not commit all to them he would not believe upon them We finde the word belief thus used Exod. 14. 31. when the children of Israel saw the great work that the Lord had wrought in destroying the Egyptians it is said The people feared the Lord and believed the Lord and his servant Moses he puts God and Moses as the joynt object of their faith as they had formerly been of their unbelief Except the servants of the Lord be believed the Lord himselfe is not And when they are believed the Lord is Believe in the Lord your God believe his Prophets saith good Jehosaphat to his people 2 Chron. 20 20. Moses had told them enough of the power of God before he had undertaken they should be delivered but they would not trust Moses upon his word nor would they trust the Word of God yet now when they saw this great deliverance present sight wrought faith for the time to come they perceived by this miracle that the Lord and Moses were to be credited they doubted not to credit them another time Though that faith which comes in at the eyes only seldome goes downe so low as the heart or sees further and longer then the eye Thus we may understand the first part of the Verse He put no trust no belief in his servants he gave no credit to them as knowing perfectly what their nature and power was what both could do that if left by God they would quickly leave God and prove unfaithfull I shall observe one point before I come to the latter part of the Verse for there the suspition of disloyaltie upon the Angels comes more fully to be considered from the title here given to the Angels His servants he put no trust in his servants Angels are the servants of God They are his servants as being altogether at his command and they are his servants as being fully conformable to his commands These great and glorious Spirits come under the same title and denomination with men who dwell in houses of clay servants of God To serve God is not only the duty but it is the honour of the highest creatures It is more honour to serve God then to rule the world The stile of the good Angels is Ministring Spirits Heb. 1. but the stile and title of the evill Angel is Prince of the power of the aire God of this word you would think these were weighty titles Prince of the aire God of the world but the additions diminish their weight yea make them lighter then vanity or rather heavie only with misery There is more glory in being a servant of God than in being a god of the world or a Prince of the power of the aire I might here enlarge my enquiry into the services of Angels in what they are servants and what their offices and duties are but I shall only touch Their service may be considered either in respect of the Church or the enemies of the Church Respecting the Church and people of God they have such services as these First they are as messengers to carry and reveale the minde of God They are as Tutors and instructors of the Churches Dan. 8. 9. God sent his Angel to teach Daniel the mysterie of those visions And Rev. 1. 11. an Angel was sent to instruct John Chap. 22. 16. I Jesus have sent mine Angell to testifie these things in the Churches Secondly they are sent as guardians and protectors of the people of God to take their part and to be on their side Psal 34. 7. The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that feare him Psal 91. 11. He giveth his Angels a charge over them lest at any time they should dash their feet against a stone Gen. 32. 2. When Jacob journied it is said the Angels of God met him an army of Angels was his Convoy Gods Hoast coming out for his protection and safeguard and therefore he called the name of that place Nahanaim that is two Hosts or Camps either because the Angels appeared in two bands and so made as it were a guard for Jacob to passe between them Or because the great Angelicall Royall Army quartered and marched with Jacobs little Army and so two confederate Armies appeared in the field together Angels are called Chariots Psal 68. 17. The Chariots of God are twenty thousand even thousands of Angels That is God useth Angels for defence of his people as Chariots in Warr. The ancient Prophets were called the Chariots of Israel 2 King 3. 13. and the Angels are the Chariots of God Our strongest Militia is of Spirits or of men spiritualiz'd Thirdly Angels suggest good things holy thoughts to us If the Devill who is an evill Angel a wicked spirit can suggest evill sinfull filthy thoughts and help on the heart in wickednesse then doubtlesse a good Angel can help on the heart in holinesse in heavenly thoughts and meditations Christ speaks of Judas that Satan had put it into his heart to betray him John 13. and Peter to Ananias Acts 5. Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lye to the Holy Ghost The nature of a good Angel is as fit his power given as great to deale with our spirits as either the nature or the power of an evill Angel That of the Apostle 2 Cor. 11. 14. gives a hint if not a proofe of it where he tels the Corinthians That deceitfull workers transforme themselves into the Apostles of Christ and no marvell for Sathan himselfe is transformed into an Angell of light and when is Satan in this change from an Angel of darknesse to an Angel of light even when He suggests good for evill ends or evill for good ends And if he is called an Angel of light for this reason then Angels of light good Angels suggest good for good ends otherwise Satan could not be said to imitate them in suggesting good for ill ends and under specious pretences of bringing glory to God tempting to transgresse the will of God Fourthly good Angels comfort strengthen and support in times of distresse anguish and trouble an Angel comforted Hagar Gen. 21 and Matth. 4. 10. after Christ had finished his terrible combat with that wicked Angel the good Angels came and ministred unto him Againe when he was in that most bitter Agony in the garden Luke 22. 43. an Angel appeared to him from Heaven strengthning him That which they do to Christ the Head they do to his members in their proportion Their fifth service is to conveigh and carry the soules of departed Saints to Heaven they are Heavenly Porters Luke 16. 22. Lazarus dyed and was carried by the Angels into Abrahams bosome Lastly they shall convocate and gather all the Elect together at the last day Matth. 24. 31. Their services against the wicked and all enemies of the Church have been many and great Angels assist Saints and oppose the opposers of Sion Two Angels were sent upon a message of destruction to Sodome an Angel defeated the
of the imagination of mans heart it is evill and onely evill and that continually the Hebrew is every figment or every creature in the heart of man whatsoever a man moulds and fashions within himself naturally is evill and nothing but evill and it is alwayes so The naturall births of mans heart have all one common face and feature They are all of one common constitution Evill all Secondly We may observe That The meritorious cause of mans suffering is from his sinne Iniquity springeth not from the ground neither doth trouble come out of the dust As iniquity springs from our selves so we may resolve it that misery springs from our sinne It is a truth as hath been touched upon the second Chapter that God in many afflictions laid upon his dear children and servants respects not their sin as the cause procuring and drawing on these afflictions And very many are afflicted by the world not for sinnes sake but for righteousness sake As Christ so some Christians may say in their spheare We have done many good works for which of them doe ye stone us Yet this is as cleare a truth that the sinne of any man is in it selfe a sufficient meritorious cause of any yea of all afflictions A creature cannot beare a greater punishment then the least of his sinnes deserves Man weaves a spiders webb of sinne out of his owne bowels and then he is intangled in the same webb the troubles which insnare and wrappe about him are twisted with his own fingers Thirdly observe Naturally every man seekes the reason of his sorrows and afflictions out of himselfe When man is afflicted he is not willing to owne himself as the cause of his afflictions or acknowledge that they spring from his sinne and that may be the reason why Eliphaz speaks thus to Job as if he had said thy thoughts are wandring abroad thou little thinkst that thy afflictions were bred in thy owne bosome Thou art fastning the cause of then upon this and t'other thing Thou art complaining of the day wherein thou wast borne but thou shouldest rather complain of the sin wherein thou wast born Thâ— birth-day hath not hurt thee but thy birth-sin Thy birth-sin hath given conception to all the sorrows of thy life The Jewes in the Prophet Isa's time were in great distresse and could get no deliverance The ports and passages of mercy were all obstructed Now whether went their thoughts And what did they looke upon as the reason of those abiding lingring evils we may reade their thoughts in the refutation of them we may see what the disease of their hearts was by the medicine which the Prophet applies unto them he labours to purge them from that conceit as if either want of power or want of love in the Lord were the stop of their deliverance The Lords hand is not shortned that he cannot save neither his eare heavy that he cannot heare Isa 59. 1 2. as if he had said I know what your apprehensions are in these affliction you thinke the reason is in God that either he cannot or he will not save you You think the hand of Gods power is shrunke up or the eare of his mercy shut up but you reflect not upon your selves nor consider that Your iniquities have separated between you and your God Your sinne does you hurt and you touch not that with a little finger but lay the weight of your charge upon God himselfe So Hos 13. 9. Thy destruction is from thy self in me is thy help God is forced to tel them so that their destruction was from themselves they would not believe it they supposed it was from the cruelty or malice of the creature from the wrath and rage of enemies from some oversight or neglect of their friends therefore the Lord speaks out in expresse termes Thy destruction is from thy self It springs not forth of the dust neither is thy destruction from me In me is thy help in both the heart of man failes equally we are ready to say that the good we have comes from our selves that our help and comforts are from our own power and wisdom and so offer sacrifice to our own nets as if by them our portion were fat but for evil and destruction we assigne it wholly over somtime to men and so are angry sometime to God and so blaspheme We naturally decline what reflects shame upon our selves or speaks us guilty From our translation Although affliction c Observe First Every affliction hath a cause The Proverbe carries that sense in every common understanding Our afflictions have a cause a certaine cause they come not by hap hazzard or by accident Many things are casuall but nothing is without a cause Many things are not fore seene by man but all things are fore-ordained by God The Prophet Amos Ch. 3. 6. sets forth this by an elegant similitude Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth where no ginne is for him As if he should say is a bird taken in a snare by chance where none have prepared set or industriously laid a snare or a ginne to take him The bird saw not the snare but the snare was set for the Bird. Snaresfall not on the ground at adventure they grow not out of the earth of themselves but the fowler by his art and industry invents and frames them a purpose to catch the bird Thus the calamity and troubles in which men are caught and lime-twig'd insnared and shackled in the world come not out of the ground They are not acts of chance but of providence The wise and holy God sets such snares to take and hold foolish unruly men like silly birds gaping after the baits of worldy pleasures Which meaning is cleare from the scope and tendency of the whole Chapter but the next question resolves it in the letter Is there any evill in a City and the Lord hath not done it Those words are both the conclusion and explication of the former similitude Secondly observe Affliction is not from the power of any creature As it comes not by chance or without a cause so not by the power of creatures they are not the cause dust and the ground are opposed to Heaven or to a divine power Creatures in this sense can neither doe good nor doe evill The world would be as full of trouble as it is of sin if sinfull men could make trouble It is not in the compasse of a creature no not of all the creatures in Heaven or earth to forme or to make out one affliction without the concurrence and allowance of God himselfe Men alone can neither make staves of comfort nor rods of affliction Whence thirdly A consectary from both may be That Afflictions are from the Lord as from the efficient cause the directer and orderer of them These evils are from a creating not from a created strength I saith the Lord forme the light and create darknesse Isa 45. 7. Naturall darknesse hath
is stronger then they were So I may say be yee not strivers or strugglers with God for your bands are made strong It is said Exod. 4. 25 26. That the Lord met Moses in the Inne and sought to kill him The Lord is never to seeke to doe what he pleases but thus he speakes after the manner of men who offer or assay at any businesse They seeke to do it But Zipporah having circumcised her sonne He let Moses goe It is this word He slacked or loosened having before as it were arrested and attached him or clapt him in prison for making that great default the neglect of Circumcision Sometimes we find the Lord himself speaking as if he were at the mercy or under the power of man and therefore calling in this word to be loosened or let alone Deut. 9. 14. Let me alone that I may destroy them The prayer of faith is as a band upon Gods hand holding him so fast that he seems as one that cannot strike or destroy till a Moses will give him leave by ceasing to pray unto him To be sure we are at Gods mercy and under his power so that nothing but the prayer of faith can loosen us And therefore Job doth not attempt to break the cords or cut them asunder nor seeks he to untie their knots but desires God himself to do it let me alone loosen me I will be a prisoner till thou openest the door for my deliverance As Jephtahs daughter said to him Judg. 11. 37. when he had bound himself and her in the bands of a rash vow Let me alone for two months or loosen me from the ingagement of my vow for two months as if she had said I will not loose my self by a wilful refusal but doe thou give me a willing dispensation So a godly man bespeaks the Lord in his straights Loosen me Lord. Unlesse God be pleased to loosen him he will be contented and when in a good frame of heart and freeness of spirit well-pleased with his bands In some sence he speakes as Paul and Silas when they were in prison Acts 16. 37. Let the Lord himself come and fetch us out That is let us see such means of our inlargement and freedome from trouble as may assure us that the Lord hath loosened and enlarged us A godly man had a thousand times rather be put into a prison by God than put himself into a paradice He had rather be bound by Gods hand than loosened by his own That place toucht before may reach this sence Prov. 24. 10. if thou faintest so we or loosnest thy self in the day of adversity Thy strength is small that is the strengh of thy faith and patience is small There is nothing discovers our weakness more than striving to break the cords of our afflictions The stronger we are in faith in love in humility the more quietly we lie bound Faith seeks ease and release onely in God to say Lord loosen me is a duty to loosen our selves is both our sin and our punishment Till I may swallow down my spittle Some conceive that from this Hebrew word Rak which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saliva undè quidam deducunt Raca Mat. 5. 22. quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interpretantur i. e. conspuendum vel dignum qui conspuatur Alii a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vacum quasi cerebro vacuus judicio carens Drus we translate spittle Raca is derived Mat. 5. 22. as if to call a man Raca were as much as to say he is worthy to be spit upon or that one should spit in his face though others spring that word from Rik which signifies empty as if it were as much as to call a man an empty fellow without wit or brains or within one degree of a foole which is the next word in Matthew But what is Iobs intendment in desiring God to let him alone Till he might swallow down his spittle First Some refer it to a bodily distemper as if Iob were troubled with a (a) Inter caetera mala Synanchen habuisse se perhibet Hieron squinsie or sore throat which hindered the swallowing of his spittle (b) Dimitta me ut gustum aliqâ—em hujus vitae capiam Albert. Another takes it in a Philosophical notion as if Iob had said Lord let me have some ease that I may at least tast once more what it is to live or how sweet life is For that sence of tast works by the salival humour or spittle in the mouth which mixing with the juice or sap that is in meats affects and delights the pallate Thirdly these words are taken as the discription of a man ready to die who is disabl'd either to swallow his spittle or to void it As if he had said I am now even at the point of death let me alone a little Davids prayer comes near this sense Psal 39. 13. O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be no more Fourthly It may be taken proverbially and that two waies First To note the shortest time even so much as may serve a Serno proverbialis talis est neque ad scalpendas aures mihi otium est man to spit As if he had said O let me have a little intermission a little respit such is the sence of that phrase Chap. 9. 18. He will not suffer me to take my breath And the like are those used in some countries I have not leisure or time to scratch my ear or to pare my nails My sorrows know no interim my feaver is one continued fit I have no well daies no nor a good hour Ne tantillum quidem temporis est quoÌ„ non tenter aâ—te Coc. therefore let me at least have so much time of ease as I may swallow my spittle let me have the shortest time That I may once more know though but for a moment what it is to be without pain To whlch interpretation that also subscribes which makes these words to be a circumlocution for silence For while a man is swallowing his spittle his speech stops he cannot bring up his words and let down the spittle at the same time so his meaning is I am forced to complain continually I would be silent and forbear speaking but my grief will not suffer me The second proverbial understanding of the word is that they Elegans proverbialis loquutio ad denotandum diligentem in alium intuitum quo minim as in alio discernet actiones Saliva ferè imperceptibiliter obsorvetur import a very strict watch held upon another in all his motions so that he cannot stir a finger or move his tongue silently in his mouth unobserved If I do but stir my tongue to swallow my spittle which is one of the most unperceivable acts of man thou takest notice O do not hold so strict a hand and so curious an eye upon me Let me have a little liberty do not examine every failing do
that plow iniquity and sow wickednesse reape the same which he applies parsonally to Job Chap. 22. v. 5 6. Is not thy wickednesse great and thine iniquities infinite Thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought and and stripped the naked of their cloathing c. The whole scope of his speech bends the same way and is as if he had said to Job Though thy carriage hath been so plausible among us that we are not able to accuse thee of sin yet these judgements accuse thee and are sufficient witnesses against thee These cry out with a loud voyce that thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought c. Though we have not seen thee act these sins yet in these effects we see thou hast acted them The snares which are round about thee tell us thou hast laid snares for others he that runs may read how terrible how troublesome thou hast been to the poore in the terrours which have seaz'd thy spirit and in the troubles which have spoyl'd thee of thy riches Bildad the Shuite speaks second His opinion is not so rigid as that of Eliphaz He grants that afflictions may fall upon a righteous person yet so that if God send not deliverance speedily if he restore him not quickly to his former estate and honour then upon the second ground of the fourth princple such a man may be censured cast and condemned as unrighteous That such was Bildads judgement in this case is cleare Chap. 8. 5 6. If thou wert pure and upright surely now he would awake for thee and make the habitation of thy righteousnesse prosperous Though thy beginning was small yet thy latter end shall greatly increase And vers 20 21. Behold God will not cast away a perfect man c. till he fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with rejoycing As if he had said I connot assent to my brother Eliphaz affirming That every man afflicted is afflicted for his wickednesse I for my part believe and am perswaded that a godly man may be afflicted for the tryall exercise of his graces c. but then I am assured that God never lets him lie in his afflictions for as soon as he cries and cals the Lord awakes presently makes his habitation prosperous again and increases him more then ever I grant the Lord may cast down a perfect man but he will not in this life cast him away no he will speedily fill his mouth with laughing and his lips with rejoycing Zophar the third Opponent differs from the two former in this great controversie affirming That the reason of all those afflictions which presse the children of men is to be resolved into the absolute will and pleasure of God that we are not further to enquire about his wisdome justice or mercy in dispencing them his counsels being unsearchable and his wayes past finding out Thus he delivers his mind Ch. 11. 7 8. Canst thou by searching find out God Canst thou by searching find him out to perfection It is as high as heaven what canst thou do Deeper then hell what canst thou know vers 12. Vaine man would be wise though man be borne like a wild Asses colt In the rest of his speech he comes nearest the opinion of Bildad vers 14 15 16. and gives out â—s hard thoughts of Job as either of his brethren numbring him among the wicked assigning him the reward of an hypocrite Chap. 10. 29. This is the portion of a wicked man from God and the heritage appointed unto him by God These I conceive are the Characteristicall opinions of Jobs three friends about his case All consistent with those four principles which they hold in common all equally closing in the censure and condemnation of Job though in some things dissenting and falling off from one another But what thinks Job or how doth he acquit or extricate himself from these difficulties very well His sentence is plainly this That The providence of God dispences outward prosperity and affliction so indifferently to good and bad to the righteous the wicked that no unerring judgement can possibly be made up of any mans spirituall estate by the face upon the view of his temporall He declares this as his opinion in cleare resolute and Categoricall termes Ch. 9. v. 22 23. This is one thing therefore I said it He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked if the scourge slay suddenly he will laugh at the triall of the innocent Which opinion hath no quarrell at all with any of those three principles held by Job joyntly and in consort with his three friends but only with their fourth which he throughout refutes as heterodox unsound in it self as uncomfortable to the Spirits and inconsistent with experiences of the Saints In the Strong hold and Fort-royal of this holy truth Job secures himself against all the assaults and scatters all the Objections of his Opponents resolving to maintain it to the very death he will lay his bones by this position say his unkind friends what they can against him let the most wise God doe what he pleases with him That he was a sinner he readily grants that he was an hypocrite he flatly denies That the Lord was righteous in all his dealings with him he readily grants That himself was righteous because the Lord had dealt so with him he statly denies How perfect soever he was he confesses that he needed the free-grace and mercies of the Lord to justifie him but withall asserts that he was perfect enough to justifie himselfe against all the challenges of man In these acknowledgements of his sinfullnesse and denials of insincerity In these humblings of himself before God and acquittings of himself before men in these implorings of mercy from the Lord and complainings of the unkindnesse of his brethren the strength of Jobs answer consists and the specialties of it may be summ'd up 'T is true that through the extremity of his pain the anguish of his spirit and the provocation of his friends some unwary speeches slipt from him For which Elihu reproved him gravely and sharply of which himselfe repented sorrowfully and heartily all which the most gracious God passed by and pardon'd freely not imputing sin unto him Thus Christian reader I have endeavoured as heretofore of the whole Book so now to give a brief account concerning the Argumentative part of it And to represent how far in this great Controversie the Answerer and his Objectors agree in judgement and where they part If this discovery administer any help as a Threed to lead your meditations through the many secret turnings and intricacies of this dispute the labor in drawing it out is abundantly satisfied And if any further light subservient to this end shall be given in from the Father of lights that also in it's season may be held forth and set upon a Candle-stick What is now received together with the textuall Expositions upon this first Undertaking between
the bosome and spirit of a man Let it not trouble thee that I thus speak take my words in good part If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved Secondly observe That it is no easie thing to beare reproofe To take a reproofe well is as high a point of spirituall wisdome as to give it well When we reprove the sinne we should love the man but there are few men who can love their reprovers You know what is said in the Prophet They hate him that reproveth in the gate Reproofs are usually entertained with hatred and ill taken by evill persons reproofe is not alwayes taken in good part by those who are good It is but need to have some way made for its due entertainment by the best temper'd spirits Wilt thou be grieved it may be wearisome and troublesome unto thee but I pray let it not Thirdly observe from the Preface That in some cases it is our duty to speak and reprove whether men are troubled or no. How should I be pleased if thou wouldest receive my speech in good part but I cannot withhold my selfe from speaking though thou art displeased take it how you will I must speak these reproofs must out When we see plainly that God is dishonoured and that the soule of our brother is greatly endangered we must then speak as God chargeth the Prophet whether they will heare or whether they will forbeare In such cases we must adventure to save men by Ep. Jude v. 23 feare plucking them out of the fire Lastly observe That when the heart is full it is a very hard thing not to give it vent at the lips by speaking When the heart is full of matter the tongue will be full of words the tongue must bring forth the treasures that are laid up in the heart Who saith Eliphaz can withhold himselfe from speaking The Prophet Jeremiah Chap. 20. 9. thought to stifle the message of God in his heart I said I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name he began to take up a resolution to withhold himselfe from speaking but saith he his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay I could not hold it any longer So the Apostles Acts 4. 19. We cannot but speak that which we have heard and seen it is impossible for us the Lord hath spoken who can but prophesie Amos 3. 8. that is who can withhold himselfe from prophesying when once the Lord bids him speak Words are the conceptions of our mindes and when our thoughts are form'd and organized as it were and grown to perfection when those children come to the birth a little strength will bring them forth Or rather great strength cannot keepe them from being brought forth It is as possible for her that is with childe to withhold the birth as it is for those that have pregnant conceptions or an errand from God to withhold themselves from speaking When David kept silence it is a strange connexion he roared Psal 32. 3. When he held his peace from good his sorrow was stirred Psal 39. 2. Pangs took hold on him as upon a woman in travell which made him roare His heart waxt hot the fire burned till he spake with his tongue He was then delivered Our English phrase of Delivering a mans minde may hit this sense well Their hearts are barren whose mouths are alwayes shut Who can withhold himselfe from speaking But what is it that he could not forbeare He could not forbear to tell him that as he supposed he acted against his own principles Behold thou hast instructed many and thou hast strengthened the weak hands c. Behold This word is sometime used in a way of derision as Ecce doctorem egregium Ecce medicum aliorum qui seipsum curare nesciat Gen. 3. 22. where God saith concerning Adam Behold the man is become as one of us doe you not see what a God he is how like a God he lookes so Behold thou hast instructed many some make that the sense see now your great Teacher your learned Doctor he that hath been so forward and busie in teaching others see in what disorder how uncomposed he is himselfe he would needs physick his Neighbours but knows not how to cure his own distempers But rather take it by way of ásseveration Behold as if he should say this is a thing clear and certaine all that are about thee can witnesse it that thou hast instructed many and that thou hast strengthened the weak hands But how art thou changed thou art not like the man thou wast Here are foure speciall acts of spirituall charity so we may call and distinguish them First instructing of the ignorant secondly encouraging of the weak and sloathfull thirdly supporting of those that are ready to fall and fourthly comforting those that are ready to faint In these foure duties Job had been very conversant 1 Indoctos docere Instruction of the ignorant Behold thou hast instructed many 2 Torpentes excitare Encouragement of the weak and sloathfull Thou hast strengthned the weake hands 3 Labentes erigere Supportation of the weake Thy words have upholden him that was falling 4 Maestos consolari Consolation of those who were ready to faint Thou hast strengthned the feeble knees Here you see the four uses which Job made in his counsels First 2 Tim. 3. 16. of Instruction Secondly of Exhortation Thirdly of Admonition Fourthly of Consolation Job was a perfect Preacher he applyes the word to all the services and ends of it respecting the severall conditions tempers or distempers of those with whom he had to doe Further some take the three latter to be but as explications or branches of the first Behold thou hast instructed many namely concerning the nature of afflictions and their duty in the bearing afflction yea thou hast instructed them so farre that thou hast strengthned the weake hands upholden those that were falling and strengthned the feeble knees I come now to the opening of the severall expressions Thou hast instructed many The word which we translate instructed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eâ—udivit castigavit ut patres praeceptoris solent pueros Respondet GraecoruÌ„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 docere verbi verberibus signifieth both to correct and to teach and the Hebrews give the reason of it because usually with instruction correction is joyned and so the same Greek word signifies both to teach and to chasten As there is a voice of the Rod instruction in correction so a Rod sometimes goes with the voice correction is helpfull to instruction In either or both the senses we may understand it here thou hast instructed many thou hast taught and directed thou hast where need was chastned and corrected many Many We have heard in the first Chapter that Job prayed for his Children
catechized or instructed servants The word signifies to train in the Principles of Religion as well as in the postures of war being the same used in the Book of Proverbs for teaching a childe the first elements of holy knowledge And that place of Genesis may very well comprehend both Fourthly observe That charity especially spirituall charity is very liberall and open-hearted Job instructed not onely his owne but he instructed others he instructed many he did not confine his doctrine and his advice to his own walls but the sound thereof went wheresoever he went he instructed many And if Job who had no special no direct calling to it were a teacher of many what shall we think of those whose calling and businesse it is to teach and yet teach not any at all their trade their profession is to teach yet they are so far from teaching many that they teach none and which is worse they hinder teaching they stop the mouth of the teacher and if they can the eare of the learner they take away the key of knowledge They neither open the doore themselves nor suffer those that would This is the very spirit of wickedness And blessed be God whose mighty power hath so graciously cast out and dispossest so many places of the Kingdome of these wicked spirits Further taking those other parts of his instruction as they respect persons afflicted who are here described by weak hands and feeble knees ready to fall unable to stand Observe first That sore afflictions doe exceedingly indispose for duty Sore afflictions make weak hands and feeble knees the weake hand and the feeble knee are as I said before emblems of one unfit for any businesse unfit to work unfit to walk when the hand is weak and the knee is feeble what is a man fit for Great sufferings unfit us for action Hence it is that the Lord moderates the afflictions of his people sweetens the bitternesse and takes off the oppressing weight of them God promiseth to come Isa 57. 16. with reviving and that he will not contend for ever with his people Why A principle Reason is Lest their spirits should fail before me and the soules which I have made Lest the spirits should faile that is lest they should faile in their duties the spirit cannot faile in the essence of it the spirit is of an eternall constitution but it faileth in the duty often And if afflictions lie too hard and too long upon a people their spirits fail their faith fails their courage failes their labours cannot be laborious to carry on and carry out their work Therefore when Job saw any under afflictions he endeavour'd to put courage into their hearts and so strength into their hands Secondly In the generall we may note further That the words of the wise have a mighty power strength and prevalence in them You see how efficatious the words of Job were Jobs instructions were strengthuings thou hast strengthned the weak hands and feeble knees his words were as stays to hold them up that were ready to fall Eliphaz doth not only say thou didst instruct many in instructing thou didst intend it was thy design and aime to strengthen the weak hands but he speaks of what Job had effected wrought thy words put sinews into the hands and knees of men that were weak and ready to fall thy words were as props to hold and bear up the spirits of those that were sinking Words wisely dispensed and followed with the blessing of God what can they not doe God doth the greatest things in the World by a word speaking as at the first he made the world it selfe by a word speaking so he hath done the greatest things and wrought the greatest changes in the World by a word speaking When a word goes forth cloathed with the authority and power of God it works wonders How hath it raised up sinking spirits how hath it made the fearfull undaunted and the weak-hearted couragious God by his word in the mouth of a weak man overthrows the strong holds of sinne and by a word brings every thought of man into subjection to Jesus 2 Cor. 10. 4. 5 Christ By a word he stops the mouth of blasphemy and evill speaking by a word speaking he makes a man deny himselfe by a word he opens the eyes of the blinde and makes the lame to run and leap like a Hart in the way of holinesse And I could wish that the word which I now speak might through the blessing of God have such an effect upon your spirits O that it might strengthen all weak hands and feeble knees O that it might uphold all who are ready to fall we are cast upon knee-feebling hand-weakning yea heart-weakning times the sight of those things which our eyes do see and the hearing of those things which our ears do heare cause many to fear and the spirits of some to fall Now a word invested with commission from God to go and comfort will master all our sorrowes and dispell all these fears If the Lord breathe upon a word that word will breathe lively activity into a very carkasse Look to those many and gracious promises made to those that mourne and comfort will flow in Promises are the treasures of comfort promises hold the Churches stock they are the patrimony of beleivers it is their priviledge and their honour to be called heirs of the promise While Heb. 6. 17. Christ and the Promise lives how can Faith dye or languish eying a promise So much of the first branch of the minor Proposition in the third and fourth Verses The second branch lies in the fifth Verse Now it is come upon thee and thou faintest it toucheth thee and thou art troubled Thou hast instructed many thou hast strengthned the weak hands c. but now it is come upon thee c. That is trouble and affliction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lassus fuit corpore vel animo prae lassitudine nescivit quid ageret are come upon thee And thou faintest The word signifies an extraordinary fainting when a man is so wearied and spent that he knowes not what he doth when his reason seemes tired as much as his strength So that the words Now it is come upon thee thou faintest may import thus much thou art in such a case that thou seemest to be besides thy selfe thou knowest not what thou doest thou speakest thou knowest not what The word is translated in the first Verse by grieved in other Scriptures by mad and furious Prov 26. 18. As a mad-man who casteth fire-brands c. And whereas we say Gen. 47. 13. the land of Egypt fainted by reason of the famine many render it the land of Egypt was inraged or mad because of In sanivit terra Egypti nan propter famem nimiam insanit homo Furebat terra i. e. tumultuabantur anno quinto famis mentem illâ—s adimente sane Jun. in loc the famine want of bread
exprest the righteous perish that is they dye as it is explained afterward they are taken away from the evill to come they rest in their beds sc in their graves so Matth. 8. 25. Master save us we perish say the Disciples when they thought they should all be drowned Lord helpe us or else we all dye presently and so we translate Job 34. 15. where Elihu speaking of the power of God thus describes it If he should but shew himselfe all flesh saith he shall perish together that is all flesh shall dye they are not able to stand before Gods power and greatnesse the word which he useth there strictly taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies to expire or give up the ghost yet we translate it all flesh shall perish together that is they shall all give up the ghost and dye if God should appear in his power and greatnesse Thirdly by perishing we may understand outward afflictions and troubles falling upon either godly or wicked these are called a perishing Josh 23. 13. Joshua tels the people If you will not obey and walk according to the Commandements of God ye shall quickly perish from off this good Land that is ye shall be removed by outward afflictions from your Land you shall goe into captivity And so if I perish I perish saith Esther Chap. 4. 17. that is if I bring trouble and affliction upon my selfe let it be so I will venture it A Syrian ready to perish was my father Deut. 26. It is meant of Jacob a man much verst in trouble as he himselfe acknowledgeth Few and evill have been the dayes of my pilgrimage Fourthly to perish notes eternall misery as it is put for the miseries of this life so for the life of misery for that life which is an everlasting death John 3. 16. God so loved the world that he gave Omnimodam rei perditionem significat oâ—pâ—â—niâ—uâ— enim generationi his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life perishing is opposed to everlasting life and therefore implyes everlasting death Fifthly to perish notes utter desolation and totall ruine A cutting off or a destroying the very name and remembrance of a person or of a people He that speaks lyes shall perish Pro. 19. 9. that is he shall be utterly destroyed In this sense the word is used for the Devill because he is a destroyer to the utmost as Christ is a Saviour to the utmost He is called Abaddon from Abad the word here used Rev. 9. 12. and Apollyon his businesse is to destroy totally and eternally Thus also Antichrist The first-borne of the Devill 2 Thess 2. 3. is called the sonne of perdition take it actively he is a destroying sonne one that destroyeth bodies and soules as in Scripture a bloody man is called Ish dammim a man of blood and passively he is a sonne of perdition that is a man to be destroyed both body and soule These two latter senses namely eternall destruction in Hell and utter destruction in this life are joyned together Prov. 15. 11. Hell and destruction or Hell and perishing are before the Lord and Chap. 27. 20. we have the same words againe Hell and perdition or Hell and destruction are never full So that to perish in a strict sense notes even in this life an utter extirpation so some render 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abscondit ne amplius auditur vel videatur per metonymiam sublatuâ— doletus succisus Sublata enim è medio non apparent amplius sed absconduntu◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it here Who ever saw the righteous plucked up by the roots so as there should be no remembrance no remainder of them The other word which is joyned in the Text cut off carries the same sense though it signifies properly to hide a thing yet it is so to hide it as it appeareth no more or so to hide it that it can neither be heard of nor seen any more Hence by a Metonymie it signifies to take away or to cut off because things that are taken away and cut off are as things hidden and seen no more Here then is the height of the sense either to take it for perishing in Hell or for such a perishing in this life as is joyned with totall desolation and desertion Then for the termes innocent and righteous The word we translate innocent signifieth empty And it is therefore applyed to an innocent person because innocent persons are emptied of malice and wickednesse their hearts are swept and cleansed purged and washed there is in some sense a vacuum a holy vacuum in the hearts of holy persons they are freed from that fulnesse of evill which lyes in their hearts by nature that filth is cast out Every mans heart by nature is brim full top full of wickednesse as the Apostle describes the Gentiles Rom. 1. 29. being filled with all unrighteousnesse and it is a truth of every mans heart it is a Cage full of uncleane Birds a stable full of filthy dung he hath in him a throng of sinfull thoughts a multitude of prophane ghests lodging in him Now a person converted is emptied of these these ghests are turned out of their lodgings the roomes are swept and emptied therefore an holy person is called an empty person Emptied not absolutely emptied of all sinne but comparatively there is abundance cast out so that considering how full of sin he was he may be said to be emptied of sinne and that his malice is cast out In the fourth of Amos the Prophet threatens cleannesse of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teeth it is a suitable judgement that uncleane hearts and lives should be punished with cleane teeth or innocency of teeth for it is the word of the Text. Famine is elegantly so called Want of bread makes empty or cleane teeth And where were the righteous that 's the other terme cut off One may put the question where were the righteous surely Job had very good eyes if he could finde any righteous man upon the earth he might seem to have clearer eyes then the Lord himselfe if he could finde any righteous God looked downe from heaven and he saw none righteous no not one Psal 53. 3 4. Yet here Eliphaz bids Job enquire about the righteous where they were cut off To clear that By righteous here we are to understand not righteous persons in a strict and legall sense but in a Gospel mollified sense righteous with an allay righteous by way of interpretation and not in the strictnesse of the letter And so men are called righteous first in reference to the work of regeneration There are none righteous in the root or originall in their first setting and plantation in the soyle of the world but there are righteous persons as regenerate and transplanted into the body of Christ as wrought and fashioned by the Spirit of Christ Secondly there are none righteous that is none exactly perfectly compleatly
angry are exprest by the different frame of the nostrils as namely when the Lord is said to be slow to anger the Hebrew is long of nostrils Psal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 103. 8. The Lord is slow to anger or Exod. 34. 6. Long-suffering In both places the Originall is long of nostrils that is of anger or long ere he be angry On the other side a passionate cholerick man a man ready to conceive anger is said to have a straite or a short nostrill He that is soone angry dealeth foolishly Prov. 14. 17. The Hebrew is he that hath a short or a narrow nostrill 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Brevis narium i. e. praeceps ad iram 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Spiritu furoris ejus deficiunt dealeth foolishly because such men are most apt to conceive anger So then while Eliphaz saith by the breath of his nostrils they are consumed it is as if he had said by the wrath and displeasure of God they are consumed and the Septuagint translate it directly by anger They are consumed by the breath or spirit of his anger so others in the Latine They are consumed by the spirit of his fury And both these words breath and blast are found together in one place 2 Sam. 22. 16. At the blast of the breath of his nostrils the whole verse runneth thus The channels of the sea appeared the foundations of the earth were discovered at the rebuking of the Lord at the blast of the breath of his nostrils that is at the great displeasure of the Lord. So we see what we are here to understand by the breath and by the blast of the Lord. And in this passage Eliphaz seems to hint at the manner of the death of Jobs children who were destroyed by the strength of a mighty winde smiting the foure corners of the house so that it fell upon them that winde may well be called the breath and the blast of God both in regard of the wonder and strangenesse of it as also because though Satan was the instrument he had the ordering and disposing of it Satans breath all the winde he can raise cannot blow away a feather unlesse the Lord give and continue leave and strength to doe it Observe first God can easily destroy wicked men He doth it by a blast or by a breath Though to themselves and others they appeare as great Mountains yet before God they are but as dust or chaffe of the Mountains by a blast or by a breath he scatters and consumes them So David compares them Psal 1. 4. The ungodly are not so not so how they are not as a tree planted by the waters side that is the portion of the righteous how are the ungodly then they are as the chaffe that the winde scattereth or driveth away the best of them the most solid of them are no better And Isa 17. 13. The Nations shall be chased as the chaffe of the mountaines before the winde and as a rolling thing before the whirlwinde Though Nations mighty strong powerfull Nations come out against God and his people Fear them not For if God set himselfe against them they are no more before him then a little chaffe he scatters them by the breath of his displeasure You know it is no trouble for a man to breath or to make a blast with his mouth and this phrase is used to shew with what ease and facility God destroys all the plots and counsels of wicked men it putteth him to no paine no sweating no travel or labour to doe it men are put to much expence of paines and run many hazzards to oppose the wickedness of men but God doth it with a breath 2 King 19. 7. When God sent to Hezekiah to assure him that he would deliver him from Senacherib he not onely promiseth to doe it but shews him how he will do it even as in this Text Behold I will send a blast upon him that 's all I will doe I will not trouble my self much about the businesse you must gather armies and make great preparations against the enemy but I will doe it with a blast And which is yet more speedy Some understand this blast to note only the will and pleasure the intent or purpose of God by the blast of God they perish that is if he doe but will it it is done it is no more for him to act it then intend it The Septuagint translate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 near this sence by the command of God they perish as if Eliphaz had said it is as easie for God to doe it as to say it shall or to command it to be done Men can command great things and talke much what they will doe and all proves but talking and commanding one man may command more in an houre then a Million can doe in a year but with God it is all one to command accomplish It is noted for a high speech that of Caesar to Metellus who opposing him when he came into the Roman Treasury to take the money there heaped together Caesar whose great spirit could not bear opposition saith to him Let me alone or I will lay thee dead upon the ground And presently at once to quallifie that threat and magnifie his owne power addes Young man it is harder for mee to speak this then to doe it It is most certainly so with God he can as easily doe any thing as speak it Yet further we finde the easinesse of Gods destroying his enemies set forth a degree higher He doth it by a looke as by a blast of his nostrils so by a cast of his eye that 's a small trouble and that 's all that it needs cost God to destroy the strongest the vilest and violentest foe in the world thus he consumed the Hoast of Pharaoh even with a look Exod. 14. 24. It came to passe that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the hoast of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud and troubled the hoast of the Egyptians If God hide his face from his people they are troubled and if he look upon his enemies they are troubled He darts out both beams of life and beams of death from his eyes When a godly man is afflicted if he can but get the Lord to look upon his trouble he is delivered And when wicked men prosper if God do but look upon their glory they are withered With such ease doth the Scripture expresse the destruction of wicked ones it is by a breath by a word by a command by a look An intimation from the eye of God is execution Secondly note God can suddenly destroy the counsels and the plottings the ploughings and the sowings of wicked men In proverbial speaking to doe a thing suddenly and to doe a thing with a breath are the same God can as soon destroy his enemies as a man can breath Psal 73. 10. How are they brought into desolation in
tremble The Naturalists observe that though many creatures are swifter of foot then the Lion yet when he roareth they fall downe and he overtakes them with his astonishing voyce so tyrannicall men with their roaring words their loud threatnings often affright and daunt the poor 7. They resemble Lions in the sowrenesse and sternenesse of their countenance and cloudinesse of their browes Much of mans heart is seene in his face frownes are as blowes hence we call it brow-beating The love of God is expressed by the pleasantnesse of his face and the light of his countenance So also is the love of man and we may see what the intent of another is in his very lookes Many are in this respect Lion-like men they have as Aristotle saith of the naturall Lion clouds and stormes hanging about their eye-browes It was a threatning against the Jewes in case of disobedience that God would send against them a Nation of a fierce countenance which should not regard the person of the old c. Deut. 28. 50. Lastly they are like Lions in regard of their greedinesse after prey They have set their eyes bowing downe to the earth like as a Lyon that is greedy of his prey Psal 17. 11 12. Thus you see both who are here meant by Lions and likewise how the resemblance or picture of a wicked man may be taken from a Lion Now when it is said that the teeth of the Lions are broken that the old Lions perish and the young Lions are scattered abroad By all these expressions of scattering perishing and being broken to peeces the Holy Ghost shewes us the utter full and finall consumption of wicked men they are not only touched troubled and roused up out of their dens but these Lions old and young are scattered and consumed They perish There is an opinion currant among the Jewish writers that this verse is to be understood as a description of the means or instruments by which God destroyes wicked men and not as we of wicked men themselves whom God will destroy Junius agrees with this interpretation of the Jewes translating the two verses in this sence By the blast of God they perish and by the breath of his nostrils they are consumed by the roariag of the Lion and by the voyce of the fierce Lion and by the teeth of young Lions they are consumed As if when wicked men so he giveth the glosse are not destroyed immediately by the breath and by the blast of God then God stirres up the creatures against them and will destroy them by Lions We know it was a speciall judgement threatned in the Law against the disobedient Levit. 26. 22. that God would send evill beasts among them The Prophet numbers this among Gods sore judgements Sword famine pestilence and evill beasts are put together In the history of the Kings we have a famous 2 King 17. â—â— record how the Lord sent Lions who slew some of those Idolaters whom the King of Bahylon had transplanted into the Cities of Samaria But I rather conceive the former exposition of the words to be the truth and most sutable to the context and there is this reason to be given because it agrees best with the purpose of Eliphaz whose worke was so to describe the destruction of wicked men in generall that he might particularly intimate the destruction fallen upon Job and his family with the reason of it Job was a great man in his time he was among men as the Lion among beasts a chiefe His friends thought him a cruell Lion too and so he is told to his face afterward by one of them that he like a greedy Lion had taken away the pledge and the garment from the poore This Eliphaz would hint at least to Job and that God had found him out in his Lion-like qualities that he being a Magistrate and a man in authority having dealt hardly and cruelly with others now the Lord had measured to him the same measure he had given others He the Lion and she the fierce Lion or Lionesse his wife they the young Lions his children were all broken and either perished or perishing So much for the cleering of the words I shall now adde some observations from them First Wicked men how powerfull how strong soever shall fall before the wrath and indignation of God The day of the Lord shall be against every one that is high and that is lifted up God desires in a speciall manner to be dealing with these for they in the pride of their spirits think themselves a match for God though indeed their strength be but weaknesse and their wisdome foolishnesse yet in their own conceits they are stronger and wiser then God himselfe Hence like Pharaoh they send defiance to Heaven and say Who is the Lord Exod. 5. 1. When God sees the hearts of men swolne to this height of insolent madnesse he delights to shew himselfe and graple with them that the pride of man may be abased and every one that is exalted may be laid low that he only may be exalted and his Name set up in that day David was much troubled at that murther of Abner yet he could not take vengeance presently upon the fierce Lion that had suckt his blood Why his power did not reach it ye sonnes of Zerviah saith he are too hard for me 2 Sam. 23. 3. But there are no sonnes of Zerviah too hard for God no Lions so strong but he can teare them with infinitely more ease then a Lion can the tender kid This should comfort us when we see great and potent enemies rising up against the Church what are these before the great Lion the Lion of the Tribe of Judah If the Lord doe but roare if the Lion of the Tribe of Judah come against these Lions they will run like a heard of fearfull deare The Kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chiefe Captaines and the mighty men are described trembling at the presence of Christ when he appeared but as a Lambe Rev. 6. 15 16. They cry to the mountaines and the rockes to fall upon them and to hide them from his face If when Christ appeares like an angry Lambe the greatest in the world fall before him what then will these doe when Christ shall appeare as a roaring Lion Secondly observe how gradually the Holy Ghost expresses the destruction of wicked tyrants All is not done at once First the roaring of the Lion doth perish then their voice then their teeth are pulled out next their prey is taken away lastly their whelps are scattered Note hence That usually God destroyes wicked men by degrees Here are five steps or degrees of Gods justice against these Lions First He stops the roaring of the Lions they shall not be able to make such a dreadfull noise as heretofore their roaring may be stopt when their voice is not though they can speake yet they shall not yell In the second
