Est velut epiphonema ad superiora Merc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clamare non quoquo modo significat sed cum singultu ut solent moribundi Merc and here we have as it were the conclusion or a kinde of acclamation upon the whole matter Would you know what worke these men make they are so high in their cruelty that men groane under it The word which we translate to groane doth not signifie any kinde of groane for some cry before they are hurt but that which is caused by the greatest hurt and comes from the very bottom of the heart even such a groane as they give forth who are about to dye Men groane from Out of the Cittie This shews the impudence of those men in sinne as well as their impunity We might reasonably suppose they would not dare to doe thus in the open Citie though they had done it in a corner of the Country where there were but few to take notice of them To doe thus in the Citie in the eyes of all men is an argument that they had lost their modesty as well as their honesty and were resolved not onely to doe evill but to stand to it or make it good And the soule of the wounded cryeth out That is the wounded cry out the soule is put for the person or the man or the soule of the wounded is sayd to cry out to shew the greatnesse and dolefullnesse of the cry As when Mary sayd My soule doth magnifie the Lord it argues that shee magnified the Lord with strong affections as if shee had been all soule Suâ—h also is the force of that passage in Deborahs Song Judg. 5.21 O my soule thou hast troden downe strength shee trod downe the strength of the enemy with all her strength And her soule which was her strength in God was in it more then her body So here the soule of the wounded cryeth out that is the wounded cry out most lamentably they powre out their owne soules while others were powring out their bloud But what are these wounded or how were they wounded Wee may take it eyther of an outward or inward wounding There is a wounded spirit as well as a wounded body many are wounded whose flesh is whole who have not so much as a scarre made in their skin yet here the wounded were such whose flesh or outward state was wounded first and then their hearts or spirits were wounded because of that with griefe and sorrow The soule of the wounded The word which we translate wounded signifies two things First that which is prophane and polluted and in the verb to pollute and prophane a thing Idol-worshippers are so called because they are polluted as wounded men with blood And hence also it is used as a word of abomination The Lord forbid sayd David 1 Sam. 24.6 And againe 2 Sam. 20.20 Farre be it from me farre be it from me sayd Joab in both which places the actions abominated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 polluti prophani 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absit vox prohibitionis abominationis res prophana s t mihi had the defilement or pollution of blood in them And the Jewes speaking this word usually rent their garments shewing the abhorrence and indignation of their minds at blasphemie or such like abominations Now because wounded men are defiled in their blood therefore this word signifieth the wounded The soule of the wounded cryeth out not onely cryeth but cryeth out Which implyeth the greatnesse of their wound and the extreame painefullnes of it Hence Note Oppression is a crying sinne and makes the oppressed cry The blood of Abel who was the first man that ever was outwardly wounded cryed when he was dead how much more doe they cry whose blood is powring out and themselves under present feare of death The soules under the Altar cryed how long Lord how long Rev. 6.9 Those soules had suffered and were past suffering yet they cryed out for vengeance upon their adversaryes how much more will their soules cry who are under sufferings The wounds of the wounded are as so many wide mouthes crying out to God though their owne soules should be silent and say nothing I have upon other passages in this booke met with the sinne of oppression and the cry of the poore upon it therefore I shall not further stay here but a while insist upon the last clause of this context which holds out the chiefe and most considerable matter of it The oppressour doth all these wickednesses but what doth God Surely we might expect to heare of God in the next words healing and helping the wounded who make this cry and wounding the hairy scalpe of those who made them cry had not God a fit occasion put in his hand to shew himselfe first for the releife of the oppressed and secondly for the punishment of the oppressour He that beholds such actings as these the fatherles plucked from the breasts the poore made slaves the labourer denied his wages the wounded crying groaning he I say that beholds all this might say in his heart surely now God will presently appeare and indeed God hath often appeared when the wicked have been in the heate of such actings and the poore in the heate of such sufferings Psal 12.5 For the oppression of the poore for the sighing of the needy now I will arise saith the Lord I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him Yet here we finde no such thing nothing like the Lords arising for the saving of the poore from oppression or for the breaking of oppressors Job saw or had seene the poore oppressed and the needy sighing but did not see God comming eyther with deliverance or revenge for he adds though all this be done Yet God layeth not folly to them Master Broughton reads And the puissant marketh not the unsavory