husband Curse God and die But could Job die when he listed that she biddeth him curse God and die What meanes this language Some interpret her meaning to be this die by thy owne hand destroy thy selfe as sons of Belial use to say goe hang thy selfe murther thy selfe make an end of thy selfe As God by these plagues is thy Judge so be thou to end the matter thy owne executioner Or as others Curse God that so he may be provoked to take thee out of the world quickly Or curse God and die ease thy heart somewhat and give it vent by breaking out against God in blasphemies take this revenge upon him and then let him doe his worst curse God though thou die for it Lastly curse God That so the Magistrate taking notice of it thou mayest be cut off by the Sword of Justice We know blasphemers were sentenc'd to death without mercy by the Law of Moses and it is not improbable that the light of nature might carry those Nations to as high and severe a revenge against that highest sin We know Socrates was adjudged to death by the Athenians as their naturall divinity taught them for an injurious or dishonourable speech concerning their gods I conceive her counsell curse God and dye had some of these intendements in it The best of them is bad enough and so bad that it renders this Objection against them all It is objected That surely any of these carry too high a straine of wickednesse for Jobs wife surely she could not imagine much lesse have the boldnesse to offer such advice to her husband I answer first in generall A good man may have a very bad wife A husband cannot infuse holinesse or make his wife good Marriage doth not change the heart Marriage with Christ doth but not marriage with a Christian or the holiest man that ever lived Therefore that reason is not cogent Secondly this speech and a holy person are not altogether inconsistent possibly Jobs wife was a good woman though actually she spake thus wickedly Divers of the Jewish doctours have an opinion that it was not Jobs wife that spake but the devill in her likenesse I shall leave that among their other dreames It is conjectured by others though it were not the devil that spake personating his wife yet that it was the devill speaking in or by the person of his wife as he spake in or by the serpent Gen. 3. Or as persons really possest of the devill who speake Satans words and do Satans works not their own Some I say carry it thus that she was for that time not only acted but actually possest by the devill and so spake the devils language One of the Ancients is expresse to this purpose These are the devils words not the womans words which another illustrates by that in the third of Genesis where it is said The serpent said unto the woman but it was the devill that spake unto the woman by the serpent so here it is said His wife spake unto him but the truth is it was the devill spake unto him in and by his wife And if so put the language into the worst exposition given or give a worse if truth will beare it and it will be no wrong to such an Orator I beleeve we cannot expound the words to a higher sense or straine of wickednesse then Satan could speake But we need not make Satan himselfe the speaker and yet cleare the matter too though we neither say as the Jewish doctours that it was the devill personally taking the shape of Jobs wife or as those Christian Fathers that the devill did actually possesse her yet we may say and so salve the difficulty that she was mightily over-powred and acted by the temptation of Satan to be an instrument of temptation in this grosse manner against her husband Though she were not acted as the Serpent was in whom Satan spake to Eve yet we may well say she was acted as Eve by whom Satan spake to Adam Eve spake the devils minde being prevailed upon by his temptation to perswade her husband to eat against the command of God and Jobs wife overcome by a like temptation attempts the perswasion of her husband to curse God For as it is possible for one that is good to fall into the grossest and most blasphemous temptation himself so it is possible for one that is good to be made an instrument of such temptations unto others We may see an instance neere if not fully reaching this assertion in the Apostle Peter who hearing Christ fore-telling his sufferings takes him aside and began to rebuke him saying Be it farre from thee Lord this shall not be unto thee Mat. 16.22 23. Peter acted Satans part in this against his Master though unwittingly yet so wittily so to the life that he got his name by it Christ said to Peter get thee behind me Satan It was Peters tongue but Satan tun'd it Isaac said of his sonne Jacob in Esaus dresse The hands are the hands of Esau but the voice is the voice of Jacob Christ perceived here Satans counsell in Peters words he saw the wicked spirit through the cloathing of Peters flesh and therefore rebukes the Organ under the title of the chiefe agent Get thee behind me Satan Now as Peter though a holy man and full of good intentions to his Master yet spake the Devils mind and language so fully that the Devill himselfe as to that purpose could scarce have mended it So likewise Jobs wife might be a godly woman in the maine though abused and misled by Satan she thus excited her husband in the grossest construction those words can beare to curse God and die There is somewhat in the Text which may give us a hint of this that though she spake this yet Job esteemed her a good woman For observe Jobs answer to this advice What doth he say He doth not say Thou wicked woman thou abhominable wretch why doest thou give me such counsell All that he saith is this Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh Observe it he doth not call her foolish or wicked woman but thou speakest as one of the foolish women As if he should say How now wife what words are these that I heare from thee thou dost not speake now like thy selfe I use to heare other language from thee thou and I have had other kind of conference and I have received other kind of counsell from thee then this Whence is it that thou art so unlike thy selfe where are thy words season'd with salt which have so often ministred grace unto the hearers thou art degenerated in manners and corrupted in thy speech thou speakest now as one of the foolish women Intimating that she used to speake wisely and discreetely or as Solomon describes the vertuous woman Pro. 31·26 that heretofore she opened her mouth with wisedome and now she spake only as a foolish or wicked woman He doth not
translated perfect in other Texts is rendered upright But when we have both the expressions together as here we must distinguish the sense It is not a tautologie Then the former being taken for inward soundnesse plainenesse and sincerity This latter to be upright may be taken for outward justice righteousnesse and equity respecting all his dealings in the world He was a perfect man that is he was plaine hearted and he was plaine dealing too which is the meaning of He was upright So the one referres to the integrity of his spirit the other to the honesty of his wayes His heart was plaine and his dealings were square This he expresseth fully in the 29. and 31. Chapters of this Booke which are as it were a Comment upon this word upright There you may reade what is meant by uprightnesse his fairenesse in all parts both of Commutative and Distributive Justice In those things that concerned Commutative Justice when Iob bought or sould traded or bargained promised or covenanted hee stood to all uprightly Take him as he was a Magistrate when Iob sate in Judgement or had any businesse brought before him he gave every one his due he did not spare or smite upon ends he did neither at any time justifie the wicked or condemne the godly but was upright in Judgement He was not byast by affection or interests he was not carried away by hopes or feares but kept the path of Justice in all his dispensations towards that people among whom he lived This is to be an upright man and so the Prophet tells us Isa 26.7 The way of the Iust is uprightnesse that is they are upright in their wayes and more uprightnesse in the abstract We have a like expression Prov. 29.27 Those that are upright in the way are an abomination to the wicked Uprightnesse doth referre to the way wherein a man goes in his outward dealings and dispensations towards men There is a two-fold uprightnesse of our wayes 1. Uprightnesse of words 2. Of works so upright walking is expounded and branched forth Psal 15.2 3. He that walketh uprightly and worketh righteousnesse and speaketh the truth in his heart He that back-biteth not with his tongue This is the second part of Iobs description He was perfect and upright Thirdly He was One that feared God Fearing God The feare of God is taken two wayes Either for that naturall and inward worship of God and so the feare of God is a holy filiall affection awing the whole man to obey the whole will of God That is feare as it is an affection Or the feare of God is put for the externall or instituted worship of God So that a man fearing God is as much as this A man worshipping God according to his owne will or according to his mind and direction Now when as Iob is said to be a man fearing God you must take it both these wayes He had that holy affection of feare with which we must worship God as we are taught Heb. 12.28 Let us have grace whereby wee may serve God with reverence and godly feare And serve the Lord with feare and rejoyce before him with trembling Psal 2. Feare is that affection with which we must worship and serve God And Iob likewise did performe that worship to God which he required this is called Feare and the exercise of it fearing God Fearing God is worshipping God As you may see clearely by two Texts of Scripture compared together In the fourth of Math. v. 10. Christ saith to the Devill It is written thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only thou shalt serve Compare this with Deut. 6.13 and there you shall have it thus exprest Thou shalt feare the Lord thy God That which in the one place is worship in the other is feare Againe Mat. 15.9 In vaine saith Christ doe they worship mee teaching for doctrine the commandements of men Now the Prophet Isaiah from whence that is taken Chapt. 