by that brother alone whom he hath offended secondly by him and two more associated as witnesses thirdly then by the Church gathered in the name of Christ Matth. 18.16 17. But if be will not heare thee then take one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established and if he shall neglect to heare them tell it to the Church but if he neglect to heare the Church let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publicane It is dangerous enough to sin against a rule but t is more dangerous to sin against a reproofe especially against the reproofe of a whole Church Fourthly When we sinne in the sight of judgements upon our selves or others whether for the same or other sinnes This is as if a theife should steale before the Judge or under the gibbet while he seeth others arraigned or executed for stealing It is very evill to sin against judgements threatned but it is far worse to sin against Judgements executed That wrath which is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousnesse to the eare in the word of God should stop us from sin much more that which is revealed to the eye in the workes of God Fiftly When we sinne against our owne promises not to sinne when our owne words condemne us as well as the word of God this staynes every sinne with a double guilt Sixtly The greatening of a sinne is from the repeating of it after it hath been repented of To fall into any sinne out of which we have risen makes our fall the more grievous when a sinner lickes up his owne vomit when he builds againe the things which he had destroyed he makes himselfe a transgressor indeed They who repent not cannot expect mercy what remaines then for them but a certain fearefull expectation of Judgement who repent of their repentings Seventhly Sin is greatly encreased when acted with deliberation to be hurried into a sinne though great is not so great as to doe a lesse evill consultively or to advise upon it and doe it some sinne for want of advice many sinne against advice and not a few sin with advice that is advisedly T is hard to finde out a way to give them comfort who sinne with counsell They who are wise to doe evill or who doe evill as a piece of their wisdome such every deliberate action is esteemed to be will be found the greatest fooles All sin is folly but those sins have most of the foole in them which we thinke we doe wisely In all these cases we may well say to any man as Eliphaz here to Job Is not thy wickednesse great And thine iniquitie infinite 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perversitas non finis iniquitatibus tuis Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 70. Rebellio aeterna Vatabl. The word which we translate iniquitie implyeth perversenesse or frowardnesse in sinning Is not thine iniquity infinite The Hebrew is There is no end to thy iniquity or thou dost commit iniquity without end The Septuagint render it thus Are not thy iniquities so many that they cannot be numbred are they not innumerable Another thus Is not thy rebellion eternall And so the sence reacheth eyther the multiplication of acts or the continuation of time Our reading is comprehensive of both Is not thine iniquity infinite But how could Eliphaz make such a supposition as this seeing there is nothing infinite but God and it is altogether impossible that there should be two infinites The heavens cannot hold two Sunnes much lesse can the world hold two infinites God is The onely Infinite therefore sinne is not infinite as God is infinite First that is infinite which is without end secondly that is infinite which is without bound in both God is infinite As he had no beginning so he shall have no end or period of his being He is infinite in reference to duration or time and he is infinite in reference to place or extent He fills heaven and earth and the heaven of heavens cannot containe him The Hebrew phrase in the Text without end answers our translation infinite for infinite is that which hath no bounds or end So then in a strict and proper sence there is nothing infinite but God And infinity runneth through all the titles of God he is infinite in power infinite in wisdome justice righteousnesse and mercy It remaines then to be further considered how we may understand this question Is not thine iniquitie infinite I answer sin is not infinite properly yet in a vulgar sence sinne may be called infinite for according to common acception we call that infinite which is very great or which exceeds all ordinary bounds though not all bounds onely that is properly infinite which exceeds all bounds but we usually say that is infinite which exceeds ordinary bounds Thus some mens sins onely are infinite For though every sin be a breaking of the bounds which God hath set us eyther in excesse or in defect yet they who sin after a common rate or proportion of sinning may be said to keepe their bounds in sinning For what the Apostle speakes of some tryalls and Temptations 1 Cor. 10.13 the same may be said of some sinnes and transgressions that they are common to man But they who sin as the Prophet speakes with a high hand or with both hands greedily they who draw iniquitie with coards of vanitie and sin as i◠were with cart-ropes these doe not onely breake the everlasting bounds of the Law but the ordinary bounds of sin Their sins are not common in the act though the principle be to man They sin as few men ever sinned they sin like devills rather then like men and therefore under this notion their sin is deservedly called infinite Secondly We may say that sin hath an infinitenesse in it in reference to the object God and so not onely a great sin and many sins but small sinnes or any one sinne may be said to have an infinitenesse in it because it is committed against an infinite God And hence it is that nothing can expiate sinne but what hath an infinitenesse in it the least sin calls for the bloud of Christ to take it away which bloud hath a kinde of infinity in it for though the sufferings and bloud of Christ were not properly infinite because they were the sufferings of the humane nature yet the divine nature shed forth an infinite worth and value upon his sufferings and therefore we are sayd to be redeemed or purchased by the bloud of God Act. 20.28 that is by the bloud of that person who is God though the humane nature onely was capable of having bloud shed Thus we may say that the least sin with respect to the object is infinite God himselfe being offended and wronged by every sin Thirdly As this infinitenesse may be considered in reference to the extent of any one sinne that reaching as high as God so to the number or rather to the
is come upon us that is all these common calamities and afflictions yet have we not forgotten thee nor dealt falsely in thy Covenant our hearts are not turned back neither are our steps declined from thy way As if she had said These afflictions have been strong temptations upon us to cause us to decline from thy wayes but through grace we have kept our ground and remained constant in thy Covenant yea though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons and covered us with the shadow of death As many yea most of the Saints have improved under the crosse so there have been some who either through their present unbeleefe or forgetfulnes of the exhortation which as the Apostle saith Heb. 12.5 speaketh unto them as unto children have had their faintings and declinings under it Fifthly Others decline through prosperitie and worldly injoyments when they grow rich in temporalls they grow poorer in spiritualls As their outward man encreaseth so their inner man decayeth and as they flourish in the flesh so hey wither in spirit Hence holy Agur prayed Pro. 30.8 9. Give me not poverty least I be poore and steale and take the name of God in vaine that would be a sad declining give me not riches lest I be full and deny thee and say who is the Lord That 's a sadder declining then the former Povertie endangers grace much but riches more To be rich or great in the world is a great temptation Food convenient is the most sweet and most untemptationlesse condition As hypocrites fall quite off from God when they come onne much in the world so the sincere may be much hindred in their way And as many godly men have declined through their owne prosperitie so some have declined or at least have been in great danger of declining by the prosperitie of others David was readie to decline from God when he saw the prosperitie of ungodly men Psal 73.2 As for me my feete were almost gone my steps had well nigh slip't when I saw the prosperitie of the wicked David was almost downe when he saw the wicked up Their standing had almost given him a fall My steps sayth hâ—â— had well nigh slipt now if it put David a man eminent in godlinesse so hard to it to keepe his standing all the grace in his heart and assistance from God could scarce hold him up how much more may they who come farre short of David decline by seing the prosperitie of wicked men are not they readie to conclude surely we shall thrive and doe well enough though we doe as others doe who doe not trouble themselves in a strictnes about matters of religion as we have done Verily as it follows at the 13th verse we have cleansed our heart in vaine and washed our hands in innocency If we had spared our paines of labour we could not have endured more paine of trouble for all the day long have we been plagued and chastned every morning Such arguings as these shew great declinings Yet they who are sincere will soone recover themselves againe and say as David after he had reviewed this Temptation ver 15. If we say we will speake thus we should offend against the Generation of the righteous Now seing the Godly are so many wayes endangered to declining let us be warned of it and beware of it These are declining times many professors have shamed themselves and the profession of the Gospel He is a Christian indeed that can say in truth as Job did I have kept his words and not declined they that knew me many yeares agoe may finde me in as good yea in a better plight then I was then Hypocrites true beleevers may look act very like one another but as the nature of their estates have alwayes a vast difference to the understanding so the event gives a vast difference between them to the eye Hypocrites keep the word of God a while but they ever decline in the end finally from it and sometims throw it off in the way totally When they are in the way they grow weary of it a smal matter working either upon their hopes or fears will put them quite out of it Every difficulty every danger is to them a Lion in the way causing them to decline from it wheras to those that are sincere difficulties are not stops but incitements and spurres they doe but provoke their zeale they cannot quench it And hence the holy Apostle sends a challenge Rom. 8.35 to all the troubles afflictions and evills in the world he bids them doe their worst and when they have done it they shall not be able to seperate him from the love of God neither from the love wherewith Goâ—â—oved him or from that love wherewith he loved God I have kept his wayes and not declined Secondly Observe That sinne is a declining from the way of God That 's the Apostles definition 1 Joh. 3.4 Sin is the transgression of the Law And transgression is a going aside or a going over the line by which God hath chaulked us out our way God hath not left us at our liberty though he hath left us as the Apostle James calls it Chap. 1.25 a perfect law of liberty He hath not left us to travell over hedge and ditch but hath shewed us our way a high way and a way as the Prophet speakes Isa 35.8 And it shall be called the way of holines the way-faring men though fooles shall not erre therein Yet fooles are alwayes erring from it all their walkings are wandrings and their goings are goings astray who walke and goe on in a sinfull way The word which signifies sinne in the Hebrew imports most properly the missing of a mark because sinning is a missing of the mark and a declining from the way I have kept his way and not declined Vers 12. Neither have I gone backe from the commandement of his lips c. Job proceeds with his negative profession having said before I have not declined he saith the same thing againe in other words I have not gone backe from the commandement of his lips See how often he repeats and inculcates this poynt both that he might be beleived and that he might shew how confident he was in the uprightnes of his owne heart I have not declined neither have I gone backe By these various expressions and often repetitions Job sets forth in generall the exactnes of his care in keeping close to God neither have I gone backe The word signifies both to depart and to touch and some put both significations together here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 recessit decessit palparit tetegit Ita recedere a re aliqua ut tangi aut contrectari nequeat implying such a departure from a thing or person as not at all to touch or come neere it againe which is a totall apostacy or desertion from it As if Job had said I have not apostatised from the wayes of God But this seemes
Church Lest saith he such a one should be swallowed up with over-much sorrow Sorrow of any sort even sorrow for sinne may possibly have an excesse or an over-muchnes in it and when ever it hath so beyond the end for which it serves for sorrow is not of any worth in it selfe but as it serves to a spirituall end When I say sorrow hath such an excesse then not onely the comforts but the gifts and usefullnes of the person sorrowing are in danger to be swallowed up by it Secondly Water doth not onely swallow up but enter in while it covereth the body it fills the bowells Thus affliction like water fills within as well as covers without David complaines that his afflâ—ctions did so Psal 69.1 Save me O God for the waters are come in unto my soule Not onely have these waters sweld over mee but they are soakt into mee Inward or soule-afflictions as well as outward and bodyly afflictions are set forth by waters Psal 109.18 As he cloathed himselfe with cursing like as with his garment so let it come into his bowells or within him like water and like oyle into his bones Liquids penetrate so doe afflictions Thirdly As the water is not mans proper Element hee lives and breathe in the ayre not in the water So affliction is not our proper Element though it be due to our sinne yet it is not proper to our nature Man was not made to live in affliction as the fish was made to live in the water and therefore as it is said The Lord doth not willingly afflict nor grieve the Children of men Lam. 3.33 'T is as it were besides the nature of God when he afflicts the children of men So it is sayd Heb. 12.11 No chastning for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous Man is out of his Element when he is under chastnings Hee was made at first to live in the light of Gods countenance in the smiles and embraces of divine love As man is out of his way when he sins so he is off from his end when he suffers He was not designed for the overwhelming choaking waters of sorrow and judgement but for the sweete refreshing ayre of joy and mercy It often proves a mercy in the event to be covered with these waters To be covered with them that we may be washed by them is a mercy but onely to be covered with them especially as Eliphaz here saith Job was to be deeply covered with them is a deepe and soare affliction Abundance of waters cover thee Hence note That as God hath treasures of mercy and abounds in goodness so hee hath treasures of affliction and abundance of wrath As God hath abundance of waters sealed up in the Clouds as in a treasury and hee can unlocke his treasury and let them out whensoever he pleaseth eyther to refresh or overflow the Earth so hee hath abundance of afflictions and hee can let them forth as out of a treasury when he pleaseth And as wee read Ezek. 47. that the waters of the Sanctuary those holy waters were of several degrees first to the Ankles secondly to the knees then to the Loines and then a river that could not be passed over abundance of waters Thus also the bitter waters the waters of affliction are of severall degrees some waters of afflictions are but Ancle-deepe they onely make us a little wet-shod there are other waters up to the knees and others to the Loynes and others wee may rightly call abundance of waters a Sea of waters I am come into deepe waters saith David Psal 69.2 or into depth of waters where the floods overflow mee And having sayd Psal 42.6 O my God my soule is cast downe within mee He adds in the next words v. 7. Deepe calleth unto deepe at the noyse of thy water-spouts All thy waves and thy billowes are gone over me Where by deepe to deepe by waterspouts by waves and billowes he elegantly sets forth his distresse in allusion to a Ship at Sea in a