highest in grace are censured as acting and speaking below nature And as these whose graces are âoving aloft are often suspected of madnesse So secondly they who lye below complaining under the pressures of nature by affliction are as often suspected of and charged with impatience A troubled spirit can hardly judge aright of it selfe and is seldome rightly judged by others I will end this poynt with two Cautions The first to all concerning those that are afflicted The second to all that are afflicted To the former I say judge charitably of those who complaine bitterly for as a man in a low condition knoweth not what himselfe would eyther be or doe were he advanced to the heights of honour and power so he that is at ease and wel knoweth not what himselfe would eyther be or doe were he in paine or overwhelmed with sorrows Extreames in any ââate are rarely borne with a wel or duely tempered moderation Secondly To the latter I say let them expect to heare themselves hardly censured and learne to beare it let not such thinke strange of their sufferings eyther under the hand of God or by the tongues of men Great sufferers speake often unbecommingly and are as often so spoken of Thirdly Forasmuch as the matter of this suggestion against Job tumultuous and rebellious speeches at least speeches savouring strongly of rebellion are incident to any Godly man in Jobs condition Observe There may be rebellion against God in a good mans complainings under the afflicting hand of God An unquiet spirit is not onely a great burden to man but a dishonour to God Our dissatisfaction with the dealings of God carrieth in it at least an implicit accusation of him or that God hath not done well because it is ill to sence with us There is a rebellion against the rod as wel as against the word of God For as our strugling and striving with the word of God and the unquietnesse of our hearts under any truth when it takes hold of us is rebellion against God so to strive and struggle with the rod of God or with the crosse that he layes upon us is rebellion against him also God speakes to us by his rod as wel as by his word and we spurne at God in wrangling with his rod as wel as in wrangling with his word Yea to have hard thoughts of God as that he is severe and rigourous that he hath put off his bowells of compassion towards us and forgotten to be gratious such thoughts as these of God under affliction are rebellious thoughts And as there is a rebellion in the thoughts against God in case of affliction so also in the Tongue Thus to murmur is to rebell I doe not say that all complaining is rebelling but all murmuring is we may complaine and tell the Lord how sad it is with us how much our soules our bodies our estates our relations bleed and smart We may complaine and make great complaints without sin but the least murmuring is sinfull yea in the very nature of it so full of sin that it usually and deservedly passeth under the name of Rebellion The children of Israel were as often charged with rebellion as with murmuring And therefore when they murmured for want of Water Moses sayd unto them Heare now ye rebels must we fetch you water out of this Rocke Numb 20.10 And againe Moses chargeth this upon them with his last breath as it were Deut. 31.27 I know thy rebellion and thy stiffe necke behold while I am yet alive with you this day ye have been rebellious against the Lord and how much more after my death yea the Lord himselfe chargeth rebellion upon that unparalleld payre of Brethren Moses and Aaron themselves because they had not so fully as they ought at all times and in all things submitted unto his divine dispensations among that people Numb 24. The Lord spake to Moses saying Aaron shall be gathered unto his people for he shall not enter into the Land which I have given unto the children of Israel because yee the Lord puts them both together in the sin rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah Fourthly whereas Job sayth Even to day my complaint is bitter Observe The Afflictions and sorrows of some eminently Godly sticke by them or continue long upon them It is with afflictions as with diseases there are some acute diseases sharpe and feirce for a while but they last not they are over in a few dayes for eyther the disease departs from the man or the man departs out of the world by the feircenes of his disease There are also Chronicall diseases lasting lingring diseases that hang about a man many dayes yea moneths and yeares and will not be gone while he lives but lye downe in the grave with him Such a difference we finde among thosâ other afflictions and troubles which are not seated as diseases in the body but reach the whole estate of man Some are acute and sharpe like the fierce fitts of a feavor but they last not or like Summers sudden stormes which are soone followed with a succession of faire weather But there are also chronicall afflictions tuffe and unmoveable troubles which abide by us which dwell with us day after day yeare after yeare and never leave us while we live or till we leave the world Many a good man hath carryed his affliction with him to the grave If any shall object how then is that of David true Psal 30.5 Weeping may endure for a night âât joy commeth in the morning I answer First That Scripture speakes of that which is often experienced but not alwayes secondly It is most true also that all our weeping is but for a night yea but for a Moment as the Apostle speakes 2 Cor. 4.17 compared with that morning of joy when the day of our blessed eternity shall begin Thirdly the Psalme hath this scope cheifely to shew that the troubles of the Saints are not everlasting not that they are never lasting or to shew that the night of weeping shall at last conclude in a morning of joy to the Godly not that their night of weeping shall presently conclude For as some have onely a Summers night or a short night of sorrow so others have a winters night or a long night of sorrow And this night of sorrow may be as long not onely as many natural dayes or as somes yeares but as long as all the naturall dayes and yeares of this present life The morning of joy is not to be understood of the next morrow after the sorrow began for how long soever our weeping continues it is night with us and whensoever joy comes though at midnight 't is morning with us For sure enough as those sonnes of pleasure are described Isa 56.12 promising themselves the continuance of their joyes To morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant therefore come fetch wine and let us drinke to day there will be wine enough
what he saith to mee and then reverently submit thereunto Further This forme of speaking I would know the words and I would understand c. seemeth to imply a vehement desire in Job to know the minde of God concerning him As a man that is accused longs to heare the minde of the Judge as for others 't is not much to him what they say for him or against him As Paul spake in a like case 1 Cor. 4.3 With me it is a very small thing to be judged of you or of mans judgement c. he that judgeth me is the Lord that is to his judgement I must stand He is above all Hence note First That a godly man is carefull to understand the answer and determinations of God concerning him I would know the words that he would answer mee and this not onely according to the supposition which Job makes here if God should speake to him personally or mouth to mouth but in what way soever God should speake to him It is the great care of a Godly man to know the word of God written and deliver'd over to us as the rule of our life and faith for indeed therein wee have our judgement and our answer as Christ saith the words that I speake they shall judge you at the last day that is by the word you shall be judged Likewise it is the care of a Godly man to understand what God speakes to him by his workes and providences by his rods and chastnings In these the Lord speakes to us and gives us answers They who are wise will study to know and understand them We may conceive that Job had respect to two things especially about which he desiered that he might understand the answer and words of God to him First That God would shew him the true Cause of his affliction for he did not take that to be the Cause which his friends had so often suggested and so disputed upon that Fallacy all along which Logicians call The putting of that for a Cause which is not the Cause Therefore Job hoped to know of God what he would say as to the reason why he did Contend with him Secondly What God would say to him by way of Direction and Councell by way of remedy and redress he was sollicitous to understand the minde of God and what God expected from him under this dispensation So that Jobs scope was not at all as Eliphaz suspected to plead his owne righteousnesse and holy walkings before God as if God had been beholding to him for them and so must needs grant him as having deserved it whatsoever he should aske But that he might be acquainted with the holy will and purpose of God concerning himselfe and to be instructed by him about the grounds and ends of his long and sharpe affliction that so he might beare it more chearefully and more fruitfully As also and that principally that he might heare from his Majesty which was the great poynt in controversie between him and his friends whether he did correct and chasten him as a son or punish and take vengeance on him as on a rebell and so set him among the examples of caution for sinners in time to come Secondly Note A Godly man rests in the Judgement of God Si me nisontem pronunciaret cum gaudio si sontem cum patientia sâsciperem sententiam ejus Scult Job would not rest in his friends judgement but in Gods judgement he would rest and enquire no further I saith he freely yeeld up my selfe to that if the Lord should pronounce mee Innocent I would rest in his sentence and be thankfull if the Lord should pronounce mee faulty yet I would rest in his sentence and be patient yea then I would aske mercy and begg his grace for the pardon of my faylings God is an Infallible Judge and therefore no man ought to question his determinations Indeed Every mouth shall be stopped and all the world become guilty before God Rom. 3.19 that is acknowledg theÌselves guilty before him when he judgeth And as there is no avoyding the judgement of God so a godly man desires to rejoyce in it Good is the word of the Lord sayd Hezekiah 2 King 20 19. When a very sore sentence was past against him and he sayd is it not Good if peace and truth be in my dayes By good in the former part of the verse he meanes just and equall as if he had sayd though this word be full of gall and wormewood yet it is no other then I and my people have deserved and drawne upon our selves By good in the latter part of the verse he meanes Gracious and mercifull as if he had sayd God in this sentence hath mixed the good of justice and equity with the good of graciousnes and mercy or in the midst of Judgement he hath remembred mercy Thus also when God gave sentence by fire against the two sons of Aaron Moses sayd to Aaron This is that the Lord spake saying I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people I will be glorified Lev. 10.3 Now when Aaron heard this the text saith And Aaron held his peace He murmured not he contradicted not but rested patiently in the judgement of God And thus Job was resolved to give himselfe up to the judgement of God whatsoever it should be And we shall finde him in the next words hoping strongly to finde God very sweete and gratious to him could he but obtaine a hearing at his Judgement seate JOB CHAP. 23. Vers 6 7. Will he plead against me with his great power No but he would put strength in me There the righteous might dispute with him so should I be delivered for ever from my Judge JOb still prosecutes the proofe of his integrity from his willingnesse to appeare before God and plead his case at his throne and as in the two former verses he told us what he would doe upon supposition that he could finde God and have accesse unto him even that he would state his case and then fill his mouth with arguments he would also seriously attend and strive to understand the answer which God should give him So in these two verses he holds out what entertainment he assured himselfe of in this his addresse to God as also what confidence he had of a faire hearing and of a good issue As if he had said O Eliphaz you have often deterred and over-awed me with the Majesty of God as if he would certainly crush such a worme as I am and that I could not at at all stand or abide a tryall before him in Judgement Eliphaz hath spoken to that sense at the 4th verse of the former Chapter Will he reprove thee for feare of thee will he enter with thee into judgement dost thou thinke that God will condescend so farre as to treate with thee but know O Eliphaz that I am not afraid of the presence of God for
wise may he profitable to himself The Lord hath designed all our wisdom and obedience to our own benefit So Moses spake to the people of Israel Deu. 6.24 The Lord commanded us to doe all these statutes to feare the Lord our God for our good alwayes that he might preserve us alive as it is at this day It is not for the Lords good but it is for our good that he commands and we obey And as the Lord commanded all things in the Law for our good not for his own so he commands us to believe the Gospel not for his good but for our own he is not to be saved by it it is we that are to be saved by it He doth not call us to work as men do their servants that he might play the good husband and get some profit by keeping us hard at labour Indeed the Lord keepeth his servants hard at labour night and day they must be continually upon duty But he doth it not as I may say to play the good husband to encrease his stock by it but it is for our profit That which Christ speaks Mar. 2.27 about the Sabboth is true of all other the commands of God we are apt to think that God requires a seaventh day because it is for his profit and advantage no saith Christ the Lord hath not an eye to himselfe but to man The Sabboth was made for man that is for mans advantage that he might look heaven ward that he might worke in the things which concern his owne blessednesse therefore hath the Lord appointed him a resting day The Sabboth was made for man and not man for the Sabboth Sixtly Then our disobedience cannot hurt God our sinnâ cannot disadvantage him impaire his blessednesse oâ diminish his glory As mans obedience is no profit so his disobedience is no disprofit to God Sinners shall be punished as they who have wronged and dishonoured God they shall be dealt with as such But really all the sinnes of the world doe not bring any damage or disadvantage to God Elihu is expresse to this point in the 35. Chap. of this Book vers 6 7. If thou sinnest what dost thou against him Every sin is against the mind of God but no sinn is against the happinesse of God or if thy transgressions be multiplyed what dost thou unto him is God impair'd by it Surely no God doth not loose a pinn from his sleeve as I may say by all the sinnes committed in the world He hath no dependance at all upon our obedience for his blessedness our sins cannot hurt him as our obedience cannot help him which Elihu shews in the next verse If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand Seventhly hence see the honour of God that hath made so many creatures and man especially of whom himselfe hath no need that hath so many to serve him and yet needs none of their services Give God this glory Wee think those men are very glorious and honouurable who have but as much of the creature as will serve thier turn all creatures are the Lords yet he is not necessitated to serve his turn by any of them Eightly then see what an obligation lyeth upon us continually to blesse God to be thankfull to him to walk humbly with him who gives us so many profits when as we doe not profit him at all God prizeth that highly by which himself hath no benefit hee prizes the actings of faith and holinesse highly but he hath no advantage by them God gives us profit by these though himselfe be not profited though he is not the better by any thing we do yet we are the better The Lord binds himself by promise that the least good we do in sincerity shall have a good reward He that gives but a cup of cold water to a Disciple in the name of a Disciple shall not lose his reward But if we give thousands of Gold and Silver to poore Disciples what profit hath God by it And yet though none of the profit comes to his hand yet he reckons it as if all were put into his hand All the charity and compassion shewed to his people Christ taketh to himself Matth. 25. In that yee have done it unto these ye have done it unto me Christ had no need of alms of visiting or cloathing yet he counts it as done to himselfe when we do it to any of his Can a man be profitable to God as he that is wise may be profitable to himselfe Some give the meaning of the words thus Doth it follow that a man can be profitable unto God because a wise man may be profitable to himselfe our reading reaches the same sense Can a man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable to himself It doth not follow because A man may profit another man or profit himselfe that therefore he may profit God That 's the summe of the argument ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Intellexit prudens fuit per Metonymiam faelix prosper fuit quod prudentibus omnia feliciter cedant prudentiam faelicitas fere sequitur As he that is wiâe The word in the root of it signifies to Understand to be Prudent and by a Metonymie to be happy or to prosper because usually affaires succeed well and prosper in the hands of wise men and happinesse usually followes wisedome therefore to be wise and to be profitable are signified by one and the same word in the Hebrew So in this Text He that is wise is profitable to himselfe that is his affaires shall prosper We finde this Title prefixt to divers Psalms Maschil Maschil intelligens prudens carmen erudiens ode didascalica In titulis Psalmorum ter decies legitur which is as much as A teaching Psalme a Psalm making wise a Psalm for Instruction This Title is given those Psalms which as they have some extraordinary matter so usually they are Psalmes of complaint under affliction and the reason of that is because there is much instruction in correction much light of holy knowledge is to be had in the School of the Crosse therefore usually those Psalms that describe the afflictions of the Church are called Maschil Psalms of Instruction Schola crucis Schola lucis Luth. He that is wise and instructs or he that is wise as having received instruction may be profitable to himselfe All wisedome is not profitable to man for there is a wisedome of which the Scripture saith that God will destroy it a man cannot profit himselfe by that and there is a wisedome which is earthly sensuall and devillish Jam. 3.15 A man be he never so wise according to this wisedome shall not profit himselfe by it There are a sort of wise men whom the Lord will take in their craftinesse 1 Cor. 3.19 and how can such profit themselves by their wisedome There are wise men whose thoughts the Lord knoweth to be but vaine that
Lord is every where present I answer when Moses sayth and many other Texts which speake in the same forme that God was sometimes with his people and somtimes not we are not to understand it at all of a local presence or absence but of a favourable presence or absence Thus God is with some persons and not with others thus he is sometime present with sometime absent from the same person It was this favourable presence for which Moses did so earnestly entreate the Lord Exod. 33.15 If thy presence goe not with us carry us no further That is unlesse thou please to be with us to prosper our way and protect us in it let us stay where we are This presence of God is a high favour indeed and God is thus present but in few places comparatively of the whole earth Once more those Scriptures may seeme to imply that God is so in heaven that he is not also upon the earth which speak of his coming downe from heaven to earth Gen. 11.5 And the Lord came downe to see the City and the Tower which the Children of men builded Whence some may inferre if he came downe to see the City then he was not there before and if so then he is not universally present in all places Againe Gen. 18.20 21. And the Lord said because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sinne is very grievous I will goe downe now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know This passage yeelds the same difficulty and objection To both which we may adde that of David Psal 14.2 The Lord looked downe from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand He doth not say God was among the children of men here below but being in heaven as a man standing upon a high place or Tower he looked downe I answer These Texts speake of God after the manner of men or they speake thus not to teach us how God knowes what is done on earth but to confirme and assure us that the Lord doth clearely and certainly know whatsoever is done by or among men on earth even as clearely certainly as a man knoweth any thing by his view upon the place God knoweth all things presently without searching though never so secret and all things certainly without enquiring though never so doubtfull God neyther ascends nor descends He doth not come downe by any motion but he comes downe to our apprehension He shewes us after our way that he knoweth because we cannot conceave his way of knowledge If I would assure another man that I certainly know such a thing I tell him I came from the place I saw it or I beheld it with my own eyes now that 's all that is intended when 't is sayd The Lord came downe from heaven to behold and see the Tower of Babell and the condition of Sodom Or it is to admonish all Magistrates and Judges that they passe no sentence of punishment eyther upon places or persons upon bare hearesay and reports but that they first enforme themselves fully of the matter of fact as Job professed his course was in all legal proceedings Chap. 29.16 The cause which I knew not I searched out Thus wee see notwithstanding all these apparances from Texts of Scripture to the contrary That this Scripture-truth standeth firme The Lord is so in the height of heaven that he is every where also here upon the earth From which take these two Deductions First Seeing the Lord is every where present we should be every where holy For where soever he is he is the holy Lord That was the charge which God gave to Abraham Walke before me and be upright As if he had sayd Wheresoever thou walkest walke as having me present with thee and be upright in my presence I saith David a type of Christ Psal 16.8 have set the Lord alwayes before me he is at my right hand I shall not be moved He that by faâth eyes God continually as his protector in trouble shall not be moved with any evill that he suffers and he that eyes God by faith as his patterne in holinesse shall not be moved from doing that which is good This thought The Lord is at our right hand keepes us from turning eyther to the right hand or to the left It is said of Enoch that he walked with God Gen. 5.22 and though the Historie of his life be very short yet 't is sayd of him a second time ver 24. That he walked with God He walked so much with God that he walked as God he did not walke which kinde of walking the Apostle reproves 1 Cor. 3.3 as men He walked so little like the world that his stay was little in the world He was not saith the Text for God tooke him He tooke him from the world to himselfe or as the Author to the Hebrewes reports it he was translated that he should not see death for he received this testimony that he pleased God Secondly It followeth if God be every where present That the godly are never out of the reach of God to helpe them and that the wicked are never out of the reach of God to punish them Isa 43.2 When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt The presence of God is the protection of Saints in the evill which they suffer and they who doe evill cannot be hid from his punishing presence There is no running from God It is said of Jonah Chap. 1.3 That he fled from the presence of God Whether fled he The Text saith he fled to Sea but did not God finde him there He fled from the commanding presence of God but he fell into the angry presence of God We have a large description in the 9th of Amos how carnall men hope to shift out of the hand of God I sayth the Lord will slay the last of them with the sword though they dig to hell thence shall my hand take them We read what wise counsell the servants of the King of Benhadad gave him after he had been defeated by the King of Israel 1 King 20.23 24 25. Their Gods are Gods of the hils therefore they were stronger then we but let us fight against them in the plaines and surely we shall be stronger then they Make thee an Army like the Army that thou hast lost horse for horse and Chariot for Chariot and we will fight against them in the plaine and surely we shall be stronger then they and he hearkened to their voice and did so Why did they desire to fight them upon the plaine they thought God was a God of the hills and not of the valleys but ver 28. A man of God sayd to the King of Israel thus saith the Lord because the Assyrians have said the
beleeving and fearing the report or prophecy of a deluge laught them to scorne and in derision doubtlesse ask't them what voyage they intended and whether they meant to sayle their Ship over the dry Land as for them they never dreamt of a Sea hanging in the clouds and ready to drop downe upon their heads Now as the ungodly world derided Noah and his Sons for their credulity before the flood came so 't is probable enough that when the flood came upon that world of the ungodly Noah and his Sons laught at and derided their incredulity They who laugh at divine threatnings deserve to be laughed at under divine sufferings Others apply this particularly to the Tragedy of Pharaoh and his Egyptians overwhelmed and drowned in the red sea of which it is said Exod. 14.30 31. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the shoare and Israel saw that Great worke which the Lord did upon the Egyptians The effect of this sight is two wayes described in that holy Historie First by the acting of feare and faith And the people feared the Lord and beleeved the Lord and his servant Moses Secondly by the acting of their joy in the Lord and their holy insultation over the drowned Egyptians Chap. 15. v. 1. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord and spake saying I will sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the horse his rider hath he throwne into the Sea Thus also that innocent people saw the ruine of their wicked enemies and laughed them to scorne Yet I conceive Eliphaz speaking here rather upon a generally experienced and positive truth then strictly and particularly ayming at those ancient Examples The innocent that is any innocent person whether innocent in reference to the doing of evill or having escaped the sufferance of evill laugh them to scorne Before he sayd the righteous see it and are glad now he sayth the innocent laugh them to scorne it is one thing for a man to be glad in himselfe and another thing to laugh other men to scorne for though to be innocent carries in it somewhat lesse or at the most but so much as to be righteous yet to laugh the unrighteous and wicked to scorne when they fall carries in it much more then to be glad when they fall ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã denotat gestum qui fit ore labijs ficta balbutie five quod balbutientes irrideri soleaÌt sive quod irrisores balbutiant per contemptum et malignam imitationem And besides the word in the Hebrew signifies the most scornefull laughter such a laughter as is expressed by a distortion of the mouth and lips or by a kinde of fained lisping with the tongue and artificiall faultring in speech For as they that lispe and faulter in speech are usually derided and laught at so they that deride and laugh at others will purposely lispe or faulter in speech Stammerers are contemptible and many stammer at others in contempt This imitation of a defect in nature shewes the excesse of malice Such is the force of this expression The innocent laugh them to scorne Here it may be questioned how a good man an innocent person can doe such a thing can he thus laugh the wicked to scorne it is difficult enough to salve it as consistent with Grace for a righteous man to rejoyce at the fall of the wicked but it is farre more difficult to salve it how a righteous man may laugh them to scorne scorning and deriding are the practices of lewd persons of sons of Beliall such indeed are usually scorners and jeerers The enemies of Jesus Christ are so described Psal 22.7 All they that see me that is all the wicked that see me for many Disciples saw Christ in his sufferings and did not onely pity him but honour and beleeve on him but saith he all they who are mine enemies that see me laugh me to scorne they shoot out the lip and shake the head And David tells us Psal 1.1 that to fit in the seate of the scornefull is the conclusion of those who have first walked in the way of the ungodly and secondly stood in the way of sinners The common Latine translater renders that in the Psalme not the seate of scorners but the seate of the pestilence And indeed they have spirituall plague-spots upon them and the surest tokens of eternall death who are given up to be scorners Therefore question it againe how are the Innocent scorners I answer That as when humane affections which are below the divine nature are attributed to God such are to repent to be grieved at the wickednes and to laugh at the calamity of the wicked we say these note onely an effect upon the creature not a change of affection in God for in him there is no variablenes nor shadow of change so when those actions Irrisio ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã similia quae affectum humanum significant uti a deo longe absunt ita quae mali moris sunt ab ecclesia Coc Vt haec de deé ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã iâa de sanctis ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã sunt intell genda which are below or unsuteable to a renewed regenerate nature in man are attributed to the Saints such as these to wash their feete in the bloud of the ungodly to laugh them to scorne in their saddest miseries we must say that these note rather what the wicked deserve then what the godly doe The godly are no scorners but there is that in wicked men which is worthy to be laughed to scorne or wicked men doe that for which they deserve to be laughed at whatsoever is evill in such like actions is farre from the heart and spirit of the godly And therefore as Scriptures of such a tenour are to be interpreted and understood in such a manner as becomes and is consistent with the holines of God so also in their proportion to the holines of the Saints The laughter of the Saints in these dispensations is serious and their scorning the acting of their graces not of their corruptions And thus it is said of God himselfe Psal 2.4 He that sitteth in heaven shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision And Prov. 1.26 I will mocke at your calamity and laugh when your feare commeth when your feare commeth as desolation and your destruction commeth as a whirlewind c. that is I will carry my selfe so towards you I will pity you who have been scorners of my word and have set at nought my counsel no more then men pity those whom they laugh to scorne such is the laughter of the Saints at the calamity of the wicked And thus Eliah derided Baals Priests while they wearied themselves in their foolish superstition 1 Kings 18.27 And it came to passe at noone that Eliah mockt them and said cry aloud for
object cannot be immoderate but in temperals they quickly may and therefore as to them our moderation should be known to all men Yet if God give in abundance of temporals in the lawfull exercise of our callings we may warraÌtably enjoy it as a blessing from him The providence of God doth often bound us to a little and we ought to be contented with the least portion of outward things with bare food rayment but the word of God doth not bound us to a little nor doth it say it is unlawfull to have much And as it is not unlawfull to have much of the world so it is a great exercise and tryall of our Graces to have much As there are some Graces of a Christian which come not to tryall till we are in want so there are other Graces which come not to tryall unlesse we have aboundance Want tryeth our patience and our dependance upon God for a supply of what we have not and aboundance tryeth our temperance our humility our liberality yea and our dependance upon and faith in God for the sanctifying blessing and making of that comfortable to us which we have When a rich man seeth an emptines in his aboundance without the enjoyments of God in it he exerciseth as high a grace and sheweth as heavenly a frame of mind as that poore man doth who seeth and enjoyeth a fullnes in God in the midst of all his emptines And therefore Paul puts both these alike upon a divine teaching Phil. 4.12 In all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need And had it been unlawfull to enjoy plenty Eliphaz had never pressed Job to repentance by this motive The Almighty shall be thy defence and thou shalt have plenty of silver JOB CHAP. 22. Vers 26 27. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty and shalt lift up thy face unto God Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him and âe shall heare thee and thou shall pay thy Vowes IT hath been shewed from the former context how Eliphaz encouraged yea provoked Job to repentance and returning to God by the proposall of many promises by promises of outward and temporall mercies gold silver and protection He might have what he pleased of God for the comforts of this life if his life were once pleasing unto God In this latter part of the Chapter he riseth higher and proposeth spirituall promises And he begins with the best of spirituall promises the free injoyment of God himselfe Vers 26. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty c. As if Eliphas had said If thou dost indeed repent and turne from sin thy conscience which now troubles yea torments thee shall have sweete peace in God and thou who now grovellest with thy eyes downe to the ground by reason of thy pressing guilt and misery shalt then with confidence lift up thy face unto God in prayer and thou shalt finde God so ready at hand with an answer that thou shalt see cause chearefully to performe thy Vowes which thou madest to him in the day of trouble That 's the generall scope of this latter part of the Chapter I shall now proceed to explicate the particulars For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Allmighty The first word implyeth a reason of what he had said before Having spoken of temporall promises he confirmes his interest in them by assuring him of spirituall for then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty As if he had said God will not deny thee outward comforts in the creature seing he intends to give thee the highest comforts even delight in himselfe 'T is an argument like that of the Apostle Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his owne Sonne but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things Thus Eliphaz seemes to argue seeing God will give thee himselfe to rejoyce in or to rejoyce in himselfe how can he deny thee gold and silver with those other conveniencies which concerne this life these being indeed as nothing in comparison of himselfe Then shalt thou delight c. Then that is when thou returnest to God and not till then then thou mayest expect to receive much sweetnesse from him such sweetnesse as thy soule never tasted or experienced to this day Then shalt thou have thy delight The word signifies to delight or take contentment ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã delectatus fuit coâpore vel animo Sonai etiam aliquâd delicatum âoââe whether it be outward contentment or inward contentment the delight of the body or the delight of the minde And so an universall delight thy whole delight shall be in the Lord. Moses Deut. 28.56 describes those women by this word who were made up of delight Thy tender and delicate woman that is such as are so delicate that they are the delight of all who behold them or who are themselves altogether devoted to their delights who as the Apostle Paul speaks of the wanton widdow 1 Tim. 5. live in pleasure These are threatned with such calamities as should render their very lives a paine to them The word is used againe Isa 58.13 14. where the Prophet speaks of keeping the Sabboth If thou turne away thy foote from the Sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight what then then shalt thou delight thy selfe in the Lord thou shalt have curious delight all manner of delight in the Lord if thou call the Sabbath a delight the holy of the Lord honourable and shalt honour him if thou hast a delight in duty thou shalt have the delight of reward Thus Eliphaz then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty And 't is considerable that he doth not say thou shalt have thy delight in the mercifull or gracious God but in the Allmighty in him thou shalt have thy delight whose power is over all and who is able to doe whatsoever pleaseth him Even the power and allmightinesse of the Lord shall be as pleasant to thee as his mercy and loving kindnesse Further delight in the generall nature of it consists in these two things First In the suitablenesse and conveniency of the object and the faculty whether sensitive or intellective Secondly It consists in the reflection and application of the faculty upon the object So that to delight our selves in the Allmighty hath these two things in it First A suitablenesse in our soules to the Lord. Secondly The soules reflecting upon the Lord as good and gratious unto us This reflect act breeds and brings in delight and works the heart to an unspeakeable joy in God By this last and highest act of faith we take in the sweetnesse of the Almighty and delight our selves in him mightily This faith doth not onely suck the promises wherein the love of God is evidenced to us but is it selfe an evidence of the love of God to
Acts 27.20 Tenere faciem throni est coelum occultare et obducere nubibus That neyther Sun nor Starrs in many dayes appeared here was a holding backe or covering of the face of the throne of God And thus our experiences have often found it held backe the face of heaven being masked or vayled over with naturall clouds and vapours Againe if we take the face of the throne of God for that eminent manifestation of himselfe as in heaven Thus also God holdeth backe the face of his throne by covering it with a Metaphoricall cloud as it is expressed Psal 97.1 2. The Lord reigneth c. clouds and darknesse are round about him that is we can see no more of his glory in reigning then we can see of a Kings throne which is covered with a Canopy and compassed about with curtaines Job gives this plainly for the interpretation of this former part of the verse in the latter part of it And spreadeth his cloud upon it That is upon the face of his throne Wee may take this cloud first properly thus God covers the heavens from the sight of our eyes Secondly improperly as clouds note onely secrecy and privacy Thus God spreadeth a cloud upon his throne to hide it from the eye of our understanding so that we can no more comprehend the glory of God in himselfe or in his wayes and workings towards man then we can see the Sunne Moone and Starres when muffled and wrapt up in thicke clouds Thus David speaketh of the Lord Psal 18.11 He made darkenes his secret place his pavilion round about him were darke waters and thicke clouds of the skyes But the Apostle saith 1 Tim. 6.16 That God dwelleth in light How then doth the Psalmist say there and elsewhere that he made clouds and darknes his secret place and his pavilion I answer As the Lord is light and hath no darkenes at all in him Joh 1.5 so as to himselfe he ever dwelleth in light and hath no clouds nor darkenes at all about him And therefore when it is sayd that he spreadeth a cloud upon his throne and maketh darkness his secret place or his secret place darke we are to understand it in reference to our selves for whensoever God hideth himselfe or the reason of his dealings and dispensations from us Then the cloud is spread upon his Throne When God is sayd to spread a cloud over us or any thing we have it noteth his care over us and his protection of us Isa 4.5 And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion and upon her assemblyes a cloud and smoake by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night what is meant both by this cloud and flaming fire is clearely expounded in the last words of the verse for upon all the glory shall be a defence or a covering Thus I say a cloud spread by God upon us implyeth that we are under his covert and defence But when God spreadeth a cloud upon or covereth himselfe with a cloud this implyeth all the Scripture over the hiding and concealing of himselfe and his workes from us And in this sence Job sayth He holdeth backe the face of his throne and spreadeth a cloud upon it Hence note First God hath a throne Kings have thrones much more hath God who is the King of kings King Solomon made himselfe a great throne of Ivory and overlayd it with the best Gold 1 Kings 10.18 Kings have formall Thrones God hath a real one Hee hath all power in his hand and this he administreth according to the pleasure of his owne will both in heaven and earth Note Secondly God manifesteth himselfe in heaven as Princes upon their thrones so heaven is the throne of God And where God acts most our affections should be most and our conversation most Where the Throne is thither the great resort is many flocke to the Court. As it will be our glory hereafter to be in heaven or about the throne of God for ever in person so it is our grace to be dayly there in Spirit while we are here The earth is Gods footestoole yet many make that their throne Heaven is Gods throne and many make that their footestoole They tread and trample upon the things of heaven while they set their hearts upon the things of the earth 'T is a sad mistake when men set their feete where they should set their hearts and prophane the throne of God not onely by levelling it with but by laying it lower then the ground Observe Thirdly God hideth his owne glory from the sight of man He holdeth backe the face of his throne he will not suffer the lustre of it to appeare but spreadeth a cloud upon it Indeed we are not able to beare the cleare discoveryes of divine Glory 1 Tim. 6.16 God dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto though he were permitted and offered the priviledge to approach unto it God dwelleth in and is possessed of that infinite perfection of light that no creature is capable of When Moses made that petition to God Exod 33.18 I beseech thee shew me thy glory The Lord answered v. 20. Thou canst not see my face for no man shall see me and live It seemes that while God spake with Moses his glory was overshadowed or that God to use Jobs language in the text held backe the face of his throne and spread a cloud upon it and therefore Moses begg'd the removall of it or that his glory might breake through it and shine unto him Wel sayth God thou canst not see my face as if he had sayd If I should grant thee that request thou art not able to enjoy it or make use of it for as my nature is altogether invisible so thou canst not beare the super-excelling brightnes which the cleare manifestations of my immediate presence would dart forth upon thee for that Glory of my presence is too great a weight for humane fraylety to stand under it would astonish rather then comfort thee and in stead of refreshing confound and make thee as a dead man No man shall see my face and live Man must dye before he can in that sence see the face of God and then he shall as the Apostle speakes 1 Cor 13.12 see face to face and know as he is knowne So that though we are much short of the happines of the next life while we see as through a glasse darkely and God holdeth backe the face of his throne yet it is a mercy to us while we are in this life that he doth so because we are not able to abide the sight of him face to face or to behold the face of his throne As Christ had many things to say to his Desciples which they were not able then to beare so Christ hath purchased such mercyes and priviledges for his people as they are not able to beare while they are on this side the grave Every state hath enjoyments suitable
highest of the learnedst of the holiest of the best of men Can a man be profitable unto God The word is El The strong God Can the strongest man be profitable unto the strong the mighty the omnipotent the Almighty God Can he be profitable Can he bring any advantage gaine or profit to God Should he reason with unprofitable talke saith Eliphaz Chap. 15.3 or with words that bring in no Profit A word of the same root signifies a Treasurer who is a keeper of publique Profits Esay 22.15 Goe get thee unto this Treasurer even unto Shebna Can a man be profitable Thus Eliphaz reproves Job for insisting so often upon his own innocency as if that were an Advantage to God As if he had said how holy or righteous soever any man is the Lord receives no advantage by him So that Eliphaz it seems apprehended Job trusting or boasting of somewhat in himselfe as if he had thought God his debtor or that hee had done somewhat for which God was beholding to him And upon this ground that God is debtor or beholding to no man Eliphaz undertakes Job And though his supposition was false yet his position was true and gives us this profitable observation That the best of men cannot oblige God or merit any thing at his hand That which is our duty to doe cannot merit when we have done it We cannot oblige either God or man by performing our owne obligation Thus Christ argues Luk. 17.7 Which of you having a servant ploughing or feeding Cattell will say unto him by and by when he is come from the field goe and sit downe to meate And will not say unto him make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thy selfe and serve me till I have eaten and drunken and afterward thou shalt eate and drinke Doth he thanke that servant because he did the things that were commanded him I trow not So likewise yee when yee have done all these things which are commanded you say wee are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to doe Where Christ proves that because the servant had done no more then was his duty to doe therefore he did not merit in doing it When you have done all that is commanded you say yee are unprofitable servants He that doth all those things that are commanded him is a man indeed a man of worth a man of men yet let that be granted that he reacheth to the utmost line of the Command he is an unprofitable servant he hath but done his duty There is another Parable in this Gospel of Luke that seems to be somewhat opposite to this Chap. 12. v. 36 37. And ye your selves be like unto men that waite for their Lord when he will return from the wedding that when he cometh and knocketh they may open to him immediately Blessed are those servants wâom when the Lord cometh he shall finde so watching that is at their worke Watching is not meant here of a bare waking or not being asleep for a man may watch in that sense and yet be as bad as a sleeper To be found awake and yet idle to be found awake yet doing nothing is as blameable as to be found asleep So that to be found watching is to be found intent upon and labouring in the work of the Lord. Blessed be those servants whom when their Lord cometh he shall find so watching what wil he do Verily I say unto you that he shall gird himselfe and make them to sit down to meate and will come forth to serve them In the 17th Chap. Christ saith If a servant have been hard at worke in the service of his Lord even as a man that is come from Plow or from feeding his Cattell yet his Master doth not say to him sit downe to meate but first bids him gird him self and serve him and afterward goe to meat But here 't is said the Lord presently girds himself and makes his servants sit down to meat and will come and serve them so that here he speaks as if the Lord were much beholding to these servants whereas before hee speaks of them as unprofitable servants to whom he was not at all beholding For the clearing of these two Parables we are to distinguish them by their scopes The scope of the Parable in the 12th Chapter is to shew that the diligent servant shall receive much from the hands of the Lord or that the labour of the diligent servant shall not be in vaine or unprofitable to him But the scope of the Parable in the 17th Cha. is to shew that the most diligent servant cannot doe any thing that is profitable unto his Lord. He may do that which may be profitable to himselfe but he can do nothing that can be profitable to his Lord that 's the scope of the 17th Chapter which falls in fully with the Text and Observation that I am now upon There is a wide difference between these two parables To shew what a diligent servant may expect is one thing and what the most diligent servant can challenge or require is another For indeed those servants in the 12th Chapter to whom the Lord administers the Supper or to whom he ministers at Supper must say that they are unprofitable servants to the Lord though they are to acknowledg to the praise of their Lord that his service hath not been unprofitable unto them and they must say so upon these Considerations First he is their Lord they his servants not their owne 1 Cor. 6.20 Yee are bought with a price yee are not your owne therefore glorifie God in your bodies in your spirits which are Gods God is the owner of our bodies and spirits our selves are the Lords Now if we our selves our bodies and our spirits are the Lords then much more are our services his If the person be anothers all the work done by him must be his too Secondly the house wherein these servants are feasted is the Lords The whole fabrick of heaven and earth is his house He hath set it up to entertain and feast his people in Thirdly All the cheere and good things with which the Lord feasteth his servants all the comforts which grace holds out in this life or glory in the next life are of his owne provision the whole furniture of the Table is of his cost and charge therefore they are obliged to their Lord not their Lord to them he is indeed profitable unto them but they are not profitable unto him They by their sloath and idlenesse might deserve to be sent supperlesse and hungry to bed but by all their pains and diligence they could not deserve their Supper Can a man be profitable unto God Secondly Observe That God is absolutely Independent and Perfect in him selfe If there be an impossibility that man should be profitable unto God then he is Self-sufficient and altogether Independent in reference to man He that cannot receive any addition is perfect in himselfe and he that
is self-sufficient needs not to receive any addition from another is an argument of imperfection And seing God neither receives nor can receive any thing from another he must needs be perfect in himself David Psal 16.2 speaking of himselfe as the type of Christ saith O my soule thou hast said unto the Lord thou art my Lord that is thou art my Portion and my All but my goodnesse extendeth not to thee I am not able to doe any good which reacheth to thy benefit or encreaseth thy happiness for thou art mine In the 50th Psalm the Lord asserts this his own independency If I were hungry I would not tel thee for the world is mine the fulnesse thereof If I had any hunger that is any defect upon me I need not go to the creature to aske a supply I could supply my selfe if there were any need but there 's none The Lord is infinitely above all hunger above all wants and defects whatsoever He indeed threatens Idolaters that he will famish all their gods Zeph. 2.11 Idols shall be hungry they shal be famisht and have none to administer any thing to them This the Lord doth when hee with-draws their respect and worship that name and reputation which once they had in the world from them worship is the food of Idols that keeps livelesse Idols as it were alive and therefore fals gods are famished when their false worship is cast downe but who can famish the Lord If I were hungry c. I would not tell you Can man be profitable unto God But it may be objected Cannot a man be profitable to God is man no advantage no help to him why then Judg. 5.23 Sings Deborah Curse ye Meroz said the Angel of the Lord curse yee bitterly the inhabitants thereof because they came not to the help of the Lord to the help of the Lord against the mighty It should seem then that the Lord had need of the help of these inhabitants of Meroz and if they had come forth it had been an advantage to him why else were they cursed for not coming forth to the help of the Lord I answer man is said to help the Lord when he helps in the Lords cause Personally the Lord needeth not my helpe but the Lord may be helped relatively in his Cause and in his people Thus we help the Lord when we help man when we help the Church and people of God It is our honour as well as our duty to help his People and give assistance in his Cause This the Lord takes so well at our hands that he reckons it as help given to himself Againe if wee consider the help as given to the Lords people we are not to conceive that the Lord needed the helpe of these men of Meroz as if hee could not helpe them himselfe without the assistance or ayd of man For when he seeth that there is no man then his owne arme brings salvation Isa 59.16 'T is the duty of man to come forth and draw his sword in the Lords quarrell against the mighty but the Lord needeth not the sword of man to subdue the mightiest Secondly It may be objected Cannot man be profitable unto God he speaks of the Church of the Jewes in such language as implies them a profit to him Exod. 19.5 Now if yee will obey my voyce indeed and keep my Covenant then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people And is there no profit in a treasure Again Deut. 32.9 The Lords portion is his people Jacob is the lot of his inheritance Hath a man no profit by his portion no advantage by his Inheritance Now if the Lords People be his Portion his Inheritance his Treasure his peculiar special treasure how then can it be said they are no profit no advantage to him I answer the Lords people are his treasure not because they enrich him but because he hath a high esteem of them The Lords People are his treasure not because they profit him but because he protects them If I say to a man you shal be a treasure to me I may do it not because I expect any profit from him but because I have a high esteem of him and resolve to protect and defend him as I do my own portion and treasure In this sense doth the Lord say of his People Yee are my treasure We esteem treasure and treasures are under protection lest any take them from us Thus the Lord speaks of his People not that he hath any profit or gaine by them as men who ordinarily have Portions and Inheritances in Fields or Houses which are their stock and livelihood Indeed there is a Revenue which the Lord hath by his People as they are his portion that is a Revenue of glory and honour not a revenue of profit But if you say glory and honour is profit and an advantage to man is it not then an advantage to God to be glorified by man I answer It is no advantage to God when he is glorified by man Our glorifying of God doth not add any glory to him that he had not but it is only the setting forth of that glory which he had there is no encrease of his fullnesse by all the honour and glory that the creature gives him We are commanded to glorifie God Matth. 5.16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven But God doth not receive any additionall glory by us how much or how clearly soever our light shineth before men A candle adds more light to the Sun then all the creatures in the world can adde to the glory of God when they have studied his glory and laboured to glorifie him to the utmost all their dayes Thirdly that of David may be yet objected Psal 4.3 The Lord hath set apart for himselfe the man that is godly And is so then it seems he intends to make some profit of him it is an allusion unto those that vend wares A Merchant looks upon this and that commodity and then saith this is for my turn this I like set it apart for me Seeing then the Loâd sets the godly apart for himselfe it sounds as if he meant to make some gaine or advantage by him I answer the meaning of that Scripture is not that God sets a godly man apart as one that he gets profit by but as one that he intends to bestow mercy upon or he sets him apart for service not for gaine The Lord serves his own ends by the service of man every day and sets apart the godly man for his speciall service Yet a little further I shall demonstrate that a man cannot be profitable to God First God had all perfection before man was therefore man cannot profit God Psal 90.2 From everlasting and to everlasting thou art God shat is thou art infinite in glory and excellency from everlasting God was God as much before
