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
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
or abide in him or no. And Bellarmine in his 5th book and 5th Chapter concerning justification citeth it to prove That a believer cannot know that he is justified but must believe blinde-fold or take the work of justification by grace in the dark For saith he God goeth by us and we see him not he passeth on and we perceive him not Allenâ—ssi â—e huÌ„c locum citat Bellarâ—inus ut probet nuâ—uÌ„ fidâ—lem scire an justificatus sit Coc. That is as his glosse speaks God commeth in favour to justifie or he leaveth under wrath and yet man remains ignorant both of the one and of the other state Surely he was at a great pinch to finde a proof for his point when he was forced to repair to this Scripture to seek one Providence toward man-kinde not the justification of a sinner is the proper subject of this text And as there is nothing for a blinde-fold justification here so many other Scriptures are expresly against it To say that a man cannot know when God loveth him or shineth upon him is to contradict what our Saviour asserts Joh. 14.17 I will send the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Ye know him saith Christ to his people the Saints see God in a spirituall sense or in his workings upon their spirits And though God works much upon our spirits which we know not yet we have a promise of the Spirit by whom we know God in his workings Few know when God is nigh or when he is a farre off what his goings away mean or what his commings But when he cometh to the Saints they know he commeth and when he hideth or departeth from them they know his hidings and departures Hence their joies and over-flowings of comfort when he manifests his presence and hence their bitter complainings and cryings after him where he seems to absent himself and hide his face yet this Text hath a truth in it in reference to the inward and spirituall as well as the outward and providentiall dealings of God that sometimes He goeth by us and we see him not he passeth on also and we perceive him not Hence learn First That God is invisible in his essence and incomprehensible in many of his actions Mans eie cannot see him Mans understanding cannot comprehend what he doth But why speaks Job this as a matter of wonder if it be the common condition of man-kinde Behold he passeth by and I see him not who can see him who can perceive or comprehend him When Moses Exod. 33.20 desired to see his face the Lord answers No man can see my face and live God spake to Moses face to face that is familiarly as a man speaketh to his friend yet Moses did not could not see the face of God No man can see God in his essence or nature A sight of God would astonish yea swallow up the creature It is death to see the living God and man must die before he can see God so fully as he may and know as he is known But though the face of God be invisible yet his back-parts may be seen Behold saith the Lord to Moses there is a place by me stand thou there upon a rock and thou shalt see my back-parts thou shalt see much of my glory shining forth as much as thou canst bear as much as will satisfie thy desire were it a thousand times larger then it is though not so much as thou hast not knowing what thou askest desired of me My Name shall be proclaimed Gracious and mercifull c. the back-parts of God may be seen the invisible God discovereth much of himself to man and shews us a shadow of that substance which cannot be seen Some may object that of the Prophet Isaias crying out Woe unto me for mine eies have seen the King the Lord of hosts Chap. 6.5 Seen him could Isaias see him whom Job and Moses could not Isaias did not see him in his essence and nature but in the manifestations and breakings forth of his glory His train filled the Temple saith the Text vers 1. or his skirts It is an allusion to great Kings who when they walk in State have their trains or the skirt of their royall robe held up T' was this train which Isaias saw He saw not God who was present but he saw the manifest signs of his presence That speech of Isaiah seemed to savour of and border upon highest blasphemy and was therefore charged as an article of accusation against him he was indited of blasphemy for speaking those words I have seen the Lord his enemies taking or wresting it as if he had made the Lord corporeall and visible with the eie of the body And it is conceived he was put to death upon that and one other passage in his prophecy Cha. 1.10 calling the Princes of Judah Princes of Sodom and the people thereof the people of Gomorrah But though God be thus invisible in his essence yet there is a way by which the essence of God may be seen And of that Moses to whom the Lord said Thou canst not see my face the Authour to the Hebrews saith Heb. 11.24 That he saw him who was invisible the letter of the text carries a contradiction in the adjunct it is as much as if one should say He saw that which could not be seen The meaning is He saw him by the eye of faith who could not be seen by the eye of sense faith sees not only the back-parts but the face of Jehovah the essence of God is as clear to that eye as any of his attributes yea his essence is as plain to faith as any of his works are to sense Thus he is seen Whom no man hath seen nor can see 1 Tim. 6.16 not the Saints in heaven they are not able to see the Lord in his essence He passeth by them there and they see him not in heaven we are promised a sight of him yet not that fight Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall see God and without holinesse no man shall see the Lord then holy men shall see him the state of the Saints in glory is vision as here it is faith 2 Cor. 13.12 We shall see him face to face and as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 These Scriptures which speak of the estate of the Saints beholding God in glory are not to be understood as if the nature and essence of God could be seen for no man hath seen that nor ever shall but they are meant of a more full and glorious manifestation of God We shall see then face to face that is more plainly for it is opposed to seeing him in a glasse we see him now in a glasse that is darkly in ordinances in duties in his word and in his works but there shall be no need of these glasses in heaven We
AN EXPOSITION WITH PRACTICALL OBSERVATIONS CONTINUED Upon the Eighth Ninth and Tenth Chapters of the Book of JOB BEING The Summe of thirty two Lectures delivered at Magnus neer the Bridge London By JOSEPH CARYL Preacher of the Word and Pastour of the Congregation there PSAL. 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all LONDON Printed by A. Miller for Henry Overton in Popes-head-alley and Luke Fawne and John Rothwell in Pauls Church-yard and Giles Calvert at the west end of Pauls 1647. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER To those chiefly of this City who have been the Movers and continue the Promoters of this Work I Am your Debtour and because my stock cannot passe out great summes at once therefore I am constrained to discharge my credit by these smaller paiments I need not call upon you for acquittances or cancel'd Bonds I know your ingenuity will confesse more received then I have paid I have paid you in the Book now presented as much as I intended for this time But time will not suffer me to pay you what I intended and had projected for an Epistle And I beleeve your selves will easier excuse a short Epistle then a longer stay for the whole Book Accept both with your wonted candour and let all these Labours on your behalf be the return of your own praiers to the Father of lights by the help of the Spirit of Grace in Jesus Christ for January 12. 1646. Your affectionate Friend and servant in this work of the Lord Ioseph Caryl AN EXPOSITION WITH PRACTICALL OBSERVATIONS CONTINVED Vpon the Eighth Ninth and Tenth Chapters of the BOOK of JOB JOB 8.1 2 3. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said How long wilt thou speak these things And how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong winde Doth God pervert judgement or doth the Almighty pervert justice THe answer of Eliphaz to Jobs first complaint hath been opened in the fourth and fifth Chapters together with Jobs reply in the sixth and seventh In which he labours to disasperse and vindicate himself from what Eliphaz had rashly taxed him with Hypocrisie The name of an hypocrite like that of a heretike is such as no man ought to be patient under But while Job endeavours to clear himself in the opinion or from the imputations of one of his friends he runnes into a further arrere of prejudices with a second Some of those arguments which he had framed to pay his debt to Eliphaz and save his own integrity being again charged upon his account by his friend Bildad the Shuhite who presents himself a duty very commendable as an Advocate for God and he conceived there was but need he should Job in his reply having in his sense wronged the justice of God he takes himself obliged to stand up and clear it to shew Job his supposed sinne and provoke him to repentance both by threatnings of further wrath and promises of speedy mercy Thus in generall More distinctly there are four parts of Bildads speech First A confutation of Jobs reply to Eliphaz and he gives it us shadowed by an elegant similitude in the second verse How long wilt thou speak these things and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like the strong winde There 's a censure upon all that he had spoken Secondly He gives us an assertive Question concerning the justice of God to clear it from and set it above whatsoever might seem to stain it in the eyes of men This we have at the third verse Doth God pervert judgement or doth the Almighty pervert justice Not he Thirdly In the body of the Chapter he urges divers arguments to confirm this conclusion that God is just and there are three heads of argument by which he confirms it First From the example of Jobs children and from his own present with the possibility of his future condition in case he repent from the third verse unto the eighth The second argument is drawn from the testimony of antiquity and that 's laid down in the eighth ninth and tenth verses The third argument appears in the similitudes 1. Of a rush or flag in the 11 12 and 13 verses 2. Of a spiders-web in the 14 and 15 verses 3. Of a Tree flourishing for a time but anon plucked up in the 16 17 18 and 19 verses These are the arguments and illustrations of his grand assertion Doth God pervert judgement or doth the Almighty pervert justice No he doth not And thou maiest learn this lesson from thy own experience from the example of thy children from the testimony of antiquity yea the withering rush the spiders-web the luxuriant roots and branches of a tree may all be thy Masters and instructours to teach thee this truth That God is just The fourth and last part of the Chapter sets forth the favour of God to those who are faithfull and sincere for having maintained the justice of God and shewed how terrible he will be to hypocrites who deal falsly with him he now mitigates and mollifies his discourse by proclaiming the goodnesse of God to sinners repenting yea who are the worst of sinners to hypocrites if they repent pluck off their masks or disguises and truly humble themselves before him This is the subject of the three last verses of the Chapter Behold God will not cast away a perfect man c. As if he had said Though God be just to deal with hypocrites as he hath dealt with thee and thy children yet he will not cast away the perfect and upright shew thy self such and he will receive thee This he quickens by subjoyning the further severity of God to those that shall persist in their hypocrisie ver 20. and in the close of the 22. Neither will he help the evil doers and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought Thus you have both the generall scope and likewise the speciall parts of Bildads discourse which will give us some help towards a more clear discovery of particulars Verse 1. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said The Speaker is Bildad I shall not stay upon the person who this Bildad was of what line and pedigree was touched in opening the 11. verse of the second Chapter and therefore I shall passe to the matter about which he speaks Verse 2. How long wilt thou speak these things and how long shall the words of thy mouth be as a strong winde He begins very chidingly How long wilt thou speak these things The words import either first admiration How long As if he had said Could any man have beleeved that thou wouldst have spoken such things as these and these so long How strangely hast thou forgot thy self to twist such a threed and spin out a discourse so sinfully so frowardly so long Secondly The words may carry a sense of indignation in the Speaker How long wilt thou speak these things As if he had said I am not able
come to God With the pure thou wilt shew thy self pure and with the upright man thou wâ—lt shew thy self upright and with the froward thou wilt shew thy self froward Psal 18.25 26. But doth the Lord take colour from every one he meets or change his temper as the company changes That 's the weaknesse of sinfull man he cannot doe so with whom there is no variablenesse nor shadow of changing God is pure and upright with the unclean and hypocriticall as well as with the pure and upright and his actions shew him to be so God shews himself froward with the froward when he deals with them as he hath said he will deal with the froward deny them and reject them God shews himself pure with the pure when he deals with them as he hath said he will hear them and accept them Though there be nothing in purity and sincerity which deserveth mercy yet we cannot expect mercy without them Our comforts are not grounded upon our graces but our comforts are the fruits or consequents of our graces Bildad having shewed Job his duty shews him a promise of mercy If thou wert pure and upright surely now he would awake for thee There is a three-fold gradation of mercie in this promise 1. That God would Awake for him 2. That God would Prosper or pacifie his habitation 3. That God would Abundantly encrease and multiply him in his later end The first step of mercy is That God would awake for him Surely now he would awake for thee And there are three things observable about this First The certainty of it in the word Surely without all doubt or peradventure if thou wouldest thus seek to him He would awake Secondly The speedinesse of it Surely now he would awake Now without delay or demurre thou shouldest no sooner seek to God but finde an answer of mercy from him Thirdly The benefit of it to Job He would awake for thee For Job might say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I may awaken a sleepie Lion to rise up against me God may be angry with my prayer and in stead of blessing pour out some further judgement upon me No saith Bildad I assure thee if thou thus seek to him He will awake for thee not against thee God sometimes awakes against us Jer. 31.28 It shall come to passe that as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to afflict so will I watch over them to build and to plant saith the Lord. As the Lord would watch to doe them a good turn so he had watcht to doe them as we speak a shrewd turn He threatens them with such a watchfulnesse Chap. 44.27 I will watch over them for evil and not for good When we are dull and sleepy in doing the will of God he will be watchfull and active to afflict us And when men cannot sleep till they doe evil God will not sleep till he brings evil So Daniel in the ninth of that Prophecy and the 14. verse having humbled himself before God in prayer and fasting and confessed the sins of the people concludes Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us God not only awakes but watches to doe a people evil who have long abused his goodnesse As men in maliciousnesse of spirit watch for advantages and spie out opportunities to revenge themselves All my familiars watch for my halting saith Jeremy Chap. 20.12 So the Lord in abundant holinesse and exactnesse of justice though with a great deal of wrath and severity watches to revenge himself of a wicked people He takes all opportunities and advantages against them Thou hast watched evil and brought it upon us His love to a returning people is as vigilant as his anger against a blacksliding people Surely now he would awakâ— for thee Awake The word signifies both to awake and to arise There are two interpretations of this awaking Some take the words transitively thus He will awake good for thee Suscitabit super te bonum Transitivè accipitur excitabit super te sc bonum quod nuâ—c in te sopituÌ„ est Not of Job awakening God by prayer but of God awakening prosperity or stirring up blessings for Job As if Bildad had said Joh now blessings are as it were asleep but if thou pray God will awaken them He will stirre up mercies for thee he will cure thy broken condition he will restore that which is fallen repair that which is ruined and fetch thee up out of the grave of thy desolate estate As a mans spirits gifts yea graces are sometime asleep and need awakening so also are and doe our outward comforts It is frequent in Scripture to call the repairing of a mans estate or the bringing of good to him the raising of him up He raiseth the poor out of the dust he awakens them out of that low condition Job was in the dust and his children in the grave God made a resurrection of both for him That 's a good sense But rather understand it as our translation reads of God awakening He will awake for thee He will awake The Psalmist assures us Psal 121.4 He that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep God never sleepeth How is it then said that God awakes For the opening of this metaphor First As The Church confesses and professes Cant. 5.2 I sleep but my heart waketh when the Church is asleep yet her heart is awake towards God So much more when in regard of outward providences God seems to be asleep his heart is awake toward his Church his heart scil his affection c. never slumbereth nor sleepeth Secondly God is said to sleep when he doth not answer our prayers and when he hears prayer then he is said to awake Hence the Septuagint render this text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deprecationem exaudiet tuam Sept. not as we He will awake but He will hear thy prayer for deliverance Thirdly God sleeps not in regard of the act but the consequents of sleep Naturall sleep is the binding or locking up of the senses The eye and ear of God is never bound But to mans apprehension the affairs of the world passe as if God did neither hear nor see When men are asleep things are done which they can take no notice of much lesse stop and prevent The Parable tels us Mat. 13. While men slept the envious man came and sowed tares While the housholder slept the thief brake the house and the Pharisees direct the watchmen to say of Christ in the sepulchre While we slept his Disciples came and stole him away So now when things are so carried in the world as if the God of heaven did not regard or take notice of them Dormire videtur cum te relinquit in his calamitatibus Drus when he doth not prevent or hinder evil when he doth not stop or restrain the rage and malice of men this retiring of himself in the
seemed to depart farre from the Church of the Jews with how much fervency do they cry after him Isa 51.9 Awake awake put on strength O arm of the Lord awake as in the ancient daies c They double and treble it upon him and cry with an out-stretched voice Art not thou he that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon What a clamour what a holy stirre was here to awaken God God himself sometimes seems as it were willing to take his rest as when he said to Moses Let me alone he spake like a man that is in bed or very sleepy Doe not trouble me let me alone as he in the Gospel Luk. 11.7 when he was awakened in the night to come and give bread unto his neighbour Doe not trouble me saith he the doors are shut and I am in bed with my children I cannot rise and give thee let me alone Thus in some sense the Lord expresses himself to his people I am now in bed doe not trouble me Let me alone What must we do in this case We must knock harder at the door as he in the Gospel did For whom though his neighbour would not rise and give him because he was his friend yet because of his importunity he rises and gives him as many loaves as he needed We must be the more importunate to awake God by how much he seems more unwilling to hear us our modesty in this case pleases him not we must call and call again He will take it well at our hands if we doe so We must give our selves no rest and let him take none so the Prophet resolves Isa 62.1 For Jerusalems sake I will take no rest I will never give over praying and at the sixth verse I have set watchmen upon thy wals O Jerusalem which shall never hold their peace day nor night you that make mention of the Lord keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth If the Lord should carry it in the present answers of his providence as if he were willing to rest and desired not to be troubled in this businesse be not you so put off but with a holy boldnesse and confidence come to him and awaken him take no answer till ye have an answer He is best pleased and most at ease when in prayer we give him no rest Lastly Observe If God doe but awake for us all is presently well with us If the eye of God be upon us for good that brings us in all good therefore Zech. 2. ult when the Church was in her return from Babylon the Prophet concludes with an exultation of spirit Be silent O all flesh before the Lord for he is raised up out of his holy habitation it is this word He is awaked out of his holy habitation now be silent O all flesh before the Lord All flesh ye that are the wicked of the world ye that are enemies be ye silent leave your boasting your reproaching and blaspheming for the Lord is awaked now he begins to stirre for his people he will stop your mouths shortly All flesh takes in the Church and people of God too O be ye silent in regard of your fears and doubtings murmurings and distracted complainings silence all these why The Lord is awaked he is raised up out of his holy habitation that is he that seemed before to confine himself to those higher regions and as the Atheist speaks in Job to walk in the circle of the heavens not intermedling with the earth This God is now awaked he is raised out of his holy habitation and now ye shall know that he orders all things here below therefore be silent O all flesh When Christ was asleep Matth. 8.25 A grievous tempest arose saith the text insomuch as the Ship was covered with waves When storms and tempests are upon the Church God is then asleep though even then he directs the storms and gives law to the proud waves But what did the Disciples in this storm They awoke Christ Master save us we perish and assoon as ever Christ was awakened He rebuked the storme and there was a great calm Thus when we are tost up and down with contrary windes and in danger to be split and sunke if God once awake all is calm How quietly may they sleep for whom God wakes I doe not say they should sleep carelesly but confidently they may God doth not wake for us to the intent we should sleep in security but we may sleepe quietly when He shewes himselfe awake for us who indeed never slumbereth nor sleepeth And if God awake not for us all our watchfulnesse is as uselesse to us as our sleepinesse The watchman waketh but in vain except the Lord keep the City Except he awake our watching can doe no good and if he awake good will come though we be asleep It is our duty to be carefull and it is our comfort that the care of God is enough for us The eye of divine providence helps us in many humane improvidences What their happinesse is for whom God awakes see in the next words He will make the habitation of thy righteousnesse prosperous This is the second degree or step of mercy promised when the Lord awakes he vvill awake to purpose We say of some men Early up and never the near They awake and doe little work but if God awakes see what he doth He will make the habitation of thy righteousnesse prosperous Some of the Rabbins understand these words as a description of the soul The habitation of thy righteousnesse that is Anima est justitiae omniū virtutum domicilium Aben. Ezr. thy soul shall prosper because the soul is the proper seat of righteousnesse and holinesse Righteousnesse belongeth to the inward man Righteousnesse being a spirituall thing is housed and lodged in the spirit that 's the habitation of it There are others of the Jews who take this habitation of righteousnes for the body because the body is the habitation of the soul in which righteousnesse is seated and so the habitation of righteousnesse by a second remove is the outward man The Lord shall blesse thy body which now lieth in a wofull plight distemper'd and disfigured with sores and sicknesses But rather take the word habitation in those two ordinary Scripture-senses either strictly for the place where Job dwelt or more largely for all that did belong unto him The habitation of a man is all his estate and all that appertains to his estate He will make thy habitation that is thy children thy servants thy fields thy cattell thy stock thy all to be prosperous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Chaldee Paraphrase readeth Significat domū vel speciem pul chritudinem justitiae tuae Tar. He will make thy beautifull place to be prosperous The word signifies beauty as well as an habitation as was shewed upon Chap. 5. ver 3. thither I referre the Reader
to stones and pillars have been the preservatives and memorials of his wonderfull works The works of God are his holinesse justice power mercy truth made visible The administrations of God in one age are for the instruction of all ages God spake with Jacob only in person at Bethel yet there the Scripture saith he spake with all his posterity Hos 12.4 He found him in Bethel and there he spake with us It is then a debt to posterity to shew them what God hath done for us Observe Secondly That it is our duty to enquire into the dealings of God in all ages It was their duty before the word was written and it is a duty still The works of God are to be studied and read over as well as his word Deut. 4.20 32. Ask now of the daies that are past which were before thee since the day that God created man upon earth and ask from one side of heaven to another enquire every way to see whether ever God dealt with a people as he hath dealt with thee whether God did ever assay to take to himself a Nation from the middest of another Nation by temptations and by signs and by wonders c. Enquire this of all the former times So Deut. 32.7 Remember the daies of old consider the years of many generations ask thy father and he will shew thee thy Elders and they will tell thee The Psalmist promises to rehearse what these were enjoyned to record Psal 78.3 4. I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us Our speaking of and enquiring into what God hath done shews the harmony between his word and works And the former providences of God are food for our faith as well as the promises of God Thirdly That which I shall rather insist upon is this True antiquity ever gives a testimony to the truth Hence the Prophets send the people back to antiquity Jer. 6.16 Enquire for the good old-way Every old way is not a good way but in every good old way we may walk safely and see the footsteps of truth Quod antiquissimum verissiâ—um It is a received rule That is truest which is ancientest It is certainly so for truth is not only ancient but eternall Truth is as old as God himself for truth is nothing else but the minde of God truth was with God from everlasting Truth is commonly called the daughter of time yet in a sense it is the mother of time for it was before time was and therefore no question that which is ancientest is truest Yet there is a great abuse of this principle Look back to antiquity and consult with your fathers say many and see what they did how they believed But what is the antiquity they call us to consult with It is not as Moses spake in that place of Deuteronomy antiquity since God created man upon earth or since Jesus Christ was upon the earth and gave out his Gospel-laws but it is the antiquity of some later ages and editions an antiquity far short of what is indeed the ancient time The Apostle 1 Joh. 2.7 gives us the definition of an old commandment This is the old commandment which was from the beginning Our sinfull nature is called the old man and yet it is a corrupt man It is called the old-man not that it is older then the new man the new man is not of a younger house or later date then the old man Holinesse was before corruption And the image of God upon man elder then sinne the image of the devil There are many corruptions in doctrine in opinion in worship in practice which go for very old And there are many doctrines which we call new truths Is it because those corruptions are older then these new truths No new truths are elder then the oldest corruptions That which we call the new world was created in the beginning though discovered but yesterday So new truths were given from the beginning only they were unknown till of late and we may well conceive that some goodly regions of truth are still terra incognita undiscovered God having reserved them for the honour and industry of some divine Columbus who may give us an exacter sea-card of divine mysteries then the world hath yet seen though enough hath been seen from the beginning for the safe steering of our course to heaven He that would enquire and make a diligent search for truth must goe to the first institutions That 's the old commandment which was from the beginning The Prophet Ezekiel Chap. 23.43 speaks of some who were grown old in adulteries that is old in adulterating and corrupting the truth and worship of God That which is old may be old in evil and fuller of errours then it is of daies We finde when the good Kings of Judah reformed they did not search only into what was done in the ages immediately before them or what their next fathers had done but they searcht what was done in the times of their godly fathers how many removes soever distant from them Hezekiah 2 Chron. 29.6 tels the Levites that their fathers were in an errour that they had trespassed and done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and had forsaken him and Chap. 30.5 speaking of the observation of the Passeover he saith They had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written therefore v. 7. he dehorteth them saying Be not ye like your fathers which trespassed against the Lord God of your fathers he doth not mean that they should not be like their first fathers who had the truth purely committed to them and so worshipped God purely but be not like your immediate fore-fathers or your corrupt fore-fathers how many descents and generations so ever ye can number from them And this was a thing so strange that when Hezekiah sent the Posts from City to City thorow the Countries of Ephraim and Manasseh with this message that he would have a reformation according to the first institution or patern and would not have them stay in what their fore-fathers had done It is said vers 10. That they laughed the messengers to scorn and they mocked them what must we now be wiser then our fathers Yes saith he you have done evil a long time you and your fathers therefore I must bring you back to your first fathers in comparison of whom the fathers you claim by were but children and those degenerate children It is said of Josiah's reformation 2 King 23.22 That there was not the like from the daies of the Judges nor in all the daies of the Kings of Israel and Judah he went to the very beginning of all there had not been such a thing done before So that if any should have objected why may not such a reformation serve us as served those Kings and Judges No saith Josiah I will search
They have lightly esteemed me I am not so much to them as new clothes who am indeed their life I am not so much remembred as unnecessary curiosities from whom they receive all things necessary and whose favour is the one thing necessary 4. To forget God is to depart from God We stay with God no longer then we remember him as we cannot have communion with truth so not with the God of truth without an act of memory Heb. 12.5 Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord c. A word forgotten is to us of no more use then a word never spoken We are without all the good we forget and to forget God is Ephes 2.12 to be without God in the world or to live on earth as if there were no God in heaven either in regard of mercy to be received or of duty to be performed Hypocrites forget God all these waies though their naturall memory may be good yet spirituall memory and that only holds spirituall things they have none Observe hence First That the hypocrite is a forgotter of God Every wicked man is forgetfull of God Hence we finde these put together Psal 9.17 The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the Nations that forget God But this is the speciall character of an hypocrite he is a forgetter of God Consider this saith the Psalmist ye that forget God that is ye hypocrites consider this 〈◊〉 50.22 for he speaks of such as had taken their covenant of God in their mouths What hast thou to do vers 16. to take my Covenant in thy mouth As if he had said thou professest to be in Covenant with me to have an interest in me Yet when thou sawest a thief then thou consentest with him and hast been partaker with adulterers thou givest thy mouth to evil c. Hypocrites take the Covenant of God in their mouths but cast it out of their lives God is near in their mouths but from their reins Jer. 12.2 If the hypocrite did not forget that God is about his bed and about his path and espieth out all his waies he could not be so false with God so polluted in his waies so rotten in his inward parts If an hypocrite did not forget that God being a spirit delighteth to be worshipped in Spirit he would never be satisfied in worshipping him with his body If he did not forget that God is jealous that he will not hold them guiltlesse who take his name in vain he durst not which is his every daies work take the name of God in vain Secondly observe That forgetfulnesse of God howsoever it seems no great matter yet is exceeding sinfull a wickednesse of the highest stature Forgetfulnesse of God is therefore a great wickednesse because God hath done so many things to be remembred by What could the Lord have done more to make himself remembred then he hath done Have I been a wildernesse to Israel or a land of darknesse saith the Lord Jer. 2.31 the words are an aggravation of their forgetfulnesse As if the Lord had said I have been a light to you wheresoever you goe and wheresoever I goe my steps drop fatnesse for you and am I forgotten Where can we set a step but we tread upon a remembrance of God Every creature holds forth God unto us He hath left his remembrance upon every ordinance Doe this in remembrance of me saith Christ in that great ordinance of his Supper yea all the works of his providence are remembrancers of him He leaves an impression of his wisdome holinesse justice power upon all he doth Now for us to forget God who hath as it were studied so many waies to fasten himself in our remembrance must needs be extreamly sinfull Further it is very sinfull to forget God because God doth so abundantly remember us He hath not only done that which may cause man to remember him but he hath man alwaies in his remembrance especially his own people He hath graven them upon the palms of his hands and they are continually before him They who desire to preserve their friends fresh in memorie get their pictures in their houses or engrave them upon rings and jewels which they wear alwaies about them But he that cuts the image of his friend in his flesh or draws it upon his skin how zealous is he of his friends remembrance Pictures and annulets may be lost but our hands cannot fall off When the Lord would shew how mindefull he is of his Church he assures her that he carries her picture alwaies about him not drawn upon a Tablet or engraven upon the signet of his right hand but upon the palms of his hands as if he should say I must lose my self before I can lose the sight of memory of thee Isa 49.16 He remembers her so that he cannot forget her And because the characters and stamps of nature are more abiding and indelible then those of art therefore he saith vers 15. Can a woman forget her sucking childe that she should not have compassion on the sonne of her womb Yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee A woman may break the bonds of nature but God will never break the bonds of his own free-grace May not all this raise us into Davids rapture of holy admiration Psal 8. Lord what is man that thou art mindefull of him and the sonn◠of man that thou visitest him with such remembrances What is a wicked man that God should give him bread to eat and clothes to put on And what is a godly man that God should give him Christ to eat and cloath himself withall That God should remember us is a wonder of mercy but what a wonder of unthankfulnesse is it that we should not remember God What or who is God that man should be so mindelesse of him Is not God worthy of all our remembrance Is it losse of time to call God into our thoughts Do we ever or in any thing remember our selves so much as when we remember God most It is a wonderfull favour that God should be mindefull of us at all and is it not a wonderfull sinne that man should be so unmindefull of God Thirdly Observe That Forgetfulnesse of God is a mother-sinne or the cause of all other sins It is the cause of this sinne of hypocrisie Bildad puts it as a fruit of forgetting God Forgetfulnesse of God is three-fold First A forgetfulnesse that there is a God Secondly A forgetfulnesse who or what manner of God he is Thou thoughtest that I was such an one as thy self Psal 50. Thou forgettest what manner of God I am thou presumest that will serve my turn which serves thine or that every thing will please me which pleases thee thou saiest because it is no great trouble to thee to steal and lie c. therefore it is no great trouble unto me neither Thirdly To forget