esse verbum alicut nihil aliud significat quam factam esse revelationem in aâ—iquo Deum cognitione futurorum instar luminiâ— mentem illustrasse Cyril in 1 cap. Hos v 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 brought unto me but it is usuall both in Hebrew and Greek to call A thing A word Luk. 2. 15. The Shepherds said Let us goe to Bethlem to see this thing the Greek is to see this word which is done Though here it is proper enough to say A word was brought unto me Now a thing or a word was brought unto me it was brought unto me secretly The language of the Prophets was The word of the Lord came unto me There are two words in our translation secretly brought but the Hebrew is one and that word signifies to steale or to do a thing by stealth so it may be translated A thing was brought unto me by stealth or was stole into me M Broughton near this A speech came by stealth upon me we translate fully to the sense A thing was secretly brought to me as if it were whispered into the eare and sent in closely to the spirit And it is thus expressed by way of opposition to another way in which God reveales his minde unto his people He sometimes comes openly and speaks aloud that all may take notice or because all ought Isa 58. 1. Cry aloud lift up thy voice like a Trumpet Things are brought openly to the people secretly to the Prophets what the Lord speaks in the eare or to the heart of a Prophet that he by the Prophet speaks on the house top to all his people A thing was secretly brought or a thing was whispered unto Eliphaz But he speaks it aloud to Job This word or this thing is said to be stolne into him or to be brought unto him by stealth for three reasons which I shall but name and proceed First a thing done by stealth is done suddenly The Thiefe hastens to doe mischiefe he makes no delayes Then secondly a thing done by stealth is done secretly a Thiefe comes closely in the dark stealth is committed with greatest privacy and to say a thing is brought by stealth is as much as to say it is brought privately Thirdly a thing done by stealth is done unexpectedly A man seldome looks for the Thiefe he is upon him in the way upon him in his house before he is aware A Thiefe is usually as unexpected as he is aâ— unwelcome guest So this word came or was brought in by stealth because it came suddely it came silently and it came unexpectedly to Eliphaz And in these three respects Christ himselfe is said to come as a Thiefe Behold I come as a thiefe in Rev. 16. 15. the night As the word of Christ comes to many of his people now so the person of Christ will come at the last unto all He will come by stealth or as a thiefe suddenly secretly unexpectedly when the world shall little dreame of him and his Church scarce be awake for him Note from this first That divine truths are infused into us not borne in us or borne with us every thing which is of Heaven commeth unto us from Heaven it is either stolne in secretly or thundred in loudly sometimes the Prophets and Ministers of Christ speaking aloud carry truth into the soule sometimes God whispers it into the soule one way or other truth must be brought in for it growes not in us our hearts by nature are not onely like white paper having no inscription not a letter of Gods will written in them but they are like paper blotted or blurred written all over with the corrupt principles and positions of our own wils God by his Spirit first crosses or wipes out those and then writes down his own golden rules of holy truth and heavenly wisdome This he doth first in conversion from sinne to grace and holinesse and afterward in all the increases of grace and growths of holinesse There is not a syllable of the law of God in any mans heart till the finger of God writes it there I will put my law in their minde and write it in their hearts which is an allusion unto the two Tables of the Law They were first written by the finger of God and then put into the Ark So God first writes the Law in our hearts and then puts it into our mindes he layes it up in the Ark of our understanding and memory Secondly observe That God steales truths into the hearts of his people unawares As they often expect and wait long for knowledge so they sometimes know before they expect A truth either in whole or part in the matter or clearer light of it comes like a Thief into the heart suddenly secretly unlooked for in which case it is ever true that truth unexpected is doubly welcom'd The way of the Spirit of God is alwayes undiscernable to flesh and blood The soule receives a thing and the man knowes not how he can scarce possibly not at all tell where by whom or which way it came to him it was brought secretly brought and with a most blessed gracious slight of hand conveyed into his heart Yet sometime truth enters in State may be said to make its passage visibly into the heart of a man The word comes not as a company of Thieves but as a band of Souldiers with weapons drawn and terrible shouts tearing open the soule and breaking open the iron gate of the heart lock'd and barr'd with unbeliefe to secure that cursed crue of lusts garrison'd within it The weapons of our warfare saith the Apostle are mighty through God 2 Cor. 10. 4. The word is mighty wonderfull in strength it comes upon the soule as an armed man to spoyle it of all sinfull treasures yea of the very life of sinne Sometimes the Lord proclaimes warre as by a Herald of Armes against a man and openly prepares for his siege and battery He surprises another and steals him into a happy captivity to himselfe A thing was secretly brought unto me and mine eare received a little thereof Mine eare caught somewhat of it so Mr. Broughton The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paâ—â—câ—la pars medicum signifies a part or a portion Mine eare received a little yet we are not to understand this as if Eliphaz had taken in onely some fragments or imperfect notes of what God delivered or had heard to halves For doubtlesse Eliphaz received all that was brought he turned nothing back he said not a little is enough I need not the rest that he received but a little was not from neglect of the rest but from inability to receive more or to receive it more perfectly And though he had not all of every part yet he had a part of all it was not a little of this and none of that little respects somewhat of every truth not some one truth He received though not all yet a perfect modell of all
love unto the world keeps awake but how few are there whom love to Christ keeps awake It was an harsh and in one sense an ignorant speech of a wise man amongst the Heathens who said There is no man who may not more holily be in any company than with himselfe alone And Nemo est cui non sanctius sit â—â—m quolibet esse quam secum Sen. yet there is a truth in it For if a man be by himself alone and deale only with his own heart probably he might be as profitably with any company as with himself One mans heart in it self is as bad as anothers and usually it is worst when it is by it selfe Some like Nebuchadnezzar being secluded from men converse only with beasts those most beastly beasts lusts in their own bosomes Dan. 4. 3. But to be alone from men to converse with God to be alone from men to converse with Christ is infinitely better then all the society of men The reason why many receive but little of Christ little of Heaven is because they are so much in the croud of the Pietas periclitatur in negoâ—iis world so long upon the Rack of earthly care they seldome let their hearts settle The Ballances must stand at an even poize before you can weigh aright If you desire to know which beares most weight in your hearts Earth or Heaven Christ or the Creature let your hearts stand still That in Psalm 4. 4. reaches this sense fully Commune with your owne hearts upon your beds and be still Our hearts will not be spoken with unlesse we be quiet And as the Picture-drawer cannot take the features of the face to the life so neither can we of our hearts or lives unlesse we have the patience to sit for it JOB Chap. 4. Vers 14 15 16. Feare came upon me and trembling which made all my bones to shake Then a Spirit passed before my face the haire of my flesh stood up It stood still but I could not discern the form thereof an Image was before mine eyes there was silence and I heard a voyce saying WE have already given the Logicall dependance of this whole Context from the 12 Verse unto the end of the Chapter and therein shewed how Eliphaz confirmes the principall Proposition lying in the 17 Verse by Divine Authority a Vision received from Heaven A thing saith he was secretly brought to me and mine eare received a little thereof in thoughts from visions of the night when deep sleep falleth on men Thus the manner of the vision is described in generall The effects of the vision upon Eliphaz and the particular manner how the vision appeared are now further described and set forth This 14 Verse contains one eminent effect of the vision with the consequents of it assoon saith he as I was in that heavenly rapture and extasie Fear came upon me and trembling which made all my bones to shake It was very usuall for Prophets and Holy men to be surprized with fear at the appearance of Jehovah in his messages by Angels or other visions It is naturall unto man to fear at the sight of an Angel and it is a received opinion among the Jews that whether God or an Angel did appear it was present death which they collect from divers Scriptures Ex. 33. 20. when Moses desired to see the face of God the Lord answered there is no man can see my face and live Those words of Gideon import as much Judg 6. 22. When Gideon perceived that he was an Angel of the Lord he said Alas O Lord God for because I have seen an Angell of the Lord face to face as if he had said alas woe is me I shall certainly dye And Judg. 13. 21. Manoah concludes it We shall surely dye because we have seene God when an Angel appeared to them Hence also Jacob Gen. 32. 30. after his wrastling with the Angel which was Christ called the name of the place Penuel which is The face of God for saith he I have seen God face to face and my life is preserv'd as noting that it was a wonderfull priviledge not to dye at such a sight the very appearance of God is death to the Creature And that which Hagar spake Gen. 16 13. may well be interpreted to this sense when flying from her Mistris God came to her in the Wildernesse she called the name of the Lord that spake unto her Thou God seest me the reason is added by way of admiration for she said Have I also here looked after him that seeth me Which words may well be translated Do I live after him sc God that seeth me for here one act of life is put for the whole looking or seeing for living Have I seen or Ex Habraeâ— ita reddi potest Etiamnè jam â—â—deo sâ—u lucem hanâ— espicio vivo post videntem me Parens have I beheld the light after God hath seen me that is Am I alive after God hath seen me How wonderfull The effect of this vision upon Eliphaz was not death but fear yet no ordinary fear but fear which looked almost as pale as death it was fear joyned with trembling and no ordinary trembling but such a fit of trembling as shook his very bones We have often spoken of fear both in this and in the former Chapters but such a fear as met Eliphaz we have not met with before That before was the grace of fear spirituall fear but this is the passion of fear naturall fear And it is naturall to man as some of Est homini naturale conspecto angelo etiam bono timere Bold ex Beda Origen Chrysostome the Ancients have observed to fear thus at the appearance of God by Angels Fear is caused by the apprehension of some evil imminent or at hand that 's the definition of naturall fear Now when God manifests himself though the greatest good be at hand yet the soul hath some misgivings and apprehensions of evil hence comes fear the foundation of this fear is laid in guilt sin is in the soul and guilt may be upon the soul thence naturall fear works when God who is all holy manifests himself And in special there is much unbelief remaining in the heart this fear is strengthned by unbelief Wherefore do ye fear saith Christ O ye of little faith Where there is little faith there is much fear and as unbelief prevails so fear prevails too Thirdly this fear arises from the suddennesse and unexpectednesse of the thing God as you may observe in all those Revelations of himself comes suddenly that which comes before we see it causeth fear when we see it sudden motions without us work strange commotions within And fourthly the over-powring Majesty and super-excelling excellency of God in any such revelation causeth astonishments of spirit a little appearance of God makes the creature disappear One drop of the Divine Ocean swallowes up all man and one
shall not taste of death till they see the Sonne of man comming in his Kingdome Yet here the posture is conceived to be an erect setled fixed posture to the intent Eliphaz might have his eye more setled and fixed upon it and likewise that his heart might be better prepared and fitted for the receiving of that message which should be delivered unto him by it when a man speakes he usually makes a stand An ambulatory speech a speech in motion is not so audible nor so comely In apparitions this posture is frequently mentioned When our Lord appeared to the Disciples after the resurrection Luke saith He stood amengst them cap. 24. 36. Zacharie saw the Angel standing on the right side of the Altar Luk. 1. 11. And while the Apostles were looking up stedfastly to Heaven at the ascention of Christ Behold two men stood by them in white apparel which also said c. Acts 1. 10. therefore also this spirit being to speake stood still I could not discerne the forme of it The face of it so some reade 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The countenance or aspect of it so others They who rise from the dead are not easily known by those who knew them living When Christ arise John 20. it is said that Mary who was very well acquainted with him in his life though he stood by her knew not that it was Jesus but thought it had been the Gardner When Christ walked with the Disciples to Emaus they knew him not and there a reason is given their eyes were held that they should not know him a speciall act of Gods providence suspended their eye-sight and took away though not the power of seeing yet the power of discerning God hath every sense so exactly in his own hand that he can let it out or call it back in any degree as himselfe pleaseth he can give a man so much power as to see another and not so much power as to discern him which by the way is an argument of the wonderfull exactnesse of Gods providence over us he holds our senses in his hand 〈◊〉 â—ell as our reason or our wils and saith thus farre you shall 〈◊〉 heare and no further therefore it is said Verse 31. that their eyes were opened they were opened before to see him but now they were opened to know him And at other times when Christ appeared after his resurrection his Disciples were at a stand whether it was he or no Thomas though he saw Christ before him yet he would not believe it was he untill he had put his finger into the hole of the Nayls and into the hole which the Speare made in his side untill he had assurance from another sense he would not believe his eyes Ethnicis semper absurdum fuit ut faciem deoruÌ„ agnoscerent hâ—mines quam deoâ—uÌ„ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 posteâ—ioâ—es poeâ—ae ab Homero Homerus ab Egyptiis vel poâ—ius ex sacris sâ—nâ—ti Moysis lâ—bris sumpsit Bâ—ld 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Signâ—ficat speciem vel sensibilem vel mentalem If then a body arising from the grave though it be seen yet can hardly be distinguished by mortall eyes how much lesse is the eye of man able to discern Angels or Spirits cloathed in humane forms The impressions of glory and immortality which appeare upon bodies assumed by spirits especially in sudden apparitions doe exceedingly master if not astonish sense The Heathens thought it absurd to say that their Gods could be known by face For though they were so grosse as to satisfie rhemselves with bodily Gods yet they believed those bodies were so refined had such a kinde of majestick Divinity stampt upon them that a meer mortall could not comprehend them Their doctrine shines a little into this Text. A spirit passed before Eliphaz he had a sight of it for it stood still yet he could not make out what it was or who it was he could not discerne the form thereof An Image was before mine eyes The word Themounah which we translate Image is taken either for a visible or intellectuall Image Sometime it is taken for the form of a thing which is apprehended visibly by the eye so in Deut. 4. 15 16. Take ye therefore good heed to your selves for ye saw no manner of similitude in the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the middest of the fire lest ye corrupt your selves and make the similitude of any figure that is least you make a visible Image of the invisible God Secondly the same word signifies an Image in the minde Thus God himselfe who said in Deuteronomy that they saw no similitude and thereupon bad them take heed of making any similitude saith of Moses that the similitude of the Lord he shall behold Num. 21. 8. The word similitude in Numbers is the same for Image in the Text an intellectuall image a representation to the understanding Moses had this priviledge The similitude of God revealed to his SpectruÌ„ visuÌ„ vocant latini quicquid corpore apparet forma licet corpus non sit understanding but 〈◊〉 he saith in Deut ye had no similitude the meaning is no 〈◊〉 â—all no visible similitude no object of sense This Image in the â—ext was not intellectuall for it was before his eyes Nor was it the Image of a spirit gross d into a body but it was a spirit in or with the imaginary form of a body There was silence and I heard a voice saying That is the last thing which the Text holds forth about this vision There was silence The Hebrew thus Silence and I heard a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Silentium vocem per hyppallagen vocem silentii id est vocem tacitam submissam audiebam Mercer Et vocem quasi curae levis audivi Vulg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Silens murmur Ar. Mont. voice we supply there was The readings are various yet the sense one I heard the voice as it were of a gentle gale I heard a gale and a voice I heard a silent murmure Our Translators put in the margine I heard a still voice which comes near to that I heard a silent voice by a usuall figure silence and a voice for a voice of silence If any should say these two are so opposite that they cannot be predicated or affirmed one of another Silence is the direct contrary to a voice therfore to say there was a silent voice seemeth to be a contradiction in the adjunct I answer it is frequent to affirm contraries one of another in an inferiour remisse degree Though we cannot say light is darke yet we may say this is a dark light that is a glimmering imperfect obscure light Zech. 14. 6. The day shall be neither clear nor dark it shall be as it were a dark light So a low voice may well be called a silent voice I heard a silent voice that is I heard a low or a still voice
the highest elevation both in parts gifts and graces shall he be more pure than his Maker Christ as incarnate or made man is called the Mighty God Isa 9. 6. God made a Mighty man or man becomming the Mighty God The Chaldee calls all Giants Gibbaraja and Nimrod the first of the Giants was called by this name a Mighty hunter before the Lord Gen. 10. 8. So then Let man be never so excellent his excellency is basenesse let him be never so strong so wise so holy he is but weake foolish filthy compared with him who made him Leave your Enosh your weakeling your poore sick creatures bring forth your Gibers your best they are as nothing yea lesse than nothing before the Lord. Shall mortall man be more just than God shall man the best of men be more pure than his Maker We are to marke the double opposition of the Text. Here is first mortall weake sick man set in opposition to the strong the mighty the all-powerfull God And then in the second place the opposition is between the strongest the best the holiest the wisest of men and the maker of all men Shall mortall man or shall the best of men be more just more pure than God their Maker There is a three-fold sense which we may give of the words joyntly First They are a deniall of all comparison between God and man No man may compare himselfe with God Shall mortall man that is mortall man ought not to be so bold and daring as to venture upon such a thing as this to stand upon termes of equality with the mighty the great the glorious God the Maker of all as the Apostle resolves in his own case 1 Cor. 4. 4. Though I know nothing by my selfe yet am I not hereby justified at all much lesse though a man know nothing by himselfe will this justifie him in this comparison that he is just as God is just But secondly Shall mortall man be more just than God It is as if he had said God who is infinite in justice would never doe that which a just man will not doe God who is infinite in power would never doe that which a weake man would not doe shall weake man be more just than God And so we may forme the argument thus No man no Judge is more just or incorrupt than God who is the supreame and Lord chiefe Justice of all men But there is no just Judge amongst men who will punish an innocent man therefore God doth not punish any one that is innocent The consequence or inference is plaine and cleare for God himselfe should either be unjust or he should be lesse just than man is if he should doe that which a just man upon true grounds would refuse to doe Therefore in Gen. 18. Abraham pleades with God under that title of a just Judge shall not the Judge of all the world doe right As if he should say faithfull Judges upon the earth will doe right therefore surely he that is the Judge of all the earth will doe right so Eliphaz here to Job Never complaine as if God had done thee wrong for certainly the just God will not doe that which a just man would not doe The word whereby God is exprest Eloha Eloha denotot judicem â—quissimum rerum arbitâ—um doth well comply with and answer this sense it being properly attributed to God as a Judge the great arbitrator and determiner of all the causes and cases of all men in the world Shall mortall man be more just than God Thirdly The sense may be taken thus If any man should come to impleade God or to pleade with God if any should dare to tax the Justice of God or be so hardy to put in a bill of complaint against him shall this man this weake man be found more just in his complaining than God hath been in sentencing shall his bill of complaint be better grounded than the Lords award of Judgement It is an allusion to those who supposing they have wrong complaine against the Judge and say that he hath erred in or perverted Judgement That word Justified here used shall man be justified before God is a Judiciarie word a Court or Law terme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Veâ—bum forense spectans ad innocentis absolutionem The same word which the Holy Ghost uses in that great work of Free Grace the justification of a sinner before God And that imports the declaring and setting forth of a man to be righteous and his cause good in Jesus Christ whereupon he is cleered and acquitted When Satan accuses or pleads against us laying such and such sinnes to our charge thus and thus this man hath offended then God is said to justifie a man that is to declare him to be just his sinnes being covered and himselfe accepted in Jesus Christ Hence that divine challenge to all accusers Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth Rom. 8. 33. So now if man should accuse and complaine against God he hath done thus and thus in the world afflicted a Job troubled a righteous person shall mortall man be more just than God Shall this man in his complaint be justified shall not God rather be justified against whom he complains Certainly he shall God shall be declared just yea he shall be declared just by man A man un-ingaged and rightly principled Such a man shall say verily there is a God that judgeth the earth In the judgement of man that judgment shall speak a God and all shall be forced to Daniels mourning acknowledgement O Lord righteousnesse belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face Dan. 97. 9 We may enlighten it further by that of David Ps 51. 4. where he professes thus I will confesse my sins c. that thou maiest be justified when thou speakest and be cleare when thou judgest as if he should say if hereafter thou shalt afflict me and lay thy rod upon me I know many will be ready to complaine and say why doth God thus why doth he afflict David David a holy man a man after his own heart a man of whom he hath given such large testimony of whom he hath said I have found a man after my own heart Now to the intent all these may be cast in their suits and answered in their complainings I here acknowledge before all the world that I have sinned greatly therefore though thou hast pardoned my sinne and so wilt never charge it upon me to condemnation nor punish me for it in a way of satisfaction yet hereafter thou maiest in thy fatherly wisdome see it needfull to chastise me to prevent and purge out sin or to help me against the weaknesse of my nature and the strength of temptation for the time to come So here in the Text Shall man be justified before God If Job or any of his friends for him should complaine against God why he being
one commended and approved from the mouth of God for a man perfect and upright should be thus afflicted what Shall weake Job be justified before God Yea though Job be considered in his greenest flourishings of grace and highest pitch of his prosperity as he was Geber indeed the greatest the mightiest man in the Easterne world yet shall he be more pure than his Maker No cease your complainings God is just and his honour must be vindicated in what he doth or in what he shall doe against the weakest or against the mightiest against the meanest or against the best of men God will be found just and man a lyar Either of these three senses are faire from the construction of the Text and may be profitable for us I shall therefore draw them down into five or six conclusions which will be at least a portion of that marrow and fatnesse which this Scripture yeilds us to feed upon First we may observe That man naturally preferreth himselfe not onely above other men but even before God himselfe A principle of pride dwels in our hearts by nature which at some times and in some cases breeds better thoughts in us of our selves than of God himselfe And it is this height of spirit which the heavenly vision here would levell to the ground We know it was the first sin of man that man desired to be like God Gen. 3. The first temptation was baited with a parity to the Divine powers Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evill This also was the language of Lucifers heart Thou hast said in thy heart I will ascend into heaven I will exalt my throne above the starres of God I will ascend above the heights of the Clouds I will be like the most high I say â—4 13 14. And the practise of the man of sinne is thus prophesied That he shall exalt himselfe above all that is called God 2 Thess 2. 4. But the heart of man is yet more mad and hath out-growne those sinfull principles For in troubles and temptations when things go not according to his minde he sometimes hath thoughts not only that he is like God but that he is more just than God and if he had the ordering of things he would order them better than God he sometime thinks himselfe juster than God and if he had the punishing of offenders justice should proceed more freely and impartially than it doth which is upon the matter not onely to exalt himself as the Man of Sin doth above Nuncupative Gods or all that is called God but to exalt himself above him who is God by nature above the onely one-most God Even to speak in this Dialect of highest blasphemy that he is more just than God more pure than his Maker Secondly Take this conclusion That it is a most high presumption not onely for low weak man but for the best the highest of men to compare themselves with God or to have any thoughts concerning his wayes as if they could mend them When God cals us to amend our wayes for us to presume we could amend Gods wayes is the very top branch the highest tower yea the most towring Pinnacle of presumption We say amongst men that comparisons are odious but this is the most odious comparison of all for a man to compare himselfe with God his thoughts with Gods thoughts what he hath done or would doe with what God doth If you consider the termes of opposition that are in the Text this conclusion will be more clear unto you Consider how Enosh weak mortall man is opposite to Elohah the mighty the strong God it is presumption for a weak man to compare with a strong man what presumption is it then for a weake man to compare with the mighty God for a reed to compare in strength with a rock for darknesse to compare with light for a cloud to compare with the Sunne for death to compare with life for folly to compare with wisdome for uncleanenesse to compare with holinesse for nothing to compare with All how presuptuous Will ye provoke the Lord saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. are ye stronger than he It implies that some such thoughts lodge in man as if he could make his partie good with God or might be stronger than he And it is equall folly in us and provocation against the Lord to thinke our selves juster as to thinke our selves stronger than he And then marke the other termes of opposition Man and his Maker Shall the great man compare with or be more pure than his Maker as if he should say How great and excellent soever this man is he was made and made by God with whom he thus compares than whom he thinks himselfe more pure And shall the thing formed stand upon termes with him that formed it shall the potsheard or the pot contend with the Potter what though it be an excellent vessell a vessell determined for the most excellent ends and uses yet whatsoever it is it was made to be and made to be by God both in its constitution and uses Shall it then boast it selfe against its maker The Lord made Geber as well as Enosh the strong man as well as the weake the wise and learned man as well as the foolish and ignorant the Noble as well as the base the holy and righteous as well as the wicked and prophane In a word the vessels of honour are as much yea more of his making than the vessels of dishonour shall they then be more pure than their Maker hath the Lord given more to others than he hath in himselfe hath he made a creature his superior or his Peere hath his bounty impaired his own stock or hath he made man more than God That God hath made the best out of the dust is enough to lay all our pride and boasting as low as the dust That what we are we are from another should ever keep us humble in our selves Thirdly Take this Conclusion That God in himselfe is most just and pure Shall mortall man be more just than God The question hath this position in it that God is infinitely just infinitely pure therefore he is perfectly pure perfectly just God is essentiall Justice essentiall purity Justice and purity are not qualities in God but they are his very nature A man may be a man and yet be unjust but God cannot be God and be unjust A man may be a man and yet impure but God cannot be God and be impure so that Justice and purity are not qualities or accidents in God but his very essence and being destroy or deny the purity and Justice of God and you put God out of the world as much as in you lies for he cannot be God unlesse he be both just to others and pure in himselfe Fourthly Take this conclusion The best men compared with God are evill and the holiest are impure Not onely is it presumption but a lye for men to compare with God
judiciary hardning of their hearts and a hard heart is the greatest judgment on this side Hell As there is a naturally inbred and sinfully acquired hard heart so there is a judicially hardned or a divinely inflicted hard heart When to a naturall hard heart and an acquired hard heart which men get by many repeated acts of sin the Lord adds a judicially hardned or inflicted hard heart then wrath is heated to the hottest and judgment is within one step of Hell Especially if we consider that every houre of such prosperous impenitence and hardnesse of heart encreases punishment and adds to the treasury of that wrath which is stored up against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God Who thinks that man happy who is let alone only to gather a mighty pile of wood and other fuell of flames to burne himselfe while ungodly men saem to the world to be gathering riches honour and pleasure hey are but gathering a heap of wrath and a pile of fire which at the last will flame so bright that it will make a revelation of the formerly secret but ever righteous judgement of God Lastly To shew that God is just in all his dealings both the righteous and the wicked learne from the end of both That we may fully discover the Justice of God we must looke upon all his works together while we looke only upon some particular peece of Gods dealings with a godly man he may seeme to deale very hardly with him or if we looke but upon some particular peece of his dealings with a wicked man God may seeme very gentle and kind towards him but take all together and the result is exact justice It was a good speech of a moderne writer We must Non est judicandum de operibus Dei ante quintum actum Per. Mart. not judge of the works of God before the fifth act that is the last act or conclusion of all This and that part may seeme dissonant and confused but lay them all together and they are most harmonious and methodicall Hence David Psal 37. after he had a great dispute with himselfe about the troubles of the righteous and the prosperity of the wicked and was put hard to it how to make out the Justice of God resolves all in the close with this advice ver 37. Marke the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Though a righteous man die in warre yet his end is peace whereas though a wicked man die in peace yet his end is warre It is said Deut. 8. 16. that all which God did to his people in the wildernesse was that he might doe them good at the latter end Come to the end therefore and there you shall find justice visible We often loose the sight of justice in our travailes and passage through the world mountaines and hils interpose which we cannot see over or through but when we come home and arrive at the end of our travailes Justice will appeare in all her state and glory rendring to every man according to his deedes To them who hy patient continuance in well doing seeke for glory and honour and immortality eternall life but unto them that are contentious and doe not obey the truth but obey unrighteousnesse indignation and wrath Joshua concludes the story of the people of Israel in their passage to Canaan with the highest testimonies of Gods justice and faithfulnesse though God dealt with them so variously in the wildernes that they often murmured in their tents as if he had done them wrong yet in the close you shall find how exact and punctuall the Lord was with them Josh 21. 45. There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel all came to passe And in that other text Josh 23. 14 Behold this day I am going the way of all the earth and you know in all your hearts and in all your soules that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you all are come to passe unto you and not one thing hath failed thereof How admirably just was God in his word If a man promise many things we take it well if he performe some of the chiefe and them in the chiefe though some what may faile God promised many things and performed all and which is more all of every one of those many things promised The texts compared make this out the one saying That not one thing failed of all the good things which God spake concerning them And the other That not ought of any good thing failed So then they had every good thing in kind with each particular part and degree of every good thing And for the truth of all this Joshua makes his appeale to themselves and to that in themselves which was best able to determine it All their hearts and all their soules which words doe not only referre to every person as if the meaning were The hearts and soules of you all but rather to all that is in every person All their hearts and all their soules that is understandings memories consciences affections yea sences their eyes and eares their hands and mouthes could bring in witnesse from their severall operations to this great truth And surely God in the end will deale as well with every Israelite as he did with all Israel A time will come it will come shortly when every Saint shall say in all their hearts and in all their soules that not one thing nor ought of any one good thing which the Lord hath said concerning them hath failed I shut up this in the words of Christ to his Disciples when they were amused about that act of his the washing of their feet John 13. 7. What I doe ye know not now but ye shall know hereafter Stay but a while and all those mysteries and riddles of providence shall be unfolded Though clouds and darknesse are round about him yet Judgement and Justice are the habitation of his Throne Psal 97. Mortall man never had and at last shall see he had no reason to complaine of God mortall man shall not be more just than God nor shall man be more pure than his maker And so much for the fifth Conclusion That God neither doth nor can doe any injustice to the creature he is just in his nature just and holy in all his wayes The sixth or last Conclusion is this That to complaine of Gods Iustior sit oportet qui immeriâ—ò affligitur quâ qui immerio affligit dealing with us is to make our selves more just and pure than Gods or when any person or people complaine of Gods dispensations toward them they though not formally yet by way of interpretation make themselves more just and pure than God This was the point wherein Eliphaz labours much to convince Job supposing that he had thus exalted himselfe
for the good of those that are the heires of salvation And so the words in the close of this verse are exigeticall expounding who are intended by those servants Behold he put no trust in his servants and his Angels he charged with folly that is he trusted not those servants the Angels but charged them with folly But there is a further reason more fully evidencing that it must be understood of Angels in the 19 verse where the persons standing in equall opposition to these servants and Angels are men Hâ—w much lesse saith he on them that dwell in houses of clay Now a dwelling in a house of clay is the periphrasis or description of mankinde in generall good or bad one or other high or low all mankinde dwels in a house of clay Seeing then the terme of opposition is mankinde in generall we must take somewhat which being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nutrivit in Hiphil credidâ—t fisus est A fide quae in nutrâ—endo requiritur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a raionall creature is not man for the other terme which cannot be any except Angels we cannot set any sort of men in opposition to others upon this ground because they dwell in houses of clay for the Saints on earth dwell in houses of clay as well as men of the earth therefore to make the opposition clear it necessarily follows that by Servants in the first clause of the verse Angels are implyed as well as in the latter where Angels are exprest nutriius dâ—ctus est cujus fidei pueâ— est commissus quasi fidum aut fidetem dicas saepe etiam accommodatur ad aeconomum dispensatorem proper fidelitatem eorum But if these servants be Angels how is it that he put no trust in or that as we may render it word for word out of the Hebrew he did not believe in these his servants I shall answer that when I have a little opened the wopd here translated To put trust We finde it used two wayes in Scripture sometime passively and sometime actively It is taken passively to be faithfull trusty and true in word or promise From this root the Hebrew takes the name of a Guardian or Foster-father or Steward because such to whose care children or families are committed ought to be most faithful in the discharge of so great a trust The Apostle 1 Cor. 4. 1 2. speaking of that heavenly Stewardship the ministery of the Gospel expresseth it thus Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the mysteries of God moreover saith he it is required in a Steward that a man be found faithfull And Numb 12. 7. where Moses is spoken of as a servant he is thus described My servant Moses is not so who is faithfull in all my house he is a man whom I may trust or give credit to for he is trusty and faithfull Heb. 3. 2 5. the Apostle comparing Christ and Moses saith of Christ That he was faithfull to him that appointed him as Moses was faithfull in all his house So that here is an elegant Antithesis His servants who according to their duty and office ought to be constant faithfull trusty he found unconstant unfaithfull not to be trusted Yet the word being in Hyphil is of an active signification and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A verbi preprietate non recedamus qua signâ—ficat cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credere fidere alicui Merc Verbum de verbo in servos suos credidit when it is in construction with Beth as Grammarians observe it imports to give credit unto or confide in a person and so here he put no trust that is he did not credit or condfie in those servants or he did not believe on them He saw somewhat in them which might betray them to disloyaltie if himselfe withdrawing his assistance should make an experiment or try what was in their hearts And this sense is most suitable to the state and office of a servant trusting or not trusting faithfulnesse or unfaithfulnesse are acts proper to that relation Lord and Servant So then the Lord put no trust or he could not confide in his servants they being such as he found not perfectly sure and loyall unto him We say commonly of a man whom we cannot rrust We will not give our word for him and we will not take his Our Lord Christ is therefore called a faithfull High Priest because his Father trusted him with the whole businesse of our salvation without the least misgiving thought of his faithfulnesse or the miscarriage of the work Thus Solomon describes a faithfull Wife and a confiding Husband Prov. 31 10 11. A rare couple indeed and as rarely found Therefore he makes proclamation for such a woman who can finde a vertuous Woman for her price is farre above Rubies the heart of her Husband doth safely trust in her so that he shall have no need of spoile there 's confidence to the height the heart of her Husband doth safely trust in her A Husband that hath such a Jewell to his Wife knowes she will order the family with discretion at home when he 's abroad he knowes she is faithfull to him body and goods Her chastity or her frugality never came in question before his thoughts therefore saith he I shall have no need of spoile which some interpret thus her care and wisdome in providing for the family will make it like an Army which hath overcome the Tam circum fluit bonis omnibus familia ejus quam milites spolijs ex pugnata urbe out hoste superaâ—o Enemy in the field or wonne a wealthy City where the Souldiers have spoile or pillage enough they need no spoile Or as others He shall have no need of spoile that is he shall have no need to spoile or oppresse others to helpe his family All things shall be so ordered by his wives prudence that he shall not need to take any unjust way to provide for or supply his household Thus the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her Such trust the heart of God could not put in those servants his Angels he knew they might come short in their accounts Such trust Christ could not give some who seemed to trust or believe on him John 2. 23. Many seeing Christs miracles believed on him yet Christ would not believe on them we translate he would not commit himselfe to them the Greek is he did not believe or trust himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto them Christ believes in or may trust them all the world over who truly believe in him But these believed so falsely upon him that he could not believe fully upon them and the text gives the reason For he himselfe knew all men he knew they were not metall of a due temper and therefore not to be trusted So God knew all Angels the uttermost perfection power and vertue that was in Angels therefore he would
Hoast of Senacherib an Angel smote bloody persecuting Herod Angels by name if not by nature powre out the seven vials of Gods wrath in the Revelation And at the last day Angels shall hurry the wicked to Christs Tribunall they are heavenly Pursivants and they shall bundle the Tares up together as fuell to be throwne into everlasting burnings Matth. 13. 41 42. And it may be a great comfort to us that God hath such servants When visible dangers are round about us we should remember God hath invisible servants round about us There are more with us then against us as Elisha told his fearfull servant 2 Kings 6. And in that low estate of the Church Zech. 1. 8. the Prophet is shewed Christ in a vision standing among the Mirtle trees in the bottome the Mirtle trees in the bortome noted the Church in a low estate and behinde him there were red Horses speckled and white that is horsemen speckled and white These diverse coloured Horses were Angels appointed for severall offices as the learned Junius with others interprets it The red horses being appointed for judgement the white for mercy and the speckled as he conjectures for mixt actions being sent out at once to protect and help the people of God and to execute wrath and judgement upon the adversary Thus we see the services of the Angels they are servants yet such as the most wise God put no trust in therefore we have an Angel better then Angels even the Angel of the Covenant the Lord Jesus into whose hands our safety is committed to whose care the Church is left in whom God puts the whole trust knowing that this great Angel is and for ever will be faithfull in and over his house to his highest delight and the Churches compleatest welfare And his Angels he charged with folly Nec in Angelis suis ponet lumen Tagn Nec in Angelis suis posuit lucem exactissimam Vatab. Angelis suis posuit vesaniam Tygur In Angelis suis ponet glorationem Bibl. Reg. In Angelis suis reperit vanitatem Sym. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Splenduit luxit claruit Metaphoricè in piel spiendidum illustrem claâ—uÌ„ reddidit laudavit praedicavit Per Antiph rasin inglorius insanus furore actus fuit insanivit There are very different readings of this part of the Verse Some as M. Beza read it thus He trusted not in his servants though he had put light into those his messengers Others reade it with a negation in both parts He put no trust in his servants neither hath he put light in his Angels Another thus neither hath he put perfect light in his Angels Mr. Broughton differs from all these Behold he holdeth not perfection to be in his own servants and in his Angels he judged no clear light to be Another sort read it to these senses He charged or put madnesse in or upon his Angels he put or charged vaine boasting in or upon his Angels he found vanity in or amongst his Angels he observed some evill amongst his Angels Now that which hath given occasion to this variety of translatings is the different senses which the Originall yields us The Hebrew word is very fruitfull of significations and hath as the Oracle told Rebecca concerning two contrary Nations two contrary meanings in the wombe of it and that makes the strugling amongst Interpreters The word in its proper sense signifies to shine forth with a resplendent brightnesse so Chap. 29. 3. Job wisheth O that I were as in moneths past when the candle of God shined upon my head it is a Verbe of which the word folly in this text of Job is a derivative And Isay 14. 12. Hielel signifies the Morning star whose shining brightnesse hath obtained the name Lucifer Light-bringer or Light-bearer How art thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer sonne of the Morning How art thou fallen from Heaven Hielel thou shining day-star Thus the word properly signifies shining or brightnesse or to shine and be bright and hence by a Metaphor to be Famous or renowned or to make one renowned or famous or to paint out a man with praises because a man is as it were decked with light and hath rayes of brightnesse cast upon him when he is honoured and adorned with praises Due commendations are to a man as a robe or vesture of light which makes him shine to all about him And hence the word Halelujah is derived praise ye Jah or the Lord used frequently both in the beginning and end of the Psalmes in the beginning of the Psalmes by way of exhortation and in the end by way of acclamation crying up the honour and glory of God And to note that in passage it is well observed that this word Hallelujah is first used in the old Testament Psal 104. 35. where the utter consumption of sinners is mentioned and in the New Testament it is first used Rev. 19. 3 6. where the utter consumption of Antichrist is prophesied Judgement on the wicked is matter of high praise to God Thirdly the word signifies by the figure Antiphrasis or contrary speaking to boast and brag vainly foolishly or vaine foolish boasting To commend or extoll our selves is pride running mad and arrogance distracted It is the highest dotage to be in love with our owne wisdome and folly to publish our own works There may be wisdom though oftentimes there is a great deale of folly in commending others but in commending our selves there can be nothing but folly therefore the very same word which signifies to boast and commend our selves signifies both the concrete to be mad vaine or foolish and the abstract madnesse and folly thus in Eccles 2. 2 12. the word is used I said of laughter thou art mad I turned my selfe to behold wisdome and folly and madnesse and Psal 75. 4. I said unto the fooles deale not foolishly or to the mad-men do not play the mad-men that is do not exalt your selves for so he clears his meaning in the fifth Verse Lift not up your hornes on high speak not with a stiffe neck that is a neck stifned with pride and a horne lifted up with vaine-glory or self-confidence From this variety of significations the variety of translations before toucht ariseth First they who read it He put light into those his messengers take the word in a proper strict sense making out the meaning thus that God having put the light of excellent knowledge into the Angels could not yet trust them all their speculative knowledge and high raised illuminations were not enough to make them steadily and steadfastly holy that is the intent of Mr. Beza's interpretation He trusted not to his servants though he had put light into those his messengers For those who retaining the word light translate negatively neither hath he put light in his Angels or neither hath he put perfect light into his Angels or as Mr. Broughton In his Angels
clay they lye in the frame and between the rafters of this house sucking up the spirits and wasting the strength spending the heate and drinking up the naturall moisture of the body we know not how we consume but we consume we know not how we decline but we decline we dye we know not how but we dye Is it not then as with a moth creeping upon us yea feeding upon us without noise Againe Take it by way of similitude not as before actively or instrumentally they are crushed as by a moth or as a moth crushes but passively or subjectively They are crushed as a moth that is they are crushed as a moth is crushed alluding to the easinesse of crushing a moth A moth is dust as soone as you crush it the least touch kills it Man in his house of clay is so weake that if God doe but touch him he dies and falls to dust the Lord needs not bring his great Artillery and make batteries against the body of man the body of man is no such strong Fort or Bulwarke to stand out a long siege or endure much assaulting and opposition he is crushed as a moth betweene your fingers Hence David most humbly deprecates the stroake of God which he saw comming or felt as come because he was not able to beare it Psal 39. 10. Remove thy stroake away from me I am consumed by the blow of thine hand Lord if thou strike me thus I shall quickly consume And least you should think that Davids flesh he being a King was tender and delicate and so lesse able to beare any hardship therefore in the following words he puts the case in generall concerning man or man-kind Take the man whose strength is as the strength of stones and his flesh as brasse yet this man breakes and vanishes under the hand of God so he affirmes ver 11. under this passive consideration of a moth When thou with rebukes doest correct man for iniquity thou makes his beauty to consume away like a moth And then closes with that common axiome of mans mortality surely every man is vanity Selah Further Man may well be said to be crushed or die even as a moth for as the garment breeds the moth and then the moth eates the garment so besides that power of God or the outward stroake of his hand of which David spake mans own distempered body breeds ill humours they diseases and these breed death As it was with Jonas gourd so it is with us we give life and suck to a worme in our own roots which sucks out our life causing our leaves to fall and our goodly branches suddenly to wither Thirdly From that sense he is crushed before Arcturus or as long as the Starres continue Observe That as mans state is fraile and weake so it will be the for ever of this world Doe not looke that ever there shall rise up a generation of men that shall have better houses then houses of clay or houses stronger built then our present buildings As we are risen up in our fathers stead a generation of sinfull men so we are risen up in our fathers stead a generation of weake mortall men and our children will arise in the stead of us their fathers a generation of men as mortall as we their fathers Till the whole compages and course of nature be changed man shall not exchange the infirmity of his nature He shall never be without crushing sicknesses till he is above them The sad story of man holds on still and growes yet more sad before it was crushing now it is destroying Verse 20. They are destroyed from morning to evening they perish for ever without any regarding it We may understand the former verse of naturall death and this of casuall and violent death Destuction and perishing import violence Though I conceive naturall death be here also intended They are destroyed from morning to evening they perish for ever without any regarding it or as Mr. Broughton reads it between a morning and evening they are wasted without any regarding or without any thinking upon it They are destroyed that is they are subject or liable to destruction A mane ad vesperam i. e. per torum diem quâ—ppe mane vespera sunt paâ—tes diei Drus That phrase from morning to evening notes the whole day it is as much as to say they are destroyed continually or all the day long as the Apostle speaks out of the Psalme Rom. 8. 36. For thy sake are we killed all the day long The morning and the evening are the parts of a naturall day Gen. 1. 5. or the two termes of a civill day these include and take in the full compasse of the day This sense teacheth us That man is destroyable every moment He wasts in one sense while he growes and dies from the morning of his birth and comming into the world to the evening of his returne and going out of the world And not only so but he is obnoxious to the violent assaults of death every day and all houres of every day From the morning when he rises to the evening when he goes to bed he walkes among armies of dangers and within the Gunshot of destruction The Apostles catalogue of perils is true to this day 2 Cor. 11. 26. In perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils of mine own countrymen in perils by the Heathen in perils in the City in perils in the wildernesse in perils in the sea in perils among false brethren Every place is a peril and every person a peril Where can we goe with whom can we meete and not goe among or meete with perils And doe not all these perils speake destruction from morning to evening Pauls experiences both in regard of a natural but especially of violent death brought forth these conclusions which come full up to the point I die daily 1 Cor. 15 31. in deaths often 2 Cor. 11. 23. we are killed all the day long Rom. 8. 36. Secondly Take the words as a proverbiall speech by which the shortest time is signified As Isa 38. 12. Hezekiah complayning sets forth his mortall sicknesse threatning present death and cutting off thus Mine age is departed and removed from me as a sheapheards tent I have cut off like a weaver my life he will cut me off with pining sicknesse from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me that is either continually or suddenly from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me I am wasting perpetually or before night within the compasse of this day thou wilt destroy and make an end of me these were the thoughts of my heart when I was in the hands of that acute dispatching disease The Psalmist Psal 90. 5 6 describes man as grasse in the morning it flourisheth and groweth up in the evening it is cut downe and withereth that is man continueth but a very short time His life is but a spanne long or
