Christ his being a Paraclete or an Advocate and the spirits being an Advocate John 16.7 If I goe not away saith Christ the Comforter or the Advocate will not come unto you that is The holy Ghost will not come unto you One Advocate goeth away that the other Advocate may come Christ is an Advocate by way of impetration the spirit is Advocate by way of application Christ is an Advocate vvith God to get mercy for us the spirit is an Advocate with us to prevaile on our hearts to receive that mercy Though Christ be our Advocate in Heaven pleading for us with the Father yet if we had not the spirit to plead in our hearts on earth we â—ould never receive the good that Christ hath purchased for us of his Father Christ appeares for us in Heaven Heb. 9.24 He appeares as an Atturney in Court for his Client he is gone to Heaven to appeare for us the spirit comes from Heaven and appeares in us Christ began the worke of his intercession here John 17. Hee is gone into Heaven to continue and perfect it The spirit doth both begin and perfect his intercession here he doth not plead for us but in us or the spirit makes intercession for us by stirring us up to prayer by teaching us how to word and mould or rather how to sigh and groane our prayers Christ makes intercession for us by presenting and tendering those prayers to the Father which the spirit helpes us to make or by making prayers for us himselfe to the Father Some dispute how they inquire much after the manner how Christ makes intercession or performes the office of an Advocate for us but it is enough for us to know that hee is an Advocate or that he makes intercession for us though we are not able to describe the manner how Whether it be First Onely by presenting himselfe to the Father and his appearing for us which is an equivalent if not a formall intercession Or secondly By the tendering of his righteousnesse and merits as satisfaction to the Father Or thirdly By expressing our wants and his desires for us Whether by all these or by which of these or whether by some other way is not determinable by us yet this is cleare that he performes the office of an Advocate for us and that we receive every good thing from the hand of God through his hand Further Christ may be considered First As an Advocate for the whole Church There are some causes of common concernement to all the people of God Thus he was an Advocate for Jerusalem when under bonds and captivity in Babylon Zech. 1.12 Then the Angell of the Lord not a created but the creating Angell or the Angel of the Covenant who is the Son of God answered and sayd O Lord of Hosts how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the Cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these three score and ten yeares And as Christ pleads for the whole Church so for every particular member of the Church and that also under a twofold notion He is Advocate first to take away our sins If any man sin saith the Apostle John 1 Epist 2.1 we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous c. Secondly Christ is an Advocate for us with the Father in our sufferings and troubles to get them taken off from us or sanctified to us Doubtlesse Job made use of Christ continually as an Advocate to take off the guilt of sin yet here he makes use of Christ as an Advocate to get off his sufferings especially these misjudgings of his Freinds who deeply censured and aspersed him because of his sufferings yea a Beleever makes use of Christ as an Advocate to get any good thing whether little or great whether for soule or for body as much as he doth for the removing of any evill whether of sin or trouble Secondly Observe The Doctrine of a Mediator betweene God and Man was knowne and beleeved in the World long before Christ came into the World Many saw Christ by Faith before he was seene in the flesh Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seene Heb. 1.1 And as it is the evidence of things so of persons that are not seen Christ tells the Jewes John 8.56 Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad And when the Jewes quarrelled at this Thou art not yet fifty yeares old and hast thou seen Abraham Jesus sayd unto them Verily verily I say unto you before Abraham was I am As Abraham saw his day by Faith so David in spirit called him Lord Mat. 22.43 And as these persons with all the holy Elders saw Christ by Faith in the promise so the whole Ceremoniall Law was a representation of Christ to faith by sense Every slaine Sacrifice spake the death of Christ and the sprinkling of that blood the sprinkling of their consciences and ours for the remission of sins Yea They did all eate the same spirituall meat that is the same which we now eate and did all drinke the same spirituall drinke for they dranke of that spirituall Rock that followed them and least we should mistake what was meant by that Rock the Apostle expounds it himselfe And that Rock was Christ The Rock did not follow them but Christ who was signified by that Rock did follow them They who are built upon Christ the Rock shall never be moved yet Christ is a moving as well as a living Rock to those who are built upon him whither soever they move he follows them Thus Jesus Christ was meate and drinke to the Jewes as well as to us for he is the Lamb slaine from the foundation of the World Revel 13.8 that is The vertue ot his death saved all who have been saved from the foundation of the World As Christ was slaine from Eternity in the counsell of God so he was slaine from the beginning of time in the promise of God Gen. 3.15 which was the publication of his death he was then also slaine as to the heart of Beleevers whose Faith having once a word for it makes that which is absent in regard of place spiritually present and that which is not in regard of time truely to be Thirdly Observe The Mediatour betweene God and man hath beene knowne and beleeved in all Ages under a twofold nature both God and Man We have both in this profession of Jobs Faith He beleeved the Mediatour to be God for he saith Mine eye powreth teares to God There is the divine nature He beleeved that the Mediatour should be man and therefore adds The Son of man for his freind there is his humane nature so that not onely the generall Doctrine of the mediatorship of Christ but this particular about the constitution of his person as Mediator was also knowne Had not our Advocate been man he could not have suffered for us and had hee
