or rather as the Prophet there speaks will not behold it no not when it shines in the plainest demonstrations whether of wrath against wicked men or of love and mercy to the godly as clearly as the Sun at noon day Secondly As we should tremble at the majesty of the Lord so admire his excellency they that excel others especially they who excel all others in any kind are much admired The Lord is cloathed with excellency how then should we admire him and say Who is a God like unto thee This God is our God Thirdly Seeing the Lord is cloathed with glory we should glorifie him and that First in his essential glory Secondly in the glory of his acts and operations We should glorifie him for the greatness of his power especially for the greatness of his grace because the grace and mercy of God are his glory as the Apostle spake in that prayer Eph. 3.16 That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory that is of his grace and favour towards you to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man And as the grace and goodness of God is his glory so also is his holiness Exod. 15.11 Who is a God like unto thee glorious in holiness Let us glorifie God in and for all his glories in and for the glory of his power mercy grace and holiness Fourthly God is arrayed with beauty Beauty is a taking thing then how should our souls delight in the Lord We delight in things that are beautiful we love beauty how should this draw forth our love our affections to God! All the beauty of the world is but a blot 't is darkness and a stained thing in comparison of the Lords beauty the beauty of his holiness and therefore if we have a love to beauty let us love the Lord who is arrayed with beauty even with the perfection of beauty Lastly In general Seeing the Lord is deckt with majesty and excellency arrayed with glory and beauty let us continually ascribe all these to God What God is and hath shewed himself to be we should shew forth 1 Chron. 29.11 Thine O Lord saith David is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in heaven and in earth is thine David ascribed all to God there as also Psal 145.10 All thy works praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee they shall speak of the glory of thy Kingdom and talk of thy power to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his Kingdom thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations Thus Saints are to blazon the name of God and to make his praise glorious The Apostle Jude concludes his Epistle with this Doxology To the only wise God our Saviour that is Jesus Christ be glory and majesty and dominion and power now and ever Amen Further to remember the majesty and excellency of God may and should be First an incouragement to serve him Who would not serve a Prince who is decked with majesty and excellency who is arrayed with glory and beauty who would not serve such a King as this How ambitious are men to serve those who are deckt with worldly majesty and excellency shall not we have a holy ambition to serve the Lord who is thus decked and arrayed Secondly This may exceedingly hearten and embolden us against all the danger we may meet with in the Lords service If we encounter with hardships and hazards in Gods work let us remember he that is cloathed with majesty and excellency c. can protect us in his service and reward us for it we can lose nothing by him though we should lose all for him life and all Thirdly This should fill our souls with reverential thoughts of God continually Did we know the Lord in these divine discoveries of himself in his majesty and excellency in his glory and beauty how would our hearts be filled with high thoughts of him we would neither speak nor think of God but with a gracious awe upon our spirits Fourthly This should provoke us in all holy duties to do our best The Lord reproved the Jews Mal. 1.8 when they brought him a poor lean sacrifice Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person Shall we put off God who is full of majesty and excellency of glory and beauty with poor weak and sickly services such as our Governours men in high place power will not accept from our hands but turn back with disdain upon our hands The worship and service of God consists not in a bodily exercise nor in any outward beauty he is a spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth that is in truth of heart and according to the truth of his word which the Apostle calls the simplicity that is in Christ 2 Cor. 11.3 The glory and beauty of God is spiritual and the beauty that he must be served with is above all the inward beauty of faith and love and holy fear in our hearts Fifthly If God be thus deckt with majesty c. This may assure us in praying to him and calling upon him that we shall not seek him in vain It is worth the while to attend such a God and pour out our hearts before him We may safely depend upon God for all seeing majesty and excellency are his The Lords prayer by which we are to form or unto which we should conform all our prayers concludes with this thine is the kingdom power and glory all is thine and therefore we have great encouragement to ask all of thee Men can give to those that ask them according to the extent of their power There is a confluence or comprehension of all power in the majesty excellency and glory of God and therefore he can give whatsoever we ask Now as that God is thus deckt and arrayed with majesty and excellency is implied in this Text so 't is also implied that he hath thus deckt himself while he saith to Job Deck thy self with majesty and excellency Hence observe Secondly The majesty and excellency the glory and beauty of God are all of and from himself He is the fountain as of his own being so of the majesty and excellency of the glory and beauty of his being he decks and arrays himself he is not decked by others Moralists say honour is not or resides not in him that is honoured but in him that honoureth yet here honour is seated in him that is honoured We honour God and give glory to him but we cannot add any honour to him all is originally in himself he is the beginning without beginning of his own majesty And as Gods majesty is his own so of his own putting on he borroweth nothing from the creature nor needs he any creature to deck him He is not what others will make
