and this agrees well with the former because he that performeth and payeth according to his word hath peace both in himselfe and with other men An honest pay-master sits downe in peace and prevents his owne trouble But to the matter He that is God performeth The thing that is appoynted for mee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia reddet statutum meum Mont. 'T is the same word which we had at the 12th verse of this Chapter I have esteemed the words of his mouth more rhen my necessary or my appoynted food Here wee render it the thing that is appoynted for mee The word is often used in the 119 Psalme and signifieth any Ordinance Law Statute or Decree whether divine or humane for all these are the appoyntments eyther of God or man about things to be done or forborne And as God makes appoyntments of things which he would have us doe so of such things as himselfe will doe to or concerning us Master Broughton translates it here as we doe at the 12th verse implying necessary food or the provisions of this life Because he furnished mee with my dayly bread That which wee render the thing that is appoynted for mee he renders my dayly bread Another learned in that language Perfecit necessaria mea Vatab i. e. perfecit quicquid mihi erat opus ipse corporis mei artifex omnium quae in me sunt agrees in the same sence and varyes very little in words Hee hath performed or accomplished those things which were necessary for mee or all those things which I stand in need of He who set up this frame of my body and hath given mee this life hath administer'd all things needfull for the upholding of this body and for the maintaining of this life And so the words carry Jobs sence or acknowledgement of the fatherly care and kindnes of God towards him What his soule desireth even that he doth for hee furnisheth mee with dayly bread and hee performeth what is necessary for me or supplyeth all my wants According to which sence Mr Broughton renders the second part of the verse also And many such graces are with him Thus Job spake at the 10th Chapter ver 8.12 Thy hands have made mee and fashioned me together round about Thou hast granted me life and favour and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit So that the minde of these translaters seemes to be this That Job would set forth the unchangeablenes of Gods decree in giving him his appoynted comforts as well as sorrows Yet rather by this appoyntment or the thing which God had appoynted him wee are to understand as I conceive his afflictions onely and his sorrow As if he had said Quicquid deme decrevit absolvet sive in bonum sive in malum Merc Non me missum faciet donea impleverit quae in statuit Merc I finde that God will doe what he hath a minde to doe how grievous soever it be eyther to the minde or flesh of man for he performeth the thing that hee hath appoynted for mee hee hath appoynted me to sorrow and I have had sorrow and trouble store And he will not dismisse me or let mee goe out of his hand till he hath performed every title of what he hath appoynted for my portion of sorrow and suffering in this world And to shew how much he was assured of this He speakes in the present tense Not he will performe but he performeth c. As if he had sayd He will as surely doe it as if he were now a doing it Hence observe First That God will certainly performe all his appoyntments concerning man He is able to doe it and he will doe it This poynt was largely insisted upon from those words of the former verse He is in minde who can turne him God doth what he hath a minde to doe therefore I shall not here stay to shew the certainty of Gods performing what he hath appoynted but to shew the appoyntment of all things which he performeth Take the observation thus formed Whatsoever God performeth or doth to any man was before appoynted or decreed for or concerning him All the workes of God in time were his decrees before time hee performeth the thing that is appoynted and appoynted by himselfe and his appoyntments are as himselfe is from everlasting Whatsoever God doth we finde it under an appoyntment First and especially as to the buisines in hand the afflictions and suffering of his servants All their sufferings are under an appoyntment Micah 6.9 The Lords voyce cryeth unto the City and the man of wisdome shall see thy name heare ye the rod and who hath appoynted it As if he had said your selves by your sins are the procurers of it we the Prophets are onely the reporters and publishers of it But God himselfe is the appoynter of it As publique and national rods so private or personall rods are appoynted And as often as we feele their smart we should consider their appoyntment The Apostle 1 Thes 3.3 moves the Saints to a steadines of spirit under affliction upon this ground that no man should be moved by these afflictions he doth not mean that wee should be without sense of our afflictions stroakes and sufferings but his meaning is that we should neither be moved by impatience under them to murmure at them nor be moved by undue feares to faint in them why for your selves know that wee are appoynted thereunto The afflictions are appoynted to us and wee are appoynted to them and your selves know it This doctrine hath been published to you that afflictions are under a divine appoyntment that there is a decree of God about them And that First as to the matter of what sort the affliction shall be secondly as to the measure or degree how great the affliction shall be Thirdly the appoyntment reaches the season and that twofold First when the affliction shall begin and secondly how long it shall continue every thing in affliction is under an appoyntment Secondly As our afflictions so also our comforts are under an appoyntment As the Lord hath appoynted the Gall so the honey of our cup as the cold and winter so the warme and summer seasons of our lives Isa 61.2 3. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath annoynted me to preach good tidings to the meeke c. To proclaime the acceptable yeare of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all that mourne to appoynt unto them that mourne in Sion and this appoyntment in execution is 〈◊〉 fullfilling of the first appoyntment by decree to appoynt unto them tâ—â— mourne in Sion to give unto them beauty for ashes the oyle of Joy foâ— mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heavines And as our spirituall comforts so our temporall our outward salvations and protections are under an appoyntment Isa 26.1 Salvation shall God appoynt for walls and bulwarkes Thirdly As the wall of
and 't is usuall in Scripture to speake that in negative words which was before spoken in affirmative As to be naked and to have no covering are the same so hell and destruction are the same and these two are often put together Pro. 15.11 Hell and destruction are before the Lord how much more the hearts of the children of men Though we know not where hel is nor what is done there though wee know not what is become of those that are destroyed nor what they suffer yet God doth and if the secrets of hel and devills are knowne to him then much more the secrets of the hearts of the children of men And as that proverb teacheth us that nothing is hid from God because hell and destruction are not so another proverb delivered in the same forme teacheth us that nothing in the creature can satisfie the desires and lustings of man even as hell and destruction can never be satisfied Prov. 27.20 Hell and destruction are never full so the eyes of men are never satisfyed The Devill who is the great executioner of the wrath of God is exprest by this word as hell is called destruction in the abstract so the Devill is called a destroyer in the concrete Revel 9.11 And they had a King over them which is the Angel of the bottomlesse pit or hell whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon but in the Greeke tongue hath his name Apollyon both the one and the other the Hebrew and the Greeke signifie the same thing a destroyer The Devill who is the Jaylour of hell is called a destroyer as hell it selfe is called destruction from the Co-incidency of these two termes Note Hell is destruction They that are once there are lost and lost for ever The reason why hell is called destruction is because they that are cast to hell are undone to eternity We read of a City Isa 19.18 which was called the City of destruction because it was to be utterly destroyed Hell may be called a City of destruction not because it shall ever be destroyed but because it shall ever be full of destruction and nothing but destruction shall be there There is no estate on earth so miserable but a man may be delivered out of it but out of hell there is no deliverance Heman saith Psal 88.11 Shall thy loving kindnesse be declared in the grave or thy faithfullnesse in destruction There grave and destruction are put together much more may hell and destruction be put together or for each other What ever comes into the grave is destroyed it rots and perisheth much more doth hell destroy all that comes thither And looke as the grave is to the body now a destroyer consuming so hell is to the soule now and will be to soule and body after the resurrection a destroyer tormenting The loving kindnesse of God shall not be declared in Hell nor any faithfullnesse of his in destruction unlesse it be his faithfullnesse according to what is threatned in the Word to destroy The Apostle Peter sayth 1 Ep 3.19 20. that Christ by the Spirit went and preached to the Spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah c. It is true that Christ by the Spirit in the ministery of Noah did preach to those Spirits who were disobedient in the time when Noah preached and