Elumbem reddere which is as some thinke the Elephant Job 40.16 And a man of no loynes is a man of no strength in common language Thirdly To cleave the reynes is to give a mortall wound Chyrurgions and Physitians observe That if the reynes be struck through Mala immedicabilia indicat there is no helpe for it cleaving the reynes is much like peircing the heart this is present death and that leaves no hope of life the wound of it is incurable There is a fourth interpretation He cleaveth my reynes may note the torture of any acute disease especially that of the Stone in the reynes or kidneys which is as it were the cutting of the back asunder poore Patients under it are often heard so complaining O 't is like a sharpe Knife the Stone is not onely a grinding but a cutting paine I shall onely lay in the consideration of these foure glosses from the literall sense of the word to a further making out of the first generall Observation That God often deales very severely in outward or present dispensations with many of his dearest Servants He doth that which they may call cleaving of the reines and that in the easiest of the foure senses is a very severe dispensation much more which wee may suppose when the paine of all foure meets in one man as doubtlesse they did in Job He cleaveth my reines asunder And doth not spare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pepercit ignonovit propitius fuit Nullam Domini in me miserecordiam sed omnigenam saevitiam experiâ—r Merc. He that doth not spare useth the utmost extreamity and shewes no pitty or Indulgence to spare is both an act and one of the kinds of mercy Sparing is opposed to severity it is a doing lesse against another then we may and that two wayes First When wee doe lesse then wee can Wee having power though no right to doe more then we doe no nor to doe so much as we doe Thus a Theefe may be sayd to spare a man when he doth not take all from him life and all Secondly When vve doe lesse against another then we may both according to the right of our cause and the power in our hands Thus a Magistrate spares a Theefe or a Creditor his Debtor when the one exacts not the vvhole punishment nor the other the whole Summ due And in this sense God spareth the Sons of men he hath both power and right to punish sinfull man to the utmost but he spares him To hold the hand though but a little is sparing merccy but Job found not this mercy He doth not spare as if he had sayd The Lord layes on layes on and doth not forbeare Hence Observe There is mercy in sparing There is a fivefold mercy of God First Rewarding mercy towards those who have done well Secondly Pardoning mercy which is exercised towards those who have done ill or towards past sin Thirdly Preventing mercy when hee keeps us from evill whether it be the evill of sin or of punishment Fourthly Delivering mercy when though he let us fall into the evill of sin or punishment yet he is pleased to help us up and takes us out againe Fifthly There is Sparing mercy if while we are in affliction God deales gently with us this is sparing mercy As God was not pleased to prevent Jobs sorrows nor to deliver him from them so he did not spare him in them his hand continued heavy upon him he had no ease There is a fourefould degree of this sparing mercy of God First Not to punish at all thus God sometimes spares his owne people as a Father spares his Son that serveth him Mal. 3.17 Though they faile yet he passeth it by and doth not reckon with them for it The Lord represented himselfe to Amos forming Grasse-hoppers which eyther in kinde or in a figure shaddowing the Assyrians threatned to devoure the Land this Vision put the Prophet upon that earnest prayer O Lord God forgive by whom shall Jacob arise for he is small The Lord repented for this it shall not be saith the Lord Amos 7.1 2 3. Here was sparing mercy and this is repeated a second time Vers 6. yet in the third Vision of a Plumbe line by which God was noted taking exact notice of all the unevennesse and crookednesse of that people in that Vision I say as the Prophet suspended prayer so the Lord being resolved no longer to suspend their punishment saith I will not passe by them againe any more that is I will spare them no more which is againe repeated Chap. 8.2 where by a Basket of Summer fruit the Lord shewed their ripenesse in sin and his readinesse to punish and not to spare Secondly It is sparing mercy when punishment is deferred or adjourned to a further day thus the Lord spared the old World a hundred and twenty yeares My spirit shall not alway strive It did a long time he spared them many yeares to draw them to repentance and to leave them inexcusable because they repented not Thirdly It is sparing mercy when judgement is moderated When though God punish yet he doth not punish to the full when though the cloud break yet he lets but a few drops fall on us and doth not powre out showres or make an inundation to overwhelme us when though he strike yet he gives but few strokes yea if he abate but one stroke it is sparing mercy The Jewes 2 Cor. 11.24 gave Paul forty stripes save one and in this they would be thought to be mercifull because they might have given him forty by the Law Deut. 25.3 therefore to abate one was sparing mercy As to punish beyond the Law though it be but a little beyond is cruelty so to punish lesse though it be but a little lesse is mercy And this is brought in as an argument of great mercy Psal 78.38 But he being full of compassion forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not yea many a time turned he his anger away and did not stirr up all his wrath They felt his wrath but God did not stirr up all his wrath they were smitten but not destroyed Justice did not make an utter end of them there was mercy in that The like read Jer. 30.11 Jer. 46.28 I will not let thee goe altogether unpunished yet I will spare thee though I punish thee I will correct thee in measure I will not make a full end of thee But are not all the corrections of God yea and his judgements too done in measure All the judgements of God are done in measure as measure notes a rule of equity but not as measure notes a rule of equality Againe to doe a thing by measure doth not alwayes note the rule by which it is done but the degree in which it is done And so to doe a thing in measure is to doe it moderately as when it is sayd John 3.24 That God gives not the spirit by measure to Christ the meaning is