wilt find none to answer thee To this sense Mr. Broughton translates Call now if there be any that will defend thee that is be thy patron or advocate in word or in the example of their lives If there be any that will answer thee For ehe word which we render answer signifies not only answering unto a question but an answering to a condition or a correspondency in practise Verbum respondeâ—e in hoc loco significat poâ—â—us similitudinem vel comparationem quam responsionem Bold There is an answering by likenesse of works as well as by fitnesse of words A reall answer and a verball answer Take it so and then Call now to the Saints call them all by their names intends only thus much see if there be any that are like thee or sute either thy spirit or thy condition if there be any to whom thou mayest paralell thy selfe either in the matter or manner of thy sufferings Thou art more like a Heathen who knows not God then any of the Saints in these complainings And seeing out of the aboundance of the heart the mouth speaks these words speake thy heart abounding in sin but empty of grace Face answers face in the water But neither thy face nor heart will answer either heart or face of any of the Saints in these waters of affliction We find this word signifying similitude or comparison or the equivalence of one thing to another in that instance Eccles 10 19. Money answers all things the meaning of it is that money in a proportion or value suites paralels and fits all things There is nothing in the world but you may suite it with a proportion of money money will answer it money answers or is like all things by an equivalency though not in a formality And to which of the Saints wilt thou turne The Septuagint reade it To which of the Angels wilt thou looke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the learned Mercer adheres to that translation as thinking that by Saints are meant Angels though he be so farre from laying any bottome in the words for the Popish opinion of the mediation of Angels that he expressely condemnes it but he gives the sense thus as if Eliphaz had reproved Job of pride for contesting with God when as if he did turne himselfe to Angels he should find himselfe farre below and much overmatcht by them What thou dust and ashes more righteous and just than God Though he charged his Angels with folly yet even they are too wise and holy for thee to deale with If thou wert put into the ballance with Angels how light wouldst thou be then how much lighter then vanity art thou being weighed with God But the Hebrew is better translated Saints The word signifies a thing or person separated or set apart from common and dedicated to a speciall especially a holy use Holinesse in the generall nature of it is nothing else but a separation from common and dedication to a divine service such are the Saints persons seperated from the world and set apart unto God The Church in generall which is a company of Saints is taken out of and severed from the world The Church is a fountaine sealed and a Garden inclosed so also every particular Saint is a person severed and enclosed from the common throng and multitude of the world Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch no uncleane thing and I will receive you 2 Cor. 6. 17. Turne thee it is both a witty and judicious conceit that Eliphaz in these words alludes to painters or Picture-drawers who when Alluâ—ere vide tur ad pictâ—res qui frequenter ad prototypum exemplar quod incitari conanâ—ur oculos dirigam ad illud convertuntur they are drawing the Picture of a Man or of any other thing frequently turne their eyes upon the proto-type upon that which they are to draw by when a man sits as they speake to have his picture taken the Artist turnes his eye often upon him so here to which of the Saints wilt thou turne thee to see thy picture or to see any one like thee where wilt thou looke now and by looking observe a Saint of thy complexion a holy man like thy selfe If the pictures of all the Saints were lost none of them could be found in or coppied out from thee The word which we translate turne Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non simpliciter respicere signâ—ficat aut aliquid intueri sed cum qu daÌ„ animi intentione ad aliquem fluem doth not signifie simply to looke about or turne the eye but to turne the eye about with much intention or curiosity of observation to make a discovery and find out somewhat Sometime it signifies to looke in compassion Psal 25. 16 Turne thee unto me saith David and have mercy upon me for I am very low To looke in compassion notes a strictnesse of observation to find out what charity or mercy should supply such a look or view of his estate David desired that God would turne his eye upon him to what end that he might consider and find out all his necessities and in mercy succour him So then To which of the Saints wilt thou turne sounds thus much upon what Saint wilt thou fix thine eye to find thy own likenesse a representation of the sufferings thou bearest or of thy bearing these sufferings Take the summe and sense of the whole verse thus Call over the roll or catalogue of all the Saints which either ever were or at this day are upon the face of the earth See if there be any whose condition or actions will answer in proportion unto thine turne thine eye upon all the holy ones see if thou canst observe any like thy selfe in the matter or manner of thy afflictions in the dealings of God with thee or in thy complainings against God Job thou standest alone for all the Saints goe to the fooles of the earth and to the prophaner Infidels among them thou mayest haply meet thy patterne and among their records reade the story of thy own impatience and miscarriage For as it followes wrath billeth the foolish and envy slayeth the silly one How like a foole and silly one art thou who hast thus almost vext thy selfe to death at thy own troubles and pinest with envy at the prosperity of others Such seemes to be the connexion and dependance of the second verse with and upon the first which I shall presently descend to open when I have added an observation or two from the former already opened It was good advice which Eliphaz gave Job in that condition namely to take view of the Saints and to compare himselfe with them Thence observe It is profitable for us to look to the example of the Saints either those departed or those alive and by them to examine both what we doe and how we suffer God hath given us not only his
from safety c. He flourisheth but he withers quickly he takes root but he is soon puld up by the roots I have seene Experience is the mistresse of truth Truth is called the daughter of time because experience bringeth forth many truths and the word of God is made visible in the works of God I have seen saith he This truth hath run into my eye In experiences the promises of God stand forth and in experiences the threatnings of God stand forth and shew themselves all the experiences that we have in the world are onely so many exemplifications of the truths contained in the promises or threatnings of the word The foolish I shall not stay to open that terme for we met 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levem homineÌ„ notat qui sine consilio agit vulâ— facit nullamque facti rationum habet nisi quia ita venâ—â— in mentem Goc with it in the former verse wrath slayeth the foolish one Onely in a word this foolish man is one who acts without counsell and whose will is too hard for his understanding He hath no reason for what he doth but because he hath a mind to doe it A foolish man is a wicked man and here the foolish man is a wicked man at ease a wicked man in his fulnesse and aboundance of outward comforts A foole is ever worst when he is at ease And as he more abounds in comforts so he abounds more in sin All mercies are to him but fuell for his folly and meat and drink for his madnesse That rich man who pleased himselfe so in his worldly successes is cal'd a foole Thou foole this night shall thy soule be taken from thee and then whose shall all these things be which thou possessest Luke 12. 20 All wicked men are foolish and wicked rich men have ever the greatest stock of folly And they are therefore more foolish then others because they think themselves wiser then all If a man can get riches if his root be well setled in the earth and his branches spread fairely out he accounteth himselfe very wise and so doe many others account him too A thriving sinner is a foolish and an unprosperous man but he that plots how to thrive by sin is the most foolish man in the world and therefore in all his prosperity most unprosperous As the foolish take roote so that by which they take root is often times their folly Taking root Wicked men under the outward curse are compared to trees not taking root Isa 40. 24. He bringeth the Princes to nothing yea they shall not be planted yea they shall not be sowne yea their stocke shall not take root in the earth And Psalme 129. 6. Let them be as the grasse upon the house having no earth to take root in which withereth afore it groweth up whereof the mower filleth not his hand nor he that bindeth up the sheaves his bosome Wicked men prospering are compared to a tree well rooted I have seen the foolish taking root that is confirmed and setled in their outward prosperity A root is to the tree as a foundation is to the house the establishment of it when a tree is well rooted it takes in the moisture of the earth freely then the body or trunk growes big the branches spread forth the leaves are green and it abounds with fruit So that with the welrooting we must take in all that concernes the flourishing of a tree Hence other Scriptures expresse the men of the world by trees not onely secretly taking root in the earth but putting themselves forth and appearing in their visible beauty and verdure Ps 37. 35. David produceth his experience I have seen the wicked in great power how taking root yea spreading himselfe like a greene bay-tree They are described by their boughs branches and leaves And in Isa 2. 11. The day of the Lord shall be upon the Cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up not onely upon the Cedars of Lebanon that are deeply rooted but upon the Cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up and upon all the Oakes of Bashan In the 14. of Hosea v. 5. The prosperous estate of the Church under the dew and influence of heavenly blessings is held forth to us under the notion of a tree taking root I will be as the dew to Israel he shall grow as the Lilly and cast his roots as Lebanon that is as the trees in Lebanon his branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the Olive tree and his smell as Lebanon In the fourth of Daniel the state glory and magnificence of the kingdomes of this world are shadowed by a tree Nebuchadnezzar in a vision hath a tree presented before him he knew not what to make of it and therefore calls for the Wise-men to expound the vision which he thus relates ver 4. I saw and behold a tree in the middest of the earth the height thereof was great and the tree grew and was strong and the height thereof reached unto heaven and the sight thereof to the ends of the earth and the leaves thereof were faire When Daniel comes to interpret it ver 22. he sayes to the King Thou art this tree c. Nebuchadnezzar in all his worldly pomp is set forth by a goodly tree In the 53. of Isa v. 2. Where the birth of Christ is prophecied it is said That he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground As a very flourishing estate whether in spirituals or temporalls is exprest by a tree planted by the water side So a mean low estate is signified by a tree in a dry ground Our Lord Jesus in regard of any outward glory was like a tree in a dry ground as the words following expound it He hath no forme nor comelinesse and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him His kingdome was not like the kingdome of those great Monarchs strong and high and beautifull with any created lustre Hence observe First That wicked men may flourish in great outward prosperity I have seen the foolish taking root The Prophet Jeremiah in the twelfth of his Prophecy a Scripture touched before Chap. 4. v. 7. to this purpose being somewhat scandalized at the prosperity of treacherous dealers describes them thus ver 2. Thou hast planted them yea they have taken root they grow yea they bring forth fruit Here are four degrees first they are planted there is many a tree planted that takes not root but saith he thou hast planted them yea they have taken root There are some trees which are both planted and have taken root yet they doe not grow especially not to any height or greatnesse though they live yet they doe not thrive These are planted and they take root and they grow but there are many trees planted rooted and growing which yet are fruitlesse these have all they are planted they take root
aliquo dicitur in Scriptura quod faciendum denunciatur be or fore-tell that it shall be As to give an instance or two Levit. 13. in the case of the Leper the text saith that when the Priest makes up his judgement concerning the Leper having found the tokens of Leprosie upon him he shall defile him ver 3. and ver 8. or make him uncleane so the Originall gives it which we translate The Priest shall pronounce him uncleane In that sence the Ministers of the Gospell whose businesse is to cleanse defile many yea one way to cleanse men is thus to defile and pronounce them Lepers So Isa 6. 8. the Lord sends the Prophet against that people and saith to him Make the heart of this people fat and make their eares heavy and shut their eyes Praedic excaeeanaos oâ—ulos aures aggravandas Now the Prophet did not act this himselfe he did not deafen their eares or blind their eyes but onely fore-told or denounced that this judgement should fall upon them because they had so long stopped their eares at last their eares should be stopt and made heavy enough and because they had so long winked and shut their eyes at last they should be blind and their eyes shut fast enough How fast are those eyes and eares lockt up which are thus double lockt Once more Jer. 1. 10. The Lord gives the Prophet a strange commission See saith he I have this day set thee over the Nations and over Kingdomes to roote out and to pull downe and to destroy and to throw downe and to build and to plant One would think this commission more fitting for a Caesar or an Alexander for great Commanders attended with numerous Armies than for an unarmed Prophet what could he doe could he roote out Kingdomes and destroy Nations Yes by denouncing the destroying judgements and consuming wrath of God due unto them for their rebellions and provocations Thus a poor weak Prophet can overturne a whole Kingdome and roote up the strongest Nations And the truth is that never was any Nation or Kingdome rooted up by the sword but it was first rooted up by the word first God hewed them to pieces and slew them by his Prophets and then let in Armies of cruell enemies to doe it So here in the text I have seen the foolish taking root but suddenly I cursed his habitation The clear meaning is I foretold a curse I knew what would shortly become of his habitation It Non per invidiam iram dira imprecacarer sed animus pâ—aesagiret male ipsi fore Coc. was not anger against his person or envy at his estate that moved me to curse him but it was an eye of faith which shewed me him markt with a curse in the just threatnings of God I saw a curse hanging over his family and dwelling over his riches and honours And though he then flourished that yet he should quickly wither and be destroyed root and branch The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked Prov. 3. 33. Man doth but see it there the Lord sent it there The word is considerable which we traslate Habitation It signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quiet a setled a peaceable a beautifull habitation And so carries an aggravation of the judgement upon this foolish man his judgement is the worse upon him because he thought himselfe so well so well seated so well setled so secured and accommodated that he should never be removed They are most troubled with removings who thought themselves setled troubles afflict them deepest who supposed themselves beyond trouble When David thought God had made his mountaine so strong that it could not be moved how was he troubled as soon as God hid his face Ps 30. 6 7. And if they are so troubled with shakings who look upon their estates as setled by the favour of God how will they be troubled to meet with totterings and shakings much more with ruinings and destructions whose estates at best are bottom'd onely upon their policies often upon their sins We may observe from hence First The estate of some wicked men is out of the prayers of Gods people When they goe by their dwellings they cannot say The blessing of the Lord be upon you we blesse you in the name of the Lord Psal 129. 8. It is a great mercy to stand under the influences of prayer and for a man to have his estate land dwellings watered with showers of blessings and hearty good wishes from the mouths of Saints Their blessings or their cursings are next to the blessings and cursings of Christ nay they are his It is an argument that Christ hath blessed or cursed a man when the spirits of his people generally are carried to either It is one of the saddest presages in the world for a man to be cast out of the prayers of the Saints or to be cast by their prayers that is when their prayers are against him and he presented naked to the displeasure of Christ It shewes that the sin of a man is a sin unto death when the faithfull cease praying for him 1 Joh. 5. 16. What can it prognosticate then but approaching ruine and destruction when they bend the strength of prayer against him There was never any habitation of wickednes so firmly founded or strongly fortified but that Great and Holy Ordinance hath or may shake and batter it to the dust The fair Towers and walls of Babylon the seate and state of Antichrist have long been under this curse All the Saints whose eyes God hath unscaled and brought out from Egyptian darkness have seene That foolish man taking roote and have cursed his habitation Secondly observe A wicked man in prosperity is under the curse of God He is often under the curse of man but ever under the curse of God Esau have I hated saith God Rom. 9. 13. yet even at that time the fatnesse of the earth was his dwelling and of the dew of Heaven from above Gen. 27. 39. While the meate was in the mouthes of the murmuring Israelites the wrath of God was upon them They did at once eate their lust and their death wrath was mingled with their meate and while he gave them their request he sent leanenesse into their soules Psal 106. 15. This is the most dreadfull curse of all To have a fate estate a well fed body with a leane starven soule Thirdly Observe a vast difference between godly and wicked men between the foolish and the wise When a godly man withers in his outward estate and is pluckt up by the rootes yet God loves him when a godly man is poore God loves him when he is sick God loves him when he is in prison God loves him when he is in disgrace God loves him and when the world hates him most then God usually shewes that he loves him most The world cannot cast a godly man into any condition but he meets with the love
upon his estate upon the branches and the fruit of that goodly tree much like that in the vision Dan. 4. 13 14. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed and behold a watcher and a holy One came downe from Heaven He cryed aloud and said thus Hew downe the tree and cut off his branches shake off his leaves and scatter his fruit c. This Allegory may be rendred in the plaine words of Eliphaz I cursed his habitation his children are far from safety The Master of the Family is the tree His children are either fruit or branches His leaves are riches and honour the beauty and pleasantnesse of his habitation Some things in the letter of the text are to be opened but I shall first observe one thing in the generall from the connection of this fourth verse with the third I suddenly cursed his habitation verse 3. Then follows his children are far from safety Observe from it That Creatures cannot stand before the curse of God How strongly soever they are rooted the blast of the breath of Gods displeasure will either blow them downe or wither them standing The curse comes powerfully suddenly and secretly it is often an invisible stroake When we see neither axe nor spade at the roote nor strome at rhe top yet downe it comes or stands without leafe or fruit When Christ in the Gospell curst the fruitlesse figg-tree his Disciples passing by that way wondred saying how quickly is this figg-tree whithered it was but onely a word from Christ Never beare fruit more and the fig-tree which had no fruit lost its life Some are such tall Cedars such mighty Oakes that men conclude there is no stirring of them no Axe can fell them or blast loosen them yet a word from the Lord will turne them up side downe or if he doe but say to them never fruit grow upon your actions or out of your counsels presently they wither The curse causlesse shall not come but when there is a cause and God speaks the word the curse will come Neither power nor policies neither threatnings or entreaties can hinder or block it up It is said of the water of jealousie in the booke of Numbers that when the woman dranke that water if there were cause of her husbands suspition presently her belly swel'd and her thighes did rot the effect was inevitable So if God bid judgement take hold of a man family or Nation it will obey A word made the world and a word is able to destroy it There is no armour of proofe against the shot or stroake of a curse Suddenly I cursed his habitation and the next news is His children are far from safety If God speake the word it is done as soone as spoken as that mysterious Letter said of the Gun-pouder plot As soone as the paper is burnt the thing is done Surely God can cause his judgements to passe upon his implacable enemies such horrid conspiratours against Churches and Common-wealths truth and peace with as much speed as a paper burns with a blaze and a blast they are consumed That in the generall from the connexion of these two verses Assoone as he was cursed his children and his estate all that he had went to wrack and ruine I shall now open the words distinctly His children are far from safety Some reade Were far from safety and so the whole passage in the time past because he speaks of a particular example which he himself had observeâ— in those daies as is cleare v. 2. Having shewed the curse upon the eoot he now shews the withering of the brauches Some of the Rabbins understand by Children the Followers or Imitators of wicked men such as assisted them or such as were like them These are morall children but take it rather in the letter for naturall children such as were borne to them or adopted by them these come under their fathers unhappinesse They are far from safety The Hebrew word is commonly rendred salvation His children are farre from salvation But then we must understand it for temporall salvation which our translation expresses clearely by safety His children are farre from safety It is possible that the children of a wicked man may be neare unto eternall salvation Though godly parents have a promise for their seed yet grace doth not runne in a bloud neither is the love of God tied or entayl'd upon any linage of men Election sometimes crosses the line and steps into the family of a reprobate father Therefore it is not said His children are farre from salvation in a strict but in a large sence We find the word salvation frequently used for safetie 2 Kings 13. 17. when Elisha bad Joash the King of Israel shot the arrow he called it the arrow of the Lords salvation which we render the arrow of the Lords deliverance So Moses bespeakes the trembling Israelites aâ— the red Sea Stand still and behold the salvation of the Lord that is behold what safety the Lord will give you from all these dangers what deliverance from the hand of Pharaoh The Prophet represents the Jewes thus bemoaning their outward judgements We roare all like Beares and mourne sore like Doves we looke for judgement but there is none for salvation but it is farre off Isa 59. 11. They are far from safety To be far from safety is a phrase importing extreame danger As when a man is said to be far from light he is in extreame darknesse and when a man is said to be far from health he is in extreame sicknesse and when a man is said to be far from riches he is in extreame poverty So here His children are far from safety that is they are in extreame danger and perill they walk as it were in the regions of trouble in the valley of the shadow of death continually That phrase is used also respecting the spirituall estate of unbeleevers They are far off from God far off from the Covenant Isa 57. 19. Ephes 12. 13. that is they have no benefit by the Covenant no interest in no favour at all or mercy from the Lord. To be far off from mercy is to be neare wrath and to be far from safety is to dwell upon the borders of danger And they are crushed in the gate In the forth Chapter Eliphaz describes man as crushed before the moth to shew how suddenly how easily man is destroyed This mans children are crushed in the gate as a man would crush a flie or a moth between his fingers They are crushed in the gate That notes two things First the publikenesse of their destruction they shall be destroyed in the sight of all men for the gate was a publike place Pro 31. 31. her workes praise her in the gates that is she is publikely knowne by her good works To doe a thing in the gate is opposed to the doing of a thing secretly To suffer in the gate is to suffer publikely Secondly to be crushed in the gate
seeke exactly and enquire laboriously unto God It signifies to seek by asking questions or by interrogating And it imports seeking with much wisedome and skill a curious or a criticall enquirie So Eccles 1. 13. I gave my heart saith Solomon to seeke and search out by wisedome And this seeking implies foure things First A supposition and a sense of our wants no man seekes that which he hath already or but thinks he hath it He that is full loathes a hony-combe Secondly A strong desire to find that which we want it notes not a bare desire only or woulding but a kind of unquietnesse or restlessenesse till we find such a desire tooke hold of David Psal 132. 4. I will not give rest to mine eyes nor slumber to mine eye-lids untill I find out a place for the Lord or untill I find the Lord. Thirdly A care to be directed about the meanes which may facilitate the finding or recovery of what we want and thus earnestly desire A seeking spirit is a carefull spirit after light and counsell Fourthly A diligent and faithfull endeavour in or about the use those meanes to which counsell directs us Through desire a man having separated himselfe seeketh and intermedleth with all wisdome Prov. 18. 1. That is he is very industrious in pursuing those advices which wisdome shews him or which are shewed him as the wayes of wisdome A lazy spirit is unfit to seeke I would seek unto God and unto God would I commit my cause In the former clause the word for God is El and in the latrer Elohim both names note the power of God El notes power or strength to act and execute Elohim power or authority to judge and determine I would seek unto El The strong God I would commit my cause to Elohim the Mighty God As if he had said Thou art in a weake and low condition now therefore seeke unto God the strong God the mighty God who is able to deliver thee Thou wantest the help of such a friend as he The Hebrew word for word is thus rendred Vnto God would I put my words or turne my speech We reach the meaning fully rendring Vnto God I would commit my cause or put my case The terme which we translate cause signifies any businesse or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat verâ—um vel negotium res meas ei committeâ—eÌ„ cause but most properly a word Explicite prayer is the turning of our thoughts into words or the putting of our case to God It is a speaking to or a pleading with the Lord. The Septuagint is clear in this sense I would deprecate the Lord I would call upon the Lord the governor of all things Both these significations of the word are profitable for us and congruous with the scope of the text I would turne my speech and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. prayer or I would commit my cause unto God The committing of our cause to God notes a resignation of our selves and of our condition into the hands of God It is as much as to say Let God doe what he will or determine what he pleaseth concerning me I will not strive or contend about question or dispute his decision or judgement of my cause I will lay my selfe down at his feet and tell him how she case stands with me then let him doe with me what seems good in his eyes This is the committing of our cause and condition unto God And the Originall word here used for God doth very well suite and correspond with this sense I will commit my cause unto God unto Elohim the great and impartiall Judge of Heaven and earth the God who loves Judgement and the habitation of whose Throne is righteousnes The God who knowes how to discern exactly between cause and cause person and person and will undoubtedly give a righteous sentence concerning every cause and person that comes before him Unto this Elohim would I commit my cause and refer my self to his arbitration Observe first in the general Eliphaz having reproved Job turnes himself to counsell and exhortation From which we may learne That As it is our duty to reprove a fault in our brother so it is our duty to advise and counsell him how to amend or come out of that fault for which we reprove him It is not enough to espy an error but we must labour to rectifie it or to tell another that he is out of the way but we must endeavour to reduce him Many can espy faults and failings in others who either know not how or care not to reforme and helpe them out Secondly observe That It is a duty to exhort and excite our bretheren to those duties wherein we find them flack or negligent Eliphaz conceived that Job was much behind in the duty of prayer and self-resignation unto God and therefore he quickens him up to it The Apostle calls us to this Christian inspection Heb. 3. 13. Exhort one another daily lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulnesse of sinne sin growing and getting strength hardens the heart it is best to oppose it betimes and therefore he bids them doe it at all times exhort one another daily Though the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 1. 12. was perswaded of the Saints establishment in the present truth yet saith he I will not cease to put you alwayes in remembrance of these things It is a dangerous error which some hold that the Saints in this life may out grow counsell and exhortation as if there were no need to bid a godly man pray seek unto God no need to bid a godly man repent or humble himself or believe he cannot but do these things say they these are connaturall to him They are indeed to the new man within him But let them withall remember that the neglect of all these duties is as connaturall to the old man within him While there are two men within us we had need every man to look not only to one but to one another It may goe ill with the better part the new man if while he hath an enemy within to oppose him he hath not a friend without to help him On this ground besides the command of Christ the holiest man on earth may be exhorted to look to his holinesse none are in more danger then they who think they are past danger And as it is a certaine argument that a man was never good if he desires not to be better so it is a great argument that a man was never good who feares not that he may be worse They who are truly assured they cannot fall from grace are assured also that they may fall in grace and fall into sin The foundation of God stands sure but the footing of man doth not and therefore Let him that stands take heed least he fall And let them who see their brethren heedlesly falling lend them the right hand of exhortation to raise them up againe and when
I have not only given him a being and a shape but I have put upon him all the perfections of nature yea and the perfections of grace the impressions of my speciall love and favour I have lifted him up to the top of all and so some render the word I have magnified or made him great I have exalted and set him upon the highest pinnacles of perfections and mountaines of holinesse Hence observe When God begins a worke he compleats and carries it through He doth not only Create and give a being Forme and give proportion but He doth or he makes giving beauty and exactnesse to his works Whether we consider the works of God as naturall civill or spirituall in this sense God doth them Deut. 32. 4. Moses speakes in generall concerning all the works of God He is a rock and his worke is perfect The works of Creation are admirable to the eye the works of Providence how often doe they fill the heart with admiration That which he spake to Samuel concerning the house of Ely is appliable both to his works of Mercy and of judgement When I begin I will also make an end 1 Sam. 3. 12. that is I will doe it fully there is nothing shall take me off or stay me in the mid-way I will not worke to halves I will also make an end And so it is in spirituals when once God hath begun he carries on his work of grace when once he hath laid the foundation stone of mercy he never leaves untill he hath set up the the top stone the highest stone of glory Hence the Apostles Heb. 12. entitles Christ The author and finisher of our faith that is the beginner and ender Alpha and Omega first and last about our faith It shall never be said of any work of God as Luk. 14. That he began to build but could not finish it And as he finishes so he beautifies all his works are full of order and comelinesse He doth his work exquisitely or as we say artificially yea those works that we look upon as full of confusion are full of order and those works in which we see no form or nothing but deformity even these will one day appear now they are admirable in beauty and comelinesse That which the Apostle speaks in his exhortation to Timothy 2 Tim. 2. 15. bidding him doe the work of an Evangelist bidding him shew himselfe a workman that needeth not to be ashamed is most true concerning the great God of Heaven and earth He shewes himselfe a workman or a worker that needeth not to be ashamed When he works he doth the work of a God He works like himselfe Man cannot so much as be suspected to have done such things The Name that is the wisdome power and goodness of God is written upon them in so faire and clear a letter that it must be said by way of assertion This hath God wrought And by way of admiration what hath God wrought Numb 23. 23. A man sc a meer naturall man beholding these things shall say verily he is a God that judgeth the earth Psal 58. 11. Man cannot judge or doe like this The Lord needs not engrave or subscribe his Name to his works His words like so many Capitall letters spell and like so many Heraulds proclaime his Name Which doth great things To passe from the act or manner of doing we will consider the object He doth great things Some men with a great deal of paines doe nothing and others with a great deal of art doe a thing of nothing a trifle a toy a meere fancy at least some mean or inferiour work takes up their time skill and study But when God goes to work we may expect a noble work He doth great things The works of GOD answer the stile or Attributes of God He is a great God and His are great works The works of God speak a God And here are foure things spoken in this one verse of the works of God which speak aloud This is the finger of God I will first bundle them together and then both take and weigh them asunder He doth First Great things Secondly Vnsearchable Thirdly Wonderfull Fourthly Innumerable or without number No works of man or Angel are capable of such a foure-fold stampe as this no nor any one work of all the creatures put together could ever be stamped with any one of these characters in any comparison with the works of God Some in a sense have done great things but none have done things unsearchable Man may fathome the works of man his closest wayes are not past finding out As there was never any thing made so strong by the strength of man but there was some other strength in man that could match yea overthrow it so there was never any thing so wisely so artificially or mysteriously contrived by the skill knowledge and deepest understanding of a man but that the skill knowledge and understanding of another man hath or might have ridled and searcht it out The works of most men are wrought above ground and their intentions flote and swimme upon the face of their actions And although some as the Prophet speakes Isa 29. worke deepe to hide their counsels as they hope not only from men but from God yet God gives other men a light to discover the very lowest hell of those counsels even all the depths of Satan The master-Engineere of those mines and subterranean contrivances Further Though some men doe that which makes other men especialy fooles or men weake in knowledge wonder yet no Thaumaturgas or wonder-worker ever did that which makes all men wonder Or if it should be granted that any have done things great unsearchable wonderfull yet I am sure none have done these things without number one great unsearchable wonderfull work is taske enough for one mans life And a little skill in numbers will serve the turne to cast up and give us the totall summe and number of all the works of all men which deservedly beare as mans may the title and superscription of great unsearchable wonderfull More distinctly First He doth great things There is a greatnes upon every thing God doth The great God leaves as it were the print of his own greatnesse even upon those things which we accont little little works of nature have a greatnesse in them considered as done by God and little works of providence have a greatnesse in them considered as done by God If the thing which God doth be not great in it selfe yet it is great because he doth it As there is no sin of man little in it selfe though comparatively it be because committed against a great God So there is no work of God little though comparitively it be because acted by the great God Further if God doth a thing which in it selfe considered or considered according to the line and rule of the creature is unjust yet because God doth it or commands it to be done his very doing
of time to make Heaven and earth and will it not be a great work to shake Heaven and earth That God hath said he will doe before the end of time Yet once it is a little while and I will shake the Heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land Hag. 2. 6. The words following seem to interpret this earthquake and Heaven-quake I will shake all Nations Againe It was a great work to make the old Heaven and earth and will it not be a great work to make a new Heaven and a new earth That is the businesse which God is about in these letter days as he promised Isa 65. 17. Behold I create a new heaven and a new earth what is that Jerusalem a praise and her people a joy When God reformeth the face of his Church and settles the affaires of Kingdomes and Common-wealths he makes new Heavens and a new Earth And if it be the property of God to doe great things then it is a duty in us to expect great things We ought to look for such things as come up to and answer the power and greatness of God we dishonour and as it were humble God when we look onely for low and meane things Great expectations from God honour the greatnesse of God As the Lord expects to receive the greatest services from us because he is a great King Mal. 1. 14. So we ought to expect that we shall receive the greatest mercies from the Lord because he is a great King It dishonours God as much and more when we believe little as when we doe little A great King thinks himselfe dishonoured if you aske him a petty suite he looks more what becomes him to give or doe in bounty then the petitioner to aske in necessity The Great Alexander could tell his suiter whom he had more astonisht then relieved with his favour That though the thing might be too great for him to receive yet it was not too great for Alexander to give If dust and ashes can speake and think at this rate O how large is the heart of God! Then it is not onely our priviledge but our duty to aske and believe great things we ought to have a great faith because God doth great things Is it becomming to have a great God and a little faith To have a God that doth great things and we to be a people his people that cannot believe great things nay To have a God who can easily doe great things and we a people that can hardly believe small things How unbecoming if some small thing be to be done then usually faith is upon the wing but if it be a great thing then faith is clogg'd her wings are clipt and we at a stand why should it be said unto us as Christ said unto his Disciples O ye of little faith It may be as dangerous to us if not as sinfull not to believe the day of great things as to despise the â—ay of small things Why should not our faith in a holy scorne baffle the greatest difficulties in that language of the Prophet Zech. 4. 7. Who art thou O great Mountaine before Zerubbabell thou shalt become a plaine There is another usefull consequence from this truth He that doth great works ought to have great praises As we ought to have great faith that he will doe great things so he ought to have great acknowledgments when he hath done great things Shall God doe great things for us and shall we give him some poor leane starven sacrifices of praise It is very observable that as soon as the Prophet had described the Lord in his greatnesse Isa 40. 15. he adds in the very next verse And Lebanon is not sufficient to burne nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt Offering That is no services are great enough for this great God Lebanon abounded in spices for Incense and perfume it abounded with cattell for Sacrifice and burnt offerings To say that Lebanon had not spice enough to burne for incense nor beasts enough to burne for Sacrifice shews the Lord far exalted in greatnesse above all the praises and holy services of his people Lastly seeing God doth great works for us let us shew great zeale for great love unto the Lord. We should aime at the doing of great things for God seeing God indeed doth great things for us So much of the first Attribute of the works of God Who doth great things And unsearchable The Hebrew is and no search The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports the search of those things which are most abstruce and secret As the heart which the Lord onely can search Jer. 17. 15. The heart lies too low not onely for the eye but for the understanding of man Hence it is used Psal 95. 4. to note the Foundations or deep places of the earth because they cannot be known but by deep searchings or rather because they are beyond the deepest Penetralia terrae ut Aben Ezra explicat quae sciâ—i nequeunt nisi exquisita per scrutatione vel potiùs quòd homini minimè sunt perscutabilia Deo autuÌ„ in prepatulo Buxtorf search of man And the same phrase we find Psal 145. 3. Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatnesse is unsearchable or according to the letter of his greatnesse no search as when the Psalmist speaks of the greatnesse of God in his nature and essence presently he adds and of his greatnesse there is no search so here when Eliphaz speaks of the greatnesse of God in his works the next word is they are unsearchable As God in himselfe is great and of his greatnesse there is no search so many of the works of God are so great that of their greatnes there is no search that is you cannot find out their greatnesse by any search God is in working and so are men the hand cannot act beyond the head as he is in understanding There is no searching of his understanding Isa 40. 28. Therefore there is none of his working This unsearchablenesse of the works of God may be considered two wayes 1. As that which cannot be found by enquirie 2. As that which ought not to be found or enquired There are some works of God which are not to be searched into Arcana imperij they are to be adored by believing not to be pryed into by searching and in that sence they are called unsearchable Rom. 11. 33. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdome of and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements Many of his judgements that is his works of judgement are so unsearchable that it is not industry or duty but presumption to search into them As those unspeakable words which Paul heard in the third heavens were such as 2 Cor. 12. 4. is not lawfull for a man to utter so unsearchable judgements may be interpreted such as is not lawfull for a man to search Great Princes will
not have all their actions scann'd at least not by all They keep state in their works If all a mans actions be levell to the lowest his person will be so too The reason why the works of Antichrist were to be so mysterious and miraculous is because he was to be adored and Godded to be exalted above all in man that is called God or that is worshipped 2 Thes 2. 4. They who aspire to divine honour have or at least pretend to have many secrets Because secret things belong unto God things revealed unto man Deut. 29. 29. And as the Angell at once answers and reproves Manoah Judg. 13. 18. Why askest thou after my name seeing it is secret or wonderfull As if he had said thou must not enquire after my name for it is a secret Such prying into the works of God is as dangerous as prying into the Arke of God 1 Sam. 6. 19. It were more profitable for us and more honourable to God if we did search our own secret wayes more and Gods lesse There are other works of God which cannot be searched yet we may and ought to search them It is our duty to study them though we cannot finde them We may search and finde many of the workes of God with our sences there are others which we cannot finde though we search for them with our reason and understanding As some parts of the word of God 2 Pet. 3. 16. So some part of his works are so hard to be understood that unstable men wrest them to their own destruction The minde of God is legible in very many of his works and we may read them without a Comment or Interpreter Other of his works are mysterious and aenigmaticall very riddles insomuch that if an ordinary man looking on them should be questioned Vnderstandest thou what thou seest he must answer as the Eunuch did Phillip How can I except some man teach me And these works are unsearchable two ways First in regard of the manner of doing we cannot finde out the wayes and contrivances of Gods work His wayes are in the deep and his foot-steps are not known saith the Psalmist that is the way which God goes to the accomplishing of his ends are oftentimes like steps upon the water which leave no impression or track behind them Secondly his works are unsearchable in their causes or ends what it is which God aimes at or intends what moves or provokes him to such a course is usually a secret He doth such things as no man can give an account of or render a reason why Peter knew not how to construe or expound that work of Christ John 13. when he took a Towell with a bason of water to wash his feet Therefore Christ tells him What I doe thou knowest not that is thou knowest not what moves me to doe this for his eye taught him what Christ did but thou shalt know hereafter In due time this shall be interpreted to thee and thou shalt know the reason why I did this But it is said and that may be an objection against both text and Exposition Psal 111. 2. The workes of the Lord are great sought out of all those that have plesure therein To seek out notes a full discovery And in Psal 106. 7. Failing in this is charged upon the fathers and confessed by the children as a fault Our fathers understood not thy wonders that is the great things which God did for them in Aegypt How then is it said here The works of the Lord are great and unsearchable To clear this First I say there are some great works of God which are easie and plaine And it is our duty to be acquainted with and learned in these works of God as well as in the word of God Secondly those works whose text is hard we must search and labour to expound them so as to further duty but not to feed our curiosity We may search them with submission to the mind of God not for satisfaction onely to our own minds We may search with desire to honour God but not to humour our selves We may search them to make us more holy though not barely to make us more knowing Take two Corolaries from this First if the works of God are unsearchable then how unsearchable are the counsells of God the deep and secret counsels of God! The works of God are the cousells of God made visible Every work of God is the bringing of some counsell of God to light Now if we are not able to find out his counsells when they are made visible in his works how shall we find out his counsells when they lye hidden in his breast Secondly If the works of God are unsearchable then we are to submit unto the dispensations of God whatsoever they are though we are not able according to reason to give an account of them though we cannot search out either the manner how or the cause for which they were done yet we must reverence them And what we cannot believe by knowing we must know by believing It is our duty not onely to winke and believe shut our eyes and believe or believe when we cannot see but we must often believe where knowledge is shut out believe when we cannot understand Abraham by faith followed the call of God not knowing whether he went Heb. 11. 8. It is dangerous to follow men blind-fold how seeing soever those men are but it is safe and our duty to follow God blindfold how seeing soever we think our selves to be We must not be displeased as Joseph was at Jacob his Father Gen. 48. 17. when we see God laying his right hand upon Ephraim and his left upon Manasses doing things crosse to our thoughts much lesse may we take upon us to direct the hand of God as Joseph would Jacobs where we please The Lord knows as Jacob answered Joseph what he doth and it becomes us to acquiesce in what he doth though we know it not Some Romish Parasites have said of the Pope That if he should carry thousands to hell along with him there is no man must say to him Sir why doe you so They adore him so in the unsearchablenesse of his wayes and doings that it is enough for them if he doth them This abominable flattery of that Man of Sin is a sober truth concerning the holy God Though God east thousands of soules into hell no man may say to him what dost thou And though God turne Kingdomes upside down though he send great afflictions upon his own people and make them a reproach unto the Heathen though he give them up unto the power of the adversary and make all their enemies to rejoyce yet no man may say unto God why doe you thus His works are unsearchable It is beyond the line of a creature to put any question A why or A wherefore about the work of the Greatour Shall the thing formed say unto him that formes it why hast thou made me
thus Hath not the Potter power over his clay Some think they could doe things better then God hath done or at least that God might have done better if they had the power in their hands things should not goe thus and thus What an insufferable indignity is this to the wisdome and power of God that He whose works are unsearchable should be made accountable for his works That of Augustine when he was in a deep meditation about the nature of God may well be applied to the works of God who walking by the sea side in deepe thoughts of God either heard this voyce or was filled with this thought That he might as soone empty the sea with or comprehend the Ocean in one of those little cockle-shels which lay on the shore as with the narrow vessell of his Spirit comprehend the infinite greatnesse of the God of Spirits Marvellous things * Inscrutabile mirabile differunt inscrutabile est qued laâ—et perquiri non potest Miâ—abile est quod ipsum qâ—idem apparet sed causa ejus perquiri non potest Aquin. in loc Unsearchable things and marvellous differ thus Those things are unsearchable which lie hid and cannot be found that is a marvell whose cause cannot be found though 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it selfe be not hid This is the third adjunct or attribute of the works of God The word is derived from a root which signifies Seperated Disjoyned or Divided And marvellous things are exprest by that word because marvels or wonders are seperated or Separatus disjunctus Hinc significat mirabâ—lia quia talia sunt à nobis separata captum su erant ita ut ratione quis asse qui aut re praestare â—equeat removed from us three degrees at least They are seperated First from our knowledge or reason Secondly from our sense not that marvels are invisible marvels and miracles are wrought to be seen and the use of them lies in this from the sence to confirme faith or to convince of unbeliefe Which by the way quite overthrowes the Popish refuge of a miracle in their supposed transubstantiation of the bread at the Eucharist who tell us of a miracle but can shew us none But though in all miracles and marvails the thing wrought is plain to the sences yet both the power and manner of doing it are removed from the sences The marvell wrought is seene but the working of the marvell is not seen Thirdly Marvels are seperated or removed from our imitation we cannot doe such things The Lord stands alone working wonders They are seperated part and portion for God himself The Egyptian Sorcerers seemed to doe by their devillish inchantments what Moses did by the command and power of God But at the best they did but seeme to doe like Moses and presently they could not so much as seeme Exod. 8. 18. And the Magicians did so that is they attempted to doe so but they could not They that worke by the devils art or power cannot worke long They will quickly be at A Could not Both their religions and their miraculous workes are at best but in appearance at last they will not so much as appeare In these three respects marvels are rightly called separate Further the word also signifies sometimes A hard or a difficult thing because those things that are very hard and difficult have somewhat of wonder in them and cause us to wonder at them Deut. 17. 8. If a matter come which is too hard the word is which is too marvellous and wonderfull for thee c. And Gen. 18. 14. Is any thing too hard for me saith God the word is Is any thing wonderfull to me Nothing is wonderfull to us but that which is too hard for us There is nothing wonderfull to God who doth all wonders and is himselfe all Wonder It hath beene said concerning those lovers of and searchers after secret wisedome called Philosophers that it doth not become a Philosopher to wonder For admiration is usually the daughter of ignorance we marvell at most things because we know the causes of few things It was therefore a shame for a Philosopher to wonder because it betrayed his ignorance who would be thought studied in yea a master of all causes and able to give a reason of all things in nature But it is most certaine the great God never marvelleth at any thing For is any thing too hard for me saith the Lord. Wonders are things too hard for us and the same word signifies a wonder and a thing too hard There are three words of neare alliancec in the Hebrew Signes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Miracles and Mervails And they may be distinguisht thus A Signe is the representation of a thing present or before us A Miracle or Portentum as contra-distinct from the former shews forth somewhat future or that is to come A Mervaile as differing from both is any act of providence secret or separate from us in the manner of doing or producing it a thing to us unsearchable so Exod. 33. 16. Wherein shall it be knowne that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight saith Moses Is it not in that thou goest with us So shall we be separated I and thy people So we translate it or made wonderfull that is if thou goest along with us thou wilt doe such marvails for us as will make a difference betweene us and all the people in the world we shall be a people marvell'd at all the world over or a spectacle to the world Angels and Men. The presence of God with a people is their difference or will make them differ from all people with whom God is not under the Notion of Favour and Protection present Againe Marvels are taken sometimes for Miracles which are meerely and purely supernaturall For in ordinary acceptation of the word a Marvell is only the heightning and sublimating of nature or acting in the highest Spheare of nature but a Miracle is a crossing or a contradicting of nature A worke altogether above yea against Nature Now we are not to take marvels here in that strict sense for miracles for the great works of God are call'd marvels or wonders which yet are but either the ordinary constitutions of Nature or the extraordinary motions of nature as Psal 136. 4. O give thanks to the Lord to him who alone doth great wonders What are these In the 5 6 and 7. verses instances are given in naturall things as making the heavens and stretching out the earth above the waters The making of those great lights the Sun and Moon * Mirabilior est grani in terra multiplâ—catio quam illa quinque Panum August Tâ—act 24 in Joh in Quicquid mirabile fit in mundo profectò minus est quà m totus hic mundus Qua â—vis ilaque miracula visibiliuÌ„ naturaâ—um videndi assiduitate vile scunt tamen cum ea sapienter intuemur
