Son of righteousness with open face For as this Son of righteousness hath said behold me behold me Isa 65.1 and again Look to me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth Isa 45.22 that is all ye that dwell on earth even to the ends of it so he gives a power or a spiritual eye to behold and look upon him and that beholding or looking is a healing to them as the beholding of the Sun is to the natural eye of the Eagle Mal. 4.2 To them that fear my name shall the Son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings Sixthly Do Eagles suck blood both young and old so do believers The first living of the new creature is upon blood every godly man drinks the blood of Jesus Christ by faith as offered to him both in the promises and in the Ordinances of the Gospel A believer could not live a moment nor have any subsistence in grace if he had not as the Eagle blood to suck in and drink A godly man is nourished by a believing contemplation upon the sufferings of Christ and the effusion of his blood Seventhly Doth the Eagle feed upon the slain so believers feed upon Christ as slain Christ by his death is become our food to eternal life Joh. 6.51 53. Though the raised and glorified body of Christ be entred into the full possession of a divine and eternal life and though we by faith look to Jesus Christ not according to the flesh nor as dead but as living and sitting for ever at the right hand of the Father there making intercession for us yet we must look to him as entring into the holy place by the sacrifice of himself and with his own blood not with the blood of others Heb. 9.24 25 26. The Apostle told the Corinthians I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him crucified that is so to know him as to feed upon him my self and so to make him known to you that you might feed upon him also Further It is considerable that as believers in Scripture are compared to Eagles and the Lord is said to have born the old Church of the Jews upon Eagles wings so under the Gospel Eagles wings are said to have been given to the Christian Church whereupon she was born out of the reach of danger Rev. 12.13 15. And when the Dragon saw that he was cast to the earth he persecuted the woman that brought forth the man-child And to the woman were given two wings of a great Eagle that she might flie into the Wilderness that is convenient and sufficient means to further her slight and retirement into her place wheresoever it is where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent All the means of the Churches escape from danger are shadowed by two wings not but that God hath more means than two by which his providence works and procures the safety of the Church but because it had been improper speaking of her flight to express more wings than two For the Seraphims which are described having each one six wings Isa 6.2 yet two of them only were put to that use of flying And these two wings given the Church are said to be the two wings of an Eagle because among all the winged tribes Eagles are stâ—ongest and swiftest of wing they can fly fastest and they can fly furthest as in height so in length Nor are the wings given the Church barely called the wings of an Eagle but of a great Eagle implying not only the best kind of wings but the best wings of that kind not only the wings of an Eagle but of a great Eagle By all which is meant the wise and tender care of God over his Church in times of greatest danger when the Dragon become a Serpent or the Serpentine Dragon seeks most to annoy her Thus far the Lord hath been interrogating Job not only about the inanimate creatures the Heavens the Air the Sea the Earth but also about several Animals in the least of which because they not only have a being but life sense and motion more of the power wisdom and goodness of God shines forth than in the greatest of the former And all the questions proposed to Job in these two Chapters have as hath been hinted heretofore and should be constantly minded this general scope to convince as then Job so now all men both of their own nothingness and of the all-sufficiency wisdom care and power of God who hath so wisely made and doth so wisely dispose of all the creatures which he hath made And therefore man who hath received more from God than they all and of whom God is more tender than of them all should submit to the dispose of God in all things without disputing about much more without murmuring at or complaining of his dispensations in one kind or other The Lord though he had done much in the way of interrogating hath not yet done interrogating Job concerning the works of his hands Nevertheless before he proceeded any further to enquire of him about the creatures he saw it fit to feel his pulse a little by a close application of what he had already said mingled with high language and cutting reproofs thereby to try what effect this forepassed discourse had wrought upon him or whether he were come to a more humble and submitting frame than before as will appear in opening the former part of the Chapter following JOB Chap. 40. Vers 1 2. 1. Moreover the Lord answered Job and said 2. