stubborn under the rod and their hearts are hardened while themselves are melted in the fire of affliction As man lives not by bread alone So man mends not by the rod alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God T is little lesse then a miracle that this dry rod as that of Aaron did naturall should blossom and bring forth spirituall fruit the fruits of righteousnesse 3. We may pray for the removing of afflictions because the Lord often sends afflictions upon this message to bespeak praier Many a soul is sluggish in prayer till awakened by the voice of the rod. When the rod makes the flesh smart then the Spirit in whom any thing of the Spirit is cries mightily unto God and among the many things about which the soul exercises prayer under afflictions this is one that the affliction may be removed As they alwaies sin who murmur at and quarrell with God because he corrects them so also doe they who say they care not how long he corrects them or let him correct them as long as he will It is as ill a sign when a childe will not pray his parent to spare him when he is about to chasten him or to stay his hand when he is chastening of him as it is to resist his chastisement There may be greater contempt of God in lying under affliction then in resisting it Now as it is our duty to pray for deliverance out of trouble so it is one end why the Lord casts us into trouble that we may be engaged to pray for deliverance But take it with a caution we must not pray absolutely for deliverance or the removall of afflictions but at least with an implicit limitation While we are striving earnestly for the taking away of the rod we should be ready to submit if the Lord will not take it away A believer may say to the Lord as wrestling Jacob I will not let thee goe except thou blesse me but he must not say I will not let thee goe except thou now deliver me Time and means and manner must all be laid at Gods feet and submitted to his wisdome And we must honour God though he will not remove the rod even while we are praying that he would remove it For the close of this point consider the rod may be removed not only by a totall release from affliction But First By an abatement of the affliction as we are said to leave off those graces from the degrees and lively actings of which we fall and decline He that lacketh these things that is who aboundeth not as he hath heretofore in the exercise of them is blinde c. 2 Pet. 1.9 Thou hast left thy first love saith Christ to the Angel of Ephesus when the heat of his former love was cooled So the Lord may be said to remove our troubles when he remits the extremity and cools the heat of them Secondly The rod is removed when it is sanctified to us when the Lord who is excellent in working causeth it to doe us good The Saints die yet death is abolished as to the Saints by the death of Christ 2 Tim. 1.10 because Christ hath pluckt out the sting of their death and made it a gain to them Thus while Christ makes temporall losses or sufferings an advantage to the spirituall estate of his people he takes them away And as outward blessings are taken away from wicked men while they possesse them riches are not riches to them nor is their honour an honour to them because they are ensnared by them So the outward crosse is taken away from the godly while they suffer because they are bettered by the crosse Thirdly Affliction is removed from us when Christ gives us strength to bear affliction Nothing grieves us either in active or passive obedience but what is either against our wils or above our power It is all one to have a burthen taken off our shoulders or to have so much strength given as makes it easie to us While the Saints have trouble upon their backs and loins they have no trouble in their hearts and spirits when their spirits are carried above those troubles To conquer an enemy is more noble then to have none Much more which is promised the Saints in the throng of sorest enemies to be more then conquerours In all or any of these waies Jobs praier may be fulfilled Take away thy rod from me And let not thy fear terrifie me There was somewhat more upon Job then a rod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Formidabilis terribilis Emathah or it was an extraordinary rod a rod like a Scorpion Let not thy fear terrifie me The word which we translate fear comes from a root signifying that which is very formidable and terrible Fear and dread shall fall upon them Exod. 15.16 that is they shall be extremely afraid even dead with fear as the next words import They shall be still as a stone c. There is a letter added as the Hebricians observe to the word used by Moses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ne me transversum agat Sept. alius ne me consternet implying the excesse of fear Giants are called by this name Emims Deut. 2.11 because they are of a dreadfull aspect The whole host of Israel trembled at the sight of Goliah 1 Sam. 17.24 〈◊〉 Idols 〈◊〉 exprest by this name Emim And there is a double reason of it Either because Idols are a terrour to their worshippers we hear how at this day poor Pagans who worship Idols are extremely opprest with slavish fear of displeasing them The true God is terrible to his despisers but false Gods are terrible to their worshippers Or secondly They were called Emims in a way of contempt Yours are terrible Gods sure They have hands and handle not feet and walk not eyes and see not Here are terrible gods So then Idols are Emims either because they are really to be feared so little or because they are superstitiously feared so much Jobs fear was no needlesse fear he was not terrified with a fancy Ex vi verbi originalis ejusno di terror est qui hominem exaâ—itat quasi extra evalde distrabat though his fancy was ready enough to over-act upon his affliction and so encreased his fear Let not thy fear that is say some fearfull thoughts or sights terrifie me So Chap. 7.14 When I say My bed shall comfort me my couch shall ease my complaint then thou scarest me with dreams and terrifiest me with visions There is an humbling and a cleansing fear The fear of the Lord is clean not only in the nature of it but in the effects of it Psal 19.9 There is also an amazing and a terrifying fear such the letter of the originall imports this to be even a fear bordering upon madnesse as if he were rather frighted then afraid and scared rather then troubled Others expound this
makes a bold adventure who dares passe but an unpleasing thought against the waies or works of God Fourthly Not to be satisfied with what God doth is a degree of hardening our selves against God discontents and unquietnesses upon our spirits are oppositions Fiftly Not to give God glory in what he doth hath somewhat in it of hardening of our selves against God And lastly He that will not give God glory in what he commands is in a degree hardened against God We may see what it is to harden our selves against God by the opposite of it Prov. 28.14 Blessed is the man that feareth alwaies but he that hardeneth himself shall fall into mischief Hardnesse is contrary to holy fear holy fear is a disposition of heart ready to yeeld to God in every thing A man thus fearing quickly takes impressions of the word will and works of God and therefore whosoever doth not comply with God in holy submission to his will hardens himself in part against God That which is here chiefly meant is the grosser act of hardnesse when men either speak or go on in their way acting against God let him say what he will his word stops them not or do what he will his works stop them not They are like the adamant the hammer of the Word makes no impression upon hard hearts but recoyls back again upon him that strikes with it More distinctly this is either a sensible hardnesse of heart of which the Church complains Isa 63.15 Wherefore hast thou hardened our hearts c. or an insensible hardnesse which in some arises from ignorance in others from malice and obstinacy Further We read of Gods hardening mans heart and sometimes of mans hardening his own heart There is a three-fold hardnesse of heart First Naturall which is the common stock of all men we receive the stone of a hard heart by descent every man comes into the world hardened against God Secondly There is an acquired hardnesse of heart Men harden themselves and adde to their former hardnesse He stretcheth out his hand against God and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty Job 15.25 There is a growth in sin as well as a growth in grace many acts make hardnesse more habituall 2 Chron. 