which God raiseth his people shall be if he pleases like a mountain of Adamant which cannot be melted or like mount Sion which cannot be removed A high place is seldome a safe place All high things are tottering Nâ—tare solent excelsa omnia and the more high the more tottering Then how unsearchable is the wisdome how great the power of God who can set his people very high and yet very safe who can make a man stand as firme and steady upon the highest pinnacle of honour as upon a levell ground or in a valley of the lowest estate and condition He exalts to safety And hence wee may draw downe a difference between Gods exaltation of his own people and the exaltation of his enemies and wicked ones Wicked men are oft times exalted and God exalts them though they know it not but how He exalts them to a high place but doth exalt them to a safe place No the Psalmist after a long temptation concludes Thou hast set them in slippery places thou castest them downe into destruction how are they brought into desolation as in a mement Psal 73. 18 19. Haman was exalted high but not in safety Many are exalted as Jezabel exalted Naboth high among the people but it was to stone him rather then to honour him It is said of Pharaoh he lifted up the head of his chiefe Baker he lifted up his head out of prison indeed but he lifted up his head to the gallowes also he lifted him out of prison but it was unto his death Such is the lifting up of wicked men they may be set on high but they are never set in safety How many have we seen suddenly advanced and as suddenly depress'd We are never safe but where God sets us or while God holds us in his hand Fourthly observe It is a wonder a wonderfull work of God to exalt those that are low and set mourners in safety The 107 Psalme is a Psalme recounting the wonderfull works of God O that men would praise the Lord for his wonderfull works is the burthen of that holy song And all those wonders conclude in this ver 39. 40. Againe they are minished and brought low through oppression affliction and sorrow what then He powreth contempt upon Princes c. yet setteth he the poore on high from affliction and maketh him families like a flock How wonderfull is this that the Lord will give Kings for the ransome of his people and to raise his poore will powre contempt upon Princes The highest must downe rather then his low ones shall not be set on high There are foure things which encrease this wonder and make it exceeding wonderfull First These poore have no strength Deut. 32. 36. He sees that their strength is gone Secondly Many times they have no hope no faith When the Son of Man comes shall he finde among low ones faith this faith to be exalted upon the earth Luk. 18. 8. Thirdly They have many enemies subtill enemies powerfull enemies confident enemies enemies above hope arrived at assurance that they shall keep poore ones at an under for ever Lord saith David how many are they that trouble me So many they were that he could not tell how many Fourthly They are supposed to have no friends none to appeare for them Let us persecute and take him say they for there is Psal 71. 11. none to deliver him Not a man no nor God as they conclude They say of my soule there is no help for him in his God I need not say it is a wonder to exalt a people upon all these disadvantages The fact speakes should you see a man trod upon the ground and many there holding him downe one by the arme another by the leg a third laying a great weight upon his breast were it not a wonder to see this man rise up and rescue himselfe from them all Thus it is with the Church and servants of God when they are low all the world is upon their backs the world of wicked ones hang about them one with his power another with his policie all with their utmost endeavours to hold them downe yet the Lord sets them on high who were thus low and exalts them to safety who were thus in danger Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodnesse and declare his wonderfull workes to the children of men And this is further cleared in the 12th verse He disappointeth the devices of the crafty so that their hand cannot performe their enterprise As if Eliphaz should say would you know how God exalteth his people and setteth them in safety 'T is true they have many enemies many that plot and devise evill against them but the Lord breakes their plots he out-plots them He disappointeth the devices of the crafty c. And as this is a proof of the former so it is a further instance of Gods wonderfull works The first was in naturall things sending raine The second and third were in civill things first exalting his own people and secondly in defeating the policies and power of their adversaries so then this twelfth verse may be taken either as it hath reference to the former or as a further instance of Gods wisdome and power He disappointeth the devices of the crafty Or he defeateth the purposes of the subtill so Mr Broughton readeth it that their hands can bring nothing soundly to passe The Apostle in 1 Cor. 3. 