of the verse as 't is put into a chideing or reproving question Why dost thou strive against him From the latter branch He giveth not account of any of his matters Observe First The power and dominion of God is absolute God is not subject to any reckonings with man whatsoever he doth He that may doe what he will and can doe nothing but what is right neither may nor can be brought to any account for what he hath done He that is unaccountable is absolute in power Further God needs not give man any account upon these three grounds First He oweth no man any thing He hath received nothing of us and if a man hath not received he needeth not account They that have any trust from men are to give account But what hath God received from man Man receives his all from God Why then should God give any account Secondly Consider the Loâ—d hath wronged no man nor can he He is infinitely just and righteous in all his wayes He not only doth just things but things are just because he doth them Why should he give an account of any of his matters who neither doth nor can doe any matter which is unâ—ust If we knew and were fully assured of a man in whose hands we have trusted much that he were so just that he would not though he had opportunity deceive us of a farthing we would never call him to an account As it is sayd of those treasurers in the story of the Kings 2 Kings 12.15 They reckoned not with the men into whose hand they delivered the money to be bestowed on workmen for they dealt faithfully An example hardly to be parallel'd in an age by the sons of men Many are more desirous of trusts then carefull to discharge them They love to have much treasure passe through their hands that some of it may in passage slip into their owne pockets and purses Justice and faithfulness are rare Jewels among men and therefore it is but need they should have a check upon them and be called to an account But the holy God is altogether just and faithfull therefore to what purpose should he be called to an account Let us rest quiet in this acknowledgement That he whose will is the highest reason can doe nothing without reason Man was created under God and then he returnes to the order of his creation when he prefers the judgement of God even when he doth not understand it before his owne Thirdly There is no man no nor Angel that hath any authority to call God to an account They that are accountable to others Homo sub deo est conditus ad conditionis ordinem redit quando sibi aequitatem judicis etiam quam non intelligit anteponit Greg l. 13. Mor c. 18. are under their power either as being in degree above them or as having made a compact covenant with them though their equalls to give them an account But who shall call God to an account who is higher then the highest And though God hath condiscended to make a covenant with man and therein given him assurance that he will doe him good yet God hath engaged himselfe to give us an account how or in what way he makes good or performes his Covenant Man must give an account to God how he hath performed the Articles of the Covenant not God to man As man is a fraile dying creature so he is an accountable creature Luke 16.2 Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou mayst be no longer Steward Rom 14.12 So then every one of us shall give an account of himselfe to God God will call every man to a strict account of his receits and expences what talents of time and opportunities of parts and abilities of power and Authorities have been put into his hand as also how he hath husbanded and improved them We alas poore creatures by striving with God call him upon the matter to give us an account of his matters And in the meane time forget the account which we must give to him of all our matters It is our duty and will be our wisdome to account so with our selves every day that we may be ready for our account in that Great and last Audit-Day And as to remember prepare for our own account in that day will keepe us from doing or saying any thing which may be interpreted a calling of God to an account all our dayes so that remembrance will make us strive how to improve and be bettered by the afflictions and troubles wherewith we are exercised in the world in stead of striving with God because he puts us upon those severer exercises for how we have improved our afflictions will be one part and that a very considerable one of our account to God in that day Lastly The two parts of this verse connected and considered together Why dost thou strive against him for he giveth not account of any of his matters The latter being a reason of the former give us this Observation God being absolute in power we ought to sit down quietly under all his dealings Or thus The consideration of Gods absolute Soveraignty that he gives not account of any of his matters should stop all our strivings and pleadings with or against God Our strivings against God are of two sorts or in a double respect They respect either our eternall or our temporall estate First With respect to our eternall state for about that we are apt to call God to account O what strivings are there in the hearts of men about Gods absolute soveraignty in electing of some and rejecting of others The Apostle is much upon it Rom. 9. where having represented the Lord speaking thus by Moses vers 15. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion He presently prevents an Objection or the strife of man with God about that saying vers 19. Thou wilt say then why doth he yet find fault As if men might find fault with God if he in that case should find fault with them for who hath resisted his will This is mans plea against the soveraigne will of God But what saith the Lord by the Apostle to such a pleader we have his reproof of him for an answer in the next verse Nay but O man who art thou that replyest against God shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus hath not the Potter power over the clay The Apostle brings in this Argument as to mans eternall state he must not strive with God about that He must not say why doth God find fault with man O man who art thou that dost logick it thus with God His absolute power is his reason why he disposeth thus or thus of thee or any man else He will give thee no account why it is so but his own will to have it so For shame sit downe stop
evill purposes God himself must come to withdraw and fetch him off or otherwise he will be driving them on The heart of man naturally hath no other purposes but evill purposes and upon them it is set as I may say to purpose that is he will effect and bring them about if he can When Moses reproved Aaron concerning the golden Calfe which he had made at the instance and violent importunity of the people Aaron answered for himself Exod. 32.23 Let not the anger of my Lord wax hot thou knowest the people that they are set on mischiefe they are bent to it they have such a mind to it that there 's no turning them from it they will hear no reason nor take any denyall when the fit is on them There is a setting of the heart of man continually upon evill the wind blowes that way and no other way the wind sits alwayes in that bad corner till God turneth it There are two gracious acts of God spoken of in Scripture which doe exceedingly shew forth the sinfullnesse of man every act of grace doth in its measure aggravate the sinfullnesse of man and alwayes the higher grace acteth the more is the sinfullnesse of man discovered especially I say in this twofold act of grace The former whereof consists in drawing the latter in withdrawing there is a gracious act of God in drawing the sinfull sons and daughters of men to that which is good Man is drawne First into a state of grace or goodnesse by this he is made good He is drawn Secondly to acts of grace or goodnesse by this he doth good Of the former Christ speaks Joh. 6.44 No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him that is no man can beleeve for by faith we come to Christ except he receive power from on high God draweth the soul to Christ and that 's a powerfull act of divine drawing though not a compulsory act and as God must draw man into a state of grace which is our union with Christ by the Spirit in beleeving so he draweth him to the acting of his graces Of this latter the Church speaketh to Christ Cant. 1.4 Draw me and I will run after thee These gracious drawings shew that we are not only utterly unable but averse to the receiving grace and so becoming good while we are in a state of nature as also that we are very backward to doe that which is good even when we are in a state of grace Now as God acts very graciously in drawing man to good so Secondly in withdrawing him from evill from those evill purposes and evill practices to which all men are so easily yet so strongly carried The Prophet Jer. 2. 23 24. elegantly describes the exceeding forwardnesse of that people to evill while he compareth them to the swift Dromodary traversing her wayes and to the wild Asse in the Wildernesse that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure or the desire of her heart in her occasion who can turn her away As the wild Asse set upon her pleasure in her occasion when she hath a mind to it will not be turn'd away such is the heart of man That other Prophet Isa 5.18 telleth us of those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with a cart rope that is they set themselves with all their might to doe mischief When men are thus vainly bent upon vanity 't is a mighty work of God to withdraw them from their work When what men are purposed to doe they are fastened to it as with cords and cart-ropes what but the power of the great God can withdraw them from it Whence note Secondly Vnlesse God did withdraw and fetch us off from sin we should run on in it continually When man is in an evill way he hath no mind to returne till God turneth him let come on 't what will he will venture 'T is only through grace that the heart either abstains or returns from evill David saith Psal 18.23 I have kept my self from mine iniquity David kept himself from his iniquity yet he was not his own keeper It was by the power of God that he kept himself from that sin to which he was most prone even from that sin to which his own corruptions and the Devills temptations were alwayes drawing him David had some speciall iniquity to which his heart was inclined more then any other and from that he kept himself being himself kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation Of our selves we can neither keep our selves from doing iniquity nor leave off doing that iniquity which we have once done How can man withhold himself from sin while sin hath so great a hold of him yea the Mastery over him Thirdly Note God is graciously pleased both to withdraw man from doing evill and to draw him to repentance when he hath done evill Between these two the grace of God is daily working in and towards man and it worketh for the effecting of both many wayes First by his word and that in a fourfold consideration First by the word of his command he every where in Scripture forbids man to doe any evill and bids him repent of every evill which he doth Secondly by the word of his threatnings they are as thunderbolts to deterre him Thirdly by the word of his promises they are divine alluremenrs sweetly yet effectually to entice him Fourthly by the word of his perswasions they are full of taking arguments to convince and win him Secondly God withdrawes man from sin and drawes him to repentance when he hath sinned by his works First by his works of Judgment they break him to these duties Secondly by his works of mercy they melt him into these duties Thirdly God withdraws man from sin and drawes him to repentance by his patience and long-suffering Rom. 2.4 Despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth them to repentance As if the Apostle had said O man if thou knowest not the meaning of Gods patience towards thee and that this is the meaning of it thou knowest nothing of the mind and meaning of God towards thee Fourthly The Lord withdraweth man from evill purposes by seasonable counsells David was going on in a very bad purpose 1 Sam. 25. and God stirred up Abigail to meete him and by good counsell to withdraw him from his purpose This David acknowledged vers 32 33. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me As if he had said I was fully purposed to revenge my self upon Naball and had not surely left a man of his house alive by the morning light if thou hadst not met me therefore blessed be God who hath sent thee and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou which hast kept me this day from coming to shed bloud and hast by thy good counsell withdrawne me from that evill
Gospel and to prepare the way for Christ by whom grace and truth came The Baptist was as it were the loop and button between the legall and the Gospel dispensation therefore his name might well be called John And there is frequent use in Scripture of the Adverb which comes from this Verb to signifie injuries received without desert or undeservedly Ps 7.4 Yea I have delivered him that without cause was mine enemy or that was mine enemy gratis And again Psal 35.7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit which without cause have they digged for my soul Yet more as the word signifies the doing of good gratis or when there is no desert so any injury done gratis or when no provocation hath been given the party so to doe Now as all the mischief which the wicked plot against or doe to the people of God is undeserved and floweth meerly from their malice so all the good which God doth for his people is undeserved and floweth purely from the fountaine of his free grace or from his compassions which faile not And surely the Lord deserveth highest praises from man for any good he doth him seeing what he doth is gratis or undeserved Further This Hebrew word Chinnam answers the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred freely Rom. 3.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gratis i. e. ejus gratia Bez We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ How can unjust men deserve justification Therefore Mr Beza translates We are justified gratis that is by his grace Againe When it is said then he or the Lord is gracious it may be taken two wayes First as to be gracious implyeth the intrinsecall graciousness of his nature or that mercifullness and kindness which dwells in the heart of God and which indeed is God for the graciousnesse of God is the gracious God thus God is alwayes and altogether gracious he is infinitely and uncessantly gracious Secondly when it is said he is gracious it may note only the graciousness of his acts and dispensations thus as I may say the Lord is gracious ad hinc et nunc as he sees cause at this time he is gracious and not at that time that is he puts forth acts of grace now and not then The Lord puts forth acts of grace both according to the pleasure of his own will without respect to any thing in man as also without respecting what man is or doth according to his pleasure And thus we are chiefly to understand it here then he is gracious God is gracious in his nature alwayes and alwayes alike gracious but he is not alwayes alike gracious in his dispensations or in giving forth acts of grace he is gracious to man according to his secret will as he pleaseth but he is gracious according to his revealed will as man pleaseth him Hence Observe first The first cause and spring of all our mercies is the graciousnesse of God Or All our mercyes flow out from the grace of God That 's the fountaine yea that 's the Ocean which seeds and fills all the Channels of mercy which stream to us as our happiness in this world and for our everlasting happiness in the world which is to come All is of grace fundamentally or because the Lord is and will be for ever gracious Thus the Lord spake to Moses Exod. 33.19 I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious My mercy shall flow our when and to whom and where I please And the proclamation which he made of himselfe in all his royall Titles runs in the same straine Exod. 34.6 The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long-suffering and aboundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity If we consider God first in doing us good Secondly in forgiving us the evill which we doe Thirdly in delivering us from the evills which we now suffer Fourthly in delivering us from the feare of future sufferings all is from grace and from free grace He doth us good though we are undeserving any good that 's grace yea he doth us good though we are ill deserving and that 's more grace He doth all for us through grace First in spiritualls and Secondly in temporalls not only doe the good things of eternall life but the good things of this present life flow from grace unto his own people Not only the health of their souls but the health of their bodyes not only deliverance from hell but deliverance from sickness also flow from his free grace in Jesus Christ Therefore of all their mercies and salvations both as to the foundation and top-stone of them the people of God must cry as the Prophet Zachery Chap. 4.7 foretells the people of God should say of that longed for deliverance when that great mountaine should become a plain before Zerubbabell grace grace unto them That is grace hath begun them and grace alone will maintaine continue and perfect what it hath begun As there is nothing in us except our misery which moves the Lord to begin so there is nothing in us but our inability which moves the Lord to perfect what he hath begun He seeth we cannot and therefore he will perfect what he hath begun and all this he doth that he may exalt his own name and perfect the praise of his free grace towards us More distinctly that all comes from grace or from the graciousness of God may note these five things to us First not only that God doth all for his people freely or without desert But Secondly that he doth all things willingly or without constraint for his people Thirdly that he doth all things forwardly for his people He doth very much unaskt and unsought and he is not much askt or hardly drawne to doe any thing for his people Though he hath said of some things I will be sought unto or inquired after that I may doe them for you Ezek. 36.37 yet his mercies are never forced nor wrested from him by intreaties but flow from a principle of love naturally as water out of a fountain Fourthly he doth all rejoycingly even with his whole heart and with his whole soul Mercy pleaseth him and he is pleased with occasions of shewing mercy 't is no burden to him to doe us good mercy proceeds from his nature and therefore he delighteth in mercy Mic 7.18 yea to be mercifull is his nature and therefore he cannot but delight in it Fifthly graciousness being the very nature of God implyeth that he will do us good liberally and constantly or that as the Apostle James speaks he giveth liberally and upbraideth not he doth not upbraid us with our poverty who receive nor doâ—h he upbraid us with the riches of the gifts which himself bestoweth And because they flow from his nature therefore he doth not in the least empty himself how much soever he fills the creature with his gifts or goodness Some men
received and in receiving more grace favour and comfort from God as will appeare in opening the words Vers 26. He shall pray to God and he will be favourable to him and he shall see his face with joy for he will render to man his righteousness Elâ—hu gave us before one meanes of the sick sinfull mans recovery from his bodyly and soule sickness that was the counsell and instruction given in by the messenger the interpreter one of a thousand And here he sets downe another meanes by which he is restored to both especially to the sweetness of both He shall pray unto God The word here used to pray signifieth not barely to pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multiplicavit propriè verba fortia et magnacopia fudit in oratione inde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 supplices Zeph. 3.10 or put up requests to God 'T is a word with an emphasis implying the Multiplying of prayer and that not the multiplying of prayer so much by number as by weight the powring forth or multiplying of strong prayers or as it is sayd of Christ In the dayes of his flesh Heb. 5.7 the offering up prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares There may be a multiplying of weak insignificant words in the eares of God by prayer But the faithfull people of God through the Spirit powre out many strong words in prayer as Christ did in the dayes of his flesh to him who is able to save them from death or danger and give them life When Elihu saith He shall pray he intends such prayers even the urgency importunity or vehemency of the soule in prayer When Isaac saw his wife Rebecca was long barren he was forty yeares old before he married and many yeares being elapsed in marriage there was no appearance of Children Then saith the Text Gen 25.21 Isaac intreated the Lord for his wife because shee was barren and the Lord was entreated of him and Rebecca his wife conceived It cannot be imagined that Isaac being so holy and gracious a man had not prayed for that mercy before Doubtless he prayed that God would fullfill the promise to his father Abraham in giving him a childe but when he saw the promise so long delayed or stick so long in the birth then he intreated the Lord 't is this word he powred out many and strong prayers The word is used againe concerning Manoah after his wife had received a promise from the Lord of hearing a Son afterwards called Sampson Judg 13.8 Then Manoah entreated the Lord and sayd O my Lord let the man of God which thou didst send come againe unto us c. Fearing they might not fully follow the instructions given his wife for the education of their son he earnestly begged of the Lord further direction in that matter That prophecy either of the Gentiles to be converted or of the returne of the dispersed Jewes expresseth them by this word Zeph 3.10 From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my suppliants shall come even the daughter of my dispersed shall bring mine offerings As if the Prophet had sayd They shall spend themselves in supplications at their returne they shall come with strong petitions with mighty prayers as making prayer their business They shall not come with frozen affections and cold requests but with hearts flaming up in the ardency of their desires and urgency of their supplications to the Lord. That 's the force of the word He shall pray As if Elihu had sayd He shall not come with dead-hearted prayers and petitions as many doe in their sicknesses and sorrowes nor with a formal Lord have mercy upon me and helpe me but he shall make a business of it he shall pray to purpose he shall pray with his whole strength In which sence the Lord bid Ananias goe to Saul afterwards Paul Acts 9.11 For behold he prayeth intimating that he had never prayed all his dayes before nor indeed had he though being brought up a strict Pharisee he was much in the forme of prayer ever prayed in power before He shall pray Some understand this He relating to the messenger praying for the sick man He shall pray and God will be favourable to him That 's a truth 't is the worke and duty of the messenger to pray for as well as advise the sick man But I conceive rather the person here intended praying is the sick man for himselfe who after he hath been counselled directed and advised by the messenger what to doe applyeth himselfe to the doing of it Further Some who agree that the sick man is the person praying yet understand it of prayer after his recovery who finding himself healed and strengthened prayeth unto God for grace or for a right use of his health strength But I rather understand it of his prayer unto God in the time of his affliction who when his sins and transgressions have been laid before him by the messenger and his soul-soars searched to the bottome and faithfully dealt with and so brought to a sight of himselfe and of his sin with the sad effects of it visible upon this pained and consumptive body is then stirred to seek the Lord and entreat his favour He shall pray unto God Hence Note Sicknesse is a prayer season Prayer is a duty never out of season yet at some times more in season and most in season in times of affliction Is any man afflicted let him pray James 5.13 And among all afflictions the affliction of sickness seemes to be a speciall season calling for this duty Therefore in the 14. verse of the same Chapter assoon as he had said is any man afflicted let him pray it followeth is any sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him 'T is high time for us when sick to look about us to call in prayer-aide or helpe from others in prayer yet 't is not enough fot the afflicted or the sick to get others to pray for them they must pray for themselves some put off the duty of prayer to others and think it sufficeth if they send bills to ministers or move friends to pray for them I know sickness indisposeth to prayer bodily paine and weakness hinder continuance and abiding in the duty but that doth not excuse the sick from praying for themselves To desire others to pray for us in bodyly sickness and neglect it our selves is an ill symptome of a sick soul yea to desire others in that case to pray for us when we have no heart to pray for our selves is too cleare a prognostick that their prayers will not profit us nor be prevailing for us Pharoah when under those dreadfull plagues could send for Moses and Aaron more then once and said unto them entreat the Lord for me Exod. 9.27 28. Chap. 10.16 17. But we read not that he entreated the Lord for himself Simon Magus when struck with the terrible threatnings of Peter said Pray ye to the
praeparat terram ante seminatorem 'T is but one word in the Hebrew which we translate hold thy peace and it signifieth properly to dig or plow the ground and by a metaphor to thinke of or to meditate because thoughts goe deep in the soule a man doth as it were plow up his own spirit while he is meditating or thinking seriously Pro 3.29 Devise not evill or it is this word plow not up evill that 's a bad soyle indeed to be plowing up They that plow evill shall sow the wind and except they repent reape the whirlewind The prophet exhorting Ephraim to break up their fallow ground and sow in righteousness that they might reap mercy Hos 10.12 reproves them v. 13. for a very unprofitable piece of husbandry by this word Ye have plowed wickedness ye have reaped iniquity ye have eaten the fruit of lyes that is ye have plotted devised and contrived wicked things and ye have fared accordingly Now as the word signifieth to meditate by a metaphor from digging or plowing so by the figure antiphrasis or contrary speaking it signifies to forbeare doing or speaking to sit still or as we render it here to hold our peace and say nothing Isa 41.1 Keepe silence before me O Islands Psal 50.3 Our God shall come and shall not keep silence that is he will speak aloud Elihu bespeakes Job in the affirmative hold thy peace be silent Some conceive Job began to interrupt Elihu Vidatur Jobin se avertisse vel displiceÌ„tiae signum dedisse illum igitur ad so audiendum invitat Scult or gave some token of dislike while he was discoursing as if he had received his speech with disgust and not only inwardly stomacked at it But did not forbeare to discover it by some significant gesture or frowne and that Elihu perceiving this desired him to hold his peace As if he had sayd If you desire to reape any benefit by what I speak be patient and doe not interrupt me But I conceive there was no such height nor heate of spirit in Job at that time He began now to be sedate and quiet enough being somewhat convinced of his former error and intemperance of speech But some may say was it not an over-bold part in Elihu a young man to impose silence upon Job or to bid him hold his peace I answer Elihu doth not bid Job hold his peace either first as if he had seene him unwilling to let him speake or would not heare him any more Job was a very patient hearer he heard his friends patiently and he had heard Elihu too with silence and patience yea though Elihu offered him leave yea almost provoked him to speake v. 5. yet he did not but gave him scope to speake out Nor did Elihu speake this secondly as if he slighted Job or thought him a man unable to answer him or speake to purpose for presently in the next verse he desireth him againe to speake Nor thirdly as if he had such high thoughts of his owne wisdome and loved so much to heare himselfe speake as some men doe that he cared not to heare others but would engrosse all the discourse Nor was it fourthly because he saw such an affectation in Job to speake that he needed as the Apostle speaks of some Tit 1.11 to have his mouth stopt It was not upon any of these or such like reasons that Elihu desired Job to hold his peace but it was either first that himselfe might speak more clearely and carry his matter through to his understanding or secondly that he might set the matter more home upon his conscience and move him to consider yet more seriously what he had sayd of the various wayes of Gods dealing with man to humble his soule and bring him neerer to himselfe or lastly that Job might perceive and take notice that he was the man aymed at in all the foregoing parable As if he had sayd Sir downe quietly and consider with thy selfe whether all this discourse hath tended or whether or no thou art not the man intended in it As Christ when he had spoken that parable of the sower concluded Math 13.9 He that hath an eare to heare let him heare that is let him take it home to himselfe or as Christ concludeth his Epistles to the seven Churches in the second and third Chapters of the Revelation with He that hath an eare let him heare what the Spirit saith to the Churches so doth Elihu to Job in speciall Mark-well O Job and hearken unto me hold thy peace This silence was made of old in great assemblyes Majestate manus by putting the hand to the mouth and then stretching it forth Acts 12.17 Acts 13.16 Chap. 19.23 Chap. 26.1 If any would know yet more distinctly what Elihu meant when he bid Job hold his peace I answer First Negatively not a bare silence or saying nothing but affirmatively when he sayth hold thy peace it might note these two things First That he would have him much in the worke of consideration or to forbeare speaking that he might be more in meditating and weighing and laying things to heart he would have him bring what he had spoken to the ballance of the Sanctuary and then to his owne heart A man is never more busie then when he thus holds his peace Secondly When he saith hold thy peace it might note that he desired his submission to the counsel given or to be given him He would have him bridle his tongue in token that his spirit was brideled He would have Jobs silence say speake on I will say nothing let the truth of God reigne and rule over me by thy word What Samuel answered to the Lord himselfe 1 Sam 3.10 Speak Lord for thy servant heareth that should we answer to those who speak to us from the Lord speak ye we will heare and hold our peace or we should say with good Cornelius when Peter came to him Acts 10.33 We are all here present before God to heare all things that are commanded thee of God When a man holds his peace upon these termes 't is a signe he layeth downe his owne wisdome and his will he doth not stand upon his pantofloes as we say nor abound in his owne sence but is ready to be delivered or cast into the mould of any holy and wholesome doctrine which shall be delivered unto him They are in the fittest frame to hold the truth which others speake who can withhold themselves from speaking Further There is a two-fold holding of the peace First at the works of God or at what God doth Lev 10.3 when God had smitten the two sons of Aaron dead with fire frâ—m heaven Aaron held his peace that is he did not murmure at nor contradict what God had done That also was Davids temper Psal 39.9 I was dumbe I opened not my mouth because thou Lord didst it The Prophet Jeremy describes an humbled soule in the same posture Lam 3.28 He sitteth alone and
out to use ill words to Magistrates though as Paul's case was we are ill used by them Shimei taking the advantage of David's affliction rose up to this height of impudence against him mentioned with indignation by Elihu in the Text he openly and to his face called him Belial 2 Sam. 16.5.7 Come out thou bloody man and thou man of Belial But we know what the issue was he paid dear for it at last though David forgave him at present and did not suffer Abishai to take a sudden revenge yet upon his death-bed he delivered him over to his son Solomon to deal with him as he should see good And so great is the offensiveness and unfitness of speaking thus unto a King that the Jewes joyned it with blasphemy against God himself We read 1 Kings 21.13 how two false Witnesses came against Naboth saying Naboth blaspemed God and the King as much as to say we heard Naboth say of the King Belial And as soon as these two had brought in their evidence against him that he had blasphemed God and the King they drew him out and stoned him Blasphemy against God was death by the express letter of the Law Lev. 24.15 16. It was also death by the same Law for any man to curse his Father or his Mother Exod. 21.17 And because the King is Pater Patriae the father of his Country it seems the cursing or blaspheming of him was also punishable by death The Apostle Jude useth an equivalent word in the Greek Ep. of Jude v. 8. reproving a wicked Sect in those times They fear not to blaspheme or speak evil of Dignities There is blasphemy against Princes who are titular Gods as well as against the only true God Kings are to be feared to be submitted to they are to be prayed for therefore not to be reviled Is it fit to say unto a King Belial Yet this doth not stop the mouths of all men from telling Kings and Princes their faults nor doth it justifie a silent dissembling of them much less doth it open the mouthes of any to dawb Kings and Princes with the untempered morter of flatteries Kings are no more to be flattered then they are to be reproached Dignities must not be spoken evil of yet they may be prudently and humbly told of their evils and informed of their failings plainly When Eliah met Ahab who said Art thou he that troubleth Israel Eliah answered 1 Kings 18.18 I have not troubled Israel but thou and thy fathers house in that ye have forsaken the Commandments of the Lord and thou hast followed Baal And we read how boldly Elisha carried it to the King of Israel 2 Kings 3.13 14. What have I to do with thee Get thee to the Prophets of thy father and to the Prophets of thy mother And Elisha said as the Lord of Hosts liveth before whom I stand Surely were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the King of Judah I would not look toward thee nor see thee Thus the Prophets dealt with much gracious severity towards mighty Princes The Prophet Isaiah feared not to say Isa 1.10 Hear the word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodome Give ear unto the Law of our God ye people of Gomorrah implying that the Rulers of Jerusalem were then but such as the Rulers of Sodome once were and that the people were no better then the people of Gomorrah and it is conceived that for this plainness and liberty of speech which the Prophet Isaiah used toward the Princes and Rulers of Judah he was put to death being cut or mangled asunder with a wooden Sawe One might think that Ezekiel did much forget himself when he gave those opprobrious terms to Zedekiah King of Judah Ezek. 21.25 And thou prophane wicked Prince of Israel whose day is come when iniquity shall have an end yet he sinned not in this harsh reproof of his sin because commanded of God to do it and specially directed by the holy Spirit The Prophets might not diminish a word but must give out what God gave in John the Baptist reproved Herod for Herodias his brother Philips wife and for all the evils which he had done Luke 3.19 And Jesus Christ himself called Herod Fox Luke 13.32 The Prophets were often Instructed and Commissioned to prophesie against the mountains that is against the Princes and Powers of the world and therefore take the state of the point and of our duty about it in these few conclusions that we may not run upon the rocks either way neither upon the rock of blasphemy against Kings and Princes on the one side nor upon the rock of flattery on the other First The Power or State of Princes must never be reviled nor evill spoken of kingly Power and Authority is alwayes to be reverenced and honoured though the Prince be wicked yet his Power is to be reverenced and that 's the purest reverence Regia per se dignitas nunquam non est colenda etiam cum princeps iniquus est For to reverence the power of Princes only because or when they are good and do us good and rule every way according to our mind this is but a piece of selfishness but when Princes are evill and bring evills upon us yet to bear respect to the Power and Authority which they Exercise this is to honour God and to give true submission to his ordinance Whatsoever the person is the power must be reverentially submitted to Secondly It is high wickednesse to speak evill of the persons of just and righteous Princes that every man will acknowledge Thirdly Kings and Princes must not be reproved for personall or private faults publickly To doe so is against the rule in any mans case much more in the case of Kings and Princes Fourthly Kings are not to be reproved for any of their faults but by those who have a Call to it that was the reason of the liberty which the old Prophets used towards Kings they were specially commanded and Commissioned by God for it and the peril was upon their own heads if they did it not it is not for every one to reprove Princes but for those that are called to it Lastly Even those that are called to it must doe it with much submission though they must not doe it to halves and deceitfully yet they are to doe it respectfully It is not fit to say to a King Belial such rough and unhewne language is not for Princes their faults must only be insinuated if that may serve as Nathan dealt with David who though he knew what his sin was yet he did not say to him Thou murtherer thou Adulterer but intimated the matter by a parable and made him covertly or in a third person charge himselfe before he charged him or applyed the parable personally to him with Thou art the man When Miriam the Sister and Aaron the Brother of Moses spake against him because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married
Numb 12.1 though they were thus neerely related yet speaking irreverently of Moses the Chiefe Magistrate the Lord sayd to them v. 8. Wherefore were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses Yet how common is this sin the tongues of men walke exceeding loosly in their discourses about the persons and powers of Princes And we every where find most pleased to heare well of themselves and ill of others or to speake well of themselves and ill of others and the higher they are who are spoken of or of whom they speake evill the more they are pleased both in hearing and speaking evill of them How unruly are their tongues who cannot forbeare their rulers Thus much of Elihu's question as it is resolved into a Negative proposition It is not fit to say to a King thou art ungodly We may further consider it as an argument from the greater to the lesse to prove That it is a most wicked thing to speake a word unduely of God Is it fit to say to a King Thou are wicked and to Princes ye are ungodly Vers 19. How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of Princes Who is that The words are a cleare Periphrasis of God he accepts not the persons of Princes As if Elihu had said the Kings and Princes of the earth expect such great respect from their subjects that no man should dare to censure them or speake evill of them though they doe evill or deale unjustly how much more unfit is it to speake evill of God or to charge his government with injustice who never doth any evill all whose wayes are not only just but justice He that accepteth not the persons of Princes who are the greatest of men can have neither will nor motive to deale unjustly with any man I shall not stay to shew what it is to accept persons because that hath been shewed at the 7th verse of the 13th Chapter as also Chapter 32.21 only I 'le give it in one word To accept persons is to have more respect to the man then to the matter and that 's a very common fault among men and as commonly condemned by God 'T is a received axiom He that would or doth put on the person of a Judge must put off the person of a friend that is he must not be sway'd by any respect whatsoever of friendship or allyance but must judge purely as the cause deserveth Nor shall I stay to urge the greatness of the sin of speaking any thing uncomely of God that also hath been spoken to in many former passages of this Chapter Only from these words How much lesse to him that accepth not the person of Princes Note First That which ought not to be done or spoken to the greatest of men ought much lesse to be either done or spoken to God The reason is because first God is infinitely more to be reverenced then any man Secondly because God is infinitely more able to take vengeance and certainly will of any that shall doe or speake evill to him then the greatest among the children of men Yet how many are there who dare not offend a man not a great man especially either by word or deed who are not afraid by both to offend and provoke the great God O remember the force of this text If it be not fit to speake unduely of Princes How much lesse of him that accepteth not the persons of Princes Hence note Secondly God is no accepter of persons He hath no respect to Princes in prejudice to truth and righteousnesse but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousnesse be he never so poore is accepted with him Acts 10.35 and in every nation he that feareth him not but worketh unrighteousnesse be he never so great is unacceptable yea abominable to him The Scripture often attributes this glory to God Deut 10.17 2 Chron 19.7 Gal 2.6 Col 3.25 And as it is the glory of God that he is no accepter of persons so it is the duty of man Deut 1.17 Judgement must proceed and conclude with respect to the rule and command of God not with respect to the persons of men or our relations to them Levi was highly commended for this Deut 33.9 who sayd unto his father and to his mother I have not seene him neither did he acknowledge his brethren nor knew his owne children c. When man accepteth not the persons of men he acteth most like God of whom Elihu saith He accepteth not the persons of Princes Nor regardeth the rich more then the poore That 's a further description of God He doth not regard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aguoscere familiaritèr tractare that is acknowledge or know the one more then the other He is in the best things as communicative to and converseth as familiarly with the poore as the rich yea he doth not value or prize the rich man more then the poore the poor man is worth as much as the rich man in Gods account suppose the rich man worth thousands yea ten thousands of gold and silver and the poore man so poore that he is not worth a shilling yet in the account of God the poor man is worth as much as the rich man The Scripture speakes of two sorts both of rich and poor men There are men rich in spiritualls such Christ intimates who are Luke 12.20 rich towards God or as he speakes of the Church of Smyrna Rev 2.9 rich in grace I know thy poverty but thou art rich That is I know thou art poor in earthly pelfe but rich in spiritualls The Apostle James puts the question Chap 2.5 Hath not God chosen the poore of this world rich in faith and heires of the kingdome Now it is most certaine that God regardeth the rich in spiritualls more then the poore in spiritualls he highly regardeth those that are poore in spirit and pronounceth them blessed Math 5.3 for theirs is the kingdome of heaven But he regardeth not those who are poore in spiritualls not them especially who boast of their spirituall riches when they have none they that have them are thankfull for them they do not boast of them as the Church of Laodicea did of whom Christ sayd Rev 3.16 17. I will spew thee out of my mouth because thou sayest I am rich encreased in goods and knowest not that thou art poore Thus you see there are a sort of rich men whom Christ regardeth more then the poore of that sort But as poore and rich are distinguished meerely by aboundance and want by the smallness and greatness of their portion in the things of this world as Dives and Lazarus in the parable were so he regardeth not the rich more then the poore When a poor man is gracious as wel as poore God regardeth him more then any rich man who hath no grace And when either both have grace alike or both are alike without grace he regardeth them both alike When rich and poore
run into by any sin committed against man God only is the Creditor All that men can doe is but to forgive the trespasse against themselves so farre as man is wronged he may yea he ought to forgive as Christ teacheth us to pray Math 6.12 Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors All that we can forgive is only the trespass done to our selves and so forbeare personal and private revenge We cannot forgive the offence against God For when Christ saith John 21.20 Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted that remission is but the declaring of a pardon it is not the bestowing of a pardon or it is only a ministerial forgivenesse not an authoritative forgivenesse so to forgive is Gods Royalty He saith I forgive Secondly To God who saith I forgive c. Forgive what forgive whom Here 's neither what nor whom neither things nor persons named God barely saith I forgive Hence observe The pardoning mercy of God is boundlesse and unlimited Here 's no sin named therefore all are included no sinner specified therefore all are intended I forgive I pardon the pardoning mercy of God knows no limits it is not limitted First to any sort of sins or sinners Secondly it is not limited to any degree of sins or sinners let sins or sinners be of what sort they will let sins or sinners be of what degree they will they are within the compasse of Gods pardoning mercy And as this text intimates that the pardoning mercy of God is boundlesse because it expresseth no bounds So other Scriptures tell us expresly that it is boundlesse extending it selfe to all sorts and degrees of sins and sinners Math 12.31 Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven That a sin is great that it is extremely aggravated is no barre at all to the pardoning mercy of God he can as easily pardon great sins as little sins even sins that are as Crimson and scarlet as well as those of the lightest tincture The die or colour of some cloaths or stuffs is so fading that as we say the next wind will blow it off or cause it to dye away but scarlet and crimson in graine never change their colour yet the pardoning grace of God causeth crimson and scarlet sin to change colour and makes them as white as the naturall wool or snow that is takes them quite and cleane away Yea the greatnesse of sin is so far from being a stop to pardon that it is used asan argument to move God to pardon David prayeth Psal 25.11 For thy names sake O Lord pardon mine iniquity why doth he say because it is little or only a small sin a sin committed rashly unadvisedly or but once no he useth none of these excusatory pleas for pardon but saith pardon my sin for it is great Moses was not afraid to speake for pardon upon this ground also Exod 32.31 Lord saith he this people have committed a great sin and have made them gods of gold yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin c. There 's a great deale of divine Rhetorique in that speech Moses was not doubtfull whether God would forgive them their sin because it was great but he urged the Lord to forgive their sin because it was great Where sin aboundeth Grace doth much more abound Rom 5.20 and therefore God is said to pardon abundantly or to multiply to pardon Isa 55.7 and whom doth he promise to pardon there even the man of iniquity so that Scripture hath it Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man or the man of iniquity his thoughts c. If you who have sinned abundantly repent I will pardon abundantly The heart of God in pardoning sin is infinitely larger then the heart of man can be in committing sin and as the least sin needs pardon so the greatest may have it nothing hinders the pardon of sin but the sinners not coming for it or his not asking it The sin against the holy Ghost cannot be forgiven but the reason is because such as commit that sin utterly reject the grace of God and tread the blood of the Covenant under their feet as an unholy thing Thirdly The text speakes in the present tense God saith not I will pardon or possibly I may pardon but sheweth what he both actually doth and what he alwayes doth To God who saith I pardon Hence note God pardoneth presently he pardoneth continually I pardon is a present it is a continued act To pardon is Gods work to day and Gods work to morrow As every soule may say of himselfe Lord I sin not only I have sinned or I shall sin hereafter but I sin so saith God I pardon as men stand alwayes in need of pardon so God stands alwayes prepared to pardon He is Psal 86.5 plenteous in mercy ready to forgive The heart of God is never out of frame for that woâ—ke never indisposed to it David found him so Psal 32.5 I said I will confesse mine iniquity he did not say I have confessed mine iniquity he was not come to a formall Confession onely he had it upon his heart to humble himselfe before God and confesse his sin yet it follows and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin While there was but a holy resolve upon his heart to confesse his sin the pardon of it was given him The holy history of his sin and of Gods mercy assureth us that the word was no sooner out of his mouth 2 Sam 12.13 I have sinned but instantly Nathan said The Lord hath put away thy sin Though God doth not pardon of course yet he is in a continuall course of pardon therefore Moses prayed Numb 14.19 That God would pardon the people according to the greatness of his mercy and as he had forgiven them from Egypt untill then As if he had sayd Lord thou hast been pardoning all along from the very first step we took out of Egypt to this day thou hast exercised abundance of patience long-suffering and mercy in pardoning this people now Lord pardon us as thou hast done from Egypt to this day doe not stop thy acts of Grace The very first act of pardon stands for ever he that is once pardon'd is alwayes pardon'd yet there are dayly renewings of pardon and fresh acts of it every day Fourthly The word render'd to pardon signifies to take away as to beare a burden upon our selves according to the former translation so to beare or lift it off from another Hence Note Pardon is the taking away or the bearing of sin off from us An unpardoned soul hath a burden of sin upon him ready to break his back yea enough to break his heart were he sensible of it the Lord by pardon takes this burden off from him David speaks of his sins under this notion of a burden Psal 38.4 My sins are gone over my head they are a burden too heavie for me to bear Yea sin is a burden too heavie for the strongest Angel in
determine the Question under debate Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken Hence note First As it is alwayes our duty to waite on God so sometimes on men We should waite First to see what men will doe for us we should waite Secondly to heare what men have to say to us we should waite for counsell for comfort for instructionâ— for conviction We should waite Thirdly to performe duty and to doe good to men Thus God is pleased to waite upon his creature man Isa 30.18 Therefore will I waite to be gracious As God waiteth to bestow acts of grace on man so man should waite to performe offices of love and respect to man or to give him advice helpe and assistance as his case and needs require Secondly Consider Elihu who had waited long as a hearer was afterwards a great speaker Hence note They that will speak to any mans case rightly must first heare him patiently They must be hearers who would be learners Paul sate at the feete of Gamaliel there he waited as a learner And if they must waite as hearers who would be learners how much more ought they who would be reachers reprovers or reformers Thirdly Elihu waited that he might speake opportunely or in time Hence note Due times and seasons of speaking must be observed and taken Ecclesiastes 3.7 There is a time to speak and a time to keep silence The providences of God poâ—nt wise men to both And usually times of silence fit us for times of speaking Every thing is beautifull in its season words spoken in their season are not only more effectuall but more beautifull they are like apples of gold in pictures of silver And therefore as the wise man gives us caution Eccles 5.2 Not to be rash with our mouths to utter any thing before God So we should not be rash with our mouths to utter any thing before men but well to consider what we have to say and waite our time to say it The Apostle James Chap. 1.19 would have us swift to heare slow to speak and probably the slower we are to speak the surer we speake Hasty speaking hath given men more dangerous stumbles and falls then ever hasty going did The Prophet represents our Lord Jesus Christ thus be speaking his Father as to his preparation and furniture for the exercise of his Propheticall yea of his whole Mediatoriall office Isa 50.4 Thou hast given me the tongue of the learned that I might know how to speake a word in season As there is much wisdome in hitting the matter what to speak and the manner of speaking how to cloath and dresse the matter of our speech so there is much wisdome in hitting the time and season when to speake And as to time a thing well in acting so to time it well in speaking is the better halfe of it Elihu waited till Job had spoken What I have now touched may be one reason of his waiting But the speciall reason of it follows in the text Because they were elder then he and good reason that he should waite upon his elders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat non tantum fenem sed senia confectum non tantum senem aetate sed sapientia The Hebrew is They were elder for dayes they were not only old men for dayes but elder for dayes then he The word strictly taken imports a man more then old even one that is worne with age Further it denotes a two-fold eldership First an eldership in time dayes or yeares Secondly an eldership in wisdome and understanding They are our elders indeed who are wiser then we eldership in time deserves respect but eldership in wisdome commands it And as such are exprest by this word in the Hebrew so both the Grecians and Romans expresse their wise men by a word of the same force Senators were elders not alwayes in time there was no Law much lesse necessity that every Senator should be an old man but in understanding every Senator ought to be a wise man though not an old man They who are to governe others wisely had need be furnished with wisdome themselves Gray haires alone cannot make a good Magistrate We read the word applyed both to Church-Elders called Isa 37.2 The Elders of the Priests and to State-Elders called Elders of the people Exod. 17.5 or of the Land Gen. 50.7 The Elders of the Land of Egypt went with them 'T is said Psal 105.21 22. Pharoah made Joseph Lord of his house and ruler of all his substance to binde his Princes at his pleasure teach his Senators wisdome Young Joseph made Pharaohs wise men wiser and gave counsel to his counsellers Here Elihu calls Jobs friends Elders and we may take him either speaking strictly that they were his Elders in time or speaking modestly that they were his Elders in wisdome knowledge and understanding and therefore he was not hasty to speake but gave them their scope waiting till Job had spoken Because they were elder then he Hence note First in General Young men should shew respect and waite upon their Elders The Apostle would not have Timothy slighted though young 1 Tim. 4.12 Let no man despise thy youth He chargeth the people not to despise Timothy because young and he chargeth Timothy to carry it so that none might have the shew of a cause to despise him though young Let no man despise thy youth let not those that seeke occasion finde it Now as young men especially young Ministers should be so holy and grave in their conversation as not to draw disrespect or contempt upon themselves and as no man ought to despise the young meerly because they are young so all men ought to honour old age The old Law was expresse for it Levit. 19.32 Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honour the face of the old man and feare thy God I am the Lord. See how these two are joyned together Thou shalt honour the face of the old man and feare thy God As if he had said honour old men in the feare of God or shew feare to God in the reverence and honour which thou givest to old men who having lived a long time or many dayes in the world bear at least a shadow of the eternity of God who is The anciant of dayes who lives and abides for ever There is a two-fold stampe of God upon old men more then upon other men First their very age hath a stamp of God upon it for though all ages put together are not a moment to eternity yet as to our computation and reckoning old age beares the fairest image of eternity Secondly old men bear a resemblance of God in their wisdome 't is to be supposed that the oldest are wilest as Elihu speaks v. 7. So then old men are to be reverenced not only for their precedence in time but for their experience wisdome knowledge and prudence Seris venit usus ab annis all which represent
a man of understanding every man is not a man of understanding in naturall and civill things much lesse in things divine and spirituall As some men have so much will or rather wilfulnesse that they are nothing but will and some have so much passion that they are nothing but passion so others have such riches and treasures of understanding as if they were nothing but understanding Now it is the speciall inspiration of the Almighty which giveth such an understanding that is an enlarged and an enriched understanding We say the inspiration of the Almighty g veth understanding The Hebrew is but one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intellectificat eos Brent which we may expresse as some doe It Intellectifieth So then the scope and meaning of this verse is plainly this That howsoever every man the meanest of men hath a reasonable soule yet the furniture of the understanding or mans fulness of wisdome and knowledge is by gift or inspiration of the Almighty and therefore some read the verse thus Surely there is a spirit in man but the inspiration of the Almighty maketh them to understand Thus Elihu would gâ—ine credit and authority to what he had to deliver as being by the teachings and dictates of the Spirit of God Est spiritus in hominibus spiratio autem omnipotentis docet Sept The Seventy comply fully with this rendering There is a spirit in men but the inspiration of the Almighty teacheth As if Elihu had said Though man be endewed with naturall knowledge and reason which can doe somewhat yet untill light shines from above till the spirit of God comes in and enlargeth the naturall spirit it cannot see farre nor doe any great matter Or take the sence of the whole verse thus in connection with what went before Though old age hath odds of youth yet one man as well as another hath a spirit of reason and judgement in him whereby through supply of speciall inspiration from God who can doe all things he may be able to know that which want of yeares denieth him From the words thus opened Observe First Wisdome or understanding is the gift of the Spirit of God We have a like assertion by way of question in the 38th Chapter of this booke ver 36. Who hath put wisdome into the inward parts or who hath given understanding to the heart who hath hath man put wisdome into himselfe or hath he made his own heart to understand the Question denies no man hath not done it Wisdome is an Influence or an Inspiration from the Almighty knowledge to order common things is of the Lord Isa 28.26 29. His God doth instruct him the husbandman he meanes to discretion in ordering the ground and doth teach him how much more in spirituall things and the mysteries of the kingdome of heaven Prov. 16.1 The preparation of the heart in man and the Answer of the tongue that is The fitting of the heart for any right answer of the tongue is from the Lord both the generall preparation of the heart for service or use and the speciall preparation of it to this or that service use is of the Lord so is the Answer of the tongue for the discharge of it Eccles 2.26 God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdome and knowledge and joy As God giveth man the knowledge of things so wisdome to know how to order and manage the things that he knoweth Some have more knowledge then they know how to manage their knowledge masters them they are not masters of their knowledge they have more knowledge then wisdome Now God gives to him that is good in his sight that is to the man whom he chooseth and is pleased with knowledge and wisdome and then he gives him joy that is Comfort in the exercise of that knowledge wherewith he is endued this is a notable and a noble gift of God We read Isa 11.2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the spirâ—t of wisdome and understanding It is a prophesie of Christ who being made in all things like to man had a naturall spirit or a reasonable faculty and he had that furnished by the spirit without measure the spirit of the Lord rested upon him the spirit of wisdome and understanding the spirit of Counsell and might the spirit of knowledge and of the feare of the Lord even Christ as man received an unction or inspiration from the Almighty for the fullfilling of his Mediatoriall office much more doe meere men for the fullfilling of any office they are called unto 2 Cor 3.5 We are not sufficient of our selves so much as to thinke a good thought Our sufficiency is by the Inspiration of the Almighty James 1.17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above It is not a vapour that riseth out of the earth but an Influence which distills and drops downe from heaven it is from above that is from God who though he be every where filling both heaven and earth with his essentiall presence yet according to Scripture language his most glorious and manifestative presence is above and therefore to say every good gift is from above is all one as to say it is from God Daniel and those other three Noble youths of the Jewish race exceeded all the wise men of Chaldea in rare abilities and the Scripture tells us whence it was that they did so Dan. 1.17 As for these foure Children God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdome and the assertion is layd downe in General Dan. 2.21 He that is God changeth times and seasons he removeth Kings and setteth up Kings he giveth wisdome to the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding All these Scriptures speak with one Consent the language of this Text It is the Inspiration of the Almighty that giveth understanding And if we compare 1 Sam 10.1 with the 6th 9th 11th and 12th verses of the same Chapter we have a most remarkable passage to this purpose Where Saul having received the unction from Samuel both as an assurance of and a preparation for the exercise of his kingly office over Israel Samuel tells him ver 6. The Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee and thou shalt prophecy with them that is with the company of Prophets spoken of in the former verse and shalt be turned into another man And the holy text adds ver 9. God gave or as we put in the margin turned him another heart There is a twofold turning or changing of the heart or of a man into another man First by gifts of Illumination Secondly by the grace of Sanctification the great change of the heart is that change of Conversion by the grace of Sanctification Saul was not turned into another man nor had he another heart as changed by Grace for he shewed still his old heart in his new kingly state but he had another heart or he was another man as changed by gifts
the spirit of the Almighty gave him understanding for the Government which he was called to for whereas before he had only a private spirit taken up about cattel and the affaires of husbandry then God gave him a spirit of prudence and valour a spirit of wisdome and magnanimity a Noble and an Heroicall Spirit befitting the Governour of so great and populous a kingdome both in peace and warre Every Calling is a mystery much more the Calling of Kings and Supreame Magistrates It was said to Imperiall Rome Tu regere im perio populos Romane memento Hae tibi sint artes Doe thou remember to Rule Nations and Kingdomes let these be thy arts This Art the Spirit of the Lord gave Saul even knowledge and skill to rule and governe yea he had a gift of Illumination not only for government but for prophesie he was found amongst the Prophets and when v. 11th they asked wondering Is Saul also amongst the Prophets As if they had said How strange and unheard of a thing is this that Saul should be furnished with the gift of prophecy and joyne himselfe with the Prophets They who before were acquainted with his person and manner of education were even amazed at the sight And while they were surprized with this amazement one of the same place as it seemes wiser then the rest Answered and said but who is their father ver 12. That 's the speciall word for which I alledge this text What Saul among the Prophets is it not strange that he should be Inspired Then one Answered and said who is their father As if he had said Doe not any longer stand wondering at this thing but consider who is the father of Saul as a Prophet as also the father of all these Prophets Saul was the son of Kish as to naturall descent but he had another father as he was a Prophet and so all these Prophets had besides theit Fathers as men one and the same father as Prophets Therefore wonder not that ye heare Saul prophecying for all these whom ye heare and see prophecying have not these gifts by birth from men nor by industry from themselves but from God who is a free agent and inspireth whom he pleaseth The same God who by inspiration hath freely bestowed those gifts upon the other Prophets hath also inspired Saul with a gift of prophecy The Spirit of God is his father in that capacity as well as the father of these other Prophets And hence that Scripture runs in the plurall number who is their father Unlesse God give power from above the understanding is darke the memory unfaithfull the tongue stammering It is light from on high that teacheth the skill of prophecy Solomon had the greatest measure of understanding of any meere man since the fall of man and of him it is said 1 Kings 4.29 God gave Solomon wisdome and understanding exceeding much and largenesse of heart even as the sand that is on the sea-shore Solomons heart had been as narrow as another mans if the Inspiration of the Almighty had not widened it When Moses was so sinfully modest as to excuse his Embassie to Pharoah supposing himselfe not fitted for such an undertaking Exod 4.10 11. O my Lord I am not eloquent neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant but I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue God presently put the question to him Who hath made mans mouth c. As if he had said Cannot he give words into thy mouth who gave thee a mouth cannot he act thy organs of speech who made them Now therefore goe and I will be with thy mouth Est deus in nobis sunt et commercia caeli sedibus aethereis spiritus iste venit Ovid. and teach thee what thou shalt say The Inspiration of the Almighty shall give thee understanding Heathen Poets have boasted of their â—â—ptures and inspirations The people of God have a promise of the Spirit to lead them into all truth and to helpe them in maintaining those truths From this generall that the furniture of the understanding is the gift of God or by Inspiration of the Almighty take these hints by way of Coralary First If a right understanding flow from the Inspiration of the Almighty then pray for an understanding pray for the Spirit Ye have not because ye aske not saith the Apostle James 4.2 God gives wisdome but he gives it to them that aske it Jam 1.5 If any man want wisdome let him ask it of God who giveth liberally and upbraideth not God upbraideth us not either with our want of wisdome or with the abundance of wisdome that he is pleased to supply us with and give out to us When Solomon was put to his choice what to aske he said Give thy servant an understanding heart God gave Solomon wisdome but Solomon asked it first All good things are shut up in promises and the promises are opened to give out their good things when we pray Prov. 23.5 When thou Cryest after knowledge and liftest up thy voyce for understanding then shalt thou understand the feare of the Lord and find the knowledge of God To pray well is to studâ—e well because by prayer light comes in from on high to make studies successfull and the worke to prosper in our hand As the Almighty breatheth downe on us so we must breath up to the Almighty To expect and not to pray is to tempt God not to trust him Secondly Doe not onely pray for wisdome but use meanes and be industrious for the obtaining of it The gift of God doth not take off the diligence of man God doth not worke in us that we should sit still Prov. 2.4 Then shalt thou know wisdome when thou seekest her as silver and searchest for her as for hid treasure And where is this treasure to be had Surely in the mines of Scripture and in all those Appoyntments wherein God hath promised to meete his people to shine upon them and give them the knowledge of his wayes in Jesus Christ Thirdly Be thankfull for any gift of knowledge for every beame and ray of light be thankfull It is God who commands light to shine out of darknesse and that God who at first commanded light to shine out of darknesse dayly shineth into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 Fourthly If understanding be from Inspiration then they who have received much understanding must be caution'd against two evills First not to be proud nor high minded that our gifts come from on high should make us very low in our owne eyes What hast thou that thou hast not received and if thou hast received it why doest thou glory as if thou hadst not received it These are the Apostles soule-humbling and pride-mortifying questions or expostulations rather 1 Cor. 4.7 You that have received the greatest gifts whom the Inspiration of the
