wicked men doe in the dererts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in i. e. opere vel artificium suum vel artem vnde victū quaerunt Merc they worke there but 't is wilde worke such as wild asses are busyed about the getting of prey They goe forth to their worke and that word signifies not onely a worke but an art or a Craft These spoylers were their Crafts-Masters and could doe mischiefe cunningly as having been brought up as apprentices to it or studyed it like Schollers they had well learned and were verst in their worke and what their worke was we may learne in the next words Rising betimes for a prey Like workemen like worke To take a purse or spoyle passengers that 's their worke And they get up and are out betimes about this worke For a prey they rise betimes The Hebrew is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mane studiose quaerunt vel summo studio Drus They morning it that is they rise early in the morning to doe a thing in the morning is in Scripture language to doe a thing diligently and with greatest Intention of spirit because diligent active men are up early so that to rise in the morning is not onely an Expression of the time of their rising but of their spirit and diligence at their worke when they were risen whensoever they rose The whorish woman saith to the young man Pro. 7.15 Therefore came I forth to meete thee diligently to seeke thy face Verbum hebraicum delarat diluculare vnde significat praecipuo studio vel cura aliquid agere The Hebrew is To seeke thee in the morning or to morning thee and yet it was in the twilight in the evening when she came out to meete him as is exprest at the 9th verse of the same Chapter Here indeed in the text To morning it notes that they tooke the first of the morning for their worke rising betimes for a prey And that not without successe as the last clause of the verse sheweth The wildernes yieldeth food for them and for their Children Where have they their prey The text answers they have it in the wildernes In the former part of the verse he spake of the desert and in this latter of the wildernes in both he meanes the same place both import barrennes wildnes and wastnes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 solitudo idem quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 desertum hinc Arabia deserta Mr Broughton translates The vast-Ground giveth him bread for his young Wee say the wildernes yeeldeth food for them c. It may seeme strange that a wild wildernes a wildernes untilled unplanted uninhabited should yeeld them food I answer First The Scripture speaks of many wildeernesses that were planted inhabited John the Baptist preached in the wildernes of Judea Math. 3.1 And the wildernes had many houses if not townes in it such wildernesses yeeld food in plenty Secondly the wildernes may be sayd to yeeld them food not because they did live upon that which grew in the wildernes or in these wast places but because in the wildernes they tooke occasion to spoyle and robb those that thorough it travailed to other places Many get their livings there where none live and where nothing is to be had of the growth of the place to live upon Outrages and robberyes are usually committed in such places And therefore in the Prophesie of that great Peace which Christ should give to his Church Psal 72.3 It is sayd The mountaines shall bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousnes He names the mountaines and the hills above other places because in or upon them violence is often exercised and to say the mountaines shall bring peace is much more then to say the valleys and the Cities shall bring peace when there is peace and safety upon hils and mountaines we may presume that there is peace every where Therefore as when God promiseth Isa 60.17 that in the latter dayes he will make the officers among his people peace and their exactors righteousnesse he meanes that he will make all sorts of men peacefull and righteous because he will make them such who are usually most troublesome and unrighteous officers and exactors so when he saith the mountaines shall bring peace the meaning is every place shall or that the peace shall be universal in all places because mountaines and wildernesses are the places where robbers and spoylers take their prey and get their subsistence And hence it may well be answered why Job saith that the wildernes yeelded them food even because that place was fittest for them so rob and spoyle in who made the spoyle of others their dayly food Thus the wildernes yeelds food for them And for their Children The word signifies any that are young and is taken as well for servants as for Children 1 Sam. 21.5 The vessels of the young men are holy sayd David to the Priest concerning his followers So 1 Sam. 25.9 Thus here it comprehends all that are about them even all their family and retinue They and all theirs all that belong to them have their food in the wildernes that is there they take opportunity by violence and oppression to maintaine themselves and theirs Here we may consider first that Job calls these spoylers wilde asses nor doth the Scripture speake this in vaine Hence note Wicked men are like Beasts or beastiall in their dispositions and actions David compares the best of that sort men in honour to beasts Psal 49.20 Man saith he that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts that perish Davids man that understandeth not is not a man without naturall but a man without true spiritual capacity and understanding A man who feares not God for to feare God that is wisdome and who departs not from evill for to depart from evill that is understanding Job 28.28 Now how great and large an understanding so ever any great and honourable man hath yet if he hath not an understanding in these things he is like the beasts that perish It is not sayd he is like this or that beast but he is like the beasts that perish Take any beast or all beasts the worst of beasts he is the picture of them all and he dayly exemplyfyes the vilest of their qualityes in his owne The Prophet Michah Chap. 3.1 2 3. saith that of them which speakes them rather beasts indeed then like beasts Heare I pray you O heads of Jacob and ye Princes of the house of Israel is it not for you to know Judgement as if he had sayd who should if not you who hate the good and love the evill who plucke off their skin from off them their flesh from off their bones who also eate the flesh of my people and flay off their skin and break their bones c. How could the beast be more lively acted then by these men Paul fought with beasts at
wicked man when he awakes hee is still with sin And if hee cannot awake naturally soone enough to sin hee will force himselfe to awake And so he may be sayd to awake to sin before he is awake for as some nurse up and feed their sleepe when they are a little awakened like the sluggard yet a little slumber yet a little sleepe so others offers violence to or breake their sleepe that is as the text sayth they rise betimes even before the usuall time of rising that they may get a prey It is no wonder if they who sticke not at breaking the lawes of God breake also the lawes of their owne rest Diligence is good about that which is good it is good to be zealously affected alwayes in a good matter but zeale and diligence misplaced how evill are they it is better to creep in a good way then to run in a wrong way Even idlenes is better then such diligence yet they who misplace their zeale and diligence are commonly more in both then they who place them right and they who are in a false way make more hast then they who are in a true The Scripture notes the extream Intensenes of the builders of Babel upon their worke And that 's the straine of most men in such worke as theirs was the building of a Babel or in doing that which will be but a monument of their owne pride and folly or of their rebellion against and contempt of God Gen. 11.6 This they begin to doe and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have Imagined to doe if they have but a minde to it they will doe it let it cost what it will neyther difficulty nor danger shall restraine them See also how Industrious the ten Tribes were in their Idolatrous worship which Jeroboam had set up 1 Kings 12.30 And this thing became a sin for the people went to worship before the one even unto Dan that is they went a great way to worship for howsoever Jeroboam pretended the ease and accommodation of the people in setting up those Calves ver 28. It is too much for you to goe up to Jerusalem Behold thy Gods O Israel which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt as if he had sayd thy Gods are at hand or in thine eye thou needest not toyle thy selfe in going so farre to serve them yet Jerusalem was neerer unto most of the Israelites then eyther Dan or Bethel were For Bethel one of those places of worship was in the utmost bounds of the South Josh 18.22 Dan the other place of worship was in the utmost bounds of the North Josh 19.47 so that they were willing to take more paines to follow the Idolatrous inventions of man then to keepe to the Institutions of God Jerusalem was neerer to most of the ten Tribes then either Dan or Bethel yet thither they would goe All the way to sin whether in ordinary practice or worship is downe-hill to Nature we have both the winde and tyde of the world with us will we set our faces hel-ward and to be sure Satan will never checke their diligence who are doing his worke nor take them off from their pace who are going or Galloping his way We have a cleare evidence of this in the case of the worshippers of those two Calves in Dan and Bethel and it is further observed by some that the Israelites grew so zealous in a short time in that abomination that they who dwelt neer Bethel did even disdain to worship at Bethel they disdained to serve their God at their owne dores and therefore they that dwelt at or neere Bethel would goe to Dan and worship and they that dwelt at or neer Dan would goe to Bethel to worship The heart of man is so mad upon Idolatry that he is willing to be at any cost or paines for it He scornes to serve a false God at an easie rate nor is he pleased which is the onely thing which pleaseth some who pretend to the true religion with a cheape religion You may lay what tax you will upon him eyther of paynes or purse and he is willing yea even ambitious to pay or performe it Thus the blinde votaryes among the Papists at this day will needes goe a Pilgrimage to remotest places they will travayle to Jerusalem and visit the Sepulchre c. these long Journeyes they glory in it is but a step to them hard penances not onely fastings but whippings they glory in The nature of man will carry him two miles at his owne bidding rather then one at Gods How may it shame Godly men for their sloath in doing the will of God when they heare how industrious evill men are in doing their owne how may it shame them that they should take lesse paines to keepe a righteous law then many doe to satisfie a filthy lust Who like wild Asses goe forth to their worke rising betimes for a prey And whereas it followes The wildernes yeeldeth food for them and for their Children Note Wicked men will have it if it be to be had above ground They that live by rapine will live any where every mans estate is theirs if they can but get it They finde a harvest in the wildernes and riches in the desert Againe Note Wicked men lay up for theirs as well as for themselves by the spoyle of others The light of nature teacheth parents to lay up for their children and they who get an estate by wronging others yet thinke they are bound to provide for more then themselves Nahum 11.12 Where is the dwelling of the Lyons and the feeding place of the young Lyons where the Lyon even the old Lyon walked and the Lyons whelpe and none made him afraid The Lyon did teare in peices enough for his whelps and strugled for his Lyonesses What did the Lyon the Lyon did teare in peices and how much did he teare in peices not onely enough to fill his owne belly but to feed his whelps and his Lyonesses Hee filled his holes with prey and his dens with ravine Thus the Prophet describeth wicked men providing not onely for themselves but for theirs their young Lyons and Lyonesses The wildernes yeeldeth food for them and for their Children Further Some note the Consent of the whole family in wickednesse from these words The wildernes yeeldeth food for them and for their Children that is they all agree together Master and Servants and Children all agree together to doe mischeife to spoyle and oppresse all they can Where Parents and Masters are evill Children and servants are seldome good It is rare to see hearts united about that which is good but they are often and easily united in that which is evill Thus the Lord speakes to Jeremie Chap. 7.18 Seest thou not what they doe in the Cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem The Children gather wood and the fathers kindle the fire and the woemen knead their dough to
he further explaines in the next words Vers 3. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous Or is it any gaine to him that thou makest thy way perfect In the former Verse Eliphaz denyed in generall that God receiveth any benefit from man In this third Verse he speaks the same thing but somewhat more distinctly denying first that he receives any pleasure which might add to his blessednesse or secondly any gaine which might add to his abundance Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous Is it any gaine to him that thou makest thy way perfect As if he had said Is the blessednesse of God encreased by thy righteousnesse Or doth the perfection of thy wayes augment his treasure Is he either the happier or the richer by any thing thou art or canst doe That 's the scope and sence of the words in generall Is it any pleasure The word which we Translate Pleasure signifies the will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Notat voluntatem cum complacentia vel acquiescentia and because it is so great a pleasure unto man to have his wil therefore the same wâ—rd signifieth both pleasure and the will So the word is used Psal 1.2 Blessed is the man whose delight is in the Law of God that is whose will is there or who takes pleasure in the Law of God his will being resolved into the will of God Then we take pleasure and delight in a thing when we conforme to it or close with it The judgment of God is so expressed upon Coniah Jer. 22.28 Is this man Coniah a despised broken Idol Vas in quo non est voluntas Is he a vessel wherein there is no pleasure A Vessel for the lowest use as 't is interpreted ver 21. A vessel in which there is no complacency it is onely for necessity So the word is taken also Prov. 3.15 He is more precious then Rubies all the things thou canst desire or have pleasure in are not to be compared to him And againe Isa 58.13 If thou forbeare to do thy pleasure upon mine holy day What is the pleasure of a carnal man upon the Sabboth upon the holy day of God It is to doe his own will and not the will of God If thou forbear to doe thine own pleasure that is thine own will upon my holy day Thus here Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Sept. The Septuagint Translate somewhat differently What cares the Almighty if thou art unblameable in thy wayes Thus a man usually speaks of that wherein he hath no pleasure What care I for it Is it any pleasure c. That thou art righteous Righteousnesse is two-fold First of Justification so some understand it here Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art justified Or secondly there is a righteousnesse in Conversation so most understand it here Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art holy Which is the same with the latter clause of the Text That thou makest thy way perfect Further the word signifies to plead our own justice as wel as to have a justice or righteousnesse of our own And thus it may be Expounded in this place An oblectationi est omnipotenti quod justificas te Jun. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous that is that Thou dost justifie thy self or as Mr. Broughton pleadest justice Dost thou justifie thy selfe or stand upon thine owne integrity and then think to please God Se justificare non tam est justum esse quam contendere conari adversus calumnias scelera sibi objecta ex ratione coram judice respondere or to carry the day against man upon those tearms Is it any pleasure to the Almighty That word fully hits the design of Eliphaz it signifies both Almighty and All-sufficient one that hath all in his own compaâ—â— that needs not goe out of himselfe to fetch in any supplies or aid from abroad He is self-sufficient and he hath a sufficiency for all others Is it any pleasure to this Almighty one that thou dost thus justifie thy selfe Or is it any gaine to him that thou makest thy way perfect As it is no pleasure so no gaine The second Verse before opened clears the mind of this clause What there he calleth profit is here called gaine in different words And the word here used is rendred indifferently both gaine and profit Gen. 37.26 When Joseph was cast into the pit Judah said What profit is it to slay our Brother let us sell him let us make gaine of him that way slaying him wil be no profit to us And as it signifies gain so covetousnes the reason is because covetousnes hath gaine for its object covetousnesse provokes men to seek gain Jethro Exod. 18.21 gives councel that Magistrates should be Men fearing God and hating covetousnesse or hating gaine that is not onely all covetous practices but inordinate desires of gaine for these lead into unlawful wayes of gaine even to the perverting of Justice Is it any gaine to him that thou makest thy way perfect That is thy life thy conversation thy course what though thou strivest after the highest attainments of grace the purest purity of life is this any gaine to the Lord The Septuagint render That thou makest thy way simple The simple sincere plain way is the perfect way The perfection of our way is the simplicity sincerity and uprightnesse of it Another reads Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thy way is undefiled Or cleane that thou doest sweep and wash thy way so that there is no spot to be seen upon it Psal 119.1 Blessed are the undefiled or perfect in the way The severall parts of this Psalm begin with a new Letter Alphabetarius est hic Psalmus ostendens parvulos ab ipsis statim elementis pueritia infarmandos esse ad pietatem Hilar. according to the order of the Hebrew Alphabet intimating that it ought to be learned even of Children as one of the Ancients infers from it The undefiled in the way are such properly as have been holy or pure from their youth such as did never corrupt their wayes Timothy is said from a Child to learn the Scriptures Suppose thy way thus perfect that none could tax thee with any grosse sin even from thy Child-hood could this be any gaine to the Almighty There is yet another Translation Aut an lucro quod integras asseris vias tuas Iun. which implyeth not only the study of holinesse but a boasting in holinesse Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou doest justifie thy selfe Or is it any gaine to him that thou dost affirm thy wayes are perfect So it fals in with the third rendring of the former clause For the understanding and further clearing of these words I shall draw them forth into distinct Propositions