were in prison or in hel in the time when Peter wrote But Christ did not preach by his Spirit in the ministery of Noah or any other way to Spirits who were in prison or in hel while he preached to them There are no Sermons in hel nor any salvation there The loving kindnesse of God is aboundantly declared on earth but it shall not be declared in hel As there is nothing felt in hel but destruction so there is no salvation offered to those who are in hel There 's teares enow and mourning enough in hel but there is not the least Godly sorrow in hel which onely worketh repentance to salvation August lib. 21. de Civ dei cap 17. not to be repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 One of the ancients hath reported the opinion of some in his time who thought that though there be destruction in hel yet not eternal destruction but that sinners should be punished some a lesse others a longer time and that at last all shall be freed and yet saith he Origen was more mercifull in this poynt then these men for he held that the Devill himselfe should be saved at last Of this opinion I shall say no more in this place then this one thing which he there sayd These men will be found to erre by so much the more foulely against the right words of God so much the more perversely by how much they seeme to themselves to judge more mercifully for indeed the justice of God in punishing sinners is as much above the scale of mans thoughts as his mercyes in pardoning them are let not sinners flatter themselves in a hope of salvation when they are in hel who have neglected salvation while they were on the earth For as the Apostle saith Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape that is how shall we escape falling into hel if we neglect so great salvation so I may say how shall any escape by getting out of hell who neglect so great salvation Hel is destruction and as because heaven is a place of happinesse and salvation therefore heaven and happinesse heaven and salvation mutually or reciprocally signifie one another to obtaine heaven is to obtaine salvation to obtaine heaven is to obtaine happines So because hel is a place of misery and destruction therefore hel and misery hel and destruction signifie the same thing nor can they be separated Againe when he sayth Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering we learne There is nothing hid from the eye or knowledge of God Philosophy and reason teach us that the vertue and force of the heavenly bodyes the Sunne Moone and Starres doe not onely act upon those parts of the earth which are uppermost but send their influences and powers to the lowest parts or bowels of the earth for as was sayd before according to the ordinance of God dead things are formed there Now I say as the power of the heavenly bodyes reacheth downe into the earth much more doth the power and light of God reach into hell it selfe I will not stay upon any curious enquiries where this hell is wheresoever it is God seeth it Hel is naked before him therefore sayth David Psal 139.8 If I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there that is there thou art by thy power and inspection thou seest what is in hell and if so how much more doth God behold what is done heere upon the earth if hell be naked before him then the earth is naked before him if destruction have no
good It is not enough for a man to say he doth not judge his brother maliciously he ought not to judge him ignorantly Though to speake or judge ill of another because wee wish him ill be the greater sinne yet barely to speake or judge ill of another by whom we know no ill is very sinfull And then 't is most sinfull when wee doe it not onely as not knowing any evill they have done but because we know heare or see the evills which they suffer 'T is dangerous as well as improper to make the hardest and harshest dealings of God with any man the ground of our hard and harsh thoughts of him Thirdly Consider who they were whom Job is supposed to have oppressed they were not the great ones not the mighty men of the earth but the fatherlesse and the widow Whence note That the poore are usually the subject of oppression The greater fish in the sea of this world devoure and live upon the lesser The strong should support the weake and they who are upper-most should uphold those who are under them But because the weake and the underlings may most easily be opprest therefore they are most usually opprest As Covetousnesse is cruell so 't is cowardly and dares not meddle with its match God in reference to Spiritualls filleth the hungry with good things and the rich he sendeth empty away Luk. 1.53 Ungodly men in reference to temporals would send the rich away empty if they could but they are so farre from filling the hungry with good things that they take away all the good things they can from the hungry they care not if they starve the hungry if they make the poore poorer and take all from them who have but little Fourthly Job having been a Magistrate and so by his place a Minister of Justice is strongly pressed with the doing of injustice Whence note First That they who have power may easily though not alwayes justly be suspected for the abuse of it To have a power in our hands whereby we may doe good is a temptation to doe evill 'T is hard to keepe power within its bounds and to rule that by which others are ruled The Prophet Isa 1.10 calls the rulers of Sion rulers of Sodome because they ruled like them or rather worse then they eating up the people under their charge rather then feeding them and vexing those whom they undertooke to governe and to be a Shield unto against the vexations of others Secondly Note That as oppression is a sinne in any man so it is most sinfull in those who have power in their hands to releeve the oppressed Such act not onely contrary to a common rule but contrary to their speciall duty by how much we have the more obligation not to doe a thing by so much we sin the more if we doe it Thirdly Note That as it is very sinfull in Magistrates to wrong any man so it is most sinfull to wrong them or to deny them right who have most need of it the widow and the fatherlesse Magistrates are called Gods And God who hath honoured them by putting his name upon them expects that they should honour him by imitating or acting like unto him What a Magistrate doth he should doe like God he should doe it so that every one may be convinced that God is in him and with him of a truth As God takes care of the widow and of the fatherlesse so should he God is knowne by this Title A father of the fatherlesse and a Judge of the widow is God in his holy habitation Psal 68.5 That is in Heaven for that 's the habitation of his holines and of his glory there he dwells Judging for the widow and the fatherlesse And as that is the speciall businesse as it were of God in Heaven so they who are Gods on earth ought to make it their speciall businesse to judge for the widow and the fatherlesse Hence wee finde the widow and the fatherlesse commended by name to the care of the Magistrate The fatherlesse have no naturall parents living or none neere of kinne remaining to maintaine and defend them therefore the Magistrate who is pater patriae the common father of his Country should be their Foster-Father They who want power are the charge should be the speciall care of those in power Thus they are commanded Psa 82.3 4. Defend the poore fatherless doe justice to the afflicted needy deliver the poore and needy rid them out of the hand of the wicked Here 's their worke and the neglect of this worke how busie so ever Magistrates are about other worke is often complained of aloud in Scripture as a crying sinne as a sinne that ruines Nations and drawes downe publicke Judgements upon a people Isaiah 1.17 Cease to doe evill learne to doe well seeke Judgement relieve the oppressed Judge the fatherlesse plead for the widow And at the 23 verse They judge not the fatherlesse neither doth the Cause of the widow come unto them Againe Jer. 5.28 They judge not the Cause of the fatherlesse It is a sin not to judge any mans Cause not to judge the Cause of the richest of the greatest yet it is more sinfull not to judge the Cause of the widow and the fatherlesse And when he saith They judge not the Cause c. the meaning is they judge not the Cause of the fatherlesse impartially and righteously And indeed he that doth not judge righteously doth not judge at all and when the Prophet saith They judge not the Cause of the fatherlesse it is as if he had said Among all the Causes that lye unjudged this is the Cause that God takes most notice of and is most displeased with the neglect of it even when the Cause of the fatherlesse is not pleaded or judged All are forward enough to plead the Cause of the rich but when the Client is poore and appeares in forma pauperis his cause seld me finds any but a poore and formal pleading We read Acts 6.1 That there was a great murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrewâ—s because their widdowes were neglected in the daily Administration Church-Officers in their capacity as well as State-Officers in theirs ought to have a carefull eye upon widows that are in want And the Apostle James Cha. 1.27 summes up as it were all Religion into this one duty Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this to visit the fatherlesse and the widow Not as if this were indeed all religion or the all of religion but as when the Spirit in Scripture hath to doe with prophane persons or meere moral honest men who place all religion in civill righteousnesse and workes of charity then he calls them to first Table duties or to the sincere worship of God so when the Spirit is speaking to those who place all their religion in worship or in first Table duties neglecting the duties of charity and righteousnes then we finde
