vve have used them both for our owne good and the good of others I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe thus saith the Lord Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised Jer. 31.18 Ephraims outward moanes were as musick in the eares of God Ephraim did not murmure against God but he bemoaned himselfe Ephraim was not angry at his chastisement but Ephraim mourned being chastised God heard this fully in hearing hee heard it or it pleased him to heare it It is our duty to testifie our sorrow by the saddest notes of a troubled spirit and it is a delight to God when vve doe so not that hee delights in our sorrows but he delights in the witnesse vvhich vve beare to his wisedome righteousnesse and faithfulnesse in sending those sorrowes I heard Ephraim bemoane himselfe Will an offendor that lookes for mercy come before the Judge in rich apparrell or in some affected dresse Comes he not rather in his Prison clothes puts he not on the garments of heavinesse The Messengers of Benhadad put dust on their heads and ropes about their necks and sack-cloth on their loynes when they came to mediate for the life of their Master And thus the Lord speakes to the Israelites Exod. 33.5 when they had sinned and he was wroth Put off your Ornaments that I may know what to doe with you Ornaments are uncomly when God is threatning judgements It is time for us to lay by our bravery when God is about to make us naked Sack-cloth sowed upon the skin and our horne in the dust are the best ensignes of an afflicted state The Prophets counsell indeed is Joel 2.13 Rend your hearts and not your garments Rending the garments may be taken not onely strictly for that act but largely for all outward actings of sorrow Yet when he saith Rent not this is not a prohibition of but a caution about the outward acting of their sorrow Not in Scripture is not alwayes totally negative it is often directive and comparative So in this place Rend your hearts and not your garments is your hearts rather then your garments or be sure to rend your hearts as well as your garments The one must be done the other ought not to be left undone See more of this Chap. 1. Vers 20. upon those word Then Job rent his Mantle Thirdly Observe Great sorrow produceth great effects and leaveth such impressions as testifie where it is The Apostle saith of the sorrow of the World That it worketh death 2 Cor. 7.10 The sorrow of the World may be taken two wayes First For the sorrow of carnall worldly men whose sorrow for sin is only a vexing of their hearts not a breaking or humbling of their hearts which being separate both from true faith for the pardon of sin and from any reall purpose of leaving their sin worketh death both temporall death often wearing out their naturall life lingringly and sometime destroying their naturall life violently as in Judas as also hastning them on to eternall death of which it selfe is a foretast or beginning Secondly This sorrow of the World is a sorrow for the losse of or disappoyntments about worldly things This also worketh both those deaths in meere worldly men and when it is excessive as under a temptation it may be in a godly man it may be sayd to worke the death of the body in him yea great and continued sorrow though it be not excessive worketh towards this death in a godly man drying his bones and drawing out his spirits as is cleare in Job on whose eye-lids the very shadow of death sate while hee wept and sorrowed 'T is hard to dissemble a little griefe but a great deale cannot be hid As godly sorrow manifests it selfe in excellent effects upon the soule of which the Apostle numbers up seven at the eleventh Verse of that Chapter For this selfe same thing that yee sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulnesse it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves c. Now I say as godly sorrow manifests it selfe in manifold effects upon the soule so doth the sorrow of the World set its marks upon the body As a good mans heart is made cleane by weeping the teares of godly sorrow so every mans face is made foule by weeping the teares of worldly sorrow and as godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation and life eternall so the sorrow of the World vvorketh an entrance to temporall death yea we may say that godly sorrow doth sometimes worke temporall death Paul was afrayd lest the incestuous person while he was repenting might be Swallowed up with over much sorrow 2 Cor. 2.7 vvhich as vvee are to understand cheifely of a swallowing up in the gulfe of despaire so we may take in that also as a consequent of the other a swallowing of him up in the Grave of death as if hee had sayd The poore man may both despayre and dye under this burden if you let it lye too long upon him As soone as Heman had sayd in his desertion My soule is full of troubles he presently adds And my life draweth nigh unto the Grave I am counted with them that goe downe to the pit free among the dead Psal 88.3 4 5. To which he subjoyns Ver. 9. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction and then expostulates Vers 10. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead Shall the dead arise and praise thee As if he had sayd These sorrows will bring me to my grave or in the language of Job On my eye-lids is the shadow of death Till wee enjoy a life beyond the reach of all sorrows wee shall not be beyond the reach of death Hence that promise Revel 21.4 God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes and there shall be no more death neyther sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more paine And as that life which hath no death in it shall have no sorrow in it so that life which is a continuall death the life of the damned is nothing else but sorrow There shall be weeping and wayling and gnashing of teeth for evermore Mat. 13.42 Their eyes shall ever weep their faces shall ever be foule with weeping and on their eye-lids the shadow of death shall dwell for ever Fourthly The hand of God being heavy upon Job he defiled his horne in the dust and fouled his face with weeping he regarded neyther the beauty of his face nor the dignity of his condition all was nothing to him Learne from it Great afflictions take off our respect to the World and all worldly things What is honour What is Gold or Silver What is a goodly House What is a beautifull Wife and pleasant Children What are fine cloathes or a faire face in a day of sorrow or in the approaches of death Spirituals are highest prized when we are lowest Grace shines clearest in worldly darknesse but the light of worldly enjoyments is darknesse to us and that vvhich some esteeme as a Sun is but a
