his Freind in affliction Thirdly Considering the Person who was thus scorned Job a man beloved of God the great Favorite of that Age to the King of Heaven Hence Observe They who are highly approved and honoured of God may fall under the contempt and scorne of men As they who are applauded and flattered yet adored by men may be the scorne and contempt of God What Christ speakes of things is true of persons Luke 16.15 That which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination in the sight of God So they who are highly esteemed of God are often an abomination to men God seeth not as man seeth no not as good men see God and good men are not alwayes of an opinion eyther about things or persons and as the worst of men finde some to flatter and applaud them so the best of men finde some to undervalue and deride them and they sometimes finde good men doing so There is no judging eyther of men or of matters by what is sayd of them In this sense all men are or may be lyars carrying a fals report in their mouths Should we judge concludingly of men by the opinion of man how base and contemptible would many precious soules appeare to us And how precious would many appeare to us who are onely worthy to be contemned Christ gives the rule John 7.24 Judge not according to appearance or by the face but judge righteous judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secundum vultum vel faciem Wee must not judge eyther of things or persons till they appeare nor may we judge of them by appearances especially not by those appearances which the tongues of men put upon them The Greek in that Text of John saith Judge not according to the face For though the face in its naturall frame be the Index or discovery of the minde yet as a man may artificially set his face to a look altogether unlike his minde so others may set a face upon the wayes and actions of a man altogether unlike both the man and his actions He that had judged Job by the face which God had put upon his outward condition or by that which Satan and his Freinds put upon his wayes and actions must have judged him eyther an hypocrite serving God onely to serve his owne turne or else prophane casting off the service of God All the morally illfavoured faces in the World are of one of these two features or complexions the opinions that went abroad of Job made him appeare like both and yet he was a man most beautifull in the eye of God a man that had received the fairest Letters commendatory under Gods owne hand that ever man had to that day My Freinds scorne me What then But mine eye powreth out teares unto God As before he had appealed to God so now his eye powreth out teares unto God The Hebrew is Mine eye powreth out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stillare seu diffluere instar aquarum stillando quasi attenuari The word signifies to flow forth like water and to wast in flowing forth his eyes were as a Fountaine which flowes continually yet retaines a perpetuall stock of water but his strength abated and his spirits issued with those waters Mine eye powreth out we add the word Teares because teares are the onely eye-waters or all the waters which flow from the eye Mine eye powreth out teares The word signifieth sometimes onely to drop Translatio est a stillicidijs eyther as a Limbeck drops downe the water which is raised up by the heat into fumes or as the Eaves of a house drop in a time of raine so mine eye distilleth or droppeth teares Job had a heate within him which might well cause those distillations and showres without him which might well cause those droppings This distilling dropping or powring out of teares was the powring out of his sorrows and there was more in it then silent sorrow there was a voice in his sorrows or a voice of mourning was mingled with his weeping yea this word implyes speaking in many places of the old Testament where to drop is to Prophesie Phrasi Hebraica stillare saepe pro loqui sumitur and Prophecying is a vocall act Micah 2.6 Prophesie yee not say they to them that prophesie the word is Dropp not Both are expressed Amos 7.16 Prophesie not against Israel and drop not thy word against the house of Isaac So Ezek. 21.2 Drop thy words towards the holy places and prophesie against the Land of Israel And the reason of it is because words fall into the eare of the hearers as drops of raine upon the dry and thirsty ground both to soften and make fruitfull Jobs teares preacht the dropping of his eye was a kinde of prophecying Teares are not words formally but they are virtually Weeping is inarticulate speaking And though God by reason of his infinite and unchangeable happinesse never spake that language yet hee understands it fully There are saith the Apostle arguing against speaking in an unknowne tongue it may be so many kinds of voyces in the World and none of them are without signification 1 Cor 14.10 The voice of teares is very significant yet God onely knowes the speciall signification of it man knowes onely the generall that it signifies sorrow Possibly words went with Jobs teares but if not yet his teares had the force of words Weeping speakes though the weeper speake not Mine eye powreth out or speaketh teares There are seven or eight sorts of teares spoken of in Scripture and every one speakes First Teares of wordly sorrow Esau had enow of them he found store of teares when he lost the blessing He for one morsell of meat sold his birthright but hee could not purchase it againe with floods of sorrow For he found no place of repentance that is hee could not prevayle with his Father Isaac to change his minde though he sought it carefully with tears Heb. 12.17 Esaus teares spake his hunger after that which he had sold to buy off hunger or to pay a debt to nature Secondly There are the teares of repentance and godly sorrow such were those of Mary Luke 7.38 who wept and washed Christs feet with her teares and wiped them with the haire of her head Shee had been a sinner such a sinner as bore away the name from all the sinners in the City and shee mourned so for sin that shee bare away the name from all the mourners in the City Maries teares spake her tender respect to Christ who saveth sinners and her abhorrence of her selfe for sin Thirdly There are teares of craft and wicked dissimulation Jer. 41.6 Ishmael goes forth to meet the men that came towards Jerusalem weeping all along as he went his were made teares he shed teares that he might shed blood and weep himselfe into an opportunity of doing mischiefe unsuspected Ishmaels teares spake treachery but because those plain-hearted men could not interpret them they
like the wind but it passeth away and though we cannot tell whither it goes yet we may easily tell whence it comes even from the fancie and out of the mouth of a foolish man It was usuall of old to call that which is vaine windy those despisers of holy counsells and Divine Alarums given by the Prophets said The Prophets shall become wind and the word is not in them Jer. 5.13 That is both the Doctrine and the threats which these Prophets utter are vaine and ineffectuall they will doe us neither good nor evill no mans finger shall ake though their tongues ake with talking The Prophet Hosea at once reproves and terrisies the Jewes in this language They have sowne the wind and they shall reape the whirlewind Hos 8.7 To sow the winde is to doe a vaine thing our actions are as seed such as we sow such shall we reape they sowed sin and they reaped trouble Themselves sowed the wind by what they did and they thought the Prophets sowed the winde in what they spake And indeed the words of the Prophet were wind as the peoples works were in reference to the issue those produced a whirlewind to scatter their contemners as these did to scatter their actors The old Satyrist calls vaine words bubly toyes Bullatas nugas utpote similes bullis vento plenis Pers Sat. 5. because such words are like a bubble full of wind possibly full of wit but empty of wisedome and good instruction Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge The Scripture calls that vaine First which is unprofitable these mutually expound each other Eccles 1.2 3. Vanity of vanity saith the Preacher c. What profit hath a man of all the labour which he taketh under the Sunne There 's most vanity where there is least profit and where there is no profit at all there is nothing at all but vanity Turne not aside from following the Lord saith Samuel for then should you goe after vaine things which cannot profit 1 Sam. 12.20 21. Secondly the Scripture calls that and those vaine which hath or have no solidity in them vanity hath so little weight in it that when the Spirit would expresse men who have no weight in them he saith They are lighter then vanity Psalm 62.9 Thirdly the Scripture calls that vaine which is alwayes moving varying and unsetled Psal 144.4 Man is like to vanity his dayes are as a shadow that passeth away He is therefore like to vanity because he is so like a shadow continually passing but never continuing Fourthly the Scripture often calls that vaine which is sinfull in practice or unsound and erroneous in opinion I hate vaine inventions saith David but thy Law doe I love Whatsoever opposes either truth of Doctrine or purity of Worship is a vaine invention of man and opposite to the Law of God he utters vaine knowledge who utters false Principles which subvert the Faith or superstitious formes which endanger the life and power of godlinesse Eliphaz supposed that somewhat of vanity in all these notions was rallyed together into the discourse of Job that it was light and froathy that it was erroneous and full of incongruity especially which carries all these in it that it was worthlesse and unprofitable to the receiver as he expresseth in the third Verse Should he reason with unprofitable talke Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge Hence observe There is a vanity in some kind of knowledge and folly in that which not a few call wisedome It hath been the businesse of some mens knowledge to finde out a vanity in all sorts of knowledge Eliphaz spake well for the matter though ill to the man Job did not utter vaine knowledge but we know too many doe The old Gentiles waxed vaine in their imaginations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vani facti sunt in ratiocinationibus suis Baz their very reasonings were vaine so the Originall word tells us It was not their phansie but their understanding which was vaine The Apostle cautions the Colossians Let no man spoyle you through Philosophy and vaine deceit Col. 2.8 Philosophy in it selfe is an excellent knowledge yet it may be vainely taught and so deceive us as to spoyle us I may say also let no man spoyle you through Divinity and vaine deceit Divinity which is in it selfe the most excellent knowledge the knowledge of God may be vainely taught and so deceive us as to spoyle us That knowledge which is best in it selfe is vainest to us when it is unduely or falsely uttered Secondly observe It is most uncomely for those who either have or would have the reputation of wisedome to speake vainly Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge 'T is no wonder to heare a vaine man speake vainely and for a foole to utter folly Doe men gather Grapes of thornes or Figgs of thistles The vile person will speake villany and his heart will worke iniquity to practice hypocrisie and to utter errour against the Lord Isa 32.6 If a foole a vaine man or a vile person speake thus he speakes like himselfe but if a wise or a good man speake thus he speakes so unlike himselfe that the Chaldee Paraphrase puts not onely an undecensie but an impossibility upon it Can a wise man utter vaine knowledge It is impossible Estne possibile c. Chald. Paraph. Men act according to their principles every thing is in working as it is in being if there be wisedome in the heart it will be heard at the tongue A wholesome Fountaine will send out wholesome waters He that is borne of God saith the Apostle John 1 Epist 3.9 cannot sinne though he hath not a naturall impossibility to sin Sapiens ad mensuram sermones profert libra examinatos justitiae ut sit gravitas in sensu in sermone pondus in verbis modus Ambros l. 1. Offic. c 3. yet he hath a morall impossibility to sinne because the seed of God remaineth in him the frame and bent of his heart is set another way Now as there is a morall impossibility that a godly man should commit sin so that a wise man should speake sin or utter vaine knowledge A wise man speakes as well as acts by measure he waighs what he saith as much as what he doth the tongue of the wise is as a Tree of life Grace in the heart blossomes at the lips in savory words which minister grace unto the hearers Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge And fill his belly with the East winde A belly full of windy meat is bad enough a belly full of wind is farre worse But what is here meant by the belly what by the East-wind The belly is put for the heart and affections together with all the intellectuall powers of the minde John 7.38 Out of his belly that is out of his whole soule shall flow Rivers of living water This water is the holy spirit the holy spirit is sometimes compared also to the wind Venter
the words abstractly they yeeld us this usefull observation That it is an argument of an evill heart to shorten Hic proponitur tanquam ingens piaculum quod homo afflictus remittat orandi studium or restraine to lessen or to give off Prayer in times of trouble That King spake to the height of prophanenesse when he said 2 Kings 6. This evill is of the Lord and why should I waite on the Lord any longer When we have done waiting we have done praying No man will aske for that which he doth not expect to receive How long so ever affliction lasteth so long prayer-season lasteth if the Winter day of our trouble be a Summer day in length if it be continued many dayes yea many moneths and yeares prayer should continue Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will heare and thou shalt glorifie me Let the day of trouble be short or long God lookes to heare of us all that day Is any afflicted let him pray saith the Apostle James it is a duty to pray when we are not afflicted when we prosper in the World But is any man afflicted then is a speciall season for prayer A sincere heart prayes alwayes or continues in prayer an hypocrite never loves to pray and at two seasons he will restraine or lay aside prayer First when he is got out or thinks he hath prayed himselfe out of affliction Prosperity and worldly fulnesse stop the mouth of prayer and he hath no more to say to God when he hath received much from God Secondly a Hypocrite restraines prayer when he perceives he hath got nothing by prayer he sees he cannot or feares he shall not get out of trouble and therefore he will pray no more in trouble his spirit failes because his afflictions hold out Upon which soever of these two grounds the Hypocrite restraines prayer he shewes the wickednesse of his heart If from the former he shewes that he beares no true love to God if from the latter he shewes that he hath no true faith in God or dares not trust him Further to cast off prayer is to cast off God and he that lives without prayer in the World lives without God in the World Hence the Heathen who know not God and the Families that call not upon his Name are joyned together or rather are the same Jer. 10.25 Further to restraine prayer is worse then not to pray The latter notes onely a neglect of the duty the fromer a distast of the duty To give over any holy exercise is more dangerous then not to begin or take it up The one is the prophane mans sin the other is the Hypocrites Thou restrainest prayer and hee that doth not utter prayer with his mouth will soone utter wickednesse with his mouth as it follows Vers 5. For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity and thou chusest the tongue of the crafty Here Eliphaz explaines and proves what he said before that Job had cast off the feare of God and restrained prayer as if he had said If thou hadst kept in holy feare that would have kept in thine iniquity Hadst thou not restrained prayer that would have restrained and bridled downe thy sin but thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity and that sheweth that prayer is restrained and that feare is cast off here is a demonstration of it If you should come to a Princes Court and see a great croud about the doore you would say the Porter is there he stops and examines them if at another time you see all going in as fast as they please you will say the Porter is out of the way Thus while the feare of the Lord stands like a Porter at the doore of the soule we keep our thoughts and actions in compasse we examine what goes in and what comes out but when once that 's gone Non opus est ut te doceam in quo pecces cum ipse tuus sermo doceat te iniquum esse Vatab Reus verbis oris tui Sept order is gone Any thing may be sayd any thing may be done by him who feares not who prayes not Thou hast cast off feare and restrained prayer for thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity out it comes as fast as it can I need not tell thee wherein thou hast offended thy mouth powres it out Hence Note That the evill which is in the heart will out at the mouth unlesse prayer and the feare of God restraine it As the good that is in the heart will come out of the mouth especially when prayer unlocks the mouth David prayes Lord open thou my lips and then he undertakes for his mouth that it shall shew forth the praise of God Psal 51.1 My heart is inditing a good matter the heart doth this in prayer or meditation what follows My tongue is as the Pen of a ready Writer Heavenly thoughts in the heart shoot out at the tongue in heavenly words When the heart is devising of a good matter the tongue will be swift to speake and set all to a good tune Thus also while the heart is inditing an evill matter the tongue runs to evill Such a man needs not learne from others he hath a root of bitternesse in himselfe Hence our Saviour concludes Matth. 12.37 By thy words thou shalt be condemned and by thy words thou shalt be justified Why shall we be condemned by our words Qualis vir talis oratio Mens mala linguam movet vos fingit ad improbos sensus neque aliud os loquitur quam quod interior suggerit atque imperat sensus The Prophet complaines of those who made a man an offender for a word I answer our words shew what we are they declare our hearts as a man may be discovered of what Country he is when he speakes so of what spirit he is The tongue is the scholler of the heart and speakes what that dictates A man is justly condemned by evill words because they testifie that he is evill Thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity Observe Secondly There are some iniquities which are more properly ours then some others are Thine iniquity Job had as Eliphaz seemes to suggest a kind of peculiarity in it As God ownes some people in a speciall manner though all the people of the earth be his yet they are his beloved people So man ownes some sin in a speciall manner though a corrupt heart hath a relation to all the sins in the World yet some one is his beloved sin and may be called by way of emminency his iniquity 'T is his as his Houses and Lands as the Money in his Purse and the Garments on his backe are his Observe thirdly Every man is most ready to act and utter his speciall iniquity Thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity There are some sins in a mans heart which possibly he may never utter all his dayes but he must be talking of or acting his beloved one Hence David speakes it as a high worke
of grace in him Psal 18.23 I have kept my selfe from mine iniquity Even a godly man who disownes every sin hath some one sin more his owne then others This findes him work not to doe it but to keep himselfe from doing it And thou chusest the tongue of the crafty As if he had sayd Thou wast wont to speake prayer now thou speakst pollicy thou dealest cunningly and deceitfully with us not plainely and clearely Why what had Job spoken or done that should gaine him the disreputation of a crafty man some conceive Eliphaz hinting at those words Chap. 6.24 Teach me and I will hold my tongue c. Thou speakest as if thou wert willing to be taught shew me my errour and I will turne from it yet this is from craft not from conscience For though thou seemest to be willing to receive instruction yet thou keepest close to thy opinion and wilt not part from it We shall sometimes heare a man speaking very ingenuously convince me that I am in an errour and I will relinquish it Lingua pro doctrina Metonymicè causa vel instrumâ—ntum pro effectu and yet he resolves to hold his owne To desire instruction is growne into a complement but 't is by the tongue of the crafty The instrument is here put for the effect the tongue for speech as Isa 50.4 Thou hast given me the tongue of the learned what to doe that I may know to speake a word in season Lingua erudita vel doctrinarum i. e. eruditè sapienter ornate suaviter loquendi facultas Againe the word Crafty is taken in a good sense by some Interpreters So the tongue of the crafty is the tongue of the wise as if he had said thou seemest to speake very wisely soberly and holily others render it thus Thou shouldest have chosen the tongue of the wise that is thou shouldst have spoken more reverently and discreetly whereas thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity but rather the crafty is the subtill man As if he had sayd Thou lovest to play the Sophister to put faire colours on a bad matter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 versutus malignus calidus Calidos hic vocat qui cum male sentiant agant inveniunt tamen causationes colores Coc. and wilt not let things appeare as indeed they are Be wise as Serpents is Christs advice but he adds Be innocent as Doves Serpentine wisedome must be mixed with Dove-like innocence the craftinesse of the Serpent alone belongs onely to the seed of the Serpent Lastly whereas he saith Thou chusest the tongue of the crafty he heightens his accusation and would represent this good man to the eye of the world in a blacker hue To chuse notes a mixt act both of the understanding will and affections and it seemes here to be opposed to that wicked act but not in the wickednesse of it where-with he bespatter'd Job in the former Verse Thou castest off feare To cast off or reprobate is contrary to electing or chusing and so is the feare of God to craft The feare of God is the beginning of wisedome a good understanding have all they that doe thereafter but craft is onely the corruption of wisedome and they have no good understanding who doe thereafter Now when Divine feare and humane craft stand in competition for a man to give his vote for craft and to refuse at least to let passe the feare of the Lord this is one of the highest growths of sinfull corruption He that doth thus needs neither Judge nor witnesse against him he is both himselfe so Eliphaz resolves it in the next Verse Vers 6. Thine owne mouth condemneth thee and not I thine owne lips testifie against thee This Verse hath nothing in it that needs a Comment The intendment of it may be thus given It is as cleare as the light that thou castest off feare and restrainest prayer before God for as much as thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity Testes olim manus super caput rei imponentes dicere solebant Malitia tua te adduxit ad mortem non nos Lyran. and thou hast chosen the tongue of the crafty these things are so plaine that I need not prove them thine owne mouth shall condemne thee and not I. As the Judge said at Christs tryall What need we any witnesse ye have heard his blasphemy Matth. 26.65 Witnesses of old were wont to put their hand upon the head of the offender and say It is thy owne wickednesse which condemnes thee and not wee much more doth their wickednesse condemne them who may justly be condemned without witnesse Hence observe That selfe condemnation is the strongest condemnation Luke 19.22 Christ tells the unprofitable Servant Out of thine owne mouth will I judge thee thou wicked Servant The obstinate Heretick is condemned of himselfe Tit. 3.14 Not that the Heretick doth condemne himselfe formally he doth not say I am in an error you can hardly bring an Heretick to that and when you doe he ceaseth to be an Heretick It is his stiffenesse in opinion which fastens the reproach of heresie upon him but he is said to condemne himselfe because holding such an erroneous opinion he doth virtually condemne himselfe and plainely declares that he is fallen from the truth or hath alwayes opposed it The Prophet Isa 44.9 saith of Image-makers They are all of them vanity their delectable things shall not profit them and they are their owne witnesses they see not nor know that they may be ashamed Images shew what both they and their worshippers are though no man should speake a word against them they having tongues and cannot speake speake enough against themselves their silence or dumbnesse rather proclaimes aloud to all the World that they are vaine and dunghill Deities they can doe neither good nor evill to shew themselves Gods and they who worship them doe not so much as shew themselves men Isa 46.8 In all this they are their owne witnesses They cannot but see their owne blindnesse and folly who speake to that which cannot heare and lift up their eyes to that which cannot see Every sinner hath reason to condemne himselfe with his owne mouth and why an Idolater doth it not no reason can be given but that which was toucht even now from the Prophet he wants his reason and is therefore in a holy scorne advised to shew himselfe a man While we acquit our selves with our owne mouths and beare witnesse to our selves our witnesse is of no validity nor are we at all acquitted but while we condemne our selves with our owne mouths and beare witnesse against our selves our witnesse is stronge and we are abundantly condemned JOB Chap. 15. Vers 7 8 9 10 11. Art thou the first man that was borne or wast thou made before the Hills Hast thou heard the secret of God and doest thou restraine wisedome to thy selfe What knowest thou that we know not what understandest thou that is not in us With us
but to speak such or such words may be very sinfull and therefore we and others for explication sake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faeminine vel ut animum muliebri impotentia labo antem fodicet aut forma Chaldaica Pungit etiam voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Logos nugas verba Coc. make this supplement Such words But what words were they Eliphaz doth not quote any passages in his speech but leaves them as we and others translate under a terme of generall distast Such words as if they were not worth the naming or as if no epithite could be found worthlesse enough to name them by For as when Ezra would describe a deliverance in the realilty of it beyond words he doth not tell us what it was but saith onely Seeing our God hath given us such deliverance as this Ez. 9.13 So when Eliphaz would describe words in the vanity or sinfulnesse of them below words he doth not tell us what they were but saith onely Such words as these yet possibly the words he meanes were these Why hast thou set me as a marke so that I am a burden to my selfe Chap. 7.20 or these Chap. 9.30 If I wash me with Snow water and make my hands never so cleare yet thou wilt plunge me in the ditch or these Chap. 13.26 Thou writest bitter things against me and thou makest me to possesse the iniquities of my youth These or such as these were the words which Eliphaz leaves under this note of disdaine Such words Yet these Eliphaz should have mollified with a charitable construction and not have sharpned his owne tongue against them much lesse should he have interpreted them as the turning of Jobs spirit against God himselfe For as some draw neer to God with their lips and give him smooth words while their hearts are farre from him and their spirits turned against him So others may seeme to depart from God with their lips and give him harsh language while their hearts are neere and their spirits cleave unto him I shall further give you a fourfold character of these words sutable to the misprision which Eliphaz and his Friends had of him all along Such words or words so apprehended must needs sound harshly in their eares and in the cares of any man fearing God First Proud words of himselfe insisting upon his owne righteousnesse as they conceived for in the next words Eliphaz saith What is man that he should be cleane they thought Job spake much to paint and bedeck himselfe with his own goodnesse and innocency Secondly Blasphemous words of God though not directly yet by consequence against his works and dealings Thirdly Reproachfull scornefull words against them as if they were neither able nor worthy to be his counsell You are the men and wisedome shall dye with you Fourthly False words upon the whole matter in controversie maintaining as Eliphaz judged contrary to the truth that he was not punished for his sin Words under this fourfold notion are reproveable and sinfull enough such Eliphaz esteemed the words of Job to be proud blasphemous reproachfull false Why lettest thou such words as these goe out of thy mouth Hence Observe First Passion within will vent it selfe by words without when the heart is carryed away and the spirit turned against God no marvaile if the tongue be carryed away and the words of such a man be turned both against God his truth or people Secondly Note Our words are sutable to our spirits some can dissemble much and speak golden words while themselves are drosse but ordinarily our words are such as we are The vile person will speake villany Isa 32.6 A man that is all for the World speakes worldly 1 John 4.5 They are of the World therefore speake they of the World Every man is of the World so as that he is a part of the World but some are so of the World that the World is all them they who are thus of the World must needs speake of the World if they speak any thing for they have nothing else to speake of Thus a covetous man speakes covetously and a proud man proudly Jerem. 43.2 Some told the Prophet to his face Thou speakest falsly the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say Goe not into Aegypt to sojourne there These were proud words indeed but who spake them The text tells us Then spake Azariah the Son of Hoshaniah and all the proud men The proud men spake proudly so on the contrary a sober man will speake soberly an humble man humbly The poore speake supplications saith Solomon rich men speake their commands poore men speake their wishes and desires Thirdly Observe He that dares to speake evill is arrived at a great height of evill Eliphaz puts this as an effect of a heart turned against God such words as these shew that thou art not onely a sinfull man but impudent in sinning For though an evill heart is worse then an evill tongue and an ill thought then an evill word yet when ill words spring from ill thoughts and are as branches growing from the root of an evill heart this shewes a man hightened in sin Sin hath got the mastery of the heart whâ—n it freely vents it selfe at the tongue Some keep their sins downe by hypocrisie and some by common modesty they are either so cunning that they will not or so bashfull that they dare not speak out the filth that lyes within But they are beyond not onely modesty but hypocrisie whose tongues can speak all the evill that is in their heart though the sin of the heart be worse then the sinne of the tongue yet when tongue sinnes are steept in the puddle of a corrupt heart they are most unsavory David sinned when he sayd in his hast all men are lyars How greatly then doe they sinne who tell lyes at their leisure and speak evill with deliberation That which is said in hast is sayd by the tongue alone without the privity of the heart but the heart is alwayes privy to that which is sayd at leisure The Prophet taxeth those the shew of whose countenance did testifie against them Is 3.9 They fall justly under as severe a censure the sound of whose tongues doth testifie against them for they also as it followes in the Prophet declare their sin as Sodom they hid it not Further this also argues the evill of evill speaking because it wrongs others and infects the Auditors The vanity or errour of the minde spoken out is contagious better keep it in then speak it out but both are naught 't is onely good when we purge it out Though it be some allay and lessening yet it is no excuse for sinne that we keep it in God hates it let it lye as close as it will and though a sin kept close doth not hurt others yet it is not onely hurtfull but deadly to its keeper They onely are out of danger who as they doe not let evill goe out of the door
word All that ever was done in the World hath been done by the breath of Gods mouth that is by the word or decree of God So some understand that of the Apostle 2 Thes 2.8 And then shall that wicked one be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit or breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightnesse of his comming Antichrist hath stood long and he hath been for some time declining his downfall hastens the breath of God will leave him breathlesse As he hath stood by the flattering breath of men so he shall fall by the consuming breath of God This consuming with breath notes either as before the easinesse of that consumption 't is done with a breath or the way and manner of doing it 't is done by the command and decree of God or by the Preaching of the Gospell which indeed gives Antichrist his fatall blow and shakes all the Towres of mysticall Babylon and is called by the Prophet The rod of his mouth Spiritu oris sc ipsius impii credo potius referrendum esse ad impium quasi ille sibi ipsi fuerit mortis causa dum contra Deum loquitur confidenter libere Sanct. and the breath of his lips Isa 11.4 He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked Life and death sit upon the lips of Christ he hath a reviving breath and a killing breath he quickens the deadest heart and deads the quickest the proudest heart with a word speaking By the breath of his mouth the wicked goe away Further The breath of his mouth say some is the breath of the wicked mans owne mouth By the breath of his mouth shall he goe away That is by the words which breath out of his mouth His passionate distempered speeches shall undoe him while he speaks either outragiously and blasphemously against God or falsely and seditiously towards man his ruine enters at the opening of his lips The motion of the breath is the preserver of life Spiritu oris sui i. e. suis verbis quae spiritu halitu in ore ormantur and while breath lasts life lasts yet many a mans life had lasted longer had it not been for his breath The wicked mans breath proves his death and his tongue which hath been a scourge to others becomes a Sword to himselfe His words possibly have wounded and his breath hath been the death of many But now he is wounded by his owne words and crusht to death by the weight of his owne breath or by the fall of his owne tongue upon him So the Psalmist gives it Psal 64.8 They shall make their owne tongues to fall upon themselves that is Their owne words shall be brought as a Testimony against them and condemne them The tongue is a little member saith the Apostle James Chap. 3.5 and therefore a light member yet it falls heavy as heavy as lead A man were better have his House fall upon him then that in this sense his tongue should fall upon him Some have been pressed to death because they would not speak but stood mute before the Judge but more have been pressed to death by their sinfull freedome or rather licentiousnesse in speaking this hath brought them to judgement and cast them in judgement Their tongue hath fallen upon them and by the breath of their mouth they have gone away Lastly but I will not stay upon it because the Originall doth not well beare it these words are cast into the forme of a similitude describing the manner how the wicked man and all his glory shall goe away even as a breath or as his breath As the breath of his mouth he shall goe away that is he shall go speedily he shall goe suddenly A breath is soon fetcht it is both come and gone in a moment A breathing time is a Proverbiall for a little time much like that In the twinckling of an eye Thus man comes and goes is come and gone especially a wicked man who is driven by the wrath of God as soon as seen by others as soon as he hath breathed himselfe It will not be long ere he goes and he will not be long a going For as the breath of his mouth he shall goe away The breath of man goes continually and so doth the life of man while man sleeps his breath goes and so doth his life while man stands still his breath goes and so doth his life The breath indeed is sometimes in a hurry and goes faster then it doth at other times but though the life of man doth not goe faster at one time then at another yet it alwayes goes Or if at any time our life may be sayd to goe faster then at another it is when our breath is by some stop in its passage at a stand and when ever our breath comes to a full stop our life is not onely going but quite gone The life of man hath so much dependence upon his breath that it is called Breath and the breath of life When God formed man out of the dust of the ground he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soule Gen. 2.7 And as soon as God calls back this breath of life man becomes a dead body or a carkasse The life of man must needs goe as his breath for it goes with his breath and when the life of a wicked man is gone all that he called his his worldly glory goes with him In that day all his thoughts perish For As the breath of his mouth he shall goe away Eliphaz having layd downe the wicked mans sad condition and the causes of it concludes with a use or application of the whole Doctrine at the 31. Verse Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity c. JOB CHAP. 15. Vers 31 32 33 34 35. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity for vanity shall be his recompence It shall be accomplished before his time and his branch shall not be greene He shall shake off his unripe Grape as the Vine and shall cast off his flower as the Olive For the Congregation of Hypocrites shall be desolate and fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery They conceive mischiefe and bring forth vanity and their belly prepareth deceit ELiphaz layd downe his Doctrine at the 20. Verse of this Chapter That a wicked mans life is a miserable life he travells in paine all his dayes and having insisted long upon the proofe he now gives us the application of it in a use of dehortation Vers 31. Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity He inforceth this dehortation by a summary repetition of the Doctrine before delivered which he doth First Plainly in the close of the 31. and in the beginning of the 32. Verses For vanity shall he his recompence it shall be accomplished before its time Secondly He doth it allegorically in the
undertake the office of comforting others should consider these three things especially First The nature of the affliction whether internall or externall that which will comfort a man in bodily afflictions will not doe it in soule afflictions Secondly The degree or measure of the affliction If the Playster be too narrow for the Soare how can it heale Thirdly They should consider the temper of the Person afflicted if he be pressed in conscience for sin they should not presse his conscience with sin much lesse should they thunder out judgement and terrour against him for sin if he be very weak they should use few words if he be passionate they should use gentle words lest in stead of perswading they provoke his spirit Many a soule is cast downe and swallowed up in despaire by the ignorance or unfaithfulnesse of those who would bee called Comforters and Supporters Ezek. 13.19 They slay the soules that should not dye and save them alive that should not live Unskilfull Physitians of the body kill more then bodily diseases And though the unskilfulnesse of soule-physitians doth not indeed kill soules that should dye for 't is their owne sin that kils them nor can kill the soules that should not dye for the medicine of Christs most precious blood will heale and save such from their sins yet unskilfull soule-physitians shall be judged and dealt with as having done all this because they have done their utmost to doe it which is also the meaning of that Text 1 Cor. 8.11 And through thy knowledge shall the weake brother perish for whom Christ dyed that is an indiscreet use of that liberty which thy knowledge teacheth thee doth that which may be accounted a destroying of thy weake Brother As that knowledge so the ignorance before spoken of slayes the soules that should not dye As it requires the power so the wisedome and teachings of God to comfort and extricate poore sâ—ules in and from the Labyrinth of their sorrows The Lord hath given me the tongue of the learned What to doe That I should know how to speake a word in season to him that is weary Isa 50.4 It is a great peice of learning to speak aright to a weary soule to deale with them so as neither to flatter them in their sins nor oppresse them under their sins to deale with them so in th ir affliction as that we neither cause them to sleight the hand of God nor yet to sink under it He that can guid and steer the course of a soule that is afflicted and tossed with the tempest of sin and sorrow between this rock and gulfe the Scylla of presumption and the Charybdis of despaire he is a learned Pilot indeed This learning is the speciall gift of God Christ himselfe acknowledgeth that the Lord his Father had given him the tongue of the learned for this end This learning is not taught in the Schooles of men Philosophers and Oratours never taught such an art of consolation nor can it be attained by the bare teaching of the holyest Doctors and Preachers of Divine truths Wee may have a rich furniture of materials for this worke and yet make no worke of it nor be able to put truths and consciences rightly together unlesse the annoynting teach us As the Prophet brings in our great Master and Tutor in this heavenly science againe confessing of himselfe Isa 61.1 The spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord hath annoynted me to preach good tydings to the meek he hath sent me to binde up the broken hearted to proclaime liberty to the Captives Till we are annoynted by God we cannot speake effectually to man without the spirit who is the comforter wee prove but miserable comforters we bungle at the work and rather undoe soules then doe them any good Wee may Preach good tydings good newes from Heaven the Gospel is nothing else but good newes yet no good comes of it till the good spirit comes with it both instructing the hearts of those that heare and the tongues of those that speake duely to apply the word Master Calvin upon this place saith Some Comforters have but one song to sing and they have no regard to whom they sing it All persons all estates and all conditions are alike to them The wisedome of a comforter consists in discerning and making these differences As the Apostle Jude hints unto us Ver. 22 23. And of some have compassion making a difference and others save with feare As faith saves all so in a sense feare saves some that is they must be terrifyed and made afraid that they may be saved Jobs Freinds would needs save him with feare whereas they should have had compassion of him and have spoken kindly to him Because they could not make this difference therefore they tooke a wrong course with him and were justly taxed without distinction Miserable comforters are yee all Vers 3. Shall vaine words have an end As if he had sayd I have got no comfort I would faine get some rest your words have not refreshed me I desire you would not trouble me you have done me no good will you have done Shall vaine words have an end The Hebrew is Shall words of winde have an end That expression hath ben opened twice before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verba vervi i e. ventosa parum solidas rationes habentia How long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong East winde saith Bildad Chap. 8.2 Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge and fill his belly with the East winde saith Eliphaz Chap. 15.2 Job retorts it upon them Shall words of winde have an end You tell mee that my words are windy yours are so indeed I must hide my selfe from these blasts and stormes of your tongues unlesse you grow calmer Shall windy words have an end Words are windy First When they have no solid reason no substance in them reason is the substance of words and so is truth these two goe alwayes together and where these are not nothing goes out of the mouth but winde Projicit ampullas c. we say of all words which are not followed with action Words are but winde we may say so also of all words which are not accompanyed with reason Verba plena spiritu superbiae Secondly Words are windy when they have much pride and swelling conceitednesse in them The Scripture cals such words Swelling words of vanity That which swels our hearts will quickly swell our lips pride doth both Pride is a winde within us vaine words are a winde without us the proud man knowes not how to ease himselfe of this winde within but by breaking it out in words Thirdly Words are windy when they have much passion in them when they are angry and furious an angry man blusters rather then speakes and makes a noise rather then a discourse While David Psal 39.2 3. was dumb with silence while he held his peace from good his sorrow
turne it into joy And this is more considerable in reference to the persons with whom Job had to doe they had given him very hard measure yet he would not requite them with hard measure he would measure that to them which was good and hee would give them good measure It is the common rule of humanity to doe good to those who doe us good it is more then beastly even devillish cruelty to hurt those that doe us good it is the height of Christianity to doe good to those who have been a hinderance to us and to comfort those who have caused our sorrow The Apostolicall rule is Recompence to no man evill for evill Rom. 12.17 And againe v. 19. Dearely beloved avenge not your selves but rather give place unto wrath The Apostle doth not meane that we should give place to our owne wrath if we doe so wee give place to the Devill as the same Apostle intimates Ephes 4.26 27. Our owne wrath must be stopt and resisted quenched and put out Then what or whose wrath is it that we are commanded to give place unto This wrath may be taken two wayes First For the wrath of that man who is our enemy we must give place to his wrath not by approving him or his wrath but by not answering him with wrath If when another storms we are calme if when he rages we shew all gentlenesse and meeknesse both of speech and spirit then we give place to his wrath that is We make it roome to passe away and evaporate Solomons Proverb is the summe of this Exposition Pro. 15.1 A soft answer turneth away wrath but greivous words stirr up anger Secondly When Paul adviseth us not to avenge our selves but rather to give place to wrath we may understand it of the wrath of God and the very next words which the Apostle alleadgeth from Deut. 32.35 carry the sense clearely this way For it is written vengeance is mine I will repay faith the Lord As if the Apostle had sayd if you take upon you to avenge your selves you take Gods work out of his hand it belongs to God as much to take revenge as it doth to give reward And therefore as a man who having done good is over carefull and anxious how to get his reward takes rewarding worke out of Gods hand and shall have no more reward then he can get himselfe as Christ tels the Pharisees in that case Matth. 6.2 Verily I say unto you yee have your reward And all that a man can get himselfe is not worth the having So the man who having suffered wrong goes about to revenge himselfe takes revenging worke out of Gods hand and shall be righted no further then hee can right himselfe which is but little if any thing at all whereas if he would give place to the wrath of God that is Let God alone by such wayes as his Justice shall raise up to right him against his adversary he would right him fully So that our Interest doth not lye in returning evill for evill but in returning good for evill to our enemies as Saint Paul concludes Rom. 13.20 Therefore if thine Enemy hunger feed him of he thirst give him drinke for in so doing thou shalt heape cooles of fire on his head That is thou shalt eyther melt and mollifie his spirit towards thee as hardest mettals are by coales of fire some such melting we may see in Saul towards David when he forbore to take vengeance on him 1 Sam. 24.16 Chap. 26.21 or thou shalt heape coales of divine vengeance upon him by making his malice and hatred against thee more inexcusable Which latter though it may be looked upon as a consequent of our doing good to our Enemies yet we must take heed of making it the end why we doe so for that were to seeke revenge while we forbeare it and to doe good for that end were to be overcome of evill which the Apostle forbids in the close of that Chapter Job in this Text was farr from professing aâ— readinesse to asswage the griefe of his unkinde or enemy-like Freinds upon hope that God would encrease their sorrow Secondly Observe Words duly spoken and applyed are of great power How forcible are right words Is Jobs question Chap. 6.25 He doth not there answer his question nor tell us how forcible they are but here he doth They are of such force that they strengthen weak soules and asswage the most swelling floods of sorrow God at first gave being and motion to all creatures with the moving of his lips He by the moving of his lips hath ever since ordered all their motions The word of man produceth great effects the tongue sets all hands on worke and what almost cannot the tongue of man doe The tongue is a little member saith the Apostle James Chap. 3.5 â—ond boasteth great things Now as the tongues of vaine men boast great things which they cannot doe so the tongues of wise men can really doe great things Vaine men as we say will take thirteene to the duzzen but cannot performe one Wise men though they speake not much yet they can performe much with a word speaking And though as the same Apostle declaimes most holily against the tongue of a wicked man Vers 8. that his tongue is such an unruly evill that no man can tame it yet there have scarse ever been found any men so unruly but the tongues of wise and godly men have tamed them yea the tongue of a vvise man is to an unruly man and often to a multitude of unruly men as a bit in a Horses mouth or as a Rudder to a Ship turning him or them about which way soever he listeth as this Apostle teacheth us by these similitudes Vers 3.4 the tongue of every man is to and doth to himselfe vvhether it be good or evill And as the tonge is thus powerfull in civillizing the â—ude and in appeasing the humours of those who are most ' outragious so it is very powerfull in supporting those that are ready to sinke and in asswaging the griefe of those who are most disconsolate and sorrowfull Lastly Whereas Job speakes peremptorily as if he saw the effect or were assured of it aforehand I would strengthen you with my mouth and the moving of my lips should asswage your greife Job knew that the successe of all his counsells depended upon the concurrence and blessing of God yet thus he speakes Hence Note A man may say he hath done that for the doing of which he hath used suitable and faithfull endeavours whether the thing be done or no The Lord saith to Jerusalem by the Prophet Ezekiel Chap. 24.13 Because I have purged thee and thou wast not purged Now as God takes it upon him that he had purged them though they vvere not purged because he gave them so many meanes and helpes for their purging so any man in his proportion may take it upon him that he hath strengthned their faith abated their griefe
not been God he could not have satisfied for us These points of Gospel Catechisme are so necessary and fundamentall that in every Age Beleevers have in some measure been instructed about them And whereas the Apostle saith 1 Tim. 2.5 There is one Mediatour betweene God and men or of God and men the man Christ Jesus He doth not add man to exclude the Divine nature from the Mediatorship but emphatically to demonstrate that nature in which he gave himselfe a ransome for us of which he speakes in the next Verse For though the ransome was paid by him who is God or had a divine nature yet it was paid in the Manhood or humane Nature onely The humane ture was the matter of our ransome but from the Divine nature gave worth and value to it Further Job speakes with much confidence and assurance both of Christs willingnesse to undertake his cause and of the successe or good issue of his cause if once Christ did but undertake it He will plead for a man with God Hence Observe Fourthly Christ is very ready to speake for and plead the cause of poore sinners before God his Father He will doe it saith Job Christ is easie to be entreated hee is found of those that seek him not then surely hee will be found of those that seek him His promise is John 6.37 Him that commeth unto me I will in no wise cast out As if hee had sayd Whatsoever I doe I will not doe this And when he saith he will not doe this his meaning is that he will doe much more for them then the not doing of this comes to hee will readily receive their persons and undertake their suites though they have no Fee to give him nothing to move him but the need they have of him Fifthly Observe Christ is a powerfull and an effectuall Mediatour with the Father He carries the day he is a prevailing Mediatour Christ is such a Physitian that no man ever dyed under his hand and he is such an Advocate that no mans cause ever miscarryed under his hand The Arminians maintaine a propitiation made or a Sacrifice offered by Christ for all yet they dare not say it is effectuall for all but the intercession of Christ in their opinion is effectuall for all Christ dyed say they for those that hee doth not save but Christ prayeth for none but those that shall be saved They are not for universall Intercession though they are for an universall Sacrifice or propitiation and their reason is because they cannot deny but many shall perish for ever which yet they could not did Christ but pray for them We beleeve that his Sacrifice is as effectuall as his Intercession and that therefore he dyed for none but those for whom he prayes his Intercession being for the drawing out and bringing home the benefit of his Sacrifice to those and to all those for whom he offered himselfe to God But to the point in hand The Arminian who leaves the death of Christ in the hand of mans free will assisted onely by generall Grace to make it effectuall to himselfe or not he I say asserts the Intercession of Christ not onely sufficient but effectuall for all in whose behalfe he intercedes So that we are sure all shall goe well with us in the Court of Heaven while we have Christ our Advocate with the Father And that we may have fulnesse of confidence to come to God by Christ let us consider these five things First Christ is most wise to mannage our cause so wise that he is the wisedome of the Father If we had an Advocate at the Barr furnisht with as much wisedome as the Judge it were a great step to obtaine in a right suite Secondly Christ is an eloquent Advocate a powerfull Orator As the Lord hath given him the tongue of the learned that he should know how to speake a word in season to him that is weary Isa 54.4 So he hath a learned tongue to speake a word for him that is weary Christ is the Essentiall word and the flower of all declarative words is with him when he spake on earth he spake with authority Matth. 7.29 All wondered at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth Luke 4.24 Yea his hearers somewhere testifie never spake man as this man speaketh And as no man ever spake like him to man so no man ever spake like him to God Thirdly Christ is a faithfull Advocate his intercession is a part of his Priestly office wee have a faithfull high Priest saith the Apostle therefore a faithfull Advocate He will never eyther desert our cause or betray it he is as sure to us as our owne soules yea hee and the soules of his are one Fourthly Christ is a mercifull Advocate hee layes our cause to heart our cause is his cause Hee hath espoused the Interests of his people and doth all for us upon his owne account When Saints are persecuted we may tell him that he is persecuted and that hee is afflicted when they are The Church may plead with Christ to plead for the removing of her sufferings under the title of his sufferings he being the head of the Church and the Church being his body Christ is as a faithfull so a mercifull high Preist Heb. 2.17 and the Apostle saith That in all things it behoved him to be like his brethren that he might be so Christ had an ability of sufficiency to be mercifull to us as God though hee had never been made like unto us by becomming man but hee had not that ability as some speake of Idoneity or fitnesse to be mercifull His being made like unto us hath given him a double Idoneity for the tendernesse of his heart towards us First In that he himselfe hath suffered being tempted Heb. 2.18 His passions in the flesh were great Secondly In that himselfe suffers still in all our temptations his compassions with our flesh are great Now an Advocate who eyther hath had an experience of trouble in his owne person or is full of the sense of his Clients trouble and feeles his smart will certainely doe his utmost to releeve him because in his releife himselfe is releeved also Fifthly Christ is the Favorite of the Judge it is a great advantage to have one pleading for us at the Barr who is in favour with the Bench Christ is highly in favour with the Bench God hath testified from Heaven This is my wel-beloved Son in whom I am well pleased Matth. 3.17 The Judge is our Advocates Freind and Father Lastly That we may be further assured that he will doe his utmost for us Our Advocate calls us his Freinds As the Judge is his Freind before whom he pleads so every Saint is his Freind for whom hee pleads Some will doe more for freindship then for a Fee We know it is so with Jesus Christ he pleads for his people because they are his Freinds This Job makes use of here Hee
