case a man in nature is composed or constituted of sin and a naturall man is nourished and preserved by sinning Vt deficienti humido resarciendo nihil aptius est aqua utilius ia hominis beatitudini quae ipsi de est consummandae natura nihil suggerit nisi peccatum Coc. Continuall acts increase the habit and as a godly man is nourished by holy acts and strengthened in spirit by spirituall obedence doing the will of God is the food of the soule As Christ speakes John 4.21 so doth every true Christian in his degree It is my meat and drinke to doe the will of my Father which is in Heaven or as Job professeth of himselfe Chap. 23.12 I esteeme the words of thy mouth more then my necessary food Thus also the old man saith It is my meat and drink to doe the will of the flesh and that is indeed the will of his Father which is in Hell The words of his mouth his Counsels and Lawes I esteem more then my necessary food So much for the opening and illustration of this Scripture-phrase Drinking iniquity like water I shall propound one Quere in generall concerning the whole Verse and so conclude it Here is a full description of sinfull man But whether Eliphaz speakes this strictly of a person unregenerate and so applyeth it to Job or whether this description be not also applicable to a man who is regenerate and godly for the maine and was so intended by Eliphaz is here a question Some conceive that the words will suite none but an unregenerate man and t is granted upon all hands that they are most sutable to him An unregenerate man is abominable and filthy he drinks iniquity like water And yet in a qualified sense we may say all this of a man regenerate Even He in reference to the remaines of corruption is abominable and filthy and He under some distempers and temptations drinks iniquity like water Agit Eliphaz cum Jobo non ut improbo sed ut errante Coc. which words of Eliphaz a moderne Interpreter paralels with those of Paul concerning himselfe Rom. 7.25 With the flesh I serve the Law of sin And delivers his opinion in this case That though Eliphaz aimed at Job in all this yet he deales with him not as with a wicked man but as with an erring brother For whereas he had sayd Chap. 13.23 How many are mine iniquities Eliphaz might judge by his words that surely he thought his iniquities were not very many and whereas he had sayd at the 26. Verse of the same Chapter Thou makest me to possesse the iniquityes of my youth Eliphaz might collect surely this man thinks his elder yeares have been so free from sin that God can finde nothing in them which might justifie him in these severe punishments Now Eliphaz opposeth these apprehensions and would both teach and convince him that as originall sin pollutes every man wholly till he is washed and borne againe by the spirit so no man is so farre washed by the spirit but that many spots and pollutions of the flesh doe still cleave to him and often appeare upon him And Eliphaz may be conceived to handle Job in this manner First To shew him that though a man be in a state of regeneration yet he can deserve nothing at the hand of God because his holinesse is still imperfect and his corruptions are abominable Secondly That the greatest sufferings and afflictions of good men in this life are very consistent with the Justice of God Thirdly That he might humble Job who as he feared was still too high in his owne opinion and thought better of himselfe then did become him Fourthly To provoke him to resist his owne corruptions stedfastly And lastly To beare the crosse which the Lord had layd upon him for his good especially for the taming and subduing of his corruptions patiently So that Eliphaz doeh not dispute with him upon this hypothesis or supposition or not upon this onely That man by nature and without the grace of God is filthy and abominable drinking iniquity like water but upon this or this in consort with the former That man in a state of grace or a godly man is filthy and abominable in reference to the flesh that dwelleth in him and that in reference to his frequent sinnings he may be sayd to drink iniquity like water And therefore Job had no reason to be proud how good so ever he was or how much good soever he had done and that there was all the reason in the World he should be patient and take it well at the hand of God how much evill so ever he should suffer This resolution of the Quere as it is profitable so probable For howsoever Jobs Freinds had branded him in diverse passages of this dispute as a wicked man and an hypocrite and were so understood by Job as appeares in his answers and replyes yet 't is most likely his Freinds spake so in reference to his actions not in reference to his state That he had done like an Hypocrite or a wicked man was clearely their opinion but there is no necessity to conclude from what they sayd that they judged him absolutely to be one JOB CHAP. 15. Vers 17 18 19 20. I will shew thee heare mee and that which I have seene I will declare Which wise men have told from their Fathers and have not hid it Vnto whom alone the earth was given and no stranger passed among them The wicked man travelleth with paine all his dayes and the number of yeares is hidden to the oppressour ELiphaz having argued against Jobs supposed opinion of Selfe-cleannesse and personall righteousnesse proceeds to the confirmation of his owne position to which he leads us by a new Exordium or Preface in the 17 18 and 19. Verses of this Chapter Secondly he largely handles and illustrates it from the 20. to the 31. Verse Thirdly hee applyeth the whole Doctrine to Job by way of dehortation at the 31. Verse and so forward to the end of the Chapter