all religion placed in second Table worke in giving every man his due in compassion to the poore in helping the helplesse in feeding the hungry in cloathing the naked in comforting the sorrowfull and by name the fatherlesse and the widow This is pure religion to visit the fatherlesse and the widow That is this is the practicall part or the true practice of religion without which all religion is vaine Therefore when the Apostle had sayd v 21. Receive with meeknes the engraffed word Lest any man should stay there and think he had done enough when he had been a bearer he adds Be doers of the word That is looke to the practicall part of religion be diligent in the duties of love to men as wel as in those of the worship of God Take these two inferences from the whole verse First Seeing God taketh so much care of the widow and the fatherlesse Let the widow let the fatherlesse trust in God They who receive peculiar promises from God should put forth suitable acts of faith towards God Faith cannot worke without a word and where it hath a word it ought to worke Wee have both put together in the present case Jer. 49.11 Leave thy fatherlesse children I will preserve them alive and let the widows trust in mee As if God had sayd if none will take care of them I will I will take care of them I will be a father of the fatherlesse a husband to the widow leave that care to me Therefore let the widow and fatherlesse trust in God A word from God is a better a bigger portion then all the wealth of this world Secondly Seeing the Lord is so jealous over them and so ready to take their part against all their adversaries this should provoke them to be full of zeale for God God stands up for their protection therfore they should stand up for God their protector and patron How carefull should they be to please him who is so watchfull to preserve them Speciall promises call for speciall obedience as well as for speciall faith The more God engageth himselfe to doe for us the more should we engage our selves in his strength to doe for him None have more reason to be rich in faith and love to God then the poore and fatherlesse Thus farre wee have examined the Inditement or Charge which Eliphaz brought against Job now see what he inferres upon it here is thy sinne and there 's thy punishment JOB CHAP. 22. Vers 10 11. Therefore snares are round about thee and sudden feare troubleth thee Or darknesse that thou canst not see and abundance of waters cover thee THese two verses have variety of expressions but the intendment of all is one and the same Snares and feares and darknesse and abundance of waters signifie all manner of evills All these are upon thee because thou hast sent widows away empty and hast suffered the Armes of the fatherlesse to be broken because thou hast done these things therefore Snares are round about thee Some render the Originall Text to another sence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non significat illationem aut convenientiam consoquentis ad antecedens sed convenientiam aptitudinemque antecedentis ad consequens Coc not as bearing an effect of the former words not as if hee had been punished with these evills for those sinnes but as if these evills had caused him to sinne and so the words are expounded as a kinde of scorne as if Eliphaz had sayd When thou didst those things no doubt snares or feares or darknes or waters came upon thee thou was forc't by suffering these evills to doe all this evill wast thou not was it not because thou wast prest with snares and feares and darknes and waters that thou didst oppresse the widow and the fatherlesse All which Questions are reducible to these plaine Negations Thou wast not pressed with any of these perplexities upon thy selfe to oppresse the poore there was no snare no nor any feare neere thee darknesse did not hinder thy sight nor did the waters of affliction cover thee Thou hast not been thrust upon sinne by these temptations nor constrained by the moral violence of any incumbent necessity but hast done it freely to sin even in this manner and at this hight hath not been thy refuge but thy choyce Thou hast not acted these iniquities by any instigation eyther from persons or providences but upon thine owne election This is a fayre sence and a mighty reproofe seeing as was lately noted every evill we doe is by so much the worse by how much wee have had the lesse provocation or solicitation to doe it But I rather take the words as wee render them to expresse the sad effects and fruits of his sinne As if Eliphaz had said Because thou hast taken a Pledge of thy brother for nought c. because thou hast sent widows away empty and the armes of the fatherlesse have been broken therefore snares are round about thee c. The words may have a threefold Allusion First To the besiedging of a City snares are round about thee Hostile aliquid obsidionale significat thou art now hemde in on every side with-troubles as Christ threatens Jerusalem Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee c. A trench is but a great snare to catch men as men catch birds and vermine in snares Or Secondly The Allusion may be to Imprisonment thou art compassed with strong walles and shut in with gates thou art shackel'd with iron snares Thirdly The words may allude to hunting and fowling in such disports nets and snares are set to take the intended game Snares are often spoken of in Scripture to intimate or set forth the afflictions and sorrowes that entrap and hold the sons of men So that to say Snares are round about thee is no more but thus troubles are round about thee and these snares are sometimes set by the hand of man sometimes by the immediate hand of God Good things are often made a snare to the undoing of evill men and evill things are often made a snare to the troubling though not to the undoing of good men But I shall not prosecute this allusion having spoken of it at the 18th Chap v. 6 7 8. where Job complaines that God had taken him in his snare as also in the 19th Chapter at the 5th verse And sudden feare troubleth thee Wee may understand this feare first for the passion of feare or for feare within Secondly for the occasion of feare which is feare without Sudden feare troubleth thee that is the appearance or apprehension of some terrible thing causeth thee to feare Passio pro objecto materia suni in omni idiomate familiare Sanct. Feare is often put in Scripture for the thing feared for the object of feare or for that which causeth feare Thus also hope is put for the thing hoped for and vision for the thing seene or the object of the
gives such a vehement admonition to beware of the way of wicked men Pro. 4.14 15. Enter not into the path of the wicked and goe not in the way of evill men avoyd it passe not by it turne from it and passe away As in the former context he as a carefull father had pressed his Sonne to the closest pursuit of wisdomes way so here he as earnestly presseth him to depart from the path of wickednes He would have his sonne not only not goe into it but not so much as passe by it that is not goe neere it as the next words intimate turne from it as if he had sayd keepe at a distance keepe aloose off doe not stay so long within sight of it as to looke upon it that 's his last counsel passe away not to returne or come neere it any more And while we consider whither that way leads we shall easily grant that when all is sayd little enough is sayd to lead us away from it Where the way is sinne the wages is death Therefore let him who desires to avoyd the conclusion of the wicked say The counsell of the wicked is farre from me Job CHAP. 22. Vers 19 20. The righteous see it and are glad and the innocent laugh them to scorne Whereas our substance is not cut downe but the remnant of them the fire consumeth ELiphas still pursues the ruine and extirpation of wicked men he shewd us before the sinfullnes of their practises towards man and the folly of their opinion in saying to God depart from us who had never hurt them nor given them any cause to be weary of his presence unlesse this displeased them that he filled their houses with good things And because they declared themselves thus vaine therefore Eliphaz rejected both them and their way The counsell of the wicked is farre from me Now in this verse he acquaints us wiâ—h the event or issue of their counsells and how the righteous carry themselves when God calls the wicked to an account and reckons with them for their prophanenes and irreligion Vers 19. The righteous see it and are glad Who the righteous man is and what denominates a man righteous hath been shewed bâ—fore The righteous see it what do they see That which they beleeved looked for the fall of wicked men This act of seeing may be referr'd eyther to the person seeing or to the object seene as 't is referr'd to the person of the righteous so seeing notes both their priviledge and their pleasure They are admitted to see this spectacle of divine Justice and it is their happines to see it This David intimates Psal 37.34 Wait on the Lord and keepe his way and he shall exalt thee to inherit the Land when the wicked are cut off thou shalt see it The righteous shall be honoured with this fight yea and pleased with it the cutting off of wicked men by the hand of God The righteous man hath a promise to see this and promises are the conveyances of mercies Psal 91.8 A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee onely with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked Thou shalt be a spectator not a partaker in that calamity Wicked men sometimes glutt their eyes with â—eholding the troubles of the Saints and they account it a happy day when they can have such a sight They signe that day with a white stone when the black stone of the most unjust and cruell condemnation proves the present lot of the righteous David discovered such a spirit in his enemies Psal 35.21 They opened their mouth wide against me and said aha aha our eyes have seene it What had they seene The former verse tells us They speake not peace but they devise deceitfull matters against them that are quiet in the Land When these devises tooke and had successe then they were pleased then they had what they would and saw what they desired And thus the enemies of the Church are described Miâ— 4.11 Now also many Nations are gathered against thee and say let her be defiled there is a twofold defiling a defiling with sinne and a defiling with bloud and misery the latter is meant by the Prophet let her be defiled and let our eyes looke upon Sion They counted it a blessed sight to see Sion bleed The wicked would have such sights often though usually their eyes fayle with waiting and their hope is as the giving up of the Ghost But righteous men shall see the righteous God hath sayd it vengeance powred upon the wicked Againe we may expound this act of seing with reference to the object seene and so it imports 2 things first the certainly of their fall wicked men shall undoubtedly be destroyed and there shall be eye-witnesses honest and faithfull witnesses testifying their destruction The righteous shall see it and report it to after generations Secondly As seeing notes the certainty of their fall or the evidence and clearenesse of it so the publiquenesse of it That which is done to the eye is done openly What the justice of God doth against the wicked shall not be done in a corner but as upon the house-top The reading of the Septuagint is full to this sence They shall be made publicke examples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Denotat rem omnibus conspicuam in publicum exemplum propositam It is the care of just and wise Magistrates not onely to punish malefactors but to punish them openly That so all may see and feare and doe no more presumptuously There are three speciall reasons why offences are punished and the Greekes expresse each punishment by such a word as carryeth a distinct signification of those reasons First Some are punished that themselves may amend and better their manners This they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly Others are punished to repayre the honour or maintaine the dignity of those against whom they have offended lest if such should escape without condigne punishment authoritie should be contemned grow cheape or be lightly valued This they called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A third sort were punished for example 1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acerbitas ulciscendi maleficij bene atque cante vivendi disciplina est Caecilius apud Gel. l. 2. c. 1. that others might be deterred from doing the same things lest they also incurre the same sufferings This was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As much as to say the holding of a man forth in his sufferings to the open view that he may be seene of all men and that all may be warned to avoyd his error And thus the Lord who is the righteous Judge of all the world punisheth wicked men The same word is used by the Evangelist Matthew Chap. 1.19 Joseph being troubled that Mary was with childe for he knew not the mystery of hir over-shadowing
First we may expound it of persons The remnant of persons all that are left of their family their children and posterity their kindred and relations are taken away and consumed from off the face of the earth Secondly We may expound it of things the remnant of goods whatsoever remaines of their estate the odd ends the very gleanings and leavings of their great riches and worldly substance are all eaten up and brought to an end so that nothing of them or theirs remaineth Thirdly The remnant of them may be the remembrance of them A fire shall consume their name and memoriall they shall neveâ— be thought of nor spoken of any more with honour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat illud quo quis alium excellit ideo reliquiarum nomine impiorum excellentem supra cuÌ„ctos mortales ingentem foelicitatem intelligo Pined Fourthly The word remnant as it signifieth in the Original any thing which remaineth so especially that which remaineth in way of excellency or eminency not as we say the fagge end of a thing but even the uppermost and best of it So that after this translation the remnant of them is the excellency of them that which they thought most durable and honourable that which they looked upon as most substantiall and intrinsecall to their greatnes that very thing the fire shall consume So the word is used Psal 17.14 Deliver my soule from men which are thy hand O Lord from men of the world c. whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasures they are full of children and leave the rest or as we supply the rest of their substance to their babes the rest that is the best their bellies are full of hid treasures while they live that is they have and use abundance of the things of this life themselves and they leave the rest he doth not meane the scraps or parings after they had filled their owne bellies but by the rest or the remnant t is the word of the text he meaneth the choicest of what they had even that they leave to their babes or children when themselves must be gone and leave the world Thus we may understand the word remnant in this place not for a poore pittance but for the best the choisest things for the flower and creame of all they had even these things the fire shall consume vengeance shall pursue and follow till all be turned into smoake and ashes I have in divers other passages of this booke met with Texts shewing the utter consumption of wicked men therefore I shall not stay upon it here onely take this briefe note That the Lord hath a different fire for the righteous and the wicked He hath a fire for his owne people but it is a purging fire a cleansing a refining fire Like that Mal. 3.3 He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver The Lord also hath a fire for the wicked but it is a consuming fire He kindles many fires upon them and himselfe is a consuming fire to them But it may be said that God is a consuming fire also to his owne people for the Apostle speaking of himselfe and other beleevers saith Heb. 12.29 Our God is a consuming fire I answer First T is true the God of Beleevers is a consuming fire but he is not a consuming fire to beleevers even the hearts of beleevers ought to be over-awed with a holy feare of that in God which they shall never feele from God Secondly God is sometimes a consuming fire to beleevers but it is onely to consume their corruptions or their corruptible comforts He will never consume eyther their Graces or spirituall interests These he will not consume whatsoever he consumes But the whole of a wicked man is as combustible matter before him There went up a smoake out of his nostrills fire out of mouth devoured Psal 18.8 That is God powred out wrath which devoured them like a fire Fire I meane naturall fire is a great devourer it hath a strong stomacke there 's nothing but pure Gold too hard for its digestion but mysticall fire the fire of divine wrath is infinitely a greater devourer Wrath kindles maâ—y devouring fires but wrath it selfe is the most devouring fire who can stand before it who can abide the heate and flames of it This is the Tophet prepared of old for the wicked This fire is able to consume branch and rush the roote and top of the wicked in one day and yet it will continue consuming them to eternity The remnant of them the fire consumeth Eliphaz having thus farre prosecuted a description both of the unrighteousnes and of the ruine both of the sin and punishment of wicked men closely insinuating that Job was the man concern'd in all this large Discourse he in the latter part of this Chapter turnes his speech into a serious Exhortation to move Job to repent and seeke God giving him many assurances and promises that in case he did so it should not be in vaine JOB CHAP. 22. Vers 21 22. c. Acquaint now thy selfe with him and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee Receive I pray thee the Law from his mouth and lay up his words in thine heart If though returne to the Almighty thou shalt be built up thou shalt-put away iniquity from thy Tabernacles c. ELiphaz having reproved Job for sin and prest him with the remembrance of the Judgements of God against sinners now turnes his speech into a serious Exhortation mooving him to seeke the favour of God and humble himselfe Acquaint now thy selfe with him and be at peace From this course and method in which Eliphaz deales with Job take this note That in dealing with sinners wee are not onely to threaten but to perswade and propose the promises of peace to them Daniel dealt so with Nebuchadnezzer yea though he had told him of a decree in heaven past against him Dan. 4.22.27 yet he gives him faithfull counsell and exhorts him to breake off his sins by righteousnesse and his iniquities by shewing mercy to the poore if it might be a lengthning of his tranquillity or as we put in the Margin a healing of his errour Hopes of mercy prevaile with many more then feare of wrath and they are sooner led then driven unto Christ Thus Eliphaz Acquaint now thy selfe with him and be at peace This 21 verse containes two generall Propositions First a Proposition concerning duty in the former part of the verse Acquaint now thy selfe c. Secondly Concerning mercy in the latter thereby good shall come unto thee This duty of acquainting himselfe with God Promissionibus invitat amplissimis quae in se verae sunt cum lege consentiunt non tamen perpetuae ut Eliphaz puâ—t Merc. and being at peace with him is explained in the 22 verse Receive I pray thee the Law from his mouth and lay up his words in thine heart That 's a good Comment upon Acquaint now
