might declare himself in Leviathan Hence note The parts powers and comely proportions of the creature clearly evidence the excellencies of God The Lord chiefly proclaimed his own name when he proclaimed the name of Leviathan Rom. 1.20 The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even his eternal power and Godhead The unseen God hath made all things that he may be seen in them When he makes a Comment upon his own works why is it but that he may make a Comment upon himself and expound his own glory in them And as the excellencies of the Lord are seen in the works of creation so in the works of providence and he hath therefore made so many declarations of them to us that his power wisdom and justice may shine through them to us Psal 75.1 That thy name is neer thy wondrous works declare And he said to Pharaoh Exod. 9.16 For this cause have I raised thee up for to shew in thee my power and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth All that the Lord doth to or in the creature is to get himself a name and a glory therefore let us give God the glory of his power wisdom and goodness in all his works Negare Pagaganus Christum potest negare Deum omnipotentem non potest August ser 139. de Temp. It was the saying of one of the Ancients A Pagan may deny that there is a Christ but a Pagan cannot deny Almighty God A Pagan may deny Christ for that 's meerly matter of faith but sense will lead a Pagan to believe there is a God or some omnipotent power that hath wrought all these things If we see a stream that assures us there is a Spring or Fountain if we see a goodly Palace built that assures us it had a builder a maker And if the stream be full what is the fountain If the Palace built be great and magnificent how great how magnificent was the builder Every house as the Author to the Hebrews said upon another occasion Chap. 3.4 is builded by some man but he that built all things is God Fourthly Seeing the Lord is pleased to read such a natural Phylosophy Lecture upon this creature we may take this Observation from it God would have man know the parts and powers of the creatures Why doth the Lord in this book speak at large of them and of their powers but that we may take notice of them and understand them or that we should search and study them What the Psalmist speaks concerning the works of providence is true of the Lords works in nature Psal 111.2 The works of the Lord are great And vers 4. He hath made his wonderful works to be remembred that is that they should be spoken of and memoriz'd And therefore having said at the beginning of the second verse The works of the Lord are great he adds in the close of it Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein His work is honourable and glorious c. The works of God are to be searched to the bottom though their bottom cannot be found by all those that have pleasure and delight either in God or in his works and they therefore search them out also because they encrease and better their knowledge of God the Creator by encreasing and bettering their knowledge about the creature From the whole verse we may infer First If God will not conceal the parts the power and comliness of his creatures then let not us conceal the power the glory and the excellency of God Yea let us with heart and tongue declare the glorious perfections of God how holy how just how wise how merciful how patient and long-suffering a God he is When God makes the creature known to us he would much more have us know himself and make him known Davids heart was set upon this duty Psal 9.14 Thou hast lifted me up from the gates of death that I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Sion As if he had said This O Lord was thy design in lifting me up from the gates of death that is from deadly dangers or killing diseases that I might declare thy praise in Sions gates or that I might declare how praise-worthy thou art to all who come into the gates of Sion And again Psal 118.17 I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. In the 40th Psalm which is a Prophecy of Christ he speaks in the words of the Text vers 10. I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great congregation As the Lord saith here concerning Leviathan I will not conceal his parts so saith the Prophet I will not conceal his loving kindness and truth c. Which as it is most true of Christ whose work it was to do so as also the end of all his works so it sheweth what we ought to do and what should be the end of all our works not to conceal the righteousness and goodness of God but declare them in the great congregation And as Christ declared the glory of the Father so should we the glory of Christ We read the Church engaged in this As I shewed before Christ could not conceal the parts of the Church so the Church could not conceal the parts of Christ Cant. 5.9 There the question is put to the Church What is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou dost thus charge us The Church being asked this question will not conceal the parts nor the power nor the comely proportion of Christ her Beloved but gives a copious Narrative of his gracious excellencies vers 10. My Beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousand his head is as most fine gold his locks