they carried it on a new Cart when it should have been carryed upon the Levites shoulders that was a failing in the outward manner of that work Hence that confession of David when he undertook that work a second time 1 Chron. 15.13 The Lord made a breach upon us at first for that we sought him not after the due order We must worship God aright for the outward manner of his commands and institutions else we dishonour him while we intend to worship him Secondly The inward manner must be according to the command of God 'T is possible we may hit the outward form of worship yet miss in the inward manner of it The Lord searcheth the heart he knoweth what is within and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth John 4.24 that is according to the truth of the rule made known in the word and in truth of heart The inward manner of worship is First That we worship in faith Without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 If we have not a justifying faith yea if we have not a perswading faith Rom. 14.5 23. that what we do is according to the will of God our worship iâ— not according to what the Lord hath commanded and so becomes sin to us Secondly That we worship in love Though we do never so many holy services to the Lord if we do them not in love to him we fail in the inward manner of our worship The sum of all the Lords commands is Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might It is not heaâ—ing and praying but these in love which is the fulfilling of the commandement Every duty must be mixt also with love to man We may do many things commanded to men yet if we do them not in love to men we do nothing as the Lord commandeth Thus the holy Apostle concluded peremptorily 1 Cor. 13.1 Though I speak with the tongue of men and angels c. and have not charity I am become as sounding brass or a tinkling cimbal and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor and though I give my body to be burnt and have not charity it profiteth nothing Thirdly To do all that the Lord commands according to the inward manner is to do all in humility that is First Acknowledging that we have no power of our own to do any thing Secondly That we have deserved nothing how much soever we have done or how well soever we have done it Thus in doing the Lords commands we should labour to answer the mind of the Lord fully and to hit every circumstance to omit nothing no not the lest thing Moses Exod. 10.16 being to carry the people of Israel out of Egypt would not compound the matter with Pharaoh Ye may go said Pharaoh after he had been broken by several plagues Only let your little ones stay no saith Moses that is not as the Lord hath commanded me And at another time he said Go only let your cattle stay no saith Moses this is not as the Lord commanded I will not leave so much as a hoof behind me And so said Moses concerning the observances of the law For thus I am commanded or this is as the Loâ—d commanded as we read all along the books of Exodus and Leviticus We are not full in our obedience till we obey fully It is said of Caleb Num. 14.24 He had another spirit he followed the Lord fully that is as to matter and manner as to out-side and in-side Let us labour to be full followers of God not out-side followers of God only but in-side followers Let us not rest in the in-side when we are not right in the out-side nor please our selves with an out-side service when we are careless of the inward Thus of their obedience as considered in general They did according as the Lord commanded Further consider their doing as the Lord commanded them in that special matter their reconciliation first to himself and then to Job Hence Observe Fourthly What the Lord appointeth for our reconciliation we must do and we must do it as he hath appointed Cur te pudeat peccatum tuum dicere cum non pudet facere Bernard in Sentent Erubescere mala sapientiae est bonum verò erubescere fatuitatis Greg. l. 1. in Ezek. hom 10. Though the means which God appointeth seem to us improbable and weak though it be troublesome and chargeable as here the offering up of so many bullocks and rams yet we must do it Yea though it put us to shame before men by the acknowledgment of our errors and mistakes as here Eliphaz and his two friends also did yet we must do it They who are ashamed of sin will not be ashamed to acknowledge their sin But what must we do to be reconciled to God or maâ— They who desire reconcilion with God must go out of themselves and go to Jesus Christ they must as Eliphaz c. did bring a sacrifice to God not as they did of bullocks and rams but which was shadowed by those legal sacrifices the sacrifice of Jesus Christ himself Who by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Heb. 10.14 They who desire reconciliation with man must do that which God here appointed these men go to him whom they have wronged and acknowledge their error or that they have wronged him they must also desire his pardon and prayers Thus did these men and they did as the Lord commanded for their reconciliation first to himself and then to Job Fifthly We may consider this their obedience as to the spring of it What made them so ready when the Lord commanded them to go and do as he had commanded them doubtless this was one thing the men were now humbled God had brought them to a fight of their sin Ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right this they were made sensible of and confessed and so obeyed Hence Observe They who are truly humbled and touched with a clear sight and deep sense of their sins will do whatsoever the Lord commandeth and as he commandeth They who are made sensible of the wrath of God deserved by and kindled against them for their sins will do any thing which he commands for the obtaining of his favour God may have any thing of an humble soul had the Lord commanded these men to go to Job and offer sacrifice before he had convinced them of their sin they might have flung away over the field and not have kept the path of his commandments but having humbled them they submitted When Peter had preached that notable Sermon which prickt his hearers at the very heart Acts 2.37 Then they said unto Peter and to the rest of the Apostles men and brethren what shall we do They were not only ready to do what they were commanded but did even ask for commands What shall we do They as it
