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
not men of the Earth Carnall men are Earthly-minded they minde the Earth and that 's both their hope and buisines they are not onely Earth in their Constitution but Earth in their affections therefore they are called men of the Earth these men had much of the Earth in their possession as well as they had all of it in their affections desires The mighty man he had the Earth Observe hence That Evill Magistrates in Power are more ready to favour great men then to releive poore men Eliphaz knew that Job was a Magistrate a man in Power and he supposeth that under his government the poore got no bread but the mighty men had the Earth they had favour to have and doe what they lift It is very Common with the men of the world to be very free to those that are of the world they are like those Clouds which we may observe sometimes blowne over the dry Land and emptying themselves into the Sea The mighty that had store before have more and the poore who had nothing have nothing at all Men love to bestow kindnesses upon them onely to whom they are like or whom they love A good man helps those that are good and wicked men care for none but such as themselves Wicked men are called Oakes Zech. 11.2 Howle yee firr trees for the Cedar is fallen that is the great man is fallen because all the mighty are spoyled howle O yee Oakes of Bashan for the forrest of the vintage is come downe The Chaldee Paraphrase saith Howle yee Governors of Provinces And hee calls these Governers Oakes first because of their strength and secondly because of their fruit What fruit doe Oakes beare onely acornes and who are fed with acornes onely swine Acornes are but hogg◠meate hee gives the allusion thus wicked men in power beare fruit but it is onely for swine that is for wicked men they bestow the tokens of their bounty the overplus of their plenty upon hoggs and swine that is upon carnal and sensual men Parietes vestites auro homines veste nudatis panem postulat homo equus tuus aurum sub dentibus mandit Ambros they have nothing for the People of God for those that are the true objects of charity they make their horses fatt their doggs fatt none are leane but Gods poore Thus one of the Ancients reprehends those great ones of his time Ye cloath the walles of your houses with gold with Arras hangings and ye let the poore goe naked the poore aske bread and ye give it them not it may be your horse chewes a golden Bitt and the poore man hath not a Bitt of Bread The spirits of carnall men are carried out from that which is their duty they care not how profuse and lavish they are to those who suits with their own hearts the poore have nothing while the mighty man hath the Earth Thus Eliphaz reproved Job though indeed it was otherwise with him as appeares in the defence which he afterwards made for himselfe against these grosse insinuations And as to this particular he answers Chap. 29.17 I brake the Jawes of the wicked and pluckt the spoyle from between his teeth he indeed puld the earth from the mighty or the mighty from the earth though Eliphaz here sayd The mighty had the earth and The honourable man dwelt in it Acceptus vel elevatus facie habitabat in ea Hebr. The Hebrew is The man whose face is lifted up which phrase is Interpreted two wayes First Passively Secondly Actively Passively thus the man who is lifted up by others that is who is respected who is reverenced according to his place or worth Hebraei principem vocant Nasi quasi elevatū facie ab alijs acceptum All which agree with our rendering the honourable man And in the Hebrew Princes and great ones are exprest by that word which signifies to lift up the face because such are lifted up above others and are much respected by others So the word is used Gen. 19.21 See saith the Angel to Lot I have accepted thee The Hebrew is I have lifted up thy face that is I have respected and honoured thee by granting thy request Secondly It may be taken actively The man that lifts up the face dwells in the Earth What is it to lift up the face Acceptor personarum habitabat in ea Pagn it is to Accept Persons in Judgement to accept him that hath the worst cause and to reject him that hath the best cause for private ends As if Eliphaz had sayd Hee that respects persons that is who perverts justice hee hath the Earth and so here seemes to be a description of all sorts of wicked men flourishing in Jobs time and under his wing Some oppresse openly the mighty man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est habere respectum personarum sc quod pauper sit aut dives aut nobilis aut honoratus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Habitare sedere the man of armes comes by main force and obtaines the earth or the riches and fatnes of the earth Others oppresse secretly and cunningly they accept persons and are byassed in Judgement by their own interest and advantages The man of this straine dwelt in it The word notes two things First to continue he dwelt there thou let'st him abide whereas if he had come into the Land thou should'st quickly have rooted him out Secondly The word signifies not onely to dwell but to sit and to sit in Scripture Language notes authority or dominion he dwelt or sate in it that is hee was the man in authority hee had the power and the great places of government were entrusted in his hand From both these observe First That evill Magistrates are apt to pervert Justice in favour of those who are great in power Favour should be shewed according to the Justnes of mens causes and not according to the greatnesse of their persons But usually the mighty men have the Earth all goes on their side and the honourable man dwels there be sits safe quiet well and warme This is so commonly seene that 't is become a Proverb Potentis est turpa pauper ubique jacet The mighty man hath the whole earth for his house to dwell in the poore man lyes every where but seldome dwels any where The wicked are said to have their portion in this life they would have the Earth to themselves and they shall have nothing but Earth So the Prophet describes them Esay 5.8 Woe unto them that joyne house to house that lay field to field that there may be no place that they may be placed alone in the midst of the Earth Man is naturally a sociable Creature and it may seem strange that he should desire to be alone in the midst of the Earth Therefore by his desire to be alone we must not understand a strict lonenes or solitarines as if rich men had a minde to live alone so
unable to resist or make his party good with him with much submission takes hold of his arme or weapon endeavouring by earnest suit to stay him from smiting And indeed to take hold of the strength of God is to take hold on his mercy The strength of God to save sinners lyes in his mercy and that mercy is in his Son who is his strength to save sinners if a sinner lay hold of this strength the mercy of God in his Son that he may make-peace with God if this be his designe he shall make peace there shall not be a treaty with God in Christ for peace in vaine if a sinner should take hold of the strength of his owne righteousnes performances if he should take hold of the strength of all the Angels in heaven he could not make peace with God nor would God agree with him upon those termes Such a soule must returne re infecta without his errand God is ready to be at peace with 〈◊〉 but we must have our peace in his way not in our owne Acquaint now thy selfe with him and be at peace And this peace whether in our selves or with God is no light or unprofitable thing as Eliphaz to provoke Job to pursue and seeke after it tells him in the last words of this verse Thereby good shall come unto thee Thereby whereby or by what what is it that shall procure or produce this good The answer is at hand Thy acquaintance with God thy being at peace will procure all good things for thee Acquaint thy selfe with him and be at peace be at peace in thy own spirit be quiet be at peace with God be reconciled every way good shall come unto thee Mr Broughton renders Prosperity shall come unto thee the sence is the same Others read in stead of good shall come unto thee thy comings in shall be good thou shalt have a good revenâ—â—â—ood income Proventus tuus erit bonus Drus whereas before evill came upon thee now thy coâ—â—â—gs in shall be good This also is of the same meaning with our translation I shall not need to stay upon the opening of the words there is no difficulty in them From their dependance in that he saith Acquaint thy selfe with him and be at peace so shall good come unto thee These words are brought in by way of inference upon the former whence Observe That when wee are estranged from God good is estranged from us God can stop the Influences of all our mercies from us he can lay an embargo upon all Creatures from bringing any good to us the there be store of treasure and rich Commodity in the place yet he can barre up all that no good can come unto us yea the Lord in such cases doth often lay a stop upon the spirit of prayer in his own people and when the heart is stopt that we cannot pray then usually good is stopt and kept back from coming to us Prayer is that which fetches in mercy and good things through the love of God in Jesus Christ Prayer may have a twofold stop First prayer may have a stop in the heart secondly Prayer which comes forth of the heart may have a stop in heaven the Lord doth even shut out-prayer sometimes and when prayer is shut out no good can get out to us Prayer is sent upon a message to heaven and if our messenger be shut out of doores and not admitted in what answer can we expect by his message And the Lord as he doth stop such from the receiving of further good so from the receiving of good by what they have already Wee may have that which in the nature of it is good and yet have no good by it God can stop the creature in our hands that it shall not at all give us any Comfort as well as he can stop any creature-comfort from comming into our hands Unlesse the Lord in one sence stop the creature it quickly leakes out all the Comfort which he hath put into it and proves to us indeed what sin hath made it a broken Cistern And unlesse the Lord open the creature the creature cannot give forth that good which it hath It will be to us as a Cisterne without a vent to passe out the water for our use There 's many a one who hath enough in his hand take it in any kinde but he enjoyes nothing of it because the Lord locks up the conduit or the cisterne and then how much good soever there is in it there 's none for him It is all one to us whether we have onely a broken Cisterne for our portion or a Cisterne alwayes lockt up for as the one lets all the water run out so the other holds all the water in we are as farre from good if our Cisterne hold all as if it held nothing at all It is then not onely our duty and our holines to acquaint our selves and be at peace with God but our wisdome and our interest For it is as he pleaseth alwayes and usually as we please him that eyther we have any thing that is good comming to us or that any good commeth to us by that which we have Secondly Note which is a Corallary from the former observation That the renewing of our Communion with God and making peace with him is followed with all manner of mercies and good things So shall good come unto thee There was never any man a looser by acquaintance with God Gods acquaintance is a gainfull acquaintance Our acquaintance with God should we consider it abstractly and separate from all benefit but his very acquaintance yet that is benefit enough God is the chiefest Good and therefore when we enjoy him we enjoy all Good The enjoyment of God himselfe is infinitely more then the enjoyment of all created good things that come from God Friends are sometimes in those heights of friendship and noblenes of spirit one to another that they count the enjoyment of one another to be more then all the benefits they can heape upon or reape by one another it is your good Company saith such a friend and your acquaintance that delights me more then all the good you can bestow upon mee And is not God much more so to us Thus I say acquaintance with God alone is all good but besides as the poynt leads us to consider God gives out good things from himselfe to all his holy acquaintants temporall or bodily good comes to us by his acquaintance and so also and that chiefly doth spirituall or soule good Acquaint thy selfe with God and the dewes of grace showers of the Spirit shall fall into thy bosome Acquaint thy selfe with God and spirituall Comfort shall flow in unto thee spirituall strength shall flow in unto thee thy soule shall be filled as with marrow and fatnes And as good shall come to thee in person so to thine to thy family and posterity good shall come And as God will cause good to
bidding him receive that lavv which the mouth of God had spoken to Moses but though whether the law vvere then formally spoken or no is a dispute yet it is vvithout all dispute that the mouth of God had then given a lavv or rule of life to his people and so Eliphaz might safely and truely say Receive I pray thee the law from his mouth there having been a Revelation of the minde of God among the faithfull in all ages and times God never left his people to their own will nor them to be their own Guide and Counseller For when the Apostle sayth Rom. 2.14 that the Gentiles having not the law are a law unto themselves his meaning is not that they had no law but one of their own devising They indeed had not the law of God formally spoken to their eares and preserved in tables of stone but they had the substance of the law of God naturally vvritten in their hearts So then there hath alwayes been a lavv from his mouth formally in the Church naturally in the world Therefore saith Eliphaz Receive the law from his mouth and when he saith Receive the law from his mouth it may have a double Opposition First To the vvill and vvisdome of Job As if Eliphaz had said Thou hast been hitherto a law to thy selfe that is thou hast followed thy own advice Ex ore ejus notanter dicit i. e. non ex ore aut arbitrio tuo Merc. run on upon thy own head now Receive the lavv from his mouth Man naturally hath high thoughts of himselfe and vvould be a law to himselfe Not as Rom. 2.14 which place vvas touched before The Gentiles not having a law wâ—re a law to themselves that is they had the law of God written in their hearts by nature but besides that there is a lavv which man vvould be to himselfe against that law of nature vvritten in his heart and against the light of nature shining in his conscience he would set up a law even his own Lust in opposition to the law of God Thus he vvould be a law to himselfe and not Receive a law from the mouth of God Therefore saith Eliphaz Now receive the law from his mouth Secondly from his mouth may be opposed to the mouthes of others as if he should say if thou wilt not trust us nor take our vvord then trust God vve vvould not have thee depend upon us nor upon any man living not on the Judgement or Authority of any Creature but receive the lavv from his mouth there is a law and a truth come from God let thy faith be guided and thy life ordered by that Hence Note It is our duty to receive the rule from God The Lord hath povver to give us the law and vve must receive the lavv from him None have povver to Impose a lavv upon us but God himselfe nor may we devise a lavv for our selves God is the onely Master of the Conscience he alone can say Receive the law at my mouth If you aske vvhat is it to receive the law I ansvver it is more then to give it the hearing To receive is first to beleeve the lavv secondly to receive is to honour and reverence the law thirdly to receive the lavv is to yeeld up our selves to the obedience of it to be cast into the mould of it to subject our selves vvholly to the minde of God in it Then vve receive the lavv vvhen vve take the Impressions of it have as it vvere the Image and stampe of it upon our spirits