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
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
like the wind but it passeth away and though we cannot tell whither it goes yet we may easily tell whence it comes even from the fancie and out of the mouth of a foolish man It was usuall of old to call that which is vaine windy those despisers of holy counsells and Divine Alarums given by the Prophets said The Prophets shall become wind and the word is not in them Jer. 5.13 That is both the Doctrine and the threats which these Prophets utter are vaine and ineffectuall they will doe us neither good nor evill no mans finger shall ake though their tongues ake with talking The Prophet Hosea at once reproves and terrisies the Jewes in this language They have sowne the wind and they shall reape the whirlewind Hos 8.7 To sow the winde is to doe a vaine thing our actions are as seed such as we sow such shall we reape they sowed sin and they reaped trouble Themselves sowed the wind by what they did and they thought the Prophets sowed the winde in what they spake And indeed the words of the Prophet were wind as the peoples works were in reference to the issue those produced a whirlewind to scatter their contemners as these did to scatter their actors The old Satyrist calls vaine words bubly toyes Bullatas nugas utpote similes bullis vento plenis Pers Sat. 5. because such words are like a bubble full of wind possibly full of wit but empty of wisedome and good instruction Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge The Scripture calls that vaine First which is unprofitable these mutually expound each other Eccles 1.2 3. Vanity of vanity saith the Preacher c. What profit hath a man of all the labour which he taketh under the Sunne There 's most vanity where there is least profit and where there is no profit at all there is nothing at all but vanity Turne not aside from following the Lord saith Samuel for then should you goe after vaine things which cannot profit 1 Sam. 12.20 21. Secondly the Scripture calls that and those vaine which hath or have no solidity in them vanity hath so little weight in it that when the Spirit would expresse men who have no weight in them he saith They are lighter then vanity Psalm 62.9 Thirdly the Scripture calls that vaine which is alwayes moving varying and unsetled Psal 144.4 Man is like to vanity his dayes are as a shadow that passeth away He is therefore like to vanity because he is so like a shadow continually passing but never continuing Fourthly the Scripture often calls that vaine which is sinfull in practice or unsound and erroneous in opinion I hate vaine inventions saith David but thy Law doe I love Whatsoever opposes either truth of Doctrine or purity of Worship is a vaine invention of man and opposite to the Law of God he utters vaine knowledge who utters false Principles which subvert the Faith or superstitious formes which endanger the life and power of godlinesse Eliphaz supposed that somewhat of vanity in all these notions was rallyed together into the discourse of Job that it was light and froathy that it was erroneous and full of incongruity especially which carries all these in it that it was worthlesse and unprofitable to the receiver as he expresseth in the third Verse Should he reason with unprofitable talke Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge Hence observe There is a vanity in some kind of knowledge and folly in that which not a few call wisedome It hath been the businesse of some mens knowledge to finde out a vanity in all sorts of knowledge Eliphaz spake well for the matter though ill to the man Job did not utter vaine knowledge but we know too many doe The old Gentiles waxed vaine in their imaginations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vani facti sunt in ratiocinationibus suis Baz their very reasonings were vaine so the Originall word tells us It was not their phansie but their understanding which was vaine The Apostle cautions the Colossians Let no man spoyle you through Philosophy and vaine deceit Col. 2.8 Philosophy in it selfe is an excellent knowledge yet it may be vainely taught and so deceive us as to spoyle us I may say also let no man spoyle you through Divinity and vaine deceit Divinity which is in it selfe the most excellent knowledge the knowledge of God may be vainely taught and so deceive us as to spoyle us That knowledge which is best in it selfe is vainest to us when it is unduely or falsely uttered Secondly observe It is most uncomely for those who either have or would have the reputation of wisedome to speake vainly Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge 'T is no wonder to heare a vaine man speake vainely and for a foole to utter folly Doe men gather Grapes of thornes or Figgs of thistles The vile person will speake villany and his heart will worke iniquity to practice hypocrisie and to utter errour against the Lord Isa 32.6 If a foole a vaine man or a vile person speake thus he speakes like himselfe but if a wise or a good man speake thus he speakes so unlike himselfe that the Chaldee Paraphrase puts not onely an undecensie but an impossibility upon it Can a wise man utter vaine knowledge It is impossible Estne possibile c. Chald. Paraph. Men act according to their principles every thing is in working as it is in being if there be wisedome in the heart it will be heard at the tongue A wholesome Fountaine will send out wholesome waters He that is borne of God saith the Apostle John 1 Epist 3.9 cannot sinne though he hath not a naturall impossibility to sin Sapiens ad mensuram sermones profert libra examinatos justitiae ut sit gravitas in sensu in sermone pondus in verbis modus Ambros l. 1. Offic. c 3. yet he hath a morall impossibility to sinne because the seed of God remaineth in him the frame and bent of his heart is set another way Now as there is a morall impossibility that a godly man should commit sin so that a wise man should speake sin or utter vaine knowledge A wise man speakes as well as acts by measure he waighs what he saith as much as what he doth the tongue of the wise is as a Tree of life Grace in the heart blossomes at the lips in savory words which minister grace unto the hearers Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge And fill his belly with the East winde A belly full of windy meat is bad enough a belly full of wind is farre worse But what is here meant by the belly what by the East-wind The belly is put for the heart and affections together with all the intellectuall powers of the minde John 7.38 Out of his belly that is out of his whole soule shall flow Rivers of living water This water is the holy spirit the holy spirit is sometimes compared also to the wind Venter
pro corde cor pro intellectu mente accipitur in Scriptura A wise man should desire that his heart may be filled with the sweet gales and holy breathings of the spirit of God by heavenly inspirations And shall hee fill his heart with the East-wind of earthly passions The word which we translate East wind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rab. Mardoch Observat hunc ventum a Graecis appellari Apeâ—â—oren quod a sole spiret atque eadem ratione appellatur a Latinis subsolanum signifies onely the East Should he fill his belly with the East we rightly add the East wind he compares Jobs passions unto the winde and unto the East wind to the wind because of the vanity of them to the East wind because of the hurtfulnesse of them For as by wind in the former clause he meanes worthlesse things so by East wind in this he meanes dangerous things There are two reasons why he expresses such inwaâ—d motions by the East wind First The East wind is a vehement and strong wind wee read Exod. 14.21 Portae Eurum Appellans truculemum rapidum animosum tumidum indomitum that when God divided the Red Sea to make a passage for his people he caused an East wind to blow all night and divided the Sea with the force of it Poets describe the East winde to be feirce heady turbulent and impetuous that 's one ground of it Secondly The East winde is observed by Naturalists to be a hot and fiery winde Ardore Hence the Vulgar translates Thou fillest thy belly with heate The East winde parcheth and blasteth Corne and Fruits Pharoah beheld in his Dreame seven eares withered Sub calidi aestuantis aeris similitudine sermones ejus exspaeratos excandescentia plenos describit thin and blasted with the East wind Gen. 41.23 So then under this notion of the East winde Eliphaz closely censures Job First that his thoughts were violent and impetuous Secondly that they were angry fiery furious as if coales were kindled in his bosome and a flame ready to blaze at his lips As if like Paul while Saul Acts 9.1 he breathed out threatnings and slaughter or was inwardly heated with resolutions of revenge The Prophet Jeremie saith The Word of God was as a fire in his bosome and he could not refraine Jobo attribuit vanitatem in sententia tempestatem in affectu imbecillitatem in argumento superfluitatem in verbis Coc. Many a mans breast is like a heated Oven he is ready to consume all with the breath of it But why doth Eliphaz charge Job with such unruly perturbations Some assigne the reason from those words Chap. 14. v. 14. where he desires that God would even hide him in the grave he was so vext and troubled at the state wherein he lived that he preferred death before it and thought a not being in the World better then a being in his condition But we may rather leave the reason more at large to all that vehemency of spirit with which Job had prosecuted and pleaded his sorrowfull case From the scope of Eliphaz in this part of his reproofe we may observe First That violent passions are the disguise of a wise man We cannot see who he is while he acts unlike himselfe anger lodgeth in the bosome of fooles and when it doth but intrude into the bosome of a wise man he for the time looks like a foole Secondly Passions in the minde are like a tempest in the ayre they disturbe others much but our selves more Many a man like a Ship at Sea hath been overset and sunke with the violent gusts and whirle-whinds of his owne Spirit Observe thirdly He that fills his owne minde with passionate thoughts will soone fill the eares of others with unprofitable words this is cleare from that which goeth before He utters vaine knowledge and it is clearer from that which followes after when a mans thoughts are like a winde his words which are the first borne of his thoughts must needs be windy A passionate man speakes all in passion and sometimes cannot speake at all for passion his extreame desire to say much stops him from saying any thing But whatsoever he saith is the copy of his present selfe fierce and boysterous The image and superscription of our hearts is stamped upon our words Some can speake better then they are but usually men speak according to what they are and then especially when they are which passionate men alwayes are not themselves Thus it followes in the next Verse Vers 3. Should he reason with unprofitable talke Eliphaz speakes all Interrogatories and these speak him in anger if not in some distemper Should he doe this and should he doe that doe shew that either another hath very much done what he should not or that he who reproves him hath not such a spirit of meeknesse as a reprover should Gal. 6.1 The words shew the effect of what he taxed him with before as if he had sayd Cum interrogatione stomacho legenda sunt haec Merc. Would you know what to expect from a passionate man from a man whose belly is filled with the East-wind You shall have him shortly filling your eares with an East wind even reasoning with unprofitable words And as the next clause gives it which is onely an exposition of this with speeches wherewith he can doe no good Some words are great doers they doe much hurt or they doe much good and those words usually doe some hurt which can do no good yea that which is weake and unable to doe good may be strong and powerfull to doe evill However not to doe good is to doe evill because it is every mans duty whatsoever he doth to be doing good Here Eliphaz reproves Jobs words as evill while he onely saith they doe no good And yet he saith somewhat more then that for he saith They can doe no good It is ill not to doe good actually but not to have a possibility of doing good is farre worse When the Apostle would say his worst of the best of mans sinfull flesh he doth not onely say It is not subject to the Law of God but adds Neither indeed can be Rom. 8.7 So here Words wherewith a man can doe no good how bad are they Hence observe First That which can doe no good should not be spoken Before we speake a word we should aske this question to what purpose Cui bono to what profit is it shall he that heares it be made more knowing or more holy by it Observe secondly Vnprofitable talke is sinfull and speeches which doe no good are evill Every idle word that men shall speake they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgement Matth. 12.37 and though a man be very busie and take much paines in speaking yet if his words be unprofitable and his speeches such as can doe no good they will come under
the words abstractly they yeeld us this usefull observation That it is an argument of an evill heart to shorten Hic proponitur tanquam ingens piaculum quod homo afflictus remittat orandi studium or restraine to lessen or to give off Prayer in times of trouble That King spake to the height of prophanenesse when he said 2 Kings 6. This evill is of the Lord and why should I waite on the Lord any longer When we have done waiting we have done praying No man will aske for that which he doth not expect to receive How long so ever affliction lasteth so long prayer-season lasteth if the Winter day of our trouble be a Summer day in length if it be continued many dayes yea many moneths and yeares prayer should continue Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will heare and thou shalt glorifie me Let the day of trouble be short or long God lookes to heare of us all that day Is any afflicted let him pray saith the Apostle James it is a duty to pray when we are not afflicted when we prosper in the World But is any man afflicted then is a speciall season for prayer A sincere heart prayes alwayes or continues in prayer an hypocrite never loves to pray and at two seasons he will restraine or lay aside prayer First when he is got out or thinks he hath prayed himselfe out of affliction Prosperity and worldly fulnesse stop the mouth of prayer and he hath no more to say to God when he hath received much from God Secondly a Hypocrite restraines prayer when he perceives he hath got nothing by prayer he sees he cannot or feares he shall not get out of trouble and therefore he will pray no more in trouble his spirit failes because his afflictions hold out Upon which soever of these two grounds the Hypocrite restraines prayer he shewes the wickednesse of his heart If from the former he shewes that he beares no true love to God if from the latter he shewes that he hath no true faith in God or dares not trust him Further to cast off prayer is to cast off God and he that lives without prayer in the World lives without God in the World Hence the Heathen who know not God and the Families that call not upon his Name are joyned together or rather are the same Jer. 10.25 Further to restraine prayer is worse then not to pray The latter notes onely a neglect of the duty the fromer a distast of the duty To give over any holy exercise is more dangerous then not to begin or take it up The one is the prophane mans sin the other is the Hypocrites Thou restrainest prayer and hee that doth not utter prayer with his mouth will soone utter wickednesse with his mouth as it follows Vers 5. For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity and thou chusest the tongue of the crafty Here Eliphaz explaines and proves what he said before that Job had cast off the feare of God and restrained prayer as if he had said If thou hadst kept in holy feare that would have kept in thine iniquity Hadst thou not restrained prayer that would have restrained and bridled downe thy sin but thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity and that sheweth that prayer is restrained and that feare is cast off here is a demonstration of it If you should come to a Princes Court and see a great croud about the doore you would say the Porter is there he stops and examines them if at another time you see all going in as fast as they please you will say the Porter is out of the way Thus while the feare of the Lord stands like a Porter at the doore of the soule we keep our thoughts and actions in compasse we examine what goes in and what comes out but when once that 's gone Non opus est ut te doceam in quo pecces cum ipse tuus sermo doceat te iniquum esse Vatab Reus verbis oris tui Sept order is gone Any thing may be sayd any thing may be done by him who feares not who prayes not Thou hast cast off feare and restrained prayer for thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity out it comes as fast as it can I need not tell thee wherein thou hast offended thy mouth powres it out Hence Note That the evill which is in the heart will out at the mouth unlesse prayer and the feare of God restraine it As the good that is in the heart will come out of the mouth especially when prayer unlocks the mouth David prayes Lord open thou my lips and then he undertakes for his mouth that it shall shew forth the praise of God Psal 51.1 My heart is inditing a good matter the heart doth this in prayer or meditation what follows My tongue is as the Pen of a ready Writer Heavenly thoughts in the heart shoot out at the tongue in heavenly words When the heart is devising of a good matter the tongue will be swift to speake and set all to a good tune Thus also while the heart is inditing an evill matter the tongue runs to evill Such a man needs not learne from others he hath a root of bitternesse in himselfe Hence our Saviour concludes Matth. 12.37 By thy words thou shalt be condemned and by thy words thou shalt be justified Why shall we be condemned by our words Qualis vir talis oratio Mens mala linguam movet vos fingit ad improbos sensus neque aliud os loquitur quam quod interior suggerit atque imperat sensus The Prophet complaines of those who made a man an offender for a word I answer our words shew what we are they declare our hearts as a man may be discovered of what Country he is when he speakes so of what spirit he is The tongue is the scholler of the heart and speakes what that dictates A man is justly condemned by evill words because they testifie that he is evill Thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity Observe Secondly There are some iniquities which are more properly ours then some others are Thine iniquity Job had as Eliphaz seemes to suggest a kind of peculiarity in it As God ownes some people in a speciall manner though all the people of the earth be his yet they are his beloved people So man ownes some sin in a speciall manner though a corrupt heart hath a relation to all the sins in the World yet some one is his beloved sin and may be called by way of emminency his iniquity 'T is his as his Houses and Lands as the Money in his Purse and the Garments on his backe are his Observe thirdly Every man is most ready to act and utter his speciall iniquity Thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity There are some sins in a mans heart which possibly he may never utter all his dayes but he must be talking of or acting his beloved one Hence David speakes it as a high worke