36.13 He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord. I know thy rebellion and thy stiffe necke Deut. 31.27 Thirdly There is a judiciary hardnesse of heart an hard heart inflicted by God as a Judge When men will harden their hearts against God he agrees it their hearts shall be hard he will take away all the means which should soften and moisten them he will not give them any help to make them pliable to his will or he will not blesse it to them He will speak to his Prophets and they shall make their hearts fat that is senslesse and their ears heavy that is heedlesse under all they speak Isa 6.10 Thus also God hardned the heart of Pharaoh and of the Aegyptians by the ministery of Moses and Aaron So then we having hardnesse of heart by nature doe by custome acquire a further hardnesse and the Lord in wrath inflicteth hardnesse then the sinner is pertinacious in sinning All these put together make him irrecoverably sinfull His neck is an iron sinew and his brow brasse Isa 48.4 Observe first There is an active hardnesse of heart or man hardens his own heart Exod. 5. We read of Pharaoh hardening his heart before the Lord hardened it Who is the Lord saith he that I should let Israel goe Here was Pharaoh hardening his heart and steeling his spirit against the command of God God sent him a command to let Israel goe he replies Who is the Lord I know not the Lord who is this that takes upon him to command me Am not I King of Aegypt I know no Peer much lesse Superiour Lord. It was true indeed poor creature he did not know the Lord Pharaoh spake right in that I know not the Lord if he had he would never have said I will not let Israel go he would have let all goe at his command had he known who the Lord was that commanded Thus Sennacherib 2 Chron. 32.14 blasphemes by his messengers Who was there among all the gods of those Nations that my fathers utterly destroyed that could deliver his people out of mine hand that your God should be able to deliver you out of mine hand These are hard words against God and hardening words to man Every act of sinne hardens the heart of man but the heat of blasphemy at once shews and puts it into the extremity of hardnesse Man hardens himself against God four waies especially First Upon presumption of mercy many doe evil because they hear God is good they turn his grace into wantonnesse and are without all fear of the Lord because there is mercy so much with the Lord. Secondly The patience of God or his delaies of judgement harden others because God is slow to strike they are swift to sin If the sound of judgment be not at the heels of sin they conclude there is no such danger in sin Solomon observed this Eccles 8.11 Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to doe evil or it is full in them to doe evil They have not some velleities and propensions some motions and inclinations some queries and debates about it but the matter upon this ground is fully stated and determined they are so full of it that they have no room in their hearts for better thoughts or counsels the summe of all is they are hardened and resolved to doe evil Thirdly Grosse ignorance hardens many 1. Ignorance of themselves And 2. Ignorance of God he that knows not what he ought to doe cares not much what he doth None are so venturous as they who know not their danger Pharaoh said I know not the Lord he knew not the Lord nor himself therefore he ran on blinde-fold and desperately hardened himself against the Lord. Fourthly Hardnesse of heart in sinning is contracted from the multitude of those who sinne They thinke none shall suffer for that which so many doe The Law of Moses said Thou shalt not follow a multitude to doe evil Exod. 23.2 There is a speciall restraint upon it because man is so easily led by many The heart is ready to flatter it self into an opinion that God will not be very angry when a practice is grown common this is the course of the world this is the way of most men therefore surely no great danger in it And examples harden chiefly upon three considerations Ego bomuncto non facerem Tâ—r. First If great ones go that way the Heathen brings in a young man who hearing of the adulteries and wickednesses of the gods said what Doe they so and shall I stick at it Secondly If some wise and learned men go that way ignorant and unlearned men conclude
What dost thou 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold he taketh away Rapuit more latronum Significat velocitatem rapinae Rab Mord Raptim auferre Tigur The word signifies to take away by violence and force to take away as a robber takes to steal away As if he had said suppose the Lord come by open violence to take a thing from thee or secretly and as it were by stealth to bereave thee of thy estate or of thy life if he take all from thee and strip thee naked What canst thou doe So the word is used Prov. 23.28 speaking of a wicked woman an harlot She lieth in wait as for a prey the Hebrew is She lieth in wait as a robber to take away the estate yea and the life of those whom she shall entangle Si rapuerit hominem è muâ—do Targ. Si morti tradiderit August Quoâ—ies ipsi visum fuerit ut mihi nunc eve nit â—uempiam vel bonis ipsis spoliare quis illumut raptorem ad restitutionem cogeâ— imo quis illum jure in disquisitionem vocarit voluntas enim ipsius est juâ—tlâ—iae norma Bez 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 è ralice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some understand this more specially of taking away life If he will stop thy breath and deliver thee up to death so Augustine upon the place or as the Chaldee If he take one out of the world who can hinder him As if Job had said The Lord may not only take away so much as he hath taken from me but more without wrong to me He hath taken away my goods and my estate my children and friends he hath fetched away my health and strength my beauty and outward comforts if he come and take away my life also at next bout I cannot hinder him I can neither compell him to restore nor call him to an account I can neither urge him to restitution nor charge him with oppression He plainly intimates the rapine of his goods by the Chaldeans c. Of which he spake positively Chap. 1.21 The Lord hath taken and here by way of generall supposition If he take away Who shall hinder him Mr Broughton translates Who shall make him restore So he carries it in allusion unto men who violently take away the goods and estate of another If a man come with force and take away my goods Vertere aut reducere quis reâ—â— uere eum faciet quis recuperabit aut reduâ—et praedam I may make him restore them again by a greater force but if the Lord take away and ask me no leave I cannot make him restore The word signifies to stop or turn a thing and because in recovering of a prey or in making a man restore we stop and stay his course therefore the word is indifferently applied to both Others understand it in this sense If he taketh away who shall hinder him That is who can turn him from his purpose Who can stop him in the thing he hath a minde to doe Quidam non de praeca sed dâ— ipso Deo intelligunt Quu revocabit eum à proposito Si repentè interroget quis respondebit ei Vulg. Vel quòd respondens convertit se ad ìnterrogaÌ„tem vel quòd responsum regeraâ—ur restituaturque tanquam debitum interroganti The Vulgar translation varies much If he suddenly ask a man a question who shall be able to answer him The Hebrew word which signifies to return signifies to answer answering is the return of a word Prov. 8.13 He that answereth or returneth a word before he heareth a matter But I shall lay that by though the abettours of the Vulgar make great store of it interpreting their meaning thus if the Lord cite a man to judgement and bring him to triall man is not able to answer him or to plead his own cause Man cannot stand before the Lord. Observe hence First That All our comforts are in the power of God If he taketh away supposeth he can take away and he can take all away and doe us no wrong It is no robbery if God rob us his robbery is no wrong why because he comes not as a thief but as a Lord and Master of our estates he may come and take them away as he pleaseth and when he pleaseth Secondly Note this from it He taketh away That which God doth by the hand of the creature is to be reâ—koned as his own act He taketh away when creatures take away It is seldom that God dealeth immediately with us in these outward providences he sends men stirs instruments to do what is done But that which man doth the Lord doth Isa 42.24 Who gave Jacob to the spoilers and Israel to the robbers Did not I the Lord Men spoil'd and robbed them yet it was the Lords act to send those spoilers Did not I the Lord As that which man doth in spirituals is the Lords act when man converteth and saveth it is the Lord that saveth and converteth when man comforteth and refresheth by applying the promises it is the Lord that comforteth and refresheth when man gives resolution in doubts it is the Lord that resolveth doubts mans act is the Lords So here when man robbeth and spoileth us the act is from the Lord though the wickednesse of the