which will be as so many Observations from the Text. It may seem a very Paradox to assert that it is no pleasure to the Almighty that a man makes his way perfect therefore take the sense first in three Affirmative Propositions and then in three that are Negative First The Lord hath pleasure in us as we are righteous in Christ Yea he loves to hear us boast of this righteousnesse and glory in it and the more we doe so the more pleasure he taketh in it Isa 45.25 Surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousnes even to him shall men come c. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory The seed of Israel are righteous in the Lord and glory in that righteousnesse yea the Lord is pleased to hear them glorying in that righteousnesse for that 's the righteousnesse of his Son in whom he is well pleased Mat. 3. â7 And because the Church is cloathed with this righteousnesse therefore she is called The Lords delight Isai 62.4 Thou shalt no more be called forsaken neither shall thy Land any more be termed desolate but thou shalt be called Hephzibah thy land Beulah for the Lord delighteth in thee Thou shalt be called my delight or my pleasure is in her The word of the Text the Lords pleasure is in the Church and therefore the Lords pleasure is in the Church becaus the Church is adorned and beautified with the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ this is it which causeth the Lord to call his Church Hephzibah My pleasure is in her When Eliphaz enquireth Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous We may answer the Lord hath pleasure in this righteousnesse and as he tels the Church so every perticular Believer his delight and pleasure is in him Secondly God takes pleasure also in us as we are righteous in Conversation David Psal 147.10 11. gives a clear proof of it both in the negative and in the affirmative The Lord delighteth not in the strength of a Horse he taketh not pleasure in the leggs of a man The Lords delight is neither in Horses nor in men neither in their strength nor in their beauty wherein is the Lords pleasure then The next words shew us where He takes pleasure in them that feare him and hope in his mercy This Scripture seems to speak directly contrary to Eliphaz in Job he saith Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous But David saith The Lord takes pleasure in those that feare him therefore we must not understand Eliphaz in this sense as if the Lord had no delight or contentment at all in the holinesse of his people as if it were all one to him whether they are holy or unholy There is a Generation who say that all actions are alike and that it is all one before God whether men be righteous or unrighteous whether they doe good or evil wo to them that understand this Scripture in such a corrupt sense for the Lord doth not onely hate iniquity but he is Of purer eyes then to behold any iniquity He hath no pleasure either in unrighteousnesse or in the unrighteous but both righteousnesse and the righteous are his pleasure There are three things which I shall touch for the confirmation of it First the Lord cannot but take pleasure in his own Image Now that righteousnesse which is implanted in us and put forth by us the righteousnesse of our natures and of our actions as we are regenerate is nothing else but the Image of God renewed upon us Seeing then God cannot but take pleasure in his own Image therefore it is a wickednesse to think that God takes no pleasure in a righteous man or in his righteousnesse Secondly as this righteousnesse is the image of God in us so it is the very workmanship of God upon us Ephes 2.10 For we are his workmanship we are so not only first in our naturall capacity as we are men and secondly in our civil capacity as such or such men high or low rich or poor but also which is the thing intended by the Apostle in our spiritual capacity as Saints Thus we are the workmanship of God created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them The same Apostle saith againe He that hath wrought us for this selfe same thing is God 2 Cor. 5.5 Is it possible that God should have no pleasure in his own works We read in the first of Genesis that when he had made the world the Lord saw all that he had made and behold it was very good God hath an All-seeing eye he alwayes beholdeth all things but when 't is said he saw all that he had made this imports a special act of God after the manner of men who strictly view and behold what they have done delighting in it Thus the Lord saw all that he had made he as it were came to view his own work he saw and behold it was very good he took pleasure in it Now if God took pleasure in that structure and fabrick of the world the first Creation how much more doth he take pleasure in that holinesse which he hath wrought in the hearts of his people which is a second creation and that 's a more curious and noble structure then this visible world is The new Creation is more excellent then the old Therfore the Lord cannot but delight in a righteous person for he is his workmanship What Job Ch. 14.15 assures himselfe of is most true in this respect Thou wilt have a desire to the worke of thine hands Job speaks there of his outward man my body he means was made by thee 't is the work of thy hands and thou wilt fetch it back again thou wilt redeem it from the dust Whatsoever hath the workmanship of God upon it he hath pleasure in it as it is his work and a speciall pleasure in that which as any work of Grace is is his speciall work Thirdly this Consideration shews that the Lord must take pleasure in a righteous person because he bears the form of his will revealed in his word Holinesse is our conformity to the will of God Now the Lord cannot but take pleasure in those who conforme to his will Samuel tels Saul 1 Sam. 15.22 and there he useth this word in the Text Hath the Lord as great delight in Burnt-offrings and sacrifices as in obeying the voyce of the Lord God gave thee a word a Command to which he expected thy conformity but thou hast thought to please the Lord with Sacrifices which he commanded thee not this was thy mistake and thy folly We honour God when we do his will surely then he must needs take pleasure in those that doe it Man takes pleasure when he can have his will though it be a corrupt and sinfull will fulfilled It cannot but be a pleasure to God when his holy will is
fulfilled or done on earth as it is in Heaven Thus we see the second Propnsition cleared for the understanding of these words That as the Lord takes pleasure in those who are righteous by the imputed righteousnesse of his Son so even in those also who are reghteous by the Implanted righteousnesse or holinesse of his spirit Thirdly God takes pleasure to see a sincere and upright person justifie himselfe or plead his owne justice against all the false accusations and suspitions of men The Lord likes it well to hear a man who is falsly accused to stand up and maintaine his own innocency yea it is our duty and we are bound in conscience to maintain our own innocency So David in the seventh Psalm and in the eighteenth Psalm justified himselfe against Saul And thus Job all along in this Book justified himselfe against the opinion of his friends in this sense God takes pleasure when we are so righteous in all our dealings and perfect in all our wayes that we dare encounter whosoever speaks the contrary and can wash off all the aspersions which either misguided and mistaken friends or professed Enemies cast upon us You have now had those three affirmative Propositions for the understanding of the Text. Take three more in the Negative First God hath no pleasure to see us justifie our selves before him or to plead our own righteousnesse with him yea he is extreamly displeased at it This some conceive the chief thing which Eliphaz aimed at Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou doest justifie thy selfe No thou dost highly provoke him in doing so to plead with or to justifie our selves before God that we are righteous is worse then all our unrighteousnesse for this overthrowes the whole design of the Gospel which is 1 Cor. 1.29 That no flesh should glory in his presence but be that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. And Rom. 3.19 20. The Law convinceth all That all the world may become guilty before God therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall be no flesh justified in his sight God will have every mouth stopped or cry guilty and therefore for any one to open his mouth and justifie himselfe before God is to overthrow the Gospel They are ignorant of the righteousnesse of God who goe about to establish their own righteousnesse Rom. 10.3 And as God hath no pleasure in them who boast of their righteousnesse to justifie themselves before him so Secondly God hath no pleasure in them who boast of their owne righteousnesse and contemne others Though a man may assert the righteousnesse of his Conversation against all them who question it yet God resents it highly when any proclaim their own righteousnesse to the despising of others Christ speaks a Parable against those in the 18th of Luke v. 9 10 11. who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others Two men went up into the Temple to pray the one a Pharisee the other a Publican The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himselfe God I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners adulterers unjust or even as this Publican Here was one that advanced his owne active righteousnesse and he did it with the contempt of another I am not as this Publican The Lord takes no pleasure in this yea the Lord is highly displeased with this And Isa 65.5 the Prophet represents the Lords indignation against this pharisaicall spirit in dreadful eloquence Stand by thy selfe come not near to me for I am holier then thou Thus they pleaded their righteousnes in contempt of others These saith the Lord are a smoak in my nose that is greevous and displeasing a fire that burneth all the day Thirdly God hath no pleasure at all in any of our righteousnesse either in the righteousnesse of our Justification or the righteousnesse of our Sanctification as the least addition to his owne happiness The reason of it is because as was shewed from the former Verse God is self-sufficient and hath no dependance at all upon the Creature So that what pleasure soever the Lord hath in the righteousnesse of our Justification or of our Sanctification we cannot put it to this account that we add any thing to his happines All the pleasure which God taketh is in himselfe or in the fulfilling of his owne good pleasure in Christ And therefore the work which Jesus was to doe on Earth is called the pleasure of God Isa 53.10 Deus nullis rebus quae extra ipsum sunt tangitur aut mutatur It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soule an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand That pleasure of the Lord was the work which the Lord put into his hand or which he gave him to doe even the bringing about his eternal purpose for the recovery of lost man that 's a work in which the Lord takes pleasure so much pleasure that the Prophet calleth it His pleasure And thus the Apostle speaks Eph. 1.5 6. Having predestinated us to the adoption of Children by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his owne will c. The good pleasure of God is onely in his owne will that 's his pleasure The Lord delights to see his will accomplisht in the saving of sinners as well as in the obedience of Saints that 's a part of the good will of God why doth he take pleasure in the obedience of Saints even because his own will is done It 's not any thing in us that doth it So when he saves us the pleasure which he takes is in the fulfilling of his owne will rather then in our salvation Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous Vers 4. Will he reprove thee for fear of thee Or will he enter with thee into judgement The Question is to be resolved into this negative He will not reprove thee for fear of thee c. Will he reprove thee ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã arguit redarguit corripuit judicavit The word signifies first to argue or dispute and so to convince by the authority of reason Secondly to plead so to convince by evidence of the Law and fact Mich. 6.2 Hear yee O Mountaines the Lords Controversie and ye strong foundations of the Earth for the Lord hath a controversie with his people and he will plead with Israel The Mountaines and the strong foundations of the earth are the great men of the earth or Magistratical powers with these the Lord threatens a Controversie and that he will plead or argue his cause with them Thirdly it signifies to argue or plead not with words onely but with blowes to reprove with correction Job 5.17 Happy is the man whom thou correctest The word which here we render reprove is there rendred to correct which is reproving by blowes Fourthly
latter part of the Verse may receive the same Exposition Will he enter with thee into judgment namely for thy feare Will God deale with thee upon the account of thy piety And when he comes to justifie thee will he impute that to thee Or when God enters into judgement with thee will he suffer thee to present thy fear thy piety or goodnesse to him and so thereby answer his plea or take away the action which he brings against thee When God enters with us into judgement we may boldly plead our interest or Faith in the Mediator but we must not plead our fear the Grace or Holinesse either of our persons or of our services Thus we see the Doctrine of the Text according to this Exposition and the Active signification of the word Feare carrieth in it the very life and spirit of the Gospel All the worth and merit of our works as to righteousnesse is nul'd and laid prostrate and we taught to glory in nothing but the free gift and grace of God by our Lord Jesus Christ Secondly As Fear is taken passively Will he reprove thee for feare of thee That is is God afraid of thee doth he pick quarrels with thee for fear of thee Or seek occasions against thee when there is none only lest thou shouldest stand in his way or be a detriment to him This appears plainly to be the sense of our Translators Whence Observe God is above the feare of the Creature As in the former Verse God is above any advantages or hopes that the Creature can give him so he is above the feare of any hurt that the creature can doe him As the goodnesse or righteousnesse of man cannot benefit the Lord so the wickednesse and sinfulnesse of man cannot at all impaire the eternall glory and happinesse of the Lord. Though the wickednesse of man be a darkening to the manifestations of his glory and for that wicked men shall be judged yet as to his essential glory all the wickednesse in the world cannot darken that nor be the least abatement to it Will he reprove thee for feare of thee No man cannot hurt the Lord by all his wickednesse and therefore The punishment which God layeth upon wicked men is not after the manner of men God doth not punish as man punisheth Eliphaz here speaks of that which is often indeed a true ground among men why they reprove or punish other men Some reprove others upon a vaine fear of them and some upon a just fear of them Why did the Jews accuse and reprove Christ Was it not for fear of him at least they pretended a fear why else were they so hasty to have Jesus Christ brought to judgement John 12.47 48. Then gathered the chief Priests and Pharisees a Councel and said what doe we for this man doth many Miracles if we let him thus alone all men will beleeve on him and the Romanes shall come and take away both our place and Nation They Crucified Christ for fear though it was but a vain fear that he would be the ruine of their state the Romanes must needs come and destroy them if they let him alone Feare makes men cruell and they are most ready to hurt others who continually suspect hurt from others It hath been an ancient Observation that Cowards are murtherous and revengefull while a man fears that such a man will be his ruine he ruines him if he can and removes that out of his way which he supposeth standing in the way of his owne safety Why did Pharaoh give Command to slay the Male-Children of the Jews and oppresse that people It was upon a vaine or cowardly fear Come let us deale wisely with them lest they multiply and it come to passe that when there falleth out any warre they joyne also with our enemyes and fight against us and so get them up out of the Land Ex. 1.10 It is sayd at the 7th verse of that Chap. that the children of Israel were fruitfull and God fullfilling herein his promise made to Abraham encreased aboundantly and multiplyed and waxed exceeding mighty and the Land was filled with them When God thus cast a gratious eye upon them Pharoah and his Councellers cast a jelous eye upon them and began to suspect their multiplying might at last diminish him that their rising might prove his ruine Therefore upon reason of state he must find out a way to suppress and keepe them under as slaves and bondmen whom his Ancestors received as welcom guests and had to that day enjoyed as faithful friends Pharoah being captivated with this feare saw no way to free himselfe but by taking away the freedome of that whole People As some through the prevalency of their owne feares dare not doe justice so others through the prevalency of feare doe that which is unjust Take one instance more why did Herod Matth. 2. send out to slay all the Children It was for fear of the King of the Jewes he was afraid of Christ and therefore that he might murther him he gave that horrible sentence to slay all the Infants Again some reprove and judge upon a due fear for as Tirants and wicked men are full of fear because full of cruelty and have suspitious thoughts that others will wrong them because they have a mind to wrong every man so just and righteous Magistrates when they see evil working they must reprove and punish it lest it spread to the endangering of the publick Peace This is a just fear and such as becomes a man even a man of courage and integrity such may feare that if seditious spirits be let alone Verissimum est illud quod inter argumentaÌdum assumit Eliphaz ex timore frequenter nasci aut vehementius accendi solere severitatem in irrogando supplicio Pined they will undermine a whole Nation and destroy thousands A Magistrate reproves and Judges Theeves and Murtherers out of fear that if they encrease no man shall live quietly Such as either openly or secretly contrive evil against a Nation the Magistrate from a just ground of fear deals with them reproves least they should disturb or infect the whole But the Lord doth not reprove any man for fear of him he is of such infinite strength and stability so far out of the reach of all the plots and contrivances of the wicked that he needs not call them to account lest they should hurt his state pull him out of his Throne spoile his Kingdome or get his Dominion from him the Lord is not afraid of any of these things but the true reason why the Lord reproves wicked men is because he hates their iniquities and is a God of truth and judgment Though Magistrates may punish not only out of the love of Righteousnesse and Judgment but because they fear a State may be ruin'd if they do it not yet the Lord hath none of this fear in regard of his State but he doth it meerly out of love to justice
of their cloathing That is thou hast taken a pledge from thy neighbour and stript him quite of it Therefore the Law provided against this oppression Exod. 22.26 If thou at all take thy neighbours rayment to pledge thou shalt deliver it to him before the Sunne goe downe for it is his Covering The breach of which Law is discovered and reproved Amos 2.8 And they lay themselves downe upon cloathes layd to pledge That is they detained them all night whereas they should have delivered them before the going downe of the Sunne And thus their sin is aggravated in that it is sayd in the next words that they did this by every Altar It was their sin to make many Altars And this encreased their sin that they durst doe acts of wrong to men where they pretended to worship God Chaldeus legit lectulos oppigneratos Vel certe pro illo ipso vestimento quo se operit interdiu atque noctu etiam jacons se contegit The like Law is given about the Pledge Deut. 24.6 No man shall take the upper or the nether milstone to pledge for he taketh a mans life to pledge That is he takes the thing away without which he cannot live If his milstone be taken away from the Mill how shall he grinde his Corne to make bread which is the Staff of life And againe at the 13th verse of the same Chapter the Law is renewed in reference to rayment In any case thou shalt deliver the pledge againe before the Sun goeth downe that he may sleepe in his owne Rayment and Bless thee and it shall be Righteousness unto thee before the Lord thy God Thus wee may conceive Eliphaz speaking here though not eying that express Law yet from the Common light of nature which teacheth that the poore and naked should not be stript of that little provision and small pittance which serves onely to protect them from cold and starving Further By these words Thou hast stript the naked of their Cloathing Wee may understand not cloathing onely but all the necessaries of this life any thing which is of such concernment to our lives as our Cloaths are for as bread in Scripture is put for all the necessaries of this life So is Cloathing Esa 3.6 When a man shall take hold of his Brother saying Thou hast Cloathing Be thou Ruler over us c. Thou hast cloathing that is thou hast goods thou hast an Estate thou canst make provision for us there Cloathing is put for all outward Conveniencies as in other Scriptures Bread is So that according to the extent of this interpretation Thou hast stript the naked of their Cloathing takes in all sorts of bodily grievances put upon the poore Hence observe That to oppress the poore is the highest and greatest oppression It is our duty to Cloath the naked how great then is their sin who strip the naked of their cloathing it is sinfull unjust violently to take cloaths from him that hath greatest variety of cloathing wee may not rob the rich what is it then to take from them who have not âoe as we say to rob the Hospitall Solomon Prov. 28.3 tels us of an oppression which is very grievous and that is the oppression of a poore man which is true both actively and passively when the poore man is the oppressor 't is so 't is so also when the poore man is the oppressed Solomon intends both for he makes the poore to be the oppressed and a poore man the oppressor The poore man that oppresseth the poore is as a sweeping raine which leaveth no food 'T is worse with the poore when the poore oppresse them then when the rich oppress them the rich may oppress them much but they come not so neere as when a poore man oppresseth for as the imbecilitie of the oppressed poore man can give him no helpe so the necessity of the oppressing poore man will shew him no mercy Nothing doth more harden the heart of a man then his owne want and he hath little feeling of anothers misery who is under the feeling of his own He that hath nothing takes what he can get and his owne hunger devoureth all The rich man oppressing the poore is a dashing raine the great man oppressing the poore is a thundering raine but the poore man oppressing the poore is a sweeping raine As they who never knew poverty so they who know it most have the least stocke of pitie for the poore Such are a sweeping raine indeed There is a refreshing a fatning a filling raine which the Lord sends upon the thirsty Earth this produceth store of food It raines corne and wine milke and butter There is also a sweeping raine that takes away food and destroyes the fruits of the Earth Such a raine is a poore man oppressing the poore Want is the greatest spoyler Secondly Wee may expound the Text thus And stript the naked of their Cloathing That is Thou hast stript them till they are naked for in Scripture wee finde the denomination to be taken from the End of the action or that which the action tends to As to Illustrate it a little Esa 47.2 Take the milstones and grinde meale Now wee doe not grinde meale but whole Corne to make meale So Esay 44.15 Hee baketh Bread Now we doe not bake bread but dough that it may come to be bread when it is bread once it needs no more bakeing So Dan. 2.21 He giveth wisdome to the wise that is he giveth wisdome to those who before were rude and so makes them wise Thus here the denomination of the act is given from that to which the act hath a tendency Thou hast stript the naked not that they who are naked indeed can be stript but thou hast stript them so made them naked This very phrase is used Hos 2.3 Lest I strip thee naked saith the Lord to the Church that is lest in stripping thee I leave thee naked lest I take away all the good things with which thou art Encompassed So here Thou hast stript the naked of their Cloathing That is thou hast stript them till thou hast made them naked From this learne That there is such a Principle of unnaturalnesse in the nature of man as to take away all and leave nothing Wee finde more then Cloaths taken away by some they goe closer then to the cloathing as the Lord complaines Mic. 3.3 Who eate the flesh of a People and flay their skin from off their backs There 's oppression and cruelty in blackest colours they will not leave them so much as their skin upon their backes Skin is naturall Cloathing as Garments are Artificiall Cloathing These tooke away not onely the cloathing which art but that which nature had provided and put upon them they flayed their skin from off their backes Yet we are not to conceive that they were so cruel to pull off their skin but because they would have all to their very skin therefore
fatherlesse when extreamely needing the helpe eyther of God or man And so the word widow must be understood Rev. 18.7 where Babylon boasteth I sit as a Queene and am no widow that is I am neither friendlesse nor helplesse or as the next words seeme to expound it I shall see no sorrow which is usually the widows portion Thus in the Text by the widow and the fatherlesse wee must understand not onely those who are formally so but all in affliction who are equivalently so The armes of the fatherlesse have been broken In the former part of the verse he saith Thou hast sent the widow away empty charging the sinne personally upon Job here he onely sayth The armes of the fatherlesse have been broken As if he did not place the fault directly upon him yet some translate it so Thou hast broken the armes of the fatherlesse making it Jobs act However our rendring layes fault enough upon him and leaves him in particular without excuse while it speaks onely in gânerall The armes of the fatherlesse have been broken For it is as if he had said thou hast permitted their armes to be broken And if he should object what if the armes of the fatherless have been broken what is that to mee Yes you being in place and power and having strength in your owne hands to preserve the fatherlesse if the armes of the fatherlesse have been broken the sinne must lye at your doore Every man is guiltie of all the evill which he hath power and a call to hinder and doth not hinder The armes of the fatherlesse Armes may be taken either properly or figuratively The arme properly is a noble and most usefull Limbe of the body we are not to understand it so here as if he had broken the naturall armes of their bodyes A mans arme is broken when his power is broken though his skin be not so much as touc ht So then Per brachia robur divitiae facultates quae Orphano pro brachijs manibus esse possunt intelliguntur By the armes of the fatherlesse wee are to understand whatsoever is the strength or makes for the defence of the fatherlesse The arme as was toucht in the former verse is put for strength because the arme hath much strength and activity in it for the defence and use of the whole body The estate the friends the kindred all the meanes helpes and ayds which are subservient to the good and protection of the fatherlesse are by a figure called the Armes of the fatherlesse These armes saith Eliphaz Have been broken ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã confringere contundere The word notes an utter breaking a breaking to pieces To break as a thing is broken in a Morter with a pestle This breaking may be also considered two wayes 1 Non subveniendo 2 Detinendo substantiam ipsis a parentibus relictam either as done by a positive act or by a negative act that is by withholding that helpe which might preserve them from breaking The armes of the fatherlesse are broken by denying them protection as well as by exercising oppression upon them Thus wee see what a bill of inditement is here drawne up against Jâb how he is charged with crimes which are not onely against the light of Scripture but even against the very light of nature even with those crimes which his hand was farre from and his heart further from with those crimes which he did not onely forbeare to practice but which his soule did abhorre Hence observe That the most innocent persons are often charged with the foulest and sinfullest crimes Job was so cleare in his owne conscience from this accusation that he not onely professeth openly that he never did but imprecates a like vengeance upon himselfe if ever he had done it Chap. 31.21 If I have lift up my hands against the fatherlesse when I saw my helpe in the gate that is when by reason of my great power and authority in the place of judgement I could easily enough have done it no man daring to oppose or hinder mee but all rather being ready to countenance and assist me in it if I say when I had these advantages over the fatherlesse I did ever breake their armes then let mine arme fall from my shoulder blade and mine arme be broken from the bone As if he had said if I have done this thing let a divine and visible retaliation poynt me out for the man let all the world see and reade my sinne in my punishment and my injustice against man in the most discernable judgements of God upon my selfe Thus free and innocent was Job and yet thus accused And indeed if to accuse were enough there is no man in the world could be innocent or free Who is there of so unspotted a conversation that may not be spotted with accusation who while his conscience is pure may not have much dirt cast in his face Secondly Eliphaz accuses Job of all this not because he knew it to be so but because he thought it was so Whence note which hath formerly been toucht at That to charge any man upon surmise with things that wee cannot prove is a high breach not onely of charity but of justice The Lord reproves Jobs three friends in the last Chapter of this Booke because they had not spoken of him the thing that was right and as they had not spoken the thing that was right of God so not of Job They pitcht upon no reason why they condemned him so much but onely because he indured so much They concluded him a man of sinne because he was a man of sorrow The Apostle gives us the true genius of charity 1 Cor. 13.3 4. Charity beleeveth all things not that charity is so credulous as to take up every thing for truth which is scattered by any common and ungrounded report that 's no commendation in any man much lesse is it the commendation of a godly man therefore when the Apostle saith Charity beleeveth all things the meaning is Charity interprets every thing in the best sence which it will beare and makes the fayrest construction which every mans case and condition will admit And againe at the 5th verse Charity thinkes no evill that is it thinkes no evill of others As a godly man will not maintaine evill thoughts or suffer them to lodge within him in reference to any sinne which himselfe is tempted to commit So a charitable man will not maintaine or Iodge evill thoughts of others in reference to any sinne which he can onely suppose that they have committed Againe as charity thinkes no evill that is it doth not plot evill against others so thinkes no evill by a rash surmising it of others Thus charity beleeves all 's well and thinkes no evill How uncharitable then are they yea how unjust who beleeve all 's ill where they know of none and thinke the worst of them in whom they never saw any thing but what was
issues of divine wrath While these sad dispensations are sent out and meete with Saints they are the issues of divine love For though a godly man may provoke God to anger and finde by many evidences that God as to his actings is angry with him yet as to his person he alwayes loves him And therefore as a wicked mans Table is made his snare so he is assured that his snare shall be made to him a Table that his darkness shall worke light his evills good to him He is also assured that the Lord will dâliver him out of these snares and cut the coards of the wicked Psal 129.4 That hee will deliver him from feare from darknes and bring him up out of the abundance of waters which cover him as David speaks Psal 32.6 For this that is because thou art so gracious shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayst be found The Hebrew is in a finding time which according to our translation notes the season when God may be found as the Prophet speaks Isa 55.6 Yet it may be well expounded for the time when trouble finds that is takes hold of the godly man And so the word is used Psal 116.3 The paines of hell gat hold of me we put in the Margin found me In which sence the word is used also Psal 21.8 Thine hand shall finde out that is take hold of and apprehend all thine enemies thy right hand shall finde out those that hate thee Now in this finding time eyther when God may be found or when trouble finds a godly man he setting himselfe to pray hath this promise surely in the floods of great waters they that is the floods of great waters by which are meant great dangers shall not come nigh him that is the Godly man to hurt or drowne him Sometimes prayer keeps the flood off and alwayes prayer delivers the Godly man out of the flood Wicked men have no minde to come nigh God with their hearts and so some enterpret the latter part of this verse in the Psalme nor will God admitt them nigh unto himselfe in the floods of great waters And the floods of great waters shall not which is the scope of our reading come nigh the Godly man for his hurt when he drawes nigh to God in prayer with his heart Thus wee have seene the sinnes of Job drawne out into a Charge and the Judgement of Eliphaz upon it what the event the sequell or Issue of those sinnes was snares and feares and waters and darkness There is yet one thing further that I shall here take notice of from the constant course of Jobs friends in dealing with him Wee see that still they charge him with sinne and still insist upon it that all his afflictions miseries were the fruits of his sinne Job as hath appeared in opening severall passages of this Booke hath as often disproved their inference and denied that his sufferings were caused by his sinne at least not by any such way of sinning as they charged him with Labouring also much to enforme them that God hath many other reasons why he afflicts his people and that God might take libertie to afflict him though he were no such kinde of creature as they rendred him yet notwithstanding all hee could say eyther to purge himselfe or better conforme them they persevered in the same opinion both concerning his person and the cause of his afflictions Whence Note It is hard to convince those who are under a mistake whether about persons or doctrines Error is as binding upon the conscience and as strongly embraced by the affections as truth is For it binds and is embraced not in the name of an error but in the name of truth And men are therefore wedded to and in love with their owne conceptions because how monstrous and hard-favoured soever in themselves yet nothing is more beautifull in their eye then they No man fayth the Apostle ever hated his owne flesh but loved and cherished it The flesh of our minds such are all false principles and positions is more loved and cherished by us then the flesh of our bodies Besides when men have once taken up an opinion they thinke it a dishonour to lay it downe againe 'T is rare to finde a man that will yeeld up his Judgement though it be a misguided one or acknowledge that he is in an error though he begins to take some knowledge or at least some suspition of it A light intimation or onely the Appearance of a probability will amount to a proofe against eyther persons or doctrines which we like not but the clearest demonstrations will hardly raise a Jealousie against what we like Let Job say what he will in his owne case he cannot be beleeved by his friends and his friends will say againe what once they had sayd though it had been more then once before fully answered The present age hath given us sad experiences of this thing For as many have been unstable and tossed to and fro with every winde of false doctrine so others have been stubborne and unmoved from their errors though the strongest winds of truth have breathed yea blowne hard upon them And those prejudices which have with so much severity been taken up by brethren against brethren how doe they remaine in many minds as mountaines unmoved to this very day I know not which is worse unsetlednes in the truth and an easiness to let it goe or tenaciousnesse in an error and a hardnes to let it goe Nor doe I well know which is worse a readiness to take up hard thoughts of our brethren or an un-readines to lay them downe Were the lawes of love to man and zeale for God observed these extreames would alwayes be avoyded Pure zeale for God would fixe us in the truth and make us more easie to be brought off from our most applauded errors True love to man would cause us to examine every ground of suspicion against a brother twice before we doe indeed suspect him once And it would cause us to rejoyce in any appearance of his innocence whereby we might discharge our owne Spirits of all suspicions concerning him Our love as the Apostle prayes Phil. 1.9 ought to abound in knowledge and in all Judgement That is wee ought to love Judiciously as well as affectionately or sincerely So that true love will not over-looke the faults of another nor will it approve against light Yet true love is ready to entertaine any light offered that grounds of suspition may be removed and we restored to a right understanding of our brethren JOB CHAP. 22. Vers 12 13 14. Is not God in the height of heaven and beholds the height of the Starres how high they are And thou sayest How doth God know can he judge through the dark cloud Thick clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not and he walketh in the circuit of heaven IN the former part of this
hides his face he will never see And againe Psal 144.7 8 11. Send thy hand from above rid me and deliver me out of great waters from the hands of strange children whose mouth speaketh vanity and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood If the mouth speaketh vanity the hand is full of falsehood we may even feele deceite in their hands whose mouthes speake any kinde of vanity but especially this which is the vainest vanity of all How doth God know or surely God doth not know Such the Psalmist rebukes Psal 94.4 5.7 How long shall they utter and speake hard things What things were those The next words shew us They breake in peeces thy people c. yet they say the Lord shall not see c. understand ye brutish among the people he that formed the eye shall he not see There is no greater argument of brutishnes and ignorance then to question the knowledge of God or to say How doth God know And which is the same in other words can he judge through the dark cloud As if Job had further argued thus I am safe enough from the knowledge of God for as he is high above me so there are dark clouds between him and me Can he judge through the dark cloud My opinion is he cannot For knowledge goeth before judgement Si non novit ergo nec judicare potest ad rectuÌ enim judicium requiritur cognitio causae He that knoweth not certainly can never judge rightly Justice is pictured blind in reference to persons but not in reference to things or causes Justice must take no notice of this or that man whether he be great or little high or low a neere friend or a stranger Justice is blinde as to all these considerations and knoweth no man but Justice must know every mans case and cause unlesse man know that how can be judge and if God know not that how can he judge He must have light to see what is done before he passe Sentence upon what is done therefore Can he judge through the darke cloud Surely he cannot Thus the Atheist concludeth indeed and thus Eliphaz represents Job concluding in his owne heart there is not onely a great distance between God and me not onely is he in the height of heaven and I below on earth but there are many gloomy clouds between him and me As he is high above me so there are such impediments in the way that he cannot see me The Vulgar reads Et quasi per caliginum judicat Vulg. He judgeth as through darknes Now the best of Saints see God through a Glasse darkly or in a ridle 1 Cor. 13.12 And secure sinners thinke that God seeth them onely through a cloud darkly or as Eliphaz speaketh through a dark cloud he knoweth not clearly but dimly To judge through a cloud is to judge of things confusedly not distinctly by guesse or conjecturally not exactly or face to face This is all the sight which an evill heart alloweth God if he allow him any concerning his wayes and actions They who doe things which cannot abide the light are willing to beleeve that all they doe is in the darke Theirs are works of moral darknes and therefore they please themselves with thinking that their works are hid eyther in natural or artificiall darkness It is sayd of the Lord in Scripture Psal 97.2 Clouds and darknes are round about him while judgement and righteousnesse are the habitation of his throne but these imagine that God cannot proceed in judgement and righteousnesse because clouds and darkness are round about him It is sayd 1 King 8.10 11 12. The cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the Priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Then spake Solomon the Lord said that he will dwell in the thick darkness Reade Exod. 20.21 Deut. 5.22 Psal 18.11 God is light saith the Apostle John 1 Ep 1. and he dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto 1 Tim. 6.16 How then can he be said to dwell in thick darknes I answer those Scriptures which say that God dwells in darknes that clouds and darknesse are round about him teach us that God and his wayes are much hid from us we are not able to look up to him or see clearely what he doth much lesse can we see what his counsells are The clouds and darknesse which are about him doe not hinder his sight of us but our sight of him Our darknes is no darknes to him but his darknes yea his light is darknes to us Againe God is sayd to dwel in a cloud to reprove our boldnes and curiosity who are too apt to pry into what is not to be knowne and to neglect our duty in what we know or to neglect the knowledge of our duty God hath some reserves in counsells some of his providences are wrapt up in clouds Hee will be trusted and honored in what he is not seene or knowne Not to know these things is indeed our nescience but not our ignorance and not to seeke after the knowledg of these things is our duty not our sloath Thus God who dwels in light dwels also in a cloud for he dwells in light that no man can no nor ought to approach unto Wee may come neere his light by faith but wee cannot come neere his light by knowledge There is such an infinite such an overcomming light in God that it is a darknes to us the most Eagle-like eyes of a humane understanding are not onely dazzel'd but quite blinded with his brightness Now as no man can judge through this light of God so some men are ready to say and thus Eliphaz brings in Job saying that God cannot judge through dark clouds through clouds and darknes Nor doth Eliphaz bring in Job saying thus only by way of doubt or question but by way of averrement and resolution in the next verse Vers 14. Thick clouds are a covering to him that he seeth it not This verse is but an explication of the 13th Can he see through the dark cloud There he puts the question here he gives a peremptory answer he cannot certainly for Thick clouds are a covering to him that he cannot see The Hebrew for thick clouds is but one word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã nubes dictae sunt a densitate a radice ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã densum esse q d. sicut nos latet deus ita deum latent nostra coelestia illi tantum patent which in the roote signifies Thickness or to be thicke Some clouds have a kinde of thinnes in them and are as it were transparent Others are more grosse and opacous quite hindering and intercepting our sight of all that is beyond them with these saith Eliphaz thou O Job vainely conceitest that the sight of God also is intercepted so that as we cannot see God so God cannot see us A vayle
all our Creatures though wee make them in the shop of our darkest imaginations And much more doth hee see all the Creatures which wee make without that is all our bodily and externall actions Jere. 17.10 I the Lord search the heart I try the reynes if he search our hearts then surely he searcheth all our wayes if he seeth our thinkings then surely he seeth our walkings Deus scientiarum phurale perfectam scientiam rerum omnium cognosibilium cognitionem indicat Therefore 't is sayd 1 Sam. 2.3 The Lord is a God of knowledge the Hebrew is The Lord is a God of knowledges that is all things fall under his knowledge he is perfect in all knowledges there is nothing knowable but the Lord knowes it and by him actions are weighed now the weighing of actions is more then the seeing of actions many see that which they cannot weigh Hee weigheth actions that is he takes not onely the action it selfe but every circumstance of it into Consideration he takes his Ballances and tryes fully how much each ingredient weighs and what it comes to Hee weighs whole States Kingdomes and Nations So it was sayd to the Babylonian Monarch Belteshazzar Dan. 5.26.27 Mene God hath numbred thy Kingdome and finished it Tekel Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting Thy councels thy policies thy undertakings the whole compasse all the contrivances of thy Government are weighed and found too light And as God weigheth the actions of Princes so of private persons Prov. 5.21 The wayes of a man that is of every man even of the meanest man are before the Lord and he pondereth all his pathes he puts them into a Ballance and doth not onely see them but ponder or weigh them David sayth of some wicked men that they weigh the violence of their hands in the earth Psal 58.2 though they doe violence yet they doe it not violently but with a kinde of skill and deliberation They doe wrong and oppresse with a shew of Justice whereof weights are the common Embleme Now as some men doe evill not hastily rashly or all at once but give it out by weight and with a seeming gravity and zeale for justice So the Lord doth never looke over the wayes of men rashly or hastily but weighs them out even to a graine yea to the dust of the balance he pondereth all their paths That is he knowes them throughout Therefore David Psal 139. having spoken much to this poynt of the Exactnes of Gods knowledge concludes at the 6th verse Such knowledge is too wonderfull for mee it is high I cannot attaine unto it Some expound this Text not of the knowledge of God concerning us but of our knowledge concerning God Thy knowledge or the knowledge of thee is too wonderfull for mee I cannot attaine unto it Others thus This thy knowledge namely that which he had before described is more wonderfull or more exact then that I should be able to deceive it We may impose upon and deceive the most knowing man but wee cannot impose upon or deceive God I conceave our reading to be most sutable both to the Text and context Such knowledge that is Such knowledge as thou hast of mee of the least and greatest things even of all things that I or any man doth is too wonderfull for mee For though we may know some actions of men yet wee cannot know them all and wee can hardly weigh any of them to the utmost And in this acknowledgement wee may take notice of the Psalmist modesty who though he had the immediate assistance of a Propheticall Spirit yet confessed that he was not only not able to know God but not to know himselfe his thoughts words and wayes as God knew them Such knowledge of my selfe as thou O Lord hast of me is too wonderfull for me I cannot attaine unio it Some perhaps may querie upon this if the Lord knoweth all the wayes of men and pondereth all their actions is not this a trouble to God is not this a disturbance of his peace and a distraction to him I answer as I said before this is to frame a God like our selves for to him that is omniscient it is all one to know all and to know but one thing it is no more distraction no more trouble to God to know all that we doe speak or thinke then to know any thing If two or three speake to a man together he is not able to take in their sence the variety of their discourse makes such a hurry and trouble in his spirits that he looseth all that is spoken But the application of thousands or of Millions at the same time in speaking to the eare of God is no more trouble then if but one did speake an infinite eare heares all and an infinite eye sees all without any the least distraction the infinite knowledge of God takes in all the actions of all men as easily as the single action of any one man Againe Others may say Surely the Lord will not take such exact knowledge of all the actions of men especially of mean men or surely not of the meane actions of meanest men possibly of some persons in great place of some great things done by those persons hee may take notice but to stoope to small things if it be not a trouble yet it cannot but be a dishonour to and too great a Condescention for the great God The Heathens sayd their Jupiter had no leysure to deale in small matters Non vacat exiguis rebus c. And may not we Christians say It is not honorable enough for our God to have to doe with small matters I answer This also is to frame a God like our selves as it doth not weary God to behold to try and ponder all the wayes of all men which was the feare concerning Moses that hee should be tyred out with the various cases and affaires of that great People and was therefore advised by Jethro to make more Judges that so the weightier matters onely might be brought before and Judged by him So it is no dishonour at all to God no it is his honour that he takes cognisance of the smallest matters as well as of the greatest of the lowest as well as of the highest concernments of the children of men Psal 113.5 6. Who is like unto the Lord our God who dwelleth on high who humbleth himselfe to behold the things which are in Heaven and in the Earth Who is like to God in this this is the honour of the high God that he will humble himselfe to behold the lowest things the things which are in the Earth as well as things in Heaven and the lesser the least things in earth as well as the greater or the greatest Though the Lord be high yet he humbleth himselfe unto the lowly Psal 138.6 and as to lowly persons so to the lowest things Indeed the Lord doth humble himselfe to behold the things which are
with men but we read not of any honour they did to or received from God It is the highest disgrace to be memorable for actings against grace or for ungracious actings Num observas perpetuum ordinem quem in puniendis talibus impijs teâuit deus post natos homines Merc Putat hunc esse perpetuum ordinem domini ut impios hic puniat sed fallitur Merc Againe The old way may be taken for the way of punishment or for that course of divine Justice which was Executed upon wicked men in those elder times There is away of Judgement which God takes as there is a way of Sinne which man takes Sinfull ways lead into troublesome ways end in death Hast thou considered the way of justice which the Lord went in towards those old Sinners powring out his wrath and emptying the vialls of his Indignation upon them till hee had consumed and swept them off as rubbish from the face of the earth Hast thou marked the old way which eyther the lusts of wicked men have led them into or which the justice of the Lord hath brought them into Hast thou observed the old way Which wicked men have troden The Hebrew is Men of Iniquity Which phrase plainly imports that he doth not speake of the ordinary race or ranke of sinners but of the Extreamest sinners men so full of iniquity that they deserved this blacke Title men of Iniquity Antichrist is called not onely a man of sin or the man of sin but which implyeth a sinner of a higher forme then both the former That man of sin 2 Thes 2.3 He being indeed not onely among the chiefest sinners but the chiefe of sinners The phrase in the Text is a degree lower then that yet it notes a very great degreee And therefore when the Prophet would assure the greatest sinners repenting and returning to God of the readines of God to pardon he expresseth them in this stile Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man or as the Original Text hath it the man of iniquity his thoughts and c. As a man of Bloods notes a very bloody man a man given up to that particular sin of cruelty So a man of iniquity is one given up to sin in Generall Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men men of iniquity have Trodden This word trodden referred both to a sinfull and a suffering way notes the frequency of their going or being in those wayes And as it is referred to their sinfull way alone it notes first their boldnesse in sinning secondly their resolvednesse to sin A trodden way is such a way as a man hath often gone and in which he is not afraid to goe Hast thou marked the old way Hence note First The way of Sin and Error is an old way The Devill sinned from the beginning and men have sinned from their beginning not onely have there been sinnings but great sinnings from the begining the old way is the way of sin though the oldest way be not There was holines before there was sinne and truth before there was Error So that the way of sinne is the old way but not the oldest way God all whose wayes are holy was from everlasting The Angels who have been holy as long as they have been were from the beginning And the first beginning of man in his conversation was no doubt like his constitution holy He quickly went out of the way but surely his first step was not out of the way he went right before he went wrong and stood before he fell Againe if you take the way for the way of punishment Note That God in all ages hath punished sinners in their sinfull wayes God hath every where and every when left the tract and print of his anger and displeasure upon sinners though some particular sinners have gone unpunished in some age yet there was never any age wherein sinne was not punished in some The Lord gives a morall stopp to sinne perpetually that is by his Lawes he declares against it his word is expresse against all ungodlynes both the word of his Command and the word of his threatning Now as the Lord doth alwayes put this morall stopp in the way of sinne so he often puts a Judiciary stopp or a stop by way of Judgement And as in the 3d of Genesis he set a flaming sword in the way of the tree of life so he continually sets a flaming word that is a threatning to keepe the way of the tree of death that is of sinne Thus he alwayes meetes sinfull men in the way of their lusts as the Angel met Balaam when he went to curse the Israel of God with a drawne sword to stopp them in their way the Lord hath set many drawne swords in the way of every sinne and he hath left the prints of his wrath upon the backs of many sinners that wee should take heed of sinning The Lord hath left many sad examples upon record against sinne nor hath he at any time favoured it or done any thing which might indeed encourage sinners for though sometimes wicked men have prosper'd yet should wee looke into all times wee cannot finde that wicked men were ever blessed Judgement hath overtaken them sooner or later And if it hath at any time come too late to overtake them in this world yet it will come soone enough to overtake theirs in this or themselves in the world which is to come No man is blessed at any time who comes at last to be miserable Thirdly In that he saith Hast thou marked the old way Note It is our duty to observe and marke as the way of sinfull men so the way in which God punisheth their sinne All the wayes of God are to be marked as wee are to observe what the Lord speakes so what he doth his works as well as his word are remarkeable Who so is wise saith the Psalmist Psal 107.43 and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving kindnes of the Lord. I may say also that they shall understand the judgements of the Lord. And againe the Prophet confirmes it Hos 14.9 Who is wise and he shall understand these things prudent and he shall know them for the wayes of the Lord are right and the Just shall walke in them but the transgressors shall fall therein The wicked fall in the way of his commandements and therefore surely they shall fall in the way of his judgements And as the Lord hath given us Examples of this so he hath given this as the use of those Examples that wee should marke and observe them The Apostle 1 Cor. 10. shewes that all the dealings of God with that his ancient People the Jewes are written and recorded as our Examples ver 5 6 7. With many of them God was not well pleased but they were overthrowne in the wilderness Now these things were our Examples to the Intent that wee should not lust
by the Holy Ghost was minded to put her away secretly and would not make her a publique example He was unwilling to bring her to justice or that others should see eyther her supposed sin or punishment But as God doth worke many glorious salvations for his people that the wicked may see it and be ashamed so he brings many visible destructions upon the wicked not onely that the righteous may see it and rejoyce or be glad which act follows next to be opened but that the wicked may see it and tremble to doe wickedly Hence observe First That the Lord sets up wicked men many times as examples of his wrathfull justice Not onely doe they feele wrath upon themselves but others see it The Lord sometimes chastens his owne people in the view of the world and sets them up as examples of his fatherly displeasure Thus Nathan speakes in the name of the Lord to David 2 Sam 12.12 Thou didst it secretly but I will doe this thing what thing I will afflict and chasten thee for this great offence before all Israel and before the Sânne that is in plaine and cleare light Though thou hast done this evill in the darknes ot many close contrivances yet I will draw the curtaine and make the poenall effects of thy sinne as conspicuous as the actings of thy sin have been close and covert Againe Numb 25.4 when the people began to commit whoredome with the daughters of Moab and Israel had joynâd himselfe unto Baal peor so that the Anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel Then the Lord said to Moses take all the heads of the people that is the capital offenders or chiefe rulers who gave way or at best gave no stop to such wickednes and hang them up before the Lord against the Sunne that the feirce anger of the Lord may be turned away from Israel To hang them up before the Sunne is a phrase of speech importing the publicknes of their punishment as it is sayd of the seven Sons of Saul that they were hanged on the hill before the Lord 2 Sam. 21.9 for caution unto all whatsoever is done in the fight of all or so that all may see is sayd in the Language of the Jewes to be done before the Sunne To which sence also we may interpret that vision of the Prophet Zechariah Chap. 5 6. 9 10 11. at the 6th verse we reade of an Ephah and this lift up ver 9th between earth and heaven the Ephah was a measure of dry things among the Jewes and in that vision it signified that the sinne and punishment of the Jewes were measured and proportioned This Ephah being lifted up and carried I sayth the Prophet said whether doe these beare the Ephah ver 10. And he said unto me to build it an house in the land of Shinar and it shall be established and set there upon her owne base The building it a house in the land of Shinar that is in Babylon signified the lastingnes or continuance of their sinne in the sad consequents of it their punishment and banishment in strange lands not for the space of seventy yeares onely as by the Babylonians but as some of the Learned expound the vision for many seventyes by the Romanes and as this Ephah had a house built for it noting the setlednes and durâtion of the Judgement which should come upon them for their sinne so also it was set upon its own base to signifie the notoriousnes or conspicuousnes of the Judgement it being as a house set upon pillars for all to behold and take notice of as we see fullfilled to this day since the first overthrow of their estate by Titus Vespatianus and their final dispersion by Aelius Adrianus There are I grant other conceptions about that vision but as this suits wel with the poynt in hand so with the calamitous state of that people to this day And thus the Lord threatned the King of Tyrus Ezek. 28.17 Whose heart was lifted up because of his beauty and who had corrupted his wisdome by reason of his brightnesse Now what will the Lord doe what course will he take with him The next words enforme us I will cast thee to the ground and I will lay thee before Kings that they may behold thee He doth not say I will cast thee into the ground but to the ground and lay thee before Kings that is thou shalt he a spectacle for all the Kings of the Earth that they may behold as what thy pride and selfe-confidence have brought thee to so what their owne if they tread thy path eyther will or justly may bring them unto Thus also in the 7th verse of Jude Epistle the Apostle sayth that Sodome and Gomorrha and the Cities about them in like manner giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of Eternal fire The Judgements of God are not onely punishments to them who went before but premonotions to them who come after The righteous see it and are glad Here is the effect which that sight wrought upon the righteous The eye affects the heart and the heart is affected sutably to the object eyther with joy or with sorrow The destruction of men is a sorrowfull object and therefore we might rather expect that the righteous beholding it should be affected with sorrow but the Text affirmes a direct contrary effect of this fight The righteous see it and are glad Hence observe The judgements of God upon the wicked are matter of joy to the righteous It is the duty of the Saints to mourne with them that mourne and to rejoyce with them that rejoyce Rom. 12.15 But then we must understand these mourners and rejoycers to be such as themselves are Saints must mourne with mourning Saints and rejoyce with rejoycing Saint The godly are not bound eyther to joy the joyes or sorrow the sorrowes of the wicked The judgements of God upon the wicked have a twofold effect eminently noted in Scripture First they cause feare and secondly they cause joy When exemplary justice was to be done according to the law of Moses upon presumptuous transgressours it is sayd Deut. 13.11 All Israel shall heare and feare and shall doe no more any such wickednes David Psal 64. having complained to God in prayer of the cruelty of his enemies and begged protection from their malicious practises growes up to much assurance that downe they must v. 7 8. But God shall shoot at them with an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded and then ver 9. All men shall feare and shall declare the worke of God for they shall wisely consider of his doings Thus feare is the issue of divine judgement And yet joy is the issue of them at the 10th verse of the same Psalme The righteous shall be glad in the Lord and trust in him and all the upright in heart shall glory Feare is a common effect All men shall