The generall argument which he brings to confirme his Tenet may be thus formed up That is true which continued experience and the consent of wise men in all ages have taught and delivered to us But the experience and consent of wise men in all ages have taught and delivered this that a wicked man travels with paine all his dayes that he is punished outwardly by want and sicknesse and inwardly by the gripes and scourges of his owne conscience Therefore this is a truth The major proposition is the sum of the Preface contained in the 17 18. and 19. Verses The minor or second Proposition is held forth in the 20. Verse and is prosecuted to the one and thirtieth I will shew thee heare thou me and that which I have seene I will declare So the Preface begins He layes downe a double proofe in this Preface a proofe first from his owne experience secondly from the
lodgeth in the hearts of debauched sinners they doe they know not what they rage and are furious as if they would pull God out of Heaven and throw the House yea the World out at the Windows These stretch their hands against God and they doe it three wayes First Against the very being of God such a wicked man opposeth God as God he wisheth there were no God or that himselfe were God he would have all power in his owne hand Francis Spira in his despayring distraction sayd I would I were above God In him nature spake her mind plainly and not in Parables Nature heightned in wickednesse would be above God therefore a carnall man is called A hater of God Now that which we hate we would destroy and take out of the way Secondly There is a stretching out the hand against God not onely in this open bold challenge or professed opposition this very few will owne Few Atheists will speak out their blasphemy or send their Trumpet to defie God and most wicked men take a suspicion of this as the highest dishonour and affront that can be put upon them What They oppose God They stretch out their hand against God They will tell you they love God and it may be they will tell you that God is their God and yet will be found sâ—retching out their hand against God therefore not onely doe his professed Enemies stretch out their hand against God but even those his professed Friends who live in the open violation of his righteous Laws they who oppose the will and Word of God the Statutes and Ordinances of God these will be found to stretch forth their hand against God himselfe The Lord complaines Mal. 3.13 Your words have beene stout against me Who we stout against God when did we speak against God we never had such a thought in our hearts much lesse such words in our mouthes So it followes Yet yee say What have we spoken so much against thee The Lord tells them because it seems they could not Vers 14 Yee have sayd it is a vaine thing to serve the Lord and what profit have we that wee have kept his Ordinances and yee call the proud happy c. To speak or thinke thus though such a word be not spoken formally as it is probable they did not is to be stout against God To say It is a vaine thing to serve the Lord is not onely a disservice but a Rebellion against the Lord To say There is no profit in keeping his Ordinances is the highest prophanation of his Ordinances to call The proud happy is to stretch out the hand against God for he stretcheth out his hand against and resisteth the proud Thirdly The hand is stretched out against God when it is stretched out against his people his Servants or any that are under his tuition and speciall protection to oppose or stretch out the hand against these is to stretch out the hand against God The Prophet Zacharie sets forth both the care of God to keep his people from trouble and his Sympathy with them in trouble by an elegant Similitude Hee that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye Zach. 2.8 What part is more sensible of the least hurt then the eye or being hurt causeth a greater smart God is as tender of his people as any man is of his owne eyes He that toucheth them sc to wrong or vexe them toucheth the apple of Gods eye he lifts up his hand against Gods face and against the most excellent part of his face his eye and against the most excellent part of his eye the apple of it or ball of the eye which is the proper instrument of seeing We use to say There is no sporting with the eyes men doe not like it to have their eyes played with Surely then God will not beare it Dicimus vulgo cum oculis non ludendum est that any should smite or wound his eyes And he interprets any hurt done to his people as done to his owne eye yea to the apple of his eye When it was under debate in the Councell what should be done with the Apostles Gamaliel advises Refraine from these men and let them alone c. Lest haply yee be found to fight against God Acts 5.38 39. Some possibly would reply We fighters against God We love God here is a company of turbulent Fellows called Apostles who disquiet the City may we not punish them but we must presently be judged fighters against God No saith Gamaliel you fight against God if they and their Apostleship be of God Saul was zealous of the Law and as he thought for God yet Christ rebukes him from Heaven with Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Thou stretchest forth thy hand against me when thou dost it against the Saints then there is a stretching out the hand against God not onely by a boysterous opposition of God As Pharoah Senacharib and Julian did but by opposing the wayes or word the Messengers or Servants of God Hence Observe First Though every sinne be against God yet some sinnes are more against God Wee cannot say that every one who sins stretcheth out