hath he not reason to marvell at our unbeliefe Christ having wrought miracles to gaine the beliefe of his country men marvailed at their unbeliefe Mark 6. 2 6. Unbeliefe is a great sin at all times but in a time when mervailes are wrought for the cure and healing of it unbeleefe is a marvellous sin Will not Christ think you marvell at our unbeleefe if we beleeve not after all these marvels Ye will not beleeve saith Christ and he rebukes the Jewes for it Joh. 4. except you see signes and wonders Surely if they were so charged because they would not beleeve except they saw signes and wonders how shall they be charged who will not beleeve when they see signes and wonders especially when God seemes to work a wonder a purpose that they might beleeve God loves and prizes the faith of man so highly that sometimes he bids a miracle for it rather then goe without it And surely now as God hath wrought marvels to abate the marvellous pride of the Adversary so to overcome the marvellous unbeleef of his own people As hath been observed concerning the Lords swearing As I live I desire not the death of a sinner c. O happy man for whose sake the Lord sweares but O most unhappy who doest not beleeve the Lord when he sweares So we may say of the Lords-wonder-workings O happy people for whom the Lord works wonders but O most unhappy people who beleeve not the Lord when he works wonders Thirdly Seeing God works extraordinary things for us let not us stay in ordinary duties Let our works have somewhat of a marvell in them too Let our repentance and the change of our lives be marvelous let our zeal courage for Christ be marvelous like that of the Apostles who carried themseves with such heroical magnanimity in the work of the Gospel that when the High-priest and Councel who had convented and threatned them saw their boldnesse They marvelled saith the text Acts 4. 13. Let our love and thankfullnesse be marvellous let us pray marvellously and believe marvellously marvels don by God should ever work faith in man And faith in man doth sometime work marvelling in God Christ speakes with a kind of admiration to the woman of Canaan O woman great is thy faith Mat. 15. 28. O that his people in this Nation would set Him thus a wondring once more O England great is the faith in me O England great is thy love to me O England great is thy zeale for me O England great is thy repentance exceeding glorious thy Reformation I will close this point with this one word God hath begun to doe so many marvels amongst us that I verily believe the work he is about will end in a marvel too and we in the close shall be made either a wonder of mercy or a wonder of judgement to all the Nation 's round about The fourth Attribute of the works of God raises the glory of them all They are innumerable He doth marvellous things without number The Hebrew word for word is Vntill there be no number Without number may be taken three wayes First Strictly and absolutely for that which is without number and thus there is no number innumerable Things absolutely without number would be infinite but there cannot be two Infinits As God is so One and without number that he is Infinite so whatsoever could be so many that it were without number would be infinite too Secondly Without number is that which man cannot reckon or cast up the summe of it Rev. 7. 9. John speakes of a great multitude which no man could number As a small number is said to be such as a child may write Isa 10. 19. So such a multitude as a man cannot write notes the greatest number And Heb. 12. 22. there is mention made of an innumerable company of Angels So God calleth Abraham out and saith Look now towards Heaven and tell the Starres if thou be able to number them Gen. 12. The Starrs are innumerable that is beyond mans Arithmetique Thirdly Things are said to be without number or innumerable in a more common sense when they are a very great number and so we find it frequent in Scripture As that which is very high is said to be as high as heaven Thus the discouraging Spies describe the Cities of the Canaanites to be Cities walled up to Heaven Deut. 1. 28. And when Sea-men or Marriners are tossed upon the waves and billowes of the Sea they are said to mount up to the Heaven and to goe downe againe to the depths Psal 107. 26. So here a very great number is said to be innumerable or without number In this third and in that second sense the great works of God are innumerable God hath done so many marvellous things as are inpossible for man to reckon His mighty works are not only beyond the writing of a child but of the wisest men The man who numbers most dayes cannot number the wonders of God I shall note but one or two Instructions from this That the works of God are innumerable First Then what God hath done he can doe it againe a second time yea a third a fourth time ten times yea ten thousand times over if our necessity and his good pleasure meet together for his works are innumerable Eliphaz speakes not only of what God had done but of what he can doe yea of what he is a doing he doth innumerable marvels Some men can doe great things many have done great things but they cannot doe them without number even a child may write all that any man can doe and at most it needs but a man to reckon all the great things which all men have done The hand of God shortens not in an eternity but the hand of man shortens every day sometimes in a day and therefore he cannot doe things innumerable Man cannot doe that to day which he could yesterday whether we respect his civill abilities or his naturall As old Barzillai said unto David 2 Sam. 19. when the King invited him home with him and offered him all the pleasures of the Court Can I any more heare the voice of singing men and singing women or can I any more tast what I eate and what I drinke As if he should say It is true Sir I have known the time when I could have made use of this royall favor and have taken in the pleasures of your Court I once delighted in musick and my eare could tast a sweet voice I once delighted in rich fare and my pall at could tast meate and drinke but can I any more doe thus my naturall strength is gone my senses cannot renew innumerable acts of pleasure if grace doth not weane us from the abuse yet nature will tire in the use of worldly comforts But the civill abilities of man wither sooner then his naturall you may see a man that hath done great things in a State or Common-wealth come to him a while
As the Lord liveth there shall not be dew nor raine these yeares but according to my word But the Apostle James shews us what word this was namely a word of prayer not of command Chap. 5. 17. Elias prayed and it rained not againe he prayed and it rained All the power of man cannot prevaile with the heavens to raine but the prayer of faith can prevaile with the God of heaven To send raine was the worke of God though it were at the word of a man They who denie God in one worke will quickly denie him in another And if we deny him in lesser yea the least of his works in a drop of raine we are in danger to deny him in the greater And they who denie God in his working have but an easie step to the deniall of his being This should teach us to walke in dependance upon God for all naturall comforts He giveth raine All creatures drinke from Heaven that they may have their eyes and their hearts in Heaven And if we must walk in dependance upon God for naturall comforts how much more for spirituall if for the rain of the clouds how much more for the dews of his Spirit and the rain of grace upon our hearts Further observe It is a great wonderfull and unsearchable worke of God to send raine For we must put the stampe of those foure characters upon all these workes And so raine is a great a wonderfull and an unsearchable worke of God so great and wonderfull that as hath bin proved no creature can communicate with God or share in the honour of this worke The Rabbins have a saying that upon every apex or Tittle of the Law their hangs a mountaine of sence and holy Doctrine We may say that in every drop of raine there is an ocean of wisedome of power of goodnes and of bounty If we study the ordinary In ea mira Dei in suas creaturas spectaâ—ur benignitas clemenâ—iae simul potentia undè passim Propheâ—e praesertim in hoc libâ—o quandò socij Job aut Job ipse admiranda Dei opera prâ—ponunt pluviam inter ea primo loâ—o ponunt Merc. workes of God we shall learne somewhat extraordinary in them common things are ful of wonder and among all common things none fuller of wonders then the raine To illustrate this a little in some particular considerations First There is marvellous power seen in causing and giving raine Is it not marvellous power which raises the vapours and holds as we may so speake A sea of water above the earth That such mighty seas and floods of water hang in the ayre and thence are distill'd and sprinkled downe as Job speakes in small drops are acts and arguments of the wonderfull power of God Secondly Behold in the raine the wonderfull goodnes of God who by this meanes cooles and refreshes nourishes and suckles all earthly living creatures When the ground is enapt and gapes as it were with open mouth the Lord opens these bottles and gives it drinke And a miracle of goodnes is seene in this forasmuch as when his very enemyes hunger he thus feeds them when they are naked he thus cloaths them when they thirst he thus gives them drinke Mat. 5. 45. He sendeth raine upon the just and upon the unjust They are maintained in life by the goodnesse of God whose lives maintaine a continuall warr against his justice And as there is a wonder of goodnesse in giving rain for the use of evill men So there is a wonder of bounty in sending raine upon those places which are not of use to any man he sendeth waters upon the fields that is all over the world Hence when Elihu would set forth the marvellous power and bounty of God he exemplifies it in this Job 38. 25. Who hath devided a water course for the overstowing of waters to cause it to raine on the earth whereno man is and on the wildernes where there is no man Such an open and bountifull house doth the Lord of Heaven and earth keep that rather then any shall want he will in a sence let the water runne wast God will not have so much as an herbe or a plant to want though there be no man to come there yet the grasse and shrubs shall have drinke and tast of his bounty And so legible is that goodnes of God which is written with drops of rain so wonderfull his power and bounty in giving rain that the Prophet wonders at the stupidity of those men who are not convinced of and taught obedience by it They have not said let us fear the Lord that giveth the first and the latter raine in his season Jer. 5. 24. As if he should say what a strange thing is it that sweet showers of raine have not softened the hearts of men into the feare of God and made them blossome with and bring forth abundantly the fruits of holines Hereupon it is very remarkeable how Moses makes this a motive to perswade the children of Israel to obedience in Canaan because that country stood in much need of raine which Egypt from whence they came did not Deut. 11. Therefore shall ye keepe all the Commandements which I command you this day ver 8. For the land whither thou goest in to possesse it is not like the land of Egypt from whence ye came out where thou sowest thy seed and wateredst it with thy foot like a garden of herbes That is Egypt being a flat plaine country all upon a levell when the Land wanted moysture thou didst not stay for or depend upon the raine to moisten it but with thy foot thou diggedst draines and madest sluces or water-courses from the river side meaning Nilus that famous river which ran quite through Egypt and that refreshed thy lands and made them fruitfull But Canaan is another kind of Country vers 11 12. the Land whether thou goest in to possesse it is a Land of hils and valleyes and drinketh water of the raine of Heaven A land which the Lord thy God careth for his eyes are upon it c. As if he had said Canaan is not a country capable of being water'd by the foot it is so mountanous and uneven All the labour of hand or foot cannot bring the streams upwards to give thy thirstie land drinke it must drinke from heaven or be burnt up and parcht with thirst and if so then that must be the Lords care his eye must observe when tbou wantest raine his hand must make water-courses in the heavens and open the sluces and cataracts of the clouds for thee And wilt thou not serve this God in duty who in bounty thus serveth thee and gives thee such a sensible evidence of his care over thee The Apostle Paul preaches this to the Gentiles as Naturall Theologie to leave them inexcusable Though he suffered all Nations to walke in their owne wayes in that he gave them not either the light or restraint of
grace yet he did give them light and restraint too in nature Neverthelesse he left not himselfe without witnesse in that he did good and gave us raine from heaven Acts 14. 17. As if he had said though yee have not had the raine of the word yet the raine of the cloud if such a Preacher of Gods power and goodnesse as will leave you for ever without excuse The Lord himselfe seemes to glory in this as one of the chiefest of his works Job 38. 37. Who can number the clouds in wisdome Or who can stay the bottles of heaven I challenge all creatures to a competition with me in this And again in this book Ch. 36. 26. Elihu lifts up the greatnesse of God in this act of his providence Behold God is great and we know him not wherein doth he instance his greatnesse it follows ver 27. For he maketh small the drops of water they powre downe raine according to the vapour thereof Reade paralell texts Jer. 10. 13. Psal 65. 10 11. Psal 147. 8. So much of this first worke of God the raine and of his power wisdome goodnes bounty visible and apparent in it The second instance of Gods power and wisdome c. is in civill things both in setting up and pulling downe First in raising and setting up To set up on high those that be low that those which mourne may be exalted to safetie As if he should say will you see another way wherein God shews himself in his power wisdome and goodnesse It is in looking thorough the world for such as are low that he may lift them up in espying out mourners and weeping eyes that he may wipe them and more exalt them to safety Some of the Jewish Writers connect this verse with the former making this as an effect of Gods bounty wonderfull worke in sending raine He sendeth raine and showers upon the earth with such plenty of blessings that by this means many who were poore low meane and sad-hearted may be set in high estate and exalted unto safety And there is a truth in it Gods blessing upon the earth hath exalted many that were low to an high estate to riches and prosperity But rather we shall take it in a more generall sence And so Eliphaz in these words seemes to comfort Job by giving him a hint that though his estate was now very low yet if he would apply himselfe unto God as he had advised ver 8. By seeking unto and committing his cause to him as low as he was he might be set high againe and though he was now a mourner sitting in dust and ashes He might be exalted to joy and safetie for in this the power wisdome and goodnesse of God are usually put forth and exalted The words carry an allusion to that custome of Princes and Magistrates who sit in high places upon erected thrones As 1K 16. 19. it is said of Solomon that he built him a magnificent throne or chaire of state which had an assent of six steps to it he sate on high And the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 6. ver 1. describes the Lord in the same manner sitting in state I saw the Lord saith he sitting upon a throne high and lifted up The pride and arrogancy of the Assyrian is thus exprest Isa 14. 13. He hath said in his heart I will exalt my throne above the stars I will sit also upon the Mount of the Congregation So that to sit on high is as much as to be preferred or advanced whether we respect honour or riches dignity or authority To set on high those that be low The word may note either those that are low in their own eyes or those that are made low by others active or passive lownesse Grace in our own hearts causes the former lownesse and sinfull oppression from the hand of others causes the latter The former are humble the latter are humbled The Lord sets both these on high And Those which mourne The Hebrew word signifies to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obscurus obscuritus luce privatus fuit nigruit per Metaphoram câ—nâ—ristatus fuit in tristitia enim fugit spleÌ„dor faciei Sic latinè Atriti dicuntùr lugentes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 maesti vultus blacke darke or obscured And the reason why that word is borrowed to note mourning or sorrow is because sorrow causeth blacknesse or darknesse of habit or countenance Mourning and blacknesse usually goe together Jer. 4. 28. For this cause shall the earth mourne and the heavens above shall be blacke And usually Mourners goe in blacke it is the die and dresse of Mourners As white is the colour of joy Let thy garments be alwayes white saith the Preacher to him that is to eat his bread with joy Eccles 8. 8. Yea the very beauty of the face is obscured the light of the countenance shadowed or clouded with teares and sorrow Hence the Seventy render it They whose faces are sad or sowre It is the word used Mat. 6. 16. When yee fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance It implies an affected studied sadnesse severity austerity grimnesse gastlinesse unpleasantnesse of countenance proceeding from art rather then from nature much lesse from grace as the words following imply for they disfigure vitiate or discolour their faces corrupt or abolish their native complexion so as it appeares not what it is that they may appeare what they are not Hypocrisie can paint the face with blacke as well or rather worse then pride with red and white and so doth reall sorrow sometimes whether for sin or outward affliction True passion in the heart will dim the brightnesse and staine the beauty of the face These Mourners shall be exalted to safety The word which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in loâ—â—â—ubâ—â—mi sterit exalâ—aâ—us adeò ut ab hostibus pertingi nequeat Per Metaphorem taâ—us in expugnabilis Hinc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—uâ—â—is Olim munitiones extruebâ—ntur in locis editioribus in montibus prae uptis inaccessis ut latinê arx ab hoste arcendo dicto est we translate Exalted signifies to set in a high place and in a place so high that a man so placed is beyond the reach of danger or the power of an adversary it is to be set upon a place impregnable Hence the word is used for a Fort Tower or Castle because forts and Towers being places of defence were for the most part built upon some high place upon some rocke or praecipice Prov. 18. 10. The name of the Lord is a strong Tower That is we are as safe under his protection as in a strong Tower founded on the steepest rocke And the Prophet describing the safety of him who walks uprightly gives it in this word The place of defence shall be the munition of Rocks Isa 33. 16. So Jer. 48. 1. Misgab is confounded and dismayed That is the high place or Castle of
which God raiseth his people shall be if he pleases like a mountain of Adamant which cannot be melted or like mount Sion which cannot be removed A high place is seldome a safe place All high things are tottering Nâ—tare solent excelsa omnia and the more high the more tottering Then how unsearchable is the wisdome how great the power of God who can set his people very high and yet very safe who can make a man stand as firme and steady upon the highest pinnacle of honour as upon a levell ground or in a valley of the lowest estate and condition He exalts to safety And hence wee may draw downe a difference between Gods exaltation of his own people and the exaltation of his enemies and wicked ones Wicked men are oft times exalted and God exalts them though they know it not but how He exalts them to a high place but doth exalt them to a safe place No the Psalmist after a long temptation concludes Thou hast set them in slippery places thou castest them downe into destruction how are they brought into desolation as in a mement Psal 73. 18 19. Haman was exalted high but not in safety Many are exalted as Jezabel exalted Naboth high among the people but it was to stone him rather then to honour him It is said of Pharaoh he lifted up the head of his chiefe Baker he lifted up his head out of prison indeed but he lifted up his head to the gallowes also he lifted him out of prison but it was unto his death Such is the lifting up of wicked men they may be set on high but they are never set in safety How many have we seen suddenly advanced and as suddenly depress'd We are never safe but where God sets us or while God holds us in his hand Fourthly observe It is a wonder a wonderfull work of God to exalt those that are low and set mourners in safety The 107 Psalme is a Psalme recounting the wonderfull works of God O that men would praise the Lord for his wonderfull works is the burthen of that holy song And all those wonders conclude in this ver 39. 40. Againe they are minished and brought low through oppression affliction and sorrow what then He powreth contempt upon Princes c. yet setteth he the poore on high from affliction and maketh him families like a flock How wonderfull is this that the Lord will give Kings for the ransome of his people and to raise his poore will powre contempt upon Princes The highest must downe rather then his low ones shall not be set on high There are foure things which encrease this wonder and make it exceeding wonderfull First These poore have no strength Deut. 32. 36. He sees that their strength is gone Secondly Many times they have no hope no faith When the Son of Man comes shall he finde among low ones faith this faith to be exalted upon the earth Luk. 18. 8. Thirdly They have many enemies subtill enemies powerfull enemies confident enemies enemies above hope arrived at assurance that they shall keep poore ones at an under for ever Lord saith David how many are they that trouble me So many they were that he could not tell how many Fourthly They are supposed to have no friends none to appeare for them Let us persecute and take him say they for there is Psal 71. 11. none to deliver him Not a man no nor God as they conclude They say of my soule there is no help for him in his God I need not say it is a wonder to exalt a people upon all these disadvantages The fact speakes should you see a man trod upon the ground and many there holding him downe one by the arme another by the leg a third laying a great weight upon his breast were it not a wonder to see this man rise up and rescue himselfe from them all Thus it is with the Church and servants of God when they are low all the world is upon their backs the world of wicked ones hang about them one with his power another with his policie all with their utmost endeavours to hold them downe yet the Lord sets them on high who were thus low and exalts them to safety who were thus in danger Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare his wonderfull workes to the children of men And this is further cleared in the 12th verse He disappointeth the devices of the crafty so that their hand cannot performe their enterprise As if Eliphaz should say would you know how God exalteth his people and setteth them in safety 'T is true they have many enemies many that plot and devise evill against them but the Lord breakes their plots he out-plots them He disappointeth the devices of the crafty c. And as this is a proof of the former so it is a further instance of Gods wonderfull works The first was in naturall things sending raine The second and third were in civill things first exalting his own people and secondly in defeating the policies and power of their adversaries so then this twelfth verse may be taken either as it hath reference to the former or as a further instance of Gods wisdome and power He disappointeth the devices of the crafty Or he defeateth the purposes of the subtill so Mr Broughton readeth it that their hands can bring nothing soundly to passe The Apostle in 1 Cor. 3. 19. sets the holy stampe of divine authoritie upon this whole booke by quoting this or the next verse as a proofe of his doctrine For it is written saith he He takes the crafty in their own counsell He disappoints the devices of the crafty saith Eliphaz and He takes the wise in their own craftinesse He disappointeth The word signifies to breake to breake a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fractus contritus thing to peeces and by a metaphor to disappoint or to defeate because if an engine or instrument with which a man intends to work be broken he is disappointed of his purpose and cannot goe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Confregit dissipavit Metaphoricè irritum fecit Latinè potest reddiâ—abrogari on with his work So here He breakes the devices of the crafty the crafty frame very curious engines and instruments they lay fine plots and projects but the Lord breakes them and then they are defeated or disappointed The word is often used for breaking or making voyd the law as Psal 119. 126. Ezra 9. 13 because wicked men as much as in them lies would defeate and disappoint the holy purpose designe of God in giving those lawes They would repeale abrogate the laws of God that they might enact their own lusts They would doe that by the will of God which the Lord doth with their wills Null and disappoint it The devices The word which we translate devices signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉
enterprise 'T is so all along therefore Psal 2. 1. it is said Why doe the Heathen imagine a vaine thing a vaine thing because a thing successelesse their hands could not performe it It was vaine not only because there was not true ground of reason why they should imagine or doe such a thing but vaine also because they laboured in vaine they could not doe it And therefore it followes v. 4. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh the Lord hath them in derision The Lord sees what fooles they are and men yea themselves shall see it The Prophet gives us an elegant description to this purpose Isa 59. 9. They weave the spiders web but their webs shall not become garments neither shall they cover themselves with their workes As if he had said they have beene devising and setting things in a goodly frame to catch flies they have been spinning a fine thread out of their braines as the Spider doth out of her bowels such is their web but when they have this web They cannot cut it out or make it up into a garment They shall go naked and cold notwithstanding all their spinning and weaving all their plotting and devising The next broome that comes will sweepe away all their webs and the Spiders too except they creepe apace God loves and delights to crosse worldly proverbs and worldly crase How many visible demonstrations have we of this in our times How many cunning but ruining devices lie by the wals at this day unacted They went through the Head-worke but they could not get through their Hand-worke We may say as in the Psalme 76. 5. None of the men of might have found their hands The men of craft sound their heads but the men of might blessed be God have not yet found their hands to execute up to the height of the divisers either wit or malice In this we see the glorious prerogative of God How many thousand thousand thousand thoughts do men loose The thoughts of many yeares are lost in a moment God never lost nor never shall loose one thought And therefore David puts these two together in a breath Having said Psal 33. 10 The Lord bringeth the counsell of the Heathen to nought he maketh the devices of the people of none effect In the next verse he subjoynes The counsell of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all Generations And as the counsel of the Lord stands so he causeth the counsell of those to stand who consult for him He confirmeth the word of his servants and performeth the counsell of his Messengers Isa 44. 26. So that their hands shall performe their enterprise as the Lord encourageth the ancient people Zac. 4. 9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house his hands shall also finish it And againe Chap. 8. 13. Fear not let your hands be strong As if he had said Feare not goe on with your worke For your hands shall performe their enterprise you shall not beaten from your worke neither shall ye work in vain The Lord himselfe hath no barren counsels and he makes all the counsels which are for him bring forth in their due time desired fruit the longed for and beloved issue Lastly observe That It is a great and wonderfull worke of God to disappoint the devices and stop the enterprises of crafty men Eliphaz puts this among the wonders of God This is reported in a way of admiration concerning God Isa 44. 25. He frustrateth the tokens of the liars and maketh diviners mad he turneth wise men backwards and maketh their knowledge foolish The wisdome of God is most seen in defeating the wise as the power of God is most seene in overthrowing the strong While we consider that Theirs are secret devices and that they are subtill devices that they have many devices and that they have many wayes to bring these devices to passe it cannot fall below a wonder in our thoughts that their thoughts or devices are not accomplished Therefore the Psalmist concludes Psal 124. Vnlesse it had bin the Lord who was on our side c. we had bin swallowed up quick and taken in their snare As if he had said if we should have had any lesse then God to helpe us we had been gone all the world could not save us To passe through a place full of gins and snares and pits set and made on purpose to take a man and that man not taken is marvellous in our eyes Thus it is with the people of God they walk among snares and traps The trade of most wicked men is to be Trap-makers Snare makers if not Sword makers against the Saints of the most high They meet with devices upon devices and plots upon plots now that God shall disappoint all these and exalt his people to safety in the very face of death and dangers how admirable But some may object Yet we see that at least some of these plots are not disappointed at least some of these devices take and we have seen bloudy hands performing their enterprise I answer in a word First this text and the observation bottom'd upon it are to be understoood of what is often done not strictly of what is alwaies done The Lord very frequently disappoints the devices of the crafty But secondly their very successe is a disappointment and their prosperity is their curse For their cause is under a curse and so are their persons when both seeme most succesfull If outward judgements slay not wicked men Their prosperitie shall Pro. 1. 32. Thirdly all the successe which the devices of wicked craftie ones have tends to the fulfilling of Gods counsels more then their own So that though it be to the eye or in the letter success to them yet in truth and upon the matter it is success to the cause of God Craft prevailes no further no longer on earth then serves to accomplish the counsels of heaven and fulfill what infinite wisdom hath devised Therefore when you see any devices of the craftie thrive know that God is serving himselfe upon them and that they are but acting What his hand and counsell hath determined before to be done Act. 4 28. As Christ himselfe overcame by dying so doe they who are Christs they have successe in all their disappointments and these are disappointed in all their successes and die while they overcome No sinfull device of man ever did or ever shall prevaile beyond a contribution to the just and holy purpose of God All their prevailings are disappointments who intentionally oppose though they really accomplish the good pleasure and purpose of God JOB Chap. 5. Vers 13 14 15. 16. He taketh the wise in their own craftines and the counsell of the froward is carried headlong They meet with darknes in the day time and grope in the noon day as in the night But he saveth the poor from the Sword from their mouth and from the hand of the mighty So
the poore hath hope and iniquity stoppeth her mouth IN these foure verses Eliphaz proceeds in finishes the former argument by a further fuller clearing of the power and wisdome of God in catching and over-matching crafty ones in their wayes and counsels Having shewed before in the 12th verse that their devices are disappointed he sheweth now that they are intangled in their devices There we say they could not performe their enterprises and here we shall see them ruined in their enterprises It is a sore trouble to ungodly men when they cannot doe the mischiefe which they intend to others but is a farr sorer trouble when their counsels recoyle and when their own projects promote their own ruine when their own actions effect that which they had rather die then see done when that mischiefe falleth upon their own heads which they intended others That 's their calamity in this text He taketh the wise in their own craftines These wise men are no better then the crafty before mentioned for we see their wisdome is but craftinesse We had the Crafty in the former verse and here we have their craft or craftines The Apostle in 1 Cor. 3. 19. quotes this text of Eliphaz The wisdom of this world is foolishnes with God For it is written He taketh the wise in their own craftines The Greeke word there used hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi diâ—as ad quodlibet opus promptus qui dexteritate ingenij valet ad quodlibet agendum somewhat more in it then the Hebrew word opened at the 12 v. For it notes a fitness for all purposes a dexterity to serve any turn be it never so sinister or evill Such a man can be on any side and is for any purpose you will turne him to A godly man hath but one worke and he can doe but one worke that is one worke in kind Every worke he doth as a godly man hath a stampe of goodnesse or godliesse of holinesse or justice upon it But these crafty ones are for any worke for various works you may turn them loose to any service they are ready to do good for a need to serve their owne ends and they will not sticke at any evill for their owne ends Their byas is not within them but upon them and they can clap it to which side they please or may be most pleasing to or taking with others yet this Turn-coat Crastines shall not serve their turne For saith the text He taketh the wise in their own craftines The word which we translate He taketh is very significant It imports a taking by force or strength and it imports a taking by skill or stratagem God will have them both wayes If these cunning men worke by their wits He can take them The Lord hath more stratagems to take them then they have had to take others Or if they worke by power and by plaine strength he can take them The Lord hath more strength to take them then they have had to take others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Câ—piâ— apprehendit de â—oâ—o aut urbes expugnavit in opinatu violenta expugnatione The word is applied to the taking in of Cities or Forts places strengthned both by art and nature and to the taking of them which includes both sences either by siege or sudden surprisall Reade Numb 21. 32. Josh 6. 2 Deut. 2. 34. And so the sense may be that although these men think they have so intrenched fortified themselves by their wits policies and counsells as it were in a strong City or Castle that they seem impregnable and laugh at all opposite power Yet then God besieges batters and takes them presently he takes in and sleights their works with ease he levels to the ground their great thoughts even the high Tower of their imaginations That may be the force of the word He taketh them For as every naturall man labours to secure himselfe and his insts against the power of the word of God by carnal reasonings and pleadings for them All which the Apostles cals strong holds 2 Cor. 10. 4 5. The weapons of our warfare are not carnall but they are mighty thorough God to the casting downe of strong holds Now I say as naturall men secure themselves aâ— it were in strong-holds by their carnall reasonings so wicked Politicians thinke to secure themselves and fortifie their designes by plots and platformes of craftie counsell But as God in the ministery of his word casteth downe all the arguments which a man frames in his heart to protect his lusts So the Lord in the administrations of his providence throwes down all the fortifications which crafty men frame in their hearts to protect their law-lesse practises and takes them in Secondly The word may imply the taking binding of a man in bonds or in fetters He takes the wise in their own craftines that is he takes and binds them as with a chaine or he fetters them in their own craftinesse so the word is used Prov. 5 22. His own iniquities shall take the wicked himselfe and he shall be holden with the cords of his sinnes Thirdly The metaphor may be carried in an allusion to Hunters of wild beasts or to bird takers who set nets and gins traps or toyles to take them These wise crafty men are cunning hunters their trade and businesse is to set nets to catch and toyles to intangle they dig pits and lay snares for others to fall into So the Prophet describes them Jer. 5. 26. They lay waite as he that setteth snares they set a trap they catch men But at last God takes the wise in their owne craftinesse that is the pits they have digged and the snares they have layed and the nets they have set shall catch themselves Fourthly The word is applied in Scripture to a taking or a discovery by a lot So Josh 7. 15. The rule was thus given He that shall be taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt and vers 18. Achan was taken that is taken by a lot the lot discovered and catcht him Achan had hid the Babylonish garment and the wedge of gold safe enough as he thought and one would have thought that in such a multitude in such an huge host and throng of people he might have been hidden too but God sends a lot and takes out Achan from the middest of all the multitude he calls him out by name this is the man There may be a like meaning and use of the word in this place He taketh the wise in their own craftines that is men who think to shelter themselves amongst the multitude or to walke in the clouds of craft men who hide and shadow themselves from the eye of the world as if none should see who they are or what they doe even these God will take he will direct a divine lot one time or other to apprehend and lay hold on them he will discover Achans the troublers of his
light at high-noon So then this word includes all kinds and degrees of happines yet here it is properly to be understood of the happines of this life which only is consistent with correction There are no rods in Heaven and we shall be past children before we come thither Thirdly we may answer plainly that the word in the Hebrew Simplex genuina responsio est quod nomen ipsum quo He braei beaâ—itudinem notant est plurale tantum ut latinis opes dâ—vitiae Ames in Ps 3. is only Plurall or Duall being never read in the singular number As in the Latine we have many the like words It is further observable concerning this word that it is alwayes applied unto man whereas the word Barac blessed is applied both to God and man This happinesse is a speciall and peculiar happinesse of man The Lord being infinitely above both obeying and suffering Happy is the Man Enosh the Hebrew word for Man of whom happinesse under correction is predicated is very sutable to this businesse of correction Enosh signifies a sickly weake miserable man We might render the full sence of the word thus Happy is that miserable man whom God corrects That is look upon a man according to the ordinary account of the world and calculation of reason he is a miserable man a weake sickly man yet happy is this weake sickly miserable man in the account of God and by the calculation of faith Grace makes that good sence which is a contradiction both in nature and in reason A miserable man and a happy man one and the same In Psal 1. the word Ish is used Blessed is the man that is Blessed is that excellent man that holy man that strong man walking and delighting in the Law of the Lord. Yea blessed with the same blessednesse is that miserable man smarting under the rod of the Lord whom God correcteth And yet blessednesse is joyned with all the words by which man is expressed It is joyned with Adam Psal 32. 1. Blessed is the man whose iniquity is forgiven Adam is the generall word for Man and is therefore most fitly joyned with blessednesse in pardon of sinne because all men are sinners and no man can be blessed except he be pardoned Blessednesse is joyned also with Geber a strong powerfull and mighty man Psal 94. 12. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy Law Blessed is Geber the great man the honourable man the highest by birth or place whom thou chastnest The Chaldee Paraphrase restraines the word Man to an individuall Beatus AbrahaÌ„ virpius quem corripuit Deus Chald. Paâ—ap to Abraham as if Eliphaz had put the instance in Abraham and said Behold happy was that holy man Abraham whom God corrected therefore despise not thou the chastning of the Almighty I can give thee a famous example of a godly man corrected Abraham thy Ancestor met with afflictions as well as thou and yet he was a most happy man therefore despise not thou the chastning of the Lord. But the word is generall and so we are to understand it though this be a truth in any or every instance among the servants of God I must yet put in a caution for the right understanding of this proposition Blessed is the man whom God corrects The meaning is not as if happinesse were the portion of every miserable man or of every man that is afflicted doe not thinke so many are at once corrected and cursed troubled and miserable in trouble To many their present sorrows are but the fore-tasts of eternall sorrowes As Christ spake in a common case These things are but the beginning of sorrowes So we may say to the particular cases of many groaning under sicknesse poverty disgrace c. Alas poore soules ye are so far from being happy in these that these are but the beginnings of your unhappinesse God doth but begin to call for some arreares due to his justice which you must be a paying and satisfying to all eternity There is no happinesse in affliction naturally considered it is accidentall to afflictions that happinesse is associated with them Affliction in it selfe is grievous and it would be only so to us did not the over-ruling admirable dispensations of God temper order dispose and worke it to an end above its own nature it is the art and wisdome of the Physitian which corrects poysonous simples and ingredients so as to make them medicineable And did not the wisedome and goodnesse of of God correct our corrections they would not be medicine to us but poyson It is not correction but the hand of God with it and in it which makes us happy Happie is the man whom God correcteth The word which we translate * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arguit redarguit corripuit praeparavit verba contra aliquem disputaÌ„do ostendendojus Quod et si verbis plerumque fiat pertinet tamen ea vox ad sevirorem discip inam verbera quae cujuspiaÌ„ peccati reprehensionem comitari solet Pined correct signifies to reprove or to convince by arguments or dispute To argue a man down from his errour by the strength and clearnesse of reason or divine authority So Levit. 19. 19. Thou shalt not suffer sinne upon thy brother thou shalt surely rebuke him Thou shalt rebuke him it is the word here used that is thou shalt bring such arguments as may convince him of his sin and lay his wickednesse open before him This word is applied to corrections and afflictions in Scripture because with convictions we feele corrections frequently joyned The Lord argues the matter and as it were disputes with some very long who yet will not let in divine truth nor be perswaded though they are perswaded What doth he then Then he sends correction with his redargution he cloaths his words with blowes disputes with a God in his hand and brings an argument from feeling when reasoning prevailes not In this booke of Job Elihu shewes it Chap. 33. 16 19. Then he openeth the eares of men and sealeth their instruction he is chastened also with paine upon his bed Hence observe First That afflictions to the children of God at sorest are but corrections Blessed or happie is the man whom God corrects You will say but what is a correction And how in a strict sence differenced from judgements and punishments and wherein doe they agree They agree first in the efficient cause God layes his hand on man in both Secondly They agree in the matter the same evill the same trouble to one man is a correction to another a judgement Thirdly they may agree also in the degree A trouble or an affliction may fall and lie as heavy and be as painfull to sence upon a child of God as upon the vilest wretch in the world he may be as poore as friendlesse as sicke as sorrowfull in his outward man as any wicked man he may lie in the
your selves despise it It is most just with God that they who loath his will should at last loath their own desires And that the creatures should not long please them who take no heed to please the Creator The least mixture of Gods displeasure sowres our sweetest contents and makes our very pleasures loathsome Where also by the way we may observe the great difference between earthly and spirituall things The best of earthly things used too much or too often grow loathsome Angels food Manna or Quailes will not goe down long with us But Christ the spirituall Manna and all heavenly things the more we have of them and the longer we are dieted with them the more we shall delight in them These will not loath us after two or five or ten or twenty dayes or after a whole months feeding on them No we shall feed on them dayes without number or the whole day of eternity without any loathings use and delight shall never cease or abate appetite shall renew every moment though our enjoyment be but one and the same Yea the Saints shall be so farr from loathing the pleasant cup of glory that they ought not to loath and Christ strengthning them they shall not loath the bitter cup of sorrow Their stomachs shall not turne though dieted more then two or five or ten or twenty dayes with the bread of adversity and the water of affliction That is the first sense of the word in allusion to nauseating at the sight or long use of meate Loath not the chastning of the Lord. Or the word may seeme to carry a reference to physick or medicines as well as meate which you know is many times given in a better pill or in a distastfull potion The sick man is apt to loath the potion brought him and turne his head away from it what he take it no not he He had rather die then drink such a draught he is ready to through it against the wall and spil it one the ground rather then drinke it But then his friends or the Pbysitian perswade with him Be not angry though it â—e loathsome to your stomach yet it is wholesome for your body It is an enemy only to your disease therefore loath it not So here Eliphaz as it were brings in God standing like a Physitian or a father or a tender mother at the beds-side where a sick child oâ— friend lies using many entreaties and perswasive reasons to take a bitter potion my child or my friend doe not loath doe not dispise no nor distast this medicine doe not cast it away though it â—e bitter in your mouth yet take it downe and the effects of it will be sweet to your whole body We find in Scripture afflictions compared to a cup Our Lord Jesus calls all his sufferings for our salvation a cup and it was a cup tempered with the venome and poison with the gall and wormewood of all our sinnes it was a loathsome potion indeed and such as would have turned the stomachs of all men and Angels to have drunke it So much of the first sense of the word as it signifies loathing whether in respect of meates or medicines Now forasmuch as here is a charge given under this notion not to loath chastnings We may observe There is or possibly may be an aversnesse in the best of Gods children for a time from the due entertainement of chastnings He speakes as if most were loth to take them downe and therefore he exhorts not to loath them Even the Lord Jesus Christ so farre as he was partaker of our nature seemed to loath the bitter cup of sufferings Hence he prayed hard once and againe ye a third time Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me Mat. 26. 39. Yet at another time he speakes as if he had been a thirst for that cup and angry with Peter who would have hindred his draught The cup which my Father giveth me shall I not drinke it Joh. 18. 11. and shortly after he indeed drunke it up to the bottome Affliction is also a bitter cup to the Saints and they as Christ pray again and again yea thrice against it because to sense no chastning seemeth joyous but grievous Heb. 12. 11. through grace perswades them to drinke it and faith gives them a tast of much sweetnesse when they have drunke it As a sick man is backward to take a distastfull medicine till his reason hath overcome his sense so a godly man is unwilling to beare afflictions till his faith hath overcome his reason Nor can he quietly endure the troublesome smart of the rod till he is assured of the peaceable fruits of righteousnesse which grow from it to those who are exercised by it When the Apostle is carryed up on those Eagles wings of assurance to see a house not made with hands eternall in the Heavens then he groanes earnestly under the burden of his earthly Tabernacle and desires to die yet looking upon death he saw no forme or comelinesse in that why he should desire it and therefore he seemes to correct himselfe at least to draw his mind plainer with the next drop of his pen Not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that mortality may be swallowed up of life He speakes somewhat like a man who in a time of heate hastily strips himselfe to goe into the water but putting a foot in and finding it cold calls for his cloathes againe The Apostle in a true holy heate of spirit had in his desires almost stript himselfe of his body but putting a foot into the grave he found that so cold that he had no great mind to it and therefore had rather keepe on the cloathing of his body and have a suite of glory over it then lay it downe The Saints desire to live with Christ but in it selfe they desire not to die They had rather their mortality should be swallowed up of eternall life then their temporall life should be swallowed up of mortality They that have grace like not the disunions of nature Now as it is in the case of death which iâ— to the Saints the last and greatest affliction so likewise in the case of all afflictions which are as renewed and lesser deaths Though they embrace and kisse them both in a holy submission to the will of God and in an assured expectation of their own good yet they have nothing pleasing in them much which creates so much loathing that the best doe but need counsell and encouragement to take and digest them And then if there be some aversnesse even in the best from these potions of affliction tempered with the mercy and goodnesse of God no wonder if there be an abhorrence in wicked men from those deadly potions mixt only with his wrath and justice The Psalmist presents the Lord to us with a cup in his hand Psal 75. 8. In the hand of the Lord there is a cup the wine thereof
instruments of Gods displeasure This is grosse dispising But besides every undervaluing or inadvertency of the correcting hand of God hath a degree of this despising it That exhortation ought never to be forgotten which speaketh to us as unto children Hebr. 12. 5. My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him The Greek word imports the Litling or thinking of them little Do not think the chastnings of God little doe not little or slight them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in thy thoughts Neither faint when thou art rebuked that is doe not thinke thy afflictions so great that thou must needs sinke and faint under them These are the two extreames into which our hearts usually run when chastnings are upon us Some erre by neglecting the hand of God as light and others by fainting under it as too heavy As a good heart takes notice of or will not despise a little the least comfort So it will take notice of and not despise a little the least crosse When a man hath a small losse in his estate if he say this will not undoe me I can beare this I will fare as well and goe as fine as ever for all this such speeches or thoughts are a despising of the chastening of the Lord. We are to observe the hand of God taking away as well as giving a penny So when a man hath a little fit of sicknesse If he say I shall rubb out this well enough this is to despise the chastning of the Lord We are to blesse God for every hours health and to be sensible of his hand in every hours sicknesse or aking joynt Every affliction is a messenger from God it hath somewhat to say to us from Heaven and God will not beare it if his messengers be despised how meane so ever If you send a child with a message to a friend and he slight and despise him you will take it ill I remember what the story relates of Galienus the Emperour who when the report came to him that Egypt was lost what then said he cannot I live without the flax of Egypt And when the report was brought that a great part of his dominions in Asia was wasted Cannot I live said he without the delicacies of Asia To speake thus from a principle of mortification toward the creature is the character of an excellent spirit but to speake thus from a contempt of the Providence of God is the character of a proud or of a stupid spirit When we heare of the losse of a child of a friend or of a losse in our estate To say what then I can beare that well enough I have more children other friends estate enough besides that This I say is a high despising of affliction There is one thing further in the fifth place observable in this word Despise not thou the chastnings of the Lord. The word is Extenuatio est nam plus signficatur quam dicitur sc maximi facito disciplinam Domini nihil tibi antiquius aut potius sit quam ut illius correctionem aequo animo accipies an extenuation or a lessening of the sense The holy Ghost intends more than is expressed for the truth is when he saith Despise not c. his meaning is this shew reverence highly prize and esteeme the chastning of the Lord. As for instance when the Apostle saith in 1 Thess 5. 20. Despise not prophecying Doe you thinke this is all that is due unto an Ordinance of God that a man should not despise it Surely no he meanes then prize prophecying highly have it in great esteeme So in 1 Tim 4. 12. and Tit. 2. 15 when he saith Let no man despise thy youth is that all the holy Ghost meanes That Timothy a godly Pastour should only not be despised by his people No his meaning is that they should honour respect and reverence him as one that watched over them in the Lord. I might give you divers other Scriptures where when the holy Ghost only forbiddeth the sin he intendeth the duty or grace in strictest opposition to that sin So here Despise not thou the chastning of the Almighty layes this charge and duty upon us highly to esteeme the chastning of the Lord we must put afflictions amongst our comforts and rank them with our blessings Not to despise is but the first step beyond sin but that includes the last and furthest step of duty which becomes us under chastenings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aradiâ—e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vincevit ligavit per Metaphoram castâ—gavit erudâ—vit verbis aut verberibus ad disciplinam vel poenam transfertuâ— Sicut vox Lamad quae doctrinam significa◠〈◊〉 all 〈…〉 So much of the act forbidden despising Now for the object chastning The originall verb fignifies to instruct or to teach so it is translated Chap. 4. v. 3. Thou hast instructed many Instruction is both by words and blowes The wisdome of God mixes a rod with his word and chastening with teaching Therefore it is promiscuously used in Scripture sometime for teaching and sometime for chastning Chastning belongs properly to children who are wanton and ungovern'd who have a bundle of folly in their hearts which the rod of correction driveth out To be chastned hath a double aspect upon us first upon our priviledge Secondly upon our weaknesse To be chastned notes our priviledge and relation as children unto God our father He hath revenges for his enemies but chastnings are a part of his childrens portion yet in that we are chastned it taxes us of weaknesse we are but children foolish unruly wanton and therefore we goe almost all our dayes with a rod at our backs Though the Saints on earth comâ—â—â—d among themselves are some Children and others men yet 〈…〉 earth compared with those in Heaven or with what themselves shall be in Heaven are children and therefore they have what fits their state chastening and correction This chastening is sometime put for revenge or the exactest and severest retribution of justice Thus it is said Prov. 7. 22. That the foolish young man caught by the subtill harlot went after her as a foole to the correction of the stocks That is as a wicked man goes to punishment And when the Prophet describes the sufferings of Christ which were vindictive in the highest degree he expresses it in this word The chastizement of our peace was upon him Isa 53. 5. though Christ were the infinitely and most entirely beloved Son of his Father yet he did not chastize him as a Son but as an enemy or malefactour for he chastened him in our stead and under the same notion that we must have been chastened who were enemies and malefactors So then the word signifies sometime judiciary chastening but here fatherly chastening which will yet appeare more clearely in opening the last terme of this verse which shewes us the efficient cause of this chastening The Almighty Despise