act is from the man The Lord suffers men to spoil and undoe us yea the Lord orders them to spoil us it is done not only by his permission but by his commission not only with his leave but by his appointment I will send him against an hypocriticall Nation and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge to take the spoil and to take the prey and to tread them down like the mire of the streets Isa 10. Observe thirdly What the Lord will doe either by himself or by instruments no man can stop or prevent If he taketh away who shall hinder him The Lord hath absolute power if he will overthrow men or families or whole Kingdoms none can stay him There have been four great Monarchies in the world and the Lord comming in judgement against them hath taken all away The united strength of all creatures cannot stand before him when he is angry and resolved The Babylonian could not say and perform it I will keep my throne The Persian could not say and do it I will keep my State The Grecian could not say and maintain it I will keep my glory The Roman could not say and make it good I will keep my empire When the Lord had a minde to it he came and fetch away the power and glory the crown and dignity of those Monarchs he threw down their thrones brake their states darkned their glory dissipated their empires no man could hinder him How are ye fallen from heaven O Lucifers sons of the morning how are ye cut down to the ground which did weaken the Nations Though ye said in your hearts We will ascend into heaven we will
malis conficiunt Pined Significat derisionem quae fit externo corporis gestu LXX vertunt per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pisc in 1 Cor. 14.21 How God laughs at this triall The word notes derision or scorn Psal 2.4 He that sitteth in heaven will laugh there he uses the ordinary word for laughter and he will have them in derision That 's the word in the text So that properly and strictly it signifies to scorn and deride and that either by words or gestures as putting forth of the finger shaking the head or gnashing the teeth which are Scripture expressions of highest scorn by gesture But how shall we fit this to the businesse in hand Will the Lord thus scorn and deride at the triall and probation of the innocent The Vulgar was it seems so much straitned to make out the sense that he reads it negatively If the scourge slay suddenly he will not laugh at the triall of the innocent Others though they put not in a negation formally and in terms yet they doe it equivalently and therefore they render it by an interrogation If the scourge slay suddenly Will he laugh at the triall of the innocent No he will not that 's their meaning the Lord will not sleight or neglect the triall of the innocent though he destroies them yet he will not deride them But we and most of the learned Hebritians keep close to the affirmative If the scourge slay suddenly he will laugh at the triall of the innocent Suppositum verbi ridendi daemon est qui gaudet videns homines diuturnis malis cruciari Cajet There is a diâ—â—â—te whom we are to understand by this He for some taking this laughing and deriding in the broadest sense think it too low and dishonourable to be ascribed unto God and therefore they carry it down low enough ascribing it to the devil If the scourge slay suddenly then the devil laugheth to see the upright tried He makes merry with the sorrows of the Saints the devil hath no great cause how much minde soever he hath to laugh considering his condition but the meaning is that which gives the devil most content is to see righteous persons vexed And that 's a truth As there is joy in heaven when good men sorrow for sinne so there is a kinde of joy in hell when good men are enwrapt with the sorrows of suffering Others make the antecedent to He a wicked man such are within one degree of Satan his children If the scourge slay suddenly Impius justum subsannat malis implicitum then the ungodly who yet thrive and prosper rejoyce and make sport at the triall of the innocent See what these good honest innocent men have got they thought by their prayers and fastings by their zeal and strictnesse to exempt themselves from these common afflictions they presumed they should be spared though all the world were consumed but see they are destroied as well as others they smart under the lash as well as we their neighbours whom they looked upon as the only whipping stocks when a scourge should come That wicked men laugh and deride the innocent under affliction and jeer them with Where is your God now what 's become of all your praying and fasting Where are the hopes and confidences the priviledges and protections ye talked of is a truth But thirdly We need not ease the text thus nor relieve it out of this difficulty by fastening the interpretation upon wicked men Let us take the relative to be God himself and see how we can make the sense out with a saving to his honour If the scourge slay suddenly He that is the most holy and gracious God laugheth at the triall of the innocent How so First I premise this God doth not laugh or deride properly at the afflictions of his people No the Lord is a tender a gracious and a mercifull father to his people at all times and most tender of them when they are in their afflictions when they are in their sorenesse and in their sorrows he is more tender then the most tender-hearted mother Isa 49.15 Can a mother forget her sucking childe that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb yea they may forget yet will I not forget thee Will a mother laugh and deride a poor infant when it lies sprawling and wants her help No much lesse will God laugh at his people therefore as laughing noteth hard-heartednesse or unnaturall harshnes of spirit the Lord doth not laugh at his afflicted Saints it is against his nature against his practice and all experience What is it then he laughs at First Positively thus Job would here expresse that the Lord carries himself in outward things with an equall hand both to the good and to the bad as was touched before The Lord laugheth at and derideth the wicked Prov. 1.28 I will laugh at their destruction and mock when their fear cometh The carriage of God to his own people is such as if he did mock and laugh at them also Dicitur ridere quia sic judicaÌ„t hominum vulgus He that laugheth and derideth at a mans affliction doth not regard what he suffers he gives him no help nor delivers him out of his sufferings Nay a man that laugheth at another in affliction will lay more affliction upon him Even thus in regard of outward dispensations God deals with his own people that is when innocent ones are in affliction and cry unto him Ridere dicitur cum contemnere videtur orationem postulantis opem he makes as if he did not hear or regard them but lets them lie crying it may be day after day in their pains and wants yea sometimes in stead of easing them he laies more afflictions upon them poor souls since they sought the Lord they finde an encrease of their sorrows God seems to deal with them as Pharaoh did with the Israelites in Egypt who crying to him for release of their burdens are answered only with Ye are idle ye are idle let more work be laid upon these men Exod. 5. Or like Rehoboam who threatned his people to make their yoke heavier while they petitioned he would make it lighter and told them of scorpions while they complained of whips David gives us this in his own experience Psal 77.2 3. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord my sore ran in the night and ceased not or my hand was stretched out in praier and bedewed with tears my soul refused to be comforted David sought for comfort but his troubles encreasing he could not take in the comforts administred I remembred God and was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed If any thing in the world can ease a troubled heart thoughts of God can Thus David once relieved himself When the people talked of stoning him he encouraged himself in the Lord his God 1 Sam. 30.6 Yet sometimes God seems to think of us least when we
