Doctrine is the purity of it and the sincerity of prayer is the purity of it Job did not boast his prayer pure without infirmity but he did professe it pure without hypocrisie Yet besides this casting out of hypocrisie there are diverse ingredients to be taken in towards the composition of a pure prayer of which I shall touch more distinctly by and by We read in the Institutes of the Ceremoniall Law of pure Myrrhe of pure Frankincense of pure Oyle of pure Incense all which concurred to pure worship among the Jewes and typed out all pure worship both among Jewes and Gentiles of the latter the Lord saith Mal. 1.11 From the rising of the Sun unto the going downe of the same my name shall be called upon among the Gentiles and in every place Incense shall be offered unto my name and a pure offering This pure offering Job intends when he saith My prayer is pure Under these two There is no injustice in my hand and my prayer is pure Job conteines the whole duty of man both to God and to man Here is Justice comprehending the dutyes of the second Table His duobus membris utramque tabulam complectitur Merc. and Prayer comprehending the duties of the first Table Thus Job was compleat in all the will of God and had respect to all his Commandements And thus he verified Gods testimony of him Chap. 1.1 and approved himselfe to be A man perfect and upright fearing God and eschewing evill which is the whole duty of man From the words in generall Observe First Man hath great support in bearing afflictions from the witnesse which his heart gives of his owne integrity 'T is matter of wonder that ever Job should beare so many burdens and endure breach upon breach till wee remember that though he had many breaches upon his body and estate yet he had none upon his conscience Indeed his spirit had breaches by way of tryall and temptation from God but it had none by way of disobedience against God The spirit of a man saith Solomon will sustaine his infirmities Prov. 18.14 There are two sorts of infirmities First Sinfull infirmities such are impatience doubtings deadnesse of heart and vanity of thoughts Secondly Penall or painefull infirmities such as are poverty sicknesse diseases or any outward crosse whatsoever These latter are the infirmities which Solomon meanes and these the spirit of a man will sustaine even while his flesh or body sinks under them Yet here spirit is not taken meerely in opposition to bodily or materiall flesh though the spirit under that Physicall notion is able to beare much more then the body can but as spirit is opposed to spirituall and sinfull flesh that is to a carnall corrupt minde The spirit of a man furnished with grace supported with the favour of God and the testimony of a good conscience will sustaine all his infirmities that is cause him to beare with much not onely patience but courage and cheerfulnesse the heaviest burdens of affliction which eyther the wisedome of God doth or the malice of man can lay upon him Holinesse makes the weake strong and the strong like Giants to endure all shocks of trouble and hardship A whole skin feeles no smart though you bath it with brine and if a man have a sound conscience if his spirit be not galled and raw he is able to stand at any time and sometimes to rejoyce in the saltest waters of worldly sorrow For though he be not as was shewed before senslesse of or without outward smart yet having no inward smart which is the worst smart hee is above it The paines and wants of the body are almost lost and swallowed up in the comforts and enjoyments of the minde A wounded spirit who can beare A spirit unwounded what can it not beare He that hath no injustice in his hands hath much peace in his heart and while our prayer is pure our spirits will not be much troubled in any of our troubles Secondly Observe It is possible to live without any knowne sin Job knew of no injustice in his hand nor was he conscious of any impurity in his prayer The Apostle John writes to Saints of all Ages and Statures under the title of His little Children not to sin 1 John 2.1 And in that he doth not only admonish them of what they ought not to doe but of what they might attain not to doe For though he that saith he hath no sin deceives himselfe and sins in saying so 1 Joh. 1.9 yet it may be sayd of some without sin and they in Jobs case may say it of themselves without sin that they sin not The best Saints have and know they have sin in their natures and sin in their lives yea and sometimes they fall into great sins yet such a degree of holinesse is attaineable in this life that a man may be sayd not to sin For then in a Gospell sense we are sayd not to sin when we cast off and are free from all grosse and scandalous sins and doe both carefully avoyd and make conscience of the least and the most secret sin Zacharie and Elizabeth Luke 1.16 were both righteous before God walking in all the Commandements and Ordinances of the Lord blamelesse that is They did not live in any open or knowne sin they lived so that no man could blame them or bring any just complaint against them eyther in matters of morality which seeme to be meant in the word Commandement or in matters of worship which seeme to be meant by the word Ordinance And when I speak of not living in any knowne sin I meane not onely that Saints may rise so high as not to live in any sin which the World takes notice of but they may yea and often doe arrive at that hight of holinesse not to live in any sin knowne to themselves if once a true Beleever discovers sin he cannot owne it much lesse live in it be it injustice or wrong towards men be it any fayling in the worship and service of God he will not suffer it to lodge with him He that hath grace in his heart cannot live with injustice in his hand there is an inconsistence between these two a life of grace and to live in sin Sin may be much alive in him that hath grace but he cannot live in sin he may be often tempted to the act of it and sometimes possibly overtaken with it yet he cannot live in it He cannot keep injustice in his hand nor frame an impure prayer in his heart A good man may doe an act of injustice but he continues not unjust he restores what he hath taken unjustly from men and repents before the Lord but usually he is not conscious to himselfe of doing unjustly towards men If a Laban one with whom hee hath had converse and dealing twenty yeares together should come and search his house he is able to say to him as honest Jacob did to his Uncle
words of truth and tended to peace Some truths may be burthensome at some times to a good heart Hard words are alwayes burthensome Job had store of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Consolatores laboris aut molestiae Heb. The letter of the Hebrew gives the sense thus Yee are comforters of trouble that is troublesome comforters As if he had sayd Yee doe not comfort me in my troubles but yee trouble me with your comforts Yee are comforters made up of trouble that 's the predominant Element which denominates your complexion and constitution yee are so troublesome that you seeme to be nothing but trouble Our rendering in the concrete is cleare to Jobs scope Miserable comforters are yee all Hence Observe Some while they goe about to act the part of comforters doe but add to their sorrow whom they pretend to comfort and in stead of comforters prove tormenters But when doth a man deserve this title A miserable comforter That which caused Job to charge his Freinds with this miscarriage of their paines with him will resolve the question and tell us when First They gave him little hope of good or they did not open to him a doone of hope wide enough 't is true they made some overtures that way which yet comparatively to what they ought were scarce considerable And Eliphaz who had been somewhat large upon the point in his first congresse with Job speakes nothing of it in his last For as if he thought his case desperate and had given him for a lost man he shuts up in the darke as we see in the close of the former Chapter where he thunders out the judgements of God upon Hypocrites and Bribe-takers without so much as one word of comfort to the penitent This is to be a Miserable comforter The song of comforters should at least be mixt like that of David to the Lord of mercy and of judgement Psal 101.1 A song of judgement alone or most of judgement to a heavy heart may be called like that of Jeremie A Lamentation but it is not a Consolation Secondly They as was toucht before tyred out his afflicted soule with tedious discourses and unpleasing repetitions they alwayes harped upon the same string and that makes no musicke to a disconsolate soule As God complaines of those prayers as unpleasing which are full of unnecessary repetitions so also those counsels are unpleasing to man which are made up of needlesse repetitions To presse the same point though true oft and oft is a wearinesse to the spirit and because it suggests this suspition that the hearer doth oppose or resist that truth it proves an upbraiding rather then a teaching or a comforting Comfort must be stolne in unawares by a holy sleight of hand it must not be beaten in with beetles as it were by force of hand Solomon tels us Prov. 25.12 As an earering of Gold Subrepere debet consolatio fucum facere affectibus Sen. and an ornament of fine Gold so is a wise reprover upon an obedient eare What he speakes of a reprover is as true of a comforter and he onely is fit to be a reprover who is skil'd or knowes how to be a comforter Hee that will open or launce a soare had need be acquainted with the meanes of healing it The spirit of God who is the Reprover John 16.8 is also the Comforter John 14.26 We may therefore take up Solomons Proverbe here As an earering of Gold and an ornament of fine Gold so is a wise comforter upon an obedient eare They who hang Jewels in their eares as it was the custome of those times and is to this day take that which is of great price and value yet of little weight No man hangs a Talent or a great lump of Gold in his eare Gold is precious but much Gold is ponderous and burdens rather then adornes the eare the bulke of it is more combersome then the beauty of it is conspicuous Esto correptio non levis pretii sed levis pâ—ndeâ—is So comfort which is the most pleasant Jewell of the eare should be pure and precious as the Gold of Ophir but yet it must be like an earering which though it be not light in regard of worth yet it is light in regard of weight We must not load but guide a man with counsell nor must we burden him with many but ease him with pertinent words of comfort Thirdly That which rendered them yet more miserable Comforters was their unkinde grating upon that string of his sinfulnesse and studyed hypocrisie Job acknowledged himselfe a sinner and that he could not be justified in the sight of God by any righteousnesse of his owne yet still his freinds were unsatisfied about his sincerity and still they presented him with suspicions of secret wickednesse as the cause of all his sufferings still they told him of the sad fate of Tyrants of Oppressours of unjust Judges of unsound and false-hearted Worshippers and though they did not apply these Parables personally to Job yet the generall discourse sounded as if they had sayd Thou art the man Now as the Apostle speaks concerning death 1 Cor. 15.56 so we may say concerning any affliction The sting of affliction is sin the sting of sicknesse the sting of poverty the sting of disgrace is sin when the least trouble is armed with sin the strongest tremble at the sight of it A godly man can easier beare the weight of all afflictions then the weight and burthen of one sin so long as he sees all cleare between God and his owne soule so long as he can looke up to God as having his sin pardoned and can approve his heart to God that he lives not in any knowne sin in this case though the Lord lay the heaviest burthen of affliction upon him he can goe lightly under it The spirit of a man will beare all these infirmities but if his spirit be wounded either with the guilt of sin or with the feare of the wrath of God how can hee beare it This afflicts more then all other afflictions This was it which caused Job to cry out Miserable comforters His Freinds ever upbraiding him with his sin his sin his sin as the root and therefore as the sting of all his troubles They applyed nothing but these corrasives to his wounded soule which called alowd for the balme of Gilead There are two sorts of miserable comforters First They who flatter the soule that lives in sin Secondly They who embitter and burden their soules who being under burdens of sorrow are also in bitternesse for their sin Some sow Pillowes under the elbowes of those who delight in sin and dawbe them up with untempered morter others thrust Swords and shoot arrowes into the bowels of those who mourne for sin and in stead of bringing well-tempered morter to binde and cement their soules lay hard stones under them which vex and gaul their soules Both are Miserable comforters They who
Hab. 1.13 Seeing then there is much iniquity in our holy things we must doe all by our High Priest who as the typical High Priest did for the Children of Israel Exod. 28.38 beares the iniquity of our holy things that we as they may be accepted before the Lord. Sixthly That and onely that is pure prayer which is breathed in and breathed out by the spirit of God Edifie your selves in your â—ost holy Faith pray in the holy Ghost Jude Vers 20. Or praying by the holy Ghost as some translate that is by the strength and helpe of the holy Ghost We cannot make pure prayer with our owne breath parts and gifts the holy spirit breathes holy prayer into and draws it out of our hearts As we know not what to beleeve or doe aright till the spirit teacheth us so we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit it selfe maketh intercession for us Rom. 8.26 The spirit maketh intercession not as Christ doth the spirit doth not mediate between God and us but as it is the office of Christ to intercede for us with God so it is the office of the holy Ghost to make those intercessions in us which we put up to God So that the spirit is said to make intercession for us because the intercessions and prayers which we make are made by the spirit the spirit formes them in us As some duller Schollers in a Schoole who cannot make their Exercises get their exercises made for them by those that are more pregnant so the spirit makes intercession for us We are dull and low 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 particula 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad nos laborantes refertur quorum tamen vis omnis ab eo spiritu proficiscitur qui sicut nos penitus collapsos erexit ita etiam erectos regit ideoque dicitur ipse vicissim onus attollere ne sub eo fatiscamus Bez. in Epist ad Rom. and straitned wee cannot make a prayer the spirit makes them for us in our hearts Hence it is said in the beginning of the Verse The spirit also helpeth our infirmities The Greek word signifieth to helpe as a Nurse helpeth a little Childe to goe or as a weake decrepid old man is upholden by a staffe or rather as the composition of the word implyes The spirit helpeth together And then it is a Metaphor taken from those who lift a weight or a peece of Timber too heavy for one together The spirit lends us his hand in this duty and they who have received grace act also with the spirit Thus the spirit helpeth together The Spirit and a Beleever are both at it to carry on this praying worke yet all that strength which we put to the worke flowes from the spirit who as he raiseth us when wee are quite fallen so hee assists us when we are raised and then wee make good worke pure worke of it in prayer Lastly That is a pure prayer which comes from a pure person And there is a double purity of the person necessary to a pure prayer First There is the purity of his state he must be a converted and regenerated person otherwise his prayer is abominable though he should be right in as many of the forementioned requisites as it is possible for an unregenerate man to be as suppose he not onely prayeth to God and for such things as are agreeable to the will of God but also as he thinks for the glory of God yet the mans prayer is impure because himselfe is impure God hath respect to the person before he hath respect to his supplication Prov. 15.8 The prayer of the wicked is an abomination to God but the prayer of the upright is his delight And againe Hee that turnes away his eare from hearing the Law even his prayer shall bee abomination Prov. 28.9 Secondly As there must be purity of state before there can be a pure prayer so also purity of life that is he must be renewed in purity not lying or continuing in any sin 1 Tim. 2.8 I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubtings Holy hands note the purity of our actions as a holy heart notes the purity of our state To lift up the hands is to pray the signe being put for the thing signified The meaning is let your prayers be holy First without wrath to men come not to seeke the favour of God with anger and revenge in thy heart against man Secondly pray without doubting that respects God and is opposed to Faith As if the Apostle had sayd Pray both in actuall Faith and Love Yet the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there used is rendered by some Disceptation or wrangling as if the Apostle had in that specified one effect of wrath 'T is expounded also by others for any internall distraction or distemper of the mind for the minde of man is often carryed away from God in prayer and maintaines secret Dialogismes discourses and conferences in and with it selfe when it should be wholly taken up with God The covetous mans heart talkes of Gold and the voluptuous mans heart talkes of pleasures when hee seemes to pray yea these Foules will often come downe upon the Sacrifice of an Abraham onely as soone as hee espies them hee drives them away yet by these interruptions in prayer as well as by any sinfull action unrepented of before prayer the holinesse of prayer or the lifting up of holy hands in prayer is hindred and defaced even in those whose persons are holy David was a man that was pure in state he was a converted person yet he saith Ps 66.18 If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not heare my prayers Though I am pure in state yet if I am impure in life the eare of God will shut against my suites Isa 1.14 15. God rejects the prayers of his owne people because their hands were full of blood and hence his counsell Wash you make you cleane put away the evill of your doings from before mine eyes c. Come now let us reason together saith the Lord Vers 18. As if he had said while I see your sins I cannot heare your prayers while your iniquities are before mine eyes your supplications cannot enter into mine eare nor will I answer them How can any soule expect with Faith that God should doe what he requests when hee will not doe what God commands Or that God should fulfill our desires while wee in any thing neglect his rules As the prayer of an unholy person is turned into sin so the sin of a holy person may cause the Lord to turne away his prayer Then take that counsell of the Apostle writing to and of Saints Heb. 10.22 Let us draw nigh to God with a true heart in full assurance of Faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evill conscience and our bodies washed with pure water There is a twofold evill conscience First That which