us either as possessed or used but as adored and trusted Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity Thirdly Observe Man must and will have somewhat to trust to or leane upon And therefore rather then fayle he will trust that which cannot but fayle Vanity Like one that 's ready to drowne he catcheth at any thing a rotten stick or a straw and would support his whole body by that which is not able to beare the weight of his little finger Man is a weak creature sense and nature are enough to make him sensible of his naturall weaknesse and these also are enough to prompt and provoke him to seek helpe without himselfe though they are utterly insufficient to direct him whither to goe for the surest helpe It is the priviledge of God alone to have nothing to trust to or to be above trust He who is all strength needs not trust As he doth not put trust in his Saints Vers 15. because he knows they are frayle and mutable so he hath no need to trust them because he knows himselfe not onely strong but immutable God is all that he is from himselfe and therefore he ever continues to be what he is by himselfe But man who is not a spring to himselfe of Being cannot be a support to himselfe for the continuance of his Being much lesse for the continuance of his well-being And as mans necessity calls him to trust so his duty calls him to trust God Man fell at first by his desire to stand alone he would be independent and men fall every day because they desire to stand by that which cannot stand alone It is a speciall part of that worship which we owe to God to trust him and whatsoever we trust besides God we make a God of it He that trusts not in the God that made him makes many Gods such as they are by trusting them While Job puts that negative supposition as to his owne case Chap. 31.24 If I have made Gold my hop◠or have sayd to the fine Gold thou art my confidence He more then implyeth that many had Man ought to trust God but few will many will trust in Creatures but none ought Man will be trusting in somewhat and he is so forward to trust in vanity which indeed is nothing that it is the hardest thing in the World to take him off We cannot presse either our selves or others too much to trust God and we cannot represse them enough from trusting vanity Man is very ready to exercise and put forth an act of trust and he is as ready to mistake the object of trust Lastly Observe Man is apt to trust that which hath deceived him or man being once deceived trusts that which will deceive him againe Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity We say Such a man hath deceived me once but he shall not deceive me the second time But carnall hearts being deceived once by sin and vanity are willing to be deceived a thousand times being once deceived they care not how often they are deceived That of the Prophet is an eminent Testimony to this too much experimented truth Isa 44.20 He feedeth on ashes that is he is as much deluded as a man is who eates ashes thinking it to be bread or other good cheare or his Idoll which promised him great matters and much joy hath given nothing but ashes sorrow and misery of which ashes and especially feeding upon ashes was an embleme Now though it were thus with him yet saith the Prophet A deceived heart hath turned him aside that he cannot deliver his soule nor say is there not a lye in my right hand that is Though he sees himselfe deceived yet he hath no power to withdraw from the deceiver nor to question the deceit he is so bewitched with the sorcery of sin that he cannot deliver his soule from the snares of it but being deceived he is willingly deceived and looks upon his deceiver as his trusty Friend God never deceived no nor fayled any man that trusted in him Ps 9.10 yet the hearts of the most will not be perswaded to trust God sin and the creature deceive all that trust in them yet we can hardly call or beat the heart off from trusting them Sin seldome looses its credit sin hath broken and undone thousands yea all who have trusted it yet still it hath credit among thousands and can be trusted with more then this World is worth the precious soule of man for the asking But let not him that is deceived trust any longer in vanity if he doe he shall never be a gainer no nor a saver by it For vanity shall be his recompence Vanity fills both parts of the Verse and meets us at every turne yet with a difference In the former part by vanity was signified either sin or the creature in this latter part vanity notes misery Vanitatis nomen variè hic sumitur quam ob rem sorsan varie scribitur priore loco sig vanas res quibus fidebant scopes gloriam posteriori loco vanitatem in quam haec omnia redigenda sint dum ex his decidens miser siet Merc. or the effect and fruit of sin Hence Observe The vanity of misery overtakes all those who are deceived by the vanity of sin Vanity is their recompence There are two sorts of recompence First Of wrath Secondly Of favour Evill deeds have their recompence as well as good To me saith the Lord Deut. 32.35 belongeth vengeance and recompence that is the recompence of vengeance as the Apostle expounds it Heb. 10.30 For we know him that sayd Vengeance belongeth unto me I will recompence saith the Lord God will not live long in any mans debt As holy Gospell-confidence hath a great recompence of reward Heb. 10.35 So every disobedience of the Law received a just recompence of reward Heb. 2.2 And God is so exact in giving the recompences of punishment that he will not spare his owne when they are so foolish as to trust in vanity Prov. 11.31 Behold the righteous shall be recompenced in the earth much more the wicked and the sinner that is A righteous man shall be corrected though he sin of infirmity how then shall the wicked be punished who sin with presumption and delight As a wicked man hath all his recompences of good on the earth Matth. 6.2 They have their reward so a righteous man hath all his recompences of evill or affliction in the earth he hath none beyond But we may strongly argue that the wicked who trust in vanity shall be recompenced with sorrow for ever seeing the righteous if they doe but a little turne aside to vanity shall be recompenced with sorrow here That 's the Apostle Peters way of reasoning 1 Epist 4.18 If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and sinner appeare Surely as the Prophet concludes Isa 59.18 According to their deeds accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries recompence