the Verb and so the words are thus Whose hope shall loath him that is Quem fastidit spes sua Jun. Eum quasi fastidius fugit idipsum quod sperat Jun. The thing which he hoped for shall loath him how loath him It shall loath him not formally but equivalently because it shall doe that which man doth when he loaths any thing when we loath a thing we flee or turn away from it so His hope shall hath him that is the thing which he hoped for shall flee farre away and quite depart it will not come near him Good shall remove from the hypocrite when he expects and makes after it An hypocrite at once loaths true grace and hopes for true comforts but comfort here and glory hereafter shall loath him heaven shall shut against him Or take it for the act of hope as others he shall loath his hope Spes ei molesta erit quòd eâ excidat nec id consequatur quod expectarat Merc. that is the very hope which he hath had shall be grievous and vexatious to him nothing shall grieve him more then this that he hath hoped so much His hope shall grieve and afflict him as bad as all his afflictions Raised expectations disappointed prove our greatest sorrows That man sinks lowest in grief whose heart was highest in hope How extremely shall the hypocrite be grieved who fals as low as hell when his hopes were raised up as high as heaven The hypocrite both in his way and in his end is like the King of Babylon He saith in his heart I will ascend into heaven I will exalt my throne above the stars of God I will ascend above the heights of the clouds I will be like the most high yet he shall be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit Isa 14.13 14. Take the words as we translate so they yeeld a clear sense and very agreeable to the originall Whose hope shall be cut off * Sumitur Melaphoricè quòd ij quos taedet sese torquent vestes se membraque sua dâ—scindant ac lacerant vâ—lut dissecent Merc. The word is rendred Cut off by a Metaphor because when a man is exceedingly displeased and vexed as the word properly signifies he many times tears his garments and even cuts his own flesh like the idolatrous Priests of Baal who were so angry because they could not get an answer that they cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancers till the blood gushed out upon them 1 King 18.28 Grief cuts the heart alwaies and sometime causes cutting of the flesh The Lord complains Psal 95.10 Fourty years long was I grieved with this generation it is this word fourty years long was I vexed and cut with this generation with their murmurings backslidings and unbelief They did as it were cut the Lord to the heart as in another place They broke him with their whorish hearts Eze. 6.9 God speaks there as a man whose patience is almost spent or as an husband grieved with the disloialties of an adulterous wife And thus we may joyn it with hope either as hope imports the act of hope or the object of hope Whose hope shall be cut off the expectation which the hypocrite hath had shall come to an end Or a time is at hand when an hypocrite shall be past hoping Observe hence Despairing is the cutting off of hope and such is the condition of an hypocrite To have hope cut off is the greatest cut in the world Will the hypocrite pray alwaies No at last his prayer shall be cut off Will the hypocrite hope alwaies No at last his hope shall be cut off The Saints in heaven have in a sense their hope cut off because they are above hope and at last all wicked mens hope shall be cut off because they are below hope It is better to have all our possessions cut off then our hopes Better have the threed of our lives cut off then the Anchor-cord of our hope cut off and so we left to the rage and tempest of despair Again joyn it with the object of hope thus All that an hypocrite hopeth for or expects shall be utterly taken away and cut off from him His worldly comfort will be gone and heavenly comforts will never come He shall finde that he hath been in a golden dream that he hath been as one that is hungry who dreameth that he is eating but when he awakes his soul is empty or as a thirsty man that dreams he is drinking but he awakes and behold he is faint Isa 29.8 When dreams satisfie hunger and thirst the hypocrites hope shall be satisfied Hypocrites shall have as good as they bring They bring God nothing but words and empty professions and they shall have nothing from God but air and empty expectations their reall hopes or the thing they hoped for shall be cut off When hypocrites awake out of their sleep their hopes vanish as a dream Not only doth the world but the Christ on whom they hoped prove a shadow a fancy an image an idoll of their own making Their hearts were filled with leaves instead of gold as the devil cosens his greedy votaries Their hope shall be cut off And whose trust shall be a spiders web As hope before so here trust may be put either for the act or object of trust and both by a Synecdoche for the whole profession of an hypocrite Hope and trust are often taken promiscuously There is a graduall difference between them not an essentiall Trust being the strength of hope or the acting of a strong faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The originall word signifies a very quiet secure setled trust when a man trusts upon or about a thing wâ—thout casting so much as a jealous thought after it Thus the hypocrite trusts he never suspects himself his heart saith all is well Levit. 25.18 Ye shall dwell in the land in safety the word is Ye shall dwell in the land in trust because an opinion of safety is the companion of trust when we trust our condition is good then we think our selves safe There are two things noted by this word First Boldnesse and confidence Secondly Security and peaceablenesse The hypocrite feels no trouble and he fears none The language of his heart is like that of Babylon the mother of whoredoms and hypocrisie who saith in her heart I sit a Queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow Revel 18.6 This trust where it is true hath a double effect The want of which discovers the falsenesse of it in the hypocrite First It confirms and strengthens the heart against all oppositions And Secondly It encourages the heart against all dangers He that trusts in God will walk thorow the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil He dares take a bear by the tooth or a lion by the beard In both these the trust of the hypocrite faileth He will work and
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
of what he knows so he wishes there were no such thing to be known and that the revealed will of God were lesse by so much as it specially opposeth his will Thirdly The contest about providence grows as high in the hearts of men as that about predestination to life or the rule of life The Saints sometimes modestly enter this controversie Let me plead with thee saith Jeremy Chap. 12.1 He doth it we see with a great deal of trembling and submission he seems to ask leave before he doth it Hypocrites contend with God proudly about their own good works Isa 58.3 Wherefore have we fasted and thou seest not As if they had done so well that God himself could not mend it Carnall men plead with God profanely about his works as if he had done so ill that they could mend it Ye say the way of the Lord is not equall hear now O house of Israel is not my way equall Are not your waies unequall Ezek. 18.25 They charged God with ill dealing because he punished them who did evil Wherefore will ye plead with me ye all have transgressed against me saith the Lord Jer. 2.29 they began to plead with God about his dispensations as if he had been unrighteous or rigorous Wherefore will ye plead with me I will plead with you saith God vers 9. God may plead and contend with man but shall man plead and contend with God Ye have all sinned and transgressed against me that 's enough to stop your mouths I can answer you with one word Ye are a company of sinners then plead not with me Plead with your mother plead Hos 2.2 let man plead with man man with his neighbour The wit of one man may compare with the wit of another and their justice may hold plea with one another But neither the justice nor the wit of man will serve him to plead with God That is a second observation Man is not able to maintain his cause and hold plea either against the works of God or for his own If he dispute with God in the schools or fee an advocate to implead him at the barre he is not able to answer him one of a thousand Isa 45.9 Woe be to him that striveth with his maker it is this word Wee be to him that contendeth with his maker for he shall not be able to make out one argument or prove any thing against him such a man is in a very sad condition woe unto him David praies Ps 143.2 Enter not into judgement with thy servant for in thy sight shall no flesh living be just â—â—ed As if he had said Lord if the holiest and purest if the best of men should come and stand before thee in judgement or plead with thee they could not be justified therefore David was so farre from contending with God that he deprecates Gods contending with him enter not into judgement with thy servant such a charge is laid upon Job Chap. 33.13 Why dost thou strive with him for he giveth not an account of any of his matters And if he should condescend to give an account can any man gain by it The Lord argues so convincingly That every mouth must be stopped and all the world become guilty before God Rom. 3.19 Every mouth shall be stopped when God opens his When God speaks man hath nothing to say against him Every mouth is stopped with this one word Man is a sinner The Apostle points at some Tit. 1.11 Whose mouths must be stopped he means with reason to convince them that they are in an errour By this one argument That all men are sinners God stops their mouths forever Thirdly By way of corallary we may give you that generall ttuth That no man can be justified by his works If we contend with him we cannot answer him one of a thousand He that mixeth but one sin with a thousand good actions cannot be justified by his works how then shall he be justified by works who hath not one perfectly good action amongst a thousand sins Man is not able to answer for one thing he doth of a thousand no not for one thing he doth of all that he hath done He that would be justified by his works must not have one ill action amongst all his actions One flie in the box of ointment corrupts all one defect makes a sinner but many good actions cannot make one righteous If our heart condemn us God is greater then our heart 1 Joh. 3.20 Should man contend with his own heart that will condemn him his own heart would bring a thousand witnesses against him sooner then one for him Conscience is a thousand witnesses man cannot answer before that tribunall how much lesse can he answer God Who is greater then our hearts and knoweth all things That 's the argument Job goes on with to prove that man cannot be justified before God Verse 4. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered Which words are a further illustration both of the justice of God and of mans duty to be humbled and abased before him He is wise in heart and mighty in strength Here is a double proof in these words A proof first of Gods justice why He is wise in heart Integerrimus judex cui nec sapientia ad judicandum nec potentia ad ex equendum deest therefore he knows how to do right He is mighty in strength or power therefore he needs not pervert judgement or doe wrong for fear of man Fear of a higher power usually biasseth those who are in power Here are two Attributes which keep the balances of divine judgement in a due poise He is wise in heart and mighty in power therefore there is no turning of him out of the path of justice Secondly It is a proof or a confirmation of the other point about which Bildad adviseth Iob namely that he ought to seek unto God and humble himself before him it would be dangerous to contend or contest with God Why He is wise in heart and mighty in power As if he had said Shall ignorant foolish man contend with the wise God Shall weak man contend with the mighty God Alas man is no match for God He is wise in heart and mighty in strength who can enter such a controversie and prosper in it There are two waies to carry on a controversie First By wit and policy Secondly By strength and power If man will take up the former weapon against God if he work by wit and dispute against God God will be too hard for him For he is wise in heart If man will set his shoulders or take up weapons against God poor creature what can he doe The Lord is mighty in strength from both we see there is no dealing with him These two attributes render God at once the most dreadfull adversary Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requiret and the most desirable
friend It is a hard choice whether to have wit or power in an enemy And who would not have both wit and power in his friend God is here represented under these two notions both meet in him either of which in an enemy render him dreadfull Will any man enter the lists or meddle with an adversary who would not rather humble himself and make him his friend Who is wise in heart and mighty in power He is wise in heart Humanitùs dictum cor in Hebraeo sumitur pro judicio intellectuali potentia ita homo vel Deus sapiens corde dicitur qui praestat sapientia â—in It is spoken after the manner of men the heart naturall is a principall organ or part of the body it is the seat of life thither the spirits have their recourse there they have one speciall seat of residence the heart is chief in man To say God is wise in heart is to say He is most wise because the heart is the seat of wisdome As when we say of a man he is holy in heart or he is humble in heart or upright in heart or he obeys God from his heart we report such a man for exceeding humble holy upright and obedient So when God is said to be wise in heart it imports that he hath infinite wisdome his is not only wisdome in the tongue or some flashes of wit but deep solid rooted wisdome He is wise yea he is wisdome at heart A foolish man is without an heart As an hypocrite hath two hearts a double heart an heart and an heart so a foolish man hath never an heart Hypocrites will be found at last to have no hearts they are the greatest fools of all Ephraim Hos 7.11 is called a silly Dove without heart Sillinesse is heartlesnesse Therefore in the 12th Chapter of this book ver 3. the heart is put alone for understanding I have an heart as well as you saith Job we translate it I have understanding as well as you Heart alone notes wisdome but a wise heart notes abundance of wisdome Hence observe God is infinitely wise He is wise in heart wisdom it self The Lord ingrosses all wisdom and is therefore stiled by the Apostle God only wise 1 Tim. 1.17 he is only wise because all wisdome is his the creature hath none but what he gives out he hath it all locked up in his own treasury and as he dispenseth it so man receives it There is a two-fold act of wisdome and both most eminent in God The first is knowledge in the nature of things The second is knowledge how to order and dispose of things The former is properly called Science and the later prudence Where there is much of the former and a want of the later man in that case is like a ship that hath a very large sail but wants a rudder to order it's course and ballast to poise it Both these meet in the Lord he hath as we may say a vast sail infinitely extending to the knowledge of all things and he hath a most exact rudder and ballast of prudence to order and to manage all things The knowledge of some men is too hard for their wisdome they are not master of their knowledge though they may be masters in their art The Lord knows all and he rules all his knowledge And mighty in strength It is much for man to be stiled strong or mighty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Differ◠à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod strenuit atem ad gesta praeclaâ—a significat idem quod Graecé 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae se foras exerit in opere Merc. but mighty in strength is the stile of God These in construction note the Almightinesse the All-powerfulnesse the All-sufficiency of the Lord he is not only strong or mighty but mighty in strength The word which we translate strength referred to man imports that naturall power and lively vigour which in man is the principle of strength which nurses and feeds man with continuall supplies of activity The Lord is mighty in this strength he hath an infinite an everlasting spring of strength in him he spends no strength at all how much soever he uses His lamp consumes not with burning His strength is ever vigorous he knows no decaies or faintings Hast thou not known hast thou not heard that the everlasting God the Lord the Creatour of the ends of the earth fainteth not neither is weary Isa 40.28 As if he had said where hast thou been bred that thou seemest to be a stranger to this truth Man cannot doe much and he faints in doing a little God who can doe all things never faints how much soever he doth Strength maybe considered two waies There is civill strength and there is naturall strength Civill strength is authority and power to command 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man is armed and strengthened by laws and commissions These put authority into his hands The Lord is mighty in this strength he hath all authority all command in his hands not by commission from others but originally from himself Naturall strength executes and exercises the former a man may have much civill strength but if he want naturall strength to put it in act he can do little or nothing As God by his Soveraignty is above all creatures so by his power he is able to bring all creatures under him and subdue them to his command Thus God is mighty in strength He hath a right of authority by which he may and an arm of power by which he can make all stoop to him Hence observe The power of God is an infinite power There is nothing too hard for the Lord If he will work who shall let it Isa 43.13 No creature can supersedeat or stay the works of God God can supersedeat all creatures when creatures are in their full carreer he can let them The power of God is as large as his will yea he can doe more then he wils If the power of men were as large as their wils what work would they quickly make in the world If infinite strength were not mannaged by infinite wisdome what a wofull condition were we in Both these are joyned in God Therefore we can fear no hurt from his power he can doe what he will but he will doe nothing which is hurtfull to his people he will not wrong any creature much lesse his servants The Lord if I may so speak is only weak about those things which proceed from weaknesse There are some things which he hath no strength to doe because to doe them argues a want of strength he cannot deny himself he cannot lie he cannot doe any evil he cannot sinne These things import impotency therefore the Lord cannot doe them But whatsoever is for the good of his people for the glory of his name for the executing of his justice for the fulfilling of his counsels whatsoever is for the making good of his promises for
and prospered That is did ever any man so weary out God by lengthening this warre that God was as it were forced at last to offer him terms of peace So it happens sometimes with men Ab aequipollente pacem aliquis pugnando obtinere potest licet enim eum superaâ—e non possit tamen assiâ—uitate pugnae eum fatigat ut ad pacem reducatur Aquin. Quis permansit aut perstetâ—t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sep. with Nations and Kingdoms They not getting peace by victory but being spent and tired out with warre begin to thinke of treating Did ever any one put the Lord to offer a treaty with articles of peace to save himself from further trouble They who have not strength enough to overcome may yet have power enough to vex and weary their adversary But God can neither be vanquish'd by force nor vext with our policies into a peace with man Thirdly Others give this sense Who ever held out or was able to persist in a war against the Lord The wicked shall not stand before God in the day of judgement much lesse in the day of battell Who would set the bryars and thorns against me in battell I would go thorow them I would burn them together Isa 27.4 The most steely and and flinty spirits in the world can no more stand before God then briars and thorns can before a flaming fire The Lord soon breaks and destroies all opposing power And so there is a figure in the words for man doth not only not prosper but he is undone and crusht for ever by contending with God Shall man prosper in a warre with God No it shall end in his own ruine and utter destruction Whence observe That nothing can be got but blows by contending with God The greatest Monarchs in the world have at one time or other found their matches but the great God never found his match Hoc est signum evidens quod fortitu lo Dei omnem humanaÌ„ fortitudinem exoedit quia nullus cum eo paceâ— habere potest resist endo sed solum humiliter obediendo Aquin. Vicisti Galilae Pharaoh contended with him but did he prosper in it You see what became of him at last he was drown'd in the red sea Julian contended with Christ he scoffed at him he came up to the highest degrees he sate in the chair of the scorner and in the tribunall of the persecutour but what got he at last When he was wounded and threw up his bloud toward heaven said he not O Galilean thou hast overcome I acknowledge thy power whose name and truth I have opposed Christ whom he had derided and against whom he hardened himself into scorns and scoffs was too hard for him All that harden themselves against God shall be worsted Gather your selves together O ye people and ye shall be broken in peeces Isa 8.9 Gather your selves together against whom Gather your selves together against the people of God and ye shall be broken in pieces Why Emanuel the Lord is with us If no man can prosper by hardening himself against the people of God because the Lord is with them how shall any man prosper by hardening himself immediately against God If Emanuel will not let any prosper against his people certainly he will not let any prosper against himself Therefore Prov. 28.24 Solomon laies it down directly He that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief and Prov. 29.1 He shall be destroyed and that without remedy there is no help for it all the world cannot save him A hard heart is it self the forest of all judgements and it brings all judgements upon us A hard heart treasureth up wrath against the day of wrath Rom. 2.5 As a hard heart is Satans treasury for sinne so it is Gods treasury for wrath The wals of that fiery Tophet are built up with these stones with their hard hearts who turn themselves into stones against the Lord. Then take heed of hardening your selves against God You know the counsell which Gamaliel gave Act. 5.39 Refrain from these men and let them alone c. See how tremblingly he speaks lest you be found even to fight against God as if he had said take heed what you doe it is the most dreadfull thing in the world to contend with God he speaks as of a thing he would not have them come near or be in the remotest tendency to Man will not meddle with a mortall man if he be too hard for him how should we tremble to meddle or contend with the immortall God! Christ Luk. 14. warning his Disciples to consider afore-hand what it is to be his disciples gives them an instance of a King What King saith he going to make warre against another King sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that commeth against him with twenty thousand Now I say to you if any such be here that have hearts steel'd or harden'd against God who challenge God the field and send defiance to heaven O sit down sit down consider whether you with your ten thousand are able to meet God with his twenty thousand that 's great odds half in half but consider whether one single simple man can stand against his twenty thousand whether a man of no strength can stand against infinite strength whether you who have no wisdom are able to stand against him that is of infinite wisdome Can ignorance contend with knowledge folly with wisdome weaknesse with strength an earthen vessel with an iron rod O the boldnesse and madnesse of men who will hazard themselves upon such disadvantages He is wise in heart and mighty in power who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered And as God is so powerfull that no wicked man in the world can mend himself by contending with him so neither can any of his own people If they harden themselves against God they shall not prosper To harden the heart against God is not only the sin of a Pharaoh of a Senacherib and of a Julian but possibly it may be the sin of a believer the sin of a Saint And therfore the Apostle Heb. 3. gives them caution Take heed lest any of your hearts be hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sin and whose heart soever is hardned against God that man good or bad shall not prosper or have peace in it It is mercy that God will not give his own peace or let them thrive in sin Grace prospers not when the heart is hardened joy prospers not nor comfort nor strength when the heart is hardned the whole state and stock of a beleever is impaired when his heart is hardened And if the Saints harden their heart against God God in a sense will harden his heart against them that is he will not appear tender hearted and compassionate towards them in reference to present comforts he will harden himself to afflict and chasten when they harden themselves to
sin and provoke When God afflicts his people he hardens his heart against them and it is seldome that he hardeneth his heart against them till they harden their hearts against him And the truth is if they who are dearest to him do harden their hearts against him if they quarrell and contend with him if they rise up against his commands or neglect his will he will make their hearts submit or he will make their hearts ake and break their bones If they harden their hearts against his fear they shall feel his rod upon their backs and spirits too Which of the Saints ever hardened himself against God and hath prospered No man whether holy or prophane righteous or wicked could ever glory of a conquest over God or triumph after a war with him JOB Chap. 9. Vers 5 6 7 8 9 10. Which removeth the mountains and they know not which overturneth them in his anger Which shaketh the earth out of her place and the pillars thereof tremble Which commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not and sealeth up the starres Which alone spreadeth out the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the Sea Which maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiadis and the chambers of the South Which doth great things past finding out yea and wonders without number JOB having in generall asserted the power and wisdome of God he must have infinite power and wisdome against whom no man ever prospered by contending Having I say asserted this in generall he descends to make a particular proof of it as if he had said I will not only give you this argument that God is mighty in strength because no man could ever harden his heart against him and prosper he hath foyl'd all that ever medled with him but besides I will give you particular instances of it and you shall see that the Lord hath done such things as speak him mighty in strength and prove him as powerfull as I have reported him These particulars are reported in the 5 6 7 8 9. verses all closed with a triumphant Elogy in the tenth Subjicit Job confirmationem proximè praecedentis syâ—ogismi ab effectis potentiae sapientiae Dei quae amplissima oratione describit Merl. Which doth great things past finding out yea and wonders without number The Argument may be thus formed He is infinite in power and wisdome who removeth mountains and shakes the earth who commands the Sunne who spreads out the heavens and disposeth of the starres in the firmament But the Lord doth all these things he removeth mountains he shakes the earth he commandeth the Sun c. Therefore he is mighty in power and infinite in wisdome The first part of this argument is here implied The assumption or the minor is proved in the 5 6 7 8 and 9. verses by so many instances Here then is an evident demonstration of the power of God from visible things from acts apparent to the eye As if he had said If you have not faith to beleeve that God is infinite in power let your senses teach it you for he removeth mountains and they know it not He overturneth them in his anger c. He removeth mountains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That 's the first instance The word which we translate to remove Senescere quia quae sic inveterascunt forticra robustiora cum tempore solent evadere ideo idem verbum significat roborari 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. signifies to wax old and strong because things as they grow in age grow in strength There is a declining age and an encreasing age Things very old impair and things growing older encrease in strength we have the word in that sense Job 21.2 Wherefore doe the wicked become old yea they are mighty in power he putteth these two together growing old and mighty in power The Septuagint render Who maketh the mountains wax old because that which waxeth old is ready to vanish away Heb. 8.13 or to be removed and taken away as the Ceremoniall Law was of which the Apostle speaks in that place And because growing old implies a kinde of motion therefore the word also signifies motion even locall motion a moving from or out of a place Gen. 12.4 Abraham departed he removed from the place where he was This locall motion is either naturall or violent of this later understand the Text Which removeth the mountains The mountains There are naturall mountains and metaphoricall or figurative mountains it is an act of the mighty power of God to remove either Some understand this of metaphoricall or figurative mountains and so mountains are great men men of eminency or of preeminency the Kings and Princes of the world Chaldeus per montes intelligit reges qui loco movet reges fortes ut montâ—s Targ. The Chaldee is expresse for this sense He removeth Kings who are as strong and high as mountains For as God hath ordered the superficies of the earth and made some parts of it plain others mountainous some valleys and some hils So he hath disposed of men some men stand as upon levell ground men of an ordinary condition others are as the low vallies men of a poor condition others are as the high mountains over-topping and over-looking the rest The word is used in this metaphoricall sense Isa 41.15 I will make thee saith the Lord to the Prophet a new threshing instrument having teeth And what shall this new threshing iestrument do Thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat them small and shalt make the hils as chaff Here is a Prophet sent with a flail or a threshing instrument and his businesse is to thresh the mountains and to beat the hils the meaning is thou shalt destroy the great ones of the world the hils the mountains those that thinke themselves impregnable or inaccessible But how could the Prophet thresh these mountains and what was his flail Gideon Judg. 8.7 threatens the men of Succoth that he will tear or thresh their flesh with the thorns of the wildernesse and with briars And Damascus is threatned because they threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron Am. 1.3 That is they put them to extreamest tortures Our Prophet could not thus torture men His threshing instrument having iron teeth was only his tongue the instrument of speech With this he beat those proud mountains to dust that is he declared they should be beaten and destroied Of such a mountain the Lord by his Prophet speaks Jer. 51.25 Behold I am against thee O destroying mountain saith the Lord which destroiest all the earth Behold I will stretch out mine hand upon thee and will roll thâ—e down from the rocks and make thee a burnt mountain This mountain was the proud State of Babylon which was opposite to the Church of God this devouring mountain shall at last be a devoured mountain devoured by fire therefore he cals it a burnt mountain Thus Zech. 4.7 Who art thou O great mountain before Zerubbabel thou