extinguisht and the fountaines dry Thus Eliphaz asserts that his abâ—ttors and instructers in the opinion he maintained were both old and learned old men From this contest about Antiquity and ancient men so often renewed and so much urged betweene Job and his Friends We may observe First That they who have most yeares upon their backs are or may be supposed to have most knowledge and wisedome in their heads and hearts Secondly They who have Antiquity on their side are apt to conclude that they have Truth on their side That which is indeed most ancient is most true yet there are very many very ancient untruths It is no new thing to see a gray-headed errour and a false Doctrine much older then our Fathers But I shall not prosecute either of these points having met with matter of this straine before Chap. 8. v. 8 9 10. Chap. 12. v. 12. to which places I refer the Reader Eliphaz having finished his third reproofe of Job for his arrogancy and the high conceit he had of himselfe proceeds to a fourth and that is as hath been sayd for the low conceit which he had of the comforts tendered him in the Name of God Num parum a te consolationes Dei Heb. Supplendum est verbum reputantur Numquid grande est ut consoletur te Deus Vulg. q. d. facile est Deo ut te ad statum prosperitatis reducat Aquin. Existimasnè tuis aerumnis non posse Deum parem consolationem afferre Vers 11. Are the consolations of God small with thee or is there any secret thing with thee These words undergoe much variety of interpretation the Vulgar Latine neer which some others translate gives a faire sense but at too great a distance from the letter of the Originall thus Is it a great thing that God should comfort thee As if he had sayd Art thou so low that all the consolations of God are not able to raise thee up Is it a worke too big for God himselfe to comfort thee Cannot he change thy outward and inward sorrowes into joyes Will not the consolations of one that is infinite serve thy turne Hath not hee balme enough in store to heale thy wounds nor treasure enough in stock to repaire thy losses T is no hard thing with God to comfort the most disconsolate soule that ever was he that made light to shine out of darknesse can give us light in our thickest darkenesse An minores sunt consolationes dei quà m ut te consolari possint Vatab. This is a truth but for the reason above I stay not upon it The Septuagint translation is farre wider then the former Thou hast received but few wounds in comparison of the sinnes that thou hast committed which is a Paraphrase not a translation and such a Paraphrase as seemes to lye quite without the compasse of the text The meaning and intendment of it may be given thus as if he had sayd Thou complainest that thou art greatly afflicted that thy sorrowes are innumerable Pauca prae iis quae peccasti accepisti vulnera Sep. but if thou considerest thy great and many sinnes thy sufferings are few yea thy sufferings may rather be called consolations and thy losses gaines Are the consolations of God small to thee seeing thou hast sinned so much When God layes but a little affliction upon sinfull man he may be sayd to give a great deale of mercy A third gives this sense An consolationes Dei tam contemptibiles judicas ut projiciat eas ante blasphematores Are the consolations of God small to thee That is Doest thou esteeme the consolations of God so cheape that he will give them to such a one as thou or that hee will lavish them out upon the wicked and cast these Pearles to Swine to such as are blasphemers and contemners of God But why doth Eliphaz call these the consolations of God Did God administer them to Job with his owne hand or did he speake to Job from Heaven Some conceive that though he and his Freinds spake them yet Eliphaz calls them the consolations of God by an Hebraisme because he judged them great consolations Thus in Scripture The Mountaine of God Suas et sociorum consolationes vocat Dei consolationes non sine arrogantia fastu Drus and the River of God are put for a great Mountaine and a great River so here As if he had fayd Thou hast received many great consolations from us thy Freinds and doest thou account them small But I rather take the sense plainely that he calls them so because God is the author and giver the fountaine and originall from whom all consolations spring and flow The Consolations of God are two-fold First Arising from good things already exhibited to us Secondly From good things promised to us The Consolations of God in this place are good things promised or offered Promises are Divine conveyances of Consolation The Freinds of Job had made him many promises that he repenting God would make his latter end better then his beginning c. Hence Eliphaz tells him that he had slighted the consolations of God Any man who reads his story may wonder why he should Surely Job was not in case to refuse comfort considering how he was stript of all comfort The