when the ungodly fall and not fall into sin themselves I answer First The righteous rejoyce at the fall of the wicked as blessing God who hath kept their feete from those wayes in which the wicked have fallen As 't is a great mercy to be kept out of those ill wayes to be kept from fiding with those corrupt interests in the pursuit of which we see many broken so 't is a duty to rejoyce that we have not walked in their way whose end we see to be nothing els but destruction Secondly The righteous have cause to rejoyce blesse God when they see the wicked fall because themselves are saved keepe their standing because themselves have escaped the danger and the Lord hath been a banner of protection over them in the day when the wicked fell Moses after the destruction of Amaleck built an Altar and called the name of it Jehova-Nissi Exod. 17.15 that is to say The Lord is my banner And in like cases the joy of the Saints is not properly in the destruction of the wicked but in their owne deliverance through the mighty power good hand of God with them It is the presence of God with them the appearance of God for them which is the gladnes of their hearts Thirdly The righteous then rejoyce because the Church and people of God are in a fayre way to peace when the Lyons are destroyed the sheepe are in safety when the Wolves and the Beares are cut off the flock rests quietly so in this case when men of devouring cruell spirits wicked and ungodly ones are removed the flocke of God the sheepe of his pasture feed quietly none making them afrayd The fall of the enemies of Sion is the establishment of Sion yea in a great measure of mankinde As the Prophet most elegantly sets it forth Isa 14.6 7 8. He who smote the people in wrath with a continuall stroke he that ruled the Nations in anger is persecuted and none hindereth The whole earth is at rest and is quiet they breake forth into singing yea the firre-trees rejoyce at thee and the Cedars of Lebanon saying since thou art layd downe no feller is come up against us How often have wicked men in power felled not onely the Firre-trees and Cedars of the world but the goodly trees of righteousnesse in the Lords plantations have they not therefore reason to sing when such fall seing the Fellers themselves are then felled and fallen Fourthly Joy ariseth to the righteous because God is honoured in the fall of wicked men And that 's their chiefest joy That God is honoured is more joy to the righteous then that themselves are saved how much more then then that the wicked are destroyed There is a threefold honour arising to God when the wicked fall First God is honoured in his justice such a day is the day of the declaration of the righteous judgement of God as the Apostle speakes of the great day of Judgement Rom. 2.5 Thou after thy hardnesse and impenitent heart treasurest up to thy selfe wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgement of God Some doe even question the justice of God when wicked men prosper but he is vindicated in his justice when wicked men fall It cannot but please righteous men to see the righteous God exalted or God exalted in his righteousnesse They know and beleeve that God is righteous when the wicked prosper Jer. 12.1 But when the wicked are punished they proclaime his righteousnes Then they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lambe saying Great and marvailous are thy workes Lord God Almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Who shall not feare thee O Lord and glorifie thy Name c. for thy Judgements are made manifest Rev. 15.3 4. The Lord is alwayes alike Just but it doth not alwayes alike appeare how just he it And as that God is just is the faith and stay of the Saints so the appearances of his justice are their joy and triumph Secondly God is honoured much in the attribute of his truth in the truth of his word in the truth of his threatenings when the wicked are punished God hath spoken bloudy words concerning wicked men not onely in reference to their future estate in the next life but to their present estate in this Say to the wicked it shall be ill with him the reward of his hands shall be given him But what is this reward There are two sorts of rewards First rewards of love and favour according to the good which we have done Secondly rewards of wrath and anger poenal rewards according to the evill which we have done Now when the Lord puts these poenal rewards into the hands of the wicked or powres them upon their heads he is honoured in his truth as well as his justice for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it As the promises are yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1.20 so also are the threatnings unto the glory of God by us But as when David saw his life in danger every day he began to question the truth of God in the promise that he should live to reigne and fit upon the throne of Israel for saith he Psal 116.11 when things went thus with him I said in my hast all men are lyars even Samuel among the rest who assured me of the Kingdome by expresse message from God but surely he also is deceived and hath fed me with vaine hopes Now as these words of David according to our translation of them and the truth of the thing in frequent experiences shew that Godly men are apt to question the truth of the promise when themselves are by seemingly contradicting providences much afflicted so they are apt to question the truth of the threatnings when they see outward providences prospering the wicked Therefore when the threatnings have their actuall yea and Amen that is when they are executed upon the ungodly this also is to the glory of God by us that is God is glorified by all his people who heare of it in the truth of what he hath spoken Againe as God is magnified in the truth of his threatnings when any particular wicked man is punished so when common calamities come upon the wicked the truth of God or God in his truth is magnified two wayes First As such calamities are a fullfilling of many Prophecies secondly As they are the answer or returne of many prayers The vengeance which falls upon the Enemies of the Church of God is drawne out by prayer Luke 18.7 8. And there is nothing wherein God is more honoured then when prayer is answered For as therein he fullfills our wants so his owne word Who hath not said to the seed of Jacob seeke ye mee in vaine Thirdly When the wicked fall the Lord is honoured in the attribute of his power How great is his power who puls downe great power It argues the Almightines
have to doe with him prest with our owne wants feares or afflictions of this the Prophet speaketh Isa 26.16 Lord in trouble have they visited thee they have poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them And of this the Psalmist speake Psal 78.34 When he slew them they sought him and they returned and enquired early after God neverthelesse they did but flatter him with their mouth c. These make God their refuge not their choice They I grant who have made God their choice in good times may comfortably make him their refuge in evill times But to neglect God while it is well with 〈◊〉 and onely to run to him when it is ill with us or to have our evills and burdens removed is to acquaint our selves with God because we cannot choose or because we cannot be without him not because we have chosen him or desire to be with him As there is a patience so there is an acquaintance perforce Though God doth not refuse acquaintance with many poore soules when their necessities drive them to him yet it is best to acquaint our selves with him for the love we beare to him or the desire we have to enjoy him rather then though we all have need of him and are bound to come to him because we have for the need we have of him And therefore secondly there is an acquaintance with God from pure love As when we come to a friend having nothing to do but to see him to renew or strengtheÌ„ our acquaintance with him Wee doe not come to load him with our cares or advise with him about our businesses or desire a curtesie of him but meerly purely to shew our love to him Thus to come to God when we are not prest with feares nor pincht with wants nor clouded with doubts nor vexed with troubles is the most noble ingenuous way of acquainting our selves with him When we as it were make a Journey to God having nothing to doe with him but to visit him and to desire further communion with him nothing to do with him but to behold his excellency and his glory nothing to do with him but to tell him what our hearts are towards him how we love him how we depend upon him how we desire to please him and to commit our wayes to him to acquaint God with those things which onely concerne our holy walking with him this is to seeke pure acquaintance with him The Lord saith of Abraham his acquaintant or friend Gen. 18.17 Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I am about to doe I should not deale with him as with my friend if I did so A friend who is as our owne soule Deut. 13.6 should know all that is in our soules Now as God whether we will or no is acquainted with all that is in our soules So a soule acquainted with God will let him know all shall I hide from God the thing that I am about to doe shall I not tell him how it is with me To acquaint our selves thus with God is a sweete and precious duty Much might be said about it I shall onely adde these two things First That all our acquaintance with God must be had through the mediator There is no getting neere the Father but by the Son Secondly That the more we are acquainted with God the more we are transformed