his end eyther to determine them or to determine him JOB Chap. 17. Vers 6 7. He hath made me also a by-word of the people and afore time I was as a Tabret Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow and all my members are as a shadow IN these two Verses Job repeats and aggravates his affliction and he doth it as hee had done before by shewing the effects of his affliction Wee judge of causes by the effects that which produceth a great effect must needs have a greatnesse of causality in it Two effects or his affliction are layd downe in this context The first tels us what his afflictions wrought in others The second what it wrought upon himselfe What his affliction wrought in others is set forth Vers 6. He was become the talke of all possibly the sport of not a few The argument stands thus That is a very great affliction which every man speakes of or which makes a man a by-word But such is my affliction every one talkes of it and I am made a by-word of the people Therefore my affliction is very great What his affliction wrought upon him selfe is expressed in the seventh Verse Dimnesse in his eye and weaknesse in his whole body Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow and all my members are as a shaddow The Argument may be formed thus That is a very great affliction the sorrows whereof dim the eyes and macerate all the members of the body But such is the sorrow of my affliction that my very eyes are dim and all my members are macerated therefore mine is a great affliction As if he had sayd Should I hold my peace and sit downe in silence yet my dim eyes and dryed bones my withered skin and cripled limbes are as so many tongues yea trumpets to speake and speake aloud the sorrows of my heart and the sufferings of my outward man This seemes to be Jobs scope in the words now under hand Vers 6. He hath made me a by-word of the people He Who is that The antecedent is inquired for Our late Annotations fix it upon Eliphaz who spake last and at whom he pointed in the Verse bâ—fore He hath talked so of me that now I am a common talke He hath spoken such words by mee that now I am made a by-word We had need take heed what we say of any Brother for if one man give out the word e-now will follow to make him a by-word Haec de domino dicit quem ubique facit suarum calamitatum authorem Merc. Others resolve it upon God himselfe Hee that is God hath made me a by-word Job at first acknowledged God the author of his troubles and so he hath done all along as hath been toucht in diverse passages of this dispute As no man lifts up his hand so no man lifts up his tongue without God As afflicting actions so afflicting speeches are at his dispose He hath made me A by-word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Potestatem quandam habet excellentiam significat proverbium parabolam axioma quod vocatur propositio maxima The Hebrew word in the Verbe signifies properly to rule to governe to have dominion or supretme power as a Prince or Potentate And by a Metaphor it signifies any thing that excelleth or is eminent in any kinde upon this account it is oft employed to signifie those rules of truth and holinesse to which every mans reason must yeeld obeysance such are called in a way of excellency by Moralists Proverbs by Orators Sentences by Logicians Maxims or Principles which are not to be proved but supposed No man must deny them or if any man doe he is not to be disputed with such rules are Rulers and they are thus expressed upon a twofold reason First Because of the difficulty and mysteriousnesse of their meaning they are of few words but of so large and multiplying a sense that they doe as much master as enlighten the understanding Secondly They are so expressed because of the extent or universality of their usefulnesse they being such as beare sway in and have an influence upon all transactions that One sentence or rule of Equity What you would have others doe to you doe so to them runs through the whole course of mans life and reacheth us in all acts of Justice whether distributive or commutative And as those proverbiall sentences which direct justice and good manners are of great command and authority among men so likewise are those which had their rise from the reproofe of any mans injustice or evill manners If once a man be made a by-word whether the grounds of it be true or false makes no matter as to this point it will stick by him and overcome his credit let him doe what he can he shall hardly claw it off againe as long as he lives Thou hast made me a by-word Further to cleare the Text In parabolizare populorum Nam est infinitum q. d. ut sim illis proverbio vulgi fabula vel ut de me proverbium faciant Merc. we may consider that the word By-word in the Hebrew is of the Infinitive Mood and so some render it Thou hast made me for the parabolizing of the people or that the people make Parables and Proverbs of me which we render fully to the sense Thou hast made me a Parable a Proverbe or a by-word among the people Two things are usually implyed when a man is sayd to be a by-word First That he is in a very low condition some men are so high that the tongues of the common people dare not climbe over them but where the Hedge is low every man goes over Secondly That he is in a despised condition to be a by-word carries a reflexion of disgrace He that is much spoken of in this sense is ill spoken of and he is quite lost in the opinion of men who is thus found in their discourse It is possible though rare for a man to be in a low or bad condition and yet to be well spoken of yea to be highly honoured some are had in precious esteeme while they lye upon the dunghill but usually a man greatly afflicted is little valued and he whose state is layd low in the World his person is also low in the opinion of the World Job was at that time a By-word in both these Notions hee was low in state and he was lower in esteeme Hence Observe First Great sufferers in the things of this World Fieri solet ut insignes virorum illustrium calamitates in proverbium abeant deque iis fiant cantiones Merl. are the common subject of discourse and often the subject of disgrace Such evils as few men have felt or seen all men will be speaking of Great sorrowes especially if they be the sorrows of great men are turned into Songs and Poetry playes its part with the saddest disasters When Sihon King of the Amorites had taken many strong Cities
have been in a godly freind Non malidicendi studio ferebatur quod abono viro prorsus alienum esset Pined Charity suggests a fairer interpretation of this procedure that he spake thus harshly and dealt thus roughly being moved by some unwary passages in Jobs discourse not well understood or misapplyed At which stone how many stumble at this day First misconceiving and then censuring their Brethren being first offended without any just cause given and then giving just cause of offence Had wee once learned to expound each others actions speeches and opinions by the rules of Charity we should not so often no nor at all breake the Laws of Love We shall make a good improvement of this fayling in Jobs Freind if it may be our warning in dealing to deale better with our Freinds There are three parts of this Speech in the first Eliphaz appeares by way of reproofe and reprehension which extends it selfe from the beginning of the Chapter to the end of the thirteenth Verse and he reproves Job upon five points of errour or misbehaviour of all which he conceived him guilty First He reproves him of folly or for speaking that which was unworthy a wise man in the second and third Verses Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge c. Secondly He reproves him of prophanenesse or for doing that which was unworthy a godly man at the fourth Verse Yea thou castest off feare and restrainest prayer before God The summe of both is Thou speakest unwisely and thou actest wickedly which he takes for so plaine a charge that hee makes him his owne accuser as if there needed no evidence but his conscience though hee had as Eliphaz mis-judged daubed up the matter with faire words and colourable pretences Vers 5 6. Thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity Thine owne mouth condemneth thee and not I yea thine owne lips testifie against thee Thirdly He reproves him of pride and arrogance of selfe-conceit and overweening his owne parts and positions Vers 7 8 9 10. Art thou the first man that was borne or wast thou made before the Hills c. As if he had sayd Thou carryest it as if thou hadst engrossed all wisedome as if thou hadst more knowledge and understanding more learning and experience then any man yea then all men living Fourthly he reproves him for slighting and undervaluing the counsels and the comforts tendered to him by his Freinds at the 11. Verse Are the consolations of God small with thee Fifthly he reproves him for his confident sticking or adhering to his owne principles at the 12. and 13. Verses Why doth thy heart carry thee away c. Thus he reproves his morals in the first part of his discourse In the second he confutes his Doctrinals or that which he supposed Job had asserted sc His owne purity and perfections Vers 14 15 16. What is man that he should be cleane Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints c. In the third place he labours to maintaine his owne assertion that God doth afflict none but wicked men Who ever perished being innocent or where were the righteous cut off Eliphaz asseruisset tantum malos hic a Domino affligi idem ille nunc sed apertius ostendit Merc. Chap. 4.7 This he doth both by the authority of the Learned and from the experiences of the Ancient Vers 17. to the end of the Chapter I will shew thee heare me and that which I have seene I will declare which wise men have told from their Fathers and have not hid it c. These are the parts and this the resolution of the whole Chapter Vers 1. Then answared Eliphaz the Temanite and said Then that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excipiens Sept. Quilibet pro suis socijs velut in solidum respondet ut nunc patet Sopharis enim defensionem contra Jobum manifeste assumit Eliphaz Bold when Job had made an end of answering Zophar then Eliphaz answered or replyed upon Job That 's properly a replication which takes off the answer given to a former Argument and in this Eliphaz also makes a defence for his Brethren Zophar and Bildad These three stood to one another as much as any one of them did for himselfe as if they had all entred Bond and given security for reciprocall assistance Thus the dispute growes hot but still 't is orderly according to that Apostolicall Canon 1 Cor. 14.29 Let the Prophets speake two or three and let the other judge Eliphaz is now up let us consider what he saith Vers 2. Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge The question denyes he should not No man should least of all he The wise man is here opposed to the crafty man at the 5. Verse There is a wide difference betweene wisedome and craft betweene prudence and cunning A crafty man knoweth what is good but he commonly doth what is evill he is able to see the right but if it be not for his turne he turnes from it and cares not to doe wrong A wise man is he that knoweth how to distinguish betweene good and evill and ever aimes to act what is good his understanding is well enlightned and his conscience binds him to follow the light of his understanding as he can see what is just and right so he cannot but embrace and doe it A wise man in Scripture-language is a holy man and a foole is a wicked man holinesse is the best wisedome and wickednesse is the worst of folly Eliphaz seemes to admit Jobs challenge of being a wise man that he might check him with more advantage for speaking so unlike one As if he had said Should a morall wise man much more a spirituall wise man should he that is or pretends to be thus wise as thou dost should he utter vaine knowledge Job at the 12. Chapter of this Booke Vers 2.3.4 objected ignorance or but popular knowledge to his Freinds I have understanding as well as you I am not inferiour to you who knoweth not such things as these as if he had said You thinke your selves among knowing men the highest in knowledge but who knoweth not such things as these Eliphaz turnes it here upon Job by the way of recrimination or counter-charge he brings in a crosse Bill Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge Thou dost arrogate to thy selfe the reputation of a wise man but art thou wise who speakest at such a rate of folly The Image of thy mind is stampt upon thy words it may be seene as well as heard what thou art by what thou speakest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scientiam venti vel ventosam i. e. vanam Numquid sapiens respondebit scientiam venti vel scientiam ventosam Merc. Numquid sapiens respondebit quasi in vētum loquens Vulg. Vaine knowledge The letter of the Hebrew is knowledge of winde or windy knowledge The Metaphor is elegant vaine knowledge is justly called windy knowledge Vaine knowledge makes a great bluster and noise
pro corde cor pro intellectu mente accipitur in Scriptura A wise man should desire that his heart may be filled with the sweet gales and holy breathings of the spirit of God by heavenly inspirations And shall hee fill his heart with the East-wind of earthly passions The word which we translate East wind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rab. Mardoch Observat hunc ventum a Graecis appellari Apeâ—â—oren quod a sole spiret atque eadem ratione appellatur a Latinis subsolanum signifies onely the East Should he fill his belly with the East we rightly add the East wind he compares Jobs passions unto the winde and unto the East wind to the wind because of the vanity of them to the East wind because of the hurtfulnesse of them For as by wind in the former clause he meanes worthlesse things so by East wind in this he meanes dangerous things There are two reasons why he expresses such inwaâ—d motions by the East wind First The East wind is a vehement and strong wind wee read Exod. 14.21 Portae Eurum Appellans truculemum rapidum animosum tumidum indomitum that when God divided the Red Sea to make a passage for his people he caused an East wind to blow all night and divided the Sea with the force of it Poets describe the East winde to be feirce heady turbulent and impetuous that 's one ground of it Secondly The East winde is observed by Naturalists to be a hot and fiery winde Ardore Hence the Vulgar translates Thou fillest thy belly with heate The East winde parcheth and blasteth Corne and Fruits Pharoah beheld in his Dreame seven eares withered Sub calidi aestuantis aeris similitudine sermones ejus exspaeratos excandescentia plenos describit thin and blasted with the East wind Gen. 41.23 So then under this notion of the East winde Eliphaz closely censures Job First that his thoughts were violent and impetuous Secondly that they were angry fiery furious as if coales were kindled in his bosome and a flame ready to blaze at his lips As if like Paul while Saul Acts 9.1 he breathed out threatnings and slaughter or was inwardly heated with resolutions of revenge The Prophet Jeremie saith The Word of God was as a fire in his bosome and he could not refraine Jobo attribuit vanitatem in sententia tempestatem in affectu imbecillitatem in argumento superfluitatem in verbis Coc. Many a mans breast is like a heated Oven he is ready to consume all with the breath of it But why doth Eliphaz charge Job with such unruly perturbations Some assigne the reason from those words Chap. 14. v. 14. where he desires that God would even hide him in the grave he was so vext and troubled at the state wherein he lived that he preferred death before it and thought a not being in the World better then a being in his condition But we may rather leave the reason more at large to all that vehemency of spirit with which Job had prosecuted and pleaded his sorrowfull case From the scope of Eliphaz in this part of his reproofe we may observe First That violent passions are the disguise of a wise man We cannot see who he is while he acts unlike himselfe anger lodgeth in the bosome of fooles and when it doth but intrude into the bosome of a wise man he for the time looks like a foole Secondly Passions in the minde are like a tempest in the ayre they disturbe others much but our selves more Many a man like a Ship at Sea hath been overset and sunke with the violent gusts and whirle-whinds of his owne Spirit Observe thirdly He that fills his owne minde with passionate thoughts will soone fill the eares of others with unprofitable words this is cleare from that which goeth before He utters vaine knowledge and it is clearer from that which followes after when a mans thoughts are like a winde his words which are the first borne of his thoughts must needs be windy A passionate man speakes all in passion and sometimes cannot speake at all for passion his extreame desire to say much stops him from saying any thing But whatsoever he saith is the copy of his present selfe fierce and boysterous The image and superscription of our hearts is stamped upon our words Some can speake better then they are but usually men speak according to what they are and then especially when they are which passionate men alwayes are not themselves Thus it followes in the next Verse Vers 3. Should he reason with unprofitable talke Eliphaz speakes all Interrogatories and these speak him in anger if not in some distemper Should he doe this and should he doe that doe shew that either another hath very much done what he should not or that he who reproves him hath not such a spirit of meeknesse as a reprover should Gal. 6.1 The words shew the effect of what he taxed him with before as if he had sayd Cum interrogatione stomacho legenda sunt haec Merc. Would you know what to expect from a passionate man from a man whose belly is filled with the East-wind You shall have him shortly filling your eares with an East wind even reasoning with unprofitable words And as the next clause gives it which is onely an exposition of this with speeches wherewith he can doe no good Some words are great doers they doe much hurt or they doe much good and those words usually doe some hurt which can do no good yea that which is weake and unable to doe good may be strong and powerfull to doe evill However not to doe good is to doe evill because it is every mans duty whatsoever he doth to be doing good Here Eliphaz reproves Jobs words as evill while he onely saith they doe no good And yet he saith somewhat more then that for he saith They can doe no good It is ill not to doe good actually but not to have a possibility of doing good is farre worse When the Apostle would say his worst of the best of mans sinfull flesh he doth not onely say It is not subject to the Law of God but adds Neither indeed can be Rom. 8.7 So here Words wherewith a man can doe no good how bad are they Hence observe First That which can doe no good should not be spoken Before we speake a word we should aske this question to what purpose Cui bono to what profit is it shall he that heares it be made more knowing or more holy by it Observe secondly Vnprofitable talke is sinfull and speeches which doe no good are evill Every idle word that men shall speake they shall give an account thereof in the day of judgement Matth. 12.37 and though a man be very busie and take much paines in speaking yet if his words be unprofitable and his speeches such as can doe no good they will come under
account as idle Now if unprofitable talke be sinfull and speeches that can doe no good then what is prophane talke and speeches which doe hurt infection gets quickly in at the eare defiling the minde and corrupting the manners of those that heare them The Apostle gives us the rule of speaking both in the negative and in the affirmative Ephes 4.29 Let no corrupt communications proceed out of your mouths but that which is good to the use of edifying which may administer grace to the hearer Againe Colos 4.6 Let your speeches be alwaies with grace that is such as testifieth that there is grace in your heart never speake a word but such as may stand with grace yea speake such words as may be a witnesse of grace wrought in your selves and a meanes of working grace in others Let your words be seasoned with salt the salt of our words is holinesse and truth prudence also is the salt of words good words and true spoken unseasonably may doe hurt Prudence teaches us the time when and the manner how to answer every man Belial ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod in hiphil significat prodesse ut denotet inutilem qui nec sibi nec alijs prodest Thirdly observe It is matter of just reproofe against every man to be unprofitable and to doe no good Every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewen downe and cast into the fire Matth. 3.10 Some conceive that the word Belial comes from Beli which in Hebrew signifies Not and the word Jagnal which here in the Text signifies to doe good Because a Belialist or a Son of Belial is such a one as neither doth good to himselfe nor to any other The unprofitable Servant who hid and did not improve his Talent shall be condemned And he who uses his talent unprofitably and vainely shall not escape Should he reason with unprofitable talke Thus farre we have seen Eliphaz reproving Job of folly in speaking unlike and below a wise man he proceeds to reprove him for acting unlike and below a godly man This he sets home with a particle of aggravation Vers 4. Yea thou castest off feare and restrainest Prayer before God As if he had said besides or above all this that thou hast uttered vaine knowledge words that cannot profit thou hast also cast off the feare of God c. The word which we translate to cast off signifies to make voyd to scatter to dissolve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Labefactasti irritum fecisti dissolvisti fregisti to break in peices to make as nothing or to make nothing of It is often used in Scripture for breaking the Commandements of God imploying such a breach as makes the Commandements voyd which is the proper character of an evill heart A godly man may sin against the Commandements but a wicked man would sinne away the Commandements he would repeale the Law of God and enact his owne lusts Such is the force of the word here Thou castest off feare There is a naturall feare and a spirituall feare we are not to understand this Text of a naturall feare which is a trouble of spirit arising upon the apprehension of some approaching evill but of a spirituall Feare is here put alone but we are to take it with its best adjunct the feare of God for as the word sometimes is put alone to signifie the word of God as if there were no word but his and as the word Commandements is put alone to note the Commandements of God as if no Commandements deserved the name but onely the Commandements of God so feare is put alone by way of excellency for the feare of God as importing that his feare is excellent and no feare to be desired but his This Divine feare comes under a double notion First it is taken for the holy awe or reverence we beare to God in our spirits which is the worship of the first Commandement and the sanctifying of God in our hearts Secondly For the outward acts of Religion which is the worship of the second Commandement Their feare is taught by the precepts of men Isa 29.13 that is their outward worship and Religion is such as men have invented not such as God hath appointed Some take it here in the first sense onely thou castest off feare that is thou castest off that awe reverence and regard thou owest to the Name of God others understand it in the second Thou castest off feare that is the outward worship and service of God but I conceive we have that expressed in the next clause Timor hoc loco pro reverentia tremore potius quam pro religione cultu licet utrumque cohaereat Pined And restrainest prayer before God there he taxeth him with neglect of outward worship and here with neglect of inward Thou casteth off feare feare is as the bridle of the soule feare holds us in compasse it is the bank to the Sea feare keeps in the overflowing of sinne Thou casteth off feare But what cause had Job given Eliphaz to charge him with casting off the feare of the Lord we finde Eliphaz touching upon this point before and upbraiding Job Chap. 4.6 Is this thy feare Nullo pudore loquutus es coram Deo Symmach Is this thy confidence As if he had sayd Is all thy profession come to this here he chargeth him expresly thou hast cast off feare Job had not given him any just cause to speak or thinke thus hardly of him but Eliphaz might possibly ground this accusation upon those words Chap. 9. v. 23. This is one thing therefore I sayd it he destroyeth the perfect and the wicked c. Which Eliphaz did interpret as a casting off the feare of God hath he awfull and reverent thoughts of God who affirmeth that God laugheth at the afflictions and tryals of his people Againe Chap. 12.6 The Tabernacles of Robbers prosper and they that provoke God are secure into whose hands God bringeth abundantly Hath not this man cast off all feare of God who dares say the wicked prosper and are secure Is God become a freind to those that professe themselves enemies to him Others referre the ground of this to Chap. 13.21 22. where he seemes to speake boldly and as some have taxed him impudently Doe not two things to me withdraw thy hand from me c. Then call thou and I will answer or let me speake and answer thou me Hence Eliphaz concludes surely the man hath cast off the feare of God he speaks to God as if he were Gods fellow Speake thou and I will answer or let me speake and answer thou me are these words becomming the great God of Heaven and Earth art not thou growne over bold with God doest thou speake as becomes the distance that is betweene the Creator and the Creature the Greek translates to this sense Thou speakest to God without any modesty thou hast put on a brasen
face and hardned thy heart against the feare of the Almighty These shewes of a ground Eliphaz might take but Job had given him no reall ground to pronounce this heavy censure Thou castest off feare But passing by the rigid hypothesis of Eliphaz we may from his words as they are a Thesis observe That to cast off the feare of God is highest wickednesse to cast off the feare of God is the beginning of wickednesse as to entertaine The feare of God is the beginning of wisedome the word here used signifieth not onely the beginning but the top the chiefe the head and highest perfection of a thing the feare of God is both first and last the beginning and end of holinesse To feare God and keep his Commandements is all man in goodnesse to cast off the feare of God is all man in sinfulnesse the beginning and end of wickednesse It is ill not to have the feare of God but it is farre worse to cast of the feare of God it is ill not to chuse the feare of God Prov. 1.29 but to reject the feare of the Lord that is desperate if once feare be cast off all wickednesse is let in at the same doore at which the feare of the Lord goes out any sin may enter As Abraham sayd The feare of God is not in this place and they will kill me for my Wives sake they have no impediment of lust to cast off who have once cast off the feare of God And as they who cast off this feare are ready to doe or say any thing that 's evill so they are unready to doe or say any thing that is good as they have no restraint upon them from iniquity so they can easily restrain themselves from duty The next words shew this Thou restrainest prayer before him Prayer is a principall part of the outward worship of God and is both here and elsewhere put for the whole outward worship of God The word signifies also meditation musing or thinking Detrahis confabulationem cum Deo Jun. So some render here Thou takest off conference with God thou wast wont to keep continuall correspondence with Heaven and maintaine a sweet humble familiarity with God by holy meditation but now thou art like a stranger and commest not at him But whether we translate the word by Prayer or Meditation the sense is the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Meditatio loquela etiam oratio for praying is speaking to God yea an arguing and pleading with God And so 't is used in the Titles of the 102. and 142. Psalmes The word which we render to restraine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat 1. prohibere 2. diminuere Non est intelligendum quasi arguatur Job quod remiserit vel prohibuerit orandi studium sed potius è contra quod multiloquio vel battologia usus erat Bold Hoc est vitium dictum a Theophrasto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proprie a Graecit dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 minutiloquium Minuere stillas aquarum est minutissimas frequentissimasque pluviae guttas mittere signifies two things First to withdraw or stop Secondly to lessen and diminish Jer. 48.37 Every beard clipt or diminished we may take it in both senses here as reproving Job either for a totall forbearance and throwing up the duty of Prayer or for shortning and abating it Yet there is an opinion that Job is not here charged for lessening or abating but for lengthening and encreasing Prayer Thou castest off feare and multiplyest Prayer The Hebrew word notes the cutting or dividing of a thing into small peices or portions which is indeed to multiply it and to make it though not more in bulke yet more in number Job 36.27 Thou makest small the drops of raine that is thou multiplyest the drops of raine so here thou makest small thy Prayers as so many drops of raine thou hast never done dropping Prayers thou dost mince thy supplications or cut them out into many small shreads as if thou didst hope to be heard for thy much speaking Such were the silly devotions of the old superstitious Gentiles which the hypocriticall Pharisees imitated and were therefore reproved by Christ under the name of vaine repetitions Matth. 6.7 Of which fault a learned Interpreter judges Eliphaz reproving Job in this place But I rather keep to our owne Translation Thou restrainest Prayer Here againe it may be questioned What cause had Eliphaz to charge Job with restraining prayer The Jewish Writers say it was because he denyed Providence Hebraei ad id referunt quod putant Jobum Dei providentiam negasse quod nos non putamus Mer. q d. ista tua assertio doctrina quod mala supplicia eveniant bonis justis tollit religionem publicum divini numinis cultum and so by consequence Prayer for if God doe not order the affaires of the World the afflictions and deliverances of his people why should we pray to him about them Others referre it not to his denyall of Providence but to that which Eliphaz supposed a fundamentall errour against the Doctrine of Providence That God destroyeth the righteous and the wicked That he laughs at the tryall of the innocent Now will any innocent man pray to God in his affliction when he is told that God laughs at his affliction Will any righteous man call upon God for help when he is taught that God destroyeth the righteous Who would serve a Master who gives such wages and payes those that honour him with disgrace yea with destruction So that Job is charged with restraining Prayer according to this answer to the question not because he totally forbore prayer himselfe or perswaded others to forbeare it but because Jobs assertions were such as might yeeld those consequences and cause many to suspend Prayer or give over calling upon the Name of God in the day of trouble We may be charged to say or doe that which flowes from what we doe or say though we neither say nor doe the thing it selfe Many are guilty of those errors consequentially which yet they never affirmed thetically or directly We may be so farre from asserting that we may professedly abhorre an opinion which yet lyeth secretly under some of our assertions We say justly That the Pope is Antichrist and that pure Popery is Antichristianisme yet the Pope doth not deny Christ for the Pope thinks himself Christs Vicar upon earth and therefore must needs acknowledge him to be come in the flesh yet by consequence the Pope is an opposer both of the Person and Offices of Christ and popish Doctrine fights against the truth of Christ As prophane men Professe they know God yet in their workes they deny him Tit. 1.16 So many erroneous persons professe they love and honour those holy truths and spirituall duties which by consequences they indeed deny as Eliphaz though unduely supposed Job had done the duty of Prayer Thou restrainest prayer before God Taking
whom God comforts shall say Thou hast comforted me and I was comforted This the Apostle speaks out to the praise of God 2 Cor. 1.3 4. Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all consolations all consolation belongs to God he hath all comfort in his owne power and dispose there is not any creature in the World can give out the least dram of comfort to us without the commission or leave of God it is possible for one man to give another man riches but he cannot give him comfort man may give honour to man but he cannot give him comfort A man may have a pleasant dwelling a loving Wife sweet Children and yet none of these a comfort to him The consolation of all our possessions and relations is from God Whosoever would have comfort must trade to Heaven for it that 's a commodity can be found upon no earthly coast you may fetch in wealth from many coasts of the earth but you cannot fetch in comfort till you addresse your selves to the God of Heaven We can procure our owne sorrow quickly but God onely makes us to rejoyce our releife from outward affliction or inward griefe is the gift of God He onely can comfort us in outward afflictions who can command the creature and he onely can comfort us against our inward griefes who can convince the conscience None can doe either of these but God therefore consolations are from God Luther spake true It is easier to make a World then to comfort the conscience the Hebrew phrase to comfort used in diverse places of the old Testament is To speake to the heart Now God onely can speake to the heart man can speake to the eare he can speake words but he can goe no further Therefore the act and art of comforting belongs properly to God Christ is the true Noah Lamech saith of Noah Gen. 5.29 This man shall comfort us concerning our worke and the toyle of our hands it was not in Noah to comfort but as God made him a comfort and he was said to comfort as a type of Christ Christ is true comfort He is comfort cloathed in our flesh he is as it were comfort incarnate Noah sent a Dove out of his Arke which returned with an Olive branch Jesus Christ sends the holy Ghost who is called the Comforter with the Olive branch of true peace to our wearied souls and to shew that it is now the highest act of Christs love care as mediator to give comfort he promised to send the holy Ghost when himselfe was taking his leave of the Church in regard of any visible abode or bodily presence being ready to ascend and step into Heaven he sayd I will send the comforter When God rained fire and brimstone from Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah it is sayd by some of the Ancients that he sent a Hell out of Heaven But when he powres the holy Spirit from Heaven upon his Sion we may say he sends a heaven out of heaven Heaven above is nothing else but holy comfort and the comforts of the holy Spirit are the onely Heaven below How highly then ought we to esteeme how carefully to maintaine communion with God who hath all comfort seeing comfort is more to us then all we have If wee have comfort let our estate be what it will we are well enough comfort is as the spring of our yeare as the light of our day as the Sun in our Firmament as the life of our lives Have we not reason then to draw yea to presse neerer unto God who hath all comfort in his hand and without whom the best things cannot comfort us Not our riches nor our relations not Wife nor Children not health nor beauty not credit nor honour none of these can comfort us without God and if God please he can make any thing comfort us he can make a crust of dry bread a feast of fat things a cup of cold water a banquet of Wine to us And as he can make our comforts crosses so our crosse a comfort as David speakes Psal 23.4 Thy rod and thy staffe comfort me not onely the supporting staffe but the correcting rod shall comfort if God command it to be a comforter Who would not maintaine communion with this God who can make a comfort of any thing who can answer every crosse with a comfort If we have a thousand crosses God hath ten thousand comforts hee can multiply comforts faster then the World can multiply crosses Againe if God be the God of all consolation then goe to God for consolation as the Angel said to the women when they came to the Sepulcher enquiring for Christ Why seek yee the living among the dead he is risen he is not here So I may say Why seek yee living comforts among dead or dying creatures Seeke them there no longer Job complaines in this Booke When I sayd my bed shall comfort me then thou scarest me with dreames Chap. 7. Job went to a wrong place when he went to his bed for comfort most soules misse of comfort because they goe to a wrong place for it one goes to his bed another to his freind for comfort a third to his wife and Children these saith he shall comfort me alas why seeke yee the living among the dead none of these can comfort though these may be meanes of comfort Who or whatsoever is the instrument God is the author of all our comfort whatsoever hand brings it God sends it God saith Paul who comforteth those who are cast downe comforted us by the comming of Titus 2 Cor. 7.6 Titus was a good man and brought good tydings yet Paul doth not say that the comming of Titus did not comfort them but saith Paul God comforted us by the comming of Titus T is not your freind who comforts you but God who comforts you by the comming of such a freind when you are in sorrow by sending in such reliefe when you are poor by sending such medicines when you are sick such salves when you are sore such counsell when you are in doubt and know not what to doe Once more It is happy for Saints that consolation is in the hand of God if it were in the hand of the creature sure they should have but little of it but it is in the hand of God There are these foure considerations which may comfort Saints that comfort is in the hand of God First Considering his nature he is willing and ready to do good he is full of compassion and to shew mercy pleaseth him more then it releeveth us Secondly Considering his relation to his people he is a Father Will a Father let a Child lye comfortlesse when he can help him he is our Husband he is our Freind all relations provoke God to give out comfort to the Saints Thirdly Considering his Omniscience and Omnipresence he knowes where the shooe wrings he knowes what comfort we want a
freind possibly hath the comfort in his hand which we need and he may be willing to give it out unto us but he knowes not wherein we are pinched God tells Moses I have seen I have seen the afflictions of my people in Aegypt And as he knows how it is with us so we are ever within his reach he can lay his hand upon every joynt where wee are pained and put a Plaster upon every wound here is our happinesse Christ would take off his people from extraordinary cares about the things of the World by this argument Your Father knowes that ye have need of these things Matth. 6.32 your Father who carryes the purse knowes your want Fourthly Consider his Omnipotence he is able to comfort he can command yea create comforts he can bring his comforts through an army of sorrowes to a poore soule yea he can leade comfort through an Army of Devils and temptatioâ—s to a poore soule he is Almighty there is nothing too hard for him to doe nor is he hard to be entreated to doe that which gives ease unto his people Secondly Observe Consolations rightly administred by men are the consolations of God While man speakes God commands Comfort ye comfort ye my people speake comfortably to Jerusalem tell her that her warfare is accomplished and her sin pardoned Isa 40.1 As all the counsells reproofes and Doctrines which the Ministers of Christ dispense according to the forme of wholesome words delivered either in the Law or Gospel are the counsels instructions reproofs and Doctrins of God so also are their consolations And that 's the reason why God takes it so ill at the hands of men when his Messengers who bring either instruction or consolation are refused because himselfe is refused when they are and his consolations are disesteemed when theirs are Thirdly Observe To account the consolations of God small is a very great sinne Moses rebukes rebellious Korah and his confederates for undervaluing the priviledge which they as Levites had to be neer God in holy Services Numb 16.9 Seemeth it a small thing unto you that the God of Israel hath separated you from the Congregation of Israel to bring you neere to himselfe to doe the service of the Tabernacle c. If it were their sin to count it a small thing to be called neer to God in holy administrations how great a sin is it in any man to count it a small thing that God draws neer to him with heavenly consolations Though the consolations of God to us be small comparatively to what some others have yet we must not account any consolation of God small and that upon two grounds First because of our owne unworthinesse the least consolations are great considering how little we are as Jacob speaks Gen. 32.10 I am not worthy the least of all thy mercies Hee thought little mercies too big for him because he was little in his owne eyes They who have great yea any thoughts of their owne merits lessen the mercies of God but hee who sees he deserves nothing but ill sees abundance of mercy in the smallest good Secondly Smallest consolations are very great because they proceed from a great God As no sin is small though comparatively to another sin it may be small because it is committed against the great God so no consolation is small because it comes from the great God God puts an impresse of his owne greatnesse upon the least things that are done or given by him though he give but a peny yet it hath the image and superscription of him our infinite and eternall Caesar therefore see you slight it not As a good heart is carefull to performe the least duty and to avoyd the least sin or as a good heart calls no duty little which God enjoynes nor sin little which God forbids so a good heart is thankfull for the least mercy and calls no consolation small which God the great God sends Fourthly Observe That great afflictions take away the sense of tendered mercies Consolations for the matter were offered unto Job but his palate was so distempered with the gall and wormewood of his afflictions that he could not taste them Phineas his Wife regarded not the joyfull newes that shee had brought forth a Man Child while she was overwhelmed with sorrow that the Arke of God was taken While the Israelites were under hard Taske-Masters in Aegypt they could not attend to the voice of Moses and Aaron who told them of deliverance their troubles and burdens wert so heavy that they looked upon Moses as a trouble or as a burden when hee came to mediate their release And as the Idolatrous Israelites who sacrificed their Children to Moloch beat up Drumms and used loud-sounding-Instruments to drowne the cry of the poore Children that they might not be heard so some afflictions cry so loud and many cry so loud in their afflictions that they drowne the sweet melody and musick of those consolations that are sounded in their eares Great complaints render great consolations small Job was not without some blame in this for though his patience was great yet had it beene greater he might have missed this reproofe from his Friends Are the consolations of God small to thee And is there any secret thing with thee The meaning appeares thus Et verbum latens tecum Heb. Are the consolations of God which we have offered small unto thee because thou hast some secret hidden thing in thy breast This secret thing is opened three wayes First in reference to comfort as if he had said Hast thou some secret comfort besides what we have offered hast thou consolations of thy owne which cause thee to neglect the consolations of God As in the Gospell when the Disciples prayed Christ to eate he told them I have meat to eate that ye know not of John 4.31 32. Christ had secret bread Est ne apud te divinum aliquid recenditum in mente tua prae quo nostras consolationes Divinas contemnis Merc. Istae quas ab ipso Deo acceptas a ferrimus consolationes leviores sunt quam ut eas probare posses nimirum quod apud te quidpiam magis reconditum delitescat Bez. Aut aliquid abscondit eas apud te Jun. i. e. Ita perstringit oculos animi tui ut illas non percipias quai res involucris tectas Jun. Verba tua prava hoc prohibent Vulg. Apud te potius est incantatio mendacium etsi prae te veritatem seras Rab. Abr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Occulium malum incantationem vel mendacium denotat his work was his food My meat is to doe the will of him that sent me So here What hast thou meate which we know not of Some hidden Manna beyond what wee have told thee of that thou carest not for our provisions Secondly others give the meaning thus Hast thou some secret conceit of thy owne wisedome above ours Or is there some unknowne
worth in thee that exempts thee from this generall rule or way of comfort Doest thou so abound in thy owne sense that thou hast no need of our Notions Is all we speake below thee Thirdly they are supposed to aime at some secret sinne or guilt which hindered and unfitted Job to take in their Cordialls and consolations till it were purged out or vomited up by sound repentance So one renders the Text Doth any thing hide them with thee The word signifies to hide and cover 2 Sam. 19.4 David covered his face so here doth somewhat hide wrap up and cover these consolations that thou canst not receive them or what vayles the eye of thy minde that thou canst not behold what we hold out to thee or not finde out the meaning of it If our Gospell be hid saith the Apostle it is hid to those that are lost in whom the God of this World hath blinded the eyes of them c. 2 Cor. 4.3 4. Thus Eliphaz seemes to bespeake Job If the consolations of God be small to thee doth not somewhat blinde thy eyes Doth not some cloud hide them from thee Doth not prejudice against us or some close sin in thy selfe interrupt thy sight This is hinted by the old Latine Translator who saith Thy evill words or the evill matter that is in thee hinder this One of the Rabbins glosseth it thus and the Originall reaches it Some lye some inchantment or witchery hath seized upon thee though thou pretendest truth The Apostle speakes to this sense Gal. 3.1 O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that you should not receive the truth Witchery or Inchantment gives a secret wound Is there any secret thing with thee Hast thou any secret comfort for thy selfe any secret conceit of thy selfe any secret sinne in thy bosome hindering the effectuall working or due prizing of those cordialls which we have given thee The first of these secret things never stands in the way of receiving consolation he that hath hidden comfort in him will not refuse spoken comforts nor doe I thinke that Eliphaz aymed at that unlesse in scorne as some resolve it Malo in bonum sumi licet hoc in eum Eliphaz dicat eum ridens Merc. but rather at one of or both the latter though mistaken in both Yet his suspition gives us a ground for these two Observations First That a man who is full of his owne wisedome is not fit to receive instruction counsell or consolation from others Intus existens prohibet alienum that which is within hinders that which comes from without When a man thinks himselfe wiser then his teachers he will not be taught nor learne wisedome by them Some might have knowne much if they had not presumed they knew enough There is no greater impediment of knowledge then an opinion of it Secondly Observe A sinne kept close or secret within us hinders the effect and working of the Word Though comforts and counsels are given they will not operate where secret corruption lyes at heart the filthinesse and corruption of the stomach hinders digestion till it be purged out Physitians remove ill humours before they prescribe Cordialls else they doe but nourish the discase 'T is so in Spiritualls the Apostle Peter gives the rule 1 Epist 2.1 Wherefore laying aside all guile hypocrisie and envy and evill speaking as new born Babes desire the sincere milke of the Word that yee may grow thereby As if he had said Till you cast out these you will never thrive under the Word if a man be to sow Seed in his Garden he will pull up the Weeds and throw away the Stones else the Seed will not spring up to perfection The Prophet tells the Jewes Jer. 5 25. Your sins hinder good things from you as sin hinders good from comming to us so it hinders the Word from working good in us Though the proper businesse of the Word be to cast out or pull up this secret sin yet there is a great stop given it while any secret sin is nourished or not cast out That 's the reason why so many precious promises take not upon the heart some sin some corruption obstructs their operation and like the theefe in the Candle wasteth away their strength and light As the Lord sayd to Joshua when the people of Israel fled before the men of Ai There is some accursed thing among you therefore they cannot stand before their Enemies So I may say when any stand up against the Word of God or resist the consolations which are offered them sure there is some accursed thing some hidden Wedge of stolne Gold or some Babylonish Garment treasured in or wrapt about your hearts and therefore yee can neither see nor submit to the counsells of God for your good This is a usefull truth for us though an undue charge on Job and yet his Freind proceeds if a higher charge can be to charge him higher as will appeare in the two Verses following JOB CHAP. 15. Vers 12 13. Why doth thine heart carry thee away and what doth thine eyes wink at That thou turnest thy spirit against God and lettest such words goe out of thy mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 admirantis est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Capere sumere capit pro rapit flectit allicit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est animus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 q. d. permittis te abripiendum transversion agendum affectu tuo nimis animoso Quis te furor cordis exagitat quae te extra te rapit sapientiae jactantia Pined Tam superbus apud te es ut vix temet ipsum capere possit nec quidem tui ipsius capax es Bold ELiphaz insists still upon that unpleasant subject of reproofe the fifth ground whereof here proposed is Jobs over-confident sticking to his owne Principles or his overweening his owne opinion This reproofe is couched in the 12. and 13. Verses Vers 12. Why doth thy heart carry thee away He speakes by way of Question or as some expound him by way of admiration as if he had sayd It is strange even a wonder to me that thy heart should thus carry thee away The word which we translate to carry away signifies to take up or barely to take and lay hold upon Why doth thy heart the heart is the whole inward man here more specially the affections Why doe thy affections master thy judgement why are thy passions too hard for thy reason Others give the sense thus How can thy heart hold thee As if Job had growne too big for himselfe as if he had been so proud and arrogant so transported with selfe-conceit that he could not containe himselfe and keep his bounds or as if he had not stowage enough for his owne thoughts A third thus which comes neere the same sense What doth thy heart attribute or ascribe to thee Sure thy heart doth give thee some great titles such as these Job the wise Job the holy the
