were threw down a blank and desired the Apostles to write what commands they would that tended to salvation as if they had said we are ready to do what the Lord commandeth and according as the Lord commandeth Thus being made sensible of their sins and of the wrath of God which they had provoked against themselves by crucifying the Lord of life They cried out what shall we do We will submit to any thing that is fit to be done Saul afterward Paul came out with fury to persecute the Disciples of Christ but the Lord having beaten him from his horse to the ground he trembling and astonished said Lord what wilt thou have me to do Acts 9.6 He was fit to take any impression and to be moulded into any form by the hand of God They who have been made to know what it is to break commands are willing to obey and keep them This was the first spring of their obedience God had humbled them There was a second spring of their obedience which will yield a sixth Observation For as the Lord had convinced them of their sin so he had given them hopes of mercy in the pardon of it and of reconciliation to himself So much was intimated in that gracious counsel given them Take unto you seven Bullocks and seven Rams and go and offer up a burnt-offering for your selves c. This was a comfortable word and doubtless they understood it so and said in their own hearts God might have made us a sacrifice but he commands us to offer a sacrifice And what doth this signifie Surely that he will be gracious to us and is ready to pardon us Having these hopes of pardon they went and willingly did what the Lord commanded they went to Job they submitted to him whom they had contemned they honoured him whom they had despised before Hence note The intimations of mercy and hopes of pardon prevail mightily upon the soul of a sinner The Lord did not only shew them their sin and terrifie them with kindled wrath but shewed them a sacrifice and this presently won upon them The love of God is more constraining than his wrath and hopes of pardon and salvation than the fear of punishment and damnation both have their effects and are strong motives wrath and love but the strongest is love As when the Apostle beseeched the Romans Rom. 12.1 to present themselves a living sacrifice he besought them by the mercies of God So when the Lord commanded these men to offer up slain beasts in sacrifice hope of mercy was the motive 'T is mercy which moves most effectually to offer both our services our selves a sacrifice unto God that 's the same Apostles argument again 2 Cor. 7.1 Wherefore having these promises let us cleanse our selves that is use all means of cleansing our selves let us go to Christ for the cleansing of our selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord. The end of the Commandement is charity 1 Tim. 1.5 that is 't is charity or love which gives the Commandement its end What is the end of the Commandement it is that we should obey and fulfil it To what end doth the Lord give us Commandements it is that we should keep them Love is the end of the Commandement as it gives the Commandement a compleating end Now whence comes our love either to God or man Surely from the manifestation of Gods love to us So that when the Lord manifesteth his love to us raising and confirming our hopes by promises then our love appeareth in doing and keeping Commandements and therefore love is there joyned with faith unfeigned a faith without hypocrisie or deceit Now the work of faith in God for pardon and reconciliation is grounded upon a sacrifice Thus as Evangelical obedience is better than legal so mercy revealed in the Gospel quickens to obedience more than wrath revealed in the Law The sight of mercy and the sense of the lovâ— of God in sending his own Son to be a sacrifice for us works more upon us than if the Lord should threaten to make us a sacrifice or to consume us in the fire of his wrath for ever It was the sacrifice which made these men go to Job and humble themselves they perceived there was hope now and that though they had failed yet the Lord was ready to receâ—ve them and would not deal with them according to their folly as he told them he would if they did not according to his command go to Job with their seven Bullocks c. and offer up a burnt-offering They went and did as the Lord commanded them But what came of it how did they speed what was the issue of all The Text saith The Lord also accepted Job This may seem a strange connection they going and doing as the Lord commanded them one would have thought it should be said And the Lord accepted them whereas the Text saith only thus The Lord also accepted Job But were not Jobs friends accepted shall we think that they lost their labour not so neither without all question these three bâ—inging their sacrifice according to the command of God both for matter and manner were accepted too yet because it was at the request and prayer of Job for them therefore the Text saith not The Lord accepted but The Lord also accepted Job Accepit Jehova personam Jobi sacerdotio jungentis nomine Christi sacerdotis victimae sempiâ—â—rnae nostrae quam iste figurabant Jun. that is he offering sacrifice and praying for them they were accepted This sheweth us the great mystery or the sum of the Gospel the Lord did not accept them in themselves but he accepted Job in sacrificing for them and all in Christ And consider it is not said The Lord accepted the sacrifice or the prayer of Job but The Lord accepted Job his person was accepted in and through the sacrifice or intercession of Christ and his sacrifice and intercession for Eliphaz and his two friends were accepted also in him How the Lord testified his acceptance of Job whether by consuming his sacrifice with fire from heaven or by any other outward token of his favour is not here expressed and therefore to us uncertain only this is certain and that is enough for us to know that God accepted him What it is to accept was shewed in opening the former verse In brief to be accepted is to have favour with God our petitions answered and the things done which we move or petition for The Lord also accepted Job Rogavit Job Dominus ignavit profuit illis amicitia quibus obsuit insolentia Ambros 3 Offic. c. ult And when 't is said The Lord also accepted Job this implyeth that Job did willingly undertake the service and duty for his three friends Though it be not said that Job offered sacrifice and prayed for them yet both are wrapt up and understood in this conclusion The Lord
bad men and that 's the first Case Secondly When good men are vexed oppressed and trodden under feet as mire in the streets what risings of heart and what unsatisfiedness of spirit is there in many good men In both these Cases there is much contending with God though in both our hearts upon many accounts should acquiesce and rest in the will of God who in the former doth not declare himself a friend to evil men nor doth he in the latter declare himself an enemy to those who are good But seeing there is a spirit in man even to contend with God let us watch our selves in this thing that such thoughts rise not or let us carefully suppress them as soon as they are risen It is good for us and our duty to keep down the Contendings of our hearts with men for we are very apt to be out with one another 'T is sad to see breaches the fruit of heart-burnings between man and man But much more should we keep down those contendings yea qâ—ench the first sparkes which may kindle heart-burnings about the works of God for they may soon come to be Contendings with him For the close of thiâ— point take these four Considerations which may move all sorts of men to watch their hearts against Contendings with God whether as to his dealings in the world or with themselves First Remember Whatsoever the Lord doth he may do for he is an absolutely sovereign Lord and therefore not to be contended with about any thing he doth because no way accountable for any thing he doth as hath been shewed upon several occasions offered in opening this Book He is Lord of our being and hath given to all life breath and all things as the Apostle told the superstitious Athenians Acts 17.25 and may not he do what he will to all beings in whom all have their being and who hath given all things to all which concern that being He is our Maker and hath not the potter power over the clay to do what he will with it Hath not the Creator power over the creature to dispose of it as he pleaseth Isa 45.9 Let the potsheard strive with the potsheards of the earth If any will be striving let them strive with their like potsheards with potsheards not potsheards with the potter to whom they are so unlike The Lord used no other aâ—gument but this to quiet all Psal 46.10 Be still and know that I am God remember that and you will either not begin or quickly have done contending with God Yet in that Psalm the Lord is represented making most dreadful work Come behold the works of the Lord what desolations he hath made on the earth Though God make that which was as a garden to become a desolate wilderness yet contend not with him be still and know that he is God Secondly Remember whatsoever work the Lord makes in the world it is all righteous workâ— there is nothing amiss in it He is a rock said Moses Deut. 32.4 His work is perfect for all his wayes are judgements not as judgements are opposed to mercies but to injustice as it followeth in that verse a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he To this David gives witness Psal 145.17 The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works Not only is he righteous and holy in this and that way or work but in all his wayes and works in wayes of judgement as well as in wayes of mercy in wayes of destruction as well as in wayes of salvation He is righteous in pulling down as well as in building up in rooting up as well as in planting Now if there be a righteousness in all the wayes and works of God who shall contend with him about any of his wayes or works Thirdly All the works of God have an infinite wisdom in them they are done wisely even in exactest wisdom and shall we fools contend with him who is not onely a wise God but the God onely wise Rom. 16.27 and all whose works are done in and according to the Idea or platforme of his own infinite and eternal wisdom The foolishness of God saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.25 is wiser than men that is the wisest men are meer fools to God or that work of God which some men call foolishness is infinitely more wisely done than the wisest work that the wisest men in the world ever did or can do with all their wisdome Fourthly Let all that fear and love God especially take heed of contending with God about any of his works for God is good to all such in all his works and all his works are good to such Shall any contend with God about that which is for their own good Not onely are those works of God good to such which are good in themselves that is which we call good being favourable providences and for our comfort and support in this world but even those works of God which we call cross providences or providences which bring the Crosse with them are all good to such even to all them that love God and are the called according to his purpose Rom. 8.28 Shall they contend with God about any thing who hear and may be assured that he hath an intendment of good to them in all things Psal 73.1 Truly God is good to Israel that is though he afflicts them and the Cup be very bitter which he gives them to drink yet he is good to them Or thus Truly God not the world or though the world be not is good to Israel Once more we may take the Psalmist thus Truly God is good to Israel not so as to them to the world though as it followeth in the Psalme they enjoy never so much worldly good These Considerations may perswade all not to contend with God about his works to which I shall adde onely this counsel If the works of God are grievous to us at any time let us go the right way to work in our Contendings with him For I do not urge this point as if we should sit still and let the Lord alone as he seemingly said to Moses Exod. 32.10 when he dealeth out hard and grievous things to us There is a contending with God by supplication and prayer by mourning and humiliation this becomes us when the works of God are hard when they are breaking desolating scattering and afflictive towards us Take heed of discontent with providence yet wrestle and contend earnestly with God by prayer when providences go hard with you or with the whole Israel of God Moses in a holy manner assaulted God and contended with him in that case and therefore the Lord said to him in the place last mentioned Let me alone as we say to a man that contends and strives with us Let me alone Moses was contending with the Lord about that dispensation but it was in a gracious way and so may we yea so must we The Lord
