is like the beasts that perish Fecoribus morticiuis saith Junius the Beasts that dye of the Murren and so become Carrion and are good for nothing Vers 13. This their way is their folly This their fond conceit of an immortality is an egregious folly fully confuted by every days experience for the longest liver dieds at last as did beside the Antediluvian Patriarches Jounnes de Temporibus Armour-bearer to Charls the Great who dyed Anno Dom. Asteds Chronol 475. Naucler Purchas Pilâ—â— p. 481. 1139 aged three hundred sixty one years So the old man of Bengala in the East-Indies who was three hundred thirty five years old when he came to the Portugals from whom for his miraculous age he received a yearly stipend till he dyed He that lived in our days till one hundred and fifty years or thereabouts yeelded at length to Nature and yet men doat and dream still of an immortality The first doom that ever was denounced was Death Thou shalt surely dye and the first doubt that ever was made was concerning Death ye shall not surely dye ever since which time there is something of the spawn of that old Serpent left in our natures prompting us to doubt of that whereof there is the greatest certainty and although every man granteth that he shall dye yet there is scarse any man that futureth not his death and thinketh that he may live yet and yet and so long this is folly in an high degree and we should be sensible of it labouring to become neither fond of Life nor afraid of Death Yet their posterity approve their sayings Selah Heb. Delight in their mouth are as wise as their Ancestors tread in their tract take up their inward thoughts ver 11. observe the same lying vanities and so forsake their own Mercies Jon. 2.8 Selah q.d. O wonderful for see the issue of their folly Vers 14. Like sheep they are laid in the Grave These fatlings of the World these brainless yonkers that will not be warned by other mens harms but walk on in the same dark and dangerous ways whatever cometh of it these chop into the grave as a man that walketh in the Snow may do suddenly into a Marl-pit and there be smothered or rather are there pent up as Sheep are thrust up in a stall or stable to be slaughtered there and in Hell their souls they lye as Grapes in a Wine-press pickled Herring in a Barrel Stones in a Lime-furnace Tiles in a Brick-kiln c. Tanquam pecudes like sheep saith the Psalmist here and Junius his Note is Morticinas puta in cloacis exquiliis vel puticulis project as 3 like sheep that dying of the Murrain are thereupon cast into Ditches Jakes Boggs Death shall feed on them They shall be meat for Worms yea they shall be killed with death Rev. 2.23 which is worse than all the rest sin as an heavy grave-stone presseth them to death c. And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning i.e. at the Resurrection when the Saints shall share with Christ in his Kingdom when the wicked shall be his foot-stool and shall judge the World yea the Angels Others by morning understand suddenly or seasonably as Psal 46.5 And their beauty shall consume in the Grave All their pomp and bravery wherein they came abroad whiles alive as Agrippa and Bernice came to the Tribunal with a great deal of phancy Acts 25.23 and with which they affect to be buried in state Sic transit gloria mundi 1 Cor. 7.31 From their dwelling Whence they are carried to the Grave that dark house of all living Job 30.23 Some render the text thus Infernus habitaculum ipsis Hell shall be their habitation Tremellius thus Et formam corum consumat infernus receptam exhabit aculo ejus and Hell consume their shape that is their bodies now re-united to their souls received out of its House that is out of the Grave Vers 15. But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave Heb. From the hand of Hell q.d. I am and shall be in far better condition both in life at death Spe bona Doâ—ab indoctis diâ—forunt disisâ— Chilo and after death than any of the Worlds darlings why then should I fear as vers 51. why should I envie their seeming happiness which will have so sad a Catastrophe as vers 14 I shall have heaven and that is more worth than all For he shall receive me Selah A notable Text indeed and well worthy of a Selah a clear testimony for the immortality of the soul and for a better life after this as is well observed He sunt parabola hac sunt anigmasa saith a good Interpreter These are those Parables and these are those dark sayings mentioned vers 4. riddles to the wicked but cordials to the faithful Vers 16. Be not thou afraid David was comforted and so he would have others to be for as it was said of a certain Bishop of Lincoln that he held nothing his own but what he had bestowed upon others Hoc babeo quodcunque dedi so the Saints think their comforts nothing so comfortable unless others may share in them and fare the better by them When the glory of his house is increased viz. By a numerous Off-spring stately building gay furniture great rents and revenues for as they say of the metal they make glass of it is nearest melting when it shineth brightest so are the wicked nearest destruction when at greatest lustre Vers 17. For when he dyeth he shall carry nothing away Nothing but a Shrowd as that great Emperour caused to be proclamed at his Funeral He was a fool that on his Death-bed clapt a peece of Gold into his mouth and said Some wiser than some I will take this with me See Job 1.21 1 Tim. 6.7 with the Notes there His glory shall not descend after him No nor be able to breath one cold blast up-on him when he is burning in Hell O that wicked rich men would think of this before the cold Grave hold their bodies and hot Hell hold their souls Vers 18. Though whilst be lived he blessed his soul As that rich fool did Luk. 12. and that King of France who puffed up with the Marriage of his Sister to the King of Spain called himself by a new title Tres-bureuse Roy the thrice happy King but was soon after accidentally slain by the Captain of his Guard running at Tilt with him at the solemnizing of that same Marriage in the very beginning of his supposed happiness And men will praise thee when thou doest well to thy self Feathering thine own Nest and pampering thine own Carcass thou shalt bee sure of Parasites and Trencher-flies who will highly commend thee though against their own Consciences Rom. 1. ult The world generally admireth the happiness of such as live at full and ask what should such a one ayl The Irish ask what they meant to dye Vers 19. He
besides was smitten with fore boiles as hoping haply he would have cursed God therewith Only upon himself put not forth thy hand Meddle not with his outward or inward man He would fain have been doing with both and had done it now but for this mercifull restriction which to the divel was no doubt a very great vexation But how could he help it otherwise then as horses digest their choler by biting on the bridle The will of the Lord must stand and Job though he shall have his back-burden of crosses of all kinds yet they shall not be laid upon him all at once but piece-meal Acts and Mon. fol. 1579. and at several times Fidelis est Deus saith the Apostle and Father Latimer died in the flames with those sweet words in his mouth God is faithfull who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able c. but will surely proportion the burden to the back and the stroke to the strength of them that shall beare it See his gracious dealings with the Apostles at their first setting forth into the world and how by degrees he inured them to bear the Crosse of Christ Acts 2. 4. 5. 12. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord As thinking every houre two till he had sped his commission the divel descended like lightning upon the earth to search occasions to ruine Job and to triumph over his patience to touch all that he had and to touch him to the very quick This diligence of the divel in evil-doing how happy were it saith Mr. Beza if we could imitate in doing well But behold whilest Christs enemies watch and in the night set themselves in readinesse to take him his chief disciples do not only snort and sleep but cannot so much as be awaked in the garden Verse 13. And there was a day A dismal day it proved to Job a day of trouble and distresse a day of wastnesse and desolation a day of darknesse and gloominesse a day of clouds and thick darknesse as Zeph. 1.15 That subtle serpent set upon mischief purposely picketh out such a time to do it as wherein such a sad and sudden change was least of all looked for and then laies on amaine as if he were wood with the hail-shot hell-shot of sharpest afflictions He knowes well that as mercies and deliverances the more unexpected they are the more welcome as Abrahams receiving his son Isaac after a sort from the dead Israels eduction out of Egypt when they were forsaken of their hopes Jonah his being drawn out of the belly of hell as he phraseth it chap. 2.2 so crosses the more suddenly they befall men the more they amate them and finding weak minds secure they make them miserable leave them desperate When his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine Wherewith if their hearts were overcharged and what more easie the divel foiled our first parents by inordnate appetite and finding it then so successfull a weapon he maketh use of it still that day might come upon them unawares Luke 21.34 That was Satans drift surely however it fell out and so to destroy body and soul together But it is to be hoped that he was disappointed of his aime and that death was sent in hast to Jobs children as an invitant to a better feast and that they might do as our Saviour did who being at a feast at Bethany fell into a meditation and discourse of his death and bâ—â—â—al John 12.7 8. Sure it is that although the wicked may die firming and shall die in their sins John 5.21 and so be killed with death as Jezebels children were Rev. 2.23 Yet Gods children shall not dye before their time Eccles 7.17 or till the best time till their work is done Revel 11.7 No malice of man or divel can antedate my end a minute saith one whilest my master both work for me to do It is the happinesse of a Saint that he is sure not to die till that time when if he were but rightly informed he would even desire to die Happy is he that after due preparation is passed through the gates of death ere he be aware as Jobs children were Verse 14. And there came a messenger A sad relater not a divel in the shape of a man as the Rabbines would have it let that passe for a Jewish fable but one of Jobs own servants or some other eye-witnesse to make Job believe belike that as an evill man he only sought rebellion sith such cruel messengers were sent against him Prov. 17.11 The oxen were plowing and the asses feeding c. i.e. We were none of us either idle or ill-occupied but taking pains and tending our cattle when this disaster befell us Fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities are afflicted Psalm 107.17 they create themselves crosses such as must therefore needs come with a sting in them See Gen. 42.21 But Jobs servants were honestly employed when plundered and assassined which sheweth that his losses were not penall but probationall And the asses feeding beside them Peter Martyr upon the first of Samuel Com. in 1 Sam. 12. wittily applyeth this text to prelates and non-residents who when put in mind of their duty would usually answer that they had substitutes and curates to do their businesse for them Itâ— labor aliorum est proventus ipsorum So that others took the paines and they the profit saith he and as it is in the book of Job The axen plow and the asses feed beside them Verse 15. And the Sabeans fell upon them i.e. Sabai apud poetas molles vocantur but Satan set them a work Bâ—eerw Enquir 135. The Arabians a theevish people that lived by rapine and robbery They are at this day called Saracens of Sarac to rob for they keep up their old trade and are not all out so good as those Circassians a â—ind of mongrell-Christians who are said to divide their life betwixt sinne and devotion dedicating their youth to rapine and their old age to repentance Yea they have slain the servants Heb. The young men for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 〈…〉 It was happy howsoever that they were taken away when in their lawful â—alling and about their honest employments Eliah chose to be taken in such a posture for he knew the very time and yet when the charriots of heaven came to fetch him up he was going and talking to his Scholar Elisha The busie attendance on our holy vocation is no lesse pleasing to God or safe for us to die upon then an immediate devotion Happy is that servant whom the Master when he cometh shall find so doing And I only am escaped alone to tell thee For no other cause escaped this one this single one but to adde to Jobs affliction There was no mercy in such a sparing It was that Job might have the ill newes brought him suddenly and certainly That old
from the fault And the night He would be sure so â—it the time whether it were day or night He that is 〈◊〉 out of Gods way knoweâ— not where he shall stop or when he 〈◊〉 step back Take heed therefore to they wayes that thou sin not with thy tongue Psal 39.1 Jam. 3. that unruly member Hanc frâ—nis hanc â—â— compesce catenis When Gods hand is on thy back let thy hand be on thy mouth keep it as with a bridle or muzzle Psal 39.1 Passionate speeches teâ—iter volant non â—â—viter violant The best that come of them is repentance Job when he was once out could keepe no mean but what he had said against day and night he amplifieth by the parts and first for the Day ver 4.5 and then for the Night 6 7 8. c. Verse 4. Let that day be darknesse thick darknesse as that once was in Egypt Exod. 10.23 A day of trouble and distresse a day of darknesse and gloominesse a day of clouds and thick darknesse Zeph. 1.15 Let it be a dreadfull and a dismall day let sorrow and sadnesse overshadow it let mourning and tears overwhelme it let it be as when the Sun hideth his head in a mantle of black and is eclipsed at which time all creatures here below flag and hang the head In the gloomiest day there is light enough to make it day and distinguish it from night though the Sun shine not But Job would have no light to appear on his birth-day Thus be throweth out words without wisedome and as Hinds by calving so he by talking casteth out his sorrows Job 39.3 Let not God regard itâ— or require it let it passe as not worth looking after let him not take care of it or powre downe any speciall blessing upon it as he doth upon his people every day but especially upon the Sabbath-day Gods market day called by the Jewes desiderium dierum the desire of dayes and by the Primitive Christians Dies Lucis the Day of Light Neither let the light shine upon it And what is the air without light that first ornament of the visible world so what are all creature-comforts unlesse God shine through them What a wo-case is that poor soul in that walketh in darknesse and hath none of his light Isa 50.10 how lamentable is such an one deserted â—eâ—ghted how doth he find himself in the very suburbs of hell it self where the paine of losse is greater then the paine of sense 2 Thes 1.9 and to note thus much Iob here after he had said Let that day be darknesse addeth as a greater evil Let not the light shine upon it Verse 5. Let darknesse and the shadow of death stain it Let it be â—â—es luctuosus â—ethalis such a deadly dark day that each man may think it his last day fatall and feral Let there not be dimnesse only such as appeareth through a painted glasse died with some obscure colour but horrid and hideous darknesse such as was that at our Saviours passion when the Sun was totally â—â—â—â—ed and a great Philosopher thereupon cried out either the God of Nature suffers or the world is at an end To darknesse Iob here emphatically addeth the shadow of death The shadow is the dark part of the thing so that the shadow of death is the darkest side of death death in its blackest representation Now let these stain it saith he or challenge it or espouse it In nocte funestatur mund◠〈…〉 saith Tertullian elegantly Let a cloud dwell upon it Crescâ—t 〈…〉 Auxesin oratio Iob heapes up words like in sound and not unlike in sense Grief had made him eloquent as hoping thereby to ease himself Let a cloud dwell upon it a fixed cloud not such an one as continually hangeth over the Island of St. Thomas on the back side of Africa Abboâ—s Gâ—â—g 251. wherewith the whole Island is watered nor such aâ—dloud of grace as God promiseth to create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion and upon her assemblies that upon all his glory may be a defence Isa 4.5 But such as St. Paul and his company were under before the shipwrack Act. 27. when neither Sunne nor starre appeared for many dayes together the heavens being wholly muffled c. Let the blacknesse of the any terrifie it or Let the â—eat of the day terrifie it as it befalleth those that live under the torrid Zone where nothing prospereth The Atlantes a certain people are said to curse the rising Sun it doth so torture them with extreme heat When the dog star ariseth those are in ill case who dwell in hot Countries towards the East they are troubled and terrified Some take the word Chimrine here rendred blacknesse for those 〈◊〉 mentioned by the Prophets those Chimney-Chaplains of the Heathen idols and so render it thus Let the Priests of the day terrifie it that is Let those who used to observe and distinguish dayes note it for a terrible day otherâ— understand it of the noon-day divels that should vex people on that day with hellish heâ—â—â—â— and fures the â—â—lgar Latine hath it thus Let Hinc forsan tenebra Cimmeria as it were the bâ—ternesseâ— of the day terrifie it and to the 〈…〉 the Chaldee Paraphrast Iob still riseth in his discourse making use of many poeticall figures and tragicall phrases pickt out for the purpose Verse 6. As for that night let darknesse seize upon it Having spent his spleene upon the day he now vents himself upon the night according to that division verse 3. As for that night of mine unhappy conception or birth let tenebrosus turbo as the Vulgar here hath it Caligo perpetua inufitata Mercer a dark tempest or a tempestuous darknesse grasp it or invade it let it be as dark as pitch by a darknesse superadded to its naturall darknesse Let it not be joyned unto the dayes of the yeare Let nature quite disclaime it and disjoint it from the day following let it not be reckoned as any part of time that measure of all our motions Some render it Ne gaudeat inter dies Let it not rejoyce it self among the dayes of the year as one of them The night hath glory by union with the day this he wisheth taken from it Disunion and division is a curse and the number of two hath been accounted accursed because it was the first that departed from unity And let it not come into the number of months Drus. Deleatur è calendario let it be razed out of the Calendar and not have any place in the computation of time The Hebrewes call the Moon and a Month by the same Name because the Moone is renewed every month Sic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mensis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 luna Verse 7. Lo let that night be solitary And so consequently sorrowfull for alonenesse is comfortlesse optimum solatium sodalitium There is a desirable solitarinesse such as was that of