vehement storme and stresse of weather when the same wave upon whose back the vessel rides out of one deep plungeth it downe into another Thus the afflicted are tossed and overwhelmed in a Sea of trouble till they are at their wits end if not at their faiths end Take two or three Deductions from all these words layd together Wee see by how many metaphors the sorrows of this life are set forth even by snares and feares and darknes and waters Hence note First That as God hath abundance of afflictions in his power so hee hath variety of wayes and meanes to afflict the sonnes of men eyther for the punishment of their sinne or for the tryall of their graces If one will not doe it another shall if the snare will not feare shall if feare will not darknes shall and if darknes will not the waters shall and if waters of one hight will not doe it hee will have waters deepe enough to doe it abundance of waters shall doe it hee hath variety of wayes to deale both with sinners and with Saints Secondly Consider the inference which Eliphaz makes Therefore snares c. are upon thee That Is because thou hast done wickedly in not releeving and in oppressing the poore therefore snares have entangled thee This though false in Jobs particular case yet is a truth in General And it teacheth us That There is an unavoydable sequell between sinne and sorrow Looke upon sinne in its owne nature and so the sequell is unavoydable sinne is bigge with sorrow as affliction burdens the sinner so sinne is burdend with affliction Sinne hath all sorts of affliction in its bowells and wee may say of all the evills that afflict us they are our sinnes Sinne is formally the transgression of the Law and sinne is virtually the punishment of transgressors Many I grant are afflicted for tryall of their graces as hath been shewed before but grace had never been thus tryed if man had not sinned Sinne is the remote cause of all afflictions and it is the next or immediate procuring cause of most afflictions Would any man avoyde the snare let him feare to sinne would he avoyd feare let him feare to doe evill would he keepe out of darkness and not be covered with abundance of waters let him take heed hee drinke not iniquity like water let him have no fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darkness God tells the sinner plainely what portion he is to expect Say woe to the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him Isa 3.11 Wee may as well hope to avoyd burning when we run into the fire or dirtying when we run into the mire as to escape smarting when we run into sinne Yet more distinctly wee may consider all those evills comprehended under those words in the Text Snares darknes c. eyther in reference to wicked men or to the Saints Snares and darknes upon the wicked are the
from mee Againe There is a threefold difference about the reading and relation of these words which put together will give us yet a further light and understanding about them Quae consilia illi ineunt longe sunt a deo First The Septuagint reade thus The counsel of the wicked is farre from him and the antecedent to him according to their sence is God himselfe As if Eliphaz had sayd the counsells and resolutions which the wicked take up God cannot abide they are farre from him His are holy theirs are unholy counsels Secondly Others apprehend that Eliphaz spake thus in the person of Job and onely reassumed what he had said Chap 21.16 O this is the man that sayd even now the counsell of the wicked is farre from mee Pray consider This is the man that professed he would not so much as come neere a wicked man he would have nothing to doe with their counsells Quasi Job ore tenus non reipsa impiorum consilium improbaret q. d. Num poteris dicere te non sentire eum improbis eum tu ut ipsi providentiam dei tollas not be He would be taken for a man of another spirit of another frame then they but see what he is see how he joynes with them how be walkes in their wayes how he follows their counsells though be denies them with his lips and makes strange as if he knew them not yet indeed he is of the same peece and spirit with them and while he sayth the counsel of the wicked is farre from me behold his hypocrisie the counsell of the wicked lieth in his bosome and is embraced by him Thirdly Which is more plaine and cleare wee may expound these words not onely as spoken by Eliphaz but as therein speaking of himselfe The counsell of the wicked is farre from me that is I am a man of another straine of another graine then they I am a man of another mould and make then they Therefore O Job what you spake before I speake againe and I speake it upon better grounds with a better heart then you you spake with your lips Haec sunt ipsius Eliphasi verba quibus seipsum commendat ut qui potiori jure quam Job multo verius possit asserere se toto coelo ab impiorum sententia dissidare Jun Pisc Eliphaz vult ex uno cum Jobo principio ijsdemque praemissis contrariam elicere conclusionem Bold or from the teeth outward that the counsell of the wicked was farre from you but I have proved that you approach too neere them both in course and councel I say what you sayd but I say it which you did not in sincerity I professe and what I professe is true that the counsell of the wicked is farre from me The same truth may be professed by different persons upon different grounds and to different ends the same premises doe not alwayes yeeld the same conclusions in the minds of mens though in themselves they doe Eliphaz thought his counsel as farre from Jobs as Job had professed himselfe to be from the councel of the wicked When Job sayd The counsel of the wicked is farre from me his purpose was to shew that though he was afflicted like wicked men yea that though he was afflicted while many wicked men were prospered that yet he was not at all spirited or principl'd like wicked men And that therefore his friends assertion must needs be false who numbred him with the wicked because he was afflicted Eliphaz seemes to retort this upon Job and to say if this be so as thou affirmest surely then God hath layd aside the care of this world and lets all things run at six and sevens for surely if he tooke notice of men eyther what they were or what they were doing he would never suffer the wicked to prosper no nor to escape unpunished And seing thou continuest so stiffe in thy opinion that thou doest not suffer these grievous calamities for thy sinne thou seemest to me plainly to comply with their blasphemy who querie how doth God know can be judge through the darke cloud This counsel of the wicked is farre from me And seeing as Job before so Eliphaz here ascribes counsel which is the most deliberate act to the wicked We may observe First That wicked men sinne advisedly or that many of their sinfull wayes are studied wayes And as the more studied they are the more sinfull they are so they study most for those which are most sinfull They are not hurried into sinne by passions or thrust on upon sinne meerely by the violence of temptation they sit downe and goe to counsell how they may compasse their ungodly puâ—poses A godly man doth not consent unto sinne much lesse doth he consult about it The evâ—ll which I doe I allow not I faith the Apostle consent to the law of God that it is good Rom. 7. A godly man sins dayly but sin hath not his consent or allowance when he hath done it much lesse doth he consult or advise how to doe it Sin doth not please him consequently much lesse doth he project it antecedently 'T is the character of a wicked man that his sinne is his counsel and that his art is in it as much as his nature The counsell of the wicked is farre from me Secondly Eliphaz doth not say how farre the counsel of the wicked was from him but that it was farre from him and by farre he meanes furthest as if he had sayd it is as farre from me as farre may be I have no complyance with their counsels Hence observe That the spirit and way of the godly and the wicked are as different as their end and conclusion shall be They are at furthest distance They are like two paralel lines which how farre soever they run together they never meete together nor touch in a poynt The conclusion of a wicked man or his end is farre from that of the upright the end of the one is light the end of the other is darknesse the one ends in sorrow the other in joy the end of the one is peace of the other trouble And so the way of the one is sin the way of the other is holines the way of the one is oppession and covetousnesse the way of the other is justice and righteousnesse the way of the one is faith the way of the other is unbeliefe Now as darknes and light joy and sorrow peace and trouble can never comply or be united so neyther can sin and holines oppression and justice faith and unbeliefe There 's no communion between these contraries between these wayes and ends counsel and conclusions And unlesse wee keepe farre from the counsels of the wicked wee cannot goe farre from their conclusion nor can we avoyd their end but by avoyding their way The same way brings the same end whether we respect good or evill And hence it is that the Spirit of God by Solomon
wise may he profitable to himself The Lord hath designed all our wisdom and obedience to our own benefit So Moses spake to the people of Israel Deu. 6.24 The Lord commanded us to doe all these statutes to feare the Lord our God for our good alwayes that he might preserve us alive as it is at this day It is not for the Lords good but it is for our good that he commands and we obey And as the Lord commanded all things in the Law for our good not for his own so he commands us to believe the Gospel not for his good but for our own he is not to be saved by it it is we that are to be saved by it He doth not call us to work as men do their servants that he might play the good husband and get some profit by keeping us hard at labour Indeed the Lord keepeth his servants hard at labour night and day they must be continually upon duty But he doth it not as I may say to play the good husband to encrease his stock by it but it is for our profit That which Christ speaks Mar. 2.27 about the Sabboth is true of all other the commands of God we are apt to think that God requires a seaventh day because it is for his profit and advantage no saith Christ the Lord hath not an eye to himselfe but to man The Sabboth was made for man that is for mans advantage that he might look heaven ward that he might worke in the things which concern his owne blessednesse therefore hath the Lord appointed him a resting day The Sabboth was made for man and not man for the Sabboth Sixtly Then our disobedience cannot hurt God our sinnâ— cannot disadvantage him impaire his blessednesse oâ— diminish his glory As mans obedience is no profit so his disobedience is no disprofit to God Sinners shall be punished as they who have wronged and dishonoured God they shall be dealt with as such But really all the sinnes of the world doe not bring any damage or disadvantage to God Elihu is expresse to this point in the 35. Chap. of this Book vers 6 7. If thou sinnest what dost thou against him Every sin is against the mind of God but no sinn is against the happinesse of God or if thy transgressions be multiplyed what dost thou unto him is God impair'd by it Surely no God doth not loose a pinn from his sleeve as I may say by all the sinnes committed in the world He hath no dependance at all upon our obedience for his blessedness our sins cannot hurt him as our obedience cannot help him which Elihu shews in the next verse If thou be righteous what givest thou him or what receiveth he of thine hand Seventhly hence see the honour of God that hath made so many creatures and man especially of whom himselfe hath no need that hath so many to serve him and yet needs none of their services Give God this glory Wee think those men are very glorious and honouurable who have but as much of the creature as will serve thier turn all creatures are the Lords yet he is not necessitated to serve his turn by any of them Eightly then see what an obligation lyeth upon us continually to blesse God to be thankfull to him to walk humbly with him who gives us so many profits when as we doe not profit him at all God prizeth that highly by which himself hath no benefit hee prizes the actings of faith and holinesse highly but he hath no advantage by them God gives us profit by these though himselfe be not profited though he is not the better by any thing we do yet we are the better The Lord binds himself by promise that the least good we do in sincerity shall have a good reward He that gives but a cup of cold water to a Disciple in the name of a Disciple shall not lose his reward But if we give thousands of Gold and Silver to poore Disciples what profit hath God by it And yet though none of the profit comes to his hand yet he reckons it as if all were put into his hand All the charity and compassion shewed to his people Christ taketh to himself Matth. 25. In that yee have done it unto these ye have done it unto me Christ had no need of alms of visiting or cloathing yet he counts it as done to himselfe when we do it to any of his Can a man be profitable to God as he that is wise may be profitable to himselfe Some give the meaning of the words thus Doth it follow that a man can be profitable unto God because a wise man may be profitable to himselfe our reading reaches the same sense Can a man be profitable unto God as he that is wise may be profitable to himself It doth not follow because A man may profit another man or profit himselfe that therefore he may profit God That 's the summe of the argument 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Intellexit prudens fuit per Metonymiam faelix prosper fuit quod prudentibus omnia feliciter cedant prudentiam faelicitas fere sequitur As he that is wiâ—e The word in the root of it signifies to Understand to be Prudent and by a Metonymie to be happy or to prosper because usually affaires succeed well and prosper in the hands of wise men and happinesse usually followes wisedome therefore to be wise and to be profitable are signified by one and the same word in the Hebrew So in this Text He that is wise is profitable to himselfe that is his affaires shall prosper We finde this Title prefixt to divers Psalms Maschil Maschil intelligens prudens carmen erudiens ode didascalica In titulis Psalmorum ter decies legitur which is as much as A teaching Psalme a Psalm making wise a Psalm for Instruction This Title is given those Psalms which as they have some extraordinary matter so usually they are Psalmes of complaint under affliction and the reason of that is because there is much instruction in correction much light of holy knowledge is to be had in the School of the Crosse therefore usually those Psalms that describe the afflictions of the Church are called Maschil Psalms of Instruction Schola crucis Schola lucis Luth. He that is wise and instructs or he that is wise as having received instruction may be profitable to himselfe All wisedome is not profitable to man for there is a wisedome of which the Scripture saith that God will destroy it a man cannot profit himselfe by that and there is a wisedome which is earthly sensuall and devillish Jam. 3.15 A man be he never so wise according to this wisedome shall not profit himselfe by it There are a sort of wise men whom the Lord will take in their craftinesse 1 Cor. 3.19 and how can such profit themselves by their wisedome There are wise men whose thoughts the Lord knoweth to be but vaine that
