word with all readines of mind yet they did not swallow downe all whole that was sayd to them but searched the Scriptures dayly whether those things ware so Act. 17.11 The Apostles rule is sutable to their practice 1 Thes 5.21 Prove all things hold fast that which is good Now as it is the duty of hearers and learners to hold nothing till they have proved it so it is the duty of Teachers to offer every doctrine to the ballance or tryall which they desire others should hold Secondly While Job doth thus confidently offer his assertion to tryall We learne That Truth is not affrayd to be tryed Truth often lieth in a corner but truth doth not seeke corners truth never hides her head as ashamed to be seene or discussed by men Truth as some have sayd lyeth in a deepe pit it is hard to finde it out it lieth out of sight yet truth doth not hide it selfe but dares stand forth in the face of all the world truth no more feares the triall then pure gold feares the touchstone or then a schollar who hath made good progresse in his learning feares to be examined He that hath truth with him needs not care who appeares against him Thirdly In that he sayth if it be not so now who will make me a liar Note False doctrine is a lye Isa 9.15 The antient and the honourable he is the head the Prophet that teacheth lies that is the Prophet that teacheth false doctrine he is the tayle Jer. 9.3 They bend their tongues like their bowes for lies but they are not valiant for the truth on the earth The Prophet as I conceave intends not so much falsehood in discourse which we call telling a lye as falsehood of doctrine which we call teaching of lyes They bend their tongues as bows for lies that is they set themselves to the maintaining of false doctrine to the utmost stretch of their wit and words Againe saith the Lord Jer. 14.14 The Prophets that prophecy lyes in my name I sent them not neither have I commanded them neither spake unto them they prophecy unto you a false divination and a thing of nought and the deceit of their heart The whole doctrine of the man of sin is called a lye Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved therefore God gave them up to strong delusion that they should beleive a lye 2 Thes 2.11 All the faith-devouring and conscience-wasting errors that ever the man of sin vented to the world are wrapt up in this one syllable or word a lye He that receaveth a lye that is told wrongeth others by it but he that receaved a lye that is taught wrongeth himselfe most by it To tell a lye is very sinfull but to teach a lye is much more sinfull The evill of that sin is greatest which spreadeth furthest continueth longest A lye that is told and received sticketh not long in the memory but passeth away for the most part like a tale that is told and it is enough to many a man that telleth a lye if he be beleeved but a little while But a lye that is taught and receaved sticketh long in the understanding and abideth there like a nayle fastned by the Masters of the assemblyes and it is not enough to him that teacheth a lye unlesse it be beleeved for ever Thirdly When Job sayth Who will make me a liar Note The worst thing that can be proved against any man is that he is a lyar To be a lyar is to be as bad as may be For it is to be as bad as the Devill He deceaved the woman both by telling and teaching a lye Gen. 3. He abode not in the truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lye he speaketh of his owne for he is a lyar and the father of it Joh. 6.44 Every sin is of the Devill both by temptation and approbation but onely some sinnes are of the Devill by way of practice and the sin which is chiefely of him by practice is lying Now every sin the more congeniall it is to the Devill the more sinfull abominable it is And therefore among those who shall be without lye-makers are chiefe Rev. 22.15 Without are doggs and sorcerers and whoremongers and murderers and Idolaters and whosoever loveth and maketh a lye The universality of this exclusion is onely expressed upon lyars as if he had sayd to be sure all lyars shall be without He that maketh a lye hath nothing worse to make and he that maketh that is proveth a man to be a lyar hath nothing worse to make of him And make my speech nothing worth The Hebrew is And bring my speech to nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ideÌ„ quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graeci bâ—nè interpretantur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verbum è verbo in non as if he had sayd I challenge all men to disprove my reasons or to prove that my reasons are not a proofe of that for which I brought them In briefe let any man refute or confute what I have sayd if he can and then let all that I have sayd goe for nothing or be counted nothing worth Hence note Vnsound doctrine is worthlesse doctrine The speech of a lyar is nothing worth sound doctrine is of great value it is worth thousands David preferr'd the word of God before thousands of Gold and silver every holy truth is the word of God eyther formally or vertually eyther in termes or by consequence The Apostle compares sound doctrine to things of greatest worth even to Gold silver and pretious stones and in the same place 1 Cor. 3.12 he compares unsound doctrine or doctrine unsutable to the foundation which