full soule indeed loatheth the honey Combe but to the hungry soule every bitter thing is sweet that is those things which dainty palates distast he eates very savourly Job was kept short and low enough he had nothing of consolation left either without or within he was poore and sore without he was full of horrour and terrour within the arrowes of the Almighty had even drunk up his spirit and layd all his comforts wast and doth he yet neglect or undervalue comforts 'T is true he had reall consolations as appeares by that profession of his assurance of Gods favour towards him I know that I shall be justified yet he had no sensible consolations his frequent complaints shew he had not So then the consolations of God for esteeming which little he is reproved were the promises of consolation made to him in the name of God by the Ministry of his Friends Are the consolations of God small unto thee Hence observe First That consolation is the gift and proper worke of God Thou saith David Psal 71.21 shalt encrease my greatnesse and comfort me on every side The Lord shall comfort Sion he will comfort all he wast places Is 51.3 And againe As one whom his Mother comforteth so will I comfort you and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem God comforts as a Mother tenderly and he comforts as a Father yea as a Master effectually I will comfort you and yee shall be comforted As the corrections of God are effectuall and prosper in the worke for which they are sent so also are his consolations Ephraim sayd Jer. 31.18 Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised So every soule
upon that neither onely consider the forme of expression or the periphrasis of Man He that is borne of a woman In the first clause he saith VVhat is man in this latter What is he that is borne of a woman Emphaticè mulieris meminit Vt. cap. 14 1. Merc. He speakes of man in both yet with an additionall emphasis to minde us of our birth and originall as was shewed upon those words Chap. 14.1 Man that is borne of a woman is of few dayes and full of trouble where the Reader may finde what that teacheth even an aggravation of mans sinfulnesse in that he is borne of a woman who sinned first or was as the Apostle speakes 1 Tim. 2.14 First in the Transgression How prone is man to sin being born of a woman who was so prone to sin that shee was the first sinner VVhat is he that is borne of a woman that he should be righteous The whole race of mankinde hath yeelded but one exception to this generall Rule and that was in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ He indeed was borne of a woman and yet righteous because his Mothers conception was of the holy Ghost Matth. 1.20 and by the power of the most high overshadowing her Luke 1.35 But wee may say of all men except him who was also infinitely more then man even God-man VVhat is he that is borne of a woman that he should be righteous Secondly Eliphaz proceeds though the point be clear in it selfe to give a proofe of it which he ugeth from the greater to the lesse Vers 15. Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints and the heavens are not cleane in his sight How much more abominable and filthy is man c. The Argument rises thus If they who are the purest the holyest creatures are not able to stand before God in their owne purity how shall he who hath no purity no holinesse at all in him But the Heavens yea the Angels in Heaven who are the purest the holyest creatures are yet uncleane in the sight of God Therefore man who is abominable and filthy drinking iniquity like water cannot be cleane in his sight Behold he puts no trust in his Saints Eliphaz urged this argument for the substance of it Chap. 4.18 here hee repeats and re-inforceth it Behold is usually a note of attention here it is more a note of admiration as if he had sayd VVould you thinke it that God puts no trust in his Saints yet he doth not or is not this a wonder that God puts no trust in his Saints whom will hee trust if not his Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. cap. 4.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est credere tanquam rei fideli constanti aut fidele constans cui credi debeat The word which we translate to put trust signifies properly to beleeve he doth not beleeve in his Saints or not give credit to them he doth not as our word hath been confide in them a person is confided or trusted in either because of his faithfulnesse or because of his strength and stability the word which we render here to trust signifies sometimes strength or firmenesse as also a Pillar which is not onely firme but upholds and confirmes the Building or that which leanes upon it The same word doth elegantly signifie both to trust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Genus columnarum 2 Reg. 18.16 In Sanctis suis non est fides i. e firmitas vel immutabilitas naturae Aug. Ecce inter Sanctos ejus nemo immutabilis Vulg. Aliqui legunt Non credit sanctis suis 2. in sanctos suos 3. in sanctis suis Sic credere in Deum in Deo Deo Synonymai sunt Drus and to be firme because every thing that is trusted is trusted upon supposall either of a naturall or morall firmenesse Hence the Vulgar translates immutable Behold among the Saints there is not one immutable or unchangable And another of the Ancients There is no faithfulnesse in his Saints that is firmenesse or unchangeablenesse of nature is not to be found in them There are three different uses of the word First To trust Secondly To trust in Thirdly To trust upon So the translation varies here For first some read He doth not trust his Saints Secondly others He doth not trust in his Saints A third He doth not trust upon