confound the wise and the weake things of the world to confound the things which are mighty And base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen yea and things which are not to bring to nought things which are that no flesh should glory in his presence God chuseth those things which have the greatest improbility for his worke that the power and successe of the worke may be ascribed to him alone When we chuse we should chuse those that are fit for the worke to which they are chosen we should not chuse a foole to governe nor one that is of low parts himselfe to teach others we should pitch upon the wisest and ablest we can get Joseph said well to Pharoah Gen. 41.33 Looke out a man discreet and wise and set him over the Land of Egypt We cannot make men wiser then they are and therefore we must chuse and take those that are wise to doe our worke But when God comes to doe his worke he often takes the foolish and the weake because as he calleth them to so he can fit them for his worke As the strongest opposition of nature against grace cannot hinder the worke of the Spirit when the Spirit comes he will make a proud man humble a covetous man liberall an uncleane person modest and temperate so the weaknesse of nature cannot hinder his worke If a man below in parts God can raise him Out of the mouths of babes aâ—d sucklings hast thou ordained strength Psal 8.2 or as Christ alledgeth that text Math 21.16 Thou hast perfected praise one might thinke Surely God will take the aged the learned and great for his praise no he ordaines praise to himselfe out of the mouths of babes and sucklings that is out of their mouths who in all natuturall considerations are no way formed up nor fitted to shew forth his praise Isa 32.4 The heart of the rash or hasty shall understand knowledge Heady and inconsiderate persons whose tongues as we say run before their wits shall then be grave advised and serious both in what they doe and as it followeth in what they say The tongue of the stammerers shall speake plainly that is cleare words with cleare reason or they shall speake well both in matter and forme right things rightly All this the Lord doth that he may honour himselfe and lift up his owne name only which alone is to be lifted up Never feare to put an empty vessell to a full fountaine no matter how empty the vessell be if the fountaine be full God delights in broken weake and empty creatures that he may mend strengthen and fill them There is a spirit in man in weake man and the Inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding Elihu having shewed the original of mans wisdome to be from God in this 8th verse makes an inference from it in the 9th The inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding And what then surely even hence it cometh to passe that Vers 9. Great men are not alwayes wise neither doe the aged understand Judgement It is well conceived by some Interpreters that the Apostle doth more then allude to even cite this text 1 Cor. 1.26 You see your Calling Brethren how that not many wâ—se men after the flesh not many mighty not many Noble are called If God should chuse only of mostly wise men they would be ready to say we are chosen for our wisdome If he should chuse and call only or mostly rich men they would be ready to thinke we are chosen for our riches If he should call only or mostly Kings and Princes they would conclude we are called for our Greatnesse Therefore the Lord passeth by most of these and calleth the Fisherman calleth the poore man the ignorant man and saith You that have nothing you that in the esteeme of the world are nothing doe you follow me who have all things and can supply you with all Thus here saith Elihu Great men are not alwayes wise Why not the reason is because God doth not alwayes bestow wisdome upon them It is the Inspiration of the Almighty that giveth understanding Greatnesse doth it not Not many wise men after the flesh not many Great or Noble are Called Elihu and the Apostle Paul speake the same thing almost in the same words This is also a proofe of the divine Authoritie of this booke as well as that 1 Cor. 1.19 taken out of the speech of Eliphaz in the 5th Chapter at the 13th verse He taketh the wise in their owne craftinesse c. Great men are not alwayes wise The word alwayes is not at all in the Originall text and therefore put in a different Character Great men are not wise but 't is well supplyed by that word alwayes For the meaning of Elihu is not that great men are never wise but not alwayes wise Great men the Rabbies the honourable men of the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magnus unde Rabbi Magister qui multam eruditionem habet Honorabiles Pagn Magnates Tygur men in Authoritie and great place are intended by this word The Officers which King Ahasuerus set over his feast are called Rabbies Est 1.8 so that we may expound it here in the largest sence as including all sorts and degrees of Great ones Great men are not alwayes wise That is wisdome neither floweth from nor is it alwayes associated with Greatnesse As some are little yet great little in the world yet great in true wisdome so others are Great yet little they are little in wisdome or have little true wisdome though they are great in the world or have great worldly wisdome Hence note It is not greatnesse of birth of place or power that can make any man wise nor doth it at all assure us that a man is wise because we see him exalted to and setled in a place of power and greatness The Prophet Jer. 5.4 5. finding some very incorrigible and hardned in sinfull courses concluded them meane persons and in the lowest forme of the people Therefore I said Surely these are poore they are foolish for they know not the way of the Lord nor the Judgement of their God To be poore and foolish is very common these are poore and foolish saith the Prophet but surely I shall finde the Great ones better accommodated with wisdome and thereupon he resolved I will get me to the great men and will speak unto them for they have knowne the way of the Lord and the judgement of their God That is these great men have had great meanes of knowledge and we have reason to suppose them as great in knowledge as they are in place or power But did the great men answer his expectation did he find that in them which he sought and looked for nothing lesse The great men proved more foolish or lesse in true knowledge then the poore as it followeth But these have altogether broken the yoake and burst the bonds As if he had said I
hath convinced Job That is ye have not proved what ye have sayd Ye have called him an hypocrite and told him that he hath oppressed the poore and detained the right of the fatherless But ye have proved none of these evills against him Ye have not proved the matter of fact that he might sit downe penitentially confessing himselfe such an offender as ye have accused him to be Hence note We can never convince another by what we say untill we prove what we say If we reprove any man for an errour in his judgement and doe not prove it to be an errour or if we reprove a man for sin in practice and doe not prove his practice sinfull or that he hath practised that sin no conviction follows What is sayd and not proved comes to the eare only not to the conscience Therefore saith Christ John 8.46 Which of you convinceth me of sin Find a spot in my life if you can I know you are ready to slander me with but you cannot convince me of evill It is sayd of Apollos Acts 18.28 He mightily convinced the Jewes How did he convince them not by reproving them only for not receiving the Messias he did not barely tell them ye are a company of unbelievers but he reproved them by proving the necessity of their receiving Christ the Messias and the evill of rejecting him shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ Here was proofe and so conviction followed He convinced them by authority by the testimony of the word comparing Scripture with Scripture the prophesie with the history of Christ The Apostle would have the Ministers of the Gospel mighty at this worke Tit 1.8 They must hold fast the faithfull word that they may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gain-sayers Not only must they be able to rebuke gain-sayers this will not doe it they must also convince them or stop their mouths James 2.9 If any of you have respect to persons ye commit sin and are convinced of the Law as transgressours How doth the Law convince Not only by reproving but by proving It shews us a rule and saith there you have departed from it here is the line and there ye have transgressed or gone over it Thus ye are convinced that ye are transgressors He is both wise and faithfull he doth his worke like a workman that needeth not be ashamed who not only gives reproofe but proofe either of error in judgement or of evill in practise For the close of this poynt I may shew you three great convincers First The holy Spirit of God This office of the Spirit Christ sets forth John 16.7 I will send the Comforter and when he is come what shall he doe He will convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of Judgement That is he will bring proofe home to the conscience to shew sinners their evill state and evill lives He will also bring home to their spirits the alsufficiency of the righteousness of Jesus Christ and so overcome their unbeliefe that they shall nor be able to refuse the offers of grace He will likewise shew them such reasons why they ought to be holy and walke in the wayes of righteousness that they shall neither have power nor will to gain-say The second great convincer is Conscience They who were so forward to accuse the woman taken in adultery John 8.9 were at last convicted by their owne Conscience and went out one by one Their conscience told them they were guilty if not for that sin yet of other sins as bad as that They were so far before from judging themselves for that they tooke no notice of their owne faults they were severe against the woman but they flattered themselves till Christ made their owne consciences their convincers And surely conscience will one time or other convince to purpose They who have refused or outstood conviction by the word yea and put by the motions of the Spirit shall at last find conscience convincing and speaking home to them The third great Convincer is Jesus Christ in person Of him in the performance of this office the Apostle speakes clearely Jude v 15. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his Saints And what comes he to doe To execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Christ will make the greatest of ungodly ones in that great day to acknowledge that all their hard speeches which they have spoken against the Saints or godly men were spoken against him When prophane men are among their wicked companions they can jeare at the godly professors of the name of Christ even while they pretend to honour Christ But Christ will make them see that they scoâ—ned him while they scorned the least of those that feared him and believed on his name The great day will be a day not only of executing Judgement but of conviction every mouth shall be stopped and all the world of wicked men shall become guilty in their owne sight before God These are the three great Convincers The holy Spirit of God the Conscience of every man and Jesus Christ in the judgement of the great day And let those who now undertake that great worke of conviction often remember which was a little before mentioned and set downe the method to be used and observed in it First prove the matter and then reprove the man None were ever wrought to any good by bare reproofe much lesse by force Men are not to be driven into the faith by fire and sword by terrors and imprisonments conviction must doe it and that will doe it to purpose This is the first thing which Elâ—hu blamed and burdened Jobs friends with They reproved him but did not bring sufficient convincing proofe against him There was none of you that convinced Job Secondly He lays this to their charge that They had not answered his words As ye have not proved your owne allegations so ye have not refured nor infirmed his reasons But how could Elihu say They had not answered his words when to every word he spake we find their severall answers Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said The like is said of Zophar the Naamath te They had been answering all the while yet saith Elihu Behold there was none of you that answered his words I shall resolve this doubt by giving this note which was also given upon the 3d verse where see more Vnlesse we answer home to the matter and as we say hit the naile on the head we have given no answer We have not answered unlesse we give a satisfactory answer When the Respondent in Schooles acquits himselfe well The Moderator brings him off honorably saying Thy Answers suffice Jobs friends had been answering long and they made
and obscurely and they give the reason of it because in flattering there is a hiding of what men are and a shewing of what they are not The word signifieth also to give a nicke name or a by-name and so the sence is I will not give secret reflections nor gird at any man upon the by Jobs friends had done so sometimes though they after spake explicitely and directly enough Further the word signifies the giving of any additionall title Thus I finde it used in the Prophet Isa 44.5 One shall say I am the Lords speaking how persons shall flow into the Church and another shall call himselfe by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the Lord and sirname himselfe by the name of Israel He shall sirname himselfe that 's the word here used he shall take up that title that illustrious title he shall list or enroll himselfe among the people of God and thinke it his honour and glory to sirname himselfe by the name of Israel The word is so used againe Isa 45.4 For Jacob my servants sake and Israel mine elect I have even called thee by thy name I have sirnamed thee though thou hast not knowne me It is spoken of Cyrus I have given thee a glorious title God did not only name Cyrus but gave him a sirname he called him Cyrus my servant and Cyrus mine anoynted Thus the word signifies to give a title or a sirname now there are sirnames or titles of two sorts First disgracefull and reviling ones justly given to but commonly by vile men Secondly Honorable and advancing ones And these are of two sorts First Such as are true and well deserved many by the great acts which they have done have purchased sirnames Alexander King of Greece for his Warlike valour and successes was called The Great And among The Romans Scipio after his victories over the Carthaginians in Africa was sirnamed Africanus The Romane Histories supply sundry examples of this kind And when in Scripture Paul is called an Apostle Peter an Apostle They well deserved these honorable Titles because as they were meerely of Grace immediately called and sent of God to publish and plant the Gospel all the world over so they laboured aboundantly in it and by their ministery subdued and conquered the world to the faith and obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ Secondly There are also titles and sirnames which are meere pieces of flattery there being no worth in the person that may justly deserve them 'T is not sinfull to give titles but as we translate to give flattering titles unto men We should call men as they are and as they deserve I will call a spade a spade saith Elihu he that is good I will call him good and he that is bad I will call him bad and that which is ill done I will say it is ill done Let me not give flattering titles unto men Hence observe Flattery is iniquity to give flattering titles unto men is to transgresse the Law of God Some will not give true and due Titles to any man The most truly honorable persons and highest Magistrates shall have nothing from them but Thou and Thee Jacob a holy and a plaine man yet called his owne brother My Lord Esau Gen. 32.4 Gen 33.8 Luke The Evangelist called Theophilus Most excellent Luke 1.3 And Paul stiled Festus Most Noble Acts 26.25 Now as they erre upon one extreame who will not give true titles so doe they on the other who give which Elihu here disclaimes flattering titles There is a two-fold flattery First In promises Secondly In praises Some are full of flattery in promises they will tell you of great matters which they will doe for you yet meane no such thing Thus Psal 78.36 The children of Israel dealt with God when in the time of their straights and calamities they promised to doe great and good things they would turne to the Lord and serve him Neverthelesse saith the text they did flatter him with their mouth and they lied unto him with their tongues for their heart was not right with him c. Thus many upon their sick-beds or in a day of trouble what promises will they make How deeply will they engage for duty if God will restore them how holy and zealous and upright will they be they will leave their former ill courses and yet all is but flattery they really intend it not 'T is flattery in promises to God when there is not a purpose in the heart to doe what we say but only to get our ends upon him And we deale no better many times by one another men in streights will promise any thing and when they have gained enlargement performe nothing Secondly There is a flattery in praises and that 's here professed against This flattery in praising hath a double respect First To the actions of men 'T is flattery to call that act good that is nought Multi sunt qui vitia virtutibus vicinis honestare contendunt vitium omne palliant adumbrata nomenclatura è vicino subjectae virtutis Basil in Psal 61. that just that is unrighteous To put titles of vertue upon those things that are vicious to call that which is indeed a covetous act a thrifty one and to call that act which is cruell just at most but strict or severe this is to flatter men in what they doe Secondly There is a flattery of persons as to what they have and are when we speake more of them then is in them when we speake highly of them who are low in all abilities and attainments How grossely doe they give flattering titles who blow up very Ideors with a conceit of their learning who extoll fooles for wisdome and commend the wicked as vertuous yea recommend them as patternes of vertue We should give honour to all men to whom it belongs but we are not to flatter any man for that belongs to no man Rom 13.7 Render therefore to all their dues tribute to whom tribute is due custome to whom custome feare to whom feare honour to whom honour There is an honour that belongs to men with respect to their degrees when none belongs to them with respect to their qualities He that is very honorable as to his place may not deserve any honour as to his worth yet he must be honoured as much as his place comes to And as there is an honour due to those that are above us so there is an honour due to those that are our equalls yea to those that are our inferiours and below us The Apostle gives that direction more then once we have it first Rom 12.10 Be kindly affectionate one to another in honour preferring one another The people of God should be so farre from an ambitious affectation of preheminence above others that they should fâ—eely and really not as many doe complementally give others the preheminence and offer them the upper place or hand The grace of humility doth not
scelus est veritatem palliare Merc But it is a farre greater sin to commend the sins of others or to commend others in their sin And we may take the measure of this sin by the punishment of it When we heare the Lord threatning flatterers with suddaine destruction doth it not proclaime to all the world that their sin is full of provocation The Lord beares long with many sorts of sinners but not with sinners of this sort My maker would soone take me away Whence note Secondly God can make quicke dispatch with sinners As the grace of God towards sinners Nescit tarda molimina spiritus sancti gratia so his wrath needs no long time in preparations When we designe great actions we must take time to fit our selves Princes must have time to set out an Army or a Navy when they would either defend themselves against or revenge themselves upon their enemies But God can presently proceed to action yea to execution He that made all with a word speaking can destroy the wicked as soone as speake the word he can doe it in the twinkling of an eye with the turning of a hand My Maker would soone take me away Thirdly Because Elihu being about to speake in that great cause sets God before him and God in his judgements in case he should speake or doe amisse Note Thirdly They that doe or speake evill have reason to expect evill at the hand of God If I should flatter saith Elihu my Maker would soone take me away I have reason to feare he will not that God takes away every sinner as soone as he sins God rarely useth Martiall Law or executes men upon the place we should live and walke more by sence then by faith if he should doe so but any sinner may expect it God I say is very patient and long-suffering he doth not often take sinners away either in the act or immediately after the act of sin Yet there is no sinner but hath cause to feare lest as soone as he hath done any evill God should make him feele evill and instantly take him away David prayeth Psal 28.3 Draw me not away with the wicked and with the workers of iniquity There is a two-fold drawing away with the workers of iniquity First to doe as they doe that is wickedly Thus many are drawne away with the workers of iniquity and 't is a good and most necessary part of prayer to beg that God would not thus draw us away with the workers of iniquity that is that he would not suffer the workers of iniquity to draw us away into their lewd and sinfull courses Secondly there is a drawing away to punishment and execution In that sence I conceive David prayed Lord draw me not away with the workers of iniquity who are taken away by some sudden stroake of judgement though I may have provoked thee yet let not forth thy wrath upon me as thou sometimes doest upon the workers of iniquity doe not draw me out as cattell out of the pasture where they have been fed and fatted for the slaughter Every worker of iniquity is in danger of present death and may looke that God will be a swift witness against him though most are reprieved yet no man is sure of that Againe In that Elihu represents God to himselfe ready to take him away in case of flattery and prevarication in that cause Note Fourthly It is good for us to over-awe our soules with the remembrance of the judgements and terrours of God 'T is profitable sometimes to converse with the threatnings as well as with the promises 't is profitable to remember what God is able to do against us as well as to remember what God is able to do for us Even believers should goe into the dreadfull treasuries of wrath into the thunders lightnings of divine displeasure as well as into the delightfull treasuries of mercy of love compassion it is good for a good man to thinke God may take me away as well as to thinke God will save and deliver me we need even these meditations of God to keepe downe our corruptions and to fright our lusts Though it be the more Gospel way to make use of love yet the Gospel it selfe teacheth us to make use of wrath 2 Cor 5.11 Knowing the terrour of the Lord we perswade men Lastly Note When we goe about any great worke when we are either to speak or doe in any weighty matter it is good for us to set God before our eyes to thinke of and remember our Maker As in great undertakings we should remember our Maker waiting for and depending upon his assistance strength and blessing in what we doe or goe about so we should remember him to keepe our hearts right And to remember seriously believingly and spiritually that God beholds and seeth us in all our wayes and workes and that according to the frame of our hearts and the way that we take in every action such will the reward and the issue be cannot but have a mighty command and an answerable effect upon us We can hardly doe amisse with â—od in our eye And therefore as it is sayd of a wicked man Psal 10.4 that through the pride of his countenance he will not seeke after God God is not in all his thoughts So David said of himselfe though in that Psalme he speakes chiefely as a type of Christ and so in proportion or as to sincerity every godly man saith like David Psal 16.8 I have set the Lord alwayes before me because he is at my right hand therefore I shall not be moved that is as I shall not be utterly overthrowne by any evill of trouble so I shall not be overcome by any evill of temptation or I shall not be moved either in a way of discouragement by the troubles I meete with or in a way of enticement by the temptations I meete with How stedfast how unmoveable are they in the worke of the Lord how doe they keepe off from every evill worke who set the Lord alwayes before them and have him at their right hand Could we but set the Lord before us either in his mercies or in his terrors we should not be moved from doing our duty in whatsoever we are called to doe Thus farre Elihu hath drawne out his speech in a way of preface preparing himselfe for his great undertaking with Job He hath now fully shewed the grounds why he undertooke to deale with him and what method he would use in that undertaking In the next Chapter and so forward to the end of the 37th we have what he sayd and how he managed the whole matter JOB Chap. 33. Vers 1 2 3. Wherefore Job I pray thee heare my speeches and hearken to all my words Behold now I have opened my mouth my tongue hath spoken in my mouth My words shall be of the uprightnesse of my heart and my lips shall utter knowledge clearely ELihu having spent the whole
former Chapter in prefacing to Jobs friends directs his speech now to Job himselfe yet not without a renewed Preface as will appeare in opening this Chapter Wherein we may take notice of foure heads of his discourse First We have his Preface in the seven former verses of the Chapter Secondly A proposition of the matter to be debated or of the things that Elihu had observed in Job's speech about this Controversie from the 7th verse to the 12th Thirdly We have his confutation of what Job had affirmed from the 12th verse to the 31th Lastly We have his conclusion exciting Job to make answer to what he had spoken else to heare him speaking further in the three last verses of the Chapter Elihu in his Preface moves Job about two things First to attend what he was about to say Secondly To make reply to and answer what he should say Elihu moves Job to the former duty severall wayes First By a mild Entreaty and sweet Insinuation in the first verse Wherefore Job I pray thee heare my speeches and hearken to my words As if he had sayd I doe not come authoritatively and rigorously upon thee to command or demand thy attention but as a faithfull friend I desire thee to attend unto my speech and hearken to my voice Secondly He moves him to heare by professing his own readinesse and preparednesse to speak in the 2d verse Behold now I have opened my mouth my tongue hath spoken in my mouth that is I have been as it were tuning my instrument and fitting my selfe for discourse let me not loose my labour nor my study Thirdly He moves him to attend from the sincerity and gracious Ingenuity of his heart in that which he had to say to him This he layeth before him in the 3d verse My words shall be of the uprightnesse of my heart and my lips shall utter knowledge clearely What better Encouragement to heare And Fourthly Elihu moves him to heare from the Consideration of his present state as a man not only made by God but by him instructed for the work which he had undertaken the former of which is Exprest the latter Implyed in the 4th verse The Spirit of God hath made me and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life Thus Elihu Calls out Job to heare And Secondly As he invites him to heare what he had to say so he provokes him to answer what he should say vers 5. If thou canst answer me set thy words in order before me stand up As if he had said Be not discouraged take heart man doe thy best to defend thy selfe and make good thy owne cause against what I shall say Spare me not Doe thy best thy utmost Having thus encouraged him in General to answer he proceeds to give him two speciall Motives First From their Common state or Condition in the 6th verse Behold I am according to thy wish in Gods stead I also am formed out of the clay As if he had sayd You have often desired to plead with God or that God would heare your plea now consider I am in Gods stead though a man like your selfe Secondly He encourageth him from the tendernesse of his spirit toward him respecting his present Condition promising to deal with or treate him fairely gently in the 7th verse Behold my terror shall not make thee afraid neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee That favour Job hâ—d asked of God in the 9th Chapterâ— Let not thy terror make me afraid Now saith Elihu thaâ— which thou didst fear from God thou needest not at all feare in dealing with me My terror shall not make thee afraid c. Thus Elihu begins with Job that he might lead him to receive fairely or answer fully what he had to say The three first verses of the Chapter Containe the first part of the Preface wherein Elihu excites and calls forth Jobs attention by those foure Considerations already distinctly proposed the first whereof is layd downe Vers 1. Wherefore Job I pray thee heare my speeches and heerken to all my words Elihu begins very mildly sweetly insinuatingly even entreatingly and beseechingly Wherefore I pray thee The word which we translate I pray thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adhortartis vel excitantis tum etiam obsecranâ—â— is in the Hebrew language a monasyllable adverb of obsecration or exhortation I pray thee Hence note 'T is good to use gentlenesse towards those with whom we have to deale especially with those who are either outwardly afflicted or troubled in spirit Entreaties have great power and therefore though the Prophets and Apostles speake sometimes in a threatning way and command attention upon utmost peril yet for the most part they bespeake it with Entreaties 2 Cor 5.20 Now then we as Embassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God The Apostles went about a begging as it were with this message with the best message that ever was carried forth to the world Reconciliation unto God we pray you And againe 2 Cor 6.1 We then as workers together with him beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vaine that is the doctrine of the Gospel holding forth the grace and favour of God freely in Jesus Christ 1 Thes 4.1 Furthermore we beseech you brethren that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walke and to please God so ye would abound more and more As he did beseech them not to receive the grace of God in vaine so he did beseech them to a progress in an Improvement of that grace Again 1 Thes 2.7 We were gentle among you even as a Nurse cherisheth her Children how tender is a nurse to the infant hanging at her breast or dandled on her knee Speak ye Comfortably to Jerusalem was the Lords direction when she was in her warfare that is in a troubled and afflicted condition Isa 40.2 The Hebrew is Speak to her heart speak such words as may revive her heart and adde fresh spirits and life to her The Apostles rule for the restoring of those that are fallen is that they should be kindly treated Gal 6.1 Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye that are spirituall restore such an one with the spirit of meeknesse It is a great poynt of holy skill so to order a reproofe as not to provoke so to speak as to speak open or pick the lock of the heart Affectionate Entreaties are blessed pick-locks which doe not straine the wards but effectually lift up the holders and shoote the bolt of the heart causing it to stand wide open to receive and take in the truth of promises counsels and reproofes Meeke words meeken the spirit 'T is hard to refuse what we perceive spoken in love and if any thing will soften a hard heart soft language is most likely to doe it When Abigail came out and met David upon his way hot
the house of Israel to bud forth and I will give thee the opening of the mouth in the midst of them and they shall know that I am the Lord That is I will give thee boldnesse and liberty of speech time was when thou didst not dare to â—peake a word for God or of God of his praise name and worship or if thou didst it was but in a Corner or whisperd in secret but the time shall come when I will give thee the opening of the mouth thou shalt speak my truth and praises boldly and the Enemy shall know that I the Lord have procured thee this liberty 'T is a great mercy when God gives his people the opening of the mouth or liberty of speech to speak boldly no man hindring no nor so much as discouraging them The Prophet makes that the character of an evill time when the prudent keep silence Amos 5.13 As in evill or calamitous times it becomes the Godly prudent to be willingly silent adoring the justice of Gods severest dispensations towards them with patience and without murmuring at his hand So in some evill times they are forced to keepe silence though as David spake Psal 39.2 their sorrows be stirred either lest by speaking even nothing but truth and reason they draw further sorrows upon themselves or because they see it but lost labour to speake to a people obstinate and resolved on their way Fourthly This phrase of opening the mouth to speake notes the things spoken to be of very great worth such as have been long concocted and digested and at last ready to be brought forth as out of the treasury of an honest and understanding heart Os aperire est bene discussa et praemeditata habere dicenda Bold The heart is the treasury of words there they are stored up and from thence issued forth as Christ saith Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh As there is a stock of evill words in the hearts of evill men so of good and gracious words in the hearts of Godly men and when they open their mouthes according to this notion it is to bring forth the treasures and riches of their hearts to bring forth the gold and silver and precious things stored up there all these are very usefull interpretations of this phrase and I might give distinct observations from them but it may suffice to have named them I shall only adde that the last is conceived by some to be chiefely intended in the latter branch of this verse My tongue hath spoken in my mouth This seems a strange Expression where should the tongue speak but in the mouth when the tongue is out of the mouth can it speak as the mouth cannot speak without the tongue so the tongue cannot speak out of the mouth why then doth he say My tongue hath spoken in my mouth The Hebrew is In my palate the palate being a part of the mouth and one speciall Instrument of speech Naturalists reckon five The lips the tongue the teeth the palate the throat 't is put for all but there is more in it then so for every man speaks in his mouth Palatum â—ris coelum est Drus Praemeditata et quasi intelligentiae meae palato praegustata sum prolaturus Bez Bene sapui verba mea antequam illa efferendo tibi aliisque sapienda et gustanda traderem Bold Non sequarverba aliorum sed propries conceptus enunciabo Aquin or by the palate which is the heaven roofe or cieling of the mouth Therefore when Elihu saith My tongue hath spoken in my mouth or in my palate The palate may be considered as the instrument of tasting as well as of speaking We say such a thing is very savory to the palate And we call that Palate wine which is quicke and lively briske and pleasant to the tast Thus when Elihu saith here My tongue hath spoken in my mouth or palate His meaning is I have uttered only that which I have wel considered what my tongue hath spoken to you I have tasted my selfe I have put every word to my palate For as a man that that tasteth wine or any other sapid thing must have it upon his palate before he can make a Judgement whether it be sweet or sharpe quick or flat so faith Elihu my mouth hath spoken in my palate I tasted my words before I spake them Hence note Judicious and wise men will tast and try what they intend to speake before they utter it The speaker presents his words to the tast of the hearer For as this Scripture hath it at the 3d verse of the next Chapter The eare tryeth words as the mouth tasteth meat now he that ventures his words to the tast and censure of others had need take a tast of them before he doth it My tongue hath spoken in my mouth Secondly From the scope of Elihu in adding this namely to gaine attention Note There is great reason we should heare that carefully which the speaker hath prepared with care They who regard not what they speake deserve no regard when they speake but a weighing speaker should have a weighing hearer And what any mans tongue in the sence of Elihu hath spoken in his mouth that we should heare not only with our eare but with our heart This a strong argument to quicken attention yet Elihu gives in another and a stronger in the next verse Vers 3. My words shall be of the uprightnesse of my heart my lips shall utter knowledge clearly In the former verse Elihu called for an open eare because he opened his mouth and was about to speak or had spoken what he had well tasted In this verse he presseth the same duty by professing all manner of Ingenuity and Integrity in what he was about to speake He would speake not only seriously but honestly not only from his understanding but his conscience My words shall be of the uprightnesse of my heart c. The meaning is not that the uprightnesse of his heart should be the subject upon which he would treat though that be a blessed and most usefull subject yet it was not the poynt he intended to discusse but when he saith My words shall be of the uprightnesse of my heart his meaning is my words shall flow from the uprightnesse of my heart I will speake in the uprightnesse of my heart or according to the uprightnesse of my heart my words shall be upright as my heart is the plain truth is this Sincerè et absque ullo suco proferam animi mei sensa Bez I will speak truth plainly I 'le speak as I thinke you may see the Image of my heart upon every word I will speak without dawbing without either simulation or dissimulation Some conceive this to be a secret reproofe of or reflection upon Jobs friends as if Elihu had suspected them to have spoken worse of Job then they could thinke him to be in their hearts But as
we cannot judge mens hearts directly so there is no reason why we should judge so of their hearts conjecturally It is enough to the purpose that Elihu asserts his owne uprightnesse without reflecting upon or suspecting the uprightnesse of those who had dealt with Job before My words shall be in the uprightnesse of my heart This uprightnesse of his heart may have a three-fold Opposition First to passion Some speake in the heat and fire of their hearts rather then in the uprightnesse of them it is good to speak with the heat and fire of zeal in our hearts but take heed of the heat and fire of passion I will not speak in the heat but in the uprightnesse of my heart saith Elihu Secondly This uprightnesse may be oppos'd to partiality I will not spare when there is cause to speake home nor presse nor load thee with any thing where there is not cause for it Thirdly This uprightnesse in speaking Non loquar ad calumniendum vel ad ridâ—ndum sed simplici animo ad veritatem manifestandam Aquin may also be oppos'd to speaking without cleare ground or proofe And 't is supposed that Elihu aymed more specially at this Jobs friends having been so high in his reproofe charging him with divers things for which they had no proofe but only a vehement suspition The words of Eliphaz are full Chap 22. 5. Is not thy wickednesse great and thine iniquities infinite for thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought and stripped the naked of their Clothing Thou hast sent widdowes empty away and the armes of the fatherlesse have been broken Surely Eliphaz could not speak this in the uprightnesse of his heart knowing it to be so though he spake it in this uprightnesse of his heart that he really thought it to be so Which kind of uprightnesse Paul had in persecuting the Saints Acts 26.9 I verily thought with my selfe that I ought to doe many things contrary to the Name of Jesus of Nazareth Thus Jobs friends verily thought he had done many Grosse things contrary to the Law of God but they only thought so they could not prove it This is a lame kinde of uprightnesse and in opposition to this Elihu might now say I will not charge or burden thee with any thing but what I know to be true and had even from thy own mouth My words shall be of the uprightnesse of my heart I shall not stay to give particular notes from these words according to this three-fold opposition The reader may improve them in that as he hath occasion Only in Generall Observe The heart and tongue should goe together The tongue should alwayes be the hearts Interpreter and the heart should alwayes be the tongues suggester what is spoken with the tongue should be first stampt upon the heart and wrought off from it Thus it should be in all our Communications and exhortations especially when we speak or exhort about the things of God and dispence the mysteries of heaven David spake from his heart while he spake from his faith Psal 116.10 I believed therefore have I spoken Believing is an act of the heart with the heart man believeth so that to say I believed therefore have I spoken Is as if he had said I would never have spoken these things if my heart had not been cleare and upright in them The Apostle takes up that very protestation from David 2 Cor 4.13 According as it is written I believed therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore speak that is we moved others to believe nothing but what we believed yea were fully assured of our selves as the next words of the Apostle import Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you To speak what we in our hearts believe is to speak in the uprightnesse of our hearts Some speak without their hearts that is coldly they have no heart at all in speaking as some heare without their hearts only with their eares so some speak without the heart only with the tongue Secondly Others speake what was never in their hearts They have no experience in themselves of what they say to others They throw out their words at a venture It is sad to speak that as a truth or a Comfort to others which we have not found in our selves that is have not felt the operation of it upon our owne hearts How are they to be lamented who speak of the things of God as a Stage-player who acts the part of or Personates a Prince being himselfe but a poore plebeian It is bad to speak without our hearts or coldly but 't is worse to speak what was never in our hearts or hypocritically Thirdly Not a few speak quite against their hearts these are at farthest distance from speaking in the uprightnesse of their heart they speak with a false and malicious heart they speak with a deceitful and double heart with a heart and a heart There are three wayes wherein men speak against their owne hearts and Consciences First In the profession which they make of themselves Rev 2.9 Christ writing to the Church of Smyrna saith I know thy faith and patience c. and the Blasphemy of them who say they are Jewes and are not but lye c. And so at the 9th verse of the 3d Chapter Which say they are Jewes and are not but doe lye We are not to understand it strictly that they professed themselves to be of the Nation of the Jewes the Children of Abraham A Jew there is any one that holdeth out a profession of the faith of Christ Old Testament words are often applyed to the New Testament or Gospel state they say they are Jewes that is true believers but they are not and doe lye to lye is to goe against a mans mind against his Conscience they make a great profession of godlinesse and holinesse of Christ and his wayes and they lye at every word for indeed they are the Synagogue of Satan Thus at this day some make profession before the Church of God and by such profession get admittance into the Church of God who yet belong to the Synagogue of Satan The Apostle John speakes of such 1 Ep Joh 2.19 They went out from us but they were not of us that is they were not truly of us though they once desired to come in and joyne themselves to us and for a time walked with us Secondly The tongue speaks against the heart many times in the promises which men make to others of what they will doe O what Courtesies and friendships will some men professe they will tell you aloud how they love you and how much they are your servants while there is nothing in their hearts but deceit and guile yea possibly nothing but wrath and revenge to death Thus Ishmael went out weeping all along as he went Jer 41.6 and sayd Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam yet
men but the blasphemy against the holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men As if he had said Though you sin against the Father and the Son it shall be forgiven you but if you sin against the holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven either in this world or in the world to come that is it shall never be forgiven Seeing then there is more in sinning against the holy Ghost then against the Father or the Son who are God the holy Ghost must needs be God For though there is no degree or graduall difference in the deity each person being coeternall coequall and consubstantiall yet the Scripture attributes more in that case as to the poynt of sinning against the holy Ghost then to sinning against the Father or the Son therefore certainly the holy Ghost is God Lastly The holy Ghost is the object of divine worship are not we baptized in the Name of the Father Son and holy Ghost Is the Father and the Son God and the holy Ghost not God who is joyned with them in the same honour Shall a creature come in competition with God And doth not the Scripture or word of God direct us to pray for grace from the Spirit as well as from the Father or the Son 2 Cor 13.13 Rev 1.4 Thus we see how full the Scripture is in giving the glory of the same workes upon us and of the same worship from us to the Spirit as to the Father and the Son And therefore from all these premises we may conclude That the Holy-Ghost with the Father and the Son is God blessed and to be glorified for evermore The Spirit of God hath made me And the breath of the Almighty hath given me life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritus ex ore egregiens halitus flatus anima proprie significat halitem pâ—r metonymiam effecti animam per synechdoâ—hen membri animal Pisc in Deut 10.16 The words carry an allusion as Interpreters generally agree to that of Moses describing the creation of man Gen 2.7 And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrills the breath of life and man became a living soule Elihu speakes neere in the same forme fully to the same effect The breath of the Almighty hath given me life or enlivened me As if he had sayd That soule which the Lord hath breathed into me hath made me live The soule of man may be called the breath of the Almighty because the Almighty is expressed infusing it into man at first by breathing And therefore the word Neshamah which properly signifies the breath doth also by a Metonymie of the effect signifie the soule it selfe which causeth breathing Thus our translaters render it Isa 57.16 I saith the Lord will not contend for ever neither will I be alwayes wroth for the spirit should faile before me and the soules which I have made As the soule of man was breathed in by God so the soule is that by which man breathes Breath and soule come and goe together Some comparing the originall word Shamaijm for the heavens with this word Neshamah which here we translate breath take notice of their neere affinity intimating that the soule of man is of a heavenly pedegree or comes from heaven yea the latine word mens signifying the mind is of the same consonant letters with the Hebrew Neshamah and as some conceive is derived from it So then I take these words The breath of the Almighty as a description of that part of man which is opposed to his body The Spirit of God hath made me that is hath set me up as a man in humane shape And the breath of the Almighty hath given me life that is this soule which the Almighty hath breathed into me hath made me a living man ready for any humane act or as Moses speakes God breathing into my nostrills the breath of life I became a living soule Hence observe First The soule of man floweth immediately from God 'T is the breath of God not that God liveth by breathing the way of his life is infinitely above our apprehension But 't is cleare in Scripture That the Almighty breathed into man the powers of life And therefore he is called by way of Eminence The father of spirits Heb 12.9 For though the Almighty is rightly entituled the Father of the whole man though both body and soule are the worke of God yet he is in a further sence the father of our spirits or soules then of our bodyes And here Solomon shewing how man is disposed of when these two are separated by death saith Eccl 12.7 Then shall the dust that is the body returne to the earth as it was and the spirit that is the soule shall returne to God who gave it The body is the gift of God but the body is not the breath of God it is not such an immediate gift of God as the soule is when the body of man was made at first God tooke the dust of the earth and formed his body out of it but when he gave him a soule he breathed that from himselfe it was an immediate effect of Gods power not dealing with nor working upon any prae-existing matter The spirit or soule of man is purely of God solely of God And hence we may inferre First Then the soule is not a vapour arising from the crasis or temperament of the body as the life of a beast is Secondly Then the soule of man is not traduced from the parents in generation as many learned men affirme especially to ease themselves of those difficulties about the conveyance of originall sin or defilement into the soule Thirdly We may hence also inferre then the soule is not corruptible it is an immortall substance How can that be corruptible or mortall which hath its rise as I may say immediately from God or is breathed in by the Almighty who is altogether incorruptible and immortal And whereas there is a twofold incorruptibility First by divine ordination that is God appoynts such a thing shall not corrupt and therefore it doth not so the body of man in it's first creation was incorruptible for though it were in it selfe corruptible being made out of the earth yet by the appoyntment of God if man had continued in his integrity he had not dyed And therefore it is said By sin came death yea doubtlesse if God should command and appoynt the meanest worme that moves upon the earth to live for ever or the most fading flower that groweth out of the earth to flourish for ever both the one and the other would doe so Secondly there is an incorruptibility in some things not meerely by a law or appoyntment of God but as from that intrinsecall nature which God hath bestowed upon them and implanted in them Thus the Angels are immortall they have an incorruptible nature and likewise the soule of man being breathed from the Almighty is in it's owne nature
had before him nor did Elihu look upon Job as such a puny to him or so much his underling as that he durst not hold up the Bucklers in dispute against him Elihu knew Job was an old experienced Souldier well vers'd in the wayes and things of God And therefore Secondly If thou canst may rather referre to the weaknesse and soarenesse of Job's body to the wounds or troubles which he had received and felt from the Almighty in his spirit then to any inability of his mind for argument As if Elihu had said I consider how it is with thee thou art a man diseased and distempered in thy body fitter to lye upon or keep thy bed then to stand up to a dispute fitter for a hospitall then for the Schooles Thou also hast a troubled and an afflicted spirit I doubt thou art not in case to answer me or to stand up longer in a way of dispute but this I say if thou canst answer me pray doe set thy words in order before me I will not lay this burden upon thee unlesse thou art willing to take it unlesse thou findest thou hast strength and spirit to beare and carry it through Answer me if thou canst otherwise I will speak my thoughts out and make what use of it thou pleasest Thirdly I conceive Elihu might here intend to let Job understand that he was resolved to put him to the utmost that he was resolved to bring the strongest arguments and use the quickest way of reasoning for his conviction that he could and that therefore he also adviseth Job to doe the like to doe his best to buckle himselfe to the businesse with all his might for he was not come to dally with him he would have him set his shoulders to the work and gather all the forces of his soule to the battaile he bids him bring forth even his horsemen for his defence as I may speak in allusion to that in the 12th of Jeremy If thou hast run with footmen and they have wearied thee how shalt thou contend with horses Elihu was purposed and resolved to bring out his greatest strength his horsemen to the battaile and therefore wisheth Job doe so too Thus he gives him faire warning If thou canst answer me doe thy utmost I am ready for thee Fourthly While Elihu saith If thou canst answer me set thy words in order before me stand up We may take his words as a gentle and sweete invitation to the worke As if he had sayd If thou hast spirits enow left to hold discourse with me or to reply upon me come friend spare me not set thy words in order before me I will not be a terror to thee Or there may be this condescending sence in these words of Elihu Doe not thinke O Job because I begin to speak that therefore I meane to speak all or to have all the discourse my selfe assure thy selfe I have no purpose to hinder thee in any defence which thou art able to make for thy selfe No though I am come with my best preparations to urge thee and reply upon thee as to all that hath past between thee and thy friends yet I am as willing that thou shouldest answer as I am ready prepared and prest to speake thou hast free leave to make thy Apologie to say what thou canst for thy selfe I intend not to impose upon thee nor by any Authority to compell thee to stand to my sentence as if I were thy Master or would Lord it over thee Doe and speake thy best for thy owne vindication I am ready to receive it from thee and give thee a faire account of my thoughts about it If thou canst answer me Set thy words in order before me 'T is a metaphorical speech 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often and most properly used for the marshalling of an Army and so is elegantly applyed here in this matter of controversie or polemicall discourse Set thy words thy reasons thy arguments as it were in battaile aray against me we had the word in the former Chapter at the 14th verse It is applyed also to the exactness of the heart in prayer not an affected exactness or curiosity about words or to word it with God but it notes exactness or spirituallness rather in meditating and disposing the strongest Scripture reasonings to prevaile with God in prayer Prayer is as it were a battaile fought in heaven not in wroth or revenge but with faith and holy submission Thus did Jacob when he wrastled with the Angel Gen 32. And thus David speaks Psal 5.3 In the morning I will direct my prayer unto thee and will look up or I will marshall my prayer I will bring up petition after petition pleading after pleading even till I am become like Jacob a Prince with God till I have won the field and got the day Thus the word is applyed by a metaphor both to disputations with men and supplications to God Further we may take the meaning plainly without any straine of rhetorique Set thy words in order before me Methode is good in every thing either an expresse or a covert methode Sometimes 't is the best of art to cover it in speaking there is a speciall use of methode for though as one said very well speaking of those who are more curious about methode then serious about matter Methode never converted any man yet methode and the ordering of words is very usefull Our speeches should not be heaps of words but words bound up not a throng of words but words set in aray or as it were in ranke and file The Prophet Joel 2.5 describes a terrible Judgement of God by a strong people set in battaile aray In pursuance of which sence Mr Broughton renders the next words not as we stand up but stand to it as Commanders say to their Souldiers stand to it and the Italian translation thus Set thy words in order before me present thy selfe to the Combate Thus he continues the metaphor As if he had said Chuse thy ground St◠quasi in acie ad pugnandum contra me convincendum me rationibus Drus and maintaine it like a valiant Champion I doe not desire thou shouldst yeild me an inch of ground yeild to nothing but the truth dispute every patch with me stand up stand to it stand as if thou wert to fight a battaile not only for thy honour but for thy life The Apostle 1 Cor 16.13 speaks in that language about our spirituall warre Watch ye stand fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viriliter agire quit your selves like men man it be strong There is such a sence in Elihu's exhortation here to Job Set thy words in order before me stand up Now in that Elihu when he was thus bent to speak and was so full of matter to speak that as he tells us in the former chapter He was like bottles of wine and that he could not hold yet gave Job faire law and bids him answer if he could
say it Againe When Elihu saith Thou hast spoken in my hearing and I have heard the voyce of thy words He would convince Job to the utmost Hence note To accuse or condemne any man out of his owne mouth must needs stop his mouth Or To be condemned out of our owne mouth is an unanswerable condemnation When our owne sayings are brought against us what have we to say Christ told the evill and unprofitable servant who would needs put in a plea for his idleness and excuse himselfe for hideing his Lords talent in a napkin that is for not using or improving his gift Luk 19.22 Out of thine owne mouth will I judge thee thou wicked servant I will goe no further then thy owne words And we see as that evill servant had done nothing before so then he could say nothing because judged out of his owne mouth When the offenders tongue condemneth him who can acquit him Psal 64.8 So they shall make their owne tongue to fall upon themselves The tongues of some men have fallen upon them and crusht them like a mountaine and they have been pressed downe yea irrecoverably oppressed with the weight of their owne words The Apostle Jude tells us what the Lord will do when he comes to Judgement in that great and solemne day of his second Appearing v 15. He shall convince all that are ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him He shall say to them are not these your words can you deny them or have you any plea for them Have you not spoken these things in my hearing And have I not heard the voyce of your words speaking thus and thus reproachfully of my wayes ordinances and servants This is like wounding a man with his own weapon 't is like the act of David in cutting off the head of Goliah with his owne sword He that is condemned by his owne saying dyeth by his own sword David saith of sychophants and slanderers Psal 55.21 Their words were smoother then oyle yet were they drawne swords Such draw these swords with an intent to wound other mens reputation or good name but they oftenest wound their owne And as their words who slander others rebound upon themselves and turne to their owne disgrace so also doe theirs for the most part who are much in commending or possibly only which was Jobs case in vindicating themselves Surely thou hast spoken in my hearing c. But what had Elihu heard Job speake the next words are an answer or declare the matter of his speech and in them as was said before in opening the Context Elihu first chargeth him with an over-zeale in justifying himselfe I have heard the voyce of thy words saying Vers 9. I am cleane without transgression I am innocent neither is there iniquity in me This thou hast sayd and this I charge upon thee as a great iniquity For the clearing of these words I shall doe these foure things because upon this charge the whole discourse of Elihu throughout the Chapter depends First I shall give the sence and explication of the words as here expressed by Elihu and some briefe notes from them Secondly I shall shew what matter of accusation or of fault there is in these words of Job as brought by Elihu in charge against him or how sinfull a thing it is for any man to say he is without sin Thirdly I shall enquire what ground Job had given Elihu to charge him with saying these things Fourthly which followeth upon the third I shall inquire whether Elihu dealt rightly and fairely with Job in bringing thi sore and severe charge against him First To open the words as they are an assertion Thou hast sayd I am cleane without transgression I am innocent neither is there iniquity in me Some distinguish the three terms used in the text as a deniall of three severall sorts of sin First That by being cleane without transgression he intends his freedome from sins against sobriety or that he had not sinn'd against himselfe Secondly that by being innocent his meaning is he had not done impiously against God Thirdly that by having no iniquity in him he cleares himselfe of wrong done to man These three sorts of sin containe sin in the whole latitude of it All sin is either against our selves strictly called intemperance or against God strictly called impiety or against man strictly called unrighteousnesse But though this hath a truth in it as to the distinction of sins yet it may be over-nice to conclude Elihu had such a distinct respect in these distinct expressions And it may be questioned whether the words will beare it quite thorow Therefore I passe from it and leave it to the readers Judgement Further as to the verse in generall we may take notice that the same thing is sayd foure times twice affirmatively I am cleane I am innocent And twice negatively I am without transgression There is no iniquity in me I am cleane without transgression The word which we render cleane implyeth the cleanest of cleannesse 't is rightly opposed to the word transgression which signifieth a defection or turning off from God Every sin in the nature of it is a defection from God but some sins are an intended or resolved defection from him Some even throw off the soveraignty of God over them and his power to command them not being willing to submit their backs to his burden nor their necks to his yoke These are justly called sons of Belial they not only transgresse the Law but throw off the yoke of Christ from their necks and his burden from their shoulderS and say like them Luke 19.14 We will not have this man reigne over us So then when Job sayd I am cleane without transgression he may be very well understood thus Though I have many failings yet I am free from defection though I have many weaknesses yet I am free from rebellion and obstinacy I still retaine an entire love to God and am ready to submit to his will though I often find my heart through corruption rising up against my duty I am turned aside through the strength of temptations but I turne not aside through the bent of my affections This doubtlesse or somewhat like this was Job's sence when ever he sayd I am cleane without transgression Hence note First Transgression is a pollution or Sin is a defilement If once men step over or besides the line and rule of holinesse the Law of God which to doe is transgression they become unholy Job supposed himselfe uncleane if guilty of transgression Sin is an uncleane thing and it maketh man uncleane This the Church confessed Isa 64.6 We all are as an unclean thing or person As if they had said Time was when there was a choice people among us who kept themselves pure from common defilements But now the contagion and corruption is so epidemicall and universal
