such a manner I give you my peace therefore let not your hearts be troubled neither be you afraid what-ever outward trouble the world can give you be not afraid of it before it cometh nor troubled at it when 't is come I will give you inward peace in the midst of all your troubles Christ invites the weary and the heavie laden to come to him with this promise I will give you rest Matth. 11.29 soul-rest he meaneth that Title or name of Christ Shiloh Gen. 49.10 The Scepter shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come signifies tranquility peace and rest As Jesus Christ hath bought our peace and rest with his blood so he bears it in his name The fountain of our soul-peace is the heart of the father Grace and Peace from God the Father c. Col. 1.1 2. 1 Thess 1.1 The purchase or price of this peace is the blood of the Son Col. 1.22 He hath made our peace through the blood of his Cross Our peace cost dear it cost blood and that the blood of the Son of God The conveyance of this peace is made by the holy Spirit he is sent to bring the good tydings of peace unto believers the Spirit speaks peace from God and witnesseth with our spirits that we are at peace with God And as this peace is at first from God the Father as the fountain of it from God the Son as the Purchaser of it and from God the holy Ghost as the Speaker of it so the continuing and renewing of this peace is from the same God He establisheth and setleth the heart in that peace which he hath given and he restoreth that peace when at any time we have lost it and the heart is unsetled David's soul being unquiet and his peace ravell'd after his sin he addressed to God for the renewing of it Psal 51.12 Restore to me the joy of thy salvation David petitioned the restoring of his peace while he petitioned the restoring of his joy 't is possible to have peace without joy but there can be no joy in that soul which hath not first attained to peace We must wait upon God both for the restoring of our peace when it is departed and for the continuance of it when it is enjoyed When he giveth quietness to a man either as to soul or body or both Who can make trouble Note Secondly The quietness or peace which God bestows upon any person is an invincible an insuperable peace and quietness as to all that this world can do or he suffer in this world If God will give a quiet outward estate no man can disturb it when God gave Job outward quietness what a mighty man was he how did he flourish Nor could any break his outward peace Satan confest it in the first chapter Thou hast made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side there is not the least gap open no nor stake loosned in his hedge who can touch him who can come at him I cannot touch him Sabeans and Chaldeans cannot touch him While the Lord giveth and guardeth our outward peace it is inviolable And as to our spiritual peace if the Lord speak it who or what can trouble the soul First The afflictions tribulations and vexations which we meet with in the world cannot trouble this inward peace while storms are without there will be a calm within the soul may be at peace and the conscience quiet in the greatest visible confusions Let the world turn about and overturn let it shake and break into a thousand pieces this peace abides unshaken unbroken let the world rage in the heat either of war or persecution yet the heart is serene fixt and quiet like Mount Zion that cannot be removed Christ tells his Disciples John 16.33 These things have I spoken unto you that in me ye might have peace and in the same verse he foretells them In the world you shall have tribulation as if he had said you shall have a peace concurrent and contemporary with your tribulation trouble from the world shall not hinder the peace you have from me yea my peace shall conquer the troubles you have in the world Thus the Prophet tryumphed in believing Hab. 3.17 Though the labour of the Olive should fail and the Vine yeild no fruit though there be no Calves in the stall nor Sheep in the fold c. yet I will joy in the Lord and rejoyce in the God of my salvation To rejoyce in the Lord is more then to be quiet or to have peace in the Lord. Joy is the exaltation of peace it is the most delicious fruit of peace The worst of worldly evils cannot despoil us of the least purely spiritual good much less of the greatest Him wilt thou keep in perfect peace whose minde is stayed on thee Isa 26.3 That 's perfectly perfect to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be taken away yet that is truly perfect to which though somthing may be added yet it cannot be either totally or finally taken away Such is the soul-peace of true believers in this life and therefore a perfect peace Secondly As outward tribulation cannot hinder the soul-peace of a godly man so the policy plots and temptations of Satan our arch-enemy cannot yea his charges and most spiteful accusations shall not The great designe of the devil is to destroy and devour souls his own condition being most miserable he at once envies all those who are not in the same condition and attempts to make them so and when he fails in that attempt the destruction of souls yet he will not cease to attempt their molestation and to trouble those whom he cannot utterly devour Now as Satan cannot at all prevail in the former attempt the destroying of souls so he cannot wholly prevail in the latter the troubling of souls Hence that gallant challenge of the Apostle Rom. 8.33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that dyed yea rather that is risen again c. As if he had said let all the enemies of our spiritual peace rise up and combine together they shall not be able to condemn that is wholly to discourage or disquiet the heart of a believer he having received his quietus est rest and peace from God in the justification of his person and the pardon of his sins Satan can do much and would do more if his chain were lengthned and he not restrained to the trouble and molestation of our souls there 's not a godly man living should rest an hour in quiet for him if he might have his wish or his will but because God gives quietness to some believers and will not have it so much as stirr'd therefore Satan cannot make any trouble at all in their souls but they live in the constant light of God's countenance and in
