Secondly Consider the wicked proud man as one whom God treadeth down Then Observe God punisheth sinners with that which is most crosse to their lusts What more crosse to a high-spirited man than to be brought low and who can be brought lower than he that is trodden down As God sometimes punisheth Drunkards with thirst and Gluttons with hunger and covetous persons with poverty There is one saith Solomon Prov. 11.29 that with-holdeth more than is meet he doubtless is a covetous man that doth so it tendeth to poverty So God punisheth proud ones by that which is most contrary to their nature he abaseth and layeth them low The Prophet tells us Isa 3.16 17. how the Lord would punish wanton women who were proud either of their natural beauty or artificial dresses and ornaments The daughters of Zion saith he are haughty and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes walking and mincing as they go and making a tinckling with their feet there 's their pride but what was their punishment the next words resolve us Therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion and the Lord will discover their secret parts they were proud of that which covered their skin and therefore the Lord punisht them with scabs or covered their skin with scurfe and scabs and as there the Lord shews what he would bring upon so what he would take from them Vers 18. In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinckling ornaments about their feet and their Caules and their round tyres like the Moon And Vers 24. it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell there shall be stink and instead of a girdle a rent and instead of well set hair baldness and instead of a stomacher a girding of sackcloth and burning instead of beauty What could be more contrary to the pride of these women than that which the Lord brought upon them or punished them with What do proud women more desire than beauty and bravery And what do proud men look after but to be respected honoured and to have every one point the finger at them or bow the knee to them Now when the Lord blasts proud women in their beauty and bravery when he blasts proud men in their honour and estimation when he thus abaseth and treads them down he toucheth them in that which the spirit of pride prizeth most and with greatest regret parteth from Pride is a base height of spirit therefore the Lord abaseth the proud There are five words in the Text all tending directly to crosse the spirit of a proud man First He shall be abased Secondly He shall be brought low A proud man would fain be high he would sit at the upper end of the Table yea he would sit at the upper end of the World too but saith the Lord he shall be brought low Thirdly What would a proud man do He would tread upon the necks of all others but he shall be trodden under foot Fourthly Where would the proud man be He would be conspicuous in high places but he shall be hid in the dust Fifthly He would be lookt at by all men with admiration but saith God his face shall be bound in secret he loves to appear and make a fair shew in the flesh but he shall not appear at all .. Proud ones cannot get so high but God in his Justice will get above them and strip them of that wherein they have chiefly prided themselves Read Isa 14.11 12 13 14 24 25. and Isa 23.9 Those Scriptures tell us how the Lord deals with proud men according to their pride or rather contrary to their pride he gives them that which they most disgust and takes that from them which they most passionately desire Secondly Take wicked men in the common notion for those that do evil at the highest rate that draw iniquity with cords of vanity and sin as it were with cart-ropes Then Observe First Wicked men that is impenitent sinners high-handed sinners are in a very sad condition and shall come to a sad conclusion The Lord will tread them down Psal 9.16 17. The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands yea the wicked shall be turned into hell That is the utmost of sorrow and suffering shall be their portion Isa 3.11 Wo to the wicked for the reward of their doings shall be given them Isa 57.21 There is no peace saith my God to the wicked As the tumultuousness of their own spirits will not let them be at peace so neither will the righteousnesse of God Secondly From those expressions Tread down the wicked in their place hide them in the dust together bind their faces in secret Observe God will at last purge and rid the world of wicked men As wicked men would fain purge and rid the world of godly men they would destroy all the seed of the righteous so certainly God will destroy the wicked of the world and rid the world of them though not at once of every wicked man yet in their times and seasons that they shall not do the mischief which their hearts are full of The last of the Prophets speaks as much of the Lords vengeance upon all the wicked Mal. 4.1 The day of the Lord. speaking of some great day of the Lords appearance shall burn as an oven and all the proud yea and all that do wickedly shall be stubble and the day that cometh shall burn them up saith the Lord of Hosts that it shall leave them neither root nor branch 'T is utter ruin to be destroyed root and branch such shall the ruin of the wicked be Thus also the Prophet Isaiah comforts the Church Chap. 52.1 Awake awake put on thy strength O Zion put on thy beautiful garments O Jerusalem the holy City for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean The wicked of the world are the uncircumcised they have not the spiritual circumcision the circumcision of the heart these shall no more trouble Jerusalem nor tread in Zions Courts Nahum 1.15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings that publisheth peace O Judah keep thy solemn feasts perform thy Vows for the wicked shall no more passe through thee he is utterly cut off The Hebrew is Belial shall no more passe through thee That is such as cast off the yoke of Jesus Christ shall no more bring Judah under their yoke This is also witnessed by another holy Prophet Zech. 14.21 In that day there shall be no more the Cananite in the house of the Lord of hosts they shall no more mingle themselves with the faithful servants of God much less rule over them Canaanites have often been in the house of the Lord but the Canaanite shall not always be there God will sweep them out of his house Answerable to these prophesies speaks the last prophesie Rev. 21.27 Chap. 22.15 which
shewing us three things First The Sea hath in it a representation of God himself in his divine perfections Secondly Of the World in its various motions Thirdly Of the heart of man in its vilest corruptions The Sea carrieth in it First A representation of God himself which may be taken in four things First In the hiddenness and unsearchableness of his wisdom Psal 36.6 Thy judgements are a great deep or a sea Rom. 11.33 O the depth of the wisdom and counsel of God! how unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out None can fathom this Sea there is not line enough in the understanding of Men and Angels to reach the bottom of God he is a sea without banks or bottom Secondly The Lord is as the sea in his goodness sending out so many sweet streams and feeding all the springs of the earth Psal 65.9 10. Thou visitest the earth and waterest it thou greatly inrichest it with the river of God which is full of water thou preparest them corn when thou hast so provided for it thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly c. Thirdly As all the rivers come from the sea and return to it so all good flows out and springs from God and all the glory of his goodness should return or be returned to him in praises and thanksgivings Fourthly The sea is such a vast body that though it sends forth water to feed the earth every where and though all the rivers flow back into the sea yet the sea is not at all abated by the water that it sends forth nor increased by all the water that returns to it So how much soever God gives out to the creature he gives out all yet he is no more emptied by it than the sea and whatsoever returns the creature makes to him they no more increase nor add to him than the sea is increased by the rivers falling into it there is no sensible appearance of the heightening of the waters of the sea by the greatest and vastest rivers that disburden themselves into it Secondly As the sea is an Emblem of the Living God in whom we live so of the world wherein we live First The sea is a very unquiet part of the world What storms what tempests are there upon the sea what rage and fury in the waves of it such an unquiet thing is this world hurrying up and down and inraged often by storms and tempests arising from the lusts and passions of men even to the swallowing up of all Secondly The sea is very unconstant it is now ebbing and anon flowing It is so with this world and all things in it our comforts are sometimes flowing and sometimes ebbing our peace comes and anon it goes we have some good dayes and more evil the dayes of darkness are many and the best meet with many of them in this world the world is full of changes the fashion of it passeth away Thirdly The sea water is a salt water an unpleasant water and such is the world though many drink greedily of it and would even draw it up as the Scripture speaks of Behemoth drawing up Jordan They who drink in worldly things as if they could drink up the whole world yet drink but salt and unpleasant water Aâ—gustine One of the Ancients notes it as a great mercy to man that God doth thus imbitter the world to us making it brackish and distastful And indeed God hath on purpose tempered the things of this world