numberless of our sins There is an Arithmeticall as well as a Geometricall infinity in sin Thus the Septuagint as was sayd before render the Text Are not thine iniquities innumerable That hath a kinde of infinity which cannot be numbred but cannot our sinnes be numbred are they infinite in number I answer sinnes may be considered two wayes first in their species and kinds secondly in their acts if we consider sinnes in their species and kinds so they are not innumerable for it is possible to number up all the severall heads divisions and kinds of sinne but if we consider sin in reference to acts so every mans sins are innumerable yet this innumerablenes of sins in reference to acts may be considered either absolutely or as to us The acts of sin are not absolutely or in themselves innumerable but as to us they are innumerable they are more then any man can number John sayth Rev. 7.9 After this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number besides those that were sealed of every Tribe of all Nations and kindreds c. This great multitude was not in it selfe without number but as to mans arithmeticke it was no man could number it The haires of our head and the sands of the Sea are numerable to God but to us innumerable David Psal 40.12 speakes first of innumerable evills and then of innumerable sinnes innumerable evills compasse me about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to looke up they are more then the haires of my head therefore my heart faileth me when he sayth they are more then the haires of my head his meaning is they are innumerable I can no more tell the summe of my sinnes then the summe of my hayres Christ to assure his Disciples in time of their afflictions and sufferings that he will take care of them tells them The very hayres of your head are all numbred Mat. 10.30 As if he had sayd seing God taketh care of those inconsiderable not parts but excrements of the body surely then he will take care of those more noble parts of your bodies and most of all of that most noble part of you which is your all your soules The hayres of our heads are innumerable to us but God numbers them The sins of our hearts and lives are all numbred by God Thou tellest my wandrings sayth holy David Psal 56.8 he meanes it of his wandrings by persecution and 't is as true of his wandrings by transgression But what man knowes the errors or wandrings eyther of his heart or life Psal 19.12 He that hath fewest sins hath more then he can number and therefore every mans sins are to him in number infinite Fourthly Iniquities may he called infinite in reference to the will or the spirit of him that committeth those iniquities those sinnes are without bounds to which man would never set a bound The natural man would never end sinning therefore his sins are without end or infinite The Prophet Jer. 13.27 speakes reproveingly to that people in the name of the Lord I have seene thine adulteries and thy neighings the lewdnesse of thy whoredome and thine abominations on the hills in the feilds wo unto thee O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made cleane when shall it once be As if be had said O Jerusalem thou hast no will to be made cleane or thou wouldest never be cleane if thou mightest have thy will When shall it once be The time is yet to come when thou wouldest have it to be so thou hast a mind to pollute thy selfe still but no minde to wash thy selfe from thy pollution The sins of a person or people are then infinite or without end when they discover that they have no minde to leave sinning A godly mans desires to doe good are infinite and so are the desires of a wicked man to doe evill This Prophet had spoken to Jerusalem in the same language Chap. 4.14 How long shall vaine thoughts lodge in thee when wilt thou be weary of these lodgers when wilt thou bid these guests be gone whom thou hast thus long bid welcome The Church of God doth sometimes suffer evill to lodge very long in her even in the middest of her as it were at her very heart but the world lodgeth or lieth continually in evill 1 Joh. 5.19 and there as it is the world it will lie for ever soakt and steept in evill Some give this as one reason to justifie the infinitnesse or everlastingnesse of the punishment that is laid upon impenitent sinners in hell The damned are under endlesse sufferings because they would have sinned without end Vellet sine fine vivere ut posset sine fine peccare Greg. A wicked man would live long yea he would have no end of his life here he would live ever that he might sinne ever therefore the Lord giveth him a life not such a one as he would have but such a one as he deserves to have which is indeed a death for ever They dye eternally for sin who would have lived eternally in sin Take a Scripture or two more to illustrate this way of the infinity of mans sinne Jer. 8.5 Why is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetuall back-sliding they hold fast deceite they refuse to returne Here are three phrases noting this one thing First They hold fast deceit secondly They refused to returne thirdly Their's was a perpetuall back-sliding or as some reade it an eternall rebellion an obstinate rebellion a strong and mighty rebellion the Seventy call it an impudent shamelesse rebellion all these are proper Epithites of that obstinacy and setlednesse of resolution which is in the heart of man by nature to continue in sinne yet there is a further rendering of the words which as the Originall will beare so it hath an elegancy in it Why is this people of Jerusalem slidden backe by a conquering or a prevailing back-sliding A perpetuall back-sliding hath conquest or triumph attributed to it upon a twofold consideration first in reference to other sinnes finall obstinacy or impenitency lifts up its head above all other sinnes and sits as King among them impenitency under any sin committed is greater then the sin committed not to repent of the evill we have done is worse then the evill which we doe Impenitency seales the soule under condemnation Repentance conquers sin but impenitency is the conquering sin Secondly 't is called a triumphing or conquering sinne because it seemes as it were to carry the day against the mercy and goodnesse of God that 's a sad conquest indeed not that any sinne no nor impenitency for sinne exceeds the mercy and goodnesse of God for his thoughts of mercy are as high above our acts of sin as they are above our thoughts of his mercy that is as high as the heaven is in comparison of the earth Isa 55.9 But the mercy of the Lord is said to be overcome by perpetuall backslidings
compassion towards them Isa 58.7 When thou seest the naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy selfe from thy owne flesh As richly cloathed as thou art and as naked as they are thine owne flesh they are When Eliphaz saith Thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother he takes in brethren under all distinctions This he adds to highten Jobs sin Thou tookest a pledge from thy brother Hence note That as it is unjust and uncharitable to wrong any man so most of all those that are neere to us To wrong a brother of any latitude or degree is sinfull and still the neerer the brother is the more sinfull it is to wrong him the sinne which a man commits against himselfe is therefore greatest of all because a man is neerest to himselfe so in proportion the neerer any one is to us in any relation the more we sinne in wronging him The Apostle puts it under that notion If a brother or a sister be naked and destitute of dayly food c. Jam. 2.15 And againe 1 Joh. 3.17 Whosoever hath this worlds good and seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how dwelleth the love of God in him That is the love of God doth not at all dwell in him or at best it dwelleth very poorly and undiscernably in him To see strangers yea enemies destitute and not relieve them is uncharitable but to see a brother or a sister and chiefly a brother or a sister in spirituall relation for of such I conceive the Apostle speakes particularly in those places I say to see such destitute and not to releive them this is highest uncharitableness Againe Some render thus not thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother but Thou hast taken thy brother for a pledge This speakes yet louder and is a sin of a blacker colour then the former thou hast not onely taken thy brothers pledge but himselfe his very person for security or for payment But what is it to take a mans brother for a pledge In pignus accepisti fratres tuos Sept. or how was that done These â—wo things may be in it either first more generally thou hast imprisoned him As Mat. 1â— 28 't is sayd of the cruell Creditour that he took his brother and cast him into prison till he should pay the utmost farthing now though all kinde of imprisonment be not sinfull not onely as to the law of Nations but as to the Law of God yet cruell imprisonment is very sinfull Thou hast taken thy brother for a pledge Thou hast not spared his person when he had not a purse to pay thee Thou hast as it hath been sayd among us made dice of his bones Some would never pay were it not for feare of a prison but to put and detaine a poore man in prison when he hath nothing to pay is not onely unchristian but barbarous and inhumane Or secondly which was used in ancient times Thou hast taken thy brother for a pledge that is thou hast made him thy slave To be cast into prison is a slavery and a man may be made a slave yet not imprisoned And though it may be a duty when we have nothing else to satisfie it with to worke out a debt yet it is a very high severity to force a debter to pay with his worke We reade how the poore widdow came to Elisha the Prophet and bemoaned her case to him 2 King 4.1 Thy servant my husband is dead and thou knowest that thy servant did feare the Lord and the creditour is come to take unto him my two sonnes to be bondmen This is to take a brother for a pledge The Prophet seemes to ayme at this while he describes those hypocriticall fasts among the Jewes Isa 58.6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickednesse to undoe the heavie burdens and to let the oppressed goe free and that yee breake every yoake To fast and not to reforme is to mocke God rathâ—r then to humble our selves Here are the true fruits of fasting And they all run into the poynt in hand the avoyding and turning from all injurious and vexatious dealings with our Brethren First the bands of wickednesse that is of oppressing Laws or pinching Contracts Secondly heavie burdens eyther of services or taxes From these the oppressed should be freed and every yoake imposed by these or any other way of grievance broken from off the neckes of our brethren There is yet one word more very considerable in the Text for the hightning of this sinne Thou hast taken a pledge of thy brother for nought or without cause This word was opened Chap. 1.9 where Satan suggests against Jobs sincerity doth Job serve God for nought And againe Chap. 2.3 where the Lord asserts and vindicates the sincerity of Job against Satans calumniations Thou movedst me against him to destroy him without cause That is thou hadst no cause to move me so against him he is no such mercenary servant as thou hast maliciously pretended Thus here Thou hast taken a pledge of thy brother for nought or without cause that is without any necessary cause there was no reason thou shouldest take a pledge from thy brother when thou tookest it thou mightest have trusted him but thou wouldest not any further then thou hadst full security put into thy hand or rather then thou didst take it into thy hand whether he would or no. As if he had sayd Thou wouldest not releive thy brothers poverty upon the promises which God makes to those who charitably releive the poore thou wouldest neyther take Gods word nor trust thy brother in any case further then thou didst see him unlesse he would put into thy hand thou wouldest not put into his True charity must and will make some ventures Cast thy bread upon the waters saith Solomon Eccl. 11.1 A good man is a Merchant and will trust his bread where he hath no more assurance of a safe returne then the Merchant hath of his Ship and Lading from the winds and waters Thou hast taken a pledge of thy brother Againe Without cause or for nought may have this meaning thou didst oblidge thy brother to restore that which really and indeed he never received from thee thou didst put a debt to thy brothers account which he never made by borrowing Solent divites fingere se creditores alioe debitores David complaines of such kinde of unkinde usage Psal 69.4 They that hate me without cause are moe then the hayres of my head They that would destroy me being mine enemies wrongfully are mighty then I restored that which I tooke not away That is which I tooke not away eyther as borrowed of them or as stolne from them I was neyther a debter nor a theife I had nothing of theirs in my hands yet I was forced to restore This is the worst sort of taking a pledge for nought Thirdly For nought That
little way but it must be put farre away There are severall degrees of putting away sin first There is a putting it away out of our practice or conversation so that it hath no visible being or abode in us or with us This is a putting of sin away but this is not a putting of sin farre away Secondly There is a putting of it out of our affections or out of our hearts not as if we could keepe it while we are in the body from having a place or dwelling there but as keeping it from having a throane or reigning there This is to put sin very farre away from us it is no great thing to put sinne out of our hands but 't is hard to get it out of our hearts hypocrites will possibly lay downe the practice of it but still their spirits cleave to it they are not at all alienated from the love of it but onely restrained from the acting of it such are oftentimes kept from doing iniquity but they do not at all put away their iniquity much lesse put it far away As it is with a naturall man in reference to his doing of Good so to his not doing of evill If good be at any time in his practice yet it is farre from his spirit he hath no minde to it he cannot say the law of God is in his heart or that he delights to doe it so if evill be at any time put out of his practice yet it is still in his spirit his minde is toward it he cannot say that his heart is withdrawne from it or that he hates it No but as the Prophet Ezekiel speakes of the stubborne Jewes Ezek. 11.21 Their heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things As every Godly man is in the maine like David A man after Gods owne heart and walketh after the heart of God so every ungodly man is a man after the heart of the devill and every Idolater or worshipper of false Gods who is one of the worst of ungodly men is after the heart of his false gods and he walketh after the heart of his false Gods which the Prophet calls detestable things Whatsoever is most after the heart or according to the desires and commands of an Idol that the Idolatrous heart walketh after that is he loves it he delights in it and thus doth every naturall mans heart walke after the heart of his lust though sometime his feete walke not after it or he may seeme to lay it out of his hand But he that turnes indeed from sin deales with it when he is repenting of it as the Lord doth when he is pardoning it How is that The Lord in pardoning sin puts it farre from us Psal 103.12 As farre as the East is from the West so farre hath he removed our transgressions from us That is he hath removed them from us to the utmost imaginable distance for such is that of the East from the West they and we shall no more meete together againe then the East and West shall or can meete at all And thus in repenting a godly man desires to put his sin as farre from him as the East is from the West that he and they may never meete together in the practice of them as he is assured that God hath so pardoned them that they and he shall never meete together in the punishment of them Thou shalt put away iniquity farre from thy Tabernacles Innuit ante hac â—ec Jobum nec e us filios culpa vacasse ideocum eversum filios extinctos Merc In which words he includes more then his owne personall repentance for by the Tabernacles we are to understand the whole family or household the tabernacle conteining is put for the persons contein'd in this Eliphaz seemes to strike at Job for his former course as if he said Wickednesse hath lodged not onely in thy heart but in thy house in thy family children and servants And this surely was it which provoked the Lord to crush thy family of children and their servants with the fall of a house now therefore I counsel thee to put away iniquity from thy tabernacle that is from all that belong to thee from all that are under thy shadow and are committed to thy trust and charge Hence observe That they who repent truly should indeavour to purge sinne not onely from themselves but from all that belong to them They should cleanse not their persons onely but their families they should sweep their houses as well as their hearts from sin Gen. 35.2 Then Jacob said to his household and to all that were with him put away the strange Gods or the estranging Gods such are Idols they are not onely strange because new Gods and strange because 't is a strange or wonderfull thing that man should be so besotted as to worship such things for Gods but they are estranging Gods because they withdraw or steale away the heart from the true God therefore sayd Jacob put away the strange Gods that are among you and be cleane and change your garments This outward changing of their garments signified the changing or cleansing of their soules God principally lookes at that and the outward ceremony hath no acceptance at all without the inward sincerity In comparison of which as the Lord said in Joel Rent your hearts and not your garments so he would say here change your hearts and not your Garments Now Jacob was very carefull that this blessed change of Garments betokening the change and cleansing both of heart and life should be the livery of all his family and household Family sinnes bring family judgements as well as personall and they that have the charge of a family have in a great degree a charge of soules as well as of bodies every Master of a family hath cure of soules And he is to see so farre as lieth in him that no sinne nor wickednesse remaine or be harboured in his family that his children and servants live not in ignorance nor in any evill In the 6th of Numbers Moses gives charge to the Congregation That they should depart from the tents of those wicked men Corah Dathan and Abiram it is dangerous to be neere the families of the wicked but it is more dangerous to have wickednesse remaining in our family in our servants or in our children And if Masters endeavour not by all due meanes to remove sin out of their family that in a little time may remove them out of their family or as we say eate them out of house and home Thou shalt put away iniquity farre from thy Tabernacle Thus much of this part of the verse in the first sence as iniquity is taken for sin yet Further as the word iniquity is taken for punishment thou shalt put away iniquity or the effects of iniquity farre from thy Tabernacle and then the words are both a new promise and a further explication of what is meant by being built up which