worth in thee that exempts thee from this generall rule or way of comfort Doest thou so abound in thy owne sense that thou hast no need of our Notions Is all we speake below thee Thirdly they are supposed to aime at some secret sinne or guilt which hindered and unfitted Job to take in their Cordialls and consolations till it were purged out or vomited up by sound repentance So one renders the Text Doth any thing hide them with thee The word signifies to hide and cover 2 Sam. 19.4 David covered his face so here doth somewhat hide wrap up and cover these consolations that thou canst not receive them or what vayles the eye of thy minde that thou canst not behold what we hold out to thee or not finde out the meaning of it If our Gospell be hid saith the Apostle it is hid to those that are lost in whom the God of this World hath blinded the eyes of them c. 2 Cor. 4.3 4. Thus Eliphaz seemes to bespeake Job If the consolations of God be small to thee doth not somewhat blinde thy eyes Doth not some cloud hide them from thee Doth not prejudice against us or some close sin in thy selfe interrupt thy sight This is hinted by the old Latine Translator who saith Thy evill words or the evill matter that is in thee hinder this One of the Rabbins glosseth it thus and the Originall reaches it Some lye some inchantment or witchery hath seized upon thee though thou pretendest truth The Apostle speakes to this sense Gal. 3.1 O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not receive the truth Witchery or Inchantment gives a secret wound Is there any secret thing with thee Hast thou any secret comfort for thy selfe any secret conceit of thy selfe any secret sinne in thy bosome hindering the effectuall working or due prizing of those cordialls which we have given thee The first of these secret things never stands in the way of receiving consolation he that hath hidden comfort in him will not refuse spoken comforts nor doe I thinke that Eliphaz aymed at that unlesse in scorne as some resolve it Malo in bonum sumi licet hoc in eum Eliphaz dicat eum ridens Merc. but rather at one of or both the latter though mistaken in both Yet his suspition gives us a ground for these two Observations First That a man who is full of his owne wisedome is not fit to receive instruction counsell or consolation from others Intus existens prohibet alienum that which is within hinders that which comes from without When a man thinks himselfe wiser then his teachers he will not be taught nor learne wisedome by them Some might have knowne much if they had not presumed they knew enough There is no greater impediment of knowledge then an opinion of it Secondly Observe A sinne kept close or secret within us hinders the effect and working of the Word Though comforts and counsels are given they will not operate where secret corruption lyes at heart the filthinesse and corruption of the stomach hinders digestion till it be purged out Physitians remove ill humours before they prescribe Cordialls else they doe but nourish the discase 'T is so in Spiritualls the Apostle Peter gives the rule 1 Epist 2.1 Wherefore laying aside all guile hypocrisie and envy and evill speaking as new born Babes desire the sincere milke of the Word that yee may grow thereby As if he had said Till you cast out these you will never thrive under the Word if a man be to sow Seed in his Garden he will pull up the Weeds and throw away the Stones else the Seed will not spring up to perfection The Prophet tells the Jewes Jer. 5 25. Your sins hinder good things from you as sin hinders good from comming to us so it hinders the Word from working good in us Though the proper businesse of the Word be to cast out or pull up this secret sin yet there is a great stop given it while any secret sin is nourished or not cast out That 's the reason why so many precious promises take not upon the heart some sin some corruption obstructs their operation and like the theefe in the Candle wasteth away their strength and light As the Lord sayd to Joshua when the people of Israel fled before the men of Ai There is some accursed thing among you therefore they cannot stand before their Enemies So I may say when any stand up against the Word of God or resist the consolations which are offered them sure there is some accursed thing some hidden Wedge of stolne Gold or some Babylonish Garment treasured in or wrapt about your hearts and therefore yee can neither see nor submit to the counsells of God for your good This is a usefull truth for us though an undue charge on Job and yet his Freind proceeds if a higher charge can be to charge him higher as will appeare in the two Verses following JOB CHAP. 15. Vers 12 13. Why doth thine heart carry thee away and what doth thine eyes wink at That thou turnest thy spirit against God and lettest such words goe out of thy mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 admirantis est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Capere sumere capit pro rapit flectit allicit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est animus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q. d. permittis te abripiendum transversion agendum affectu tuo nimis animoso Quis te furor cordis exagitat quae te extra te rapit sapientiae jactantia Pined Tam superbus apud te es ut vix temet ipsum capere possit nec quidem tui ipsius capax es Bold ELiphaz insists still upon that unpleasant subject of reproofe the fifth ground whereof here proposed is Jobs over-confident sticking to his owne Principles or his overweening his owne opinion This reproofe is couched in the 12. and 13. Verses Vers 12. Why doth thy heart carry thee away He speakes by way of Question or as some expound him by way of admiration as if he had sayd It is strange even a wonder to me that thy heart should thus carry thee away The word which we translate to carry away signifies to take up or barely to take and lay hold upon Why doth thy heart the heart is the whole inward man here more specially the affections Why doe thy affections master thy judgement why are thy passions too hard for thy reason Others give the sense thus How can thy heart hold thee As if Job had growne too big for himselfe as if he had been so proud and arrogant so transported with selfe-conceit that he could not containe himselfe and keep his bounds or as if he had not stowage enough for his owne thoughts A third thus which comes neere the same sense What doth thy heart attribute or ascribe to thee Sure thy heart doth give thee some great titles such as these Job the wise Job the holy the
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 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est vox hoc tantum loco reperta cujus significationem Rab Mardochai dicit esse insinuationem vel indicationem Quid annuunt quid innuunt oculi tui or would not see them and that he winked at their faithfull dealings as slighting or not regarding them Yet further and more distinctly The word which we translate to winke is found onely in this text all the Bible over It properly signifies to insinuate by the eye to speak or make significant tokens by the eye there is a language of the eye as well as of the tongue here Jobs eye gave some ill language to the eye or apprehension of Eliphaz There are various opinions about it â—â—â—st Some interpret it as a note of opposition against or of dissatisfaction with the counsells which his Friends gave him as was lately hinted Shutting of the eye imports shutting of the minde or a refusall of what is spoken When God judicially closed the eyes of the Jewes Aegre qui sibi sapientes videntur ferunt sive concionentur sive disceptent non auditi cum exteruis modestiae attentionis aestimationis signis In auditione vitia sunt supercilia torvitas â—istitia vulius obtuitus vagus nulus c. Plut. lib. de Aud. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de fixis immotis intentis oculis esse interpretatar Nictu oculi prodis nos nostrasque orationes a te contemni Pined Cordis contumâ—cia ex oculis tuis emicat Nictu te ostendis elatum Merc. In oculis veteribus religio fuit siquidem in iis imago hominis est tacitus sermo mentis Bold In oculis loculis poculis homo cognoscitur Sent. Hebr. saying to the Prophet Isa 6.10 Make the heart of this people fat and make their eares heavy and shut their eyes this shewed the shutting of their minds against the truth so also doth a voluntary or an affected shutting of the eye in some men though in others it is an act of stronger attention or intention of their spirits to what is spoken which some take to be the English of Jobs winking as we shall see a little after Secondly This winking with the eye is expounded by others though not as an opposition against what he heard yet as the gesture of a negligent and carelesse hearer They who speak take it ill to have either ill lookes or not to be looked upon by their hearers The attentivenesse of the eare may be much discerned by the eye One of the old morall Philosophers in his discourse about hearing numbers winking among the vices and offensive behaviours of a Hearer When the Lord Christ Preached Luke 4.20 It is sayd That the eyes of all that were in the Synagogue were fastned on him A fastned eye is the note of a fixed heart as a wandring eye is of a wandring heart They fastned their eyes upon him as if they meant to hear with their eyes as well as with their eares A winking eye is a moveable and an unsetled eye and therefore may well be the discoverer of an unsetled Spirit Thirdly This winking with the eye is also a signe of disdaine and scorne As if Eliphaz had sayd The pride of thy heart sparkles at thine eye while wee are counselling and comforting thee thou art scorning us The Ancients were very criticall about the eye much of a man may be seen at his eye As a man sees so he is seen by his owne eyes The frame of the heart appeares much in the eye a joyfull or a sorrowfull frame of heart an humble or a proud frame of heart a contented or discontented an amicable or a scornefull frame of heart appeares at the eye As the eare and nostrills of the Horse discover him most according to the rules of Naturalists so the eye of man is the greatest discoverer of man whether we consider the constitution or the actions of it And that this action of winking is an argument of a scornefull spirit or the action of a scorner appeares from Davids Petition or deprecation Psal 35.19 Let not them that are mine Enemies wrongfully rejoyce over me neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause it may seem to be a strange piece of prayer why would not David have his enemy wink What was that to him The meaning is this let not mine Enemies have any occasion to scorne and deride me to boast and insult over me There are two sins which are very visible in the eye The first is wantonnesse Isa 3.16 Because the Daughters of Sion are haughty and walke with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes the Hebrew is Deceiving with their eye and the Apostle Peter in his second Epistle Chap. 2.14 gives this character of some They have eyes full of adultery you may perceive the filthines and uncleannesse of their hearts staring out of their eyes The second sin which is so visible in the eye is Pride Solomon speakes of a proud look Prov. 6.17 Six things ths Lord hateth yea seven are an abomination to him And the first of the seven is A proud looke the Hebrew is Haughty eyes Pride and haughtinesse are seated yea conspicuously enthroned in the eye Fourthly These words Why winkest thou with thine eye Ad simulatam quandam innocentiae significationem sanctitatis specimen quod hypocrism redolet referri potest are expounded as a reproofe of hypocrisie and seeming holynesse as if Eliphaz had sayd Thou lookest very demurely and innocently as if according to our old Proverbe Butter would not melt in thy mouth or as if thou wert speaking familiarly to God For as lifting up the eyes or looking to Heaven is a gesture of holy worship John 17.1 Then Jesus lift up his eyes to Heaven So also is winking with the eye It is very usuall with many to shut or wink with their eyes in prayer that so their spirits may be more composed and freer from distraction 'T is not unlikely that Eliphaz observed Job winking with his eyes as if he had set himselfe to seeke God this provoked him What such a one as thou a hypocrite a wicked man what thou goe to God Wilt thou wink with thy eyes as if thou wert wrapt up in some Divine meditation whereas we have ground rather to conclude that thou art devising mischiefe There are two Texts in the Proverbs which give some light to this Interpretation Prov. 6.13 He winketh with his eye he speaketh with his feet teacheth with his fingers frowardnesse is in his heart he deviseth mischiefe continually Solomon puts a winking eye and a froward mischiefe-devising heart together As if he had sayd A wicked man for of him he speakes in the former Verse winkes with the eye as if he had some high rapture whereas his minde is set upon mischeife and pursuing the worst of evills Againe Prov. 10.10 He that winketh with his eye causeth sorrow but how doth a man that winketh with the eye cause sorrow what dependence
is there betweene these two sorrow and winking that the one should cause the other These words he that winketh with his eye are the description of a deceitfull man such a one may cause sorrow enough Qui annuit oculo suo cum fraude both to himselfe and others Solomon intends not a simple but a subtill sly winking with the eye and so the Syriake readeth it He who winketh with his eye deceitfully causeth sorrow Deceit makes the deceived sorrowfull and it will make the Deceiver sorrowfull he must either be sorrowfull to repentance or feele the sorrow of punishment Fifthly This winking with the eye is conceived to be a metaphor taken from those who shoot with Guns or Bowes Quid collimant oculi tui Jun. Metaphora a jaculatoribus sumpta id Gunners and Archers winke when they shoot that they may take aime the better The contracting of the sight strengthens it So here What dost thou wink at that is what dost thou aime at The eye of a mans minde aimes at some marke in meditation and hence it is usuall for a man in vehement meditation to wink with his eye As if Eliphaz had sayd surely thou hast some great designe some grand plot in thy braine thou pretendest to some deep wisedome or unheard of policies thou hast set up some faire marke before thy fancie and thou wilt be sure to hit it what is it that thou aymest at We finde the phrase used in this sense Prov. 16.30 He shutteth his eye to devise froward things moving his lips he bringeth evill to passe he shutteth his eyes as if hee would make his thoughts more steddy and fixt to hit or reach that froward device which he is casting about how he may effect And as a wicked man shuts his eyes to devise froward that is sinfull things so a good man shuts his eyes lest variety of objects should divert or call off his minde when he is devising and studying what is best both for himselfe and others Et quasi magna cogitans attonitos habes oculoâ— Vulg. The rendring of the Vulgar Latine though it be farre from the letter of the Originall and is rather a Paraphrase then a Tranasltion yet it reacheth this sense fully Wherefore doth thy heart carry thee away Oculos in caelo defigere solent cogitabundi quibus gravis inest solicitudo Sanct. and why liftest thou up thine eyes as if thou wert thinking of some great matter Or as if the affaires of Kingdomes and States depended upon thy care or were committed to thy trust All these interpretations are serviceable to the Text before us and though we cannot positively and particularly resolve which of them was here intended by Eliphaz yet considering that his scope was to reprove Job we may take in the sense of them all and conclude that he censured Job in this one word of all those miscarriages of the heart which may be signified at the eye as appeares by the inference which he makes in the next Verse For having sayd What doth thy eye wink at he presently subjoynes Vers 13. That thou turnest thy spirit against God and lettest such words goe out of thy mouth So that this Verse is an explication of the former Explicationem continet praecedentis versiculi Bold and gives us more