himself down to speak and treat with dust and ashes What a wonder is it that the Lord of Heaven and Earth should admit and enter into a parly with man who is but a well-shaped clod of Earth Solomon was in a kind of amazement at the mercy when he said at the Dedication of the Temple 1 Kings 8.22 But will God indeed dwell on Earth And may not we that God should come down to confer with an afflicted bed-rid man on Earth I know some are of opinion that the Lord spake by an Angel to Job however here was the Lords presence it was Jehovah who manifested himself to Job what Ministry soever he used Thus the Lord is pleased often to interpose in the case and cause of his afflicted servants though we see him not nor have such formal apparitions as here in the Text. The Lord the high and lofty One who dwelleth in the high and holy Place dwelleth also with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit and be dwelleth with him to revive him Isa 57.15 Therefore surely he manifests himself to him in his loving-kindness which is better than life and the very life of our lives The Lord who hath Heaven for his Throne and the Earth his footstool saith by the same prophet Isa 66.1 2. To this man will I look and lest any should take this man to be one of the mighty ones of this world he giveth us both a signal specification and clear character of this man to whom he looketh even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and that trembleth at my Word And if the Lord look to such a man if he vouchsafe him his gracious â—ye doubtless he also reveals himself graciously and freely to him Secondly The Lord came here to instruct and teach Job Several persons had dealt with him before and they very worthy good and learned persons and they came with a purpose to do him good yet all would not do All that his three friends said who undertook him first in their turns was to little purpose in appearance And though Elihu a spritely young man discours'd him with much life and heat yet neither could he do the business Jobs spirit began indeed to yeeld upon the last engagement of Elihu with him yet he did not convince him fully God came at last and he prevailed he did the deed Then the Lord answered Job Hence Note We need the teachings of God besides all the teachings of men that we may rightly know him and our selves together with the intendment of his dealings with us and our own duty under them 'T is the mercy of the New Covenant that we shall be taught of God and not by man onely nor alone As here Job had three or four so we may have thrice three men toyling with us a long time in vain The work is never well done till God comes and though we have not such appearances of God now yet he doth the same thing in effect to this day This and that man a thousand men yea a man who is an Interpreter one of a thousand as Elihu spake may be labouring upon the conscience of a sinner and never bring things home either to convince or comfort him till God is pleased to come in by the power of his blessed Spirit and then who can but be convinced and comforted Hence our Lord Christ had no sooner reported the Covenant Promise out of the Prophet They shall be all taught of God John 6.45 but presently he makes this inference from it Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me We may say to all who are savingly wrought upon as Christ to Peter upon that Confession which he made Matth. 16.16 Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God Flesh and blood hath not revealed this to you but your Father which is in Heaven Impossibile est deum discere sine deo Iraen l. 4. adversus Haret c. 10. A deo discendum quicquid de deo intelligendum Hilar. l. 5. de Trin. It was said by one of the Ancients it is impossible to know God without God And so said another We must learn all that from God which we understand of God Unless God be our Tutor we shall never be good Scholars We know neither God nor our selves any further than God teacheth us Christ saith Be not called Masters for one is your Master even Christ Matth. 23.8 There are two sorts of Masters 1. Ruling or Commanding Masters 2. Teaching Masters To the former we are Servants to the latter we are Scholars In the eighth verse Christ speaks of Teaching Masters as of Ruling Masters at the tenth verse Now when Christ would not have any man take upon him or own the Title of Master or Teacher his meaning is that no man should arrogate to himself the honour of principal Teacher which is the peculiar of God but to acknowledge that all mans teaching is nothing without Gods as the Apostle also saith 1 Cor. 3. We must learn from God whatever we know aright either of God or of our selves Eliphaz Bildad and Zophar spake much of God to Job but Job was never effectually humbled till God spake Thirdly Note As God here by his Word so alwayes the Word of God is the true determiner of controversies and resolver of doubts No question can be truly stated but by the Word of God Rectum est index sui obliqui As the statutes of the Lord are right Psal 19.8 So they shew what is right and what is not A strait Rule declares it self to be strait and detects the crookedness of whatsoever is crooked The last appeal in all things doubtful is to the Law Isa 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no light or as the Margin hath it no morning in them The Sun of righteousness hath not risen upon them who speak and hold unrighteous things Search the Scriptures saith Christ John 5.39 or as 't is well rendred in the Indicative Mood Ye search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life Nor did they think amiss in thinking so but that which Christ secretly reproved while he said so was that they did amiss or contradicted the Scripture in their lives while they boastingly thought so Not what this or that man saith but what God saith is the true ground of mans faith Sumamus exlibris divinitus inspiratis solutionem questionum Theod. l. 1. Hist Eccles c. 7. It was a worthy speech of Constantine in the Nicene Council Let us take out of that Book divinely inspired the solution of our Questions It is not what the Fathers say nor what the Pope saith nor what Councils say but what the Word of God saith that must be heard and relied upon for salvation The Word is the Judge that is the rule of Judgement As here God was the