are bushy and black as a Raven his eyes are as the eyes of Doves by the rivers of waters washed with milk and fitly set his cheeks are as a bed of spices as sweet flowers his lips like Lillies dropping sweet smelling myrrh his hands are as gold rings set with Beryle his belly is as bright Ivory overlaid with Saphyres his legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold his countenance is as Lebanon excellent as the Cedars his mouth is sweet yea he is altogether lovely This is my beloved and this is my friend O daughters of Jerusalem Thus as Christ concealed not the parts of the Church so the Church concealed not the parts the power and comely proportion of Christ And did we more consider who Christ is and what he is both in himself and unto us we should be more both in admiring within our selves and in reporting to others his parts his power and comely proportion Secondly If God hath not concealed the knowledge of his creatures from us if
a favourite Abraham was a favourite God called him his friend and Job was a favourite The Lord shews favour to many who yet are not his favourites Kings and Pâ—inces shew favour to all their faithful subjects yet but one possibly is a Favourite The Lords chief favourite is his Son Jesus Christ he hath his ear continually I knew said Christ John 11.42 that thou hearest me alwayes Now as Christ is a favourite above all men so among good men some have favour with God above others A King will hear a favourite when he will not a common person Our Annotators upon this very place tell us out of Mr. Fox that when Sir John Gostwich had falsely accused Arch-Bishop Cranmer to King Henry the VIII he would not hear him nor be reconciled to him till Cranmer himself whom he had wronged came and spake for him Thus the Lord will not be reconciled to some till the wronged party intercedes for them Yet we must remember that the power or effect of all our prayers depends upon Jesus Christ alone by him it is that any have access to the father and he is the way to the holiest the beloved in whom God is well pleased whom he heareth always and through whom God heareth his best beloved favourites on earth Observe Fifthly It is a great mercy to have the prayers of a good man going for us The Lord told not Eliphaz and his two friends of any thing else that Job should do for them he only saith Job my servant shall pray for you If the Lord doth but stir up the heart of a Job of a Moses of a Jacob a Wrestler in prayer to pray for us who knows what mercy we may receive by it And therefore when the Lord forbids his favourites to pray for a people as sometimes he doth it is a sign that such are in a very sad condition yea that their case is desperate Jeremiah was a mighty man with the Lord in prayer and the Lord said to him Jer. 14.11 Pray not to me for this people for good Jeremiah was forward to pray for them but the Lord stopt him Pray no more not that the Lord disliked his prayer but because he was resolved not to forgive them though he prayed for them therefore he said pray not The Lord would not let such precious waters run wast as the prayers of Jeremiah were They are in a remediless ill condition of whom the Lord saith pray not for them Of such the Apostle spake 1 John 5.16 If any man see his brother sin a sin not unto death he shall ask and God shall give him life There is a sin unto death I say not that he shall pray for it The pardon of a sin unto death is not to be prayed for Every sin deserves death but every sin is not unto death They who sin so are past prayer and in how woful a plight are they whose sins are past prayers They who have been much in prayer themselves and afterwards fall off from or walk contrary unto their prayers come at last to this miserable issue that either they give over praying for themselves or others are stopt from praying for them And though an outward bar be not laid upon their friends prayer as in Israels case yet there may be a bar upon the spirit of such as used to pray for them It is a bad sign when the Lord shuts up the heart from praying for any one and it is a sign of mercy when the Lord inlargeth the heart of any that are godly to pray for others Sixthly Observe Prayer for another doth not profit him unless he be faithful himself I ground it upon the text Job shall pray for you but you must carry a sacrifice which implied their faith and they must carry a sacrifice to Job and that implied their repentance and both implied that they prayed for themselves also It is in vain to offer a sacrifice without faith and repentance being in this frame My servant Job shall pray for you Conjunctis precibus nihil impetratu impossibile est Conjunctae autem preces esse non possunt ubi est offensio Coc. vid. The prayer of faith prevails not for those that go on in their unbelief and impenitency Job prayed for his friends and they repenting and believing he prevailed for them The reason why the Prophet Jeremiah in the place before mentioned as also chap. 7.16 was commanded not to pray for that people was because they were a hardened people in their sins and therefore his prayers could do them no good Yea the Lord told him cha 15.2 that though not only he but other great favourites joyned in prayer for them it should do them no good Though Moses