enumeration of those manifold blessings which follow our returning to him Whereof the first is Thou shalt be built up Affliction and trouble which are the fruit of sin pull downe and lay us wast godly sorrow and repentance which are our turning from sin have a promise of this good fruit That we shall be built up againe This building up may be taken two wayes first more generally for an encrease in all good things secondly more specially for an encrease in children In the Hebrew the same word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filius inde dictus quod aedifictum sit structura parentium Merc which signifies a sonne signifies to build because children build up their fathers house or are their fathers building in that sense the word is often used Gen. 16.2 Gen. 30.3 Ruth 4.11 It is sayd Exod. 1.21 that God built the midwives houses which some interpret he gave them children Prolem dedit Merc or made them more fruitfull in child-bearing We read in rhe law how that man was to be dealt vvith who refused to take his brothers wife according to the commandement of God in those times and the conclusion of all is Deut. 25.9 So it shall be done to the man that shall not build up his brothers house that is who refuseth to marry his brothers widdow and through the blessing of God to have children by her which would be as the building up of his house or the continuance of his name and family Thus some understand the phrase here Thou shalt be built up that is thou who hast lost all thy children Thou vvhose house hath been pul'd downe by the fall of a house Ch. 1.19 shalt have more children and so thy house built up againe But I rather take the phrase here in that larger sence and so to be built up implyeth all kinde of prosperity in outward things Mal. 3.15 Now ye call the proud happy yea they that worke wickednesse are set up we put in the Margin are built up that is they are very prosperous they may have what they will in this vvorld or as we say the world at will And note that by the way 't is the vvorst character of an age when they that worke wickednesse which ruines the best built State are built up The Lord makes a promise in the language of this Metaphor to the Church Jer. 31.4 I will build thee and thou shalt be built O virgin of Israel As if he had said plainly I will blesse thee and raise thee up out of the dust of thy present desolate condition into a glorious fabricke of prosperity and honour so it follows in the same text Thou shalt againe be adorned with thy tabrets and goe forth in the dances of them that make merry This sence of the word is cleare in that opposition used in the Psalme Psal 28.5 Therefore saith the Lord I will destroy thee and not build thee up that is thou shalt be destroyed for ever I will never repayre any of thy ruines thine shall be as Asaph speakes Psal 74.3 Perpetuall desolations So that when Eliphaz promiseth Job Thou shalt be built up his meaning is thy ruin'd state shall be repayred and thou shalt have not onely a beautifull but a wel foundation'd felicity Hence note It is no vaine nor unprofitable thing to repent and turne to the Allmighty If we by repentance pull downe the strong holds of sinne if we forsake and lay wast our lusts the Lord will build us up he will build us up with all manner of blessings repentance is fruitfull There are many who professe they repent but they doe not bring forth fruits meete for repentance but as true repentance is accompanyed with our fruits of holines and obedience towards God so with Gods fruits the fruits of his love and mercy towards us Ther◠is a kinde of repentance in hell there 's weeping wailing and gnashing of teeth but that 's a fruitlesse repentance as well as a faithlesse repentance the damned are under chaines of everlasting darknesse Unsound repentance or the repentance of hypocrites in this life is like the repentance of the damned in the next life but true repentance is fruitfull If we as the Baptist exhorted the Jewes Math. 3. Bring forth fruit meete for repentance our repentance will bring forth fruit meete for us we shall have good things of all sorts if we sorrow as the Apostle saith the Corinthians did after a godly sort godly sorrow is rewarded with joy if we humble our selves God will lift us up The sorrows of Gospel repentance are like the sorrows of a woman in travaile who as Christ speakes Joh. 16.21 straight way forgets her paine for joy that a man is borne into the world The pangs and throws of godly sorrow are therefore sayd by the Apostle to cause repentance not to be repented of because that repentance brings forth joy to be rejoyced in a masculine joy joy that a man-childe of Grace to build up our spirituall house is brought into the world If thou returne to the Allmighty thou shalt be build up And Thou shalt put iniquity farre from thy tabernacles The word imports first putting away with indignation secondly putting away to the utmost distance therefore we translate put away farre 't is but two words in the Originall Thou shalt put iniquity farre c. Iniquity may be taken either for sinne or for the effects of sinne that is punishment if we take it in the first sense for sin it selfe and then this latter clause must be understood as a duty If thou returne to the Allmighty thou shalt be built up thou shalt put away iniquity farre from thee that is It is thy duty to put away iniquity farre from thee as if Eliphaz here did set forth more fully what repentance is thou shalt be built up if thou returne to the Allmighty that is if thou returne so as to put thy iniquity farre from thee if we take iniquity in the second sence for the punishment of iniquity then the words are a promise as if he had said if thou returne c. then thou shalt rid and discharge thy selfe and thy house of all the troublesome effects of sin Thou shalt put iniquity or all the sad issues and consequents of iniquity farre from thee none of them shall touch thee to annoy thee Mr Broughton pitcheth upon the former sence in his translation If thou cast farre off unrighteousnesse from thy tents That gives a perfect sence to the whole sentence and from thence we may Observe That in true repentance sin must be utterly cast off and put away We returne not at all to the Allmighty till we wholy turne from sinne nor will the Allmighty build up our house till we put iniquity quite out of our house till we turne it out of house and home out of the house of our family out of the home of our hearts nor is it enough to put sinne away a little or a
a thing and it shall be established unto thee and the light shall shine upon thy wayes When men are cast downe then thou shalt say There is lifting up and he shall save the humble person He shall deliver the Island of the Innocent and it is delivered by the purenesse of thine hands IT hath appeared in opening the whole Context of which this is a part how Eliphaz presseth Job with promises assuring him that not onely good but great good should accrew to him by his returning to God and acquainting himselfe with the Allmighty And in the foregoing verse That great benefit was shewed The Lords hearing the prayer of such as doe so Thou shalt make thy prayer to him and he shall heare thee and thou shalt pay thy vowes Here Eliphaz gives in another excellent promise Thou shalt also c. that is moreover and beside what I have said I adde this Vers 28. Thou shalt also decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scidit abscidit secuit divisit Metaleptice secuit lites definivit decrevit Importat hoc verbum decretum cum quadam separatione unius rei ab alia Bold Thou shalt decree The word here translated to decree signifies properly to divide to cut asunder So it is used 1 Kings 3.25 when Solomon gave sentence between the two women that were harlots concerning the living Childe he sayth Divide the Childe my decree is that the Childe shall be divided Now hence by a Trope the word signifies also to decree to descide or to determine a matter because in all decrees about or determinations of a Controversie there is as it were a Cutting off the buisines a laying aside of one thing and a sticking to another When the whole matter is debated and weighed in Councell then the result and issue of all is drawne up and given out in a decree So that to decree is to divide or separate one thing from another resolving upon that which we conceive most just and reasonable Thou shalt decree a thing The Hebrew is Thou shalt decree a word Verbum pro re frequenter per Metonymiam adjuncti it is usuall in that language to put word for thing And when he saith Thou shalt decree a thing wee are not to understand it at large as if whatsoever were decreed should be established but the meaning is thou shalt decree that which is right and good in it selfe and good for thee For the decree being made by a godly man wee cannot suppose that he should decree any thing but that which is just and good and so the signification of the former word is well applyed to this Thou shalt decree that is thou having by deliberation and serious discussion considered what is right and having cut off all evill from thy sentence thou decreeing such a thing it shall be established unto thee There are yet two opinions concerning this decree as it is an exposition of the former promises Thou shalt be heard and Poterit esse pracedentis partis expositio Decernes offerre vota et deus illa rata efficiet vel rata semper fundes verba Piâ—ed thou shalt pay thy vowes that is what thou suest for by prayer on earth shall be decreed for thee in heaven That is thy prayer shall certainly be performed thy prayers shall not be lost no They shall be as the Statutes and decrees of heaven It is said of Eliah 1 Kings 17.1 what he decreed was done and what was his decree his decree was his prayer See how he speaks as if he had the command of heaven and earth as if he had carryed the keyes of the Clouds at his girdle As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand there shall not be dew nor raine these yeares but according to my word But what was this word of Elijah the Apostle James expounds that for us he telleth us what this word was when Eliah sayd it shall be according to my word Jam. 5.17 Elias was a man subject to the like passions as wee are and he prayed earnestly that it might not raine and it rained not on the earth for the space of three yeares and six months And he prayed againe and the heavens gave raine and the earth brought forth her frruit The Apostle explaines what the word of Elijah was even a Prayer-word he prayed and sought the Lord in that thing and his prayer was as certainly performed to him as if he had the whole power of decreeing what he would have Thus here thou shalt powre out a prayer and thy prayer shall be as a decree established with God So we read Gen. 32.24 in the report of Jacobs wrestling with the Angel that the word of Jacob was as a decree I will not let thee goe except thou blesse me I will have a blessing and it is said as a Prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed Jacob had what he would in prayer he decreed a thing and it was established to him The prayers of Saints are decrees with God and 't is but reason they should be so because their prayers answer the decrees of God or they pray for that which God hath decreed and indeed there is no Saint or Godly man would pray any other prayer or aske any thing of God but what God hath determined and decreed before to give As a Godly man would doe nothing but what God hath commanded so he would aske nothing but what God hath decreed This is a comfortable truth yet I rather conceive the sence of this place more generall and not tyed up to that of prayer and therefore Secondly Thou shalt decree a thing that is thou shalt take up a resolve or a purpose thou in thy wisdome and prudence shalt say in thy heart I will doe such a thing or I would bring such a thing to pass Ordinabis per tuam providentiam facturum aliquid quasi rem non futuram incertam sed quasi divina jam voluntate constitutam illam habebis Aquin. and it shall come to pass or be established For as many men mett together in Councell make Decrees so any man in himselfe may make a decree and we alwayes make decrees in our own minds before wee joyne in any decree with others first wee speake in our mindes then we speake out our mindes Thou shalt decree a thing that is thou shalt resolve to goe such a way or to doe such a thing and it shall be done Now this Case of decreeing must be understood with a Caution suppose the thing it selfe be just and lawfull as wee touched before yet a man must not make absolute decrees that 's the priviledge of God he onely can make peremptory decrees who hath all things in his power we must decree submissively to the will of God and say if the Lord will if the Lord please wee will doe such a thing The Apostle James 4.12
Dimissus oculis est qui suo ju dicio existi matione sibi ipsi vilescit He shall save the humble person that is the person who is low in his owne eyes while in the greatest worldly heights the person that humbles himselfe and walkes humbly with God and men when most exalted Thus the Apostle James exhorts the brother of high degree or the rich brother to rejoyce in that he is made low Jam. 1.10 But if he be rich how is he made low he meanes it not of a lownes in state but of a lownes or rather lowlines of spirit The brother of high degree hath no cause to rejoyce in his highnes but when he is low in his owne eyes Lownes of eyes is more then a vertue or common modesty 't is a Grace That 's in a spirituall sence the most Grace-full looke which is the most humble looke He shall save the humble person But with what salvation I answer Salvation is eyther temporal and bodyly or eternal usually called the salvation of the soule We may expound this Text of both The Lord saveth the humble person both body and soule both temporally and eternally Where note That the Lord takes speciall Care of humble ones The Lord seemes to take so much care to save the humble as if there were none else that he tooke care to save or regarded what became or them whether saved or no. And the Lord speakes of proud persons as if he contemn'd none but under that name and notion Jam. 4.6 He resisteth the proud he that is proud of his person or parts or estate or witt or power the Lord resisteth him And he speakes of the humble as if none were saved but under that name and notion He saves the humble person◠or as that Text in James hath it He giveth grace to the humble What grace There is a twofold grace and both are given to the humble First he gives them the grace of favour or good will he is kinde to and respecteth the humble or as this text in Job hath it Hee saves the humble person Secondly He gives much grace to the humble as grace is taken for that gracious worke of the Spirit in us forming up faith love c. in our soules The Lord gives more of this grace also to the humble that is he addeth unto the graces which they have and makes them more humble more gratious a man cannot be in that sence an humble person without grace humility it selfe is a great grace and the greater our humility is the greater accession we have of other graces Thus I say we may understand the text in James both wayes He giveth grace to the humble that is he favours and respects them because they are gracious and he addeth to or encreaseth their graces We have a promise very paralel to these of Eliphaz and James Psal 18.27 Thou wilt save the afflicted people but wilt bring downe high looks The word which we translate afflicted signifies also one humbled and humble and so we might render the Psalme Thou shalt save the humbled or the humble people and that the humble are to be taken in to partake of the priviledge of that promise is plaine from the opposite Terme in the latter clause of the verse High lookes that is high lookers God will bring downe but he will save the humble person Men of low and meane estates are usually wrapt up with great ones in the same judgement as the Prophet speakes Esay 5.15 The meane man shall be brought downe and the mighty man shall be humbled the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled there we have the meane man and the mighty man under the same wrathfull dispensations of God The wicked whether high or low are farre from salvation but God knowes how to make a distinction between the humble and the proud when his wrath makes the greatest confusions in the world Humility it is not onely a sweet but a safe grace yea a saving Grace wee never goe under the Covert of God so much as when wee walke humbly with God He will save the humble person Vers 30. Hee shall deliver the Island of the Innocent and it is deliver'd by the purenes of thine hands The promise is continued to the man that returnes to God Hee shall deliver the Island of the Innocent or as some translate the Innocent shall deliver the Island The sence is the same He shall deliver the Island that is the Inhabitants of the Island All shall be safe the Island and they that dwell in it There is another reading of the Text which yet falls in fully and clearly with this whereas we reade He shall deliver the Island of the Innocent Liberabit noxium Pisc it may be read He shall deliver him that is not Innocent Now because this may seeme a very wide difference in the translation wee are to Consider the ground of it how this can be made out that the same text should be rendred the Innocent and him that is not Innocent The reason is because the word which we translate Island is taken by many of the Hebrew Doctors Vocula 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae hic redditur insula idem valet quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non Pisc Ego cum veteribus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro negatione exponerē Eritque facilis sensus sc deus puritate manuum tuarum etiam nocentē vel non innocentem liberabit Merc. as also by other translators onely for a negative particle signifying not or that which is not So the word is rendred 1 Sam. 4.21 when Phineas his wife dying in travell gave the name to her Childe shee sayd Hee shall be called Ichabod There is no glory or not glory And againe Pro. 31.4 the word is used in the same sence It is not for Kings O Lemuel to drinke wine strong drinke is not for Princes So here Thou shalt deliver the nocent or the not Innocent And so the whole verse is thus translated God because of or for the purenes of thy hands will doliver the nocent or those who are not innocent Whereas we say Thou shalt deliver the Island of the Innocent or the Innocent shall deliver the Island And it is delivered by the purenes of thine hands Eliphaz spake before in the third person here in the second 't is probable he did so purposely to make Job understand that he meant him It is delivered c. That is the Island is deliver'd according to our translation how is it delivered by the purenes of thine hands The word notes the most exact purity and cleannes like that of gold when it is refined in the fire or of garments that are washed with Soape or Nitre Manus purae sunt opera inculpata quae crimine vacant Drus by this purenes it or the Island shall be deliver'd and by the purenes of his hands he meanes the purenes of his actions or administrations The