is sayd he will render unto man his righteousness we are not to understand it of righteousness in kinde but of the reward or fruit of his righteousness For here Elihu speaks of a person already righteous or at least of him who had repented of and turned from his unrighteousness So that to returne or render unto man his righteousness is to returne the mercy promised to those that are righteous Reddet justitiam i. e. praemium justitiae Drus For as iniquity or unrighteousness is often put for the punishment of unrighteousness so equity or righteousness is often put for the reward of righteousness or for that which God according to his righteous promise returnes unto a righteous person Thus we may understand Elihu here As if he had sayd God dealt with this man before as with a sinner or he afflicted him for his sin But now he will deale kindly with him as with a righteous person and removing his affliction and taking his hand off from him he will render his righteousness to him he will not reckon with him for any former unrighteousness From this notion of the word Observe God usually deals with men as they are and according to what they doe If a godly man sin he shall smart for it and if a sinner return and repent God will shew him kindness Though the mercy and kindness which God shews to a returning sinner be not for his returnings or repentings yet 't is according to them The favour which God sheweth any man is for Christs sake or for what Christ hath done and suffered but it is according to what himselfe hath done or suffered David experienced this himselfe Psal 18.20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousnes c. That is as I have been a righteous and just person so the Lord hath dealt with me And he gives the rule with respect to all others v. 25. With the upright thou wilt shew thy selfe upright with the pure thou wilt shew thy selfe pure c. That is Thou wilt be such to men in thy dispensations as they are in their conversations and dispositions in the frame and bent of their hearts and lives And as it followeth v. 27. Thou wilt save the afflicted or humble people but wilt bring downe high lookes that is those that are proud and high-minded The Prophet holds out the same truth in way of direction Isa 3.10 Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eat of the fruit of their doings that is they shall have good for the good they have done or according to the good which they have done Rom 2.10 Glory honour and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentile If any object But may it not be ill with men that doe good and are good doth the Lord alwayes render to man according to his righteousness I answer It is well at present with most that doe well look over all the sons of men and generally ye shall find that usually the better they are the better they live Secondly I answer It shall be well with all that doe well in the issue and for ever This truth will abide to eternity God will render unto man according to his righteousness Secondly We may take the word righteousness Justiam quam ei confert in Christo reputans eum pro justo Jun for the righteousness of justification Mr Broughton inclines to that sence He will restore unto man his justice And presently adds by way of glosse Justice is Christ It is Christs Justice or righteousness that is restored to man Christ is indeed The Lord our righteousness Jer 23.6 And thus severall others of the learned expound these words He will render unto man his righteousness That is he will bestow upon him or restore to him righteousness in Christ he will account him righteous though he hath no righteousness of his owne which will hold in Gods account Elihu I grant calleth it Mans righteousness his righteousness yet we may well understand him calling it so not because it is wrought by but because it is imputed to or bestowed upon man as his righteousness That is ours which is freely given us so is righteousness in justification by faith in Christ We have no righteousness wrought in us or by us for that purpose but we have a righteousness wrought for us and freely bestowed upon us for that purpose which is therefore truely called mans righteousness But some may question how can it be sayd that God doth render or return to man this righteousness that is the righteousness of justification Can this righteousness be lost can a person justified fall out of a justified state I answer The righteousness of justification which is true also of the righteousness of sanctification as to the substance and being of it cannot be lost But it may be lost as to the comfortable enjoyments and fruits of it or as to our apprehension of it And the Lord is sayd to returne to man the righteousness of his justification not as if the grace it selfe were lost or taken away from him but because the sight and sence of it the sweetness and joy of it Non enim ablata justitia redditur sed ablatae justitiae sensus Coc the workings and effects of it having been lost are now restored to him againe When the Lord by his Spirit gives the soule a cleare and fresh evidence of it or reneweth the testimony of his Spirit with our spirits that our sins are forgiven and that we are justified beloved and accepted in Christ then the Lord is sayd to render unto man his righteousness otherwise neither the faith by which this righteousness is applyed nor the righteousness it selfe which is applyed to us by faith is at any time lost or removed Only in this sence as in many other Scriptures so in this the Lord is sayd to render unto man his righteousness both of sanctification and justification For when a beleever through sin hath blotted his own evidences and God hath left him under the darkness of his own spirit for his negligent unwatchfull unworthy walking or when the Lord hideth his face to try him what he will doe whether he will trust in his name while he walketh in darkness and seeth no light when I say after withdrawings for either of these reasons or for any other the Lord gives him in a renewed evidence of his love then he is sayd to render unto man his righteousness It is in this case as with a man that labours under some strong and dangerous disease which taketh away his sences and leaves him halfe dead we say the man is gone yet he recovers his speech returnes and his spirits revive and then we say his life is rendred to him or he is brought back from the grave we have fetched him againe not that his life was quite taken away for he was not a carkasse in
that condition a body without a soule but his life was for that time withdrawne there was no appearance of it no sencible breathing no motion no vitall visible operation Thus we may conceive what is meant by the rendring unto man his righteousness Hence observe First A justified person is a righteous person He hath a clothing of righteousness that which we call his righteousness is not properly but imputedly his It is not a cloathing of his owne making but made for him and bestowed freely upon him Rom 10.3 They being ignorant of the righteousness of God and going about to establish their owne righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God It is Gods righteousness not our owne and yet it is our owne as well as the righteousness of God it being imputed and reckoned unto us for our righteousness it is the believers righteousness as given to him it is Christs righteousness as wrought by him Secondly Observe A justified person under great afflictions and temptations often looseth the comfortable sight and sence of his owne righteousness And so may look upon himselfe as an unrighteous person as having no righteousnes or as being unreconciled unjustified For as many bold sinners hypocrites presume they have a righteousness when they have none and boast themselves to be in the number of the justified when they are not So many an afflicted and tempted soule who is indeed justified in the sight of God may be unjustified in his owne Great afflictions have an appearance of divine displeasure which stands most opposite to justification As affliction is a kinde of darkness so it often leaves the soule in much