to God As David saith Psal 25.1 Vnto thee O Lord doe I lift up my soule Equiparantia sunâ— caput vel oculos vel faciem vel animam ad deum levare Bold Eliphaz meanes not the lifting up of a heart-lesse face or head such as the hypocrite or formalist lifts up to God in worship nor the lifting up of a meere living head or face such as all men lift up to God according to the forme or frame of their natural constitution Fiduciam habebis recurrendi ad deum Aquin. but the courage and confidence of the soule and that a holy courage and confidence is here intended And there are not many who can thus lift up their face to God as is promised here to Job by way of priviledge And shalt lift up thy face to God To lift up the face is taken under a twofold notion in Scripture first Faciei elevatio orantis habitus est Pinec as a gesture or bodily position in prayer He that prayeth doth usually lift up his face to God and so to lift up the face to God is to pray unto God A corporal posture being put often in Scripture to signifie a spirituall duty Thus some understand it here Thou shalt lift up thy face to God that is thou shalt pray secondly which further complyes with the duty of prayer To lift up the face Vultum attollit qui sibi bene conscius est animoque fidenti Drus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. notes as was touched before confidence of spirit and boldnesse courage and assurance towards him before whom the face is lifted up whether God or man The Septuagint who rather paraphrase then translate this text give this sense fully Thou shalt be confident before the Lord or thou shalt act fiducially and boldly before him and behold heaven chearefully This lifting up the face is opposed to casting downe the face that is a phrase used in Scripture to signifie shame and fayling of spirit When courage is downe the countenance is down too as we say such a man hath a downe looke that is there is an appearance of guilt upon him The face is cast downe three wayes First by feare secondly by sorrow thirdly by shame Ezra 9.6 O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face unto thee for our iniquities are increased over our heads So Luk. 18.13 the Publican durst not lift up his eyes to heaven and possibly there was a complication of all these three causes why he durst not feare sorrow shame he was so much terrified so much grieved so much ashamed of himselfe that he durst not lift up his eyes to heaven It was the speech of Abner to Asahel 2 Sam. 2.22 Turne thee aside from following me why should I smite thee to the ground how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother that is if I slay thee I shall be afraid to looke him in the face nor can I have any confidence of his favour and it is well conceived that he spake thus for it is indeed a very unusuall thing for the Generall of an Army in the very heate of warre to looke after the favour of the Generall of the opposite Army but I say 't is conceived he spake thus as being convinced that he had undertaken a bad cause in upholding the house of Saul against David and therefore had misgivings that he might shortly fall into the hands of Joab Davids Generall and was therefore unwilling to provoke him by killing his brother This made him say How shall I hold up my face to thy brother Joab As if he had sayd I shall obstruct the way of my owne reconciliation to thy brother in case The turne of things in this warre cast me into his hands by killing thee Againe we may looke backe to Gen. 4.5 where it is reported of Caine That he was wrath and his countenance fell anger and sorrow and shame falling at once upon him because the Lord had respect to Abel and his offering but had no respect to him or his caused his countenance to fall which phrase stands in direct opposition to lifting up the face in all the three occasions of it For it implyeth first feare which is opposed to boldnes secondly sorrow or anger which are opposed to content and joy thirdly shame which is opposed both to freedome of approach and liberty of speech We have an expression which paralels much with this in that Prophecy of Christ Psal 110.7 Qâ—od legitur Exod. â—4 8 egâ—essos filios Israel in manu excelsâ— Chaldaâ—â—è dicitur capite discooperto i. e. palam confidentèr sine metu He shall drinke of the brooke in the way therefore shall he lift up his head that is he shall rise and appeare like a mighty Conquerour with boldnesse honour and triumph So Christ himselfe prophecying of the troubles which shall be in the latter dayes comforts the surviving Saints in this language When these things begin to come to passe then looke up and lift up your heads that is then take heart and boldnesse for the day of your redemption draweth nigh Luke 21.28 that is the day is at hand wherein you shall be freed from all feares and sorrowes Hence observe Holinesse hath boldnesse and freedome of spirit with God Then shalt thou lift up thy face unto God As soone as Adam sinned he hid himselfe from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the Garden Gen. 3.8 He ran into the thickets for shelter he durst not appeare or shew his face But when once we are reconciled to God and sinne is taken off when we are freed from the bonds of guilt then we have boldnesse reconciliation is accompanied with the spirit of adoption whereby we cry abba father we can then speake to God as a childe to his father the childe dares lift up his face to his father and speakes freely to him Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty faith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.17 and that a threefold liberty First a liberty from sinne secondly a liberty unto righteousnes or a freenes and readines of spirit to doe good thirdly where the spirit of the Lord is there is a liberty of speech or accesse with boldnesse in all our holy Addresses unto God As the Apostle clearely sheweth at the 12 â—h verse of the same Chapter Seing then that we have such hope we use great plainnesse or boldnesse of speech as wee put in the Margin of our Bibles to expresse the significancy of the Greeke word in the full compasse of it For as because we have such hope we ought to use great plainnesse of speech towards men in preaching and dispensing the Gospel to them so great boldnesse towards God in receiving the offers and promises of the Gospel for our selves Eliphaz having thus shewed what freedome Job truely repenting might have with God in prayer proceeds in the next verse to shew what successe with
praised and honoured him that liveth for ever whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdome is from generation to generation and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and he doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what dost thou that is none may so much as question much lesse reprove him for any thing that he doth Though there are many who in the pride of their hearts and through the forgetfullnes of their duty will presume to question God about what he hath done and even controule his doings yet of right or according to rule none can Hence the Apostle having asserted the soveraignty of God he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth brings in some questioning his proceedings but he checks them soundly for their boldnes in questioning and instructs them by many upbrayding questions that they ought not to put that or any such question Thou wilt say then ver 18 19 20. why doth he yet finde fault for who hath resisted his will nay but who art thou ô man that repliest against God shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lumpe to make one vessell of honour and another of dishonour what if God were willing to shew his wrath in some as well as his grace mercy in others what have you or I to doe with it who gave you or I leave to examine God upon intergatoryes about it Thus he pleads the power or prerogative of God this must silence all our queries and satisfie all our doubts none may aske him a reason of what he doth the reason is in himselfe The will of God is his reason and there is all the reason in the world it should for his is not onely a soveraigne will but a just and a holy will Solomon saith Eccl. 8.4 Where the word of a king is there is power and who may say unto him what dost thou In all lawfull administrations it is true of kings and supream earthly powers in what forme soever none may say unto them what doe yee their word must stand much more is this true of him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords who is the supream power of heaven and earth all whose wayes are equall and his dispensations righteous though we see not the equity and righteousnesse of them That is not onely great but the greatest power which none may question Fourthly This also demonstrates the greatnesse of Gods power that none can stop or hinder him in what it hath a minde to doe what he appoints he executes and none can stop it or as Nebuchadnezzar speakes in the place before mentioned Dan. 4.35 stay his hand The hand of the strongest power upon the earth may be and hath been staid kings have had a check their hands have been stayd but none can stay the hand of God I will worke saith he and none shall let it Isa 43.17 God should doe but little worke in the world if men could let it Wicked men would let or hinder God in all his workes and the godly through their mistakes would hinder him in some of his workes but none can He speaks to the Sunne and it shineth not yea he speakes to the Sunne and it moveth not This is the greatnesse and the muchnes of the power of God But saith Job Will he plead against me with this great power All this power God hath and this power he can put forth but he will not put it forth against me saith Job 1. And what was Job that he should be thus confident and rise up to such a strong assurance that God would not use his strength against him Job was a godly man a man fearing God a man perfect and upright a man full of faith even full of faith though he lived in dark times and under dark dispensations yet I say he was a man full of faith in the Redeemer Now it is no wonder if a man of this character a man thus qualified and priviledged had this confidence and was much assured that he should prosper and speed in it That God would not plead against him with his great power Hence Observe A godly man may be confident that God will deale gently and graciously with him or That God will deale with him according to the greatnes of his mercy not according to the greatnes of his power The greatnes of the power of God is an exceeding great comfort to the sincere because they know it is acted towards them in the greatnes of his mercy It is comfortable to heare that the Lord who as the Prophet describes him Nah 1.3 is great in power is also slow to anger the greatnes of mans power doth usually quicken not clogg his passions but it is more comfortable to know that God who is great in power is quick and speedy to shew mercy And hence it is that a true beleever rejoyceth in the power o◠God as well as in his mercy because he knoweth that God hath declared himselfe powerfull for him as well as mercifull He knoweth God will not put forth power alone or nothing but power towards him God doth exercise all his refreshing attributes and divine perfections in dealing with Saints Whereas upon the wicked he exerciseth his power chiefely though not onely What if God to make his power knowne endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction saith the Apostle Rom. 9.22 God pleads with the wicked according to the tenour of the Covenant of workes but with Beleevers according to the Covenant of grace in which he doth as it were uncloath himselfe of his power and cloath himselfe with love mercy goodnesse and tendernes to his people The Lord as the Psalmist speakes Psal 93.1 is cloathed with strength wherewith he hath girded himselfe he is cloathed also with mercy and with that he hath girded himselfe he pleads with his people I grant in righteousnesse as well as in mercy as the Apostle speakes Rom. 3.25 26. God hath set forth Jesus Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his rightenesse for the remission or passing over of sins that are past through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this time his righteousnesse and the justifyer of him that beleeveth in Jesus The justice or righteousnesse of God was never so fully declared as in Christ for God did not spare him at all but he having taken our debt upon him discharged it to the utmost farthing God pleaded against Christ with his great power and with his perfect righteousnesse To which plea Christ made answer with as Great a power his being the power of God and with as perfect a righteousnes his being also the righteousnesse of God And hence it
Hac ratione liber evaderem ab iniquis vitae meae Judicibus calumniatoribus ut ultra mihi disceptatione contentione opus non erit all their charges shall be reprobated and rejected God who hath once Justified a person will never lay any thing to his charge and what charge soever others bring against him Gods justification will take it off The Apostles challenge is universal Who shall lay any thing c It is universal two wayes First in regard of persons accusing he excepts none in earth heaven or hell Secondly in regard of crimes he excepts no sort of sinne let them seeke and finde what they can be they sins against God or man be they sins of omission or commission be they sins never so much aggravated or sadly circumstantiated though against both light and love yet they will not doe against a person Elect and Justified Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect wipes away all charges Accused they may be though justified but condemned they cannot be because justified The best of Saints on earth have much in them and much is done by them which might be matter of charge against them for he that saith he hath no sin in him hath indeed no truth in him 1 Joh. 1.8 but Justifying Grace is their full discharge Againe As the word Judge is expounded universally for all those that did or might accuse Job Observe The best and most righteous on earth meete with many harsh accusers and hard Judges David had those who layd to his charge things that he knew not Psal 35.11 The Jewes returned from Babylon to build their City and Temple were charged with sedition Jeremie was charged with treason Paul was called a pestilent fellow and the primitive Christians were generally loaded with slaunders by the Heathen Misreport and reproach are the portion of Saints from the world And how sadly Job was charged all along by his friends and how severely censured hath appeared every where in this Booke especially in the former Chapter ver 5 6 7. Is not thy wickednes great and thine iniquities infinite for thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought and stripped the naked of their cloathing c. Had not Job reason to looke upon it as a great mercy to be delivered from such a Judge And hath not every Godly man reason to make Davids choyce 2 Sam. 24.14 Let me fall into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great and let me not fall into the hand of men Now as men are for the most part over-severe executioners of Gods sentence so they are usually over-severe Judges in giving their owne whether sence or sentence concerning others And therefore Jobs faith did prophecy this good to himselfe That God having heard him and judged him he should be delivered for euer from man his Judge And let this be the comfort of the righteous who are oppressed with the hard opinions of men That God will at last deliver them for ever from every rigorous and unrighteous Judge In that Great day