just the sincere thy heart sets thee out sure Possit per dativum ita verti quid attribuit tibi cor tuum Bold Quid docet te cor tuum Rab. Sol. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat doctrinam sed ita dicitur a discendo potius quam a docendo Drus Quid docuit te cogitatio tua Targ. and gildes thee over with attributes beyond thy deserving Master Broughton following one of the Rabbins presents us with a different translation from either of these What Doctrine can thy heart give thee or what can thy heart teach thee The word which we render to take to carry or hold up a thing signifies also to learne or teach Doctrine but rather to learne then to teach as Grammarians tell us which somewhat abates the clearenesse of that version yet the Chalde Paraphrase followes the same sense What hath thy owne thought taught thee What learnest thou there as if Eliphaz had sayd Thou hast an evill heart and surely an ill Master will teach but ill Doctrine when the heart is inditing of a good matter Psal 45. then we may learne good lessons from the heart and then we speake most effectually to the hearts of others when we speak from our owne hearts they having first been spoken to by the spirit of God But a corrupt heart can teach no better then it hath and that is corrupt Doctrines These are truths yet too much strained for upon this Text and therefore I passe from them and abide by the ordinary signification of the word as we read it Why doth thy heart take thee up or carry thee away as if he had sayd Thy heart hath seized upon thee and arrested thee thou art led away prisoner or captive by the violence and impetuousnesse of thy owne spirit The word is applyed Ezek. 23.14 to the motion of the spirit of God sent unto Ezekiel to instruct him The spirit lifted me up or caught me away that which the good spirit did unto Ezekiel not onely upon his spirit but upon his body for hee was corporally carryed away from the place where he was that the heart of Job as Eliphaz conceived did unto him it lifted him up and carryed him away There is a kind of violence in the allurements and inticings of the heart As a man is sayd to be carryed away by the ill counsells of others so also by his owne In the former sense the word is used Prov. 6.25 Where Solomon advising to take heed of the Harlot saith he Keep thee from the evill Woman from the flattery of the tongue of a strange Woman lust not after her in thy heart neither let her take thee with her eye lids There he makes use of this word let her not take thee or let her not carry thee away upon her eye lids let not her wanton eye flatter thee to the sin of wantonnesse and uncleannesse As the eye of a whorish Woman so the whorish heart of a man often takes and carryeth him away Hence observe The heart hath power over and is too hard for the whole Man Passions hurry our hearts and our hearts hurry us and who can tell whither his heart will carry him or where it will set him downe when once it hath taken him up This is certaine it will carry every man beyond the bounds of his duty both to God and man Take it more distinctly in these three particulars The heart quickly carryeth us beyond the bounds of grace Secondly the heart often carryeth us beyond the bounds of reason When passion workes much reason workes not at all Thirdly it may carry us beyond the bounds of honesty yea of modesty 'T is very dangerous to commit our selves to the conduct of passion that unlesse kept under good command will soone run us beyond the line both of Modesty and of Honesty of Reason and of Grace He that is carryed away thus farre must make a long journey of repentance before he can return and come back either to God or to himselfe Some have been carryed visibly away by the Devil by an evill spirit without them if God give commission or permission the Devill can easily doe it very many are carryed away by the evill spirit within them An evill heart is as bad as the Devill the evill spirit without and the evill spirit within carry us both the same way and that is quite out of the way Consider further how the heart carryeth us away even from spirituall duties and holy services and this is not only the case of carnall men who are given up to their hearts lusts but of the Saints their hearts are continually lifting at them and sometimes they are carryed quite away from Prayer and from hearing the Word the heart lifts the man up and steales him out of the Congregation while his body remaines there the body sits still but the minde which is the man is gone either about worldly businesse and designes or about worldly pleasures and delights He stirres not a foot nor moves a finger and yet he is carryed all the World over He visits both the Indies yet steps not over his own threshold Thus the heart being carryed away carryeth the man away And that 's the reason why God calls so earnestly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cum omni custodia My Son give me thy heart for where our hearts goe we goe or wee are carryed with them Keep thy heart with all diligence Prov. 4.24 or With all keeping or above all keeping it must have double keeping double guards keep keep watch watch thy heart will be gone else and thou wilt goe with it if thou looke not to thy heart thy heart will quickly withdraw it selfe and draw thee along also Why doth thy heart carry thee away is a deserved check upon every man when his heart doth so and Let not thy heart carry thee away is a necessary caution for every man lest his heart should doe so Jobs heart was too busie with him though not so busie as Eliphaz judged when he thus checkt him with Why doth thy heart carry thee away And what doth thine eye wink at But is it a fault to wink with the eye 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nutu utor quia nutus ficri solet vel capite vel oculis it is sayd Joh. 13.24 that Peter beckned to or winked at John the Greeke word signifieth an inviting gesture by the whole head or by the eye he winkt at him I say to aske Christ who it was of whom he spake There was no fault in that but Eliphaz findes fault with this What was the supposed fault There is a twofold faulty winking First When wee wink at faults our owne faults or the faults of other men to beare with or approve them Secondly When we wink at the vertues and good deeds of others to slight or undervalue them possibly Eliphaz taxeth Job for both these as if he winked at his owne faults 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est vox hoc tantum loco reperta cujus significationem Rab Mardochai dicit esse insinuationem vel indicationem Quid annuunt quid innuunt oculi tui or would not see them and that he winked at their faithfull dealings as slighting or not regarding them Yet further and more distinctly The word which we translate to winke is found onely in this text all the Bible over It properly signifies to insinuate by the eye to speak or make significant tokens by the eye there is a language of the eye as well as of the tongue here Jobs eye gave some ill language to the eye or apprehension of Eliphaz There are various opinions about it â—â—â—st Some interpret it as a note of opposition against or of dissatisfaction with the counsells which his Friends gave him as was lately hinted Shutting of the eye imports shutting of the minde or a refusall of what is spoken When God judicially closed the eyes of the Jewes Aegre qui sibi sapientes videntur ferunt sive concionentur sive disceptent non auditi cum exteruis modestiae attentionis aestimationis signis In auditione vitia sunt supercilia torvitas â—istitia vulius obtuitus vagus nulus c. Plut. lib. de Aud. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de fixis immotis intentis oculis esse interpretatar Nictu oculi prodis nos nostrasque orationes a te contemni Pined Cordis contumâ—cia ex oculis tuis emicat Nictu te ostendis elatum Merc. In oculis veteribus religio fuit siquidem in iis imago hominis est tacitus sermo mentis Bold In oculis loculis poculis homo cognoscitur Sent. Hebr. saying to the Prophet Isa 6.10 Make the heart of this people fat and make their eares heavy and shut their eyes this shewed the shutting of their minds against the truth so also doth a voluntary or an affected shutting of the eye in some men though in others it is an act of stronger attention or intention of their spirits to what is spoken which some take to be the English of Jobs winking as we shall see a little after Secondly This winking with the eye is expounded by others though not as an opposition against what he heard yet as the gesture of a negligent and carelesse hearer They who speak take it ill to have either ill lookes or not to be looked upon by their hearers The attentivenesse of the eare may be much discerned by the eye One of the old morall Philosophers in his discourse about hearing numbers winking among the vices and offensive behaviours of a Hearer When the Lord Christ Preached Luke 4.20 It is sayd That the eyes of all that were in the Synagogue were fastned on him A fastned eye is the note of a fixed heart as a wandring eye is of a wandring heart They fastned their eyes upon him as if they meant to hear with their eyes as well as with their eares A winking eye is a moveable and an unsetled eye and therefore may well be the discoverer of an unsetled Spirit Thirdly This winking with the eye is also a signe of disdaine and scorne As if Eliphaz had sayd The pride of thy heart sparkles at thine eye while wee are counselling and comforting thee thou art scorning us The Ancients were very criticall about the eye much of a man may be seen at his eye As a man sees so he is seen by his owne eyes The frame of the heart appeares much in the eye a joyfull or a sorrowfull frame of heart an humble or a proud frame of heart a contented or discontented an amicable or a scornefull frame of heart appeares at the eye As the eare and nostrills of the Horse discover him most according to the rules of Naturalists so the eye of man is the greatest discoverer of man whether we consider the constitution or the actions of it And that this action of winking is an argument of a scornefull spirit or the action of a scorner appeares from Davids Petition or deprecation Psal 35.19 Let not them that are mine Enemies wrongfully rejoyce over me neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause it may seem to be a strange piece of prayer why would not David have his enemy wink What was that to him The meaning is this let not mine Enemies have any occasion to scorne and deride me to boast and insult over me There are two sins which are very visible in the eye The first is wantonnesse Isa 3.16 Because the Daughters of Sion are haughty and walke with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes the Hebrew is Deceiving with their eye and the Apostle Peter in his second Epistle Chap. 2.14 gives this character of some They have eyes full of adultery you may perceive the filthines and uncleannesse of their hearts staring out of their eyes The second sin which is so visible in the eye is Pride Solomon speakes of a proud look Prov. 6.17 Six things ths Lord hateth yea seven are an abomination to him And the first of the seven is A proud looke the Hebrew is Haughty eyes Pride and haughtinesse are seated yea conspicuously enthroned in the eye Fourthly These words Why winkest thou with thine eye Ad simulatam quandam innocentiae significationem sanctitatis specimen quod hypocrism redolet referri potest are expounded as a reproofe of hypocrisie and seeming holynesse as if Eliphaz had sayd Thou lookest very demurely and innocently as if according to our old Proverbe Butter would not melt in thy mouth or as if thou wert speaking familiarly to God For as lifting up the eyes or looking to Heaven is a gesture of holy worship John 17.1 Then Jesus lift up his eyes to Heaven So also is winking with the eye It is very usuall with many to shut or wink with their eyes in prayer that so their spirits may be more composed and freer from distraction 'T is not unlikely that Eliphaz observed Job winking with his eyes as if he had set himselfe to seeke God this provoked him What such a one as thou a hypocrite a wicked man what thou goe to God Wilt thou wink with thy eyes as if thou wert wrapt up in some Divine meditation whereas we have ground rather to conclude that thou art devising mischiefe There are two Texts in the Proverbs which give some light to this Interpretation Prov. 6.13 He winketh with his eye he speaketh with his feet teacheth with his fingers frowardnesse is in his heart he deviseth mischiefe continually Solomon puts a winking eye and a froward mischiefe-devising heart together As if he had sayd A wicked man for of him he speakes in the former Verse winkes with the eye as if he had some high rapture whereas his minde is set upon mischeife and pursuing the worst of evills Againe Prov. 10.10 He that winketh with his eye causeth sorrow but how doth a man that winketh with the eye cause sorrow what dependence
is there betweene these two sorrow and winking that the one should cause the other These words he that winketh with his eye are the description of a deceitfull man such a one may cause sorrow enough Qui annuit oculo suo cum fraude both to himselfe and others Solomon intends not a simple but a subtill sly winking with the eye and so the Syriake readeth it He who winketh with his eye deceitfully causeth sorrow Deceit makes the deceived sorrowfull and it will make the Deceiver sorrowfull he must either be sorrowfull to repentance or feele the sorrow of punishment Fifthly This winking with the eye is conceived to be a metaphor taken from those who shoot with Guns or Bowes Quid collimant oculi tui Jun. Metaphora a jaculatoribus sumpta id Gunners and Archers winke when they shoot that they may take aime the better The contracting of the sight strengthens it So here What dost thou wink at that is what dost thou aime at The eye of a mans minde aimes at some marke in meditation and hence it is usuall for a man in vehement meditation to wink with his eye As if Eliphaz had sayd surely thou hast some great designe some grand plot in thy braine thou pretendest to some deep wisedome or unheard of policies thou hast set up some faire marke before thy fancie and thou wilt be sure to hit it what is it that thou aymest at We finde the phrase used in this sense Prov. 16.30 He shutteth his eye to devise froward things moving his lips he bringeth evill to passe he shutteth his eyes as if hee would make his thoughts more steddy and fixt to hit or reach that froward device which he is casting about how he may effect And as a wicked man shuts his eyes to devise froward that is sinfull things so a good man shuts his eyes lest variety of objects should divert or call off his minde when he is devising and studying what is best both for himselfe and others Et quasi magna cogitans attonitos habes oculoâ— Vulg. The rendring of the Vulgar Latine though it be farre from the letter of the Originall and is rather a Paraphrase then a Tranasltion yet it reacheth this sense fully Wherefore doth thy heart carry thee away Oculos in caelo defigere solent cogitabundi quibus gravis inest solicitudo Sanct. and why liftest thou up thine eyes as if thou wert thinking of some great matter Or as if the affaires of Kingdomes and States depended upon thy care or were committed to thy trust All these interpretations are serviceable to the Text before us and though we cannot positively and particularly resolve which of them was here intended by Eliphaz yet considering that his scope was to reprove Job we may take in the sense of them all and conclude that he censured Job in this one word of all those miscarriages of the heart which may be signified at the eye as appeares by the inference which he makes in the next Verse For having sayd What doth thy eye wink at he presently subjoynes Vers 13. That thou turnest thy spirit against God and lettest such words goe out of thy mouth So that this Verse is an explication of the former Explicationem continet praecedentis versiculi Bold and gives us more clearely what Eliphaz meant by the Carrying away of the heart and the winking of the eye His heart is carryed out of all bounds who turneth his spirit against God His eye winks sinfully whose mouth presently upon it speakes unduely Thou winkest with thy eye thou art very thoughtfull and what the fruit or birth of thy thoughts is we may discerne by thy speech while thou lettest such words goe out of thy mouth Thou turnest thy spirit against God As if he had sayd In stead of humbling thy selfe under the punishment of thy sin thou with an incensed minde contestest against God himselfe and though while he saith against God he doth not meane God directly but God in his judgements and counsells in his Word or in his Workes yet this is a very high charge one of the highest that is in the whole Booke but very unjust Indeed Job used some passionate speeches to his Freinds and these Eliphaz judgeth to proceed from an opposition against God Thou turnest thy Spirit against God There is a twofold turning the spirit against God First Naturall Rom. 8.7 Enmity is the turning of the spirit The wisedome or lust of the flesh is enmity against God Secondly Improved when we heighten this opposition in our practice and are enemies to God in our mindes or Gods hearty enemies by wicked workes Col. 1.21 Quod rediri feceris ad Deum spiritum tuum Heb. Quia respondit ad Deum spiritus tuus Mont. Pedire facit verbum qui re spondet Drus The Hebrew is Thou makest thy spirit to returne to God which is expounded two wayes first thou makest thy spirit to turn upon or against God Secondly thy spirit answers or replyeth upon God both meet in one meaning for though there may be a turning away of the spirit without answering yet in one sense all answers are the turning of our spirit if any man aske a question the answer is the returne of his minde who makes the answer so some render Why doth thy spirit returne answer to God as if he rebuked him for his boldnesse in replying Thy spirit returnes upon God if he speak one word thou wilt have two in that sense the word is used Titus 2.9 where the Apostle giving rules among other relations to Servants charges them Servants be obedient to your owne Masters and please them well in all things not answering againe But is it a fault for a Servant when asked a question to make an answer no it were a fault not to answer The meaning is that a Servant being reproved for a fault must not answer that is his spirit must not rise and returne against his Master or if a Servant be directed to doe any warrantable worke he must not answer againe that is hee must not contradict or murmure at the orders which he hath received but addresse himselfe to the fulfilling of them this is the answering againe reproved as a fault in Servants which is rather gain saying then answering as we put in the Margent of our Bibles in which sense answering is taken here according to this interpretation Thy spirit answers God or turnes against him We may cleare it also by that of the Apostle Rom. 9.20 Where having shewed the absolute soveraignty of God in his Decrees and purposes by the example of Jacob and Esau as also by that of Pharoah He concludes Vers 18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth Saint Paul soresaw that this Doctrine would rayse a great deale of dust and cause many to turne their spirits against God which he thus represents Vers 19. Thou wilt say unto me
upon that neither onely consider the forme of expression or the periphrasis of Man He that is borne of a woman In the first clause he saith VVhat is man in this latter What is he that is borne of a woman Emphaticè mulieris meminit Vt. cap. 14 1. Merc. He speakes of man in both yet with an additionall emphasis to minde us of our birth and originall as was shewed upon those words Chap. 14.1 Man that is borne of a woman is of few dayes and full of trouble where the Reader may finde what that teacheth even an aggravation of mans sinfulnesse in that he is borne of a woman who sinned first or was as the Apostle speakes 1 Tim. 2.14 First in the Transgression How prone is man to sin being born of a woman who was so prone to sin that shee was the first sinner VVhat is he that is borne of a woman that he should be righteous The whole race of mankinde hath yeelded but one exception to this generall Rule and that was in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ He indeed was borne of a woman and yet righteous because his Mothers conception was of the holy Ghost Matth. 1.20 and by the power of the most high overshadowing her Luke 1.35 But wee may say of all men except him who was also infinitely more then man even God-man VVhat is he that is borne of a woman that he should be righteous Secondly Eliphaz proceeds though the point be clear in it selfe to give a proofe of it which he ugeth from the greater to the lesse Vers 15. Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints and the heavens are not cleane in his sight How much more abominable and filthy is man c. The Argument rises thus If they who are the purest the holyest creatures are not able to stand before God in their owne purity how shall he who hath no purity no holinesse at all in him But the Heavens yea the Angels in Heaven who are the purest the holyest creatures are yet uncleane in the sight of God Therefore man who is abominable and filthy drinking iniquity like water cannot be cleane in his sight Behold he puts no trust in his Saints Eliphaz urged this argument for the substance of it Chap. 4.18 here hee repeats and re-inforceth it Behold is usually a note of attention here it is more a note of admiration as if he had sayd VVould you thinke it that God puts no trust in his Saints yet he doth not or is not this a wonder that God puts no trust in his Saints whom will hee trust if not his Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. cap. 4.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est credere tanquam rei fideli constanti aut fidele constans cui credi debeat The word which we translate to put trust signifies properly to beleeve he doth not beleeve in his Saints or not give credit to them he doth not as our word hath been confide in them a person is confided or trusted in either because of his faithfulnesse or because of his strength and stability the word which we render here to trust signifies sometimes strength or firmenesse as also a Pillar which is not onely firme but upholds and confirmes the Building or that which leanes upon it The same word doth elegantly signifie both to trust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Genus columnarum 2 Reg. 18.16 In Sanctis suis non est fides i. e firmitas vel immutabilitas naturae Aug. Ecce inter Sanctos ejus nemo immutabilis Vulg. Aliqui legunt Non credit sanctis suis 2. in sanctos suos 3. in sanctis suis Sic credere in Deum in Deo Deo Synonymai sunt Drus and to be firme because every thing that is trusted is trusted upon supposall either of a naturall or morall firmenesse Hence the Vulgar translates immutable Behold among the Saints there is not one immutable or unchangable And another of the Ancients There is no faithfulnesse in his Saints that is firmenesse or unchangeablenesse of nature is not to be found in them There are three different uses of the word First To trust Secondly To trust in Thirdly To trust upon So the translation varies here For first some read He doth not trust his Saints Secondly others He doth not trust in his Saints A third He doth not trust upon his Saints Thus some put a difference betweene beleeving God and beleeving in God and beleeving upon God though we finde them used promiscuously in Scripture It is sayd by Moses Gen. 15.6 Abraham beleeved in the Lord and it was accounted to him for righteousnesse but the Apostle Rom. 4.3 saith plainely Abraham beleeved God and it was counted to him for righteousnesse So that there is not any materiall difference betweene those two expressions yet ordinarily to trust in or upon is taken in a higher construction then barely to trust Behold he putteth no trust in his Saints Here it is questioned who are meant by Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est ab usu communi ad divinum separare there are three opinions about it The word Saint in generall signifies a person separated or one set apart from others Holinesse is our separation from the world unto God holy persons are separated persons that 's their state But more distinctly who are these holy persons these Saints The Greek Interpreters restraine the Text to the old Patriarks Abraham Isaac and Jacob as also Moses and Aaron with whom God at some times was angry or found fault with some of their actings Secondly others by the Saints understand the confirmed Angels who are called Saints by way of excellency Angeli vocantur Sancti Dei quasi ei familiarissimi atque illius obsequio addictissimi Dan. 4.8 because among all creatures they are in one sense the most holy as having ever been without the least spot or taint of sin whether in their natures or in their lives and having ever continued as the Houshold servants of God observant of and obedient to all his commands But we may rather take it in generall both for the holyest of men and for the holy Angels Behold he puts no trust in his Saints no not in those who are most holy Hence Observe There is no created holinesse sure stable and perfect in it selfe The glorious Angels which are and ever shall be Saints in Heaven and the Saints in Heaven who are like Angels stand not in that holy and happy estate by their owne sufficiency but by the decree and grace of God Those Angells which fell at first were holy and they who now stand might have fallen notwithstanding their created holinesse if God had not superadded confirming grace which establisheth them for ever Yet this is not all that the Angels are imperfect because they might fall if not supported there is somewhat more in it for though the Angels are perfectly righteous in reference to the Law for the whole bent
case a man in nature is composed or constituted of sin and a naturall man is nourished and preserved by sinning Vt deficienti humido resarciendo nihil aptius est aqua utilius ia hominis beatitudini quae ipsi de est consummandae natura nihil suggerit nisi peccatum Coc. Continuall acts increase the habit and as a godly man is nourished by holy acts and strengthened in spirit by spirituall obedence doing the will of God is the food of the soule As Christ speakes John 4.21 so doth every true Christian in his degree It is my meat and drinke to doe the will of my Father which is in Heaven or as Job professeth of himselfe Chap. 23.12 I esteeme the words of thy mouth more then my necessary food Thus also the old man saith It is my meat and drink to doe the will of the flesh and that is indeed the will of his Father which is in Hell The words of his mouth his Counsels and Lawes I esteem more then my necessary food So much for the opening and illustration of this Scripture-phrase Drinking iniquity like water I shall propound one Quere in generall concerning the whole Verse and so conclude it Here is a full description of sinfull man But whether Eliphaz speakes this strictly of a person unregenerate and so applyeth it to Job or whether this description be not also applicable to a man who is regenerate and godly for the maine and was so intended by Eliphaz is here a question Some conceive that the words will suite none but an unregenerate man and t is granted upon all hands that they are most sutable to him An unregenerate man is abominable and filthy he drinks iniquity like water And yet in a qualified sense we may say all this of a man regenerate Even He in reference to the remaines of corruption is abominable and filthy and He under some distempers and temptations drinks iniquity like water Agit Eliphaz cum Jobo non ut improbo sed ut errante Coc. which words of Eliphaz a moderne Interpreter paralels with those of Paul concerning himselfe Rom. 7.25 With the flesh I serve the Law of sin And delivers his opinion in this case That though Eliphaz aimed at Job in all this yet he deales with him not as with a wicked man but as with an erring brother For whereas he had sayd Chap. 13.23 How many are mine iniquities Eliphaz might judge by his words that surely he thought his iniquities were not very many and whereas he had sayd at the 26. Verse of the same Chapter Thou makest me to possesse the iniquityes of my youth Eliphaz might collect surely this man thinks his elder yeares have been so free from sin that God can finde nothing in them which might justifie him in these severe punishments Now Eliphaz opposeth these apprehensions and would both teach and convince him that as originall sin pollutes every man wholly till he is washed and borne againe by the spirit so no man is so farre washed by the spirit but that many spots and pollutions of the flesh doe still cleave to him and often appeare upon him And Eliphaz may be conceived to handle Job in this manner First To shew him that though a man be in a state of regeneration yet he can deserve nothing at the hand of God because his holinesse is still imperfect and his corruptions are abominable Secondly That the greatest sufferings and afflictions of good men in this life are very consistent with the Justice of God Thirdly That he might humble Job who as he feared was still too high in his owne opinion and thought better of himselfe then did become him Fourthly To provoke him to resist his owne corruptions stedfastly And lastly To beare the crosse which the Lord had layd upon him for his good especially for the taming and subduing of his corruptions patiently So that Eliphaz doeh not dispute with him upon this hypothesis or supposition or not upon this onely That man by nature and without the grace of God is filthy and abominable drinking iniquity like water but upon this or this in consort with the former That man in a state of grace or a godly man is filthy and abominable in reference to the flesh that dwelleth in him and that in reference to his frequent sinnings he may be sayd to drink iniquity like water And therefore Job had no reason to be proud how good so ever he was or how much good soever he had done and that there was all the reason in the World he should be patient and take it well at the hand of God how much evill so ever he should suffer This resolution of the Quere as it is profitable so probable For howsoever Jobs Freinds had branded him in diverse passages of this dispute as a wicked man and an hypocrite and were so understood by Job as appeares in his answers and replyes yet 't is most likely his Freinds spake so in reference to his actions not in reference to his state That he had done like an Hypocrite or a wicked man was clearely their opinion but there is no necessity to conclude from what they sayd that they judged him absolutely to be one JOB CHAP. 15. Vers 17 18 19 20. I will shew thee heare mee and that which I have seene I will declare Which wise men have told from their Fathers and have not hid it Vnto whom alone the earth was given and no stranger passed among them The wicked man travelleth with paine all his dayes and the number of yeares is hidden to the oppressour ELiphaz having argued against Jobs supposed opinion of Selfe-cleannesse and personall righteousnesse proceeds to the confirmation of his owne position to which he leads us by a new Exordium or Preface in the 17 18 and 19. Verses of this Chapter Secondly he largely handles and illustrates it from the 20. to the 31. Verse Thirdly hee applyeth the whole Doctrine to Job by way of dehortation at the 31. Verse and so forward to the end of the Chapter The generall argument which he brings to confirme his Tenet may be thus formed up That is true which continued experience and the consent of wise men in all ages have taught and delivered to us But the experience and consent of wise men in all ages have taught and delivered this that a wicked man travels with paine all his dayes that he is punished outwardly by want and sicknesse and inwardly by the gripes and scourges of his owne conscience Therefore this is a truth The major proposition is the sum of the Preface contained in the 17 18. and 19. Verses The minor or second Proposition is held forth in the 20. Verse and is prosecuted to the one and thirtieth I will shew thee heare thou me and that which I have seene I will declare So the Preface begins He layes downe a double proofe in this Preface a proofe first from his owne experience secondly from the
either of these even with the gripes and gnawings of his owne evill conscience for the evill he hath done This paine followes some wicked men all the dayes of this life and it shall be the portion of all wicked men after death Eliphaz aymes at this in the next Verse while he saith A dreadfull sound is in his eares there I shall further insist upon it We have yet another very considerable part of the wicked mans misery held forth in the close of this Verse And the number of yeares is hidden to the oppressour The word which we render Oppressor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Violentus crudelis robustus tyrannus qui suis nititur opibus aliis terribilis est signifies a man exceeding powerfull and terrible or by his power terrifying others He that oppresseth must have power and some desire power for no other end but to enable them to oppresse Solomon speaks of a poore man that oppresseth Prov. 28.3 but he oppresseth onely those who are lesse powerfull then himselfe A poore man that oppresseth the poore is c. One poore man may be as much above another poore man in power as some rich men are above the poore Equalls in power cannot oppresse But who is this Oppressor to whom the number of yeares are hid The Oppressor in this part of the Verse is the wicked man in the former part Eliphaz speakes still of the same person though under another name whom he there called wicked he calls here an Oppressor Hence Note That to oppresse is a very great wickednesse For an oppressor and a wicked man are the same man Againe in that the word which signifies an oppressor signifies also a mighty man or a man of great strength we may further Note That men who have much power are apt to abuse it for the oppression of others it is in the power of my hand sayd Laban to Jacob to doe thee hurt And Laban had hurt Jacob if God had not stopt him They that have much power in their hands need much holinesse in their hearts Pauci anni reconditi sunt violento Jun. that they may use it well much power is a temptation to doe much hurt Numeâ—us annorum i. e. facile numerabiâ—es The number of yeares is hidden to the Oppressors The number of yeares say some is an Hebraisme for few yeares or yeares that are easily numberable a Childe may tell the yeares of an Oppressor they are so few Hence the words are also rendered thus Few yeares are layd up for the Oppressor Master Broughton translates plainely to the sense Soone numbred yeares are stored to the Tyrant Hence Observe First That wicked Oppressors are often speedily cut off by the hand of God Psal 55.23 Blood-thirsty and deceitfull men shall not live out halfe their dayes If God should lengthen out the lives of men set upon mischiefe who could live 'T is a comfort for us as well as a curse on them that Soone numbred yeares are stored to the Tyrant his treasure is not great in dayes who dayly treasures up wrath against himselfe Another resuming these words Hee travelleth with paine out of the former part of the Verse reads it thus And in the whole number of yeares which are layd up for him he travelleth in paine That is his whole life is miserable As if that which is a truth of all wicked men were more specially applicable to oppressors That they travell in paine Hence we may note Qui vult a multis metui multos tirre a oportet They who love to trouble others shall be sure to meet with trouble themselves He that desires to be feared shall be often affrayd Oppressors and Tyrants in all ages have experimented this truth which flowes both from the nature of their unjust actions towards men as also from the just retaliation of God Our reading leads us to a further consideration The number of yeares is bidden to the Oppressor That is as some expound they are determined or defined in the secret counsell of God It is under a hidden decree how long his oppressing power shall continue and when he shall receive the reward of his oppressions Or rather thus The number of yeares of his owne life is hidden to the oppressor that is he knows not how long he shall liue But is that any speciall judgement upon the Oppressour that the number of his yeares or how long he shall live is hidden to him Is not the number of a good mans yeares hidden to him Are not the number of every mans yeares hidden to him Doth any man know how long he shall live David indeed prayes Teach me to number my dayes Psal 90. and Make me to know mine end and the measure of my dayes what it is Psal 39.4 Yet he doth not desire to know precisely the number of his dayes or time of his end he onely desires to know their generall number or utmost extent spiritually namely that at the most they were not many that so he might make a wise improvement of his life and a holy preparation for his death Seeing then the number of every mans yeares is hidden to him how is this reckoned as the peculiar punishment of a wicked man that the number of his yeares are hidden to him I answer It is true the number of yeares is hidden from all men both from good and bad the Lord hath made that a secret Two numbers are secret First The number of the yeares of the World when that shall end Of that day and houre knowes no man no not the Sonne of man but the Father onely Secondly The number of the yeares of a mans owne life or the day of his death is a secret which no man knowes though many have been busie to pry and inquire into it But though godly men know not the number of the yeares of their owne lives yet this is no affliction to them under which notion it is here sayd of the Oppressor The number of yeares is hidden to him A wicked man is thoughtfull about this how he may live long not how he may live or doe well he would fulfill many dayes and yeares in the World that so he might have his fill of worldly profits and pleasures He is therefore troubled to thinke his life hangs upon uncertaine tearmes because he is uncertaine of any good beyond this life A godly man knowes not the number of his yeares but he knowes by whom they are numbred that satisfies him be they longer or shorter more or lesse But a wicked man would have the account in his owne hand he would be Lord of all even of time too but he cannot The number of yeares are hidden to the Oppressor Observe hence That the number of the yeares of mans life is a secret which none knowes but God himselfe And as it is so so it is best for man that it should be so The certaine knowledge when our lives should end would hinder
from the presence of the Lord Here was no appearance of terrour it was the voice of God walking as a freind not marching as an enemy and it was in in thr coole not heat of the day these circumstances argue the guiltinesse of Adam and his Wife who fled and hid themselves at this appearance of the Lord. The voice of God walking was a dreadfull sound in their eares because they had not hearkned to the voice of God commanding Wicked Pashur who opposed the good Prophet is branded with a new name Jer. 20.3.4 The Lord sayd his name shall no more be called Pashur but Magor-Misabib that is Feare round about and in the next Verse the reason is given why this name was given him For I will make thee a terrour to thy selfe He that is a terrour to himselfe can no more be without terrour then he can be without himselfe Nor can any thing be a comfort to him who is his owne terrour And therefore a guilty conscience heares a dreadfull sound what sound soever he heares he ever expects to heare bad newes and he puts fearefull glosses and comments upon that which is good A wicked man interprets all reports in one of these two mischievous senses either To the discredit of others Pessimus in dubiis Augur timor Stat or to the disquiet of himselfe Bring what text of providence you can to him he corrupts it with one of these glosses Yea the faithfull counsells of his owne Friends are dreadfull sounds unto him for he hath a suspicion that while they are counselling him for good it is but a contriving of evill against him or a setting of snares to catch him Againe sometimes God creates a sound or causeth the wicked to heare a dreadfull sound 2 Kings 7.6 The Lord made the Hoast of the Syrians to hear a noyse of Charriots and a noyse of Horses even the noyse of a great Hoast c. Upon this dreadfull sound they arose and fled Sometimes a wicked heart creates a sound and what the Prophet threatens he heares the stone out of the Wall the beame out of the Timber crying against him The Story tells us of one who thought that the Swallowes in the Chimney spake and told tales of him We say in our Proverbe As the Foole thinketh so the Bell clinketh much more may we say As an evill conscience thinketh so every thing clinketh As he that hath a prejudice against another takes all he heares spoken of him and all that he heares him speak in the worst sense and most disadvantageous construction to his reputation so he that hath a preâ—udice against himselfe construes all that he either heares or sees against his owne Peace Hence it is that he doth not onely flee when he is pursued but when none pursue Prov. 28.1 The wicked flies when none pursueth except his owne feares but the righteous is as bold as a Lyon This terrour was threatned in the old Law Levit. 26.36 They that are left alive of you in the time of your Captivity I will send fainting in their hearts in the Land of their Enemy and the sound of a shaking leafe shall chase them What poore spirits have they who are chased by the motion of a leafe The sound of a leafe is a pleasant sound it is a kind of naturall musick Feare doth not onely make the heart move Homines tui non expectato adventu hostis velut transsossi examinantur metu Jun. As the Trees of the Forrest are moved with the winde Isa 7. but it makes the heart move if the winde doe but move the Trees of the Forrest The Prophet Isaiah tells Jerusalem Thy slaine men are not slaine with the Sword not dead in Battell Isai 22.2 With what then were they slaine And how dyed they a learned Interpreter tells us how They were slaine with feare and dyed with a sound of Battell before ever they joyned Battell This answereth the judgement denounced by Moses in another place Deut. 28.65 The Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart and fayling of eyes and sorrow of minde and thy life shall hange in doubt before thee and thou shalt feare day and night and shalt have no assurance of thy life But here some may object Is this the portion of wicked men Doth a dreadful sound in their eares afflict their hearts Have not many such much peace and doe they not either smile or wonder to heart others complaining of an afflicted spirit and beg prayers for the appeasing of their troubled conscience which are matters they have no acquaintance with nor knowledge of I answer First We are not to understand the proposition as if all wicked men have or that any wicked man at all times hath this dreadfull sound in his eare but thus it is very often and thus it may be alwayes thus it is with many and thus it may be with all wicked men A wicked man hath as we say no fence for it no priviledge nor promise to secure him from it Againe though some wicked men have not this dreadfull sound in their eares yea though they have pleasant sounds in their eares like them who sang to the Viall c. Amos 6. yet first their peace is not a true peace secondly it is not a lasting peace thirdly that which they have ariseth from one of these two grounds either from neglect of their consciences or from some defect in their consciences The neglect of conscience from whence this ariseth is twofold either first when they neglect to speake to conscience conscience and they never have a word much lesse any serious conference or discourse either concerning the state of their hearts or the course of their lives and then all 's peace with them Secondly when the speakings of conscience are neglected conscience hath a double voice of direction and correction conscience tells a man what he ought and what he ought not to doe conscience checks a man for not doing what he ought or for doing what he ought not Yet many over power and restrain conscience from this office and never leave opposing till they have silenced yea conquered it Such as these have peace such a one as it is and heare nothing but a sound of delight in their eares while this silence lasteth Againe this may arise from some defect disabling conscience to doe its ordinary or naturall duty the conscience of an evill man may have some goodnesse in it Conscience may be considered two wayes either morally or naturally that onely is a morally good conscience which is pure and holy a conscience cleansed from the guilt of sin by the blood of Christ thus no wicked man can be sayd to have a good conscience That is a naturally good conscience which performes the office or duty to which conscience is appointed conscience is set up in man to performe certaine offices if the conscience of a bad man performe them his conscience in that sense is good The first
himselfe What the day of darknesse is learne upon the former Verse He beleeveth not that he shall returne out of darknesse there I shewed a fivefold darknesse here I shall reduce it to one of these two The day of darknesse is either the day of death or the day of affliction so 't is taken Eccles 5.17 All his dayes hee eateth in darknesse that is hee is in sorrow all his dayes Though he hath Sun light or Candle light enough at his Table yet he hath no light in his heart So the Prophet Amos 5.20 Shall not the day of the Lord be darknesse and not light Even very darke and no brightnesse in it There is a day of the Lord which is nothing but light and there is a day of the Lord which is nothing but darknesse that is of tribulation and anguish upon the soule that sins The Prophet Joel calls it A day of darknesse and of gloominesse a day of clouds and of thick darknesse He knowes that the day of darknesse is Ready at hand The word which we translate ready signifies two things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paratum firmum stabilem certum esse denotat Drus First that which is prepared Secondly that which is established or confirmed We translate to the former the day is ready or prepared others render to the latter sense the day is established and setled his day of darknesse shall certainely come upon him And whereas wee translate Ready at hand noting the neernesse of the danger Others Tygurina per manum intelligere videtur ipsa impiorunt scelera per paraphrasim sic sententiam elucidat Scit quod suis factis periculosa tempora accersierit to note the cause of the danger render He knowes that his owne hand hath made a day of darknesse that is The villanies and wickednesses which he hath committed cause the clouds of judgement to gather and look black upon him his unrighteousnesse hath hastned on his ruine and wrapt him up in darknesse He hath brought an evill day upon himselfe by his evill deeds or as the Prophet speaks His destruction is from himselfe He hath pulled downe his House with his owne hands and is the sole author or contriver of his owne sorrows This is an experienced truth but I rather take the words as we render The day of darknesse is ready at hand that is it is neer and will shortly seize upon him Hence Observe First Many a wicked man growes into an assurance of his approaching misery It is as hard to perswade some wicked men that their state is naught as it is to perswade some good men that their state is good yet as many of the Saints conquer unbeleife and come not onely to have some hopes but high assurances that there is a day of mercy at hand for them that they are in a present happy state and eternall happinesse waite for them so a wicked man after long debate may have his unbeleife conquered and though he hath been sowing pillowes under his owne elboes though he hath slighted all the Counsells Admonitions and threatnings of faithfull Freinds though notwithstanding all this he continue long speaking peace to his owne soule and saying all is well yet I say this man may have his unbeleife conquered and know at last that there is a day of darknesse ready at hand when his eyes are opened to see what he hath done and what he hath been he sees that God hath rejected all his confidences and that he shall never prosper in them Secondly Observe That for a man to be assured of his owne misery is the height of misery Eliphaz puts it here among the punishments of wicked men This assurance makes his heart shake this knowledge is full of feare and therefore full of torment As to know that a day of light and deliverance is ready at hand is light while we are in darknesse and deliverance while we are in trouble So to know that a day of darknesse and misery is ready at hand is darknesse to wicked men while they are in externall light and misery in the midst of all their mirth And as it is the highest comfort of the Saints to know that they have eternall life to know that they are in the favour and live in the love of God a man may be in it and not know it and then though he shall doe well at last yet his state is but uncomfortable and he that is an heyre of Heaven may walke as an heyre of Hell with a troubled spirit but to know that it is so this is Heaven before we come at Heaven so it is the deepest sorrow of any man in this life to know that he hath eternall death an assurance of this setled upon the spirit though I conceive a man cannot have an absolute assurance of it yet to have strong impressions upon the spirit that he shall never be saved or that Hell is prepared for him this is Hell before he is cast into Hell A soule that doubts of mercy and of the favour of God is in a very sad condition but the condition of that soule is unexpressibly sad which is assured of judgement and of the wrath of God Thirdly Observe That as a wicked man may know that he shall be miserable in the end so hee may know that his misery is neere at hand An evill conscience awakened is the worst Prophet it is full of sad presages like Micah to Ahab Haec est paenae impii pars nou modica quod cogatur ipse sibi ominari malum Pined it never Prophesied good but evill and it doth not onely Prophesie of evill afarr off but neer or ready at hand 'T is true an evill conscience usually puts the evill day farr off 2 Pet. 3.4 There shall be scoffers saying Where is the day of his comming c. The day of darknesse is farr enough off it hath been long talked of but we doe not see it say these despisers But when an evill conscience is awakened then he sees evill neer and himselfe dogg'd at the heeles or as the former Verse speakes Waited for of the Sword As a Beleever when the eye of faith is cleare sees mercy neer at hand Faith makes God neer and then all good is neer So an Unbeleever when the eye of his conscience is cleared sees misery neer Observe Fourthly The misery of a wicked man is unmoveable His day of darknesse is established by an irrevocable decree there is no getting it off he is under a Divine Fate A day of darknesse may come over the Saints but that day blows over David sayd once of his day of light It shall never be dark and of his Mountaine it shall never be removed yet he was deceived But a wicked mans day of darknesse shall never be light nor can he use any proper meanes to turne his day of darknesse into light He cannot pray and it is pâ—â—â—er that turnes darknesse into light he cannot
lodgeth in the hearts of debauched sinners they doe they know not what they rage and are furious as if they would pull God out of Heaven and throw the House yea the World out at the Windows These stretch their hands against God and they doe it three wayes First Against the very being of God such a wicked man opposeth God as God he wisheth there were no God or that himselfe were God he would have all power in his owne hand Francis Spira in his despayring distraction sayd I would I were above God In him nature spake her mind plainly and not in Parables Nature heightned in wickednesse would be above God therefore a carnall man is called A hater of God Now that which we hate we would destroy and take out of the way Secondly There is a stretching out the hand against God not onely in this open bold challenge or professed opposition this very few will owne Few Atheists will speak out their blasphemy or send their Trumpet to defie God and most wicked men take a suspicion of this as the highest dishonour and affront that can be put upon them What They oppose God They stretch out their hand against God They will tell you they love God and it may be they will tell you that God is their God and yet will be found sâ—retching out their hand against God therefore not onely doe his professed Enemies stretch out their hand against God but even those his professed Friends who live in the open violation of his righteous Laws they who oppose the will and Word of God the Statutes and Ordinances of God these will be found to stretch forth their hand against God himselfe The Lord complaines Mal. 3.13 Your words have beene stout against me Who we stout against God when did we speak against God we never had such a thought in our hearts much lesse such words in our mouthes So it followes Yet yee say What have we spoken so much against thee The Lord tells them because it seems they could not Vers 14 Yee have sayd it is a vaine thing to serve the Lord and what profit have we that wee have kept his Ordinances and yee call the proud happy c. To speak or thinke thus though such a word be not spoken formally as it is probable they did not is to be stout against God To say It is a vaine thing to serve the Lord is not onely a disservice but a Rebellion against the Lord To say There is no profit in keeping his Ordinances is the highest prophanation of his Ordinances to call The proud happy is to stretch out the hand against God for he stretcheth out his hand against and resisteth the proud Thirdly The hand is stretched out against God when it is stretched out against his people his Servants or any that are under his tuition and speciall protection to oppose or stretch out the hand against these is to stretch out the hand against God The Prophet Zacharie sets forth both the care of God to keep his people from trouble and his Sympathy with them in trouble by an elegant Similitude Hee that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye Zach. 2.8 What part is more sensible of the least hurt then the eye or being hurt causeth a greater smart God is as tender of his people as any man is of his owne eyes He that toucheth them sc to wrong or vexe them toucheth the apple of Gods eye he lifts up his hand against Gods face and against the most excellent part of his face his eye and against the most excellent part of his eye the apple of it or ball of the eye which is the proper instrument of seeing We use to say There is no sporting with the eyes men doe not like it to have their eyes played with Surely then God will not beare it Dicimus vulgo cum oculis non ludendum est that any should smite or wound his eyes And he interprets any hurt done to his people as done to his owne eye yea to the apple of his eye When it was under debate in the Councell what should be done with the Apostles Gamaliel advises Refraine from these men and let them alone c. Lest haply yee be found to fight against God Acts 5.38 39. Some possibly would reply We fighters against God We love God here is a company of turbulent Fellows called Apostles who disquiet the City may we not punish them but we must presently be judged fighters against God No saith Gamaliel you fight against God if they and their Apostleship be of God Saul was zealous of the Law and as he thought for God yet Christ rebukes him from Heaven with Saul Saul why persecutest thou me Thou stretchest forth thy hand against me when thou dost it against the Saints then there is a stretching out the hand against God not onely by a boysterous opposition of God As Pharoah Senacharib and Julian did but by opposing the wayes or word the Messengers or Servants of God Hence Observe First Though every sinne be against God yet some sinnes are more against God Wee cannot say that every one who sins stretcheth out his hand against God there is a difference of sins in degree though they are all in their nature deadly there is a presumptuous sin a sin committed with a high hand which hath these two things chiefely in it First A sinning against cleare light Secondly A sinning with full consent and swindge of will In that place of Numbers where this sin is described Chap. 15.30 There are two other Characters put upon it First it is called A reproaching the Lord And secondly a despising of the Word of the Lord Every sin is a transgression of the Word of the Lord but every sin is not a despising of the Word of the Lord every sin is displeasing to God but every sin is not a reproaching of God Every sin even the least is a departure from God but some sins are full of activity against God It is conceived that the presumptuous sin in the old Testament is the same with or answers to the sin against the holy Ghost in the New and that which leads to this apprehension is because no sacrifice was appointed for that under the Law as this is sayd to be unpardonable under the Gospell And the Author to the Hebrewes is expresse Chap. 10.26 If we sin wilfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins The Gospell knowes but of one Sacrifice for sin and that but once offered they who despise that have despised all for there remaines no more Sacrifice for sin God will not send his Son to dye a second time for those who have trodden the Son of God in his death under foot and have counted the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing God indeed stretcheth out his hand all the day long to a gainesaying and rebellious people that is to those who