darkness And he that is in the dark is full of feare he is apt to question his state whether he hath any thing of God in him or no. For though it be not good for a Christian alwayes to begin to live he should come to a poynt and labour for a certainty yet some are brought to such a pass that their former evidences and experiences are even dead and lye prostrate and they constrained to begin a new reckoning about their spirituall estate or as it were to begin againe to live Thirdly Note Mans righteousness or justification is as lost to him when he wants the evidence that is the comfort sweetness and peace of it When his soul-state is so ravel'd and intangled that he can make nothing of it then his righteousness is as lost Those things which appeare not are to us as if they were not Not to know what we have is a degree of not having When grace doth not act or is not used we are sayd in Scripture to lack grace or to have none 2 Pet 1.9 But he that lacketh these things is blind and cannot see afar off The whole context carrieth it of believers who are in a state of grace who yet not using grace are sayd to lack it and are called blinde as not able to see afar off how it was with them when the work of conversion first began so have upon the matter forgotten that they were ever purged from their old sins That is they act as a man that hath never had any acquaintance with God or knew so much as the meaning of repentance from dead workes He in the Gospel who had but one talent and did not use it is sayd to have none From him that hath not shall be taken away even that he hath Math 25.29 'T is a strange expression to say that shall be taken away from a man which he hath not yet the idle servant is sayd not to have that one talent which he had because he did not use it but layd it by as a dead stocke Now as in reference unto the grace of sanctification in us when we doe not act we are sayd to lack it or not to have it so in reference to the peace of justification when we have not the comfort of it we are sayd to be without it And therefore when peace is restored to the soule righteousness or justification is restored also Further from the connexion of these words He shall see his face with joy for he will render unto man his righteousness Note Fourthly When the sight of our righteousness or justified state in Christ returnes to us our comforts returne We may be justified or in a justified state and not rejoyce But if we know we are in a state of justification we cannot but rejoyce It will make a man rejoyce to purpose when he seeth the righteousness of justification is clearely his Isa 45.25 Surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousness and strength One shall say this He shall not only have righteousness in the Lord but he shall say he hath that is he shall be able to make it out he shall have the light of it upon his spirit and then as it followeth in the Prophet In him shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory When they are able to say this then they shall not only rejoyce but glory Glorying is the height of joy or joy is in its full strength The Apostle saith Rom 14.17 The kingdome of God is not meat and drink What is it then but righteousness and what else peace and joy in the holy Ghost Righteousness brings in peace that 's the first fruit The warre is ended the controversie determined between God and the soule and when once peace is entred joy will follow It is usuall to make triumphs when a formerly broken peace is made between two nations When Abimilech sent commissioners to make a covenant of peace with Isaac the holy Story saith Gen 26.30 He made them a feast and they did eate and drinke Surely when God sends his holy Spirit to speake peace to a troubled soule against whom his terrors have been set in array as Job sayd in his own case Chap 6.4 and the arrowes of the Almighty within him have drunke up his spirit he I say having his peace thus restored to him cannot but have the joy of the Lord restored to him as David prayed his might Psal 51.12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation That is shew me that I am justified that my sin is pardoned this will bring back into my bosome the joy of thy salvation and my drooping soul shall be not only refreshed but feasted as with marrow and fatness Joy is a certaine consequent upon the sight of our justification Yea joy is not only a consequent but a fruit and effect of it joy floweth out of the nature of it nor is it ever interrupted or suspended but upon the hiding of righteousness out of our sight And therefore joy returnes unfayleably when the Lord is pleased thus to render unto man his righteousness JOB Chap. 33. Vers 27 28 29 30. He looketh upon men and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which was right and it profiteth me not He will deliver his soule from
those who are true fruit-bearing branches more and more that they may bring forth more fruit And the means by which he purgeth them that is mortifieth their corruptions seldome reach this blessed effect at once or twice working and therefore the Lord is even constrained to worke these things twice thrice or oftentimes else the worke would not be brought to the intended issue Thirdly In that it is sayd All these things worketh God oftentimes not alwayes Observe Man should make hast to answer the call of God and come up to what he requireth of him For though God worke these things oftentimes yet no man knowes how often he will worke and we may all know he will not worke alwayes 'T is a high and dangerous presumption to deferre at any time upon hopes that God will work at another time because in some cases he workes oftentimes Remember as was shewed before in opening the words this thrice is the least number of often as twice is the least number of any two or three are the least number that makes a Church-assembly Math 18.20 The Prophet saith Amos 2.4 For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not turne away the punishment thereof Implying that if men multiply their transgressions God will not alwayes give them meanes of repentance but powre out wrath upon them So Elihu saith God worketh twice and thrice but if men will sin three or foure times where is their warrant that God will pardon or passe by their sins The Prophet did not binde up the mercy of God precisely to two or three transgressions Rabbi Solom colligit tertantum homini ignoscere deum at quarto si ad peccandum redierit esse quod sibiâ—Ã gehenna timeat et id esse putat quod hoc loco ab Elihu dicatur but if men sin without bounds he shewes they have no ground to expect God should be mercifull One of the Jewish Rabbins as some expound him concludes peremptorily If man sin twice or thrice God will spare but if foure times God will punish We doe not circumscribe the grace of God to a speciall number and possibly that Rabbin did not intend it so but only that all should take heed they doe not abuse the grace of God That God multiplyeth to pardon or as we render Isa 55.7 Pardoneth aboundantly is no security for any man to sin aboundantly or to multiply transgressions My spirit shall not alwayes strive with man saith the Lord Gen 6.3 I have striven long already and I will yet