his Saints Thus some put a difference betweene beleeving God and beleeving in God and beleeving upon God though we finde them used promiscuously in Scripture It is sayd by Moses Gen. 15.6 Abraham beleeved in the Lord and it was accounted to him for righteousnesse but the Apostle Rom. 4.3 saith plainely Abraham beleeved God and it was counted to him for righteousnesse So that there is not any materiall difference betweene those two expressions yet ordinarily to trust in or upon is taken in a higher construction then barely to trust Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints Here it is questioned who are meant by Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est ab usu communi ad divinum separare there are three opinions about it The word Saint in generall signifies a person separated or one set apart from others Holinesse is our separation from the world unto God holy persons are separated persons that 's their state But more distinctly who are these holy persons these Saints The Greek Interpreters restraine the Text to the old Patriarks Abraham Isaac and Jacob as also Moses and Aaron with whom God at some times was angry or found fault with some of their actings Secondly others by the Saints understand the confirmed Angels who are called Saints by way of excellency Angeli vocantur Sancti Dei quasi ei familiarissimi atque illius obsequio addictissimi Dan. 4.8 because among all creatures they are in one sense the most holy as having ever been without the least spot or taint of sin whether in their natures or in their lives and having ever continued as the Houshold servants of God observant of and obedient to all his commands But we may rather take it in generall both for the holyest of men and for the holy Angels Behold he puts no trust in his Saints no not in those who are most holy Hence Observe There is no created holinesse sure stable and perfect in it selfe The glorious Angels which are and ever shall be Saints in Heaven and the Saints in Heaven who are like Angels stand not in that holy and happy estate by their owne sufficiency but by the decree and grace of God Those Angells which fell at first were holy and they who now stand might have fallen notwithstanding their created holinesse if God had not superadded confirming grace which establisheth them for ever Yet this is not all that the Angels are imperfect because they might fall if not supported there is somewhat more in it for though the Angels are perfectly righteous in reference to the Law for the whole bent
Fathers as if he had sayd Doe not despise what I say as ordinary or as a novelty no nor as received from corrupt antiquity for besides what I have seen Rambam subtitius a patribus suis exponit a patribus eorum Vt hic tres aetates considerentur una sapientum haec indicantium altera patrum tertia majorum atavorum Merc. I have good authority for what I speake the ancient and the wise vote with me Wise men have told it from their Fathers here is the conveyance Wise men He doth not meane worldly wise men Philosophers and Polititians but godly wise men these haue told it from their Fathers their Fathers told it them and they told it me so that this position claimes by two descents at least One of the Rabbins gives it three if not more for by the Fathers of the wise men he understands not their immediate Fathers onely but those who were more remote and further off yea possibly those who were furthest off even as far as Adam Hence Observe First It is an ingenuity to acknowledge by whom we profit wise men have told me this I received it from others as well as collected it by my owne experience Secondly Note Truth should be conveyed downe to our Posterity Truth is a more precious inheritance then Land or Money if Parents are carefull to secure as much as they can earthly things to their Children how much more should they be carefull to secure heavenly In the first Ages of the World till the Law was given on Mount Sinai faithfull men were in stead of Books and Tradition supplyed the want of Scripture But now our recourse must be to what God hath commanded to be written not to what men have said No Tradition is of any force but as consentient with Scripture and none of so much force as Scripture The Councill of Trent in the fifth Session thunders out Anathemaes against those who receive not Tradition with the same godly affection and devotion with which they receive the Scripture it selfe Bellarmin in his controversie about Tradition entitles his Book thus Of the Word of God not written as if the Word of God were to be divided into these two orders The Word written and the Word not written Tradition with him is the Vnwritten word and must be held of as much authority as the Word written This is as Christ taxeth the Pharisees to make the word of God of none effect through mans Tradition It is still a wise mans duty to to tell Posterity what the Word and Truth of God is but we must not receive any thing as a truth of God upon the bare Word of the wisest men Wise men have told their Fathers And have not hid it There is a twofold hiding first a hiding to keep a thing safe that we loose it not secondly a hiding that we keep it close and not communicate it In the former sense we must hide the truth of God but we may not in the latter When David saith I have hid thy Commandements in my heart when Mary hid the sayings of Christ in her hart and when the man that found the treasure Ma. 13.44 Went away and hid it and for joy thereof sould all he had and bought the field All these hid it that it might be forth-comming for their owne use they did not hide it as unwilling to bring it forth for the use of others so the idle Servant hid his Talent and was justly condemned for hiding it Matth. 