his hand against God there is a difference of sins in degree though they are all in their nature deadly there is a presumptuous sin a sin committed with a high hand which hath these two things chiefely in it First A sinning against cleare light Secondly A sinning with full consent and swindge of will In that place of Numbers where this sin is described Chap. 15.30 There are two other Characters put upon it First it is called A reproaching the Lord And secondly a despising of the Word of the Lord Every sin is a transgression of the Word of the Lord but every sin is not a despising of the Word of the Lord every sin is displeasing to God but every sin is not a reproaching of God Every sin even the least is a departure from God but some sins are full of activity against God It is conceived that the presumptuous sin in the old Testament is the same with or answers to the sin against the holy Ghost in the New and that which leads to this apprehension is because no sacrifice was appointed for that under the Law as this is sayd to be unpardonable under the Gospell And the Author to the Hebrewes is expresse Chap. 10.26 If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins The Gospell knowes but of one Sacrifice for sin and that but once offered they who despise that have despised all for there remaines no more Sacrifice for sin God will not send his Son to dye a second time for those who have trodden the Son of God in his death under foot and have counted the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing God indeed stretcheth out his hand all the day long to a gainesaying and rebellious people that is to those who
Doctrine is the purity of it and the sincerity of prayer is the purity of it Job did not boast his prayer pure without infirmity but he did professe it pure without hypocrisie Yet besides this casting out of hypocrisie there are diverse ingredients to be taken in towards the composition of a pure prayer of which I shall touch more distinctly by and by We read in the Institutes of the Ceremoniall Law of pure Myrrhe of pure Frankincense of pure Oyle of pure Incense all which concurred to pure worship among the Jewes and typed out all pure worship both among Jewes and Gentiles of the latter the Lord saith Mal. 1.11 From the rising of the Sun unto the going downe of the same my name shall be called upon among the Gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering This pure offering Job intends when he saith My prayer is pure Under these two There is no injustice in my hand and my prayer is pure Job conteines the whole duty of man both to God and to man Here is Justice comprehending the dutyes of the second Table His duobus membris utramque tabulam complectitur Merc. and Prayer comprehending the duties of the first Table Thus Job was compleat in all the will of God and had respect to all his Commandements And thus he verified Gods testimony of him Chap. 1.1 and approved himselfe to be A man perfect and upright fearing God and eschewing evill which is the whole duty of man From the words in generall Observe First Man hath great support in bearing afflictions from the witnesse which his heart gives of his owne integrity 'T is matter of wonder that ever Job should beare so many burdens and endure breach upon breach till wee remember that though he had many breaches upon his body and estate yet he had none upon his conscience Indeed his spirit had breaches by way of tryall and temptation from God but it had none by way of disobedience against God The spirit of a man saith Solomon will sustaine his infirmities Prov. 18.14 There are two sorts of infirmities First Sinfull infirmities such are impatience doubtings deadnesse of heart and vanity of thoughts Secondly Penall or painefull infirmities such as are poverty sicknesse diseases or any outward crosse whatsoever These latter are the infirmities which Solomon meanes and these the spirit of a man will sustaine even while his flesh or body sinks under them Yet here spirit is not taken meerely in opposition to bodily or materiall flesh though the spirit under that Physicall notion is able to beare much more then the body can but as spirit is opposed to spirituall and sinfull flesh that is to a carnall corrupt minde The spirit of a man furnished with grace supported with the favour of God and the testimony of a good conscience will sustaine all his infirmities that is cause him to beare with much not onely patience but courage and cheerfulnesse the heaviest burdens of affliction which eyther the wisedome of God doth or the malice of man can lay upon him Holinesse makes the weake strong and the strong like Giants to endure all shocks of trouble and hardship A whole skin feeles no smart though you bath it with brine and if a man have a sound conscience if his spirit be not galled and raw he is able to stand at any time and sometimes to rejoyce in the saltest waters of worldly sorrow For though he be not as was shewed before senslesse of or without outward smart yet having no inward smart which is the worst smart hee is above it The paines and wants of the body are almost lost and swallowed up in the comforts and enjoyments of the minde A wounded spirit who can beare A spirit unwounded what can it not beare He that hath no injustice in his hands hath much peace in his heart and while our prayer is pure our spirits will not be much troubled in any of our troubles Secondly Observe It is possible to live without any knowne sin Job knew of no injustice in his hand nor was he conscious of any impurity in his prayer The Apostle John writes to Saints of all Ages and Statures under the title of His little Children