might be some drosse in him that he had not found And now he would be re-tryed that he might come forth purest gold Pure gold feares neither the furnace nor the fire neither the Test nor the Touchstone nor is weighty gold afraid of the Ballance He that is weight will be weight how often soever he is weighed he that is gold will be gold how often soever he is tryed and the oftener he is tryed the purer Gold he will be what he is he will be and he would be better then he is Every man of Jobs mettal saith or may say Let him try mee and I shall come forth as gold JOB CHAP. 23. Vers 11 12. My foot hath held his steps his way have I kept and not declined Neither have I gone back from the commandement of his lips I have esteemed the words of his mouth more then my necessary food AT the 21th and 22th verses of the former Chapter Eliphaz having sharply rebuked Job gave him very wholesome and holy counsell Acquaint thy selfe now with him and be at peace receive the law from his mouth and lay up his words in thy heart In these two verses Job professeth that he had done so that he had kept close to God followed him step by step that he had not declined or turned back and that he had done all this out of pure love to the word So that each member of this context seems to carry a direct answer to every member of that counsel which Eliphaz had there given him As first to that of Eliphaz Acquaint thy selfe with God he sayth I have held his steps That man takes and holds neere acquaintance with another of whom it may be affirmed that he treads in or holds his very steps Againe Eliphaz advised Job thus Receive the Law at his mouth Job answers I have not gone back from the commandement of his lips c. Or thus First He that takes hold of the steps of God acquaints himselfe with God Secondly He that keeps the way of God and declines not from it is at peace with God Thirdly He that goeth not back from the commandement of his lips receives the Law at his mouth Fourthly He that esteemeth the word of God more then his necessary food hath surely layd up the word of God in his heart Job professeth in these two verses that he had done all this and therefore he had already done what Eliphaz presseth him to doe His whole conversation had exactly hitt the counsell given him Vers 11. My foote hath held his steps My foote We are not to take the word foote strictly Cum dicit pes meus pro eo habendum ac si dixisset ego apprehendi gressum ejus Drus Verbum significat aliquid violentèr detinere ne labatur aut fugiat aut fluat Bold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that speciall member of the body so called but by the foote we are to understand the whole man my foote that is I my selfe have held his steps I have held them And he meanes such a holding as hath a kinde of honest pertinaciousnesse in it or a resolvednesse not to let goe what is held a resolute holding a cleaveing fast to a holding with a kinde of violence such as Jacob expressed to the Angel Gen. 32.26 I will not let thee goe except thou blesse me My foote hath held To lay hold is the proper action of the hand not of the foote and it is used here onely as it signifies the keeping of a thing close and fast any way so as not to part with it or as it imports a constant walking with God My foote hath held his steps or upon his steps The word which signifies to goe signifies also to be happy or blessed and the reason is because our way or motion sheweth what our end and rest shall be our happinesse in the end lieth virtually in our way But what were those steps that his foote took hold of Steps in the Text may be taken two wayes First For those steps which God hath appointed man to take Vestigia dei idem significare poterunt quod via dei sc illius precepta legem quam nobis tenendam commonstrat Pined Gressum ejus accipe passivè id est ab eo definitum monstratum Jun. Vestigia dei sunt divinae actiones quibus ille preit vel sunt ejus effectus ad extra sc Charitatis clementiae justitiae veritatis Pined walking as and where God would have him so these steps are the same with the law or way of God not actively for the steps which God takes but passively for the steps which he directs and appoints us to take Secondly We may expound these steps for Gods own steps not for the steps which he shews us in his word that we should take but for the steps which he shews in his practise or in his example that himselfe hath taken My foote hath held his steps so to follow the steps of another is to imitate him and to follow the steps of God is to imitate him the steps of God are those holy actings wherein he goeth before us and sets us an example Some of the workes of God are a rule his actions are directions to us Then Jobs meaning is I have imitated God and followed his example in all things that are imitable by man I have so much acquainted my selfe with God and have been so familiar with him that I have as it were coppied out his way in my life and conversation Thus he speakes of God as leading the way and going before us and saith he I have not satisfied my selfe to follow him at large or in the same common path but I have set my feete in his very steps or I have followed him step by step Hence note That a godly man doth example himselfe by God He followeth the way of God in his workes as well as in his word or he obeyeth God doing as well as commanding Many of the workes of God are infinitely beyond our imitation yet he workes so in other things that he hath descended to our imitation And though we cannot follow God in any thing as to an equality yet we may follow him in many things as to the similitude of his workings we may goe the same way that he goeth and take the same steps that he hath taken though we cannot take them in that perfection nor goe with such exactnes as he hath gone before us A childe may write the same letters the same words and lines which the most acurate penman or artist in writing hath prescribed him for a copie and so the childe may be said to hold the steps of his Master letter for letter word for word line for line though there be a wide difference discernable between their writings To follow God is our dutie Godlinesse is Godlikenesse or an imitation of God And practicall Christianity is nothing else but our imitation of Christ
but I have hid or layd up the words of his mouth that 's a good reading and so Mâ— Broughton translates More then my daily bread have I layd up the words of his mouth The Vulgar gives another reading In my bosome have I hid the words of his mouth in this following the Septuagint who by the change of a letter in the Originall translate the word which we render More then my necessary or statute food in my bosome But I passe that as a mistake of the text in that word yet in the former part it consents with Mr Broughton I have hid or layd up the words of his mouth more then my daily bread And as this translation holds out a truth in it selfe so the sense meets with ours for as the Originall word doth as properly signifie to hide or lay up as to esteeme so those things are layd up or hidden by us which are of most esteeme And this action of hiding or laying up the word is often spoken of in Scripture both as the practise and as the duty of the Saints Psal 119.11 I have hid thy commandements in my heart And the rule is given by wisedome Prov. 2.1 My sonne if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandements with thee Wisdome counselleth us not onely to receive but to hide the commandements And Pro. 4.20 21. Wisdome goeth yet further My sonne attend to my words incline thine eare to my sayings let them not depart from thine eyes keepe them in the midst of thy heart The heart as Naturalists say is in the midst or center of the body Holy truths must be kept in the midst of the heart in the midst of the middle that is in the safest place in that most retyred chamber the midst of the heart But why should these words be hidden in the heart which are and ought to be proclaimed in the eare and upon the house-top I answer wee hide things first that we may know where to have them what is throwne at our heeles wee know not where to have Secondly We hide things for safety or from danger as well as to have them ready at hand for use There are enemies who watch their opportunity to steale the word away from us and therefore it is our wisdome as well as our duty to hide it or lay it up safe So that in both notioÌ„s we ought to hide the word of God first that wee may have it at hand for use as it is sayd of the Good house-holder in the Gospel that he layeth up and hath in his treasure things both new and old Secondly that it may be kept out of the hand of the theife who would rob us of that precious treasure Satan and the world are Word-stealers and they steale away the Word not because they desire to make any use of it but lest we should therefore as Gideon Judg. 6.11 threshed wheat by the wine-presse to hide it from the Midianites so seing there are mysticall Midianites who dayly steale away the Word that most necessary and precious wheat from thousands who have heard and received it we should in a holy jelousie and suspition of them hide it out of their reach In conversion God puts the Law in our minde and writes it in our heart And through that grace received and dayly renewed we also are enabled to lay it up there Pectus meum feci Bibliothe cam dei Hieron de Nepotiano A Good man as one of the ancients speaketh makes his heart Gods library there he layeth up whole volumes of holy precepts and of precious promises And looke what precepts or promises he finds in the Bible or written booke of the Word of God the same he finds transcribed into his owne heart and so into his life But I will not insist upon that reading I have laid up the words of his mouth more then my necessary food We render I have esteemed the words of his mouth c. These two rendrings of the word give light to each other That which we esteeme we hide and the more we esteeme a thing the more carefully we hide it No man will lay up that which is worth nothing what we hide is of value at least we judge it to be so Childrens pockets are often full of Bables but to them they are no Bables they esteeme them as men doe gold and silver else they would not take them up much lesse lay them up I have esteemed the words of his mouth Before it was the commandement of his lips some make a distinction between these expounding the commandement of his lips for the preceptive part of the word and the word of his mouth for the promissive part of the word or for the promises which are gracious declarations and manifestations of the love and good will of God to sinfull man Dicta oris distinguo a praeceptis dictum oris est verbum gratiosae nunciationis et promissionis q. d. gratiam annunciatam libentè◠accepi animi fide Coc As if Job in the former words had a respect chiefely to the Law or rule of doing and in this latter to the Gospel or ground of beleeving But though I see not well how these seemes can beare that distinction yet the matter doth yea and seemes to require it for though a godly man esteemes the precepts of God as well as the promises and the commandements are the words of Gods mouth as well as the promises yet the promises are the most feeding fatning and refreshing part of the word and if so surely they were not left out yea possibly were principally inteÌ„ded by Job in this place that he might shew how his Spirit was carried out to the full latitude and compasse of the minde of God both in the Law and in the Gospel And because the promises have so much soule-food in them he doth therefore elegantly preferre them before his necessary food I have esteemed the word of his mouth But how much or at what rate did he esteeme them it follows in the next words More then my necessary food There is yet some variety observable in the reading of these latter words Some give it thus A statuto meo abscondi eloquia oris ejus Mont Ex statuto meo vel more meo ut ab â—nevute aetate assuevi praetermittere quae deus odio habet i. e. plena electione deliberatione fixa apud se non externè tantum et levitèr divinam legem custodire apud se decreverit Cajet Aliqui ad actiones hominis consuetas quas de more facit referunt ut antiquius habuerit legem domini animo recondere ei operam dare quam solita constitua sibi ac usitata facere Merc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proprie statutum et decretum sonat hinc certam decretam cibi rationem Quicquid advictum vitam fovendam ac tuendam est necessarium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appellatur Merc I
have esteemed or hid the word of his mouth according to my former manner or as I was wont to doe As if he had sayd what I now professe is no new thing with me I have not taken up this estimation of the word now on the suddaine upon my sick-bed I have done so long before now and so I doe still As it was said of Timothy that from a childe he had learned the Scripture Againe Taking the same reading the sence may be given thus Vpon election and deliberation I esteeme the word of his mouth As if he had said I doe not esteeme the word of God for nothing or as not having considered it and judged of the excellency of it but upon long debate consultation and tryall I have pitcht my election upon it Further Some in these words conceave Job alluding to those things which men doe out of long custome or according to their ancient course of life As if he had sayd There is nothing more fixed and setled eyther in my heart or in my practise then the Law of God Obedience to it is now become to me as another nature I slight in comparison of that all humane Lawes and Constitutions as also all my owne most practised formes and customes We render I have esteemed the words of his mouth more then my necessary food The Original word signifies a statute or a law and so any thing which is established or appointed for our use as a law or statute is And because our food our necessary food is that which is cut out or appoynted to us eyther by God or man therefore this word is applyed to signifie dayly bread or necessary food Banquets and great feasts are without all measure and bounds they know no law but are usually full of excesse both as to what is prepared and to what is consumed 't is seldome that either providers or eaters keepe the rule in feasting But a due necessary food which is for the maintaining of our lives and the renewing of our strength to goe on in our callings this food hath a bound and we eate as it were by measure or by statute therefore we translate necessary food others appoynted food or a portion So the word is used Gen. 47.22 Onely the Land of the Priests bought he not for the Priests had a portion assigned them of Pharoah and they eate the portion which he gave them their assigned portion is expressed by this word a portion it was to live upon such as Schollers have in Colledges and Almes-men in Hospitalls by the Statute of their Founders And in the booke of the Proverbs we have it twice used in such a sense Pro. 30.8 Remove from me vanity and lyes give me neither poverty nor riches feed me with food convenient for me or with my statute bread that is give me so much onely as the law of nature or the law of my necessity and conveniency calls for to fit me for duty with this statute bread let me be fed let others have their full tables this shall serve my turne Againe Pro. 31.15 Shee ariseth also while it is yet night speaking of the good house-wife and she giveth meate to her house-hold and a portion to her maidens she doth not throw the house out at windows or make havock of all as not caring which end went forward And as she is no prodigal waster so she is neyther niggardly nor scraping neither pineing nor pinching but giveth a meete portion to her maidens So here I have esteemed the word of thy mouth more then my necessary food This small proportion of food greatens the sense of the Text and heightens Jobs holinesse and piety very much for when we come to full tables where there is excesse our stomacks loath the meate and the more meate there is