19. sets the holy stampe of divine authoritie upon this whole booke by quoting this or the next verse as a proofe of his doctrine For it is written saith he He takes the crafty in their own counsell He disappoints the devices of the crafty saith Eliphaz and He takes the wise in their own craftinesse He disappointeth The word signifies to breake to breake a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fractus contritus thing to peeces and by a metaphor to disappoint or to defeate because if an engine or instrument with which a man intends to work be broken he is disappointed of his purpose and cannot goe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Confregit dissipavit Metaphoricè irritum fecit Latinè potest reddiâ—abrogari on with his work So here He breakes the devices of the crafty the crafty frame very curious engines and instruments they lay fine plots and projects but the Lord breakes them and then they are defeated or disappointed The word is often used for breaking or making voyd the law as Psal 119. 126. Ezra 9. 13 because wicked men as much as in them lies would defeate and disappoint the holy purpose designe of God in giving those lawes They would repeale abrogate the laws of God that they might enact their own lusts They would doe that by the will of God which the Lord doth with their wills Null and disappoint it The devices The word which we translate devices signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉
phancies Joseph dreamed that his brethren should worship him they sell him for a captive into Egypt what more opposite to honour among his brethren then captivity among strangers yet this device effected what they opposed Joseph was exalted in Egypt and his brethren press'd with want worshipt or bowed unto him for bread The Jewes tooke counsell to kill Christ and what was the motive A wise man among them suggests this feare If we let him thus alone the Romans will come and take away both our place and Nation Joh. 11. 48. But the Lord took the wise in this craftinesse For that cruell act in killing Christ brought the Romans upon them The time cometh saith Christ he foresaw what would come that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee and compasse thee round and keepe thee in on every side and they shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation Luk. 19. 43. 44. And thus as the Psalmist Psalme 64. 8. prophecied of his enemies they made their owne tongues to fall upon themselves A strange thing that the fall of a mans tongue should oppress his body and whole estate yet so it is the weight of a mans tongue falling upon him crushes him to powder The seventh Psalme is the paraphrase of this point ver 14. He travelleth with mischiefe and hath brought forth a lye that answers the 12th verse He disappointeth the devices of the crafty He made a pit and digged it and is fallen into the ditch which he made his mischiefe shall returne upon his own head and his violent dealings shall come down upon his own pate Here is the 13th verse made good He taketh the wise in their own craftinesse How doth this aggravate the sorrows of crafty men It is sad enough with the crafty when they are taken by the craftinesse of other men That any man out-wits them is enough to put them out of their wits How then will they live being taken and ensnared bâ— their own wit when they see themselves accessary to their own undoing when they see they have pull'd down their estates with their own hands and have put fire to their own houses As it greatens the sin so it greatens the punishment when a man falls by his own hand self-murder is the most sinfull and most bloody murder Neither is their sin or punishment lesse who die by the craftinesse of their own heads then theirs who die by the violence of their own hands This is a visible truth among us he that runs may read it in the book of Gods later providences I believe our age will be able to make as faire a record of this point for posterity as any that hath passed if not as all that have passed for many generations my work not admitting long confirmations I shall give but three instances that by them this truth may be established First The Prelates procured a stinted and in some passages a corrupted Liturgy to be sent unto and imposed upon the Scotish Nation and that occasion'd the total suppression of their Prelacy in that Nation Secondly The Prelates who were rooted fast enough in the Laws of the Land before would make a Canon Oath to settle themselves in the consciences of men to that they being establisht both by Law and conscience might be like Mount Sion which cannot be removed but standeth fast for ever yet that very Canon Oath hath been turned upon themselves and hath not only blasted their pompe but batter'd down their power hath