addresses for comfort to any but God or in the way of God The Septuagint translate yet higher Sept. Exponunt de defectu rationis q. d. vix prae dolore sum mei compos Thou hast made me mad or besides my selfe The Hebrew word signifies to distract or to put one out of his wits As if Job had sayd I am scarse my owne man being over-burdened with those sorrowes God hath layd upon me Hence Observe First A state of affliction is a wearisome estate A man may be vvearyed who never stirrs foot from the place where he stands or sits O the vvearinesse of a sick bed Suffering vvearies more then doing and none are so vveary as they who are vvearied with doing nothing Observe Secondly Some afflictions are a wearinesse both to soule and body There are afflictions which strike quite through and there are afflictions which are onely skin-deep As there is a filthinesse of the flesh and a filthinesse of the spirit properly so called for though every sin of the flesh or outward man defile the spirit yet there are many filthinesses of the spirit which are never acted by the flesh or outward man Thus the Apostle distinguisheth 2 Cor. 7.1 There are also some filthinesses which strike quite through flesh and spirit body and soule Thus there are some afflictions which are meerly upon the flesh there are other afflictions vvhich are purely upon the spirit the skin is whole the body is in health but the soule is vvounded an Arrow sticks vvithin And there are a sort of afflictions vvhich strike quite through body and soule as old Simeon tells the Virgin Mary a Sword shall peirce through thy soule Luke 2.35 or as the Psalmist speakes of Joseph Psal 105.18 according to the letter of the Hebrew Whose feet they hurt with fetters his soule came into Iron or the iron entred into his soule Such afflictions are like the Roll spoken of by the Prophet Ezekiel Chap. 2. Written with lamentations mourning and woe within and without Some woes are vvritten onely vvithout some vvoes are writen onely vvithin others are written without and within Their Characters are legible upon the flesh and their effects descend and sinke into the spirit Jobs afflictions were of this extension he was smitten all over and vvritten quite through with woes and lamentations Thirdly As the word reacheth the distemper of the braine Observe Some afflictions doe not onely afflict but unsettle the minde They unsettle not onely the comforts but the powers and faculties of it a man under some afflictions can scarse speak sense vvhile he acts faith or doe rationally while hee lives graciously A soule that hath grace yea much grace may appeare much scanted in the use of reason As oppression from men makes a wise man madd Eccles 7.7 And the more wise a man is the more madd it makes him Fooles can beare oppression and not be troubled much because they doe not understand vvhat justice and right meanes and that 's the reason why in those parts of the World vvhere Tyrants reigne they love to keep the people ignorant poore and low for such are not much sensible of their oppressions but oppression is very grievous to an ingenious vvise and understanding man and therefore 't is sayd to make him madd The purest intellectualls have the quickest sense of injuries Thus also some afflictions from the hand of God may in a degree make a godly wise man madd and put him for a present plunge beyond the command of his understanding It is the confession of holy David Psal 73.22 I was even as a beast beefore thee so foolish was I and ignorant If David a godly man acted below reason when he saw the prosperity of the wicked how much more may a godly man act below reason under the feelings of his owne adversity Heman is expresse in this Psal 88.15 While I suffer thy terrours I am distracted Yet the word in the Psalme doth not signifie properly the distraction of a man that is madd but the distraction of a man that is in doubt or the distraction of a man who knowes not what to doe not of a man who knows not what he doth yet that distraction doth often lead to a degree of this for a man who is much troubled to know what to doe and cannot know it grows at last to doe he knows not what We may also take in that about distraction arising from affliction which was toucht about distraction caused by oppression Those Christians who are highest in spirituals and have the quickest sense of Gods dispensations towards them doe soonest fall into it whereas a soule upright in the maine yet being of weake and low parts and of small experience in the things of God will goe yea groane under a heavy burden of affliction all his dayes and not be much moved with it Fourthly Observe A godly man may grow extreame weary of his afflictions Affliction is the burthen which God layes upon us and it is our duty not onely to beare it but to beare it with contentednesse yea we should labour to beare it with joyfulnesse My brethren saith the Apostle James Chap. 1. Account it all joy when yee fall into diverse temptations that is Into diverse afflictions But yet the best cannot alwayes rejoyce in temptations nor tryumph under a crosse when affliction according to that description of the word Heb 4.12 comes quick and powerfull as a two edged Sword and peirceth to divide