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
word All that ever was done in the World hath been done by the breath of Gods mouth that is by the word or decree of God So some understand that of the Apostle 2 Thes 2.8 And then shall that wicked one be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit or breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightnesse of his comming Antichrist hath stood long and he hath been for some time declining his downfall hastens the breath of God will leave him breathlesse As he hath stood by the flattering breath of men so he shall fall by the consuming breath of God This consuming with breath notes either as before the easinesse of that consumption 't is done with a breath or the way and manner of doing it 't is done by the command and decree of God or by the Preaching of the Gospell which indeed gives Antichrist his fatall blow and shakes all the Towres of mysticall Babylon and is called by the Prophet The rod of his mouth Spiritu oris sc ipsius impii credo potius referrendum esse ad impium quasi ille sibi ipsi fuerit mortis causa dum contra Deum loquitur confidenter libere Sanct. and the breath of his lips Isa 11.4 He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked Life and death sit upon the lips of Christ he hath a reviving breath and a killing breath he quickens the deadest heart and deads the quickest the proudest heart with a word speaking By the breath of his mouth the wicked goe away Further The breath of his mouth say some is the breath of the wicked mans owne mouth By the breath of his mouth shall he goe away That is by the words which breath out of his mouth His passionate distempered speeches shall undoe him while he speaks either outragiously and blasphemously against God or falsely and seditiously towards man his ruine enters at the opening of his lips The motion of the breath is the preserver of life Spiritu oris sui i. e. suis verbis quae spiritu halitu in ore ormantur and while breath lasts life lasts yet many a mans life had lasted longer had it not been for his breath The wicked mans breath proves his death and his tongue which hath been a scourge to others becomes a Sword to himselfe His words possibly have wounded and his breath hath been the death of many But now he is wounded by his owne words and crusht to death by the weight of his owne breath or by the fall of his owne tongue upon him So the Psalmist gives it Psal 64.8 They shall make their owne tongues to fall upon themselves that is Their owne words shall be brought as a Testimony against them and condemne them The tongue is a little member saith the Apostle James Chap. 3.5 and therefore a light member yet it falls heavy as heavy as lead A man were better have his House fall upon him then that in this sense his tongue should fall upon him Some have been pressed to death because they would not speak but stood mute before the Judge but more have been pressed to death by their sinfull freedome or rather licentiousnesse in speaking this hath brought them to judgement and cast them in judgement Their tongue hath fallen upon them and by the breath of their mouth they have gone away Lastly but I will not stay upon it because the Originall doth not well beare it these words are cast into the forme of a similitude describing the manner how the wicked man and all his glory shall goe away even as a breath or as his breath As the breath of his mouth he shall goe away that is he shall go speedily he shall goe suddenly A breath is soon fetcht it is both come and gone in a moment A breathing time is a Proverbiall for a little time much like that In the twinckling of an eye Thus man comes and goes is come and gone especially a wicked man who is driven by the wrath of God as soon as seen by others as soon as he hath breathed himselfe It will not be long ere he goes and he will not be long a going For as the breath of his mouth he shall goe away The breath of man goes continually and so doth the life of man while man sleeps his breath goes and so doth his life while man stands still his breath goes and so doth his life The breath indeed is sometimes in a hurry and goes faster then it doth at other times but though the life of man doth not goe faster at one time then at another yet it alwayes goes Or if at any time our life may be sayd to goe faster then at another it is when our breath is by some stop in its passage at a stand and when ever our breath comes to a full stop our life is not onely going but quite gone The life of man hath so much dependence upon his breath that it is called Breath and the breath of life When God formed man out of the dust of the ground he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soule Gen. 2.7 And as soon as God calls back this breath of life man becomes a dead body or a carkasse The life of man must needs goe as his breath for it goes with his breath and when the life of a wicked man is gone all that he called his his worldly glory goes with him In that day all his thoughts perish For As the breath of his mouth he shall goe away Eliphaz having layd downe the wicked mans sad condition and the causes of it concludes with a use or application of the whole Doctrine at the 31. Verse Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity c. JOB CHAP. 15. Vers 31 32 33 34 35. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity for vanity shall be his recompence It shall be accomplished before his time and his branch shall not be greene He shall shake off his unripe Grape as the Vine and shall cast off his flower as the Olive For the Congregation of Hypocrites shall be desolate and fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery They conceive mischiefe and bring forth vanity and their belly prepareth deceit ELiphaz layd downe his Doctrine at the 20. Verse of this Chapter That a wicked mans life is a miserable life he travells in paine all his dayes and having insisted long upon the proofe he now gives us the application of it in a use of dehortation Vers 31. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity He inforceth this dehortation by a summary repetition of the Doctrine before delivered which he doth First Plainly in the close of the 31. and in the beginning of the 32. Verses For vanity shall he his recompence it shall be accomplished before its time Secondly He doth it allegorically in the