clearely what Eliphaz meant by the Carrying away of the heart and the winking of the eye His heart is carryed out of all bounds who turneth his spirit against God His eye winks sinfully whose mouth presently upon it speakes unduely Thou winkest with thy eye thou art very thoughtfull and what the fruit or birth of thy thoughts is we may discerne by thy speech while thou lettest such words goe out of thy mouth Thou turnest thy spirit against God As if he had sayd In stead of humbling thy selfe under the punishment of thy sin thou with an incensed minde contestest against God himselfe and though while he saith against God he doth not meane God directly but God in his judgements and counsells in his Word or in his Workes yet this is a very high charge one of the highest that is in the whole Booke but very unjust Indeed Job used some passionate speeches to his Freinds and these Eliphaz judgeth to proceed from an opposition against God Thou turnest thy Spirit against God There is a twofold turning the spirit against God First Naturall Rom. 8.7 Enmity is the turning of the spirit The wisedome or lust of the flesh is enmity against God Secondly Improved when we heighten this opposition in our practice and are enemies to God in our mindes or Gods hearty enemies by wicked workes Col. 1.21 Quod rediri feceris ad Deum spiritum tuum Heb. Quia respondit ad Deum spiritus tuus Mont. Pedire facit verbum qui re spondet Drus The Hebrew is Thou makest thy spirit to returne to God which is expounded two wayes first thou makest thy spirit to turn upon or against God Secondly thy spirit answers or replyeth upon God both meet in one meaning for though there may be a turning away of the spirit without answering yet in one sense all answers are the turning of our spirit if any man aske a question the answer is the returne of his minde who makes the answer so some render Why doth thy spirit returne answer to God as if he rebuked him for his boldnesse in replying Thy spirit returnes upon God if he speak one word thou wilt have two in that sense the word is used Titus 2.9 where the Apostle giving rules among other relations to Servants charges them Servants be obedient to your owne Masters and please them well in all things not answering againe But is it a fault for a Servant when asked a question to make an answer no it were a fault not to answer The meaning is that a Servant being reproved for a fault must not answer that is his spirit must not rise and returne against his Master or if a Servant be directed to doe any warrantable worke he must not answer againe that is hee must not contradict or murmure at the orders which he hath received but addresse himselfe to the fulfilling of them this is the answering againe reproved as a fault in Servants which is rather gain saying then answering as we put in the Margent of our Bibles in which sense answering is taken here according to this interpretation Thy spirit answers God or turnes against him We may cleare it also by that of the Apostle Rom. 9.20 Where having shewed the absolute soveraignty of God in his Decrees and purposes by the example of Jacob and Esau as also by that of Pharoah He concludes Vers 18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth Saint Paul soresaw that this Doctrine would rayse a great deale of dust and cause many to turne their spirits against God which he thus represents Vers 19. Thou wilt say unto me
Why doth he yet finde fault for who hath resisted his will Nay but O man who art thou that replyest against God What wilt thou chop logick with God himself Wilt thou as the Margent saith answer againe or dispute with God Hold thy peace quiet thy selfe What 's the matter that thou turnest thy spirit against God Spirit is here put for the will thoughts and counsells Spiritus pro arrogantia Latine diciur magnos gerere animos qui superbia tumet Merc. Quid tumet adversus Deum spiritus tuus Vulg. Quid torva convertis in caelum Lumina quid in Deum refundis stomacum evocas conceptam iram Pined Animum indignatione accensum Jun. Omnem spiritum suum depromit stultus i. e. iram Aben Ezra Rege animum i. e. iram Horat of Man cloathed and elated with arrogancy stoutnesse and pride In all languages Spirit imports that which is high And to say Such a one is a man of spirit notes not onely the activenesse of that man but often his pride and haughtinesse Besides Spirit is sometimes put for indignation for fury and wrath in all which acceptions the word may be rendred here Thou turnest thy spirit that is thy anger and wrath thy fury and indignation against God So the word is used Isa 25.4 When the spirit or blast of the terrible ones is as a storme against the Wall that is while the fury of the terrible ones is in its highest march and motion God promiseth to be a strength to the poore a strength and a refuge to the needy in his distresse So Prov. 29.11 A foole uttereth all his minde or all his spirit that is all his anger he lets it out and discovers himselfe presently but a wise man if there be cause of anger keepeth it in till afterwards that is till a fit season He hath a retentive faculty which a Foole hath not Now in which sense soever of these explained we understand Spirit in the present Text the charge is as high as it can goe upon any man when 't is sayd Hee turneth his Spirit against God Hence Observe To turne the spirit against God is the very spirit of ungodlinesse there is no greater wickednesse then this A godly man may doe an act which is against God but his spirit cannot act against God that 's the character of the wicked A godly man delights in the Law of God according to the inward man whilst the outward man sins against the Law of God an ungodly man turnes his inward man against the Law of God while his outward man pretends obedience to it and as it is an act of highest disobedience so of the proudest pride to turne the spirit against God The Vulgar Latine translates it well Why doth thy spirit swell against God Thou hast an impostumation in thy spirit against God yea it is not onely an act of the proudest pride but of the maddest madnesse to turne the spirit against God Furorem erupisti ante dominum Sept. so the Septuagint gives it Thou hast caused thy fury or thy madnesse to breake forth before God he that acts against God is a mad man indeed Will yee provoke the Lord are you stronger then he is the Apostles chiding question to such mad men are you so mad after your lusts hath sin made you so foolish Have you lost both grace and reason at once that you dare thus provoke the Lord and challenge the Almighty God resists the proud and the proud assault him Grace turnes the spirit to God repentance is the returne of our spirits to God then what is the turning of our spirits against God but a cleare demonstration of a totally impenitent and gracelesse Spirit Againe when Eliphaz saith Job turned his Spirit against God he doth not meane it of a direct or professed opposition against God as if Job had openly defied him and blasphemed his Name but his meaning is that Job shewing so much impatience and unsatisfiednesse of spirit under the dealings of God with him did not submit to God as he ought Eliphaz I conceive did not so much as suspect that Job turned his spirit immediately or as wee say poynt blanke against God himselfe but onely against his dispensations Hence observe That while we speake or our hearts rise up against the dealings of God with our selves or others we may be sayd to turne our spirits against God himselfe Many who think they have not neglected Christ will be found to have neglected him because they have neglected those by whom or that wherein Christ is offered The Evangelist brings in Christ speaking thus Matth. 25. I was hungry and yee fed me not thirsty and yee gave me no drinke they to whom hee speakes wonder at this Lord say they when saw we thee hungry and gave thee no meat or thirsty and gave thee no drinke surely we have not been guilty of such a wickednesse Yea saith Christ In as much as yee did it not to one of these yee did it not to me when yee refused to feed these yee refused to feed me I was in these and these were in me Now in the same manner many will say when wee charge them with turning their spirits against God with fighting against and opposing God Who we oppose God we never opposed God as we know of yea peradventure they will say we have honoured God and doe you charge us that we have turned our spirit against God to many such God will say In as much as yee opposed my word and murmured against my workes in as much as yee were angry with my dispensations and discontented with what I have done ye have turned your spirit against me We may become guilty of this sin before we thinke of it for as there is a direct and litterall contending with God so an equivalent or constructive contending with him As some men commit plaine open Treason against a State but others commit only constructive Treason 'T is so here the God of Heaven knowes when spirits turne against him directly and when by consequence and he will take vengeance not onely of direct and avowed but also of consequentiall and constructive Treason against his Soveraignty unlesse the offender repent and be humbled before him He will judge thousands at the last day for opposing him who it may be in some things have pleaded for him yea who have in some things not onely acted but suffered for him though usually when the spirit of any man turneth against God that mans workes and words turne against him too So Eliphaz further taxeth Job in the latter clause of the Verse And lettest such words goe out of thy mouth As if he had sayd Such stuffe as thou hast in thy heart even such flowes out of thy mouth the word Such is added by most Translators the Hebrew is And lettest words goe out of thy mouth it is no fault to let words goe out of the mouth 't is no sin to speak
but to speak such or such words may be very sinfull and therefore we and others for explication sake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faeminine vel ut animum muliebri impotentia labo antem fodicet aut forma Chaldaica Pungit etiam voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Logos nugas verba Coc. make this supplement Such words But what words were they Eliphaz doth not quote any passages in his speech but leaves them as we and others translate under a terme of generall distast Such words as if they were not worth the naming or as if no epithite could be found worthlesse enough to name them by For as when Ezra would describe a deliverance in the realilty of it beyond words he doth not tell us what it was but saith onely Seeing our God hath given us such deliverance as this Ez. 9.13 So when Eliphaz would describe words in the vanity or sinfulnesse of them below words he doth not tell us what they were but saith onely Such words as these yet possibly the words he meanes were these Why hast thou set me as a marke so that I am a burden to my selfe Chap. 7.20 or these Chap. 9.30 If I wash me with Snow water and make my hands never so cleare yet thou wilt plunge me in the ditch or these Chap. 13.26 Thou writest bitter things against me and thou makest me to possesse the iniquities of my youth These or such as these were the words which Eliphaz leaves under this note of disdaine Such words Yet these Eliphaz should have mollified with a charitable construction and not have sharpned his owne tongue against them much lesse should he have interpreted them as the turning of Jobs spirit against God himselfe For as some draw neer to God with their lips and give him smooth words while their hearts are farre from him and their spirits turned against him So others may seeme to depart from God with their lips and give him harsh language while their hearts are neere and their spirits cleave unto him I shall further give you a fourfold character of these words sutable to the misprision which Eliphaz and his Friends had of him all along Such words or words so apprehended must needs sound harshly in their eares and in the cares of any man fearing God First Proud words of himselfe insisting upon his owne righteousnesse as they conceived for in the next words Eliphaz saith What is man that he should be cleane they thought Job spake much to paint and bedeck himselfe with his own goodnesse and innocency Secondly Blasphemous words of God though not directly yet by consequence against his works and dealings Thirdly Reproachfull scornefull words against them as if they were neither able nor worthy to be his counsell You are the men and wisedome shall dye with you Fourthly False words upon the whole matter in controversie maintaining as Eliphaz judged contrary to the truth that he was not punished for his sin Words under this fourfold notion are reproveable and sinfull enough such Eliphaz esteemed the words of Job to be proud blasphemous reproachfull false Why lettest thou such words as these goe out of thy mouth Hence Observe First Passion within will vent it selfe by words without when the heart is carryed away and the spirit turned against God no marvaile if the tongue be carryed away and the words of such a man be turned both against God his truth or people Secondly Note Our words are sutable to our spirits some can dissemble much and speak golden words while themselves are drosse but ordinarily our words are such as we are The vile person will speake villany Isa 32.6 A man that is all for the World speakes worldly 1 John 4.5 They are of the World therefore speake they of the World Every man is of the World so as that he is a part of the World but some are so of the World that the World is all them they who are thus of the World must needs speake of the World if they speak any thing for they have nothing else to speake of Thus a covetous man speakes covetously and a proud man proudly Jerem. 43.2 Some told the Prophet to his face Thou speakest falsly the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say Goe not into Aegypt to sojourne there These were proud words indeed but who spake them The text tells us Then spake Azariah the Son of Hoshaniah and all the proud men The proud men spake proudly so on the contrary a sober man will speake soberly an humble man humbly The poore speake supplications saith Solomon rich men speake their commands poore men speake their wishes and desires Thirdly Observe He that dares to speake evill is arrived at a great height of evill Eliphaz puts this as an effect of a heart turned against God such words as these shew that thou art not onely a sinfull man but impudent in sinning For though an evill heart is worse then an evill tongue and an ill thought then an evill word yet when ill words spring from ill thoughts and are as branches growing from the root of an evill heart this shewes a man hightened in sin Sin hath got the mastery of the heart whâ—n it freely vents it selfe at the tongue Some keep their sins downe by hypocrisie and some by common modesty they are either so cunning that they will not or so bashfull that they dare not speak out the filth that lyes within But they are beyond not onely modesty but hypocrisie whose tongues can speak all the evill that is in their heart though the sin of the heart be worse then the sinne of the tongue yet when tongue sinnes are steept in the puddle of a corrupt heart they are most unsavory David sinned when he sayd in his hast all men are lyars How greatly then doe they sinne who tell lyes at their leisure and speak evill with deliberation That which is said in hast is sayd by the tongue alone without the privity of the heart but the heart is alwayes privy to that which is sayd at leisure The Prophet taxeth those the shew of whose countenance did testifie against them Is 3.9 They fall justly under as severe a censure the sound of whose tongues doth testifie against them for they also as it followes in the Prophet declare their sin as Sodom they hid it not Further this also argues the evill of evill speaking because it wrongs others and infects the Auditors The vanity or errour of the minde spoken out is contagious better keep it in then speak it out but both are naught 't is onely good when we purge it out Though it be some allay and lessening yet it is no excuse for sinne that we keep it in God hates it let it lye as close as it will and though a sin kept close doth not hurt others yet it is not onely hurtfull but deadly to its keeper They onely are out of danger who as they doe not let evill goe out of the door