himselfe And as these charges so Job's answers have been opened heretofore upon those former passages and therefore I shall not stay much upon the poynt here Yet because Elihu reassumes this argument yea makes it his strongest argument against Job I shall a little consider whether he did rightly or no in this thing To cleare which we must remember that Job's innocency had received a three-fold testimony in this booke First He received a testimony from God himselfe and that a very notable and glorious one Chap 1. 8. Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth a perfect and an upright man Secondly He received a further testimony from the pen-man of this book who having recorded the severall afflictions of Job and his behaviour under them repeats it twice Chap 1. 21. Chap 2. 10. In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly The testimony which God gave him referred to his former actions or conversation before his affliction The testimony which the writer gave him referred specially to his latter words or speeches under his affliction Besides these testimonies which are not at all questioned nor can be we find a third testimony and that he gives of himselfe Now though Elihu did highly reverence the testimony which God had given if we may suppose he had notice of it and would also the testimony of the pen-man of the booke had it then been written yet he questioned the testimony which Job gave of himselfe Now that there was some severity in this charge upon that suspition may appeare by considering it in a few particulars First It must be sayd on Job's part or in favour of him according to truth that he never affirmed he was not a sinner Nay we shall find him more then once twice or thrice confessing the sinfulness of his nature and the sins of his life We find him also confessing that notwithstanding all the righteousness and integrity in him yet he would owne none of it before God and that if he should justifie himselfe his owne cloaths would abhorre him Therefore Job was far from saying he had no sin in him in a strict sence Secondly Most of those passages wherein he speakes of himselfe as cleane and righteous may be understood of his imputative cleanness and righteousness as a person justified in the redeemer of whom he spake with such a Gospel spirit and full assurance of faith that he might well assert this of himselfe I know that being justified I am cleane and without sin It is no fault for a believer to say I am cleane without transgression through free Grace in the righteousness of Jesus Christ Much of what Job spake in this matter is to be taken that way Thirdly When Job affirmes these things of himselfe we may say this in favour of him he meanes it of great transgressions The words in the text note defection and wilfull swerving from the right way His friends charged him with hypocrisie with oppression with taking the pledge for nought with stripping the naked of their clothing Thine iniquity is great said Eliphaz and thy sin is infinite Now saith Job I am cleane I have no such transgressions And he might well answer his friends charge of impiety against God and iniquity towards men with a flat deniall yea with an affirmation of the contrary There is no such iniquity in me prove it if you can He was unblameable in the sight of man Fourthly In favour of Job this may be sayd what he spake of himselfe and of his owne righteousness was upon much provocation of when his spirit was heated by his friends who so constantly urged these crimes against him In these heats he spake highly of himselfe and though it doth not excuse any mans sin when he hath spoken sinfully to say I was provoked yet it doth abate the greatness of the sin Good Moses who was the meekest man upon the earth when through provocation he spake unadvisedly with his lips felt the smart of it and God reckoned sorely with him for it Yet to speake amisse upon provocation is not so much amisse as to speake so in cold blood or unprovoked Fifthly Elihu might have put a fairer interpretation and construction upon these sayings of Job He might have taken them in the best sence as Job meant them that he was righteous cleane and innocent in all his transactions with men and had not wickedly at any time departed from God And then ther had not been such matter of fault in what he said as was broughe against him Yet in vindication of Elihu it must be granted Job gave him occasion to rebuke and blame what he had said and that chiefly upon these three accounts First Because he spake many things of himselfe which had an appearance of boasting and so of vaine speaking A little truly sayd of our selves or in our owne commendation may be thought too much how much more when we say much Secondly He spake such things as carri'd a shew of over-boldness with God He did not observe his distance as he ought when he so earnestly pressed for a hearing to plead his cause before God especially when he so often complained of the severity of Gods proceedure with him with which Elihu taxeth him directly in the two verses following Upon both these grounds Elihu thought and was no doubt guided in it by the Spirit of God to cut him to the quick that Job might learne to speake more humbly of himselfe and more temperately to God And therefore Thirdly The Lord did righteously yea and graciously let out the spirit of Elihu upon him in another way then his friends before had done He did not charge him with wickedness in fact but dealt with him about the unwariness of his words Job could not say he had never spoken such words for such words he did speake though he did not speake them as Elihu tooke them When words are out they must stand to the mercy of the hearers and abide such a judgement as may with truth be made of them though possibly besides the purpose of the speaker A man in that case is not wronged he should learne to speak more warily and not give occasion of offence Doubtlesse the Lord had a gracious intent upon Job in stirring the spirit of Elihu to represent his words in the hardest sence that he might humble him Job's spirit was yet too high and not broken enough as it was afterwards Nor doth Job reply or retort upon Elihu for this And when the Lord himselfe began to deal with him he saith Who is this that darkeneth councell by words without knowledge Chap 38. 2. and Job himselfe being brought upon his knees confesseth Chap 42. 3. I have uttered that I understood not things too wonderfull for me which I knew not I have been too bold I confesse Though it was not Jobs purpose or meaning to speake so he had integrity in what he spake yet his words
all their ordinary faylings and transgressions As the Lord is so holy and of such pure eyes that he cannot behold any sin the least iniquity to approve of it Habak 1.13 so the Lord is so gracious and so full of compassion that he doth not severely take notice of nor look upon the lesser sins of his people David exalts the name and glory of God at large for this Psal 103.8 9 10. The Lord is mercifull and gracious slow to anger plenteous in mercy he will not alwayes chide They are alwayes chideing that are alwayes spying faults in children servants or relations they who take notice of every little fault shall finde chiding-worke enough in a family But the Lord will not alwayes chide neither will he keepe his anger for ever He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded us according to our iniquities Like as a father pittieth his children so the Lord pittieth them that feare him A father doth not enquire into much lesse punish every neglect of his child I will spare them saith the Lord Mal 3.17 as a father spareth a son that serveth him If a father seeth or is well perswaded that his son hath a heart to serve him he will not curiously spy out the faults of his service but saith to his child It is well done or at least I take that well which thou hast done Yea the Lord is so farre from a strict inquiry after such faults that he passeth by great transgressions Mic 7.18 Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his people he retaineth not his anger for ever because he delighteth in mercy Though Asa 1 Kings 15.14 was not through in the reformation the high places were not removed yet the Lord did not charge this upon him for presently it followeth in the sacred Story Neverthelesse the heart of Asa was perfect with God all his dayes Yea though Asa did fall into severall sins afterwards imprisoning one of the Prophets and oppressing some of the people and in his sickness seeking to the Physitians and not to the Lord yet the Lord did not charge these acts upon him He was so farre from a strict inquiry after his lesser sins that he tooke no notice of those greater sins but saith His heart was perfect all his dayes So in the case of David the Lord would not see many of his sins he would not blot David nor burden his owne memory with them but passed an Act of Oblivion upon them for ever Sarah Gen 18.12 spake very unhandsomely when the Angel came to her and told her she should have a son yet the Apostle 1 Pet 3.6 referring to that story gives Sarah a very high testimony or commendation for one good word that was mingled with a great many ill or undue ones yea and actions too for she laughed Notwithstanding all which Peter sets her as a patterne for all good women professing the Gospel to imitate He would have them be in subjection unto their owne husbands even as Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord whose daughters ye are saith he as long as ye doe that which is well That one word which she spake well is recorded yea reported to her praise and all that were ill are buried in silence forgotten and covered The Lord hath respect to a little pure gold though mingled with a great deale of dross and ownes a little good Corne though a great deale of chaffe be in the same floore or heape Surely then he will not bring our infirmities and slips to account against us while our hearts are upright with him Thus you see what matter of charge there was in these words when Job sayd God sought occasion against him when he had given none or that he had only given some smaller occasion and yet God dealt with him as an enemy But did Job ever say That God sought occasions against him or tooke notice of his lesser sins so severely I answer Though some acquit Job wholly of this charge and recriminate Elihu with this accusation as a slander yet Job had spoken words which might give occasion to charge him thus as was shewed also concerning those former speeches I am cleane from transgression I am innocent there is no iniquity in me though Job had not spoken these or such like words with that scope and spirit as Elihu might seeme to alledge them yet he had given Elihu cause enough to say so while he spake more of himselfe then came to his share considering that he was a sinfull man and more then did become him in his condition being an afflicted man Upon both which accounts it had better becom'd him to have been much in humbling himselfe rather then at all in justifying himselfe Now as Job had spoken words which might beare out Elihu in his former charge Secundum veritatem neutruÌ„ diuit Job in sensu quem imponit in Elihu so we finde severall speeches or complaints concerning God which may justifie him in this As for instance Chap 14.16 17. For now thou numbrest or numbring thou numbrest my steps dost thou not watch over my sins As if he had sayd thou watchest me so strictly so narrowly that I cannot in the least step awry but presently I am observed and shall be sure to heare of it Yea my transgressâ—on is sealed up in a bag and thou sowest up mine iniquity that is thou keepest the memory of my sins thou dost not passe them by but hast them ready by thee When chast Joseps wanton mistresse disappoynted in her lust was resolved to seeke an occasion of revenge she layd up his garment by her untill her Lord came home Gen 39.16 To lay up the evill deed of another presageth ill to him And therefore when Elihu heard Job speaking thus might he not say Job hath sayd God seeketh occasions against me yea which is more as it followeth in the verse under hand And counteth me for his enemy These words having been insisted upon somewhat largely from other passages of this Booke Chap 13.24 19.11 Chap. 30.21 In all which places Job spake this complaint sometimes expressely alwayes Equivalently I shall not here stay upon the explication of them only for as much as Job having sayd That God took hold of small occasions given or sought occasions not given is presently charged further by Elihu with saying He counteth me for his enemy From this Connection of the former with the latter part of the verse Note To seek or take easie occasions against another is an argument that we beare no good will to him or It is a signe we look upon a man as an enemy when we are apt and ready to seeke or take occasions against him There are two things which we are very ready to doe towards those we beare no good will unâ—o or whom we account our enemies First to diminish the good which they doe to speak lightly of
lusts may be in the stocks too Thus he told the Church Hos 2.6 Behold I will hedge up thy way with thornes and make a wall that she shall not find her paths The thorne-hedge was as a stocks to stop them that they should not walk disorderly nor act inordinately as they had done This course God takes with many he puts them in the stocks that he may keepe them from the wayes of sin or give check to some unruly affection When we need this discipline we may looke for it and 't is a mercy to be under it Will you not keep order saith God then you shall to the stocks Secondly afflictions are a restraint to our comforts as well as to our corruptions As this expression notes the taking of lusts short so the taking of us short as to lawfull liberties and enjoyments Sickness upon the body sowres all that this world hath to us and will not suffer us to use much of it how much soever of it we possesse Many have enough to eate who never eate in pleasure as Job sayd Chap 21.25 And when in our prosperity we run out and take unlawfull liberty God sends an affliction as his stocks to hold us from our lawfull liberties When we have had vaine out-goings and excesses of spirit all going well with us and comfortably in the world we may expect the stocks next or that things should goe ill with us yet for our good Thirdly To be in the stocks is a disgracefull thing it is not only a paine and a restraint but it is a reproach He that is in the stocks or in the pillory is exposed to shame every one poynts at him and many revile him Affliction as to the eye of the world carrieth a disgrace with it or at least subjects the person afflicted to disgrace And it hath been shewed from severall passages of this booke how Job's afflictions were interpreted to his disgrace and he lookt upon as I may say like a vagabond in the stocks that God had brought him thither and clapt him by the heeles for his misdemeanours Though afflictions diminish no mans honour or esteeme with God or with his people an afflicted Saint is as precious and honorable in their eyes as when in the greatest prosperity The clouds of trouble cannot ecclipse the glory of Grace nor render the gracious contemptible to those who know them such yet as to the eye and opinion of worldly men they doe Job sayd his afflictions were a witness against him as if all were not right with him yea as if he had been very unrighteous The stocks are a witness against a man that surely he hath done some ill thing Thus you see there is paine in affliction restraint in affliction disgrace in affliction especially in the opinion of the world and therefore to be in affliction is to be as in the stocks He putteth my feet in the stocks He marketh all my paths Which some expound as if when the Lord had let him out of the stocks yet he was but like a prisoner with his keeper at his heels He marketh all my paths I have spoken to this also before I shall now only Note There is no stepping out of the eye or sight of God He markes all our paths not only our open paths but our secret paths not only what paths our feet walke in but paths our hearts walke in He marketh what our thoughts are what our scope is what our aymes and ends are He marketh not only our day-paths but our night-paths He watcheth all our paths Take this Caution from it As the Lord marks all our paths so it will be our wisdome to mark our owne paths If the Lords eye be so strict over all our wayes shall we be carelesse of our wayes If he look upon our walkings shall not we look to our walkings There are many arguments from love from returns of thankfulness for received benefits which should provoke the people of God to heed and marke their own wayes but surely this ought to be a very cogent argument because God marks them He marketh all our paths Therefore as the Apostle gives counsel and admonition Eph 5.15 See that ye walke circumspectly not as fooles but as wise What our wisdome is yea whether we have any wisdome whether we are wise or fooles will be seene by our walkings Some can talke and discourse very wisely who yet walke very foolishly and whose whole course is folly So much for the opening of this charge brought by Elihu against Job his over-justifying of himselfe and his reflecting upon the goodnesse and love of God Elihu proceeds yet further to deale with and refute him as also to answer for God Behold in this thou art not just c. This I charge thee with and will prove it thou hast spoken sinfully and unbecommingly of God and of thy selfe in all this JOB Chap. 33. Vers 12 13. Behold in this thou art not just I will answer thee That God is greater then man Why dost thou strive against him for he giveth not account of any of his matters IN these two verses Elihu gives the first part of his answer wherein we may take notice of these five things First He tells Job that he had erred and was mistaken Behold in this thou art not just Secondly He sheweth him wherein he had been mistaken or what his error was In this thou art not just or Behold this thou are not just in it Thirdly Elihu lays downe the generall ground upon which he intended to convince Job of his error and mistake The greatnesse of God I will answer thee that God is greater then man Fourthly from that ground he drawes out a check or reproofe in the beginning of the 13th verse Why dost thou strive against him Fifthly and lastly He gives a reason of that reproofe which ariseth also out of the former ground the unquestionable Soveraignty of God For he giveth not account of any of his matters Vers 12. Behold in this thou art not just Behold he calls for serious attention and diligent consideration Behold This so the Hebrew rendred strictly we render Behold in this thou art not just What is this what 's the antecedent to this we may assigne the antecedent in three things or make it three-fold according to what Elihu hath layd downe before in way of charge against Job in the former Context First This that thou hast boasted thy selfe so much of thy innocency and integrity Vers 8th Thou hast spoken in my hearing and I have heard the voyce of thy words saying I am cleane without transgression c. Behold in this thou art not just Secondly In this That is in that thou hast complained so much of the severity of Gods dealings and proceedings with thee 10. 11. Behold he findeth occasion against me and accounteth me for his enemy He putteth my feet in the stocks he marketh all my paths Behold in this thou art not just
their pardon of God who is great in mercy David made the greatnesse of his sin his argument to move the Lord to pardon it Psal 25.11 Pardon my sin for it is great who could speak thus unlesse he had that upon his heart that he spake to the great God who is greater in nothing and hath magnified his greatnesse in nothing more then in acts of mercy to Greatest sinners Thirdly If God be a great God then he must have great services and duties He must have great praise Psal 48.1 great is the Lord and greatly to be praised he must have great love we must love him even with all our heart and with all our might He must have great feare Psal 89.7 Great faith Math 15.28 Great honour from all his people When David was about to make great preparations for the building of the Temple he saith 1 Chron 29.11 Thine O Lord is greatnesse and the power and the glory c. And when Solomon was about to build the Temple he saith 2 Chron 2.5 The house which I build is great for great is our God above all Gods We see David prepared and Solomon builded in proportion to the God for whom the one prepared and the other built a house Thus I may say of all you doe for God or to God let it be the greatest your stocke and ability can reach to because he is a great God The Lord himselfe useth that argument by the Prophet to urge his people to doe their utmost in whatsoever they were called to doe Mal 1.14 Cursed be the deceiver which hath a male in his flocke and voweth and sacrificeth to the Lord a corrupt thing that is who when he is able to performe a greater service to the Lord puts him off with a lesser one for I am a great King saith the Lord of hosts c. Therefore take heed of putting me off with weake female services I expect a male your best that service which is most spirituall and masculine Fourthly If God be great then they who are but little themselves having an interest in God may doe great things too The least creature having an interest in the great God is as great yea infinitely greater then the greatest in the world who stand in their owne strength Moses saith Deut 4.38 Deut 7.1 that the presenâ—e of God with Israel was such that by it they overcame Nations greater and mightier then they their littlenesse did not hinder them because the great God was with them in their workes and wayes yea God loves to use small instruments that his owne greatnesse who is the efficient may appeare That question which was twice put in the Prophet Amos 7.2 5. is very often put in that case By whom shall Jacob arise for he is small That which made it so questionable whether Jacob should rise was his smallness And could we remember the Greatness of the God of Jacob we should either never make such questions or easily answer them Fifthly Seeing God is great we should be alwayes ascribing greatnesse to God we should lift him up in his greatnesse Thus Moses exhorted others Deut 32.3 Because I will publish the name of the Lord ascribe ye greatnesse to our God And David at once prophecieth the same of others and promiseth it for himselfe Psal 145.6 Men shall speake of the might of thy terrible Acts and I will declare thy greatnesse Againe Consider these words as they are expressed comparatively God is greater then man As God is great so greater then the greatest men God is great above all Gods that is above all the Kings and Princes of the earth Now I know sayd Jethro Exod 18.11 that God is greater then all Gods greater then Rharoah and his Egyptian Princes for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them David challenged all the Gods on Gods behalfe Psal 77.13 Who is so great a God as our God Let any man name him if he can He is a God above all Gods that is above the greatest powers in this world who are called Gods Thus Christ comforts believers with an assurance of safety for ever John 10.29 My father is greater then all then the devill and all But some may say who knoweth not this that God is Great or that he is greater then men or devills Job himselfe spake much of this subject yea his friends made it their businesse to exalt the greatnesse of God as we may see in severall passages of this Booke So that Elihu seemeth to say no more here then had been sayd already and doth no more then hath been done already Is not this then a cold way of arguing to tell Job that which he knew already For answer to this I shall stay a while as was promised before I goe off from these words to shew why though for the matter this is no more then hath been sayd already that yet Elihu had reason to bring this argument for the conviction of Job that God is greater then man for though the Greatnesse of God hath been often spoken of in the course of this disputation between Job and his friends yet neither Job nor his friends did handle or improve it to that poynt or in that extent as here intended by Elihu as may appeare by these following Considerations First When Elihu spake of the greatnesse of God we are not to understand this greatnesse abstractly or alone but concreetely or in conjunction with his goodnesse and righteousnesse with his mercy and faithfulnesse c. Job confessed the greatnesse of God but he seemed to intimate severall things to the disparagement of the goodnesse mercy and righteousnesse of God For though in his frequent complainings he did not question yet he did much darken and obscure these Divine perfections And therefore Elihu speaking of the Greatnesse of God urgeth it in conjunction with all his perfections and indeed they cannot be dis-joyned except in notion or discourse Secondly Elihu insisted so much upon the greatnesse of God to humble Job and to convince him that he had done amisse in his bold appeales to him and complaints about his dealing with him Elihu doth wisely to hold out the greatnesse and soveraignty of God for the keeping downe and repression of his yet unhumbled spirit Thirdly Elihu mannageth this argument for another end and purpose then his friends did They used it to prove Job was wicked or had done wickedly in the former passages of his life He to shew that Job ought to be patient under and quietly submit to the present providences of God Fourthly This argument which Elihu brings from the greatnesse of God hath not at all the lesse force in it because grounded upon so common and generally received a principle the greatnesse of God yea it hath therefore the greater force in it for what is more unreasonable then for man to intimate any thing which reflects upon God or to complaine of what God doth when as God by the
common consent of all reasonable men doth infinitely surpasse all men both in greatnesse and in righteousnesse both in Justice and in goodnesse When the greatnesse of God appeares in all these things what can be more unreasonable then for man to insinuate any thing complainingly concerning God From the consideration of this scope which Elihu had in arguing from the greatnesse of God Note We may speake and believe aright that God is great and that he is greater then man and yet not answer it in our practise nor be duly affected with it Elihu did not at all question whether Job thought God greater then himselfe that was not the poynt in controversie but he saw this principle was not answered in Jobs practise or that he did not demeane himselfe sutably to the Greatnesse of God which he had proclaimed to others and professed himselfe to believe And thus it is with many most of all with those under great temptations and pressing afflictions How apt are they to speake and act below yea beside those principles which they believe and hold forth in their profession It is an easie matter to say and in words to acknowledge what God hath revealed himselfe to be but O how hard is it to live and walke up to such sayings and acknowledgements Many tell us God is greater then man yet while they doe not fully subject themselves to God they in effect deny that God is greater then man Many acknowledge fully that God is righteous yet when they rest not in his dealings with them they imply some unrighteousnesse in God Many say God is wise only wise yet while they will be their owne carvers and are unsatisfied with Gods allowances and providences they make themselves wiser then God or at least imagine things might be ordered with Greater wisdome then they are Many say God is great in mercy greater infinitely then man yet when they should act faith about the pardon of their sins they act it as if God had but the mercy of a man or as if his thoughts were as our thoughts and his wayes in dispencing favours like our wayes and so they bring God downe to their owne size and scantlings If these had been asked the question whether God hath not greater mercy then man they would have answered doubtlesse he hath and yet they are no more in believing then if the mercy of God were of the same measure with the mercies of narrow-hearted man Thus we modle the Great God and our Idea's or apprehensions of him according to what we see in our selves not according to what he is and hath said of himselfe And what are our rightest notions of God but hoverings in the ayre till we bring them downe into practise or live up to them till every thing we doe be an exposition of what we speake and believe of God And when we believe indeed that God is greater then man we make our selves just nothing before God if we are any thing to our selves or glory in any thing of our owne be it little or great before God we do not give God the glory of his greatnesse The Lord speaking of his owne greatnesse by the Prophet saith All nations are but as the drop of the bucket to him yea they are as a little thing as nothing lesse then nothing if therefore you make not every thing little yea nothing before God you detract from the glory of his greatnesse Againe they only acknowledge God in his greatnesse who both agree to all he doth as just and receive it as good yea as best how bad soever it be to nature or bitter to their sence Once more they only acknowledge God fully in his greatnesse who though God changeth and varieth his dispensations every day with them though he empty them never so often from vessell to vessell yet sit downe and say God is unchangeable to them It is because the Lord changeth not that we are not consumed Mal 3.6 therefore what changes soever his people meete with his heart and thoughts towards them are not changed Secondly Note The very reason why we doe not stoop to God in silence why we doe not suffer him quietly to doe with us and dispose of us how he will is because we doe not lay to heart as we ought the greatnesse of God Did we remember that the great God is great in goodnesse and great in wisdome as well as great in power in a word did we when we say God is great and greater then any man know what we say it would presently stop our mouthes and for ever silence all our discontents complainings whether in reference to our personall or the publick concernments We may pray that God would remove any affliction or evill that is upon us to doe is so not only our liberty but our duty but we may not complaine of any affliction as an evill to us nor would we ever make such a complaint if our hearts were taken up with this thought that God is great in Goodnesse Why doe we say at any time Surely we have suffered enough or too much already Why doe we demand so curiously wherefore God should use such severity against us What is the reason of all this even this we doe not consider enough of his greatnesse All our inward troubles at our outward troubles arise from this because we doe not enough believe or not remember who God is We by our ignorance and unbeliefe divest God as much as in us lyeth of his great goodnesse and wisdome when we feare especially when we conclude things are not ordered for our good And though every man is ready to say he loathes yea trembles at such thoughts yet we may lodge many such guests befoâ—e we are aware Whensoever we are over-grieved at any affliction our owne or others or would without much free submiâ—sion to the will of God have things goe otherwise then they doe we upon the matter make our selves greater and wiser then God And though this be farre from our purpose yet we cannot avoyd the imputation of it That which is not as some distinguiâ—h the aime scope and intendment of the speaker or actor may yet be the aime and scope of his action worke or speech no doubt Job was very farre from the least thought of diminishing much more of denying the greatnesse of God either in his power wisdome or goodnesse yea as was granted before he spake very highly of him in all these his glorious and divine perfections It was not his end when he spake so impatiently and complainingly Finis operis licet non operantis to rob God of that honour of his greatnesse yet Elihu did him no wrong when he sayd his impatience and complainings did it And if any shall be found complaining like Job though they doe not formally deny that God is greater rhen man yet that interpretation and construction may justly be put upon their complaints But some may here object and
with the speare even to the earth at once and I will not smite him the second time Once smiting is there opposed to smiting more then once As if he had sayd I will pay him home or dispatch him at once there will be no need to fetch another blow Thus when the Apostle had sayd in the Epistle to the Hebrews Chap 9.27 It is appointed unto men once to dye and after this the judgement presently he addeth So Christ was once offered to beare the sins of many there also once is opposed to twice or a second time excluding all repetition of the sacrifice of Christ As 't is sayd Heb 10.10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all And therefore the same Apostle in the same Chapter v. 26. terrifieth Apostates with this dreadfull doome If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins that is neither will Christ give up himselfe to be a sacrifice againe for such as have after light received about it and some seeming closings with it cast off that his sacrifice nor can any other sacrifice be given In this sence also sometimes God speakes once He speakes once and will speake no more once and not a second time though we have a twice here in the text yet I say in some cases and unto some persons God speaketh once and will not speake againe Whence take this observation or Admonition rather It is dangerous refusing the first call the first Word of God Possibly you may never heare more of him or from him once may be all God may speak in thy case not only once that is firmly and certainly not only once that is sufficiently but once that is exclusively once and no more for ever That moving caution of the Apostle is grounded upon such a sad possibillity as this Heb. 3.7 Wherefore as the holy Ghost saith to day if ye will heare his voyce harden not your hearts and again vers 13. Exhort one another dayly while it is called to day lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfullnesse of sin As if it had been said heare to day hear this hour of the day for you know not first whether there will be a morrow or another day for you secondly if you have a morrow yet you know not whether you shall have a word to morrow both time and season dayes and opportunities are in the hand of God and he that neglects the season of one day hath no assurance of another day much lesse of a season with the day Wh◠knows whether the cock shall crow twice or no possibly the cock may crow but once in what a condition had Peter been if it had been so with him for after he had as Christ notwithstanding all his confidence to the contrary told him Mark 14.30 denyed his Master thrice he never called to mind the words of Christ nor had any thought of humbling himself for what he had done till as 't is said vers 72. The second time the Cock crew Every one hath not a promise as Peter equivalently had that the cock shall crow twice or that God will affoard him meanes a second time to awaken him out of his sin That which the Lord spake of affliction to shew the fullnesse of it may also be fullfilled concerning his warnings and admonitions Nahum 1.9 I will make an utter end affliction shall not rise up the second time We should hear at first speaking lest it should prove that when the Lord hath spoken once he should make an utter end and say instruction and admonition shall not rise up a second time And to be sure as Abraham after he had interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah severall times said at last Gen. 18.32 O let not the Lord he angry and I will speak yet but this once So the Lord when he hath spoken oft to sinners and is not heard growes so angry that he comes at last and saith I will speak yet but this once God will at last come to his but once more to all men and with some he is at his once at first and no more for ever There is a time when every man shall hear his last word and God will speak but that once and somtimes it is but once in all that God will speak Therefore take heed it is dangerous deferrings if God speaks once if he call knock once it is our sin folly too that we doe not hearken to and open at his first call and knock though the Lord doth I grant usually and mostly exercise much patience towards sinners calling and knocking once and againe as it followeth in the text He speaketh once Tea twice or a second time Severall of the Jewish writers interpret this twice of the two sorts or wayes of divine revelation which are spoken of in the following parts of this context God speaks to man by visions and dreams and God speaks to man by diseases and sicknesses as we shall see afterward But I rather take it more generally not only as to the divers manner and distinct wayes of his speaking but as to the divers times or reiteration of his speaking he speaketh once yea twice As he speaks severall wayes so severall times twice or thrice possibly in the same way twice by visions twice by dreams twice by sicknesses and often by his Ministers He speaketh once In ditabus et sc vicibus i. e. bis quod uno verbo dicunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aut secundo i. e. iterum semel iterumque loquitur deus una admonitione non semper contentus Drus Yea twice I shall consider this twice three wayes and give a brief note from each First consider twice as to number twice strictly taken is more then once One is no number but two is Hence note God is so gracious that he speaks once and againe once and a second time to sinners Who is there among us that hath not had experience of Gods speaking to him more then once And that not only with respect to the various wayes of speaking but with respect to various times of speaking He speakes more then once by his word more then once by his workes whether of judgment or of mercy Some sinners are consumed in a moment or at once as it is said of Corah Dathan and Abiram with their confederates Numb 16.21 others dye of a lingring consumption God waiteth to be gracious and therefore he rarely speaketh his all or striketh his all at once He gives precept upon precept line upon line he sends sorrow upon sorrow crosse upon crosse that sinners may at last remember themselves returne and live Secondly As twice notes a number so it may be considered as a small number yea as the smallest number twice or two is the first number the first step into number They that doe a thing more then once
cannot do it lesse then twice nor can that number which is more then one be lesse then two When the woman in the book of Kings told the Prophet 1 Kings 17.12 I am going to gather two sticks Her meaning was a very few sticks onlye now to make a little fire to bake a Cake with And when the Spirit of God would shew how few comparatively to the rout of the World they are and will be that bear witnesse to the truths of Jesus Christ he calleth them two Witnesses Rev. 11.3 they are a number yet exprest by the lest number that we should not have our eyes upon the multitude or think that is not the truth which is not followed by great numbers or the most of the World The traine of Christ is not large nor are his wayes throng'd few there be that find them As they whom he calls forth to be eminently his witnesses are not many therefore called two so they that receive their witnesse are not many The world wonders after the beast Thus as two or twice imply a small number so in Scripture language that which is done more then twice is supposed done often or many times 2 Kings 6.10 When the Prophet had told the King of Israel where the forces of the King of Assyria would come and by that meanes defeated him of his purpose it is said And the King of Israel sent unto the place which the man of God told him and warned him of and saved himself there not once nor twice that is many times which made the King of Syria wonder how it came to passe that he was so often defeated he thought he had laid his plots so wisely and closely that the King of Israel could not escape but he saved himself not once nor twice more then twice is many but bare twice is the narrowest compasse of number imaginable Hence note God hath not given us any ground to presume upon frequent warnings or speakings Though he speake more then once yet it may be but twice possibly but twice precisely probably but twice restrainedly taken The Lord would not have us build upon the hope of future speakings to the neglect of what is presently spoken Though God be very patient and long-suffering to sinfull men yet he hath not given any man the least occasion no not by a promise of speaking a second day to continue one day much lesse to continue long in sin When God spake as I may say at the largest rate of his patience to sinners he sayd Gen. 6.3 My spirit shall not alwayes strive with man not alwayes that is though it strive long yet it shall not strive very long and that he may know it I will give him a day yet his dayes shall be an hundred and twenty yeares This was somewhat a long day indeed But remember this hundred and twenty yeares was all the time that was granted to all the men of that world there was not so much granted to every particular man of that world possibly the Spirit of God did not strive a day longer with many a one among them Therefore take heed of presuming When the Lord speaketh once doe not say I will stay till he speakes a second time and if he condescend to speake twice doe not believe that he will alwayes speake Thirdly Twice may be considered as a small certaine number put for a small uncertaine number 'T is frequent in Scripture to put a certaine number of any kinde for an uncertaine Sometimes a certaine great number for an uncertaine great number and sometimes a small certaine number for a small uncertaine number As twice is not to be tyed up strictly to the smallest number so not to any number whether small or great Hence note No man knows how oft he shall be warned or spoken unto by God God doth not put an absolute stint upon any of his actions Beware of neglecting the least twice the first twice which is the lowest twice for though we cannot binde God up strictly to twice it may prove three times or foure times yet whether it shall be so many or how many it shall be no man nor Angel knoweth Twice cannot be very often and 't is uncertaine how often Therefore if you hearken not when God hath spoken once take it strictly doe not stop your eares at the second speaking It is sayd Moses smote the rock twice that was twice beyond his Commission for he should not have smitten it at all and the mater came out aboundantly How many rocks that is hard hearts hath God smitten by his word and his workes twice and yet we see not the waters of Godly sorrow flowing out the rocks are smitten more then twice with the rod of God with the rod of his mouth in the ministery of his word they are smitten with admonition upon admonition with reproofe upon reproofe with threatning upon threatning and yet the waters came not out aboundantly yea scarce at all May not they feare that they shall have poenall sorrow upon sorrow Paul tooke notice of the goodnesse of God to him that he did not let him have afflictive sorrow upon sorrow Phil 2.27 but I say may not they feare they shall have poenall sorrow upon sorrow that is everlasting floods of sorrow who after the Lords speaking upon speaking and reproving upon reproving give no proofe of their godly pâ—enitentiall sorrow O how angry was the Lord with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel which had appeared to him twice 1 Kings 11.9 God appeared to him in Gibeon 1 Kings 3.5 when he was first made King putting him to his choice or giving him a blanke to aske what he would and he chose well he chose wisdome and had it God appeared to him a second time after the building and dedication of the Temple 1 Kings 9.2 And said unto him I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication that thou hast made before me c. Thus the Lord appeared solemnly unto Solomon twice and but twice for any thing that appeares upon record in that solemne manner Now when notwithstanding these two appearings of the Lord to Solomon the heart of Solomon was turned away from the Lord God of Israel his anger was kindled against Solomon and the Lord smote him once yea twice renting his kingdome and pulling away ten tribes at once from his son and successor O doe not refuse God speaking to you twice or the renewed speaking of God to doe so is very sinfull and therefore very dangerous For as 't is a signe of a holy heart of a gracious frame of spirit to heare twice at once speaking as David professed he did Psal 62.11 God hath spoken once twice have I heard this that power belongeth unto God also unto thee O Lord belongeth mercy There are severall rendrings and interpretations of those words But that which to me seemes most intended by our rendring is I heard what was once spoken
twice at once that is I heard it speedily and I heard it believingly as soon as ever the word came to me I received it and I received it not only with my eare but with my heart That 's a blessed way of hearing and they who heare so at first speaking may well be sayd to heare that twice which God speaketh once But how sad is it that God should speake twice thrice yea foure times and yet not be heard so much as once When Job was brought upon his knees Chap 40.5 he said Once have I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no further Job began to be sensible of that which Elihu was working him to that he had been too forward yea too forward with God Job began to see his error and recanted it I have spoken once yea twice but I will proceed no further 'T is good that after once or twice sinning or failing we yet say we will proceed no further O how deplorable is mans condition when the Lord shall say I have spoken once yea twice but now I will proceed no further I will speake no more And this usually comes to passe when men are dull and slow of heart to understand what he speaketh which as naturall men alwayes so godly men often are as it followeth in this text He speaketh once yea twice Yet man perceiveth it not That is apprehendeth not sometimes that God is speaking to him and he seldome understandeth what God is speaking to him There is a little varietie in the exposition of this latter clause of the verse The word man not being expressely in the Hebrew and therefore we finde it put by our translaters in a distinct character the text runs only thus God speaketh once yea twice he perceiveth it not This hath occasion'd the vulgar latine interpreter to referre this last clause of the verse to God also giving out the sence thus God speaketh once and a second time he doth not repeate it Semel loquitur deus et secundò id ipsum non repetit Vulg. As if here were a warning given that all should attend the very first motion of Gods voyce to them For he speaketh once and doth not repeate the same But I shall not stay upon that because I see not how the Hebrew word by us rendred to perceive can with any tolerable significancy be rendred to repeate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice intendit oculos prosperit animadvertis viderit Semel loquitur deus et secundo illud non considerat Scult yet there is a second rendring of the text in the same tenour giving a genuine sence of that word which is very profitable and proper enough to the scope of the place God speaketh once and he doth not consider upon it a second time That is when God speaks or decrees to give forth any thing he doth not take it into consideration againe or review and bring it about upon second thoughts as men often doe yea it is their duty though it be a duty arising from their frailty so to doe Men ought to consider often and review their owne words as well as their works But saith Elihu according to this reading God speaks once and doth not consider of it againe for he hath the measure and compasse of all things so fully in himselfe that he needs not turne backe his thoughts upon any of his determinations as if there could be a mistake or any error in them This is a very glorious truth highly advancing the name of God above every name among the best of the children of men And it ariseth clearely from the text leaving out the suppliment which we make of the word man Yet according to the opinion of the most and best expositers yea according to the clearest scope and tendency of the text that word man is rather to be supplyed God speaketh once yea twice And man perceiveth it not 'T is common in Scripture to leave such words unexpressed as must necessarily be understood And therefore I shall only insist upon our owne translation Yet before I proceed to that I shall touch upon another reading of these words as referring unto man which doth not so much carry a reproofe of mans dullnesse as a commendation of Gods goodnesse thus God speaks once yea twice Loquitur deus semel et duabus vicibus ad eum qui non consideravit eam Pisc if man perceiveth it not As if he had sayd If man be so weake and darke so dull and slow of apprehension as not to perceive Gods minde at his first speaking yet God is usually so gracious and condescending as to speake twice or a second time even to that man This reading doth exceedingly exalt and set forth the goodnesse and graciousnesse of God and we have frequent experience of it that when God speakes once and findes creatures dull of hearing he speakes a second time Our reading gives in these words as a charge of mans darknesse and slownesse to apprehend the meaning of God speaking to us either in his word or works God speakes once yea twice Yet man perceiveth it not The Hebrew is man seeth it not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non viderit illud sc homo quod deus loquitur Verbo hoc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Elihu utitur sexies Job ter Zophar semel Videtur isto verbo diligens et clara significari speculatio et observatio curiosa Coc. There is an eye in the understanding the mind of man heholdeth the sence of words even as his bodily eye beholdeth the colours and dimensions of any materiall object Yet the eye of mans mind is so bleared and dim-sighted that though God speak once yea twice he seeth he perceiveth it not That is he doth not clearly perceive it Elihu makes use of this word six times Job thrice Zophar once in all which places they intend an exact observation and through speculation of the matter which they treate upon either in the affirmative or in the negative here as a rebuke to man Elihu makes use of it in the negative man perceiveth it not Hence note Man of himself cannot perceive the mind of God in spirituall speakings or God speakâ—ng about spirituall things The propheticall Sermons are called visions The vision of Isaiah the son of Amos which he saw Isa 1.1 yet when they preached them to the people many of them saw nothing their visions were to the people as parables or darke sayings Man in generall falls under a twofold consideration first as unconverted or carnall and in that state he perceiveth not at all when God speaks once and twice yea thrice he perceiveth nothing And that proceeds from a double ground First from the naturall pravity of his heart and the blindnesse of his mind Of such the Apostle saith Eph. 4.18 They have their understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindnesse
of their heart And hence he concludes 1 Cor. 2.14 The naturall man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishnesse to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned spirituall objects must have a spirituall eye to see them Secondly this comes to passe sometimes from the judgment of God upon carnall men who as in mercy he causeth the blind to see so in wrath he striketh those that have no mind to see with greater blindnesse and punisheth their former rebellion and obstinacy against the word received with an impotency to perceive it Yea God doth not only leave such in the blindnesse of their mind and dullnesse of their understanding but gives them up to it The Prophet Isaiah was a Gospel Preacher he held out the light clearly yet his hearers were under such a doome that the very light which he held out blinded them so that the more he spake the lesse they perceived Isa 6.10 And he said go and tell this people hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not make the heart of this people fat and make their eares heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their eares and understand with their hearts and convert and be healed This is a dreadfull Scripture The Lord is highly provoked indeed when he judicially shuts up the eyes of men and hardens their hearts against his own messages not that he infuseth any hardness or instilleth any ignorance into them but gives them up to that ignorance hardnesse and darknesse which already possesseth them And then though God speak once or twice or a hundred times they perceive it not They that harden their hearts shall have them hardened by that which is the ordinary meanes to soften and melt them and they that shut their eyes against any truth are in danger of having them shut against all truth even by that means which usually openeth eyes Thus we see that this first sort of men meere carnall men cannot see ot perceive when God speaketh and why it is so Secondly which I conceive rather to be the meaning of Elihu here Man may be considered in his spirituall state That is as converted and renewed in spirit by the mighty working of the Spirit Now to men in this estate God speakes once yea twice and they perceive it not They that are spirituall doe not alwayes perceive spirituall things For First they have much corruption in them Though they are renewed yet they are renewed but in part we see in part and but darkly yea sometimes Saints can hardly see at all especially as to some dispensations and manifestations of God! he may speak once yea twice and thrice to them in such a thing or to such a purpose and they take little or no notice of it He may poynt unto them by such providences and by such Sermons and yet they look upon themselves as un-concerned not making any home-application of what they outwardly hear or see yea feele and smart under and all this by reason of some prevailing corruption Secondly this may proceed from their negligence and slothfullnesse good men are not alwayes carefull as they should much lesse criticall and wisely curious to observe every providence of God and to consider why or for what end such or such a word is sent to them As carnall men thrust the word from them so godly men faile much at all times and at some times wholly neglect to lay the word to heart They doe not compare themselves that is their lives and consciences their thoughts and wayes with the word and then no wonder if they perceive not what is spoken to them Even a Job may be hindred by his own indulgence from perceiving what God saith unto him The Prophet complained of the people of God for not striving to take hold of him Isa 64.7 There is none that calleth upon thy name that stirreth up himself to take hold on thee And may we not complaine that few stirre up themselves either to take hold of the word of God or that the word may take hold of them Paul exhorted Timothy 2 Tim. 1.6 to stir up the Gift of God that was in him They that have received both gifts and grace may be much wanting to themselves in stirring them up Though we deny mans naturall power yet persons converted have a spirituall power which they often neglect to stir up When the servants of Benhadad 1 Kings 20.32 33. came to Ahab upon that message to beg his life it is said The men did dilligently observe whether any thing would come from him that they might take hold of and urge it in favour of their Master and as soon as Ahab had dropt that word he is my Brother as soon as they had that word they did hastily catch it and applyed it for their present purpose So they that are godly should observe what is spoken unto them what corruption is smitten by the word or by the rod of God and as soone as ever such a word is spoken they should take it up and apply it to themselves Thirdly those many lusts that are in the heart of a godly man not yet fully mortified as secret pride self-love and unbelief these hinder him from understanding the mind of God And therefore we are counselled by the Apostle James Chap. 1.21 to lay aside that is to get subdued and mortified all filthinesse and superfluity of naughtinesse and so receive with meekness the engraffed word which is able to save our souls As if he had said we can neither perceive nor receive the word savingly unlesse our lusts are cast out and cast off How much any man neglects this duty of mortifying his lusts by so much is he rendred both unable to perceive the word and unfit to profit by it Lastly Mr. Broughton renders the words thus God speaks once yea twice and man will not mark it We say man perceiveth it not he saith man will not mark it As our reading shews the weakness and imperfections or the negligence and slothfullnesse of man when he doth not perceive what God speaketh so his sheweth the obstinacy of man The will of man is as perverse as his understanding is blind Man hath not only a wound or a weaknesse in his will unto that which is good but he hath a rebellion in his will against that which is good and that not by some occasionall disgust or sudden gust of passion but he is naturally set and resolved against that which is good Man will not mark what God speaketh in his word and works Christ upbraids the Jews Joh. 5.40 Ye will not come unto me that ye may have life he chargeth the fault upon their wills 'T is certaine man hath a will not to come to Christ for life yet that is a forced and farre fetcht inference which some make from it that man hath therefore power and will to come
Sure enough man hath a will not to come he hath not only an inabillity but an enmity and an opposition in his will against Christ he will not come to Christ that he may be saved but would take up his salvation somewhere else he would be his own Saviour or let any one save him rather then be saved by Christ all things considered especially this that he must deny himself and neither be found trusting to his own righteousnesse nor acting any unrighteousnesse if he desires to be saved by Christ And as there is a resistance in the will of man against the true dispensation of Gospell grace so against any other dispensation whereby God speaketh to him The unchanged will of man riseth up against the will of God manifested in his works as much as against his will manifested in his word Isa 26.11 Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see If his hand be lifted up in publick judgments they will not see it if in family or personall judgments and afflictions they will not see it but shut their eyes and hoodwink their own understandings Yea they are oftentimes so wilfully or rather so madly blind that they had rather say it is the hand of blind Fortune then the hand of the Allmighty and All-seeing God Now who is so blind as they that will not see Till this rebellion against the holy will of God with which the will of man is filled be cast out and subdued let him speake once yea twice let him speake by word or works by promises or by threatnings by good or evill yet man will not mark it Thus much in generall of Gods revealing himself to man In the next words we have the distinct wayes set downe by and in which he revealeth himself In a dreame c. JOB Chap. 33. Vers 15 16 17 18. In a dream in a vision of the night when deep sleep falleth upon men in slumberings upon the bed Then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction That he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man He keepeth back his soule from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword ELihu having said in the former verse that God speaketh once yea twice yet man perceiveth it not proceeds to give instance of those severall wayes by which God speaketh to man His first Instance is given v. 15. where he brings in God speaking to man in dreams and visions And as he shews us God speaking in dreams and visions so he sets downe his aymes or ends in doing so and they are three-fold First God aimes at mans instruction v. 16. Then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction The second aime of God in such dispensations is repentance and humiliation v. 17. That he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man The third and last end here exprest why God speaks by dreams and visions is mans salvation v. 18. He keepeth back his soule from the pit and his life from perishing by the sword These are the parts and specialties considerable in this context Vers 15. In a dream in a vision of the might c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pinguis grossus ex vaporibus crassis provenit somnus quem somnia consequunâ—ur The roote of the word rendred a dreame signifieth that which is thick grosse or fat and by a metaphor a dreame because dreams are naturally caused by gross and thick vapours arising from the stomack fuming up into the head Sleep is caused immediately by vapours and dreams are our work in sleep A dream is an Imagination which the minde frames and formes or which is formed and framed in the minde while we sleepe or A dream is the worke of the soule while the body is asleep Sleepe is the binding up of the outward sences hearing seeing feeling c. yet then the inward sences phantasie and memory are at liberty and free to worke The phantasie is very quick and nimble when the body lieth as a logge and stirres not The phantasie as we say builds Castles in the ayre and makes strange Chimera's in the braine by day much more by night In Dreams there is an image of things or persons represented to us When Pharoah dreamed he saw seven leane kine and seven thin ears as also seven fat kine and seven full ears of corne Jacob saw a ladder in his dreame reaching up to heaven and the Angels of God ascending and descending Joseph saw his brethrens sheaves doing obeysance to his sheafe he saw also the Sun and Moone and eleven Starrs doing obeysance to him Nebuchadnezzar dreaming saw an Image with the head of gold with shoulders and breast of silver with belly and thighs of brass and leggs of Iron c. These dreamers had images as clearely represented to their mindes as any thing can be to the most waking and wakefull eye of the body And though in many dreams there are no such formall similitudes presented to the mind but only a voyce heard speaking yet nothing can be declared to us in a dreame without forming in our mind some kind of likenesse When it is sayd that God came to Abimelech Gen 20. and to Laban Gen 31. and an Angel of the Lord to Joseph Math 1. speaking to them in dreames they had such things exhibited to and impressed upon them as gave the former two assurance that God spake to them and the third that he was spoken to by an Angel of God Further We may distinguish of dreames First some are meere naturall dreames and they arise foure wayes First from the temperature of the body Melancholly and flegmaticke persons have their speciall dreames and so have men of a sanguine and of a cholericke complection The first encline to dreame of sad the second of sottish the third of pleasant things and the last of wrathfull wranglings and contendings Secondly Naturall dreames are caused by the diet or food which we eate speciall meate inclining to speciall thoughts and imaginations Thirdly Meere naturall dreams flow from the buisiness or speciall worke wherein we have been ingaged in the day as Solomon speakes Eccles 5.3 a dreame cometh thorow the multitude of buisiness that is a man dreams at night of what he hath been doing in the day Fourthly Naturall dreames arise from vehement affections to or desires of what we want and would have Thus Isa 29.7 The hungry man dreams he eats and the thirsty man dreams he drinks For being pincht with hunger and parcht with thirst his appetite is not only strong but fierce and violent after meat and drinke These and such like are naturall dreams I call them so because the rise or reason of them is seated in nature and they are such as have no other cause but what is common and naturall to man Nature let alone or left under such outward accidents will produce such dreames Seconldy There are diabolicall dreams the devill knows
how to stirre the humors and worke upon the phantasies of the children of men Satan is skilfull and diligent in solliciting our lusts and corruptions both day and night and they being once sollicited or moved to worke cannot but worke in us both sleeping and waking Yea the devill can inspire false doctrines and opinions by dreames as well as provoke to wicked practises Of such dreamers we read Deut 13.1 3. If there be among you a false Prophet or a dreamer of dreames False Prophets had many dreams Jer 23.25 Such were wont to say I have dreamed I have dreamed Because the holy Prophets had their dreams from God the Devill would give his unholy Prophets dreams too which were lies and vanity deceits and errours leading them out of the way of God whether we respect truth of doctrine or purity of worship We may reduce all diabolicall dreames to these two heads They are either First false dreames that is dreames of falshood for he is the father and former of lyes or Secondly they are filthy defiling dreames for he is an uncleane spirit and the feweller of all filthy fires and uncleannesses whether corporall or spirituall Thirdly There are divine dreames so called First because immediately sent by God Secondly because the subject matter of them is divine and heavenly or some manifestation of the holy will of God to man There are five speciall Messages upon which dreames are sent from God First To reprove or admonish Thus God dealt with Abimelech in a dreame that he should not meddle with Sarah Gen 20.3 and with Laban that he should not hurt Jacob nor hinder him in his journey back to his fathers house Gen 31. 24. whereupon Jacob told him God rebuked thee yester night That dream of Pilates wife Math 27.19 was sent to admonish Pilate about giving Judgement against Christ Secondly God sends dreams to instruct and informe There are teaching dreams that of Joseph Math 1.21 was not only to shew him what to doe about Mary his espoused wife but to instruct him about that Great mystery of God manifested in the flesh to save lost man Thirdly Dreams are sent for support and consolation in a time of trouble Gen 28.12 God comforted Jacob by that dream when he was in a desolate condition and assured him of his presence Fourthly Some dreams are sent of God upon a sad message to afflict and terrifie Job bemoaned his sufferings and sorrows by such dreames Chap 7.13 14. When I say my bed shall comfort me my couch shall ease my complaint then thou scarest me with dreames and terrifiest me with visions Fifthly God foresheweth what shall come to passe he reveals his own counsels as to future providences by dreames and visions The seven years of famine were revealed to Pharoah in a dreame And the great things of the Church and of the world too were revealed to Daniel in a dreame and in visions of his head upon his bed Dan 7.1 The message of the dreame in the text was for instruction and admonition as will appeare at the sixteenth verse God speaketh in a dream and further In a vision of the night Some take vision here as a second way of divine revelation And 't is true the Scripture speakes of dreams and visions distinctly Numb 12.6 Others make visions to be only appurtenances to dreams For though there have been visions without dreams yet dreams are seldome if at all without some kind of vision This seemes the intendment of this text In a dream in a vision of the night That is in a dream with a vision of the night as making the vision to be nothing else but either a representation of the matter dreamed of or of the manner wherein it was represented to the dreamer And I conceive that Elihu in this verse is speaking only of one not of two wayes of Gods revealing himselfe to man or rather of one then two Yet whether we take the vision distinctly from or joyntly with the dream the scope of Elihu in this text is equally answered and fulfilled Further Elihu doth not only report the way of Gods discovering himselfe that is in a dream in a vision but he declares the time or season of these dreams and visions or of these visions in a dream that is the night and the night considered under this division First When deep sleep falleth upon men Secondly When they have their slumberings upon their bed that is as I apprehend at the beginning of the night and break of day for those are the slumbring times of the night or in the middle of the night or midnight for then usually men are fallen into and abide in a deep sleep or as we render Then Deep sleep falleth upon men Some sleeps as we may say are but shallow sleeps slight sleeps in comparison of other Deep sleep is that which we call Dead sleep The word here used by Elihu notes the strongest and the soundest sleep and therefore 't is fitly distinguished from slumberings upon the bed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plus et quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plus est quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aben Ezra There are three words in the Hebrew which signifie sleep whereof the first signifies sleep in generall the second deep sleep the third any slight sleep which we here translate slumbering Ordinary sleeping is more then slumbring and a deep sleep more then ordinary sleep we commonly say such a man is fast asleep he is as it were bound hand and foote Sleep is the binding of the senses and so by consequence the binding of all the members of the body We often finde this distinction in Scripture Psal 132.4 I will not give sleep to mine eyes nor slumber to my eye-lids that is I will not only not give my selfe to fall asleep but I wil not so much as according to our manner of speaking in that matter forget my selfe We find the same distinction Ps 121.4 Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aliquando simplicitèr redditur dormire Graecè est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propriè capite nutante dormire Bold The words are a description of the exact watchfulnesse of God over his people he that doth not so much as slumber he that never lays his eyes together he that doth not only not take a nap as we say but not so much as once nod to so little the Hebrew-word may be drawne downe which is likewise the importance of the Greek-word he I say that doth not so much as nod is farre from sleepe furthest of all from deep sleep In both these degrees of sleep the Lord speakes by Dreames first in deep sleep Secondly in slumbrings Some conceive that Elihu intended by these different words to set forth two sorts of dreams First those dreams which men have when extraordinary deep sleep falls upon them such as that spoken of Gen 2.21 God