AN EXPOSITION WITH Practicall Observations CONTINUED UPON The fifteenth sixteenth and seventeenth Chapters of the Book of JOB BEING The Summe of twenty three Lectures delivered at Magnus neer the Bridge LONDON By JOSEPH CARYL Preacher of the Word and Pastour of the Congregation there JAMES CHAP. 1. VERS 12. Blessed is the Man that endureth temptation for when he is tryed he shall receive the Crowne of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him LONDON Printed by Matthew Simmons and are to be sould by Thomas Eglesfeild at the Marigold and at the Brasen Serpent in Pauls Church-yard 1650. TO THE CHRISTIAN READER TO THOSE ESPECIALLY OF THIS City who have been the movers and continue the Promoters of this WORK SOLOMON who made Many Bookes tells us toward the end of one of them Eccl. 12.12 That of making many Books there is no end and that much study is a wearinesse to the flesh But while Solomon speakes thus doth he not at once blot those many Books which himselfe had written and discourage others from writing any more Though study be a wearinesse to the flesh yet 't is granted that 's no sufficient reason why we should desist the flesh must be wearied and hard wrought 't is good it should be so But there 's no colour of reason why we should begin that which eyther cannot be finisht and brought to an end or which is to no end when 't is brought to an end and finisht How then saith Solomon that of making many Books there is no end His scope cleares this scruple for having read his Son a Lecture upon the vanity of the Creature and having given him many excellent advices for the due steering of his course through this World he applyes all in the former part of this Verse And further by these my Son be admonished Let what is now written take upon thy heart and be accepted with thee For Vers 10. The Preacher sought to finde out acceptable words and that which was written was upright even words of truth Againe Vers 11. The words of the Wise are as Goads and as Nayles fastned by the Masters of Assemblies which are given from one Shepheard Therefore let these words like Goads put thee on and like Nayles fasten thee to the obedience of my counsels By these my Son be admonished As if he had sayd Let not this Booke which discovers the vanity of all worldly things be it selfe accounted vaine If this Book prevaile not with thee if it master not thy judgement and mannage not thy affections 't is to no end for me to make many Bookes seeing this is cloathed with as much compleatnesse of rule to direct as a Book of this Argument can be and is stampt with as much strength of Authority to command as any Book of any Argument can be And further why shouldest thou my Son put mee to the making of many Bookes What if I could make many with as much ease to my owne spirit as I have made this one which was given me in immediately by the spirit yet thou canst not study or as we put in the Margin read many Books without weaâ—inesse to thy flesh So then though Solomon might have just had ground to put the affectation both of writing and reading many Books upon the file of his observed vanities yet hee doth not disoblige from the study of necessary and serious Books nor at all condemne those many Monuments of profitable learning which industrious Pens have in any Age bequeathed to Posterity He indeed which yet is but a second designe if it be at all the designe of that place takes us off from vaine studies and censures those Bookes be they few as well as many which have no tendency to make any man eyther the wiser or the better by reading them Nor can those Books how many soever they are be to their disparagement called Many which center in and promote what is but one in every kinde any kinde of Truth cheifely that which we call Divine or Holy Truth Any One uselesse or erroneous Booke is too many Many usefull and Orthodox Bookes are but One. The five Bookes of Moses are but One Law The foure Bookes of the Birth Life and Death of our ever blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ are but One Gospell All the Bookes of both Testaments are but one Booke Vpon which account we may also say that All those many and many Bookes which faithfully interpret That one Booke are but one Booke And though of making many such Bookes there should as I conceive there will be no end till this World ends as End is taken for a ceasing to make them yet of making many such Bookes there is an end yea many noble ends as End is taken for the good or benefit which comes by making them The making of such Bookes is good and a benefit to the Reader as communicating to him those manifestations of the spirit which are given to every man to whom they are given to profit withall The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there used by the Apostle signifies such a profit as streameth out to community The making of such Bookes is also good and a benefit to the Maker as being an improvement of his Time and Talents to his owne peace and his Masters glory 'T is reward beyond all the World can give for any worke that God hath glory and man peace in doing it As this small peice of worke is directed to these last mentioned ends and as it ought principally to the first of them so that it may reach the former by adding a Mite or two to the Treasury of the Readers knowledge in the best things and by being his encouragement to walke in the best wayes is the hope and prayer and the reaching of it will be indeed a very rich reward and payment of Your affectionate Freind and Servant in this Worke of the Lord Joseph Caryl May 22. 1650. AN EXPOSITION Upon the Fifteenth sixteenth and seventeenth Chapters of the Book of JOB JOB Chap. 15. Vers 1 2 3 4 5 6. Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite and sayd Should a wise man utter vaine knowledge And fill his belly with the East winde Should be reason with unprofitable talke Or with speeches wherewith he can doe no good Yea thou castest off feare and restrainest prayer before God For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity and thou chusest the tongue of the crafty Thine owne mouth condemneth thee and not I Yea thine owne lips testifie against thee WEE are come to the second Session of this great dispute between Job and his three Freinds they have all spoken one turne and now they returne to speake Eliphaz who led the first charge leads the second and that with a very violent march against this sorrowfull man Yet we are not to conceive Eliphaz upon any designe to revile his person or to vex his spirit That were most unsuitable in any Freind much more such we suppose Eliphaz to