shalt become a plain The Prophet is assured that all the power and strength which opposed it self against the reformation and re-edification of Jerusalem should be laid levell with the ground Per montes intelligit regeâ— qui si ut moÌ„tes firmitate â—o hore perstant Râ—â— Dav in Ps 14â— 5 So we may interpret Psa 144.5 He toucheth the mountains and they smoke the meaning is when God doth but lay his hand upon great men upon the mightiest of the world he makes them smoke or fune which some understand of their anger they are presently in a passion if God do but touch them Or we may understand it of their consumption A smoking mountain will soon be a burnt mountain In our language to make a man smoke is a proverbiall for destroying or subduing And besides there are mountains in this figurative sense within us as well as without us The soul hath a mountain in it self and it is an act of the great power of God yea of an higher and greater power of God to remove inward than it is to remove outward mountains Isa 40.4 The Prophet fore-shewing the comming of Christ and the sending of the Baptist to prepare his way tels us Every mountain and hill shall he made low Christ did not throw down the outward power of men who withstood him he let Herod and Pilate prevail but mountains and hils of sinne and unbelief in the soul which made his passage into them impassible he overthrew These mountains of high proud thoughts the Apostle describes 2 Cor. 10.14 Casting down imaginations and every high thing and bringing into captivity every thought every mountainous thought to the obedience of Christ These are metaphoricall mountains the power of sinfull men without us and the power of sinne the pride of our own hearts within us It is a mighty worke of God to remove these mountains But these are not proper to the Text for the instances which follow being all given in naturall things shew that those here intended are naturall mountains Taking mountains for earthly materiall mountains it is doubted how the Lord removes them There are different opinions about the point Some understand it of a naturall motion * Montes naturae sua generabiles sunt corruptibiles additione partium generanâ—ur detractione partiuÌ„ corrumpuntur Aquin Caj Minimè mirandum est fi quaâ— terrae partes quae nunc habitantur olim mare occupabat quae nunc pelagus sunt oâ—im habitabantur sic campos montes par est invicem commutari Sâ—â—b l 17. Philosophers disputing about mountains and hils conclude that they are subject to generation and corruption by the addition of many parts they are generated that is kneaded or gathered together and become one huge heap of earth and by the detraction falling and crumbling off or taking away of these parts they are removed again Thus we may expound that Job 14.18 And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought Yet this cannot be the meaning of Job here For though we grant that doctrine of the Philosophers that there is a generation of mountains and so a corruption of them yet that corruption is so insensible that it cannot be put among those works of God which raise up the name of his glorious power * Divina poteâ—tia in â—aâ—â—longa segni montium remotione non se praebet valdâ— mirabileÌ„ cuâ— remo fere 〈◊〉 qui eam rem videat Pined That which fals not under observation cannot cause admiration Slow and imperceptible motions make small impressions either upon the fancie or understanding That here spoken of is quick and violent and by it's easie representation to the eye causeth wonder and astonishment in the beholders And so it imports a removing them by some violent motion Thus the Lord is able to remove and hath removed mountains sometimes by earthquakes sometimes by storms and tempests sometime those mighty bulwarks are battered with thunder-bals discharged from the clouds Psal 97.5 The hils melted like wax at the presence of the Lord. Hils melt down when he appears as a consuming fire Psal 104.32 He looks upon the earth and it trembleth and he toucheth the hils and they smoke Those rocky mountains are as ready to take fire as tinder or touch-wood if but a spark of Gods anger fall upon them God by a cast of his eye as we may speak can cast the earth into an ague-fit he makes it shake and more tremble with a look He by a touch of his mighty arm hurls mountains which way he pleaseth as man doth a Tennis-ball We read Isa 64.1 How earnestly the Prophet praies O that thou wouldst rent the heavens and come down that the mountains might flow down at thy presence Where he is conceived to allude to Gods comming down upon Mount Sinai at the giving of the Law Exod. 19. which is said To melt from before the Lord God of Israel Judg. 5.3 Some understand it of that day of Christ when he shall come to judge the world others of that day when Christ came in the flesh to save the world then the mountains were levell'd according to the preaching of the Baptist but rather the Prophet being affected with the calamitous condition which he fore-saw the Jews falling into entreats the Lord to put forth himself in some notable works of his providence which should as clearly manifest his presence as if they saw the heavens speaking as of solid bodies renting and God visibly comming down then those difficulties which lay in the way of their deliverance and looked like huge mountains of iron or of adamant would presently dissolve like waxe or ice before the Sunne or fire The Prophet Micah describes the effects of Gods power in the same stile Chap. 1.3 4. Behold the Lord cometh forth out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth and the mountains shall be molten under him Ex quo hoc loco non absurde colligitur fuisse proverbium ad significandum maximam olique Deo convenietem potentiam Bold and the valleys shall be cleft as wax before the fire and as the waters which are poured down a steep place So to remove mountains is used proverbially Job 18.4 Shall the earth be forsaken for thee or shall the rock be removed out of his place that is shall God work wonders for thee or God will alter the course of nature as soon as the course of his providence To say God can remove mountains is as much as to say he hath power to doe what he will and the reason is because mountains are exceeding great and weighty bodies mountains are firmly setled now to remove a thing which is mighty in bulk and strongly founded is an argument of greatest strength The stability of the Church is compared to the stability of mountains Psal 125.1 They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be removed but
standeth fast for ever The righteousnesse of God is compared to a great mountain Psal 36.6 because his righteousnesse is firm and unmoveable Thy righteousnesse is like the great mountains or the mountains of God And Psal 46.2 the doing of the greatest things Isa 54.10 the mountains and the making of the greatest changes that possibly can happen in any Nation or in the whole world are exprest by the removing of mountains Though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the Sea yet will we not fear c. That is things which carry the greatest impossibility to be done or which are seldomest done shall be done before we will doe this As men when they would shew how farre they are from submitting to such a thing say We will die first c. So here Who we fear No mountains shall be removed first He breaths out the highest confidence of the Church in the lowest not only of her present but possible dangers As faith can represent to us better things then any we enjoy to raise our joy so it can represent to us worse things and put us harder cases then any we feel and yet carry us above fear A faith removing mountains is put for the strongest faith Though I had all faith so that I could remove mountains 1 Cor. 13.2 that is though I had the strongest faith the faith of miracles When Christ Mat. 21.21 would shew to the utmost what faith can doe he faith If ye have faith and doubt not ye shall not only doe this which is done to the fig-tree but also if ye shall say to this mountain be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea and it shall be done As if he had said if you have faith ye may doe the greatest things imaginable or desirable ye shall remove mountains A mountain is immovable by the meer power of a creature Faith takes that in hand because faith acts in the power of the Creatour And as the faith of man removing mountains notes a faith of miracles so the power of God removing mountains notes a miraculous power So then taking this speech either for the removing of naturall mountains or taking it proverbially as it noteth the doing of the greatest things and putting forth of the greatest power it proveth the point which Job hath here in hand viz. That God is mighty in strength Why He is able to remove mountains Observe from hence First That the Lord if he pleaseth can alter and remove the parts of the earth and change the frame and fabrique of nature He that made the mountains unmoveable to us can himself remove them The Histories and Records of former times tell us how God hath miraculously tossed mountains out of their places Josephus in his ninth book of Antiquities Mons in Burgundia a proximo monte dehiâ—cens vallesque proximas coâ—rctaâ—s multa agricolarum millia oppressit c. Vvernerus in fasciculo Josephus Ant. l 9. c 12. Vide Senâ—cam l. 5. c 15 l. l. â— 15. Natur. Quest Plinium Nat. Hist l. 8. c 38. Cum in agro Mutinensi montes duo inter se concurrehaÌ„t crepâ—tu maximo ossultantes c. Eo concursau villae omnes â—lisae sunt c. cap. 11. mentions the removing of a mountain and Pliny in the eighth book of his naturall History Cap. 30. A later writer reports that in Burgundy in the year 1230. there were mountains seen moving which overthrew many houses to the great terrour of all the inhabitants of those countries Josephus also reports the like done by an earthquake And another tels us of Mount Ossa joyned to Olympus by an earth-quake So that take it in the letter the Lord is able to remove mountains It should make us fear before the Lord and give him glory while we remember that even the outward frame of the world is subject to sudden changes there is no mountain no rock but the little finger of God can move or pull it down As David spake of his metaphoricall mountain his great outward estate Lord thou hadst made it stand strong yet thou didst hide away thy face and I was troubled Psal 30.6 his mountain began to shake and became a very mole-hill uselesse to him when God was displeased If the Lord with-draw himself from our civill mountains we are troubled and if he touch the naturall mountains they are troubled Our mountains will skip like Rams and the little hils like Lambs Psal 114.4 when he is displeased Secondly observe That the power of God is made visible to us in the changes which he works in the creature as well as in the constitution of the creature The power of God made the mountains and created the hils the same power removes mountains and turns them upside down It argues as great a power to destroy the world as to settle the world As the Apostle shews what divinity the Gentiles might have learned in that great book of the worlds creation Rom. 1.20 The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things which are made even his eternall power and Godhead So we may say on the other side The invisible things of him from the confusions which are in the world are clearly seen or they may be understood by the things which are removed and changed in these you may read his eternall power and God-head When God breaks the laws and course of nature he shews his power as well as when he setled the laws and course of nature He shews his power when he lets the sea out of it's place to overflow the earth as well as when he bounded the sea that it shall not overflow the earth Some things are with farre lesse power destroied then made removed then setled but no power can destroy the world but that which made it or suddenly remove a mountain but that which setled it The power of God must be acknowledged in altering as well as in ordering the naturall course or constitution of the creature And if we look to the change of Metaphoricall mountains it is a truth an illustrious truth that the Lord displaies his mighty power in removing and over-turning the great estates and establishments of men or kingdoms When God removes the mountain of our peace of our riches the mountain of outward prosperity and of civill power it becomes us to say He is mighty in power who doth all these things God hath given us great tokens and testimonies of his power in this How many mountains great mountains men who were mountains and things which stood like mountains in our way how many I say of these hath the Lord removed Our eies have seen mountains removing and mighty hils melting the power of God and the faith of his people have wrought such miracles in our daies He removeth the mountains And they know it not They who who or what is the antecedent to
high-noon there was darknesse over all the Land unto the ninth hour that is till three in the afternoon Matth. 27.45 This eclipse was miraculous first because it was the full of the moon Which as we receive from Antiquitie caused a great Philosopher not knowing what was doing or who was suffering at Jerusalem to cry out Either the God of nature suffers or the frame of nature dissolves 2. Because it was universall as some affirm over all the world or as others which makes it more strange that it was only in the Land of Judea all the world besides enjoying the light of the Sunne at that time Which miracle stands opposite to that in Aegypt which was plagued with darknesse when the Israelites in Goshen enjoyed light whereas then Judea where the Israelites dwelt was covered with darknesse the rest of the world enjoying light Fourthly Some referre this speech of Jobs to that particular plague of darknesse for three daies in Aegypt last mentioned which they conceive was then fresh in memory and so Job had reference especially unto that when he saith He commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not For though God at that time did not give a command to stop the Sunne from rising upon all parts of the earth yet he commanded the Sunne not to rise upon that part when his own people had light in Goshen the Lord charged the Sunne not to rise upon the Aegyptians This is a more distinct act of the power of God For as he speaks Amos 4.7 to note the accuratenesse as well as the power of God in his judgements concerning the rain I commanded the clouds saith he and I caused it to rain upon one City and caused it not to rain upon another City So the Lord can cause the Sunne if he please to rise upon one Countrey and not upon another upon one Nation and not upon another upon one City and not upon another Thus we may understand it He commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not upon one people though it shineth upon others according to the manner of that Aegyptian plague Lastly We may interpret it of any extraordinary tempestuous time He commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not that is he makes such storms and tempests and causeth such vapours and clouds in the air that the Sunne is mufled up and is as if it did not rise Such a day he means it of any troubles and afflictions we have described in the Prophet Joel Chap. 2.2 A day of darknesse and of gloominesse a day of clouds and thick darknesse as the morning upon the mountains But how is a day of darknesse as the morning c. The speech intends thus much that this darknesse shall spread it self as suddenly as the morning light spreads it self upon the mountains which being highest are blest and gilded with the first issuing raies of the rising Sunne God is said to command the Sunne not to rise when he vails and masks the face of the Sunne with sudden clouds as if there were no Sunne at all but clouds Paul in his voiage to Rome was under such a tempest and the Text saith That neither Sunne nor starre for many daies appeared Act. 27.20 they were as if the Sunne had not risen for many daies Such stormy gloomy weather God can make Ezek. 32.7 When I shall put thee out I will cover the heaven and make the stars thereof dark I will cover the Sunne with a cloud that is I will put a black vail or cloak upon the heavens that the Sunne shall not put out any light when I put them out when I extinguish thee I will for a time extinguish the Sunne also The constellations of heaven are often expressed sympathizing with the dispensations of God on earth Isa 13.10 Joel 2.31 Mat. 24.29 He commandeth or speaketh to the Sun Observe hence First The bare word of God is a command Os in Scriptura pro voluntate saepe accipitur significat enim locutionem locutione enim homines quid volunt manifestant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He speaks to the Sunne and it riseth not The Apostle useth that word about the creation of light 2 Cor. 4.6 The Lord who commanded light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts the Greek is The Lord who spake light out of darknesse which we translate The Lord who commanded the light out of darknesse The words of God are Laws and therefore the ten Commandments that part of the word which carries the name of commands from all the rest is yet called The ten words of God The Greeks call the ten Commandments the Decalogue or the ten words so many words so many commands The devil seems to acknowledge this great power of God only that he might abuse it in Christ that his word was a command If thou be the Sonne of God Mat. 4.3 command that these stones be made bread The Greek is If thou be the Sonne of God speak to these stones that they become bread or speak these stones into bread he would take that as a proof of his Divinity If thou be the Sonne of God doe this God can doe this his Word is a command to all creatures for whatsoever he imposeth upon them they must submit to it therefore doe thou so likewise speak to these stones or command these stones to become bread It should be matter of comfort to us while we remember that every word of God is a command upon all creatures He hath made a decree which shall not passe Psal 148.6 The Hebrew is only a word which shall not passe his word is a decree which none shall reverse Secondly As from the former clause He commandeth the Sun we learn that every word of God is a command so from that which followeth and it riseth not We may learn That every creature obeies the command and submits to the will of God Men often speak and speak in the highest language of commanding and yet the thing is not done but whatsoever the Lord speaks is done Every thing hath an ear to hear his voice who made both voice and ear Psal 148.8 Fire and hail snow and vapour stormy winde fulfilling his Word Senslesse creatures act at Gods command and goe upon his errand They fulfill his Word The Lord sent a message unto Hezekiah to assure him that his sicknesse was at his command because the Sunne was 2 King 20.9 10. Shall the shadow goe forward ten degrees or goe backward ten degrees in the diall of Ahaz either way saith the Lord I can doe it either way as thou shalt ask a sign it shall be done And Hezekiah answered It is a light thing for the shadow to goe down ten degrees but let the shadow return backward ten degrees Yet he knew the Lord did not offer him a light thing in either when he said Shall the Sunne goe forward or backward The Sunnes going forward was within a degree as great a matter as it 's going backward but Hezekiah
cals it a light matter in regard of common apprehension and observation The Sunnes motion is naturally forward and though it should mend it's pace many would not much regard it but all would stand and wonder at a retrograde motion or at the Sun going backward Hence Hezekiah cals it a light matter for the Sunne to goe forward comparatively to it 's going backward And from either the Lord would teach Hezekiah that the creatures will doe what he bids them even the Sunne will move miraculously at his Word How great a rebuke will it be to man if he move not at the command of God and as God commands Shall the Lord say to the Sunne Rise not and it riseth not and shall he say to man Swear not and he will swear pray and he will not pray shall the Lord have better obedience from creatures without life then from man who hath not only life but reason or from Saints who have not only reason but grace They who have grace give not such universal obedience as things without life for though there be a part in them active to obey yet there is a part in them backward to all obedience Let it shame us that there should be any thing in us who have life reason and grace resisting or not readily complying with all the commands of God when the Sunne which hath not so much as life obeies his voice He commandeth the Sun and it riseth not Thirdly Observe from the manner of this speech That The Lord hath a negative voice upon the motion of all creatures He commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not It is a royall Prerogative that the Lord commands the Sunne to rise but that the Lord hath a power to stay the Sun from rising lifts up his Prerogative to the highest In all disputes about power his is resolved to be greatest who hath the negative voice which checks and supersedeats all others This is the Prerogative of God he can stay the motion of the Sun and of man The Sun dares not do his office to the day nor the stars to the night if the Lord say No. The Sun is described Psal 19.5 like a bridegroom comming out of his Chamber drest and prepared and as a Giant rejoycing to runne his race but though the Sunne be thus prepared and drest and ready yet if the Lord send a writ and a prohibition to the Sunne to keep within his chamber he cannot come forth his journey is stopt Thus also he stops man in his neerest preparations for any action If the Lord will work who shall let it Isa 43.13 That is there is no power in heaven or earth which can hinder him But if the Lord will let who shall work neither Sunne nor stars nor men nor devils can work if he forbid them The point is full of comfort God tels Abimelech in the case of Sarah Abrahams wife whom he took into his house I know that thou didst it in the integrity of thy heart but I with held thee and I suffered thee not to touch her Gen. 20.6 And when Laban pursued Jacob with hard thoughts against him and strong resolutions to deal harshly with him The Lord gave a negative voice Gen. 31.24 Take heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad Laban had not the use of his own tongue He could not speak either good or bad Not good or bad Was there any hurt for Laban to speak good to Jacob And the story tels us that Laban spake many words and some bad enough to Jacob charging him with a double theft First for stealing himself away vers 27. Wherefore didst thou steal away from me Secondly for stealing his Idols vers 30. And now though thou wouldest needs be gone because thou longest sore after thy fathers house yet wherefore hast thou stoln away my gods Foul language all though God charged him not to speak a bad word to Jacob. For answer know We must restrain that restraint to the point of bringing Jacob back again Thou shalt not speak either good or bad to him to stop or turn him from his way thou shalt use no threatnings to bring him back to thee no nor any promises or allurements thou shalt make no offers of better entertainment to winne him to thy service which was the thing he so much desired Good and bad are the two terms of all that can be spoken and where the utmost extreams of speaking are forbidden all speaking to that purpose is forbidden When the ancient people of God were few in number yea very few and strangers in the land when they went from one Nation to another from one Kingdome to another people one would thinke that all the world would have been upon them but here was their protection God had a negative voice Psal 105.15 He suffered no man to doe them wrong Many had as we say an aking tooth at the people of God their fingers itcht to be dealing with them and the text shews four advantages the world had against them First They were few Secondly Very few Thirdly Strangers Fourthly Unsetled What hindered their enemies It was the Lords negative voice He reproved Kings for their sake saying Touch not mine anointed and doe my Prophets no harm We see an instance of this Gen. 35.5 when Jacob and his family journeyed the terrour of God was upon the Cities that were round about them and they did not pursue after the sonnes of Jacob They had a minde to pursue after them to revenge the slaughter of the Sichemites but God said Pursue not and then they could not pursue they must stay at home And when his people the Jews were safe in Canaan he encourages them to come up freely to worship at Jerusalem by this assurance No man shall desire thy Land when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year Exod. 24.34 God can stop not only hands from spoiling but hearts from desiring Our appetite whether concupiscible or irascible is under his command as well as our actions The Prophet asserts this by way of question Lam. 3.37 Who is he that saith and it cometh to passe when the Lord commandeth it not That is if the Lord doth not concurre if the Lord vote against the saying or command of any man in the world what he saith shall never come to passe We should consider this to help our faith in these times God hath a negative voice upon those counsels and conclusions which are carried with one consent of men And the wrath of man shall either turn to his praise or all that is beyond that he will stop the remainder of wrath namely so much as remains over and above what turns to the praise of God shalt thou restrain Psal 76.6 The sword is in motion amongst us even as the Sunne and the sword seemeth to have received a charge to passe from one end of the Land to the other yet a counter-command from God
will stop this sword from going on If he speak to the sword the sword shall wound no more We may entreat the sword to wound no more as they Jer. 47.6 cried out O thou sword of the Lord how long will it be ere thou be quiet put thy self into thy scabbard rest and be still The answer was How can it be quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Askelon c. Our answer might be changing place the same How can it be quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against England A word from God draws and a word from God sheaths the sword He that commands the Sunne and it riseth not can command the sword and it smiteth not the fire and it burns not the water and it drowns not the Lions and they devour not How happy are they who serve the Lord over all Observe fourthly seeing He commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not That The daily rising of the Sunne is an act of grace and favour to the world The Sunne doth not rise alone of it self it is the Lord as we may say that helps it up every morning Therefore it is said Mat. 5.45 He makes his Sunne to rise His Sunne mark how Christ speaks of the Sunne as Gods own that Sunne which he can either cause to rise or not to rise cause to rise upon one people and not upon another He makes his Sunne to rise there is an act of common grace in making it to rise upon any especially in making it to rise upon all upon the evil and upon the good Mat. 5.41 That God makes the Sunne rise to give them light who use their eyes onely to rebell against the light how admirable is it Lastly As to the speciall aim of Job we see what a proof we have of the omnipotency of God He is great in power and mighty in strength Why because he can stop the Sunne He that can stay the Sunne what can he not doe We say to men that attempt impossibilities Climb up to the Moon it is more to stay the Sun than to climb the moon And if the Lord be able to overcome this difficulty what difficulty can he not overcome Here 's a clear proof of the infinite power and wisdome of God Qui efficit noctem diem nam donec oritur sol est nox adveniente die quasi obsignatae occultantur stellae Juâ— He speaks to the Sunne and it riseth not And He sealeth up the stars The Sunne is the light of the day the stars the light of the night He sealeth up the stars Some take it to be a Periphrasis or a description of night and day because till the Sunne riseth it is night and when day appears the stars are sealed up or disappear The Sun riseth and the stars are obscured we see them not So the former clause He commandeth the Sun and it riseth not is a description of the night and this later he sealeth up the stars is a description of the day The plain sense of both being this He maketh both night and day Secondly say others This seal is set upon the Sunne in behalf of the stars He sealeth up the Sunne for the stars that is Pro stellis signavit â—â—solem signaculo quasi in favorem stellarum Deus continet solis splendorem in altero Haemispherto Cajet in favour of the starres that the starres might sometime appear in their lustre and glory to the world he keepeth the Sunne from appearing But as we translate we may better keep the seal upon the stars He sealeth up the stars And so sealing may import either of those two things First The safe custody of the stars He sealeth up the stars that is he preserveth the stars in their orbs in the places where he hath set them they shall never drop out Sealing is often used for assurance and safe-keeping Darius Dan. 6. Anrulos non tam oâ—natus quam custodiae gratia olim inventos diâ—it Macrobius l. 7. Saturn c. 3. sealed the stone upon the den of Lions that so Daniel might not be rescued or fetcht out from the danger The Jews that they might keep Christ fast enough seal'd the stone of the sepulchre wherein his body was laid Mat. 27. And in a spirituall sense the sealing of the Spirit is to make the soul safe in the love and favour of God A soul that is sealed by the Spirit of God is secured of the love of God and shall never drop out of his heart So He sealeth up the stars is He makes the stars firm and fast in their Sphears But rather Secondly Sealing is for secrecie or for the hiding of a thing from the sight of others So in the sealing of letters that they be not seen and of treasures that they be not stoln or taken away Deut. 32.34 Job 14.17 Thus the Lord seals up the stars Clausae videntur cum non videntur Stellae omnia coeli lumina vetur characteres quidam efficiunt librum Pined when he clouds or obscures the stars and will not let them be seen Some make it an allusion to a book The heavens are a great volume wherein many truths of God are written his name is there and the stars are as so many characters or letters of his Name He often seals up this great volume and so blots these letters that no man can read or distinguish them Thirdly The meaning of He sealeth up the stars may be taken thus He keeps in and closes up the vertue and influences of the stars he stops those treasures which usually come down from the stars upon the earth Naturall Philosophy teaches us that all the fatnesse and fruitfulnesse of the earth is convaied from the heavens Heaven nurses and suckles the earth and if the Lord please he can dry up those brests seal up those influences stop those secret workings which the heavenly bodies have upon the earth Observe hence That the influences of the heavens are in the hand of God to let them out or stay them as he pleaseth As he can seal up the spirituall treasures of heaven that the soul shall receive no light comfort or refreshing from them in ordinances so he seals up the naturall influences of the heavens that the earth and the fruits of it here below shall receive no quickning no refreshing from them And the earth languishes when the Lord suspendeth and sealeth up the naturall influences of heaven as the soul languisheth when the Lord stops up the spirituall influences of heaven when he seals up that star of Jacob that day-star from on high Jesus Christ What we hear of God in naturall things should keep us in continuall dependance upon him for spirituals he seals with the comforts of his own Spirit and he seales up all comforts from our spirits Verse 8. Which alone spreadeth out the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the sea This verse gives us a further argument
like a curtain God took the vast matter folded together and spread it as a curtain tabernacle or tent And the * Hîc Dolapum manuâ— hîc saevus tendebat Achillis Virg 2. Aeneiad Iuxta hortos tendâ—bat Suct in Galb c 12. de Germanâ—rum Cohorte Et milites tendere omnes extra vallum jussit Tac l 13. Latine word which carries the interpretation of this in the Hebrew is frequently applied by ancient Authours to the pitching of tents in warre In this third sense we are specially to understand the Text Alone spreadeth out the Heavens And so this spreading is either an exposition of the nature of the heavens Gen. 1.8 The Lord said Let there be a firmament the Hebrew is * CoeluÌ„ sive firmamentum vocaâ—ur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eo quid est expansum extensum super terram Solus sine cujusquam auxilio Let there be an expansion or a stretching forth These heavens are so much spread forth that they are called a thing spread forth and so the text is a description of the heavens in their first Creation Or it may referre to the words going before and so these are a reason to shew that God can command the Sunne and seal up the stars why He spreadeth forth the heavens that is the heavens are all of his making and at his disposing he set the Sunne there and put the starres there he fashioned the orbs in which they are placed and therefore he can stay the Sun and seal the starres And as he thus spreadeth out the heavens so which is more observable He spreadeth them out alone When a piece of hangings or the like of a large extent is to be spread forth one man cannot doe it many hands are put to that work Instrumentum creationis creatura esse non potest It is an axiome in Divinity That no creature can be an instrument in Creation this stretching forth of the heavens is an act of Creation therefore he alone doth it there is none to help him Yet we finde that God had some other with him when he stretched out the heavens though it be here attributed to him alone and though Elihu expostulates with Job in this point Chap. 37.18 Hast thou with him spread out the skie which is strong and as a molten looking-glasse Elihu would bring down the thoughts of Job which he conceived were too much lifted up by shewing that God did this alone Solus quia nemo extra ipsum cuÌ„ ipso sed una cuÌ„ iâ—so illi qui in ipso per identitatem substantiae sunt verbo enim Domini firmati sunt coeli spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum Solum enim divinitas sacit quae ut una ita sola Job saith he didst thou hold one part of this great Curtain or Canopy of heaven in thy hand and God another and was it so spread out between you No neither man nor angel was his helper who then was with God in this work Solomon tels us Prov. 8.27 When he prepared the heavens I was there when he set a compasse upon the face of the depth Who was that I wisdome was there Jesus Christ was there Christ was he by whom God prepared and stretched forth the heavens No creature was there only the uncreated creating Sonne of God God created alone that is without the help of any creature but he created all things by the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made Observe from hence First The heavens are as the royall tent and pavilion of the Lord. He spreadeth them out The Lord is often exprest comming out of the heavens with warlike preparations There his tent is pitcht and he sitteth there as a great Commander in his pavilion to give out Orders to his Armies He hath an host in heaven and therefore he hath a tent in heaven or rather heaven is his tent The Lord hath his way in the whirlwinde and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet Nah. 1.3 God pitches his battell in heaven The stars in their courses fought against Sisera He fought from heaven from thence he discharged his great Artillery his Cannons thundered and lightened against the enemies of his people He hath also his store-houses for ammunition his Magazines there Job 38.22 Est allâ—so ad armamentaria publica ubi armorum ma hinarum tormentorum ingens apparatus reconditur B l. Quicquid habeÌ„t telorum armamentaria coeli Juven Sat. 13. Hast thou saith God to Job entred into the treasures of the snow Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail which I have reserved against the time of trouble the day of battell and warre He speaks of heaven as of a great store-house where he hath his arms his powder and ball all his warlike provision laid up against the day of battell Heathens have spoken such language calling storms and tempest hail and thunder The weapons and engines of the Armory of heaven Secondly In that he saith He stretcheth out the heavens alone observe That the Lord needs not the help of any treature to doe his greatest works He hath power and he hath power in himself to doe what he hath a will should be done let all the creatures in the world stand still yet God can carry his work forward What work is like this the stretching forth the heavens There cannot be a work of so much difficulty under heaven as the spreading forth of the heavens He who did that alone what can he not doe alone Though men will not though men cannot help the Lord can and will alone Isa 59.16 He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessour no man to do no man to speak in that businesse not a man appeared what then Doth the Lord say well seeing there is no man to do I also will let it lie No Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him and his power sustained him he did it alone Paul speaks of himself that at his first appearing before Nero all men forsook him not a man would own him but saith he The Lord stood by me 2 Tim. 4.15 This is a great encouragement to us in great affairs and businesses in the greatest straits and difficulties of the times if men forsake and desert the Lord alone can doe all for us if men have not power to doe what they have will to doe nor will to doe what they have power then remember He that stretcheth out the heavens alone can order our works alone compose our differences alone conquer our enemies alone God alone is infinite greater stronger wiser then all creatures together God can be now as he will be hereafter all in all unto us God is enough for us without any creature yea God and all that he hath made cannot do more than God