produced a Sacred Covenant-Oath by which both Houses of Parliament and the people of these three Kingdomes are engaged for their extirpation Thirdly That act of many of the Prelates protesting against the validity of any proceedings in Parliament in that their absence from the house as being against Law Gave occasion for a Law which hath also pass'd the Royall assent for their absence from that house as members of it for ever O that men would acknowledge and praise the Lord in his wisdome and in these wonderfull works which he hath done among the children of men He takes the wise in their own craftinesse And as it followes in the text The counsell of the froward is carried headlong The counsell There is somewhat further in that not only are their devices disappointed but their counsels Counsels are the results Consilium est ali quid faciendi non faciendiveè excogitata ra tio Cicer l. â— de Invent. of serious and sad debates Craft is of one counsell of many heads laid together Counsell is the extract of reason both about what we are to doe or leave undone These counsels God carries headlong There is nothing more opposite to counsel then precipitation long deliberation should go before determination but their counsels shall be carried head long They shall either be overhasty in counsel or their counsels being solemnly enough setled shall be overhastily acted Rash headlong execution may be as dangerous as rash headlong resolutions But whose are these counsels the same mens still though under another notion The counsel of the froward Before we had the devices of the crafty and again the craftinesse of the wise Now here the counsell of the froward The Spirit of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à râ—uâ—c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et in niphâ—â— Niphâ—â— tortus dâ—â—ortus per Meâ—â—nyn â—â— luctatus fuâ—t qui enim lactaâ—ur cum alâ—quo eum varié torquet â—oneâ— eum vincat prosternit Notatur hic talis vel versutia qua quis facilè alium aâ—icumq habium indâ—iâ— ut nec facite cave ri nec facile teneri possiâ— in actionibâ—s suis vel ad luctatoes alludiâ—ur Goc God varies words but the men are the same There is scarce variety enough of words in all languages to expresse the variety of wickednesses which one heart speakes The Hebrew word in the roote signifieth to wrest or to writh a thing or to rest and turne a thing as wrastlers their bodies Hence by a trope it is translated often to wrastle because a cunning man in wrastling turneth and windeth his body and works himselfe in and out every way to get an advantage of his adversary any way therefore your cunning-headed men your crafty men are fitly presented under this word they are like wrastlers who turne and wind themselves in and out and lye for all advantages or as we speak they lye at catch A man knowes not where to have them or what they meane when they speake plainest or sweare solemnest when we think we see their faces we see but their visards all their promises and performances too are under a disguise Such cunning gamesters or wrestlers are here intended One of the Patriarkes had this name Gen. 30. 8 Napthali and the reason is there given for saith his mother with great wrastlings have I wrastled with my
place He breakes the very voice of the Lions they shall not only not roare but they shall not so much as speake either against the lambes or against the sheepe or for themselves the voice of the fierce Lion shall be taken away God is able to silence Lions and stop their mouths not only from devouring and roaring but from speaking Thirdly When their voice is taken away and their roaring yet their teeth may remaine and there will be biting and tearing still though they have done roaring and yelling therefore with a third stroake God breakes out their teeth the teeth of the young Lions are broken So the Psalmist prayes Psal 58. 6. Breake their teeth in their mouthes breake out the great teeth of the young Lions O Lord that is take away the instruments by which they oppresse the meanes by which they teare and rend as Lions with their cruell teeth Fourthly Christ deales further with these Lions he not only breakes their teeth by which they used to hurt others but he takes away their prey and their meate they shall not have wherewith to live themselves they were wont to suck the blood of the slaine and to eate the flesh of the poore but now the Lord will pluck away their prey they themselves shall be starved or pincht with hunger Lastly Not only shall their meate be taken away but they themselves shall be scattered and dispersed that is the last step of their calamity Their dens shall be broken up and their lurking places shall be opened they shall run from place to place from Nation to Nation This is the judgement of the Lord upon Lions and the portion of the cruell enemies from our God Who hath not seen the truth of all this in our dayes we have had Lions roaring Lions rending tearing Lions amongst us It was usuall among the Heathens in their persecutions to cry out Away with the Christians to the Lions This we have often Christianos ad Leones seene in the figure poore Christians sent to the Lions put under the power of men as cruell as bloody as insatiable as Lions Many a one might say as David Psal 57. 