strive longer even an hundred and twenty yeares but I will not strive alwayes God gave Jezebel a space to repent Rev 2.21 but when she repented not he did not promise her a new space to repent in but threatned her with wrath to the utmost if she repented not There is a frequency in the worke of God to reduce sinners but not a perpetuity And as in this verse Elihu reports this frequency of his worke so in the next he reports that to be the designe of it Vers 30. To bring back his soule from the pit to be enlightned with the light of the living This verse I say sheweth the purpose of God in working twice thrice or oftentimes with man This purpose as was touched before is two-fold First to free and deliver him from evill the worst of evills a horrible pit Secondly to estate him in and give him possession of not only that which is good but best of all the light of the living Not is this purpose of God a bare desire that 's often fruitless and successless but a strong or setled resolution to bring back the sick mans soule from the pit And Elihu we may suppose spake thus as to presse Job to hasten the worke of his repentance so to put him in hope upon consideration of this designe of God in afflicting him that he should be delivered from his afflictions and have not only his life continued but the comforts of it restored to him As if he had sayd Be not afraid doe not look upon thy condition as hopeless or that the humiliation of thy selfe will be fruitlesse for I dare assure thee God hath gracious purposes and intendments towards thee in working these things And here we have a two-fold gracious purpose of God expressed First to deliver him from evill to bring back his soule from the pit Secondly to doe him good or to bestow positive blessings upon him as was shewed at the 28th verse even to be enlightned with the light of the living As if he had sayd God in all this aymes only at mans good that his sin unrepented of be not his death and destruction and that under a sence of Divine favour towards him he may lead a comfortable life here and be happy for ever To bring back his soule from the pit It is sayd at the 28th verse He will deliver his soule from going into the pit in both places the pit is the same But seeing the Lord there promised to deliver his soule from going into the pit how is he sayd here to bring back his soule from the pit A man being delivered from going to the pit cannot be sayd to be brought back from the pit I answer in two things the words rendred to bring back his soule from the pit may be read thus to turne away his soule from the pit that is to preserve him from death So the Hebrew word is used Chap 15.13 as also Mal 2.6 He walked with me in peace and equity and did turne away many from iniquity If we take that rendring of the word then the expressions in both places beare the same sence But taking it according to our reading in which to bring back his soule from the pit sounds as if the man had been in the pit already and it may well be sayd so because a man in great affliction whether of soule or body is as it were dead or buried alive For as when God converts a sinner he upon the matter brings him back from hell so when he delivers him from any grievous sickness he doth upon the matter bring him back from the grave Heman in spirituall afflictions and soule-desertions the terrours of the Lord being upon him called himselfe free among the dead like the slaine that lye in the grave whom God remembreth no more and they are cut off from thy hand Psal 88.5 They that are neere the pit of death are not much improperly called dead and they that being in such a desperate case are kept from going downe to the pit are not much improperly sayd to be brought back from the pit or pulled out of it In which sence we may keep to our owne reading and so to bring back his soule from the pit notes only the extreame danger wherein he was whether spirituall or temporall and Gods graciousness in delivering him from it Hence note When God restores a man out of any desperate condition whether of
praeparat terram ante seminatorem 'T is but one word in the Hebrew which we translate hold thy peace and it signifieth properly to dig or plow the ground and by a metaphor to thinke of or to meditate because thoughts goe deep in the soule a man doth as it were plow up his own spirit while he is meditating or thinking seriously Pro 3.29 Devise not evill or it is this word plow not up evill that 's a bad soyle indeed to be plowing up They that plow evill shall sow the wind and except they repent reape the whirlewind The prophet exhorting Ephraim to break up their fallow ground and sow in righteousness that they might reap mercy Hos 10.12 reproves them v. 13. for a very unprofitable piece of husbandry by this word Ye have plowed wickedness ye have reaped iniquity ye have eaten the fruit of lyes that is ye have plotted devised and contrived wicked things and ye have fared accordingly Now as the word signifieth to meditate by a metaphor from digging or plowing so by the figure antiphrasis or contrary speaking it signifies to forbeare doing or speaking to sit still or as we render it here to hold our peace and say nothing Isa 41.1 Keepe silence before me O Islands Psal 50.3 Our God shall come and shall not keep silence that is he will speak aloud Elihu bespeakes Job in the affirmative hold thy peace be silent Some conceive Job began to interrupt Elihu Vidatur Jobin se avertisse vel displiceÌ„tiae signum dedisse illum igitur ad so audiendum invitat Scult or gave some token of dislike while he was discoursing as if he had received his speech with disgust and not only inwardly stomacked at it But did not forbeare to discover it by some significant gesture or frowne and that Elihu perceiving this desired him to hold his peace As if he had sayd If you desire to reape any benefit by what I speak be patient and doe not interrupt me But I conceive there was no such height nor heate of spirit in Job at that time He began now to be sedate and quiet enough being somewhat convinced of his former error and intemperance of speech But some may say was it not an over-bold part in Elihu a young man to impose silence upon Job or to bid him hold his peace I answer Elihu doth not bid Job hold his peace either first as if he had seene him unwilling to let him speake or would not heare him any more Job was a very patient hearer he heard his friends patiently and he had heard Elihu too with silence and patience yea though Elihu offered him leave yea almost provoked him to speake v. 5. yet he did not but gave him scope to speake out Nor did Elihu speake this secondly as if he slighted Job or thought him a man unable to answer him or speake to purpose for presently in the next verse he desireth him againe to speake Nor thirdly as if he had such high thoughts of his owne wisdome and loved so much to heare himselfe speake as some men doe that he cared not to heare others but would engrosse all the discourse Nor was it fourthly because he saw such an affectation in Job to speake that he needed as the Apostle speaks of some Tit 1.11 to have his mouth stopt It was not upon any of these or such like reasons that Elihu desired Job to hold his peace but it was