Oracles of God like little Children who must have the same precepts and lines often and often inculcated upon them he gives it us in the forme of this Text Isa 28.10 For precept must be upon precept line upon line that is they must be continually followed with precepts they must have many and yet they scarse learne one or as others expound that place the Prophet describes the scornefulnesse of that people who jeered the Messengers of God for their frequency in Preaching with a riming scoffe Precept upon precept line upon line here a little and there a little which single tearms the Prophets had often used in their Sermons Now which way soever we take the proper sense of that place yet the common sense of the words reaches this in Job for precept upon precept speakes there a multitude of precepts even as here breach upon breach speakes a multitude of breaches or breaches all over And the Apostle Paul expresseth himselfe in this straine while he gives the reason of the recovery of Epaphroditus from a dangerous sicknesse Phil. 2.27 He was sick saith Paul nigh unto death but God had mercy on him and not onely on him but on mee also least I should have sorrow upon sorrow that is many sorrows heaped up together So then when Job complaines of his breaking with breach upon breach the plaine meaning is that he had many very many breaches His very wounds were wounded there was nothing in him Vulnera ipsa vulnerat Non habet in nobis jam nova plag◠locum or about him to be smitten but what had been smitten already As if he had said I am so full of breaches and afflictions that there is no whole space or roome left for a new breach for another affliction As he that lyes upon the ground can fall no lower so he that is all broken cannot be broken any more Job had breach upon breach in his estate his Cattle and goods were taken away Job had breach upon breach in his Family most of his Servants and all his Children were destroyed Job had breach upon breach in his body that was sick and soare Job had breach upon breach in his credit hee was called Hypocrite againe and againe Job had breach upon breach in his soule that was filled with feare and terrour from the Lord. Hence Note The best Saints on earth are subject not onely to great but various troubles to breach upon breach God is pleased to smite them sundry times and he smites them sundry wayes 'T is no argument that a man shall be no more afflicted because he is afflicted or that God will not smite againe because he hath smitten already God doth not stay his hand by looking upon the number but upon the effect and fruite of our afflictions Every Childe of his whom he corrects must looke for more corrections till repentance hath had its perfect worke and every Champion of his whom he tryes must looke for more tryalls till faith and patience have had their perfect worke God would not give his Children so much as one blow or one breach not so much as a little finger of theirs should ake were it not for one of these ends and untill these ends be attained they shall have many blowes and breaches even till the whole head be sick and the whole heart faint till from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundnesse in them but wounds and bruises and putrifying soares As the Vine-dresser cuts and cuts Vt in vineis labor labori cura curae semper additur c. Sanct. prunes and prunes the Vine this day and the next day because once cutting or pruning will not serve to make it fruitfull So the Lord prunes and cuts and pares and breaks and breaks not to destroy his people but to make them as pleasant Vines bring forth abundantly eyther the fruits of godly sorrow for their sins committed against him or the proofes and experiments of the graces which they have received from him This latter was Jobs case and the cheife cause why he was broken with breach upon breach And no sooner had the Lord by his roaring Cannon made breaches in him fayre and assaultable but he presently takes his advantage as Job shewes elegantly pursuing the Allegory in the last clause He runs vpon me as a Giant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sicut fortis potens idem valet Gigas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When a breach is made in the wall the beseigers run up to assault and storme the place Job keepes to the Souldiers language the Lord hath made breach upon breach and now He runs upon me as a Giant There are three things in this expression First The speed which God made to assault him He runs Secondly The strength that God puts forth in assaulting him he runs not as a Childe not as a weak man no nor as the ordinary sort of strong men but as a Giant or mighty man who exceeds other men as Goliah did David both in strength and stature Quando aliquis dicitur aut currere aut aliquid agere sicut Gigas nihil aliud denotat quam magno animo strenuè rem aliquam aggredi Bold Thirdly Running as a Giant notes courage as well as strength A Giant runs fiercely and fearelesly David compares the Sun at his rising to a Bridegroome comming out of his Chamber and to a Giant or strong man it is the word of this Text who rejoyceth to run a race Psal 19.5 Giants are swift and Giants are strong Some men are strong but not swift of foot but no man can be swift of foot unlesse he be competently strong Giants are both in excesse And therefore Job puts both together He runs upon me as a Giant And yet I conceive this running doth rather imply the fiercenesse of the Giant then his swiftnesse Giants are dreadfull and terrible to behold they are called Nephilim in the Hebrew of diverse Texts which comming from the root Naphal to fall signifies fallers and that in a twofold sense First Because they Apostatiz'd or fell from God his truth and worship which Moses seemes to intimate while he describes the first great personall defection of the World Gen. 6.4 There were Giants in the earth in those dayes these he opposeth to the Sons of God in the same Verse who had also greatly corrupted themselves so that Vers 5. God saw the wickednesse of man was great upon the earth For the Sons of God they who owned a profession of Religion being the Posterity of Seth they mingled themselves with the wicked of the World as for the Giants they disowned God and were totally departed or fallen from his obedience and were therefore as some apprehend called Nephilim or Fallers Secondly They were so called because either through the vastnesse of their strength and stature or through the feircenesse of their mindes and spirits they were men of violence great oppressors