25. Hence Observe Truth must not be hid from others Truth is a common good no man hath the sole property of it every one may challenge his part of this poffession and the more we part with it to others the more we increase our owne possession Truth multiplies in its degree to us while we make division of it to thousands A Candle gives not the less light to the owner because many standers by see by it and this Candle gives a clearer light to us when we let many see by it Our knowledge is perfected while it is communicated This Candle therfore is not to be put under a bushell but must be set upon a Candlestick that all may see by the light of it Shall I saith the Lord Gen. 18. hide from Abraham the thing that I am about to doe No I will not For I know Abraham will not hide it Hee will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord. The Israelites were charged to communicate the wonders which God wrought for them and the Ordinances which he appointed them when they were delivered out of Aegypt Exod. 12. I will open my mouth in a Parable saith the Psalmist I will utter darke sayings of old which wee have heard and knowne And our Fathers have told us we will not hide them from their Children shewing to the Generations to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and the wonderfull works which hee hath done Psal 78.2 3 4. 'T is our duty to preserve memorialls of the workes of God and to declare his word to all that are about us What wise men know from their Fathers they will not hide Eliphaz yet goes on to describe the men whose consent in opinion he had received about the controversie in hand Vers 19. To whom alone the earth was given and no stranger passed among them If any man aske who were these wise men He answers They were wise men To whom alone the earth was given In these words Eliphaz seemes to remove a prejudice that might lye in Jobs Spirit against the testimony of those Ancients For suppose they were Wise men yet he might say 't is like they were but meane men men of no ranke or quality men of small credit or authority and we know what Solomon saith Affertur hoc ad amplificandum authoritatem horum sapientum q. d. hi tales tanti fuerunt ut c. Merc. Eccles 9.16 A poore mans wisedome is despised and his words not heard Therefore saith Eliphaz you shall not put me off thus nor disable my witnesses upon a supposition that these wise men were meane men for these were Cheifes and Princes in their Generation And he advanceth their honour two wayes First in regard of their riches and power To whom alone the earth was given Secondly in regard of their righteous and just administrations No stranger or strange thing passed among them as if he had sayd Job I speake of men that were fit to sit at the helme of a Kingdome and governe Nations yea to have the raines of the World put into their hands I speake of wise men who by their wisedome and the blessing of God have kept the earth quiet and so have possessed it alone But it may yet be said who were these Monarchs of the world and sole possessors of the Earth To whom alone the earth was given Some conceive that Eliphaz meanes it of
strangers so the happinesse of a people to be freed from the oppression of strangers From the second Observe That it is the happinesse of a people to be free from the mixture of evill men whether such whose worship is impure or Doctrine untrue The Lord made frequent promises of this happinesse to his people Isa 52.1 From henceforth there shall no more come into them the uncircumcised and the uncleane which is as much as to say The stranger for all uncircumcised persons were strangers shall not come into thee We have the like promise Joel 3.17 So shall yee know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Sion my holy Mountaine then shall Jerusalem be holy and there shall no stranger passe through her Why not any stranger Forget not to entertaine strangers saith the Apostle Heb. 13. ◠Jerusalem in her best dayes shall have strangers to be visited and releived by her but Jerusalem should have no strangers in those dayes to defile and pollute her Na. 1.15 Behold upon the Mountaine the feet of him that bringeth good tydings for the wicked shall no more passe through thee for he is cutt off The Hebrew is Belial shall no more passe through thee Belial is he that cannot endure to serve he will not yeeld obedience to the holy commands of God he casts off the yoak of Christ and pulls the shoulder from his burden This Belial shall no more passe through thee The purest times of the Gospel are presented under a like promise Zach. 14.21 In that day there shall be no more the Cananite in the house of the Lord of Hoasts That is the stranger and uncircumcised the wicked and ungodly shall no more be mixed with his people Thirdly in that he puts such under the notion of strangers we learne That wicked and Idolatrous persons should be as strangers to us we must not lay such in our bosome to maintaine any spiritual society with them though in some cases we may have civill society with them 2 Cor. 6.13 14. Be not unequally yoaked together with unbeleevers for what fellowship hath righteousnesse with unrighteousnesse and what communion hath light with darknesse and what concord hath Christ with Belial c. These can never agree together Let no such stranger passe or be approved among us in the fellowship of the Gospel there is not onely sin in letting such passe with our approbation but danger and that a double danger Both which are assigned as reasons why wee should come out of Babylon Revel 18.4 First we are in danger of partaking of their sins and that both by contracting