not the chastning of the Almighty The chastening rod is in the hand of Shaddai the Almighty This is one of the glorious names of God And he is so called first from his power to goe thorough with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Variè derivatur Primò á radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vastavit spoliavit populatus est perdidit quasi vastatorem dicas ie invictum potentem cui nemo resistere possit Et volunt non nulli Deum hoc nomen traxisse á vastatione mundi facta in dâ—luvio Graeci reddunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 latini Omnipotens what he takes in hand His worke never stickes in the mid way for want of strength to bring it to the end Despise not the correction of an Almighty hand Further the word notes not only power enough to correct but power to destroy spoyle and lay all waste before him God hath gained this Title or Attribute from destroying or wasting his enemies Some of the Rabbins designe the Originall of it to that speciall act of his destroying power The drowning of the old world he shewes his Almighty power in destroying and pulling downe as well as in making and setting up this goodly frame To this the holy Prophets are well conceived to allude when they say that Shod scil Destruction commeth from Shaddai The Almighty We have it in two expresse Texts Isa 13. 6. Howle yee for the day of the Lord is at hand it shall come as a Destruction from the Almighty It shall come as Shod from Shaddai So Joel 1. 15. Alas for the day for the day of the Lord is at hand and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come It will be profitable for us to consider under what name God is expressed when he is chastening his own children Secondly others derive this name from the conjunction of two Hebrew words whereof the one Dai signifies it Sufficeth or is sufficient And the other though it be but a letter Shin yet Nonnulli putát 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 composituÌ„ esse ex verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sufficit litera 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae supplet locum sensum relativi Ascher ita denotat Deum sibi sufficientem qui omnibus largitur sufficientiam respoÌ„dens Graeco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Drus Alii dedurunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod Mammam significat quasi mammosum dicas quod omnia alet Drus it supplieth the part or place of the Relative Ascher which and so the word put together sounds thus much Who is sufficient or who is All sufficient Despise not the chastning of him that is All-sufficient Thou art under his correction who doth not take from thee because he wants himselfe who doth not let thee want because his owne store is spent out of which he used to supply thee He alone hath sufficiencie in himselfe and he is at all times Allsufficient for all others and gives sufficiency to as many as he pleaseth That of the Apostle fils this signification of the word Act. 17. 25. Neither is he worshipped with mens hands as if he needed any thing for he giveth to all life and breath and all things Thirdly the word is conceived to come from Shad which in the Hebrew signifies a breast the mothers breast or pap by which she suckles her child And answerable to this notion in most of those places wherein God is expressed in that act of his providence making fruitfull and giving increase he hath this name Shaddai as noting that he hath the Great milkie breast which nourishes and suckles which feeds and strengthens all creatures that is the word of his blessing not only makes fruitfull multiplies but preserves and keeps alive Thus Gen. 49. 25. The Patriarch old dying Jacob blesses his son Joseph in this forme And by the Almighty Shaddai who shall blesse thee with blessings of heaven above blessings of the deepe that lies vnder blessings of the breasts and of the wombe His Father Isaack had sent him to Padan Aram under the influences of the same blessing almost in the same words Gen 28. 3. God Almighty blesse thee and make thee fruitfull and multiply thee And the Lord himself speaks thus to Jacob when be appeared the second time to him after his coming from Padan-Aram I am El-Shaddai God almighty be thou fruitfull and multiply Gen. 35. 11. that is I can make thee fruitfull and multiply thy posterity and I can feed them as fast as they multiply and give thee fruit for thy family as well as make thy family fruitfull Thou shalt not over-charge me with the greatnesse or numerousnesse of thy house Trouble not thy selfe let thy children be my care at my finding how many soever they are let my purse pay for all I am El-Shaddai God Almighty â—o then as the justice and exact wisdome of God are set forth in the former branch under the title Elohim Happy is the man whom God Elohim corrects So least we should thinke of God under that notion only his power and alsufficiency his goodnesse and tendernesse are set forth in the next branch Despise not the chastening of the Almighty You are under the rod of Shaddai an All-powerfull an Allsufficient an All-nourishing God The verse following seems to joynt in with and suit this fully He makes sore and he bindeth up he woundeth and he healeth One part shewing us God as a Judge wounding and making sore the other as an Allsufficient Friend and father or Physitian healing and binding up Take two or three Notes from the consideration of the name under which God is here expressed First The lightest chastnings come from a hand that is able to destroy When the stroak is little yet a great God strikes Although God give thee but a touch a strip which scarce razes the skin Yet he is able to wound thee to the heart Know it is not because he wants power to strike harder but because he will not because he is pleased to moderate his power Thou hast but such a chastning as a child of a year old may well beare but at that time know thou art chastned with a hand able to pull down the Pondus est â—n voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 noli â—speâ—nere clementiam ejus in quo vivis qui te uno momento potest comminuere Coc. whole world The hand of Shaddai The Almighty gives that little blow Men seldome strike their brethren lesse then their power they would often strike them more their will is stronger then their Arme. But the Lords arme is stronger in this sence then his will He doth but chasten who could destroy And this carries a mighty perswasion with it not to despise the chastning of the Lord how little soever for he can strike harder if thou slightest this He can break thy bones who hath not yet broken thy flesh Feare him as our Lord Christ argues who
necessary practise in Chyrurgery and to that the holy Ghost may allude in this place When they perceive a wound or a sore to which medicines Illa est vox Domini percutiam ego sanabo hoc faciunt medici Ferrum gestant câ—rare veniunt Clamat secandus secaâ—ur saevitur in vulnus ut homo sanetur Aug in Ps 50. Chyrurgus saepe vulnus infligit ferro sibi spatium ad commodam curationem aperit cannot well be appied and so unfit for healing either to make a new wound in the whole flesh or to make the first bigger The murderer wounds to kill and the Physitian wounds to cure He comes as it were arm'd with instruments of cruelty The patient whose flesh is to be launced cryes out but yet he launces him The patient whose flesh is to be seared cryes out but yet he sears him He is cruell to the wound while he is most kind to the wounded An ignorant man would wonder to see a Chyrurgion when he comes for healing make the wound wider yet so he must do and he doth it upon urgent reasons As when the orifice is not wide enough to let in the medicine or to let out the corruption or cannot admit his searching instruments to the bottome In such cases he saith Vnlesse I increase your wound I cannot cure it Thus often times the Lord is compelled to wound that he may heale or fit our wounds for healing Our wound is not wide enough to let out the sinfull corruptions of our hearts to let in the searching instruments and corrasives of the Law or the blame and comfortable applications of the Gospel We may observe from the sence of the words That The woundings and smitings of God are preparatories for our cure and healing It is said Isa 53. 5. of Christ that with his stripes we are healed and it is in this sence a truth that we are healed with our own stripes We are healed with the stripes of Christ meritoriously and we are healed by our own stripes preparatorily the stripes of Christ heale us naturally our own stripes heale us occasionally or his in the act ours in the event Prov. 27. 6. Faithfull are the wounds of a friend his wounds are faithfull because he wounds in faithfulnesse The healings of many are unfaithfull They heale the hurt of the daughter of my people deceitfully is the Lords complaint by the Prophet they skin over the wound but they doe not cure it Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindnesse and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oyle which shall not break my head Psal 141. 5. Much more may we say Let the righteous Lord smite me and it shall be a kindnes to me let the righteous Lord reprove and correct me it shall be as an excellent oyle which shall not breake mine head it shall heale my heart How healing then are his salves whose very sores are a salve Secondly Take the words in the plaine rendring of them noting onely thus much that God makes sore and bindeth up So we have two distinct acts often ascribed to God in a figure to set forth judgement and mercy the afflictions and deliverances of his people Hos 6. 2. Let us return unto the Lord for he hath torne and he will heale us he hath smitten and he will bind us up 1 Sam. 2. 6. The Lord killeth and maketh alive Deut. 32. 39. See now that I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heale Hence observe It is the property of God to take care of all the sicknesses sores or evils of his peopls As God is the great correcter and instructer of his people so he is the great Physitian of his people If he make a wound he will take care for the healing of it He doth not make sores and leave others to bind up Mighty men wound but they take no care for healing they can impoverish and spoyle but they care not to repaire they can pull down and root up let who so will build and plant Shaddai the Almighty God doth both If he break thy head come to him humble thy selfe before him and he will surely give thee a plaister which shall cost thee nothing but the asking And whereas he doth not willingly afflict or grieve he doth most willingly comfort and heale the children of men Lam. 3. 33. He speaks of it as a paine to himselfe to make us sore but to make us sound is his delight and pleasure Satan is the Abaddon the destroyer and he only destroys he makes wounds but he heals none he kills but he makes none alive The second branch of the verse He woundeth and his hands make whole is but a repetition of the same thing yet with some addition to or heightning of the sence To make sore and bind up are not so deep either in judgement or in mercy as to wound and make whole The word used for wounding imports a dangerous and a deadly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transfodit transfixit vel cruentavit wound or to make a man all gore blood It signifies to strike quite thorough and it is divers times applied to note that stroke which God gives his worst enemies Psal 68. 21. But God shall wound the head of his enemies or he shall strike them quite through the head Verse 23. He shall dip his foot or make it red in the blood of the ungodly And Psal 110. 5. The Lord shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath Hence observe That God sometimes makes very deep and great wounds in his own servants Such wounds as by the sight of the eye you cannot distinguish them from the wounds of his mortall enemies He strikes thorough both heads and hearts of his own people Or as Simeon said to the blessed Virgin Mary Luke 2. 35. A sword pierceth through their soule also But then lastly note God never makes a wound too great for his own cure The power of God to save is as great as his power to destroy his healing power and his wounding power are of the same extent His justice cannot out-act his mercy both are infinite And not onely doth he heale the wounds which himselfe makes but he can heale the wounds which men make even all the wounds which the utmost power and malice of man can make He is able to doe more good to shew more mercy than all creatures are able to doe hurt or mischiefe We finde the state and condition of a people sometimes so wounded and sick that men have despaired of recovery Being consulted they may answer your sore cannot be bound up and your wound cannot be healed your estate is gangren'd and past cure So he said as was toucht before Isa 3 8. In that day shall a man sweare saying I will not be an healer for in my house is neither bread nor cloathing Alas I heale you
Deliverer in six troubles yea in seven How sad I say will it be if we have put God to reade the Chronicle and repeate the historie of his deliverances given us as he did to Israel and say I delivered you in 88 from the Spaniard I delivered you in 1605. from the Gun-powder-Treason I delivered your Parliament I delivered your City I have often delivered your Armies and sometimes crown them with glorious victories now I will deliver you no more Will not such speakings from providence be a plaine conviction that we have forsaken the Lord and chosen other gods God hath sometime what a miracle of mercy chosen those who forsook him but he never so stedfast is he in faithfullnes forsook any who chose him to be their God If he keepe not such from yet he will certainly preserve all such in trouble as it follows Yea in seven there shall no evill touch thee He saith not He shall deliver thee from six troubles and from Non dicit â sexsed in sex non quod ab illis non possit sed quod cum acciderint ab illis liberet ut in illis non succumbat seven As if troubles should only threaten but never come upon us or as if all our deliverances should be preventions but he shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evill touch thee Evill signifies sometimes the evill of sin and sometimes the evill of punishment We may here take it either way The Lord will so keep up thy spirit and direct thy way in trouble that thou shalt not defile thy selfe with the evill of sin thy troubles shall purge not pollute thee And he wil so keep thee that thou shalt not be annoyed by any evill of punishment If fatherly displeasure should appeare against thee wrath shall not Love shall be mixed with thy correction with thy wormwood and gall as the Church speaks in the Lamentations thou shalt have a temperament of hony and of sweetnesse Ita eripiet ut nullum malum attingat eâ—tiaÌ„si tentari conflictari sâ—naâ— ad tempus nocumentum tamen non capies Coc. in loc though troubles presse thee yet evill shall not Touch thee Not touch thee This notes exact deliverance we think ourselves well many times if we can come off from dangers with a scratch face with a wound or with the losse of a limbe but to come off without the losse of a haire or which is lesse without a touch speakes a compleate deliverance It astonisht Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 3. 27. to see the three children come out of the fiery fornace without a haire of their heads singed without any change of their coats or the smell of fire So much this imports thou shalt passe the pikes through six yea seven a whole army of troubles and no evill shall touch thee When the woman told the tempting Serpent God hath said ye shall not eate of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden nor touch it Gen. 3. 3. She implyed a charge of totall abstinence And when the Lord salth No evill shall touch thee it implies a promise of totall deliverance In the first and second chapters of this book and it is the same originall word Satan begs leave of God that he might touch Job and touch all that he had Now here Eliphaz seemes to touch that string No evill shall touch thee as if he had said God will not let his servants be overwhelm'd as thou art with evils no evill shall so much as touch them And the truth is though Satan obtained leave of God to afflict the body of Job with paines and he made it all over as one wound yet no evill touched him in the sence here intended Though Job was all over evill sores yet there was not so much as the least scarre of an evill upon him Troubles touch't him but evils did not And troubles may touch the servants of God but evill shall not Hence observe God saves and delivers his people from all evill even while they are in the midst of trouble He delivers as well in trouble as from trouble while trouble is continued good may be enjoyed While his are in the water and in the fire God is with them and his presence is more then deliverance Isa 43. 2. If God be with us though all evils are upon us yet no evill touches us The presence of the chiefe good is banishment to every evill As a wicked man may be loaded with good things and yet none of them touch him that is doe him any good So a godly man may be loaded with evils and yet none of them touch him that is doe him any hurt And thus we may understand that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 10. 14. God is faithfull who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make away to escape that ye may be able to beare it Temptation you shall have but with temptation even while temptation is upon you or while you are in temptation The Lord will make a way for you to escape the evill of that temptation Thus with or in trouble we have deliverance To be kept from the evill of trouble is a deliverance from trouble while we are in trouble Thus far of the generall promise Now Eliphaz goes on to particulars in the 20 verse c. As if he had said Least thou shouldst think I deale onely in generall notions that I may more easily elude and deceive thee Therefore Dolosus versatur in universalibus I will now give instance in the point and name what troubles I meane I will ascend with thee to particulars and reckon up the greatest outward evills the most pinching straits that befall the sons of men or the children of God and out of all these I affirme The Lord will deliver thee Vers 20. In famine he shall redeem thee from death and in war from the power of the sword Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue c. Famine Redimere est lucrari ex alterus potestate interposito precio velpotentia conâ—ravim detinenâ—ium ad faciendum liberuÌ„ aut suum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Redemit liberavit ex augustia servitute c. leads the Vanne of this great Army of Evills here mustered up He shall redeem But what is it to redeem from Famine To redeem properly is to take a man out of the power of another by price or by greater power Redemption is an act of speciall favour and it notes a speciall distinction by favour When God threatned Pharaoh and his people with swarmes of flies and promised that his own people should be free I will sever in that day the Land of Goshen in which my people dwell that no swarms of Flies shall be there vers 22. This act of divine discrimination is called Redemption in the next verse And I will put a division Heb. a Redemption between
and there shall be no herd in the stalls Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation He was feasting upon God while he imagines the world starving he sees all things in God though the world should afford him nothing That soule is well fed and taught which can be rejoycing while it 's own body is starving And in war from the power of the Sword War is the second evill Famine and war goe often together yea they two seldome goe without a third the Pestilence 2 Sam. 24. Jer. 18. 22. And though in the order of the words famine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bellum à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vesci edere per Metaphorà pugnare quia gâ—adius in bello devoraâ— hominum corpora In bello se mutuò homines devorant obsumunt be set before war yet usually war is the fore-runner of famine The sword cuts off provision and when it selfe hath devoured much flesh it leaves no bread for those who survive It is observable that the originall word for war here used comes from a root signifying to eat or to devoure and so by a Metaphor it signifies to fight or strike with the sword And the reason why the same word which signifies war signifies to eat is because the Sword is such an Eater or rather a Devourer and it eats two ways First the Sword eats up the bodies of men drinks up their bloud dispeoples a Land And then Secondly It eates up and consumes the fruits of the earth and hence War is the mother of Famine Therefore we find that when the great peace and so the plenty of the Church of Christ is prophecied of and described Isa 2. 4. and in Micah it is thus expressed They shall beat their swords into plow shares and their speares into pruning-hookes As if he should say while the sword is abroad in the field the plow shares will do little there For the most part Justice is silent in time of war the sound of the trumpet Inter arma silent leges and drum is too loud for the Law and when the Law stands still the plongh stands still Therefore when the sword is in motion both are at a stand Hence the promise that Swords shall be beaten into plow-shares and speares into pruning-hookes that is with peace you shall have bread and wine which note the abundance of all other things The ancients embleam'd peace by Eares of corne and Concord by a Cornu-copia a horne of plenty riches are the fruit of peace And safety is the priviledge of the Saints in time of war In war they shall be delivered from the power of the sword The Hebrew is They shall be delivred from or out of the hand of the sword Sometime in Scripture we read of the face of the sword which notes the sword coming and approaching to a people And sometimes we read of the mouth of the sword which notes the sword come devouring and eating up a people And here we have the hand of the sword they shall be delivered out of the Gladius manu apprehensus elevatus symbolum est extremi discriminis praesentis hostis Quasi diceret etiam in ipsa pugna vel inter tot manus gladios agitantes contra te vibantes salvaberis hand of the sword which notes as we translate the power of the sword Or that forme of speaking may be understood by an Hypallage From the hand of the sword that is from the sword in the hand which phrase imports present danger when the sword is unsheathed and drawn out when it is in the hand ready to strike then the enemy is ready to charge and then the Lord delivers He shall deliver from the sword in the hand or out of the hand of the sword So Psal 127. 4. Children of the youth are as arrowes in the hand of the mighty that is as arrowes ready to be shot And Psal 149. 6. Let the high praises of God be in their mouthes and a two edged sword in their hands noting actuall revenges taken on the enemies of God and actuall praises given to the name of God at the same time So then the meaning of these words He shall deliver thee from the power of the sword or out of the hand of the sword is this suppose thou art in such a condition that the swords are drawn about thy eares and thou art in the midst of a thousand deaths and dangers in the very heat of a battell yet then the Lord God can and will deliver thee And this likewise is a comfortable promise for us to lay hold on in these times It is a time of war to us all and there are many of our friends and brethren as it were in the very hand of the sword Desires are often sent to the Congregation by one for a husband by another for a brother by a third for a servant by many for their friends gone forth to meet a sword in the hand of an enemy skilfull to destroy Here is a promise to comfort and support such The Lord in time of war can deliver out of the very hand of the sword or when swords are in hand when thousands of swords are drawn together preparing for or smiting in the day of battell know then God is a deliverer In the most present dangers God shews the most present help Psal 23. 5. Thou shalt spread my table and cause my cup to overflow before the face of my enemy even then when my enemy is nearest and looketh on As when the sword is in the hand of the Angel so when it is in the hand of man A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee Psal 91. 7. Not nigh thee what when they die on this side and one that side on every hand of a man doth it it not come nigh him Yes nigh him but not so nigh as to hurt him The power of God can bring us nigh to danger and yet keep us far from harme As good may be locally near us and yet vertually far from us so may evill The multitude throng'd Christ in the Gospel and yet but one toucht him so as to receive good so Christ can keep us in a throng of dangers that not one shall touch us to our hurt Yet we are not to take this or the like holy writs of protection as if God would deliver all his people from famine and from the sword we know many precious servants of his have fallen by these common calamities The Lord knows how to distinguish his when sword and famine doe not Neither doth this word fall though they doe If the servants of Christ are not delivered from these troubles they are delivered by them and while they are overcome by one trouble they conquer all Vers 21. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue neither shalt
pavillion a secret hiding place for his Favourites where he preserves their credit and reputation untoucht against all the blots and causelesse blemishes of malignant spirits Thus they are hid from the strife of tongues Hence his Saints and people are called His stored or his hidden ones Psal 83. 3. Observe first The tongue is a scourge The tongue is a terrible engine The Scripture gives us variety of comparisons to set forth the evill of an ill tongue It is here called a scourge and it is a scourge of many lashes or knotted cords or rather stinging scorpions scoffing is one slander a second false accusations a third The former strictly taken is a lye told any neighbour and the latter is a lye told the Magistrate The tongue Psal 52 2. is called a sharpe rasor Psal 57. 4. it is compared to speares and arrowes and a sharpe Sword and if at any time with much using this Sword be blunted in the edge or point the Scripture speakes of whetting the tongue Psal 64. 3. It is as the sharpe arrowes of the mighty man and coales of juniper Psal 120. 4. They bend their tongues like a bow Jer. 9. 3. Their tongue is as an arrow shot out ver 8. In a word It is a fire and a world of mischiefe Jam. 3. 6. Jer. 18. 18. we reade of smiting with the tongue and of devouring words Psal 52. 4. As there are devouring opinions opinions which not only hurt the judgements of men but devoure their consciences and eat up truth as it were at a bit so there are devouring words words that eat up a mans reputation and devour his good name as bread Slanderous mouthes lâ—ve the whitest bread the finest of the wheate A mans credit which hath not a branne in it how sweet a morsell is it to such mouthes Though the truth is every name by how much the more pure and spotlesse it is by so much the more deadly will it be in the stomacks of these devourers A good name swallowed by an ill man will as Jonas did the Whale make him one time or other Stomach-sick if not conscience-sick and he shall be forced to vomit it out safe againe It is a sad thing when thus the people of God are wounded and scourged by the tongues of wicked men but I will tell you of a sadder scourging that is when the people and servants of God scourge one another with their tongues I beseech you leave this work to wicked men take not the scourge of the tongue out of their hands let us not only not slander but not speake hardly one of another The ancient Christians in the Primitive times were deepely wounded by the scourge of the tongue what strange things did ungodly men feigne and then fasten on them They reported them as black as hell as if their holy meetings were not to worship God but to defile themselves with incest and uncleannesse but among Christians themselves we reade not of this scourge at that time No Christians loved one another to the amazement of Heathens They were so farre from this scourging or wounding of one another that they were ready to be scourged to be wounded to be burned to die one for another This caused their Pagan persecuters to cry out Behold how the Christians love one another We are scourged by wicked ones as They O that we could love one another as They. Sons of Belial have revived the ancient reproaches and accusations against the brethren O that we could revive the ancient imbraces and most endeared affections of the Brethren Observe secondly It is a great mercy to be delivered from the Scourge of the tongue The Apostle speaks of it as a wonderfull mercy that he was delivered out of the Mouth of the Lion 2 Tim. 4. 17. Surely it is no ordinary mercy though lying be very ordinary to be delivered out of the Mouth of a lyar This is joyned in one promise with deliverance from the most deadly instrumenrs of warre Isa 54. 17. No weapon formed against thee shall prosper that is no weapon of warre neither Sword nor Speare shall hurt thee Then followes And every tongue that shall rise up against thee in judgement thou shalt condemne This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. The tongue of a Ziba or of a Tertullus will devour and destroy as bad as the Sword of a Caesar or a Pompey The holy story tels us what woefull work the tongue had made upon Joseph and Mephibosheth if the good providenee of God had not spoken a good word for them Lastly Let me add one seasonable word of admonition to these tongue scourgers As the word is They that smite with the sword shall perish with the sword so they that smite with the tongue shall perish with the tongue The tongues of the Saints are in some sence sharper and sorer scourges then the tongues of wicked men The word of God in their mouths is a Two-edged Sword yea sharper then any Two-edged Sword A Prophet or a Minister of Christ can strike as hard with his tongue as and infinitely harder then any Prophane wretch or railing Rabshakeb in the world Truth well set home will wound deeper than slander can I saith the Lord Hos 6. 5. have hewed them by my Prophets and slaine them by the words of my mouth In the 11th of the Revelation it is prophecied That fire shall goe out of the mouths of the two Witnesses and devour their enemies vers 5. That is the word of their mouths shall be as a fire to scorch and consume the gain saying world and with this instrument their tongue for that only is sutable for the work of Witnesses they are said to have tormented those that dwell upon the earth ver 10. Some indeed are Sermon-proofe and Word-proofe They at present doe even laugh at all our spirituall Artillery Let whole volleyes of threats be discharg'd upon them let them be hackt and hewed all day long with the Sword of the Word they feele it not it may be they jeer at it at least they regard it not As they Jer. 18. 18. conspiring against the Prophet Come let us devise devices c. let us smite him with the tongue And least any should say if we smite him with the tongue he will smite us againe For these Prophets are notable at that weapon To secure themselves they resolve thus Let us not give heed to any of his words As if they had said we know he will speake bigge words and threaten us terribly with Sword and pestilence and famine and hell c. But let 's arme our selves against him and make no more of all then of a Squibb or a pot-gun then of a stabbe with a wooden dagger or a charge with a Bull rush Let us not give heed to any of his words But let these know though now they are hardned against the spirituall scourge and sword in the mouth of Christs Ministers yet at the last
or are cut downe by some hand of justice The off-spring of a godly man are compared to grasse but in another reference To grasse first because of their multitude and secondly because of their beauty they shall flourish and be green as the grasse which is very pleasant to the beholders eye And in this also Eliphaz aimes at the death of Job's children Thou hast lost thy children they perished miserably but if thou Hoc dicit quia Iob filios amiserat Merc. returne that blessing shall returne thy seed shall be great and thy off spring shall be as the grasse of the earth The blessing of children hath been shewed in the first Chapter therefore I shall but name a point or two now First That The posterity of godly parents stand neerer then others under the influence of heavenly blessings As grace doth not runne in a blood so neither do blessings infallibly runne in a blood yet the children of those who are blessed are neerest a blessing And their possibilities for mercy are fairest Many promises are made to them they are heires apparent of the promises in their parents right others to appearance are strangers from the promises Though we know free grace chuseth often out of the naturall line The mercies of God are his own and it is his prerogative to have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth Secondly When he summes up the blessings of a godly man the blessings of his children are cast into the account Whence note That the blessings of the children are the blessings of the parent As the parent is afflicted in the afflictions of his children so he is blessed in their blessings Relations share mutually both in comforts and crosses Children are their parents multiplied and every good of the child is an addition to the parents good A flourishing and a numerous posterity is a great outward blessing Some have the choisest of spirituall blessings who want this Isa 56. 3. God comforts those that have no children Doe not say that thou art made a dry tree for I will give thee in mine house a place and a name better than of sons and daughters As if he had said the name of sons and of daughters is a very great comfort but it is not the greatest comfort the best biessing thou shalt have a name and a place better than of sons and daughters Vers 26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age like as a shock of corne commeth in his season From personall present blessings of this life and the blessings of posterity Eliphaz descends to shew the blessing of a godly man in death A happy death is the close of temporall happinesse and the beginning of eternall A happy death stands between grace and glory like the Baptist between the law and the Gospel and is the connexion or knitting of both And as it was said of John That among them who are borne of women there arose not a greater then he neverthelesse he that is least in the kingdome of heaven is greater then John So we may say that among all the blessings of this life there is none greater then a blessed death neverthelesse that which is least in eternall life is a greater blessing then a blessed death It was an observation among the Heathen That no man is to be accounted blessed untill he die But when life is shut up with a blessing then man is fully blessed As in reasoning so in living the conclusion lyes in the premises A happy death is the result of a holy life Thou shalt come to thy grave That phrase notes two things First A willingnesse and a chearfulnesse to die Thou shelt come thou shalt not be dragged or hurried to thy grave as it is said of the foolish rich man Luk. 12. This night shall thy soule be taken from thee But thou shalt come to thy grave thou shalt die quietly and smilingly as it were thou shalt goe to thy grave as it were upon thine owne feet and rather walke then be carried to thy Sepulcher Secondly it notes the honor and solemnity of burying Thou shalt come to thy grave with honour as it is said of Ahijah the son of Jeroboam 1 King 14. 12 13. When Messengers were sent to the Prophet to enquire whether he should recover the Prophet tels them The child shall die and all Israel shall mourne for him and bury him For he only of Jeroboam shall Come to the grave because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam He only shall come to thy grave the rest shall be thrust into the grave or lye unburied but he shall come that is he shall be buried with honour others shall have reproach cast upon them when the earth is cast upon them Thou shalt come to thy grave In a full age So we translate The word is expounded two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senium senectutis tempus wayes In a full age that is in an age when thou shalt be full full of estate full of wealth and honour thou shalt have abundance when thou diest And so it points at Jobs present poverty though thou hast nothing now scarse a ragge to thy backe or a sheet to winde thee in if thou shouldst die yet seeke unto God and thou shalt die in a full age in a golden Age thy wants shall be supplied and thy losses repaired to the full But rather a full Age notes here a sulnesse of daies though the other fullnesse of estate be not excluded The Prophet puts the same difference between aged men and men full of dayes as is between children and young men Jer. 6. 11. I am full of the fury of the Lord I will powre it out upon the children abroad and upon the assembly of young men together The aged with him that is full of dayes That is all ages shall feele the fury of the Lord. A full age is an age full of daies or compleate to the utmost time of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 life Some of the Jewish Writers observe that the numerall letters of this word Chelad make up threescore which they conceive is In numeris notat 60 ea prima senectus est non matura Quidam Hebrae orum viâ—idem senectam nomine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 putant significari ut Caph sit similitudinis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—uâ—è virtutem humidum sonat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senctutem itaque pollecetur-non quidem mâ—lestam morbosam sed vegetaÌ„ paelicem the age here meant but threescore is not a full old-oge it is rather the beginning of old-age Therefore fulnesse of age is by others interpreted to be strength of age thou shalt die in an old age yet thou shalt have strength and comfort in thy old-age thine old-age shall not be a troublesome age thou shalt not be weake and crazy distempered and sick a burthen to
shock of corne that is brought in in his season Even pale death hath beauty in it when it comes in season Eccles 7. 17. Be not wicked over much why shouldst thou dye before thy time No man can dye before Gods time but a man may dye before his time that is before he is prepared by grace and before he is ripened in the course of nature Those two wayes a man dyes before his time First when he dyes without any strength of grace Secondly when he dyes in the strength of nature In this sense the Prophet describes the hand of God upon him Psal 102. 23. He weakned my strength in the way â—â— shortned my dayes and therefore prayes in the 24th verse I said O my God take me not away in the midst of my dayes That is in the strength or best of my times according to the line and measure of nature A godly man prayes that he may not dye out of season but a wicked man never dies in season That threatning is ever fulfilled upon him in one sense if not in both Psal 55. 23 The blood-thirsty and deceitfull man shall not live out halfe his dayes A wicked man never lives out halfe his daies for either he is cut off before he hath lived halfe the course of nature or he is cut off before he hath lived a quarter of the course of his desires either he lives not halfe so long as he might or not a tenth not a hundreth part so long as he would and therefore let him dye when he will his death is full of terror trouble and confusion because he dies out of season He never kept time or season with God and surely God will not keep or regard his time or season Vers 27. Loe this we have searched it so it is heare it and know thou it for thy good As Eliphaz began his dispute with an elegant preface so he ends it with a rhetoricall conclusion as if he had said Job I have spoken many things unto thee heare now the summe and upshot of all Loe this we have searched it so it is heare it and know it for thy good Two things he concludes with First with an assertion of the truth of what he had spoken So it is Secondly with a motion for his assent to what was spoken Heare it Or the words may fall under a three-fold consideration As the 1. Conclusion of his speech 2. Confirmation 3. Application And this application is strengthned by a three-fold Motive By a motive first from experience Loe this we have searched it we have found the thing to be true Secondly By a motive from the truth of the thing in it selfe so it is we have searched it we have experience of it so it is the thing is certaine And then Thirdly From the fruit and benefit of it if he submit unto and obey the truth delivered know it for thy good thou shalt reap the profit of it These are three motives by which he strengthens his exhortation in applying the truth he had beaten out in his former discourse We have searched it As if Eliphaz had said we have not taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scrutatus perscrutatus est remota aut abstrusa these things upon trust or by an implicite faith we have not received them by tradition from our fathers but we have searched and tryed and found out that thus the matter stands in Gods dispensations both to a wicked man and to a godly man in all the particulars run thorough in this Chapter Or we have searched that is we have learned these truths by experience That God punisheth not the innocent that man cannot compare in justice with God that hypocrites shall not prosper long and that mans afflictions are the fruit of his transgressions The word signifies a very diligent and exact scrutiny Deut. 13. 14. Thou shalt enquire and make search and aske diligently it is to search as Judges Diligenti inquisitione verita is scrutatiene nec non reconditorum divinae providentiae judiciorum consideratione rem ita se habere compeâ—imâ—â— search and enquire about any crime or question in Law determinable by their sentence and as we search to find the meaning of a riddle Judg. 14. 14. The word is also applied to the searchings and enquiries of a Spie Judg. 18. 2. sent to bring intelligence A spie is an exact inquisitor into all affaires given him in charge for discovery So here we have searched out we have spied out and tryed this thing to the utmost we have as it were read over all the records of divine Truths we have examined all experiences and examples and this is the result the summe of all Loe thus it is A question arises here how Eliphaz can say we have searcht it when as Chap. 4. he saith A thing was secretly brought to me It seemes these were matters attained and beaten out by study not sent in by divine revelation and so are rather the opinions of men then the oracles of God Men inspired by the Holy Ghost speak another language As Thus saith the Lord or this we have received not this we have searched Scripture is given by inspiration from God not by the disquisitions of men Some have hence concluded this speech of Eliphaz Apocryphal Ex quo intelligimus hanc Eliphae dissertionem non or aculi fuisse sed studij nec ad Dei revelantis responsa sed ad humani ingenij inventa pertinere Janson in loc as being rather matter of humane invention then divine inspiration Or the work of mans wit rather then of Gods Spirit But I answer First The Apostle Paul hath sufficiently attested the Divine Authority of this discoruse by alledging a proof out of it 1 Cor. 3. 19. Secondly That which was secretly brought to Eliphaz was that one speciall Oracle Chap. 4. 17. Shall mortall man be more just then God shall a man be more pure then his maker The other part of his discourse to which these words Loe this we have searched refer were grounded upon the experiences which himselfe and his friends had observed in and about the providence of God in all his dealings both with the godly and the wicked all agreeable to that grand principle received by immediate revelation And therefore as he told Job before that the generall position was brought him in a vision so all ages and the records kept of them in all which he had made a diligent enquirie came up fully to the proofe of it As if he had said The Lord told me so and all he hath done in the word proclaimes that it is so His word is enough to assert his own justice but his works witnesse with it Loe this we have searched so it is We have searched He speaks in the plurall number he begun his speech in the fourth Chapter and he concluds it here in the plurall number Yet we are not to think that this was a discourse penn'd
Terrour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 notes the most terrible terrour or affrightment Terrour is the extreame of feare or feare confused into amazement and astonishment Death is therefore called the King of terrours because there are so many powerfull terrours in death Psal 55. 4. That vexation which Saul felt when God sent out an evill spirit with commishion to vex him is exprest by this word 1 Sam. 16. 14. An evill spirit from the Lord troubled or terrified him Such terrors for the matter such for the manner and present workings of them seized upon upright-hearted Job and false-hearted Saul A beleever a child of God an heire of Heaven may feele himself haunted and pierced with hellish terrours These are called the Terrours of God eyther first by a common Hebraisme because great and strange terrours In that language God is often put as an Epithite to shew exceeding greatnesse himselfe being the greatest So Chap. 1. ver 16. Fire of God c. Secondly Terrours of God because he sent and commanded that Army of Terrours When Jacob journeyed with his little Army Gen. 35. 5. It is said The terrour of God was upon the Cities round about and they pursued them not that is the Lord sent an Army of terrours to oppose the Cities least they should arme against Jacob. The terrour of man is very terrible and therefore the Apostle armes the Saints against it 1 Pet. 3. 14. Be not afraid of their terror The terror of God is infinitely greater and thereupon the Apostle argues 2 Cor. 5. 11. Knowing therefore the terrour of the Lord we perswade Those terrours of God may be taken two wayes Either actively or passively Actively for that work of God in terrifying and troubling Thy terrours that is the terrours which thou didst afflict me with Or passively for those afflictions which oppresse Nomen terroris frâ—quenter in Scripturis sumitur pro flagellis malisque gravissimis a Deo missis the mind when God leads that army against us sets it in array to charge and commands it to encampe about us in either sence we may take this of Job as also that of Heman Psal 88. 15. While I suffer thy terrours I am distracted Further There is a two-fold terrour First caused by outward imminent danger Secondly caused by inward guilt Or Terrour comming from the wrath of man and terrour coming from the wrath of God Thus it was threatned Levit. 26. 16. I also will doe even this unto you I will appoint over you terrours Deut. 32. 25. The sword without and terrour within shall destroy both the young man and the virgin That is feare shall kill those who escape the sword A people cannot stand before the Army of men who are once surprised with an Army of terrours Hence Josh 2. 9. Your terrour is fallen upon us saith Rahab to assure the spies that the Canaanites could not stand before the people of Israel Againe The terrours of God afflict the soule First When sin is set openly to the eye of conscience in array against us An army of sins are an army of terrours The Church is called Terrible as an army with banners Cant. 6. 10. when she is strengthned and armed for the exercise of all that power which Christ hath given her and when our sins stand before us in all that strength which the law hath given them they also are terrible as an army with banners Secondly When God hides his face from us an army of terrours quickly faces us Though an army of sins come out in array against us yet if God appear to us in the fulnesse and freenesse of his grace if Christ our Captaine will but leade us on against this army we shall quickly overcome them or they will will fly before us But an army of sins is exceeding terrible when Christ appears not in the field for us or when God hides his face from us and leaves us in the dark It is usuall in Scripture to set forth terrours as the effect of that darknesse and the hidings of the face of God Naturally terrour accompanies darknesse children are afraid in the dark and not onely children but men Histories tell us of great Emperours who durst not be in the dark for fear And as naturall terrours meet us in naturall darknesse so spirituall terrours in spirituall darknesse When the light of Gods countenance is clouded and as it were benights the soule then terrour takes hold upon us Under either of these notions we may understand the terrours of this text The terrours of God doe set themselves in array against me It was true in respect of outward troubles they were very terrible But especially in regard of inward troubles when God set his sins in array before him or hid his face and obstructed the course of his wonted communion Set themselves in aray against me The Originall imports a very exact curious artificiall ordination 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ordinavit ratione proportione disposuit instruxit and disposall of things As if the Lord had even studied to be exact and exquisite in afflicting Job he puts his sorrowes into a method and his troubles into order The providence of God observes a rule and is harmonious in those things which appeare to us a chaos a heape of confusion The word is applied First To the ordering of speech or disputations There is a kind of embattailing in disputation when it is regular and artificiall Job 32. 14 Now he hath not directed his speech against me saith Elihu concerning Job as if he had said Job hath not marshalled his arguments against me but all the charge hath been upon you Secondly I find the word used in reference unto prayer Prayer ought to be full of holy order and composednesse Psal 5. 3. In the morning will I direct my prayer to Thee and looke up In the morning will I put my prayer in array I will posture my prayer in a gratious order my heart in order and my words in order every petition shall as it were keep ranke and file when I am seeking unto God Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God is the counsell of the Holy Ghost by Solomon Eccles 5. 2. But properly the word is applied to the marshalling and imbattailing of an Army Jer. 50. 9 Loe I will raise and cause to come up against Bâ—bylon an assembly of great nations from the North countrey and they shall set themselves in array against her c. So then whereas Job saith The terrours of God are set in array against me he would intimate that God afflicted him both orderly and resolvedly It was not some confused terrour or sudden surptiâ—al but the Lord God like some great Commander or General mustered and marshal'd his army and led it up exactly form'd to a pitcht battell against him Observe from hence first Afflictions come sometimes by multitudes You shall have a whole Army
my petition might come He had sent up a request a prayer a prayer for death and he thought his prayer too long gone upon that message Prayer was not quick enough in its returne from Heaven every houre was a yeare till he heard of it therefore saith he O that some body would give me that my request might come back againe unto me The word whereby 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he expresses his request notes a very strong desire a strong cry a strong prayer implying that Job had sent up mighty requests or strong cries about it As it is said of our Lord Christ Heb. 5. That in the dayes of his flesh he sent up strong cryes unto God who was able to deliver him Christ sent up strong cryes to be delivered from death and Job sent up strong cryes for death A word of the same root signifies the grave the grave is a craving a begging thing the grave is never satisfied as it is in the Proverbs The grave saith not it is enough And the grave is therefore exprest by a word that signifies to desire or request or to ask a thing importunately because the grave hath a mouth as it were continually open to ask and beg and cry out for more morsells it consumeth all and is never full such a desire Job put forth for death And that God would grant me the thing that I long for It is a repetition of the same desire in other words What it is to long hath been opened in the third Chapter ver 21. Who long for death Here Job reneweth the same suit againe O that I might have the thing that I long for or the thing which I expect with great expectation and vehemency of affection I shall not stay upon it But only give you the generall sence a little varied In this passage Job shewes himselfe assured that his comforts should not end though his life ended before he was restored to earthly comforts And he thus seemes to answer Eliphaz who had made large promises of outward felicity I am not stayed at all in Job expectaâ—ionem proximam facit mortem tanquam eam quae patiendi ultimam quietis ac faeli â—itatis primam representet liâ—â—â—â— my desires to die because I may possibly live in greater worldly honour and fullnesse then ever I enjoyed All that is in the creature is below wy longing I have not a sweet tooth after worldly dainties I shall not envy any who cut-live me to enjoy them let them divide my portion whatsoever it may be among them also The thing which I long for is death not for it selfe but as that which will bring me to the last of my ill dayes and the first of my best Jobs thoughts were in a higher forme then his friends They thought a golden offer of riches would have made him a gogge to live But Jobs heart lived above these even upon the riches of eternall life To enjoy which he even longs for temporall destruction and cutting off I have spoken at large in the third Chapter concerning the lawfulnesse of such a request and how farre Job might be approved in it therefore I need not discusse it here Only observe in generall That A praying soule is an expecting soule Job had prayed and prayed earnestly and though it was but a prayer to die yet he lived in the expectation of an answer When prayer is sent up unto God then the soul looks for it's return Prayer is as seed sowne After this spirituall husbandry the soul waits for the precious fruits of Heaven Psal 62. 1. My soule waiteth upon God and Psal 85. 8. I will hearken what the Lord God will say Job had sent up his request and now he was hearkening for an answer O that I might have the thing that I looke for Habbakkuk in the second of that prophecie verse 1. having prayed about the great concernments of those times resolves I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the Tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me They who send Embassadours to forreigne Princes waite for a returne Thus it is with the soul having put up it's request and sent an Embassie to God Observe Secondly Answer of our prayer is the grant of God Nothing stands between us and our desires but his will If he signe our petition no creature can hinder us of our expectation Observe Thirdly God often keepes the petitions of his servants by him unanswered Observe Fourthly The returne of prayer is the souls solace and satisfaction As cold water to a thirsty soule so is good news from that farre Country Prov. 25. 25. O that my request might come and O that I might have the thing that I long for Would you know what his request was He explains that in the 9 â—h verse and a man would wonder that one should be so very earnest to have such a request Many have prayed to God to save and deliver them but how unnaturall doth this prayer seeme to be cut off and destroyed Yet the thing which Job doth more then pray for long for is this That it would please God to destroy him and that he would let loose his hand and cut him off That it would please God to destroy me Some reade That he who hath begun would make an end in destroying of me For the word signifies both to be willing to doe a thing and likewise to begin to doe a thing therefore they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat liâ—ere velle inchoare acquiescere in re quapiam eamque tota voluntate amplecti make out the sense thus That he who hath begun thus to destroy me to teare and consume me would finish his worke and make an end of me As if Job had said I am already neare unto destruction a borderer upon the grave God hath begun to destroy me I would have him to goe on and perfect that worke As in workes of mercy Deut. 32. 4. He is the Rocke and his worke is perfect When he beginnes to deliver he will make an end So likewise when he beginnes to destroy he can make an end too Job desires that his afflictions might be perfected to the destruction of his dying body and that mercy might begin in the triumphs of his soule But rather take it in the other sense as we render it To be willing to doe a thing Even that it would please God or even that God would be willing to destroy me As if he had said I find as it were a kind of unwillingnesse in God to make an end of me his bowels seeme to yerne over me he seemes yet to be upon the dispute whether to cut me quite off or no now I even desire that God would lay aside that his tendernesse and compassion that he would determine and resolve to destroy me that he would acquiesce and fully rest satisfied in that resolution The word here used to destroy notes to