AN EXPOSITION WITH Practicall Observations CONTINUED UPON The fifteenth sixteenth and seventeenth Chapters of the Book of JOB BEING The Summe of twenty three Lectures delivered at Magnus neer the Bridge LONDON By JOSEPH CARYL Preacher of the Word and Pastour of the Congregation there JAMES CHAP. 1. VERS 12. Blessed is the Man that endureth temptation for when he is tryed he shall receive the Crowne of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him LONDON Printed by Matthew Simmons and are to be sould by Thomas Eglesfeild at the Marigold and at the Brasen Serpent in Pauls Church-yard 1650. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER TO THOSE ESPECIALLY OF THIS City who have been the movers and continue the Promoters of this WORK SOLOMON who made Many Bookes tells us toward the end of one of them Eccl. 12.12 That of making many Books there is no end and that much study is a wearinesse to the flesh But while Solomon speakes thus doth he not at once blot those many Books which himselfe had written and discourage others from writing any more Though study be a wearinesse to the flesh yet 't is granted that 's no sufficient reason why we should desist the flesh must be wearied and hard wrought 't is good it should be so But there 's no colour of reason why we should begin that which eyther cannot be finisht and brought to an end or which is to no end when 't is brought to an end and finisht How then saith Solomon that of making many Books there is no end His scope cleares this scruple for having read his Son a Lecture upon the vanity of the Creature and having given him many excellent advices for the due steering of his course through this World he applyes all in the former part of this Verse And further by these my Son be admonished Let what is now written take upon thy heart and be accepted with thee For Vers 10. The Preacher sought to finde out acceptable words and that which was written was upright even words of truth Againe Vers 11. The words of the Wise are as Goads and as Nayles fastned by the Masters of Assemblies which are given from one Shepheard Therefore let these words like Goads put thee on and like Nayles fasten thee to the obedience of my counsels By these my Son be admonished As if he had sayd Let not this Booke which discovers the vanity of all worldly things be it selfe accounted vaine If this Book prevaile not with thee if it master not thy judgement and mannage not thy affections 't is to no end for me to make many Bookes seeing this is cloathed with as much compleatnesse of rule to direct as a Book of this Argument can be and is stampt with as much strength of Authority to command as any Book of any Argument can be And further why shouldest thou my Son put mee to the making of many Bookes What if I could make many with as much ease to my owne spirit as I have made this one which was given me in immediately by the spirit yet thou canst not study or as we put in the Margin read many Books without weaâ—inesse to thy flesh So then though Solomon might have just had ground to put the affectation both of writing and reading many Books upon the file of his observed vanities yet hee doth not disoblige from the study of necessary and serious Books nor at all condemne those many Monuments of profitable learning which industrious Pens have in any Age bequeathed to Posterity He indeed which yet is but a second designe if it be at all the designe of that place takes us off from vaine studies and censures those Bookes be they few as well as many which have no tendency to make any man eyther the wiser or the better by reading them Nor can those Books how many soever they are be to their disparagement called Many which center in and promote what is but one in every kinde any kinde of Truth cheifely that which we call Divine or Holy Truth Any One uselesse or erroneous Booke is too many Many usefull and Orthodox Bookes are but One. The five Bookes of Moses are but One Law The foure Bookes of the Birth Life and Death of our ever blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ are but One Gospell All the Bookes of both Testaments are but one Booke Vpon which account we may also say that All those many and many Bookes which faithfully interpret That one Booke are but one Booke And though of making many such Bookes there should as I conceive there will be no end till this World ends as End is taken for a ceasing to make them yet of making many such Bookes there is an end yea many noble ends as End is taken for the good or benefit which comes by making them The making of such Bookes is good and a benefit to the Reader as communicating to him those manifestations of the spirit which are given to every man to whom they are given to profit withall The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there used by the Apostle signifies such a profit as streameth out to community The making of such Bookes is also good and a benefit to the Maker as being an improvement of his Time and Talents to his owne peace and his Masters glory 'T is reward beyond all the World can give for any worke that God hath glory and man peace in doing it As this small peice of worke is directed to these last mentioned ends and as it ought principally to the first of them so that it may reach the former by adding a Mite or two to the Treasury of the Readers knowledge in the best things and by being his encouragement to walke in the best wayes is the hope and prayer and the reaching of it will be indeed a very rich reward and payment of Your affectionate Freind and Servant in this Worke of the Lord Joseph Caryl May 22. 1650. AN EXPOSITION Upon the Fifteenth sixteenth and seventeenth Chapters of the Book of JOB JOB Chap. 15. Vers 1 2 3 4 5 6. Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite and sayd Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge And fill his belly with the East winde Should be reason with unprofitable talke Or with speeches wherewith he can doe no good Yea thou castest off feare and restrainest prayer before God For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity and thou chusest the tongue of the crafty Thine owne mouth condemneth thee and not I Yea thine owne lips testifie against thee WEE are come to the second Session of this great dispute between Job and his three Freinds they have all spoken one turne and now they returne to speake Eliphaz who led the first charge leads the second and that with a very violent march against this sorrowfull man Yet we are not to conceive Eliphaz upon any designe to revile his person or to vex his spirit That were most unsuitable in any Freind much more such we suppose Eliphaz to
account as idle Now if unprofitable talke be sinfull and speeches that can doe no good then what is prophane talke and speeches which doe hurt infection gets quickly in at the eare defiling the minde and corrupting the manners of those that heare them The Apostle gives us the rule of speaking both in the negative and in the affirmative Ephes 4.29 Let no corrupt communications proceed out of your mouths but that which is good to the use of edifying which may administer grace to the hearer Againe Colos 4.6 Let your speeches be alwaies with grace that is such as testifieth that there is grace in your heart never speake a word but such as may stand with grace yea speake such words as may be a witnesse of grace wrought in your selves and a meanes of working grace in others Let your words be seasoned with salt the salt of our words is holinesse and truth prudence also is the salt of words good words and true spoken unseasonably may doe hurt Prudence teaches us the time when and the manner how to answer every man Belial ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod in hiphil significat prodesse ut denotet inutilem qui nec sibi nec alijs prodest Thirdly observe It is matter of just reproofe against every man to be unprofitable and to doe no good Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewen downe and cast into the fire Matth. 3.10 Some conceive that the word Belial comes from Beli which in Hebrew signifies Not and the word Jagnal which here in the Text signifies to doe good Because a Belialist or a Son of Belial is such a one as neither doth good to himselfe nor to any other The unprofitable Servant who hid and did not improve his Talent shall be condemned And he who uses his talent unprofitably and vainely shall not escape Should he reason with unprofitable talke Thus farre we have seen Eliphaz reproving Job of folly in speaking unlike and below a wise man he proceeds to reprove him for acting unlike and below a godly man This he sets home with a particle of aggravation Vers 4. Yea thou castest off feare and restrainest Prayer before God As if he had said besides or above all this that thou hast uttered vaine knowledge words that cannot profit thou hast also cast off the feare of God c. The word which we translate to cast off signifies to make voyd to scatter to dissolve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Labefactasti irritum fecisti dissolvisti fregisti to break in peices to make as nothing or to make nothing of It is often used in Scripture for breaking the Commandements of God imploying such a breach as makes the Commandements voyd which is the proper character of an evill heart A godly man may sin against the Commandements but a wicked man would sinne away the Commandements he would repeale the Law of God and enact his owne lusts Such is the force of the word here Thou castest off feare There is a naturall feare and a spirituall feare we are not to understand this Text of a naturall feare which is a trouble of spirit arising upon the apprehension of some approaching evill but of a spirituall Feare is here put alone but we are to take it with its best adjunct the feare of God for as the word sometimes is put alone to signifie the word of God as if there were no word but his and as the word Commandements is put alone to note the Commandements of God as if no Commandements deserved the name but onely the Commandements of God so feare is put alone by way of excellency for the feare of God as importing that his feare is excellent and no feare to be desired but his This Divine feare comes under a double notion First it is taken for the holy awe or reverence we beare to God in our spirits which is the worship of the first Commandement and the sanctifying of God in our hearts Secondly For the outward acts of Religion which is the worship of the second Commandement Their feare is taught by the precepts of men Isa 29.13 that is their outward worship and Religion is such as men have invented not such as God hath appointed Some take it here in the first sense onely thou castest off feare that is thou castest off that awe reverence and regard thou owest to the Name of God others understand it in the second Thou castest off feare that is the outward worship and service of God but I conceive we have that expressed in the next clause Timor hoc loco pro reverentia tremore potius quam pro religione cultu licet utrumque cohaereat Pined And restrainest prayer before God there he taxeth him with neglect of outward worship and here with neglect of inward Thou casteth off feare feare is as the bridle of the soule feare holds us in compasse it is the bank to the Sea feare keeps in the overflowing of sinne Thou casteth off feare But what cause had Job given Eliphaz to charge him with casting off the feare of the Lord we finde Eliphaz touching upon this point before and upbraiding Job Chap. 4.6 Is this thy feare Nullo pudore loquutus es coram Deo Symmach Is this thy confidence As if he had sayd Is all thy profession come to this here he chargeth him expresly thou hast cast off feare Job had not given him any just cause to speak or thinke thus hardly of him but Eliphaz might possibly ground this accusation upon those words Chap. 9. v. 23. This is one thing therefore I sayd it he destroyeth the perfect and the wicked c. Which Eliphaz did interpret as a casting off the feare of God hath he awfull and reverent thoughts of God who affirmeth that God laugheth at the afflictions and tryals of his people Againe Chap. 12.6 The Tabernacles of Robbers prosper and they that provoke God are secure into whose hands God bringeth abundantly Hath not this man cast off all feare of God who dares say the wicked prosper and are secure Is God become a freind to those that professe themselves enemies to him Others referre the ground of this to Chap. 13.21 22. where he seemes to speake boldly and as some have taxed him impudently Doe not two things to me withdraw thy hand from me c. Then call thou and I will answer or let me speake and answer thou me Hence Eliphaz concludes surely the man hath cast off the feare of God he speaks to God as if he were Gods fellow Speake thou and I will answer or let me speake and answer thou me are these words becomming the great God of Heaven and Earth art not thou growne over bold with God doest thou speake as becomes the distance that is betweene the Creator and the Creature the Greek translates to this sense Thou speakest to God without any modesty thou hast put on a brasen
just the sincere thy heart sets thee out sure Possit per dativum ita verti quid attribuit tibi cor tuum Bold Quid docet te cor tuum Rab. Sol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat doctrinam sed ita dicitur a discendo potius quam a docendo Drus Quid docuit te cogitatio tua Targ. and gildes thee over with attributes beyond thy deserving Master Broughton following one of the Rabbins presents us with a different translation from either of these What Doctrine can thy heart give thee or what can thy heart teach thee The word which we render to take to carry or hold up a thing signifies also to learne or teach Doctrine but rather to learne then to teach as Grammarians tell us which somewhat abates the clearenesse of that version yet the Chalde Paraphrase followes the same sense What hath thy owne thought taught thee What learnest thou there as if Eliphaz had sayd Thou hast an evill heart and surely an ill Master will teach but ill Doctrine when the heart is inditing of a good matter Psal 45. then we may learne good lessons from the heart and then we speake most effectually to the hearts of others when we speak from our owne hearts they having first been spoken to by the spirit of God But a corrupt heart can teach no better then it hath and that is corrupt Doctrines These are truths yet too much strained for upon this Text and therefore I passe from them and abide by the ordinary signification of the word as we read it Why doth thy heart take thee up or carry thee away as if he had sayd Thy heart hath seized upon thee and arrested thee thou art led away prisoner or captive by the violence and impetuousnesse of thy owne spirit The word is applyed Ezek. 23.14 to the motion of the spirit of God sent unto Ezekiel to instruct him The spirit lifted me up or caught me away that which the good spirit did unto Ezekiel not onely upon his spirit but upon his body for hee was corporally carryed away from the place where he was that the heart of Job as Eliphaz conceived did unto him it lifted him up and carryed him away There is a kind of violence in the allurements and inticings of the heart As a man is sayd to be carryed away by the ill counsells of others so also by his owne In the former sense the word is used Prov. 6.25 Where Solomon advising to take heed of the Harlot saith he Keep thee from the evill Woman from the flattery of the tongue of a strange Woman lust not after her in thy heart neither let her take thee with her eye lids There he makes use of this word let her not take thee or let her not carry thee away upon her eye lids let not her wanton eye flatter thee to the sin of wantonnesse and uncleannesse As the eye of a whorish Woman so the whorish heart of a man often takes and carryeth him away Hence observe The heart hath power over and is too hard for the whole Man Passions hurry our hearts and our hearts hurry us and who can tell whither his heart will carry him or where it will set him downe when once it hath taken him up This is certaine it will carry every man beyond the bounds of his duty both to God and man Take it more distinctly in these three particulars The heart quickly carryeth us beyond