feare Gladnes faith and glorying which is faith triumphant are peculiar to the upright when the arrow of God wounds the wicked Wee have this double effect againe exprest upon the same occasion Psal 107.42 He powreth contempt upon Princes and causeth them to wander in the wildernesse where there is no way but he sets the poore oh high the righteous shall it and rejoyce What shall they see not only the Godly poore set on high but ungodly Princes filled with contempt that 's part of the spectacle which the righteous shall behold and beholding rejoyce yet this is not all for it follows And all iniquity shall stop her mouth The abstract is put for the concrete iniquity for men of iniquity And so the meaning is men of iniquity or wicked men shall stop their mouths their mouths shall be stopt With shame and feare they shall have nothing to say when the Lord doth this They shall not mutter a word against the workes of God but as Hannah speakes in her Song 1 Sam. 2.9 shall be silent in darknes A like report rayseth the hearts of the people of God into a holy merriment Psal 97.8 Sion heard and was glad the daughters of Judah rejoyced What was the matter what good newes came to Judah what to Sion the Text resolves us Because of thy judgements O Lord The answer is not because of thy mercies or because of thy goodnes O Lord but because of thy judgements and those were dreadfull ones ver 3. A fire goeth before him and burneth up his enemies round about Confounded be all they that serve graven Images c. ver 7. Sion heard of it and was glad Once more Psal 58.10 The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance he shall wash his feete in the bloud of the ungodly Not that the righteous delight in bloud or proudly insult over the worst of enemies The Psalmist doth only in hyperbolical straines of Eloquence borrowed from the language of triumphant conquerers expresse a compleate and glorious victory The stile is of the same signification with that Psal 68.23 That thy foote may be dipped in the bloud of thine enemies and the tongue of the doggs in the same When so much bloud is shed that the foote may be dipt and washed in it that doggs may lap it up like water this argues a great destruction and when the wicked are thus destroyed the righteous shall rejoyce But here it may be queried What matter of joy is this why should the righteous rejoyce in the sorrowes of the wicked is it not alike sinful to be troubled at the joyes and to rejoyce at the troubles of our brethren The light of nature condemns rejoycing over those who are in misery and we have an expresse Scripture against it Pro. 24.17 Rejoyce not when thine enemy falleth let not thy heart be glad when he stumbleth And David puts it among the sins of his enemies Psal 35.15 In my adversity they rejoyced And he professed ver 13. that when they were sicke his cloathing was sacke cloath and that he humbled his soule with fasting David was so farre from rejoycing when his enemies were ruined or dead that he mourned when they were but sicke and would not eate when they could not And as Davids holy practice denyed it so doth Solomons divine precept Rejoyce not when thine enemy falleth How then shall wee reconcile these Texts I answer there may be a rejoycing at the afflictions and troubles of others which is not onely unbecoming and unseemely for the righteous but very sinfull As First To rejoyce and be glad meerely because an enemy is fallen into misery is both unseemly and sinfull And so we are to understand Solomons Proverbe Rejoyce not when thine enemy falleth Some understand this of falling into sinne Hee makes himselfe a sinner indeed who rejoyceth because another hath sinned He that rejoyceth because another hath sinned rejoyceth upon the matter because God is dishonoured Such joy is a kinde of thanksgiving for Satans victory But as to rejoyce because another falls into sin is the worst fall into sinne so to rejoyce meerely because an enemy falls into misery is worse then our owne falling into misery He shewes that he hath not the heart of a man in him who is glad at the misery of any man And he who rejoyceth thus when his enemy falleth doth himselfe fall much worse The ruine and downfall of an enemy suppose him the vilest enemy considered in it selfe is meate and drinke to none but revengefull and envious spirits David was much troubled and chargeth it as an extreame peece of folly upon himselfe Because he was envious at the foolish when he saw the prosperity of the wicked Psal 73.3 Now it is an issue flowing from the same principle purely to envy the prosperity and purely to rejoyce in the adversity of the wicked Nero was justly reckoned a monster among men who could sing when himselfe had set Rome a fire And they have some-what of a Neronian spirit in them who can sing when they see their enemies consuming in the fire God delights not in the misery of man as it is misery upon man nor doe they who are taught of God Secondly As to rejoyce or be glad at the destruction of enemies meerely because they are destroyed so to rejoyce upon private ends or respects because they being taken out of the way and removed out of the world we hope to have more scope and roome in the world for our selves or because we hope to step into their places to fit downe in their seates to possesse our selves of their lands and riches to fill our selves with their spoyles upon this account to rejoyce when wicked men fall when the Lord powres out contempt upon Princes because I say we hope to be gainers by it is alltogether uncomely for the righteous Let the righteous take heed to themselves that they be not found thus rejoycing in the calamities of the wicked They who doe so are eyther but pretenders to godliness men who are onely of the faction of the righteous for though they who are righteous indeed are farre from a faction yes there are a sorâ of men who professe righteousnesse as if it were nothing but a faction now I say they who thus rejoyce are but eyther of the faction of the righteous while they are really of the number of the wicked or if they are really righteous who doe so and I confesse that a righteous man may doe so David which was acting the counter-part envied their prosperity and by the same reason any godly man may be acted out in joy at their adversity but now I say if they who are really righteous doe so we must conclude them under a sore temptation and they will at last conclude of themselves as David did in the counter-case Psal 73.22 so foolish have we been and ignorant even as a beast before thee You will say then how may or doe the righteous rejoyce
when the ungodly fall and not fall into sin themselves I answer First The righteous rejoyce at the fall of the wicked as blessing God who hath kept their feete from those wayes in which the wicked have fallen As 't is a great mercy to be kept out of those ill wayes to be kept from fiding with those corrupt interests in the pursuit of which we see many broken so 't is a duty to rejoyce that we have not walked in their way whose end we see to be nothing els but destruction Secondly The righteous have cause to rejoyce blesse God when they see the wicked fall because themselves are saved keepe their standing because themselves have escaped the danger and the Lord hath been a banner of protection over them in the day when the wicked fell Moses after the destruction of Amaleck built an Altar and called the name of it Jehova-Nissi Exod. 17.15 that is to say The Lord is my banner And in like cases the joy of the Saints is not properly in the destruction of the wicked but in their owne deliverance through the mighty power good hand of God with them It is the presence of God with them the appearance of God for them which is the gladnes of their hearts Thirdly The righteous then rejoyce because the Church and people of God are in a fayre way to peace when the Lyons are destroyed the sheepe are in safety when the Wolves and the Beares are cut off the flock rests quietly so in this case when men of devouring cruell spirits wicked and ungodly ones are removed the flocke of God the sheepe of his pasture feed quietly none making them afrayd The fall of the enemies of Sion is the establishment of Sion yea in a great measure of mankinde As the Prophet most elegantly sets it forth Isa 14.6 7 8. He who smote the people in wrath with a continuall stroke he that ruled the Nations in anger is persecuted and none hindereth The whole earth is at rest and is quiet they breake forth into singing yea the firre-trees rejoyce at thee and the Cedars of Lebanon saying since thou art layd downe no feller is come up against us How often have wicked men in power felled not onely the Firre-trees and Cedars of the world but the goodly trees of righteousnesse in the Lords plantations have they not therefore reason to sing when such fall seing the Fellers themselves are then felled and fallen Fourthly Joy ariseth to the righteous because God is honoured in the fall of wicked men And that 's their chiefest joy That God is honoured is more joy to the righteous then that themselves are saved how much more then then that the wicked are destroyed There is a threefold honour arising to God when the wicked fall First God is honoured in his justice such a day is the day of the declaration of the righteous judgement of God as the Apostle speakes of the great day of Judgement Rom. 2.5 Thou after thy hardnesse and impenitent heart treasurest up to thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God Some doe even question the justice of God when wicked men prosper but he is vindicated in his justice when wicked men fall It cannot but please righteous men to see the righteous God exalted or God exalted in his righteousnesse They know and beleeve that God is righteous when the wicked prosper Jer. 12.1 But when the wicked are punished they proclaime his righteousnes Then they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lambe saying Great and marvailous are thy workes Lord God Almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Who shall not feare thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name c. for thy Judgements are made manifest Rev. 15.3 4. The Lord is alwayes alike Just but it doth not alwayes alike appeare how just he it And as that God is just is the faith and stay of the Saints so the appearances of his justice are their joy and triumph Secondly God is honoured much in the attribute of his truth in the truth of his word in the truth of his threatenings when the wicked are punished God hath spoken bloudy words concerning wicked men not onely in reference to their future estate in the next life but to their present estate in this Say to the wicked it shall be ill with him the reward of his hands shall be given him But what is this reward There are two sorts of rewards First rewards of love and favour according to the good which we have done Secondly rewards of wrath and anger poenal rewards according to the evill which we have done Now when the Lord puts these poenal rewards into the hands of the wicked or powres them upon their heads he is honoured in his truth as well as his justice for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it As the promises are yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 so also are the threatnings unto the glory of God by us But as when David saw his life in danger every day he began to question the truth of God in the promise that he should live to reigne and fit upon the throne of Israel for saith he Psal 116.11 when things went thus with him I said in my hast all men are lyars even Samuel among the rest who assured me of the Kingdome by expresse message from God but surely he also is deceived and hath fed me with vaine hopes Now as these words of David according to our translation of them and the truth of the thing in frequent experiences shew that Godly men are apt to question the truth of the promise when themselves are by seemingly contradicting providences much afflicted so they are apt to question the truth of the threatnings when they see outward providences prospering the wicked Therefore when the threatnings have their actuall yea and Amen that is when they are executed upon the ungodly this also is to the glory of God by us that is God is glorified by all his people who heare of it in the truth of what he hath spoken Againe as God is magnified in the truth of his threatnings when any particular wicked man is punished so when common calamities come upon the wicked the truth of God or God in his truth is magnified two wayes First As such calamities are a fullfilling of many Prophecies secondly As they are the answer or returne of many prayers The vengeance which falls upon the Enemies of the Church of God is drawne out by prayer Luke 18.7 8. And there is nothing wherein God is more honoured then when prayer is answered For as therein he fullfills our wants so his owne word Who hath not said to the seed of Jacob seeke ye mee in vaine Thirdly When the wicked fall the Lord is honoured in the attribute of his power How great is his power who puls downe great power It argues the Almightines
he is a God eyther he is talking c. Thus Hierusalem is expressed Isa 37.22 when Senacherib sent up that proud threatning message the Lord sent a comfortable message to his people by Isaiah the Prophet Thus saith the Lord God of Israel whereas thou hast prayed to me against Senacherib the king of Assyria this is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him the virgin the daughter of Zion hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorne the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee The daughter of Zion and the daughter of Jerusalem are but one and the same shee was called a virgin not as some have conceived because she was never taken or forced by any enemy nor was she so called because he had preserved her selfe pure and chast in the worship of the true God For she had her faylings and Idolatrous dalliances before that day but she was so called because of that speciall care which God had of her to protect and save her against the insultations of the enemy then ready to assault her even as a virgin is protected from violence in her fathers house And the Prophet to assure them that it should be so speakes of the ruine of Senacheribs Army and Jerusalems laughter as accomplisht and come to passe already The virgin daughter c. hath despised thee and laughed thee to scorne and shaken her head at thee What God saith shall be done is as good as done already The Assyrians were yet in their Jollity laughing at Jerusalem and promising themselves the spoyle of the people of God yet saith the Lord Jerusalem hath laughed thee to scorne that is assuredly she shall And as the people of God doe sometimes formally and explicitly laugh at the downfall and whitherings of the wicked so they alwayes virtually and secretly laugh them to scorne even when they stand and flourish in their greenenes and prosperity For while the Godly are not daunted with the power and splendour while they are not terrified with the threats and high lookes of the wicked but in the singlenes and simplicity of their hearts keepe close to God his wayes and truths even this though they use the duest respect to them in regard of their authority both in word and gesture is a laughing them to scorne For this is as a thorne in the sides of evill men and as a pricke in their eyes when they see they will not stoope to their greatnes in any sinfull complyance with their commands This is a truth but the former is the truth intended in this Text. Hence note That wicked men are not onely miserable but ridiculous They are the laughter of the innocent upon more accounts then one First because they doe such childish and ridiculous things such things as can never reach the ends they desire and purpose they are justly laughed at whose counsells and courses are unsuitable much more when contrary to their designes Secondly Wicked men become ridiculous while the Lord frustrates their wisest counsels and blasts those hopes which were bottom'd upon the most probable principles and foundations while he takes them in their own craft and entraps them in the snare which they layd for others Thirdly While he over-rules all that they plot or act to serve his owne ends and fullfill his owne holy counsels Hence the enemies of God are said to pine away this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feete he doth not say that they shall all be slaine but their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feete and their eyes shall consume away in their holes and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth Zech. 14.12 which as some interpret of their bodily languishment that they shall live dying continually or that their life shall be a continuall death so all interpret the cause of this consumption to arise from vexation of spirit because they shall see themselves scorn'd and laughed at or that they are become ridiculous to all the world but chiefly to Jerusalem the Church and people of God whom they shall behold in good condition notwithstanding all the opposition which they have made against them which Eliphaz also clearely expresseth in the next words Vers 20. Whereas our substance is not cut downe but the remnant of them the fire consumes There are divers readings and renderings of this verse first some with an affirmative interrogation is not their substance cut downe that is it is cut downe And then this verse is a continuation of the former discourse concerning the utter extirpation of the wicked The righteous are glad they laugh them to scorne is not their substance cut downe and doth not the fire consume the remnant of them As if Eliphaz had said Whatsoever they had of any substance or moment is cut downe and if possibly there be any small inconsiderable remainder of them fire that is some devouring Judgement will meete with it and make an utter end of it Innocens subsarnabit eos quia non fuit succisa substantia nostâa c. q. d. ut qui se res suas salvas illos autem penitùs igne illo divino videant jure absumptos Bez Secondly Another understands this 20 âh verse as a reason of the former the righteous are glad when the wicked fall the innocent shall laugh them to scorne because our substance was not cut downe as if he had sayd our safety will be matter as of praise to God who hath preserved us so of holy scorne and insultation over ungodly men who longed to see our destruction and sayd in their hearts that surely our day was not onely comming but hastning whereas indeed we see the day come upon them which burneth as an oven and themselves as stubble Wicked men are for the most part doubly disappointed first by their owne fall when they looked to stand secondly by the standing of the righteous when they looke yea and long for their fall This double disappointment doth at once double their sorrow and the joy of the Innocent who laugh them to scorne because their owne substance is not cut downe but the remnant of them the fire consumeth Innocens subsannabiteos dicens etsi non est succisa substantia nostra tamen excellentiam illorum consumpsit ignis Pâsc There is a third translation which makes these words the forme in which the innocent expresse their laughter at the wicked When The innocent laugh them to scorne they will thus bespeake them Whereas or Although our substance is not cut downe yet the remnant of them or the best the excellency of them the fire hath consumed There is a fourth reading which makes the second part of the Chapter begin with this verse For hitherto Eliphaz hath been describing the sinfulnesse of wicked men and the wrath of God upon them for their wickednes
Cum nondum abscinditur substantia nostra residuum illorum absumit ignis assuesce quaeso cum illo Jun But here he is supposed entring upon a very serious exhortation to repentance after this manner or to this effect O Job now while our substance is not quite out downe and the fire consumeth the residue or the remnant of the wicked acquaint thy selfe with God or apply thy selfe to God as if he should say before thou art cleane cut downe before thou art utterly ruined as many wicked men have been heretofore and now are humble thy selfe and seeke to God that thy sin may be forgiven and thy wound healed Some paralel this in sense with that of the Preacher Eccle. 12.1 Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth while the evill dayes come not nor the yeares draw nigh wherein thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them Thus Eliphaz is conceived exhorting Job While our substance is not cut downe while we are not totally undone Quum subsisteÌtia nostra non sit excisa reliquias autem istorum ignis assumpserit Tygur Ita bene ut nihil melius Bold ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã extantâa vel potius ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quo subsistimus duramus vel subsistantia nostra i. e. vita qua subsistimus nam stare valet interdum superstitem esse Drus while the fire of Gods wrath is consuming the remainder of wicked men doe thou acquaint thy selfe with God and repent And though our translation makes not this connection yet it joynes fully in the sense of the Originall Whereas our substance is not cut downe So this verse is an elegant conclusion of the whole matter hitherto insisted upon by Eliphaz and he shuts it up in two parts first shewing the state of the innocent who are brought in speaking thus Our substance is not cut downe strictly That by which we stand or subsist our substance or subsistence which some expound not by goods but by life we may take it both wayes our life and that by which our life is maintained or by which we and our families subsist is not cut downe There is yet a difficulty in regard of the grammaticall sense of these words For Eliphaz having spoken before in the third person plural The righteous are glad and the innocent laugh them to scorne should as it may be thought rather have continued his speech in the same forme and have sayd Whereas Their substance is not downe but he puts it in the first person plural Whereas our substance is not cut downe c. We may answer two wayes First that it is usuall in Scripture to vary the number while the same person or persons is or are spoken of take onely one Instance Hos 12.4 He that is the Angel of the Covenant found him in Bethel that is Jacob. And there he spake with us It should according to Grammar be read thus And there he spake with him Having found Jacob in Bethel he spake with him in Bethel But we see both the person and number are varied the former words running in the third person singular being meant particularly of Jacob the latter in the first person plural There he spake with us The Spirit of God thereby signifying that what God spake at that time to Jacob personally he spake to all the spirituall seed of Jacob whether of the Circumcision or Uncircumcision virtually He so spake to Jacob as that the substance and effect of his speech reacheth downe to and hath an influence upon us beleevers who are his posterity according to the Spirit Besides this other Scriptures hold out the like variation of the number as in the Text which is the first answer Secondly Eliphaz might purposely vary the number that himselfe might put in for a share and be numbred among those who had obtained that sparing mercy not to be cut downe while others were consumed And so this reason of the change is purely spirituall much like that last opened out of Hosea Whence note That the righteous are often preserved in common calamities Psal 20.8 They are brought downe and are fallen but we are risen and stand upright our substance is not cut downe God takes speciall care of his owne people they are under a promise there can be no greater safety no better security then to be under a promise the promise is the best shelter in a storme and the best shield against the dart The Apostle Peter gives us two famous examples of this 2 Pet. 2.5 6. God spared not the old world but saved Noah c. bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly And having turned the Cities of Sodome and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow c. and delivered just Lot c. From both which examples he concludeth v. 9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the Godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust unto the day of Judgement to be punished When judgement begins at the house of God what shall the end of them be that obey not the Gospel of God as the same Apostle speaks 1 Pet. 4.17 It is a sure argument to the wicked that they shall be judged when they see God bringing judgements upon his owne house and people but the wicked are many times judged while the house and people of God are preserved and untoucht and when both good and bad both the innocent and the wicked are wrapt up in the same calamity when they are as it were thrust together into the same furnace the Lord makes a difference they are not cut downe as the wicked are cut downe nor consumed as they are consumed When the righteous are cast into the fire they are purged but not consumed but as it follows in the second part of this conclusion shewing the state of the wicked The remnant of them the fire consumeth Fire in this place is not taken strictly as opposed to water God indeed hath often made fire in kinde his scourge And the Apostle Jude saith of Sodome That it suffered the vengeance of eternall fire But all the judgements of God are in Scripture compared to fire Mala. 4.1 Behold the day cometh that shall burne like an Oven and all the proud yea all that doe wickedly shall be stubble and the day that cometh shall burne them up saith the Lord of hosts that it shall leave them neither fruit nor branch There is a burning and not by fire There is so great a judgement and terror in fire let loose and breaking its bounds that it may well signifie all judgements or any thing that is terrible Isa 52.4 As the fire devoureth the stubble and the flame consumeth the chaffe so their roote shall be rottennesse and their blossome shall goe up as dust Thus here the remnant of them the fire consumeth that is the wrath of God appearing in some visible judgement consumeth the remnant But what is this remnant which the fire consumeth I answer
First we may expound it of persons The remnant of persons all that are left of their family their children and posterity their kindred and relations are taken away and consumed from off the face of the earth Secondly We may expound it of things the remnant of goods whatsoever remaines of their estate the odd ends the very gleanings and leavings of their great riches and worldly substance are all eaten up and brought to an end so that nothing of them or theirs remaineth Thirdly The remnant of them may be the remembrance of them A fire shall consume their name and memoriall they shall neveâ be thought of nor spoken of any more with honour ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã significat illud quo quis alium excellit ideo reliquiarum nomine impiorum excellentem supra cuÌctos mortales ingentem foelicitatem intelligo Pined Fourthly The word remnant as it signifieth in the Original any thing which remaineth so especially that which remaineth in way of excellency or eminency not as we say the fagge end of a thing but even the uppermost and best of it So that after this translation the remnant of them is the excellency of them that which they thought most durable and honourable that which they looked upon as most substantiall and intrinsecall to their greatnes that very thing the fire shall consume So the word is used Psal 17.14 Deliver my soule from men which are thy hand O Lord from men of the world c. whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasures they are full of children and leave the rest or as we supply the rest of their substance to their babes the rest that is the best their bellies are full of hid treasures while they live that is they have and use abundance of the things of this life themselves and they leave the rest he doth not meane the scraps or parings after they had filled their owne bellies but by the rest or the remnant t is the word of the text he meaneth the choicest of what they had even that they leave to their babes or children when themselves must be gone and leave the world Thus we may understand the word remnant in this place not for a poore pittance but for the best the choisest things for the flower and creame of all they had even these things the fire shall consume vengeance shall pursue and follow till all be turned into smoake and ashes I have in divers other passages of this booke met with Texts shewing the utter consumption of wicked men therefore I shall not stay upon it here onely take this briefe note That the Lord hath a different fire for the righteous and the wicked He hath a fire for his owne people but it is a purging fire a cleansing a refining fire Like that Mal. 3.3 He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver The Lord also hath a fire for the wicked but it is a consuming fire He kindles many fires upon them and himselfe is a consuming fire to them But it may be said that God is a consuming fire also to his owne people for the Apostle speaking of himselfe and other beleevers saith Heb. 12.29 Our God is a consuming fire I answer First T is true the God of Beleevers is a consuming fire but he is not a consuming fire to beleevers even the hearts of beleevers ought to be over-awed with a holy feare of that in God which they shall never feele from God Secondly God is sometimes a consuming fire to beleevers but it is onely to consume their corruptions or their corruptible comforts He will never consume eyther their Graces or spirituall interests These he will not consume whatsoever he consumes But the whole of a wicked man is as combustible matter before him There went up a smoake out of his nostrills fire out of mouth devoured Psal 18.8 That is God powred out wrath which devoured them like a fire Fire I meane naturall fire is a great devourer it hath a strong stomacke there 's nothing but pure Gold too hard for its digestion but mysticall fire the fire of divine wrath is infinitely a greater devourer Wrath kindles maây devouring fires but wrath it selfe is the most devouring fire who can stand before it who can abide the heate and flames of it This is the Tophet prepared of old for the wicked This fire is able to consume branch and rush the roote and top of the wicked in one day and yet it will continue consuming them to eternity The remnant of them the fire consumeth Eliphaz having thus farre prosecuted a description both of the unrighteousnes and of the ruine both of the sin and punishment of wicked men closely insinuating that Job was the man concern'd in all this large Discourse he in the latter part of this Chapter turnes his speech into a serious Exhortation to move Job to repent and seeke God giving him many assurances and promises that in case he did so it should not be in vaine JOB CHAP. 22. Vers 21 22. c. Acquaint now thy selfe with him and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee Receive I pray thee the Law from his mouth and lay up his words in thine heart If though returne to the Almighty thou shalt be built up thou shalt-put away iniquity from thy Tabernacles c. ELiphaz having reproved Job for sin and prest him with the remembrance of the Judgements of God against sinners now turnes his speech into a serious Exhortation mooving him to seeke the favour of God and humble himselfe Acquaint now thy selfe with him and be at peace From this course and method in which Eliphaz deales with Job take this note That in dealing with sinners wee are not onely to threaten but to perswade and propose the promises of peace to them Daniel dealt so with Nebuchadnezzer yea though he had told him of a decree in heaven past against him Dan. 4.22.27 yet he gives him faithfull counsell and exhorts him to breake off his sins by righteousnesse and his iniquities by shewing mercy to the poore if it might be a lengthning of his tranquillity or as we put in the Margin a healing of his errour Hopes of mercy prevaile with many more then feare of wrath and they are sooner led then driven unto Christ Thus Eliphaz Acquaint now thy selfe with him and be at peace This 21 verse containes two generall Propositions First a Proposition concerning duty in the former part of the verse Acquaint now thy selfe c. Secondly Concerning mercy in the latter thereby good shall come unto thee This duty of acquainting himselfe with God Promissionibus invitat amplissimis quae in se verae sunt cum lege consentiunt non tamen perpetuae ut Eliphaz puât Merc. and being at peace with him is explained in the 22 verse Receive I pray thee the Law from his mouth and lay up his words in thine heart That 's a good Comment upon Acquaint now
thy selfe with him and be at peace The Proposition of mercy or the promises laid downe in the close of that verse are drawne out in all the following part of this Chapter in which Eliphaz by most ample Proposalls of good things doth provoke Job to turne from those sinnes of which he supposed him guilty and to returne to God Acquaint now thy selfe with him The Originall word which we render to acquaint hath some variety of significations As first to be familiar with another And so it is used by David Psal 139.3 to shew the Intimacie which God hath with all our wayes workes and thoughts O Lord saith David thou hast searched mee and knowne mee c. thou art acquainted with all my wayes As if he had said Lord thou knowest my wayes infinitely more clearely and distinctly then any of my neerest acquaintance who converse with me every day It is used 2dly to expresse the customary doing of a thing Numb 22.30 Balaams Asse spake thus by a miracle Was I ever wont to doe thus unto thee Hath it been my custome or have I familiarly served thee thus said the Asse when he thrust Balaam against the wall Thirdly To profit ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã profuit commodus aptus fuit Profice cum deo Rab. Mos one of the Rabbines translates the Text thus Profit with God as who should say thou hast been an unprofitable servant to God all this while be thou now profitable unto him serve him and his Providences advance his name and glory or thus rather Thou hast but played the truant hitherto be thou now a good proficient in the schoole of Divine doctrine and discipline under the holy precepts and various providences of God We finde it applyed to that fence at the second verse of this Chapter Can a man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable to himselfe Man cannot be profitable unto God or adde any advantage to him by what he doth but man may be profitable unto himselfe or doe himselfe good in doing the good will of God yea God reckons it and rewards man for it as if he had been profitable to him when he acts as becomes a faithfull servant to him So some expound it here be profitable unto God be a faithfull and industrious servant unto him having received his talents doe not lay them up in a napkin hide them not in the earth Thirdly Master Broughton read's thus Reconcile thee now unto him That 's Gospel language like that of Paul 2 Cor. 5.20 Now then we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us wee pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God So he conceives Eliphaz speaking here I pray thee now reconcile thy selfe unto God Master Beza reaches that sence fully Returne into his favour Redi cum ipso in gratiam Bez Accommoda te illi Tygur get into his heart againe God hath as it were lockt thee out of his heart and shut the doore upon thee now get in againe and the Tygurine reads very aptly Accommodate thy selfe to him that is every way suite thy selfe go ãâã thou hast heretofore been humorous or hast followed thine owne spirit and hast labour'd to please thy selfe now Accomodate thy selfe to him or comply with him in every thing be no more at thine owne but at his dispose All these renderings comply well both with the words and the generall scope of Eliphaz in this part of his discourse Our translation fully joynes with the first of them Assuesce cum eo Pagn Reg. Vatabl. Acquaint now thy selfe with him Get into a familiarity with God The word implyeth a likenes or a suitablenes between two in their wills and affections in their wayes and counsells for from likenesse in these familiarity or acquaintance doth arise So that Eliphaz here speaketh to Job as one that had estranged himselfe and departed from God as one who had broken off Communion with God and so he must needs have done had he run such a course of wickednes as Eliphaz charged him with in the former part of this Chapter Therefore upon that supposition he gives Job wholesome advice Acquaint not thy selfe with him Hence observe First That as man by nature is a stranger from God so every act of sin especially great and continued actings of sin breed a further estrangement from God We act the part of nature every time we sin and that in a proportion brings us back in some degree to what we were by nature strangers unto God A godly man who hath had acquaintance with God sinning puts back his acquaintance a distance grows between God and him Beleevers after great sins and follyes committed are not forward to come into the presence of God they have a kinde of listlesnes to duty a listlesnes to prayer and to all acts of communion with God And God himselfe appeares as if he did not much care for them when they come they have not those Communications from God which he usually vouchsafeth his God doth not give them the meeting as formerly they doe not finde the Lord presently though they seeke him earnestly So that both wayes there is an Estrangement sin separates between God and the soule not onely judicially but naturally If God should not depart from sinners or command them to depart from him yet they would of themselves depart from him It is not possible for one who willingly lives in sin to live willingly in the presence of God For as to be cast out of the presence of God is the extreamest punishment of wicked men so also is their being in his presence The same thing is both their desire and their punishment They are punished with a departure from God and they desire nothing more then to be out of his presence Acquaint thy selfe now with God Secondly Whereas Eliphaz exhorting Job to repentance counsells him to acquiant himselfe with God Observe That Repentance is the renewing of our Communion or acquaintance with God As sin is a turning from God so repentance is a returning to God 't is a change first of our minde and then of our way Impaenitency brings the soule into an acquaintance and unholy familiarity with Satan Repentance brings backe the soule into its former acquaintance and holy familiarity with God As the first conversion which is from a state of sin so the second and every renewed conversion which is from our falls into sin renewes our converse with the most high Thirdly take this generall observation A godly man is as we may say one of Gods Acquaintants or familiars God calleth Abraham his friend friendship cannot be without familiarity there must be acquaintance before there can be love if therefore there be friendship and love between God and man there must be Acquaintance we cannot love eyther persons or things while unknowne But it may be said how can wee who are at such a distance Acquaint our selves with God I
answer wee who of our selves are a ãâ¦ã by the bloud of Jesus Christ and being thus made nigh in our state wee draw nigh or acquaint our selves with him by severall Acts. As first To thinke or meditate of God is to acquaint our selves with and draw nigh to God meditation is an inward discourse and converse with God it is a Soliloquie between God and the soule acquaintance is got by Conference when friends meet and confer that doth not onely begin but confirme strengthen and highten their acquaintance Saints have many thoughts of God and that 's their acquaintance with God How precious are thy thoughts to mee O God! saith David Psal 139.17 how great is the summe of them when I awake I am still with thee How was David still or ever with God He was so in his thoughts and meditations in the actings goings forth of his soule to him Now he that is still or ever with a person must needs be acquainted with him I am still with thee alwayes meditating upon thee We finde him againe in the same holy frame Psal 63.5 6. My soule shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatnes and my mouth shall praise thee with joyfull lips while I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on thee in the night watches As the Lord is ever thinking upon his people they are written upon his heart and graven upon the palmes of his hand and when his outward actings towards them are such as may seeme to intimate that his heart is withrawne from all intimacy with them yet even then he thinks most of them This he acknowledgeth concerning Ephraim Jer. 31.20 Since I spake against him I doe earnestly remember him still Since I spake against him that is since I spake against him by words of rebuke and correction since I spake against him by rods of chastisement and correction as Ephraim found and confessed he had Thou didst chastise mee and I was chastised since I spake thus against him I do earnestly remember him still I remember him and I remember him strongly my heart is much upon him And when the Lord saith thus wee are not to understand it as a man will remember an Enemy when he speaks against him hee 'le remember him indeed and that earnestly to plot mischiefe against him and to execute his revenge but the meaning is I remember him in mercy my affections goe out to him my bowels are moved towards him Such is the remembrance which God had of Ephraim even when he was speaking against him and smiting him Now as the Lord doth remember his people at all times and earnestly remember them at sometimes So his people in their proportion doe earnestly remember the Lord they minde him often they would minde him alwayes they like to retaine God which the natural man liketh not Rom. 1.28 in their knowledge or to acknowledge God They have not some flitting transient thoughts and acknowledgements of God as a carnall man may have but they fix and retaine God in their thoughts acknowledgements they thinke of God what he is in his nature they thinke what God is in all his perfections they meditate of all his glory of his justice of his mercy of his faithfulnes of his power of his truth of his unchangeablenes of his all-sufficiency they acquaint themselves with God in all these for indeed we are never acquainted with God till we come to a distinct knowledge of him in all these parts of his glory which yet are all but one and the same glorious God To know onely in generall that there is a God is not to acquaint our selves with God our acquaintance with him consists in a spirituall and fiduciall knowledge of all his revealed perfections so farre as it is possible or lawfull for man to search and know To be acquainted with any man notes more than a generall knowledge of him how much more to be acquainted with God Secondly Wee acquaint our selves with God not onely when wee study his nature or what he is but when we study his workes or what he hath done God is visible in his workes That his name is neare his wondrous workes declare Psal 75.1 Wee may acquaint our selves much with God in the workes of Creation but more in the workes of Providence in those wee may most legibly read his name that is his greatnes and power as also his goodnes and mercy Thirdly Wee acquaint our selves with God in the study of his word there he hath made a full discovery of himselfe and of his will O how I love thy Law saith David my meditation is in it might and day The word of God is the demonstration of the holines of God There he hath set forth himselfe how just how pure and how gracious he is The word is a glasse in which God is seene therefore acquaint thy selfe with the word of God and thou shalt be acquainted with God reading and hearing the word of God is our going to God for Counsell as wee acquaint our selves with a man when we goe to him and aske his advice and counsel in any matter or consult his bookes so every time we eyther read or heare the word of God in faith we are asking counsel of God and so acquainting our selves with him Fourthly Wee especially acquaint our selves with God in prayer That is nothing else but the opening of our hearts to God a declaring of our wants to him Prayer is the ascending the lifting up of the soule to God therefore in prayer wee acquaint our selves with God Fifthly Our daily holy walking is a daily acquainting our selves with God every step of a holy life is both towards and with God the life of Enoch who was too holy for a life here on earth and therefore he was translated that he should not see death his life I say is described thus Enoch walked with God Gen. 5.24 God and Enoch were like two familiars or intimate friends walking together And because he took so much delight in Gods acquaintance God took him from all acquaintance with men so saith that text Enoch walked with God and was not for God tooke him He was so taken with God that God took him or as the Authour to the Hebrews saith translated him ch 11.5 He was before translated from nature to Grace he proved so great a proficient in that schoole that he was translated from Grace to Glory as it were per saltum by a leape over the grave for he saw not death From which sad vision but one more that I read of in all the Scripture Elias by name was excused before he was admitted to the beatificall vision Holy walking is the summe of all our acquaintance with God and our fullest acquaintance with God is but the issue of our holy walkings To draw towards a close of this poynt wee may take notice That there is a twofold acquaintance with God First from necessity when wee come to him and desire to
have to doe with him prest with our owne wants feares or afflictions of this the Prophet speaketh Isa 26.16 Lord in trouble have they visited thee they have poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them And of this the Psalmist speake Psal 78.34 When he slew them they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God neverthelesse they did but flatter him with their mouth c. These make God their refuge not their choice They I grant who have made God their choice in good times may comfortably make him their refuge in evill times But to neglect God while it is well with ãâã and onely to run to him when it is ill with us or to have our evills and burdens removed is to acquaint our selves with God because we cannot choose or because we cannot be without him not because we have chosen him or desire to be with him As there is a patience so there is an acquaintance perforce Though God doth not refuse acquaintance with many poore soules when their necessities drive them to him yet it is best to acquaint our selves with him for the love we beare to him or the desire we have to enjoy him rather then though we all have need of him and are bound to come to him because we have for the need we have of him And therefore secondly there is an acquaintance with God from pure love As when we come to a friend having nothing to do but to see him to renew or strengtheÌ our acquaintance with him Wee doe not come to load him with our cares or advise with him about our businesses or desire a curtesie of him but meerly purely to shew our love to him Thus to come to God when we are not prest with feares nor pincht with wants nor clouded with doubts nor vexed with troubles is the most noble ingenuous way of acquainting our selves with him When we as it were make a Journey to God having nothing to doe with him but to visit him and to desire further communion with him nothing to do with him but to behold his excellency and his glory nothing to do with him but to tell him what our hearts are towards him how we love him how we depend upon him how we desire to please him and to commit our wayes to him to acquaint God with those things which onely concerne our holy walking with him this is to seeke pure acquaintance with him The Lord saith of Abraham his acquaintant or friend Gen. 18.17 Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I am about to doe I should not deale with him as with my friend if I did so A friend who is as our owne soule Deut. 13.6 should know all that is in our soules Now as God whether we will or no is acquainted with all that is in our soules So a soule acquainted with God will let him know all shall I hide from God the thing that I am about to doe shall I not tell him how it is with me To acquaint our selves thus with God is a sweete and precious duty Much might be said about it I shall onely adde these two things First That all our acquaintance with God must be had through the mediator There is no getting neere the Father but by the Son Secondly That the more we are acquainted with God the more we are transformed into his likenes Some have altered the habit of their bodyes yea the dispositions of their mindes by long acquaintance with others and have looked or appeared like them by often looking upon or being with them When Moses had been forty dayes in the Mount talking with God his face shone some rayes of a divine glory darted out from him so that Aaron and the children of Israel were afraid to come nigh him Exod. 34.30 And thus every one who gets up into the Mount by faith and acquaints himselfe with God gets somewhat of God which will draw a reverence upon him among men As when Christ shall appeare hereafter to us in glory we shall be like him saith the Apostle John 1 Ep 3.2 for we shall see him as he is so according to the sight which we have of and our acquaintance with Christ in the wayes of grace here will our likenes be unto him The more we are with God the more we have of God Acquaint now thy selfe with him and be at peace There is a threefold Interpretation of this clause Inperativum pâo futuro passim in hac lingua Merc Quando Hebraei dicunt pax tibi significant id quod Graeci tribus verbis enunciant ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quorum primum ad animum refertur secunduÌ ad corpus tertium ad actiones externas Drus First it may be taken as an Effect of what was said before Acquaint thy selfe with God and be at peace that is If thou acquaint thy selfe with God thou shalt have peace So in the Hebrew often the Imperative mood is put for the future tense as Doe this and live according to the tenure of the Covenant of works that is Doe this and thou shalt live So acquaint thy selfe with him and be at peace that is thou shalt have peace Peace comprehends all good good of the minde good of the body good of the estate When the Hebrewes say Peace be unto you they say as much in that one word as the Greeks say in three whereof the first respects the welfare of the minde the second the welfare or health of the body and the third the successe of all our affaires and undertakings So that while Eliphaz saith to Job according to this reading Thou shalt be at peace it is a promise of all manner of good flowing in upon the renewing of his acquaintance with and his returning to a reverentiall converse with God But becuse this promise followes in the next words thereby good shall come unto thee therefore I understand this clause as a duty and not as a promise Acquaint now thy selfe with him and be at peace To be at peace is a distinct duty from that of acquainting our selves with God yet necessarily following upon it The words may have these two things in them First Be at peace rhat is Sedatiore animo esto Bez Acquiesce in castigationibus dei satis repugnâsti satis protervè reluctatus es ergo mitesce be quiet and content under the chastning hand of God doe not murmure doe not repine Thou hast strugled enough already now lay aside all impatiency and passion all discontents and animosities as doe not rage and rave doe not distemper and discompose thy selfe as thou hast done There is a storme upon thee but be thou of a calme and quiet spirit kisse the rod be not angry with it wee may expresse this frame by that which the Apostle Peter makes the chiefe adorning or ornament of a woman that she be of a meek and a quiet spirit which with God is of great price As meeknes
be shortned in spiritualls the raine of holy doctrine shall not be removed from you or as vve translate thy teachers shall not be removed c. Some amongst us vvould have the teachers of holy doctrine removed lest by feeding them the bread vvater of the Land should fayle as if the charge of publick preaching the riches of the Grace of Christ would be an undoing or at least an impoverishing of the Nation Whereas I touch it onely by the way the Prophet comforts the people of God in the midst of all their wants outward afflictions that they should not want the presence of their teachers nor the showers of holy instruction by them Againe Joel 2.23 Be glad O Zion and rejoyce in the Lord your God for he hath given you the former raine moderately and he will cause to come downe the raine the former raine and the latter raine in the first month That vvhich vve render The former raine moderately others translate a Teacher of righteousnes Sanctè colludit propheta nominibus doctoris seu legislatoris pluvâae seu imbris maturini serotini or according to righteousnes so you may finde in the Margin of your larger Bibles And that 's the great mercy vvhich Zion is to rejoyce in for can vve thinke that Zion the children of Zion should be called so earnestly to rejoyce meerly in natural raine or the effects of it because of the abundance of Corne and Wine and Oyle which the earth vvell vvatered usually produceth This is too poore a thing considered alone for Zion to rejoyce in Zion or the people of God doe and must confesse themselves unvvorthy of the least outward mercy even of a shovver of raine or of a sheafe of corne and they ought to praise God and be very thankfull for these But these are not properly the matter of Zions gladnesse and rejoycing In these the vvorld rejoyceth Who will shew us any good Psal 4.7 they are for Corne and Wine and Oyle but Lord saith David lift up the light of thy Countenance upon me Thou hast put gladnes in mine heart more then in the time that their corne and their wine encreased As if he had said Worldly men rejoyce in corne and vvine but I rejoyce more in the light of thy countenance The light of the favour of God and the light of the knowledge of God are the chiefe matters of a beleevers joy And this light of holy joy comes in usually vvith and by the raine of that doctrine which falls upon us from the mouth of God in the teachings of his divine Lavv. Receive the Law from his mouth But you vvill say What is this Lavv vvhich comes dovvne like raine from heaven and vvhich vve are to receive from the mouth of God I ansvver The Lavv may be taken tvvo vvayes First Strictly for the ten Commandements or the five Bookes of Moses vvhich are called the Lavv. Secondly More largely and so the vvhole vvord of God is the Lavv. Christ himselfe calls the Booke of Psalmes the Lavv tvvo or three times in the nevv Testament Joh. 10.34 Jesus answered them is it not written in your Law I have said yee are Gods vvhere vvas that vvritten in the 82d Psal v. 6. And so againe Joh. 15.25 But this cometh to passe that the word might be fullfilled that is written in their Law they hated me without a cause What Lavv doth he meane those vvords vve finde Psal 35.19 Take one text further 1 Cor. 14.21 In the Law it is written With men of other tongues and other lips will I speake unto this People Where is that vvritten Esay 28.11 So that the Law in a large sense is taken for the vvhole body of the vvord of God or for the general Revelation of the mysterie of his vvill in vvhich sense vvee may say the Gospel is the Lavv And the Gospel is expressely called the Law or rule of faith Rom. 3.27 So that by Law here vve may understand vvhatsoever the Lord hath given us eyther as a rule of life or as a rule of faith The Seaventy translate Eliphaz speaking in that latitude ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Receive whatsoever God delivers declares or puts forth Receive I pray thee the Law from his mouth From vvhose mouth from the mouth of God how can that be Indeed Moses vvent up into the Mount and vvas vvith God fourty dayes and there received the Lavv from his mouth but could Job Receive the Lavv from his mouth as Moses did I ansvver If God had called him to it as he did Moses he might But that 's not the purpose of Eliphaz Neither are wee I conceive to understand him of such a Receiving from the mouth of God as the old Prophets had vvho received the minde of God by Immediate Inspiration dictates from God himselfe for though they vvere not called up solemnly into a Mount as Moses to receive the Lavv yet the Spirit was sent to make knowne the minde of God to them And in that sence the Prophet Jeremiah is said to warne King Zedekiah from the mouth of the Lord 2 Chron. 36.12 And he did that which was evill in the sight of the Lord his God and humbled not himselfe before Jeremiah the Prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord that is he received a vvord from God by an Extraordinary Revelation to carry unto the King vvho yet humbled not himselfe And so Esay 30.2 the Lord complaines of his people that walked to goe downe to Aegypt to strengthen themselves with the strength of Pharaoh c. and yet had not asked at his mouth that is had not asked direction in the thing according to the vvayes of Revelation then in use by enquiring of the Prophets or of the high Priest And the Lord tels the Prophet Jeremy Ch. 15.19 Prophetae sunt quasi os dei quia per ipsos loquutus est that he should be as his mouth if he would take forth the precious from the vile as if he had sayd if thou art faithfull in my vvork I will reveale my selfe to thee thou shalt speak even as if I my selfe spoke thou shalt be as my mouth Now I conceive Eliphaz doth not goe thus high when he bids Job Receive the Law from the mouth of God as if he vvere to expect Immediate direction and advice from him For then we may be sayd to receive a rule or a law from the mouth of God when vve receive that which God hath manifested at any time as a rule and lavv for us vvith the rest of his people to walke by they vvho receive that law once delivered from the mouth of God may be said to receive the lavv from his mouth though they are not the Immediate receivers of it yea though it were published some thousands of yeares before they vvere borne Some from these words collect that the books of Moses vvere written before this time and that Eliphaz did referre Job to those