commanded a deep sleep to fall on Adam when he tooke the rib out of his side and formed the woman We read also Gen 15.12 that a deep sleep fell on Abraham when God revealed to him what should become of his posterity and how they should be in Egypt and there much oppressed foure hundred yeares c. It is said also 1 Sam 26.12 A deep sleep from the Lord was fallen upon them that is upon Saul and his guards who lay round about him And that might be called a sleep from the Lord both because it was a sleep which the Lord sent and because it was an extream deep sleep Secondly there are dreams in ordinary sleep or in very slumbrings or noddings upon the bed we may call them waking dreames Thus Elihu sheweth God taking severall times or seasons for the revealing of himselfe in dreams sometimes in deep sleep and often in the least and slightest sleeps called slumbrings I shall not here insist upon or discourse the way of Gods manifesting himselfe to the Ancienrs by dreams visions but referre the Reader to what hath already been done upon the 4th Chapter at the 12th and 13th verses where Eliphaz speaks almost in the same manner as Elihu here about visions And indeed there is a very great Consent between their two parts in this booke that of Eliphaz and this of Elihu They were both holy and propheticall men both of them had the same designe in speaking about dreams and visions namely to convince and humble Job and both of them expresse themselves in terms of a very neere Cognation So that if the reader please to consult that place Job 4.12 13. he will find these words farther cleared as to the nature and severall kinds of visions And if he turne to what hath been done upon the 14th verse of the 7th Chapter he may find the doctrine of dreams further opened Only let me adde here a note or two First It hath been the use of God to reveale his mind by dreams And I may give you five reasons why God used to apply himself to man in dreams First because in sleep man is as I may say at best leisure for God to deal with him he is not distracted with businesse nor hurried with the labours of this life but is at rest Secondly when we are awake we are very ready to debate and discusse what we receive by our own reason we are ready to Logick it with God but in sleep we take things barely as offered without discussions or disputes Thirdly in sleepe when all is quiet that which God represents takes and leaves a deeper impression upon the mind of man Common experience teacheth us how dreams stick and how those apprehensions which we have in our sleep dwell abide with us when awake Fourthly I conceive the Lord doth this chiefly that he may shew his divine skill in teaching instructing man or that he hath a peculiar art in teaching he teaches so as none of the masters of learning were ever able to teach and instruct their Schollars There was never any man could teach another when he was asleep they that are taught must at lest be awake yea they must not only be awake but watchfull but now God is such a teacher such an instructor that when we are asleep he can convay instruction and teach us his lessons this I say doth wonderfully magnifie the divine skill and power of God who is able to make us heare and understand doctrine even when we are asleep and cannot heare There may be also a fifth consideration moving God to this Possibly God would hereby assure us that the soul is a distinct essence and hath its distinct operations from the body and that even death it self cannot deprive the soul of man of its working For what is sleep but a kind of death sleep is a short death and death is along sleepe Now when the body is upon the matter laid aside the soul can goe to work when the body lyes like a block and stirs not the soul can bestir it self about many matters and run its thoughts to the utmost ends of the earth yea and raise them up to the highest heavens in blessed intercourses with God himself There 's no need to prove the matter of fact that 't is so what night with reference to some or other doth not utter this poynt of knowledg nor need I stay to prove that this is if not a demonstrative yet a very probable argument of the distinct substantiallity of the soul from the body namely its operations when the body with all its proper and peculiar faculties and powers is a sleepe and contributes nothing to those operations For though it be granted that some irrationall creatures who have no immortall part nor any thing substantiall in them distinct from their bodies though it be granted I say that these may have dreames yet their dreams differ as much from those of men as themselves doe Secondly Note The revelation of the mind of God by dreams and visions was much yea most used in those ancient times When God had not so fully revealed his mind by Scripture or his mind in the Scripture then he spake often in dreams and visions and hence the old Prophets were called seers The Apostle reports God speaking at sundry times and in divers manners in times past unto the fathers by the Prophets Heb. 1.1 The Greek text hath two very significant words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the former most properly implying how God gave out his mind in divers measures or how he parcelled it out the other implying the severall wayes in which he gave it out As the measures were various sometimes more sometimes lesse of his mind about divine matters and mysteries being dispersed so the wayes manners and formes of this dispensation were very various yet the most usuall way was by dreams and visions Numb 12.6 If there be a Prophet among you saith the Lord I the Lord will make my self known unto him in a vision and speak to him in a dreame Yea we find that in the first dayes of the Gospel dreames and visions were frequent The Apostle falling into a trance had a vision Acts 10.10 He saw heaven opened and a certain vessell descend c. And when Christ would have the Apostle Paul carry the Gospell into Macedonia a vision appeared to him in the night Acts 16.9 There stood a man of Macedonia and prayed him saying come over to Macedonia and help us The same Apostle saith 2 Cor. 12.1 2. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord whether in the body I cannot tell or out of the body I cannot tell Pauls soul was wrapt up in such high and intimate converses with God that he even forgot how it was with his body or had little to doe with it Which suites well with that description which the Apostle John gave of himself when he had the whole mind of God
concerning the state of his Church to the end of the world revealed to him in severall visions I saith he Rev. 1.10 was in the spirit on the Lords day c. That 's is a famous promise which was first reported by the Prophet Joel Chap 2.28 and after repeated by the Apostle Peter Acts 2.17 I will poure out my Spirit upon all flesh c. and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams Thus it is every where clear in Scripture that dreames and visions were frequent both in the Old Testament times and in the beginning of the New But now in these last dayes as the Apostle saith Heb. 1.2 3. passing from those former wayes of Revelation described in the first verse God having spoken to us by his Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the Worlds who is also the brightnesse of his glory and the expresse Image of his person God I say having spoken to us by his Son and we having now a clearer manifestation of the mind of God then the old fathers had the Son who once spake to us in person on earth still speaking to us in the Gospell every day therefore now for any to look after dreams and visions or visible apparitions for the revealing of the mind of God is to goe backward to the old state of the Jewish Church or to the infancy of the Gospell Church while the Canon or Rule of the Scripture as to all matters of faith and holy life was not fully finished and compleated And though we ought to be farre from limiting God yet he hath limited us from looking after any wisdome in the knowledge of his will above that which is written 1 Cor. 4.6 The Apostle also testifying by the Spirit of God that the Scripture is sufficient to make every man wise to salvation and the man of God perfect throughly furnished unto all good works that good work especially of helping others to salvation 1 Tim. 3.15.17 Ardentibus votu precatus sum ut daret mihi deus certuÌ„ sensum scripturae et pactum feci cum domino deo meo ne mihi visiones vel somnia mitteret Luth. loci com quartae clasâ—is Luther observing how many were deluded in his time by dreames and visions which they falsely attributed to God as the immediate Author of them earnestly prayed about two things First that God would give him a sound understanding of his mind revealed in the Scriptures Secondly that he would nor send him dreames or visions yea saith he I even contracted with God that he would not And doubtlesse he did this upon a double ground First to oppose the wild opinions and practices of those who had nothing to pretend for them but dreames and visions Secondly to advance the honour of the written word in its sufficiency not only without the help of any humane tradition but without any further divine revelation And therefore though God should please to speak to us now by dreames and visions yet that were only as the Apostle speaks about his adding of an oath to his promise Heb. 6.17 to shew that he is ex abundanti more abundantly willing to satisfie our weaknesse by such a condiscention then that there is a necessity of it with respect to any deficiency of the Scriptures fullnesse And hence it is that if men shall professe they have received any thing from God by dreams or visions concerning what is either to be beleeved or done the matter of those dreams must be examined and weighed at the ballance of the Scriptures and is no further to be credited then as 't is found agreeable thereunto It cannot be denyed but that men may make profitable use of their dreames at this day they may see much of themselves when their eyes are shut up by sleepe Evill men may see their lusts at worke in the night and find out what lust is most working and wakefull in them What is said in History of the ancient Persian Kings that they were seldome seen in the day but came to view in the night is true of a mans speciall sin or of that sin which reignes and Kings it in him What ugly apparitions of lust hath many a man in his nightly dreams especially of those filthy lusts which are most proper to the night Thus also good men have sometimes a clearer sight of their graces in the night by dreames then in the duties of the day What holy frames of heart what lively actings of grace what sweet and ravishing communion with God have many godly men found and felt in dreames That may at lest be somewhat of Davids meaning when he said Psal 16.17 My reines also instruct me in the night season Lastly Though we cannot make any certaine conclusions either what we are or what we are to doe from dreames yet from them they who are wise and watchfull may sometimes gather strong conjectures about both or either To make dreames the rule or warrant of what we doe is extreamly dangerous yet that we may have hints what to do in a dreame I nothing doubt nor can there be any danger in it while the matter hinted is consonant to the rule of the word both as that which is lawfull to be done and lawfull for us all circumstances considered to doe Otherwise whatsoever we may think our selves warned or warranted to doe by dreames is but a mock or trick put upon us by the Devill or a deceit of our own foolish selfish hearts Thus we have seene the first way of Gods speaking to men of old by dreames and visions of the night what work God is pleased to make with and in man by such speakings will appeare distinctly in the three following verses Vers 16. Then he openeth the ears of men and sealeth there instruction In this verse Elihu gives us the first of those gracious designes or purposes of God in sending dreams or visions of the night then he openeth the ears of men There is a twofold eare of man first externall that organ of hearing placed in the head Secondly internall that power of hearing seated in the heart God can uncover or open both There are but few who have their outward eare stopt we rarely meet with a deaf man But we every where meete with and speak to those who are internally deafe The Lord openeth this inward eare and he only is able to doe it God opened the heart or internall eare of Lydia to attend to the things which were spoken of Paul Acts 16.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sep. The Septuagint render this place of Job expressely so Then he openeth the mind of men Their translation comes close to the sence though not to the letter of the Originall Quidam hanc loquendi formulam natam esso putant ex hebraeorum consuetudine qui cum antiquis seculis prolixam alerent comam eaque aures operirent si quis
arcanum Further the Hebrew is as we put in the Margin He revealeth or uncovereth the eares of men This revealing or uncovering of the eare say some noteth only private speaking and is a similitude taken from a common custome among men who when they would convey their mind secretly to a friend that stands by put their head near to his eare and take up the brim of his hat or put by his haire if long that they may whisper in his eare Thus in a dreame God whispers and speaks silently unto men This seems to have a sutablenesse with that Chap. 4.12 13. where Eliphaz spake of a thing brought secretly to him or that was whispered or stoln into him But I conceive there is more in this place then the intendment of a secret and private conveyance of the mind of God unto man in a vision or dreame And therefore this opening of the eare imports the removing or taking away of that whatsoever it is which hinders the effectuall hearing or obeying of those messages which God sends to men When God spake in a dream he did more then speak aliquid in illorum aures in susussirare vellet deducebat defluentes copillos et in apertes aures tacito â—â—â—mure aliquid instillabat Sanct Cinthius aurem vellit et admonuit c. Horat. Loquitur et audire facit Aurem revelare vel aperire est insinuare aliquid auribus animisque quod intimis sensibus reponendum sit Clariorem et penetrantiorem insinuationem voluntatis divinae denotat Coc he open'd the ear yea he gave an eare to hear This powerfull work of God upon the heart is elegantly expressed by opening the eare because when the ears are stopt we cannot hear till that which stops them is pluckt out or taken away so that here we have speaking with effect or the cleare and penetrating power of the Spirit of God sweetly and prevailingly insinuating his mind to man God speaks so as he will be heard Hence Observe First The eare of man is naturally stopt against the teachings of God There are many things which stop the eares of man or man hath many eare stoppers I will name seven all which God removes and takes away when he effectually reveals his mind to man First the eare of man is stopt with ignorance that 's a thick vaile or covering upon the eare and keeps out the mind of God till it be removed And Secondly Unbelief is another ear-stopper till the Lord removeth that we cannot hear Thirdly Impenitency or hardnesse of heart stops the eare there are a number of Scriptures I might give for each of these Fourthly the love of any particular sin is an eare-shutter or an eare-stopper and the Lord removes that when he opens the eare Fifthly Prejudices stop the eare prejudices somtimes against the person speaking somtime against the word spoken That man will never hear a word to purpose who hath a prejudice against the person or a prejudice against the word either a prejudice against the man or against the matter Sixthly Pride stops the eare too the proud man will not hearken therefore God humhles and brings down the spirit that the word may be heard Seventhly and lastly the World is a great ear-stopper that locks up the eare against the word the world in the profits of it and the world in the pleasures of it and the world in the cares of it and the world in the fears of it the world by or in every one of these stops the eare and by these the ears of all men naturally are stopped so that they are as it is said Psal 58.4 like the deafe adder that stops her eare and will not hear the voyce of the charmer charme he never so wisely Till all these stoppers are removed and the eare opened there is no receiving of the word Secondly Observe God is able to open and unlock the eare of man Though it hath never so many stopples in it he can pull them out never so many locks upon it though all the seven spoken of and seven more obstruct the ear yet he can open them all and make a free and uncontroulable passage for his word into the remotest and closest chambers of the soul God can speak loud enough not only to make the deafe but the dead hear his voyce Verily verily I say unto you saith Christ Joh. 5.25 the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voyce of the Son of God and they that hear shall live By the dead he means not those who are corporally but spiritually dead that is dead in sins and trespasses and in danger of eternall death for their sins and trespasses even these heard the voyce of the Son of God then speaking personally and heard it afterwards ministerially in the dispensation of the Gospell and that voyce revived them not only by giving them the comfort of that naturall life which they had before but by bringing in a new spirituall life which before they had not Then the internall eare is opened to purpose when those internall or mystically darke graves of sin are opened and the soul comes forth into the light of life Yet more distinctly God may be said to uncover or open the eares of men when he doth these four things First When he makes us not only to heare but to attend not only to heare but to hearken or not only to heare but to give eare Many give the word of God the hearing but they doe not give eare to the word of God Secondly God opens the ear when he makes us not only attend but understand or when he takes the vaile off from our minds The Apostle saith of the Jewes 2 Cor 3.14 The vaile remaineth upon them untaken away to this day in the reading of the old Testament and it doth so still so that as they could not so yet they cannot Looke to the end of that which is abolished that is to Christ who was the end or scope at which the whole Ceremoniall Law now abolished did then ayme When once the eâ—re is divinely opened then the vaile of ignorance and spirituall blindnesse is taken off from the mind both as to that greatest truth and all other necessary truths The opened eare is an understanding eare Thirdly God openeth the eare when he causeth us to believe what we perceive and understand As faith sets the whole soule aworke for God so faith is the great worke of God upon the soule When the eare is opened truth is not only knowne but savingly believed Fourthly This opening of the eare maketh the soule obedient Jesus Christ in that great prophecy of him Psal 40.6 to shew his ready obedience to his fathers command saith Mine eare hast thou opened or digged The eare of Christ was never shut in the least either through ignorance or unbeliefe but he is sayd to have his eare opened only to shew his constant preparedness and readiness for obedience
ears to receive the word and then sealeth instruction upon them The Apostle speaking of some persons converted who were the fruit of his ministry saith Ye are the seale of mine Apostleship 1 Cor 9.2 3. that is ye confirme and ratifie my ministry that it is of God and that God is in it Now as the conversion of sinners and the building up of Saints is the seale of our ministry so the sealing of instruction upon the soule is the conversion of sinners and the edification of Saints When a sinner is converted his instruction is sealed upon him and when a Saint is built up and edified and increaseth in the things of God then instruction is sealed upon him also And untill we thus profit by the word we have the word as I may say without a seale nothing fastens upon us Thus much of the first designe of God in sending dreams and visions in those times it was to open the ears of men and to seale their Instruction This being only a generall benefit aymed at by those meanes we have those which are more speciall set downe in the words which follow Vers 17. That he may withdraw man from his purpose and hide pride from man This 17th verse containes two of those blessed ends or designes of God in revealing himselfe to man by dreams and visions or by visions in a dream of which Elihu spake in the two former verses as then he takes an opportunity to open the ears of men and seale their Instruction to fasten and fix his word upon them to make it stick and stay by them so in all this his purpose is That he may withdraw man from his purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 auferre erit vel mutare in melius The word rendred to withdraw signifies to take off or put away to remove or change for the better Isa 1.16 Put away the evill of your doings that is doe no more evill or as the Lord speakes by another Prophet Jer 44.4 O doe not this abominable thing that I hate we render the word in the other sense Job 27.2 He hath removed my Judgement farre from me There is in man a kind of settledness and resolvedness upon his purpose he will on but saith Elihu the Lord withdrawes him he stretcheth forth his hand and pull's him back He withdraweth Man Adam the earthly man The proper name of the first man is the common name of all men Man is earthly by nature and so are all his naturall purposes To draw an earthly man from that which is earthly is no easie matter only the power of God can doe it He withdraweth man From his purpose The word which we render purpose properly signifies a worke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fecit and so it is translated not only elsewhere but here by severall Interpreters Mr. Broughton is expresse That the earthly man leave off to work and then by work he means an evill work as by purpose an evill purpose The word work set alone usually signifies an evill work as the word wife put alone is taken for a good wife Prov. 8.22 He that findeth a wife findeth good every one that findeth a wife doth not find good there are many bad wives only he that findeth a good wife findeth good Vt a mâ—vâ—aâ— homo opus scâ— suum et animuâ— malum Iun So on the contrary the word worke standing here alone implyeth a bad work And to withdraw man from his work or from his purpose is to withdraw him from his evill work or purpose The Septuagint gives it clearly so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept that he may withdraw man from unrighteousnesse And Mr. Broughton glossing his own translation saith that he leave off mans work and do the work of God Againe This terme work seemes opposed to the thought or concupiscence of the inner man he withdraweth man from his work that his hand may not effect what his heart hath contrived that the bitter root may not bring forth evill and bitter fruit Or if we follow our translation the sence will be the same He withdraweth man from his purpose that is he checks and stops the inward motions and workings of mans heart and so keeps him from bringing it to perfection by an outward evill work Jam. 1.15 Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished brings forth death God in great mercy takes man off from his purpose when he finds him upon an evill device or purpose he crusheth the Cockatrice's egge that it may not be hatched and destroyeth the conception of those Babylonish brats that they may never come to the birth Mic. 2.1 Woe to them that devise mischief on their beds when the morning is light they practice it because it is in the power of their hand The work begins at the heart there 't is plotted and contrived the heart is the work house of sin now the Lord withdraws man from his purpose and will not suffer the inward work to be accomplished by the outward work Further we may refer these words either to what is past or to what is to come some translate referring it to what is past that he may turn Vt avertat hominem ab iis quâ— fecit Vulg. or withdraw man from those things which he hath done that is from those evills to which he hath already set his hand this is done by giving man repentance which is our being humbled for and turning away from any evill already committed Our translation refers it to what is intended to be done for that 's a purpose So the meaning is God doth these things that he may keep man from doing that evill or mischief which he hath resolved upon or at least is forming and hammering in his thoughts Abimelech had an evill purpose for the matter though possibly the purpose of his heart was not evill for he said to God and God said he spake true in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this Gen. 20.5 6. he was I say about an evill purpose for the matter when he thought to take Abrams wife from him but the Lord came to him in a dream and withdrew him from the evill of his purpose Laban intended evill or hard dealing to Jacob but the Lord met him also in a dreame and withdrew him from his purpose saying Gen. 31.24 Take heed thou speak not to Jacob neither good nor bad that is hinder him not in his journey either by threathings or by promises Thus man is taken off or withdrawn from evill purposes by preventing grace and from evill workes by repenting grace I shall prosecute the words according to our reading only which imports that when man hath some evill purpose upon his heart the Lord visits him in dreames and visions of the night to withdraw him from that purpose Hence observe First Man is very forward and eager upon
purpose Lastly consider God withdraweth man from his sinfull purpose all or any of these wayes by putting forth his mighty power with them For his word alone his works alone his patience alone the counsell of man alone would not doe it if God did not stretch forth his own arme in and with these meanes for the doing of it Nothing is any further efficacious then as God is with it Numb 22. Balaam was going on in his wicked purpose being sent for by Balak to curse the people of God And though the Lord sent his Angell to be an adversary to him in his way vers 22. so that his Asse turned out of the way into the field yet Balaam went on in his purpose yea though the Angell standing between two walls caused his Asse to turne so suddenly that she crusht Balaams foot against the wall vers 25. yet Balaam went on in his purpose Once more though the Angell went further and stood in a narrow way where there was no way to turne to the right hand nor to the left so that the poor Asse fell down under him v. 27. and speaking as the Apostle Peter expresseth it 2 Epist 2. with mans voyce rebuked the madnesse of the Prophet Yet so mad he was that all these checks and warnings could not withdraw him from his purpose And what the Lord did at that time to Balaam by an Angell that he doth by some other means and providences to stop many from their evill purposes who yet will not be stopt He speaks to them in the ministry of his word he speaks to them in his works he spreads their way with roses he hedgeth up their way with thorns he bestoweth sweet mercies upon them he sends sharp afflictions upon them to withdraw them from their evill projects and purposes yet on they goe like Balaam unlesse he send more then an Angell even his holy Spirit to withdraw them Lastly Elihu reports it as a speciall favour of God to withdraw man from his purpose Whence note It is a great mercy to be hinder'd in sinfull purposes and intendments Disappointments are acts of grace when we are acting against grace If God stop us from doing evill not onely by his word but by blowes or by a hedge of thorns yea if he stop us by a drawn sword it is a great mercy Though God throw us to the ground as he did Saul afterwards Paul when he went with a bloody purpose to vex and persecute the Saints Acts 9. let us count our selves exalted and rejoyce in it more then in any worldly exaltation 'T is a rich mercy to be kept from executing an evill purpose though by our owne poverty and outward misery The doing of that which is sinfull is worse then any thing that can be done to us or endured by us as a stop against sin Sin hath death in it sin hath wrath in it sin hath hell in it sin hath Devill and all in it therefore to be kept from sin let it be by what means it will if by paines and pining sicknesses if by reproaches and disgraces yea if by death we have cause to blesse God The greatest and sorest Judgement which God powres upon sinfull men is to let them alone in or not to withdraw them from their sins To be suffered to goe on and prosper in sin is the worst of sufferings the last of Judgements the next Judgement to hell it selfe and an infallible signe of an heire of hell Thus the wrath of God waxed hot against Israel when he gave them up to their owne hearts lusts and they walked in their owne Councel Psal 81.11 This was the highest revenge that God could take upon that sinfull people He sayd a little before Israel would none of me when God wooed them they were so coy they would have none of him and then said he goe on take your fill of sin I give you up to your owne hearts lusts The Lord did not say I gave them up to the sword to the famine or to the pestilence but to their owne hearts lusts and to walke on in their own way That person or people may be sure God hath purposed evill against them whom he will not withdraw from their evill purposes The severity of the wrath of God against the Gentiles is exprest and summ'd up in this Rom 1.26 28. He gave them up to vile affections he gave them up to a reprobate mind to doe things which were not convenient A naturall man left to himselfe will soone doe such things as nature it selfe abhorreth and blusheth at The same dreadfull doome is denounced Rev 22.11 He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still I will not withdraw him from his way let him goe on and perish let him goe on and sink downe to the pit of perdition for ever As St. John in the Revelation foretelling the Church given up or left to not in great sufferings of all sorts Here is the patience of the Saints So when we see the world given up and left in great sinnings of any sort especially if to sinnings of all sorts we may truely and sadly say Here is the wrath of God 'T is therefore a great mercy if God will any way withdraw man from his sinfull wayes and purposes especially when he taketh such gentle wayes as dreams and visions counsels and instructions to withdraw man from his purpose and as it followeth in this verse to hide pride from man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 texit operuit imponendo aliquid quo tegas The word which we render to hide is to hide by casting a covering a vayle a garment or any other thing over what we desire should be hid Prov 12.23 A prudent man concealeth knowledge it is this word he doth not pretend to know so much as he knoweth he puts a vayle upon his own abilities as Moses upon his face when there was such a shining beauty imprinted there rather then reveales them unnecessarily or uncalled 'T is the foolish man or he that hath but a shew of wisdome who loves and affects to be shewing it But to the text The word is used also to note that gracious act of God his pardoning the sin of man Psal 32.1 Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered God covers our sins in the riches of his grace by the perfect righteousnesse of Jesus Christ Now there are two wayes by which God hideth pride from man First by pardoning it Secondly preventing it Here to hide pride from man properly is not to pardon it when acted but to prevent or keep man from the acting of it God indeed hides the pride of man by pardoning it and that 's a high act of grace and he hideth pride from man by keeping man from doing proudly or from shewing his pride in his doings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 superbia excellentia The word rendred pride
his prosperity I shall never be moved Babylon glorified her selfe having sayd in her heart I sit a Queene and am no widdow and shall see no sorrow Revel 18.7 Secondly In that God is here sayd to hide pride from man Observe Pride is a very vile and most odious sin If God hide it from mans eyes then surely God himselfe is of purer eyes then to behold it and be pleased Psal 138.6 The Lord knoweth the proud afar off He that meets a spectacle or person which he cannot endure to look upon avoydes it or turnes from it while he is yet afar off whereas if the object be delightfull he draweth neer and comes as close as he can when therefore 't is sayd the Lord knoweth a proud man afar off it shews his disdaine of him He will scarce touch him with a paire of tongs as we say he cannot abide to come neere him He knows well enough how vile he is even at the greatest distance Pride is the first of those seven things which are an abomination to the Lord Prov 6.17 And how abominable a thing pride is may appeare further by these six Considerations First The folly and Irrationallity of pride renders it odious to God nothing is more odious to a wise man then folly how odious then is pride to the most wise God! When Paul did any thing which had but a shew of pride in it though he did it only upon Constraint yet he calls himselfe foole for doing it 2 Cor 12.11 I am become a foole in glorying ye have compelled me Doth not this intimate that in Pauls opinion all proud selfe-gloriers and boasters are fooles that is such as act below common sense or reason In the Hebrew language the same word that signifies boasting and pride signifies folly and foolishnesse The empty vessell yeilds the greatest sound and they that make so great a noise of themselves are usually nothing else but a Great noyse themselves at least they unavoydably rayse suspition of themselves that they are but empty vessells or shallow rivers This was Solomons conclusion Pro 25.27 For men to search their owne glory is no glory that is a man obscures himselfe by selfe-glorying How foolish how irrationall a thing is it for any man to glory proudly when as by doing so he obscures that which is the chiefest glory of man as man his reason and seemes to put himselfe to the question whether he be a reasonable creature yea or no. Secondly Pride is more abominable because it is not only the folly of man but a robbery of God nothing robs God of his honour so much as pride It is said of Jesus Christ Phil 2.6 He thought it no robbery to be equall with God He did not wrong God in making himselfe his equall himselfe being God But if men will match themselves with God or are lifted up in their spirits as proud men are beyond the line of man this is a robbery of God Whatsoever we take to our selves more then is due we take from God yea we steale from God They who forget God the author and fountaine of all they have and take glory to themselves commit the worst kind of robbery and are the most dangerous Theeves Isa 42.8 My glory will I not give to another therefore if any take glory to themselves as I say againe all proud men doe 't is stealing and 't is not only as I may say picking of his pocket but the breaking open of his Treasury of his Cabinet to carry away the chief Jewel of his Crowne so is his glory Rom 11.36 All is from him therefore all must be to him all is from the father of light therefore what light what gifts what strength soever we have it must returne to him in prayses and in the glorifying of his name we may not deck or adorne our own name with it nor put our name upon it How much soever we have we have received it is from the Lord therefore 't is extreamly sinfull and sacrilegious to take or keepe it to our selves And as whatsoever good we have we have it of God so whatsoever good we have done we have had light and strength from God to doe it naturall yea spirituall strength not only the first power of acting but all subsequent actings of that power are from God therefore to have secret liftings up of spirit in our owne actings is to rob God Psal 51.15 Open thou my lips and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise sayd David As if he had sayd Lord if thou wilt open my lips and help me to speak as I ought I will not shew forth my owne praise nor boast of what I have either spoken or done but I will shew forth thy praise because the opening of the lips is from thee Thirdly It is an abomination to be proud for whatsoever any man hath done or how good soever any man is he is no better then he should be and hath done no more then was his duty to doe he hath done but his duty to God and his duty to man when he hath done his best he hath done no more every man is bound to doe the good that he doth how much soever it be that he doth therefore it is both an ignoble and an abominable thing for any man to boast of what he hath done Fourthly Is it abominable to boast of what we have done seeing how much soever we have done it will appeare upon a right and due account that we have done lesse then we ought and are much short of our duty Luke 17.10 When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say we are unprofitable servants and have done but that which was our duty to doe We can doe nothing but what is our duty but all we doe is not the one halfe of our whole duty and shall we glory as if we had obliged God by doing more then all Fifthly It is an odious thing for any man to be proud of what he hath done for God might have done it by another if he pleased No man is necessary to God as if his worke could not be done unlesse such a one doe it He hath choyce of instruments and is able to fit those for his businesse who are most unfit of themselves It is matter of thankfulnesse that God will call and use us to doe him any service and enable us to doe it God could have put his talent into another mans hand the riches the power the wisdome the learning the parts which thou actest by he could have put it into other hands he can make the dumb to speak as well as the greatest speaker He can make an Ideot a Dunce knowing and learned as well as the most knowing among the learned Therefore the learned the eloquent have no reason to be proud but much to be thankfull He can make the weakest to doe as much as the strongest therefore the strongest have no reason to be
you may save them make them afraid that they may not be damned save them with fear plucking them as it were out of the fire Sinners are runing into the fire and do not perceive it they are tumbling down to hell and consider it not they must be pulled out of the fire else they will burn in it for ever The great businesse of the Gospell is to pull souls like firebrands out of the burning Fourthly note They who turn from their evill purposes and the pride of their hearts escape wrath the pit and the sword The wages of sin is death and well are they that escape that misse such wages If a sinner turne from his purpose from his sinfull way if his pride be subdued and he emptied of himself then his soul if kept from destruction and his life from perishing by the sword JOB Chap. 33. Vers 19 20 21 22. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pain So that his life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty meat His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen and his bones that were not seen stick out His soul draweth neare unto the grave and his life to the destroyer THe context of these foure verses containeth a description of the second meanes which the wisdome of God is pleased often to use for the humiliation of man and for the discovery or revelation of his mind unto him He speaketh in a dream in a vision of the night as was shewed before he speaketh also by paines and sicknesses as is now to be considered Vers 19. He is chastened also with pain That particle which we render also gives the text an emphasis He is chastened also For it imports that here is a further addition or supplement of meanes whereby the Lord doth awaken sinners to attend and obey his voyce The subject of these foure verses is a sick man or the sickness of man A sorrowfull subject And the sickness of man is set forth in these foure verses by foure sad symptomes or effects The first is paine grievous paine ver 19. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong paine The second symptome of this sickness is loss of appetite and his nauceating all manner of food v. 20. So that his life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty meat The third symptome of his sickness is a generall languishment or consumption all his body over v. 21. His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen and his bones that were not seene stick out The fourth and last symptome of this grievous sickness is fainting swooning or a readiness to expire and give up the ghost v. 22. His soul draweth near to the grave and his life to the destroyer That is he is sick and even sick to death All these are speciall symptomes of a sick man or of the sickness of man I begin with the first Vers 19. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed The word which we render to chasten hath a twofold signification in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reguit reprehendit corripuit verbis sive factis First to reprove or convince both by authority and reason Lev 19.17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke him or reproving thou shalt reprove him that is Thou shalt surely reprove him And in that famous Prophecy concerning Christ Isa 11.4 He shall reprove with equity we put in the margin He shall argue with equity or convince by such reasons and arguments as shall carry the greatest equity in them Thus when Christ had finished his Sermon on the mount it is sayd Math 7.28 29. The people his Auditors were astonished at his doctrine for he taught them as one having authority and not as the Scribes This Sermon carrying so great a reproofe of the Scribes and Pharisees both as to their life and doctrine throughout may well be expounded as a fullfilling of that ancient prophecy It being confessed in another place of the Gospel even by the Officers that were sent to attach him John 7.46 Never man spake like this man The words of Christ had so much evidence so much equity in them that they who came to take and catch him were taken and caught if not to conversion yet to such a conviction by what he spake that they could not though they highly displeased their Masters in saying so but say Never man spake like this man As if they had sayd Surely the man that speakes thus is more then a man Secondly The word often signifies to correct which is also to instruct correction is for instruction Chastning is the most reall reproving And so we render it He is chastened Man is instructed not only by speech and counsell but by stripes and corrections Thus David prayed Psal 6.1 O Lord rebuke me not in thine anger neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure The first word which we render rebuke is that in the text As if he had sayd Lord doe not rebuke me by angry afflictions let me not find thee greatly displeased and my selfe sorely chastned at once He deprecates the same againe and how grievous the effects of such dispensations are he sheweth Psal 38.1 Rebuke me not in thy wrath Psal 39.11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity He means it not only of word-rebukes but of hand-rebukes also when thou with such doubled rebukes dost chasten man for iniquity What then The effects of it follow even the staining of the glory of all flesh Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth And so some interpret that Psal 105.15 He reproved Kings for their sakes speaking of his owne people the Lord did not only speak to those Kings but made them feel his hand for his peoples sake Abimelech felt his hand for Abrahams sake And so did Pharoah that hard-hearted King in a whole decade of plagues for Israels sake whom he had oppressed and would not let goe We render the word in this second sense for a rebuke by blowes or by correction which yet hath a language in it and speaks with a loud voyce to man He is chastened with paine upon his bed Paine is both the concomitant and effect of sickness The word noteth First the paine of the body caused either by the violence of inward distempers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doluit corpore vel animo or from the outward stroake of a wound Gen 34. When the sons of Jacob had prevailed with the Shechemites to receive Circumcision It came to passe on the third day when they were sore or pained with the wound of it Simeon and Levi came upon them Gen 34.25 Secondly the word signifieth as bodyly paine caused any way so paine of the mind which is griefe or sorrow Psal 69.29 I am poore and sorrowfull Sorrow is alwayes the effect of paine either outward or
inward either of the flesh or spirit yet the wounds of the spirit cause the greatest paine for of that Solomon saith Pro 18.14 Who can beare it The same Solomon Pro 14.13 speaking of a wicked man in his highest jollity saith In laughter the heart is sorrowfull His conscience aketh if he have an awakened conscience even while he laugheth and surely while the heart is sorrowfull and pained laughter yeeldeth little pleasure We may take paine in this text in both senses but specially in the former The sick man is often pained in mind but alwayes in his body He is chastened with pain Vpon his bed There he used to have rest but being sick his bed becoms restless to him To be upon the Bed is a periphrasis of sickness That of Christ Luke 17.34 There shall be two in one bed the one shall be taken and the other left as it may be meant of any two Bedfellowes especially of husband and wife in their health so some take it principally of two in a sick bed Grace takes hold of one and not of another upon a sick bed I insist not upon that sense though it be a probable and a profitable one But surely to say A man is chastened with paine upon his bed implyeth the man to be in extraordinary pain as to say such a man keepes his bed implyeth he hath more then an ordinary sickness or that he is very sick We have three expressions in our language gradually setting forth the sicknesse of a person First we say he keepes his house He that is not well doth not goe abroad sickness houseth him Secondly we say he keepes his chamber that 's a further degree when sickness hath brought a man up staires and shut him in his chamber he is sicke indeed Thirdly we say such a man keeps his bed The meaning of which every one understands to be that he is dangerously or extreamly sick Thus when Elihu saith He is chastened with pain upon his bed we may conceive him so ill that either he must not or is not able to sit up And Elihu in speaking thus seemes to have relation to what Job had sayd Chap 7.13 When I sayd my bed shall comfort me and my couch shall ease my complaint Then thou scarest me with dreames and terrifiest me through visions As if he had sayd O Job thou indeed hast had recourse heretofore to thy bed for refreshing and comfort in silent meditations and soliloquies with God but he terrified thee with dreames and spake to thee by scaring visions to turne thee from thy purpose And not only so but finding thee deafe to those admonitions or not regarding them yea still continuing thy unquiet murmurings he hath now even made thee bed-rid or unable to rise from thy bed Though Elihu spake here in the third person yet in all his speech he intended and poynted at yea set forth and poynted out Jobs condition He is chastened with paines upon his bed And the multitude of his bones with strong pain A man may have paine yea many paines yet no paine in his bones Bones are to the body as beames and rafters as posts and pillars are to a hovse And when pain comes to the bones when it shakes those posts and pillars it must needs be a very strong paine Satan sayd to God concerning Job while he sought new tryalls for him in the second Chapter of this Book vers 5. Touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face And that he might be fully tryed the Lord suffer'd Satan to afflict him to the bone nor did Satan leave a bone unafflicted what Elihu spake here of man in Generall was true of him The multitude of his bones were chastned with strong paine To have any one bone in paine is an affliction much more to have many bones pained and aking at once But when the multitude of a mans bones that is all his bones are pained together that 's grievous Multitude ossium dicitur pro omnibus ossibus quam multâ— sunt Coc And such a man is the while as it were upon a rack That by the multitude of bones here spoken of we are to understand not only many or a great many of his bones but all his bones may appeare from Job 4.14 where Eliphaz describing those terrible visions with which God sometime visited him saith A spirit passed before my face the haire of my flesh stood up c. which made all my bones to shake We put in the margin The multitude of my bones The multitude of his bones are all his bones he hath not so much as one bone free The whole systeme of his bones is as it were confounded and disjoynted The multitude of his bones is chastned with strong paine The word paine is not express'd in the latter part of the verse the Hebrew is The multitude of his bones with strong paine Mr Broughton renders thus And all his bones with a sore one The word which we translate strong signifieth two things First as we render strength or might Psal 74.15 Thou driedst up mighty rivers God dryed up the river Jordan for his people to passe through yea and the red Sea Secondly the word signifieth perpetuall lasting or continuall So some render that place in the Psalmes not strong or mighty rivers but he dryed up everlasting or perpetuall rivers such as had alwayes run with a full streame and were not like those deceitfull brookes spoken of in the 6th Chap of this book v. 15th to which Job compared his Brethren which in winter over-flow the bankes but in summer what time they waxe warme they vanish when it is hot and are consumed out of their place Now in this place I conceive we may take the word in either sense either for strong and great or chronicall and lasting paine The man is so sick that he hath no good houres no comfortable intermissions his paine continueth And because the word paine is not in the text therefore it hath caused severall rendrings of these words yet all meeting in the same sense First Some joyne the word strong to bone or make it an epethite of the mans bones Though the multitude of his bones be strong that is though he were once a strong man sound and perfect all over or as we say sound wind and limbe not crazy not having the least flaw in him yet he is chastened all over with paine In multitudine ossium ejus est fortis i. e. acris acerbus dolor Secondly Others thus in the multitude of his bones or in all his bones there is a strong one that is a strong paine or griefe seizeth and possesseth all his bones Thirdly Thus The contention of his bones is strong the word which signifieth a multitude being alike in the letters with another which signifieth contention or strife hath given occasion for this reading that of David is neere the same There is no rest in my bones
Psal 38.3 Legendo vocem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et lis ossium ejus vehemens est i. e. dolor ossium ejus per quem cum ipso velut litigat Pisc Sunt ex Hebraeis qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multitudo quia per י scribatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 etsi legatur per ו exponunt pro contentione quasi deus cumossibus ejus contendat Merc As if Elihu had sayd the paine and anguish by which God doth contend with all his bones is strong or God hath a strong controversie with his bones upon his sicke bed Lastly The vulgar translates He maketh all his bones to wither decay and rott When there is a consumption or a withering among the bones how intolerable is the paine Broken bones cause the acutest paines but decaying bones the most constant paine Withering bones are opposed to fatned bones in that promise made to him that fasts spiritually not carnally only in abstaining from flesh Isa 58.11 The Lord will make fat thy bones As if he had sayd Doe not feare that thou shalt pine by spirituall fasting I will make fat thy bones Which is true even in regard of that which is naturall the Lord reneweth bodily strength to those who humble themselves soule and body The body shall not suffer in this service of the Lord if the soule be truly afflicted in it Yet when he saith he will make fat thy bones it respects especially their spirituall strength that thrives best in a day of holy abstinence and fasting Here when 't is sayd their bones shall wither through paine it notes the declining of the whole body because as the bones are strong in themselves so they are the strength and support of the whole outward man When God smites the bones then he shakes the pillars and rafters of our earthly house and threatens the downfall of it He is chastened with paine upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pain Taking these words in connection with the former where Elihu spake of those dreames and visions by which God speakes to man and supposing as there he doth that because the man is not well awakened by those dreames and visions from his security therefore the Lord sendeth pain and sickness upon him as a second meanes to humble him and make him understand himselfe Observe They that will not be instructed by dreames that is by gentler meanes shall be instructed by paines They who will not take instruction even in their sleep shall be taught by that which will keep them awake Severall Scriptures tell us of the Lords proceeding with man from words to blowes And if the Lord proceeds from dreames which are warnings in sleepe to blowes if when he hath spoken to us in a dreame we hearken not he will chasten us with paine even the multitude of our bones with strong paine And then much more will he proceed from words to blows with them that are warned to awake if they heare not and take warning That 's an awakening word to those who sleepe waking Psal 7.12 13. If he turn not he will whet his sword He bath bent his bowe and made it ready If men will not returne upon word-admonition and reproofe the Lord hath his arrowes and his sword to reprove them with Turne ye at my reproofe saith the Lord Pro 1.23 I give you warning to turne but if you doe not then as presently it followeth I will laugh at your calamity and mock when your feare cometh As you have seemed to mock at my counsels so I will mock at your calamities that is I will shew you no pity as you have shewed me no respect Thus the Lord deales with proud rebellious man who casts off his yoake yea sometimes he deales very severely with his owne people for they may put him to it if words will not serve their turne words in sleepe and words when awake they may expect blowes next and be made to feele the hand of God because they have not understood or not obeyed his will Secondly From the manner of expression He is chastened with paine upon his bed The Spirit of God useth a word referring to instruction both by smiting and speaking to shew that there is a voyce in the rod. Hence note The chastisements of God upon us are our documents When God sends sicknesse and grievous paines he reproves sinners from Heaven and chides them for the errours of their lives The chastenings of the Lord are speakings He speaketh by his rods beyond all the eloquence of words Mic. 6.9 Hear ye the rod. The voyce of God is in his rod that speaks so loud from Heaven in many stroaks that the prophanest sinners on earth are sometimes forced to heare and acknowledge it As those Magicians were forced by the plaine evidence of the fact to say Ez. 8.19 This is the finger of God So they must say This is the voyce of God He speaks to us and speaks to purpose in these afflictions The voyce of God in affliction exceeds all the rhetorick and perswasions of mortall-men The crosse is a schoole in which they who are dull at hearing what God speaks to them in his word are wonderfully quickened up by his rod. The words of the wise saith Solomon are goads And surely these goads of affliction are pricking piercing words for the promoting and putting on of a lazy soul in Gods worke Job had desired God to speak with him Elihu answers Why dost thou desire more answers or directions from God Hath not God spoken to thee in these soares and sicknesses in these chastisements with pain upon thy bed Is God wanting to thy instruction hath he not clearly told thee his mind and thy duty hath he not written yea engraven his will upon thy diseased flesh What are the paines the corruption the consumption the strange deformity and sad transfiguration of thy body but as so many voyces of God speaking and speaking aloud to thee repent and humble thy selfe Therefore attend hearken to and meditate upon the answers which he hath impressed or printed legibly upon thy head face and wrinkled forehead Thou hast his answer his own way therefore be satisfied and doe not stand defiring that God would answer thee after thy way nor complaining because he doth not And we may reply not only to obstinate sinners but to many of the people of God when they enquire what the mind of God is or what he intends towards them His providences give you many items and memorandums which if you can spell out and read you may know his meaning This lesson the signification of the word offereth us as the connection of the words offered in the former Thirdly learne hence Man is a poor crazy creature subject to all diseases and infirmities Yea he is not only subject to them but he is the subject of them His body is as it were a vessell of naturall corruption as his soul is a vessell of morall
or the pains of his body he looked upon himself as one free among the dead that is as a dead man his life drew near to the destroyers And hence Fourthly Others read the words not in an active sence as we Destroyers but in a passive His life draweth nigh to those who are destroyed or dead Dying men are so neere to that they may be reckoned as dead men That word of encouragement in the Prophet Isa 41.14 Which we render Feare not thou worme Jacob and ye men or as we put in the Margin Few men of Israel is rendred by some others Feare not thou worme Jacob and ye that are dead of Israel that is who are in your owne fearefull apprehensions or in the opinion of your proud and prepotent enemies as dead men or nigh unto death or as we may expound it by that of Paul concerning himselfe and his Fellow-Apostles with respect to the continuall hazzard of their lives 1 Cor 4.9 men as it were appoynted unto death yea as the learned in the Hebrew language tell us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haec vox ex eo nata videter quod simus morti subjecti Ita et a Graecis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 et à latinù mortalu usurpatus Martyn the word translated in the Prophet men with the change but of one poynt and that only in the position of it signifieth properly dead men We find the word applyed specially to wicked worldly men Psal 17.14 who are there called the hand of God to afflict or take away the lives of Godly men and are sayd to have their portion in this life the word I say is applyed to them as implying that how much soever they rejoyce either in the present enjoyments of this naturall life or in the hopes of a long naturall life in this world yet they alwayes are within one poynt or pricke with a pen which is the shortest imaginable space of death In which sense also St Paul speaking of the different state of the body now in this life and after the resurrection from the dead saith 1 Cor 15.54 When this mortall shall have put on immortality that is when we who now live in dying bodyes or in bodyes bearing the markes or tokens of death and looking like dead men shall have put on the beautifull and glorious robes of immortality Then shall be brought to passe the saying that is written Death shall be swallowed up in victory Whereas now death which is ready enough to get the victory over healthy and strong men is so ready to get the victory over weake and sicke men that their life may very well be sayd according to this fourth and last interpretation to draw nigh to the destroyed or those that are already dead Thus if in stead of Death-Bringers or destroyers we read Destroyed or those that have been brought to death the meaning of Elihu in this passage is plaine and easie importing the sicke man so sicke that there is scarce a step or but a poynt between him and those who are actually dead But whether we take the word in this passive sence and translate The Destroyed or in the active as we and translate destroyers thereby understanding either Angels in speciall or diseases in Generall sent by God to destroy or take away the life of the sicke man which way soever of these I say we expound the word it yeilds a cleare sence as to the scope of the text and as to the truth of it upon the matter the very same His life draweth nigh to the destroyers Hence note First Diseases are destroyers Either they themselves destroy when they come or the destroyer comes with them Psal 90.3 Thou turnest man to destruction and sayest returne ye children of men 'T is a Psalme penned by Moses lamenting the frailety of mankinde He lived to see all Israel whom under his hand and conduct God brought out of Egypt dye â—â—cept that renowned two Caleb and Joshua And therefore he having seene the great destruction of that people for their murmurings and unbeliefe for their ten-fold provocations in the wilderness might say from his owne experience more then most men to that poynt of mans mortality And as God turned that people to destruction and sayd according to that irrevocable sentence Gen 3.19 Returne ye children of men to your originall and first materiall dust so he saith the same to men every day who as they are dust so we see them returning to their dust Every disease if so commission'd by God is death and every paine if he say it the period of our lives Againe Elihu is here speaking of a man whom the Lord is but trying teaching and instructing upon his sick bed yet he saith His soule is drawing neere to the grave and his life to the destroyers Hence observe Those afflictions which are but for instruction may looke like those which are for destruction When the Lord hath a purpose only to try a man he often acts towards him as if he would kill him If any shall say this is hard I answer A ruffe horse must have a ruffe rider Ruffe wood will not cleave without a beetle and wedges We put God to use extremities that he may bring us to a moderation Our spirits are often so ruffe and head-strong that they must be kept in with bit and bridle they are so tough and knotty that there 's no working no cleaving of them till the Lord sets his wedges to us and layes on with his beetle of heaviest and hardest afflictions In a word we even compell him to bring us to deaths-doore that he may teach us to live Now seeing paines and sicknesses of which Elihu speakes as the way and meanes by which God speakes to sinfull man are accompanied with such dreadfull symptomes and effects loathing and losse of appetite consumption of the flesh and the breaking of the very bones the soule drawing neere to the grave and life to the destroyers seeing I say there are such sad effects of sicknesse remember First Health is worth the praying to God for Secondly Health is worth the praising of God for and that considered either first as continued or secondly as restored 'T is a mercy not to be pained not to be sicke 't is a more sencible though not a greater mercy to be freed from paine and recovered out of sickness While we are kept free from paines and sicknesses how thankfull should we be and when we are freed from and brought out of the bonds of bodily paine and sicknesses how soule-sicke yea how dead are we if we are not thankfull Thirdly Seeing paines and sicknesses are such sad afflictions be wise and carefull for the preservation of your health doe not throw away your health upon a lust doe not expose your selves to lasting paines and pining sicknesses for the satisfying of a wanton sensuall appetite The health and strength of this frayle body are of more value
his soule v. 26. He shall pray and God shall be favourable to him and he shall see his face with joy for he will render to man his righteousness Thus you have the parts and purpose of these words I shall now proceed to the particulars If there be a messenger with him Hypothetica locutio significat libertatem dei in conferendo hoc beneficio Indicatio contingit quibus deus vult Coc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 missus legatus nuncius These words are Hypotheticall or by way of supposition if there be noting that it is not alwayes so every one hath not this mercy to have a messenger sent him it 's a speciall priviledge granted by God to some If there be A messenger What or who is this messenger The word in the Hebrew hath a three-fold signification all which are insisted upon by interpreters upon this place First It signifieth an Angel Now Angels properly taken are spirituall or incorporeall substances whose both office and high dignity it is to attend about the throne of God and to be sent forth upon his speciall service Psal 103.20 Bless the Lord ye his Angels that excell in strength that doe his commandements and hearken to the voyce of his word God hath thousand thousands of these servants ministring to him and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him Dan 7.10 Some stay upon this exposition affirming that here we are to understand an Angel by nature And hereupon ground the ministring of Angels to those who are either sick in body or troubled in mind Yea the Popish writers would hence prove the intercession of Angels for man and mans invocation of Angels but though the exposition be granted yet it yeilds no ground for this Inference For what though God should send an Angel to instruct and comfort a sick man will it therefore follow that the sick man should pray to him and so give him the honour which is due to God Secondly The word is applyed in particular to Jesus Christ the uncreated Angel or the creating Angel the Lord of Angels who by way of eminency is called The Angel of his presence Isa 63.9 and the Angel or messenger of the Covenant Mal 3.1 He also was that Angel of whom the Lord spake to the children of Israel Exod 23.20 saying Vides quam clarè hoc loco Elihu de Christo concionetur per quem omnis conscientia quontumcunque per legem occisa vivificatur per quem omnis crux vitae et liberationis initium est Brent Behold I send an Angel before thee to keepe thee in the way and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared Beware of him and obey his voyce provoke him not for he will not pardon your transgressions if you persist in them for my name is in him that is he is of the same nature with my selfe and with that nature he hath my name Jehovah Thus some carry it here as if Elihu specially intended the ministration of Jesus Christ the Angel of the Covenant to the sick sinner for his restoring both as to the health of soule and body 'T is true Jesus Christ is the great Angel or messenger and he primarily and chiefly doth all the business for poore sinners he is the messenger sent from God and he is the interpreter of the mind of God he came from the bosom of the father and reveales the mysteries of heaven to us by his holy Spirit He indeed is the one of a thousand the chiefest of ten thousand to shew unto man his uprightness Yet I conceive that in this place not the Lord of Angels alone but some Angel of the Lord is also intended And therefore Thirdly The word Angel is applyable to every Messenger The Scripture gives it first to those that are sent by men about any errand or business 1 Sam 23.27 But there came a messenger unto Saul saying hast thee and come for the Philistims have invaded the land We read of an evill messenger Pro 13.17 who is either such a one as brings an evill message or is himselfe evill Isa 14.32 What shall one then answer to the messengers of the Nation the Lord hath founded Zion and the poore of his people shall trust in it And as it notes a messenger first by man so a messenger sent by God The ancient Prophets were in this sence the Angells of God his messengers and so are the Ministers of the Gospel at this day The Epistles to the seaven Churches are all directed to the Angells of the Churches that is to the severall Pastors or Ministers of the Churches respectively And thus we may conclude that by the messenger in this text we are to understand any faithfull Minister of Christ sent to convince convert or comfort a sick troubled soule And as was intimated before we may very well gather up both these latter interpretations into one that which applyeth it to Christ and that which applyeth it to the Ministers of Christ For so we have here both the author and the instrument of this comfort to the sick man Jesus Christ is the chiefe messenger and comforter of poore sinners and the Ministers of the Gospel are instruments in his hand sent out by him for the perfecting of that worke The word is applyed to both Mal 3.1 Nuncius est propheta aliquis seu doctor à deo missus Pisc Behold I will send my messenger or my Angel and he shall prepare the way before me John the Baptist was Christs messenger as Christ himselfe an infallible interpreter assureth us Math 11.10 And presently it follows The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his Temple even the messenger of the Covenant whom ye delight in Behold he shall come saith the Lord of hosts In the first part of the verse John is called the Lords messenger and in the latter part Christ is called the Lords messenger Both were messengers yet with a mighty difference and therefore John the messenger of Christ saith of Christ the messenger Math 3.11 He that cometh after me is mightier then I whose shoes I am not worthy to beare And againe John 1.26 He it is that coming after me is preferred before me whose shoes latchet I am not worthy to unloose If there be a messenger Hence note First The Ministers of Christ are the messengers of Christ Christ is the fathers messenger and they are messengers sent out by Christ As my father hath sent me so send I you said Christ to his Apostles John 20.21 And though that Title of Apostle which signifieth One sent or a Messenger be most properly attributed to those who were immediately called and inspired by Christ yet in an allayed sence it may be applyed commodiously enough to any true Minister of the Gospel for he also is sent he hath both his mission and commission mediately from Christ Yea the word Apostle is applyed in common to all or