and in our lives fourthly then we receive it vvhen as it followes in the Text we lay up his word in our hearts barely to receive it is not enough you must lay it up treasure it up And lay up his word in thy heart This is opposed First To forgetfullnes of the vvord Praecedentis partis ex positio amplificatio Ita legem suscipe ut ponas proprie disponas arte cura sollicitudine observandi Receive the lavv and let it not slip out of thy memory Secondly It is oppos'd to negligence in the practice of the law lay it up that it may be forth comming to direct thee in every duty In Conversion the law is vvritten in the heart every godly man hath a Copie of the lavv in his heart That 's the description of a godly man Psal 37.31 The law of God is in his heart none of his steps shall slide vvhich is not an universall exclusion of all fayling slipping as if every godly man were as much past sinning as he is past perishing but vvhen 't is sayd none of his steps the meaning is few of his steps shall slide or he shall never slide so in any of his steps as not to recover his feete and get up againe He shall vvalke very holily so holily as if all his vvalkings vvere but one continued act of holines But to the text None of his steps shall slide quite and for ever out of the vvay because the law of God is in his heart What David speakes in that propheticall Psalme of Christ Psal 40.8 Thy law is within my heart is true in its degree of every Christian all the lawes of God are in his heart That Character is againe given of them Psal 84.5 In whose heart are thy wayes there is a suiting of the minde of God and the heart of man together in regeneration But novv the duty spoken of in the Text is another thing for a man that hath the lavv vvritten in his heart may yet possibly forget to lay up the vvord and law of God in his heart he may under temptation and the pressures of corruption be negligent in that it is the worke of a godly man who hath the lavv of God in his heart already continually to lay up the law in his heart and so vve are to understand such Scriptures as these Pro. 7.3 Keepe my Commandements and live and my law as the apple of thine eye binde them on thy fingers write them on the table of thine heart c. The first writing of the law in the heart is by the finger of the Spirit by Gods own finger As it was God that first wrote the lavv in tables of stone vvith his own finger so it is he that writes the law in these fleshy Tables of the heart by the finger of the Spirit yet Solomon perswades his son to vvrite the law upon the Table of his heart vvhen grace is received and the law once written in our hearts vve doe as it vvere put in severall fresh Copies of the law vve are continually writing divine notions and Instructions upon our hearts this renewed act is ascribed to us because we through grace joyne in it We have an Expression of like import Pro. 4.21 My Son attend to my words encline thine eare to my sayings let them not depart from thine eyes keep them in the midst of thine heart The heart is
little way but it must be put farre away There are severall degrees of putting away sin first There is a putting it away out of our practice or conversation so that it hath no visible being or abode in us or with us This is a putting of sin away but this is not a putting of sin farre away Secondly There is a putting of it out of our affections or out of our hearts not as if we could keepe it while we are in the body from having a place or dwelling there but as keeping it from having a throane or reigning there This is to put sin very farre away from us it is no great thing to put sinne out of our hands but 't is hard to get it out of our hearts hypocrites will possibly lay downe the practice of it but still their spirits cleave to it they are not at all alienated from the love of it but onely restrained from the acting of it such are oftentimes kept from doing iniquity but they do not at all put away their iniquity much lesse put it far away As it is with a naturall man in reference to his doing of Good so to his not doing of evill If good be at any time in his practice yet it is farre from his spirit he hath no minde to it he cannot say the law of God is in his heart or that he delights to doe it so if evill be at any time put out of his practice yet it is still in his spirit his minde is toward it he cannot say that his heart is withdrawne from it or that he hates it No but as the Prophet Ezekiel speakes of the stubborne Jewes Ezek. 11.21 Their heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things As every Godly man is in the maine like David A man after Gods owne heart and walketh after the heart of God so every ungodly man is a man after the heart of the devill and every Idolater or worshipper of false Gods who is one of the worst of ungodly men is after the heart of his false gods and he walketh after the heart of his false Gods which the Prophet calls detestable things Whatsoever is most after the heart or according to the desires and commands of an Idol that the Idolatrous heart walketh after that is he loves it he delights in it and thus doth every naturall mans heart walke after the heart of his lust though sometime his feete walke not after it or he may seeme to lay it out of his hand But he that turnes indeed from sin deales with it when he is repenting of it as the Lord doth when he is pardoning it How is that The Lord in pardoning sin puts it farre from us Psal 103.12 As farre as the East is from the West so farre hath he removed our transgressions from us That is he hath removed them from us to the utmost imaginable distance for such is that of the East from the West they and we shall no more meete together againe then the East and West shall or can meete at all And thus in repenting a godly man desires to put his sin as farre from him as the East is from the West that he and they may never meete together in the practice of them as he is assured that God hath so pardoned them that they and he shall never meete together in the punishment of them Thou shalt put away iniquity farre from thy Tabernacles Innuit ante hac â—ec Jobum nec e us filios culpa vacasse ideocum eversum filios extinctos Merc In which words he includes more then his owne personall repentance for by the Tabernacles we are to understand the whole family or household the tabernacle conteining is put for the persons contein'd in this Eliphaz seemes to strike at Job for his former course as if he said Wickednesse hath lodged not onely in thy heart but in thy house in thy family children and servants And this surely was it which provoked the Lord to crush thy family of children and their servants with the fall of a house now therefore I counsel thee to put away iniquity from thy tabernacle that is from all that belong to thee from all that are under thy shadow and are committed to thy trust and charge Hence observe That they who repent truly should indeavour to purge sinne not onely from themselves but from all that belong to them They should cleanse not their persons onely but their families they should sweep their houses as well as their hearts from sin Gen. 35.2 Then Jacob said to his household and to all that were with him put away the strange Gods or the estranging Gods such are Idols they are not onely strange because new Gods and strange because 't is a strange or wonderfull thing that man should be so besotted as to worship such things for Gods but they are estranging Gods because they withdraw or steale away the heart from the true God therefore sayd Jacob put away the strange Gods that are among you and be cleane and change your garments This outward changing of their garments signified the changing or cleansing of their soules God principally lookes at that and the outward ceremony hath no acceptance at all without the inward sincerity In comparison of which as the Lord said in Joel Rent your hearts and not your garments so he would say here change your hearts and not your Garments Now Jacob was very carefull that this blessed change of Garments betokening the change and cleansing both of heart and life should be the livery of all his family and household Family sinnes bring family judgements as well as personall and they that have the charge of a family have in a great degree a charge of soules as well as of bodies every Master of a family hath cure of soules And he is to see so farre as lieth in him that no sinne nor wickednesse remaine or be harboured in his family that his children and servants live not in ignorance nor in any evill In the 6th of Numbers Moses gives charge to the Congregation That they should depart from the tents of those wicked men Corah Dathan and Abiram it is dangerous to be neere the families of the wicked but it is more dangerous to have wickednesse remaining in our family in our servants or in our children And if Masters endeavour not by all due meanes to remove sin out of their family that in a little time may remove them out of their family or as we say eate them out of house and home Thou shalt put away iniquity farre from thy Tabernacle Thus much of this part of the verse in the first sence as iniquity is taken for sin yet Further as the word iniquity is taken for punishment thou shalt put away iniquity or the effects of iniquity farre from thy Tabernacle and then the words are both a new promise and a further explication of what is meant by being built up which
weary of them and that they were a burthen to him in all their services Now when we are a burthen to God God is never pleasant to us if the Lord say he is weary of us we cannot say we delight our selves in him Our delight and pleasure in God is the fruit of his delight in and wel-pleasednes with us Thirdly Eliphaz proposeth this delight in the Lord as the most winning promise Hence note Delight in the Lord is the highest and choicest mercy There is nothing better nothing sweeter then to delight in the Lord delight in the Lord hath all true delights in it David speakes this out fully in that place lately quoted to another occasion Psal 37.4 Delight thy selfe in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart that is thou shalt have all thy desires fullfilled in this thing delight in the Lord will be the fullfilling of all thy desires not only shall they who delight themselves in the Lord have all their desires filled up but their very delight in the Lord is the fullfilling of all their desires What is the glory of heaven but delighting in the Lord And he who delights in the Lord feeles not the want or absence of any earthly Good In thy presence is fullnesse of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Psal 16 11. Heavenly glory is nothing but delight in God and all earthly good is nothing without delight in God We may affirme foure things of this delight in opposition to all worldly delights First This is a reall delight worldly delights are but shaddows or pageant-like shewes of delight The joyes of a hypocrite are like his holines meere appearances of joy he hath no reall no true joy as he hath no true no reall holinesse That man doth but faine a taste of joy whosoever he is that doth but faine the practice of holinesse Thus who wickedly hold out a holines which they feele not shall talke of joyes which they finde not Secondly Delight in the Lord is a strong delight yea it is a strengthening delight That must needs be strong joy which is strengthening joy such is the joy of the Lord as Nehemiah told that people Neh 8.10 The joy of the Lord is the strength of the soule the strength of the inward man it makes us mighty it makes us giants to run our race the race of holinesse The giant rejoyceth to run his race because he is strong and knowes he can doe it The joy of the Lord is our strength and is both an evidence thaâ— wee are strong and a meanes to make us so Worldly delights are weake and they weaken us Delight in the Lord is strong and it strengthens Thirdly It is a lasting delight not like the crackling of thornes under a pott to which Solomon elegantly compares the laughter of the foole Eccl. 7.6 that make a noise and a blaze for a while but are presently extinct Now Solomons foole may be eyther first the prophane man in the world or secondly the hypocrite in the Church All the joyes of this payre of fooles the prophane worldling and the formal hypocrite are soone in and soone out like crackling thornes But joy or delight in the Almighty is a lasting delight it is not for a fitt or a pang but for continuance yea it continueth in the middest of all worldly sorrows for it overcomes and conquers them There is a laughter in which saith Solomon Pro. 14.13 the heart is sorrowfull and there is a sorâ—ow in which the heart laughs As sorrowfull yet alwayes rejoycing saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.10 Spiritual joy or joy in the Lord is not extinguished though surrounded with worldly sorrowes Many waters cannot quench this vehement flame this flame of God as Solomon speakes of love Cant. 8. neyther can the floods drowne it Fourthly Delight in the Allmighty is a holy delight a delight which makes us more holy the delights of the world are impure and they defile us we seldome take in worldly pleasures but they leave some spot and taint upon our spirits or conversations but the delights we have in the Lord are all pure yea purifying delights they make the soule more cleare more holy more heavenly they make us like unto the Almighty in whom our delight is For look what the object is in which we delight such is the spirit of him that takes that delight now the Lord in whom this delight is being altogether holy they that take delight in him must needs be made or kept holy by it As delight in worldly things makes the heart worldly base and dreggish so this refines and purifies it The more we drinke of the rivers of this pleasure the more sober we are to be an epicure as it were in these delights is the highest temperance Our feeding cannot be too full nor our drafts too large upon these delights Solomon Eccle. 2.2 who had run a course through all worldly delights and tryed them to the utmost said of laughter it is mad and of mirth what doth it there is a madnesse in the mirth of the world what doth it that is what good doth it to any man many things it doth it makes men vaine foolish dissolute dispirited for any goodnesse but what good doth it doth it make any man better more holy more wise or fit for duty no it can doe none of these things But delight in the Lord is all this and can doe all this it is true strong strengthening Quum unus quisq licenter respicit id in quo delectatur subdâ—t verâ—seq Aqâ—in lasting holy a delight that makes us more holy This is the portion of Saints at all times though payd them in more or specially at some times and that eyther first respecting the state and disposition of their owne soules as in the rest or secondly the state of and promised dispensations of God to the Church Isa 65.14.18 Isa 66.11 Then also in a speciall manner shalt thou have thy delight in the Lord. And because every man doth freely or willingly looke to that in which he is delighted Therefore Eliphaz addeth And shalt lift up thy face to God But some may say is that such a great matter is it any speciall favour to lift up the face to God seing to doe so is common to mankinde The Naturalist saith Oâ— homini sublime dedit Ovid. That whereas other creatures looke groveling downeward God gave man an erect countenance and bid him looke heavenwards How then doth Eliphaz promise Thou shalt lift up thy face to God We had the like expression Ch. 10.15 If I be righteous yet I will not lift up my head And Ch. 11.15 Then shalt thou lift up thy face without spott The lifting up of the head and the lifting up of the face are the same implying confidence or a wel-grounded boldnes in him that doth so For all these phrases of speech imply a lifting up of the minde or Spirit