If thou returne to the Almighty thou shalt be built up thou shalt put away iniquity farre from thy Tabernacles Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brookes Yea the Allmighty shall be thy defence and thou shalt have plenty of silver ELiphaz having invited Job at the 21 verse to renew his acquaintance with God and now againe pressing him to returne to God he reckons up those advantages which might move and incourage him ãâã it he tells Job what will follow his returne to and acquaintance with God and these advantages are of two sorts First Temporall and outward secondly spirituall and inward the temporall good things which he assures him of in case he repent and turne to God are set downe first more generally in the 23 verse Thou shalt be built up secondly They are set downe particularly first He should then have riches gold and silver in the 24 âh verse secondly protection The Allmighty shall be thy defence v. 25. as he will fill thy house so he will guard thy house and keepe all safe In the following parts of the Chapter Eliphaz assures him of eight blessings spirituall First Joy in God ver 26th Thou shalt have thy delight in the Allmighty Secondly Confidence or holy boldnesse before God Thou shalt lift up thy face unto God thou shalt not hide thy head and run into âorners but lift up thy face Thirdly which is an effect or part of the former freedome in prayer Thou shalt make thy prayer to him v. 27th Fourthly He assures him of audience or of an answer to his prayer in the same verse He shall heare thee and thou shalt pay thy vowes that is thou in thy prayer having made vowes to God God shall heare thy prayer and so give thee occasion to pay thy vowes Fifthly He promiseth him not onely that his prayer shall be heard but that his very purposes and designes shall be fullfilled Thou shalt decree a thing and it shall be established to thee v. 28. When thou resolvest upon such a way or course in thy affaires thou shalt have this priviledge thy decree shall stand Sixthly He promiseth him direction and counsell what way he should take what course to run in the close of the same verse And the light shall shine upon thy wayes that is thou shalt see what to doe the Lord will give thee counsell Seaventhly He gives him hope of rising out of any trouble or that vvhen others are overtaken with calamities he should be preserved at the 29th verse When men are cast downe then thou shalt say there is a lifting up for God will save the humble person Eighthly He promiseth that he shall not onely have blessings personall and family blessings but he shall be a ââblique blessing v. 30. He shall deliver the Island of the innocent and it is delivered by the purenesse of thy hand Thus you have both the generall scope of this latter part of the Chapter which is to stirre up Job to returne to God and likewise the particular blessings and mercies which are held forth as arguments moving him to returne Vers 23. If thou returne unto the Allmighty To Returne is used frequently in Scripture in a metaphoricall sense and signifies as much as to repent sin is a going away from God great sinning is a going farre from God a going as it were into a farre Country such sinners would goe out of Gods sight and fall out of his memory Eliphas had charged Job deeply with such departures and now he speakes to him of returning And here wee may consider the condition or state of Job and the season in vvhich Eliphaz presseth him to this duty he was in an afflicted condition the hand of God was upon him Novv Eliphaz adviseth him to returne Intimating at least that the present dispensation of God towards him vvas a speciall opportunity for the duty he moved him unto Hence Note When God afflicts us when his hand is upon us he speaks to us repent or bespeaks our repentance How often in Scripture doth the Lord complaine as if he were vvholy frustrated of his designe vvhen either nations or persons being smitten by his judgements did not returne unto him or repented not Isa 9.13 They turne not to him that smiteth them that is they turne not to me the Lord I have smitten them and I alone can heale them yet they turne not to me as if the Lord had said I therefore smote them that they might bethinke themselves of returning but they turned not to me As they turned not at my vvord or to me speaking so they turned not at my sword or to me smiting I see they are not onely Sermon-proofe my Prophets spake to them in vaine but they are judgement-proofe also my hand is upon them in vaine they returne not And as it was then so at this day for may vve not observe some mouldering in their estates crushed in their hopes crossed in their children blotted and blasted in their credit weake and sicke in their bodies even tired and vvorne out under severall afflictions yet no thought of returning to the Lord or of making their vvay perfect before him So that the Lord may say to them as he once did to his ancient people the Jewes Isa 1.6 Why should ye be smitten any more ye will revolt more and more The returning of many is like that vvhich Solomon speaks of Pro. 26.11 As a dog returneth to his vomit so a foole returneth to his folly As Jesurun waxed fat and kicked so some vvill be kicking while they waxe leane Further Eliphaz doth not speake barely to Job of returning but he directs him to the object If thou returne To the Allmighty And that is expressed in some translations very emphatically ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã revertere usque ad dominum videtur idem esse cum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Returne home to the Allmighty returne till thou comest to or reachest God be thou sure to repent home so the word is used Hos 14.2 Joel 2.12 Amos 4.6 returne home to God stay not short of him in your repentance that is repent fully seriously And the intendment of Eliphaz in speaking thus might be to reprove Job for his former by him supposed hypocrisie Si plane serio toto corde noÌ ut ante hypocrita fuisti c. Merc thou hast returned before but not to the Allmighty surely thou didst repent onely as an hypocrite in former times when thou madest the greatest shews of repentance Therefore now repent as a sincere convert Thy former repentunce was to thee a fruitlesse repentance and therefore doubtlesse but a fained and false repentance Thou couldst never after it recover out of thine afflicted thy ruinous condition and therefore surely thou didst never by it recover out of thy sinfull condition or from thy sins But now I promise thee if thou returne to the Allmighty thou shalt be built Hence
enumeration of those manifold blessings which follow our returning to him Whereof the first is Thou shalt be built up Affliction and trouble which are the fruit of sin pull downe and lay us wast godly sorrow and repentance which are our turning from sin have a promise of this good fruit That we shall be built up againe This building up may be taken two wayes first more generally for an encrease in all good things secondly more specially for an encrease in children In the Hebrew the same word ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã filius inde dictus quod aedifictum sit structura parentium Merc which signifies a sonne signifies to build because children build up their fathers house or are their fathers building in that sense the word is often used Gen. 16.2 Gen. 30.3 Ruth 4.11 It is sayd Exod. 1.21 that God built the midwives houses which some interpret he gave them children Prolem dedit Merc or made them more fruitfull in child-bearing We read in rhe law how that man was to be dealt vvith who refused to take his brothers wife according to the commandement of God in those times and the conclusion of all is Deut. 25.9 So it shall be done to the man that shall not build up his brothers house that is who refuseth to marry his brothers widdow and through the blessing of God to have children by her which would be as the building up of his house or the continuance of his name and family Thus some understand the phrase here Thou shalt be built up that is thou who hast lost all thy children Thou vvhose house hath been pul'd downe by the fall of a house Ch. 1.19 shalt have more children and so thy house built up againe But I rather take the phrase here in that larger sence and so to be built up implyeth all kinde of prosperity in outward things Mal. 3.15 Now ye call the proud happy yea they that worke wickednesse are set up we put in the Margin are built up that is they are very prosperous they may have what they will in this vvorld or as we say the world at will And note that by the way 't is the vvorst character of an age when they that worke wickednesse which ruines the best built State are built up The Lord makes a promise in the language of this Metaphor to the Church Jer. 31.4 I will build thee and thou shalt be built O virgin of Israel As if he had said plainly I will blesse thee and raise thee up out of the dust of thy present desolate condition into a glorious fabricke of prosperity and honour so it follows in the same text Thou shalt againe be adorned with thy tabrets and goe forth in the dances of them that make merry This sence of the word is cleare in that opposition used in the Psalme Psal 28.5 Therefore saith the Lord I will destroy thee and not build thee up that is thou shalt be destroyed for ever I will never repayre any of thy ruines thine shall be as Asaph speakes Psal 74.3 Perpetuall desolations So that when Eliphaz promiseth Job Thou shalt be built up his meaning is thy ruin'd state shall be repayred and thou shalt have not onely a beautifull but a wel foundation'd felicity Hence note It is no vaine nor unprofitable thing to repent and turne to the Allmighty If we by repentance pull downe the strong holds of sinne if we forsake and lay wast our lusts the Lord will build us up he will build us up with all manner of blessings repentance is fruitfull There are many who professe they repent but they doe not bring forth fruits meete for repentance but as true repentance is accompanyed with our fruits of holines and obedience towards God so with Gods fruits the fruits of his love and mercy towards us Therâ is a kinde of repentance in hell there 's weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth but that 's a fruitlesse repentance as well as a faithlesse repentance the damned are under chaines of everlasting darknesse Unsound repentance or the repentance of hypocrites in this life is like the repentance of the damned in the next life but true repentance is fruitfull If we as the Baptist exhorted the Jewes Math. 3. Bring forth fruit meete for repentance our repentance will bring forth fruit meete for us we shall have good things of all sorts if we sorrow as the Apostle saith the Corinthians did after a godly sort godly sorrow is rewarded with joy if we humble our selves God will lift us up The sorrows of Gospel repentance are like the sorrows of a woman in travaile who as Christ speakes Joh. 16.21 straight way forgets her paine for joy that a man is borne into the world The pangs and throws of godly sorrow are therefore sayd by the Apostle to cause repentance not to be repented of because that repentance brings forth joy to be rejoyced in a masculine joy joy that a man-childe of Grace to build up our spirituall house is brought into the world If thou returne to the Allmighty thou shalt be build up And Thou shalt put iniquity farre from thy tabernacles The word imports first putting away with indignation secondly putting away to the utmost distance therefore we translate put away farre 't is but two words in the Originall Thou shalt put iniquity farre c. Iniquity may be taken either for sinne or for the effects of sinne that is punishment if we take it in the first sense for sin it selfe and then this latter clause must be understood as a duty If thou returne to the Allmighty thou shalt be built up thou shalt put away iniquity farre from thee that is It is thy duty to put away iniquity farre from thee as if Eliphaz here did set forth more fully what repentance is thou shalt be built up if thou returne to the Allmighty that is if thou returne so as to put thy iniquity farre from thee if we take iniquity in the second sence for the punishment of iniquity then the words are a promise as if he had said if thou returne c. then thou shalt rid and discharge thy selfe and thy house of all the troublesome effects of sin Thou shalt put iniquity or all the sad issues and consequents of iniquity farre from thee none of them shall touch thee to annoy thee Mr Broughton pitcheth upon the former sence in his translation If thou cast farre off unrighteousnesse from thy tents That gives a perfect sence to the whole sentence and from thence we may Observe That in true repentance sin must be utterly cast off and put away We returne not at all to the Allmighty till we wholy turne from sinne nor will the Allmighty build up our house till we put iniquity quite out of our house till we turne it out of house and home out of the house of our family out of the home of our hearts nor is it enough to put sinne away a little or a
dust of the earth or sand of the Sea are used frequently to signifie abundance or the exceeding numerousnesse of things or persons Who can count the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel Numb 23.10 that is they are as the dust that cannot be counted or numbred that was the promise made to Abraham Gen. 13.16 I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth So here Thou shalt lay up gold as the dust that is gold more then thou canst tell or cast up Thou shalt have not onely enough but even more then enough Job was very rich before now saith Eliphaz Thou shalt have gold as the dust thy riches shall be encreased thou shalt have a greater store and stocke then ever Thou shalt lay up gold as the dust And as it followeth The Gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooke 'T is the same thing in another tenour of words the Hebrew is Thou shalt lay up Ophir as the stones of the brooke The word gold is not expressed in the Originall yet it may wel be understood Ophir Nomen insula unde auâuâ primae noâae adferebatur quod inde Ophir appellatum hoc est ut quidam opinantur Obrysum quasi Ophirisum Drus Ophir is put for the Gold of Ophir because Ophir was the place of Gold yea of the richest Gold 1 Kings 9.27 28. They came to Ophir and fet from thence gold foure hundred and twenty tallents and brought it to king Solomon Ophir was a noted place in those times for gold both in reference to the plenty and purity of it 'T is a question much controverted where Ophir is some making it to be an Iland in Africa others place it in India since the discovery of America or the West Indyes many contend that Ophir is now called Peru and they have as they conceive a probable ground for this opinion from that place in the Holy Story 2 Chron. 3.6 Where 't is sayd He that is Vid Bold in hunc locum Jobi Solomon garnished the house with pretious stones for beauty and the gold was gold of Paruaim which is neere in sound to the name of that Gold-abounding Country in America called Peru. I shall not undertake to decide this Geographicall Controversie about Ophir That which is agreed on all hands is enough for my purpose and the explication of this Text that Ophir was a Country famous in ancient times both for the plenty and excellency of the Gold found there and brought from thence Therefore sayd Eliphaz Thou shalt lay up Ophir that is the Gold of Ophir pure and pretious Gold As the stones of the brooke That is thou shalt have abundance of gold to lay up gold ãâã the dust and to lay it up as the stones of the brooke or as the stones of the valley are paralel expressions for plenty of Gold suteable to those hyperbole's 2 Chron. 1.15 The king made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones c. And Chap. 9 of the same booke v. 27. The king made silver in Jerusalem as stones and Cedar trees made he as the Siccamore trees that are in the low plaine in abundance Thus in the text Job is promised to lay up the Gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooke The Vulgar translation reads differently He shall givâ Thee for earth a Rocke Dabit pro terra silicem pro silice torrentes aureos Vulg. and for a Rocke streames of Gold which is a proverbiall speech implying a change for the better as if he said thou before who hadst a sandy foundation shall now build upon a rock as Math. 7.27 And we finde such language in the Prophet Isa 60.17 where the Lord promiseth for brasse I will bring gold for Iron silver for wood brasse c. So here For earth I will give thee stone and for stone Golden brookes or brookes of Gold that is those brookes where gold is or I will give thee much Gold out of those brookes Idque ponendo pro pulvere lectissimum aurum pro rupe Ophirinâm stuviatile Jun. Junius seemes to favour this translation most of all rendring the whole verse thus connexing it with the former Thou shalt be built up c. and that by giving thee for dust the choicest gold and for the rocke the river gold of Ophir By all assuring Job of a happines in his civil state in case he did change or mend in his spirituall state Then he who had so great a change in his worldly estate for the worse should have a greater change in his worldly state for the better The next verse is a continuation of the promise much to the same intent and almost in the same words and therefore I shall open that also before I give any observations Vers 25. Yea the Allmighty shall be thy defence and thou shalt have plenty of silver There is some difference in the reading of this verse for the word which we translate defence is the same which we translate gold in the former verse And hence some translate thus thy gold shall be mighty Making the word Shaddai which is one of the names of God and usually rendred Almighty to be as an Epithite to the word Gold Thy Gold shall be strong or mighty And thus some translations render the word Shaddai Ezek. 1.24 where the Prophet saith I heard the noise of their wings like the noise of great waters as the voice of the Allmighty so we render but others thus As a mighty voice So in the present text whereas we say The Almighty shall be thy defence or according to the strictnes of the word The Almighty shall be thy Gold others give it thus Thy Gold shall be mighty And this answers the latter clause of the verse where we reade Thou shalt have plenty of silver yet put in the Margin Thou shalt have silver of strength or strong silver These readings have an elegancy in them But I shall keepe to our owne which is profitable to us and sutable to the text Yea the Almighty shall be thy defence the particle yea shewth that this is a hâgher step of mercy then the former as if he had said Thou shalt not onely have gold which is a defence but better then gold even the Almighty for thy defence or God who is better then Gold will be thy defence and the defence of thy Gold The Hebrew word is plural Defences which intimates first all sorts of defence secondly strong defence The Almighty shall be thy defences All manner of defence and a strong defence unto thee Hence note God himselfe is pleased to be the Lord protector of his people who repent and turne to him both in their persons and estates There are many in the world who have gold but there are few who have this defence for it The Prophet Haggai speakes of those who earned money but put it into a bag with holes that is they could
rendring suites best with the beginning of the verse The Almighty shall be thy defence and thou shalt have silver of strengths Nihil tam sanctum quod violari nihil tam munitum quod non expugnari pecunia possit Câc ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã or silver to strengthen thee As for plenty that was fully set forth in the former verse where he is promised Gold as the dust and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the Brooke Besides the word is divers times applyed to expresse strength by but rarely if at all in Scripture to expresse plenty by and here our translaters render it so not properly but tropically as appeares before for properly it expresseth the greatest strength as first The strength of the Vnicorne Num. 23.22 God brought him out of Egypt he hath as it were the strength of an Vnicorne Secondly The strength of Mountaines Psal 95.4 therefore I conceive it is best rendred silver of strength as gold is cloathed with a word which signifies defence so silver is joyned with a word that signifies strength because there is much strength and defence in both money being the sinews or strength of warre So that to say Thou shalt have silver of strength is as if he had said thy silver shall be a strength or a blessing to thee Some have silver and it is no strength to them or he calleth it silver of strength because it should be confirmed and established for his use and in his possession He should finde by experience that there was tacke in it that it was solid silver or silver that had strength in it So then these are but severall expressions of the same thing all which gathered together heighten up the promise of this outward mercy he should have gold and God would be his defence yea his gold and he should have silver plenty enough of it to make a man weary to tell it or he should have silver of strength his silver should be a strength to him and all this is assured him upon his repentance and returne to the Almighty Hence note First That godlinesse is the best and neerest way even to worldly gaine Godlines is gainfull though a godly man should die a beggar but besides there is worldly gaine in it these promises are not made in vaine Christ speaks as much Math. 6.33 Seeke first the kingdome of God and the righteousnesse thereof and all other things even gold and silver shall be added to you And the Apostle is full for it 1 Tim. 4.8 Godlinesse is profitable for all things 't is good to make men rich it will bring in worldly profits Godlines hath the promise of gold as well as of grace of silver as well as of pardon and peace doe not thinke that godliness is barren of outward blessings or that we must needs loose all gaine in this world by getting that which fits us for the Glory of the next world Know that as the Lord makes his wayes sweet to his people by inward communications of himselfe revealing his love and grace to them yea in them so he makes his wayes sweete to his people by giving them outward good things blessing their basket and their store filling their hearts with food and gladnes Secondly Note That The godly man may lawfully possesse earthly riches gold and silver It is no sin to be rich but when riches are got by sin Poore Lazarus lay in the bosome of rich Abraham As many poore men may be called the Devills poore so some that are rich may be called Gods rich men Againe if Godlines have a promise as it hath of riches then the godly may lawfully possesse riches which also may be instruments in their hands of glorifying God and doing good among men Nor can it be denyed that they know best how to use the things of the world and how to be the best Stewards of earthly treasures who are instructed for the kingdome of heaven and are as the Apostle Peter exhorts Saints to be 1 Pet. 4.10 Good Stewards of the manifold grace of God Thirdly Note That riches gold and silver are at Gods dispose He bestows them where and upon whom he pleaseth This promise of plenty of gold upon repentance and returning to the Almighty must needs proceed from this supposition that the Almighty hath gold and silver in his power The world is the Lords and the fullnes of it Psal 50.12 God is the best Indies for gold If any would trade for gold prosperously let them trade heaven-ward for God is every where Lord of the soyle and he saith of all the pretious mines hidden in the bowels of the earth They are mine See how the Lord speaks as the great proprietour of all the gold and silver of all the good things of this world Hos 2.8 9. Shee did not know that I gave her corne and wine and oyle and multiplyed her silver and gold which they prepared for Baal therefore I will returne and take away my corne in the time thereof and my wine in the season thereof and will recover my wool and my flaxe c. All 's mine Thus the Lord voucheth himselfe the great owner of all these things all the gold silver all the wool and the flaxe all the corne and wine are his When the people and Princes of Israel with David their king offered so willingly and so liberally Gold and silver c. for the building of the Temple David makes this confession for them all 1 Chro. 29.14 All things come of thee and of thine owne have we given thee And may he not doe what he will with his owne Men thinke they may surely God both may and will Fourthly Observe That the plenty and stability of the creature is from God as well as the possession of it Eliphaz promiseth Job from the Lord gold as the dust and as the stones of the brooke with silver of strength that we have it in such or such a proportion is from the Lord as much as that we have any thing at all he can give much as well as little that our proportion hath a defence and strength in it is from the Lord therefore we should honour the Almighty for every portion and proportion of worldly riches and for the establishment of our portion whatsoever it is Silver and gold have no strength in them unlesse the Lord who giveth these give them strength and bid them stay with us to doe us good Lastly Observe We may lawfully possesse abundance of outward things 'T is sinfull to make abundance our aime or to contend for much in temporals to doe so in and about spiritualls is our duty and our contention for the highest degree our commendation We should designe it to lay up the Gold of Grace as the dust and the silver of sanctification as the stones of the brooke We should forget all that we have that we might get what we have not Our desireings while pitcht upon an eternall
weary of them and that they were a burthen to him in all their services Now when we are a burthen to God God is never pleasant to us if the Lord say he is weary of us we cannot say we delight our selves in him Our delight and pleasure in God is the fruit of his delight in and wel-pleasednes with us Thirdly Eliphaz proposeth this delight in the Lord as the most winning promise Hence note Delight in the Lord is the highest and choicest mercy There is nothing better nothing sweeter then to delight in the Lord delight in the Lord hath all true delights in it David speakes this out fully in that place lately quoted to another occasion Psal 37.4 Delight thy selfe in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart that is thou shalt have all thy desires fullfilled in this thing delight in the Lord will be the fullfilling of all thy desires not only shall they who delight themselves in the Lord have all their desires filled up but their very delight in the Lord is the fullfilling of all their desires What is the glory of heaven but delighting in the Lord And he who delights in the Lord feeles not the want or absence of any earthly Good In thy presence is fullnesse of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Psal 16 11. Heavenly glory is nothing but delight in God and all earthly good is nothing without delight in God We may affirme foure things of this delight in opposition to all worldly delights First This is a reall delight worldly delights are but shaddows or pageant-like shewes of delight The joyes of a hypocrite are like his holines meere appearances of joy he hath no reall no true joy as he hath no true no reall holinesse That man doth but faine a taste of joy whosoever he is that doth but faine the practice of holinesse Thus who wickedly hold out a holines which they feele not shall talke of joyes which they finde not Secondly Delight in the Lord is a strong delight yea it is a strengthening delight That must needs be strong joy which is strengthening joy such is the joy of the Lord as Nehemiah told that people Neh 8.10 The joy of the Lord is the strength of the soule the strength of the inward man it makes us mighty it makes us giants to run our race the race of holinesse The giant rejoyceth to run his race because he is strong and knowes he can doe it The joy of the Lord is our strength and is both an evidence thaâ wee are strong and a meanes to make us so Worldly delights are weake and they weaken us Delight in the Lord is strong and it strengthens Thirdly It is a lasting delight not like the crackling of thornes under a pott to which Solomon elegantly compares the laughter of the foole Eccl. 7.6 that make a noise and a blaze for a while but are presently extinct Now Solomons foole may be eyther first the prophane man in the world or secondly the hypocrite in the Church All the joyes of this payre of fooles the prophane worldling and the formal hypocrite are soone in and soone out like crackling thornes But joy or delight in the Almighty is a lasting delight it is not for a fitt or a pang but for continuance yea it continueth in the middest of all worldly sorrows for it overcomes and conquers them There is a laughter in which saith Solomon Pro. 14.13 the heart is sorrowfull and there is a sorâow in which the heart laughs As sorrowfull yet alwayes rejoycing saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.10 Spiritual joy or joy in the Lord is not extinguished though surrounded with worldly sorrowes Many waters cannot quench this vehement flame this flame of God as Solomon speakes of love Cant. 8. neyther can the floods drowne it Fourthly Delight in the Allmighty is a holy delight a delight which makes us more holy the delights of the world are impure and they defile us we seldome take in worldly pleasures but they leave some spot and taint upon our spirits or conversations but the delights we have in the Lord are all pure yea purifying delights they make the soule more cleare more holy more heavenly they make us like unto the Almighty in whom our delight is For look what the object is in which we delight such is the spirit of him that takes that delight now the Lord in whom this delight is being altogether holy they that take delight in him must needs be made or kept holy by it As delight in worldly things makes the heart worldly base and dreggish so this refines and purifies it The more we drinke of the rivers of this pleasure the more sober we are to be an epicure as it were in these delights is the highest temperance Our feeding cannot be too full nor our drafts too large upon these delights Solomon Eccle. 2.2 who had run a course through all worldly delights and tryed them to the utmost said of laughter it is mad and of mirth what doth it there is a madnesse in the mirth of the world what doth it that is what good doth it to any man many things it doth it makes men vaine foolish dissolute dispirited for any goodnesse but what good doth it doth it make any man better more holy more wise or fit for duty no it can doe none of these things But delight in the Lord is all this and can doe all this it is true strong strengthening Quum unus quisq licenter respicit id in quo delectatur subdât verâseq Aqâin lasting holy a delight that makes us more holy This is the portion of Saints at all times though payd them in more or specially at some times and that eyther first respecting the state and disposition of their owne soules as in the rest or secondly the state of and promised dispensations of God to the Church Isa 65.14.18 Isa 66.11 Then also in a speciall manner shalt thou have thy delight in the Lord. And because every man doth freely or willingly looke to that in which he is delighted Therefore Eliphaz addeth And shalt lift up thy face to God But some may say is that such a great matter is it any speciall favour to lift up the face to God seing to doe so is common to mankinde The Naturalist saith Oâ homini sublime dedit Ovid. That whereas other creatures looke groveling downeward God gave man an erect countenance and bid him looke heavenwards How then doth Eliphaz promise Thou shalt lift up thy face to God We had the like expression Ch. 10.15 If I be righteous yet I will not lift up my head And Ch. 11.15 Then shalt thou lift up thy face without spott The lifting up of the head and the lifting up of the face are the same implying confidence or a wel-grounded boldnes in him that doth so For all these phrases of speech imply a lifting up of the minde or Spirit
God or what fruit he should have in prayer Verse 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer to him and he shall heare thee and thou shalt pay thy Vowes In these words we have a further promise leading to a further duty as beforâ the duty of returning to the Almighty had a promise annexed to it of lifting up the face to God or boldnesse in prayer So now the promise of being heard in prayer is followed with a duty The payment of vowes Thou shalt make thy prayer to him c. ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã multiplicavit propriè verba fortia fâdât in Oratione The word notes the powring out of many prayers or of a multitude of words in prayer yet not of bare wârds but of words cloathed with power strong prayers as well as many prayers For as the Gospel comes from God to us not in word onely but in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance 1 Thes 1.5 so prayer should goe from us to God not in word onely but in power and in the holy Ghost c. Thus saith Eliphaz Thou shalt make many and mighty prayers strong prayers prevailing conquering prayers so the word is used Gen. 25.21 Tâen Isack intreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren that is he made many prayers to God he made a businesse of praying that he might have a sonne though there was a sure promise made to Abraham that he should have a sonne and that in him and from him should come the promised seed yet Isack was long without a sonne and he leaves it not carelesly in the decree of God resolving Idly God hath said I shall have a sonne at least if not many sonnes why should I trouble my selfe in the thing No Isack had not so learned the minde of God he was better skill'd in Divinity then so to separate the meanes from the end or to conclude that wee need not pray for that which God hath purposed and promised He I say was better instructed then so and therefore though he doubtlesse did fully beleeve that God would fullfill the promise made to Abraham in giving him a sonne yet he entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren and he intreated the Lord earnestly he made plenty abundance of prayers for it cannot be supposed but that he had prayed for that mercy long before for it was neere twenty yeares since his marriage to Rebeccah as appeares plainely by comparing the 20 verse of that Chapter with the 26 âh the former telling us that he was forty yeares old when he marryed Rebeccah and the latter that he was threescore when Rebeccah bare Jacob and Esau So that I say we cannot suppose but so holy a man as Isack had been suing out the good of the promise before but when he perceived it sticking so long in the birth then his soule fell in travel about it then he was very fervent in prayer and would give the Lord no rest Then he entreated the Lord c. The same is sayd of Manoah Judges 13.8 Then Manoah intreated the Lord and said oh my Lord let the man of God which thou didst send come againe unto us and teach us what we should doe unto the childe that shall be borne he prayed then with much earnestnes or made prayers for direction in that thing The word is often used to signifie abundance Isa 35.2 It shall blossome abundantly Jere. 33.6 Behold I will bring in health and cure and I will cure them and will reveale unto them the abundance of peace and truth Not onely shall they have peace and truth but abundance of them So here thou shalt not onely pray but a spirit of prayer shall be powred out upon thee aboundantly Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him Hence note First Prayer is a dutie We owe prayer to God as his creatures or in regard of our naturall dependance upon him much more as new creatures or in regard of our spirituall dependance upon him Secondly Note It is our duty not onely to pray but to pray much or to pray with much fervency The emphasis of the Originall word here used leades us to this as well as many Scripture Authorities Cold asking invites a denyall 't is effectuall or working fervent prayer that prevailes much Jam. 5.16 Note thirdly Prayer is due onely to God Prayer is a part of holy worship and all such worship is proper to God alone Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him Saints and Angels worship God with us we must not worship eyther Saint or Angel with God no nor God by the helpe and mediation of Saints or Angels We know no mediator of intercession but he who is the mediator of redemption the Lord Jesur Christ Fourthly Taking in the consideration of the time as before in the former part Then shalt thou have thy delight in the Lord then shalt thou make thy prayer to him Observe That we are never in a fit frame for prayer till wee turne from every sin by repentance As the Lord will not heare us when we pray if we regard iniquity in our heart Psal 68.18 so neyther are we in a fitnes to speake to God in prayer if we regard any iniquity in our hearts Repenting and praying must be of the same length unlesse we repent continually we cannot pray continually because we sin continually The more holy we are the more free we are to pray Sinne clogs and checks the spirit in this great duty cast off that weight and then shalt thou make thy prayer to him And he shall heare thee To heare prayer is more then to take notice of the matter or words spoken to heare prayer is to grant what we pray for as our hearing the word of God is more then to take in the sound or sence of what is spoken it is to submit to and obey what is spoken Now as we heare no more of the word of God then we beleeve and practice so the Lord heareth no more of what we pray in a Scripture sence then what he granteth There are two expressions in Scripture which note this First To have regard to a person or to a prayer 1 Kings 8.28 29. when Solomon prayed at the dedication of the Temple the Lords hearing of prayer which he then beggd is thus described Have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant and to his supplication c. that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day Respicere est audire So it is said of Abel Gen. 4.4 that the Lord had respect to his offering the Lord looked towards him and accepted of him to accept a prayer is to heare a prayer Secondly The hearing of prayer is described by the presence of God with those that pray Isa 58.9 Then shalt thou call and the Lord shall answer thou shalt cry and he shall say here I am This is a wonderfull condescension 't is even as when a Master calling to
his servant he answereth here Sir here I am and that is as much as to say I am ready to your command I am ready to doe what you will have me here I am so saith that promise in the Prophet Thou shalt cry and the Lord shall say here I am that is Adesse est aâdire I am ready to doe what you aske I am even ready O unspeakeable Goodnes at your command as our translation of the 11 âh verse of the 45th Chapter of Isayah speakes out in plaine termes or I am willing to doe what you will have me to doe All which is in effect and vertually contained in the word of the Text. He shall heare thee This teacheth us First That God is the hearer of prayer It is the Lords title O thou that hearest prayer unto thee shall all flesh come saith David Psal 65.2 God is not onely A hearer of prayer but he is The Hearer of prayer to heare prayer is his peculiar prerogative and priviledge as wel as his goodnes and mercy none in heaven or earth have a will to heare prayer as God doth nor have any a power to doe it No creatures eare is long enough to reach the complaints nor his stocke large enough to supply the wants of all his fellow creatures The crowne of this honour fits none but God himselfe He shall heare thee Secondly Note It is a great mercy a mercy comprehending all mercy to be heard in prayer He shall heare thee Man cannot desire a richer favour then to be heard of God To have audience in the Court of Princes and among the great men of the earth is a great favour What greater worldly priviledge can a man have then this that he hath the eare of those who are greatest in the world When a man saith I have the Princes eare I can be heard when I speake we thinke he hath spoken enough to make him a man How great a mercy is it then to have the eare of God to have ready audience in the Court of heaven that as soone as we call the Lord is ready to answer here I am what 's the matter what would you have it shall be done your request is granted And to shew that to be heard by God is the summe of all mercies or all our mercies wrapt up in one the Scripture testifies that not to be heard of God is the summe of all judgements or all judgements wrapt up in one When the Lord refuseth to heare or sayth he will not heare those that pray then wrath is comming upon them to the uttermost Thus the Lord threatned the Jewes Isa 1.15 When ye spread forth your hands I will hide my eyes from you yea when ye make many prayers I will not heare your hands are full of bloud As it is an argument of the greatest sinfullnesse of man against God not to pray Powre out thy fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the families that call not on thy name Jere. 10.25 So it it an argument of the greatest wrath of God upon man not to be heard in prayer He that is not heard receives nothing and he that is heard receives all And this is the Saints priviledge by Jesus Christ their prayers are heard they have welcome audience at the throane of Grace continually And hence by way of Corallary from the former observation we learne that Holy prayers are fruitfull and gainefull prayers God hath not said to the seed of Jacob seeke ye me in vaine Hee that goeth forth and weepeth bearing pretious fruit this pretious fruit faith and prayer or the prayer of faith shall doubtlesse there 's no hazard nor peradventure in the case come againe rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him His showry seed-time shall be blessed with a fruitfull and plentifull harvest The wicked make many adventures many voyages by prayer such as it is heaven-wards yet come home without ladeing without any fraight at all Their prayers are all lost and turne to no profit and indeed theirs are not prayers but words or babling rather But holy prayer the prayer of the holy is prevailing At quibus cum que tandeÌ modis peccator oret verum etiam est nunquam exaudiri peccatorem ex dignitate suae personae aut meriti sed ex dei gratia misericordia Bold Those showers of prayers and teares which beleevers send up to heaven are like the raine as the Prophet speakes Isa 55.10 which commeth downe and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater Even thus the word of prayer which goeth out of the mouthes or hearts rather of beleevers returnes not to them voyd but prospers in the thing whereto they send it As appeares yet more fully in the next words of this verse spoken by Eliphaz He shall heare thee What then And thou shalt pay thy Vowes That is God will give thee the mercies which thou didst pray for and thereby give thee occasion to pay the vowes which thou didst make to him in case he performed thy desire in prayer Eliphaz is not exhorting Job directly to pay vowes but he is assuring him that his prayer shall be heard and so fully answered that he shall see reason and have aboundant cause to pay them and to pay them both fully and chearefully Thou shalt pay thy Vowes The word signifies free votive promises made to God ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã significat votivas promissiones deo factas quae obligant nec retractari nec solvi propria authoritate possunt Bold yet obligatory upon man for howsoever as the word implyeth there ought to be the greatest freedome and voluntarines in making a vow yet a vow being made there is an obligation a bond or tye upon him that made it to performe or pay it He that voweth binds himselfe but he cannot unbind or absolve himselfe from his vow nor can he retract or call in his lawfull vow Eliphaz I suppose here mentions the payment of Vowes because the godly in those times did often make Vowes When Jacob Gen. 28.20 fled from his brother Esau he in case of his safe returne vowed a vow saying If God will be with me and will keepe me in this way that I goe and will give me bread to eate and rayment to putt on so that I come to my fathers house againe in peace then shall the Lord be my God that is I will owne and honour him love and depend upon him more then ever And this stone which I have set up shall be Gods house and of all that thou shalt give me I shall surely give the tenth to thee Here 's the tenour and forme of the most ancient and famous vow that ever was made Likewise Hauna 1 Sam. 1.11 vowed a vow and said O Lord of hoasts if thou wilt indeed looke on the affliction of
owne hearts may vow more care and diligence in and about all these things And thus wee are to understand that of Jacob Gen. 28.21 vowing that the Lord should be his God as also that of David Psal 119.106 I have sworne and will performe it that I will keepe thy righteous judgements David kept them before but now he would be more strict then before in keeping them So then when we vow things already commanded or forbidden we must pitch and place our vow not upon the matter of the commandement but upon the manner and intensenes of our spirits in keeping it Fourthly Let not vowes about indifferent things be perpetuall All vowes about things expressed in the Law of God must be perpetuall because the things themselves are allwayes a duty For the affirmative precepts of the Law are at all times binding and the negative binde at all times But as for things which are not precisely under a Law As for example in the affirmative to pray so many times in a day to reade so many Chapters of the holy Scriptures in a day to heare so many Sermons in a weeke and in the negative not to drinke any wine or strong drinke not to weare silke or lace for or upon our Apparrel not to take such or such a recreation in it selfe lawfull I say in these cases let not vowes be perpetuall but limited to a season lest thereby wee entangle our owne soules and cast our selves into temptation while through a zeale not according to knowledge we use such meanes to avoyd it Make no vowes to binde your selves at all times in things which are not necessary at all times eyther to be done or not to be done From the whole verse Observe That the answer of prayer received from the Lord doth call us to pay and performe all the duties that we have promised or vowed to the Lord in prayer Though we doe not alwayes make strict and formal vowes when we pray yet every prayer hath somewhat of a vow in it so that having prayed at any time we may say The vowes of God are upon us for when we pray we promise and then especially we doe so when we pray under any pressure of trouble or when we have any extraordinary request to make then I say we engage our selves in a more solemne manner to serve and walke with God And so the returne or answer of such prayers ingageth us more strongly to duty For wheresoever the Lord soweth there he lookes to reape and where he hath sowed much he looks to reape much but then and there chiefly when we promise him fruits of duty for our receipts of favour and mercy Did we take notice of this we should not be found as we are so much in arreare to the Lord eyther for our private or publique mercies What promises have we made in the day of our distresse that we would be holy that we would strive against and mortifie our sinnes or the deeds of the body through the Spirit power of our Lord Jesus Christ Now let conscience speake have wee performed our promises have we paid our vowes we can hardly say that we have put up a prayer which hath not had an answer by blessings and successes God hath been to us a prayer-hearing God have we been to him a vow-paying people Who amongst us is now more active for God or more carefull to please him then before Who amongst us is more watchfull over his heart or more circumspect in his walkings then he was before Who is more carefull over his family that it may be holy or more zealous for the publicke that it may be reformed then he was before What manner of men should we be in all holy conversation and Godlines did we but pay those vowes and make good those engagements which have gone out of our lips and we have layd upon our selves before the Lord in the day of our trouble how just how pure how righteous a Nation should we be were we what we promised our utmost endeavours to be the Lord hath done much for us let us up and be doing for him let us make good what we have spoken to the Lord in vowing and promising seing the Lord hath performed what we have spoken to him in praying and calling upon his name God hath answered us at the first call yea sometimes before we called let us not put God to call a second and a third time much lesse often and often for the payment of our vowes For though the Lord in patience waite many dayes for the payment of vowes yet according to righteousnes we should not let him waite one day for it All these spirituall debt-bills are payable at sight or upon demand God shewes us our owne bills and bonds wherein we stand engaged to his Majesty every day and every day by some or other of his Atturneyes that is by some meanes or other he makes his demand therefore pay to day pay every day for we can never come wholy out of these debts to God or say we owe him nothing how much soever we have payd him And know that if when God hath heard us we be sloathfull in paying our vowes eyther God will heare us no more or wee shall heare of him and that as we say with both eares till he make our eares tingle and our hearts ake for not paying them Swift Judgements have often followed these slow payments And though they have not been swift in comming presently upon the neglect yet when they have come they have come swiftly upon the neglecters And as wee may alwayes say of the evills and Judgements which come upon any of the people of God as the Prophet in a like case doth to the people of Israel Jer. 4.18 Thy way and thy doinâs have procured these things unto thee this is thy wickednes So in most cases when evills and judgements fall upon and afflict the people of God we may say Your not doing what you have promised hath procured these things unto you This is your vow-breaking or your neglect of paying your vowes And how just is it that their troubles should not onely be renewed but even doubled and trebled yea seventimes more encreased upon them who slight and throw off those very duties which they tooke upon them in the day of their trouble in expectation to have their troubles removed Every mans mouth will be stopt when he suffers for not doing that good which the mouth of the Lord hath spoken how much more will his mouth be stopt and he have nothing to say for himselfe who suffers for not doing that good or for not forbearing that evill which his owne mouth hath spoken and solemnly charged upon himselfe as a duty in the presence of the Lord. They will have least to say for themselves who goe against or come not up to what themselves have sayd Then pay your vowes JOB CHAP. 22. Vers 28 29 30. Thou shalt also decree
let us make a breach therein for us and set a king in the midst of it even the Son of Tabeal Here was their decree we will vex this people we will set a king among them the Son of Tabeal But what saith the Lord to this Thus saith the Lord God 7 ver it shall not stand neyther shall it come to passe It is this word in the Text it shall not be established You have made a decree but you have not my consent for the Establishment of it and therefore it shall not stand it shall not come to passe Take another Scripture Esay 8.10 The Lord doth as it were give them leave to make decrees make as many decrees as you will and sit together in Councell lay your Councells as deep as you can take Councell together and it shall come to nought you may take Councell but it is in my Power whether it shall succeed or no and I have decreed concerning your decree that it shall come to nought speake the word and it shall not stand The standing or not standing the frustrating or the fullfilling of our Decrees and Councells it is from the Lord. Thirdly When he saith Thou shalt decree a thing and it shaââ be established unto thee We may observe The Councells of the Godly are under a promise of good successe They have a kinde of Assurance that what they say shall come to passe though they have not an absolute Assurance yet they have much assurance though wee cannot say in every particular Case that their decree shall be Established to them yet their decrees in generall are under a promise of Establishment Christ speaketh concerning the Decrees of a Church-Assembly Math. 18.18 Verily I say unto you whatsoever yee shall binde on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever yee shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in heaven that is I will Establish your Decrees If when you meet together in my name you decree concerning a person to bind sin upon him he shall be bound if to loose or pronounce him pardon'd he shall be loosened your decree on earth shall be a decree in heaven I will binde what you binde and loose what you loose Now in proportion the Lord speakes the same concerning the decrees of any Godly man what he binds on earth the Lord doth binde in heaven and what he looseth on earth God looseth in heaven that is there is an Establishment of his decrees and as the Church there hath a promise that the Lord will joyne with her in her decrees so a Godly man hath a promise here that the Lord will joyne with him in his decrees We have also an excellent confirmation of it Esay 44.25 26. The Lord is many wayes described in Scripture but here he is described by disappointing and establishing the Councells of men He it is that frustrateth the tokens of the lyars and maketh diviners mad that turneth wise men backward and maketh their knowledge foolishnes Here is a description of God in reference to the disappoyntments which he puts upon his enemies in frustrating their Councells and decrees they boast of these and these tokens that assure them of good successe but the Lord frustrates their tokens The Diviners say O the Starrs promise good luck and tell us we shall have good fortune thus diviners boast but the Lord maketh the diviners mad how doth he make them mad by making them see things fall out quite cross to what they have foretold or prophesied Againe hee turnes wise men backward that is he turnes the Councells of wise men backward when they have resolved such a thing the Lord sets it quite another way this is the glory of God that he can give check to the Councells of the greatest Polititians and deepest Machiavells he turnes them backward Thus the Lord is set forth overthrowing the decrees of the wicked but at the 26 âh ver He is set forth establishing the decrees of the Godly He it is that confirmeth the word of his servant and performeth the Councell of his Messengers that saith to Jerusalem thou shalt be Inhabited and to the Cities of Judah yee shall be built c God confirmeth the word of his servant which may be understood not onely of the word of Prophesie though that be the scope of that place as if it had been sayd when the Lord sendeth forth his Prophets and holy Diviners 't is not with them as with false Prophets and heathenish Diviners who making promises from the Starres of heaven not from the God of heaven are frustrated and disappoynted 't is not thus with the Lords holy Diviners for he confirmeth the word of his Servants Now I say wee may understand that Text not only of that word of prophecy which the Lord puts into the mouths of his Servants by an immediate inspiration but also of that word of prophecy or decree which any one of his faithfull servants speaketh or maketh according to his already revealed will This word of his servants the Lord confirmeth also and performeth the Councell of his Messengers And the reason is as was touched before about prayer because there is a suitablenes between such words and decrees of his servants and his owne Decrees for the designes of his servants falling in with his owne designes so their decrees with his decrees he in establishing their decrees doth indeed but establish his owne For the servants of God desiering that their decrees may be suitable to the written or revealed will of God they seldome misse of a suitablenes to the decrees of his hidden and secret will So that their decrees are as it were the Duplicate or Counterpane of the Decrees of God and therefore no wonder if they be under such a promise of successe and establishment The Lord saith concerning his owne Decrees or thoughts Surely as I have thought so shall it come to passe Isa 14.24 Now if wee thinke as God thinketh then what wee thinke shall come to passe too and as I have purposed so shall it stand If wee purpose as God purposeth then our purposes shall stand too Againe Esay 46.10 I am the Lord and there is none else I am God and there is none like meÌ declaring the End from the beginning and from ancient time the things that are not yet done saying my Councell shall stand and I will doe all my pleasure If then the Councells of Saints be the Councells of God he will doe all their pleasure That 's the summe of this promise to Job Thou shalt decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee Which appeares further from the last Clause And the light shall shine upon thy wayes Eliphaz in this promise might possibly have respect to Jobs former Complaint Chap. 19.8 Hee hath fenced up my way that I cannot passe and he hath set darknes in my pathes As if Eliphaz had here sayd thou didst Complaine a while agoe that God set darknes in thy pathes doe thou returne unto