into his likenes Some have altered the habit of their bodyes yea the dispositions of their mindes by long acquaintance with others and have looked or appeared like them by often looking upon or being with them When Moses had been forty dayes in the Mount talking with God his face shone some rayes of a divine glory darted out from him so that Aaron and the children of Israel were afraid to come nigh him Exod. 34.30 And thus every one who gets up into the Mount by faith and acquaints himselfe with God gets somewhat of God which will draw a reverence upon him among men As when Christ shall appeare hereafter to us in glory we shall be like him saith the Apostle John 1 Ep 3.2 for we shall see him as he is so according to the sight which we have of and our acquaintance with Christ in the wayes of grace here will our likenes be unto him The more we are with God the more we have of God Acquaint now thy selfe with him and be at peace There is a threefold Interpretation of this clause Inperativum pâ—o futuro passim in hac lingua Merc Quando Hebraei dicunt pax tibi significant id quod Graeci tribus verbis enunciant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quorum primum ad animum refertur secunduÌ„ ad corpus tertium ad actiones externas Drus First it may be taken as an Effect of what was said before Acquaint thy selfe with God and be at peace that is If thou acquaint thy selfe with God thou shalt have peace So in the Hebrew often the Imperative mood is put for the future tense as Doe this and live according to the tenure of the Covenant of works that is Doe this and thou shalt live So acquaint thy selfe with him and be at peace that is thou shalt have peace Peace comprehends all good good of the minde good of the body good of the estate When the Hebrewes say Peace be unto you they say as much in that one word as the Greeks say in three whereof the first respects the welfare of the minde the second the welfare or health of the body and the third the successe of all our affaires and undertakings So that while Eliphaz saith to Job according to this reading Thou shalt be at peace it is a promise of all manner of good flowing in upon the renewing of his acquaintance with and his returning to a reverentiall converse with God But becuse this promise followes in the next words thereby good shall come unto thee therefore I understand this clause as a duty and not as a promise Acquaint now thy selfe with him and be at peace To be at peace is a distinct duty from that of acquainting our selves with God yet necessarily following upon it The words may have these two things in them First Be at peace rhat is Sedatiore animo esto Bez Acquiesce in castigationibus dei satis repugnâsti satis protervè reluctatus es ergo mitesce be quiet and content under the chastning hand of God doe not murmure doe not repine Thou hast strugled enough already now lay aside all impatiency and passion all discontents and animosities as doe not rage and rave doe not distemper and discompose thy selfe as thou hast done There is a storme upon thee but be thou of a calme and quiet spirit kisse the rod be not angry with it wee may expresse this frame by that which the Apostle Peter makes the chiefe adorning or ornament of a woman that she be of a meek and a quiet spirit which with God is of great price As meeknes
to God As David saith Psal 25.1 Vnto thee O Lord doe I lift up my soule Equiparantia sunâ— caput vel oculos vel faciem vel animam ad deum levare Bold Eliphaz meanes not the lifting up of a heart-lesse face or head such as the hypocrite or formalist lifts up to God in worship nor the lifting up of a meere living head or face such as all men lift up to God according to the forme or frame of their natural constitution Fiduciam habebis recurrendi ad deum Aquin. but the courage and confidence of the soule and that a holy courage and confidence is here intended And there are not many who can thus lift up their face to God as is promised here to Job by way of priviledge And shalt lift up thy face to God To lift up the face is taken under a twofold notion in Scripture first Faciei elevatio orantis habitus est Pinec as a gesture or bodily position in prayer He that prayeth doth usually lift up his face to God and so to lift up the face to God is to pray unto God A corporal posture being put often in Scripture to signifie a spirituall duty Thus some understand it here Thou shalt lift up thy face to God that is thou shalt pray secondly which further complyes with the duty of prayer To lift up the face Vultum attollit qui sibi bene conscius est animoque fidenti Drus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. notes as was touched before confidence of spirit and boldnesse courage and assurance towards him before whom the face is lifted up whether God or man The Septuagint who rather paraphrase then translate this text give this sense fully Thou shalt be confident before the Lord or thou shalt act fiducially and boldly before him and behold heaven chearefully This lifting up the face is opposed to casting downe the face that is a phrase used in Scripture to signifie shame and fayling of spirit When courage is downe the countenance is down too as we say such a man hath a downe looke that is there is an appearance of guilt upon him The face is cast downe three wayes First by feare secondly by sorrow thirdly by shame Ezra 9.6 O my God I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face unto thee for our iniquities are increased over our heads So Luk. 18.13 the Publican durst not lift up his eyes to heaven and possibly there was a complication of all these three causes why he durst not feare sorrow shame he was so much terrified so much grieved so much ashamed of himselfe that he durst not lift up his eyes to heaven It was the speech of Abner to Asahel 2 Sam. 2.22 Turne thee aside from following me why should I smite thee to the ground how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother that is if I slay thee I shall be afraid to looke him in the face nor can I have any confidence of his favour and it is well conceived that he spake thus for it is indeed a very unusuall thing for the Generall of an Army in the very heate of warre to looke after the favour of the Generall of the opposite Army but I say 't is conceived he spake thus as being convinced that he had undertaken a bad cause in upholding the house of Saul against David and therefore had misgivings that he might shortly fall into the hands of Joab Davids Generall and was therefore unwilling to provoke him by killing his brother This made him say How shall I hold up my face to thy brother Joab As if he had sayd I shall obstruct the way of my owne reconciliation to thy brother in case The turne of things in this warre cast me into his hands by killing thee Againe we may looke backe to Gen. 4.5 where it is reported of Caine That he was wrath and his countenance fell anger and sorrow and shame falling at once upon him because the Lord had respect to Abel and his offering but had no respect to him or his caused his countenance to fall which phrase stands in direct opposition to lifting up the face in all the three occasions of it For it implyeth first feare which is opposed to boldnes secondly sorrow or anger which are opposed to content and joy thirdly shame which is opposed both to freedome of approach and liberty of speech We have an expression which paralels much with this in that Prophecy of Christ Psal 110.7 Qâ—od legitur Exod. â—4 8 egâ—essos filios Israel in manu excelsâ— Chaldaâ—â—è dicitur capite discooperto i. e. palam confidentèr sine metu He shall drinke of the brooke in the way therefore shall he lift up his head that is he shall rise and appeare like a mighty Conquerour with boldnesse honour and triumph So Christ himselfe prophecying of the troubles which shall be in the latter dayes comforts the surviving Saints in this language When these things begin to come to passe then looke up and lift up your heads that is then take heart and boldnesse for the day of your redemption draweth nigh Luke 21.28 that is the day is at hand wherein you shall be freed from all feares and sorrowes Hence observe Holinesse hath boldnesse and freedome of spirit with God Then shalt thou lift up thy face unto God As soone as Adam sinned he hid himselfe from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the Garden Gen. 3.8 He ran into the thickets for shelter he durst not appeare or shew his face But when once we are reconciled to God and sinne is taken off when we are freed from the bonds of guilt then we have boldnesse reconciliation is accompanied with the spirit of adoption whereby we cry abba father we can then speake to God as a childe to his father the childe dares lift up his face to his father and speakes freely to him Where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty faith the Apostle 2 Cor. 3.17 and that a threefold liberty First a liberty from sinne secondly a liberty unto righteousnes or a freenes and readines of spirit to doe good thirdly where the spirit of the Lord is there is a liberty of speech or accesse with boldnesse in all our holy Addresses unto God As the Apostle clearely sheweth at the 12 â—h verse of the same Chapter Seing then that we have such hope we use great plainnesse or boldnesse of speech as wee put in the Margin of our Bibles to expresse the significancy of the Greeke word in the full compasse of it For as because we have such hope we ought to use great plainnesse of speech towards men in preaching and dispensing the Gospel to them so great boldnesse towards God in receiving the offers and promises of the Gospel for our selves Eliphaz having thus shewed what freedome Job truely repenting might have with God in prayer proceeds in the next verse to shew what successe with