Some read Much lesse So Mr. Broughton Much lesse the uncleane and loathsome The Originall may beare either as also a third reading Surely then without any impeachment to the scope of the place The heavens are not cleane in his sight Much lesse is abominable and filthy man cleane in his sight Againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abominabilis propriè quem nemo dignari debeat auditu visu familiaritate contactu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Abominari nos dicimus quae in cogitatione nostra non patimur Bold The heavens are not cleane in his sight how much more abominable and filthy is man in his sight We may take it also as a direct inference without any comparison either from the greater or the lesse The heavens are not cleane in his sight surely then man is abominable and filthy The word which we translate abominable notes that which is most abhorring to the nature of man that which is not onely so nauseous that the stomack cannot digest it but so base that the mind is burdened to thinke of it yea the word imports that which is rejected by all the senses abominably rejected that which the eye cannot endure to looke upon that which the eare cannot indure to heare of that which is a stink in the nostrils and which the hand will not touch Such an abominable thing the word beares and such is man God loathes him and is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity much more a lumpe of iniquity he is as a stink in the nostrills of God nor will he touch him for any thing in him unlesse with a hand of justice to destroy him Hoc videtur dictum per antithesm propter Sanctorum caelorum pulchritudinem quorum species mundicies lux ordo conc etus mirabilis conspectus multo jucundissimus Further some explaine abominable by that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 16.26 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha that is let all abominate and cast him out of their society When the Lord would shew the worst thought that he had of the best services of the Jewes he tels them Incense is an abomination to me and when the Psalmist would convince us how the people of Israel had defiled themselves with their owne workes and polluted the Land with blood he gives it in the word of this Text Therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people in so much that he abhorred his owne inheritance Psal 106. v. 40. His Inheritance was so abominable to him that he would not touch it nor take it into his owne hands but as it followes in the Psalme He gave them into the hand of the Heathen Hence Observe Sinfull man is loathsome and abominable unto God How much more abominable is man This is not to be understood of some particular man or of some sort of men who are more vile then others but take the best of men the most accomplisht and compleate in the whole course of nature these are abominable they are deprived of the Image of God they are stampt with the Image of Satan they are not onely unable to doe that which is good but they are totally averse from it yea enemies to it is not all this enough to render man abominable in the sight of God And so abominable is man that he doth not onely displease the eye of God but the very eyes of those who have received the grace of God A godly man turnes away from the wicked as the wicked man doth from the godly Prov. 29.27 An unjust man is an abomination to the just and he that is upright in his way is an abomination to the wicked The distast is mutuall 't is called enmity Gen. 3.15 here abomination The wicked man saith as the Devill to Christ What have I to doe with thee thou Son of David The godly man saith What have I to doe with thee thou son of Belial 'T is the sin of the wicked man to abhor the righteous for he abhors him for his righteousnesse 'T is the duty of a godly man to abhor the wicked and he abhors him onely for his wickednesse To doe so is a peice of his character Who shall dwell in the Mountaine of God He is a man in whose eye a vile that is a wicked person is abhorred Psal 15.4 Much lesse can he looke pleasedly or pleasantly upon a wicked man his heart riseth against him not out of pride or high thoughts of himselfe or from the lownesse of his condition if he be poor but from the odiousnesse of his disposition and his opposition of goodnesse Such a man is vile in his esteeme how honourable so ever he is in the eye of the World Againe which shewes yet further that a man in nature is abominable when any man repents and turnes to the Lord he is an abomination to himselfe he is abominable to God and good men before he repents and upon the same account he is abominable to himselfe when he repents For as God and good men before so he then sees his owne vilenesse and deformity then he smells the filthinesse of his owne corrupt heart This the Prophet assures us Ezek. 36.31 where the Lord promiseth to powre out the spirit of repentance upon his people To take away the heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh and then They shall loath themselves for all their abominations as not being able to endure the stench of their owne corruptions When Job at the sight of God saw himselfe more clearly then he cryes out Wherefore I abhorre my selfe and repent in dust and ashes If a good man seeing himselfe is an abomination to himselfe how much more is sinfull man abominable in the sight of God And which aggravates the point to the highest Not onely is a man repenting abominable to himselfe but even a wicked man upon a cleare discovery of himselfe to himselfe becomes an abomination to himselfe though he be farre from repentance That 's the reason why a wicked man cannot abide to search his owne heart or returne into his owne bosome Isa 46.8 Remember this shew your selves men bring it againe to minde The Hebrew is Bring it to your hearts They who love their sin love not to looke to their sinfull hearts they dare not turne their eye inward or upward not upward because there is so much holinesse in God not inward because there is so much filthinesse in themselves Hence the Lord threatens Na. 3.5 6. because they would not looke on their owne filthinesse that he would shew their filthinesse to all the World He would shew the Nations their nakednesse and the Kingdomes their shame And howsoever a naturall man hides his abomination from his eye now or will not see it yet all shall be layd open to him in the day of judgement which will be as a day of the revelation of the righteous judgement of God So a day of the revelation
us in many duties and services of our lives Men would be at a stand in their worldly callings if they were acquainted with the precise date of their standing in the World Our not knowing this is not ignorance but nescience and were it not for this nescience we should be taken off from the study of much profitable knowledge Besides our not knowing the number of our dayes stirrs up in us a care of improving every day and to pray with David Lord teach us to number our dayes Our not knowing which day shall be our last should provoke us to spend every day so that we may have comfort if it prove our last It is best for us not to know that the not knowing whereof is a motive to be alwayes doing good Secondly Observe That it is a great vexation to the oppressor or wicked man to thinke of the uncertainty of his owne life The Vulgar makes this Observation from the Text his translation of the Text The yeeres of his Tyrannicall power are uncertaine Numerus annorum incertus est tyrannidis ejus Vulg. Ex ista incertitudine sequitur suspicio timor Aquin. in loc Cum ait numerum annorum absconditum esse intelligit annos quibus victurus aut regnaturus sit improbus tyrannus Drus If such could but live long enough what worke would they make Yea what a world would they make The Jesuits say Take time and you may doe any thing So also saith the oppressor If I had but time enough I could doe any thing though I am disappointed now yet I shall have a day to act what I project and to pour out my revenges But this cuts the oppressors heart he doubts his life may end before he can accomplish his ends A wicked heart is not more pleased in doing evill then troubled when he is but under a suspition that he shall want either opportunity or time to doe it This is added to the painefull travell of a wicked man that he knowes not how long he shall travell in this paine for though all his be painefull dayes yet he had rather continue in paine then not continue his dayes But the number of yeares is hidden or a hidden thing to him JOB CHAP. 15. Vers 21 22. A dreadfull sound is in his eares in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him He beleeveth not that he shall returne out of darknesse and he is waited for of the Sword ELiphaz having layd downe this position That paine is the portion of a wicked man goes on to the proofe and illustration of it first in reference to the terrours of his conscience and secondly in reference to the troublesomenesse of his outward state and the sad changes that are incident to him That a wicked man travells with inward paine or terrour of conscience the first words of this context tell us Vers 21. A dreadfull sound is in his eare The Hebrew is A voice of dreads the word is Plurall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sonnitus terrorum numerus multitudinis significationem auget i. e. sonitus maximè terrificus vel non unius sed multiplicis terroris Merc. because not one single terrour but a multitude of terrours an Army of terrours incamp about the spirit of a wicked man and these charge him without intermission as soone as one hath done another draws up against him And he saith A sound of terrour because a sound carryes feare with it Feare is a perturbation of the minde arising from an apprehension of some approaching evill Now by how much the nearer evill draweth to us by so much doth feare increase upon us and then an evill may be sayd to be very neare us when we hear the sound of it We quickly see and feele an Enemy when once he is come within our hearing When the King of Israel sent a messenger to take off the head of Elisha Shut the door saith Elisha and hold him fast at the doore is not the sound of his Masters feet behind him 2 K. 6.33 That is is not his Master neer And when Eliah saw the raine at hand he thus bespeaks King Ahab Get thee up eate and drinke for there is a sound of abundance of raine 1 Kings 18.41 So here The sound of terrour notes the speedy approach of it the Prophet Jer. 4.19 complaines lamentably My belly my belly I am pained at my very heart my heart makes a noi e within me and why all this because thou hast heard O my soule the sound of the Trumpet and the alarum of Warre that is because now it appeares that the enemy is at hand When once we heare the sound of the Trumpet Warr is not farr off yea it is even at the door and death is ready to climbe up at our windows Usually the care receives the first blow we first heare and then feele the Sword When Diphaz saith A dreadfull sound is in his eare we may understand it two wayes either first that a wicked man hearing the sad reports of approaching evill is greatly troubled or secondly that a wicked man frames to himselfe an imaginary sound of evill His fansie makes a noise he thinkes he heares the sound of Drums and Trumpets the clattering of Armour and the clashing of drawne Swords he heares as the Prophet Nahum elegantly describes it The noyse of the whip and the noyse of the ratling of the Wheels and of the pransing Horses and of the jumping Clarrets Now whether we understand it of the approach of reall dangers the sound of which are a terror to him or whether we take it for those fantastick pannick feares and Satanicall delusions both or either of them render his life uncomfortable and are the effects of an unquiet or of a guilty conscience Hence Observe A wicked man is alwayes subject to feare he that is a servant to sin cannot but be a slave to feare And he that hath done much evill suspects much While we have Peace within Warr without doth not much trouble though it much afflict us And while our hearts toucht by the spirit of God make us musick a sound of terrour to the eare is not terrible Impius tantum metuit quantum nocuit It is sayd of a godly man Psal 112.7 No evill tydings shall make him feare though there be a dreadfull sound in his eare a sound of danger yet his heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. A wicked man is terrified with conceited danger a godly man is not afraid when there is reall danger A godly man hath a witnesse for him in himselfe a wicked man carryes a witnesse against him in himselfe Nemo se judice nocens absolvitur and this witnesse is also his judge to condemne him yea his executioner to torment and vex him as soone as our first Parents had sinned Gen. 3.8 They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the Garden in the coole of the day and Adam and his Wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord Here was no appearance of terrour it was the voice of God walking as a freind not marching as an enemy and it was in in thr coole not heat of the day these circumstances argue the guiltinesse of Adam and his Wife who fled and hid themselves at this appearance of the Lord. The voice of God walking was a dreadfull sound in their eares because they had not hearkned to the voice of God commanding Wicked Pashur who opposed the good Prophet is branded with a new name Jer. 20.3.4 The Lord sayd his name shall no more be called Pashur but Magor-Misabib that is Feare round about and in the next Verse the reason is given why this name was given him For I will make thee a terrour to thy selfe He that is a terrour to himselfe can no more be without terrour then he can be without himselfe Nor can any thing be a comfort to him who is his owne terrour And therefore a guilty conscience heares a dreadfull sound what sound soever he heares he ever expects to heare bad newes and he puts fearefull glosses and comments upon that which is good A wicked man interprets all reports in one of these two mischievous senses either To the discredit of others Pessimus in dubiis Augur timor Stat or to the disquiet of himselfe Bring what text of providence you can to him he corrupts it with one of these glosses Yea the faithfull counsells of his owne Friends are dreadfull sounds unto him for he hath a suspicion that while they are counselling him for good it is but a contriving of evill against him or a setting of snares to catch him Againe sometimes God creates a sound or causeth the wicked to heare a dreadfull sound 2 Kings 7.6 The Lord made the Hoast of the Syrians to hear a noyse of Charriots and a noyse of Horses even the noyse of a great Hoast c. Upon this dreadfull sound they arose and fled Sometimes a wicked heart creates a sound and what the Prophet threatens he heares the stone out of the Wall the beame out of the Timber crying against him The Story tells us of one who thought that the Swallowes in the Chimney spake and told tales of him We say in our Proverbe As the Foole thinketh so the Bell clinketh much more may we say As an evill conscience thinketh so every thing clinketh As he that hath a prejudice against another takes all he heares spoken of him and all that he heares him speak in the worst sense and most disadvantageous construction to his reputation so he that hath a preâ—udice against himselfe construes all that he either heares or sees against his owne Peace Hence it is that he doth not onely flee when he is pursued but when none pursue Prov. 28.1 The wicked flies when none pursueth except his owne feares but the righteous is as bold as a Lyon This terrour was threatned in the old Law Levit. 26.36 They that are left alive of you in the time of your Captivity I will send fainting in their hearts in the Land of their Enemy and the sound of a shaking leafe shall chase them What poore spirits have they who are chased by the motion of a leafe The sound of a leafe is a pleasant sound it is a kind of naturall musick Feare doth not onely make the heart move Homines tui non expectato adventu hostis velut transsossi examinantur metu Jun. As the Trees of the Forrest are moved with the winde Isa 7. but it makes the heart move if the winde doe but move the Trees of the Forrest The Prophet Isaiah tells Jerusalem Thy slaine men are not slaine with the Sword not dead in Battell Isai 22.2 With what then were they slaine And how dyed they a learned Interpreter tells us how They were slaine with feare and dyed with a sound of Battell before ever they joyned Battell This answereth the judgement denounced by Moses in another place Deut. 28.65 The Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart and fayling of eyes and sorrow of minde and thy life shall hange in doubt before thee and thou shalt feare day and night and shalt have no assurance of thy life But here some may object Is this the portion of wicked men Doth a dreadful sound in their eares afflict their hearts Have not many such much peace and doe they not either smile or wonder to heart others complaining of an afflicted spirit and beg prayers for the appeasing of their troubled conscience which are matters they have no acquaintance with nor knowledge of I answer First We are not to understand the proposition as if all wicked men have or that any wicked man at all times hath this dreadfull sound in his eare but thus it is very often and thus it may be alwayes thus it is with many and thus it may be with all wicked men A wicked man hath as we say no fence for it no priviledge nor promise to secure him from it Againe though some wicked men have not this dreadfull sound in their eares yea though they have pleasant sounds in their eares like them who sang to the Viall c. Amos 6. yet first their peace is not a true peace secondly it is not a lasting peace thirdly that which they have ariseth from one of these two grounds either from neglect of their consciences or from some defect in their consciences The neglect of conscience from whence this ariseth is twofold either first when they neglect to speake to conscience conscience and they never have a word much lesse any serious conference or discourse either concerning the state of their hearts or the course of their lives and then all 's peace with them Secondly when the speakings of conscience are neglected conscience hath a double voice of direction and correction conscience tells a man what he ought and what he ought not to doe conscience checks a man for not doing what he ought or for doing what he ought not Yet many over power and restrain conscience from this office and never leave opposing till they have silenced yea conquered it Such as these have peace such a one as it is and heare nothing but a sound of delight in their eares while this silence lasteth Againe this may arise from some defect disabling conscience to doe its ordinary or naturall duty the conscience of an evill man may have some goodnesse in it Conscience may be considered two wayes either morally or naturally that onely is a morally good conscience which is pure and holy a conscience cleansed from the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ thus no wicked man can be sayd to have a good conscience That is a naturally good conscience which performes the office or duty to which conscience is appointed conscience is set up in man to performe certaine offices if the conscience of a bad man performe them his conscience in that sense is good The first