betweene the soule and the spirit the joynts and the marrow when affliction I say cuts to the quick a Beleever is put hard to it he may be so farr for a time from tryumphing and rejoycing that he can scarsely finde himselfe contented or patient his burden may cause him to cry out O the wearinesse Carnall men cry out at every burden of duty in the service of God O what a wearinesse is it They are tyred with an houres attendance in holy things O the burthen Much more doe they cry out under the lighter burdens of affliction How tedious is a day or an houre of affliction two or three fits of an ague an aking tooth a soare finger O what a wearinesse is this They sinke presently True Beleevers as they have more patience in doing so in suffering yet even their patience doth not alwayes hold out they as Job speak sometimes mournfully and complainingly But now he hath made us weary Thou hast made desolate all my company Quod loquitur nunc in secunda nunc in tertia persona nihil in sententia mâ—tat id quod admodum frequens est in Scriptura Pined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vastari seu desolari ita ut videntes obstupescant horreant It was Hee in the first clause Thou in the second hee and thou are the same person in Jobs Grammar as was toucht before Thou hast made desolate The word Shamam signifies to waste and destroy and that not by an ordinary destruction
Which were cut downe out of time That old way was the way of sin the way of holinesse is the oldest way but the way of sin is a very old way They who have trod the way of sin were cut downe by judgement and they were cut downe out of time that is the course of divine Justice prevented the course of nature and struck them to death before death useth to strike So some render it here and then the sense riseth thus Thou hast cut me downe by the stroke of these afflictions and this is a witnesse against me In significatione Chaldaica exponitur pro ligare constringere Secondly The word according to the Chaldee signifies to binde and fasten one with Cords or with fetters of Iron as Malefactors are bound in Prison Prov. 5.22 His owne iniquity shall take the wicked and he shall be holden with the Coards of his sin The Hebrew word which we render to hold or fasten is expressed by this of Job in the Chaldee Paraphrase Taking this sense of the word the interpretation given of the whole is Thou hast bound or straitened mee with the cords of my affliction Quod his dolorum vinculis constrictum me tenes ne qua elabi queam testimonium fecit in me Merc. lest I should get out or make an escape and this is a witnesse against me There is a truth in both these readings as to this place but because wrinkles are more proper to the leannesse which followes therefore I shall not stay upon them but keep to our owne reading Thou hast filled me with wrinkles Wrinckles are caused two wayes First Through old age for then the moysture of the body being consumed and so the skin contracted wrinckles appeare These naturall wrinckles cannot be avoyded if nature hold out to old age Secondly There are accidentall wrinckles such as are caused by strong diseases which sucking up or drawing out the moysture of the body fade the beauty of it Great sicknesses hasten on gray hayres and make a young man looke old Job was not filled with the wrinckles of old age hee was in the strength of nature at that time but he was filled with the wrinckles of sicknesse and sorrow griefe had made furrows in his face and his teares had often filled them we commonly say Sorrow is dry 't is so because it is a dryer Solomon tels us that A merry heart doth good like a medicine but a broken spirit which is the effect of much sorrow dryeth up the bones Prov. 17.22 The Church cryes out in the Book of Lamentations My flesh and my skin he hath made old Lam. 3.4 How did God make them old He made them old not by giving them many yeares but by giving them many troubles Many troubles in one yeare will make a man older then many yeares We have heard of some whose hearts being filled with vexing cares have filled their heads with gray hayres in a very short time As some have an Art to ripen Fruits before nature ripens them so the Lord hath a power to hasten old age before nature makes us old Thou hast made my skin old that is full of wrinckles and leannesse these are the liveries which old age gives The Apostle assures us that Christ shall one day present the Church to himselfe in the perfection of spirituall beauty and glory that beauty and glory is described by the removall of that from her spirituall estate which Job complaines of in his temporall estate Job was full of spots and wrinkles but shee shall appeare Not having spot or wrinckle Ephes 5.27 that is Without any note or marke of old age upon her A spot defaceth the beauty of a Garment and wrinckles spoyle the beauty of the face An old Garment is full of spots and an old face is full of wrinkles Old things passe away when we are made new creatures by grace yet in that state because we are not perfectly freed from the old man our garments have some spots and our faces some wrinkles upon them But in the state of glory when all old things even all the image of the old Adam shall be totally