will plead for a man with God and the Son of man for his Freind As if Job had sayd I know I have a Freind of Christ and Christ lookes on me as his freind and therefore I have highest confidence that he will plead my cause and take off this scandall So much for Jobs earnest desire upon his appeale that his cause might come to a hearing and that Christ would undertake the pleading of it before his Father He gives a reason in the last verse why he was thus pressing to have the businesse brought to an issue why he did thus appeale to God as his witnesse why he did powre out teares to Christ that he would plead for him Why all this Vers 22. When a few yeares are come then shall I goe the way whence I shall not returne Deum vellem jamjam in presentia disceptationem in se recipere quia ad mortem propero Jun. As if He had said For as much as I must dye shortly I desire to have this difference taken up before I dye I cannot live long in this world and I would not goe out of the world under such a cloud as is now upon me Is it not time for me to hasten my cause to an end when mine end hastens and to get my busines determined before my yeares are Anni numeri Heb. i. e. qui numerati sunt adeo et brevissima periodo circumscripti When a few yeares are come The Hebrew is yeares of number that is Yeares which may easily be numbred Isai 10.19 The trees that remaine shall be few that a Child may write them they shall be trees of number that is a small number and Gen. 34.29 Jacob saith We are but few the Hebrew is We are men of number we may soone be told a Child may tell us and yet you provoke Citie and Countrie against us We very well translate according to the Hebraisme yeares of number a few yeares When a few yeares are come I shall goe the way whence I shall not returne What way is that which hath Vestigiv nulla retrorsum where all steps are forwards and none backward this is such a way as wee meet not with in all our earthly travels yet every man on earth is travelling towards such a way travell which way you will you have as many steps backwards as forwards men comming and going but saith Job I shall goe the way I shall not returne What way is this This is the way of all flesh Joshua 23.15 1 King 2.2 This is the way to the grave that way hath no steps backwards But are there no returne from the grave It is true some have risen there have been some first fruits of a resurrection but they who have come from the grave are so few that their foot-steps are worn out by those many many thousands of thousands who have gone to the grave What multitudes have gone the way to the grave and are not returned some few have returned but these so few that we may still affirme the way to the grave knowes no returning That which is very rarely done the contrary being very frequently done is said not to be done at all or never to be done But Job seemes to deny his owne returne he speakes as if he should not be only lodged for a while but lost for ever in the grave I shall goe the way whence I shall not returne I answer That Jobs faith was clear in the point of the resurrection of the body appeares by the confession which he makes Chap. 19.25 26. and therefore when he saith I shall not returne his meaning is as was shewed upon a like passage Chap. 10.21 First That he should not returne by any power of nature Secondly That he should not returne to a State of nature he believed fully that he should returne by the power of God to an estate of glory Our bodies which are sowen naturall bodies shall be raised spirituall bodies Though that which was sowed shall returne yet vvhen it returnes it shall not be as it was sowed Lastly whereas Job saith I shall not returne his meaning is vvhen I dye or if I dye I shall no more returne to my house and dwelling in the vvorld I must take my leave of all these things for ever My place shall know me no more as he speakes to the same subject Chap. 7.10 From the first branch of the verse note The yeares of mans life are few You may quickly number them Secondly As the yeares of mans life come about quickly so when they are come vve must goe certainely vvee must goe with death I shall goe saith Job there is no hindring no stopping of that journey it will not serve any mans turne to say He hath no mind to goe he must goe it will not serve any mans turne to say He is not at leisure to goe he must go it will not serve any mans turne to say he is not fit to goe He is not prepared to goe he must goe as he is fit or unfit prepared or unprepared he must goe It will not serve any mans turne to say he will give all the treasure in his house all the money in his purse to be spared this journey he must goe It will not serve any mans turne to say he will get another to goe for him or he will send one in his rooome There is no dying by proxie every man when his few yeares are come must goe in person Thirdly Observe A Believer can speake of death familiarly It is a comfort to him in his sorrowes to thinke that he shall dye shortly When a few yares are come I shall goe the way c. he speakes pleasantly the mention of death was a life to him Jobs life was a kinde of death and therefore to him especially death would be a kind of life were our hearts rightly affected they that have the most lively life would thinke death better thâ—n this life I desire saith Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Death was better to him then life and lest any should say no marvaile if Paul desired to dye who could scarse tell where to live and no marvaile if he would dye once for all who was in deaths often to prevent this cavil he adds Which is best of all Barely to dye is better to some then a troublesome life but to dye and be with Christ is better then the best life much more is it better then that life in this world which is a continuall death as Jobes was how shoul such a man sing out Job's verse When a few dayes are come I shall goe the way whence I shall not returne Fourthly Observe It is good to put death before us under the easiest notions Here Job cals it only a going a going out of the world that is all he elsewhere cals it a sleepe and the Spirit of God every where in reference to Saints