is Jesus Christ alone to wood hay stubble which as they are things in their owne nature unconsiderable worthlesse in comparison of Gold silver and pretious stones so as to the busienes upon which he there treates a suitable building upon Christ they are altogether worthlesse And if those doctrines which because of some errour in them are unsutable to the foundation are to be accounted but wood hay and stubble how worthlesse are those doctrines which being altogether erroneous are inconsistent with and quite overthrow the foundation Such doctrines are worthy of nothing but a dung-hill being themselves nothing but drosse and dung What is that worth to us which is uselesse to us How worthlesse then is that which is destructive to us Every error is a Bable a thing of no use some errors are as poyson deadly in their use The Apostle Peter doth not spare to say as much of them 2 Epist 2.1 2. while he calleth them damnable heresies which bring swift destruction upon the bringers of them in or the broachers of them abroad And if they bring destruction upon those who bring them they that receave them cannot be safe To conclude this poynt and Chapter if erroneous doctrine be nothing worth
with men but we read not of any honour they did to or received from God It is the highest disgrace to be memorable for actings against grace or for ungracious actings Num observas perpetuum ordinem quem in puniendis talibus impijs teâ—uit deus post natos homines Merc Putat hunc esse perpetuum ordinem domini ut impios hic puniat sed fallitur Merc Againe The old way may be taken for the way of punishment or for that course of divine Justice which was Executed upon wicked men in those elder times There is away of Judgement which God takes as there is a way of Sinne which man takes Sinfull ways lead into troublesome ways end in death Hast thou considered the way of justice which the Lord went in towards those old Sinners powring out his wrath and emptying the vialls of his Indignation upon them till hee had consumed and swept them off as rubbish from the face of the earth Hast thou marked the old way which eyther the lusts of wicked men have led them into or which the justice of the Lord hath brought them into Hast thou observed the old way Which wicked men have troden The Hebrew is Men of Iniquity Which phrase plainly imports that he doth not speake of the ordinary race or ranke of sinners but of the Extreamest sinners men so full of iniquity that they deserved this blacke Title men of Iniquity Antichrist is called not onely a man of sin or the man of sin but which implyeth a sinner of a higher forme then both the former That man of sin 2 Thes 2.3 He being indeed not onely among the chiefest sinners but the chiefe of sinners The phrase in the Text is a degree lower then that yet it notes a very great degreee And therefore when the Prophet would assure the greatest sinners repenting and returning to God of the readines of God to pardon he expresseth them in this stile Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man or as the Original Text hath it the man of iniquity his thoughts and c. As a man of Bloods notes a very bloody man a man given up to that particular sin of cruelty So a man of iniquity is one given up to sin in Generall Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men men of iniquity have Trodden This word trodden referred both to a sinfull and a suffering way notes the frequency of their going or being in those wayes And as it is referred to their sinfull way alone it notes first their boldnesse in sinning secondly their resolvednesse to sin A trodden way is such a way as a man hath often gone and in which he is not afraid to goe Hast thou marked the old way Hence note First The way of Sin and Error is an old way The Devill sinned from the beginning and men have sinned from their beginning not onely have there been sinnings but great sinnings from the begining the old way is the way of sin though the oldest way be not There was holines before there was sinne and truth before there was Error So that the way of sinne is the old way but not the oldest way God all whose wayes are holy was from everlasting The Angels who have been holy as long as they have been were from the beginning And the first beginning of man in his conversation was no doubt like his constitution holy He quickly went out of the way but surely his first step was not out of the way he went right before he went wrong and stood before he fell Againe if you take the way for the way of punishment Note That God in all ages hath punished sinners in their sinfull wayes God hath every where and every when left the tract and print of his anger and displeasure upon sinners though some particular sinners have gone unpunished in some age yet there was never any age wherein sinne was not punished in some The Lord gives a morall stopp to sinne perpetually that is by his Lawes he declares against it his word is expresse against all ungodlynes both the word of his Command and the word of his threatning Now as the Lord doth alwayes put this morall stopp in the way of sinne so he often puts a Judiciary stopp or a stop by way of Judgement And as in the 3d of Genesis he set a flaming sword in the way of the tree of life so he continually sets a flaming word that is a threatning to