the lesse some are able to eate because the stomacke is over-charged with the sight of it Appetie may be dull'd with abundance but when we finde onely a convenient necessary statute portion as it were so much as is needfull to satisfie hunger and give some moderate delight this pleaseth most and is more esteemed by temperate persons then the greatest feast in the world A man doth not nautiate his necessary food or loath what hunger craves a crust of bread and that which is course is pleasant then necessary food is the sweetest food and we are best satisfied with that which breeds no satiety We live most comfortably with that food without which we cannot live at all comfortably So then when Job saith here I esteemed the word of his mouth more then my necessary food it is as if he had plainely sayd I tooke more care for and had a higher esteeme of the food of my soule then for that food of my body which necessity forceth every man to esteeme Hence note First That a godly man hath a high estimation of the word of God First He doth not onely esteeme it but he esteems it as food Secondly He esteemes it as necessary food Thirdly He esteemes it more then necessary food Here are three steps by which his estimation of the word of God is to be taken David saith of a godly man Psal 1.2 His delight is in the law of the Lord. The word there used signifies both will and delight Some render it voluntas will and others voluptas delight We may take in both his will and his delight is in the law of the Lord or he delightfully wills it Would you know where the delight and joy of a Godly man is it is in the law of the Lord there 't is fixed and no where else comparatively but in the Lord of the Law These two are inseparable he that delights in the Law hath first delighted in the Lord and he that delights in the Lord cannot but delight in the Law There are two metaphors used in Scriptute which shew the estimation and delight which Saints have in the law of God or in the word of his mouth First As the word is compared to food secondly as the word is compared to treasure the word is often compared to food and the most delicious food Psal 119.103 How sweete are thy words unto my taste yea sweeter then honey to my mouth And Psal 19.10 They are sweeter then the honey and the honey-combe He doth not meane the honey-combe barely as the vessell wherein the honey is kept but by the honey-combe he means the honey that flows or drops immediately and as I may say naturally without any art or pressing out of the combe which is esteemed the purest honey such is the law of God to the spirituall palate of a Godly man That feast Math. 22.2 Luke 14.16 to which sinners are invited is onely the declaration of the word and minde of God in the Gospel The word of Grace is the greatest feast which God makes his people Againe the word is as often compared to treasure what the esteeme and desire of man is to
oppression when Princes turne oppressors and Great ones theeves Secondly When it is sayd that they take away flocks and fed them it shewes that these robbers persisted in their sin and were not ashamed of it They could spoyle their neighbours and never blush They declared their sin as Sodome they hid it not Thirdly This imports that they had quiet possession of their ill gotten goods What they got unjustly they held securely and unmolested Their stolne goods were neyther recovered by law nor forceably retaken from them they fed them and kept them as their owne wickednes prospered in their hand no man saw the day of Gods reckoning with them This their impunity Job specially aymed at when he sayd They violently take away flocks and feed them or feed upon them Hence note That God leaves some wicked men in a long and quiet possession of what they have unjustly gotten To hold by injustice and oppression is the worst and most slippery title and tenure in the world yet as unjust gaine makes some rich as they improve and thrive as they trade in and encrease by wayes of unrighteousnes so they live prosperously and hold strongly what they have unrighteously gained They both feed upon and feed the flocks which they have taken away by violence Though some oppressors are so suddainly attached by pursuing vengeance that they can neyther feed nor feed upon their stolne flockes but even before the meate is in their mouthes the wrath of God and justice of man falls upon them will not suffer them to rost what they have got in this kinde of cruel hunting yet others rost and eate to the full though indeed they doe but fat themselves against a day of slaughter which though it come slowly will surely come Job still proceeds in describing their other acts of violence Vers 3. They drive away the Asse of the fatherlesse they take the widows Oxe for a pledge There is somewhat considerable in these words though they are but a continued description of the same thing under variety of instances They drive away the Asse of the fatherlesse Here is more violence still Some conceave the singular is here put for the plurall The Asse for the Asses of the fatherlesse Abigeus is propriè dicitur qui pecora ex pascuis vel ex armenâ—is subtrahit abigendi studium quasi artem exercet Ulpian Insigne est apud Jurisconsultos Abigeatus crimen that is all the Asses that he had they left not one but swept all away But if we take the word strictly for one single Asse then it aggravates the sinne They drive away the Asse of the fatherlesse Though he hath but one they drive that away this hightens the oppressioÌ„ as 2 Sam. 12.3 in the parable which Nathan put to David to convince him of his sinne He tells him of a rich man that had exceeding many flocks and herds but the poore man had nothing save one little Ewe-lambe which he had bought and nourished up and it grew up together with him and with his children it did eate of his owne meate and dranke of his owne cup and lay in his bosome and was unto him as a daughter Now when the traveller came to the rich man he spared to take of his owne flocke and of his owne herd to dresse for the waifareing man but tooke the poore mans lambe c. So here they drive away the Asse of the fatherlesse though he hath but one they drive that away Further when he sayth They drive away the Asse there are two things considerable in it First the Asse is a usefull and serviceable beast for the bearing of burthens Secondly the Asse is a meane creature a beast of no great value though of some use They drive away the very Asse and that the Asse of the Fatherlesse In the former verse where it is sayd They violently take away flocks and feed thereof there is no mention at all made whose the flocks were or from whom they tooke them But here Job seemes to lay the emphasis of their sinne not so much upon what they drove away as upon the person whose it was which they drove away They drive away not the great or the rich man asse but the asse of the Fatherlesse The word fatherlesse may be taken two wayes eyther strictly for a childe that is left without a father to take care of him provide for him or secondly we may expound the word fatherlesse more largely for any that are poore and in distresse as was shewed Chap. 22.9 How cruel are they and how covetous are they who will not spare the poore no not poore Orphans To take from the fatherlesse in eyther sence aggravates the sinne Which aggravation of their sin is further prosecuted in the next instance of their oppression They take away the widdows Oxe for a pledge What a pledge is hath been opened at the 22d Chap. ver 6. It is not sinfull to take a pledge but there is a twofold sinne implyed in this place while they are charged with taking the widdows oxe for a pledge First in reference to the person of whom the pledge was taken the widdow Secondly in reference to the thing which was taken for a pledge it was the widdows oxe For the oxe being used for labour in tilling the ground a most necessary use should not be taken or at lest not detained as a pledge Viduae pupillae asinum bovem certa vitae instrumenta averiunt Nicet Ipsarum viduarum facultates per vim eripiuÌ„t quasi jure quodam instar creditorum pignorarentur Bez Quasi sub quodam colore justitiae viduam gravantes Aquin therefore we finde that those things which were for necessary use and livelihood were forbidden to be taken for pledge Exod. 22.26 27. or if they were taken they were presently to be restored before the Sunne went downe But these cruel men took the widdows oxe for a pledge and restored him not We may also understand it as some that they tooke the oxe as if it were a pledge doing it as of right or under pretence and colour of Justice as being her creditors for a debt And so the whole proceeding is expounded eyther of tyrants that lay heavie taxes upon the poore people and if they are not able to pay presently take all away by distreine or of common extortioners who lend money or let leases and upon every default of payment take the forfeiture and carry all away as due to themselves Further we may observe in Scripture that as we have these two usually put together the fatherlesse and the widdow so we have these two usually joyned together the asse and the oxe Thus they are joyned twice in the ten Commandements in the fourth and tenth and often elsewhere But some may question Hath the poore widdow an oxe The oxe seems rather to belong to rich men then to the poore widdow To which we may answer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
or a dunghill that we would be glad of the crums that fall from our tables and of the worst scraps we leave upon our trenchers Thus the old Saints are described Heb. 11.36 glad they were of Caves and Dens they wandred in deserts and in mountaines and in dens and Caves of the earth being destitute afflicted and tormented they were glad to live among the wild beasts when they could not live quietly among men When the winde and the Sunne beat upon the head of Jonah the text saith Jonah was glad of his gourd a thing of little value very meane and fadeing in it selfe yet when the Sunne shined hot and the winde beat strongly upon him then hee was glad of a gourd In times of plenty and peace wre are scarse thankfull for goodly houses for full tables and rich Cloaths But a little and that course food will cause the hungry to be thankfull The naked will catch at old raggs and they who have no house will embrace a rocke There is a rocke a mysticall rocke whom the Saints embrace for a shelter and rejoyce in above all the goodly houses in the world yea above this whole world Christ is a rocke to be embraced in our best dayes as our best shelter and in our bad dayes he is our onely shelter And while we are constrained by outward wants to embrace natural rocks for the shelter of our bodyes let us remember how our inward and spirituall wants doe alwayes constraine us to embrace that mystical rocke for the shelter of our soules Lastly Observe The Cruelty of man to man knowes no bounds Wee have seene in this context several steps of cruelty men ravening for their prey like wild beasts men invading the harvest and the vintage of their neighbours men robbing both the fatherles and the widdow men pulling cloaths from the backes of the poore and exposing them naked to the cold and to the raine to the mercy of rocks and mountaines Thus man who should be a God to man kinde mercifull charitable bountifull courteous proves himselfe a Devill to man churlish cruel merciles yea such that even his tender mercies are cruell How cruel are their cruelties whose mercies whose tender mercies are cruel JOB CHAP. 24. Vers 9 10 11 12. They plucke the fatherles from the breast and take a pledge of the poore They cause him to goe naked without Cloathing and they take away the sheafe from the hungry Which make oyle within their walls and tread their wine-presses and suffer thirst Which groane from out of the City and the soule of the wounded cryeth out yet God layeth not folly to them JOb still drawes out the line of the oppressors wickednes or discovers the severall wayes of his oppression We have seene much of his bloody worke before here we have more even highest oppression oppression devoyd not onely of all justice but of all humanity such is that which is next instanced in Vers 9. They plucke the fatherles from the breast They that is the oppressors before spoken of doe it eyther with their owne hands or 't is done at their command by their ministers and instruments They plucke the fatherlesse The word notes an act of violence they lay violent hands upon the fatherlesse Who are meant by the fatherlesse hath been opened more then once already Here the fatherlesse are taken not largely for any that are destitute of helpe and meanes as the word is often used in Scripture but strictly for children whose fathers are lately dead and they yet in their minority yea in their infancy and in the first of their infancy sucking children children hanging upon their mothers breasts which exceedingly hightens the cruelty of these oppressors To use any violence to the fatherlesse though growne up is as hath been shewed a great wickednesse to use violence towards fatherlesse infants is much more wicked but to pull fatherlesse infants from their mothers or nurses breast which is all the livelihood a childe hath this is utmost wickednes And this is not onely an affliction to the children but to the mother a disconsolate widdow who having lost her husband is now bereaved of her childe also Thus they adde affliction to the afflicted and sorrow to the sorrowfull 'T is here enquired what should move them to plucke the fatherlesse from the breasts or what their intent might be in this barbarous action Some answer That it was their covetousnesse which moved them to be cruel They pull'd the children from their mothers breasts that so their mothers might be the fitter to doe them service they would needs weane the children before they were fit that the mother might be the more fitt to labour and toile for them or they pluckt the fatherlesse from the breast to sel them and to make money of them when they had murthered the father and taken all from the widow they made their markets of their children So we may interpret that of the Prophet Isa 10.2 Woe to them that decree unrighteous decrees and that write grievousnesse which they have prescribed to turne aside the needy from judgement and to take away the right from the poore of my people that widdows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherlesse So we reade implying that they tooke away the estate of the fatherlesse and so robbed them Others give this sence of thâ—se words that they tooke away the persons of the fatherlesse or more plainely thus That they stole away fatherlesse children and sould them into slavery There is a generation among us called spirits who pull children from the breast or enveigle away such as know not their right hand from the left to make merchandize of them The smell of gaine is sweet to some from any thing even from the sale of poore fatherlesse children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mamma etiam vastitas a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vastavit Rapiunt pupillo quod post vastationem relictum est Tygur Secondly Others reade the text thus They plucke from the fatherlesse that which was left after the prey or destruction for the word which we translate breast is derived from a roote which signifies to destroy or lay wast so the sense is given thus They take away from the fatherlesse even that poore pittance which was left after they had made havocke of all that was their fathers And take a pledge of the poore What a pledge is hath been opened Chap. 22.6 The words may also beare this translation They take that which is upon the poore for a pledge namely their rayment not onely the cloaths which they have by them to spare a poore man may have a little change but the cloaths which they actually weare How contrary this practise was to the Law hath been shewed before which forbad to take a pledge of such things as without which the poore cannot conveniently subsist There is a third reading which sayth not as we they take a pledge of the poore but