up Zerubbabel and others of the Jewish line to reassume the Government of Judah But this Prophesie was chiefely intended and verified in a spirituall sense when God sent Jesus Christ A Governour proceeding from the midst of them of whom Zerubbabel was but a type for of him the Lord speakes chiefely in this admiring Question Who is this that engageth his heart to approach â—nto me Or who is this that with his heart that is with so much chearefulnesse and willingnesse hath put himselfe as a surety for this people with me to approach to me in their cause and to take upon him the dispatch of all their affaires and concernments with me in the Court of Heaven Who is this great this forward Engager but he who also sayd Loe I come to doe thy will O God What will came he to doe Even this To be a Surety and so a Sacrifice to God for sinners Heb. 10. Thus the whole businesse of our deliverance and the first motions to it lay quite without us God appointed and put in Christ our surety with him and Christ freely condiscended to be our surety knowing that the whole debt must lye upon his discharge Put me in a surety with thee But here it may be doubted how this notion of a Surety suites with this place seeing Jobs controversie was with man not with God and himselfe also had professed that all was cleare for him in Heaven I answer That although men accused Job yet their accusation reacht his peace with God for had he been such a one as they represented him he must needs have fallen under the divine displeasure more then he did under theirs And therefore while he pleaded Not-guilty to their charge he beggs further discoveries of the favour of God to him through the Mediatour by the remembrance of whose Suretiship his heart was confirmed in the pardon of all his sinfull faylings against God vvhereof he was guilty as well as his heart told him that hee was not guilty of those wilfull sins wherewith hee was accused by men When we lye under wrongfull accusations of which we indeed need no surety to acquit us it is good to view and renew our Interest in the Surety who will acquit us where there is need Job proceeeds to re-inforce the reason why he desired God to undertake or to provide a Surety for him Vers 4. Thou hast hid their heart from understanding therefore shalt thou not exalt them Or Thou hast hid understanding from their heart As if he had sayd Thou hast cast such a mist before the eyes of these men who mocke me and judge me wicked that they are unfit to be trusted with the determination of my cause for did they not want a due light of understanding they might quickly discerne my integrity and cleare me from their owne suspitions God sometimes as it were wraps or folds up the hearts of the Children of men in ignorance blindnesse and darknesse and so hides not onely understanding from their hearts but their hearts from understanding As God is sayd to circumcize the heart to open the eyes to take away the vaile when he gives the knowledge of his truth so he is sayd to blinde the eyes to cover the heart with fat and to cloud the understanding vvhen hee denyes or withholds the knowledge of the truth Thou hast hid their hearts from understanding 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est mens ratio intellectus dexteritas in agendâ— The vvord which we translate Vnderstanding signifies any of or all the intellectuall powers together with a readinesse or activity for dispatch in any service we are called unto Thou hast hid their heart from understanding therefore they doe but bungle at the businesse and cannot judge aright they cannot discerne the manner of thy dispensations towards me nor see the bottome of my condition Job did not censure his Freinds as fooles or ignorant as if they were witlesse or worthlesse men they were wise and learned yea honest and godly too But when Job saith Thou hast hid their heart from understanding we are to restraine it to the matter in hand or to his particular case As if he had sayd Thou hast hid the understanding of what thou hast done to me from their hearts thy providences are mysteries and riddles which they cannot unfold and as they know not the meaning of what thou dost so they know not my meaning when I sayd Chap. 9.17 He hath multiplyed my wounds without cause Nor vvhen I sayd Vers 22. He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked These sayings are secrets to my Freinds Now Lord for as much as these men have no true insight in this present controversie therefore I begg that thou wouldest undertake for me or put me in a surety with thee Further For the clearing of this Scripture it may be questioned First how God is sayd to hide the heart from understanding God doth this foure wayes First By speaking darkely or in such a manner as the understanding cannot easily finde a passage to the things that are spoken A Parable is a darke saying And when Christ Preached in Parables His Disciples came and sayd unto him Why speakest thou to them in Parables Matth. 13.10 Now among other reasons which Christ was pleased to give of that dispensation this was one Vers 14. In them is fulfilled the Prophesie of Isaiah which saith By hearing yee shall heare and shall not understand and seeing yee shall see and shall not perceive As if Christ had sayd These men have justly deserved to be punished with spirituall darknesse which is not Vnderstanding and therefore I have spoken to them in a darke way They did not heare to obey vvhat was plaine and easie to be understood and therefore now they shall heare what they cannot understand Secondly God hides the heart from understanding by denying or not giving light and that a twofold light First The outward light of his word Thus all those people are sayd to sit in darknesse that is To have no understanding in the things of God where the Gospell is not published Secondly By denying or not giving the inward light of his spirit though the light of the World abound For as a man may have the Sun shining in his face and yet be in the darke if he wants eyesight So as the Apostle speakes 2 Cor. 4.3 4. the Gospell is hid in the most glorious shining of it to those whose mindes the God of this World hath blinded Now every man is borne spiritually blinde or he is blinde by nature and he is blinded by the God of this Worlds till the God of all Worlds sends his spirit with the Word for the opening of his eyes Thirdly God hides the heart from understanding as by not giving so by vvithdrawing the light vvhich he hath given Many have forfeited their eye-sight and their light and God hath taken the forfeiture of them Which he doth first when men are proud of the