dealing His meaning is not that God did not know that their dealings were unsavory or that he did not observe and take notice of their dealings but he did not observe them so as to appeare presently against them God layeth not or God putteth not the meaning is God imputeth not or God chargeth not folly or strictly to the letter of the Hebrew that which is unsavory to them or upon them That word which signifies a thing unsavory or without salt in a natural and proper sence may elegantly be rendred folly in a moral or metaphoricall sence for foolishnes or folly is that which hath no salt of reason righteousnesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod fit praeter omnem rationem aequitatem Bez justice or equity in it Hence the word is often used to signifie that which is done besides without or against all these So it is sayd Chap. 1.22 In all this Job sinned not neither did he charge God foolishly or neither did he charge folly upon God it is this word Job did not thinke that God dealt unjustly or unreasonably with him though he had
employments whether more private or publicke are wronged and suffer in his death Though that which cuts off a mans life cannot cut off his owne hope if he have a wel-grounded one for things to come yet it cuts off the hopes of all others depending upon him as an instrument in the hand of God for good things present Eighthly The murtherer takes away that from a man which no man can restore to him or repaire him in he takes away that which is Impossible for him to give againe He that tooke away a mans goods was bound by the law of God to restore it fourefold or fivefold or sevenfold according to the case and possibly he might restore it an hundredfold but he that takes away a mans life hath taken that which though he would he cannot restore so much as single The law of nature will not suffer the murderer to restore life for 't is like water which being spilt cannot by any humane power be gathered up againe and the law of God saith concerning the sin of murther that no satisfaction shall be taken for it and indeed none can For though some would commute and have by the sinfull indulgence and cruel pity of unjust Magistrates commuted for it yet none could ever satisfie for it And when Magistrates eyther through foule corruption or foolish compassion have not taken vengeance upon the murtherer in kinde but have suffered him to commute or compound for that sin eyther by paying a pecuniary penalty or by undergoing some punishment lesse then death God hath taken vengeance upon them for it and hath sayd to them in his providences as he sayd to Ahab by his Prophet for the sparing of Benhadad 1 Kings 20.42 Because ye have let goe out of your hand a man whom I had appointed to utter destruction therefore your life shall goe for his life and your people shall be cut off by the sword because your sword did not cut off the murderer Si magistratus cessent ab officio deus ipse injustas caedes fame peste bellis externis aut intestinis ulciscitur Merl. Whole nations have been filled with blood by this kinde of keeping backe the hand from blood Lastly The murtherer hurts others but he chiefely hurts himselfe Some expound Lamech confessing this with sorrow Gen. 4.23 while he said unto his wives Hearken unto my speech for I have slaine a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt There are divers other Interpretations and readings of those words and we put in the Margin I would slay a man in my wound and a young man in my hurt As if he had boasted of his strength to his wives that though he were weake with wounds and hurts yet he would venture to fight with any man and doubted not to get victory over him kill him and so the words carry a sence like that speech of the Prophet Jer. 37.10 telling the Jewes that theirs were vaine confidences while they hoped to be delivered from the Caldeans who besieged them for saith he Though there remained but wounded men among them yet they should rise up every man in his tent and burne this City with fire But as to our reading I have slaine a man to my wounding Some expound it onely of a bodily wounding I have got a wound my selfe or I have hurt my selfe while I slew a man much more is this true of a spirituall wounding and hurt to the soule and Conscience for though a murtherer slay a man and come off with a whole skin yet he slayeth a man to his wounding and killeth him to his hurt The Rabbins have a tradition upon that place that Lamech having been a great hunter in his younger dayes being then growne old was led forth by his young man to take his pleasure in hunting and shooting at Deere and that while he was in this disport or exercise in the feild Cain passed by and the young man poynted him to Cain Lamech being dim-sighted shot at Cain and killed him in stead of a wild beast but soone after discovering that he had killed Cain turned to the young man his guide in a passionate anger and killed him also This relation they give as the reason why Lamech sayd I have slaine a man to my wounding and a young man to my hurt but I shall not stay upon that tradition of the Jewes and shall onely make so much use of Lamechs confession as at least to illustrate if not to prove the poynt in hand that he who slayeth a man doth it to his owne hurt and wounding often to the wounding of his body estate and honour alwayes to the wounding of his owne soule and conscience Every sin in some degree or other wounds the soule But the wounding of others to death is the chiefe sin of all sins against the body and outward