Dimissus oculis est qui suo ju dicio existi matione sibi ipsi vilescit He shall save the humble person that is the person who is low in his owne eyes while in the greatest worldly heights the person that humbles himselfe and walkes humbly with God and men when most exalted Thus the Apostle James exhorts the brother of high degree or the rich brother to rejoyce in that he is made low Jam. 1.10 But if he be rich how is he made low he meanes it not of a lownes in state but of a lownes or rather lowlines of spirit The brother of high degree hath no cause to rejoyce in his highnes but when he is low in his owne eyes Lownes of eyes is more then a vertue or common modesty 't is a Grace That 's in a spirituall sence the most Grace-full looke which is the most humble looke He shall save the humble person But with what salvation I answer Salvation is eyther temporal and bodyly or eternal usually called the salvation of the soule We may expound this Text of both The Lord saveth the humble person both body and soule both temporally and eternally Where note That the Lord takes speciall Care of humble ones The Lord seemes to take so much care to save the humble as if there were none else that he tooke care to save or regarded what became or them whether saved or no. And the Lord speakes of proud persons as if he contemn'd none but under that name and notion Jam. 4.6 He resisteth the proud he that is proud of his person or parts or estate or witt or power the Lord resisteth him And he speakes of the humble as if none were saved but under that name and notion He saves the humble person◠or as that Text in James hath it He giveth grace to the humble What grace There is a twofold grace and both are given to the humble First he gives them the grace of favour or good will he is kinde to and respecteth the humble or as this text in Job hath it Hee saves the humble person Secondly He gives much grace to the humble as grace is taken for that gracious worke of the Spirit in us forming up faith love c. in our soules The Lord gives more of this grace also to the humble that is he addeth unto the graces which they have and makes them more humble more gratious a man cannot be in that sence an humble person without grace humility it selfe is a great grace and the greater our humility is the greater accession we have of other graces Thus I say we may understand the text in James both wayes He giveth grace to the humble that is he favours and respects them because they are gracious and he addeth to or encreaseth their graces We have a promise very paralel to these of Eliphaz and James Psal 18.27 Thou wilt save the afflicted people but wilt bring downe high looks The word which we translate afflicted signifies also one humbled and humble and so we might render the Psalme Thou shalt save the humbled or the humble people and that the humble are to be taken in to partake of the priviledge of that promise is plaine from the opposite Terme in the latter clause of the verse High lookes that is high lookers God will bring downe but he will save the humble person Men of low and meane estates are usually wrapt up with great ones in the same judgement as the Prophet speakes Esay 5.15 The meane man shall be brought downe and the mighty man shall be humbled the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled there we have the meane man and the mighty man under the same wrathfull dispensations of God The wicked whether high or low are farre from salvation but God knowes how to make a distinction between the humble and the proud when his wrath makes the greatest confusions in the world Humility it is not onely a sweet but a safe grace yea a saving Grace wee never goe under the Covert of God so much as when wee walke humbly with God He will save the humble person Vers 30. Hee shall deliver the Island of the Innocent and it is deliver'd by the purenes of thine hands The promise is continued to the man that returnes to God Hee shall deliver the Island of the Innocent or as some translate the Innocent shall deliver the Island The sence is the same He shall deliver the Island that is the Inhabitants of the Island All shall be safe the Island and they that dwell in it There is another reading of the Text which yet falls in fully and clearly with this whereas we reade He shall deliver the Island of the Innocent Liberabit noxium Pisc it may be read He shall deliver him that is not Innocent Now because this may seeme a very wide difference in the translation wee are to Consider the ground of it how this can be made out that the same text should be rendred the Innocent and him that is not Innocent The reason is because the word which we translate Island is taken by many of the Hebrew Doctors Vocula 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae hic redditur insula idem valet quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non Pisc Ego cum veteribus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro negatione exponerē Eritque facilis sensus sc deus puritate manuum tuarum etiam nocentē vel non innocentem liberabit Merc. as also by other translators onely for a negative particle signifying not or that which is not So the word is rendred 1 Sam. 4.21 when Phineas his wife dying in travell gave the name to her Childe shee sayd Hee shall be called Ichabod There is no glory or not glory And againe Pro. 31.4 the word is used in the same sence It is not for Kings O Lemuel to drinke wine strong drinke is not for Princes So here Thou shalt deliver the nocent or the not Innocent And so the whole verse is thus translated God because of or for the purenes of thy hands will doliver the nocent or those who are not innocent Whereas we say Thou shalt deliver the Island of the Innocent or the Innocent shall deliver the Island And it is delivered by the purenes of thine hands Eliphaz spake before in the third person here in the second 't is probable he did so purposely to make Job understand that he meant him It is delivered c. That is the Island is deliver'd according to our translation how is it delivered by the purenes of thine hands The word notes the most exact purity and cleannes like that of gold when it is refined in the fire or of garments that are washed with Soape or Nitre Manus purae sunt opera inculpata quae crimine vacant Drus by this purenes it or the Island shall be deliver'd and by the purenes of his hands he meanes the purenes of his actions or administrations The
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
may stand before him As he knows what strength such need so he gives them the strengâ—h they need He will put strength in me maybe the confidence of any soule in Jobs case We are not able to stand before God under the burden of our corruptions nor yet are we able to walke before him under the burden of our duties unlesse himselfe be pleased to administer strength to us And surely if we have cause even to glory in our infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon us 2 Cor. 12.9 then much more have we cause to glory in the power of Christ when we finde so many infirmities resting in us The Prophet saw this fully while he said Isa 45.24 Surely shall one say in the Lord have I righteousnesse and strength even to him shall men come in the Lord shall all the seed of Israell be justified and shall glory That we have strength in and from the Lord is to us a ground of holy Glorying as wel as that we have righteousnesse in him For though to be justified be a higher favour then to be strengthned yet unlesse we were strengthned as we could not take in the comfort of our Justification freely so neyther could we give God the glory of it so fully as we ought And as it is the joy of beleevers that God will put strength into them when they are humbled under the greatest weaknesses so that their strength is still in him For God doth not so put it into us as to put that strength out of himselfe The strength which God puts into us is a strength still residing in himselfe The strength which we have received as well as that which we have not yet received is still in the hand of God And from his hand we shall receive renewalls of strength for all our needs and purposes Take five instances in speciall First A Believer shall receive strength to doe or an acting power from Christ Though Christ hath done all for us yet we have much to doe for Christ and such is the mystery of Godlinesse that the same Christ who hath done all for us will also doe all in us Christ layeth a yoak upon the necks of his people and a burden upon their shoulders but he puts power and strength into their shoulders to carry his yoak and beare his burden and that 's the reason why he calls his yoake easie and his burthen light it is not so considered in it selfe as if we could make light worke of the worke of Christ but his burden is light because he hath promised to give his at least a sufficient strength to bear it A heavy burthen is not grievous to equal strength it is light to a superior or greater strength As all our sins the least whereof is a burden too heavy for us to beare are light to us through the righteousnesse of Christ so all the commandements of God the least of which is too hard for us alone are light to us through the strength of Christ This was the Apostle Pauls profession I can doe all things through Christ that strengtheneth me Phil. 4.13 A little is too much for us all is but little for Christ as we have the anointing of the Spirit whereby we know all things 1 Joh. 2.20 so we have the strengthening of the Spirit whereby we doe all things It is a high priviledge that Saints who receive their worke from heaven receive their strength