abolished we shall not have so much as one spot or one wrinkle Beleevers have now a righteousnesse in Christ without spot or wrinkle or any such thing they shall then have a holinesse in themselves without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that is They shall not onely not have any spot or wrinkle upon them but they shall have nothing like it nothing which hath any relation to it nothing which either themselves or others shall mistake for it they shall neither suspect nor be suspected to have a spot or a wrinkle about them A perfect soule-state and a perfect state of body hath no wrinkle in it Job to shew the decayes and blemishes of his body saith hee was full of wrinkles Againe These wrinkles by an elegant metaphor may referr to his whole outward condition For as a mans face is wrinkled when he growes old so are his riches when he growes poore and so is his honour when he growes out of repute Poverty is the wrinkle of riches and disgrace is the wrinkle of honour we may take in all three here for not onely was Jobs body but his wealth and honour were extreamely wrinkled and therefore he had great cause to cry out according to all the the interpretations Thou hast filled me with wrinkles Which witnesse against me I shall give the meaning of that when I have opened the latter clause where it is repeated My leannesse rising up in me beareth witnesse to my face both parts of the Verse have the same meaning My leannesse rising up in me Some thinke that Job answers vvhat Eliphaz had given as part of the description of a vvicked man in the fulnesse of his prosperity Chap. 15.27 where he tells us that Hee covereth his face with fatnesse and maketh collops of fat on his flanks as if he had said Freind Eliphaz thou hast told me that wicked men are fat and full if so what are they who are leane and meagre canst thou according to thy owne rule read wickednesse in my physiognomie My leannesse riseth up in me canst thou raise an argument from that against me My leannesse Jobs body was leane his Purse and Name were leane his leannesse and his wrinkles were of the same extent both reaching all his worldly concernments The Lord threatens Idolaters Zeph. 2.11 that he will famish or make leane so we put in the Margin all their Gods Jehovah the true God who saith to man Psal 50.12 If I were hungry I would not tell thee tels these false Gods that hee will make them hungry But what was the meat of these Gods It was the honour and credit the worship and service which they had among men Indeed they who deny the true God his due honour and worship doe what they can to famish or make him leane and when the true
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
Cloud to us in the day of distresse That is best which is good to us in our worst estate The favour of God the pardon of sin the fruites of the spirit are alwayes pleasant to the Saints but then most when the yeares or times are upon them of which they not onely say with the Preacher Eccles 12.1 Wee have no pleasure in them but vve have much paine and trouble in them The face of the new creature is never foul with vveeping nor is the horne of our salvation defiled when vvee lye in the dust or on the dunghill Job having according to his manner accurately described his calamities and shewed vvith vvhat deep sense and self-abasement he had entertained them he passeth to a refutation of that inference vvhich his Freinds drew and had often pressed upon him from those premises of his affliction Eliphaz suggested him impious and unjust because hee was thus smitten Job plainly denyes it Vers 17. I have not received these wounds in my body and estate for any injustice in my hands no nor for any impiety in my heart also my prayer is pure This Verse takes off both parts of that generall assertion as to Jobs personall condition Chap. 15. Vers 34. The Congregation of Hypocrites shall be desolate fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery There Eliphaz closely hinted that Job was an Unjust man and an Hypocrite Job answers no my Tabernacle is not the Tabernacle of bribery there is no injustice in my hands my Congregation or those with whom I joyned in vvorship vvere not a Congregation of Hypocrites my prayer is pure As if he had sayd Though it be a truth that the Congregation of Hypocrites shall be desolate yet it doth not follow that every man is an Hypocrite whose Congregation is made desolate for mine is desolate and yet I know my prayer is pure And though fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery yet every man is not guilty of bribery whose Tabernacle is consumed with fire for so is mine and yet I avouch it there is no injustice in my hands Vers 17. Not for any injustice in my hands The word that we translate injustice signifies rapine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propriè rapina violentia injuria violence or wrong done by violence any open tyrannicall oppression The Harpie being a ravenous Foule hath his name from this root in Hebrew as also in the Greek from one of the same importance because he doth not subtlely surprize his prey but openly assault it It signifies also violence mingled with scorne and contempt as is observed upon that of the