to hunt the prey for him yet the testimony of those ingenious Travellers or Navigators upon whose report of what they have seen or heard in those Countreys the worthy Author above-named makes this relation this testimony I say may be a probable ground for such an Exposition of the Text that the Lord had in his wise providence provided one to hunt the prey for the Lion Though I conceive the sense of the place to be moâ—e general namely that the Lord himself hath one way or other taken care that even the Lion shall have his prey and that neither Job then nor any one else needed take care in that matter How great an argument that might be both for Jobs conviction and consolation will appear afterwards Wilt thou hunt the prey For the Lion The word rendred Lion signifies a stout Lion Mr. Broughton renders the hardy Lion others the old Lion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Leoni vetulo qui viribus deficientibus non amplius potest venari sed à juvenibus capta praeda rugitu eum ad participationem praedae vocantibus alitur Aelian l. 9. Histor Animal c. 1. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the old Lion and there 's a double interpretation with respect to that translation That either here is meant a Lion come up to his full strength and so every way able to provide for himself or that by the old Lion is meant a Lion gâ—own so old and weak with old age that he can no longer provide for nor hunt the prey for himself and therefore the Lord saith Wilt thou hunt the prey for the old Lion that cannot hunt for himself dost thou provide for the Lion that cannot pâ—ovide for himself 'T is I who provide a prey for the old Lion that cannot hunt the prey for himself This is a good sense and I shall touch it in the Observation However 't is plain that by the Lion in the first part of the verse is meant an old Lion for he stands opposed to the young Lion in the latter part of the veâ—se Wilt thou hunt the prey for the Lion Naturalists speak many things of the nature of the Lion to whom I refer the Reader I shall have occasion to touch some of them while I mention what the Scâ—ipture saith of him The Lion bears a four-fold resemblance in Scripture First The Lion is the emblem of a King Judah whose tribe was the stock of Kings or the tribe Royal is called a Lions whelp Gen. 49.9 Thus spake Jacob Judah is a Lions whelp from the prey my Son thâ—s art gone up he stooped down he couched as a Lion and as an old Lion who shall rouse him up The Kings of the earth are compared to Lions First Because of their greatness and supe iotity What the Lion is among beasts Kings are among men their chiefs Secondly Because of their stoutness and courage Solomon saith of the Lion Prov. 30.30 He is strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any That is he is not afraid of any beast To be bold as a Lion is a sacred as well as a common proverbiâ—l noting greatest boldness Aristotle saith Nunquam in locis patentibus fugit aut metuit pedetentimque discedit Arist the Lion never flies oâ— makes any hasty retreat let the danger be what it will in open view but goes off keeping his own pace A modern Writer speaks thus The Lion in Africk is more fierce than in colder climate He shrinkâ— not in danger except some covert of Woods hâ—dâ—s him from witnesses and then he will take the benefit of a flight which otherwise he seems to disdain Such is the true spirit of Kings Leoni tantum ex feris clementia in supplices Plin. l. 8. c. 16. Satis est prostrasse Leoni Vigilans oculus sceptro impositus perpetuae vigiliae symbolum est they are much above ignoble fears Thirdly Lions resemble Kings because of their mildness and nobleness to them that submit Fourthly Because of the stateliness of their gate and majesty of their aâ—pect Fifthly Because of their vigilancy and watchfulness The Lion sleeps say Naâ—uralists with his eyes open he sleeps as if he were not asleep and as some observe he often moves his tail while he sleepeth as giving notice that he is not as we speak fast asleep And as the Lion is an emblem of earthly Kings so Secondly of the Lord Jesus Christ the King of heaven and earth the King of Kings To shew his supeâ—eminent excellency he is called a Lion Rev. 5.5 There was found none wâ—rthy to open the Book but the Lion of the tribe of Judah Now Jesus Christ is compared to a Lion upon all those accounts before named for which worthy and heroick Kings are so compared for First Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 19.16 He is highly exalted he hath a name given him above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth Phil. 2.9 10. And as Jesus Christ is like the Lion for his superiority so Secondly for his clemency true nobleness of spirit towards those who yield unto him 'T is enough indeed to humble our selves before this Lion How ready must Christ be to receive and embrace humbled sinners who humbled himself to death that he mâ—ght save sinners even while they were proud and rebelled against him Thirdly Jesus Christ is a Lion also in respect of his watchfulness over his Church This Lion that keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps Psal 121.4 and Fourthly for his invincible courage and strength always ready to be put forth for his Church The Prophet Isa 31.4 compares Christ to a Lion that will not be frighted Like as the Lion saith he and the young Lion roaring on his prey when a multitude of Shepherds is called out against him he will not be afraid of their voice nor abase himself for the noise of them so shall the Lord of Hosts himself come down to fight for mount Sion and for the hill thereof As if the Prophet had said God will protect Jerusalem against all her enemies the Assyrian forces are there specially intended no more regarding or fearing them than a fierce Lion in the prime of his strength will regard or fear a company of simple Shepherds that shall attempt to rescue his prey from between his teeth And because of this Lion-like power and courage of Christ so his Church another Prophet saith that tâ—e Church herself shall be as a Lion Mâ—c 5.8 And the remnant of Jacob that is the true Church shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people who are enemies and unbelievâ—ng as a Lion among the beasts of the forrest as a young Lion among the flocks of sheep or rather as the Margin haâ—h it Goats who if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces and none can deliver That is as our late