will lay aside my heavinesse I will comfort my self It is a hard thing to comfort others Luther said It is as easie a work to raise the dead as to comfort the conscience but it is harder for a man to comfort himself Eliphaz gave testimony to Job in the fourth Chapter vers 3 4. that he had upholden him that was falling and had strengthned the feeble knees But now it is come upon thee and thou faintest it toucheth thee and thou art troubled Thou who hast holpen others canst not help thy self Yet here Job was upon a resolve to comfort himself I answer Though it be a truth that no man is able to comfort himself no more then he can convert himself and that a man is no more able to change his heart from sorrow to joy then he is able to change his heart from sin to grace yet a man may attempt or assay he may use means to comfort himself When Job saith I will comfort my self the meaning is I will doe the utmost I can I will not be behinde in my endeavours I will take the best course and improve all opportunities to get out of these dumps whosoever will prescribe me a way or direct me to a remedy of these sorrows I will submit to it I will comfort my self From whence note That What a man really endeavoureth to doe that he may be said to doe I will comfort my self Why Because though he were not able to attain such an end Joy and comfort lieth beyond the line of the creature yet he reached at it he attempted and assaied all means to comfort himself Thus the salvation of a man is ascribed to himself A man is said to save himself though salvation belongeth to the Lord even temporall salvation but especially eternall salvation yet a man may be said to save himself As the Apostle 1 Epist 4.16 exhorts Timothy to walk by a holy rule to settle himself in his studies to read the Scriptures and to meditate in them to be faithfull in dispensing of the Gospel assuring him If thou dost these things thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee Save thy self No man can be his own Saviour he may be as well his own Creatour Timothy was thus encouraged because in so doing he did all that a man ought who expects salvation That was the way to though not the cause of salvation Salvation is all Christs yet he who doth his best to save himself may be said to save himself Thus also a man comforts himself converts himself instructs himself when he putteth himself out to the utmost of gifts graces and opportunities to doe or attain duties and blessings No man saith the Prophet doth stir himself up to take hold of the Lord. The word in the Prophet signifies to awake or to watch no man wakes or watches his opportunity to take hold of the Lord. It notes also that action of old birds who flutter with their wings and beat up their young ones to urge and provoke them to use their wings and flie abroad Thus he complained because the lazy dull-hearted Jews did not raise up and waken their hearts to doe what they could though to doe it was more then they could Secondly Observe That a man in affliction may help on his comforts or his sorrows I will comfort my self I will leave off my heavinesse Some adde to their afflictions and are active to aggravate and encrease them they make their night darker and obscure the light of counsell that is brought unto them they joyn with Satan their enemy and by the black melancholy vapours of their own hearts stifle the consolations that are administred them by faithfull friends Like Rachel Jer. 31. they refuse to be comforted when reviving Cordials are offered they spill them upon the ground and will not take in a drop they are so farre from comforting themselves that they will not receive comfort from others The Prophet seems to be resolved upon the point he would go on in sorrows Look away from me I will weep bitterly labour not to comfort me Isa 22.4 As sometimes a man under great affliction bespeaks comfort from others O I am in a sad case come comfort me shew me how I may get ease from these sorrows Many beg praiers and send bils of their afflictions desiring to have them spread before the Lord in the Congregation that some comfort may be dropt from heaven into their diseased bodies or wounded spirits Others sleight praiers and care not to be comforted as if it were an ease to them to mourn and a refreshing to be in heavinesse There is a two-fold ground upon which comforts are thus put off 1. Some put off their comforts upon fullennesse of spirit black and dark spirits love to bathe themselves in sorrow Sorrow is the bath of drooping spirits and it is Satans bath too Melancholly is commonly called The devils bath he takes delight to wash in the streams of our unnecessary tears Sorrow for sinne puts the devil to the greatest sorrow Godly grief is a grief to Satan but he delighteth in our worldly sorrows as the devil may be delighted if he have delight in any thing this is one thing he delights in our forbidden sorrows Some sorrows are as much forbidden as any pleasures The devil is as much pleased with our unlawfull sorrows as he is with our unlawfull pleasures And he labours as much to make us pleased with them 2. Others help on their own sorrows and lessen their comforts through forgetfulnesse or ignorance they as the Apostle chides the Hebrews Chap. 12.5 have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto them as unto children Now as wicked men rejoyce because they forget or know not their ill condition So godly men are sad when they forget or know not how good their condition is Yet Job supposes the review of his good estate would neither check his sorrows nor establish his peace If I say I will forget my complaint I will comfort my self I am afraid of all my sorrows Thirdly Observe Man is not able to comfort himself we can make our selves crosses but we cannot make our selves comforts A man may say as Job did Chap. 7.13 to his bed comfort me or to his riches comfort me or to his wine and good chear comfort me or to his friends comfort me He may say to all outward acts of pleasure to merry company and musick eomfort me Yea a Saint may say to his graces and holinesse comfort me and yet none of these can comfort him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or they comfort him in vain Timuit expavit prae metu se abstrahere timorem denâ—tat imminentis calamitatis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat dolore affiâ—ere interdum figurare Qui materiam aliquam ut lucum vel ceram figurat manibus digitis is illam premendo quasi dolore afficit Bold Est elegans metaphora verba alicujus figurare nam
and the abundance of that mercy which was brought in afterwards and revealed by Jesus Christ when he actually made our atonement by the bloud of his crosse For howsoever it is undeniable that the faithfull under the old Testament had knowledge of that satisfaction which was to be made by the Mediatour for the removing of sinne and the taking away of guilt every sacrifice spake this shewing that there was an atonement to be made by some other bloud which the bloud of the sacrifice typified yet notwithstanding there was not a clearing and a quieting of their hearts because Christ though in the promise slain from the beginning of the world was not actually slain nor offered up for sinners The Apostle Heb. 10.1 2. argues upon the same point That the Law with those Sacrifices could not make the commers thereunto perfect that is it could not assure the heart that sinne was taken away for if it could then saith he the sacrifices should not have needed to be offered up so often What needed any repetition seeing they who were once so purged should have had no more conscience of sinne that is sinne should never have troubled and vexed their consciences any more But now Christ by one offering hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified vers 14. that is he hath made a perfect satisfaction for them and compleated the peace of their consciences So then while there remaineth any scruple about sinne fears of evil will hang upon the spirit And we finde that the old Saints were very fearfull of outward afflictions because they had as it were a relish or taste of the disfavour and displeasure of God in them And in proportion as any of them had more or lesse of free grace appearing to them so they were more or lesse enthralled with these fears We may observe thorow out the old Testament that there was not such a spirit of rejoycing in sufferings and afflictions as we finde breakings forth in the new Paul never saith I am afraid of all my sorrows No he saith As sorrowfull yet alwaies rejoycing You never hear him complain of his afflictions He indeed complains of his corruptions O miserable man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death But he never said O miserable man how am I afflicted I am in deaths often who shall deliver me from this death of the body We finde the Saints under the Gospel clothed with a spirit of exultation and rejoycing of which we hear little if any thing at all under the Law The want of which we are to ascribe to their want of a clear light about the removing of guilt and the pardon of sin I know thou wilt not hold me innocent Thirdly Observe That God often deals with his best servants in regard of outward troubles as if they were guilty I know thou wilt not hold me innocent that is thou wilt not deal with me as with an innocent person As the Lord dealt with his Son so he deals with his servants God the Father dealt with Jesus Christ as with a guilty person Isa 53.9 12. He was numbred among transgressours and made his grave with the wicked The Lord reckoned him as a sinner while he was satisfying his justice for sinne