the bounds of grace Secondly the heart often carryeth us beyond the bounds of reason When passion workes much reason workes not at all Thirdly it may carry us beyond the bounds of honesty yea of modesty 'T is very dangerous to commit our selves to the conduct of passion that unlesse kept under good command will soone run us beyond the line both of Modesty and of Honesty of Reason and of Grace He that is carryed away thus farre must make a long journey of repentance before he can return and come back either to God or to himselfe Some have been carryed visibly away by the Devil by an evill spirit without them if God give commission or permission the Devill can easily doe it very many are carryed away by the evill spirit within them An evill heart is as bad as the Devill the evill spirit without and the evill spirit within carry us both the same way and that is quite out of the way Consider further how the heart carryeth us away even from spirituall duties and holy services and this is not only the case of carnall men who are given up to their hearts lusts but of the Saints their hearts are continually lifting at them and sometimes they are carryed quite away from Prayer and from hearing the Word the heart lifts the man up and steales him out of the Congregation while his body remaines there the body sits still but the minde which is the man is gone either about worldly businesse and designes or about worldly pleasures and delights He stirres not a foot nor moves a finger and yet he is carryed all the World over He visits both the Indies yet steps not over his own threshold Thus the heart being carryed away carryeth the man away And that 's the reason why God calls so earnestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cum omni custodia My Son give me thy heart for where our hearts goe we goe or wee are carryed with them Keep thy heart with all diligence Prov. 4.24 or With all keeping or above all keeping it must have double keeping double guards keep keep watch watch thy heart will be gone else and thou wilt goe with it if thou looke not to thy heart thy heart will quickly withdraw it selfe and draw thee along also Why doth thy heart carry thee away is a deserved check upon every man when his heart doth so and Let not thy heart carry thee away is a necessary caution for every man lest his heart should doe so Jobs heart was too busie with him though not so busie as Eliphaz judged when he thus checkt him with Why doth thy heart carry thee away And what doth thine eye wink at But is it a fault to wink with the eye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nutu utor quia nutus ficri solet vel capite vel oculis it is sayd Joh. 13.24 that Peter beckned to or winked at John the Greeke word signifieth an inviting gesture by the whole head or by the eye he winkt at him I say to aske Christ who it was of whom he spake There was no fault in that but Eliphaz findes fault with this What was the supposed fault There is a twofold faulty winking First When wee wink at faults our owne faults or the faults of other men to beare with or approve them Secondly When we wink at the vertues and good deeds of others to slight or undervalue them possibly Eliphaz taxeth Job for both these as if he winked at his owne faults 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
case a man in nature is composed or constituted of sin and a naturall man is nourished and preserved by sinning Vt deficienti humido resarciendo nihil aptius est aqua utilius ia hominis beatitudini quae ipsi de est consummandae natura nihil suggerit nisi peccatum Coc. Continuall acts increase the habit and as a godly man is nourished by holy acts and strengthened in spirit by spirituall obedence doing the will of God is the food of the soule As Christ speakes John 4.21 so doth every true Christian in his degree It is my meat and drinke to doe the will of my Father which is in Heaven or as Job professeth of himselfe Chap. 23.12 I esteeme the words of thy mouth more then my necessary food Thus also the old man saith It is my meat and drink to doe the will of the flesh and that is indeed the will of his Father which is in Hell The words of his mouth his Counsels and Lawes I esteem more then my necessary food So much for the opening and illustration of this Scripture-phrase Drinking iniquity like water I shall propound one Quere in generall concerning the whole Verse and so conclude it Here is a full description of sinfull man But whether Eliphaz speakes this strictly of a person unregenerate and so applyeth it to Job or whether this description be not also applicable to a man who is regenerate and godly for the maine and was so intended by Eliphaz is here a question Some conceive that the words will suite none but an unregenerate man and t is granted upon all hands that they are most sutable to him An unregenerate man is abominable and filthy he drinks iniquity like water And yet in a qualified sense we may say all this of a man regenerate Even He in reference to the remaines of corruption is abominable and filthy and He under some distempers and temptations drinks iniquity like water Agit Eliphaz cum Jobo non ut improbo sed ut errante Coc. which words of Eliphaz a moderne Interpreter paralels with those of Paul concerning himselfe Rom. 7.25 With the flesh I serve the Law of sin And delivers his opinion in this case That though Eliphaz aimed at Job in all this yet he deales with him not as with a wicked man but as with an erring brother For whereas he had sayd Chap. 13.23 How many are mine iniquities Eliphaz might judge by his words that surely he thought his iniquities were not very many and whereas he had sayd at the 26. Verse of the same Chapter Thou makest me to possesse the iniquityes of my youth Eliphaz might collect surely this man thinks his elder yeares have been so free from sin that God can finde nothing in them which might justifie him in these severe punishments Now Eliphaz opposeth these apprehensions and would both teach and convince him that as originall sin pollutes every man wholly till he is washed and borne againe by the spirit so no man is so farre washed by the spirit but that many spots and pollutions of the flesh doe still cleave to him and often appeare upon him And Eliphaz may be conceived to handle Job in this manner First To shew him that though a man be in a state of regeneration yet he can deserve nothing at the hand of God because his holinesse is still imperfect and his corruptions are abominable Secondly That the greatest sufferings and afflictions of good men in this life are very consistent with the Justice of God Thirdly That he might humble Job who as he feared was still too high in his owne opinion and thought better of himselfe then did become him Fourthly To provoke him to resist his owne corruptions stedfastly And lastly To beare the crosse which the Lord had layd upon him for his good especially for the taming and subduing of his corruptions patiently So that Eliphaz doeh not dispute with him upon this hypothesis or supposition or not upon this onely That man by nature and without the grace of God is filthy and abominable drinking iniquity like water but upon this or this in consort with the former That man in a state of grace or a godly man is filthy and abominable in reference to the flesh that dwelleth in him and that in reference to his frequent sinnings he may be sayd to drink iniquity like water And therefore Job had no reason to be proud how good so ever he was or how much good soever he had done and that there was all the reason in the World he should be patient and take it well at the hand of God how much evill so ever he should suffer This resolution of the Quere as it is profitable so probable For howsoever Jobs Freinds had branded him in diverse passages of this dispute as a wicked man and an hypocrite and were so understood by Job as appeares in his answers and replyes yet 't is most likely his Freinds spake so in reference to his actions not in reference to his state That he had done like an Hypocrite or a wicked man was clearely their opinion but there is no necessity to conclude from what they sayd that they judged him absolutely to be one JOB CHAP. 15. Vers 17 18 19 20. I will shew thee heare mee and that which I have seene I will declare Which wise men have told from their Fathers and have not hid it Vnto whom alone the earth was given and no stranger passed among them The wicked man travelleth with paine all his dayes and the number of yeares is hidden to the oppressour ELiphaz having argued against Jobs supposed opinion of Selfe-cleannesse and personall righteousnesse proceeds to the confirmation of his owne position to which he leads us by a new Exordium or Preface in the 17 18 and 19. Verses of this Chapter Secondly he largely handles and illustrates it from the 20. to the 31. Verse Thirdly hee applyeth the whole Doctrine to Job by way of dehortation at the 31. Verse and so forward to the end of the Chapter The generall argument which he brings to confirme his Tenet may be thus formed up That is true which continued experience and the consent of wise men in all ages have taught and delivered to us But the experience and consent of wise men in all ages have taught and delivered this that a wicked man travels with paine all his dayes that he is punished outwardly by want and sicknesse and inwardly by the gripes and scourges of his owne conscience Therefore this is a truth The major proposition is the sum of the Preface contained in the 17 18. and 19. Verses The minor or second Proposition is held forth in the 20. Verse and is prosecuted to the one and thirtieth I will shew thee heare thou me and that which I have seene I will declare So the Preface begins He layes downe a double proofe in this Preface a proofe first from his owne experience secondly from the
of the Battell is given by sound of Trumpet beat of Drum or discharge of Cannon they run on upon one another and when the Battell comes to the heat and hight they charge home even upon the necks of one another and upon the Bosses of their Bucklers Here 's the description of a fierce charge This wicked one is a Champion for Hell he challenges the God of Heaven and runs upon him c. with utmost violence Quia impius manum in Deum extendit ideo currit in eum Deus ad collum in densitate dorsorum clypeorum ejus q.d. in ea quibus ille maxime roboratur Rab. Lev. Vatabl. Beza Multo aptior est ut describatur adhuc ille impiorum conatus adversus Deum Pined Inauditam impii temeritatem describere prosequitur Bold That 's the sum of the words I shall now open them a little further He runs upon him even upon his neck There is a difference among Interpreters about that Antecedent some understand God As it the meaning were God runneth upon a wicked man like a strong Warrier with incredible swiftnesse and irresistible force to cast him downe The wicked man having stretched out his hand and strengthned himselfe against the Almighty now the Almighty runs upon his necke even upon the thick bosses of his Buckler Come saith God I will have about with thee if thou darest I will try it out with thee I am not afrayd of thy stiffe necke though it hath Iron sinews nor of the thick bosses of thy Buckler though they be of Steele Thus some both later Writers and ancient Rabbins give the sense but I rather conceive with others that Eliphaz still prosecutes the strange progresse and hightned wickednesse of man who having strengthned himselfe by hardning his heart against God runs upon him even upon his necke c. Taking this sense there is a different reading thus He runs upon him with his necke we say the wicked man runs upon the neck of God they say A wicked man runs upon God with his neck their meaning is He runs upon him audaciously and proudly The neck lifted up is a token of pride and presumptuous boldnesse And to run with the neck is to run with the neck lifted up or stretched out Currere collo est collo duro erecto sunilia sunt cum lana ponitur pro lana alba c. Drus which is indeed the periphrasis of pride Psalm 75.5 Speake not with a stiffe necke that is with a spirit unwilling to submit to my dispensations The Prophet Isaiah complaines and threatens Isa 3.16 Because the Daughters of Sion are haughty and walke with stretched out necks That is because they testifie the pride of their hearts by the gate and postures of the body as much as by the vaine attire and apparrell of the body Therefore the Lord will smite c. The Lord tells Moses Exod. 32.9 I have seen this people and behold it is a stiffe-necked people He complaines by the Prophet Isa 48.4 I knew that thou art obstinate and thy neck is an Iron sinew Stephen the Proto-Martyr gives a breviate of all their rebellions Acts 7. and concludes Vers 51. Yee stiffe necked c. The stiffe neck and the proud hard heart are the same all the Bible over Thus the wicked man runneth upon God with his stiffe In erectione colli fastus agnoscitur Merc. that is his proud daring spirit As before Hee stretched out his hand so now which is more his necke against God The metaphor is taken either from Souldiers in battell Metaphora a milite Fortissimo in hostem impetum faciente Metaphora a lascivienti procaci vitulo Pined who to shew their valour hold up their heads and stretch out their necks running head to head and shoulder to shoulder when they come to close fight Or It is a metaphor taken from a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoake who therefore will not submit his neck to bear it Wicked men are called Children of Belial because they endure not the yoak of obedience when God would put his yoak upon their necks they lift up their necks or run upon him with their stiffe necks Hence Note It is pride of spirit which causeth man to oppose God The Apostle James saith God resisteth the proud Jam. 4. which intimates yea and speakes out that the proud assault God As the wicked in his pride persecutes the poore Psal 10.2 So in his pride he opposeth God And as he that loveth God follows yea runs after God to obey him so he that hates God runs upon him by disobedience An act of ignorant disobedience is a going froâ— God Per superbiam homo maximè deo resistit superbus propter praesumptionem spiritus contra Deum currere dicitur Aquin. an act of knowne disobedience is a running upon God Running upon God is not onely sinning but impudent sinning The Angels in Heaven cover their faces before God dâ—â—ing not to behold him Humble sinners on earth such as the poor Publican Luke 18. venture not to lift up their eyes to Heaven but proud sinners lift up their necks against God They who care not what God saith to them care as little what they doe to God And they who have no faith in God seldome have any feare of him these run upon him with their necks But I returne to our Translation He runs upon him even on his necke That is on the neck of God that is he sins fiercely and fearelessely he doth not dare God at a distance or like a Coward speak great words and vaunt of what he will doe when his Adversary is out of sight and hearing but he charges on boldly in his very face It is sayd of the Ramm by whom the Prophet meanes Alexander the Great King of Greece That when he saw the Hee-Goat that is Darius King of Persia he ran upon him That is he assaulted him speedily and boldly overthrowing his whole estate and so making himselfe sole Lord of Asia The whole course of his Victories are described by this word He ran upon him Dan. 8.6 And when Job would shew how fiercely the Lord handled him he gives it in this language I was at ease but he hath broken me asunder he hath also taken me by the necke and shaken me to peeces Job 16.12 Cum eo concurrens collum invadet Tigur As God in a way of highest punishment or chastisement is sayd to take a man by the neck so man in a way of highest sinning and rebelling is sayd to take God by the neck or to run upon his neck He that ventures upon the necke cares not where he ventures and he that runs upon the neck of God cares not on whom he ventures And as in height of love a freind runs and falls upon the neck of his freind thus Joseph did on his Brethrens necks Gen. 45.14 and the Father of the Prodigall Luke 15.20 Ran and fell upon