and Samuel stood before me my mind could not be towards this people The reason why those eminent favourites and mighty men in prayer could do no good was as was said before because they were unbelieving and hardned in their sins as appears upon the place The Prophet Ezekiel speaks the same thing chap. 14.14 Though these three men Noah Daniel and Job this Job that we have in the text were in it they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness saith the Lord. Jobs prayers obtained good for his friends but the children of Israel were in such a condition that though Noah Daniel and Job were praying for them they should get no good by it their sins were so high and their hearts so hard that the prayers of the holiest men in the world could not prevail with God for mercy It cannot be denied but the prayers of a godly man may profit a wicked man an unbeliever an impenitent person for his conversion to the faith and the bringing of him to repentance but they profit not any man who as he hath not faith so continues in his unbelief Yet I grant that the prayers of a believer may profit such an unbeliever as to the avoiding of some temporal evil or as to the obtaining of some temporal good as is clear in Abrahams prayer for Abimelech Gen. 20.7 But how much soever a godly man prayeth for the pardon of a wicked mans sin or the salvation of his soul he shall never be pardoned or saved unless himself repent and believe They who never pray in faith for themselves shall not get favour with God by any prayer of faith made by others for them Now as from this and such like Scriptures it appears that the prayers of godly men for good men here on earth are very pleasing unto the Lord and receive great answers So they do absurdly who from this Scripture infer that the Saints departed pray for us as if they knew or understood our condition and they do more absurdly who living here on earth pray to the Saints in heaven to pray for them The Scripture speaks nothing of prayers to departed Saints nor of departed Saints praying for us the Scripture speaks only of the living
as a prayer for their return out of proper captivity and largely for their deliverance out of any adversity So Psal 126.1 When the Lord turned the captivity of Sion we were like them that dream Read also Zeph. 2.7 Secondly From the author of this turn The Lord turned the captivity c. Observe Deliverance out of an afflicted state is of the Lord. He is the authour of these comfortable turns and he is to be acknowledged as the authour of them The Psalmist prayed thrice Turn us again Psal 80.3 7 19. The waters of affliction would continually rise and swell higher and higher did not the Lord stop and turn them did not he command them back and cause an ebb Satan would never have done bringing the floods of affliction upon Job if the Lord had not forbidden him and turned them It was the Lord who took all from Job as he acknowledged chap. 1.21 and it was the Lord who restored all to him again as we see here the same hand did both in his case and doth both in all such cases Hos 6.1 Let us return to the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will bind us up David ascribed both to God Psal 66.11 12. Thou broughtest us into the net thou layedst affliction upon our loins thou hast caused men to ride over our heads we went through fire and through water The hand of God led them in that fire and water of affliction through which they went but who led them out The Psalmist tells us in the next words Thou broughtest us into a wealthy place the Margin saith into a moist place They were in fire and water before Fire is the extremity of heat and driness water is the extremity of moistneâ—s and coldness A moist place notes a due temperament of â—eat and cold of driness and moistness and therefore elâ—gantly shadows that comfortable and contentful condition into which the good hand of God had brought them which is significantly expressed in our translation by a wealthy place those places flourishing most in fruitfulness and so in wealth which are neither over-hot nor over-cold neither oveâ—-dry nor over-moist And as in that Psalm David acknowledged the hand of God in this so in another he celebrated the Lords power and goodness for this Psal 68.20 He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death that is the out-lets or out-gates from death are from the Lord he delivereth from the grave and from every grief The Lord turned the captivity of Job not only p eserving him from death but filling him with the good things and comforts of this life Thirdly Note The Lord can suddenly make a change or turn As he can quickly make a great change from prosperity to adversity and in a moment bâ—ing darkness upon those who injoy the sweetest light so he can quickly make a change from adversity to prosperity from captivity to liberty and turn the darkest night into a morning light For such a turn the Church prayed Psal 126.4 Turn again our captivity O Lord as the streams in the south that is do it speedily The south is a dry place thither streams come not by a slow constant currant but as mighty streams or land-floods by a sudden unexpected rain like that 1 Kings 18.41 45. Get thee up said Eliah to Ahab for there is a sound of aboundance of rain and