concernments of man which woundeth a mans soule The murtherer at one blow strikes through the body of his neighbour and his owne soule Further we might observe from those words in the text riseing with the light That murderers and indeed any sort of wicked doers are diligent and laborious to doe the commands of their vilest lusts But I noted this at the 5th verse upon those words Rising betimes for a prey I shall not stay upon it here I onely adde this Let not us be sloathfull in doing good seeing the murderer is so diligent and early up for the doing of mischiefe And in the night is as a Thiefe These words may be taken two wayes For First The Particle as is by some conceived not to be a note of similitude but to carry on a direct predication He is as a thiefe that is Particula quasi non dicit similitudinem sed proprietatem He is a very thiefe We finde elsewhere in Scripture that a particle of likenes doth not onely note the likenes of one thing to another but the samenes of one thing with another Taking it thus here The meaning of the words is as if Job had said He riseth betimes in the morning to play the murtherer and in the night hee playe's the thiefe I have noted the same sence of the particle heretofore first from those words of the Evangelist concerning Christ Joh. 1.14 Wee saw his glory as the glory of the onely begotten Son of God for Christ was not onely like the onely begotten Son of God but he was really so as also from that of the Prophet Hosea 5.10 The Princes of Judah were as or like them that remove the bound that is they did remove the bound Secondly Others keepe to the similitude and say the meaning of Job is not that the murtherer doth turne theife or that he proceeds from killing in the day to stealing in the night Facere aliquid tanquam fur est proverbialis locutio quae importat secretam diligentemque abscensionem But say they this verse is quite through a description of the murtherer
And who can but feare to be under that power which hath no limits but a corrupt will But who would feare to be under the power of God acted by his will seing he willeth nothing but what is righteous just and good What can we expect but right from him who is righteousnesse what but good from him in a good cause who is goodnes it selfe how great or how unlimited soever his power is If some men might doe what they would what evill would they not doe There 's nothing stands between some men and the wronging of all men they have to doe with but the want eyther of power or of opportunity to doe it The Lord can doe what he will but he will doe nothing but what is good He is able to ruine all men but he will wrong no man no not the worst of men What his soule desireth even that he doth but it is impossible his soule should desire to any thing but what is right Lastly When it is sayd Whatsoever his soule desireth even that he doth or more close to the Originall He desireth He doth We learne That It is as easie with God to doe a thing as to desire to have it done All men would doe what their soules desire but most men desire that which they cannot doe yea though men have a desire to doe a thing and a power to doe it also yet it is not so soone done as desired there must be a preparation and the use of meanes before man can doe what he hath a power to doe so that though a man hath power proportionable to his desire yet he is not presently a partaker of his desire But God can make his power as speedy as his desire He can make the declaration of his will and the execution of it contiguous For though many things lie long in the will of God before they are done and what he willed from eternity is don in time and the time of doing it be yet a great way off yet he can doe any thing as soone as will it and whatsoever he willeth or desireth is to him as done already Psal 104.30 Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are created The creation there spoken of is providence for that is a continued creation The first creation was the production of all things out of nothing to that being which they had but there is another work of creation which is the continuing or renewing of things in their being and of this he sayth Thou sendest forth thy Spirit that is thy power they are created And thou renewest the face of the earth Thou makest a new world And thus God makes a new world every yeare sending forth his Spirit or quickning power in the raine and Sun to renew the face of the earth And as the Lord sends forth his power in providenciall mercies so in providenciall Judgements He looketh on the earth and it trembleth He toucheth the hils and they smoake ver 32. A man can soone give a cast with his eye so soone can God shake the earth that is eyther the whole masse of the earth or the inferior sort of men on the earth When he looketh or casts an angry eye upon the earth it trembleth He toucheth the hils that is the powers and principalities of the world and they smoake If he doe but touch them they smoake that is the dreadfull effects of the power and Jugement of God are visible upon them As soone as the Lord calls all creatures readily tender their service Psal 105.31 34. He spake and there came divers sorts of flies and lice in all their coasts ver 34. He spake and the Locusts came and caterpillers and that without number If the Lord speake the word it is done God spake the world into this beautie he did but say Let there be light and there was light And he can speake the world into trouble and confusion He doth but say Let there be darknes and there is darknes It was an high speech