Prophet Ezek. 22.26 Her Priests have violated my Laws The Priests did not goe behinde the doore they made an open breach upon the Law of God they did not sin secretly as if they had been afrayd to be seen but avowedly and before the Sun Hence some have rendred that Text Her Priests have contemned my Lawes noting eyther that it was a violation vvith contempt or that Lawes which are once contemned cannot be long unviolated Thus Job professeth there is no such injustice in my hand Job did not disclaime all faylings in doing justice but all intendments of doing injustice he did not peremptorily deny that there was no injustice in his hand arising from mistakes of the Law but none from contempt of the Law Not for any injustice In my hand Injustice is ascribed to the hand not because injustice is alwayes though usually it be done with the hand vvith the hand men take away and vvith that men detaine the right of others David speakes thus 2 Chro. 12.17 Seenig there is no wrong in mine hand that is I have done no wrong The hand is the great instrument of action most injustice is done by the hand though much be done by the tongue and a Judge who gives an unjust sentence with his tongue may be sayd to have injustice in his hands Besides he may be sayd to have injustice in his hands who keeps any thing in his hands vvhich vvas gotten by injustice he also may be sayd to eate injustice who feeds upon vvhat he got unjustly Prov. 4.17 They eate the Bread of wickednesse and drink the Wine of violence that is they eate Bread and drink Wine gotten by wickednesse and violence Job disclaimes injustice in all these notions There is no injustice in my hands as if hee had sayd I have not gotten wealth by injustice nor enricht my selfe by making others poore I have not been as an Harpie to scratch and teare from others to feed my selfe Hee gives a full account of this Chap. 29. and Chap. 30. wiping off those aspersions of injustice by a large narrative of his proceedings in that publick capacity as a Magistrate the breviate of vvhich is summed up in this negative There is no injustice in my hand Further Injustice may be taken two wayes Either strictly for the act of a Magistrate perverting the Law and going besides the rules of righteousnesse Or largely for any wrong that one neighbour in a private capacity doth another To doe justice is every ones duty as well as the Magistrates vve use to say Every man is eyther a Foole or a Physitian vvee may say Every one is eyther a doer of justice or a dishonest man For though to doe justice is chiefely the Magistrates work yet no man who hath any thing to doe in the World can live as he ought vvithout doing justice In this large sense also vve may expound Jobs disclaimer of injustice as if he had sayd I have not willingly fayled in any of those duties which the Law of love towards my neighbour calls for and obliges me unto There is no injustice in my hands Also my prayer is pure Prayer is taken two vvayes as injustice is Eyther largely for the whole vvorship of God My house shall be called the house of prayer Matth. 21.13 that is All kinde of publick worship shall be performed and tendered to me there Prayer being so principall a part of vvorship may vvell comprehend all the parts of worship that which is chiefe in any kinde often denominates all the rest So Love is put for all the duties of the Law and Faith for all the duties yea and for all the Doctrines of the Gospell though in both many other duties and Doctrines are contained Strictly Prayer is that part or worship which consists in calling upon God Prayer is the making knowne of our desires or the opening of our hearts to God It is the ascent of our soules to God David being about to pray saith Vnto thee O Lord doe I lift up my soule In this place we may take prayer in both the notions of it My prayer Is pure The word signifies shining bright glorious a gracious prayer shines so bright that there is a glory in it My prayer is pure Zophar charged Job for saying My doctrine is pure Chap. 12.4 Now Job himselfe saith My prayer is pure The truth of
speakes of it in the most comfortable expressions Death it selfe is so embalmed yea and cloathed in the holy language that there is even a sweetnes and a beauty in it When a man hath worne a suit of Apparrell a great while and hath even worne it out or it becomes foule and nasty would he not be glad to put that off and get a new one upon his back therefore death is called an uncloathing a putting off the flesh there is no hurt in that when a man hath tyred himself all the day at his work would he not gladly go to bed therfore death is called rest or sleep Under these or the like considerations held forth in Scripture we may as it were burie al hard thoughts of death as was further shewed Chap. 14.12 especally while we remember that as now life is by many degrees bits or morsels swallowed up of mortality so then death shall at one bit or morsell be swallowed up of life 2 Cor. 5.4 For Christ hath not onely conquered but abolished death and hath brought not onely life but immortality to light through the Gospell 2 Tim. 1.10 Life is good yet when it may be sayd of a life it shall dye that puts an evill into life But if life be good