from serving To be be free to serve is infinitely better than to be free from service nothing is more ingenuous nothing shews a more noble spirit in man than to be free to serve as all are being once freed from spiritual or sin-slavery Rom. 6.19 As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your selves servants to righteousness unto holiness for as it follows when ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness or as it is in the margin free to righteousness not free to do righteousness but free not to do it Righteousness had then no command yielded to no power submitted to over you whereas over a gracious heart righteousness hath the greatest command A godly man is at the beck of God in all the wayes of righteousness and as he is free to serve Masters so he is free to be subject to Magistrates or higher powers according to that rule of the Apostle Rom. 13.1 And that all in their places may be mindful of this duty they are upon all occasions to be put in mind of it as the same Apostle directed Titus in his Epistle to him Chap. 3.1 The Lord having spoken of the freedom of the Ass proceeds to described his dwelling Vers 6. Whose house I have made the wilderness and the barren laid his dwellings These words contain the second part of the care and providence of God towards the wild Ass he hath not only made them free and loosed their bonds but he hath provided a dwelling for them and where in the wilderness a wild place and therefore fit for wild beasts The wilderness strictly taken is the dwelling of beasts not of men we read I grant in Scripture not only of Houses but of Cities in the wilderness yet take the wilderness strictly and 't is a place un-inhabited by man and that 's the place where the Lord hath appointed the wild Ass to dwell 't is his house there he abideth as men do in their houses The wilderness is a place undressed untilled uncared for by man yet by the care and goodness of God it affords sufficient provision for the support of these creatures whom no man provides for Whose house I have made the wilderness The wild Ass hath a large and open house some conceive the wilderness here intended was the wilderness of Arabia which as Historians tell us was much stockt or abounded with wild Asses The word Arabia signifies a wilderness the whole country being so like a wilderness is so called after its own likeness The Chaldee Paraphrast reads it whose house I have made a plain as if these wild Asses were in this opposed to the wild Goats ver 1. who live on high hills and craggy rocks The word is translated a plain Deut. 1.1 yet rather as we the wilderness And the barren land his dwellings the Hebrew is and the salt place his dwellings A barren place and a salt place are the same Judg. 9.45 When Abimeleck took that City he sowed it with salt in token that an everlasting curse of barrenness should come upon it according to that Psal 107.34 A fruitful land turned he into barrenness the margin saith into saltness Once more Jer. 17.5 6. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm he shall be like the heath in the desert and shall not see when good cometh but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness in a salt land and not inhabited that is in a barren land unfit for any to inhabit There is a reason in nature why salt land is barren salt being hot and dry draweth up the strength and moisture of the land that should make is fruitful This salt or barren land which yeilds little grass or herbage the Lord hath appointed for the wild Ass to dwell in Hence note First God provides a place of dwelling for the meanest creatures Where the wild Ass shall dwell or inhabit comes under a Divine appointment How much more hath God appointed dwelling places for the children of men The Apostle tells us Acts 12.26 That he hath not only made men to dwell on all the face of the earth but he hath also determined the bounds of their habitation that is God hath not only made the whole earth habitable for man-kind but he hath by his providence disposed every man to his special habitation in this or that part of the earth Secondly The dwelling which God appoints to any creature is sutable to its nature This wild creature dwells in a wild place in a wilderness This barren creature as to any benefit he brings to man God appoints to dwel in a barren land It is said of Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 5.21 when for his pride he was put from his dominion that he had his dwelling with wild Asses he himself carried it like a beast and he had a dwelling sutable to his beastial disposition among the beasts he was proud and would not bare the Lords yoke he cast off the bonds which God laid upon him and thought it enough for him to lay bonds upon men therefore the Lord to humble him thrust him among the beasts As like will to like mostly in way of election so sometimes like shall to like though they like it not in way of compulsion and usually like are put to like persons or places in way of gracious ordination God himself appoints wild beasts to the barren wildernesses tame beasts to the fruitful enclosed pastures he placeth men in well built Houses Towns or Cities and he hath appointed faithful men and women his Church to dwell in which is therefore called though in a wilderness the house of God 1 Tim. 3.15 David found that house more pleasing to him than any of his Royal Pallaces and therefore made it his great request The one thing of his desires Psal 27.7 That he might dwel in the house of the Lord for ever Even as he bitterly complained Psalm 120.5 Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar And as the Lord hath provided sutable habitations for beasts wild and tame for men good and bad here on earth so he hath provided sutable habitations for all men when they leave this earth He hath provided hell for their house and dwelling place for ever who are disobedient 〈◊〉 â—nbelieving and he hath provided heaven for their house and dwelling place for ever who believe and obey As now all godly men dwell in God by faith Psal 90.1 so they shall hereafter dwell always with him by fruition He that gives the wilderness for a house and the barren land for a dwelling to the wild Ass will provide a Paradise for the house and a Spring-garden of everlasting joys and sweetnesses for his faithful servants Thirdly From these words the barren land his dwelling Note As some lands are barren by a Divine Malediction so some by Common Constitution Some lands become barren