for Job may strengthen our faith in believing that he will and lengthen out our patience in waiting till he doth make both these desirable ends for all those who like Job have lay'n long under the pressing burdens of hard afflictions and harsh constructions Now that the Lord would finish this work of mercy and cut it short in righteousness wiping tears from off all faces and taking away the rebuke of his people from off the earth by a timely restitution of them to their lost enjoyments and blasted credits which yet will not be fully done until the times of the restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets since the world began that the Lord I say would finish this work should be our uncessant cry to God in prayer for all his sorrowing Jobs even for all those who are any where companions in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ To his blessing and the effectual working of his holy Spirit I commend you in the perusal of this ensuing commentary that reading ye may understand believe and profit to sanctification consolation and salvation according to the will of God and the hearts desire of May 10th 1666. Your affectionate friend and servant JOSEPH CARYL Reader BY reason of the Authors absence while the greatest Part of the Book was doing the following faults have past which thou art desired to correct Errata Page Line Error Correction 3 23 each to to each 259 22 those these 267 22 Lightning Hightning 289 13 he blot it out 350 3 Indea Judea 351 35 Bengata Bengala 352 12 2d 22d 354 10 have hath 354 13 not so so not 369 14 15 As was shewed before blot it out 394 26 448 38 she he 455 9 our their 468 1 forbids forbad 477 12 not blot it out 615 14 probably probable 620 14 his horns blot out his 620 15 his claws blot out his 645 2 they blot it out 650 20 understand understood 659 26 and to be blot it out 696 7 a no 714 32 have hath 728 20 with blot it out 746 12 them him 746 17 with any ay with 750 4 refuge refuse 770 34 Observation Information 797 13 will willed 806 36 fervency blot it out 822 27 taken taking 831 36 followeth followed 842 37 this the 843 23 means meant 846 4 extraordinary extraordinarily 846 33 repenteth repented 876 13 sheweth shewed 876 13 directeth directed 880 16 his blot it out 881 1 as was 932 24 and so 942 10 take one instance for all blot it out 944 13 are is 944 25 he hath they have 969 19 or and 980 4 do doth 1009 26 first blot it out Omissions Page Line  202 28 after water adde First of the waters in the clouds from those upon the earth Secondly of those upon the earth into the several parts of it 455 24 after come adde she had not been reproved 714 7 after to adde do 769 16 after exercise adde us 777 13 after fear adde not 786 6 after omnipotency adde I know 809 19 after hence adde some 817 8 after ear adde hath often 372 9 after him adde when he asked him whether he would do it 876 1 after it adde even Heathenish 885 6 after and adde as 923 20 after accepted adde them 939 20 after and adde that I. 964 9 after ye adde then 972 14 after is adde said 997 10 after sex adde yet AN EXPOSITION WITH Practical Observations UPON The Thirty-eighth Thirty-ninth Fortyeth Forty-first and Forty-second being the Last Chapters of the Book of JOB JOB Chap. 38. Vers 1 2 3. 1. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said 2. Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge 3. Gird up now thy loines like a man for I will demand of thee and answer thou me THis Chapter begins the last Act or Conclusion of that great Disputation between Job and his three Friends held forth in this Book We have heard Jobs three Friends strongly charging him We have heard Job stiffely defending himself We have heard Elihu though moderating the matter between them yet sharply reproving him Elihu was indeed a quick but a necessary reprover provided and sent by God First To calm and coole Jobs spirit diâ—quieted by enduring sharp afflictions from the hand of God and heated by heaâ—ing those sharper accusations from the tongues of men Secondly To reclaim him from those over-eager defences of his own integrity and likewise from those over-passionate complaints abâ—ut the dealings of God to a better and more submissive temper of spirit towards him as also to lower thoughts of himself Elihu fell upon the usefull point and hit as I may say the Nail on the head he struck the right Vein and met with the peccant Humour yet being young and wanting gravity to set all home and make it work or to make the impression deep enough upon Job it was but need that God himself should second him and he did it to purpose or with full effect pressing the same Arguments for the main which Elihu had begun yet so that we may manifestly discern a wide difference whether we respect words or things matter or manner between men how much soever assisted by the spirit of God and God himself in speaking Here the Eternal God Jehovah having seen his faithful servant and stout Champion Job contending and wrastling long with Satan his professed enemy and with his harsh and censorious though both professed and real Friends foreseeing also that if Job and his Friends who had also been provoked by Elihu should have proceeded to answer him a new broil must needs begin God I say who never fails nor forsakes his in their extreamity or in time of their greatest need seeing and fore-seeing all this stept in most seasonably and most graciously to undertake the decision of this great Controversie between Job and his Friends in person raising a stormy Wind as a witness of his mighty presence or to testifie who was there as also though with a Fatherly love and affection yet impartially and plainly to convince Job of his errour shewing him wherein he had offended and bringing him at last upon his knees in a self-abhorrence and repentance in dust and ashes Thus God the chief Judge the great Arbitrator and Determiner of all doubts and questions and of all matters and things the great God I say declared himself to whom Job had made so many appeals whom he so earnestly desired to take further and fuller cognisance of his Cause He even He comes forth as a just and righteous Judge and lets him and his Friends know his mind and judgement in the case So then The Question ventilated in this Book is not stated according to the judgement of a man who is subject to errour but according to the infinite wisdom and understanding of the great God who searcheth the heart and knoweth all secrets who is light and in whom
c. The Hebrew Text doth not expresse this Adverb of time there 't is onely the Lord answered but we well supply it rendering then the Lord answered as if the Penman had said at that very nick instant or juncture of time the Lord came in the words were no sooner out of the mouth of Elihu he had no sooner concluded his speech with Job but the Lord began and answered Job and if the Lord had not just then interposed possibly Job might have replyed and a new heat might have risen to the encreasing of his troubles and the inflaming of all their Spirits as was hinted before therefore the Lord to stop all further proceedings or speech between them two began presently to speak himself Then the Lord answered Take this Observation from it The Lord will appear in the fittest season It was time for the Lord to appear lest this poor man should have been utterly swallowed up with sorrows and over-whelmed with his affliction or lest he should have been drawn out too long and too far in his bitter complainings and impatiency The Lord is a God of judgement blessed are they that wait for him Isa 30.18 He is a wise God and knows how to time every action he knowes when to appear when to shew himself As he himself will not contend for ever Isa 57.16 so neither will he let others contend overlong least the Spirit should sail before him and the soules which he hath made This is a comfortable truth with respect both to Nations and Persons both to the case of the Church of God in general and of every believer in particular The Apostle Peter having counselled the afflicted to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God 1 Pet. 5.6 addes this encouragement in the next words to do so that he may exalt you in due time though not in your time nor at your day the day when you would have him do it yet he will do it in time and in due time that is when it shall be most fit and best for you Thus he appeared to and for Job in the Text when the sorrowes of his heart were enlarged and when he had most need of such an appearance The Lord knows how at any time and when 't is the most proper time to relieve his servants Then The Lord answered Job The word here used is Jehovah and several of the Learned take notice that it is here used with a special significancy for in the discourses of Job and his friends throughout this Book other names of God are if not universally yet mostly used as Elshaddai Eloah c. In the first Chapter indeed where God is spoken of by the divine Historian or sacred Penman of this History he is named Jehovah as also in some other such like places but in the body of the dispute not so And two reasons may be given of it First The name Jehovah imports the Being of God and therefore God himself being about to speak of his giving a Being to the whole Creation and to several sorts of creatures he is most properly represented by his name Jehovah which as it implyeth that he is the First Being the Fountain of his own Being or that he is of himself so that he gives a Being to all things and that in him as the Apostle told the great Philosophers of Athens Acts 17. we live and move and have our being Secondly The Lord though he came in a Whirle-wind yet manifested himself in a clearer light to Job than ever he had done before Now as in the third of Exodus when the Lord sent Moses to the people of Israel to bring them up out of Egypt to Canaan which was a great work one of the greatest that was ever done in the world and in which the Lord made the most glorious discovery of his Power Justice and Mercy when God I say sent Moses upon this service he said unto him Exod. 6.2 3. I am the Lord I am Jehovah and I appeared unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob by the Name of God Almighty but by my name Jehovah was I not known to them God being about to make himself more known in the world than he had been to that day by his dreadful plagues upon Pharaoh and the miraculous deliverance of his people out of Egypt as he said chap. 9.16 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up for to shew in thee my power and that my name may be declared in all the earth The Lord I say being about to doe these great things for the manifestation of his own greatness gave this charge to Moses at the sixth verse of the sixth chapter before mentioned Wherefore say unto the children of Israel I am Jehovah and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians c. Thus in this latter part of the book of Job the Lord being about to loosen the bonds of Jobs affliction and to ease him of his burden as also to declare and manifest himself more clearly to him than formerly as he confessed chap. 42.5 I have heard of thee by the hearing of the eare but now mine eyes have seen thee he therefore assumed his great name Jehovah Then the Lord Answered Job c. But some may say Job had not spoken lately much lesse last Elihu spake out six whole Chapters since Job spake a word and though Elihu gave him the liberty yea almost provoked him to speak yet he laid his hand upon his mouth he spake not a word How then can it be said The Lord answered Job To avoid this difficulty Some render Then the Lord answered concerning or about Job And these turn the whole discourse of God in this and the next Chapter upon Elihu in favour of Job I shall touch upon that opinion and interpretation as was said afterwards but at present affirm that Job was the person to whom the Lord here directed his Answer and to take off this doubt how the Lord could be said to answer Job when Job had not spoken last but Elihu I answer as upon a like occasion it hath been elsewhere shewed in this book ch 3.2 that sometimes in Scripture a Speech begun is called an Answer where nothing had been spoken before to which that speech could be applied in way of answer Matth. 11.25 Matth. 17.4 The reason of this Hebraisme is because such as begin to speak do either answer the necessity of the matter or the desire of the hearers and so they give a real and vertual though not a formal Answer Yet there are two considerations in which we may apply the word Answer formally and strictly taken to Job First If we consider Job's wishes and requests Secondly If we consider Job's complaints and though the word be somewhat hard his murmurings The Lord may be said to answer Job as to his wish desire or request because Job had earnestly desired and requested more than once that God would take