either first that himselfe might speak more clearely and carry his matter through to his understanding or secondly that he might set the matter more home upon his conscience and move him to consider yet more seriously what he had sayd of the various wayes of Gods dealing with man to humble his soule and bring him neerer to himselfe or lastly that Job might perceive and take notice that he was the man aymed at in all the foregoing parable As if he had sayd Sir downe quietly and consider with thy selfe whether all this discourse hath tended or whether or no thou art not the man intended in it As Christ when he had spoken that parable of the sower concluded Math 13.9 He that hath an eare to heare let him heare that is let him take it home to himselfe or as Christ concludeth his Epistles to the seven Churches in the second and third Chapters of the Revelation with He that hath an eare let him heare what the Spirit saith to the Churches so doth Elihu to Job in speciall Mark-well O Job and hearken unto me hold thy peace This silence was made of old in great assemblyes Majestate manus by putting the hand to the mouth and then stretching it forth Acts 12.17 Acts 13.16 Chap. 19.23 Chap. 26.1 If any would know yet more distinctly what Elihu meant when he bid Job hold his peace I answer First Negatively not a bare silence or saying nothing but affirmatively when he sayth hold thy peace it might note these two things First That he would have him much in the worke of consideration or to forbeare speaking that he might be more in meditating and weighing and laying things to heart he would have him bring what he had spoken to the ballance of the Sanctuary and then to his owne heart A man is never more busie then when he thus holds his peace Secondly When he saith hold thy peace it might note that he desired his submission to the counsel given or to be given him He would have him bridle his tongue in token that his spirit was brideled He would have Jobs silence say speake on I will say nothing let the truth of God reigne and rule over me by thy word What Samuel answered to the Lord himselfe 1 Sam 3.10 Speak Lord for thy servant heareth that should we answer to those who speak to us from the Lord speak ye we will heare and hold our peace or we should say with good Cornelius when Peter came to him Acts 10.33 We are all here present before God to heare all things that are commanded thee of God When a man holds his peace upon these termes 't is a signe he layeth downe his owne wisdome and his will he doth not stand upon his pantofloes as we say nor abound in his owne sence but is ready to be delivered or cast into the mould of any holy and wholesome doctrine which shall be delivered unto him They are in the fittest frame to hold the truth which others speake who can withhold themselves from speaking Further There is a two-fold holding of the peace First at the works of God or at what God doth Lev 10.3 when God had smitten the two sons of Aaron dead with fire frâ—m heaven Aaron held his peace that is he did not murmure at nor contradict what God had done That also was Davids temper Psal 39.9 I was dumbe I opened not my mouth because thou Lord didst it The Prophet Jeremy describes an humbled soule in the same posture Lam 3.28 He sitteth alone and
keepeth silence because he hath borne it upon him When God layeth his yoke or crosse upon us 't is our duty to be silent and submit Zach 2.13 Be silent O all flesh before the Lord for he is raised up out of his holy habitation that is the Lord begins to worke therefore let all men or men of all sorts and degrees be quiet and say nothing either discontentedly or complainingly In all these Scriptures holding our peace is called for and commanded or shewed at the workes of God Secondly There is a holding of our peace at the word of God or at what God speaketh Thus 't is when not only the tongue but the heart is silent and every thought is brought into subjection or captivity to the obedience of Christ The heart of man often speakes much and is very clamorous when he saith nothing with his tongue That 's to hold our peace indeed when the heart is quiet let God say or doe what he will 'T is not more our duty to resist the Devill that is all his hellish whisperings and temptations to the doing of evill then 't is to submit to God in all his speakings and dispensations Elihu speaking in the name of the Lord faithfully adviseth Job in this sence to hold his peace Hence learne We ought to submit and keep silence when the truth of God is spoken Or when the minde of God is brought unto us there must be no replying but obeying no disputing but submitting They have learned much who know how and when to say nothing Solomon saith Eccl 3.6 There is a time to keep silence and a time to speake but this kind of silence is in season at all times we ought alwayes to be silent thus that is alwayes submit to the minde of God We need to be minded of this because the pride and over-weening of man is great We have need to put a bridle upon our tongues much more upon our hearts it is hard to bring our wills and our understandings under we are apt to strive and struggle when truth comes neere us yea to kick at it when it comes very neeâ—â— and home to us though indeed the neerer it comes the better nor can it ever come too neere The Apostle James apprehended this when he gave that admonition Chap 1.21 Receive with meeknesse the ingraffed word which is able to save your soules Meeknesse is that grace which moderates anger a passionate or fierce spirit receiveth not the word but riseth up against it turnes not to it but upon it and which is worst of all turnes it to evill not to good turnes light into darknesse and so the word of life becomes a savour of death for want of a due submission to it Therefore hearken and hold your peace when the word of God is spoken Do not say it is but the word of man because delivered by man God speaks in and by his faithfull Messengers ye oppose the authority of the living God not a mortall dying creature when you reject the word And remember it is not only our duty but our liberty to give up our selves prisoners to the truths of God we are never so free as when bound by it or to it And as we should hold our peace at or submit to all the truths of God in all cases so especially in these three First When we are reproved for our sins in practice then we should not stand excusing what we have done but repent of it Secondly When we are shewed our errour in opinion then we should not stand disputing and arguing for what we hold but recant it 'T is time to hold our peace when once it appeares to us that we doe not hold the truth To erre is common to man but to persevere in an errour to the defence and patronage of it is more then inhumane devilish Thirdly We should hold our peace when our duty is plaine before us then we should not stand questioning it but doe it Whatsoever thy hand findeth to doe saith Solomon Eccl 9.10 that is whatsoever appeares to be a duty doe it with all thy might Hold thy tongue but doe not withhold thy hand when once thy hand hath found what must be done Elihu at this time was dealing with Job upon all these three poynts He told him his sin that he had been too querious