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him he that reproveth God let him answer it IN the two former Chapters we have heard what the Lord said to Job out of the Whirlwind with what questions he apposed him about the works of Creation and Providence To all or any of which Job being unable to make Answer especially to give a present and perfect Answer the Lord it seems gave him some little respite to recollect himself in expectation of his Answer but finding him silent proceeds in this Chapter to urge him yet further upon the whole matter for an Answer yea the Lord having said all this to him â—sets it home upon him with this sharp reprehension Moreover the Lord answered Job and said shall he c. As if he had said O Job hadst thou diligently considered my work of Creation in making and my work of Providence in governing this whole world even the motions of the least and most inferiour Creatures therein contained surely thou hadst never ventured to think what thou hast uttered and now thou canst not but see how unduly thou hast complained of my proceedings with thee nor canst thou be unconvinced how unable thou art to enter into the secrets of my Counsel for as much as the causes of many lesser and common things in the world are secrets unto thee and such as exceed the reach of thy understanding Thus
by a curse from God Thus he turns a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of those that dwell therein Psal 107.34 Now as some lands are made barren besides the general curse which befel all lands upon the fall of man into sin by some special curse for special causes so 't is meerly an act of Divine Soveraignty that some lands as to their very soil and constitution are barren while others are fruitful Fourthly Consider where do these Asses dwell 't is in a barren land Hence note They that do little work deserve but little reward a barren land may serve them who refuse service As every land the best land is barren and unprofitable to them who will not take pains to improve it so 't is pity they should dwell in a fruitful land who will not take pains in it Fifthly Note There it no place so bad or barren but it hath its use God hath use for barren wildernesses as well as for the richest pastures Sixthly The wilde Ass living according to nature is satisfied with a barren Land Hence note Nature is content with a little They have alwayes enough who desire no more A cottage is as good as a Palace and a barren Land as good as a fruitful one to a contented mind Yet I cannot approve either their principle or practice who have a kind of ambition possibly they call it self-denial and reckon it a high piece of their Religion to dwell as the wilde Ass in the wilderness such are those popish votaries called Hermites from the wilderness where they dwell These in devotion such as it is make the wilderness their house and the barren Land their dwelling that they may be free from the cares and temptations of this world these retire themselves utterly from converse with man that they may more freely converse with God an excellent end but that way to it is no where commanded by God Let such remember that God hath not appointed the wilderness and desert places for mans dwelling but for the dwelling of wilde beasts Qâ—id prâ—dest solitudo corporis si defuerit solitudo cordis Greg. lib. 30. cap. 23. Let them also remember that they who have the wilderness for their house may yet have the City in their hearts It was said by one of the Ancients concerning such retirements What doth it advantage us to have a solitary place for our bodies whilst our souls are in the thickest throâ—gs of the world There are only two cases wherein men should desire such solitary places First In case of persecution to get out of the hands and reach of cruel men Thus David desired the wilderness Psal 55.3 4 5 6. Because of the voice of the enemy because of the oppression of the wicked for they cast iniquity upon me and in wrath they hate me my heart is sore pained within me and the terrors of death are fallen upon me c. And what followeth O that I had wings like a dove for then would I flie away and be at rest Lo then would I wander afar off and remain in the wilderness It is better to be in the wilderness among savage beasts than to live among beastly savage men The Apostle Heb. 11.38 tells us the reason why many worthy ones of the Jewish Church of whom the world was not worthy inhabited the wilderness They were stoned and sawn asunder and were slain with the sword c. And what then then they who remained alive to avoid those extremities avoided the society of men and wandred in deserts and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth In such a hot day we may chuse the shadow of a desolate wilderneâ—s rather than a City to dwell in And thus it is said Rev. 12.13 14. When the Dragon that is Heathenish Rome persecuted the woman that is the Church which brought forth the man-child then to the woman were given two wings of a great Eagle that is sufficient means strength and opportunity to make her escape that she might flee into the wilderness which as it hath been often verified in a metaphorical sense Professors then lying close and retired in their several places so it hath been true in the letter the Church hath sled into the wilderness for safety and hath there been preserved from the face of the Serpent Secondly We may desire such retirements to and a dwelling in solitary places in case of the extream wickedness of those among whom we dwell though they break not out into open persecution yet their evil conversation makes their society in t llerable This caused the Prophet Jeremiah to cry out Chap. 9.2 O that I had a place in the wilderness that I might leave my people and go from them why for they be all adulterers an assembly of treacherous men For as it is better to dwell in the corner of the house top than with a brawling woman in a wilde