highest heavens A second thing which shews the mighty power and wisdome of God in the stars is the multitude of them they are innumerable Man cannot tell them only God can they are like the sand of the sea for number A multitude of little sands make a huge body then how great a body doe a multitude of great bodies make Thirdly The swiftnesse of their motion that these mighty vast bodies should be carried about every day so long a journey and never tire or wear shews infinite power and wisdom Fourthly This is more admirable the exact order of their motion That innumerable stars should move continually in the heavens and yet not one of them move out of course this regularity of their motion is setled by an ordinance of heaven Jer. 31.35 where the Lord to assure his people that he would be steady and stedfast in the waies of his love to them and that he would not cast them off tels them that he would be as firm to them in his Covenant as he is in the ordinances of heaven Thus saith the Lord which giveth the Sunne for a light by day and the ordinances of the Moon and of the stars for a light by night c. As if he had said I have made a statute and a decree which is irrepealable and irrevocable concerning the motion of the stars There is an ordinance of heaven for it so that as the celestiall bodies cannot but continue the course I have assigned them for the enlightning of these inferiour parts while the world lasts So the Covenant which I have made with you shall not fail to give you light Thus he infers in the next verse If these ordinances depart from before me saith the Lord then shall the seed of Israel also cease from being a Nation before me for ever but that cannot be I have established these starres by a firm and perpetuall decree therefore you are much more established And such is the exactnesse of their order and motion that the stars of heaven are frequently in Scripture called an host or an army Now an army as it consists of many persons which is one reason why the stars are called an host so an army rightly marshalled is cast into an exact form and so regular for motion that it is one of the good liest sights in the world Now the stars are the host of heaven they stand as it were in battalia they keep rank and file there is not so much as one of that great multitude out of place therefore Judg. 5.20 where they are said to fight against Sisera they are described fighting in courses The stars in their courses fought against Sisera as if the stars had been drawn up now one regiment then another regiment of them to charge upon Sisera and his host the heavens fought and the stars fought that is the Lord by an heavenly power and influence of the stars confounded Sisera and all the enemies of Israel Fifthly There is a most efficacious vertue in the stars It is a secret vertue and it is a strong irresistable vertue no power in the creature can stop it Therefore God challenges Job in the 38. of this book of Job v. 31. Canst thou binde the sweet influences of Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion There are influences in the stars and canst thou binde them Is it in the power of any creature to stop the issues and out-flowings of the stars Their influences are so efficacious that none can binde them but he that looseth them none can binde them but the hand and power which made them there is so much efficacy in them that if God let them go on in their naturall vigour their effects are wonderfull I saith the Lord Hos 2.21 22. will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oil and they shall hear Jezreel As if he had said The heavens are next in power to me they are second to my self in working Therefore I will hear the heavens the heavens cannot do it unles I give them a commission but I will hear the heavens I will leave a power in the heavens And the heavens shall hear the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the earth shall hear the corn c. There is a gradation a descent from God to us and the heavens are the next receptacle the immediate vessel receiving and taking in power and vertue from God to defuse and send down upon the creatures here below I will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth Sixtly Observe That the stars and constellations of heaven can do nothing of themselvs but as they receive order commission from the Lord. He maketh Arcturus and Orion c. They have great power but it is the Lord that maketh them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non tantum facere sed etiam aptare disponere dirigere praeparare significat That word He maketh doth not so much signifie the Creation as the providentiall disposition of the stars as was noted in the Exposition of it He maketh them that is he orders and disposeth them or he acts the stars he trims up those lamps of heaven the word is so used 2 Sam. 19.24 Mephibosheth while David was in trouble had not dressed his feet the Hebrew is He had not made his feet that is he had neglected his body now saith Job the Lord is he that makes dresses or trims up those lamps of heaven though they have a naturall vertue yet that vertue is quickned by providence Providence is a continued creation He maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades The stars are the servants of God they receive orders and directions from him for all they do And the reason why the Lord did so often call his people off from gazing upon the stars and reproved star-gazers was because they looked no further than the stars they thought the stars did all they did not eie God that made Arcturus Orion c. but they only eied Arcturus c. Therefore he threatens the star-gazers and monethly prognosticatours who took upon them to resolve future events by the conjunction of planets and planetary aspects placing an uncontrolable power in the hands of the heavens and stars whereas I saith the Lord make Arcturus I made him and I make him do what I command not what you fore-tell Therefore Isa 44.24 25. the Prophet speaking of Gods work in making the heavens and the stars presently adds how he befools men that will prophesie from the stars as if they could tell infallibly what shall come to passe I am the Lord that maketh all things that stretcheth forth the heavens alone that spreadeth abroad the earth by my self What follows That frustrateth the tokens of the liars and maketh diviners mad I stretch out the heavens some will needs prophesie out of the heavens I have set the stars in the heavens and they are for signs Gen. 1.14
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
The superiour may ask the inferiour and call him to an account Every inferâ—our Judge and Court is accountable to those above that is the highest Court and he the highest Judge to whom no man can say What doest thou The Parliament of England is therefore the highest Judicatory in this Kingdom because their actions are not questionable in any other Court one Parliament may say to another What hast thou done This Parliament hath said to Parliaments that have gone before What have ye done in making such and such Laws No power of man besides their own can question some men much lesse can any man question God and say to him What doest thou He is supreme there is no appeal to any other higher Judge or higher Court. Hence observe Whatsoever God resolveth and determineth concerning us we must bear it and quietly submit No man may say unto him What doest thou Quicquid de nobis Deus statuit libenter ferendum est Why doe ye sit still saith the Prophet Jer. 8.14 Assemble your selves and let us enter into the defenced Cities and let us be silent there for the Lord hath put us to silence and given us waters of gall to drinke because we have sinned against him The Lord hath put us to silence that is the Lord hath done these things and we are not to question him about them or to ask him what he hath done or why he hath done thus Therefore let us be silent say they Let us not murmure at and complain over our own sufferings much lesse tax and charge God for his doings It becomes us to obey Gods suspension to be silent when he puts us to silence The Lord never silences any unlesse in wrath to those who would not hear from speaking in his name and publishing his vvord But he hath silenced all from speaking against his works and it will be ill with us if our passions how much soever God seems to act against us shall take off this suspension The Lord is uncontrollable in all his works When Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4.35 came to himself and began to think and speak like a man after he had been among the beasts see what an humble acknowledgement he makes concerning God All the inhabitants of the earth saith he are reputed as nothing and he doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What doest thou Here we have both parts of Jobs speech none can stay his hand which is the former and none can say unto him What doest thou which is the later That great Monarch acknowledged he had no power to question God though he at that time had power to question all the men upon the earth Nebuchadnezzar speaks like Job A wicked man may make a true report of God Many speak right of the Lord whose hearts are not right with him Nebuchadnezzar was converted from beastlinesse but I finde not that he was converted to holinesse He came home to his own Court but I see no proof that he came home to the Church of God yet see how divinely he speaks and how humbly he walks not so much as offering to ask God who had chang'd him from a Commander of men to a companion of beasts What doest thou We may ask the Lord in one sense what he doth Yea the Lord doth nothing in the world but his Saints and servants are enquiring of him about it He invites them to petition for what they would have Ask of me things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me Isa 45.11 Though man cannot order or enjoyn the least thing upon God yet at the entreaty of his people he is as ready to doe as if he were at their command And as we are thus envited to ask things to come so we are not totally denied to ask about things already done We may ask him in an humble way for information not in a bold way of contradiction We may in zeal to his glory not in discontent with our own condition expostulate with him about what he hath done So Joshua Chap. 7.7 8. Alas O Lord God wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side Jordan c. but how durst Joshua speak thus What if God vvould destroy them vvas it not his dury to bear it and let God alone Yes doubtlesse and such I doubt not vvas the frame of Joshuas spirit If Israel only had been to suffer Joshua had held his peace at least from such language but he saw a further matter in it the glory of God vvas like to suffer in their sufferings the close of his praier betraies this holy disposition of his heart vers 9. And what wilt thou doe unto thy great name As if he had said Lord the matter were not much though the name of Israel were blotted out from under heaven so thy Name were written in fairer characters But I fear a blow to Israel will be a blot to thy name and therefore I have taken upon me to pray this praier unto thee and I have praied rather for thee than to thee All praiers are made to God and yet some are made for him Not that he hath any want or is in any the remotest possibility of any danger but only for the promoting of his glory and that the world may not have occasion of a dishonourable thought of him whose honour never abates in it self or in the eyes of his own people Thus we may ask him what he hath done and why he hath brought such desolations upon his people But we may not ask him what he hath done either to question his right to doe it or to question his righteousnesse in doing of it No creature may put the question upon either of these terms What hast thou done much lesse conclude Thou hast done that which thou hast no right to do or thou hast been unrighteous in doing it Either of these is highest blasphemy for whatsoever the Lord doth he hath right to doe and whatsoever the Lord doth he is righteous in doing it Hence it followeth by way of corollary That The Lord is of absolute power He is the Soveraign Lord Lord over all there is no appeal from him no questioning of him Solomon speaketh of the power of a King in this language Eccles 8.4 Where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him What doest thou But is there nothing which a King doth about which it may be said unto him What dost thou And what is this word of a King The word of a King is the Law of his Kingdom all that a King doth or speaks besides the Law he speaks as a man not as a King and that 's the meaning of Solomons
to the manner of his praier or invocation as not comming up to the height and measure of the duty as not fulfilling that Law of praier which the Lord requireth and so because his praiers were imperfect and weak therefore he would not believe that ever God had taken notice of him or hearkned to his voice As if he had said You bid me make my supplication if I doe yet I will not believe that God takes notice of my praiers Why because mine are but cold and unbelieving praiers weak and distracted praiers the praiers of a distemper'd heart the praiers of a confused spirit such I confesse mine are therefore I cannot believe God will hearken to my voice But rather in the last place take the sense thus Videtur hoc esse animi mirabiliter demissâ— atque sibi suâ—eq orationi diffidentis fidentis vero de sola divina bonitate Pined that Job in these words breaths out the humility of his spirit as if he had said I am so far from standing upon my terms with God as was shewed before as if I had hopes to carry it with him by contending that though I come in the humblest manner to invocate and call upon his Name and I finde him so gracious and mercifull to me as that he doth answer me in my requests and grant the thing I desire yet I will not believe that he hath hearkned to My voice that is that he hath done this for any worthinesse in me in my services or praiers I will not believe that the answer I receive from heaven is obtained by any value which my person hath with God Such is the coldnes and deadnes the languishment and unbelief of my heart in praier such are my praiers that the truth is Non ex diffidentia hoc dicit sed ex timore Dei reveritus judicium Drus I cannot believe I am heard when I am heard I cannot think my petition granted when I see it is granted Thus it sets forth the exceeding humility and lowlinesse of his spirit he would give all the glory unto God in granting his petitions and take nothing at all to himself in making those petitions I would not believe that he hath hearkned to my voice What voice was it then that he believ'd God hearken'd unto He hearken'd to the voice of the Mediatour to the voice of Christ He hearken'd to the voice of his own free grace He hearken'd to the sounding of his own bowels He hearken'd to the motions and intercessions of his Spirit in me to the motions and intercessions of his Sonne for me It is not my voice that hath got the answer he alone that hath granted it of his good pleasure in Christ I would not believe that he had hearkned to my voice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Credere stabile esse The word signifies both believing and establishing or to believe and establish and the reason of it is because faith settles the heart Faith is the establishment of the soul An unbeliever hath no bottom he is built without a foundation his spirit is unfixed And that act of believing I would not believe is the generall act of faith namely a firm assent to the truth of what another speaketh An assent to the truth of it two waies To the truth of it First Historically that such a thing was spoken or done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graecè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then Logically that the thing is true which is spoken When he saith I would not believe that God hath done this his meaning is I would not assent to it as done for my sake or for my voice not that he would not believe the thing was done at all He assented to the word and answer of God when he did receive it but in that restriction he would not believe it namely in reference to himself that he hath hearkned to his voice To hearken is more then to hear * Auscultare inclinationem animi denot at ad alterius dicta Cujus oppositum est auret claudere obturare ad alicujâ—s sermonem Hinc proverbâ—um Surdo natras fabulam Haec verba exactam demissi animi significationem contineÌ„t Tunc cum arriserit gratia time cum abierit time Bernard Providentia Deisaepe nobis beâ—evoâ—a est cum nulla benevolentiae externa praebet argumenta imo aliquardo quem exaudit turbine conterit malorum it notes the inclination of the minde rather then the attention of the ear As to stop the ear notes the shutting of the heart against obedience rather than of the ear against audience To tell a tale to a deaf man is to speak to one that hears but will not grant From all it appears First That Job speaks very highly of the goodnesse of God namely that God answers praier though he hath not respect to the voice of him that praieth Though he had answered me yet would I not believe that he had hearkned to my voice Secondly That he speaks exceeding humbly and submissively of himself my voice what am I a poor creature that I should think I had carried the matter with God Thirdly That he speaks very wisely and understandingly concerning the nature and efficacy of praier and the means procuring answers of praier When man praies God answers but he doth not answer because man praies Fourthly That he speaks very highly and gloriously of the providence of God though providence act darkly towards man We pray God answers and doth us good yet things may goe quite contrary in appearance If I had called and he had answered me yet would I not believe that he had hearkned unto my voice why He breaketh me with a tempest God was breaking him and hearing him at the same time God may be doing us good when the signs he gives speak evil he hears and answers us praying to him when we think we hear him thundering terribly against us Hence First We learn That Praier is calling upon God Then the heart should be very attentive upon God in praier How can we expect God should hear us when we doe not hear our selves In praier we call upon God therefore we should call upon our selves to consider how and what we pray Secondly Note Praier granted is praier answered If I had called and he had answâ—red me The Lord from heaven speaks to us in every act of his providence his speaking to us is in doing for us The works of God are answers to man God doth not answer audibly or sensibly there is a voice in his dispensations As men Prov. 6.13 So the Lord speaks to us with his feet and answers our praiers with his fingers that is his works and waies are demonstrations of his will in answer to our praiers Thirdly In that Job tels us He would not believe c. we are taught That faith is a necessary ingredient in praier This negation of his faith in praier implies the need of faith in praier
he drank up that cup of his fathers wrath to the very bottom though he drank up all the gall and wormwood of sinne for the salvation of men yet when he had tasted thereof He would not drink Mat. 27.34 If it be grievous to taste but a little of a bitter cup then judge how grievous Iobs sufferings were who was filled with bitternes he had his belly full of trouble his belly full of Gall and Wormwood his stomack could hold no more bitternesse was both his meat and drink Note First Afflictions may come uncessantly Not so much as a breathing time between then while thou art assaulted prepare for fresh assaults Observe Secondly The Lord sometimes mixes a very bitter cup for his own people Yea they have not only a bitter cup but bitternesse is their cup and they have not only a taste of it but are filled with it The Psalmist shews us a bitter cup which is the proper portion of wicked men There is a cup in the hand of the Lord and it is full of mixture the wine is red and the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them Psal 75.8 The Lord hath a cup of red wine that is a cup filled with wrath fury and indignation Wicked men how much soever their stomacks loath it and turn against it shall drink it up to the bottom or he will pour it down their throats whether they will or no. They shall be filled with bitternesse after all their sweet morsels and pleasant draughts The Saints are filled with bitternesse from God but not with the wrath of God many sorrows may be mingled in their cup but everlasting love is ever mingled in it Saints never drink pure wrath as wicked men never taste pure love To conclude we may observe here a Climax or gradation of four steps First Vers 14. Iob acknowledged that he was unable to answer the Lord. And secondly He professed that if he could he would not no he would humble himself vers 15. Thirdly If in mercy God should answer his petition yet he would not be confident at all in regard of himself that God had heard him or hearkned unto his voice Lastly He acknowledged that God might go on to afflict him still for some read this text in the future tense He will multiply my wounds and afflict me without cause He will fill me with bitternesse A godly man reckons up his afflictions as well as his comforts to the praise and honour of God And the more God afflicts him the more he abases himself though he doth not thinke the worse of himselfe because God doth afflict him JOB Chap. 9. Vers 19 20 21. If I speak of strength loe he is strong and if of judgement Who shall set me a time to plead If I justifie my self mine own mouth shall condemn me If I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse Though I were perfect yet would I not know my own soul I would despise my life JOB goeth on to lay himself yet lower before God and having in the three former verses proved that weak man is not able to contend with the Almighty he giveth an additionall proof in this 19th verse from the consideration of a two-fold adjunct in God First his strength And secondly his justice From both he concludeth according to the former argument given upon the whole matter in the 10th verse seeing God is so strong and just Surely if I justifie my self my own mouth shall condemn me and if I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse If I speak of strength loe he is strong There are two waies whereby a man makes his part good against another man First By the strength of his arm and dint of his sword Secondly By the equity of his cause and the goodnesse of his conscience Iob declareth his inability to deal with God in either If I speak of strength loe he is strong c. M. Broughton translates thus As for force he is valiant if I think to carry it by force with God He is a God of valour or as Moses in his Song Exod. 15.3 describeth him The Lord is a man of warre I cannot deal with him upon that point In originali indifferens est naÌ„ tantum habetur si ad potentiam ut suppleri possit venero aut respexero vel aliquid simile The originall speaks only thus much If of strength he strong we supply the word speak If men talk of strength or boast of strength or shew forth their strength we may supply it with any of those words Loe he is strong As it is usuall with us when we would set a man up in the perfections of any quality we say What doe ye speak of knowledge why There 's a learned man What doe ye speak of riches why there 's a rich man c. Such an emphasis is carried in this expression If I speak of strength why here 's one that is strong indeed There are five words in the Hebrew which signifie strength 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first notes strength in generall The second Prevalens vincens invicto quodam obfirmato animo praeditus dici solet de eo qui viribus superior est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vis generaliâ—er 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 connotat proportionem ad efficentiam vel conteÌ„t onem virium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est durabilitas in agenti actione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strength to endure labour The third efficacy The fourth vigour the fifth which is that of the text superiority of strength or prevailing strength It is one thing to be strong and another thing to prevail The Lord is not only strong but strongest he hath a strength above all strength he is strong overcommingly strong prevailingly Christ in the Gospel speaks of a strong man he means the devil that kept the house but he was not strong prevailingly for there came a stronger then he that spoil'd him and took away all his armour from him wherein he trusted Luk. 11.22 but when the holy Ghost saith That the Lord is strong the meaning is that he is stronger then all and so generally the positive is expounded by the superlative If we speak of strength loe he is strong that is he is most strong Thus we finde the word used 2 Sam. 22.18 He delivered me from my strong enemy and from them that hated me for they were too strong for me Efficaciam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vigorem significat Coc. they were prevailingly strong for me and therefore unlesse I had found a supply of help unlesse some auxiliaries had come from heaven to take my part they had hâ—â—â— too hard for me I had been overmatâ—ht they were prevailingly strong or too strong for me We have the word in the same sense Gen. 25.23 in that resolution which the unerring oracle of heaven gave Rebekah enquiring about the children
own cause why saith Job if I should doe so if I should be my own advocate or atturney and appear my self in my own cause it would be all one If I justifie my self my own mouth shall condemn me I shall be as bad if not worse then before I can get none to plead for me and if I plead for my self I am sure to be cast I cannot mend my self by speaking in my own cause That 's the meaning of this 20th verse which is but a continuation with a further illustration of what he had spoken before therefore I shall but touch upon it Verse 20. If I justifie my self That is If witnesse fail and counsell fail if all help and succours fail me and then I resolve to go to work with my own strength and wit if I goe about to make or declare my self just before God for so the word is to be understood as in the doctrine of justification What shall I gain The profit will not countervail the charge or pay for the expence of one breath For Mine own mouth shall condemn me My tongue would cut my own throat The sentence or words which I should bring forth to plead my cause before God Os meum i e. â—eum testimonium mea oratio Exibo ex hujusmodi judiâ—io condemnatus oratio mea fiet in peccatum would be found against me the Lord would turn all my arguments back upon me and wound me with mine own weapons I should goe out condemned and my plea would be turned into sinne I shall certainly spoil my cause if I handle it As if I should put it into the hands of angels or men they could make nothing of it so neither can I make any thing of it if I manage it my self There are three things which evince that if man undertake the matter with God he shall be condemned by his own mouth First Man is unsufficient How can he who is ignorant weak and unrighteous plead his cause with God who is infinite in wisdome righteousnesse and holinesse And therefore mans own mouth will condemn him his words will speak him guilty while he pleads Not guilty Secondly He that justifies himself must appear in his own commendation he must bring forth all his good works and shew the Lord how he hath fasted praied and mourned how humble how liberall he hath been what alms he hath given he must as it were paint and adorn himself in all his excellencies and stand before the Lord in this aray Now mans own mouth must condemn him if he doe thus Vt laus sic testimonium proprio sorde scit in ore The Heathen could say by the light of nature That a mans praises are sullied by passing thorow his own lips To sound our own praise sounds our own shame If a man have never so much worth in him he dishonours himself by being the trumpet of it Thirdly A mans own testimony is not legall in his own cause The same person must not be a witnesse and a party He that justifies himself condemns himself for his very justification is an accusation If a mans own witnesse may be taken who shall be condemned Who will not acquit himself The witnesse of our own hearts is much 1 Joh. 3.21 but not enough If our own hearts condemn us not then have we confidence toward God But the reason of this confidence is not in the bare single witnesse of our own hearts but in the co-witnesse of God Hominis innocentia duobus testibus constare debet 〈◊〉 Deo 2 Conscientia Ergo si tibi videris habere bonum conscientiae testimonium bede quidem sed divinum adhuc de tua innocentia expectandum est with our hearts Conscience is therefore a thousand witnesses because God who is more then a thousand consciences joyns with conscience both in accusing and in acquitting The Pharisees said unto Christ Thou bearest record of thy self thy record is not true Joh. 8.13 16. They spake upon a legall ground or maxime Christ answereth Though I bear record of my self yet my record is true Christ doth not deny the rule but shews that he was above it and therefore adds It is said in your Law that the testimony of two men is true I am not alone for the Father is with me As if he had said I alone bear not witnesse of my self I have another even the Father thâ—t sent me he beareth witnesse of me therefore mine is not a single testimony in that case indeed I were to be reproved and my witnesse were insufficient My own mouth would condemn me If there were no mouth to testifie for me but only mine If I were but as an ordinary maâ— I might be kept to the ordinary rule God only is a sufficient witnesse to himself Mine own mouth shall condemn me But of what Surely of folly 2 Cor. 12.11 I am become a fool in glorying saith Paul to his Corinthians but I am not a fool of my own making ye have compelled me for I ought to have been commended of you That is ye ought to have given a testimony of me if ye had been just to me I had been condemn'd in justifying my self Then it is a duty to witnesse for our selves when others neglect that duty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The originall word which we translate condemn is directly opposite to that which we translate justifiâ— Proprié sonat impijficare ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 justificare Merc. In forma Hiphil non effectionem â—enotat sed declarationem and some render it by a new-coyn'd word in Latine vvhich vve cannot put literally into English but by coyning a word for it thus If I justifie my self my own mouth would ungodlifie me or declare me to be ungodly Here two Questions arise the one is Why may not Job justifie himself The Lord had justified him the Lord said that he vvas a perfect man that 's the next expression If I say I am perfect it shall prove me perverse The Lord had said of Job Chap. 1. That he was perfect and upright one that feared God and eschewed evil Why may not Job say as much of himself as the Lord had done Solomon resolves this Query Prov. 27.2 Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth a stranger and not thine own lips Man must not speak the evil he knows by others unlesse called nor the good he knows by himself To speak good of our selves vvith our own mouths is much like doing good by other mens hands We must not act things praise-vvorthy by proxie but it is best to be praised by proxy for our good acts Now as man may not praise himself though other men may praise him So he must not praise himself though God praiseth him Not he that commendeth himself is approved but he whom the Lord commendeth 2 Cor. 10.18 Secondly Why doth Job say here I vvill not justifie my self I vvill not say I am