Dimissus oculis est qui suo ju dicio existi matione sibi ipsi vilescit He shall save the humble person that is the person who is low in his owne eyes while in the greatest worldly heights the person that humbles himselfe and walkes humbly with God and men when most exalted Thus the Apostle James exhorts the brother of high degree or the rich brother to rejoyce in that he is made low Jam. 1.10 But if he be rich how is he made low he meanes it not of a lownes in state but of a lownes or rather lowlines of spirit The brother of high degree hath no cause to rejoyce in his highnes but when he is low in his owne eyes Lownes of eyes is more then a vertue or common modesty 't is a Grace That 's in a spirituall sence the most Grace-full looke which is the most humble looke He shall save the humble person But with what salvation I answer Salvation is eyther temporal and bodyly or eternal usually called the salvation of the soule We may expound this Text of both The Lord saveth the humble person both body and soule both temporally and eternally Where note That the Lord takes speciall Care of humble ones The Lord seemes to take so much care to save the humble as if there were none else that he tooke care to save or regarded what became or them whether saved or no. And the Lord speakes of proud persons as if he contemn'd none but under that name and notion Jam. 4.6 He resisteth the proud he that is proud of his person or parts or estate or witt or power the Lord resisteth him And he speakes of the humble as if none were saved but under that name and notion He saves the humble personâ or as that Text in James hath it He giveth grace to the humble What grace There is a twofold grace and both are given to the humble First he gives them the grace of favour or good will he is kinde to and respecteth the humble or as this text in Job hath it Hee saves the humble person Secondly He gives much grace to the humble as grace is taken for that gracious worke of the Spirit in us forming up faith love c. in our soules The Lord gives more of this grace also to the humble that is he addeth unto the graces which they have and makes them more humble more gratious a man cannot be in that sence an humble person without grace humility it selfe is a great grace and the greater our humility is the greater accession we have of other graces Thus I say we may understand the text in James both wayes He giveth grace to the humble that is he favours and respects them because they are gracious and he addeth to or encreaseth their graces We have a promise very paralel to these of Eliphaz and James Psal 18.27 Thou wilt save the afflicted people but wilt bring downe high looks The word which we translate afflicted signifies also one humbled and humble and so we might render the Psalme Thou shalt save the humbled or the humble people and that the humble are to be taken in to partake of the priviledge of that promise is plaine from the opposite Terme in the latter clause of the verse High lookes that is high lookers God will bring downe but he will save the humble person Men of low and meane estates are usually wrapt up with great ones in the same judgement as the Prophet speakes Esay 5.15 The meane man shall be brought downe and the mighty man shall be humbled the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled there we have the meane man and the mighty man under the same wrathfull dispensations of God The wicked whether high or low are farre from salvation but God knowes how to make a distinction between the humble and the proud when his wrath makes the greatest confusions in the world Humility it is not onely a sweet but a safe grace yea a saving Grace wee never goe under the Covert of God so much as when wee walke humbly with God He will save the humble person Vers 30. Hee shall deliver the Island of the Innocent and it is deliver'd by the purenes of thine hands The promise is continued to the man that returnes to God Hee shall deliver the Island of the Innocent or as some translate the Innocent shall deliver the Island The sence is the same He shall deliver the Island that is the Inhabitants of the Island All shall be safe the Island and they that dwell in it There is another reading of the Text which yet falls in fully and clearly with this whereas we reade He shall deliver the Island of the Innocent Liberabit noxium Pisc it may be read He shall deliver him that is not Innocent Now because this may seeme a very wide difference in the translation wee are to Consider the ground of it how this can be made out that the same text should be rendred the Innocent and him that is not Innocent The reason is because the word which we translate Island is taken by many of the Hebrew Doctors Vocula ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quae hic redditur insula idem valet quod ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã non Pisc Ego cum veteribus ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã pro negatione exponereÌ Eritque facilis sensus sc deus puritate manuum tuarum etiam nocenteÌ vel non innocentem liberabit Merc. as also by other translators onely for a negative particle signifying not or that which is not So the word is rendred 1 Sam. 4.21 when Phineas his wife dying in travell gave the name to her Childe shee sayd Hee shall be called Ichabod There is no glory or not glory And againe Pro. 31.4 the word is used in the same sence It is not for Kings O Lemuel to drinke wine strong drinke is not for Princes So here Thou shalt deliver the nocent or the not Innocent And so the whole verse is thus translated God because of or for the purenes of thy hands will doliver the nocent or those who are not innocent Whereas we say Thou shalt deliver the Island of the Innocent or the Innocent shall deliver the Island And it is delivered by the purenes of thine hands Eliphaz spake before in the third person here in the second 't is probable he did so purposely to make Job understand that he meant him It is delivered c. That is the Island is deliver'd according to our translation how is it delivered by the purenes of thine hands The word notes the most exact purity and cleannes like that of gold when it is refined in the fire or of garments that are washed with Soape or Nitre Manus purae sunt opera inculpata quae crimine vacant Drus by this purenes it or the Island shall be deliver'd and by the purenes of his hands he meanes the purenes of his actions or administrations The
a cause to complaine Thanksgiving will be all our worke and the worke of all in heaven And by how much we are the more in thanksgiving and the lesse in complaining on earth unlesse it be of and against our selves for sinne the more heavenly we are When we are stricken we should complaine as little as we can and we should alwayes be able to say as Job here That our complaint is not greater then our stroake JOB CHAP. 23. Vers 3 4 5. Oh that I knew where I might find him that I might come even to his seate I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments I would know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say unto me JOb having shewed in the former verse how bitter and how sad his Condition was even farre beyond his owne Complaint and that his stroake was heavier then his groaning he now turnes himselfe from earth to heaven from the creature to the Creator from man to God Job had been among his friends a great while they had debated the matter long but all in vaine and without fruit to his soule he had yet received no Comfort What will he doe next see here his address to God Vers 3. O that I knew where I might finde him that I might come even to his seat O that I knew The Hebrew is who will give me to know c. The words are a forme of wishing ordinary among the Jewes Who will give or who will grant mee this or that O that I knew c. And it Intimates or Implyes two things First A vehement and strong desire after somewhat much desierable who will give mee this or where shall I have it Secondly It Implyes selfe-Inability or selfe-Insufficiency to attaine and reach the thing desiered As if Job had said I am not able of my selfe to finde him O that I knew where I might finde him O that I eyther had the light of this knowledge in my selfe or that some body would enforme and teach mee O that I had a friend to Chalke mee out the way to lead mee by the hand and bring mee neer to God Quis mihi tribuat ut cognos cam inveni am illum Vulg. The vulgar latine Reading fixeth both those acts upon God as the Object O that some one or other would give mee to know and finde him As if his wish and longing desire were first to know God secondly to finde him or in finding to know him Our translation determines this knowing in Job and finding upon God O That I knew where I might finde him Who it is that Job would finde is not exprest in the text by name nor is there any Anticedent in the verse before with which we can Connect this relative him Yet 't is beyond question or dispute that he meanes God O that I might finde him that is God But why did he not say O that I knew where to finde God but O that I knew where to finde him I answer He doth it because his heart being full of God he supposed that those to whom he spake had their hearts full of him too and so would easily understand whom he meant or that he could mean none but God Wee finde such kinde of abrupt speeches as I may call them in other Texts of Scripture still arising from fullnes and strength of affection in the speaker See how Solomon begins his Love-song his Song of Songs The Song of Songs which is Solomons that 's the title of it How doth it begin Let him kiss mee c. Here is a strange Exordium to a Song none having been spoken of before Let him kiss mee with the kisses of his mouth by whom the Church would be kissed shee expresseth not but her heart was so full of Christ so full of love to Christ her Bridegroom her husband that shee thinks it needlesse to mention him by name when shee speakes of him whose kisses shee desiered Her love had passed through the whole Creation through men and Angels through all things here below and fixt it selfe onely upon Christ her Lord and Love Therefore shee never stood speaking personally of him but onely relatively and leaves all to understand whom she intended Thus saith Job O that I knew where I might finde him when as he had not spoken of any distinct person before in this Chapter And wee have a like passage flowing from a like abundant love to Christ in the 20 âh of John ver 15. where Mary comes to the Sepulchre Christ being risen and the Angel seing her weepe asked her the reason of it To whom shee replyed Because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him having thus said shee turned her selfe backe and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus he saith unto her Woman why weepest thou whom seekest thou Shee supposing him to be the Gardiner said Sir if thou have borne him hence tell me where thou hast laid him Shee never names Christ but onely saith If thou have borne him hence c. because her heart was full of Christ shee thought his heart was full of him too and that hee understood her well enough whom she meant though shee sayd not whom shee meant Thus in the present text Job was to God at that time as Mary to Christ at a losse for him not knowing where to finde him God was as it were removed from him as Christ was risen from the Sepulchre Therefore he complainingly and affectionately enquires O that I knew where I might finde him My soule is a thirst for God my heart pants after him O that I knew where I might finde him The Hebrew word signifieth to finde Verbum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã significat saepius obviam habere quemquam vel alâcui obvium fieri by going out to meet a man or as we say to light upon him As Ahab said to Elijah 1 King 21.20 Hast thou found or met mee O mine enemy and he answered I have found or met thee So the word is used 2 King 10.13 Jehu mett with the Brethren of Ahaziah King of Judah In the Margin wee say Jehu found the Brethren of Ahaziah that is he mett them upon the way for he went out to meet them Read also 1 Sam. 10.3 As if the sence were thus given O that I knew where I might finde him that is whither I might goe to meet him though I should not finde him by accident or as wee say stumble upon him I would goe out I would travell and take paines upon hopes to meet him Secondly That word signifies so to finde as to take hold and apprehend to take fast hold of a thing and then O that I might finde him is O that I might lay hold on him if I knew where I might have him I would lay fast hold on him and cleave close to him So the word is used Esay 10.10 As
my hand hath found the kingdomes of the Idolls and whose graven Images did excell them of Jerusalem and Samaria Thus spake the proud Assyrian my hand hath found them Why the Kingdomes of the Heathen were not in a Corner that he had need to search after them he did not make a new discovery of those kingdomes They were not terra Incognita an unknowne or a new found land that 's not the meaning but when he saith my hand hath found them the sence is I have laid hold on them and ceized them to my owne use I have added them to my owne dominion and brought them under my subjection So in the 14 verse of that Chapter My hand hath found as a Nest the riches of the people that is I have laid hold on their riches and said all 's mine I have taken the whole nest with all the eggs all their goods and treasures into my custody and possession Thus Job would finde God that he might lay hold on him for his owne or owne him as his Thus also the word is used Psal 21.8 Thine hand shall finde out all thine Enemies thy right hand shall finde out those that hate thee It is not meant onely of a discovery of a person though it be a truth that the Lord will discover all that are his Enemies but thine hand shall finde them out is it shall take hold of them graspe them and arrest them Thy hand shall finde out all thine Enemies though close though Covert Enemies not onely thy above-ground Enemies but thy under-ground Enemies as well those that undermine thee as those that assault thee Once more in the 116th Psal ver 3. we have an Illustration of this sence The sorrowes of death Compassed mee and the paines of hell gate hold upon me The Hebrew text is the paines of hell found mee the painâs of hell that is the greatest the extreamest paines gat hold upon mee they found mee that is they ceized upon mee and held me fast a word of the same roote is used in both parts of that text that which wee translate to get hold is the same with that I found trouble and sorrow they found mee and I found them thus saith Job O that I knew where I might finde him that I might take hold of him why how doth the hand of a Saint finde God how doth he take hold of and apprehend God how doth he as it were arrest him and keepe him close I answer By faith and reliance upon him O that I knew where to finde him that the Lord might not be at such a distance from mee as he hath been but that I finding him might fix my soule upon him That 's a good sence Yet I conceive in this place wee may rather expound Job speaking of God after the manner of Magistrates among men who appoynt certaine places where to sit in Judgement where to heare Causes whither all that are wronged and oppressed resort for reliefe and right 1 Sam. 7.17 Samuel was the Chiefe Magistrate The Judge in Israel Now the text saith at the 16th verse that he went from yeare to yeare in Circuit as wee have the Judges of the Circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpeh and Judged Israel in all those places and returned to Ramah for there was his house and there he Judged Israel As if he had sayd his standing house was at Ramoth and thither all causes were brought and all persons grieved resorted for Justice in their severall cases Hee rid Circuit every yeare that all the people might the more easily finde him yet he had a fixed seate In alusion to this practice Job appealing from his friends to God saith O that I knew where I might finde him and goe to him for Judgement O that I might have Audience before him in this great buisines But it may be said Did not Job know where to finde God or was Job out of the presence of God I answer the Lord carryed himselfe to Job at that time as a stranger and though he were with him as he alwayes is with all his yet he did not finde him The Lord is with many of his people when they are not with him that is when they doe not finde him or are not sencible of his presence God is with his people even when they walke through the valley of the shadow of death yet they are not alwayes with God yea God doth not alwayes manifest himselfe to them while they walke in the most delicious and lightsome paradises of this life God sometimes hides himselfe so that they cannot make it out that God is present with them God is never seene in regard of the invisibility of his nature and he is often unseene in regard of the obscurity of his dispensations as Job shewes further at the 8th verse Behold I goe forward but he is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him I goe forward and backward that is I goe every way I take all courses to finde him but I cannot perceive God for he hides and covers himselfe with clouds that our prayers cannot come at him as the Church complaines Lament 3.44 though wee are alwayes present to God yet God is not alwayes present to us that is to our apprehension as God is not at all present to our sense so he is not alwayes present to our faith that 's the meaning of Job when he saith I goe forward but he is not there c. God is every where whither can I goe from his presence saith David Psal 139. If I goe up into heaven he is there c. yet saith Job if I goe forward he is not there that is I have no Enjoyments of God there and upon this ground he saith in the present text O that I knew where I might finde him Job was well acquainted with the doctrine of Gods Omnipresence he was farre from thinking that there was any certaine place where God was fixt and whether he must repaire as to the Kings and Princes of this world for helpe Job knew better Divinity then this he was acquainted with the nature and divine perfections of God but he speaks as to his present want O that I knew where I might finde him Hence observe first A godly man hath earnest and longing desires after God Whatsoever or whomsoever he findes he thinks he hath found nothing or no body till he findes God O that I might finde him How doth David Psal 42.1 2. shew his unsatisfiednes till he found God As the hart panteth after the water Brookes so panteth my soule after thee O God my soule thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come and appeare before God nothing but God was in his mouth nothing in his desire David had a kingdome David had a Throne David had honour and riches as much as he could desire why would not these satisfie his thirst Could not he sit downe in these Enjoyments no! David was hungry and
he being but dust and ashes should thus presse upon God and that he was afterwards reproved for it in the 38th Chapter of this Booke verse the first and second Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlewinde and said there he found him who is this that darkeneth Councell by words without knowledge gird up now thy loynes like a man for I will demand of thee and answer thou me And againe in the 40th Chap. ver 2d 3d 4th 5th Shall he that Contendeth with the Almighty instruct him he that reproveth God let him answer it Then Job answered the Lord and said Behold I am vile I will lay my hand upon my mouth Once have I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no further As if he had acknowledged his error and overboldnes in pressing upon God as in other places so also in this O that I might come even to his seate Yet I conceive that Job in this passage doth but put forth the nobler and higher actings of his faith and that he speaks this not as forgetting the distance of dust and ashes from the glory of God or from the glorious God but as remembring the promise and as insisting upon his priviledge as a beleever who is invited to come and to come with boldnes to the throane of Grace For though that promise was not given out as to the formality of it in those times yet the vertue of it was though in a lower degree then now To come with boldnes to the throne of grace ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã denetat loâum praeparatum a âadice ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã In voce ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã puâo esse metotonymiam q d. vsque ad locuÌ in quo ipse proâptus paratusque est ad audiendum ubi sui copâam facit Coc. Representat deum tanquam supremum Judicem in solio excelso sedenteÌ jusque suum unicuique reddentem Bold sounds much like this to come even to his seate and this Job did not onely as emboldened by the clearnes of his conscience towards men but as by the freenes of the Grace of God in Christ towards him In pursuance whereof it is well conceived by a learned enterpreter that there is a metonymie in the word which signifies a prepared seate that is such a seate as whereon God presents himselfe to poore sinners prepared and ready to give them both admittance to himselfe and a gratious audience of their requests and suites The word which wee translate seate signifieth a prepared place a place fitted implying somewhat speciall and peculiar unto God Heaven is called the habitation of his holines and of his glory Esay 63.15 yet wheresoever the Lord is hee makes it a heaven Thus also he can make any place where he is a hell The wicked shall be punished with everlasting fire from the presence of the Lord 2 Thes 1.9 that is the very presence of the Lord shall be a hell and torment to them The Lord can be both terrible and gratious in his presence any where yet he is somewhere more gratiously some where more terribly present Some cannot beare those expressions The Throne of God the seat of God heaven and hell As if these were but the Imaginations fancies and fictions of mans braine But the Lord hath his seates and dwelling places whence and where he declares himselfe both in mercy and in judgement both in his holines and in his glory Isa 6.1 I saw also the Lord sitting upon his Throne high and lifted up Thus the Lord manifested himselfe in vision to the Prophet and David confesseth Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever Psal 45.6 that is thy Power and Soveraigntie David speakes not of a material Throne such as Kings have the Power and Soveraignty of God are his throne wheresoever he is and is pleased to declare himselfe in his soveraignty and power So that when Job saith O that I might come even to his seate or throane the meaning is O that I might come as neer him as possibly I may I would not stand at a distance or keepe aloofe off as a guilty malefactor but draw neere to him in a holy and well-grounded confidence Thus Job speakes in answer to that Charge of Eliphaz in the former Chapter Is not thy wickednes great and thine iniquities infinite Now saith Job you shall see what my sinnes are and what my guilt seing I dare venture even to the very throne of God where no hypocrite dares appeare While Job professeth That if God after the manner of men should sit in open Judgement there will be such a Judgement at the last day he would come neer to him and not be afraid he seemes fully assured of his owne integrity or of the goodnes of his cause as also that God would be good unto him Hence observe That true holines and uprightnes hath abundance of Confidence before God Adam having sinned and the guilt of his sin being upon him durst not come to the Seat to the Throne of God God came to him in the coole of the day to examine and question him about his sin but he hid himselfe among the trees of the garden he withdrew not daring to abide him and that 's the state of all sinners who have the guilt of sin upon them they hide they run from God when once their Consciences are awakened As sin in the act of it is a turning or departure from the holines of God so sin acted or sin in the guilt of it causeth not onely a departure but a running and a hiding from the justice of God Guilty sinners are so farre from coming up to his Seat that they cannot endure to come in his sight a malefactor hath little minde to come before the Judge or to the Bench where the Judge sitteth Solomon saith Prov. 20.8 A king that sitteth in the Throne of Judgement scattereth away all evill with his eyes Wee may understand it thus he scattereth evill actions and evill persons evill workes and evill workers with his eyes there 's not an evill man willing to appeare or that dares to appeare before him They who are selfe-condemned must needs be afraid that others will condemne them also Magistrates sitting in Judgement are terrible to guilty malefactors Or thus Hee scattereth the evill with his eyes that is he makes evill men reveale and scatter their most secret evills by his prying into them and industrious Examination of them that evill or wicked practice which they had bound up in their hearts and said none shall know it he scatters and discovers Solomons proverb carryes an experienced truth in it both wayes And we may argue from it That if an earthly King or Magistrate sitting on the Throne scattereth all evill with his eyes how much more doth God neither any evill matter nor any evill man can stand before him And seing the Lord discovers all the evill that is in the hearts and wayes of men what
praised and honoured him that liveth for ever whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdome is from generation to generation and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and he doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what dost thou that is none may so much as question much lesse reprove him for any thing that he doth Though there are many who in the pride of their hearts and through the forgetfullnes of their duty will presume to question God about what he hath done and even controule his doings yet of right or according to rule none can Hence the Apostle having asserted the soveraignty of God he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth brings in some questioning his proceedings but he checks them soundly for their boldnes in questioning and instructs them by many upbrayding questions that they ought not to put that or any such question Thou wilt say then ver 18 19 20. why doth he yet finde fault for who hath resisted his will nay but who art thou ô man that repliest 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 of the same lumpe to make one vessell of honour and another of dishonour what if God were willing to shew his wrath in some as well as his grace mercy in others what have you or I to doe with it who gave you or I leave to examine God upon intergatoryes about it Thus he pleads the power or prerogative of God this must silence all our queries and satisfie all our doubts none may aske him a reason of what he doth the reason is in himselfe The will of God is his reason and there is all the reason in the world it should for his is not onely a soveraigne will but a just and a holy will Solomon saith Eccl. 8.4 Where the word of a king is there is power and who may say unto him what dost thou In all lawfull administrations it is true of kings and supream earthly powers in what forme soever none may say unto them what doe yee their word must stand much more is this true of him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords who is the supream power of heaven and earth all whose wayes are equall and his dispensations righteous though we see not the equity and righteousnesse of them That is not onely great but the greatest power which none may question Fourthly This also demonstrates the greatnesse of Gods power that none can stop or hinder him in what it hath a minde to doe what he appoints he executes and none can stop it or as Nebuchadnezzar speakes in the place before mentioned Dan. 4.35 stay his hand The hand of the strongest power upon the earth may be and hath been staid kings have had a check their hands have been stayd but none can stay the hand of God I will worke saith he and none shall let it Isa 43.17 God should doe but little worke in the world if men could let it Wicked men would let or hinder God in all his workes and the godly through their mistakes would hinder him in some of his workes but none can He speaks to the Sunne and it shineth not yea he speakes to the Sunne and it moveth not This is the greatnesse and the muchnes of the power of God But saith Job Will he plead against me with this great power All this power God hath and this power he can put forth but he will not put it forth against me saith Job 1. And what was Job that he should be thus confident and rise up to such a strong assurance that God would not use his strength against him Job was a godly man a man fearing God a man perfect and upright a man full of faith even full of faith though he lived in dark times and under dark dispensations yet I say he was a man full of faith in the Redeemer Now it is no wonder if a man of this character a man thus qualified and priviledged had this confidence and was much assured that he should prosper and speed in it That God would not plead against him with his great power Hence Observe A godly man may be confident that God will deale gently and graciously with him or That God will deale with him according to the greatnes of his mercy not according to the greatnes of his power The greatnes of the power of God is an exceeding great comfort to the sincere because they know it is acted towards them in the greatnes of his mercy It is comfortable to heare that the Lord who as the Prophet describes him Nah 1.3 is great in power is also slow to anger the greatnes of mans power doth usually quicken not clogg his passions but it is more comfortable to know that God who is great in power is quick and speedy to shew mercy And hence it is that a true beleever rejoyceth in the power oâ God as well as in his mercy because he knoweth that God hath declared himselfe powerfull for him as well as mercifull He knoweth God will not put forth power alone or nothing but power towards him God doth exercise all his refreshing attributes and divine perfections in dealing with Saints Whereas upon the wicked he exerciseth his power chiefely though not onely What if God to make his power knowne endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction saith the Apostle Rom. 9.22 God pleads with the wicked according to the tenour of the Covenant of workes but with Beleevers according to the Covenant of grace in which he doth as it were uncloath himselfe of his power and cloath himselfe with love mercy goodnesse and tendernes to his people The Lord as the Psalmist speakes Psal 93.1 is cloathed with strength wherewith he hath girded himselfe he is cloathed also with mercy and with that he hath girded himselfe he pleads with his people I grant in righteousnesse as well as in mercy as the Apostle speakes Rom. 3.25 26. God hath set forth Jesus Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his rightenesse for the remission or passing over of sins that are past through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this time his righteousnesse and the justifyer of him that beleeveth in Jesus The justice or righteousnesse of God was never so fully declared as in Christ for God did not spare him at all but he having taken our debt upon him discharged it to the utmost farthing God pleaded against Christ with his great power and with his perfect righteousnesse To which plea Christ made answer with as Great a power his being the power of God and with as perfect a righteousnes his being also the righteousnesse of God And hence it
is that when God comes to plead with Beleevers he pleads not against them with his power and righteousnesse seing Christ with both pleads for them He pleads for them not onely as he is Jesus Christ the righteous but as he is the mighty the All-powerfull God This is the chiefest ground of a beleevers confidence that God as Job here saith will not plead against him with his great power What then did Job beleeve would God doe with him the next words enforme us what his faith was in that particular But he would put strength in mee So we render the Hebrew is onely thus He will put in mee Veruntatem ille pones in me Heb. what he would put is not expressed in the Original which hath caused some variety of opinion what it should be that the Lord would put into him and I finde a threefold conjecture in the poynt First The supplement is made thus He would produce arguments or reasons against me and this is conceived most suitable to the context and scope of the place as also to the action of pleading before spoken of Poneret afferret in me suas rationes Merc. Ipse poneret coÌtentioneÌ in me id est non robore mecum ageret sed verborum contentione Ch would he plead with or against me with his great power no but he would shew me the reason of his dealings with me he would not proceed against me in a martiall but in a legal way not in a prerogative but in a discoursive argumentative way he would shew me the cause why he thus contendeth with me and hath so sorely afflicted me God would condescend so farre to my weaknes as to give me an account though I dare not presume to call him to an account and though he hath both power and right to deale with me as he pleaseth yet I am much assured that he would be pleased to tell me why he deals thus with me This interpretation is cleare to the generall scope of the context and argues nothing unbecoming that holy confidence which the Grace of the Gospel alloweth a beleever in yea encourageth him unto when in any distresse he approacheth unto God for the reliefe and comfort of his troubled Spirit Secondly Another thus Will he plead against me with his great power Fonet in me sc cor suum i e. compleâeretur me favoure Pisc no but he would put his heart upon me that is he would imbrace me with his favour and lay me in his bosome Though his hand hath been exceeding heavy upon me yet I believe his heart is towards me though he hath smitten me with the wound of an enemy yet he will receive me as a friend and give me signal testimonies of his love I should not feele the weight of his hand but see the tendernes of his bowels and his heart moving towards me This also is an interpretation full of truth and as full of comfort to a wearied soule Thirdly The supplement made in our translation reacheth both the former and suites also to the former branch of the Text with much elegancy Alij sub audiuÌt repetuÌt ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in me robur poneret ad consistendum coram sâ âe infiâmum fulciens roborans Merc. Would he plead against me with his great power no but he would put power or strength into me he will be so farre from putting out his strength against me that he will put his strength into me he knoweth my weaknesse how unable I am to contend with or beare up against his power and therefore he would put power into me Mr Broughton renders clearely to this sense Would he by his great power plead against me no but he would helpe me helpe is power and he that helpeth another administers power to him he either puts new strength into him or joynes his strength with him So then Job was assured that God would put strength into him or be his strength to helpe and carry him through all the difficulties that lay before him Hence Observe First A beleiver hath no opinion of his owne strength or that he can doe any thing in his owne strength He trusts no more to his owne strength or power then to his owne righteousnesse or worthinesse As our Justification before God is purely founded in the righteousnesse of Christ so all the actings of our sanctification are maintained by the strength of Christ Holy Job spake nothing of his owne strength yea he spake as having no strength of his owne A Godly man knows his owne strength is but weaknesse and that when he prevailes with God it is with a power which he hath from God Paul useth a forme of speech which we may call a divine riddle 2 Cor. 12.10 When I am weake then I am strong he predicates or affirmes one contrary of another weaknesse is contrary to strength how a weake man should be strong and then especially strong when he is weake is hard to conceive by those who are spirituall and is unconceivable by those who are carnal This assertion is enough to pose and puzle nature He that is weake is strong or the readiest way to get strength is to be weake The truth and the Apostle Pauls meaning is plainly this When I am weake in my owne sense and opinion when I am convinced that I have no power of my owne then I feele power coming in then Christ strengthens me and I am strong then I experience that word My grace is sufficient for thee When I finde the waters of my owne cisterne low and fayling then I have a supply from the Spirit So the Apostle spake Phil. 1.19 I know that this also shall turne to my salvation through your prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ The first Adam received all his strength at once we now receive our strength by dayly fresh supplyes from the second Adam The word there used by the Apostle which we render supply signifieth an under-supply implying thus much that as the naturall body and each particular member of it is supplyed with sence and motion together with a suitable strength and ability from the head so beleevers who are altogether the mysticall body of Christ and each of them members in particular are supplyed from Christ their head by the Spirit with spirituall life motion and strength of Grace for every duty to which they are called or which is required of them And because as this is so in its selfe so beleevers are instructed in it therfore they disclaime and goe out of their own strength that the power of Christ may rest upon them Christ fills none but the hungry nor doth he strengthen any but the weake They who thinke they have any thing of their owne shall receive nothing from him unlesse Christ be all in all to us he will not be any thing at all to us Secondly Observe God himselfe puts strength into humbled sinners that they
God alone is intimate And with these God is more intimate then man can be with that which is wholly outward And seing God knowes all the wayes which man takes let no man goe about to hide his wayes from God 'T is vaine to hide any thing from him who sees all that is hidden He that comes before a Judge that knowes what he hath done and is able to prove it why should he deny it The heart of a naturall man is not more busied about any thing then in making veiles for his sin the first thing that man did after he had sin'd was to make such a veile As all men have sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression so they cover their transgressions according to the similitude of his covering The Holy Ghost Psal 32.1 calleth them blessed whose sins are covered but it is with a covering of Gods provideing not of their owne woe to those whose sinnes are hid by a covering of their owne provideing God hath given us his Son our Lord Jesus Christ in his righteousnesse for our covering while our sins are so covered blessed are we but if we cover them with a covering of our owne God will lay them open for ever to our shame Wo to the rebellious children saith the Lord Isa 30.1 that take counsel but not of me and that cover with a covering but not of my Spirit that they may adde sin unto sin if we cover our sins with any thing but the righteousnes of Christ we cover them with a sin not onely because all our righteousnes which is the best thing of our owne that we have to cover them with is sinfull but because the very act of covering them so is a sin and therefore in so doing what doe we but adde sin unto sin And if to cover our sins with our owne righteousnesse be a sin how doe we heape sin upon sin while we cover it as many endeavour to doe with our denyalls dissemblings and excuses Secondly Consider with what Confidence Job speakes hee had discoursed of his fruitles labour and travell in the use of all meanes to finde God well saith he yet it is a Comfort that God knowes my wayes though I cannot finde out his Hence Note It is the Joy of the upright that God knowes them and their wayes yea the wayes that are in them Thus Jeremy Chap. 12.3 having complained of the prosperity of evill men before the Lord concludes But thou O Lord knowest mee thou hast seen mee and tryed my heart toward thee this was the Prophets joy and so it was the Apostles when he sayd But wee are made manifest unto God 2 Cor. 5.11 That 's the thing that pleaseth us David 1 Chron. 29.17 speakes in the same frame of spirituall contentment I know also ô my God that thou tryest my heart and hast pleasure in uprightnes This was a pleasure to David this was his Joy and crowne of Rejoycing that God knew him and a godly man hath much Cause of rejoycing in this that God knowes him perfectly considering how much he is mistaken and misunderstood by men When our wayes are mistaken by men 't is great content to remember that God knowes the way that we take without the least mistake For this assures a godly man of three things First That God will reckon his wayes such as they are and him such a one as he is He is much assured that God will never put a false glosse or an unjust construction which men are apt to doe upon the text of his life Secondly This assures him that his workes of righteousnesse shall not want a reward for God is not unrighteous to forget our worke and labour of love Heb. 6.10 that is he will not let us goe without a reward for such workes for as then we are said not to forget the word of God when we obey it so God is said not to forget our workes when he doth reward them Thirdly This assures him that God will give testimony to his integrity and beare his witnes when most seasonable to his righteous workes Though men will not give him Testimony yet God who knowes his wayes will God will not doe lesse for a good man then a good Conscience will For as an evill Conscience will accuse so a good Conscience will excuse Rom. 2.15 Their Consciences in the meane time accusing or excusing one another Conscience knowes our wayes and therefore Conscience gives Testimony against them that doe evill and Conscience will give Testimony with those that doe well let all the world clamour against them Conscience will not because Conscience knowes the way that a man takes Much more then will God Testifie for that man whose way is good and how sweet is this 'T is sweete and satisfying to a gracious soule to doe good but when God himselfe shall testifie for a gracious soule that he hath done good this is much more sweete and satisfying 1 Joh. 3.20 21. If our heart or Conscience condemne us he is greater then our heart or Conscience and knoweth all things Beloved if our heart condemne us not then have we confidence toward God even this confidence that God will not onely not condemne us but acquit us yea and testifie for us And as it is worse to be condemned by God then by Conscience so it is better and sweeteâ to be acquitted by God then by our owne Conscience when once our Consciences are acquainted with his acquittall of us and testimony for us Yea there is this further Comfort in it that for as much as our wayes are knowne to God he will give testimony of them to others as well as to our owne Consciences The world shall know what our wayes are one time or other as well as God knowes them now they who are most prejudiced against them and draw the blackest lines over them shall one day be made to know that they did not know the beauty of them And this God will doe eyther First In this world by some extraordinary providence as David speakes Psal 37.6 Hee shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgement as the noon day A mans righteousnesse may lye in obscurity or in the darke no man knowing it and most men judging him unrighteous and wicked but Providence some time or other will bring forth this mans righteousnes as the light and his just dealing as the noon day Or Secondly If a good mans wayes lye hid from the world all the dayes of his life in this world yet the Apostle assures him that in the great day God will proclaime them in the eares of all the world 1 Cor. 4.5 Judge nothing before the time till the Lord come who will both bring to light the hidden things of darknes and will make manifest the Councels of the heart So then a day is coming which will make thorough lights in the world and bring to light the most hidden things of the darkest darknes And by
right hand and on the left by honour and dishonour by evill report and good report We approve our selves and tryall is taken of us as well by things on the right hand as by those upon the left as well by honour as by dishonour The good report or praise which a man meets with in the world is as great a tryal as the ill report or dispraise which he meets with in the world 't is a great tryal to be dispraised to have dirt throwne in our faces and it is a great tryal to be prais'd to be commended and applauded to be lifted up in the thoughts upon the tongues of men Solomon hath an excellent passage Prov. 27.21 As the fineing pot for silver and the furnace for gold so is a man to his praise that is a man is tryed by his praise as the silver is tryed in the fineing pot and as the gold is tryed in the furnace Whenever you are praised you are tryed Then your humility and selfe-denyall are tryed Then you are tryed whether when you are praised by men you can give the whole glory to God Herods praise was the fineing pot and the furnace wherein he was tryed it made him appeare to be but drosse indeed His hearers Cryed the voyce of God and not of man When you cry up such a Preacher such a Magistrate such a Souldier such an Oratour you put him into the fineing pot he that is but drosse consumes The wormes eate up Herod because he gave not Glory to God Act. 12.23 As it was a most dreadfull so it was a most righteous judgement that he should be eaten up of wormes who forgot that he was one and forgot it so farre that he was pleased with their applauses who cryed him up for a God Worldly prosperity power and praise are the right hand way by which God tryeth the sonnes of men Secondly God doth usually try by affliction and that 's the left hand way James 1 12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation meaning affliction for when he is tryed he shall receive the crowne of life c. That is when those temptations and afflictions have tryed him and he hath approved himselfe in the tryall then he shall receive the crowne of life c. 1 Pet. 1.6 Though now for a season if need be yee are in heavines through manifold temptations that the tryal of your faith being much more precious then of gold that perisheth Cos aurum probat rectam tentamina mentem Natura vexata pâedit seipsam though it be tryed with fire might be found to praise c. Affliction is the tryall of our faith in God and of our patience under the hand of God When nature is vext it shewes it selfe and so doth grace Affliction discovereth both what our vertues and what our corruptions are Thirdly God tryeth man by a kinde of examination David speakes of that Psal 17.3 Thou hast proved mine heart thou hast visited mee in the night thou hast tryed mee and shalt finde nothing In the night the soule is free from busines with the world and therefore freest for busines with God then did God prove and visit David that is examine and sift him by calling to his minde all his wayes and workes in former passages And the issue of this tryall was he found nothing not that his soule was empty of good things or that there was nothing evill in him but God upon examination found nothing of that evill in him which some men suspected him of Namely eyther any ill will or evill designe against Saul in reference to whom he called his cause a righteous cause or the right ver 1. Heare the right O Lord c. Thus God tryed David And thus earthly Judges try men They examine them and their case that 's cald a tryall in this third sence wee are chiefly to understand the meaning of Job in this place Job had long before undergone a tryall by prosperity and praise Job was at that time under tryall by affliction he had past the former and was under the latter yea he was deep in it Intelligitur de stricto dei examine in suo judicio ad quod Job provocaverat Merc but as yet hee had not come to this tryall of Examination or to a judiciary tryall which hee earnestly beggd of God All men shall come to such a tryall in the Great day Wee must all appeare before the Judgement seate of Christ that every one may receive the thingt done in his body accordeng to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 Some expound Job appealing here to that Judgement But I conceive that the whole tendency of his discourse aymes at an earlyer Judgement or day of tryall then that And though possibly his expectation was not great if any at all that God would grant him a private Session as we may call it for his personall tryall yet to shew that he had not the least suspition of being acquitted in that day whensoever it should be he importunately professeth he could wish it might be the next day and that he would refuse no paines nor travell for the procuring of such a day were it to be obtained being fully satisfied from the light and dictates of his owne Conscience that when the Lord had so tryed him he as David spake in the place lately opened should finde nothing no such fault or guilt as was charged upon him Christ writing to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus gives him this among other commendations Rev. 2.2 Thou hast tryed them which say they are Apostles and are not and hast found them lyars Many appeare fayre in holines and boast highly of their priviledges even as high as an infallible Spirit and immediate mission who yet being tryed and throughly examined by the Church or by those who are spirituall and have sences exercised to discerne both good and evill will be found lyars counterfeit stuffe and lighter then vanitie But Job was perswaded that though God should try him not onely should nothing be found against him nor he found a lyar but that much would be found for him and himselfe be found in the truth as he plainely expresseth in the close of the verse when hee hath tryed mee whut then I shall come forth as gold Egrediar ex hoc igne probationis meae expurgatissimus Coruscabiââ innocentia mea Pined Here 's the issue of the tryal There are seaven words used in the Original for gold That in the text notes the colour or yellownes of it ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã generale vocabulum est a colore sulvo seu flavo transfertur ad aliarum rerum munditiem significandum sic ab aura aurora aurum derivat Isidor Plenus vino aureo i. e. splendido velut aurum and is applyed to signifie any thing that is bright or shineing pure and splendid as Gold is Zach. 4.12 wee read of
golden pipes which did empty the golden oyle or according to the letter of the Hebrew the Gold out of themselves That spirituall oyle was called golden or gold because like gold shineing pure and precious The gifts and graces of the Spirit are golden oyle indeed So Jer. 51.7 Babylon hath been a golden Cup in the hand of the Lord Which some expound tropically taking the Continent for the thing contained The cup for the wine Called golden wine because of the splendidnes and beauty of it as Solomon speakes Pro. 23.31 When it giveth his colour in the cup. Or Babylon is called a Golden cup first because of the great glory wealth and illustrious pomp of that Empire described in Daniel Chap. 2.32.38 by a head of Gold and marked out in Isaiah by the name of the Golden City Isa 14.4 and secondly because God had caused other Nations to drinke deep of his wrath by the power of the Babylonian Empire Upon which account Mysticall Babylon is sayd to have a Golden cup in her hand Rev. 17.4 Gold is the King the chiefe of metals gold is among metals as the Sunne is among the Starres and Planets of Heaven the glory and Prince of them all So that when Job saith I shall come forth as gold his meaning is I shall come forth pure and in much perfection Gold is first the most precious metal secondly the most honourable metal thirdly the most weighty metal fourthly the most durable metal fifthly the most desirerable metal Every one is for gold Aurum per ignem probatum symbolum est jâstorum nam illâ minime laedit examen âgnis per ista igitur verba vir sanctus candorem suae innocentiae conscientiae puritatem maximam cirâumloquitur Bold So that when Job saith I shall come forth gold his meaning is as if he had sayd my tryall will not diminish but rather adde unto me I shall be precious honourable weighty durable desireable after I have been in the furnace or fineing pot of my sorest and severest Tryalls And he speakes thus in opposition to his friends who had an opinion of him as if he were but drosse or the off-scoureing of all things as the Apostles were reckoned in their time I shall come forth not drosse and trash but gold as if he had sayd Were I once tryed I should be for ever quit of those Charges brought in against mee and of those scandals cast upon mee I should shine in reputation and honour like pure gold coming out of the fire I should recover my good name and be found a man loyall to God and righteous towards men Hence note Grace renders man excellent and precious Every godly man is gold yea he is more precious then fine gold The finest gold is but drosse to Grace the wicked of the world are reprobate silver or refuse silver Jer. 6.30 the Saints are finer then Gold refined in the fire for they are precious they are honourable they are usefull they are dureable and lasting they shall endure everlastingly they are weighty in their worth and their portion is an eternall weight of glory Secondly Whereas Job saith when I am tryed I shall come forth as gold Observe A godly man is no looser by being tryed yea he gaines by it He who before was reputed but as drosse and had much drosse in him comes out of the tryal as gold and loseth nothing of his weight worth or beauty by being tryed he onely loseth a good losse his drosse and the rubbish of his corruptions Grace is not onely grace still but more gracious even glorious after tryall Some speake of grace as if it were but drosse consumeable in the fire as if every temptation and tryal endanger'd it to an utter consumption or as if like lead it would quite evaporate and spend to nothing in the fire They sticke not to affirme that a true beleever may lose all his graces and how much soever enricht before by the Spirit yet prove a bankrupt in spiritualls Job was Confideât that his gold would hold the tryal both of the hottest afflictions and of the strictest examinations He had been tryed long in the furnace of affliction heated seaven times more then ordinary and yet held his integrity and though he should come to tryal at the Judgement-seate of God which is more then seventy-times seven times stricter then the Judgement-seate of man according to truth can be yet he nothing doubted that nothing as to the general bent of his heart and frame of life should be found or appeare but integrity still That is but drossie grace natural grace if not hypocritical grace or a counterfeit onely of grace which aâides not in the day of tryall They who loose the grace which they have shewed had onely a shew of grace Hypocrites shall âoâe all at their tryal their paint their varnish will not endure the fire eyther of a lasting affliction or of that last examination when once a hypocrite is tryed then he is sham'd He may goe currant for pure gold a great while but at last he appeares but as a gilded sepulcher or drosse of gold Psal 119.119 Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like drosse And the Lord speaking of the degenerate house of Israel Ezek. 22.18 saith The house of Israel is to me become drosse all they are brasse and tin and iron and lead in the midst of the furnace they are even the drosse or drosses of silver That is though they are a professing people and hold out my name yet I having tryed and examined them throughly finde them to have nothing but a name of profession They being tryed are come forth like drosse The Apostle 1 Cor. 3.13 Allegorically shadowing out all sorts of superstructive doctrine by Gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble saith If any man build upon this foundation that is Christ Gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every mans worke shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire Dum pâobantur toti in fumum abeunt and the fire shall try every mans worke of what sort it is If any mans worke abide which he hath built thereupon hee shall receive a reward if any mans worke shall be burnt he shall suffer loss c. The wood hay stubble shall be burnt but the gold silver precious stones will abide the tryall of fire Whether it be the fire of persecution tribulation and temptation nothing but holy truth can abide these fires or the fire of the holy Spirit who in Scripture is often compared to fire and who together with the light of the Word revealeth the soundnes or falsenes of all doctrines delivered by men and like fire consumes what is false but gives a further brightnes and lustre to the truth Even truth untryed may be counted drosse but being tryed it comes forth like gold Now as the truth of doctrines so the truth of persons in