For your selves know that wee were also appointed thereto for verily when I was with you I told you before that we must suffer tribulations as it came to passe and yee know it Paul gave them notice before affliction came lest they should be moved when they were come Thus Christ warned his Disciples and he warned them for this end John 16.1 These things have I spoken to you that you be not offended What things were these They saith he shall put you out of the Synagogues yea the time commeth that whosoever killeth you will thinke that he doth God service Christ foresaw that when these things came they would finde worke enough to quiet their spirits in and to quit themselves from troublesome motions And as Christ to keep or make their hearts quiet tells them of their sufferings aforehand so hee therefore tells them that hee himselfe had suffered before hand John 15.18 If the World hate you you know it hated me before it hated you you know it and knowing it you ought not be troubled when you meet with hatred in the World The Servant must not expect better usage then his Master When we see so much layd in to fortifie our spirits against outward crosses in or for the profession of the Gospell it is an aboundant argument that our hearts are apt to startle and we to be astonied at them And the innocent shall stirr up himselfe against the Hypocrite The innocent Here is a different Character 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Evigitavit excitavit or cloathing of words but the person is the same The innocent shall stirr up himselfe The word signifies to stirre up from sleep and to stirr up from sloath it signifies also such a stirring as the Eagle useth to provoke her young ones to flye Deut. 32.11 Thus the innocent shall awake and stirr up himselfe Against the Hypocrite The Hypocrite is taken two wayes Eyther strictly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sunâ— qui reddunt improbum quo modo ea vox exprimitur â—pud Hebraeos Drus as opposed to the upright in the former part and under that notion I have heretofore spoken of the Hypocrite Chap. 8. c. Secondly The Hypocrite may be taken largely and so every wicked man is he except he who openly professeth wickednesse and yet even he may goe for an Hypocrite for hee is more wicked when he hath professed his utmost then he doth professe himselfe to be The Septuagint render him Vnjust Reddunt iniquum Sep. Deâ— latorem Targ and the Caldee Paraphrase The backbyter or defamer And another of the Greek Interpreters calls him the Enemy The innocent shall stirre up himselfe against his enemy Justus super inimicum consurget Olymp. or against his opposite And who is that but the wicked man under what notion soever we put him The single termes thus cleered fall yet under a different sense as joyned together Suam orationem pa ulo incitatiorem excusat q. d. quid mirum me ita loqui cum res ipsa tam indigna sit Pined First Some conceive that Job makes an apologie or an excuse for himselfe in these words why he exprest so much passion and used such sharpnesse of speech toward his Freinds As if he had sayd Blame me not for doing it things are carryed so as upright men may be astonied it would make a wiseman madd and a meek man furious a very post would be awakened and stirred at what my Freinds have againe and againe pressed upon me therefore pardon my passion and if you will needs call it so my impatience Non me latet ad rem tantam sapientes percelli atque adeo in ejusmodi casu interdum insontes adversus eos qui sic affliguntur tanquam adversus hypocritas commoveri Bez. Secondly Master Beza expounds Job ayming at a good man in great troubles mistaken for an Hypocrite by those who are good he represents him speaking thus I am not ignorant that not onely ordinary and common men but even the wise and the upright will be troubled and astonied at my sufferings and that sometimes in such a case as mine is innocent men will stirr up or set themselves against him that is thus afflicted as if hee were an Hypocrite When God puts a disguise of great troubles upon his faithfull Servants they who are faithfull will scarse owne them they are ready to number them among enemies at least to doubt very much as they did about Paul upon another account Acts 9.26 whether he be a Freind or a Disciple Afflictions have made the sincere appeare as Hypocrites in the opinion of those who are sincere Indignabitur contra hypocritam quod ille calamitates tribuit peccatis Cajet A third makes this the ground of the innocent mans quarrell against the Hypocrite why doth he stirr up himselfe and engage against him Why is he so angry with the Hypocrite Even because he sees the Hypocrite foolishly condemning the godly as wicked because they are afflicted or ascribing their calamities meerly to their sins Excitabit se contra impium florentem faelicem quod videat illum non recipere digna peccariâ— Fourthly Thus The innocent shall stirr up himselfe that is His spirit shall be troubled at the Hypocrite or wicked man whom he sees in a flourishing condition so we may expound it by that caution which David gives Psal 37.1 Fret not thy selfe because of evill doers neyther be thou envious against the workers of iniquity Good men have been much moved and fretted at the prosperity of the ungodly But surely Job is not here declaring the infirmities of the innocent but their graces And therefore Lastly The innocent shall stirr up himselfe against the Hypocrite carryes in it the commendation of the innocent persons perseverance and constancy in the faith and sincerity of his profession what changes soever are upon him As if he had sayd Though a godly man be afflicted and brought low though he be scorned and trampled upon when he is brought low yet hee will not forsake his principles or disclaime his profession Quamvis ab eo rideatur quod affligatur haud tamen proptereâ— desiderio ducetur ejus sequendi aut ei se adjungendi sed excitabit se c. Merc. nay he will be so farr from slacking in or turning away from his profession that he will manifest more holy zeale for God and his wayes together with more holy opposition against wicked men and all their wayes their ever he did before The upright shall be astonied at this but they shall not be disheartned their wisedome and courage shall still appeare in maintaining their quarrell against the generation of evill doers wheresoever they meet with them The innocent shall stirr up himselfe against the Hypocrite Hence Note First There is an everlasting opposition between the godly and the wicked The innocent stirrs up himselfe like a Lyon against the Hypocrite His heart riseth against him not