and making an atonement for sinners Job is no where called a type of Christ but he was like him and their parallel might be drawn in many things especially in this that both were numbred with the wicked and in that both were used as if they had been guilty The dispensations of God to his own beloved Sonne once did and to his faithfull servants often doe look like those to the greatest transgressours His Son was handled so that he might redeem sinners his servants are so handled sometimes to prevent often to purge them from sin sometimes to try their graces alwaies to make them fitter vessels for glory Though we cannot make any earnings toward glory by the weightiest afflictions yet these light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory I shall passe from this reference of the word Thou when I have briefly vindicated the text from the corruptions of some Papists Bellarm. l. 5. de justif cap. 5. who urge it to prove the uncertainty of our justification Job say they doubted whether God would declare him just or no. I answer Justified persons may have doubts yet that doth not argue the uncertainty of justification Justification is a sure act in it self and we may be sure of it though some are unsetled about it This Scripture gives no shelter much lesse support to that doctrine of doubting The Vulgar reading grossely varying from the originall is all the shadow it hath in this place For as that Translatour mistakes the former clause which he renders I am afraid of all my works So this later which he renders Sciens quod non parceres delinquenti Vulg. Knowing that thou wilt not pardon or spare him that offendeth He that seeks to be justified by his works shall not want fears about his justification And if this be a truth which their translation seems to hold forth that God will not pardon him that offendeth the best and holiest men in the world have reason not only to fear whether they are justified but to resolve they can never be justified in his sight If every man that sinneth must doubt of the pardon of sinne all men must doubt In that common acception of the word offend it is false that God will not pardon him that offends whom should he pardon but such as offend They who are above sin are above pardon Job never thought God would not pardon him because he had sinned it being one of the royall titles of God The God pardoning iniquity transgression and sinne But if we take sinning or offending in a stricter sense as it imports a man obstinate and still engaged with delight to sin in which sense the next title of the Lords great name after Forgiving iniquity transgression and sinne is to be understood And that will by no means clear the guilty Exod. 34.7 The Hebrew is And that clearing will not clear We supply the word guilty which the Chaldee well explains by this periphrasis Him that will not convert or turn to the Lord such offenders the Lord will not pardon But to say that the Lord will not spare and pardon such guilty persons such delinquents as will not return unto him but go on to adde one wickednesse to another is no deniall of the Saints assurance of pardon they being already turned and converted to the Lord. So much for that clause as the antecedent referres unto God I know thou wilt not hold me innocent But rather take the antecedent to be Bildad I know Thou Bildad wilt not hold me innocent as if Job had said When I think of comforting my self my wounds bleed afresh and my sorrows present themselves to
seek unto God Surely your opinion of me and your counsel to me can never agree for if I am wicked as you hold me to be I labour in vain while I obey your counsell There is a sense wherein it is in vain for a wicked man to seek unto God and a sense wherein it is not in vain for a wicked man to seek unto God we must distinguish of this interpretation If a man be wicked it is in vain for him to seek unto God while he loveth wickednesse and delighteth in it Psal 66.2 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear my praier He that is so wicked as to love wickednesse praies in vain fasts and humbles his soul in vain The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord that is the Lord abominates his sacrifice but The prayer of the upright is his delight Solomon describes an hypocrite in the former words he is one that will pray and offer sacrifice and yet puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face Ezek. 14.4 So they Jer. 7.4 cried The temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these The Prophet discovers who these zealous Templers were vers 9. Will ye steal murder and commit adultery and swear falsly and then come and stand in this house which is called by my Name and say We are delivered to doe all these abominations Some mingle prayer and fasting with stealing and murdering such praying and fasting are as unacceptable to God as stealing and murdering are Such labouring to please the Lord is displeasing to the Lord. What hast thou to doe saith God to the wicked to take my Covenant into thy mouth Psal 50.16 Doth God say to the wicked What hast thou to doe with my Covenant For whom is the Covenant made but for the wicked If men were not wicked or sinfull what needed there a Covenant of grace The Covenant is for the wicked And the Covenant brings grace enough to pardon those who are most wicked why then doth the Lord say to the wicked What hast thou to doe to take my Covenant into thy mouth Observe what follows and his meaning is expounded Seeing thou hatest to be reformed As if God had said Thou wicked man who protectest thy sinne and holdest it close refusing to return and hating to reform what hast thou to doe to meddle with my Covenant Lay off thy defiled hands He that is resolved to hold his sinne takes hold of the Covenant in vain or rather he lets it goe while he seems to hold it Woe unto those who sue for mercy while they neglect duty Thus a wicked man labours in vain But there is a sense in which a wicked man doth not labour in vain how wicked soever he is What else means the Prophets invitation Isa 55.5 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Let him forsake his waies and then no matter what his waies have been let him return to the Lord and then his former departures shall not hinder acceptance Christ died for the ungodly Ro. 5.6 God justifieth the ungodly Ro. 4.5 It is not in vain for an ungodly man to come to God indeed and when he doth he ceases to be ungodly They draw nigh only with their lips whose hearts are not changed and they draw nigh in vain As God hath not said to the seed of Iacob reall Saints Seek ye me in vain So he hath not said in vain to wicked men Seek ye my face For with the word which bids them seek he gives them power to seek and the mercy they seek for The grace of God prevents us that we may seek him and blesses us when we doe seek him If all who are wicked labour in vain then all had laboured in vain forasmuch as all vvere wicked Thirdly You may take the meaning of it thus If I am wicked that is Si adhuc mecuÌ„ agit Deus tanquam cum impto quoâ—sum frustra laboreÌ„ Philip. Haec sunt verba hominis à Deo derelicti Vatabl. if I am reputed by men and still afflicted by God as a wicked man then why should I labour in vain or trouble my self any further to so little purpose If this sense may be admitted 't is a passionate speech proceeding from impatience and distemper of spirit Much like that of David and very near it in words Psal 73.13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed my hands in innocency for all the day long have I been plagued and chastened every morning Davids afflictions wrought as hard conclusions in him as Iobs did Grace acts and speaks ever like it self but a gracious man doth not David shewed there was vanity and remainders of defilement in his heart by saying I have cleansed my heart in vain Mr Broughton renders to this sense I shall be holden as wicked now why doe I labour in vain Hence observe That where hope faileth endeavour faileth too I have no hope saith Job to get out of these afflictions which fall upon wicked men or to get one step beyond a wicked man in your reputation my labour is in vain why then doe I labour When the heart sinks the hands hang down Where the one gives over believing and hoping the other give over acting and working Hence the afflicted are called upon by the Apostle to lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees Heb. 12.12 Hands and knees are the instruments of action and motion and the hanging down of these imports both retarded or stopt Those afflicted Hebrews saw little or no hope of deliverance therefore they gave over endeavouring and moving after deliverance Lastly Taking the words as in the originall absolutely without any supposition I am wicked Why then labour I in vain As if he had said I am wicked not only in the opinion of men but I acknowledge my self to be wicked indeed In vanum laborarem si coram Deo justificare me tentarem ut falso me hec velle praesupponis considered with the most holy God and then his sense is Lord if thou art pleased to goe this way to vvork vvith me to set the rigour of thy justice a work to finde out my sinne and to judge me according to vvhat thou findest then in vain doe I seek to comfort my self for in thy sight no flesh can be justified I as vvell as others am wicked In vvhich acknowledgement he seems to meet vvith and confute that supposition of Bildad Chap. 8.6 If thou wert pure Pure saith Job alas I can never be pure before God When the Lord examines my purity he vvill finde it impurity You tell me if I vvere pure the Lord vvould awaken for me I shall never be pure in your sense I am as pure as ever I shall be that is I