a further illustration and enforcement of these words Vers 17. For the morning is to them even as the shaddow of death if one know them they are in the terrours of the shaddow of death This verse gives a reason why these theives tooke the night for their worke or it is an exposition of what was last sayd They know not the light The text may be read thus out of the Original Vmbra mortis i. e. tam terribilis ut aliquem enecare potest Genitivus effecti Pisc Cum venit mane venit umbra dictum acutè propter speciem contradictionis As soone as it is morning the shaddow of death comes upon them This Hebraisme the shaddow of death hath been opened at the 5th verse of the third Chapter whether I referre the reader In this place it onely imports thus much in General That these wicked men did equally feare the morning as death it selfe they were surprised with feare as soone as surprised with light What is the reason of it why doth the adulterer feare the morning and why doth the theife feare the morning they doe so upon these three considerations First Lest they should be hindred in their wicked workes secondly lest their wicked workes should be discerned thirdly lest their wicked workes should be punished for these reasons they hate the light and the morning is to them as the shaddow of death Hence observe That good things even the best things are a trouble to wicked men Sin makes good things evill to us and pleasant things troublesome to us What a pleasant thing is the light How beautifull are the eyelids of the morning yet light is a trouble and the morning a burden to wicked men And if natural light be a trouble to them much more is moral and spirituall light How doe they hate the morning of truth the dawnings of divine knowledge These lights to life these enlivening lights are to them as the shaddow of death In how deplorable a condition are they to whom Good becomes evill and that which good men rejoyce in is to them an occasion of sorrow The whole course of nature is out of frame to us till we are set into a right frame by grace We put light for darkenes and darkenes for light till we our selves are brought out of darkenes into light Nothing is good to us till we are made good nor doth any thing please us except sin or that which we use sinfully till we please God The very morning which gives a new life to all is to some as the shadow of death If one know them they are in the terrours of the shaddow of death These words are but a further explication of the same thing if one that is if any one man woman or childe as we say know them that is take notice of them in their wickednesse or take notice of their wickednesse they are as we say dead in the nest Cum agnoscit alius alium Pisc Others render the words thus if they know one another that is if only so much of the light of the morning breakes forth as serves them to see one anothers faces they are afraid So this phrase is used Ruth 3.14 And shee lay at his feete untill the morning and she rose up before one could know another that is before there was light enough to discerne each other So these two readings if one know them or if they know one another meete in the same General sence their unwillingnes to be discovered at their worke if once there be light enough for these evill-workers to see themselves by they then know they may also be seene by others And if one any one know them They are in the terrours of the shaddow of death That is they are troubled like them who being ready to dye are yet unwilling to dye when death stands at a mans bed-side when death stands at his back ready to attach and apprehend him ready to carry him away while yet he is alltogether unwilling and unready to dye O in what a terrour is he Just thus it is saith Job with those wicked men they are not onely afraid to dye but the terrours of the shadow of death are upon them their terrour is such as men have when death over-shaddows them That 's the meaning of They are in the terrours of the shadow of death A shaddow in Scripture is taken two wayes First properly for that darknesse which is caused by the interposition of a thicke body between us and the Sunne Secondly improperly or metaphorically and so that is a shaddow which keepes off the heate of the Sunne or the violence of the raine and winde and so by a trope any thing of defence is called a shadow Judg. 9.9.15 Come trust under my shadow sayd the bramble that is put your selves under my protection And againe Isa 30.2 3. Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame and the trust in the shaddow or protection of Aegypt your confusion So Isa 49.2 In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me And Isa 51.16 I have covered thee in the shadow of my hand as birds cover or shelter their young ones with their wings and feathers Thus the Scripture speakes of a shadow But what is the shadow of death It is first the appearance of death secondly the power of death So the the meaning is as was touched before they are as much terrified as if death appeared to them as if the image of death passed before them in vision or as if the power of it had taken hold of them to bring them prisoners to the grave If one know them they are in the terrour of the shadow of death I have from the former words of this context as also at the 12th verse taken occasion to observe how troublesome both the light of the Sunne and the light of the minde are to evill men and therefore I shall not stay upon any Instructions of that kinde here Yet forasmuch as not onely the Murderer and Adulterer spoken of before but the Theife spoken of here are all for darkenes and concealement Observe First That sinners have a secret conviction upon themselves that what they doe is not good They draw up their own enditement and condemne themselves before God doth They would rocke conscience asleepe but they cannot they would blind it but they cannot This their delight in darknesse both outward and inward is a plaine demonstration that they know their deedes are evill Christ sayth as much Joh. 3.20 21. Every one that doth evill hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved No man feares his deeds will be reproved but he that suspects at least that his deeds are his faults and his actings his transgressings for as it followes He that doth truth that is who acts according to the truth cometh to the light He that doth good or truth indeed yea he who is but perswaded that he doth
sinfull ends they run as nimbly at it as if they could run upon the top of a corne feild and never presse a straw or as if they could run upon the water and never wet their feete By which hyperbolies the ancient Poets used to expresse the greatest celerity of motion Wee have a proverbiall saying among us which reacheth this swiftnes of a wicked man in sin He say we must needes run whom the Devill drives There is no doubt but evill men are Divel-driven yea Divel-ridden he rides them with whip and spurre to the doing of his blacke worke and therefore no wonder if they are so swift and make such hast about it That they make hast to doe it is too visible and that they make more hast then good speed is as visible For while they make hast to sin they make hast also to the curse As it follows in the next words Their portion is cursed in the earth Job spake in the singular number before but here in the plural He is swift c. Their portion c. His meaning I conceave may be this That looke how many soever they be of them that are thus swift to sin there 's not one of them shall be able to out-run the curse They are swift as the water to doe evill but the curse will be as swift as the winde to make them miserable Their portion is cursed The word signifieth any thing which falls to a man of right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pars porti◠possessio or is bestowed upon him for his lot or share First that part or portion which comes by way of Inheritance is so expressed Gen. 31.14 Deut. 12.12 The Inheritance that a father gives his son is his portion Secondly It signifies that part share or lot of food which is given out to any man for his dayly provision Deut. 18.8 Thirdly It notes that which is given to the poore by way of almes Eccl 11.2 Give a portion to seven and also to eight that is give to many for thou knowest not what evill shall be upon the earth It is used also for a share or distribution of the spoyle to each Souldier after a victory Gen. 14.24 Aner Eshcol and Mamre let them take their portion sayd Abram to the King of Sodome after he had rescued his Brother Lot and the captivated Kings In this place the word is taken in the largest sence as comprehending whatsoever they could call theirs or was any way belonging to them So that when Job sayth their portion is Cursed his meaning is all that they have is cursed As they have sinned in all they did so they are cursed in all they have The Grace of God in the Gospel is compared to leven Math. 13.33 which a woman tooke and hid in three pecks of meale till the whole was levened As the Grace of God both in regenerating and comforting runs through the whole man Pulchra est in Hebraeo paranomasia vocū conjugatorum nam levis maledictus ab eadem radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oriuntur Levificatio est maledictio Pineds so the curse of God like leven sowres the whole lumpe of man it runs through all that a man is or hath Their portion is cursed There is an Elegant paranomasia in the Hebrew between these two words in the text swift or light and Cursed They being both represented by one radicall word and the reason of it is because those things that are light or contemptible are Cursed or in a Cursed Condition They that honour me saith the Lord 1 Sam. 2.30 I will honour but they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed or they shall be cursed There the same word is used in the Original which in the present text we translate cursed To curse a man is to slight him to the utmost and we never esteeme so lightly or basely of any thing or person as when we curse eyther the one or the other Their portion is Cursed in the earth Maledicere est leviter de aliquo sentire levibus acerbisque scommatibus aliquum proscindere But by whom are they cursed or who curseth them I may answer They are cursed both by God and man As if Job had sayd their doeings have been such upon the earth that first all men curse them and secondly God curseth them Some are cursed by men and yet God blesseth them others are blessed or highly esteemed by men yet God curseth them But these men are such who as they please not God so they are contrary to all men as the Apostle spake of some 1 Thes 2.15 and therefore God and man joyne in their curse Their portion is cursed In the earth That is in all their earthly concernments or they are cursed even here while they are upon the earth where they thinke themselves and where possibly some others thinke them also most blessed For though they have gotten much in the earth or of earthly things yet all they have gotten is cursed and therefore all that they have is cursed for they have got nothing beyond the earth Againe These words may be read by way of Imprecation wee read them by way of assertion let their portion be cursed in the earth Like that Psal 109.8 9 10 11. Let his dayes be few and let another take his office let his children be fatherlesse c. Appareant plantae eorum super terrā aridae i. e. cum conseverint agros suos non gerimnet terra Some of the Ancients make the Paraphrase thus Let the roots of what they sow or plant appeare bare in the earth when the root of a tree or the roots of corne appeare above ground both tree and corne must needs wither for want of moisture For as the earth feeds the root so the roote feeds the stocke and the stocke the branches That is a cursed tree which beares no fruit according to its kinde and that tree whose roote is not suckled by the earth can beare no fruit Every wicked man is eyther cursed in not bringing forth fruit or else the fruit which he brings forth is cursed And therefore Their portion is every way cursed in the earth There is yet another Interpretation of these words which I shall but briefely touch and passe on Their portion is Cursed in the Earth that is the Region or place where they dwell is Cursed They dwell in desolate places or they skulke up and downe in deserts and wildernesses having done so much mischiefe among men that they dare not shew their faces where they are knowne Now deserts and desolate places may justly be called Cursed places because of their barrennes for barrennes is the Curse which God laid upon the earth for the sin of man Gen. 4.17 As a fruitfull Land may be called a blessed Land because the blessing of God maketh a Land fruitfull Isaac said to his Son Jacob Gen. 27.27 The smell of my Son is as the smell of a field which
or excommunicated from the society or communion of the faithfull and so no more to be remembred among the Saints or to have his name blotted out of the Church-records though he had been so great a planter and propagater of the Churches There are two Scriptures that speake of such writings or holy records Isa 4.3 It shall then come to passe that he that is left in Sion and he that remains in Jerusalem shall be called holy even every one that is written among the living or to life in Jerusalem Many might live in Jerusalem who were not written among the living or to life in Jerusalem Thus to be written to life or among the living is to be written in the Catalogue of those who are reckoned to have a life of Grace holynes and sanctification here as also to be heyres and expectants of a life of Glory hereafter Againe we have a like evidence of this Ezek. 13.9 My hand shall be upon the Prophets that see vanity and that divine lies they shall not be in the assembly of my people neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel As when the Lord brought the people of Israel out of Aegypt he commanded them to be mustered or numbred Num. 1.2 3. Thus also when they returned from the Babylonian Captivity they were numbred againe Ezr Chap. 2. Neh. Chap. 7. Now those records in which their names were written are conceaved to be the writings of the house of Israel mentioned in this 13th of Ezekiel as also the Booke of the living or to life in the fourth of Isaiah at least that both these Scriptures allude to those records And it was the custome of the Jewes that when any of them acted wickedly his name was rased out of those records as unworthy to be remembred among the people of God and was looked upon as a dead man yea as a damned man who hath no name in the booke of life so often mentioned in Scripture or whose name might be sayd to be blotted out of it From all which it appeares how great a curse it is to be no more remembred with respect and honour which Job affirmes shall be the condition of wicked men Which he further confirmes in the last clause of the verse And wickednesse shall be broken as a tree Here the abstract as elsewhere frequently in Scripture is put for the concrete That man who obstinately perseveres in sin is not onely wicked but wickednesse it selfe Psal 107.42 All iniquity shall stop her mouth that is such men as are full of iniquity shall have nothing to say or object against the righteous dealings of God but shall be silent in darkenes So Job 35.13 men extreamely vaine are called vanity and we usually call crafty men craft covetous men covetousnesse and proud men are called pride So a man much given to peace is in Scripture-language called peace Psal 120.7 I am peace or I peace but they make themselves ready for warre They who are much carryed to or in any thing are sometimes called by the name of that thing or they take the name of it upon themselves Thus David spake Ps 109.4 For my love they are my adversaries but I give my selfe to prayer The Hebrew is I prayer David was so much set upon prayer that he was prayer it selfe and a wicked man is so set upon wickednesse that he is wickednesse it selfe Wickednesse shall be broken as a tree What tree The text determines not but speakes indefinitely as a tree We may understand it first of a barren tree barren trees are broken and cut downe The word broken imports violence and so a violent breaking wicked men shall be broken violently Christ sayth of the Barren tree Luk. 13.8 Cut it downe why cumbereth it the ground Fruitfull trees adorne and beautifie the ground but barren trees doe onely burden and cumber it As good not to be as to be good for nothing The wicked shall be cut downe and broken as a barren tree secondly which provokes more to breaking they shall be broken as a tree that bringeth forth distastfull bitter poysonous fruite It is not good to let a tree live which brings forth evill and deadly fruit If they deserve to be broken who bring forth no fruit then much more they who bring forth none but noughty fruit Now as the wicked are alwayes barren of good fruit so they are alwayes bearing evill fruit nor can they beare any other Doe men gather grapes of thornes Thirdly they shall be broken as a tree that is rent and shivered both body and boughes with a tempest or storme of thunder and lightening Thus many tall and goodly trees are broken and thus the wicked shall be broken a storme a tempest from heaven shall breake them The downefall and destruction of wicked men hath been insisted upon from other passages of this booke and therefore I forbeare to adde any thing further here JOB CHAP. 24. Vers 21 22 23. Hee evill entreateth the barren that beareth not and doeth not good to the widdow Hee draweth also the mighty with his power hee riseth up and no man is sure of his life Though it be given him to be in safety whereon hee resteth yet his eyes are upon their wayes JOb having shewed the miserable conclusion of wicked men begins afresh to describe their further progress in wickednesse in the 21th and 22th verses Vers 21. Hee evill entreateth the barren Here 's another part of his wickednesse having robbed and murthered the innocent having committed adultery where he could have opportunity and admittance Nos putamus explicari non quid improbus faciat sed quibus supplicijs deus ipsorum posteros etsi ad tempus stare videantur deijciat Merl Consociat sc deus ei sterile non parituram viduam non afficit bono Jun Neque vivo ei neque mortuo uxor◠benedicit Jun Tollit deus sc è medio liberos ejus vel opibus potestate honore florentissimos Jun hee proceeds to afflict the barren and vexe the widdow The word which wee render to evill entreate hath severall significations and I finde Interpreters accordingly varying about the sence of the whole verse First The word signifies to associate or joyne together Thus Mr Broughton to whom others joyne renders it he adjoyneth the barren which hath not borne childe whereas our translation holds out the further actings of wicked men in sin this shews the further progress of God in punishing them for sin For the relative hee in the text is not referr'd to the wicked man but to God himselfe hee that is God joyneth the barren that hath not borne childe or that shall not beare and he doth no good to his widdow that is God sendeth him a barren wife and when he dyes his widdow shall live in misery This gloss Master Broughton gives upon his own translation God sendeth after him a barren wife that hee should have no helpe by Children and