we must not serve it and they who doe so deserve rather to be called Epicures then Christians That 's sinfull fatnesse which is got upon termes of slavery or service to the belly yea a man that is intentive upon that question What shall I eate and carefull how to feed his flesh though he doe not grow fat by it yet he shewes himselfe full of sin by it The designe of such is for the flesh though their flesh doe not thrive under that designe As a man may be very covetous though he continue poor and leane in purse so a man may be very luxurious and a great servant to Bacchus and Belly-cheare though he continue leane and poore in body The blessing of God fattens some and such fat ones blesse God David Prophesies that when The Kingdome shall be the Lords and he the Governour among the Nations which is very paralell with what those great voyces sayd after the seventh Angel had sounded Revel 11.15 The Kingdomes of this World are become the Kingdomes of the Lord and of his Christ and hee shall reigne for ever and ever and when this shall be saith David Psal 22.30 Then all they that be fat upon the Earth shall eate and worship that is the great ones shall submit to Christ his Kingdome shall be inlarged and not onely the poore who are described in the latter part of that Verse in the Psalme under the name and notion of such as goe downe to the dust but the rich shall receive the Gospell Kings and Queens persons of Authority and wealth shall come to the participation of the grace of Christ Isa 60.3.10 They who have their bellye 's full of the meat that perisheth shall have their soules full of that meat which endures to everlasting life Psal 45.12 The rich among the people What people The first words of the Verse tell us he meanes the Tyrians who were a wonderfull rich people Isa 23.8 Ezek. 27. and the Tyrians are here put by a Synechdoche for all other Heathens for though Tyre were a City in the Tribe of Aser Josh 19.29 yet it was at that time possessed by Heathens Now saith the Psalmist The rich among these people shall intreat thy favour That is the Churches favour God will work their hearts to an earnest desire of admission into the society of the Saints and to live under a professed subjection to the Gospel of Jesus Christ who have abounded in worldly possessions and hold the World in subjection to their power These rich and fat ones among the people shall intreat thy favour This Prophesie was in part fulfilled Mark 3.8 where we read of great multitudes from Tyre and Sidon flocking after Christ So that it is not riches and fatnesse precisely considered but the intending of our skin or our studiousnesse to fill our selves with earthly delicates which shewes we have weak appetites to or rather a loathing of the things of Heaven Secondly This covering the face with fat is here presented by Eliphaz as a cause or occasion at least of the wicked mans arming himselfe against God Bonorum abundantia vitiorum omnium materiam subministrat Hence Observe That an evill heart turnes the blessings of God into rebellion against him The Jewes were thus charged Deut. 32.15 Jesurun waxed fat and kicked The Lord complaines of this as of a sin which he scarse knew how to pardon Jer. 5.7 How shall I pardon thee for this Thy Children have forsaken me c. When I had fed them to the full they then committed Adultery and assembled themselves by troops in the Harlots houses Those are great sins indeed which put the Lord whose title is The God pardoning sin and ready to forgive into a querie about their pardon and forgivenesse Such kind of sinning made Jerusalem a Sister to Sodom that is as like Sodom yea and Samaria too as if they had been one Mothers Daughters or as if they had been of one and the selfe-same blood and stock Ezek. 16.49 Behold this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom pride fulnesse of bread and abundance of idlenesse was in her and in her Daughters Plenty of the Creature and plenty of sin went together and whereas Jerusalem should have served God shee served her lusts in the abundance of all things We have a saying when men are lifted up upon the enjoyment of outward good things in allusion to Beasts Provender pricks them They act more like Beasts then Men who kick against God who feeds them and turne his bread of blessings into the stones of disobedience What outward good thing will not an evill heart abuse and wax wanton with when it is so apt to abuse spirituall things and to turn the grace of God into laciviousnesse that is to grow wanton and lacivious because God is gracious Thirdly Observe They take little care for their soules who take over-much for their bodies They who desire to please appetite cannot endeavour to please God When the Apostle exhorts to put on the Lord Jesus he dehorts from providing for the flesh Rom. 13.14 Put yee on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof As if he had sayd Unlesse you forbeare providing for lusts you will have little leasure and lesse desire to put on Christ Ephes 5.18 Be not drunke with Wine wherein is excesse that is be not inordinate in the use of the creature but be filled with the spirit as if he had sayd You will never be filled with the spirit if over-filled with Wine if you give up your selves to satsifie carnall appetite you wil not have any appetite at all to spirituals There is an inward gluttony and drunkennesse when the thoughts run upon dainty Dishes and full Cups or when men chew their meat and Wine in their thoughts before they eate or drinke Now as well they or rather they more who are inwardly drunken with excessive desires of Wine as they who are visibly drunken with the excessive taking downe of Wine are farr enough either from the desire or attainement of a filling with the Spirit The spirit of the Buttery and the spirit of God have no more agreement then the flesh and the spirit yea that spirit is the grossest part of sinfull flesh and therefore can neither take care for nor beare with the things of the spirit So farr of the first cause of the wicked mans excessive sinning his excesse in the use of the Creature set forth by the ordinary effect of it Fatnesse He covereth his face with fatnesse The second follows Vers 28. He dwelleth in desolate Cities and in houses wherein no man inhabiteth which are ready to become heaps This Verse shews a second cause of the wicked mans fiercenesse against God His power over men which is described as the former by the effect of it He hath made Cities desolate It requires much power to overthrow whole Cities that which is strong cannot be destroyed without
undertake the office of comforting others should consider these three things especially First The nature of the affliction whether internall or externall that which will comfort a man in bodily afflictions will not doe it in soule afflictions Secondly The degree or measure of the affliction If the Playster be too narrow for the Soare how can it heale Thirdly They should consider the temper of the Person afflicted if he be pressed in conscience for sin they should not presse his conscience with sin much lesse should they thunder out judgement and terrour against him for sin if he be very weak they should use few words if he be passionate they should use gentle words lest in stead of perswading they provoke his spirit Many a soule is cast downe and swallowed up in despaire by the ignorance or unfaithfulnesse of those who would bee called Comforters and Supporters Ezek. 13.19 They slay the soules that should not dye and save them alive that should not live Unskilfull Physitians of the body kill more then bodily diseases And though the unskilfulnesse of soule-physitians doth not indeed kill soules that should dye for 't is their owne sin that kils them nor can kill the soules that should not dye for the medicine of Christs most precious blood will heale and save such from their sins yet unskilfull soule-physitians shall be judged and dealt with as having done all this because they have done their utmost to doe it which is also the meaning of that Text 1 Cor. 8.11 And through thy knowledge shall the weake brother perish for whom Christ dyed that is an indiscreet use of that liberty which thy knowledge teacheth thee doth that which may be accounted a destroying of thy weake Brother As that knowledge so the ignorance before spoken of slayes the soules that should not dye As it requires the power so the wisedome and teachings of God to comfort and extricate poore sâ—ules in and from the Labyrinth of their sorrows The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned What to doe That I should know how to speake a word in season to him that is weary Isa 50.4 It is a great peice of learning to speak aright to a weary soule to deale with them so as neither to flatter them in their sins nor oppresse them under their sins to deale with them so in th ir affliction as that we neither cause them to sleight the hand of God nor yet to sink under it He that can guid and steer the course of a soule that is afflicted and tossed with the tempest of sin and sorrow between this rock and gulfe the Scylla of presumption and the Charybdis of despaire he is a learned Pilot indeed This learning is the speciall gift of God Christ himselfe acknowledgeth that the Lord his Father had given him the tongue of the learned for this end This learning is not taught in the Schooles of men Philosophers and Oratours never taught such an art of consolation nor can it be attained by the bare teaching of the holyest Doctors and Preachers of Divine truths Wee may have a rich furniture of materials for this worke and yet make no worke of it nor be able to put truths and consciences rightly together unlesse the annoynting teach us As the Prophet brings in our great Master and Tutor in this heavenly science againe confessing of himselfe Isa 61.1 The spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath annoynted me to preach good tydings to the meek he hath sent me to binde up the broken hearted to proclaime liberty to the Captives Till we are annoynted by God we cannot speake effectually to man without the spirit who is the comforter wee prove but miserable comforters we bungle at the work and rather undoe soules then doe them any good Wee may Preach good tydings good newes from Heaven the Gospel is nothing else but good newes yet no good comes of it till the good spirit comes with it both instructing the hearts of those that heare and the tongues of those that speake duely to apply the word Master Calvin upon this place saith Some Comforters have but one song to sing and they have no regard to whom they sing it All persons all estates and all conditions are alike to them The wisedome of a comforter consists in discerning and making these differences As the Apostle Jude hints unto us Ver. 22 23. And of some have compassion making a difference and others save with feare As faith saves all so in a sense feare saves some that is they must be terrifyed and made afraid that they may be saved Jobs Freinds would needs save him with feare whereas they should have had compassion of him and have spoken kindly to him Because they could not make this difference therefore they tooke a wrong course with him and were justly taxed without distinction Miserable comforters are yee all Vers 3. Shall vaine words have an end As if he had sayd I have got no comfort I would faine get some rest your words have not refreshed me I desire you would not trouble me you have done me no good will you have done Shall vaine words have an end The Hebrew is Shall words of winde have an end That expression hath ben opened twice before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verba vervi i e. ventosa parum solidas rationes habentia How long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong East winde saith Bildad Chap. 8.2 Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge and fill his belly with the East winde saith Eliphaz Chap. 15.2 Job retorts it upon them Shall words of winde have an end You tell mee that my words are windy yours are so indeed I must hide my selfe from these blasts and stormes of your tongues unlesse you grow calmer Shall windy words have an end Words are windy First When they have no solid reason no substance in them reason is the substance of words and so is truth these two goe alwayes together and where these are not nothing goes out of the mouth but winde Projicit ampullas c. we say of all words which are not followed with action Words are but winde we may say so also of all words which are not accompanyed with reason Verba plena spiritu superbiae Secondly Words are windy when they have much pride and swelling conceitednesse in them The Scripture cals such words Swelling words of vanity That which swels our hearts will quickly swell our lips pride doth both Pride is a winde within us vaine words are a winde without us the proud man knowes not how to ease himselfe of this winde within but by breaking it out in words Thirdly Words are windy when they have much passion in them when they are angry and furious an angry man blusters rather then speakes and makes a noise rather then a discourse While David Psal 39.2 3. was dumb with silence while he held his peace from good his sorrow
that second sense of the word They have filled or satiated themselves with me Note It is a kinde of pleasure to some to see others in paine We should be pained with the paine of others fellow-feeling is a duty how farr are they departed from this duty who are so farr from feeling the sufferings of others that they take pleasure in their sufferings There are two sorts of pleasure which every good man should abhorr First Pleasure in sin our owne or others The worst that was sayd of the wicked Gentiles was this They not onely doe such things but take pleasure in them that doe them Rom. 1.32 Secondly Pleasure in the sufferings and sorrows of others some doe not onely put others to the suffering of sorrow but take pleasure in the sorrow which they suffer they make their teares as Wine their ashes as Bread and untill they see them weeping and feeding on ashes their owne Wine is as teares and their Bread as ashes to them Haman came full from the Queenes Banquet and he was invited by her to a second Banquet the next day yet still he was hungry and sayd Hest 5.13 All this avayleth me nothing so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the Kings gate 'T is like Haman had eaten and drunke freely yet the Banquet had not filled his belly All this availeth me nothing More then forty of the Jewes bound themselves under a curse that they would neyther eate nor drink till they had killed Paul Acts 23.12 13. It would have been better to Haman then meate and drinke to have killed Mordecai and all the Jewes Some have been heard to say O how sweet is revenge What a pleasant draught is a draught of blood Spightfull spirits hunger and thirst for the downefall and misery of those who stand in their way nor will any thing satisfie hatred but the ruine of those who are hated and when once they see them ruined they are satisfied as envy is troubled at the good which another enjoyes more then at all the evils which it selfe feeles so malice is more satisfied with the evils which befall others then with all the good which it selfe enjoyes Ex. 15.9 The enemy sayd I wil pursue I will overtake I will divide the spoyle my lust shall be satisfied upon them Pharoah and his Courtiers yea all the Aegyptians hungred and thirsted for the flesh and blood of Israel They had a lust or a longing rather as women with Childe have sometimes inordinate appetites after strange meates to eate mans flesh and drink the blood of the slain Revenge is as craving a lust as covetousnesse but it is a lust more easily satisfied then covetousnesse This encreases by receiving what it desires but that if it may have it is satisfied That which covetousnesse receives is onely as fewell to a fire but that which revenge receives Appetitus finis est infinitus is as food to the stomack the desire of the end is infinite but the end being once attained desire is at an end Yee are filled with mee Job having thus described the instruments and manner of his affliction turnes his thoughts from them to the supreame efficient and orderer of his afflictions Vers 11. God hath delivered me to the vngodly and turned me over into the hands of the wicked The words seemeth to bâ—are an allusion to the proceeding of an earthly Judge who having tryed a Malefactor and found him guilty pronounceth sentence of death upon him and then delivers or turnes him over to those whoâ—e office it is to see execution done accordingly The word which we render to deliver signifies also to shut up which suites well with the former notion for a condemned Person is more closely shut up and more narrowly watcht then before But who were the ungodly to whom he was delivered and the wicked into whose hands or power he was turned These were not onely the Chaldeans and Sabeans but also all such as shewed any malice against him or willingly afflicted him in his afflictions The words carry in them a correction of his former complaint as if he had sayd Why doe I trouble my selfe with men why doe I complaine of their unkindnesse or cruelty against me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A via divertit deflexit declinavit God hath done it he hath delivered and turned mee over as a Magistrate doth a Malefactor whom he hath condemned into the hands of these tormenters he hath sealed a writ for my execution Thus Job ascribes all to God hee sometimes wrangles with men but as often before so now againe he lookes beyond them at once seeing and adoring the hand of God putting him and his estate into the hands of men Hence Note First Wicked men are ordered by Providence They cannot take till God puts into their hands a Sparrow fals not to the ground without God much lesse doth a godly man fall into the hands of the wicked without God They doe but execute what God decrees though they doe it without any respect to his decrees and quite crosse to his commands Many will be found at once executing the decrees and disobeying the commands of God Secondly God delivers his dearest Children into the hands of wicked men for tryall and correction Their graces and goodnesse appeare most when they are under the handling of evill and gracelesse men Many of their corruptions are purged out while they are in their power who are not at all purged from their corruption Foule hands may serve to wash that cleane which is foule and they who are but drosse may fetch off the rust which cleaves to the purest mettall Thirdly Note It is an aggravation of affliction to be given up to wicked men It is an affliction to be in their company what is it then to be under their power Woe is me saith David Est hoc in judicio Domini gravissimum quod adversariis videatur Favere a parte eorum stare consilia conatusque ipsorum contra nos prosperando Brent that I dwell in Meshec how wofull then is it to be a Prisoner in Meshec While God keeps the Rod in his owne hands the smart is not so greivous We learne this in Davids choise 2 Sam. 24.14 when three evils were offered him he resolves Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord for his mercies are great and let me not fall into the hand of man A good man can easier dye by the hand of God then receive a slight wound by the hand of an Enemy As those comforts are sweeter so those sufferings are not so bitter which Beleevers receive immediately from God It is hard to suffer from equals much more from inferiours but most of all when we suffer the fatherly displeasure of God from those who are the objects of his displeasure as a Judge Let the righteous smite me saith David Psal 141. a reproofe from them is oyle but a reproofe from the wicked is Gall and Viniger