as the Apostle Jude calls it the cause of every righteous man shall be disputed before God and then they shall be delivered for ever from their Judge And this did exceedingly beare up the spirit of the Apostle Paul in the midst of the various censures and judgements of men concerning him he knew their judgement should be taken off at last 1 Cor. 4.3 4. With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of mans judgement yea I judge not my owne selfe But he that judgeth me is the Lord therefore judge nothing before the time till the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darknesse and make manifest the counsells of the hearts and then shall every man have praise of God That is every righteous man though dispraised and despised though judged and condemned by men though blackt over with false reports and reproaches yet then every righteous man shall have praise from the most righteous God He will then doe all his people right who have been wronged and passe a just sentence upon those who have suffered much and long under unjust censures And so shall they be for ever delivered from their Judge JOB CHAP. 23. Vers 8 9 10. Behold I goe forward but he is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him On the left hand where he doth worke but I cannot behold him hee hideth himselfe on the right hand that I cannot see him But he knoweth the way that I take when he hath tryed mee I shall come forth as gold IN the two former verses Job exprest much Confidence of a good issue in his Cause could he but finde God and come to tryall And he reneweth this againe at the 10th verse Expressing the same Confidence When he hath tryed mee I shall come forth as gold But though he was thus Confident of a faire coming off in Case he could finde God yet he seemes in these words to cast off all Confidence of finding him forasmuch as yet he could not or had not Expressing himselfe here as a man that had travelled into all parts and quarters of the world East West North and South to finde a friend yet could not meet with him Behold I goe forward but he is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him On the left hand where he doth worke but I cannot behold him he hideth himselfe on the right hand that I cannot see him There is a threefold scope held forth about these words First As if Job did here deplore his fruitles paines in wishing for his appearing before God and in appealing to his Tribunal for as yet he saw himselfe unanswered and frustrated in his expectation God did not appeare to him in his troubles nor declare his purpose towards him Declarat Job se non posse ratione humana per res naturales quas per quatuor mundi plagas significat cognoscere certò clare rationes divinorum judiciorum Pined Secondly His scope may be to assert the hiddennes of the wayes of God or that the wayes of God are not to be found out nor understood by all the paines and industry by all the endeavours and disquisitions of man let him turne himselfe which way he will East or West North or South yet he must say I cannot behold him Thirdly Some conceive that Jobs intent is to declare his owne understanding or meaning in that earnest wish which he lately made Haec subjungit ad declarandū dei immensita tem ne quis putaret eum ex istimasse deum corporeum esse aut corporali loco circumscribi cum de illius tribunali loquutus est Id about his admittance to the Throne of God O that I knew where I might finde him that I might come even to his seat v. 3d He was not so grosse as to thinke that God was Confined to any
God alone is intimate And with these God is more intimate then man can be with that which is wholly outward And seing God knowes all the wayes which man takes let no man goe about to hide his wayes from God 'T is vaine to hide any thing from him who sees all that is hidden He that comes before a Judge that knowes what he hath done and is able to prove it why should he deny it The heart of a naturall man is not more busied about any thing then in making veiles for his sin the first thing that man did after he had sin'd was to make such a veile As all men have sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression so they cover their transgressions according to the similitude of his covering The Holy Ghost Psal 32.1 calleth them blessed whose sins are covered but it is with a covering of Gods provideing not of their owne woe to those whose sinnes are hid by a covering of their owne provideing God hath given us his Son our Lord Jesus Christ in his righteousnesse for our covering while our sins are so covered blessed are we but if we cover them with a covering of our owne God will lay them open for ever to our shame Wo to the rebellious children saith the Lord Isa 30.1 that take counsel but not of me and that cover with a covering but not of my Spirit that they may adde sin unto sin if we cover our sins with any thing but the righteousnes of Christ we cover them with a sin not onely because all our righteousnes which is the best thing of our owne that we have to cover them with is sinfull but because the very act of covering them so is a sin and therefore in so doing what doe we but adde sin unto sin And if to cover our sins with our owne righteousnesse be a sin how doe we heape sin upon sin while we cover it as many endeavour to doe with our denyalls dissemblings and excuses Secondly Consider with what Confidence Job speakes hee had discoursed of his fruitles labour and travell in the use of all meanes to finde God well saith he yet it is a Comfort that God knowes my wayes though I cannot finde out his Hence Note It is the Joy of the upright that God knowes them and their wayes yea the wayes that are in them Thus Jeremy Chap. 12.3 having complained of the prosperity of evill men before the Lord concludes But thou O Lord knowest mee thou hast seen mee and tryed my heart toward thee this was the Prophets joy and so it was the Apostles when he sayd But wee are made manifest unto God 2 Cor. 5.11 That 's the thing that pleaseth us David 1 Chron. 29.17 speakes in the same frame of spirituall contentment I know also ô my God that thou tryest my heart and hast pleasure in uprightnes This was a pleasure to David this was his Joy and crowne of Rejoycing that God knew him and a godly man hath much Cause of rejoycing in this that God knowes him perfectly considering how much he is mistaken and misunderstood by men When our wayes are mistaken by men 't is great content to remember that God knowes the way that we take without the least mistake For this assures a godly man of three things First That God will reckon his wayes such as they are and him such a one as he is He is much assured that God will never put a false glosse or an unjust construction which men are apt to doe upon the text of his life Secondly This assures him that his workes of righteousnesse shall not want a reward for God is not unrighteous to forget our worke and labour of love Heb. 6.10 that is he will not let us goe without a reward for such workes for as then we are said not to forget the word of God when we obey it so God is said not to forget our workes when he doth reward them Thirdly This assures him that God will give testimony to his integrity and beare his witnes when most seasonable to his righteous workes Though men will not give him Testimony yet God who knowes his wayes will God will not doe lesse for a good man then a good Conscience will For as an evill Conscience will accuse so a good Conscience will excuse Rom. 2.15 Their Consciences in the meane time accusing or excusing one another Conscience knowes our wayes and therefore Conscience gives Testimony against them that doe evill and Conscience will give Testimony with those that doe well let all the world clamour against them Conscience will not because Conscience knowes the way that a man takes Much more then will God Testifie for that man whose way is good and how sweet is this 'T is sweete and satisfying to a gracious soule to doe good but when God himselfe shall testifie for a gracious soule that he hath done good this is much more sweete and satisfying 1 Joh. 3.20 21. If our heart or Conscience condemne us he is greater then our heart or Conscience and knoweth all things Beloved if our heart condemne us not then have we confidence toward God even this confidence that God will not onely not condemne us but acquit us yea and testifie for us And as it is worse to be condemned by God then by Conscience so it is better and sweete◠to be acquitted by God then by our owne Conscience when once our Consciences are acquainted with his acquittall of us and testimony for us Yea there is this further Comfort in it that for as much as our wayes are knowne to God he will give testimony of them to others as well as to our owne Consciences The world shall know what our wayes are one time or other as well as God knowes them now they who are most prejudiced against them and draw the blackest lines over them shall one day be made to know that they did not know the beauty of them And this God will doe eyther First In this world by some extraordinary providence as David speakes Psal 37.6 Hee shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light and thy judgement as the noon day A mans righteousnesse may lye in obscurity or in the darke no man knowing it and most men judging him unrighteous and wicked but Providence some time or other will bring forth this mans righteousnes as the light and his just dealing as the noon day Or Secondly If a good mans wayes lye hid from the world all the dayes of his life in this world yet the Apostle assures him that in the great day God will proclaime them in the eares of all the world 1 Cor. 4.5 Judge nothing before the time till the Lord come who will both bring to light the hidden things of darknes and will make manifest the Councels of the heart So then a day is coming which will make thorough lights in the world and bring to light the most hidden things of the darkest darknes And by
to doe iniquitie is their trade of life or that which they live by and dayly set themselves about The worke of God is none of their worke nor doe they count it so being as the Apostle speakes Tit. 1.16 abominable disobedient and unto every good worke reprobate Good worke is put into the hand of man by the hand of God but they have their worke from another hand the lusts of your father yee will doe saith Christ to the Pharisees Joh. 8.44 that is ye will doe the devills worke That 's their worke and they goe forth to it as the honest labouring man goeth forth unto his worke and to his labour untill the Evening Psal 104.23 so the wicked man goeth forth to sin as to his worke And that he doth so is evident upon a foure-fold account First Because he doth not stumble upon it but intends it a godly man falls into sin but to sin is not his intendment a godly man may sin when he goeth forth but he doth not goe forth to sin he doth not make it his buisines That is properly a mans worke which he proposeth to himselfe to doe and purposeth to doe Secondly He goeth forth to it as to his worke for he delights in it he is pleased with it It is his meate and drinke yea his mirth and musicke to doe evill That is properly a mans worke which though it be painefull to him to doe it yet he is pleased in doing it Thirdly Hee goes forth to it as to his worke for he spends his spirits his strength and time in it wee doe many things which are not our worke they are but by-works or beside our worke wee bestow little of our time and strength in such things that which a man bestowes his time and strength upon that whereat he labours to sweat and wearines of body that 's his worke now the time of wicked men runs out and their strength is consumed in sinning and though they are not weary of committing iniquity yet they weary themselves as the Prophet speakes Jer. 9.5 to commit iniquitie therefore that 's their worke Fourthly Wicked men are skillfull to sin they sin with a kinde of art therefore that 's their worke that which is a mans proper worke hee hath knowledge about it and is dextrous at He doth not bungle but makes cleane worke as we say of that which is his worke A Minister should preach the Gospel like a workman that needs not be ashamed as the Apostle speakes The wicked sin like workmen though the more they doe so the more cause they have to be ashamed The Prophet Jer. 9.5 bewayling the extreame sinfullnes of those times saith They have taught their tongues to speake lies As if they had studyed the art and language of lying while they told or made grosse lies they would not make them grossely but with a kinde of finenes and neatenes As though what a Godly man doth according to the minde of God he doth by grace yet he useth a kinde of artificialnes in doing it and is therefore exhorted to walke circumspectly or accurately that is to act all his duties with exactnes so though what an ungodly man doth against the minde of God he doth it by nature or very naturally yet he useth a kind of artificiallnes in doing it and therefore he is sayd Psal 50.19 20. To give his mouth to evill and to frame deceit with his tonuge to sit as an artist at his worke and speake against his brother and slaunder his owne mothers sonne Thus they goe forth to their worke Rising betimes for a prey Whence observe A wicked man is very industrious and diligent in doing his worke To rise betimes and to doe a thing diligently are the same in Scripture ro rise betimes is to rise somewhat before the ordinary time of rising Now when a man breaks his sleepe to goe about his worke this shews that he is industrious at it As some wicked men quickly throw off their sleepe that they may doe mischiefe So which argues the same principle and spirit Others sleepe not unlesse they have done mischiefe and their sleepe is taken away unlesse they cause some to fall Prov. 4.16 Their owne sleepe is taken away unlesse they take away somewhat which is not their owne They will defraud themselves of rest rather then not defraud others of their right They goe not more unwillingly to prison after they have done evill then they goe to bed before they have done it O how are they set upon mischiefe whose sleepe departs from them unlesse they doe it and who cannot rest unlesse they trouble others The servants of God when they are up in zeale cannot sleepe unlesse they doe good as David speakes Psal 132.4 5 6. Surely I will not come into the Tabernacle of my house nor clime up to my bed I will give no sleepe to mine eyes nor slumber to mine eyelids till I have found a place for God c. hee was so zealous for God that if he could he would not sleepe hee would forbid his owne rest though hee had never so much minde to it till he had finisht that worke for God So sayth the wicked man I will give mine eyes no sleepe nor slumber to mine eyelids till I have done this or that mischeife and brought my device to passe When the wicked lye wakeing on their beds what are they about then their wakeing thoughts in the night are to doe mischiefe in the morning Michah 2.1 2. Woe to them that devise Iniquity and worke evill upon their beds How doe they worke it upon their beds they worke it in their thoughts in their inward shop there they fashion it and when the morning is light they practice it because it is in the power of their hand they hinder themselves from sleepe that they may forward themselves in sin The night is spent in Imagineing and plotting and the day in accomplishing what they have imagined and plotted Their morning light is spent in the workes of darkenes and the text sayth They practice it because it is in the power of their hand They never consider what is Just for them to doe but what they have power to doe if they have ability they want no will for the vilest practices Againe as they cannot sleepe sometimes for devising evill so when they have slept their first waking thoughts are about evill and this also is a further proofe of their extreame industriousnes in doing evill For as it is with a zealous Godly man his first wakeing thoughts are with God and Christ or about his owne soule how God may be honoured how his soule may be saved Psal 139.18 O how precious are thy thoughts that is thoughts of thee to mee O God how great is the summe of them when I awake I am still with thee that is my thoughts and meditations are with thee as soone as ever I awake here 's the diligence of the soule after God so the
