perfect Whereas in other places he justifies himself and saith that he was perfect if you read the 29th and 30th Chapters of this book you shall finde them to be but a continued justification of himself or a manifest of his own innocency There he proclaims how holy he had been and how righteous in all his waies that he had put on judgement as a robe and justice as a diadem that he had delivered the oppressed and distributed of his fulnesse to the necessities of the poor Those two Chapters being a professed Catalogue of his good deeds why is he so shie and modest here I answer In this and the like expressions Pius sensus pulchrè expressus in hac Jobi disputatione nunc peccatum suum dimisse confiteÌ„ t is nuÌ„c justitiaÌ„ suam acerrimè defendeâ—tis Merl. while Job saith He will not justifie himself or say he is perfect he declines the plea of personall righteousnesse or perfection in the sight of God as hath frequently appeared in this argument But in those Chapters and in other places where he is upon his defence he speaks only in reference to the charge of his friends As if he had said Ye accuse me for an hypocrite and censure me deeply I can justifie my self and plead my innocency with you though I have not a word to say for my self before the Lord I will bear any thing at his hands let him say of me and doe with me what he pleaseth I will take shame to my self and give him glory but as for you my friends I will justifie my self in your sight I am not the man ye take me for These speakings are not crosse to each other but helps us to understand Jobs sense in this argument He stands much upon his integrity but it is to his friends he humbles himself in the sight of his own vilenesse but it is to God Paul Rom. 7.24 bewails his sinfulnesse O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sinne and of death I finde a law in my members rebelling against the law of my minde Yet when he answers false Apostles about his personall carriage and the discharge of his Apostleship then he saith I know nothing by my self 1 Cor. 4.4 I am charged thus and thus I am slandered so and so but my conscience acquits me I know nothing by my self The sinfulnesse of his nature made him groan and sigh out O wretched man that I am The sincerity of his heart made him boast and sing out like a happy man as sorrowfull but alwaies rejoycing A man may be conscious of his own naturall corruption and yet confident of his own practicall integrity If I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These words in strictnesse of sense referre to the inward purpose of his heart ad facta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad animuâ— referuntur or bent of his minde as the former did to the outward way of his life If I say I am perfect that is if I say there is no meditated obliquity in my heart no intended goings astray or wanderings no close hypocrisie or falsenesse there if I should say I am perfect in the bent and purposes of my heart yet this is not such as I dare appear before God in As if I justifie my self by the actings and puttings forth of my life My mouth will condemn me So if I say I am perfect in the thinkings and secret motions of my spirit it will prove me perverse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word which we translate perverse signifies to wander as a man uncertain of his way Prov. 28.18 Who so walketh uprightly having the frame of his inward man right he shall be saved Qui certo est proposito 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui vago diverso qui se dividit distorquet in duas vias Coc. In Hebraâ—o simplex est perversuaevit me but he that is perverse in his waies having a wandering vagrant minde going sometime this way and sometime that holding somewhat of this and somewhat of that but nothing to purpose or steadily of any thing this man shall fall at once a man of an uncertain spirit shall have a certain downfall But was Job thus perverse No Job was perfect and not perverse yet a boast of his perfection had been a proof of his perversenesse Nothing discovers an evil heart more then a profession of it's own goodnesse It shall prove me perverse What shall prove me perverse Some referre it to the former clause My mouth or the speaking of those words I am perfect shall prove me perverse Penversus evadaâ— Others referre it to God God will prove me perverse if I justifie my self The Seventy leave it without restriction to any antecedent If I say I am perfect I shall go away perverse or I shall appear perverse Observe hence that famous Gospel-doctrine No man can be justified before God by the works of the law Nobilis locus clarissimè ostendens neminem ex lege justificari Coc. It is as noble a proof of free justification in the old Testament as any in the new The Saints have been acquainted with this truth from the beginning That man is nothing in himself and that free grace doth all The doctrine of free grace is no new doctrine the doctrine of free will is Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sinne And that he must say who justifies himself before God Every legall justiciary takes up this language I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sinne It is a task too hard for men yea for all the Angels in heaven to make one heart clean only Jesus Christ is able to fetch out the filth and rubbish that lodgeth in and pollutes our spirits To be a heart cleanser is the peculiar work and honour of Christ. Quot tenebrae quot nubes quot maculae quem non pudebit si fidem suam innocentiam ad illustre illud legis speculum contempletur Coc. A man that knows himself and sees his face in the glasse of the word which flatters no man will never say I am clean nor will he say I can cleanse my self How many spots and blots how many defects and deformities will that glasse represent unto him which he is not able to heal or fetch out Every mans face will blush who sees his heart or his life in that glasse unlesse he Who beholding himself goeth his way and straight way forgetteth what manner of man he was Jam. 1.24 Secondly Observe Job had received testimony from God He could produce Letters testimoniall subscribed by the hand of heaven that he was a just and a perfect man one that feared God and eschewed evil Yet this Job let God speak as well as he will of him will not