is He shall be forgotten hee shall be as if hee had not beene And thus it is applyed to the pardon of sin Psal 32.1 Sin is vailed with the worthinesse and obedience of Christ as with a Garment and is to God as a thing forgotten or out of minde when once it is forgiven In both these senses Job seemes to bespeak the earth O earth cover not my blood Sanguis terra tegitur quando facinus dissimulatur nec vindictam exposcit that is If thou hast any of my blood doe not dissemble it bring it forth be not as if thou knewest of no such matter As simulation makes that to be which is not so dissimulation makes that not to be which is Againe Cover not my blood that is Forget it not if thou hast such a record upon thy Fyle let it be continued and remembred that the Generations to come may judge how I have been dealt with by this present age or how I have dealt in it O earth cover not my blood But what is his blood which he would not have covered His blood may be taken two wayes First Passively for his sufferings and grievous afflictions which were even to blood The Apostle tels the Hebrews Ye have not resisted to blood striving against sin Heb. 12.4 There is a threefold strife against sin First Against sin already acting and moving in our selves Secondly There is a striving against that sin which others move us to act whether by promises or by threatnings Thirdly There is a striving against that sin which others act The Apostle as I conceive intends one of or both the latter sorts of striving against sin which is indeed a striving against sinners and in this strife he saith Ye have not resisted unto blood yee have I grant resisted to the losse of your goods yea and to the losse of your credit and reputation in the World Chap. 10.33 34. but know yee are not come to the heat of the Battell till your bodies bleed Ne tegas sanguinem meum i. e. injuriam mihi latam qua innocens pereo Merc. yee have lost no blood yet striving against sin Job resisted or rather submitted to blood he had lost blood in the great fight of affliction which he indured hee was wounded all over Now say some he cryes O earth cover not my blood that is These my bloody sufferings what I have endured let it be remembred But we cannot well accommodate this interpretation to the Text For first there may be as much vanity in desiring the evils wee have suffered as the good wee have done should be knowne we must let God alone to erect the monument of our sufferings that must be none of our care Secondly Wee cannot so much as suspect that Job would maintaine the memory of his sufferings against God yet it was he who smote Job though by the hand of Satan and wicked men This Job had acknowledged more then once with much humble submission and therefore hee doth not desire that his blood might be forth-comming in a way of contestation with him Further If we looke onely to those instruments of his affliction who had indeed done him wrong Surely the spirit of this good man as it was farr from meditating revenge so his scope and businesse here was rather to bring himselfe to a tryall then them rather to have his owne innocency cleered then their guilt proved And therefore we have called these words an imprecation upon himselfe in case he were guilty not an accusation of their guiltinesse In pursuance of which generall sense we must expound blood under another notion And therefore Secondly Blood may be taken actively and so it falls under a threefold consideration First Blood is put for the generall sinfulnesse or corruption of mans nature as also for any particular sin as it is wrapt up in mans naturall corruption Augustine One of the Ancients interprets Davids prayer Psal 51.14 Deliver me from blood or bloods or as we render from blood-guiltinesse O God not of that speciall sin or not of that onely the death of Vriah but of all sin which saith he therefore beares that title because it flowes from the polluted nature of man which the Scripture calls flesh and blood That of the Prophet is more proper to this point Ezek. 16.6 When thou wast in thy blood I sayd unto thee live that is When thou was wrapt in and defiled with thy sin and misery then I had pitty on thee and spake life into thee Every soule tumbles in blood till it is sprinkled with blood our blood is our filthinesse and the blood of Christ is our holinesse freeing us at once from the guilt and from the staine of sin This corruption of nature together with that issue of it the transgressions of life may be called bloud for two reasons First Because it deserves death and is a state of death wee are dead in sin and the wages of sin is death and as any kinde of death may be expressed by blood so a violent death is the pouring out of blood Secondly It may be called blood because sin is expiated by blood and without shedding of blood there is no remission no not of the least sin Secondly Blood signifies some notorious sin or sins Great sins are not onely bloody sins Sanguinis nomine intelligitur peccatum gravissimum ac detestandum facinus but in Scripture language blood Isa 1.15 When yee make many prayers I will not heare Why For your hands are full of blood that is Of great and foule crimes For should wee take blood there for any sin according to the former interpretation then whose prayer shall be heard Who is it that sins not yea who is not full of sin So that by hands full of blood he meanes hands stained with great sins or with sins if small in themselves yet which greatens the least sin loved and unrepented of Ezek. 9.9 Thus saith the Lord The iniquity of the House of Israel and Judah is exceeding great and the Land is full of blood that is Of all kinde of wickednesse Ezek. 24.7 For her blood is in the middest of her shee set it upon the top of a rock shee poured it not upon the ground to cover it with dust Which words describe as the sin of Jerusalem so her impudence in sinning Her blood was in the midst of her it was not cast behinde the doore or put into a corner Shee set it upon a rock and not onely so but upon the top of a rock as if shee not onely cared not who saw it but had taken care that all might see it Shee poured it not upon the ground to cover it with dust In which words the Prophet alludes to that Law Levit. 17.13 commanding that the blood of a Beast should be poured out and covered with dust And againe Hos 4.2 By swearing and killing and stealing and committing adultery they breake out and blood toucheth blood
vocantur quae Ebraeis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in quibus sacrificabant idolis Caeterum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proprie de Deo usurpatur de caelo de Deo in singulari numero de caelo in utroque Drus Dicitur Deus testis in excelsis propter locum aptissimum ad contemplandum tanquam in sublimi specula quicquid agitur Pined wherein the false gods were worshipped or the true God falsely Job puts that word into his appeale which belongs properly to God and signifies in Scripture the place of his glorious residence Jobs record was not onely on high but Bemerumim the Hebrew is Plurall in the heights Some translate it in the Superlative not in excelsis on high but in altissimis in the highests As if he had sayd My witnesse is above all witnesses and therefore he is a witnesse above all exception And Job did well for his purpose to say his record was on high not onely because of the dignity of that which is high but for the advantage which hee hath who is on high or in the highest to be a witnesse God is sayd to be a witnesse in Heaven or on high to shew how easily he can observe and take notice of those things which are below God hath eyes infinitely pure and piercing he beholds all things and hee beholds them from on high as from a watch-tower which renders the object more obvious to the eye The sight is soone intercepted upon a levell but The Lord saith David Psal 14.2 looked downe from Heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seeke God If but one had sought God God had found him out but the report which he makes upon that surveigh tels us They are all gone aside they are altogether become filthy there is none that doth good no not one Vers 3. Further he saith My witnesse is in Heaven or on high implying that he was such a witnesse as was able to protect him a witnesse who is above all feare and who needs no favour Some witnesses are not onely men of no state but of no conscience Such underlings will be hirelings upon Oath against the truth and are ready to testifie any thing for hope of gaine or for feare of a frown My witnesse saith Job is in Heaven my record is on high such a witnesse he is as cannot be corrupted by gifts such as hath no need of any mans gifts seeing he gives to all men life and breath and all things Hence Observe First That as God is the Judge of all men so hee is their witnesse God is the Judge of all the earth and God is the witnesse of all the earth too Jer. 29.23 Because they have committed villanie in Israel and have committed adultery with their neighbours Wives and have spoken lying words in my name that I have not commanded them even I know and am a witnesse saith the Lord Hee saith not I know and am Judge but I know and am witnesse Let no man hope to escape the judgement of God because there is none to witnesse against him for if God hath not the witnesse of man if our sin be a secret to all the World yet God hath alwayes two witnesses First Our owne conscience Secondly Himselfe An earthly Judge must not be a witnesse his duty is to give sentence not to give evidence hee must determine according to what is alleaged and proved upon testimony given but he cannot give testimony he cannot be Judge and Party too But God is so transcendently Soveraigne that hee is both Judge and Partie he pronounceth sentence and gives in evidence Christ is called The faithfull and the true witnesse Revel 3.14 And yet All judgement is given into his hand John 5.22 27. God judgeth upon his owne knowledge not upon the knowledge of others and therefore as there can be no fayling in so no avoyding of his judgement Secondly Observe It is lawfull to appeale to God or to take God to witnesse An Oath is the calling of God to witnesse and whensoever we appeale to God or call him to witnesse it is an Oath The Apostle Paul tooke an Oath when he sayd Rom. 1.9 God is my witnesse whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son that without ceasing I make mention of you in my prayers Thus in highest holinesse he sware that he prayed for the Romans spirituall good while he was absent from them and had never so much as seene them and that he passionately desired to be present with them and see them that hee might impart unto them some spirituall gift Because being a meere stranger he had not yet made his actions a witnesse of his love to them and because no man can be an unerring witnesse of another mans heart or of the moving of his affections therefore he calls God to witnesse who alone knowes the heart and can tell how much we love eyther himselfe or one another He speakes as much though in another case to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 1.23 Moreover I call God for a record upon my soule that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth As if he had sayd By this my earnest adjuration I assure you that the reason why I have deferred my comming to you was not from any levity of minde or change of purpose in me but onely because I was unwilling to use such severity as the distempers among you call for and would have pressed mee unto being present We find him in the same tenour of speech towards the Philippians Chap. 1.8 For God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Christ that is I call God to witnesse I love you And againe 1 Thes 2.5 Neyther at any time used wee flattering words as you know nor a cloak of covetousnesse God is witnesse As if he had sayd Had I used flattering words you might witnesse it and that I have not used a cloake of covetousnesse God is witnesse I might have worne a cloak of covetousnesse so closely that you could not have seene it but God could he can judge through the darkest clouds and see through the thickest cloaks and coverings but I appeale to him whether I have put on such a cloake or no. As Paul by Oath purged himselfe from covetousnesse of spirit so Abraham protested by Oath against all covetous practices Gen. 14.22 I have lifted up mine hand to the most high God the possessour of Heaven and Earth that I will not take any thing that is thine This gesture of lifting up the hand when an Oath is taken is there put for an Oath it selfe by which Abraham appealed to God as a witnesse of his sincere intentions in taking up those Armes for the rescue of his Nephew Lot and that as he had overcome his Enemies so he had overcome covetousnesse which was of the two the farr more noble victory This calling of God to witnesse is
Christ his being a Paraclete or an Advocate and the spirits being an Advocate John 16.7 If I goe not away saith Christ the Comforter or the Advocate will not come unto you that is The holy Ghost will not come unto you One Advocate goeth away that the other Advocate may come Christ is an Advocate by way of impetration the spirit is Advocate by way of application Christ is an Advocate vvith God to get mercy for us the spirit is an Advocate with us to prevaile on our hearts to receive that mercy Though Christ be our Advocate in Heaven pleading for us with the Father yet if we had not the spirit to plead in our hearts on earth we â—ould never receive the good that Christ hath purchased for us of his Father Christ appeares for us in Heaven Heb. 9.24 He appeares as an Atturney in Court for his Client he is gone to Heaven to appeare for us the spirit comes from Heaven and appeares in us Christ began the worke of his intercession here John 17. Hee is gone into Heaven to continue and perfect it The spirit doth both begin and perfect his intercession here he doth not plead for us but in us or the spirit makes intercession for us by stirring us up to prayer by teaching us how to word and mould or rather how to sigh and groane our prayers Christ makes intercession for us by presenting and tendering those prayers to the Father which the spirit helpes us to make or by making prayers for us himselfe to the Father Some dispute how they inquire much after the manner how Christ makes intercession or performes the office of an Advocate for us but it is enough for us to know that hee is an Advocate or that he makes intercession for us though we are not able to describe the manner how Whether it be First Onely by presenting himselfe to the Father and his appearing for us which is an equivalent if not a formall intercession Or secondly By the tendering of his righteousnesse and merits as satisfaction to the Father Or thirdly By expressing our wants and his desires for us Whether by all these or by which of these or whether by some other way is not determinable by us yet this is cleare that he performes the office of an Advocate for us and that we receive every good thing from the hand of God through his hand Further Christ may be considered First As an Advocate for the whole Church There are some causes of common concernement to all the people of God Thus he was an Advocate for Jerusalem when under bonds and captivity in Babylon Zech. 1.12 Then the Angell of the Lord not a created but the creating Angell or the Angel of the Covenant who is the Son of God answered and sayd O Lord of Hosts how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the Cities of Judah against which thou hast had indignation these three score and ten yeares And as Christ pleads for the whole Church so for every particular member of the Church and that also under a twofold notion He is Advocate first to take away our sins If any man sin saith the Apostle John 1 Epist 2.1 we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous c. Secondly Christ is an Advocate for us with the Father in our sufferings and troubles to get them taken off from us or sanctified to us Doubtlesse Job made use of Christ continually as an Advocate to take off the guilt of sin yet here he makes use of Christ as an Advocate to get off his sufferings especially these misjudgings of his Freinds who deeply censured and aspersed him because of his sufferings yea a Beleever makes use of Christ as an Advocate to get any good thing whether little or great whether for soule or for body as much as he doth for the removing of any evill whether of sin or trouble Secondly Observe The Doctrine of a Mediator betweene God and Man was knowne and beleeved in the World long before Christ came into the World Many saw Christ by Faith before he was seene in the flesh Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seene Heb. 1.1 And as it is the evidence of things so of persons that are not seen Christ tells the Jewes John 8.56 Your Father Abraham rejoyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad And when the Jewes quarrelled at this Thou art not yet fifty yeares old and hast thou seen Abraham Jesus sayd unto them Verily verily I say unto you before Abraham was I am As Abraham saw his day by Faith so David in spirit called him Lord Mat. 22.43 And as these persons with all the holy Elders saw Christ by Faith in the promise so the whole Ceremoniall Law was a representation of Christ to faith by sense Every slaine Sacrifice spake the death of Christ and the sprinkling of that blood the sprinkling of their consciences and ours for the remission of sins Yea They did all eate the same spirituall meat that is the same which we now eate and did all drinke the same spirituall drinke for they dranke of that spirituall Rock that followed them and least we should mistake what was meant by that Rock the Apostle expounds it himselfe And that Rock was Christ The Rock did not follow them but Christ who was signified by that Rock did follow them They who are built upon Christ the Rock shall never be moved yet Christ is a moving as well as a living Rock to those who are built upon him whither soever they move he follows them Thus Jesus Christ was meate and drinke to the Jewes as well as to us for he is the Lamb slaine from the foundation of the World Revel 13.8 that is The vertue ot his death saved all who have been saved from the foundation of the World As Christ was slaine from Eternity in the counsell of God so he was slaine from the beginning of time in the promise of God Gen. 3.15 which was the publication of his death he was then also slaine as to the heart of Beleevers whose Faith having once a word for it makes that which is absent in regard of place spiritually present and that which is not in regard of time truely to be Thirdly Observe The Mediatour betweene God and man hath beene knowne and beleeved in all Ages under a twofold nature both God and Man We have both in this profession of Jobs Faith He beleeved the Mediatour to be God for he saith Mine eye powreth teares to God There is the divine nature He beleeved that the Mediatour should be man and therefore adds The Son of man for his freind there is his humane nature so that not onely the generall Doctrine of the mediatorship of Christ but this particular about the constitution of his person as Mediator was also knowne Had not our Advocate been man he could not have suffered for us and had hee