29.14 expresseth it thus Forasmuch as their feare toward mee is taught by the precepts of men They worship me according to the precepts of men saith Christ Their feare is taught by the precepts of men saith the Prophet So that feare and worship are the same Fearing God doth include both the affection of a worshipper and the duty or act of worshipping The fourth part or line of Iobs character is his Eschewing evill Evill is here taken for the evill of sinne before sinne came into the world there was no evill in the world God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good But when sinne came which was the first and is the chiefest evill it brought in with it all other evills Sinne hath in it the whole nature of evill and all the degrees of evill and from it proceed all evill effects Hence is eminently called evill Sicknesse and death and Hell are called evill how much rather that but for which these evills had never bin how much rather that with which these compared may be called good Further evill is put here indefinitely He was one that eschewed evill not this or that evill but evill that is all evill this indefinite is universall And then further we are to take evill here as himselfe afterward expoâ—nds it in his practise not only for the acts of evill but all the occasions the appearances the provocations and incentives of or unto evill for whatsoever might leade him into evill for thus he instanceth in one particular I made a covenant with mine eyes why then should I thinke upon a maide Chap. 31.1 Eschewed In this word the prudence of Iob shines as bright as his holinesse who having received a great stock and treasure of grace now watches to preserve it and opposes whatsoever was destructive to the life or growth of the inner man That man shewes he hath both money and his wits about him who suspects and provides against Theeves Job eschewed evill There is much in that expression It is more to say a man doth eschew evill then to say a man doth not commit evill It had bin too bare an expression to say Iob did not commit evill but when it is said Job eschewed evill this shews that not only the hand and tongue of Iob did not medle with evill but that his heart was turned from evill For eschewing is a turning aside with reluctancy and abhorrency so the Hebrew Sar imports Iob did abhorre evill as well as not commit evill As there is a great deale of difference betweene these two the doing of good and a delight in doing good betweene being at peace and following of peace A man may doe good and not be a lover of good a lover of the Commandements of God a delighter in them he may be at peace and not be a lover and follower of peace So a man may be one that commits not such and such sinnes he may doe no hurt and yet in the meane time he may be one
three-fold hedge made about Job and they are all exprest here in this Text. Here was a hedge first about his Person that was the inmost hedge or the inmost wall in these words Hast thou not made an hedge about him That is an hedge about the very person of Job an hedge about his body least any sicknesse diseases or dangers should invade it and an hedge about his soule least snares and temptations should take hold of or prevaile against that thou hast made an hedge about him so that I cannot come at the person of Job to hurt him Againe Besides this inmost wall and the nearest about his person there is a second wall or hedge and that is exprest to be about his Family Hast thou not made an hedge about him and about his house By house we are not to understand the materiall house of stone or timber the edifice in which Job dwelt but by the house we are to understand the houshold Job and his family as oftentimes in Scripture the house is put for the family This day saith Christ to Zacheus is salvation come to thy house and it is said of the Jaylor that he beleeved and all his house that is all his household so here thou hast made an hedge about him and about his house that is about his Family about his children especially hence the Hebrew word for a child for a sonne doth signifie an house because children build up the house or keep up the name of their Fathers So that the house hedg'd about is the children the family and the followers and servants of Job as if Satan should say thou hast made an hedge not only about his person but about all that belong unto him about his children and servants I may not meddle with them neither There is the second hedge Lastly There is a third hedge or wall Hast thou not made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath That is about his goods about his cattell and about his lands so farre as ever any thing of Jobs doth extend so farre the hedge goeth if Job have but the least thing abroad God doth make an hedge about it he hath not the meanest thing belonging unto him but is under guard and protection That is the meaning of it There is yet another thing to be observed in the words to make it more full Hast thou not made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side It is not only said thou hast made an hedge about him but thou hast made an hedge about him on every side which is a pleonasme or redundancy of speech It was a signe of Gods care of Job when he made an hedge about him but to say he made an hedge about him on every side here is exprest an extraordinary care that God had not left the least gappe for Satan or for any annoyance to come in unto Job There is not the least breach the least hole thou hast hedged him round about on every side whereby the wonderfull safety of Job his family and estate is set out under the protection of God That for the opening of those words First We may observe from the manner of this speech Hast thou not made an hedge about him Satan speakes very angerly Questions as they ever expresse quicknesse of spirit so they many times expresse much passion and trouble of spirit Here. Satan in questioning speakes as if he were vext Hast thou not made an hedge about him Hence note That the protection which God gives to his people and servants is the vexation of Satan and of all his Instruments It troubleth them extreamely that God doth so guard and hedge up his people that they cannot come at them No man can endure to see that defended which he wisheth were destroyed Then againe if we consider the matter of Satans speech it is a truth and a most comfortable truth a truth full of consolation to the people of God Hast thou not made an hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side We may note hence That Satan the father of lyes sometimes speakes truth for his owne advantage For as it is said concerning Judas about his care for the poore when he would have had the oyntment sold and given to the poore This he said saith the Text not that he cared for the poore but because he was a theefe and had the bagge and bare what was put therein So we may say here Satan sets forth the care of God over his people in most exact termes And why doth he doe this Not that he cares to speake well of God or to advance God in the eyes of his people by telling his people and servants how watchfull he is over them but he doth this only for his owne advantage that hereby he may lessen the service and blemish the obedience of Job because he received so much care and love from God As it is many times with ungodly men they will doe good not that they care to doe good but only for some bie-end So Satan will sometimes speake that which is true not that he regards the truth or that he would speake a word of truth for he hath nothing but lyes in his heart there is a lye in his heart when there is truth in his mouth He never speakes truth but to deceive and doe hurt by it Thirdly Wee may observe this which lyeth plaine in the words That the people and servants of God dwell in the middest of enemies in the middest of dangers Why else need there be an hedge a wall about them What need there be a guard about them unlesse there were dangers about them There are none in the world so envyed and spighted so aimed at and persecuted as the people and servants of God you may see it by the wall that is made about them God will not bestow cost and care in preserving and guarding where there is no danger of invading If you should come to a City and see it mightily fortified and see men make wall after wall about it and bulwarke after bulwarke you will presently conjecture that City stands in great danger and is in the middest of enemies So when we reade that God was faine to make wall after wall to make hedge after hedge about the person the family the estate of Job it sheweth that the devill had an ill eye upon Job and upon all that was Jobs Satan and his instruments had it not bin for this hedge would quickly have fallen upon him No godly man should live a quiet moment did not the Lord stretch forth his hand to save and protect him Fourthly We may observe That God himselfe doth undertake the guarding and protecting of his people Thou hast made an hedge about him and about all that he hath God himselfe either doth it immediately or he doth put
bruise and breake the heart of their tender Father Afflictions presse most when they are least expected Let us observe then this mixture of malice and cunning in Satan in choosing his time To carry a man from one extremity to another puts him upon the greatest extremity To make the day of a mans greatest rejoycing to be the day of his deepest sorrowes this is cutting if not killing sorrow To be brought from extreame sorrow to extreame joy suddenly doth rather amaze then comfort the spirit of a man It is said that when the Lord turned againe the captivity of Zion the people were like them that dreame the change was so great so sudden that they were rather astonished and amazed then comforted with it for a while So much more to be hurried from extreame joy to extreame sorrow from the borders of comfort to the brinke of death on a sudden is not so much to afflict a man as to confound and distract him This course Satan takes with Job It were well if we could be wise in this respect to imitate Satan to choose out our day to do good when there is greatest probability of successe as he chose out his day to do mischief It is the Apostles rule as you have opportunity doe good if wee could be wise to lay hold upon opportunities it would be a wonderfull advantage to us as a word fitly spoken is word upon the wheele so a worke fitly done is a worke upon the wheele it goeth on takes upon the heart both of God and man Let us consider whether now we have not a season whether this be not a day that holds forth to us a glorious opportunity Surely we may present this day unto you as a day to be doing in Let us therefore be as quick in this our day to doe good as Satan was in that day to doe hurt This is a day wherein great things are a doing and grievous things are a suffering by many of our bretheren therefore you should be working this day make a day on 't This is a day in which sonnes of Belial men that will not beare Christs yoke are combining to breake it and to cast his coards from them Then joyne this day to helpe Christ else as Mordecai said to Esther If thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time this was a day for Esther to worke in then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jewes from another place but thou and thy fathers house shall be destroyed So I may say to you in reference to the present opportunity if you altogether hold your peace hold your purses and hold your hands at this time at such a day as this enlargement will come to the Church some other way but you may be destroyed who thinke to hold and keepe your peace either by saying or doing nothing If ever you will appeare this is a day to appeare in to doe good Let us be wise to manage and improve our day That it may never be said of us as our Lord Christ did of Jerusalem If yee had knowne even ye in this your day the things which belong unto your peace Luk. 19.42 It is a sadder thing to have had a season and not to know it sc not to use it then not to have had it Solomon tells us Eccles 8.6 That Because to every purpose there is a time and judgement therefore the misery of man is great upon him Misery cannot be great to a man because there is a time for every purpose but because men are either so blind that they cannot see or so sluggish that they will not make