite reigne not lest the people be ensnared he intends an act of divine wrath upon hypocrites abusing their power to the hurt of the people Hence Note God is highly displeased with Princes and Magistrates when they ensnare the people We read Isa 3.12 how the people of Israel were ensnared and how the Lord was highly displeased with those who did ensnare them O my people they which lead thee cause thee to erre and destroy the way of thy paths Thy Leaders mislead thee There are two sorts of Leaders First Spiritual Leaders the Ministers and Preachers of the Word now as of old the Priests Levites and Prophets were Leaders of the people and somtimes proved their misleaders Jer. 23.1.3 in Spirituals Secondly There are Leaders of the people in Civil things such are all Princes and Magistrates We may understand that Text in the Prophet Isaiah of
both these Leaders as if he had said Thy Prophets and thy Princes mislead thee and cause thee to erre And therefore at ver 14. of the same chapter God declareth his displeasure against them professing that he would enter into judgement with the Ancients of his people and the Princes thereof The same Prophet Isaiah chap. 9.16 complains of the same thing again The Leaders of this people cause them to erre and they that are lead of them are destroyed The Hebrew is they that bless this people so we put it in the margin The Leaders of the people were so called either because it was a part of their office to pronounce the blessing upon the people or because the false Prophets used to sooth up the people in their sins and as another Prophet hath it to sow pillows under their elbows as if they were in a very blessed condition and should do well enough notwithstanding all the clamours of the true Prophets against them And so the latter words they that are led of them are sutable to the former in the Hebrew being thus read in the margin they that are called blessed of them that is declared or assured by them to be in the right way and so such as should come to a blessed end though indeed their end proved destruction And if they who are misled or called blessed fall into destruction surely their misleaders who call them blessed shall not escape If the blinde lead the blinde both fall into the ditch Matth. 15.14 only the blinde leader or misleader shall fall deepest into it Fifthly Observe As God is displeased with the hypocrite when he useth his power to ensnare the people so the Lord somtimes puts him besides his power or takes his power from him that he may no longer ensnare the people The ultimate scope of the place is not only to shew the Lord displeased with the hypocrite but displacing him When the Prophet had summon'd all sorts Priests and people and the house of the King he addes Judgement is towards you because ye have been a snare upon Mizpah Hos 5.1 Thus as God pulls down hypocrites because they are hateful to himself so because they are hurtful to others hurtful to their Civil Liberties and worldly Interests over which God is tender hurtful also to their spiritual Liberties and soul Interests over which God is more tender The Kings of Israel who were very wicked and did much ensnare the people went of their Governments most of them very speedily God did not let them reigne long yea the whole Kingdom of Israel which had not one good King was dissolved long before the Kingdom of Judah which had many good Kings God did not suffer the hypocritical Kings of Israel to hold their power but gave them into the hand of the King of Assyria 2 Kings 17.6 because vers 8. they walked in the statutes of the heathen and of the Kings of Israel which they had made From the whole verse I would give one Note by way of Corrolary A hypocrite is of all persons most unfit for publick service How unfit is he to have power in his hand who can use it no better then for the ensnaring of the people A hypocrite is of a private spirit he is all for himself and therefore most unfit for publick trust We may say of the hypocrite as the Prophet Ezek. 15.3 of the Vine Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work or will men take a pin of it to hang a vessel thereon No it is not fit for that mean purpose or service much less would a man take a Vine to hew a beam or a pillar for a house out of it Magistrates are as pillars of the house or like great beams to hold up and fasten all the hypocrite is so far from being fit Timber to make a pillar of the house that he is not fit to make a pin to hang a vessel on upon the wall Power is never so improperly employed as in making snares and yet that 's the usual employment or improvement which hypocrites high or low put it to Qui regnare facit hominem hypocritam propter offendicula populi Vulg. Constituens regem hominem delatorem propter scandala quae in populo Chald. Non sunt ita repugnantes hae interpretationes quin una ex altera consequatur Nam si non sinit Deus diutius regnare hypocritam certe aliquandiu smit dat enim reges in iram Merl. I have thus far opened the Text and given these Notes from it according to our reading yet before I pass from it I shall minde you of another reading or version of this whole verse which carryeth the sence quite into another channel Thus Who meaning God maketh or suffereth at least the hypocrite to reigne because of the offences or sins of the people The Chaldee Paraphrase the Septuagint and Vulgar Latine agree in this and the dependance for clearing of it may be made out thus Elihu having shewed in the 29th verse that if God giveth quietness none can make trouble and that if he hideth his face none can behold him whether it be done against a Nation or against a man only proceeds in this verse to shew the justice of God in punishing the people by putting power into the hypocrites hand The learned Mercer I grant is not satisfied with this rendring as not being so sutable to the Grammatical construction of the Hebrew Text yet holding the first he makes this as a consequent of it confessing that it may be taken in this sense That the hypocrite reigne not who did once reigne because of the sins of the people and so it intimates the sins both of the Prince and people Thus both readings correspond and are not repugnant but subservient to each other For if God suffer not the hypocrite to reigne any longer 't is an argument that for a time he suffered him to reigne for the sins of the people that is to be an instrument of his wrath and vengeance upon them for their sins The same word signifies both a snare and sin a snare set by others and an offence or sin committed by our selves and well it may seeing nothing doth more ensnare us then our own sins And as some are led into sin by the snares which others lay for them ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Forte interpretes pro ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã cum puncta olim voealia deessent legerunt ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã regnare faciens Drus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Ne sint offendicula quidam propter offendicula populi Nam ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã etiam propter signifiâat Drus Possit ita accipi ne regnet homo hypocrita qui quidem regnabat ob offendicula populi ut utriusque Regis populi delictum notetur Merc. so very many by sinning bring themselves into snares and usually when a people have entangled themselves in the snares of sin God sets evil