not to sin 1 John 2.1 And in that he doth not only admonish them of what they ought not to doe but of what they might attain not to doe For though he that saith he hath no sin deceives himselfe and sins in saying so 1 Joh. 1.9 yet it may be sayd of some without sin and they in Jobs case may say it of themselves without sin that they sin not The best Saints have and know they have sin in their natures and sin in their lives yea and sometimes they fall into great sins yet such a degree of holinesse is attaineable in this life that a man may be sayd not to sin For then in a Gospell sense we are sayd not to sin when we cast off and are free from all grosse and scandalous sins and doe both carefully avoyd and make conscience of the least and the most secret sin Zacharie and Elizabeth Luke 1.16 were both righteous before God walking in all the Commandements and Ordinances of the Lord blamelesse that is They did not live in any open or knowne sin they lived so that no man could blame them or bring any just complaint against them eyther in matters of morality which seeme to be meant in the word Commandement or in matters of worship which seeme to be meant by the word Ordinance And when I speak of not living in any knowne sin I meane not onely that Saints may rise so high as not to live in any sin which the World takes notice of but they may yea and often doe arrive at that hight of holinesse not to live in any sin knowne to themselves if once a true Beleever discovers sin he cannot owne it much lesse live in it be it injustice or wrong towards men be it any fayling in the worship and service of God he will not suffer it to lodge with him He that hath grace in his heart cannot live with injustice in his hand there is an inconsistence between these two a life of grace and to live in sin Sin may be much alive in him that hath grace but he cannot live in sin he may be often tempted to the act of it and sometimes possibly overtaken with it yet he cannot live in it He cannot keep injustice in his hand nor frame an impure prayer in his heart A good man may doe an act of injustice but he continues not unjust he restores what he hath taken unjustly from men and repents before the Lord but usually he is not conscious to himselfe of doing unjustly towards men If a Laban one with whom hee hath had converse and dealing twenty yeares together should come and search his house he is able to say to him as honest Jacob did to his Uncle
is He shall be forgotten hee shall be as if hee had not beene And thus it is applyed to the pardon of sin Psal 32.1 Sin is vailed with the worthinesse and obedience of Christ as with a Garment and is to God as a thing forgotten or out of minde when once it is forgiven In both these senses Job seemes to bespeak the earth O earth cover not my blood Sanguis terra tegitur quando facinus dissimulatur nec vindictam exposcit that is If thou hast any of my blood doe not dissemble it bring it forth be not as if thou knewest of no such matter As simulation makes that to be which is not so dissimulation makes that not to be which is Againe Cover not my blood that is Forget it not if thou hast such a record upon thy Fyle let it be continued and remembred that the Generations to come may judge how I have been dealt with by this present age or how I have dealt in it O earth cover not my blood But what is his blood which he would not have covered His blood may be taken two wayes First Passively for his sufferings and grievous afflictions which were even to blood The Apostle tels the Hebrews Ye have not resisted to blood striving against sin Heb. 12.4 There is a threefold strife against sin First Against sin already acting and moving in our selves Secondly There is a striving against that sin which others move us to act whether by promises or by threatnings Thirdly There is a striving against that sin which others act The Apostle as I conceive intends one of or both the latter sorts of striving against sin which is indeed a striving against sinners and in this strife he saith Ye have not resisted unto blood yee have I grant resisted to the losse of your goods yea and to the losse of your credit and reputation in the World Chap. 10.33 34. but know yee are not come to the heat of the Battell till your bodies bleed Ne tegas sanguinem meum i. e. injuriam mihi latam qua innocens pereo Merc. yee have lost no blood yet striving against sin Job resisted or rather submitted to blood he had lost blood in the great fight of affliction which he indured hee was wounded all over Now say some he cryes O earth cover not my blood that is These my bloody sufferings what I have endured let it be remembred But we cannot well accommodate this interpretation to the Text For first there may be as much vanity in desiring the evils wee have suffered as the good wee have done should be knowne we must let God alone to erect the monument of our sufferings that must be none of our care Secondly Wee cannot so much as suspect that Job would maintaine the memory of his sufferings against God yet it was he who smote Job though by the hand of Satan and wicked men This Job had acknowledged more then once with much humble submission and therefore hee doth not desire that his blood might be forth-comming in a way of contestation with him Further If we looke onely to those instruments of his affliction who had indeed done him wrong Surely the spirit of this good man as it was farr from meditating revenge so his scope and businesse here was rather to bring himselfe to a tryall then them rather to have his owne innocency cleered then their guilt proved And therefore we have called these words an imprecation upon