4. My soule is among Lions When the watch-man in the Prophet was asked Watch-man what of the night he answered A Lion my Lord Isa 21. 7. Our sorrowfull watch-men standing upon their Towres considering those sad times being asked what of the day have answered We see a Lion a company of Lions tearing and rending in many parts of the Nation not bodies and estates only but soules and consciences God hath wonderfully delivered his darling from the Lions his Daniels from the Lions den He hath already delivered us so farre that the Lions dare not roare as they were wont the teeth of many of the young Lions are broken many of the old Lions are ready to perish for want of prey and not a few of their whelps are scattered abroad God hath raised up Sampsons to teare these Lions which roared upon us he hath stirred up Davids to smite these Lions and rescue the prey out of their teeth And though many Lions are amongst us yet they dare not roare much lesse teare as they have done though the beasts be alive yet for the most part the Lions are dead they are beasts still as base and vile and bloody in their natures as ever but their powerfull Lion-like strength is abated That glorious prophecie is in some sense and in some part fulfilled at this day The wholfe dwels with the lambe the leopard lies downe with the kid and the calfe and the young lion and the fatling together and a little childe may leade them they cannot they dare not hurt nor destroy in all our mountaine Isa 11. 6 8. I am sure we may set our seale to this truth of Eliphaz we have seene Lions and fierce Lions old Lions and young Lions even the stout Lions whelps some scattered abroad some destroyed some consumed by the mighty power of God Further It is here said in the text That the old Lion shall perish for want of prey It is a strange expression Lions have the greatest power to get provision to satisfie their hunger yea their appetites and humour yet these shall want these Lions who have all their life time preyed upon the estates of other men even these shall want Note hence the justice of God Such as have made others want shall at last come to want themselves they shall perish for want of prey they shall have nothing to eate when thou ceasest to spoile thou shalt be spoiled saith the Prophet and when Isa 33. 1. thou shalt make an end to deale treacherously they shall deale treacherously with thee We must not understand it as if wicked men doe ever give over sinning sinne and their desire of sinning is in a kinde infinite they never say now we have done and will sin no more but the meaning is when thou canst sin no more nor deale treacherously any more when thou hast done thy utmost and spent thy strength in spoiling others or taken all their spoile so that thou hast done spoiling because there is no more to spoile then others shall spoile thee And thou Lion who hast preyed upon others a long time shalt not have a bit thy selfe but shalt perish for want of prey It is the promise of God unto his own people Psal 34. 10. That the Lions shall lack and suffer hunger but they that feare the Lord shall not want any good thing He expresses it by Lions to note that certainly they that feare him shall not want for if any creatures in the world can preserve themselves from hunger Lions can if they doe but roare the very beasts will fall downe as a prey before them but yet saith God these even these shall rather perish for hunger than any one that feareth me shall want God provides for his lambes for innocent persons for those who feare him though they have no strength to provide for themselves but the wicked who have greatest power and have been most active to provide for themselves shall pine with want they who have caused so many to be bitten with hunger shall at last be hunger-bitten and for want of meate gnaw their tongues Lastly Where it is said that the Lions whelps are scattered abroad Observe God will not onely destroy the persons of wicked men but their families and posterities they and their whelps shall all be scattered he will not leave them so much as a name or a remembrance Psal 36. 6. I sought his place saith the Prophet and he could not be found there was no print of him no man could remember that there was such a man in the world unlesse to curse his memory I shall only give one caution respecting this and so conclude the point That which is here affirmed in the generall by Eliphaz concerning the destruction of wicked men Lions and fierce Lions is not to be taken as a