he hath tasted in the goodness of God this is spiritualness in the very height of it but usually God is then sweetest to us when the world is bitterest to us Afflicted soules make most hast after God and it is well to doe so it is a very sad signe the worst Symptome that can appeare upon the soules of any when afflictions draw them off from God or when they grow cold in their affections towards God while the love of the world growes cold towards them The Prophet Amos 6.7 foresheweth a very great calamity that should fall upon the people of God Thou shalt goe Captive with the first that goe Captive c. And in the 8 verse The Lord God hath sworne by himselfe saith the Lord the God of hosts I abhorre the Excellency of Jacob and hate his Palaces As if he had sayd though I have invested him with excellent priviledges though he make a great profession of my name yet because of his provocations and unworthy walkings I will deliver up the City and all that is therein there 's Captivity then comes Pestilence in the 9 â—h verse And it shall come to pass if ten men remaine in one house that they shall dye and they shall not bury them after the ordinary way but burne them and the neerest relations shall doe it Ver. 10 â—h And a mans Vncle shall take him up and he that burneth him to bring the bones out of the house and shall say unto him that is by the sides of the house is there yet any with thee and he shall say no then shall he say hold thy tongue for wee may not make mention of the Name of the Lrrd. As if when all these evills and plagues were come upon them they had been stopt or restrained from prayer and totally withdrawn from God by some prohibition from men who were so farre from calling the people to solicite God by prayer to take off his hand Diligentius dâ—â— irati coluntur Sen. l. 1. Declam 1. that they forbid them so much as make mention of his name As if they were eyther afraid or abhorred to mention the name of God because he had been so terrible among them in his Judgements And whereas we translate We may not make mention of the names of the Lord. Ne illâ—â— inter pelles neque illuÌ„ tuis precibus solicites illius ve nomen aut memoriam usurpes qui tibi haec mala fecit mandavit voluit Pined Our late Annotators take notice of two other readings We have not or we will not make mention of the name of the Lord Implying that the stop lay onely in their owne spirits they being eyther so generally wicked that they had no minde to call upon God or so unbeleeving that they thought their case desperate and had no hope of help if they should A Heathen hath sayd That their gods were most worshipped when most displeased but we have some Christians in name who will not worship God at all when they are under the tokens of his displeasure Thoughts of God are never more pleasing to a gratious heart nor more troublesome to a wicked then when they are in trouble Fifthly which will further cleare what was last observed Observe That The unkindnesse and trouble which a godly man findeth among his friends or others in the world drives him neerer to God Job besides the hardship he found from strangers had been hardly used by his friends The use which he made of all this was to make more use of or to get neer unto God O that I knew where I might finde him This was Davids wisdome also Psal 142.4 5. I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man would know mee refuge failed mee no man cared for my soule When all slighted him when none tooke care of him what doth he in this case The next words tell us what I cryed unto thee O Lord I said thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living As if he had sayd Upon these unkindnesses disrespects and slightings which I found in the world I tooke occasion yea I was stirred in my spirit to cry unto thee O Lord and to say thou art my refuge that is then I made thee my refuge more then ever Having made thee my choyce in my best times when men honoured and embraced me I am much encouraged in these evill times when men regard me not and the more because they regard mee not to make thee my refuge to shelter my weather-beaten selfe in thy name and power As the naturall spirits in the body when the aire is very sharpe cold and unkinde to the outward parts retire inwards resort to the heart keep close to the heart whereas in warmer weather the spirits are drawne forth and therefore we are more subject to faintings and swoonings in hot weather then in cold so when it is cold weather in the world when it is as it were frost and snow storme and tempest then our spirituall spirits resort and come in to God and keep close to him When we have most friends in the world or when the world is most friendly unto us then God is our best friend his favour is the most beneficiall and desireable favour when we have as much as we can desire of favour among men But when the world hates us and frownes upon us especially when as the Prophet speakes of some Isa 66.5 Our Brethren hate us and cast us out for the name sake of God himselfe saying Let the Lord be glorified When 't is thus with us I say our soules are even forced into the presence of God to renew our interests in his love and to assure our soules that we are accepted with him If under such measure from men we finde not helpe in God we must remaine for ever miserable God alone is enough All without God is nothing to a Godly man The fullnes of the creature without God cannot satisfie him and the utmost want of the creature cannot discontent him while he enjoyeth God the more he wants in the creature the more he seeketh his content in God and when he findes nothing below he cryeth out with greatest earnestnes O that I knew where I might finde him whose throane is above and who is the onely happines of man while he is below Sixthly We see how Inquisitive Job was after God as he had a desire and a minde to finde God so he layes about him for information where and how to finde him Hence observe They who truely desire to finde God are diligent in searching after him O that I knew saith Job where I might finde him This was not an Idle wish many are much in the Optative mood full of wishings and wouldings but their wishes are altogether wishes and their desires nothing but desires and such desires are killing desires as Solomon hath taught us The desire of the sloathfull killeth him Prov. 21.25 an Idle
is that when God comes to plead with Beleevers he pleads not against them with his power and righteousnesse seing Christ with both pleads for them He pleads for them not onely as he is Jesus Christ the righteous but as he is the mighty the All-powerfull God This is the chiefest ground of a beleevers confidence that God as Job here saith will not plead against him with his great power What then did Job beleeve would God doe with him the next words enforme us what his faith was in that particular But he would put strength in mee So we render the Hebrew is onely thus He will put in mee Veruntatem ille pones in me Heb. what he would put is not expressed in the Original which hath caused some variety of opinion what it should be that the Lord would put into him and I finde a threefold conjecture in the poynt First The supplement is made thus He would produce arguments or reasons against me and this is conceived most suitable to the context and scope of the place as also to the action of pleading before spoken of Poneret afferret in me suas rationes Merc. Ipse poneret coÌ„tentioneÌ„ in me id est non robore mecum ageret sed verborum contentione Ch would he plead with or against me with his great power no but he would shew me the reason of his dealings with me he would not proceed against me in a martiall but in a legal way not in a prerogative but in a discoursive argumentative way he would shew me the cause why he thus contendeth with me and hath so sorely afflicted me God would condescend so farre to my weaknes as to give me an account though I dare not presume to call him to an account and though he hath both power and right to deale with me as he pleaseth yet I am much assured that he would be pleased to tell me why he deals thus with me This interpretation is cleare to the generall scope of the context and argues nothing unbecoming that holy confidence which the Grace of the Gospel alloweth a beleever in yea encourageth him unto when in any distresse he approacheth unto God for the reliefe and comfort of his troubled Spirit Secondly Another thus Will he plead against me with his great power Fonet in me sc cor suum i e. compleâ—eretur me favoure Pisc no but he would put his heart upon me that is he would imbrace me with his favour and lay me in his bosome Though his hand hath been exceeding heavy upon me yet I believe his heart is towards me though he hath smitten me with the wound of an enemy yet he will receive me as a friend and give me signal testimonies of his love I should not feele the weight of his hand but see the tendernes of his bowels and his heart moving towards me This also is an interpretation full of truth and as full of comfort to a wearied soule Thirdly The supplement made in our translation reacheth both the former and suites also to the former branch of the Text with much elegancy Alij sub audiuÌ„t repetuÌ„t 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in me robur poneret ad consistendum coram sâ— â—e infiâ—mum fulciens roborans Merc. Would he plead against me with his great power no but he would put power or strength into me he will be so farre from putting out his strength against me that he will put his strength into me he knoweth my weaknesse how unable I am to contend with or beare up against his power and therefore he would put power into me Mr Broughton renders clearely to this sense Would he by his great power plead against me no but he would helpe me helpe is power and he that helpeth another administers power to him he either puts new strength into him or joynes his strength with him So then Job was assured that God would put strength into him or be his strength to helpe and carry him through all the difficulties that lay before him Hence Observe First A beleiver hath no opinion of his owne strength or that he can doe any thing in his owne strength He trusts no more to his owne strength or power then to his owne righteousnesse or worthinesse As our Justification before God is purely founded in the righteousnesse of Christ so all the actings of our sanctification are maintained by the strength of Christ Holy Job spake nothing of his owne strength yea he spake as having no strength of his owne A Godly man knows his owne strength is but weaknesse and that when he prevailes with God it is with a power which he hath from God Paul useth a forme of speech which we may call a divine riddle 2 Cor. 12.10 When I am weake then I am strong he predicates or affirmes one contrary of another weaknesse is contrary to strength how a weake man should be strong and then especially strong when he is weake is hard to conceive by those who are spirituall and is unconceivable by those who are carnal This assertion is enough to pose and puzle nature He that is weake is strong or the readiest way to get strength is to be weake The truth and the Apostle Pauls meaning is plainly this When I am weake in my owne sense and opinion when I am convinced that I have no power of my owne then I feele power coming in then Christ strengthens me and I am strong then I experience that word My grace is sufficient for thee When I finde the waters of my owne cisterne low and fayling then I have a supply from the Spirit So the Apostle spake Phil. 1.19 I know that this also shall turne to my salvation through your prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ The first Adam received all his strength at once we now receive our strength by dayly fresh supplyes from the second Adam The word there used by the Apostle which we render supply signifieth an under-supply implying thus much that as the naturall body and each particular member of it is supplyed with sence and motion together with a suitable strength and ability from the head so beleevers who are altogether the mysticall body of Christ and each of them members in particular are supplyed from Christ their head by the Spirit with spirituall life motion and strength of Grace for every duty to which they are called or which is required of them And because as this is so in its selfe so beleevers are instructed in it therfore they disclaime and goe out of their own strength that the power of Christ may rest upon them Christ fills none but the hungry nor doth he strengthen any but the weake They who thinke they have any thing of their owne shall receive nothing from him unlesse Christ be all in all to us he will not be any thing at all to us Secondly Observe God himselfe puts strength into humbled sinners that they
golden pipes which did empty the golden oyle or according to the letter of the Hebrew the Gold out of themselves That spirituall oyle was called golden or gold because like gold shineing pure and precious The gifts and graces of the Spirit are golden oyle indeed So Jer. 51.7 Babylon hath been a golden Cup in the hand of the Lord Which some expound tropically taking the Continent for the thing contained The cup for the wine Called golden wine because of the splendidnes and beauty of it as Solomon speakes Pro. 23.31 When it giveth his colour in the cup. Or Babylon is called a Golden cup first because of the great glory wealth and illustrious pomp of that Empire described in Daniel Chap. 2.32.38 by a head of Gold and marked out in Isaiah by the name of the Golden City Isa 14.4 and secondly because God had caused other Nations to drinke deep of his wrath by the power of the Babylonian Empire Upon which account Mysticall Babylon is sayd to have a Golden cup in her hand Rev. 17.4 Gold is the King the chiefe of metals gold is among metals as the Sunne is among the Starres and Planets of Heaven the glory and Prince of them all So that when Job saith I shall come forth as gold his meaning is I shall come forth pure and in much perfection Gold is first the most precious metal secondly the most honourable metal thirdly the most weighty metal fourthly the most durable metal fifthly the most desirerable metal Every one is for gold Aurum per ignem probatum symbolum est jâ—storum nam illâ— minime laedit examen â—gnis per ista igitur verba vir sanctus candorem suae innocentiae conscientiae puritatem maximam cirâ—umloquitur Bold So that when Job saith I shall come forth gold his meaning is as if he had sayd my tryall will not diminish but rather adde unto me I shall be precious honourable weighty durable desireable after I have been in the furnace or fineing pot of my sorest and severest Tryalls And he speakes thus in opposition to his friends who had an opinion of him as if he were but drosse or the off-scoureing of all things as the Apostles were reckoned in their time I shall come forth not drosse and trash but gold as if he had sayd Were I once tryed I should be for ever quit of those Charges brought in against mee and of those scandals cast upon mee I should shine in reputation and honour like pure gold coming out of the fire I should recover my good name and be found a man loyall to God and righteous towards men Hence note Grace renders man excellent and precious Every godly man is gold yea he is more precious then fine gold The finest gold is but drosse to Grace the wicked of the world are reprobate silver or refuse silver Jer. 6.30 the Saints are finer then Gold refined in the fire for they are precious they are honourable they are usefull they are dureable and lasting they shall endure everlastingly they are weighty in their worth and their portion is an eternall weight of glory Secondly Whereas Job saith when I am tryed I shall come forth as gold Observe A godly man is no looser by being tryed yea he gaines by it He who before was reputed but as drosse and had much drosse in him comes out of the tryal as gold and loseth nothing of his weight worth or beauty by being tryed he onely loseth a good losse his drosse and the rubbish of his corruptions Grace is not onely grace still but more