men at once to rule over them and entangle them with the snares of those sufferings which are most proper to their sins And thus 't is conceived Elihu answers those expostulating demands which Job puts chap. 21.7 Wherefore do the wicked live become old yea are mighty in power Here are three questions First Why do they live they are not worthy to breathe Secondly Why become they old they deserve to be cut off in their youth and not to live out half their dayes Thirdly Why are they mighty Why do they command all who use their might only to do mischief Elihu answers these questions in a word God giveth power into the hands of evil men because of the sins of the people As if he had said if at any time you see the wicked in great power and prosperity 't is a signe the people are very wicked and God will punish and scourge them by the hands of such for their wickedness This is a truth and much is said by some Interpreters for the making of it out from the Text but taking it as 't is given I shall only give you two Notes from it First Bad Princes are set up by the permission yea disposition of God He makes evil men to reigne The same power which brings wicked men into the world sets wicked men high in the woâld It is of God that any wicked man hath a place in the wo ld and it is of God that any wicked man gets into the high places of the world All the Kings of Israel from first to last were stark naught Cujus jussu homines nascuntur hujus jussu reges constituuntur apti his qui in illo tempore ab ipsis regnantur Irene l. 5. c. 24. and very wicked yet they were all of God's setting up though their own ambition or the satisfying of some lust put most of them upon aspiring to get up In the first book of the Kings chap. 11.29 30 31. Ahijah the Prophet finding Jeroboam the first and worst of them in the way caught the new Garment that was on him and rent it into twelve pieces and he said unto Jeroboam take thee ten pâeces for thus saith the Lord the God of Israel behold I will rend the Kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten Tribes to thee This Jeroboam was so bad a man that he was not content to sin alone but made Israel to sin yet even him did God set up and sent a Prophet to him to tell him so How unholy soever men are in their place and how unjust soever in the exercise of their power yet the holy and just God for reasons known to himself placeth them in power Secondly Observe God permits wicked Princes to reigne as a punishment of the reigning sins and wickednesses of the people The power of wicked Princes is the punishment of a wicked people Quidam reges ad utilitatem subjectorum dantur conservationem justitiae quidam autem ad poenam Dei justo judicio in omnibus aequaliter superveniente Irene l. 5. c. 25. Some Princes and Magistrates are given as a blessing for the protection peace and profit of a Nation and for the exaltation of righteousness in it Others are given as a curse for the vexation trouble and impoverishing of a Nation The Lord takes this fully upon himself Hos 13.11 I gave them a King in mine anger c. Angry providences are the fruit of sin God gave Saul in anger he gave Jeroboam and the rest of the Israelitish Kings in anger and as he gave them in anger so he took them away in wrath The sins both of Princes and people produce mutual ill effects towards one another First The sins of the people are the cause somtimes why good Princes are immaturely or suddenly taken away from them Josiah that good King was removed very early for the sin of Judah Pharaoh Necho had never slain him had not the people been unworthy of him Hence that of Solomon Prov. 28.2 for the transgression of a land many are the Princes thereof He means not as I conceive many together but many successively that is good Princes go quickly off the stage one after another for the transgression of the people of the land But as it followeth in the same verse by a man of understanding knowledg the state thereof shal be prolonged Our Translaters render these latter words in the plural number as the margin hath it by men of understanding wisdom shall they likewise be prolonged that is when there are many godly wise and understanding men in a Nation God blesseth them with long-lived and aged good Kings or Governours Secondly Whole Nations or a people are somtimes punished for the sins of their Princes Jer. 15.4 the Lord tells the Jewish state he would bring all that evil upon them for the sin of Manasseh Regum lapsus poena populoruÌ est sicut enim eorum virtate servamur ita eorum errore periclitamur Quid enim possit habere corpus reipublicae capite languido The sins of Princes prove oftentimes the sufferings of the people As both by and for their goodness and vertues a people are blessed so by and for their evills errors and vices a people are endangered yea sometimes ruined When the Head of a Kingdome or Common-wealth is sicke the Body is seldome well Thirdly The sins of a people bring destruction both upon their Princes and themselves together and wrap all up in one ruinous heape as Samuel threatned the people of Israel 1 Sam 12.25 If ye still doe wickedly ye shall be destroyed both you and your King He speakes not a word of any sin in their King but tells them that their wickednesse may bring destruction not only upon themselves but upon him also Fourthly which is the poynt in hand the sins of a people cause the Lord to set evill Princes over them When once a people refuse the sweet and easie yoke of Christ or say we will not have this man to rule over us he in Judgement sends such to rule over them as shall lay heavy yokes upon them indeed God useth some Princes as his staff to support a people and as his shield to defend a people yea as his Sun to cherish and influence them with aboundance of mercies He useth others only as his sword to wound them or as his scourge to correct them for their sin Vterum fert civitas haec timeo autem ne pariat virum CorrectoreÌ malae insolentiae vestrae Theogn Cur Domino Phocam imperatorem constituisti responsum datum quiâ non inveni pejorem Cur superbis non es creatus Episcopus quod dignus sacerdetio sis sed quod civitas tali digna erat Episcopo Anast Deus quibusdaÌ malis tanquam carnificibus usus est ad sumendum de aliis paenas quod verum esse de plerisque tyrannis arbitror Tale medicamentum fuit Argentinu Phalaru
Marius Romanis Plutarch de sera Num Vindicta Etiam talibus Neroni scilicet dominandi petestas non datur nisi summi dei provideÌtia quando res humanas judicat talibus dominis dignas Aug lib 5. de Civ dei cap. 19. Some are a blessing others are an affliction to the people An ancient Poet observing the City wherein he lived swolne with vanity and bringing forth dayly many monstrous births of pride luxury and oppression he could not forbeare to give his apprehension of the issue in this elegant fancy This City said he is with child and I am afraid it will bring forth shortly and what will it bring forth some severe corrector of your evill insolencies When Phocas a cruel tyrant had got the Empire and reigned there was a good man who prayed much about him and did even expostulate with God why he would set such a wretch as he was over the Empire the story saith he received this answer from God I therefore set him to governe because I could not finde a worse And I finde a like report of another though in a lower degree of power yet in great power wherein carrying himselfe very insolently one sayd to him Why are you thus haughty and high-minded why so proud of your power God did not put you into the goverment of this place because you were worthy of it but because we were worthy to have a man of your worthlesness set over us The learned Moralist treating of the righteous though late vengeance of God upon men hath this passage God saith he useth some men as tormentors to afflict and punish others Which is verified in most tyrants Such a bitter medicine was Phalaris in his time to the Argentines and Marius to the Romanes St Augustine speaking of Nero maketh this conclusion The power of Government is not given no not to such but by the providence of the most high God when he judgeth the affaires or manners of mankinde justly deserve and call for such Lords and Masters O let nations take heed The sins of a people are the worst snares of a people sin provokes God to set up Princes for a snare As therefore the Psalmist admonisheth Princes Be wise now therefore O ye Kings and learned ye Judges of the earth so I may say Be wise O ye people and obedient all you that are inhabitants of the earth serve the Lord with feare and rejoyce before him with trembling kisse the Son submit to Jesus Christ lest he be angry and give you such Princes and Powers or put you into such hands as shall break and vex you to purpose and make you know what it is to serve men in rigour having refused to serve God in love Many in all nations are apt to complaine much when they