of Caesar who meeting with some opposition from that yong noble Roman Metellus sayd Let me alone lest I destroy thee And presently added It is easier for me to doe this then to speake it Such was his power that he could easier take away a mans life then give sentence of death against him This is most true concerning the great God of heaven and earth there is no more difficultie in his doing of a thing then in his desiring and willing it to be done The generall truth of this verse carryeth in it a twofold inference First Of terrour to the wicked God is in one minde the same opinion which he had of their wayes and persons heretofore the same he hath still The same curses and Judgements which he hath denounced against them formerly are in force still Is it not a terrible thing to incorrigible wicked men to remember that what the soule of God desireth he doth when his soule desireth nothing but vengeance and wrath for them Therefore tremble before the Lord ye wicked and be ye sore affraid at the remembrance of his unchangeablenes Secondly Of abundant comfort to the faithfull and righteous The mind of God is mercy to them and he is in this one minde towards them none can turne him His soule desireth to doe them good And whatsoever his soule desireth that he doth What can Saints desire more then that God should doe all that for them which he desireth and all that he will assuredly doe Therefore rejoyce in the Lord ye righteous and give thankes at the remembrance of his unchangeablenes JOB CHAP. 23. Vers 14 15 16 17. For he performeth the thing that is appoynted for mee and many such things are with him Therefore I am troubled at his presence when I consider I am afraid of him For God maketh my heart soft and the Almighty troubleth mee Because I was not cut off before the darknesse neither hath he covered the darknesse from my face IN the former verse Job exalteth God first in his unchangeablenes He is in one minde who can turne him Secondly in his Almightines What his soule desireth even that he doth In the 14th ver he speaks of God in reference to his personal experience and brings downe the generall proposition to his owne particular case As if he had sayd I indeed have found that what his soule desireth even that he doth mine owne sad experience proves and beares witnes to this truth my present state makes the Comment of this text for he performeth the thing that is appoynted for mee Vers 14. Hee performeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in primaria significatione denotat implere finire deinde in pace esse etiam solvere compensare Pined The word hath various translations but all are well summ'd up in this Hee performeth First It signifies to pay payment is performance therefore the same word is used both for performing and paying Secondly The word signifies to be at peace
in any new sufferings O saith he God hath made my heart soft that is I begin to faint I finde my selfe drooping I have not that strength of spirit and though I am not a coward yet I have not that courage that hardnes or hardines of spirit which I have had heretofore He queried indeed Ch. 6.12 Is my strength the strength of stones or is my flesh brass He had much strength but not the strength of stones nor was he hard as brass Now he saith plainly my heart is made soft it melteth like wax at the fire I am so litle like brass or stones in strength or hardnes that I am altogether like wax or water I am so far from having a minde to strive with or rise up against God that I know not how to stand before him if he which he seems to intend should still goe on to afflict me I am growne weake and unable to beare yet my burden remaines and will probably be made yet more heavie This interpretation carrieth a distinct sence in it and that which is most genuine to the scope of the place Mr Broughtons translation of the latter clause of the verse suites this exposition of the former with much clearenes For the Omnipotent hath softned my heart and the Almighty hath made me shrinke Whereas wee say the Almighty troubleth me he saith The Almighty hath made me shrinke For so a man commonly doth who eyther feares or feeles that which he is not well able to beare Hence Note The heart of a Godly man even of the most Godly may be so weakened under long continued sufferings that he may finde himselfe utterly unable to beare them any longer Wicked men labour to strengthen and harden themselves all they can to beare in opposition to God and Saints would strengthen and harden themselves all they can to beare in submission to God Pharaoh hardened his heart to oppose God striking him hee had stroake after stroake and Judgement after Judgement yet he would not yeeld but at last God made his heart soft in one sense though hee hardened it in another God appeared at last too hard for Pharaoh hee could hold out no longer And we finde the Lord speaking thus by Ezekiel to his people who it seemes by the language which God useth concerning them had as it were set themselves with unholy resolutions to stand or rather stout it out with God and beare the worst that hee could doe unto them But saith the Lord Ezek. 22.14 can thine heart endure or can thine hands be strong in the day that I shall deale with thee When I deale with thee in wayes of Judgement when I take thee in hand to punish and repay thee according to thy workes can thine heart endure no! it cannot endure it shall not be able to endure The Lord doth not meane it of an endureing with submission and patience So it is the honour of Saints to endure what ever God