that they should not be too sweet and luscious for us or lest we should distemper our selves by them or surfeit upon them Thirdly The Sea is an Emblem of the heart of man especially of a wicked mans heart Man is a little world and the heart of man hath a sea of worldly vanities in it Isaiah 57.20 The wicked are like the troubled sea and the heart of a wicked man is the most troubled and troublesome part in him The heart unchanged is like the sea First For turbulency or troublesomness what is more unquiet than the heart of man no such natural storms upon the sea no such civil storms either at sea or land as there are carnal storms in the heart of man what a stir what broils doth the heart of man make many times Secondly The heart of man is like the sea as it is salt brackish and bitter through the hastiness and rashness of our spirits The Prophet Habakkuk calls the Chaldeans a bitter and hasty Nation chap. 1.6 Hasty persons are bitter persons perverseness peevishness and passions lodge in them Thirdly The heart of man hath waves in it full of pride like the sea what sea hath such proud waves as the heart of man hath O how do many even deifie themselves think and speak of themselves as if they were more than man It is said of the King of Tirus Ezekiel 28.2 that he set his heart as the heart of God how was that not that his heart was fashioned like the heart of God but he was lifted up in a self-sufficiency as if he like God needed no helper and as he thought he â—ad no need of help from any so he had no fear of hurt from any How often do such proud waves appear upon the sea of mans heart and who is there among the sons of men but finds these proud waves of his heart lifting him up beyond his sphere and condition And who but God can shut up this sea with doors when its sinfulness breaks forth as if it had issued out of the womb But leaving these metaphorical seas Acr marâ— impendet Graeci optime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multae enim nebulae solent oriri super mare Grot. Cum mare aliis aquis tanquam vestitu fasciis circumtegerem Jun. Quis illa densa vaporum caligine tanquam fasciis illud involvit Bez. Nubes passim a poetis dicuntur atrae nigrae spiceae imò interdum tenebrae nox Sanct. Nomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ortumesta verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod significatin volvere fasciis seu linteolis quemadmodum solent involvi recens noti infantes Ezek. 16.4 Pisc I return to consider what the Lord said further concerning the Sea Natural Vers 9. When I made the cloud the garment thereof and thick darkness a swadling band for it As soon as the child is born and come into the world the Mother or Midwise provides sutable garments for it and a swadling band Thus the Lord continues the metaphor of child-birth I saith the Lord provided a garment and a swadling band for the new-born sea And as the Text tells us that the Lord made the sea a garment and a swadling band so it tells us what they were What was the garment made for the sea The Cloud When the Lord had separated the sea from the earth he made the clouds to cover it as garments do a child that comes naked into the world and the cloud is a fit
lingers nor slumbers as to the Lords time though it may seem to have done both in theirs The wicked how long soever they escape judgement are not preserved from it but onely reserved to it as followeth in the fourth and ninth verse of that Chapter As the fallen angels are reserved in everlasting chains of darkness that is in chains that will hold them fast enough for ever unto the Judgement of the Great Day or to the Great Day of Judgement Which intimates two things concerning the fallen Angels First That their torments are not yet at the greatest nor their sufferings at the highest Secondly That their punishment is unavoidable for they can never break nor file off those chains As I say the fallen Angels are said to be reserved to judgement in chains of darkness at the sixth verse of the Epistle of Jude so at the 13th verse of the same Epistle it is said that to seducers and false teachers who cause many to fall The blackness of dareness is reserved for ever they have it not but 't is reserved for them Their present impunity is no assurance of their future indemnity From the latter part of the verse where the time of trouble is called The day of battel and war Observe First Obstinate and impenitent sinners make war in a manner with God himself Though they send not a Herald formally to defie him yet a resolved progress in sin let God say what he will and do what he will is a real defiance of him or a bidding him do his worst Gigantes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicti It was said of the old Giants men of great stature They were fighters against the Gods We may say men of all statures even dwarfs and pigmies for bodily stature raise war against the great God by presumptuous sinning Did not men make a war upon God by doing evil God would never make war upon them by sending evil Men are vain when they fall into sin but they are worse than vanity when they stand out in sinning Who saith the Lord Isa 27.4 would set briars and thorns against me in battel none but a mad-man will I would go thorow or as the Margin hath it march against them I would burn them together Can briars and thorns abide contending with God who is a consuming fire If God send forth an army of his meanest and most contemptible souldiers flies from the air lice from the earth even a mighty Pharaoh must call for a treaty and beg a parly If he command snow and hail much more lightning and thunder out of the clouds to fight against his enemies how soon are they overwhelmed and confounded 'T is best therefore never to begin this war and the next best is speedily to sue for peace Secondly Observe A day of battel and war is eminently a time of trouble There may be trouble where there is no war but where war is there cannot but be trouble War or the sword is not onely one of those four sore judgements but the first of the four with which God threatned Jerusalem to the cutting off or utter destruction of man and beast Ezek. 14.8 Every battel of the warrier is with câ—nfused noise and garments rolled in bloud Isa 9.5 Confused noises are the musick of a battel and bloody garments the bravery of it then prize peace pray for peace That as the Apostle directs 2 Thess 3.16 The Lord of Peace himself would give us peace alwayes by all means For though that may be doubted and queried which some have fully asserted That the most unequal peace is to be preferred before the justest war yet the justest war may bring though peace and honour at last yet in the mean time innumerable troubles and evils with it Thirdly Note God can make any creature hurtful and afflictive to us Snow is of great use and serves much to advance the fruttfulness of the earth and is joyned with rain in that effect Isa 55.10 As the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud c. by the concurrent blessing of God So c. Snow as well as rain is a blessing to the earth not an affliction yea snow is used by some as a delicacy to cool their drink in hot Countries and seasons which use of it was first found out by that monster of men Nero saith Pliny who thus declaims and pâ—otests against his intemperance Heu prodigia ventris â—li nivem illi glaciem potant paenasque montium in voluptatem gulae vertunt Plin. l. 19. c. 4. l. 31. c. 3. O the prodigies of luxury some drink snow others ice and so turn the punishments of the mountains so he calls snow and ice as to present sense into their own pleasure or to serve their voluptuousness Now though the snow according to Gods appointment be profitable to the earth and is used by some men to serve their pleasures and please their sensual appetite yet God can make a scourge of it if he pleaseth and destroy both our profits and pleasures by it He can afflict us not onely with strong and stormy winds not onely with dreadful thunder and lightning but with snow which is soft as wool and hail-stones which usually children sport and play with He hath destroyed sinners not onely by lions and bears and such like ravenous beasts but with frogs and mice with lice and locusts as was toucht before There are two things which shew the mighty power of God in the Creature First That he can make the most devouring and destructive creatures harmless and hurtless to us Thus he stopt the fiery furnace from so much as cinging a hair or impressing the least smell of burning upon those three worthies Dan. 3.27 He also shut the mouths of those hungry Lions not onely from tearing and totally devouring but from touching Daniel to hurt him chap. 6.22 Secondly That he can make the most harmless and hurtless creatures to hurt us How powerful is God who can crush the strongest man on earth by the weakest of his creatures There was much of God in it that some of his people of old through faith out of weakness were made strong waxed valiant being 't is like before of a fearful spirit in fight turned to flight the armies of the aliens Heb. 11.33 34. And is there not much of God in it when any sort of creatures weak and inconsiderable in themselves are armed by him to conflict with and get the victory over his strongest and proudest enemies Fourthly Note God can make a time of trouble terrible He hath a reserve of snow and hail in his treasury against the time of trouble against the day of battel and war As God can make a day of trouble comfortable to his servants he can be a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place and as the