presently the heaven was black with clouds and wind and there was a great rain When great rains come after long drought they make sudden floods and streams Such a sudden income of mercy or deliverance from captivity the Church then prayed for and was in the faith and hope of nor was that hope in vain nor shall any who in that condition wait patiently upon God be ashamed of their hope The holy Evangelist makes report Luke 13.16 that Satan had bound a poor woman eighteen years all that time he had her his prisoner but Jesus Christ in a moment made her free Ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan hath bound lo these eighteen years be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day The devil who had her in his power eighteen years could not hold her a moment when Jesus Christ would turn her captivity and loose her from that bond If the Son undertake to make any free whether from corporal or spiritual bondage they shall not only be free indeed as he spake John 8.36 at the time when he is pleased to do it but he can do it at any time in the shortest time when he pleaseth We find a like turn of captivity is described Psal 107.10 11 12 13 14. such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death being bound in affliction and iron because they rebelled against the word of the Lord c. These vers 13. cryed unto the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and brake their bands in sunder Thus far of the first particular considerable in Jobs restitution the Author of it The Lord turned the captivity of Job The second thing to be considered is the season which the Lord took for the turning of Jobs captivity the Lord did it saith the text When he prayed for his friends Some conceive the turn of his captivity was just in his prayer time and that even then his body was healed I shall have occasion to speak further to that afterwards upon another verse Thus much is clear that When he prayed That is either in the very praying time or presently upon it the Lord â—urned his captivity Possibly the Lord did not stay till he had done accorâ—ing to that Isa 65.24 It shall come to pass that before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear Or according to that Dan. 9.20 While I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplications before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God Yea while I was speaking in prayer even the man Gabriel whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning being caused to flie swiftly touched me about the time of the evening oblation and he informed me and talked with me and said O Daniel I am come forth to give thee skill and understanding at the beginning of thy supplications the commandement came forth and I am come to shew thee c. What commandement came forth even a command for the turning of their captivity Thus here I say possibly the Lord gave out that word of command for the turning of Jobs captivity at that very time when he was praying for his friends But without question these words when he prayed for his friends note a very speedy return of his prayers that is soon after he had done that gracious office for them he
signifie say others nothing else but the grave or those lower parts of the earth in which mens bodies deceased are buried and laid up to rest till the resurrection When we that are earth in our constitution Per portas mortis intâ—lliguntur loca subterraneana eò quòd ibimortui se peliuntur Pisc Dicuntur portae mortis i. e. mortuorum go out of the world by dissolution our return is into the earth into the lower parts of the earth we sleep in the dust According to this sense it is as if the Lord had said Hast thou seen the state of the dead or how it fares with them that are gone to their graves Hast thou visited the courts and palaces of the King of terrors Thus the gates of death are the gates of the dead Fifthly We may understand by the gates of death in general An nosti quae fiunt in visceribus terrae Vatabl. whatsoever is most remote and farthest off from our sight and view As if the Lord who said before Hast thou entred into the springs of the sea had said here Hast thou entred into the bowels or deepest abysses of the earth which are dark and uncomfortable as the grave or like the very gates of death Knowest thou or canst thou tell me what is done or how things go there Portae mortis umbrae mortis sunt ea loca ad quae vivus non penetrat quae nulla lux â—â—radiat c. Coc. Or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death These words are of a like intendment with the former The gates of death and the doors of the shadow of death are the same thing under a little difference of expression What the shadow of death is hath been shewed chap. 3.5 as alâ—o câ—â—p 10.21 thither I refer the Reader Hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death Surely thou hast not Thou neither desirest nor darest visit the doors leading to those dismal shadows which no light can pierce or where as Job spake chap. 10.21 The light is as darkness The scope of both the queries in this verse is the same also with those in the former even to repulse Jobs curiosity in searching into the secrets of God or to convince him that God had secrets which were no more opened to him than the gates