gracious even glorious after tryall Some speake of grace as if it were but drosse consumeable in the fire as if every temptation and tryal endanger'd it to an utter consumption or as if like lead it would quite evaporate and spend to nothing in the fire They sticke not to affirme that a true beleever may lose all his graces and how much soever enricht before by the Spirit yet prove a bankrupt in spiritualls Job was Confideâ—t that his gold would hold the tryal both of the hottest afflictions and of the strictest examinations He had been tryed long in the furnace of affliction heated seaven times more then ordinary and yet held his integrity and though he should come to tryal at the Judgement-seate of God which is more then seventy-times seven times stricter then the Judgement-seate of man according to truth can be yet he nothing doubted that nothing as to the general bent of his heart and frame of life should be found or appeare but integrity still That is but drossie grace natural grace if not hypocritical grace or a counterfeit onely of grace which aâ—ides not in the day of tryall They who loose the grace which they have shewed had onely a shew of grace Hypocrites shall â—oâ—e all at their tryal their paint their varnish will not endure the fire eyther of a lasting affliction or of that last examination when once a hypocrite is tryed then he is sham'd He may goe currant for pure gold a great while but at last he appeares but as a gilded sepulcher or drosse of gold Psal 119.119 Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like drosse And the Lord speaking of the degenerate house of Israel Ezek. 22.18 saith The house of Israel is to me become drosse all they are brasse and tin and iron and lead in the midst of the furnace they are even the drosse or drosses of silver That is though they are a professing people and hold out my name yet I having tryed and examined them throughly finde them to have nothing but a name of profession They being tryed are come forth like drosse The Apostle 1 Cor. 3.13 Allegorically shadowing out all sorts of superstructive doctrine by Gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble saith If any man build upon this foundation that is Christ Gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble every mans worke shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire Dum pâ—obantur toti in fumum abeunt and the fire shall try every mans worke of what sort it is If any mans worke abide which he hath built thereupon hee shall receive a reward if any mans worke shall be burnt he shall suffer loss c. The wood hay stubble shall be burnt but the gold silver precious stones will abide the tryall of fire Whether it be the fire of persecution tribulation and temptation nothing but holy truth can abide these fires or the fire of the holy Spirit who in Scripture is often compared to fire and who together with the light of the Word revealeth the soundnes or falsenes of all doctrines delivered by men and like fire consumes what is false but gives a further brightnes and lustre to the truth Even truth untryed may be counted drosse but being tryed it comes forth like gold Now as the truth of doctrines so the truth of persons in
their workes and graces will abide when they come to the Test or tryall God who puts away all the wicked of the earth as drosse will gather up all the godly of the earth as Gold when he hath tryed them and try them he will We read Dan. 7.9 10. how dreadfully God comes to Judgement I beheld till the thrones were cast downe and the ancient of dayes did sit his Throne was like the fiery flame and his wheeles as burning fire a fiery streame issued and came forth from before him the judgement was set and the bookes were opened Which whether it be meant of the last Judgement or of some speciall Judgement upon a particular state or oppressing power comes all to one as to the poynt in hand while it shewes that God in the tryal of men will examine their persons and their actions as by fire Of every such tryall it may be sayd as Mala. 3.2 3. Who may abide the day of his coming and who shall stand when he appeareth The Prophet speakes of the coming of Christ in the flesh at which time he was also mighty in Spirit for he is like a refiners fire and like fullers soape and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver When Christ came in the flesh to redeeme us he came with fire also to purge and sanctifie us and he comes with fire whensoever he comes in the Spirit to comfort and enlighten us and at last when he comes in glory he will come with fire to try examine and judge us When he comes to try us thus All the faithfull shall come forth as Gold but the wicked and their works will burne and be consumed When Saints come to tryal at last they will stand and when they are tryed here they will mend first their Corruptions will be the more outed and secondly their graces will be the more acted We may read this issue of their tryal Zech. 13.9 And it shall come to passe that in all the Land saith the Lord two parts therein shall be cut off and dye but the third shall be left therein Whether we take the Land in particular for Israel and the people of the Jewes or typically for all professors thorowout the world two parts shall be cut off and dye but the third shall be left therein And what will God doe with them or how will he deale with them We may see what at the 9th verse And I will bring the third part thorow the fire of affliction and examination and I will refine them as silver is refined and try them as gold is tryed and what will be the issue of this And they shall call on my name and I will heare them Here faith and prayer in which all graces are exercised are put for all graces When they are in this fire they shall call on my name In igne deum amantèr invocant candido germano sunt erga illum studio Theod. and I will heare them and I will say when they are in the fire it is my people and they shall say the Lord is my God They who pray in the fire of tryall or in the fiery tryall declare evidently that they are Gold in the fire but they to whom God saith in the fire of their tryalls yee are my people and they who being still in the same fire can say the Lord is our God are declared both by God and themselves eminently that they are gold in the fire They are as the choycest gold as the Gold of Ophir of whom the Lord saith by an act of distinguishing love yee are my people and who can say to God by an act of appropriating faith the Lord is our God Surely then Saints lose nothing in the fire but what is not worth the holding while God finds and owns them and they finde and owne God in the fire Further Some read this latter part of the verse as an offer Let him try mee Probat me and I shall come forth as gold as if Job had said I doe not refuse but desire a tryall God knowes my way the way that is in me let him come and try mee yea I am ready to come to him for my tryall Hence note A sincere heart is willing to be tryed 'T is a great part of the worke of a godly man to try himselfe and his workes and it is one of his greatest wishes that God would try him and his workes They who are sincere are much in trying themselves Let us search and try our wayes say they and turne againe unto the Lord. And they who are much in selfe tryal and Examination are willing to be tryed and examined both by God and man sure enough They that try themselves much are not afraid of the tryal of man no nor of the tryal of God If we compare the first verse of the 139th Psalme with the 23◠we shall see what an answer there is in them as to this poynt At the first verse David saith O Lord thou hast searched mee and knowne mee at the 23 verse hee prayes Search mee O God and know my heart why did David pray thus to God Search mee and know my heart having said before Thou hast searched mee and knowne mee Seing David knew that God had searched him what needed he to pray that God would search him why did he begge God to doe that which hee had done already The answer is at hand David was a diligent selfe-searcher and therefore he was so willing to be searched yea he delighted to be searched by God and that not as was said because himselfe had done it already but also because he knew God could doe it better Hee knew by his owne search that he did not live in any way of wickednes against his knowledge and yet he knew there might be some way of wickednes in him that he knew not of And therefore he doth not onely say Search me O God and know my heart try me and know my thoughts but he adds ver 24. see if there be any wicked way or any way of paine and griefe in me The same word signifies both because wicked wayes lead in the end to paine and griefe and lead me in the way everlasting As if he had said Lord I have searched my selfe and can see no wicked way in me but Lord thy sight is infinitely clearer then mine and if thou wilt but search me thou mayest see some wicked way in me which I could not see and I would faine see and know the worst of my selfe that I might amend it and grow better therefore Lord if there be any such way in me cause me to know it also O take that way out of me and take me out of that way lead me in the way everlasting David had tryed himselfe and he would againe be tryed by God that he being better tryed might become yet better He found himselfe Gold upon his owne tryall and yet he feared there
dread God as a Judge and revenger This feare is the issue of the Covenant of workes and the beginning of sorrow Thirdly There is a mixt feare not a pure filial nor a pure slavish feare but with a mixture or ingrediency of both Such I conceive the feare of Job was his was a mixt feare it had some tang of slavery in it and it had some touch of Son-ship in it there was much of the spirit of Bondage in it and something of the Spirit of Adoption in it With the former feare many good men have been much exercised in all ages especially before Christ came in the flesh and the clearer breaking and beaming out of Gospel light Rom. 8.15 Yee have not received the spirit of bondage to feare againe And Job 14.27 Let not your hearts be troubled nor be yee afraid that is be not burdened and opprest with that servile and slavish feare which you are subject to Christ spake it to his owne Disciples for even at that time deep impressions of that feare were upon them doubting much what would become of them when he should of which he had told them leave the world and be gone from them And besides that speciall reason which the Disciples then had to feare at that time This feare usually ariseth from two reasons in others at all times First From the Consideration of their owne weaknesse and faylings Secondly From the Consideration of the Majesty and greatnes of God when they Consider these things they are afraid And though Beleevers are freed from the praedominancy of slavish feare and are endued with infusions of true filial feare yet they are often taken with this mixt feare as in reference to their owne weaknes so respecting the Majesty of God with whom they have to doe When I Consider I am afraid of him Observe That the Majesty and power of God duely Considered are terrible even to his owne people Many men have slight thoughts of the great God they tremble not they feare not what 's the reason they Consider not they are careles and therefore they are fearelesse they are ignorant and therefore they are confident There are none so bold as they who are thus blind Who is the Lord sayd Hard-hearted Pharaoh that I should obey his voyce to let Israel goe I know not the Lord neyther will I let Israel goe That 's a sad Confidence that proceeds from ignorance and a sad fearelesnes that hath no ground but carelesnesse I remember what the answer was of a very Godly man upon his death-bed who having much trembling upon his spirit at the apprehension of the greatnes Majesty and glory of God it was said to him by a Godly friend that came to visit him Sir you have knowne God and been long acquainted with him why are you thus full of feare and trembling O saith he if I knew God more I should tremble more If we were but more acquainted with and did more Consider of the Infinite greatnes of God and of our owne distance from him as creatures much more as sinners how should we be swallowed up with divine amazements so that we must charge it upon the want of Consideration that so many have such undue and unbecoming thoughts of God as also that their thoughts fall so much below both their duty and their sins if wee did but Consider how sinfull we are and how holy God is we should alwayes serve him with feare and rejoyce with trembling When I consider I am afraid of him Job was afraid of him when he considered him and so was Asaph Psal 77.3 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord my sore ran in the night and ceased not my soule refused to be comforted I remembred God and was troubled I complained and my spirit was overwhelmed Such a remembering of God is not a bare act of the minde in opposition to forgetfulnes as if Asaph had sayd I remembered God that is I did not forget him but I remembered God that is I fixed my heart upon him I minded him fully or set him fully before my minde though the rememberance of God is the spring of Comfort to us and that many wayes yet an Asaph a holy man The holyest among many men may be troubled when he remembers God when he Considers his glory greatnes power and Majesty and himselfe a poore worme When the holy Prophet Isaiah saw the Lord in vision sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and saw the Seraphims covering their faces and their feete and heard them crying one unto another and saying Holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory Then he sayd Woe is mee for I am undone because I am a man of uncleane lips c. What a concussion was there upon his spirit upon the meeting of these two visions first that of the holines of God secondly that of his own uncleanenes Isa 6.1 2 3 4 5. Moses who had such intimacy with and accesse unto God is yet described trembling at his giving the Law Heb. 12.21 And so terrible was the sight that Moses said I am exceedingly afraid and tremble Moses knew that God was his friend a God in Covenant with him yet Moses said I exceedingly feare and quake the sight and voyce oâ— God is our Blessednes yet there may be a troublesome and a terrible both sight and voyce of God even Moses was afraid and so was Habakkuk Chap. 3.16 When I heard that is thy speech v. 2. my belly trembled my lips quivered at the voyce rottennes entred into my bones and I trembled in my selfe c. And at last wicked men though now so unconsidering who God is shall have such Considerations of him as shall for ever drowne and swallow them up in a deluge of feare the thoughts of the presence of God will be Eternall terror to them who now are unmoved with the thoughts of his presence or who have not God in all their thoughts There is a presence of God which shall be death to them who have not lived in a due and awfull consideration of his presence Thus the Apostle describes the punishment of wicked men 2 Thes 1.9 They shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. Wee may understand it two wayes First They shall be punished by being put from the presence of the Lord That 's the punishment of losse they shall be for ever excluded and banished from his presence That which was their desire here shall be their misery hereafter They who care not for the presence of God in this world shall be everlastingly cursed with the want of it in the world which is to come Secondly I rather conceive the meaning of that Text to be this there shall be a manifestation of the wrathfull presence of God to them and that shall be their punishment the presence of the Lord is everlasting life and light and joy to his owne people but