have any burdens upon them by Governours but few complaine of their owne sins which cause God to burden nations with such Governours let all leave off complaining of evill Governours and complaine more of their owne evill government both of their hearts and lives Thus we see how this text according to these distinct translations First gives warning to Princes That the hypocrite reigne not lest the people be ensnared and Secondly gives warning to people that they provoke not God by their scandalous offences to set wicked Princes and Powers over them JOB Chap. 34. Vers 31 32. Surely it is meete to be said unto God I have borne chastisement I will not offend any more That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will doe no more ELihu having convinced Job both of the power of God to doe what he pleaseth and also of his righteousnesse that he is just in whatsoever he pleaseth to doe proceedeth to give him counsell how to carry himselfe better towards God then by his former speeches and expostulations hinted at the 5th verse of this Chapter he seemed to have done In these two verses he gives him according to our translation counsell consisting of three branches First He counsells him to a due submission to the hand of God In the former part of the 31th verse Surely it is meete to be said unto God I have borne chastisement Secondly He counsells him to reformation or to a gracious resolution of laying downe every sinfull thing or what ever was a provocation to God This he doth once and againe twice in these two verses First in the close of the 31th verse It is meete to be sayd unto God I will not offend any more Secondly in the close of the 32d verse If I have done iniquity I will doe no more Thirdly Elihu counsells Job to pray for further discoveries both of his sins and sinfullnesse as also of his duty at the beginning of the 32d verse That which I see not teach thou me Thus you have the distinct poynts of that counsell which Elihu gives Job according to our reading of these words There is another reading which I shall touch when I have first opened and prosecuted the words as they stand in ours Vers 31. Surely it is meete to be sayd unto God I have borne chastisement I will not offend any more These are child-like words such words as a faulty yet a submitting repenting childe speakes to a displeased father when he is under his rod yet such as become the most aged and growne men in grace I have borne chastisement I have been under thy correcting hand forgive me O my father I will doe so no more Thus Elihu adviseth Job to bespeak God his father while he was afflicting him Some render the former part of this verse by way of interrogation or question Hath he sayd unto God I have borne chastisement I will offend no more hath Job spoken thus to God As if Elihu making his appeale to the by-standers had sayd Ye all are witnesses that Job hath not yet humbled himselfe under the correcting hand of God but rather charged God with severity in dealing with him and over-boldly enquired into the reason of his dealings Our affirmative translation carrieth the same sense with this interrogative and questioning translation for when Elihu saith to Job It is meete to be sayd unto God I have borne chastisement he supposeth that Job had not sayd so Surely it is meete to be sayd unto God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã The Hebrew particle which we render surely commonly signifieth for as giving an account or reason of somewhat that went before yet we render it well both here and elsewhere surely according to the scope of the place especially seeing Elihu speaking thus is not giving a reason of what was sayd before but inferring a duty from it Againe The word meete is not expresly in the Hebrew text yet it is clearly implyed in it and therefore added by our translators to fill up and cleare the sense the originall is It is to be sayd unto God we say It is meete to be sayd unto God I have borne chastisement The word
chastisement also is not expresly in the original there it is only I have borne but because bearing must needs import that somewhat is borne as a burthen and seeing according unto the subject matter that Elihu is upon with Job it must referre to some affliction or chastisement laid upon him therefore we fitly supply this word chastisement It is to be sayd unto God I have borne what it cannot be meant of any outward corporall burthen or visible loade layd upon his back but I have borne chastisement affliction or correction It is meete to be sayd unto God I have borne chastisement that is I both have and will beare whatsoever thou hast or shalt be pleased to lay upon me I will not dispute thy burthens but take them up So then this first part of the verse is a direction ministred to Job shewing him how to behave himselfe in the bearing of affliction He must not strive or struggle with them nor with God about them but sustaine them And this direction is not peculiar to Job's person or to his case alone but it belongs to all that are in affliction let their case be what it will all such ought to beare quietly or patiently to abide under the burthen which God layeth upon them I shall not stay upon the opening of the speciall signification of that word chastisement because it is not in the Hebrew text only thus chastisements are usually taken for those afflictions or afflicting providences which God layeth upon his owne children he layeth judgements upon the wicked and punishments upon the ungodly but properly and strictly that which falls upon his owne people is called chastisement For though in Scripture there are dispensations of God towards his owne people spoken of under the notion of judgement yet they have not a proper sense of judgement as proceeding from wrath and intended for revenge Wrath is the spring from whence judgements flow and as to their issue they tend to the satisfaction of Justice This God doth not expect at the hands of his owne children and therefore their afflictions are most properly called chastisements Surely it is meete to be sayd unto God I have borne chastisement Hence note It is our duty when the hand of God is upon us or when we are under chastisements to speake humbly meekly and submissively to God We ought alwayes to be humble and carry it humbly towards God but then especially when God by any afflicting providence is humbling us The Prophet Hos 14.2 calling that people to returne unto the Lord adviseth thus Take with you words and turne to the Lord say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips As Elihu here makes a kinde of directory what a person in affliction should say unto God It is meete to say unto God that is for a man in thy case to say thus unto God so that Prophet by the Spirit saith Take unto you words and turne to the Lord and say or speake thus unto him though not strictly syllabically in so many words yet to this sence and purpose or according to this tenour speak thus Take away iniquity and receive us graciously And when the Prophet saith Take unto you words his meaning is not that they should affectedly study a forme of words for God much lesse that they should artificially counterfeit words which their hearts had not conceived or were not correspondent to their hearts many speake words even to God which never come neare but are meere strangers to the intents of their hearts but sincere words humble words words of supplication not expostulating words not quarrelling words not murmuring words not meere complaining words but take to you words of confession and submission and so present your selves and your condition before the Lord. The Preacher Eccles 12.10 sought to finde out acceptable words and so should we when we speake unto men Preachers of the word should seeke to finde out acceptable words not fine words not swelling words of vanity not slattering soothing words but acceptable words that is such as may finde easie passage into the heart or such words as may make their passage into the heart through the power of the Spirit of God Now if the Preacher sought to finde out acceptable words when he spake to the people much more should we when we speak to God