and impatient he shewed him his error that he had been too bold with God because innâ—cent towards men And he pressed him to duty both that and how he ought to humble himselfe before the Lord. The Apostle treating about that great poynt of justification tells us God will at last cause all men to hold their peace Rom 3.19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith it saith to them who are under the law that every month may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God that is man will have nothing to say but sit downe silent and hold his peace or only say I am nothing I have deserved nothing but death and condemnation when he once understands the holiness and strictness of the law together with the unholiness and looseness of his owne heart and life Hence note It speakes yea proclaimes a gracious prudence to know how and when to hold our peace and say nothing When men insist upon their owne conceit and reason when they logick it unduely with God or men and will needs seeme to know more then the word teacheth them what doe they but give evidence against themselves that as yet they know nothing as the word teacheth or as they ought to know and themselves least of all 'T is pride and presumption not prudence and understanding which opens such mens mouths We never profit by what we heare till in the sence opened we have learned to hold our peace The counsel which Elihu gave Job was to hold his peace yet he layd no constraint upon him to refraine necessary speaking but put him upon it in the next verse Vers 32. If thou hast any thing to say answer me speake for I desire to justifie thee Lest Elihu should be interpreted to have taken too much upon him or to have denied Job his liberty of speaking when he sayd hold thy peace he here calls him to speake This is a full proofe that his intent was not to barre him from speaking but only that he should forbeare unnecessary speaking As if he had sayd Now that I have gone thus farre if I have spoken any thing that thou at unsatisfied in and dost desire I should explaine my selfe about speake thy minde freely for though I have more to say yet I will not hinder thee from saying what thou canst fairely say for thy selfe neither will I ever-burthen thy memory with too much at once therefore come now and answer if thou wilt or canst to what is already spoken The Hebrew is If thou hast words answer me that is if thou hast arguments to defend thy selfe with or to
turnest man to destruction and sayest Return ye children of men Here 's man turning and returning upon the saying of God man turneth to death he returneth to dust and shall at last return from the dust and all this when God saith he must Our life is a very frail thing and it is in the hand of God to continue or take it away to let us hold it or gather it home to himself Thirdly From the manner of speaking If he gather to himself his spirit and his breath Note When man dieth he is gathered to God When as Solomon allegorizeth the death of man Eccl. 12.6 7. The silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl broken c. Then shall the dust that is the body return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it that is each part of man when he departeth this world shall go its proper way and return to that which is most congenial to it his body to the earth from whence it is his soul to God of whom it is God is a Spirit the creating Spirit and our created spirits are gathered to God when they are separated from the body yet remember there is a two-fold gathering or returning of the spirit to God First To abide and be blessed with him for ever thus the spirits of believers or saints only are gathered to God when they depart out of this world Secondly There is a gathering of the spirit to God to be judged and disposed of by him to receive a sentence of life or death from him And thus the spirit of every man or woman that dieth is gathered to God be they good or bad believers or unbelievers Heb. 9.27 It is appointed for men once to die but after this the judgement 'T is the Statute Law of God man must die and the sound of Judgement is at the heels of death That Text saith but after this the Judgement The general day of judgement shall not be till the resurrection of man from the dead But there is a personal judgement or a determining of every mans state when he dieth and for that end every mans spirit is gathered to God to receive his sentence The spirits of wicked men are gathered to him and condemned the spirits of the righteous are gathered to him and acquitted We are come saith the Apostle Heb. 12.23 to God the Judge of all and to the spirits of just men made perfect David knew he must be gathered to God but he earnestly deprecated such a gathering as most shall have Psal 26.9 Gather not my soul with sinners nor my life with bloody men It is this word when sinners die they are gathered but David would not be gathered as they are gathered They are gathered to God but it is that they may be for ever separated from him they are gathered to a day of vengeance and wrath Therefore David prayed Gather not my soul with sinners Death is called a gathering in a threefold reference First A gathering to our people Thus it is said of Aaron Num. 20.24 Aaron shall be gathered unto his people for he shall not enter into the land c. Death separates the people of God from their people that is from those that are like them on earth but it will be a means of bringing them into the society of their people or fellow believers who are gone before them into heaven Secondly Death is called a gathering to our Fathers 2 Chron. 34 28. Behold I will gather thee to thy Fathers and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace There 's a gathering to a more special company and that with other like Scriptures are an argument that we shall know our relations in heaven For to be gathered to our Fathers spoken of in the first part of the verse is more then to be gathered to the grave spoken of in the latter and by our fathers we are to understand more of our fathers then the grave hath in its keeping which is but their bodies even their souls which are kept in heaven Thirdly According to the phrase of this Text death is called a gathering to God If he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath Whence Note Fourthly The spirit or soul of man hath its original from God It is of him to whom it returneth The soul or spirit of man is of God in a more special way then his body is for though God giveth both yet the Scripture in the place before named speaks of the soul as the gift of God but passeth by the body Eccles 12.7 The dust shall return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it 'T is God not man alone who hath given us these bodies but 't is not man but God alone who hath given us these spirits therefore men are called the fathers of our flesh that is of the body in way of distinction from God who is the father of spirits Heb. 12.9 We have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live that is shall we not rather be subject to God then to man Father of spirits is an Attribute or Title too high and honourable for any but God One of the Ancients in his gracious breathing after