himselfe in case he were guilty not an accusation of their guiltinesse In pursuance of which generall sense we must expound blood under another notion And therefore Secondly Blood may be taken actively and so it falls under a threefold consideration First Blood is put for the generall sinfulnesse or corruption of mans nature as also for any particular sin as it is wrapt up in mans naturall corruption Augustine One of the Ancients interprets Davids prayer Psal 51.14 Deliver me from blood or bloods or as we render from blood-guiltinesse O God not of that speciall sin or not of that onely the death of Vriah but of all sin which saith he therefore beares that title because it flowes from the polluted nature of man which the Scripture calls flesh and blood That of the Prophet is more proper to this point Ezek. 16.6 When thou wast in thy blood I sayd unto thee live that is When thou was wrapt in and defiled with thy sin and misery then I had pitty on thee and spake life into thee Every soule tumbles in blood till it is sprinkled with blood our blood is our filthinesse and the blood of Christ is our holinesse freeing us at once from the guilt and from the staine of sin This corruption of nature together with that issue of it the transgressions of life may be called bloud for two reasons First Because it deserves death and is a state of death wee are dead in sin and the wages of sin is death and as any kinde of death may be expressed by blood so a violent death is the pouring out of blood Secondly It may be called blood because sin is expiated by blood and without shedding of blood there is no remission no not of the least sin Secondly Blood signifies some notorious sin or sins Great sins are not onely bloody sins Sanguinis nomine intelligitur peccatum gravissimum ac detestandum facinus but in Scripture language blood Isa 1.15 When yee make many prayers I will not heare Why For your hands are full of blood that is Of great and foule crimes For should wee take blood there for any sin according to the former interpretation then whose prayer shall be heard Who is it that sins not yea who is not full of sin So that by hands full of blood he meanes hands stained with great sins or with sins if small in themselves yet which greatens the least sin loved and unrepented of Ezek. 9.9 Thus saith the Lord The iniquity of the House of Israel and Judah is exceeding great and the Land is full of blood that is Of all kinde of wickednesse Ezek. 24.7 For her blood is in the middest of her shee set it upon the top of a rock shee poured it not upon the ground to cover it with dust Which words describe as the sin of Jerusalem so her impudence in sinning Her blood was in the midst of her it was not cast behinde the doore or put into a corner Shee set it upon a rock and not onely so but upon the top of a rock as if shee not onely cared not who saw it but had taken care that all might see it Shee poured it not upon the ground to cover it with dust In which words the Prophet alludes to that Law Levit. 17.13 commanding that the blood of a Beast should be poured out and covered with dust And againe Hos 4.2 By swearing and killing and stealing and committing adultery they breake out and blood toucheth blood
shall perish As the Relative lookes to the wicked man himselfe Observe An untimely death is the portion of a wicked man He shall be accomplished in a day that is not his or before his proper day In opposition to which Eliphaz had promised Chap. 5. That a godly man shall come like â—sheafe of Corne into the Barne fully rype Now saith he This wicked man shall be like untimely fruit accomplished cut off and perishing before his time We have such an Expression Eccl. 7.17 Be not righteous over much neither make thy selfe over-wise why shouldest thou destroy thy selfe Be not over much wicked not that there is any mediocrity in wickednesse or that a man can be wicked in due proportion but saith he take heed of high actings in wickednesse why shouldest thou dye before thy time Some wickednesses lye close men live and continue in them long unseen others are so open and abominable that their actors are abnoxious to the hand of Justice He that is wicked overmuch that is extreamely wicked shall be cut off some way or other before his time Quarrellers dye by the Sword Drunkards dye by surfet Adulterers decay into filthy diseases Sorcerers are killed by the Devill Malefactors of all sorts are cut off by the sentence of the Magistrate Most desire to live long and yet they take a course to make their lives short they forget that short way to long life Psal 34.12 That promise Isa 65.20 stands opposite to this threatning There shall be no more there an infant of dayes Implere dies ad longam faelicemque senectam pertinet vel denotat illam aetatis maturitatem quae non annorum numero sed pietatis perfectione definitur nor an old man that hath not filled his dayes A good man fills his dayes a wicked man shall be accomplished or there shall be an end of him before his day both before that day which he would live to according to the course of his desire and before that day which he might live unto according to the course of nature Besides a wicked man never fills his dayes though he be full of dayes he that is not prepared for death how old soever he is dyes before he is rype he is rype for destruction but he is neither rype nor fit for death The youngest Saint that dyes dyes rype though he dye before he come to that estate Pii licet aetate juvenes senes sunt moribus wherein nature useth to crop men off yet he as the Apostle speaks Ephes 4.13 is come to the fulnesse of the stature of Christ Secondly Referring these words unto