the presence of the Lord shall be terrible and dreadfull even everlasting destruction to wicked men they shall at last Consider it so much that they shall feare to purpose God will powre out such a presence upon them as they shall be equally unable to hide themselves from or stand before but must lie downe and sinke under it into the bottomlesse gulfe of despaire for evermore If the Godly are sometimes afraid where shall the wicked appeare when God appeares When I consider with Job I am afraid of him Vers 16. For God maketh my heart soft and the Almighty troubleth mee Nihil opinor addit novi sed tantum versiculum praecedentem exponit Sanct This verse is neere in sence with the former Job herein further shewing both a reason why he was afraid of God as also the effect which Gods dealing with him had upon his owne heart or how he was affected with it For God maketh my heart soft The word rendred to make soft signifies the abateing of the strength of the heart But it may be enquired what was this soft heart which God made him I answer First Negatively by a soft heart here wee are not to understand a penitent heart or a heart broken with Godly sorrow at the sight eyther of sin acted or wrath threatned 2 Kings 22.19 The Lord saith by the Prophet to Josiah Because thy heart was tender soft or melted and thou hast humbled thy selfe before the Lord when thou heardest what I spake against this place therefore c. The heart of flesh promised and given in the new Covenant is a relenting and repenting heart Ezek. 36.26 I will take away the heart of stone and give you an heart of flesh that is I will make your heart soft which before was hard Job had such a heart a soft heart in this notion when he spake thus but that 's not the heart here meant God had given him that softnes of heart before for he is described Chap. 1.1 A man that feared God and a man that feareth God is a man of a soft heart Prov. 28.14 Blessed is the man that feareth alwayes but hee that hardneth his heart shall fall into mischiefe Where the hard heart and the feare of God are opposed For wheresoever the true feare of God is in the heart that is a soft heart Secondly By a soft heart is not here meant the patient heart that 's a soft heart in Scripture a heart which is willing to submit to and beare the burden that God layes upon it in this sence God makes the heart soft when as he accustomes his to sufferings so he fits them to suffer Man naturally is like Ephraim Jer. 31.18 As a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoake both of active and passive obedience Onely God makes man submit his stiff neck and hard heart to a suffering condition and to answer the call of his sufferings Pharaoh is sayd to have a hard heart because he did not yeeld to what God called him to by Judgements he had not a patient but an unquiet spirit under the plagues sent upon him nor did he obey what he was summoned to by the Lords voyce in those terrible plagues Now though I grant that an heart made soft in patience is an excellent frame of heart yet wee cannot understand it so here for Job had a patient heart yea he had abundance of patience before as he fully discovered at the very beginning and breaking out of his troubles he did not flinch at the Crosse but did embrace it The Apostle exhorts all Christians to Remember the patience of Job And wee must apply that Scripture to Job before he came to this poynt Therefore the softnes of heart intended in this text is somewhat besides this Thirdly Much less are wee to understand by a soft heart a fearefull or a Cowardly heart that 's a soft heart indeed but in a bad sence Wee have it so expressed Deut. 20.3 Heare ô Israel you approach this day unto Battell against your Enemies let not your hearts be faint c. The Hebrew is let not your hearts be soft or tender a soft heart is not for a sword nor for a battel How shall they stand in dangers who are fallen below them A penitent heart and a patient heart are proper in dangerous undertakings but a cowardly heart is the greatest disadvantage in the world therefore the Lord commanded this to be proclaimed to his people Let not your hearts be tender when yee goe forth against your Enemies or as it is exprest afterward Feare not neither tremble neither be yee terrified because of them Job had not such a soft heart he was no coward when he complained before that the terrors of the Almighty did encamp against him as a dreadfull Army nor while he sayd here God hath made my heart soft Fourthly A soft heart is an effeminate delicate wanton heart There are too many who have such soft hearts Men that are fit for nothing but what is worse then nothing to wallow in the sinfull delicacies and delights of this present world The Apostle useth a word 1 Cor. 6.9 which expresseth this fully Wee render it effaeminate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Molles but both the Greeke and the Latine is soft that is persons wantonly and vainely given And Moses applyes the very word of Jobs text to this kinde of softnes Deut. 28.56 The tender or soft and delicate woman that would not adventure to set the sole of her foote upon the ground for delicatenes and tendernes or softnes her eye shall be evill towards c. This is not onely a sinfull softnes of heart Liquefecit afflictionibus consumpsit Merc Haec mollitudo pertinet ad timorem vehementē quo quis corde mente cedit divinae majestati potestati cum quis facile recipit cogitationem et metum supernae magnitudinis but the worst of sinfull softnesses Jobs heart was farre from this softnes As he was at that time a man of sorrows so he had not been at any time a man of pleasure But if Jobs soft heart were none of these what was it then I conceive the soft heart proper to this place is a heart weakened and laid low through the burden of affliction A heart so worne out and spent that it can hardly beare any more God had softned and even consumed his heart with sorrow and affliction As he abhorred a hardnes of heart to resist the hand of God so now he feared that his heart was not hard enough to beare it with that chearefulnes and constancy of courage which he desiered Hard things are firme compact and knitt together those that are soft are weake and unable to beare any weight So that Jobs softnes of heart was his weaknes to beare Teneritatem imbecillitatem affert animo meo attendenti ad omnipotentiam ejus Jun And he gives this as an account why he was afraid of the power of God
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
for a love to the truths and wayes of God which they practice for want of this they often apostatiâ—e and fall back even from the practice of them No bonds can hold us alwayes to the duties of obedience but those of love to God and to the things wherein duty calls us to obey And as want of this love is the reason why man is so apt to backslide and is so far as a Negative may be the very seed and principle of backsliding so it is the reason why God gives such up to the power and spirit of backsliding 2 Thes 2.10 11. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should beleeve a lie What is not begun in our affections will not abide long in our actions Secondly Observe Not to abide in the pathes of truth and holines is the marke of an ungodly man They who are not what they appeare in goodnesse will not alwayes so much as appear good They that are as Jacob spake of his eldest Son Reuben Gen. 49.4 unstable as water shall not excell nor are they to be numbred among the excellent ones The Apostle exhorts Saints 1 Cor. 15.58 To be stedfast and unmoveable alwayes abounding in the worke of the Lord. Saints move in the worke of the Lord but they must not move out of the worke of the Lord Bee ye stedfast and unmoveable but in what in the worke of the Lord That is the sphere in which Saints move the sphere of their activity and use and out of that they dare not move The Sun in the firmament is moving continually but it is in his proper line called by Astronomers The Eclipticke line So a godly man is alwayes moveing in the way of godlines that 's his proper line and he never moves out of it wholy Hee may have through the power of corruption and temptation his wandrings and goings astray but then he hath his repentings and returnings into the way againe he cannot abide long much lesse alwayes in the pathes of darknes Hee comes to himselfe with the prodigal and then he comes to his father he bethinkes himselfe where he is and comes backes into the path where he ought to be if at any time he walke in the counsel of the ungodly the gradation is made in the first Psalme which thing he ought not to doe yet surely he will not as it followes stand in the way of sinners or if he stand a while in that way yet he will not sit downe in the seat of the scornfull he will not rest nor stay there Now as it is an argument and a marke of Godlines when a man findes that though he hath many faylings and wandrings yet he abideth not in the pathes of darknes so it is an argument of the noughtines of a mans heart and state when though he now and then hits upon the doing of a good thing yet he abides not in the pathes of light Vaine thoughts as the Prophet Reproves the Jewes lodge in the wicked so long that the Lord complaines How long shall vaine thoughts lodge in you But as good thoughts seldome come to an ungodly man so they lodge not at all with him they are great strangers to him and he useth them as the worst of strangers yea as enemies he quickly turnes them off yea he thrusts them away from him he abideth not in the pathes of light Job having thus set forth the Spirit of a wicked man by his rebellion against the light by his unaffectednes with and unstayednes in the wayes and pathes of it proceeds to give us a further account of his wicked courses and workes of darknes Vers 14. The murtherer rising with the light killeth the poore and needy and in the night is as a Theife The murtherer is hee that killeth a man without warrant and authority every slaying of a man is not murther but to slay a man or to take away the life of a man without warrant that 's murther And that 's the grosse sinne forbidden in the sixt Commandement Thou shalt not kill or thou shalt doe no murther And this is usually committed eyther in malice to the person or in Covetousnesse after the spoyle Some take away the life of a man in malice to his person they hate him deliberately as Cain did Abel and therefore they kill him Others have no quarrel to the man possibly they never saw him before but they covet his goods and that they may rob him of his goods they rob him of his life They are such as live upon the spoyle and they will spoyle though they cause the innocent to dye for it and themselves too in the end In eyther of these wayes wee may understand the murtherer here The former because 't is sayd in the next words He slayes the poore and needy and there is little gaine in their blood when they goe downe into the pit The latter because 't is sayd in the latter part of the verse That in the night he is as a theife But Job first shewes us that this murtherer is a diligent man Rising with the light That is rising as early or as soon as the light riseth The murtherer is no sluggard the light doth not finde him in bed he takes the prime of the morning he will loose no time Men who love hunting rise early So doe these hunters of men When the morning is light they practice it saith the Prophet Mich. 2.1 Honest men rise early to goe about the workes of their Calling and wicked men rise early to fulfill the lusts of their hearts David saith Psal 101.7 I will early destroy all the wicked of the Earth As if David had sayd I will rise with the light to destroy the wicked and here you see how the wicked are described riseing Early to destroy the righteous to murther the Innocent So the next words expresse the designe of his early rising He riseth with the light what to doe no good I warrant you 't is To kill the poore and needy That 's his busienes He begins his mornings worke with a worke of cruelty you heare of killing presently The murtherers heart is full of blood and it will not be long ere his hand be full too for their feete are swift to shed blood Rom. 3.15 and they are skilfull to destroy But it may seeme that they are not very wise for themselves though they are very bloody against others For Job doth not say they slay the fat and full ones but The poore and needy There are some who distinguish between these two and tell us that in these two words two yea all sorts of poore are Included The first word they say intends those poore who heretofore were rich but now empoverished or fallen into poverty and that by the second word are meant those who have been born and alwayes bred up in a low condition But wee
to the widow That is he administers no helpe to the widdow in her wants no counsel to her in her straites nor any Comfort to her in her sorrows And this Negative he doth not good to the widow hath an Affirmative in it hee doth her wrong hee grieveth and vexeth the widow For as Negative Commandements alwayes containe the Affirmative while we are forbidden to doe any evill wee are enjoyned to doe the contrary good so negative practices usually imply the affirmative and while we neglect to doe good we are active in doing evill Or as the Negative threatnings of God containe affirmatives Exod. 20.7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vaine for the Lord will not hold him guiltles that taketh his name in vaine that is hee will hold him very guilty or look upon him as very sinfull and punish him accordingly that takes his name in vaine and as Negative promises containe affirmative promises Psal 51.17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit a broken and a contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise that is thou O God wilt highly esteem accept of and delight in a broken heart and as negative conclusions imply the affirmative Prov. 17.21 The father of a foole hath no Joy that is hee hath much sorrow and griefe Prov. 28.21 To accept persons in Judgement is not good that is to accept persons in Judgement is very bad so negative practices of sin containe the affirmative as elsewhere so here in the Text hee doeth not good to the widow that is he wrongeth and troubleth the widdow the widdow who is helples is hurt by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod significat câ—llâ—gare obmutescere The word which we render widow signifies in the verbe both to binde and to be silent Both which significations are complicated in the widows Condition For first the widow is bound though shee be loose from her husband shee is bound and that two wayes first with troubles that 's her affliction secondly shee is bound to be or stay much at home that 's her duty secondly as the widow is home-bound so she is tongue-bound too the widows eloquence is silence she speakes most to her owne commendation when she speakes little The Apostle Paul reproves widows about two things which discover two faylings in them opposite to both these latter bindings 1 Tim. 5.13 And withall they learne to be idle wandering from house to house As if he had sayd it is not comely for the widow to wander abroad she should stay at home the widow should be a fixed starre not a planet Not that the widow is to be a prisoner in her house but she should be so much there that shee may deserve the name of a House-keeper not of a wanderer from house to house The Apostle proceeds in his charge against the faulty widow And not onely Idle but which is the second vice Tattlers also and busie bodyes speaking things which they ought not Tattlers are such as use their tongues overmuch and usually much more then their hands whereas the widow should be much in busienes little in discourse alwayes doing seldome speaking We see the wisedome of God in teaching proper dutyes in common names in which thing the Hebrew language is most exact fruitfull But I shall returne from this digression if it may be so called about the word when I have onely added that the sence given from this Etymologie of the word doth not onely shew the widow much of her duty but aggravates the sin of the wicked man in the neglect or omission of his duty unto hir He doth not good to the widow