thus in the excesses of spirituall joy and consolation so sometâ—mes in the excesses of anguish and sorrow a man scarce knows vvhether he be alive or dead vvhat his state is vvhether in the body or out of the body he regards neither hot nor cold friend or foe wife or children he forgets to eat his bread A third expounds the words as an admiration I am perfect and doe ye thinke I know not my own soul Do ye think I am not acquainted with my self Am I a stranger at home Have I so despised my life think ye that I take no notice of it and am either carelesse or insensible how things go with me As if he had said I am perfect and this is the work of a man whose waies are perfect before the Lord he knows and considers his own soul and grows assured how matters are with him Ye my friends charge me with these and these failings and will force them upon me whether I will or no though I deny your charge yet ye re-joyn and re-affirm it upon me as though I knew not my own soul or as if ye knew me better then me self But I am perfect in heart and I know my own soul I doe not so despise my lifâ— as if it were not worth the looking after or as if I were not worth the ground I goe upon Lastly Integer sum rec s cio animam meam i. e. quicquam perversi in anima mea Others understand it thus which appears the fairest and most sutable interpretation of these later ones I am perfect neither do I know my own soul that is I am not conscious of any evil in my soul I know of no secret guilt or corruption hidden there and so science is put for conscience I know not is I am not privy to any evil that my soul delights in and keeps close either against God or man yet such evils are upon me that I despise my life The spirit of a man saith Solomon will bear his infirmity Then what a load of infirmity presses that man whose life is a burthen to him though no sin burthen his spirit Troubles of conscience doe often make the most peaceable outward estate of this life troublesome And troubles in the outward estate may make those who have great peace of conscience weary of their lives What it is to despise life and that afflictions make this life burdensome hath been shewed in the third and sixth Chapters and will come more fully to be considered at the first verse of the tenth Chapter whither I referre the Reader and forbear to insist upon it here I shall only adde that Job makes these words as a transition to the second part of his answer to the charge of Bildad Ingreditur in alteram suae respoâ—sionis parteÌ„ qua justitiam suam defendit à gravi libera integritatis suae animi beâ—e conscij assertione Merl. For having before given glory to God by acknowledging his justice wisdome power and soveraignty in all his actings he passes to an apology for himself or a defence of his own integrity against the insultations suspitions and accusations of his friends As if he had said I have desired to save the honour of God from the least touch of an uncomely thought much more then doe I abhorre proud and rude contendings with him But as for you my friends ye must give me leave to be plain with you I am not the man ye take me for I have none of that basenesse of spirit with which ye charge me I am no hypocrite I am perfect in heart with God and upright in my dealings with men And yet I cannot but complain of my sad afflictions and renew my desires that the Lord would give me ease by death and acquit me from the bands of these calamities by cutting the threed of my life I know ye judge these outward evils as the brand of a wicked man of a man hated by God But I 'll maintain a proposition contradictory to that your opinion ye shall never prove me wicked because afflicted for thus I hold and I will hold it against you all as long as I am able to speak that the Lord destroieth the perfect and the wicked The argument may be formed up thus That cannot be made a clear proof of mans impiety which falleth alike upon the good and bad But great and destroying outward afflictions fall equally upon good and bad Therefore great and destroying afflictions cannot be made a clear proof of mans impiety The proof of the minor proposition or assumption is contained in the three verses immediately following The discussion and opening of which will give both light and strength to this argument JOB Chap. 9. Vers 22 23 24. This is one thing therefore I said it he destroieth the perfect and the wicked If the scourge slay suddenly he will laugh at the triall of the innocent The earth is given into the hand of the wicked he covereth the faces of the Iudges thereof if not where and who is he Videtur hic locâ— impictatem inâ—ludere quasi apud Iob unum idem sit piorum improboruâ— judiciuÌ„ quoâ—que Deus haec inferiora non curet Isid Claâ— THis speech of Iob caused a learned interpreter to tremble when he read it conceiving that it savoured strongly of impiety and blasphemy as if Iob had mingled the state of the wicked and of the righteous in one or as if his minde were that the Lord did not distinctively order the affairs of the world by the dictates of his wife providence but left them to be hudled together by inexorable fate or blinde fortune therefore he concludes that Iob rather personates a man void of the true knowledge and fear of God than speaks his own opinion Thus he censures but let Job be well weighed and his discourse will appear full of truth and holinesse This is one thing therefore I said it This is one thing As if he had said You have spoken many things to me about the power greatnesse justice and wisdome of God in all which I agree with you ye and I have no difference about those points I have alwaies thought highly of God and I desire to think humbly of my self but here is one thing wherein I must for ever disagree from you here we must part So that this verse is as the limit-stone between Iobs opinion Hoc unaÌ„ est meae assertionis caput and that of his friends Here he speaks out the speciall tenet which he holds in opposition to them As if he had said I yeeld and subscribe to your judgement in all but this one and in this one thing I must be your adversary though I will not be your enemy I say it and say it again He destroieth both the righteous and the wicked This is one thing This is uniform So Mr Broughton reads it and in this thing I am uniform or of
earthly-poor nor hell all the earthly-rich God doth not give wicked men all the earth but all the earth which they have is of his giving Most of the earth is given to be their possession and all the possession which is given them is of earth therefore it is said He giveth the earth into the hand of the wicked And seeing God giveth the earth into the hand of the wicked we may observe also That wicked men have a just title to the earthly things which they enjoy They are not meer usurpers neither shall they be dealt with as meer usurpers They have no spirituall title no title by Christ they claim not by promise which the Saints doe They have forfeited their title by sinne all is lapsed and escheated into the hand of the great land-Lord Their goods are forfeited and so are their lives into the hand of God and he gives both back for a while into their hands He gives them their lives back and reprieveth them for which time of their reprieve he giveth them the earth to live upon or to maintain their lives and so farre as they use earthly things for the continuance of life they shall not be accounted or reckoned with as usurpers They shall not be charged for using the creaturâ— but for abusing it for making the earth serve their lusts not 〈◊〉 making it a support of their lives And seeing as the Lord hath given them back their forfeited lives so also their forfeited lands by a deed of gift sealed with generall providence this is enough to secure them in those worldly possessions which they have neither got nor hold by injustice from the brand of usurpation Dominium non fundatur in gratia and from the violence of dispossession As what God hath joyned no man may put asunder So what God hath given no man must take away Neither riches nor rule are founded in grace He hath given the earth into the hand of the wicked He covereth the faces of the Judges thereof He covereth There is some Question whom we are to understand as the antecedent to this relative He who is he that co-covereth Tegit ne videant quod aequuÌ„ justum est â—rus Some make the antecedent a wicked man Others say 't is God The earth is given into the hand of the wicked and he that is the wicked one covereth the faces of the Judges thereof Or He that is God covereth the faces of the Judges thereof I shall a little open this expression it needeth some uncovering for it is dark in both relations First Look upon that interpretation which refers it to wicked men He covereth namely That wicked man who is preferred and exalted covereth the faces of the Judges that is he stops the course of justice And there are four waies by which wicked men cover the faces of the Judges Munera caecos reddunt judices First By gifts and rewards Bribes vail yea put out the eyes of a Judge that he cannot see to give every one his due Hence that charge Exod. 23.8 thou shalt take no gift for the gift blindeth the wise and perverteth the words of the righteous Secondly The faces of the Judges are covered by threatnings Fear of losse blindes as well as hope of gain Some send terrible messages to the judge Will not you doe as we would have you Will not you give your sentence and opinion thus at your peril be it Now the Judges face is covered his eyes are put out by a threat the mist and cloud of a Princes displeasure of a great mans indignation is before his eyes His face is covered Thirdly The Judges faces are covered by actuall putting them to shame by casting them out of favour and clouding them with disgrace by taking away their commissions or sending them a Quietus est laying them by as unfit for service any of these is a covering of the Judges face There is a fourth way of covering the Judges face to which the second and third are often made a preparatory And that is by putting the judge to death So much that expression implies in the 40th of this book of Job vers 13. where the Lord with infinite wisdome and holinesse insulting over Job to humble him bids him arise and doe some great thing somewhat which might speak him a man of might Deck thy self now with majesty and excellency and aray thy self with glory and beauty cast abroad the rage of thy wrath and behold every one that is proud and abase him look on every one that is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked in their place Hide them in the dust together and binde their faces in secret that is cover their faces as men prepared for death as men ready to goe out to execution We may expound it by that Esth 7.8 where as soon as ever the word went out of the Kings mouth They covered Hamans face And by that Mark 14.65 where when Christ was judged worthy of death the text saith They spit on him and covered his face The covering of the face was a mark of a condemned man held as unworthy to behold and enjoy the light of the Sunne or the light of the Princes countenance Thus to cover the faces of the Judges is to condemn the Judges and to take them out of the world by sufferings rather then suffer them to doe right I finde that of Elihu Job 34.29 interpreted to this sense When he giveth quietnesse who can make trouble That is when the Lord doth absolve and acquit a man giving him a discharge then he is free no man can sue him or trouble him much lesse condemn him but if he hide his face who then can behold him So we translate it meaning thus If the Lord hide his own face But this exposition saith If the Lord hide the face of that man that is If the Lord condemn that man or passe sentence of death upon him of which covering or hiding the face was a symboll then Quâ— rei faciem poterit amplius videre quasi absolutus sit Bold I lictor colliga manus caput obnubito in foe lici arbori suspendito Cic. in orat pro Rabir. who can behold him That is who then can see his face or have society with him whom God hath separated to death It was a custom also among the Romans when sentence was pronounced upon a malefactour thus to command the executioner Take him away binde his hands cover his face hang him up And usually with us malefactours who are ready to suffer the pains of death put a covering upon their faces This also may be a good sense of the words He covereth the faces of the Judges that is a wicked Prince oppresseth and putteth the Judges to death And whereas good Princes say Let justice be donâ— though the world perish he saith Let the Judges perish rather then justice should be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iudices
the antecedent to be the wicked As if he had said Who but a wicked man will cover the faces of the Iudges and hinder the execution of justice And so they acquit God accounting it blasphemy to attribute the act of covering unto him The Lord is a God of justice he loves judgement he opens the minde and clears the eye he doth not cast clouds and mists before it It 's true so farre as the act is sinfull God forbid we should ascribe it unto God But as was shewed before we need not use this subterfuge left we should lay any aspersion upon his justice and holinesse God can leave men to their injustice without any thought 〈◊〉 or touch of injustice in himself Others interpret this Question as a challenge It is thus Si non ubi est scil qui me falfi arguat prodeat si quis me potest falfi arguere Merc. Vbi est qui mentiri me censet Pagn If it be not where and who is he Who and where's the man that will argue or implead me of falshood in what I have asserted Who is it that undertakes to convince me of errour in the doctrine I have delivered This is my opinion these positions I have laid down for truth That the Lord destroieth the perfect and the wicked that he laugheth at the triall of the innocent that he gives the earth into ohe hand of the wicked that he covereth the faces of the Judges If it be not thus if any one hold otherwise Let me see the man Let him appear as my Antugonist or Opponent Where and who is he that dares charge me with errour I am ready to answer him But rather take it in the sense before given If it be not the Lord who doth this then shew me who it is Where and who is he There is an elegant concisenesse in the Hebrew which speaks only thus If not where he or who he The sense is If it be not God who doth this shew me tell me Who is it And so the words are an exclusion of any other power ordering and disposing the things of the world When old Isaac was disappointed in his intention of giving the blessing to Esau he trembled exceedingly and spake in the language of this Text Who where is he Gen. 27.33 As if he had said I thought thou my sonne Esau hadst brought me venison before and if it was not thou I know not who it should be I was never so deceived in my life if it was not thou Such a broken speech Job uses here If it be not God who doth these things I am much deceived for I know not any in the world to whom I might probably assign them but only unto him You must be wiser then I if you finde any thus powerfull besides God If not where and who is he Whence observe First That The greatest confusions in the world are ordered by God What greater confusion then this to see the earth given to those who deserve not to live upon the earth that they should rule the world who are unworthy to breathe in the world Yet even these things are disposed of by the Lord and are the issues of his counsels That wherein we see no order receives order from the Lord. Secondly Observe The very confusions that are in the world are an argument of the power of God For seeing the world continues in the midst of such confusions it shews there is a mighty power balancing these confusions so exactly that they cannot ruine the world If there were not an over-ruling power in God wicked men ruling would soon ruine all There are mysteries of providence as well as of faith And many are as much puzzl'd to enterpret what God doth as what he hath spoken I finde Heathens often stumbling at this stone and ungodding their Idol gods at the sight of such distributions among men Cum rapiunt mala fata bonos ignoscite fasso Sollicitor nullos esse putare Deos. Ovid. Marmoreo Licin◠tumulo jacet Cato parvo Pompeius nullo quis puter esse Deos When evil takes away good men this is my next thought saith one of them I am sollicited to thinke there are no gods Another observing how unequally men were buried buries God in that observation Licinus a cruell oppressour lies interred in a stately monument Cato a sober grave wise and just Senatour hath a mean and poor sepulchre scarce looking above the ground Pompey the great that famous Commander and Conquerour had no tomb at all he was buried no man knoweth where When we see saith he things go thus who would thinke that there are any gods Thus they stumbled at the supposed uneven dispensations of their idol gods And we finde great offence taken and an horrible blasphemy belched out against the true God upon the same occasion and almost in the same terms Mal. 2.17 Ye have wearied the Lord with your words yet ye say Wherein have we wearied him When ye say Every one that doth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth in them or where is the God of judgement Though they fell not directly into the former blasphemy to conclude there was no God because wicked men prospered yet they fell into a blasphemous opinion that God delighted in and loved wicked men because they prospered Wherein have we wearied the Lord Yes ye have Not that the Lord is at all moved or troubled in himself with the contumelious speeches of men but thus if any thing would tire and weary him this may to hear himself arraigned and judged by the world as a lover of evil men because he doth not presently smite them with the visible marks of his displeasure that because the earth is given into the hands of the wicked therefore the Lord must needs be a friend to the wicked Thirdly Observe That No creature is master of his own waies or ends The Lord giveth the earth into the hand of the wicked Man cannot get the earth into his own hand let him be as wicked as he will The Lord covers the faces of the Judges If he enlighten them no man can cloud them if he open no man can shut No creature can doe good without the directing and enabling hand of God No creature doth any evil without the supporting and over-ruling hand of God Isa 41.23 Shew the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are gods yea doe good or evil that we may be dismaied and behold it together Let us see you doe any mischief if ye can Man is set upon mischief but he cannot act mischief unlesse God at least permit We were in an ill case if man could doe all the evil he hath a minde to It is matter of comfort ☜ to consider that the waies and issues of good and evil are in his hand who is good and doth no evil JOB Chap. 9. Vers 25 26. Now my daies are swifter then a
am impure and shall be at my best vvhich sense falleth in directly with the two verses following Though I wash my self with snow-water and make my hands never so clean yet thou wilt plunge me in the ditch and mine own clothes shall abhorre me Taking up that interpretation I shall connect it with these two verses and open them in order Verse 30. If I wash my self with snow-water and make my hands never so clean Washing is an act proper to the cleansing of the body In lege multae erant purificationes quas Deus sortè instituit ut populum aliarum gentiuÌ„ talibus ceremoniis assuetum facilius adduceret ad cultum veram Pined or of bodily things and in Scripture-story we finde travellers had water provided for them at their journeys end to refresh and cool their bodies These were civil washings But besides these we finde many ceremoniall washings of the body or bodily things which implied the removing and taking away of sinne and so were a token of internall purification Therefore the Apostle Heb. 9.10 describing the Jewish worship and shewing the severall parts of it saith It stood we supply that word but it sutes the text well for the substantials the pillars upon which their worship stood were shadows consisting in meats and drinks and divers washings In allusion to which the Lord promises Ezek. 36.25 I will sprinkle you with clean water And the Apostle Peter speaks of the sprinkling of the bloud of Christ 1 Pet. 1.2 And Paul of the laver of regeneration Tit. 3.5 The Saints who came out of great tribulation are said to have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb Revel 7.14 Sanctification which is cleansing from the filth of sinne and justification which is cleansing from the guilt of sinne are set forth by washing 1 Cor. 6.9 But ye are washed Thus the Prophet counsels the polluted Jews Isa 1.16 Wash you make you clean which he expounds by a morall duty in the next words Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes cease to doe evil Antiquèssimum suit uti balneo aut corporis ablutione ad detergendas animi sordes Ab nimium faciles qui tristia crimina caedis Fluminea â—olli posse putatis aqua learn to doe well It was usuall among the Heathen to wash as a sign of purification especially before they went to worship their gods or after they had defiled themselves with some greivous crime One of the Poets gives them a reproof O ye who are so credulous or easie of belief to thinke that the bloody sinne of murthering the bodies of other men can be taken away by washing your own bodies a Romani noâ—uerunt parricidas nudos sed in culeum insutos influmen abjicere ne cum delati esseâ—t in mare ipsum polluerâ—nt quo caetera quae violata sunt expiari putantur Cic. in Oraâ— pro R sc They had a great opinion of a cleansing vertue in the sea to which some thinke the Prophet Micah alludes Chap. 7.19 He will cast all their sinnes into the depths of the sea b â—hristianus lotus oret Tert. de orat c. 10. Clem. l. 8. Const c 88. Aliqui ex latinis legunt aquis vivis non aquis nivis Pined The ancient Christians using to wash before they praied shewed a little touch at least of Judaisme or of their old Gentilisme Some have given this for one reason why the Lord appointed so many washings among his people that the Heathens might be the easier gained to the religion of the Jews when they found somewhat symbolizing with their customes among them which if it were so yet it cannot bear out those who have mixed Christian worship with Heathenish observations thereby to facilitate their conversion But doubtlesse Job had reference to those rites either of the Jews or Gentiles when he said Though I wash my self with snow-water Why with snow-water That is say some with the most pure water with the clearest springing fountain water or in the most crystall streams not in the water of melted snow but in water like snow for purity and orient clearnesse Others Conceive it an allusion to that peculiar rite in those times when they took snow-water to wash with rather then spring or river water because that came from the heavens not from the earth here below and was therefore in their opinion more excellent in it's nature because it had a more excellent originall Thirdly Job is thought to specifie snow-water because in those Countreys the fountain or river-water was not pure and therefore they preserved snow and took that water to wash and cleanse with As the custom still is in those places where good water is a rare commodity Or lastly He may say If I wash in snow-water because he would expresse the cleanest washing such as makes the body look like snow white and pure White as snow is a proverbiall Isa 1.18 for the most resplendent whitenesse In Scriptura talibus aliquis dicitur lotus qualtum reserre videtur similitudinem Sanct. And we finde in Scripture a thing is said to be washed vvith that the likenesse of vvhich after washing it represents Thus the Church glories in Christ That his eyes were as the eyes of a Dove by the rivers of water washed with milk Cant. 5.12 that is his eyes were white as milk after washing So here Though I wash my self with snow-water that is though I wash my self till I become as white and as pure as snow c. We read a like phrase Psal 51.9 Purge me with hysop and I shall be clean in allusion to the Leviticall law which appointed the Priest to sprinkle both things and persons with a bunch of hysop Levit. 14. Numb 19. So the Chaldee paraphrase expounds the Psalm Cleanse me as the Priest sprinkling with hysop cleansed the people Though I wash my self with snow-water And make my hands never so clean The Hebrew text is very emphaticall Though I wash mine hands in purity which some expresse by that which is the instrument of purifying the hands Though I wash my hands with sope So M. Broughton Though I wash my hands with wash-bals to make my hands clean and sweet We translate though not to the letter of the Hebrew yet to the sense Though I wash my hands never so clean yet c. As the former expression referreth to internall holinesse so this later to externall The hands in Scripture note our outward works Hands are the executive part the instruments of action Your hands are full of bloud Isa 1. that is your actions are cruell and bloudy there is not only bloud in your hearts but in your hands too Psal 26.6 I will wash mine hands in innocency so will I compasse thine altar that is I will make all my outward conversation pure and holy The Lord hath rewarded me according to the purity of my hands Psal 18.20 Again Psal 73.13
together in judgement Neither is there any Daies-man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both JOB doth two things in the close of this Chapter First He again renounceth all thought or intendment of answering God by any worthinesse or goodnesse in himself A point he had often touched before it being the grand objection which his friends brought against him as if his spirit were heightned up to the presumption of a triall or contest with God himself 'T is a duty to clear our selves most where and in what we are most suspected This he doth in the 32. and 33. verses He is not a man as I am that I should answer him and we should come together in judgement Neither is there any Daies-man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both In which words Job offers two things to assure them that he was farre enough from such an engaging with God First From the disparity of their condition vers 32. He is not a man as I am God is not like me I am no match for God and I will not be so fool-hardy as to contend with one who is infinitely above me Secondly Lest any should thinke that though himself hand to hand as we speak would not venture upon God yet he might possibly get some friend or second to interpose and umpire it between them or to determine whether Gods dealings with him were just and equall or no And so though not alone yet by a friend or a third party to them both he would try out the matter No saith Job in the 33. verse Not so neither as I alone will not undertake him so neither is there any Daies-man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both In the two last verses Job makes a petition to the Lord desiring a favourable condescension that he would be pleased to abate of the present height and extremity of his pain and then he hoped yet that he might answer him though he would not contend with him answer him in reference to his own integrity about which his friends had charged and wounded him though not in reference to his own righteousnesse about which the Lord might charge and condemn him Let him take his rod away from me and let not his fear terrifie me then would I speak and not fear him but it is not so with me He concludes with the difference of his state from what he desired of God it might be And he begins with the difference of his person from what God himself is It is not with me as I could wish and God is not such an one nor can be as I am and must be Verse 32. For he is not a man as I am c. He doth not say God is not such a man as I am but God is not a man as I am One man may say unto another man Thou art not such a man as I am Every different degree or endowment among men may bear a man out in saying so and pride will prompt a man to say so when he is not in degree better but in kinde worse then other men Such was the language of the Pharisee Luk. 18.11 God I thank thee I am not as other men are extortioners unjust adulterers or even as this Publican yet no man can say to another man Thou art not a man as I am But seeing God is not a man at all what is there in this assertion of Job He is not a man as I am The words import a double difference First A difference in qualification Secondly In nature here Job chiefly intends the difference of quality which yet in God is his nature that he was not wise Non tam essentiae ad essentiaÌ„ quam qualitatis ad qualitatem i. e. suae ad divinam puritatem collatio fit denotatur Bold and just and holy and pure as God Moses in his song Exod. 15.3 after the overthrow of the Egyptians in the red sea speaks thus The Lord is a man of warre that phrase intends not a humane nature to God when he saith God is a man of warre he meaneth only this God is a great warriour We call a Ship of warre A man of warre As a man of words signifies an eloquent man though with some only a talkative man So a man of warre signifies a famous warriour or one trained up for warre in which sense Saul saith of Goliah that he had been a man of warre from his youth 1 Sam. 17.33 God is a great warriour the most potent Commander The Generalissimo of all the Armies in heaven and earth The Lord of hosts is his Name He is a man of war though he is not a man Further when Job saith He is not a man as I am he gives us the reason of all he had said before Ratio est omnium superiorum et si justus sim cum Deo tamen contendens pro soâ—te habeor quia non est par utriusque nostrum conditio Merc. especially of what he had said immediately before Though I wash my self with snow-water and make my hands never so clean yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch For he is not a man as I am that is though I by washing my self should thinke I were all white and not a spot to be seen upon me as hypocrites by covering themselves thinke they are all hid and not a sinne to be found about them yet he would throw me into the ditch again as like to like dirt to dirt for he is not a man as I am he hath other eyes and thoughts and waies then creatures have Secondly As they contain a reason why the Lord would judge him impure though he should wash himself with snow-water so also why the Lord would afflict him though he should wash himself with snow-water He is not a man as I am As if he had said Should I see a man without spot or speck without blame or fault yet full of wounds and stripes full of troubles and sorrows Should I see him afflicted of whom I could not say he had sinned it were beyond my reason But though I cannot yet the Lord can see reason to afflict a man in whom I see no iniquity He knows why and wherefore he may and doth cast them into the fire in whom I can see no drosse He is not a man as I am God exceeds man in his actings as much as he doth in his nature as he is what man is not so he can doe what man cannot Every thing is in working as it is in being God alwaies works like himself and infinitely above man As to the present businesse he works above man chiefly in two things First Man cannot justly commence a sute against or contend with another man except he be able to charge him with some wrong that he hath done him or lay some crime to his charge Secondly A humane Judge cannot condemn or cast a man unlesse he first
like men have transgressed the Covenant they have done like themselves When we see men vain and wicked and sinfull and covetous and earthly we may say of them they have done like men and how wonderous and glorious things soever God doth we can but say He hath done like God As a consectary from the whole take this caution If God is not a man as we are then God must never be measured by the rule and line of man Man hath not line enough to measure God by The Lord exceeds man in all he is not only above mans infirmities but he is above all his perfections The Lord is not only not weak as man is weak or unholy as man is unholy but the Lord is not strong as man is strong nor holy as man is holy nor just as man is just nor wise as man is wise Then man must not venture to judge of the wisdome of God by his own wisdome or of the justice holinesse and strength of God by his own strength holinesse and justice Man is not able to measure God in any of his Attributes and in three things especially man should take heed of measuring God in his actings First In the great work of election In this man is very apt to be meddling and to be measuring God by the line of naturall reason or of civil justice the Apostles dispute beats down this presumption Rom. 9. We read there how man begins to bustle and startle at that great conclusion vers 18. Therefore he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth If it be thus saith he if every mans state be peremptorily determined by the will of God if he loves and hates before men have done either good or evil Why doth he finde fault for who hath resisted his will What need any trouble themselves about the way when their end is under an unmovable decree Why should any strive to forsake evil and doe good on earth seeing it was resolved in heaven what should become of them before they had done either good or evil Thus the pride and ignorance of man cavils at the decrees of God But stay saith the Apostle O man who art thou that repliest against God! He is not a man as thou art he hath done what he hath done by vertue of his just prerogative and therefore he is not unjust in doing it Besides if ye will needs argue from reason then see how common reason confutes this blasphemy Hath not the Potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessell unto honour and another unto dishonour What if God hath done thus and what if he will doe thus What hast thou to doe with it Know thy place and keep thy rank art not thou clay in the hand of the Potter Secondly Measure not God by your own line in his providentiall dispensations He may have a method of his own in giving or taking away in pulling down or building up in wounding or healing in abasing man or in raising him because all is his own He who hath a right to all can wrong none and he who possesses all is debtour to none Thirdly Measure not God by your own line in the matter of your ordinary approvings and that two waies First Doe it not in your approving of things And Secondly Doe it not in your approving of persons Take heed first of measuring God by your selves in your approving of things as if because you approve it therefore God surely doth This misconceit hath been the cause of almost all and almost all the cause of all the superstition idolatry and will-worship that ever was in the world Man thinks God must needs like any thing which is done to his honour hence because the adorning and adoring of images bowing to altars using of unwritten Ceremonies are directed to the honour of God therfore man concludes surely God likes them Whereas nothing pleases God but what himself appoints he is never honoured but when he is obeyed As no man hath been his counsellour to direct him what to doe with us So no man can be his counsellour to direct him what to require of us Not that which we commend is approved but that which the Lord commends Secondly Take heed of this in your approbation or estimation of persons Not be whom you commend is approved but he whom the Lord commends We should judge of men as we believe God judges Or to come nearer let no man think himself is approved of God because he is approved by himself Many flatter themselves in their own eyes till their iniquity is found to be hatefull Psal 36.2 Christ intimates this speaking to the Pharisees Luk. 16.15 Ye are they that justifie your selves ye have high thoughts of your own worth and glory in your own excellencies and ye think God hath high thoughts of you that he glories in you too but let me tell you That which is highly esteemed amongst men is an abomination in the sight of God We are the men said the Pharisees ours are excellent gifts thus they admired and doted upon themselves but the Lord found them out and what they highly esteemed he abominated Some write and subscribe their own letters testimoniall and can get no hand to them but their own Not he who commends himself is approved but he whom the Lord commends such shall finde that their own good word would do them no good He is not a man as they are He saith Job is not a man as I am that I should answer him And we should come together in judgement It hath been shewed what judgement is at the 19th verse of this Chapter and at the third verse of the eighth Chapter therefore I shall not now stay upon it only as to the matter in hand Judgement may be taken three waies First For pleading which is but preparatory to judgement 1 Disceptatio mutur◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rationum 2 Iuris definitio 3 Exactio castigationis debiti Merc. the opening and arguing of the case or fact under triall Secondly For the decision and determination of the case according to law or the award of judgement Thirdly For the inflicting and executing of the sentence according to the judgement awarded Here Job chiefly intends the first He is not a man as I am that I should answer him and we should come together in judgement that is that I should plead argue and debate my matters with him before any other Judge God and man cannot come together to be judged for all man-kinde must receive their judgement from God Vt veniamus pariter in judicium Or nearer the Hebrew which sutes the former clause better He is not a man as I am that we should come alike to judgement No we should be very unlike very unequally matched in judgement Man and man who are upon even terms in their nature may yet be upon such uneven terms in their condition that