his Cause in hand or that he would have the hearing of it Thus he spake at the third verse of the three and twentieth Chapter O that I knew where I might find him that I might come even to his Seat I would order my Cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments Zophar also one of Jobs friends made the same request concerning Job Chap. 11.2 O that God would speak and open his lips against thee As if he had said Eliphaz hath been speaking and Bildad hath been speaking and I am now about to speak but O that God would speak It was the wish of Job that God would speak and it was the wish of this his friend and now behold God appears possibly beyond their expectation though not beside their wish for 't is like they had not faith enough to beleeve that God would answer those wishes So then God may be said here to answer because as it was prayed he now took the matter into his own hand and in person as I may say argued the Case with Job and finally determined his Cause Hence Note The wishes requests and prayers of good men have sometimes been heard though they were over-bold in making them or had no clear ground to make them Job had no rule for such a Petition that he might presently have a trial at the Tribunal of God yet God was so gracious as to answer him in it not onely to his reproof but to his comfort The Name of God is O thou that hearest prayer Psal 65.2 If carnal men have their extravagant prayers and wishes granted 't is in wrath but if the Lord grant the passionate prayers and wishes of a godly man it proves though sometimes a present affliction yet alwayes upon one account or other a mercy in the issue When the lusting Israelites wisht for flesh the Lord heard their wishes take Quails your bellies full till they come out at your nostrils but while the meat was in their mouths the wrath of God fell upon them If the Lord grants what lust asketh such pay dear for what they have for the asking It hath been anciently said Multi irato deo exaudiuntur many have their prayers heard in meer anger so are all theirs who pray for what they have not in meer discontent with what they have The Lord heard Job and not in anger but in favour and condescention to him Now if some not well grounded nor warranted requests of good men may be granted and answered the Lord pitying their weakness and eyeing their uprightness in favour how much more may they be confident that their gracious and humble requests such requests as are every way sutable to the Word and Will of God shall be graciously answered Secondly The Lord answered as the Prayer and Wish so the Complaints of Job He had complained sometimes though he were a mirror of patience impatiently These complaints the Lord answered but it was with severe and sharp reproofs as we find in the next verse To conclude this query we may say God had two great ends or designs in answering both the wishes and complaints of Job First That he might humble and convince him that he might stop his mouth and silence his complainings for ever as he did most effectually Secondly That after his humiliation and repentance he might justifie and acquit him and also restore him to his former comforts and enjoyments as he did most mercifully This being the design of the Lord in speaking to Job what he said may well be called an Answer But how or in what manner did the Lord answer him Surely in such a manner as never man was answered The Lord answered Job Out of the Whirlwind He answered him as we say to some Tune A Whirlwind makes strange kind of Musick A Whirlwind is a sudden mighty loud-blustring Wind taking away or bearing down all before it A Whirlwind is a Wind which moves whirling and gyring about all the points of the Compass no man knows where to have it nor how to shelter himself from it I have had occasion to speak of the Wind and of the natural ordinary Whirlwind in the former Chapter But here 's a Whirlwind extraordinary if not supernatural There 's much questioning among some Interpreters how we are to conceive of this Whirlwind I would answer that point a little and then give some account why the Lord spake to Job out of such a Whirlwind First Some affirm that it was onely a Visional Whirlwind As if the Lord appeared as it were in a Tempest or Whirlwind to Job in a deep sleep such as was upon Adam Gen. 2.21 when the Lord took one of his ribs and made the Woman In such a deep sleep say they Job saw a Whirlwind and heard the Lord speaking to him out of it As Ezekiel who in a Vision looked and behold a Whirlwind came out of the North as we read in the first Chapter of that Prophesie verse 4. Secondly Others conceive that it was not a Visional but a Metaphorical Whirlwind or a Whirlwind in a figure and we may give you a threefold Metaphor or three things to which this passage of Providence may allude to a speaking out of a Whirlwind First God answered Job out of the Whirlwind that is when there was a great bussle or storm among the Disputants conflicting about Jobs case one moving this way another thar all being tossed about as it were with the wind of their several opinions in ventitalating his condition Out of this Whirlwind it was say some or while all were thus discomposed in their spirits and could not compose the matter in difference between them and Job during this hurry or troublesome state of things and minds the Lord arose and answered Job Secondly The Lord may be said to answer Job out of the Whirlwind because he spake to him angrily displeasedly and reprovingly Anger especially the Lords Anger or Displeasure is often in Scripture compared to a Storm or Tempest As if this Whirlwind were nothing else but a sharp angry chiding When a man chides we say The man 's in a storm and we may say with reverence when the Lord speaks chidingly as he did to Job he is in a storm or according to the Text speakes out of a Sto my Whirlwind Thus also when the Lord speaks pleasingly and gently then he may be said to speak in a calm There 's a truth in that Thirdly The Lord answered in a Whirlwind that is while Job both as to his outward condition and inward disposition or the frame of his spirit was evidently in a great storm or toss For doubtless his spirit was very stormy and tossed up and down at that time that is much troubled and disquieted upon the with-drawings of God and the unkindness of his friends Now when Job had this Stoâ—m this Whirlwind in his spirit the Lord appeared and answered him Thus some conceive it though not a Visional Whirlwind yet a
in this duty The Apostle speaks concerning the Woâ—k of the Ministry 2 Cor. 6.1 We as workers together those words with him are put in by the Translators and the supply is to a very good sense We as workers together with him that is with God For he is pleased to use his Ministers as Workers together with himself Yet it may well be understood concerning the Ministers of the Gospel only joyning in this one thing that is with one voice or one cry beseeching sinners to be reconciled unto God chap. 5.20 and that as it followeth in the close of this first verse chap. 6. They receive not the grace of God in vain All Ministers should be workers together As all the Angels were siâ—gers together and shouters together so the Ministers of Christ should be workers together That which is the work of one is the work of them all and they should all joyn in it And how sad is it to see those who call themselves and would be accounted the Sons of God divided in their work and way when one rejoyceth in that which to another is cause of mourning when one mans meat is as we speak proverbially another mans poyson or one mans comfort another mans grief How many are there who cannot joyn in rejoycing and thanksgiving for works of God I mean Providential Works as eminent in their kind as the Creation Work or the laying of the foundations of the Earth That will be a blessed day when we shall see the full effect of that prophesie Zeph. 3.9 Then will I saith the Lord turn to the people a pure Lip of Language that they may all call upon the Name of the Lord with one consent or shoulder Here 's a promise of all as one and of all with one consent shoulder inward outward man associated in prayer or calling upon the Name of the Lord which by a Synechdoche includes all the parts and takes in the whole compass of the worship of God The accomplishment of this prophesie was the scope of Apostolical Prayer Rom. 15.5 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another according to or as the Margin hath it after the example of Christ Jesus that ye may with one mind and with one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ All the Sons of God in the Text were of one mind and had as it were but one mouth the joy of one was the joy of them all All the Sons of God on Earth have this principle in them to rejoyce in God and to magnifie God for his mercy onely all have not the same light They that have not an habitual principle in them to praise God in and for his works are not of his family they are not worthy to be reckoned Sons of God who have not a readiness or present disposition in them to joyn with all or with any of his true Sons in shouting for joy at his gracious appearances in his mighty works of mercy as also in humbling themselves together with them at the terrible appearances of his dreadful works of Judgement or at the usual prognosticks or fore-runners of them Again Taking the Stars for the Angels they were Morning Stars the Angels sang and shouted for joy in the Morning Hence Observe The very first appearances of the power and wisdom of God in his works should put us upon the work of praise and rejoycing We say truly better late than never but 't is best to be early and with the first in a good work David did not onely awake early or in the morning to praise God but as the Hebrew may be rendred he awakened the morning Psal 57.8 David was a morning man in praising of God so were the Angels 'T is healthful both for soul and body to be morning men to be early both in praising God and praying to him God requires and he infinitely deserves the first fruits of our time our youth which is the morning of our life the first fruits of our age should be dedicated to God Eccles 12.1 and so should the morning which is the youth if I may so speak of every day Our first thoughts should be of God and