King saith Christ Luke 14.31 going to make Warr against another King doth not first sit downe c. As if he had sayd The Kings of the Earth are not so foolish so brainlesse and counsellesse to contend with those whom they cannot match they will hardly venture a Battell with ten thousand against twenty thousond they will rather make a disadvantageous Peace then proceed in a Warr upon such disadvantages The King of Israel reproved the challenge which the King of Judah sent him by the Parable of the Thistle in Lebanon aspiring to match with the Cedar in Lebanon 2 Kings 14.9 What 's a Thistle to a Cedar Then what is man to God See then what a reasonlesse yea senselesse creature man is who will needs goe out against God to Battell though all the number he can muster is not onely as disproportionable as ten thousand to twenty thousand as a Thistle to a Cedar but more then one single man is to a Million of men or then a bruised Reed to the strongest Oake God with ease made all the power of man alone and he though alone can more easily destroy it it cost him but the speaking of a word to set it up and he can pull it downe with yea without a word speaking Many men have been styled The great The strong The mighty But no man ever durst owne this style The Almighty This title of God in the Text The Almighty should make the mightiest of men the Nimrods of the World afraid to meddle yea to think a thought of medling with God The absurdity of men in strengthening themselves against the Almighty may appeare yet more distinctly in three particulars First He that is Almighty is stronger then All there cannot be two Almighties Hence the Apostle argues 1 Cor. 10. Will you provoke the Lord to anger are you stronger then he It is base and cowardly to provoke those that are weaker then our selves it may give us trouble enough to provoke those who are as strong as our selves but it is either madness or desperatnesse to provoke those who are stronger then our selves And when the Apostle demands or rather expostulates Are yee stronger then he His question cals for this positive assertory answer we are infinitely weaker then he and therefore there is no prevailing against him not onely not in all things but not in any thing It is possible for a weake Enemy to prevaile sometimes upon a mighty Enemy The Romans who commanded the world for many ages and were too strong for any Nation did yet receive some foyles though they were never conquered yet they were somtimes worsted not only by surprisals and Ambuscadoes but in the open field and even petty Princes gave checks for a while to some of their designes But El-Shaddai the Almighty God never received any defeat nor is he within the possibility of a surprize Secondly Not onely cannot the Lord be defeated but he cannot be endammaged he never lost as we say so much as a haire of his head nor did he ever suffer so much as the scratch of a Pin. The Romans obtained some Victories with such extreame losse and hazzard that it hath been sayd Two or three more such Victories would utterly undoe them they who were never defeated or foyled have yet been greatly endammaged in Battel and their clearest gains have not bin without some losse but the Almighty never lost the worth of a thread or drop of blood in all those innumerable Victories which he hath gained Thirdly Man cannot so much as hinder or retard the designes of God He transcends all the impediments and throws open all the Barracadoes that are set in his way He will worke and who shall let him Isa 43.13 There is no putting of a barr in his way and therefore if any should answer the question Who shall let it Yes there are some will let it the great men the Nobles of the Earth say no they will let it But they shall not saith God in the next Verse Vers 14. For your sake speaking to his people in Captivity I have sent to Babylon and have brought downe all their Nobles The Originall word for Nobles signifies also Barrs the Barrs of a door or Castle gate as we put in the Margin of our Bibles to note that Nobles and great men should be the strength of a People and a stop to the entrance of any evill among them but if in stead of that they prove like Barrs onely to hinder the good of a People and to lye crosse in all publike proceedings then the Lord the Lord of Lords and King of Kings brings them down and breaks them all to peeces I will worke and who shall let it The Nobles the Bars shall not though Bars of Iron to Gates of Brasse It was sayd in opening the words that stretching out the hand is the posture of a madd man Consider this and then say Is it not the maddest madnesse to stretch out the hand against God or to strengthen our selves against the Almighty to oppose him against whom it is impoâ—sible not onely to prevaile but to doe him the least hurt or give him the least check or stop in his way If wee should see a man set his shoulder against a Wall of Brasse or blow a Feather against it hoping to overturne and batter it downe would not we say this man is either a Fool who never had the use of reason or a Mad-man who hath lost his reason He that opposeth the counsells and wayes of God can no more overthrow them then a Feather can a Wall of Brasse or the touch of a little finger the strongest Tower The Psalmist represents us with these simple attempts Psal 2.1 2 c. Why doe the Gentiles rage and the people imagine a vaine thing The Kings of the earth take counsell c. Come let us breake their bands and cast their cords away from us What followes He that sits in Heaven shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision He sees how poore how inconsiderable these motions and commotions both of the Many and of the Mighty are to give check to that Decree of his Almightinesse to set his Son upon the holy Hill of Sion Eliphaz hath not yet done with his description of the impotent rage of man against the Almighty God O sinfull vaine man whither wilt thou goe What wilt thou doe next The next Verse tells us Vers 26. He runs upon him even on his necke upon the thick Bosses of his Bucklers This 26. Verse is an amplification or aggravation of the madnesse of a wicked man who when he hath strengthened himselfe against God as he thinks and hopes sufficiently then he runs upon him c. Eliphaz carrieth on the metaphor of a Battell which before it is fought Armies are mustered and drawne up in view of each other and then to shew their courage they stretch out their hands draw their Swords and as soone as the Signall
of the Battell is given by sound of Trumpet beat of Drum or discharge of Cannon they run on upon one another and when the Battell comes to the heat and hight they charge home even upon the necks of one another and upon the Bosses of their Bucklers Here 's the description of a fierce charge This wicked one is a Champion for Hell he challenges the God of Heaven and runs upon him c. with utmost violence Quia impius manum in Deum extendit ideo currit in eum Deus ad collum in densitate dorsorum clypeorum ejus q.d. in ea quibus ille maxime roboratur Rab. Lev. Vatabl. Beza Multo aptior est ut describatur adhuc ille impiorum conatus adversus Deum Pined Inauditam impii temeritatem describere prosequitur Bold That 's the sum of the words I shall now open them a little further He runs upon him even upon his neck There is a difference among Interpreters about that Antecedent some understand God As it the meaning were God runneth upon a wicked man like a strong Warrier with incredible swiftnesse and irresistible force to cast him downe The wicked man having stretched out his hand and strengthned himselfe against the Almighty now the Almighty runs upon his necke even upon the thick bosses of his Buckler Come saith God I will have about with thee if thou darest I will try it out with thee I am not afrayd of thy stiffe necke though it hath Iron sinews nor of the thick bosses of thy Buckler though they be of Steele Thus some both later Writers and ancient Rabbins give the sense but I rather conceive with others that Eliphaz still prosecutes the strange progresse and hightned wickednesse of man who having strengthned himselfe by hardning his heart against God runs upon him even upon his necke c. Taking this sense there is a different reading thus He runs upon him with his necke we say the wicked man runs upon the neck of God they say A wicked man runs upon God with his neck their meaning is He runs upon him audaciously and proudly The neck lifted up is a token of pride and presumptuous boldnesse And to run with the neck is to run with the neck lifted up or stretched out Currere collo est collo duro erecto sunilia sunt cum lana ponitur pro lana alba c. Drus which is indeed the periphrasis of pride Psalm 75.5 Speake not with a stiffe necke that is with a spirit unwilling to submit to my dispensations The Prophet Isaiah complaines and threatens Isa 3.16 Because the Daughters of Sion are haughty and walke with stretched out necks That is because they testifie the pride of their hearts by the gate and postures of the body as much as by the vaine attire and apparrell of the body Therefore the Lord will smite c. The Lord tells Moses Exod. 32.9 I have seen this people and behold it is a stiffe-necked people He complaines by the Prophet Isa 48.4 I knew that thou art obstinate and thy neck is an Iron sinew Stephen the Proto-Martyr gives a breviate of all their rebellions Acts 7. and concludes Vers 51. Yee stiffe necked c. The stiffe neck and the proud hard heart are the same all the Bible over Thus the wicked man runneth upon God with his stiffe In erectione colli fastus agnoscitur Merc. that is his proud daring spirit As before Hee stretched out his hand so now which is more his necke against God The metaphor is taken either from Souldiers in battell Metaphora a milite Fortissimo in hostem impetum faciente Metaphora a lascivienti procaci vitulo Pined who to shew their valour hold up their heads and stretch out their necks running head to head and shoulder to shoulder when they come to close fight Or It is a metaphor taken from a Bullock unaccustomed to the yoake who therefore will not submit his neck to bear it Wicked men are called Children of Belial because they endure not the yoak of obedience when God would put his yoak upon their necks they lift up their necks or run upon him with their stiffe necks Hence Note It is pride of spirit which causeth man to oppose God The Apostle James saith God resisteth the proud Jam. 4. which intimates yea and speakes out that the proud assault God As the wicked in his pride persecutes the poore Psal 10.2 So in his pride he opposeth God And as he that loveth God follows yea runs after God to obey him so he that hates God runs upon him by disobedience An act of ignorant disobedience is a going froâ— God Per superbiam homo maximè deo resistit superbus propter praesumptionem spiritus contra Deum currere dicitur Aquin. an act of knowne disobedience is a running upon God Running upon God is not onely sinning but impudent sinning The Angels in Heaven cover their faces before God dâ—â—ing not to behold him Humble sinners on earth such as the poor Publican Luke 18. venture not to lift up their eyes to Heaven but proud sinners lift up their necks against God They who care not what God saith to them care as little what they doe to God And they who have no faith in God seldome have any feare of him these run upon him with their necks But I returne to our Translation He runs upon him even on his necke That is on the neck of God that is he sins fiercely and fearelessely he doth not dare God at a distance or like a Coward speak great words and vaunt of what he will doe when his Adversary is out of sight and hearing but he charges on boldly in his very face It is sayd of the Ramm by whom the Prophet meanes Alexander the Great King of Greece That when he saw the Hee-Goat that is Darius King of Persia he ran upon him That is he assaulted him speedily and boldly overthrowing his whole estate and so making himselfe sole Lord of Asia The whole course of his Victories are described by this word He ran upon him Dan. 8.6 And when Job would shew how fiercely the Lord handled him he gives it in this language I was at ease but he hath broken me asunder he hath also taken me by the necke and shaken me to peeces Job 16.12 Cum eo concurrens collum invadet Tigur As God in a way of highest punishment or chastisement is sayd to take a man by the neck so man in a way of highest sinning and rebelling is sayd to take God by the neck or to run upon his neck He that ventures upon the necke cares not where he ventures and he that runs upon the neck of God cares not on whom he ventures And as in height of love a freind runs and falls upon the neck of his freind thus Joseph did on his Brethrens necks Gen. 45.14 and the Father of the Prodigall Luke 15.20 Ran and fell upon
both upon such rich men and upon their riches if the Lord doth not stop them from getting riches yet he can speak a word and blast all that they have gotten Hence Note That the most substantiall of earthly things are of small or no continuance More particularly That ill gotten goods are not lasting or long-lived Sometimes they melt away and dye in the same hands that got them they alwayes dye and melt away in some of their hands for whom they were gotten There is no tack in their estate in whom there is no Justice That which is gathered by the unrighteousnesse of man shall be scattered by the wrath of God As the little which a righteous man hath is better so it is surer then the great riches of many wicked Sin makes no provision at all for the soule and it makes very ill-provision for the body The title by which we hold worldly things is more considerable then worldly things themselves To hold in Capite from Christ is as the purest so the strongest Tenure Onely he who continues the same for ever and changes not can give continuance to that which is changeable But suppose the wicked mans substance doth continue long for bulke and matter yet the beauty and comfort of it shall not continue for a moment which is the third step of this Gradation 3. Neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth Riches are one thing the perfection of riches is another as in spirituall things there is the substance of them and the perfection of them so in temporalls The word signifies the consummation of any thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfectio eorum a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perfecit alii Minlam vincam dictionem perinde ac si duae essent exponunt quâ—si 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex eo quod est illorum i. e. res illorum non extendentur per terram Merc. or the bringing it to its perfective end Isa 33.1 When thou shalt make an end to deale treacherously they shall deale treacherously with thee The Prophet doth nor meane it of making an end by way of cessation as if hand heart or tongue did cease dealing treacherously for so wicked men will never make an end of wickednesse if they might have an eternity to act evill in they would act it eternally but he meanes it of making an end by way of consummation as if he had sayd When they are come to a full stature in treachery and have compleated their conspiracies against goodnesse and good men then they shall be dealt with in their kind and as they best deserve Now as a wicked man would compleat his sin and often reaches the very perfection of it so he would compleat his estate and doth sometimes reach to the perfection of it The wicked man would be perfectly rich he is not satisfied to have a compleat estate or enough for meat drink and cloathing he must have a great estate enough for pride pompe and glory Manna pleases him not he must have Quailes superfluities as well as necessaries He thinkes a little too much in spiritualls but a great deale is not enough for him in temporals His internall imperfections trouble him not his aime is at perfection in externalls That is perfect onely in a strict sense to which nothing can be added and from which nothing can be taken away The wicked man would attaine to such perfection but he cannot his owne heart forbids the first for how much soever he hath he would have more added to it he saith not it is enough though it be too much God forbids the latter his portion shall be abated or in the words of the Text He shall not prolong the perfection thereof The utmost perfection he can attaine unto is but the shadow of perfection and though shadows towards the setting of the Sun grow longer and longer yet no shadow can be prolonged they quickly passe and flye away Solomon tells us Prov. 12.3 A man shall not be established in wickednesse Nec mittet in terra radicem ejus Vulg. but the root of the righteous shall continue A wicked man may be set in the ground but he hath no root in the ground Their stock shall not take root in the earth and he that is God shall blow upon them and they shall wither Isa 40.24 A tree not rooted falls by a puffe of winde or withers while it stands The tree of a wicked man may have a great body but he hath no good root he is not rooted in Christ he hath no hold of the Covenant therefore his perfection cannot continue Hence Observe That as there is no worldly perfection of any long continuance so the perfection of wicked men is of shortest continuance Athenasius sayd of Julian the Apostate when he was in the height in the very zenith and perfection of earthly felicity having ascended the Impereall Throne and giving the Law to a great part of the then knowne World He is but a little cloud Nubecula est cito transibit he will soon vanish And indeed his glory and the perfection of it did not continue for when he was but thirty yeares old in that prime of his naturall course and constitution he was out off his power could not protect his Person nor prolong his perfection on the earth David professeth as from his owne experience Psal 119.96 I have seen an end of all perfection The terme of universality All doth not compasse in every kinde of perfection but all the perfections of one kinde The end of Divine perfections cannot be seen when we have seen the most of them there is more of them unseen but the end of all humane perfections may be seen There is a twofold sight First Of the eye Secondly Of the understanding Davids eye had seen the end of many humane perfections and his understanding saw the end of them all he had seen some ending and he saw all must end Never dream of prolonging your perfection here No worldly thing can continue long for the World it selfe shall not continue long If the Scaffold or Stage upon which these perfections are shewed or acted must fall the perfections themselves cannot stand There have been but few that ever advanced so farr as to an earthly perfection but there was never any one that prolonged his perfection on the Earth Adam did not continue in that created perfection which had no imperfection in it how then shall any of his Children continue in an imperfect such is their best perfection As Eliphaz hath shewed us the wicked mans misery in the not prolonging of his perfection so now he shewes us a further degree of it by the prolonging of his affliction Vers 30. He shall not depart out of darknesse Here is the fourth step of this gradation The wicked mans misery in misery He cannot stay in a good nor get out of an ill estate Eliphaz seems to take off an objection for some might
say What if the wicked man doe not grow rich for the present What if his substance doth not continue What if he prolong not his perfections or fall from the top-stayre of his high condition Yet we hope at last he may outgrow all this and get riches which he had not or regaine those which he had No saith Eliphaz Either the wicked man shall not rise to riches or if he rise he shall fall and when once he is fallen he shall rise no more eithâ—â— he shall not get into the light or if he doe he shall be soon overtaken with darknesse and when once he is in the dark he shall come out no more Hee shall not depart out of darknesse When the wicked man is in the light he sings Loth to depart but he must and when he is cast into darknesse he crys Hast to depart but he cannot The wicked man like the evill Angels is held in chaines of darknesse which he is neither able to break off nor to file off He hath sayd to God who is light yea because he is light Depart from me and God saith to him Thou shalt not depart out of darknesse There is a twofold darknesse First Inward Secondly Outward Both metaphoricall By darknesse some understand inward trouble or griefe of spirit others expound it of outward troubles and calamities upon his estate 'T is true of both for he shall depart neither out of the one nor the other but rather take it here for outward trouble and then Not to depart out of darknesse imports abiding misery irrecoverable sicknesse decayes and losses which shall never bee repayred Hence Note Wicked men falling into trouble shall not know the mercy of a resurrection out of trouble The just man falleth seven times and riseth againe Prov. 24.16 The just man is subject to take falls of two sorts and both of them Seven times that is often First He falls into sin Secondly He falls into trouble He riseth from both these falls He riseth from the first by repentance he riseth from the second by deliverance Solomons Text is to be understood of this second sort of falls and may therefore be expounded by the direct words of David Psal 34.19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth them out of them all The righteous have as many resurrections as falls But as Solomon makes the Antithesis in the place fore-cited the wicked shall fall into mischiefe Solomon doth not tell us expressely what the just mans fals into but he tells us he shall rise againe He tells us expressely what the wicked man shall fall into but he doth not tell us that he shall rise againe nay he tells us implicitely that he shall never rise againe He that riseth againe did not fall into mischiefe how great soever the evill was which he fell into and he that doth not rise againe fell into mischiefe how little soever the evill was which he fell into Nothing makes our falling either into sin or trouble a mischiefe to us but our continuing in it He goes farr we say in our Proverbe who never returnes surely he fals low who never riseth and he stayes long in darknesse who never departs out of it Darknesse is the portion of a wicked man and he shall never depart out of darknesse neither out of that darknesse of sin nor misery he hath no desire to depart out of the former and he hath no promise to depart out of the latter Thus we have seen the negative punishment of a wicked man what he shall not be what he shall not receive this is enough to make him miserable but positive evill will make him outright miserable This Eliphaz prosecutes in the next words The flame shall dry up his branches The flame is taken two wayes either First For the wrath of God which goeth forth causing judgement to take hold of sinners or Secondly For the judgement it selfe which is an effect of his wrath The wrath of God burneth against the wicked as a flame and then judgements burne up the wicked there is no heat to the heat of Divine wrath neither is any thing punitively hot till Divine wrath heats it Sunt qui eius liberâ—s intelligunt sed noâ— allegoriâ—è intelligimus omnem ejus splendorem opes c. Meâ—c The flame shall dry up his branches Some by his branches understand his Children they shall dye Children are branches they stand saith the Psalmist like Olive plants or branches round about the Table of a man fearing God Such branches Job had but they were dryed up and probably Eliphaz might give him a rub upon that soare in this expression Secondly Others by branches understand His followers and flatterers who live upon him as branches upon a Tree but to passe these restrained Interpretations Flamma exurens in Heb. est vehementissimi supplicii atque adeo aeterni symbolum Duci videtur translatio a more hostium vastantium regionem aliquam qui segeâ—â— arberes succendunt I conceive we may take the Branch in generall for all that belongs to a wicked man his Children his Freinds his followers his flatterers his Honour his Riches his Power all these look green and are his beautifull branches and all these the flame dryeth up The Prophet complaines Joel 1.19 O Lord to thee will I cry for the fire hath devoured the pastures of the Wildernesse and the flame hath burnt all the Trees of the Field The flame of which he cryes out and which did not onely dry the branches but devour the Trees of the Feild was the extreame heat of the Sun which as it usually sends out refreshing beams so when God is angry it can send out scorching flames and those beames which tempered with showers of raine nourish the Earth in the long withholding of raine scorch the Earth And what then befell the Trees properly taken and their branches doth often befall both Trees and branches taken in the metaphoricall sense as herein the Text a flame dryes them up A godly man is compared to a Tree flourishing and growing by the water side wicked men are compared somtimes to flourishing Trees but they grow by the fire side The flame dryes up their branches Hence Note First The wrath of God is a drying yea a devouring flame the flame of Gods displeasure puts all into a flame That flame will burn up branches how goodly how strong how high soever they are growne though as strong as the Oakes of Bashan though as high as the Cedars in Lebanon yet this flame will dry them up The Prophet Zechariah speaks this point while he thus bespeaks Lebanon Zech. 11.1 Open thy doores O Lebanon that the fire may devoure thy Cedars 'T is interpreted as a Prophesie of the destruction of Jerusalem and Judea by the Roman power as Christ after threatned them for rejecting him and his Counsell The words of the Prophet may be understood two wayes either litterally for the
destruction of that Forrest of Lebanon which the Romans cut down for the service of their Seige against Jerusalem or figuratively for the flourishing estate of Jerusalem whose branches though like the branches of the Cedars in Lebanon were dryed up by the flame of that dreadfull War In which stile and figure the Prophet Isaiah denounceth the judgements of God Ch. 2.12 13. The day of the Lord shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty c. And upon all the Cedars of Lebanon And the Prophet Ezekiel puts forth this Riddle and Parable Chap. 17.3 Thus saith the Lord A great Eagle that is Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon with great wings long winged full of feathers which had diverse colours came unto Lebanon that is unto Judea and Jerusalem and tooke che highest branch of the Cedar Namely Jehojakim the King of Judah and carryed him Captive to Babylon The Lord can make any affliction a consumption to the most beautifull branches of a sinfull people or person Whatsoever he useth as an instrument of his indignation is his flame In this sense the very waters which drowned the old World were the fire and flame of God He can by poverty as by a flame consume and dry up riches by disgrace as by a flame consume and dry up honour by sicknesse as by a flame consume and dry up health God hath speciall flames for every speciall branch nothing can continue to doe us good when God gives Warrant or Commission to any of his flames to scorch and consume it The flame shall burne up his branch And by the breath of his mouth shall he goe away We have the flame of God in the former clause and the breath of his mouth in this Some Interpreters conceive that Eliphaz mentions these two The flame and the breath purposesy to put Job in minde what God had done to him for we read in the first Chapter of this Book of the flame of God a fire from Heaven consuming that branch his flocks of Sheep and a breath from God namely a mighty strong winde destroying a more precious branch his flock of Children Eliphaz cloathes this discourse in such termes as might easily reminde and represent to Job what God had done to him in the day of his calamity And by the breath of his mouth shall he goe away There is yet a difference among Expositors about the Antecedent to his His mouth whose mouth Most understand it of the breath of Gods mouth as hath been hinted already Some expound it of the breath of the wicked mans owne mouth I shall touch upon both First By the breath of Gods mouth he shall goe away the breath of God may be taken two wayes Either first as the flame before for his anger which is often expressed by puffing the breath Secondly It may be taken for the decree or determination of God Both these wayes a wicked man goes away by the breath of God first by the anger of God if God doe but breath angerly upon him he is blasted and gone His glory and greatnesse langâ—ish before the least puff of Divine displeasure God needs not make great preparations of Armies or Forces to contend with wicked men he needs not raise Mounts and Batteries to overthrow their best Fortifications of Riches and Honour The Channels of waters were seen saith David Psal 18.15 and the foundations of the World were discovered at thy rebuke O Lord at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils The Prophet tels those who neglected to build the House of the Lord Hag. 1.9 Yee looked for much but loe it came to little and when yee brought it home I did blow upon it God did but blow upon it and by the breath of his mouth all their expected encrease went away When Pharaoh pursued the Israelites in the height of pride and presumption the Text saith It came to passe in the morning watch the Lord looked upon the Hoast of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud and troubled the Egyptians and tooke off their Chariot wheeles that they drave them heavily Exod. 14.24 25. God confounded them by a looke how easily can the Lord rise up and destroy all the power that riseth up against his people Hee can doe it with a breath from his mouth With a cast of his eye When Christ was apprehended by the Officers armed with Staves and Swords he sayd Whom seek you They answered Jesus of Nazereth He saith I am he Christ was not afraid to confesse himselfe As soon then as he had sayd unto them I am he they went backward and fell to the ground Joh 18.6 What a strange power was here that Christ could cast them down with a word and that not an angry word not a word of conviction but confession he did not chide them and say Yee wretches how dare you lay your hands upon me who am an innocent person how dare you carry me to judgement who shall one day be your Judge Christ spake no such terrible language but onely sayd I am he and downe they fell If these words of submission had such a force in them as overthrew those Officers to the ground how shall his Enemies stand before the thunder of his severest increpations and finall sentence As the Lord needs not make great provisions for comforting of his people if he speaks a word it is done if he give but a good look their hearts revive Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon me thou hast put gladnesse in my heart Psal 4.6 7. So if God doe but darken his countenance against wicked men and frowne upon them if he doe but breath at them he puts sorrow enough into their hearts even consuming killing sorrow By the breath of his mouth they goe away Againe take the breath of God For the decree of God Verbo vel mandato ex ore Dei procedente Jun. for the word or command which goethout of his mouth by this breath of God they goe away The destruction of the wicked is under a Decree God hath spoken in his holinesse Psal 108. 7 8 9. That is he hath given out his word from Heaven the habitation of his holinesse and of his glory or He hath spoken it certainely there is nothing but holinesse in his word and that 's the strength of words David having received this word stands assured That as Shechem and Succoth Gilead and Manasseh Ephraim and Iudah would willingly submit to him and yeild obedience So also that Moab Edom and Philistia who were his professed Enemies should be subdued to him He expected to conquer and tryumph over them to put them to the basest offices as his Vassals because God had decreed and spoken it in his holinesse God hath spoken the word saith he therefore it shall be done yea 't is done and therefore David cryed All 's mine Gilead is mine Manasseh is mine Moab and Edom are mine as soone as God had spoken the
shall perish As the Relative lookes to the wicked man himselfe Observe An untimely death is the portion of a wicked man He shall be accomplished in a day that is not his or before his proper day In opposition to which Eliphaz had promised Chap. 5. That a godly man shall come like â—sheafe of Corne into the Barne fully rype Now saith he This wicked man shall be like untimely fruit accomplished cut off and perishing before his time We have such an Expression Eccl. 7.17 Be not righteous over much neither make thy selfe over-wise why shouldest thou destroy thy selfe Be not over much wicked not that there is any mediocrity in wickednesse or that a man can be wicked in due proportion but saith he take heed of high actings in wickednesse why shouldest thou dye before thy time Some wickednesses lye close men live and continue in them long unseen others are so open and abominable that their actors are abnoxious to the hand of Justice He that is wicked overmuch that is extreamely wicked shall be cut off some way or other before his time Quarrellers dye by the Sword Drunkards dye by surfet Adulterers decay into filthy diseases Sorcerers are killed by the Devill Malefactors of all sorts are cut off by the sentence of the Magistrate Most desire to live long and yet they take a course to make their lives short they forget that short way to long life Psal 34.12 That promise Isa 65.20 stands opposite to this threatning There shall be no more there an infant of dayes Implere dies ad longam faelicemque senectam pertinet vel denotat illam aetatis maturitatem quae non annorum numero sed pietatis perfectione definitur nor an old man that hath not filled his dayes A good man fills his dayes a wicked man shall be accomplished or there shall be an end of him before his day both before that day which he would live to according to the course of his desire and before that day which he might live unto according to the course of nature Besides a wicked man never fills his dayes though he be full of dayes he that is not prepared for death how old soever he is dyes before he is rype he is rype for destruction but he is neither rype nor fit for death The youngest Saint that dyes dyes rype though he dye before he come to that estate Pii licet aetate juvenes senes sunt moribus wherein nature useth to crop men off yet he as the Apostle speaks Ephes 4.13 is come to the fulnesse of the stature of Christ Secondly Referring these words unto the estate of a wicked man it shall be accomplished or cut off before the time that is his pomp and greatnesse all that he hath gotten together of which he spake in the precedent part of the Chapter shall be scattered suddenly Hence Note Wicked men often outlive all their worldly enjoyments Some live to be their owne Executors they dispose or rather dissipate all they leave nothing when they dye for others The pride of wicked men shall have a fall their present possessions and future hopes shall come to nought Prov. 3.16 Solomon tells us that Wisedome hath length of dayes in her right hand and in her left hand riches and honour We may say of sin Shortnesse of dayes is in its right hand and in its left hand poverty and disgrace The former point saith that a wicked mans dayes are short he shall be cut off before his time death cuts him off The latter saith his pomp his riches and honour all these shall be cut off before the time We have seen some who have raised great estates by sin and they have seen an end of all in misery Thirdly Taking the Antecedent to be the designes and contrivements of the wicked man Hence Note The counsells designes and contrivements of wickedmen doe often prove abortive They are accomplished before their time Their plots break out before they are ripe and then all 's spoyled So it was with the Powder Plot it was accomplished before the time it was discovered before it could be acted we have often seen grand designes layd in the dust crusht in the shell and nipt in the very bud As the Prophet reproves some for staying too long in the place of breaking forth of Children Hos 13.13 That is they have let their purposes dye under tedious consultations or irresolutions for acting So we may deride others for staying too little in the place of breaking forth of Children God in judgement hastens them to action before their designes are fully matured by consultation It is accomplished before his time And his branch shall not be greene In the close of this Verse and in the next Eliphaz in severall metaphors prosecutes the declining condition of wicked men His branch shall not be green 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sig. manum ramum rami sunt veluti brachia manus arboris His branch Or his hand shall not be green so the word signifies properly And that some understand in a figure his hand shall not be green that is himselfe shall be unapt and unfit for work When an arme is dryed up or a hand palsied it is unserviceable The hand of a godly man is green he is laborious and fit for labour the hand of the wicked man as it is alwayes sinfully dried up in reference to the doing of any good so it is often judicially dryed up lest it should do hurt his hand shall not be green that is he shall not have power to do that evill which he would When Jeroboam put forth his hand from the Altar c. his arme dryed up so that he could not pull it in againe to him 1 Kings 13.4 His hand his arme was not green he could not use it to hurt the Prophet Zech. 11.17 The wicked Idoll Shepheard is threatned His arme shall cleane be dryed up and his right eye shall be utterly darkned that is He shall neither have counsell nor strength he shall neither be able to advise nor to act his eye shall be darkned so that he shall not be able to see his way his arme shall be dryed up he shall not be able to attaine his end Psal 75.5 None of the men of might have found their hands as we say of a man that goes lamely or lazily He cannot finde his feet so of a man that acts lamely and lazily or of a Souldier that fights faintly and cowardly He cannot finde his hands or in the language of the Text His arme or hand is not green We translate metaphorically so the word signifies not a hand but a branch because a branch or bough of a Tree puts forth from the body of it as the hand or arme is stretcht from the body of a man by this branch we may understand either of those two things noted before First The estate of the wicked man for that is as a branch shooting
stops as they will in his way let his first and second and third conceptions of mischeife conclude in the bringing forth of vanity yet he is not concluded by it he will try a fourth and a fifth time too His belly againe prepareth deceit Thirdly His hope to speed at last put him forward to new experiments when former ones have fayled he perswades himselfe he shall obtaine if he continue As the Saints having prayed and wayted long without an answer from God yet goe on praying their belly prepareth new prayers because they have a good ground to hope that God will heare at last So ungodly men persevere in plotting mischeife because they have strong hopes though but the shadow of a ground to hope that they shall one day accomplish their desires As the heart would breake for sorrow so both heart and hand would breake off from labour were it not for hope But where hope of attaineing lives especially where it is lively there such will labour as long as they live Though they have hitherto been deceived in their expectation yet their belly prepareth deceit Thus Eliphaz prosecutes his dehortation and though he saith not to Job as Nathan did to David Thou art the man yet Job was the man he meant the man who in his opinion had conceived mischiefe and brought forth vanity yea the man whose belly was even then preparing deceit How much Eliphaz was deceived appeares upon the whole matter what Jobs belly his minde his inward man was preparing will appeare by his owne answer in the two Chapters following JOB Chap. 16. Vers 1 2 3 4 5. Then Job answered and sayd I have heard many such things Miserable comforters are yee all Shall vaine words have an end Or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest I also could speak as yee doe if your soules were in my soules stead I could heap up words against you and shake mine head at you But I would strengthen you with my mouth and the moving of my lips should asswage your griefe THIS Chapter and that which followes conteine Jobs second answer to the second charge of Eliphaz Hee calls it an answer but in strictnesse of speech it is a rejoynder and he rejoynes with some accrimonie and sharpnesse of speech The longer contention is maintained the hotter are the spirits of the contenders and the more we are put to answer the more angry are our answers Vers 1. Then Job answered and sayd And what sayd he His answer consists of three generall parts In the first he confutes what Eliphaz had asserted which he doth to the eighteenth Verse of this sixteenth Chapter Secondly He proceeds to corroborate and confirme his owne Tenet or Opinion which he doth to the eleventh Verse of the seventeenth Chapter Thirdly He renewes his former complaints and desires which he doth from that eleventh Verse to the end of the Chapter The first part of his answer is confutation and he begins his confutation with an accusation with an accusation of those who had disputed with him and that 's the subject of these five Verses in all which he taxeth or checks his freinds for their unfreindly uncomly dealing with him and he checks them as Eliphaz had done him at the beginning of the former Chapter upon five points of errour and unfreindlinesse First For speaking unprofitably or for telling him no more then he knew before at the entrance of the second Verse I have heard many such things Secondly He chargeth them for speaking such things as did rather increase and boyle up then mittigate and allay his sorrow Miserable comforters are yee in the close of the second Verse Thirdly He accuseth them for speaking so much or for endlesse speaking their discourse was tedious they would not give over Thus he takes them up at the third Verse Shall vaine words have an end What will you be endlesse Will you never have done Fourthly He accuseth them for their causelesse speaking in the same third Verse What emboldeneth thee or what provoketh thee that thou answerest As if he had sayd Have I given thee any cause Fifthly and lastly He reproveth his and their whole carriage towards him by a serious profession of his contrary carriage or that he was purposed to deale better with them upon supposition that they were in his case and this he doth two wayes First Telling them what he could doe if they were in his case Vers 4. I also could speake as you doe if your soule were in my soules stead I could heap up words against you c. Secondly Telling them what he would doe But I would strengthen you with my mouth and the moving of my lips should asswage your griefe Vers 5. That 's the course which I would take I could deale as harshly with you as you doe with me but I would not you should finde me in another straine and temper Then Job answered and sayd Vers 2. I have heard many such things miserable comforters are yee all We finde this point tossed both wayes Jobs Freinds telling him that he spake but ordinary matter and he telling them that they spake so too Bildad chargeth Job with it Chap. 8.2 How long wilt thou speake these things And how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong winde as if he had sayd Thou speakest impertinently or what thou speakest doth not much concerne the point in hand it comes not up to the matter yea it is quite besides the marke And so Zophar Chap. 11.2.3 Should not the multitude of words be answered And should a man full of talke be justified Thou doest but Verba dare thou speakest to little purpose or little to the purpose though thou speakest much Eliphaz puts the same language upon him Chap. 15.2 3. Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge and fill his belly with the East winde Should he reason with unprofitable talke Or with speeches wherewith he can doe no good Thus his Freinds accused him of that for which he now accuseth them and he himselfe had accused them once and againe of this before So Chap. 12.2 3. Who knoweth not such things as these They are but vulgar truths which you have told me and Chap. 13.1 2. Loe mine eye hath seen all this mine eare hath heard and understood it what yee know the same doe I know also I am not inferiour to you You produce nothing all this while but what I am well acquainted with which is fully the sense of this Verse I have heard many such things that is Rhetorico modo principium sumit ab extenuatione vice quippe defensoris agit Pined Defensor causam fuisse negabit si potest aut eam vehementur extenuabit Cic. l. 2. ad Heren Every man can speak as much as this Here Job playes the Oratour or Rhetorician whose businesse and designe as the great Orator tells us is as much as he can to extenuate and lay low the arguments or reasons of him that
he opposeth Job stands as Defendant here his Freinds as Plaintifs therefore he endeavours to render their Charge weak and what they sayd sinnewlesse I have heard many such things as these Job doth not accuse his Freinds as giving out false and erroneous Doctrine for himselfe had heard and learned those things before but he accuseth them for bringing proofes which were not to the purpose or which were in sufficient to prove their purpose As if he sayd I expected when you would produce some stronger arguments to maintaine your opinion or clearer answers unto mine I waited for some new matter and to have heard somewhat that I had not heard before but you have deceived my expectation For I have heard many such things as these Hence Note First Some truths are of very common observation Who knoweth not such things as these Every Childe that hath been Catechised knowes them 'T is no disparagement to any truth that it hath been often heard and is commonly knowne The more common a truth is the more weighty it may be Yet Which gives us a second Observation Ordinary truths will not serve in extraordinary cases and that which every man knows and heares will not resolve us in those points which few men know or heare As Jobs Person was a Phaenix in the World his age afforded not his second There is none like him in the earth saith God himselfe to Satan Chap. 1.8 So Jobs condition was a Phaenix it had no second there was no man tryed like him in the whole earth and therefore his case eould not be measured by the common Standard or rule of Providence He had need heare that which was never heard before who beares and feeles that which was never borne nor felt before There are some temptations on afflictions as the Apostle speakes 1 Cor. 10.13 Which are common to man Common truths may comfort and satisfie the consciences of such But there are temptations such were Jobs which are not common to man we can hardly finde their paralell or a president of them in the Records of any Age Common truths will not comfort nor satisfie the consciences of such Every dispensation hath a doctrine suitable to it dispensations which are seldome seen call up doctrines which are seldome heard Secondly Job complaines that he heares onely those things which he had often heard Hence Observe It troubles a man in trouble to be often pressed with the same thing A man at ease is pained with unnecessary repetitions much more a man in paine and though they who like and love the things which they have heard doe both love and like to heare them often yet in some cases they may heare them too often Some indeed speak very prophanely what Job spake justly who when they would not put off submission to and attendance upon holy Doctrine say we know before we goe what he will say We know such things as the Preacher usually speaks what can he tell us that we have not heard before That 's the language of the prophane We know as much as he can teach us Though it be granted that a man knowes as much as the Preacher can tell him yet he ought to heare it againe Though the matter be knowne before yet to heare it often may work a better knowledge and leave a stronger impression upon the heart then ever 'T is profitable to write the same things therefore it cannot be unprofitable to heare them Phil. 3.1 Brethren to write the same things to me it is not greivous and to you it is profitable If to write then to speake the same things is profitable In the Story of the Acts of the Apostles when Paul had preached in the Synagogue the Jewes being gone the Gentiles besought him That those words might be preached the next Sabbath Acts 13.42 The repeating and inculcating the same thing is not alwayes blameable and it is sometimes desireable but when a man is under sore afflictions and temptations when he is burthened with many sorrows it is very greivous to have those things that have been often answered or assented to againe objected or asserted A weake stomack must have variety and change to entice the appetite and so must a troubled and distempered spirit I have heard many such things And hereupon he infers Miserable comforters are yee As if he had sayd This is a miserable way of comforting alway to be beating upon and inculcating the same thing Job calls his Freinds Physitians of no value Chap. 13.4 Here he expounds himselfe while he calls them Miserable comforters He is a Physitian of no value who in stead of curing increaseth the disease and he is a miserable comforter who in stead of abating our sorrow adds to it and heightens it Miserable comforters are yee It seems the Freinds of Job at least to his sense had forgotten the designe they proposed to themselves when they first undertook this visit Chap. 2.11 They made an appointment together to come and mourne with him and to comfort him That was the intendment of Jobs Freinds at their fiâ—st addresses Yet after so long a conference he makes this report Miserable comforters are yee yee rather vex then heale any soare you my Freinds have troubled me more then my wounds you have wounded my spirit more then Satan did my flesh Consolatores malorum i. e. malos potestâ—s consolari August Miserable comforters are yee One of the Ancients renders the words thus Yee are comforters of evill men or possibly you may comfort evill men but you cannot comfort me As that which is one mans meat is another mans poyson so that which is one mans comfort is another mans sorrow All good men cannot take in their comforts the same way but the way of comforting good and evill men differ as much as good and evill The words of flattery and falsehood will serve to comfort the one no words will comfort the other but those of sincerity and truth I dare not conceive Jobs Freinds such as would sow Pillows under the elbowes of evill men yet surely they put hard Stones under the sore and aking armes of this good man Consolatores Onerosi Vulg. The Vulgar translation speakes thus Yee are burden some comforters A comforter should take off burdens sorrow is a burden As the judgements that God threatned upon the Jewes and other Nations are represented in the Prophets under the name of burthens The burthen of Judah the burthen of Israel the burthen of Moab the burthen of Babylon the burthen of Idumea So any affliction upon a person is his burthen and the businesse of those who come to comfort a soule in affliction should be to take off his burthen at least to lighten it Jobs Freinds did indeed binde the burthen faster upon his spirit and therefore he might well call them Burthensome comforters False hearts count all truth a burthen The Land saith Amaziah is not able to beare his words Amos 7.10 yet his were