q d. in me jam seme◠mortuo pene confecto Merc. my pains know not only no period but no pause I have storm upon storm grief upon grief here much and there much I am all waies and everywhere again afflicted though already half-dead with affliction Whence observe God doth often renew the same or send new afflictions upon his choisest servants One would think that light should follow darknesse and day succeed the night that though sorrow continue all the night yet joy should come in the morning that after wounding we should have healing and after sicknesse health So they promised themselves Hos 6.1 Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will binde us up yet many have felt wounding after wounds and smiting after blows darknesse hath stept after darknesse and their sorrow hath had a succession of greater sorrows It was a speciall favour to Paul when Epaphroditus was restored Phil. 2.27 He was sick nigh unto death but saith he God had mercy on him and not on him only but on me also and why Lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow God would not do what some of his enemies thought to do adde affliction to his bonds therefore he healed Pauls helper and kept him alive in whom he so much delighted Sorrow upon sorrow is a mournfull bearing yet many a precious Saint hath born that coat The promise to the Church is That her peace shall be as a river and her prosperity as the waves of the sea Isa 66.12 When the Church shall come to her full beauty and attain a perfect restauration then her peace shall be a continued peace she shall have peace upon peace everlasting successions of peace a river being supplied and fed with a constant stream the waters that flow to day will flow again to morrow peace like a river is peace peace or perpetuall peace Sions peace shall not be as a land-floud soon up and as soon down again but as a river and which yet heightens it her prosperity shall be as the waves of the sea If the winde do but stir upon the face of the sea you shall have wave upon wave waves rolling and riding one upon the back of another Such shall be the prosperity of Zion on earth for a time and such it will be for ever in heaven there peace shall be as a river to eternity and prosperity as the waves of the sea joy upon joy and comfort upon comfort riding and rolling one upon the back of another As it shall be thus with the peace of the Church at last so it may be with the afflictions of the Church or of any member of the Church at present Their afflictions may be as a river and their sorrows as the waves of the sea coming on again and again renewed as often as abated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mirabilis sis in me Again Thou shewest thy self wonderfull or marvellous against or upon me Both renderings are consistent with the originall Marvellous upon me That is thou dost not punish or afflict me in an ordinary way Marvels are not every daies work Thou takest a new a strange course to try me such afflictions as mine have no parallel such have scarce been heard of or recorded in the history of any age Who hath heard of such a thing as this thou seemest to design me for a president to posterity Mirificum fit spectaculum homo qui tam dira patitur tam constanti invictoque animo or to shew in my example what thou canst do upon a creature Thou shewest thy self marvellous upon me As Moses speaks concerning Korah Dathan and Abiram when they murmured and mutined against him and against Aaron If these men die the common death of all men or if they be visited after the visitation of all men then the Lord hath not sent me but if the Lord make a new thing and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up then c. The Lord to manifest his extream displeasure against those mutineers did as it were devise a new kinde of death for them If these men die the common or the ordinary death of all men then the Lord hath not sent me These men have given a new example of sinne and surely God will make them a new example of punishment Iob speaks the same sense Thou shewest thy self marvellous upon me thou wilt not be satisfied in afflicting me after the rate or measure of other men All the Saints should do some singular thing and many of them suffer some singular thing The Apostle assures his Corinthians 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation taken you but that which is common to man Iob seems to speak the contrary A temptation hath taken me which is not common to man Further These words Thou art marvellous upon me have reference to God who sent those afflictions as well as unto the afflictions which he sent As if he had said Lord thou actest now besides thy nature and thy custom thou art mercifull and thou delightest in mercy Thou art good and thou doest good how or whence is it then that thou art so fierce against me and pourest out so many evils upon me I could not knowing thee as I do have beleeved though it had been told me that thou wouldest have been so rigorous and incompassionate if a professed enemy had done this he had done like himself and had been no wonder unto me But now as thou hast afflicted me till I am become a wonder unto many so thou O Lord art become a wonder unto me and to all who hear how thou hast afflicted me Meek Moses made himself a wonder when he broke out in anger Every man is wondered at when he doth that which he is not enclined to doe or not used to do Is it not a wonder to see the patient God angry the mercifull God severe the compassionate God inexorable Thus saith Iob Thou shewest thy self marvellous upon me Hence observe First That some afflictions of the Saints are wonderfull afflictions As God doth not often send his people strange deliverances and works wonders to preserve them so he sends them many strange afflictions and works wonders to trouble them And as many punishments of sin upon wicked men so some trials of grace upon godly men are very wonderfull The Lord threatneth the Jews Deut. 28.59 that he would make their plagues wonderfull he would make strange work among them And he saith of Ierusalem I will wipe it as a man wipeth a dish wiping it and turning it up-side down or wiping it and turning it upon the face thereof 2 King 21.13 To see a great City handled like a little dish or a strong Nation turned topsie turvy as we say or the bottom upwards is a strange thing It is an ordinary thing to see cups platters turned up-side down but it is not ordinary to see Kingdoms and Nations
think we lived but a little here all the sorrows of this life will be swallowed up in the next and so will our sudden parting with this life Thirdly The clearest sense of these words Are not my daies few is that they are the ground of a petition for the mitigation of his troubles As if he had said Lord I have but a while to live in the world my daies are few therefore doe not think much that I should have a little comfort and refreshing in these my daies Consider my life is short O that thou wouldest slack thy hand and yeeld me some ease and comfort in this short life He had used this argument at the seventh Chapter verse 16. Let me alone for my daies are vanity Paucitas dierū i. e. paucissimi dies Abstracta significationem incitant acuunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Imminutionem decrementumque significat q d nunquam crescit sed descrescit ad angustias majores indies reducitur in perpetua consumptione evanescit Bold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quanti aevi ego Mont. here Let me alone for my daies are few The fewnesse of our daies is one of the vanities of our daies Are not my daies few The Hebrew is Is not fewnesse of daies mine Yes That 's my portion Abstracts often encrease and sometimes they diminish the sense Here the sense is diminutive as if he had said My daies are so farre from many that they are fewnesse it self Mine are not encreasing and growing but declining and abating daies My daies are going down they are brought into a lesser and a narrower compasse every day The Chaldee