There the 〈…〉 or 〈◊〉 as do their cruell creditors and hard task-masters There that is in the state of the dead whether by land or sea the 〈◊〉 or 〈…〉 the miserable captives â—est such as were those poor Christians shut up so close by Barbâ—rusâ—a the Turkish Generall returning toward Constantinople under hatches among the excrements of nature that all the way as he went Turk hist 750. almost every houre some of them were cast dead over-board Such were many of the Martyrs kept fast shut up â—n â—ollards Tower in the Bishop of London cole-house a dark and ugly prison said Mr. Philpot as any is about London but I thank the Lord I am not alone but have six other faithfull companions who in our darknesse do lightsomely sing Psalms and praises to God for his great goodnesse Acts Mon. 1669 1670. but especially for this that I am so near the apprehension of eternall blisse God forgive me mine unthankfulnesse and unworthinesse of so great glory What pitifull hard usage Gods poor prisoners met with in the late troubles at Oxford especially from which death God graciously delivered me when I was in their hands and in the Western parts pag. 38. see Mr. Râ—nas Sermon called Jâ—b in the West where he compareth the enemies cruelty to that of the American Cannâ—bals who when they take a prisoner seed upon him alive and by degrees to the unutterable aggravation of his horrour and torment They hear not the â—ice of the oppressors Their harsh and hard speeches Jude 15. that were as a murthering weapon in the poor prisoners bones Psal 42.10 Send me back to my frogs and toads again where I may pray for you conversion said one of the Martyrs to his raiâ—â—g adversaries Art thou come thou villain how darest thou look me in the face for shame said Sâ—even Gâ—râ—iner to Dr. Tayloâ— the Martyrâ— who told him his own freely Acts Mon. but fairely for the spirit of grace is 〈…〉 Est autem Saranâ— poctus 〈…〉 saith Luthex the divell and his agents are bitter railers fetching their words as farre as hell to breaâ— the hearts of Gods prisoners Psalm 69.20 But besides that they have their cordiall of a good conscience by them 2 Cor. 1.12 in the grâ—ve they heare not the voice of the oppressor nor the barking of these dead dogs any more Verse 19. The small and the great are there In Calvary are sculls of all sizes say the Hebrewes Stat sun cuique dies It is appointed for all once to die Virg. Aeneid lib. 10. be they great or small low or high Mors sceptra liganibus aequat death makes no difference Kings and captives Lords and losels come then under an equall parity death takes away all distinctions William the Conquerours corps lay unburied three dayes his interment was hindred by one that claimed the ground to be his Daniel King Stephen was interred at Fever sham Monastery but since Speed 498. his body for the gain of the lead wherein it was coffined was cast into the river where at length it rested as did likewise the dead corps of Edward the fifth and his brother smothered in Speed 935. the Tower by Richard the third and cast into a place called the black deeps at the Thames mouth The servant is free from his Master Servant is a name of office he is not his own to dispose of but the masters instrument saith Aristotle and wholly his till he please to manumit him if he do not yet death will and by taking away his life give him his liberty his body resteth from all servile offices for a season howsoever and if with good will hee hath done service as to the Lord and not to men he shall receive of the Lord the reward of inheritance even a childs part Colos 4.24 Verse 20. Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery Job hath not done yet though he had said more then enough of this matter but for want of the oyle of joy and gladnesse his doors move not without creaking his lips like rusty hinges open not without murmuring and complaining Good therefore is that counsel given by David Cease from anger and forsake wrath take up in time before it hath wholly leavened and sowred you fret not thy self in any wise to do evill Psal 37.8 Hee shall not chuse but do evil who is sick of the fret David had the sad experience of this when he had carted the Ark and thereupon God had made a breach upon Vzzah David was displeased saith the Text and how untowardly spake hee as if the fault were more in God then in himself though afterwards he came to a sight of his own error 1 Chron. 13.11 with 15.2 And so did Job no doubt when come to himself but here he proceeds to expresse his peevishnesse and impatience yea against God himself though not by name forsan sese cohibens ob bonae mentis reliquias saith Mercer out of his good respect to God which he still retained and calls for a reason why the miserable should be condemned to live since death would be much more welcome to them How apt are men to think there is no reason for that for which they can see no reason Verse 21. Which long for death and it cometh not The bitter in soul long for death those that are in paine or penury are apt to desire to be dispatch'd upon any terms and would freely pardon them they say that would give them their pasport But these for most part consider not the unsupportablenesse of the wrath to come that eternity of extremity in hell that death usually haleth at the heeles of it so that by death whereof they are so desirous they would but leap out of the frying-pan into the fire as Judas did they do as the asse in the fable who desired to die that he might be no more beaten at post mortem factus est tympanum but when he was dead he was made a drum-head of and so was ten times more laid on then ever in his life-time before And dig for it more then for hid treasures Covetousnesse is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all-daring saith an Ancient and men for love of wealth will dig to hell light a candle at the divel as they say With such an eagernesse of desire do some that have little reason for it all things reckoned long and labour after death not to bee rid of sin or to bee with Christ as Phil. 1.23 but to bee freed from misery incumbent or impendent Thus Cato having first read Plato's book of the souls immortality laid violent hands on himselfe that hee might not fall into the hands of the conqueror Thus Adrian the Emperour having lain long sick and could get no help by Physicians but was the worse for them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as he complained at his death would gladly have slaine himselfe if those about him would have suffered
of his Office as the Jebusites did out of the Fort of Zion or as the Devil out of the Demoniack Sâ—d voluntas Dei necessitâ—s rei he passeth because he can neither will nor chuse as they say Thou changest his countenance and sendest him away Eleganter vero mors notatur immutandi verbo saith one Elegant is death set forth by changing the countenance for death taketh away the faire and fresh colour of a man and makes him look wan and withered pale and ghastly It is easâ—e to see death many times before it come in the sick manâ—face in his sharp nostrils thin cheeks hollow eyes c. Facies Hippocratica those Harbingers of death whereby God sendeth for him and so sendeth him away extrudit amandet as once he did Adam out of Paradise Lavaters Note here is Propone tihi semper horribileus speciem mortis ut eò minus pecces Set before thy self alwayes the horrid face of death to restraine thee from sin Verse 21. His sons come to honour and he knoweth it not Whilst he lyeth sick Omnis in Ascanio chari statcura parentis Vir. he regardeth no earthly thing no not what becometh of his children formerly his greatest care whether they be advanced or impaired in their outward condition As when he is dead he can take no knowledge of any thing done in this world Isai 63.16 Eccles 2.19 and 96. be his children or friends rich or poor high or low he is both ignorant and insensible It was a base slander published by a Jesuit some years after Queen Elizabeths death That as she died without sense or feeling of Gods mercies Cambd. Eliz. Prefat so that she wished she might after her death hang a while in the Aire to see what striving would be for her Kingdome As for that opinion of some Papists That the dead do sometimes returne into the Land of the living that they know how things go here and make report thereof to those in heaven it is contrary to the whole Scripture Verse 22. But his flesh upon him shall have pain That is say some But as long as he is living his body is afflicted with a thousand evils and though his soul by the condition of her creation be exempt from them yet she beares a part in them and becomes miserable with it A dying man hath sorrow without and sorrow within the whole man is in misery as Job here felt himself Others hold Aben-Ezra Mercer Deodate that this Poetical representation hath no other meaning but that the dead have no manner of communication with the living Broughtou rendreth it His flesh is grieved for it self and his soul will mourn for it self q.d. he takes no thought or care for his children or neerest relations CHAP. XV. Verse 1. Then answered Eliphaz the Temanice and said LApides locutus est In this second encounter Eliphaz falls upon Job not so much with stronger Arguments as with harder words reproving him sharply or rather reproaching him bitterly Facundiâ quadam caninâ with more Eloquence then charity So hard a thing is it saith Beza espetially in disputing and reasoning to avoid self-love as even in these times experience daily teacheth us He hinteth I suppose at the publick Conference betwixt himself and Jacobus Andreas at Mompelgard Lib. 35. Hist whereby the strife was rather stirred then stinted as Thuanus complaineth Or else at the Disputation at Possiacum wherein Beza Speaker for the Protestant party Hist of Counc of Trent 453. before the Queen Mother of France the young King Charles and many Princes of the Blood entring into the matter of the Eucharist spake with such heat unlesse the Historian wrongs him that he gave but ill satisfaction to those of his own side so that he was commanded to conclude Such meetings are seldome successeful saith Luther because men come with confidence and wit for victory rather then verity In this reply of Eliphaz to Job we may see what an evil thing it is to be carried away with prejudice and pertinacy which make a man forget all modesty and fall foule upon his best friends Here 's enough said to have driven this sorrowful man into utter despaire had not God upheld his spirit whiles he is fiercely charged for a wicked man Non affert ullaâ—â— consolationem non invitat eum ad panitentiam sed potiâ—â— ad desperationem complelas Lav. and hated of God neither doth any of his friends henceforth afford him one exhortation to repentance or one comfortable promise as Lavater well observeth Verse 2. Should a wise man utter vain knowledg Heb. Knowledg of the wind light frothy empty discourses that have no tack or substance in them but only words that are no better then wind a meer flash or Aiery nothing Solomon thinks a wise man should beware of falling into this fault lest he forfeit his reputation Eccles 10.1 Dead flyes cause the Oyntments of the Apothecary to send forth a stinking savour so doth a little folly him that is in reputation for wisdom and honour as spots are soonest observed in the whitest and finest garments and envy like wormes and moths doth usually feed on the purest cloth Neh. 6.11 A great many dead flies may be found in a Tar-box and no hurt done but one of them falne into a pot of sweet Odours or precious Perfumes may soone taint and corrupt them And fil his belly with the East-wind Per ventrem mentem intellige per ventum Orientalem vanam opinionem saith Vatablus By belly understand the mind and by the East wind a vain conceit or frothy knowledg blown forth out of a swelling breast to the hurt of others for the East wind is destructive to herbs and fruits Hos 12.1 Gen. 41.6 But doth not Eliphaz here by these bubble of words and blustering questions betraying much choler and confidence fall into the very same fault which he findeth with Job Doth not he also fill his belly with heat so the Vulgar rendreth this Text which kindling in his bosom blazeth out at his lips Doth not this angry man exalt folly and shew himself none of the wisest though he were the oldest in all the company Verse 3. Should he reason with unprofitable talk Why But if he do should he therefore be thus rippled up and rough-hewed And not rather reduced and rectified with hard Arguments and soft words Man is a cross crabbed creature Duci vult trahi non vult Perswade him you may compel him you cannot A fit time also must be taken to perswade him to better for else you may loose your sweet words upon him The Husbandman soweth not in a storm The Mariner hoyseth not sail in every wind Good Physicians evacuate not the body in extremity of heat and cold A brother offendâ—d is harder to be 〈…〉 a strong City Prov. 18.19 This Eliphaz should have considered and not so rashly censured Job for a fool and his talk for trash but
Death as did Antiochus Herod Philip 2 of Spain c. Dionysius the Tyrant is said to have envyed a beast whose throat he saw cut because he dyed so soon Julius Caesar wished he might dye speedily saith Suetonius Pliny commendeth sudden death as the chief felicity of life Mâ—rs jucunda cujus nulla pracesses expectatio aut meâ—â—â— That 's a good death to nature which is neither feared nor expected yet that is the best death which hath been longest expected and prepared for Happy is he that after due preparation is passed through the gates of death ere he be aware Happy is he that by the holy use of long sicknesse is taught to see the gates of death afar off and addresseth for a resolute passage The one dyeth like Eliah the other like Elisha both blessedly Verse 14. Therefore they say unto God Depart from us Lest any should think saith Merlin here that Job speaks of such wicked as used a moderation in sinning and as the Historian said of the Emperour rather wanted vice then were vertuous Magis extra vitia quam cuâ—â— virâ—utibâ—m Tacit He describeth their great impiety by a rhetorical imitation expressing the language of their heart which is most base and blasphemous For first they bespeak God as if he were some low-prized scoundrel Apage Be packing thus they reject his acquaintance and would be rid of his company Porro rejiciunt Deum quot quot verbum eâ—us contemnunt saith Brentius here Now they reject God who slight his Word and cast his commands behind them Psal 50.17 Hence it follows by way of explication For we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes Lo they prosesse themselves to be of the number of those Qui us liberius peccent libenter ignorant who are wilfully ignorant and like not to retain God in their knowledge Rom. 1.28 or if they professe to know him yet in works they deny him being abominable disobedient and to every good work reprobate Tit. 1.16 Wicked men cannot abide God such is their evil heart of unbelief Heb 3.12 they get as far from him as they can with Cain and not only desire him to depart out of their coasts with those swinish Gergefires but churlishly say unto him as here Avaunt Room for us They will neither have God in their heads Psal 10.4 nor hearts Psal 14.1 nor words Psal 12.4 nor works Tit. 1.16 See this exemplified in those perverse Jewes lying children children that would not hear the Law of the Lord which said to the Seers see not Get ye out of the way turn aside out of the path i.e. out of this tract of truth in dealing so plainly and reproving us so roundly Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease before us let us henceforth hear no more of him Isai 30.10 11. Now for such miscreants as these who can say it is otherwise then righteous that God should regest one day upon them Depart from me ye wicked He loves to retaliate And that they who now say unto him We desire not the knowledge of thy wayes should hear from him I tell you I know you not Luke 13.27 Verse 15. What is the Almighty that we should serve him Here the rottenesse of their hearts blistereth out at the lips of these rich wretches these fat Bulls of Basan such as was Pharaoh that sturdy rebel who asked this very question in the Text What or Who is the Almighty He seemeth to rehearse the very words of Pharoah Diod. c Exod. 5.2 and had a large Reply made him by one plague upon another till he was compelled to answer himself The Lord is righteous Forced he was to speak fair whiles held upon the Rack if for nothing else yet that he might get off Such Queryings as this carry greatest contempt in them and would lay the Almighty quite below the required duty as if Almighty were but an empty title and that he could do neither good nor evil Zeph. 1.12 that it was to no purpose or profit to serve him that the gaines would not pay for the paines c. And what profit should we have if we pray unto him Hebr. If we meet him viz. by our prayers Jer. 7.16 Am. 4.12 see Mal. 3.14 with the Note Children will not say their prayers unlesse they may have their Breakfast nor hypocrites pray but for some profit They pretend sometimes to meet God but they draw not near with that true heart mentioned Heb. 10.22 in seeking God they meerly seek themselves as Spira said he did In Parabola ovis capras suas quaerunt No penny no Pater Noster And as the Wolfin the Fable having spelled Pater and being bid put together said Agnus so when these pray their hearts are upon their halfe penny Ezek. 33. They follow Christ for the loaves and serve him no longer then he serves their turnes Rarae fumant soelicibus arae Verse 16. Lo their good is not in their hand that is They are not inriched by their own industry Prudence Piety c. but God hath exalted them thus that he may bring them down again with the greater poise So some sense the Text. Others thus Their good is not in their hand that is they are not Masters of them but are mastered by them they are servants to their wealth as the Persian Kings were to their Wives or Concubines Plut. Captivarum suarum caprivi And as those stall-fed beasts in the Gospel the Recusant Guests I mean that had bought Farmes Oxen c or rather were bought of them Difficile est opibus non tradere mâ—res Others make this the sense and I concur with them These wicked rich men buried in a bog of security contemne God as if they had their happinesse in their own hands and were petty-gods within themselves But they are deceived All is in Gods hand who can take away their wealth when he pleaseth These men may fall sooner then whey rose sith they subsist meerly by Gods manutension and he may do with his own as he listeth The counsell of the wicked is far from me I am so far from envying their prosperity that I cannot approve of their course of life for all their wealth I am not of their judgment I like not of their way Oh my soul come not thou into their secret Let their money perish with them said that noble Italian Convert to a Jesuit Caracciolâ—â— who tempted him with a great sum who esteem all the gold in the world worth one dayes society with Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit and cursed be that Religion for ever c. Verse 17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out q.d. Diod. I confesse that which you say concerning Gods judgements upon the wicked to be sometimes true in this world yet it is not so continually nor ordinarily but very oft their lamp is extinguished their comforts damped and hopes of better dashed they are all on the sudden left