with God as soon as we awake we should set open the door of our hearts by meditation to let God in and knock open the doors of heaven by prayer and supplication to get in to God It should not be unlamented that the course of most men runs so contrary to this their senses are no sooner loosed from the bands of sleep but they let loose their thoughts and set the doors of their souls wide open to sensitive sometimes to wicked and sensual objects and so shut out God and matters of greatest moment to and about their immortal souls How unworthy are such of this blessed relation under which the Angels those early praisers of God are here represented Sons of God Thirdly In that it is here said All the Sons of God shouted for joy that is all the Angels then created Observe They who have joyned in some outward worships of God may yet fall off and apostatize Here all the Angels of God joyned in this thanksgiving at first yet soon very soon after a great part of the Angels rebelled against God and became Apostates for presently upon the Creation of man which was the sixth day there was a Devil a Tempter who overthrew man yet here we have all the Angels in a holy Quire Hypocrites are forward to joyn in acts of praise in acts of prayer in acts of hearing who yet in time of temptation fall away and so fall into as bad a condition as the fallen Angels of whom the Apostle Jude saith vers 6. that not having kept their first estate or principality but leaving their own habitation appointed them of God he hath reserved them in everlasting chains both of Providence and Justice under darkness unto the Judgement of the Great Day Fourthly Observe The great business of Angels and that which they are most bent to is to praise God Psal 103.20 Psal 148.2 Isa 6.3 And as at the birth of the World the Angels shouted for joy so at the birth of Jesus Christ who was the Author of the second Creation as well as of the first the Angels shouted for joy suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God Luke 2.13 To praise God is heavenly work 't is angelical work the most proper work of the Sons of God We shall not alwayes have need of praying but we shall alwayes have cause to be praising and shouting for joy This shout will remain to all eternity Praise is the most spiritual work and requires the most spiritual frame of heart and therefore the chief of that work is reserved to an estate wherein not only our souls but our bodies too shall be altogether spiritual Fifthly Note The Work of Creation should continually call up
generation lying upon his death-bed a friend asked him whether the light shining into the room did not offend him he answâ—red Hic sat lucis Oecolampadius putting his hand upon his heart Here I have light enough The heart of a godly man is the house of spiritual light there he hath and holds the light of divine knowledge about the things of the Gospel and the light of divine comfort arising from that knowledge It is also reported of Mr. Deering our Countrey-man that in his last sickness and towards his end being set upright in his bed for his ease a friend requested him that he would speak something for the edification and comfort of those about him Whereupon the Sun shining in his face he took occasion to speak thus There is but one Sun in the world and there is but one Sun of righteousness which graciously shineth upon me speaking further he concluded thus I bless God I have so much light of joy and comfort in my soul that were it put to my wish or choice I had rather a thousand times die than live As the hearts of these worthies were the dwelling place of light so is the heart of every godly person in his measure and degree the light of knowledge and of joy abide there The Apostle saith 2 Cor. 4.6 God who commanded light to shine out of darkness hath shined into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ And where that shine of God gives the light of knowledge the light of comfort cannot be withheld unless it be for a season that the soul may rejoyce the more in the end and at last without end For Lastly There is an eternal light the light of Glory and that hath a certain dwelling place that light dwelleth alwayes in heaven and the Saints at rest in heaven dwell alwayes in that light Eternal glory is called the inheritance of the saints in light Col. 1.12 Again Spiritual darkness hath its place and we should labour to know the place of that darkness to avoid it Ignorance is spiritual darkness and that dwells in the heart of every man by nature All that continue in that sad condition have their understanding darkened through the ignorance that is in them Eph. 4.18 and they who now are in the light were once in the dark yea they were darkness Eph. 5.8 Let it also be remembred in whomsoever this darkness of sin and ignorance abides they must abide under the darkness of wrath and judgement for ever The place where that darkness dwells is hell and there outer darkness as 't is often called in the Gospel dwells even such darkness as wherein the damned are not onely out of the possession of the least ray or glimmering of light but without any hope or expectation of it Hell is quite beyond the bound or boundaries of light there 's darkness and thick darkness nothing but darkness Thus we see light and darkness have their places natural light and darkness have theirs and so have spiritual and eternal light and darkness Secondly From the scope of these two verses Observe It is God who disposeth and ordereth light and darkness The question was put to Job whether he had disposed of them but he could not assume to himself that he had taken or laid the light to the bound thereof or knew the paths to the house thereof Light and darkness are at the dispose and under the command of God alone And as the work or power of God is wonderful in the dispose of natural light and darkness so 't is much more wonness in the dispose of civil spiritual and eternal light and darkderful these the Lord taketh to their bound and knoweth the paths to their house I form light and create darkness saith the Lord Isa 45.7 What light and darkness doth the Lord there speak of Surely of civil light and darkness as the next words import I make peace and create evil I make and create them I also direct and appoint them whither to go whether to a Nation or to a man only whether to this or that man or Nation Darkness is of me as truly as light And that not only civil but spiritual and eternal light and darkness are at Gods dispose is as evident from the Scriptures of truth Some lands may be called lands of light like Goshen others like Egypt under that three days plague may be called lands of darkness Of such lands that complaint is made Psal 74.20 The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty All places of the earth full of ignorance not knowing God of atheisme not acknowledging God of idolatry worshipping false gods or the true God â—alsly may be called lands of darkness or the dark places of the earth Now as the Lord maketh one land a place of spiritual light so he leaveth another to be a place of darkness And he often maketh changes from darkness to light that 's mercy and from light to darkness that 's wrath in the same lands Some lands which had sate in darkness for ages and generations the Lord hath visited with Gospel light and some lands which for ages and generations had that light are now laid in darkness How sad a witness of this are the anciently famous seats of the Asian and African Churches now under Mahometan power And further as the Lord disposeth that outward spiritual light and darkness giving the knowledge of the Gospel to or taking it away from Nations as he pleaseth so he dispoâ—eth inward light or darkness to every soul Some gracious souls walk in the light of Gods countenance and under the sweet shinings of his face every day others who also as the Prophet speaks Isa 50.10 Fear the Lord and obey the voice of his servants walk in darkness and see no light Now whence cometh this difference Is it not of the Lord who hath the command of our joys and of our sorrows and who appoints this kind of light and darkness their several and special places according to the soveraignty of his own Will From all that hath been said we may draw down this conclusion which the Lord did chiefly aim at in dealing with Job That we are to own and acknowledge the hand of God in every condition be it light or be it darkness be it joy or be it sorrow 't is all of God There is nothing which concerns either the comfort or trouble of man but comes forth from God and is ordered by him like as in all ages and revolutions of time light and darkness have held their course and kept their place according to his institution and direction Job was in darkness both as to his outward and inward estate his body was pained his soul was grieved anguish â—â—llâ—d 〈◊〉 spirit and God would have him see know and acknowledge his hand in all As if he had said Thou canst no more dispose the peace
him I look upon the proud man and bring him low now let me see you do so too Canst thou with a look only abate their pride and bring down the pomp of man Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath Hence note First There is wrath in God God knoweth how to cast forth his wrath as well as to send forth his love Habet ira Domini suam energiam nunquam egreditur vana or shed it abroad as the Apostles word is Rom. 5.5 in the hearts of his justified ones by the holy Ghost which is given unto them The wrath of God saith the same Apostle Rom. 1.18 is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness The wrath of God is such as we can neither First withstand nor Secondly avoid there 's no out-running no making an escape from it but only by Jesus Christ and therefore the Apostle gives that glory to him alone 1 Thess 1.10 Even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come There is a wrath to come which God will scatter over all this sinful wicked world blessed are they that are delivered from it Yea not only is there wrath in God but a fierceness of wrath terrible wrath such as will cause the wicked as was said before to run into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth Isa 2.19 Let us mind this wrath and the fierceness of it and let us bless the Lord who hath sent Jesus Christ â—o deliver us from this wrath and from the fierceness of it When wrath shall be cast abroad upon the wicked world that it falls not upon the godly is the fruit of highest and freest love And though they sip of the cup yet that they drink not the dregs of it is rich mercy Psal 75.98 In the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red it is full of mixture and he powreth out the same in this powring out possibly a godly man may drink somewhat of it especially in a time of common calamity but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them It is of the Lords mercy and because his compassions fail not that we are delivered from the fierceness of his wrath and from drinking the very dregs of the cup of his displeasure Consider further upon whom this wrath will be exercised Cast forth the rage of thy wrath behold every one that is proud and abase him This the Lord bids Job do to shew what himself usually doth Hence note First The Lord takes special notice of proud persons He beholds them he locks upon them As it is said Saul 1 Sam. 18.9 He eyed David from that day forward that is which was his great sin he cast a revengeful envious eye upon him Thus when the holy God seeth wicked men gâ—ow lofty and proud he eyeth and beholdeth them from that very day with an eye of just revenge or with a purpose to break them and be revenged on them God beholds them as I may say with an evil eye that is with an intent to bring evil upon them He saith David Psal 138.6 knoweth the proud afar off As it is said of the Father of the humbled Prodigal in the Parable Luke 15. When he was yet a great way off his father saw him and had compassion So God quickly spies out a proud man even a great way off and hath