the spot of their sins as also the guilt of their sins Secondly we are in danger of partaking of their punishments as it there follows That yee receive not her plagues There is no safety in being neer those who are under the curse of God The companion of fooles shall be destroyed Prov. 13 20. though possibly he be not a foole in any other respect but because he is in such company Fourthly Taking it for a strange or wicked thing Note That It is the honour of Magistrates when no evill passeth quietly in their Territories When neither Idolatry in the things of God nor injustice nor oppression in the things of men finde any favour with them this is at once their duty and their glory Eliphaz having by way of preface given proofe of what he was about to presse upon Job both from his owne experience and the consent of Antiquity He now proposes the point it selfe Vers 20. The wicked man travels with paine all his dayes and the number of yeares is hidden to the Oppressour In this generall Position Eliphaz intends Jobs personall conviction that he was wicked whom he had heard appealing to God Chap. 2.10 Thou knowest that I am not wicked As if he had sayd Thou wouldest make us beleeve that God will be thy compurgator and give witnesse for thee upon his owne knowledge that thou art not wicked But we who are but men may know the contrary for we see all the markes and brands of a wicked man upon thee The wicked man travelleth with paine all his dayes and so dost thou These soares and sorrows speake who thou art though we say nothing Master Broughton reads The wicked killeth himselfe all his days he is a selfe murtherer that was the report which Eliphaz made of him at the fifth Chapter Vers 2. Envy slayeth the silly one Both Job and his Freinds repeate the same thing often yet with such variety of illustrations that though for the matter it be the same yet it is new for the manner Such repetitions doe not onely delight but profit The wicked man travelleth with paine all his dayes Who is a wicked man hath been opened at large Chap. 10.7 where Job affirmes Thou knowest that I am not wicked There see the temper of a wicked man I will not stay upon it here Onely consider how his appellation and condition suit one with the other The wicked man travells the Originall word for a wicked man signifies an unquiet motion and so one whose life is a continuall not onely motion but unquietnesse Vnquiet is the name and unquietnesse is the state of a wicked man he is alwayes raising stirs and acting Tragedies His life is alwayes in a hurry he travells with paine all his dayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proprie significat cruciatum languorem pavorem vel dolorem parturientium vel enitentis molientis facinus aliquod Omnis vita impii in solicitudine 70. in dolore Aquila Dolet ut parturiens Pag. He travelleth with paine This sentence is but one word in the Hebrew the word signifies any griefe or sorrow any torture or torment The translations are various but all meet in this one sense that a wicked mans life is a miserable life All the life of a wicked man is spent in carking care So the Septuagint Another renders It is spent in sorrow But all may be reduced to that which is most proper to the word He is in paine as a woman in travaile and whereas we have heard of some Women in travaile many dayes here is a man in travell all his dayes The wicked man travelleth in paine all his dayes his whole life is nothing else but continuall paine or painefull throes towards the birth of some filthy Monster-sin which sin when it is finished brings forth death Somewhat he hath conceived the Psalmist tells us what He hath conceived mischiefe and hee would bring forth iniquity Cunctis diebus suts impius superbit Vulg. The Vulgar Latine translates The wicked man is lifted up with pride all his dayes which is as much as to say He travelleth in paine all his dayes for though as some say Pride feels no cold yet there is nothing feels so much paine as pride doth And because a wicked man is proud all his dayes therefore he travelleth with paine all his dayes
King saith Christ Luke 14.31 going to make Warr against another King doth not first sit downe c. As if he had sayd The Kings of the Earth are not so foolish so brainlesse and counsellesse to contend with those whom they cannot match they will hardly venture a Battell with ten thousand against twenty thousond they will rather make a disadvantageous Peace then proceed in a Warr upon such disadvantages The King of Israel reproved the challenge which the King of Judah sent him by the Parable of the Thistle in Lebanon aspiring to match with the Cedar in Lebanon 2 Kings 14.9 What 's a Thistle to a Cedar Then what is man to God See then what a reasonlesse yea senselesse creature man is who will needs goe out against God to Battell though all the number he can muster is not onely as disproportionable as ten thousand to twenty thousand as a Thistle to a Cedar but more then one single man is to a Million of men or then a bruised Reed to the strongest Oake God with ease made all the power of man alone and he though alone can more easily destroy it it cost him but the speaking of a word to set it up and he can pull it downe with yea without a word speaking Many men have been styled The great The strong The mighty But no man ever durst owne this style The Almighty This title of God in the Text The Almighty should make the mightiest of men the Nimrods of the World afraid to meddle yea to think a thought of medling with God The absurdity of men in strengthening themselves against the Almighty may appeare yet more distinctly in three particulars First He that is Almighty is stronger then