use of the proper time for every purpose Thus the preacher himselfe expounds it Chap. 9.12 For man also knoweth not his time as the fishes that are taken in an evill not and as the birds are taken in a snare so are the sonnes of men snared in an evill time when it falleth suddenly upon them Consider what Solomons experience taught him Let not your inadvertency of these times make you a new experiment of that ancient truth And leave men that should be wise especially that pretend to wisedome to be numbred among and compared with a silly bird a silent fish Then again Forasmuch as it was the day of their great feast of their feast with wine upon which this great affliction assaulted Job Observe That the fairest and clearest day of our outward comfort may be clouded and overcast before the evening It was as faire a day as ever began in Jobs family a feast and a feast with wine and that in the eldest Brothers house and yet all was darkenesse before night This is true in reference to ungodly men great and terrible judgements fall suddainly upon them their light is turned into darknesse in a moment as Christ compares it to the dayes of Noah and the dayes of Lot As it was saith he in the dayes of Noah they did eate they dranke they married wives they were given in marriage untill the day that Noah entred into the Arke and the flood came and destroyed them all and as it was in the dayes of Lot c. both which are in two words set out by the Apostle when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction commeth Thus it is with ungodly men their Sunne often sets at noone when they say yea when they conclude all 's well then judgement mixt with wrath is at the doore This is a truth also in reference unto godly men and the Churches of God all their outward comforts may be clouded in a day while they are eating and drinking not sinfully but in a holy manner suppose as the Apostle adviseth to the glory of God yet even at that time all may presently be taken away And therefore as the Apostle saith rejoyce as if you rejoyced not in the creature and eate as if you did not eate and buy as if you possessed not Why For the fashion of this world the Scheme of this world passeth away You see it did with Job in what a goodly fashion was his worldly estate in the morning how was it drest and adorned in perfect beauty in all its excellencies as we heard it before described yet before night all the fashion of it past away and the beauty of it was quite blasted Therefore you that have great estates and good estates estates well gotten and well govern'd be not high-minded trust not in uncertaine riches If riches increase and if they increase in a right way yet set not your hearts upon them for the fashion of worldly things quickly passeth away Riches make themselves wings to fly away when thou art making doores and locks bolts and barres to keepe them in That for the time in the 13th verse But what did Satan upon this day That is set forth in the 14th v. and so on And there came a messenger unto Job and said The Oxen were plowing and
unto the father When they told Christ of some whose bloud Pilate had mingled with their Sacrifices Thinke not saith he that either these or those upon whom the Tower of Shiloe fell and slew them were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem I tell you except yee repent yee shall all likewise perish As there is no judging of the sinnes of men by such kind of exigents and events so neither of the wrath of God yet how many by such appearances judge unrighteous judgements being as barbarous as those Barbarians of Malta who seeing a Viper comming out of the heat and fastning on Pauls hand they concluding he must die presently censured him to be a murtherer whom though he had escaped the Sea yet vengeance followed on shore and would not suffer to live Wee must not ground our judgement upon the workes of God but upon his word In externals there is the same event to all Eccles 9. Men cannot be distinguish'd for eternity by what they suffer but by what they doe not by the manner of their death but by the tenour of their lives This is a certaine truth That man can never die an evill death who hath led a good life There is nothing makes death evill but the evill which followeth death or the evill that goes before death Thirdly Here was death a strange and sudden death surpriz'd the children of Job and this when they were feasting when they were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brothers house Wee may observe from that also by way of admonition Christians had need to take heed and be holy in feasting While we are eating and drinking we may be dying therefore eating and drinking we had need be holy Take heed to your selves saith Christ lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkennesse take heed lest at any time because at any time the day may come upon you unawares That day whether it be a day of generall calamity or personall may come upon you unawares It becomes us to be holy in all manner of conversation though we had an Assurance of our lives But seeing in what manner of conversing so ever we be death may surprize us and we have no assurance of our lives in our greatest joyes how holy should we be Whether you eate or drinke saith the Apostle or whatsoever you doe doe all to the glory of God Have God in your eye let him be your aime It is prophecied concerning the latter times That every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holinesse unto the Lord. The very pots in Jerusalem shall be holy that is men at their pots shall be holy to note that they should be holy in their eatings in their drinkings not holy onely when they were praying and holy when they were hearing but holy in those ordinary naturall actions of eating and drinking holy at their Tables and in all their refreshings with the creature Then indeed there is holinesse in the heart when there is holinesse in the pot and 't is but need there should be holinesse in the pot when there my bedeath in the pot We may observe somewhat more generally from all these foure sore afflictions considered together As first We see how quickly the beauty of all worldly blessings may be blasted Job in the morning had an estate as great and as good as his heart could desire in worldly things there was luster and strength in and upon all he had but before night he had nothing but sorrow to sup upon He had no retinue of servants left but foure reserved only to report his losses In one day all 's gone It is added as an aggravation of Babylons down-fall that her judgements shall come upon her in one day Revel 18.8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day death and mourning and famine and she shall be utterly burnt with fire for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her In one day all the beauty of Babylon shall be blasted We need not now trouble our selves to thinke Babylon is in a great deale of strength and beauty and glory surely there must be a long time spent in contriving and acting the destruction of Babylon no the Lord can blast her beauty and destroy her power in a day and the Text saith he will doe so in one day all her plagues shall come upon her That which Babylon hath beene gathering many yeares shall be scattered in a moment She thinkes that by her wisdome and policy she hath laid such a foundation of her owne greatnesse as shall never be shaken And therefore concludes I sit a Queene and am no widow and shall see no sorrow Yet all her strength shall not hold out one day when God in his displeasure shall lay siege against her walls So when yee looke upon other great and mighty prosperous and flourishing enemies such as flourish like greene bay trees remember the Lord in one day can wither their branches and kill their roots yee root them up Certainly the strength of the Lord is as mighty for the destroying of his enemies as it is for the afflicting of his owne people If he sometimes gives commission to take away all their comforts in a day when their estates are highest and strongest built Surely he will at last give Commissions for as speedy a dispatch against the estates of his greatest enemies And this may be unto us all matter of Admonition to prepare for changes to esteeme creatures as they are perishing substance Who ever had an estate better gotten better bottom'd or better managed then Job yet all was overthrowne and swept away in a moment We can never expect too much from God nor too little from the creature Lastly We may learne from the fore-going story of these afflictions considering that Satan was the contriver and engeneere who set all a worke That Satan is mighty both in power and policy for the effecting of his designes if God give him liberty and leave You see he doth not faile or misse in the least he brings every affliction upon Job in the perfection of it and he doth not bungle at it or doe his worke by halves but he is quicke and speedy both in laying the plot and executing it There is nothing in this inferiour world able to stand before him no creature no man if God let him alone The good Angels can match yea and master devils there is no doubt of that but if God stop his Angels and with-draw his hand the devill would quickly over-runne all the world We wrestle not with flesh and bloud but with principalities and powers Evill spirits are called powers in the abstract they have not onely a power they are not only powerfull hence called principalities such as have great authority and soveraignty as it were over others but they are called Powers It is not an empty title or a naked name that is given them but they are filled and