much strength of grace to act it And hence it comes to pass that the higher and stronger any are in grace they are still lower and lesser in their own sight bacause true height and strength of grace works the soul to more self-denial And therefore as a godly man is vile so he is made more sensible of his own vileness the more he encreaseth in godliness so that if any have low thoughts of him he hath lower of himself None can think him lower in truth than he thinks himself I am light saith he I am vile Though he well understands his state his priviledge and his interest in Christ through grace and understands it so well that he values it above all the world and would not part with it for the whole world yet he is still vile in his own eyes and low in his own rate-books Abraham the chief of believers said Gen. 18.27 Behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord who am but dust and ashes So David 2 Sam. 7.18 What am I and what is my fathers house that thou hast brought me hitherto How sensible was he of his own vileness who spake thus who yet was a man after Gods own heart and the best of Kings Further Consider the time when Job was brought to this humble confession and acknowledgement of his own vileness he had not spoken thus before but was much in justifying himself especially as to the sincerity of his heart and wayes and he did it even to offence but the Lord having dealt roundly with him he cryes out I am vile Hence Observe The dealings of God with man aime mostly at this great mark to humble him and to make him see his own vileness We quickly see or are quick-sighted to see and take notice of any good in us or done by us to make us proud instead of thankful but we are dull of sight to see or take notice of that in us or done by us which may humble and lay us low And therefore we put God to it to shew us our vileness by severe and humbling dispensations There are two great things which God would bring man to First To make him know how vile he is Secondly To make him know how excellent how glorious himself is The Lord never left battering Job by afflictions and following him with questions till he brought him to both these points Behold I am vile saith he in this place I know thou canst do every thing and that no thought can be with holden from thee said he afterwards Chap. 42.2 in which words he highly exalted God in the glory both of his power and wisdom As one great purpose of the Gospel is to exalt man and lift him up unto a most glorious condition in and through Christ so another great purpose of the Gospel is to lay man low in himself or to take him quite off from his own bottome The Apostle often insists upon that as one grand design of the Gospel with respect to man 1 Cor. 1.26 Ye see your calling brethren that not many wise men after the flesh c. are called He tells us at the 29th verse why it is so Even that no flesh should glory in his presence But ver 31. that according as it is written he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. All the dealings of God both in Law and Gospel both in his providences and in his ordinances tend to bring man off from and out of himself and till that be effected neither ordinances nor providences have their due effect upon him We must come to Jobs acknowledgment that we are vile that we are nothing and that God is all to us in Christ before we are Christians indeed Fourthly The former discourse sheweth that God was come very near to Job he spake to him out of the whirl wind his appearance was very dreadful And then Job cryed out Behold I am vile Hence Observe The more we have to do with God and the nearer God comes to us the more we see and the more we are made sensible of our own vileness Vnusquisque sibi dum tactu veri luminis illustratur ostenditur Greg. Man is clearly discovered and known to himself when he beholds God in the shinings of divine light and not till then Job was higher in his own thoughts than became him till God came thus near to him and when God came yet nearer to him and discovered himself as he afterwards did yet more fully to him then Job did not only say as here I am vile but I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes This first approach of God in so eminent and illustrious a way or manner wrought much upon him but the second more The light of God shews us our darkness the power of God our weakness his wisdom our folly his purity our uncleanness his Majesty our vileness and his Allness or alsufficiency being seen gives us to see our utter deficiency and nothingness Still in proportion to the nearness of God to us or our nearer and clearer apprehensions of him by faith we are carried further out of and further off from our selves and thus 't is in our attendance upon God in the Ordinances of worship The reason why many come to ordinances with proud hearts and go away proud is because they have little or no communion with God in them by faith or God doth not manifest himself to them by his blessed Spirit They who have seen the power and glory of God in the Sanctuary as David professed he had sometimes done and longed to see it again Psal 63.1 2. they will say with the same David Psal 131.1 2. Lord our heart is not haughty nor our eyes lofty our soul is like a weaned child Lastly Job was waiting for the goodness of God to him or for deliverance out of his sad condition and doubtless he was convinced that the most probable way to it was to leave off contending with God and to be found humbling himself before him in this or a like confession Behold I am vile Hence note There is nothing that doth more sweeten and molifie God or I may say any ingenuous adversary towards us then an humble acknowledgement of our own vileness and unworthiness When our hearts are truly humbled mercy and deliverance are at hand Job was no sooner made deeply sensible of his vileness but mercy came in The only skill of this excellent wrestler as one calls him was to cast himself down at Gods foot There is no way to get within God and to prevail with him Sciebat Jobus contra spiritum humilem inermem esse Dei manum but by submitting to him The Lord layeth down his rod when we lay down our pride and casts his sword out of his hand when we cast our selves at his feet And in all our afflictions whether personal or national till we acknowledge not formally but in a deep sense of our own vileness