layes upon them but to endure with stoutnes and resistance art thou able to stand it out or can thine hand be strong no thy heart and hand will be soft and weake thou wilt not be able to beare it when I come to deale with thee It is sayd of Christ by David his type Psal 22.13 when hee was under those terrible sufferings for our sins that his heart was made soft and if it were so with the greene tree what must it be with the dry I am powred out like water and all my bones are out of joynt my heart is like wax it is melted in the midst of my bowells Thus the sufferings of Christ our head who was also the Captain of our salvation and the mighty God made his heart soft and melted him His heart was not melted with sorrow for his owne sin for he was without sin but the sorrow that was upon him for our sins melted his heart Whose heart will not melt grow soft that is unable to beare it when God layeth his hand heavy and long upon him Therefore we râ—ad in the Prophet how the Lord takes notice of this and condescends to the weaknes of man Isa 57.16 I will not contend for ever neither will I be alwayes wroth I will not goe onne to doe as I have done Why What 's the reason of it not but that God is able to continue his Contending and to carry on his warre whether with persons or with Nations for ever but he hath respect to the poore Creature for saith he I will not doe it lest the spirit should faile before mee and the soules which I have made How can soules faile the soule is an immortall substance and shall not faile for ever The soules of the damned shall be under everlasting Contendings and never faile they shall beare wrath for ever and not faile yea their bodyes shall not faile but through the power of God sustaining them under his Justice shall endure everlasting torments The meaning of that expression in the Prophet is the same with this in the Text Their heart will be made soft as yet they have strength faith and courage to beare these afflictions but if I continue them longer their spirit and strength their faith and patience will faile and be so worne out that they will not be able to abide it God would not Contend for ever lest as Job here complaines he should make their hearts soft And the Almighty troubleth mee That is his presence or his dispensations trouble me Deus in cujus potentia sufficientiaque divitiarum solatium meum esse debebat is me privavit omni solatio animam meam plane dejecit deserit me terret me Sanct wee see how much the spirit of Job was carryed out in the thing And he useth a word here that signifieth the power of God to comfort and refresh or God in his allsufficiency to comfort yet saith he this Almighty troubleth mee that is the thoughts or remembrance of him troubleth me He hath cast downe and grieved my soule already and I am much troubled with fearefull apprehensions of like severities from him againe These words the reader will easily perceive to be of the same minde and meaning with the 15th verse of this Chapter lately opened and therefore I shall not stay upon them but proceed to the last verse Vers 17. Because I was not cut off before the darknes neither hath he Covered the darknes from my face Here Job gives another reason of his being thus troubled at the presence of the Almighty It is saith he because I was not cut off before the darknes or because I dyed not by thick darknes so Mr Broughton we say because I was not cut off hee because I dyed not both meete in the same meaning For death is a cutting off and death will cut off or mow downe the strong yea the strongest as the sith doth eyther corne or grasse Thus spake Hezekiah in his sicknes Isa 38.10 I sayd in the
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
hereafter what ever portion of worldly profit or pleasure they have had here hell shall consume them and they shall be consuming for ever The 20th verse may carry the sence of this interpretation but it complyeth more clearely with the former describing the calamitous condition of a wicked man at his departure out of this world Vers 20. The womb shall forget him the worme shall feed sweetly on him he shall be no more remembred and wickednesse shall be broken as a tree The number varyes here againe Job spake in the plural number immediately before yet here keeping to the same subject he speakes in the singular The womb shall forget him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a verbo quod intensissiâ—rè tenerrimè amare signisicat That is They who loved him most tenderly and dearely shall forget him The word which we render the womb is of a verbe which signifyes to love with greatest intensenesse and tendernes it is applyed to the love of man to God Psal 18.1 I love the Lord I love the Lord dearely with bowells of affection and it is often applyed to the love of God unto man Some translate it here by the Abstract Vim majorem haber per abstractum Obliviscetur ejus miseratio sive amor sive dilectio i. e. illi qui eum suaviter amabunt Bold Love mercie or pittie shall forget him Which may be taken two wayes First that those friends who before were pittifull to him should forget him his lovers and acquaintance who were deare to him even as his bowels they shall forget him or secondly mercy shall forget him that is the mercy of God or the God of mercy shall forget him God who is alltogether mercy shall forget him hell shall consume him and mercy or the mercifull God shall forget him for ever The vulgar reads it by way of imprecation let mercy forget him others as a direct denunciation mercy shall forget him But I rather