they take the poore for a pledge Of which cruelty we read 2 Kings 4.1 where the poore widdow complained to the Prophet that her husband being dead the creditors were come and had taken her two sonnes to be bond men Thus here when they had gotten their cattle as was shewed before and their cloaths from their backs then they must have their bodyes too to be slaves and drudges Here first I might note That the sinne of oppression is aggravated in reference to the persons upon whom it is exercised But because it hath been observed from other passages both of this and former Chapters how sinfull it is to oppresse those whom we are bound to releive and to vexe those whom we ought to comfort I shall not insist upon it in this place But Observe Secondly That covetousnesse knows no bounds As it hath been said of envy so we may say of covetousnesse Covetousnesse whether wilt thou whether wilt thou lead or rather hurry and force worldly men covetousnesse carryes those who are under the power of it no man knowes whether who can tell where he shall stopp or stay when he is once under the power of the spirit of covetousnesse such will not spare eyther the fatherlesse or the widdow not the cloaths upon their backes no nor their backes nor bodyes If a covetous eye can but discerne any advantage to be made it will have body and all There is no sinne so hainous none so base and sordid but covetousnesse may be both the mother and nurse of it A covetous man will not forbeare eyther for the cruelty of the sinne or for the sordidnesse of it Covetousnesse is a sordid lust Covetousnesse is earthy and mudds our spirits in earthly things When the spirit of a man is once embased by covetousnes he is ready to doe any base thing There is nothing here below lower then that Spirit And hence the Apostle concludes 1 Tim. 6.10 That the love of money which is covetousnesse is the roote of all evill that is any evill of sinne may grow up from that roote and therefore the Apostle adds in the same place That while some have coveted it they have erred from the faith Covetousnesse is the roote of heresie which we may thinke farre removed from it But saith he such have erred from the faith which may be understood of erring from the faith both in regard of practice and of doctrine They have both acted and beleeved against the rule of faith for filthy lucre and so have peirced themselves through with many sorrowes Covetousnesse runneth us into all evill and provokes many to doe such things as peirce themselves through with many sorrowes as well as others Covetousnesse peirceth the poore and needy the widdow and the fatherlesse with many sorrowes nor doth it spare its own Master or slave rather but peirceth him likewise through with many more and much worse sorrowes Vers 10. They cause him to goe naked without cloathing The 7th verse spake the sence of this They cause the naked to lodge without cloathing and they have no covering in the cold Job toucheth upon their cruelty againe and againe They cause him to goe naked withoat cloathing They will not allow him so much as those things which are for necessity The word him is not expressely in the Hebrew which runs onely thus They cause to goe naked without cloathing as implying that they were ready to exercise this inhumanity upon any one that came next to hand or stood in their way Our Translation seemes to referre it to those poore taken for a pledge and so the difference between this 10th and the 7th verse is this in the 7th verse he spake generally of the poore whom they made to goe naked here at the 10th verse he speakes of those whom they had taken to be their slaves and servants they take the poore for a pledge and cause him to goe naked without cloathing they take his worke but they give him no cloathing they command his labour but deny him releife Which sense is carried further both in the next verse and in the next clause of this verse And take away the sheafe from the hungry Some render they take away the eares of corne that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non solum manipulum integrum sed pauculas spicas quae messoris manum effugere solent significat the gleaneings which the poore have pickt up and gathered together They take away the very gleaning from them that two wayes eyther First they will not suffer the poore to gleane after their reapers This is to take away the eares of corne from the hungry such is the cruelty of some that they will not suffer the poore to gleane in their fields or secondly when the hungry have gleaned a few eares of corne they take all away from them Against which cruelty to the poore the Law of Moses provided Deut. 24.19 20 21. When thou cuttest downe thine harvest in thy feild and hast forgot a sheafe in the feild thou shalt not goe againe to fetch it it shall be for the stranger for thr fatherlesse and the widdow that the Lord thy God may blesse thee in all the worke of thine hands Now if the forgotten sheafe must be left for the poore surely the scattered eares must not be raked up from them We have an eminent instance of the liberty of gleaning in the second Chapter of Ruth Againe By the sheafe which is taken away we may understand that little corne which the poore man hath of his owne growing in his owne feild And Job speakes in the singular number the sheafe implying that the poore man hath not many sheaves his corne makes but a sheafe as it were as the poore man in the parable 2 Sam. 11.11 had but one lambe he had not a flock so the poore man hath but a sheafe he hath not many sheaves and shocks of corn he hath not barnes full as the rich man is described Luk. 12. he hath but a sheafe yet they take that away Thirdly The word which we translate sheafe Est autem Gomer mensurae genus quod quotidianuÌ„ dimensum diurnuÌ„ victum hominis capeâ—e potest ergo necessarium victum abstulerunt famelicis quem forte spicis minutatim collectis sibi sumo labore collegerunt Pined signifies a measure which did conteine a convenient quantity for a dayes provifion This measure the Jewes call An Omer Exod. 16.16 This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded gather of it every man to his eating an Omer for every man according to the number of your persons take ye every man for them which are in his tents ye shall have an Omer for every man So that an Omer conteines a convenient quantity for one mans provision for a day and then the sense ariseth thus they take away the Omer from the hungry that is they take away meere necessary food or dayly bread from the hungry The poore
the dust then it were no great matter how you did defile and abuse them but as God hath raised up the Lord so he will raise you up Seeing then God hath promised and you are such as professe faith in that promise that your bodyes shall be raised up out of the dust to put on glory as a Garment in the last day therefote in the meane time while your bodyes are in your keeping doe ye keepe your bodyes pure Thirdly He argues thus with the beleeving Corinthians v. 15th Know ye not that your bodyos are the members of Christ not onely is the soule of a beleever a member of Christ but his body too yet it is not properly eyther the body or the soule that is a member of Christ but the person for the union is made between Christ and the person of a beleever consisting of soule and body But thus the Apostle argues Know ye not that your bodyes are the members of Christ shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of an harlot God forbid What! will ye dispose the members of Christ to so base a use will ye who prefesse your selves joyned to Christ condiscend to such a base conjunction And hence he expostulates at the 16th and 17th verses What know ye not that he which is joyned to an harlot is one body for two saith he shall be one flesh They who abuse marriage are as the marryed The Adulterer and the harlot are one flesh as well as the husband and the wife but he that is joyned to the Lord by faith and love is one spirit He hath a neerer and a more noble union then that of flesh and therefore he ought to maintame the hight of honour and purity both in minde and body and as he is one Spirit with the Lord so to make it good that he is guided and governed by one Spirit and that The holy One. We have a fourth argument at the 18 â—h verse Flee fornication why so The reason is added every sin that a man doth is without the body but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his owne body But are all other sins without the body I answer first other sinnes have the body as an instrument for the committing of them if a man steale the body is an instrument if a man commit murther the body is an instrument but in this sin the body is more instrumentall then in other sins the body is cheifely instrumentall in this sin so that comparatively to this every sin that a man doth is without the body And therefore this sin is more against the body then other sins are Againe secondly when the Apostle saith every sin is without the body he is to be understood of those sinnes which are externall otherwise every sin that a man commits is not without the body there are a thousand acts of sin that are done within the body or in the soule envy wrath malice are sinnes within the body being bred and acted in the Spirit But we may say of every sin which is externall about which the discourse there is that comparatively to this sin of adultery fornication it is without the body I answer thirdly The body is not onely the instrument of this sin but the object of it also for the uncleane person doth not onely sin with his body but he sins against his body Adultery leaves that blot and brand of ignominy and basenes upon the body which no other sin doth making it the member of a harlot as was toucht before and degrading it from that excellent honour whereunto God advanced it even in a Naturall consideration much more degrading it from that honour whereuntor God hath advanced it in a spirituall consideration And as that was the Apostles third Argument so upon another relation of the bodyes of beleevers he makes his 5th argument which is layd downe at the 19th verse What know you not that your body is the Temple of the Holy-Ghost which is in you which ye have of God and ye are not your owne As if he had sayd A Temple is a holy and sacred thing and will ye defile the Temple of the Holy-Ghost The Jewes how angry were they what an uproar did they make when they thought Paul had brought Greeks into the Temple who by the law were looked upon as prophane persons and so not to be admitted to come there they cry out This is the man that hath polluted this holy place Acts 21.28 Much more may it be urged upon Gospel-professors what commit such a sin as this what pollute the Temple of God Know ye not which every beleever is bound to know that your body is the Temple of the Holy-Ghost as well as the soule The last argument concludes the 19th verse and is prosecuted in the 20 h Ye are not your owne for ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods Redemption is a strong engagement ye are bought and dearely payd for ye are bought with a price ye are not your owne Some who take liberty in this sin would excuse themselves by the contrary argument Our bodyes say they are our owne and we may doe what we will with our owne No sayth the Apostle ye are bought with a price ye are not your owne ye have your bodies of God in their natural constitution It is he who hath made us in that capacity and not we our selves Psal 100.3 and ye are not your owne for ye are redeemed or bought with a price both body and soule Yee are bought out of your owne hands as well as out of the hand of divine justice and displeasure The Apostle speaks especially to beleevers For though it be a truth concerning all whether beleevers or unbeleevers that they are not their owne none of the sons of men are their owne God hath a right to them by creation as also by his continuall providence provision and preservation yet beleevers or the redeemed in a speciall manner are not their owne and therefore they ought above others to glorifie God in their body and in their spirit which are Gods Having thus opened several Scripture grounds and arguments to demonstrate the soulenes and filthines of this sin of Adultery which is the generall subject of this verse I shall now proceed in the exposition of particulars in it The eye also of the adulterer waiteth c. The word also referres to the murderer spoken of in the former verse implying that the Adulterer and he though their sins are very different yet agree much in taking their opportunities of sinning How contrary soever sinners are in their particular practice yet they have all one common principle and Spirit The Murderer and the Adulterer are alike desierous of privacy They both love darkenes rather then light or that which is neyther Twilight Jeb seemes to speake of a man that is no novice but of one long verst and practiced
the Lord hath blessed that is as the smel of a fruitfull feild So it may be sayd that the earth or land where a man lives Describit quomodo sese gereresoleant ut suae maleficia coÌ„modius tegant eligunt sibi sedâ—s in vastis locis unde dicit nec se convertit ad vias vinearum quia vineae in locis cultis sitae sunt non procul ab urbibus Merc and his portion in it is cursed while he lives in a barren desolate land which looks as if it were under the perpetuall curse of God And according to this interpretation the later part of the verse and he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards may be thus understood He comes not into any fruitfull fields Vineyards are planted in a fruitfull soyle and fruitfull vines are full of the blessing of God Thus as the portion of the wicked in the earth is alwayes cursed by a decree from God so it may be sayd that their portion is sometimes cursed by their owne Election because for the better secreting and hiding of themselves from the eye of Justice they spend their dayes in such places as by reason of their wastnes and barrennes seeme to confesse themselves under a curse Their portion is cursed in the earth Hence note First Sin brings a Curse with it When Jâ—b had described the wickednesse of these men their murthers their adulteries and their thefts he concludes Their portion is Cursed Sin calleth for a Curse from men and it calleth for a Curse from God Solomon saith Pro. 12.26 He that withholdeth Corne that is who hoards it up and will not sel it at a reasonable rate resolving to make a dearth when God hath made none he who thus withholdeth Corne the people will curse him Now if the people curse him that will not let them have corne for money then much more him that stealeth or taketh away their corne without money He that destroyeth other mens goods gets a Curse in stead of good Eliphaz saith Chap. 5.3 I have seene the foolish taking roote but suddenly I Cursed his habitation that is I saw his habitation was Cursed or under a curse I knew what would become of him shortly In some Cases it may be lawfull for man to wish a Curse upon man and the Curse of man may be the Curse of God too and usually it is so when any man is generally cursed by men Vox populi vox dei The voyce of the people is the voyce of God When a man is followed with a Curse from the most of men good and bad it is an argument that there is a Curse gone out from God against him and that his portion is Cursed in the earth Sin is the deserving or procuring Cause and the wrath of God is the inflicting or productive Cause of the Curse Balaak hired Balaam to Curse the people of God but the Curse could not take the traine was laid but he could not make the powder take fire the Curse came not why the reason is given yea Balaam himselfe gives it Numb 23.21 He that is God hath not beheld Iniquity in Jacob neither hath he seene perversnes in Israel If there had been iniquity that is any national iniquity or publicke iniquity persisted in and not repented of among them that had brought the Curse inevitably but though Balaam laboured to Curse them though he went from hill to hill and tryed all meanes to get an opportunity to Curse them yet he could not for saith he God hath blessed them and I cannot reverse it There is no Iniquity in Jacob nor perversnes in Israel therefore their portion was blessed in the Earth Sin in whomsoever it is hath a Curse in the belly or bowels of it Even Christ himselfe taking our sin upon him was necessitated to take the Curse upon him which was due to our sin Christ taking our sin upon him was as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.21 made sin for us that is an offering or a sacrifice for our sin yea as the same Apostle saith Gal. 3.13 He was therefore made a Curse for us And if Christ who having no sin in him did onely take our sin upon him could not avoyd the curse how shall they avoyd it who having no part in Christ have all manner of sin in them But it may be objected All men sin and yet many have no appearance of a Curse upon them nor is their portion Cursed in the earth I answer First This assertion is to be limited to unbeleevers or ungodly men Secondly unbeleevers and ungodly men are under a Curse though the Curse doe not breake out and appeare visibly upon them As the portion of a godly man may be blessed though there be no appearance of the blessing when nothing appeares upon him but affliction and the Cross yet the Godly man is blessed The Cross of a Godly man is like the prosperity of a wicked man The former hath an outward Cross but a Blessing at the bottome the latter hath outward prosperity but a curse at the bottome and bitternes in the end Againe the peace of the prophane is like the grace of hypocrites onely a shew hypocrites have a shew of grace an appearance of holynes yet they are but painted Sepulchres full of rottennes within So the wicked have a shew of peace and prosperity of benefits and blessings but a curse is within them and a curse hangs over them ready every moment to drop downe upon their heads For Secondly His portion is cursed that is 't is under a curse though the curse be not actually inflicted As the mercies of God are sure to his people yet many times very slow they come not presently but they will come So also the wrath and curse of God will surely come upon the wicked though as to outward effects impressions they are slow and long in comming Actings of mercy are for an appointed time Every vision is for an appointed time as the Lord told his Prophet Hab. 2.3 The vision of Judgement and wrath is for an appointed time as well as the vision of love and mercy That is all the love and all the wrath the blessing and the curse which are revealed in any way of vision are for an appointed time but at the end the vision will speake and not lye if it tarry waite for it for it will surely come and not tarry As it is I say in the visions of mercy and blessing so in those of wrath and of the curse They are for an appointed time in the end they will speake Sometimes the Curse is quick it apprehendeth the sinner in the very act it takes him in the manner as Phineas did Zimri and Cozbi And as Psal 78.30 While their meate was yet in their mouthes the wrath of God came upon them The sound of the Curse is sometimes at the heeles of sin at other times the sound of the Curse is a great way behind the sin no