cloathed with strength proportionable Satan is a mighty Prince commanding in the spirits of wicked men ther 's his Throne he can kindle their lusts and â—â—flame their spirits set them on fire from hell and then cause them to goe on with a rage in doing mischiefe as high as Heaven He can leade men captive at his will though not against their owne will Yet to shew the efficacy of his actings he is said to lead them captive at his will to doe his will and execute his devillships designes It is admirable what Satan can doe upon wicked men who are his willing vassals and bond-slaves if he speake the word they goe if he suggest they submit if he move they obey And likewise we see what a mighty Prince he is in the aire all the elements and the meteors stoope to his direction He cannot onely command men who have reason but he can command the fire the water the winds the thunders therefore he is called the Prince of the power of the ayre those powers that are in the aire he can command For though it be a truth that Satan of himselfe cannot make one sparke of fire or so much as one breath of wind yet if hee be let loose and unchain'd hee can goe to Gods Store-house of wind and fire hee can goe to Gods Magazin of thunder stormes and tempests he can fetch out such store of all these and so enrage them that no man is able to withstand their violence The Apostle taxes all naturall men that they live without God in the world that is they live without a sensible apprehension of the Majesty of the power and holinesse of God they are not affected with God in the world I may say in a sense unto many godly men and it may be a reproofe unto them that they live without the devill in the world that is they have not such apprehensions of the power and policy and sleights of Satan as they ought to have We doe not know or apprehend as we ought and as we might who the devill is or what his power is I doe not speake this as if I would have any meditate and pore upon the power of Satan so as to be afraid of him that 's no part of my intent but it is for this end that our hearts might be raised up to blesse God who doth binde up such an enemy and bound such a power who if hee were let alone would doe us mischiefe an hundred times in a day Nay he would unquiet and unsettle the whole world This is the reason why we should consider the power and policy of Satan to blesse God who stops the mouth of this Lyon so that he cannot stirre to doe that mischiefe unto which his nature doth at once encline and inable him Verse 20. Then Job arose and rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell downe upon the ground and worshipped Verse 21. And said Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne thither the Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away blessed be the name of the Lord. Verse 22. In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly These three verses containe the third Division of the Chapter as we shewed in the Analysis of it We have seene in the first the character of Job in his prosperous estate and the description of his prosperity We have seen his afflictions in the causes in the time in the instruments in the matter and in the manner of inflicting them In this third part we have the carriage of Job how Job tooke it how he behaved himselfe in this sad condition And likewise how God tooke it that Job did so behave himself So then We may note two things in the generall out of these 3 verses 1. We have the carriage of Job his behaviour 2. We have the testimony of God concerning his carriage and behaviour The carriage and behaviour of Job is laid downe verse 20 21. And concerning his carriage the Text gives us to consider 1. What Job did 2. What Job said 1. What he did and that is in the 20th verse and there we find mentioned five distinct actions of Job upon the receiving of the relation of his affliction 1. He arose 2. He rent his mantle 3. He shaved his head 4. He fell downe upon the ground 5. He worshipped 2. What he said and that is in the 21. verse And he said Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked c. His sayings containe two strong and undeniable argumentall Propositions and one cleare Conclusion flowing naturally from them both or from either of them by which he doth acquit the Lord in his afflicting of him and also support and strengthen his own soule under those afflictions The testimony of God concerning Jobs carriage is in the 22. ver The Lord comes in as it were like an umpire to determine who got the day which is resolved when he saith In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly These words expressely set the Laurell of victory upon the head of Job Satan undertooke that Job if touched would curse God now saith God looke upon him touch'd see what he hath done examine all his actions that are past observe what he hath spoken weigh every word that hath come out of his mouth in the ballance of truth and reason and when thou hast done both tell me whether he hath yet cursed me I pronounce that in all he hath done in all he hath said Job hath not charged God foolishly That in the generall for the sum of the Context and for the parts of it To begin first with what Job did his actions Then Job arose and rent his mantle c. Then Job stood out the three former assaults unmoveably but when he had received the fourth then his bowels were moved And then c. Job arose This was his first action to arise is properly an act of one that sitteth he is said to arise that before did sit or lie But yet in Scripture to arise is not alwayes taken so strictly neither is it in this place To arise in the Scripture language notes two things First the speedinesse of doing a thing when a man doth a thing instantly or presently he is said to arise to doe it to arise and doe it though he were standing or walking before This is an Hebraisme He arose and rent his mantle that is He presently rent his mantle upon the hearing of these messages especially the last And so you have the word in divers places as Judg. 20.18 The children of Israel arose and went to the house of the Lord that is they went presently up to the house of the Lord 2 Sam. 14.31 Then Joab arose and went to Absolom the meaning is only this that upon the receiving of that message he went with speed he made no delayes And Nehem. 2.18 when Nehemiah exhorted them to the great worke of building
that prayer For sitting we have 2 Sam. 2.18 When Nathan brought that message unto David concerning the building of the house of God that it should be deferred till his sonnes time the Text saith That David went in and sate before the Lord and said who am I O Lord And in the end he saith Therefore have I found in my heart to pray this prayer unto thee We also find walking in prayer Gen. 24.63 Isaac went out into the field to pray He walked and pray'd we translate it to meditate but in the margin of your bookes you find it to pray as being nearer the Hebrew So that walking and sitting and standing are likewise praying gestures or postures of holy worship But chiefly that posture of bowing downe the body or bending the knee is the worship posture so it followes in the Text. He fell upon the ground and worshipped And worshipped To vvorship is to give to any one the honour due unto him So the rendering unto God that love that feare that service that honour vvhich is due unto him is the worshipping of God that 's the Scripture definition Psal 29.2 Give unto the Lord the honour due unto his name then followes by vvay of exposition Worship the Lord in the beauty of holinesse that is in his holy Temple in his beautifull Sanctuary or in the comely honour of his Sanctuary So that worship is the tendering of honour to the Lord in a vvay honourable to him namely according to his own vvill and Lawes of vvorship vvhich is intimated by comming to worship him in his beautifull Sanctuary where all things about the service of God vvere exactly prescribed by God And then there was beauty or comely honour in the Sanctuary vvhen all things vvere ordered there by the rule of his prescription varying and departing from vvhich vvould have filled that holy place vvith darknesse and deformity notwithstanding all the outward lustre and beauty had bin preserved The worship of God is two-fold there is internall worship and there is externall worship Internall worship is to love God to feare God and to trust upon him these are acts of inward worship these are the summe of our duty and Gods honour contained in the first Commandement And so you may understand vvorship in the Text. Iob fell downe and worshipped that is presently upon those reports hee put forth an act of love and holy feare acts of dependance and holy trust upon God in his Spirit saying to this effect within himselfe Lord though all this be come upon me yet I will not depart from thee or deale falsly in thy Covenant I know thou art still the same Jehovah true holy gracious faithfull All-sufficient and therefore behold me prostrate before thee and resolving still to love thee still to feare thee still to trust thee thou art my God still and my portion for ever Though I had nothing left in the world that I could call mine yet thou Lord alone art enough yet thou alone art All. Such doubtlesse vvas the language of Iobs heart and these were mighty actings of inward worship Then likewise there is externall worship which is the summe of the second Commandement and it is nothing else but the serving of the Lord according to his owne Ordinances and institution in those severall wayes wherein God will be honoured and served this is outward vvorship and as we apply our selves unto them so we are reckon'd to worship God Job worshipped God outwardly by falling to the ground by powring out supplications and by speaking good words of God as we reade afterward words tending to his owne abasement and the honour of God clearely and fully acquitting and justifying the Lord in all those works of his providence and dispensations towards him This is worship both internall and externall Internall worship is the chiefe but God requireth both and there is a necessity of joyning both together that God may have honour in the world Internall worship is compleat in it selfe and pleasing unto God without the externall The externall may be compleat in it selfe but is never pleasing to God without the internall Internall worship pleases God most but externall honours God most for by this God is knowne and his glory held forth in the world Externall worship is Gods name Hence the Temple was called the place where God put his Name sc his worship by which God is knowne as a man by his name They that worship God must worship him in Sprit and in Truth In Spirit that is with inward love and feare reverence and sincerity In Truth that is according to the true rule prescribed in his word Spirit respects the inward power Truth the outward forme The former strikes at hypocrisie the latter strikes at Idolatry The one opposes the inventions of our heads the other the loosenesse of our hearts in worship Observe further that it is only said Job fell downe and worshipped nothing is said of the object to whom he did direct his worship or whom he did worship The object is not exprest but understood or presupposed And indeed worship is a thing so proper and peculiar to God that when we name worship we must needs understand God For nothing but God or that which we make a god is or can be worshipped Either he is God whom we worship or as much as in us lies we make him one What creature so ever shares in this honour this honour ipso facto sets it up above and makes it more then a creature The very Heathens thought every thing below a God below worship therefore there needed not an expression of the object when the Text saith Job worshipped that implyes his worship was directed unto God yet there is a kind of worship which is due to creatures There is a civill worship mentioned in Scripture as well as divine worship Civill worship may be given to men And there is a two-fold civill worship spoken of in Scripture There is a civill worship of duty and there is a civill worship of courtesie That of duty is from inferiours to their superiours from children to their Parents from servants to their Masters from Subjects to Kings and Magistrates These gods must have civill worship As Gen. 48.11 vvhen Joseph came into the presence of Jacob his father he bowed downe to the ground this vvas a civill vvorship and a vvorship of duty from an inferiour to a superiour And it is said of the brethren of Judah Gen. 49.8 when Jacob on his death-bed blessed the 12. Tribes Thy brethren shall worship thee or bow downe to thee It is the same vvord used here in this Text. Judahs honour vvas to vvield the Scepter the government was laid upon his shoulders now he being the chiefe Magistrate all the rest of the Tribes all his brethren must vvorship him or give civill honour unto him Secondly There is likewise a worship of courtesie vvhich is from equals when one equall vvill bow to another or vvhen a