was stirred his heart was hot within him and while hee was musing the fire kindled While some are even hoarse with speaking while they cannot hold their peace from evill their anger is stirred their hearts are storming within them and all their talke is onely a winde blowing without them We read of a strange distemper in two sorts of men who ought of all others to be most composed and temperate Hos 9.7 Ish ruach The Prophet is a foole the spirituall man is madd Our Translators put in the Margin The man of the spirit for Ruach in Hebrew signifieth both the winde that blowes in the ayre and the spirit of God which moveth in our hearts We take that sense The spirituall man or the man of the spirit that is the man that pretends to have or should have the spirit of God his businesse lying wholly in spirituals this man is madd he is so farr from acting to the height of those graces which the spirit gives that he acts below that reason which nature gives Yet the Originall may be rendred thus and so diverse learned Hebricians render it The man of winde or the windy man is madd Anger is a short madnesse and he that speakes angerly is in danger to speak madly Jobs Freinds were not men of winde nor were they madd and the words which they spake had a generall sense and savor of truth and sobernesse in them yet as to Jobs particular case they wanted some graines of truth and reason they were too high and swelling considering how low and humble he was they were too full of passion being spoken to a man so full of sufferings And therefore though that censure of his Freinds words as vaine who indeed were wise and grave men was too censorious and sharpe yet it must be granted that their words also were too sharpe even such as vexed his spirit and wore out his patience upon which account he expects and begs an end of them Shall vaine words have an end That is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Finis a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praecidit abscidit Quia finis est tam temporis quam rei praecisio terminus Will you make an end of vaine speaking I pray doe I wish you would Cut off the thred of this discourse you have spun it out and continued it but too long alrâ—ady The Hebrew word which we translate an end springs from a root which signifies to cut off because every end whether of time or things is the cutting off of that time or thing the end of which it is While Job askes the Question Shall vaine words have an end He speakes the vehemency of his owne desire and expectation to see an end of them I shall not stay here to give any observations upon these words but referr the Reader to the Texts before alleadged in the eighth and fifteenth Chapters where this expression is more fully opened Onely Note First Vaine words are very burdensome to a serious eare much more to a sad heart Secondly It is good to end that quickly wee should not have begun Profitable words may be too long continued but unprofitable words cannot be too soon ended It is best not to speak vainely and it is next best to cease or give over such kinde of speaking quickly There is a time to be silent from good words as well as a time to speake them but there is no time to speake evill words all times in reference to them are times of silence An Aposioposis or sudden stop of speech is the most sutable figure of Rhetorick which they can use who speake unsutably As the end of what wee say or doe well is best so the ending of what wee say or doe amisse is best Perseverance in every good word and worke is Angelicall and the highest perfection of duty but perseverance in an evill whether word or worke is Diabolicall and the utmost departure from duty Let not thy mouth open to utter vanity but if it doth shut it quickly be not heard speaking that twice which should not be spoken once Or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest If thou wilt not make an end then tell me why Give me a reason what is it that stirrs thee to reply upon me What emboldeneth thee to answer The Hebrew word signifies first to strengthen to fortifie or confirme he that is strengthened is emboldened 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est roborare fortificare acris esse It signifies also to be sharpe or bitter 1 Kings 2.8 David on his death-bed tels Solomon his Son and Successor in the Kingdome that Shimei had cursed him with a greivous curse that is with a strong bitter and provoking curse of which we read the Story 2 Sam. 16.5 This Quaere is rendered three wayes First as we What emboldeneth thee that thou answerest As if he had sayd I thought I should have silenced thee before this time or that thou wouldest have put silence upon thy selfe I wonder who or what it is that sets thee on to speake still doest thou thinke by thy renewed on sets to weary me and make me yeild at last Hast thou a hope to prevaile upon me by thy importunity when thou canst not by thy reason Or hast thou further strength of reason fresh arguments to produce in confirmation of thine opinion Are these but Fore-runners or thy Vauntguard Is the maine battell yet behinde Hast thou some Reserves of greater power then thou hast yet led up against me Let me see them if thou hast If not give over and hold thy peace for what shall eyther I or thou get by a further progresse What emboldeneth thee to answer Job speakes wonderingly his reason was at a losse about the cause of his Freinds boldnesse and therefore he admires it There are two things which may embolden a man to answer First The goodnesse and justice of that cause which he undertakes Secondly The strength and assistance of God to carry him through it Upon these grounds the youngest David may be bold to enter the Lists and dare the Combate with the strongest Goliah But there are two other things which usually embolden men to answer First Selfe-confidence Secondly Unwillingnesse to yeeld They who are thus emboldened will not give over answering though they have no further light of truth or reason to hold out in their answers Job surely had such apprehensions of his Freind Eliphaz which moved him to aske What emboldeneth thee that thou answerest Hence Note Such is the stifnesse and vanity of some that they will hold on a contention though they have no further grounds of truth or reason to continue it upon They will speake on though it be the same thing onely in a new dresse of words They have store of words though scarsity of matter we may justly say to such What emboldeneth you to answer It is more then boldnesse a kinde of impudence in such to answer pertinacy of spirit disdaines to lay
downe the Bucklers They who contend for victory rather then for truth will not be answered how much soever they are answered And they who are more loath be foyled then willing to bee rectified will hardly submit to the plainest and clearest evidence The second reading is What doth provoke thee to answer Quid exacer bu â—e ut respondeas Jun. or What imbitters thy spirit that thou answerest As if Job had said Surely Eliphaz my fayre discourse with thee should have stopped the course of this severe proceeding with me before this time thou hast loaded me with hard words and uncharitable jealousies but have I spoken provokingly or bitterly to thee My conscience tells me that I have not and thou knowest I have not He that impartially reads over Jobs answers to Eliphaz may finde here and there a sowre passage but as we say Proverbially You must give loosers leave to speake The wise Physitian heares his Patient giving him uncomely language yet will not heare it much lesse retort or answer so againe They who are in paine must be borne with though they provoke it must not be called a provocation and though they give offence yet it must not be taken When the Childe cryes the Nurse sings God himselfe beares with the manners of his people so the word intimates Acts 13.18 as a Mother doth with a froward Childe and so should we with the frowardnesse of our weake and afflicted Brethren So that in this sense the provocations which Job gave his Freinds were not to be reckoned as provocations and he might well say to Eliphaz What provoketh thee to answer If I in the case I am in have spoken passionately Wilt thou be provoked by it Thou shouldest not Thou oughtest to passe it by and cover it with the garment of charity Yet further we may take the words as a totall denyall of any provocation given on his part Whence Note Some will speake harshly to and of those who never provoked or gave them cause Water runs cleare till 't is troubled and stirr'd by some outward violence But the spirits of some men run muddy though nothing from without stirrs them The Prophet compares all wicked men to the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt Isa 57.20 The Sea is not alwayes troubled when the Windes are quiet that is quiet wee often see a smooth Sea as smooth as Glasse A wicked man is like the Sea when 't is enraged he is such a Sea as knows no calme he is like the Sea not onely when it is troubled but when it cannot rest Though no breath of Winde from abroad offend him yet he stormes He hath lusts in his owne bowels which provoke him when nothing else doth yea those lusts within provoke him when all without labour to pacifie him So David complaines Psal 120.5 7. Woe is mee that I sojourne in Mesech that I dwell in the Tents of Kedar that is With the Sons or descendants of Ishmael who have learned of their Father to mock and persecute I dwell in the Tents of Kedar But what caused them to mock and persecute Was it any provocation that David had given them No for he saith in the next words I am for peace I would live quietly with all my heart but when I speake they are for Warr. A motion for Peace becomes a provocation to Warr It is sinfull to speake rashly or harshly though we are provoked what is it then to speake so when we are not provoked They angred Moses at the waters of strife they provoked his spirit yet it went ill with Moses for their sakes when he spake unadvisedly with his lips Psal 106.32 33. But what was this unadvised speech Moses reports his owne infirmity Numb 20.10 11. And Moses and Aaron gathered the Congregation together before the rocke and he sayd unto them Heare now yee Rebels must we fetch you water out of this Rock And Moses lift up his hand and with his Rod he smote the Rock twice c. The errour of Moses in this businesse was twofold First That he did not onely smite the Rock but smite it twice with the Rod in his hand whereas he had order onely to take the Rod in his hand and speake to the Rock before their eyes and it should give out water Vers 8. His second errour was that he did not onely speake to the people for which in that transaction he had no order from God but spake bitterly and harshly to them calling them Rebels and slighting them Must we fetch water for you c What for you who are a murmuring and gainsaying people God knew the stubbornenesse of that people and their rebellions against him yet he did not call them Rebels but sayd in the close of the eighth Verse So shalt thou give the Congregation and their Beasts drinke God had more reason and power to call them Rebels then Moses had yet he did not And because Moses did that unadvised speech of his and the actions which attended it were called Rebellion at the twenty fourth Verse of the same Chapter Yee saith the Lord of Moses and Aaron rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah Now if Moses was thus reproved and censured by God himselfe for speaking passionately to a people who had provoked both God their Deliverer and him their Leader what reproofe doe they deserve who either upon none or very little provocation call their Brethren Hypocrites Hereticks Scismaticks Rebels perjured persons men of prostituted consciences or at least of unsettled and uncertaine Principles will not the Lord take notice of this bitternesse even in those who are his precious Servants towards their fellow-servants when he layd so heavy a penalty as non-admission into the promised Land upon a payre of the most eminent and faithfull Servants that ever he called forth to his work since he layd the foundations of the World This fals heavy upon the present age Whence is that bitternesse that Gall and Wormewood which fals from many both tongues and Pens every day What hath provoked them thus to speak and write I confesse there have been provocations and some doe but give Gall for Gall and Wormewood for Wormewood yet it cannot be denyed but that many speak and write bitterly when they have had no provocation yea most who speake bitterly have been treated gently and few who answer angerly will be able to give a good account what hath provoked them thus to answer and how much soever any man hath been provoked the Lord may justly make him smart for such smartnesse in answering It will not beare us out in acting or speaking besides the rule because others doe so Paul shewes us our duty in his owne practice 1 Cor. 4.12 13. Being reviled we blesse bâ—ing defamed we entreat Wee must not defame them that defame us we must not revile our revilers Then woe to those who revile such as blesse them and defame such as entreat
them O what provoketh such to such wayes of answering There is yet a third reading of this clause which I will but touch Quid tibi molestum est si loquaris Vulg. When shall vaine words have an end But what trouble is it to thee if thou speakest Or Is it any trouble to thee if thou speakest As if he had sayd I cannot much wonder though thou doest not end these vaine ruffling discourses for I am perswaded they are no great trouble to thee how much soever they are to others such words cost thee little study thou needest not beat thy braines or byte thy nayles for such matter as this That which comes next and lyes uppermost is all that some men have to say when they have sayd all They that speake most to the paine of others take least paines themselves We say Good words are cheape it costs little to speake fayre but ill words are cheaper Foule language costs little in the preparation though it may prove costly enough in the event There is a profitable sense in this translation though I will not give it for the meaning of the Text. It is our duty to consider before we speake as well as before we act and to put our selves to some trouble in preparing what we have to say before we give others the trouble of hearing it When God cals us to speake either in our owne defence or for the edification of others on a sudden we may expect according to the promise Matth. 10.19 That it shall be given us in that houre what we shall speake If the providence of God straiten us the spirit of God will enlarge us that promise will helpe us when wee have no time to prepare our selves but it will not if wee neglect the time in which vve should prepare our selves For when Christ saith in that place Take no thought how or what yee shall speake we must expound it like that Matth. 6.25 Take no thought for your life what yee shall eate or what yee shall drinke Which is not a prohibition of all thought about those things but onely of those thoughts which are distracting and distrustfull Job having reproved his Freinds these three wayes for the manner of their dealing with him Now reproves them by a serious profession of his better dealing with them in case as we commonly say The Tables were turned they comming in his place and he in theirs This he doth in the two Verses following Vers 4. I also could speake as yee doe if your soule were in my soules stead I could heap up words against you and shake mine head at you 5. But I would strengthen you with my mouth and the moving of my lips should asswage your griefe Job in this context tels his Freinds two things First What he could doe And secondly What he would doe The former of these is layd downe expressely in the fourth Verse Vers 4. I also could speak as you doe if your soule were in my soules stead c. The Soule is here put as often elsewhere in Scripture for the vvhole man then his meaning is and so Master Broughton translates If you were in my place or in my condition If God should transcribe my vvounds and sorrows upon your backs and consciences or if my greife dwelt in your bowels I could speake as you doe c. The sufferings of the soule hold out the sufferings of the vvhole man upon a twofold consideration First Because the soule is the principall part of man When that vvhich is cheife suffers all may be sayd to suffer Secondly Because afflictions vvhich lye upon the soule are most afflictive The sensitive power of the body is called the soule and vve are most sensible of those afflictions vvhich fall immediately upon the rationall soule That man forgets the sorrowes of his body whose soule is sorrowfull The more inward any suffering is the more greivous it is I also could speake as you doe if your soule were in my soules stead c. Some read the vvords Interrogatively Could I speake as you doe If your soule were in my soules stead could I heap up words against you and shake my head at you Master Broughton gives that sense fully Would I speake as you if you were in my place would I compose bare words against you and nod upon you with my head The meaning is Negative If you were in my soules stead I could doe none of these things Could I doe them No as we say I could as soone eate my owne flesh as doe them If I were at ease and you in paine could I deale thus with you I would dye rather then deale so with you This reading is good and hath a greater emphasis in it then our bare affirmative reading though the sense and scope of both be the same If your soule were in my soules stead Some read this Optatively or as a wish O that your soule were in my soules stead and then the latter vvords are taken as a promise or profession of offices of love First I would heap up words for you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concinnare apte disponere The Hebrew word vvhich vve translate to heap signifies properly to prepare and fit a thing to fashion and put it into a good frame it is not a rude inartificiall heaping of things together vvithout forme or fashion as the first Chaos was but a beautifull elegant digestion or composure of them in the exactest forme and fashion like that of the severall peices of the World conjoyned in that vvorke of the six dayes creation As if he had sayd O that your soule were a while in my soules stead see how I would use you how I would deale with you truely all the hurt I would doe to you should be this I would prepare the softest and the sweetest words I could with all my skill and rhetorick to ease your sorrows I would speake musicke to your eares and joy to your hearts I would study and compose a speech on purpose to revive and raise your drooping desponding spirits So also the second branch may be interpreted And shake mine head at you or over you For to shake the head notes pitty and compassion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et movissem super vos caput condolenter Chrysost to shake the head is the posture of those vvho mourne vvith or for their Freinds Hence the word is translated to bemoane Nah. 3.7 Who will bemoane him Chap. 42.11 Jobs Freinds came to bemoane him 't is this vvord They came to shake their heads over him because of all the evill which the Lord had brought upon him One of the Ancients makes this exposition the Text I would have shaken my head over you bemoaningly or with compassion The same vvord may vvell signifie to shake the head and to pity seeing they who pity others use to shake their heads over them and say Ah my Freind or Ah my Brother So then if vve read
the vvords as a wish O that your soules were in my soules stead yet Job did not wish it for their hurt but that he might have an opportunity to shew how much hee would labour to bee their Servant in Love to doe them good Hence Note A good man doth not wish ill to those who have rewarded him with evill upon any other termes then a discovery of his owne goodnesse 'T is sin to wish that they who are in a comfortable condition might fall into our misery though they have been miserable comforters to us in our misery We may not in this case wish paine or sorrow to any sort of men except upon one of these two considerations First That vve may give them an experiment of our tendernesse towards them in doing them all the good vve can in their affliction Or secondly That God may give an experiment of his graciousnesse towards them in doing them good by their afflictions The Prophet Isaiah Chap. 14.10 foreshewes how they vvho had been vveakened by the power of Babylon should insult over vveakned Babylon All they shall speake and say unto thee Art thou also become weake as we Art thou become like unto us The people of God shall at last rejoyce in reference to the glory of God and publick good to see their destroyers destroyed and those weake who have weakned them But the people of God in reference to any private or personall interest cannot rejoyce at the destruction or in the weaknesse of any man much lesse can they wish them weake that they might have an opportunity to rejoyce over them Paul was a Prisoner and in bonds yet he did not wish the worst of his Enemies in Prison or in Bonds with him he onely wisht that they might enjoy the same liberty by Jesus Christ which himselfe enjoyed For when he had almost perswaded King Agrippa to become a Christian he sayd I would to God that not thou onely but also all that heare me this day were both almost and altogether such as I am except these bonds Acts 26.28 29. I would keep my chaines and troubles to my selfe I would have none of you know my sorrows but I would that all your soules were in as good a state as mine and knew my comforts A holy heart wisheth all well as well as it selfe and if at any time he wisheth that to the worst of his enemies which is penally evill he doth it with an eye both to their spirituall and eternall good Thus of the words as they are read in the forme of a wish We read them as a Supposition If your soules were in my soules stead And then the two latter branches must be interpreted as acts of unfreindlinesse shewing what Job could but would not doe as was toucht before I could heap up words against you That is I could make long speeches and enlarge my selfe in discourse I could speake terrour and thunder out whole volleys of threats against you I could deafe your eares with loud voyces and sad your hearts with heavy censures There is a figure in Rhetorick called Congeries or The Heape Many words to the same sense especially when there is little in them but words are called justly a heape of words Now saith Job Quassare caput apud authores Latinos gestus est hominis irati aut minantis aut lamentantis Drus .. Ridentes caput motitant Drus I could be as nimble at this figure as you and with my speech I could mix your action Shake my head at you Shaking the head notes scorne and threatning Psal 22.7 All they that seeme laugh me to scorne they shoot out the lip and shake the head saying He trusted on the Lord c. So the afflicted Church complaines Psal 44.14 Thou makest us a by-word among the Heathen a shaking of the head among the people We have this action joyned with two more which signifie the greatest contempt by lamenting Jeremiah Lam. 2.15 All that passe by clap their hands at thee they hisse and wag their head at the Daughter of Jerusalem saying Is this the City that men call the perfection of beauty the joy of the whole Earth Our blessed Saviour upon whom contempt and scorne was to vent it selfe all manner of wayes hee being to beare all that scorne as well as all that paine which was due to our sins our blessed Saviour I say was scorned this way Matth 27.39 And they that passed by reviled him wagging their heads So then to shake or wagg the head at a man in affliction speakes as sometimes our pity so most times our contempt and as it is usually accompanyed with audible mockings so it selfe is a visible mock Which being interpreted speakes thus to the person afflicted Thou evill-doer or thou hypocrite thou doest even well become thy sufferings all these miseries are well bestowed on thee c. In this sense Job seemes to speake here I could shake my head at you I have indeed been as one mocked of his Freind Chap. 12.4 and I could mock my Freinds I could laugh at your calamity and mocke when your feare commeth but my conscience beares witnesse with me that if it should come I would not Hence Note First A godly man hath a power to doe that evill which he hath no will to doe A carnall man hath a will to many evills for which hee hath no power or opportunity A godly man would not doe any evill how much power and opportunity soever he hath And indeed though he hath a naturall or civill yet hee hath not a morall power to doe any evill In which sense the Apostle speakes of a regenerate person 1 John 3.9 He that is borne of God cannot sin He hath a naturall power to sin any sin to lye to be drunk to be uncleane c. He may have a civill power to oppresse to deceive to wrong his Brother yet he cannot turne either his hand or his heart to such works as these are he hath learned better and is better He is borne of God his blood and pedigree is so high that hee cannot meddle nor trade in such low things Wisedome is too high for a foole saith Solomon Prov. 24.7 and folly is too low for a wisedome When Joseph was solicited by his Mistresse to commit folly with her he answers How can I doe this great wickednesse and sin against God Gen. 39.9 Joseph wanted neyther power nor opportunity to doe that wickednesse yet he saith How can I doe it Paul and his fellow-Apostles had wit and parts sufficient to oppose the truth yet he saith 2 Cor. 13.8 We can doe nothing against the truth but for the truth Paul was a great doer and he saith Phil. 4.13 I can doe all things through Christ strengthening of me but Paul could doe nothing to the dishonour of Christ Doubtlesse Paul could have maintained an argument and drive on an objection as farr as another man against the truth if he would have set himselfe to
yea and saved their soules among and towards vvhom hee hath diligently used those meanes appointed by God for the attaining of those great and noble ends though possibly those ends be not attained God himselfe reckons thus of all the labours of his faithfull servants they shall be rewarded as having done that vvhich they have been doing vvith their hearts hands and tongues though they see little fruit of eyther Then I sayd I have laboured in vaine Isa 49.4 but though it vvas in vaine to those for whom he laboured that is they got no good by it yet it was not in vain to him who laboured he got much good by it as it follows in the same Verse Surely my judgement is with the Lord and my worke or my reward one vvord signifies both reward and vvorke to shew that these can never be seperated my worke saith hee is with my God and Vers 5. Though Israel be not gathered yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength As vve are not to judge of the goodnesse of any cause by the successe but by the justice of it so neither doth God adjudge the reward of any vvorke by the successe but by the goodnesse of it together with the sweat and sincerity of him that doth it As the will of a godly man is accepted for the deed so his deed is accepted for the successe JOB CHAP. 16. Vers 6 7 8 9 10 11. Though I speak my griefe is not asswaged and though I forbeare what am I eased But now he hath made mee weary thou hast made desolate all my company And thou hast filled me with wrinkles which is a witnesse against me and my leanenesse rising up in me beareth witnesse to my face He teareth me in his wrath who hateth me he gnasheth upon me with his teeth mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me They have gaped upon me with their mouth they have smitten mee upon the cheek reproachfully they have gathered them selves together against me God hath delivered me to the ungodly and turned me over to the hands of the wicked IN the five former Verses of this Chapter Job reproved the personall faylings of his Freinds towards him hee now enters upon the confutation of their opinion This is the constant method both of Job and his Freinds they never come to the matter till they have fallen upon the man nor touch the opinion till they have dealt with the person And this is the tenour of most mens spirits to this day in disputes and controversies and some doe not onely deale with the man before the matter but lose the matter in dealing with the man entangling and engaging themselves so much in personall quarrels that they forget or desert the doctrinall quarrell Job and his Freinds though they were too mindfull of the former yet they did not forget the latter and here Job addresses himselfe unto it Yet before he enters upon the state of the question he sets forth his owne state and shews how it was with him granting which Eliphaz had made the ground of his accusation that he was in an extreamely afflicted condition yet denying what he from thence inferred that he was therefore wicked or continued knowingly in any sinfull course He describes his afflictions with much variety of Argument and Elocution to the seventeenth Verse First Aggravating them by their unmoveablenesse or remedilesnesse His sorrows were stubborne and such as would not yeeld to any kinde of remedy Vers 6. Though I speake my griefe is not asswaged and though I forbeare what am I eased In the former Verse Job speakes in a high straine of assurance that if his Freinds were afflicted The moving of his lips should asswage their griefe But it seemes his owne experience had taught him that the moving of his lips could not asswage his owne greife Though I speake saith he here my griefe is not asswaged Hence Observe A man may doe that for others which he cannot doe for himselfe He may comfort others in their sorrows when hee cannot comfort himselfe he may resolve others in their doubts when he cannot resolve himselfe hee may answer to cases which their consciences put him when he cannot answer his owne yea 't is possible for a man to speak such words to another as may turne him from his sin and save his soule and yet himselfe continue in sin and lose his owne soule for ever Naturalists have a rule concerning the senses That when a sensible object is brought too neere or layd upon the sense it not onely hinders but takes away the present sensation This holds a proportion in rationall actings the neerer any one is to us in relation the harder it is to fixe counsell upon him and because wee are neerest to our selves therefore it is hardest of all to counsell our selves Our Saviour Christ prevents what he foresaw some ready to object against him Luke 4.23 Yee will surely say unto me this Proverbe Physitian heale thy selfe The Proverbe in its Originall is I conceive to be understood personally but as Christ suggests it there it is to be understood Nationally or Provincially Heale thy selfe is heale thy owne Countrey exercise thy power of working miracles there as well as thou hast done it in other places that this is the meaning of it appeares plainely by the next words Whatsoever we have heard done in Canaan doe also in thine owne Countrey For Christ as yet had wrought no mighty workes of healing there Mark 6.5 But why was Christ so slow in manifesting himselfe to his owne Countreymen Hee gives the reason Vers 24. And he sayd Verily I say unto you no Prophet is accepted in his owne Countrey The Gospel of Mark Chap. 6.4 adds two closer relations His owne Kin and his owne House They in a mans house are neerer to him then his kindred abroad and his kindred are neerer to him then his Countrey-men now among these a Prophet hath no honour They know him so much that they doe not respect him or his sayings The Jewes sayd Is not this the Carpenter the Son of Mary the Brother of James c. Christ being thus neere to them had little honour among them Now for as much as a man is neerer to himselfe not onely then his Countrey-men but then any of his Kin therefore his owne counsels and comforts have ordinarily so little effect upon himselfe he is not accepted in his owne breast There are some indeed so gracious or great in their owne eyes that they vvill aske counsell of none but themselves nor follow any advise but their owne but usually man seeks out as being neither able to satisfie his owne doubts nor abate his owne sorrowes though possibly more able for both then he to whom he seekes Though I speake my griefe is not asswaged and though I forbeare what am I eased Some conceive Job speaking here like an Orator who seems to stand in doubt vvhat to doe
Eloquar an sileam Quid agam si locutus fuero c. Vulg. and therefore trembles out his Preface in such vvords as these Shall I speake or shall I be silent Shall I open my lips or shall I forbeare Jobs paine received no check vvhich way soever of these he tooke and therefore it seemed vaine to attempt either Though I speake That is If I stand up in my just defence to answer and take away your objections yet my greife is not answered Nunc eo res redierunt ut quo me vertam nesciam aut quid agam nam nec loquendo nec tacendo quicquam proficio Merc. that is as busie with me and as talkative as ever it was yea then you object my impatience under sufferings as an argument of my sin And though I forbeare That is If I byte in my paine and speake not if I stand mute as attentive to heare you speake yet my sorrow moves not yea then you judge my silence an argument of my secret guilt and that all is true which you have sayd against me because I say nothing for my selfe Thus What am I eased sayth the Text in our translation The Hebrew saith What goeth from me That is What of my paine what of my sorrow goeth away from me when I cease or forbeare to speake So that The generall sense of this Verse is to shew that his troubles were past hope of redresse they found no cure none by speech none by silence Griefe is sometimes eased by speaking sometimes by silence eyther our owne or others To say nothing is a medicine for some mens sorrow the sorrow of others cannot be medicin'd but by saying much A playster of words hath cured many a wound and the more words have been used the more some wounds have festered and the anguish of them hath increased Hence Observe There is no meanes of remedy left for that evill which is not remedyed by the use and tryall of contrary meanes If neyther speech nor silence ease a mans minde what can We finde such a kinde of arguing though in a different case used by Christ Matth. 11.16 17. Where when hee would shew how impossible or at least how extreamely difficult it was to please the Jewes they vvere a humourous people and let a man put himselfe in what posture he would they would finde some fault or have somwhat to object against him Wherunto saith Christ shall I liken this generation they vvere so untoward that Christ speakes as if he vvere straitned how to finde out a fit comparison for them or could scarse tell to vvhat they vvere like yet he tells us They are like unto Children sitting in the Markets and calling to their fellows saying Wee have piped and yee have not danced we have mourned to you and yee have not lamented When a man vvill neyther mourne vvith us nor rejoyce vvith us vvhat shall we doe vvith him How shall vve please him For vvhat company is he fit That such vvas the tendency of this similitude appeares plainely in the application vvhich Christ makes Vers 18. For John came neither eating nor drinking and they say he hath a Devill They did not like the mournefull austere course of John The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they sayd Behold a man gluttonous and a Wine-bibber a freind of Publicans and Sinners They did not like the free converse of Christ When a people are of this spirit or at this lock that neither a man vvho is affable and courteous ready both to receive and give civilities is welcome to them nor yet he who is austere and reserved close and strict in his way can give them any content who or what can content them When neyther piping nor mouring when neither dauncing nor sorrowing takes with us what can When we would describe a person whose troublesomenesse of spirit seemes unanswerable we say of him He is quiet neither full nor fasting that is he is never quiet or nothing can make him quiet Abraham saith to his Nephew Lot Gen. 13.8 9. Let there be no strife I pray thee betweene me and thee and betweene thy Herd-men and my Herd-men for we are brethren c. If thou wilt take the left hand then I will goe to the right or if thou depart to the right hand then I will goe to the left Now as it is an argument of the sweetest spirit and fayrest disposition when a man is ready to take eyther hand rather then breake the peace so it argues the sowrest spirit and most untractable disposition when a man will neyther goe to the right hand nor to the left when he will neither move forward nor backward when he will neither give nor take neyther buy nor sell there is no dealing with such a man for he wavâ—s all the wayes of dealing Thus also we conclude a people incorrigible who continue in their sins whether God smite or heale whether he deliver them from or deliver them up into the hand of judgements because these are the utmost bounds or the extreames of all those providentiall dispensations which God useth at any time to turne a people from their sin Againe Wee say they are unperswadeable whâ—m neyther faire meanes nor foule can reduce speake them faire they are naught speake them foule they are naught still promise them good they remaine evill threaten them with evill they will not be good You may carry it out in all experiments wheresoever you finde an evill frame of minde or body or of affaires which mends not or doth not alter for the better by the application of the other contrary when the former hath been applyed without successe you may write under it as to humane helpes This is a desperate case a distemper incurable Yet further Job in these words reflects upon his Freinds as if he had sayd Some men by complaining and opening their soares to those who visit them in their affliction finde their Freinds releeving them presently with sound counsell and powring the oyle of consolation into their wounded spirits but alasse it is not so with me for whether I speake or hold my peace it is all one yee are all against me and are neither perswaded by my speech nor by my silence to apply proper remedies for the asswaging of my griefe or the easing of my paines Hence Note It is the duty and should be the care of those who visit Freinds in affliction to pick somewhat out of what they say or at least to take occasion from their silence to administer consolation to their grieved mindes When the Servants of Benhadad came to Ahab to sue for their Masters life the Text saith 1 Kings 20.33 The men did diligently observe whether any thing would come from him that is whether any word of hope would come from Ahab and they did hastily catch it And Ahab had no sooner sayd He is my Brother but they catcht at this as a word of comfort they had what
but so to destroy as workes the beholders into amazement and wonder This word signifes both to wonder and to destroy because great destructions cause wonder Thou hast made desolate all my company Thou hast made such a desolation among them that all who are about me lift up their hands as we say and blesse themselves admiring to see this day God brought such a desolation upon Jerusalem as set the World a wondering Lam. 4.12 The Kings of the Earth and all the Inhabitants of the World would not have beleeved that the Adversary and the Enemy should not have entered into the Gates of Jerusalem Christ will come at last with such mercies to be glorified in his Saints as will cause him to be admired in all them that beleeve 2 Thes 1.10 He now comes sometimes with such afflictions to his Saints as easily cause them who beleeve much more those who beleeve not to admire Thou hast wonderfully desolated or wasted All my company Et in nihilum redacti sunt omnes auctus mei Vulg. All my company The word which we translate Company is rendred The joynts or members of the body by the Vulgar Latine Thou hast reduced all my members to nothing As if hee had sayd Thou hast loosened the whole compages or structure of my bones and body thou hast untyed or cut asunder all the ligaments that held me together This translation is but an allusion because the members of the naturall body are like a company of men joyned together in a civill or spirituall body which is therefore commonly called a Corporation Some contend much for this sense Thou hast made desolate all the members of my body Especially because the scattering of his Family doth not so well agree or comply say they with the wearinesse before complained of nor with the leanenesse and wrinkles which are spoken of afterward both which belong properly to the body Yet I passe that and take the word as we read it to expresse a distinct affliction thou hast wearyed me in my person and hast made desolate all my company What company First q. d. desolasti omnem Synagogam meam Bold Some understand it of the company which used to flock to his Synagogue in holy duties and excercises As if he had answered the words of Eliphaz Chap. 15.34 The Congregation or Company of Hypocrites shall be desolate Here saith Job I grant it God hath made desolate all my company The Synagogues and places of publick meeting were wont to be filled but now that resort is stayed they are all scattered or diverted and those publick places are filled with howlings and lamentations Thus he grants Eliphaz what he had objected and yet denyes what hee thnnce inferred that he was an Hypocrite Secondly Rather interpret it of the company he had in his owne House or for his particular Family So it is a renewed complaint of the losse of his Children and Servants of his Freinds and Familiars who used to resort to him and stay about him Thou hast made desolate all my company Some of Jobs company were made desolate that is they were destroyed most of his Servants were slaine by the Chaldeans and Sabeans and all his Children were slaine by the fall of a House Chap. 1. This company was made desolate indeed Yet when he saith Thou hast made desolate all my company his meaning is as Master Broughton translates Thou hast made me desolate of all my company that is I am left alone Hence Observe The company of Children and Freinds is a very great mercy Heman complaines much when he wanted this mercy Lover and Freind hast thou put farr from me and mine acquaintance into darknesse Job makes as a more particular so a more patheticall enumeration of this losse Chap. 19.13 14. To be desolate in so great an affliction that it is often put for all afflictions and to be desolate of company is the worst desolatenesse When David had sayd I am desolate and afflicted he presently adds The sorrowes of my heart are enlarged Psal 25.16 17. A man may be much afflicted and yet not desolate but a man cannot beat all desolate but he must be extreamely afflicted When the Prophet would put all the miseries of the Jewes into one word he puts it into this Isa 1.7 Your Countrey is desolate your Land strangers shall devoure it in your presence And when a Land is devoured of strangers either it is made desolate of its owne company or its owne company is made desolate Babylon boasts Revel 18.7 I sit a Queene and am no widdow that is as I have power so I have resort and company enough I am not desolate The Apostle puts these two together Widdow-hood and Desolatenesse 1 Tim. 5.5 Now shee that is a widdow and desolate c. So that when Babylon saith I am no widdow her meaning is I am not desolate and hence the punishment of Babylon is threatned in this language Revel 17.16 The ten hornes which thou sawest upon the Beast these shall hate the Whore and make her desolate c. Those ten hornes are ten Kings who sometime doted upon the painted beauty of that Whore and then made frequent addresses to her and did throng about her from all parts of the World but when once their eyes shall be opened their hearts will soone be alienated They shall hate the Whore And then as they withdraw affection so visits and messages Babylons Courts shall be crouded with Suiters no longer Thus they shall make her desolate of the company of her old freinds before they make her desolate by bringing in new enemies who shall strip her not onely of her company but of her cloathes yea of her skin they shall make her naked and eate her flesh and burne her with fire Revel 17.16 Thus as the misery which came upon Jerusalem so the misery which shall come upon Babylon meet in this The making of their company desolate yet in this they differ the desolations of Jerusalem shall be at least mystically repaired but the desolations of mysticall Babylon when they are fully come upon her shall be irreparable Man is naturally as the Philosopher calls him a sociable creature he loves company they who are for a solitary life Monkes and Anchorets seeme to have put off the nature of man There is an elective alonenesse or retyrednesse at some times very usefull for contemplation and prayer And we are never lesse alone then when we are so alone for then God is more specially with us and we with him It is sayd of Jacob Gen. 32.24 Then Jacob was left alone not that Jacobs company had left and forsaken him but that Jacob for a time had left his company So some render the Text actively Hee stayed or remained alone Jacob stayed alone pueposely that hee might have freer communion with God in that recesse and retirement from the creature It is good for man to be alone from the company of man that he may
enjoy more fully the presence of God Yet God himselfe sayd at the first when man was created It is not good for man to be alone There was no morall evill in that alonenesse for when God spake this word there was no such evill in the visible World but God called it evill because it was so inconvenient for the civill well-being and inconsistent with the naturall propagation of man And therefore as in reference to both these evils God sayd with his own mouth It is not good for man to be alone so in reference to the former of the two God sayd by Solomon Two is better then one and woe to him that is alone Eccles 4.9 10. Job puts his alonenesse among his woes Thou hast made desolate all my company But it may be said Had Job no company Were not his Freinds about him Did not these three come to mourn with him and to comfort him And had they not been in discourse with him all this while Yes he had company but it was not suitable company he had evill ones about him as he complaines Chap. 19. and Chap. 30. and though his three Freinds were good men yet to him they were no good company because so unpleasant in their converse with him Hence Note Some company is a burthen We say of many men Wee had rather have their roome then their company Man loves company but 't is the company of those he loves The comfort of our lives depends much upon society but more upon the suitablenesse of society It is better to dwell in the corner of a house top then with a brawling Woman in a wide house Prov. 21.9 And it is better to be in a Desert among wilde Beasts then in a populous City among beastly men This made the Prophet desire a lodging in the Wildernesse Jer. 9.2 The Countrey about Sodome was pleasant like the Garden of God yet how was the righteous soule of Lot vexed with the filthy and unrighteous conversation of the Sodomites How uneasie are our lives made to us by dwelling among either false Freinds or open Enemies In the Creation when God said It is not good for man to be alone he subjoynes Let us make him a helpe meet for him Adam had all the beasts of the earth about him but they were no company for him man knowes not how to converse with beasts or employ his reason with those that have none As it is not good for man to be alone so to be in company that is not meet for him is as bad or worse then to be alone Therefore saith God Let us make him a helpe meet for him the making of a Woman brought in meet company for mankinde yet some men are as unmeet company for men as beasts are and are therefore in Scripture called Beasts Paul fought with such beasts at Ephesus there are few places free of them and many places are full of them David cryes out Woe is me that I am constrained to dwell in Mesech c. There was company enough but it was wofull company The Primitive Saints associated themselves they continued in fellowship one with another as well as in the Apostles Doctrine or in breaking of bread and prayer Acts 2.42 They were all of one minde and were therefore fâ—t to make one body The communion and fellowship of the Saints is the lower heaven of Saints And the making of such a company desolate is the saddest desolation that can be made on earth Communion of Saints in Heaven is one great accession to the joy of Heaven And 't is a great comfort to the Saints in the midst of all the ill neighbourhood which they meet with here to remember that they shall meet with no ill neighboures there none but Freinds there none but loving Freinds There shall not be a crosse thought much lesse a crosse word or action among those many millions of glorified Saints for ever nor shall there be any among them there but Saints no tares in that feild nor chaffe in that floore no Goates in that Fold no nor any Wolves in Sheep-skins no prophane ones there no nor any Hypocrites there Uunsutable company would render our lives miserable in Heaven it self If God should say to the godly and the wicked as David once did to Mephibosheth and Ziba Thou and Ziba divide the Land divide Heaven among you might they not answer with reverence as Mephibosheth did to David Nay let them take it all to themselves O our soules come not into their secret and unto their assembly let not our honour be joyned if Swearers Adulterers Lyers should be our company in Heaven Heaven it selfe were unheaven'd and everlasting life would bee an everlasting death And that which further argues the burdensomness of unsutable company is that even wicked men themselves cannot but confess that they are burdned with the company of those who are good if such come in presence where they associate in any sinfull converse how weary are they of their company How do they even sweat at the sight of them And how glad are they when such turne their backs and are gone the onely reason why they like them not is because they are not like them and they are not good company because they are good All company is made desolate to us which is not made suitable to us Job had many about him yet he complaines Thou hast made desolate all my company Job goes on yet to describe his troubles he wanted desireable company about him but he had store of witnesses against him he was emptyed of his comforts but filled with sorrowes as might be seen in the symptomes and effects of sorrow Vers 8. Thou hast filled me with wrinckles which is a witnesse against me and my leannesse rising up in me beareth witnesse to my face As if he had sayd Though I hold my peace and say nothing Si vellem caelare aut verbis extenuare dolorem meum rugae meae testimonium daub c. though I doe not aggravate my griefe yea though I should extenuate and hide it yet there are witnesses enow of it my wrinkles speake my griefe and my leannesse shewes that I am feasted with the sowre hearbes of sorrow That 's the generall sense of this Verse Thou hast filled me with wrinkles It is but one word in the Hebrew we might render it Thou hast wrinkled me or as Master Broughton Thou hast made me all wrinkled The word is not found in this sense any where else in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rugas contraxit active corrugavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corrugastime Non alibi quam in hoc libro in scriptura reperitur Quod succidisti me testimonio est Merc. but very frequently among the Rabbins There are also two other significations of it which Interpreters have taken in here First It signifies To cut off or to cut downe Chap. 22.15 16. Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have troden
him yet Faith saw God his Redeemer in this assurance that he also should behold him with an eye of sense I shall see him with these eyes Hence Observe First That God dealeth with those whom he loveth dearely as if he hated them Secondly They whom God doth love may be under a present apprehension that God hates them I only name these points as arising from this place they have been handled Ch. 13.24 Ch. 14.13 upon those words Vntill thy wrath be past and therefore I stay not upon them here Thirdly Note God to sense doth seeme to excercise a kinde of cruelty even the cruelty of wilde Beasts towards those whom hee dearely loves What are tearing and gnashing of teeth What is the sharpening of the eye Is not any one of these much more all these in one the discovery of cruelty Job saith all this and doth not Hezekiah say as much Isa 38.13 I reckoned till morning that as a Lyon so will he breake all my bones from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me We finde God taking upon himselfe those similitudes not onely in reference to his Enemies but also to his owne people for as he deales with the wicked when they provoke him so in proportion with his owne Outward dispensations make no difference I will take vengeance I will not meet thee as a man Isa 43.3 that is I will not shew so much as any humane pitty or compassion much lesse Divine but I wil meet thee as a Beast Thus God threatned to deale with Babylon and thus he appeares to deale with Sion with the choisest Sons and Daughters of Sion And thus he professed Hos 5.14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a Lyon and as a young Lyon to the House of Judah I even I will teare and goe away I will take away and none shall reseue him Job having shewed what hard usage he had from God himselfe who appeared as an enemy proceeds now to shew what hard and course usage he had from men who were indeed his enemies into whose hands God had delivered him Vers 10. They have gaped upon me with their mouth they have smitten me upon the cheeke reproachfully they have gathered themselves together against me The person is now changed as also the number before it was He now They And who were they We have no Names to give them onely in generall These were the instruments which God let loose upon him his Freinds say some his Enemies say others Whosoever they were doubtlesse they were either downe right Enemies or Enemy like Freinds their owne behaviour speakes them so They have gaped upon me c. He varies or heightens their enemy-like behaviour by three expressions First They have gaped upon me with their mouth Secondly They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully Thirdly They have gathered themselves against me I shall open them distinctly First They have gaped upon me with their mouth Gaping with or opening the mouth implyes two things First Scorne and derision Lam. 2.16 All thine enemies have opened the mouth against thee they hisse and gnash the teeth they say we have swallowed her up certainely this is the day we looked for The Church in affliction was afflicted with scornfull gestures Secondly As gaping with the mouth notes scorne so also cruelty he that gapes at another tels him though he say nothing that he could devoure him and eate him up as we say Without Salt Such a one shewes that hee needs no Sauce Psal 22.13 They gaped upon me with their mouthes as a ravening and roaring Lyon A Lyon gapes at his prey to devour it Job often complaines both of the contempt and cruelty of many against him and their gaping upon him includes both which are also againe intimated in the next clause They have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully Some render it Reproaching me they have smitten me on the cheek Smiting on the cheek is taken two wayes Literally Metaphorically What literall smiting is all know and most have felt but had Job any about him who used him thus rudely I conceive not and therefore we may understand him metaphorically So smiting on the cheek is to reproach And these words They have smitten me on the cheek reproachfully are no more nor lesse then They have reproached me To smite on the cheek is a thing so reproachfull that by an Hebraisme Percutere maxillam Hebraica locutio est quae significat gravissima contumelia aliquem afficere it signifieth to reproach Lam. 3.30 He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him which is expounded in the latter clause by this he is filled full with reproach The sufferings of Christ which were full of reproach are thus Prophesied I gave my back to the smiters and my cheeks to them that plucked off the haire I hid not my face from shame and spitting Isa 50.6 Christ was smitten on the face literally Matth. 26.67 Then did they spit in his face and buffeted him and others smote him with the palmes of their hands Hee was smitten also tropically being put to open shame and disgracefully dealt with That of the Apostle cleares this sense 2 Cor. 11.20 Yee suffer a man to bring you into bondage if a man devoure you if a man take of you if a man exalt himselfe if a man smite you on the face that is If he disgrace you So the Apostle expounds it Vers 21. I speake concerning reproach Paul Chap. 12. had a messenger of Satan sent to buffet him to cuffe or smite him with the fist so the word signifies what that was at least in part hee explaines Vers 10. I will therefore take pleasure in reproaches Thus the Prophet describes the dishonour which should be put upon the Judge Micah 5.1 Now gather thy selfe in Troops O daughter of Troops he hath layd seige against us they shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek that is The Enemy shall powre contempt upon thy Kings and Princes Cum aliquis propter gravem aliquam ignominiam pudefit licet vis omnis absit plaga verberari dicitur in maxilla Sanct. in Mic. c. 5. v. 1. in which sense they may be sayd to be smitten upon the cheek though no rod nor hand touch them And some interpret that Mat. 5.39 If any man smite thee on the right cheeke turne to him the left also not of hand but tongue smiting or of suffering reproach As if Christ had sayd If any one disgrace thee a little beare it yea though he should disgrace thee a great deale more yet beare it Smiting upon the right cheek notes a lesser injury received When a man smites another on the right cheek he smites with his left hand the left hand strikes the right cheek and the left hand is the weaker in most and gives a weaker blow If thou receive a blow on thy right cheek with the left hand turne the other and let him smite thee with