no not to the widow who is bound downe with many sorrowes he speakes not a good word for the widow who is as David speakes in another case Psal 39.2 even dumbe with silence I have already both in this Chapter as also in the 22d shewed how sinfull it is eyther to neglect or afflict widows yea that to neglect them is to afflict them therefore I shall not prosecute those poynts here Onely from the forme of speaking Note Not to doe good is sinfull as well as to doe evill yea as sinfull as to doe evill Not to doe what we are enjoyned is as bad as to doe what we are forbidden We are not onely forbidden to wrong the widow Jer. 22.3 but we are often enjoyned to relieve and helpe her to visit her and doe her good therefore the widow hath wrong done to her when good is not done to her The spirit of wickednes is not yet drawne to the full length see the wicked man still at worke in the next verse Vers 22. Hee draweth also the mighty by his power hee riseth up and no man is sure of his life In the former verse the wicked man had to doe with the weake with the barren with the widow but now he grapples with the strong mighty Hee draweth also the mighty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 traxit per traxit occulto impetu aliquem impellere quo velis verbis atque rationibus aliquem trahere Drus The word may denote a twofold drawing First drawing by a secret hidden imperceptible power a moral power the power of perswasion working upon the heart and influencing the affections There is an internal atractive vertue which draweth the mind as the loadstone doth iron when nothing is seene nor so much as a word heard The word is used in that sence Judg 4.6 7. where the people of Israel being sore oppressed by Jabins Army under the conduct of Sisera Deborah the Prophetesse who at that time Judged Israel sent and called Baruch and said unto him Hath not the Lord God of Israel Commanded saying goe and draw toward mount Tabor and take with thee ten thousand men of the Children of Napthali and of the Children of Zebulun Thus God bid them draw to that place But what had God promised Deborah tells him what in the next verse And I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera the Captaine of Jabins Army with his Chariots and his multitude and will deliver him into thine hand But it may be questioned how God would draw Sisera with his Army thither It was not by any outward force onely God put a purpose into his heart to draw up his Army to that place that so he might fall into the snare Sisera had a secret motion or impulse upon his spirit which he could not withstand though he fell by obeying it Thus also God draweth soules to himselfe by the invisible power of his Spirit in their effectuall vocation and Conversion Joh. 6.44 No man can come to me except the father which sent me draw him how doth God draw hee drawes by perswasion not by compulsion his perswasion carryes a mighty commanding power with it This drawing is not a bare moral perswasion by the proposal of an object before them and so leaving
mine holy one wee shall not dye thou hast ordained them for Judgement and O God thou hast stablished them for Correction Thou art of purer Eyes then to behold evill and canst not looke on iniquity Wherefore lookest thou on them that deale treacherously and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous then he As if he had sayd Lord I know thou beholdest all the Evill in the world and art of purer eyes then to behold it with any delight or approbation Now seeing it is so why then doest thou looke on them that deale treacherously In the former part of the verse he sayd Thou canst not looke on iniquity and in the latter he saith why doest thou looke on them that deale treacherously There is a twofold looke of God First as was toucht before a looke of approbation secondly a looke of patience And so the meaning of the Prophet is seeing O Lord thou canst not looke upon sin approvingly why doest thou looke upon it patiently And holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoure the righteous As if he had said How is it Lord that thou doest not breake forth into the severest rebukes against them How is it that they have not so much to appearance as a frowne or an ill word from thee who have deserved blowes and utter breakings Indeed if God had but the patience of all Creatures had he but the patience of men and Angels the sin of man would spend it out in one day God could not hold his tongue nor his hand an houre Considering that he clearely discerneth all the wickednes that is in the wayes of men and that every the least unevennes as well as wickednes is extreamly displeasing to him were not his Infinite patience God could not hold but destroy all the wicked of the world or all that world which lyeth in wickednes were it not that hee is resolved to magnifie his patience And though for reasons knowne to himselfe hee beares with those that are burdensome to him very long not onely many dayes but yeares yet the time is at hand when he will bring them to Judgement and Judge them according to those wayes upon which his eyes have been Then the wicked shall finde that as the eyes of God have been upon all their wayes so that he hath not at all or not in the least been pleased with any of them JOB CHAP. 24. Vers 24 25. They are exalted for a little while but are gone and brought low they are taken out of the way as all other and cut off as the tops of the eares of Corne. And if it be not so now who will make me a lyar and make my speech nothing worth JOb still proceedeth to describe and here concludeth his description of the state of wicked men he hath as hath been shewed in the exposition of the former part of the Chapter drawne the blackest character of their wickednesse as also given the fayrest prospect of their outward happinesse They sin and prosper they sin and are safe they have much good while they doe much evill This text speakes againe of their prosperity yet with a diminution they are exalted but it is onely for a little while for they are gone and brought low they are taken out of the way as all others and cut off as the tops of the eares of Corne. There are two opinions concerning the general scope of these words First Some conceive that Jobs aime is to shew that both in life and death wicked men fare like other men They are exalted for a little while as all others are they are gone brought low and taken out of the way as all others are Yet secondly I rather incline that he here intends to set forth the miserable conclusion of wicked men not onely as they are cut off from worldly enjoyments as all men sooner or latter are but as they are cut off from worldly enjoyments in a way which is not common to other men or which is not the common way of man And the reason why I rather incline to this as Jobs scope is because these various expressions of the same thing they are gone they are brought low they are taken out of the way they are cut off these various expressions I say seeme to carry somewhat more then the remove of men out of the world by the ordinary way of dying or then by a naturall death Vers 24. They are exalted for a little while but are gone They that is the wicked the adulterer the theife the oppressour such he had before described are exalted they grow great and spread farre they grow high or are advanced to high places The originall word which we render to be exalted signifies to be lifted up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 levavit exaltavit exaltatus fuit latini Romā hac originatione decorare gestiunt ab magnitudinem or any thing that is lifted up in height or greatnesse and hereupon some Critricks tell us that the Great City Rome had her name from this Hebrew roote Rome as all who know any thing of antiquity know is a City which hath been exalted over the nations a City great in strength and mighty in power Rome is as much as height or exaltation As Abraham is a high father an exalted father They are exalted The word may be applyed to a twofold exaltation first an inward exaltation by pride some rise within faster then they rise without yea there are some that rise very high within when they are cast very low without they exalt and lift up themselves in pride of spirit though they are cast downe in state The word is often applyed to note pride or haughtinesse Micah 2.3 Thus saith the Lord behold against this family doe I devise an evill from which ye shall not remove your necks neither shall ye goe haughtily The word is ye shall not goe in your height in your altitudes as ye have done the case shall be altered with you and the Tables turned for this is an evill time that is an evill time to you a time of calling you to an account about and of punishing you for all your wickednes and especially for your pride As ye have made it an evill time by your sin so ye shall finde it to be an evill time to and by your smart And this hight of spirit often breakes forth and is signified in height of action or in haughty postures The lifting up of the head the stretching out of the neck Thus Isa 2.11 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled The heart looks out at the eye the lofty heart makes a lofty looke according to the frame of the heart is the cast of the eye the eye is not proud but as it is instructed and tutoured by the heart so it acts proudly and looks haughtily And thus they alwayes act who though they are not exalted yet have a minde to exalt themselves who when others cast no
say a worme thou art and to wormes thou shalt returne Thus wee see man is a poore thing a very poore thing and hence I shall make foure or five briefe inferences First Let no man be proud or have high thoughts of himselfe the son of man is but a worme O why doth man swel above the clouds or proudly make his nest among the Starres when as he must shortly fall among the clods and as he is a worme so be eaten up of wormes Secondly Let men take heed of adorning one another with great words and flattering titles let us take heed of having the persons of men in admiration it is as vaine a thing for any man to give great flattering titles to others as it is to have high thoughts of himselfe The titles which the Spirit of God gives to man are humbling titles a flower a shadow c. any thing which may keep downe his spirit and abate selfe-valuations we should learne as to thinke of our selves so to speake of other men as the Holy Ghost speaketh As he doth not paint man out with praises nor speake of him as Courtiers whose hearts are the shops of complements and their tongues the venters of them doe of Princes So neyther should we There are two extreames which wee should labour exceedingly to avoyd in our references to men and yet most men walke in one of these extreames towards men First we should take heed or reproaching vilifying and despising others for though it be a duty for every man to thinke meanely of himselfe and to say of himselfe I am a worme and though wee may lawfully thinke and say so of all men as to the general truth of the proposition yet it is so farre from being a duty that it is not at all lawfull to call any man worme with reproach and contempt of the meanenes of his person Secondly we should take heed of flattering and daubing others as those Tyrians did Herod crying out it is the voyce of God and not of man Acts 12.22 whereas God to shew their mistake and that he was indeed but a worme smote him and he was eaten up of wormes Elihu concludes and resolves excellently to this poynt Job 32.21 22. Let me not I pray you accept any mans person neyther let me give flattering titles unto man for I know not to give flattering titles in so doing my maker would soone take me away As God tooke away Herod for receaving flattering titles so they who give them are in danger to be taken away by God Thirdly Be not Envious at others what if another have a little more glory riches beauty strength power then thou hast what though he have a little more knowledge and be a little higher in gifts then others yet hee is but a worme still what 's man but a worme and what 's the son of man the best of men but a worme why should a worme Envy a worme what though some men are silke wormes a little better furnished and richer then others in mind and body yet they are but wormes in silke and many who appeare so are but Glow-wormes which shine a little but have no consistence Fourthly Let the sons of men take heed of vexing one another why should wormes rise up against wormes why should wormes destroy wormes cruelly bloodily Wee are all weake as wormes let us therefore engage that little strength wee have for the supporting not for the ruining of one another Wee usually have so much tendernes towards wormes in kinde that when wee see them crawling upō the ground we avoyd treading upon them yet how doe men purposely tread upon wormes in likenes All men are wormes in likenes we should not willingly tread upon or hurt any man But poore men and men of low degree are more wormes then rich men and men in high places are therefore take heed of oppressing the poore for that is indeed a treading upon wormes And though while you tread upon wormes the weake and needy they cannot as Christ speakes of swine Math. 7.6 turne againe and rent you yet if you doe so God the strong God will turne upon you and teare you while there is none to deliver Lastly Take this inference from it Man by sin is much degraded and fallen below himselfe Man by sin is become inferiour to the meanest creatures who was once above all visible creatures man in the state of Creation was the chiefe piece of the visible world hee was next to the Angels who are of the Invisible world but now man is fallen very low he is levell'd with the lowest of the Creatures a worme not onely doe the heavenly bodyes exceed him in beauty but even the earthly bodyes the beasts of the field and the worme that crawles upon the earth and lives in the bowels of it is good enough to make comparison with him See what man hath lost by sin see how hee is degraded and fallen from his state and statelynes yea I may say that man by sin is not onely fallen from that state and statelynes wherein he was created but he is fallen below the state of the lowest creature Man by sin is not onely a worme but worse then a worme A worme is not capable of morall polution a toad hath naturall poyson but man hath morall poyson in him which is worse then naturall poyson and which makes the condition of man yet more vile his moral poyson sin I meane is to him naturall It is his misery and his dishonour that he hath it and it is his greater misery and dishonour that he loves it and that it is not so much his disease as his desire and as the first sin the sin of nature hath debased all mankinde at once so every man that goeth on in and multiplyeth with desire the acts of sin debaseth himselfe yet more and maketh himselfe not onely lower then the worme which is the lowest of living things but even lower then the lowest things that have no life Sencelesse livelesse creatures are better then sinfull men such I meane as live in sin and better it had been for any never to have had a being or not to have lived at all then to dye in sin Seeing then sin hath degraded us and placed us among and below the wormes who were once next to Angels how are we engaged to Jesus Christ who by becoming a worme for us hath raised us to be heyres of blessedness with the holy Angels for ever and hath lifted us up to that hight of honour that even the holy Angels minister to us as long as we are here And how should we strive to raise our selves up higher and higher in the Improvement of all that grace which is freely offered to us in Christ even to our dayly conversation in heaven and our sitting together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus as the Apostle speakes Eph. 2.16 It is sad for any man who is but a worme to be lifted up in himselfe