Thou hast made me the head of the Heathen a people vvhom I have not knowne shall serve me As soone as they heare of me they shall obey me the strangers shall submit themselves unto me That of the Apostle will more illustrate this sence who speaking of the great benefit of prophecying in a knowne tongue concludes his Discourse thus If all prophecy and there come in one that beleeveth not or one unlearned he is convinced of all he is judged of all And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest and so falling downe on his face he vvill WORSHIP God and report that God is in you of a truth The worship then is not given to the Church but to God who in such ordinances or other acts of his power and goodnesse is evidently revealed as present in the Church So much for the actions or gestures of Iob what he did He rent his mantle and shaved his head and fell downe upon the ground and worshipped Now we come to his words to that which Iob spake in the two last verses Verse 21. Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne thither Verse 22. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh blessed be the name of the Lord. Words are or ought to be the Interpreters of the heart and the Comment of our actions This speech of Iob doth indeed interpret his heart and expound the meaning of his former actions This speech I say of Iob is the true Comment of his owne actions for some seeing Iob renting his garments and shaving his head and casting himselfe downe upon the ground they might not know the meaning of all this they could not reade his heart in these strange behaviours they might not understand what his intentions were probably they might judge that he was enraged and madde that he was distracted or drunke with sorrow that he was either desperate or impatient at the report of those losses Therfore now to confute all such surmizes he speaks forth the words of truth and sobernes And by that which he saith sets so fair and true a glosse upon his actions as might then render them not only rationall and ingenuous but holy and gracious in the eyes of all men as they were before in the eyes of God who knew his heart Satan was now like the servants of Benhadad before Ahab watching for words he had done his businesse and now he was trying how it would worke what the event and issue would be he harken'd when some irreverent speech should come from the mouth of Iob he looked presently that he should blaspheme God he could not but smile surely when he saw him renting his garments and shaving his head and falling downe on the ground O now it workes I shall heare him blaspheme and curse God presently He that is thus distempered in the carriage of the other members of his body will not surely be able long to rule that unruly peace his tongue One undutifull or dishonourable word cast upon God would have beene musicke to Satans eare and joy to his heart He would have catch'd it up as nimbly as the men before spoken of did brother Benhadad from the mouth of Ahab But how blanke look'd Satan how was he cloathed with shame at the fall of those words from Iob Naked came I out of c. What David spake concerning the words of his enemies Psal 55.21 Their words were smoother then butter but warre was in their heart they were sweeter then honey and softer then oyle yet were they drawne swords vve may speake of these words of Iob considered in reference to Satan and in reference unto God These words of Iob in reference unto God were as sweet as hony as smooth as butter For this breath had nothing in it but meeknes and patience humility and holinesse in all which God delights but in reference unto Satan they were as drawne Swords as poyson'd arrowes Satan was hardly ever so smitten before as he was by these words of Iob. There is no word in this sentence but gave Satan the lye and refuted all his slander And in the close Iob gives him the deepest stabbe of all It was a dagger at the very heart of the devill when he heard him say Blessed be the name of the Lord. No words could be utter'd upon the longest study more crosse to Satans expectation or more answerable to the former testimony of God and therefore the Lord crownes all both his actions and his speeches with a new testimony In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly So much of Jobs words in generall I shall now examine them distinctly in the parts Some conceive that Job at that time spake out his mind more largely but that the Holy Ghost in the penning of this Story did gather and summe up the strength of all his speech into these two conclusions Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne thither The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh blessed be the Name of the Lord. We will consider the words a little first in the Grammaticall sense of them and then we will consider the reason of them For here they are used logically as a strong and mighty argument both for the supporting of his owne spirit under those afflictions and for the justifying and acquitting God in so afflicting him Naked came I out of my Mothers wombe c. Naked There is a two-fold nakednesse there is an internall nakednesse and there is an externall nakednesse There is a nakednesse of the soule as well as of the body The nakednesse of the soule is when it is devested of all it 's gracious ornaments and endowments When Job saith Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne thither it referreth especially to the nakednesse of the body for though it be a truth that Job came naked into the world in regard of his soule yet he knew he should not goe naked out of the world in regard of his soule Seeing then he referreth nakednesse to his going out of the world as well as to his comming in therefore it cannot be here meant of an inward nakednesse his soule came naked in but he knew his soule should go out cloathed Neither can it be meant of a then present spirituall nakednesse for Job was never so richly and gorgeously attired in his soule never appeared in such glorious ornaments of grace as when he was stript of all worldly comforts Therfore the nakednesse here is bodily nakednesse that which Moses speaks of Gen. 2.25 describing our first Parents They were both naked saith he the man and his wife and they were not ashamed Yet that nakednesse and this which Job speakes of though they were both bodily and externall were very different and unlike for that nakednesse of Creation needed no covering nakednesse was then an ornament Man was richly attired when he had no garments The nakednesse of creation
was the absence of cloathing or a not using of cloathes it was not the want of cloathing But the nakednesse Job speaks of is the nakednes after the fall properly where nakednesse importeth not only a not having of cloaths but want of cloathing and so nakednesse is a part of that curse and punishment which followed sin Naked came I out of my mothers wombe that is I came into the world in a sad and miserable condition weake and poore And so nakednesse is put not strictly as opposed onely to cloathing but we may take it more largely for the want of all outward comforts whatsoever I came a poore destitute creature into the world I had not onely no cloathing upon my backe but I had no comfort for my body I brought neither Sheepe nor Oxen nor children nor servants into the world with me I had none of these things nothing to helpe me of my owne when I first set footing into the world Some Naturalists considering this kind of nakednesse have fallen out into great complaints against nature or indeed rather against the God of nature as Pliny in the Preface to his 7th booke of his naturall History doth as it were chide with nature for turning man into the world in such a helpelesse forlorne condition as if man were dealt with more hardly then any other creature then any beasts of the field or foules of the aire Other creatures saith he come into the world with haire or fleeces or bristles or scales or feathers or wings or shels c. to defend and cover them but nature casts man naked upon the naked ground This he spake not considering that nakednesse was once no trouble but rather an honour and an ornament and this he spake not knowing whence or how that kind of troublesome nakâ—â—nesse came into the world And this he spake not observing as he might how many wayes God hath provided for the helpe and supply of that nakednesse giving man understanding and reason in stead of weapons and cloathes which also are a meanes for the procuring of all things necessary for the supporting of that naked and weake perishing condition Naked shall I returne thither The difficulty that is in this lyeth onely in that word Thither the doubt is what place he meanes or whither What into my mothers wombe There is no such returne as Nicodemus said Shall a man that is old goe into his mothers wombe and be borne againe Some answer it thus The Adverbe thither doth not necessarily referre to the literall antecedent but in Scripture sometimes Relatives referre to somewhat in the mind or in the thought of the speaker and not to that which was before spoken by him as that of Mary sheweth Joh. 20.15 when she commeth into the garden and findes that Christ was risen she meeteth Christ and supposing him to be the Gardiner saith unto him Sir if you have borne him hence Him what him There was no antecedent mentioned to which Him should relate only Maries mind was so full of Christ that she thought every one would understand what him or whom she spake of as if none could speake of or thinke any thing but of Christ only Therefore she made the relation to that which was in her owne spirit and not to what was formerly exprest So some Interpreters make the thither to be God or the grave I shall returne unto God or I shall return to the grave to the house of the grave as the Chaldee paraphrase hath it For they suppose Job had his mind full of those thoughts therfore he may make a relation to that Another consideration for the clearing of it is this that such Adverbes of place as this is doe not only signifie place but a state or a condition wherein any one is or to which any thing or person is brought as it is ordinary in our speech to say hitherto I have brought the matter that is to this state or to this condition So when Job saith Naked shall I returne thither that is I shall returne to such a condition or to such an estate as I was naked before so I shall returne to a state of nakednes againe But thirdly that which may more clearely carry it the thither which Job here speakes of may be understood of the earth or the grave Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne thither to the wombe of the earth which is the grave and so there may be in the latter a reference unto the former taking the one properly the other improperly taking the earth for his mothers wombe in an improper sense sc the earth which is the common parent from whence we all came and to which we all returne the earth shall receive and take in all mankind again when man dyes the earth opens her bowels and receiveth him in and which makes her once more a mother the earth at last being as it were with-child or rather bigg with children shall travell in paine and groaning to be delivered shall by the mighty power of God bring forth man-kind