righteousnesse and that twofold First The way of his heart or his inward way Secondly The way of his hand or his outward way The righteous man holds on in both these wayes he continues his course both in the holy motions of his spirit towards God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inhaerebit justus viae suae Theodol and in the holy actings of his life towards man in this way he is full of motion but he will not move a step nor willingly decline to the right hand or to the left out of this way Here he walkes as to industry and here he stands as to constancy The righteous shall hold on his way Hence Observe First The righteous shall persevere perseverance is at once the duty and the priviledge of the Saints As they are in a good state so they shall goe on in a good way The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day Prov. 4.18 The goodnesse of Hypocrites is as the morning cloud and goeth away as the early dew Hos 6.4 The winde scatters the morning cloud and the rising Sun exhales the early dew thus the goodnesse of the Hypocrite is gone but the goodnesse of the righteous like the goodnesse of God of and from whom it is endureth in its proportion continually Ps 52.1 As they who joyne works to grace make grace to be no grace so doe they who say the worke of grace may be lost or that grace may for ever lose its working The worke of grace may be clouded but grace is no cloud the working of grace may decline but grace cannot dye The righteous shall hold on his way Further This Scripture tells us that he shall hold on not onely in faire way and in good weather but in stormy weather and rugged wayes when his way lyes among sharpe stones and ragged rocks through bryars and thornes yea I may say when his way lyes among Beares and Lyons hee will on Hence Observe A godly man perseveres notwithstanding all seeming discouragements from God and all reall oppositions from men Though God seeme to cast cold water on him yet his fire never goes out and often by a holy Antiperistasis he is inflamed the more while the evill World thinkes to dash him out of countenance and dampe his spirit he is the more emboldned As the Apostles approved themselves the Ministers of Christ so doth every Beleever in his Spheare in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments by honour and dishonour by good report and evill report c. 2 Cor. 6.4 8. Let the way be what it will foule or faire a green Carpet way or a deepe pochy way let it be what it will he goes through thick and thin Paul puts the question and resolves it Rom. 8.35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ He puts it of a person Who shall And he answers about things Shall tribulation or distresse shall these separate us from the love of Christ That is Eyther from that love which we beare to Christ or from that love that Christ beares to us what shall make Christ out of love with us Or what shall make us out of love with Christ Shall any thing Nothing shal for those things shal not which might seem most able to make us out of love with Christ or to tel us that Christ doth not love us Shall tribulation or distresse or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or Sword Nay in all these things we are more then conquerours through him that loved us He loved us therefore he will love us and we shall goe on to love him for through him we shall not onely conquer but over-conquer or more then conquer whatsoever stands in the way to divert us from his love or to render him unlovely Nothing can separate Beleevers from the love which Christ beares to them if any thing can doe it sin can but sin cannot because hee hath more then conquered it by his owne power Nothing can separate Beleevers from the love which they bear to Christ if any thing can tribulation can but that cannot because we shall more then conquer it through his power The righteous shall hold on his way he neither turnes back nor stands still David was sorely shaken and tempted Psal 73. yet his feet were but almost gone and his steps were but wel-nigh slipt As Hypocrites at the most are but almost Christians they are not Christians altogether and as they step at their neerest but wel-nigh Heaven they shall not enter in so the feet of true Beleevers may almost be gone out of the good way but they shall not goe out altogether and their steps may wel-nigh slip from God but they shall be upheld and hence it is that though they have many not onely slips but falls in the way yet they shall neyther slip nor fall quite out of the way this Davids experience taught him at the twenty third Verse of that Psalme Neverthelesse saith he I am continually with thee and thou hast held me by my right hand that is Though I have many troubles in thy way yet I depart not out of thy way I have temptations to leave thee but I will not leave thee I am still with thee I am where I was yet not by any power of my owne but by thy power for thou holdest me by my right hand It is not the hold which we have of God but that which he hath of us that makes us hold on our way We should quickly let goe our hold of God if God had not infinite faster hold of us thou holdest me by my right hand There is a manutenentia Dei an invisible Hand-holding of God by which the whole visible Creation is supported without which no creature could hold on in the way of nature much more is there an invisible Hand-holding of God by which the spirituall creation is supported and without which the new creature cannot hold on in the wayes of grace 'T is the hold which Christ hath of us and the rooting which we have in him by vvhich we are confirmed Cum creverimus in Domino mittemus radices nostras sicut arbores Libani quae quantum in aurat consurgunt vertice tantum radice in ima demergunt ut nulla tempestate quatiantur sed stabili motu consistant Hieron Israel the people of God is sayd to grow as the Lilly and to cast forth his roots like Lebanon Hos 14.5 The Trees of Lebanon are high and spread out their branches but they are also deeply rooted they have as much under ground as above they have as much hold in the earth as they have shew in the ayre As the Saints grow up and spread forth their branches so they grow downe and cast out their roots like Lebanon so that the winds and storms which shake them do indeed but settle them 'T is the goodnesse of the root which