great things and we should use means proportionable for the doing of every thing You cannot batter down a stone wall or a strong tower with paper-shot nor with a pot-gun no you must plant cannon for that service Again when this Scripture saith Canst thou draw out Leviathan The emphasis as was shewed before in opening the words lieth in the word thou As if the Lord had said thou canst not but I can Hence note The Lord is able to do the greatest things by smallest means Leviathan to God is but as any little fish to us which is taken with a hook and line To take up Leviathan to do the greatest thing is as easie to God as the least to man As the power of God supplyeth all the weakness of the creature to do any thing so it surpasseth all that strength and greatness of the creature which may seem to hinder him from doing any thing with it or upon it He saith the Apostle Phil. 3.21 shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body how shall he do this according to the working of his mighty power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself The Lord can doubtless subdue Leviathan to himself by the working of that mighty power which subdueth all things to himself And it is much more easie for Christ to subdue any Leviathan than to change our vile body into the likeness of his own glorious body For as Jesus Christ was once declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection that is his own resurrection from the dead so he will again declare himself to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of power by our resurrection from the dead He that can draw our dust out of the grave with a word can soon draw Leviathan out of the deepest gulf in the Sea by his hook and cord This may comfort those and strengthen their faith who at any time see Leviathans ready to swallow them up as the Whale did Jonah As the Lord prepared that great fish to swallow up Jonah Jonah 1.17 so he commanded that great fish to deliver him back safe again or as that Scripture saith Chap. 2.10 He spake to the fish and he vomited out Jonah upon the dry land Both were acts of great power and teach us that the Lord hath a soveraign commanding power over all even the greatest creatures The Lord hath a hook for Leviathan He had hooks for Pharaoh The great Dragon in the midst of his Rivers Ezek. 29.3 4. And of him the Lord commanded the same Prophet to speak in a like notion Ezek. 32.2 Son of man take up a lamentation for Pharaoh and say to him thou art like a young Lion of the Nations and thou art as a Whale in the Seas and thou camest forth with thy Rivers and troubledst the waters with thy feet and fouledst their Rivers therefore I will spread out my net over thee and they shall bring thee up in my net I have a net for thee saith this Chapter I have hooks for thee saith that other The Prophet Isaiah to engage the Lord to do some great thing for his Church minded him of what he had formerly and anciently done for Israel Isa 51.9 Awake awake put on strength O arm of the Lord awake as in the ancient dayes as in the generations of old art thou not it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the Dragon This Rahab was Egypt and the Dragon was Pharoah as Interpreters generally agree The Psalmist reports the dealings of God with Pharoah and Egypt in language nearer that of the Text Psal 74.13 14. Thou breakest the heads of the Dragons in the waters thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness that is the remembrance of that mercy and of the mighty power of God in destroying Pharoah and his Egyptian Host who pursued them after their departure from Egypt to the red Sea was to be food for their faith in all the dangers and hardships which they were like to meet with in their travels through the howling wilderness to the Land of promise Take one Scripture-instance more 2 Kin. 19.28 Sennacherib was a Leviathan he came up against Hezekiah to destroy him and his people which provoked the Lord to speak thus of him Because thy rage against me is come into my ears therefore I will put my hook into thy nose and my bridle in thy lips and turn thee back by the way thou camest Thus far of the first thing in the description of Leviathan his greatness The second part of his description sheweth the stoutness and stubbornness of his spirit he will not comply he will not yield he will not any way submit This is laid down in the 3d 4th and 5th verses Vers 3. Will he make many supplications to thee The word in the Hebrew properly signifies deprecation Precamur bona deprecamur tantum mala which is prayer for the turning away of evil when evil is near then we deprecate it Will he do this not he He will not petition thee he scorns to petition thee or to cry for quarter But it may be said can fishes pray or make supplications to do so is at least the work of rational creatures I answer Per Prosopopoeian tribuit ei orationem these words are to be understood by that figure Prosopopoeia frequently used in Scripture when acts of Reason are attributed to irrational yea to senseless and lifeless creatures The very hills and valleys the Seas and waters praise God by a figure and here by a like figure Leviathan will not make supplications unto man which shews the stoutness of his spirit As some prisoners taken in war scorn to ask their lives so if Leviathan were taken with a hook he would make no supplications nor beg your favour so stout is he his heart is too great his stomack too big for any kind of submission Will he make many supplications unto thee no he will make none at all This is further expressed in the latter part of the verse Will he speak soft words to thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mollibus vel blandis vâ—rbis aut sermonibus Pisc Mr. Broughton renders or Will he speak to thee tenderly Will he flatter or humour thee that he may get loose or be freed from thee When the Gibeonites Josh 9.9 were afraid they should be taken and destroyed they came and begged peace they spake soft words There are words of two sorts Some are very hard words and hard words wound like hard blows And though no blows are given The Lord will come to execute judgement upon the ungodly for all their hard speeches Jude vers 15. Many speak words as hard as stones they throw hard words at the heads and about the