bear them out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But God acknowledgeth them not as such only of them to whom much is given much shall be required For they are all the work of his hands Both for their persons for they are all equally his creatures and for their conditions which God also hath cut them out and apportioned Thus he is said to have made Moses and Aaron that is to have advanced them 1 Sam. 12.6 and Christ is said to have made the twelve when he ordained them to the Apostleship Mar. 3.14 Verse 20. In a moment shall they die Be they mean or mighty they are when God pleaseth suddenly swept away by the hand of death as Chesse-men are into the bag without distinction of Kings Dukes Bishops or Common people And the people shall be troubled at midnight as were the Egyptians when their first-born were slain in their dead sleep Exod. 12.29 not without much terrour and tumult and as were the Army of Sennacherib 2 King 19.35 and Belshazzar with his Babylon Dan. 5.30 31. The people shall be troubled they shall be shaken as leaves in a great wind or be carried away as by a mighty torent when they were most secure and dreamt of no such danger Neither in all these alterations and various occurrences is God unrighteous sith he is debtour to none neither doth he any thing without reason and right And passe away Praeteribunt id est peribunt they shall passe into the grave as Eccles 1.4 One generation passeth and another cometh or they shall perish as when it is said Heaven and earth shall pass away The Vulgar hath it Pertransibunt It is not transibunt they shall passe saith Gregory but pertransibunt they shall pass thorow because the wicked are alwayes passing on to perdition throughout all their lives And the mighty shall be taken away without hand That is without seeing the hand that smiteth them which is saith One a divine force invisibly cutting asunder the thred of their lives in a moment Psal 76.12 The Lord cutteth off the spirit of Princes The Hebrew importeth that he slips them off as one should slip of a flower betwixt his finger or as one should slip of a bunch of grapes c. The Original here is They shall take away the mighty that is the Angels shall as Luk. 12.20 hurry them out of the world without hand that is without mans help without humane violence Verse 21. For his eyes are upon the wayes of man Gods Providence like a well-drawn picture that eyeth each one in the room observeth all things he seeth cause enough thus to proceed in judgement against a person or people though we see it not And although one man knoweth not another nor doth any man well know himself yet God following as it were all men hard at the heels doth with his eyes narrowly observe and mark what way every one walketh in he seeth all his goings Let not men therefore please themselves in their sinful practises as if God saw them not because for a time they scape unpunished Saculi laetitia est impunita nequitia but sin and punishment are tyed together with chains of Adamant and cannot long be asunder Verse 22. There is no darkness nor shadow of death c. Sinners would fain shroud and secret themselves from Gods all-seeing eye for which end they search all corners with Adam and hope that their evil pranks and practises shall never come to light but that cannot be for not only darkness and the shadow of death but Hell also is naked before him and destruction hath no covering Job 26.6 See the Note there See also Psal 139.12 and Amos 9.2 3. Heb. 4.13 with the Notes Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves Either from Gods all-seeing eye or punishing hand Adam is pulled out of the thicket Manasseth from among the thorns Zedekiah and his family from between the two walls many Jews out of the privies and other lurking-holes where they lay hid at the last destruction of Jerusalem Verse 23. For he will not lay upon man more then right Plus quà m par est Nam non sâ— virum poncâ— trà He cannot over-do likely no though he should inflict upon him all the torments here and tortures in hell sith death in the utmost eâ—tent of it is the just hire of the least sin Romans 6.23 See Ezr. 9.13 with the Note That he should enter into judgement with God Commence a suit against him or challenge him into the schools to argue it out with him as thou Job hast offered to do but unadvisedly sith God hath justice on his side as the very Heathens also saw when they set Themis their goddesse of Justice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 next of all to Jupiter their chief god Verse 24. He shall break in pieces mighty men c. Infinitè conterit validos so Tremellius rendreth it He infinitely mawleth the mighty and breaketh them in pieces like a potters vessel Psal 2.9 Without number Or Without inquisition as knowing all things afore-hand and not needing any evidences or examination of witnesses Or without end because their ruine is endlesse Ruina majorum sit cantela minorum And set others in their stead As is to be seen in the rise reign and ruine of the four mighty Monarchies and others not a few that had their times and their turns as the Kingdom of the ten Tribes which in a few years fell into nine several Families and few of those Kings died a natural death No more did the Emperours of Rome till Constantine See Dan. 2.21 Psal 113.7 8. Verse 25. Therefore he knoweth their works It appeareth by their punishment that God took notice of their wicked works though they thought otherwise yea when they know not or are not aware of it he overthroweth them therefore This he doth in the night i. e. suddenly and unexpectedly Others render it Assoon as he hath changed the night they are crushed that is as soon as he hath brought forth the light which revealeth all things Ephes 5.13 and layeth them open to publick view who before were taken for better men they are destroyed as publick Pests Verse 26. He striketh them as wicked men c. Complodit eos saith Junius scilicet ut inflatas vesical in sun ipsorum sede he striketh upon them as blown bladders in their own seat This is an elegant similitude setting forth the sudden overthrow of graceless great Ones as with a kind of noise and not without publick notice for it followeth In the open sight of others Heb. In the place of beholders in proscenio as upon a Stage or Scaffold Discant justitiam moniti non temnere â—imen others may hear and fear and do no more so God is pleased for this purpose to hang up some notorious offendors as it were in gibbets as Pharaoh Sennacherib Antiochus Herod Julian c. See those Writs of Execution 1 Cor. 10.5 6 7
planted turned it into the same nature with it self as copres which will turn milk into ink or leaven which turneth a very Passeover into pollution See Mich. 1.5 with the Note Verse 12. Now therefore give not your daughters unlesse ye have a mind to pitch them into hell-mouth See ver 2. with the Note Nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever For they were devoted by God to utter destruction and therefore Israel might have no intercourse with them The Jewes at this day count and call us Canaanites Edomites c. and hold it an almesdeed to knock us on the head The best among the Gentiles say they is worthy cui caput conteratur tanquam Serpenti to be killed up as a Serpent Tacitus long since observed of them that as they were very kind to their own so to all others they bare a deadly hatred Thrice a day in their prayers Buxtorf Synag Jud. cop 5. they curse us Christians and in Polony where they have a toleration they print base and blasphemous things against Christ and Religion That ye may be strong viz. by my presence amongst you and providence over you for cui adhaereo prae est as Q. Elizabeth could write how much more may God Almighty He whom I favour is sure to prevail And cat the good of the Land The best of the best the finest Wheat the choyfest fruit and those a pledge and fore-taft of the happiness of Heaven where there is nec fames nec fastidium as one saith neither lack nor loathing neither measure nor mixture but sweetest varieties felicities eternities And leave it for an inheritance personal goodnesse is profitable to posterity the righteous shall leave inheritance to his childrens children Prov. 13.22 God never casteth out his good tenants nor leaveth his servants unprovided for See Psal 103.17 and 112.1 2. Verse 13. And after all that is come upon us Affliction like foul wheather cometh before it is sent for yet not but of Gods sending and then it is ever either probational as Jobs or Cautional as Pauls prick in the flesh or penal for chastisement of some way of wickednesse as here For our evil deeds These he thanketh as well he might for all their sufferings sin is the mother of misery and hales hell at the heeles of it Seeing that thou our God Our God still and this is the sixth time that he hath so stiled Him in this holy prayer besides three times My God These are speeches of faith and refer to the Covenant that pabulum fidei food of faith When ye stand and pray beleeve when ye humble and tremble before God keep up your faith still Nihil retinet qui fidem amisit lose that and lose all Seneca Take away the iniquity of they servant saith David 2 Sam. 24.10 'T is as if he should say I am thy servant Lord still though an unworthy one And to prove himself so he addeth For I have done very foolishly I confesse it Lord that thon mayest cover it Homo agnoscit Deus ignoscit This he beleeves and speeds when Judas confessing but withal despairing misseth of mercy Hast punisht us lesse then our iniquities deserve Heb. Hast withheld beneath our iniquities The just hire of the least sin is death in the largest sense Rom. 6.23 What then might God do to us for our many and mighty sins or rather what might he not do and that most justly How great is his mercy which maketh him say Jerusalem hath received at Gods hand double for all her sins Isai 40.1 2. Too much saith God there too little saith Ezra here and yet how sweetly and beautifully doth this kind of contradiction become both And hast given us such deliverance as this A fruit of free mercy and calls hard for duty Gods blessings are binders and every new deliverance calls for new obedience Servaeti sumus ut serviamus Verse 14. Should we again break thy Commandements There is so much unthankfulnesse and disingenuity in such an entertainment of mercy that holy Ezra here thinkes that Heaven and Earth would be ashamed of it And joyn in affinity with the people of these abominations Especially when we may hear God himself screeching out as it were those words of his Oh do not this abominable thing Save your selves from this untoward generation c Wouldst thou not be angry with us Id est Chide us smite us and so set it on as no creature should be able to take it off Sin may move God when we ask bread and fish to feed us to answer us with a stone to bruise us or a Serpent to bite us Shun it therefore as a Serpent in your way or as poyson in your meats Kisse the Son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way c. Psal 2.12 So that there should be no remnant So that our late preservation should prove but a reservation to further mischief as was Sodoms Senacheribs Pharaohs Verse 15. O Lord God of Israel So called because he is their portion they His Deut. 32.9 He had avouched them for his and they him interchangeably Deut. 26.17 18. Seneca could say that the basest people meaning the Jewes gave Lawes unto all the World that is had the true God Creatour of all for their God Thou art righteous In all thy judgments inflicted upon us or thou art faithful and true in thy promises but we have forfeited thy favour and deserved destruction Behold we are before thee in our trespasses Or guiltinesses which is that iniquity of sin as David calleth it Psal 32.5 whereby the sinner is bound over to condigne punishment For we cannot stand before thee But must needs causâ cadere being self condemned and such as must needs subscribe to thy perfect justice in our own utter destruction CHAP. X. Verse 1. Now when Ezra had prayed HAD presented himself as a Suppliant and opened his cause to God the Judge appealing to him that he might determine And when he had confessed And begged pardon deprecating the divine displeasure Hithpallel as the word signifieth Weeping Of this we read not in the former chapter but of other effects of his passion as renting his garments tearing off the hair of his head and beard c. His sorrow at first might be above tears which afterwards came gushing out amain as the blood doth out of a Wound but not till it hath first run back to the heart to bear the newes to it as I may so say It is said of Athanasius that by his tears as by the bleeding of a chast vine he cured the Leprosy of that tainted age May we not say the same of this good man And casting himself down before the house of God Where all might see him that their eyes might affect their hearts and contribute some tears of compunction and compassion toward the filling of Gods bottle as they had done sins toward the filling of his bag Of Men Women and
these fair promisers turned back and dealt unfaithfully like their Fathers they were turned aside like a deceitful bow Psal 78.57 Look how a rotten bow though otherwise fair when an Arrow is drawn to the head and both eye and arrow is leveld to the mark yet it miscarryeth So do the desires purposes and promises that unsound hearts conceive in their afflictions and under just convictions Verse 13. Neither is this work of one day or two No more is repentance that first and continual work of every Christian Nulli reinatus â— isi poenitenti â— Tert. de poâ—n This made Tertullian say that he was born for nothing else but for repentance Surely as in a Ship there is continuall pumping and as in a Beggers coat continual piecing so in the best soul there wants not matter of daily repenting this House must be every day swept this Candle-stick every day scoured Besides some sins are past in time that are not past indeed if we dwell not in the undoing and reversing of them The best of these hereafter mentioned were to begin a new their repentance because they had not considered their marrying of strange Wives For we are many that have transgressed Heb. We have multiplyed to transgresse The comfort is that God will in like sort multiply to pardon if we return unto him that 's the expression Esay 55.7 Verse 14. Let now our Rulers of all the Congregation Our Sanedrim or seventy Seniors See Deut. 17.9 Let there be a matrimonial Consistory erected and matters in question orderly heard and determined Vntil the fierce wrath of God We must not think that he will cease pursuing us till the Traytours head be thrown over the Wall till there be a thorough reformation One Abimelech left alive may be the death of Gideons 70 sons so may one sin favoured be thine utter undoing Verse 15. Onely Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah These two Priests onely of all the company had kept themselves unspotted and so were fit to be employed in the work in hand Hier. Epist Diaconos paucitas honorabiles fecit saith Hierome of his times The paucity of good Deacons hath rendred them honourable And I do not think saith Chrysostome that among the Clergy there are many that shall be saved D. Hall Clerus Britannicus stupor mundi and yet there never wanted amongst us those dehonestamenta Cleri that might give some occasion to black-mouthed Campian to tell the World Ministris eorum nihil vilius Camp Raâ— Many of their Ministers are most base Verse 16. And the children of the captivity did so Appointed such a course should be taken And so it was a plain Plebiscitum and accordingly executed Verse 17. By the first day of the first moneth So that it was not the work of one day or two as ver 13. but of full three moneths and yet they were not slothful in that business but fervent in spirit serving the Lord. In the work of repentance take time enough dig deep enough by thorough humiliation lest the fall of the house be great The English are not sick soon enough saith One and they are well too soon This is true of their minds as well as of their bodies Verse 18. And among the sons of the Priests c. What a shame was this and a stain to their cloth These mens white ephods covered foul sinnes whereas they should have been carefull to have kept all clean as that Eleazer was of whom it is storied that he would not do any thing that might seem to be sinful because be would not spot his white head Of the sons of Joshua the son of Jozadak This good High-priest had sons none of the best White Halcyons hatch black young ones Caligula fuit optimi Viri Germanici filius Eli his sons were sons of Belial Samuels were little better and yet it is not likely that he was faulty in that indulgence for which his own mouth had denounced Gods judgements against Eli. When Cesar Borgia Duke of Valence invited his Nobility to a Feast and after Dinner cut off their heads Pope Alexander who was his Father hearing of it smiled and said his Son had served them a Spanish trick When Petro Alingi Farnesis had committed an unspeakable Violence on the person of Cosmus Chaerius Bishop of Fanum and then poysoned him he received no other Chastisement of his Father Pope Paul the third then Haec vitia me non commonstratore didicit he never learned these faults of his Father Good Joshua had better bred his children then thus to break out into an open violation of that Law which they could not but know and should have observed But God will shew that grace is by gift not inheritance and men will shew that though nourture may somewhat amend nature yet it is grace alone that can keep us within the bounds of obedience Verse 19. And they gave their hands Id est They plighted their troth and assured the assent of their hearts 2 Kings 10.15 That they would put away their Wives Though as dear to them haply as was George Carpenters Martyr burnt at Munchen in Bavaria My Wife and Children said he are so dear unto me that they cannot be bought from me for all the riches and possessions of the Duke of Bavaria but for the love of my Lord God I will willingly forsake them Act. Mon. 806. Let us do so by our dilecta delicta our dearest and most delicious sins They offered a Ram of the Flock This shewes that they sinned against knowledge for for a sin of ignorance the oblation was not a Ram but a goat Verse 44. And some of them had Wives by whom they had Children Who yet for all that were put away together with their children ver 3. The Hebrew hath it thus And there were of them Women they had put forth sons or exposed their sons to do as they might or to be disposed of by the Judges as that good Woman who told Bonner Act. Mon. that if he burnt her she hoped he would keep Faith Hope and Charity those were the names of her three daughters No by my troth will not I quoth the Bishop I le meddle with none of them A COMMENTARY OR EXPOSITION Upon the BOOK of Nehemiah CHAP. I. Ver. 1. The words of Nehemiah OR The deeds for he was good at both so a singular comfort to his Country-men according to the notation of his Name Nehemiah Id est The comfort or rest of the Lord. Here-hence also some inferre that Nehemiah himself was the Pen-man of this Book and not Ezra as the vulgar Latine So did Alexan der Severus and M. Aurelius Emperours and many ancients would have it like as Julius Caesar wrote his own acts and by a more modest Name called his book Commentaries and not Histories yet did it so well ut praerepta non praebita facultas scriptoribus videatur said Aulus Hirtius that