I may say fed and fattened from heaven All Vegetatives grass herbs plants flowers trees all Sensitives beasts of the earth fowls of the air yea and rational creatures too all men who breath in the air and walk upon the earth are refreshed and fed by the influences of heaven by the clouds and stars Further the Stars send down their influences not only upon living creatures in their three ranks but even upon inanimate creatures the minerals the stones that lye deep under the earth the precious gems with those of a courser grain receive much from the influences of the Stars So then all earthly bodies receive and derive their vigor and beauty from the heavenly the Sun and Moon have the greatest power and there is a very great power in the Stars and Constellations in the Pleiades Orion and Arcturus for the production of great effects Secondly In that 't is said Canst thou bind or stop the Influences of Pleiades Observe It is not in the power of man of any man to hinder or stay the virtue of the stars from falling down upon the earth What God will do by the creature no man can undo If God set those heavenly bodies at liberty and bids them send down their influences man cannot lock them up nor imprison their powers nor bind them from working And hence we may inferr First if none can bind the influences nor stay the comfortable virtue of the stars when God is pleased to let them out then much less can any bind or hinder the influences of the Spirit When God is pleased to send his Spirit to work upon the heart of man who can lett him There is a threefold influence or work of the spirit of God upon the soul of man First To enlighten or to give the light of the knowledge of his own glory in the face of Jesus Christ Who can hinder God when he purposeth thus to instruct and teach the ignorant and make them wise unto Salvation wiser than their teachers who can hinder it Secondly To convert to work faith and repentance together with love humility c. These graces are destilled and drop down from the Spirit of God upon the soul and who can hinder the Spirit from working them in the most hardened and unbelieving souls in the most vain proud and presumptuous soul the barren'st wilderness dryest heath such are persons unconverted are made fruitful by the influences of the Spirit Thirdly To refresh and comfort There are unspeakable influences of joy destilled from the spirit upon believers and when God will let them down from heaven who can lett them what can let them All the troubles and sorrows all the pains and tortures that men can invent or inflict upon a believer cannot bind these influences of the Spirit nor hinder joy in believing The greatest evils of this life can neither shut up nor shut out that comfort which the Spirit speaketh The most churlish winds that can blow from the coldest quarters of the world cannot chill much less kill or blast those fruits of the Spirit Love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness saith meekness temperance mentioned by the Apostle Gal. 5.22 23. The soul grows green like a Garden or Pasture in the Spring the soul bud's blossom's and brings forth these blessed fruits abundantly when fed with these dainties and delicacies of the Spirit Those great floods of trouble and persecution which the Serpent any where or at any time casts out of his mouth cannot prevail against the least drop of Consolation wrought in the heart by the Spirits influence Paul and Silas were bound in Prison but there their persecutors could not bind the sweet influences of the Spirit from comforting them nor daunt them by any terror from triumphing in Christ they could sing in Prison yea they sung at Midnight Secondly We may Inferr If God hath placed the Stars in heaven to drop down sweet influences upon us then at every sight of the Stars our hearts should be raised up in the admiring thoughts of the wisdom goodness and power of God We usually look upon the Stars as if they were only so many lights bespangling the Canopy of heaven and sparkling as so many fires in the firmament but we seldom consider their virtues their influences or the wonderful effects which they produce How few are there who behold the heavens with Davids eyes Psal 8.3 4. When I said he consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast made What is man that thou are mindful of him God is mindful of man not only to give him light by the Moon and Stars by the benefit whereof he sees other things but God gives many unseen benefits by the Moon and Stars The influences of the Stars are as beneficial to us Qui negat esse Deum spectet modo fidero câ—li Sidorâ— qui spectat non negat esse Deum and as great a treasure as their light We indeed have great cause as we are commanded Psal 136.7 8 9. to pay the tribute of thanks to God for setting up the Sun Moon and Stars in the heavens to give us light O give thanks to him that made great lights the Sun to rule by day the Moon and Stars to rule by night Yet we must not confine our thankfulness to God for them only as they give us light for they give us heat as well as light and wonder working influences as well as either Moses their civil Father blessing the twelve Tribes as Jacob their natural Father did before his departure out of the world thus bespake the blessing upon Joseph Deut. 33.13 14 15. Blessed of the Lord be his land for the precious things of heaven for the dew and also for the deep that coucheth beneath and for the precious fruits brought forth by the Sun and for the precious things put forth by the Moon and for the chief things of the ancient mountains and for the precious things of the lasting hills and for the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof c. Here we have two sorts of precious things First The precious things of heaven Secondly The precious things of the earth of the hills and mountains The former precious things are the cause the latter the effect The precious things of heaven are the influences of the Sun and Moon under which we are to comprehend the influences of the Stars these cause or produce the precious things of the earth that is Grass Hearbs with all sorts of Vegetables growing upon the surface of the earth they produce also the precious things of the ancient mountains and of the lasting hills that is gems or precious stones gold and silver together with all sorts of inferiour minerals Now if the Stars by their influences yield us all these precious things have we not much cause to admire both the power of God who hath implanted those vertues and opperations in them as also his
to hunt the prey for him yet the testimony of those ingenious Travellers or Navigators upon whose report of what they have seen or heard in those Countreys the worthy Author above-named makes this relation this testimony I say may be a probable ground for such an Exposition of the Text that the Lord had in his wise providence provided one to hunt the prey for the Lion Though I conceive the sense of the place to be moâ—e general namely that the Lord himself hath one way or other taken care that even the Lion shall have his prey and that neither Job then nor any one else needed take care in that matter How great an argument that might be both for Jobs conviction and consolation will appear afterwards Wilt thou hunt the prey For the Lion The word rendred Lion signifies a stout Lion Mr. Broughton renders the hardy Lion others the old Lion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Leoni vetulo qui viribus deficientibus non amplius potest venari sed à juvenibus capta praeda rugitu eum ad participationem praedae vocantibus alitur Aelian l. 9. Histor Animal c. 1. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the old Lion and there 's a double interpretation with respect to that translation That either here is meant a Lion come up to his full strength and so every way able to provide for himself or that by the old Lion is meant a Lion gâ—own so old and weak with old age that he can no longer provide for nor hunt the prey for himself and therefore the Lord saith Wilt thou hunt the prey for the old Lion that cannot hunt for himself dost thou provide for the Lion that cannot pâ—ovide for himself 'T is I who provide a prey for the old Lion that cannot hunt the prey for himself This is a good sense and I shall touch it in the Observation However 't is plain that by the Lion in the first part of the verse is meant an old Lion for he stands opposed to the young Lion in the latter part of the veâ—se Wilt thou hunt the prey for the Lion Naturalists speak many things of the nature of the Lion to whom I refer the Reader I shall have occasion to touch some of them while I mention what the Scâ—ipture saith of him The Lion bears a four-fold resemblance in Scripture First The Lion is the emblem of a King Judah whose tribe was the stock of Kings or the tribe Royal is called a Lions whelp Gen. 49.9 Thus spake Jacob Judah is a Lions whelp from the prey my Son thâ—s art gone up he stooped down he couched as a Lion and as an old Lion who shall rouse him up The Kings of the earth are compared to Lions First Because of their greatness and supe iotity What the Lion is among beasts Kings are among men their chiefs Secondly Because of their stoutness and courage Solomon saith of the Lion Prov. 30.30 He is strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any That is he is not afraid of any beast To be bold as a Lion is a sacred as well as a common proverbiâ—l noting greatest boldness Aristotle saith Nunquam in locis patentibus fugit aut metuit pedetentimque discedit Arist the Lion never flies oâ— makes any hasty retreat let the danger be what it will in open view but goes off keeping his own pace A modern Writer speaks thus The Lion in Africk