sight nor sound of the curse for a long time As light is sowne for the righteous Psal 97.11 that is They shall have a crop of good things though it lye as seed doth a great while under the clods and as dead in the furrowes So darkenes is sowne for the wicked they perceive it not yet but they shall be wrapt up in it for ever yea while they perceive it not they are in it and they are by so much the more in it by how much the lesse they perceive it For this is ever true The portion of the wicked is Cursed in the Earth though they seeme compassed about with blessings I will Curse your blessings saith the Lord Mala. 2.2 yea I have cursed them already The wicked may be rich and yet cursed honourable and yet cursed successefull in busienes and yet cursed blessed and yet cursed God doth curse their blessings That which is a blessing in the kinde and matter of it is to some a curse in the use and issue of it So then as godlynes is profitable for all things and hath the promise of this life as well as of that which is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 Godlynes is compassed about and cloathed with promises of all sorts and seasons So ungodlynes is unprofitable for all things makes him that is so miserable in all things For it hath the curse of this life and of that which is to come if the promise doe not meet a godly man in this life or in the things of this life yet it will in the life to come and in the things of the life to come yea in all things so farre as concernes the life to come the blessing alwayes meetes him And if the curse doe not meet a wicked man in this life yet it will in the life to come and in the things of the life to come yea in all things so farre as concernes the life to come The curse alwayes meetes him Then see the folly of those who feare the Curse and are not afraid of sin as if a man should feare drowning and yet cast himselfe into the water or feare burning and yet throw himselfe into the fire thus doe they who love sin and feare the curse If the beauty of holynes doth not take upon the heart yet the curse that attends sin may deterre from medling with it And did men know the terror of the Lord as the Apostle speakes 2 Cor. 5.11 they would easily be perswaded to take heed of sin even of every sin for though usually great sins bring the curse yet the least sins may They who know what the curse of the Lord is cannot but know what the terror of the Lord is that is that the Lord is to sinners very terrible For the curse of the Lord abiding upon a sinner makes him every way and alwayes miserable There needs no more to be said to prove a man miserable then this that his portion is cursed or that he is under the curse For as the blessing of God makes us happy with any portion that 's enough the blessing being it selfe the best and most aboundant portion Every good thing is vertually in the blessing so the Curse is vertually every evill thing therefore that must needs make a man miserable When the Lord blesseth it is not an empty word but a power goes with it to make a man blessed And when the Lord curseth it is not an empty word but a power goes with it to make a mans portion cursed in the earth Job having layd downe this position gives a proofe of it in the last words of the verse Hee beholdeth not the way of the vineyards Some reade these as the former words Cohaerebit cum superioribus si haec sit quasi praecedentis expositio imprecationis Nullam habeat impius partem in agris locisque frugiferis ex quibus ullum fructum percipere possit Pined by way of imprecation Let his portion be cursed in the earth and let him not behold the way of the vineyards We translate assertively He beholdeth not c. But what is meant here by not beholding is it onely this he commeth not within the view or sight of them I conceave there is more in it then so and that when Job sayth he beholdeth not his meaning is he enjoyeth vineyards no more or he dwelleth no more in a fruitfull and pleasant land such as that land is which aboundeth in vineyards and so consequently with wine but he shall live miserably in a barren soyle So that we may now interrogate wicked men whether murtherers Adulterers or theeves as Paul doth every sinner Rom. 6.21 What fruit have ye of those things whereof ye are or ought to be ashamed have ye any fruit of the vine surely no For such behold not the way of the vineyards To behold is to enjoy the pleasantnes to tast the sweetnes of the fruit of the vineyards Wine which is the fruit of the vineyard is pleasant and delightfull it makes glad the heart of man Psal 104.15 And vineyards are here named to signifie all sorts of outward good things they being the Chiefe of outward good things For as sometimes bread signifieth all outward good things because that strengthens mans heart so Wine because that cheareth and comforteth the heart of man So that when Job saith He shall not behold the way of the vineyards It is as if he had sayd He shall not tast of or enjoy any good thing For Againe Those words he heholdeth not c. are not to be understood as if he did voluntarily refuse to behold or cared not to behold the way of the vineyards but as implying a force or constraint upon him by which he was kept or hindred from looking that way Whence take this briefe note The losse of good is a great misery as well as the enduring of evill It hath been questioned which is greater the punishment of losse or the punishment of paine but without all question losse is a very great punishment not to behold the way of the vineyards not to returne to house and land to wife and children is a sore affliction What will it then be never to behold the face of God but to be under a sentence of eternal banishment from his presence His portion is cursed in the earth here in this world who beholdeth not the way of the vineyards how then is his portion cursed in the next world who shall never behold the path or way of life There are yet several other readings and expositions of these words Abstinebit a via regia et frequētia hominum ne cognoscatur Vatabl ita festinat fugere ut ne proprias quidem vineas olim tam gratas aspiciat Isidor First As if the meaning were to shew the wicked mans feare of being seene because of his guilt and that therefore he would not behold or come neere the way of the vineyards that is those places which many people
will according to his measure carry him through a world of evills and incumbrances to the doing of that good which duty and conscience or the conscience of his duty calls him to Now as Godly men labour to approve themselves the Ministers or servants of God so ungodly men will approve themselves the servants of sin in much patience in afflictions in necessities and in distresses they will run all hazzards and venture through all extreamities rather then leave the law of a lust unfulfilled The Lord put the Jewes to much suffering for their sins yet sin they would Why should ye be stricken any more saith he Isa 1.5 Ye will revolt more and more while I have been striking ye have been revolting The same pertinacy is complained of Isa 57.17 I smote him and was wrath yet he went on frowardly in the way of his heart that is in a sinfull way The heart of man knowes no other way till himselfe is formed after the heart of God and in that sinfull way he will goe though God make his heart ake as he goes I smote him and was wroth yet he went on c. In drought and heate they rob and in the snow water Againe we may take drought heate and snow water not onely as importing their sufferings while they were doing in such times but also as importing the severall seasons of time as if he had sayd they will sin both winter and summer that is continually wee say of some they are never well neither full nor fasting As full and fasting imply all the conditions of man so hot and cold summer and winter imply all divisions of time Hence note Evill men will doe evill allwayes Sinning time is never out with them they doe not sin by fits or starts in an ill mood onely or through a stresse of temptation but they sin from a principle within they have a spring of wickednes within and that will ever be sending and flowing out A good man may be overtaken with sin at any time but he doth not sin at all times in winter and summer in heate and cold Corruption will be working where Grace is but where Grace is not nothing workes but corruption If wicked men be not doing evill in every moment of time it is not because they at any time would not doe evill but because at all times they cannot And therefore the translation now underhand speakes of their whole life as one continued act of sin They sin to the grave That is till they dye and so are caryed out to the grave So that this manner of speaking They sin to the Grave signifyes the utmost perseverance of wicked men in sinning as if it had not been enough to say they sin in heate and cold winter and summer but they sin out the last inch of time even till they come to the graves mouth Whence Note Wicked men will not cease to sin while they continue to live The Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 2.14 saith of that generation who have eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sin sin is their nature it is not what they have acquired but what is implanted in them and borne with them And because sin is naturall to them therefore they cannot get it off untill their nature is changed And hence it is that conversion or regeneration is the change of our nature as well as of our actions A man unregenerate sins as naturally as he lives he sins as naturally as he sees or heares or exerciseth any of those naturall faculties so naturally doth he sin and therefore he sins to the grave And this is a rational demonstration of the Justice of God in awarding eternall punishment for sin committed in time or in a short time the whole time of a mans life in which sin is committed is but a short time a nothing to eternity wherein sin shall be punished This I say is a demonstration of the Justice of God in punishing wicked men because if they could have lived to eternity they would have done evill to eternity they doe evill as they can and as long as they can Seeing then there is a principle in man to sin eternally it is but just with God if he punish sinners eternally did not the grave stop him his heart would never stop him from sin In heate and cold they rob they sin to the grave Further as these words are put into a similitude they intimate the easinesse and naturallnesse of their sinning as well as the continuance of it Like as the hot earth drinketh up the snow water so wicked men sin to the grave they sin to death and they sin with as much ease and naturalnes as the earth when dry and thirsty drinks up the snow water Sinners are sayd to drinke iniquity as water Job 15.16 They are sayd to draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with cart ropes Isa 5.18 The last of these comparisons notes their strength and grossenesse in sinning The second notes their wit and cunning in sinning The third which suites with the present text notes their readynes and easynes to sinne They can doe it as easyly as drinke as easyly as the hot earth drinketh up the snow water So much of that translation I come now to consider our owne Drought and heate consume the snow waters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 siccitas propriè ariditatem terrae significat unde pro terra arida inculta sumitur Drought or drinesse The word notes the drinesse of the earth and is often put for dry earth as also for earth undrest or for a desert place because in such places the earth is usually parcht with heate and over-dry And hence the word Tsijm in the plural number signifyes a people that dwell in a wildernesse or in a desert So the people of Israel were called while they marched slowly throught it to Canaan Psal 74.14 Thou brakest the head of the Leviathan 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 populo soâ—itudâ—nicolis aut de serta incolenti and gavest him to be meate for the people who dwelt in the wildernesse And as men so those wild beasts that dwelt in deserts or solitary places are called Tsijm Isa 34.14 The wilde beasts of the desert shall also meete with the wilde beasts of the land and the Satyre shall cry to his fellow the Shrich-Owle also shall rest there and finde for her selfe a place of rest Tsijm are such uncouth creatures as inhabit Tsijah dry and desert places Drought And heate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 caluit Hebâ—aeis Cham calidum et chum nigrum sonat hinc chami nomen a calore vel nigredine Jupiter Hammon C ham the originall word signifyes both to be hot and to be blacke The second sonne of Noah who mocked his father was named Cham and it is supposed that the posterity of Cham inhabited Africa which is also called Ammonia being a hot Countrey and the people of it blacke And