apprehend that this phrase or manner of speaking The wombe shall forget him doth onely import thus much That when the wicked man dyeth he shall be as much forgotten among men as if such a man had never come out of his mothers wombe nor been born into the world But are not wicked men remembred to have been in the world when once they goe out of the world usually they doe such things in the world as cannot easily be forgotten And are not many wicked men who dyed some thousands of yeares agoe remembred unto this day as if they had dyed but yesterday I answer As to forget alwayes implyeth former knowledge and acquaintance so sometimes it implyeth onely present neglect When we passe by or slight a man then we are sayd to forget him though we not onely remember who he is but see him before our eyes Much more then may we be sayd to forget those men being dead whom we slighted while they lived and never speake of but with contempt and abhorrence both of their persons and actions since they dyed The wombe shall forget him Yet as the former verse is expounded by some as was there touched to shew how quiet and easie a passage wicked men usually have out of this world by death so this clause also of the verse in hand yea the whole verse is expounded to the same sence I will onely hint it and passe onne The wombe shall forget him That is his mother shall not be troubled or grieved at his death because he dyed without griefe or trouble The wormes shall feede sweetly on him That is The grave shall be no seveerer to him then to others Ita suavitèr obdormit ut in sepulchro ei vermis duscescere videatur Drus There the wormes feed upon all men and they shall feed sweetly on him or it shall be a kinde of sweetnes and pleasure to him to have the wormes feeding on him which is no more then what Job sayd upon the same argument Chap. 21.33 The clods of the valley shall be sweete to him He shall be no more remembred That is there shall no hard fate or evill accident befall him when he dyes to administer matter of discourse concerning him for when a man is cut off by some remarkeable stroake of Judgement eyther from the hand of God or man his death becomes the discourse and Table-talke of all sorts of men for that generation at least if not for many more What hath caused Korah Dathan and Abiram to be remembred to this day was it not the strangenes of their death Numb 14.29 30. And Moses sayd If these men dye the common death of all men or if they be visited after the visitation of all men then the Lord hath not sent me but if the Lord make a new thing and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up c. This dreadfull hand of God upon them in swallowing them up alive hath made them to be remembred more then many thousands of honest and good men in Israel who dyed in their beds Upon this account Ananias Saphira are remembred and so is That Herod Act. 12.23 Who was eaten of wormes gave up the Ghost because he gave not glory unto God But saith Job according to this exposition the wicked mans death is commonly so fayre and so much after the common death of all men that no man reremembers him any more And wickednesse shall be broken as a tree That is the wicked man shall dye like an old rotten tree he shall moulder away and decay by peice-meale or gradually as a tree doth which is never hewen downe but is suffered to wast and dye alone Thus the interpretation is carried through the whole verse as a proofe that bad men may in this kinde have a good death But though this be a truth and suites well with Jobs scope in some passages of this Chapter as also in other passages of this booke that wicked men dye as to outward appearance as fairely and sweetly as the godly so that as no man knoweth love or hatred by all that is before him but all things in this life come alike to all There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked Eccl 9.1 2. So all things come alike to all in death so farre as it meerely concernes the separation of soule and body yet I rather conceive that this verse declares wrath and judgement to wicked men dying or their misery and wretchednes in death And therefore first the wombe that is his neerest relations and friends even his mother and wife shall forget him They expected no good from him while he lived and so it was little sorrow to them when he dyed Some men live till their friends are weary of them Mater quia a vivo nihil expectabat solain neq pro mortuo amplius angitur every one thinks the world is well rid of them when they dye Secondly The worme shall feed sweetly on him that is as he fed sweetly
as indeed though not in thy sence it is so what hast thou done how hast thou helped him that is without power how savest thou the arme that hath no strength how hast thou performed the part of a friend eyther in comforting me or in counselling me so the words are a close Ironicall rebuke of what Bildad sayd in the former Chapter Thou camest to strengthen and helpe me consider how well thou hast made good thy owne intendment how hast thou helped him that is without power thou hast spoken words fitter to weaken then to strengthen to cast downe then to raise up and so hast quite mistaken the matter Thou shouldest not have amplyfyed the power and majesty of God before a man in my condition Thou shouldest rather have opened the doctrine of free-grace and of the fatherly affection of God to his poore servants and children while they are under his sharpest corrections Thy words should have been like oyle like milke and honey but thou hast spoken very hard words if not