they cannot come alike to judgement A poor man cannot grapple with a rich man nor a mean man with the honourable Now if they who are of the same nature cannot come alike in judgment because of a disparity in their condition How shall they who differ not only in condition but in nature Can God and man Can poor wretched and miserable man come alike in judgement with the great and glorious God And so the meaning of Job may be thus conceived If I had only a man like my self to deal with then I would venture a triall with him at any seat of judgement or Court of Justice but he is not a man as I am much lesse such a man as I am How shall I set my self with him to be judged when as himself is the Judge of all and is himself judged of none Hence observe Man is not able to contend with God in judgement Who is like me and who will appoint me the time or nearer the letter who will convent me in judgement Who is that shepherd that will stand before me Isa 49.19 Man must come before God in judgement We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5.10 None shall escape his tribunall But man cannot stand before God in judgement The wicked cannot stand at all before him in judgement because they stand upon their own bottom The righteous dare not stand before him in judgement upon their own bottom if they should themselves and their cause would quickly fall together There are seven considerations which tell us that we cannot come together much lesse alike together with God in judgment 1. He is of such strength that none can wrest themselves out of his hand No power can daunt him 2. He is of such sincerity that bribes cannot corrupt him nor can gifts put out his eies 3. He is of such wisdom that none can over-reach him nor can our wit entangle him 4. He is so knowing that none of our sins and failings no not the least of them are secrets to or hidden from him 5. He is so holy that he cannot bear with the least sin and so just that he cannot but punish it unlesse he receive satisfaction for it 6. He cannot be a party in judgement for he is the supreme Judge and there is no appealing from his sentence 7. He is the last yea an everlasting Judge and therefore there is no repealing of his sentence Who is able to contend with him whom no power can daunt no bribes corrupt no wit over-reach who knows all our sins and will spare none of them from whose sentence there is no appealing and whose sentence cannot be repealed There is no Judge above God therefore we cannot appeal from him there is none to come after God therefore what he hath judged cannot be repealed Job having thus waved and professed against contending with God in judgement proceedeth in the thirty third verse to shew that there is none to whom his case might be referred for arbitration There are two waies by which controversies are ended First By the legall sentence of the publike Judge Secondly By the moderation of a private friend This later Job means when he saith Verse 33. Neither is there any Daies-man betwixt us that can lay his hand upon us both The Septuagint render these words as a wish or as a prayer * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. O that there were a Daies-man or a Mediatour betwixt God and me that might lay his hand upon us both But the originall bears it clearly in the negative Neither is there any Daies-man betwixt us The word which we translate Daies-man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arguere Heb. Non est arguens inter nos vel increpans commeth from a root which signifieth to argue or reprove and so some render it here Neither is there any Arguer or Reprover none to set the matter right between God and me none to state the question between us none to reprove the Lord if I should say or if by the common rules of justice it should appear he hath done me wrong The word is used in that sense Gen. 31.24 where Jacob tels his uncle Laban The Lord rebuked thee yesternight the Lord himself came as an umpire as a Daies-man betwixt Jacob and Laban and rebuked Laban for his hard and unjust thoughts of and intentions concerning Jacob Take heed saith God thou speak not unto Jacob either good or bad that is doe not threaten or perswade him to return thou wilt repent it if thou doest Thus also the Lord appeared as a Daies-man between his people of old and the great ones of the world Psal 105.14 He suffered no man to doe them wrong yea he rebuked Kings for their sakes God is alwaies able to and often doth interpose for and vindicate his people from the oppressions of men 'T is costly medling with the Saints Kings may get a rebuke for it Yea Kings may smart and Kingdoms shake for it Fere omnes interpretes hunc versum de Mediatore seu arbitro quem jurisconsulti vocant sequestrem intelligunt quasi Iob optasset ordinarium Iudicem praecedenti versiculo mediatorem vero seu arbi trum hoc versu What a Daies-man is is so plain and well known by the custom and usage of most places that it needs little explication We in our language sometimes call him an umpire sometimes an Arbitratour sometimes a Mediatour sometimes a Referree and in some Countreys with us when a question arises between neighbours concerning which they are unwilling to spend money and time in sutes of Law they say We will referre it unto men which kinde of speaking seems to allude to the title of Magistrates and Judges whom the Scripture calleth gods and when a businesse is brought before them it may be said to be referr'd or put to God In opposition to which when it is taken up by the umpiridge of friends it is said To be referred or put to men We in our English tongue call such Daies-men either because they bestowed a daies pains upon the ending of a businesse or because they were obliged to end it by a set day whereas Judges may take more liberty to themselves Yet some of the Greeks expresse all mans judgement by this word Ideo sequester appellatur quod ejus qui electus sit utraque pars fidem sequatur Gel. l. 20. c. 10. Sequester est qui errantibus medius intervenit qui aâ—ud Graecos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 d citur apud quem pignota deponi solent à sequendo dictas quod ejus fidem utraque pars sequatur Isidor l 10. Etymol Mans-day because certain daies were appointed for judicature The Apostle Paul uses the same phrase 1 Cor. 4.3 in opposition to the Lords-day the great day of judgment to which he there appeals from all the daies set for mans judgement in this world The Latins call
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
fear with reference to the two former verses especially to the verse immediately fore-going There Job desires a Daies-man or complains that there is none here he tels us what he might have expected if he had one As if he had said Had I a Daies-man then I know he would take away the rod from me that is he would give judgement that I should be eased of this affliction and his fear should not terrifie me that is he would never give a sentence which should be a terrour to me That 's a fair sense in reference to what he spake before but I rather keep his meaning within the compasse of what he is speaking here And then by fear we may understand Paveris nomine intelligendum putareÌ„ fulgoreÌ„ splendorem vel majestatem niniam qua priscis illis temporibus nonnunquam Deus vel Angelus pro Deo serviâ— suis apparabat Bol. First Those raies and beams of Majesty which the Lord letting out a little upon Job he was not able to bear them We finde when in those ancient times God appeared the beholders were terrified Manoahs wife tels her husband A man of God came unto me and his countenance was like the countenance of an Angel of God very terrible Judg. 13.6 And when God appeared to Abraham An horrour of great darknesse fell upon him Gen. 15.12 in what a wofull plight was Daniel receiving the visions of God Dan. 10.8 God who is the joy of his people is also a terrour to them Things which are not what they seem to be are not so terrible near hand as at a distance God who is infinitely more then he can seem to be is more terrible near hand then at a distance Hence it is that when God who is alwaies near us shews himself to be so our spirits fail within us In that presence of God which we shall have in glory there will be fulnesse of joy And in that presence of God which we have in the waies of grace there is abundance of joy But if while we are here in a state of grace some little of that presence of God which is proper to the state of glory fals upon us we are more distressed then comforted with it How much more then when God clothes himself with terrour and as he did to Job so reveals himself unto us Secondly We may interpret this fear by the former part of the verse the rod his afflictions were terrible the hand of God lifted up to smite him made him afraid But whether it were this or that the majesty of God overawing him or the rod of God chastening him the sense is plain Job was opprest with fear from the Lord yea with terrour from the Almighty causing this vehement deprecation Let not his fear terrifie me Hence observe First That God sometimes appears terribly to those he loves entirely Job was one of Gods darlings and God was imbracing him while he was scourging him Job had kisses from heaven when he felt nothing but lashes here upon the earth The heart of God was full of love while his hand was filled with a rod his bowels yearn'd upon Job and his face terrified him at the same time That precious man Heman was followed with terrours and visions of amazement all his daies I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up while I suffer thy terrours I am distracted Psal 88.15 The terrours of God even terrours to distraction may be the present portion of those whose portion is everlasting mercy Observe Secondly Man is not able to bear the anger of G d. Though he be but correcting us yet we cannot bear his anger toward us This caused the Prophet to cry out Jer. 10.24 Correct me O Lord but not in thine anger The words are not a praier for correction I know no warrant for that but a submission to it As if he had said Lord I am willing to bear thy correction but I cannot and who can bear thine anger The Church complains Psal 90.7 We are consumed by thine anger and by thy wrath we are troubled The fatherly anger of God is as a consuming fire and we are but as stubble before it What then is the fiercenesse of that anger which he will pour out upon wicked men for ever Who knoweth the power of thine anger Psal 90.11 Man cannot understand how powerfull the anger of God is much lesse stand before the power of his anger As man cannot comprehend the love of God Ephes 3.18 19. The Apostle exhorts To know the love of God which passeth knowledge that is to know so much of it as is knowable the love of God is past the knowledge not only of nature but of grace because it is infinite So we should labour To know the anger of God which passeth knowledge that is to know it so farre as it is knowable The anger of God cannot be fully known because it hath an infinitenesse in it as well as his love And as the one shall never be fully known but by enjoying it so neither can the other but by feeling it Upon this consideration the Lord makes that gracious promise to his people Isa 57.16 I will not contend for ever neither will I be alwaies wroth for the spirit should fail before me and the souls which I have made But is not the spirit or soul of man of an everlasting make And shall not the damned endure the contendings of Gods wrath for ever and not fail The substance of the soul cannot fail and the spirit is incorruptible The spirit is full of morall corruption but it is not subject to naturall corruption or the corruption of its nature How glad would the damned be if their spirits might fail and their souls return to nothing The failing of the spirit under the wrath of God is the failing of its hope and courage Thus the spirit sinks and the immortall soul dies away under the sense and weight of Gods displeasure But what if the Lord should take away his rod and change his â—errours into smiles What will Iob do then when this is granted see what he will do Verse 35. Then would I speak and not fear him but it is not so with me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. But is this the use which Iob would make of the mercy he begs Doth he entreat the Lord to take his terrifying fear away from him and then resolve not to fear him at all Whose voice is this Is this the voice of Job I will speak and not fear him Jobs character in the first Chapter was A man fearing God and dares he now say I will speak and not fear him As the fear of God ought to be the seasoning of all our works and actions so it ought to be the seasoning of all our words and speeches why then doth he say I will speak and not fear him To clear this I answer Fear may be taken two waies Either for the grace of fear or
for the perturbation of fear When Job saith I would speak and not fear him his meaning is not to lay down that fear of God which is a bridle to the soul keeping it from sin or that reverentiall affection which fits us for and should act us in every holy duty we perform to God When Job praied to be free from the fear of God he resolved thus to fear God T is only the perturbation of fear distracting fear not sanctifying humbling fear which Job would lay aside when God should please to with-draw his terrifying fear And so his minde is plainly this If the Lord will be entreated to remit the extremity of my affliction and remove those terrours wherewith I am affrighted then I would speak boldly and chearfully to him I would set out the truth of my case and declare the innocency of my person Qui injudicio consiernatur non potest recté agere causam suam seque ita utoportet desendere ac tueri terror enim impedimento est ei Pâ—ned Vehement passions hinder my reason 't is uneasie to speak till I am eased of my pains I cannot tell how it is with me so long as it is thus with me Hence note That extremity of fear is an interruption to speech While sense is much troubled reason cannot act much When Ephraim spake trembling he exalted himself in Israel Hos 13.1 There to speak trembling is to speak humbly Our words to God should be accompanied with low thoughts of our selves Ephraims trembling is opposed to pride and hardnesse of heart They who thus tremble at the Word of God are fittest to speak to God yet excessive trembling hinders us in speaking And untill the Lord quiets and composes our hearts by a word from heaven till he speak to our distempered mindes as once to the raging sea Be quiet and still we cannot utter our hearts or declare our mindes unto him When God sends a gracious message to poor sinners and invites them to a conference as he did his ancient people Isa 1.18 Come let us reason together then they come boldly to the throne of grace notwithstanding their crimson and scarlet sins Then they are not afraid to speak they may speak and not fear him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quia non sic ego mecum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non enim sic conscius sum But saith Job it is not so with me There is much diversity of opinion about these words M. Broughton translates I am not so with my self and gives this note upon it I am not such with my self as Gods scourge seemeth to make me or such as your words would make me The Septuagint renders it I am not so conscious to my self or I am not so self-guilty The Hebrew word for word runs thus For not so I with my self Some difference arises from the first particle we read But Most For The originall is rather causall then exceptive I would speak and not fear him for it is not so with me Particula Chen propter variam quam habet significationem varijs quoque interpretationibus ansam praebit est enim vox aequivoca plura significans Bol. But the word which causes the greatest difference is that which we translate So It is not so with me The Hebrew is Chen and that hath two principall significations It signifies sometimes right or just and is applied both to persons and to things First Unto things Jer. 8.6 The Lord hearkned and heard and there was no man that spake Chen aright or things which were right Jer. 23.10 The word is opposed to evil Their course is evil and their force is not right that is the force might or power which they have is not set upon or imploied about that which is right but wholly bent to do wrong or they commit evil with all their might Qui bonam habet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rectus apud seipsum testatur igitur se bonam habere conscientiam inde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Deum si non projure suo agere vel gratia uti velit Coc. Secondly The word Chen is applied unto persons noting a man that is upright hearted faithfull and honest both in conscience and conversation When Iosephs brethren Gen. 42.11 19 31. pleaded for themselves they say unto him We are Chenim right men we are no spies We are not come to finde out the weaknesse of the Land but to get a supply of our own wants Ioseph said Ye are spies ye come to circumvent us to put tricks upon us to work your own ends by discovering what we are No say they pray Sr do not misunderstand us we are Chenim honest right-hearted plain-meaning men Secondly The word is used adverbially It is not so with me that is It is not so as you imagine In which sense we finde it Gen. 1.7 The Lord said Let there be light and it was Chen so as the Lord commanded so it was Eccles 8.10 I saw the wicked buried who had come and gone from the place of the holy and they were strangers in the City where they had done so Upon both these significations of the word different interpreâ—ations of the whole are grounded First Taking the word to note an upright hearted man Iob is conceived to speak interrogatively as if he put this Question For am I not right in my self As if he had said If you thinke it too much boldnesse that I have said I would speak unto God and not fear him Am not I right in my self Am not I found and true at heart Thus he seems to allude unto that testimony which God gave of him at the first verse of this book A man perfect and upright As if he had said I am no turn-coat or apostate I am as I was and I doubt not but I shall be what I am still perfect before God and upright with men And if so why may not I have boldnesse to come unto God and speak freely with him They who are sincere with God may have great boldnesse in comming unto God Uprightnesse hath boldnesse with men and uprightnesse hath boldnesse towards God Though no uprightnesse or righteousnesse in man can give him boldnesse in himself yet it may give him boldnesse in another He may be assured that though he cannot be accepted for his uprightnesse yet being upright he shall be accepted Secondly Others read it negatively I would speak and not fear him for I am not right in or with my self And so the sense may be made out thus I have not gone about to justifie my self all this while I have not stood upon my own righteousnesse pleading with God if my righteousnesse were in my self then I might fear to speak with God though his fear should not terrifie me and though he should take away his rod from me but I have a better bottom then my own I am not right in my self I am
right only in the free grace of God and in the righteousnes of my redeemer According to this exposition he returneth to his first proposition laid down in the second verse of this Chapter How should man be just or righteous with God I am not right in my self as I said in the beginning of my answer Man is not righteous so I now conclude in my own particular case I am not righteous in my self and being righteous in another if God would but give me a little respit from these sorrows I would speak and not be afraid This teaches us First That the confidence and holy boldnesse which the Saints have in comming unto God is grounded upon the righteousnesse of Christ not upon any worthinesse in themselves Secondly Observe He that is most upright in heart is most forward to acknowledge and most constant in acknowledging his own unrighteousnesse They who are most proud are most empty And they who have least usually speak with the most Sincerity rates it self low I am not right that is righteous saith upright Iob. Thirdly Say others I am not right in my self that is I am at present uncomposed and unsetled in my own spirit As if Iob had said I desire that the Lord would remove his fear and mitigate my afflictions that I might speak with him and not fear for as yet I am not right in my self my spirit is so overwhelmed and my thoughts are so troubled within me Quia non sic sum apud me ut nunc sum sc in hac affl ctione uti me nunc rractat exagitae Deus sum velut extra me animi impos Merc. Neque enim metuens possum respondere Vul. that I have not the free use of my own understanding nor can my reason doe its office much lesse my grace I am scarce in my right minde but rather as a man distracted so was Heman with the terrours of the Lord I know not how to manage faith under such fears the majesty and dreadfulnesse of God oppresse my spirit as I am I am not myself The Vulgar gives this interpretation instead of a translation For I cannot answer while I am afraid Hence note A godly man in sore temptaions may for a while appear lesse then a man Fears hinder him from shewing the best of his naturall self much more any thing of his spirituall self Further note two things experienced by many of the Saints in the day of their distresse First A godly man under greatest afflictions keeps to the opinion of his own integrity yet builds his comfort upon the free grace of God He can according to the first interpretation of these words challenge all with this Question Am I not right in my self Is there not integrity in my spirit And according to the second he is ready to make this negative confession I am not right in my self I stand not upon my own integrity Secondly The Saints in great afflictions are often so overwhelmed with the majesty of God that they are not able to expresse their interest in God much lesse make out the comforts of that interest The former of these arises from that seed of holinesse and stock of grace abiding in them The other ariseth from the naturall weaknesse of flesh and bloud in which they abide and from the morall corruption of nature abiding in them Thus we see how the sense of the text rises as the word Chen is understood nominally for right or just We translate it adverbially But it is not so with me or For it is not so with me This reading bears a three-fold interpretation First In construction with the former words thus Let him take away his rod c. then will I speak and not fear him for it is not so with me that is I am not so fearfull or of so low a spirit I am not such a stranger or of so little acquaintance with God that I should not know how to speak unto him or that I should be afraid to speak unto him If the Lord would but hide that brightnesse of his own glory which dazles me and ease me of my own pains which distract me I should sure enough speak unto him 〈…〉 But secondly We may rather refer it to the false and unkinde opinion of his friends who judged him a wicked man or an hypocrite which here he denies It is not so with me as if he had said If the Lord would be pleased to grant what I have petitioned I would speak unto him without fear or doubt of being heard for it is not so with me namely as you have suspected and imagined all this while or as you think it is I am not the man you take or rather mistake me to be if I were then though the Lord should take all his afflictions from me and all with-draw his terrours yet I should be afraid to speak unto him yea I should be afraid to pray unto him every prayer were I wicked would be a praying down judgement upon my self But seeing I can boldly affirm my conscience also bearing me witnesse that though I sinne yet I love not to sinne that though I am weak yet I am not wicked as ye have charged me Non sic impius ego apud me Pagn Non sum talis qualem me putatis Vatabl. Merc. my heart being thus clear before God I cannot fear to open my mouth and report my cause before God Hence observe which hath been offered from other passages in this book and therefore I shall only observe it That A godly man standeth to and knoweth his own integrity in the midst of all the clamours and slanders the misapprehensions or aspersions of friends or enemies Whosoever loads and charges him with studied or approved hypocrisie he will and he ought to unload and discharge himself at least with Jobs plain deniall you suspect me thus but I am sure it is not so with me Thirdly The words may bear this meaning I have sought and earnestly entreated the Lord to abate my afflictions and to remove his terrours But it is not so with me Alas I doe not finde that the Lord hath done any of these things for me His rod is still upon my back and his terrours stand as thick about my soul as ever was ever poor man in such a plight as I T is not alasse with me as I have praied or as I would have it The rod smarts and terrours amaze me still Hence note That a godly man may pray in affliction and not presently be relieved in or from his affliction Many a soul can say It is so with me as I have praied I have the wishes and desires of my soul yet many and I believe many more then can cannot say so The Lord lets precious praiers lie unanswered to our sense We may pray long before we finde it so with us as we have praied and yet those praiers are not lost but laid up not buried but sown And it
becomes us to have patience till the harvest though it be a late one Lastly There is an opinion which gives this verse connexion with the first of the next Chapter Quia non ita est sc quia à me terrorem suum non eximit ego mecum sc Loquar mecum ipse querar omnem aserbitatem animi effundam apud me ut facit in sequenti capite As if Job had thus resolved upon the Lords not answering his petition Had the Lord condescended to take away his rod and remove his terrour as I requested then I had somewhat to say and I would have spoken it out unto him but because it is not so or because I am not answered therfore I with my self The word Speak is not in the text but such supplies of a word are frequent not only in the Hebrew but also in other languages Seeing I have not liberty to speak to the Lord I will pour my complaints into mine own bosome and commune with my own heart He pursues this tacite resolution in the tenth Chapter which begins thus My soul is weary of my life I will leave my complaint upon my self JOB Chap. 10. Vers 1. My soul is weary of my life I will leave my complaint upon my self I will speak in the bitternesse of my soul JOB having in the former Chapter justified God in afflicting him and maintained his own integrity notwithstanding those afflictions now returneth to that work about which he had been too busie before yet that Afflicti saepe se exonerari putaÌ„t si laxis habenis de suo dolore querantur suas enumerent calamitates uberrima oratione Merc. wherein it seems he only found as the case stood with him some little ease and refreshing The breathing out of his afflicted spirit in sad complainings He resumes his former lamentation and renews afresh what he had been more then large enough in at the 3d 6th and 7th Chapters of this book Here as there he shews how ill it was with him and what cause he had to be in heavinesse under the pressure of so many evils And here more then there Argumentis utitur à natura Dei ante-acceptis ipsius beneficijs quibus mala haec quae immifit Deus magnopere repugnare videantur Merl. he remonstrates that he conceived himself more hardly dealt with then stood not only with the goodnesse of God in his nature but with that goodnesse which he had formerly acted both towards others and himself This encouraged him about the close of the Chapter vers 20 and 22. to petition again that he might have a little refreshing before he lay down in his grave and that God would after these storms return him some of those fair daies he had enjoyed before he returned to the earth and should be seen no more His complaint is very rhetoricall and high Vehemens quideÌ„ partibus omnibus gravis est querimonia â—ed medesta fi unum â—â—â—ud optatum exceperis ver 18 19. Merl. yet with an allay or mixture of modesty Indeed his spirit brake out and passion got head at the 18 and 19 verses where he expostulates with God in the language of the third Chapter Wherefore host thou brought me forth out of the womb c But abating that excesse of his tongue and spirit his complaints are knit up with solid arguments and his Queries put the point resolutely yet humbly home to God himself that he would be pleased to shew the reason of his present dealings and why he varied so much from what he had done in former times The first verse gives us a generall ground of this and of all his sorrowfull complaints The wearisomenesse of his life My soul is weary of my life I will leave my complaint upon my self The argument may be formed thus He hath reason to complain of his afflictions whose afflictions are so heavy upon him and so bitter that he hath reason to be weary of his very life But thus my case stands my afflictions are so bitter to and heavy upon me that I am weary of my life Therefore I have reason to complain The assumption of this syllogisme is contained in the first words of the verse My soul is weary of my life And the conclusion in the latter Therefore I will leave my complaint upon my self I will speak in the bitternesse of my soul My soul is weary of my life Life and soul are often in Scripture put promiscuously for the same but here they differ The soul may be taken two waies First Strictly as it is opposed to the body Secondly In a more large sense by a Synecdoche of the part for the whole for the whole man consisting of body and soul If so here then the meaning of Job in saying My soul is weary of my life is no more but this I Job am weary of my life that is of the marriage or union of my soul and body O that this band which I though most are grieved at the weaknesse of theirs finde too strong were broken or a bill of divorce granted for their separation Life is the band or tie by which soul and body subsist together And when that band is broken or cut asunder by the stroke of death the body goes to the grave and the soul or spirit returns to God who gave it Again When Job saith My soul is weary of my life Life may be taken either for the act of life and so the sense is I am weary of living or it may be taken for the manner of life and so the sense is I am weary of that course or state of life wherein I am Life is often put not strictly for the act of living but for the state or condition in which a man lives or with which life is cloathed The circumstances and concomitants of life are called life Thus in our common speech when a man is in misery another saith I would not have his life or what a life hath he The Apostles character of all naturall men is that they are alienated from the life of God Ephes 4.18 that is they cannot endure to live such a life as God lives or as he commands them to live they cannot endure to be holy as he is holy or holy as he cals them to be holy in all manner of conversation Thus Job was alienated from his own life I saith he am weary of my life that is of a life thus imbittered thus afflicted My soul is weary The word which we translate weary varies the understanding of this sentence It signifies properly to be weakned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Debilitatus languefactus per metapheram taeedio affectus offensus fuit as also to be melted or molten with heat because a man that is extremely heated or melted by heat is weakned his spirits and strength being drawn forth and dissipated But it is most commonly applied to that wearinesse which arises from
the displeasednesse or irksomnesse of our mindes All burdens upon the body are light compared with those which reach the soul Three things weary and load the soul First The filth and guilt of our own sins I will sprinkle you saith the Lord Ezek. 36.31 with clean water c. What 's the effect of this It follows Then shall you remember your own evil waies and loath or be weary of your selves it is this word because of all your abominations As if the Lord had said before I change your hearts ye sinne and are not wearâ—â— of your sins nay ye make a sport of and dally with them But when I shall work that great change upon your hearts your opinion and apprehensions of sin will change too nothing will be so bitter or burdensome so unpleasant or wearisome to your souls as sinne Fools make a mock of sin they who are truly wise mourn and groan under the sense and weight of it Secondly The unsutablenesse and perversenesse of other mens manners or dispositions weary the soul The righteous soul of Lot was vexed from day to day in seeing and hearing the unrighteous deeds of the debauched Sodomites 2 Pet. 2.8 The soul of God is said to be wearied by such courses of the sons of men Psal 95.10 Fourty years long was I grieved or wearied with that generation The Lord as we may speak with reverence was even weary of his life he had such a troublesome people to deal with they grieved him at the heart as the old world did Gen. 6.6 and were a heavy burden to his Spirit That 's the Apostles language in his description of that peoples frowardnesse and of Gods patience towards them Act. 13.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He suffered their manners fourty years in the wildernesse which some render He bare them as a burthen the continuall murmurings and unbelief of that people were to the Lord who is yet above all passion as a heavy weight is to a man or as the peevishnesse and unquietnesse of a sucking childe is to the nurse as our translatours conceive the Greek word should rather be Thus also he reproves the same people by the Prophet Isa 43.24 Thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities And Christ though by another word speaks the same thing of his own Disciples Mark 9.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tolero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 autem dâ—â—untur translatitiè qui volentes onus subeunt sub eo perdurant when the man possest with an unclean spirit being brought to them they could not cast him out How long shall I be with you How long shall I suffer you I am wearied with your unbelief O ye of little faith The Disciples were still so slow of heart and came so short of a Gospel-spirit that Christ professeth He was burthened even with them How long shall I suffer you The il manners of all are a wearinesse to the good but theirs most who are neerest to them Which is also the reason why a godly man is wearied most of all with the corruption of his own heart for that is nearest to him of all Now as our own sins and the il manners of others weary the soul so Thirdly The pains and troubles which are upon the body often cause such grief of minde as is an extream wearinesse to the soul That 's the meaning of this text My soul is weary of my life That is my life is filled with such outward troubles as fill my inward man with trouble and weary my very soul Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exsententia R. David R. Mardoc significat excidere aut succidere Excisa est anima meaâ—n me Pag. Vatao c. Aâ—um est de vita mea en mar or vel perinde ac si mortuâ—s pâ—are sum Secondly The word is translated by divers of the learned Rabbies To cut yea to cut off as with a sword or any other edged instrument These render Jobs minde thus My soul is cut off in me or My soul is cut off from my life As if he had said My daies are at an end I am ready to die the threed of my life is cut I am but a dead man While life continues soul and body are as it were one peece but death divides them or the recourse of night and day runs the threed of time thorow our lives till our web longer or shorter be finished and then the threed is cut To which similitude Hezekiah alludes in his mourning death-bed song as he supposed Isa 38.10 12. I said in the cutting off of my daies c. Mine age is removed from me as a shepherds tent I have cut off like a Weaver my life he will cut me off with pining sicknesse or from the thrum which being woond about the beam the Weaver having finished his work cuts the web off from it The same word in the Hebrew signifies pining sicknesse and a thrum because of the thinnesse and weaknesse of it My life saith Hezekiah is spent I am at the very last cast the yern of time is all wrought off therefore my life is ready to be cut off I am a borderer upon death and to be numbred among the dead rather then among the living Such a sense this reading gives the text of Job My soul is cut off from my life Denotat displicentiam qua homo interius tabescit prae doloru sensu Propriè significat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. remputidaÌ„ quae nauseaÌ„ parit aversari Thirdly The word signifies a reluctance or displicency of spirit arising from the sight and sense of that which is very loathsome filthy and of an evil savour It answers the Greek work rendered Abomination Matth. 24.15 The abomination of desolation he means the Romans who being Idolaters their worship was abominable and who being Lords of the world their power was formidable and laid all countries waste and desolate which opposed them or which they had a minde to oppose And so when Job saith My soul is weary of my life his meaning is represented thus My soul refuses to inhabit or to act so filthy a body as mine My soul loaths to dwell or stay any longer in this nasty lodging As David Psal 120.5 speaks of his wearinesse in dwelling amongst wicked men because of their morall filthinesse or the pollution of their mindes and waies Woe is me that I sojourn in Meshec that I dwell in the tâ—nts of Kedar So Job seems to speak in reference to the naturall pollution and filthinesse of his own body Woe is me that I sojourn in such a diseased body and dwell which yet will not die in such a dying carease The noble tenant my soul is wearie of staying in such a stinking and filthy habitation and I perceive for I have moved him hitherto in vain the great land-lord will neither repair it nor as yet let it fall As then a man who lives in an ill or incommodious