to the dictates of his owne will and wisdome He is one And who can turne him Or Who can turne him away Or as another renders Who can make him returne backwards that is who can make him goe back from what he hath determined and once resolved upon True repentance or conversion is the change of the minde in man Every man that is converted from his sinfull state course by the power of God becomes another man as to his morals and spiritualls then he was before but man cannot turne God and make him any other then he is God can cause man to change his minde but man cannot make God change his minde nor turn him backward The Prophet saith of God Isa 44.25 That he turneth wise men backward and maketh their knowledge foolish The turning of the wise backward is the altering of their councells When they will not alter them God can He saith Their councells shall not stand nor shall they reach the end to which they were appoynted And it is so Sed quid ego similis cum sit sibi semper idem Quis rationem ab eo facti dictivè reposcat But can the wisest of men or all wise men plotting and laying their heads together turne the most wise God backward They cannot So that these words hold forth the efficacie and stabilitie of the purposes counsells and decrees of God Who can turne him And what his soule desireth even that he doth God is not like man consisting of a soule and body Man is the result of soule and body united together A soule is not a man nor is a body a man man is a third thing rising out of both But God is a spirit Animam alicujus sumi pro eo cujus est anima res est nota quare anima dei deus est Sanct And when Job sayth What his soule desireth The meaning is what himselfe desireth The soule of a man is indeed the man because the choycest part of man though man hath another part namely a body yet the soule is he The soule of man being his best part is often put for the whole man But the soule of God is not put here for God because it is the best part of Him His soule is himselfe Further This phrase or manner of speaking what his soule desireth notes onely the intensnes and strength of his desires or what he desiereth strongly The Lord sometimes makes offers to doe that which is not in his heart or desire to doe But what ever his soule goes out upon indeed or would have done that shall be done Thus the word is used frequently to set forth the full purpose of God to doe a thing Levit. 26.30 And I will destroy your high places and cut downe your images and cast your carkases upon the carkases of your idols and my soule shall abhorre you That is extreamly abhorre you I will abhorre you with the utmost abhorrence And againe Isai 1.14 Your new moones and your appointed feasts my soule hateth That is I hate them with a perfect hatred to shew how deepe his hatred was of those things as done by them he saith my soule hateth them As if he had sayd I hate your formality in my worship from the bottome of my heart We have the same sence Jer. 6.8 Be thou instructed O Jerusalem lest my soule depart from thee That is lest I totally depart I will depart not onely by withdrawing some of your outward comforts but even those which are the more intimate and immediate discoveries of my love my soule shall depart from thee or be loosed and dis-joynted from thee as we put in the Mergin that is I will be of no more use to thee or a helpe to thee then a member of the body is to the body when it is dislocated or removed from its proper joynt Once more Jer. 32.41 I will rejoyce over them to doe them good and will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soule That is I will doe it for them entirely and affectionatly or with entirest affection What his soule desireth That is What he desireth or whatsoever pleaseth him Velle est hoc loco aliquid peculiarius expetere concupiscere solet ad rem quam piam delectabilem referri We desire onely those things which are very pleasing And those things which are most pleasing to us are to us very desirable The desire of man is love in motion as his joy is love at rest But in God desire and joy are not distinguishable in him there is no motion all is rest What his soule desireth Even that he doth The Hebrew is very concise His soule desireth and doth That is he no sooner desireth a thing but he doth it Optat tantam protinus fectum est Merc or when he desireth it is done The will of God is execution though he willeth many things which as to man are not presently no nor till a long time after executed yet as to himselfe whatsoever God willeth is executed and whensoever he pleaseth his will is actually executed among men He desireth and it is done From the words thus opened we may observe according to the first reading of the former part of the verse That God is one There is one God and but one Thus the Lord speaks of himselfe by the Prophet Isa 44.8 Is there a God besides me Yea there is no God I know not any Isai 45.5 I am the Lord and there is none else there is no God besides me He is one himselfe and he hath not a second The Heathens having many gods when they were oppressed by any one god Saepe premente deo dat deus alter opem they sought reliefe from another As Sorcerers and Witches goe to a stronger spirit for help against what a weaker spirit hath done Heathen gods were devill-gods and they are many The Jewes degenerating into Idolatry multiplyed their Gods according to the number of their Cities Jer. 2.28 But Jehovah The living God The Lord is one God We affirme from Scripture that there are three Hees or subsistences in the God-head commonly called persons Father Sonne and Spirit but these three are one not onely by consent but by nature and essence Heare O Israel sayd Moses Deut. 6.4 The Lord our God is one Lord. Secondly From our reading He is in one or as we supply He is In one minde Observe that great truth God is unchangable I the Lord change not Mal. 3.6 The unchangeablenes of God may be considered in divers things First In his essence or nature God knoweth no decay He is a spirit an eternall spirit He hath nothing mingled or mixed in him which should worke or tend to alteration God is simple He is most simple even simplicity it selfe There is no composition in him no diversitie of qualities in him Man changeth in his natural constitution because compounded and made up of
different elements qualities and humours which contending and fighting one with another necessitate his change Every day brings some though insensible changes upon us And in a few yeares our changes are very visible and sensible The Psalmist speaking of the heavens which of all visible creatures are in nature most unchangeable yet calls them changeable in comparison of God Psal 102.26 The heavens are the work of thy hands They shall perish but thou shalt endure yea all of them shall wax old like a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall be changed The heavens are the purest part of the creation and freest from elementary mixtures yet they shall wax old they shall be changed In opposition to which the Psalmist adds ver 27. But thou art the same and thy yeares shall have no end Nor are the yeares of God onely without end but himselfe is without change Indeed there is no change of time to God past present and to come are all the same to him and he is the same in all Thou art the same or more emphatically according to the strictnes of the Hebrew phrase Thou art thy selfe alwayes thy selfe As thou art thou wast and as thou art and wast thou wilt be for ever When Moses desiered to know the name of God Exod. 3.13 wee finde it at the 14th verse and God said unto Moses I am That I am And he said thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel I AM hath sent me unto you Secondly As God is unchangeable in his essence so in all his divine perfections and attributes all which are essentiall unto him God is as powerfull and strong as ever he was Isa 26.4 Isa 59.1 As high and soveraigne as ever he was Psal 92.8 as wise and omniscient as ever he was 1 Tim. 1.17 As gracious and mercifull as ever he was his mercy endureth for ever Psal 100.5 As faithfull and true as ever he was Rom. 3.3 4. And as just and righteous as ever he was he doth and will reward every man according to his workes Thirdly God is unchangeable in his purposes decrees and counsells The Medes and Persians boasted of their decrees that they alterd not Dan. 6.18 But the very unalterablenes of humane Decrees is alteration it selfe compared with the unalterablenes of divine decrees We have the Lord thus speaking in the Prophet Isai 46.16 I am God and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying my counsell shall stand and I will doe all my pleasure And as the Lord establisheth his owne counsel so he can unsetle the best layd counsels of the sons of men Psal 33.10 11. The Lord bringeth the counsel of the Heathen to nought he maketh the devices of the people of none effect The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all generations And hence the Lord by his Prophet challengeth the deepest politicians the Oracles for counsel the Achitophels of this world ãâã straine their wits to the utmost for securing of their owne counsels from disappoyntment Isai 8.10 Gird your selves and ye shall be broken in pieces take counsel together and it shall come to nought speake the word and it shall not stand for God is with us he is with us as to protect us against your open opposition so to blast your most secret consultations against us And as the Lords counsels are immutable in themselves so he hath condescended to assure us of their immutabilitie Heb. 6.17 18. Wherein God willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie we might have strong consolation c. Oaths are sacred and the strongest confirmations between man and man and therefore though the counsel of God be immutable without an oath yet that we might have the greatest assurance that it is so God hath confirmed it by an oath That so the heyres of salvation having two immutable things to rest their soules and build their faith upon might not onely have consolation strong consolation such consolation as might master and overcome all the feare and unbeliefe of their owne hearts and the gainesayings of Satan Fourthly God is also unchangeable in his promises what ever he hath sayd he will doe for his people He is in one minde it shall be done A promise from God is the best securitie halfe a promise an it may be as he speakes to the meeke of the earth Zeph. 2.3 Seeke righteousnes seeke meeknes it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lords anger this halfe promise I say is better security then the hand or seal yea then the oath of the faithfullest man on earth 2 Cor. 1.20 All the promises of God in him that is in Christ are yea and in him amen That is they shall certainly be performed and accomplished God doth not give promises as many men doe to rayse and then disappoynt and abuse our Hopes He doth not make promises rather for snares to catch others then for bonds to tie himselfe as some men doe which is not only a great unworthines and disingenuitie in them but a great iniquity and sin the Lords promises are our richest inheritances and that not onely because he hath promised greater and better things then are in the compasse of any mans power to make good or in the compass of any mans understanding to make but because hâ will certainly be as good to us in performance as he hath been in promise For He is in one minde concerning all that he hath promised He will be mercifull as he hath promised and pardon sin as he hath promised He will deliver us from trouble as he hath promised and sanctifie all our troubles to us as he hath promised He will give us his Spirit as he hath promised and save us eternally as he hath promised Fifthly He is also in one minde concerning his threatnings He will be as good as his word in the evill which he hath spoken against sinners as well as in the good which he hath spoken concerning his servants Zech. 1.5 Your fathers where are they and the Prophets doe they live for ever But my words and my statutes which I commanded my servants the Prophets did they not take hold of your fathers And they returned and sayd like as the Lord of hoasts thought to doe unto us according to our wayes and according to our doings so hath he dealt with us That is his threatnings have arrested us as Sergeants doe a malefactor or a debtor and carryed us away their prisoners As if the Lord had sayd Your fathers are dead and my Prophets are dead also but the words which my Prophets spake to your fathers concerning the sword famine and captivitie which should shortly come upon them these dreadfull prophesies dyed not
wee pray not to change the minde of God but to fullfill it wee pray for the fullfilling of his decrees not for the altering of them for the fullfilling of his counsels not the voyding of them And because God is in one minde and none can turne him we have the more incouragement to pray For all the good things that are in the minde counsel and purpose of God to doe for us and bestow upon us are borne and brought into the world usually by the hand of prayer Prayer is as it were the midwife to bring our blessings to the birth Therefore though prayer cannot turne God yet we have no reason to turne from prayer There is yet a fourth thing which may stop men but cannot stop God And that is nearnes of relation Men are often turned out of the way when a neare relation stands in their way They purposed to doe this or that but that such a friend or such a kinsman hath turned them from their purpose 'T is rare to finde such a spirit as the Lord by Moses observed and highly commended in the Tribe of Levi Deut. 33.9 Who said unto his father and to his mother I have not seene him neyther did he acknowledge his Brethren nor knew his owne children That is hee was not turned by the nearest relations from executing that terrible sentence of the Lord upon the children of Israel his Brethren after they had made the Golden Calfe of which you may read at large Exod. 32.26 27 28 29. It is truely sayd That relations have little entity in them but they have the greatest efficacy in them And their efficacy hath never appeared more in any thing then in this The turning of man from his purpose or his duty But relations have no efficacy in them to stop or turne the Lord from his purposes Isa 27.11 It is a people that have no understanding therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them he that formed them will shew them no favour As if the Prophet had sayd When the Lord threatens to bring evill upon you possibly ye will say we are the worke of thy hands he hath made us surely then he will not destroy us We finde that argument pleaded Isa 64.8 But now O Lord thou art our father we are the clay and thou our potter and we all are the worke of thy hand Be not wroth very sore O Lord c. To plead our relation to God by Christ is the strongest plea in prayer and to plead any relation to God hath a great strength in it Yet while some urge these they signifie nothing and have no force at all They who are like that people in the Prophet a people of no understanding spirituall idiots such as have no knowledge to doe good or no practicall understanding in the things of God such I say may urge their relation and get nothing by it He that made them will not have mercy on them and he that formed them will shew them no favour The Lord professeth strongly against any power which a relation shall have upon him to turne him or take off the processe of his Judgement under high provocations from the highest of men Jer. 22.24 As I live saith the Lord though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim King of Judah were the signet upon my right hand yet would I pluck thee thence and give thee into the hand of them that seeke thy life c. To be as the signet upon the right hand notes the most intimate neerenes of relation yet the Lord breakes thorough this and will not be turned away by it from the severest actings of his owne purposes Thus it hath appeared that as the Lord is unchangeable in himselfe so nothing can change him He is in one minde who can turne him And what his soule desireth eâââ that he doth Hence observe That God doth whatsoever he will or whatsoever he desires to doe There is no bound to the power of God but his owne will When the Heathen asked in scorne Where is your God The Psalmist tells them plainely both where he was and what he had been doing Psal 115.3 But our God is in the heavens he hath done whatsoever he pleased The doings of God know no bounds but his owne pleasure He hath done whatsoever he pleased He will not indure to have any articles put upon him nor any circles or limit-lines drawne about him The power of God is regulated and determined by nothing but his will A great Prince once sayd That he had indeed a circle about his head meaning his Crowne but he would not beare it to have a circle about his feete he must goe which way himselfe pleased and doe whatsoever his soule desired Yet there are circles drawne about all the powers of the world only God hath none His government is purely arbitrary Nor is it fit that the government of any but his should be so 'T is neither fit nor safe that any should governe arbitrarily or purely at will but he whose will is altogether pure but he whose will is so farre from needing a rule that it is one yea the onely unerring One. Ezek. 24.14 I the Lord have spoken it it shall come to passe and I will doe it I will not goe backe neither will I spare neither will I repent according to thy wayes and according to thy doings shall they judge thee saith the Lord God As if the Lord had said It is my will to have it thus and therefore it shall be thus That which is most sinfull in man is most holy in God to act according to his owne will Mans will is to crooked a rule for others to guide their actions by or for himselfe to guide his actions by He that saith I will doe this or that because I will doth nothing as he ought There should be much willingnes but none of our owne will in what we doe But as Gods will should be both the rule and reason of our actings so it alwayes is of his owne There is as I may say an holy wilfulnes in God He will have what he will and he will doe what he will God will not doe many things which he can but he can doe whatsoever he will and whatsoever he will doe he is just and righteous in doing it And this is the glory of God to have such a power and such a will And there being such a power in God with such a will we need not feare his power We leave men to their will as little as we can whom we trust with much power When men in power have nothing but their will to guide them wee presently feare oppression and tyranny and that we shall be farre from leading peaceable and quiet lives under them in all godlines and honesty which is the most desireable and blessed fruit of Magistracy Nor is this a pannicke or groundlesse feare seing the will of man is corrupt and sinfull selfeish and revengefull
And who can but feare to be under that power which hath no limits but a corrupt will But who would feare to be under the power of God acted by his will seing he willeth nothing but what is righteous just and good What can we expect but right from him who is righteousnesse what but good from him in a good cause who is goodnes it selfe how great or how unlimited soever his power is If some men might doe what they would what evill would they not doe There 's nothing stands between some men and the wronging of all men they have to doe with but the want eyther of power or of opportunity to doe it The Lord can doe what he will but he will doe nothing but what is good He is able to ruine all men but he will wrong no man no not the worst of men What his soule desireth even that he doth but it is impossible his soule should desire to any thing but what is right Lastly When it is sayd Whatsoever his soule desireth even that he doth or more close to the Originall He desireth He doth We learne That It is as easie with God to doe a thing as to desire to have it done All men would doe what their soules desire but most men desire that which they cannot doe yea though men have a desire to doe a thing and a power to doe it also yet it is not so soone done as desired there must be a preparation and the use of meanes before man can doe what he hath a power to doe so that though a man hath power proportionable to his desire yet he is not presently a partaker of his desire But God can make his power as speedy as his desire He can make the declaration of his will and the execution of it contiguous For though many things lie long in the will of God before they are done and what he willed from eternity is don in time and the time of doing it be yet a great way off yet he can doe any thing as soone as will it and whatsoever he willeth or desireth is to him as done already Psal 104.30 Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are created The creation there spoken of is providence for that is a continued creation The first creation was the production of all things out of nothing to that being which they had but there is another work of creation which is the continuing or renewing of things in their being and of this he sayth Thou sendest forth thy Spirit that is thy power they are created And thou renewest the face of the earth Thou makest a new world And thus God makes a new world every yeare sending forth his Spirit or quickning power in the raine and Sun to renew the face of the earth And as the Lord sends forth his power in providenciall mercies so in providenciall Judgements He looketh on the earth and it trembleth He toucheth the hils and they smoake ver 32. A man can soone give a cast with his eye so soone can God shake the earth that is eyther the whole masse of the earth or the inferior sort of men on the earth When he looketh or casts an angry eye upon the earth it trembleth He toucheth the hils that is the powers and principalities of the world and they smoake If he doe but touch them they smoake that is the dreadfull effects of the power and Jugement of God are visible upon them As soone as the Lord calls all creatures readily tender their service Psal 105.31 34. He spake and there came divers sorts of flies and lice in all their coasts ver 34. He spake and the Locusts came and caterpillers and that without number If the Lord speake the word it is done God spake the world into this beautie he did but say Let there be light and there was light And he can speake the world into trouble and confusion He doth but say Let there be darknes and there is darknes It was an high speech of Caesar who meeting with some opposition from that yong noble Roman Metellus sayd Let me alone lest I destroy thee And presently added It is easier for me to doe this then to speake it Such was his power that he could easier take away a mans life then give sentence of death against him This is most true concerning the great God of heaven and earth there is no more difficultie in his doing of a thing then in his desiring and willing it to be done The generall truth of this verse carryeth in it a twofold inference First Of terrour to the wicked God is in one minde the same opinion which he had of their wayes and persons heretofore the same he hath still The same curses and Judgements which he hath denounced against them formerly are in force still Is it not a terrible thing to incorrigible wicked men to remember that what the soule of God desireth he doth when his soule desireth nothing but vengeance and wrath for them Therefore tremble before the Lord ye wicked and be ye sore affraid at the remembrance of his unchangeablenes Secondly Of abundant comfort to the faithfull and righteous The mind of God is mercy to them and he is in this one minde towards them none can turne him His soule desireth to doe them good And whatsoever his soule desireth that he doth What can Saints desire more then that God should doe all that for them which he desireth and all that he will assuredly doe Therefore rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous and give thankes at the remembrance of his unchangeablenes JOB CHAP. 23. Vers 14 15 16 17. For he performeth the thing that is appoynted for mee and many such things are with him Therefore I am troubled at his presence when I consider I am afraid of him For God maketh my heart soft and the Almighty troubleth mee Because I was not cut off before the darknesse neither hath he covered the darknesse from my face IN the former verse Job exalteth God first in his unchangeablenes He is in one minde who can turne him Secondly in his Almightines What his soule desireth even that he doth In the 14th ver he speaks of God in reference to his personal experience and brings downe the generall proposition to his owne particular case As if he had sayd I indeed have found that what his soule desireth even that he doth mine owne sad experience proves and beares witnes to this truth my present state makes the Comment of this text for he performeth the thing that is appoynted for mee Vers 14. Hee performeth ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã in primaria significatione denotat implere finire deinde in pace esse etiam solvere compensare Pined The word hath various translations but all are well summ'd up in this Hee performeth First It signifies to pay payment is performance therefore the same word is used both for performing and paying Secondly The word signifies to be at peace
the presence of the Lord shall be terrible and dreadfull even everlasting destruction to wicked men they shall at last Consider it so much that they shall feare to purpose God will powre out such a presence upon them as they shall be equally unable to hide themselves from or stand before but must lie downe and sinke under it into the bottomlesse gulfe of despaire for evermore If the Godly are sometimes afraid where shall the wicked appeare when God appeares When I consider with Job I am afraid of him Vers 16. For God maketh my heart soft and the Almighty troubleth mee Nihil opinor addit novi sed tantum versiculum praecedentem exponit Sanct This verse is neere in sence with the former Job herein further shewing both a reason why he was afraid of God as also the effect which Gods dealing with him had upon his owne heart or how he was affected with it For God maketh my heart soft The word rendred to make soft signifies the abateing of the strength of the heart But it may be enquired what was this soft heart which God made him I answer First Negatively by a soft heart here wee are not to understand a penitent heart or a heart broken with Godly sorrow at the sight eyther of sin acted or wrath threatned 2 Kings 22.19 The Lord saith by the Prophet to Josiah Because thy heart was tender soft or melted and thou hast humbled thy selfe before the Lord when thou heardest what I spake against this place therefore c. The heart of flesh promised and given in the new Covenant is a relenting and repenting heart Ezek. 36.26 I will take away the heart of stone and give you an heart of flesh that is I will make your heart soft which before was hard Job had such a heart a soft heart in this notion when he spake thus but that 's not the heart here meant God had given him that softnes of heart before for he is described Chap. 1.1 A man that feared God and a man that feareth God is a man of a soft heart Prov. 28.14 Blessed is the man that feareth alwayes but hee that hardneth his heart shall fall into mischiefe Where the hard heart and the feare of God are opposed For wheresoever the true feare of God is in the heart that is a soft heart Secondly By a soft heart is not here meant the patient heart that 's a soft heart in Scripture a heart which is willing to submit to and beare the burden that God layes upon it in this sence God makes the heart soft when as he accustomes his to sufferings so he fits them to suffer Man naturally is like Ephraim Jer. 31.18 As a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoake both of active and passive obedience Onely God makes man submit his stiff neck and hard heart to a suffering condition and to answer the call of his sufferings Pharaoh is sayd to have a hard heart because he did not yeeld to what God called him to by Judgements he had not a patient but an unquiet spirit under the plagues sent upon him nor did he obey what he was summoned to by the Lords voyce in those terrible plagues Now though I grant that an heart made soft in patience is an excellent frame of heart yet wee cannot understand it so here for Job had a patient heart yea he had abundance of patience before as he fully discovered at the very beginning and breaking out of his troubles he did not flinch at the Crosse but did embrace it The Apostle exhorts all Christians to Remember the patience of Job And wee must apply that Scripture to Job before he came to this poynt Therefore the softnes of heart intended in this text is somewhat besides this Thirdly Much less are wee to understand by a soft heart a fearefull or a Cowardly heart that 's a soft heart indeed but in a bad sence Wee have it so expressed Deut. 20.3 Heare ô Israel you approach this day unto Battell against your Enemies let not your hearts be faint c. The Hebrew is let not your hearts be soft or tender a soft heart is not for a sword nor for a battel How shall they stand in dangers who are fallen below them A penitent heart and a patient heart are proper in dangerous undertakings but a cowardly heart is the greatest disadvantage in the world therefore the Lord commanded this to be proclaimed to his people Let not your hearts be tender when yee goe forth against your Enemies or as it is exprest afterward Feare not neither tremble neither be yee terrified because of them Job had not such a soft heart he was no coward when he complained before that the terrors of the Almighty did encamp against him as a dreadfull Army nor while he sayd here God hath made my heart soft Fourthly A soft heart is an effeminate delicate wanton heart There are too many who have such soft hearts Men that are fit for nothing but what is worse then nothing to wallow in the sinfull delicacies and delights of this present world The Apostle useth a word 1 Cor. 6.9 which expresseth this fully Wee render it effaeminate ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Molles but both the Greeke and the Latine is soft that is persons wantonly and vainely given And Moses applyes the very word of Jobs text to this kinde of softnes Deut. 28.56 The tender or soft and delicate woman that would not adventure to set the sole of her foote upon the ground for delicatenes and tendernes or softnes her eye shall be evill towards c. This is not onely a sinfull softnes of heart Liquefecit afflictionibus consumpsit Merc Haec mollitudo pertinet ad timorem vehementeÌ quo quis corde mente cedit divinae majestati potestati cum quis facile recipit cogitationem et metum supernae magnitudinis but the worst of sinfull softnesses Jobs heart was farre from this softnes As he was at that time a man of sorrows so he had not been at any time a man of pleasure But if Jobs soft heart were none of these what was it then I conceive the soft heart proper to this place is a heart weakened and laid low through the burden of affliction A heart so worne out and spent that it can hardly beare any more God had softned and even consumed his heart with sorrow and affliction As he abhorred a hardnes of heart to resist the hand of God so now he feared that his heart was not hard enough to beare it with that chearefulnes and constancy of courage which he desiered Hard things are firme compact and knitt together those that are soft are weake and unable to beare any weight So that Jobs softnes of heart was his weaknes to beare Teneritatem imbecillitatem affert animo meo attendenti ad omnipotentiam ejus Jun And he gives this as an account why he was afraid of the power of God
in any new sufferings O saith he God hath made my heart soft that is I begin to faint I finde my selfe drooping I have not that strength of spirit and though I am not a coward yet I have not that courage that hardnes or hardines of spirit which I have had heretofore He queried indeed Ch. 6.12 Is my strength the strength of stones or is my flesh brass He had much strength but not the strength of stones nor was he hard as brass Now he saith plainly my heart is made soft it melteth like wax at the fire I am so litle like brass or stones in strength or hardnes that I am altogether like wax or water I am so far from having a minde to strive with or rise up against God that I know not how to stand before him if he which he seems to intend should still goe on to afflict me I am growne weake and unable to beare yet my burden remaines and will probably be made yet more heavie This interpretation carrieth a distinct sence in it and that which is most genuine to the scope of the place Mr Broughtons translation of the latter clause of the verse suites this exposition of the former with much clearenes For the Omnipotent hath softned my heart and the Almighty hath made me shrinke Whereas wee say the Almighty troubleth me he saith The Almighty hath made me shrinke For so a man commonly doth who eyther feares or feeles that which he is not well able to beare Hence Note The heart of a Godly man even of the most Godly may be so weakened under long continued sufferings that he may finde himselfe utterly unable to beare them any longer Wicked men labour to strengthen and harden themselves all they can to beare in opposition to God and Saints would strengthen and harden themselves all they can to beare in submission to God Pharaoh hardened his heart to oppose God striking him hee had stroake after stroake and Judgement after Judgement yet he would not yeeld but at last God made his heart soft in one sense though hee hardened it in another God appeared at last too hard for Pharaoh hee could hold out no longer And we finde the Lord speaking thus by Ezekiel to his people who it seemes by the language which God useth concerning them had as it were set themselves with unholy resolutions to stand or rather stout it out with God and beare the worst that hee could doe unto them But saith the Lord Ezek. 22.14 can thine heart endure or can thine hands be strong in the day that I shall deale with thee When I deale with thee in wayes of Judgement when I take thee in hand to punish and repay thee according to thy workes can thine heart endure no! it cannot endure it shall not be able to endure The Lord doth not meane it of an endureing with submission and patience So it is the honour of Saints to endure what ever God layes upon them but to endure with stoutnes and resistance art thou able to stand it out or can thine hand be strong no thy heart and hand will be soft and weake thou wilt not be able to beare it when I come to deale with thee It is sayd of Christ by David his type Psal 22.13 when hee was under those terrible sufferings for our sins that his heart was made soft and if it were so with the greene tree what must it be with the dry I am powred out like water and all my bones are out of joynt my heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowells Thus the sufferings of Christ our head who was also the Captain of our salvation and the mighty God made his heart soft and melted him His heart was not melted with sorrow for his owne sin for he was without sin but the sorrow that was upon him for our sins melted his heart Whose heart will not melt grow soft that is unable to beare it when God layeth his hand heavy and long upon him Therefore we râad in the Prophet how the Lord takes notice of this and condescends to the weaknes of man Isa 57.16 I will not contend for ever neither will I be alwayes wroth I will not goe onne to doe as I have done Why What 's the reason of it not but that God is able to continue his Contending and to carry on his warre whether with persons or with Nations for ever but he hath respect to the poore Creature for saith he I will not doe it lest the spirit should faile before mee and the soules which I have made How can soules faile the soule is an immortall substance and shall not faile for ever The soules of the damned shall be under everlasting Contendings and never faile they shall beare wrath for ever and not faile yea their bodyes shall not faile but through the power of God sustaining them under his Justice shall endure everlasting torments The meaning of that expression in the Prophet is the same with this in the Text Their heart will be made soft as yet they have strength faith and courage to beare these afflictions but if I continue them longer their spirit and strength their faith and patience will faile and be so worne out that they will not be able to abide it God would not Contend for ever lest as Job here complaines he should make their hearts soft And the Almighty troubleth mee That is his presence or his dispensations trouble me Deus in cujus potentia sufficientiaque divitiarum solatium meum esse debebat is me privavit omni solatio animam meam plane dejecit deserit me terret me Sanct wee see how much the spirit of Job was carryed out in the thing And he useth a word here that signifieth the power of God to comfort and refresh or God in his allsufficiency to comfort yet saith he this Almighty troubleth mee that is the thoughts or remembrance of him troubleth me He hath cast downe and grieved my soule already and I am much troubled with fearefull apprehensions of like severities from him againe These words the reader will easily perceive to be of the same minde and meaning with the 15th verse of this Chapter lately opened and therefore I shall not stay upon them but proceed to the last verse Vers 17. Because I was not cut off before the darknes neither hath he Covered the darknes from my face Here Job gives another reason of his being thus troubled at the presence of the Almighty It is saith he because I was not cut off before the darknes or because I dyed not by thick darknes so Mr Broughton we say because I was not cut off hee because I dyed not both meete in the same meaning For death is a cutting off and death will cut off or mow downe the strong yea the strongest as the sith doth eyther corne or grasse Thus spake Hezekiah in his sicknes Isa 38.10 I sayd in the
cutting off of my dayes that is when I thought I lay a dying Job was troubled because he was not cut off Before the darknes or from the face of darknes Death it selfe is darknes Quòd me non interemerit auferens a conspectu non tantam hanc caliginem tot mala Merc and yet Job would faine have dyed before the darknes There is a darknes of affliction and trouble spoken of often in this booke and elsewhere which is more bitter to man then death it selfe Some had rather be taken out of the world then endure the troubles of it This is the first part of the reason I am troubled why because I was not cut off before the darknes or before this trouble came As if he had sayd I should have been glad or it had been good for me if death had prevented these troubles this troubles mee that I dyed not that I went not to the grave before these troubles came upon mee Thus Job gives way againe to his passion hee broke out much in this straine or language at the third Chapter where at large he openeth his wish for death either that he had dyed before or presently after hee was borne into this world that hee might have been at rest and so out of the reach of those evills and calamities that did encamp against or beset him round about The reader may consult what hath been done upon that Chapter of which this verse is an Epitome and there finde the nature of this wish for death explained as also what lively desires Job had of death or as this text speakes that he had been cut off before the darknes I shall here onely take notice That to some the sorrowes of this life are much more bitter then death it selfe yea that God himselfe hath sometimes in a way of mercy and favour called some out of the world before he would let great troubles in There was a promise made to Josiah King of Judah that God being resolved to bring trouble upon that people yet he should be cut off before the darknes 2 Kings 22.20 Because thy heart was tender c. Behold therefore I will gather thee unto thy fathers and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace and thine eyes shall not see all the evill which I will bring upon this place And when Ahab had humbled himselfe before the Lord even he went not without a reward for it and his reward was this 1 Kings 21.29 I will not bring the evill in his dayes Hee shall be cut off before the darknes Jerom speaking of the troubles that came upon the Church Foelix Nepotianus qui haec non vidit Hier doth as it were applaud the death of Nepotian upon that Consideration Happy he that dyed before these troubles lived It hath somewhat of mercy in it to goe out of the world before extraordinary affliction comes in yet in these things wee must take heed of being our owne Carvers it is one thing to have a promise from God that the Cloud shall not breake in our time and another thing for us to wish and desire to be out of the world before the Cloud breakes The former argueth the tendernes and care of God towards us but the latter must needs argue eyther our unwillingnes to suffer eyther from or for God Or our distrust of his assistance and presence with us to support us in our sufferings If God will not cut us off by death before the darknes wee should be willing to live in the darkest darknes of outward calamity that ever fell upon this world Job adds a second reason of his troubled spirit in the last words of this verse and Chapter Neither hath he Covered the darknes from my face I am troubled because I have lived in troublesome dayes but though I have yet God could have hidden me from those troubles or those troubles from me but as hee hath let me live in the darknes of trouble so he hath not at all covered the darknes of ttouble from me I doe not onely live in troubles but I am alwayes looking troubles in the face Mr Broughton renders thus Nor he yet hideth gloomines from my face which he also paraphraseth in these words Because I finde neyther death nor ease of sicknes that I should not feele these afflictions So that as he complaines because he dyed not before the darknes came so because God did not hide the darknes from him when it came but let him have such sad visions of it This still imports that Job had not that fullnes of submission to the dispensations of God as duty called him to and for this Elihu reproves him yea God himselfe chid and rebuked him because he tooke upon him so often to give the rule and did not sit downe more quietly under his appoyntment and portion for him Though Jobs patience was great yet he had not all patience or all of patience And though I doubt not but his patience had a perfect worke yet he did not attaine to the perfection of patience This according to our translation is the sence and summe of these words concerning which many things have been spoken in the former part of the Booke whether I referre the reader yet before I passe them quite out of my hands I shall gather up some other Renderings of this verse and leave them to the readers Judgement and consideration First Thus when I was onely not Cut off by darknes Nam ubi tantum non excisus sum propter tenebras a facie mea se operit caligine Coc hee hath hid himselfe in darknes from my face This translation the Originall may beare with some little supplement which is usuall in like Cases when there is no straine upon the generall scope of the place and the meaning is clearely this Whereas I am onely not cut off by darknes that is whereas my troubles are such as have onely not extinguished my life when I am in this pitiful miserable plight Hee that is God hath hid himselfe from mee in darknes So that here he speakes of a twofold darknes or evill that was upon him first affliction upon his body secondly desertion upon his spirit and so the negative particle not is rendered by some onely not it is onely not death with mee ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã non ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Tantum non q. d. hoc effecit in me absconsio ejus ut non quidam exscinderer sed excisiom proximus essem Coc yet the Lord is pleased to hide his face from mee whereas wee say Hee hath not Covered the darknes from my face this translation saith Hee hath Covered his owne face with darknes or Covered himselfe with darknes from my face First thereby intimating that God doth often joyne spirituall troubles with corporall the hidings of his face with the troubles of our flesh Secondly that outward troubles are then most grievous to us when God hides or
first the murderer and his darke wayes ver 14. Secondly the adulterer and his dark wayes ver 15 16 17. Thirdly Job sheweth that though the wicked doe all this and are not presently punished yet that they are under a secret curse which shall surely overtake them ver 18 19 20. Fourthly Upon this he againe revives the mention of their sinne first against the poore ver 21. Secondly against the rich ver 22. Together with their punishment though late yet at last ver 23 24. Fifthly He re-asserts all that he had sayd by challenging all men to disprove him if they could in what he had sayd ver 25. So much of the state and generall scope of the whole Chapter Vers 1. Why seing times are not hidden from the Almighty doe they that know him not see his dayes Locus subdifficilis salebrosus Merc This as a learned interpreter gives his opinion of it is a hard Text and there are various renderings of it I shall touch upon them and then draw out that which may be suteable for observation First The whole verse may as some conceave be rather read thus Why are not times hidden from the Almighty seing they that know him doe not see his dayes The meaning of which translation is this it might make a man that is not well instructed in the wayes and providences of God to thinke that God takes no notice of the times that passe nor of the things done here below seing the best of his servants could never yet make it out that he punisheth ungodly men according to their deeds in this world Surely then we may say That times are hidden from God for were it not so godly men could not but see his dayes his judgement-dayes upon the wicked and things would not be in such confusion and disorder as they are So that Job either shewes what men doe ordinarily conclude from Gods indulgence and patience towards the wicked and his seeming slacknes and slownes in avenging the wrongs of his owne people even that as God is in heaven so thicke clouds are a covering to him there and that he seeth not what is acted on the earth As if eyther the Lords eye did not reach this inferior world or that he would not trouble himselfe about it Surely times are hidden from the Almighty or Secondly that Job speakes his owne passions and temptations about this poynt As if he had sayd I am tempted to thinke that times are hidden from the Almighty because he doth not send present releife to his people nor present wrath upon his enemies Such temptations are discovered in other Scriptures Psal 73.2 My feete saith David had almost slipt when I saw the prosperitie of the wicked when the wicked and unholy were not punished presently according to Justice he was urged and tempted to think that God did not regard justice nor declare himselfe in his holines as he ought And though the Prophet Jeremiah durst not question the righteousnesse of God yet he knew not in this case how to give an account of it as hath been noted heretofore from his questionings Jer. 12.1 2. Why doth the way of the wicked prosper c. And with this the following parts of the Chapter seeme to carry a fayre correspondence wherein he enumerates many grosse practises impieties of wicked men notwithstanding which they passe out of this world in worldly peace Thirdly One of the antient Rabbins reads the words as a wish Quare non sunt abscondita q. d. aequioâi animo ferrem si essent abscondita Aben-Ezr or a desire Why are not times hidden from the Almighty As if he had sayd I could wish they were hidden from the Almighty and I could beare it better if God did take no notice of times then that taking notice of them he should not set them in order and redresse what is amisse but I passe that Fourthly The Latine translation is positive and direct Ab omni potente non sunt abscondita tempora Vulg Latini videntes interrogationem blasphemam opinionem contânere quasi aut abscondita esse dicat aut optet i. e. dominum tempora quae hic fiunt non curare aut non videre sine interrogatione verterunt Merc Times are not hidden from the Almighty yet they that know him are ignorant of his dayes and the reason why they leave out the interrogation is given thus because they thought there was a kinde of impiety yea blasphemy in it to say or querie Why are not times hidden from the Almighty As if Job must in saying so either affirme that times were indeed hidden from the Almighty or that he wished they were Therefore to avoide that inconveniency they turne it into a direct negative proposition Times are not hidden from the Almighty And many of the Jewish Writers stumbling at the same stone have judged Job as denying the providence of God or his care of times and seasons here below but upon divers occasions Job hath been vindicated concerning this poynt therefore I shall not stay upon it A fifth translation gives it thus If times are not hid by the Almighty how comes it to passe that they that know him doe not see his dayes as if he had sayd were it not for this or were it not thus that God doth hide times or that times are hidden by God that is that Gods providences are carried in secret and run a great while as some rivers doe as it were under-ground it could not be but that they that know him that is wise and holy men as we shall see afterward should see the effects and issues of those judgements The judgements of God saith Job are delayed in their execution or executed in so secret a way that they are mostly and to the most of men undiscerned Wherein he fully opposeth what Eliphaz sayd Chap. 20.16 They are cut downe out of time that is they are presently cut downe no sayes Job God hideth their times that is he puts stops and delayes upon the times of his revenge or as he speakes Chap. 21.19 He layeth up wrath for his children but themselves are not presently cut downe ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã cur quare Cur a Saddai nan occultara sunt tempora Sixthly Thus Why are not or why should not times be hidden by the Almighty so Mr Broughton As if he had sayd What reason can be given of this why times are not hidden by the Almighty or why should it not be thought right and just that times should be hidden by the Almighty who can question God if he will hide times and judgements or who shall say it is unequall The Hebrew particle Min signifies as well by as from we say why seing times are not hidden from the Almighty they say why should not times be hidden by the Almighty This rendering beares a cleare and a profitable sence and therefore I shall give this observation from it God doth hide times from men
knew him as a favourite that is trusted with secrets So David speakes Psal 25.14 The secret of the Lord is with them that feare him There is a secret in the plainest truths and doctrines of Godlines both in Law and Gospel and many know the doctrine who know not the secret any common professor may know the doctrine but the sincere onely know the secret that is the power and efficacy the sweetnes of comfort of the doctrine There is also a secret of God with his in blessing and prospering them in the world of which Job speakes Chap. 29.4 as there is also a secret and imperceptible curse which the Prophet calls the Lords blowing upon what men have in their possession or for their use Hag. 1.9 But besides these there is a secret of favour which is the sealing of the Spirit the gift of the hidden Manna and of the white stone with a new name in it which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it Rev. 2.17 This secret of the Lord is with them that feare him and there is yet another secret of his with them even the secret of his purpose and intendment concerning his owne providentiall workings Which while many or all see yet they know not the meaning of them I meane it not onely of the wicked and carnall but even of many who are holy and spirituall in the maine The secrets of providence are knowne onely to some choyce ones to some of an excellent Spirit and high attainements to some Abrahams c. intimate friends who are to God as his owne soule There is a secret of the Lord which is with all them that feare him yet some of his secrets are not with many of them who feare him What Job spake in the 12th Chapter of this Booke ver 2. reproving the pride of his friends Yee are the men and wisdome shall dye with you you I trow have ingrossed all wisdome and others must borrow of you The same we may speake soberly and approvingly of some humble Godly men they have the knowledge of God and it is but little that others have though they have a saving knowledge Some conceive the Prophet upbraiding the Jewes Isa 58.2 As if they affected to be looked upon not onely as such as know God but as such as know him intimately and were his bosome friends They seeke me dayly and delight to know my wayes as a nation that did righteousnesse and forsooke not the ordinance of their God they aske of me the Ordinances of Justice they take delight in approaching unto God They who doe indeed as these Jewes seemed to doe may be numbred among those of the highest forme that know God Why doe they that know him not see his dayes Here Job hath found out somewhat knowable which they who know God doe not alwayes know and that is as hath been shewed the season of his judgements Hence Note First The judgements of God are often eyther deferred carried so closely and secretly that the wisest and holyest men cannot alwayes discerne or see them The judgements of God are often deferred in this life and they are very often concealed though presently executed That is not alwayes true which Eliphaz asserted Chap. 22.19 The righteous see it and are glad the innocent laugh them to scorne The righteous sometimes see the judgements of God upon wicked men his care watching over themselves but they do not alwayes see eyther for as a wicked man may doe evill a hundred times that is very often and goe unpunished as is intimated Eccl. 8.12 So a wicked man may be punished a hundred times and yet not one of his punishments seene Some judgements of God are great and sore which yet fall not under the observation of the best of the wisest of the holiest in the world They that know him doe not see his dayes God for terror and warning to others doth judgement upon some openly Deut. 7.9 10. Know therefore the Lord thy God he is God the faithfull God who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keepe his commandements to a thousand generations and repayeth them that hate him to their face to destroy them He will not be slacke to him that hateth him he will repay him to his face Here are two things in this Text concerning the judgements of God That they shall come first suddenly secondly openly they shall come suddenly God will not be slack they shall come openly God will repay them to their face as they sinned openly so they shall be punished openly Thus God repayd the Sodomites he payd them to their face so he repayd Pharaoh and so the rebelling Jewes and he was not slack for as the Psalmist saith while the meate was in their mouth the wrath of God fell upon them Thus 't is sometimes yet judgements are often deferred and hidden What the Apostle speakes Rom. 9.22 is applicable here God willing to shew his wrath and make his power knowne indured with much long suffering the vessells of wrath fitted for destruction there are vessells of wrath fitted for destruction throwne to hell not onely to a temporall but to an eternall destruction yet God did indure them with much long suffering that is he did not presently powre out wrath upon them he was so farre from casting them presently to hell that he did not afflict them with any trouble in this life but indured them with much long suffering and patience David was much astonished with this consideration Psal 36.6 Thy righteousnesse is like the great mountaines thy judgements are a great deepe Take both together Thy righteousnesse is like the great mountaines the mountaines of God that is thy righteousnesse indures and remaines inviolable But though it be so yet the execution and actings of thy righteousnesse are not alwayes decerneable for thy judgements are a great deepe that is when God doth execute and put forth his righteousnesse few see it his judgements are a great deepe many deepes who can goe to the depth of them how unsearchable are thy judgements saith the Apostle Rom. 11.33 they are such and so deepe that none can reach the bottome of them and therefore no wonder if they are sometimes hidden from those that know God Secondly Whereas Job sayth Why seing times are not hidden from the Almighty doe they that know him not see his dayes We may Note That if any thing which God doth in this world be seene by any Godly men are in the Greatest likely-hood to see it And that upon a twofold ground first because they have the best eyes and sences most exercised to discerne what God is doing And as this is because they have the best internal light and purest principles to make this discovery with So in the second âlace because they stand fayrest in the eye of God to have his providences manifested and expounded to them For as God by the Spirit expounds his word so his workes to his choycest servants
the fatherlesse they take the widows Ox for a pledge They turne the needy out of the way the poore of the earth hide themselves together IN the first verse of this Chapter it was shewed that they who know God that is godly men doe not in this world see his dayes that is the dayes of his judgement and vengeance upon the wicked In the following part of this Chapter Job proceeds to describe wicked men in severall acts of wickednesse and how they carry it on and have many faire dayes in the world while they are doing fowle and filthy worke They doe as much mischiefe as they can and they enjoy as much outward prosperity as they can desire to have or tell what to doe with it when they have it so that they seeme equally to abound in the practice of evill and in the possession of Good See what havocke they make in the words of this context Vers 2. Some remove the Land-marks they violently take away flocks and feed thereof Some remove Of whom Job spake in particular or of what particular time he spake is uncertaine Some referre it to the dayes before the Floud for that was a time wherein the world was filled with violence and that was the speciall sinne of that age set forth Gen. 6.11 The earth also was corrupt before God That is men dwelling upon the earth were corrupt morally corrupt corrupt in their manners Thus the earth was corrupt before God and he shews wherein that corruption did consist and the earth was filled with violence But as the character which Job gives of these men may wel suite those times so what times have not produced such a sort of men And though some times have been more tainted with and notorious for those sinnes then others yet all times have been tainted with them and therefore we may take the words generally as applicable to any age of the world Some remove the Land-markes That is those marks which are set up for the distinction or division of Lands that every man may know his owne and not entrench upon his neighbours inheritance These land-marks or bounds they remove ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã retigit apprehendit vis verbi ea est ut ita res attingatur quòâ apprehendatur peâtinet ad vim potentioris manuÌ inijcientis The Hebrew is they touch so 't is translated some touch the land-marks land-marks were sacred things they ought not to be touched nor medled with The Lord speaks of his holy people Psal 105.15 Touch not mine anointed and doe my Prophets no harme Another word is used in the Psalme but we may give the same emphasis here some touch the land-marks as if it were a fault so much as to handdle or meddle with them yet the word here used signifies both to touch and to take and so to take as violently to carry away Zech. 1.6 Did not my word take hold of your fathers that is did it not apprehend and seaze upon them yea remove them out of the land of the living Where the word of God toucheth it taketh away eyther to destruction or salvation And that word in the Prophet hath a double allusion either to the hunting of beasts or to fighting and contending with men the word followed your fathers it overtooke them it tooke them it laid hold on them as the hunter layeth hold upon his prey or as an enemy follows and over-takes a fleeing enemy did not my word take hold of your fathers yes it did and that to purpose The word is used Psal 40.12 Mine iniquities sayth David take hold of me so that I am not able to looke up they have dealt with me as with a fugitive that runneth away They have taken hold of me and they hold me fast my sinne hath apprehended me So that though this originall word signifies to touch yet it is so to touch as to offer violence to take away to remove as is expressed in those instances 1 Sam. 30.8 David inquired of the Lord saying shall I pursue after this troope shall I over-take them so 2 Sam. 15.14 David said to all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem arise let us flee for we shall not escape from Absolom make speed to depart least he overtake us suddenly In which places as this word is used so the use of it is about violent and forcible actings so that this touching is taking or removing they remove or pull up the land-marks to set them in some other place for their owne advantage This was their first sin the removing of land-marks which was upon the matter to take away propriety and to put all men out of possession There can be no possession without distinction Mira fuit in antiquis tum in constituendis tum in servandis limitibus fides atque religio naturall riches consist in lands and cattle both beare their owners mark The care and industry of the ancients was exceeding great and accurate about their land-marks both in setting them up and in observing them that every man might have his owne wherefore to remove the land-marks was indeed to take away the land Hence note That God hath given unto man a proper speciall and personall right in his lands and goods If it were not so then first it were no sinne to remove land-marks or a vaine thing to set them up if there be no distinction of inheritances by propriety what needs there be any distinction by marks or limits to shew this is such a mans land and that anothers No man may set a speciall marke where he hath not a speciall right Secondly if there were no propriety there could not be such a sinne as stealing and theeving that which is every mans any man may take and be blamelesse Thirdly if there were not propriety there would be but little industry If mens lands and goods were not their owne who would be found to take care of them or paines about them Fourthly to make all things common were to run all into confusion There is nothing more unequall then this kinde of equality If all had a like right in the things of the world all would thinke to have a like power in the government of the world Propriety and Magistracy must stand and fall together But some may object that practice of the primitive Church Acts 2.44 who had all things common And if all things with them were in a community where was propriety I answer First This practice of theirs was purely voluntary not at all imposed as appeares plainely from the words of Peter to Ananias Acts 5.4 While it remained was it not thine owne or more close to the Greek Remaining did it not remaine to thee that is it was properly thine before thou soldest it and thou mightest have kept thy interest in it No man compelled thee to sell or give and if thou hadst not sold it thou mightest still have held communion with the Church for all that But