O how should we labour then to finde out acceptable words All words are not fit to be spoken unto God the words that are in such cases as the text speakes of may be reduced to these two heads First They must be God justifying words that is words by which we acquit the Justice of God how sore and how heavy soever his hand is upon us When Daniel Chap 9.7 14. was laying before the Lord the calamitous state of that people they were under as sore judgements as ever nation was For under the whole heavens saith he there hath not been done as God hath done unto Jerusalem yet all the words he spake unto God tended unto the justification of God O Lord said he righteousnesse belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of faces as at this day to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem c. We have not had one stroake more then we have deserved there hath not been a grain of weight more in our burthen then we have brought upon our selves there hath not been a drop in our cup more then we have given just cause for Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doth for we obeyed not his voice these are words fit to be spoken unto God Secondly We are to take to our selves self-condemning self-abasing self-emptying words Such we finde in that chapter v. 5 6 7. To us belong shame and confusion of face c. these are the words we should take to our selves and thus it is meet to be said unto God whensoever his chastisements are upon us Secondly Observe It is our duty to acknowledge it to God that he hath chastened us when he hath We must own his hand in afflicting us as much as in prospering us in casting us down as much as in lifting us up in wounding us as much as in healing us It is meet to be said unto God we have born chastisement thy hand hath been upon us The neglect of or rather obstinacy against this is charged as a great sin Isa 26.17 Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see that is they will not acknowledge thy most eminent appearances in anger against them 'T is so with many at this day though there be a hand of God as it were visibly afflicting their bodies and estates their children and families yet they will not see that it is a hand of God but say as the Philistines it is a chance or it is our ill fortune
they might sin against God he knew no sin they had run into nor could charge them with any excess but he was jealous they had sinned nor did Job speak thus as if his meaning were that possibly in their feasting some corruption might work in them he knew there is no man in the best duties of his life wholly freed from the workings of sin but he had this jealousie that they might have fallen into some great sin and so provoked God greatly against them therefore he did as it were way-lay such guilt and early sought reconciliation with God As Job was thus jealous of his children so a gracious heart though he cannot charge himselfe with this or that evill yet he is apt to suspect his owne heart and feares it may be worse with him then possibly it is Secondly When he saith If I have done iniquity This humble man though he doth suppose that he might have done iniquity yet he doth but suppose it Hence note A godly man may live free from the doing of any grosse sin He doth not put an if upon it whether he had sinned or no but whether he had done iniquity Zachariah and Elizabeth were not without sin but they did no iniquity for saith the text Luke 1.6 They were both righteous before God walking in all the commandements and ordinances of the Lord blamelesse It cannot be imagined but that the people of Israel sinned yet Num 23.21 God saw no iniquity in Jacob nor perversenesse in Israel There may be such a time in the Church when the people of God have no iniquity no provocation to be seene or found among them Though a Godly man cannot deny but he hath sinned yet he can affirme that he hath not indulged himselfe in any sin If I have done iniquity I will doe no more The Hebrew is I will not adde We render I will doe no more As if he had sayd If upon tryall it be found that I have done iniquity yet I will not adde iniquity to iniquity I will not goe on I will not persist nor proceed in iniquity I will not take a step more in any way which God shall discover to me to be an evill way If I am out of the way I will not goe on in my way Hence observe First A godly penitent person is resolute against sin His will is set against it I will doe no more I shewed in opening the former verse It is meere to be sayd unto God I have borne chastisement I will offend no more in what sence a godly man may make such a promise or say I will sin no more here I say A godly man is resolute against sin especially against great sins As a carnall man hath but very weake resolves for the doing of good he hath as some expresse it but a velleity somewhat like a will to doe that which is good so a carnall man makes but weake resolves against evill he hath not a setled will but a kind of noleity against it He makes some flourishes of profession against it but he is not resolvedly ingaged against it whereas a godly man is resolute both as to the doing of good and the not doing of evill If a godly man might have his will he would never sin more And as a Godly man waiteth joyfully for that state of glory wherein he shall sin no more so a resolution to sin no more hath as I may say somewhat of glory in it In glory we shall sin no more and where grace is in truth that soule would gladly be rid of sin and sin no more A godly man is resolved against all ungodlinesse and this is a kind of entrance into glory Againe Whereas the penitent man saith I will doe no more Note Continuance in any knowne sin for saith he what I know not teach thou me or in that which is made knowne to us to be sinfull is inconsistent with true repentance Repentance for and continuance in sin cannot consist in the same subject This is the voyce of every gracious soule I would not sin any more or I would not continue any longer in sin To sin is common to man but to continue in sin is proper to a wicked man To erre and faile that 's humane but to persevere in error is diabolicall Sin will continue in us while we continue in this world but they that are not of the world doe not will not continue in sin how long so ever they are in the world Sin may be considered three wayes First as remaining in us Secondly as reserved Thirdly as preserved by us There is sin remaining in the best of Saints on this side heaven Rom 7.20 21 22 23 24. Sin is reserved only in carnall men they save their sins and would be saved not from but in their sins Sin is preserved or maintained and defended in the worst of wicked men Sin is heightned to the utmost where 't is not only retained but maintained and preserved The Apostle having closed the fifth Chapter of his Epistle to the Romanes in the triumph of Gospel grace That as sin hath reigned unto death so grace might reigne through righteousnesse unto eternall life by Jesus Christ our Lord begins the next with a prevention of the abuse of this Grace What shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein How can we continue in sin that are partakers of Gospel grace Sin will continue in us but we cannot continue in it The question implyeth a kind of impossibility We were once dead in sin but now we are dead to sin how then can we live or continue in it Perseverance is either our best or our worst To persevere is best when we persevere in good and to persevere is worst when we persevere in evill It is bad to be or doe evill but it is worse to abide in evill The first best is not to sin the next best is not to continue nor lodge in sin no not for an houre Paul sayd in another case Gal 2.5 To whom we gave place by subjection no not for an houre We should not give place to sin no not for a minute but resist it to the utmost and totally displace it if we can Lastly From the Hebrew elegancy which saith I will not adde Note A godly man may commit sin after sin but he doth not adde sin to sin When he hath committed any one sin he breaks it off and dedestroyeth it by repentance He doth not adde sin to sin because the sin formerly committed is destroyed by repentance His former sin is taken off the file before he acts a second who heartily repenteth of the first and as heartily resolveth not to commit a second Such a man doth not run a round of sinning and repenting though he sinneth after âhe hath repented Daniel gave that advice to Nebuchadnezzar Dan 4.27 Break off thy sins by