speak in the bitternesse of my soul But what speaks he As when he first spake these words Chap. 7.11 he presently turned his speech to God desiring him to deal more sweetly with him and puts the question Am I a Sea or a Whale c. So here after he hath set forth his resolvednesse to complain he presently turns his speech to God imploring favour I will say unto God doe not condemn me vers 2. and he puts the question vers 3. Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppresse As if he had said Lord I cannot but complain of my condition and I must take the boldnesse to complain to thee but I will not complain of thee as if thou wert mine enemy nor will I contend with thee as if thou wert a party my meaning and scope is only this to supplicate thee as my Judge I will say unto God Doe not condemn me c. JOB Chap. 10. Vers 2 3. I will say unto God Doe not condemn me show me wherefore thou contendest with me Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppresse That thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands and shine upon the counsel of the wicked IN the former verse Job resolved to complain in this second he begins his complaint I will say unto God c. He complains to God not against God He leaves his complaint upon himself but he tendereth and presenteth it before the Lord I will say unto God What he saith may be cast into a double request 1. That God would not condemn him 2. That he would instruct or convince him as if he had said Lord do not use thy absolute power to destroy me Do not reject me because thou wilt Shew me the reason of thy proceedings that I may either sit down contented with what is amisse in my state or reform and amend what is amisse in my life Doe not condemn me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Noli me docere impium esse Sept. Forte graviore aliqua tristitia obrutus impiam aliquam vocem emittam q. d. Noli occasionē quaerere mei lapsus The Septuagint hath a very different rendering of this clause I will say unto God Do not teach me to be wicked or to do wickedly but is it not wickednesse as black as hell to suppose that God teaches any man to be wicked The Lord hates wickednesse and can he teach it The Lord punishes wickednesse therefore he cannot teach it The minde of the Greek translatours is not that God doth formally teach any to be wicked but that some learn wickednesse or are ensnared in sinne by that which God doth unto them As if Iob had said Lord doe not encrease and heap afflictions upon me Doe not over-grieve and burden the spirit of thy poor creature lest he should even be forced through impatience to speak unadvisedly or doe any thing unbecommingly Lord do not occasion me thorow the extremity of my afflictions to say or doe that which I must repent and be ashamed of Which is also the sense of that petition in the Lords-praier Lead us not into temptation Great affliction lay us open to great temptations And as calamity is an occasion for our graces and vertues to shew themselves So also for our lusts and corruptions Some never appear so holy and others I mean of those who are really godly never shew so much unholinesse as in affliction Hence that request of Agur Prov. 30.9 Lord feed me with food convenient for me lest I be poor and steal and take the Name of my God in vain Such is the meaning of the Septuagint when they say Lord teach me not to be wicked God teaches man to be holy both by his word and by his works yet some of his works may occasion the flesh to learn wickednesse and to act wickedly Verba sunt hominis se excusantis quasi praecastigantis liberiorem suam orationem Aquin. Secondly These words may be understood as a Preface or a rhetoricall introduction to prepare the ears of the Lord to re-receive the bill of complaint which Iob was about to put up unto him As if he had said Lord possibly through the tediousnesse of my pain and the continuance of my sorrows words may slip from me of which I shall not be able to give a good account or others make a fair construction yet Lord Doe not condemn Doe not censure me I speak only to excuse my self not to accuse thy Majesty I speak only in my own defence let not what I speak be an offence to thee Lord I have so great a weight of affliction upon me that I cannot but hope thou wilt give my words some grains of allowance if they should want their due weight of wisdom and of holinesse As Abraham when he was about to pray for Sodome makes his apologies and preparatory speeches unto God Let not my Lord be angry and I will speak and I will speak yet this once Gen. 18. So here I will speak c. but I will first say unto God be not angry Doe not condemn me If my infirmities prevailing over me I speak amisse Lord be not criticall with me examine not every word strictly Strong passions make an unruly Oratour and when the speaker bears much he may expect to be much borne with by his hearers That 's a second But rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verbum condemnandi fere semper ad culpam pertinet Noli me peragere reum aut sontem pronunciare His suppliciis videris me velat impium sceleratumque palā declarare Pin. Ne quaeso me ita affligas ut omnes qui hoc vident judicant me propter peccata gravissima talia pati Thirdly We may take the words as a plain deprecation Doe not condemn me The Hebrew is litterally thus rendered Doe not wicked me that is Doe not count me or cast me for a wicked man But did the Lord account Iob as a wicked man Or had Job an opinion that the Lord did account him so Surely Job had good yet humble thoughts of himself though he endured so many evils yea he was perswaded that the Lord who laid those evils on him had good thoughts of him too and when he saith Doe not condemn me doubtlesse he had hopes possibly he had assurances that the Lord had justified and acquitted him why then resolves he I will say unto God Doe not condemn me First We may expound him thus Lord Doe not that against me which may give the world occasion to condemn me or Lay not thy hand so heavily upon me lest they that understand not the reason of thy dealings should be occasioned to adjudge me wicked Though Job had a witnesse above and a record on high though he knew his reputation was unblemished before God in the midst of all these breaches upon his family and botches upon his body yet he knew men would condemn him as guilty of the most notorious evils of sin when they
the Lord my God will enlighten my darknesse for by thee I have run thorow a troop and by my God have I leaped over a wall Psal 18.28 29. that is I have done great things and I have overcome the greatest difficulties through thine assistance Will God shine thus upon the counsel of the wicked Or will he help the evil-doer Iob denieth it and therefore praieth Shew me why thou contendest with me I know thou bearest no good will to those who are wilfull in doing evil nor takest thou pleasure in those who take pleasure in iniquity But doth not the Lord give good successe to those who are evil Doth the way of the wicked never prosper Prospereth it not so far sometimes that godly men stumble in their way and are offended I answer God maketh his Sunne to shine upon the evil and the good but himselfe never shineth upon the evil Wicked men receive benefits from God but they receive no blessings from God There is a two-fold light First The light of Gods providence Secondly The light of Gods countenance The light of Gods countenance never shines upon the counsel of the wicked they have only the light of his providence He never shines upon them to favour them though he often shines upon them to prosper them A man may have much good shewed him and yet no good will shewed him The clouds and darknesse which at any time cover the counsels of the righteous are clearer then all the light which shines upon the counsels of the wicked God varies his dispensations often but he never varies his affections whatsoever he doth against the righteous he never hates or dislikes them and whatsoever he doth for the wicked he never loves or likes them But who are the wicked intended in this text upon whose counsels God will not shine There are four apprehensions about it who are wicked all agree but who these wicked are is not agreed Some refer the word to his friends I know thou wilt not favour their sinfull censures and rash judgements concerning me Surely they shall receive little thanks and lesse reward for these discourtesies thou wilt not go forth with them or give witnesse to what they have done thou wilt not confirm or attest what they have spoken Job I grant found little comfort from his friends but I doe not finde that they gave him evil counsel much lesse that they took wicked counsel against him The Lord reproved them for the errour of their speech but he did not reprove them for the wickednesse of their persons Indeed Iob charges them deeply Chap. 13.7 Will you speak wickedly for God Yet I do not believe that he judged them wicked A thing in it self wicked may be spoken and yet the speaker not be wicked Therefore I would not think Job aims at his friends or fastens so deep a charge on them though they had charged him so deep Secondly Others conceave Job means the devil and his angels Wilt thou shine upon Satans counsel As when Ahasuerus being enformed of that conspiracy against the Jews enquired who is he and where is he that durst presume in his heart to doe so Queen Esther said the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman Chap. 7.5 6. So might Job have answered the Lord. My adversary and enemy is this wicked Satan He laid the plot and hath stirred up all these evils against me I know Lord thou wilt not take Satans part thou wilt not help him who would be the destroyer and murderer who is the great malignant and projectour against thy servant Thirdly Others take the wicked here for the Sabeans and Caldeans who were the instruments of Satan in spoiling and robbing Job of his goods and substance That they were wicked we need not question yet Fourthly Take it rather in generall for all or any wicked men upon whose waies God seems to shine when he gives successe to their works of darknesse Hence observe First Wicked men are sometimes prospered in their counsels and walk in pleasant though evil waies God gives delight to those in whom he hath no delight And they have many good things from him who never had one good thought from him Thousands are prospered and hated at the same time When Dionysius in the story had rob'd an Idol-Temple and at his return by sea had a fair gale and pleasant weather to waft him home with the spoils See said he how the heavens smile upon us and how the gods are pleased with what we have done The like conclusions many draw from the premises of outward prosperity surely the true God is pleased with us but there is a cloud upon this Sunshine and darknesse in all this light Observe Secondly The Lord hates the counsel of wicked men He is so farre from shining upon that he indeed darkens their counsels He casts darknesse upon them even the darknesse of his heaviest displeasure when themselves think and the world saith all is light about them Zech. 1.15 Thus saith the Lord I am very sore displeased with the Heathen that are at ease They had their pleasure but God took no pleasure in them I am very sore displeased with these Heathens that are at ease that is I approve not their courses yea my wrath is kindled against their persons The light which shines upon wicked men turns all at last into heat and they have alwaies the heat of Gods anger mixed with their light a heat not to warm but to consume and burn them up As when the Lord sends the clouds and darknesse of outward affliction upon his own people he sends likewise the beams of his everlasting love into their hearts So he clouds and darkens wicked men while his candle shineth upon their heads JOB Chap. 10. Vers 4 5 6 7. Hast thou eyes of flesh or seest thou as man seeth Are thy daies as the daies of men Are thy years as mans daies That thou enquirest after mine iniquity and searchest after my sinne Thou knowest that I am not wicked and there is none that can deliver out of thy hand JOB proceedeth upon the same argument and as in the third verse he had removed three things inconsistent with and dishonourable to the justice of God So in the two verses following he removeth two more And as he thus acquits the Lord from injustice or unrighteous dealing with him so he appeals to the Lord who was able he knew to do it upon certain knowledge to acquit him from all the unjust charges with which his friends had burdened him Thou knowest that I am not wicked c. Hast thou eyes of flesh or seest thou as man seeth The Question is to be resolved into this negation Lord Thou hast not eyes of flesh Lord Thou seest not as man seeth as if Job had thus spoken Lord I have been long afflicted with grievous pains I am as a man hanging upon a rack to draw out and force a confession from him Lord why is it thus
with me Why am I brought to such a triall I am sure it is not with thee as with mortall Judges who having eyes of flesh can see no further then the out-side of things and know no more then is told them and therefore must fetch out what lies in the heart of man by examination and if examination will not do it they must do it by torture Lord there is no need thou shouldest take this course Thou canst enform thy self fully how it is with me though I should not speak a word though I am silent yet thine ear hears the voice and understands the language of my spirit Though I hide or cover my self yet the eye of thy omniscience looks quite thorow me seeing then thou hast not eyes like the eyes of men wherefore is it that thou enquirest by these afflictions after mine iniquity and searchest as men use to do after my sin Hast thou eyes of flesh or seest thou as man seeth God hath no eyes much lesse eyes of flesh God is a Spirit and therefore he cannot have eyes of flesh He is all eye and therefore properly he hath no eyes The eye is that speciall organ or member of the body into which the power of seeing is contracted but God is all over a power of seeing The body of man hath severall parts and severall honours and offices are bestowed upon every part The eye hath the great office and honour of seeing committed to it The eye is the light of the whole body and knowledge is the eye of the soul The eye of God is the knowledge of God Ipsum nomen Dei Graecum hanc videndi efficacit atem prae sesert 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nimirum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 spectare contemplari dicitur Nihil est in intellectu quod noÌ„ priâ— suit in sensu The Greeks expresse God by a word which signifies to see and he is therefore said to have eyes and to see because the eye is a principall instrument and seeing a principall means by which man receives knowledge Naturalists tell us there is nothing in the understanding but that which is first in the sence The sences are doors to the minde the furniture and riches of that are conveyed in by the eyes or ears These bring informations to the understanding Naturall knowledge cannot have an immediate accesse to man and 't is but seldom that spirituall hath Both are commonly let in by sence The superiour powers must traffick with the inferiour otherwise they make no gain Though God hath no need of any help to bring in or improve his knowledge yet that is ascribed to him by which knowledge is improved He hath eyes but not of flesh he seeth but not as man Hast thou eyes of flesh Flesh by a Synechdoche is put for the whole nature of man The Word was made flesh Joh. 1.14 not body or soul but Flesh that is man consisting of soul and body Thus here eyes of flâ—sh that is mans eyes And so the later clause of the verse is an exposition of the former Oculi carnei sunt secundum carnem judicantes When he saith Hast thou eyes of flesh It is no more then this Dost thou see as man seeth To have an eie of flesh is to judge according to the flesh and to see as man seeth is to see no more then man When Samuel was sent to anoint a King over Israel in the place of Saul 1 Sam. 16.7 the Lord said concerning the first-born of Jesse Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature because I have refused him The reason added is this For the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looks on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart There we have Jobs doctrine of Gods seeing delivered by God himself Samuel thought he who made the fairest shew to the eie of man must needs be the man who was fairest in the eye of God but the Lord seeth what is not seen and often findes most reality in the least appearance he who hath not eyes of flesh sees beyond the flesh There are seven differences between the eye of flesh or mans eye and the eye of God 1. Mans eye is but a means or an instrument of knowledge Gods eye is his knowledge The act and the faculty are not distinct in God All in God is act Neither is God another thing from his act whatsoever is ascribed to him is himself The eye of God is God seeing The knowledge of God is God knowing The love of God is God loving 2 Man must have a two-fold light to see by an inward light the light of the eye and an outward light the light in the air without both he cannot see man doth not see as Naturalists speak by sending forth a beam or a ray from his eye to the object but by receaving or taking in a beam or a ray from the object into his eie The object issues it's species to the eye which being joyned with the visive power of the eye man seeth But God seeth in himself of himself and from himself he needs no outward light Christ is described having a fiery eye His eyes were as a flame of fire Revel 1.14 Revel 2.18 Even nature teacheth us that those creatures which have fiery eyes see in the dark and see best when it is darkest because they see by sending forth a beam or a flame from their eyes which at once apprehends the object and enlightens the passage to it God who commanded light to come out of darknesse for the use of man commands light in darknesse for his own The darknesse hideth not from thee saith David but the night shineth as the day The darknesse and the light are both alike to thee There is no darknesse nor shadow of death where any of the workers of iniquity can hide themselves Job 34.22 Thus God hath not eyes of flesh he seeth not as man seeth 3. Man seeth one thing after another his eye is not able to take in all objects at once he views now one and then another to make his judgement of them But God seeth all things together he beholdeth all at one view his eye takes and gathers in all objects and all that is in every object by one act The Lord looketh from heaven and beholdeth all the sonnes of men from the place of his habitation he looks upon all the inhabitants of the earth Psal 33.13 14. 4. An eye of flesh seeth at a distance and at such a distance Naturalists tell us there must be a due distance between the eye and the object If you put the object too neer the eye Sensibile positum super sensuÌ„ tollet sensationem the eye cannot see it That which is sensible put upon the sense takes away sensation Again if the object be very remote the eye cannot make any discovery of it The eye cannot see farre and it cannot discern so farre as it
wickedly So we must understand that of the Apostle John 1 Epist 3.8 He that committeth sin is of the devil Thirdly To be wicked is ordinarily opposed to our being just and so Thou knowest that I am not wicked is Thou knowest that I am not condemned or cast at thy bar for a wicked man I am not condemned but justified in thy sight In which sense the word is used in that prophetique curse against Judas who betraied Christ Psal 109.7 When he shall be judged let him be condemned so we render it the Hebrew is elegantly translated thus Exeat improbus When he shall be judged let him go out wicked that is let him go out from before the bar and tribunall of his Judges a condemned man or Improbus justus verba sunt forensia Drus Let him proceed wicked Let that be his title and his honour wicked and just are judiciary or Court-terms equivalent with justified and condemned Some joyn these words with the verse going before Dost thou search into mine iniquity that thou maist know whether I am wicked As if he had said Lord thou needest not make enquiry about this thing for as I am not wicked so thou art not ignorant thou hast not afflicted me because I am wicked nor hast thou searched me because thou art ignorant Thou knowest that I am not wicked Hence observe First That the Lord knows the state of every man and of every thing exactly The foundation of God stands sure having this seal The Lord knoweth them that are his 2 Tim. 2.19 and he knoweth them that are not his not his by the grace of election and regeneration for all are his by the right of creation and dominion Thus he knows all the fowls of the mountains and the beasts of the field are his Psal 50.11 David gives this glory to God in his own case Psal 139.1 O Lord Thou hast searched me and known me God did not search him to know him but he searched him and knew him The knowledge of God was not a consequent but a concomitant of that search or it is spoken in opposition to man a man may search his neighbour and yet not know him There are depths and turnings in the heart of man which no man can reach or finde out but God hath a threed which will lead him into all and thorow all the labirynths a line which will found all the depths of man Hence David makes a particular of the knowledge of God God knew him in all that he was and in all that he did Thou knowest my down-lying and my up-rising and thou art acquainted with all my waies God is the Judge of all men therefore he knows all men Heb. 4.13 There is no creature which is not manifest in his sight 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things are naked and open before him with whom we have to doe The Apostle by two metaphors in these words teaches us that as the out-members and lineaments of the body together with their beauty or deformity are clearly seen when the body is naked and uncloathed that as the bowels and intrals of the body together with their soundnesse or diseases are perfectly discovered when the body is dissected or cut up by the hand of a skilfull anatomist even so are we in all we do and in all we are perfectly known or as the same Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 5.11 manifest unto God even manifest with as much clearnesse to the knowledge of God as the light is to the eye of man He knows 1. Our persons 2. Our actions 3. He knoweth the manner of our actions 4. He knoweth with what hearts we act 5. He knoweth not only the means we use but the ends we propose in every action 6. He knoweth what we have been as well as what we are And 7. He knoweth what we will be as well as what we are or have been He knoweth what we have done as well as what we do and he knoweth what we will do as well as what we do or have already done He seeth all creatures in the glasse of his own counsels thorow and thorow His eye hath thorow lights in all parts of the world and in the hearts of all men in the world And seeing man cannot be hid from God it is the vainest attempt for any man to think of hiding himself from God yet that 's not only the attempt but the hope of many who while they do what they would not have seen please themselves with this conceit that they are not seen in doing it or that they can secure what they have done from being seen We learn'd this of our first parents in whom the first thing that appeared next their shame after they had sinned was the hiding of their sinne Man loveth to draw a curtain between God and himself to raise up artificiall darknesse and to walk in thick clouds as he vainly hopes undiscovered Again Doth God know us then let us labour to know our selves God knows who are wicked many are wicked and know it not It is a wofull mistake when we think our selves to be in a good estate and God knows us to be in a bad estate It is a wrong to God and our selves when God knows us to be in a good estate and we think our selves to be in a bad estate but it is farre worse when we think our estate good and God knows it to be bad We should be acquainted with our condition lest we like Laodicea flatter our selves into an opinion that we are rich and clothed and have need of nothing when God knows we are poor and naked and wanting all things Secondly Observe from the elegancy of the Hebrew expression It is upon thy knowledge that I am not wicked God knoweth all things in and of himself This gives glory to God and lifteth him up above the creature in the fulnesse of his knowledge Men who have the greatest knowledge and vastest comprehensions of things yet have not that knowledge in and from themselves they fetch it in by borrowed helps and glad they can have it so too It costs man a great deal of travell and study to make himself master of a little knowledge Job 12.12 With the ancient is wisdom and in length of daies is understanding Some indeed get wisdom and understanding and are owners of a vast stock and treasure of knowledge but when but how When they are old when they have had long experience and have studied hard for it With the ancient is wisdom and in length of daies is understanding Thus men get knowledge But mark what is said of God in the next words vers 13. But with him meaning God is wisdom and strength He hath counsel and understanding With him it is and he hath it The Lord doth not grow more knowing by years nor doth his understanding mend by the multitude of daies though he be the Ancient of daies yet it is not his antiquity
knowledge of us beyond ours though he know us better then we know our selves yet no man can tell the Lord Thou knowest that I am not wicked but he who knows that he is not The excellency of our condition consists in being godly the comfort of it consists in knowing that we are godly When David offers himself to the triall Psal 139.24 Search me O Lord and see if there be any way of wickednesse in me He speaks not as doubting whether he were wicked or no but as being assured that he was not As if he had said There are many weaknesses in me I know but I know not of any wickednesse He that offers himself to Gods search for his wickednesse gives a strong argument of his own uprightnesse The best of the Saints may be at a losse sometimes for their assurances and not know they are good They may stand sometimes hovering between heaven and earth yea between heaven and hell as uncertain to which they shall be accounted Yet many of the Saints are fully perswaded they are Saints and sit with Christ in heavenly places while they are wâ—ndering here upon on the earth A godly man may know this two vvaies First By the vvorkings of grace in his heart Secondly By the testimony of the Spirit with his heart First By the vvorkings of grace in his heart 1 Joh. 2.3 Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments and chap. 3.14 We know that we are passed from death to life because we love the brethren There may be such workings of grace in the heart as may amount to an evidence of grace What our being is is discernable in our workings The word is as clear as light that our justification may have a light or evidence in our sanctification though no cause or foundation there Grace is the image of Christ stamped upon the soul and they who reflecting upon their souls see the image of Christ there may be sure that Christ is theirs Christ hath given all himself to those to whom he hath given this part of himself Secondly This may be known by the testimony of the Spirit with the heart 2 Cor. 5.5 He that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God God sets up a frame of holinesse in every believer He hath wrought us and how are we assured that he hath Who also hath given us the earnest of his Spirit The graces of the Spirit are a reall earnest of the Spirit yet they are not alwaies an evidentiall earnest therefore an earnest is often superadded to our graces There is a three-fold work of the Spirit First To conveigh and plant grace in the soul Secondly To act and help us to exercise the graces which are planted there Thirdly To shine upon and enlighten those graces or to give an earnest of those graces This last work the Spirit fullfils two waies First By arguments and inferences which is a mediate work Secondly By presence and influence which is an immediate work This the Apostle cals witnesse-bearing 1 Joh. 5.8 There are three that bear witnesse in earth The Spirit and the water and the bloud The Spirit brings in the witnesse of the water and of the bloud which is his mediate work but besides and above these he gives a distinct witnesse of his own which is his immediate work and is in a way of peculiarity and transcendency called the witnesse of the Spirit Hence that of the Apostle Paul We have not received the spirit of the world but we have received the Spirit which is of Christ that we may know the things that are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 The things freely given may be received by us and yet the receit of them not known to us therefore we receive the Spirit that we may know what is given us and what we have received The Spirit doth as it were put his hand to our receits and his seal also whence he is said To seal us up to the day of redemption Ephes 4.30 Sixthly Observe A godly man dares appeal to God himself that he is not wicked He dares stand before God to justifie his sincerity though he dares not stand to justifie himself before God Job had often laid all thoughts of his own righteousnesse in the dust but he alwaies stands up for his own uprightnesse God is my witnesse saith the Apostle Paul Rom 9.1 whom I serve in my spirit in the Gospel of his Sonne I serve God in my spirit and God knows that I do so I dare appeal unto him that it is so God is my witnesse When Christ put that question and drove it home upon Peter thrice Simon Lovest thou me Lord saith he Thou knowest all things Thou knowest that I love thee Joh. 21. As if he had said I will not give testimony of my self thou shalt not have it upon my word but upon thine own knowledge It were easie for me to say Master I love thee with all my heart with all my soul but I refer my self to thy own bosome Thou knowest I love thee So when Hezekiah lay as he thought upon his death-bed he turned himself to the wall desiring God to look upon the integrity of his life Lord remember how I have walked before thee in truth Isa 38.3 I do not go to the world for their good word of me I rest not in what my Subjects or neighbour Princes say of me Lord it is enough for me that what I have been and what I am is laid up safe in the treasury of thy thoughts This brings strong consolation when we take not up the testimony of men nor rest in the good opinion of our brethren but can have God himself to make affidavit or bear witnesse with us and for us That such a man will say I am an honest man that such a man will give his word for me is cold comfort but when the soul can say God will give his word for me The Lord knows that I am not wicked here 's enough to warm our hearts when the love of the world is waxen so cold and their tongues so frozen with uncharitablenesse that they will not speak a good word of us how much good soever they know by us Seventhly Consider the condition wherein Job was when he spake this he was upon the rack and as it were under an inquisition God laid his hand extream hard upon him yet at that time even then he saith Lord thou knowest that I am not wicked Hence observe A man of an upright heart and good conscience will not be brought to think that God hath ill thoughts of him how much evil so ever God brings upon him The actings of God toward us are often full of changes and turnings but the thoughts of God never change A soul may be afflicted till he is weary of himself yet he knows God is not weary of him Whomsoever he hath once made good he cannot but for ever esteem good