keepe the way of the tree of death that is of sinne Thus he alwayes meetes sinfull men in the way of their lusts as the Angel met Balaam when he went to curse the Israel of God with a drawne sword to stopp them in their way the Lord hath set many drawne swords in the way of every sinne and he hath left the prints of his wrath upon the backs of many sinners that wee should take heed of sinning The Lord hath left many sad examples upon record against sinne nor hath he at any time favoured it or done any thing which might indeed encourage sinners for though sometimes wicked men have prosper'd yet should wee looke into all times wee cannot finde that wicked men were ever blessed Judgement hath overtaken them sooner or later And if it hath at any time come too late to overtake them in this world yet it will come soone enough to overtake theirs in this or themselves in the world which is to come No man is blessed at any time who comes at last to be miserable Thirdly In that he saith Hast thou marked the old way Note It is our duty to observe and marke as the way of sinfull men so the way in which God punisheth their sinne All the wayes of God are to be marked as wee are to observe what the Lord speakes so what he doth his works as well as his word are remarkeable Who so is wise saith the Psalmist Psal 107.43 and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving kindnes of the Lord. I may say also that they shall understand the judgements of the Lord. And againe the Prophet confirmes it Hos 14.9 Who is wise and he shall understand these things prudent and he shall know them for the wayes of the Lord are right and the Just shall walke in them but the transgressors shall fall therein The wicked fall in the way of his commandements and therefore surely they shall fall in the way of his judgements And as the Lord hath given us Examples of this so he hath given this as the use of those Examples that wee should marke and observe them The Apostle 1 Cor. 10. shewes that all the dealings of God with that his ancient People the Jewes are written and recorded as our Examples ver 5 6 7. With many of them God was not well pleased but they were overthrowne in the wilderness Now these things were our Examples to the Intent that wee should not lust
Christ to subdue and conquer them they will be too hard for us and foyle us We are easily and presently foiled by pride by covetousnesse by wrath by envie all these passions and lusts will trample us under their feete in the dirt of all sinfullnesse and pollution both of flesh and spirit unlesse we receive power from on high to subdue and mortifie them Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the body ye shall live that is ye shall live comfortably holyly and eternally The deeds of the body that is sinfull deeds and the roote of them sinfull lusts count all weapons as Leviathan doth speares and swords but straw and stubble rather to be laughed at then feared except onely the weapons or power of the Spirit And when once we take our lusts to taske with the weapons of the Spirit they presently fall and dye before us The Spirit is the strength of God in us for the mortification of Corruption Fourthly We are strengthened or God puts strength into us for the resisting and conquering of the temptations of Satan we meet with many assaults from the devill and from the world who are confederate with our lusts These we must resist stedfast in the faith and that not onely in the faith as the faith imports soundnes of doctrine or divine truth but as The faith imports dependance upon Christ for strength and assistance Peter being a cheife a grandee in the traine of Christ or among the Disciples of Christ was Satans eye-sore and the fayrer marke for his fiery darts Satans fingers itcht to be doing with him he saith our Saviour desired to have him that he might sift him as wheat Luk. 22.31 that is to sift him throughly not to fetch out his chaffe from him but indeed to make him chaffe How was Peter upheld I have prayed for thee saith Christ that thy faith faile not that is I have prayed that God would put strength into thee that thy faith faile not if once faith faile we are overcome But is faith our strength No but faith goes to and takes hold of him who is our strength or who puts strength into us that we fall not in temptation But you will say Peter fell and he fell grievously his fall was great he denyed his Master 'T is true Peter fell but he did not fall away his faith did not faile that is it was not totally lost and therefore when Christ lookt upon him and by that looke renewed his strength he gat up againe even when he denied Christ there was a seed of faith remaining in him though like a tree in the winter his fruit was gone yea and his leaves too and he looked dead and withered yet there was sap in the roote his faith failed not whence was this he had an invisible supply of strength from God I have prayed saith Christ that thy faith faile not The prayer of Christ fayled not and therefore his faith did not Christ prayed that he might have strength by beleeving and though he had not so much faith as to preserve him standing yet he had so much faith as to raise him from his fall And what Christ prayed for Peter he prayed for all that should beleeve on his name that in all their resistings of and