otherwise Nehemiah will never do it to dye for it And now is there that being as I am So greatly beloved of God Dan. 9.23 so highly favoured of the King chap. 2.2 4. so protected hitherto so prospered so entrusted with the government and safety of this people more dear to me then my very life Would go into the Temple As a Malefactour to take Sanctuary there or as a Coward to save mine own life with the losse of the lives of many of the precious sonnes of life Zion I will not go in The Heavens shall sooner fall then I will forsake the Truth Will. Flower Act. Mon. 1430. In Epist said that Martyr Omnia de me praesumas praeter fugam palinodiam said Luther to Staupicius I le rather dye then flye burn them turn Latimer was wondrous bold and stout in his dealing with Henry the eighth both before and after he was a Bishop So were Athanasius Ambrose Basil the primitive Confessours This courage in Christians the Heathen persecutours called Obstinacy and not faith Sed pro hac obstinatione fidei morimur saith Tertullian in his Apology For this obstinacy of faith we gladly dye neither can we dye otherwise for the love of Christ constraineth us Life in Gods displeasure is worse then death as death in his true favour is true life as Bradford told Gardiner Verse 12. And so I perceived that God had not sent him By my spiritual sagacity I smelt him out as having mine inward senses habitually exercised to discern good and evil Heb. 5. ult Doth not the eare try words as the mouth tasteth meat Job 12.11 What though we have not received the Spirit of the World we cannot cog and comply as they can yet we have received a better thing the Spirit of God the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2.12 16. But that he pronounced this prophecy against me To make my righteous soul sad with his â—yes Ezek. 13.22 and to bring me to disgrace and danger Luther was wont to advise Preachers to see that these three Dogs did not follow them into the pulpit Pride Covetousnesse and Envy For Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him A mere mercenary he was then and had Linguam Vaenalem he could call good evil and evil good justify the wicked for a reward and take away the righteousnesse of the righteous from him Isa 5.20 Such false prophets were Dr Shaw and Frier Pinket in Rich. the thirds time who made use of them as his Factours to obtrude bastardy on his brother King Edward the fourth and so to disable his children for the Crown that he might settle it upon his own head Dan. Hist What became of Pinket I know not but Shaw as ashamed of his Sermon at Pauls crosse disconsolately departed and never after that was publikely seen Like unto these were Bishop Bourn and Cardinal Pool in Q. Maries dayes The Cardinal hired with the Archbishoprick of Canterbury took for his Text Esay 66.8 and applyed it to England as then happily reduced to the Popes obedience Bourn for the Bishoprick of Bâ—th preached such staffe at Pauls-cross that the people were ready to tear him in pieces They flang a Dagger at him in the Pulpit Phlugius Melch. Adam and Sidonius Authours of the Popish Book published in Germany by the name of Interim Chrisma oleum pontificium defendebant ut ipsi discederent unctiores defended Chrisme and extreme unction as being liquoured in the fists and promoted to fat Bishoprickes But a Minister as he should have nothing to lose so he should have as little to get he should be above all price or sale Nec prece nec pretio should be his Motto Verse 13. Therefore was he hired that I should be afraid But they were much mistaken in their aimes this matter was not malleable Nehemiah was a man of another spirit of a Caleb-like spirit he was fide armatus Deo armatus and therefore undaunted he was full of Spiritual mettle for he knew whom he had trusted And do so and sin Nehemiah feared nothing but sin and the fruit thereof shame and reproach so great was his spirit so right set were both his judgment and affections But if any thing would have drawn him aside from the straight wayes of the Lord base fear was the likeliest as we see in David at Gath and Peter in the High-priests hall See Zeph. 3.13 with the Note Pessimus in dubiis Augur Timer And that they might have matter for an evil report This wicked men watch for as a Dog doth for a bone and if they get but the least hint oh how happy do they hold themselves what wide mouthes do they open c It is our part therefore by a Nehemiah-like conversation to put to silence the ignorance of foolish men who like Black-moores despise beauty like Dogs bark at the shining of the Moon Of Luther it was said by Erasmus Nec hostes reperiant quod calumnientur Of B. Hooper it is said that his life was so good that no kind of slander although diverse went about to reprove it could fasten any fault upon him Act. Mon. 1366. The like is reported of Bradford and Bucer We should so carry our selves ut nemo de nobis malè loqui absque mendacio possit as Hierom hath it that none might speak evil of us without a manifest lye Verse 14. My God think upon Tobiah and Sanballat Heb. Remember to be revenged on them q.d. I cannot deal with them but do thou do it He doth himself no disservice saith one who when no Law will relieve him maketh God his Chancellour It is a fearful thing to be put over into his punishing hands by the Saints as Joab and Shimei were unto Solomons hands by dying David If men in their best estate are so weak that they are crushed before the moth how shall they stand before this great God According to these their works Qualia quisque facit talia quisque luat Let them drink as they have brewed And on the Prophetesse Noadiah Who joyned with Shemaiah in this dissimulation and was of his counsel Omne malum ex gynaecio False Prophets and Seducers are seldome without their Women Simon Magus had his Helena Carpocrates his Marcellina Apelles his Philumena Montanus his Priscilla and Maximilla c. And the rest of the Prophets Improperly so called but so they pretended to be and here they had conspired a great sort of them to do evil That would have put me in fear By their concurrent prophesies purposely to disgrace and endanger me Suffragia non sunt numeranda sed expendenda Multitude and antiquity are but ciphers in Divinity Verse 15. So the Wall was finished Though with much ado and maugre the malice of all forrein and intestine Enemies So shall the work of grace in mens hearts it is perfected there by opposition and growes gradually but constantly and infallibly In the twenty and fifth day of the moneth Elul Which
Ezek. 17.4 Wells digged A great commodity in that hot Countrey Vine-yards and Olive-yards A singular help to house-keeping So they did eate and were filled They had enough of every thing and did eate whiles eating was good as they say Queen Elizabeth did seldome eate but of one dish rose ever with an appetite and lived about seventy years King Edward the sixth was wont to call her His sweet sister Temperance And delighted themselves in thy great goodnesse They lived in Gods good land but not by Gods good Lawes the refreshing they found by his best creatures was none other but such as his who warmeth himself and saith Aha I am warme I have seene the fire Isa 44.16 Verse 26. Neverthelesse they were disobedient and rebelled See how full in the mouth these holy Levites were in aggravating their own and their forefathers sinnes which swelled as so many toads in their eyes neither could they ever sufficiently disgrace them This is the property and practise of the true penitentiary They cast thy Law behinde their backs That is they vilipended and undervalued it God drew them by the cords of a man so the cords of kindnesse are called Hos 11.4 because befitting the nature of a man and likeliest to prevaile with rational people but they like men or rather like beasts transgressed the Covenant and as if God had even hired them to be wicked so did they abuse all his benefits to his greatest dishonour being therefore the worse because in reason they ought to have been better And slew thy Prophets which testified against them to turne to thee This was the worst they did to them and that for which they received mercedem mundi the wages of the mad world ever beside it self in point of salvation and falling foul upon such as seek its good This is that sinne that brings ruine without remedy 2 Chron. 36.16 Prov. 29.1 for precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his Saints Psal 116. And they wrought great provocations Or Blasphemies see verse 18. Verse 27. Therefore thou deliveredst them Flagitium flagellum sicut acus filum Sinne and punishment are tied together with chains of adamant Who vexed them Heb. Put them to straits so that they had not what shift to make or how to help themselves And in the time of their trouble Vexatio dedit intellectum The time of affliction is the time of supplication When out of the depths Gods people cry unto him they may have any thing Zach. 13.9 speedy audience unmiscarrying returnes of their prayers Thou gavest them Saviours i. e. Deliverers such as the Judges were Judg. 3.9 and such as Flaminius the Roman was to the poor Argives who therefore called him Saviour Saviour and that with such a courage Plut. in Flam ut corvi fortuito supervâ—lantes in stadium deciderent that the birds fell to the earth amazed with that outcry the aire was so dissipated with their acclamations Verse 28. But after they had rest they did evil again As standing pooles breed vermine as sedentary lives are subject to diseases If men be not poured out from vessel to vessel they will soone settle upon their â—ees Because they have no changes therefore they feare not God Psal 55.19 saith David of the wicked and Psal 30. David himself was afflicted delivered and then grew wanton Then troubled again verse 7. cryes againe verse 8.9 God turnes his mourning to joy again whereof if he surfeited not it was well bestowed on him But rarae fumant felicibus arae We are commonly best when worst and Pliny told his friend Plin. Epist that the best way to live well was to be as good in health as we promise to be when we are sick Therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies Who can do us no hurt but by Divine permission though they bandy together and bend all their forces to harme the Church yet are they bounded by God and can do nothing till he leave his people in their hands Had the dominion over them Ruled them with rigour And many times didst thou deliver them Even totiès quotiès for as the eye is not wearied with seeing nor the eare with hearing so neither is God with shewing mercy But as the Sunne shineth after it hath shone and as the spring runneth after it hath run so doth the Lord proceed to do good to his in their necessity and that according to his mercies which never fail Lam. 3.22 Verse 29. And testifiedst against them Toldest them of their sinnes foretoldest them of their dangers didst all that could be done to do them good but nothing would do Yet they dealt proudly See verse 16. And hearkened not Intus existens prohibuit alienum Hear and give eare be not proud Jer. 13.15 But sinned against thy judgements i. e. Thy Statutes though made with so much reason and respect to our good that if God did not command them yet were it every way our best way to practise them Esay 48.17 I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit which leadeth thee by the way which thou shouldest go As who should say It is for thy profit that I command thee this or that and not for mine own Which if a man do But that as now he cannot do and therefore not be saved by the Law Rom. 10.5 Our Saviour indeed said to that young justiciary This do and thou shalt live Luke 10.28 But that was all one saith Luther as if Christ had said unto him Vade morere Go upon thy death for do this of thy self and live thereby thou art never able And withdrew the shoulder When called to take up Christs yoke or to beare his crosse See the Note on Zach. 7.11 And hardened their necks To sinewes of iron they added browes of brasse Verse 30. Yet many years didst thou forbear them Heb. Protract over them or draw out thy loving kindnesse toward them to the utmost And testifiedst against them As verse 29. They wanted not for warnings or wooings with Woe unto thee O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made cleane when shall it once be Yet would they not hear But as Sea-monsters or Catadupes or men borne in a mill or as one that is running a race give him never so good counsel he cannot stay to hear it Therefore gavest thou them As uncounselable incorrigible Verse 31. Neverthelesse for thy great mercies sake Mans perversnesse cannot interrupt the course of Gods goodnesse In the middest of judgement he remembreth mercy which beareth the same proportion to his judgement which seven a compleat number hath to an Vnity Thou diddest not utterly consume them God will repent for his people when he seeth their power is gone Deut. 32.36 and be jealous with a great jealousie when the enemy goes beyond his commission Zach. 1.14 15. For thou art a gracious and merciful God And this is most seene when misery weighs down and nothing but mercy
lead more weight of that then they receive of this c. Ibid. 990. Also they have dominion See the Note on verse 30. At their pleasure Their will was a law which to argue or debate was high misdemeanour to detrect or disobey present death Verse 38. And because of all this Our sinne and misery We make a sure Covenant See Ezra 10.3 And write it Litera scripta manet And our Princes Levites and Priests seale unto it In the roome and name of all the rest who have sworn and will performe it that we will keep thy righteous judgements CHAP. X. Verse 1. Now those that sealed were Nehemiah the Tirshata HE is first mentioned not as a Priest but as Provost and one that held it an honour to be first in so good a matter As Caesar never said to his souldiers Ite but Venite Go ye but Come along I will lead you And as Abimelech said What ye have seene me do made haste and do accordingly So should all Superiours say to their inferiours Plin. Vita Principis censura est imò cynosura the life of the Prince is the load-star of the people upon which most men fix their eyes and shape their courses Magnates sunt Magnetes Great men draw many by their examples they are as looking-glasses by which others dresse themselves And hence Nehemiah's forwardnesse here to seale first There follow in their order Priests Levites Princes and people solemnly sealing a sure Covenant God had caused them to passe under the rod and now he is bringing them into the bond of the Covenant that he may purge out the rebels from amongst them Ezek. 20.37 38. Verse 28. That had separated themselves In Saint Pauls sense 2 Cor. 6.17 Come out from among them and be ye separate c. from such stand off Stand up from the dead save your selves from this untoward generation shun their sinnes lest ye share in their plagues These holy Separates or Proselytes sealed the Covenant and became free denisons of the Common-wealth of Israel having right to all Gods Ordinances Exod. 12.48 Such were Araunah the Jebusite 2 Sam. 24. Jether the Ismaelite 1 Chron. 7.17 with 2 Sam. 17.25 those Acts 2.10 the Jewes called them Advenas Justitiae Deodate interpreteth this text of such Jewes as were come again out of Babylon to serve the Lord according to his Law Others of such as had separated themselves from their Heathen-wives and children Their wives their sonnes and their daughters These also were then and still may be Covenanters as partakers of the benefit 1 Tim. 6.2 and heirs together of the grace of life 1 Pet. 3.7 Every one having knowledge Of their own misery by sinne and of the great mystery of godlinesse Verse 29. They clave to their brethren Heb. They laid fast hold on them viz. by taking holy of the Covenant to keep the Sabbath from polluting it and chusing the things that please God as Esay 56.4 6. And entred into a curse The more to confirme the oath and to keep their deceitful hearts close to God See Deut. 29.12 21. This is called the oath of God Eccles 8.2 Confer Isa 19.18 and 44.5 2 Chron. 15.12 14. and 34.31 To walk in Gods Law Ex gnomone Canone decalogi to walk accurately and exactly by line and by rule In all the Commandments and Ordinances of the Lord blamelesse Aug. in Exod. Quaesti 55. Luke 1.6 so far as by his grace He should vouchsafe to assist them For lex jubet gratia juvat The bowles of the Candlestick have no oile but what droppeth from the olive-branches David can wish well to the keeping of Gods Commandments diligently Psal 119.4 5. but promise no further then God shall please to enlarge his heart verse 32. Vows and Covenants indefinitely and absolutely made as that of Jephta Judg. 11.31 prove a snare Condition with the Lord for his strength and grace rely not on thine own sufficiency lest it repent thee of thy rashnesse and self-confidence as it befell Peter Consider that thou art but a poor garison-souldier and without supplies of the Spirit of Jesus Christ Phil. 1.19 thou canst do nothing David knew this and therefore called earnestly for help from heaven Psal 51.13 14 15. 119.106 107. Verse 30. And that we would not give our daughters This is the first particular branch of the Covenant that they would make no inter-marriages with the Heathen as knowing the snare that herein Satan laid for their souls In the first sentence against man this cause is expressed Because thou obeyedst the voice of thy wife c. By the rib as by a ladder Satan oft climbs to the heart and corrupts it as Gregory hath it O wives saith another the most sweet poyson the most desired evil in the world c. Make a wise choice therefore The Heathen well saith that every man when he marrieth brings either a good or an evil spirit into his house and so makes it either a heaven or a hell Verse 31. And if the people of the land bring any ware As they might without the Jewes leave and did chap. 13.16 and some of these Jewes forgetting their Covenant bought of them too even the children of Juda in Jerusalem ib. as if they had been of her religion in the tragedy who said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is I swore with my tongue but not with my heart But shall they thus escape by iniquity Be not deceived God is not mocked A God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he Deut. 32.4 That we would not buy it of them Lest we should trouble and disquiet that holy Rest and God should sue us upon an Action of wast For the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God Exod. 20.11 Jer. 17.21 Or on the holy day Now abrogated Col. 2.16 And that we would leave the seventh yeare That Sabbaticall yeare prefiguring the year of Grace the Kingdome of Christ Qui noxas nexus omnes solveret who giveth his people a generall release Deut. 15.2 and comes not over them againe with an after-reckoning Peccata non redeunt The Land also was to rest from tillage this year Exod. 23.11 And the exaction of every debt For that year at least and the next too if the debter were not able to pay the lender was to expect a recompense from God Deut. 15.6 Verse 32. To charge our selves yearly with the third part of a shekel Beside the Poll-mony the half-shekel required Exod. 38.26 the third part of a shekel was no great sum yet somewhat more then what Saul and his servant presented the Seer with whom they could not but know to be the Judge of Israel 1 Sam. 9.8 These had learned that thankfulness was measured both by God and good men not by the weight but by the will of the Retributor God doth highly accept the small offerings of his weak servants when he seeth them to proceed from great love