house Prov. 21.9 so it is better to get into a corner or into a wilderness than to live in a City or in the fairest Palaces among men of wicked and ungodly spirits such as vexed Lot in Sodom 2 Pet. 2.8 In these two cases we may imitate the wilde Ass and dwell in the wilderness but for any to make it their choice let them consider where they have a rule for it Man is a sociable creature and ought to be helpful and useful to others and not wholly to confine himself to himself as they do who are and are called Anchorets and Hermites To serve our Country and to observe the Law of Nations for the common good of mankind is better than upon any pretence of devotion or converse with God to seclude our selves totally from the company and converse of men And seeing God hath made us for the good of humane society it is inhumane voluntarily and electively to disjoyn and exempt our selves from the Laws of society Aristotle said concerning decliners of society He that affects solitude Deus sit aut bellua oportet qui posset in solitudine vivere Aristot is either a God or a beast hâ— either lives above man as God doth or below man as beasts do The Reader will easily pardon me this short diversion against unnecessitated solitude thus occasioned by the solitary dwelling of the wilde Ass in the wilderness and barren Land And I have the rather touch it because I find the wits of some running somewhat wild in the Allegory of the wild Ass in the Text as if he were a very fitting resemblance of a contemplative man I grant a godly man should be and the more godly any man is the more he will be I am sure the more he would or desires to be free from the thoughts and loosed from the bands both of love to and cares about the things of this life that he may be the more in the meditation of and preparation for a better life In those meditations he retires from the throng of
imponuntur Hieron in Proaem Comment in lib. Mich. as prophecying or hoping at least they will really be what they are in name or what their names promise One of the Ancients reports this practice of the Ancients We give names saith he wherein we hold forth our wishes and desires and pray to God that our children may answer the signification of their names Many Scripture-names have mysterious meanings in them Hosea signifieth a Saviour his parents therein prophecying as it were and shewing their faith that he would be a Prophet and prove instrumental for the salvation of others Obadiah signifieth the servant of God his parents gave him that name we may suppose hoping he would and wishing he might be a faithful servant of God Zachariah signifieth the memery or remembrance of God his parents earnestly desiring that God would both remember him which is all mercy to man or that he might alwayes remember God which is all duty to God Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth that is perform all duty to God Nomina erant quasi omina vel monita vel vâ—ta rei futurae We see then it hath been usual among godly parents to give significant names to their children either that they might be minded of the mercies of God to them or of the duties which they were to perform to God I shall only adde for the close of the point this short admonition to all to women especially because the Text speaks of them that As it is useful and usual for parents to give good names to their children so children should have a gracious ambition to make good the signification of their names What will it advantage a man to be called John which signifieth grace if himself be graceless or to be called Obadiah which signifieth a servant of God if he neglect to serve God or to be called Zechariah which signifieth the Remembrance of God if he forget God Again what will it benefit a woman to be called Susanna which signifieth a Lilly a beautiful flower if she be not like that lilly among thorns the Church Cant. 2.2 but only a lilly in the wilderness of this world What will it benefit a woman to be called Tamar which signifieth a Palm-tree tall and strait if her self be of a low base and crooked diâ—position 'T is better to be a crooked shrub in bodily stature than a tall strait Palm-tree with a crooked mind and a low spirit To be named Jemima as fair as Day to be named Kezia as sweet as spice or perfume to be called Keren-happuch as beautiful as the very horn of beauty what will it advantage any women unless they have real vertues and gracious qualities answering these names Yea these names will be real witnesses against them at last and fill their faces with shame To profess our selves to be or to have a name to be what we are not is to be deeply hypocritical and to bear that in our names which we are not nor take any care to be is highly disgraceful But when names are fulfilled in persons when men and women who wear good names are or do the good signified by their names how precious are their names and their memories how honorable And when the good or vertues of the three feminine names in the Text meet and center in the person of any one woman when Jemima the day-light of true knowledge and understanding is joyned with Kezia the perfume of reputation ascending from Keren-happuch store of beautiful graces put forth in the gracious actions of a spotless and unblameable conversation what Pencil is able to draw to the life the ravishing features of such a person Such I believe were those noble Ladies Jobs daughters named in the Text which was the joy of their fathers heart and the staff of his old age Thus much of the names of Jobs daughters and of the signification of them both in reference to the then present change of Jobs estate and the hope he had of their future good estate with respect to the beauty and gracefulness of their bodies but especially to the beauty and graciousness of their souls or minds Now as the beauty and vertues too of Jobs three daughters were implyed and wrapt up in their names so their beauty is plainly expressed in the next words Vers 15. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughâ—ers of Job and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren In this verse we have two things concerning Jobs daughters First The supereminency of their beauty Secondly The greatness of their dowry or portions bestowed on them by the bounty of their father The former we have at the beginning of the verse And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job When 't is said in all the land we are to understand it of all the land of Vz 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In ea quae sub coelo Sept. Tota terra est sub coelo hic autem restringitur ad certam Regioâ—em Drus Yet the Septuagint extend it to all lands all the world over rendring all under heaven but the word in the Original will not reach so far though the truth might But in all that land were no women or women kind as Master Broughton reads found so fair that is none were so fair as they The word found is to be taken as in that of Moses Exod. 35.23 Every man with whom was found that is with whom there was or who had blue and purple c. brought them And as in that which is spoken of Christ Phil. 2.8 He was found that is he was or appeared in the form of a man So Mal. 2.6 2 Chron. 19.3 For we are not to conceive that there was an inquiry or search made amongst all the women of the land of Vz who was fairest and that upon the return none were found so fair and beautiful as Jobs daughters The meaning is only this none were known so fair as they or they had no known Peers in fairness and this is a sufficient proof that those notable names were not given Jobs daughters without a cause either seen or foreseen at least desired the issue answering the desire In all the land there were none so fair as they There is a bodily fairness and a soul fairness The word into which we render the Hebrew signifieth properly the fairness of the face or body Non sunt inventae juxta filias Job meliores eis Sept. but the Septuagint translate it by a word signifying the souls fairness They say No women were found better than the daughters of Job Their goodness without question as it was far more excellent in it self so more contentful and delightful to him than their fairness But we may very well take in both as was hinted before namely that his daughters were excellent both for the one beauty and for the other Yet I conceive
from serving To be be free to serve is infinitely better than to be free from service nothing is more ingenuous nothing shews a more noble spirit in man than to be free to serve as all are being once freed from spiritual or sin-slavery Rom. 6.19 As ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity even so now yield your selves servants to righteousness unto holiness for as it follows when ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness or as it is in the margin free to righteousness not free to do righteousness but free not to do it Righteousness had then no command yielded to no power submitted to over you whereas over a gracious heart righteousness hath the greatest command A godly man is at the beck of God in all the wayes of righteousness and as he is free to serve Masters so he is free to be subject to Magistrates or higher powers according to that rule of the Apostle Rom. 13.1 And that all in their places may be mindful of this duty they are upon all occasions to be put in mind of it as the same Apostle directed Titus in his Epistle to him Chap. 3.1 The Lord having spoken of the freedom of the Ass proceeds to described his dwelling Vers 6. Whose house I have made the wilderness and the barren laid his dwellings These words contain the second part of the care and providence of God towards the wild Ass he hath not only made them free and loosed their bonds but he hath provided a dwelling for them and where in the wilderness a wild place and therefore fit for wild beasts The wilderness strictly taken is the dwelling of beasts not of men we read I grant in Scripture not only of Houses but of Cities in the wilderness yet take the wilderness strictly and 't is a place un-inhabited by man and that 's the place where the Lord hath appointed the wild Ass to dwell 't is his house there he abideth as men do in their houses The wilderness is a place undressed untilled uncared for by man yet by the care and goodness of God it affords sufficient provision for the support of these creatures whom no man provides for Whose house I have made the wilderness The wild Ass hath a large and open house some conceive the wilderness here intended was the wilderness of Arabia which as Historians tell us was much stockt or abounded with wild Asses The word Arabia signifies a wilderness the whole country being so like a wilderness is so called after its own likeness The Chaldee Paraphrast reads it whose house I have made a plain as if these wild Asses were in this opposed to the wild Goats ver 1. who live on high hills and craggy rocks The word is translated a plain Deut. 1.1 yet rather as we the wilderness And the barren land his dwellings the Hebrew is and the salt place his dwellings A barren place and a salt place are the same Judg. 9.45 When Abimeleck took that City he sowed it with salt in token that an everlasting curse of barrenness should come upon it according to that Psal 107.34 A fruitful land turned he into barrenness the margin saith into saltness Once more Jer. 17.5 6. Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm he shall be like the heath in the desert and shall not see when good cometh but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness in a salt land and not inhabited that is in a barren land unfit for any to inhabit There is a reason in nature why salt land is barren salt being hot and dry draweth up the strength and moisture of the land that should make is fruitful This salt or barren land which yeilds little grass or herbage the Lord hath appointed for the wild Ass to dwell in Hence note First God provides a place of dwelling for the meanest creatures Where the wild Ass shall dwell or inhabit comes under a Divine appointment How much more hath God appointed dwelling places for the children of men The Apostle tells us Acts 12.26 That he hath not only made men to dwell on all the face of the earth but he hath also determined the bounds of their habitation that is God hath not only made the whole earth habitable for man-kind but he hath by his providence disposed every man to his special habitation in this or that part of the earth Secondly The dwelling which God appoints to any creature is sutable to its nature This wild creature dwells in a wild place in a wilderness This barren creature as to any benefit he brings to man God appoints to dwel in a barren land It is said of Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 5.21 when for his pride he was put from his dominion that he had his dwelling with wild Asses he himself carried it like a beast and he had a dwelling sutable to his beastial disposition among the beasts he was proud and would not bare the Lords yoke he cast off the bonds which God laid upon him and thought it enough for him to lay bonds upon men therefore the Lord to humble him thrust him among the beasts As like will to like mostly in way of election so sometimes like shall to like though they like it not in way of compulsion and usually like are put to like persons or places in way of gracious ordination God himself appoints wild beasts to the barren wildernesses tame beasts to the fruitful enclosed pastures he placeth men in well built Houses Towns or Cities and he hath appointed faithful men and women his Church to dwell in which is therefore called though in a wilderness the house of God 1 Tim. 3.15 David found that house more pleasing to him than any of his Royal Pallaces and therefore made it his great request The one thing of his desires Psal 27.7 That he might dwel in the house of the Lord for ever Even as he bitterly complained Psalm 120.5 Wo is me that I sojourn in Mesech that I dwell in the tents of Kedar And as the Lord hath provided sutable habitations for beasts wild and tame for men good and bad here on earth so he hath provided sutable habitations for all men when they leave this earth He hath provided hell for their house and dwelling place for ever who are disobedient 〈◊〉 â—nbelieving and he hath provided heaven for their house and dwelling place for ever who believe and obey As now all godly men dwell in God by faith Psal 90.1 so they shall hereafter dwell always with him by fruition He that gives the wilderness for a house and the barren land for a dwelling to the wild Ass will provide a Paradise for the house and a Spring-garden of everlasting joys and sweetnesses for his faithful servants Thirdly From these words the barren land his dwelling Note As some lands are barren by a Divine Malediction so some by Common Constitution Some lands become barren
upon Pharoah when he dealt so hardly with the chosen people of God notwithstanding all the corporal judgments which God brought upon him And as it was in that case between Pharoah and the children of Israel so in any case whatsoever he that dealeth hardly with others hath a heart hardned against them as this beast-bird the Ostrich upon that account is said to harden her self against her young ones Note Secondly 'T is an aggravation of hard-heartedness to deal hardly with those that are young and tender They that are grown up they that are hardned can endure hardship The Apostle Paul would have every believer especially a Minister of the Gospel to endure hardship 2 Tim. 2.3 'T is both their duty wisdom to harden themselves who are like to endure hardship and to find the world hardned against them All such should inure themselves to endure hard things or to suffer evil as the word there is as the good souldiers of Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tu igitur perfer adversa Bez. Good souldiers especially old experienced souldiers will indure hardship but your raw souldiers new listed souldiers who never saw battel or siedge can hardly endure it The Ostrich puts her young ones to hardship We should be very careful if we put hardship upon any to put it upon those only that are fit to endure it we should not put hardship upon young ones 't is the spirit of an Ostrich of a beast-bird to do so Jacob had a tender respect to his flocks for this reason when Esau would have journeyed with him no saith he Gen. 33.13 My Lord knoweth that the children are tender and the flocks aâ—d herds with young are with me and if men should over-drive them one day all the flock would die As if he had said