the estate of a wicked man it shall be accomplished or cut off before the time that is his pomp and greatnesse all that he hath gotten together of which he spake in the precedent part of the Chapter shall be scattered suddenly Hence Note Wicked men often outlive all their worldly enjoyments Some live to be their owne Executors they dispose or rather dissipate all they leave nothing when they dye for others The pride of wicked men shall have a fall their present possessions and future hopes shall come to nought Prov. 3.16 Solomon tells us that Wisedome hath length of dayes in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour We may say of sin Shortnesse of dayes is in its right hand and in its left hand poverty and disgrace The former point saith that a wicked mans dayes are short he shall be cut off before his time death cuts him off The latter saith his pomp his riches and honour all these shall be cut off before the time We have seen some who have raised great estates by sin and they have seen an end of all in misery Thirdly Taking the Antecedent to be the designes and contrivements of the wicked man Hence Note The counsells designes and contrivements of wickedmen doe often prove abortive They are accomplished before their time Their plots break out before they are ripe and then all 's spoyled So it was with the Powder Plot it was accomplished before the time it was discovered before it could be acted we have often seen grand designes layd in the dust crusht in the shell and nipt in the very bud As the Prophet reproves some for staying too long in the place of breaking forth of Children Hos 13.13 That is they have let their purposes dye under tedious consultations or irresolutions for acting So we may deride others for staying too little in the place of breaking forth of Children God in judgement hastens them to action before their designes are fully matured by consultation It is accomplished before his time And his branch shall not be greene In the close of this Verse and in the next Eliphaz in severall metaphors prosecutes the declining condition of wicked men His branch shall not be green 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sig. manum ramum rami sunt veluti brachia manus arboris His branch Or his hand shall not be green so the word signifies properly And that some understand in a figure his hand shall not be green that is himselfe shall be unapt and unfit for work When an arme is dryed up or a hand palsied it is unserviceable The hand of a godly man is green he is laborious and fit for labour the hand of the wicked man as it is alwayes sinfully dried up in reference to the doing of any good so it is often judicially dryed up lest it should do hurt his hand shall not be green that is he shall not have power to do that evill which he would When Jeroboam put forth his hand from the Altar c. his arme dryed up so that he could not pull it in againe to him 1 Kings 13.4 His hand his arme was not green he could not use it to hurt the Prophet Zech. 11.17 The wicked Idoll Shepheard is threatned His arme shall cleane be dryed up and his right eye shall be utterly darkned that is He shall neither have counsell nor strength he shall neither be able to advise nor to act his eye shall be darkned so that he shall not be able to see his way his arme shall be dryed up he shall not be able to attaine his end Psal 75.5 None of the men of might have found their hands as we say of a man that goes lamely or lazily He cannot finde his feet so of a man that acts lamely and lazily or of a Souldier that fights faintly and cowardly He cannot finde his hands or in the language of the Text His arme or hand is not green We translate metaphorically so the word signifies not a hand but a branch because a branch or bough of a Tree puts forth from the body of it as the hand or arme is stretcht from the body of a man by this branch we may understand either of those two things noted before First The estate of the wicked man for that is as a branch shooting
are ready for us and we have made our bed in the darknesse it is not for us to looke for life here indeed to live to us is Christ but to dye is gaine A Beleever can willingly part with all his earthly possessions for heavenly hopes much more can he joyfully part with all his earthly hopes for the possession of Heaven Thirdly from these expressions The Grave is my house I have made my bed in the darknesse Note A Beleever looks upon death as a state of rest As the whole house is a place of rest compared with the World abroad so the Bed is the speciall place of rest Revel 14.14 Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth they rest from their labours and their workes follow them They shall follow their worke no more who are followed by their works The Grave is the house and bed of the body to all who dye Heaven is the house and rest of the soule to all those why dye in the Lord. Saints have here a rest in their labours they shall hereafter have a rest from their laboures Lastly Whereas the bed of death is made in darknesse Observe There is nothing desireable in death as considered in it selfe A darke condition is the worst condition Darknesse which in Scripture signifies all evill is a word good enough to expresse the state of death by What desireablenesse there is in death what pleasures in the Grave will appeare further in those arguments which death useth to invite us home to its house the Grave in the next Verse vvhich tels us our most lovely companions yea our sweetest and most endeared relations there are Corruption and Wormes Vers 14. I have sayd to corruption Thou art my Father and to the worme Thou art my