governe himselfe by presidents no man can tell certainely which way he vvill goe by looking into the way vvhich he hath gone for though he useth no liberty in the issue of his dealings but rewardeth every man according to his works yet hee useth much liberty in the meanes which lead unto it Secondly This ariseth from the narrownesse of mans heart who measuring God by his owne line and comparing what God hath done by what he would do cannot as the Apostle speakes in another case attaine unto the righteousnesse of God in vvhat he doth 'T is excellent wisedome to know how to interpret and improve the dealings of God vvith our selves or others The grossest mis-interpretation of his dealings is to conclude the guilt or innocency of man the love or hatred of God from them Jobs Freinds upon such mistakes incurred this censure I have not found one wise man among you Job having by way of introduction spoken to the men or to the persons of his Freinds proceeds to speake his owne case Vers 11. My dayes are past my purposes are broken off even the thoughts of my heart What doe you tell me of comfortable dayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transierum My dayes are past they are gone by as wee say The Shew is gone by or the Company is gone by so saith Job My dayes are gone by There 's no looking after them any more they are out of sight why would you bring them into my minde againe Dayes may be taken here in a twofold sense First For the terme of his life Secondly For the state of his life As taken for the terme of his life My dayes are past is Morti vicinus sum I am a neere neighbour to death death and I am ready to meet and imbrace the life of man is measured by daye◠when our dayes are past there 's nothing left to measure nothing to measure by My dayes are past But how could Job affirme The terme or dayes of my life are past when as he was alive that day to say this so he lived many a faire day after he had sayd it Can we call that past which is still present with us or which is yet to come He affirmes this First because he conceived that the greatest part of his dayes were actually past and that it was not worth while to reckon upon the few dayes behinde he did not thinke that remnant so considerable as to measure it but threw it by as a peice of uselesse nothing Our dayes are so passing that with a little Rhetorick we may say they are past as soone as they begin how much more may wee say so when we are sure they must shortly end and are really almost yea onely not past Secondly Job might say My dayes are past because doubtlesse it had seized on his spirit that his Glasse was run that hee should dye presently hee never looked to outlive that storme So that his dayes were past in his account though not in Gods account Job could say of himselfe as we use to say of those Women who have gone out their full time of Child-bearing that He had not a day more to reckon As Job had a full assurance that he should live eternally so he had a kinde of assurance that hee should dye very shortly And therefore as to his owne apprehensions and the calculation which he had made of his dayes their date was out and hee might say My dayes are past Againe As taken for the state of his life so My dayes are past is My good dayes my prosperous dayes are past you tell me of a day of deliverance what a morning I shall have but I looke on all my dayes here as dayes of darknesse wee say of a man who is not only in an evill but in a desperate or irrecoverably evill condition He hath seene all his best dayes or all his good dayes are gone Job was full of trust for a good eternity but he had no hope of good days The terme of a mans dayes may continue long when the comfort of his dayes is or when his comfortable dayes are quite past Though Jobs dayes continued as to the terme of his life yet his dayes as hee judged were past as to any comfortable state of life in which sense he might also say My dayes are past Nor did Job speake this complainingly or with a low spirit My dayes are past he did not whine it out as they doe who are loath to dye and would faine live still in the delights of life but he spake boldly and cheerfully he spake of his Dying day as of his Marriage day My dayes are past As a young man saith My marriage day is at hand I shall be marryed shortly with such a holy allacrity Job spake I shall dye shortly my dayes are past He looked upon his comfortable dayes in the World as past and yet he was comforted Job was full of paine yet usually in the close of his speeches he gathered up himselfe and spake in a height and heat of spirit As the Cock towards morning flutters his Wings before he Crowes and gives warning of the approaching day or as the Lyon strikes his sides with his Tayle to rouze up his spirits before he attempts his prey so Job stirr'd up himselfe towards the close of his answers and resumed new spirits acting That dying man to the life who having nothing in this World eyther to feare or hope dyes without feare yet with abundance yea in assurance of hope My dayes are past Hence Observe First As the words are taken in the former sense A gracious heart hath peace in the approaches of death His contentments are not done when the terme of his life is done He can say My dayes are past as cheerfully as Agag sayd Surely the bitternesse of death is past Some godly men have dyed farr more pleasantly then ever any wicked man lived Secondly From the latter sense Observe A gracious heart can take present comfort and rejoyce in this World while he knowes that all his worldly comforts and joyes are past Faith overlookes or lookes thorow and beyond all the evills of this life to a good which shall never dye yea Faith sees and enjoyes a present good while sense sees nothing and indeed hath nothing else to see but evill A carnall man parts with his good dayes or with the good of his dayes as Phaltiel went to deliver up Michal Sauls Daughter and Davids Wife by right weeping all along as he went 2 Sam. 3.16 There 's a sad parting betweene a worldly heart and worldly things but he that is spiritually minded though he doth not despise the meanest of worldly good things as made by God for the use and comfort of man so when God cals him from them or them from him he can part with he use of them and yet not be dispossessed of comfort he knowes that hee hath a present good and that he hath greater good
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