and downe-right in all his dealings and sayings There are no mockings with me I am what I appeare and I appeare what I am An Hypocrite is full of tricks and shifts he disguiseth both his person and his actions No man can tell where to have him or what to make of him When hee speakes his words doe not signifie what he meanes if they signifie any thing and when he acts his workes doe not signifie what he is they signifie any thing rather then that All are mockings of others though he will finde in the end that he hath mocked himselfe most of all Secondly As he joynes this with the next clause There are no mockings with me and yet mine eye continueth in their provocation Note that How plaine-hearted soever a man is yet it is very hard to perswade those who are once prejudiced against him that he is so Let Job say and professe what he would yet hee could not recover his credit nor set himselfe right in the opinion of men till God did it for him Chap. 42. But I passe that Are there not mockers with me What the mocking and scorning of Jobs Freinds was hath been opened Chap. 12.4 Cha. 16.19 and therefore I referr the Reader thither Doth not mine eye continue in their provocation Should he not rather have sayd Doth not mine eare continue c. Mocking is the object of the eare and not of the eye There are some mockings indeed by mimicall foolish gestures and they are the object of the eye Assiduè in id oculos mentis aciem intentam habeo quod me assidue irritant in eo defixae sunt omnes meae cogitationes Merc. Isti dies noctesque non cessant exacerbare animum meum Iun. Intenta cogitatio somnum impedit but here Job speakes of what he had from them in conference which is properly the busines of the eare and yet he faith Doth not mine eye continue in their provocation By the eye wee are to understand the eye of the minde Doth not mine eye that is Have I not a representation in my spirit or upon my fancy of your mockings and bitter provocations even as if they were visible before mine eyes Have I not night visions and apparitions upon my Bedd of what you speak or act against me every day Againe We may expound the Text properly of his bodily eye b cause the trouble which they gave him in the day time hindred his sleep in the night The letter of the Hebrew favours this sense Doth not mine eye lodge in their provocation So we put in the Margin of our Bibles Hence Master Broughton reads In these mens vexing lodgeth mine eye that is When I goe to Bed and hope to sleep then in stead of lodging in my Bed I lodge in the thoughts of my Freinds unkindnesse and indeed a man may sleep better upon the bare boards then upon hard words Such words keep the eyes waking and are as bad to sleep upon as a pillow of thornes especially when which was Jobs case the eye continueth in them Intentnesse of minde or vehement cogitation about any thing keep open the eyes and forbid the approach of rest Doth not mine eye continue In their provocation Provocations He called them Mockers and their mockings were provocations Vel a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amarum esse Sive a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est irritare sive exacerbare The word as some derive it signifies that which is bitter Provocation is a bitter thing Others derive it from a root signifying to irritate and stirr up the spirit of a man which is provocation properly Provocation is a high act of wrong A man may doe another wrong on this side a provocation as the provocation of God is a high act of sinne in man ordinary acts of sin doe not amount to a provocation Ps 106.7 They provoked him at the Sea it is this word even at the red Sea that is There they sinned extreamly So Ps 95.8 which the Apostle quotes Heb. 3.8 The holy Ghost cals the whole time of that peoples froward walking or sinning against God in the Wildernesse The provocation Harden not your hearts as in the provocation that is In the time when yee sinned not onely to the offending but to the provoking of God against you not to the breaking of his Lawes but to the vexing of his spirit When sin is compleat and iniquity growne to a full stature that day is justly marked in the Calendar of Scripture with a red letter implying wrath and is therefore called The provocation So when any man deales very unkindly frowardly or unfaithfully against his Brother then 't is a provocation Doth not mine eye continue in their provocation Now for as much as the same word signifieth both bitternesse and provocation and that most provocations are given by uncharitable and unconsiderate speeches Observe First Vnkinde words are bitter to the hearer The Apostle gives the rule to Husbands Col. 3.19 Husbands love your Wives and be not bitter to them that is Doe not give them bitter words in stead of faithfull counsels Some Husbands speak their Gall to their Wives to whom they have given their hearts Among the Heathens the Gall of the Sacrifice which they superstitiously offered at Marriages Quo instituto legis Author non obscure innuebat a conjugio semper debere bilem iramque abesse Drus Prov. Clas 2. l. â— was puld out and throwne away before it was presented at the Altar signifying that Man and Wife should be as Naturalists say the Dove is without Gall one towards another Wholesome counsels and admonitions for the matter are often administred with such an undue mixture of heat and passion as renders them not onely distastefull but hurtfull to the receiver Secondly Note Harsh words carry much provocation in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 animum despondeo The same Apostle in the same Chapter enlarging his Institutes for the direction of Beleevers in all Relation bespeakes Parents Vers 21. Fathers provoke not your Children to anger The word signifies any kinde of provocation but that especially which is caused by contumelious and upbrayding speeches A Father provokes his Childe when he speakes hastily and threatningly terrifying his Childe rather then instructing him The reason why Fathers should not thus provoke their Children is added Lest they be discouraged or as the word imports be as if they were without soules â—noop't as we say and heartlesse For as there is a provocation in a good sense which heightens the spirit in well doing and enlivens it for action The Apostle exhorts to that Heb. 10.24 Let us consider one another to provoke one another to love and to good works that is let us set such copies of holinesse that others may be stirred up beyond their ordinary pitch and elevation of spirit to a zealous doing of good Or speake such winning words give such pressing exhortations that the hearts of your
Brethren may be carryed beyond their usuall course in holinesse Thus he tels the Corinthians 2. Epist 9.2 That their zeale had provoked many But to what had it provoked them Not to anger and passion towards any but to charity yea and liberality towards the poore And though the Apostle useth another word in the Greek yet he meanes the same thing when hee assures us Rom. 11.11 that the Jewes stumbled not that they should fall but that they might rise for so it followes But rather through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousie The salvation of the Gentiles bred emulation in the Jewes What Shall they goe away with all the salvation Shall the Gentiles possesse Heaven alone whom wee thought the meanest people upon the Earth Come let us also put in at least for a part and get a share in Gospel-mercies and priviledges with them Thus they were provoked to emulation and this emulation was and shall be through the power of God who is wonderfull in counsell and excellent in working a help to faith in Christ and so to their rising from their fall And the Apostle was so intent upon the promoting of this designe of God that he professeth Vers 13 14. that he magnified his Office among the Gentiles not onely to save them but saith he If by any meanes I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh and might save some of them He hoped the Jewes would at last beleeve for anger or for very shame and goe to Heaven in a holy chafe Now I say as there is a provocation which heates and hightens the minde of man to an eager pursuite of the best things so there is a provocation which abates and blunts his edge which chills and flats his spirits to any thing that is good which was the ground of the Apostles dehortation Provoke not your Children lest they be discouraged And as the effect of such provocations is to some a discouragement in doing their duty so the effect of it in others is a thrusting them onn to doe that which is most contrary not onely to their duty but to their disposition Rayling speeches uncomely and uncivill language have provoked many both to speak and to doe that which they never dreamt of or which was most remote from their naturall temper and inclination For though such distempers lye in the bottome of nature yet unlesse they had been stirred and spurred up those distempers would not have appeared and broken out Moses was the meekest man upon the earth yet when they provoked his spirit he spake unadvisedly with his lips Psal 106.33 There are three ill effects of provocations First Provoking speeches raise up hard thoughts of the speaker It is a high worke of grace to thinke well of them who speak ill of us or to us Secondly Provoking speeches blow up hard words of the speaker many excuse it when they give ill language You provoked me And though they be not to be excused who doe so when they are provoked yet their sin is the greater who provoke them Thirdly Provoking speeches are sometimes the cause of revengefull practices and very often of licentious practices Sober admonitions and grave reproofes reclaime those who goe astray but violent rebukes make them desperate Some care not what they doe when they heare others say they care not what Many Children have run ill courses by over much indulgence and neglect of discipline and so have not a few by the over mvch severity and sharpnesse of those that are over them Patience is hard put to it to keep eyther minde or tongue or hand in compasse when wee are provoked Great provocations are great temptations When God is provoked he is tempted Heb. 3.8 Harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the Wildernesse when your Fathers tempted me c. Wee may expound it two wayes First That while they tempted God by questioning his power for them and presence with them they provoked him he was greatly displeased with them for it Secondly That while they provoked God they tempted him they tempted him to destroy them or to act that power against them which they did not beleeve after so many experiences able enough to deliver or protect them If then God himselfe be so tempted that as he is pleased often to expresse himselfe after the manner of men hee can scarce hold his hands or forbeare to doe that which he had no mind to doe when he is provoked how much more is weake man tempted to doe that which his corruptions are alwayes forward enough and too too much to doe when hee is provoked Againe When he saith Doth not mine eye continue in their provocation Learne thirdly Hard words stick upon the spirit They hang about the minde and are not easily gotten off Good words dwell much upon the spirit and so doe ill words when a man hath onee got a word of promise from God about any mercy set home upon his heart the eye continues in that consolation O it is a sweet word the soule lyes sucking at it night and day And when a man hath once got a word of command from God about any duty set home upon his spirit his eye continues in the direction of it O how I love thy Law saith David Psal 119.97 It is my meditation all the day he could not beate his thoughts off from it when love had fastned on it As these good words cleave to a gracious soule and dwell with it so it is hard even for a gracious soule to dislodge hard words O how doth the eye continue in those provocations And doth not experience teach us that vaine thoughts throwne into the minde by Satan will not easily be driven out How often doth the eye continue in his provocations The spirit of a man hath a strong retentive faculty it will hold the object close and as it were live and lodge in it How many make their abode in provocations and reside upon bitter words received from their Brethren How many lye downe with them at night and rise with them in the morning yea and walke with their eye upon them all the day long And here it may be questioned Was not this a sin in Job That rule of love then was in being which is now expressed Ephes 4.26 Be yee angry and sin not let not the Sun goe downe upon your wrath Then how could Job suffer his eye to continue in these provocations I answer There was an infirmity in this 't is our duty as to forgive so to forget or lay aside the thought of injuries and wrongs received And it is the Character of wicked men They sleep not unlesse they have done mischiefe Pro. 4.16 Their eye continues in their owne corruption or in the temptation of Satan till they have brough it forth For as when good men have strong impressions unto good upon their spirits they cannot sleep
up Zerubbabel and others of the Jewish line to reassume the Government of Judah But this Prophesie was chiefely intended and verified in a spirituall sense when God sent Jesus Christ A Governour proceeding from the midst of them of whom Zerubbabel was but a type for of him the Lord speakes chiefely in this admiring Question Who is this that engageth his heart to approach â—nto me Or who is this that with his heart that is with so much chearefulnesse and willingnesse hath put himselfe as a surety for this people with me to approach to me in their cause and to take upon him the dispatch of all their affaires and concernments with me in the Court of Heaven Who is this great this forward Engager but he who also sayd Loe I come to doe thy will O God What will came he to doe Even this To be a Surety and so a Sacrifice to God for sinners Heb. 10. Thus the whole businesse of our deliverance and the first motions to it lay quite without us God appointed and put in Christ our surety with him and Christ freely condiscended to be our surety knowing that the whole debt must lye upon his discharge Put me in a surety with thee But here it may be doubted how this notion of a Surety suites with this place seeing Jobs controversie was with man not with God and himselfe also had professed that all was cleare for him in Heaven I answer That although men accused Job yet their accusation reacht his peace with God for had he been such a one as they represented him he must needs have fallen under the divine displeasure more then he did under theirs And therefore while he pleaded Not-guilty to their charge he beggs further discoveries of the favour of God to him through the Mediatour by the remembrance of whose Suretiship his heart was confirmed in the pardon of all his sinfull faylings against God vvhereof he was guilty as well as his heart told him that hee was not guilty of those wilfull sins wherewith hee was accused by men When we lye under wrongfull accusations of which we indeed need no surety to acquit us it is good to view and renew our Interest in the Surety who will acquit us where there is need Job proceeeds to re-inforce the reason why he desired God to undertake or to provide a Surety for him Vers 4. Thou hast hid their heart from understanding therefore shalt thou not exalt them Or Thou hast hid understanding from their heart As if he had sayd Thou hast cast such a mist before the eyes of these men who mocke me and judge me wicked that they are unfit to be trusted with the determination of my cause for did they not want a due light of understanding they might quickly discerne my integrity and cleare me from their owne suspitions God sometimes as it were wraps or folds up the hearts of the Children of men in ignorance blindnesse and darknesse and so hides not onely understanding from their hearts but their hearts from understanding As God is sayd to circumcize the heart to open the eyes to take away the vaile when he gives the knowledge of his truth so he is sayd to blinde the eyes to cover the heart with fat and to cloud the understanding vvhen hee denyes or withholds the knowledge of the truth Thou hast hid their hearts from understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est mens ratio intellectus dexteritas in agendâ— The vvord which we translate Vnderstanding signifies any of or all the intellectuall powers together with a readinesse or activity for dispatch in any service we are called unto Thou hast hid their heart from understanding therefore they doe but bungle at the businesse and cannot judge aright they cannot discerne the manner of thy dispensations towards me nor see the bottome of my condition Job did not censure his Freinds as fooles or ignorant as if they were witlesse or worthlesse men they were wise and learned yea honest and godly too But when Job saith Thou hast hid their heart from understanding we are to restraine it to the matter in hand or to his particular case As if he had sayd Thou hast hid the understanding of what thou hast done to me from their hearts thy providences are mysteries and riddles which they cannot unfold and as they know not the meaning of what thou dost so they know not my meaning when I sayd Chap. 9.17 He hath multiplyed my wounds without cause Nor vvhen I sayd Vers 22. He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked These sayings are secrets to my Freinds Now Lord for as much as these men have no true insight in this present controversie therefore I begg that thou wouldest undertake for me or put me in a surety with thee Further For the clearing of this Scripture it may be questioned First how God is sayd to hide the heart from understanding God doth this foure wayes First By speaking darkely or in such a manner as the understanding cannot easily finde a passage to the things that are spoken A Parable is a darke saying And when Christ Preached in Parables His Disciples came and sayd unto him Why speakest thou to them in Parables Matth. 