beat a thing to powder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contudit contrivit comminuit or to beat a thing to pieces Psal 143. 3. He hath smitten my life downe to the ground that is He hath beaten me as it were to dirt So Job here I would have the Lord even beat me to dust or dirt The word is used for contrition of spirit Isa 57. 15. I dwell with him that is of an humble heart and of a contrite spirit That is with him that hath a spirit beaten to powder or all to pieces as any hard thing is with a hammer or pestle A hard heart is a heart all in a lumpe condensate and closed together but an humble a repenting heart is a heart beaten small and ground to powder Thus Job desires here O that it would please God to beat my life downe to dust and breake me all to shatters that he would crush me as Eliphaz spake in the 14th Chapter ver 19. as a Moth. Observe then in how sad a condition Job was who not onely makes but renewes such a request as this Some upon a suddaine pang wish to die and hastily call for death yet are willing it should take it 's own time and come leisurely and as soon as death appeares they are crying as hard for life It is rare for any mans second thoughts to keepe up to such desires Job spake once and he speakes it over again O that I might die yea he wooes destruction and is an importunate suiter for the grave How sad is a mans outward condition when he hath only this complaint left that he cannot die when a man hath no helpe but in destruction or healing but in a deeper wound Job in this appeares like a man that is to be pressed to death lying under a heavy weight yet the weight not heavy enough to crush him to death he cries out more weight more weight It will be a kindnesse to crush out my breath and bowels the greatest favour I expect in this world is but to have more weight laid upon them that I may die Some of the Martyrs when the fire was scant have cried out more fire The cruellest flame was their friend and the more the fire raged the more merciful it was to them The book of our Martyrs reports of reverend Latimer that when he was giving witnesse to the truth and glorifying the name of Christ in the fire he cried out Oh I cannot burne the fire came not fast enough upon him Such this expression of Job seemes to be Oh I cannot die I cannot be destroyed I cannot perish yet O that the hand of God would lay more weight upon me that I might die He seemes to aske such a curtesie as that Amalekite said King Saul craved of him 2 Sam. 1. 9. Stand I pray thee upon me and slay me for anguish is come upon me because my life is yet whole in me This is the favour the only favour that remaines for me I am capable of no worldly comfort but a quicker dispatch out of the world And that he would let loose his hand and cut me off Here is the same Petition though other language That he would 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Loco movit evulsit excussit let loose his hand That 's an elegant expression The word signifies to loose the bond that a man may have use of his hands or feet As prisoners are loosed Psal 146. 2. The Lord looseth the prisoners So that it is as if Job had said Lord thou hast been smiting and wounding me but I see thou hast not given thy hand the full scope thy hand is as it were bound or tied behind thee As you know a man that hath great advantage of another or is much his over-mach will say to him I will fight with thee with Translatio ab his qui manum vinctam habent my hand tied behind me The truth is God is able to contend with all the creatures with his hand bound behind him with his hands fast bound that is without putting forth the least part to speake on of his power He can overcome with speaking Job observing here that God contended with him as it were with his hands bound or tied up desires now that God would give himselfe full scope and put out his strength and not strike as if his hand were a prisoner And he may have a respect in speaking thus to the Non se gera◠erga me instar hominis colligatam habentis manum restraint or binding up of Satans power In this worke Satan was Gods hand God put power into the hand of Satan All that he hath is in thy power or in thy hand Chap. 1. 12. First God loosened Satans hand to take away his estate Next he let loose his hand a little further to the afflicting of his body but saith God spare his life there he bound up his hand againe Now Job alluding probably to that restraint Lord saith he loosen thy hand a third time doe not only loosen it to take away my estate to take away my health and strength but O that thou wouldest loosen it to take away my life too enlarge I pray thee Satans Commission who is thy hand let it quite loose that he may make an end of me and cut me off The word here used to cut off comes up to heighten Jobs sence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inexplebilem cupiditatem atque immanem aviditatem vulnerandi humani sanguinu perfundendi sign ficat still signifying to cut off with an unsatiable appetite of revenge As if he should say Cut me off spare me not spare not my blood doe it as they who are most greedy of blood and thirst most vehemently after revenge Let Satan that blood-sucker come with as great revenge thy hand being loosened from restraining his as ever the greatest Tyrant hastned with to suck the blood of innocents Let him greedily cut me off even as if he were to have some great gain or get some rich booty by my blood What profit is there in my blood saith David Psal 30. 9. Let him make what profit he can of my blood saith Job The word signifies to covet or desire gaine And it notes the worst kind of covetousnesse covetousnesse of filthy lucre or covetousnesse of bloodie lucre Hence Job saith Let God cut me off as if he were to have profit or raise Avidè me absumat quasi ex mea morte ingens lucrum reportaturus Pined himselfe a revenew out of my blood or let Satan come upon me and take his penny-worths out of my blood let him murder me as if he were to find all manner of treasure in my bowels and could thence fill and adorn all his chambers of darknes with spoils We may note from hence First That God dispenceth and acteth his power as he pleaseth He looseth his hand gradually as to him seemeth good First To the estate then to the body
hardnesse or bear evil As if he had said thou dost not know what hardship thou shalt be put unto in thy ministry I who am a veterane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an old beaten though never conquered souldier in this warfare of Christ have been put to much hardship in my time and from my owne experience I advise thee to inure thy selfe to hardship to lie hard to fare hard to work hard to hear hard words and receive hard usage A tender spirit and a delicate body which must have warme and soft and fine and sweet continually is unfit for the warfare of the Gospel Such a sence is here I know I must endure more than now I doe but I would harden my selfe against that time and resolve to endure it let come what could come I am resolved and have fore-thought the worst Further for the clearing of these words it is considerable that some learned Interpreters put the two middle expressions into a parenthesis and read the whole thus I should have comfort though I should scorch with paine and though God should not spare me for I have not concealed the words of the holy One. One thus This yet is my comfort even while I scorch with pain Iunius and God doth not spare me that I have not concealed the words of the holy One Mr. Broughton as I touched before comes near this sence and translation So I should yet find comfort though I parch in paine when he would not spare For I kept not close the words of the most Holy That is when the long expected houre of my death shall come though God to take away my life should heat the fornace of my affliction seven times hotter then hitherto so that I must parch in paine yet I should have comfort Or take it in Master Broughtons owne glosse in all these pangs if God would make an end of me it should be my comfort and I would take courage in my sicknesse to beare it by my joy that I should die because I professed the Religion of God So that the strength of Job to bear the hand of God was from the conscience of his former integrity in doing the will and maintaining the truth of God Let him not spare Job having taken up his hope that he should have comfort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pepercit clementia usus fuerit and this resolution that he would harden himselfe in sorrow speaks now as if he were at a point let God doe what he pleaseth let him not spare as if he had said what course soever the Lord shall see good to take for the cutting me off I am content he should goe on with it Let him not spare The word signifies to indulge or shew mercy to him whom by all right a man might justly destroy Ezek. 5. 11. Because thou hast done thus and thus saith God therefore will I also diminish thee neither shall mine eye spare neither will I have any pity Job seemes to invite what God threatens others Let him not spare let him not have any pity let him take his full swing in destroying of me In this sence it is said Rom. 8. 32. That God spared not his own sonne That is he abated not any thing which justice could inflict Christ therefore saves to the uttermost because he suffered to the uttermost He was not spared one blow one drop one sigh one sorrow one shame one circumstance of all or any one of these which justice could demand as a satisfaction for mans sinne Yea though in a sence he cryed to his father that he might be spared yet he was not There is a three-fold mercy in God There is a preventing mercy mercy that steps between us and trouble And there is a delivering mercy mercy that takes us out of the hand of trouble There is a third kinde of mercy coming in the middle of these two and that is called sparing mercy and that is two-fold First sparing for the time when God delaies and staies long ere he strike Secondly sparing for the degree when the Lord moderates and mitigates abates and qualifies our sufferings not letting them fall so heavie upon us as they might This sparing mercy stands I say in the middle of the two former it is not so much as preventing mercy stopping trouble that it come not neither is it so much as delivering mercy removing it when it is come Now Job did not only not aske delivering mercy that he asked not sparing mercie Let him not spare me in the time let him not delay or loose time let him come as soone as he will And let him not spare me in the degree and measure let him strike me as hard and lay his hand as heavily upon me as he will David Psal 39. 13. makes this his request O spare me that I may recover strength before I goe hence and be no more That is abate and mitigate my sufferings that I die not but Job desireth not to be spared at all He rather saith take away all my strength that I may goe hence and be seen no more Observe hence That the hope troubles will end comforteth yea hardneth in bearing present troubles Then will I comfort my selfe then will I harden my selfe let him not spare if I may have my request and die The sharpest sting of trouble is that it is endless and it is next to that when we can not looke to the end of it nor see any issue or way out of it That which discourages the damned in bearing their sorrowes and softens both their flesh and spirits to receive home to the head every arrow of wrath and dart of vengeance is they see no end and are assured there will be none They know they cannot be cut off and therefore they cannot harden themselves in sorrow no that very consideration makes their hearts which have been hardned to commit sin tender to receive punishment and exactly sencible of their pains could they see that at last they should be cut off even they would be hardned to bear the torments of Hell in the meane time though that time should be very long yea as long as time can be onely not endlesse The pain it selfe doth not afflict so much as the thought that they shall be afflicted for ever As the assurance that the glory of Heaven shall never end infinitely sweetnes it so the assurance that the paines of hell shall never end infinitely sharpens them And not to see the ending of worldly troubles neer puts us further off from comfort then the bearing of those troubles Therefore saith Job if I might be assured that God would cut me off I would harden my selfe in sorrow and let not God spare I would not desire him to hold his hand to mitigate or abate my paines * Eâ— haec mihi merces esset ejus seu pro eo quod nâ—n occultavi unquam sed diligentisâ— simè observavi quam commendatissima habui
God and prayer all this while God hath put his everlasting armes under me otherwise I had fallen before this day hid I not prayed in ayd from heaven I had not lived thus long upon the earth for what is my strength compared to these burthens which are upon me This is a good sence For as the Apostle speakes Gal 2. 10. The life which I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God So Job seems to say the life which I have lived ever since these afflictions have encompass'd me I have lived by the power of God and the strength of faith in him What iâ— my strength that I should bear We have this treasure saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 4. 7. in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be from God and not from us As he speakes there respecting the burthen of the Ministry So we may in respect of any burthen of trouble or weight of affliction We have these afflictions laid upon our earthen vessels and one would wonder that an earthen vessel should not cracke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Moratus praestolatus Vel significat anxia spe potiendi voto rem aliquam expectare aegrè ferre protractionem rei expectatae Chemnit Spes est cum praeparatio ad boni futuri promissi susceptionem tum patientia morae ex intuitu illius boni Coc. and shatter to pieccs under them but it is that the excellency of the power might be from God and not from us when we are weak then we are strong strong in God and in the power of his might God loves to shew the world what his strength can doe in a weak creature as well as what his grace and mercy can do for a sinful creature This I say is a good sence but the word rather signifies to hope and yet these two are not at any great odds for hope is the strength the bearing-strength of the soul What is my strength that I should hope That I should wait and tarry that I should expect or stay for such and such changes as thou hast promised Psalm 130 5. we have these words put together I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait and in his word do I hope The soul which is in a hoping condition is also in a waiting condition waiting and hoping ever attend the same thing No man will wait at all for that of which he hath no hope and he who hath hope will wait always He gives not over waiting till he gives over hoping The object of hope is some future good but the act of hoping is a present good and that is present pay to bear our charges in waiting So then the word implies both a patient writing and a hopefull trusting So Christ expoundes it Mat. 12. 21. rendring that of the prophet Isa 42. 4. The isles shall wait for his Law thus In his name shall the Gentiles trust Noah after the strength of the deluge was spent Gen 8. 10 12. opened the window of the Arke and sent forth the Dove and she returned then saith the text He waited seven daies and again he waited yet other seven daies hoping at last the floud would be dried up and the waters return into their ancient channels Now saith Job what is my strength that I should hope or expect deliverance and therefore why should I wait for it The waters of my afflictions are so deepe and swolne so high that I have no hope to see dry ground againe And in this passage he seemes to answer what Eliphaz speak in the 5th Chapter vers 16. and 25. for doubtlesse Job applies himselfe exactly to what Eliphaz had spoken and the truest interpretation of his answer will be in finding out and suiting the references to what the other Propounded Eliphaz in the 16. verse of the fifth Chapter where he makes a report of the wonderfull workes of God had said So the poore hath hope and iniquity stoppeth her mouth And at the 25 verse he tels Job that a godly man notwithstanding all his afflictions may know that his tabernacle shall be in peace and that his seed shall be very great Job in answer to those words replies What is my strength that I should hope As if he had said Eliphaz you speake of great hopes that the poore may have and you speak of a peaceable Tabernacle of a flourishing off-spring Alas my condition is such I am so worne out with paine with sicknesses with diseases with distempers with griefes that I have no hope left in regard of any strength in me ever to enjoy such promises What is my strength Quae fortitudo mea ut sperem liberos Vatab. Quid in longiorem spem me adducitis quum sperando non fim jam propè◠mortuus videat Hoc à lobo dicitur ut consilâ—j importunitatem expresso sensitivae partis affectu retunderet non quod de divina potentia diffideret that I should hope What is my strength that I should expect to live to see such good daies as you speak of that my Tabernacle should be in peace that I should have plenty that I should have a numerous issue Alas my strength is gone what is my strength that I should looke after these things Not that Job measured all his hope by his owne strength but here he expresses the griefe and paine which was in his sensitive part or upon his outward man thereby to answer the sowre reproofs and sweet promises of Eliphaz For we find Job himself in the thirteenth Chapter vers 13. resolving thus Though he kill me yet will I trust or hope in him he would trust and hope in God though he died therefore he did hope while he lived And it is the property of that grace and where it is in strength it shâ—wes as much to hope against hope Rom. 4. 18. Who against hope beleeved in hope When there was no strength in Abraham no possibility in nature yet against hope he beleeved in hope So at this time there was such a grace in Job he had a hope by which he could hope against hope but when he looked into his own stock of strength What is my strength that I should hope I know the strength of God is a rock sure enough for my hope to anchor in Abraham said in effect what is my strength that I should hope to have a childe for he looked upon himself as a dead man but saith he there is power in God he knew his own weakness but he considered it not waxing strong in faith and giving glory to God So here while Job saith What is my strength that I should hope my strength is dried up and withered and so is my hope in my own strength The strength of God is vigorous and green and in him my hope also is green and vigorous Though all the earth about us be like a dry heath and barren wilderness yet our hope buds and blossoms like a
plant while it is rooted by the springs of heavenly promises And what is mine end that I should prolong my life The letter of the Hebrew is That I should prolong or lengthen out my soul that my soul should inhabit longer in the tabernacle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of my body The word prolong is differently joyned to life or dayes Deut. 5. 16. Honour thy father and thy mother as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee that thy dayes may be prolonged c Ezek. 12 22. Son of man what is that proverbe that you have in the land of Israel saying The dayes are prolonged and every vision faileth To prolong dayes and prolong life are the same Yet hear the word Nephesh soul which we translate life may be taken for desire which is a vehement act of the soul The soul expresses it self so much in desires that the same word may expresse both And so we may render Jobs sence thus What is my end that I should lengthen out or extend my desires any further after the things of this world or that I should defer and put off my desires after the things of the world to come Is there any thing in this life worth my staying for it or any thing so worthless in the next that I should not wish presently to enjoy it In this sence the word Nephesh is often used as Gen. 23. 8. Abraham speaks to the children of Heth If it be your soul or your desire we translate if it be your mind that I should bury my dead So Prev 23 2. If thou be a man given to thy appetite or whose desires are thy Lord and master as the elegancy of that place beares And again Psal 27. 12. Psal 41. 2. Eccl 6. 9. The word is applied to signifie the will or desire So here What is mine end that I should prolong my life or my desire of life His End may be considered two wayes First His end may be taken for the latter part of his life which Eliphaz promised would be very comfortable Thou shalt come to thy grave in a good old age as a shock of corn commeth into the flore As if Job should say you are promising me good dayes and a happy old age but what is mine end what 's the latter part of a mans life that he should desire to prolong his dayes to take it out why should I desire to prolong my life I am now well stricken in years and as for the end the latter part of a mans life it is nothing for the most part but trouble and sorrow As old Barzillai 2 Sam. 19. 35. when David offered him the pleasures of the Court answers I am thus old and can I taste my meat and taste my drink or hear musique What is the Fagge-end of mans life that one should hunger after it The sweetest comforts of this life are in the fore-part of life in the spring of youth in the strength and flower of age As for the winter of life what is that but wet and cold but clouds and darkness What is my end of old age that I should desire my life to be prolonged or eeked out to that But rather we may take this End First For the end of his troubles As if he had said What end so gainfull or comfortable can I have of these evils that should recompence my pains in bearing them till I receive it No worldly comforts can answer my sorrows and therefore why should I desire to prolong my life for them Secondly Take End for the very last term of life not that latter part or condition of a mans life troublesome old age as before or a renewed estate as here But take End for the ending the termination the period of life What is my end that I should prolong my life and so End is as much as death what is my death that I should desire to live I know no evil in death that should make me afraid of the end of my life I know no such trouble in dying that I should be desirous to spinne out this troublesome life longer surely the trouble and pain of death is not so much as the present trouble and pain of my life and as for any other trouble I fear none then What is my end that I should prolong my life that I should not desire death or that you should be so angry with me for desiring it Hence observe first There is no strength in man that may give him assured hope of long life What is my strength that I should hope No though man be in the flourish of his age the greenesse of his years yet what is youth or strength or beauty what all those fair leaves and fruits which hang upon and adorn this goodly tree that he should hope to hand long Man in his best estate is altogether vanity Psal 39. 5. He that hopes to live upon any of these things hopes in a vain thing trusts but in a shadow Our hopes to live this natural life as well as the spiritual and eternal must be in the living God The Image of death sits upon the best of our strength and beauty while we grow we decline and while we flourish we wither The lengthening of our dayes is the shortning of them and all the time we live is but a passage unto and should be but a preparation for death We are most miserable if in this life only we have hope and we are most foolish if our hopes of this life be in our own strength And because there is no strength in nature which may give us hope to live long It is our greatest wisdome to consider what provision we have in grace to maintain our hopes that we shall live for ever They are in an ill case who when they cannot hope to live long care not to settle their hopes of living eternally It is a most sad spectacle to see a languishing body and a languishing hope meet in one man Some have a Kalender in their bones shewing them they have but few dayes here and many distempers upon the whole body crying in their ears with a loud voice what is your strength that you should hope to live who yet prepare not at all to die They are both unready and unwilling to be dissolved when they see no hope to keep up their tabernacle from desolution Secondly taking the word in the last sense which I conceive rather to be the mind of the holy Ghost in this place observe That there is no evil in the death of a godly man which should make him unwilling to die or which should make him linger after this life What is the end of a godly man that he should prolong his life All the bitterness of death is removed or sweetned by Christ Death the King of terrours is made a servant to let us in to our comforts by the power of Christ that prince of life who hath abolished death and brought life
chesed a reproach to any people Secondly Impiety and cruelty harshness and severity Thirdly It signifies any abhominable wickedness Levit. 20. 17. where Moses speaking of incest incest between brother and sister calls that abomination by this word Chesod A wicked thing That may have a good name the nature whereof is so ill that it is not to be named Further The word as we translate imports more than a bare act of pitty or commiseration as suppose a man see his brother in misery compassionates him but relieves him not this is not pity Such the Apostle James describes in his first Chapter vers 15. If a brother or a sister be naked and destitute of daily food and you say unto them be filled be warmed be cloathed poor creatures ye are hungry yea are naked I pitty you I am sorry to see you thus be filled be cloathed I wish it were otherwise with you and yet in the mean time he gives them nothing wherewith either to cloath or feed them Is this fulfilling the law of love Is this charity Nothing lesse The pity here spoken of is not a verbal piety Our saying to a brother in trouble be comforted or I would course were taken for you I wish you well with all my heart and so we bestow a mouth-ful of good words but not so much as a morsell of bread or a cup of cold water Good words alone are cheap charity to mans expence and they are so cheap in Gods esteem that they will not be found of any value at all in the day of reckening good words not realized if they be found any where will be found in the treasures of wrath This is not the pitty which Job teacheth us should be shewed to him that is afflicted The Apostles quesion shakes such out of all claime to this grace 1 John 3. 17. whosoever saith he hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother in need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how doth the love of God dwell in him Though a mans mouth be open with good words yet if he shut his bowels from good deeds there is no love to God or man hous'd in that mans heart It is no Pitty to speak of onely to speak pitty and therefore the Apostle addes verse 18 My little children let us not love in word and in tongue but in deed and in truth that 's the true meaning of this word to him that is afflicted pitty should be shewed But you my friends have not given me so much as the sound of pitty you have not bemoaned me much less have you relieved me which is the substance of pitty reall pitty You have not loved me in tongue giving me good words much less in deed and in truth Deed-pitty is both the duty and the disposition of a godly man therefore this word Chasid in the concrete is often used in Scripture to signify a godly man He is one that hath obtained much grace and pitty from the Lord and he is kind gracious and pittiful unto men The holy Proverb assures us That a good man is merciful pittiful to his beast much more to a man and most of all to a godly man who is his brother in the nearest bond And it is considerable how this word was used by way of distinction among the Jewes who cast their whole people or nation into three ranks and it is grounded upon Rom. 5 6 7. where the Apostle alludes to those three sorts First There were Reshagnim ungodlymen the prophane rabble Secondly there were the Tsadikmi righteous men And thirdly there were Chasidim good men or pittiful mâ—n scarcely saith the Apostle will one die for a righteous man for a man fair and just in his dealings peradventure for one of the Chasidim for a good man some one may chance to dy He that had been pittiful might haply find pitty and having done so much good in his life all would desire he should live still But herein God commended his love to us that while we were â—et sinners Reshagnim in the worst raâ—ke of men Christ died for us No man had either love or pitty enough to die for them who had so much impiety The farthest that the natural line oâ— mans pitty can reach is to do good to those who do him good or are good Pitty notes out such a sort of men and such a sort of actions as Antiqui vocant Ciconâ—am pietatis cultricem Ciconiis pietas eximia est Soâ— are fullest of love of bowels of brotherly kindeness and compassion Hence the Stork which by divers of the ancients was put for the Emblem of love and benignity is exprest in the Hebrew by this word Levit. 11. 19. The Storke is very tender towards her young ones and her young ones are as tender of her when she is old as naturalists have observed So then this word imports the height of all offices and affections of love from man to man especially from Christian to Christian in times of trouble and cases of extremity This Pitty you should have shewed me saith Job But he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty That is he forsakes all godlinesse goodness and religion Fear takes in all that 's good and so it is conceived that Job retorts the words of Eliphaz in the fourth chap. Is this thy fear or where is thy fear thy Religion Now Job saith Is this your fear You have forsaken the fear of the Almighty Is this your Religion to deal so harshly with a distressed friend or to give him such cold comfort Surely you have forsaken that fear of the Almighty which you charged me with Have not I reason to ask Is this thy fear or to conclude You have forsaken the fear of the Almighty These words are diversly rendred Some thus He that takes away pitty from his friend hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty And Qui tollit ab â—mico suo misericordiam timorem Domini derelinquit Vulg. that 's a truth and a good sense though not so clear to the letter of the Text. Mr. Broughton joins this with the former verse By him whose mercy is molten toward his friend and who leaveth the fear of the Almighty So referring this melting to mercy and not to the man joining it with the former thus Have not I my defence and is judgment driven away from me by him whose mercy is molten away toward his neighbour and who leaveth the fear of the Almighty As if Job had said Eliphaz doest thou thinke thou haste driven away all wisdome from me by thy dispute Doest thou think that I have lost my reason as thou hast lost thy pitty Thou thinkest wisdome and understanding have forsaken me but it appears by thy dealings that thou hast forsaken the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdome Thirdly it is rendred in the contrary sense The word Chesid An dissoluto à sodali suo convitium et quod timorem omnipotentis
to have found water there and it grieved and repented them that ever they had hope to find water there because there was none to be found They were confounded The word signifies indifferently to be ashamed or to be confounded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Puduit rei vel facti and to be confounded in regard of events or actions The word is very neer in sound to our English Abashed It notes also a waxing pale and wan when the colour failes and withers comes and goes If a man be failed much in what he much hoped his countenance fails too his visage changes as his thoughts change and he waxeth pale Therefore we translate it well confounded And it is expressed by confounding for two reasons First because the complexion is confounded at such a time shame and blushing make a kinde of confusion upon nature Secondly the Spirits are confounded the heart is troubled Disappointments of our hope perplex a man both within and without He is disordered quite through And because long delaies cause shame therefore by a Metonymie of the cause for the effect this word signifies to delay time Exod. 32. 1. And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down c. that is when Ainsworth on Exod. the people saw that Moses made them ashamed by his long delay they gathered themselves together c. They waited for Moses 40. daies and now Moses had staied so long that they were ashamed of his stay that is they expected but he came not as they expected this troubled them We read the word in the same sence Judg. 5. 28. The mother of Sisera looked out at a window and cried through the latice why is his chariot so long in comming Why tarry the wheels of his chariots Why is his chariot ashamed that is why doth his chariot stay so long as to make us ashamed of our stay We have long looked what trophies Sisera would bring home why doth his chariot by delayes make us ashamed Thus in the text these travellers are said to be confounded because they had great hope to find water but were disappointed They were confounded because they had hoped the latter clause carries 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fodit effodit-per Metaphoram traductam a fodientibus erubuit Nam qui rubore perfusâ— sunt ex peccato caâ—ut in terram dimittunt instar eorum qui terram defodiunt Cartâ— the same sence They came thither and were ashamed Yet there is a special elegancy in the word ashamed which signifies to digge to digge that we may hide a thing At it is said of the evil servant who received but one talent that he went and digged and hid his Lords mony Mat. 25. 18. And so by a Metaphor this word is translated to signifie being ashamed because a man that is ashamed would hide his head in a hole as we say if he could he would runne his head into the ground and rather be at the pains to digge a hole in the earth to hide himself then to endure the shame of shewing himselfe No man loves that should appear or to appeare in that which is his shame These two things to be ashamed and confounded are often owned by the Saints in their repentance It is best not to doe any thing whereof to be ashamed but when we have done evil iâ— is good to be ashamed To hide our sinnes for shame and not to be ashamed of them when they are not hid are equall aggravations of sinne Hence when the holy Ghost would set â—orth mâ—n impudent or shameless in sinning who sinned and cared not who saw them he saith Jer. 2. 34. Also upon thy skirts is found the blood of innocents I have not found iâ— by secret search so we translate it the Hebrew is I have not found it by digging As if he had said some men are so ashamed of their sins that when God comes to finde them out he must dig for them because they have digged into the earth as it were to hide their sins but others are so impudent in sinning that God needs not digg to finde out their sins they are so shameless that they let their sinnes lie above ground or as the Prophet speaks Isa 3. 9. They declare their sinnes like Sodome that is openly Truth and holiness never seek corners and sometimes sinne and wickedness do not And as the doing of evill forbidden causeth or should cause shame so doth the not receiving of good expected Hence when the Lord would assure his people that they should undoubtedly receive all the good he had promised and which they on that ground could expect he concludes with them thus And my people shall never be ashamed Why The reason is plain in the Text Ye shall eaâ— in plenty and be satisfyed Joel 2 26. which is directly opposite to this in Job The Temanites were ashamed because being thirsty they were not satisfyed And because Jesus Christ shall so aboundantly satisfy all the hunger and thirst and supply all â—hâ— wants and weaknesses of every believing soul therefore it is exprest under this word and notion Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed Rom. 9. 33. Such a meaning the word bears in this text They were ashamed Foderunt putees sc ad aquam inveniendam That is when they saw there was no water to be had they would have hid themselves in the earth or digged holes to hide themselves in for grief and shame And some render this word here though to another sence They digged That is when they saw that there was no water in the streames then they fell a digging to see if they could finde any springs That 's a good sense But rather take digging as before To shew what shame would have us do when we have done amisse or when we Misse what we would find then we seek covert and hide our selves Hence these two are often joyned in Scripture Shame and hiding with the disappointment of hope Reade a text of near compliance with this in the letter Jer. 14. 3. Their Nobles have sent their little ones to the waters they came to the pits and found no water it was in a time of drought they returned with their vessels empty What followeth they were ashamed and confounded and covered their heads Again verse 4. Because the ground is chapt for there was no raine in the earth the plow-men were ashamed they covered their heads And Joel 1. 10. 11. The corn is wasted the new wine is dried up What followeth Be ashamed O ye husband-men howle O ye Vinedressers because the harvest of the field is perished So that in the common language and current of the Scripture shame is an effect of disappointment and hiding the face or covering the head an effect of both Observe hence First That deceived hopes trouble us as much if not more than present wants A present want is a present smart but deceived hopes are a perpetual smart And that
cursing whose end is to be burned A people well instructed are like that ground which is under continual showers and dews And doctrine is fitly compared to rain and teaching to raining First because all true holy doctrine comes from God as the rain doth The rain is Gods proper gift Jer. 14. 22. Can any of the vanities of the Gentiles give rain All the men in the world are not able to make one drop of rain So we may say of this figurative rain of truth and holy doctrine Can any of the vanities of the Gentiles yea can any of the most learned among the sons of men give this rain Can any man make any one truth which hath not first been made above Truth like rain comes from Heaven it drops from beyond the clouds Art not thou He O Lord our God therefore we will wait upon Thee say they of the natural rain Jer. 14. 22. and so we must in regard of the spiritual Hence the word which Moses uses Deut. 32. 2 for Accipere est discipuli ficut dare praeceptoris 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doctrine dropping as the rain signifies a received learning Holy Truths are so called in that language because the doctrine of Religion is received from God not devised by men So the Apostle phrases it 1 Cor. 11. 23. I received of the Lord that which I delivered unto you And Christ himself As my Father hath taught me so I speak these things John 8. 28. That which Nicodemus said of Christ is true of every one that teacheth truth Joh. 3. 2. Thou art a Teacher come from God As truth it self so the teachers of it are from God as a lye and the tellers of it are from the Devil John 1. 44. Secondly Like rain as in regard of the original whence it comes so in regard of the effect rain refresheth the earth when the earth is weary and faint when the earth gaspes and is parched how doth a showre of rain revive it When the Psalmist had spoken of the rain coming down upon the earth he presently adds this effect The little hills rejoyce on every side they shout for joy they also sing Thus also a people wearied and languishing and fainting in ignorance when they receive truths and holy instructions how do their hearts rejoyce how do they laugh and sing In the Parable Mat 13. Some are said to receive the word with joy Even they who are but formalists and hypocrites for it is spoken of them rejoyce and are refreshed for a season with the word Truth is such a gracious showre that they sometimes receive it with joy who have no grace And if truth refresh men who are but nature or move in spiritual workes but upon natural principles how will it refresh those who have grace and spiritual principles sutable to it Thou O God saith David Psal 68. 9 10. didst send a plentiful rain whereby thou didst refresh thine inheritance when it was weary That is a truth in the letter and some understand it of natural rain but others interpret that plentiful rain in a figure for the rain of doctrine which God sent down upon his people when he gave the Law and dropt those heavenly Oracles from Mount Sinai upon his people Israel that showre of the Law came indeed in a storm Thunder and lightning and a terrible tempest accompanied it But though the thunder terrified yet the showre refreshed and the Saints have ever delighted in the matter of those instructions and holy counsels given there though Moses a chief amongst the Saints seared and quaked exceedingly at the manner of giving them Thirdly as rain so teaching makes fruitful The Prophet Isaiah makes out this part of the similitude expressly Chap. 55. 10 11. As the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and returns not thither but waters the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater So shall my word be that goeth out of my mouth c. Hence also the people of God are compared Deut. 32. 2. to grasse and tender herbs which grow and flourish which are fed and bring forth fruit when watered with the rain It cannot be denied though it be much to be lamented that many souls upon whom much of this rain falls are altogether barren and unfruitful But Oh! How barren are those souls upon whom not a droop of this rain ever fell They that are deprived of these showres are under a grievous curse even such a curse as David imprecates upon the mountains of Gilboa 2 Sam. 1. 21. Ye mountains of Gilboa let there be no dew neither let there be rain upon you c. When God saith unto a people let there be no dew no raine upon you no Moses to drop doctrine upon you no Paul to plant no Appollo's to water you with the word this is the saddest showre of curses that can fall upon a people as without rain so without the word ordinarily there can be no fruitfulnesse You see at this time how upon a little with-holding of the natural raine we presently fear barrennesse and famine the want of spiritual rain brings in a This was preacht in a time of drought worse barrennesse though there are not many who fear it or are sensible of it Fourthly the word taught is like rain in regard of the dispensing of it The rain comes not down alike at all times showres are very various sometimes it raines softly then we call it a still soaking rain sometimes we have a strong mighty rain at another time rain is accompanied with thunder and lightning while the showres descend the great Ordnance of heaven discharge from the clouds and fill the air with terrour Thus also it is or should be in teaching Many soules require a still soft quiet rain Others must have stronger showres mighty raine you must powre down upon them A third sort must have thunder joyned with rain they need a Boanerges a sonne of thunder a mixture of terrour with instruction to bore their eares and break their hearts Those teachers mistake their work who in stead of raining are alwayes thundering and lightning As if their pulpit were set upon Mount Sinai And I believe it is as great a mistake to think Teachers need never thunder The word of God in all parts of it and in all manner of dispensations of it is exceeding useful A Minister without teaching is as Iude speakes a cloud without water And he shall doe but little good upon some if he have nothing but water in his cloud Fire sometime must mingle with the rain and a Tempest come after or before the dewing distilling still voice The word of God is compared to fire as well as unto water Only it must be the wisdome and it is the duty of every Teacher to know how to give every one his portion or as the Apostle Jude counsels ver 22 23. Of some to have
Organ of discipline Hearing is the sence of learning and the seasonable stopping of our own mouths a ready means to open our understandings To be swift to hear and flow to speak James 1. 19. is the speediest way to attain wisdom Fourthly observe He that is shewed his errour should speak no more but sit down convinced Teach me saith Job and I will hold my tongue That is I will reply no more upon you I will never stand up in maintaining an errour I wil be no pattern of evil though my self am in the fault Errour shall not be excused or a mistake apologized for by me Some wits are able to make a fair cover for and put a glosse upon the most deformed and grossest errours There was never any opinion in the world but some have seconded it and undertaken it's protection When conscience hath never a word to say wit will be very talkative and when they have ended reasoning some can wrangle everlastingly When wit and learning undertake a cause and leave conscience out of the Commission there must either be a very ill end of it or no end A subtil Sophister will despute any thing and bring probable arguments where reason alone sits judge against the most undoubted truths It is an ill office to be an Oratour for our own or others errous for our own or others sinful practises Prov. 30. 32. If thou hast done evil in lifting up thy selfe or if thou hast thought evil or maintained evil lay thine hand upon thy mouth speake no more never be an advocate in a bad cause though it be thine own when our faults are shewed us we should not open our mouths unlesse it be to renounce and disclaim them A sad account will be given of that time and of those parts which have been laid out in the patronage of our failings and mistakes It is as sinful to few figg-leaves or make fair pretexts to cover the nakednesse of our opinions as of our practises And cause me to understand wherein I have erred As if Job had said when once you bring me to see clearly that I am in an errour and cast light into my conscience you shall find me readily submitting to you A question arises here in the general whether Job doubted his Concessio est quam Quintilianus dicit esse cum aliquid iniquum videmur causae fiducia pati Apud eum dicitur confessio nihil nocitura Quin. lib. 3 cap. 2. Non submittit se errasse sed humiliter se submittit amicorum censure Bold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In Hiphil intelligentem secit erudii◠cause or whether or no there were an hesitancy in his spirit about what he had done or spoken I answer this speech implies not that he had any doubt of himself or an admission that he had erred Job speaks like Oratours or Disputants who when they are sure of a point will yet grant a little doubtfulness or raise doubts about what they are able to maintain and confident to carry It is ordinary to put things by way of supposition of which we make no question When Job saith Cause me to understand wherein I have erred it is not an acknowledgement that he had a erred but a submission in case he had or a concession that he might Job was not lifted up with an opinion of his own infallibility he knew to erre was common to man and therefore he speaks of himself under the common notion of all men Not from any consciousnesse of his own errour Cause me to understand It is but one word in the Original and it signifies to convince by reason or argument Cause me to understand that is doe not think to force my opinion or to offer violence to my judgement doe not think to club me down with great words and clomorous threats but doe it by solid Arguments by evident demonstration of reason Doe it by savourie advices and counsel not by bitter reproaches and invectives Deal with my understanding not barely with my affections Cause me to understand My errour It signifies local corporal wandrings and errours and bodily erring or wandring and sometimes it signifies the wandrings of the mind judgement and affections Prov. 5. 19 20. Solomon bids the husband Rejoyce in the wife of his youth let her be as a loving Hind and pleasant Roe let her breasts satisfie thee at all times and be thou ravished alwayes with her love The Hebrew as our Translatours put in the margin is erre thou alwaies in her love that is let all thy wandring erring thoughts and affections be reduced and brought home to the wife whom God hath given thee the next words seeme to interpret so for why my sonne wilt thou be ravished with a strange woman and imbrace the bosome of a stranger That 's dangerous erring in love Therefore saith he let all thine errings and wandrings all thy delights and ravishments be chast and conjugal towards the wife of thy youth Further it signifies erring or wandring out of meer ignorance This word is often used in Leviticus for the sin of ignorance Chap. 4. 2. and Chap. 5. 18. and Chap. 22. 14. If any man hath sinned through ignorance or committed an errour then he shall offer these and these sacrifices and oblations So Psal 19. 12. who can understand his errours That is those sinnes which he commits out of ignorance and inadvertency Hence he concludes with this prayer Cleanse thou me from secret faults He doth not mean faults which he committed privately and so were secrets to others but faults which he had committed ignorantly and so were Secrets to himselfe That is they were sinnes of ignorance And I conceive he means not only such sins as he had committed ignorantly but then knew they were sins but even such sins as he was ignorant whether ever he had committed them or no That is he prayes for the pardon of all those sins which possible he might have committed though to him as yet altogether unknown and undiscovered The title of the 7th Psalm is Shiggaion of David it is the same Original word we have in the text and some translate it awandring song And the reason for it is either because of the Cantio erratica variable and wandring poetry or because of the variable or wandring tune in which that Psalm was sung and to which it was set for greater delight others makes the title sutable to the translation of the word here the Psalm of Davids errours because sets forth his fears and dangers which made him wonder in body and sometime also to go a little astray in mind this Psalm was sung to the Lord concerning the words or the business of Cush the Benjamite that is of Saul who was of Kish and of Jemini 1 Sam. 9. 1. called here Cush that is Ethiopian or Blackmore figuratively from his black and ill conditions his heart not being changed as the Blackmore changeth not his skin Saul was a bitter enemy
doing evil is not good to us and our doing good is to us no better then evil Verse 25. How forcible are right words but what doth your arguing reprove Job speakes by way of admiration How forcible I cannot In Haebreo Admirativum est elegans patheticum Bold tell how forcible It is an elegant way of expressing the highness of our thoughts As Psal 84. 1. How aimable are thy dwelling places O Lord of hosts He admires in stead of speaking they are so aimable as I cannot tell how aimable they are Put your thoughts to their utmost conceptions of beauty and that beauty is in the dwellings of the Lord So saith Job here How forcible are right words they are so forcible as I cannot tell how forcible they are I must admire and be silent How forcible are right words The Chaldee Paraphrase reads it how sweet are right words interpreting it by that Psal 119. 103. Oh how sweet are thy Commandements unto me they are sweeter than the honey and the honey comb But the Originals differ though that be a good sense We read How forcible The word signifies any thing that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acrimoniae notionem habet strong potent or mighty It notes also acrimony sharpnesse or smartnesse and so it is often applyed to words either good or bad 1 King 2. 8. when David lay upon his death bead giving his last advices to Solomon Thou saith he hast Shimei with thee who cursed me with a grievous curse In the Hebrew it is this word who cursed me with a sharp strong forcible curse he cursed me with all his heart with all his might he laid load upon me Evil words are strong right words are strongest Job had before at the 6th verse of this Chapter called the discourses of Eliphaz unsavoury in this he taxes them for flat or weak right words have a pleasing acrimony upon the palate of the soul and a power upon the judgement to sway and carry it but yours are dull and feeble Some render it after the letter of the Hebrew words of right or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eloquia rectitudinis Mont. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aquil. truth Others in the Concret how forcible are the words of a right or upright man But take it as we translate How forcible are right words Words are right three wayes 1. In the matter when they are true 2. In the manner when they are plain direct and perspicuous 3. In their use when they are duely and properly applied when the arrow is carried home to the white then they are right words or words of righteousnesse When this three-fold rightnesse meets in words how forcible how strong are such words But what doth your arguing reprove I confess there is great strength in right words and in the words of the upright but you have been long disputing the matter with me and what have you got where are your gains The word signifies to rebuke with conviction and argument to shew what is right and to refute that which is contrary Job 13. 3. the word is so used Surely I would speak to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arguit redarguit praeparavit verba contra aliquem disputando ostendendo jus the Almighty and I desire to reason with God to reason it out as it were by force of Argument with God The word is answerable in sence to that in the Greek used by the Apostle Heb. 11. 1. Faith is a conviction or the evidence of things not seen that is an evident conviction faith gives a stronger evidence then any reason yea then sence therefore though faith be of things that fall not under sence and are above reason yet faith is an evidence or a conviction fuller then any Logical conviction or demonstration The Argument from such authority as faith grounds upon is stronger and more convincing then any or then all the reason in the world What doth your arguing reprove Word for ward what doth Quid disceptando conficiet disceptatio vestra q. d. quod vos reâ—â—â—guitis redarguendi verbo non est donandum your disputation dispute Or what doe your arguments argue as if he had said your arguing is no arguing your reasons are no reasons that which you have been arguing all this while with me doth not so much as deserve the name of an argument in my case it hath no power or strength in it Job laies a charge upon his friends by this opposition Right words are forcible but your arguments are not right or you are not right who argue therefore what force what power is there in what you have spoken I can blow it all off as easily as a man can blow off a feather Mr. Broughtton varies somewhat from this sence And what can your blame soundly blame that is you shall finde nothing blame worthy or reprovable in me Observe hence first Words rightly spoken are very forcible Take it in the general What mighty things have words words duly spoken done Abigail a weak woman by a few right words overcame the strength and wrath of mighty David and turned his whole army back David with all his men were in the heat of resolution and upon a hot march to destroy Nabal yet she stops them And that woman speaking to Johab when Sheba fled to the City with a few right words prevailed to save the City and stay the fury of war Take the point more strictly The words of truth are full of power full of strength Naked truth is too hard for armed errour Truth hath the strength of God in it therefore that must needs prevail The Apostle professes 2 Cor. 1. 3. We can doe nothing against the truth He means it in regard of the bent of his spirit his heart could not move against truth but we may use it in another sence We can doe nothing against the truth that is let us put out the uttermost of our power we can never prevail against the truth Look upon truth in the promises that will conquer all Look upon truth in the threatnings that 's forcible to overcome all Jer. 1. 10. God gives the Prophet a commission I have set thee over the Nations and over the Kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down to build and to plant Here is a strange commission for a Prophet How could Jeremiah plant or root up build or pull down Nations He never drew sword yet he performed this commission fully by his word he pulled them down and rooted them up by the word of threatning and he planted them and built them with the word of promise Zech. 1. 10. Your fathers are dead they are gone but my words saith the Lord which I spake by my servants the Prophets did not they take hold of your fathers Your fathers are dead and the Prophets are dead but my words live still and did not they hold