not to look for much or not to doe their worke for filthy lucre but of a ready mind 1 Pet. 5.2 Thirdly As the reward is small so the opposition is great Ministers are often persecuted and reproacht and the more faithfull and dilligent they are the more they are opposed and reproached To preach the Gospel fully as it should be preacht is to provoke thousands and bring the World about our eares No marvell then iâ— rhe messengers and interpreters of it be not many if they be but as one among a thousand Thus you see what hinders the generallity of men from medling with that work 'T is but one among a thousand that will engage in a work upon these hard termes or that prae-apprehending them hath faith and self-denyal enough to swallow and overcome them Againe Consider those that outwardly bear the name and Title of the Ministers of Christ and you will find that among them they who are true and faithfull to their trust are upon the matter but one among a thousand As there are but few Ministers among many men so there are but few Ministers among many that are true and right interpreters Doe but take out or sever these five sorts from among them who pretend to be Ministers and then it will soone appear that the interpreters in truth are but few among many of those that are so in Title First Take away all those who thrust themselves boldly or are admitted carelesly or by mistake into the Ministery who yet are ignorant blind ungifted and so unable for the worke Secondly Take away those who though they have gifts and abilities yet are lazie and sloathfull such as will not take paines nor worke in the worke Thirdly Take away those who have gifts and are industrious yet are unsound at least in many poynts and erronious in their judgements and so mis-lead and mis-guide those whose guides and leaders they are Fourthly Take away those who though they are not unsound and erronious yet are prophane and scandalous pulling downe that truth with one hand which they have set up with another or building againe those sins by their practise which they have destroyed by preaching and so make themselves as the Apostle speakes in a like case Gal 2.18 transgressours for as God justly calls such transgressours because they have sinned against his word so they make themselves transgressours because they sin against their owne even against the doctrine by which they have condemned those sins which themselves live in Fifthly Take away those who though they are neither of these neither ignorant nor idle nor unsound nor scandalous yet are but meere formall preachers such as only speake words deliver the out-side and skin of the Gospel but have no acquaintance with the marrow and power of it Take away these five sorts from among Ministers and surely this expression of Elihu will be but too much verified The interpreter is but one among a thousand Abstract all that are ignorant idle unsound scandalous formall dispencers of the word from those who are commonly called Ministers and then they who remaine will be very few so few that every one of them may be reckoned one among a thousand And we shall be forced to say that Elihu hath not sayd without cause whether we respect their excellency or their scarsity that any faithfull messenger or interpreter is one among a thousand This is not spoken by Elihu here nor ought it to be taken up by any of the most faithfull Ministers of Christ to draw honour and respect upon themselves or that their persons may be had in admiration who are faithfull this were a pittifull designe of holding out such a truth but it serves for this end that the people of God may see they have a blessing where any are faithfull and may learne how they ought to prize those faithfull messengers whom the Lord sends among them yea how readily they should receive the grace of God which is tendred in their ministry These are not only each of them one messenger or interpreter but each one of them is one of a thousand A soule-convincing converting quickning comforting Minister of the Gospel is worth thousands and one among a thousand The Prophet saith Isa 52.7 How beautifull are the feet of them that bring glad tideings c. By their feet he meaneth their coming feete being the instruments of their coming to bring this glad tideings yet when he saith their feete are beautifull it may have a greater emphasis for the feete being the lowest part of the structure of mans body it may intend thus much that even that which is lowest and meanest in a messenger of the Gospel his feete wearied and wet yea foule and dirty with travel have a beauty upon them how much more his face and countenance for if the very feete of such news-bringers of such messengers and interpreters should be acceptable and lovely so beauty is to all men how much more should their persons and most of all their message and tideings be And doubtlesse if men did but understand it they would acknowledge that God hath committed such a treasury to them as is better and more beautifull then all the gold and precious things of this world and would cry out O what a mercy is it to have such a News-bringer and what Greedy News-mongers would they be The one among a thousand would be more desirable then many thousands of Gold and Silver Elihu having described the person whom the Lord often makes instrumentall for the restoring and comforting of the sick sinner calling him A messenger an interpreter one of a thousand which latter may be applicable to both the former proceeds to shew the business of this messenger or interpreter who is one of a thousand more expressely or to set out what his worke is surely excellent and glorious worke even this To shew unto man his uprightness We are not to understand this shewing for a bare report of the thing in which sense the Prophet complain'd Lord who hath believed our report Isa 53.1 that is we have shewed good things to the world but who hath believed us The shewing spoken of by Elihu is not a bare declaration of the matter to the eare but an effectuall and powerfull impression of it upon the heart Such a shewing as is spoken of at the 16th verse of this Chapter then he openeth the eares of men The Lord speakes so by his messengers and interpreters that he not only makes the eare heare but the heart too The heart heares when we have a sense and are under the power of what is heard As before we had a spirituall interpreter so here we have a spirituall shewing of his interpretation Here 's a heavenly messenger and a heavenly message to the earthly man To tell the earthly his rightfullness saith Mr Broughton Now because of the pronoune his his uprightness It may be demanded whose uprightness he meanes or what this
Christ to declare to man this righteousness for his uprightness And that hence it is as Elihu proceeds in the next verse to assure the sick man that God is and will be gracious to him Vers 24. Then he is gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going downe into the pit I have found a ransome These words hold out the generall issue and fruit of the labours and good counsell of that messenger or Interpreter dealing with the sick man and shewing him his uprightness There are three distinct interpretations which run quite through this verse and they arise from a different apprehension about the antecedent in this pronoune He then he is gracious unto him He who is that All the Popish interpreters refer it to the Guardian-Angel sent to attend on this sick man Then he the Angel will be gracious and he will say deliver him But as I then layd by that opinion that the messenger was an Angel properly taken so I shall not stay upon that which is a consequent of it here Secondly Severall of our Protestant interpreters referre this he to the Messenger or Interpreter to the Prophet or any spiritually wise and holy man sent of God to assist and help the sick man in his distresse Some are so positive in this opinion that they deny the text any other reference Hoc de nuncio dicitur non de deo aptè enim tribuitur nuncio etinterpreti voluntatis dei ut miscreatur hominis in summo vitae discrimine constituti Merl Et de gratia eum alloquutus dixerit redime cum nec desceÌ„dat in soveam expiatione quam inveni Jun Summa orationis quae apud deum pro afflictis habenda est Jun This is to be understood of the Messenger saith one and not of God And I grant 't is sutable to the business of the messenger who comes to comfort and instruct the sick man that he should pitty and compassionate him in that disconsolate condition and likewise pray for him according to the tenour of these words in the text or to the same effect O Lord God be gracious to him and deliver him let him not goe downe to the pit for the ransome sake which I have found As if Elihu had sayd When that faithfull messenger shall have declared the benefits and grace of God to the afflicted man then pittying his afflicted soule he shall pray for him O God deliver him from death and condemnation from the pit and from destruction for I have found and shewed him a ransome by which his soule may be delivered and his sins pardoned In the 19th Chapter of this Booke at the 27th verse Job useth this word in his application to his friends for their pitty to him and more favourable dealing with him Have pitty upon me have pitty upon me O my friends for the hand of God hath touched me As if he had sayd The hand of God presseth me sore O let not your hand be heavie upon me too This exposition carrieth a great truth in it and is not at all inconsistent with the letter of the text yet I shall not insist upon it but adhere rather to a third which makes the antecedent to this He to be God himselfe Then he is gracious That is when the messenger hath dealt with the sick man when he hath opened his condition to him and shewed him his uprightness or how he may stand upright before God or what his righteousnesse is before God and hath brought his heart to an unfeigned sorrow for his sin and to the actings of faith upon the promise then God is gracious and then he gives out the word for his restoring and orders it to be presently dispatcht away to him saying deliver him unloose him unbind him let him not goe downe into the pit I have found a ransome Taking this for the generall sence of the Text I shall proceed to open the particulars Then he will be gracious or then he will have mercy upon him as Mr Broughton translates Then and not before till then the Lord lets his bones ake and his heart tremble till then he suffers him to be brought so low that he is reckoned among the dead but then though not before he sheweth himself gracious unto him When a poor man is reduced to the utmost extreamity then is Gods opportunity then is the season of mercy and the Lord therefore lets us be at the lowest that we may be the more sencible of his goodness in raising and lifting us up The Lord suffers many as Paul spake of himself 2 Cor. 1.9 to have the sentence of death in themselves that they may learn not to trust in themselves but in him who raiseth the dead We seldome give God either the glory of his power by trusting him or of his goodnesse by thanking him for our deliverances till we are brought to the last cast as we say or to such an exigent as leaves no visible meanes in probabillity no nor of possibility to escape And when 't is thus with us then he is gracious Secondly Then he is gracious that is when the man is doubly humbled when the mans heart is graciously broken when the man is growne into an abhorrence of himself and of his sin or loathes himself for his sin as much as he loathed his meat as 't is said in the former verse when his heart is thus taken quire off from all that is below in the world and gathered up beleevingly to Jesus Christ in the word of promise Then he is gracious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Misertus gratificatus gratia prosecutus fuit ex gratia donavit benesecit The Originall word hath many comfortable significations in it yet all resolvable into this one he is gracious It signifies to pity to have compassion tenderly to regard to bestow grace to doe good there is enough in the bowells of this word to bear up the spirit of the sickest body or of the most troubled soul It is said Gen. 6.8 Noah found grace or favour in the eyes of the Lord. Noah was the only man that held out the grace of God in that age him only did God find perfect or upright in his Generations Gen. 6.9 and Noah only was the man that found grace or favour in the eyes of the Lord in that generation Gen. 6.8 God was gracious to him and his when the whole world periâ—hed by water That proper name John is derived from this word when God gave Zachary and Elizabeth a Son in their old age he also directed how he would have him called ye shall call his name John which name as we may well conceive was assigned him either because God did very graciously and favourably bestow that gift upon his Parents in their old age and so shewed them much favour a child at any time is a great favour from God especially in old age or secondly because John was to open the Kingdome of Grace to preach the
upon the matter even exhaust and undoe themselves by liberallity unto others and they who give most or have most to give cannot alwayes give It is said in this Book Chap. 37.11 By watering he wearieth the thick cloud that is God commandeth the cloud to give raine so long that it hath not a drop more to give but is quite spent Springs or fountaines are never wearied or spent with watering because their waters come as freely and as fast as they goe God is an everlasting spring of grace and goodness He is not wearyed nor emptyed by what he giveth out to or doth for the creature because all floweth from his naturall graciousnesse as from a fountaine Then he is gracious I would urge the second reference of that word then a little further It was shewed before that it might refer First to the extreamity of the sick man Secondly to the sick mans humiliation or the right disposure of his spirit to receive renewed acts of grace and favour from the Lord. Hence observe Secondly God usually dispenseth or giveth out acts of grace when we repent and turne from sin Si aegrotus ille monitis illius nuncij paruerit ac proinde resipuerit tum c. Pisc when we believe and lay hold upon the promise Then he is gracious It is said Isa 30.18 Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious The Lord hath alwayes a gracious disposition a gracious nature he alwayes hath a store and a stocke a rich stocke and store of mercy by him but he doth not alwayes give it forth no he waits to be gracious that is he waits till we are in a fit frame till we are in a due temper to receive his grace And because as to the dispensings of grace God waits to be gracious therefore many retard and hinder their owne good they are not yet in a frame to receive their vessell is not yet seasoned to hold mercy The Lord waited to be gracious to David after his grievous fall and therefore he did not give Nathan a Commission to say Thy sin is done away till Davids heart was broken and had said 2 Sam 12.13 I have sinned against the Lord But when once that word fell from him then Nathan declared how gracious the Lord was to him As soone as David said I have sinned that 's an act of repentance presently Nathan said the Lord hath done away thy sin that 's an act of grace When did Ephraim heare a word of comfort from God The Prophet tells us Jer 31.18 19 20. I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe that is mourning over and bewayling his sin saying thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoake We have him there also praying Turne me O Lord and I shall be turned c. Upon this how graciously how meltingly did the Lord speak Is Ephraim my deare son is he a pleasant child since I spake against him I doe earnestly remember him still or in remembring I remember him my bowells are troubled for him I will surely have mercy on him Now I will manifest my grace and acquaint him with my goodness The Lord was very gracious to Saul afterwards Paul he sent Ananias to him with a message of mercy as to restore the sight of his bodyly eyes so to assure him that he should be an instrument in the hand of Christ to open the eyes of many and a chosen vessel to beare his name before the Gentiles and Kings and the Children of Israel Acts 9.15 But when was this message delivered him the text tells us v. 11. For behold he prayeth the man is in the dust he is brought upon his knees his spirit is broken that word he prayeth comprehends the whole worke of a gracious soule as to his humiliation and returning to the Lord. In the parable of the prodigall Son his father is represented abundantly gracious to him but he did not signifie it he did not send the ring not the rich robe to him when he was abroad in a strange Country among harlots drinking and wasting his estate time and strength vainely we read of no acts of grace to him then but when being pinched with famine and hunger he came to himselfe and began to bethink himselfe of coming back to his fathers house and that he had brought himselfe by his own folly to beggery and want and husks when he was upon these termes or resolves to goe home to his father and cast himselfe at his feet as unworthy the name or priviledge of a Son then his father ran to meete him fell on his neck and kissed him then he put on the ring and cloathed him with the robe then he killed the fatted calfe and made a feast for him All which sceane of mercy doth but hold out this one word in the text Then he is gracious There are two sorts of gracious acts of God First some are acts of absolute grace or of preventing grace These are put forth upon and exercised towards the creature before there is any the lest preparation in the heart to draw them out or invite the bestowing of them Thus the grace of God in election is absolutely free there was no prevision of any qualification in man moving God to elect him And so that wonderfull act of grace in which election first descends and discovers it selfe effectuall vocation is absolutely free God calls a sinner when he is in the heat and hurry of his evill wayes pursuing his lusts in the height of his pride and in the hardness of his impenitent heart Now if when God first calleth a sinner there is nothing in him but sin What can move God to call him but free grace A third absolute act of grace is justification God doth not justifie a sinner for any thing that he finds or sees in us As to us 't is altogether free He justifieth the ungodly Rom 4.5 when that wretched infant was in its blood which expresseth a miserable uncleane poluted condition then was a time of love Ezek 16.8 then was God gracious What loveliness was there in that infant representing the best of men in that fallen naturall estate to draw out the love of God nothing at all yea she was altogether unlovely yet then saith God thy time was the time of love or then was the time of putting forth love in her conversion and vocâ—tion Then I sayd unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live And because the thing might seeme not only strange but even impossible that the heart of God should be towards such a wretched one for good the word is doubled yea I sayd unto theâ— when thou wast in thy blood live These acts of absolute free grace are the glory of the Covenant of grace for if the Covenant should hold out acts of Grace only upon our pre-dispositions when should we receive any act of grace The promise is not of this tenour I will pardon them when
breath bloweth away sickness if he doe but speak to a disease to a feaver to an ague to a dropsie to a consumption O killing malady spare him thou hast done enough any disease might prevaile to death did not God say spare him hold thy hand not a blow more not a fit more O killing malady Death it selfe much more sickness heareth the voyce of God And it may be said to heare him because it doth that which they who have the power of hearing ought to doe that is it obeyeth or yeildeth to the voyce and command of God will no longer afflict the sick man Diseases may be said to deliver a man from death the pit when they depart from him Yet Secondly I conceive this warrant for the deliverance of the sick man is given out to the messenger or interpreter to the one among a thousand that visiteth him in his sickness He having been with him and dealt with his conscience he having brought him into a good frame the Lord is gracious Sequestrem illum Jubebit ei renunciare impetratum esse sibi liberationem Bez and in answer to his prayer sets it upon his heart that he shall recover and warrants him to tell him so which is declaratively to deliver him from going downe to the pit This act of mans delivering the sicke is like that act of man pardoning the sinner John 20.23 that is 't is ministeriall or declarative not originall nor Authoritative The interpreter doth not deliver him but tells him God will We have the Psalmist speaking thus after his supplication and prayer made to the Lord for a sick State or Nation or for a sick Church that 's his scope Psal 85. Wilt thou not revive us againe that thy people may rejoycâ— in thee v. 6. Surely thou wilt and he expresseth his confidence that God would v. 8. I will heare what God the Lord will speake for he will speak peace unto his people and to his Saints When he had prayed he would harken for news or for a message from heaven whether or no the Lord would order him to speak peace to those for whom he had been praying and say deliver them from going downe to the pit Thus did the Prophet Habakkuk I will stand upon my watch and set me upon my tower and see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer when I am reproved Chap 2.1 In the next verse The Lord answered and sayd write the vision and make it plaine upon tables that he may run that readeth it And what was the answer surely deliverance for having sayd in the end it shall speake and not lye v. 3. he concludes v. 4. The just shall live by his faith Believing deliverance he shall at last be delivered from the pit of captivity and live Here in the text we must suppose this messenger had prayed and having prayed he did not neglect his prayer but was hearkning what the Lord would say Elihu was confident the Lord would give a gracious answer though not by an immediate voyce or revelation to his eare yet by an assurance of the mercy given into his spirit When that good king Hezekiah was not only sick unto death but had received an expresse message from the Lord Set thy house in order for thou shalt dye and not live 2 Kings 20.1 'T is sayd at the 2d verse He turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord saying c. And at the 4th verse The word of the Lord came to Isaiah the Prophet saying turne againe and tell Hezekiah the Captain of my people Thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father I have heard thy prayer I have seene thy teares behold I will heale thee c. Here God gave a word formally and put it into the Prophets mouth Goe deliver him from going downe to the pit And though the Lord doth not thus now in such an explicite and open way nor may we expect it yet there is a virtuall saying of this word from the Lord and that sometimes mightily imprest upon the hearts of those who have prayed and sought unto him for the sick man whereby not by an ungrounded vaine confidence but by a scripturall holy confidence comparing the promise with the mans condition they are enabled to tell him The Lord hath delivered thee from going downe to the pit And he shall as certainly be delivered as if the Lord had sent an expresse from heaven to tell him so Then he is gracious to him and saith deliver him from going downe to the pit Hence observe First Death is a going to the pit a going to destruction Thus it is ordinarily with all who dye to the pit they goe Many dye and goe downe to the bottomless pit all who dye may be sayd to goe to the pit To goe to the bottomless pit is the circumlocution of eternall death as to goe to the pit is the circumlocution of temporall death Secondly Forasmuch as the man being sick the Lord gives out this word deliver him from going downe to the pit Note Sickness hath in it a tendency unto death The sick stand as it were upon the borders of the grave Some not only put death farr from them in health but in their sickness untill they are even dead they scarce thinke themselves dying It is good for us in our health and best strength to be looking into the pit and considering upon what grounds of comfort we can descend into the grave How much more should we be thinking of and looking into the pit when we are in a languishing and dying condition Thirdly Observe The word and work of deliverance is from God alone Then he will be gracious and say deliver him from going downe to the pit God can and God only can deliver from death no creature in heaven or earth can speak this but by commission from God none can open this secret till God interpret it Deliverance is the Lords salvation and the word of salvation from sickness as well as of salvation from hell comes out from the Lord. But is it not sayd Pro 11.4 Righteousness delivereth from death I answer when it is sayd Righteousness delivereth from death The meaning is God delivereth the righteous from death He delivereth them from the sting and terror from all that which is properly called the evill of corporall death and he delivereth them wholly from the least touch or shadow of eternall death And this righteousness which delivers from death is not our own but the righteousness of Christ made ours by the appoyntment of God and received as ours by faith 'T is neither any righteousness wrought in us nor any righteousness wrought by us but that righteousness which is wrought for us which delivereth from death and that delivereth us from death because God saith of such a righteous person deliver him as often from temporall death or going downe to the pit of the grave so alwayes from
Princes of this world that come to naught But we speak the wisdome of God in a mystery c. which none of the Princes of this World know Ecclesia ex Judaeis paritèr ac gentibus collecta quasi speculum est in qu◠contemplantur Angeli mirì ficam dei sapientiam quam antea nesciebant Cato who use to be the most knowing men in the World for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory As if he had said surely the Princes of the world would have adored not reproached and crucified Christ had they understood who he was or the worke which he came about And therefore the Apostle calls it not only a mystery but a great mystery and that there is not the least question but 't is a great mystery 1 Tim. 3.16 Without controversie great is the mystery of godlinesse God manifest in the flesh this great mystery which from the beginning of the World hath been hid in God Eph. 3.9 that is in the counsell and decree of God hath been also some way or other revealed by God almost as soon as the world began It was revealed to Adam by the promise of the womans seed and to Abraham by promise that in his Seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed It was revealed to the Church of the Jewes in Ceremonies and Prophesies and it hath been revealed to the Church both of Jewes and Gentiles by the Spirit in the preaching of the word ever since Christ paid this ransome to this day and it had been hidden to this day if the Lord had not revealed it 't is therefore the Lords invention Let me add this by way of inference We honour men that bring forth any rare invention And if it be an invention which also produceth profit and advantage to mankind how are the Authors of it admired and their names recorded All the inventions of the most refined wits in the world are dull pieces to this invention the redemption of man by Christ And as there is the stamp of an infinite unchangeable wisdome upon it so the profit which comes in by it to mankind is infinite and inestimable How then should we honour God both for bringing this wonderfull invention to light and giving us the benefit of it freely It had been great mercy if God had delivered us upon our finding out and proposall of a way to him but he hath not only delivered us but found out a way himself and plotted how we might be delivered What a glorious mercy is this When Darius saw how Daniel was insnared by his act or decree he was extreamly troubled and saith the Text Dan. 6.14 he was sore displeased with himselfe and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him and he laboured beating his braines and studying till the going down of the Sun to deliver him yet could not but cast he was to the hungry Lions only he told him vers 16. Thy God whom thou servest continually he will deliver thee Darius could not find a ransome any meanes of deliverance for his servant and great Favourite Daniel But when we had brought ourselves into a snare and must have been cast to the Lions for ever to be torne by them the Lord brought forth this rare invention a ransome whereby we poor sinners are delivered out of the mouth of the roaring Lion who goeth about continually to devoure us Secondly Inasmuch as deliverance is got by ransome Observe Our deliverance is costly Soules are precious they are dear ware Blood and that the blood of Christ is their ransome Math. 20.28 Rom. 3.2.5 Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 Heb. 9.12 Rev. 5.9 in comparison of which all the treasures of this world are trash our Gold and Silver corruptible and our very righteousness a corrupt thing Deliverances are obtained three wayes First By power or plaine force thus Abraham delivered his Nephew Lot when he was carryed captive Gen. 14.14 He armed his trained servants born in his house three hundred and eighteen and rescued him I may say the Lord Jesus hath delivered us thus even by force and power he hath beaten all our enemies and having broken and spoyled principallities and powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it his Crosse spoken of in the former verse or in himselfe that is in his own personall power not by any aide or forreigne assistance received from men or Angells Secondly Deliverance is obtained by price or payment When our friends or country-men are taken Captives by Turkes or others we cannot send an Army to rescue them but usually we doe it by ransome we buy them againe out of the enemies hand or out of bondage Jesus Christ hath delivered us not only by power but by price it was not as hath been already shewed by gold or silver but by his own most precious blood 1 Pet. 1.18 Jesus Christ hath delivered us out of the soul destroying hand of Satan by force but he delivers us out of the sin-revenging hand of his Father by price Christ owed the Devill nothing nor doe we but blowes but having undertaken our cause he owed his Father as much as our debt and deliverance from it amounted to a vast summe yet he had enough to answer it to the utmost farthing and did and so delivered us There is a third way of deliverance and that is by supplication and intercession which may be considered two wayes First by our own prayers and supplications Secondly by the prayers and supplications of others which prayers of others are properly called intercessions The intercession of a man with man may deliver him from the wrath of a man And the intercession of a man with God hath wrought the temporall deliverance of some both persons and Nations and therefore when the Lord was resolved not to spare his people he forbad the intercession of the Prophet Jer. 14.11 Pray not for this people for their good And he professed Jer. 15.1 Though Moses and Samuel those two mighty Advocates stood before me praying he meanes for them yet my mind could not be towards this people cast them out of my sight In that God would not deliver his people upon their intercession is an argument that he often doth But 't is the intercession of Christ alone which carryeth it with God and that alwayes carryeth it for the Father alwayes heareth him that is granteth his requests for the deliverance of his people both from temporall spirituall and eternall evills This intercession of Christ is the fruit of his blood shed or of the ransome paid down for us For as his blood purchaseth our deliverance so by his intercession it is given in or applyed to us We have the impetration of our pardon by Christs sufferings and the application of it by Christ interceding for us So then we are delivered both by power and price and prayer in severall and distinct respects But the present text speaks of deliverance only by a
to him spoken of in the former verse and the declaration of it in that word or warrant which went out from God to the messenger about his deliverance from going downe to the pit This mercy or recovery in the full extent of it hath a two-fold respect First to his body Secondly to his soule The mercy as it respects his body is layd downe in the 25th verse His flesh shall be fresher then a childes he shall returne as in the dayes of his youth The mercy which respects his soule or the state of his inward man is layd downe in the 26th verse He shall pray unto God and be will be favourable unto him and he shall see his face with joy for he will render unto him his righteousness In this recovery of his soule-state we may further consider First the causes of it First The Instrumentall cause prayer He shall pray unto God Secondly The principall or efficient cause of it together with the first moving cause The kindness of God He will be favourable unto him Secondly The consequence of this his renewed soule-state He shall see his face with joy Thirdly The matter wherein this joyfull state doth consist in the close of the 26th verse For he will render to man his righteousness So much for the scope and parts of these two verses which shew the blessed issue which God gives this distressed and sick man from his afflictions and sorrowes Vers 25. His flesh shall be fresher then a childes By flesh he meanes the naturall flesh of the body this flesh shall be fresh yea fresher and not only fresher then it was before he fell sick in his man-hood but then it was in his child-hood fresher then a childes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mollitur recreatus fuit alibi quam hic non legitur Ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod virentem significat ac vegetuÌ„ ut cap 8. 16. et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod syriacè significat crescere q. d. revirescet plantarum more et germinum Merc The word which we render comparatively fresher signifies to wax soft or tender 'T is no where read in the whole Bible but here Grammarians say it is compounded of an Hebrew word which signifies to be greene or flourishing Chap 8.16 and of a Syriack word which signifies to increase and grow as a plant we render it as noting the man mending apace as some sick men upon recovery doe in his strength and health He shall be fresh-coloured who before was pale and wan he shall be full-fleshed who before was fallen and leane so that when he saith His flesh shall be fresher then a childes 'T is an Elegant hyperbolical expression to shew his perfect recovery from that mortal sickness to health As if he had sayd God will restore him so that there shall be no scarr nor print no dregs nor appearance of his former disease seene upon him We know how tender and soft how delicate and faire the flesh of a little child is how sweete his countenance is how full of good blood his veines are how healthy and strong as to his time his whole body is Thus it shall be with this sick man His flesh shall be freshâ—r then a childes he shall be as if he were new-borne or entred a second time upon the stage of this world Our spirituall estate of renovation by Christ is set forth as a youthfull or child-like state as to the purity and perfection of it Eph 5.27 Christ shall present us to himselfe a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing The Church hath her sin-spots and wrinckles now in her militancy but when Christ shall present the Church at last triumphantly to himselfe then as himselfe was ever without spot or wrinckle so shall the Church be Her flesh shall indeed be fresher then a childes being perfectly recovered out of her spirituall sickness Notat perfectissimum sanitatis modum qui nullum transacti morbi vestigium relinquit Mert And thus in proportion Elihu assures the penitent sick man that when his peace is renewed with God and his spirit set right for God his very flesh shall be without spot or wrinckle fresher then a childes The latter part of the verse beares the same sence He shall returne as in the dayes of his youth That is he shall not barely recover his health and get upon his leggs againe as we say he shall not meerely escape death and the grave but he shall have an addition of bodily ability he shall as it were be young againe As sickness makes a young man look old so recovery from sickness makes the old man look young That 's to returne to the dayes of his youth Hence Note First Bodily beauty health and strength are the Gift of God He gives them and takes them away at pleasure or having taken them away he can give them backe when he pleaseth He kills and he makes alive he bringeth downe to the Grave and bringeth up as Hannah sayd in her Song 1 Sam 2.6 How low soever a man is brought by sickness either proper or metaphoricall the Lord is able to rayse him up againe We read v. 21. in how pitifull a plight the sick man was how rather like a carkasse then a living man he lookt His flesh was consumed that it could not be seene and his bones which were not seene stood out as much as to say He was nothing but skin and bones yet when in that case all hopes were gone and all natural helps fayled it was no hard matter with God to cure him When the skill of the Physician and the vertue of medicines fayle the power of God fayleth not As it is in reference to those outward dangers and desperate exigents which we meete with in this world by enemies and persecutors when we look upon our selves as dead men when all hope of deliverance seems past gone then the Lord alwayes can and often doth deliver The Apostle gives us his experience of it 2 Cor 1.9 10. We had the sentence of death in our selves he spake not thus in regard of sickness but of trouble and persecution As if he had sayd The malice and wrath of our enemies was such that we thought we should never escape We had the sentence of death in our selves but providence suffered it to be so that we should not trust in our selves but in God who rayseth the dead As it is I say in such dangers so in dangerous deadly sicknesses when a poore creature hath the sentence of death in himselfe when he makes no other reckoning but to dye as good King Hezekiah sayd of himselfe in his sickness Isa 38.13 I reckoned till morning that as a Lyon so will he breake all my bones from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me yet then as in his case so in many cases the Lord stretcheth forth a healing hand and takes the sick man up againe to continue in
the land of the living Secondly From the way of expressing this in allusion to a childe or a youth Note God he can quickly make the greatest changes in nature either for the better or for the worse He can turne youth into old age and old age into youth That is he can make a young or a healthy man weake as an old man and an old or sickly man strong as a young man and as it is with naturall so with politicall bodyes as with persons so with nations A nation that is flourishing in its youth heate strength and glory rich and full of peace and plenty God can bring an oldness upon it and cause it to decline every day The Prophet spake of the state of Israel in this notion Hos 7.9 Gray haires are here and there upon them and they perceive it not they thought ttemselves to be in a very youthfull flourishing condition as a state but the Lord brought gray haires that is they were decaying withering weakning and became a decrepid nation And when a nation is gray-hayred old and withered he can make it youthfull he can recover the honour and power of it and cause the dread of it to fall upon the neighbouring nations round about He turnes a land into a wilderness which before was as the Garden of God And he can change that land into a Garden of God which now is a desolate wildernes The unchangeable Lord is visible and glorious in all these changes The health and strength both of the body politick and naturall are at his dispose He can bring a decay upon what is built and repaire what is decayed whether in nations or persons When the earthly house of this Tabernacle is ready to drop downe into the grave and crumble into dust God by a word speaking repayreth it to as much beauty and strength as when the first stone being layd the top-stone was set up When Naaman had once submitted to and obeyed the Prophets counsell which at first he despised washed in Jorden His flesh saith the text 2 Kings 5.14 came againe like unto the flesh of a little childe The holy Psalmist charged his owne soule to praise the Lord and all that was within him to blesse his holy name Psal 103.1 5. Who had satisfied his mouth with good things so that his youth was renewed as the Eagle This renovation of his youth may be understood three wayes First as to his naturall state or bodyly strength Secondly as to his civill state or worldly successes as to his honour and kingly renowne Thirdly as to his spirituall state or the hightning of his gifts graces and comforts 'T is probable David had found a declension in all these and at last through the goodness of God and his blessing upon him the renewing of them all from that oldness to a youthfullness againe like that of Eagles We find the same allusion in the Prophet Isa 40.31 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up as with Eagles wings Some Naturalists say the Eagle reneweth her strength by sucking blood when her stomack is so weake that shee cannot seed upon the flesh of her prey Saints indeed renew their strength as the Eagle while by faith they sucke the blood of Jesus Christ and they get cure of their owne weaknesses while they believingly lay hold upon his strength Thirdly We heard in the former verse of a divine warrant issued out for this mans recovery Then he is gracious to him and saith deliver him Here we have the warrant executed His flesh shall be fresher then a childes Hence observe The commands and warrants of God are effectuall they shall be obeyed and made good to man If God say deliver him from a sick bed he shall be delivered I will worke saith the Lord Isa 43.13 14. and who shall let it for your sake I have sent to Babylon and have brought downe all their Nobles or barrs as the margin reads it I will have it done I will breake all those Nobles who are as barrs in the way of my peoples deliverance So when the Lord sends his warrant for the delivering of a sick man he will break all those barrs and bands by which diseases and sicknesses hold him as a prisoner in his bed Nothing can stand against the word of God as by a word speaking he gave the creature a being when it had none The Lord only spake the word Let there be light let there be a firmament c. and it was so Thus also the word or warrant of God reneweth a wel-being to those with whom it is worst or a comfortable life to those who are compassed about with the sorrowes of death The word of God prevailes over all or is effectuall to every purpose Psal 33.9 He spake and it was done he commanded and it stood fast Further In this restoring of the sick we have a shadow of the resurrection The raysing of a dying man from his bed is like the raysing of the dead from the grave The spring of the yeare is a shadow of the resurrection because then the earth returnes to her youth and is fresh as a child In winter all things are dead and desolate their glosse and beauty is gone but then cometh the spring and all revives againe the face of the earth looks fresh corne and grasse trees and plants flourish and put forth their buds and blossomes Now what the spring of the yeare is to the body of the earth the same is the returne of health to the body of man In both we have an exemplar of the resurrection as also in the regeneration or new birth of the soule by the power of the holy Ghost For till then we are like old sickly men in the old man yea we are dead But no sooner doth the Spirit bring us forth by a second creation into the life of the new man but we become in spirit fresh like Children our youth returnes to us againe that is we returne to that state wherein we were first created and set up by God in righteousness and true holiness yea into a better and surer state then that Man through grace is not only as he was in the first day of his creation but better He returnes to the day of his youth and receives such a youth as shall never decay into old age yea the older he is in nature the younger that is the stronger and more beautifull he shall be in grace He shall according to that promise Psal 92.14 still bring forth fruit in old age he shall be fat and flourishing This renewed youthfullness and flourishing condition of the restored sick man in spiritualls is specially and fully set forth in the next verse For Elihu having shewed the recovery of the sick mans body he proceeds to the recovery of his soule which eminently returnes to the dayes of its youth both in the puttings forth of or exercising the grace of God
Lord for me that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me Acts 8.24 But we read not that he prayed for himself The prayers of others are rarely beneficiall to any unlesse they either pray or have a desire to pray for themselves Elihu represents the sick man praying for himself he shall pray Vnto God There 's the object of prayer Hence Note Prayer in sicknesse and in all other cases must be directed unto God and to him only Divine addresses are fit for none but God For First none are worthy of this honour but God Prayer is so great a part of that honour and worship which is due to God that it is often put for his whole worship Mine house saith the Lord Isa 56.7 shall be called an house of prayer for all Nations Secondly none can heare that is answer prayer but God there is no help to be had but in him As it is his glory to be prayed to and such a glory as he will not part with to any other so it is in vaine to pray to any other In vaine is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of Mountains that is from the greatest worldly Powers truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel Jerem. 3.23 God only was David's Hills Psal 121.1 2. I Lift my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my helpe what these hills were himselfe explaines in the next verse My help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth Baals Priests called upon Baal they cryed Baal hear us but saith the Text thâ—re was neither voyce nor any that answered 1 Kings 18.26 It is not only sinfull but senceless to pray to any other then God alone That popish Doctrine of invocation to Saints and Angells is not only a will-worship but folly and dotage Fourthly He shall pray c. Hence Observe If we would have any mercy from God we must ask it God is ready to give but he looks to be intreated and he will be intreated What God hath promised to doe for us his doing of it must be obtained by prayer Working prayer worketh the promises to their issue yea prayer worketh the prophecies whether of salvation upon Sion or ruine upon Babylon to their issue Promises and prophesies are the express will of God and shall certainly be fullfilled in their season yet if we desire their fullfilling we must pray that he would fullfill them and 't is a token for good that God is about to fullfill them when the hearts of his people are drawne out much in prayer for their fullfilling There are some mercies in the promises rightly called preventing mercies they come upon us before we ask such is the mercy of out vocation conversion or turning to God we are naturally so far from praying while we are in the state of nature that we are continually blaspheming or dishonouring the name of God but as for persons converted who are eminently called heires of the promise that is of the good in the promise if they will have any good out of a promise they must aske it When the Prophet had declared many prophesies of good and great and glorious things which God would doe for his people he concludes with this direction from the Lord. Ezek. 36.37 I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to doe it for them As if the Lord had said I will not doe these things unasked as you looke I should doe these things for you so I look you should pray unto me that they may be done A promise was made to Abraham Gen. 22.17 that his seed should be multiplyed as the Stars of Heaven now might not Isaac his Son have said God hath promised me children what need I pray for them but Isaac knew better he knew that the promise was to be brought to the birth by prayer therefore he entreated the Lord that he might have children Fifthly from these words He shall pray compared with the next and he that is God will be favourable to him Observe The Lord is ready to hear when we pray ready to give when we ask As prayer is honourable and delightfull to God so fruitfull to man Ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find Math. 7.7 He shall pray unto God and he will be favourable unto him Prayer shall not be lost nor vanish into aire There was never any faithfull prayer lost though the prayers of many have not been answered in kind that is they have not had the very thing they asked for yet they have had an answer to their prayers and though prayer be not alwayes answered in our time yet there is a time wherein all faithfull prayers shall be answered one age reaps the fruit of those prayers which another age hath sowne The seed time is one age the harvest in another Latter Generations get good by the prayers of the former Though we who pray see not the fruit of it yet many shall find the fruit of it and how often doth the fruit of prayer appear presently how often doth the answer come in upon the very putting up of the request Isa 65.24 Before they call I will answer and while as they are yet speaking I will hear While the word is in their mouth the mercy shall be put into their hand While the Church Acts 12.5.16 was praying Peter came in among them As if God had said there 's your prayer What the Propâ—et Elisha said 2 Kings 6.33 of the messenger sent to apprehend him Is not the sound of his Masters feet behind him The same may we say somtimes of this messenger holy and fervent prayer is not the sound of the mercy prayed for at the very heels of it Thus close doth Elihu put the sick mans prayer and the answer of God he shall pray unto God And he will be favourable unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graecis est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat vehementer velle ac delectari Merc That is he shall have a gracious and a speedy answer he will be favourable unto him or he will accept him as Mr. Broughton renders 'T is a very comfortable word it notes not only to wish well to or to be at peace but to be well pleased with another yea to be delighted and take pleasure in him 'T is not barely to be appeased and reconciled to lay down wrath and displeasure conceived against a man but it notes much sweetness of spirit towards him and full content or complacency in him Psal 149.4 The Lord taketh pleasure in his people they are as the joy of his heart he will beautifie the meek with salvation he will not only save them but adorne them with salvation they shall not only be delivered after they have layen among the pots Psal 68.13 from the blackness and filth of their adversity but they shall have a beauty put upon them or as it followeth in that Psalme last
cited They shall be as the wings of a Dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold God will be favourable to them that is he will give them favours to wear for him he will put markee of honour upon them they shall not only be benifited but beautified and crowned with salvation God expressed that highest favour and most indeared affection which he bare to his own Son as serving him by no better nor more emphaticall word then this Isa 42.1 Behold my serâ—ant whom I uphold mine elect in whom my soul delighteth What is or can be more delightfull to God then his Son and what can be more comfortable to man then to hear and know that God delighteth in him and bears favour to him through his Son with the same affection as he doth to his only begotten Son He will be favourable unto him Whence note First God is well pleased with he is favourable to and delighted in an humble sinner When a sinner is brought upon his knees and becomes a suppliant when as he is laid low by affliction so he lyeth low in prayer and supplication then the Lord will be savourable to him and shew his delight in him The Lord delighteth not in the strength of the horse he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man Ps 147.10 11. No man is favoured by God because of his outward favour because he hath a beautifull face or strong cleane limbs yea not only hath the Lord no pleasure in any mans legs but not in any mans braines how reaching soever nor in any mans wit how quick soever nor in any mans judgment how deep soever nor in any mans tongue how eloquent or well spoken soever but the Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him in those that hope in his mercy in those that walk humbly with him and call upon him Let me saith Christ to his Spouse Cant. 2.14 hear thy voyce for it is sweet he meanes it not of an artificiall singing voyce but of a spirituall praying voyce That 's the musick which the Church makes for Christ Nothing is so tunable nor takes the eare and heart of Christ like the voyce of prayer and praise from a gracious heart All the beauties and rarities both of persons and things are dull and flat yea wearisome and loathsome to God in comparison of a gracious honest humble soul Princes have their favourites they are according to the language of this Text favourable to some above many either because they are beautifull and goodly persons or because they are men of excellent speech prudence and comportment All godly men are Gods Favourites he is favourable to them not only above many men in the world but above all the men of this world who have their portion in this life And he therefore favours them because they are the purchase of his Son and the workmanship of his Spirit convincing them of and humbling them for their sins as also creating them after God in righteousness and true holiness Such shall be his favourites Secondly Consider the coherence or dependance of these words He shall call unto God and he will be favourable unto him Whereas before all his complainings and outcryes stood him in no stead now being humbled effectually and taking hold of the righteousness shewed and offered him by the Messenger of God he no sooner makes suit to God but is heard Hence Note God first shewes regard to the person then to the offering to prayers and services This truth may be understood two wayes First in reference to the state of grace When Abel and Cain brought their sacrifices or offerings God had respect to Abel and his offering but to Cain and his offering had no respect Gen. 4.4 5. Abel was in a state of grace Cain was not so the Apostle states their case Heb. 11.4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice then Cain by which he obtained witnesse that he his person was righteous God testifying of his gifts and what did he testifie surely that his gifts were brought in faith and were presented from a principle of grace which Cain had not and therefore God did not approvingly testifie of his gifts Till we close with God by faith God doth not close with our services by acceptance Secondly as this is true in reference to the state of grace so in reference to somewhat in the present actings or dispositions of those who are gracious 'T is possible for a godly man to act so sinfully and to be so ill disposed to the frame of his heart that God may seem to deny acceptation to his prayers and services David said Psal 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not heare me And God told the Jewes his Covenant people Isa 1.15 When ye make many prayers I will not hear your hands are full of blood Thus while they who have a state interest in Christ walke unworthy of it they are under the frownes of God and his dis-acceptation of all their duties till they renew their repentance and humble themselves And I conceive this was the case of the sick man in the Text in whom doubtlesse he aimed at Job whom Elihu granted to be a godly man yet under great distempers of spirit which must be healed removed before he could so call upon or pray unto God as he would be favourable to him or give him testimonie of his favour Thus we see in both these references how the person of a man must be respected and in favour before his prayers can For as we can have no benefit by the intercession of Christ till we accept his person so God will not give us any benefit by our supplications till himself accepteth our persons which he doth only in Christ Many would be saved by Christ they would be pardoned and get to heaven they would enjoy the benefits and priviledges which he hath purchased for his people but they neglect Christ himself nor doe they think of closing with his person Now I say as unlesse we have respect to the person of Christ and desire union with him we have nothing to doe with his benefits so unless God hath respect to our persons we get no benefit no answer of our prayers Thirdly Note To have the favour of God or to be accepted with him is the top and summe of all desireable favours 'T is the Alpha and Omega the first and last of all other favours to find God favourable to us if God be favourable to us it matters not much who frowns upon us or what foul weather we meet with in this world And as to be in his favour should be the chief of all our desires so to be assured of his favour should be the chief of all our studies and cares 2 Cor. 5.7 Herein saith the Apostle we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him The word notes to labour ambitiously as if he had said
we labour as much for the favour of God as ever any of the sons of ambition laboured for the favour of Princes or regard with the Kings of this world No man ever plotted or flatter'd and crouched so much to the Kings of the earth for favour as we doe to God for favour herein we labour We make it our business to be accepted with him if God once accept a man you may turne him loose he will shift for one How compleately happy the condition of such a favourite is will appeare yet furtber in opening the next clause of this verse And he shall see his face with joy When once God is favourable to a poor sinner then he shall be used or dealt with like a favourite Great Favourites stand in the presence of Princes and frequently see their faces Whomsoever any man favours he freely admits to his presence and takes delight in his company Thus Elihu speaks of Gods Favourite He shall see his face with joy There is a twofold interpretation of these words tending both to the same spirituall sence Videbit deus faciem ejus cum laetitia i. e. hilaritèr cum intuebitur vultu laeto et facili eum respiciet cum ante vultum iratus avertebat Merc First Some by the Antecedent He understand God himselfe and by his face the face of the humbled sick man and so the sence of this assertion he shall see his face with joy is plainly this God will look cheerfully and smilingly upon the face of this poor suppliant God will look upon him as we doe upon friends whom we favour and have much respect for Friends may see content and joy shining in or stampt upon our faces when we look them in the face The content which we take in seeing the face of another is visible in the smiles and joyes of our own faces As when we look sowrely angryly sorrowfully sullenly upon a man when darkness is seen in our faces and clouds gather in our brows ready to dissolve into a storme this speaks we beare him no good will or rather that we bear him much displeasure So when we looke pleasantly upon a man doth it not say that we are highly pleased with him To be sure when God is at peace with a repenting sinner he no longer frownes upon him nor turns his face from him as an enemy but entertaines and welcomes him as a friend which is directly opposite to Jobs apprehension of God at the 10th verse of this Chapter Behold he findeth occasions against me he counteth me for his enemy This is a sweet soul-reviving and ravishing truth God beholds the face of his people with joy he beholds them smileingly cheerfully delightfully David calls it The light of Gods countenance Psal 4.6 Et videbit homo faciem dei cum jubilo Merc Secondly and I rather conceive that to be the meaning of the place most relate the He to the sick man who having been upon his knees humbling himself before God and finding God favourable to him he then seeth his face that is the face of God with joy God fills his soule with a great deale of peace comfort and sweetness in his approaches to him Before possibly if he did but think upon God he was troubled as Asaph found Psal 77.3 I remembred God and was troubled To a man in great trouble especially in trouble of mind the very thoughts of God who is our only help in trouble may be troublesom but when he is set right and restored to the favour of God or God being again favourable unto him he beholds his face with abundance of joy Here are yet two things to be opened or two Queries may be made and answered for the clearing of these words First What is meant by the face of God Secondly what is meant by seeing his face To the former query I answer First the face of God is the essentiall being or perfect Majesty of God of which himself saith to Moses Exod. 33.23 My face shall not be seen Secondly the good will and favour of God is his face Ps 80.3 Cause thy face to shine that is be good to us and we shall be saved Thirdly the face of God in Scripture is put for any manifestations of God to man God manifesteth himself in wrath to some men Psal 34.16 The face of the Lord is against them that doe evill Facies dei iram quandoque favorem notat Drus That is he is angry and greatly displeased with them He manifesteth himself in love to others and all such are said either as in the Text to see his face or as other Texts express it to have his face shining upon them God is a spirit he hath no face properly but as the face of a man is that by which he is knowne if a man hide his face we know not who he is though we see all the other parts of his body he is a concealed man so that whatsoever it is by which God is clearly knowne that in Scripture language is called his face And hence Thirdly the worship and holy ordinances of God are called the face of God Gen. 4.14 because they are great manifestations of God or because God is manifested in his Ordinances in his word and worship who and what he is After a sick man through the help of God is recovered he goes into the congregation to give thanks and then he may be said to see the face of God because there be exhibits the signs of his presence doth as it were shew his face There as in a glass we behold the face of God that is the discoveries of his holiness of his love goodness The face of God is seen in his works as the Apostle teacâ—eth us Rom. 1.20 The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternall power and godhead much more in his word and Ordinances and above all in Jesus Christ is God seen and manifested Jesus Christ is the face of God the brightnesse of his glory the expresse image of his person Heb. 1.3 The light of the knowledge of the glory of God shineth to us in the face of Christ Thus the face of God is beheld in the face of Christ There we may see how holy how just how good and mercifull God is all this glory of God appeareth to us in the face of Christ who is the highest manifestation of God Here in the Text by the face of God we are to understand any demonstration of Gods favourable presence in which sence of the word Aaron was to blesse the children of Israel Numb 6.25 The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon thee and give thee peace That is the Lord manifest himself to thee in wayes of grace and peace in favour and in mercy David prayed in the same
holiness can see the face of God there Thus Christ saith of the Angells They alwayes behold the face of my father which is in heaven Math 18.10 Now we see the face of God darkly as in a glasse 1 Cor 13.12 that is in his word and workes in his ordinances and appoyntments in these we have glimpses of the face of God but we shall see him face to face that is as fully and comprehensively as creatures can we can never comprehend God but we shall have comprehensions of God so farre as finite can take in the fruitions of Infinite We shall see his face with joy Thirdly Note It is the greatest joy and happiness of man imaginable to see the face of God Any manifestation of God is a joyfull favour and a full manifestation of him fills the heart with joy Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon us saith David Psal 4.6 7. thou hast put gladness in my heart more then in the time their corne and wine increased As if he had sayd I rejoyce in thy favour more then worldlings doe in their best enjoyments Shew us the father and it sufficeth us sayd Philip John 14.8 let us have but that favour and we desire no more we have enough we can have no more if we may but see the father True joy stands not in any sights nor in the sight of any thing here below but in the sight of God above while we are below and in a hope that we shall at last get above too and there have an everlasting sight of him in whose presence is fullness of joy and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore We read in the Leviticall Law of the shew-bread which was to be set in the holy place upon a Table Exod 25.30 The Hebrew is the bread of faces There are two reasons of this denomination First Because that Bread did shew the gracious provision that God made for them all the way they journeyed from Egypt to Canaan or that he spread a Table for them in the wilderness where they had no harvest To which the Prophet may allude Jer 2.2 I remember saith the Lord the kindness of thy youth the love of thy espousalls when thou wentest after me in a land that was not sowne that is when thou didst trust me for thy dayly bread Secondly It was called the shew-bread to testifie the speciall presence of God with them and that his eye was alwayes upon them ready to do them good upon all occasions This was the high priviledge of the Jewes then they had the bread of faces and this is the joy of the people of God now that what ever good they have it is the face of God to them their bread is the bread of faces and their wine is the wine of faces c. that is they are a signification of the favour and love of God to them or they look upon the love and favour of God manifested in those things much more then upon the things themselves Now if it be so great a mercy to have some manifestation of the face or favour of God or that we are alwayes in the sight and view of God What will it be to us when we shall alwayes abide in the presence of God and see his face with joy Lastly Note A justified person hath confidence to looke up to and thinke of God He doth it with joy and that 's the fruit of a well-grounded confidence Where the Spirit of the Lord is saith the Apostle 2 Cor 3.17 there is liberty a liberty of addresse and approach to God a liberty also of speech and prayer to God True godliness hath much well regulated boldness with God and as a Godly man ought with reverence so he can with a wel-grounded confidence looke God in the face For he will render unto man his righteousness This latter part of the verse giveth an account of the ground of that joy which the sick man found in seeing the face of God He shall see his face with joy saith Elihu for he that is God shall render unto man his righteousness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall render The Hebrew is he will make to returne The word signifieth First to returne to a place from whence we have departed Gen. 18.10 Secondly to return or turn from that displeasure which was once conceived When the Lord is as it were in a hot pursuit of sinners he returns or turns from his anger The Prophet speakes in the negative Isa 5.25 For all this his anger is not turned away but his hand is stretched out still or he is not returned from his anger Thirdly The word is used to note mans return unto God by repentance Deut 30.28 We by sin turn away from God and by repentance we return to him Fourthly It signifieth to returne by way of requitall Psal 116.12 What shall I render unto the Lord It is this word or What shall I return to the Lord for all his benefits David was in an holy muse or maze what testimony of thankfulness he should bring to the Lord. What shall I render And in that sence it is attributed both to God and man sometimes in relation to evill done and then it notes to render punishment or revenge Psal 28.4 Render to them their desert so the word is used by Josephs brethren Gen 50.15 He will certainly requite us all the evill which we did unto him they were jealous of their brothers love when their father was dead And as it notes a return of evill done in way of revenge so also a return of good done in way of reward thus here He will render unto man It is an indefinite assertion not to this or that man but to man With God there is no respect of persons but he that worketh righteousness let him be who he will is accepted of him To man that is to every man God will render his righteousness Righteousness is of two sorts First There is the righteousness of our sanctification which consists First in our turning from or leaving to doe evill Secondly in our doing good this is a righteousness wrought by us and dwelling or inherent in us The Hebrewes by this word often expresse that which we call almes or charity and the reason is two-fold why almes or acts of charity are expressed by that word which signifieth righteousness First because our charity or our almes must be given of those things that are rightly gotten We must not doe unjustly that we may be charitable nor wrong some to relieve others Secondly because charity and almes is a due or right to the poor that are in want we call it charity but it is a work of duty Prov 3.27 therefore 't is well expressed by righteousness He shall render unto man his righteousness or beneficence We may take it in this large sence for this also is a part of our sanctification And when it