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
Olive To lose a hopefull Childe is an affliction what is it then to lose them all Eliphaz having dehorted the wicked man from trusting in vanity upon these considerations gives in the strength of his whole discourse in the two last Verses of the Chapter Vers 34. The Congregation of Hypocrites shall be desolate and fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery 35. They conceive mischiefe and bring forth vanity and their belly prepareth deceit Epilogus est totius loci Merc. Apodosis superioris allegoriae Jobum perstringens cui ista obvenerant Jun. As if he had sayd Here is the summ of all of all the sins and of all the punishments of a wicked man Here are two sorts of wicked men described and these two as was toucht before by a Senechdoche include all The first are such as worship God falsely or with false hearts they draw neer to God with their lips but their hearts are farr from him these are Hypocrites The congregation of Hypocrites shall be desolate As these are false with God in his worship so others are false with men in their commerce and dealings These are comprised in the second branch Fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery Bribery is put for all sins against our Neighbours and hypocrisie for all sins against God So that here we have sinners against the first Table and sinners against the second sinners against God and sinners against men in the compasse of this division all sins and sinners are contained The Congregation of Hypocrites That is Hypocrites how many soever there be of them though they be a full Congregation Hypocrites how strongly soever they are conjoyned and cemented yet they shall be desolate The Hebrew word signifies not onely to Congregate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat non solum congregari sed in faedus pactum aut amicitiam convenire and gather together severall persons into one place but to associate them into a Covenant League or confederacy one with another as if he had sayd Though hypocrites combine and Covenant together yet this covenanting Congregation or these unholy Leaguers shall be made desolate A second interpretation gives it thus Illa quae congregantur ab hypocrita Aquin. The Congregation of hypocrites that is all that Hypocrites doe congregate whatsoever they gather together whether things or persons their Riches their Honours their Relations all shall be desolate Shall be desolate Or barren the word signifies both that which is desolate brings forth no fruit and that which brings forth no fruit will quickly be desolate What an Hypocrite is hath been shewed before Chapter 8. therefore I will not stay upon it but refer you thither where Bildad told Job The hope of the Hypocrite shall perish Onely note two things from the whole The Congregation of Hypocrites shall be desolate First An Hypocrite is under a curse Of all men in the World Hypocrites are deepest under a curse They are most cursed who are most wicked Hypocrites are therefore more wicked then others because they would seem not onely somewhat but much more holy then others It is bad enough to be bad but it is worse to appeare good when we are bad They who delight in the shews of morall goodnesse when they hate or care not for the reality of it shall surely meet with not shewes but realities of penall evill Their painted feigned fire of zeale shall be punished with the true fire of Divine wrath Secondly Observe Hypocrites how many soever they are how strongly soever they are confederate how much soever they have gotten together shall be made desolate It is not possible to make any power to withstand the power of God Though like those uncircumcised Nations Gebal and Ammon and Amaleck the Philistims and those of Tyre they all consult and lay their heads together to make a Congregation yet God will break them all How long soever their traine be how many soever their attendants be and how strong soever their correspondency be yet the Congregation of Hypocrites shall be desolate And fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery Fire may be taken two wayes Either litterally and strictly for the element of fire or for ordinary fire Or it may be taken figuratively and metaphorically and so it signifies Either first The wrath of God Or secondly Any effect of the wrath of God any revenge or judgement which God powres forth on wicked men And so what judgement soever God sends we may call it a Fire even that deluge of Water as hath been noted which drowned the old World was in this sense a fire Divine judgements are represented by fire upon these three grounds First Because as fire they break forth suddenly and unexpectedly they are not like the fire that is for use which we are long preparing and blowing before it will burne but the judgements of God are like an accidentall fire which breaks out when no man looks for it in a moment Os lingua tribui solet igni nam dicitur lambere depascere Secondly They are fire because of their destroying nature so the Text speaks it eates up or devoures Fire is a great eater fire hath a strong stomack what will not fire digest Fire will digest the whole sublunary World at last The Element shall melt with fervent heat Fire will digest Stones Adamant and iron Such is the wrath of God nothing can stand before it it will subdue the hardest materials and toughest peices The hot stomack of the Ostrich as some affirme concocts Iron what will not the heat of Gods anger concoct and consume to ashes Thirdly There is a mercilesnesse in the judgements of God as in fire We say Fire and Water have no mercy there is no intreating them they are not onely hard but impossible to be intreated Such in reference to wicked men is the wrath of God as good speak to fire not to burne or to water not to drowne as to the wrath of God not to consume wicked men it must and will doe it Jer. 15.1 Though Moses and Samuel stood before me c. to intreat yet the sentence shall not be taken off wrath must burn Though prayer hath in many cases quenched wrath yet sometimes the wrath of God cannot be quenched by prayer nor intreated downe there is no speaking to it and sometimes that it might burn quietly the Lord hath sayd Pray not for this people Fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery Tabernacles of bribery may be taken two wayes Either for the Tabernacles of those who have taken bribes Or the Tabernacles of those who have given bribes for there goes as we say but a paire of Shears between him that gives and him that takes bribes both are of a peice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Proprie munus quod datur ad corrumpendum judicem Drus and both are alike mischeivous and wicked Some take bribes to pervert Justice and others give bribes to pervert