from heaven too And that as God puts his commands upon them so he puts this power into them The Lord is so farre from requiring worke of us without giving us wages for what we have done that he doth not require worke of us without giving us strength to doe it When we looke upon our reward it might seeme that we have done all our selves but when we looke upon his assistance it is as evident that we have done nothing of our selves The Lord is not like those Aegyptian task-masters who called for brick but would not give straw no the Lord who calls for brick doth not onely give us straw but strength even hands and hearts to doe our worke Gospel-grace or new-Covenant-grace promiseth us strength to doe what we are commanded to doe Secondly The Lord gives us as strength to doe so to suffer strength to beare his crosse as well as his yoake so the Apostle comforts the Corinthians 1 Ep 10.13 No temptation that is no affliction for as every temptation hath trouble in it and is therefore justly called an affliction so every affliction hath a tryall in it and is therefore justly called a temptation in which sence the Apostle there saith no temptation hath taken hold of you but that which is common to man but God is faithfull that will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are able but with the temptation will make a way of escape that ye may be able to beare it As if he had sayd be not afrayd that you shall be oppressed with the burden of any affliction or temptation which ye endure in my cause or for my name sake for ye shall receive an ability commensarable to your affliction whatsoever it is you shall be supported in those afflictions which are immediately from the hand of God much more in those which are from the hand of man even in the extreamest and hottest persecutions Paul had experience of this 2 Tim. 4.17 There he tells a sad story of the fearefullnesse if not of the unfaithfullnes of men even of good men to him in an evill day and he tells as comfortable a story of the presence and faithfullnesse of God to him in an evill day even in the worst and blackest day that this world could lowre upon him in At my first answer no man stood with me that is no man appeared to strengthen to comfort me all men forsooke me I pray God it be not laid to their charge What then was he left of all because left of all men no such matter All men left him but God who is but one One-most God and who alone is more then all men abode by him as it followes in the Text notwithstanding the Lord stood with me and strengthned me that by me the preaching might be fully knowne and that all the Gentiles might heare and I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lyon that is out of the danger of my deadly persecuters even out of the danger of Nero himselfe by whose power so many had been destroyed The Lord alwayes stands by his in time of affliction and tryall eyther to strengthen them in it or to strengthen them out of it that is to escape it eyther to deliver them from the danger of it or to encourage them in the dangers of it Thirdly The Lord puts strength into his people to mortifie corruption he gives us not onely power against but power over our lusts Fleshly lusts and corruptions are strong and if we have not strength from
Hac ratione liber evaderem ab iniquis vitae meae Judicibus calumniatoribus ut ultra mihi disceptatione contentione opus non erit all their charges shall be reprobated and rejected God who hath once Justified a person will never lay any thing to his charge and what charge soever others bring against him Gods justification will take it off The Apostles challenge is universal Who shall lay any thing c It is universal two wayes First in regard of persons accusing he excepts none in earth heaven or hell Secondly in regard of crimes he excepts no sort of sinne let them seeke and finde what they can be they sins against God or man be they sins of omission or commission be they sins never so much aggravated or sadly circumstantiated though against both light and love yet they will not doe against a person Elect and Justified Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect wipes away all charges Accused they may be though justified but condemned they cannot be because justified The best of Saints on earth have much in them and much is done by them which might be matter of charge against them for he that saith he hath no sin in him hath indeed no truth in him 1 Joh. 1.8 but Justifying Grace is their full discharge Againe As the word Judge is expounded universally for all those that did or might accuse Job Observe The best and most righteous on earth meete with many harsh accusers and hard Judges David had those who layd to his charge things that he knew not Psal 35.11 The Jewes returned from Babylon to build their City and Temple were charged with sedition Jeremie was charged with treason Paul was called a pestilent fellow and the primitive Christians were generally loaded with slaunders by the Heathen Misreport and reproach are the portion of Saints from the world And how sadly Job was charged all along by his friends and how severely censured hath appeared every where in this Booke especially in the former Chapter ver 5 6 7. Is not thy wickednes great and thine iniquities infinite for thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought and stripped the naked of their cloathing c. Had not Job reason to looke upon it as a great mercy to be delivered from such a Judge And hath not every Godly man reason to make Davids choyce 2 Sam. 24.14 Let me fall into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great and let me not fall into the hand of men Now as men are for the most part over-severe executioners of Gods sentence so they are usually over-severe Judges in giving their owne whether sence or sentence concerning others And therefore Jobs faith did prophecy this good to himselfe That God having heard him and judged him he should be delivered for euer from man his Judge And let this be the comfort of the righteous who are oppressed with the hard opinions of men That God will at last deliver them for ever from every rigorous and unrighteous Judge In that Great day as the Apostle Jude calls it the cause of every righteous man shall be disputed before God and then they shall be delivered for ever from their Judge And this did exceedingly beare up the spirit of the Apostle Paul in the midst of the various censures and judgements of men concerning him he knew their judgement should be taken off at last 1 Cor. 4.3 4. With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of mans judgement yea I judge not my owne selfe But he that judgeth me is the Lord therefore judge nothing before the time till the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darknesse and make manifest the counsells of the hearts and then shall every man have praise of God That is every righteous man though dispraised and despised though judged and condemned by men though blackt over with false reports and reproaches yet then every righteous man shall have praise from the most righteous God He will then doe all his people right who have been wronged and passe a just sentence upon those who have suffered much and long under unjust censures And so shall they be for ever delivered from their Judge JOB CHAP. 23. Vers 8 9 10. Behold I goe forward but he is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him On the left hand where he doth worke but I cannot behold him hee hideth himselfe on the right hand that I cannot see him But he knoweth the way that I take when he hath tryed mee I shall come forth as gold IN the two former verses Job exprest much Confidence of a good issue in his Cause could he but finde God and come to tryall And he reneweth this againe at the 10th verse Expressing the same Confidence When he hath tryed mee I shall come forth as gold But though he was thus Confident of a faire coming off in Case he could finde God yet he seemes in these words to cast off all Confidence of finding him forasmuch as yet he could not or had not Expressing himselfe here as a man that had travelled into all parts and quarters of the world East West North and South to finde a friend yet could not meet with him Behold I goe forward but he is not there and backward but I cannot perceive him On the left hand where he doth worke but I cannot behold him he hideth himselfe on the right hand that I cannot see him There is a threefold scope held forth about these words First As if Job did here deplore his fruitles paines in wishing for his appearing before God and in appealing to his Tribunal for as yet he saw himselfe unanswered and frustrated in his expectation God did not appeare to him in his troubles nor declare his purpose towards him Declarat Job se non posse ratione humana per res naturales quas per quatuor mundi plagas significat cognoscere certò clare rationes divinorum judiciorum Pined Secondly His scope may be to assert the hiddennes of the wayes of God or that the wayes of God are not to be found out nor understood by all the paines and industry by all the endeavours and disquisitions of man let him turne himselfe which way he will East or West North or South yet he must say I cannot behold him Thirdly Some conceive that Jobs intent is to declare his owne understanding or meaning in that earnest wish which he lately made Haec subjungit ad declarandū dei immensita tem ne quis putaret eum ex istimasse deum corporeum esse aut corporali loco circumscribi cum de illius tribunali loquutus est Id about his admittance to the Throne of God O that I knew where I might finde him that I might come even to his seat v. 3d He was not so grosse as to thinke that God was Confined to any