indignation against him or as we may rather expound the Psalm He knoweth the proud afar off that is a proud man shall never come near him he will not admit him into his presence much less into his imbraces To be known afar off is to be far from the favourable or respectful knowledge of God yea to those whom the Lord knows afar off in this world he will say in the next I never knew you depart from me ye workers of iniquity Mat. 7.23 Secondly Note God is able to and will cast down proud men That which he would have Job do he himself as was said usually doth He beholdeth the proud and abaseth them he layeth them low Nebuchadnezzar that proud Monarch was brought to that confession Dan. 4.37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and honour and extol the King of Heaven all whose works are true and his ways judgment and those that walk in pride he is able to abase If men will be proud and lofty the Lord both knoweth very well how and is able very easily to bring them down And as he knows how and is able to deal with proud men so he desires and delights to deal with them above all sorts of sinners his greatest contests are with the proud Isa 2.12 13 14. The day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty and upon every one that is lifted up in his own conceit especially and he shall be brought low and upon all the Cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up and upon all the Oaks of Bashan and upon all the high mountains c. What meaneth the Prophet by these is the Lord angry with trees and mountains These are but the shadows of great and proud men the day of the Lord shall be upon every one of them and his hand will be heavy upon them in that day Proud men look upon themselves much above others but as God is above them so he loves to shew himself ahove them especially when they shew out their pride As Jethroe said to Moses Exod. 18.9 11. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them God sheweth himself above all when he acts above proud men and acts them down in their proudest actings And as the Lord delights to bring proud men down so he will certainly do it he is resolved upon it He looketh upon every one that is proud to abase him The Angels that fell were proud they kept not their first estate but left their habitation they did not like the state wherein God had placed them and therefo e God cast them down and he hath reserved them in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day Jude 6. When man in Paradise began to be proud and would be more than God made him God made him above all earthly creatures but he would be as God as his Creator he would be as it were the founder of his own happiness pride and unbelief at once took hold of him and led him to his sin-fall and then followed his fall his judgment-fall God cast him down God abased him and not only that proud man but man-kind for his pride they being in him his pride was theirs And to this day God hath all along set his face against all proud men and the pride
and â—readless drinking in the two last verses of the Chapter Behold he drinketh up a River and hasteth not for fear he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth not an ordinary River but Jordan a high expression to shew the extream thirst of this creature according to our reading and how large a cask he hath to hold his liquor He trusteth that he can draw up Jordan with his mouth he taketh it with his eyes he thrusts his head into the water up to the eyes and his nose pierceth through snares By these six particulars this creature is described upon all which I shall adde somewhat distinctly and briefly Behold now Behemoth which I have made with thee God calls Job to a very attentive consideration being to enter upon a discourse about the creature Behold is a usual word of attention it also is a word which carries admiration in it it gives us warning that the matter following is of no ordinary importance and surely that which followeth here is not Behold now Behemoth Hence note The works of God especially his great works are very attentively to be considered Let 's not think it a matter of indifferency whether we consider these works of God yea or no. Here is a Behold prefixt lest we should say what should we stay our minds upon beasts upon Behemoth or Leviathan we have other more spiritual objects to think upon 'T is true we have but we must take heed of slighting these objects especially when God doth as it were travel by his Spirit to set them forth before the eye of our mind in their utmost grandure and excellency We should not pass the least work of God lightly by much less should we so pass by the great works of God We should not lightly pass by the least mercy of God but think much of little mercies little mercies are great mercies to us seeing we are less than the least of them as Jacob spake Gen. 32.10 but we must especially consider great mercies great deliverances great salvations upon them our minds must stay or make a stand and our meditations dwell We are also to consider and well to view all our sins our little sins our least failings seeing they have a greatness in them as being committed against the great God and as being able to do us great hurt and to draw down great wrath upon us if not repented of and turned from but our great sins must much more be viewed and considered And every godly man doth so he holds the eye of his soul upon the ugly face of great sins especially to discover the deformity and iniquity of them to the utmost that he may be greatly humbled for them Now as we should not lightly pass by our least mercies and sins but very deeply consider our great mercies and sins so we should not neglect the least creature the least work of God the great wisdom and power of God are visible in the least but we should seriously consider the more noble creatures and the greater works of God whether they be works of creation or woâ—ks of providence I may say as Christ Mat. 23.23 about tything mint annise and cummin these things ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone Christ used a piece of rhetoâ—ick when he said You should not leave them undone his meaning was you should do those greater things of the Law judgement righteousness and faith with greatest exactness So I say in this case you are not to leave the least pieces of Gods work in creation or providence unviewed unconsidered unmeditated but his great works his Behemoths you should behold study and admire or behold and study with admiration When I consider saith David Psal 8.3 the Heavens the work of thy hands the Sun and the Moon c. This implyeth that David did often consider the Heavens those great pieces of Gods work as also the great Luminaries there placed and moving with admired swiftness and evenness continually Though we are chiefly to behold spiritual things yet we must not think our time lost in beholding natural things though we should specially behold Gods gracious woâ—ks the works of grace the workmanship of God in framing the new creature yet we must also behold the old creation and view every piece of it especially the great pieces of it Again though we should behold and be looking to the Author and fiâ—isher of our faith though we should as the Baptist called some to do in his time and all to do in all times John 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world our eyes and our hearts the eye of our faith should be upon Christ the Lamb of God more ten thousand times more than upon Leviathan or Behemoth yet 't is our duty to behold Behemoth and Leviathan Jesus Christ saith Isa 65.1 Behold me behold me 'T is the word here in Job Jesus Christ speaks there as if he would call off our eys and hearts from all things in the world to behold himself and in comparison so we should He is the most amiable sight or spectacle in the world and therefore ought to be the desire of our eyes yet in their places there are other worthy spectacles for us to behold especially as they hold forth and as in them we may behold the power wisdom and goodness of God Let no man say we lose our time in a due meditation upon any of the creatures which God hath made for he hath made them that we should behold and meditate upon them Behold now Behemoth The word Behemoth is applicable to or may signifie any greater or great beast of the field Gen. 3.14 The Lord said unto the serpent because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pecus majus and above every beast of the field And again Every beast of the forrest is mine saith the Lord Psal 50.10 and the cattel upon a thousand hills Hence some conceive that we are here to understand beasts in general the word Behemoth being in the plural number Behold now the beasts as if the Lord pointed at all the beasts of the field in this Behold And ' â—is a truth we are to consider them all but it is very improbable that in this place God calls Job to behold the beasts of the field in general and not rather some one in special And I may give four reasons for it First Because in the former Chapter God had spoken of divers particular beasts of the earth and therefore doubtless here also he speaks of some particular beast Secondly That creature which is joyned with Behemoth in this discourse is by most taken for a particular kind of fish in the Sea and therefore 't is most congruous that Behemoth should denote some particular kind of beast at land Thirdly and chiefly The description given here of Behemoth will not fit all sorts of beasts in the
Nathan the Prophet did to reprove King David but he told his friends at first word My wrath is kindled against you Though they were good men yet not so dear to God as Job and therefore he dealt in a more fatherly and favourable way with Job than with them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exarsit incensus inflammatus est Inter septem voculas Hebraeorum quae iram significant haec omnium est gravissima Scult they had only hot words My wrath is kindled against you c. I am more than angry As the coals of spiritual love spoken of Cant. 8.6 so the coals of divine wrath are coals of fire which hath a most vehement flame There are seven words in the Hebrew language which signifie anger and this notes the most vehement of them all My wrath is kindled The Latine words Ira and Irasco seem to be derived from it The word is sometimes applied to grief there is a kind of fire in grief Thus 't is said 1 Sam. 15.11 It grieved Samuel and he cryed unto the Lord all night Samuel was vehemently grieved becauâ—e of the ill performance of Saul in his expedition against the Amalakites 'T is also translated to fret Psal 37.8 9. Fret not thy self in any wise to do evil fretting hath its burning My wrath saith the Lord is kindled There is a wrath of God which is not kindled as I may say it is not blown up 't is covered in the ashes of his patience and forbearance but here saith God My wrath is kindled This is spoken by God after the manner of men God feels no change by wrath or anger no impression is made on him by any passion Wrath in God notes only his change of dispensations towards man not any in himself When he acts like a man whose wrath is greatly kindled then 't is said his wrath is kindled as when he acteth like a man that sheweth much love it may be said his love is kindled Further when God saith My wrath is kindled it implieth there is some great provocation given him by man as in the present case Eliphaz and his two friends had done The Lord threatned a sinful Land with brimstone and salt and burning like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and this being executed all Nations shall say wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this Land what meaneth the heat of this great anger Then men shall say because they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord God of their Fathers c. Deut. 29.23 24 25. The wrath of God is never kindled till blown and that which bloweth it up is mans sin nor doth the ordinary sins of man kindle the wrath of God for then it must be