21. In those dayes Whiles the King is drowning himself in pleasure and dreadeth no danger whiles he was ravishing and deflowring of Virgins and bragging perhaps as Proculus the Emperour did that when he made warre upon the Sâ—â—matians in fifteen dayes he got with childe an hundred Virgins of that Countrey there taken prisoners Whiles this voluptuous Prince was in the glut of his carnal delights in the flagrancy of his sinful lusts his life is sought for and hell gapes for him so slippery places are great ones set in so doth the Lord sauce their greatest prosperity with sudden and unexpected dangers Thus Artilas King of Hunnes was hang'd up in gibbets as it were by Gods own hand in the 〈◊〉 of his Nuptials Thus King Henry of France upon the marriage of his sister to 〈◊〉 King of Spaine was so over joyed that he called himselfe by a new title Tres heureuse Roy the thrice happy King But to confute him in solemnizing that marriage he was slain at Tilt by Mongomery Captain of his guard though against his Will c. Ad â—enerum Cereris sine caede sanguine panci Juvenal Descendunt reges siccâ merce â—yranni While Mor decai sate in the Kings gate See ver 19. Two of the Kings Chamberlaines In trust I have found treason said Queen Elizabeth So before her did David Solomon Rehoboam Joash Amaziah Alexander the great Julius Caesar and who not almost Hence some great Princes have wished never to have meddled with Government as Augustus Adrian foelix si non imperitâsset Pertinax who used to say that he never in all his life committed the like fault as when he accepted the Empire and many times he motioned to leave the same and to return unto his house Dioclesian and Maximian did so for they found that quot servi tot hostes quot custodes tot curnifices they could not be safe from their own servants but Damocles-like they sat at meat with a drawn sword hanging by a twined thread over their necks Hence Dionysius durst not trust his owne daughter to barbe him And Massinissa King of Numidia committed his safe-keeping to a guard of dogs for men he durst not trust Of those which kept the door sc Of the Kings bed-chamber Some render it which kept the housbold-stuffeâ—â— Men they were much intrusted and therefore the more to be abhorred Metuendum est esse sine custode sed multò magis à custode metuendum est Dio Cass said Augustus concerning his guard whom he suspected of treachery All or must of his successours till Constantine died unnatural deaths Let great ones therefore comâ—â—â— themselves to God in well-doing as unto a faithful Creatour Were wroth What the occasion of their discontent was is uncertain The Greek and Chaldee say it was because Mordecai was so promoted Others because Vasâ—ti was deposed and Esther advanced to her Royal state Others say that they affected the Kingdom as the Magi had done not long before Some again that they were not well paid their arrears Sure it is that ambition envy covetousnesse all or some of these stirred them up to this treasonable attempt Whatsoever the Sire was the bastard is anger and rage likely is the mother of treason because as it banisheth reason and so gives way to all unrulinesse so it ends in malice and malice will have blood And sought to lay hands on the King Ahashuerus Kings are fair marks for Traitours to shoot at In which regard Miseratque infelix est etiam Rex Nec quenquam mihi crede facit diadema boatum Most of the Cesars got nothing by their adoption or designation to the Empire Nisi ut citiùs interficerentur but to be slain so much the sooner Treasons there were so many plotted and practised against that incomparable Queen Elizabeth that she said in Parliament Camd. Eliz. Pref. She rather marvelled that she was then mused that she should not be were in not that Gods holy hand had protected her beyond expectation Henry the fourth of France Ibid. was first stabbed in the mouth and after that in the heart by those false Jesuites whom he had admitted into his very bosome and used with marvellous respect But in would not serve his turne to save his life His Countreyman Cominaeus telleth us that if he should write of all the Princes which he knew in his time that in the judgement of men seemed to live in great felicity and yet to those that knew them familiarly lived in a miserable estate that matter alone would require a reasoriable Volume Verse 22. And the thing was known to Mordecai How he came to know it is uncertain Josephas saith that it was revealed to him by one Barnabazus a Jew who was servant to one of the Conspiratours R. Solomon saith that the Eunuches talked of the plot before Mordecai in the language of Tarsus â—â—â—â—ing that he had not understood them and so it came forth Others conceive that 〈◊〉 sollicited him being one of the Keepers of the Kings door also to joyne with them Howsoever it was that he got inkling and intelligence of their bloody purpose God was in it and good men are of his privy counsel The secret of the Lord is with them that feare him Psal 25.11 Their apprehensions of things are deep and their observations right their knowledge rare to boult out mischiefes their experience lead them oâ— to guesse shrewdly at mens purposes by their looks and gestures I wisdome dwell with prudence or subtilty and finde out knowledge of witty inventions Prov. 8.12 Who told it unto Esther the Queen Haply as holding himself a mean man unworthy and unfit to speak to the King Or as fearing lest he should not be believed or should be out-faced by the Traitour or as conceiving that it would be better taken from Esther whom the King so dearly loved and might prove a good meanes to infeoffe her farther into his favour Yea Mâ—rdecâ—i himselfe saith an Interpreter might safely have also a further reach herein namely to try the sincere affection of Esther towards him whether she would make this an occasion to his good and preferment or rather take the glory thereof unto her selfe And Esther certified the King thereof in Mordecais name She doth not conceal the treason or further it as some ambitious Semiramis would have done or adulterous Livia For although she was wont to boast that she ruled her husband Augustus by obeying him yet Pliny and Tacitus tell us that she was over-familiar with Eudemus her Physician And whereas Augustus his last words to her were O Livia remember our marriage and Adieu She did so and 't is thought had â— finger in setting him going And the like iâ— reported of Clytemnestra Olympiaâ— Queen Isabel wife to our Edward the second But holy Esther was none such She as a loyal and faithful wife discovereth to the King the danger he was in and so saveth his life so did Michal
pluck him up by the roots when the season should serve to clear the land of such weeds Standeth is the house of Haman Or by the house of Haman that he might feed his eyes with that delightful sight and cry out as Hannibal did when he saw a ditch filled with mans blood O jucundum spectaculum O pleasant Spectacle The Story of that King of France is well known who vowed to see a certain Martyr executed but before that could be done had his eye put out at a Justes whereof not long after also he died And that of Sir Ralph Ellerker Governonr of Callice in King Henry the eighths time who at the death of Adam Damlip Martyr called to the Executioner saying Dispatch the Knave have done I will not away before I see the Traitours heart out But shortly after in a skirmish betwixt the French and us at Bullen this Knight was not only slain among others but strip't dismembred and his heart rip 't out and so left a terrible example Act. Mex fol. 1120. saith Mr. Fox of Gods justice to all bloody and mercilesse men Thou shouldest not have looked c. Obad. 12. See the Note there Then the King said Hang him thereon The Kings of Persia had absolute and unquestionable power to do whatsoever they listed Quicquid libuit licuit All their subjects except their Queens were no better then their slaves whom they would they slew and whom they would they kept alive whom they would they set up and whom they would they put down Dan. 5.19 Haman is here without order of law more then the Kings command adjudged to be hanged The truth is it was a clear case and the malefactour was self-condemned Hang him therefore saith the King a short and just sentence and soon executed Verse 10. So they hanged Haman on the Gallowes Heb. tree Neither hanged they him only to death but crucified or nailed his dead body to the tree for greater ignominy So some gather from chap. 8.5 The Septuagint also render it So they crucified him And here hanged the greatnesse of Haman who now is fallen from the Palace to the Gallowes from the highest stage of honour to the lowest staire of disgrace and lies wrap't up in the sheet of perpetual infamy So let all thine enemies perish O Lord c. A like end befell Bonosus the drunken Emperour Amasis that insolent King of Egypt Joane that libidinous Queen of Naples our Roger Mortimer that Troubler of the Realme hang'd at Tyburne Oliver that proud Prefect advanced to highest honours and offices by Lewis King of France Cranz l. 12. c. 17. but hang'd up by his sonne and successour upon a new and large Gallowes set up for the purpose and not without his desert High places are not more uneasie then slippery Even height it self maketh mens brains to swim and when they fall they come down with a poise That he had prepared for Mordecai Josephus hath here a very good Note Vnde mihi contigit mirari nomen Dei sapientiam justitiam ejus agnoscere c. I cannot but admire the Lords wisdom Lib. â—1 Antiq. c. 6. and acknowledge his justice in that he not only punished him for his malice to the Church but by turning his own mischief upon himself hath made him an example to all posterity hanging him up in gibbets that others may take warning The like the Lord did by Adonibezek Pharaoh Goliah Achitophel Absalom Sennacherib Maxentius Valerianus c. Quà m benè dispositum terris ut dignus iniqui Claud. lib. in Eutrop. Fructus consilii primis authoribus instet c. See those sacred Similies to the same sense Eccles 10.8 9. Prov. 26.27 Psal 7.16 c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hesiod Lib 8 de viz. verb c. 21. and beware of making a match with mischief lest ye have your belly-full thereof He that conceiveth with guile shall though he grow never so big bring forth nothing but vanity and worse Job 15.35 As he hath sowen the winde so he shall reap the whirlwinde Hos 8.6 See the Note there Diaboli servus satelles praecipuus erat Haman saith Rupertus Haman was a main stickler for the devil who paid him accordingly the wages of sin is death and it may well be feared that Haman was killed with death Lavat in loc as Jezaebels children were Rev. 2.23 Fuit enim homo dirae feritatis planéque 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for he was a most cruel wretch and a plain Atheist I shall shut up the story of his life Amb. de Nab. Isr c 11. as Ambrose doth that of Ahab and Jezabels fearful end Fuge ergo dives ejusmodi exitum c. Tremble at such ends and be careful to avoid them Such ends ye shall easily avoid if ye carefully fly such like foule and flagitious practises Then was the Kings wrath pacified Harbonah had helped to kindle it verse 9. and by executing Haman Sententiam ocyus dicto exequuntur oculici Merl. whom he had accused he now helpeth to quench it For it was not unusual of old that men of greatest rank and quality should execute Malefactours as Gideon did Zeba and Zalmunnah as Samuel did Agag as Benaiah did Adonijah Joab and Shimei by the command of Solomon The holy Angels delight in such an office as at Sodom and in Sennacheribs army and how active shall they be at the last day but chiefly against such as walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleannesse and despise Government 2 Pet. 2.10 So shall Gods wrath be pacified as once it was when Phineas the High Priest had done execution upon that unclean couple The Saints have another way of pacifying him of preventing his judgements and disarming his indignation and that is by remembring their sins and being confounded in his Presence never opening their mouths any more Ezâ—ch 16.63 unlesse it be in an humble confession which is the Christians best Apology as the Apostle calleth it 2 Cor. 7.11 This will quiet Gods Spirit as the phrase is Zech. 6.8 and cause him to say as Job 33.24 I have found a reconciliation Surely if we judge our selves he will not judge us 1 Cor. 11.31 God shall be prevented and the Accuser of the brethren put out of office our Hamans also shall be hang'd up before the Sun our sturdy corruptions crucified and the Lord shall as little repent him of any good he hath done us as Ahashuerus did of gratifying his wife Esther and Kinsman Mordecai who were now all the doers seeking the wealth of Israel and speaking peace to that whole people as appeareth in the following chapters As for the King he never so much as once lamented the losse of Haman nor said se properantiùs quà m prudentiùs egisse that he had been more hasty then wise in doing him to death but was very well pleased with what he had done his wrath rested saith the text Ira est
his countrey Far be it from me to out-live Troy Curtius telleth us that Alexander the great when he was extreme thirsty and had water offered him he would not receive it Curt. 17. but put it by with this brave speech Nec solus bibere sustineo nec tam exiguum dividere omnibus possum There is not enough for all my souldiers to share with me and to drink it alone I cannot finde in my heart I will never do it Compare herewith this speech of Esther and you shall finde it far the better as being full of those precious graces whereunto Alexander was a perfect stranger humility prudence faith zeal toward God and ardent love toward his people Oh how great is the number of those now adayes saith Lavater here qui ne micam Spiritus Estherae habent who have not the least parcel of Esthers spirit but are all for themselves and for their own interests Or how can I endure to see Heb quomodo potero videbo How can I and shall I see how should I do otherwise then sink at the sight as she did in the Romane history when her sonne was butchered and as the Virgin Mary felt a sword at her heart when she beheld Christ crucified Luke 2.35 Melancthon said that good Oecolampadius died of grief for the Churches calamities Nehemiah was heart-sick for the breaches of Joseph chap. 2.3 with Amos 6.6 Moses wished himself expunged and Paul accursed rather then it should go ill with Gods people Verse 7. Then the King Ahashuerus said unto Esther c. Here Hamans letters of Mart are reversed by Ahashuerus whose answer to Esther is full of gentlenesse and sweetnesse but yet such as discovereth a minde perplexed and cast into straits as Princes eft-soones are by the subtilties and malice of wicked counsellours Dan. 6.15 so that they cannot do as they would unlesse they will bring all into a combustion though usually where the word of a King is there is power Eccles 8.4 and the old Lord Treasurer Burleigh was wont to say that he knew not what an Act of Parliament could not do in England and King James in his speech in the Starre-chamber Anno 1616. said as much Behold I have given Esther the house of Haman i. e. I have done somewhat toward the performance of my Promise made to Esther chap. 7.2 and more I am willing to do only I must observe good order and do things with discretion Behold I give you potestatem plenariam omnimodam all the power I have that therewith you may help your selves only my former decree I cannot reverse but I shall stirre up great garboiles in the Kingdome Josephus indeed telleth us that Ahashuerus did retract the Edict procured by Haman and further gave power to the Jewes that if any withstood the Kings will herein they should kill them c. But we are not bound to believe him in all things as neither Herodotus Livy nor any of the Historians the Sacred always excepted for Vopiscus In vita Aure â—â—iani who was one of them confesseth nominem historicorum non aliquid esse mentitum that there is none of them that hath not taken liberty to lie more or lesse and it is manifest that Josephus his manner is to recite what he thinks likely to have been done and what is fit to be written of such a businesse Baronius annales facit non scribit saith one think the same of Josephus he rather maketh an history sometimes then writeth it And therefore that is but a sorry excuse that the Papists make for their sacrilegious forbidding the people to reade the Scriptures when they refer them to Josephus as having the History of the Bible more largely and plainly described Joh. Barclai M. Paraenesi Because he laid his hands upon the Jewes He did it because he designed it Like as Balak also arose and fought with Israel Josh 24.9 and yet the story saith nothing so But that is in Scripture said to be done that is intended or attempted And this the Heathen also saw by the dimme light of nature Hence that of Seneca Fecit quisque quantum voluit And another saith Quae quia non licuit non facit illa facit Polybius attributeth the death of Antiochus to his sacriledge only in his purpose and will This Josephus thinks could not be scil that a man having a purpose only to sinne should be punished by God for it Hence he derideth Polybius for the forecited censure but he had no cause so to do for the Heathens herein exceeded the Pharisees who helâ— thought free and Josephus was sowred with their leaven Verse 8 Write ye also for the Jews Here was one Syngram or authoritative writing crossing another What could the people think of this but that crownes have their cares and it were a wonder if great persons in the multitude of their distractions should not let fall some incongruities We must not think saith Lavater here if Princes or States command things different one from another that it proceedeth from lightnesse of minde but that they make Lawes and set forth Edicts according to the state and necessity of the times and as the publick good requireth In the beginning of Queen Elizabeths reign here when mens mindes differed concerning Religion and Reformation could not safely be wrought at once it was by one and the same Proclamation commanded that no man should speak unreverently of the Sacrament of the Altar Camd. Eliz. p. 9. Ib. 17 20 and both kindes were permitted in the administration Religion was changed without commotion by degrees after that the Romish superstition had stood a whole moneth and more after the death of Queen Mary as afore The sacrifice of the Masse was not abolished till half a yeare after nor images cast out of Churches till two moneths after that Here then let St. James his counsel take place Be swift to hear slow to speak to speak evil of Governours when they answer not our expectations but seem to command contradictories There are certain Arcana imperii secrets of State that most men understand not and must therefore dedicate them to victory as the Romanes did that lake the depth whereof they could not fathom nor finde out Besides we must know that there will be faults so long as there be men and faults will slip betwixt the best mens fingers as Bishop Jewel was wont to say And as we endure with patience a barren yeare if it happen and unseasonable weather so must we tolerate the imperfections of Rulers and quietly expect either reformation or alteration As it liketh you Having been so lately deceived in Haman and by him miscarried to the ratifying of that bloody Edict he will no more trust his own judgement but referres the managing of the Jewes deliverance which now he greatly desired to their prudence discretion and faithfulnesse Few Kings would have yielded to have retracted lest they should thereby seem light and inconstant