instruments of Gods displeasure This is grosse dispising But besides every undervaluing or inadvertency of the correcting hand of God hath a degree of this despising it That exhortation ought never to be forgotten which speaketh to us as unto children Hebr. 12. 5. My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when thou art rebuked of him The Greek word imports the Litling or thinking of them little Do not think the chastnings of God little doe not little or slight them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in thy thoughts Neither faint when thou art rebuked that is doe not thinke thy afflictions so great that thou must needs sinke and faint under them These are the two extreames into which our hearts usually run when chastnings are upon us Some erre by neglecting the hand of God as light and others by fainting under it as too heavy As a good heart takes notice of or will not despise a little the least comfort So it will take notice of and not despise a little the least crosse When a man hath a small losse in his estate if he say this will not undoe me I can beare this I will fare as well and goe as fine as ever for all this such speeches or thoughts are a despising of the chastening of the Lord. We are to observe the hand of God taking away as well as giving a penny So when a man hath a little fit of sicknesse If he say I shall rubb out this well enough this is to despise the chastning of the Lord We are to blesse God for every hours health and to be sensible of his hand in every hours sicknesse or aking joynt Every affliction is a messenger from God it hath somewhat to say to us from Heaven and God will not beare it if his messengers be despised how meane so ever If you send a child with a message to a friend and he slight and despise him you will take it ill I remember what the story relates of Galienus the Emperour who when the report came to him that Egypt was lost what then said he cannot I live without the flax of Egypt And when the report was brought that a great part of his dominions in Asia was wasted Cannot I live said he without the delicacies of Asia To speake thus from a principle of mortification toward the creature is the character of an excellent spirit but to speake thus from a contempt of the Providence of God is the character of a proud or of a stupid spirit When we heare of the losse of a child of a friend or of a losse in our estate To say what then I can beare that well enough I have more children other friends estate enough besides that This I say is a high despising of affliction There is one thing further in the fifth place observable in this word Despise not thou the chastnings of the Lord. The word is Extenuatio est nam plus signficatur quam dicitur sc maximi facito disciplinam Domini nihil tibi antiquius aut potius sit quam ut illius correctionem aequo animo accipies an extenuation or a lessening of the sense The holy Ghost intends more than is expressed for the truth is when he saith Despise not c. his meaning is this shew reverence highly prize and esteeme the chastning of the Lord. As for instance when the Apostle saith in 1 Thess 5. 20. Despise not prophecying Doe you thinke this is all that is due unto an Ordinance of God that a man should not despise it Surely no he meanes then prize prophecying highly have it in great esteeme So in 1 Tim 4. 12. and Tit. 2. 15 when he saith Let no man despise thy youth is that all the holy Ghost meanes That Timothy a godly Pastour should only not be despised by his people No his meaning is that they should honour respect and reverence him as one that watched over them in the Lord. I might give you divers other Scriptures where when the holy Ghost only forbiddeth the sin he intendeth the duty or grace in strictest opposition to that sin So here Despise not thou the chastning of the Almighty layes this charge and duty upon us highly to esteeme the chastning of the Lord we must put afflictions amongst our comforts and rank them with our blessings Not to despise is but the first step beyond sin but that includes the last and furthest step of duty which becomes us under chastenings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aradiâ—e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vincevit ligavit per Metaphoram castâ—gavit erudâ—vit verbis aut verberibus ad disciplinam vel poenam transfertuâ— Sicut vox Lamad quae doctrinam significa◠〈◊〉 all 〈…〉 So much of the act forbidden despising Now for the object chastning The originall verb fignifies to instruct or to teach so it is translated Chap. 4. v. 3. Thou hast instructed many Instruction is both by words and blowes The wisdome of God mixes a rod with his word and chastening with teaching Therefore it is promiscuously used in Scripture sometime for teaching and sometime for chastning Chastning belongs properly to children who are wanton and ungovern'd who have a bundle of folly in their hearts which the rod of correction driveth out To be chastned