man chafed and enraged as a man full of wrath and fury but as a man most tenderly affected and full of pity for a bruised reade shall he not breake and smoaking flax shall he not quench a bruised read and smoaking flax are emblems of the weake of the arme without strength of those who are without wisdome Christ will not deale roughly with those he will not breake the bruised read nor quench the smoaking flax that is such as are broken with the sence of sin such as are weake in faith such as are so much over-powred by corruption that they doe rather smoake and make an ill-sented smother then burne or shine in a gracious profession such as are thus low and meane in spiritualls Christ will not breake with his power nor quench with his rebukes till he send forth judgement to victory that is till he hath perfected their conversion and hightned their graces to the full and caused the better part in them to prevaile over the worse as the house of David did over the house of Saul till it arive at a blessed victory And againe Isa 61.2 The spirit of the Lord God is upon me for whâ—t because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meeke he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted to proclaime liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound Here is helping those that have no power and saving the arme that hath no strength Thus Christ handles those who through temptation affliction or any trouble are brought low For the neglect of this duty the Lord reproves the Shepheards Ezek. 34.2 3 4. Son of man prophesie against the Shepheards of Israel prophecy and say unto them thus saith the Lord God unto the Shepheards Woe be to the Shepheards of Israel that doe feed themselves should not the Shepheards feed the flockes That is should they not be more intent upon the feeding of their flocke with spiritualls then upon the feeding of themselves with temporalls should they not labour more to feed the peoples soules then their owne bellyes surely they ought But what did the Shepheards of Israel The next words shew us both what they did and what they did not Ye eate the fat and ye cloath you with the wool ye kill them that are fed These things they were forward enough to doe But see what they did not ye feed not the flock That 's a general neglect of duty then followeth their neglect of particular duties The diseased have ye not strengthened neyther have ye healed that which is sicke neyther have ye bound up that which was broken neyther have ye brought againe that which was driven away by force of Satans temptation neyther have ye sought that which was lost through selfe-folly and corruption Here is a large enditement against the Shepheards All which may be summed up in Jobs language to Bildad They did not helpe those who had no power they did not save the arme without strength nor counsel those who had no wisdome See againe how the Prophet describes the compassionatenesse of God to his people in an afflicted condition Isa 27.8 In measure that is moderately when it shooteth forth thou wilt debate with it he stayeth his rough winde in the day of the East winde that is when affliction like an East winde blowes feircely upon his from the world then he stayeth his rough winde he will not bring his rough winde out of his treasures to joyn with the East-winde God will deale gently with his when they are hardly dealt with by men And thus it is our duty when it is a day of the East winde a day of trouble and temptation upon any soule to stay the rough winde to breath gently to give refreshment and ease to the weary soule How hast thou helped him that hath no power how savest thou the arme that hath no strength Secondly Observe The manner how we performe any duty is to be attended as well as the matter Bildads businesse was to comfort the sorrowfull to strengthen the infirme how did he performe this his strengthening was a weakning his helping was a grieving of Job already weake and grieved and the reason was because he failed in the manner or mannaging of this worke we must be carefull as to doe good for the matter so to doe it effectually which cannot be unlesse it be done rightly Some goe with an honest purpose to helpe who yet administer no helpe at all to every such helper it may be sayd with rebuke How hast thou helped him that is without power how unhandsomely hast thou done it what worke hast thou made of it Thou hast but entangled the poore soule worse then before This runs through all duties We may say to some How have you prayed and called upon God They onely speake a few words present a few petitions but without a heart without faith without a sense of the presence of God or of their owne wants how have such prayed call ye this prayer we may say to others how have you heard the word of God is this to heare what to reâ—eive the sound or the sense of the word and never to minde it more never to digest nor turne what is heard into practice is this hearing We may say to others how have you fâ—sted and humbled your soules before God Is this a fast that God hath chosen a day for a man to hang downe his head like a bullrush Is this fasting to God even to God No This is but a mock-fast a No-fast God hates such formality in praying hearing fasting with a perfect hatred A body exercised and a soule sitting still is not worship God is a spirit and will be worshipped in spirit and in truth In the truth or according to the rule of his owne word as also in the truth or according to the sincerity of our owne hearts unlesse we worship God in this twofold truth we worship him not at all as he will be worshipped how much soever we seeme to have a will to worship him As Job here puts a question mixt with admiration and indignation to his helper How hast thou helped him that hath no power How ilfavordly how bunglingly hast thou done it So the Lord will put such a question to many of his worshippers How have ye worshipped him that hath all power how slightly how formally how hypocritically have ye done it Therefore in all duties looke to the manner as well as to the matter and labour to doe them well as well as to doe them To neglect the doing of a duty or the doing of it negligently are alike offensive unto God and he will say to the latter with as much displeasure How hast thou done what I commanded as he will to the latter Why hast thou not done what I commanded yea Thirdly Observe That which is not done as it ought is to be judged as if not done That which we strive not
the breath whose spirit or whose breath came from thee The sense is the same And. First Some interpret Job thus Whose spirit or whose breath came from thee That is Consider O Bildad whose spirit moved thee or who breathed these things into thee whose breath or whose spirit came from thee when thou didst utter these words so 't is a rebuke of Bildads presumption as if he had conceaved himselfe wrought or acted by some extraordinary spirit while he was speaking or that the things which he uttered had been dropt into him by an immediate Revelation from heaven whose spirit came from thee what breath what gale hath filled thy sayles thou hast high conceits of thy selfe as if God had spoken to thee by his Spirit or as if thou hadst spoken these things to me from his mouth But is it not rather thy owne spirit thy owne heart which hath dictated these words unto thee Some thinke the same spirit comes from them when they speak which came from the holy Prophets and Apostles who yet are deceaved The Disciples of Christ thought the same spirit came from them which came from Eliah when they said Luk. 9.54 Lord wilt thou that we command fiâ—e to come downe from heaven and consume them as Elias did But he turned and rebuked them and sayd ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of As if he had sayd in the language of Job ye know not whose spirit comes from you ye would speake the words of Elias but ye have not the spirit of Elias you have a zeale but not according to knowledge yours is but a humane affection not a divine inspiration as Elias his was his was a pure spirit of zeale but yours is a rash spirit of revenge And therefore your motion suites not with your calling for as I am come so I send you to save not to destroy We may speake the same words and doe the same things which others have done and spoken and yet not with the same but with quite another spirit Therefore examine whose spirit comes from you This is a good and profitable sence Yet Cujus anima prodijt ex te i. e. quem consolatus es tam efficaciter sermone tuo ut anima ejus ex maerore quasi in corpore sepulta jacebat rursum è latebris prodierit seseq per corpus exserue rit Pisc Cujus animam verbis tuis vivificasti Hebraei Apud Merc Secondly Rather thus Whose spirit came from thee that is whose soule or whose minde hath been recovered out of trouble and feare out of sadnesse and sorrow by the words which thou hast spoken Thus the spirit is taken for his to whom he spake not for his spirit who spake or not for the spirit with which he spake This is a Great truth gratious and right words rightly applyed doe as it were releive the spirit and bring back the fainting yea dead soule from the grave of griefe and sorrow wherein it lay as buried Now sayth Job whose spirit came from thee Hast thou recovered or raysed any languishing soule by what thou hast sayd who hath felt life and power coming from thee I am sure I have not though I have heard thee out and heard thee attentively What the Moralist sayd of Idlenes the same may we say of sorrow or heavynes It is the buriall of a man while he liveth And therefore he that hath comforted a man and recovered him out of his sorrows may be sayd to give him a new life and that the spâ—rit of such a man is come forth from him yea he that instructeth the ignorant and bringeth them to the saving knowledge of God may be sayd to breath or put a soule into them In which sence some of the Jewish writers expound that place Gen. 12.5 where it is sayd That Abraham tooke Sarah his wife and Lot his Brothers son and all their substance that they had gathered and the soules that they had gotten in Charan c. that is all those whom by good instruction and example they had gained to God or as the Apostle speakes 1 Thes 1.9 had by their meanes turned to God from Idolls to serve the living and true God These soules they got in Charan though Abraham and Sarah were barren of naturall issue yet they had much spirituall issue many soules or the soules of many came from them And therefore when Job would put a disparagement upon what Bildad had spoken he puts him this Question Whose spirit or whose soule came forth from thee or whom hast thou resouled as the Greeke word which the Apostle useth for refreshing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth elegantly signifie Acts 3.19 Repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the time of refreshing or resouling shall come from the presence of the Lord. When a man faints or is very weary we say he hath lost his spirits and he is even as a man without a soule But when in the use of any meanes he is refreshed then we say his spirit or soule is come to him againe The spirit of man comes onely from God in its natural constitution he is the father of Spirits Eccl 12.7 Heb. 12.9 But the spirit of man may come from man in its refreshings and consolations And therefore sayth Job to Bildad Whose spirit came from thee or whom hast thou comforted Thou hast undertaken to comfort me but I am not comforted Hence note Holy truths or words rightly applyed have a releiving yea a reviving power in them Such words give a man his soule againe when he hath lost it and when he is as it were gone from himselfe he is brought backe to himselfe againe For as it is sayd of the repenting Prodigall he came to himselfe he was gone he was lost from himselfe his soule was departed from him his understanding was none of his he was no more Master of any spiritually rationall faculty then a dead man is of any meere rationall faculty and so his father reported him whilst in that condition this our sonne was dead but is alive he was lost but he is found Luk. 15.32 Now I say as it is in extreame sinnings so in extreame sorrowings and dejections of spirit a man is lost from himselfe he is as a dead man and so when comfort comes in againe life may be sayd to come in againe he who before was lost is found and he who was dead revives The word revives from a twofold death It revives a natural man from the death of sin and it revives a Godly man from a death in sorrow How many spirits have come forth at the voyce of the Word out of the grave of sin Christ foretold this resurrection of the soule by the preaching and publication of the Gospel Joh. 5.25 The houre is coming and now is when the dead shall heare the voyce of the son of God in the ministery of the word and they shall live And lest any
should thinke that this is meant of the resurrection of the body Christ speakes of that distinctly ver 28. Marvel not at this for the houre is coming he doth not say as before and now is in the which all that are in the Graves dead bodyes shall heare his voyce and come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evill unto the resurrection of damnation As if Christ had sayd That powerfull voyce and a voyce lesse powerfull then that will not doe it which is able to rayse dead bodyes bodyes mouldered into dust from the earth and cause them to live againe that voyce I say is able to rayse a dead soule from a state of sin to newnes of life The Apostle saith as much while he calleth the preaching of the Word a savour of life unto life in them that are saved 2 Cor 2.16 They smel and tast life even eternal life at the receaving of the Word And as it is the meanes of conveighing life to those who are dead in sinne so of recovering and renewing life to those who are dead in sorrow Worldly sorrow or the sorrow of the world worketh death 2 Cor. 7.10 and extreame spirituall sorrow or the extreame sorrow of the soule about spiritualls puts us into a kinde of death Thus Heman spake of himselfe in that case Ps 88.4 5. I am counted with them that goe downe into the pit I am as a man that hath no strength free among the dead like the slaine that lie in the grave whom thou remembrest no more and they are cut off from thy hand As Heman was counted among the dead by others so he was like a dead man in his owne account too as he speakes at the 15th verse I am afflicted and ready to dye from my youth up while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted He was not ready to dye of bodyly diseases but of soule terrours nor could any thing revive him or fetch him backe from that death but the favour of God shining to him in the word of promise how glorious is the word by the workings of the Spirit which causeth the spirit to come forth and maketh them who were free among the dead become free among the living This effect and fruit of the word Job expected from his friends before and now from Bildad but all in vaine As their so his discourse with Job was fruitlesse and ineffectuall Much hath been spoken but I have got nothing I have got no spirit no refreshing my heart is no whit cheared nor my soule comforted both you and the rest of your brethren have proved miserable comforters to me To whom hast thou uttered words I am no better then if you had sayd nothing And whose spirit came from thee not mine for as yet notwithstanding all your reasonings my spirit is not returned to me I am as deepe in sorrow as ever I was There is yet another reading of this last clause of the verse given by Mr Broughton And whose soule admired thee The same word may signifie to admire and to come forth because the soule or spirit of a man comes forth as it were to gaze upon those things and persons which he admireth As if Job had sayd Possibly O Bildad thou presumest that thou hast spoken like an Oracle of Wisdome even much beyond the rate and proportion of ordinary men or of what is common to man and therefore doest expect to be applauded yea to be admired But whose soule is come forth by reason of thee who hath admired thee not I nor doe I know that any man hath reason so to