their lives Not one whereof was lost in this hot encounter in this sharp revenge they took off their avowed enemies This was even a miracle of Gods mercy Who would not feare thee O King of Nations c. And had rest from their enemies Or That they might have rest from their enemies who would not otherwise be quieted but by the letting out of their life-blood but would make an assault upon the harmelsse Jewes though it were to die for it so that upon the matter they were their own deathsmen besides the wilful losse of their immortal soules which our Saviour sheweth Mat 16.26 to be a losse 1. Incomparable 2. Irreparable And slew of their foes seventy and five thousand Neither was it any dishonour to them to be God Almighties slaughtermen Even the good Angels are Executioners of Gods righteous judgements as they were at Sodom in Sennacheribs army and oft in the Revelation There cannot be a better or more noble act then to do justice upon obstinate Malefactours But they laid not their hands on the prey They would not once foule their fingers therewith No godly man in Scripture is taxed for covetousnesse that sordid sin See the Note on verse 10. Verse 17. On the thirteenth day of the moneth Adar On this day they stood for their lives that they might rest from their enemies And accordingly On the fourteenth day of the same rested they i. e. the very next day after their deliverance they would not defer it a day longer but kept an holy rest with Psalmes and sacrifices of praise those calves of their lips the very next day whiles the deliverance was yet fresh and of recent remembrance This they knew well that God expected Deut. 23.21 and that he construeth delayes for denials Hag. 1.2 4. he gave order that no part of the thank-offering should be kept unspent till the third day to teach us to present our praises when benefits are newly received which else would soon wax stale and putrifie as fish I will pay my vowes now now saith David Psal 116.18 Hezekiah wrote his Song the third day after his recovery Queen Elizabeth when exalted from a prisoner to a Princesse and from misery to Majesty before she would suffer her self to be mounted in her charet to passe from the Tower to Westminster Englands Eliz. she very devoutly lifted up her hands and eyes to heaven and gave God humble thanks for that remarkable change and turn of things And made it a day of feasting and gladnesse Exhilarating and chearing up their good hearts that had long layen low with a more liberal use of the creatures that they might the better preach his praises and speak good of his name and that sith they could not offer up unto him other sacrifices prescribed in the Law because they were far from the Temple they might not be wanting with their sacrifice of thanksgiving which God preferreth before an oxe that hath hornes and hoofs saith the Psalmist Words may seem to be but a poor and slight recompence but Christ saith Nazianzen calleth himself the Word and this was all the fee that he looks for for his cures Go and tell what God hath done for thee With these calves of our lips let us cover Gods Altar and we shall finde that although he will neither eat the flesh of bulls nor drink the blood of goats yet if we offer unto God thanksgiving and pay our vowes unto the most High Psal 50.13 14. it will be look't upon as our reasonable service Rom. 12.1 Verse 18. On the thirteenth day thereof and on the fourteenth What they could not do on one day they did it on another Men must be sedulous and strenuous in Gods work doing it with all their might and redeeming time for that purpose Eccl. 9.10 On both these dayes they destroyed their enemies They did their work thoroughly Let us do so in slaying our spiritual enemies not sparing any Agag not reserving this Zoar or that Rimmon but dealing by the whole body of sinne as the King of Moab did with the King of Edom Amos 2.1 burn the bones of it to lime destroy it not to the halves as Saul but hew it in pieces before the Lord as Samuel As Joshua destroyed all the Canaanites he could lay hold on As Asa spared not his own mother as Solomon drew Joab from the Altar to the slaughter and put to death Adoniah the darling so must we deale by our corruptions ferretting and fetching them out of their lurking holes as these Jewes did their enemies on the fourteenth day that had escaped the day before Sith we must either kill them up all or be killed by them for as that one bastard Abimelech slew all Gideons sonnes upon one stone so one lust left unmortified will undo the soul And as one sinner so one sin may destroy much good Eccl. 9.18 And on the fifteenth day of the moneth they rested So shall the Saints do after death which will be the accomplishment of mortification for he that is dead is freed from sin Rom. 6.7 and filled with joy Isa 35.10 The ransomed of the Lord shall then return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads they shall obtain joy and gladnesse and sorrow and sighing shall flee away Verse 19. Therefore the Jewes of the villages c. Pagani This is expounded in the next words that dwelt in the unwalled townes Such as is the Hague in Holland that hath two thousand housholds in it and chuseth rather to be counted the principal village of Europe then a lesser City Made the fourteenth day c. See verse 17. while the Jewes in Shushan were destroying the remainder of their enemies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Mac. 15.36 This day was afterwards called Mordecai's Holiday And of sending portions one to another See Nehem. 8.10 To the rich they sent in courtesie to the poor in charity and both these to testifie their thankfulnesse to God for their lives liberties and estates so lately and graciously restored unto them Verse 20. And Mordecai wrote these things He wrote with authority as a Magistrate say some that the Jewes should keep these dayes with greatest solemnitie He wrote the relation of these things before-mentioned say others as the ground of this annual festivitie Or else it may be meant more generally that Mordecai was the Pen-man of the Holy Ghost in writing this whole book of Esther as was before hinted And sent letters unto all the Jewes both night and farre Propinquis longinquis that they might all agree together about the time and manner of praising God and so sing the great Hallelujah See 2 Cor. 1.11 2 Chron. 20.26 27 28. Psal 124.1 2. and 126.1 Psal 136. penned for a recorded publike forme to praise God among the multitude Psal 109.20 and in the great Congregation Psal 22.22 25. David would go into the presses of people and there praise the Lord Psal 116.18
outward troubles when as to the wicked death is but a trap-door to hell we silly fish see one another jerked out of the pond of life but we see not the fire and the frying-pan whereunto those are cast that die in their sins to whom all the sufferings of this life are but a typicall hell the beginning of those terrors and torments which they shall hereafter suffer without any the least hope of ever either mending or ending Verse 10. But he said unto her He did not start up and lay upon her with his unmanly fist Chrysostome saith it is the greatest reproach in the world for a man to beat his wife but he reproveth her and that sharply as she deserved and so did Jacob his best beloved Rachel when the offence was against God Gen. 30.2 A wise husband saith Marcus Aurelius must often admonish never smite and but seldome reprove and that with the spirit of meeknesse too Gal. 6.1 Meeknesse of wisedome Jam. 3.13 That was wonderful patience that was exercised by D. Youngs Benef of Afflict 153. Cowper Bishop of Lincoln who when his wife had burnt all his Notes which he had beene eight years in gathering left he should kill himself with overmuch study for she had much ado to get him to his meales shewed not the least token of passion but only replyed Indeed wife it was not well done so falling to work again he was eight years in gathering the same Notes wherewith he composed his Dictionary Job though somewhat more tart as reason required the offence being of so high a nature yet he breaks not out into fierce and furious language he saith not Go go thou art an arrant fool a wicked woman an abominable wretch but Thou speakest like one of the foolish women like one of the women of Idumea that have no sap of wisdome or goodnesse in them but do whip their gods as the Chinois are said to do at this day when they cannot have what they would have of them and revile them for neglecting their worshippers Note here that Jobs wife might be a good woman for the main though in this particular she did amisse but it is a fault in Gods people when it shall be said unto them Are ye not carnal and walk as men when it shall be said of Gods daughters that they speak or act like one of the foolish women Davids daughters were known by their party-coloured garments so should Gods by the law of wisdome in their lips and lives by their patient minde made known to all men by their eximious and exemplary holinesse What should Jobs wife the Governesse of such a religious Family the yoak-fellow of such an holy Husband be talking of cursing God be speaking after the rate of profane Edomites The Heathen Comedian can say that she is a wise woman who can be well content to suffer hardship and not repine that it is now worse with her then formerly it hath been Job would fain bring his wife to this Quae aquo animo pati potest sibi esse pejus quam fuit and therefore addeth What shall we receive good c He seeketh to set her down not with rage but with reason and that indeed is the right way of backing a reproof wherein as there must be some warmth so it may not be scalding hot Words of reviling and disgrace they scald as it were But words that tend to convince the judgment and to stir up the conscience to a due consideration of the fault they be duely warm and tend to make the physick work the more kindly Shall we receive good at the hands of God and not evill Shall we not eat the crust with the crumbs drink the sowr with the sweet blesse God as well for taking away as for giving accept of the chastisement of our iniquity receive it patiently thankfully fruitfully Shall we be all for comforts and nothing at all for crosses Is it not equall that we should share in both sith it is the Lords mercy that we are not consumed Gen. 49.28 Jacob is said to have blessed all his sonnes Now he seemed rather to curse Reuben Simeon and Levi for he speaks only of evill to them But because they were not rejected from being among Gods people because they were not cut out of the list as Dan afterwards was 1 Chron. 7. Revel 7.7 though they were under great and sore afflictions they are counted blessed Doles quòd amisisti gaude quòd ◠vasisti saith Seneca Grievest thou at thy losses be glad that thy self art escaped Be ready at all hours to send God home again the blessings which he lent us with thankfulnesse There is a complaint of some men so ungratefull that if you do them nineteen courtesies Auson and then deny them the twentieth you lose all your thank with them Carry them on your back to the very suburbs of Rome and not into the City it self you do nothing for them God is not to be thus dealt with especially since he altereth the property of those evils and crosses which he layeth upon us turning them to our greatest good Rom. 8.28 like as the skilfull Apothecary turneth a poysonfull Viper into a wholesome Triacle Good therefore and worthy of all acceptation is that counsell of the Wise-man In the day of prosperity be joyfull but in the day of adversity consider Consider What This that God also hath set the one over against the other Eccles 7.14 and therefore thou must take the one as well as the other that 's but reasonable and equitable Plato saith that God doth alwayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 act the Geometrician do and dispose of all things in number weight and measure such an order and vicissitude he hath set of good and evill in the life of man that they are as it were interwoven Accept them therefore and acquiesce in them both as the Hebrew word here signifieth In all this Job sinned not with his lips Hitherto he did not though in a pitifull pickle and much provoked by the wife of his bosome He did not murmure against God nor let fly at his wife he did not threaten her as Lamech nor fall out with the whole sex as he that said Foemina nulla bona est He doth not wish himself single againe Sylla foelix si non habuisses uxorem Chaldaus Paraphrastes Talmudici as Augustus did or hold himself therefore onely unhappy because married as Sylla did No such unsavoury speech falls from Jobs lips as the Divel wished and waited for it Neither doth it follow as some Rabbines would inferre from this Text that Job sinned in his heart though not with his lips for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth would have spoken Look what water is in the Well the like will be in the Bucket and what stuff is in the ware-house the like will be in the shop If his heart had been exulcerate he would not meekly and
Let us do up our work and then God will send us to hed all in good time Isa 57.2 Rev. 14.13 Verse 14. With Kings and Counsellors of the earth g. d. Those that here have been most negotious and as the Grandees of the earth have had greatest matters in hand with those should I have been coupled in the grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Congregation-house of all living as it is called Job 30.23 That long or old home Eccles 12.5 Heaven is called the Congregation-house of Gods first born Heb. 12.23 and their house not made with hand 2 Cor. 5.1 But not many Kings or Nobles meeâ—e here 1 Cor. 1.26 because strait is the gate and narrow the way that leadeth to it there must be stripping and stooping which great men cannot frame to It was a poor comfort to Hen. 8. to be told upon his death-bed that he should now go to the place of Kings And a small commendation to Hen. 2. The Spanish Brier was wone to say there were but few Princes in hell for why because there were but few in all Daniels hist 111. that some sew hours before he died seeing a list of their names who had conspired against him and finding therein two of his own sons he fell into a grievous passion both cursing his sons and the day wherein himself was born and in that distemperature departed the world which himself had so often distempered He went indeed to his grave and slept with his fathers yea he was royally interred under a stately Monument meant here haply by building desolate places for themselves Absolom had erected a pillar for this purpose and the Egyptian Kings their Pyramides â—o perpetuate their memories Confer Ezek. 26.20 With these Iob had he died betime or never seene the light might have been fellowed for death is the only King against whom there is no rising up Prov. 30.31 and the mortall fithe is master of the royall Scepter mowing down the lilies of the crown Sceptra ligonibus aquat as well as the grasse of the field Verse 15. Or with Princes that had gold great store of it Petrarch reporteth of Pope John 22 that his heirs found in his coffers no lesse then 250 tuns of gold Boniface the eighth taken prisoner and plundered by the command of Philip the Faire King of France had as much gold carried away out of his Palace as all the Kings of Europe received for one years revenue from their subjects together with their crown-land What a Masse of Treasure had Cardinal Wolsey gotten here and before him Cardinall Beauford who when he saw that he must needs die and that his riches could not reprieve him till a further time asked Fox Mart. 925. why should I die being so rich fie will not death be hired will mony do nothing The Cardinall Sylberperger took so great a pleasure in mony that when he was grievously tormented with the gout his onely remedy to ease the paine was to have a bason full of gold set before him into which he would put his lame hands turning the gold upside-down Of Nugas the Scythian Monarch it is storied that when Michael Paleologus the Greek Emperour sent him many rich ornaments for a present Pachymer hist l. 5. he asked whether they could drive away calamities diseases and death this because they could not do he slighted them These Princes that had gold and filled their houses with siluer what would not they have given to have bought off death but riches availe not in the day of wrath it is righteousnesse only that delivereth from death Prov. 11.4 Thrice happy then are they who are rich to God as our Saviour phraseth it who have the Almighty to be their gold and who have silver of strength as Eliphaz speaketh chap. 22.25 Who filled their houses with silver That is their graves say some called the dead mens houses chap. 17.13 The Jewes call the burying-place Beth-chajin the house of the living and they used not only to adorn their sepulchers richly but also to put their wealth into the grave with them Iosephus saith that Hircanus found in Davids sepulchre three thousand talents And Ier. 8.1 Lib. 13. Antiq. cap. 15. 〈◊〉 cap. 11. God threatneth that the Chaldeans shal bring out the boxes of the Kings of Iudah and of his Princes out of their graves as searching there for hid treasure so some conceive Sure it is Josephm that in the siege of Jerusalem under Veâ—pâ—sian there was gold found in the entrailes of a Jew that was slain which caused above twenty thousand of them to be ripped up Verse 16. Or as an hidden and untimely birth I had nor been As an abortive or miscarrying Embryâ— that falleth from the mother as untimely fruit falleth off from the tree See Râ—v 6.3 Hidden it is called because cast a deâ— as an unsightly spectacle that cometh in with vanity and departeth in darknesses and his name is covered with darknesse Eccles 6.4 Jâ—â— could have wisâ— eâ—â—ome way or other never to have been rather then to have been in so calamitous aâ— condition and herein he linned Job 3.6 no doubt for that 〈◊〉 as of the flesh is flesh As infants wâ— châ—rever â—aw the â—ight but were still-born as we call them The word rendred infants is taken from a word that signifieth to 〈◊〉 â—ee Job 16.15 for children in the womb are compassed about with pollution and the first sheeâ— or blanket wherewith they are covered is woven of sinne shame blood and filth Ezek. 16.4.6 Verse 17. There the wicked cease from troubling Here they are restlesse as being acted and agitated by the divel who being a discontented turbulent creature maketh adoe in the world and setteth his â—mps awork to do mischief and to vex others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word here rendred wicked signifieth vexatious persons that worry and weary out others molestuous and mischievous In the grave they shall cease from so doing That was a strange mind of our Edward the first who adjured his Son and Nobles that if he died in his journey into Scotland they should carry his corps with them about Scotland and not suffer it to be interred till they had absolutely subdued the Country This was a deure more Martial then Christian saith the â—hronicler Daniels hist 201. shewing a mind so bent to the world as he would not make an end when he had â—one withâ—â—t but deâ—greth his travel beyond his life An 〈…〉 Hence some Heathens also have counted mortality a mercy and some of them appointed contrary ceremonies to those now in use for they brought their friends into the world with mournfull obsequies but they carried them out or the world with joyfull exequies Plotin ap Aug. de C. D.l 9 c. 10 Quntil Inst lib. 5 Hâ—â—ol l. 5. Vaâ— Max. all sorts of sports and pastimes because then they conceived they were at rest and out oâ— gun-shot Verse 18.