gall and wormewood to my wearied soule Though what thou hast spoken be in it selfe true yet it is to me improper and unsuitable out of time and unseasonable and therefore weigh with thy selfe How hast thou helped him that is without power We may paralel this context with that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.8.10 where with much holy derision he rebukes the over-weening and high opinion which the Corinthians had of their present attainements and perfections in spiritualls Now ye are full now ye are rich ye have reigned like Kings without us and I would to God that ye did reigne that we might reigne with you As if he had sayd I could wish with all my heart it were as well with you as you thinke it is that we also might have a part with you in those gloryes of the Gospel But I feare ye are onely puft up with notions and that your portion is but smal in true solid spirituall knowledge I feare ye have little except in conceit and there ye have a great deale too much and upon the same account he puts it upon them againe at the 10th verse We are fools for Christs sake but ye are wise in Christ we are weake but ye are strong ye are honourable but we are despised Thus Job here ye looke upon me as a weake man as a man of no power but you are wise and learned see how you have played your part and discharged your duty you thinke you have a wonderfull faculty in helping the weake in saving those who are ready to perish in teaching the unlearned in counselling the unwise whereas I am neyther so weake nor ignorant nor destitute of counsel as you thinke I am and if I were your oration is wide of the marke or reacheth not my case and therefore can doe me no good How hast thou helped him that hath no power And which is the same in other words How savest thou the arme that hath no strength The arme is an eminent member of the body and in Scripture it often signifies strength because the arme holdeth out and acteth the strength of the whole body How hast thou saved the arme that hath no strength that is the man that hath no strength There is a threefold strength first naturall which is twofold first of the mind or inward parts secondly of the body or outward parts secondly there is a civill strength which is the command or Authority which a man hath over others thirdly there is a spirituall strength which is the command which a man hath over himselfe both in doing good and in avoyding evill or both for the due enjoyment of good and induring of evill When Job saith How savest thou the arme that hath no strength we may expound it both of the first and third sort of strength For Job had indeed lost the strength of his body and his friends thought he had lost the strength both of his parts and graces Which is more cleare in the next interrogation Vers 3. How hast thâ—s counselled him that hath no wisdome To give counsel is the worke of the wise and they who are unwise have most need of counsel though they seldome thinke so And it may be a very disputable question who is the wiser man he that gives good counsel or he that readily receives it makes good use of it Good counsel directs how to judge of things how to speake and how to act In the multitude of Counselers there is safety saith Solomon and they must needs be unsafe who eyther have none to give them counsel or refuse wholesome counsel when 't is given Counsell is to a man without wisdome as bread is to a man that is hungry or as cloaths to a man that is naked Master Broughton translates What doest thou counsel without wisdome Right counsel is the very spirits of wisedome but thy counsel is flat and hath no spirits in it Thus his translation referrs the want of wisdom to the counsel which Bildad gave Job but ours refers it to Job to whom Bildad undertook to give counsel How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom As if he had sayd Thou O Bildad lookest upon me as a man without wisdome If I am so I doe not perceive that thy counsel is like to make me much wiser Thy counsel will even leave me where it found me and 't is wel if it doe not put me backward What strange kinde of counsel is thine How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdome From all these cutting questions put together Observe First They who are weake and without wisdome should be holpen and tenderly dealt with by grave and gratious counsel The words of the wise conveigh strength to the weake comfort to the sorrowfull and counsel to those who know not what to doe See the tendernesse of Christ to the weake Math 12.18 19. Behold my servant whom I have chosen and my beloved in whom my soule is well pleased I will put my spirit upon him and he shall shew judgement unto the Gentiles He meaneth not judgement as judgement is opposed to mercy Jesus Christ did not come in that sense to shew judgement to the Gentiles he did not come to bring wrath upon them but he came to shew mercy to the Gentiles to those who were sinners of the Gentiles who sat in darknesse and in the shaddow of death he shewed mercifull judgement he shewed them the knowledge of God he reformed and purged them from their sins and sinfull Idolatryes he brought them into a holy state and order under Gospel Government this is the judgement which Christ brought to the Gentiles this judgement is a mercy he shall bring Judgement to the Gentiles How shall he doe it he shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man heare his voyce in the streets that is he shall not deale boysterously and contentiously he shall not be vexatious and rigorous he shall not act as a