Rom. 11.34 Who hath been his Councellor As God had none to counsel him concerning his eternal purposes so we must not adventure to counsel him as to his daylie providences or dispensations either toward our selves or others the true rule of our life is to yeild our selves to be ruled by God He will recompence it whether we chuse or whether we refuse And not I. As if he had said If thou wilt struggle with the will of God thou mayest but I will not God will go his own way and do as he sees good say thou what thou canst or howsoever it please or displease thee And for mine own part I dare not entertain or give way to a thought of prescribing to him in any of these things what he should do no nor be unsatisfied with much less censure what he hath done Therefore if thou canst acquit thy self of this crime and accusation which I have laid to thy charge as thou didst theirs who spake before do it say what thou canst for thy self Hence Note He that sees another do amiss ought to take heed of doing the like himself Again As these words and not I refer to the word recompence He will recompence whether thou chuse or whether thou refuse the meaning of them may be conceived as if Elihu had thus bespoken Job If thou dost smart for thy pride and the height of thy spirit if God pay thee home for it do not lay the fault upon me I have given thee counsel to direct thee better I desire not thou shouldest come under such a handling but certainly God will do it When we have declar'd the minde and will of God in the severity of his judgements upon sinners it is good for us to say God will do it and not we The Prophet Jeremiah chap. 17.16 having warned them of an evil day addes Nor have I desired the woful day Lord thou knowest it Jeremy had spoken woful things against that people but saith he I have not desired that woful day though I have prophesied of it So Elihu seems to speak he will recompence and not I though it be not in my minde yet I assure thee 't is the mind of God Yet further Some read these words with the former as an Interrogation or rebuking question made by God himself What Should you chuse and not I Election or choice is my priviledge not thine thou must not think to prescribe to me Verba Dei per Mimesmesse puto Merc. I will chasten and afflict as I think fit or according to my own will not according to thine Thus he brings in God speaking to Job thou findest thy self much aggrieved and complainest that thou art afflicted more then is meete It should seem then that I must do what thou thinkest fit not what I think fit my self Surely thou must give me the rule how much how long and in what manner I must correct both thy self and others Should you chuse and not I How uncomely Therefore speak what thou knowest Here Elihu gives Job time to reply as he had done at the 33d chap. vers 5. as if he had said If thou knowest any thing against what I have spoken or art able to make any objection against it speak if thou thinkest I have not spoken right shew me my errour and spare not Hence Note First When we have declar'd what we judge to be the minde of God in any case we should give others liberty of speaking their minds also This is my opinion speak what thou canst against it we should speak 2 Cor. 1.24 Not as having Dominion over the faith of others but as helpers of their joy The Ministers of Christ must speak as Servants to not as Lords of the faith of others Elihu did not carry it as a Lord over the faith of Job but left him to make good his own opinion and practise if he could Secondly Note Knowledge is the fountain of Speech We need no other light to speak by then that of reason the understanding should feed the Tongue we must not speak at a venture but keep to Rule and take our ayme The Apostle Paul tells us of some who make a great noise but know not what they say nor whereof they affirm 1 Tim 1.7 they speak they understand not what and vent what they can give no account of Speak what thou knowest Thirdly Note We should speak when called what we know Knowledge is a Talent and must not be hid in a Napkin if thou know better then I speak pray speak do not hide thy knowledge As Elihu would have Job speak in his own case so he inviteth others to speak about his case as it followeth in the next verse Vers 34. Let men of Vnderstanding tell me c. In this 34th verse Elihu turns his speech to Job's friends again presuming of or not questioning their consent to what he had said being confident that himself was in the right and that they were wise enough to apprehend it He was perswaded that all wise men either were or upon hearing the matter would be of his minde and that therefore what Job had spoken was very defective of wisdome as he concludes in the thirty-fifth verse Let men of understanding tell me c. He appeales to Jobs friends or any other men of understanding let them saith he Consider what I and he have spoken Viri cordis i. e. cordâti cor notat fapientiam et carere cor dicitur qui descipit Cum Jobo non putat amplius producendum esse colloquium Quare viros vocat intelligentes Sanct. Et vir sapiens audit i. e. audiet me et mihi acquiescet in hoc Merc and give their judgement impartially concerning the whole matter in debate between him and Job Let men of understanding tell me c. The Hebrew is men of heart the heart is the seat of understanding according to Scripture language there we read of a wise heart and of an understanding heart and it saith of a foolish or indiscreete person he hath no heart he is a man without a heart Ephraim is a silly dove without a heart Hos 7.11 that is he doth not understand Mr Broughton translates Sad men of heart will speake as I and the wise person that heares me As in the former part of the verse Elihu called for speakers so in the latter he calleth for hearers Let men of understanding tell me And let a wise man hearken to me or as some render a wise man will hearken to me The word rendred hearken signifies more then to heare even to submit to obey a wise man will hearken to me that is he will assent to and consent with me he will vote with me and declare himselfe to be of my mind In that Elihu appealed to wise and understanding men Note First It is not good to stand to our owne Judgements altogether in dealing with the Consciences of others Let wise men let men of understanding
good for me to draw neere to God as he had begun it v. 1. with a generall assurance Truely God is good to Israel even to such as are of a cleane heart God is good to those who have a cleane heart even when they are in the greatest sufferance of evill and therefore they who are cleane hearted have no reason at any time to say nor shall they long say they have cleansed their heart in vaine Though now they smart yet in due season they shall be well rewarded for their washing The Judgements of God are such Judicia dei plenè nemo comprehendit justè nemo reprehendit August lib 2. de Civ â Dei cap 23. as no man can fully comprehend such as no man can justly reprehend The Almighty will not pervert Judgement Those foure things which cause men to pervert Judgement are at the furthest distance or remove from God whereof the first is envie at the good condition of others The second is groundlesse and unreasonable love or hatred of their persons The third is feare of frownes from those that are great or feare of after-claps Many are deterr'd from giving but a just measure either of reward to good men or punishment to evill men lest themselves should receive hard measure from those who like neither The fourth is hope of gaine or their private advantage For as some pervert Judgement for bribes already received so others for bribes promised or upon expectation of some future favours Now God I say is infinitely above these foure and all other imaginable by-respects upon which Judgement is perverted every day by the