All there cannot be two Almighties Hence the Apostle argues 1 Cor. 10. Will you provoke the Lord to anger are you stronger then he It is base and cowardly to provoke those that are weaker then our selves it may give us trouble enough to provoke those who are as strong as our selves but it is either madness or desperatnesse to provoke those who are stronger then our selves And when the Apostle demands or rather expostulates Are yee stronger then he His question cals for this positive assertory answer we are infinitely weaker then he and therefore there is no prevailing against him not onely not in all things but not in any thing It is possible for a weake Enemy to prevaile sometimes upon a mighty Enemy The Romans who commanded the world for many ages and were too strong for any Nation did yet receive some foyles though they were never conquered yet they were somtimes worsted not only by surprisals and Ambuscadoes but in the open field and even petty Princes gave checks for a while to some of their designes But El-Shaddai the Almighty God never received any defeat nor is he within the possibility of a surprize Secondly Not onely cannot the Lord be defeated but he cannot be endammaged he never lost as we say so much as a haire of his head nor did he ever suffer so much as the scratch of a Pin. The Romans obtained some Victories with such extreame losse and hazzard that it hath been sayd Two or three more such Victories would utterly undoe them they who were never defeated or foyled have yet been greatly endammaged in Battel and their clearest gains have not bin without some losse but the Almighty never lost the worth of a thread or drop of blood in all those innumerable Victories which he hath gained Thirdly Man cannot so much as hinder or retard the designes of God He transcends all the impediments and throws open all the Barracadoes that are set in his way He will worke and who shall let him Isa 43.13 There is no putting of a barr in his way and therefore if any should answer the question Who shall let it Yes there are some will let it the great men the Nobles of the Earth say no they will let it But they shall not saith God in the next Verse Vers 14. For your sake speaking to his people in Captivity I have sent to Babylon and have brought downe all their Nobles The Originall word for Nobles signifies also Barrs the Barrs of a door or Castle gate as we put in the Margin of our Bibles to note that Nobles and great men should be the strength of a People and a stop to the entrance of any evill among them but if in stead of that they prove like Barrs onely to hinder the good of a People and to lye crosse in all publike proceedings then the Lord the Lord of Lords and King of Kings brings them down and breaks them all to peeces I will worke and who shall let it The Nobles the Bars shall not though Bars of Iron to Gates of Brasse It was sayd in opening the words that stretching out the hand is the posture of a madd man Consider this and then say Is it not the maddest madnesse to stretch out the hand against God or to strengthen our selves against the Almighty to oppose him against whom it is impoâ—sible not onely to prevaile but to doe him the least hurt or give him the least check or stop in his way If wee should see a man set his shoulder against a Wall of Brasse or blow a Feather against it hoping to overturne and batter it downe would not we say this man is either a Fool who never had the use of reason or a Mad-man who hath lost his reason He that opposeth the counsells and wayes of God can no more overthrow them then a Feather can a Wall of Brasse or the touch of a little finger the strongest Tower The Psalmist represents us with these simple attempts Psal 2.1 2 c. Why doe the Gentiles rage and the people imagine a vaine thing The Kings of the earth take counsell c. Come let us breake their bands and cast their cords away from us What followes He that sits in Heaven shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision He sees how poore how inconsiderable these motions and commotions both of the Many and of the Mighty are to give check to that Decree of his Almightinesse to set his Son upon the holy Hill of Sion Eliphaz hath not yet done with his description of the impotent rage of man against the Almighty God O sinfull vaine man whither wilt thou goe What wilt thou doe next The next Verse tells us Vers 26. He runs upon him even on his necke upon the thick Bosses of his Bucklers This 26. Verse is an amplification or aggravation of the madnesse of a wicked man who when he hath strengthened himselfe against God as he thinks and hopes sufficiently then he runs upon him c. Eliphaz carrieth on the metaphor of a Battell which before it is fought Armies are mustered and drawne up in view of each other and then to shew their courage they stretch out their hands draw their Swords and as soone as the Signall