sentence is but one word in the Hebrew yet more then a single word it is elegantly doubled in construction to imply double affliction Grammarians tell us that two words put together or the same word twice put encrease the sense Ordinary words will not serve to expresse an extraordinary condition he speakes great and compounded words because his sorrows were great and compounded sorrows Jobs was not a single but a double breaking yea his vvas a manifold breaking He vvas often broken and utterly broken the repeated stroaks which fell upon him by divine dispensation from all hands had beaten him to dust and atomes He hath broken me in sunder Further The root of the vvord signifies to make voyd to dissipate to scatter to bring to nought or to make nothing of Psal 33.10 The Lord brings to nought the counsell of the heathen So againe Isa 8.10 It is used often for breaking the Law by frequent and vvilfull sinning against it Proud sinners vvould break the Law in sunder or pull it all in peices They have made voyd thy Law Psa 119 As if they would not onely sin against the Law but sin away the Law not onely vvithdraw themselves from the obedience of it but drive it out of the World they would make voyd and repeale the holy acts of God that their owne wicked acts might not be questioned and lest the Law should have a power to punish them they vvill deny it a power to rule them that 's the force of the simple vvord here used as applyed to highest transgressing against the Law of God Now as vvicked men by sinning vvould batter the Law to peices so God by afflicting doth sometimes break good men to peices Consider what course usage the holy Law of God hath in the hearts and lives of vvicked men O how they tear it and vex it and batter it every day Thus doth the Lord deal vvith many of his holy servants vvho had they their vvish would not make the least breach in the Law and vvhose hearts are often broken vvith godly sorrow because they cannot but break it yet to these he doth not onely give a bruise or a blow but breaks them asunder There is yet another elegancy in the signification of the vvord For as Hebreicians observe it notes a bruising like that of Grapes or Olives vvhich are trodden in a presse to make Wine or Oyle Confractus sum velut uvae aut olivae in torculari hence also a Noune from this Verbe signifies the Wine-presse Isa 63.3 Now Grapes and Olives being trodden are broken and bruised in peices not onely is their forme and beauty totally spoyled but all their sweetnesse juyce and liquor is vvrought out of them and they are left as a dry lumpe Now look vvhat Grapes and Olives are vvhen taken out of the Presse even such a lumpe vvas Job he vvas broken asunder in the Wine-presse though not of Gods vvrath as his Freinds mis-judged yet in the Wine-presse of his chastisements and severest tryalls all his vvorldly moysture vvas squeezed out and his earthly glory vvas quite defaced he had nothing left of that but as it were a dry huske yet his spirituall estate was still juicy and his soule by these pressings treadings and breakings had distilled much sweet Oyle and Wine and much more was still remaining in him From these heightned significations of the word layd together Observe in generall God doth not onely afflict those whom he loves but afflict them soarely and severely He afflicts some not onely to the empayring and abating but to the undoing and ruining of their outward comforts and worldly enjoyments Nothing can be sayd to descipher an afflicted state beyond what this word will beare And that God doth afflict his chosen ones to the utmost rack of this phrase will appeare also from all that follows to the end of the fourteenth Verse the opening of which will be a continuall proofe and illustration of this great and often experimented truth upon and among the precious Sons of Sion This I shall hint all along besides those observations which arise out of them He hath broken me asunder and what follows in the same Verse He hath also taken me by my neck and shaken me to peices Is not this to deale severely A loving Father takes his Son about the neck and kisses him what a rough salute did the Lord give this Son of his when he tooke him by the neck and shook him to peices Such a carriage seemes not to be after the manner of men much lesse after the manner of Fathers yet this was the manner of God to Job who was also his Freind and Father He hath taken me by my neck The neck is as the tower and strength of the body and when a man is taken by the neck he is assaulted in his chiefest strength and taken at the greatest advantage There is a threefold metaphor or allusion in these words which being considered distinctly will let out their meaning yet more fully First They beare an allusion to Wrestlers who take one another by the neck or collar he that is the strongest not onely takes his Antagonist by the neck but shakes him as if he would shake him to pieces God wrestled with the Patriarch Jacob literally and corporally though the greatest labour and stresse of Jacobs wrestling was spirituall and internall And when he saw that he prevailed not Jacob prevailed with God for so much strength that now God could not according to that dispensation prevaile against Jacob yet he touched the hollow of Jacobs thigh and made him halt God wrestled with Job not corporally yet in corporall things the stresse also of his wrestling was spirituall and he prevailed with God and over Satan yet God was pleased not only for the present to touch a joynt and make him halt but even to shake every joynt and limbe to peices Secondly It is an allusion to Sergeants or Bailiffs that are sent to arest men for debt or for their evill deeds This sort of men are boysterous enough they having power will not forbeare to lay hold on Persons obnoxious and take them by the neck when they attach them We have that usage expressed Matth. 18.28 The evill Servant to whom the Lord had forgiven ten thousand Talents a vast debt found one of his fellow Servants who owed him an hundred pence an inconsiderable summ and would needs exact the utmost from him the Text saith The same Servant went out and found one of his fellow-servants which ought him an hundred pence and he layd hands upon him and took him by the throat saying Pay me that thou owest He took him by the throat the word signifies properly to choake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Premebat sauces illius debitoris tanquam suffocaturus obtorto collo premebat Eras or to take another so rudely by the throat as to choake or as wee say throttle him It is translated to choake with water Mark 5.13
and is applyable to any violent act by which the breath is stopt especially to taking by the neck or throat Thirdly It is an allusion as some conceive to Conquerers in Warr who when they have worsted an Adversary take him by the neck and make him their prisoner As it is the last act of tryumph and insultation over an Enemy to tread upon his neck Josh 10.24 Joshua called all the men of Israel and sayd unto the Captaines of the men of Warr which went with them Come neere and put your feet upon the necks of these Kings and they came neer and put their feet upon the necks of them Now as it is I say the last act of tryumph to tread upon the necke so it is the first act of tryumph to take by the neck Job thought himselfe used thus Hee hath taken me by the necke as a Wrastler as a Sergeant or as a Victor in Warr. And hath shaken me to peices I will not let it passe unobserved that the word which we translate to shake to peices is but one in the Hebrew but as that which we render to break asunder so this is doubled to highten the sense and intimate no ordinary but a terrible shaking such a shaking as is followed with scattering or a shaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contrivit cum dispersione sicut testa vel in minutissima fragmenta comminuit Drus like the breaking of a potters Vessell with an Iron Rod. The word is used to signifie the irresistable efficacy of the Word of God whether to convert or to confound to break the stony heart into contrition for sin or to batter the obstinate heart which continueth in sin Is not my word a fire saith God The word of God is a fire to consume the drosse and corruption that is in the hearts and lives of men And is not my word a Hammer What kinde of Hammer A Hammer that breaketh the rock in peices Yes the word of God is all this 't is a fire and 't is a Hammer it burnes it batters all that stands before it Now as the Word of God is to the hearts of men so the Rod of God is to the estates of men it shakes shatters and breakes them to peices To shake or break a man to peices is in common speech applyable to the estates of men as well as to their persons for of such a man we say He is broken The Septuagint reads this clause with an expository addition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. He hath taken me by the hayre of the head and shaken me They who follow that reading interpret it by a metaphor He hath taken me by the hayre that is by my outward estate by my riches honour and greatnesse these are to men as the hayre is to the head ornaments yet excrements he hath taken me by these haires even all my outward splendor and glory and shaken them in peices All this diversity whether of reading or expounding the Text meets in the maine point That God deales severely with many whom he loves dearely He hath shaken me in peices and yet he hath not done with me as the Lord broke and shooke me asunder when I was whole so he wounds me now I am broken If he can but finde enough of me left together to make a mark of I shall be sure to feele his Arrows And set me up for his mark Job was cast downe by affliction and yet he was set up to receive more affliction 'T is a Proverbiall speech Proverbialis locutio quo significamus aliquem esse omnibus telis injuriis propositum signifying that a man is made the common receit or subject of misery A Mark is purposely set up to receive Arrows Darts or Bullets shot at it so that for a man to be set up as a mark is to stand as a common object upon which all calamities center themselves what Job here complaines of he had expostulated with God about Chap. 7.20 Wherefore hast thou set me up as a marke so that I am a burden to my selfe I shall speake the lesse to it here having spoken to it there already The same Originall word is not used in both places though the sense be the same There Job speakes in a Paraphrase Thou hast set me opposite or over against thee A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 servo quod eum diligenter observent jaculatores ne oberrent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propriè sig signum praefixum sagittantibus unde quod animo destinamus aut praesigimus scopus est Eras Here he uses a single terme which notes a mark strictly taken for it comes from a root which signifies to observe because the mark or white is diligently observed by him that shoots the Archer keeps his eye upon the mark that he may send his Arrow to the mark A mark is that to the eye in shooting which the end is to the minde of man in all his wayes of acting and therefore our English word Scope from the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifies an Archers marke is used figuratively to signifie the end which we design to our selves in every undertaking And hence the eye with which we take ayme is put for the end Matth. 6.22 If thine eye be single the whole body is light that is if the end or the thing that thou aymest at be just and right all thy actions will be right too Every man is regulated by his end all hee doth lookes that way therefore if thy end and ayme be honest and sincere all thy wayes and workes will be such So then as the end is the mark of the minde so a mark is the end of the eye it directs all unto it And while Job saith He hath set me up as a mark his meaning is I am the Butt or White at which the Lord aymes all his Arrowes hee empties his Quiver at my breast Ego ipse positus fui in scopum ut mille jacula mille sagittas exciperem So the Church cryes out Lam. 3.12 13. He hath bent his bow he hath set me as a mark for the Arrow he hath caused the Arrowes of his Quiver to enter into my reynes The Hebrew is He hath caused the Sons of his Quiver to enter into my reynes Arrows are the Sons of the Quiver Sons are called Arrows Psal 127.4 5. As Arrowes in the hand of the mighty so are the Children of the youth blessed is the man that hath his Quiver full of them Now as Sonnes are compared to Arrowes in a Quiver so Arrows are compared to Sons because as Sons are together in their Fathers house so are Arrows in the Quiver Christ is described by old Simeon as a mark set up to shoot at Luke 2.34 35. This Childe is set for the falling and rising of many in Israel Significat Christum veluti scopum fore quem omnes certatim
figere contendant Bez. and for a signe to be spoken against What signe A Butt signe or a Butt mark A signe to be spoken against that is All shall direct the Arrowes of their words against him Bitter vvords are compared to Arrows many showres of these were shot against Jesus Christ He vvas aymed at on every side by envious spirits and malevolent tongues He might say as Job Thou hast set me up as a mark Observe from this Allusion First The Servants of God must expect many afflictions from the hand of God A mark is not set up or it is very rarely set up for one shot As God hath more mercies then one in store for his people so he hath more Arrows then one for them in his Quiver When thou hast received one shot prepare for a second and a third Observe Secondly God seemes to take pleasure in afflicting his people This also contributes to the proofe of the generall Observation before given For the more pleasure any one takes in afflicting the more severity he shewes in afflicting A Father chastiseth his Childe with teares in his eyes every stroake vvhich a vvise Father gives his Childe is as a wound to himselfe and this abates the smart of the blow but for Fathers to doe it as the Apostle speakes Heb. 12. For their pleasure or vvhen it pleaseth a Father in that sense to doe it this encreaseth the smart The sufferer feeles most paine vvhen it is a pleasure to another to make him suffer Now vvhat is shooting at a mark No man shoots at a marke for toyle to make a labour and a businesse of it but men shoot at a mark for their recreation and pleasure God delights not properly in the sorrows and sufferings of his people he is not like those cruell Tyrants vvho fasten their Captives to a Post and then shoot them dead for sport God doth not willingly much lesse sportingly afflict the Children of Men Lam. 3.33 yet it pleaseth him to afflict them yea as Job speakes Chap. 9. He laughs at the tryall of the innocent that is He carryes himselfe as to their sense as if he did not regard vvhat they suffered though indeed he be infinitely tender of them in all their sufferings yet because they doe not alwayes understand the language of this laughter it makes them cry out as if God had forsaken them and were either really turned an Enemy against them or at least did not use them as his Freinds from which neer relation nothing appeares more remote then to be set up and shot at as a mark Observe Thirdly Affliction doth not hit the Saints by chance but by direction There is a great difference betweene shooting at randome and shooting at a mark God doth now draw his Bow at a venture as he who slew Ahab did 1 Kings 22.34 or shoot at the vvhole host of mankinde let the Arrow light where and on vvhom it vvill but he singles out the particular person whom he intends to hit Every one of his Arrows goes upon a speciall errand and touches no breast but that against whom it vvas sent And as this speakes the honour of God who determines as much upon whom as vvhat to doe and chuseth out those at vvhom he meanes to shoot as vvell as the meanes by vvhich he shoots at them so it should establish our hearts to receive his shot and in this sense to be like a senselesse mark which stirrs not from the Arrow nor vvithdrawes from the deadly Bullet It is not onely the grace but the glory of a Beleever when he can stand as a But-mark and take affliction quietly The Apostle speakes neer this language and fully this truth 1 Thes 1.3 I would that no man should be moved for these afflictions for you your selves know that we are appointed thereunto As if he had sayd I would have you stand as Posts notwithstanding all these afflictions Not that he would have them carelesse or secure but couragious and full of holy undauntednesse I would have no man flinch or stirr a foot no more then a mark that is shot at Why Knowing that wee are appointed thereto As a mark is appointed to be shot at and set up on purpose that the Arrow may be directed against it so the Lord sets up his Saints and Servants on purpose that he may shoot the Arrows of affliction at them therefore let us keep our ground and not be moved We honour God yea it is our honour also when we are unmoveable in active obedience as the Apostle exhorts 2 Cor. 15.58 Wherefore my Brethren be stedfast and unmoveable alway abounding in the worke of the Lord for as much as yee know that your labour is not in vaine in the Lord. But as it is our honour and Gods honour too when we are unmoveable in doing the will of God so it is a greater honour both to him and us when we are so in suffering his will or in passive obedience when wee stand to it and move no more in way of cowardise and impatience then a Post when it is shot at This is the glory of a Christian and it is his duty this is the glory of God and it is his due though it be put here as an aggravation of the greatnesse of Jobs affliction that he was set as a standing mark yet it is a hightning of our praise contentedly to be so God will make wicked men his standing mark to all eternity against whom he will shoot the Arrowes the poysoned Arrows of his indignation which shall drinke up their spirits and yet their spirits shall not be consumed God makes his precious Servants and faithfull people his standing mark for a time they feele the Arrowes of affliction and are deeply wounded as Job further prosecutes his sad condition continuing the Allegory in the next Verse Vers 13. His Archers compasse me round about he cleaveth my reynes in sunder 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magni ejus sed hic quadrare non potest Licet enim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sig. magnitudinem sive in quantitate continua sive in discreta hic tamen in discreta est accipienda a multitudine enim sagittarii dicuntur Rabim God hath a Bow he hath his Arrowes and his Archers all ready at a call The decree of God is his Quiver his Arrows are his purposes and the Instruments which execute them are his Archers whether rationall or irrationall whether men or things any thing which God useth to afflict man by is his Archer His Archers have compassed mee about The word is Rabbi His Archers from Rab great so some read it His great Ones have compassed me about The word Rab doth not onely signifie greatnesse in bulke or continued quantity but in number or discreet quantity Hence Archers are called Rabbi great ones not from their magnitude but from their multitude because Archers goe in company two at the least and usually many are a set or they are called
lives in any knowne sinne unrepented of Secondly That which is unquiet and unsetled about the pardon of those sins which we have repented of We should get both these evil consciences but especially the first cured and removed by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ before we draw nigh to God in prayer as also our bodies washed in pure water which is either an allusion to the old Ceremonies among the Jewes who before they came to worship at the Tabernacle purged themselves with diverse outward washings leading them to the consideration of that morall puritie both of heart and life in which God is to be worshipped or it is an allusion to Baptisme in speciall in which there is an externall washing of the body signifying the washing of the soule by the blood of Christ and by the effectuall working of the spirit The sum of all is unlesse the person be pure his prayer is not pure These are the ingredients which constitute pure prayer all these met in Job and therefore he concluded not onely confidently but truely My prayer is pure And as these are the ingredients of prayer so they are all necessary ingredients so necessary that if any one of them be wanting the whole prayer is impure They are necessary by a double necessity First As commanded by God in prayer Secondly As meanes without which man cannot attaine his end in prayer The generall end of prayer is that prayer may be heard accepted and answered God heares accepts answers no one prayer without some concurrence of all these The Incense of the Ceremoniall Law was a shadow of prayer which is so great a duty of the morall Law But if this Incense had not been made exactly according to the will of God both for the matter and the manner of the composition prescribed Exod. 30.34 35 36. If after it had been thus made it had not also been offered according to those rules given Levit. 16.12 13. it had been an abomination to the Lord or as the Prophet Isaiah speaks Chap. 66.3 Such a burning of Incense had been but as the blessing of an Idol We may conclude also That if prayer be either composed or presented in any other way then God himselfe hath directed it is not onely turned away but turned into sin That man hath spoken a great word who can say in Jobs sense My prayer is pure Thus Job justifies the prayer he made to God and mainetaines his justice towards men There is no injustice in my hands also my prayer is pure A high profession yet in the next words he goes higher and makes both an imprecation against himselfe if it were not thus with him and an appeale to God for his testimony that it was thus with him JOB CHAP. 16. Vers 18 19. O Earth cover not thou my blood and let my cry have no place Also now behold my witnesse is in Heaven and my record is on high JOB having with much confidence asserted the integrity of his heart and the righteousnesse of his way both towards God and Man confirmes what he had thus confidently asserted by a double Argument First By a vehement imprecation Vers 18. O earth cover not thou my blood and let my cry have no place Secondly By a free appeale an appeale to God himselfe Vers 19. Also now behold my witnesse is in Heaven and my record is on high He shewes the necessity of this appeale Vers 20. My Freinds scorne me therefore I am constrained to goe to God When men have done us wrong and will not doe us right it is both time and duty to appeale to God Upon this ground Job appeales Est juramenti deprecatorii forma quo asseverat nullius sibi iniquitatis consâ—ium esse Aben. Ezra and he concludes according to our translation his appeale with a passionate yet holy wish Vers 21. O that one might plead for a man with God as a man pleadeth for his Neighbour The reason both of his appeale and wish is given us further Vers 22. he looked on himselfe as a man standing upon the very confines of death the Grave was ready for him therefore hee beggs that this businesse might be dispatched and his integrity cleared before hee dyed Hee was loath to goe out of the World like a Candle burnt downe to the Socket with an ill savour He that hath lived unstained in his reputation cannot well beare it to dye with a blot and therefore he will be diligent by all due meanes to maintaine the credit which he hath got and to recover what he hath lost This was the reason of Jobs importunity discovered in these two Verses now further to be opened Vers 18. O earth cover not thou my blood and let my cry have no place There are two branches of this imprecation or rather these make two distinct imprecations The first in these words O earth cover not thou my blood The second in these Let my cry have no place Job engages all upon the truth of what he had sayd being willing that his worst might be seen and his best not heard if he had not spoken truth O earth cover not thou my blood Poeticum sane patheticum in dolore aut re alia gravissima res mutas mortuasve omni sensu audituque carentes testes auditores compellare Job speaks pathetically or as some render him Poetically while he bespeakes the earth and makes the inanimate creature his hearer The sacred Pen-men doe often turne their speech to the Heavens and to the Earth Thus Moses Deut. 32.2 in the Preface of his Sermon his last Sermon to that people Give eare O yee Heavens and I will speak and hear O earth the words of my mouth So the Prophet Isaiah Chap. 1.2 Heare O Heavens and give eare O Earth I have nourished and brought up Children and they have rebelled against me God speaks to that which hath no eares to heare eyther to reprove those who have eares but heare not or to raise up and provoke their attention in hearing Thus Job O earth c. as if the earth were able to take his complaint and returne an answer as if the earth were able to make inquisition and bring in a verdict about his blood O earth cover not thou my blood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 texit operuit abscondit The word signifies not onely common but a twofold metaphoricall covering First Covering by way of dissimulation to dissemble a matter is to cover a matter In that sense Solomon speakes Prov. 12.16 A fooles wraâ—h is presently knowne but a prudent man covereth shame that is He dissembleth his wrath or his anger he will not let it alway break forth for that would be a shame to him Secondly The word signifies to cover by forgetfulnesse That which is not remembred is hid or covered Eccles 6.4 He commeth in with vanity speaking of man and departeth in darknesse and his name shall be covered with darknesse that
or condemnes He that is righteous knowes that all his sins are covered by the freegrace of God in the righteousnesse of Jesus Christ and he knowes that he hath not covered his sin as Adam by excuses nor sewed the Fig-leaves of carnall reasonings together to hide his nakednesse he knowes also that he lives not in any knowne sin nor hath wickedly departed from the Lord. Now because in all these respects he knowes nothing by himselfe therefore he cares not who knows him he cals not for Masks or Visors for Curtaines or coverings to obscure or disguise himselfe or his actions under eyther from the sight of God or man but is willing to stand forth in the open light For though the best of men may have done some act which is not fit for the open light yet considering the whole frame of their hearts and lives towards God together with what hath past betweene God and their soules about that act they are not afrayd that the worst act which ever they have done should stand forth in the open light and as for those crimes which men uncharitably charge upon them every honest heart speakes boldly the sense of this first part of Jobs imprecation O earth cover not thou my blood From the second branch of Jobs imprecation Let my cry have no place Observe Not to have prayer heard and accepted by God is the greatest misery that can befall man God is the last refuge of a distressed soule and the meanes by which we make God our refuge or flye to him for refuge is beleeving and servent prayer Prayer is a duty and yet it is a priviledge it is a priviledge not onely to receive an answer of prayer but to put up our requests in prayer he therefore that askes a stop upon his owne prayers hath at once asked a stop upon all his mercies he cannot looke to be releeved who tells God he doth not looke to be heard and when prayer hath no place of acceptance in Heaven wee can have no place of contentment on the Earth Upon this account we may conclude That Man cannot bespeake any thing worse for himselfe then not to be heard when he speakes to God As it is one of the highest honours done to God that men make prayers to him so it is one of the deepest afflictions of man for God not to heare his prayers Such was Sauls condition 2 Sam. 28. God doth not answer me neither by dreames nor by Vrim nor by Prophets He could get no answer from God his cry had no place This troubled him more then the invasion of the Philistims I am sore distressed saith he the Philistims make Warr upon me and God is departed from me When trouble comes and God goes away man is in a wofull estate We have no promise to receive unlesse we aske and though we doe aske wee cannot receive unlesse our prayer be received God receives the prayer of man before man receives any thing from God in prayer All our treasure lies in Heaven our comfort is in Heaven our protection is in Heaven and prayer is the messenger which we send to Heaven in the name of Christ for all things or for whatsoever else we need on earth Now if prayer cannot get in if God will not heare prayer if hee send back our messenger without audience what can wee receive The sinfulnesse of man appeares in nothing more then in this That he calleth not upon God Psal 14.4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge Who eate up my people as they eate bread and call not upon the Lord Now as the sin of man appeares exceedingly in not calling upon God so the wrath of God appeares exceedingly in not hearing man when he cals Prov. 1.20 Then shall they call upon me but I will not answer they shall seeke me early but they shall not finde me God will powre out wrath upon the Families that call not upon his name Jer. 10.25 but hee powres out most wrath upon those Families whom he heares not when they call upon his name All our mercies are shut out at once when prayer is shut out nor shall that person have any place or roome in Gods heart whose cry hath no place in his eare Holy Job was sensible enough of this nor durst hee have imprecated that his cry should have no place but that being conscious of no evill hee was assured that his cry had place and therefore as in the sincerity of his soule he made that imprecation so in the confidence of his soule he proceeds to make his Appeale to God in the next words Vers 19. Also now behold my witnesse is in Heaven and my record is on high As if he had sayd I feare no evidence that can be brought against me on earth and I rejoyce in the witnesse I have in Heaven though I have none to testifie for me here yet I have one that will testifie for me above My witnesse is in Heaven and my record is on high Vtitur testificatione caeli postquam terrae testimonium produxit Eugub Some conceive that as Job had spoken to the earth before so now he speakes to Heaven O earth cover not my blood O Heaven witnesse for me But he saith not my witnesse is Heaven but my witnesse is in Heaven nor doth he call the Heavens to witnesse for him but he cals him who is in Heaven to witnesse and that is God There are two branches of this appeal Idem bis dicit conscientiae suae integrae declarandae causa Lavat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Synonymum est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hieron in Trad. and they both intend the same thing My witnesse is in Heaven and my record is on high The words witnesse and record are of the same signification though they differ in the letter The one is properly an Hebrew word and the other Syriack When Jacob and Laban were in that contest Gen. 31.47 Jacob tooke a Stone and set up a Pillar for a witnesse And Jacob sayd to his Brethren Gather stones and they made an heape and they did eate there upon the heap and Laban called it Jegar-sahadatha that is a heap of witnesses as it is in the Margin but Jacob called it Galeed or Gilead Jacob speaking the pure Hebrew and Laban the Syriack language they take in both the words of Jobs appeale My witnesse is in Heaven my record is on high Est forma juramenti quo deum invocat innocentiae suae testem atque conscientiae spectatorem Cajet Job speakes the same thing twice to shew how strongly he beleeved that the Lord would be witnesse for him My witnesse is in Heaven my record is on high Heaven and high are the same as witnesse and record are And when he saith on high or in the high place he useth not the word Bamoth by which those high places are expressed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In excelsis malimin altissimis quia excelsa
vocantur quae Ebraeis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in quibus sacrificabant idolis Caeterum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proprie de Deo usurpatur de caelo de Deo in singulari numero de caelo in utroque Drus Dicitur Deus testis in excelsis propter locum aptissimum ad contemplandum tanquam in sublimi specula quicquid agitur Pined wherein the false gods were worshipped or the true God falsely Job puts that word into his appeale which belongs properly to God and signifies in Scripture the place of his glorious residence Jobs record was not onely on high but Bemerumim the Hebrew is Plurall in the heights Some translate it in the Superlative not in excelsis on high but in altissimis in the highests As if he had sayd My witnesse is above all witnesses and therefore he is a witnesse above all exception And Job did well for his purpose to say his record was on high not onely because of the dignity of that which is high but for the advantage which hee hath who is on high or in the highest to be a witnesse God is sayd to be a witnesse in Heaven or on high to shew how easily he can observe and take notice of those things which are below God hath eyes infinitely pure and piercing he beholds all things and hee beholds them from on high as from a watch-tower which renders the object more obvious to the eye The sight is soone intercepted upon a levell but The Lord saith David Psal 14.2 looked downe from Heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seeke God If but one had sought God God had found him out but the report which he makes upon that surveigh tels us They are all gone aside they are altogether become filthy there is none that doth good no not one Vers 3. Further he saith My witnesse is in Heaven or on high implying that he was such a witnesse as was able to protect him a witnesse who is above all feare and who needs no favour Some witnesses are not onely men of no state but of no conscience Such underlings will be hirelings upon Oath against the truth and are ready to testifie any thing for hope of gaine or for feare of a frown My witnesse saith Job is in Heaven my record is on high such a witnesse he is as cannot be corrupted by gifts such as hath no need of any mans gifts seeing he gives to all men life and breath and all things Hence Observe First That as God is the Judge of all men so hee is their witnesse God is the Judge of all the earth and God is the witnesse of all the earth too Jer. 29.23 Because they have committed villanie in Israel and have committed adultery with their neighbours Wives and have spoken lying words in my name that I have not commanded them even I know and am a witnesse saith the Lord Hee saith not I know and am Judge but I know and am witnesse Let no man hope to escape the judgement of God because there is none to witnesse against him for if God hath not the witnesse of man if our sin be a secret to all the World yet God hath alwayes two witnesses First Our owne conscience Secondly Himselfe An earthly Judge must not be a witnesse his duty is to give sentence not to give evidence hee must determine according to what is alleaged and proved upon testimony given but he cannot give testimony he cannot be Judge and Party too But God is so transcendently Soveraigne that hee is both Judge and Partie he pronounceth sentence and gives in evidence Christ is called The faithfull and the true witnesse Revel 3.14 And yet All judgement is given into his hand John 5.22 27. God judgeth upon his owne knowledge not upon the knowledge of others and therefore as there can be no fayling in so no avoyding of his judgement Secondly Observe It is lawfull to appeale to God or to take God to witnesse An Oath is the calling of God to witnesse and whensoever we appeale to God or call him to witnesse it is an Oath The Apostle Paul tooke an Oath when he sayd Rom. 1.9 God is my witnesse whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son that without ceasing I make mention of you in my prayers Thus in highest holinesse he sware that he prayed for the Romans spirituall good while he was absent from them and had never so much as seene them and that he passionately desired to be present with them and see them that hee might impart unto them some spirituall gift Because being a meere stranger he had not yet made his actions a witnesse of his love to them and because no man can be an unerring witnesse of another mans heart or of the moving of his affections therefore he calls God to witnesse who alone knowes the heart and can tell how much we love eyther himselfe or one another He speakes as much though in another case to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 1.23 Moreover I call God for a record upon my soule that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth As if he had sayd By this my earnest adjuration I assure you that the reason why I have deferred my comming to you was not from any levity of minde or change of purpose in me but onely because I was unwilling to use such severity as the distempers among you call for and would have pressed mee unto being present We find him in the same tenour of speech towards the Philippians Chap. 1.8 For God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Christ that is I call God to witnesse I love you And againe 1 Thes 2.5 Neyther at any time used wee flattering words as you know nor a cloak of covetousnesse God is witnesse As if he had sayd Had I used flattering words you might witnesse it and that I have not used a cloake of covetousnesse God is witnesse I might have worne a cloak of covetousnesse so closely that you could not have seene it but God could he can judge through the darkest clouds and see through the thickest cloaks and coverings but I appeale to him whether I have put on such a cloake or no. As Paul by Oath purged himselfe from covetousnesse of spirit so Abraham protested by Oath against all covetous practices Gen. 14.22 I have lifted up mine hand to the most high God the possessour of Heaven and Earth that I will not take any thing that is thine This gesture of lifting up the hand when an Oath is taken is there put for an Oath it selfe by which Abraham appealed to God as a witnesse of his sincere intentions in taking up those Armes for the rescue of his Nephew Lot and that as he had overcome his Enemies so he had overcome covetousnesse which was of the two the farr more noble victory This calling of God to witnesse is
of entring there purifies himselfe not onely as Heaven is pure but as God is pure in whose sight Heaven it selfe is impure Chap. 15.15 Thirdly Heaven is high Then Heaven is a safe place High places are secure places the high places of the earth are so accounted and when God promises safety to his people he tels them they shall dwell on high while they are here below Isa 33.16 He shall dwell on high his place of defence shall be the munition of rocks and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth Isa 58.14 When those builders of the Tower of Babell thought to make themselves safe they sayd Let us build a Towre whose top may reach to Heaven If there should come another flood they hoped to be dry and to get above the danger Once in Heaven and we are out of Gun-shott not onely beyond the reach of man but of Devils too They who are got into that high place shall neyther feele nor feare the Destroyer any more Fourthly Heaven is a high place then it is a large and capacious place As a Sphericall or round Figure is the most capacious so the utmost round of that Figure is the most capacious round in Heaven there is roome enough though we are crouded here yet there we shall not We may call Heaven as Isaac did the Well about which there was no contention betweene his Herdmen and the Herdmen of Gerar Rehoboth roome Gen. 26.22 In Heaven we shall not contend for roome Christ assures us that in his Fathers house are many mansions John 14.2 He had sayd before to his Disciples Chap. 13.33 Whither I goe yee cannot come And when Peter troubled at this speech put the Question Vers 36. Lord whither goest thou Jesus answered him Whither I goe thou canst not follow me now but thou shalt follow me afterwards Christ perceived his Disciples more plunged in their spirits with this answer and promise to Peter and therefore adds a prohibition of their feares at the beginning of this Chapter Let not your hearts be troubled yee beleeve in God beleeve also in me in my Fathers house are many mansions As if he had sayd Doe not thinke that I told you yee cannot follow me now and that Peter shall follow me afterwards as if the place I goe to were onely large enough for me and Peter for beleeve me there are many mansions I tell you not how many neyther can they be told but there are enow not onely for my selfe and Peter but for you all yea for all those who eyther have or shall beleeve on my Name if it were not so I would have told you I would not delude you with vaine hopes I am well acquainted with all the roomes in my Fathers house and though when I came into the World for your sakes there was no roome in the Inn for me to be borne in but a Stable among Beasts yet I will take care that when you come to my Fathers house you shall not be straitned for Quarters I who am your Redeemer will also be your Harbinger I goe to prepare a place for you and I am certaine my Fathers house will hold all his houshold Tophet is prepared of old it is deep and large Isa 30.33 Hell is large enough for a Prison there 's roome for all the Children of disobedience to lye bound for ever But Heaven is large as a Pallace or as a Paradise there 's roome enough for all the heyres of promise to walke at liberty for ever JOB Chap. 16. Vers 20 21 22. My Freinds scorne mee but mine eye powreth out teares unto God O that one might plead for a man with God as a man pleadeth for his neighbour When a few yeares are come then I shall goe the way whence I shall not returne JOB having strongly asserted his owne integrity at the seventeenth Verse of this Chapter and thereupon as strongly imprecated the heaviest vengeance upon his owne head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hiphil significat Eloqui facundum esse su mitur etiam pro illudere quia id non sine sermonis venustate fieri solet Merc. Collâ—quutores mei Vatab. Rhetores Pagn Cum amici mei Rhetorica oratione contra me agunt manâ—ntibus lachrymis Dei opem imploro Tygur in case he had not spoken truth Vers 18. Having also made his appeale to Heaven calling God to witnesse that it was truth which hee had spoken Vers 19. Here at the twentieth Verse he gives us a reason why hee made that appeale and the reason was he found no comfort in the creature he had no hope of helpe on earth and therefore he resorts to Heaven Vers 20. My Friends scorne me but mine eye powreth out teares to God There is some variety in the translation but the sense of all meets in one My Freinds scorne me or Scorners are my Friends The word signifies to deride or scorne not in a rude homely way but to doe it with quaintnesse of speech or in refined language to doe it wittily and cunningly close and home Hence the word signifies a Rhetorician or an Orator and is so translated here by diverse of the Learned My friends play the Rhetoricians they speake eloquently they compose fine orations and set speeches against me but alas I onely speak teares Yet further it signifies to interpret Gen. 42.23 Joseph spake unto his Brethren by an Interpreter it is this word That 's the interlineall reading of this Text Interpretes socii mei Mont. My Friends are Interpreters or rather for that must be the meaning Misinterpreters they put wrong expositions upon all my speeches and corrupt my Text with their unfreindly glosses We read in the ordinary acception of the word My freinds scorne me or My freinds are scorners As if Job had sayd These my freinds whose profession and relation call them to administer serious and wholesome counsell to my troubled minde even they breake forth into scorne they powre the Vinegar of their sharpest censures into my already wrankled wounds in stead of the suppling skinning Oyle of comfort and consolation Quis talia fando temperet a lachrymis and therefore mine eye is pressed to powre out teares to God Who can forbeare weeping while hee is but reporting my sufferings How then should I who suffer My freinds scorne me c. Hence Observe The best of freinds may prove unfreindly Men are but men and so they act There is no repose eyther upon the wisedome or strength or affection of the creature they are all mutable and may doe that which is most opposite both to their profession and relation A Freind a Scorner What more unsutable And that may be a second Note Scorne is wholly opposite to the Law of love He departs farr enough from the rules of freindship who doth not pitty and assist his afflicted Freind how farr is hee gone from it who scornes and derides
perished Fourthly There are teares of love unfeigned and strong affection Thus David and Jonathan kissed one another and wept one with another untill David exceeded 1 Sam. 20.41 When Jesus Christ wept at the Sepulcher of Lazarus The Jewes sayd Behold how he loved him John 11.35 36. They saw his heart at his eyes These teares spake mutuall and reall endearements Fifthly There are the teares of holy prayers and fervent desires Jacob wept and made supplication Hos 12.4 He cryed and prayed The voyce of his teares was lowder then the voyce of his supplication and his prayers were in this sense even drowned in teares Jacobs teares spake the fervency of his spirit and his faith in prayer The Angell understood them so and he prevayled Sixthly There are teares of compassion for the miseries of others Weep with them that weeP is the Apostles rule Rom. 12.15 When Nehemiah heard the report of Jerusalems ruine and of the sad condition of his Brethren there He sate downe and wept Nehem. 1.4 His teares spake pitty to his Country-men and zeale for God Seventhly There are the teares of passion in reference to our owne afflictions Such teares speak humane frailty or the common infirmity of the flesh Eighthly There are the teares of damnation Hypocrites and their associates in Hell are described Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth for evermore Their teares speak despayre or misery without hope of remedy The tears which Job powred forth were of the seventh sort teares of passion or sorrow caused by the afflicting hand of God but especially by the unkindnesses of his Freinds My freinds scorne me but mine eye powreth out teares unto God Job knew that as God had a Book for his prayers so a Bottle for his teares yea he knew teares should be heard as well as prayers Teares are powerfull Oratours God reads our hearts in those lines which teares draw on our faces One of the Ancient Phylosophers hath adjudged weeping unworthy a man Lachrymae a viris claris auferendae sunt mulieribus autem relinquendae Plat. de rep Dial. 3. and tells us it is onely for Women and Children to weepe But as there are teares of effeminate and childish pusillanimity so there are teares of heroicall and holy importunity To weep for feare of sufferings from man is indeed below man but to weep to God when we suffer eyther under the hand of God or man doth well become the best of men not to weep to God when we eyther suffer or have sinned proceeds not from courage but from sullennesse and is not the argument of a noble spirit but of a hard heart Who so couragious as David who feared not a Lyon nor a Beare who would not be afrayd though an Hoast of men encamped against him and though he walked in the valley of the shadow of death yet how often do we read him weeping and crying to God Psal 39.12 Hold not thy peace saith he at my teares David in that case could not hold his peace from crying to God and he was perswaded that God would not hold his peace at his cry he expected to have his teares answered He did not say Hold not thy peace at my words or at my prayer but as importing that his very teares had a voyce and language in them he desired that they might be answered David did not weep for feare of men but in faith to God And so did Job Mine eye powreth out teares vnto God God was the object of his teares as much as of his prayers God is above and yet our teares fall into his bosome these waters ascend this raine doth not fall but rise these showres doe not come from the Clouds but they peirce the Clouds As the heate of the Sun drawes the water upward so doth the heate of Gods love Some of the Ancients use strange Hyperbolies about the power and motion of teares I will not stay upon them we may say too much of them but thus much we may safely say that from a heart rightly affected and touched with the sense eyther of sin or suffering they have much weight in them and are pressing upon God Mine eye powreth out teares unto God From the conexion of this latter part of the Verse with the former Observe When wee are scorned by men it is good for us to mourne to God My Freinds scorne me now I weep and pray It is best for us to apply our selves to God when we live in the embraces of men when all men speake well of us and applaud us what is all this if we have not the good word and the good will of God unlesse we have an applause in Heaven it will doe us no good to have the true applause much lesse the flatteries of men on earth Suppose they speake right and give us but our due yet we must not rest in that but goe to God The good word of God is better to us infinitely then the best vvord of the best men to him let us have recourse when we have the greatest favour and fairest Quarter in the World but when the World scornes and rejects us then is a speciall season for us to hasten into the presence of God wee should live neerest and closest to God when men cast us off or throw us out of their societies and affections There is a twofold recourse to God whereof the first is from choice the second from necessity It is best to make our recourse to God upon choise but he will not refuse us if necessity drive us to him God is most worthy to be our choyce but he is willing to be our refuge yet he is indeed a refuge to those onely in evill times who have made him their choyce in the best times When all goes well with us in the World we should not thinke our selves well till we enjoy God It is good for me to draw neere to God saith David Psal 73.28 It is good for me to doe it in good times in the best times this I make my election And when David saith It is good he meanes it is best that positive beares the sense of a Superlative and therefore he had sayd a little before Vers 25. Whom have I in Heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee But in an evill time God is both the choyce and the refuge of his people He is our refuge properly to whom we come when others cast us off and hee is our choyce to whom we come when others call for us and seeme ambitious to be kinde unto us It is not thank-worthy to make God barely a refuge to come to him because wee can goe no where else we should thinke our selves no where till we are in his presence wheresoever we are and that we have nothing till we have him whatsoever we have Not to preferr the least of God before all the World is not onely un-ingenuous in us but sinfull against and
dishonourable unto God Job who here wept to God in his low estate had often rejoyced in God in his best estate and preferred him before his cheifest joy They may confidently weep to God in sad times who have delighted themselves with God in comfortable times Secondly Observe Liberty of addresse to God when men scorne and reject us is the great priviledge of the Saints Every man cannot do this can the men of the world powre out teares to God when they are scorned by the world can they powre out prayers to God when they are ill intreated by the world Can they goe into the imbraces of God when they are cast out by men they cannot They can vexe themselves when they are vexed by others and perhaps vexe those that vexe them they can be angrie when they are scorned and perhaps scorne their scorners but how to spread their condition before God or to powre out tears to him they know not they who can doe thus are honoured by God when scorned by men and God will powre out comforts into their bosomes who can powre their teares into his they can never be at any losse who finde out God to weepe to Job having thus given the reason of his appeale to Heaven enforceth it farther with a stong wish according to our translation which is also confirmed by the concurring vote of divers other translations Vers 21. O that one might plead for a man with God as a man pleadeth for his Neighbour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vtinam disputare posset vir cum deo et filius hominis sodali suo Pagn Optat ex aequari haeo duo hominis cum deo et hominis cum homine disceptationem Merc. Certe hic aliquid subauditur ut et quis deo viro vel ut faciat ac concedat Deus sc hoc viro Merc. The Summe of his desire may be drawne up into this Breife that he might argue his case as freely with God as men of the same rank and degree argue out their cases with one another Some expound it as a correction of his boldnes in appealing to God As if he had said I have indeed called God to witnes but what am I or what is my Fathers house that God should descend to my concernments The infinit distance which is between the Creator and the creature seemes to forbid and check my motion bidding me keep within my owne line or spheare and medle with my equals But O that I might speake with God as man with man or man for man I doubt not but I should carry the day and prove my selfe innocent not that Job intended a controversie with God or would stand upon his defence with the most high I have before shew'd how far this was from the temper of his broken spirit All that he intends by the proposall of this desire is the gaining of an opportunity to set himselfe right in the opinion of men by that impartiall dâ—cision of his cause which he was vvell assured God would give upon the whole matter in question betweene him and his friends if once he would be pleased to vouchsafe him a free and familiar hearing of it As if he had further said I have not apealed to Heaven because I am unwilling to have my condition knowne on earth Vtinam mihi conâ—ederetur causam meam adversum vos apud Dei Tribunal disceptare sicut agere homines cum hominibus consueverunt Bez. that men should see the worst of me for my desire is that I might plead before God as a man for his Neighbour and that I might be laid open in open Court by the evidence of witnesses and a full examination of my cause Taking these explications of the text in the forme of a wish The scope of it seemes to be the same with what he spak before Chap. 9. 33.34.35 God is not a man as I am that I should answer him and we should come together in judgement neither is there any Dayes-man betwixt us c. In which words as in these before us while Job lifts up the Majesty of God and humbleth himselfe as unworthy to have to doe with God yet he discovers the vehement longings of his soule to receive a judgement or determination from God in this suit or controversie which had depended so long between him and his friends The Observations which arise from this reading and sence of the Text are of the same straine with those formerly given upon that and some other passages where Job knowing his own uprightnes and integritie declares not only willingnesse but extreame earnestnesse to have his cause tryed at the Bar and before the Tribunal of God who both saw his wayes and searched his heart who as he had justified him from all guilt in reference to himselfe by not imputing sinne unto him so he would justifie him against the sinnes which men imputed to him by saying he was not at all guilty These points having been more then once hinted already I shall not insist upon them here Secondly The words are rendred as noting the designe which Job had in powring out teares to God and then the connection betweene this and the former verse stands thus Apud Deum stillat oculus meus utdisceptet causam viri cum deo sicut filius hominis causam amici sui Jun. I powre out teares to God that he would be pleased to plead the cause of a man with God as the Sonne of man pleades the cause of his friend Mr. Broughton joynes fully with this Vnto the puissant doth mine eye drop that he mould decide the cause for earthly-wight before the puissant as the sonne of Adam doth with his Neighbour Our translation carries the sence of a wish that a man might have liberty to plead with God as man with man this carries the sence of a wish that God would plead the cause of a man with God as a man pleades the cause of his friend which is indeed to desire God to be his advocat Ad Deum stillat oculus meus ut judicet viro cum Deo silium hominis respectu proximi sui Coc. How God is an advocat with God wil appear further in the prosecution of the text A third reading keepes to this dependance upon the former verse and to the same scope of this yet varyes the translation Thus Mine eye powreth out teares to God that he would judge for a man with God and that he would judge the Sonne man in respect of his Neighour The first reading makes the latter branch of the vvords a description of the manner how Job desired to plead with God even as man doth with man The second makes it a description of the manner how Job desired God to plead the cause of man with God even as man pleades with man This third makes it a second distinct desire and the whole verse to consist of two distinct desires First That God would judge for a man