it It is said that Severianus whom this Emperour injuriously put to death wished of God at Adrianus quamvis mortem obire percupiat tamen non possit that Adrian might desire to die and not be able or find opportunity There is an Epistle of his extant saith the Historian wherein is set forth what a misery it is to desire to die Dio Cass in Adrian and yet to be denied it This was the case of those Popelings Rev. 9.6 And in particular of Roger Bishop of Salisbury in King Stevens time who through long and strait imprisonment was brought to that evil passe â—t vivere notuerit mori nescierit live he would not and yet die he could not This is a very typicall-hell and a fore-taste of eternall torment Verse 22. Which rejoyce exceedingly Joy till they skip again so Broughton rendreth it Strange that any should be so glad of death that last enemy that slaughter-man of nature and harbinger of hell to the ungodly but this the divel hideth from them till he hath them where he would have and whence there is no redemption What was it else that moved Augustus at his death to call for a Plâ—udite or that made Julian the Apostate to die so confidently and many now-adayes that have little reason for it to be so prodigall of their lives and seemingly fond of death Is it not because they are fearfully blinded by the god of this present world who holdeth his black hand before their eyes 2. Cor. 4.4 left they should see the evill consequents of death and be saved which because they do not what do they else but rejoyce exceedingly or with exultation as the word here signifieth in their wofull bondage and goe dancing to hell in their bolts not so much as desiring deliverance A man that is to be hanged next day may dream overnight he shall be set free nay that he shall bee a King and rejoyce therein accordingly but the end of such joy is heavinesse Verse 23. Why is light given to a man whose way is hid i.e. Why is the light of life continued to him who is in a maze or labyrinth of miseries whereof he can see no cause and whereout he can descry no issue no hope at all appeareth of ever either mending or ending Therefore Vale lumen amicum as he in Saint Hierome said sweet light adieu Quin morere ut merita es as shee in the Poet Be thine owne deaths-man Seneca counts it a mercy to a man in misery that he may by laying hands on himself set out his life when he will and this he calls valour and man-hood But we have no so learned Christ neither may we leave our station till called for by our Captaine but must stand to our arms and as good Souldiers of Jesus Christ suffer hardship 2 Tim. 2.4 His word to us is the same as the Kings was to his Sonne the Black-Prince Speed either vanquish or dye and as she in the story said to her son when shee gave him his Target See that thou either bring this back with thee or else be thou brought back dead upon it out of the battel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It troubled Job that he could not see his way and that God had hedged him in viz. with a thorn-hedge of afflictions Lam. 3.7 9. Hos 2.6 so that he could find no way out But what if he could not nor any man alive yet the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations 2 Pet. 2.9 He hath his way in the whirlewind and his judgements are a great deepe Psal 36.6 Sometimes secret they are but ever just Surely it had beene more meete for Job to have said unto God That which I see not teach thou mee c. yea Job 34.31 in the way of thy judgments O Lord have I waited for thee the desire of my soul is to thy name and to the remembrance of thee Isa 26.8 Verse 24. For my sighing cometh before I eat It cometh unsent for as evill weather useth to do and most unseasonably surprizeth me at my repast I mingle my meat with my tears with every bit of bread I have a morsell of sorrowes â— and I mingle my drink with weeping Psal 102.9 though indeed Jobs was not so much a showre of teares as a storm of sighs and a volly of roarings betokening extremity of griefe such as was beyond tears and vented it selfe as the noise of many waters for my roarings saith he are poured out like water I am as hungry as a Lion roaring on his prey and as violent as the Torrents ranging the fields and yet I neither have leisure nor lift to eat my bread as loth to prolong such a troublesome life but that I must or be guilty of self-murther Mr Fox reports of Mr. John Glover that not long after his conversion upon a mistake of the sense of that text Heb. 6.5 6. he was strongly conceited that he had fallen into the unpardonable sinne and must necessarily therefore be damned and in that intolerable grief of mind although he neither had not could have any joy of his meat yet was he compelled to eate against his appetite to the end to deferre the time of his damnation so long as he might Acts Mon. 1552. Now who can tell how neere Jobs case might come to this fith the divell was both Author and Actor in a great part of both these Tragicomedies Verse 25. For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me Heb. I feared a fear and it came upon me Had Job been wicked this had been no wander Prov. 10.24 Job 15.21 Or had his fear been sinfull it had been lâ—sse pity Prov. 29.25 John 11.48 for why should he by a painfull 〈…〉 suffer before he needed and send for his crosses before they came A good man should 〈◊〉 all and so consequently fearfull in nothing â—â—il 4.6 he should hope the best and beate bravely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Demosthenes whatever God sendeth The Epicunts held that a good man might be cheerfull under whatsoever miseries 1. Ex prateritarum voluptatum recordatione Cic. de finib lib. 2. In consideration of honesty and integrity 2. In consideration of those pleasuâ—es and to 〈◊〉 that formerly he had enjoyed and now cheared up himself with Of neither of these was Job to seek But whereas it might be said unto him Is it fit for thee who hast hitherto been so happy now to take on so heavily because thus and thus afflicted Truly saith he I was never so happy as you took me for because considering how moveable and mutable all outward things are I alwayes feared lest I should out live my prosperity that which now also is unhappily befallen me Sylla had been happy si eundem vincâ—ndi 〈…〉 fâ—cisset saith One that iâ— if he had made an end of conquering and of living together but that he did not In him and many
John 14.2 no setled abode some huts we have here rather then houses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clayie cottages earthy tabernacles as Paul after Plato calleth mens bodies 2 Cor. 5.1 And so the most interpreters understand these words of Eliphaz concerning the body of man rather then of his house he dwells in here made up of clay and dust a little refined and sublimated by art or nature which is nothing else but a clod of clay neatly made up What is man saith Greg. Nazianzen out of Gen. 2.7 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cinis Gen. 3.19 Gen. 18.21 Hor. Carm. l. 4. Od. 7. soule and soile breath and body a puffe of wind the one a pile of dust the other no solidity in either Pulvis umbra sumus saith the Poet and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greeke Proverb Man is but an earthen pot The first man Adam was of the earth earthy 1 Cor. 15.47 And no better are the best quos ex meliore forsan luto finxit Titan who are made of the finest common mould but as the finer the metall the purer the matter of any glasse or earthen vessel the more subject it is to break so are they to die for why Their foundation is in the dust The house is but weak and yet the foundation weaker terra friabilis flying light unstable unmoveable dust that is soone wherried and whirled about with every puffe of wind Hence the Apostle calleth mans body not an house only in respect of 1. the comely and orderly workmanship thereof 2. The soule which inhabiteth it but a tabernacle which hath no foundation and is transportative 2 Cor. 5.1 opposing to it building which is firm and stable Hence David Omnis Adam est totus Abel saith hee Verily every man in his best estate when he is best founded and setled on his best bottome when he is under-layd on all sides and seemes set to live is altogether vanity Psal 39.5 12. So Psal 144.4 Adam is Abels compeere or man is like to vanity what can he be better when as They are crushed before the moth He saith not before the Lion but before the moth Now what a poor thing is man that a moth may crush him that a flie may choak him as it did Pope Alexander that a light bruise on his toe may kill him as it did Aemilius Lepidus Plin. lib. 7. cap. 53. that a poisoned torch may light him to his long home as it did the Cardinall of Lorrain I have known saith one death admitted in by a corn on the toe and though the hurt were so farre off the heart yet the man died upon it Purchas Another I knew who seeming to have conquered the elements the wide Ocean wilde wildernsse wilder beasts wildest men hottest climates after sixteen yeares absence returned home and died of an hurt in his thumb Mr. Terry a great traveller telleth of a Noble man in the great Mogols Court who sitting in dalliance with one of his women had an haire pluckt by her from his brest this little wound Lawl liberty in a Serm. at Pauls by Edm. Terry p. 21. made by that small and unexpected instrument of death presently festered and turning to an incurable Canker killed him God needs no bigger a launce then an hair to kill an Atheist as this dying man acknowledged But besides all ill accidents and casualties from without look how the garment breeds the moth and then the moth eates the garment so mans own distempered body breeds ill humors The New-lander cure pag. 23. they diseases and these breed death as one well observeth upon this Text. It is holden for certain that in every two yeares there is such store of ill humours and excrements ingendred in the body that a vessel of one hundred ounces will scarce containe them Ipsa suis augment is vita ad detrimenta impellitur saith Gregory inde deficit unde proficere creditur Life weareth out by the very meat that maintaineth it and every man hath his bane about him Verse 20. They are destroyed from morning to evening Heb. They are beaten to pieces as in a mortar with one sorrow upon another till the very breath be beaten out of their bodies at length and all this from morning to evening all the day long or all their life long Per totum diem Drus which is here set forth for the brevity of it by an artificial day and such also as no man can be sure he shall have twelve hours to his day for how many are there whose Sun hath set at high-noon in the prime and pride of their dayes have they been suddenly snatcht away by the hand of death yea how many see we whose sun setteth in the very rising so that they are carried from the birth to the buriall Every houre surely we all yield somewhat unto death and a very short cut hath the longest liver of all from the grave of the womb to the womb of the grave Eliphaz here seemeth to compare us to those creatures called Ephemerâ—bii which are young in the morning middle-aged at non Aristot and dead 〈◊〉 night they begin and end their lives in a day Mans life is a vapour saith St. James a bubble say the Heathens a blast a dream a shadow a dreame of a shadow c. They perish for ever That is they die once for all For if a man die shall hee live againe Job 14.14 No such matter In this warre as there is no discharge Eccles 8.8 so neither is it granted to any man to erre twice therefore Austin said that he would not for the gain of a million of worlds be an Atheist for halfe an hour because he knew not but God might in that time call for him and cuâ— him off from all time of repentance acceptation and grace for ever since he could die but once onely and after death judgment every mans deaths-day is his doomes-day Heb. 9.27 Without any regarding it Heb. putting sc his heart to it or laying it upon his heart as every man living should do Eccles 7.2 but that few or none so do See Isa 57.1 David did when hearing of his childs decease he said I shall go to him 2 Sam. 12.23 And Moses seeing the peoples carcasses fall so fast in the wildernesse prayed for himself and the rest So teach us to number our dayes that wee may apply our hearts to wisedome Psal 90.12 Every dead corps is a Monitor a dumb preacher Etiam muta clamant cadavera Abel though dead speaketh but how few hearken to him Dives thought that if one came from the dead to fore-warn his brethren great matters would be done Petrus Sutorius telleth of one that preaching a funerall Sermon on a religious man as he calleth him and giving him large commendations heard at the same time a voice in the Church Mortuus sum judicatus sum damnatus sum I am dead
do gracelesse men that draw not their knowledge into practice but detaine the truth in unrighteousnesse it swimmeth in their heads but sinketh not into their hearts it maketh them giddy as wine fuming all up into the head but never coming at the heart to cheare it Such a man may cast out divels and yet be cast to the divel he may go to hell with all his unprofitable knowledge like as a Bull with a coronet and garland goes to the slaughter Unlesse a man heare and know for himselfe he shall find no more comfort of it then a man doth of the Sun when it shineth not in his own Horizon or then a traveller doth of the fatnesse of a farre Country which he only passeth through and taketh a light view of If therefore thou bee wise be wise for thy self Prov. 9.12 Let thy knowledge be not only apprehensive but affective â—illightning but transforming 2 Cor. 3 ult discursive but experimental and practical For hereby we know that we know him if we keepe his commanaments 1 John 2.3 CHAP. VI Verse 1. But Job answered and said ELiphaz thought he had silenced him and set him down with so much reason that he should have had nothing to reply yet Job desirous to disasperse himself and to clear-up his reputation answered and said For indeed Negligere quid de se quisque sentiat non solum arragantis est sed dissoluti saith one that is altogether to neglect what others think or speak of a mans self and not to make apology is the part not only of a proud but of a dissolute person â— silence sometimes argueth guiltinesse or at least it strengtheneth suspition Verse 2. Oâ— that my griefe were throughly weighed Heb. were weighed by weighing The word rendred griefe signifieth also Angâ—â— and is thâ— same with that wherewith Eliphaz began his speech chap. 5.2 where he saith Wrath killeth the foolish man pointing at Job as an angry man exalting folly Here therefore Job beginneth his refutation wishing that that anger or griefe of his so hardly censured were duely weighed in an even ballance for then it would appeare that there was some reason for his passion that he had enough upon him to cry for and that he had not complained without a cause We read of a certaine Philosopher who hearing of his sons death brake out into a loud lamentation for which being reproved Permitâ—â—â—e inquit ut homo sim suffer me I pray you said he to shew my self to be a man that is sensible of my sufferings And my calamity laid in the balances together That is that my calamity were accurately set against my grief my laments and my torments equally poised it would then appear that I have not yet grieved or complained up to the height or weight of those calamities which are upon mee Even to day is my complaint bitter saith he elsewhere in answer to Eliphaz too interpreting his complaints to be rebellion against God My stroake is heavier theâ— my groâ—ning chap. 23.2 Verse 3. For now it would bâ— heavier then the sand of the sea How light soever thou O Eliphaz esteemest it as being in a prosperous condition It is easie to swim in a warm bath and every bird can sing in a sunshine-day But grief lieth like a load of lead upon the soule heavy and cold afflicting it as an unsupportable burden doth the body It so oppressed the poor Israelites in Egypt that they had no mind to hearken to Moses Eâ—eâ—d 6.9 Solomon cryes out A wounded spirit