sons of men God is above all envy yea above all that hatred or love which perverts Judgement he is above all feare of evill and hope of good God hath nothing to feare seeing none can reach him much lesse hurt him neither hath he any thing at all to hope for seeing he is in the full possession of all happinesse and blessednesse that is of himselfe Why then or upon what account should the Almighty pervert Judgement so that if at any time we have any unbecoming thoughts of the Justice of God either that he afflicts the good without reason or prospers the wicked against it all this ariseth from our ignorance or the shortnesse of our sight We have not a full or perfect prospect of things we see but a little way backward we are not wise to compare what 's past with what 's present nor can we at all infallibly foresee any thing future or discerne what shall be Whereas God at once hath all things before him he seeth what is past as well as what is present and what shall be hereafter as well as what hath been and so the compleatnesse and indefectibility of his owne Justice in all And when we in the great day shall see all the workes of God in the world brought and presented together as in one view we shall then say from the evidence of sight as now we ought from the evidence of faith that the Almighty hath not in any one thing perverted Judgement And therefore the Apostle doth most excellently and appositely call that day The day of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God Rom 2.5 Elihu having strongly asserted with a yea surely that the Almighty will not pervert Judgement yet stayeth not in a bare though so strong an assertion which he might but gives us the proofe and confirmation of it as he hath denied that God will so he proveth by undeniable arguments that God will not doe wickedly that the Almighty will not pervert Judgement And this he doth in the next or 13th verse and the two that follow Vers 13. Who hath given him a charge over the earth or who hath disposed the whole world These words as was intimated before are an argument proving that God neither hath nor can doe wrong That as to the case in hand he had not done Job wrong yea that as to all cases he can wrong no man This argument is grounded upon the soveraignty supremacy or absolute authority of God over all men The summe and force of it may be gathered up into this forme He cannot doe injustice to any who of right hath an absolute power arising from and residing in himselfe to doe what he will with or towards all men But God hath such a power Therefore he cannot doe any injustice That God hath such an absolute power arising from and residing in himselfe Elihu proves by a kind of Challenge Who hath given him a Charge over the earth Produce the man let him shew his face if he dareth It is an expression of the same importance with that of the Apostle Rom 8.33 Who shall lay any thing to the Charge of Gods Elect let us see the man let us see the devill that shall so lay any thing to the Charge of Gods Elect as to prevaile in his Charge 't is also like that other triumphant query in the same Chapter v. 31. If God be with us who can be against us That is who can be so against us as to hurt us or carry the day against us Thus here Who hath given him a Charge over the world let us see who As if he had sayd Are there any above God from whom he deriveth his power Or have any committed the Government of the earth to him as his trust and charge for the mannagement whereof he is to be accountable unto them Surely no. And if no then either God is just or all the world must be in confusion or under oppression without any redresse or remedy ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sequento ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sumitur pro Jubere juxta morem SyriacuÌ hinc ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã praefecti Merc Mr Broughton renders Who before him looked to the earth We say Who hath given him a Charge over the earth The ordinary signification of the word is to visit and that First In a way of favour to see what others want so we visit the poore or how they doe so we usually visit the sick and sometimes those that are well in health Secondly It signifieth to visit in a way of judgement or to punish those that have done amisse Thus the Lord threatens to visit that is to punish the iniquity of the fathers upon the children Exod 20.5 Thirdly The word signifieth to command to issue out orders to give a charge This signification of the word is very frequent both in Scripture and in dayly use Visiters we know have power of Government yea they have power over Governours to order and give them a charge that they doe or to examine whether they have done the duty of their place In this latter sence we render it here Who hath given him a Charge over the earth And so we read it 2 Chron 36.23 Thus saith Cyrus King of Persia all the kingdomes of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me And he hath
charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem which is in Judah who is there among you of all his people The Lord his God be with him and let him goe up God hath charged me saith Cyrus or he hath made that my businesse a businesse incumbent upon me to build him a house in Jerusalem that is to further the worke to give the Jewes leave to build the Temple of Jerusalem God hath charged me with this great trust and I am willing to answer it The same thing is recorded almost in the same words Ezra 1.2 Thus saith Cyrus King of Persia the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he hath Charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah God giveth Princes their Charge supreame soveraigne Princes yea he giveth inferiour Princes and Magistrates their Charge but saith Elihu Who hath given him a Charge Certainly no man There is yet a twofold reading of this former part of the verse both considerable First Thus Who for him hath visited the earth As if it had been sayd Hath God set any to visit or to look to the earth for him as if himselfe stood by and did nothing God useth the power of man he sets up Magistrates to worke for him but he never puts the worke out of his owne hand nor doth he need any hand to helpe him in that worke though he useth many and though he saith By me yea for me Kings reigne yet we may say with Elihu in the notion now exprest Who for him hath visited the earth that 's a good reading Secondly Who over him doth visit the earth Is God any mans Vicegerent is he a Lord Deputy or a Viceroy No there is no man visits the earth over him for as we render clearely Who hath given him a Charge over the earth As if he had sayd If God be an unjust Judge is there any superiour Judge to whom we may appeale for remedy or redresse of our injuries Who over him visiteth or who hath given him a charge over the earth That is over the inhabitants of the earth or over the affayres of the earth The Earth by a Synecdoche of the Continent for the matter contained is here put for all persons and transactions over the face of the whole earth Who hath layd that great Charge the disposall of all things and people in the earth upon God surely no man on earth no Angel in heaven nor all of them put together How should God derive a governing power from them who derive their very power of being from him He governes in his owne right not by commission or deputation We have the same poynt affirmed at the 36th Chapter of this Booke v. 23d Who hath enjoyned him his way God knoweth and taketh his owne way no man sheweth much lesse commandeth him his way Who hath given him a Charge over the earth Or who hath disposed the whole world This Question as the former containes a Negation no Creature none besides God hath disposed of the whole world or of all of the world Mr Broughton renders Who hath setled all the dwelt land The word which we translate disposed ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã posuit arto cura et ordine quod est disposuit signifies to place with a kind of art exactly orderly carefully Who hath thus disposed the whole world There is a double disposition of the world First In Creation who hath