God brake out into this holy Passion My soul O God came from thee and my heart is unquiet or restless until it return to thee again God is our center and our rest He gathereth to himself mans spirit and when he doth so what then what 's the issue of it Elihu tells us what in the next verse Vers 15. All flesh shall perish together and man shall turn again to his dust As if he had said As soon as ever the spirit is gathered the flesh is consumed or as we render perisheth All flesh may be taken in the largest sence not only for all men that live but for all living creatures Thus largely Moses extendeth it Gen. 6.17 Behold saith the Lord I will bring a flood of water to destroy all flesh that is all the Beasts of the earth and Fowls of the ayre together with Mankinde except a few of each in the Ark so Psal 136.25 Who giveth food to all flesh that is to man and beast for his mercy endureth for ever Yet some understand this first part more narrowly for all flesh except man because he addeth in the latter part of the verse and man shall return again to his dust But I conceive we are to take all flesh here for all men and only for men it being usual in Scripture to put the same thing twice under different expressions So then All flesh that is every man be he who he will shall perish Thus as all flesh is restrained to man so it extendeth over all men yea over all things of man Isa 40.6 All flesh is grass and all the
make trouble Hence observe First The quietness or peace of nations is the peculiar gift of God Whosoever hath or enjoyeth quietness 't is Gods work but most eminently when nations enjoy it Of nationall quietness the Lord spake by his Prophet Isa 45.7 I forme the light c. I make peace I the Lord doe all these things As naturall so civill light is of Gods forming as spirituall so temporall peace is of Gods making And the Church was confident he would be their peace-maker Isa 26.12 Lord thou wilt ordaine peace for us Some read it as a prayer Lord doe thou ordaine or command peace for us we as a profession of their faith and hopefull if not full assurance that the Lord would ordaine peace for them The Lord gives out an order or makes an ordinance in heaven when he pleaseth for the peace both of Churches and nations here on earth And the Church there had this good ground of their assurance that he would doe it even their former experiences of his great power and goodness in doing much for them as it followeth for thou hast wrought all our workes for us As if they had sayd Lord those gracious preservations which thou hast heretofore given us in trouble and deliverances out of trouble strengthen our faith both in praying that thou wouldest and in believing that thou wilt now at this pinch ordaine peace for us To doe so is a mighty and a mercifull worke of God and we may consider it two wayes First As the giving of quietnesse to a nation is the restoring of peace or the setling of them in a quiet state after they have been torne and troubled with warres and tossed with continuall tempests of trouble possibly for many yeares together To bring peace out of warre and quietness out of unsetledness is a worke worthy of God Psal 46.9 He maketh warres to cease to the ends of the earth that is all the world over The end or ceasing of warre is quietness And to assure us that the Lord can make an end of warres the Psalmist in that place sheweth us the Lord spoyling all the implements or instruments of warre He breaketh the bow and cuts the speare asunder he burneth the chariots in the fire Here are three great instruments of warre the bow the speare the chariot all which are sometimes comprehended under that one word the sword which is the most knowne and universal instrument of warre Now when neither sword nor bow nor speare nor chariot are to be had we need not feare warre And therefore that great promise of peace runs in this tenour Mic 4.2 They shall beat their swords into plow-shears and their speares into pruning hooks then presently followeth nation shall not lift up a sword against nation neither shall they learne warre any more There must needs be peace when the art of warre is layd by as uselesse and shall be learned no more That will be a blessed time indeed when the art military shall be out of date and being it selfe the greatest interrupter of learning shall be learned no more When Souldiers shall turne Husbandmen and Vine-dressers beating their swords into plow-shears and their speares into pruning hooks then we shall have peace and put away the remotest feares of warre When a man casteth away his sword we may very well conclude he intends to be quiet Thus the Lord gives quietnesse to nations which have been engaged in warre by causing warres to cease Secondly He gives quietnesse to nations by continuing their peace when warres are ceased for unlesse the Lord give a check to the lusts and passions to the wrath and rage of men plow-shears are quickly turned into swords and pruning hookes into speares To preserve peace is the Lords worke as much as to give peace It requires the same or as great a power to keepe our peace as to make it Non minor est virtus quam quaerere parta â—ueri to keepe it out of the hand of the sword as to get it out of the hand of the sword When the king of Assyria threatned Jerusalem with a siege the Lord preserved their peace and sent Hezekiah word Isa 37.33 He shall not come into this City nor shoote an arrow there nor come before it with shields nor cast a banke against it for I will defend this City to save it The continuance of peace and quietnesse is a continuall giving of it Warres returne after peace as clouds returne after raine unlesse the Lord prevent and forbid them And have not we of this nation reason to acknowledge this double mercy First Was not the end of our late unnaturall warres the gift of God was it not he that made our troubles to cease from one end of the nation to the other yea throughout the three nations If the Lord had not given the sword a check or counter-mand if the Lord had not called in the commission which he once gave the sword it had been devouring flesh and drinking blood to this very day We read as it were a dialogue between the Prophet and himselfe concerning the sword Jer 47.6 7. O thou sword of the Lord sayd the Prophet being grieved for the slaughter and desolation which the sword had made even in a strange land how long will it be ere thou be quiet put up thy selfe into thy scabbard rest and be still Himselfe answers himselfe how can it be quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon and against the Sea-shore there hath he appointed it I spake to the sword of quietnesse saith the Prophet But alas how can it be quiet how can that sheath it selfe in its scabbard and not in the bowels of men seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Ashkelon As if he had sayd I see no entreaties can perswade the sword to rest and quietness till it hath fully executed the command of God and done his work though it be very bloody work even the making of it selfe drunke with blood The Lord can make the sword quiet it will hearken to no voyce but his if the Lord give a charge for the sword to returne into the sheath then it will and if not it will not The sword raged in these nations till the Lords work and will was done and then that had done And as we have reason to acknowledge that the Lord hath commanded the sword back into its sheath and given us peace out of warre so Secondly That he hath continued our peace since the warre When he giveth quietnesse who then can make trouble Note If God will give those nations quietnesse where it was not or continue it where it is there is no power on earth can stop or interrupt it Who can make trouble where he ordaineth peace Balaam was forced to this confession when he would have troubled the people of Israel and went from mountaine to mountaine to seek divination I cannot curse whom the Lord hath blessed why not said