me out of thine hand or pull me away from thee by strength or by entreaty I should wonder the lesse at thy severity God doth sometimes even bespeak the intercession of others and complains that none come in to deliver a people or a person out of his hand When he was about to destroy Sodom he tels it unto Abraham probably for that very end that Abraham might intercede for Sodom and at least get Lot out of his hand When God was about to execute his judgments upon Jerusalem Non est qui clamâ—t Deus optme re stringas gladium ne strictum exterdas â—n populum tuuÌ„ He saw and there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessour none to take him off from destroying that people Isa 59.16 The Prophet complains in words of the same importance chap. 64.7 There is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee Friends seeing a father go out hastily to correct his child rise presently or stir up themselves to take hold of the father or to mediate for the childe Pray spare him for this time and hold your hand but saith the Prophet There is none that will stir up himself to take hold of God He is going out in wrath and no man puts him in minde of mercy with that cry of another Prophet O spare thy people and give not thine heritage to reproach When Abraham was ready to slay Isaac upon the altar when his hand was stretched out to fetch the fatall blow just then did the Angel take hold of his sword and delivered Isaac out of his hand God saith to Moses Exod. 32.10 Let me alone God was about to destroy that people Moses would not permit him he seeks to deliver Israel out of the revenging hand of God by that holy violence of praier and supplication Lastly Others look upon Job as breathing out a very heroick and magnanimous spirit in these words As if he had said Lord Thou knowest and thou shalt know that I am not wicked though none deliver or take me out of thine hand Thou shalt finde me holding mine integrity as long as I hold my life I am resolved to honour thee whatsoever thou doest with me And so he refutes the charge of Satan Satan said Touch his flesh and his bone and he will curse thee to thy face No saith Job though he taketh away my flesh and my bones yet I will not curse him to his face no nor speak an ill word of him behinde his back Though I should never be delivered yet God shall never be blasphemed Upon the whole observe That there is no means on earth can rescue us out of the hand of God I kill and I make alive I wound and I heal neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand Deut. 32.39 Till God discharge us there 's no escaping none can force us out of his hand whatsoever is in theirs power cannot policy cannot riches cannot we cannot bribe our selves out of the sight or beyond the stroke of divine justice A golden key will not open Gods prison door Riches avail not in the day of wrath and in some daies of wrath prayer it self cannot prevail Then take heed how ye fall into the hands of God No wise man will run into his displeasure from whom there is no deliverance but at his own pleasure See more of this point Chap. 9.12 JOB Chap. 10. Vers 8 9 10 11 12 13. Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about and yet thou doest destroy me Remember I beseech thee that thou hast made me as the clay and wilt thou bring me into dust again Hast thou not poured me out as milk and crudled me like cheese Thou hast cloathed me with skin and flesh and hast fenced me with bones and sinews Thou hast granted me life and favour and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit And these things hast thou hid in thine heart I know that this is with thee AT the third verse of this Chapter we found Job questioning with the Lord Is it good for thee that thou shouldest oppresse That thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands In these words he insisteth upon and illustrateth that argument by fitting it to his own condition As if he had said Lord seeing thou wilt not despise the work of â—â—ine hands why shouldest thou despise me Am not I the work of thy hands Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about and yet thou dost destroy me The whole context argues out this point wherein we may observe 1. His forming or making set down in generall at the eighth verse Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about 2. The matter out of which he was formed and made at the ninth verse Remember I beseech thee that thou hast made me as the clay 3. His forming is drawn out in particulars Wherein we have First His conception at the tenth verse Hast not thou poured me out as milk and crudled me as cheese 2. The conjunction or setting together of his patts at the 11. verse Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh and hast fenced me with bones and sinews 3. The quickning of his parts thus joyned and set together at the 12. verse Thou hast granted me life 4. The preservation of his life in the same verse Thou hast given me life and not only so but favour and thy visitation doth preserve my spirit 5. Lastly We have Jobs strength of assurance or his assertion concerning all this at the 13. verse These things thou hast hid in thine heart I know that this is with thee as if he had said Lord Thou knowest all is truth which I have spoken There are three opinions concerning the connection or tie of these words with those that went before First Some conceive that Job persisteth in the same matter handled in the words immediately foregoing exalting the knowledge of God concerning man upon this ground because God made man Thou knowest that I am not wicked How did Job know that He must needs know what man is who made man Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about forasmuch as I am thy work a piece of thy framing surely thou knowest what thou hast framed thou who hadst knowledge enough to make me hast a perfect knowledge of what thou hast made me We may joyn it also with the later clause None can deliver out of thine hand Why Thine hands have made me and fashioned me Is it possible for the work to deliver it self out of the hand of him who wrought it Is that which is formed too strong for him that formed it when as the same hand which gave it form gave it strength We finde this argument as to the former part Psal 94.9 where from the work of God in our naturall constitution the holy pen-man proves the fulnesse of his knowledge concerning us in every
condition Vnderstand ye brutish he speaks to men who acted more like beasts then men He that planted the ear Shall he not hear He that formed the eye shall he not see As if he had said He that made the ear is all hearing and he who formed the eye is all eye all sight The argument holds strong from Gods power in forming man to his power of knowing man and to his power of disposing man I am teneo hujâ—â— rei causam cum enim manus illius me fecerint jure suo potest Deus me destruere Cajet That 's the first way of dependance Secondly Job may be conceived as rendering an account of those things about which he had taken the boldnesse to interrogate the Lord at the third verse Here he answers his own question as if he had said now I see well enough why thou maist despise and destroy thy work It is thy work I will go no further for a reason to vindicate thee in breaking me to pieces then this That thine hands have set me together Thou hast made me and thou maiest unmake me thou hast rais'd me up and thou maiest pull me down So the copulative vau in the originall which we translate by the adversative yet is taken for a conjunction causall and so it is frequently used in Scripture Gen. 30.20 Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return The sense is Dust thou art therefore to dust thou shalt return Exod. 15.23 24. The waters were bitter and the people murmured that is The waters were bitter therefore the people murmured thus here Thine hands have made me and fashioned me therefore thou dost destroy me He that builds the house at his own charge and by his own power may ruin it at his own pleasure Ex sua formatione artificis misericordiam movet ex commemorato pristino beneficio alia denuò efflagitandi ansam arripit Pined Thirdly The words may carry the sense of a strong motive to prevail with God to handle Job more gently or to deal more tenderly with him why The Lord had bestowed much care and cost to make and fashion him therefore he will surely pity and spare him There is a naturall motion of the heart in every agent towards the preservation of that which proceedeth from it Creation is followed with providence If a speechlesse and livelesse creature could speak and understand it would argue with it's maker in Jobs case as Job doth Dost thou yet destroy me David strengthens his heart to ask good at the hands of God because he had spoken good concerning him 2 Sam. 7.27 Thou O Lord of Hosts God of Israel hast revealed to thy servant saying I will build thee an house therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this praier unto thee Now if David were not only emboldned to ask but even assured to receive mercy because God promised to build him a house that is to prosper his estate and family how much more might Job be encouraged to pray for and expect mercy from the hand of God because God had already framed and built that naturall house his body The Prophet Isaiah being about to plead with God for new mercies presents him with a catalogue of his old mercies Chap. 63.7 8 9. I will mention the loving kindenesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath done unto us and the great goodnesse towards the house of Israel which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving kindenesses c. Having thus at large told the Lord what he had done the Prophet in a holy zeal contends with him about what he was doing vers 15. Look down from heaven and behold fromâ— the habitation of thy holinesse and of thy glory where is thy zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards me Are they restrained Doubtlesse thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us c. As if he had said That great sea of thy goodnesse hath sent out abundant streams of good things heretofore and are all those streams now dried up and the springs exhausted What 's become of thy zeal and strength and compassions Are they all spent and gone Thus Job seems to plead here thine hands have made me Et sic repentè praecipitas me Vulg. Antithesi beneficiorum amplissimorum in se à Domino collatoruÌ„ exaggerat iram qua nunc in se desaevit ac afflictiones quibus exagitatur Jun. thou hast done thus and thus for me and wilt thou now destroy me According to this interpretation the later clause of the verse is rendered by an interrogation Thine hands have made me and fashioned me and dost thou yet destroy me What thou my maker destroy me Remember I beseech thee so in the next verse that thou hast made me as the clay and wilt thou bring me into the dust again Thus by a specification of the great outward benefits which he had received from the hand of God he seems to aggravate his present sorrows and to solicite future mercies Thine hands Hands are often ascribed to God as was shewed vers 3. Many things are made with the hand The maker of all things is without hands and yet he is all hand Hence all things that were made are said to be made by the hands of God not only the forming of man but the forming of the heavens and of the earth is the work of his hand Psal 102.25 Psal 95.5 both are put together Isa 48.13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth and my right hand hath spanned the heavens Wheresoever the great works of God are exprest a hand usually is exprest as the instrument working them yet his hand wrought the least as well as the greatest a worm of the earth as well as man upon the earth or the Angels in heaven The heads of men have run into great variety of opinion about these hands forming man First Many of the Ancients understand by the hands of God Ambros in Hexam Hom. 11. Basil c. The Sonne of God the second Person in the Trinity and the holy spirit of God who is the third Thine hands have made me that is the Sonne and the holy Spirit who were assistant to and of counsell with the Father at the Creation of man And God said Let us make man in our image after our likenes Gen. 1.26 Others expound hands literally and formally not as if God had hands that 's below their conceit but thus It hath been said of old that when God at first formed man the Sonne took upon him an outward shape or the shape of a man and so say they Christ not made man but in the form of man formed man Thirdly The hands of God are all second causes which God useth toward the production of any effect Causis secundis veluti quibusdaÌ„
Quantus quantus sum magna Dei cura artificio elaboratus sum Pined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Together round about is as vvas touched before me in every part or all me When some took offence at Christs healing of a sick man upon the Sabbath-day he answers Are ye angry at me because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day Joh. 7.23 or that I have made the whole man vvhole not leaving any unsound limb about him There is a like phrase Luk. 11.40 vvhich may illustrate this Ye fools Did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also That is Did not he that made man make him together round about Did not he make vvhatsoever is man So Iobs together round about is as if he had said Thou hast made me within and without from head to foot thou hast made me all that I am how great how good how strong how beautifull soever I am I am made by thee Thou as David speaks Psal 139.5 hast beset or formed me so the Hebrew behinde and before and laid thine hand upon me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Formasti me Fourthly By together round about vve may understand all vvithout man vvhich man hath about him Thou hast made and fashioned not only my body but my estate my honour my friends my children children round about the Table Psal 128.2 Per circuitam omnia etiam illa intelligamus quae hominem cingunt sc facultates liberos familiam universam Thou hast given me all that I have about me Whatsoever I am I am made and fashioned by thine hands So the phrase is used Chap. 19.9 10. He hath stript me of my glory and taken the crown from my head he hath destroied me on every side or he hath destroied me round about that is All that he hath made round about me he hath taken away from me he hath stript me of all he once clothed me vvith Mr Broughton translates much to that sense Thou hast fashioned me and made me in every point that is Look vvhatsoever I am considerable in under vvhat notion so ever I may be taken Thou hast made me and fashioned me in all Observe First The making of man now is the work of God as well as the making of the first man was Iob doth not say The Lord did once make and fashion man but thine hands have made me He ascribeth his own making to God as vvell as Adams The structure and frame of nature is the vvork of God not of nature Nature and naturall causes are nothing but the order in vvhich God vvorketh God turneth or changeth stops or sets them forward as he pleaseth Natura nihil aliud est quam divinorum operumordo Brent Second causes vvork purely at the vvill of God though means be used by man yet the effect is Gods Corn groweth in the field by the hand of God You vvill say What then doth the hushandman What doth the earth What do the Sunne and rain Doe not all these vvork All those are nothing but the order vvherein and by vvhich the hand of God makes the corn to grow for let all those second causes vvork as hard as they can yet the corn grows not unlesse God speak the word His steps not the husbandmans drop fatnesse It is he not the Sunne or the rain which makes the valleys stand thick with corn to laugh and sing As in spirituals so in naturals he that planteth and he that vvatereth is nothing but God that giveth the increase The Psalmist speaks exclusively of man as to the point of mans making and he putteth an emphasis upon it as if man did not take notice enough if a◠all of this that in this man is nothing Know ye that the Lord he is God Psal 100.3 it is he that hath made us and not we our selves There may be a great deal of grace acted in acknowledging God to be the authour of nature yet I conceive the Psalmist speaks there rather of Gods making us in grace then in nature Secondly Observe Iob recounting what God had done for him brings in Thy hands have made me and fashioned me then Our making and naturall constitution are to be reckoned amongst the great benefits received from God Psal 139.14 I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully made The making of a man is a wonder though the frequency of it makes the wonder little observed yet the wonder is not in it self the lesse David who had serious and holy thoughts about naturall things confesseth I am fearfully and wonderfully made A Heathen had three reasons for which he used especially to thank God One of them was this because he had made him a man If men who have but the light of nature can see so much of God in nature How much of God should we see in nature who have the light of grace to see it by Thirdly From the words put together Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about Observe The whole fashion and fabrick of man is from God From which generall take these consectaries See more of this point before at the third verse of this Chapter pag. 443. First Then do not undervalue the body it is the work of God He hath fashioned it round about We alwaies look upon and value our bodies too much when we are proud of them but we can never look upon or value our bodies too much while we are thankfull for them and that we may be so we ought to view every room of this house of clay from story to story from the garret to the cellar from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot that we seeing the wonderfull works of God may have our hearts enlarged in his praises Some have put ignoble titles upon the body of man calling it a prison or a shackle The body is not a prison it is a palace it is not a shackle it is an organ a fit instrument for the soul to use and act by If at any time the body be unusefull to the soul that proceeds from sinfull corruption not from its naturall constitution 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But the Apostle Phil. 3.21 calleth our body a vile body or the body of our vilenesse Mans body is not vile as God made it so it is a stately structure but as sin hath made it The Apostle cals it vile not absolutely and in it self but relatively The body clothed with mortality is vile compared with the body when it shall be clothed with glory and that glory like the glory of the body of Christ as is assured us Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body The words carry an allusion to those who changing old and broken vessels desire to have them wrought in the best and newest fashion The body of Christ is the richest piece of Gods work and this
our visiting God as providence is Gods visiting of us we should visit God by praier not only as they Isa 26. in trouble but in our peace we should desire him to visit our estates our families but especially our souls and spirits in their most flourishing condition The Apostle useth it as an argument to keep us from distracting thoughts Phil. 4.2 Let your moderation be known unto all men The Lord is at hand be carefull in nothing but in every thing by praier and supplication let your requests be made known unto God The Lord is at hand let not your hearts be troubled Visit God in duty who is at hand to visit you in mercy Though there be an infinite distance between God and man yet God is not farre from any man and he is ever near some men Let not us be strangers to God when we hear he maketh continuall visits to us Thy visitation doth preserve my spirit Verse 13. And these things hast thou hid in thine heart I know that this is with thee Some read the first clause which adds sharpnesse to it with an interrogation And hast thou hid these things in thine heart Is it so with thee or hast thou dealt so with me indeed The heart of God is the will purpose or decree of God These are a vast repository wherein all things are laid up And these things hast thou hid c. What things what is the antecedent to these things 1. Some say His afflictions These things that is these afflictions which thou hast now laid upon me were hid in thine heart thou hast shewed me many favours while in secret thou didst prepare rods for me 2. The antecedent to these things is mercy life favour and visitation spoken of before say others As if Job had spoken thus This bill of blâ—ssings now read these priviledges now reekoned up were hidden in thiâ—e heart thou hast had gratious intentions towards me while thou hast been smiting me I know all this is with thee Scio quia universorum me mâ—eris Vulg. That is Thou remembrest all this and keepest a record of it by thee The Vulgar makes this the text I know thou remembrest all things or all men Some supposing the antecedent to be his afflictions make out this harsh and unbecoming sense Quasi haec mala velut in animo recondita in tempus opportunum asservasset ut nec opinanteÌ„ opprimeret Atrox querimonia Merl As if Job had thus uttered his minde to God I now perceive thou hast had coles of anger raked up in the ashes while those warm beams of love did shine upon me Thou hast held out mercy in thine hand but somewhat else lay in thine heart This interpretation in the common understanding of it is most unworthy of God It is the wickednesse of men to speak fair and to doe some courtesies while cruelty and revenges are hid in their hearts When Esau Gen. 27.41 saw himself defeated of the blessing by his brother He said in his heart The daies of mourning for my father are at hand then will I slay my brother Iacob Here 's the character of malice he gave neither brother nor mother ill language but he said in his heart The holy God never speaks good to them to whom he intends evil The Creatour needs not daub or pervaricate with his creatures I grant indeed that the Lord giveth wicked men many outward favours and speaks them fair in his works but he never speaks them fair in his Word Say Woe to the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him Isa 3.11 Men are apt to flatter but flattery is much an abomination to the Lord as it is below him I grant also That the Lord giveth his own people many favours and speaketh reall kindenesses to them while he hides affliction in his heart What evil soever he brings upon them he hath thoughts to do them good and hath nothing but good for them in his thoughts We understand by those hidden things the mercies which Iob with his last breath had enumerated then the words import two things First An argument to move the Lord not to destroy him or or to assure his own heart that he would not As if he had said Lord I know thou remembrest well what thou hast done for me what cost thou hast been at in making me at first and in preserving me hitherto surely then thou wilt not pull all down in a moment Secondly The words may import that the Lord in afflicting Job had used only a kinde of sacred dissimulation A dissembler carrieth himself as if he had no intent to do what he is resolved to do It is usuall with men thus to dissemble hatred and so have some their love He that purposeth much good to another hideth it sometimes under sowre language and unkindest usage Ioseph had most endeared affection toward his brethren yet he put a disguise of anger upon it acting the part of a severe man who lieth at catch to finde out advantages and pick quarrels Ioseph used many stratagems of love to entangle his brethren and wrapt up his good will in hard speeches and rough carriages Nothing appearing lesse then what indeed he most was A loving brother forgetfull of nothing but injuries Job seems to have had such a conception of God while he saith These things hast thou hid in thine heart And then his sense riseth thus Lord I know thou bearest favour and good will towards me still The fire of thy love is not extinct but covered Thou dost but personate an enemy thou art my friend thou drawest a cloud betwixt me and the light of thy countenance but thy countenance is still as full of light towards me as ever and though I see nothing but sorrows on every side yet I know mercies are hid in thine heart Thus the words are an assertion of Jobs faith and assurance that God loved him while his chastnings lay most heavy upon him Hence observe First That the Saints while they are strong in faith are able to discern the favour of God through the clouds and coverings of his most angry dispensations This they can do and when they can they are arrived at a great height in grace To maintain our interest in Christ through disadvantages is strong faith The woman of Canaan Mat. 15.26 knew her pardon and acceptance were hid in the heart of Christ while he called her dog and would scarce vouchsafe to cast an eye upon her Faith did this and faith can do the like at this day But every true faith will not do it There is a kinde of miracle wrought in such believing So Christ concludes with that woman ver 28. O woman great is thy faith Truth of grace is not enough for every work of grace some works will not be done without strength as well as truth Weak faith is ready to say Mercy is lost when it is but hidden
then much more God who is the Judge of conscience marketh us if we sin God needs not judge upon information but upon his own observation He will reprove every man whom he doth not pardon And is able to set before us in order whatsoever any of us have done How then do some say That God sees not sinne in his children Job saith That God marked his sinne but according to this doctrine he should rather have said If I sin thou dost not mark me Some through ignorance sin and see it not sin and perceive it not but no man among all the multitudes of men can sin unseen or unperceived by God If I sin then thou markest me And thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non purges me ut sim immuni◠ab omni peccata Will not the Lord acquit Why have we a Gospel then What 's the businesse of mercy And where 's the efficacy of Christs bloud Doth not this purchase and do not they offer acquittances from iniquity The words are interpreted three waies First That Iob speaks from his unbelief as if he could not see pardon through the thick cloud of his troubles or have any evidence that God had mercy in store for him while he endured such plenty of miseries Secondly That he speaks thus upon a supposition of impenitency As if he had said If I sinne and humble not my self thou wilt not acquit me Thirdly That by iniquity he means his affliction putting the cause for the effect So Thou wilt not acquit me for mine iniquity is Thou wilt not take away these afflictions which are counted as the proceed or issue of mine iniquity Hence observe First Sinne is a debt Every acquittance supposeth an obligation All men as creatures are in a debt of duty to God and when they fail in that they are in a debt of penalty as sinners Observe secondly When sinne is pardoned the sinner is acquitted his debt is taken off and his bonds are cancelled Pardon is our discharge our quietus est sealed in the bloud of Christ All processe at law or from the law is then prohibited there 's no more to be said or done against us Again The word signifies to cleanse and purge as well as to acquit Note from it That as sinne defileth the soul so pardon cleanseth it Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter then snow was Davids prayer for pardon after his great defilement Psal 5.1 7. If we confesse our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sinnes and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse 1 Joh. 1.9 Fourthly Forasmuch as Iob groaning under burdens of sorrow speaks so often about the pardon of sin we learn That while sinne remaineth to our sense unpardoned the soul seeth no way to get out of sorrows The removing of affliction is a sign that sinne is forgiven and the sense of our forgivenes is an argument that affliction shall be removed Fifthly Taking the former words in conjunction with these If I sinne knowingly and wickedly as they charge me Thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity Observe That a persisting sinner is an unpardoned sinner There is abundant mercy for returning sinners but I know of none for those that resolve to go on in sin There is a promise of repentance and a promise to repentance but there is no promise which doth not either offer or require repentance Repent and thou shalt be saved is the tenour of the Gospel as well as beleeve and thou shalt be saved Though many who are going on in their sins are overtaken by grace yet there is no grace promised to those who go on in their sins The holiest are threatned with wrath if they doe surely then none are put into an expectation of mercy if they do The promises either finde us repenting or they cause us to repent No sinner is pardoned for repentance nor without it Iob speaks that language more clearly in the words following which some make an exposition of these Verse 15. If I be wicked Woe unto me If I be wicked What it is to be wicked hath been shewed and the difference between a wicked man and a sinner discovered at the 7th verse upon those words Thou knowest that I am not wicked Woe unto me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ejulatu deducit Rab Mos Kimchi The word is derived saith one of the Rabbins from a root signifying to houl Great mourning is a kinde of houling and they who are in woe are bid to houl Isa 13.6 chap. 23.1 c. Wicked men houl rather then pray in their distresse because of their extream worldly woe They have not cried unto me with their hearts when they houled upon their beds Hos 7.14 There are legall woes and there are evangelicall woes The Law cries woe and so doth the Gospel Gospel woes are the worser of the two For if the Law say woe to us the Gospel may say mercy to us but if the Gospel say woe to us as it doth to hypocrites who abuse and to unbelievers who refuse mercy where shall we have mercy All woes may be understood in this place Law woes and Gospel woes temporall woes and eternall woes If I be wicked then woe unto me Hence observe Woe is the portion of wicked men Though they laugh yet woe is their portion yea they are therefore threatned with woe because they laugh Luk. 6.25 Woe unto you that laugh now for ye shall mourn and weep Some wicked men are as merry as if mercy were their peculiar But we may say to their mirth What doth it Or if we should ask them What they do to make themselves so merry David will resolve us what their course is Psal 36.2 The wicked flattereth himself in his own eyes untill his iniquity be found to be hatefull He that would be flattered shall never want a flatterer for if none will do it he will doe it himself He speaks well of himself and therefore he thinks all 's well But usually he hath some others ready enough to speak well of him too The true Prophets complained of the false for crying peace peace when there was no peace for saying all is well when they should say all is woe But though wicked men flatter themselves and though they get their neighbours to flatter them yea though Ministers flatter them yet God will not flatter them and at last their own consciences will not flatter them neither Conscience will preach them a Sermon of woes at last though possibly it hath been silent through ignorance or silenc'd through malice for a long time As all the promises of grace and mercy hang over the heads of the godly and sincere which way soever they go a cloud of blessings drops and distils upon them So clouds of wrath and bloud hang over the heads of wicked men dropping upon them yea
Sight which is the chief sense is put for any sense And so the meaning is Though I am righteous yet I cannot hold up my head or take any comfort because I am so full of confusion and see so much affliction As if he had said Can a man at the same time mourn and rejoyce Can a man lift up his head while he hath such a load upon his heart Hence observe They who see much affliction can hardly take in any consolation Come to a godly man under great outward or inward troubles tell him of the love of God of the pardon of sinne of an inheritance among the Saints in light as his portion you can hardly fasten any of these things upon him sorrow within keeps comfort out As till sin be cast out we cannot act holily so till worldly sorrow or the excesse of godly sorrow be cast out we cannot act joyfully The Saints in a right posture of spirit are joyous in all their tribulations and Christ is able to make consolations abound as tribulation doth abound yet where there is abundance of tribulation consolation is usually very scarce Drops will hardly be received where rivers are offered and poured forth Another reading of the words representeth Iob bespeaking God in praier mixed with complaining If I were righteous Satis habeas ignominiae vide impotentiaÌ„ meam Coc. yet cannot I lift up my head be thou satisfied with confusion and behold my affliction So M. Broughton As if Iob had said Let it be enough Lord let it now suffice give me some ease that I may lift up my head a little before I lay it down for altogether Thus David praied Ps 39.11 12. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth surely every man is vanity O spare me that I may recover stâ—ength before I go hence be no more When Nehemiâ—h was humbling himself and confessing his sin and the sinne of that people he concludes according to this interpretation Chap. 9.32 Let not all the trouble seem little before thee that hath come upon us on our Kings on our Princes and on our Priests and on all thy people as if he had said Lord consider that now we have been greatly punished though we have been punished lesse then our sins deserve Thou maist justly inflict more but we are not able to endure more Rectius in imperativo q. d. vide Domine quo sim statu tum cognosces ita esse ut dico Mâ—rc Thirdly We read imperatively Therefore see thou mine affliction So his meaning is Lord take notice of my sad condition I am full of trouble Hence observe That when sorrows are come to a great height it is time for us to pray that God would cast a compassionate eye upon them When we are past the cure and help of man we are fittest objects for God When the pressures of the people of Israel were greatly encreased in Aegypt then the Lord himself saith I have seen I have seen Exod. 3.7 and when affliction is boyl'd up to the height then let us say See Lord see Lord. When the rage and blasphemy of Rabshakeh both by speaking and writing reached even unto heaven Then Hezekiah went and spread the letter before the Lord 2 King 19.14 As if he had said Lord do thou read this letter Lord bow down thine ear and hear Lord behold and see we are full of confusion See thou our affliction And when the enemies of the Jews in Nehemiah's time fell to scoffing and jearing the work they had in hand and them in the work then that zealous Governour puts it unto God Hear O our God for we are despised Secondly Note That when our afflictions are at the highest and greatest thou the Lord is able to master and subdue them I am full of confusion see thou mine affliction As if he had said It is in vain for me to shew my diseases and my wounds to creatures but I know I am not past thy cure though I come thus late or thus I have shewed my wounds and my diseases to the creature I have made my moan to men but they cannot help Now I bring them unto thee O see my affiction All our ruines may be under the hand of God he hath bread and cloathing for us he can be our healer when none can either in heaven or earth Lastly Observe When our afflictions are at the highest then usually God comes to deliver When the waters of affliction swell over the banks and threaten a deluge then God turns the stream when our sores fester and are ready to gangrene then God applies his balsome He seldome appears in a businesse which others can do or undertakes that which is mans work As in the sore travel of women in childe-bearing other helpers undertake it not till as they speak it be past womens work so God seldome meddles eminently he acts alwaies concommitantly till our deliverance is past mans work that so the whole praise of the work may be his When danger is upon the growing hand then desire God to take deliverance in hand then pray and pray earnestly that God would see your afflictions when you perceive them to be encreasing afflictions So it follows in the next verse See thou mine affliction Verse 16. For it encreaseth Thou huntest me as a fierce lion and again thou shewest thy self marvellous upon me This verse with the next are an elegant and patheticall description of Iobs yet growing and prevailing sorrows for having closed the 15th verse with an Assertion and a petition I am full of confusion therefore see thou mine affliction he presseth and pursueth both in these words For it encreaseth Thou huntest me as a fierce lion For it encreaseth M. Broughton renders How it fleeth up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In bonum elevâ—tâ—â— eminuit in malum intumuit superbiit de inanimatis â—revit auctus â—uit The Hebrew word is taken sometimes in a good and sometimes in an ill sense In a good sense it signifies to be lifted up or to be eminent in excellency In an ill sense it signifies to be lifted up or exalted with pride The word is applied also to things without life and then it signifies to augment by addition or encrease The Vulgar takes it in that ill sense as noting pride and high-mindednesse translating by the Noun thus For pride thou dost catch me as a lion or thou dost hunt me as a lion because I am proud A lion is a stout creature and may be an embleme of pride Another gives a sense near that When it lifteth up it self then thou huntest me as a fierce lion When what lifteth up it self when my head lifteth up it self he had said in the former verse If I be righteous yet will I not lift up my head for if I doe lift up my head in pride then thou wilt hunt me as a fierce lion I shall