should I use these young ones hardly that are not fitted for hardship I should destroy all Jacob had a tender care of those that were tender The Ministers of the Gospel should take heed that they harden not themselves against the young ones of the flock such as are newly come in to Jesus Christ late Converts Babes in Christ as the Apostle calls them 1 Cor. 3.1 these should be dealt tenderly with The Prophet describes the tender care of Christ towards his people under this notion Isa 40.11 He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd he shall gather the Lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young and shall his Ministers hurry and over-drive them When any do so are they not as the Ostrich in the Text hardned against their young ones yea against those that are with young Again From that addition to her hard heartedness not only is she hardned against her young ones but she is hardned as if they were not hers Hence note It is most unnaâ—ural to be hardned against those to whom we stand engaged by neer relation or natural bonds To look upon those as not ours that are ours is an extremity of hardness She is a hard mother indeed who deals with her children as if they were not her children The Apostle concludes universally in the Negative Eph. 5.29 No man ever hated his own flesh but loved it and cherished it as the Lâ—rd doth the Church Now as it is an unnatural thing for a man to hate his own flesh personal so his own flesh relational Christ speaking of the world saith John 15.19 The world loves its own The world doth not love you saith Christ to his disciples yea because I have chosen you out of the world therefore the world hates you The world and you are not of a piece are not of a Pedigree nor of the same extraction you are of another world and have had both a birth and a breeding differing toto coelo heavenly wide from theirs and therefore 't is no great wonder if the world hate you who are not of it but the world loves its own They have a nature more unnatural than the world who are hardned against their own relations Jesus Christ John 1.11 came to his own and his own received him not Now as not to be respected by our own so not to respect our own is unnatural It was the sin of the Jewish Nation that they did not respect Christ they being Christs own according to the flesh Their sin is great and they do shamefully who will not do what good they ought and can for their own The Prophet Jeremiah in his Lamentations Chap. 4.3 speaking of the women of Jerusalem in that extremity of famine saith Even the Sea monsters draw out the breast they give suck to their young ones but the daughter of my people is become cruel like the Ostriches in the wilderness The Prophet compares that people to the Ostrich though that cruelty of theirs to their young ones proceeded not so much from the hardness of their hearts as from the hardness of the times and was to be charged rather upon their necessity than their nature The famine upon them was so great and pressed them so sore that they were so far from having any thing to give their children to eat that they were forced to eat their children and yet this necessitons hard-heartness of theirs towards their own the Pâ—ophet upbraids them with and reproves them for while he said The daughter of my people is become cruel like the Ostriches of the wilderness Let all own relations to the utmost and take heed of turning away from and casting off the care of theirs as if they were not theirs The Prophet Isa 58.7 puts it among the duties of a fast That thou hide not thy self from thy own flesh Then we keep a true fast a fast that God hath chosen when we break our bread to the hungry and bring the poor that are cast out to our houses when we cloath the naked and comfort the sorrowful not hiding our selves from our own flesh by which though we are specially to understand our kindred and neerest relations in the flesh yet 't is true of meer strangers of those who are at furthest remove from us as to either alliance or consanguinity if they need our help God hath made all men of one flesh in the same sense that he hath made all men of one blood Act. 17.26 and therefore to hide our selves from the help of any man in distress is to hide our selves from our own flesh 'T is much to be wondred that a foolish bird should be forgetful of her young ones as though they were not hers but it is to be abhorred in men and women especially in those that profess the faith of Christ that they should no more look to them that are theirs than as if they were not theirs The Apostle gives this censure of or sentence upon all such 1 Tim. 5.8 If any man provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house or as the Margin hath it kindred