of which the wicked man beleeves he shall not returne First Some understand it of the darknesse of sin but a wicked man cannot be sayd to despaire of that about which he never had any hope Pii spe se armant in spem contra spem sperant Merc. or desire Secondly Some understand darknesse litterally and plainly of the darknesse of the night and interpret thus He beleeves not that he shall returne out of darknesse that is he is so haunted with feares every night when he lyes downe that he thinks he shall never live till the morning This is a good sense Thirdly Others understand this darknesse to be death he hath a perfect sound of dread when death comes because he beleeves not that he shall returne out of that darknesse The resurrection is the consolation of the Saints in the midst of greatest dangers and thickest darknesse because though they dye yet they beleeve they shall returne out of darknesse But a wicked man who beleeves or hopes for nothing beyond the time of this life if he be once cast into the Grave either thinkes he shall lye there for ever or if he beleeves he shall rise yet he doth not beleeve that he shall rise out of darknesse for he shall rise in darknesse and goe downe to everlasting darknesse Fourthly A fourth expounds it of internall darknesse the darknesse of his spirit or of those mists and clouds which hang about his minde A godly man falling into this darknesse doth not actually beleeve he shall returne out of it for such a faith were his returne out of it but a wicked man as he hath no ground so no possibility continuing in the state he is to beleeve it Saul had a wofull dark spirit and beleeved not that he should returne out of it by the helpe of God therefore he went to a Witch a Counsellour of the Prince of darknesse for helpe But fifthly I rather conceive as often elsewhere so here by darknesse is meant outward affliction When the destroyer comes upon him and he is cast into a sad darke condition he hath no faith for himselfe that he shall returne out of it or be delivered from it This is an extreame agravation of the miserable state of a wicked man who either hath no outward prosperity or his prosperity is nothing to him he enjoyes it not but if ever he fall into outward misery how great is his misery so great that he gives himselfe for gone a lost man for ever He beleeves not that he shall returne out of darknesse Observe hence That a wicked man neither doth not can beleeve deliverance from evill First He hath no ground to beleeve promises are the foundation of faith A wicked man may be under promises of conversion from his sin but he is not under any promise of mercy while he continues in his sin the whole Book of God yeelds him not in hat state any speciall promise for so much as a bit of bread when he hath bread he hath it from providence not from a promise or but from a generall promise He is fed as a Beast is fed the Lord being the preserver of Man and Beast He cannot have a speciall promise himselfe not being an heyre of promise Therefore when he falls into darknesse he hath no ground to beleeve Whereas a godly man never hath so much ground to beleeve as when he falls into darknesse because then he hath more promises then before his outward losses gaine him the advantage of many sweet promises which till then he could not plead for the succour and nourishment of his faith As a wicked man hath no promise of God in the sense explained at any time so a godly man hath most promises of God in evill yea in the worst of times And as a wicked man hath no ground to beleeve so he usually hath no heart to beleeve as he hath no reason to hope for better things so he hath no courage his spirit sinks and fails when his state doth Abigall had no sooner told Nabal that the destroyer was comming upon him in his prosperity but his heart sunke within him like a stone and he dyed away presently Secondly The best of a wicked mans faith that he shall returne out of darknesse is but a presumptuous fansie or meer Foole-hardinesse A good man is like a Childe in his Fathers house who takes no care but casts all upon his Parents in the greatest storme he commits the helme to Christ as Pilot he can say as David Psalm 42. when he is in trouble Why art thou disquieted O my soule He cals his soule to question and would have his soule give him a reason Why art thou troubled my soule hope in God for I shall yet praise him But a wicked man hath no God to hope in therefore he cannot say I shall yet praise him That man cannot cast his burden of cares upon the Lord Psal 55.22 who cares not how he burdens God with his sins therefore he must beare and sinke under both burdens himselfe He cannot beleeve that he shall returne out of the darknesse of trouble who delights and sports in the darknesse of iniquity Againe Consider this is brought as a proofe of the wofull condition of a wicked man It is misery enough that the destroyer shall come upon him but this is more miserable he cannot beleeve deliverance from destruction Hence Observe That want of faith in time of affliction is more greivous then affliction It is worse not to beleeve deliverance then to fall into trouble as the life of faith is the best life so the life of unbeleife is the worst life Despaire of good is the greatest evill Faith is not onely the support and reliefe of the soule in trouble but it is the victory and tryumph of the soule over trouble Faith doth not onely keep the soule alive but lively Faith keeps the soule fat and in good plight Faith is a sheild both against temptation and affliction But every blow falls upon the bare skin of an unbeleever Faith is a sheild both against the fiery darts of the Devill and with a difference against the fiery darts of God also Let God himselfe cast his darts at a Beleiver Faith secures him from hurt though not from wounds yea his very wounds through a worke of faith shall worke his good It is the comfort of a man that feareth God and obeyeth the voyce of his Servants that while he walketh in darknesse and hath no light he is bid to trust in the name of the Lord and to stay upon his God Isa 50.10 But while a man that doth not feare God walkes in darknesse and hath no light his misery is that he can neither trust in God till light comes nor that light will ever come How happy are the righteous to whom light ariseth in darknesse How unhappy are the wicked who being in darknesse conclude that the light will never arise Faith makes all
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
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
was stirred his heart was hot within him and while hee was musing the fire kindled While some are even hoarse with speaking while they cannot hold their peace from evill their anger is stirred their hearts are storming within them and all their talke is onely a winde blowing without them We read of a strange distemper in two sorts of men who ought of all others to be most composed and temperate Hos 9.7 Ish ruach The Prophet is a foole the spirituall man is madd Our Translators put in the Margin The man of the spirit for Ruach in Hebrew signifieth both the winde that blowes in the ayre and the spirit of God which moveth in our hearts We take that sense The spirituall man or the man of the spirit that is the man that pretends to have or should have the spirit of God his businesse lying wholly in spirituals this man is madd he is so farr from acting to the height of those graces which the spirit gives that he acts below that reason which nature gives Yet the Originall may be rendred thus and so diverse learned Hebricians render it The man of winde or the windy man is madd Anger is a short madnesse and he that speakes angerly is in danger to speak madly Jobs Freinds were not men of winde nor were they madd and the words which they spake had a generall sense and savor of truth and sobernesse in them yet as to Jobs particular case they wanted some graines of truth and reason they were too high and swelling considering how low and humble he was they were too full of passion being spoken to a man so full of sufferings And therefore though that censure of his Freinds words as vaine who indeed were wise and grave men was too censorious and sharpe yet it must be granted that their words also were too sharpe even such as vexed his spirit and wore out his patience upon which account he expects and begs an end of them Shall vaine words have an end That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Finis a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praecidit abscidit Quia finis est tam temporis quam rei praecisio terminus Will you make an end of vaine speaking I pray doe I wish you would Cut off the thred of this discourse you have spun it out and continued it but too long alrâ—ady The Hebrew word which we translate an end springs from a root which signifies to cut off because every end whether of time or things is the cutting off of that time or thing the end of which it is While Job askes the Question Shall vaine words have an end He speakes the vehemency of his owne desire and expectation to see an end of them I shall not stay here to give any observations upon these words but referr the Reader to the Texts before alleadged in the eighth and fifteenth Chapters where this expression is more fully opened Onely Note First Vaine words are very burdensome to a serious eare much more to a sad heart Secondly It is good to end that quickly wee should not have begun Profitable words may be too long continued but unprofitable words cannot be too soon ended It is best not to speak vainely and it is next best to cease or give over such kinde of speaking quickly There is a time to be silent from good words as well as a time to speake them but there is no time to speake evill words all times in reference to them are times of silence An Aposioposis or sudden stop of speech is the most sutable figure of Rhetorick which they can use who speake unsutably As the end of what wee say or doe well is best so the ending of what wee say or doe amisse is best Perseverance in every good word and worke is Angelicall and the highest perfection of duty but perseverance in an evill whether word or worke is Diabolicall and the utmost departure from duty Let not thy mouth open to utter vanity but if it doth shut it quickly be not heard speaking that twice which should not be spoken once Or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest If thou wilt not make an end then tell me why Give me a reason what is it that stirrs thee to reply upon me What emboldeneth thee to answer The Hebrew word signifies first to strengthen to fortifie or confirme he that is strengthened is emboldened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est roborare fortificare acris esse It signifies also to be sharpe or bitter 1 Kings 2.8 David on his death-bed tels Solomon his Son and Successor in the Kingdome that Shimei had cursed him with a greivous curse that is with a strong bitter and provoking curse of which we read the Story 2 Sam. 16.5 This Quaere is rendered three wayes First as we What emboldeneth thee that thou answerest As if he had sayd I thought I should have silenced thee before this time or that thou wouldest have put silence upon thy selfe I wonder who or what it is that sets thee on to speake still doest thou thinke by thy renewed on sets to weary me and make me yeild at last Hast thou a hope to prevaile upon me by thy importunity when thou canst not by thy reason Or hast thou further strength of reason fresh arguments to produce in confirmation of thine opinion Are these but Fore-runners or thy Vauntguard Is the maine battell yet behinde Hast thou some Reserves of greater power then thou hast yet led up against me Let me see them if thou hast If not give over and hold thy peace for what shall eyther I or thou get by a further progresse What emboldeneth thee to answer Job speakes wonderingly his reason was at a losse about the cause of his Freinds boldnesse and therefore he admires it There are two things which may embolden a man to answer First The goodnesse and justice of that cause which he undertakes Secondly The strength and assistance of God to carry him through it Upon these grounds the youngest David may be bold to enter the Lists and dare the Combate with the strongest Goliah But there are two other things which usually embolden men to answer First Selfe-confidence Secondly Unwillingnesse to yeeld They who are thus emboldened will not give over answering though they have no further light of truth or reason to hold out in their answers Job surely had such apprehensions of his Freind Eliphaz which moved him to aske What emboldeneth thee that thou answerest Hence Note Such is the stifnesse and vanity of some that they will hold on a contention though they have no further grounds of truth or reason to continue it upon They will speake on though it be the same thing onely in a new dresse of words They have store of words though scarsity of matter we may justly say to such What emboldeneth you to answer It is more then boldnesse a kinde of impudence in such to answer pertinacy of spirit disdaines to lay
them O what provoketh such to such wayes of answering There is yet a third reading of this clause which I will but touch Quid tibi molestum est si loquaris Vulg. When shall vaine words have an end But what trouble is it to thee if thou speakest Or Is it any trouble to thee if thou speakest As if he had sayd I cannot much wonder though thou doest not end these vaine ruffling discourses for I am perswaded they are no great trouble to thee how much soever they are to others such words cost thee little study thou needest not beat thy braines or byte thy nayles for such matter as this That which comes next and lyes uppermost is all that some men have to say when they have sayd all They that speake most to the paine of others take least paines themselves We say Good words are cheape it costs little to speake fayre but ill words are cheaper Foule language costs little in the preparation though it may prove costly enough in the event There is a profitable sense in this translation though I will not give it for the meaning of the Text. It is our duty to consider before we speake as well as before we act and to put our selves to some trouble in preparing what we have to say before we give others the trouble of hearing it When God cals us to speake either in our owne defence or for the edification of others on a sudden we may expect according to the promise Matth. 10.19 That it shall be given us in that houre what we shall speake If the providence of God straiten us the spirit of God will enlarge us that promise will helpe us when wee have no time to prepare our selves but it will not if wee neglect the time in which vve should prepare our selves For when Christ saith in that place Take no thought how or what yee shall speake we must expound it like that Matth. 6.25 Take no thought for your life what yee shall eate or what yee shall drinke Which is not a prohibition of all thought about those things but onely of those thoughts which are distracting and distrustfull Job having reproved his Freinds these three wayes for the manner of their dealing with him Now reproves them by a serious profession of his better dealing with them in case as we commonly say The Tables were turned they comming in his place and he in theirs This he doth in the two Verses following Vers 4. I also could speake as yee doe if your soule were in my soules stead I could heap up words against you and shake mine head at you 5. But I would strengthen you with my mouth and the moving of my lips should asswage your griefe Job in this context tels his Freinds two things First What he could doe And secondly What he would doe The former of these is layd downe expressely in the fourth Verse Vers 4. I also could speak as you doe if your soule were in my soules stead c. The Soule is here put as often elsewhere in Scripture for the vvhole man then his meaning is and so Master Broughton translates If you were in my place or in my condition If God should transcribe my vvounds and sorrows upon your backs and consciences or if my greife dwelt in your bowels I could speake as you doe c. The sufferings of the soule hold out the sufferings of the vvhole man upon a twofold consideration First Because the soule is the principall part of man When that vvhich is cheife suffers all may be sayd to suffer Secondly Because afflictions vvhich lye upon the soule are most afflictive The sensitive power of the body is called the soule and vve are most sensible of those afflictions vvhich fall immediately upon the rationall soule That man forgets the sorrowes of his body whose soule is sorrowfull The more inward any suffering is the more greivous it is I also could speake as you doe if your soule were in my soules stead c. Some read the vvords Interrogatively Could I speake as you doe If your soule were in my soules stead could I heap up words against you and shake my head at you Master Broughton gives that sense fully Would I speake as you if you were in my place would I compose bare words against you and nod upon you with my head The meaning is Negative If you were in my soules stead I could doe none of these things Could I doe them No as we say I could as soone eate my owne flesh as doe them If I were at ease and you in paine could I deale thus with you I would dye rather then deale so with you This reading is good and hath a greater emphasis in it then our bare affirmative reading though the sense and scope of both be the same If your soule were in my soules stead Some read this Optatively or as a wish O that your soule were in my soules stead and then the latter vvords are taken as a promise or profession of offices of love First I would heap up words for you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concinnare apte disponere The Hebrew word vvhich vve translate to heap signifies properly to prepare and fit a thing to fashion and put it into a good frame it is not a rude inartificiall heaping of things together vvithout forme or fashion as the first Chaos was but a beautifull elegant digestion or composure of them in the exactest forme and fashion like that of the severall peices of the World conjoyned in that vvorke of the six dayes creation As if he had sayd O that your soule were a while in my soules stead see how I would use you how I would deale with you truely all the hurt I would doe to you should be this I would prepare the softest and the sweetest words I could with all my skill and rhetorick to ease your sorrows I would speake musicke to your eares and joy to your hearts I would study and compose a speech on purpose to revive and raise your drooping desponding spirits So also the second branch may be interpreted And shake mine head at you or over you For to shake the head notes pitty and compassion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et movissem super vos caput condolenter Chrysost to shake the head is the posture of those vvho mourne vvith or for their Freinds Hence the word is translated to bemoane Nah. 3.7 Who will bemoane him Chap. 42.11 Jobs Freinds came to bemoane him 't is this vvord They came to shake their heads over him because of all the evill which the Lord had brought upon him One of the Ancients makes this exposition the Text I would have shaken my head over you bemoaningly or with compassion The same vvord may vvell signifie to shake the head and to pity seeing they who pity others use to shake their heads over them and say Ah my Freind or Ah my Brother So then if vve read