disposed joynted and put the whole world in frame who hath marshall'd the severall parts of the world as they now stand like the Host of God The world as created is expressed in the Greek by beauty and order before God perfected the creation all was a confused heape without forme and voyd But that rude indigested matter was drawne forth in the severall works of that six-dayes Creation into a most beautifull forme and order Thus God once disposed all the world by Creation Secondly God dayly disposeth the world by providence And that 's the disposure which this text especially speakes of ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã orbù habitabilis ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vocant i. e. hâmines degentes in orbe habitabili Pisc Who hath disposed in a providentiall way the whole world The word rendred world properly signifies the habitable world we find it opposed to the wildernesse or desert Isa 14.17 where few or none inhabite That word is very significantly used here for the world because the habitable part of the world or where men inhabite are the stages on which the providences of God appear and act most eminently convincingly Who hath disposed of the habitable world which the Greekes call The house of abiding Mr Broughton The dwelt land that is the land wherein men dwell Againe As the earth before is put for the inhabitants and occurrences of the earth so whatsoever passeth or is brought to passe in the world is here called the world Who hath disposed the whole world He that made the whole world disposeth of the whole world providence followeth Creation But some may say Is this a good Argument to prove that God is just because he hath the supreame power over all the world Will it follow that he administreth all things rightly because he hath a right to administer all things There seemes but little of Argument in this may some say many have a great deale of power who abuse it and they that have most power usually abuse it most and make it but a servant to their lusts and passions therefore how is it a proofe that the Lord is righteous and will doe no iniquity because he hath the power of all things in his hand or is Lord over all I answer This is a strong argument and as I remember a good Author calls it a peremptory argument which can have no deniall The Lord is righteous because he is Lord over all he is not King of some corner of the World he is not King of the whole World by election or vote of the World he is not chosen at all much lesse as many have been by evill means and wicked combinations God is the supreame governer of all the world by naturall right not choyce yet not as some Princes are by naturall right of succession inheriting after a mortall father but by the naturall right of creation himself being the father of that world over which he is a governour The Originall of Gods power is stated in himself The eternall being of God and his supreame authority are inseparable Yea God is not only thus supreame in administring Justice but he is the summe or fullnesse of Law and Justice and therefore cannot pervert it He whose power and goodnesse gave the world its being how should he act any thing which is not good in the exercise of his power over the World Jnjustice is the breach of a Law but how can God break a Law who is the source and fountaine of all
Numb 12.1 though they were thus neerely related yet speaking irreverently of Moses the Chiefe Magistrate the Lord sayd to them v. 8. Wherefore were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses Yet how common is this sin the tongues of men walke exceeding loosly in their discourses about the persons and powers of Princes And we every where find most pleased to heare well of themselves and ill of others or to speake well of themselves and ill of others and the higher they are who are spoken of or of whom they speake evill the more they are pleased both in hearing and speaking evill of them How unruly are their tongues who cannot forbeare their rulers Thus much of Elihu's question as it is resolved into a Negative proposition It is not fit to say to a King thou art ungodly We may further consider it as an argument from the greater to the lesse to prove That it is a most wicked thing to speake a word unduely of God Is it fit to say to a King Thou are wicked and to Princes ye are ungodly Vers 19. How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of Princes Who is that The words are a cleare Periphrasis of God he accepts not the persons of Princes As if Elihu had said the Kings and Princes of the earth expect such great respect from their subjects that no man should dare to censure them or speake evill of them though they doe evill or deale unjustly how much more unfit is it to speake evill of God or to charge his government with injustice who never doth any evill all whose wayes are not only just but justice He that accepteth not the persons of Princes who are the greatest of men can have neither will nor motive to deale unjustly with any man I shall not stay to shew what it is to accept persons because that hath been shewed at the 7th verse of the 13th Chapter as also Chapter 32.21 only I 'le give it in one word To accept persons is to have more respect to the man then to the matter and that 's a very common fault among men and as commonly condemned by God 'T is a received axiom He that would or doth put on the person of a Judge must put off the person of a friend that is he must not be sway'd by any respect whatsoever of friendship or allyance but must judge purely as the cause deserveth Nor shall I stay to urge the greatness of the sin of speaking any thing uncomely of God that also hath been spoken to in many former passages of this Chapter Only from these words How much lesse to him that accepth not the person of Princes Note First That which ought not to be done or spoken to the greatest of men ought much lesse to be either done or spoken to God The reason is because first God is infinitely more to be reverenced then any man Secondly because God is infinitely more able to take vengeance and certainly will of any that shall doe or speake evill to him then the greatest among the children of men Yet how many are there who dare not offend a man not a great man especially either by word or deed who are not afraid by both to offend and provoke the great God O remember the force of this text If it be not fit to speake unduely of Princes How much lesse of him that accepteth not the persons of Princes Hence note Secondly God is no accepter of persons He hath no respect to Princes in prejudice to truth and righteousnesse but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousnesse be he never so poore is accepted with him Acts 10.35 and in every nation he that feareth him not but worketh unrighteousnesse be he never so great is unacceptable yea abominable to him The Scripture often attributes this glory to God Deut 10.17 2 Chron 19.7 Gal 2.6 Col 3.25 And as it is the glory of God that he is no accepter of persons so it is the duty of man Deut 1.17 Judgement must proceed and conclude with respect to the rule and command of God not with respect to the persons of men or our relations to them Levi was highly commended for this Deut 33.9 who sayd unto his father and to his mother I have not seene him neither did he acknowledge his brethren nor knew his owne children c. When man accepteth not the persons of men he acteth most like God of whom Elihu saith He accepteth not the persons of Princes Nor regardeth the rich more then the poore That 's a further description of God He doth not regard ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã aguoscere familiaritèr tractare that is acknowledge or know the one more then the other He is in the best things as communicative to and converseth as familiarly with the poore as the rich yea he doth not value or prize the rich man more then the poore the poor man is worth as much as the rich man in Gods account suppose the rich man worth thousands yea ten thousands of gold and silver and the poore man so poore that he is not worth a shilling yet in the account of God the poor man is