Oracles of God like little Children who must have the same precepts and lines often and often inculcated upon them he gives it us in the forme of this Text Isa 28.10 For precept must be upon precept line upon line that is they must be continually followed with precepts they must have many and yet they scarse learne one or as others expound that place the Prophet describes the scornefulnesse of that people who jeered the Messengers of God for their frequency in Preaching with a riming scoffe Precept upon precept line upon line here a little and there a little which single tearms the Prophets had often used in their Sermons Now which way soever we take the proper sense of that place yet the common sense of the words reaches this in Job for precept upon precept speakes there a multitude of precepts even as here breach upon breach speakes a multitude of breaches or breaches all over And the Apostle Paul expresseth himselfe in this straine while he gives the reason of the recovery of Epaphroditus from a dangerous sicknesse Phil. 2.27 He was sick saith Paul nigh unto death but God had mercy on him and not onely on him but on mee also least I should have sorrow upon sorrow that is many sorrows heaped up together So then when Job complaines of his breaking with breach upon breach the plaine meaning is that he had many very many breaches His very wounds were wounded there was nothing in him Vulnera ipsa vulnerat Non habet in nobis jam nova plag◠locum or about him to be smitten but what had been smitten already As if he had said I am so full of breaches and afflictions that there is no whole space or roome left for a new breach for another affliction As he that lyes upon the ground can fall no lower so he that is all broken cannot be broken any more Job had breach upon breach in his estate his Cattle and goods were taken away Job had breach upon breach in his Family most of his Servants and all his Children were destroyed Job had breach upon breach in his body that was sick and soare Job had breach upon breach in his credit hee was called Hypocrite againe and againe Job had breach upon breach in his soule that was filled with feare and terrour from the Lord. Hence Note The best Saints on earth are subject not onely to great but various troubles to breach upon breach God is pleased to smite them sundry times and he smites them sundry wayes 'T is no argument that a man shall be no more afflicted because he is afflicted or that God will not smite againe because he hath smitten already God doth not stay his hand by looking upon the number but upon the effect and fruite of our afflictions Every Childe of his whom he corrects must looke for more corrections till repentance hath had its perfect worke and every Champion of his whom he tryes must looke for more tryalls till faith and patience have had their perfect worke God would not give his Children so much as one blow or one breach not so much as a little finger of theirs should ake were it not for one of these ends and untill these ends be attained they shall have many blowes and breaches even till the whole head be sick and the whole heart faint till from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundnesse in them but wounds and bruises and putrifying soares As the Vine-dresser cuts and cuts Vt in vineis labor labori cura curae semper additur c. Sanct. prunes and prunes the Vine this day and the next day because once cutting or pruning will not serve to make it fruitfull So the Lord prunes and cuts and pares and breaks and breaks not to destroy his people but to make them as pleasant Vines bring forth abundantly eyther the fruits of godly sorrow for their sins committed against him or the proofes and experiments of the graces which they have received from him This latter was Jobs case and the cheife cause why he was broken with breach upon breach And no sooner had the Lord by his roaring Cannon made breaches in him fayre and assaultable but he presently takes his advantage as Job shewes elegantly pursuing the Allegory in the last clause He runs vpon me as a Giant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sicut fortis potens idem valet Gigas 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 When a breach is made in the wall the beseigers run up to assault and storme the place Job keepes to the Souldiers language the Lord hath made breach upon breach and now He runs upon me as a Giant There are three things in this expression First The speed which God made to assault him He runs Secondly The strength that God puts forth in assaulting him he runs not as a Childe not as a weak man no nor as the ordinary sort of strong men but as a Giant or mighty man who exceeds other men as Goliah did David both in strength and stature Quando aliquis dicitur aut currere aut aliquid agere sicut Gigas nihil aliud denotat quam magno animo strenuè rem aliquam aggredi Bold Thirdly Running as a Giant notes courage as well as strength A Giant runs fiercely and fearelesly David compares the Sun at his rising to a Bridegroome comming out of his Chamber and to a Giant or strong man it is the word of this Text who rejoyceth to run a race Psal 19.5 Giants are swift and Giants are strong Some men are strong but not swift of foot but no man can be swift of foot unlesse he be competently strong Giants are both in excesse And therefore Job puts both together He runs upon me as a Giant And yet I conceive this running doth rather imply the fiercenesse of the Giant then his swiftnesse Giants are dreadfull and terrible to behold they are called Nephilim in the Hebrew of diverse Texts which comming from the root Naphal to fall signifies fallers and that in a twofold sense First Because they Apostatiz'd or fell from God his truth and worship which Moses seemes to intimate while he describes the first great personall defection of the World Gen. 6.4 There were Giants in the earth in those dayes these he opposeth to the Sons of God in the same Verse who had also greatly corrupted themselves so that Vers 5. God saw the wickednesse of man was great upon the earth For the Sons of God they who owned a profession of Religion being the Posterity of Seth they mingled themselves with the wicked of the World as for the Giants they disowned God and were totally departed or fallen from his obedience and were therefore as some apprehend called Nephilim or Fallers Secondly They were so called because either through the vastnesse of their strength and stature or through the feircenesse of their mindes and spirits they were men of violence great oppressors