contendings with temptation their faith also may not fayle As faith is one principall piece of our spirituall armour whereby we overcome temptation so it fetches in that which is the whole of the whole Armour of God even the strength of God When the Apostle exhorts Saints Eph. 6.11 To put on the whole armour of God He premises another most needfull exhortation or exhorts them first v. 10. to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might implying that it is not any one piece no nor the whole armour of God abstractly or precisely taken which is our strength but that the God of this Armour is our strength in the spirituall combate Though our loynes were girt about with truth and we have on the breast-plate of righteousnesse though our feete were shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace and we have the shield of faith in our hand though we should take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God yet if thus arrayed it were possible for us to neglect or forget the God of the Word it were not possible for us to conquer the footmen lesser much lesse the horsemen Greater least of all The Charets of iron the greatest temptations of the Prince of darknes As no carnal weapon hath any thing at all to doe so no spirituall weapon can doe any thing at all in this warre without the strength of God or rather to conclude this poynt all these spirituall weapons and Armour are nothing else but the strength of God or the various puttings forth of the strength of God in weake man Fifthly and lastly God gives us strength to pray to and plead our cause before him he will not dazle us with his glory nor confound us with his Majesty when we come to plead with him but he will put strength into us In prayer we prevaile with God but the strength whereby we prevaile with God comes from God yea he doth not onely give us strength in prayer to act by but he acts that strength in prayer Rom. 8.26 Likewise the Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit it selfe maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Prayer is strong worke it calls forth the whole strength of the soul nor doth the soule in any thing shew its strength more then in prayer praying is wrestling and how can we wrestle without strength Even the king of Ninevy gave this direction at his fast Jon. 3.8 Let them cry mightily And our Lord Jesus Christ in the dayes of his flesh offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and teares Heb. 5.7 Now the Spirit is the strength of God in us for prayer he helpeth our infirmities and we are onely a bundle of infirmities without his helpe There is a threefold strength needfull in prayer and God by the Spirâ—t puts these three strengths into us First The Spirit helpes us with strength of argument to plead with God Secondly The Spirit helpes us with strength of faith in taking hold upon God Thirdly The Spirit helpes us with strength of patience in waiting upon God till we receive what we have prayed for Jacob by this threefold strength had power with God in prayer Hos 12.3 and it was the power or Spirit of God by which he had this threefold strength to prevaile with God Thus we are strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man Eph. 3.16 We are strong to doe and strong to suffer we are strong to mortifie corruptions and strong to conquer temptations we are strong to pray and strong to plead our
treasure I need not stay to tell you The Judgements of God saith David Psal 19.10 are more to be desired then Gold yea then much fine gold And againe Psal 119.72.127 The law of thy mouth is better to me then thousands of Gold and silver And ver 127. when he saw how some made voyd the Law of God he sayth Therefore I love thy commandements above Gold yea above fine Gold As if he had sayd because I see some men esteeme and reckon thy law as if it were drosse and throw it up as voyd and antiquated or taking the boldnes as it were to repeale and make it voyd that they may set up their own lusts and vaine imaginations because I see both prophane and superstitious men thus out of love with thy Law therefore my love is more enflamed to it I love it above gold which leads the most of men away captives in the love of it and I esteeme it more then that which is most esteemed by men and gaines men most esteeme in this world Fine Gold yea as he sayd Psal 19. more then much fine Gold Secondly Observe A high and reverentiall esteeme of the word of God workes the heart and keepes it close to the obedience of the word Job having said before I have kept the commandements of his mouth I have kept his wayes and not declined I have not gone back now comes to the spring of all this constancy in obedience I have esteemed the words of his mouth c. Love is the spring of action and esteeme is the top of love we love nothing which we doe not esteeme and what we love much we thinke we can never esteeme enough And what we thus love and esteeme we strive to keepe close unto They that receive the truth and doe not receive the love of it quickly turne from it to beleive a lye yea God therefore sends them strong delusion to beleive a lye because they received not the love of the truth As not to love the truth is a sin so it is punished with another sin the love of error Though we have taken much truth into our