is more fierce than in colder climate He shrinkâ— not in danger except some covert of Woods hâ—dâ—s him from witnesses and then he will take the benefit of a flight which otherwise he seems to disdain Such is the true spirit of Kings Leoni tantum ex feris clementia in supplices Plin. l. 8. c. 16. Satis est prostrasse Leoni Vigilans oculus sceptro impositus perpetuae vigiliae symbolum est they are much above ignoble fears Thirdly Lions resemble Kings because of their mildness and nobleness to them that submit Fourthly Because of the stateliness of their gate and majesty of their aâ—pect Fifthly Because of their vigilancy and watchfulness The Lion sleeps say Naâ—uralists with his eyes open he sleeps as if he were not asleep and as some observe he often moves his tail while he sleepeth as giving notice that he is not as we speak fast asleep And as the Lion is an emblem of earthly Kings so Secondly of the Lord Jesus Christ the King of heaven and earth the King of Kings To shew his supeâ—eminent excellency he is called a Lion Rev. 5.5 There was found none wâ—rthy to open the Book but the Lion of the tribe of Judah Now Jesus Christ is compared to a Lion upon all those accounts before named for which worthy and heroick Kings are so compared for First Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 19.16 He is highly exalted he hath a name given him above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth Phil. 2.9 10. And as Jesus Christ is like the Lion for his superiority so Secondly for his clemency true nobleness of spirit towards those who yield unto him 'T is enough indeed to humble our selves before this Lion How ready must Christ be to receive and embrace humbled sinners who humbled himself to death that he mâ—ght save sinners even while they were proud and rebelled against him Thirdly Jesus Christ is a Lion also in respect of his watchfulness over his Church This Lion that keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps Psal 121.4 and Fourthly for his invincible courage and strength always ready to be put forth for his Church The Prophet Isa 31.4 compares Christ to a Lion that will not be frighted Like as the Lion saith he and the young Lion roaring on his prey when a multitude of Shepherds is called out against him he will not be afraid of their voice nor abase himself for the noise of them so shall the Lord of Hosts himself come down to fight for mount Sion and for the hill thereof As if the Prophet had said God will protect Jerusalem against all her enemies the Assyrian forces are there specially intended no more regarding or fearing them than a fierce Lion in the prime of his strength will regard or fear a company of simple Shepherds that shall attempt to rescue his prey from between his teeth And because of this Lion-like power and courage of Christ so his Church another Prophet saith that tâ—e Church herself shall be as a Lion Mâ—c 5.8 And the remnant of Jacob that is the true Church shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people who are enemies and unbelievâ—ng as a Lion among the beasts of the forrest as a young Lion among the flocks of sheep or rather as the Margin haâ—h it Goats who if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces and none can deliver That is as our late
any one of them yea how humble should we be though adorned with them all Hence that Apostolical check to proud ones 1 Cor. 4.7 What hast thou that thou didst not receive and if thou hast received it why dost thou glory or boast as if thou hadst not received it In these words he more than implyeth two things First That they who have received those goodlier feathers of spiritual gifts and graces are in danger of being lifted up by them Secondly That they ought not The Angels who fell had goodly feathers and they were lifted up not only in pride with what they had received and were beholding to God for but in pride to have more or get higher and not be beholding to God for it There is a temptation in any good thing a great temptation in goodly things to pride and therefore we had need to pray when we have any thing that is goodly whether it be natural civil moral or spiritual to be kept humble and preserved from pride The Apostle Paul was in danger to be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations which he had when caught up to the third heaven 2 Cor. 12.3 7. The best men on earth may be over-heated by what they have received from heaven and the flesh may take occasion as by the commandement to work in us all manner of concupiscence Rom. 7.8 so by our raptures in spirit to puff us up with that special concupiscence called pride The Peacock here spoken of is so far transported with his fine feathers that he may be called the picture of pride We have a common saying in our language Such a one is as proud as a Peacock or he is a proud Peacock A Peacock and a proud person are alike in several things First As the Peacock is proud of his feathers so is he of his cloaths One of the Ancients reproving pride in cloathing said In habitu non calor sed color requiritur magisque vestium quam virtutum cultui insistitur Bern. in his time It is not so much the warmth of their cloathing but the curious dye or colour of the cloth which is regarded and most insist more upon the trimming of their vestures than upon the increase of their vertues Secondly A Peacock as he is proud of his feathers so he loves they should be seen or he loves to shew his fine feathers The Peacock spreads his plumes so doth a proud person Not only he that is proud of his apparel affects to be seen but he that is proud of his gifts knowledge learning eloquence how doth he spread these plumes and affect applause As the vain-glorious Pharisees thought nothing they did in Religion worth the doing unless they were seen in doing it so vain-glorious persons think nothing they have worth the having unless they make others see they have it Thirdly A proud man is like to the Peacock in his exulting clamorous voice or cry Such love to talk high and are very loud they love to be heard as well as seen and to hear themselves speak in the hearing of others Fourthly The Peacock say Naturalists however he hath very goodly feathers yet hath but a very weak head Pavo infirmum habet caput superbus imbecille judicium 'T is so with proud persons whatever fine shews they make their intellectuals are but course and they that are proud of the strength of their heads of their wit and understandings have indeed the weakest heads of all There is much folly lodged in that mans head where much knowledge lodgeth if pride lodge in his heart too And seeing God gives in this sense foolish men as this foolish bird fine feathers we need not envy them for their folly in being proud of their fine feathers debaseth them more in the sight of God than their fine feathers can honour them in the sight of men Usually proud persons have little that is good in them but how much soever they have it will be little more to them than a fine feather because they think it so much that they are proud of it Fifthly Naturalists say the Peacock and it is as true of a proud person is an Angel in aspect Angelus aspectu pede latro voce Gehenna or to look on he makes a goodly shew a thief in his foot i. e. he goeth softly without noise yet hath a voice like hell crying out and shrieking very unharmoniously to the ear A proud person may be an Angel in aspect but he is a thief in his feet he goeth softly yet deceitfully and there is a hell in his voice A loud boasting tongue is as troublesom and unpleasant to the ear as a brawling and usually boasters are brawlers too For as Solomon hath concluded it Prov. 13.10 By pride cometh contention Lastly Proud ones are like the Peacock because that which persons are most commonly proud of is of little worth The Peacock is proud of his feathers which are worthless things fit only for children to play with And though it is a truth that some men as was said before are proud of such things as are excellent in themselves and of a great intrinsick value yet as was also said before whatsoever a man is proud of will to his account be no better than a Peacocks feather A man that is proud of his beauty and apparel of his riches and outward splendor may truly be said to be proud of a feather Solomon the wisest of Kings and taught by the Spirit of God hath written vanity and insufficiency upon all worldly things And if a man be proud of his understanding knowledge or any internal endowment which are things of real excellency they all become vain to him yea if a man be proud of his graces though they shall never be utterly vain to him yet so far as he is proud of them they are vain to him being hindred by the present prevailings of corruptions from doing that which is one of the most proper works of them the keeping him humble empty and nothing in his own eyes Gavest thou goodly wings to the Peacocks And wings and feathers unto the Ostrich Several Translators as was toucht before find two distinct fowls in this latter part of the verse An pennam Ciconiae aut Struthio camelo dares Jun. Mr. Broughton saith Gavest thou feathers to the Stork and Ostrich and so others Our Translators put it thus in the Margin The feathers of the Stork and Ostrich The occasion of this difference in translating arises from the original word used last in this verse which commonly signifies a feather only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pluma pennae vel juxta quosdam Struthiocamelus quasi pennatus dictus Burtorf 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ciconia sic dicta à beneficētia quasi beneficam dicas à nomine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hic significat Struthiocamelum per antiphrasin eò quòd avis illa minime sit benefica ut quae laboret singulari