they lookt for and sayd Thy Brother Benhadad If thou ownest him as a Brother surely thou wilt not use him as an Enemy There is to the point in hand a holy cunning in catching up words which drop from the lips of men in affliction and 't is our wisedome to make improvement of them As for instance There was an ancient Professor as I have been informed in much distresse of conscience even to despaire he complaining bitterly of his miserable condition to a Freind let this word fall That which troubles me most is that God will be dishonoured by my fall This word was hastily catcht at and turned upon him to the asswaging of his griefe Art thou carefull of the honour of God and doest thou thinke God hath no care of thee and of thy salvation A soule for saken of God regards not what becomes of the honour of God Therefore be of good cheere if Gods heart were not towards thee thine could not be towards God or towards the remembrance of his name Thus words should be watcht yea and silence should be watcht for advantages to ease a distressed soule Lastly These words may referr to God as if Job had said Whether I speake or whether I forbeare God doth not come in to my helpe I finde no comfort from him he puts no stop to my paine nor doth he asswage the floods of griefe which are ready to swallow me up He gives me no ease at my complaining cryes nor doth he give me any at my patient silence The next Verse seemes most sutable to this exposition where Job applyes himselfe to God shewing what hee did to him both while he spake and while he held his peace he wearyed him still and left him in a wearyed condition Vers 7. But now he hath made me weary thou hast made desolate all my company We may see in this context that the spirit of Job vvas much troubled by the troublednesse of his speech At this seventh Verse he speakes in the third Person He hath made me weary and before he gets to the end of it he speakes in the second Person Thou hast made desolate In the eighth Verse Thou hast filled me with wrinkles In the ninth Verse He teareth me in his wrath The tenth Verse is Plurall They have gaped upon me Strange kinde of Grammar sometimes in the third Person sometimes in the second sometimes in the Singular sometimes in the Plurall number His minde was uneven or unsetled and so was his discourse We must not play the Criticks with the words of men in paine nor submit their sentences to a Deske of Grammarians Broken language and incongruities of speech doe well enough become broken hearts and wounded spirits God will not call his Schollers in the Schoole of affliction to the Ferula for such faults or false Latine falling from their mouthes either in prayer or conferences while their hearts are true and the language of their spirits pure But now he hath made me weary But Now Now is not here a Particle of time onely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a specification of the season noting that then God eyther began or still continued to make him weary but it carryes also a strong asseveration or the certainety of the thing as in that promissory exhortation Hag. 2.4 Yet now be strong O Zerubbabell saith the Lord and be strong O Joshua Though you see things yet below expectation though this be a day of small things yet take heart and encourage your selves to carry on this reforming worke Yet now be strong even now when so many things might weaken both your hearts and hands and be yee assured that I will not reject your confidence but vvill cause you to prosper in it Nunc in principio dictionis quandam cordis dulcedinem connotare solet Bold And in promises besides the certainety of the thing promised and the speedy fulfilling of them it intimates much sweetnesse of affection in him that makes the promise On the contrary in threatnings and comminations besides the certainety and speed of them it notes the sharpnesse and severity of his spirit who gives those threats So Isa 5.5 And now goe to I will tell you what I will doe to my Vineyard Now goe too is chiding cheare As if the Lord had thus rated them What Have you served mee thus as sure as I formerly planted and hedged this Vineyard so surely will I now pull downe the hedge and root it up In this fulnesse of sense take it here But now he hath made me weary certainly or of a truth he hath I was once sweetly and strongly hedged about with mercy But now hee hath made mee weary and desolate He hath made me weary He is not expressed in the Hebrew and therefore there is a doubt who is meant by this He. Nunc autem oppressit me dolor meus Vulg. Some understand it of his griefe and sorrow and read it thus But now it hath made me weary my paine hath tyred me Secondly Others understand it of vvhat had been spoken by his Freinds your tedious discourses and severer censures have quite spent my spirits and made me weary Our translation leads us to a person and our Interpretation leads us to God He that is God hath made mee weary Job every where acknowledgeth that God vvas the Author and Orderer of all his sorrows Now he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non solum fatigationem denotat sed fastidium molestissimum tum animi tum corporis Hath made me weary Or He hath wearyed me it is but one word and it signifies not an ordinary wearinesse not such a wearinesse as comes upon us after a turne or two in the Feilds A man who walkes into the ayre to refresh himselfe may come home weary but it notes such wearinesse as vvee feele after long and tedious travell or after a hard journey yea it notes not onely wearinesse of body but the wearinesse of the minde It is possible for a man to weary his body and yet his minde remaine unmoved bare outward action stirres not the minde To ride to run to digg or thresh weary the body not the minde but those workes which with action have contention in them as to argue and dispute doe at once exercise and weary both minde and body The vvearinesse of the minde is the most painefull wearinesse Jobs wearinesse takes in both thou hast vvearied my body and vvearied my minde too I am full of soares vvithout and of sorrow within And such was that wearinesse spoken of by the Prophet Isa 47.13 Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels that is In going long journeys to aske counsell of thy adored wise men or Wizzards rather of Southsayers and Diviners In this pursuit thou hast laboured thy body and vexed thy soule but profited neither After all thy travels vvhat hast thou brought home but wearinesse Tyred flesh and a tyred spirit is all the fruit of our
Which were cut downe out of time That old way was the way of sin the way of holinesse is the oldest way but the way of sin is a very old way They who have trod the way of sin were cut downe by judgement and they were cut downe out of time that is the course of divine Justice prevented the course of nature and struck them to death before death useth to strike So some render it here and then the sense riseth thus Thou hast cut me downe by the stroke of these afflictions and this is a witnesse against me In significatione Chaldaica exponitur pro ligare constringere Secondly The word according to the Chaldee signifies to binde and fasten one with Cords or with fetters of Iron as Malefactors are bound in Prison Prov. 5.22 His owne iniquity shall take the wicked and he shall be holden with the Coards of his sin The Hebrew word which we render to hold or fasten is expressed by this of Job in the Chaldee Paraphrase Taking this sense of the word the interpretation given of the whole is Thou hast bound or straitened mee with the cords of my affliction Quod his dolorum vinculis constrictum me tenes ne qua elabi queam testimonium fecit in me Merc. lest I should get out or make an escape and this is a witnesse against me There is a truth in both these readings as to this place but because wrinkles are more proper to the leannesse which followes therefore I shall not stay upon them but keep to our owne reading Thou hast filled me with wrinkles Wrinckles are caused two wayes First Through old age for then the moysture of the body being consumed and so the skin contracted wrinckles appeare These naturall wrinckles cannot be avoyded if nature hold out to old age Secondly There are accidentall wrinckles such as are caused by strong diseases which sucking up or drawing out the moysture of the body fade the beauty of it Great sicknesses hasten on gray hayres and make a young man looke old Job was not filled with the wrinckles of old age hee was in the strength of nature at that time but he was filled with the wrinckles of sicknesse and sorrow griefe had made furrows in his face and his teares had often filled them we commonly say Sorrow is dry 't is so because it is a dryer Solomon tels us that A merry heart doth good like a medicine but a broken spirit which is the effect of much sorrow dryeth up the bones Prov. 17.22 The Church cryes out in the Book of Lamentations My flesh and my skin he hath made old Lam. 3.4 How did God make them old He made them old not by giving them many yeares but by giving them many troubles Many troubles in one yeare will make a man older then many yeares We have heard of some whose hearts being filled with vexing cares have filled their heads with gray hayres in a very short time As some have an Art to ripen Fruits before nature ripens them so the Lord hath a power to hasten old age before nature makes us old Thou hast made my skin old that is full of wrinckles and leannesse these are the liveries which old age gives The Apostle assures us that Christ shall one day present the Church to himselfe in the perfection of spirituall beauty and glory that beauty and glory is described by the removall of that from her spirituall estate which Job complaines of in his temporall estate Job was full of spots and wrinkles but shee shall appeare Not having spot or wrinckle Ephes 5.27 that is Without any note or marke of old age upon her A spot defaceth the beauty of a Garment and wrinckles spoyle the beauty of the face An old Garment is full of spots and an old face is full of wrinkles Old things passe away when we are made new creatures by grace yet in that state because we are not perfectly freed from the old man our garments have some spots and our faces some wrinkles upon them But in the state of glory when all old things even all the image of the old Adam shall be totally abolished we shall not have so much as one spot or one wrinkle Beleevers have now a righteousnesse in Christ without spot or wrinkle or any such thing they shall then have a holinesse in themselves without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that is They shall not onely not have any spot or wrinkle upon them but they shall have nothing like it nothing which hath any relation to it nothing which either themselves or others shall mistake for it they shall neither suspect nor be suspected to have a spot or a wrinkle about them A perfect soule-state and a perfect state of body hath no wrinkle in it Job to shew the decayes and blemishes of his body saith hee was full of wrinkles Againe These wrinkles by an elegant metaphor may referr to his whole outward condition For as a mans face is wrinkled when he growes old so are his riches when he growes poore and so is his honour when he growes out of repute Poverty is the wrinkle of riches and disgrace is the wrinkle of honour we may take in all three here for not onely was Jobs body but his wealth and honour were extreamely wrinkled and therefore he had great cause to cry out according to all the the interpretations Thou hast filled me with wrinkles Which witnesse against me I shall give the meaning of that when I have opened the latter clause where it is repeated My leannesse rising up in me beareth witnesse to my face both parts of the Verse have the same meaning My leannesse rising up in me Some thinke that Job answers vvhat Eliphaz had given as part of the description of a vvicked man in the fulnesse of his prosperity Chap. 15.27 where he tells us that Hee covereth his face with fatnesse and maketh collops of fat on his flanks as if he had said Freind Eliphaz thou hast told me that wicked men are fat and full if so what are they who are leane and meagre canst thou according to thy owne rule read wickednesse in my physiognomie My leannesse riseth up in me canst thou raise an argument from that against me My leannesse Jobs body was leane his Purse and Name were leane his leannesse and his wrinkles were of the same extent both reaching all his worldly concernments The Lord threatens Idolaters Zeph. 2.11 that he will famish or make leane so we put in the Margin all their Gods Jehovah the true God who saith to man Psal 50.12 If I were hungry I would not tell thee tels these false Gods that hee will make them hungry But what was the meat of these Gods It was the honour and credit the worship and service which they had among men Indeed they who deny the true God his due honour and worship doe what they can to famish or make him leane and when the true
a Servant of God Holy Job cannot be excused for his faylings in this who as he complaines here that he was reproached by his Enemies yea and by his Freinds too yet he gave his Freinds some advantage to complaine also of harsh words if not of reproaches cast upon them Thirdly Observe Reproach is a very heavy burthen Remember Lord the reproach of thy Servant how I doe beare in my bosome the reproach of all the mighty people wherewâ—th thine Enemies have reproached thee O Lord wherewith they have reproached the footsteps of thine annoynted Psal 89.50 51. And againe Psal 69.9 The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen on me Yet more Psal 42.10 As with a Sword in my bowels or in my bones they reproach me while they say c. Reproach is not onely a burden upon the back but a Sword in the bowels A reviling reproaching tongue is compared in Scripture to three things First To a Raisor Secondly To a Sword Thirdly To an Arrow A Raisor is so keene that it takes off every little hayre reproach cuts a hayre it will have to doe even with undiscernable evils A Sword wounds at hand and smites those that are neere an Arrow wounds afarr off So that whether a man be farr off or neer whether his error be small or great or but imaginary it is all one to a reproachfull spirit his tongue serves him for all turnes David was tryed by all manner of reproaches but those which pinched and pressed him most were his reproaches about spirituall things Any reproach is bad enough but a reproach in Religion is worst to be reproached with our prayers and with our God Where is your God Such reproaches how deep doe they goe They strike to the very heart Credit is a precious commodity a man is more tender of it then of his flesh now all reproach falls upon our credit and the more excellent that peece of our credit is upon which the reproach fals the more greivous is that reproach to us Credit in spirituall things is the most excellent credit Thus David was reproached and so was Job Is this thy feare and thy confidence Is this the thing thou hast so long boasted of Christ was to beare the greatest burden of affliction and therefore he did not onely beare the Crosse but reproach with it he suffered death and reproach with death he suffered the shamefull death of the Crosse in which there was more then a reproach a curse Cursed is every one that hangeth on a Tree Christ must dye an ignominious death as well as a painefull and the ignominy was a heavier burden then the paine Wee are exhorted Heb. 13.13 To goe out bearing his reproach as intimating that to beare the reproach of Christ would be harder to us and a stronger temptation then to beare the crosse of Christ As the greatest part of Christs sufferings for us was to beare our reproach so the greatest part of our sufferings for Christ is to beare Christs reproach Let us goe forth unto him without the Camp bearing his reproach And indeed reproach is so great a burden that were not this consideration in it that is Christs no man would bear it and they will yeeld to doe any thing rather then suffer reproach who are not able to say that their reproach is the reproach of Christ Moses looked upon his reproach as the reproach of Christ he did not esteeme his owne reproach but the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Aegypt