will plead for a man with God and the Son of man for his Freind As if Job had sayd I know I have a Freind of Christ and Christ lookes on me as his freind and therefore I have highest confidence that he will plead my cause and take off this scandall So much for Jobs earnest desire upon his appeale that his cause might come to a hearing and that Christ would undertake the pleading of it before his Father He gives a reason in the last verse why he was thus pressing to have the businesse brought to an issue why he did thus appeale to God as his witnesse why he did powre out teares to Christ that he would plead for him Why all this Vers 22. When a few yeares are come then shall I goe the way whence I shall not returne Deum vellem jamjam in presentia disceptationem in se recipere quia ad mortem propero Jun. As if He had said For as much as I must dye shortly I desire to have this difference taken up before I dye I cannot live long in this world and I would not goe out of the world under such a cloud as is now upon me Is it not time for me to hasten my cause to an end when mine end hastens and to get my busines determined before my yeares are Anni numeri Heb. i. e. qui numerati sunt adeo et brevissima periodo circumscripti When a few yeares are come The Hebrew is yeares of number that is Yeares which may easily be numbred Isai 10.19 The trees that remaine shall be few that a Child may write them they shall be trees of number that is a small number and Gen. 34.29 Jacob saith We are but few the Hebrew is We are men of number we may soone be told a Child may tell us and yet you provoke Citie and Countrie against us We very well translate according to the Hebraisme yeares of number a few yeares When a few yeares are come I shall goe the way whence I shall not returne What way is that which hath Vestigiv nulla retrorsum where all steps are forwards and none backward this is such a way as wee meet not with in all our earthly travels yet every man on earth is travelling towards such a way travell which way you will you have as many steps backwards as forwards men comming and going but saith Job I shall goe the way I shall not returne What way is this This is the way of all flesh Joshua 23.15 1 King 2.2 This is the way to the grave that way hath no steps backwards But are there no returne from the grave It is true some have risen there have been some first fruits of a resurrection but they who have come from the grave are so few that their foot-steps are worn out by those many many thousands of thousands who have gone to the grave What multitudes have gone the way to the grave and are not returned some few have returned but these so few that we may still affirme the way to the grave knowes no returning That which is very rarely done the contrary being very frequently done is said not to be done at all or never to be done But Job seemes to deny his owne returne he speakes as if he should not be only lodged for a while but lost for ever in the grave I shall goe the way whence I shall not returne I answer That Jobs faith was clear in the point of the resurrection of the body appeares by the confession which he makes Chap. 19.25 26. and therefore when he saith I shall not returne his meaning is as was shewed upon a like passage Chap. 10.21 First That he should not returne by any power of nature Secondly That he should not returne to a State of nature he believed fully that he should returne by the power of God to an estate of glory Our bodies which are sowen naturall bodies shall be raised spirituall bodies Though that which was sowed shall returne yet vvhen it returnes it shall not be as it was sowed Lastly whereas Job saith I shall not returne his meaning is vvhen I dye or if I dye I shall no more returne to my house and dwelling in the vvorld I must take my leave of all these things for ever My place shall know me no more as he speakes to the same subject Chap. 7.10 From the first branch of the verse note The yeares of mans life are few You may quickly number them Secondly As the yeares of mans life come about quickly so when they are come vve must goe certainely vvee must goe with death I shall goe saith Job there is no hindring no stopping of that journey it will not serve any mans turne to say He hath no mind to goe he must goe it will not serve any mans turne to say He is not at leisure to goe he must go it will not serve any mans turne to say he is not fit to goe He is not prepared to goe he must goe as he is fit or unfit prepared or unprepared he must goe It will not serve any mans turne to say he will give all the treasure in his house all the money in his purse to be spared this journey he must goe It will not serve any mans turne to say he will get another to goe for him or he will send one in his rooome There is no dying by proxie every man when his few yeares are come must goe in person Thirdly Observe A Believer can speake of death familiarly It is a comfort to him in his sorrowes to thinke that he shall dye shortly When a few yares are come I shall goe the way c. he speakes pleasantly the mention of death was a life to him Jobs life was a kinde of death and therefore to him especially death would be a kind of life were our hearts rightly affected they that have the most lively life would thinke death better thâ—n this life I desire saith Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all Death was better to him then life and lest any should say no marvaile if Paul desired to dye who could scarse tell where to live and no marvaile if he would dye once for all who was in deaths often to prevent this cavil he adds Which is best of all Barely to dye is better to some then a troublesome life but to dye and be with Christ is better then the best life much more is it better then that life in this world which is a continuall death as Jobes was how shoul such a man sing out Job's verse When a few dayes are come I shall goe the way whence I shall not returne Fourthly Observe It is good to put death before us under the easiest notions Here Job cals it only a going a going out of the world that is all he elsewhere cals it a sleepe and the Spirit of God every where in reference to Saints