againe There shall be a mighty birth from the wombe of the earth at the last day In Scripture the resurrection is called a birth in the day of the resurrection man-kind is a new begotten by God and man-kind is a new-borne that cleares it Psal 2.7 Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee which words are applyed by Paul Act. 13.33 to the resurrection of Christ God hath fulfilled the promise made unto the Fathers unto us their children in that he hath raised up Jesus againe as it is also written in the second Psalme Thou art my Sonne this day have I begotten thee And as Christ so all men but especially all Christians shall be againe begotten by the power of God and borne from the wombe of the earth in the day of their resurrection So much for the understanding of these words Naked came I out of my mothers wombe and naked shall I returne thither I shall collect some Observations from them two wayes First as they containe a generall truth 2. As they are an argument or a reason for the support of a man in such a sad condition as Job was then reduced unto In the former way observe First That every man is borne a poore helpelesse naked creature The soule is naked of all that is good there is not a rag of grace upon it when we come into the world Our bodies are naked too so that we are borne with nothing upon us but only an ugly dresse of sinne such as may justly make God loath us and us a terrour to our selves Naked came I into the world this one thought well taken in and fully digested will lay pride in the dust this thought that we were borne thus naked will strip us of all high and proud thoughts of our selves Secondly Naked shall I returne Note When death commeth it shakes us out of all our
but also lowder and lowder It becomes us not only to continue our mourning and our crying unto God but to cry lowder and lowder If we increase not our humiliations God will yet increase our judgements if we will not sit in ashes he will bring us to ashes and punish us yet seven times more for our sins Wherefore receive the counsell of the Apostle James in these your afflictions Be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heavinesse Humble your selves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up God lifts them up who cast themselves down and if in this sence we be afflicted we shall not be afflicted Christ hath purchased Free Grace bestowes deliverance and we receive it when we returne repent and beleeve JOB 2.9 10. Then said his wife unto him Doest thou still retaine thine integritie Curse God and die But he said unto her Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh what shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil In all this did not Job sin with his lips WEE have already considered out of the former parts of the Chapter Jobs second affliction First in the occasion of it secondly in the causes of it and thirdly in the manner of it together with those aggravating circumstances which made his sorrowes out of measure sorrowfull And now we must look upon that Jewell among the ashes and consider what befell him there These things make the fourth part of the Chapter namely the consequents of his affliction These consequents are three 1. His wives unseemly and sinfull counsell vers 9. 2. His wise and holy reply vers 10. 3. His friends visit to comfort him verses 11 12 13. First we will discusse his wives unseemly and sinfull counsell Then said his wife unto him c. There are two Questions raised concerning Jobs wife 1. Who she was 2. How it came to passe that she was spared when all his outward comforts were removed For the first in a word It is the opinion of many among the ancient Jewes that Job lived in the time of Jacob the Patriark And that he took to wife Dinah Jacobs daughter but I leave the Rabbins to prove that if they can Why she was spared in the time of so generall a calamity may beare some further inquirie For seeing a wife is the chiefest of creature comforts and the very reason why God at the first did institute that relation was that man might have a help meet for him it may seeme somewhat strange why Satan going about to bring upon Job trouble in its perfection should leave him that which is the perfection of all outward comforts a wife What were Jobs Oxen and Asses and Sheep and Camels to a wife And what were his children to a wife When Adam had not only such a number of cattell but all the cattell and riches in the world in his possession and under his dominion God saw him defective till he provided him a wife a wife was the complement of all How then cometh it to passe that when Satan would afflict Iob to the uttermost he leaves him his wife To cleare this before we come to examine the words that she spake The Jewes which are the Authors of that afore-named opinion that his wife was Dinah tell us to lengthen out the dreame that she was spared for Iacob her fathers sake It is a truth That children doe often fare the better for holy Fore-fathers It is no mean privilege to be born of those that are in Covenant As God visits the iniquitie of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him so he shewes mercy to thousands of those that love him c. Exod. 20.5 6. but in this place we have no stock to graft this truth upon but a meere imagination I passe on Secondly some conceive that his wife was out of Satans Commission that he had nothing to do to meddle with her she being comprehended under that clause of exception in the first Chapter vers 12. All that he hath is in thy power only upon himselfe put not forth thine hand his wife they say was a part of himself according to that Gen. 2.24 And they viz. the husband and the wife shall be one flesh So that Satan could not smite her but he must smite Iob too therefore she was exempted say they and set beyond the reach of Satans stroake Though this may have some shew of wit in it and somewhat of reason too referring unto the first part of Iobs affliction yet there is no shew of either in reference unto the second where Satan had a Commission to afflict his bodie his flesh and his bone for then she also take it in the sense before was comprehended under the Commission of Satan being though not as Eve from Adam bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh yet according to the law of marriage given to all One flesh with him Gen. 2.24 Therefore in the third place that which I conceive and agree with others in for the true reason why she was spared is this That she might be a further instrument of her husbands affliction Satan meant to make use of her for his owne purpose to drive on the main designe and whereas she should have been a help to her husband Satan employes her against her husband this was his aime and therefore she was spared Hence one of the Ancients cals her the strongest and fittest weapon with which Satan did assault the choisest Arrow in his Quiver by which he wounded the soul and spirit of Iob. She that should have had her hands busied in the washing suppling curing and healing of his wounds smites him with her tongue a piercing and a poyson'd instrument The rib was not smitten that it might smite the head Another compares her to a Ladder by which Satan hoped to scale this impregnable tower that death might creep in at the window of his eares by hearing and consenting to her sinfull perswasions Seeing then Satan spared Jobs wife that she might be the instrument of this additionall affliction which most conclude to be as the sting of all his afflictions First note this That Satans mercies have alwayes somewhat of crueltie in them He spareth the wife but it was that she might further vex the husband His mercies are like the mercies of wicked men Their tender mercies are cruell that is they are no mercies at all Prov. 12.10 There is a punishing mercy and there is a sparing cruelty among men Such are Satans sparings ever lined with cruell and bloudy intendments Secondly observe That the greatest outward blessings may prove the greatest outward afflictions A wife is made a crosse a snare Our greatest danger may be from our helper And that which was given for our good may be to us an occasion of falsing Satan can
it or I did fully heare it I saw it with mine eyes that is I am sure I saw it So the Scripture saith We are bought with a price 1 Cor. 6.20 A thing cannot be bought but with a price there must be some price or other either money or money-worth somewhat answering the intrinsick value of every thing that is bought but to shew that we are bought with a full price that Christ did not compound our debt with his Father but paid the uttermost farthing it is said we are bought with a price So the Prophet Malachie tells the sacrilegious Jewes Ye are cursed with a curse c. 3.9 A man cannot be cursed but with a curse but to shew the greatnesse of the curse he saith ye are cursed with a curse So here Job opened his mouth and spake or opened his mouth and cursed that is he cursed his day greatly even with a bitter and grievous curse He cursed it as we say to purpose Thus to shew the excellency of Christs doctrine that his was A Sermon of Sermons And he the Messenger the Interpreter the One of a Thousand yea the One of All the Thousands that ever shewed to man his uprightnesse the Gospell saith Mat. 5.1 When hee saw a great multitude he opened his mouth and spake Hence In the third place To open the mouth and speake is to speake upon mature deliberation to speake considerately prudently punctually to speake elegantly to speake orderly to speake the words of truth and sobernesse A foole is said to speake with an open mouth but a wise man openeth his mouth and speakes A wise godly man hath his tongue at his command but a fooles tongue commands him His tongue runs faster then his wit as we say A fooles mouth as Solomon tells us Prov. 15.2 powreth out foolishnesse Their mouthes are alwayes open and therefore they cannot be said to open their mouthes A foole hath not a doore to his mouth therefore also he cannot be said to open his mouth much lesse hath he a lock and a key a bolt or a barre to his mouth but a wise man hath a doore to his mouth yea his mouth is lockt with wisdomes key and that unlocks it I will open my mouth saith the Psalmist Psal 78.2 in a Parable Parables are the speeches of wise men yea they are the extracts and spirits of wisedome The Hebrew word signifies to rule or have authority because such speeches come upon us with authority and subdue our reason by the weight of theirs Now when he is about to speake Parables he saith I will open my mouth When wisedome calls for audience and obedience Prov 8.6 she saith Heare for I will speake of excellent things and the opening of my lips shall be right things David invokes God to open his mouth when he would shew forth that excellent thing the praise of God Psal 51.15 God opens not the mouth of a foole neither doth a foole open his mouth and speake but his speech opens his mouth But did Job open his mouth in this sense wisely and discreetly did he well to be so angry with his day spake he wisely in cursing his day I answer Though there was much passion in this speech yet Job spake out of much deliberation he considered what to speake before he spake A man may speake with much passion and yet speake out of much deliberation and so did Job here in that long silence