alwayes kindled even against the best of men Doubtless when the Lord said in the Text to Eliphaz My wrath is kindled against thee and thy two friends there was somewhat extraordinary in their sin which kindled it and therefore the Lord directed them an extraordinary way as to circumstances for the querching of it and the making of their peace But here it may be questioned why did the Lord say his wrath was kindled only against Eliphaz and his two friends had he nothing to say against Elihu he had spoken as harshly to Job as any of them yet Elihu was not at all reproved much less was the wrath of God kindled against him I answer 'T is true Elihu spake very hard words of Job yet we may say four things of Elihu which might exempt him from this blame which fell upon those three First He did not speak with nor discover a bitter spirit as they did Secondly Elihu objected not against Job his former life nor charged him as having done wickedly towards man or hypocritically towards God he only condemned him for present miscarriages under his trouble for impatience and unquietness of spirit under the cross Thirdly That which Elihu chiefly objected against Job was the justifying of himself rather than God as he speaks at the beginning of the 32d Chapter not the maintaining of his own innocency nor the justifying of himself before men Indeed Job failed while he insisted so much upon that point that he seemed more careful to clear himself than to justifie God Fourthly When Elihu spake hardly it was more out of a true zeal to defend the justice of God in afflicting him than to tax him with injustice Now because Elihu did not carry it with a bitter spirit and hit the mark much better than his friends though in some things he also shot wide and misunderstood Job therefore the blame fell only upon Jobs three friends and not upon Elihu The Lord said to Eliphaz my wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two friends but his wrath went no further Hence note First The Lord knows how to declare wrath as well as love displeasure as well as favour He hath a store of wrath as well as of love and that is kindled when he is highly displeased Secondly Note Sin causeth kindlings or discoveries of divine wrath Had it not been for sin the Lord had never declared any wrath in the world nothing had gone out from him but kindness and love favours and mercies Wrath is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and against unrighteousness only Rom. 1.18 Unrighteousness kindleth wrath sin is the kindle-coal When we see wrath or displeasure going out we may conclude sin is gone out Moses said to Aaron Numb 16.46 Take a Censer and put fire therein from off the altar and put on incense and go quickly unto the congregation and make an atonement for them for there is wrath gone out from the Lord the plague is begun Now as in this latter part of the chapter Moses shews that wrath was gone out against that people from the Lord so in the former part of it he shews that sin and that a great sin was gone out from that people against the Lord. Thirdly Note The Lord sometimes declareth wrath even against those whom he loveth Wrath may fall upon good men such were these friends of Job All the Elect whilest they remain unconverted or uncalled are called Children of wrath Ephes 2.3 Though they are in the everlasting love of God yet they are children of wrath as to their present condition whilst in a state of nature and unreconciled to God Now as the children of God are children of wrath before their conversion so when any great sin is committed after conversion they are in some sense under wrath and the Lord declareth wrath against them till the breach be healed and their peace sued out It is dangerous continuing for a moment in any sin unrepented of or we not going unto God by Jesus Christ for pardon When once the wrath of God is kindled how far it may burn who knoweth There is no safety under guilt Therefore kiss the son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little blessed
more than a bare rebuke here was a blow given and that a sore one The Lord deals gently with some sinners that none may despair and severely with others though his servants that none may presume Only let us remember that when the Lord at any time doth chasten and rebuke his servants for sin with great severity he doth not drive them away nor discourage them but would have them look to him for pardon and healing When he judgeth them as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 11.32 he doth not condemn them or if we call it a condemnation yet he doth not condemn them with the world nor as he condemns the world God condemns the unbelieving world to destruction but he condemns his servants only for their humiliation The goodness of God appears much in these two things First In his flowness to anger his mercy doth even clog his justice and gives it leaden feet it comes slowly Secondly In his readiness to show mercy The Scripture saith he is slow to wrath and ready to forgive his goodness doth even adde wings to his mercy causing it to fly swiftly to the relief of sensible and humbled sinners or as one of the Ancients expresseth he sharpneth the sword of his justice with the oile of his mercy and so it becomes a healing as well as a wounding sword Secondly In that the Lord himself gave this direction Take unto you seven bullocks and seven rams c. Observe God against whom we sin sheweth us the way to get peace and the pardon of our sins When man sinned at first or when the first man fell into sin there he had lain for ever if the Lord had not shewed him a way out Had it been left to man to devise a way to recover himself when he was fallen his fall had been irrecoverable he had never found how to get at once his sin pardoned and the justice of God satisfied This was the Lords own invention and it was the most noble and excellent one that ever was in the world he shewed fallen man at first how to get up and here he gave direction to these fallen men what to do that they might The Lord who was their Judge was also their Counsellor Thirdly Consider the particular way of their peace-making it was by sacrifice Take unto you seven bullocks and seven rams c. Hence note Sacrifices for sin were appointed and commanded by God not devised by man Sacrifices have been from the beginning Cain and Abel brought their offerings unto the Lord Gen. 4.3 4. Noah also builded an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt-offerings on the altar Gen. 8.20 Abraham offered the ram for a burnt-offering Gen. 22.13 Now though the law for sacrifices was not formally given in those times yet it was really given All those elder sacrifices were of the Lords appointment and by his direction as well as those in and after the days of Moses There is no expiating of sin against God by the inventions of man Heathens offered sacrifices to their Idol-gods imitating the worship of the true God The Devil is Gods ape Typical sacrifices were of God for the taking away of the sin of man And so was the true sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ when he that is Christ said sacrifice and offering and burnt-offering and offering for sin thou wouldst not that is thou wouldst not have those legal sacrifices nor didst ever intend to have them as satisfactions to thy offended justice ultimately to rest in them then said he that is Christ Lo I come to do thy will O God Heb. 10.8 9. It was the will of God that Jesus Christ should be the expiatory sacrifice for the sin of man by the which will v. 10. We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all The sacrifice of Christ himself had not saved us if it had not been of Gods appointment nor could any sacrifice have so much as shadowed the way or means of our salvation if God had not appointed it Fourthly Consider the purpose for which the Lord commanded Eliphaz c. to offer their sacrifice it was to make an attonement for their sin Hence Observe Sin must have a sacrifice There was never any way in the world from first to last to help a sinner but by a sacrifice and who was the sacrifice Surely Jesus Christ was the sacrifice it was not the blood of bulls and goats of bullocks and rams that could take away sin as the Apostle argueth at large in the Epistle to the Hebrews these could never take away sin these only pointed at Jesus Christ who alone did it by bearing our sins and by being made a sacrifice for them To typifie or shew this we read in the law of Moses that the sin of the offender was laid upon the sacrifice and a sacrifice for sin was called sin by the Prophet long before Christ came Dan. 9.24 He shall make an end of sin that is when Christ shall come in the flesh he shall make an end of all sacrifices for sin and so the Apostle called it after Christ was come and had suffered in the flesh 2 Cor. 5.21 He made him to be sin that is a sacrifice for sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him The sacrifice was called sin because the sin of the person who brought it and in whose behalf it was offered was laid upon the sacrifice there was as it were a translation of the sin from the person to the sacrifice In which sence Luther is to be understood when he said Jesus Christ was the greatest sinner in the world not that he had any sin in his nature or any sin in his life but because he had the sins of all that are or shall be saved laid upon him as the Prophet spake Isa 53.6 The Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all or as our Margin hath it He hath made the iniquity of us all to meet on him And there is no atonement for sin but by a sacrifice So the Lord ordained the offering up of a whole burnt-offering for the taking away of sin that sinners might see what they had deserved even to die and not only so but to be wholly burnt and consumed in the fire of his wrath Impenitent sinners shall be consumed in fire that shall never be extinguished nor ever extinguish them they shall abide in an ever-living death or in an ever-dying life They who rest not upon the sacrifice of Christ once offered must be a sacrifice themselves alwayes offered to the justice and wrath of God Here it may be questioned why the Lord commanded them to offer seven Bullocks and seven Rams what could the blood of seven do more than the blood of one I answer First This being a great sacrifice possibly the Lord commanded it thereby to intimate the greatness of their sin Two things chiefly shew the greatness of a