as a prayer for their return out of proper captivity and largely for their deliverance out of any adversity So Psal 126.1 When the Lord turned the captivity of Sion we were like them that dream Read also Zeph. 2.7 Secondly From the author of this turn The Lord turned the captivity c. Observe Deliverance out of an afflicted state is of the Lord. He is the authour of these comfortable turns and he is to be acknowledged as the authour of them The Psalmist prayed thrice Turn us again Psal 80.3 7 19. The waters of affliction would continually rise and swell higher and higher did not the Lord stop and turn them did not he command them back and cause an ebb Satan would never have done bringing the floods of affliction upon Job if the Lord had not forbidden him and turned them It was the Lord who took all from Job as he acknowledged chap. 1.21 and it was the Lord who restored all to him again as we see here the same hand did both in his case and doth both in all such cases Hos 6.1 Let us return to the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up David ascribed both to God Psal 66.11 12. Thou broughtest us into the net thou layedst affliction upon our loins thou hast caused men to ride over our heads we went through fire and through water The hand of God led them in that fire and water of affliction through which they went but who led them out The Psalmist tells us in the next words Thou broughtest us into a wealthy place the Margin saith into a moist place They were in fire and water before Fire is the extremity of heat and driness water is the extremity of moistneâ—s and coldness A moist place notes a due temperament of â—eat and cold of driness and moistness and therefore elâ—gantly shadows that comfortable and contentful condition into which the good hand of God had brought them which is significantly expressed in our translation by a wealthy place those places flourishing most in fruitfulness and so in wealth which are neither over-hot nor over-cold neither oveâ—-dry nor over-moist And as in that Psalm David acknowledged the hand of God in this so in another he celebrated the Lords power and goodness for this Psal 68.20 He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death that is the out-lets or out-gates from death are from the Lord he delivereth from the grave and from every grief The Lord turned the captivity of Job not only p eserving him from death but filling him with the good things and comforts of this life Thirdly Note The Lord can suddenly make a change or turn As he can quickly make a great change from prosperity to adversity and in a moment bâ—ing darkness upon those who injoy the sweetest light so he can quickly make a change from adversity to prosperity from captivity to liberty and turn the darkest night into a morning light For such a turn the Church prayed Psal 126.4 Turn again our captivity O Lord as the streams in the south that is do it speedily The south is a dry place thither streams come not by a slow constant currant but as mighty streams or land-floods by a sudden unexpected rain like that 1 Kings 18.41 45. Get thee up said Eliah to Ahab for there is a sound of aboundance of rain and presently the heaven was black with clouds and wind and there was a great rain When great rains come after long drought they make sudden floods and streams Such a sudden income of mercy or deliverance from captivity the Church then prayed for and was in the faith and hope of nor was that hope in vain nor shall any who in that condition wait patiently upon God be ashamed of their hope The holy Evangelist makes report Luke 13.16 that Satan had bound a poor woman eighteen years all that time he had her his prisoner but Jesus Christ in a moment made her free Ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan hath bound lo these eighteen years be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day The devil who had her in his power eighteen years could not hold her a moment when Jesus Christ would turn her captivity and loose her from that bond If the Son undertake to make any free whether from corporal or spiritual bondage they shall not only be free indeed as he spake John 8.36 at the time when he is pleased to do it but he can do it at any time in the shortest time when he pleaseth We find a like turn of captivity is described Psal 107.10 11 12 13 14. such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in affliction and iron because they rebelled against the word of the Lord c. These vers 13. cryed unto the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and brake their bands in sunder Thus far of the first particular considerable in Jobs restitution the Author of it The Lord turned the captivity of Job The second thing to be considered is the season which the Lord took for the turning of Jobs captivity the Lord did it saith the text When he prayed for his friends Some conceive the turn of his captivity was just in his prayer time and that even then his body was healed I shall have occasion to speak further to that afterwards upon another verse Thus much is clear that When he prayed That is either in the very praying time or presently upon it the Lord â—urned his captivity Possibly the Lord did not stay till he had done accorâ—ing to that Isa 65.24 It shall come to pass that before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear Or according to that Dan. 9.20 While I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplications before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God Yea while I was speaking in prayer even the man Gabriel whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning being caused to flie swiftly touched me about the time of the evening oblation and he informed me and talked with me and said O Daniel I am come forth to give thee skill and understanding at the beginning of thy supplications the commandement came forth and I am come to shew thee c. What commandement came forth even a command for the turning of their captivity Thus here I say possibly the Lord gave out that word of command for the turning of Jobs captivity at that very time when he was praying for his friends But without question these words when he prayed for his friends note a very speedy return of his prayers that is soon after he had done that gracious office for them he