sheweth no pitty to his widdow The next verse is also translated in this sence Hee draweth the mighty after him that is God drawes his Children though they are mighty into â—he same Condition with him and if any of them hold out a while yet they shall be sure to fall at last The Original may beare this sence and the Context or Antecedents suite well with it but yet I shall rather keepe to our owne translation then fall into this channell of interpretation which changes both the person and the state of the text wee rendering it of the actings of the wicked man in reference unto others and these rendering it as the actings of God in reference to the wicked The reason of this difference is as the gramarians speake because the nomnative Case is not here set downe and according to the Concisenes of the Hebrew tongue it is usuall to leave it out the verbe onely being expressed whence some referre it to man others to God Secondly As the word signifies to associate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pavit tam se quam alios etiam depastus fuit perdidit destruxit or joyne together So to feed nourish and take care of as a shepheard feedeth his flock or a father his Children and houshold this suites well with the former signification because they that are joyned together and associated doe usually feed together Prov. 28.7 Whosoever keepeth the Law is a wise Son but he that is a Companion of riotous men wee put in the margin hee that feedeth gluttons shameth his father According to this sence of the word the Interpretation is given thus hee feedeth the barren that beareth not Pavit sterilem quae non parit Vulg Alit sterilia scorta non prolis sed obscaenae voluptatis gratia and doeth not good to the widdow That is hee runs after harlots and feedeth them such lewd women are expressed by the barren because such seldome bring forth Children nor doe they desire it being so intent upon the fullfilling of their wanton or covetous lusts that they quite forget the ends of marriage Thus the prodigal sonne lived after he was gone from his Father as his Elder brother gave the character of his sinfull course of life which his father upon his returne and humiliation had covered and forgiven Luk. 15.30 As soone as this thy sonne was come which had devoured thy living with harlots c. They who feed and keepe such barren ones shall be kept bare and feed barely enough themselves if they be not quite devoured Thirdly The word signifies as the care of the shepheard in feeding his flock or the care of a father in feeding his houshold so it signifies to feed upon to eate up and devoure and then the sence is hee eateth up or hee devoureth the barren which rendring falls in with ours hee evill entreateth the barren hee that devoures and eates them up evill entreates them To which sence also the word is translated to breake or to spoyle Jer. 11.16 Psal 2.9 Hee shall breake them with a rod of Iron Thus hee eateth up or hee evill entreateth that is hee vexeth or oppresseth The barren that beareth not The barren in strictnes of signification are they that have not received the blessing of fruitfullnes in Child-bearing and this phrase the barren that beareth not implyes a woman that never bare children Such a one was Hannah in a proper sence 1 Sam. 1.5 6. and in a spirituall or mystical sence such were the Gentiles for a long time whom the Prophet thus encourageth Isa 54.1 Sing O Barren thou that didst not beare that is Rejoyce O ye Gentiles who as yet have brought forth no fruit to God The Church of the Jewes was fruitfull shee brought forth but the Gentiles were barren yet at last the Gentiles were brought forth into a Church and then they brought forth aboundantly both in reference to holy actions and holy persons for as the Apostle applyeth that Prophecy Gal. 4.27 The desolate hath many moe children then shee that hath a husband Barrennes is an affliction yea it was a reproach and therefore that good woman Hannah when God heard her prayer and gave her a childe said God hath taken away my reproach Afflixit sterilem ne pareret Bez. Confregit uxo rem sterilem ne pareret Pagn Hic est improbâ—s ille qui uxorem propriam quia sterilis est malis afficit Merl Some render the text as if it were the designe of the wicked man to afflict the barren though his owne wife lest shee should beare him children others as if this were his wickednes he afflicted and vexed his wife because shee was barren whereas such women ought rather to be comforted by their husbands As good Elkanah did his wife Hannah when grieved because of her owne barrennes 1 Sam. 1.8 Why weepest thou and why eatest thou not and why is thy heart grieved am not I better to thee then ten sons It is inhumanity in any especially in a husband to afflict the barren much more to afflict them because barren Hence note To upbrayd any with their afflictions especially with their naturall infirmities such as barrennes or any bodyly defect is very sinfull God giveth liberally and upbraydeth not Jam 1.5 and shall wee upbrayd any because God denyes them his gifts This was Peninahs sin in the present case 1 Sam. 1.6 and it will be a sin to any to doe so in any other case Againe I Conceive wee may take the word barren here not onely strictly for one that beareth not but largely for any one that is in a sad or afflicted Condition as the words widdow and fatherles are often used in Scripture not onely for such as have no father or have lost their husband but for any that are in a troubled or low estate So because barrennes was then a state of affliction and of reproach therefore by the barren any in affliction may be meant And so Evilly to Entreate the barren is to vex or oppress any that are afflicted Hence note To afflict the afflicted is the worke of the wicked Not to support the afflicted is sinfull Sterilis per se satis afflicta est ergo dum conterit eam afflictae afflictionem addit Drus how sinfull then is it to adde to their affliction and encrease their burden I onely mention this having discovered this straine of wickednes heretofore and what this former part of the verse saith affirmatively is sayd negatively in the latter And he doeth not good to the widdow Eliphaz Chap. 22.9 charged Job with this wickednes that he had sent widdowes away empty that is that he had not done good to the widdow and Job at the third verse of this Chapter numbers it among the evill deedes of the wicked man that he had taken the widdowes Oxe for a pledge In this verse he againe reckons up the same piece of the wicked mans uncharitablenes He doth not good
were too short were stretched longer Yet thus doe they who have but one word for all commers or for all they come to We would judge him a very unskilfull Physitian who let the disease be what it will should prescribe one and the same medicine or apply the same salve though a very soveraigne one to every soare As wee say That which is one mans meate is another mans poyson so we may also say That which is one mans medicine may be another mans poyson That which cures one disease may encrease another Therefore the Physician must consider to whom he gives the potion as well as what he gives and the Chirurgion must not onely know what his salve is but to whom he applyes it so in this case To whom hast thou uttered words weigh it wel whether they be babes or strong men in Christ whether they be under peaceable or troublesome dispensations whether obstinate or tender-hearted For these must be differently dealt with as their states doe differ We may else doe more hurt then good We may quickly as the Prophet speakes Ezek. 13.19 Slay the soules that should not dye that is grieve trouble the godly and save the soules alive which should not live that is harden and fatten the wicked in their sinnes The Apostle hath left us an excellent rule by his owne practice 1 Cor. 9.19 Though I be free from all men yet have I made my selfe servant to all that I might gaine the more and unto the Jewes I became as a Jew that I might gaine the Jewes to them that are under the Law as under the Law that I might gaine them that are under the Law to them that are without the Law as without Law being not without law to God but under the law to Christ that I might gaine them that are without Law to the weak became I as weak that I might gaine the weak I am made all things to all men that I might by all meanes save some and this I do for the Gospel sake that I might be partaker thereof with you In this context we see what was chiefely in the Apostles eye even that which is the highest and fayrest marke in the world the saving of soules And that he might attaine this end he critically observed the temper and state of his hearers striving to frame and sute himselfe and his speech accordingly He was not the same to all but he would be as they were to whom he spake or with whom he did converse yet Paul did not symbolize with nor connive at any in their sins he did not take upon him all colours he was not a man for all men or a man for all houres and humours The holy Apostle did not turne as flatterers doe with the times nor fashion himselfe to the severall garbes of men in a sinfull way Paul was so farre from any such base complyances that he having put the question doe I yet please men answers and concludes in the next words Gal. 1.10 If I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ But weighing the state of all men he formed his words and did accommodate his Ministery for their gaine or rather for the gaining of them Some are all things to all men that they may gaine by all that they may advantage themselves by all which is a spirit not onely unworthy of a Minister but of a man but Paul complyed with all that he might gaine them or bring them in the greatest gaine Or he complyed with all men that Christ might gaine and faith in him be propagated this I doe for the Gospel sake I doe not this for my owne sake I doe not put my selfe into all formes towards men for my own preferment in the world but that Christ may be preferred in the hearts and acceptations of all men with whom I have to doe before the world And that this was his purpose we have his sence fully from his owne pen 1 Cor. 10.32 33. Give none offence neyther to the Jewes nor to the Gentiles nor to the Church of God even as I please all men in all things not seeking mine own profit but the profit of many that they may be saved There are five things to be taken notice of that we may utter words to profit First The matter or what we speake Those words which have no worth in themselves can never profit others While the Prophet Hos 14.2 exhorteth the people to repentance He sayth Take with you words that is choise words select words consider what words you take with you when you turne to the Lord and plead with him for mercy saying take away all iniquity and receave us graciously And as we are to take words with us choyse words to expresse choyse matter in when we speake to the Lord so also in proportion when we speake to Men as from the Lord. Secondly We must consider to whom we are to utter words we must not shoot at random or without a marke Some doctrines are generall but there ought to be a speciall application of Generall doctrines Other Doctrines are peculiar to some We must not cast pearles before swine nor give childrens bread to doggs And we must be as carefull that we speake not to children that is to the truely Godly as we should doe to doggs and swine for so the Scripture calls them prophane and ungodly men Thirdly We must consider the season or time when we speake Those words will take at one time which will not at another There is as much care to be had and as much skill seene in a due timeing of our words as of our actions Fourthly We must consider the quantum or the measure of words uttered we may over-lay and over-charge those to whom we speake Every one cannot beare a strong shower of speech or words powred out like a flood upon such Our doctrine as Moses sayd his did Deut. 32.2 must drop as the raine our speech must distill as the dew as the smal raine upon the tender hearbe and as the showers upon the grasse Fifthly We must consider the manner in which we utter words whether to speake as a Barnabas or as a Boanarges whether as a son of thunder of wrath and judgement or as a son of peace of joy and consolation Of some have compassion that is deale tenderly with them Jude v. 22. making a difference and others save with feare pulling them out of the fire We doe but cast words into the ayre unlesse we thus make a difference in the manner of speech as they differ to whom we speake When we have duely weighed the matter which the persons to whom the season when the measure how much and the manner in which we ought to speake then we are like to speake to purpose and shall be above this reproofe which Job here gives Bildad To whom hast thou uttered words And whose spirit came from thee The word which we translate spirit signifyes also
vulgar and improper sence even those things that never had life may be called dead Mr Broughton renders strictly not dead things but things without life are formed under the waters The Hebrew word may come from a twofold roote and so hath a twofold signification First to heale and cure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dolorem mitigavit sanavit transferturper MetaphoraÌ„ a corpore ad animam ut sig remittere peccata and in Scripture it is transferred from the healing of the body to the healing of the soule in the remission of sins because as the wound of the body is healed by the salve so is the soules wound namely sinne healed by remission or forgivenesse The word is used in this sence Isa 6.10 Make the heart of this people fat and make their eares heavy and shut their eyes least they see with their eyes and heare with their eares and understand with their heart and convert and be healed that is pardoned Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 debitis dissolutus laxus languidus it signifies to be dissolved or loosened to be weake and languishing wee translate it dead because things that are dead are weakened and dissolved and therefore death is called a dissolution As Paul sayd Phil. 1.23 I desire to depart or to be dissolved that is to dye and the same phrase is used for death 2 Cor 5.1 Wee know that when the earthly house of this Tabernacle shall be dissolved c. Againe by the figure Antiphrasis frequent in Scripture this word as it signifies dead and weake things so also strong and lively things yea those that are strongest or most lively and therefore Gyants who are the strongest of men are expressed by this word Deut. 2.11 The Enims dwelt therein in times past Ecce Gigantes gemunt sub aquis Vulg a people great and many and tall as the Anakims which also were accounted Giants c. And the vulgar translates so here Behold The Giants groane under the waters Giants are called Rephaim in the Hebrew which word in the roote signifies to weaken not from their nature but from their effects not because they are weake but because they weaken others Giants are so strong that the very sight of them makes others weake and faint or pulls downe men of strength and might It is sayd that Saul and the whole Army of Israel were dismayed when they saw Goliah and greatly afraid they were weake before the Giant There is much labouring to make out this sence of the word here some understand it of the Giants before the flood Behold the Giants groane from under the flood Those Giants were indeed overthrowne by the waters and so they conceave that Job alluded unto them but I shall not stay upon that interpretation Others expound the text of those Gyants whose proper element is water the mighty fishes of the Sea the Whale the Leviathan spoken of in this booke of Job Leviathan is a Sea-monster a Sea-gyant of huge dimensions Naturall Historians and travellers describe the vastnes of the Whale or Leviathan to wonder and amazement And 't is granted that in these Gods power is much seene But I shall lay by this exposition also because I conceive fishes are spoken of in the next words where they are called the inhabitants thereof that is of the Sea or waters Againe this word Rephaim is often put for the dead or those that are departed this life Psal 88.10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead shall the dead arise and praise thee There are two words used for the dead in that verse one is the ordinary word the other is that of the Text. Solomon Pro. 2.18 shewing how dangerous it is to have to doe with the adulteresse sayth Her house inclineth unto death and her paths unto the Rephaim or the dead The house of Adultery and uncleanenes is the Gatehouse to death it is not a house raysed up but bowed downe her house enclineth unto death and she who is the governesse of rather the miss-governeness of the house will by her ill life bring thee among the dead even among those who are twice dead corporally dead at present and spiritually dead for ever But that which I shall rather pitch upon according to our translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is that by these dead things are meant such things as never had any life Mr Broughton expounds his translation Things without life of those precious things that are formed under the waters Amber and pearle and goodly stones These dead things are found under the waters and there they are formed Gods providence reacheth to the furthest places even to the bottome of the Sea and lowest earth which seeme to be as cast off So he glosseth and so doe other Interpreters Incipit dei providentiam poâ—entiam describere a rebus subterraneis initio sumpâ—o Merc concluding that Job is here setting forth the power of God in forming minerals and pretious stones under the waters or in the deepes and so riseth in his discourse by degrees to higher things As if he had sayd O Bildad what doest thou shewing me the power and providence of God in the high places where he maketh peace I can tell thee that the same power and providence of God are extended to those things which are wrought in the bowels of the earth and at the bottome of the Sea and so are furthest removed from our sight And whereas we say Dead things are formed there that word properly signifies to bring forth children or any living creature Job 39.1 2. Knowest thou the time when the wilde Goates of the rock bring forth or canst thou marke when the Hindes doe calve Canst thou number the moneths that they fulfill or knowest thou the time when they bring forth yea The Eternall Word and Wisdome of God speakes of himselfe in the language of this Word Pro. 8.25 Before the mountaines were setled before the hils was I brought forth It signifieth also to be in paine and groane for paine because child-bearing causeth much paine and groaning So the word is used in a metaphoricall sence Deut 2.25 This day will I begin saith the Lord to put the dread of thee and the feare of thee upon the Nations that are under the whole heaven who shall heare report of thee and shall tremble and be in anguish because of thee they shall be in anguish as a woman travelling with child and pained to bring forth Whence that translation takes its ground The Gyants groane under the waters And as it signifies to forme and fashion the child or any living thing in the womb and then to bring forth so it is applyed to the forming of things that have no life Ps 90. â—2 Before the mountaines were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God Dead things are formed But by whom here is no power exprest Job sayth onely they are formed