he was learning what to speake And as there was much heate of passion so there was much light of wisedome in what he spake Fourthly To open the mouth and speake is to speake boldly and confidently to speake with freedome and liberty of speech as the Greeke word signifies to speake all a mans mind without feate or favour of any man Prov. 31.8 9. Open thy mouth for the dumbe open thy mouth judge righteously c. that is be bold for those that are poore and dare not appeare themselves speake thou aloud for the dumbe and freely for those that cannot plead their own cause or make-out their owne innocence The Apostle begs of the Ephesians Chap. 6.19 that they would pray that utterance might be given him that he might open his mouth boldly to make knowne the mistery of the Gospell and neither feare the faces of men nor conceale the truth of God You see then by the opening of this expression there was more then bare speaking meant when Job opened his mouth and spake When a wise and a holy man opens his mouth you may looke for more then words even the treasures of wisdome and of knowledge Let us now examine what treasure we can make of those words which Job spake when he opened his mouth He opened his mouth and cursed his day But is there any treasure in a curse except that which the Apostle speakes of as the fruit of Gods abused patience Rom. 2.5 A treasure of wrath Or did Job deliberate for a curse was he moulding and fashioning so deform'd an issue as this in his thoughts so long Yes faith the Text he opened his mouth and cursed his day The word here used to Curse is not the word which we have met with so often in the two former Chapters where Satan undertooke that Job would curse his God That word in its native sense signifies to blesse But here when Iob curseth his day a word is used which hath neither name nor shadow of a blessing And it is derived from a roote which signifieth a thing that is light moveable or unsetled And so by a Metaphor it signifies any thing or person which we dispise contemne and slight or the act of despising and cursing and the reason of it is because those things which we despise contemne or curse we looke upon as light things triviall or vaine or hurtfull On the contrary the word in the Hebrew for honour and glory comes from a roote which signifieth heavy or ponderous because that which we honour and respect we looke upon it as a thing that hath weight and substance in it And the Apostle calls that most glorious estate of the Saints in Heaven a weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 The opposite word which we have in the Text is frequently translated to despise or contemne and likewise to curse and blaspheme and doth properly signifie such a cursing as arises from the contempt or light esteeme which we have of a thing or person So we have the word clearely used Levit. 20.9 Every one that curseth his father or his mother Now observe cursing of the father or mother it is directly opposed to the 5th Commandement which saith Thou shalt honour thy Father and thy mother thou shalt looke upon thy father and thy mother as upon persons of weight and honour whom thou art bound to reverence and esteeme so that to curse the father or mother is to account them vile and contemptible The same word expresses that villanous act of Shimei 2
musick no not the voice of a mil-stone We have great cause to feare that the joyfull voice may suddainely be taken away not only from our nights but also from our dayes not only from our houses but also from our Temples For the voice of sin hath bin heard from both Darknesse hath begun to seize upon our light the seed of division is not only sowne but sprung up among us our troubles increase yea our joyfull voice is already changed into the sound of the trumpet and the Alarum of War into the neighings of Horses and the confused noise of bloody battels Isa 9.5 And which may afflict our hearts more we heare the mournefull voice of the Widdow crying out My Husband my Husband We heare the mournefull voice of the Orphan crying out my Father my Father Husband and Father slaine by the sword while they went out to helpe the Lord against the mighty It is time for us to sit solitary and alone to mourne every family apart and our wives apart Zach. 12.12 to lift up our voice in prayer night and day least the joyfull voice be utterly taken away and for ever silenced amongst us Least it be said of us as of Jerusalem Lam. 1.1 How doth the City sit solitary that was full of people How is she become as a widdow she that was great among the Nations and Princes among the Provinces how is she become tributary As that Heathen said of the time past I had perished if I had not perished So we may say of the time to come We shall mourne if we doe not mourne we shall be solitary if we sit not alone Our nights of sinfull joy in chambering and wontonnesse have bereft us and will bereave us more of refreshing joyes And instead of the voice of friend and brother you may heare only the voice of the enemy and avenger and that is no joyfull voice When Jacob was enformed of the approach of Esau his bloody brother he put all things in order and presently the Text saith Jacob was left alone Gen. 32.24 What deserted did his company run from him No it was an elected solitarinesse not a necessitated solitarinesse he desired to be alone and he staid alone that he might not be alone He staid alone that he might get God neerer in communion with him and his that his family might not be scattered from him and his house left desolate So if we would be voluntarily alone from the world to be with God wrastling out nights in prayer as Jacob did we might as he did prevent solitary nights and prevaile with God by the voice of prayer in the mediation of Jesus Christ and the powerfull cry of his blood to continue unto us the voice of joy JOB 3.8 9. Let them curse it that curse the day who are ready to raise up their mourning Let the Starres of the twi-light thereof be darke let it looke for light but have none neither let it see the dawning of the day IN the former verses Job himselfe curseth the night in this he inviteth others to curse it that his sorrow might appeare not only serious but solemne he calleth for those who made mourning their profession and to weepe for and with others their trade such as used to rise early and awaken their companions to come away and joyn in prepared and studied lamentation This I take to be the summe and sense of these words which yet in the letter are very full of difficulty and have divided interpreters exceedingly I shall briefely touch the most of those senses given and then more fully present you with what I apprehend as sutable to this Text and consonant unto truth First Take a briefe of the divers readings of this verse Let them curse it that curse the day who are ready to raise up their mourning So we in our Bibles The Vulgar and the Septuagint reade it thus Let them curse it that curse the day who are ready to raise up Leviathan Another renders the latter clause Who are ready to raise up the Dragon Theodot Mr. Broughtons translation runs thus May they curse it who doe curse the day who will hunt Leviathan Junius and Tremelius have a translation different from all these I would they had cursed thee that inlighten the day who are ready to stirre up Leviathan or the Whale That which all other Interpreters I have met with call cursing of the day they call inlightning the day You see there is much variety about the rendring of these words out of the Hebrew And there is as much diversity of opinion grounded thereupon First Some apprehend that Job in this verse alludes to the custome of a certaine people in Ethiopia called the Atlantes frequently mentioned in divers histories who living under the torrid Zone in an extreame hot climate used to curse the Sunne when it arose because it scorched them with vehement heate This made them in love with the night and hate the day And so the sense is made out thus Let them curse this night who use to curse the Sun-rising every day whose paine hightning and imbittering their spirits caused them to powre out the most bitter and revengefull execrations But I will lay this by though some set much store by it as a speciall treasure of invention For I much question not only whether this custome of cursing the day amongst that people was known unto Job but whether he ever heard of such a people being so remote and distant from him Secondly I shall a little open the meaning of that Translation given by Junius Let them curse it who inlighten the day who are ready to raise up Leviathan or the Whale By those who inlighten the day he saith the Starres are to be understood Let those curse thee who inlighten the day that is let the Starres curse thee And who are ready to raise up Leviathan that is let the windes be against thee let the winds curse thee or be a curse unto thee The reason he gives is because Starres are Illustratores Diei the inlightners of the day And to salve it we must not saith he take the day strictly for a day artificiall for then the Starres are of no use but for that part of the day naturall which is darke namely the night the Starres are the inlightners of the day namely of the darke part of the day the night And so Job calls here to the very Starres that they should oppose and trouble that night We reade in that notable history Jug 5.20 That the Starres in their courses did fight against Sisera such expressions there are making as it were the Heavens angry and the Starres to oppose the designes of men The host of Heaven is under the command of the Lord of Hosts when he calls them forth to the help of his people Thus he conceives Job inviting the Starres to take part with him in this quarrell against his night Let the Starres curse the day those