how good is immortality which is a life that cannot dye Sixthly Note Job is very importunate to have a blot upon his good name wiped out his conscience was cleere his soule was well he could say Chap. 13. Hee is my Saviour and I know that I shall be justified yet because he was under aspersions and harsh censures he hastens to have these taken off because he was to dye shortly If we should on this ground be carefull to settle our outward estates and credits how much more should we be carefull upon this ground to see that our soules be well settled How should each one say I will hasten to get my sins pardoned my person justified I will hasten to have all cleer between God and my soule For when a few yeares are come I shall goe the way whence I shall not returne And if I doe not see these things done while I am here I shall never come back to see them done nor can they be done at all in the place whither I am going There is no repenting no reforming no beleeving in the grave if our spirituall change be not before our naturall change it will never be This â—rgument should provoke us to settle the affaires of our soules speedily It is not unlawfull nay it is a duty to vindicate our credit and to order the affaires that concerne this life because we have not long to live The hast of death should make us hast our worke even the worke of this life much more upon this ground should we see that our hearts be setled that our eternall peace be setled how should the haste of death make us haste the worke of the life which is to come But as it should make us hasten that worke so it must not make us huddle that worke or slubber it over or doe it to halves Such haste is waste indeed For if we leave our soules halfe setled and our peace halfe made and our repentance and turning to God in the midd way we shall never come againe to finish and perfect them no more then we shall to begin them Therefore set speedily about the worke and give your selves no rest till the worke be perfected for when a few dayes are come you shall goe the way where yee shall not returne Lastly Which was Jobs speciall case It is an affliction for any man to dye under a blott of disgrace Our credit and good name should be precious to us while we live especially wee should be carefull to dye with good credit and not to let a blott lye on us when wee are going out of the World Job would not dye under the name of an Hypocrite or an Oppressour with which black titles he had been charged by his Freinds It is a mercy to goe to the Grave with honour among men and to dye desired though it be enough that we goe to our Grave having honour with God and being desired of him A good name is a Box of oyntment powred forth and a good report especially among those that are good is as the embalming of our memories to posterity And yet the Saints are not so sollicitous for repaires in honour because of that esteeme which they have of their owne esteeme that 's the straine of ambition and they have learned to goe through good report and evill report through honour and dishonour they know how to goe forth without the Campe bearing the reproach of Christ But they are unwilling that Christ should beare their reproach or that his name should be dishonoured through them And therefore seeing they desire while they live to adorne the Doctrine of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in all things they cannot but be carefull before they dye to remove from their owne names whatsoever might reflect dishonour upon his How neer Job was in his owne opinion to the valley of the shadow of death is yet more evident in the first words of the next Chapter Here he onely tells us he must dye shortly there he tells us upon the matter that he was dead already here he saith When a few yeares are come I shall goe there he saith not onely that he had no more yeares to come but no more dayes My dayes are extinct c. JOB CHAP. 17. Vers 1 2 3 4 5. My breath is corrupt my dayes are extinct the Graves are ready for me Are there not mockers with me And doth not mine eyes continue in their provocation Lay downe now put me in a surety with thee who is he that will strike hands with me For thou hast hid their heart from understanding therefore shalt thou not exalt them He that speaketh flattery to his freinds even the eyes of his Children shall faile THE beginning of this Chapter pursues the Argument layd downe in the close of the former Or as a learned Expositor speaks Job in this doth enliven the premises Hoc capite intendit inanimare praemissa Aquin. and as it were put fresh spirits into what he had spoken before For whereas he had before desired the Lord to hasten his cause to a day of hearing because his day of death hastened Cha. 16. Vers 22. When a few yeares are come I shall goe the way whence I shall not returne Here to shew that hee was a dying man he describes himselfe as a dead man My breath is corrupt my dayes are extinct the graves are ready for me Secondly There Job made an appeale to God O that a man might plead with God as a man pleads with his Neighboâ—r Vers 21. And hee gives the reason why My Freinds scorne mee Vers 20. He doth the same here in other language Vers 2. Are there not mockers with me And doth