Mother and my Sister Hyperbolae sunt quibus significat se omnem jam vitae cogitationem abdicasse Jun. This Verse is of the same sense with the former onely here Job breaks into an elegant variation of new metaphors and hyperbolicall expressions I have sayd That is I have as it were called to and saluted the retinue and attendants of death as my freinds and kindred As I have made my bed in the Grave and as that is my house so now I am finding out my houshold relations I say to this Thou art my Father and to that Thou art my Mother and Sister 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est clamare vocare appellare per electionem nominare elegans prosopopeia per quam Job tumulum alloquitur Bold The word which we render I have sayd c. signifies not barely to say but to cry or call out I have called out to corruption so Master Broughton To the pit I cry O Father O Sister O Mother to the Worme not barely I have sayd but I cry and not barely I cry Father to the pit but he adds also a note of exclamation O Father Secondly The word imports not generally a calling or crying out to any one that comes next but to some speciall person by way of election and choice or to such as vve know vvell and are acquainted with as the termes of Father Mother and Sister imply Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat etiem occurrere alicui nam occurrentem solemus salutatione vel interrogatione aliqua proprio nomine appellare Further the word signifies not onely to call aloud and to call with election but to goe forth on purpose to call a Freind or to invite him in As when we see an acquaintance comming towards us or our dwellings we step out to meet and welcome him so the word may beare in this place As if Job seeing death drawing towards him had gone out and said O corruption my Father O wormes my Mother my Sister vvelcome vvelcome such an elegancy the word yeelds us I shall not here stay upon any anxious disquisition about the propriety of these relations how Job cals corruption his Father and the vvorme his Mother and Sister or in drawing out comparisons about them vve are to looke onely to a generall proportion not to an exact propriety in these words there 's no need to make out parallels between corruption and a Father or betweene wormes and a Mother or a Sister Onely thus much may be asserted particularly First He speakes thus to shew that he looked on death not onely not as an enemy but not as a stranger Death and he were well acquainted Secondly He speakes thus to shew that death vvas not only not a stranger to him but as one of his kindred He vvas upon as fayre termes vvith death as vvith Father and Mother Thirdly Job speakes thus to shew Vt ostendat mortem sibi in votis esse cunctis illum amicitiae necessitudinis nomininis compellat Pinet that he did not onely looke upon death as in a neere relation to him but as having a kinde of delight and contentment in death vvhat is more sweet to a man vvho hath been in a long journey and is returning home then to thinke that he is comming to his Father and Mother to his Brethren and Sisters As nature gives us kindred by blood so it is a custome to adopt and stampe to our selves kindred by kindnesse one vve call Father and another vve call Mother one is our Brother a second is our Sister a third our Cozen by the mutuall tyes or by the receits and returnes of curtesie Thus we are to take these compellations as intimating vvith vvhat spirit Job entertained the thoughts of death even with no other then if he had beene to fall into the embraces of Father and Mother and Sister He sayd to corruption as we should say to wisedome Prov. 7.4 Say unto wisedome thou art my Sister and call understanding thy Kinswoman that is Acquaint thy selfe with and be familiar vvith vvisedome so shalt thou keepe thy selfe vvhich is both thy vvisedome and thy happinesse a stranger From the strange Woman Vers 5. Further it may yet be enquired what it is which Job cals Corruption and the worme I have sayd to corruption c. What is this corruption There are two opinions about it First Some interpret him speaking to the corruption and wormes which had already seized upon his body for his diseases and ulcerous sores had bred corruption and wormes As if he had sayd I may well call corruption my Father for I am already full of corruption I may well call the worme my Mother my sister for the wormes creep in and out at my sores continually my body is as if it had layne already in the Grave full of corruption and wormes Secondly Others expound him speaking to and of the corruption and wormes which waited his comming into the Grave The vvord in the Text which wee translate Corruption signifies also the Grave because bodies doe not onely corrupt in the Grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fovea corruptio quod in fovea corpus corrumpitur but