Tabret an Example I am a by-word and an example before them which is a good sense and then the word Tophet of which more by and by is used for Mophet which signifies a wonder or some strange unusuall thing which appeares or is reported to the admiration of all beholders and hearers I am a Proverbe and a strange example Strange examples grow often into a Proverbe So the Greek expresseth it and we in English say to a man who hath offended greatly You shall be made an example that is You shall be severely punished Mat. 1.19 Joseph being very tender of the honour of Mary his espoused Wise perceiving that shee was with Childe before they came together he was loath to make her a Paradigme or an example of dishonesty and disloyalty he was unwilling to make her a publique example and therefore was minded to put her away privily till the Lord gave him warning in a dreame about it So saith Job here according to this rendring I am a by-word among the people and as it were a Paradigme a publique example Great afflictions have these three things in them in reference to others First They are a wonder to others Secondly They are a terrour to others Thirdly They are an instruction unto others Wee finde all these and more in one Verse Ezek. 5.15 So it shall be a reproach and a taunt an instruction and an astonishment unto the Nations round about thee when I shall execute judgements in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebuke I the Lord have spoken it The Apostle Peter describing the judgements of God first upon the Angels secondly upon the old World and lastly upon Sodome and Gomorah saith that God turning the Cities of Sodome and Gomorah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow making them an ensample to those that after should live ungodly 2 Pet. 2.6 The burning of those five Cities by immediate fire from Heaven made them examples or instructions to all succeeding Generations we may read the odiousnesse of those sins and the severity of God against them by the light of that fire to this very day Great afflictions are teaching afflictions Those calamities which destroy some should instruct all We are not onely to admire and wonder at them to be amazed and terrified at them but to be taught and admonished by them So the Apostle concludes concerning the severall judgements which God brought upon the Jewes while they murmured and disobeyed him in the Wildernesse All these things happened to them for examples or types and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the World are come 1 Cor. 10.11 There are two sorts of examples written in the Word First There are examples for our imitation Secondly There are examples for our caution Some are examples by the good which they have done these must be imitated others are examples by the evils which they have suffered by these we must be warned This translation of the Text intends Job an example of Caution Againe Aforetime I was as a Tabret that is Aforetime I was in good repute or I was pleasant company As if hee had sayd I am now derided mocked at and tossed upon the tongues of men yea I am now voted an Hypocrite though heretofore in my prosperity report gave a very pleasant sound of me though absent and my person was as welcome to them as a Tabret To speake of mee where I came not was musick and I was musicke wheresoever I came but now what am I A by-word musicke still if you will but in scorne a song of disgrace That 's the first sense Hence take one Observation before I proceed to further explication The affections and opinions of men are very variable I am now a By-word before time I was as a Tabret As the estates of men change so usually doe our opinions of them Jobs heart was the same as before he was as holy as ever hee was onely he was not so wealthy as he was his spirit was as full of grace as before onely his Purse was not so full of Gold as before he had not so many thousand Sheep nor so many hundred Oxen he had not such a Family and retinue such worldly riches and honour and because hee endured such a change in his condition see what a change he suffered in mens affections he that before was as a Tabret all were glad of him is now a by-word the scorne of all Christ giveth testimony of John Baptist John 5.35 He was a burning and a shining light and what followes And you rejoyced in him for a season Though John did burne and shine all the while which God continued him in the Candlestick of the Church with equall heat and lustre yet they rejoyced in him but for a while or for a season The Jewes changed their thoughts of John and their esteeme of him was weakned though John continued in the same strength of parts and gifts Then how would they have changed if John had changed The peoples hearts were flatted towards him though his abilities were not John had not that repute and honour after a few yeares which hee had at the first And the word in the Gospel which we translate to rejoyce comes neere the word which we have in this Text a Tabret for it signifies to leape and dance and the Tabret is a musicall Instrument at the sound of which men dance and leape for a time they leaped â—bout John he was a burning and shining light and they danced and skipped about him as Children doe about a blazing fire in the Streets but this was onely for a season John himselfe found the World a changling his followers kept no constant tenour towards him how constant soever his tenour was How great a change did Christ himselfe finde Hee is yesterday to day and the same for ever yet one day the Jewes cry Hosanna they will needs make him a King he had much adoe to keep himselfe from a Crowne the ayre eccoes with Blessed is he that commeth in the name of the Lord yet presently after the cry was Crucifie him crucifie him he is not worthy to live he could not keep himselfe by all his power as man from a Crosse a murtherer is preferred before him Not this man but Barrabas We read Acts 14. how suddenly the Tyde and Streame of affections turned and how opinions varyed about Paul when he and Barnabas had wrought a great cure the people came and would needs adore them and offer Sacrifice and sayd The Gods are come downe in the likenesse of men They brought Oxen and Garlands and would needs worship them there was much adoe to stave them off from Deifying or making Gods of them and yet before that Chapter is at an end their acceptation of him was at an end and Paul was stoned as unworthy the society of men by the same men and in the same place where he was saluted as a God It is no