renders Are not my daies ceasing My daies fade and wear out every day Shew me how short my life is closer to the originall how soon ceasing I am or as others What or of what quantity mine age is how transitory how temporary I am Cease then and let me alone Some read it in the third person Therefore let him cease from me and let me alone we in the second Cease then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deponat à me sc flagellum aut supplicium Deponat exercitus suos procul à me Jun. and let me alone Job looks upon himself as one besieged and straitned with afflictions Now saith he I beseech thee raise thy siege and draw off thy force from me or if thou wilt not make a finall peace with me yet grant me a cessation let me have a truce for a limited time let me not have such continuall alarms or be forced to stand armed continually Let me rest saith the Septuagint Issachar stooped to burdens because he desired rest Some are so burdened that they cannot rest how much soever they desire it Job desires God to give him rest because his daies were few Hence observe First It is an argument moving the Lord to forbear sending us many troubles because we have but few daies Thus David praies Psal 89.47 Remember how short my time is wherefore hast thou made all men in vain Lord I have but a few daies and shall my daies be nothing but clouds and darknesse The same argument is used Psal 39. ult O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more I shall soon be gone let me have some ease while I stay here Observe Secondly That except the Lord withdraw his hand nothing in the world can give us ease Cease then and let me alone that I may take comfort as if he had said If thine hand be upon me in vain do friends comfort me creatures offer me their help in vain Cease then and let me alone From the matter of his argument Observe The life of man is short It is a common theame and every man thinks he can declaim upon it and speak to it but there are very few can live to or act by it A multitude of instructions arise to us from the fewnes of our daies And did men know indeed that their daies are few their evil deeds would not be so many and their good would be more Again That mans daies are so few yeelds us not only many instructions but many wonders Is it not strange that we who have but a few daies in our lives should have so many afflictions in our lives That we should have few daies and many sorrows Is it not strange that we should have few daies in our lives and many cares about our lives Many cares and few daies yea many cares upon one day Thou art carefull about many things saith Christ to Martha Is it not strange that we should have so few daies and so many sins Few daies and innumerable sins so many sins as no man can number them and so few daies that a childe may number them And is not this a wonder above all the rest that we should have but a few daies and yet be gravell'd and puzl'd so as we are in numbring them A little humane learning will serve to number our daies but we need a great deal of spirituall learning to number them A little study in the Mathematicks will do it but we need more then study experience in Divinity before we can do it and yet neither study nor experience can do it unlesse God himself be our Tutor He only can teach us so to number our daies that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome We shall commence fools at last if we have not one wiser then the wisest upon earth to teach us this truth That I may take comfort a little 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Roboravit confortavit respiravit vires collegit The word which we translate to take comfort signifies such comfort as they finde who being heated extreamly and extream thirsty come to drink at a fountain of sweet waters The Vulgar readeth it Let me alone that I may mourn a little yet taking in the former sense He seems thus to explain himself If the Lord would let me alone I would go and ease my self with complaining the waters of my head the fountain of mine eyes would be a refreshing to my wearied soul Sorrows are sometimes joyous and moderate mourning gives the minde a reviving But rather Take it in the generall Let me alone that I may comfort my self and that these sorrows may abate I desire to rally and recollect my scattered thoughts a while and so take in somewhat of the sweetnesse of this life before I die Si dolorem amov re non vult respirandi locū aliquem spacium concedat Merc. Cease from me for some refreshing saith M. Broughton I do not expect much Lord let me have some before I go whence I shall not return Here observe one common principle of nature Man desireth his own good A well-being as well as a being What is there in life for nature to prize if there be nothing but sorrow in it Secondly Observe That great sufferings make us very modest in our demands Job was in
help from God he hath all that from himself from his own wicked heart or from Satan To eat was a naturall act in our first parents this was from God but to eat against the command was a morall act and that was from man and the serpent As suppose that a Musician should touch or play upon a Lute that is out of tune his touching the Lute is an artificiall act but the sounding of it comes from the nature of the instrument the sounding of the instrument is from the hand of him that plaies upon it but that it sounds untuneably is because the instrument is out of tune So the Lord by naturall assistance puts the hearts and hands of wicked men into motion but that they move irregularly that they make such harsh musick that there is so much discord in their actions that 's from the disorder and untuneablenesse of their own spirits not from the hand of God They have not any morall assistance from God in sinne but a naturall only Or take it negatively God doth not help the evil doers First He doth not help the evil doers by instilling the least motion of evil into them He casts in or infuses holy thoughts and motions into the hearts of his own people to prepare them for holy performances but he never dropt the least motion of evil into the heart of man to fit him for wickednesse Secondly The Lord doth not excite or stir up that naturall inherent corruption that is in wicked men he doth not provoke or blow up their lusts He excites the graces of his own people when they are to doe any good they have a principle of grace in them and this God breaths upon moving and acting it by fresh assistances Neither of these waies doth the Lord assist evil doers Further Taking the words as they must in a figure when it is said God doth not help the evil doers the meaning is he doth oppose and resist them Hence observe Wicked men are resisted and opposed by God in their evil doings God is so farre from giving them any help that he sets himself against them Understand this with a distinction There is a two-fold resistance or opposition that God makes against the evil doings of men There is 1. A morall opposition 2. A naturall opposition Or there is 1. A declarative resistance 2. An operative resistance When it is said that God doth resist as this phrase imports or supposeth wicked men in doing evil we are to understand it that he ever opposes them morally that is he ever laies a morall impediment in their way and he ever opposes them declaratively he declares his opposition in his Word He never shews the least liking of wicked men in their waies For when he saith He that is filthy let him be filthy still and he that is unjust let him be unjust still Revel 22.11 he doth not at all approve but threatens these sinners This seeming admission is the highest rebuke of sinne But take it for a naturall opposition which is the bringing out of strength and power to stop men in the waies of sin Thus the Lord doth not alwaies resist evil doers For if he did it were impossible that any wicked man should move one hairs breadth in doing evil if God would put forth his power against man he could not stir to sin against God but God doth not so neither is he bound to lay a naturall impediment in the waies of wicked men It is enough to acquit him in his holinesse that he ever laies a morall impediment in their way He declareth his law against and his dislike of their sins and in this sense he alwaies resists them All the sinne of man is against the will of God yet no man sins whether God will or no. The declarative will of God is often resisted but his operative will cannot be resisted As which may illustrate this in the civill State the laws of this Kingdome lay a morall impediment in the way of thievery and robbery c. It is perpetually declared by the law that no man ought to take another mans estate from him violently but yet the Kingdome doth not ever set a naturall impediment against robbers c. That is we doe not place a power of men to guard all high waies or houses