will breake through all oppositions through Lawe through conscience through counsell through an host of threatnings armed against him through judgements inflicted on him he will breake through all these that he may have a draught of his beloved iniquity-water Secondly To drinke notes a strong desire so pleasure and content and where there is a great deale of desire there is also much content and pleasure in drinking Hence observe That it is a very pleasant thing to a carnall man to sin he drinkes iniquity not onely like water but in this sense like the sweetest Wine a draught of sin is the onely Merry-goe-downe to a carnall man A drunkard likes his drinke well but he likes his drunkennesse better His liquor is sweet to him but O how sweet is the satisfying of his lust When he hath his desire he is pleased when he is frustrated of his desire he is sullen and like Ahab when he could not obtaine Naboaths Vineyard he is displeased and refuses as he did to eate bread because he cannot have this water of iniquity to drink Thirdly Consider the easinesse of it to drink is no hard labour hence we speake proverbially I can do◠such a thing as easily as I can drinke there are no bones in drink Good liquor we say also needs no chewing Besides it is easie to drink because it is naturall to drink Children have no Tutors to teach them to drink Againe to drink water is easie because we may get it easily water is not kept under Lock and Key but in the common Storehouses or Cellars of nature Hence Note A naturall man sins with ease it is no paine to him to sin Sin is not easie in the effects so it leaves us in Little-ease q.d. Facillimè laxatis conscientiae habenis in omnia omnis generis scelera se dat praecipitem Bold paine and sorrow enough are the fruits of it but it is easie in the act of it it is to a wicked heart as easie as to drinke water which is every way easie For first Sin is a common thing every where to be had sin may be found like water in every Ditch sin also is like those waters which flow naturally you need not pumpe for it or fetch it up with Buckets Secondly No man needs be taught to sin children learne that lesson and till the spirit of God teach them they cannot unlearne it without a Schoole-master Thirdly Most sins in the act of them have little labour or difficulty in them Psal 50.20 Quasi per in curiam otium quasi nihil agens Thou sattest and spakest against thy Mothers Son A man may both speake and doe evill while he sits still and doth nothing an idle posture may serve the turne for such work as that Fourthly Water is but small drinke water hath little pleasure in it and lesse strength in it And therefore when Christ would shew that the lowest courtesie or charity done to one of his shall be highly esteemed by him he saith Whosoever shall give to drinke unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water onely in the name of a Disciple he shall not loose his reward Matth. 10.42 Hence Observe Man will sin upon very easie tearmes and smallest considerations Though there be little got by it though he get but a draught of water by it though his sin bring him in scare any thing of advantage yet sin he will the act of sinning pleaseth some more then the consequence or gaine of sin They care not much whether it be water or Wine which they drinke Eo improbitatis evadit impius ut vel solo peccati impietatis nomine nulla praeterea mercede proposita peccato inserviat so it be iniquity which they drinke As the Saints in a height of holinesse will doe good though they doe themselves little good or get no outward advantage by it They resolve to do good for good sake the duty abstractly considered or the act it selfe is the thing that pleaseth them so to a naturall man the very committing of sin satisfieth him more then the outward Income or Revenue of his sin He doth evill for evill sake and serves his lust for love not for wages Fifthly Drinking is a frequent act a temperate man drinkes every day and often every day healthy men eate often and most men drink oftner then they eate So that to drinke iniquity hints also the frequency of committing iniquity Hence Observe A carnall heart sins often He sins and sins hee cannot but sin Inveteratum ac inseparabilem peccandi habitum consuetudinem denotat it is a continuall yea a continued act he hath never done he is like the Drunkard that must alwayes be tipling Or like the covetous man who is alwaies having and the more he hath the more he desires to have Covetousnesse is a dry drunkennesse and drunkennesse is a wet covetousnesse both returne often upon the same acts and so doth every sinner naturally He cannot cease from sin as the Apostle Peter speakes Every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is onely evill and that continually The cup of iniquity is never from his mouth Sixtly To drink iniquity like water notes not onely the frequency of sinning but the abundance of sinning they take great draughts of sin who drinke iniquity like water Such as are accustomed to drink water in many places it is the common drink such I say drink more then men usually doe of Wine or strong drinke first because Wine and artificiall liquors are costly but you may drinke water good cheape and none will grutch you Secondly Water is not strong nor vaporous it doth not burden the braine like your heady liquors Now though iniquity be somewhat unlike water in both these respects for to some their sins are costly enough at present and they will cost all very deare except they repent of them before at the day of reckoning sin also flyes up into the braine and doth as much besot as defile the soule Now I say though sin be thus unlike water yet the naturall man drinkes it like water he takes in and sends out abundance of it what cares he what it costs him or how it besots him neither the present distemperings of it nor the after reckonings for it trouble him Seventhly Eating and drinking are the support of nature by these the body is maintained in life now as the body of nature is maintained by eating and drinking Perbibisti iniquitatem ita visceribus immiscuisti ut nisi cum ipsis exire non possit Sen. lib. P. de ira so the body and life of sin the corrupt state and strength of man are maintained by the continuall actings of sin The old Adam is nourished by these waters of iniquity We say in nature wee are nourished by that out of which we are made that which is the matter of our constitution is the matter of our nutrition so in this