O that my people had hearkned unto me and Israel had walked in my wayes I should soone have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves but their time should have endured for ever I should have fed them also with the finest of the wheate c. As if the Lord had sayd How glad should I have been if my people had been but fitly qualified to give me occasion of removing all evill from them and of doing them all manner of good The holy Prophet speakes the heart of God in the same readiness Isa 30.18 Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you As if he had sayd The Lord expects your reformation that he may not proceed in rigour against you or as some conceive rather he only delayeth his putting an end to your troubles till ye are humbled expecting a seasonable time to shew you that mercy in bestowing of which he will exalt and advance his owne name and honour when once he seeth you fitted and duely prepared to receive it The Lord saith David Psal 14.2 looked downe from heaven upon all the children of men to see if there were any did understand and seek God There he is represented looking downe from heaven to see if any did understand as here he looketh upon men to see if any doe repent saying I have sinned c. The Lord often yea alwayes looketh downe upon Nations Cities and people to see if any have a right understanding of him or a will with upright affections to him The Lord at this day is looking upon the sick and looking upon the sound to see if there are any who are going on faithfully in a right way or repenting that they have gone wrong He looketh upon men And if any say I have sinned c. In this latter part of the verse we have the matter expressed which the Lord looketh upon men for 't is repentance and godly sorrow for sin If any say I have sinned That is if any repent When the Lord saith If any say I have sinned he doth not meane it of a bare saying so but if any say so laying his sin to heart if any say so from a true sence of the evill of sin if any say so burden'd with sin and tasting the bitterness of it if any shall say I have sinned and say it thus then c. The word which we translate sinned notes a mistake of our ayme or way As if it had been sayd If any man say I have gone besides the line and done besides the rule Sin is in all men a missing of the mark and a stepping out of the right path it is also in very many as 't is expressed in the next clause a perverting of that which is right If any say I have sinned and perverted that which is right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 curvus obliquus contortus perversus Latini dicunt curvos mores The word implyeth more then ordinary sinning more then sins of infirmity which arise from ignorance and mistake even those which are committed with a resolvedness of spirit and purpose of heart or they imply not those sins which a man falls into unadvisedly and unawares but those which he commits upon deliberation and in the eye of the Law that shewing him plainly what is right and that he ought not to pervert it So then in strictness of sence to pervert that which is right is to be willingly yea wilfully unrighteous The Church making a graduall confession of her sin by three steps puts this word in the midst Psal 106.6 We have sinned with our fathers we have committed iniquity 't is this word or done that which is crooked and perverse we have done wickedly Cain the first man born sinned thus Gen 4.13 My punishment is greater then I can beare so we render or as we put in the margin mine iniquity is greater then can be forgiven Cains sin was a perversness he knew he perverted that which was right in slaying his brother So that here we have the confession of sin with the aggravation of it a notorious sin The penitent person doth not only say I have sinned but I have sinned greatly or I have perverted that which was right To sin and to pervert that which is right are materially the same only the latter intimates the manner how a sin is committed namely when we would not be ruled by the Law but accommodate the Law as if it were a leaden or lesbian rule to serve our lusts so perverting that which was right that we might countenance and embolden our selves in doing wrong If any aske What is right Surely right is First The Law Secondly that which is done according to Law The statutes of God are right rejoycing the heart Psal 19.8 The word of God is right and the rule of right yea it is a ruling right To pervert that which is right or to pervert the law of righteousness is to act against the light and convictions of conscience which will be our Judge One of the latine interpreters useth a harsh and course word to presse this by yet full and proper to the scope Peccavi et rectum torrificavi Cajet Praevaricatus sum à probitate Tygur I have tâ—rtified or writhed and bended that which was right Another renders it I have prevaricated from that which was right Our word gives the sence fully enough I have sinned and perverted that which was right Hence note First Sin must be confessed The Lord looks for it He looketh upon men to see whether any will say I have sinned He will have their sin out of their own mouths When Nathan brought the parable home to David and sayd Thou art the man he presently fell into confession I have sinned 2 Sam 12.13 But some may say Is this confession of sin sufficient to say I have sinned I answer First a generall confession of sin or that we have sinned is not sufficient unlesse we are also willing and ready to confesse before the Lord all our particular sins Some are ready enough to say they have sinned who yet will scarse be brought to acknowledge any particular sin yea many say Peccatores se esse plerique confitentur etiam qui se vel peccasse non credunt Greg l. 24. Moral c 12. they are great sinners who know not how or in what they have sinned not what it is to sin Therefore barely to say I have sinned is not a Gospel confession of sin I answer Secondly Though a generall confession is only expressed in this and many other Scriptures yet a speciall confession is intended The prodigal Son Luke 15.19 sayd I will returne to my father and I will say to my father I have sinned against heaven and against thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son He did not
enumerate the particular evill acts he had committed and was guilty of yet doubtlesse he had them as a burden upon his heart and was willing to unburden himselfe of them one by one in a hearty and heart-afflicting confession The publican Luke 18.13 stood a far off and durst not lift up his eyes to heaven but only sayd God be mercifull to me a sinner He struck at all his sins though he did not by name touch any one of them He that saith knowing what he saith I have sinned will not hide any one of his sins And he that indeed and truth confesseth any one will cover none of his sins Those sins may be pardoned which are not expressely confessed but if we conceale or hide any sin and will not bring it forth in confession we cannot in faith expect the pardon of it Againe Consider the time or season when the Lord looked for this confession It was a time of trouble and affliction of paine and sorrow the man was sick or but in a way of recovery out of his sickness Hence note Times of affliction are speciall times of confession and repentance Confession of sin must not be omitted especially not neglected in our most comfortable dayes much lesse in a day of trouble A sad and troubled state calls us aloud to a gracious sadness of heart to the search of our hearts and lives which are preparatory to repentance and Godly sorrow Usually in prosperity men will not be at leisure to search their hearts and take notice of their sins Therefore the Lord draweth them to confession by drawing them from the world by laying them upon their sick beds or by bringing them into straites And as when affliction is upon persons or families then is a speciall time to confesse personall and family sins so to confesse national sins is most seasonable when affliction hath seized upon kingdomes and nations The want and neglect of that publicke confession and sorrow in such a day is mightily aggravated and most severely threatned Isa 22.12 13 14. God looketh and loveth to heare every man saying and a whole nation as one man saying in a day of sorrow and trouble I have sinned and perverted that which was right From the latter words I have perverted that which was right or the Law Note First The law of God is the rule of righteousness a right rule All rightness and righteousness is comprehended in it and measured by it Secondly Learne Sin is a perverting of that which is right Every the least sin is so in some degree though here possibly sins are intended of any even of the highest degree The Apostle defining sin calleth it 1 John 3.4 A transgression of the Law and if so it must needs be a perverting of that which is right For what is or can be right if the rule of righteousness be not What the Apostle spake to Elymas Acts 13.10 Wilt thou not cease to pervert the right wayes of the Lord shewes the nature and effect of every sin and the more sinfull any sin is by so much the more doth it pervert that which is right Some sinners are sayd to make voyd the law of God to pervert it as if they would quite subvert and disanull it David remembers God of such and desires him to look to them betimes Psal 119.126 It is time for thee to work for they have made voyd thy law That is they have done their best or worst rather their utmost to make it voyd and of no force 'T is not in the power of all the powers of the world to vacat rescind or null one tittle of the law of God heaven and earth shall passe away before that yet many attempt it yea some doe that which will be found and interpreted a making voyd of the law of God who thinke themselves great zelotes for or very zealous of the law That will be the case of many especially of all will-worshippers Againe Consider though the person here spoken of had not only sinned but perverted that which was right that is sinned perversly yet upon confession the Lord deales graciously with him Hence Note The free grace of God extends to the pardon of the greatest sins even sins of perversness Where sin aboundeth Grace aboundeth much more Rom 5.20 whether the abounding of sin be taken in the number of it or in the weight of it that is in the greatness and aggravations of it Grace hath its sutable super-abounding Num 23.21 When Balaam would shew that the people of Israel were a people impenetrable by his curses he saith The Lord hath seen no iniquity in Jacob nor perversness in Israel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word there used is of a different root from this in the text but the sence is the same implying if the Lord had seen perversness in Israel it would have layd them open to a curse yet sins made up of perversness are within the compass of a pardon There is no sin excepted from pardon but that which at once refuseth and despiseth it the sin against the holy Ghost Math◠12.31 This should not incourage any to sin perversly only it is a comfort to those who have They who have sinned perversly or who have perversness mingled with their sin should not cast off the hope of pardon but woe to those who sin perversly that is against the light of their owne consciences upon hopes of pardon Such persons have no true hope they may have much presumption that they shall be pardoned They who having sinned perversly confesse it have good ground to pray for pardon but they who goe on sinning perversly have no ground while they doe so to hope for it This text speakes of a person confessing and bewayling that he hath sinned perversely not of a person purposing to sin so as appeares further in the last clause of the verse If any say I have sinned and perverted that which is right And it profiteth me not Here 's another poynt of confession we must not only confesse that we have sinned but the fruitlessness of sin or that sin profiteth not There are two rendrings and so two severall expositions of these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 potest esse verbum potest esse et nomen faemininum Vnde sensus est non accepi tantundem non reposita est mihi par paena pro peccato meo Coc Non dignè in me inquisivit pro his quae poccavi Sept The word signifieth most properly that which is equall And hence some give the sence thus which carrieth in it an eminent work of repentance I have sinned and perverted that which was right and have not that which is equall That is Though I am greatly afflicted and my sorrows lye heavie upon me yet they are not equall to my sinning or perverse dealings with the Lord. I have not received as I was worthy or according to my ill deservings The Septuagint speak thus God hath not made
for all the comforts of this and the next life All the blessings of this temporall life and the perfect blessedness of eternall life are comprehended in light So that when 't is sayd his life shall see the light the sence riseth thus high He shall be happy forever so extensive is the favour of God to repenting persons that time is too narrow for it everlasting light shall be their portion From the former branch of the words thus opened He will deliver him from the pit Observe All our deliverances are of God As there is none can deliver like God so none can deliver but God If he gives out the word that such a man shall goe to the pit it is not in the power and skill of all the Princes and Physitians in the world to save or stay him from it And how low and desperate soever any mans condition is if God say the word he is deliver'd and reprieved from going downe into the pit Secondly From the connexion with the former verse the sick man having made this confession I have sinned and perverted that which is right and it profiteth me not the Lord presently delivers him c. Observe God is ready to deliver humble praying and believing sinners That command hath a promise joyned to it Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver The 107th Psalme speakes this quite through where we find many sorts of perishing persons crying unto God and God delivering them from perishing when they cryed As when sin cryeth God will afflict so when sinners cry God will relieve them in or bring them out of their affliction From the latter branch His life shall see the light Note Naturall life and light are a great blessing God promiseth much when he promiseth life and light The light of this life is no small mercy how much greater is the light of spirituall life But who can conceive how great a mercy the light of eternall life is yet all this God speakes to the humble and believing sinner when he saith His life shall see the light Secondly Comparing the two parts of this text together He will deliver him from going downe to the pit and his life shall see the light Observe The mercy of God to humble sinners is a compleate mercy Here is not only deliverance from evill but the bestowing of good it is much to be kept from going downe into the pit but it is more to see light the light of comfort here and the light of glory hereafter The mercy of God to his people is great in temporalls greater in spiritualls greatest in eternalls The benefit of redemption to shew the fullness of it is set forth two wayes First by our freedome from evill Secondly by our enjoyment of good John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life He shall not perish that is he shall be delivered from going downe to the pit he shall have everlasting life that is as the text speakes his life shall see the light Elihu having at large drawne a description or narration of the whole proceeding of God with sinfull man in all the parts and particulars of it gives a briefe of all that he sayd in the two next verses Vers 29. Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with man Vers 30. To bring back his soule from the pit to be enlightned with the light of the living As the Apostle after he had discoursed at large about the dignity of Christs Priest-hood gathers up all together Heb 8.1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum we have such an high Priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens So Elihu having spoken much of the severall wayes by which God revealeth himselfe to man and works him to a sight of his sin and penitentiall sorrow for it recollects and summes up all in these words Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with man c. In these two verses we may take notice chiefly of two things First The frequency of Gods dealing thus with man v. 29th Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes Secondly The designe and purpose of God in doing so That he may bring back his soule from the pit and be enlightned with the light of the living Lo all this worketh God oftentimes with man Here 's the application of the former Doctrine Elihu presseth his hearers with it and bids them lay it to heart As if he had sayd I have not been speaking of things in the clouds but of what is really and dayly acted among the children of men Lo or behold all these things There are foure speciall significations in Scripture of this word Lo or behold and they may all foure meete in this place First It imports some new unheard-of and wonderfull thing Isa 7.14 Lo or behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son That a virgin should bring forth a son is a wonder of wonders a wonder so much above the course and power of Nature so much beyond the compasse comprehension of reason that men and Angels have reason to be astonished at it Secondly 'T is prefixed to shew some extraordinary impulse or readinesse of spirit for action Thus Christ speaketh in that other noble prophecy of him Psal 40.7 Then said I Lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me I delight to doe thy will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart Lo I come that is I am ready to come I am prest upon the work I am under the pressure and command of my own spirit as well as under thy appoyntment and decree to undertake and finish that worke of mans redemption Thirdly It frequently implyeth matter worthy of weight and deepest consideration That 's usefull and remarkeable which is thus prefaced Thus Solomon speaking of the field of the slothfull man saith Prov 24.31 Lo it was all growne over with thorns and nettles had covered the face thereof and the stone wall thereof was broken downe As if he had sayd Marke this is a thing to be attended the sluggards field is full of thorns that is in a spirituall sence slothfull hearts are full of lusts and vanities In this language the Church invites all to consider the Glorious excellencies of God Isa 29.9 Lo this is our God And thus Christ speakes of the woman whom he had healed on the Sabbath day Luke 13.16 And ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan hath bound lo these eighteene yeares be loosed from her infirmity on the Sabbath day As if he had sayd Pray consider the case and speake your mindes Fourthly 'T is often used in a way of strong assertion and affirmation intimating the certainty of what is spoken Gen 1.29 And God said Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed And
againe Gen 12.11 It came to passe when he was come neere to enter into Egypt that he said unto Sarah his wife Behold now I know that thou art a faire woman to look upon Read Psal 132.6 Ezek 30.9 Luke 1.32 In the present text it may have all these intendments for is it not a wonderfull thing that God should be gracious to poore creatures is it not strange that he should take so much paines with and exercise so much patience towards them Secondly Lo God worketh all these things He is ready to doe them he waiteth to be gracious or to magnifie his grace in doing them Thirdly Lo God worketh all these things is not this a matter of great consideration ought we not to sit downe and weigh it well Fourthly Lo all these things worketh God certainly God hath and will work all these things this is a truth out of all question a truth of which there is no doubt to be made As the Apostle saith 1 Tim 3.16 Without controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh So I may say without controversie great is this mystery of Gods manifesting himselfe to frayle flesh and doing all these things here spoken of awakening the consciences of men by dreames and working upon them by grievous sicknesses sending an interpreter one of a thousand to declare unto man his uprightness and at last delivering his soule from going downe into the pit Lo all these things worketh God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 operatus est egit perfecit usurpatur etiam pro gubernatione rerum creatarum There is somewhat peculiar in that expression he worketh The native sence of the word implyeth First a willing worke not forced or constrained Secondly a full and compleat worke not an essay or offer not a worke begun only but carried on to perfection The wicked are called workers of iniquity Psal 5.5 because they are free and ready to sin they have a strong tyde and bent of spirit to doe evill and they doe it not to halves but throughly they doe not only begin or nibble at the baite a little as a good man often doth but greedily swallow it downe hooke and all they are fully in it and doe it fully they make a worke of it and so are workers of iniquity The Lord doth good as the wicked doe evill All these things worketh God He worketh them willingly he worketh them compleatly Isa 26.12 Lord thou wilt ordaine peace for us for thou also hast wrought all our workes in us Thou art the Author and finisher of them We are invited Psal 46.8 to come and behold the workes of the Lord what desolations he hath made in the earth The building workes and the desolating workes of God whether respecting persons or nations are perfect workes Lo all these things worketh God Hence note What ever good we see wrought among or for the children of men God is the worker of it As he over-ruleth the evill which is done and both sendeth and ordereth the evill which is suffered so he is the worker of all the good that is done God worketh it all either immediately by himselfe or mediately by second causes and what instrument soever is set a worke yet the worke as to the matter and manner of it as also to the result and issue of it is the Lords He was the worker of all that hath been spoken of in the former context though we reade of a messenger of an interpreter yet the work was Gods 'T is sayd Gen 39.22 The keeper of the prison committed to Josephs hand all the prisoners that were in the prison and whatsoever they did there he was the doer of it Not that he did every thing with his own hand in the prison but he gave the rule and ordered all that was done Much more may I say of the Lord whatsoever is done in the world especially among his people God is the doer of it All goes through his hand Lo all these things worketh God Further From the prefix Lo. Observe The workes and dealings of God with men are wonderfull those especially which he worketh for the humbling of a sinner and for the delivering of a soule from going downe to the pit The breaking of the heart the raysing of it by faith the renewing of its peace and comfort are wonderfull works of God And the reason why we wonder no more at them is because we consider so little of them Hence againe from the word Lo. Note The workes of God are to be deeply considered to be stayed upon We must not passe them by lightly whether they be towards our selves or others God hath made his wonderfull workes to be remembred saith David Psal 111.4 or to be considered that 's the designe of God in his works he hath made them for that end that they should be remembred and attended to or they are such as cannot but be remembred they leave their markes and memorialls behind them God sets such a stamp of his power wisdome justice and goodness upon his workes that they will not be forgotten And as his outward providential workes are such so his spirituall workes are much more such The godly-wise understand them so they have a criticall eye in discerning those invisible workes of God with a poore soule in reducing him from sin and bringing him to himselfe David calleth all the godly to the consideration of those workes in his owne case Psal 66.16 Come and heare all ye that feare God and I will declare what he hath done for my soule What God doth for our bodyes is very considerable but what he hath done for our soules can never be enough considered nor admired Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The originall is twice thrice so we put in the margin and render it often-times in the text Some expound it of those three distinct wayes in which God dealeth with man before described The Septuagint are expresse for that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Schol. All these things worketh the strong God three wayes with man Which the Scholiast exemplifies in the three wayes here noted by Elihu First awakning him by dreames and visions Secondly troubling him by sicknesses and afflictions Thirdly teaching him by Prophets and Interpreters Yet I conceive the text doth not strictly recapitulate those three severall wayes before spoken of in these words twice thrice but only shewes us that God useth all these wayes or any other as his wisdome shall thinke fit many times or oftentimes for the producing of those blessed effects Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with man Twice thrice is a double certain number put for any single uncertain number And it only teacheth or assureth us that God debateth with the sons of men in all or any of these wayes oftentimes or more then once If they doe not answer his call or purpose which they
keepeth silence because he hath borne it upon him When God layeth his yoke or crosse upon us 't is our duty to be silent and submit Zach 2.13 Be silent O all flesh before the Lord for he is raised up out of his holy habitation that is the Lord begins to worke therefore let all men or men of all sorts and degrees be quiet and say nothing either discontentedly or complainingly In all these Scriptures holding our peace is called for and commanded or shewed at the workes of God Secondly There is a holding of our peace at the word of God or at what God speaketh Thus 't is when not only the tongue but the heart is silent and every thought is brought into subjection or captivity to the obedience of Christ The heart of man often speakes much and is very clamorous when he saith nothing with his tongue That 's to hold our peace indeed when the heart is quiet let God say or doe what he will 'T is not more our duty to resist the Devill that is all his hellish whisperings and temptations to the doing of evill then 't is to submit to God in all his speakings and dispensations Elihu speaking in the name of the Lord faithfully adviseth Job in this sence to hold his peace Hence learne We ought to submit and keep silence when the truth of God is spoken Or when the minde of God is brought unto us there must be no replying but obeying no disputing but submitting They have learned much who know how and when to say nothing Solomon saith Eccl 3.6 There is a time to keep silence and a time to speake but this kind of silence is in season at all times we ought alwayes to be silent thus that is alwayes submit to the minde of God We need to be minded of this because the pride and over-weening of man is great We have need to put a bridle upon our tongues much more upon our hearts it is hard to bring our wills and our understandings under we are apt to strive and struggle when truth comes neere us yea to kick at it when it comes very neeâ—â— and home to us though indeed the neerer it comes the better nor can it ever come too neere The Apostle James apprehended this when he gave that admonition Chap 1.21 Receive with meeknesse the ingraffed word which is able to save your soules Meeknesse is that grace which moderates anger a passionate or fierce spirit receiveth not the word but riseth up against it turnes not to it but upon it and which is worst of all turnes it to evill not to good turnes light into darknesse and so the word of life becomes a savour of death for want of a due submission to it Therefore hearken and hold your peace when the word of God is spoken Do not say it is but the word of man because delivered by man God speaks in and by his faithfull Messengers ye oppose the authority of the living God not a mortall dying creature when you reject the word And remember it is not only our duty but our liberty to give up our selves prisoners to the truths of God we are never so free as when bound by it or to it And as we should hold our peace at or submit to all the truths of God in all cases so especially in these three First When we are reproved for our sins in practice then we should not stand excusing what we have done but repent of it Secondly When we are shewed our errour in opinion then we should not stand disputing and arguing for what we hold but recant it 'T is time to hold our peace when once it appeares to us that we doe not hold the truth To erre is common to man but to persevere in an errour to the defence and patronage of it is more then inhumane devilish Thirdly We should hold our peace when our duty is plaine before us then we should not stand questioning it but doe it Whatsoever thy hand findeth to doe saith Solomon Eccl 9.10 that is whatsoever appeares to be a duty doe it with all thy might Hold thy tongue but doe not withhold thy hand when once thy hand hath found what must be done Elihu at this time was dealing with Job upon all these three poynts He told him his sin that he had been too querious and impatient he shewed him his error that he had been too bold with God because innâ—cent towards men And he pressed him to duty both that and how he ought to humble himselfe before the Lord. The Apostle treating about that great poynt of justification tells us God will at last cause all men to hold their peace Rom 3.19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith it saith to them who are under the law that every month may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God that is man will have nothing to say but sit downe silent and hold his peace or only say I am nothing I have deserved nothing but death and condemnation when he once understands the holiness and strictness of the law together with the unholiness and looseness of his owne heart and life Hence note It speakes yea proclaimes a gracious prudence to know how and when to hold our peace and say nothing When men insist upon their owne conceit and reason when they logick it unduely with God or men and will needs seeme to know more then the word teacheth them what doe they but give evidence against themselves that as yet they know nothing as the word teacheth or as they ought to know and themselves least of all 'T is pride and presumption not prudence and understanding which opens such mens mouths We never profit by what we heare till in the sence opened we have learned to hold our peace The counsel which Elihu gave Job was to hold his peace yet he layd no constraint upon him to refraine necessary speaking but put him upon it in the next verse Vers 32. If thou hast any thing to say answer me speake for I desire to justifie thee Lest Elihu should be interpreted to have taken too much upon him or to have denied Job his liberty of speaking when he sayd hold thy peace he here calls him to speake This is a full proofe that his intent was not to barre him from speaking but only that he should forbeare unnecessary speaking As if he had sayd Now that I have gone thus farre if I have spoken any thing that thou at unsatisfied in and dost desire I should explaine my selfe about speake thy minde freely for though I have more to say yet I will not hinder thee from saying what thou canst fairely say for thy selfe neither will I ever-burthen thy memory with too much at once therefore come now and answer if thou wilt or canst to what is already spoken The Hebrew is If thou hast words answer me that is if thou hast arguments to defend thy selfe with or to
at the second verse of the former Chapter First and chiefly 't is applyed or attributed to God himselfe Rom 8.33 It is God that justifieth God puts man into a state of justification he justifieth his person so fully that none can of right lay any thing to his charge much lesse condemne him upon any charge layd against him Secondly Man justifieth God Luke 7.29 30. And all the people that heard him and the Publicans justified God being baptized with the baptisme of John God himselfe who is the Judge of all men is condemned by many men and when things are at worst he alwayes hath some to justifie him Man justifieth God when he honoureth God taking his part and owning both his power and his righteousnesse in whatsoever he doth It is impossible God should be unjust and God is pleased to say we justifie him when we maintaine his wayes as just and righteous Thirdly Man justifieth himselfe when he is either lifted up proudly in the thoughts of what he is or hath done well Luke 18.11 or when he upon good grounds can maintaine that to be well done which he hath done Fourthly Man justifieth man when he either consents to or approves of what he hath done or spoken whether it be good or bad he that approves of a man justifies him though the man be unjust Prov. 17.15 He that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the just even they both are an abomination unto the Lord. Let a man be never so wicked and doe never so wickedly some through ignorance of his wickednesse and others through love to and liking of his wickednesse being such themselves will approve of him and give him their good word But as Christ speaks Math. 11.19 Wisdome is justified of her children that is the true lovers and followers of wisdome having a right knowledge and estimation of her worth will stand by her and speake for her when slighted by the blind and unknowing world And as this is true of declarative wisdome so especially of Christ who is essentiall wisdome His children highly prize and justifie him while the world condemns and contemns him In this fourth sence Elihu is to be understood here I desire to justifie thee that is to give testimony unto thee or subscribe thy certificate that thou art worthy of commendation Though Elihu was a man of a very warme and keene spirit full of fire and mettle yet he discovered a very honest bent and a well governed intention towards Job in saying I desire to justifie thee for 't is as if he had said It would not please me at all to see cause of further censure but it would please me fully to see cause of approving and acquitting thee Therefore doe but state thy case and make out the merits of it and I shall yield so soon as I see cause So then Elihu did not carry himself in this business first as a party or as one that had taken a side and was resolved to hold it as some doe right or wrong because he had appeared in it Nor Secondly was he hurryed by passion or intemperance of spirit Nor Thirdly was he hood-winkt by prejudice or fore-stalled by his opinion against the person Nor Fourthly was he engaged by love to contention or hopes of victory Nor Fifthly was he purposed to suppresse smother or keepe downe the truth Nor Sixthly had he any desire to asperse Job and make him appear black Nor Seventhly had he a mind to grieve the man or burthen him with accusations but declared a cleare candor and much melting compassion towards his afflicted Antagonist hungring and thirsting yea even longing for a just occasion to justifie him Verbum justificare sumitur pro justitiam exercere justè ac recte procedere q. d. statui apud me juxta aequitatis leges tecum agere Bold Some I grant expound this word justifie as used here by Elihu in a very bare and barren sence as if it implyed only thus much I will doe thee right or I have no mind to doe thee wrong but surely the word is much more fruitfull and beares the signification of a great willingness in Elihu to render Job as faire as possibly he could or as his cause would beare to all the world he waited to understand so much of him and by him as might enable him to say he had neither spoken nor done any thing amisse Hence note First A good man is glad to see any mans cause or case prove good or better then he thought it The Apostle giving severall Characters of Gospell love or charity saith 1 Cor. 13.6 It rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the truth As charity rejoyceth not in the doing of iniquity so neither doth it when others are found to have done iniquity But it rejoyceth much when any who are either suspected or charged with iniquity are upon due tryall found cleare and acquitted Paul wished that all who heard him had been not only almost but altogether such as he except his bonds Acts 26.29 It is a great argument that a man is good and just when he heartily wisheth that he who hath given occasion to others to think ill of him may at last appeare better then they thought him Secondly note A good man seekes not victory but truth and the good of those he deals with When he contends earnestly with others he desires as earnestly that truth may gaine by that contention Where a spirit of strife uncharitableness possesseth the minds of many men they love to be vexing trampling upon those they deale with rather then helping and enforming them This evill spirit is the familiar of this age That which the Apostle spake Phil. 1.15 of not a few who had the name of Gospel Ministers some preach Christ even of envy and strife and some also of good will the one preach Christ of contention not sincerely the same may be said of many disputers and polemicall writers they doe it enviously they doe it out of love to strife and contention not out of love either to truth or to those with whom they contend and strive this is a bad spirit a spirit far unlike that which ruled in Elihu who wished that the sharpest reprehensions he gave Job might end in his justification There should be such a spirit in man contending with man as there is in God contending with man who doth not thunder against sinners because he would have them perish or delighteth in their destruction but doth it first to awaken them secondly to humble them thirdly to convert them fourthly to justifie them and lastly to save them for ever I write not these things saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.14 to shame you but as my beloved sons I warne you As if he had said I intend not to asperse you or throw dirt upon you but only advise you to wipe off the dirt that is cast upon you or to keep your selves out of the dirt I would either be
owne righteousness and goodness though we are both good and righteous is evill and very blameable For whereas Job said I am righteous he should rather have left others to say it he should have been satisfied that he was so without saying so and though it cannot be denied that Job was extreamly urged to it as hath been shewed more then once in opening this Booke and it had been but necessary for him to say it once or twice in his owne defence yet because he sayd it so often it drew and that deservedly this censure or charge upon him Hence take this corolary or inference If to speake much of our owne righteousness be displeasing then how abominable is it to be proud of it or trust upon it There is nothing more pleasing to God then to see man walking in wayes of righteousness nor is there any thing more displeasing unto God then to see a man lifted up with or leaning upon his owne righteousness If we make our owne righteousness our staffe God will make it our rod. And though he is farre from scourging us because we are righteous yet he will correct us if we proclaime our owne righteousness yea if we thinke it much or thinke much of it We must have a very great occasion when at any time we beare witness to our owne righteousness and goodness but if the heart be lifted up in pride or trust at all upon it this renders man odious in the sight of God God saved Noah out of that common deluge in which the old world perished For saith the Lord Gen 7.1 thee have I seene righteous before me in this generation Noah was righteous before God and was saved when others perished but surely had he vainely boasted or unnecessarily voted himselfe righteous before men he had perished as wel as others It comes much to one and the same account with God whether men be openly unrighteous or whether without a just cause and call they open their righteousness before men Secondly Note How righteous soever we are in life yea though we are righteous by faith which is our righteousness unto life yet we must not plead that for our freedome from afflictions We may plead the righteousness of faith against condemnation but not against correction if any man be in Christ he shall never be condemned but though a man be in Christ and justified by the highest actings of faith in the blood of the Covenant yet he may be severely corrected This was I conceive the principall scope and intent of Elihu in charging Job thus even to convince him that though he was a faithfull servant of God and of a very unstained conversation among men yet he must not thinke himselfe above the crosse but quietly and meekly submit to it Job spake sometimes fully to that poynt He destroyeth the righteous and the wicked if the scourge slay suddenly he laugheth at the tryall of the innocent Chap 9.23 yet at other times he forgot himselfe and therefore he was justly as to his present case and profitably as to the future issue remembred of it by this plaine and home-dealer Elihu Job hath said I am righteous And God hath taken away my Judgement As if he had sayd Once thou didst say God destroyeth the perfect and the wicked but now thou seemest to say thou art greatly wrong'd and thy Judgement quite taken away because being a righteous man thou art thus afflicted Mr Broughton renders But the Omnipotent keeps back my right As Judgement is right fully given so there is but little difference between keeping back our right and taking it away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est auserre declinare divertere subvertere therefore the word signifieth not only to take away or cause to decline to divert and subvert but to keep back or withhold any thing in any kind as Mr Broughton translates expressely This is the thing saith Elihu which Job hath said God hath taken away or kept back my Judgement But where did Job say this he said it Chap 27.2 As the Lord liveth who hath taken away my Judgement and the Almighty who hath vexed my soule Bildad charged Job with it Chap 8. 3. while he put this question to him Doth God pervert Judgement or the Almighty pervert Justice Implying that Job had spoken words reflecting upon the Justice and Judgement of God in taking away his Judgement But you will say What is Judgement and what is it to take away Judgement or how is a mans Judgement taken away I answer There is a three-fold notion of Judgement in Scripture First Judgement is the result or issue of a mans reason about any matter or question propounded to him God sometimes takes away mans Judgement in that sense and then he becomes a foole and unable to judge 'T is a dreadfull judgement when God thus takes away mans judgement and gives him up to a Reprobate or an unjudicious minde as he did the old Gentiles Rom 1.28 for then he will quickly doe those things which are not convenient not being able to distinguish nor discerne between true or false he must needs put light for darkness bitter for sweet sweet for bitter Elihu doth not represent Job complaining that God had taken away his judgement in this notion Secondly Judgement is any angry dispensation or wrath powred out or executed upon persons nations or Churches If judgement begin at the house of God that is if trouble or wrath begin at the Church of God what will the end of those be that obey not the Gospel 1 Pet 4.17 Davids Song consisted of two parts Psal 101.1 judgement was one of them I will sing of mercy and judgement This notion of judgement is every where found in Scripture yet neither is this the notion of it in this Scripture God had not thus taken away Jobs judgement he begg'd indeed that God would take away this his judgement and it was the matter of his complaint because he did not take it away Thirdly Judgement is right done or right due right due is judgement due right done is judgement done Thus David prayed Psal 72.1 Give the King thy Judgements O God and thy righteousness to the Kings son that is give him an understanding to doe right or to give every man his right To doe this is a thing so desireable in all men especially in Kings and Princes that when God at Gibeon sent young king Solomon a blanke from heaven and bid him aske what he would he asked only this 1 Kings 3.9 Give thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people that I may discerne between good and bad This is properly the judgement intended here Job complained God hath taken away my Judgement that is my right or hath not done me right But how is Judgement taken away I shall answer it in three things First When right is quite subverted and over-throwne This the Prophet elegantly expresseth and reproveth Amos 6.12 Ye have turned judgement into
understanding men It cannot be denied nor doth Elihu in speaking thus coursely of him deny it but that Job moved doubtless by the holy Ghost had spoken many excellent things full of divine light and learning yet moved with passion he spake sometimes much amisse and is charged for it as if like a shameless person he had proffered himselfe by lavish and intemperate language to the lash of every tongue Secondly Scorning may be taken actively What man is like Job who drinketh scorning like water That is where shall we find such a scorner who hath uttered so many reproachfull speeches as Job He drinketh scorning as if he thought he could never fill himselfe enough with scorning This interpretation may have a a double reference First To his friends who it seemes were very sensible that he put scornes upon them Zophar complaineth of it Chap 11.3 When thou mockest shall no man make thee ashamed As if he had sayd when thou hast mocked and derided us shall we let thee alone and say nothing shall we suffer our selves to be abused and passe it by in silence ought we not to tell thee of it and rebuke thee for it openly and to thy face that thou mayest see thy error and be ashamed of it Secondly which is yet higher and I judge too high his scorning is referred by some to the dealings and providences of God Bibere subsannationem velut aquam est esse plenum sermonibus ridiculis Vatabl as if he had spoken of them with a kind of scorne at least with that irreverence and slightness of spirit which Eliphaz did early and earnestly admonish him of Chap 5.17 Despise not thou the chastning of the Lord and which the Apostle cals The exhortation which speaketh unto us as unto children Heb 12.5 My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord. Thus also Elihu may in a qualified sence be understood charging Job with drinking up scorning like water As if upon the whole matter he had sayd Job hath drunke scorne till he is almost drunken with it at least he is so full of it that he powres it out upon every one that comes neare him and which is worst of all he speakes so unbecomingly that we shall not much wrong him if we say he hath spoken or acted despisingly which is a degree of speaking or acting scornefully concerning the chastenings of God upon him Further When 't is said He drinketh scorning like water It may imply three things First the frequency of his scorning he doth it commonly he is at scorning as often as at drinking Secondly the content which he was supposed to take in scorning water cooleth and refresheth the heated and wearied body Thirdly it may note the easiness or naturallness of it to him To drinke is naturall to man it puts him to no paines nor study We say proverbially of that which a man doth without trouble He doth it as easily as he drinkes But of this word drinking and drinking like water the reader may see more upon those words Chap 15.16 Man drinketh iniquity like water Once more whereas Elihu saith of Job He drinketh scorning like water Some have made a criticall observation or distinction about it Elihu doth not say he drinketh scorning like wine but like water They who are provoked or led on to sin by the delight and sweetness which they find in sin are sayd to drink it like wine Prov 4.17 They drink the wine of violence or they drink violence like wine It goeth downe sweetly and pleasantly But say they such as sin not out of pleasure but out of will or out of an affected maliciousness are sayd to drink iniquity like water which hath little pleasure in it little sweetness or tast in it There 's small savour in water comparatively to wine and other delicate or delicious liquors So that according to this notion they drink iniquity like water who sin for sins sake And indeed some are so delighted in sin it self that they will sin in that which yeilds them no delight The very act of doing evill is more contentfull to them then any fruit or consequent of it But we need not stay in this nicity the generall sence falls hard enough upon Job to drink scorning like water is to be much and often in scorning Water is the cheapest liquor and of most common use every man can goe to the price of that which costs nothing in most places but the labour of taking it up What man is like Job that drinketh scorning like water Taking the words in a passive sence as Job was a person scorned and drunk in the scornes of men powred upon him as the earth drinketh in water Note He behaveth himselfe unlike a man that layeth himselfe open to and readily admits the scorne of men It is an affliction to be scorned by others But it is a sin to render our selves a scorne to others and not to be sencible of it Secondly which I rather adhere to taking the active sence he is charged with speaking scornfully to his friends or of the dealings of God with him how farre this charge might reach Job hath been toucht a little already and will be cleared yet further before the close of the whole matter brought against him in this context But in the meane time from the general sence of the words not concluding Job broadly such a one Observe Scorners are the vilest sort of men What man is like Job who drinketh scorning Not to doe good is sinfull but either to scorn that which is good or those that are good is farre more sinfull That man is gone his furthest length or ascended to the highest step of sin who turneth scorner or gives himselfe a liberty to scorne others The first words of David speake this Psal 1.1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsell of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth in the seat of the scornfull Here are three degrees of sinning walking standing sitting He that sitteth in the seate of the scornfull or hath commenced scorner hath taken the highest degree and is the chiefe Graduate in the Schooles of sin And as to sit in the seate of the scornfull is the highest degree of sinning so they that are got into that seat care not how long they sit in it yea are hardly ever got out of it So much that chiding question or expostulation of Solomon doth fully import Prov. 1.22 Ye scorners how long will ye delight in scorning As if he had sayd When shall it once be will ye never have done nor give over that trade Scorners are therefore the worst of men because they deride the best both of things and men Prov 21.24 Proud and haughty scorner is his name who dealeth in proud wrath Scorners are the children of pride A proud spirit vents it selfe in scorning Pride doth not appeare so much in apparrell in gay clothes and new fangled fashions all which are often
they have directly done or spoken yet stand it out in pleading their excuse and will never fall downe before reproofes though what they have done or spoken amisse be so plaine that it needs no proofe We should be carefull to speake and doe such things as are not subject to reproofe but when through ignorance or rashness we have run into an error either of speech or practise we should be so humble as to subject our selves to reproofe and take it well that we are rebuked for any evill As it doubles an offence to undertake the defence of it so not to defend an offence abateth and lesseneth it And as he who goeth about to cover his fault by finding out arguments and pleas for it sheweth that he hath a will or purpose to continue in it so he that is silent and hath not a word to say for it gives a good testimony both of his sorrow that he ever committed it and of his resolution never to commit it any more They are highly to be commended who live unblameably and they deserve no small commendation who being sensible of their owne fayling can patiently beare the blame of it without replying upon their reprovers JOB Chap. 34. Vers 10 11. Therefore hearken unto me ye men of understanding far be it from God that he should doe wickednesse and from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity For the work of a man shall he render unto him and cause every man to find according to his wayes ELihu having done with Jobs charge for severall unwarrantable sayings in the former context begins his refutation here and directs his speech First To Jobs friends speaking to them from the 10th to the 16th verse Secondly To Job himselfe from the 16th verse of this Chapter to the 34th In the two verses now read we have two generall poynts First A vehement deniall of any unrighteousnesse in God v. 10. Secondly A strong proofe or demonstration that there is no unrighteousnesse in God at the 11th verse He enters this confutation of Job or the vindication of the honour of God from what Job had sayd with an inviting Preface Vers 10. Therefore hearken unto me ye men of understanding Elihu like a cunning Orator often stirr'd up his auditors to attention and made frequent insinuations to winde himselfe and what he had to say into their good opinion Here he bespake not the promiscuous multitude or common sort of hearers but wise men or men of understanding such as are most fit to judge the weight and strength of those arguments and reasons by which any poynt is proved and confirmed Hearken unto me ye men of understanding The Hebrew is ye men of heart so the Margin hath it As the heart is the principle of naturall life so the principles powers of the rationall life are often ascribed to the heart Job told his friends Chap. 12.3 I have a heart we render I have an understanding as well as you Egregiè cordatus homo i. e. valde sapiens Cic 1. Tuscul and in good Authors a hearty man signifies not only a man of courage or a man of spirit but a man of knowledge and understanding a man more then ordinarily wise a man of the highest Elevation for wisdome is called a hearty man Naturalists have ascribed the moving of severall passions to severall internall parts of the body laughter say they riseth from the spleene anger from the Gall love from the liver but to the heart they give more then a passion understanding which is the noblest faculty of reason Here Elihu calls upon men of heart or of understanding to hearken to him Hence note First The best may need to have their attentions quickened Some will not heare at all they are like the deafe adder Psal 48.4 5. that stoppeth her eare which will not hearken to the voyce of the charmtr charming never so wisely The Prophet reproves such Jer. 6.10 To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may heare behold their eare is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken behold the Word of the Lord is to them a reproach they have no delight in it they cannot hearken that is they will not or they cannot hearken that is spiritually and obedientially though they have a naturall yet they have not a gracious eare as the same Prophet chap. 11.6 7 8. upbraided them yet they obeyed not nor enclined their eare This sinfull deafnesse the Lord complained of also Psal 81.8 Heare O my people saith God and at the 11 verse My people would not hearken to my voyce Now as bad men will not heare at all to purpose so the best seldome hear so well or to so good purpose as they ought and might Men of heart or of understanding are sometimes slow of hearing and may need to have their eare awakened Secondly note It is an incouragement in speaking to have understanding hearers When a people have not only eares but hearts to heare then the word is heard indeed We may suppose understanding men will probably prove the best hearers the Prophet was in hope to find it so though he failed of his hopes Jer. 5.4 Surely these are poore they are foolish men of low parts and thin intellectualls for they know not the way of the Lord nor the judgment of their God I will get me to the great men and will speake unto them for they have knowne the way of the Lord they are wise surely and understanding yet he was disappoynted in his recourse to them as it followeth in the same verse but these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds There is a naturall wisdome which hindereth the hearing of the word therefore the Apostle saith Not many wise men after the flesh are called that is savingly called the word hath its full effect upon few of them they are not prevailed with to beleeve and obey they are called but they come not Though wisdome be an advantage to profitable hearing yet all naturall wise men doe not hear profitably nor indeed can any by all the wisdome of nature Thirdly note A man without understanding is a heartlesse man Headlesse men are heartlesse men It is said Hos 7.11 Ephraim is like a silly dove without a heart All the people of God are or should be innocent doves like doves for innocency and gracious simplicity but how unbecoming is it that any of them should be doves for sillinesse or silly doves without a heart that is without any spirit or courage for God and the things or wayes of God To be without a heart is to be without a due apprehension of the mind of God or any true conformity thereunto 't is to have no knowledge either to doe good or to be good all such are silly doves without a heart without understanding and all such are yet unfit and unprepared hearers Hearken to me ye men of understanding Farre be it from God that he should doe wickedly The Septuagint
he will not doe wickedly for so it may be sayd of every honest man He will not do wickedly but seeing in this Negative commendation given by man to God as in all the Negative commandements given by God to man all affirmatives are to be understood what can be sayd more to or more sound out his praise and glory then this God will not doe wickedly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est aliquando impium pronunciare condemnare aliquando vero impiè agere vel iniquè quippiam facere Merc The word here used for doing wickedly signifies two things First to pronounce any person wicked and Secondly to doe any thing which is wicked both these often meete together For in many cases to pronounce a person wicked is to doe a wicked thing he that condemneth a just person pronounceth him wicked and what thing can be done more wickedly then that Some take the word in that sence here as a deniall that God either hath done or ever will condemne the innocent There are two things wherein men doe very wickedly with respect to the persons of men both which the Lord abhorres First when they condemne the innocent Secondly when they acquit or cleare the guilty The former way of doing wickedly is chiefly removed from God here by Elihu as the latter is directly and expressly by himselfe Exod 34.7 The Lord the Lord c. that will by no meanes cleare the guilty To pronounce a guilty person innocent or an innocent person guilty if ignorantly done is a great piece of weaknesse and if knowingly done is a great piece of wickednesse Yet because the latter part of the verse speakes particularly to cleare God from wrong Judgement therefore I conceive we may better expound this former part of it more largely as a generall deniall of any evill act whatsoever done by God Surely God will not doe wickedly Neither will the Almighty pervert Judgement The Almighty who hath power to doe what he will hath no will to doe this evill He will not pervert Judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 detorquobit curvabit The word signifies both to pervert and subvert as also to bow wrest or put out of order to mingle or blend those things together which should be for ever separated or as we say to mingle heaven and earth yea heaven and hell together so doe they who mingle good and ill right and wrong together To pervert Judgement is to doe all this for then which Abraham assured himselfe was farre from God Gen 18.25 The righteous are as the wicked that is the righteous fare as ill as the wicked or the wicked fare as well as the righteous But the Almighty will not pervert Judgement that is the right which belongs to any man and therefore he will-doe every man right We had the same position in termes Chap 8. 3d and we have had this whole verse equivalenâ—ly in the 10th of this Chapter where Elihu sayd Far be it from God that he should doe wickednesse and from the Almighty that he should commit iniquity Here only one verse intervening Elâ—hu reports and repeats the same matter againe but it is no needlesse or vaine repetition for which Christ reproved the prayer of the Heathens Math 6.7 there are many repetitions in Scripture but not one vaine one how often soever the same truth is repeated there it hath its weight and use not only as it is still a truth but as it is a truth repeated And therefore I shall give a threefold reason why this truth is here againe repeated which will also lead us to a fuller improvement of it First Because this truth is as it were the hinge upon which the whole controversie between Job and Elihu is turned Job was unsatisfied because he was so ill handled and therefore Elihu tells him often that God is righteous and that he will not wrong any man Hereby giving Job to understand that God had done him nothing or done nothing to him but right Such grand swaying controling truths should be often and can scarce be too often repeated Secondly Elihu repeated this againe because 't is such a truth as no man can too much no nor enough weigh and consider the value and worth of it Now that which cannot be too often nor too much thought of cannot if rules of prudence be observed be too much or too often spoken of There is scarce any man who hath not sometimes at least indirectly and obliquely some hard thoughts of the proceedings of God either in reference to himselfe or to others Nor is there any thing that we have more temptations about then that surely we are not in all things rightly dealt with and that the dispensations of God are not so even as they might These sinfull suspicions are dayly moving and fluctuating in the heart of man and therefore this opposite principle ought to be fastened and fixed there to the utmost that the will and workes of God are all just and righteous yea that his will is the rule of all righteous workings or that as whatsoever is done in this world is done by the disposure of God so God though the thing be evill and unjust is just and good in the disposure of it Therefore unlesse we resist or contradict the will of God we must say whatsoever comes to passe comes righteously to passe because it comes to passe by the determinate will and counsell of God Thirdly Elihu repeates this assertion that he might the more commodiously make his transition or passage to the matter following and prosecute it with greater successe And therefore I shall not stay longer upon those words only Note First This great truth that God will not doe wickedly neither will the Almighty pervert Judgement convinceth those not only of injudiciousnesse but of wickednesse who though they are ready to acknowledge in generall God is just yet as to those particular providences which concerne them or wherewith themselves are pincht doe not cannot acquiesce and rest in the will of God with freedome and satisfaction That which is just should not displease us though in it selfe it be very bitter and unpleasant to us Secondly This truth is a ground of comfort to all the people of God who are under heavy pressures from this evill world or who receive little reward or incouragement as to sense from the good hand of God Such are apt to say with the kingly Prophet Psal 73.13 14. Verily in vaine have we cleansed our heart and washed our hands in innocency for all the day long have we been plagued and chastened every morning David was under a temptation when he was under hatches he could hardly perceive it worth the while to take paines in cleansing and washing either heart or hand while God was so constant and frequent in correcting and chastening him with so heavy a hand Yet David soone after recovered out of this temptation and concluded the Psalme with this particular assurance v. 28. It is