to see that no passenger shall be robbed or house broken open So the Lord laies a morall impediment in the way of wicked men alwaies but he doth not alwaies set his power against them whereby he is able if he please to disable wicked men from doing evil Thirdly Observe When wicked men are going down down they shall Why God will not put forth his hand to help them they whom God will not assist or help cannot stand long They in the Psalm thought they had got the godly man at an advantage Come say they let us persecute and take him for God hath forsaken him and there is none to deliver him Now we may have our wils of this man for God stands by and doth not own him If God be a neuter his friends cannot stand long how then shall his enemies stand when he is their opposer We may conclude against wicked men that they shall be destroyed for God hath forsaken them he will not own them and as Hamans wife told him sadly Est 6.13 If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews before whom thou hast begun to fall thou shalt surely fall before him When a man is going down nothing can stay him if God doe not his hand must support a sinking and tottering person or Nation or else either fals When wicked enemies begin to fall they shall fall and perish for God will not put forth his hand to help the evil doers Now follows the effect of all The effect first of Gods gracious helping of the righteous He will not cast away the righteous man and is that all Shall a righteous man be only not rejected As mans duty ought not so the mercy of God doth not stay in negatives The Lord hath positive blessings in store for his people the later part of the promise affirms this He will not cast away the righteous man Verse 21. Till he fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with rejoycing Till he fill thy mouth with laughing And is it but just till then Will the Lord when he hath set his people a laughing leave them and help them no more Will he when he hath given them cause of joy cast them off His people had better never laugh at all then laugh upon those terms Particula donec non significat postea projiciendum esse à Deo simplicem sed quod immutabiliter servabitur à Deo No man can laugh long nor at all upon any due ground if God leave him We are not to understand this Till to be a terminative or a determinative particle as if the Lords care and favour towards his people should be only till he
put them in a good estate and then they must shift for themselves God puts no such limits to his love It cannot so much comfort the soul to know God loves us now as it would trouble the soul to thinke a time may come when he will not love us The till here notes a continued act it is as much as to say He will never cast them off The word untill both in the Hebrew and Greek often notes everlastingnesse God makes a promise to Jacob in this form Gen. 28.19 I will not leave thee untill I have done that which I have spoken to thee of And would he leave him then No the meaning is I will never leave thee Psa 110.1 Sit thou on my right hand untill I make thine enemies thy footstool Christ shall not be put from the right hand of God when his enemies are subdued under his feet Christ shall sit there for ever Till he fill thy mouth with laughing Thy mouth Observe here the change of the person he spake before in the third person The Lord will not east away the perfect man now he brings it home and applies it unto Job Till he fill thy mouth with laughing as if he had said That which I spake in the third person I meant it as appliable unto thy self that generall truth may be made good to thy person Till he fill thy mouth Hoc quod dixi in tantum veruÌ„ est ut in te sentieris Aquin. I doe not speak speculations or fleeing notions of things that shall never come to passe If thou follow my counsell thy own experience will quickly teach thee That God will not cast thee off till he fill thy mouth with laughing Laughter is an act of joy flowing from reason Os impleri dicitur risu cum aliquis tanta animi hilaritate perfruitur ut illa cordis bilalaritas per veciferationem conclamationem risum aut hujusmodi exteriora signa valde appareat Bold To fill the mouth with laughing notes great joy such an income of joy so much matter of joy that the heart cannot hold it but out it must at the mouth joy begins at the heart there 's the seat of it and when the heart is so full of it that it cannot hold then it runs over at the mouth and lips that is we expresse the inward joy of the heart by some outward sign or token speech or gesture So then to say I will not cast thee away till I have filled thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with rejoycing is as much as to say I will not leave thee till thou hast more comfort then thine heart can hold so much that thou must give it vent at thy lips and be speaking of it The word for laughter signifies as well inward as outward joy heart-laughter as well as face-laughter Besides there is a two-fold laughter First A laughing of joy And Secondly A laughing of scorn called subsannation With both these laughters the Lord will fill the mouths of his people First With laughing for joy for joy at their own comfortable and good estate for joy that the Lord hath glorified himself in their deliverance These things are great matter of joy to them And then he will fill their mouths with a laughing of derision they shall scorn their enemies who have scorned at them God laughs at the proud opposers of his truth and people Psal 2. He that fitteth in the heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision When the Lord hath confounded the plots of his enemies he laugheth at them his people also shall laugh not insulting in the sinnes and miseries of men but in the vengeance and disappointments which God poureth upon them The derisions and scorns of the Saints have more holinesse in them then the devotions and prayers of wicked men The word in the next clause is considerable 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And thy lips with rejoycing We translate rejoycing but the word properly signifies a joyfull sound So it is used Psal 89.15 Blessed is the people that know the joyfull found And it signifies to make a joyfull sound Personavit vociferâ—â—â— est vocem magnam edidit either with the mouth which is a naturall instrument or with a trumpet or any other artificiall instrument Blessed are the people that know the joyfull sound that live within the sound of the silver trumpet which congregated the people of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est laetum clamoreÌ„ tollere ut solent homines fiducia praediti speerecti ut milites ante praelium Latini Barritum vocant clamor quem Barritum vocant non prius debet attolli quam acies utraque se juâ—xerit Veget. and gave notice of their solemn meetings for publike worship This word is applied sometimes to that rude sound or confused noise which souldiers make when they come on to charge in battell they commonly make a great clamour to strike the adversary with terrour and amazement and to encourage and raise their own spirits The Greeks and Latins have their speciall terms to expresse it by noted by the learned in the proprieties of those languages Again That word is used for the confused noise of worsted or conquer'd enemies when they flee and runne away So Judg. 7.31 when Gideon had discomfited the host of the Amalekites all the host ran and cried they made a dolefull sound so the word bears as well as a joyfull sound Thirdly The word is chiefly used to note the sound or acclamation of souldiers after victory is obtained a prevailing army shouts when the adverse forces are routed and overcome Thus in that famous instance Josh 6.5 Joshua gives command that when they make a long blast with the rams horns and when they heard the sound of the trumpet all the people should shout with a great shout Which shout is expressed by the word of the text and in the tenth verse he charges that they should not shout or make a noise with their voice till the seventh day because that was designed for the day of victory the day when the wall should fall You shall not shout nor make any noise with your voice neither shall any word proceed out of your mouths till the day I bid you shout then shall ye shout Balaam Numb 23.21 confesses he could not curse Israel because the shout of a King was amongst them It is this word That shout of a King may be understood three waies First That it was such a shout as Kings used to have in their reception and coronation Such a shout saith he there is among this people as if a King were to be received and crowned Thus when Samuel brought Saul out whom he had anointed for King and said See ye him whom the Lord hath chosen that there is none like him among all the people And all the people shouted and said God save the King 1 Sam. 10.24 Or