among numbers a chief number a captain number and is therefore put for all great numbers or for the greatest numbers that can be imagined to say one of a thousand is as much as to say One amongst all One is not a number it is but the seed principle or beginning of number Aunity hath a seminall vertue in it all numbers are made out of ones but one it self is no number So that to say One of a thousand is to put the greatest and the least number in opposition it is as much as to say a man cannot answer God in any thing that ever he did in the whole course of his life 2 Pet. 3.8 One day is with the Lord as a thousand years Vnitas huic numero opposita pro nihilo habetur and a thousand years as one day When he saith a thousand years he means all years all time put together is but as one day to the Lord. A day was the first distinction of time the first perfect time that was created was a day now put a thousand years together it is but as one day to the Lord All times and one time are all one to him who inhabits eternity In Psal 90.6 it is a thousand years are but as yesterday which notes all time past as Peter notes all time to come is but as one day One of a thousand referred to a person notes a choice excellent man among all men Job 33.23 If there be an interpreter one among a thousand one choice man amongst many or amongst all He that rightly expounds the text of a troubled conscience and interprets the minde of God to such a soul is a chief the flower of a thousand a man of men Christ Cant. 5.10 is called the chiefest of ten thousand the Hebrew is a Standard-bearer such are choice men elect of the multitude Christ is the elect of all the multitudes in the whole world bring all Armies of men together or an Army of man-kinde chose amongst them all and you cannot finde such another as Christ is he is the choice of ten thousand that is the choice of all the thousands that are in the world He cannot answer him one of a thousand He cannot answer Some referre it only to the person He that is one man of a thousand men is not able to answer God Secondly We may referre it to the matter to the objections or charges that shall be brought against him he cannot answer to one thing of a thousand So M Broughton as if he had said If God brings many charges or laies many articles against him he is not able to satisfie God or give a good account in one Vilem hominum conditionem judex contemnet Polychron Tantum non est homo ut Deus eum sua responsione dignetur Vatabl. Illud non poterit idem erit quod nolet vel per transpositionem verborum poterit non respondere Thirdly Some referre it to God himself If he that is man should contend with him he would not answer him one of a thousand that is God would not answer him one of a thousand as if he had said the matters will be so triviall and so sleight the charges that a man can bring against God or the objections he can make will be so easie that the Lord will not vouchsafe to answer one word of a thousand Some men will plead priviledge to some charges and all their answer shall be they may chuse or it is at their liberty whether they will answer or no. Here he would not referred to God is as much as he needs not he is no way obliged to answer he may claim priviledge Further when arguments are poor and empty a man will say in dispute These things are not worth answering or of a book there is not one page that is worth a confutation it carries its own confutation Such a sense may be made out here God will not dishonour himself by contending with so weak an adversary as man or by answering such simple arguments Rogatus homo in judicio divino haesitabit aestuabit obmutescet But rather as before referre it to man He cannot answer him one of a thousand that is if God come to question man to lay such and such matters to his charge or object against him poor creature he must shut his mouth put up his books he hath nothing to say he must hide his face for he cannot answer him one of a thousand So in the 14th verse of this Chapter How much lesse shall I answer him and chuse out my words to plead with him Hence observe First That there is in man a spirit ready to contend against God himself If he contend with him or if he plead with him which supposes that there is such a principle of pride in the heart of man The heart of man is very full of quarrels and contentions with man but fuller of quarrels with God himself The great controversie between God and man is whose will shall stand Gods will or mans God directs man one way and man contendeth he will go another way There is a natural unanswerablenes between the heart of man every thing that God doth or speaks hence it is that man cals God so often to answer There is a contention first about that work of God the foundation-stone of all the works of God his decrees and counsels While the Apostle Rom. 9.20 stops such mouths he shews how ready they are to open O man Who art thou that repliest against God Thou wilt say wherefore doth he complain Thus man begins to contend But O man who art thou that thou shouldest dare to reply upon God Wilt thou be venturing to question the righteous God Must he be accountable to thee for what he did before thou hadst a being Secondly What contentions are there continually about the rules which God gives man to order his life by Man thinks this is an unreasonable rule that 's a hard rule and a third is an unprofitable rule how many rise up against the Law to which they should submit and would shift off obedience to the rule by complaints against it The carnall minde or the minding of the flesh is enmity against God it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be Rom. 8.7 Words importing highest opposition and that irreconciliable It is not it cannot be subject the minde is never subject to the Law till it be changed into the Law Christ saith that one iota or title of the Law shall not passe till all be fulfilled it is as true that not one iota or title of the Law can be fulfilled by us till our carnall mindes passe away Paul found just as much stubbornnesse and contrariety against the will of God remaining in him as there was of a carnall minde remaining in him Rom. 7. As man desires not the knowledge of the will of God Job 21.14 and secretly wishes that he were ignorant