13.10 Now among other reasons which Christ was pleased to give of that dispensation this was one Vers 14. In them is fulfilled the Prophesie of Isaiah which saith By hearing yee shall heare and shall not understand and seeing yee shall see and shall not perceive As if Christ had sayd These men have justly deserved to be punished with spirituall darknesse which is not Vnderstanding and therefore I have spoken to them in a darke way They did not heare to obey vvhat was plaine and easie to be understood and therefore now they shall heare what they cannot understand Secondly God hides the heart from understanding by denying or not giving light and that a twofold light First The outward light of his word Thus all those people are sayd to sit in darknesse that is To have no understanding in the things of God where the Gospell is not published Secondly By denying or not giving the inward light of his spirit though the light of the World abound For as a man may have the Sun shining in his face and yet be in the darke if he wants eyesight So as the Apostle speakes 2 Cor. 4.3 4. the Gospell is hid in the most glorious shining of it to those whose mindes the God of this World hath blinded Now every man is borne spiritually blinde or he is blinde by nature and he is blinded by the God of this Worlds till the God of all Worlds sends his spirit with the Word for the opening of his eyes Thirdly God hides the heart from understanding as by not giving so by vvithdrawing the light vvhich he hath given Many have forfeited their eye-sight and their light and God hath taken the forfeiture of them Which he doth first when men are proud of the
For your selves know that wee were also appointed thereto for verily when I was with you I told you before that we must suffer tribulations as it came to passe and yee know it Paul gave them notice before affliction came lest they should be moved when they were come Thus Christ warned his Disciples and he warned them for this end John 16.1 These things have I spoken to you that you be not offended What things were these They saith he shall put you out of the Synagogues yea the time commeth that whosoever killeth you will thinke that he doth God service Christ foresaw that when these things came they would finde worke enough to quiet their spirits in and to quit themselves from troublesome motions And as Christ to keep or make their hearts quiet tells them of their sufferings aforehand so hee therefore tells them that hee himselfe had suffered before hand John 15.18 If the World hate you you know it hated me before it hated you you know it and knowing it you ought not be troubled when you meet with hatred in the World The Servant must not expect better usage then his Master When we see so much layd in to fortifie our spirits against outward crosses in or for the profession of the Gospell it is an aboundant argument that our hearts are apt to startle and we to be astonied at them And the innocent shall stirr up himselfe against the Hypocrite The innocent Here is a different Character 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evigitavit excitavit or cloathing of words but the person is the same The innocent shall stirr up himselfe The word signifies to stirre up from sleep and to stirr up from sloath it signifies also such a stirring as the Eagle useth to provoke her young ones to flye Deut. 32.11 Thus the innocent shall awake and stirr up himselfe Against the Hypocrite The Hypocrite is taken two wayes Eyther strictly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sunâ— qui reddunt improbum quo modo ea vox exprimitur â—pud Hebraeos Drus as opposed to the upright in the former part and under that notion I have heretofore spoken of the Hypocrite Chap. 8. c. Secondly The Hypocrite may be taken largely and so every wicked man is he except he who openly professeth wickednesse and yet even he may goe for an Hypocrite for hee is more wicked when he hath professed his utmost then he doth professe himselfe to be The Septuagint render him Vnjust Reddunt iniquum Sep. Deâ— latorem Targ and the Caldee Paraphrase The backbyter or defamer And another of the Greek Interpreters calls him the Enemy The innocent shall stirre up himselfe against his enemy Justus super inimicum consurget Olymp. or against his opposite And who is that but the wicked man under what notion soever we put him The single termes thus cleered fall yet under a different sense as joyned together Suam orationem pa ulo incitatiorem excusat q. d. quid mirum me ita loqui cum res ipsa tam indigna sit Pined First Some conceive that Job makes an apologie or an excuse for himselfe in these words why he exprest so much passion and used such sharpnesse of speech toward his Freinds As if he had sayd Blame me not for doing it things are carryed so as upright men may be astonied it would make a wiseman madd and a meek man furious a very post would be awakened and stirred at what my Freinds have againe and againe pressed upon me therefore pardon my passion and if you will needs call it so my impatience Non me latet ad rem tantam sapientes percelli atque adeo in ejusmodi casu interdum insontes adversus eos qui sic affliguntur tanquam adversus hypocritas commoveri Bez. Secondly Master Beza expounds Job ayming at a good man in great troubles mistaken for an Hypocrite by those who are good he represents him speaking thus I am not ignorant that not onely ordinary and common men but even the wise and the upright will be troubled and astonied at my sufferings and that sometimes in such a case as mine is innocent men will stirr up or set themselves against him that is thus afflicted as if hee were an Hypocrite When God puts a disguise of great troubles upon his faithfull Servants they who are faithfull will scarse owne them they are ready to number them among enemies at least to doubt very much as they did about Paul upon another account Acts 9.26 whether he be a Freind or a Disciple Afflictions have made the sincere appeare as Hypocrites in the opinion of those who are sincere Indignabitur contra hypocritam quod ille calamitates tribuit peccatis Cajet A third makes this the ground of the innocent mans quarrell against the Hypocrite why doth he stirr up himselfe and engage against him Why is he so angry with the Hypocrite Even because he sees the Hypocrite foolishly condemning the godly as wicked because they are afflicted or ascribing their calamities meerly to their sins Excitabit se contra impium florentem faelicem quod videat illum non recipere digna peccariâ— Fourthly Thus The innocent shall stirr up himselfe that is His spirit shall be troubled at the Hypocrite or wicked man whom he sees in a flourishing condition so we may expound it by that caution which David gives Psal 37.1 Fret not thy selfe because of evill doers neyther be thou envious against the workers of iniquity Good men have been much moved and fretted at the prosperity of the ungodly But surely Job is not here declaring the infirmities of the innocent but their graces And therefore Lastly The innocent shall stirr up himselfe against the Hypocrite carryes in it the commendation of the innocent persons perseverance and constancy in the faith and sincerity of his profession what changes soever are upon him As if he had sayd Though a godly man be afflicted and brought low though he be scorned and trampled upon when he is brought low yet hee will not forsake his principles or disclaime his profession Quamvis ab eo rideatur quod affligatur haud tamen proptereâ— desiderio ducetur ejus sequendi aut ei se adjungendi sed excitabit se c. Merc. nay he will be so farr from slacking in or turning away from his profession that he will manifest more holy zeale for God and his wayes together with more holy opposition against wicked men and all their wayes their ever he did before The upright shall be astonied at this but they shall not be disheartned their wisedome and courage shall still appeare in maintaining their quarrell against the generation of evill doers wheresoever they meet with them The innocent shall stirr up himselfe against the Hypocrite Hence Note First There is an everlasting opposition between the godly and the wicked The innocent stirrs up himselfe like a Lyon against the Hypocrite His heart riseth against him not
righteousnesse and that twofold First The way of his heart or his inward way Secondly The way of his hand or his outward way The righteous man holds on in both these wayes he continues his course both in the holy motions of his spirit towards God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inhaerebit justus viae suae Theodol and in the holy actings of his life towards man in this way he is full of motion but he will not move a step nor willingly decline to the right hand or to the left out of this way Here he walkes as to industry and here he stands as to constancy The righteous shall hold on his way Hence Observe First The righteous shall persevere perseverance is at once the duty and the priviledge of the Saints As they are in a good state so they shall goe on in a good way The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4.18 The goodnesse of Hypocrites is as the morning cloud and goeth away as the early dew Hos 6.4 The winde scatters the morning cloud and the rising Sun exhales the early dew thus the goodnesse of the Hypocrite is gone but the goodnesse of the righteous like the goodnesse of God of and from whom it is endureth in its proportion continually Ps 52.1 As they who joyne works to grace make grace to be no grace so doe they who say the worke of grace may be lost or that grace may for ever lose its working The worke of grace may be clouded but grace is no cloud the working of grace may decline but grace cannot dye The righteous shall hold on his way Further This Scripture tells us that he shall hold on not onely in faire way and in good weather but in stormy weather and rugged wayes when his way lyes among sharpe stones and ragged rocks through bryars and thornes yea I may say when his way lyes among Beares and Lyons hee will on Hence Observe A godly man perseveres notwithstanding all seeming discouragements from God and all reall oppositions from men Though God seeme to cast cold water on him yet his fire never goes out and often by a holy Antiperistasis he is inflamed the more while the evill World thinkes to dash him out of countenance and dampe his spirit he is the more emboldned As the Apostles approved themselves the Ministers of Christ so doth every Beleever in his Spheare in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments by honour and dishonour by good report and evill report c. 2 Cor. 6.4 8. Let the way be what it will foule or faire a green Carpet way or a deepe pochy way let it be what it will he goes through thick and thin Paul puts the question and resolves it Rom. 8.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ He puts it of a person Who shall And he answers about things Shall tribulation or distresse shall these separate us from the love of Christ That is Eyther from that love which we beare to Christ or from that love that Christ beares to us what shall make Christ out of love with us Or what shall make us out of love with Christ Shall any thing Nothing shal for those things shal not which might seem most able to make us out of love with Christ or to tel us that Christ doth not love us Shall tribulation or distresse or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or Sword Nay in all these things we are more then conquerours through him that loved us He loved us therefore he will love us and we shall goe on to love him for through him we shall not onely conquer but over-conquer or more then conquer whatsoever stands in the way to divert us from his love or to render him unlovely Nothing can separate Beleevers from the love which Christ beares to them if any thing can doe it sin can but sin cannot because hee hath more then conquered it by his owne power Nothing can separate Beleevers from the love which they bear to Christ if any thing can tribulation can but that cannot because we shall more then conquer it through his power The righteous shall hold on his way he neither turnes back nor stands still David was sorely shaken and tempted Psal 73. yet his feet were but almost gone and his steps were but wel-nigh slipt As Hypocrites at the most are but almost Christians they are not Christians altogether and as they step at their neerest but wel-nigh Heaven they shall not enter in so the feet of true Beleevers may almost be gone out of the good way but they shall not goe out altogether and their steps may wel-nigh slip from God but they shall be upheld and hence it is that though they have many not onely slips but falls in the way yet they shall neyther slip nor fall quite out of the way this Davids experience taught him at the twenty third Verse of that Psalme Neverthelesse saith he I am continually with thee and thou hast held me by my right hand that is Though I have many troubles in thy way yet I depart not out of thy way I have temptations to leave thee but I will not leave thee I am still with thee I am where I was yet not by any power of my owne but by thy power for thou holdest me by my right hand It is not the hold which we have of God but that which he hath of us that makes us hold on our way We should quickly let goe our hold of God if God had not infinite faster hold of us thou holdest me by my right hand There is a manutenentia Dei an invisible Hand-holding of God by which the whole visible Creation is supported without which no creature could hold on in the way of nature much more is there an invisible Hand-holding of God by which the spirituall creation is supported and without which the new creature cannot hold on in the wayes of grace 'T is the hold which Christ hath of us and the rooting which we have in him by vvhich we are confirmed Cum creverimus in Domino mittemus radices nostras sicut arbores Libani quae quantum in aurat consurgunt vertice tantum radice in ima demergunt ut nulla tempestate quatiantur sed stabili motu consistant Hieron Israel the people of God is sayd to grow as the Lilly and to cast forth his roots like Lebanon Hos 14.5 The Trees of Lebanon are high and spread out their branches but they are also deeply rooted they have as much under ground as above they have as much hold in the earth as they have shew in the ayre As the Saints grow up and spread forth their branches so they grow downe and cast out their roots like Lebanon so that the winds and storms which shake them do indeed but settle them 'T is the goodnesse of the root which