hath a double aspect upon us first upon our priviledge Secondly upon our weaknesse To be chastned notes our priviledge and relation as children unto God our father He hath revenges for his enemies but chastnings are a part of his childrens portion yet in that we are chastned it taxes us of weaknesse we are but children foolish unruly wanton and therefore we goe almost all our dayes with a rod at our backs Though the Saints on earth comâ—â—â—d among themselves are some Children and others men yet 〈…〉 earth compared with those in Heaven or with what themselves shall be in Heaven are children and therefore they have what fits their state chastening and correction This chastening is sometime put for revenge or the exactest and severest retribution of justice Thus it is said Prov. 7. 22. That the foolish young man caught by the subtill harlot went after her as a foole to the correction of the stocks That is as a wicked man goes to punishment And when the Prophet describes the sufferings of Christ which were vindictive in the highest degree he expresses it in this word The chastizement of our peace was upon him Isa 53. 5. though Christ were the infinitely and most entirely beloved Son of his Father yet he did not chastize him as a Son but as an enemy or malefactour for he chastened him in our stead and under the same notion that we must have been chastened who were enemies and malefactors So then the word signifies sometime judiciary chastening but here fatherly chastening which will yet appeare more clearely in opening the last terme of this verse which shewes us the efficient cause of this chastening The Almighty Despise
or are cut downe by some hand of justice The off-spring of a godly man are compared to grasse but in another reference To grasse first because of their multitude and secondly because of their beauty they shall flourish and be green as the grasse which is very pleasant to the beholders eye And in this also Eliphaz aimes at the death of Job's children Thou hast lost thy children they perished miserably but if thou Hoc dicit quia Iob filios amiserat Merc. returne that blessing shall returne thy seed shall be great and thy off spring shall be as the grasse of the earth The blessing of children hath been shewed in the first Chapter therefore I shall but name a point or two now First That The posterity of godly parents stand neerer then others under the influence of heavenly blessings As grace doth not runne in a blood so neither do blessings infallibly runne in a blood yet the children of those who are blessed are neerest a blessing And their possibilities for mercy are fairest Many promises are made to them they are heires apparent of the promises in their parents right others to appearance are strangers from the promises Though we know free grace chuseth often out of the naturall line The mercies of God are his own and it is his prerogative to have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth Secondly When he summes up the blessings of a godly man the blessings of his children are cast into the account Whence note That the blessings of the children are the blessings of the parent As the parent is afflicted in the afflictions of his children so he is blessed in their blessings Relations share mutually both in comforts and crosses Children are their parents multiplied and every good of the child is an addition to the parents good A flourishing and a numerous posterity is a great outward blessing Some have the choisest of spirituall blessings who want this Isa 56. 3. God comforts those that have no children Doe not say that thou art made a dry tree for I will give thee in mine house a place and a name better than of sons and daughters As if he had said the name of sons and of daughters is a very great comfort but it is not the greatest comfort the best biessing thou shalt have a name and a place better than of sons and daughters Vers 26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age like as a shock of corne commeth in his season From personall present blessings of this life and the blessings of posterity Eliphaz descends to shew the blessing of a godly man in death A happy death is the close of temporall happinesse and the beginning of eternall A happy death stands between grace and glory like the Baptist between the law and the Gospel and is the connexion or knitting of both And as it was said of John That among them who are borne of women there arose not a greater then he neverthelesse he that is least in the kingdome of heaven is greater then John So we may say that among all the blessings of this life there is none greater then a blessed death neverthelesse that which is least in eternall life is a greater blessing then a blessed death It was an observation among the Heathen That no man is to be accounted blessed untill he die But when life is shut up with a blessing then man is fully blessed As in reasoning so in living the conclusion lyes in the premises A happy death is the result of a holy life Thou shalt come to thy grave That phrase notes two things First A willingnesse and a chearfulnesse to die Thou shelt come thou shalt not be dragged or hurried to thy grave as it is said of the foolish rich man Luk. 12. This night shall thy soule be taken from thee But thou shalt come to thy grave thou shalt die quietly and smilingly as it were thou shalt goe to thy grave as it were upon thine owne feet and rather walke then be carried to thy Sepulcher Secondly it notes the honor and solemnity of burying Thou shalt come to thy grave with honour as it is said of Ahijah the son of Jeroboam 1 King 14. 