Heb. 11.26 Our reproach is nothing but dung or drosse which hath weight in it to presse us but no worth in it to enrich us but the reproach of Christ is treasure which though it have weight in it to presse us yet it hath abundance of worth in it to enrich and crowne us The Apostle cals it The reproach of Christ both because Christ did beare such reproach himselfe and because Christ owned Moses in bearing that reproach yea he owned that reproach which Moses bare as if he had borne it himselfe while we are reproached for Christs sake Christ is reproached and though it should grieve us that Christ is reproached in us yet it may comfort us that Christ takes our reproach as his They have smitten me on the cheek reproachfully and yet they have not done with me They have gathered them selves together against me It seemes they contemned and reproached him singly or every man apart but they joyned altogether in consulting and plotting against him The word that we translate to gather together hath a second signification namely to fill either as a roome is filled with Goods or Persons or as the stomack is filled with meat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Implere complere 2. Colligere congregare quod rebus collectis impleantur loca or food or as an Army with Men. Hence Master Broughton translates They come by full Troops upon mee And another They will be filled with me or upon me The Vulgar explaines it thus They are filled or satiated with my punishment or as a third They have taken their fill of pleasure at my miseries The reason of this sense ariseth from the former because where many things or persons are gathered together they fill up that place First It signifies to gather together as men are gathered in a civill Society and combination Job supposed his Freinds conspired his hurt and that they gathered themselves together against him who pretended to gather themselves together for him or wee may apply this to his professed Enemies who were very unanimous to vex and trouble him Hence Note Super me implebuntur Mont. Men are apt to agree in doing hurt Union is not alwayes a signe of a good cause 'T is but seldome we can agree to doe a common duty Good men want the cement of love in a good cause evill men seldome want it in a bad Behold saith God Gen. 11.5 6. This people are one and they all speake one language their language was one and so were their hearts to build a Tower whose top might reach to Heaven The builders of Babel are more united then the builders of Sion The Psalmist complaines of the Enemies onenesse Psal 83.5 6 7. They have consulted together with one consent or heart they are confederate against thee Gebal and Amon and Amalek the Philistims and them that dwell at Tyre Ashur is also joyned with them c. All Nations even Hetrogeniall Nations can joyne in mischiefe men of severall Kingdomes and spirits Pilate and Herod joyne to crucifie Christ but as it is most beautifull and pleasant Psal 133. So O how hard a thing is it for Brethren to dwell in unity They who have one God one Lord one Faith one Spirit one Baptisme one Hope yea they who in one sense are one Body and one Spirit Ephes 4.4 5. are seldome one Satiati sunt paenis meis Vulg. In malis meis voluptatem suam exploverunt Tygur From
to a godly heart The reason why a godly man chuses rather to be smitten by the righteous then the wicked is because they have somewhat possibly much of God in them therefore much more doth hee say Let the righteous God smite me It is a mercy if we must needs be chastised when God will chastise us himselfe and not give us into the hands of men whose mercies are cruell There are two things which make it so greivous to the people of God when they are delivered up into the hands of the ungodly First Their cruelty Their mercies are cruell how unmercifull then are they in their cruelties As they know no measure in sinning against God so they keep none in vexing man The Lord promiseth Psal 126.3 The Rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous implying that by the good will of evill men it should rest there they would never take it off if God did not Secondly which troubles more then the former Their blasphâ—my And that first against God himselfe as if he either could not deliver out of their hands 2 Chron. 32 14. What is your God that he should be able to deliver you out of my hand Psal 42. Where is now their God Thus the wicked Jewes into whose hand God delivered his Son did even dare God to come to his rescue Mat. 27.43 or as if he took their part and favoured the cause which they have in hand Secondly They blaspheame or speak evill both of the wayes and people of God What 's become of your prayers now Where 's your fasting now Of which you boasted that it would doe such wonders It is a soare affliction to be under the rule of wicked men much more to be under their rage that prophetick curse which David denounceth against his Enemy is thus expressed Psal 109.6 Set thou a wicked man over him A wicked man were better be under the power of good men then of the wicked for a good man cannot be so severe to a wicked man as one wicked man is to another but if a wicked man be so cruell to wicked men who are so like him how cruell must he needs be to godly men who are altogether unlike him Fourthly Note Godly men looke through all second causes to the first As they rest not in the creature for the good which they receive so they stay not in the creature when they receive evill they see a hand of God in and over all Note Fifthly We glorifie God as much in acknowledging afflictions as in acknowledging mercies and blessings to come from him He is the Author of both he takes it as much upon him that he creates darknesse as that he formes light that is As the next words expound it That hee creates evill as well as makes peace Isa 45.7 Now if the Lord challenges this as a part of that glory which he will not give to Idols then we give him the glory of the onely true God while wee acknowledge this Sixthly Note There is no way to settle or quiet the heart till it looke up to God as the disposer of our troubles This was Jobs last resort And this was Davids when Shimei cursed him God hath bid Shimei curse This kept downe those angry motions which must else have boyled up as high in his spirit as they did in Abishaes himselfe being more deeply concerned in it then Abishai was Job having discovered this frame of spirit more then once before I here onely touch upon it Lastly Take this comfortable Corolary from the whole Though God doth often deliver his choycest Servants into the power of wicked men yet he never delivers them up to the will of wicked men They cannot doe with his people what they please they shall onely doe what God himselfe pleaseth though they displease God highly in doing it God never turnes the least of those who beleeve in his Name out of his owne hand though he turne them over into the hand of the ungodly as God keeps his title to them still so hee still keepes the possession of them Saints in the hand of the vilest men are in the hand or possession of God two wayes First They are in the hand of his power he can fetch them out of the hands of men when he will Secondly They are under the hand of his care and this five wayes First To provide that though they endure much hardship in their hands yet they shall receive no hurt God doth not turn his into the hands of evill men for evill but for good Secondly He hath them in the hand of his care to furnish them with strength to suffer Thirdly To teach them how to profit by sufferings Fourthly To moderate the hands of the wicked towards them their hands shall not be heavier then he hath appointed they shall not give you a stroak more then hee hath numbred out Lastly As to order how much so likewise how long they shall suffer Our times are in Gods hand when we are in the hand of men As they cannot add a drop to our cup so not a Sand to our Glasse beyond what the Lord hath appointed out JOB Chap. 16. Vers 12 13 14. I was at ease but he hath broken me asunder hee hath also taken me by my neck and shaken me to peices and set me up for his marke His Archers compasse me round about he cleaveth my reines asunder and doth not spare he powreth out my Gall upon the ground He breaketh me with breach upon breach he runneth upon me like a Giant JOB still prosecutes the same argument setting out his afflictions in their darkest colours to the seventeenth Verse of this Chapter and then with highest confidence attesting yea calling Heaven and Earth to attest both the righteousnesse of his wayes towards men and the rightnesse of his worship tendered unto God These three with the two Verses following containe two generall points First He tels us how and in what manner he was handled by God in those dayes of his affliction Vers 12 13 14. Secondly He tels us how he behaved himselfe under the hand of God or how he was affected with these afflictions Vers 15 16. I have sowed sackcloath upon my skin and defiled my horne in the dust c. As Gods hand was heavy upon him so he held out all the demonstrations and emblemes of a heavy heart I sowed sackcloth upon my skin He begins with or rather prosecutes the description for he had spoken much of it before of his sad afflictions And because contraries illustrate and set forth one another therefore he first shewes what condition he had been in secondly what he then was in Our present wants and evills are aggravated by our former comforts and enjoyments This course and method Job takes to aggravate his First Telling us that he was once whole and at ease Secondly What hee at that time was pained and broken to peices I was at ease But
causing others to fall before them In so much that the very name of a Giant was dreadfull And when those unbeleeving Scarchers of Canaan brought up an evill report of that Land the worst which they could say of it to the discouragement of their Brethren was this Numb 13.33 And there we saw the Giants the Sons of Anak which came of the Giants and we were in our owne sight as Grasse-hoppers and so we were in theirs Men of strength and courage were as much afrayd at this story of Giants as Children are of Bug-beares and Fayries So then when Job sayd That God did run upon him as a Giant his intent was onely to shew with how much terrour God was pleased to cloath himselfe and how much strength he put forth while he thus contended with him The truth is God needs not lay out his strength to afflict man he can crush the strongest of men as a moth with the touch of his finger The weaknesse of God is stronger then man yet God in afflicting his people will sometimes personate a mighty man exercising his power to the utmost and arming himselfe from head to foot while he combates with an enemy which still confirmes the generall Observation That God doth not onely afflict such as he loves but he afflicts them sorely Doth he not so when he shaks them in peices Doth he not so when he sets them as his mark When a multitude of skilfull Archers compasse them about when he cleaves their reines asunder when he powres out their Gall upon the ground Doth he not so when he sets Engines of battery to make breach upon breach and then runs up as a Giant to the assault Thus God hath dealt with many precious soules and thus he dealt beyond his dealings with many with his precious Servant Job And as no man eyther in his estate or health either in his credit or comforts is so strong a wall but God by his Artillery can quickly make a breach upon him so who is able to stand in the breach or make it good when God comes up to the assault Can thine heart endure or can thine hands be strong in the dayes that I shall deale with thee saith the Lord Ezek. 22.14 When the Lord as a Giant runs upon man the strongest Giant among the sons of men is but as a Pigmie yea but as a Pismire he is but as the Chaffe before the winde or as the potters Vessell before the Iron Rod. But though flesh and blood cannot stand in the breach when God assaults yet Faith and patience can Moses by Faith stood in the breach and turned away the wrath of God when he came to destroy Israel Psal 106.23 Job by patience stood in the breaches which God made upon him when he seemed utterly to destroy him For what did Job to God when God did all this to him Did he oppose Did he strive with his Maker The two next Verses shew that prayers and teares were all the Weapons he used in this holy Warr with God JOB CHAP. 16. Vers 15.16 17. I have sowed sack-cloth upon my skin and defiled my horne in the dust My face is foule with weeping and on my eye-lids is the shadow of death Not for any injustice in my hands also my prayer is pure THE former words shewed in what manner Job was afflicted and because the manner of his afflictions did almost exceed words therefore he strained himselfe to the highest pitch of holy rhetorick to make his unkinde Freinds sensible of it And as there he told us what God had done to him so here he tells what he did or how he behaved himselfe under the hand of God he tells us how he took those tearings and those wounds how he received those showres of Arrows from the Almighties Bow Eliphaz taxed Job in the fifteenth Chapter with height and haughtinesse of spirit in his low estate Vers 12.13 Why doth thine heart carry thee away And what doth thine eyes winke at that thou turnest thy spirit against God and lettest such words goe out of thy mouth And Vers 25. he more then intimates that Job stretched out his hand against God and strengthened himselfe against the Almighty In both passages he is severely charged not onely with impatience under the hand of God which is bad enough but with opposition against the hand of God which is farre worse Job refutes these unfreindly censures and professeth another kinde both of spirit and practice in this Text. As if hee had sayd I am not so madd as thou takest me to be to runn upon God or to stretch out my hand against him while he smiteth me I have learned better then to shoot the arrowes of blasphemy against God whilst he shoots the arrows of calamity against me and if you desire to know what I have been doing seeing I deny that I have been doing what you suggest This is the account which I give of my selfe and of my behaviour Vers 15. I have sowed sack-cloth upon my skin and defiled my horne in the dust That is I have humbly submitted my selfe to receive and entertaine those saddest dispensations Hence Observe That the surest way to confute the censures and wipe off the aspersions which are cast upon us is to shew our selves doing contrary to what others are speaking of us A practicall answer is the strongest answer we may speak more for our selves by our hands then we can doe by our tongues in many cases The Papists mouths are stopt who call us Solifidians when they see Protestants forward in and zealous for good workes He that is accused of uncharitablenesse may best free himselfe from that charge by giving freely to the poore and he that is accused of injustice may soonest doe himselfe right by shewing that he hath done right to every man Bare denyals that we have done evill are nothing but when our doing of good appeares who can deny it The old Philosopher answered him that denyed motion by rising up and walking not by arguing Job answered Eliphaz who affirmed that he turned his spirit and stretched out his hand against God by falling downe and submitting to it I have sowed sack-cloth upon my skin c. And this Job offers as to remove and take away that objection of mis-behaviour towards God Hoc assert ut ad miserecordiam socios moveat paenitentiam sc suam humilitatem quod sese in his afflictionibus non extulerit Merc. so to move his Freinds to better behaviour even to compassion and pitty towards him He was in a sorrowfull case and he had acted the part of a sorrowfull man God had layd him low and hee layd himselfe low this might have taught them moderation why should they speake so harshly against him who had dealt but coursely with himselfe Sowing sack-cloth upon his skin and seeing he abased himselfe even to the defiling of his horne in the dust why should they abase him too It stirrs up pitty
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
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