heed we be not found disobeying Secondly Seeing God hath the Charge of all the earth we should as readily submit to his dispensations works and dealings as to his commands The Jewes of old complained Ezek 18.29 The way of the Lord is not equall They did even tell him to his face his wayes were not equall and therefore they would not submit The Church in captivity spake well Lam 3.28 Out of the mouth of the most high proceedeth not evill and good that is whatsoever the Lord hath pronounced to doe or hath done concerning us is morally good and not evill though it be penally evill and not good Eli spake wel also to this poynt 1 Sam 3.18 It is the Lord let him doe what seemes good in his owne eyes yet the thing which God was about to doe was such v. 11. as at which both the eares of every one that heard it should tingle To have the heart quiet while the eares tingle is pure submission And any unquietness or murmurings at the dealings of God whether respecting our persons or our familyes Churches or Nations are in some degree rebellions against the soveraigne power of God Thirdly If the Lord be supreame and have the charge over all the earth then let us set him up as supreame in all things let his ends be above our ends let us designe God in all we doe He who is over all ought to be honoured by all All our actions as so many lines ought to center in his honour who is the Center of power Of him and through him and to him are all things saith the Apostle Rom 11.36 Because all things are of him creating them and through him governing them therefore all things should be to him that is all persons should in all things they doe yea in all things that are done ayme at and designe his glory as the Apostle expressely concludeth the verse before cited To whom be glory for ever Thirdly Whereas it is sayd Who hath given him a Charge over the earth or who hath disposed not a part or parcell or canton or corner of but the whole world Observe The power of God is an universall power It is extended throughout the world to every patch and inch of it What David saith of the Sun Psal 19.6 His going forth is from the end of heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it and there is nothing hid from the heate thereof The same may we say of the circuit of Gods power there is nothing hid from nor set beyond it There is a four-fold universality of the power of God First In regard of persons Psal 97.9 Thou Lord art high above all the earth thou art exalted farre above all Gods that is above the Kings and powers of the earth whom the Scripture calleth Gods If God hath a power over the Kings of the earth then surely over the people of the earth yea God is not only exalted and farre exalted above this or that God or King but above them all This is a supremacy with utmost universality Secondly His power is universall as to places and nations some places claime priviledge and are exempt from the jurisdiction of Princes if obnoxious persons get thither they are free from the course of the Law There were Cities of refuge among the Jewes and Sanctuaries in the dayes of old among us where evill-doers could not be toucht But the power of the Lord reacheth all places even to the hornes of the Altar Psal 83.18 Thou whose name alone is Jehovah art most high over all the earth Thirdly His power is universall as in all places so over all things it extends to the starrs of heaven and to the fowles of the ayre to the beasts of the earth and to the fishes of the Sea to whatsoever moves in this world they are all at the command of God if he doth but speake they run and execute his will Fourthly His power is universall in reference to time 't is never out nor shall ever end he is King immortall and King eternall his Kingdome is an everlasting Kingdome The power of God is an universall power in all these considerations His power of Governing is of the same extent as his power of creating was that which he created at once he governes alwayes He did not set up the fabrick of this world and then leave it to it selfe but he preserveth and ordereth all things in it The wel-being the orderly being of the creature is as much of God as the being of it Some say God made the world at first and set all the wheeles of it a-going but now things goe on by chance by fortune or by accident at least particular events are not under his government but come to passe as the wisdome or folly of men is most active in the production of them I answer to set up blind fortune and chance yea or the wit and policy of man as governing the world is to set up other Gods in the world if chance and fortune or the wit of man governe any part of the world then they had a part in making the world If you divide one power you divide the other For those invisible things of God his eternal power and God-head are as much or as evidently seene in the things which are done as in the things which are made 'T is true indeed God useth many hands in governing ordering and disposing the things of this world The Princes of this world are eminently his hand but God doth not use any power in governing this world Non eget alienis adjutorijs ad regendum mundum qui non eguit ad fatiendum Greg Lib 24. Moral ca. 26. to diminish his owne nor doth he withdraw his owne power what power soever he useth 't is his power that acts effectually and gives successe in the acting of all power It was sayd to that King who prided himselfe in what he had done in the world Shall the Axe boast it selfe against him that heweth therewith or shall the saw magnifie it selfe against him that shaketh it Isa 10.15 As if the Lord had sayd to that proud Assyrian Prince Dost thou looke upon thy selfe as if thou didst all and governedst all thou art no more in the governing the world though the chiefe earthly Governour of all the world then an Axe is in the hand of him that useth it And though the artificer cannot doe his worke without an Axe though he cannot divide his Timber without a saw yet I the Lord am able to doe my worke without thee At best and most men are but instruments in the hand of God and he serves his owne turne by men not to signifie that he cannot worke without them nor that his worke is done either with more ease to himselfe or more successe as to it selfe by their helpe he is not so weake as to need helpe nor is at all strengthned by the helpe he useth but only to shew that as he
was to speake And in this sence the most of men all bad men have no understanding Psal 14.2 and Job though a good man had much deficiency in his If now thou hast understanding heare this Hence note He that hath not a right a sound a spirituall understanding can scarce be said to have any understanding at all There are many understanding men who have not this understanding or an understanding for this While David saith Psal 49.20 Man that is in honour and understandeth not he supposeth that a man ascended to the highest pitch of honour may yet be without understanding that is without a right a sound a spirituall understanding and then as it followeth there he is like the beasts that perish Beasts have no understanding at all the rationall or intellectuall power is proper to man A man in honour not having this honour a right understanding may be numbred among the beasts If thou hast understanding Hear this As if he had said I am not calling thee to hear an idle story or a trivial matter Hear this there is an emphasis in the words both as to the Act and Object It is questioned what Elihu particularly intendeth by this some refer it to what he had spoken before in Job's audience though directed to his friends Hear what I have spoken to thy friends in the former part of the chapter in vindication of the righteousness of God Secondly Others refer it to what Elihu was now about to say I have not yet done I have not yet brought out all my reasons arguments I have not emptied my treasures I have yet more to say Hear this A third sort refer these hortatory words hear this in the former part of the verse to what he had already spoken and those in the latter part of the verse hearken to the voice of my words to what he had yet to speak but it is not much to the matter to which we refer them it being clear that what he had said and what he had to say was matter of weight and so hear this is emphatical this great this deep this useful and necessary point of Doctrine which I already have declared or am now about to declare unto thee Hence Note That which we hear we should labour to understand Col. 3.16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom It is not enough to hear the word with our ears or to have it in our mouths it must dwell in our memories and it must dwell there not in a beggerly poor fashion but richly which it never doth till we have a sound and clear understanding of it and are both in heart and life conformed to it yea transformed into it that is it which the Apostle meaneth by the dwelling of the word in us richly in all wisdome And he further assureth them chap. 2.1 2. that he had a great conflict for them that is as we put in the Margin he had a great fear or care of them that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgement of the mysterie of God and of the Father and of Christ in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdome and knowledge He had held forth those great mysteries the mysterie of God considered essentially the mysterie of the Father considered personally the mysterie of Christ considered mediatorily and therefore he presseth them to get a full assurance of understanding about all these mysteries When Christ was discoursing with his disciples after his resurrection Luke 24.45 it is said He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures and then they did not take in what he spake only at the ear but at the heart also Thus Acts 16 14. The Lord opened the heart of Lydia that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul that is he gave her an inward ear and caused her to understand the things which he spake Secondly Note Whatsoever we hear is lost and but scattered in the ayre if we do not understand it Though we have it in our books yea though we have it in our memories 't is lost if we understand it not we read of a book sealed within and on the back-side with seven seals Rev. 5.1 we read also v. 4. that John wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book That sealing of the book was nothing else but the shutting of it up from the understanding and when Christ opened the book he gave the understanding of it the whole book of God is a sealed book unless we have an understanding or a saving knowledge of the truths therein contained What John said Rev. 13.18 of counting that mysterious number of the Beast must be said in its proportion of the whole mysterie of godliness let him that hath understanding count and consider them Note Thirdly Every understanding is not fit to receive the Truths of God An unregenerate man is not fit to receive any of the Truths of God The natural man that is the man who hath nothing but nature in him perceiveth not the things of God he hath not a sutable faculty for them and as a natural mans understanding cannot at all receive the things of God so every degree of a spiritual understanding cannot receive all the truths of God or not all the things of God in all their truth The Apostle distributes persons into several degrees and calls some babes and others grown or perfect men that is such as have an understanding fit to take in and digest the highest and deepest things of God and hence it is that Christ told his disciples John 16.12 who had a renewed understanding only 't was in a low degree I have many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now I suppose the reason why Christ saith they could not bear those many things was not because being many they were too great a burden for their memories though possibly there might be somwhat in that but their inability of bearing those many things was chiefly in their understanding There are some truths which though a man can remember yet he cannot bear them and the more he remembers them the less he can bear them the weight and mysteriousness of them even cracks his brain till he receives more light from God and more strength of understanding he cannot bear them If thou hast understanding hear this And hearken to the voice of my words This latter part of the verse is but the repetition or further enforcement of the same thing we had the like expressions chap. 33.1.8 and therefore I shall not stay upon this only Note further from the whole The beginning of true wisdome is to have a readiness to hear and to shew our selves teachable Some overween themselves so much as to matter of knowledge that they will not be taught they judge themselves so learned and
deus omnium judicio est in justitiae damnare sustines 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 potest exponi validū num justum et potentē eum qui simul et justus et potens est damnare audes sed malo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exponere per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multum valde q.d. eum qui summe justus est audes damnare de eo queri quasi tibi sit iniquior Rab Sel Merc as the word imports Wilt thou condemne him that is most just Here are two words in the Hebrew we put them together and so render them by a superlative most just Some translate Wilt thou condemne him that is strong and just that is strongly just mightily just God is full of strength and might so full that he and he only is Almighty yet his might never exceedeth right nor his strength his justice Strength and justice are commensurate in God And while he is so strong that he can doe what he will he is so just that he will doe nothing but what is righteous Further I find others joyning the word strong with the word condemne As if Elihu had sayd Wilt thou so confidently and pertinaciously condemne the just God To condemne God though but a little to passe the easiest sentence of condemnation upon him is bad enough but wilt thou strongly condemne him We render clearely to the scope of the place Wilt thou condemne him that is most just Hence note First God is most just or altogether just He is strongly just mightily just as he is strongly mercifull putting forth a power in pardoning sin and shewing mercy so he is strongly just or altogether just The rule given to Judges by Moses speakes thus Deut 16.20 That which is altogether just shalt thou follow We put in the margin justice justice shalt thou doe that is thou shalt doe pure Justice nothing but Justice or justice without the least mixture tincture or if it be possible without the least shadow of injustice I may say justice justice is God that is he is altogether just strongly just everlastingly and unchangeably just God is just under a three-fold notion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phavor First As to be just is taken largely importing a person accomplished with concurrence of all perfections and vertuous qualities In that sence I suppose the Apostle useth the word 1 Tim 1.9 The law is not given for that is to terrifie or condemne a just man that is for a man who is holy and good Thus God is altogether just for he hath all the lines of perfection of holinesse and goodnesse centring in him he is not only just and vertuous but justice and vertue it selfe Secondly To be just imports the keeping of promises and the performance of our word He is a just man who when he hath spoken you may know what to have of him and where to have him Some give words and you can get nothing of them but words that 's injustice because our words binde us and should be as lawes to us A man may chuse whether he will make promises but when he hath promised it is not in his choice whether he will performe or no his word bindes him In this sence God is altogether just Whatsoever word you have had from God and he hath given us many comfortable words for every condition God is a just God and will performe it to a tittle That Glorious and everlasting witnesse is borne to him by dying Joshua Josh 23.14 And behold this day I am going the way of all the earth and ye know in all your hearts and in all your soules that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you all are come to passe unto you and not one thing hath failed thereof In this sence God is sayd to be not only mercifull but just in forgiving our sins 1 John 1.9 If we confesse our sins he is faithfull and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousnesse If we confesse our sins spiritually and believingly deeply humbly and affectionately if we confesse thus he is just to forgive why because he hath given a promise to forgive those who make such confessions of sin And thus 't is in any other promise he keepes his word he keepes touch with man he will not fayle nor come short in the least therefore he is altogether just Thirdly He is just in the strictest acception of justice giving every one his due It is possible for a man to be just in neither of the two former notions he may neither be vertuous in his actions nor a keeper of his word as a man yet he may be just as a Magistrate just as in a cause committed to his determination But God is just in all these three considerations of a just man and therefore he is eminently or altogether just And I conceive the latter of the three is chiefely intended here God is most just that is he never did nor ever will give an undue or an undeserved sentence upon any man I might shew distinctly that God is just and how just he is First in rewarding those that doe well Secondly in punishing those that doe ill And that because he doth it First by a law Secondly by a law published Thirdly by a law possible our inability of keeping the law is consequentiall to the giving of it man hath drawne it upon himselfe though now he cannot performe it at all yet God is just in punishing because he sins against a law that he had a power in his head or representative to have fullfilled Fourthly God is just because the penalties which he inflicteth slow from a right and just law as the Apostle speaks Rom 7.12 The law is holy and just and good and therefore all the awards that are grounded upon it must needs be just too Fifthly he punisheth justly because he never punisheth but upon proofe and evidence yea he will make every mans Conscience a witness against himself or condemne him out of his own mouth Sixthly he punisheth justly because he punisheth impartially neither feare nor hope nor favour can divert him Isa 27.11 Jer 22.24 Seventhly he doth not only punish in a proportion to the law but often in a proportion to the sin and that not only to the measure of the sin but to the manner of the sin as that cruel king Adonibezek confessed when himselfe was cruelly dealt with his thumbs and great toes being cut off Judg 1.7 As I have done so God hath requited me As if he had sayd God is just not only because he hath punished me in measure according to my sin but after the very same manner in which I sinned he hath as it were hit my sin in the eye of all beholders what I have done may be seene by what I suffer Note Secondly To condemne God who is most just is the highest poynt of injustice Wilt thou
have grace they are both greatly regarded and when neither of them have grace neither of them are at all regarded by the God of all grace Thus 't is plaine God regardeth the rich no more then the poore nor the poore any whit lesse then the rich 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est dives opalentus quidam volunt deductum a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 servando quod multos servare et juvari possit vela 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clamando quod â—pulenti liberiùs et audaciùs loquantur The word rendred rich signifieth also bountifull Isa 32.5 'T is also rendred The helpfull the saving man for though rich men are not alwayes helpfull with their riches nor ready to save others in distresse yet rich men may doe both they have alwayes in their hand power and usually opportunity to be helpfull to the poore and to save the distressed And surely as the Lord regardeth not the rich more then the poore so he regardeth those rich men least of all who have no regard to helpe and save the poore Once more Some derive the word which we translate rich from a roote which signifieth to clamour or to speake out and boldly which complyes wel with that sentence of Solomon Pro 18.23 The poore useth entreaties that is he speaketh humbly or by way of supplication but the rich answereth roughly And as God regardeth not the rich more then the poore so he regardeth those rich men least who speake loudly and roughly to the poore Having thus opened the assertion of Elihu that God regardeth not the rich more then the poore let us consider The reason of it in the next words For they are all the work of his hands As if he had sayd God cannot but deal impartially with all because all are the work of his hands what reason hath he to respect one more then another seeing the one is no more to him then t'other they are all the work of his hands Man as man is the off-spring of God Acts 17.28 He is also the work of his hands that is man is made by his power As man descendeth from man so he is called the fruit of the womb but as man is the off-spring of God so he is called the worke of his hands and his hands have wrought the poor man as well as the rich They are all the work of his hands in a two-fold respect First In their naturall constitution God hath moulded them in the same fashion he hath given each of them a body and a soul A body framed of the same parts a soule consisting of the same powers God hath bestowed as much care and cost upon the making of a poore mans body and soule as upon the rich mans The richest man in the world cannot boast that he hath any one member in his body or faculty in his soule more then a poore man hath Secondly Look upon the rich and poore in their Civil state and so likewise they are the work of his hands and that I conceive is here intended as much as if not more then the former not only is God the maker of the poor and of the rich in their naturall state soule and body but as pooâ— and rich he is the maker of them that is he maketh one man poore and another man rich as himselfe pleaseth Prov 22.2 The rich and the poor meet together the Lord is the maker of them all He hath made them men and he hath made them rich or poore men There is as much of the power and wisdome of God seene in making some men poore and others rich as there is in making them men yea God thinks himselfe as much honoured in our acknowledgements that the poore with their poverty as that the rich with all their riches are the work of his hands Hence Note First Poor men are as much the work of God as the rich As they have the same nature and are of the same matter as they are both made of the same stuff or are both of a piece so they have the same maker and their maker hath been at as much charge in the making of the one as in the making of the other yea and usually the poore man yeilds him a better rent and brings more into his Treasury then the rich man doth Secondly Note It is the Lord who makes men poor and makes men rich Agur prayed Prov. 30.8 Give me neither poverty nor riches Agur knew poverty was a gift of God as well as riches It hath been said though prophanely Every man is the fashioner of his own fortune or the contriver of his own condition Some who acknowledge God hath made them men think they have made themselves rich or great men and we commonly look on those who fail in their worldly Estates that they have made themselves poor and low in the world I grant there is a sense wherein men make themselves rich and make themselves poor that is when they do either by their sins God is not so engaged in the making of a man rich when he enricheth himself by his sin by deceiving or oppressing his brethren as when he groweth rich in a way of righteousness He that is enriched by oppression or deceit or sets his nest on high by flattery or by fraud cannot thank God for his riches or honours and if he doth he blasphemously makes God a partner in those sins by which he hath got his riches and honours For though it be a truth that there is a hand of God in his gettings for all the craft and policy and oppression which men use will never be able to make them either rich or great if God did not permit and order it so yet the heart of God is not with him in it and God will not own his own hand in giving them wealth or power further then as they are a testimony against them of his goodness and their ingratitude We may also say of some poor men they have made themselves poor not God He made Job poor The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away was his humble acknowledgement chap. 1.21 but there are some of whom we cannot so much say God hath made them poor by his sad providences to them as that they have made themselves poor by their idleness and improvidence or by their prodigality and vain profuseness yet even of such poor men we may truly say there be a righteous hand of God upon them in leaving or giving them up to the lusts of their own heart their laziness or lavishness which produce their utter undoing and bring them to a morsel of bread So that let men be in what condition they will the Lord is the former of it The diligent hand maketh rich but it is with the blessing of God and when an indiligent man becomes poor it is the curse of God upon him for his sin as well as the consequent of his sin Yea when an honest diligent man becomes
of the night as the words may be rendred that 's a great aggravation of the judgement The night is a time of rest and midnight is the time of deepest rest so that for the people to be in a tumult or troubled at midnight is to be overtaken with matter of fear when fear seemed furthest off or when they suspected nothing to make them afraid David saith of some Psal 3.5 There were they in great fear where no fear was To fear at midnight is to fear when usually no fear is that is when people are at rest in their beds And so to say the people shall be troubled at midnight signifieth either First the coming of trouble upon a secure people Cum maximè securi upon a people who thought themselves and while they thought themselves not only out of the noise but reach of danger Or secondly It may signifie the coming of trouble upon a people altogether unfit to help themselves when a man is asleep he cannot give counsel how to prevent danger and while he is in his bed he is in no posture to oppose it All this may well be included in what Elihu saith The people shall be troubled at midnight Hence Note First There are National troubles as well as personal God can scare not only a family or this and that particular man but a whole people at once he cannot only make a childe or a woman but a multitude yea an Army of mighty men tremble like a childe and faint as the weakest woman A people are many yet every man shall be as if he were alone or but one in the midst of innumerable dangers and of a thousand deaths Moses in his Song foresaw the dread of Nations upon the report of the Lord 's miraculous conduct of Israel through the red Sea Exod. 15.14 15 16. The people shall hear and be afraid sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina all the inhabitants of Canaan shal melt away And when Christ speaks of those dreadful Prognosticks of his coming he not only saith There shall be signes in the Sun and in the Moon and in the Stars but upon the Earth distress of Nations with perplexity Luke 21.25 Secondly Observe Both personal and publick troubles are at the command of God as both publick and personal peace are A people as well as a person may and shall be troubled even at the midnight of their greatest security if God give the word I make peace saith the Lord Isa 45.7 and create evill that is the evill of trouble There will be occasion afterward to speak further of this poynt from those words v. 29. When he giveth quietness who can give trouble and when he hideth his face who can behold him Whether it be done against a nation or against a man only trouble of all sorts is at the command of God if he saith to such or such a mischiefe goe to a nation it will goe if he bid the sword trouble them if he bid pestilence trouble them if he bid famine trouble them if he bid their owne divisions trouble them the people shall be troubled yea they shall be troubled at midnight Whence note Thirdly Trouble takes or seazeth upon many when they least expect it God can send trouble when no man thinkes of it At midnight every one is in bed all are for rest and quiet The Lord usually executes his judgements upon the unwary world upon a secure people Exod 12.29 At midnight the Lord smote all the sirstborne in the land of Egypt c. And Pharoah rose up in the night he and all his servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in Egypt We read also 2 Kings 19.35 In that night the Angel of the Lord went out and smote in the campe of the Assyrians an hundred four-score and sive thousand It was not a day-battel but a night-battel When they were all gone into their tents and were at rest when the Army was secure In that night did the Lord fight them by an Angel and made a mighty slaughter among them Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slaine in the night Dan 5.30 even in that night wherein he made a feast to a thousand of his Lords and dranke wine before the thousand v. 1. In that night not only of his security but of his jollity and sensuality when he had even drowned himselfe and his great Lords with wine and belly-cheare in that very night the City was broken up and Belshazzar slaine History tells us what dreadfull work was made upon the Babylonians that night The great Judgement day is so described Jesus Christ will at last trouble the world at midnight The Day of the Lord so cometh saith the Apostle 1 Thes 5.2 as a thiefe in the night when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them c Christ himselfe shadowing his coming under the parable of the ten Virgins who all slumbred and slept tells us Math 25.6 At midnight there was a cry made Behold the Bridegroome conteth goe ye out to meete him Though some were in a better condition then others some wise some foolish yet all slept and it was a kind of midnight to them all Christ will come and the people shall be troubled at midnight and then there will be a dreadfull Cry among the secure drowsie world Therefore the Counsell of Christ is most proper Math 13.35 Watch because ye know not at what houre your Master may come whether at even or at midnight or at Cock-trowing or in the morning It is hard to be put to it at midnight 't is sad to be in a sleepy or slumbring condition when evill comes The Gospel sheweth us how much that man was troubled when his neighbour came to borrow bread of him at midnight Luke 11.5.7 Trouble me not my children are with me in bed I cannot rise and give thee If it be matter of trouble to be called out of our bed to doe a courtesie for a friend at midnight O what will it be to be called up to Judgement or to be surprized with any Judgement at midnight Therefore prepare and be ready for all changes At midnight the people shall be troubled And passe away These words are a third part of the description of the Judgement of God upon a people they shall die they shall be troubled they shall passe away that is some of them shall die all shall be troubled others shall passe away There is a three-fold notion of passing away First Some expound it thus They shall be carried captive out of their own Country This with the former two make up a perfect Judgement upon any people Some shall die or be slaine all shall be troubled and vext they shall be at their wits end and the rest shall be carried away captive Secondly They shall pass away that is they shall pass into their graves the forme of speech here used may well beare that
mighty men that all may know his judgements are deserved by their works he makes their works known Secondly Others render He maketh them know or acknowledge their works The Lord at last by sore and severe judgements will extort confessions from the worst of them he will make the mighty acknowledge that their works have been nought and their wayes perverse In Scripture the same word signifies to know or to confess and acknowledg Thus here he makes them to know or to acknowledge what their works have been Thirdly Rather take it as we render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non significat notum facio quod sciam sed tantum cognosco ideo transtuli cognoscit Drus of Gods act in taking notice of all they had done Therefore he knoweth their works As if Elihu had said these mighty men of the earth thought themselves under covert or that the Lord took no notice of them nor of their works their works were done in the dark and they supposed the Lord could not pierce into them but he will make it appear that he knew their works when he maketh his justice appear in punishing them for their works Hence Note We have an assurance that God knoweth the works of all mon because he punisheth all wicked works or the works of the wicked so punctually and exactly He punisheth many of them here and will punish them all hereafter when we see him breaking the mighty men of the world 't is a proof that God was in their Cabinet counsels and saw what was done there we may conclude he knew their works though men knew them not he could never lay his judgements so exactly upon them as he doth if he did not know their works That God knows the works of all men is a point I have met with before and therefore pass from it here And he overturneth them in the night There are several readings of this clause First Some thus Therefore the Lord knoweth their works and turneth into night that is he turneth their prosperity into adversity he bringeth trouble and affliction upon them they lived before in a day of prosperity in a day of power and worldly greatness but he turneth them into night Secondly Or as others thus He turneth the night that is he changeth the night into day Simul atque mutavit noctum c. Jun. i. e. Lucem protulit qua revelantur omnia in judicio ejus Id. he takes away the dark and close covers of their sins and makes them as manifest as the light Now as the Apostle saith Eph. 5.13 That which maketh manifest is light If God were not light he could not bring to light the hidden things of darkness nor manifest the counsels of the heart Thirdly thus Therefore he knoweth their works and when the night is turned he destroyeth them that is they are destroyed and perish as soon and as easily as the day takes place of the night or as soon as the night is turned into day so soon doth the Lord destroy them he can quickly make an end of them he can destroy them with the morning light We render and I judge that best He overturneth them their persons in the night and so Elihu points at the season or time of Gods breaking and overthrowing them he doth it in the night We may take it strictly as in the case of Pharaoh and the Egyptians Exod. 12.29 as also in that of Belshazzer Dan. 5.30 or in the night that is suddenly unexpectedly Though a man be destroyed in the day yet if it be done suddenly he looking for no such matter we may say it was done in the night because then men are most secure This way of expressing an unlookt for evil the coming of in the night was opened at the twentieth verse therefore I shall not stay upon it He overturneth them in the night So that they are destroyed Elihu said before He shall break in pieces mighty men Here he saith they are destroyed that is they shall be broken to purpose or throughly God doth not break them in pieces for correction but for destruction there are great breakings upon the persons and estates of some men and yet it is but for correction others the Lord breaketh for utter ruine as here so that they are destroyed The Original word signifieth to destroy as it were by pounding in a Morter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contrivit atirivit contudit and the same word is used to signifie a contrite heart a heart broken by godly sorrow under the sense of sin They are destroyed or as it were ground to powder you may break a thing into many pieces yet not grinde it to powder or dust as corn in a Mill or spice in a Morter but these saith Elihu are not only broken to pieces but beaten to dust that 's the strength of the word which we render they are destroyed Hence Note What God hath a mind to do he can do it certainly and will do it throughly He breaks men in pieces so that they are destroyed and brought to dust When the Prophet declares the breaking of the four Monarchies it is said Dan. 2.35 They shall be as the chaffe of the Summer threshing upon the Mountains if the Lord will destroy the mightiest they shall certainly be destroyed as Balak said to Balaam I wo◠that whom thou cursest are cursed as if he had said thou canst curse effectually if thou wilt set thy self to it 't is not in the power of all the Balaams in the world to effect a curse though they pronounce a curse 't is only in the power of the Lord to curse effectually he can bless whom he pleaseth and they are blessed he can curse whom he pleaseth and they are cursed Thus as Ephraim lamenting his sin and sorrow confessed Jer. 31.18 Lord thou hast chastised me and I was chastised God paid him home as we speak if we chastise a childe he is chastised but when Ephraim saith thou hast chastised me and I was chastised his meaning is I was greatly and effectually chastised that is first In a literal sence I found thy hand heavie upon me it was a sore affliction that I was under Secondly In a spiritual sence Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised that is my heart was humbled and broken under thy chastisements in either notion we see the effectualness of the Lords work Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised And therefore Ephraim invited the Lord to another work Turn me O Lord and I shall be turned if thou wilt but turn thy Spirit upon this hard heart of mine it will be effectually turned it will be not only broken for sin but from sin As if he had said I have received reproofs and counsels from men and they have not turned me but Lord if thou wilt reprove and counsel me I shall be turned thus the Lord carrieth his work home to conversion in his spiritual dealings with some and to
they that are really wicked shall be dealt with as wicked men though they make a high profession of godliness in the Church even them will God strike also as wicked men Christ speakes of some Math 7.22 who made a lâ—â—d profession of religion with whom yet he dealt as with wicked men Depart from me saith he I know ye not ye workers of iniquity Though God doth not deal alike with all wicked men yet he deales with them all like wicked men There is not one wicked man in the world but he shall be dealt with according to his kind that is as a wicked man and shall have that for his portion which is the portion of their Cup who are wicked As the Godly so the wicked whether prophane or false and hypocriticall shall be esteemed and handled by God like themselves or as they are Secondly From the first word as it is taken causally upon which many insist Note The reason why wicked men â—ne stricken is because they are wicked Were not men wicked they should never feele such stroakes from the hand or rather iron rod of God If any smart and are ruin'd they may thank themselves for it that is their sins for it their sufferings are the fruits of their sin The Prophet told the sinfull Jewes so Jer 4.18 they had an affliction upon them which did reach even to the heart God made their hearts ake he struck them to the heart but why did he so the answer is Thy sin and thy doings have procured those things to thee c. He striketh them as wicked men In the open sight of others Locus videntium locus patens frequens celebris omnium oculis expositus Par Importat visionem paradigmaticam et exemplarem Merc These words are a further description of the manner how God strikes the wicked he doth it openly or as we put in the margin In the place of beholders that is in such a place and in such a manner that all may behold it we say He strikes them in the open sight of others that is he punisheth them in an exemplary way or that they may be an example of warning unto others For The place of seers or of beholders is some open and eminent place oppos'd to a Corner as Paul sayd pleading his cause before king Agrippa Acts 26.26 This thing was not done in a Corner no it was done as upon the house-top even in the place of beholders The Lord will not have to doe with wicked men only in a Corner He will have witnesses of his doings with them There shall be enow to take notice how he handles them therefore he often takes open vengeance on them in the frequent assembly and concourse of many beholders both approving and reverencing yea adoring the impartiall equity of the supreame Judge and his care of humane affaires So then the words are an allusion to the execution of Common malefactors who dye by the Judgement of the Magistrate such being condemned and sentenced by the Judge are not put to death in the prison or in a hole but are taken out and carried to some noted place of execution or a Scaffold is purposely erected where a multitude of spectators are admitted to come and behold the Tragedy When our Lord Jesus Christ who to deliver us from our transgressions was numbred with transgressors when he I say was crucified The Evangelist saith Luke 23.35 The people stood beholding and the Rulers also with them derided him Christ himselfe was strucken as a wicked man in the place of Beholders And so have many thousands of his faithfull witnesses The wicked deale with them often as the Lord dealeth sometimes with wicked men they are brought forth from prison to death and executed in the open sight of others All things in this world come alike to all no man knoweth love or hatred by all that is before them Eccl 9.1 2. The Apostle Paul speaking of himselfe and his fellow-Apostles to shew the publick disgrace which they were put to saith We are made a spectacle to the world to Angels and to men 1 Cor 4 9. The Greeke is we are a Theater to the world c. As if he had sayd all see how we are used And as bloody persecuters make the faithfull servants of Christ a spectacle so Christ will at last make wicked men a spectacle to the world to Angels and to men Thus it is prophecied Isa 66.24 that all flesh who come to worship before the Lord shall goe forth and looke upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against him c. They shall be stricken in the place of Beholders or Seers Some expound that word Seers Videre saepe significat cum voluptate aliquid spectare Scult as implying more then ordinary seers or more then barely such as see what is done namely such as are delighted and pleased with what is done yet not as it is a suffering of paine by man but as it is an act of Justice from God Hence note God oftentimes doth Justice upon sinners openly The Judgements of God are of two sorts Some are secret others are manifest he can doe execution upon men when none see it nay he doth the severest executions upon some men when they themselves doe not see it that 's the sting and severity of the Judgement that they have not so much as any sence of the wrath of God when the full vialls of his wrath are powring out upon them But many of the Judgements of God are open As he striketh some so secretly that none can see it so others so visibly that all may see it Thus the Lord commanded Moses Numb 25.4 when Israel had joyned themselves unto Baal-peor Take all the heads of the people and hang them up before the Lord against the Sun By the heads of the people we may understand either the capitall offenders those who were most active and ready in that wickednesse or their principall Rulers who in stead of stopping them from or punishing them for those offences gave way to them or at least wincked at them These must be hanged against the Sun that is as Elihu speakes here in the open sight of others or in the place of seers Thus they were made an example of caution that all might see and feare and doe no more presumptuously Read the like executions of divine Judgement threatned 2 Sam 12.11 12. Isa 26.11 John in the Revelation Chap 15.4 prophecyeth of the Saints triumphing at the fall of Babylon and singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lambe saying Great and marvellous are thy workes c. for thy Judgements are made manifest God hath now stricken Babylon his great enemy in the open sight of others his Judgements were right before they are alwayes right but till then not manifest David saith Psal 9.16 The Lord is knowne by the Judgement which he executeth now if the Lord be knowne by the Judgement which
to us The hiding of Gods face is a manifestation of his displeasure In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment saith God to the Church Isa 54.8 This form of speaking is borrowed from their usage or practice who refuse to admit into their presence or so much as look upon such whom they either really hate or would seem at least to be much displeased with As David gave command concerning Absalom 2 Sam. 14.24 Let him turn to his own house and let him not see my face When God withdraweth the wonted expressions of his love and kindness from a person or a people then according to Scripture sense and language he is said to hide his face from them Deut. 30.20 Psal 30.7 Secondly The hiding of Gods face notes a refusal to help those who in straits cry to him for relief and deliverance For if we will not give a man our eye we will hardly give him our hand if we will not so much as look upon him we will hardly assist him When God hides his face 't is as much as his denyal of succour Thus David bemoaned himself Psal 13.1 Why hidest thou thy face that is Lord why withdrawest thou thy help from me That he was sensible of such withdraws is plain by the prayer which he made vers 3. Consider and hear me O Lord my God and by the reason of it given vers 4. Lest mine enemies say I have prevailed against him We finde David deprecating the hiding of Gods face upon the same ground Psal 44.24 Psal 69.17 The Prophet is very express in this point Isa 59.1 2. The Lords hand is not shortned that it cannot save neither his ear heavie that it cannot hear but your iniquities have separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear that is as he distasteth and is displeased with you so he denyeth you his usual help and assistance because ye have great-sinned against him Thirdly the hiding of God's face notes not only some distaste and a denyal of help but a total slight or refusal of any care concerning us Isa 40.27 Why sayest thou O Jacob and speakest O Israel my way is hid from the Lord and my judgement is passed over from my God that is Why sayest thou the Lord takes no care at all of me and in that sense Job spake chap. 24.1 Why seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty do they that know him not see his dayes that is why seeing God doth not neglect times and seasons and how things go in the world there time is put for things done in time why I say seeing God hath not cast off the care of the things of this world is it thus with me Why am I as a man forlorn and utterly cast off We may expound Elihu in all or any of these senses when he hideth his face or withdraweth his favour that is when God is displeased and refuseth to help when God throweth up the care of a mans person or condition it cannot but go and be ill enough with him for as it followeth Who then can behold him The face of God as taken for his essential being cannot at all be seen nor can we at all behold him There shall no man saith the Lord Exod. 33.20 see my face and live But as the face of God is taken for any manifestation of his being whether in wrath or in love in judgement or in mercy so it may be seen Now when God hideth his face that is his favour and will not give out any pleasing manifestations of himselfe who can behold him that is who can behold him with comfort who can stand before an angry God or abide his presence As the gracious presence of God is the sweetest so the wrathfull presence of God is the most bitter thing in the world When he hideth his face who can behold him Some expound thus if God will not shew his face if he is not pleased to reveale himselfe no man can know or see any thing of him that 's a truth We can know no more of God then himselfe will reveale of himselfe to us 't is in his light Psal 36.9 that is in the light which he causeth to shine from himselfe that we see light or what and who himselfe is who is light and in whom there is no darknes at all If God will hide his power or his wisdom or his truth or his mercy from us who can see any thing of them though all these perfections be alwayes more glorious in him then the beams of the Sun yet unlesse God shew them us we cannot perceive them We see the light of God in Gods light if God hath a minde to conceale himselfe or draweth as it were a curtaine between the creature and himselfe who can behold him we cannot by any study or skill or art or endeavour of ours come to any sight or knowledge of God further then himselfe makes himselfe knowne This exposition is both true and usefull yet I conceive when Elihu saith Who then can behold him his meaning rather poynts at these two things First Who can have any comfortable enjoyment of him to behold a man whose displeasure we suspected and find acceptance and freedome with him is compared to our beholding the face of God I have seene thy face as though I had seene the face of God and thou wast pleased with me sayd Jacob to Esau Gen 33.10 when his brother treated him so lovingly contrary to his expectation he looked upon it as an evidence of the favour of God to him Or Jacob being much affected with the countenance and kindness of Esau compared his face to the face of God because in his reconciled face he saw as it were the face of God smiling upon him This was Davids argument that God favoured him Psal 41.11 because his enemies did not triumph over him much more is it an argument of Gods favour when they speake and act friendly towards us or when we behold their face and are accepted Joseph threatened his brethren yee shall not see my face or behold me except your brother be with you Gen 43.3 if you come without him either I will not admit you at all into my presence or I will look sowerly upon you Thus to behold God is to see his face as 't is sayd Chap 33.26 the repenting sick man should with joy Secondly Who can have any confidence in him or boldness with him David speaking of godly and upright men saith Ps 34.5 They looked or shall look unto him and were lightned and their faces were not ashamed that is they beheld God or came to him with much assurance of his favour Some dare not so much as look another in the face for shame or feare but when we look a man in the face it sheweth we have either confidence in him and freedome with him or courage enough against him Now if God
make trouble Hence observe First The quietness or peace of nations is the peculiar gift of God Whosoever hath or enjoyeth quietness 't is Gods work but most eminently when nations enjoy it Of nationall quietness the Lord spake by his Prophet Isa 45.7 I forme the light c. I make peace I the Lord doe all these things As naturall so civill light is of Gods forming as spirituall so temporall peace is of Gods making And the Church was confident he would be their peace-maker Isa 26.12 Lord thou wilt ordaine peace for us Some read it as a prayer Lord doe thou ordaine or command peace for us we as a profession of their faith and hopefull if not full assurance that the Lord would ordaine peace for them The Lord gives out an order or makes an ordinance in heaven when he pleaseth for the peace both of Churches and nations here on earth And the Church there had this good ground of their assurance that he would doe it even their former experiences of his great power and goodness in doing much for them as it followeth for thou hast wrought all our workes for us As if they had sayd Lord those gracious preservations which thou hast heretofore given us in trouble and deliverances out of trouble strengthen our faith both in praying that thou wouldest and in believing that thou wilt now at this pinch ordaine peace for us To doe so is a mighty and a mercifull worke of God and we may consider it two wayes First As the giving of quietnesse to a nation is the restoring of peace or the setling of them in a quiet state after they have been torne and troubled with warres and tossed with continuall tempests of trouble possibly for many yeares together To bring peace out of warre and quietness out of unsetledness is a worke worthy of God Psal 46.9 He maketh warres to cease to the ends of the earth that is all the world over The end or ceasing of warre is quietness And to assure us that the Lord can make an end of warres the Psalmist in that place sheweth us the Lord spoyling all the implements or instruments of warre He breaketh the bow and cuts the speare asunder he burneth the chariots in the fire Here are three great instruments of warre the bow the speare the chariot all which are sometimes comprehended under that one word the sword which is the most knowne and universal instrument of warre Now when neither sword nor bow nor speare nor chariot are to be had we need not feare warre And therefore that great promise of peace runs in this tenour Mic 4.2 They shall beat their swords into plow-shears and their speares into pruning hooks then presently followeth nation shall not lift up a sword against nation neither shall they learne warre any more There must needs be peace when the art of warre is layd by as uselesse and shall be learned no more That will be a blessed time indeed when the art military shall be out of date and being it selfe the greatest interrupter of learning shall be learned no more When Souldiers shall turne Husbandmen and Vine-dressers beating their swords into plow-shears and their speares into pruning hooks then we shall have peace and put away the remotest feares of warre When a man casteth away his sword we may very well conclude he intends to be quiet Thus the Lord gives quietnesse to nations which have been engaged in warre by causing warres to cease Secondly He gives quietnesse to nations by continuing their peace when warres are ceased for unlesse the Lord give a check to the lusts and passions to the wrath and rage of men plow-shears are quickly turned into swords and pruning hookes into speares To preserve peace is the Lords worke as much as to give peace It requires the same or as great a power to keepe our peace as to make it Non minor est virtus quam quaerere parta â—ueri to keepe it out of the hand of the sword as to get it out of the hand of the sword When the king of Assyria threatned Jerusalem with a siege the Lord preserved their peace and sent Hezekiah word Isa 37.33 He shall not come into this City nor shoote an arrow there nor come before it with shields nor cast a banke against it for I will defend this City to save it The continuance of peace and quietnesse is a continuall giving of it Warres returne after peace as clouds returne after raine unlesse the Lord prevent and forbid them And have not we of this nation reason to acknowledge this double mercy First Was not the end of our late unnaturall warres the gift of God was it not he that made our troubles to cease from one end of the nation to the other yea throughout the three nations If the Lord had not given the sword a check or counter-mand if the Lord had not called in the commission which he once gave the sword it had been devouring flesh and drinking blood to this very day We read as it were a dialogue between the Prophet and himselfe concerning the sword Jer 47.6 7. O thou sword of the Lord sayd the Prophet being grieved for the slaughter and desolation which the sword had made even in a strange land how long will it be ere thou be quiet put up thy selfe into thy scabbard rest and be still Himselfe answers himselfe how can it be quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the Sea-shore there hath he appointed it I spake to the sword of quietnesse saith the Prophet But alas how can it be quiet how can that sheath it selfe in its scabbard and not in the bowels of men seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon As if he had sayd I see no entreaties can perswade the sword to rest and quietness till it hath fully executed the command of God and done his work though it be very bloody work even the making of it selfe drunke with blood The Lord can make the sword quiet it will hearken to no voyce but his if the Lord give a charge for the sword to returne into the sheath then it will and if not it will not The sword raged in these nations till the Lords work and will was done and then that had done And as we have reason to acknowledge that the Lord hath commanded the sword back into its sheath and given us peace out of warre so Secondly That he hath continued our peace since the warre When he giveth quietnesse who then can make trouble Note If God will give those nations quietnesse where it was not or continue it where it is there is no power on earth can stop or interrupt it Who can make trouble where he ordaineth peace Balaam was forced to this confession when he would have troubled the people of Israel and went from mountaine to mountaine to seek divination I cannot curse whom the Lord hath blessed why not said
we consider the different interests which have been abetted and hotly pursued by too many in this nation is it not marveilous in our eyes that our peace is continued divided interests make greatest distances open those breaches through which trouble usually enters upon a nation When a people are of one mind of one heart and way trouble can scarce find any way to come in among them But only God who peremptorily gives quietnesse can give quietnesse to and prevent the trouble of a people who are divided in opinions affections and Interests As therefore it is the most desireable mercy that a people may be all united as one man in one mind heart and way according to the mind heart and way of God so it is a most admirable mercy to see their peace continued while any considerable part among them are dis-united in any of especially if in all these Fourthly Consider that since the time of our peace we have had many changes we have been emptied from vessel to vessel from hand to hand from government to government and from governour to governour and is it not matter of astonishment as wel as of thanks-giving that yet we have quietness how many have waited and hoped yea desired and longed for our day of trouble by these changes revolutions and vicissitudes but yet we have peace Must we not then conclude If God giveth quietnesse none can make trouble neither our sins nor our divisions nor our animosities nor our changes shall put it into any mans power though they put an advantage into many mens hands to make trouble where the Lord our God is graciously freely pleased to give us quietness Yet let us be in a holy feare lest we at last provoke God and sin away our quietness and make trouble for our selves The condition of a people who doe so is very wofull for surely as it followeth in the text If he hideth his face who then can behold him This latter part of the verse is applicable to a nation as well as the former and therefore before I come to speake of either with respect to a single person or a man only Observe God sometimes hideth his face from whole nations even from those nations that have the outward profession of his name As there are national mercies so national calamities as his people in common may have the shinings of Gods face upon them so the hidings of his face from them Did not God hide his face from the people of Israel his peculiar people when they were though a professing people yet a very sinfull provoking people Isa 59.2 Is it not sayd Jer 7.12.14 15. Goe ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh where I set my name at the first and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel God would not alwayes owne that place which he signally called his owne and had set his name there and that at first which was a great endearement of it to him but when they sinned much against him he would not so much as give them a looke of favour no nor of pitty till they turned from their wickednesse yea he made his severe proceeding with them a president to his people in another Generation as it followeth in the same place Therefore will I doe unto this house which is called by my name wherein ye trust and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers as I have done to Shiloh And I will cast you out of my sight as I have cast out all your brethren even the whole seede of Ephraim There 's a nation cast out of the sight of God To be cast out of Gods sight is more if more can be then Gods hiding his face from a people The Church complained bitterly of this latter Ps 44.24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face and forgettest our affliction and our oppression We use to say Out of sight out of minde and when God leaves a nation under affliction as if he did not minde them nor cared what became of them then the Scripture saith he hideth his face from them or casteth them out of his sight I shall only adde three things about this hiding of the face of God from a nation First This hiding of his face is not a sudden act of God he doth not presently nor easily hide his face from a people He tells them often he will doe it before he doth it once The Lord warned the old world long before he brought the flood Gen 6.3 And the Lord sayd my spirit shall not alwayes strive with man for that he also is flesh yet his dayes wherein I will spare him and wait for his repentance shall be an hundred and twenty yeares Of this patience the Apostle spake telling us 1 Pet 3.19 20. That Christ by the Spirit which quickned him went and preached to the spâ—rits in prison not in prison when he preached to them but in prison ever since for not obeying what he preached as the text saith which sometime were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah while the Arke was a preparing wherein few that is eight soules were saved by water God did not presently hide his face from that debauched Generation who had corrupted all their wayes but gave them long warning even an hundred and twenty years And how often did God give warning before he withdrew or hid his face from the people of Israel his special people He sent his Prophets rising early and sending them saying Oh do not this abominable thing that I hate Jer. 44.4 And in another place O Jerusalem be instructed lest my soul depart or be disjoynted from thee Jer. 6.8 as if he had said I am loth to depart yea I will not depart if thou wilt but now at length hearken to my voice and receive instruction Secondly As God is long before he begins to hide his face from a Nation so he doth it not all at once but gradually or by several steps we read Ezek. 9.3 how the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the Cherub whereupon he was to the threshold of the house Then chap. 10.18 The glory of the Lord departed from off the threshold of the house and stood over the Cherubims And then chap. 11.23 The glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the City and stood upon the Mountain which is on the East side of the City When the Lord was departing from them he did it by degrees he withdrew and hid himself by little and little as in the Eclipse of the Sun whether partial or total we observe the light gradually shut in and hidden from us Thirdly As God is long before he hideth his face and long in hiding it from a Nation so which makes it dreadful his face being once hid continueth long hid from Nations He doth not return presently to them as he often doth to particular persons
The Eclipses of Divine favour abide long upon Nations and Churches We commonly say Great bodies move slowly And God is usually slow in his motions both from and towards great bodies as he doth not quickly remove from them so he doth not quickly return to them He stayeth long before he hideth his face and he makes them stay long before he causeth his face to shine upon them again When for the sin of Israel God gave up both them and the Ark into the hands of the Philistines though the Philistines vexed with the hand of God upon them sent it back shortly after yet it was long before it was fully setled among them 1 Sam. 7.2 And it came to pass while the Ark abode in Kirjath-jearim that the time was long for it was twenty years and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. The Ark which was a signe of Gods presence with them being removed was not soon restor'd to its proper place yea it was 20. years more after that before it was set in its place by David 2 Sam. 6.17 And whereas it is said that in those first twenty years they lamented after the Lord this signifieth that all those years God was comparatively to what he had somtimes been but as a stranger in the land leaving them under the cruel oppressions of the Philistines nor did they recover his favourable presence till they solemnly repented and reformed putting away their strange gods and Ashteroth preparing their hearts unto the Lord to serve him only as Samuel exhorted them to do at the third verse of that chapter The Jewish Nation in after ages had sad experience of this in the Babylonish captivity when God hid his face from them it was seventy years before he lookt upon them again and since that Nation provoked him by their rejection of the Gospel to lay them aside God hath hid his face from them above these sixteen hundred years and they are to this day a scattered unsetled people and wanderers among the Nations having their hearts hardned and their eyes shut against the light of the glorious Gospel And as the Jewes so many Christian Churches have for a long time felt the sad effects of these Divine hidings and withdrawings Those seven famous Churches in Asia mentioned in the second and third chapters of the Revelation Ephesus Smyrna c. have been under this woful Eclipse many hundred years nor have those ancient Churches in Africa where Tertullian and Augustine once flourished recovered the presence of the Lord to this day Let the Nations and Churches abroad remember this and tremble to provoke the Lord to such departures and desertions God hath long hid his face from the Bohemian Churches subjected them again to the Papal yoke several parts of Germany are under the same hidings the light is departed from them and they are left in much darkness their state is very deplorable and their former purity both as to doctrines of faith and practise of worship as to humane help irrecoverable And should not the dealings of God with them awaken us in these Nations and Churches to remember and consider the wonderful patience of God in continuing our peace notwithstanding all our provocations lest at last he hide his face from us also and then who can behold him A throng of evils and mischiefs will soon appear to us with open face if once God hide his face And it will not be unuseful to instance a little in this place what those evils and mischiefs are which throng and croud in upon Nations and Churches when God hideth his face from them First When God hideth his face from a Nation he layeth down his former care of them and watchfulness over them he takes little or no notice of their case and condition of their troubles and streights as was toucht in opening the Text he regards not how it is with them nor what becomes of them Such apprehensions the Prophet had in reference unto the people of Israel Jer. 14.8 where he humbly expostulated with the Lord Why art thou as a stranger in the land as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night a stranger or a wayfaring man intending to stay but a night in a place thinks not himself concerned with the state of that place if he can but get a supper and a lodging for his money that night he troubles himself no further whether it be well or ill with the place whether it be sickness or health if he can make shift for a night he is satisfied Thus the Prophet conceived the Lord even as a stranger among his people little minding what became of them whether they did sink or swim whether it were peace or trouble joy or sorrow with them And further he represents the Lord not only as a stranger but as a man astonished not only as a man who cares not to help but as a man who cannot An astonished man how mighty soever he is hath no use of his might He that can do little with his reason that 's the case of an astonish'd affrighted man can do less with his hands Now such a one is God to his people that is he will do no more for them then such a one when once he hideth his face from them Secondly When the Lord hideth his face from a Nation he hath no regard to their prayers and supplications no not to their fasts and humiliations that speaks sadly Prayer is our best strength it engageth the strength of God by prayer we have our resort to God and fetch all our help and succour in a day of trouble from his All-sufficiency If once God say to a people I will not hear nor answer your prayers they are in a most forlorn condition Thus God resolved against the people of Israel Jer. 14.12 When they fast I will not hear their cry And as he would not regard their own prayers so he forbade the Prophet to pray for them vers 12. The Lord said unto me pray not for this people for their good yea he tells them he would not regard the prayers and intercessions of any others for them Jer. 15.1 Though Moses and Samuel stood before me that is should become Advocates in their behalf yet my heart could not be towards this people that 's a sure and a dreadful prognostick of ruine as it followeth cast them out of my sight and let them go forth Thirdly When the Lord hides his face from a Nation he refuseth to give them counsel or to direct their way We need the counsel of God as much as his strength as we cannot do what we know unless he strengthen us so we know not what to do unless he counsel us And when ever God hideth his face from a people he hideth counsel from a people When God hid his face from Saul who was in a publick capacity and in a publick case his war with the Philistines O how he