and fruit growing or rising up from a wicked heart Secondly Violence riseth up into a rod of wickednes when violence punisherh wickednesse they who have afflicted others by violence often finde violence turned into a rod to afflict themselves And we may give that sence of Solomons Proverbs Pro. 13.2 The soule of the transgressour shall eate violence The words are a threat As wicked men eate violence that is what they have gotten by violence so they shall have violence to eate that is they shall be violently dealt with eyther violence shall compel them to doe their duty or violence shall punish them for not doing it or as they lived by violence so they shall die by violence The soules of transgressours shall eate violence as a punishment because as it followes in the next clause they eate violence as their portion They violently take away flocks And feed thereof The Original words are rendred two wayes First as we They feede thereof that is they feed themselves with the flocks which they have taken away Secondly They fed them that is they feede the flocks which they have violently taken away According to our translation the sence is this when they have taken away flocks violently they sit downe quietly and feed themselves with these flocks they and their families are maintained by the spoyle And I conceave Job adds this not onely to shew another or a second act of their sin but to shew the resolvednes and setlednes of these men in the wayes of sin Hence note Then a wicked man is hardned in sinne when he feeds and filleth himselfe with what he hath sinfully gotten They not onely act evill but delight in evill who take away any thing by violence and feede thereon Solomon speakes of some Pro. 4.17 Who eate the bread of wickednes that is bread by which is meant all the necessaryes of this life gotten by wickednes and they drinke the wine of violence that is the wine which they have gained by violence or suppose what they have violently gained be not wine in specie or that liquor which we call wine yet they drinke it as wine like sweete and pleasant wine This is a signe of a heart setled in sin when the sinner eates his sinne as bread and drinks it as wine What stomacks have they who can digest such hard-meates and though now they seeme to make a good digestion of it yet unlesse they vomit up such morsels and draughts by true repentance they will lye heavie upon their stomacks and make them heart-sick to Eternity The Prophet threatens Isa 3.14 That the Lord will enter into judgement with the antients of his people and the Princes thereof for sayth he ye have eaten up the vineyard the spoyle of the poore is in your houses that is ye maintaine your houses by that which is not yours even by the spoyles and vineyards of the poore When Jezabel had got Naboth slaine she presently sayd to Ahab Arise take possession of the vineyard of Naboth and Ahab did so 1 Kings 21.15 16. But the Lord sent Eliah to him with this Message ver 19. Hast thou killed and also taken possession As if he had sayd Art thou indeed so hardned in sin that thou canst goe downe and please thy selfe in the use and possession of what thou hast gotten sinfully how wicked art thou who art so farre from having thy heart to smite thee with sorrow for smiting a faithfull subject of thine to death by thy Authority that now thou canst delight thy selfe in eating up the vineyard of the dead man Sometimes a godly man sins by inordinate desires after the creature but 't is very rare that his stomacke doth not turne before he comes to eate his sinne David 2 Sam. 23.16 had a longing desire to the waters of Bethlem and upon the making knowne of his desire three mighty men broke through the hoast of the Philistims and fetched him the water but ver 16. when the water was brought him his stomacke turned he would not drinke because it was gotten by the hazzard of three mens lives For though David did not speake those words O that one would give me drinke of the water of the well of Bethlem with an intent to put any of his Souldiers upon that dangerous enterprise in fetching it for him yet that he might declare how farre he was from indulging himselfe in such inordinate desires to engage any mans life for the pleasing of his appetite or satisfying of his present though probably a very urgent thirst therefore he would not drinke it but powr'd it out unto the Lord saying Farre be it from me O Lord that I should doe this is not this the bloud of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives Thus it is with tender consciences who though they sometimes speake and doe rashly and sinfully yet before they come to eate their sinne that is what they have sinfully desiered or attained they repent and cannot make eyther meate or drinke of it Ungodly men can drinke blood not onely that which as in Davids case others have gotten for them with the danger of their lives but even that which themselves have gotten with the unjust spoyle sometimes of other mens lives but often of their livelyhoods They violently take away flocks and feed thereof Againe I shall touch a little upon the second reading They violently take away flocks and feed them that is they doe not onely drive other mens flocks away but keepe them openly in their pastures and feed them so Mr Broughton Vix vel Hebraeum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vel latinum pascere pro comedere usu panâur sed saepe pro pastoris instar pascere Pinedâ They rob away herds and feed them The Originall word in the Hebrew as also the Latine is seldome used to signifie mans feeding upon dead flesh but often to signifie mans feeding of living flesh or cattel A Shepheard is sayd to feed his flocke Thus first they play the theeves violently taking away their neighbours flocks next they turne Shepheards and Grasiers and feed them openly This implyes three things concerning these oppressours of whom Job speakes First That they were great men not petty robbers who when they have got cattle away hide them or sell them off as soone as they can they dare not put them in their owne pastures and usually they have none to put them in But these Nimrods these mighty Hunters take them violently and then owne it broadly they care not who sees what they have done Thus the Prophet Isaiah reproves the Princes of Israel Chap. 1.23 Thy Princes are rebellious and companions of theeves that is they doe like theeves they oppresse and vex and violently take away They are so farre which is the duty of Princes from repressing theeves that they encourage and countenance them and not onely so but are actually Theeves themselves Theeves in Authority and power are the vilest theeves who shall deliver from
ãâã ãâã ãâã pro bove foemina sumitur Bold that the Hebrew word which we translate oxe signifies as well the female as the male and so it is rendred by some here They take away the cow of the widdow The poore widdow lives upon the milke of her cow Take that from her and you take away all her living But whether we understand it of the one or of the other the difference is not materiall as to the scope and purpose of Job who puts the widdows oxe or the widdows cow eyther for the whole or chiefest part of her substance They take the widdows oxe for a pledge Hence note Some care not from whom or what they take so they may have it They will take from the fatherles they will take from the widdow The Prophet Amos Chap. 2.7 speaking of such oppressors sayth They pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poore turne aside the way of the needy The former part of those words hath variety of readings expositions I will not stay upon them but onely touch that which is most sutable to the poynt in hand They pant after the dust of the earth that is they exceedingly desire and long for it As David describes his holy desires Psal 42.1 As the hart panteth after the water brookes so panteth my soule after thee O God that is I extreamely desire thy presence and communion with thee even as the hart being hunted and heated desireth the waters Thus they panted after the dust of the earth That is after those things which are but as the dust of the earth or whose original and matter is but the dust of the earth gold and silver These are but the refined dust of the earth but whose dust did they pant after It was the dust on the head of the poore if they did but see a poore man to have gotten a little about him though onely enough to keepe life and soule together to preserve himselfe and his family from starving or begging they presently panted after it They were passionately desierous of it they cast about how to get it They who are enflamed with covetousnes are busie to finde out and having found out are greedy to pursue all advantages and occasions to enrich themselves though it be with the ruine of the poore They are glad to get something even from them who according to common speech have nothing they scrape from them who have but scraps to live upon Such was the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that as the Apostle speakes 2 Cor. 8.9 though he was rich yet for our sakes he became poore that we through his poverty might be rich And such is the covetousnes of some men that though they are rich enough yet they care not to make many who are poore enough already poorer that they by making them poorer might make themselves richer Secondly Consider the matter they drive away the asse of the fatherlesse and take the widdows oxe or cow for a pledge Hence note Some will sinne for a small matter they will doe much evill though they get but little worldly good by it onely a silly asse or a labouring oxe from the fatherlesse or the widdow Who as they never have many of these commonly but one of each for both words are of the singular number so those that they have are usually none of the best fattest strongest greatest and so highest prized ones As the fatherlesse and the widdow are poore so their oxe and asse are but poore ones too yet some will unjustly drive and take these poore things away They will play at small game as we say rather then sit out And act basely to get but an asse The Prophet Amos Chap. 2.6 represents the Lord protesting against such thus For three transgressions of Israel and for foure I will not turne away the punishment thereof because they sould the righteous for silver and the poore for a paire of shoes that is they sould the right of the poore when they could gett but a very small advantage by it the worth of a payre of shoes Some in sinning are like Eagles they will not stoop at flyes if they breake the rules of righteousnes and faithfulnes it shall be for a Crowne or a Kingdome They who sinne for the greatest profit make a loosing Bargaine of it What then doe they who will sin for the lowest profit Thirdly They drive away the asse from the fatherlesse and take the oxe of the widdow From the consideration of the persons wronged Note It is sinfull to wrong any but much more to wrong the poore Sordido lucro asservientes ne calceos quidem pauperum lucrifacere recusant qui extremum hominibus usum prebent Theodoret having met with this poynt from other passages in this booke I onely name it and adde that there are two things which shew the sinfullnesse of taking from the poore First because they are weake and unable eyther to resist injuries or to right themselves They cannot helpe themselves nor can they easily procure helpe from others The poore and him that hath no helpe are put together Psal 72.12 and usually they are the same I returned sayth Solomon Eccl. 4.1 and considered all the oppressions that are done under the Sunne and behold the teares of such as were oppressed and they had no comforter and on the side of their oppressors there was power but they had no comforter And they who have no comforter surely have no helper Now it is most sinfull to hurt them who are least able to helpe themselves or finde help from others And who so helplesse as the fatherlesse and the widdow Secondly it is therefore extreamely sinfull to wrong the poore and especially these poore because God hath commended them to the care and tuition of the rich they are his charge God hath taken them into his protection and hath trusted them over to men of power that they should looke to them Magistrates should be as a wall of defence to the fatherlesse and widdow they should provide for them and nourish them Therefore to spoyle and rob them of all how great a wickednesse is this this is as much as in them is to make God a liar and unfaithfull to his word and promise As then it should be a great encouragement to helpe the Godly poore because in so doing we are a meanes to fullfill the promise of God to them So we should therefore be afraid to wrong them because in so doing we doe what we can to make the promise of God to them voyd No marveile then if the Apostle James placeth all religion as to practise in the visitation of the widdow and the fatherlesse in their affliction and if in that sence all religion be placed in it what shall we judge of their religion who afflict the widdow and the fatherlesse And if to visit them in trouble be an act not onely of charity to them but of honour and religion
wicked man when he awakes hee is still with sin And if hee cannot awake naturally soone enough to sin hee will force himselfe to awake And so he may be sayd to awake to sin before he is awake for as some nurse up and feed their sleepe when they are a little awakened like the sluggard yet a little slumber yet a little sleepe so others offers violence to or breake their sleepe that is as the text sayth they rise betimes even before the usuall time of rising that they may get a prey It is no wonder if they who sticke not at breaking the lawes of God breake also the lawes of their owne rest Diligence is good about that which is good it is good to be zealously affected alwayes in a good matter but zeale and diligence misplaced how evill are they it is better to creep in a good way then to run in a wrong way Even idlenes is better then such diligence yet they who misplace their zeale and diligence are commonly more in both then they who place them right and they who are in a false way make more hast then they who are in a true The Scripture notes the extream Intensenes of the builders of Babel upon their worke And that 's the straine of most men in such worke as theirs was the building of a Babel or in doing that which will be but a monument of their owne pride and folly or of their rebellion against and contempt of God Gen. 11.6 This they begin to doe and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have Imagined to doe if they have but a minde to it they will doe it let it cost what it will neyther difficulty nor danger shall restraine them See also how Industrious the ten Tribes were in their Idolatrous worship which Jeroboam had set up 1 Kings 12.30 And this thing became a sin for the people went to worship before the one even unto Dan that is they went a great way to worship for howsoever Jeroboam pretended the ease and accommodation of the people in setting up those Calves ver 28. It is too much for you to goe up to Jerusalem Behold thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt as if he had sayd thy Gods are at hand or in thine eye thou needest not toyle thy selfe in going so farre to serve them yet Jerusalem was neerer unto most of the Israelites then eyther Dan or Bethel were For Bethel one of those places of worship was in the utmost bounds of the South Josh 18.22 Dan the other place of worship was in the utmost bounds of the North Josh 19.47 so that they were willing to take more paines to follow the Idolatrous inventions of man then to keepe to the Institutions of God Jerusalem was neerer to most of the ten Tribes then either Dan or Bethel yet thither they would goe All the way to sin whether in ordinary practice or worship is downe-hill to Nature we have both the winde and tyde of the world with us will we set our faces hel-ward and to be sure Satan will never checke their diligence who are doing his worke nor take them off from their pace who are going or Galloping his way We have a cleare evidence of this in the case of the worshippers of those two Calves in Dan and Bethel and it is further observed by some that the Israelites grew so zealous in a short time in that abomination that they who dwelt neer Bethel did even disdain to worship at Bethel they disdained to serve their God at their owne dores and therefore they that dwelt at or neere Bethel would goe to Dan and worship and they that dwelt at or neer Dan would goe to Bethel to worship The heart of man is so mad upon Idolatry that he is willing to be at any cost or paines for it He scornes to serve a false God at an easie rate nor is he pleased which is the onely thing which pleaseth some who pretend to the true religion with a cheape religion You may lay what tax you will upon him eyther of paynes or purse and he is willing yea even ambitious to pay or performe it Thus the blinde votaryes among the Papists at this day will needes goe a Pilgrimage to remotest places they will travayle to Jerusalem and visit the Sepulchre c. these long Journeyes they glory in it is but a step to them hard penances not onely fastings but whippings they glory in The nature of man will carry him two miles at his owne bidding rather then one at Gods How may it shame Godly men for their sloath in doing the will of God when they heare how industrious evill men are in doing their owne how may it shame them that they should take lesse paines to keepe a righteous law then many doe to satisfie a filthy lust Who like wild Asses goe forth to their worke rising betimes for a prey And whereas it followes The wildernes yeeldeth food for them and for their Children Note Wicked men will have it if it be to be had above ground They that live by rapine will live any where every mans estate is theirs if they can but get it They finde a harvest in the wildernes and riches in the desert Againe Note Wicked men lay up for theirs as well as for themselves by the spoyle of others The light of nature teacheth parents to lay up for their children and they who get an estate by wronging others yet thinke they are bound to provide for more then themselves Nahum 11.12 Where is the dwelling of the Lyons and the feeding place of the young Lyons where the Lyon even the old Lyon walked and the Lyons whelpe and none made him afraid The Lyon did teare in peices enough for his whelps and strugled for his Lyonesses What did the Lyon the Lyon did teare in peices and how much did he teare in peices not onely enough to fill his owne belly but to feed his whelps and his Lyonesses Hee filled his holes with prey and his dens with ravine Thus the Prophet describeth wicked men providing not onely for themselves but for theirs their young Lyons and Lyonesses The wildernes yeeldeth food for them and for their Children Further Some note the Consent of the whole family in wickednesse from these words The wildernes yeeldeth food for them and for their Children that is they all agree together Master and Servants and Children all agree together to doe mischeife to spoyle and oppresse all they can Where Parents and Masters are evill Children and servants are seldome good It is rare to see hearts united about that which is good but they are often and easily united in that which is evill Thus the Lord speakes to Jeremie Chap. 7.18 Seest thou not what they doe in the Cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem The Children gather wood and the fathers kindle the fire and the woemen knead their dough to
troublesome unto others Sin and folly are more then like one another for they are the same They have no seasoning in them who have no Goodnesse in them Righteousnesse is the wisest and the most savory thing in the world in the account both of God and good men The wisedome which is from above sayth the Apostle James Chap. 3.17 is first pure then peaceable gentle and easie to be entreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality towards men without hypocrisie towards God But the wisedome that is troublesome and vexatious rough and harsh to others is earthly sensuall devilish indeed down-right madnes absurdnes folly Solomon sayth Oppression makes a wise man mad but it will appeare at last that the wisest oppressors have been mad foolish saltlesse and brainlesse men Such use to flatter themselves and are often much flattered by others in their projects and policies for the onely wise men in the world but in the end they dye like fooles Observe Secondly God suffers oppressours to goe on long before he punisheth them and he suffers the oppressed to cry long before he releives them God is often pleased to winke while the wicked sin and he as often seemes to be asleepe while the righteous suffer Hence that sad complaint of the Church Psal 44.23 24. Awake why sleepest thou O Lord arise cast us not off for ever wherefore hidest thou thy face and forgettest our affliction and our oppression This also caused David to cry out Psal 13.1 How long wilt thou forget me O Lord for ever how long wilt thou hide thy face from mee how long shall mine enemies be exalted over mee What under the oppression of an enemy for ever while God assures his people in that parable of the importunate widdow and the unjust Judge Luk. 18. that he will deliver them yet he more then intimates that it may be very long before he doth it ver 6 7. And the Lord sayd heare what the unjust Judge saith and shall not God avenge his owne elect who cry to him night and day though he beare long with them that is though he exercise much patience towards those tyrants who oppresse his elect yea and much patience also towards his elect in regard of their doubts and despondencies of their feare and unbeleefe about his comming to avenge and helpe them against those Tyrants Further Folly imports not onely sin but the greatnes of sin so that when it is sayd God layeth not folly to them the sence according to this notion of the word folly is that though they sin greatly yet God makes no great matter of it or he doth not charge their sin upon them nor punish them for their sin answerably or in proportion to the greatnes of it Non ponit stultitiam i. e non imputat hoc iis tanquam graude peccatum hoc enim stultitia vocatur but passeth it by as if it were onely some infirmitie or small offence he doth not lay folly to them nor doth he let them feele what egregious fooles they have been The word folly is used often in Scripture in this sence to note a notorious sinne Gen. 34.7 when the sonnes of Jacob came out of the feild and heard how their sister had been dealt with they were exceedingly grieved and they were very wrath because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacobs daughter that is because he had committed a great wickednes in Israel We have the same sin so exprest againe by folly 2 Sam. 13.12 And she answered him nay my brother doe not force me for no such thing ought to be done in Israel doe not thou this folly As if she had sayd This is a grievous sin therefore doe it not And when the Lord would shew Jobs three friends the Greatnes of their error and mistake in their dispute with Job he calls it folly Job 42.9 My servant Job shall pray for you for him will I accept lest I deale with you according to your folly in that ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right like my servant Job Thus we see that great sins whether in practice or opinion come under this censure in Scripture onely we may note that the three texts mentioned expresse folly in another originall word then the present text doth There is folly enough great folly in every the least sin but Great sinnes deserve more to beare the name of folly in their foreheads Taking folly under this peculiar consideration We may observe That as The Lord in this life doth not punish any no not the worst of sinners according to the just demerit and dimension of their sinnes so he punisheth some whose sins are very great but very little Though he layeth their sinne to them yet he doth not lay it to them in the folly of it or as it is their folly He doth onely touch them with his little finger while it might be thought he would breake them with his iron rod. He doth but chastise them with whips while their sin calls for scorpions The Time will come when God will lay folly to every wicked man and make their sin appeare in the punishment of it what now it is in the nature of it out of measure sinfull Every impenitent sinner shall then finde that his sin is folly that is that his sin is very great Yet a late learned Expositer upon this Booke conceaves thar the sence is abated and diminished in the word folly as if it were Non ponit stultitam i. e. non dico scelera sed ne ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quidem aut faecta illepida insulsa iliis impatat Coc a terme of extenuation God doth not lay folly that is the least sinne to them he doth not so much as charge them to have done irrationally vainely childishly or unhandsomely he doth not onely not deale with them as if they had sinned haynously but he doth not deale with them as if they had done foolishly But whether we take the word Folly as implying the Greatnes or the littlenes of their sinne whether we expound it as a terme of diminution or of aggravation the sence of the text is not altered in which Job intends onely to shew that though men have done very wickedly yet God doth not presently render to them according to what they have done This is true in the first sence of the word if God doe not lay folly to them as it signifies a great sin and this is much more true if God doe not lay folly to them in the second sence as it signifies a little sin And this sence of this latter clause of the verse corresponds fully with the generall scope of the Chapter and of the whole Booke For Job argues with his friends thus Ye charge me with folly and wickednesse because I suffer yet God suffers the wicked and doth not charge them with folly Lastly Et tamen insulsitatem non designat deus Jun i.
sight nor sound of the curse for a long time As light is sowne for the righteous Psal 97.11 that is They shall have a crop of good things though it lye as seed doth a great while under the clods and as dead in the furrowes So darkenes is sowne for the wicked they perceive it not yet but they shall be wrapt up in it for ever yea while they perceive it not they are in it and they are by so much the more in it by how much the lesse they perceive it For this is ever true The portion of the wicked is Cursed in the Earth though they seeme compassed about with blessings I will Curse your blessings saith the Lord Mala. 2.2 yea I have cursed them already The wicked may be rich and yet cursed honourable and yet cursed successefull in busienes and yet cursed blessed and yet cursed God doth curse their blessings That which is a blessing in the kinde and matter of it is to some a curse in the use and issue of it So then as godlynes is profitable for all things and hath the promise of this life as well as of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Godlynes is compassed about and cloathed with promises of all sorts and seasons So ungodlynes is unprofitable for all things makes him that is so miserable in all things For it hath the curse of this life and of that which is to come if the promise doe not meet a godly man in this life or in the things of this life yet it will in the life to come and in the things of the life to come yea in all things so farre as concernes the life to come the blessing alwayes meetes him And if the curse doe not meet a wicked man in this life yet it will in the life to come and in the things of the life to come yea in all things so farre as concernes the life to come The curse alwayes meetes him Then see the folly of those who feare the Curse and are not afraid of sin as if a man should feare drowning and yet cast himselfe into the water or feare burning and yet throw himselfe into the fire thus doe they who love sin and feare the curse If the beauty of holynes doth not take upon the heart yet the curse that attends sin may deterre from medling with it And did men know the terror of the Lord as the Apostle speakes 2 Cor. 5.11 they would easily be perswaded to take heed of sin even of every sin for though usually great sins bring the curse yet the least sins may They who know what the curse of the Lord is cannot but know what the terror of the Lord is that is that the Lord is to sinners very terrible For the curse of the Lord abiding upon a sinner makes him every way and alwayes miserable There needs no more to be said to prove a man miserable then this that his portion is cursed or that he is under the curse For as the blessing of God makes us happy with any portion that 's enough the blessing being it selfe the best and most aboundant portion Every good thing is vertually in the blessing so the Curse is vertually every evill thing therefore that must needs make a man miserable When the Lord blesseth it is not an empty word but a power goes with it to make a man blessed And when the Lord curseth it is not an empty word but a power goes with it to make a mans portion cursed in the earth Job having layd downe this position gives a proofe of it in the last words of the verse Hee beholdeth not the way of the vineyards Some reade these as the former words Cohaerebit cum superioribus si haec sit quasi praecedentis expositio imprecationis Nullam habeat impius partem in agris locisque frugiferis ex quibus ullum fructum percipere possit Pined by way of imprecation Let his portion be cursed in the earth and let him not behold the way of the vineyards We translate assertively He beholdeth not c. But what is meant here by not beholding is it onely this he commeth not within the view or sight of them I conceave there is more in it then so and that when Job sayth he beholdeth not his meaning is he enjoyeth vineyards no more or he dwelleth no more in a fruitfull and pleasant land such as that land is which aboundeth in vineyards and so consequently with wine but he shall live miserably in a barren soyle So that we may now interrogate wicked men whether murtherers Adulterers or theeves as Paul doth every sinner Rom. 6.21 What fruit have ye of those things whereof ye are or ought to be ashamed have ye any fruit of the vine surely no For such behold not the way of the vineyards To behold is to enjoy the pleasantnes to tast the sweetnes of the fruit of the vineyards Wine which is the fruit of the vineyard is pleasant and delightfull it makes glad the heart of man Psal 104.15 And vineyards are here named to signifie all sorts of outward good things they being the Chiefe of outward good things For as sometimes bread signifieth all outward good things because that strengthens mans heart so Wine because that cheareth and comforteth the heart of man So that when Job saith He shall not behold the way of the vineyards It is as if he had sayd He shall not tast of or enjoy any good thing For Againe Those words he heholdeth not c. are not to be understood as if he did voluntarily refuse to behold or cared not to behold the way of the vineyards but as implying a force or constraint upon him by which he was kept or hindred from looking that way Whence take this briefe note The losse of good is a great misery as well as the enduring of evill It hath been questioned which is greater the punishment of losse or the punishment of paine but without all question losse is a very great punishment not to behold the way of the vineyards not to returne to house and land to wife and children is a sore affliction What will it then be never to behold the face of God but to be under a sentence of eternal banishment from his presence His portion is cursed in the earth here in this world who beholdeth not the way of the vineyards how then is his portion cursed in the next world who shall never behold the path or way of life There are yet several other readings and expositions of these words Abstinebit a via regia et frequeÌtia hominum ne cognoscatur Vatabl ita festinat fugere ut ne proprias quidem vineas olim tam gratas aspiciat Isidor First As if the meaning were to shew the wicked mans feare of being seene because of his guilt and that therefore he would not behold or come neere the way of the vineyards that is those places which many people
word with all readines of mind yet they did not swallow downe all whole that was sayd to them but searched the Scriptures dayly whether those things ware so Act. 17.11 The Apostles rule is sutable to their practice 1 Thes 5.21 Prove all things hold fast that which is good Now as it is the duty of hearers and learners to hold nothing till they have proved it so it is the duty of Teachers to offer every doctrine to the ballance or tryall which they desire others should hold Secondly While Job doth thus confidently offer his assertion to tryall We learne That Truth is not affrayd to be tryed Truth often lieth in a corner but truth doth not seeke corners truth never hides her head as ashamed to be seene or discussed by men Truth as some have sayd lyeth in a deepe pit it is hard to finde it out it lieth out of sight yet truth doth not hide it selfe but dares stand forth in the face of all the world truth no more feares the triall then pure gold feares the touchstone or then a schollar who hath made good progresse in his learning feares to be examined He that hath truth with him needs not care who appeares against him Thirdly In that he sayth if it be not so now who will make me a liar Note False doctrine is a lye Isa 9.15 The antient and the honourable he is the head the Prophet that teacheth lies that is the Prophet that teacheth false doctrine he is the tayle Jer. 9.3 They bend their tongues like their bowes for lies but they are not valiant for the truth on the earth The Prophet as I conceave intends not so much falsehood in discourse which we call telling a lye as falsehood of doctrine which we call teaching of lyes They bend their tongues as bows for lies that is they set themselves to the maintaining of false doctrine to the utmost stretch of their wit and words Againe saith the Lord Jer. 14.14 The Prophets that prophecy lyes in my name I sent them not neither have I commanded them neither spake unto them they prophecy unto you a false divination and a thing of nought and the deceit of their heart The whole doctrine of the man of sin is called a lye Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved therefore God gave them up to strong delusion that they should beleive a lye 2 Thes 2.11 All the faith-devouring and conscience-wasting errors that ever the man of sin vented to the world are wrapt up in this one syllable or word a lye He that receaveth a lye that is told wrongeth others by it but he that receaved a lye that is taught wrongeth himselfe most by it To tell a lye is very sinfull but to teach a lye is much more sinfull The evill of that sin is greatest which spreadeth furthest continueth longest A lye that is told and received sticketh not long in the memory but passeth away for the most part like a tale that is told and it is enough to many a man that telleth a lye if he be beleeved but a little while But a lye that is taught and receaved sticketh long in the understanding and abideth there like a nayle fastned by the Masters of the assemblyes and it is not enough to him that teacheth a lye unlesse it be beleeved for ever Thirdly When Job sayth Who will make me a liar Note The worst thing that can be proved against any man is that he is a lyar To be a lyar is to be as bad as may be For it is to be as bad as the Devill He deceaved the woman both by telling and teaching a lye Gen. 3. He abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his owne for he is a lyar and the father of it Joh. 6.44 Every sin is of the Devill both by temptation and approbation but onely some sinnes are of the Devill by way of practice and the sin which is chiefely of him by practice is lying Now every sin the more congeniall it is to the Devill the more sinfull abominable it is And therefore among those who shall be without lye-makers are chiefe Rev. 22.15 Without are doggs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lye The universality of this exclusion is onely expressed upon lyars as if he had sayd to be sure all lyars shall be without He that maketh a lye hath nothing worse to make and he that maketh that is proveth a man to be a lyar hath nothing worse to make of him And make my speech nothing worth The Hebrew is And bring my speech to nothing ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ideÌ quod ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Graeci bânè interpretantur ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã verbum è verbo in non as if he had sayd I challenge all men to disprove my reasons or to prove that my reasons are not a proofe of that for which I brought them In briefe let any man refute or confute what I have sayd if he can and then let all that I have sayd goe for nothing or be counted nothing worth Hence note Vnsound doctrine is worthlesse doctrine The speech of a lyar is nothing worth sound doctrine is of great value it is worth thousands David preferr'd the word of God before thousands of Gold and silver every holy truth is the word of God eyther formally or vertually eyther in termes or by consequence The Apostle compares sound doctrine to things of greatest worth even to Gold silver and pretious stones and in the same place 1 Cor. 3.12 he compares unsound doctrine or doctrine unsutable to the foundation which is Jesus Christ alone to wood hay stubble which as they are things in their owne nature unconsiderable worthlesse in comparison of Gold silver and pretious stones so as to the busienes upon which he there treates a suitable building upon Christ they are altogether worthlesse And if those doctrines which because of some errour in them are unsutable to the foundation are to be accounted but wood hay and stubble how worthlesse are those doctrines which being altogether erroneous are inconsistent with and quite overthrow the foundation Such doctrines are worthy of nothing but a dung-hill being themselves nothing but drosse and dung What is that worth to us which is uselesse to us How worthlesse then is that which is destructive to us Every error is a Bable a thing of no use some errors are as poyson deadly in their use The Apostle Peter doth not spare to say as much of them 2 Epist 2.1 2. while he calleth them damnable heresies which bring swift destruction upon the bringers of them in or the broachers of them abroad And if they bring destruction upon those who bring them they that receave them cannot be safe To conclude this poynt and Chapter if erroneous doctrine be nothing worth
persons not limited to this or that particular nation or person yea he hath dominion not onely over all here below but in heaven above as Bildad speakes a little after He maketh peace in his high places Christ is Prince of the Kings of the earth Rev 1.5 He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings Rev. 19.16 that is not onely a King or a Lord excelling all other Kings and Lords but also ruling them or reighning over them Kings are his Subjects Secondly His is an absolute dominion that is he governes by no law but by his owne will this kinde of dominion is proper unto God alone He doth and he onely may governe by his owne will Hee doth in heaven and earth what ever pleaseth him This was spoken of Job 23.13 Hee is in one minde and who can turne him and what his soule desireth that hee doth Hee doth not goe out of himselfe for his rule his owne desire is his rule all the desires of God are holy just and righteous and therefore his desire and will may well be his rule It is good that he should have an absolute dominion and rule according to his owne will who cannot will any thing but what is good And 't is but just that he should rule as he pleaseth who cannot be pleased with any thing but what is just Thirdly His is an everlasting dominion Psal 145.13 Psal 66.7 As men are mortall so are States Kingdomes and Empires The strongest and greatest of them have had their fates and funerals Wee see what changes there have been of dominion and power out of one hand into another but the dominion of God is subject to no change nor knoweth it any fate The Babylonian the Persian the Graecian and the Roman Monarchyes have seene their day but the dominion of Jesus Christ is an everlasting dominion Dan. 4.34 't is so acknowledged even by Nebuchadnezzar And at the end of the dayes I Nebuchad-nezzar lift up mine eyes unto heaven and mine understanding returned unto mee and I blessed the most high and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and his Kingdome is from generation to generation Fourthly His is an Effectuall Dominion As he hath a right to doe what he will so he hath strength to effect what he willeth Such is the dominion of God and because it is such even an uniâârian absolute everlasting and effectuall Dominion Therefore let man remember his duty Dominion calleth for subjection That 's the Apostles rule Rom. 13.1 Let every soule be subject unto the higher powers and if every soule ought to be subject unto the higher powers among men then every soule ought to be subject much more to the power of God for his is the highest power And thus we ought to submit First Unto his lawes Legislative power is his what God sayth must be our rule We may not dispute much lesse quarrell at any of his commands but obey them naturally the heart of man rebells against the law of God Rom. 8.7 The carnall minde is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be that is it cannot be subject while it remaineth carnal onely a renewed or a spirituall minde submits to a spirituall law Secondly Submit to his workes to what he doth as wel as to what he saith and that first in the provision and allowances that he makes for you that is a part of Gods dominion to cut out a portion for every man Therefore in every estate be content secondly submit to the works of God in his afflictions and chastisements 1 Pe. 5.6 Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time When old Eli heard that terrible message concerning the destruction of his whole family for Samuel told him every whit and hid nothing from him hee sayd it is the Lord let him doe what seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3.18 Thus the Church sate downe in silence not speaking a word because it was the act of God Lam. 3.28 Thirdly submit to God in the whole compasse of his government in ordering the affayres of the whole world when he breaks and when he builds when he sets up and when he pulls downe when he makes peace and when he makes warre in all these acts of dominion submit to God When the Prophet calls us to behold what desolations the Lord maketh in the earth he adds this word as from the Lord Be still and know that I am God Psal 46.10 As if the Lord had sayd Let none question mee for what I have done I am God and if ye know indeed that I am ye will not have a word to say against what I doe So Zech 2.13 Be silent O all flesh before the Lord for he is raised up out of his holy habitation He is risen to make great changes therefore be silent submit let there be no murmuring at no contending with his providences for dominion and feare are with him Some render this word feare as an adjunct or Epithete of the former Dominatus quidem formidabilis est penes illum Jun Dominion and that a terrible fearefull or formidable dominion is with him but rather distinctly as wee Dominion and feare are with him God hath no feare in him nor upon him for he is as infinitely above all feare as he is above hope But feare is with him or feare is his because he is so much to be feared Feare is with God upon this threefold account First Because many at present doe feare the Lord every Godly man is a man fearing God Secondly Because every man ought to feare dread and stand in awe of God even the Princes and powers and dominions of the earth ought to feare the Lord. Psal 2.11 Be wise now therefore O ye Kings be instructed O ye Judges of the earth serve the Lord with feare and rejoyce with trembling Kings and Judges must serve and feare the Lord or serve the Lord with feare Who then must not Thirdly Feare is with him because all shall feare and dread him at last whether they will or no they whose proud hearts stout it against God they that goe on impudently in sinne fearelesse of the Majesty and wrath of God yet a time will come when their stomacks shall be taken downe a time will come when all the world shall tremble before the Lord. As now many doe it and as all ought to doe it so all shall doe it Isa 2.19 They shall goe into the holes of the rocks and into the tops of the ragged rocks for feare of the Lord and for the glory of his Majesty when hee ariseth to shake terribly the earth Such a day is comming upon the lofty ones upon the Cedars and upon the Oakes upon the fearelesse and they shall feare and which is the greatest argument of feare run into a hole for feare It is prophecyed Revel 6.15 That the
appearance is there is nothing but peace And as There is nothing but peace in heaven where God declares himselfe most clearely so they to whom God declares himselfe most clearely on earth are most for peace the neerer and the liker wee are unto God the neerer wee are unto peace and the more wee like it All true peace floweth out from God and the more of a healing and peace-making spirit appeares in any man the more of God appeares in him Lastly By way of inference Take this First Seeing God makes peace in his high places or in heaven above how easily can hee when our breaches are widest make peace in these low places of the earth And because as it is his property so his promise to doe it wee should waite upon him for and urge him with the fullfilling of this promise that he who makes peace alwayes in the high places of heaven would make that five-fold peace in the low places of the earth Secondly Seeing God is able to make peace in all places hee can also make warre in all places The same power doth both and Bildad shewes the preparations of God for warre as wel as his sanctions of peace For he hath innumerable Armyes under his command as it follows in the next verse Vers 3. Is there any number of his Armies and upon whom doth not his light arise There seemes to be somewhat a strange conjunction between these two verses hee maketh peace and Is there any number of his Armies One would thinke wee should heare of nothing but warre when we heare of such numberlesse armies God hath innumerable invincible armies alwayes ready for warre yet hee is most ready to make peace yea he who is The Lord of Hosts is also stiled The Lord of peace 2 Thes 3.16 This likewise speakes the dominion power and Majesty of God in that he maketh peace and can make warre His armyes are at hand and those no contemptible ones As if Bildad had thus bespoken Job It is in vaine for thee who art a weake man to thinke of contending with God who hath numberlesse armyes to take his part against all opposers The word which wee translate Armyes properly signifies Troopes Is there any number of his troopes And this is given in name to one of the Patriarchs Gen. 30.11 And Leah sayd a Troop cometh And shee called his name Gad. A troop is a little Army and a great Army consists of many troopes Wee say Is there any number of his Armies When the Scripture sayth that God hath armies it is not to be understood as if God needed them eyther to protect himselfe or to suppresse his enemies The Lord of hosts himselfe is infinitely stronger then all the Armyes and hosts of which he is Lord. Earthly Princes have their Armyes and guards to protect their persons and dominions from danger and invasion They want armyes to helpe their friends abroad and to defend their Subjects at home Woldly Princes borrow power from others to protect themselves while they undertake to protect others But God is the guard of his guards and the strength of his owne armyes Princes are saved by their Armyes but God is the safety of his armyes The Gods of the earth are afrayd of what man may doe unto them but the God of heaven is not onely above those feares but also above all want of mans doing any thing for him So that as God is not worshipped with mans hands as the Apostle tells The Athenians Act. 17.25 as though he needed any thing so neyther is he assisted by mens hands or by any hand as if he needed any thing seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things And therefore when the Lord is sayd to have Armyes it is eyther to signifie first that he hath all things at his command and is full of power or secondly that although he can doe all things by himselfe yet he will use the agency of the creature to effect his purposes This question Is there any number of his armyes resolves it selfe into this negative There is no number of his armyes or there is no numbring of them But what are these armyes of God First The Angells are his armyes we reade of one Angel that destroyed a whole army 2 Kings 19.35 And it came to passe that night that the Angel of the Lord went out and smote in the campe of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand and when they arose early in the morning behold they were all dead corpses If one Angel destroyed an army what cannot an army of Angels doe The Angels of God are armyes without number We read them expressed by such great numbers as render their numbers inexpressible So in Daniels vision of the Glory of God Chap. 7.10 A fiery streame issued and came forth from before him thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him that is an innumerable company stood before him Christ sayd to Peter when he drew his sword and sought to rescue him from the Officers of the High-Priest that came to arrest and bring him to Judgement Put up thy sword againe into his place for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father and he shall presently give mee more then twelve legions of Angels Math. 26.53 Here is an army of Angels Christ speaketh in the Roman phrase who reckoned their armyes by legions as we doe by regiments Six thousand six hundred sixty six was the number of a legion as some affirme and if so Then twelve legions make Seventy nine thousand nine hundred ninety two a great Army but saith Christ my father can send more then twelve legions But how many more no man can say Christ pitcheth upon a great certaine number to shew that hee might have what number hee would if hee did but call for them Secondly The Sunne Moone Starres are the Armyes of God Judges 5.20 They fought from heaven That is the heavenly or aeriall meteors wind thunder hayle did as it were joyne their confederate forces for the destruction of Israels enemies as they had done before Josh 10.11 and as they did afterward 1 Sam. 7.10 yea as it followeth in the same place the Starres in their courses fought against Sisera The Starres charged like an Army in battel array raysing stormes and dreadfull tempests by their influences and so might be sayd to fight against and ruine the whole army of Sicera By all which Rhetoricall expressions the Spirit would lead us to understand that the Lord himselfe by invisible powers did fight against Sisera while Israel fought him with a visible power Surely if the Starres be the Lords armyes wee may well say is there any number of his armyes When the Lord would shew Abraham that his seed should be an innumerable army hee brought him forth and sayd looke now towards heaven and tell the Starres if thou be
able to number them And hee sayd unto him so shall thy seed bee Gen. 15.5 that is thy seed shall be numberlesse as the Starres are numberlesse Thirdly By these Armyes wee may understand not onely the Angells and the Sunne Moone and Starres that heavenly host but any creature yea all the creatures from the Elephant even to the worme that creepeth upon the ground or to the fly that buzzeth in the ayre or to the lice that breede out of corruption All these are the Armyes of God and by these he can doe his worke as well as by the Angells in heaven What were the armyes of God with which he made warre upon Pharaoh were they not flyes and lice and such like contemptible creatures mustred together at his command therefore the Text may well say Is there any number of his armies God can leavy an army upon the earth not onely of men but of beasts and not onely of Lyons and Elephants the stoutest and greatest beasts but of the weakest and meanest and not onely of the weakest and meanest among living creatures but of the very Inanimate creatures the stones in the feilds the winds in the ayre the waters of the Sea yea the sand of the Sea and the very dust of the earth are the armyes of God if hee give them commission and send them forth God and the weakest creature are an overmatch for the strongest creatures 'T is no matter how meane the meanes is or how inconsiderable the instrument so it be in the hand of God so it be of Gods providing and goe forth at his bidding God can leavy an army where he will and out of what he will and it shall doe the deed Now if all things or any thing may be his army no marvayle if it be sayd Is there any number of his Armyes Hence observe All creatures are the host the Armyes of God They may be called his Armyes in a threefold consideration First Because of their multitude a few cannot make an army There are many creatures of every kinde how many then are all of every kinde put together Secondly They are his Armyes because of their order The greatest many out of order doe not make an Army but a throng or heape Armyes are martiall'd and disciplin'd trayned and taught An Army is an ordered company all the creatures are in order by nature and when God calls they are in order as it were by Art Thirdly They are his Armyes because as God hath a power to command them so they are ready to obey him They as the Centurion in the Gospel sayd of his Souldiers goe when God sayth goe they come when he sayth come and if he bid them doe this or that they doe it Souldiers must neyther refuse nor dispute the commands of their General The most violent and boysterous creatures are obedient to the call of God stormy winds and tempests fullfill his word Psal 148.8 Hee speakes to the lightnings and they say heere are wee Job 38.35 The very thunder which seemes to be all voyce is all eare at the voyce of God The Angels are so ready to goe that they are sayd to fly and their readines to doe the will of God in heaven is made the patterne of our doing it here on earth The Scripture speakes often of them as of an army employed in warres eyther to destroy the wicked or to be a guard to the people of God We have an illustrious example of the latter in Jacobs case Gen. 32.2 And when Jacob saw them hee sayd this is Gods host and hee called the name of that place Mahanaim that is two hosts or companies And it might be so called because Jacobs company or little host and that company of Angels who were Gods host sent out to convoy him in safety did both encampe upon the same ground or rather because the Angels divided themselves into two companyes The one encamping and marching before him as his Vantguard the other behind him or in his Reere That so he might see himselfe every way protected and might be filled with a full assurance of safety That God hath such numerous Armyes alwayes at hand and under command is First A very comfortable hearing to all that love and feare God The Apostle sayth Rom. 8.31 If God be for us who can be against us that is none can Though many be against us opposingly yet none can be against us prevaylingly We may say also if the Lord be for us who will not be for us If God be our helper we cannot want helpers not onely because the helpe of God is enough without any more but because if he be our helper we shall have many more When we see our selves utterly destitute of all helpes and helpers yet God hath an army of helpers he hath auxiliary forces ready for us Psal 34.7 The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that feare him and delivereth them David speaketh as if one single Angel were a whole Army The Angel of the Lord sayth he encampeth he doth not say the Angels of the Lord encampe about them that feare him and indeed every Angel of the Lord is more in power then a whole Army of men yet here possibly is meant that Angel who is the Lord The Angel of the Covenant who as Captaine General with his Army of created Angels encampeth about them that feare God And if so then they need not be afrayd 2 Kings 6.16 17. When the servant of Elisha cryed out for feare Elisha answered feare not they that be with us are more then they that bee with them And Elisha prayed And sayd Lord I pray thee open his eyes that hee may see and the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and hee saw and behold the mountaine was full of horses and Charrets of fire round about Elisha And thus it is often with us though wee discerne it not Wee have many invisible succours in our visible dangers And as that the Angels are our helpers in eminent and extraordinary dangers is very comfortable so also that they are so against ordinary common or every-day-dangers Psal 91.11 12. Hee shall give his Angells charge over thee to keepe thee in all thy wayes They shall beare thee up in their hands lest thou dash thy foote against a stone that is lest thou take hurt in thy dayly workes and travels Secondly These Armyes are a terrour to all those who rebell and rise up against God or are enemies to his people Hee that resists God hath as many enemyes as there are Angells in heaven or starres in the firmament or stones in the earth or beasts in the feild so many enemies hath he and if God appeare as Captaine generall none shall be able to stand before his armyes though he levy them of Grasse-hoppers or flyes or wormes or lice How should the greatest feare to provoke God who can make them fall by that which is least For as David acknowledged Psal 33.16 17.