12 13. When Messengers were sent to the Prophet to enquire whether he should recover the Prophet tels them The child shall die and all Israel shall mourne for him and bury him For he only of Jeroboam shall Come to the grave because in him there is found some good thing toward the Lord God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam He only shall come to thy grave the rest shall be thrust into the grave or lye unburied but he shall come that is he shall be buried with honour others shall have reproach cast upon them when the earth is cast upon them Thou shalt come to thy grave In a full age So we translate The word is expounded two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senium senectutis tempus wayes In a full age that is in an age when thou shalt be full full of estate full of wealth and honour thou shalt have abundance when thou diest And so it points at Jobs present poverty though thou hast nothing now scarse a ragge to thy backe or a sheet to winde thee in if thou shouldst die yet seeke unto God and thou shalt die in a full age in a golden Age thy wants shall be supplied and thy losses repaired to the full But rather a full Age notes here a sulnesse of daies though the other fullnesse of estate be not excluded The Prophet puts the same difference between aged men and men full of dayes as is between children and young men Jer. 6. 11. I am full of the fury of the Lord I will powre it out upon the children abroad and upon the assembly of young men together The aged with him that is full of dayes That is all ages shall feele the fury of the Lord. A full age is an age full of daies or compleate to the utmost time of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 life Some of the Jewish Writers observe that the numerall letters of this word Chelad make up threescore which they conceive is In numeris notat 60 ea prima senectus est non matura Quidam Hebrae orum viâ—idem senectam nomine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 putant significari ut Caph sit similitudinis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—uâ—è virtutem humidum sonat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Senctutem itaque pollecetur-non quidem mâ—lestam morbosam sed vegetaÌ„ paelicem the age here meant but threescore is not a full old-oge it is rather the beginning of old-age Therefore fulnesse of age is by others interpreted to be strength of age thou shalt die in an old age yet thou shalt have strength and comfort in thy old-age thine old-age shall not be a troublesome age thou shalt not be weake and crazy distempered and sick a burthen to
the soule whereby we discerne or distinguish just from unjust truth from false-hood as sweet is distinguished from bitter by the pallate is elegantly called the pallate of the soul Cannot my taste discern The Hebrew is Cannot my taste * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Scriptura saepe linguae faucibus manibus tribuit quod men t is intellectus proprium est sc med tari intelligere Magna est rationis orationis cognatio understand perverse things It is usuall in Scripture to ascribe understanding not onely to the senses but also to the tongue and sometimes to the hand Understanding is ascribed to the tongue in the place before named Psal 52. where the tongue is said to de vise mischiefe The tongue properly cannot devise the tongue doth but utter mischiefe it is the mind or heart that deviseth The shop is within where mischiefe is forged and framed yet the contrivance of it is in that text given to the tongue There is a two-fold reason of it why the holy Ghost attributes the worke of the understanding to the tongue hand or senses First there is a great affinity beween reason and speech and therefore the tongue which is the instrument of speech is honoured with the worke of the understanding And so grat is the affinity beween reason and speech that no creature void of reason can speak Speech is a peculiar property of the rationall creature Speech is or ought to be the immediate issue or birth of reason Words are conceived in the mind and born at the tongue And words are the image of the mind We may see what work is wrought in the mind by that which is spoken by the tongue The shape of a mans heart when he speakes himself comes out at his mouth And therefore before a man speakes he meditates Meditation is the conception of words As speaking is the production of them Thus the Lord charges Joshua Chap. 1. 