worth as much as the rich man The Scripture speakes of two sorts both of rich and poor men There are men rich in spiritualls such Christ intimates who are Luke 12.20 rich towards God or as he speakes of the Church of Smyrna Rev 2.9 rich in grace I know thy poverty but thou art rich That is I know thou art poor in earthly pelfe but rich in spiritualls The Apostle James puts the question Chap 2.5 Hath not God chosen the poore of this world rich in faith and heires of the kingdome Now it is most certaine that God regardeth the rich in spiritualls more then the poore in spiritualls he highly regardeth those that are poore in spirit and pronounceth them blessed Math 5.3 for theirs is the kingdome of heaven But he regardeth not those who are poore in spiritualls not them especially who boast of their spirituall riches when they have none they that have them are thankfull for them they do not boast of them as the Church of Laodicea did of whom Christ sayd Rev 3.16 17. I will spew thee out of my mouth because thou sayest I am rich encreased in goods and knowest not that thou art poore Thus you see there are a sort of rich men whom Christ regardeth more then the poore of that sort But as poore and rich are distinguished meerely by aboundance and want by the smallness and greatness of their portion in the things of this world as Dives and Lazarus in the parable were so he regardeth not the rich more then the poore When a poor man is gracious as wel as poore God regardeth him more then any rich man who hath no grace And when either both have grace alike or both are alike without grace he regardeth them both alike When rich and poore
mighty men that all may know his judgements are deserved by their works he makes their works known Secondly Others render He maketh them know or acknowledge their works The Lord at last by sore and severe judgements will extort confessions from the worst of them he will make the mighty acknowledge that their works have been nought and their wayes perverse In Scripture the same word signifies to know or to confess and acknowledg Thus here he makes them to know or to acknowledge what their works have been Thirdly Rather take it as we render ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã non significat notum facio quod sciam sed tantum cognosco ideo transtuli cognoscit Drus of Gods act in taking notice of all they had done Therefore he knoweth their works As if Elihu had said these mighty men of the earth thought themselves under covert or that the Lord took no notice of them nor of their works their works were done in the dark and they supposed the Lord could not pierce into them but he will make it appear that he knew their works when he maketh his justice appear in punishing them for their works Hence Note We have an assurance that God knoweth the works of all mon because he punisheth all wicked works or the works of the wicked so punctually and exactly He punisheth many of them here and will punish them all hereafter when we see him breaking the mighty men of the world 't is a proof that God was in their Cabinet counsels and saw what was done there we may conclude he knew their works though men knew them not he could never lay his judgements so exactly upon them as he doth if he did not know their works That God knows the works of all men is a point I have met with before and therefore pass from it here And he overturneth them in the night There are several readings of this clause First Some thus Therefore the Lord knoweth their works and turneth into night that is he turneth their prosperity into adversity he bringeth trouble and affliction upon them they lived before in a day of prosperity in a day of power and worldly greatness but he turneth them into night Secondly Or as others thus He turneth the night that is he changeth the night into day Simul atque mutavit noctum c. Jun. i. e. Lucem protulit qua revelantur omnia in judicio ejus Id. he takes away the dark and close covers of their sins and makes them as manifest as the light Now as the Apostle saith Eph. 5.13 That which maketh manifest is light If God were not light he could not bring to light the hidden things of darkness nor manifest the counsels of the heart Thirdly thus Therefore he knoweth their works and when the night is turned he destroyeth them that is they are destroyed and perish as soon and as easily as the day takes place of the night or as soon as the night is turned into day so soon doth the Lord destroy them he can quickly make an end of them he can destroy them with the morning light We render and I judge that best He overturneth them their persons in the night and so Elihu points at the season or time of Gods breaking and overthrowing them he doth it in the night We may take it strictly as in the case of Pharaoh and the Egyptians Exod. 12.29 as also in that of Belshazzer Dan. 5.30 or in the night that is suddenly unexpectedly Though a man be destroyed in the day yet if it be done suddenly he looking for no such matter we may say it was done in the night because then men are most secure This way of expressing an unlookt for evil the coming of in the night was opened at the twentieth verse therefore I shall not stay upon it He overturneth them in the night So that they are destroyed Elihu said before He shall break in pieces mighty men Here he saith they are destroyed that is they shall be broken to purpose or throughly God doth not break them in pieces for correction but for destruction there are great breakings upon the persons and estates of some men and yet it is but for correction others the Lord breaketh for utter ruine as here so that they are destroyed The Original word signifieth to destroy as it were by pounding in a Morter ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã contrivit atirivit contudit and the same word is used to signifie a contrite heart a heart broken by godly sorrow under the sense of sin They are destroyed or as it were ground to powder you may break a thing into many pieces yet not grinde it to powder or dust as corn in a Mill or spice in a Morter but these saith Elihu are not only broken to pieces but beaten to dust that 's the strength of the word which we render they are destroyed Hence Note What God hath a mind to do he can do it certainly and will do it throughly He breaks men in pieces so that they are destroyed and brought to dust When the Prophet declares the breaking of the four Monarchies it is said Dan. 2.35 They shall be as the chaffe of the Summer threshing upon the Mountains if the Lord will destroy the mightiest they shall certainly be destroyed as Balak said to Balaam I woâ that whom thou cursest are cursed as if he had said thou canst curse effectually if thou wilt set thy self to it 't is not in the power of all the Balaams in the world to effect a curse though they pronounce a curse 't is only in the power of the Lord to curse effectually he can bless whom he pleaseth and they are blessed he can curse whom he pleaseth and they are cursed Thus as Ephraim lamenting his sin and sorrow confessed Jer. 31.18 Lord thou hast chastised me and I was chastised God paid him home as we speak if we chastise a childe he is chastised but when Ephraim saith thou hast chastised me and I was chastised his meaning is I was greatly and effectually chastised that is first In a literal sence I found thy hand heavie upon me it was a sore affliction that I was under Secondly In a spiritual sence Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised that is my heart was humbled and broken under thy chastisements in either notion we see the effectualness of the Lords work Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised And therefore Ephraim invited the Lord to another work Turn me O Lord and I shall be turned if thou wilt but turn thy Spirit upon this hard heart of mine it will be effectually turned it will be not only broken for sin but from sin As if he had said I have received reproofs and counsels from men and they have not turned me but Lord if thou wilt reprove and counsel me I shall be turned thus the Lord carrieth his work home to conversion in his spiritual dealings with some and to