right hand and on the left by honour and dishonour by evill report and good report We approve our selves and tryall is taken of us as well by things on the right hand as by those upon the left as well by honour as by dishonour The good report or praise which a man meets with in the world is as great a tryal as the ill report or dispraise which he meets with in the world 't is a great tryal to be dispraised to have dirt throwne in our faces and it is a great tryal to be prais'd to be commended and applauded to be lifted up in the thoughts upon the tongues of men Solomon hath an excellent passage Prov. 27.21 As the fineing pot for silver and the furnace for gold so is a man to his praise that is a man is tryed by his praise as the silver is tryed in the fineing pot and as the gold is tryed in the furnace Whenever you are praised you are tryed Then your humility and selfe-denyall are tryed Then you are tryed whether when you are praised by men you can give the whole glory to God Herods praise was the fineing pot and the furnace wherein he was tryed it made him appeare to be but drosse indeed His hearers Cryed the voyce of God and not of man When you cry up such a Preacher such a Magistrate such a Souldier such an Oratour you put him into the fineing pot he that is but drosse consumes The wormes eate up Herod because he gave not Glory to God Act. 12.23 As it was a most dreadfull so it was a most righteous judgement that he should be eaten up of wormes who forgot that he was one and forgot it so farre that he was pleased with their applauses who cryed him up for a God Worldly prosperity power and praise are the right hand way by which God tryeth the sonnes of men Secondly God doth usually try by affliction and that 's the left hand way James 1 12. Blessed is the man that endureth temptation meaning affliction for when he is tryed he shall receive the crowne of life c. That is when those temptations and afflictions have tryed him and he hath approved himselfe in the tryall then he shall receive the crowne of life c. 1 Pet. 1.6 Though now for a season if need be yee are in heavines through manifold temptations that the tryal of your faith being much more precious then of gold that perisheth Cos aurum probat rectam tentamina mentem Natura vexata pâ—edit seipsam though it be tryed with fire might be found to praise c. Affliction is the tryall of our faith in God and of our patience under the hand of God When nature is vext it shewes it selfe and so doth grace Affliction discovereth both what our vertues and what our corruptions are Thirdly God tryeth man by a kinde of examination David speakes of that Psal 17.3 Thou hast proved mine heart thou hast visited mee in the night thou hast tryed mee and shalt finde nothing In the night the soule is free from busines with the world and therefore freest for busines with God then did God prove and visit David that is examine and sift him by calling to his minde all his wayes and workes in former passages And the issue of this tryall was he found nothing not that his soule was empty of good things or that there was nothing evill in him but God upon examination found nothing of that evill in him which some men suspected him of Namely eyther any ill will or evill designe against Saul in reference to whom he called his cause a righteous cause or the right ver 1. Heare the right O Lord c. Thus God tryed David And thus earthly Judges try men They examine them and their case that 's cald a tryall in this third sence wee are chiefly to understand the meaning of Job in this place Job had long before undergone a tryall by prosperity and praise Job was at that time under tryall by affliction he had past the former and was under the latter yea he was deep in it Intelligitur de stricto dei examine in suo judicio ad quod Job provocaverat Merc but as yet hee had not come to this tryall of Examination or to a judiciary tryall which hee earnestly beggd of God All men shall come to such a tryall in the Great day Wee must all appeare before the Judgement seate of Christ that every one may receive the thingt done in his body accordeng to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 Some expound Job appealing here to that Judgement But I conceive that the whole tendency of his discourse aymes at an earlyer Judgement or day of tryall then that And though possibly his expectation was not great if any at all that God would grant him a private Session as we may call it for his personall tryall yet to shew that he had not the least suspition of being acquitted in that day whensoever it should be he importunately professeth he could wish it might be the next day and that he would refuse no paines nor travell for the procuring of such a day were it to be obtained being fully satisfied from the light and dictates of his owne Conscience that when the Lord had so tryed him he as David spake in the place lately opened should finde nothing no such fault or guilt as was charged upon him Christ writing to the Angel of the Church of Ephesus gives him this among other commendations Rev. 2.2 Thou hast tryed them which say they are Apostles and are not and hast found them lyars Many appeare fayre in holines and boast highly of their priviledges even as high as an infallible Spirit and immediate mission who yet being tryed and throughly examined by the Church or by those who are spirituall and have sences exercised to discerne both good and evill will be found lyars counterfeit stuffe and lighter then vanitie But Job was perswaded that though God should try him not onely should nothing be found against him nor he found a lyar but that much would be found for him and himselfe be found in the truth as he plainely expresseth in the close of the verse when hee hath tryed mee whut then I shall come forth as gold Egrediar ex hoc igne probationis meae expurgatissimus Coruscabiâ—â— innocentia mea Pined Here 's the issue of the tryal There are seaven words used in the Original for gold That in the text notes the colour or yellownes of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 generale vocabulum est a colore sulvo seu flavo transfertur ad aliarum rerum munditiem significandum sic ab aura aurora aurum derivat Isidor Plenus vino aureo i. e. splendido velut aurum and is applyed to signifie any thing that is bright or shineing pure and splendid as Gold is Zach. 4.12 wee read of
To draw backe is perdition as they who draw backe are the most forward to destroy others Hos 5.2 The revoulters are profound to make slaughter so they shall be sure to be destroyed themselves The people of Israel in their travels through the wildernes to Canaan did often discover this spirit of Apostacy Psal 78.41 They turned backe and tempted God We finde them at a consultation about it Numb 14.4 They said one to another let us make us a Captaine and let us returne into Egypt Our Lord Jesus had such a sort of men who followed him in person Joh. 6.66 From that time many of his Disciples went backe from him and walked no more with him They were Disciples who went backe and there were many of them so many that Christ in the next verse sayd to the twelve Will ye also goe away Then Peter answered Lord whether shall we goe thou hast the words of eternall life As if he had sayd we cannot mend our selves whether soever we goe why then should we goe from thee As a Godly man goeth on so he seeth reason why he should 'T is as irrationall as sinfull to goe backe from him who hath the words of eternall life or from the commandement of his lips who hath given the promise of life The Apostle Paul had a reaching spirit and he was alwayes reaching forward Phil. 3.12 13. Not as though I had already attained or were already perfect but I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus As if he had sayd I would to the utmost answer the designe which Christ had upon me when he first tooke hold of me effectually by his grace Paul was so farre from going backe that he forgot what was backward Some remember what is past or what they have done so much that they forget what is to be done But saith Paul this one thing I doe forgetting those things which are behinde and reaching forth unto those things which are before I presse towards the marke for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus The marke and the price are alwayes before us there is no coming at the marke nor winning of the price by turning backe Prov. 4.18 The path of the just is like the shining or morning light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day The path of the unjust if it have any light in it is but like the evening light which shines lesse and lesse which declines and goeth downward till the perfect night and till himselfe be wrapt up in everlasting darknesse The Sun in the firmament went backe by miracle for a signe to Hezekiah that he should recover the health of his body But if we see any goe back who have heretofore shined like the Sunne in a Gospel pofession we have just cause to looke upon it as a sad symtome that their soules are in a dangerous if not in an irrecoverable condition I have not gone backe sayth Job from the commandement of his lips Againe from all these expressions in that Job speaking of the same thing calls it the way of God the commandement of his lips and in the latter part of this verse the word of his mouth to which he had cleaved and wholy devoted himselfe for the guiding of his whole man in the duty which he owed and had been carefull to pay both to God and man Observe The word of God is the onely rule of life And in this poynt the word or commandement of God is to be taken in a double opposition first to our owne devises and rules secondly to the devises and rules of other men man must