continually and that spoke which is now aloft as that Captive King sayd to his Conquerour is quickly turned to the ground and brought low The Apostle gives an excellent caution in reference to our spirituall estate 1 Cor. 10.12 Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall And I may say in reference to any mans temporal estate He that is surest of his standing may fall not-withstanding all his heed And if any one as the Prophet once questioned by whom shall Jacob arise for he is smal should question by whom shall wicked men be brought low seeing they are so highly exalted It must be answered that as Jacob riseth when he is fallen so the wicked fall when they are risen by the hand or power of God He bringeth them low by his appoyntment and he bringeth them low by his power Psal 75.7 God is the Judge he putteth downe one and setteth up another And he it is that setteth up and putteth downe the â—â—me man They are gone and brought low They are taken out of the way as all others The original word signifies to narrow contract or shut up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contraxit cont nuit oâ—huâ—avit in piet festinavit ire è contrario extendere se transilire as also to hasten extend and shoote forth and the reason is because by contracting or drawing any thing backe we shoote it forward with more force and speed Wee see how snakes and other creeping things contract and gâ—ther themselves up and then cast themselves forward with much advantage Both significations of the word are made use of in this place by Interpreters Some rendring They shall be shut up they are brought low Claudentur sicut omnes Pagn Reg and shâ—t up they like prisoners are under restraint or they are restrained in prison They are apt to abuse their liberty and their power to the wrong of others and therefore they are cut short and kept in not onely are their hornes broken their clawes cut and their nayles pared but themselves are shut up like beasts which hurt him that is next whosoever it is It is reason they should be in safe custody who being at liberty no man is in safety Saltabunt è loco suo Rab. Moy Mr Broughton gives a sence of the word which imports not their restraint but their flight Every one are made to skip away They shall skip or leap out of their places as if they were forced or frighted as one of the Rabbins translates it The meaning of both rendrings meets in the same thing for whether a man be shut up in prison or forced to run and hide himselfe to avoyd restraint and imprisonment his condition is much alike By the former he is a prisoner and by the latter he hath lost his liberty The difference is not great whether a man be where he would not or dares not be were he would They are shut up or they are made to run away Both which readings comply fayrely enough with ours They are taken out of the way For whether a man be carryed away by force or flyeth for feare He is taken out of the way Hence note God doth remove and take wicked men out of their place when they are in their highest exaltation High estates have no security in them yea they are lesse secure then the lowest estate and that not onely because they are more subject to the envy of men but because they who are in high places make themselves more lyable to the wrath of God They use their power to the casting downe and taking away of the innocent and therefore God is engaged to take them away For as God often takes his owne people out of harmes way so he takes the wicked quite away that they may do no more harme The righteous perish that is dye sayth the Prophet and no man layeth it to heart and mercifull men are taken away they are taken away upon that account which few consider even from the evill to come Isa 57.1 2. God takes away the righteous lest they should suffer evill and he takes away the wicked lest they should continue to doe more evill The wicked would know no bounds if left to themselves and let alone Therefore God bounds them and saith as the Apostle prophecyed of such evill doers 2 Tim. 3.9 They shall proceed no further for their folly shall be made manifest to all men they shall be taken out of the way God will give them a stop 't is a forme of speech like that which the Apostle useth 2 Thes 2.7 The mystery of iniquity doth already worke onely he who now letteth will let till he be taken out of the way there was a rub a remora in the way of the man of sin that he could not doe what he would The power of the Romane Empire stood in his way and till that was taken out of the way he could doe no great feates he could not appeare in his colours Now as God tooke away the power of the Romane Empire as to that hight wherein it had formerly been exercised That the man of sin might have a liberty to doe evill and fill up the measure of his iniquity so God takes away many wicked men lest they should doe more evill and even exceed the measure of their iniquity They are taken out of the way as all others This may be expounded first of persons secondly of things Transferuntur ut caeteri nec pejus illis accidit quam caeâ—eris Etsi ad tempus evecti tandem amplius non extant tamen non aliter quam alij Bez They shall be taken away and be sent out of the world as the meanest persons or according to the common lot of all men This is understood two wayes first to shew that in death all men fare alike so that we cannot distinguish a good man from a wicked man by the manner of his death secondly to shew that they who are highest in the world are as soone overthrowne by death as the lowest Hence Note God can as easily remove mountaines as mole-hils and as quickly triumph in his anger over the Greatest as over the least They who are highest in this world are no more in his hand who is higher then the highest then the lowest of this world are No creature strength can stand against God When we see enemies high we are ready to say who shall pull them downe but God can pull them downe as all others the high Cedars the strong Oakes shall be like the poorest shrub By whom shall Jacob arise for he is small saith the Prophet Amos 7.2 O how shall the weaknesse of Jacob be strenthened and the lownesse of Jacob be exalted by whom shall Jacob arise for he is small as we are apt to question the rising of the people of God because they are smal so the fall of the enemies of God and of his people because they are strong and great
the breath whose spirit or whose breath came from thee The sense is the same And. First Some interpret Job thus Whose spirit or whose breath came from thee That is Consider O Bildad whose spirit moved thee or who breathed these things into thee whose breath or whose spirit came from thee when thou didst utter these words so 't is a rebuke of Bildads presumption as if he had conceaved himselfe wrought or acted by some extraordinary spirit while he was speaking or that the things which he uttered had been dropt into him by an immediate Revelation from heaven whose spirit came from thee what breath what gale hath filled thy sayles thou hast high conceits of thy selfe as if God had spoken to thee by his Spirit or as if thou hadst spoken these things to me from his mouth But is it not rather thy owne spirit thy owne heart which hath dictated these words unto thee Some thinke the same spirit comes from them when they speak which came from the holy Prophets and Apostles who yet are deceaved The Disciples of Christ thought the same spirit came from them which came from Eliah when they said Luk. 9.54 Lord wilt thou that we command fiâ—e to come downe from heaven and consume them as Elias did But he turned and rebuked them and sayd ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of As if he had sayd in the language of Job ye know not whose spirit comes from you ye would speake the words of Elias but ye have not the spirit of Elias you have a zeale but not according to knowledge yours is but a humane affection not a divine inspiration as Elias his was his was a pure spirit of zeale but yours is a rash spirit of revenge And therefore your motion suites not with your calling for as I am come so I send you to save not to destroy We may speake the same words and doe the same things which others have done and spoken and yet not with the same but with quite another spirit Therefore examine whose spirit comes from you This is a good and profitable sence Yet Cujus anima prodijt ex te i. e. quem consolatus es tam efficaciter sermone tuo ut anima ejus ex maerore quasi in corpore sepulta jacebat rursum è latebris prodierit seseq per corpus exserue rit Pisc Cujus animam verbis tuis vivificasti Hebraei Apud Merc Secondly Rather thus Whose spirit came from thee that is whose soule or whose minde hath been recovered out of trouble and feare out of sadnesse and sorrow by the words which thou hast spoken Thus the spirit is taken for his to whom he spake not for his spirit who spake or not for the spirit with which he spake This is a Great truth gratious and right words rightly applyed doe as it were releive the spirit and bring back the fainting yea dead soule from the grave of griefe and sorrow wherein it lay as buried Now sayth Job whose spirit came from thee Hast thou recovered or raysed any languishing soule by what thou hast sayd who hath felt life and power coming from thee I am sure I have not though I have heard thee out and heard thee attentively What the Moralist sayd of Idlenes the same may we say of sorrow or heavynes It is the buriall of a man while he liveth And therefore he that hath comforted a man and recovered him out of his sorrows may be sayd to give him a new life and that the spâ—rit of such a man is come forth from him yea he that instructeth the ignorant and bringeth them to the saving knowledge of God may be sayd to breath or put a soule into them In which sence some of the Jewish writers expound that place Gen. 12.5 where it is sayd That Abraham tooke Sarah his wife and Lot his Brothers son and all their substance that they had gathered and the soules that they had gotten in Charan c. that is all those whom by good instruction and example they had gained to God or as the Apostle speakes 1 Thes 1.9 had by their meanes turned to God from Idolls to serve the living and true God These soules they got in Charan though Abraham and Sarah were barren of naturall issue yet they had much spirituall issue many soules or the soules of many came from them And therefore when Job would put a disparagement upon what Bildad had spoken he puts him this Question Whose spirit or whose soule came forth from thee or whom hast thou resouled as the Greeke word which the Apostle useth for refreshing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth elegantly signifie Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the time of refreshing or resouling shall come from the presence of the Lord. When a man faints or is very weary we say he hath lost his spirits and he is even as a man without a soule But when in the use of any meanes he is refreshed then we say his spirit or soule is come to him againe The spirit of man comes onely from God in its natural constitution he is the father of Spirits Eccl 12.7 Heb. 12.9 But the spirit of man may come from man in its refreshings and consolations And therefore sayth Job to Bildad Whose spirit came from thee or whom hast thou comforted Thou hast undertaken to comfort me but I am not comforted Hence note Holy truths or words rightly applyed have a releiving yea a reviving power in them Such words give a man his soule againe when he hath lost it and when he is as it were gone from himselfe he is brought backe to himselfe againe For as it is sayd of the repenting Prodigall he came to himselfe he was gone he was lost from himselfe his soule was departed from him his understanding was none of his he was no more Master of any spiritually rationall faculty then a dead man is of any meere rationall faculty and so his father reported him whilst in that condition this our sonne was dead but is alive he was lost but he is found Luk. 15.32 Now I say as it is in extreame sinnings so in extreame sorrowings and dejections of spirit a man is lost from himselfe he is as a dead man and so when comfort comes in againe life may be sayd to come in againe he who before was lost is found and he who was dead revives The word revives from a twofold death It revives a natural man from the death of sin and it revives a Godly man from a death in sorrow How many spirits have come forth at the voyce of the Word out of the grave of sin Christ foretold this resurrection of the soule by the preaching and publication of the Gospel Joh. 5.25 The houre is coming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the son of God in the ministery of the word and they shall live And lest any
by a breath of winde and yet this huge vast globe of earth and water hangs as a ball in the ayre and we scarce wonder at it The Poets fained an Atlas to beare up the heavens with his shoulders God is the Atlas that beares up the heavens and the earth too the upper globe and the under globe too he made all things by himselfe out of nothing and he supports them by himselfe upon nothing We have an excellent expression of the power of God in this thing Isa 40.12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountaines in scales and the hills in a ballance God made all things in weight and measure and hee keepes the weight and measure of all things As the earth was not till his word and will gave it a being so his word and will alone is all-sufficient to uphold it in that being God hath not hanged the earth upon any thing but himselfe who is indeed infinitely more then all things Take two or three deductions from this Grand Conclusion First The same power which made the world supports and maintaines it Thus the Authour to the Hebrewes sets forth the dignity of Christ the Son of God Chap 1.2 3. Whom he hath appoynted heyre of all things by whom also he made the worlds both the naturall civill and spirituall worlds with all the changes and successions which have been in them who is also the brightnes of the glory of God and the expresse image of his person upholding all things the naturall frame of the world as wel as the civill and spirituall frame of it by the word of his power or by his powerfull word which as it once commanded all things into a being so now it commands all things into that continuance of their being in which they are Which power the Apostle attributes againe to Christ Col. 1.17 He is before all things and by him all things consist Sin made the world shake And had it not been for a second creation the first creation had been ruin'd and lost The earth and all our concernements who live upon the face of the earth hang upon nothing but the will of God If he let us goe we fall though all the powers on earth would underprop and uphold us and if he hold us up we stand fast though we have no more of any earthly power to prop us up with then the earth hath which is propt up with and hangeth upon nothing Secondly God can doe the greatest things without any visible meanes This worke of God in hanging the earth as it doth is to be numbred among the greatest workes that ever he did and thus it hangs without any the least appearing meanes to hold it up There are three arguments given in Scripture of the mighty power of God First That he workes by small even the smallest meanes wee have reason to wonder when effects exceed all visible causes as it shewes the great power of God when he stops great meanes from doing any thing when he causeth men to labour in the very fire that is to toyle and sweat themselves to the utmost for very vanity that is without any hoped for issue or advantage Some labour in the fire for very vanity because all they get by their labours is worth nothing but others may be sayd to labour in the fire for very vanity because with all their labours they can get nothing And this is of the Lord this is an effect of the Lords power to make the power of man in the use and improvement of the best and choycest meanes ineffectual So on the other side it is a great magnifying of the power of God when by a litle power put forth by the hand of a weake instrument he produceth great effects The Apostle James brings it in with a behold Chap. 3.5 Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth When great matters are done by small meanes we have reason to extoll and cry up the power of God Secondly It argues the great power of God when he doth great things by meanes that are improbable or that seeme no way sutable to such an end as Christ cured blindnesse with clay spittle which meanes had no sutablenesse to such an end the curing of blindnesse The meanes used to cure Naaman had no sutablenesse for such a cure and Naaman was so sencible of it that he was very angry with the Prophet about it as if his leprosie could be cured by so slight a thing as that was he thought he would have done it with some ceremony or in an extraordinary way yet this shewed that the cure was wrought by a divine power because it was wrought by so improbable an application As the power of God appeares in doing great things by small meanes so by doing great things by unlikely meanes Thirdly It shews the power of God much more to doe great things without the use of any meanes at all Such actings are creatings as the Apostle speakes of the Creation Heb 11.3 Through faith wee understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things that are seene were not made of things that doe appeare Nothing appeared out of which this world was created There was no pre-excistent matter out of which the world was made The world was made out of nothing That Goodly fabrick of heaven and earth which is now seene was made of that which was never seene no man can tell what were the materialls of which God made the world Now as God shewed his infinite power at first in making all things of that which did not appeare so the great power of God doth appeare now in doing great things without the appearance or external concurrence of any thing The Lord turnes whole Nations sometimes by nothing things are done and no man can tell how they were done or by what We love to have a fayre Appearance of meanes when we attempt great matters But God loves to act when and where nothing appeares We honour God most when we are sencible that the greatest meanes is nothing without him and that he himselfe is enough when no meanes at all appeares to sence It is Gods usuall way to doe things in a way which is not used and eyther to use no helpe or that which signifyeth nothing Thus the Apostle describes the dealing of God in bringing soules to himselfe by a holy calling and in removing whatsoever standeth in the way of that call 1 Cor 1.26 For yee see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called c. some wise and mighty men are called lest any thing in man should seeme too hard for the Grace of God and not many wise and mighty men are called lest any thing in man should seeme to contribute to or helpe