sin First the greatness of the punishment laid upon the sinner Secondly the greatness of the means used for the healing of that breach which sin hath made I answer Secondly the number seven being a Symbol of perfection as was said before figured the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ who by one offering hath for ever perfected them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 A perfect number of sacrifices was fittest to shadow the infinite perfection of that one sacrifice which makes and which only makes all the comers thereunto perfect For though a person under the Law having offered his sacrifice was no more reckoned guilty of that sin by men yet his conscience did still accuse him of and charge him with sin and therefore sacrifices were renewed Heb. 10.1 2. nor could the accusings of conscience be quieted but by looking to Christ by faith whom the sacrifice shadowed and the sacrificer was to point at Fifthly In that the Lord sent Eliphaz and his two friends unto Job with their sacrifice Observe We must reconcile our selves to those we have wronged before we can look to be reconciled unto God against whom we have sinned or to be accepted of him in any service The counsel of Christ directs to this Mat. 5.23 24. If thou bringest thy gift unto the Altar and there remembrest that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and go thy way first be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift This general command of Christ is the same in effect with what the Lord here long before gave particularly and personally to Eliphaz and his two friends they must first go and be reconciled to Job and then offer their sacrifice This the Apostle also gave in charge 1 Tim. 2.8 I will therefore that men pray every where holding up holy hands but how without wrath and doubting There are two things required if we look to be accepted of God in any service First Faith Secondly Love or charity There must be faith else we cannot lift up holy hands without doubting There must be love else we cannot lift up holy hands without wrath They who are suing for and expecting favour and mercy from God have need to discharge themselves of all wrath and revenge towards man With what face can any expect favour from God who will not acknowledge wherein they have wronged man Sixthly Observe God is very tender of the credit of his faithful servants he will not be reconciled unless they are righted Job had been wronged no man more by the censures of his friends and God was so tender of his honour and reputation that his friends must make him reparation before God will accept their sacrifice One reason why God is so tender of the credit of his servants is because they are tender of his and will undergo any wrong rather than his Name shall be blasphemed or wronged As God will himself honour them who honour him 1 Sam. 2.30 so he will one time or other some way or other retrench and cast back upon men all that dishonor which they have received from men or cause them to take it off and wipe them clean whom they have undeservedly aspersed Observe Seventhly God will humble proud and high spirits and make them submit to those whom they have wronged There is a twofold submission which is the duty of a Christian First to God James 4.7 Secondly to man and this is twofold First To those that are over us and above us in power Rom. 13.1 Tit. 3.1 And thus not only are subjects to submit to Magistrates but all of a lower degree are to submit to their superiours servants to their Masters wives to their Husbands children to their parents Secondly There is a submission to those that are wronged by us and though they be our inferiours yet in this sense we are to submit to them that is acknowledge that we have wronged them The Apostle James intimates such a submission Chap. 5.16 and the Apostle Paul speaks it plainly Eph. 5.21 Submitting your selves to one another in the fear of God Here is a mutual submission a submission in case of wrong and doubtless that rule of Scripture is extendible to other cases not only of equals one to another but of superiours to inferiours Our spirits like not this we hardly submit to those that we have wronged but there 's no remedy we must Some say they will submit to God but they cannot submit to man they cannot stoop to that Let such remember that without this submission even to an inferiour whom we have knowingly wronged or are made to know which was the case here that we have wronged we cannot hopefully apply to God for peace and reconciliation Eighthly Observe They that are wronged by others must forgive them their wrongs God sent Eliphaz and his two friends to Job not only that they should acknowledge they had wronged him but that Job might freely and fully testifie so far as concerned him his forgiveness of that wrong As it is the duty of them that have wronged others to submit to them in the acknowledgement of it so they that are wronged ought to forgive receive them in that submission We must forgive as we look to be forgiven Mat. 6.12 We cannot pray believingly that God would forgive us the guilt of our iniquity committed against himself or others unless we forgive others the injury which they have done us Observe Ninthly Good men are ready to give and take satisfaction in point of wrong Jobs friends had done him wrong and as they good men were ready to give satisfaction so Job good man was as ready to take it Many wrong others but will give no satisfaction many are wronged by others and will take no satisfaction nothing will quiet or appease them Jobs friends and himself were highly to be commended that they were willing to give and he to take satisfaction The Apostle urgeth this Eph. 4.26 27. Be angry and sin not let not the Sun go down upon your wrath neither give place to the devil They give up their hearts as lodging-chambers to the devil who let the Sun go down upon their wrath therefore it followeth vers 31.32 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be ye kind one to another tender-hearted forgiving one another even as God for Christ sake hath forgiven you They that know what it is to be forgiven by God they that know what need they have continually of Gods forgiving grace mercy will be as ready to accept satisfaction as any can be to give it This was eminent in Job as will appear further in opening the next words in this verse Go to my servant Job and offer up for your selves a burnt-offering And my servant Job shall pray for you How eminent Job was in prayer and how available his prayers or intercessions were for others may
good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God That is as he requireth of thee to exercise justice toward all men and mercy to the poor or any in misery so to walk humbly with himself that is to acknowledge thou hast need of the righteousness of a Saviour and of the mercy of a God how much righteousness and mercy soever thou hast exercised towards others When we are low in our own eyes then are we highest in Gods eye when we as it were reject our selves and all that we have done as unworthy of any acceptation then are we most accepted of the Lord. Fourthly Among Believers they are most accepted with God who are most fruitful in their lives and do most good in their places and according to their opportunities The Lord loveth a fruitful Christian Many are barren trees unfruitful ground little can be seen of good which they do these are a burden to God But when a Christian as it is said of Christ Act. 10.38 goeth about doing good when a Christian as Christ giveth the account of his own life John 17.4 Glorifieth God on earth and finisheth the work which God gives him to do O how acceptable is such a one to God! And therefore Let us labour to know and do what is acceptable to the Lord. The Apostle would have us prove what is acceptable to the Lord Eph. 5.10 that is First study the Word to find out what is acceptable to the Lord. Secondly approve and embrace with our whole hearts what we find to be so Thirdly practice and do what we have so approved or embraced And because the Scripture speaks of some duties which are specially acceptable to the Lord I shall instance the Point in a few particulars First Doing right to every one Prov. 21.3 To do justice and judgement is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice This is true or may be affiâ—med of justice both commutative and distributive To do justice in our dealings with men called commutative justice is more acceptable than sacrifice that is than any outward worship given to God without this 'T is true also of distributive justice which is done by Magistrates in rewarding good men and in punishing them that do evil these works of justice also are more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice Secondly The true worship and service of God which the Apostle calls sacrifice is highly acceptable to God Rom. 12.1 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service These first Table-duties when in consort with those former second Table-duties are highly honourable and therefore cannot but be highly acceptable to the Lord. Sacrifice to God without justice to man is meer hypocrisie Justice to man without sacrifice to God is no better than Heathenish morality Both united are the beauty of Christianity Thirdly To serve Christ that is to aim at the honouring as well as the enjoying of Christ with our Gospel-priviledges and liberties is exceeding acceptable The Apostle having said Rom. 14.17 The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost presently adds vers 18. He that in these things that is in righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost serveth Christ is acceptable unto God that is this shews he is a person accepted with God The doing of things purely acceptable to God is a clear and strong argument of our acceptation with him Fourthly To do any good we do be it little or much with a willing mind is very acceptable to God 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath Though it be little that we have yet if the mind be free if there be much of the will in it though but little of the purse if we have no more to give or give according to what we have if there be much of the heart in it though but little of the hand if we do according to the power that is in our hand the Lord hath a very great respect to it Fifthly To be much in prayer for others especially for those that are in power over us is very acceptable to the Lord 1 Tim. 2.2 3. I exhort that supplications c. be made for all men for Kings and all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour As it is good and acceptable in the sight of God that we should lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty under Kings and all in authority so that we should pray for Kings and those that are in authority Sixthly When children do well requite their parents that saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 5.4 is acceptable unto God Seventhly To suffer patiently for well-doing is greatly pleasing unto God 1 Pet. 2.20 In a word they among good men are most acceptable of God who are most zealous in doing any thing in a right manner which for the matter is acceptable unto God Observe Thirdly As the Lord accepteth some godly men more than others so he accepteth some godly men for others The Lord doth not speak here of accepting Job strictly for himself but of his acceptation in the behalf of his friends Him will I accept that is for you I will be intreated by him I will not give you the honour to be intreated by you but to him I give it I will be intreated by him The Prophet Elisha said to the King of Israel 2 Kings 3.14 Were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the King of Judah I would not look toward thee nor see thee he would not vouchsafe that bad King a look but for the respect that he bare to good Jehoshaphat And it is a truth that God would not have so much respect to some good men were it not for the sake of some others who are better Yet that the Lord accepts one mans person more than anothers or one mans person for another is primarily and principally in and for the sake of Jesus Christ Job had acceptation with God more than his friends and for his friends he had the former by his being in Christ and the latter as he was a figure of Christ No mans person no mans work is accepted of otherwise than in relation to Christ The Apostle affirms this fully Eph. 1.6 He hath made us accepted in the Beloved Christians are beloved but Christ only is the Beloved we are accepted in him the beloved as to our selves and 't is in the beloved that any are accepted more than others or for others Take this Inference from the whole The Lord accepted Job praying for others then he will accept a good man praying upon right