understandings yet unlesse we take it into our affections also we cannot hold it long 'T is love which holds the heart and the word together No man willingly obeyes that Law which he doth not love Before David could say The Law is my meditation all the day he sayth O how I love thy law Ps 119.97 The hypocrite who hates instruction and casts the word of God behinde his backe that is slights and vilifies it to the utmost for so much to cast behinde the backe imports the hypocrite I say who thus casts the word of God behinde his backe will be talking of the word and have it much in his mouth yea he will mouth it so or be so talkative about it that God reproves or checks him for it Psal 50.16 Vnto the wicked saith God What hast thou to doe to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant in thy mouth So then the hypocrite was very busie with his tongue and he could speake much of that which he loved never a whit But was the hypocrite a man of his hands also was he busie in obeying the word which he had cast behinde his back The next words of the Psalme ver 18 19 20 21. tell us what he was busie about even this he was breaking the Law as fast as he could When thou sawest a theife then thou consentest with him and hast been partaker with Adulterers c. The inditement is large and upon many heads yet all true and is therefore closed with These things hast thou done ver 21. I the Lord am witnes and so is thy owne Conscience That Scripture is a cleare glasse wherein we may see how all they will use the Law of God who doe not highly esteeme the words of his mouth We may read Jobs text backward for their character Their feete have not held his steps his way have they not kept but declined they have gone back from the commandement of his lips And why so for they have esteemed the words of his mouth no more then their un-necessary food no more then the scraps that fall from their Table no more then as the Proverb saith their old shoes I have esteemed the word of his mouth more then my necessary food When Job saith I have esteemed the word of his mouth c. It is as if he had sayd this is enough for me that God hath sayd it to make me esteeme it Hence observe Thirdly Whatsoever God saith is to be esteemed for his owne sake or because he hath sayd it As God needs not borrow light from any what to speake so he needs not borrow testimony or Authority from any to ratifie what he hath spoken He is to be beleeved for himselfe His words need no sanction but ipse dixit I the Lord have sayd it or thus saith the Lord that is enough to silence all queryes and disputes both about the truth of what is delivered and the necessity of our obedience to it As the word of Gods mouth is to be obeyed so it is therefore to be obeyed because it is the word of his mouth That he hath sayd it must command our faith As he is the true God so he is the God of truth Every word of his mouth is pretious As what God hath spoken must be the rule of our faith so that he hath spoken it must be the reason of our faith I have esteemed the words of his mouth c. Lastly From both these verses we may take notice of the severall steps by which Jobs piety did arise to so eminent a hight First He strongly tooke hold of the steps of God Secondly He diligently kept his way Thirdly He declined not eyther to the right hand or to the left Fourthly He went not backe from the Holy commandement both which negatives may be resolved into this affirmative He walked very closely and exactly with God in utmost perseverance Fifthly He tooke a delightfull care about all those things which the word of God called him unto even beyond all the care which he tooke for those things which are most conducible to and necessary for the comforts of his body or natural life JOB CHAP. 23. Vers 13. But he is in one minde and who can turne hinc and what his soule desireth even that he doth IN this verse Job is conceived by some at once making discovery of his owne infirmitie and of the soveraignty of God But though all agree that they carry a full discovery of the soveraignty of God yet many are so farre from judging them a discovery of Jobs infirmitie that they rather discover the strength and hight of his Grace and holines To cleare the whole matter we may take notice That there are three apprehensions about the scope and sence of these words First As if in them Job renderd a reason
for a love to the truths and wayes of God which they practice for want of this they often apostatiâ—e and fall back even from the practice of them No bonds can hold us alwayes to the duties of obedience but those of love to God and to the things wherein duty calls us to obey And as want of this love is the reason why man is so apt to backslide and is so far as a Negative may be the very seed and principle of backsliding so it is the reason why God gives such up to the power and spirit of backsliding 2 Thes 2.10 11. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should beleeve a lie What is not begun in our affections will not abide long in our actions Secondly Observe Not to abide in the pathes of truth and holines is the marke of an ungodly man They who are not what they appeare in goodnesse will not alwayes so much as appear good They that are as Jacob spake of his eldest Son Reuben Gen. 49.4 unstable as water shall not excell nor are they to be numbred among the excellent ones The Apostle exhorts Saints 1 Cor. 15.58 To be stedfast and unmoveable alwayes abounding in the worke of the Lord. Saints move in the worke of the Lord but they must not move out of the worke of the Lord Bee ye stedfast and unmoveable but in what in the worke of the Lord That is the sphere in which Saints move the sphere of their activity and use and out of that they dare not move The Sun in the firmament is moving continually but it is in his proper line called by Astronomers The Eclipticke line So a godly man is alwayes moveing in the way of godlines that 's his proper line and he never moves out of it wholy Hee may have through the power of corruption and temptation his wandrings and goings astray but then he hath his repentings and returnings into the way againe he cannot abide long much lesse alwayes in the pathes of darknes Hee comes to himselfe with the prodigal and then he comes to his father he bethinkes himselfe where he is and comes backes into the path where he ought to be if at any time he walke in the counsel of the ungodly the gradation is made in the first Psalme which thing he ought not to doe yet surely he will not as it followes stand in the way of sinners or if he stand a while in that way yet he will not sit downe in the seat of the scornfull he will not rest nor stay there Now as it is an argument and a marke of Godlines when a man findes that though he hath many faylings and wandrings yet he abideth not in the pathes of darknes so it is an argument of the noughtines of a mans heart and state when though he now and then hits upon the doing of a good thing yet he abides not in the pathes of light Vaine thoughts as the Prophet Reproves the Jewes lodge in the wicked so long that the Lord complaines How long shall vaine thoughts lodge in you But as good thoughts seldome come to an ungodly man so they lodge not at all with him they are great strangers to him and he useth them as the worst of strangers yea as enemies he quickly turnes them off yea he thrusts them away from him he abideth not in the pathes of light Job having thus set forth the Spirit of a wicked man by his rebellion against the light by his unaffectednes with and unstayednes in the wayes and pathes of it proceeds to give us a further account of his wicked courses and workes of darknes Vers 14. The murtherer rising with the light killeth the poore and needy and in the night is as a Theife The murtherer is hee that killeth a man without warrant and authority every slaying of a man is not murther but to slay a man or to take away the life of a man without warrant that 's murther And that 's the grosse sinne forbidden in the sixt Commandement Thou shalt not kill or thou shalt doe no murther And this is usually committed eyther in malice to the person or in Covetousnesse after the spoyle Some take away the life of a man in malice to his person they hate him deliberately as Cain did Abel and therefore they kill him Others have no quarrel to the man possibly they never saw him before but they covet his goods and that they may rob him of his goods they rob him of his life They are such as live upon the spoyle and they will spoyle though they cause the innocent to dye for it and themselves too in the end In eyther of these wayes wee may understand the murtherer here The former because 't is sayd in the next words He slayes the poore and needy and there is little gaine in their blood when they goe downe into the pit The latter because 't is sayd in the latter part of the verse That in the night he is as a theife But Job first shewes us that this murtherer is a diligent man Rising with the light That is rising as early or as soon as the light riseth The murtherer is no sluggard the light doth not finde him in bed he takes the prime of the morning he will loose no time Men who love hunting rise early So doe these hunters of men When the morning is light they practice it saith the Prophet Mich. 2.1 Honest men rise early to goe about the workes of their Calling and wicked men rise early to fulfill the lusts of their hearts David saith Psal 101.7 I will early destroy all the wicked of the Earth As if David had sayd I will rise with the light to destroy the wicked and here you see how the wicked are described riseing Early to destroy the righteous to murther the Innocent So the next words expresse the designe of his early rising He riseth with the light what to doe no good I warrant you 't is To kill the poore and needy That 's his busienes He begins his mornings worke with a worke of cruelty you heare of killing presently The murtherers heart is full of blood and it will not be long ere his hand be full too for their feete are swift to shed blood Rom. 3.15 and they are skilfull to destroy But it may seeme that they are not very wise for themselves though they are very bloody against others For Job doth not say they slay the fat and full ones but The poore and needy There are some who distinguish between these two and tell us that in these two words two yea all sorts of poore are Included The first word they say intends those poore who heretofore were rich but now empoverished or fallen into poverty and that by the second word are meant those who have been born and alwayes bred up in a low condition But wee