wicked Princes til at last they were carried into captivity by the common enemy These the like are the woful effects of Gods hiding his face from a Nation from all which we may well conclude with Elihu in the Text who then can behold him who can bear his wrathful presence when his face or favourable presence is hidden from us To shut up this point I shall only adde that because these hidings of Gods face are gradual as was shewed before therefore they are little taken notice of as the Prophet complained Hos 7.9 Gray hairs are here and there upon them and they know it not that is they are in a declining condition gray hairs are the signes of old age Eorum mihi videtur idoneus sensus omnino Gormanus qui hanc libertatem dei sive pacem concedendi sive condemnandi vel turbandi ad tyrannos tantum coardat eos qui impiè vivunt Sanct. which is the declension of mans life he alludes from the body Natural to the body Civil or Politick they are I say in a declining weakning spending condition yet they lay it not to heart And that 's a sore if not the chiefest judgement of God upon a Nation when hiding his face he hides his judgements from them and gives them up to hardness of heart to blindness of minde and a spirit of stupidity that they see not nor take notice of their own danger nor the departure of God from them which is the cause of it And still the more God hideth his face from a Nation the more miserable they are and withal the more insensible of their misery So much from that consideration of the Text as to a Nation When he giveth quietness who can make trouble and when he hideth his face who then can behold him Whether it be against a Nation Or against a man only As this verse respects a man only or a single person it is expounded two or three wayes First Of Oppressors and wicked men as if he had said When God will give a wicked man quietness or prosperity in his sinful way who can make his estate troublous or trouble him in his estate He shall be quiet while the will of God is to suffer him to be so and if God once hide his face from him that is Si deus pacem tribuat impiis quis illius providentiam arcana iudicia coâ—d mnare aud bit Gregor Philip. declareth displeasure against him who can behold him that is who among the mightiest of wicked oppressors can lift himself up against or stand before God Secondly The words are expounded of the oppressed or of godly men as if he had said when God is minded or resolved to give peace and quietness to any of his faithful servants who can hinder him or trouble them and when he is pleased for reason best known to himself to leave any of his faithful servants in darkness and withdraw the light of his countenance from them who among them can behold him that is bear or endure his angry appearances Quum ipse tranquillat sc miseros afflictos quis inquietabit cum abscondit faciem sc ab improbis quis contemplabitur eum i. e. quis improborum aversanti Deo ausit obsistere Jun. A third expounds the former part of the verse according to the second Exposition of the whole verse concerning the oppressed or afflicted godly if God will give them quietness who can give them trouble And the latter part of the verse of Oppressors if he hideth his face from wicked and unjust men who can behold him Further Some who take this sence do not understand it as an act of God hiding his own face but as an act of God hiding the face of the wicked Oppressor as if it had been said When God hideth a wicked mans face and wraps him up as a condemned man or when by the command of the Magistrate after his legal tryal his face is covered being ready to seal the warrant for his execution Hamans face was covered as soon as the Kings word went out against him then who can behold him Some insist much upon this interpretation in allusion to the custome of those times when condemned malefactors had their faces covered and indeed when God wraps up the oppressors face as a condemned man who can behold him that is who can hold up his face against God or resist him in this work of justice But I intend not to prosecute the personal consideration of the Text under these distinct notions but shall only take up the general sence When he giveth quietness to a man who can make trouble and when he hideth his face from a man who can behold him I shall only adde Master Broughton's gloss upon the whole verse when for the poor he kills the mighty none can stay him and when he hideth his favour none can finde it Hence Observe First The quietness or peace of any man of every man is of the Lord. If God will have a wicked man live in quietness to it shall be and God hath given and doth often give them quietness I have seen the wicked in great power and spreading himself like a green Bay tree Psal 37.35 David spake this from a good witness the sight of his eye I saith he have seen the wicked in much outward pomp and splendour and as the outward peace and quietness pomp and splendour of the wicked is from God so also is both the outward and inward peace of any godly man First The outward peace or the peace of a godly man in his outward estate is of the Lord Psal 4.8 I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou only makest me to dwell in safety that is thou O Lord wilt watch over me in the night and not suffer me to be surprized by any sudden danger and therefore I will quietly repose my self upon thy gracious promises and throw off those cares and fears which as thorns in the pillow would not suffer me to rest when I lye down in my bed the Lord is my safety even the rest of my body In the 5th chapter of this book ver 23 24. Eliphaz telleth us how the Lord secures the outward condition of a good man and gives him such quietness that even the very beasts of the earth shall be in league and the stones of the field at peace with him and he shall know or be assured that his tabernacle shall be in peace Secondly The inward peace the soul peace the spiritual peace of a godly man is much more from the Lord John 14.27 Peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth so give I unto you as if Christ had said I will not deal with you after the rate of the world that is either deceitfully and falsly or rigorously and unjustly I will not give you such measure as the world gives you nor in
such a manner I give you my peace therefore let not your hearts be troubled neither be you afraid what-ever outward trouble the world can give you be not afraid of it before it cometh nor troubled at it when 't is come I will give you inward peace in the midst of all your troubles Christ invites the weary and the heavie laden to come to him with this promise I will give you rest Matth. 11.29 soul-rest he meaneth that Title or name of Christ Shiloh Gen. 49.10 The Scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come signifies tranquility peace and rest As Jesus Christ hath bought our peace and rest with his blood so he bears it in his name The fountain of our soul-peace is the heart of the father Grace and Peace from God the Father c. Col. 1.1 2. 1 Thess 1.1 The purchase or price of this peace is the blood of the Son Col. 1.22 He hath made our peace through the blood of his Cross Our peace cost dear it cost blood and that the blood of the Son of God The conveyance of this peace is made by the holy Spirit he is sent to bring the good tydings of peace unto believers the Spirit speaks peace from God and witnesseth with our spirits that we are at peace with God And as this peace is at first from God the Father as the fountain of it from God the Son as the Purchaser of it and from God the holy Ghost as the Speaker of it so the continuing and renewing of this peace is from the same God He establisheth and setleth the heart in that peace which he hath given and he restoreth that peace when at any time we have lost it and the heart is unsetled David's soul being unquiet and his peace ravell'd after his sin he addressed to God for the renewing of it Psal 51.12 Restore to me the joy of thy salvation David petitioned the restoring of his peace while he petitioned the restoring of his joy 't is possible to have peace without joy but there can be no joy in that soul which hath not first attained to peace We must wait upon God both for the restoring of our peace when it is departed and for the continuance of it when it is enjoyed When he giveth quietness to a man either as to soul or body or both Who can make trouble Note Secondly The quietness or peace which God bestows upon any person is an invincible an insuperable peace and quietness as to all that this world can do or he suffer in this world If God will give a quiet outward estate no man can disturb it when God gave Job outward quietness what a mighty man was he how did he flourish Nor could any break his outward peace Satan confest it in the first chapter Thou hast made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side there is not the least gap open no nor stake loosned in his hedge who can touch him who can come at him I cannot touch him Sabeans and Chaldeans cannot touch him While the Lord giveth and guardeth our outward peace it is inviolable And as to our spiritual peace if the Lord speak it who or what can trouble the soul First The afflictions tribulations and vexations which we meet with in the world cannot trouble this inward peace while storms are without there will be a calm within the soul may be at peace and the conscience quiet in the greatest visible confusions Let the world turn about and overturn let it shake and break into a thousand pieces this peace abides unshaken unbroken let the world rage in the heat either of war or persecution yet the heart is serene fixt and quiet like Mount Zion that cannot be removed Christ tells his Disciples John 16.33 These things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace and in the same verse he foretells them In the world you shall have tribulation as if he had said you shall have a peace concurrent and contemporary with your tribulation trouble from the world shall not hinder the peace you have from me yea my peace shall conquer the troubles you have in the world Thus the Prophet tryumphed in believing Hab. 3.17 Though the labour of the Olive should fail and the Vine yeild no fruit though there be no Calves in the stall nor Sheep in the fold c. yet I will joy in the Lord and rejoyce in the God of my salvation To rejoyce in the Lord is more then to be quiet or to have peace in the Lord. Joy is the exaltation of peace it is the most delicious fruit of peace The worst of worldly evils cannot despoil us of the least purely spiritual good much less of the greatest Him wilt thou keep in perfect peace whose minde is stayed on thee Isa 26.3 That 's perfectly perfect to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be taken away yet that is truly perfect to which though somthing may be added yet it cannot be either totally or finally taken away Such is the soul-peace of true believers in this life and therefore a perfect peace Secondly As outward tribulation cannot hinder the soul-peace of a godly man so the policy plots and temptations of Satan our arch-enemy cannot yea his charges and most spiteful accusations shall not The great designe of the devil is to destroy and devour souls his own condition being most miserable he at once envies all those who are not in the same condition and attempts to make them so and when he fails in that attempt the destruction of souls yet he will not cease to attempt their molestation and to trouble those whom he cannot utterly devour Now as Satan cannot at all prevail in the former attempt the destroying of souls so he cannot wholly prevail in the latter the troubling of souls Hence that gallant challenge of the Apostle Rom. 8.33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again c. As if he had said let all the enemies of our spiritual peace rise up and combine together they shall not be able to condemn that is wholly to discourage or disquiet the heart of a believer he having received his quietus est rest and peace from God in the justification of his person and the pardon of his sins Satan can do much and would do more if his chain were lengthned and he not restrained to the trouble and molestation of our souls there 's not a godly man living should rest an hour in quiet for him if he might have his wish or his will but because God gives quietness to some believers and will not have it so much as stirr'd therefore Satan cannot make any trouble at all in their souls but they live in the constant light of God's countenance and in
is hated of God I shall shew first the nature of an hypocrite secondly give the distinctions of hypocrites thirdly make some discoveries who is an hypocrite To the First An hypocrite in his general state or nature is as I may say a wicked man in a godly mans clothes he hath an appearance of holiness when there 's nothing but wickedness at the bottome There are two great parts of the hypocrites work first to shew himself good which he is not this is properly the work of simulation or feigning secondly to cover that real evil which he is or doth this is properly the work of dissimulation or cloaking The hypocrite strives as much to appear what he is not as not to appear what he is he makes a semblance of that purity which he loves not and he dissembleth that impurity which he loves and lives in Secondly We may consider hypocrites under this distinction First there is a simple hypocrite who hath not the good which he thinks and believes he hath thus every one that professeth or nameth the name of Christ and is not really converted is an hypocrite because he hath not that which he seems to have yea which possibly he verily believes he hath I may call such a one though it may seem a very strange expression a sincere hypocrite he doth not intend to deceive others but is deceived himself because he hath not the root of the matter in him nor the power of godliness though he brings forth some seeming fruits of godliness and is much in the form of it Such we may conceive shaddowed out to us by the foolish Virgins they made a profession they had their lamps yea they had oyl in their lamps they did somwhat which was considerable in the outward duties of Christian Religion and they hoped to be accepted with Christ but they had no oyl in their vessels with their lamps as the wise Virgins had Matth. 25.4 that is they had no grace in their hearts nor did they minde the getting of that till it was too late v. 10. but satisfied themselves with that little oyle in their lamps to make the blaze of an external profession Such as these are simple hypocrites being pleased with a shell instead of a kernel and with a shaddow neglecting the substance These hypocrites are in a very deplorable condition yet these are not the hypocrites which I intend in this point or have here to do with There are a second sort of hypocrites commonly called gross hypocrites such as hold that out which they know they have not such as know they have nothing in or of Religion but the shew of it such as work by art or with a kinde of force upon themselves in all the good they do and duties they perform towards God and about the things of God They do nothing as the Apostle saith Timothy did Phil. 2.20 naturally I have no man like-minded who will naturally care for your state The word naturally is not there opposed to spiritually but to artificially or to forcedly What a sincere heart doth in the things of God he doth it naturally that is it floweth from an inward principle it is not forced from him but the hypocrite doth all as it were by a kinde of art or force upon himself The Lord chargeth the Jews with this kinde of hypocrisie Isa 58.2 They seek me daylie and delight to know my wayes as a Nation that did righteousness that is they acted with an appearing forwardness like those who truly delight to know my wayes yet all this was but as a piece of art for as the Lord upbraided them vers 3 4. they really kept their sins and walkt in their own wayes of oppression strife and debate yea they made all that noise aboâ—t humbling themselves that they might the more undiscernedly smite others with the fist of wickedness and therefore saith the Lord v. 5. Is it such a fast that I have chosen a day for a man to afflict his soul c. and then for many dayes to afflict both the souls and bodies of his brethren or to abstain a day from meat and glut himself with sin That 's the strain of the hypocrite he as I may say maintains and drives two trades he hath a trade for God and the wayes of God and he hath a trade for sin and the wayes of wickedness this is his course Jer. 12.2 Thou art neer in their mouth but far from their reins they speak of thee but they have no desires to thee no affections for thee thou art far enough from their reins they act a part in Religion but they neither partake of Religion nor with it Thirdly There are others who besides that they are gross hypocrites may also be called designing or plotting hypocrites for they that serve God with a reserve as to any sin or by-way usually serve him with a designe or for an end of their own Christ Matth. 23.14 speaking of gross hypocrites such as the Pharisees were saith they devour widdows houses and in a pretence make long prayers they pray long in a pretence or under a pretence that is they have a plot or a designe in prayer they pray not purely to enjoy communion with God nor purely to honour God but they make use of prayer and under pretence of that do other work Christ doth not there speak against nor disparage long prayers as some do to the great reproach of the Spirit and grace of God but he chargeth them with praying long in a pretence pray heartily and then pray as long as you will other due circumstances being observed the more you pray the more is God pleased But whether prayers are long or short if done in a pretence or with a designe to do mischief to others or only to get some worldly profit and advantage to our selves as those Pharisees prayed they are an abomination to the Lord. 'T is not the length of prayer but the end of prayer which discovers hypocrisie The prophet Isaiah chap. 32.6 gives us a description of this gross designing hypocrite The vile person will speak villany and his heart will work iniquity to practice hypocrisie and to utter errour before the Lord while the hypocrites heart worketh iniquity his tongue speaks villany not that all his words are villanous words for then he were not an hypocrite but a profest prophane person but he is said to speak villany because how pious and specious and godly soever his discourse is yet he hath a villanous intent in speaking and his heart at the same time is working iniquity to practice hypocrisie Now that I may a little more unmask this plotting hypocrite I will shew you a fourfold plot or designe which such hypocrites have in their most zealous professions of and pretendings to Religion First They designe their own praise or estimation among men Christ makes this discovery in his Sermon upon the Mount Matth. 6.2.5 Do not as the hypocrites for all
chastisement also is not expresly in the original there it is only I have borne but because bearing must needs import that somewhat is borne as a burthen and seeing according unto the subject matter that Elihu is upon with Job it must referre to some affliction or chastisement laid upon him therefore we fitly supply this word chastisement It is to be sayd unto God I have borne what it cannot be meant of any outward corporall burthen or visible loade layd upon his back but I have borne chastisement affliction or correction It is meete to be sayd unto God I have borne chastisement that is I both have and will beare whatsoever thou hast or shalt be pleased to lay upon me I will not dispute thy burthens but take them up So then this first part of the verse is a direction ministred to Job shewing him how to behave himselfe in the bearing of affliction He must not strive or struggle with them nor with God about them but sustaine them And this direction is not peculiar to Job's person or to his case alone but it belongs to all that are in affliction let their case be what it will all such ought to beare quietly or patiently to abide under the burthen which God layeth upon them I shall not stay upon the opening of the speciall signification of that word chastisement because it is not in the Hebrew text only thus chastisements are usually taken for those afflictions or afflicting providences which God layeth upon his owne children he layeth judgements upon the wicked and punishments upon the ungodly but properly and strictly that which falls upon his owne people is called chastisement For though in Scripture there are dispensations of God towards his owne people spoken of under the notion of judgement yet they have not a proper sense of judgement as proceeding from wrath and intended for revenge Wrath is the spring from whence judgements flow and as to their issue they tend to the satisfaction of Justice This God doth not expect at the hands of his owne children and therefore their afflictions are most properly called chastisements Surely it is meete to be sayd unto God I have borne chastisement Hence note It is our duty when the hand of God is upon us or when we are under chastisements to speake humbly meekly and submissively to God We ought alwayes to be humble and carry it humbly towards God but then especially when God by any afflicting providence is humbling us The Prophet Hos 14.2 calling that people to returne unto the Lord adviseth thus Take with you words and turne to the Lord say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips As Elihu here makes a kinde of directory what a person in affliction should say unto God It is meete to say unto God that is for a man in thy case to say thus unto God so that Prophet by the Spirit saith Take unto you words and turne to the Lord and say or speake thus unto him though not strictly syllabically in so many words yet to this sence and purpose or according to this tenour speak thus Take away iniquity and receive us graciously And when the Prophet saith Take unto you words his meaning is not that they should affectedly study a forme of words for God much lesse that they should artificially counterfeit words which their hearts had not conceived or were not correspondent to their hearts many speake words even to God which never come neare but are meere strangers to the intents of their hearts but sincere words humble words words of supplication not expostulating words not quarrelling words not murmuring words not meere complaining words but take to you words of confession and submission and so present your selves and your condition before the Lord. The Preacher Eccles 12.10 sought to finde out acceptable words and so should we when we speake unto men Preachers of the word should seeke to finde out acceptable words not fine words not swelling words of vanity not slattering soothing words but acceptable words that is such as may finde easie passage into the heart or such words as may make their passage into the heart through the power of the Spirit of God Now if the Preacher sought to finde out acceptable words when he spake to the people much more should we when we speak to God O how should we labour then to finde out acceptable words All words are not fit to be spoken unto God the words that are in such cases as the text speakes of may be reduced to these two heads First They must be God justifying words that is words by which we acquit the Justice of God how sore and how heavy soever his hand is upon us When Daniel Chap 9.7 14. was laying before the Lord the calamitous state of that people they were under as sore judgements as ever nation was For under the whole heavens saith he there hath not been done as God hath done unto Jerusalem yet all the words he spake unto God tended unto the justification of God O Lord said he righteousnesse belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of faces as at this day to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem c. We have not had one stroake more then we have deserved there hath not been a grain of weight more in our burthen then we have brought upon our selves there hath not been a drop in our cup more then we have given just cause for Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil and brought it upon us for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doth for we obeyed not his voice these are words fit to be spoken unto God Secondly We are to take to our selves self-condemning self-abasing self-emptying words Such we finde in that chapter v. 5 6 7. To us belong shame and confusion of face c. these are the words we should take to our selves and thus it is meet to be said unto God whensoever his chastisements are upon us Secondly Observe It is our duty to acknowledge it to God that he hath chastened us when he hath We must own his hand in afflicting us as much as in prospering us in casting us down as much as in lifting us up in wounding us as much as in healing us It is meet to be said unto God we have born chastisement thy hand hath been upon us The neglect of or rather obstinacy against this is charged as a great sin Isa 26.17 Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see that is they will not acknowledge thy most eminent appearances in anger against them 'T is so with many at this day though there be a hand of God as it were visibly afflicting their bodies and estates their children and families yet they will not see that it is a hand of God but say as the Philistines it is a chance or it is our ill fortune
respects Thus you have the answer to that question by which it appears that 't is no easie matter to say what Elihu saith It is meet to be said unto God I have born chastisement There is yet another question for some may demand why should chastisements be thus born I answer First We must bear them according to all the rules before given because they come from God Our afflictions are Gods allotment we must bear what he appoints therefore old Eli though he had failed and sinned greatly and so brought a cloud of calamity upon himself and his family the very report whereof as Samuel told him would make both ears of every one that heard it to tingle yet he composed his spirit to a submissive hearing of it upon this single consideration It is the Lord and there is enough in that consideration to make all men submit For first The Lord is supream and therefore what he doth must be born Secondly He is a Father a childe must bear what a Father layeth upon him and as the Lord is a father so he is not a hasty imprudent or passionate father but a most wise and judicious father therefore 't is our interest as well as our duty to bear his chastisements Yea he is a gracious tender and compassionate father and when we know he that layeth a hand of affliction upon us hath also a heart full of compassion towards us we should willingly bear his hand Secondly Chastisements are to be born in the manner directed because they are for our good and shall we not bear what is good for us It is good for me said David Psal 119.71 that I have been afflicted and so the Apostle Heb. 12.10 For they verily for a few dayes chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness Chastisements are for our profit and shall not we bear that which is for our profit If God should lay chastisements on us for our hurt meerly to vex us to put us to pain or meerly because he delights in our sufferings who could bear them But it is meet to bear what God layes upon us because he doth it for our good and profit Thirdly We must bear chastisements in the manner shewed because unless we bear them so they will do us no good or we shall have no profit by them and that 's a misery indeed To bear smart and finde no advantage coming in by it to drink gall and to have no sweetness come out of it to endure loss and to have no kinde of profit by it is very grievous Now what ever chastisement is laid upon any it doth them no good and they can have no profit by it unless they bear it as was before described it is not the bare being afflicted that doth us good but it is the wise management or the skilful bearing of it that doth us good and therefore we finde that the Apostle Heb. 12.11 when he had said There is no affliction joyous for the present but grievous adds Nevertheless afterwards it yeildeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness but to whom What to every one that is afflicted have they these sweet fruits No but to them that are exercised thereby Afflictions bring no sweet fruits to them that have them unless they be exercised by them how exercised Afflictions exercise every one that hath them they are to all a passive exercise but to be exercised notes here an active exercise they who graciously exercise themselves in affliction shall without doubt finde benefit and fruit by affliction But some may say what is it to be thus exercised by affliction I answer for the opening of that Scripture to be exercised is First To be much in searching our own hearts and wayes or how 't is with us and what hath been done by us Eccles 7.14 In the day of adversity consider that is bethink your selves First What God is doing Secondly What you have been doing Thirdly What becomes you to do in such a day The prophet points us to the two latter Duties of such a day in one verse Lam. 3.40 Let us search and try our wayes and turn again to the Lord. To search our wayes is to consider what we have been doing to turn to the Lord is the great thing to be done in a day of adversity Secondly As this exercise of the soul consists in searching our own hearts so in searching the heart of God if I may so speak that is in an humble enquiry to the utmost what God meaneth by any affliction what hath moved him to afflict us and we have as much cause to search Gods heart as our own in this case Thus in that National affliction 2 Sam. 21.1 when the famine continued three years year after year it is said David enquired of the Lord why is it thus he search'd Gods heart by desiring an answer from the Lord what sin it was which provoked him to that sad dispensation And thus we should be enquiring of God by prayer what sin he striketh at or what grace he specially calleth us to act by any affliction which he sendeth either upon our families or persons Thirdly There is an exercising of our selves in searching the affliction it self first into the nature of it Secondly into the circumstances of it how timed and measured by what hand and in what way the Lord deals with us this is a great exercise and unless we are thus exercised under affliction we get smart and loss and bitterness but no good at all by it So much for the first counsel given Job by Elihu It is meet to be said unto God I have born chastisement His second counsel as it lies here in the order of the Text is about the reformation or the amendment of what is amiss I will not offend any more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat magna nocendi cupiditate ardere sicut mulieres ardent desiderio concipiendi foetum transfertur in secunda conjugations vel ad parturientium dolores vel ad concupiscendi libidinem Moller in Psal 7.14 It is fit the afflicted should say unto God I wil not offend The root of the word here used signifieth somtimes the pains of travel in childe-bearing Cant. 8.5 I raised thee up under the Apple-tree there thy mother brought thee forth there she brought thee forth that bare thee And again Psal 7.14 Behold he travelleth with iniquity and hath conceived mischief and brought forth falshood It signifieth also in Scripture to corrupt or to pollute Neh. 1.7 We have dealt very corruptly against thee and have not kept the commandments nor the statutes nor the judgements which thou commandest thy servant Moses To deal corruptly or to do corruptly what is it but to sin against or offend God Every offence or sin springs from the corruption of our own hearts and is a corruption of our wayes and manners Both these
to flow in upon us Christ said to the sick man Matth. 9.2 Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee Fourthly It is a precious mercy because it stops and keeps off all evils and judgements strictly so called I forgive I will not destroy Our comforts cannot stand before the guilt of sin and our troubles cannot stand long before the pardon of sin Isa 33.24 The highest wtath of God appears in this when he will not pardon and it argues the greatest displeasure of man against man when he prayeth that he may not be pardoned That was a most dreadful prayer of the Prophet Isa 2.9 The mean man is bowed down and the mighty man humbles himself therefore forgive them not here was a prayer that they might not be forgiven and the ground why he prayed so seems to be as strange as the matter of it was dreadful Is it a sin to be excepted from pardon to see a mean man bow down and a mighty man humble himself The meaning is they bowed themselves not to God but to idols all bowing and humbling our selves either to worship an idol or in idol worship is rebelling against God We have a like prayer Jer. 18.23 the Prophet having spoken of the plots and devisings of the people against him turns himself thus to God Thou knowest all their counsel to slay me forgive not their iniquity neither blot their sin from thy sight Nothing can be wisht worse to any man then this that his sin may never be pardoned And here it may be questioned how the Prophet could make such a prayer which seems to have the height of all uncharitableness in it I answer first The Prophet was led by an extraordinary Spirit to do this Secondly We are not to conceive that the Prophet prayed for their eternal condemnation but that God would call them to a reckoning and make them feel the evil of their own doings There is a sin unto death for the pardon of which we are not to pray 1 John 5.16 yet there is no sin about which we are to pray that it may never be pardoned The worst prayer that can be made against any man is that he may not be pardoned and there is nothing better to be prayed for then pardon It shewed the height of Christs love when hanging on the Cross he prayed thus for his enemies Luke 23.34 Father forgive them they know not what they do And the Protomartyr Stephen breathed out a like spirit of charity while he was breathing out his life in a shower of stones powred upon him from more stony hearts Acts 7.60 with this prayer Lord lay not this sin to their charge Thus I have finished this 31th verse both according to our own Translation and that other insisted upon by many of the learned only from the connexion of this verse with the next according to the latter reading To God who saith I pardon I will not destroy it should be said that which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more Observe The very consideration that God is ready to pardon sin should make us resolved against the committing of sin The sin-pardoning mercy of God is one of the highest and most spiritual arguments by which the soul is kept from sin There is forgiveness with thee saith David Psal 130.4 that thou mayst be feared that is because thou art so merciful as to forgive sinners therefore they ought to fear thee in doing what thy will is and in avoiding whatsoever is contrary to thy will 'T is prophesied that frame of spirit shall dwell upon the people of God in the latter dayes Hos 3.5 They shall fear the Lord and his goodness that is Si scirem homines ignoraturos Deos ignoscituros tamen non facerem Sen◠they shall fear to offend the Lord because he is so good and ready to pardon It was said by a Heathen and it may shame many who profess themselves Christians that a heathen said so if I did know that men should never know the evil which I do and that the gods so he speaks in their language would pardon and forgive the evil which I do yet I would not do it Surely the spirit of a true believer must needs rise thus high and higher upon the clear grounds of Gospel grace and discoveries of the free love of God Cannot a true believer say though I know that God will pardon my sin though he hath declared that my sin is pardoned and though I could be assured that men should never know of this sin if I commit it yet I will not do it To God who saith I pardon it should be said I will sin no more I shall now proceed to the 32d verse which stands fair to either reading Vers 32. That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more Some carry the general sence of these words as if spoken by God himself to Job and spoken by an irony or in scorn as if he had thus bespoken him If I have afflicted thee beyond thy desert or have overthrown thy judgement that Job had more then once complained of Si quid me fugit in te affligendo vel si quid errarem tu me doceas Si te venando perperam egi vel injustè me habui non ultra id fecero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Merc. if I have not kept to the true rules of reason and righteousness in chastening thee if in my dealings with thee I have done amiss or have not done thee right Shew me wherein O Job and I will afflict thee so no more I shall not stay upon this but take the words according to our Translation as the whole verse intends a further description of a person deeply humbled under and sensible of the hand the chastening the afflicting hand of God who having said with respect to all known sins in the former verse I will offend no more saith here in this verse concerning all unknown sins That which I see not teach thou me and if I have done iniquity I will do no more That which I see not There is a two-sold sight First Corporal the sight of the bodily eye Secondly Intellectual the sight of the eye of the minde or of the understanding when Elihu represents the penitent afflicted person speaking thus What I see not c. he intends not a corporal sight but an intellectual Seeing is here as often elsewhere in Scripture put for knowing the understanding is the eye of the soul How blinde and dark are those men who have no understanding in the things of God! Eph. 4.18 When Christ had sayd For judgement am I come into the world that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blinde some of the Pharisees said unto him John 9.41 are we blinde also have we no eyes Jesus said unto them If ye were blinde ye should have
and messengers of his word with his Spirit he will impower them from on high and so we shall learn his Statutes and understand his wayes David ascribes even his skill in Military affairs to Gods teaching Psal 144.1 Blessed be the Lord my strength who teacheth my hand◠to war and my fingers to fight God only teacheth a man powerfully to be a good Souldier Surely then it is God only who teacheth us to be good Christians to be Believers to be holy He hath his seat in heaven who teacheth hearts on earth Secondly As these words hold out to us the temper of an humble sinner Note A gracious humble soul is teachable or is willing to be taught As it is the duty of the Ministers of the Gospel to be apt to teach that 's their special gift or characteristical property so 't is the peoples duty and grace to be apt to be taught to be willing to be led and instructed naturally we are unteachable and untractable As we know nothing of God savingly by nature so we are not willing to know we would sit down in our ignorance or at most in a form of knowledge To be willing to learn is the first or rather the second step to learning The first is a sight of our ignorance and the second a readiness to be taught and entertain the means of knowledge Thirdly The words being the form of a Prayer Note It is our duty to entreat the Lord earnestly that he would teach us what we know not It is a great favour and a mercy that God will teach us that he will be our master our Tutor Now as we are to ask and pray for every mercy so for this that God would vouchsafe to be our Teacher Psal 25.4 5. Shew me thy wayes O Lord teach me thy paths Lead me in thy truth and teach me David spake it twice in prayer Lead me and Teach me Lead me on in the truth which I know and teach me the truths which I know not So he prayeth again Psal 119.26 Teach me thy Statutes make me to understand the way of thy precepts David was convinced that he could not understand the Statutes of God unless God would be his Teacher though he could read the Statutes of God and understand the language of them yet he did not understand the Spirit of them till he was taught and taught of God and therefore he prayed so earnestly once and again for his teaching When Philip put that question to the Eunuch Acts 8.30 Vnderstandest thou what thou readest He said how can I except some man should guide me Or unless I am taught Though we read the Statutes of God and read them every day yet we shall know little unless the Lord teach us Solomon made it his request for all Israel at the solemn Dedication of the Temple 1 Kings 8.37 Teach them the good way wherein they should walk God who is our Commander is also our Counseller Fourthly From the special matter wherein this penitent person would be taught which is plain from part of the latter verse If I have done iniquity Note A gracious heart is willing to know and see the worst of himself He would have God teach him what iniquity he hath done David was often upon that prayer Psal 139.24 Search me O God and know my heart and see if there be any wicked way in me Lord shew me my sin as I would not conceal my sin from thee so I would not have my sin concealed from my self A carnal man who lives in sin though possibly he may pray for knowledge in some things and would be a knowing man yet he hath no minde that either God or man should shew him his sin He loves not to see the worst of himself his dark part he as little loves to see his sin as to have it seen But a godly man never thinks he seeth his sin enough how little soever he sins he thinks he sins too much that 's the general bent of a gracious mans heart and how much soever he sees his sin he thinks he sees it too little And therefore as he tells God what he knows of his sin so he would have God tell him that of his sin which he doth not know That which I know not teach thou me If I have done iniquity I will do no more There are two special parts of repentance First Confession of sin whether known or unknown This we have in the former part of the verse That which I see not teach thou me There is the confession of sin even of unknown sin The second part of repentance is reformation or amendment a turning from sin a forsaking of that iniquity which we desire God would shew us we have this second part of repentance in this latter part of the verse If I have done iniquity I will do no more But why doth he say If I have c. Had he any any doubt whether he had done iniquity or no every man must confess down right that he hath sinned and done iniquity without ifs or an's Solomon having made such a supposition in his prayer at the Dedication of the Temple 1 Kings 8.46 If they sin against thee presently puts it into this position for there is no man that sinneth not The Apostle concludes 1 John 1.8 If we say we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Therefore this If I have done iniquity is not to be understood as if this or that man as if he or any man might be without sin but when the penitent is brought in saying If I have done iniquity h◠meaning is First What ever iniquity I have done I am willing to leave it to abandon it I will do so no more Secondly Thus If I have done iniquity that is if I have done any great iniquity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perverse agere if I have acted perverseness or perversly as the word signifieth I will do so no more to do iniquity is more then barely to sin As if he had said though I cannot promise that I will sin no more yet Lord if thou dost discover to me any iniquity any gross sin or perversenesse I will do that no more I will engage my self against that sin with all my might and to the utmost of my power by grace received I will keep my self pure from every sin If I have done iniquity Hence Note First A godly man hath a gracious suspition of himself that he hath done evil yea some great evil that he hath done amiss yea greatly amiss though he be not able to charge himself with this or that particular iniquity He knoweth he hath sinned done evil though he knoweth not every evil he hath done nor how sinfully he may have sinned he doubts it may be worse with him then he seeth Possibly he hath done iniquity Job in reference to his children chap. 1.5 had an holy suspition that in their feasting
Rom. 11.34 Who hath been his Councellor As God had none to counsel him concerning his eternal purposes so we must not adventure to counsel him as to his daylie providences or dispensations either toward our selves or others the true rule of our life is to yeild our selves to be ruled by God He will recompence it whether we chuse or whether we refuse And not I. As if he had said If thou wilt struggle with the will of God thou mayest but I will not God will go his own way and do as he sees good say thou what thou canst or howsoever it please or displease thee And for mine own part I dare not entertain or give way to a thought of prescribing to him in any of these things what he should do no nor be unsatisfied with much less censure what he hath done Therefore if thou canst acquit thy self of this crime and accusation which I have laid to thy charge as thou didst theirs who spake before do it say what thou canst for thy self Hence Note He that sees another do amiss ought to take heed of doing the like himself Again As these words and not I refer to the word recompence He will recompence whether thou chuse or whether thou refuse the meaning of them may be conceived as if Elihu had thus bespoken Job If thou dost smart for thy pride and the height of thy spirit if God pay thee home for it do not lay the fault upon me I have given thee counsel to direct thee better I desire not thou shouldest come under such a handling but certainly God will do it When we have declar'd the minde and will of God in the severity of his judgements upon sinners it is good for us to say God will do it and not we The Prophet Jeremiah chap. 17.16 having warned them of an evil day addes Nor have I desired the woful day Lord thou knowest it Jeremy had spoken woful things against that people but saith he I have not desired that woful day though I have prophesied of it So Elihu seems to speak he will recompence and not I though it be not in my minde yet I assure thee 't is the mind of God Yet further Some read these words with the former as an Interrogation or rebuking question made by God himself What Should you chuse and not I Election or choice is my priviledge not thine thou must not think to prescribe to me Verba Dei per Mimesmesse puto Merc. I will chasten and afflict as I think fit or according to my own will not according to thine Thus he brings in God speaking to Job thou findest thy self much aggrieved and complainest that thou art afflicted more then is meete It should seem then that I must do what thou thinkest fit not what I think fit my self Surely thou must give me the rule how much how long and in what manner I must correct both thy self and others Should you chuse and not I How uncomely Therefore speak what thou knowest Here Elihu gives Job time to reply as he had done at the 33d chap. vers 5. as if he had said If thou knowest any thing against what I have spoken or art able to make any objection against it speak if thou thinkest I have not spoken right shew me my errour and spare not Hence Note First When we have declar'd what we judge to be the minde of God in any case we should give others liberty of speaking their minds also This is my opinion speak what thou canst against it we should speak 2 Cor. 1.24 Not as having Dominion over the faith of others but as helpers of their joy The Ministers of Christ must speak as Servants to not as Lords of the faith of others Elihu did not carry it as a Lord over the faith of Job but left him to make good his own opinion and practise if he could Secondly Note Knowledge is the fountain of Speech We need no other light to speak by then that of reason the understanding should feed the Tongue we must not speak at a venture but keep to Rule and take our ayme The Apostle Paul tells us of some who make a great noise but know not what they say nor whereof they affirm 1 Tim 1.7 they speak they understand not what and vent what they can give no account of Speak what thou knowest Thirdly Note We should speak when called what we know Knowledge is a Talent and must not be hid in a Napkin if thou know better then I speak pray speak do not hide thy knowledge As Elihu would have Job speak in his own case so he inviteth others to speak about his case as it followeth in the next verse Vers 34. Let men of Vnderstanding tell me c. In this 34th verse Elihu turns his speech to Job's friends again presuming of or not questioning their consent to what he had said being confident that himself was in the right and that they were wise enough to apprehend it He was perswaded that all wise men either were or upon hearing the matter would be of his minde and that therefore what Job had spoken was very defective of wisdome as he concludes in the thirty-fifth verse Let men of understanding tell me c. He appeales to Jobs friends or any other men of understanding let them saith he Consider what I and he have spoken Viri cordis i. e. cordâ—ti cor notat fapientiam et carere cor dicitur qui descipit Cum Jobo non putat amplius producendum esse colloquium Quare viros vocat intelligentes Sanct. Et vir sapiens audit i. e. audiet me et mihi acquiescet in hoc Merc and give their judgement impartially concerning the whole matter in debate between him and Job Let men of understanding tell me c. The Hebrew is men of heart the heart is the seat of understanding according to Scripture language there we read of a wise heart and of an understanding heart and it saith of a foolish or indiscreete person he hath no heart he is a man without a heart Ephraim is a silly dove without a heart Hos 7.11 that is he doth not understand Mr Broughton translates Sad men of heart will speake as I and the wise person that heares me As in the former part of the verse Elihu called for speakers so in the latter he calleth for hearers Let men of understanding tell me And let a wise man hearken to me or as some render a wise man will hearken to me The word rendred hearken signifies more then to heare even to submit to obey a wise man will hearken to me that is he will assent to and consent with me he will vote with me and declare himselfe to be of my mind In that Elihu appealed to wise and understanding men Note First It is not good to stand to our owne Judgements altogether in dealing with the Consciences of others Let wise men let men of understanding
there is store of sin in the multitude of words They that will be speaking much slip much Job saith he multiplyeth words against God There is a multiplying of words against God two wayes First directly Secondly by way of reflection or rebound Elihu could not say Job had spoken nor could he presume he would speak one word much lesse multiply words against God directly He knew Job was a godly man but he asserts he had or feared he might multiply words against God reflectively that is speak such words as might cast dishonour upon God such words as God might take very ill at his hands and interpret as spoken against himselfe Hence note They who speake unduely of the wayes and proceedings of God with them in this world speake against God himselfe The business of Elihu in all this discourse was to hold forth the evill frame of Jobs heart signified by the intemperance of his language under the dealings of God God had afflicted and chastned Job he had multiplyed wounds upon him and Job in the heate of his spirit and bitterness of his soule making many complaints about the workings of God with him is charged with multiplying words against God We may speak against God before we are aware yea we may speake many words against God when we thinke we have not spoke one word against him While we speake impatiently of the proceedings of God in the world and murmur at his dispensations to our families or persons what doe we but multiply words against God we speake much for our selves to God yea I may say we highly commend our selves to God when we submit to his doings and say nothing but in a silent admiration adore his dealings and waite for a good issue of them Aaron proclaimed both his humility and his faith in holding his peace when the Lord slew his two sons Nadab and Abihu strangely with fire for offering strange fire before the Lord which he commanded them not Lev 10.1 2 3. But how many are there who proclaime their pride and unbeliefe by not being able to hold their peace under the afflicting hand of God when his hand scarce toucheth them or when he doth but lay the weight of his little finger upon them in comparison of that heavy stroake which fell upon Aaron We are in much danger of sinning when at any time we speake many words or as Elihu speaketh multiply words he is a rare man that speaketh many words and but some amiss Now if to multiply words at any time even when we are most composed exposeth us to error in our words how much more when our tongues utter many words in the bitterness and discomposure of our spirits And as to speak amisse in any matter is to sâ—n against God so to speak much amisse of our sufferings or of the severest providences of God towards us is to speak much or to multiply words though nor intentionally yet really and indeed against God O then forbeare this multiplication of words lest you multiply sins Speak but little unlesse in the praise of God take heed how you speak of what God is doing to others or doing to your selves Let your words be few and let them be weighed for God will weigh your words and you may heare from him in blowes what he heareth from you in words 'T is a dangerous thing to be found speaking words against God yet this may be the case of a good man whose heart is with God and whose heart is for God even while he hath a general bent of heart to lay himselfe out in speaking and doing for God he through passion and temptation may be found speaking against God What we speake discontentedly of the wayes or works of God is a multiplying of words against God himselfe Thus I have given out and finished my thoughts upon the Preface which Elihu made to lead in his discourse with Job as also upon two stages of his discourse with him Job sits silent and answers him not a word which Elihu perceiving takes liberty to urge him further with two distinct discourses more contained in the three Chapters following which if the Lord give life and leave may be opened and offered to the readers use and acceptance in convenient season A TABLE Directing to some speciall Points noted in the precedent EXPOSITIONS A ABraham a threefold gradation in his name 13 Acceptance with God is our highest priviledge 429 Accepting of persons wherein the sinfullness of it is 119 120. To accept persons in prejudice to the truth is a high offence 121. Some speciall wayes wherein we run into this sin 124 125. 630. God is no accepter of persons 631 Account God giveth no account to man 253. All men must give an account to God 254. 322. God will call all men to account 664 Accusations not to be taken up hastily or meerely by heare-say 195 196 Addition of sin to sin proper to the wicked 828. It is very dangerous to make such additions 830 Adversity a night 688 Affliction must not be added to the afflicted 90. The afflictions of some men more eminently from the hand of God 91. These afflictions which are most eminently from God seeme to beare the greatest witness of the sinfullness of man 91. Foure grounds of it 92. Yet it is no concluding argument 93. Godly men most afflicted seven ends God hath in afflicting them 93 94. What use we should make of it when we see godly men much afflicted 94. In affliction it is better be found bewayling our sin then reporting our innocency 208. We hardly keepe good thoughts of God when we are afflicted and suffer hard things 223. Afflictions put a double restraint upon us 224. How affliction carrieth in it matter of disgrace 225. God speaks to us by affliction 340. Nine designes of God in afflicting man 343 344. Times of affliction must be times of confession 450. Afflictions designed for the good of man 472. No pleading of our innocency or righteousness for our freedome from affliction 515 516. The Lord takes liberty to afflict them greatly whose sins are not great 529. We must not complaine of the greatness of our affliction how little soever our sins are 529. In affliction we should speake humbly and meekely to God 789. The hand of God must be acknowledged in our afflictions 791. Affliction or chastning must be born 791. What it is to beare affliction shewed many wayes 792 793. We must pray for the taking away of an affliction while we are willing to beare it 794. What it is to be exercised under affliction 796. The sin and danger of breaking out of an affliction 801. Who may be sayd to breake from or out of an affliction 801. Affliction tryeth us 852. How it may be lawfull to pray or wish for affliction to fall upon others 852 Alexander the Great his speech to a Souldier of his owne name 12 Amazement what 103 Anarchy the worst of national judgements 746 Angels good or bad
their hearts are soft and tender but I will take away the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh Yet Secondly as to the poynt in hand there are conditionall acts of grace I may call them second acts of grace or renewed acts of grace For when after conversion we fall into sin and by that evill heart of unbeliefe remaining in a great measure unmortified we depart from the living God Heb 3.12 God doth not give out fresh acts of grace but upon repentance and the renewings of our communion with him Having once received grace we being again helped and assisted by grace act graciously before God declares himselfe gracious to us When a man is cast upon a sick bed for sin that 's the case of many the Lord will see repentance before he will raise him up againe James 5.15 The prayer of faith shall save the sick and if he hath committed sins they shall be forgiven him that is if he being cast upon a sick bed to correct or chasten him for the sin that he hath committed shall humble himselfe and seek the Lord by prayer praying and calling for prayer Then the sin committed shall be forgiven him and the Lord will raise him up againe 'T is not the prayer of another that can obtaine deliverance for the sick much lesse the forgiveness of his sins if himselfe be prayer-lesse and repentance-lesse But while others pray for the sick mans bodyly health they praying also for his soules health the Lord gives him repentance for his sin and then a comfortable sight of pardon So then before the Lord puts out these second acts of grace he looks for and finds something in the creature yet still that also is an effect of his grace both to them and in them They who have already received grace must stir up their grace and renew acts of grace thorough grace towards him before he dispenses acts of grace towards them And as consolation in this life so that highest and last act of grace salvation in the life to come is not bestow'd upon any till they are fitted God calls and converts the worst of men those that are in their filth and mud and mire but he will not save a filthy person he will have him first purged and prepared Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not enter into the kingdome of God 1 Cor 6.9 and that without holiness no man shall see the Lord Heb 12.14 There is no eternall salvation without preparation nor is there any promise of temporall salvation without it When a man is sick to death as in the text salvation comes not the Lord is not gracious till the sick mans spirit is humbled and set right till the messenger hath shewed him how he may stand upright before the Lord and he hath imbraced his message then and not till then he is gracious And as in these words we have the occasion of this grace so in the following words we have the publication of this grace Then he is gracious And saith Deliver him from going downe into the pit And saith that is the Lord gives out an order presently he gives out a warrant for the release of the sick man When earthly Princes have once granted pardon to an offender they say deliver him they signe a warrant for his deliverance out of prison or they signe a pardon and say deliver him from death when he is at the place of execution Thus concerning this sick man God saith deliver him from going downe to the pit The word rendred deliver signifies also to redeem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ideÌ„ quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 redemit liberavit verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non alias reperitur et pro ratione loci intelligitto et exponitur pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Merc 't is used in this forme no where else in all the Scripture To free deliver or redeeme a man intimates his person in hold then will he say deliver him From what there are as many sorts of deliverances as there are of troubles each particular strait and trouble hath a proportionable deliverance There is deliverance First from captivity or bondage Secondly from want or poverty Thirdly from imminent sudden danger or perill by land or Sea Fourthly from sicknesses and diseases Fifthly from death and that two-fold First from temporall Secondly from eternall death Here when he saith deliver him we may determine this deliverance by the latter words of the text to be a deliverance from deadly sickness deliver him from going downe to the pit that is deliver him from death To goe downe to the pit is often in Scripture put to signifie dying Further The pit implyes corruption because in the pit or grave the body corrupts It is sayd indeed Numb 16.30 of that rebellious triumvirate Corah Dathan and Abiram they went downe alive into the pit but they went downe to death and ordinarily the dead only goe downe to the pit The same phrase is used Psal 28.1 Psal 88.4 Ezek 31.14 Ezek 32.18 24 29 30. That text is very remarkeable Prov 28.17 He that offereth violence to the blood of another he shall flee to the pit let no man stay him That is The murderer who in wrath and hatred or upon private revenge destâ—oyeth the life of any man shall hasten to destruction either as chased and hurried by his owne feares like Cain and Judas or as prosecuted by the justice of the Magistrate And as he thus hasteth to the pit so let no man stay him that is First let no man conceale him Secondly let no man move for his impunity or sollicite his pardon or if any doe then Thirdly let not the Magistrate grant his pardon For the old universall Law tells him his duty Gen 9.6 He that sheddeth mans blood by man that is by the Magistrate commanding and by his officers executing shall his blood be shed And as another Law hath it Deut 19.13 Thine eye shall not spare him c. The Magistrate who is in Gods stead may not say of him as here God doth of the sick man Deliver him from going downe to the pit His blood is ill spared who would not spare the blood of another But it may be questioned for as much as the text saith only in general deliver him Into whose hands this warrant for his deliverance is delivered or who is directed to deliver him Master Broughton represents God speaking this to the sick mans disease for thus he renders the text Then he will have mercy upon him and say Spare him O killing malady from descending into the pit God will speak thus to the disease and there is a great elegancy in it spare him O killing malady Diseases come and goe at Gods command they hurt and they spare at his direction As the Lords breath or word bloweth away the winds Math 8.27 The men marvelled saying Who is this that even the winde and the seas obey him So the Lords
price I have found a ransome I am well paid saith God for mans deliverance This ransome every poor soul may plead before the Lord for his deliverance both from sickness death and hell He that hath nothing to offer to the Lord as indeed the best have nothing of their own worth the offering and if they offer any thing of their own of how much worth soever it may seem to be it will not passe nor be accepted he I say that hath nothing of his own to offer yet may tell him he shall be well paid he may tell God he shall have more by saving him then by damning him If he damne him he shall have but his own blood the blood of a creature for satisfaction but if he save him he shall have the blood of his Son the blood of God as a ransome for his salvation Thirdly Observe Though the Gospel was not clearly and fully revealed in those elder times yet it was then savingly revealed How doth the grace of God shine forth in mans deliverance by a ransome in this Scripture Here is nothing said of deliverance from sickness by medicines but by a ransome and if they knew that deliverance from a disease must come in by a ransome how much more that deliverance from damnation must come in that way The old Patriarkes had the knowledge of Christ to come and not only was there a knowledge of him to come in that nation and Church of the Jewes but the light scattered abroad the Land of Vz had it Job had it as hath appeared from severall passages of this Booke Elihu had it as appeareth by this Fourthly Observe Not only our eternall deliverances but even our temporall deliverances and mercies are purchased by the blood of Christ A beleever doth not eate a bit of bread but he hath it by vertue of the purchase of Christ Christ hath bought all good for us and Christ hath bought us out of all evill Christ hath not only purchast deliverance from hell and salvation in heaven for us but he hath purchast deliverance from a sick bed and freedome from bondage to men for us Zech. 9.11 As for thee also saith the Lord by the blood of thy Covenant that is the Covenant which I have made with thee I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein was no water that is from the Babylonish captivity The Jewes were delivered from corporall slavery as well as spirituall by the blood of Jesus Christ and so are the Covenant people of God to this day The blood of the Covenant serves to all purposes for the good things of this life as well as of that which is to come Nothing else can do us good to purpose or deliver us from evill but the blood of Christ Ps 49.7 8. They that trust in their wealth boast themselves in the multitude of their riches none of them can by any meanes redeeme his brother nor give to God a ransome for him In some cases as Solomon saith Prov. 13.8 The ransome of a mans life are his riches As a mans riches doe often endanger his life all the fault of some men for which they have suffered as deep as death hath been only this they were rich so a man by his riches may redeeme his forfeited or endangered life he may buy off the wrath of man and so ransome his life by his riches But all the riches in the world cannot buy his life out of the hand of sickness though a man would lay out all his substance and spend all that he hath upon Physitians as the poor woman in the Gospel did yet that could not doe it We need the blood of Jesus Christ to help us out of a sick bed and from temporall sufferings as well as from hell and everlasting sufferings And the more spirituall any are the more they have recourse to the blood of Christ for all they would have whether it be freedome from this or that evill or enjoyment of this or that good Therefore First When we hear of a ransome let us remember that we are all naturally captives Here is a ransome for our souls and a ransome for our bodies we are ransomed from hell and ransomed from death surely then we are through sin made captives to all these Secondly In that the ransome is exprest by a word that notes hiding or covering it should mind us that Jesus Christ by his blood which is our ransome hath covered all our bloody sins and surely the blood of our sins will appeare not only to our shame but to our confusion unlesse the blood of Christ cover them Thirdly We may hence infer The Lord shall be no looser by saving the worst of sinners His Son hath taken care for that he hath undertaken to see his Honour saved and his Justice satisfied Fourthly In all your outward afflictions and sicknesses apply to the blood of Christ for healing for helpe and deliverance Fifthly Being delivered from going down to the pit from death by sickness blesse Christ for his blood We are rescued from the arrest of death from Deaths Sergeant sicknesse by the blood of Christ And remember that as Christ ransomes us from going downe to the grave when we are sick so Christ will ransome us from the power of the grave when we are dead Hosea 13.14 I will ransome them from the power of the grave Which though it were primarily meant of the deliverance of the Jewes out of Babylon where they seemed to be not only dead but buryed yet the Apostle applyeth it clearly to the ransoming of the body dead indeed and laid in the grave by the power of Christ at the generall resurrection 1 Cor. 15.54 For then shall be brought to passe that saying that is written Death is swallowed up of victory O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy Victory Yea Christ hath ransomed all those from going down to the pit of hell who take hold of his ransome by believing See that you have an interest in this ransome else you will never have deliverance from going downe to that pit We read not all the Scripture over of any ransome to deliver those who are once gone downe to that bottomlesse pit They that are in the grave shall be ransomed and recovered by the power of Christ but they that goe into hell shall never be ransomed from thence Take hold of this ransome that ye may have full deliverance both from sickness leading to death here and from hell which is the second death hereafter JOB Chap. 33. Vers 25 26. His flesh shall be fresher then a childes he shall returne to the dayes of his youth He shall pray unto God and be will be favourable unto him and he shall see his face with joy for he will render unto man his righteousness IN these two verses Elihu proceeds to shew the perfecting of the sick mans recovery the foundation of which was layd in the Lords graciousness