to make resistance against death and his spiritual strength was so much that it caused him to make no resistance against it or rather at once joyfully to embrace and overcome it Thirdly These words so Job dyed being full of days may have this spiritual meaning His days were full He did not live empty days or void blank days but as he was full of days so his days were full full of good works and holy duties That mans days are empty though he be full of days or how many days soever he hath lived who hath lived in vanity and done little good with his life But we have reason to say Job dyed full of days because his days were full of good done as well as of good received he had not a long being only but a long life in the world living to good yea his best in duty both to God and man Thus Job dyed being old and full of days From this latter part of the verse Observe First When a godly man dyeth he is satisfied with the time he hath lived he hath his fill of days he craves no more Though no length of this life can satisfie him yet he is satisfied with the length of his life A godly man in some cases may crave a little more time He may say as Psal 102.24 O take me not away in the midst of my days and as elsewhere O spare me a little that I may recover my strength before I go hence and be no more Psal 39.13 Yet this is a truth specially as to good old men living as Job had done when they dye they have had their fill of living A Heathen said and he spake it after a heathenish manner Si mihi quis Deus largiatur ut ex hac aetate repuerascam in cunis vagiam valdè recusem Cato If any God would give me the priviledg to be young again and to cry in a Craile I would not thank him for it I have had living enough If a vertuous Heathen hath said so by the light of reason and morality then doubtless a godly Christian may much more say so through the power of faith and grace It cannot be said of all men who dye as Job did being old that they in this notion dyed as Job did full of days For as some godly young men have been fully satisfied with a few days and have said they have lived as long as they desired and could say with Paul We desire to be desolved and to be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1.23 Yet some old men are very much unsatisfied with their many days some old men would be young again This argues they have made but little improvement of their days or that they have got little if any thing of that all their days which should be the study of every day an interest in the death of Christ and so a readiness for a better life For an old man to wish himself young again is like one who with great labour hath clamber'd up a steep hill and wisheth he were at the foot or bottome of it again 't is as if a man who having been long tost in a storm between rocks and sands is got near a safe harbour should wish himself out at sea again They have not a true tast much less a lively hope of that life which is to come who would return to this upon such hazardous and uneasie terms Secondly As these words note a readiness or a willingness to dye Observe A good man is willing to leave this world He is not thrust nor forced out of it but departs he is not pluck't off but falls off like ripe fruit from the tree His soul is not required of him as 't is said of the rich man Luke 12.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but given up and resigned by him he is not taken but goes out of the world It is said indeed Psal 57.1 Merciful men are taken away by Gods commission given to death from the evil to come but they are not taken away from as being unwilling to part with and leave any present good A gracious man hath usually a readiness to dye in a twofold notion First As readiness signifies preparedness Secondly As readiness signifies a willingness to dye And always the first readiness promotes the second The more prepared any one is to dye the more willing he is to dye That man can say Lord now let thy servant depart in peace whose eye of faith hath seen his salvation We saith the Apostle speaking of believers 2 Cor. 5.8 are willing to be absent from the body that is to dye And the word there used signifies not only the freest choice but if I may so speak the good will or good pleasure of mans will as it often signifies God's As a godly man hath a peculiar way of living so of dying and the reason of both is because he sees blessed eternity beyond time and himself by a well-grounded that is a Scriptural hope a partaker of the blessedness of it Thirdly Note They dye full of days who fill their days or whose days are full That is who fill their days with or whose days are full of the fruits of righteousness of faith and repentance of love and charitableness Stephen Acts 6.8 was full of faith and power They dye full of days in old age who as it is said Psal 92.14 bring forth such fruit in their old age Nulla dies sinelinea Apelles Diem perdidi Vespatian who dye as Dorcas Acts 9.36 full of good works and almes-deeds which they have done It was said of a famous Painter No day past him without drawing a line A Romane Emperour said I have lost a day when he did no good that day We may well reckon those days lost in which we do no good in which we draw not some white line some golden line of grace and holiness Then what account will their days come to who pass not a day but they draw black lines filthy lines of sin and wickedness or whose days are all blotted with the worst abominations of the day they live in If those days are empty and lost wherein we do no good and are not made better what then becomes of their days and where will they be found but in the Devils Almanack who do nothing but evil and daily become worse and worse So then they only dye full of days who live doing the will of God and denying their own who live mortifying corruptions and resisting temptations who live exercising their graces and answering their duties to God and man This this is to live our days and to dye full of days Again as their days are full who are full of grace in themselves and of good works towards men so are theirs who are full of the mercies and blessings of God especially theirs whose days are full of soul mercies and blessings whose hearts are full of peace with God full of joy
life a blessing 1017. Why they before the Flood lived so long 1018. Six considerations shewing that long life is a blessing 1018. Long life in prosperity is a great blessing 1020 Light God the Author of it 118. Light wonderful in five respects 119 120. What light is hard to say 120. Light how useful 121. Light how comfortable 122. Eight Inferences from it 122 123. Light of the Gospel how great a mercy 125. Light swift presently spreads it self all over the face of the earth 130 131. Wicked men hate light 133. Light discovers 133 134. Light how it makes a change in things 136 Light where it dwelleth how answered by Geograâ—hers how by Astronomers 164. Light and darkness have their bound their appointed places 167. What is the place of spiritual light and darkness 167 168. Light and darkness whether natural or figurative are at Gods dispose 169 170. The work of God in ordering light and darkness is wonderful shewed several wayes 171 172. Four things considerable in the light 196. Light how parted 197 198. God dispenceth light where he pleaseth 198 Lightning at the command of God 262 Limbus patrum what 152 Line what the stretching of it forth signifies in Scripture shewed in four things 62 63 Lion he bears four resemblaâ—ces in Scripture 282 283. Lion is greedy of prey 286. God provides prey for Lions 287. Two Inferences from it 288 289 Locusts why so called 437 Love it ariseth from likeness 301. Love all duty must be done in love to God and man 918 919 Loyns girding of them what it imports 34. A fourfold use of girding the loyns 34 35 Lurdane who and why so called 36â— Lusts of sinners stick close together like Leviathans scales 736 M Majesty proper to Kings 567. God is full of majesty 570. What that should work in man 571 573. The majesty of God is from himself mans from God 574. Majesty of man little to Gods 575 Maker God loves to be owned as a Maker 633 Man to do a thing like a man what it signifieth 36. Man is vile and how See Vile Masters of two sorts 16 Mazaroth what 247 Meats several forbidden the Jews and why 467 468 Meekness in dealing with others an imitation of God 872 Merchants in Hebrew called Canaanites and why 675 Mercy prevails with sinners more than wrath 922 Mists alwayes accompanied with calms why 103 Money why expressed in the Hebrew by a word which signifies a Lamb or Sheep 971 Months measured by the Moon or Sun their difference 316 Moon the power of it upon earthly things 254 Morning God should have morning or early praises and services 88. Morning light why the clearest light is expressed by it seeing noon light is clearer 741 Mother-Father by whom God was so called and why 227 Mouth what meant by laying the hand upon it 521 Muscovia the sudden change there in the Spring 232 Musculus a little fish the Whales guide 676 N Names it is a duty to give names to our children 999. Parents do well when they give names to their children which may mind them of the providence of God to them 1003. It is good to give names exciting to duty and vertue 1005 Nature course of nature keeps time constantly 117. Nature is content with a little 335 336. It is hard to change nature 360 Neck stiff-neck what it signifies in Scripture 745 Neesing what and how caused 739. Neesing a good sign of two things 739 Neighing of a Horse like thunder 432 New-birth see Birth O Obedience we should yeild ready obedience to all the commands of God 263. Full and compleat obedience what 913. We must obey without disputes or delays when God commands 915. The manner as well as the matter of obedience what 918 Occasion we should be watchful over that which hath been an occasion or instrument of sin 521 Oecolampadius his dying speech about light 168 Old age when a blessing 1019. Old age usually accompanied with many infirmities 1021. God can make old age comfortable 1021. Old age and death cannot be far asunder 1027. Some old men would be young again 1030 Omnipotency of God or that he can do all things how to be understood 790. Gods omnipotency limited by his will Inference from it 796. That God can do whatsoever he willeth a two-fold use of it 797 Opportunity a gate for action 457 Orion the nature of that constellation 241 242 Ornaments and Jewels may be worn 974. Four cautions about wearing them 974 Ostrich five ways described 385. Ostrich why expressed by a word which signifies a feather 393. The eveâ—ness of her feathers the embleme of justice 395. The Ostrich resembles a hypocrite in five things 395 396. That the Ostrich a foolish bird hath such fine feathers three inferences from it 398. Her eggs great and useful yet she careless of them 400. Some give two reasons why she leaves her eggs in the dust which agree not to the text 401. Her eggs many 405. How she is hardned against and hardneth her young ones 405. The Ostrich how said to be without fear though a very fearful creature 411. Ostrich hath little brain and is very deaf 414 415. Her swiftness in running a Proverb 419 P Pagan may deny Christ but cannot deny a God 722 Pain and sorrow in the creatures bringing forth young an effect of sin 320 Pambo his confession about keeping the tongue 521 Patience of God 185. Patience and quietness in every condition why 170 171. Peace hasten to make peace with God 194 Peacock beautiful and proud 386. what the Hebrew word signifieth 387. Proud men like the Peacock shewed in six things 391 392 Pegasus what 423 Pity should be shewed to the afflicted 965 Place a two-fold place of every man decreed 104. Good for all to keep their places 104 105 127 Play A playing life the life of a beast 644 Pleasure God gives man some creatures for pleasure 470. Some displease God most when they are taking their pleasure especially Falcâ—ners 470 Pleiades what 236. Their sweet influence what 237 Pliny his complaint of intemperance and luxury 183 Plowing before sowing both in a natural and spiritual sense 367 Power of God mighty 547. How far God sheweth or putteth forth his power 550. Inferences from it 552. The power of man is nothing to the power of God 554. Power of man not to be trusted for any good it can do us nor feared for any hurt it can do us 555 556. Power of God to be much meditated upon in two cases 557. Power twofold 717 Praise due to God for the work of creation upon several accounts 56 57. Liveless creatures praise God four ways 79. Then men should much more 80. God should be praised at the first appearance of any great work 88. Praise angelical work 89 Prayer obtains rain 260. We may pray for all that God hath promised 551. God gives beyond our prayers 551. The power of God should encourage us in prayer 553. Sense of wants