vain words are no words they are but wind Hence those prophane ones in Jeremy who said the true Prophets had belied the Lord and were but wind adde presently And the word is not in them That is the words of these Prophets are no words Indeed the Lord answers for his Prophets at the 14th verse telling the people because they had thus dishonoured his messengers that they should find those words which they accounted wind to be a fire Thus saith the Lord because ye speak this word behold I will make my words in thy mouth fire and this people wood and it shall devour them Whosoever esteems the word of God to be wind shall find it to be a fire and they who will not be taught by it shall be consumed by it But to the point in hand we see in that Scripture vain words are windie words and windie words as are no words The Prophets as they supposed were wind and thence they inferre the word is not in them That is their words have no substance strength or power at all in them So Hos 12. 1. Ephraim feedeth on wind and followeth after the East-wind What was the wind that Ephraim fed upon Some vain words some promises he had from the creature to be delivered some hopes raised by the word of man who is a wind therefore his feeding upon those hopes was but a feeding upon wind there was no ground or strength to make those words good So the next words interpret He daily increaseth lyes Such words are by the learned called bubbles And why Bullatus nugas Pers Sat 5. utpoâ—e similia bullis vento plenis bubbles Because a bubble upon the water is only filled with wind toucht it and it is nothing These words have nothing in them but the breath of the speaker Unlesse the spirit of reason fills our mouths we speak nothing but our breath or as we phrase it in our language we doe but vapour The Apostle Peter describes such 2 Epist 2. 18. They speak great swelling words of vanity And the Apostle Jude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 uses the same expression in the 16th verse of his Epistle Their mouth speaketh great swelling words that is words greatly swelled with vanity Or swel'd as the flesh swels by the gathering of corruption and ill humours The greatnesse of these words was their disease and not their nature Wise men speak great things and fools speak great words Secondly Observe That windie empty words will never either convince or convert Such words doe no work they are wind and they passe away like wind without any impression upon the hearers They trouble the eare but touch not the heart When the noise of them is past all is past They are a sound and besides that a nothing Windy meats are not nourishing for the body neither are windy words for the soul Some knowledge doth not build up but puffe up 1 Cor. 8. 1. and that 's all the knowledge which such words can breed when they breed any Thirdly observe We are apt to judge the words of those that are greatly afflicted to be but vain windy words And we are ready to conclude they complaine more then they need When the Israelites groaning under the pressures of that bondage sent to Pharaoh for some abatement of their burdens we will not diminish the tale of the bricks only let straw be given us no saith Pharaoh Exod. 5. 17. They are idle let more work be laid upon the people that they may labour therein and let them not regard vain words He resolved to deal wisely with them and therefore must count them mad their persons were near Jobs condition and their words were fully under the same censure Fourthly hence note That it is very sinfull to esteem the words of the afflicted to be but wind It was great uncharitablenesse in Jobs friends thus to expound and glosse the text of his complaints We should heare a man in affliction as if every word were drenched and steeped in the sorrowes of his heart and take every sentence as coming bloudy from his wounded spirit Lastly observe how Job describes his own estate he was as a man desperate not utterly desperate for in another place he professes in highest confidence that though God kill him yet he will trust in him yet desperate he was in regard of outward help or temporal succour A godly man in affliction may sometime think his case desperate and remedilesse Wicked men resolve in the Psalme There is no help for him in his God and a good man under a cloud of temptation may say Surely there is no help for me in my God that is I see not which way I shall be helped I have no assurance no evidence that God will help me Not that he doubts the power of God to help him But the providence of God seemes to speak that he will not I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul saith holy David Heman looked upon himself as a man that had no strength free among the dead Psal 88. 5. As if he had got a discharge from the service of this world and was enfranchiz'd a Citizen of the grave where all are free As to note that only in passage It is said of Azariah being smitten with leprosie and so put from the exercise of the government which was a civil death that he dwelt in a several house or in a house of freedome 2 Kin. 15. 5. Verse 27. Yea you overwhelm the fatherless and you digg a pit for your friend After he had convinced them of their uncharitableness in accounting his words light and windie he shewes them how they dealt with him what kind of words theirs were towards him their words were as swords their words were blowes every expression of theirs to his ear was an oppression upon his spirit Yea overwhelm the fatherless He sets forth their as he conceived cruelty against him by two things very odious both First the undoing of a fatherless child Secondly the digging of a pit not for an enemy but for a friend First Ye overwhelm the fatherless The Original is full of Emphasis word for word it may be translated thus You throw your selves upon the fatherlesse and so it is an allusion to hunters either to men when they hunt wilde beasts or to wilde beasts when they hunt their prey as soon as the hunter can reach the game hee overwhelmes it he casts himself down or layes all his strength upon it A dogge having caught the hare falls upon it and keeps it under Some conceive that expression Gen. 49 9. concerning Judah compared to a lion reaches this sense Judah is a Lions whelp from the prey my sonne thou art gone up he stooped down he couched as a lion and as an old Lion who shall rouse him up As if that that crouching and lying down were when he hath taken his prey who dares to stirre up a Lion when he hath his prey under
use to say where the hedge is lowest there men goe over it is so in every daies experience The mighty Nimrods ride over the backs of the poor And where the hedge is low they make lower gaps to pass over more easily to their own designes This spirit of oppression is described raging against those who are under heaviest pressures Psal 69. 26. They persecute him whom thou hast smitten and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded When wicked men see a man afflicted by the hand of God they afflict him more when they see God hath wounded him they will kill him The trouble he is in makes their victory more easie As when the Philistines fell before Jonathan 1 Sam. 14. his Armour-bearer slew after him so do these they slay those who are fallen before the afflicting hand of God Observe secondly That it is a great aggravation of the sinfulnesse of oppression and wrong doing to oppresse or do wrong to the fatherlesse Commonly the poor are most oppressed but alwayes there is more sinne in oppressing the poor though to oppresse or wrong the rich be a sin and a very great one What a stock of wickednesse doe they gather who take from these to whom they are bound to give who make them naked and hungry whom they should cloath and feed who are straitened in justice towards them to whom they ought to be enlarged in charity It is a sin to deny them justice who need not your charity but to be unjust where we should be charitable how sinful is that It is a great sin to take away from him who hath aboundance but to take away from him who is in want is an abounding sin Therefore we find that given not only as a rule but as a charge Prov. 22 22. Rob not the poor because he is poor make not poverty your advantage for robbery There is much baseness in it besides the sinfulness to trample upon those who cannot resist and perhaps dare not complain God is most resisted in wronging those who cannot resist others or right themselves When we help a poor man especially a godly poor man God himself gaines and in a sence is inriched by it because God receives glory and is paid which is his greatest revenew from man in honour and in praise for all the help we give such poor In our alms we performe Gods promises for him and they who receive premises cannot but return praise On the other side when we wrong the poor especially the godly poore God himself looses and in a sence is impoverished because not onely his praise as much as we can doe is with-held but his truth and faithfulnesse are questioned Mans uncharitableness would make void the promises of God and when promises lye unfulfilled praise lyes unreturned Hence that threatning prohibition Prov. 23. 10 11. Enter not into the fields of the fatherlesse that is make not a forcible or violent entry Why is it more dangerous to enter into his field than into anothers Or is there any license here to enter into the field of a rich man or to trespasse upon him No there is no license to trespass upon a rich man or to enter upon his field but take heed you enter not into the fields of the fatherless why For their Redeemer is mighty he shall plead their cause with thee Though poor orphans and fatherless have no might no help they cannot plead themselves and they have no friend to help or plead for them they cannot get an Advocate or Councellour speak in their cause Yet their redeemer is strong he will plead with thee He will plead with thee for the wrong done the fatherlesse as for a wrong done himself because thou hast opprest one whom he undertook to protect and so as much as thou canst hast brought up an ill report upon the Lord as if he were either forgetful of his word or unable to accomplish it We vex and tear the promises of God every time we vex and teare the poor of God How sinful then is this sin by which at once we break the command which God gives us to relieve the poor and weaken the promise which God hath given the poor that they shall be relieved Observe further from that expression of their cunning dealing with him You digge a pit for your friend deceitfull words are as pits and snares to catch men in The tongue is a great insnarer The tongue teacheth to lay a snare Balaam taught Balak to lay a stumbling block before the children of Israel Revel 2. 14. He taught him how to dig a pit and set such a snare as catcht the people into adultery and Idolatry The tongue is a great Engineer a trap-setter to catch and intangle both the estates and souls of men And we may note another point from the relation of the person for whom this pit was digged You dig a pit for your friend It is a great aggravation of unkindness to endeavour their hurt to whom we are bound by many names and obligations to doe good or to whom we have made profession of our readiness to doe them good The more duty or respect we owe any man the more is our sin when we neglect him The three remaining verses of this Chapter contain Jobs admonition to his friends wherein he advises them to deal better or more moderately with him and so he makes a trnsiation to the latter part of his speech in the seventh Chapter wherein he returns to the old matter the justification of that complaint made against his life and the equity of his desire to die Verse 28. Now therefore be content look upon me for it is evident unto you if I lie Now therefore be content c. Some read it Now therefore begin to look upon me or to look more favourably upon me as if he had said all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acquicscere in re quapiam eamque tota voluntate amplecti Significat etiam inchoare Deut. 1. 5. Gen. 18. 17. this while ye had hardened your faces and clouded your brows against me therefore now begin to be more benigne in your aspects towards me The word signifies to begin or take a thing in hand willingly as also to be well pleased content or satisfied the sence of all comes to one point We translate in the latter Now therefore be content doe this thing freely be satisfied and acquiesce in it as we use to cool and calme an angry friend who disputing or speaking to a business growes hot and passionate I pray sir be satisfied let us goe on meekly and moderately Look upon me Which notes either his desire of their friendly compliance with and respect to him as Mr. Broughton reades Now therefore be content regard me or it notes the strength and firmenesse of Jobes resolution in this contest with his friends I am not afraid to look you in the face or to speake face to face look upon me you
shadow to get under a tree or a bush a little to refresh himself Or Thirdly the shadow may be taken for the house to come into a mans house or under a mans roof is called a comming under his shadow Gen. 19. 8. Therefore they are come under my shadow saith Lot to the men of Sodome that is under the covert of my roof The shadow is used often in Scripture to note protection and mercy Shadows are substantial mercies and the promise of a shadow â—â—bra id significat quod proteâ—endo custoâ—â—endo obâ—mbrat is a real favour Isa 4. 6. The Church hath a promise under this notion There shall be a Tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat Isa 25. 4. A refuge from the storm a shadow from the heat And Isa 32. 2. The Lord promises that he will be as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land unto his people And David flies to this shadow for safety Vnder the shadow of thy wings shall be my refuge till these calamities be over-past Psal 57. 1. So Psal 17. 8. Psal 91. 1. So that in these words As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow Job means that which is most refreshing and desirable by a servant And in those Eastern hot Countries shadows were very refreshing and much desired Jacob reporting his labours in keeping Labans sheep saith In the day time I was consumed with heat or parched with heat Therefore a servant hath reason to desire the shadow And as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work There are two things which a servant or an hireling desires much Rest and reward Shadow and pay When he is hot the shadow refreshes him And when he is hungry his pay refreshes him while his hand is at work in the day his heart is upon the wages he shall receive at night Hence the Lord in compassion to servants made a gracious provision for them by a law Deut. 24. 14 15. Thou shalt not oppress a hired servant c. at his day thou shalt give him his hire neither shall the Sun go down upon it for he is poor and setteth his heart upon it lest he cry against thee to the Lord and it be sin unto thee Job puts the instance in both As the hireling looks for the reward of his work c. He looketh The word signifieth to expect a thing with an eye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 toward it what we earnestly expect our eyes move after it David in his waiting upon God saith Mine eyes are towards thee I lift up mine eyes and my heart to God The same word is here used The hireling looks For the reward of his work So we translate it The Hebrew is He looks for his work 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Why he had work before he had his work all day long his Master shewed him his work he needed not look for that then his work is the reward of his work In the Scripture the word work signifies three things 1. The very act of labour 2. The effect of labour the thing wrought or that which is the product of labour When a man hath laboured what he labour'd about is visible and that we call his work as well as the act of his labour 3. The reward or the wages which a man receives for his labour Levit. 19. 13. we read a plain text for it The wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning The Hebrew is The work of him that is hired shal not abide with thee So Psal 109. 20. Let this be the reward of mine adversaries Obus est fructus seu merces oberis quae pro labore datur ber Metonymiam from the Lord The Hebrew is Let this be the work of mine adversaries from the Lord. And Jer. 22. 13. we have the word in the same sence work for wages As it is usual to put prayer for the thing prayed for a petition for the thing petitioned or for the thing obtained by petition The Lord hath given me my petition saith Hannah 1 Sam. 1. 27. that is the child for whom I did petition It is usual also in Scripture to put sin for the punishment or reward of sin Gen. 4. 13. My sin is greater that is my punishment is greater than I can bear And the Master is forbidden to detain the servants wages least it be sin to him Deut. 24. 15. that is least he be punished for detaining it Thus also it is usual to put the work for the reward of the work The hireling expects his work that is he earnestly looks that he shall have wages in the evening for his work Now saith Job as these wait the servant and the hireling for the shadow in the day and for their wages at night So I am made to possesse months of vanity c. I shall note a point or two in passage from the words as they contain a general truth before I examine them in this application Take the words as they are a direct proposition A servant desires the shadow and an hireling looks for the reward of his work Hence observe First The condition of a servant is a very laborious and a wearisome condition He longs for some rest he earnestly desires the shadow Observe Secondly The servant must have a reward Ther 's all the reason in the world he should Observe Thirdly The hireling hath earnest thoughts upon his reward His reward is in his eye It is the reason given why the wages of the hired servant should not be with-held Deut. 24. 15. The Lord the righteous judge between Masters and servants gives this account or ground of his Law Thou shalt not detaine his wages for he setteth his heart upon it Poor man he hath been working all day and he hath had his heart upon his wages the hopes of that gave him some relief and ease in going through his hard task and service therfore thou shalt not keep it from him his heart is set upon it But it may be questioned Is not this a sin in the servant to set his heart upon his wages A charge is given Psal 62. 10. If riches increase set not your heart upon them and is it approveable in a servant to set his heart upon his wages or encrease There is a great difference and it is worthy our notice between those two Scriptures The word in Deutronomy speaking of the poor servant notes the lifting up of the soul He hath lifted up his soul unto it so we read in the margin of our Bibles But in the Psame where he speaks of the covetous rich man the word imports the letting down or setling of his heart upon it A poor man hath but a little and his wages it may be is above him his wages possibly is more than he is worth therefore he lifteth up his mind to it as a mercy and a blessing from God for the
gale of love breathing through the covenant of Grace And as the life of man is compared by Job to a cloud so to that which is the matter of the cloud by the Apostle James Chap. 4. verse 14. where he puts the question what 's the life of man Is it not saith he even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away A vapour is exhaled from the earth by the heat of the Sunne and is the matter out of which the cloud is made Mans life is not only like a cloud which is more condense and strong but like those thin vapours sometimes observed arising from moorish grounds which are the original of clouds and more vanishing then clouds Even these are but vanishing enough to shadow the vanishing decaying quickly dis-appearing life of man As the cloud consumes and vanishes the next words speak out the mind of the comparison So he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more The grave is a descent And the word which is here used for the grave is Sheol about which many disputes are raised among the learned The root of it signifies to desire or to crave with earnestness and the reason given is because the grave is always craving and asking Though the grave hath devoured the bodies of millions of men yet it is as hungry as it was the first morsel still it is asking and craving The grave is numbred among those things which are not satisfied Prov. 30. 16. In the Greeke of the new Testament it is translated Hades which by change of letters some form out of the Hebrew Adam and Adamah the earth unto which God condemned fallen man to returne Gen. 3. 19. We find this word Sheol taken five wayes in Scripture 1. Strictly and properly for the place of the damned Prov. 15. II. Hell and destruction are before the Lord how much more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then all the hearts of the children of men God looks through the darkness of hell which is utter darkness Tam infernus quam sepulchrum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Status mortuorum vel sepalchrum nam ut anima de corpore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de sepulchro usurpatur Ps 16. Drus 2. It is put Metaphorically for great and extream dangers or miseries which seem irrecoverable and remediless these are figuratively called hell because hell properly taken is a place from whence there is no recovery There 's no release from the chaines of darknesse all changes are on earth Heaven and hell know none When David praises the Lord Psalm 86. 13. for delivering his soul from the lowest hell he meaneth an estate on earth of the lowest and deepest danger imaginable Mercy helpt him at the worst To be as low as hell is to be at the lowest 3. The word signifies the lower parts of the earth without relation to punishment Psal 139. 8. If I go down into hell thou art there He had said before if I ascend up into Heaven thou art there by Heaven he meanes the upper Region of the world without any respect to the estate of blessednesse and hell is the most opposite and remote in distance without respect to misery As is he had said let me go whither I will thy presence finds me out 4. It is taken for the state of the dead whether those dead are in the grave or no Psal 30. 3. Isa 38. 18 19. Gen. 37. 35. In all which places to go out of the world is to go to Sheol Jacob in the text alledged Gen. 37. 35. said he would go down into the grave to his son mourning yet Jacob thought his Son was devoured by a wild beast he could not goe down into the grave to his son for the bowels of a wild beast was his supposed grave but he meaneth only this I wil even die as he is dead So Numb 16. 33. where that dreadful judgement of God upon Korah Dathan and Abiram is storied it is said that they their sheep and their oxen and their tents and all went down into Sheol that is they were all devoured and swallowed up But 5. Sheol signifies the place where the body is layed after death namely the grave Prov. 30. 16. Man hath a demension of earth fitted to the dimensions of his body this portion or allotment is his Sheol Yet it signifies the grave only in generall as it is natural to man-kind not that grave which is artificial and proper to any particular man this the Hebrew expresses by another * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word He that goeth down to the grave goes to his long home to a house out of which he is never able to see or make his way and Ainsw in Gen. 37. therefore it followes He shall come up no more No that 's sad news indeed to go down to the grave and come up no more Are all the hopes of man shut up in the grave and is there an utter end of him when his life ends Shall he come up no more Many of the Greek writers tax Job as not acquainted with the doctrine of the Resurrection as if he either knew not that mystery or doubted at this time of it And some of the Rabbins say plainly Hic abnegat Iob resuscitationem mortuorum Rab. Sol. Non negatur resurrectio ad vitam sed ad similem vitam Pined he denied it But he is so cleare in the 19th Chapter that we need not think him so much as cloudy here And if we look a little farther himself will give us the comment of this text When he saith he shall come up no more it is not a denyal of a dying mans resurrection to life but of his restitution to the same life or to such a life as he parted with at the graves mouth They who die a natural death shall not live a natural life again therefore he addeth in the next verse Verse 10. He shall return no more to his house He doth not say absolutely he shall return no more but he shall return no more to his house he shall have no more to do with this world with worldly businesses or contentments with the labour or comforts of the creature or of his Family He shall return no more to his house But some may say how doth this answer the comparison That as the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more for we find another description of clouds Eccles 12. 2. where the text saith that the clouds return after raine So that it seems though clouds vanish and are consumed yet they returne and come againe The clouds are like bottles full of raine or spunges full of water God crushes these spunges or unstops these bottles and they are emptied and in emptying vanish away but yet Solomon affirms the clouds return after raine how then doth Job say that as the cloud vanisheth so man goeth to the grave
of God only The clouds also shew forth the handy work and power of God Psal 147. 8. Who covereth the heavens with clouds The hand of God drawes those curtaines and puts that maske upon the face of Heaven But as the heavens declare the glory of God so they publish and declare the weaknesse of man the vapours and the winds shew forth how fraile he is As the invisible things of God to wit his eternall power and Godhead are seen in the things which are made God is as it were visible in the creatures so likewise the frailty and mutability the weaknesse and inconstancy of man is visible in the things which are created we may reade a lecture of our own transitorinesse in the most transitory texts of nature And that is an admirable contrivance and complication of things that out of the very same text of the creature where the infinite wisdom power of God may be learned man also may learn his own frailty He that studies the creature much shall find much of God and of himselfe Some conceive when Isaac Gen 24. 63. went forth into the field to meditate that he studied the booke of the creatures probably the holy man did so but we are sure he might How will it shame those men at last who know not God not themselves when they have or might have had without cost or travell so many tutors and instructers JOB Chap. 7. Vers 11 12 13 14 15 16. Therefore I will not refraine my mouth I will speake in the anguish of my spirit I will complaine in the bitternesse of my soule Am I a sea or a whale that thou settest a watch over me When I say my bed shall comfort me my couch shall ease my complaint Then thou skarest me with dreames and terrifiest me through visions So that my soul chuseth strangling and death rather then life I loath it I would not live alwayes let me alone for my dayes are vanity IN the context of these six verses we may take notice of foure things 1. Jobs violent resolution to complaine ver 11. 2. His vehement complaint ver 12. 3. An amplification of his sorrowes ver 13 14. 4. A renovation of his often repeated desires to die and the tediousnesse of his life ver 15. 16. Therefore Job having in an apostrophe to God shewed his weake condition takes up a fresh resolution of complaining to God Therefore I will not refraine my mouth c. as if he had said The consideration of these things is so farre from putting me to silence that it doth rather enlarge my heart and open my mouth to speake and complaine once more seeing death is by Gods appointment the certain end of all outward troubles and perceiving my self upon the very borders or brink of death my body past cure my estate irrecoverable and remedilesse therefore I will complaine yet againe I will yet farther lay open my misery before the Lord and presse him to hasten me thorough the confines of this land of sorrow that I may accomplish my dayes and see an end of these troubles for my soule is in great bitternesse I will not refraine my mouth The word signifies to stop inhibit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proprie est continere probibere cum ad liuguam orationem refertur â—ffert suppressionem quandam cohibitionem eluctantis spiritus sermonis conantis se aperto ore effundere or prohibit Those writs which stay the processe of inferiour Courts are called Prohibitions and then no man may open his mouth more in that businesse untill the Prohibition be dissolved or taken off I saith Job will not give my self a prohibition I will not silence or suppresse my sorrowes I will give my heart full liberty to meditate and my tongue to speake out my sufferings Being emptied of all my comforts I will surely take my fill of complainings It will be some ease to me to make known how I am pained I will not refraine my mouth That word is used Isa 58. 1. Cry aloud spare not when the Prophet is commanded to tell the people of their sins the Lord sets his tongue at liberty spare not thou art not silenced or limited therefore cry aloud Theirs were crying sins and crying sins must have crying reproofs loud sinners must not be whispered to therefore Cry aloud spare not I will not spare my mouth saith Job or refraine as we translate But I will speake in the anguish of my spirit or in the straightnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ie in angustiis spiritus mei coarctat me spiritus pectore inclusus patefaciam liberum illi aditum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proprie meditari vel ex meditatione interius animo concepta aliquid exterius agere loqui orari conqueri Vocem edam querulam musfitando meditandi Merc. of my spirit I am in a straight I am pent in my spirit and unlesse I let my spirit out my heart will breake I must give it vent and ayre I will speake in the anguish of my spirit I will complaine in the bitternesse of my soule The word render'd complaine signifies to meditate and so to speake upon meditation or to speake deliberately It implies first a forming and fashioning of what we would say in our thoughts Thoughts are the moulds of our words Job intends not rash speaking what he intended to speake should be moulded shapt and wrought in his heart before brought forth by his tongue Prayer is exprest by this word because prayer ought first to be formed in the heart Prayer is the manifestation of our desires to God If the tongue speakes before the heart before the heart makes up our requests we take Gods name in vaine Hannah takes up this word 1 Sam. 1. 16. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial for out of the aboundance of my complaint or meditation so the word is rendered and greife have I spoken Hunnah was praying her voice was not heard only her lips moved which caused Eli to suspect and censure her for drunk or distracted but she answers in words of turth and sobernesse O my Lord count not thine handmaid a daughter of Belial for though my voice hath not been heard yet I have been speaking out of the aboundance of my complaint that is out of the aboundance of my meditation my complaints are not the work of my tongue but of my heart and my lips moved not untill my heart moved my complaint is my meditation Hence likewise that phrase of powring out prayer Psal 142. 2. I powred out my complaint before him He that powres out must have somewhat yea much within where there is a constant stream there also is a fountain I powred out my complaint or my complaining prayer it is the same word here I have gathered the bitter waters of sorrow into my own heart and now I powre them forth in complainings I will complain
Thirdly They as the sea have huge treasures in their houses yet all satisfies not their desires they are as greedy as if they were not worth a groat Looke upon man in the other comparison He is a whale a devourer In the worst of bruits you may see the picture of mans nature They who have power to doe what they will and will doe when their advantage is in it to the utmost of their power These are your Leviathans upon dry land Senacherib was a mighty whale gaping to swallow up the people of God and therefore the Lord expresses his dealing with him in a word very sutable to this sence 2 King 19. 28. Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine eares therefore I will put my hooke in thy nose and my bridle in thy lips c. See how God uses him Senacherib came raging and threatning to swallow all up God uses him like an unruly beast of the earth or like a devouring fish of the sea He puts a hooke in his nose It is said of Leviathan that he scorns the hooke and the angle Job 41. Canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hooke implying that no hook no tackle is strong enough to hold this sea-monster but God hath a hooke can hold him Some men are like this sea-monster no tackling of mans making will hold them no power under heaven can stop them then the Lord prepares his engines and inctruments he can make a hooke will catch Senacherib the great whale as if he were but a sprat I will put my hook into his nose and turne him about or pull him up What devouring enemies have come out against us threatning to swollow or as the Moabites said of the children of Israel Num. 22. 4. to licke up all that were round about as the oxe licketh up the grasse of the field Yea they thought as it is said of Leviathan that they could draw up Iordan into their mouths that is remove the greatest difficulties and overcome all opposition But how often hath God put a bridle into the lips of the horse and a hooke into the nose of these whales Further if we consider the words as Iobs question in application unto himselfe Am I a whale Am I a sea Observe Man is apt to have good thoughts of himself Iob would not be the whale or the sea Secondly note Man is apt to judge that God layes more upon him than there is need Am I a whale or a sea as if Iob had said Lord thou needest not deale thus strictly and severely with me or bestow so much care to watch me I would have come in at a call thou needest not have bounded me with these afflictions and put such a hooke in my nose a nod or a beck would have fetched me in Wise men suite their preparations to their occasion we carry not out a peece of Ordinance to shoot at a flye which we can kill with a phillip so saith Job Lord I need not all this a little admonition a little chastning or a check should have reduced me such are mans thoughts But the most wise God never layes more upon man than he hath need of when God streightens us with such afflictions he seeth there is somewhat of the sea in us he must bound us somewhat of the whale in us he must watch and bring us under If we see God bestow more rods and blowes upon us we must conclude we could not be without them some apprehend that such is Jobs meaning in the sixteenth verse What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him as if he had said it is too great an honour for man to be afflicted by thy hand If we see a King make great provisions of warre to goe out against an enemy we say he magnifies the enemy It is an argument they have great strength against whom we prepare great strength So Job Lord thou magnifiest me thou makest me to be lookt at as some powerful creature a sea a whale against whom thou actest so much of thy power Job having as he resolved begun to complaine of his sorrows now amplifies them Verse 13. When I say my bed shall cemfort me my couch shall ease my complaint 14. Then thou skarest me c. He amplisies his sorrows upon this generall ground because they were such as he could not find any ease or abatement of no not at any time no not by any meanes As if he had said my griefe and my paine is so remedilesse that neither artificiall nor naturall meanes give me any ease those things which have the greatest probability of refreshing yeeld me none He instances in those ordinary wayes which give sick and distempered bodies some abatement or intermission of their paines lying down upon their bed or couch When I say my bed shall comfort me my chouch shall ease my complaint As if he had said while I was wrastling all day and conflicting with my sorrowes I yet had some hope to find comfort at night and that I should meete with rest in my bed but my hope failes me ever or while in the day time my thoughts are overburthened and my spirit overwhelmed within me I think sometimes to deceive my paines a little by taking a nap or a slumber upon my couch but alas my paines will not be deceived when I say my bed shall comfort me my couch shall ease my complaint I find in stead of ease farther trouble and in stead of comfort terrours For then thou skarest me with dreames When I say my bed shall comfort me The word signifies to mourne and repent as well as to comfort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doluit paenituit per antiphrasin dolere desijt consolationem invonit because comfort usually followes holy mourning and repenting Godly sorrow is the mother of spirituall joy In the words we have either that ordinary figure Prosopopeia the fiction of a person when acts of life and reason are ascribed to things without life and so Job brings in his bed as his friend speaking to him when I say my bed shall comfort me my bed and I will conferre together I am perswaded that will afford me a word of comfort Or we may rather understand it by a Metonymy of the effect when I say my bed shall comfort me Comfort is the common and usuall effect or benefit of lying down upon the bed The bed is said to comfort because ordinarily we find comfort in resting upon the bed that being a meanes or instrumentall cause of comfort is called a Comforter My couch shall ease my complaint The words are indifferently translated in Scripture either for a bed or for a couch but if we take them distinctly then the bed is the place where we rest in the night and the couch by day When Job saith My couch shall ease my complaint It notes his complaint or sorrow lay as a heavy burthen or weight upon him for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levavit evexit sustu li◠signifies to ease or to lift up or to ease by lifting up if a man have a burthen upon him the way to ease him is to lift it off from him so Job here I lye down upon my couch with a burthen of heavy sorrows upon me God knows hoping my couch will be a means to take off that burthen a while that I may have a little breathing but to my grief I find it doth not The use of sleep is to unburthen the spirit and take off the load of cares The word is used in that sense Magnum est peccatum meum prae tollendo vel majus quam ut tolli possit Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quam ut remittatur mihi quam ut sustinere possim Jun. Gen. 4. 13. about the sin of Cain which lay upon him as a heavy burthen My sin saith he is greater than can be forgiven so some translations or greater than I can beare word for word thus my sin is greater than can be taken off Forgivenesse is the taking sin off from us it is the word here used for easing my sin is greater than I can be eased of as if Cain thought his sin a burthen which the arme of mercy could not lift from his shoulders Pardon is the easing of the conscience sin the burthening of it sin is a burthen and so is sorrow My couch saith he shall ease my complaint by taking off or at least intermitting the troubles which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In retractatione five meditatione miseriae apud animum Loquen mecum cause me to complaine or my couch shall ease me in my conplaint when I am meditating revolving and rowling my troubles up and down in my thoughts then my couch and I am discoursing together and reasoning out the matter but no ease comes We may observe from hence first That a man in paine expects ease from every change My bed saith Job shall comfort me my couch shall ease my complaint every thing he sees raises his hope every man that comes to him he lookes upon as a messenger of good newes I said this shall help me and that shall help me surely if I had such a thing saith a sick man it would do me good if I had such meat I could eate if I had such drink my pallat would relish it if I were in such an ayre it would restore my health and I should get up againe As a Bee goes from flower to flower to suck out somewhat so man from instrument to instrument from meanes to meanes from bed to couch still hoping to find reliefe or mitigation at least for his troubled mind or pained body Secondly observe hence That the most probable or proper meanes are unable of themselves to give us any ease or comfort What is fitter to give a man rest than a bed what is more proper to give one refreshing than a couch but Job goes to his bed in vaine and goes to his couch in vaine nor this nor that nor tother administred him any help Creatures are not able of themseves to give out the comforts committed to them Their common nature must be assisted with a speciall word of blessing or else they doe us no good If God will command a bed to comfort us it shall comfort us if he will say to a couch ease such a mans complaint it shall ease his complaint Job saith it and his saying could not effect it Nay if God will say to a hard stone give such a man rest he shall rest and sleepe sweetly upon it when another shall not get a wink of sleep upon a downe pillow If God say to a prison give such a man rest he shall find rest there if God speake to bonds and fetters give such a man content and pleasure he shall find not only contentment but pleasure in bonds and fetters if God say to flames of fire refresh such as are cast into your armes the fire will obey him and refresh them The most probable meanes cannot help us of themselves and a word from God will make the most improbable meanes helpfull to us yea that which is destructive shall save us For as God can create that good for us which is absent so he can as it were uncreate the evill that is present Providence can take away or suspend that hurting and destroying power which creation gave no creature is able to help or to hurt if God forbid and lay his restraint upon it Bread cannot nourish or cloathes warme us if he say they shall not poison shall not kill or fire burne us if he say they shall not Mans saying is but saying Gods saying is doing Man may say to his bed comfort me to his riches and honours content me to his wife and children please me to wine and musick make me merry he may lay his command or send his desires to all creatures and yet remaine comfortlesse contentlesse mirthlesse Pleasure it selfe will not please him nor the having of his will satisfie his mind at his own saying or biding Observe in the fourth place That rest and sleepe are from the especiall blessing of God When I said to my bed do it the bed could not sleepe is not from a soft bed or from an easie couch Psal 127. 2. For so he giveth his beloved sleepe that is sleepe with quietnesse or extraordinary quiet refreshing sleepe which some have noted in the Grammar of the text The Hebrew word Shena for sleepe being with Aleph a quiet or resting letter otherwise than is usuall in that language He giveth sleepe to his Jedidiaths as the word is there alluding to one of the names of Solomon The Lord gives sleepe sometimes as a love token to his beloved The connection is somewhat obscure the words before run thus It is in vaine for you to rise up early to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrow for so he giveth his beloved sleep how is sleepe a consequent of fruitlesse labour and eating the bread of sorrow these rather hinder sleepe Some referre it to the words of the first verse Except the Lord build the house they labour in vaine that build it except the Lord keep the City the watchman waketh but in vaine for so he giveth his beloved sleepe the Lord watches and takes a care of a City and family and thus gives his people rest and quiet sleep they are not awakened with alarms or surprizes of the enemy Others reade it thus for surely he will give his c. that is notwithstanding the ungodly are eaten up with cares to provide bread for themselves and families to eate yet without faile the Lord of his meere mercy will give food convenient to his people by their labours and quiet sleepe which includes all inward contentments with it So Prov. 3. 24. Thou shall lie downe and thy sleep shall be sweet And Psal 41. 3. there is a speciall promise made to
not question me upon the least infirmity From the former proverbial exposition Observe first Afflictions are continued upon some without any intermission Iob had not so much whole skin as one might set a pin on nor so much whole time as a man might spit in Every hour brought a wound with it and the renewing of every moment renewed his affliction Observe secondly A short refreshing may be a great mercy Dives in hell desires not a large draught but a drop of water which alas could not have eased him so long as a man is swallowing down his spittle The eternity of pain in hell shall not find so much abatement as that either in time or in degree Every affliction in this life by how much it is with less intermission by so much the more like it is to hell and every comfort by how much the more it is unbroken and without stops by so much it is the more like to Heaven Consider then your mercies who have un-interrupted mercies dayes and years of ease and not pained so long as a man is swallowing down his spittle your mercies are like the glory and the joy of Heaven From the latter proverbial exposition Note That God observes the least the most secret motions of man He tels our steps our wandrings and those not onely corporal but moral and spiritual He knows how many steps our hearts fetch every day and how far they travel Thou hast searched and known me saith David Psal 139. 1 2. and this search is not made in the out-rooms onely but in the inner parlour and closest closets Thou understandest my thoughts and those not onely present or produced but to come and unborn thou knowest them a far off What can scape that eye which a thought cannot And he that sees man swallowing down his spittle how shall not he both hear and see him coffing up and spitting out the rottenness and corruption the filth and flegm of his sinful heart JOB Chap. 7. Vers 20 21. I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men why hast thou set me as a mark against thee so that I am a burden to my self And why doest thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity for now shall I sleep in the dust and thou shalt seek me in the morning but I shall not be JOB having in the former part of this Chapter contested with his friends and expostulated the matter with God now turns himself into another posture even to humble his soul and make confession of his sin He had justified himself against the accusations of men but now he accuses and judges himself in the presence of his God He will a while forget his sorrows and bethink himself of his sins I have sinned what shall I do unto thee O thou preserver of men The words may be taken two waies 1. As a confession or a prayer 2. As a confession or a grant I shall first open them under the notion of a repenting prayer and confession of sin I have sinned As if he had said Lord if thou holdest me thus long upon the rack of this affliction to gain a confession of me to make me confess here I am ready to do it I do it I have sinned The word signifies to miss the mark we aim at or the way wherein we would walk And so it is put strictly for sins of infirmity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat errare aberrare declinare deflectere a via vel scope when the purpose of a mans heart is like the Archers when he draws his bow to hit the white or like the honest travellers in his journey to keep the right way and yet he miscarries and is drawn aside I have sinned But is this a sufficient confession What! to say only in general I have sinned Did not hard-hearted Pharaoh Ezod 9. 25 False-hearted Saul 1 Sam 15. 24. and Traitor-Judas Matth. 27. 4. make as good a confession as this Every one of these said I have sinned and what doth Job say more It is surely no great cost nor pain to sinful nature to bring up such a confession as this I answer First a general confession may be a sound confession It is one thing not to express particular sins with the circumstances of those sins and another thing purposely to conceale them I grant implicit confession may be as dangerous as implicit faith And to digg in the earth and hide our sins in the Napkin of our excuses is worse than to hide our Talents in the Napkin of our idleness And as it is most dangerous knowingly to conceale sin from God so it is very dangerous to do it through ignorance or inadvertency Some confess sin in general termes only because they know not what their sins are or have quite forgot them As Nebuchadnezzar called the Astrologers and Sorcerers and Chaldeans and told them he had dreamed a dreame but he could not tell what it was For the thing was gone from him Dan. 2. 5. Some such there are who can or will only say They have sinned they have sinned but what they cannot tell or they doe not remember Those things are gone from them That which is written of the learned Bellarmine a great Cardinal and a Champion for Auricular particular Confession of sinne to man seemes very strange That when he lay upon his death-bed and the Priest after the Popish manner came to absolve him he had nothing to confess at last he thought of some sleight extravagancies of his youth which was all he had to say of his owne miscarriages We see a man may de a Schollar in all the knowledg of the world of nature and of Scripture and yet not know his own heart nor be studied or read in himself He that is so in a spiritual notion can never want particular matter in his most innocent daies to confesse before the Lord and to shame himselfe for What though he hath escaped the pollutions of the world and is cleansed from the filthiness of the flesh yet he knowes that still in his flesh there dwels no good thing and that in his spirit there are at least touches of many spiritual filthinesses as pride unbelief c. besides his great deficiencies in every duty and in his love to Jesus Christ which is the ground of all So then in any of these sences to confesse sin only in general is a sinful confession And yet Job made a holy confession here and so did the Publican Luk. 18. when he smote his breast and said onely thus God be merciful to me a sinner For secondly though to speak a general confession be an easie matter and every mans work yet to make a general confession is a hard matter a work beyond man As no man in a spiritual sence can say Iesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12. 3. so no man can say in a Holy manner I have sinned but by
it is our duty to confesse sinne aboundantly that grace may abound Lastly Though we need not confesse sin at all to informe God he knowes our sins though we will not make them known and hath an eye to see though we should not have a tongue to confes Though I say we confesse not to informe God what we are or what we have done yet we must confesse to glorifie God While we shame our selves we honour him My sonne saith Joshua to Achan c. 7. v. 19 give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him Every attribute of God receives this gift of glory by mans confession Justice is glorified and mercy is glorified patience is glorified and holinesse is glorified Holinesse is glorified in opposing sin and patience in sparing the sinner mercy is glorified in pardoning sin and justice in receiving satisfaction at the hand of Christ for the pardon of it Fourthly observe Holy confession of sin leades the way to gratious pardoning of sin Job begins the next verse with a vehement prayer for pardon And why doest thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity Sin concealed and kept close growes upon us And it growes three wayes First in the strength of it Secondly in the guilt of it Thirdly in the terrour and vexation of it Psal 32. 3 4. When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long Confession is a meanes to obtaine the abatement of sin in all three The strength of it is weakened the guilt removed and the terrour overcome Then heare the counsell of the Prophet Isa 43. 26. declare that thou mayest be justified Thus farre of the words as they are a confession of sin I shall now handle them as they are a concession or a grant that he had sinned and so the sence may be given thus I have sinned what shall I doe unto thee As if he had said Let it be granted or subpose that I have sinned and sinned as deepely as my friends have charged me supâ—â—â—e I have been as wicked as they imagin what thâ—n if this were my case what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men The later words plainly import a question What shall I doe unto thee But the sence of the question is not so plaine The question may be taken two wayes Either affirmatively or negatively Take it affirmatively and so the sence is what shall I doe that is Lord direct me councell me order me teach me what becomes me to doe in such a case in such a sinfull condition as I either confesse my selfe to be in or am supposed to be in That 's the affirmative sence What shall I doe The word which we translate do signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice pagnal respondet Graeco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est agere cum energia effectu Piscat working or doing under a two fold qualification 1. Working with great willingnesse and readinesse of mind and hence it is applied to the workings of sin in naturall men who work with the greatest freedome that can be Man sins naturally and therefore freely he is carried on with a full swing with tide and wind he sins nothing in himself contradicting or giving a contrary vote He is a true worker of iniquity Psal 5. 5. 2. Working with energie and successe and the doing of a thing not only effectually but willingly Numb 23. 23. What hath God wrought When God works he works thoroughly he doth not his busines to halves So Isa 26. 12. Thou hast wrought all our works in us that is thou hast brought them to passe they have succeeded through thy help and the influences of thy blessing The word being taken in this height of sence the question for an affirmation What shall I doe that is shew me direct me what to do we may observe from it First That What to do in case of sin is a point of the highest consideration I have sinned what shall I do If ever we have need to go and aske counsell to sit down and debate the mater with our sevles or others it is when we have sinned Such is the nature of sin and such the consequences that it calls us to highest consideration what to do about it Matters of great consequence are matters of great consultation Sin hath an influence upon an eternity If any thing be more worthy your thoughts then that let it have them Secondly Look upon the question as following Jobs confession Observe thence That sincere confession of sin makes the soule very active and inquisitive about the remedies of sin I have sinned the very next word is What shall I doe Many make confession of sin who are never troubled about the cure and redresse of sin Lord what shall I doe is not the next question to Lord I have sinned Nay it may be the next action is to sin over the same sin they have confest As soon as those Jewes heard of the foulenesse of their sin in crucifying Christ and of the sadnesse of their condition their question is like this of Job what shall we doe what shall we doe that we may be saved As Christ speakes to the woman of Samaria Job 4. 10. when he offered her the water of life If thou didst know the gift of God and who it is that speakes unto thee thou wouldest have asked c. That is if thou wert sensible of the excellency and vertue of this water and thy need of it thou wouldest be very inquisitive how to get it how to have a tast of it As in regard of Christ and the benefits we have by him so of sin and the evils which come by it When a man hath confest and acknowledged his sin we may say to him if thou didst but know what thou hast confest if thou didst but know what thou hast acknowleged thou wouldest presently be asking how shall I get free how shall I get clear of these sins which are so deadly poisonous destroying condemning He that is but sensible what the wound of sin is wil never be at rest never give over enquiring til he hath found a plaister or a medicine for it He that knowes what he saith when he saith I have sinned will resolve as David in another case that his eyes shall not have a winke of sleep till he sees where to have helpe against it Thirdly In that he saith what shall I doe Observe That a soule truly sensible of sin is ready to submit to any termes which God shall put upon him What shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men Put what termes thou wilt upon me I am ready to accept them That was the sence of their question Acts 2. 32. what shall we do shew us the way let it be what it will we will not stand making of conditions we will not pick and choose this we will doe and that we will not doe