and interpretations of it we should rather darken then enlighten rather entangle both hearers and readers then unfold the text There are at least six distinct translations of this verse which I shall passe only with the naming of them and then proceed to open the words as they stand in our owne which comprehends the summe and substance of what is held out in most of them First Some give it thus Should he reward it according to thy minde though thou hast despised the one and chosen the other yet will not I therefore speake what thou knowest As if he had sayd Why should God reward him as thou wouldest have him doe it Though thou hast refused to submit to Gods mercy and hast called for justice yet I dare not doe so If thou know better teach me Secondly Another thus Should it come from thee how he should recompence is when thou hast refused his correction but thou shalt choose and not I therefore speake what thou knowest The sence of which translation may be thus represented Shouldest thou who hast sinned and refusest to be corrected teach God how he should correct thee Thou mayest thinke so but I doe not shew me better if thou canst Thirdly Should that come from thee which he will punish I speak it because thou hast refused Gods correction because thou hast chosen that which I would not Now speak what thou knowest As if he had sayd Why shouldest thou speak against Gods proceedings to bring farther trouble upon thee my desire of easing thee is the cause why I speak thus I should never have accused God as thou hast done if I had been so handled by him But if thou hast any thing to except against what I say speak freely Fourthly Did such a speech come from thee He will recompence it that thou hast rejected him But thou choosest this way and not I now speak what thou knowest As if Elihu had thus expressed himselfe to Job I never heard thee speak so humbly as I have taught thee v. 31 32. Surely God will punish thee because thou hast spoken proudly against his proceedings with thee But this is nothing to me who like not of such courses If thou canst defend thy selfe so doe An ergo haec oratio profecta est a te rependet illud si spreveris si hac oratione tuti c. Jun Thus Junius connecting this verse with the former wherein is shewed what a penitent person should say to God translates and expounds the whole to this sence Now therefore consider hast thou spoken in such a manner surely God will recompence it to thee if thou refusest to speak so thus he deterreth him by the consideration of the event or of what might follow upon his refusal and then he deterreth him by his owne example but if thou choosest to doe otherwise truely I will not Thou shalt goe alone for me Now then speak what thou thinkest Fifthly An igitur en tua opinione rependet deus illud quod homo fecerit dicendo c Pisc Should therefore God recompence that which man hath done according to thine opinion saying because thou dislikest this it is but equall that thou shouldest choose another and not I. And what doest thou know speake man Sixthly Mr Broughton renders thus Should that come from thee which he will punish as thou doest loath as thou likest where I would not Now speake what thou thinkest All these rendrings may be reduced to this one common sence O Job whatsoever thou sufferest or by what meanes soever thou art fallen into this misery is it fit that God should be ordered by thy opinion and Judgement And surely O Job I must tell thee plainly nor canst thou deny it that thou hast not rested nor sat down quietly in the determination and decree of God concerning thee But thou wouldest rather be chusing and prescribing to God how and in what way he should deale with thee and dispence his providences to thee then satisfie thy selfe in his appoyntments and pleasure Farre be it from me that I should follow thy example or tread in thy steps as to this matter yet if thou hast any thing to reply to what I have urged say onne bring it forth let me and all in thy presence heare and judge of it Thus Elihu poynts Job to his grand error that he did not readily approve nor quietly submit to the Judgement of God in his owne case And so had not spoken reverently enough of God nor humbly enough of himselfe The reason of these various readings and rendrings mentioned is the conciseness of the Hebrew text which leaves some words to be understood and supplyed for the compleating of the sense And because the most skilfull Interpreters are not perfectly acquainted with the dialect or manner of speech used in those more remote and ancient times therefore they must needs differ both in their translations and expositions yet which may free the reader from all prejudices against the holy Scriptures either as obscure or dubious they all center and agree in that which is true in it selfe as also in the principall scope and drift of Elihu in this discourse with Job Having thus given some account of the various translations of this verse I shall now close with the explication of our owne Should it be according to thy mind Thus Elihu bespeaks Job Should it be he doth not say what but leaves us to the whole matter should this or that or t' other thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or any thing be according to thy mind the Hebrew text is but one word which we translate according to thy mind or as thou wouldst have it Num ex tuo consilio et arbitratu rependet illud sc bonum vel malum sed de malo proprie accipio Merc should it be from thee that is should God take counsell or direction from thee or goe to thee as an Oracle to be taught which way to deal with thee or with any man else should it be from thee The matter which Elihu insists upon respects the dispensations of God So his meaning is should God cut out the workes of his providence according to thy order should God reward or should God punish should God set up or should God pull down should God bring trouble or should God cause peace according to thy mind must he needs ask counsell of thee before he proceed to any of these resolutions no! He will recompence it whether thou refuse or whether thou chuse The former part of the verse is a question or Interrogation Should it be according to thy mind He will recompence c. That 's the answer and it containes both a negative and an affirmative he will not doe according to thy mind but he will doe according to his own 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He will recompence it The verb signifies to pay or appease and make quiet and the