and 't is usuall in Scripture to speake that in negative words which was before spoken in affirmative As to be naked and to have no covering are the same so hell and destruction are the same and these two are often put together Pro. 15.11 Hell and destruction are before the Lord how much more the hearts of the children of men Though we know not where hel is nor what is done there though wee know not what is become of those that are destroyed nor what they suffer yet God doth and if the secrets of hel and devills are knowne to him then much more the secrets of the hearts of the children of men And as that proverb teacheth us that nothing is hid from God because hell and destruction are not so another proverb delivered in the same forme teacheth us that nothing in the creature can satisfie the desires and lustings of man even as hell and destruction can never be satisfied Prov. 27.20 Hell and destruction are never full so the eyes of men are never satisfyed The Devill who is the great executioner of the wrath of God is exprest by this word as hell is called destruction in the abstract so the Devill is called a destroyer in the concrete Revel 9.11 And they had a King over them which is the Angel of the bottomlesse pit or hell whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon but in the Greeke tongue hath his name Apollyon both the one and the other the Hebrew and the Greeke signifie the same thing a destroyer The Devill who is the Jaylour of hell is called a destroyer as hell it selfe is called destruction from the Co-incidency of these two termes Note Hell is destruction They that are once there are lost and lost for ever The reason why hell is called destruction is because they that are cast to hell are undone to eternity We read of a City Isa 19.18 which was called the City of destruction because it was to be utterly destroyed Hell may be called a City of destruction not because it shall ever be destroyed but because it shall ever be full of destruction and nothing but destruction shall be there There is no estate on earth so miserable but a man may be delivered out of it but out of hell there is no deliverance Heman saith Psal 88.11 Shall thy loving kindnesse be declared in the grave or thy faithfullnesse in destruction There grave and destruction are put together much more may hell and destruction be put together or for each other What ever comes into the grave is destroyed it rots and perisheth much more doth hell destroy all that comes thither And looke as the grave is to the body now a destroyer consuming so hell is to the soule now and will be to soule and body after the resurrection a destroyer tormenting The loving kindnesse of God shall not be declared in Hell nor any faithfullnesse of his in destruction unlesse it be his faithfullnesse according to what is threatned in the Word to destroy The Apostle Peter sayth 1 Ep 3.19 20. that Christ by the Spirit went and preached to the Spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah c. It is true that Christ by the Spirit in the ministery of Noah did preach to those Spirits who were disobedient in the time when Noah preached and were in prison or in hel in the time when Peter wrote But Christ did not preach by his Spirit in the ministery of Noah or any other way to Spirits who were in prison or in hel while he preached to them There are no Sermons in hel nor any salvation there The loving kindnesse of God is aboundantly declared on earth but it shall not be declared in hel As there is nothing felt in hel but destruction so there is no salvation offered to those who are in hel There 's teares enow and mourning enough in hel but there is not the least Godly sorrow in hel which onely worketh repentance to salvation August lib. 21. de Civ dei cap 17. not to be repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 One of the ancients hath reported the opinion of some in his time who thought that though there be destruction in hel yet not eternal destruction but that sinners should be punished some a lesse others a longer time and that at last all shall be freed and yet saith he Origen was more mercifull in this poynt then these men for he held that the Devill himselfe should be saved at last Of this opinion I shall say no more in this place then this one thing which he there sayd These men will be found to erre by so much the more foulely against the right words of God so much the more perversely by how much they seeme to themselves to judge more mercifully for indeed the justice of God in punishing sinners is as much above the scale of mans thoughts as his mercyes in pardoning them are let not sinners flatter themselves in a hope of salvation when they are in hel who have neglected salvation while they were on the earth For as the Apostle saith Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape that is how shall we escape falling into hel if we neglect so great salvation so I may say how shall any escape by getting out of hell who neglect so great salvation Hel is destruction and as because heaven is a place of happinesse and salvation therefore heaven and happinesse heaven and salvation mutually or reciprocally signifie one another to obtaine heaven is to obtaine salvation to obtaine heaven is to obtaine happines So because hel is a place of misery and destruction therefore hel and misery hel and destruction signifie the same thing nor can they be separated Againe when he sayth Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering we learne There is nothing hid from the eye or knowledge of God Philosophy and reason teach us that the vertue and force of the heavenly bodyes the Sunne Moone and Starres doe not onely act upon those parts of the earth which are uppermost but send their influences and powers to the lowest parts or bowels of the earth for as was sayd before according to the ordinance of God dead things are formed there Now I say as the power of the heavenly bodyes reacheth downe into the earth much more doth the power and light of God reach into hell it selfe I will not stay upon any curious enquiries where this hell is wheresoever it is God seeth it Hel is naked before him therefore sayth David Psal 139.8 If I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there that is there thou art by thy power and inspection thou seest what is in hell and if so how much more doth God behold what is done heere upon the earth if hell be naked before him then the earth is naked before him if destruction have no
knew him as a favourite that is trusted with secrets So David speakes Psal 25.14 The secret of the Lord is with them that feare him There is a secret in the plainest truths and doctrines of Godlines both in Law and Gospel and many know the doctrine who know not the secret any common professor may know the doctrine but the sincere onely know the secret that is the power and efficacy the sweetnes of comfort of the doctrine There is also a secret of God with his in blessing and prospering them in the world of which Job speakes Chap. 29.4 as there is also a secret and imperceptible curse which the Prophet calls the Lords blowing upon what men have in their possession or for their use Hag. 1.9 But besides these there is a secret of favour which is the sealing of the Spirit the gift of the hidden Manna and of the white stone with a new name in it which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it Rev. 2.17 This secret of the Lord is with them that feare him and there is yet another secret of his with them even the secret of his purpose and intendment concerning his owne providentiall workings Which while many or all see yet they know not the meaning of them I meane it not onely of the wicked and carnall but even of many who are holy and spirituall in the maine The secrets of providence are knowne onely to some choyce ones to some of an excellent Spirit and high attainements to some Abrahams c. intimate friends who are to God as his owne soule There is a secret of the Lord which is with all them that feare him yet some of his secrets are not with many of them who feare him What Job spake in the 12th Chapter of this Booke ver 2. reproving the pride of his friends Yee are the men and wisdome shall dye with you you I trow have ingrossed all wisdome and others must borrow of you The same we may speake soberly and approvingly of some humble Godly men they have the knowledge of God and it is but little that others have though they have a saving knowledge Some conceive the Prophet upbraiding the Jewes Isa 58.2 As if they affected to be looked upon not onely as such as know God but as such as know him intimately and were his bosome friends They seeke me dayly and delight to know my wayes as a nation that did righteousnesse and forsooke not the ordinance of their God they aske of me the Ordinances of Justice they take delight in approaching unto God They who doe indeed as these Jewes seemed to doe may be numbred among those of the highest forme that know God Why doe they that know him not see his dayes Here Job hath found out somewhat knowable which they who know God doe not alwayes know and that is as hath been shewed the season of his judgements Hence Note First The judgements of God are often eyther deferred carried so closely and secretly that the wisest and holyest men cannot alwayes discerne or see them The judgements of God are often deferred in this life and they are very often concealed though presently executed That is not alwayes true which Eliphaz asserted Chap. 22.19 The righteous see it and are glad the innocent laugh them to scorne The righteous sometimes see the judgements of God upon wicked men his care watching over themselves but they do not alwayes see eyther for as a wicked man may doe evill a hundred times that is very often and goe unpunished as is intimated Eccl. 8.12 So a wicked man may be punished a hundred times and yet not one of his punishments seene Some judgements of God are great and sore which yet fall not under the observation of the best of the wisest of the holiest in the world They that know him doe not see his dayes God for terror and warning to others doth judgement upon some openly Deut. 7.9 10. Know therefore the Lord thy God he is God the faithfull God who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keepe his commandements to a thousand generations and repayeth them that hate him to their face to destroy them He will not be slacke to him that hateth him he will repay him to his face Here are two things in this Text concerning the judgements of God That they shall come first suddenly secondly openly they shall come suddenly God will not be slack they shall come openly God will repay them to their face as they sinned openly so they shall be punished openly Thus God repayd the Sodomites he payd them to their face so he repayd Pharaoh and so the rebelling Jewes and he was not slack for as the Psalmist saith while the meate was in their mouth the wrath of God fell upon them Thus 't is sometimes yet judgements are often deferred and hidden What the Apostle speakes Rom. 9.22 is applicable here God willing to shew his wrath and make his power knowne indured with much long suffering the vessells of wrath fitted for destruction there are vessells of wrath fitted for destruction throwne to hell not onely to a temporall but to an eternall destruction yet God did indure them with much long suffering that is he did not presently powre out wrath upon them he was so farre from casting them presently to hell that he did not afflict them with any trouble in this life but indured them with much long suffering and patience David was much astonished with this consideration Psal 36.6 Thy righteousnesse is like the great mountaines thy judgements are a great deepe Take both together Thy righteousnesse is like the great mountaines the mountaines of God that is thy righteousnesse indures and remaines inviolable But though it be so yet the execution and actings of thy righteousnesse are not alwayes decerneable for thy judgements are a great deepe that is when God doth execute and put forth his righteousnesse few see it his judgements are a great deepe many deepes who can goe to the depth of them how unsearchable are thy judgements saith the Apostle Rom. 11.33 they are such and so deepe that none can reach the bottome of them and therefore no wonder if they are sometimes hidden from those that know God Secondly Whereas Job sayth Why seing times are not hidden from the Almighty doe they that know him not see his dayes We may Note That if any thing which God doth in this world be seene by any Godly men are in the Greatest likely-hood to see it And that upon a twofold ground first because they have the best eyes and sences most exercised to discerne what God is doing And as this is because they have the best internal light and purest principles to make this discovery with So in the second â—lace because they stand fayrest in the eye of God to have his providences manifested and expounded to them For as God by the Spirit expounds his word so his workes to his choycest servants
Shall I hide from Abraham sayd God Gen. 18.17 that thing which I doe And so the Lord saith to the spirituall children of Abraham unto this day Shall I hide from them eyther what I am about to doe or the meaning and scope of what I have done If any in the world see the dayes of God Saints shall So that we may conclude if they see them not that eyther they are not yet come or that God purposely concealed their comming Both or eyther of which may be the minde of Job in this place Lastly Consider the text as a question Why seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty doe they that know him not see his dayes What is the reason of this Job here answers Eliphaz who thought that the judgements of God were ever open and obvious to all beholders but as it is not so so what is the reason of this why is it not so I have heretofore given an account of these whyes and wherefores of these questions about the dispensations of God Yet here I answer further God is pleased to cover or defer his Judgement dayes First because it is his pleasure to doe so that 's answer enough for man it is his pleasure Times are not hidden from God but must he needs make us acquainted with all times or shew us the way of his judgements presently no it is his pleasure to doe otherwise and it is his priviledge to dispose of times seasons actions and judgements as he pleaseth who may say to him what doest thou or why doest thou so he is supreame and soveraigne if he will have it so why should any one oppose it or rise up against it Secondly If it be demanded Why are not the wicked presently punished seeing God knoweth times and seasons and how all things passe among the sons of men I answer God will leave wicked men more inexcusable the more patience is exercised towards them the more long suffering God is to them the more evident will the justice of God be in their sufferings and they will have the lesse or rather nothing at all to plead for themselves The least sin committed by man may stop his mouth how much soever hee is punished by God how much more may their mouthes be stopped who continued to sin greatly while God continued to spare them long in their sin Thirdly The day of the wicked mans suffering comes noâ— suddainly that the patience of the Saints may be tryed and exercised There are three things which chiefely exercise the patience of the Saints First the Greatnes of their owne troubles Secondly the slownes of their deliverance out of trouble Thirdly the long prosperity of wicked men or the long deferring of their punishment These delayes and stops in the vindicative administrations of God towards evill men give the graces of his servants present worke and God often forbeares purposely to put forth his power that Saints may put forth their patience or that it may be sayd of them as in the booke of the Revelations Here is the patience of the Saints in this the patience of the Saints is visible Faith and patience can never have so fit an opportunity to be seene as when the Justice of God in avenging them and in punishing the wicked is least seene Yea therefore it is that they doe not see those his dayes with an eye of sense that they might see them with an eye of faith While the Prophet saith Hab 2.4 The just shall live by his faith He speakes in reference to the deferring and delaying of judgements upon the enemies of the Church as appeares fully in the first Chapter ver 12 13. O Lord thou hast ordained them namely the Chaldean Empire for Judgement that is to punish and afflict thy Church the Jewish Nation and O mighty God thou hast established them for correction As if he had sayd Thou O Lord didst not intend the ruine and destruction of thy people by arming and sending this bitter and hasty Nation against them but onely their amendment and repentance yea thou hast no pleasure at all in these Chaldeans by whom thou hast powred out thy displeasure upon thine owne people For as it followes Thou art of purer eyes then to behold evill and canst not looke on iniquity to approve of it or to be pleased with it and seeing thou canst not wherefore lookest thou upon them that deale treacherously and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous then he That is why doest not thou O Lord take vengeance speedily upon these evill and treacherous ones The Prophet having proposed urged this question to the Lord What doth he next you may see that at the first verse of the second Chapter I will stand upon the watch and set me upon the tower dnd I will watch to see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer when I am reproved or as the Hebrew hath it argued with by carnall men or the turbulent passions of my own spirit The Lord giveth him his answer at large ver 2 3. which is summed up v. 4. in this briefe direction or assertion But the Just shall live by his faith As if he had sayd proud men will be querying yea quarrelling when they see my providences crosse my promises or my workes carrying a present face of unsutablenes to my word When things goe thus they are presently offended nonplus'd they know not what to make of it unlesse it be to make me a lyar as speaking what I meant not to doe or impotent as speaking more then I had ability to doe But my people know how to satisfie these doubts with a saving to my honour The Just shall live by his faith And they who live by faith will not have uncomely thoughts of me whatsoever it is that appeares to their sight or though that which they hoped would appeare be still kept out of their sight Though they that know him see not his dayes with an eye of sence yet they see them by an eye of faith and by that faith they live So then the reason why they who know God or the Godly see not his dayes is not because God is not able to bring a day of vengeance upon wicked men it is not because he beares any good will to them but to exercise the faith and patience of his people That 's the scope of this first verse which layeth downe the proposition by way of question times are not unknowne to God yet they that know him doe not see his dayes his judgement dayes as Eliphaz had before asserted In the next part of the Chapter Job goes on to prove by an enumeration of particulars that many sorts of wicked men goe on in all sorts of sinne who yet feele not the day of God upon them JOB CHAP. 24. Vers 2 3 4. Some remove the Land-markes they violently take away flocks and feed thereof They drive away the Asse of