backward upon such as hunt them They have an admirable concoction digesting the hardest things which they swallow down nor is their folly less admirable thinking themselves sufficiently hid when their heads are Their eggs serve for cups to drink in and their feathers adorn the crests and helmets of the Warrior And besides the beauty of her feathers their equality or evenness is so remarkable that among the Egyptians the feather of an Ostrich was taken for the symbol of equity so that when they would signifie a man of an equal spirit and conversation towards all men and in all things they used to paint the feather of an Ostrich Secondly I shall add this also That as in the Peacock we had the representation of a proud person so in the Ostrich the lively image or picture of an Hypocrite which may be held out and made good in these five particulars First The Ostrich is a kind of middle creature as was said between a bird that flies in the air and a beast that goes upon the ground having somewhat of both yet is properly neither Thus it is with the Hypocrite or false-hearted Christian He stands between a godly man and a profane man Sunt animalia amphiâ—ia quae non facile statuas an aquatilia sint an terrestria volatilia an terrestria ut vespertilio qui est mus pennatus Struthicamelus qui est quasi Camelus alatus utriusque naturae participes expertes Sanct. he is neither he is not profane in strict sense though really he be so as the Hebrew word for a Hypocrite imports yet I say in strict sense he is not profane because he makes a profession and appears to men in a form of godliness yet he is not godly because he only makes a profession and appears in a form of godliness either denying or at least not having any power of godliness A Hypocrite hangs as I may say between God and man between the wayes of holiness and the ways of sin he either halts between two Religions as Elijah told the Jews 1 King 18.21 or takes not one right step in that one which he pretends to he is as it was said of the Church of Laodicea neither hot nor cold but between both luke-warm As the Ostrich is a creature between two something like a fowl of the air and something like a beast of the earth or as the Latine word for an Ostrich implies A Camel winged a winged Camel so is a Hypocrite a kind of a middle-man between a good man and a bad in appearance very good but in truth and reality stark naught and by so much worse than the worst of profane ones by how much he had a mind to appear better than the best at least among the best of holy ones Secondly This Ostrich as he is described is a creature without natural affection and so the Hypocrite and false-hearted professor is alwayes without spiritual Christian gracious affections and very often without natural and meer humane affections That 's one part of the character which the Apostle gives of those who have a form of godliness but deny the power 2 Tim. 3.3 Thirdly the Ostrich hath feathers but cannot flie the Ostrich spreads her wings as if she would flie aloft yet cannot make a lofty flight she raiseth her self no higher above the earth than a man may hop or leap her body or earthly part is so ponderous that her wings cannot raise her far into the air much less bear her up long there It is so with the Hypocrite he hath wings and he seems to spread them as if he had strong desire and great designes heaven-wards he would make you believe he is both from and for above yet he cannot get off the earth he is an earthly minded man as the Apostle speaks of such Coelestia se quaerere simulantes terrenis adhaerem though as to an outward profession and some formal actions he seems to soar aloft and live above the world yet he ever drives an earthly trade and hath some base carnal aime or other in his highest services The earth is every natural mans center and therefore though as any heavy body a stone or clod of clay he may be forced upward yet when that impression is spent he falls down again to earthly things which only are connatural to him Fourthly The Ostrich is a creature of a mighty digestion of a hot stomack and therefore is painted and figured with a piece of iron in her mouth implying she digests iron Omnia digerere potest Struthio Thus the hypocrite can digest the hardest things even that which is harder than iron sin that which lieth upon the stomack of a godly man as heavy as a stone that is which burdens his conscience that the hypocrite can swallow it goes down easily with him and is as easily digested he can swallow this and that sin without trouble especially if he can but do it unseen or in secret he makes no bones as we say of any thing which may but feed some lust he hath a conscience wide enough and hot enough and strong enough to digest iron any unlawful deed if it serve his turn or may tuâ—n to his worldly advantage That which a man truly fearing God and strongly resolved to do his known will and nothing else knowingly cannot will not do nor touch with for a world that he can do and will do for some poor pittances much more for the great things of the world Fifthly Pliny saith the Ostrich being a very tall creature Tanta eorum stoliditas ut cum colla frutice occulta berint latere se existimant Plin. l. 10. c. 1. is yet so foolish that if she hide her head she thinks herself all hid and safe from danger she concludes no man sees her if she sees no man Thus it is with the hypocrite if he can but be out of sight himself he thinks none see him no not God himself Psal 94.6 7. They slay the widdow and the stranger and murther the fatherless yet they say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard it They think they do all in such secrecy that as men do not so God shall not behold it Lastly The Ostrich hath very gay feathers of much more worth than the Peacock yet the Ostrich hath no more wit than the Peacock one is the embleme of a proud man the other of a hypocrite both bravely clothed yet with nothing but feathers From both I would infer these two or three things which may hold out much of the mind of God in this discourse with Job and which some Interpreters conceive God chiefly aimed at in this place by telling Job or minding him that he had given goodly wings and gay feathers to Peacocks and Ostriches We see those creatures which have little worth in themselves have very goodly ornaments put upon them by the hand of God Hence we may infer First God
when the weather is cold and offensive to them in the place where they are and when the heat returns to the coasts from whence they came thither they return again They know the time of their coming they know when 't is good for them to be in one Country and when in another And is not this a rebuke as the Prophet there applieth it unto a man who many times knows not what 's good for himself knows not the judgement of the Lord that is what God would have him do or what course to take in such a time and season or under such a dispensation of providence knows not as I may say Winter and Summer heat and cold and so is not so wise as the fowls of the air generally are or as the Hawk in particular is here said to be Who stretcheth her wings to the South All the children of men have and the children of God know they have a South to stretch their wings unto that is the goodness and power of God as the Psalmist spake Vnder the shadow of thy wings shall be my refuge till these calamities be overpast I will stretch my self to the South to the love and favour of God 't is best for all men to stretch their wings toward those wings of God in an evil day All should do as the Lord gives the invitation Isa 26.20 Come my people enter thou into thy chambers and shut the doors about thee hide thy self as it were for a little moment until the indignation be over-past Thus the Lord directs his people to stretch themselves to the South when 't is cold and hard weather abroad in the world and the creatures spoken of by the Prophet as well as the Hawk in the Text will rise up in judgement against us if we stretch not our wings to the South when we feel the Northern cold and Winter frost taking hold of us I shall pass from this part of the verse concerning the Hawk when I have only minded the Reader that some have found a twofold resemblance in the Hawk First They resemble the Devil and evil spirits to the Hawk because of their devouring nature The old Poet said Odimus accipitrem quia semper vivit in armis Ovid. We hate the Hawk because she is alwayes in arms And so is the Devil he is always in arms and at war with the Church of God and with the souls of men and we ought alwayes to be in arms against the Devil yea to take to our selves the whole armour of God spoken of Eph. 6. to resist him and defend our selves Secondly The Hawk is like wicked men especially in three things First For their ravenous nature they love to destroy and live upon the spoyl of others Isa 33.1 Secondly They are like the Hawk preying mostly upon those that are most innocent The Psalmist saith The wicked devours the man that is more righteous than he The Hawk pursues the Dove and poor Partridge harmless creatures Thirdly The Hawk is high-priz'd when alive but when dead cast out upon the dunghil no man regarding her He that took great delight in his Hawk while alive will not call for it to his Table when dead Thus wicked men may be in great esteem while they live but when once dead they are as thrown upon the dunghil their memorial rots and is unsavoury So much for the 26th verse wherein the Spirit of God calls Job to consider the nature of the Hawk at any time