not prescribe to himselfe nor may we receive the prescriptions of men to order our practise by God is the onely Law-giver and we must receive the Law from his mouth He that will please God must shutt all his own imaginations out of doores and have nothing to doe with them 'T is not what man hath a minde to doe but what the minde of God is he should doe that pleaseth him or is eyther a worship or a service acceptable to him We never dishonour God more then when we take upon us to serve him our owne way and leaving his rule make a rule for our selves Such a serving of God is rebellion against him as was told Saul by the Prophet 1 Sam. 15.22 Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voyce of the Lord. Saul thought he had done very well when he saved the sheep and oxen for sacrifice But he was told that to obey is better then sacrifice and to hearken then the fat of Rams God had commanded burnt offerings and sacrifice but he had no delight in them when his owne voyce was not obeyed or when they were offered eyther beside or against his command Luk. 16.15 That which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to the Lord His thoughts are not our thoughts eyther in the doing of what is good or in the pardoning of what is sinfull As man is apt to thinke that God will not pardon what he hath done sinfully so that he will accept of what he thinkes he hath done holyly though he hath no rule for the doing of it but what himselfe hath devised We alwayes fayle in our measure while we measure God by our selves And it is as dangerous to take the rule of our actions from men as not to take the rule of God In this sence we must call no man Master nor may we be the servants of the wisest men And as we must not be the servants of men because which is the Apostles reason 1 Cor. 7.23 We are bought with a price that is dearely redeemed by Christ so neyther may we be the servants of men in following their dictates because we have received a word from God whom alone we ought to follow and none else but in subordination to or complyance with his word and the commandement of his lips or as it followes in the conclusion of this verse the words of his mouth I have esteemed the words of his mouth more then my necessary food Job having given us two negatives I have not declined I have not turned backe as proofes of his integrity and holines now gives us an affirmative to make up the fullnes of his proofe Not to doe evill is commendable but to doe good is a higher commendation I have esteemed the words of his mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Hebrew word signifies two things first to hide or conceale secondly to prise value or esteeme Some render this Text by the former not as we I have esteemed the words of his mouth In sinu meo abscondi verba oris ejus Vul◠Graecos secetus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 legit non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at ventit ac si scriptum esset 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in sinu meo abscondi Merc.
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
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
and terror as appeared like one In the Booke of the Revelation which hath as one of the Ancients speaketh as many mysteryes as words the dreadfull judgements prophecyed to come upon the world in the severall Ages of it are expressed by Thunder Revel 10.4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voyces I was about to write and I heard a voyce from heaven saying unto mee seale up those things which the seven thunders uttered and write them not And as elsewhere so especially in this booke of Job we find those things which carry the greatest strength and terror in them exprest by thunder Job 39.19 Hast thou given the horse strength hast thou clothed his necke with thunder that is hast thou made the horse who is so strong and terrible And at the 25th verse treating still of the horse he sayth among the trumpets Haec nos cogitata et levitèr cōmemorata obstupefaciūt quid si majora quae illius potestate continentur c. Pined Quis comprehendere potest ingentes domini virtutes quae velut vocem tonitrui more attollant prae magnitudine et multitudine Merc Quis satis consideret Pisc Tonitru fortitudinū vocat sermonem clarum fortitèr prolatum quod sit velut tonitru maximum Coc Tonitru potentiae i. e. Ipsum intonantem loquentem coram Argumentum est per comparationem majoris Jun Tonare eos dicimus qui orarationis et eloquentiae vi maximè pollent Novar ha ha and he smelleth the battaile afarre of the thunder of the Captaines and the shouting that is the horse is pleased to heare the Great Commanders speake with a loud voyce eyther directing threatning or encouraging their Souldiers Thus the Thunder of Gods power is some wonderfull act of his power which lifts up its voyce as it were like Thunder This who can understand none can The word signifyes also to weigh and consider so some render it here Who can sufficiently consider the Thunder of his power who can consider it as he ought eyther first according to the depth and mysteriousnesse of it or secondly according to the dignity and worthines of it Thirdly These words who can understand the thunder of his power may be expounded of the highest and clearest publication of his power The thundering of it out As if Job had sayd I have whispered a little to you but if God should thunder out himselfe or if his workes were spoken out as they deserve in thunder the minds of men would be amazed and their understandings confounded The thunder of his power who can understand 'T is usuall among the learned to expresse high eloquence and strong confidence of speech by thundering It was sayd of Alcibiades that hee thundred Greece He was a man so mighty in Elocution that he made his hearers tremble And hence Christ himselfe surnamed two of his owne Disciples James the son of Zebedee and John the Brother of James Boanerges which is The Sons of Thunder They did not speake as we say like a mouse in a cheese but with a great voyce and with a greater spirit they spake the messages of heaven as if it thundered from heaven There may be a great force in a low voyce while what is spoken comes with much clearenes of reason and strength of Authority or as the Apostle gives it in the evidence and demonstration of the Spirit but when all these are convayed by a mighty voyce a voyce like thunder how forceable are they Basil was sayd to Thunder in his doctrine and lighten in his life Such to the hight was that voyce of words in Mount Horeb at the giving of the Law Which voyce they that heard intreated that the Word should not be spoken to them any more Heb 12.19 that is that it should not be spoken to them any more in that manner or by an immediate voyce from God as appeares Exod 20. v 18 19. And all the people saw the Thunderings and the lightnings and the noyse of the Trumpet c. And they sayd unto Moses speake thou with us and we will heare but let not God speake with us lest we dye We cannot understand the Thunder of his power Hence note Man is not able to receave and beare those highest discoveryes of God God can speake in such a light as will blind the eyes of man and in such a language as will rather astonish then instruct him As among beleevers they who are carnal and babes in Christ are not able to eate strong meate they must be fed with milke as the Apostles speakes 1 Cor. 3.2 So wee may say of all Beleevers even of those that are strongest God doth onely whisper and speake gently to them the thunder of his power they cannot understand For as there is a peace of God which passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 they that have it not understand nothing of it and they that have it understand but little of it it passeth all understanding not a naturall understanding onely but also a spirituall And as there is a love of Christ passing knowledge Eph. 3.19 which yet we should labour to know a love which hath an incomprehensible height and length and bredth and depth in it which yet all the Saints are labouring to comprehend so there is a manifestation of the will and workes of God a Thunder of his power which were it made and spoken out to us our understanding could not graspe nor comprehend how much soever we should desire and labour to comprehend it And therefore God is pleased to put the treasure of his minde and messages in earthen vessells not onely as the Apostle gives the reason 2 Cor 4.7 That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us but he doth it also condiscending to our weakenes lest if he should give out this treasure immediately from himselfe or should put it into some heavenly vessel we should not be able to beare the excellency or as Job here speakes The Thunder of his power Thus after a very long ventilation of the Question between Job and his friends wee are arrived at the Conclusion of their dispute Job hath answered two of his friends thrice the third Zophar I meane onely twice He it seemes gave out and sate downe whether satisfyed or wearyed whether having no more to say or being unwilling to say any more or thinking that enough had been sayd already I determine not But though Jobs friends have done arguing against him yet he hath not done arguing for himselfe Which he doth in five entire Chapters twice called the continuation of his Parable In what sence he calleth his ensuing speech a parable together with the subject matter of it may through the Gratious presence and supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ who hath helped hetherto and hath not suffered that little oyle in the Cruse to fayle shine forth with a clearer light A TABLE Directing to some speciall Points noted in the