I wished so often for death that I wooed the grave and so haâ—tily called for my return to the dust in the day of my affliction Thirdly I abhor that ever I despaired of my restauration or that I gave up my self as a man utterly lost for this world Fourthly I abhor that I used so many complaints of the severity of the Lords dealings with me Fifthly I abhor that I was so bold as to desire to plead with God Sixthly I abhor that I was so much in setting out my own righteousness and innocency Seventhly I abhor that ever I spake any word which should in the least darken or reflect upon the goodness mercy faithfulness righteousness and soveraignity of God in his dispensations towards me These are the things which had unwarily passed him in the heat of disputation with his friends and these he now abhorreth Take it either way I abhor my self or these things it comes all to one for the truth is he did abhor himself for those things which he had spoken with so much imprudence and impatience while he was under the hand of God I abhor my self neither is that all And repent Job was not only affected to abhorrence but to repentance The word translated repent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Niphal significat consolari in Piel poenitere Drus signifies two contrary things in Scripture First To grieve which is proper to repentance sorrow and repentance ought to go together Secondly To comfort or to take comfort thus it is rendered Gen. 24.67 Isaac was comforted concerning the death of his mother 2 Sam. 13.39 David was comforted concerning Amnon Psal 77.2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord my sore ran in the night and ceased not my soul refused to be comforted It may seem strange that the same word which signifies sorrow and repentance should signifie also comfort and to be comforted but sorrow and comfort meet in true repentance godly sorrow doth not hinder much less quite exclude and shut out joy in God Repentance is ushered in by godly sorrow and grief of heart for sin and it concludes with comfort and joy of heart in God who pardoneth sinners and therefore the same word which signifies to repent may well signifie both to grieve and to take comfort Repentance is a change from a bad state to a good and a turning from the worst of evils sin to the chiefest good God himself and therefore must needs be followed if not accompanied with much sweetness and comfort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et consolationem accepi in pulvere cinere A Greek translator renders it expressly so in this place Wherefore I abhor my self and take comfort in dust and ashes and doubtless while Job was repenting in floods of sorrow his comforts came flowing in There is a laughter in the midst of which the heart is sorrowful and the end of that mirth is heaviness saith Solom Prov. 14.13 and there is a sorrow that 's a blessed sorrow in the midst of which the heart laughs and the end of which heaviness is mirth To repent in the general nature of it is to change both the mind and way and so take up new principles and new practices A man that truly repenteth is not the same man he was before he repented he can say I am not I. And as in true repentance there is a change from a bad to a good mind and from a perverse to a right and righteous way so in repentance there is a change from a troubled to a quiet mind and from a painful to a pleasant and delightful way So then there is a two-fold change in repentance First A change of the mind from sin Secondly A change in the mind from sorrow Many are the griefs and gripes the troubles and perplexities with which the conscience of an awakened sinner is followeth till he hath unburdened himself by confession and repentance when once he hath truly done so how great is his peace how sweet are his consolations And therefore when the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 7.10 Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of his meaning is the repentance which it works is matter of great rejoycing or fills the soul of an humbled believing sinner with great joy I abhor my self saith Job and repent But how did Job repent his was no ordinary repentance therefore he adds I repent In dust and ashes That is either First Throwing my self upon the ground Jer. 6.26 Jer. 25.34 2 Sam. 12.16 or Secondly Sitting upon the ground in the dust as Job 2.8 Isa 58.5 Jonah 3.6 or Thirdly Casting dust upon my head Job 2.12 Dust cast upon the head was the embleme of an afflicted heart And to sit in the dust or to cast dust upon the head was anciently the ceremonial part of repentance Job doth not leave that out I repent saith he in dust and ashes Solitis ceremoniis poenitentiam agâ— and so some express it I repent with outward wonted ceremonies But I conceive we need not take it strictly to repent in dust and ashes being only a proverbial speech implying very great solemn and serious repentance There is another rendring of this latter part of the verse thus I repent as looking upon or accounting my self dust and ashes 't is an argument of much humility and humiliation to do so Abraham gave himself no higher a title before the Lord Gen. 18.27 I have begun to speak who am but dust and ashes If we take it thus I abhor my self and repent looking upon my self but as dust and ashes it is a good sence also and reacheth the purpose which Job was upon or which was upon Jobs spirit in that day and duty of repentance There is no difficulty in the words they yield many useful observations Wherefore I abhor my self First As the word wherefore refers to that signal discovery which Job had of God who did not only manifest himself to him by the hearing of the ear but by the seeing of the eye that is more fully than before Observe The clearer manifestations we have of God the greater and deeper are our humiliations Job saw more of the power more of the soveraignity more of the holiness of God in himself and more of his goodness to him Qui Deum vidit fieri non potest quin seso accuset contemnat despiciat non enim certiâ— noveris tuam impuritatem quam si divina puritas op osita fuerit Brent than he had done before and therefore he abhor'd himself That place is parallel to this Isa 6. where as soon as the Lord had declared himself in his holiness and glory the Prophet cried out ver 5. Wo is me for I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts that is my bodily eyes have see the signs of his presence and