with God Secondly That God would judge the Sonne of man in respect of his Neighbour In the former he petitions for mercy with God in the latter for right against man or in the former he sues for a judgement of acceptation for himselfe and in the latter for a judgement of reproofe and redargution upon his friends This difference is grounded upon the different construction of the vvords in the originall For the word which is rendred to plead or judge is construed with or governs as gramarians speake the Dative case in the first and the Accusative case in the latter clause of the verse Hence the former is rendred That he would judge or plead for a man with God which notes favour and a benigne defence or patronage of his cause with God so this is used by the Prophet Isai 11.4 He shall reprove argue judge or plead with equity for the meeke of the earth that is he shall reprove or plead in favour of the meeke or on their side he shall undertake their cause and make their defence for them And thus at last God did judge or plead for Job giving sentence in his behalfe and casting the scales on his side against his friends and therefore the latter clause is rendred thus That he would judge the Sonne of man in respect of his Neighbour that is that he would reprehend and reprove him for the wrongs vvhich he hath donâ— to and for the uncharitable censures vvhich he hath layd upon his Neighbour The meaning of the whole verse according to this translation may be represented and paraleld in that prayer of David Psal 35.1 2 3. Plead my cause O Lord with them that strive with me fight against them that fight against me c. say unto my soule I am thy salvation Thus Job as David desires the Lord to speake a word of comfort to him and to tell his enemies or his uncomfortable friends their owne I shall only leave one observation upon this exposition When Christ comes gratiously to assert the innocency of his owne people he will severely rebuke those who have done them wrong Laban had given Jacob hard usage vvhile he was a Servant in his House and when he was gone Laban persued him vvith hard thoughts but God pleaded for Jacob and rebuked Laban Gen. 31.42 the Prophet foretels That the mountaine of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the mountaines that is he vvill not only deliver but advance his oppressed Church The house of the God of Jacob Isai 21.2 3. and when he doth this He shall judge among the Nations and shall rebuke many people Vers 4. Some have observed the same difference in these latter words of Isay which hath been noted in the text of Job and render it thus He shall judge among the Nations that is the Heathen Nations who have vexed his Church And he shall rebuke or plead it is the same word in the Grammaticall construction as here in Job For or in the behalfe of many people that is for many of his owne people who have been opposed by those Nations the effect whereof wee have in the next words And they shall beate their swords into plow-shares that is God will so judge those Nations that his people shall not need to stand upon their guard or learne warr any more because their enemies shall either be turned to them or be totally overturned woe to the Nations when God stands up for his people he will certainly ruine Babylon when he undertakes the controversie and pleades the cause of Zion Yea the day hastens when he will Convince all that are ungodly of all the hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him Jud. vers 15. that is against his people for his sake Fourthly Besides these three expositions of the Text I finde another which is more litterall and yet more spiritual then any of the three and it is that which our late learned Annotators have given us Mine eye powres out teares unto God And he will plead for a man with God and the Sonne of man for his friend The mind of which translation is this He that is Christ Jesus the Mediatour betweene God and man will plead for a man that is for me he speakes in the third person for modesties sake though he meanes himselfe he will plead for me though you plead never so much against me for me I say he will plead with God that is with God his Father the Hebrew word here used for God is in the singular number Eloah not Elohim and so it is in the close of the former verse Mine eye powreth out teares to Eloah God and he will plead with God which more then intimates a distinct personalitie or subsistence in the divine nature One who is and is called God acting towards another who is and is called God though God be but one or unissimus One-most in nature Job weepes to God the Son in assurance that he will plead for him with God the Father He will plead for a man with God And the Son of man that is Jesus Christ whom he called God before he cals now The Sonne of man this Title is frequently attributed unto Christ in the New-Testament Matth. 8.20 The Foxes have holes c. but the Sonne of man hath not where to lay his head so Matth. 10.23.11.19.12.8 c Jesus Christ is called the Sonne of man First to shew the truth of his humane nature he being lineally descended from David according to the flesh and is therefore styled The Sonne of David Secondly to shew the depth of his abasement Christ humbled yea emptyed and nothing'd himself when Being in the forme of God he was made in the likenesse of men Phil. 2. when being the Sonne of God he submitted to so meane a style The Sonne of man Ezekiel amongst all the Prophets is oftenest called Son of man The reason which some assigne is very probable That God spake to him under that Title to keep him humble in the midst of his many visions and revelations for which end Paul in the same case had A I horne in the flesh the Messenger of Satan to buffet him 2 Cor. 12. and though Jesus Christ needed nothing either to make or keepe him humble he being infinitely beyond the reach of pride yet he needed much to shew and give proofe how humble he was Nor could there be any greater evidence of it then this that he was pleased to be The Sonne of man Yet I conceive Son of man may be here only an Hebraisme denoting man which kinde of speaking is also usuall among the the Greekes And that Job might speake of Christ under this notion is cleare from that faith which he discovered in the mysterie of his incarnation that great mysterie of godlines God manifested in the flesh of which he spake so confidâ—ntly Chap. 19.25 26 27. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter
metaphor taken from fire from a Torch or Candle which is the sense of the Tygurine translation My dayes faile as a Candle or as a Lamp which when the oyle is consumed goes out Mr. Broughton keeps to the metaphor of fire Deus mei ritu lucernae deficiunt Tygur My dayes are quenched There is a flame of life in the body the naturall heat is preserved by the naturall moysture these two Radicall heat and Radicall moysture worke upon each other and as long as Radicall moysture holds out to feed the Radicall heat life holds out but when the heat hath once sucked and drunk up all the moysture in some acute diseases it drinks all at a draught as the flame drinkes up the Oyle of the Lampe Vita extinguitur quando humor nativus in quo vita consistit extinguitur then wee goe out or as Job speakes here Our dayes are extinct Excessive moysture puts out the fire and for want of moysture it goeth out Hence Note First Mans life as a Fire or Lampe consumes it self continually There is a speciall disease called a Consumption of which many dye but the truth is every man who dyes dyes of a Consumption he that dyes of a Surfet may be sayd in this sense to dye of a Consumption The fewell and food of mans life is wasted sometimes more sparingly and gradually but 't is alwayes consumed except in those deaths which are meerely occasionall or violent before man dyes Againe Job speaks peremptorily My dayes are extinct He was not then dead but because hee saw all things in a tendency to death and was himselfe in a dying posture therefore he concludes My dayes are extinct Hence note Secondly What we see in regard of all preparatorie meanes and wayes ready to be done we may speake of as already done The Scripture speakes often of those things which are shortly and certainly to come to passe as come to passe and as the Apostle argues in spirituals We know that we are translated from death to life because we love the Brethren and he that believeth hath eternall lif So we may argue about naturals he that is sick beyond the help of meanes and the skill of the Phisitian is translated from life to death and we may conclude of a man in this case he hath tempoall death or he may say of himselfe as Job doth in the next words The graves are ready for me The Originall is very concise it is only there The graves for me we supplie those words Are ready And because of that shortnes of the Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sepulchra mâ—hi Cum mutila sit oratio indifferens est ut variis modis porfici possit there have been many conjectures for the supplie or filling up of the sence Some thus The graves for me that is there is nothing for me to thnke of now but only a grave I may lay aside all other businesse and attend that alone how I may lye downe in the dust with peace I am not a man for this world it is best for me to retire or withdraw my soule quite from the earth seeing I have no hope to keepe my body long out of it or if I doe let out my soule to the earth it shall be only to so much of it as will hold my body or serve to make me a grave The graves for me Secondly The graves for me that is I desire or wish for nothing but a grave A grave for my money as wee say of a thing that we greatly desire so saith Job A grave for me As if he had more largely spoken thus As I perceive I am going to the grave so I desire to goe thither I have as to this sence made a covenant with death Sepulchra mihi supple opto quaero cogito aut quid simile Sepulchra mihi inhiant ego sepulchris q. d. Aliis omnibus rebus valedico atque renuncio Jun. and an agreement with the grave The grave and I shall not fall out now that I am ready to fall into it For if I had my vote or might put downe in writing what I would have I would write A Grave A Grave for me as I am declining and decaying in my body so my spirit and my minde are as willing that my body should decay I am as ready for the grave as that is for me A grave for me So the words carry a reciprocation of readinesse betweene Job and the Grave The grave gapes for me and I gape for the grave Wee may parallell this kinde of speaking with that in the Booke of Canticles Chap. 2.16 where the Spouse saith My beloved is mine and I am his The Originall is My beloved to me and I to him There are no more words then needs must be The largenesse of their affection bred this concisenesse in language My beloved to me and I to him We are to one another as if we were but one The expression notes two things First Propriety My beloved to me or my beloved is mine that is I have a propriety in him Secondly It notes possession I have him I have not onely a right to him but I enjoy him I have not onely a title but a tenure God hath given me Liverie and Seisin as our Law speakes he hath put me into possession of Jesus Christ and I have given Jesus Christ full possession of me I am no longer my owne but his and at his dispose So here The grave for me and I for the grave The grave is my right yea the grave is my possession The grave is a house that every one hath right to and some are so neere it that they seeme possessed of it The grave is mine saith Job or I am as a dead man ready to be carryed to my grave The grave is not made ready till man is undressed by death and so made ready for the grave We say of very old men though in health and we may say of very sick men though young They have one foot in the grave Job speakes as having both his feet in the grave Yea wee may say that Job speakes as if he had not onely his feet in the grave but which is farr more his heart in the grave There are many who have their feet in the grave whose hearts are at furthest distance from it Job had both Heman Psal 88.4 5. describes his condition in such a language My soule is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh to the grave I am accounted with them that goe down into the pit I am as a man of no strength free among the dead like the slaine that lye in the grave whom thou remembrest no more and that are cut off from thy sight That Scripture may be a Comment on this My breath is corrupt my dayes are extinct the graves are ready for me Further Job speakes in the Plurall number he saith not the grave is ready for me but The graves
are ready for me Why how many graves must Job have Would not one grave hold him Or was Job covetous to have many graves Many houses will not serve some men when they live but one house will serve any man when he dyeth A little roome will hold those dead for whose covetous and ambitious minds the whole World was not room thy enough while they lived Ordinary men will have here their Winter-houses and their Summer houses their Citty houses and their Country house their houses on the Plaine and their houses on the Hill men have variety of houses while they live but one is all when dead Why then doth Job say The graves are ready for me He saith it to shew that death abounded to his apprehension or that he could not escape death As if he had sayd Wheresoever I set my foot I step upon a grave Plurima mortis imago The Poet describing a tragicall state saith There was much of death to be seene or many appearances of death Job saw deaths and bâ—held graves every where gaping for him Paul was in deaths often and Job was in many deaths at once The graves are ready there are many Pits making I am sure to fall into one there 's no avoyding it Learne from it First That In times of sicknesse and affliction discourses of the grave are the most seasonable discourses Death should be much in our thoughts and much in our speech at all times but most of all in times of sicknesse or of danger Some when they are sick cannot abide to heare a word spoken of the grave others will forbid such as come to visite the sick to speak a word of death Comâ—naeus lib. 10. Lewis the eleventh King of France was so excessively afrayd of death that hee had given command to his Attendants not to give him any warning of the approach of this his last Enemy by Name It was worse then death to him to heare of death and yet before he dyed he was told of it not onely plainely but rudely The French Historian reports that his very Barber with some other inferiour Servants as if they had rather come as Judges to pronounce the sentence of death upon him then as freinds to be his remembrancers of death told him bluntly and abruptly without preface or preamble or the least word of comfort to sweeten such a bitter potion That his fatall houre was come that neither his Hermit nor his Physitian could keep him alive a day longer They who are unwilling to heare or speake of death shall heare it spoken of whether they will or no. Death should be much upon the tongue and more in the thoughts of good men when they are in health but when they are in their naturall preparation for death sicknesse is a naturall preparative for death they should be very often in their spirituall preparations by thinking and discoursing of it Secondly From this manner of speaking The grave for mee Observe That A godly man is sometimes as ready for the grave as the grave can be for him Let it come as soone as it will it cannot come too soone as the grave gapes for him so doth he for the grave as the grave hungers for him so doth he for it and nothing can satisfie him but a grave I desire saith Paul to be dissolved He was ready for the grave And ready he was not in a vaine wish O I would dye and I desire to dye but from a grounded hope that he should be well in death Saul 2 Sam. 1.9 was sorely wounded the graves were ready for him and he was ready for the grave too But whence was it It was not from his preparednesse to dye but from his impatience to live as appeares both by the true History of his death and by the false report of it made by the Amalekite The former saith 1 Sam. 31.4 Then sayd Saul unto his Armour-bearer Draw thy sword and thrust me through therwith lest these uncircumcised come thrust me through abuse me Saul upon this account was so ready for the grave that he begg'd to be thrust into it and when he could not obtaine that miserable favour he thrust himselfe into it so the latter part of the Verse informs us But his Armour-bearer would not for he was sore afrayd therefore Saul took a Sword and fell upon it The Amalekite reports Saul thus bespeaking him 2 Sam. 1.9 Stand I pray thee upon me and slay me for anguish is upon me because my life is yet whole in me Man dyes not by peece-meale now a little and then a little nor is life divisible when it departs it departs together but when Saul had no minde to live it troubled him that he was no neerer death A dishonour was fallen upon him the day was lost and he was wounded Saul could easier dye then out live this disgrace Such a readinesse to dye many have had it vexeth them to live dye they will because they cannot live as they would this is a readinesse of desperation not of preparation Job was much troubled paine and smart afflicted him and they had some influence upon his desire of death but his chiefe motive was above what old Simeon desired to depart in peace because his eyes had seen his salvation Job desired because he knew by Faith that God was his salvation Thirdly Job speakes chearefully of the grave Hence learne A Beleever in the greatest afflictions of this life sees ease and refreshing in death He knowes that he shall bury all his sorrows when himselfe goes to the grave yea that then his sins as well as his afflictions goe to their grave too and shall never rise againe Fourthly Job speakes confidently he shall dye presently the grave was ready for him But it was not so Jobs grave was nor ready and he outlived this black day many a fayre yeare Hence Observe A good man may mistake the times and seasons of Gods dispensations to him He thinks yea concludes he shall dye when he shall not dye Wicked worldly men doe not beleeve they shall dye when they must they cannot be perswaded that they shall dye when they are ready to dropp into their graves Job seemed to have an assurance that he should dye yet he did not God reprived him from death and restored him from trouble We are never the neerer the grave because we prepare for it speak and meditate on it or resolve to goe into it It is not our holding back from the grave that wil keep us out of it nor our willingnesse to goe to the grave that will put us into it It is good to mistake upon the best side God usually recalls those from death who are most ready at his call to dye Fifthly In that he speaks of Graves in the Plurall number Learne this There are many wayes of going out of the World though there be bilt one way of comming in Whither soever we are going wee are
going to the grave and when we have stept over or scrambled out of one grave wee may quickly slip into another and be locked in fast enough Lastly Take this from the whole by way of Correllary It is our wisedome to stand alwayes ready for death and the grave for they stand ready for us Ours is a dying life a decaying strength ours are consuming dayes our dayes cannot be many possibly they will be but very few for ought wee know the grave is now ready for us and wee are sure it is a digging and preparing for us Therefore let us be digging in the Word of life that we may be ready to meet and welcome death and the grave which are so ready for us The graves are ready for me Job proceeds to re-inforce the cause of his appeale Vers 2. Are there not mockers with me And doth not mine eye continue in their provocation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a illusit derisit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Formula jurisjurandi huic linguae familiaris Merc. Dispeream nisi amici mei studeant mihi imponere Vatabl. Master Broughton translates by way of affirmation Surely mockers are bestowed on me We by way of Question Are there not mockers with me Yes there are mockers with me Some read it as the forme of an Oath It is familiar in the Hebrew to use such formes of swearing and imprecating so the words are rendred by a learned Interpreter Let me perish if my freinds are not mockers if they goe not about to delude me Job spake this a little before My freinds scorne me Chap. 16.20 Here he is at it againe Are there not mockers with me I finde three words applyed by Job to his Freinds while he reproves this their unfreindly usage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The first Chap. 12.4 there he useth a word which signifieth to mock with derision 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word Chap. 16.19 notes them such as mocked with wit and jesting The word here used signifies to mock by deceiving or deluding as if his Freinds had carryed matters with him more like Sophisters then Comforters So the word is applyed Gen. 31.7 Jacob tels Leah and Rachell You know that with all my power I have served your Father Laban and your Father hath deceived me and changed my wages ten times that is He thought by changing my wages to deceive me and get all the stronger Cattell to himselfe When Moses went out upon the request of Pharaoh to sue unto the Lord for the removing of a present plague Moses sayd Behold I goe out from thee and I will intreat the Lord that the swarmes of flies may depart from Pharaoh from his Servants and from his people to morrow but let not Pharaoh deale deceitfully any more Exod. 8.29 as if he had sayd You have mocked me two or three times and said you would let the people goe doe not so any more lest your deceiving of my expectation prove the greatest deceit of your owne The deluding Doctors which some delighted in are exprest by this word Isa 30.9 This is a rebellious people lying children children that will not heare the Law of the Lord They did not love the Law of the Lord What then which say to the Seers see not and to the Prophets prophesie not unto us right things speake unto us smooth things prophesie deceits The wickednesse of that people lay in two things eyther they would have the Prophets silent and not speak at all or if they did speak they must Prophesie deceits They loved to be cozoned truth made them smart and they could not abide it A guilty conscience cannot endure plaine words but it loves smooth words as many as you will of these words say they or else not a word eyther prophesie deceit or cease prophecying Here Job complaines Are there not deceivers with me As if he had sayd You tell me you bring the minde of God but you bring false Doctrine you preach deceit Though we cannot say they preached smooth things to Job they spake hardly enough of him and harshly enough to him yet we may say they preached deceitfull things to him for though they did not speake with an intention to deceive him yet they were deceived in speaking and he had been deceived if he had yeelded to what they spake In which sense Job cals them which one would think he had little reason to doe considering how roughly they dealt with him he I say cals them Flatterers at the sixth Verse of this Chapter And what 's the businesse or chiefe designe of Flatterers but to catch others with words or to deceive them into a complyance with their owne ends And this is often and was in this case the end Finis operis finis operantis distinguuntur or tendency of the action when it is not the end or intention of the Agent From this notion of the word Observe First To be among Deceivers is a great misery Secondly To be a Deceiver is a great sin Thirdly To publish that which is false though there be no intendment to deceive is to be a Deceiver As most are ignorantly deceived so there are some ignorant Deceivers and as some thinke what they doe to be very just and that it is their duty to doe it when indeed it is very sinfull so there are some who thinke what they teach to be very true and that it is their duty to teach it when indeed it is very erroneous There are but few who know they are Deceivers when they are now as that Servant which knew his Lords will but did not according to his will shall be beaten with may stripes and yet he who knew it not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall not escape a beating he shall be beaten with few stripes Luke 12.47 48. So he that knowes the truth of God and yet deceives others with false Doctrine shall be beaten with many stripes and he who not knowing the truth deceives others shall not escape unbeaten or unblamed as Jobs Freinds did not Non peccavi Vulg. q. d. innocens heu morior Quandoquidem non sunt ludificationes apud me Jun. There is another reading of this first clause differing from ours Are there not mockers with me The Vulgar thus I have not sinned A second to the same sense thus For as much as there are no mockings or deceivings with me I am a man who deals plainely and simply The word which we translate Mockers as noting a Person is rendered by the act and that negatively There are no mockings with me that is I use no mockings or no false play as I am accused I have spoken my heart nakedly and clearly And yet mine eye continueth in their provocation therefore lay downe now put mee in a surety with thee c. Vers 3. This is a good reading but I will not stay upon it onely take two briefe Notes from it A good man is upright hearted
and downe-right in all his dealings and sayings There are no mockings with me I am what I appeare and I appeare what I am An Hypocrite is full of tricks and shifts he disguiseth both his person and his actions No man can tell where to have him or what to make of him When hee speakes his words doe not signifie what he meanes if they signifie any thing and when he acts his workes doe not signifie what he is they signifie any thing rather then that All are mockings of others though he will finde in the end that he hath mocked himselfe most of all Secondly As he joynes this with the next clause There are no mockings with me and yet mine eye continueth in their provocation Note that How plaine-hearted soever a man is yet it is very hard to perswade those who are once prejudiced against him that he is so Let Job say and professe what he would yet hee could not recover his credit nor set himselfe right in the opinion of men till God did it for him Chap. 42. But I passe that Are there not mockers with me What the mocking and scorning of Jobs Freinds was hath been opened Chap. 12.4 Cha. 16.19 and therefore I referr the Reader thither Doth not mine eye continue in their provocation Should he not rather have sayd Doth not mine eare continue c. Mocking is the object of the eare and not of the eye There are some mockings indeed by mimicall foolish gestures and they are the object of the eye Assiduè in id oculos mentis aciem intentam habeo quod me assidue irritant in eo defixae sunt omnes meae cogitationes Merc. Isti dies noctesque non cessant exacerbare animum meum Iun. Intenta cogitatio somnum impedit but here Job speakes of what he had from them in conference which is properly the busines of the eare and yet he faith Doth not mine eye continue in their provocation By the eye wee are to understand the eye of the minde Doth not mine eye that is Have I not a representation in my spirit or upon my fancy of your mockings and bitter provocations even as if they were visible before mine eyes Have I not night visions and apparitions upon my Bedd of what you speak or act against me every day Againe We may expound the Text properly of his bodily eye b cause the trouble which they gave him in the day time hindred his sleep in the night The letter of the Hebrew favours this sense Doth not mine eye lodge in their provocation So we put in the Margin of our Bibles Hence Master Broughton reads In these mens vexing lodgeth mine eye that is When I goe to Bed and hope to sleep then in stead of lodging in my Bed I lodge in the thoughts of my Freinds unkindnesse and indeed a man may sleep better upon the bare boards then upon hard words Such words keep the eyes waking and are as bad to sleep upon as a pillow of thornes especially when which was Jobs case the eye continueth in them Intentnesse of minde or vehement cogitation about any thing keep open the eyes and forbid the approach of rest Doth not mine eye continue In their provocation Provocations He called them Mockers and their mockings were provocations Vel a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amarum esse Sive a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est irritare sive exacerbare The word as some derive it signifies that which is bitter Provocation is a bitter thing Others derive it from a root signifying to irritate and stirr up the spirit of a man which is provocation properly Provocation is a high act of wrong A man may doe another wrong on this side a provocation as the provocation of God is a high act of sinne in man ordinary acts of sin doe not amount to a provocation Ps 106.7 They provoked him at the Sea it is this word even at the red Sea that is There they sinned extreamly So Ps 95.8 which the Apostle quotes Heb. 3.8 The holy Ghost cals the whole time of that peoples froward walking or sinning against God in the Wildernesse The provocation Harden not your hearts as in the provocation that is In the time when yee sinned not onely to the offending but to the provoking of God against you not to the breaking of his Lawes but to the vexing of his spirit When sin is compleat and iniquity growne to a full stature that day is justly marked in the Calendar of Scripture with a red letter implying wrath and is therefore called The provocation So when any man deales very unkindly frowardly or unfaithfully against his Brother then 't is a provocation Doth not mine eye continue in their provocation Now for as much as the same word signifieth both bitternesse and provocation and that most provocations are given by uncharitable and unconsiderate speeches Observe First Vnkinde words are bitter to the hearer The Apostle gives the rule to Husbands Col. 3.19 Husbands love your Wives and be not bitter to them that is Doe not give them bitter words in stead of faithfull counsels Some Husbands speak their Gall to their Wives to whom they have given their hearts Among the Heathens the Gall of the Sacrifice which they superstitiously offered at Marriages Quo instituto legis Author non obscure innuebat a conjugio semper debere bilem iramque abesse Drus Prov. Clas 2. l. â— was puld out and throwne away before it was presented at the Altar signifying that Man and Wife should be as Naturalists say the Dove is without Gall one towards another Wholesome counsels and admonitions for the matter are often administred with such an undue mixture of heat and passion as renders them not onely distastefull but hurtfull to the receiver Secondly Note Harsh words carry much provocation in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 animum despondeo The same Apostle in the same Chapter enlarging his Institutes for the direction of Beleevers in all Relation bespeakes Parents Vers 21. Fathers provoke not your Children to anger The word signifies any kinde of provocation but that especially which is caused by contumelious and upbrayding speeches A Father provokes his Childe when he speakes hastily and threatningly terrifying his Childe rather then instructing him The reason why Fathers should not thus provoke their Children is added Lest they be discouraged or as the word imports be as if they were without soules â—noop't as we say and heartlesse For as there is a provocation in a good sense which heightens the spirit in well doing and enlivens it for action The Apostle exhorts to that Heb. 10.24 Let us consider one another to provoke one another to love and to good works that is let us set such copies of holinesse that others may be stirred up beyond their ordinary pitch and elevation of spirit to a zealous doing of good Or speake such winning words give such pressing exhortations that the hearts of your
Brethren may be carryed beyond their usuall course in holinesse Thus he tels the Corinthians 2. Epist 9.2 That their zeale had provoked many But to what had it provoked them Not to anger and passion towards any but to charity yea and liberality towards the poore And though the Apostle useth another word in the Greek yet he meanes the same thing when hee assures us Rom. 11.11 that the Jewes stumbled not that they should fall but that they might rise for so it followes But rather through their fall salvation is come to the Gentiles for to provoke them to jealousie The salvation of the Gentiles bred emulation in the Jewes What Shall they goe away with all the salvation Shall the Gentiles possesse Heaven alone whom wee thought the meanest people upon the Earth Come let us also put in at least for a part and get a share in Gospel-mercies and priviledges with them Thus they were provoked to emulation and this emulation was and shall be through the power of God who is wonderfull in counsell and excellent in working a help to faith in Christ and so to their rising from their fall And the Apostle was so intent upon the promoting of this designe of God that he professeth Vers 13 14. that he magnified his Office among the Gentiles not onely to save them but saith he If by any meanes I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh and might save some of them He hoped the Jewes would at last beleeve for anger or for very shame and goe to Heaven in a holy chafe Now I say as there is a provocation which heates and hightens the minde of man to an eager pursuite of the best things so there is a provocation which abates and blunts his edge which chills and flats his spirits to any thing that is good which was the ground of the Apostles dehortation Provoke not your Children lest they be discouraged And as the effect of such provocations is to some a discouragement in doing their duty so the effect of it in others is a thrusting them onn to doe that which is most contrary not onely to their duty but to their disposition Rayling speeches uncomely and uncivill language have provoked many both to speak and to doe that which they never dreamt of or which was most remote from their naturall temper and inclination For though such distempers lye in the bottome of nature yet unlesse they had been stirred and spurred up those distempers would not have appeared and broken out Moses was the meekest man upon the earth yet when they provoked his spirit he spake unadvisedly with his lips Psal 106.33 There are three ill effects of provocations First Provoking speeches raise up hard thoughts of the speaker It is a high worke of grace to thinke well of them who speak ill of us or to us Secondly Provoking speeches blow up hard words of the speaker many excuse it when they give ill language You provoked me And though they be not to be excused who doe so when they are provoked yet their sin is the greater who provoke them Thirdly Provoking speeches are sometimes the cause of revengefull practices and very often of licentious practices Sober admonitions and grave reproofes reclaime those who goe astray but violent rebukes make them desperate Some care not what they doe when they heare others say they care not what Many Children have run ill courses by over much indulgence and neglect of discipline and so have not a few by the over mvch severity and sharpnesse of those that are over them Patience is hard put to it to keep eyther minde or tongue or hand in compasse when wee are provoked Great provocations are great temptations When God is provoked he is tempted Heb. 3.8 Harden not your hearts as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the Wildernesse when your Fathers tempted me c. Wee may expound it two wayes First That while they tempted God by questioning his power for them and presence with them they provoked him he was greatly displeased with them for it Secondly That while they provoked God they tempted him they tempted him to destroy them or to act that power against them which they did not beleeve after so many experiences able enough to deliver or protect them If then God himselfe be so tempted that as he is pleased often to expresse himselfe after the manner of men hee can scarce hold his hands or forbeare to doe that which he had no mind to doe when he is provoked how much more is weake man tempted to doe that which his corruptions are alwayes forward enough and too too much to doe when hee is provoked Againe When he saith Doth not mine eye continue in their provocation Learne thirdly Hard words stick upon the spirit They hang about the minde and are not easily gotten off Good words dwell much upon the spirit and so doe ill words when a man hath onee got a word of promise from God about any mercy set home upon his heart the eye continues in that consolation O it is a sweet word the soule lyes sucking at it night and day And when a man hath once got a word of command from God about any duty set home upon his spirit his eye continues in the direction of it O how I love thy Law saith David Psal 119.97 It is my meditation all the day he could not beate his thoughts off from it when love had fastned on it As these good words cleave to a gracious soule and dwell with it so it is hard even for a gracious soule to dislodge hard words O how doth the eye continue in those provocations And doth not experience teach us that vaine thoughts throwne into the minde by Satan will not easily be driven out How often doth the eye continue in his provocations The spirit of a man hath a strong retentive faculty it will hold the object close and as it were live and lodge in it How many make their abode in provocations and reside upon bitter words received from their Brethren How many lye downe with them at night and rise with them in the morning yea and walke with their eye upon them all the day long And here it may be questioned Was not this a sin in Job That rule of love then was in being which is now expressed Ephes 4.26 Be yee angry and sin not let not the Sun goe downe upon your wrath Then how could Job suffer his eye to continue in these provocations I answer There was an infirmity in this 't is our duty as to forgive so to forget or lay aside the thought of injuries and wrongs received And it is the Character of wicked men They sleep not unlesse they have done mischiefe Pro. 4.16 Their eye continues in their owne corruption or in the temptation of Satan till they have brough it forth For as when good men have strong impressions unto good upon their spirits they cannot sleep
till they have done good their eye continues in that holy provocation Psal 132.4 I will not saith zealous David give sleep to my eyes nor slumber to my eye lids untill I finde out a place for the Lord an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob So wicked men give no sleep to their eyes till they have done that mischeife or executed that revenge to which they conceive themselves provoked But the eye of Job did not continue in those unfreindly provocations to watch an opportunity for selfe-revenge upon or of doing mischeife to his Freinds He did not let the Sun goe downe upon wrath that he might devise their ruine in the darke He was not so wise as he should have been to hurt himselfe and hinder his rest by such a continuall poring upon their unkindnesses but he was not wicked at all much lesse so wicked which some from this passage may conceive him as to pore upon their unkindnesses with a purpose to hurt them So that act might have somewhat of sin in it because hee troubled his owne peace more then he needed but it had not this sin in it that he studyed how to trouble the peace of others Lastly We may rather interpret these words to the blame of his Freinds who continued to provoke him then to his whose eye because they did so could see nothing but provocation or at least must see that whatsoever it saw and therefore could not but continue in it How could the eye of Hannah chuse but continue in the provocation of Peninnah when it is sayd 1 Sam. 1.6 7. That as her Husband Elkanah gave her speciall tokens of his love yeare by yeare so shee provoked her to make her fret yeare by yeare therefore shee wept and did not eate While a provocation is continued our sense of it can hardly be intermitted Job having complained of received provocations renews his appeale to God Vers 3. Lay downe now put me in a surety with thee who is he that will strike hands with me The words are an Apostrophe to God That Job speakes to God not to Eliphaz is cleerer then needs be proved The word which we render lay downe signifies also to appoint Exod. 1.11 They did set or appoint over them Taske-masters And againe Exod. 21.13 I will appoint thee a place whither he the man-slayer shall flee Appone cor tuum i. e. adverte quaeso animum meis verbis Vatabl. In the present Text both rendrings of the word are used We make use of the first Put or lay downe What would Job have God lay downe Some give it thus Lay downe or apply thine heart to me attend I pray thee to my words and consider my cause Secondly The words may be conceived as an allusion to those who going before a Judge or having a cause to be tryed by Umpires use to lay downe an ingagement or as wee call it an Assâ—mpsit that they will stand to the award or arbitrement which shall be made Put me in a surety with thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est fideijubere pro aliquo seu aliquem in suam fidem recipere Hinç arrabo spiritus Pone pignus vadem aut fidejussorem mihi tecum Pagn-Dispone quaeso consponsorem mihi tecum Jun. Num Arrabonem dabis The Originall word properly signifying to undertake for or to give credit and assurance in the behalfe of another and hence the Noune derived from it signifies an earnest because an earnest layd downe is a reall surety that such a thing shall be performed In which sense Thamar useth the word Gen. 38.17 who when Judah promised to send a Kid of the Goates said wilt thou give me a pledg til thou send it and hence in the new Testament the word Arrabo is used in the Greek as also in the Latine for the earnest of the spirit or for that assurance which the spirit settles upon the hearts of Beleevers in this life that they shall inherit eternall life 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts And againe 2 Cor. 5.5 Now he that hath wrought us for the selfe same thing is God God having prepared a place for us prepares us for the place and then gives us our evidences that in due time wee shall take possession of it Who also hath given us the earnest of the spirit The same Apostle tells the Ephesians that After they beleeved they were sealed with the spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance till the redemption of the purchased possession Ephes 1.14 So that an earnest is a reall suâ—ety and a surety is a personall earnest While Job saith Put me in a surety his meaning is hee would have some person to be an undertaker for the ordering of his cause or an ensurer that all should be performed according to the determination that should be given about it Put in a surety with me Who is he that will strike hands with me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sig Defigere infigere si de contractibus dicitur percutere manum He proceeds in the same allusion These words are disposed two wayes Some put the Interrogation after He Give or put me in a surety Who is he I would gladly see the man or know who it is Who is he let him come and strike hands with me whosoever he is As if hee had sayd I shall easily agree that any man should have the hearing and determining of this businesse whom thou shalt appoint Quis est manui meae plaudatur Jun. Quisquis ille sit fide jussor meus veniat paciscatur mecum In sponsionibus manus invicem complodebant hinc manum complodere pro pacisci stipulari Merc. We put the Interrogation after the whole sentence Who is he that will strike hands with me And then the sense appears thus If God once put in a surety to undertake for me who is hee that will contend with mee or engage in this Quarrell against me To strike hands is a phrase of speech grounded upon that ancient forme of making bargaines or entring contracts by joyning or striking hands And these contracts may be taken two wayes or under a double notion First As they concerned suretiship for Money in which sense Solomon speakes of it more then once Prov. 6.1 My Son if thou be surety for thy Freind If thou have striken hands with a stranger that is if thou hast entred into Bond for him and hast testified it by striking hands then c. Prov. 22.26 Haec est sponsio quae propriè ad mammorum negotium spectat Aben Ezra in Prov. 6. Be not thou one of them that strike hands that is Be not too forward to engage thy selfe or to undertake for others as it is expounded in the next words or of them that are sureties for debts such hasty engagements may bring thee into more trouble then thou wilt
but as Parties putting in their accusation and pleading against him Hence Observe It is an honour and an exaltation to win the day in any cause or to get the better Whatsoever the contention be or in what way so ever mannaged whether by the Sword or by the tongue or by the Pen to be victorious in it is honourable and hee that loses his Causes loses much of his credit also And though prevailing or successe doth not at all justifie the matter it is the matter which must justifie the successe yet successe doth alwayes exalt the man He that overcomes in a dispute carries away the honour though possibly he carry not away the truth Lastly From the connexion of this with the former part of the Verse Observe They who maintaine errour among men shall not finde favour with God A heart hid from understanding is hid from the truth God loves his truth so well that he will not exalt those who depresse his truth Jobs Freinds being left in the darke as to that point in question Did not speake of God the thing that was right Chap. 42.7 And therefore the Lord sayd to Eliphaz My wrath is kindled against thee and against thy two Freinds Though an error be held unknowne and in zeale for God as they did yet the jealousie of God waxeth hot against such These repenting were and such as they repenting may be pardoned but they shall not be exalted And if they who for want of light of knowledge and in much heat of honest zeale defend a lesser error such was theirs shall not be exalted how will the Lord cast them downe who broach and spread blasphemous errors and damnable Doctrines in a time of cleere light and against frequent admonitions if not convictions Whosoever saith Christ Matth. 5.19 shall breake one of these least Commandements and teach men so Joyning the error of his practice with or turning it into the error of his opinion he shall be called least that is nothing at all or No-body in the Kingdome of Heaven And he who is nothing in the Kingdome of Heaven is not exalted how high soever he may get in the Kingdomes of the earth And if the teacher of error against the least Commandement of the Law shall have no place in Heaven where vvill their place be who teach errors against the greatest Commandements of the Law yea against the most precious and absolute necessary principles and foundations of the Gospell Vers 5. He that speakes flattery to his freind even the eyes of his Children shall faile There is some variety in expounding these words because of the severall notions into which the Originall is rendred As we read the Text it is a plaine affirmation of judgment upon the posterity of Flatterers The word vvhich we translate Flatterie signifies in the Verbe to divide into parts and hence in the Noune 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Divisit in partes in Hiphil emollivit laevigavit blanditus fuit a lott or portion because every lott or portion is divided from the whole it signifies also a prey or booty which men take in Warr or which Theeves and Robbers take from Travellers upon the high way and that upon the former reason because when a prey is taken they divide or cast it into severall portions or parts Hence also say some it signifies to flatter because the tongue of a flatterer is divided from his heart Further It signifieth to smooth and pollish or as wee say to make a thing very glib and neate This comes neerest our translation for a flatterer hath a smooth pollished tongue and his trade is to smooth or sooth both things and persons The flatterers tongue is like the Harlots tongue to whom this word is applyed Prov. 7.21 With much faire speech shee caused him to yeild with the flattering of her lips with the smoothnesse or as some translate with the lenity of her lips shee forced him Flattery seemes to be farr from force yet nothing puts or holds men under a greater force then flattery He that speakes flattery to his freind Flattery is a speciall language though it be spoken in all languages 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Men learne to speake flattery even as we learne to speake Latine French Italian Spanish or any other language Flattery is an Art it hath rules of its owne and termes of its owne he that speakes flattery Master Broughton in this place calls it Vaine-goodly-speech And the Apostle Paul calls it Good words and faire speeches Rom. 16.18 The expressions which the Apostle useth are most proper to the description of flattery they are both Compounds as the spirit of the Flatterer also is He hates simplicity or singlenesse of heart making a shew of much goodnesse in word but is voyd of deed and substance Hee promiseth faire and when hee speakes you would thinke hee minded nothing or were sollicitous about nothing but the Honour and advantage of him to whom hee speakes when indeed he minds nothing but himselfe and selfe-concernements as the Apostle in that place desciphers him He serves not our Lord Jesus Christ Haec est blandities quae a Graecis vocatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristoteles vulgo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellari docet eos qui comiter cum omnibus conversantur sed veram amicitiam cum nemine colunt Arist l. 8. ad Nicom Pertinax Imperator dictus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod blandus esset magis quam benignus Bez. in loc ex Aurelio Vict. but his owne belly and by his good words and faire speeches he deceives the hearts of the simple The Greeks have another characteristicall word for this sort of men by which they meane all such as seeme to carry it faire with all men but maintaine true freindship with no man wee may call them Men-pleasers but Selfe-seekers As also one of the old Emperours had his Sir-name from that word used by the Apostle in the place last mentioned because hee was observed very ready to give all men good words but had no regard to doe good yea he did very much evill or as another gives the reason because he was a Fanning Prince rather then a kinde one Job seemes to charge his Freinds that they were men of such a temperament and had rather faund upon him then been reall freinds to him But here it may be questioned Why doth Job speake his Freinds speakers of flattery Hee had little reason to complaine he was flattered and wee finde him often complaining that he was roughly dealt with Job heard few pollished or buttered words but bitter words great store why then doth he say He that speakes flattery to his freind We may understand it two wayes In reference to Job God First His Freinds had spoken flattery to him for though in some things they were very severe and harsh yet in other things he might interpret their sayings to be but soothings Is est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui
verbis multum pollicetur re nihil praestat Bez. Blandiebantudum externa bona illi pollicebantur Merc. they made him large promises of a restauration that his estate should be like the morning that he should outshine the very Sun and be a great man againe Thus they spake Chap. 5.19 20. Chap. 8.5 Chap. 11.15 16 c. hee looked on all these fayre promises as flatteries because in his owne thoughts he was a dead man and his calamities past all hope of recovery in this World As if hee had sayd Why doe you feed me with such vaine hopes and prophesie to me of Wine and of strong drinke of earthly honour and riches of length of dayes and of a multitude of yeares yet behinde in the race of this present life I cannot but call this flattery and a departure from the laws of freindship For alas My dayes are extinct my breath is corrupt and yet you are telling me of long life and good dayes in this World And indeed this is at once the custome and the fault of many who visit their Freinds upon the borders of death they thinke they are not freindly unlesse they labour to give them hopes of life and deliver their opinion peremptorily We doubt not but you will doe well enough you will recover from this sicknesse and getting over this brunt and see many dayes This is flattery it is our duty to speake comfortably to our dying Freinds to set forth the love of God and his readinesse to pardon to prepare them for a better life and to make their passage out of this more easie But when wee see them at the Graves mouth when death is ready to seize on them then to tell them of long life is rather the office of a Flatterer then of a Freind We shew more love to our dying Freinds by offering our counsels and tendering up our prayers for their fitnesse to depart out of this life then by shewing our desire that they should live and our loathnesse to part with them Secondly Jobs Freinds may be sayd to speake flattery to God and then the words are an Argument from the greater to the lesse as if he had sayd If he who speakes flattery to his freind a man like himselfe shall be punished then much more shall he who speakes flattery to God But you will say How can God be flattered There are two wayes of flattering men First By promising them more then we intend Secondly By applauding them more then they deserve When we cry up those for wise men who are little guilty of wisedome or commend those as good who are very guilty of evill both these are straines of flattery It is impossible to flatter God in this latter sense for we cannot speake of God higher then he is his glory wisedome and goodnesse are above not onely our words but our thoughts But we may flatter God in the first sense by promising him more then we intend they on their sick beds doe but flatter God who tell him how good and holy they will be when their hearts are not right with him Yet neyther is this the flattery of God which Job may be supposed to suggest against his freinds The flattery here suggested is their justifying the proceedings of God in afflicting Job by condemning Job as if there had been no way left to cleare up the righteousnesse of God but by concluding that Job was unrighteous This manner of arguing Job calls Speaking wickedly for God and talking deceitfully for him This he also calls The accepting of his person Ch. 13.7 8. As if they had been the Patrons and Promoters of Gods cause and honour while they thus pleaded against Job and layd his honour and innocency in the dust That there is a sinfull flattery of God in such a procedure against man was shewed more largely in the place last mentioned to which I referr the Reader for his further satisfaction He that speakes flattery to his freind What of him The next words tell us what The eyes of his Children shall faile But shall he himselfe escape Shall not hee smart for it Saith not the Scripture Whatsoever a man sowes that shall hee reap the sower shall be the reaper This is not spoken to free the Flatterer from punishment but to shew that more then he shall be punished for his flattery as he himselfe shall not escape so he may bring others also into danger with him As sin spreads it selfe in the pollution of it so in the punishments of it When but one sins many may be defiled and when but one acts a sin many may be endangered a man knowes not upon how many he may bring evill when he doth ill himselfe The eyes of his Children shall faile What is meant by the failing of the eyes was shewed Ch. 11.20 where Zophar saith The eyes of the wicked shall faile and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost In generall 't is this They shall be disappointed of their hopes or they shall expect so long and nothing come that their eyes shall faile with expectation The eyes of his Children shall faile Some by Children understand not his naturall Children or the Children of his body but his Children in a figure Morum atque vitae imitatores Aquin. such as imitate and follow him who take his course and tread in his pathes for as they are called the Children of the Devill who are like him and doe his workes and as we are called the Children of God not onely in reference to our new birth and spirituall generation but also in reference to our new obedience and holy actions Mat. 5.44 45. So they may be called a mans Children who resemble him in his manners as well as they who issued from his loynes Hence Note First The punishment of sin doth not alway rest or determine in him that committed the sin The bitter fruits of sin are often transmitted and handed over to those who had no present hand in them when they were committed The whole Familie and Posterity of sinners may smart many a day after and inherit the sins of their Progenitors as well as their Lands when the Father purchaseth or provides an Inheritance for his Childe by flattery or any other indirect way the eyes of his children may faile for it I have met with this point before Cha. 15.33 34. and elsewhere therefore I onely touch and passe from it Secondly Consider the particular sin against which this judgement is pronounced It is the speaking of flattery Hence Observe The sin of flattery is a very provoking sin That sin which shall be punished in posterity is no ordinary sin Those good actions which the Lord promiseth to reward in posterity or in after times have a speciall excellency in them It shewed that the deed of Jehu in destroying Ahabs House and rooting out his Idolatry though Jehu himselfe was a very bad man and did it with a bad heart yet I
say it shewed that the deed was very good because the Lord promised to reward his Children for it with the possession of the Throne of Israel to the fourth generation 2 Kings 10.30 Now as those acts have a great deale of excellency in them for which God rewards and blesseth to posterity so those sins have a speciall malignity in them which are threatened and pursued with revenges to Posterity Such sins have a touch of the first sin in them The punishment of Adams first sin is hereditary to the last man all have smarted for that sin and the eyes of his Children have failed because he looked upon and eate the forbidden fruit Now every sin which is thus spoken of in Scripture as Idolatry in the second Commandement and here flattery hath a speciall stampe of the first sin upon it not onely as being a sin and so a derivative from it but as having much of the sinfulnesse of that sin in it The evils of which did not dye with those who gave it life And as all flattery is very sinfull so spirituall flattery or flattery about spirituall things is most sinfull both because about them we ought to be most plaine-hearted and because a deceit about them doth most hurt Any kinde of flattery is bad enough but this is worst such was that of the falfe Prophets who daubed with untempered morter and cryed Peace peace when there was no peaee Who set themselves to please not to instruct the people and were therefore busie in sewing pillowes under every elbow A flatterer would make all men leane soft sit easie and be well perswaded of themselves though their case be starke naught He that thus speakes flattery to his Freind doth indeed speake misery yea and death to his Freind The flatterer is the greatest hater and no man speakes worse of another then hee who speakes better of him then he deserves or then his state will beare It is dangerous to speake all the good of a man that is true but to speake good of him which is not true may be his utter undoing And though it hath beene sayd and often experienced that flattery gaines Freinds and Truth-speaking hatred yet none have run into so much hatred as flatterers For as it is sayd of Treason That many love the Treason but all hate the Taytor so many love to heare themselves flattered but all hate flatterers And though true reproofes are bitter Pills and very distastfull to most in the taking downe yet wise Solomon hath assured us That he that rebuketh a man afterwards shall finde more favour even with that man then he that flattereth with his lips Prov. 28.23 There are many who as the Psalmist speakes Psal 36.2 Flatter themselves they are their owne Parasites But as they who flatter others doe most commonly fall under their displeasure so all they sooner or latter shall fall under their owne displeasure and that 's worse then the displeasure of any yea then of all men who have flattered themselves It is our wisedome and our peace to be plaine with our selves and with all men how much present disquiet so ever we get by it Paul speakes it out to the Thessalonians 1 Epist 2.3 4 5. Our exhortation was not of deceit neyther at any time used we flattering words But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the Gospel even so we speake not as pleasing men but God Further these words may be expounded not as a threat against his Freinds for their flattering of him but as a threat against himselfe in case he should have flattered them And so they carry also the weight of a reason why hee used so much freedome in reproving them and shewing them the danger that hung over their heads As if he had sayd You my Freinds may perhaps wonder at my boldnesse and plainenesse of speech while I tell you that God hath hid your hearts from understanding and that he will not exalt you But you must pardon me I had rather incurr your frownes by my downeright dealing with you then Gods by flattering you I had rather make your eares tingle by reproving you then make the eyes of my Children ake by my applauding you for this I have learned as a certaine truth that hee who speakes flattery to his Freind the eyes of his Children shall faile Hence Observe That even a godly man doth and ought to strengthen himselfe in doing his duty by the remembrance of those evills which are threatned against the neglect of it A Beleever makes use of the threatnings as well as of the promises to keep his heart close in obedience That is the best obedience which springs from the feare of the Lord and his goodnesse but that may be a good and a pure act of obedience which springs from the feare of the Lord and his wrath Christ exhorts and forewarnes his freinds to feare him who after hee hath killed hath power to cast into Hell Luke 12.5 'T is noblest and most spirituall to obey God for himselfe without respect eyther to Heaven or Hell yet wee may have respect both to Heaven and Hell to reward and punishment in our obedience Joseph resisted temptation by the highest argument when he sayd How can I doe this great evill and sinne against God Gen. 39.9 He resists temptation by a good argument who saith How can I sin against God which will doe so much evill to my selfe or draw many evils upon mine And thus Job argued according to this interpretation when he sayd He that speakes flattery to his freind the eyes of his Children shall faile Or as Master Broughton renders The eyes of the given that way that is to flattery shall be consumed Vox Ban in non filios sed intelligentes vel considerantes significat a Verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est intelligere hinc sic conficitur textus Et ooculi considerantium eum deficient Bold There is another reading of the latter clause and so of the whole Verse The eyes of those that consider observe or attend him shall faile and so they derive the word Bamin not from Ben a Son or a Childe but from Bin which signifies to understand or consider The eyes of those that consider him shall faile Then the meaning is my freinds are so exact and accute in flattery in composing and uttering fauning speeches that they who heare them are wrapt into an extasie and their very eyes doe faile with their intentnesse in beholding them They are such powerfull Orators that they can draw the mindes and eyes of their Auditors whither they please and cause their eyes to ake with looking so wistly on them having as the Apostle speakes in a like case their persons in admiration Job having thus complained against and taxed his Freinds of flattery goes on to aggravate the sadnesse of his condition and upon the whole to move the Lord to hasten an end of his miseries or to hasten
as a challenge not as a profession of his fixed purpose to oppose what his Freinds should say in maintenance of their opinion but onely as a desire of their attention to what hee had yet to say for his Come returne now as if hee had thus expressed himselfe Yee are not right let mee set you right and instruct you better learne of me you have need enough to be taught for I have not found a wise man among you Thus David calls his Schollers about him Psal 34.11 Come yee Children hearken unto me and I will teach you the feare of the Lord. The former glosse shewed the strength and courage of Jobs spirit this the piety and holinesse of his spirit 'T is our duty in meeknesse to instruct those who oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth 2. Tim. 2.25 Thirdly Invitat amicos ad mutandam sententiam Pined Rescipiscete Jun. The words are more generally taken for an invitation to repentance Come now returne Some translate the word Returne in this Text by Repent which is the sense of it in a hundred Texts of the Old Testament Repentance is a turning and returning all returning supposeth eyther our being out of the way or that we have gone as farr as our businesse lyes in that way The returning of repentance supposeth only the former for every step in sin is quite out of our way what have wee to doe in the way of sin but onely to come out of it our businesse lyes not there all that we doe there must be undone againe or else wee are undone for ever In this returning of repentance we may consider first the terme from which and secondly the terme to which wee are called to returne The terme from which is twofold First Sinfull practices Secondly False and erroneous opinions Job doth not deale with his Freinds about the former hee did about the latter they were under a grand mistake concerning the Doctrine of providence and from that he invites them to a speedy returne The terme to which we are to returne in the actings of repentance is threefold First To our selves Secondly To God Thirdly To him whom wee have wronged or from whom we sinfully dissent Job may be interpreted as calling his Freinds to a returne in this threefold reference Ad se redire etiam Eatinis dicitur qui ad bonam mentem redit Grot. First As repentance is a returning to our selves a man that is carried away either to false opinions or into wicked courses is gone from his neerest home 'T is a duty to deny our selves but 't is a sin to depart from our selves And as it is a sin to depart from our selves so every sin is a departure from our selves therefore repentance which is a turning from sin must needs be a returning to our selves The Gospel represents the repentance of the Prodigall Son under this notion Luke 15.17 And when he came to himselfe he sayd c. He had not been with himselfe a long time before yet at last he came to himselfe this was his first step to repentance An impenitent person is not onely out of his way but out of his wits he is gone not onely from Divine truth and holinesse but from his owne naturall reason and prudence if so whensoever he repents he returnes to himselfe Secondly Repentance is a returning to God If thou wilt returne O Israel saith the Lord returne unto me Jer. 4.1 The grace of repentance is most frequently and most suitably expressed by this act of returning to God and they who doe not repent are every where sayd not to returne to God Amos 4. c. Yet have yee not returned unto me Thirdly Repentance is a returning to man We must not be ashamed to acknowledge our faylings one to another or to returne to them in duty from whom we have departed eyther by not giving them their due or by accusing them unduely We must not be ashamed of returning to them by submitting to the truth from whom wee have departed by following or holding any errour Thus Job may be conceived counselling and calling his Freinds to a returne in these three senses given First to themselves Secondly to God Thirdly to him whom they had so long opposed But though all three may be included yet the scope and designe of Job seemes to intend the third Returne and come now that is Returne to me let not truth fare the worse for my sake doe not you cast it off because I hold it It is not enough to turne from any evill whether of opinion or practice and returne to the obedience of God but we must also returne to the love of good men and unite with them in the truth But why must they returne Job gives the reason expresly in the latter part of the Verse For I cannot finde one wise man among you All the wayes of sin and errour are wayes of folly they stampe a man for a Foole and unwise whosoever walkes in them I cannot finde one wise man among you When he saith I cannot finde It shewes that he had endeavoured to finde he had been seeking for a wise man among them but he found none The Lord saith David Ps 14.2 looked down from heaven upon the Children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek after God but he found none They are all gone aside Vers 3. Job seemes to have been upon such an inquiry He had looked over his Freinds and weighed them one by one but he found not one wise man among them The Preacher Eccles 7.27.28 counting one by one to finde out the account found but one man that is one wise or good man among a thousand No marvaile then if Job found not one among three yet considering what three these were men numbred among the Worthies possibly the first three of that age and place it may justly be mervailed why Job should speak at so low a rate or so sleightly of them Was he not too censorious and rigid too bold and adventerous to speake thus concerning men of such gravity authority and reputation for wisedome and learning yea and for holinesse too as these three were Shall we say that this censure proceeded from Jobs wisedome or from his passion Was he wise in saying so or so much as charitable I answer Job did not speake this from any ill will to his Freinds or from contempt of them it had been not onely unfreindly but very sinfull to have done it That word of Christ had its truth in those times Hee that is angry with his brother unadvisedly shall be in danger of judgement and he that saith to his Brother Racha which signifies an empty fellow or a man that hath nothing in him shall be in danger of a Councell but he that saith thou Foâ—le shall be in danger of Hell stre Matth. 5.23 Job did not call his Freinds Fooles when he sayd
are ready for us and we have made our bed in the darknesse it is not for us to looke for life here indeed to live to us is Christ but to dye is gaine A Beleever can willingly part with all his earthly possessions for heavenly hopes much more can he joyfully part with all his earthly hopes for the possession of Heaven Thirdly from these expressions The Grave is my house I have made my bed in the darknesse Note A Beleever looks upon death as a state of rest As the whole house is a place of rest compared with the World abroad so the Bed is the speciall place of rest Revel 14.14 Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth they rest from their labours and their workes follow them They shall follow their worke no more who are followed by their works The Grave is the house and bed of the body to all who dye Heaven is the house and rest of the soule to all those why dye in the Lord. Saints have here a rest in their labours they shall hereafter have a rest from their laboures Lastly Whereas the bed of death is made in darknesse Observe There is nothing desireable in death as considered in it selfe A darke condition is the worst condition Darknesse which in Scripture signifies all evill is a word good enough to expresse the state of death by What desireablenesse there is in death what pleasures in the Grave will appeare further in those arguments which death useth to invite us home to its house the Grave in the next Verse vvhich tels us our most lovely companions yea our sweetest and most endeared relations there are Corruption and Wormes Vers 14. I have sayd to corruption Thou art my Father and to the worme Thou art my Mother and my Sister Hyperbolae sunt quibus significat se omnem jam vitae cogitationem abdicasse Jun. This Verse is of the same sense with the former onely here Job breaks into an elegant variation of new metaphors and hyperbolicall expressions I have sayd That is I have as it were called to and saluted the retinue and attendants of death as my freinds and kindred As I have made my bed in the Grave and as that is my house so now I am finding out my houshold relations I say to this Thou art my Father and to that Thou art my Mother and Sister 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est clamare vocare appellare per electionem nominare elegans prosopopeia per quam Job tumulum alloquitur Bold The word which we render I have sayd c. signifies not barely to say but to cry or call out I have called out to corruption so Master Broughton To the pit I cry O Father O Sister O Mother to the Worme not barely I have sayd but I cry and not barely I cry Father to the pit but he adds also a note of exclamation O Father Secondly The word imports not generally a calling or crying out to any one that comes next but to some speciall person by way of election and choice or to such as vve know vvell and are acquainted with as the termes of Father Mother and Sister imply Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat etiem occurrere alicui nam occurrentem solemus salutatione vel interrogatione aliqua proprio nomine appellare Further the word signifies not onely to call aloud and to call with election but to goe forth on purpose to call a Freind or to invite him in As when we see an acquaintance comming towards us or our dwellings we step out to meet and welcome him so the word may beare in this place As if Job seeing death drawing towards him had gone out and said O corruption my Father O wormes my Mother my Sister vvelcome vvelcome such an elegancy the word yeelds us I shall not here stay upon any anxious disquisition about the propriety of these relations how Job cals corruption his Father and the vvorme his Mother and Sister or in drawing out comparisons about them vve are to looke onely to a generall proportion not to an exact propriety in these words there 's no need to make out parallels between corruption and a Father or betweene wormes and a Mother or a Sister Onely thus much may be asserted particularly First He speakes thus to shew that he looked on death not onely not as an enemy but not as a stranger Death and he were well acquainted Secondly He speakes thus to shew that death vvas not only not a stranger to him but as one of his kindred He vvas upon as fayre termes vvith death as vvith Father and Mother Thirdly Job speakes thus to shew Vt ostendat mortem sibi in votis esse cunctis illum amicitiae necessitudinis nomininis compellat Pinet that he did not onely looke upon death as in a neere relation to him but as having a kinde of delight and contentment in death vvhat is more sweet to a man vvho hath been in a long journey and is returning home then to thinke that he is comming to his Father and Mother to his Brethren and Sisters As nature gives us kindred by blood so it is a custome to adopt and stampe to our selves kindred by kindnesse one vve call Father and another vve call Mother one is our Brother a second is our Sister a third our Cozen by the mutuall tyes or by the receits and returnes of curtesie Thus we are to take these compellations as intimating vvith vvhat spirit Job entertained the thoughts of death even with no other then if he had beene to fall into the embraces of Father and Mother and Sister He sayd to corruption as we should say to wisedome Prov. 7.4 Say unto wisedome thou art my Sister and call understanding thy Kinswoman that is Acquaint thy selfe with and be familiar vvith vvisedome so shalt thou keepe thy selfe vvhich is both thy vvisedome and thy happinesse a stranger From the strange Woman Vers 5. Further it may yet be enquired what it is which Job cals Corruption and the worme I have sayd to corruption c. What is this corruption There are two opinions about it First Some interpret him speaking to the corruption and wormes which had already seized upon his body for his diseases and ulcerous sores had bred corruption and wormes As if he had sayd I may well call corruption my Father for I am already full of corruption I may well call the worme my Mother my sister for the wormes creep in and out at my sores continually my body is as if it had layne already in the Grave full of corruption and wormes Secondly Others expound him speaking to and of the corruption and wormes which waited his comming into the Grave The vvord in the Text which wee translate Corruption signifies also the Grave because bodies doe not onely corrupt in the Grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fovea corruptio quod in fovea corpus corrumpitur but
our rest together is in the dust They shall goe downe Spes meae omnia mea recte in plurali dicit significans non spem tantum sibi ab illis propositam sed omnes alias spes hujus vitae Merc. Who or vvhat shall goe downe There is no expresse Relative in the Hebrew They that is say some these hopes he speakes in the plurall Number as if hee had sayd All my hopes about this life are going downe to the pit The best of worldly hopes and worldly things are dying and perishing mine are to me as dead and perished Secondly Others understand it of Job himselfe for the word vvhich wee translate Barrs signifies also the members of the body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vectes significat ea omnia quae velut vectes aliquid sustentant Aliqui Rabbini ad ipsum Jobum referant quod ipsius fulchra i. e. membra brachia vires robur descendent Vectibus sepulchralibus descendent Jun. Mâ—ae videbitis istas expectationes quas praedicatis una cum corpore ferretro efferri in sepulchrum Jun. As if he had sayd I my selfe shall goe downe to the Pit or Grave A third thus They shall descend upon the barrs of the Grave The meaning is Yee shall quickly see mee and all my worldly hopes which yee so much speake of put together in a Coffin and carryed out upon a Beire to the Grave for buriall This going downe to the barrs of the Pit according to our reading imports that he and his hopes should descend to the lower parts of the earth the Grave and be buryed there the pit would shut him in and make him fast enough The Grave is a Prison and there are Barrs or bolts belonging to that Prison vvhich shut the Prisoners in there 's no breaking of that Prison The Decree of God is the Barre of the Grave and his purpose locks it up till the day which himselfe hath appointed for the resurrection from the dead and the judgement vvhich is to follow As the evill Angels are reserved in chaines of darknesse to the Judgement of the great day so are the bodies of men chained and barred downe in the darknesse of the Grave till God sends out the Arch-angel with the sound of a Trumpet to summon them to his Barr. Yet further these words are interpreted as spoken in derision of those overtures which his Freinds made to him about worldly happinesse Per irrisiâ—nem haec dicta sunt Cajet As if he had sayd You perswade me that I shall have much good in the World very well let it be so but doe you thinke that I can carry my Goods my Houses and Lands my Silver and Gold my Corne and my Wine to make merry with in the Grave Shall I and the greatnesse you promise me live together in the Grave and make our abode in darknesse The Septuagint seeme to favour that sense rendering it An bona mea mecum ad infernos descendent aut pariter super pulverem descendemus Shall my Goods goe with me to the Grave or shall wee descend into the dust hand in hand vvhen I surrender this battered Fort into the hands of death shall I march out with Bagg and Baggage to these Subterranean dwellings The Apostle affirmes That we brought nothing with us into this World and he doth more then affirme It is certaine saith he we can carry nothing out 1 Tim. 6.7 And therefore vvhat doth it availe a dying man to tell him of riches seeing vvhen he dyes he must leave all his riches Master Broughton translates plainely thus To the midst of the Grave all shall descend when wee shall goe downe together in the dust From which our reading of the latter clause varies but a little When we shall rest together in the dust The vvord vvhich we expresse by rest is derived by some from a root signifying to descend or goe downe hence the difference of translation The Hebrew particle im which we render When signifies also For or Forasmuch Further it is sometimes taken conditionally for If as also interrogatively for utrum whether according to all which acceptions this clause hath undergone a variety of reading But I passe them by and keep to our owne When our rest together is in the dust or for as much as we shall rest together in the dust Of this rest I have spoken before Chap. 3.17 There the weary be at rest thither I referr the Reader Wee may also take Jobs sense in this place by that which hee speakes so cleerely out to this point Chap. 30. Vers 23. For I know that thou wilt bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living I shall not stay here to draw out Observations matter of this purport about the certainty of and about our rest in death having occurred heretofore All that I shall add for the close of this Verse and Chapter shall onely be an offer towards the resolution of a doubt vvhich may arise upon the vvhole matter of Jobs continued resolves for death and his refusals of any entertainment of the hopes of life Hence it may be questioned Did not Job sin in giving up his hope and in refu ing to be comforted when his Freinds wise and godly men laboured to assure him of deliverance I answer First Job was vvilling to be comforted but hee did not like their way of comforting which vvas indeed a wounding for the promises vvhich they made him did all along carry an implication of his guilt they never promising him any deliverance but upon the supposition of his repentance from those wickednesses vvith vvhich they charged him vvhereas hee utterly denyed their charge in the sense which they layd against him Secondly I answer Wee cannot altogether acquit Job from blame in judging his state so deplorable and remedilesse For though with an eye to the creature and all second causes there was no probability or possibility for his recovery yet Job should have raised his hopes upon the power and Al-sufficiency of God he might have remembred that as his affliction was extraordinary and the hand of God very visible in it So his deliverance also might have been as extraordinary and that God could have put forth as strong and as visible a hand to restore him as he did to cast him downe 'T is sayd of Abraham Rom. 4.18 19. that he against hope beleeved in hope nothing appeared for the support of his hopes yet Abraham did not say Where is my hope or why should I waite for Children He considered not his own body now dead when he was about an hundred yeares old neyther yet the deadnesse of Sarah's wombe These naturall impediments came not to his minde while he had a word from the Lord of nature Hee staggered not at the promise of God through unbeleife but was strong in Faith giving glory to God But we may say of Job from the continuall tenour of his owne answers that he
God to doe it shewed 431. It is a great judgement to have the understanding clouded 432. Our inability to understand ariseth two wayes ibid. When God takes away mens understanding it is a signe of their destruction 435. Unity men are apt to agree in doing hurt 276. W. Wayting what it is 514. Waiting upon God is one of the great duties of man 517. Waiting hath a blessing 520. Foure sinfull grounds of giving over waiting upon God 521 522. Wearinesse of body and minde 246 247. Weeping not unbecomming the most valiant men 379 Wedding garments signes of joy 317. Wicked mans life a painefull life 88. He hath two sorts of paine 88 89. He hath the paine but not the deliverance of a Woman in travell 89. Hee makes an ill construction of all that he heares 97. The destruction of a wicked man is inevitable 109. his misery is decreed 119. Wicked man falling into misery is irrecoverable 161. Wicked men of two sorts 192. God often delivers his precious servants into the hands of wicked men 278. It is an addition to affliction to be given into the hands of wicked men 279. Will of God under a threefold consideration is the rule of prayer 337. Winking how sinfull 45 46. Wise man who and how distinguished from a crafty man 4. It is most uncomely for a Wise man to speake vainely 6. The wisest of men doe not see all truths 430. A wise man may soone forfeit his title 496. Wise men rarely found 498. Wisedome no one man hath all wisedome 27. The highest straine of pride to think so ibid. He that is full of his owne wisedome is unfit to receive instruction 41. Wishing evill to others in what sense it may be done 229. Witnesses an old custome among them 19. God is both Judge and Witnesse 362. How and in what cases we may call God to witnesse 364 365. The witnesse of God is the most desireable witnesse 366. It is the joy of an upright heart that God is a witnesse of all hee doth 368. Worldly things are not the rest of Beleevers 283. All worldly prosperity may quickly bee dasht and lost 287. Worldly things are tastlesse and worthlesse to us in times of great sorrow 326. Words are great doers 9. Words which doe no good are evill 10. Salt of words what 10. Our words are sutable to our spirits 55. In what sense evill words are worse then evill thoughts 56. Words called windy in three respects 219 220. Bitter and passionate words to man provoke God 225 226. Words duely spoken are of great power 236. Ill sleeping upon hard words 414. Vnkinde words are bitter to the hearer 414. Harsh words carry much provocation in them 415. Hard words stick long upon the spirit of man 417. Wormes the companions of the dead 528. Wrath of God a consuming fllame 163. How we are sayd to give place to wrath 235. Wrinkles in the face caused two wayes 256. A perfect soule-state and a perfect state of body hath no wrinkle in it 257 258. A TABLE OF Those Scriptures which are occasionally cleered and breifly illustrated in the fore-going EXPOSITIONS The first Number directs to the Chapter the second to the Verse the third to the Page of the Booke Genesis Chap. Vers Page 2. 18. 253 254. 3. 8. 96. 4. 7. 357. 4. 14. 108. 5. 29. 35. 6. 4. 311. 8. 22. 509. 9. 27. 174. 11. 5 6. 276. 14. 22. 364. 31. 47. 361. 32. 24. 253. 34. 29. 396. Exodus Chap. Vers Page 8. 29. 411. 12. 15. 388. 14. 24 25. 165. 15. 9. 277. 34. 29 30. 318. Leviticus Chap. Vers Page 26. 41. 519. Numbers Chap. Vers Page 5. 21. 353. 15. 30. 130 127. 20. 10 11. 224. Deuteronomie Chap. Vers Page 8. 18 156. 29. 4. 432. 32 17. 510. Joshua Chap. Vers Page 5. 2. 492. 8. 26. 127. Judges Chap. Vers Page 11. 31. 388. 15. 16. 308. I. Samuel Chap. Vers Page 2. 5. 112. 9. 9. 77. 31. 4. 408. II. Samuel Chap. Vers Page 1. 9. 408. 13. 4. 260. I. Kings Chap. Vers Page 8. 27. 371. 16. 2. 319. 18. 41. 95. 20. 33. 244. II. Kings Chap. Vers Page 6. 33. 522 95. 7. 6. 97. 14. 9. 137. Ezra Chap. Vers Page 9. 13. 53. Esther Chap. Vers Page 5. 13. 277. Job Chap. Vers Page 20. 21. 114. 22. 15. 256. 30. 18. 316. 36. 27. 14. 42. 6. 319. Psalmes Chap. Vers Page 2. 1. 203. 7. 3 4 5. 353. 9. 12. 358. 15. 4. 67. 19. 14. 366. 22. 12. 146. 22. 30. 149. 23. 4. 36. 25. 14. 26. 33. 10. 288. 32. 1. 347. 35. 15 16. 265. 35. 19. 47. 37. 25. 111. 38. 1. 297. 39. 12. 379. 45. 12. 149. 50. 20. 72. 51. 8. 261. 51. 14. 348. 64. 8. 167. 73. 22. 248. 73. 25 28. 381. 75. 5. 189 141. 78. 31. 146. 78. 41. 521. 85. 6. 492. 88. 15. 249. 95. 8. 214. 106. 15. 259. 106. 32 33. 224. 106. 40. 66. 106. 7. 414. 108. 7 8 9. 165. 109. 6. 280. 119. 18. 432. 119. 96. 159. 119. 121 122. 424. 119. 126. 289. 119. 176. 170. 120. 5 7. 224. 126. 3. 279. 141. 5. 279. 144. 7. 84. 145. 19. 113. 146. 4. 505. Proverb Chap. Vers Page 4. 16. 418. 4. 17. 328. 4. 24. 45. 6. 1. 421. 6. 17. 47. 6. 25. 43. 6. 13. 48. 6. 26. 111. 7. 21. 437. 10. 10. 48 10. 15. 177. 11. 31. 181. 12. 16. 346. 16. 30. 48. 17. 21. 434. 18. 14. 330. 22. 26. 421. 24. 16. 161. 25. 12. 215. 25. 25. 388. 26. 6. 70. 28. 3. 91. 29. 11. 51. 29. 27. 66 Ecclesiastes Chap. Vers Page 4. 9 10. 253. 5. 10. 115. 7. 7. 248. 7. 15 16. 469. 7. 17. 187. 8. 10. 176. 9. 7 8 9. 317. Canticles Chap. Vers Page 1 16 190 2 16 406 4 9 266 Isaiah Chap. Vers Page 1 1 77 1 7 84 1 15 349 2 4 385 3 16 47 5 5 446 5 8 9 10. 153 6 9 10. 433 8 20 288 8 21 113 11 4 166 106 Â Â 384 22 2 98 22 18 123 25 4 51 25 9 521 26 17 18. 201 28 10 308 29 13 12 30 9 411 30 18 520 30 31 32 33. 458 32 6 6 33 1 158 38 14 423 40 24 159 40 30 31. 487 43 3 268 43 13 14. 138 44 9 20 44 20 179 46 8 67 â—0 47 11 109 49 4 238 50 4 218 51 3 34 52 1 85 53 10 305 57 20 224 65 20 187 Jeremiah Chap. Vers Page 4 16 308 4 19 95 5 7 150 5 13 4 6 29 30. 145 14 4 128 15 2 107 17 9 173 18 12 13 14 15. 524 20 3 4. 97 30 11 302 30 21 427 31 18 323 46 28 302 49 7 31 Lamentations Chap. Vers Page 3 4 257 3 12 13. 303 293 3 22 303 Ezekiel Chap. Vers Page 13 19 217 14 14 450 15 3 69 16 6 348 16 49 150 22 26 327 â—1 2 377 23 42 284 24 7 349 24 13 238 36 31 67 44 15 170 Daniel Chap. Vers
Why doth he yet finde fault for who hath resisted his will Nay but O man who art thou that replyest against God What wilt thou chop logick with God himself Wilt thou as the Margent saith answer againe or dispute with God Hold thy peace quiet thy selfe What 's the matter that thou turnest thy spirit against God Spirit is here put for the will thoughts and counsells Spiritus pro arrogantia Latine diciur magnos gerere animos qui superbia tumet Merc. Quid tumet adversus Deum spiritus tuus Vulg. Quid torva convertis in caelum Lumina quid in Deum refundis stomacum evocas conceptam iram Pined Animum indignatione accensum Jun. Omnem spiritum suum depromit stultus i. e. iram Aben Ezra Rege animum i. e. iram Horat of Man cloathed and elated with arrogancy stoutnesse and pride In all languages Spirit imports that which is high And to say Such a one is a man of spirit notes not onely the activenesse of that man but often his pride and haughtinesse Besides Spirit is sometimes put for indignation for fury and wrath in all which acceptions the word may be rendred here Thou turnest thy spirit that is thy anger and wrath thy fury and indignation against God So the word is used Isa 25.4 When the spirit or blast of the terrible ones is as a storme against the Wall that is while the fury of the terrible ones is in its highest march and motion God promiseth to be a strength to the poore a strength and a refuge to the needy in his distresse So Prov. 29.11 A foole uttereth all his minde or all his spirit that is all his anger he lets it out and discovers himselfe presently but a wise man if there be cause of anger keepeth it in till afterwards that is till a fit season He hath a retentive faculty which a Foole hath not Now in which sense soever of these explained we understand Spirit in the present Text the charge is as high as it can goe upon any man when 't is sayd Hee turneth his Spirit against God Hence Observe To turne the spirit against God is the very spirit of ungodlinesse there is no greater wickednesse then this A godly man may doe an act which is against God but his spirit cannot act against God that 's the character of the wicked A godly man delights in the Law of God according to the inward man whilst the outward man sins against the Law of God an ungodly man turnes his inward man against the Law of God while his outward man pretends obedience to it and as it is an act of highest disobedience so of the proudest pride to turne the spirit against God The Vulgar Latine translates it well Why doth thy spirit swell against God Thou hast an impostumation in thy spirit against God yea it is not onely an act of the proudest pride but of the maddest madnesse to turne the spirit against God Furorem erupisti ante dominum Sept. so the Septuagint gives it Thou hast caused thy fury or thy madnesse to breake forth before God he that acts against God is a mad man indeed Will yee provoke the Lord are you stronger then he is the Apostles chiding question to such mad men are you so mad after your lusts hath sin made you so foolish Have you lost both grace and reason at once that you dare thus provoke the Lord and challenge the Almighty God resists the proud and the proud assault him Grace turnes the spirit to God repentance is the returne of our spirits to God then what is the turning of our spirits against God but a cleare demonstration of a totally impenitent and gracelesse Spirit Againe when Eliphaz saith Job turned his Spirit against God he doth not meane it of a direct or professed opposition against God as if Job had openly defied him and blasphemed his Name but his meaning is that Job shewing so much impatience and unsatisfiednesse of spirit under the dealings of God with him did not submit to God as he ought Eliphaz I conceive did not so much as suspect that Job turned his spirit immediately or as wee say poynt blanke against God himselfe but onely against his dispensations Hence observe That while we speake or our hearts rise up against the dealings of God with our selves or others we may be sayd to turne our spirits against God himselfe Many who think they have not neglected Christ will be found to have neglected him because they have neglected those by whom or that wherein Christ is offered The Evangelist brings in Christ speaking thus Matth. 25. I was hungry and yee fed me not thirsty and yee gave me no drinke they to whom hee speakes wonder at this Lord say they when saw we thee hungry and gave thee no meat or thirsty and gave thee no drinke surely we have not been guilty of such a wickednesse Yea saith Christ In as much as yee did it not to one of these yee did it not to me when yee refused to feed these yee refused to feed me I was in these and these were in me Now in the same manner many will say when wee charge them with turning their spirits against God with fighting against and opposing God Who we oppose God we never opposed God as we know of yea peradventure they will say we have honoured God and doe you charge us that we have turned our spirit against God to many such God will say In as much as yee opposed my word and murmured against my workes in as much as yee were angry with my dispensations and discontented with what I have done ye have turned your spirit against me We may become guilty of this sin before we thinke of it for as there is a direct and litterall contending with God so an equivalent or constructive contending with him As some men commit plaine open Treason against a State but others commit only constructive Treason 'T is so here the God of Heaven knowes when spirits turne against him directly and when by consequence and he will take vengeance not onely of direct and avowed but also of consequentiall and constructive Treason against his Soveraignty unlesse the offender repent and be humbled before him He will judge thousands at the last day for opposing him who it may be in some things have pleaded for him yea who have in some things not onely acted but suffered for him though usually when the spirit of any man turneth against God that mans workes and words turne against him too So Eliphaz further taxeth Job in the latter clause of the Verse And lettest such words goe out of thy mouth As if he had sayd Such stuffe as thou hast in thy heart even such flowes out of thy mouth the word Such is added by most Translators the Hebrew is And lettest words goe out of thy mouth it is no fault to let words goe out of the mouth 't is no sin to speak
Justice Fire is prepared for both their Tabernacles that is for their whole estates or for all that belongs unto them Yet Eliphaz may seem rather to ayme at bribe-takers or unjust Judges among whom he secretly numbers Job who suffer themselves to be corrupted with gifts and to have their eyes put out by rewards The Septuagint is expresse in that sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 munera accipientum 70. Fire shall consume say they the Tabernacles of bribe-takers And indeed if there were no bribe-takers there would be no bribe-givers as we say There would be no Theeves if there were no Receivers The Receiver makes the Theife and corrupt Judges who take bribes make so many bribe-givers Further The word which we translate Bribery signifies properly a gift and the Text may be rendred thus Fire shall consume the Tabernacles of gifts There are many gifts which are farr from bribes There are five sorts of gifts First Gifts of charity to the poore Secondly Gifts of freindship between equals Thirdly Gifts of duty from inferiours to those above them to testifie either thankfulnesse or obedience Fourthly Gifts of bounty and grace from Superiours to those who are below them to testifie their favour to them and that they are wel-pleased in them or in their services There is no hurt either in giving or receiving these gifts These are onely testimonies of respect from man to man and tend onely to maintaine humane society But there is a fifth sort of Gifts which we may call gifts of injury or in the language of the Text Gifts of Bribery These are given either to pervert or delay Justice and to overthrow a man and his cause The Hebrew expresseth a gift in generall and a bribe by the same word Quid est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quâ—d facit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unum dantem scilicet accipientem quam primum accipit munus ab ipso tunc accedit anima ejus ad ipsum fit si cut ille ipse Rab. Becei c. Buxtorf Lex because as all bribes are gifts so very many gifts are bribes Gifts of charity of freindship of duty of favour are but few in comparison of bribing gifts And 't is exceeding hard for any man that is interessed in affaires of Judgement between man and man to receive a gift from either of them and not be brib'd by it to transgresse the rules of equity and righteousnesse A gift transformes the Judge into a party or makes as the Hebrew criticks tell us upon that word the Judge and party to be but one person Lastly The tabernacles of bribery may be taken not onely in generall for the estates of those who have given or taken Bribes but particularly for the very Houses which have been built by giving or taking Bribes Some have built houses with what they have gotten by giving Bribes and many by taking Bribes have got enough to build houses While such look on their houses and dwellings they may say if they will say the truth Injustice hath built us these houses these are the Tabernacles of bribery A Traveller comming to Rome and viewing many famous structures Haec sunt peccara Germanorum and goodly houses there asked who built them It was answered These are the sins of Germany the meaning was that the Money brought for Pardons out of Germany built those Houses So we may say of many faire places and goodly dwellings These are Bribes and Oppressions such a man built these by iniquity Bribes may build houses but bribe-takers cannot protect them The Tabernacles of bribery shall be consumed Hence Observe First Bribery is an odious sin That sin which is put to expresse all sins against our neighbours must needs be a very odious as well as a very comprehensive sin God loves judgement bribery opposeth what God loves God commands charity as well as judgement and delights to see men bountifull as well as righteous Yet charity without judgement and bounty without righteousnesse are an abomination to God God is a God of judgement they that are against judgement act not onely against the rule which God makes but against the example which God gives It is as much the honour of God that he is a God of judgement giving all their due as that he is a God of mercy giving to all his what they have not at all deserved Secondly Observe That which is sinfully gotten shall be miserably lost Fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery There is nothing gained though much be gotten by injustice Many give bribes to undoe others and all who receive bribes undoe themselves what is the advantage of any sinfull gaine when the fire of Gods wrath consumes the gainer What shall a man give in exchange for his soule And as the losse is infinite that comes by sin in reference to the next life so at best the gaine is little in reference to this present life Either the actor of injustice or his Heire shall finde a fire in the foundation a fire in the Stones and Timber of his House and downe 't will come Bribery never bought any lasting materialls to build with Woe be to him saith the Prophet Hab. 2.9 10 11 12. that coveteth an evill covetousnesse or according to the Hebrew that gaineth an evill gaine to his house that he may set his nest on high that he may be delivered from the power of evill Thou hast consulted shame to thy house c. For the Stone shall cry out of the wall and the beame out of the Timber shall answer it What shall the stones cry Or what shall the beame answer The stones shall cry that the morter in which they were layd was tempered with the blood of innocents and the beame shall answer that it was set up by pulling downe the poor Those are crying sins indeed which cause stones that cannot speak to cry And what answer can be given for those iniquities which provoke Timber beames to answer Such is the iniquity of oppression and injustice which are the fruits of bribery See a paralell place Jer. 22.13 14 15 16 17. the summ of which may be drawne up into this conclusion given by Eliphaz Fire shall consume the Tabernacles of Bribery Eliphaz having thus described the perishing estate of wicked men as an argument to deterr and stave them off from wickednesse concludes his whole discourse with an Allegoricall recapitulation both of their sin and misery in the last words of this Chapter Vers 35. They conceive mischiefe and bring forth vanity and their belly prepareth deceit They conceive mischeife The Scripture is frequent in this metaphor we have it Psal 7.14 almost word for word Behold he travelleth with iniquity and hath conceived mischeife and hath brought forth falshood Isa 59.4 They conceive mischeife and bring forth iniquity The Apostle James Chap. 1.15 speaks the same language When lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death All
alluding to the naturall conception formation and production of Children We have these three in the Text before us the order of the words being a little altered Here is first Conception They conceive mischeife Secondly Formation Their belly prepareth deceit Thirdly The birth Bring forth vanity More strictly to the method of Eliphaz we have first The conception secondly the birth of sin And as if one birth were not enough they returne to their work providing for a new birth of the old man Their belly prepareth deceit They conceive mischeife The word which we translate Mischiefe signifies properly labour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Labor molestia perversitas hard labour or labour accompanied with a great deal of paines and sorrow it signifies also wickednesse perversnesse We translate mischeife They conceive mischeife or some mischeivous devise to the dishonour of God and the wrong of man They conceive Conception is here the worke of the minde we ordinarily say We conceive such a thing that is We take it in or apprehend it by an act of the understanding Here 's the truest character of a wicked man he is one that conceives mischeife The allusion teacheth us First That a wicked man sins with much freedome of spirit or he sins freely He conceives mischeife The conceptions of the minde cannot be forced nor can the conceptions of the body and therefore the Law resolves it That there is no rape where conception follows These conceptions are the joynt actings of the will and understanding both concur in them an unregenerate person is free to doe evill he needs not be forced to it he cannot be forced from it and every evill is the more evill by how much the more freely it is done The more voluntarily we sin the more wickedly we sin Againe The conceptions of the minde are deliberate there is a collecting of one thing from another a debating in conceiving Hence Note Secondly Wicked men sin with deliberation They sit downe and meditate they lay the frame of wickednesse in their hearts and then set it up or act it with their hands Note thirdly All the conceptions of wicked men are wickednesse They are very fruitfull in wickednesse and they beare no other fruit Mischeife is not onely that which he conceives but all that he conceives he conceives nothing else A wicked man cannot think or conceive one good thought he may think of that which is materially good but he conceives no good Gen. 6.5 All the thoughts of the imaginations of his heart are onely evill and that continually All the Creatures which he formes in his minde all the children of his understanding are deformed and monstrous He conceives mischeife which as it notes a continued act so an act continued about or upon the same object Fourthly Observe To be a contriver a plotter a conceiver of mischeife is worse then then to be an actor or a doer of mischeife It is ill to have a hand in any sinfull evill it is worse to have a head in it but worst of all to have a heart in it Conceivers of mischeife alwayes have their hearts and heads in mischeife and if they are not stopt will have their hands to it too they who are plotters and designers would be actors Hence they are called Workers of iniquity They have an inward Shop and an outward Shop first they work it in their thoughts and mould it there and then it comes out To conceive mischeife is properly the Devils trade he rather deviseth then acts wickednesse There are many wickednesses in the World which he cannot act but he is or would be the plotter setter and contriver of them all This is the wickednesse of the Devill and every conceiver and deviser of mischeife is of the Devils trade A good man may possibly doe evill but a wicked man deviseth evill As it notes the spiritualnesse of a man in holinesse when he doth not onely act that which is good but his heart is upon it he conceives and frames it in his minde So it notes a man spiritually wicked when his minde frames wickednesse The Apostle concludes of himselfe Rom. 7.25 So then with my minde I serve the Law of God but with the flesh the Law of sin Not that he willingly gave up his flesh to sin but that he was carryed through the infirmity of the flesh to some sinfull actings while his minde his devisings and contrivings were according to the Law of God and he delighted in the Law of God concerning the inward man This is the spiritualnesse of holinesse and without this there is no outward act of any account with God It is what the minde moves to not what the mouth speaks or the hand doth which commends us to God What is it to God that we serve his Law with our flesh if with our minds we either serve the Law of sin or doe not serve the Law of God Man is not what he acts but what he conceives unlesse he act what he hath conceived They conceive mischeife And bring forth vanity Now they come to the birth they are in travell after conception they bring forth and the Childs name is Vanity The Originall word is rendred three wayes First We say Vanity Secondly Another saith Lyes A third saith Iniquity The word will beare any of or all the three translations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vanitat mendacium perversitas They bring forth vanity a lye iniquity They who conceive mischeife may bring forth any thing but what is good Those three words may serve the same thing every vanity is a lye and any lye is vanity and iniquity is both lye and vanity The persons of whom Eliphaz discourseth are sayd to bring forth vanity on these three grounds First Because they somtimes bring forth no fruit at all they are conceiving mischeif but they can make nothing of it their conceptions end in abortions they devise and plot but all is hatching of winde The Church is so expressed though in a different case Isa 26.17 18. Like as a Woman with Childe neer the time of her delivery is in paine and cryes out in her pangs so have we been in thy sight O Lord Wee have beene with childe we have been in paine The Church had conceptions for good shee hoped that the Lord would have done some great thing for her yet after her conception and travell see what shee brings forth We have beene in paine and brought forth winde that is nothing at all it proved a meer timpany for so he explaines it We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth neither have the Inhabitants of the World fallen that is we have not obtained that deliverance that we hoped for in the earth neither have our Enemies who are called by the Prophet The Inhabitants of the World been subdued under our power they have not fallen Now as the Church and people of God sometimes are disappointed in their expectations they conceive yet