this we will submit unto and that we will refuse no let the Lord write what articles he pleases we intend not to debate but yeeld and subscribe unto them When the Jaylor found himself in the bonds of his iniquity he was ready to enter into any bonds of duty Acts 16. 30. Sirs what must I doe to be saved Lastly From the question in the affirmative Observe That God is to be consulted and enquired after in all doubtfull cases especially in our sin-cases I have sinned what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men He calls upon God to know what he should doe and to learne what course he should take Though when we have opportunity to speake to men that 's good and a duty yet we must not rest in the counsels of men what to doe in sin-cases God must be consulted After the people had committed idolatry in making the Calfe you have sinned saith Moses and now I will goe up unto the Lord that I may make an attonement for you I will goe up to the Lord that I may understand from him what course to take for the removing of this sin though we have not such a mount to goe up unto as Moses then had to speake to God yet there are wayes for the soule in all sin-cases to make addresses unto God A sinner may say I will goe to the Lord and make my attonement whatsoever advice and direction we receive from men we must enquire whether it be an advice and counsel established in Heaven And the reason is cleare God is the person offended in every sin and therefore he must be consulted about the remedy of sin Again God only can resolve us what will please him we may pitch upon a wrong course and take a wrong way we in stead of pacifying God may provoke him in stead of satisfying further displease him Therefore we must say when we have sinned Lord what wilt thou have us to doe his advice will lead us to Christ for ease and peace So farre for the question taken in the affirmative sence What shall I doe unto thee shew me what I shall doe and I will readily submit unto it Secondly Take the question negatively what shall I doe unto thee And so I find two sences of it First Some render it thus what have I done against thee and Quid tibi neeui ant quid te lasi Olymp. then the meaning is this I have done nothing against thee or I have not hurt thee by sinning What have I done against thee wherein have I injured thee that thou layst thy hand thus severely upon me in these grievous afflictions both upon my soule and body I am hurt what have I hurt thee There is a truth in this though I take it not for the truth of this place A man may say Paeecana nostra beautm illam naturam tabefactare non possunt when he hath sinned what hurt have I done unto God and yet all the hurt and wrong which God receives he receives by sin Our sins are no hurt unto God by abating any thing of his happinesse or fullnesse or intrinsicall essentiall honour take it thus and our sins cannot hurt God All the darts of our sins fall infinitely short of God they cannot reach him so as to annoy him And we have that language expressely in the 35 Chapter of this book of Job ver 6. If thou doest sin what doest thou against him that is thou doest nothing against God as a real dammage to him or if thy transgressions be multiplied what doest thou unto him Sin as many sins as you can you cannot impare the happinesse of God or diminish his greatnesse he is out of the reach of the creature in that sence As on the other side if a man be never so holy and good or do never so many acts of righteousnesse yet God hath no good or gain by it we cannot advantage God by our holiness and that is the language of this Scripture too Job 35. 7. If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand We make no addition to the happinesse of God by all our holinesse Job 22. 3. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous Or any gaine unto him that thou makest thy waies perfect That which is infinite cannot increase neither can it be increased God is a above all gaine and losse above all accesses of pleasure or paine When the Scripture saith he is delighted in the services of the Saints and takes pleasure in his people we must understand them in the same sence as those Scriptures which describe him displeased with the sins of men angry and grieved because of their provocations All the motions of Gods delight or griefe pleasednesse or displeasure are only expressions towards the creature not any impressions upon himself But I shall let that sence passe Secondly in the negative take the question thus What shall I doe unto thee Or as the Septuagint reades it What can I doe unto thee That is I can doe nothing to thee Lord I have sinned and if thou seekest for satisfaction at my hands I am able to make none And so he speaks like a poore undone broken man to his rich creditour arresting him for a dept which he is unable to pay The poore man fals downe at his feet and saith Sir I confesse I owe you a great summe you have my bonds I confesse my hand and seale but what shall I doe unto you I cannot pay you a penny I have nothing I have lost all I am not worth a groat what will you have of me This sounds such a kind of melting pitifull language I have sinned what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men Lord when I looke into my stock into my treasure revenues I see I have nothing to satisfie this debt of sinne I have run in and stand engag'd to thy Majestie for what can I pay thee And so the word doe signifies a retribution or recompence so it is used in the second verse of this Chapter where he speaks of the hireling waiting for his worke that is for the reward of recompence of his worke the paiment of his wages What shall I doe is as much as what shall I pay or what shall I render This is a due debt but I have nothing to pay no way of making satisfaction for all the dammage I have put thy holy Majesty to by my sins Or thus there may be a three-fold negation in the Question What shall I doe unto thee First I can doe nothing to escape thy power I cannot get a way from thee J cannot rescue my selfe from under thy hand Secondly I can doe nothing to satisfie thy justice Thirdly I can doe nothing to pacifie thine anger J cannot only not pay the dept but I cannot appease thee or turn away thy displeasure in the least degree From the Question taken in this
a gift as whosoever hath it is sure and safe for ever And therefore the gift being much more precious than that of Simon Magus Take heed of offering this kind of mony for it your works and doings To doe so is the worst Simonie in the world Better offer literall money for those gifts of the holy Ghost then this figurative money for the favour of God in the pardon of sin What Peter threatned Simon Magus may be affirmed of them Their money must perish with them That is their prayers and teares their sorrows and their humblings their almes and good deeds forasmuch as they have thought that this gift of pardon may be obtained by such money They have neither part nor lot in that mercy for their hearts are not right in the sight of God A good worke trusted to is as mortall as a sin unrepented of Againe There is somewhat to be done when we have sinn'd but nothing to be paid That 's Gospel-language when a man hath sinned to say What shall I doe Those converts in the Acts who enquired What shall we doe were told by the Apostles of some what to be done Repent and be baptized believe and thou shalt be saved These are waies wherein salvation is tender'd not works for which it is bestowed It is a dangerous error so to lift up the grace of God as to deny the industry of man through grace because he can do nothing by way of satisfaction that therefore he must doe nothing The Apostles gave Gospel-counsell yet when men asked them what shall we doe to be saved They said not ye must doe nothing God will save you by his free-grace no they called them to repent and beleeve c. Take heed when ye have sinned to say we need not mourne for sin we need not be humbled we need not repent for Lord what can we do unto thee O thou Saviour of men These are the inferences of our own spirits not of the Spirit of Christ They who lift up the grace of Christ to lessen the necessity of gracious actings in themselves shew they know not the meaning of his grace and have not indeed tasted how gracious the Lord is To deny our owne righteousnesse and to be very active in the waies of righteousnesse is the due Gospel-temper The Apostle Phil. 3. 8. counts all things but losse and dung all duties and humblings all legall righteousnesse and obedience not that he refused righteousnesse or neglected duties but he would not mingle them with Christ or bring them in as contributions to the purchase of blessednesse Our righteousnesse and holy duties are dung and drosse in justification but they are gold and precious things in sanctification without these we cannot walk worthy of our holy calling or as it becomes the Gospel of Christ So much for these words what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men Here is the Compellation or the title under which Job bespeaks the Lord and it is a royall one The preserver of men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Narsar conservavit observa vit custodivit dise dit de qualibet custodia dicitur significat etiam se ris vectebasque elaudere licet proprie custos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicitur sed confundi scias Drus The words signifies both to preserve and to observe and hence it is applied to our keeping the law of God Psal 119. 22. I have kept thy testimonies I have kept them by observation that is I have obeyed thy Commandements The word is often applied to God in reference to mans protection and preservation Deut. 32. 10. Moses describes the care of God over his people Israel He found them in the wildernesse as a people wandring and going astray and he kept them as the apple of his eye that is he looked to them and had a continuall tender care over them So Psal 17. 8. Keep me as the apple of thine eye The Septuagint render it O thou observer of men What shall I doe unto thee O thou who art the observer and looker into the very hearts of men Lord saith he what wilt thou have me to doe Thou lookest quite through me and seest all that is in me I 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui prespectam habis mentem hominum Sept. need not declare my selfe unto thee thou knowest me altogether Thou who art the searcher of the heart and the trier of the reins Thou who art a most vigilant watcher over all my waies what have I done or spoken but thou knowest and canst easily observe Thus Job speaks at the 14th of this booke vers 16. Thou numberest my steps a man observes another curiously when he tels how many steps he treads it is an expression noting the exactest observation Salomon joynes the act of keeping with observing Prov. 24. 12. If thou saiest behold he knoweth it not this is the refutation of an Atheist doth not he that pondereth the hears consider it and he that keepeth thy soule doth not he know He that preserves us in our wayes must needs see us in all our waies Again Preserving or keeping may be understood two waies First There is a preserving or keeping of man that he shal not escape And Secondly A preserving or keeping of man that he shall not Custos hominu sc qui homine talibus malis quasi quadam custodia includis it non sit effugium take hurt Some understand it in the first sence O thou preserver of men that is O thou who art so strict a keeper and watcher over men that they cannot escape thine hand A man is said to be in safe custodie when he is a prisoner and so the sence is thus given Lord thou hast me fast enough I cannot breake away from thee I am lockt up within iron-gates and barrs what wouldest thou have me doe unto thee Thou maiest put what conditions thou pleasest upon me I must submit Such language we have Lam. 3. 5 7. which may illustrate this He hath builded against me and compassed me with gall and travell he hath hedged me about that I cannot get out he hath made my chaine heavie You see he speakes of God as we may speake with reverence as of the master of a prison who saith to his under-officers there is such a one looke to him well make his chaine heavie that he may not get a way put him in a place where there is a strong wall least he breake prison This sence of the word makes Job speaking like Jeremy He hath builded against me he hath compassed me about he hath made my chaine heavie upon me But the second sence according to the letter of our Translation is most cleare and apt O thou preserver of men Thou who keepest man least he take hurt or fall into danger As if Job had bespoke God thus Thou art the Saviour and protectour of men thou hast not only given man a being but thou providest for his
object stands directly before us and we desire to have an enemy right before us And the word may be taken simply for an enemy or adversary who stands opposite to us both in his actions and designes and against whom we direct both ours We render wherefore hast thou set me as a marke and that suites the sence of the word fully because a marke at which a man aimes is set in direct opposition to him we levell our atrowes or bullets at the marke right before us Job thought himselfe thus placed why hast thou set me as a marke to meete with or intercept thy shot thy arrowes thy bullets thy blowes upon my breast Wilt thou make the bosome of thy servants like the breast of an enemy a But to receive all thy arrows A mark is as a standing enemy and an enemy is a moving marke to shoote at a marke is a livelesse enemy and an enemy is a living marke his meaning then is Thou hast set me against thee as if I were an enemy as if I were one against whom thou resolvest to direct all thine arrows and aim every stroke so the word is used Judg. 8. 21. where Zeba and Zalmunna two Kings taken captive by Gideon said to him rise thou and fall upon us it is this word set us before thee as a marke for thy victorious sword So the Prophet Amos 5. 19. tels us that a man in hopes to escape the hand of God shall be as if a man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him such a man is but a mark for a Bear who thinks to out-runne this Lion That expression 1 King 5. 4. is very clear to this sense where the peacefulness of Solomons reigne is described thus there was neither adversary nor evil occurrent the word we translate evill occurrent it is that in the text no evil met or befel them So then the sum of all is That Job expostulates or complaines before God that he was as it were the man chosen out amongst all the men in the world to be as the mark and But against which God shot his afflictions and level'd all his arrows As if he had said There are many mo about me and thou doest not so much as touch one of the hairs of their heads there are men that receive not so much as one shot from thee but I am made thy standing marke why is it thus Lord So he expresseth himself in other words but to this very sense chap. 19. 11. chap 13. 24. Wherefore holdest thou me for thine enemy or according to the letter of the Hebrew among those who straighten thee as an enemy straightens a City in the time of a siedge And this he doth to move God to pity and compassion Lord saith he I am set as a mark against thee You would be much moved a tender heart would to see a man bound fast to a post and another standing off with his bow bent and his arrow on the string with his gun or pistoll cockt aiming at his breast Job presents himself in such a posture as if the Lord had bound him fast to a post or to a tree and were pouring vollies of shot and sending showers of arrows upon him continually Observe first the manner of the language which is by way of a vehement question or expostulation Why hast thou set me as a marke against thee Man is very inquisitive to know the reasons of Gods dealings with him That 's one thing And secondly which is near the same It is some satisfaction and ease to the mind smitten by the hand of God to know the reason why he wounds why he smites Why hast thou set me as a marke as if he had said if I could but learne this and see the reason of it surely I should receive thy wounds as kisses and take thy stroakes as embraces When Gideon saw so many evils and troubles upon Israel Jud. 6. and the Angel told him the Lord was with him Then why is it thus saith he Can you give me a reason why God being with us it is thus with us To know the reason of our paine is a great ease and almost the care of it If the people of God did but know what infinite reason he hath reason of the highest temperament of wisdome and goodness why he layes affliction upon them and makes them as his markes they would be abundantly satisfied with it What is the reason why the Saints coming out of great affliction are willing to confesse it is good for us that we were afflicted and blessed be God that we were chastned It is because then they see more cleerly the reason why God afflicted them and they then begin to tast the fruit of those afflictions If while the affliction is upon us we knew what good God meaneth us what honour he intendeth us we should beare it not onely with courage and with patience but with joy If Iob had been but fully acquainted with this that God therefore set him up as a mark to shoot at that he might be to all the world a mirror of patience that God intended him this honour that his name should be upon record in his Book so long as there was a Church surely he would have borne all with more patience and ease than he did But he was groping in the darke and therefore enquires wherefore hast thou set me as a marke against thee The words are not only or not so much an expostulation because he was set as a marke as an inquisition why he was set as a marke Thirdly note God sometimes seemes an enemie to his faithfull servants For one to be before God as a But continually shot at what other interpretation can sense make of it but this that God looks upon him as an enemy Iacob saith of Ioseph Gen. 49. 23. the archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him Joseph was as the common marke of his Bretherens envy But in this case as it is said of Joseph Gen. 42. when his brethren came to him he made himself strange to them Joseph strained himselfe and used his art to overcome his nature he made himselfe strange Joseph was of a meek and loving disposition and therefore like a Player upon a stage he only acted the part of a rigid master or governor Thus many times the Lord takes upon him the posture of an enemy and forces a frowne upon a poor creature whom he loves and delights in with all his heart he makes him as his marke to shoot at whom he layes next his own heart Thus the Church speakes Lam. 3. 12. He hath bent his bow and set me as a marke for his arrowes And Job 16. 13. that you may see how his language agrees with other Scriptures His archers compasse me round about he cleaveth my reines asunder and doth not spare He poureth out my gall upon the ground How exactly he speakes A man shootes at a haires bredth that shootes
But I conceive our translation carries the sense fairer in a reflection upon his owne tired spirits So that I am made a burthen to my selfe that is thou dost even throw me upon my self whereas heretofore thou wast wont to bear me and take my burthen upon thy self Alas I faint I cannot stand under my self I am weary of my life because I am left alone to bear it I know not what to do with my self I am so burthensome to my self Hence observe First Outward afflictions poverty sickness want c. are burthens and they make a man burthensome to himself It is a great burthen to have our comforts taken away from us The removing of comforts lies like a heavy weight upon the spirit the removing of health from the body is a weight upon the soul fear is a burthen care is a burthen and so is pain Therefore God cals us to cast all those burthens upon him Psal 55. 22. Secondly observe Man left to himself is not able to bear himselfe Man is much borne down by the weight of natural corruption Hence the Apostle cals it A weight and the sinne which doth so easily beset us Heb. 12. 1. or dangle about our heels to burden us as long garments do a man that runneth Our ordinary callings and affaires left upon our own backs presse us to the earth much more do our extraordinary troubles and afflictions And therefore he adviseth Cast thy burthen upon the Lord he assures in the next words and he shall sustaine thee As implying that man cannot sustaine or beare his owne weight And though it should seem we have strengh to spare for others and are therefore commanded to bear one anothers burthens Gal. 6. yet no man of himself no not the holiest Atlas nor the spirituallest Porter on earth is able to bear his owne self unless Christ be his supporter who is also therefore said to uphold all thiags by the word of his power Heb. 1. 3. Because no creature in a natural or man in a spiritual capacity can bear his own weight Thirdly From the connexion between these two phrases Thou hast set me as a marke against thee so that I am a burthen to my self what is it that makes my life to be so burthensome to me It is this because I am set as a mark before thee that is because thou seemest to be an enemy to me And so the note from the connexion is this That which presses and burthens the soule ahove all is the apprehension that God is against us Job in many things looked unto God under these temptations with sad thoughts as if he were his enemy so he express'd himself in the sixth Chapter The poyson of his arrows drinks up my spirits he setteth himselfe in battel array against me In these temptations and desertions this was the burden of his spirit that God appeared as an adversary Why doest thou set me as a marke against thee Let the Sabians and the Chaldeans shoot at me as much as they will let fire and windes contend with me and make me the marke of their utmost fury I can beare all these Job was light hearted enough when he thought he contended onely with creatures and that creatures onely contended with him but in the progresse of this triall he finds God against him withdrawing comforts from and shooting terrours at him now he is a burthen to himself he can beare this no longer As Caesar said in the Senate when he had many wounds given him yet this wounded him most that he was wounded by the hand of his son What thou my sonne So when a believer looks this way and that way and fees many enemies Satan and the creatures all in armes against him he can beare all their charges and assaults but if he apprehend God opposing and wounding him he weepes out this mourneful complaint What thou my Father What thou my God Thou who hast so often shined upon me dost thou darken thy face towards me and appeare mine enemy These apprehensions of God will make the strongest Saint on earth a burden too heavy for himselfe to beare That which causeth the most burdensome thoughts in the Saints is the inevidence of their pardon Sin unpardon'd is in it self a burden and our not knowing sin to be pardon'd is a greater burden but our jealousies and fears that it is not pardon'd is the greatest burden of all and that which adds weight yea an intolerableness to all other burdens Hence Job in the next verse and with the last breath of his answer points directly at that which pincht him Verse 21. And why doest thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquitie for now shall I sleep in the dust and thou shall seek me in the morning but I shall not be In the former verse we found Job humbly confessing his sin and earnestly enquiring of the Lord a reason of his sorrowes why he had shot him so full of arrows that now he was not so much wounded as loaded And become a burthen to himself In this verse he sues for the pardon of those sins and so for the removal of those sorrows That the bow might speedily be unbended and not a shot more made at his bleeding breast In the answer of which suite he desires speed and expedition lest help being retarded come too late for he professeth that he cannot hold out his siedge long he must needs make his bed in the grave and then being sought for he shall not be found And why dost thou not pardon my trangressions We may consider the words two waies 1. In the Forme of them Matter 2. In the forme they are a vehement expostulation Jobs spirit hath been heated all along with the fire of his sufferings and here he speakes in the heat of his spirit and with fiery desires after mercie He keepes up his heart to the same height and tenour still There it was Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee Here 's another Why and why dost thou not pardon my transgression As before he was grieved to be set up as a mark for afflictions to aime at so now he desires to be made a marke for mercy to aim at I shall note one thing from hence before I come to open the words They who are sensible of the evill of sinne will pray heartily for the pardon of sinne Expostulation is earnest prayer expostulation is a vehement postulation a vehement enquiring after or desiring of a thing Why dost thou not pardon my sinne may be resolved into this O that thou wouldest pardon my sinne Or Wilt thou not pardon my sinne The matter of this prayer requires such a forme such a vehemency of spirit in him that prayes If there be any petition in the world about which the spirit should be fired it is in this when wee pray for pardon of sinne Will not a man whose body is defiled by falling into the mire call hastily for some to
cleanse and wash him Will he not say if it come not speedily why do ye not bring away the water there sin is the defiling and bemiring of the soul and pardon is the cleansing of it If a man be deeply and deadly wounded will hee have onely some few feeble desires or make cold requests for a Chyrurgion Will hee not call and call aloud Call and call again for helpe and healing Sins are the wounds of the soul and pardon is the only cure of it If a man hath broken his bones will he not be very earnest to have them set again Sin is the breaking of the bones and pardon is their setting How doth David cry to the Lord Psal 51. 8. That the bones which he had broken might rejoyce Sin had broken his bones first and the hiding of Gods favour from him was a second breaking If a mans peace or the peace of a Nation be disturbed is there not earnest crying as at this day to have it repaires and re-established Sin troubles our peace the peace of the soul and the peace of Kingdomes Sin is the great make-bate and pardon is the returning of our peace and quieteth all again and therefore no marvel if we cry out Why doest thou not pardon our sinnes He that is greatly in debt and fears every hour to be arrested and cast in prison is trying all friends to get security and protection Sinning is a running in debt with God and it brings us under the danger of his arrest every-moment forgiveness cancels the bond when the sin is pardoned the debt is paid and the soul discharged And therefore no wonder if in this case we hear or make strong cries Why doest thou not pardon our sinnes My son saith Solomon Prov. 6. 4. speaking about suretiship if thou be surety for thy friend if thou hast ingaged thy self for another Give not sleep to thine eyes nor slumber to thine eye-lids deliver-thy self as a Roe from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of the fowler Not to give rest to the eye nor slumber to the eye-lids notes the hottest pursuit and greatest intention of spirit about a business Thus busie Solomon advises a man to be who becometh surety for another Then what should we do who have contracted huge debts our selves How should we in this sense give our eyes no rest and our eye-lids no slumber till our souls be delivered as a Roe from the hand of the hunter and as a bird from the hand of the fowler that is from all the power and challenge which the Law without us conscience within us Satan pursuing us and the justice of God threatning us can any way make or have against the peace of our souls That 's the first thing from the manner or form in which Job sues for the pardon of sin His spirit doth not fall he grows not flat upon this point but is as high and earnest here for the pardon of sin as in any of his requests for the ease of his pained bodie or the dissolution of it Why doest thou not pardon my sinne and take away mine iniquity I shall first shew what is meant by pardoning and taking away and then what by transgression and iniquity and so put the sence of all together Why dost thou not pardon my transgression The * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accipiunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tanquam à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oblitus fuis Septuagint reads it Why dost thou not forget my transgression Or bury it in the grave of oblivion and the word may signifie to forget as well as to take away But generally it imports the lifting up or taking away of that which lies heavy upon us either in a morall or in a natural notion Hos 11. 4. I was to them as they that take off the yoak And because pardon is the taking away or lifting off of sin therefore it is often put for the act of pardoning Hence also it is applied to that gesture of the Priests when they 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tollere levare per Metaphoram donare cò quòd munera donaria in altum elevari solerent sicut sacrificia cum Deo offerebantur received gifts and sacrifices because they were wont to elevate and lift them up Hence Christ the substance of all the Sacrifices is said to be lifted up himself saith As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness so must the Sonne of man be lifted up Joh. 3. 14. we may say as Aaron lifted up the Sacrifices at the altar so the Son of man was lifted up This lifting up noted also the acceptance of those Sacrifices and the favour of God to those who brought them When Pharaoh bestowed a great favour upon his chief Butler Gen. 43. 30. according to his dream he lifted up his head Ioseph expounded so After three daies Pharaoh shal lift thine head that is he shall freely pardon thy offence and bestow some great honour gift or reward upon thee And in this sence it is proper to the text when sin is pardoned a mans head is lifted up himself is advanced indeed The Lord proclaimes his name in this tenor Exod. 34. 7. The Lord the Lord forgiving or lifting up iniquity and Psal 32. 1. Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven or lifted up Further this word signifies not only to take or lift off a burthen from another and lay it down but so to lift it off from another as for a man to take it upon himself and bear it in his stead from whose shoulders it was taken And in this strict sence we are especially to understand it in the point of pardon for pardon is not the taking away of sin from a man and laying it none knows where but sin being taken off from man some other shoulders are prepared to bear it even the shoulders of our Lord Christ on him our sin is laid All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all Isa 53. 6. when the burthen of dept was taken off from us it was charged on Christ He did not take or lift the burthen of sin from us and throw it by but he bare it himself nothing but this could compleate the work of pardon therfore it was also prophecied Isa 53. 4. Surely he hath born our griefs and carried our sorrows And 1 Pet. 2. 22. who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree that is in his humanity or humane nature while he dwelt with us in the body Body is not here opposed to Soul but includes it as sometime the whole work is laid upon the soul of Christ not excluding his body Isa 53. 10. When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin By the whole man this offering was made and the whole man bare our sins on the tree That passage Mat.
8. 17. where the first prophecie of Isaiah is quoted is very emphatical when Christ had heal'd many of their outward distempers this reason is added That it might be fufilled which is written sc Isa 53. 9. himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses Now Christ took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses when he took and bare our sins when he took sin he took that which was the necessary fruit of sin our sicknesses and our sorrows For as in Scripture Christ is said to be made sin for us that is with the sin he bare those affiictions and sorrows which are the consequents of sin so here when it is said He bare our sorrows and our sicknesses it takes in the bearing of those sins which procured and produced those sorrows The Greek words used by the Evangelist are ful with this sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assumpsit sccum atque recepit quasi ad se transtulit He took them to him he received them upon himself he as it were translated them from poor sinful man to his owne body The word also imports his taking our sins and sicknesses upon him as a vesture or a garment and so wrapping himself in them We know our sins by nature cloath us as a garment ours is not only a burden but a cloathing of sin and filthiness Take away his filthy garments saith the Lord concerning Joshua the high-Priest then follows and unto him I said I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee and I will cloath thee with change of raiment Man saw not his own nakedness till he was cloathed with sinne Gen. 2. Christ to answer that cloaths and wraps himself with our sins as we our selves were wrapped about and cloathed with them he cloaths himself with our sorrows as we our selves were cloathed with sorrow In which sence among others Christ may be called a man of sorrows as we may call a man cloathed with raggs a man of raggs and a man cloathed with silke a man of silkes The second word of the Evangelist Mat. 18. 17. signifies to bear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Porter bears a great burthen Christ took up that burthen onder which all the Angels in heaven would have sunk he took it up like a mighty Sampson and carried it out for us The scape-Goate was a type of this Levit. 6. 22. And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited or a land cut off and separated from other lands and people figuring hereby the total abolishing of our sins which being carried into a land where no man dwels shall be as lost and gone for ever not to be found when they shall be sought for who can find that which is where no man ever was pardon'd sin is carried and as it were hid out of the sight both of God and man for it is not and that which is not is not according to man to be seen In allusion to all which Christ Jo. 1. 29. is pointed at by the Baptist with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold the Lumb of God that takes away the sins of the world he takes sin off from the world upon himself and carries it away no man knows whither That for the first word pardon why doest thou not pardon my sin The second word is rendred by our Translatours Take away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est 1. simpliciter praeterire 2. interire perire evanescere mori why doest thou not take away mine iniquity Others thus Why doest thou not cause mine iniquity to pass away Or Why doest thou not put away mine iniquity So we rranslate 2 Sam. 12. 13. where assoon as David confest his sin saying I have sinned Nathan answers and the Lord hath put away thy sin he hath made it to pass away The word signifies first simply to pass away or to pass by Secondly to die perish or vanish away that which passes by us is vanished as to us So the word is taken Psal 37. 36. where David speaking of the flourishing estate of wicked men saith I have seen the wicked in great prosperity flourishing as a greene bay tree yet he past away and loe he was not A man unpardoned sees or should see his sins growing up as a mighty tree sin unpardoned flourishes like a green bay-tree it roots in the soul and guilt nourishes it but when pardon comes sin passes away and it is not because that which gave it sap is not Further this word which is very considerable is applied to Quando dicitur de mandato pacto juramento significat transgredi violare peecare the committing of sin as well as to the pardoning of sin For when it is joyned with those words The Commandements of God the Statutes of God the Word of God or the like it signifies to violate to break the bounds to transgress for in sinning a man passes by the Word and Commandement of God the precepts which God hath given and the charge God hath laid upon him he goeth away from all when man sins he passeth by the Commandment of God and when God pardons he passeth by the sin of man or he causeth his sins to pass away So that this word Take away put away or cause to passe Transire facis e. i. impunitum retir quis condonas notes the removing of sin both in the guilt and punishment When sin is past by all the punishments due to sin are passed by the sinner shall never be toucht or feel the weight of Gods little finger in judgement when God comes with his revenges he passes such by as in that plague of Egypt the slaying of the first born which was therefore called the Lords Passeover in memorial whereof that great ordinance was appointed the Jews of keeping the Passeover and eating the Pascal Lambe Exod. 12. 13 14. In this sense the word is used Amos 7. 8. when God was resolved to punish and charge the sins of that people upon them he saith Behold I will set a plumbe-line in the middest of my people Israel and what follows I will not again pass by them any more God came before once and again armed to destroy them but when he came he past by them he put up his sword he unbent his bow he stopped up the vials of his wrath when a cloud of blood and judgements hung over their heads he sent a breath of mercy and caused it to pass over them but now saith he I will not again pass by them any more that is I will surely punish them so the next words interpret the high places of Isaac shall be dissolate and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid wast Some translate that in Amos I will not any more dissemble Verbum Ebraicum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quoties in scripturis sanctis ex persona Dei ponitur pro poena accipiendum est ut ncquâ—quam apud eos maneat sed pertranseat Hieron in
though sin cannot be more pardoned in respect of God at one time than at another yet in regard of man it may He apprehends the pardon of his sin more now than before and may hereafter apprehend it more than now And it is worth the while to bestow pains in prayer for pardon to have the pardon a little more inlightned The degrees of any grace or favour as well as the matter and substance of them are worthy all our seekings and most serious enquiries at the throne of Grace Fourthly He that hath assurance of the pardon of sin is to pray for the pardon of sin because he continueth still to sin And though it be a truth that sin uncommitted is pardoned in the decree and purpose of God yet we must not walk by the decrees of God but by his commandements and rules His decree pardons sin from all eternity but his rule is that we should pray for pardon every day as we pray for the bread we eat every day Matth. 6. 11 12. We must not say God hath pardoned all sin at once therefore no matter to ask it again or I have once had the sight of pardon and therefore the sight of sin shall never trouble me seeing we are directed to search our hearts for sin and to seek to God for pardon continually So long as we sin it becomes us to be suitors for the pardon of sin He that hath ceased to sin may cease to ask the forgiveness of sin till then I know neither rule nor promise that gives a dispensation for this duty To close this point there are two Cases wherein believers are especially to renew their suits about the pardon of sin First which though it be lamentable yet it is possible in the case of falling into scandalous and gross sins These not only weaken assurance and be-night the soul but exceedingly dishonour God and grieve the holy Ghost This caused David to pray and cry for the pardon and purging of his sin as freshly and as strongly as if he had never received a pardon or any evidence of Gods love of which yet he had great store before that day Ps 51. Secondly In times of great troubles and trials whether personal or National the Saints re-inforce prayer about pardon This was Jobs case his personal afflictions occasion'd him to begg the remission of sins and not only remission for sins then committed but for all the sins he had committed either before or after Conversion Even our formerly pardon'd sins need pardon when we loose the sight of pardon and when the soul hath no visions but visions of terrour it must seek visions of peace in the free-grace of God renewing and sealing pardon in the bloud of Jesus Christ Job having thus breathed his spirit in arguings complaints and prayers moves the Lord for a speedy end and gracious answer otherwise he sees no way but he must breath back his spirit into the hands of the Lord who gave it and lay his body in the dust from whence it was taken For now shall I sleep in the dust and thou shalt seek me in the morning but I shall not be Now shall I sleep in the dust What he means by this sleep hath been handled Chap. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propriè est cubare hinc mortui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vocantur ut etiam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 13. where it was shewed that death is called a sleep why and in what manner death is a sleep The word here translated to sleep signifies properly to lie down but the sence is the same because men lie down when they compose and fit themselves to sleep And the dead are called down-lyers as well as sleepers in the Hebrew The Septuagint reads it now shall I go to the earth David speaks near this language Psal 22. 15. Thou hast brought me to the dust of death Observe hence whether we are travelling and where we must take up a lodging for our bodies ere long They whose heads are highest they who lie in beds of Ivory must lie down in a bed of earth and rest their heads upon a pillow of dust Most sleep in the dust while they live but all must sleep in the dust when they die Earthly men have earthly minds and they cannot rest but in earth for it is their Center Onely he who hath laid up his heart in Heaven can comfortably think of laying down his head in the dust Further it is remarkable in how pleasing a notion Job speaks of death when his life was most unpleasant to him He complained of restless nights in the third fourth thirteenth and fourteenth verses of this Chapter yet he could think of a time when he should lie quietly in his bed and not have so much as a waking moment or a distracting dream And when he was once gone to this bed the curtains of darkness being close drawn about him he should open his eyes no more till the eye-lids of that eternity-morning opened therefore he concludes Thou shalt seek me in the morning sc of time but I shall not be In the Hebrew Thou shalt seek me in the morning is but one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Si dilucula veris me ficto verbo word And some cut out a latine word fit to serve it We may English it strictly to the letter If thou morning me that is if thou commest to seek me as the force of this word hath been formerly given with never so much diligence and care I shall not be found thou wilt not have Job alive upon the earth to bestow thy mercies upon For I shall not be The Hebrew is And not I that is I shall not be alive I shall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non ego subaudi sum vel ero Cum jam in isto not be to be had he means a non-existence not a non-essence a being he should have but he should not appear to be It is as if he had said Lord I shall not be a Subject capable of outward deliverances and bodily comforts unless they come speedily Lord if thou wilt give me any help give it for death hastens upon me as if it hoped to be too nimble for or to out-run thy succours Mr. Broughtons translation seems to intend another sence pulvere decumbam aut quid non tempesti ivè requisivisti me ut non essem Jun. which others of the learned Hebricians favour too He renders the latter part of the verse thus Whereas I lie now in the dust referring it to his present condition I am now lying in the dust to be pitied of the keeper of men so he himself expounds Lord I lie in the dust a pitiful object then Why doest thou not quickly seek me out that I should no more be which he interprets I would by a quick death be rid from these pains As if in these words Job had again renewed his former desire of death concerning which many
this truth Heare it and know thou it for thy good So much concerning the Division or Parts of this first Speech or dispute made by Eliphaz in answer to the former complaint powred out by Job against the day of his birth and the night of his conception in the third Chapter The six Verses lately read containe as I said before the first Argument we have the Preface in the second Verse and the Argument it selfe in the four following The point which Eliphaz desires to prove and clear is this that Job was guiltie of hypocrisie of close hypocrisie at the least if not of grosse hypocrisie The Medium or reason by which he would prove it is the unsuitablenesse of his present practise to his former Doctrine His actions under sufferings contradict what himselfe had taught other sufferers And this speaks him guilty The Argument may be thus formed That mans religion is but vaine and his profession hypocriticall who having comforted others in and taught them patience under affliction is himselfe being afflicted comfortlesse and impatient But Job thus it is with thee thou hast been a man very forward to comfort others and teach them patience yet now thou art comfortlesse and impatient Therefore thy religion is vaine and thy profession is hypocriticall Is not this thy feare Here is a goodly religion indeed a proper peece of profession and such is thine this is all thou art able to make out Thus you have the Logicall strength or the Argument contained in the words We shall now examine them in the Grammaticall sense of every part as they lye here in order And first for the Preface If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved but who can withhold himselfe from speaking The words import as if Eliphaz had said thus unto Job we thy friends have all this while stood silent we have given thee full liberty and scope to speak out all that was in thine heart let it not grieve thee if we now take liberty to speak our selves and indeed a necessity lies upon us to speak Two things Eliphaz puts into this Preface whereby he labours to prepare the minde of Job readily to hear and receive what he had to say unto him First he tels him that he speaks out of good will and as a friend to him If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved Pray doe not take it ill we meane you no harme we would but give you faithfull counsell we speak from our hearts not from our spleen we speak from love to thee let it not be thy griefe Secondly he shewes that he was necessitated to speak as love provokes so necessity constrains who can withhold himselfe from speaking either of these considerations is enough to unlock both eare and heart to take in wholesome counsell What eare what heart will not the golden key of love or the iron key of necessity open to instruction when a friend speaks and he speaks as bound when kindnesse and dutie mix in conference how powerfull If we assay or try The word signifies properly to tempt either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tentavâ—t in bonum vel in malum periculum fecit expertus est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A lyâ—um quasi Graculum vel loquutoâ—ium dictum quod Deus inde responsa daret for good or evill and because in temptation an assay or experiment is made of a man how bad or how good he is Therefore the word is applyed to any assaying or experimenting of things or persons This very word is winning and gaining upon Job We will but try a little if we can doe thee any good or bring lenitives to thy sorrowes we will not be burthensome or tedious we will but assay to commune with thee The word notes serious speaking The place where God communed with his people in giving answers from Heaven is express'd by this word 1 Kings 6. 19. The Oracle he prepared in the house within c. or the communing-place where God spake Wilt thou be grieved The word signifies to be extreamly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fessus corpore vel animo insanivit furiit wearled even unto rage or fainting Here Elipphaz seemes to hint at Jobs former distemper'd speeches If we speak wilt thou promise us not to fall into such a fit of passion as even now thou wast in And yet whatsoever comes of it or howsoever thou takest it I must discharge my duty and my conscience therefore he addes who can withhold himselfe from speaking That is no man can withhold himselfe from speaking in such a case as this to heare thee speak thus would even make a dumb man speak Christ saith in the Gospel If these should hold their peace the stones would cry there is such a sense in these words if we thy friends should hold our peace when thou speakest thus the very stones would cry out against thee for speaking and against us for holding our peace The Hebrew word translated withhold signifies to shut up a thing so as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clausit coâ—â—cuit 1 Kings 8 35. that it cannot come out It is applyed to the locking up of the Clouds that they raine not to the holding in of fire that it cannot break forth Jer 20. 9. where the Prophet very elegantly fits it to the restraining of speech which is the very point in hand His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones I was weary with forbearing So it implyes that the friends of Job had as it were a fire in their bosomes which they could no longer restraine they were as Clouds full of water full of deaw and raine they were not able to suspend themselves from dissolving and showring upon Job both reproofe and counsell advises and exhortations We may observe from this Preamble That it is wisdome to sweeten reproofe with friendly insinuations Reproofe is a bitter Pill it is a wholesome yet a bitter Pill and there is need to wrap it up in Gold and Sugar that pleasing both eye and palat it may be taken downe the better It is the Apostles counsell to his Galatians Gal. 6. 1. Brethren if a man be overtaken with a fault yee that are spirituall restore such an one in the spirit of meeknesse The word restore is an allusion to the Art of Chirurgerie in setting a bone out of joynt soft words and a soft hand fit the Patients minde to endure that painfull operation By fals into sinne the soule breaks or disjoynts a bone he that will set such a minde must handle it gently We may observe the holy skill of some of the Saints in prayer preparing God for receiving of Petitions by prefaces and humble insinuations as it were getting within him Thus did Abraham Gen. 18. when he prayed for Sodome Let not my Lord be angry if I who am but dust and ashes speake unto thee There is such a spirituall art in winding a reproofe into
the Holy Ghost Good and bad beleevers and unbeleevers speak often the same good words but they cannot speak the same things nor from the same principles nature speaks in the one in the other grace The one may say very passionately he hath sinned and sometimes almost drown his words in tears but the other saith repentingly I have sinned and floods his heart with Godly sorrowes Thirdly to clear it yet more the general confession of the Saints have these four things in them First Besides the fact they acknowledge the blot that there is much defilement and blackness in every sin that it is the onely pollution and abasement of the creature Secondly They confess the fault that they have done very ill in what they have done and very foolishly even like a beast that hath no understanding Thirdly They confess a guilt contracted by what they have done that their persons might be laid lyable to the sentence of the law for every such act if Christ had not taken away the curse and condemning power of it Confession of sin in the strict nature of it puts us into the hand of justice though through the grace of the new Covenant it puts us into the hand of mercy Fourthly Hence the Saints confess all the punishments threatned in the Book of God to be due to sin and are ready to acquit God whatsoever he hath awarded against sinners O Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face as at this day to the men of Iudah and to the inhabitants of Ierusalem Dan. 9. 7. And as in this confession for the matter they acknowledge the blot the fault the guilt the punishment of sin so for the manner which sets the difference yet wider between the general confessions of wicked and Godly men they confess First freely Acknowledgements of sin are not extorted by the pain and trouble which seazeth on them as in Pharaoh Saul and Judas But when God gives them best dayes they are ready to speak worst of themselves And when they receive most mercies from God then God receives most and deepest acknowledgements of sin from them They are never so humbled in the sight of sin as when they are most exalted in seeing the salvations of the Lord. The goodness of God leads them to this repentance they are not driven to it by wrath and thunder Secondly they confess feelingly when they say they have sinned they know what they say They taste the bitterness of sin and groan under the burdensomeness of it as it passes out in confession A natural mans confessions run through him as water through a pipe which leaves no impression or sent there nor do they upon the matter any more taste what sin is then the pipe doth of what relish water is Or if a natural man feels any thing in confession it is the evil of punishment feared not the evil of his sin committed Thirdly they confess sincerely they mean what they say are in earnest both with God and their own Souls Blessed is the man in whose spirit there is no guile Psal 32. 2. The natural man casts out his sins by confession as Sea-men cast their goods over-board in a storm which in the calm they wish for again They so cast out the evil spirit that they are content to receive him again when he returns though it be with seven worse then himself Even while they confess sin with their lips they keep it like a sweet bit under their tongues And wish it well enough while they speak it very ill Fourthly they confess beleevingly while they have an eye of sorrow upon sin they have an eye of Faith upon Christ Iudas said he had sinned in betraying innocent blood Mat. 27. 4. but instead of washing in that blood he defiles himself with his own he goes away and hangs himself No wicked man in the world continuing in that state did ever mix Faith with his sorrowes or beleeving with confessing he had sinned So much for the clearing of the words and the sence of this general confession Hence observe first While a Godly man maintains his innocency and justifies himself before men he willingly acknowledges his infirmity and judges himself before God Iob had spent much time in wiping off the aspersions cast upon him by his friends but he charges himself with his failings in the sight of God Secondly observe God speakes better of his servants then they doe of themselves When God speakes of Job we find not one blot in all his character all is commendation nothing of reproof He saith c. 1. v. 21. in all this Job sinned not but for all that Job saith I have sinned A hypocrite hath good thoughts of himself and speakes himself faire He flatters himself in his own eyes until his iniquitie be found to be hateful Psal 36. 2. A godly man thinks and speaks low of himself he accuses himself in his own eyes though his integrity be found very acceptable with the Lord. Thirdly observe The holiest man on earth hath cause to confess that he hath sinned Confession is the duty of the best Christians First The highest form of believers in this life is not above the actings of sin though the lowest of believers is not under the power of it And if the line of sinning be as long as the line of living then the line of confessing must be of the same length with both While the Ship leaks the pump must not stand still And so long as we gather ill humors there will be need of vomits and purgings Secondly Confession is a soul-humbling duty and the best have need of that for they are in most danger of being lifted up above measure To preserve us from those self-exaltations the Lord sometimes sends the Messenger of Satan to buffet us by temptations and commands us to buffet our selves often by confession Thirdly Confession affects the heart with sin and ingages the heart against it Every confession of the evill we do is a new obligation not to do it any more The best in their worst part have so much freedome to sin that they have need enough to be bound from it in variety of bonds Fourthly Confession of sin shews us more clearly our need of mercy and indears it more to us How good and sweet is mercy to a soul that hath tasted how evil and how bitter a thing it is to sin against the Lord. How welcome how beautiful is a pardon when we have been viewing the ugliness of our own guilt Fiftly Confession of sin advances Christ in our hearts How doth it declare the riches of Christ when we are not afraid to tell him what infinite sums of debt we are in which he onely and he easily can discharge how doth it commend the healing vertue of his blood when we open to him such mortal wounds and sicknesses which he only and he easily can cure Wo be to those who commit sin abundantly that grace may abound but