flying and sometimes turning her flight to the South And now the question passeth from the Prince of birds to the Queen of birds Vers 27. Doth the Eagle mount up at thy command and make her nest on high The Eagle is a King or Queen chief among the fowls of the air 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cum sex punctis aquila sic dicta vel quod recto obtutu solem aspiciat tunc congruentiam habat cum verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vel quod volatum recta in praedam dirigat tunc communicat cum verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plin. l. 10. c. 3. l. 35. c. 6. as the Lion is among the beasts of the earth and therefore the great King of Babylon is shadowed by a great Eagle with great wings Ezek. 17.3 And the Romans who Lorded it long over the world bare the Eagle in their Ensign The Hebrew word rendred Eagle hath a double derivation According to the first it signifies to Behold The Eagle is so expâ—est because she hath as the Historian describes her not only a quick and clear but a strong sight able to look full upon the Sun shining in its strength as if the name of the Eagle in Engglish were a Looker the Eagle can look the Sun in the face But according to a second derivation given by Grammatians it signifies strait or right forth And the Eagle is so called because she makes a direct course as it were by a strait line in pursuit of her prey Doth the Eagle Mount up The word in the Hebrew signifies to get high very high 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sublimis elatus fuit eminuit per metaphoram superbivit extream high and is therefore used in the Noune to set forth the highness of God Job 11.8 Psal 113.6 Isa 5.16 Isa 52.13 It notes also the highness of heaven Isa 55.9 Psal 103.11 which is called the Throne of God and the habitation of his Holiness and of his Glory 'T is used also to denote the height of a proud mans spirit which would fain rise up to the high of heaven and be like to the most High yea higher than the most High 1 Sam. 2.3 Psal 131.1 Isa 2.11 Ezek. 16.15 In all these places and many more the word is applied to the highness of a proud mans spirit which though it be indeed the lowest and basest thing in the world yet it puts man upon high thoughts of himself and upon high designs for himself he would be mounting like the Eagle Doth the Eagle Mount up The Eagles flight or mount exceeds the Hawks or any other of the winged train in three things First In the swiftness of it The Eagle hath great and long wings Ezek. 17.3 and she can make great hast with them therefore Solomon calling upon us not to set our eyes upon riches gives the reason of his counsel Prov. 23.5 For riches certainly make themselves wings they flie away as an Eagle towards heaven that is they are suddenly gone and will not return at thy call The Eagle will not come to the Lure like the Hawk To flie away as an Eagle notes two things concerning riches First That they will flie away swiftly speedily they are soon gone such is the Eagles flight Secondly That they often flie away irrecoverably there 's no recalling them The Scripture often expresseth the more than ordinary swiftness of men by the swiftness of the Eagle David lamenting the death of Saul and Jonathan
the danger of pride poor proud is so common that it is grown into a proverb And they especially who are poor in spirituals grow proud in spirit as it was with the Laodicean Angel Rev. 3.17 But further they are proud who lift up themselves in any thing of self As First in their natural parts wit understanding memory elocution Secondly in their acquired parts learning knowledge skill Thirdly in their moral vertues sobriety temperance justice Fourthly in their spiritual graces faith love self-denial 't is possible to be proud for a fit of these or to have a fit of pride come upon us upon the exercise of these Fifthly in their holy duties and performances prayers fastings c. Sixthly in their legal righteousness and good deeds alms charities We seldom do well or any good especially as we ought and duty binds us much good but we think too well of our selves that we are better than we are or too much both of the good we have done and of our own goodness As the great goodness of God or the greatness of his goodness appears chiefly in this that he can make all things even evil things and those not only the evils of trouble but the evil of sin work together for our good Rom. 8.28 so the great evil of mans heart or the greatness of that evil appears chiefly in this that it causeth all things even good things and those not only the good things of this natural life but the good belonging to and done in the power of a spiritual life to work to our hurt sometimes for a time and would to our ruine for ever did not the Lord over-rule it Seventhly the favour which they have with men whether they be the mighty the Princes and powers of the world or the many the common people of the world How are some lifted up because they are the darlings of the people because the multitude eyes them points at them and applauds them To be lifted up in any of these things or in any thing else and what is there not only of an earthly but of an heavenly pedigree and extraction in which the vain heart of man is not ready to be lifted up unduly forgetting God from whom all good comes to be lifted up I say in any of these things layes man open to the wrathful resistance of God and all such God will bring down and abase therefore let us be empty of our selves and beware of being found among the proud yea of being in any kind or degree proud It is dangerous to have any pride found in us but woe to those who are found proud Thirdly If the Lord hath such an eye to and upon proud men and will thus bring them low Then let us not be afraid of proud men why should we be afraid of them who are falling Prov. 15.33 The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom and before honour is humility But what saith the same Solomon Prov. 18.32 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty As soon as ever we see any man shewing a proud heart by pride of life we may quickly conclude the Lord is about to pluck him down One very great reason why the Lord hath laid many who were once as mountains low as valleys was the pride of their hearts When pride buds the rod blossometh that is God is preparing for the correction if not for the destruction of proud ones And as it is sad to see pride bud at any time so then especially when the rod blossometh that is when God is correcting us with his rods Fourthly Then do not envy proud ones We are apt to envy those that are high in place though they are proud in spirit but do not envy proud ones how high how great soever you see them for they are in danger of falling according to the truth of this Scripture and many others When proud men are in their fullest ruff and highest ascent then they are nearest a dreadful downfall Before destruction the heart of man is haughty saith Solomon Prov. 18.12 and before honour is humility And the Apostle Peter having given this counsel to those who are humbled by affliction 1 Epist 5.6 humble your selves under the mighty hand of God subjoyns this comfortable promise in the close of the verse That he may exalt you in due time Fifthly Then pride is a very provoking sin The Lord who declares himself against all sorts of sinners declares himself most against proud sinners Prov. 16.5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord mark what followeth in the same verse though hand joyn in hand he that is the proud man shall not be unpunished Pride is the Devils sin the Devil is that Mystical Leviathan spoken of in the 41th Chapter of this Book who is a King over all the children of pride They who are not subject to God proud men above all men are not are the Devils subjects He is a King over all the children of pride There are four things in which the provocation of the sin of pride consists any one of which may provoke God to pull down proud ones First Proud men set themselves in the place of God Lucifer by whom the proud Babilonian is meant said Isa 14.14 I will be like the Most High Thus the Lord said of the Prince of Tyrus Ezek. 28.2 Because thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said I am a God I sit in the seat of God in the midst of the seas yet thou art a man and not God though thou set thy heart as the heart of God See how that proud Prince thought to carry it as God as if he had been the founder of his own strength How can the Lord but be provoked with such an affront as this Proud Babilon spake this language and at as high a rate Isa 47.8 I am and none else besides me is not this to speak just like God I shall not sit as a widdow neither shall I know the loss of children Secondly As pride is an usurpation of the place and power of God so of the providences of God A proud man knoweth not how to acknowledge God in any mercy nor how to be humbled under the hand of God in any affliction He mindes not God either in what he enjoyeth or in what he suffereth is not this a provocation Thirdly Pride must needs provoke God as a proud man sets himself against all the Commands Laws of God God cannot but be provoked to see all his Laws and Commands slighted by man A proud man will keep no bounds nor would he be kept in any Fourthly Pride is a Mother sin it brings forth many other sins As Unbelief is a Mother sin so is Pride Hab. 2.5 He is a proud man neither keepeth at home who enlargeth his desire as hell and is as death and cannot be satisfied but gathereth unto him all Nations and heapeth unto him all people The