of death and which he could see no more than the doors of the shadow of death Hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death Taking death in a proper sense Note Fiâ—st Bodyly death hath gates and doors passages and entrances into it Deadly sicknesses and extream dangers are as was shewed in opening the words those gates and doors Many have been brought to those gates and have been stepping into those shadows who yet have been recalled and brought back again as David and Hezekiah were and as the Apostle Paul was who had the sentence of death in himself yet was delivered trusting in him who raiseth the dead 2 Cor. 1.9 10. And therefore in all such cases whenever we are brought to the gates of death and to the doors of the shadow of death let us have recourse to the living God to that God to whom belong the issues from death Psal 68.20 He that is our God is the God of salvation of eternal salvation and of temporal salvation of salvation from death by sickness and of salvation from death by danger and trouble our God is the God of salvation to him belong the issues from death As God openeth the gates of death to let man in so he can open the gates of death to let man out As there is a gate to go in unto so there is a gate to go out from or an out-gate from death As the ways to so the issues from death belong to God Davids heart was full of this when having said Psal 141.7 Our bones are scattered at the graves mouth as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth that is we are ready to be cut in pieces and perish by our enemies having I say said this he presently adds vers 8 9. But mine eyes are unto thee O God the Lord in thee is my trust leave not my soul destitute keep me from the snare which they have laid for me c. It is the royal priviledge of Jesus Christ to be key-keeper of the grave Rev. 1.18 I have the keys of hell and of death that is I have power to deliver over to and to deliver or keep from both hell and death The keys are an emblem of power and authority Stewards have the keys He that hath the keys of death can deliver from death Secondly Taking death properly note No living man knoweth how or in what way he shall die The gates of death are not revealed to any man he hath no certainty by what means he shall passe out of this world to the grave he cannot tell through what gate he shall go whether through the gate of a natural death or of a violent death as Christ spake to Peter John 21.18 When thou wast young thou girdest thy self and wentest whether thou wouldest but when thou shalt be old another shall gird thee and carry thee whether thou wouldst not this spake he signifying by what death he should glorifie God Peter did not know what death he should die whether a natural or a violent death till Christ signified it to him And if man knoweth not at what kind of gate he shall enter the house of death that is whether by sickness or violence then much less doth he know the particular sicknesse or violence by which as a gate he must pass into the house of death these things the Lord keeps in his own hand And seeing we know not these gates of death we should alwayes pray that we may know the path of life Psal 16.11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life was Davids assurance as a type of Christ And though Christ should not shew any man the gate of his own temporal death yet he sheweth every godly man the path of eternal life and that 's enough for us Thirdly Note God onely knoweth when how and in what way we shall die as also what the state and condition of the dead is Death is the darkest and obscurest thing in the world The grave is a gloomy place and filled not only with natural but metaphorical darkness yet all is light to God he knows the gates of death and the state of the dead Prov. 15.11 The grave and destruction are before the Lord how much more the hearts of the children of men Fourthly Taking the gates of death generally for any secret or hidden thing Note Man knoweth no more than God revealeth to him When God puts the question Have the gates of death been opened or revealed to thee it is as if he had said thou canst not know them unless they are opened to thee And who can open them if I my self do not As all the
of Heth. If Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth such as these which are of the daughters of the Land what good shall my life do me Better be out of the world than see my sons miscarry These two sights to see children suffering or to see them sinning are a pain not only to the eyes but to the hearts of parents But to see them First Prosperous in their way Secondly Pious keeping the way of the Lord to have and see such children and childrens Children to the third and fourth generation how delightful is this The Apostle John professed 3 Epist ver 4. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in the truth He means his spiritual children those whom he had converted to the faith and begotten to Christ in the ministery of the Word O what a joy was it to that holy Apostles heart to see them walk answerably to the profession of the Gospel and his expectation Now as that was so great a joy to him that he had no greater so 't is an unspeakable joy when godly parents see their natural children spiritual and walking in the truth To see children new born to see them gracious and to see them prosperous also what a blessed sight is this And this was the sight doubtless which Job had he saw his children His sons and his sons sons to the fourth generation His blessedness as to all without him in this life was at the highest when he saw the prosperity of his children both in soul and body Thus Job was blessed every way he was blessed with riches blessed with long life blessed in the multiplication of his family he was blessed also in his death as appeareth in the next and last words of this Chapter and Book Vers 17. So Job died being old and full of days As Solomon said Eccles 12.13 Hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his commandements So I may say now Hear the conclusion of all men To fear God and keep his commandements is the consumating end of our lives but to dye is the consuming end of all our lives and to a good man 't is an entrance into eternal life Such and so Job died The Lord having spoken of his life is not silent about his death The story the holy story brings Job to his grave and that could not but be a blessed death which was the close of a gracious life So Job died Death is the separation of the soul from the body 't is the sleep of the body in the grave and thâ— rest of their souls in heaven who dye in the Lord. There is no difficulty in these words take a note or two from them First Death takes all sooner or latter Job lived a long time but he did not out-live death Mors ultima clausula vitae Mors ultima linea rerum he enjoyed an hundred and forty years prosperity in this world yet he left the world He lived long yet a day came when he could not live a day longer 'T is said of all the long livers Gen. 5. They died Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years and he died Seth lived nine hundred and twelve years and he died Methuselah the longest liver in this world lived nine hundred sixty and nine years and he died Here Job lived an hundred and forty and so he dyed David put the question of all men Psal 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death How great or how good how rich or how wise how strong or how valiant soever any man living is he must dye How long soever any man hath lived in this world he must dye for the world must dye there must be a dissolution of all things and therefore a dissolution of all men Psal 82.6 7. I said ye are gods but ye shall dye like men Kings and Princes who have the priviledge to be called gods have not the priviledge of God not to dye like men This is a common theam I intend not to stay upon it only let me tell you death will overtake us all sooner or later upon a double account First Because it is appointed Secondly Because it is deserved It is appointed unto men once to dye Heb. 9.27 and all men have deserved to dye to dye eternally and therefore much more to dye naturally Rom. 5.12 As by one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and so death past upon all men for that all have sinned Now seing the condition of all men is a dying condition receive these four cautions First Prepare for death There is no avoiding it at the long run therefore be ready to entertain it at last and because we may dye at any time be preparing for death at all times How miserable are they who are so old that they cannot live and yet so unprepared that they are afraid to dye Job died and we must If so Is it not our wisdome to prepare for death Secondly Submit quietly to the arrest of death There is no striving with the decrees of God Our death is under a divine appointment Eccles 8.8 There is no discharge in that war no priviledge to be pleaded no exemption no prescription Your strength cannot stand against the assaults of death your prudence and policy cannot find any way of escape from it nor can your piety or godliness deliver you out of the hands of natural death As there is no work nor devise nor knowledge in the grave whither we are going Eccles 9.10 so there is no knowledg no device no wisdom can keep us from going into the grave no not our graces Grace is as salt to the soul preserving it from moral corruption for ever But it cannot keep the body from natural corruption in this world Mors est nobis nimis domestica utpote quam in viscaribus nostris circumserimâ— Plutarch in Consol ad Apoll. because our graces in this world are mingled with corruption Death is domestical to us that is we have the seed of it within our selves we carry it daily in our bowels and in our bosomes therefore submit quietly to it for there is no avoiding it Thirdly Seing all must dye get that removed which is the troubler of a death-bed and the sting of death get that removed which makes death bitter get that removed which makes death the King of terrours so terrible that is sin This should be our study all the days of our life to get rid of sin to be dying to sin daily because we must dye at last and may dye for all that we know or can assure our selves any day we live 1 Cor. 13.56 The sting of death is sin Whensoever or in what way soever we dye it will be well with us if the sting of death be first pulled out and whensoever we dye after never so long a life it will be miserable if we dye in our sins as Christ told the Jews in