8. The book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night One would think it should rather have been said The book of the Law shall not depart out of thine heart but thou shalt meditate therein or if not cut of thy mouth then Ita meditaberis ut exipsa cogitatione mentis effervescente redundent ebulliant in ore verba thou shalt speak of it Meditation is too high a worke for the mouth Yet because there ought to be much meditation about the Law of God before a word of it comes out of the mouth therefore the Lord saith The book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that is as oft as thou shalt speak thou shalt meditate thou shalt not speake rashly it shall not be the work of thy tongue alone but of thy mind and tongue together There is a second reason why acts of the understanding are ascribed to the tongue or to the senses because when a thing is well spoken or duly acted by any sense Reason is the guide and the bodily Organ is under the dictates of the minde or understanding So Gen. 41. 14. when old Jacob in giving the blessing unto Josephs children Manasseh and Ephraim laid his right hand upon the younger and his left hand upon the elder the text saith he made his hands to understand we translate he guided his hands wittingly there was so much reason such divine reason in that act of Jacobs hands in laying his right-hand upon the younger that the Prudenter egit manibus sun ac siiplae manus mysteriorum consciae erant Onkel Hebrew gives it with this elegancie he made his hands to understand which one of the Jewish Writers learnedly expounds thus He order'd his hands wisely as if they had been made acquainted with that great mystery of Gods counsels that the greater blessing was the portion of the younger sonne And so the Psalmist Psal 78 72. speaking of Davids raigne and government saith He governed them by the skilfulnesse of his hands The Hebrew is by the understanding of his hands and more the understandings of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In intelligentiis manuum vel volâ—rum his hands Or as one renders it The discretions of his hands or the prudency of his Palmes ascribing all kind of politicall knowledge and understanding unto David David in the outward administrations of the kingdome acted with so much reason and justice that his very hands are said to understand His hands understood more than the heads of other Princes As Davids hands so Jobs pallate or taite had an understanding Cannot my pallate understand Yet further it is frequent in Scripture metaphorically to translate things which are only acted or apprehended by the inward senses to the outward Taste properly is of meat and drink the humour or moisture which is in meats sutable to the salivall humour in the mouth causeth pleasantness of taste Here Job speaks of Doctrines or of actions Cannot my taste discerne perverse things If a thing be perversly or properly truely or falsely spoken cannot I taste it quickly And hence the word of God is compared to those things which are the object of taste as to milk and to strong meat 1 Cor. 3. 2. I saith the Apostle have fed you with milk and not with meat That is with easie and common truths not with the more mysterious parts of Gospel-knowledge because ye were not able to bear it The taste of such mysteries was too strong for your pallates The same Metaphor is enlarged by the Apostle Heb. 5. 12 13 14. And in this Book we find it more than once Doth not the eare trie words and the mouth taste his meat Job 12. 11. Chap. 34. 3. That is doth not the eare try words as the mouth tastes meat Cannot my taste discern Perverse things That is words ill spoken or wrong placed The word signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 also any calamity or sad accident And so Mr. Broughton renders it Cannot my pallate declare all kind of heavy sorrowes Do ye think I have lost my judgment of things and that I cannot tell when I am pinch't or pain'd First in that he saith here Is there iniquity in my tongue Observe The tongue oft-times discovers the iniquity of the heart If there be iniquity in the heart it will one time or other break forth at and blister upon the tongue He that is rotten at his heart is commonly rotten in his talk Matth. 12. 34. Out of the aboundance of the heart the mouth speakes And when there is aboundance of iniquity in the heart there is seldome a dearth or scarcity of it in the mouth especially in times of trouble that iniquity and corruption that disease and plague of the heart will break forth at the lips As Evill words corrupt good manners So evil words discover that our manners are corrupt There are few men but as the Damosel spake to