new thing in the World to see those a by-word of the people who even now were their Tabret to adore one while and to despise another to applaud to day and to dislike to morrow now to smile and anon to frowne is the constant inconstancy of the creature Therefore Live not upon the breath of men upon popular ayre or the speech of people Though to have credit with men be a blessing yet let us live upon the credit which we have with God and rejoyce onely in his esteeme Most men are full of change and are apt to vary their aspects every moment their affections are as moveable as their outward condition is Onely God never alters his opinion of any man he never rejects where he hath accepted nor casts off where he hath embraced once a freind and alwayes a freind once pleased with us and alwayes pleased with us yea God is pleased with his while he manifests a fatherly displeasure against them and they are as a Tabret to him while he makes them a By-word among the people Job was a Tabret in the eares of God when he was a By-word among the people Thirdly Because a Tabret or Drum is empty of all but ayre and giveth nothing but a sound some interpret thus I am before them as an empty Vessell or as one who hath nothing in him but winde and from whom nothing comes but a sound of words that is They looke upon me as a man of no reall worth Paul saith of himselfe that though hee spake with the tongues of men and Angels that is With the most excellent tongues Angels have no tongues nor have they any faces as men have yet in Scripture the face of an Angell is put for the most beautifull face and the tongue of an Angell for the most eloquent tongue among all the children of m n Now saith Paul though I had the tongue of Angels or men and were the best speaker that ever was yet being voyd of true charity I should become as a sounding brasse and a tinckling Cimball 1 Cor. 13.1 Such a tinckling Cimball was Job esteemed a Drum full of ayre or an empty Vessell as Jerusalem was left by the King of Babylon Jâ—r 51.34 Fourthly Some both of the Rabbins and latter Writers tell us Existimant esse vocem Chaldaicam quae significat Dominum vel principem q. d. qui princeps eram factus sum in proverbium fabulam Rab. Lev. Vatabl. that Tophet is a Chaldee word signifying Lord or a Prince And they referr us for a confirmation to Dan. 3.2 Where we finde the word put into the Summons which Nebuchadnezzar sent to his Nobles and great Officers for their attendance at the dedication of the Image which he had set up We render it Sheriffs whether our word hits that is doubtfull but without doubt it signifies such as were in high Authority being there marshall'd before the Rulers of the Provinces Taking this interpretation of the word Jobs meaning is I am now a proverbe or a man of no credit though heretofore I was as a Prince or a Ruler in their presence Some reject this because the mixture of the Chaldee with the Hebrew was long after Jobs time which yet may easily be reconciled And the sense is good being indeed the same in substance with the second Exposition Fifthly This word Tophet which signifies a Drum or as we a Tabret which is a smaller Drum for there is the Martiall Drum or the Drum of Warr and the Tabret which is a Mirth Drum a Drum used at sports and dancing this word I say gives denomination to a place very famous or infamous rather in the Scripture of the Old Testament A part of good Josiah his reformation is thus described 2 Kings 23.10 And he defiled in the opinion of Idol-worshippers though indeed the purest worship used there was more filthy then any filth which Josiah threw into it He saith the Text defiled Tophet which is in the Valley of the Children of Hinnon that no man might make his Sons and Daughters passe through the fire to Moloch The Prophet Jeremiah complained of and threatned that place Chap. 7.31 32 They have built the high places of Tophet which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnon to burne their Sons and Daughters in the fire c. Now the reason why that place was called Tophet from the word in the Text arose thus because when the Jewes in those abominable Idolatries offered their owne Children the fruit of their bodies in sacrifice to Moloch the reputed God of the Moabites and Ammonites who was so called from Malac signifying to rule or reigne for as all Idols would rule as Kings so this was a cheife a King Idol hence some conceive Moloch to be the same with Baal which is also a name of supremacy signifying Lord or Master This Moloch was an hollow Image of Brasse into which they put much fire having the face of a Bullock and hands spread abroad like a Man He had seven Chappels and whosoever offered his Son to him entred into the seventh which when any did they used to beat upon Drums and Tabrets Barathrum quod supplicii locus erat apud Athenienses pro inferno usurpatur Beâ—m de Orig. Ling. Lat. A nomine Gehinnon i. e. Vallis Hinnon infernus dictus est Gehenna Hieron in 10. Cap. Math. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vallis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ruguit gemâ—it that the shreekes and cries of the poore Childe might not be heard by the Father Hence the place was called Tophet from Toph a Drum which comes from a radicall word signifying to beat or strike with the hand because Drums are artifâ—cially beaten and we ordinarily say Beat the Drum or At the beat of Drum And hence this place Tophet where those Children were superstitiously tormented by fire and burnt to ashes grew to a Proverbe so that any place of extreame torment was called Tophet As Hell is called Barathrum because Barathrum was a place so called among the Athenians into which they cast notorious malefactors Hence also Hell is called Gehenna from the Valley of the Son of Hinnon where those Children were sacrificed or from Ge signifying a Valley and Naham roaring or crying So that it was called Gehinnon from the cry of the Children and Tophet from the beating of Drums to drowne the cry of the Children And upon this account some learned Translators render the sense thus Et ignis gehennae prius ero Rab. Da. Pagn Sum velut Gehenna q. d. Etiam me vivum adjudicant Gehennae vel miserandae alicujus mortis generi Sedâ—res haec quadrare non potest nam ignis illius vallis Gehennae multo posterior suit quam Job Pined Merc. He hath made me a by-word and I am as Hell that is They judge me worthy of Hell and damnation yea that I am a very Hell I am as Tophet before them or they looke upon me as a man