them down O Job canst thou do thus or do thou thus Tread down the wicked in their place And as it followeth in the next verse to the same effect Verse 13. Hide them in the dust together and bind their faces in secret That is Bring them to utter destruction to condign punishment even to death Some expound hiding in the dust by laying in dungeons and filthy prisons Secondly Others say to hide in the dust notes death or to lay them in their graves Dust thou art said God to Adam Gen. 3.19 and to dust thou shalt return That is thou shalt die and be put in thy grave which possibly is called the dust of death Psal 22.15 Hide them in the dust of the earth let them appear no more above ground to trouble thee or others Hide them in the dust Together That is either First All at a time Thus the Lord can do he can destroy all the wicked at once at one time in one hour Or Secondly Together that is in one place God can gather the wicked all together and so make an end of them together both as to time and place Yet I conceive neither of these are here intended for God doth not usually destroy the wicked all at one time nor all in one place he hath several times and stages to act his providences in and upon so that to hide them in the dust together is but this to hide them alike to put them all into the same condition at one time or other in one place or other that they may be able to do no more mischief And bind their faces in secret That 's the last expression shewing what God doth and what he bid Job do Bind their faces in secret There may be a twofold interpretation of these words either First In allusion to men condemned whose faces use to be covered a Sentence of death being pronounced and passed upon them they were as it were hid from the light of the living Thus as soon as Ahasuerus the King had passed sentence against Haman they covered his face Esth 7.8 or Secondly This covering their faces may be an allusion to actually dead men whose faces if they die among men especially among friends are alwayes bound up and decently covered When Christ called Lazarus out of the grave the Text saith John 11.44 He came forth his face being bound about with a napkin So then to bind their faces in secret is as if it had been said bring them to death or put them to death Thus the Lord calls Job to that in three particulars which himself will certainly do First To Tread down the wicked Secondly To Hide them in the dust together Thirdly To Bind their faces in secret The Notes which I shall give from these words will be grounded upon that three-fold interpretation of the word wicked And First As the wicked are taken for the same with the proud in the former verse Observe Proud men are wicked men Behold saith the Prophet Mal. 4.1 The day of the Lord shall burn as an oven and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be stubble The proud â—â—d they that do wickedly go together The proud do wickedly and are therefore deservedly numbred among the wicked Pride is the first of those seven things which are an abomination to the Lord Prov. 6.16 17. There are six things that the Lord hates yea seven are abomination to him A proud look that 's first and if a proud look then certainly a proud heart and a proud spirit Proud persons have not onely a chief but the first place by name among those whom the Lord abominates And in that black Catalogue of eighteen sorts of wicked ones that shall trouble the world in the latter dayes the proud are not the last nor the least 2 Tim. 3.2 3 4 5. In the last dayes perilous times shall come why what shall make them so The reason follows For men shall be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud Now though the proud man comes in the fourth place by name yet he is in the first place as to influence for what is the reason why men over-love themselves is it not because they are proud and have too high thoughts of themselves David Psal 119.21 sheweth the wickedness of proud men or that proud men are extreamly wicked while he saith to and of God Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed which do erre from thy Commandements The proud are such as continually wander out of the wayes of truth and holinesse Pride will not let us keep Commandements 't is the humble soul which keeps them and therefore pride may be called the breach of all the Commandements and if so proud men must needs be the very first-born of the wicked and therefore David saith of them that they are not onely under the rebuke of God but under his curse which is the peculiar portion and punishment of the wicked And what the way of proud men is both in doing and speaking the same David tells us Psal 75.45 I said unto the fools deal not foolishly and to the wicked lift not up the horn lift not up your horn on high speak not with a stiffe neck that is be not proud Wicked men lift up their horn and tongue they cannot but shew their pride in word and deed The Devil is the wicked one Matth. 13.19 The high-way ground having received the seed 't is said the wicked one that is the Devil cometh and catcheth it away And when the world is said to lie in wickedness or in the wicked one 1 John 5.19 The meaning is the Devil over-rules the carnal world Now as the Devil is the wicked one so he is the proud one also Pride was that wickededness for which God trod him down and his wickedness still continueth in tempting men to or in puffing them up with pride It is the businesse of the wicked one the Devil to make men proud because he knows pride will make them wicked and do wickedly Pride hardeneth the mind as Daniel saith it did Nebuchadnezar Chap. 5.20 Now what wickednesse is there which a hardened mind will not attempt to do Pride put Herod upon seeking the bloud of Christ who came to save and wash sinners with his blood Proud men are very wicked as they despise other men a proud man thinks no man so good as himself or himself too good for all other men Some proud men are so wicked that they despise even God himself The proud man lifts up himself against the Word of God slights the promises regards not the threatnings of God his heart is lifted up against the Commandements of God nor doth he value the comforts of God he neglects the Ordinances of God nor doth he reverence the Providences of God He that doth or is ready to do all this is surely a despiser of God himself How wicked a man is he whose heart is lifted up both against God and man
he comes upon them as a Lion or as a Bear Lament 3.10 He was unto me as a Bear lying in wait and as a Lion in secret places The Lion and Bear often lye close and in secret places to wait for their prey but they no sooner get them within their reach or danger but they rise up and devour them openly Again if we are afraid to meddle with terrible things how should we fear to meddle with sin Sin hath terrible teeth it will bite like a Serpent Prov. 23.32 and tear like a Lion 'T is sin that maketh all things terrible to us God himself is not terrible but as we are sinners sin hath made all things terrible and troublesome to us that are so The teeth of Leviathan had not been terrible to man if man had not sinned against God His teeth are terrible round about Beza seems to object from this part of the description of Leviathan that the Whale cannot be meant by Leviathan because the Whale hath no teeth I answer First Though Whales catcht by our Sea-men have no teeth properly taken yet they have somewhat which is Analogical to teeth they have that in their mouths which is as terrible as teeth Physeterem Oream praecipuè dentatos dicunt And secondly Naturalists tell us and Beza himself confesseth that there are many fishes of the Whaley kind which have very terrible teeth And though Bochartus insisteth much upon the teeth of the Crocodile which for number are threescore and for their nature terrible enough yet he doth not at all improve this part of Leviathans description against the Whale which I suppose he would have done had he found it unapplicable to the Whale Now as Leviathan is armed with teeth as offensive weapons to hurt others and to be a terrour to them so with desensive armes to secure himself from hurt as it followeth Vers 15 16 17. His scales are his pride shut up together as with a close seal One is so near to another that no air can come between them They are joyned one to another they stick together that they cannot be sundred In these three verses Leviathan is described First By the confidence which he hath in his scales they are his pride being like bucklers of brass Secondly By the natural closeness of his scales so close they are as if sealed that no air can come between them Thirdly By the indissolubleness of his scales they are joyned so fast one to another that they cannot be sundred His scales are his pride The strong sheilds have pride saith Master Broughton that is his scales which are as so many sheilds for his defence are his pride The word is not elsewhere rendred scales but strong pieces Chap. 40.18 and here it may be rendred strong pieces of sheilds scales resembling shields both in their fashion and use His scales are his pride that is he is proud of his scales Whatsoever any man is proud of may be called his pride If a man be proud of his riches then his riches are his pride if of his parts then his parts are his pride if of his strength and beauty then strength and beauty are his pride Leviathan's scales are his pride that is he is proud of his scales Here again it is objected as before about teeth The Whale hath no scales therefore Leviathan cannot be the Whale The learned Bochartus insists much upon this argument against the Whale proving also by many authorities which is clear to sight in those carkasses of Crocodiles which are