doe unlesse it be because thou hast so much mistaken my meaning and intention in what I sayd and hast sayd things so improper to my condition Some have the persons of men in admiration because of advantage Jude v. 16. and others desire no other advantage but to be cryed up and had in admiration I dare not say that Bildad was a man of such a spirit though this translation whose soule admired thee seemes to charge him with such a folly JOB CHAP. 26. Vers 5 6 7. Dead things are formed from under the waters and the inhabitants thereof Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering He stretcheth out the North over the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing IN the former part of this Chapter Job reproved the last discourse of Bildad as unprofitable not that it was so in it selfe for that was true and a great truth which he spake of the greatnesse of God but the method which he used and the application of it to his case made it so How hast thou helped him that is without power c. In this Context and the subsequent part of the Chapter Job enters upon or reassumes the same argument or subject which Bildad had handled before The power soveraigntie and dreadfullnes of God in his workes both of Creation and providence all the world over Job would let Bildad understand that he was not unacquainted with the doctrine that he had prest upon him in the former Chapter As if he had sayd Doest thou thinke that I know not these things surely I can tell thee as much yea more of the power of God then thou hast spoken and thereby thou shalt see that I am not to learne nor to seeke in this matter yea I will point and paint out the power of God not onely in the visible heavens but in those things which lye unseene I will goe downe to the deepes to the bottome of the mighty waters I can tell thee that he is not onely admirable above but beneath in so much as nothing is bred or brought forth whether animate or inanimate in the vast Ocean but it is by his power and at his disposing Yea I will goe as low as hell and search the power of God there I will also ascend up to heaven and speake of the great things that God doth in the ayre and in the clouds and among the starrs whereby you may see that I am no stranger to such divine Philosophy and therefore this was not the poynt you should have insisted upon or that I needed to be informed in That 's the general scope and aime of Job in these words I shall now touch upon the particulars Dead things are formed from under the waters Jobs first instance concerning the power of God is about things under the waters Dead livelesse inanimate things are formed there Properly that onely is a dead thing which hath sometime lived wee cannot say a stone is a dead thing because it never had any life neither can wee say that water or earth are dead things for they never had any life but those things that have had life whether vegetative or sensitive or rationall as man or beasts or plants when once that life is withdrawne from any of them that is properly called a dead thing Yet in a generall
Acts 27.20 Tenere faciem throni est coelum occultare et obducere nubibus That neyther Sun nor Starrs in many dayes appeared here was a holding backe or covering of the face of the throne of God And thus our experiences have often found it held backe the face of heaven being masked or vayled over with naturall clouds and vapours Againe if we take the face of the throne of God for that eminent manifestation of himselfe as in heaven Thus also God holdeth backe the face of his throne by covering it with a Metaphoricall cloud as it is expressed Psal 97.1 2. The Lord reigneth c. clouds and darknesse are round about him that is we can see no more of his glory in reigning then we can see of a Kings throne which is covered with a Canopy and compassed about with curtaines Job gives this plainly for the interpretation of this former part of the verse in the latter part of it And spreadeth his cloud upon it That is upon the face of his throne Wee may take this cloud first properly thus God covers the heavens from the sight of our eyes Secondly improperly as clouds note onely secrecy and privacy Thus God spreadeth a cloud upon his throne to hide it from the eye of our understanding so that we can no more comprehend the glory of God in himselfe or in his wayes and workings towards man then we can see the Sunne Moone and Starres when muffled and wrapt up in thicke clouds Thus David speaketh of the Lord Psal 18.11 He made darkenes his secret place his pavilion round about him were darke waters and thicke clouds of the skyes But the Apostle saith 1 Tim. 6.16 That God dwelleth in light How then doth the Psalmist say there and elsewhere that he made clouds and darknes his secret place and his pavilion I answer As the Lord is light and hath no darkenes at all in him Joh 1.5 so as to himselfe he ever dwelleth in light and hath no clouds nor darkenes at all about him And therefore when it is sayd that he spreadeth a cloud upon his throne and maketh darkness his secret place or his secret place darke we are to understand it in reference to our selves for whensoever God hideth himselfe or the reason of his dealings and dispensations from us Then the cloud is spread upon his Throne When God is sayd to spread a cloud over us or any thing we have it noteth his care over us and his protection of us Isa 4.5 And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion and upon her assemblyes a cloud and smoake by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night what is meant both by this cloud and flaming fire is clearely expounded in the last words of the verse for upon all the glory shall be a defence or a covering Thus I say a cloud spread by God upon us implyeth that we are under his covert and defence But when God spreadeth a cloud upon or covereth himselfe with a cloud this implyeth all the Scripture over the hiding and concealing of himselfe and his workes from us And in this sence Job sayth He holdeth backe the face of his throne and spreadeth a cloud upon it Hence note First God hath a throne Kings have thrones much more hath God who is the King of kings King Solomon made himselfe a great throne of Ivory and overlayd it with the best Gold 1 Kings 10.18 Kings have formall Thrones God hath a real one Hee hath all power in his hand and this he administreth according to the pleasure of his owne will both in heaven and earth Note Secondly God manifesteth himselfe in heaven as Princes upon their thrones so heaven is the throne of God And where God acts most our affections should be most and our conversation most Where the Throne is thither the great resort is many flocke to the Court. As it will be our glory hereafter to be in heaven or about the throne of God for ever in person so it is our grace to be dayly there in Spirit while we are here The earth is Gods footestoole yet many make that their throne Heaven is Gods throne and many make that their footestoole They tread and trample upon the things of heaven while they set their hearts upon the things of the earth 'T is a sad mistake when men set their feete where they should set their hearts and prophane the throne of God not onely by levelling it with but by laying it lower then the ground Observe Thirdly God hideth his owne glory from the sight of man He holdeth backe the face of his throne he will not suffer the lustre of it to appeare but spreadeth a cloud upon it Indeed we are not able to beare the cleare discoveryes of divine Glory 1 Tim. 6.16 God dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto though he were permitted and offered the priviledge to approach unto it God dwelleth in and is possessed of that infinite perfection of light that no creature is capable of When Moses made that petition to God Exod 33.18 I beseech thee shew me thy glory The Lord answered v. 20. Thou canst not see my face for no man shall see me and live It seemes that while God spake with Moses his glory was overshadowed or that God to use Jobs language in the text held backe the face of his throne and spread a cloud upon it and therefore Moses begg'd the removall of it or that his glory might breake through it and shine unto him Wel sayth God thou canst not see my face as if he had sayd If I should grant thee that request thou art not able to enjoy it or make use of it for as my nature is altogether invisible so thou canst not beare the super-excelling brightnes which the cleare manifestations of my immediate presence would dart forth upon thee for that Glory of my presence is too great a weight for humane fraylety to stand under it would astonish rather then comfort thee and in stead of refreshing confound and make thee as a dead man No man shall see my face and live Man must dye before he can in that sence see the face of God and then he shall as the Apostle speakes 1 Cor 13.12 see face to face and know as he is knowne So that though we are much short of the happines of the next life while we see as through a glasse darkely and God holdeth backe the face of his throne yet it is a mercy to us while we are in this life that he doth so because we are not able to abide the sight of him face to face or to behold the face of his throne As Christ had many things to say to his Desciples which they were not able then to beare so Christ hath purchased such mercyes and priviledges for his people as they are not able to beare while they are on this side the grave Every state hath enjoyments suitable
a house for the comfort of our lives here who never deserved the meanest cottage how should we pray that he would Garnish our soules by the Spirit as a heaven for himselfe to dwell in or as the Apostle speakes Eph. 2.22 That we may be builded for an habitation of God through the Spirit God hath two houses an upper house and a lower house The heaven of heavens is his upper house and the heaven of an holy and humble heart is his lower God is every where but he dwelleth no where but in a heaven He dwelleth not in the heart of any man till that be made a heaven and that a heaven Garnished by the Spirit As the Sunne Moone and Starres are the garnishing of the naturall heaven so holy knowledge and the graces faith hope and love are the Garnishing of those spirituall heavens the hearts of the sons of men And untill their hearts be thus garnished they are not an heaven for God but a hell or habitation for the devill and he puts furniture and garnishings into them sutable to himselfe and fitting his owne entertainement We read in the Gospel Math 12.43 44. That when the uncleane Spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest and findeth none Then he saith I will returne into my house from whence I came out and when he is come he findeth it empty swept and garnished Lusts and corruptions unbeliefe pride wrath envy these are the Garnishings of Satans house And as he delighteth most to dwel there where he findeth most of these Garnishings so God delighteth most to dwel in that soule which is most Garnished with grace Then pray and pray earnestly that God who hath garnished the heavens by his Spirit for our use would also garnish our hearts by his Spirit for his owne use Thirdly As this should provoke us to pray that our hearts may be garnished as a house of delight that God may dwel in us So it should provoke us to garnish our lives that God may be honoured by us And as God hath not onely made a good world for us as to the matter but made it pleasant and adorn'd it for us so we should strive not onely to doe that which is good for the matter but to put ornaments upon it and make it pleasant to our utmost in the eyes of God We should garnish our workes as God hath garnished his God hath as it were polisht and engraven his workes for us by exquisite art and skill so that the workmanship is better then the matter and shall we satisfie our selves if we doe that which is good for the matter though we bestow no cost no holy skill and workmanship upon it shall we serve God onely with plaine worke when we see how curious and elaborate his workes are I grant plaine worke is best and most pleasing to God as plainenes is opposed to hypocrisie but plaine worke is not best as plainenes is opposed to exactnes God loves to see some lace and trimming in sincerity upon what we doe that is it pleaseth him when he seeth that we do our best and that we not onely doe good but garnish to his prayse the good we doe he would have us not onely walke in the truth but honour the truth by our walkings He would have us not onely obey the doctrine but as the Apostle speakes Tit 2.10 Adorne the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things or to use Jobs language Garnish it as he by his Spirit hath garnished the heavens And his hand hath formed the crooked Serpent His hand that is his power hands are ascribed to God in a figure or in allusion to men who doe all their externall workes by their hands The hand is a noble and most serviceable Organ or Instrument and therefore the Great things which God hath done especially the heavens are called the worke of his hands and his handy-worke Psal 19.1 yea the heavens are called the worke of his fingers Psal 8.3 Which notes I conceave the exactnes and curiosity of the worke for such are those things which are wrought by the fingers God being a Spirit invisible and incorporal hath no formal hands but he hath a vertuall hand That Executive power by which he performeth and bringeth about his will in every thing is his hand This hand Hath formed the crooked Serpent There are severall opinions about this crooked Serpent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Serpentem vectem Pagn Serpentem fugacem Mont Serpentem oblongum Jun who or what it should be that Job here meaneth The Hebrew is The Sepent the barre That is The serpent which is like a barre or bolt of iron Some render the flying or running serpent because as the bolt or barre of a doore runneth from side to side so that from place to place Mr Broughton translates the long serpent But what is this serpent Divers interpretens connect the sence of these words with the former part of the verse and so place this crooked serpent in the heavens as belonging to the Garnishing of them or as if Job were giving a particular instance of what God hath done towards the garnishing of the heavens His hand hath formed the crooked serpent By which they understand the coelestiall circles or spheares which are wrapt and involved one within another as a serpent wrappeth or twineth himselfe in several rounds Another following the same sence expoundeth it of that which Astronomers call the milkey way which is a beauty in heaven It being as it were the coalition of a number of little starrs Vatablus viam lacteam intelligit which because they looke white and milkish are therefore called the milkey way Which also hath somewhat of the forme of a serpent as is evident to the eye of any diligent observer A third keeping still to that sence expoundeth it yet more particularly of that speciall constellation in the heavens knowne among Astronomers by the name of the dragon or serpent Which is supposed to be spoken of here by Job synecdochically putting a part for the whole or one for all the other Constellations with which the heavens are garnished As if it had been sayd His hand hath formed the crooked serpent that is all the Starres in their severall shapes and configurations among which one representeth the forme of a Lion another of a Beare another of a Ram and among many others one appeareth in the forme of a Dragon or Crooked Serpent shooting himselfe forth or forward like the bolt of a doore I finde a fourth sort who though they keepe the crooked serpent of the Text still in the heavens yet they bring it downe to a lower heaven that is from the starry heaven or from that heaven which is the Subject of the Starres to the ayery heaven which is the subject or shop in which the meteors of all sorts are bred and formed and among them there is a meteor called by Naturalists the flying serpent As