it to enjoy Christ who is life then to live To both these we may referre that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 5. We that are in this tabernacle groane being burthened they were burthened with sorrowes and burthened with sins while they were in the tabernacle of the body yet saith he it is not that wee would be uncloathed but cloathed upon he did not groane for the grave but for glory not that he might be uncloathed but cloathed with immortality not barely that he might die but that mortality might be swallowed up of life Under these notions we may desire death yet with this caution that for the time of it we referre our selves to the good pleasure of God For what the Apostle James speakes of the inordinate desires and absolute resolves of worldly men about gaining in that or t'other City is by allusion appliable to these spirituall greedy merchants after Heavenly glory chap. 4.13 Goe to now ye that say to day or to morrow we will goe into such a City and continue there a yeere and buy and sell and get gaine c. For that ye ought to say if the Lord will So I may say Goe to now ye that say to day or to morrow we would die for to die to us is gaine Phil. 1.21 and goe to that heavenly City that City having foundations whose builder and maker is God and continue there forever taking in and enriching our selves with that glory which Christ hath bought for that ye ought to say when the Lord will or now if the Lord will On such conditions as these and with this caution we may desire death yea long for death But to long for death only to be ridde of the troubles of this life to desire to lye downe to sleepe in the bed of the grave only to ease our flesh and rest our outward man is sinfull The Apostle saith Acts 20.24 I count not my life deare so I may finish my course with joy But we shall account our lives too cheape if we feare to finish our course with sorrow If we thinke that it is not worth the while to live unlesse we live in outward comforts we exceedingly undervalue our lives when a crosse in our lives makes us weary of our lives This was Jonahs infirmity when he had taken pet about the gourd Chap. 4. he would needs die and he concludeth the matter It is better for me to die then to live and all was because he could not have his will because he was troubled This also was Elijahs infirmity when he was persecuted by and fled for his life from Jezabel 1 King 19.4 He requested for himselfe that he might die and said It is enough now O Lord take away my life for I am not better then my fathers This is an infirmity at the best we ought rather to seeke to God that he would remove the evill from us then remove us from the evill for God hath a thousand doores to let us out of trouble though he doth not open the doore of the grave to let us in there and out of the world He can end our troubles and not end our lives Yet such a wish is much allayed yea in some cases lawfull if we keepe the former caution and say if the Lord will If we referre our selves to the will and good pleasure of God we may desire to be lay'd to rest by death that we may be rid of those paines and evills which we suffer in this life And yet I desire rather to raise the spirits of all above these troubles while they live then satisfie them how they may desire freedome from them by death When Solomon returned and considered all the oppressions that are done under the Sunne and beheld the teares of such as were oppressed and they had no comforter and on the side of their oppressors there was power but they had no comforter Then he praised the dead which are already dead more then the living which are yet alive Eccles 4.1 2. that is he pronounced the dead to be in a better condition then the living Yet know that Solomon in this place speakes the words of meere naturall reason not of divine reason For he speakes though with a divine Spirit yet in the person of a naturall man Naturall reason saith it is better to die then live under oppressions but divine reason saith there is more honour to be gained by living under oppressions then there is ease to be attained by dying from under them To beare a burden well is more desireable then to be delivered from a burden Especially if while we are bearing we can be doing doing good I meane and I meane it especially if we can doe publike good A Christian should be content yea he should rejoyce in suffering much evill upon himselfe while he can be doing any especially if he can doe much good to others A graciously publike spirit will triumph over personall troubles and labours so long as he sees himselfe a blessing or a helpe to the publike and though he longs to die for himselfe and to be with Christ which is better yet he is loath to die so long as he can say with blessed Paul Neverthelesse to abide in the flesh is more needfull for you or others Phil. 1.24 When a Heathen Emperour Caesar said he had lived long enough whether he respected Nature or Honour Tully the Orator answered him well But you have not lived long enough for the Common-wealth Much more may we say when we see able and godly men longing for death because they have lived long enough whether they respect common Nature or their own Honour But you have not yet lived long enough for the Church of God and for the common good of his people We should be willing to live so long as God or his people have a stroake of worke to be done which our abilities and opportunities fit us to doe In this sense A living Dogge is better then a dead Lion Eccles 9.4 That is it is better to live though we are the meanest working for God then die or be dead though we have bin the chiefest I inlarge this the rather because of the present troubles and the infirmity of our flesh which sometimes is ready to envy those who die because we live in sorrow and is not satisfied with this that our soules are here shelter'd from death and under the covert of Christ unlesse our bodies also may be sheltred in death and lye under the covert of the grave So much to that question Let us note something from the words themselves Which long for death and it cometh not and dig for it more then for hid treasures Observe first That Many afflictions to our sense are worse then death They long for death because they are in misery It is said and it is a truth O death how bitter art thou to a man that is at ease in his possessions And there is a truth also in
He lives by that caution Psal 62.10 If riches flow in or encrease yet set not thine heart upon them In the highest flood and spring-tide of worldly prosperity we should keepe our hearts within the channell When riches are encreased into a mountaine and to the eye of nature into a mountaine of rocks yet then doe not set thy heart upon them as upon a foundation so the Hebrew word imports to settle thy contentments All the creatures in Heaven and earth are not strong enough to beare the weight of a mans heart God only can doe that who is the rocke of ages or an everlasting strength Isa 26.3 all besides him is a foundation of sand and so a godly man takes them What nature lookes at as a foundation of rockes that grace sees to be a foundation of sand and therefore will not rest upon it neither indeed can it A godly man in his afflictions is as having nothing and yet possessing all things 2 Cor. 6.10 and in his aboundance he hath all things but possesseth nothing for he so possesses things as if he did not possesse them as the Apostles counsell is 1 Cor. 7.31 He marries as if he married not he weepes as if he wept not he rejoyces as if he rejoyced not he buyes as if he possessed not because the fashion of this world passeth away It was an excellent speech of Luther concerning worldly things I have protested that I will never be satisfied with the creature this is to be a Protestant indeed as well as in truth A godly man is an Epicure in Christ he would never play the Epicure but in Christ and in God In them and towards them he gives his affections their full swing and as a wicked man is said to enlarge his desires after the earth as Hell Hab. 2.5 so he enlarges his desires after Heaven as Heaven and complaines his desires are no larger In the thoughts of Christ he sits downe and would take his fill he saith I am safe in him I am quiet and at rest He saith to his soule soule doest thou see That Christ and doest thou take notice of those promises Thou hast goods layed up in him in them for many yeares yea for eternity soule take thine ease take it fully thou hast riches thou hast an estate that can never be spent soule eate drinke and be merry his blood is drinke indeed and his flesh is meate indeed joy in Christ is joy indeed unspeakeable joy here and fullnesse of joy hereafter In his presence there is fulnesse of joy and at his right hand there are pleasures for evermore Untill the soule pitches thus on Christ it is not in safety much lesse in rest or quiet As the needle in the compasse is in continuall motion till it points towards the North where as it is conceived there are rocks of Load-stone with which it sympathiseth So the soule is in continuall motion untill it points to Christ who we are sure is that living rock with whom all beleevers sympathise and the true Load-stone which attracts all beleevers to him A beleever like Noahs Dove finds no rest all the world over for the feete of his soule untill he returnes to this Arke of safety and salvation And therefore after all his flights and flutterings among the creatures he saith with the Psalmist returne unto thy rest thy Christ O my soule for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee Psal 116.7 Thou hast been abroad in the world and that like a narrow-hearted Master deales niggardly with thee If thou shouldest stay long either in the service of or dependance upon the world the world would starve thee Therefore returne unto thy rest in the Lord for the Lord hath dealt and will yet deale more bountifully with thee O my soule Lastly In that Job saith I was not in safety neither had I rest c. yet trouble came We may observe That the more our hearts are loosened from the creatures the more assurance we may have of enjoying the creatures It is as if Job had said I was not fastned to the world my heart was not engaged to any thing on this side Christ and this was the fairest the most probable way for the continuance of my outward comforts yet trouble came The redditive particle yet supposes somewhat in reason or probability at least that might have carried it another way As when the Prophet Amos reckoning up the judgements of God upon his people speakes to them thus in his Name chap. 4.6 8 9. I have sent you cleanenesse of teeth yet have you not returned unto me I have sent you the pestilence the sword yet have you not returned unto me The yet shewes there was great reason God should expect their returne or that he had done that which in all probability might have caused them to returne when he sent those judgements So here when Job saith I was not in safety c. yet trouble came The yet implies that there was somewhat even in that unquietnesse which gave him hopes of settlement in his outward comforts It seemes to carry such a sense in it as if he had in more words explained himselfe thus Had I dwelt securely and given my selfe up to the contentments of my flesh or trusted in an arme of flesh for safety I should not have wondred at my calamity or thought strange of my trouble But this is a riddle which I cannot yet expound that when my heart was no way set upon my estate my estate should fall That when I rested not in the creature I should meet with such troubles in the creature This is not the manner of God It is not usuall for God to doe thus in his dispensations toward his people and servants It is very rare that he takes their outward comforts from them when they are not taken with their comforts Hence it is as I apprehend that Job putteth it in with a yet trouble came This way of God with me is out of the ordinary course of providence I confesse Mercer a very learned commentator doth not favour this exposition of laying such a weight upon the particle yet and therefore renders the Originall Vau as a bare copulative I was not in safety c And trouble came Yet having the authority of our translation and the frequent use of the word to that sense in other places we may venture upon it yea I thinke it is no venture but a certaine advantage both to the Text and to our selves And I am certaine the position is true though the exposition should not prove so For the truth is troubles are never so neere as when we put them furthest off Nor is the world ever so unsure to us as when we make surest of it God often pulls their comforts from them whose hearts are glued to their comforts As it is said of those in the 1 Thes 5.3 when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction shall come upon