among us that the Crocodile hath great and strong scales and those very closely laid or joyned together The objection hath much weight in it Balenarum Elephantorum cutes summè durae sunt propomodum insensibiles Galenus l. 3. do usu partium yet these two answers are given to it First Though Whales taken in these parts of the world have no scales properly so called yet they have a very thick and hard skin resembling scales The skin of the Elephant and of the Whale is extream hard and almost insensible said the Oracle among Physitians Quot ei squamae tot clypei quibus adversus omnem vim togitur Arianus memorat ex Nearcho visum cetum in littus ejectum cubitorum quinquaginta corio squamoso tam crasso ut cubitum aquaret Secondly It is reported that some Whales or Whales in some parts of the world have huge scales There was seen cast up upon the sea-shore saith one a monstrous fish of fifty cubits long which had scales all over of a cubit thick These were strong scales indeed and though we have not known or heard of any such in these parts of the world yet who can say knowingly there are none such in any part of the world as literally answer the description of Leviathans scales I grant that the three exceptions which Bochartus takes against the testimony of Nearchus are very considerable First That he stands alone and is but a single witness Secondly That he doth not say he saw such a whale but only heard it of certain Mariners who said they saw such a one which sort of men are not always to be credited And he adds Thirdly That though Nearchus should have said that himself had seen such a Whale yet little credit were to be given him he being an Author of no good credit These considerations I confess may somewhat weaken the testimony of Nearchus yet I see no reason why they should utterly infringe and disable it For first one man may speak truth in it self as well as two or three though the testimony of one be not so authentick to others as the testimony of two or three Secondly â—hough some Mariners over-reach in their repoâ—ts yet it doth not follow that they did so from whom that report came And Thirdly Though Nearchus be justly charged with failing and falseness in some things yet none can say his whole book is nothing else but a bundle of lies And if there be any truths in his writings as I suppose no man will deny but there are many then why this report of a Whale or mighty fish of that kind with great scales may not be reckoned among the truths contained in his writings rather than among the lies let the Reader judge Now though it be questioned what animal this Leviathan is yet 't is out of question that he hath scales upon him or that which amounts to scales For saith the Lord His scales are his pride Geneva Translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 superbia magnificentia verbum medium Some render the words thus The majesty of his scales is like strong shields He is like a Curassier or an Horse-man armed Cap-a-Pe or all over But I shall abide in our own reading His scales are his pride or his hight his spirit is heightned by them Hence note First There is a kind of pride in brutes and irrational creatures Pride strictly taken is proper to man yet
there is more than a shadow of pride in brutes Even as a man is proud of fine new cloaths so is a horse of his trappings or as a man is proud of a strong glistering shield so is Leviathan of his scales And I may safely say that as some beasts are proudish so all proud men so far as they are proud are brutish It is not for want of grace only but for want of a due exercise of reason that any man is proud Secondly Note Extraordinary attainments or injoyments are occasions of pride Why are Leviathans scales his pride 'T is because they are so strong and close that he thinks himself safe from all injuries under their shelter The word properly signifyeth a buckler of molten brass They who are armed with such a defensive weapon fear neither sword nor spear Any great injoyments or attainments are occasions of pride The Peacock is proud of his feathers and the horse of his strength and men are proud of their riches and worldly abundance 1 Tim. 6.17 Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded nor trust in uncertain riches Some good men no sooner get a few golden scales or their scales a little gilded but they begin to be proud therefore the Apostle gave Timothy that charge to warn such rich men as professed the true faith of the Gospel to take heed of high-mindedness And as men are apt to be proud of their riches so are women of their beauty and the learned of their knowledge and the wise of their understanding and great men of their power and godly men if they have but gifts beyond their brethren are apt to be proud of them And as some are proud of the gifts given them by God so many are proud of the gifts given by them to men I mean of their good deeds or works of charity Salvation saith the Apostle Ephes 2.9 is not of works least any man should boast If salvation were by working either by works of grace or gracious works towards God or works of charity towards men men would be boasting which is properly the work of pride Again men are very apt to be proud of their priviledges The Nation of the Jews how proud were they of that priviledge that they were Abrahams children that they had the Law and Temple Whence the Apostle left that serious admonition to the Gentiles Rom. 11.20 Because of unbelief they were broken off and thou standest by faith be not high minded but fear Do not pride your selves in your priviledges as they did lest you also be broken off as they are Lastly some have been proud even of their graces that of the Apostle argueth it 1 Cor. 4.6 7. Who hath made thee to differ thou hast grace and another hath none who hath made this difference between thee and him hath not God what hast thou that thou hast not received why then dost thou boast as if thou hadst not received it Even they that have received grace are in danger of boasting as if they had not received it I may say as of all proud men so of all men who are but toucht with pride as here it is said of Leviathan Their scales some attainments or other are their pride And hence we may infer If great attainments are an occasion of pride then Let us pray for an humble heart in high injoyments and attainments If you have strong scales much strength about you or in you beg hard for humility be not like Leviathan let not your scales be your pride His scales are his pride Shut up together as with a close or strait seal Things straitly sealed up can hardly be parted How close the scales of Leviathan are is further shewed Ne spiraculum quidom incedit per eas Hieron Vers 16. One is so near to another that no air can come between The Lord doth not say you cannot put a straw or a hair between but no air can come between The air is the most subtile thing in nature the air passeth through not only little cranies but imperceptible pores yet the juncture of Leviathans scales is so close that the subtile air cannot pass between The next verse is only an hightning of the same thing Vers 17. They are joyned one to another they stick together that they cannot be sundred Scales are lap 't one over another like the tiles of an house they stick like boards glued The Hebrew is they are joyned a man to his brother Vir fratri adhaerit 'T is common in that language to call two things joyned together a man and his brother or a woman and her sister Thus Exod. 25.20 And the cherubims shall stretch-forth their wings on high covering the Mercy-seat with their wings and their faces shall look one to another The Hebrew is shall look a man to his brother Again Exod. 26.5 Moses giving direction about the loops for the curtains of the Tabernacle saith Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain and fifty loops shalt thou make in the edge of the curtain that is in the coupling of the second that the loops may take hold one of another The Text is a woman of her sister Thus union is expressed because 't is supposed a man and his brother a woman and her sister keep near together in love Leviathans scales are joyned as close together as a man and his brother or as a woman and her sister that is they are most closely joyned or as some take the allusion they stick together as prisoners that are linked and chained one to another This union or closeness of Leviathans scales shews both his strength and his safety Hence note Vnity is a great means to keep any strong and safe How cometh Leviathan to be so safe his scales are close together If he had never so strong scales were they not joyned together they could be no safety to him union makes every thing stronger and safer A company of arrows bound up together how strong are they by which Sylurus invited his Sons to unity Ahab no doubt had very strong armour armour of proof but it had joynts in it 1 Kings 22.34 And so A certain man drew a bow at a venture and smote the King of Israel between the joynts of his harness Death the deadly arrow made its entrance at the joynts of his Armour Weak things closely joyned together become strong and strong things wanting union prove weak Satan is the strong man Armed and the Scriptures of truth tell us that Satans kingdom is not devided there is no casting out devils by Beelzebub Satan and his agents stick together as the scales of Leviathan in opposing the kingdom of Jesus Christ Psal 83.5 6 7. They have consulted together with one consent they are confederate against thee Gebal and Ammon and Amaleck the Philistines with the Inhabitants of Tyre Assur also is joyned with them These were all cleaving together as close as the scales