hands are cleane and his heart is cleane he is cleane all over and holy all over while we call him all this we doe not call him beyond what God hath made him JOB CHAP. 17. Vers 10 11 12. But as for you all doe you returne and come now for I cannot finde one wise man among you My dayes are past my purposes are broken off even the thoughts of my heart They change the night into day the light is short because of darknesse THough Jobs Freinds had severely reproved and threatned him reproved him for his supposed sin and threatned him with further sufferings in case hee continued in sin yet did they as often counsell and encourage him counsell him to repent and returne to God encourage him with promises that God would repent and returne to him yea turne his captivity and afflictions as the Rivers in the South and that though he then was in a night of sorrow yet a morning of joy or joy in the morning should surely breake out and shine upon him Now as Job had before often and also in the former part of this Chapter supported himselfe under the weight of all their reproofes and threatnings by the power of God and the conscience of his owne integrity so he had as often before and he doth it here againe in the latter part of this Chapter cast off their promises and incouragements together with all hopes of any restauration in this life to such a flourishing outward condition as he once enjoyed And because his Freinds discerning this in him by some of his precedent answers had judged it as a symptome of secret guilt and selfe condemnation which would not let him so much as expect any good So Eliphaz had perstringed and smitten him Chap. 15.22 He beleeves not that hee shall returne out of darknesse Therefore Job wonders to see them persist in that opinion and concludes them under a great dâ—fect of understanding who did not perceive that a man so miserably pined and worne with sicknesse and paine as hee was had nothing to look after or prepare for but onely a Grave And this he doth with much rhetoricall elegancy and passionatenesse of speech to the end of this Chapter His sense may be drawne together into this breife way of reasoning He who is as a dead man already should not feed himselfe or be fed by others with hopes of life or of worldly prosperity in this life But I for my part am as a dead man or but the shadow of a man Therefore I will neyther feed my selfe neyther ought you to feed me with hopes of life or of prosperity in this life Yet before he layes downe and illustrates this Argument he invites over his Freinds to his opinion and professeth that they had not yet spoken any reason nor argued like wise men in all that they had argued to the contrary Vers 10. But as for you all doe you returne and come now for I cannot finde one wise man among you Though some wise men goe out of the way yet it is for want of wisedome that any man goes out of the way while Job calls upon his Freinds to returne hee implyes that they going out of the way were not wise and that it would be their wisedome to returne into it But as for you all Job puts all his Freinds into one predicament and indeed they were much alike to him having all troden in the same path and met in the same judgement of and resolutions against him But what would he have them doe As he supposed them all in one way and that out of the way So he sets them all to the same worke that they might come right againe Doe you returne and come now Yet there are three opinions about his meaning while hee saith Returne and come First Some conceive that Jobs Freinds being netled as we say and provoked with what he had spoken before began to renew the dispute and to rally themselves with conjoyned Forces Quasi facta testudine una omnes concurrite Nicet Ad disputationem provocat Sanct. Veruntamen omnes incumbite venite quaeso Sept. for a fresh encounter which Job perceiving he according to this Interpretation dares them in these words and sends them a Challenge As if he had sayd I see you are providing your selves and consulting for a rejoynder with me I doe doe if you thinke good returne and come put pour selves into what posture you please joyne your forces together I am ready to receive your charge and make my defence I am not afrayd of you all you are three and I have not so much as a Second yet I will not turne my back from you all therefore as for you all doe yee returne and come now come when or as soone as you will Thus He challengeth them to a further dispute Returne and come Convertendi verbum cum quocunque alio verbo junctum idem significat quod rursus aut altera vice aliquid facere is as the propriety of the phrase in the Originall imporrts come againe if you will come a second time come a third The word that we translate Returne when it is joyned with another Verbe say Grammarians signifies as much as Againe or to doe a thing the second time Take two places of Scripture for it Jos 5.2 At that time the Lord sayd unto Joshua Make thee sharpe Knives and circumcise againe the Children of Israel the second time So wee translate The Hebrew is Returne which is the word of the Text and circumcise them a second time Not that they who had been once circumcised must have a second circumcision But for as much as circumcision which was first commanded to Abraham had beene long disused while the people of Israel were moving and unsetled in the Wildernesse therefore the Lord gives circumcision a kinde of second Institution by requiring Joshua to restore it solemnely a second time as it was set up at first Returne and circumcise them that is renew that ancient Ordinance of Circumcision The like way of speaking read Psal 85.6 where David in behalfe of the Church pleads with God thus Wilt thou not revive us againe The Hebrew is Wilt thou not returne and revive us We translate the Verbe Returne by the Adverbe Againe Will thou not revive us againe Thou hast given us many revives when we were as dead men and like carkasses rotting in the Grave thou didst revive us wilt thou not revive us once more and act over those powerfully mercifull workes and strong salvations once more or againe So here Returne and come that is Come againe The words thus expounded are an argument of Jobs magnanimity and holy courage in maintaining his right and standing up in the defence of his owne integrity against all commers As it is our duty to contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints so for our owne faithfulnesse Secondly Others expound the words as an advise not