the punishment of that transgression which was death inflicted for eating thirdly the depravation of the whole masse of mans nature by which as Bildad speaks Every man borne of a woman is uncleane And these three fell upon the whole posterity of Adam or upon all that are borne of a woman in a threefold way First The very act of Adams sin becometh ours for wee did participate with him and had as it were a hand in it because wee all were seminally in him so that when he sinned wee all sinned being in his loynes long before we were borne as Levi paid tythes in Abraham before hee was borne Heb. 7.9.10 Thus wee all sinned in his sinning and had a share in that act of his because hee stood as the roote of mankinde and as having entred a covenant with God in that capacity For he sinned not onely as a single person but as hee was the representative of all mankinde and therefore what hee did we are reckoned as doing the same with him Secondly The guilt of that sin is ours by particular Imputation as the fact is ours by common participation for as if Adam had stood in a state of Innocency that had redounded to us for good so his fall or sin redoundeth to us for evill Thirdly There is the pravity or corruption of nature issuing from that first sin and that is chiefly aymed at in the present text And this is derived to us by propagation The defilement of nature descendeth and passeth from generation to generation therefore how can hee that is borne of a woman be clean and that defilement hath two things in it First The losse of original purity or the defaceing and blotting out of the image of God in which man was created Secondly A succession of horrible deformity and disorder which consisteth first in a pronenes to all evill secondly in an impotency and weakenes yea in an aversenes from and enmity against all that is good So then we have to doe with the very act of Adams sin by participation with the guilt of it by imputation and with the filth and deformity of it by propagation From all which it may wel be questioned How can hee be cleane that is borne of a woman and concluded Every man borne of a woman is uncleane Vers 5. Behold even to the Moone and it shineth not and the Starres are not pure in his sight In this verse Bildad proceedeth to argue downe the presumption as hee conceived of Job by calling him to consider those things which are farre below God and yet were farre above him as if he had said Wilt thou contend with God when thou canst not contend with the Moone and Starres they have a brightnes beyond any thing of thine why then doest thou insist so stiffely upon the shinings of thy conversation towards men and the brightnes of thine integrity towards God Behold even to the Moone and it shineth not There is a twofold understanding of these words first some expound them by descending as if Bildad had spoken thus Behold O Job and be both ashamed of and astonished at thy owne folly in venturing upon a tryal before God who is of such infinite purity that while he looketh upon all these heavenly lights that are above the Moone even to or as low as the Moone which as Astronomers teach is the lowest of all the planets it shineth not there is no brightnes no beauty in any of them They are all in comparison of God but clouds and darkenes but clods of earth and dirt And if they shine not in the eye of God surely much lesse doest thou who art a worme and but a clod of moving or breathing earth Secondly Others expound it by ascending As if Bildad had spoken thus Behold O Job and tremble at thy presumption in desiring that God should take so exact a scrutiny of thee of thy cause for look upon all the parts of the inferiour visible world look upon all their glories and excellencies and look not only upon those things that are creeping here upon the Earth but lift up thine eyes as high as the Moone it selfe Behold even to the Moone which is as it were the boundary between the upper and the lower world The Moone being the lowest of the upper world and the highest of the lower world now saith Bildad surveigh the world up to the Moone and it shineth not But doth not the Moone shine yes the Moone shineth the Moone is that lesser light which was made to rule the night Gen. 1.16 Why then doth hee say it shineth not the meaning is onely this that Moone-light and Sun-light that all creature-light is no light nor their shining to be called shining when we speake of the light and shinings of God himselfe The Moone shineth for the use and to the eye of man but the Moone shineth not for any use to or in the eye of God As because he is light he needeth no light so because there was no light till he created it the light of the creature is nothing unto him The Moone and Starres shine but when the Sunne is up they shine not that is not to our view the Starres shine as much in the day as in the night though wee cannot see them being over-powred by that greater light the light of the Sunne So when the glory of the Lord appeareth both Sunne and Moone disappeare and are no moore seene Ne luna quidem lucida est collata eum deo Vatabl. The light of the world is no light where God is named doe but speake of God and all the beauty and brightnesse of the creature fades and is extinct The Moone is a very beautifull creature considered by it selfe as Job speakes to shew how farre he was from idolizing it notwithstanding all that beauty wherein it appeared to him Chap. 31.26 If I beheld the Sunne when it shined or the Moone walking in brightnesse that is if I beheld eyther Sunne or Moone so as to adore and worship them if I reckoned any thing of Moone and Sunne in comparison of God if I did not judge the light of both as darknes and obscurity in reference to him if I did not behold them so as if I did not behold them not being taken up or dazzl'd at all with their shining brightnes scarse at all seeing not at all admiring any brightnes but the brightnes of God if it were not thus with me if I stood not at this distance and upon these termes with the best of the creatures then c. It argues that there is much natural beauty in the Moone when as Job to shew his spirituall chastity saith that the beauty of it did not at all withdraw or steale away his heart from God Indeed such is the beauty of the Moone that it is used to shadow out the Church in her spirituall beauty Cant. 6.10 Who is shee that looketh forth as the morning faire as the Moone The Moone is
Lord mindes him often of his Original by calling him Son of man Son of man so here Bildad mindeth man of the meanenes of his birth he is but the son of man Some proud men have drawne their pedigree from the Gods or from the Starres Alexander the Great would be called the son of Jupiter which was to say the son of the Sunne hee did not like to be called the son of man though as he was so so he was soone after convinced and confessed that he was so And the son of man which is a worme ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã vermis magnus parvus qui ab omnibus teritur contunditur Wee expresse this latter branch by the same word worme in our English but the Hebrew speakes it in a different word and Master Broughtn renders it differently in the English and the son of man a vermin The word signifieth both small and great wormes all sorts of wormes or vermine here 's the state of man and how can hee who is such a worme stand before God in his purity when the Sunne Moone and Starres are impure before him Againe wee may take notice that Bildad doth not say man is like a worme but is a worme 'T is not spoken by way of similitude but of assertion Hence observe Man is a very poore thing So poore a thing that hee is twice in this Text called a worme the lowest things serve for a Comparison and beare the likenes of the highest and greatest men in the world man is but a worme and the son of man is no better a worme or vermin As it sheweth the excellency of God that nothing is so good so great so perfect that is worthy to be compared with him Isa 40.18 To whom will yee liken God or what likenes will yee compare unto him Looke over all the Excellencyes that are in the Creature is there any thing that lookes like God that hath any excellency or beauty comparatively to him And againe Isa 46.5 To whom will yee liken mee and make mee equall and compare mee that wee may be like that is there is nothing that you can compare or make mee like unto I am above all comparison Now I say as it shewes the excellency of God that there is nothing worthy to be compared to him so it shewes the meanenes of man that there is nothing so unworthy but that he may be compared to it and that without wrong or disparagement The Scripture doth as it were strive for Comparisons to set forth the weaknes the poorenes the worthlesnes of man hee is compared to yea called dust Gen. 3.19 Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne Hee is compared to the grasse of the feild that groweth to day but withereth or is cut downe to morrow Isa 40.6 Hee is compar'd unto a shadow that hath nothing of Entity or substance and therefore continueth not but vanisheth away Job 14.2 Hee is compar'd to that which is lesse then a shadow even to that which is as I may say the nothingnes of all things vanity and thus hee is called when at his best or in his best estate Psal 39.5 Further man is not onely nothing and lesse then nothing but that which is worse then nothing a ly hee is naturally under such disgrace that he is the very word of disgrace a ly Surely saith David Psal 62.9 men of low degree are vanity and men of high degree are a ly Nor doth the Lord speake thus of single persons onely but of Nations and not onely of this or that Nation but of all Nations take mankind in a cluster or as bundled up together not onely is this or that man this or that Nation but all men and all Nations before him are as nothing and are counted to him lesse then nothing and vanity Isa 40.17 They are not onely dust but which is the lightest and most inconsiderable dust the dust of the ballance and that the smallest dust of the ballance Isa 40.15 they are not onely a drop but the drop of a bucket which is but the drop of a drop The similitude in the Text layeth man low enough He is a worme When the Lord would speake of his people at the lowest rate in reference to the opinion which they had of themselves or which others had of them hee calls them a worme Isa 41.14 Feare not thou worme Jacob and yee men of Israel God doth not speake this to the disparagement or to the discouragement of Jacob but to the comfort of Jacob As if he had said though thou art a worm though thou art thus low thus mean humbly in thy own thoughts contemptuously in the thoughts of others yet feare not yea all shall have cause to be afraid of thee for though thou art a worme yet thou shalt thresh the nations and beate them small c. As National Jacob then so personal Jacob or Jacob in person before was but a worme in his owne eyes Gen. 32.10 I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies or I am lesse then all the mercies and of all the truth which thou hast shewed unto thy servant for with my staffe I passed over this Jordan that is I came over in a very poore manner all my state was but a staffe Here Jacob in person spake of himselfe as a worme and when wee speake thus like wormes wee speake most like Saints Our Lord Jesus Christ spake thus of himselfe as for our sakes he became poore and emptyed himselfe as for our sakes he tooke upon him the forme of a servant and was made in the likenes of man Psal 22.6 I am a worme and no man a reproach of men and despised of the people O how low did Christ esteeme and set himselfe as and while he stood in the place of sinners He not onely confessed that he was a worme because a man but that he was a worme and no man How then ought every sinfull man to abase himselfe and say I am a worme and no man Man is a worme in a five-fold respect First Looke upon his original and constitution hee is from the earth as the worme is Secondly Looke upon him in his natural state and condition hee liveth upon the earth and earthly things as wormes doe Thirdly Hee is a worme because continually subject to danger every foot may crush him Fourthly As the worme is very subject to danger so likewise unable to resist or make defence the worme is a naked creature and weares no armes neyther offensive nor defensive Such a one is man a worme unable to defend himselfe unlesse the Lord be his shield and a defence to him round about Fifthly Man is a worme for hee must shortly returne into the Earth where the wormes are housed hee is going to wormes as a worme and when he comes to the grave it will be worme to worme As the Lord sayd Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt returne so wee may
to doe in a right manner we upon the matter doe not at all We may resolve these interrogations of the Text into negations How hast thou helped him that is without power is as much as this thou hast not helped him how savest thou the arme that hath no strength is indeed Thou hast not saved him how hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdome caryeth this meaning thou hast given him no counsell we use to say as good never a whit as never the better and how good soever any thing is that we doe if we doe it amisse it will be reckoned by God what reckoning soever men make of it as if we had done no such thing Moses said to the Lord under a temptation when he was troubled at the complaint of the people because the deliverance promised did not come on and they were not freed as was expected Lord wherefore hast thou so evill entreated this people why is it that thou hast sent me for since I came to Pharaoh to speake in thy name he hath done evill to this people neither hast thou delivered thy people at all Exod. 5.23 Is this a deliverance this is no deliverance we are apt to thinke the mercyes of God no mercyes unlesse he give us full and perfect mercyes unlesse we presently receave all that we looke for we looke upon it as if we had receaved nothing at all But how truely may the Lord say to the children of men when they performe duties slightly and negligently ye have not done them at all ye have neyther prayed nor heard nor fasted at all because ye have been negligent in and unprofitable under them The workes and dutyes of the best are not every way full but the workes and dutyes of some are alltogether empty and they doe nothing in all they doe Fourthly In these severall interrogations are here held forth the severall effects of holy advice given according to the word and minde of God how hast thou helped him that is without power saved the arme that hath no strength counselled him that hath no wisdome As if he had sayd thou indeed hast offered me counsell from God if thou hadst managed it right this would have been the fruit of it I who have no power should have been helped and I who am as an arme without strength should have been saved Hence observe That the word of God or divine truths are mighty in operation when duely administred The word of truth conveigheth strength to the weake wisdome to the simple comfort to the sorrowfull light to those who are in darkenes and life unto the dead The word lifts up the hands which hang downe and the feeble knees The law of the Lord that is every holy truth saith David Psal 19.7 8. is perfect and what can it doe the next words tell us converting or restoring the soule The testimony of the Lord is sure and what can that doe the next words tell us making wise the simple The statutes of the Lord are right and what can they doe even that which is most sweete where it is done reioycing the heart The commandement of the Lord is pure in it selfe and it worketh gloriously in us enlightning the eyes I may say also The word of the Lord is mighty and it giveth strength to those who have no might As it is mighty for the pulling downe of strong holds casting downe imaginations every thing that exalteth it selfe against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor 10.4 5. So it is as mighty for the raysing up of the weake for the lifting up of those who are cast downe and fallen below the knowledge of God through unbeliefe and for the bringing of poore soules out of captivity into that blessed liberty of faith in Christ What Great things the word rightly applyed and divine truths brought home with Authority have done and still can doe was shewed at the 4 âh Chapter of that booke verse 3d and 4th As also at the 25 âh verse of the sixth Chapter upon those words How forcible are right words Though we ought to helpe those who have no power by more then words yet words have holpen many who had no power as Job doth more then intimate while he reproves Bildad for his unskillfull wording it with him How hast thou helped c. And how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã unde Graecum ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã Appellatio a ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã quod esse significat sapientia enim rerum omnium existentium prima praecipua est Drus That which we render The thing as it is is but one word in the Original and it hath a threefold signification First It is put for the essence substance or being of a thing The Greek word for substance is very neere this in sound and may possibly be a derivative from it Secondly It signifieth that working or operation which flowes from being Things first are and then they act and they are to little or no purpose unlesse they act Thirdly It signifieth counsell advice wisdome or sound wisdome Prov. 3.21 so Mr Broughton translates And makest advice knowne aboundantly Others taking up the same notion render How hast thou declared wisdome abundantly As if he had sayd Thou thinkest thou hast opened a treasure and declared store of wisdome and knovledge in this discourse or that thou hast made a very wise and learned discourse whereas indeed it will be found leane and short in it selfe as also impertinent to the poynt in hand ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ad multitudinem vel multiplicitèr Our translation takes it in the first sense How hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is that is how hast thou declared the substance of the thing or the solid truth in plenty or as the Hebrew phrase imports in great number and with much variety Hence note First Every thing ought to be declared as it is that is the naked truth ought to be declared It is our duty to speake of things as they are not to put colours upon them and so make them appeare what they are not or otherwise then they are truth is plaine and truth should be told plainely The naked truth or the thing as it is is most beautifull to the eye of the understanding And though Bildad did misreport what he spake of God yet he did not make a full report How hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is Secondly Hence note As we ought to speake the truth so to speake the truth out or all the truth Paul tells the Church of Eâhesus Acts 20.20 That he had kept nothing back that was profitable for them and sayth he ver 27. I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God Paul plentifully declared the thing as it was Bildad spake truth but not all the truth as to Jobs case
were too short were stretched longer Yet thus doe they who have but one word for all commers or for all they come to We would judge him a very unskilfull Physitian who let the disease be what it will should prescribe one and the same medicine or apply the same salve though a very soveraigne one to every soare As wee say That which is one mans meate is another mans poyson so we may also say That which is one mans medicine may be another mans poyson That which cures one disease may encrease another Therefore the Physician must consider to whom he gives the potion as well as what he gives and the Chirurgion must not onely know what his salve is but to whom he applyes it so in this case To whom hast thou uttered words weigh it wel whether they be babes or strong men in Christ whether they be under peaceable or troublesome dispensations whether obstinate or tender-hearted For these must be differently dealt with as their states doe differ We may else doe more hurt then good We may quickly as the Prophet speakes Ezek. 13.19 Slay the soules that should not dye that is grieve trouble the godly and save the soules alive which should not live that is harden and fatten the wicked in their sinnes The Apostle hath left us an excellent rule by his owne practice 1 Cor. 9.19 Though I be free from all men yet have I made my selfe servant to all that I might gaine the more and unto the Jewes I became as a Jew that I might gaine the Jewes to them that are under the Law as under the Law that I might gaine them that are under the Law to them that are without the Law as without Law being not without law to God but under the law to Christ that I might gaine them that are without Law to the weak became I as weak that I might gaine the weak I am made all things to all men that I might by all meanes save some and this I do for the Gospel sake that I might be partaker thereof with you In this context we see what was chiefely in the Apostles eye even that which is the highest and fayrest marke in the world the saving of soules And that he might attaine this end he critically observed the temper and state of his hearers striving to frame and sute himselfe and his speech accordingly He was not the same to all but he would be as they were to whom he spake or with whom he did converse yet Paul did not symbolize with nor connive at any in their sins he did not take upon him all colours he was not a man for all men or a man for all houres and humours The holy Apostle did not turne as flatterers doe with the times nor fashion himselfe to the severall garbes of men in a sinfull way Paul was so farre from any such base complyances that he having put the question doe I yet please men answers and concludes in the next words Gal. 1.10 If I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ But weighing the state of all men he formed his words and did accommodate his Ministery for their gaine or rather for the gaining of them Some are all things to all men that they may gaine by all that they may advantage themselves by all which is a spirit not onely unworthy of a Minister but of a man but Paul complyed with all that he might gaine them or bring them in the greatest gaine Or he complyed with all men that Christ might gaine and faith in him be propagated this I doe for the Gospel sake I doe not this for my owne sake I doe not put my selfe into all formes towards men for my own preferment in the world but that Christ may be preferred in the hearts and acceptations of all men with whom I have to doe before the world And that this was his purpose we have his sence fully from his owne pen 1 Cor. 10.32 33. Give none offence neyther to the Jewes nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God even as I please all men in all things not seeking mine own profit but the profit of many that they may be saved There are five things to be taken notice of that we may utter words to profit First The matter or what we speake Those words which have no worth in themselves can never profit others While the Prophet Hos 14.2 exhorteth the people to repentance He sayth Take with you words that is choise words select words consider what words you take with you when you turne to the Lord and plead with him for mercy saying take away all iniquity and receave us graciously And as we are to take words with us choyse words to expresse choyse matter in when we speake to the Lord so also in proportion when we speake to Men as from the Lord. Secondly We must consider to whom we are to utter words we must not shoot at random or without a marke Some doctrines are generall but there ought to be a speciall application of Generall doctrines Other Doctrines are peculiar to some We must not cast pearles before swine nor give childrens bread to doggs And we must be as carefull that we speake not to children that is to the truely Godly as we should doe to doggs and swine for so the Scripture calls them prophane and ungodly men Thirdly We must consider the season or time when we speake Those words will take at one time which will not at another There is as much care to be had and as much skill seene in a due timeing of our words as of our actions Fourthly We must consider the quantum or the measure of words uttered we may over-lay and over-charge those to whom we speake Every one cannot beare a strong shower of speech or words powred out like a flood upon such Our doctrine as Moses sayd his did Deut. 32.2 must drop as the raine our speech must distill as the dew as the smal raine upon the tender hearbe and as the showers upon the grasse Fifthly We must consider the manner in which we utter words whether to speake as a Barnabas or as a Boanarges whether as a son of thunder of wrath and judgement or as a son of peace of joy and consolation Of some have compassion that is deale tenderly with them Jude v. 22. making a difference and others save with feare pulling them out of the fire We doe but cast words into the ayre unlesse we thus make a difference in the manner of speech as they differ to whom we speake When we have duely weighed the matter which the persons to whom the season when the measure how much and the manner in which we ought to speake then we are like to speake to purpose and shall be above this reproofe which Job here gives Bildad To whom hast thou uttered words And whose spirit came from thee The word which we translate spirit signifyes also
Nesciah that is the land of forgetfulnesse as the grave so hell is called the land of forgetfulnesse where the wicked shall be remembred no more God will remember them no more to doe them any good and they are forgotten how much soever they are remembred who are not remembred for good And as God will not remember those in hell for good so they shall forget all the good they have had upon the earth or the remembrance which they have of it shall onely be to encrease their sorrow under present evills Abraham in the Parable Luk. 16.25 sayd to the rich man in hel Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and that remembrance of the good things which he once enjoyed was but an addition to all the evills and miseries which he then endured It is better never to have had any good thing then onely to remember that we have had it How miserable is their condition who shall neither be ââmembred for good nor remember any good but to make them more miserable Seventhly Hel is called Erets choscec that is a land of darknesse a region of darknesse there is nothing but darknesse in hell The wicked goe to the generation of their fathers where they shall never see light Psal 49.19 They loved darknesse here rather then light and they shall be punished with darkenes hereafter which hath no light Darknes was their choyce in this life and it shall be their curse in the next Eightly Hel is called Gehinon whence the Greeke Gehenna from the valley of Hinnon in which the Idolatrous Israelites imitating the abomination of the Heathens were wont to sacrifice their children with horrible cruelty And hence the Scripture often makes use of that word to signifie the place of torment or the torments of that place where the damned must abide separate for ever from the favourable presence and subjected under the wrath of God This Hel is naked before God and this destruction hath no covering Vers 7. He stretcheth out the North over the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing In this verse Job exalts God in his Almighty power upholding the mighty fabrick of heaven and earth His discourse mounts up from the earth from the waters and from hell as high as heaven it selfe and he speakes of heaven and of the earth in their conjunction together He stretcheth out the North over the empty place Bildad had spoken of the power of God in the heavens Dominion and feare are with him hee maketh peace in his high places is there any number of his armies and upon whom doth not his light arise Job also speaks of the power of God in the creation and disposition of these things He stretcheth out the North over the empty place The word is so rendred to signifie a gracious act of God to regardlesse men Prov. 1.24 I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded God stretcheth out his hand to smite and he stretcheth it out to save but man layeth it not to heart It is used also to signifie that powerfull act of God in preparing the heavens for himselfe Ps 104.2 Who coverest thy selfe with light as with a garment who stretchest out the heavens like a curtaine As wee draw or stretch out a curtaine so God stretcheth out the heavens But why doth Job say He stretcheth out the North I answer by the North he meaneth that part of heaven that is Northward or the northerne heavens Againe the North may be taken for the whole heavens by a Synechdoche and Job might speak of the North because the North-pole was neerest the climate where he dwelt He stretcheth out the North or the northerne heavens that is the whole heavens both the North and South East and West Hee stretcheth out the North over the empty place What is this empty place First By the empty place some understand the most remote and uninhabited places of the earth Hee over-spreads them with heavens and disposeth things there as well as here hee spreads the heavens over those parts where there is no man and so may be called Empty places because un-inhabited or not fill'd with men God causeth it to raine on the earth where no man is on the Wildernes where there is no man as he speaketh of himselfe to Job in the 38âh Chapter of this booke ver 26th Now as God raineth upon those in this sence empty places so he stretcheth out the heavens over these empty places that is he takes care of them as well as of those that are peopled or inhabited Secondly Rather by the empty place wee are to understand the ayre for in the natural disposition or systeame of the world the earth is lowest the water next the ayre is the third and the fire fourth over which God stretcheth out the heavens And because nothing is visible to us upwards on this side heaven but the ayre therefore it may wel be sayd that he stretcheth out the heavens immediately over the ayre or the empty place Super inane quod juxta communem opinioneÌ intelligi decet Vulgo enim totum spatium a terra usque ad coelum vacuum putatur quum plenum aere sit But is the ayre or that place which we call the ayre empty no the ayre is not empty there is no vacuity no empty place in nature and nature will put it selfe into strange courses to avoide a vacuity water will ascend to avoide vacuity and it will not descend to avoide vacuity but though the ayre be not empty or voide taking emptines strictly and philosophically for every place hath its filling yet as emptines is taken largely and vulgarly so the ayre may be called an empty place when wee come into a roome where there is no artificiall furniture wee say it is an empty roome so the space between us and the heavens in a vulgar sence is an empty place The Scripture speakes often of things according to the vulgar acceptation and understanding Mr Broughton translates thus He stretcheth out the North upon the empty And wee may conceave Job using this forme of speech the more to magnifie and shew forth the great power of God As if he had sayd The heavens have nothing to beare them up but an empty place what can the ayre beare the ayre will beare nothing yet the Lord useth no support for the whole heavens but this empty place Thirdly I conceave that this phrase may be expounded barely of the Creation For Moses sayth Gen. 1.1 2. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without forme and voyd or empty It is the word Tohu used here in Job over this Tohu or empty place did God at the first stretch the heavens And as this was the worke of God at first in Creation so it is his worke still in providence and therefore the Lord speakes of it as of a continued worke Isa 44.24 Thus sayth the Lord thy
till God unlocke it Thirdly This also is wonderfull that when at the word of God the cloud rents yet the waters doe not gush out like a violent flood all at once which would quickly drowne the earth as it did Gen 7.11 When the windowes of heaven were opened but the water descends in sweete moderate showers as water through a Cullender drop by drop and streame by streame for the moystning and refreshing of the earth And God caryeth the clouds up and downe the world as the keeper of a Garden doth his watering pot and bids them distill upon this or that place as himselfe directeth The clouds are compared to bottles in the 38th Chapter of this booke v. 37th these God stops or unstops usually as our need requireth and sometime as our sin deserveth Amos 4.7 I have withholden the raine from you and he can withhold it till the heavens over us shall be as brasse and the earth under us as iron I sayth the Lord of his vineyard Isa 5.6 will also command the clouds that they raine no raine upon it The Reader may finde further discoveryes about this poynt at the 5âh Chapter v. 10th Onely here I shall adde First That we depend upon God not onely for grace and pardon of sinne but for raine and fruitfull seasons Secondly When we have raine let us acknowledge that God hath rent the cloud and given it us that he hath loosed the Garment wherein he had bound the waters Pro. 30.4 that they may issue downe upon us Thirdly When the cloud rents not let us goe to God to doe it Are there any among the vanities of the Heathen that can cause raine Surely there are none Jer 14.22 And therefore the Prophet Zech 10.1 sends the people of God to him for it Aske ye of the Lord raine in the time of the latter raine so the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of raine to every one grasse in the feild Onely he who bindeth up the waters in his clouds can unbinde the clouds and cause them to send out their waters Job having thus shewed the power of God among the clouds and upper waters riseth yet higher in his discourse and from these waters wherein as was toucht before God layeth the beames of his chambers he ascendeth to the chambers themselves even to the throane of God there Vers 9. He holdeth backe the face of his Throane and spreadeth his cloud upon it There are three things to be enquired into for the explication of the former part of this verse First What is here meant by the Throane of God Secondly What by the face of his Throane Thirdly What by holding it backe To the first Querie I answer That according to Scripture Heaven or that place above in opposition to the earth or this sublunary world is called the throne of God and that not the inferior heaven or ayre which in Scripture is more then once called heaven but the supreame or highest heavens Thus the Lord speaketh by the Prophet Isa 66.1 The heaven is my throne and the earth is my footestrole where is the house that ye build unto me c. Thus also our Saviour in his admonition against swearing Math 5.34 saith Sweare not at all that is rashly neyther by heaven for it is Gods throne nor by the earth for it is his footestoole Againe Mat 23.22 Hee that sweareth by heaven sweareth by the throne of God The reason why heaven is called the throne of God is because there he manifests himselfe as Princes doe upon their thrones in greatest glory and majesty as also because there he is more fully enjoyed by glorifyed Saints and Angels God fills heaven and earth with his presence yet he declares his presence more in heaven then here upon the earth Heaven is the throne of God but Quidam faciem esse hominis putant os tantum oculos et genas quod Graeci prosopon dicunt quando facies sit forma omnis et modus et factura quaedam totius corporis a faciendo dicta sic mentis coeli Maris facies probe dicitur Gel libâ 13. c. 28. Secondly What is the face of his Throne I answer The face of a thing is taken for the whole outward appearance or for the appearing state of it As the face of a mans body is not onely that fore-part of the head which we strictly call so but the forme and structure of the whole body is the face of it And in that sence the word is applyed both to those great naturall bodyes the Heaven and the earth as also to a civill body or to the Body-politicke of a Citie and Common-wealth Thus whereas we render Isa 24.1 Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty and maketh it wast and turneth it upside downe c. The Hebrew is and so our translaters put it in the margin he perverteth the face thereof that is he changeth the state and outward forme of things and putteth them into a new mould or model respecting order and Government And so we commonly speake after great publicke changes The very face of things is altered or things have a new face And thus the Psalmist expresseth the gratious and favourable changes which God maketh in the things of this world Psal 104.30 Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are created Coeli vultus est coeli superficies concavastellata quae nos respâcit Albert and thou renewest the face of the earth that is all things appeare in another hiew and fashion then before So then the Face of the Throane of God is that part of heaven say some which looketh towards us or which we looke upon All that Greatnes and beauty of heaven which our eye reacheth unto and which appeares to us as a vast Canopy set with spangles or studs of Gold such are the Starrs to our sight But I rather conceave The face of the throne of God to be the visible and full demonstration of that infinite light and glory wherein God dwelleth and which appeareth or is given forth to the blessed Saints and Angels who are sayd to be about his throne according to their measure and capability of receaving it The face of his throne taken thus he holdeth backe from us alwayes in this life and as the face of his throne is taken in the other sence he often holds it backe from us About which it remaines to be enquired Thirdly What is meant by holding backe the face of his throne To hold backe seemes to be the same as to hide cover Est tollere apparentiam coeli Cajet or conceale the face of his throne for when any thing is held backe it is concealed and hidden out of sight Thus God doth often hold backe or cover the face of his throne as the face of it notes the Appearances of heaven towards us with clouds as it is sayd in the report made of that terrible storme wherein Paul had almost suffered shipwracke
meaning is the greatest strength of or whatsoever is strongest in heaven the heavens themselves with all their strength Metaphorice haec dicuntur non quod coelum columnas habeat quibus nitatur sed quod in vehementiori orbis concussione videatur nobis perindè ac sinutent ejus columnae Merc ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã contritus concussus fuit ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã stupeÌt denotat moram anamiin rei singularis consideratione ad eam cognoscendam aeâimandam Coc tremble at the reproofes of God So that this is onely a figurative and Rhetoricall expression not that the heaven hath any materiall pillars by which it is supported but because in those mighty concussions which God causeth in the world it is as if the pillars or powers of heaven it selfe were shaken and did Trembleth and were astonished at the reproofe of God But how may these pillars whatsoever they are be sayd to tremble and be astonished I answer 't is thus expressed in allusion to men who being severely reproved menaced and threatned tremble and are astonished Here are two termes used first they tremble which word signifyeth as it were the pounding and shattering of the heavens to peices or as if they were even ground to powder or crumbled to dust Secondly They are astonished The original word imports not a light sudden transient astonishment but an astonishment that stayeth abideth and taketh up the minde or which draweth the minde to a deepe consideration of the matter presented and thereupon to wonder and admiration Isa 29.9 Stay your selves and wonder that is sit downe and consider this thing and wonder barely to wonder is not enough you must sit downe stay and rest your selves to wonder you must take your fill of wonder at this thing But how can the heavens be astonished which are not onely without understanding but without life I grant that to be astonished is proper onely to rationall creatures yet it is attributed to beasts metaphorically yea and to things inanimate or without life and sense as here and Jer. 2.12 to the heavens for as rejoycing is attributed to the heavens and to the earth to the mountaines and to the valleys all these are sayd to rejoyce to sing so also astonishment feare and trembling are attributed to heaven and earth And as livelesse creatures are sayd to rejoyce sing and praise God when men doe it so likewise they are sayd to tremble when men tremble when God doth such things as affect men with astonishment then also heaven and earth are spoken of as affected with astonishment ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã increpavit objurgavit reprehendit duâiâèr cum potestate Thirdly What is meant by the reproofe of God which causeth the pillars of heaven to shake and be astonished The word signifies a sore chiding the severest reprehension and that not a bare reproofe but a reproofe with authority and command as a father or master reproveth his son or servant Thus when Joseph told his dreame That the Sunne Moone and eleven Starrs made obeysance to him Jacob his father rebuked him and sayd unto him What is this dreame that thou hast dreamed shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow downe our selves to thee to the earth And when Joshuah the high Priest stood before the Angel of the Lord and Satan at his right hand to resist him Zeph. 3.2 The Lord said to Satan the Lord rebuke thee ô Satan even the Lord that hath chosen Hierusalem rebuke thee This rebuke had a threatening in it and was spoken as with an angry countenance in which there might be read displeasure and indignation The vulgar translates not rebuke but nod The pillars of heaven tremble at thy nod There is a reproofe in a nod Pavent ad nutum ejus Vulg Sic illud poetae natu treme-facit Olympum as it was sayd anciently He made Olympus tremble with a nod of his head A nod of the head may signifie a reproofe as well as a word of the mouth There is a twofold reproofe first verball or by words secondly reall or by action and gesture A verball reproofe may be reall but every reall reproofe is not verball Both God and man can act reproofes as well as speake them And the word here used is applyed in Scripture not onely to verball and voyce reproofes but to reproofes given by gestures and by actions for as the holy lives of Godly men who walke exactly are a reproofe to the world though they speake not a word of reproofe so the actings of God are reproofs though he doth not speake Thus David sayth Psal 9.5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen thou hast destroyed the wicked How did God rebuke the heathen even by destroying the wicked that act of thine hath been a reproofe to the heathen and shewed them their folly In the same sence 't is sayd againe Psal 68.30 Rebuke the company of speare men the multitude of bulls with the calves of the people till every one submit himselfe with peices of silver The rebuke there prayed for upon that boysterous and bloody generation was not a word but a worke of rebuke that God would doe somewhat that might be a rebuke upon them and a stop to them as if he had sayd Seing this company of speare men and multitude of the buls will not heare any of thy words seing they are not capable eyther of reproofe or counsell therefore rebuke them by some extraordinary hand and visible tokens of thy displeasure as it follows scatter the people that delight in war Thus some understand it here that God giveth a reproofe to the heavens not by a word spoken but by his providentiall actings and wonderfull workings in the world Further this reproofe is expounded by that which is indeed the voyce of God and so called in the 29th Psalme the Thunder which though it hath a naturall cause for which reason Atheists laugh at the simplicity of those who are led up to the thoughts of God and to a reverentiall aw of his power at the hearing of it yet that doth not at all hinder but that God doth in a speciall manner dispose of it as he doth of all other naturall things when he pleaseth to serve his providence in the demonstrations of his wrath among the children of men To which end we may say that God doth often send forth his voyce from the clouds and chides from heaven in thunder The voyce this reprooving voyce of the Lord is upon the waters that is upon the waters which are above the firmament the God of glory thundereth the Lord is upon many waters the voyce of the Lord is powerfull the voyce of the Lord is full of majesty the voyce of the Lord breaketh the Cedars hee breaketh the Cedars of Lebanon the voyce of the Lord divideth the flames of fire the voyce of the Lord shaketh the Wildernes the Lord shaketh the Wildernes of Kades c. Thus the pillars of
heaven proper and the pillars of heaven in a figure tremble at or are astonished at these loud reproofes Hence observe The greatest strength of the creature trembleth at the angry dispensations and appearances of God As the lifting up of the light of Gods countenance puts joy into the heart more then corn wine the best things of this world so the darkenes of Gods countenance puts more trouble and sorrow into our hearts then gall and wormewood the worst of the world can doe David describes at large in what a kinde of hudle and hurry the world was in such a day Psal 18.13 14 15. Then the earth shooke and trembled the foundations also of the hils moved and were shaken because he was wroth The Lord also thundered in the heavens and the highest gave his voyce hailestones and coales of fire he sent out his arrows and scattered them and he shot out lightnings and discomfited them then the channels of waters were seene and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke O Lord at the blast of the breath of thy nostrills What David there spake of thunder and lightning and hayle-stones hath been visibly effected for the destruction of the enemyes of the people of God and for the deliverance of his children The history of Joshuah gives us a famous instance at the 10th Chapter and though it be not recorded that David obtained victoryes by such immediate helpes from heaven yet it is not improbable considering the tenour of this Psalme that he did And we have a notable instance of a victory obtained by Thunder and lightning in the History of the Church whence that Christian Legion of Souldiers who had earnestly prayed that God would appeare for their help was called The Thundering Legion But whether we expound this context in the Psalme literally and strictly as expressing what God did for David in this kinde Or figuratively as expressing onely thus much that God did wonderfull things in one kinde or other in helping David against his enemyes or whether we understand it mystically of what God doth to and for the soules and spirituall estates of men yet it holds forth in all the utter inability of man to beare up when the Lord shewes himselfe in any terrible demonstrations of his presence Againe Psal 104.32 He looketh on the earth and it trembleth he toucheth the hills and they smoake There is a twofold looke of God First there is the looke of Gods favour and thus Saints often pray that God will looke downe from heaven upon them this looke is the releiving yea the reviving of the soule secondly there is a looke of displeasure an angry a frowning looke when clouds and stormes are seene in the brow Thus in the Psalme God is sayd to looke on the earth frowningly childingly and then it trembled he toucheth the hills and they smoak that is they are as all on-fire The natural hils smoake at Gods touch and so doe the metaphoricall hills when God toucheth the great men of the earth they smoake presently they fret and fume till they breake out into a flame of rage heating and vexing both themselves and all that are neere them Isa 50.2 Behold at my rebuke I dry up or I can dry up the Sea I am as able to doe it now with a word of my mouth as I once did it for the deliverance of your forefathers Exo 14.21.29 I make or I can make when I will with my rebuke the rivers a wildernesse that is as dry as a desert or wildernes useth to be their fish stinketh because there is no water and dyeth for thirst What strange worke doth the rebuke of God make By that he drieth the sea by that he maketh the river a wildernes and as he doth this by the power of his reproofes upon the sea and rivers natural so upon the sea and rivers mysticall He can dry up those worldly helpes which seeme as inexhaustible as the sea and as lasting and constant to us as a river which is fed with a continuall spring And when any power riseth up against us as deepe and dangerous as the sea as wel supplyed and seconded as a river yet we need not feare for God can presently dry it up and make us a passage over it or through it Yea they who are as well bottom'd and foundation'd as the earth shall quickly feele the effects of his power Psal 114.7 Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob. But some may say if the earth trembleth at the presence of God then the earth must alwayes tremble for God is alwayes present or what is the presence of God there spoken of I answer as there is a presence of God that maketh all those that enjoy it to sing for joy In thy presence is fullnesse of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 so there is a presence of God that is very terrible to the creature yea that presence of God which is comfortable to his people is terrible to his enemyes for when the Psalmist had sayd ver 2. Judah was his Sanctuary and Israel his dominion that is a people sanctifyed to him and governed and protected by him presently it followeth The sea saw it and fled Jordan was driven backe The mountaines skipped like rams and the litle hils like lambs The Psalmist perceaving all things in such a trembling fit and confusion seemes to wonder what the matter was and therefore puts the question What ayled thee O thou sea that thou fleddest yea mountaines that ye skipped c And presently maketh answer Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord As if he had sayd the cause of all this terrour and trouble among the creatures was nothing else but the presence of God And if the very sence-lesse creatures were sencible of his wrathfull presence how much more must man both be sencible of it and stoop unto it This the Lord insinuates by a cutting question Ezek. 22.14 Can thy heart indure or can thy hands be strong in the day that I shall deale with thee I the Lord have spoken it and will doe it The Lord by his Prophet speakes there to a people that had a double strength they were strong hearted and they were strong handed they had much force or outward power and they had much courage or inward power but neyther hand-strength nor heart-strength neyther force nor courage shall avayle you in that day saith the Lord that I shall deale with you after the dealings of an enemy in wrath and Judgement God strengthens the hands of his servants and encourageth their hearts to endure his severest dealings with them But when he commeth to deale severely with those who are rebellious and wicked their hearts who are stoutest among them shall not be able to endure nor can they strengthen their hands They who have strengthned their hearts and hands most to commit sin shall be
and can wound Leviathan the crooked Serpent He can put a hooke in his nose and bore his jaw through with a thorne And thus God can doe also with those who are Leviathans and crooked Serpents in a figure The Devill and all cruel-minded men who doe his worke and cary on his designe against the people of God as is expressed in that lately alledged Scripture Isa 27.1 In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the peircing Serpent that is those enemyes and persecuters of his people who seeme to be as strong and invincible as Leviathan and as subtle and dangerous as the most peircing stinging Serpent Thus the Lord assured his faithfull ones Isa 54.16 17. That no weapon formed against them should prosper for saith he I have created the Smith that bloweth the coales in the fire and that bringeth forth an Instrument for his worke and I have created the waster to destroy Therefore I can hinder the waster from destroying and make all his weapons edgelesse poyntlesse no more able to wound then a straw or a rush How soone can God blunt and abate the keenest spirits of men and weaken their strongest armes when he seeth they will but doe mischiefe with them He that causeth motion can stop it and he that giveth power can call it in or breake it where it is While God is on our side who made all we need not feare who are made against us Though they have teeth like Lyons and stings like Serpents we are safe The hand of God can kill and wound for His Hand hath formed the crooked Serpent Vers 14. Lo these are parts of his wayes but how little a portion is heard of him but the thunder of his power who can understand Thus Job concludes after he had given an enumeration or Induction of many particulars he doth as it were hold them forth in his hand to the view of all men Behold or lo these are parts of his wayes ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã ãâã finem extremitatem denotat The word which we render parts signifyeth the end or extremity of a thing There is a twofold extremity first that which is utmost or furthest from us secondly that which is hithermost or neerest to us The word takes in both Ne me putetis omnia enarrasse vix enim extremam partem attigi Coc and is used for both in one text Psal 19.6 His going forth that is the going forth of the Sunne is from the end of the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it As if he had sayd the Sunne compasseth the heaven round and visiteth both the hithermost and uttermost as to us extremityes of it In the present text of Job we are to understand it of the hithermost extremity or of that which is next us implying that there are many and much more glorious things to be spoken of God if we were able to comprehend them reach the uttermost end or extremity of them And that it is so to be understood here is plaine from the next words But how litle a portion is heard of him Ecce hae sunt orae viarum ejus Coc Licet quae dixi siensibus nostris et judicio maxima esse videantur et verè sint stupenda respectu tamen divinae potentiae non sunt nisi minutiae peripsemata minimaque particulae eorum quae fecit ac facere potest Bold Extrema viae erunt opera minora nostri captus Coc In complyance with which sence some render the text thus These are the edges or borders of his wayes as if Job had sayd I have shewed you onely the borders I have not led you into the heart of the Country or into the midst of the workes and wayes of God much lesse to the furthest extremity or outside of them I have indeed spoken of very great and wonderfull things yet all that I have sayd is but litle to what might be sayd or at least to what really is I have given you but as it were the parings and chipings of Gods workes I have not gone to the bottome nor reached the depth of them So that Job seemes to distinguish these effects and workes of God about which he had discoursed from some greater workes which he was not able to attaine unto nor make any discovery of There are not onely Celestiall but super-celestiall workes of God wee cannot well apprehend much lesse comprehend what he hath wrought under the heavens which are onely the outside of his workes much lesse those which are above the heavens For as none of the works of God appeare to us or have been found out by us in their fulnesse and utmost extent so God hath done some great works which doe not at all appeare to us And those things which appeare are but small parts or parcels in comparison of those which as yet doe not appeare to us Lo these are parts of his wayes The wayes of God are spoken of in Scripture under a twofold notion First As the wayes in which God would have us walke so the commandements and statutes of God are called the wayes of God Psal 119.33 Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I shall keepe it unto the end Secondly The wayes of God are those wherein he comes and reveales himselfe to us Via dei illius opera sunt agendi rationes quibus ad nos ille venire dicitur quia in his prodit ad nos et progrediendo se magis magisque nostris sensibus accommodat Coc As that is a mans way wherein or whereby he is knowne so in whatsoever God manifesteth or maketh himselfe knowne to us that is the way of God Isa 55.8 My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your wayes my wayes saith the Lord. That is my wayes of mercy are as farre above your wayes of mercy as your dutyes are below my wayes of holynes yea what are your wayes of sinfulnes in doing evill to my wayes of graciousnes in pardoning the evills which ye have done Man hath a vast and a large heart in sinning but the vastnes and largenes of mans heart in sinning is but scantnes and narrownes to the largenes and vastnes of Gods heart in pardoning We may understand the Lord speaking in eyther of or in both these sences My wayes are not as your wayes And in general the way of God is that wherein he acteth or revealeth himselfe towards us whether it be in mercy or in Judgement in love or terrour God hath some wayes which we may call foule and troublesome wayes such are his wayes of judgement he hath other wayes which we may call fayre and delightsome wayes such are all his wayes of mercy And as God comes to us continually in one or other of these wayes of providence so he came forth of old in the way of creation Prov 8.22 The Lord possessed mee in the beginning of his way
is here Jer. 23.23 24. Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not afarre off Can any hide himselfe in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord doe not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord All these expostulating questions are resolved into this one position God is every where And though some reade the first not as a Qâestion but as an Assertion Thus I am a God at hand and not a God afarre off yet the sence is the same God therein affirming that he is ever neere us and never afarre off from us wheresoever we are Though God be in those places which are furthest off from us as well as in those that are neere at hand yet God himselfe is never afarre off from us but alwayes at hand When Solomon had set up the Temple 1 King 8.27 He was sure of the presence of God in it and therefore did not speake doubtingly but admiringly when he asked But will God indeed dwell on earth that is will God manifest himselfe gloriously on the earth behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot conteine thee how much lesse this house that I have builded Solomon knew that heaven could not conteine that is limit God much lesse could the house which he had builded Yet the Lord made the Temple another heaven to himselfe it was as his second heaven there the Lord had a kinde of glorious residence beyond what he had in any other part of the world Now the Assemblyes and Congregations of the Saints are in a speciall manner the dwelling place of God and his second heaven He dwells so much in the Churches that he seemes not to dwell at all in any part of the world beside 2 Cor. 6.16 17. I will dwell in them and walke in them Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the uncleane thing and I will receive you God who is in all the world dwels onely in and with his people They who separate from whatsoever is unholy have him neerest them who is altogether Holy To conclude this poynt we may make use of that distinction of the Schooles to cleare the difference how a corporall substance and a spirituall as as also how a spirituall created and uncreated substance may be sayd to be in a place All bodyes are in place circumscriptively spirituall substances created Angels and soules of men are in place definitively Wee cannot draw a line about an Angell as about the body of a man yet the Angel is so in this place as not in another but God who is a spirit and uncreated is in place repletively that is he filleth all places where he is but is not limited by any place where he is He is as some have not unfitly spoken a Spheare whose center is every where and whose circumference is no where This is a mystery which indeed we are not able to comprehend by reason but we must take it downe by faith The Lord is in the height of heaven yet so there as he is not shut up there But if any shall yet querie How is the Lord every where how is he in heaven and in earth is it so as the Sunne may be said to be every where the Sunne is seated in heaven yet is by way of communication on earth the Sunne by light heate or influence is all the world over in some degree or other yet the Sunne moves onely in his Orbe Or is God so every where as a Soveraigne Prince who though in person he reside here or there yet in power and Authority he is every where within his own Dominion I answer No These allusions are farre below this truth God is every where not onely as the Sunne by light heate and influence not onely as a Prince by his power and Authority but as we speake in person and in his Essence Further the Lords presence in all places is not as that of the aire which is more every where then the Sunne the aire is every where filling all places and so encompassing all bodies as if it made them all but one Great body yet that part of the aire that is in one place is not in another for the aire is divisible Divina essentia est tota intra omnia tota extra omnia nusquam inclusa aut exclusa omnia contineus a nullo contenta nec propterea immistu rebus aut rerum sordibus inquinata August Epist 55. ad Dard But we must not take up any such apprehensions of God for as he is every where so he is wholly every where God cannot be divided or parted as the ayre is may The Divine Essence as one of the Ancients hath expressed this astonishing mysterie is whole within all things and whole without all things no where included no where excluded conteining all things conteined of nothing yet not at all mingled with the nature of these things nor defiled with their pollutions That which the Philosopher speaks of the soule of man That it is all in the whole body and whole in every part of the body comes neerest this mystery Some quarrell at that expression about the soule yet there is a truth in it The soule is indivisiâle much more God wheresoever he is he is all and altogether he is every where and every where all So he is in the height of heaven and so he is on earth below But if God be every where why doth Christ teach us to pray Our father which art in heaven Mat. 6.13 And when the Heathen made that scoffing demand Where is now their God Why did David Answer Our God is in heaven Psal 115.2 3. To these and all other Texts of like import wee may answer heaven is not there spoken of as bounding the presence of God but as guiding the faith and hope of man In the morning saith David Psal 5.3 will I direct my prayer unto thee and will looke up When the eye hath no sight of any helpe on earth then faith may have the clearest visions of it in heaven And while God appeares so little in any Gratious dispensation for his people on earth that the enemy begins to scoffe Where is now your God Then his people have recourse by faith to heaven where the Lord not onely is but is glorious in his appearings From whence as he seeth how it is with us so he seemes to have a kinde of advantage to relieve us But as some Scriptures seeme to confine God to heaven so other Scriptures seem to deny that he is every where on earth Thus Moses sayd to the people of Israel Numb 14.42 Goe not up for the Lord is not among you And againe Deut. 7.21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them for the Lord thy God is among you with some the Lord is with others the Lord is not and he is with the same persons at one time not at another How then can it be sayd that the