at once makes them fruitfull and makes them firme he that stands by this strength shall stand and he that is fruitfull by these roots shall be fruitfull still and bring forth more fruit in age The righteous shall hold on his way As Christ speakes terribly to the wicked that they shall hold on their way Revel 22.11 He that is unjust let him be unjust still he that is filthy let him be filthy still These are not permissions to wicked men to be wicked still much lesse are they perswasions unto wickednesse but they are dreadfull comminations wicked men are threatned with this plague to be given up to the wickednesse of their owne hearts Now as Christ speakes terribly thereto his Enemies so he speakes comfortably and encouragingly to his Freinds He that is righteous let him be righteous still and he that is holy let him be holy still which carries not onely the force of a command upon them or the direction of a rule to them but also the sweetnesse of a gracious promise or of a speciall priviledge that they shall be maintained in righteousnesse and holinesse unto the end or that they shall hold on their way Hypocrites may make a faire flourish and stand some brunts they may endure for a season but they endure not long much lesse to the end They went out from us saith the Apostle John 1 Epist 2.19 they had once an appearance and a presence with us but they were not of us that is They had no reall communion and fellowship with us their bodies were with us but not their hearts and when we lost them we lost no more then the Corne doth vvhen the Chaffe is winnowed away or then the body doth vvhen hurtfull humours are purged away Who were these Hee meanes the Apostate professors of that age Ebion Cerinthus c. These were not of us How did the Apostle know that Hee tells us how in the next vvords For if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us Saint John puts it beyond all dispute and himselfe had not the least doubt of it that they who are once in Church shall continue in it and that they who depart doe not depart from grace but from a shadow of grace They doe not fall from what they were but manifest what they were not They went out from us that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us But vvhy doth the Apostle say they were not all of us Were any of those Apostates of them Not all is a knowne Hebraisme for none Psal 143.2 In thy sight not all men that is no man living shall be justified So 1 John 3.15 Ye know that every murderer hath not that is as we translate no murderer hath eternall life abiding in him So here They were not all that is None of them were of us Many have forsaken a profession of Faith but hee that hath Faith will not forsake the profession of it The righteous shall hold on his way and not onely so but He that hath cleane hands shall wax stronger and stronger To continue in the right way is very good but to encrease in it is farr better he that holds his owne in sad times is to be commended but he that thrives and gaines in godlinesse in sad times is to be admired And who is that Job tells us He that hath cleane hands The words are a Circumlocution describing the same person who vvas before called upright innocent and righteous And yet surely it is not a bare repetition of the same person under another title for though vvee must take this cleanenesse of hands in conjunction with cleannesse and uprightnesse of heart and though it be not so hard a matter to shew a paire of white cleane hands as it is to have an upright or a cleane white heart yea though it be true that cleane hands will not wax stronger and stronger in a day of affliction unlesse joyned with an upright heart yet I say these cleane hands imply somewhat else not onely besides that uprighâ—nesse but also besides that innocency and righteousnesse spoken of before The hand is the instrument of action and cleane hands are an embleme of holy actings So that Job seemes to intimate that he who besides the uprightnesse of his heart and the generall innocency and righteousnesse of his way is also carefull to keep himselfe free from every spot which might foule his hands He I say who is thus compleat and spotlesse is fullest of courage vvhen troubles and sorrowes are upon him 'T is true a mans generall uprightnesse and innocency vvill mightily uphold him in the maine yet if hee have got a visible blot or defilement upon the face or hand of his conversation or dealings with men this will be a dampe upon his spirit and a deadning to his heart though the bent of his heart stands faire towards God Againe this may be added in answer to a Plea vvhich some make vvhen they are taxed vvith the uncleannesse of their hands say they O we have good hearts we are upright towards God we confesse we faile many times but we have good meanings and we would both doe and be better Is thy hand uncleane Thy heart is a thousand times more uncleane Is thy vvay evill Thy spirit is vvorse How câ—n any man have a good meaning or a good heart vvhen himselfe is evill No man can There is no excuse for the uncleannesse of the hands by saying the heart is cleane For vvhere there is a cleane heart there vvill be cleane hands Many have cleane hands that have uncleane hearts but no man hath a cleane heart whose hands continue uncleane much lesse will such a one plead the cleannesse of his heart in excuse for the uncleannesse of his hand nor is there any ground for such a Plea Should a man say here is a Tree that beares ill fruit but it hath an excellent root I am sure it is of a right kind but I confesse the fruit is naught would not any man of reason condemne such reasoning Would he not say This is to bely nature For every good tree brings forth good fruit Is it not also a belying of the spirit of grace to say The heart is upright but the hands are uncleane For an upright heart makes a cleane hand as cleane hands are a probable evidence of an upright heart He that hath not both these hath neyther of them to purpose which we may conceive was Jobs scope while hee puts them here together Further while Job speakes in the third person Hee that hath cleane hands he answers Eliphaz for himselfe who in a third person charged him with the uncleannesse both of his heart and hands Chap. 15.14 from which he also vindicates himselfe Chap. 16.17 As if hee had sayd You have often charged me with the uncleannesse of my hands but
he opposeth Job stands as Defendant here his Freinds as Plaintifs therefore he endeavours to render their Charge weak and what they sayd sinnewlesse I have heard many such things as these Job doth not accuse his Freinds as giving out false and erroneous Doctrine for himselfe had heard and learned those things before but he accuseth them for bringing proofes which were not to the purpose or which were in sufficient to prove their purpose As if he sayd I expected when you would produce some stronger arguments to maintaine your opinion or clearer answers unto mine I waited for some new matter and to have heard somewhat that I had not heard before but you have deceived my expectation For I have heard many such things as these Hence Note First Some truths are of very common observation Who knoweth not such things as these Every Childe that hath been Catechised knowes them 'T is no disparagement to any truth that it hath been often heard and is commonly knowne The more common a truth is the more weighty it may be Yet Which gives us a second Observation Ordinary truths will not serve in extraordinary cases and that which every man knows and heares will not resolve us in those points which few men know or heare As Jobs Person was a Phaenix in the World his age afforded not his second There is none like him in the earth saith God himselfe to Satan Chap. 1.8 So Jobs condition was a Phaenix it had no second there was no man tryed like him in the whole earth and therefore his case eould not be measured by the common Standard or rule of Providence He had need heare that which was never heard before who beares and feeles that which was never borne nor felt before There are some temptations on afflictions as the Apostle speakes 1 Cor. 10.13 Which are common to man Common truths may comfort and satisfie the consciences of such But there are temptations such were Jobs which are not common to man we can hardly finde their paralell or a president of them in the Records of any Age Common truths will not comfort nor satisfie the consciences of such Every dispensation hath a doctrine suitable to it dispensations which are seldome seen call up doctrines which are seldome heard Secondly Job complaines that he heares onely those things which he had often heard Hence Observe It troubles a man in trouble to be often pressed with the same thing A man at ease is pained with unnecessary repetitions much more a man in paine and though they who like and love the things which they have heard doe both love and like to heare them often yet in some cases they may heare them too often Some indeed speak very prophanely what Job spake justly who when they would not put off submission to and attendance upon holy Doctrine say we know before we goe what he will say We know such things as the Preacher usually speaks what can he tell us that we have not heard before That 's the language of the prophane We know as much as he can teach us Though it be granted that a man knowes as much as the Preacher can tell him yet he ought to heare it againe Though the matter be knowne before yet to heare it often may work a better knowledge and leave a stronger impression upon the heart then ever 'T is profitable to write the same things therefore it cannot be unprofitable to heare them Phil. 3.1 Brethren to write the same things to me it is not greivous and to you it is profitable If to write then to speake the same things is profitable In the Story of the Acts of the Apostles when Paul had preached in the Synagogue the Jewes being gone the Gentiles besought him That those words might be preached the next Sabbath Acts 13.42 The repeating and inculcating the same thing is not alwayes blameable and it is sometimes desireable but when a man is under sore afflictions and temptations when he is burthened with many sorrows it is very greivous to have those things that have been often answered or assented to againe objected or asserted A weake stomack must have variety and change to entice the appetite and so must a troubled and distempered spirit I have heard many such things And hereupon he infers Miserable comforters are yee As if he had sayd This is a miserable way of comforting alway to be beating upon and inculcating the same thing Job calls his Freinds Physitians of no value Chap. 13.4 Here he expounds himselfe while he calls them Miserable comforters He is a Physitian of no value who in stead of curing increaseth the disease and he is a miserable comforter who in stead of abating our sorrow adds to it and heightens it Miserable comforters are yee It seems the Freinds of Job at least to his sense had forgotten the designe they proposed to themselves when they first undertook this visit Chap. 2.11 They made an appointment together to come and mourne with him and to comfort him That was the intendment of Jobs Freinds at their fiâ—st addresses Yet after so long a conference he makes this report Miserable comforters are yee yee rather vex then heale any soare you my Freinds have troubled me more then my wounds you have wounded my spirit more then Satan did my flesh Consolatores malorum i. e. malos potestâ—s consolari August Miserable comforters are yee One of the Ancients renders the words thus Yee are comforters of evill men or possibly you may comfort evill men but you cannot comfort me As that which is one mans meat is another mans poyson so that which is one mans comfort is another mans sorrow All good men cannot take in their comforts the same way but the way of comforting good and evill men differ as much as good and evill The words of flattery and falsehood will serve to comfort the one no words will comfort the other but those of sincerity and truth I dare not conceive Jobs Freinds such as would sow Pillows under the elbowes of evill men yet surely they put hard Stones under the sore and aking armes of this good man Consolatores Onerosi Vulg. The Vulgar translation speakes thus Yee are burden some comforters A comforter should take off burdens sorrow is a burden As the judgements that God threatned upon the Jewes and other Nations are represented in the Prophets under the name of burthens The burthen of Judah the burthen of Israel the burthen of Moab the burthen of Babylon the burthen of Idumea So any affliction upon a person is his burthen and the businesse of those who come to comfort a soule in affliction should be to take off his burthen at least to lighten it Jobs Freinds did indeed binde the burthen faster upon his spirit and therefore he might well call them Burthensome comforters False hearts count all truth a burthen The Land saith Amaziah is not able to beare his words Amos 7.10 yet his were
till they have done good their eye continues in that holy provocation Psal 132.4 I will not saith zealous David give sleep to my eyes nor slumber to my eye lids untill I finde out a place for the Lord an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob So wicked men give no sleep to their eyes till they have done that mischeife or executed that revenge to which they conceive themselves provoked But the eye of Job did not continue in those unfreindly provocations to watch an opportunity for selfe-revenge upon or of doing mischeife to his Freinds He did not let the Sun goe downe upon wrath that he might devise their ruine in the darke He was not so wise as he should have been to hurt himselfe and hinder his rest by such a continuall poring upon their unkindnesses but he was not wicked at all much lesse so wicked which some from this passage may conceive him as to pore upon their unkindnesses with a purpose to hurt them So that act might have somewhat of sin in it because hee troubled his owne peace more then he needed but it had not this sin in it that he studyed how to trouble the peace of others Lastly We may rather interpret these words to the blame of his Freinds who continued to provoke him then to his whose eye because they did so could see nothing but provocation or at least must see that whatsoever it saw and therefore could not but continue in it How could the eye of Hannah chuse but continue in the provocation of Peninnah when it is sayd 1 Sam. 1.6 7. That as her Husband Elkanah gave her speciall tokens of his love yeare by yeare so shee provoked her to make her fret yeare by yeare therefore shee wept and did not eate While a provocation is continued our sense of it can hardly be intermitted Job having complained of received provocations renews his appeale to God Vers 3. Lay downe now put me in a surety with thee who is he that will strike hands with me The words are an Apostrophe to God That Job speakes to God not to Eliphaz is cleerer then needs be proved The word which we render lay downe signifies also to appoint Exod. 1.11 They did set or appoint over them Taske-masters And againe Exod. 21.13 I will appoint thee a place whither he the man-slayer shall flee Appone cor tuum i. e. adverte quaeso animum meis verbis Vatabl. In the present Text both rendrings of the word are used We make use of the first Put or lay downe What would Job have God lay downe Some give it thus Lay downe or apply thine heart to me attend I pray thee to my words and consider my cause Secondly The words may be conceived as an allusion to those who going before a Judge or having a cause to be tryed by Umpires use to lay downe an ingagement or as wee call it an Assâ—mpsit that they will stand to the award or arbitrement which shall be made Put me in a surety with thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est fideijubere pro aliquo seu aliquem in suam fidem recipere Hinç arrabo spiritus Pone pignus vadem aut fidejussorem mihi tecum Pagn-Dispone quaeso consponsorem mihi tecum Jun. Num Arrabonem dabis The Originall word properly signifying to undertake for or to give credit and assurance in the behalfe of another and hence the Noune derived from it signifies an earnest because an earnest layd downe is a reall surety that such a thing shall be performed In which sense Thamar useth the word Gen. 38.17 who when Judah promised to send a Kid of the Goates said wilt thou give me a pledg til thou send it and hence in the new Testament the word Arrabo is used in the Greek as also in the Latine for the earnest of the spirit or for that assurance which the spirit settles upon the hearts of Beleevers in this life that they shall inherit eternall life 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts And againe 2 Cor. 5.5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfe same thing is God God having prepared a place for us prepares us for the place and then gives us our evidences that in due time wee shall take possession of it Who also hath given us the earnest of the spirit The same Apostle tells the Ephesians that After they beleeved they were sealed with the spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance till the redemption of the purchased possession Ephes 1.14 So that an earnest is a reall suâ—ety and a surety is a personall earnest While Job saith Put me in a surety his meaning is hee would have some person to be an undertaker for the ordering of his cause or an ensurer that all should be performed according to the determination that should be given about it Put in a surety with me Who is he that will strike hands with me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sig Defigere infigere si de contractibus dicitur percutere manum He proceeds in the same allusion These words are disposed two wayes Some put the Interrogation after He Give or put me in a surety Who is he I would gladly see the man or know who it is Who is he let him come and strike hands with me whosoever he is As if hee had sayd I shall easily agree that any man should have the hearing and determining of this businesse whom thou shalt appoint Quis est manui meae plaudatur Jun. Quisquis ille sit fide jussor meus veniat paciscatur mecum In sponsionibus manus invicem complodebant hinc manum complodere pro pacisci stipulari Merc. We put the Interrogation after the whole sentence Who is he that will strike hands with me And then the sense appears thus If God once put in a surety to undertake for me who is hee that will contend with mee or engage in this Quarrell against me To strike hands is a phrase of speech grounded upon that ancient forme of making bargaines or entring contracts by joyning or striking hands And these contracts may be taken two wayes or under a double notion First As they concerned suretiship for Money in which sense Solomon speakes of it more then once Prov. 6.1 My Son if thou be surety for thy Freind If thou have striken hands with a stranger that is if thou hast entred into Bond for him and hast testified it by striking hands then c. Prov. 22.26 Haec est sponsio quae propriè ad mammorum negotium spectat Aben Ezra in Prov. 6. Be not thou one of them that strike hands that is Be not too forward to engage thy selfe or to undertake for others as it is expounded in the next words or of them that are sureties for debts such hasty engagements may bring thee into more trouble then thou wilt