as usually befall the Saints though yours be moderate afflictions and 〈◊〉 common stature such as in the eye of reason any man may 〈◊〉 with by a common assistance of grace yet there are temptations which if God the faithfull God should not come in with greater assistances then usuall you are not able to bear They who wrestle with more then flesh and bloud alwaies need more then the strength of flesh and bloud to help them in their wrestlings And because they are often assaulted with greater strength therefore they are assisted with greater strength For if God doe either with-draw his help from the Saints or leave them to wrestle with Satan alone and to fight single with his Armies or if he doe not proportion the aid he sends to the temptation he permits they are sadly over-charged though they can never be totally overcome and 't is possible to grow weary of the battell though we are assured of the victory It is the honour of the Saints to conquer when they are tempted but it is their happinesse to be above or without temptation How many poor souls put up bils of complaint and beg praiers against temptations Paul praid thrice that is often and much when the messenger of Satan buffeted him whether his were an inward or an outward temptation is doubted but without doubt that temptation made his life burdensome to him till he received that answer from God My grace is sufficient for thee Secondly The Saints are wearied with the weight of their sinfull hearts Inward corruption burdens more then outward temptation and were it not for corruption within temptation without could not be very burdensome The devil tempted Christ but because he found nothing at all in him complying with or sutable to his temptations therefore Christ threw them off with ease That enemy without could doe us no hurt he might put us to some trouble if he found no correspondence within The traitour in our own bowels opens our ports and lets in the adversary His sparks could never enflame us if he found no tindar in us The basenesse and unbelief the lusts and vanities of our mindes are apt to take fire at every injection A gracious soul cannot live here without sinne and yet can easier die then sinne Paul Rom. 7.24 cries out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death or from this body of death That is from my body which is subject to death by reason of these remains of carnall corruption or from my carnall corruptions which are the remains of my spirituall death and are worse to me then any death All the afflictions of his 〈◊〉 and the pains of his body were but a play and a kinde of so 〈◊〉 compared with the trouble which this body of death put him to He rejoyced in tribulation but he could not but mourn under corruption Many poor souls are so vexed with these mysticall Canaanites that their spirituall Canaan the state of grace is to them like Egypt the land of their captivity And when they are commanded to rejoyce they answer if we could not sin we could rejoyce How shall we sing the Lords song in a strange land O that we might goe home Thirdly The Saints grow weary of their lives through the wickednesse of other mens lives not only doe their own corruptions burthen them but which shews the holinesse of their hearts more the corruptions of others The sinfulnesse and pollutions of the times and places wherein they live especially of persons they are related to makes their lives grievous and imbitters all their comforts Rebekah that good woman tels her husband Isaac Gen. 27.46 I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth for if Iacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth such as these which are of the daughters of the land What good shall my life doe me The sweetnesse of my life is gone if this son miscarry as his brother hath done before him The Prophet Jeremy cries out O that I had in the wildernesse a lodging place of waifaring men that I might leave my people and go from them What made him so weary of living among them and that was but a step on this side being weary of his life The next words shew us They be all adulterers an assembly of treacherous men Jer. 9.2 Better be in a waste wildernesse among vvilde beasts then in a populous City among beastly men 'T is a part of our compleat happinesse in heaven that vve shall have no ill neighbours there They vvho are evil can take pleasure in those who do evil But the more holinesse any one hath the more is he burthened with the unholinesse of others And that 's the reason why God himself is exprest to be so exceedingly burdened with the sins of men to be wearied and broken with them to be laden with them as a Cart with sheaves He is infinitely holy Grieve not the holy Spirit of God Ephes 4.30 The Spirit is so holy that sin which is unholinesse grieves him presently And in proportion look how much any man is more holy then others by so much is he more afflicted with the impurity of others As the holy Spirit of God who is all holy so the spirits of holy men who yet have a mixture of sin cannot but be afflicted with the sins of men Fourthly Some of the Saints would part with this life because they have got such assurance and evidence of a better life When much of eternall life appears to a godly man he is weary of a temporall life Naturall things are but burdensome trifles to those who are stored with spirituall Christ saith Luk. 5.39 No man having drunke old wine straight way desireth new for he saith the old is better He that tastes what is better then he enjoyes is unsatisfied with all he enjoyes We can hardly be perswaded what we have is good when we see better of the same kinde How much more hardly is this perswasion wrought in us that earthly things which differ in kinde from heavenly are any great good when heavenly things are open before us When the Disciples at the transfiguration had but a glimpse of glory They say It is good to be here Let us build three tabernacles They do not speak comparatively as if now they had met with somewhat better then ever they had before but positively as if they had never met with any good before When the Spirit carries the Saints into his wine-cellar and gives them a draught of everlasting consolations the wine of worldly comforts will not down they begin to disrelish the dainties and delicacies of the creature A true sight of heaven makes the earth scarce worth the looking after or the living in Such live because God will have them live to doe him service not because they desire to live to serve their own ends Paul was in a great straight betwixt two Phil. 1.23 whether he