lives in any knowne sinne unrepented of Secondly That which is unquiet and unsetled about the pardon of those sins which we have repented of We should get both these evil consciences but especially the first cured and removed by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ before we draw nigh to God in prayer as also our bodies washed in pure water which is either an allusion to the old Ceremonies among the Jewes who before they came to worship at the Tabernacle purged themselves with diverse outward washings leading them to the consideration of that morall puritie both of heart and life in which God is to be worshipped or it is an allusion to Baptisme in speciall in which there is an externall washing of the body signifying the washing of the soule by the blood of Christ and by the effectuall working of the spirit The sum of all is unlesse the person be pure his prayer is not pure These are the ingredients which constitute pure prayer all these met in Job and therefore he concluded not onely confidently but truely My prayer is pure And as these are the ingredients of prayer so they are all necessary ingredients so necessary that if any one of them be wanting the whole prayer is impure They are necessary by a double necessity First As commanded by God in prayer Secondly As meanes without which man cannot attaine his end in prayer The generall end of prayer is that prayer may be heard accepted and answered God heares accepts answers no one prayer without some concurrence of all these The Incense of the Ceremoniall Law was a shadow of prayer which is so great a duty of the morall Law But if this Incense had not been made exactly according to the will of God both for the matter and the manner of the composition prescribed Exod. 30.34 35 36. If after it had been thus made it had not also been offered according to those rules given Levit. 16.12 13. it had been an abomination to the Lord or as the Prophet Isaiah speaks Chap. 66.3 Such a burning of Incense had been but as the blessing of an Idol We may conclude also That if prayer be either composed or presented in any other way then God himselfe hath directed it is not onely turned away but turned into sin That man hath spoken a great word who can say in Jobs sense My prayer is pure Thus Job justifies the prayer he made to God and mainetaines his justice towards men There is no injustice in my hands also my prayer is pure A high profession yet in the next words he goes higher and makes both an imprecation against himselfe if it were not thus with him and an appeale to God for his testimony that it was thus with him JOB CHAP. 16. Vers 18 19. O Earth cover not thou my blood and let my cry have no place Also now behold my witnesse is in Heaven and my record is on high JOB having with much confidence asserted the integrity of his heart and the righteousnesse of his way both towards God and Man confirmes what he had thus confidently asserted by a double Argument First By a vehement imprecation Vers 18. O earth cover not thou my blood and let my cry have no place Secondly By a free appeale an appeale to God himselfe Vers 19. Also now behold my witnesse is in Heaven and my record is on high He shewes the necessity of this appeale Vers 20. My Freinds scorne me therefore I am constrained to goe to God When men have done us wrong and will not doe us right it is both time and duty to appeale to God Upon this ground Job appeales Est juramenti deprecatorii forma quo asseverat nullius sibi iniquitatis consâ—ium esse Aben. Ezra and he concludes according to our translation his appeale with a passionate yet holy wish Vers 21. O that one might plead for a man with God as a man pleadeth for his Neighbour The reason both of his appeale and wish is given us further Vers 22. he looked on himselfe as a man standing upon the very confines of death the Grave was ready for him therefore hee beggs that this businesse might be dispatched and his integrity cleared before hee dyed Hee was loath to goe out of the World like a Candle burnt downe to the Socket with an ill savour He that hath lived unstained in his reputation cannot well beare it to dye with a blot and therefore he will be diligent by all due meanes to maintaine the credit which he hath got and to recover what he hath lost This was the reason of Jobs importunity discovered in these two Verses now further to be opened Vers 18. O earth cover not thou my blood and let my cry have no place There are two branches of this imprecation or rather these make two distinct imprecations The first in these words O earth cover not thou my blood The second in these Let my cry have no place Job engages all upon the truth of what he had sayd being willing that his worst might be seen and his best not heard if he had not spoken truth O earth cover not thou my blood Poeticum sane patheticum in dolore aut re alia gravissima res mutas mortuasve omni sensu audituque carentes testes auditores compellare Job speaks pathetically or as some render him Poetically while he bespeakes the earth and makes the inanimate creature his hearer The sacred Pen-men doe often turne their speech to the Heavens and to the Earth Thus Moses Deut. 32.2 in the Preface of his Sermon his last Sermon to that people Give eare O yee Heavens and I will speak and hear O earth the words of my mouth So the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 1.2 Heare O Heavens and give eare O Earth I have nourished and brought up Children and they have rebelled against me God speaks to that which hath no eares to heare eyther to reprove those who have eares but heare not or to raise up and provoke their attention in hearing Thus Job O earth c. as if the earth were able to take his complaint and returne an answer as if the earth were able to make inquisition and bring in a verdict about his blood O earth cover not thou my blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 texit operuit abscondit The word signifies not onely common but a twofold metaphoricall covering First Covering by way of dissimulation to dissemble a matter is to cover a matter In that sense Solomon speakes Prov. 12.16 A fooles wraâ—h is presently knowne but a prudent man covereth shame that is He dissembleth his wrath or his anger he will not let it alway break forth for that would be a shame to him Secondly The word signifies to cover by forgetfulnesse That which is not remembred is hid or covered Eccles 6.4 He commeth in with vanity speaking of man and departeth in darknesse and his name shall be covered with darknesse that
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
Tabret an Example I am a by-word and an example before them which is a good sense and then the word Tophet of which more by and by is used for Mophet which signifies a wonder or some strange unusuall thing which appeares or is reported to the admiration of all beholders and hearers I am a Proverbe and a strange example Strange examples grow often into a Proverbe So the Greek expresseth it and we in English say to a man who hath offended greatly You shall be made an example that is You shall be severely punished Mat. 1.19 Joseph being very tender of the honour of Mary his espoused Wise perceiving that shee was with Childe before they came together he was loath to make her a Paradigme or an example of dishonesty and disloyalty he was unwilling to make her a publique example and therefore was minded to put her away privily till the Lord gave him warning in a dreame about it So saith Job here according to this rendring I am a by-word among the people and as it were a Paradigme a publique example Great afflictions have these three things in them in reference to others First They are a wonder to others Secondly They are a terrour to others Thirdly They are an instruction unto others Wee finde all these and more in one Verse Ezek. 5.15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt an instruction and an astonishment unto the Nations round about thee when I shall execute judgements in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebuke I the Lord have spoken it The Apostle Peter describing the judgements of God first upon the Angels secondly upon the old World and lastly upon Sodome and Gomorah saith that God turning the Cities of Sodome and Gomorah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow making them an ensample to those that after should live ungodly 2 Pet. 2.6 The burning of those five Cities by immediate fire from Heaven made them examples or instructions to all succeeding Generations we may read the odiousnesse of those sins and the severity of God against them by the light of that fire to this very day Great afflictions are teaching afflictions Those calamities which destroy some should instruct all We are not onely to admire and wonder at them to be amazed and terrified at them but to be taught and admonished by them So the Apostle concludes concerning the severall judgements which God brought upon the Jewes while they murmured and disobeyed him in the Wildernesse All these things happened to them for examples or types and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the World are come 1 Cor. 10.11 There are two sorts of examples written in the Word First There are examples for our imitation Secondly There are examples for our caution Some are examples by the good which they have done these must be imitated others are examples by the evils which they have suffered by these we must be warned This translation of the Text intends Job an example of Caution Againe Aforetime I was as a Tabret that is Aforetime I was in good repute or I was pleasant company As if hee had sayd I am now derided mocked at and tossed upon the tongues of men yea I am now voted an Hypocrite though heretofore in my prosperity report gave a very pleasant sound of me though absent and my person was as welcome to them as a Tabret To speake of mee where I came not was musick and I was musicke wheresoever I came but now what am I A by-word musicke still if you will but in scorne a song of disgrace That 's the first sense Hence take one Observation before I proceed to further explication The affections and opinions of men are very variable I am now a By-word before time I was as a Tabret As the estates of men change so usually doe our opinions of them Jobs heart was the same as before he was as holy as ever hee was onely he was not so wealthy as he was his spirit was as full of grace as before onely his Purse was not so full of Gold as before he had not so many thousand Sheep nor so many hundred Oxen he had not such a Family and retinue such worldly riches and honour and because hee endured such a change in his condition see what a change he suffered in mens affections he that before was as a Tabret all were glad of him is now a by-word the scorne of all Christ giveth testimony of John Baptist John 5.35 He was a burning and a shining light and what followes And you rejoyced in him for a season Though John did burne and shine all the while which God continued him in the Candlestick of the Church with equall heat and lustre yet they rejoyced in him but for a while or for a season The Jewes changed their thoughts of John and their esteeme of him was weakned though John continued in the same strength of parts and gifts Then how would they have changed if John had changed The peoples hearts were flatted towards him though his abilities were not John had not that repute and honour after a few yeares which hee had at the first And the word in the Gospel which we translate to rejoyce comes neere the word which we have in this Text a Tabret for it signifies to leape and dance and the Tabret is a musicall Instrument at the sound of which men dance and leape for a time they leaped â—bout John he was a burning and shining light and they danced and skipped about him as Children doe about a blazing fire in the Streets but this was onely for a season John himselfe found the World a changling his followers kept no constant tenour towards him how constant soever his tenour was How great a change did Christ himselfe finde Hee is yesterday to day and the same for ever yet one day the Jewes cry Hosanna they will needs make him a King he had much adoe to keep himselfe from a Crowne the ayre eccoes with Blessed is he that commeth in the name of the Lord yet presently after the cry was Crucifie him crucifie him he is not worthy to live he could not keep himselfe by all his power as man from a Crosse a murtherer is preferred before him Not this man but Barrabas We read Acts 14. how suddenly the Tyde and Streame of affections turned and how opinions varyed about Paul when he and Barnabas had wrought a great cure the people came and would needs adore them and offer Sacrifice and sayd The Gods are come downe in the likenesse of men They brought Oxen and Garlands and would needs worship them there was much adoe to stave them off from Deifying or making Gods of them and yet before that Chapter is at an end their acceptation of him was at an end and Paul was stoned as unworthy the society of men by the same men and in the same place where he was saluted as a God It is no
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
reason of darknesse Hae meae cogitationes noctem mihi in diem convertunt Merc. But who was it that made this change They change the night into day and the day into night Who Some ascribe it to his troubled thoughts of which hee had spoken before his thoughts were so torne and distracted that their confusions turned the night into day and the day into night that is a plaine sense as if he had sayd By reason of my continuall cares and distractions I take no comfort neyther night nor day Others referr it to his Freinds They that is Praesentium malarum cogitationes efficiunt ut dies quamvis lucidus mihi sit nox Jun. my Freinds turne the night into day and the day into night and if his Freinds be the Antecedent it comes much to one for his Freinds did it by filling him with troublesome thoughts and unquiet reasonings his Freinds did it by filling his heart and head as we say with their Proclamations Hence Note When the minde is unsetled the man cannot rest Waking nights and wearisome dayes are the portion of a troubled spirit There is a further elegancy considerable in the latter branch of this Verse The light is short because of darknesse The Originall is The light is neere because of darknesse Propinquum pro brevi exponit Rab. Sol. The word signifies neernesse whether in time or place and it is usually put in Scripture for short for that which is of short continuance Job 20.5 The tryumphing of the wicked is short The Margin is The tryumphing of the wicked is from neere that is It is hard by it began but lately and it will soone be over or at an end In this elegancy the holy Ghost speaks of false gods Deut. 32.17 They sacrificed to Devils and not to God Idola dicuntus dij ex propinquo i. e. qui diu non durant vel qui de novo pro diis haberi ceperint Merc. to Gods whom they knew not to new Gods that were come newly up The Hebrew is to neere Gods it is this word to short Gods Gods that are neere that is Gods short or neer in their originall they have been but a little while they are newly come up as we translate Whom your Fathers knew not nor feared Idols are new Gods neer Gods we need not travell farr to finde out their descent and pedigree the oldest of them are but of a late date or of a new Edition upstart Gods as they are compared with Jehovah the true God who is from everlasting And as they are called neer Gods in regard of their originall and rise so likewise in regard of their continuance they are not for eternity we shall see an end of those Gods shortly they are not long-lived much lesse are they to everlasting The true God is the same for ever false Gods are nothing Idols are nothing in the World and they shall in short time be thrust out of the World and all the neere Gods shall be put farr away What the Lord speakes of these night-Gods the Gods of the darknesse of this World Job speakes of the comforts or light which he once received from God The light is short because of darknesse that is It is ready to end and expire We may say of all the light which wee have in this World that it is short because of darknesse Spirituall light or the light of Gods countenance shining in or upon his people hath a darknesse attending upon it in this World The experiences of most Christians answer that of one of the Ancients about this heavenly light Rara hora brevis mora Bern. It comes but seldome and it is soone gone We have but some glimpses and glaunces of divine favour here not a steady sense of it that except to a very few is reserved for Heaven 'T is so also about temporall light the light of Gods providence towards us hath a darknesse attending upon it yea a darknesse mixed with it When our comforts have scarse saluted us or spoken with us they are interrupted and taken off by approaching sorrows Those creature enjoyments and relations which have most light in them have also much darknesse hanging about them and hovering over them Man at the best estate is altogether vanity And his longest light here is short because of darknesse But Job speakes not this in reference to the generall state of man much lesse to the best estate of man in this life he applyes it specially to an afflicted estate and particularly to his owne How short is the light of an afflicted soule how quickly doe Clouds come over him and Ecclipses shut the shining from him when the light of a man in prosperity is but short and his day in danger of a night every moment All our light on earth dwells upon the borders of darknesse the light of Heaven hath no neighbourhood with it and therefore is not onely long but everlasting Illae tenebrosae cogitationes a mente mea discedentes pro nocte jucundum quietis diem pro tenebris licem matutinam i. e. optatam pacem constituunt Bold Yet I finde a learned Interpreter making this Verse speake the returne of Jobs light The changing of night into day is to be understood saith he in a good sense And the breaking of his thoughts and purposes is according to this Interpretation nothing else but the scattering of his darke and melancholly thoughts and purposes which being removed and gone the night of sorrow was turned into a day of joy and the morning light here called the neere light because it immediately succeeds the darknesse which the Noon-light doth not this morning light saith he came before the face of darknesse To which sense the Vulgar Latine translates the last clause After darknesse I hope for light Et rursum pâ—st tenebras spero lucem Vulg. or though I be now in darknesse I hope for lighâ— As if Job had sayd After this darke night and dreadfull storme God hath spoken to the angry Sea of my tempestuous thoughts and behold there is a great calme But though the Author of this Exposition be so much in love with it that he counts all other spurious yet I rather persist in and stick to the toâ—â—â— â—eeing the whole context runs upon the aggravaâ—â— of Jobs present troubles with which this Interpretation holds no agreement Nor is there any necessity as the Author supposeth to take it up for the avoyding of that imputation of a low weak and sinking spirit which the former exposition in his apprehension subjects Job unto for though we say that Job doth as often elsewhere so here againe make report of his sorrowes in highest straines of holy Rhetorick yet we are so farr from saying that he desponded or sunke under them that we doubt not to say which is all that this Author would say or have others take notice of in his singular Interpretation that he was more