who can beare Prov. 18. â—4 My soule is very heavy and exceeding sorrowful even unto death saith our blessed Saviour Matth 26.37 38. then when the Father made all our sins to meet upon him and be bare our griefs and carried our sorroweâ— Isa 13.4 12. Sure it is that had he not been God as well as man he had beene utterly crushed by that unconceivable weight of sin and wrath that he then groaned under Oh what will all Christ lessâ— persons do in hell where God shall lay upon them and not spare they would faine fly out of his hand Job 27.22 bur that cannot be Therefore my words are swallowed up Vix loqui possum vox faucibus haevet I want words which yet if I had them at will would be far too weak to utter the grief of my mind Broughton rendreth it Therefore my words fall short they are semesa saith Junius half-eaten before spoken I am as it were gagg'd with grief or my words are even smothered up with sighs and sobs Thus Job rhetoricates and yet thinkes himself greatly word-bound Verse 4. For the arrowes of the Almighty are within me What marvel then though his flesh had no rest but he was troubled on every side sith without were fightings within were feares 2 Cor. 7.5 The arrowes not of a mighty man as Psal 127.4 but of an Almighty God Troubles without and terrours within David felt these arrowes and complaineth of them heavily Psal 38.1 2. He shall shâ—ot as them with an arrow suddenly shall they be wounded saith he of those his enemies who had bent their bow and shot their arrowes at him even bitter words Psal 64.3 7. God will make his arrowes drunk with the blood of such persons Deut. 32.42 But the arrowes Job here complaines of were poisoned or invenomed arrowes The poison whereof drinketh up my spirits Dryeth them up and corrupts the blood in which the spirits are sprinkling in my veines a mortall poison working greatest dolour and destemper The Scrâ—hians and other nations used to dip their darts in the blood and gall of Asps and Vipers the venemous heat of which like a fire in their flesh killed the wounded with torments the likest hell of any other and hereunto Job alludeth The terrours of God do set themselves in array against me i. e. the terrible strokes of God who seemeth to fight against me with his own hand to rush upon me as the Angel once did upon Balaam with a drawn sword in his hand threatning therewith to cut off my head as David did Goliah's yea to send me packing to hell in the very suburbs whereof methinks I feel to be already and shall not I be suffered to complain a galled shoulder will shrink under a load though it be but light and a little water is heavy in a leaden vessel But the word here used for terrors noteth the most terrible terrors hellish terrors and worse for they are the terrors of God surpassing great 2 Cor. 5.11 which made Jeremy pray so hard Be not thou a terrour to me O Lord and then I care not greatly what befalleth me Whiles I suffer thy terrors I am distracted saith Hemun Psalm 88.15 Adde hereunto that these terrours of God had set themselves in array they were in a military manner marshalled and imbattailed against him as Jer. 50.9 God afflicted Job methodically and resolvedly he led up his army as a Reverend man phraseth it exactly
have been dumb because thou didst it But it is a faire step to perfection and victory when one can kisse Gods rod and say as Psalm 44.17 All this is come upon us yet have we not forgotten thee nor declined from thy way Job was not without his impatiencies but being he was right for the maine and at length bewailed them God looked not upon him as he doth upon those refractaries who to their impatience adde impenitence and to their passive disobedience active That thou set test a watch over me That thou surroundest me with sorrowes and wilt not suffer me to die Psal 191. â—sal 141.3 Here Job should have set a better watch over his lips then thus boisterously to have blustered against God who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not to be called to an account for his proceedings like the raging sea or unruly whirle-poole He should have considered that the best men have somewhat of the sea in them that must be bounded and somewhat of the whale that must be watched and kept under and that God never layes more upon a man then there is need though he may think otherwise Verse 13. When I say my bed shall comfort me The bed was the most proper and probable meanes of refreshment but it is not the bed that can give sleep nor the couch ease Creatures are not able of themselves to give out the comforts committed to them their common nature must be assisted with a special word of blessing or else they do us no good Man liveth not by bread only c. God maketh the merciful mans bed Psalm 41.3 So he giveth his beloved sleep quiet sleep Shena with an Aâ—eph quiescent Psal 127. He is the God of all mercies and the Father of all consolation 2 Cor. 1.3 It is he that shines through the creature which else is but as the aire without light Look now the aire lights us not without the Sun nor fuel heats us not without fire so neither can any man or means comfort or content us without God My couch shall ease my complains Heb. Shall lift up or take away viz. the burthen of my cares and griefe some part of my load at least but it fell out otherwise for Verse 14. Then thou skarest me with dreames Extremam tentationem describit saith Vatablus and the divel doubtless had a great hand in this business for it was within his commission and he would not neglect any part of it but Job taketh notice of none but God the chief agent and to him he applieth himself His providence is exercised even about dreams which in melancholy people fall out especially when they are sick to be oftentimes very horrid and hideous as that they fall down from some high place commit some capital offence are slain torn in pieces by divels c. Bishop Foliots terrible night-vision was before mentioned Richard the third after the murther of his two innocent Nephews and Charls the ninth of France after the Parisian massacre had such dreadful dreams that they became a terror to themselves and to all about them But to instance in better men Beza in vitae Calvin in the year of grace 1562 being sick of the gout dreamed that he heard a great noise of drums beaten up most vehemently as they use to be in warlike marches Pareus also Anno 1618 saw in a dream the City of Heidelberg set on fire in may places and the Prince Electors palace all on a light flame this he set down the next morning in his day-book and added these words O Deus clementissime averte sinistrum omen c. Such fearful dreams cause a sick sleep and a worse waking This Job complaineth of here Philip. Par. in vita Patris and yet more fully in the next words Verse 15. So that my soul chuseth strangling i. e. Quamvis durissimam sed praesentissimam mortem any violent or ignominious death so it were a speedy death Hippocrates telleth us that may have been so affrighted with dreams and apparitions that they have hanged themselves leaped into deep pits or otherwise made themselves away Let those that either have not been so terrified or so tempted or so deserted of God bless him for that mercy And death rather then life Heb. Rather then my bones that is any kind of death rather then such a body which is no nothing else but a bag of bones or then such rotten bones full of sores and ulcers he maketh mention of his bones because his pain had pierced as farre as his very bones the putrefaction had sunk down into his marrow Verse 16. I loath it I would not live alway I loath or abhor it that is my life or I loath them that is my bones verse 15. I would not live alway that is Aug. de civitato Dei l. 9. c. 10. long in this world and in this condition Plotinus the Philosopher held it a special mercy of God to men that they were mortal and did not alwaies live to labour under the miseries of this wretched life Caâ—o professed that if he might have his age renewed as the Eagles so that he might be made young again he would seriously refuse it Cic. Cato Major How much better might Job say thus sith the righteous hath hope in his death and might well take up that of the Poet. Vsque adeóne mori miserum est The dayes of the best are so full of evil both of sin and pain that it is good they are not fuller of dayes if they should have length of life added to heaps of sorrows and perpetuity with all their misery how miserable were they Christ promiseth it as a point of favour to his that the dayes of trouble should be shortned Matth. 24.22 and that he may put an end to the world he dispatcheth away the generations with all the convenient speed that may be Therefore let me alone Some read thus I cannot live for ever or very long Quod citò cessat deficit Mercer in Pagnin therefore let me alone that is give over afflicting me and let me go quietly to my grave Psalm 39.13 Here one well observeth that the world and time while they continue are alwaies ceasing and therefore have their denomination from this word which signifieth to cease For my dayes are vanity Hebel a puffe of wind or a bubble on the water Mans body is a bubble his soul the wind that filleth it The bubble riseth higher and higher till at last it breaketh so doth the body rise from infancy to youth from youth to age c. till at length it cracketh and dissolveth The life of man is a vain life This Job often beats upon and why see the Note on ver 7. Verse 17. What is man that thou shouldst magnify him i. e. make so much adoe about him or look upon him as a fit match for the great God to grapple with Psalm 14.3 or to take care of his
up or take away for sin was Jobâ— greatest burden which therefore he prayeth to God to pardon and that not in heaven only but in his own conscience and then no darkness can be so desolate no cross so cutting no burden so importable but he shall by Gods grace be able to deal with it Hence this vehement expostulation of his for remission and removal of sin first and then of its evil consequents for pardon of sinne is a voluminous mercy and being justified by faith we can glory in tribulation Rom. 5.1 3. For now shall I sleep in the dust In the dust of death Psal 22.15 and therefore must have help presently or not at all sith a man once departed is no more to be found in this world though never so diligently sought for See verse 7 8. One paraphraseth these words thus For now I shall die and then when thou lookest to receive thy morning sacrifice of praise as aforetime I shall not be found to give it thee CHAP. VIII Verse 1. Then answered Bildad the Shuhite and said BIldad who was of the posterity of Shuah Abrahams son by Keturah Gen. 25.1 2. interrupteth Job and indeavours to maintain what Eliphaz had spoken Nevertheless it appeareth by this chapter verse 5 6 20 21. that his opinion was not so rigid as that of Eliphaz for he grants that a righteous man may be afflicted but yet so that if God restore him not speedily he may be censured cast and condemned as unrighteous He passeth as they do all some hard censures upon Job and is paid in his own coyn by him who saith that he was according to his name a wicked kinsman for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is naught and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Uncle With what judgment men judg they shall be judged Mat. 7 2. Vers 2. How long wilt thou speak these things Quonsque effaberis ista q. d. Tremel Hast thou nothing better then this to utter Be silent for shame or forbear at least to vent thy spleen against God of whose proceedings with shee thou hast heavily complained thy words have been stout against the Lord and thou hast taken too much liberty of language in this tempest of talk And how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind Mercer Big and boisterous rude and â—robustuous as if thou wouldst Dominum impetere evertere dejicere blow down God and his proceedings at a breath The Tigurine translation is Quanaiu verba oris â—ui soâ—abuâ—t pertinaciaâ— How long shall the words of thy mouth sound out thine obstinacy If evil thoughts be majoris reatus of greater guilt as the Schools speak yet evil words and works are majoris infamia of greater scandal and do more corrupt others This Bildad was sensible of and conceiving that Job complained of God as dealing hardly with him and unjustly afflicting him he addeth Verse 3. Doth God pervert judgment By not punishing the wicked or doth the Almighty pervert justice by not rewarding the righteous so the Hebrews expound it Why no neither did Job ever say such a thing only he had pathetically set forth the greatness of his pain and the unkindness of his friends and wished to die rather then to endure it Now this was construed for blasphemy or little less and Bildad is very hot in his invective against Job as good reason he had if he had not been so mistaken Here he wresteth in a most true proposition commondam sanè sed non accâ—mmodam but yet such a one as very little concerned this present disputation and he doth it with as small wisedom and discretion saith Beza as with great pride and confidence For doth it either argue Job and hypocrite and wicked man or charge God with injustice if it be said that Job for his sins was not so afflicted by God whereas he in the mean time denieth not himself to be a sinner and to have deserved Gods heavy hand upon him but rather proved and tryed by him according to his good pleasure yet Bildad goeth on as if he had done very well and in the next verse in plain words boldly avoucheth that Jobs children were by Gods judgment destroyed with the fall of the house whatever betid their souls Vers 4. If thy children have sinned against him As what man is he that liveth and sinneth not But Bildad meant that Jobs children had hainously sinned had been grievous sinners against their own souls as afterwards were Core and his complices had not sinned common sins and therefore died not common deaths indeed they died early and suddenly and eating and drinking wherein there might be some excess and before sacrifice offered for them as formerly all this was sad and moved Job more then any thing else But did it therefore follow that God hast cast them away c. And he have cast them away for their transgression Or And he have expelled or abandoned them into the hand so the Hebrew hath it elegantly of their transgressions or rebellions Pagnin as so may executioners Some render it thus He hath driven them out of the world for their transgression The Chaldee Paraphrast goeth further interpreting hand here for place If God have sent them saith he into the place of their wickedness that is into hell prepared for the wicked Now surely saith Lavater Inhumanissimus fuit Bildad qui ista calamitosissimo objicere non dubitabat Bildad was a most unmerciful man who doubted not to lay these things in the dish of him that was before so heavily afflicted and to heap more load upon him who was ready to sink under his burden but he did it say some of a good intent to bring Job to a sense of his sin and to put him in hope of appeasing Gods wrath who had yet spared his life that he might make his peace and not suddenly slay him as he had done them and therefore he assureth him in the following verses as Eliphaz had done before that all things shall go well with him if he repent Albeit thy children have sinned c. yet Verse 5. If thou wouldst seek unto God betimes If warned by the evil end that befell thine unhappy children thou wouldst early and earnestly seek unto God for mercy for which purpose it may seem that thy life hath been graciously spared when thy children have been destroyed that thou mightst be made wise at their expence Such counsel as this is Eliphaz had given Job before chap. 5.8 And make thy supplication to the Almighty Pray for mercy out of free-grace alone so the Hebrew word signifieth plead for pity speak supplications as the poor man doth Prov 18.23 Be poor in spirit a stark beggar and bankrupt lesse then the least of all Gods mercies Gen. 32.10 and in this mind addresse thy self to the All-sufficient the Cornucopia the God rich in mercy to all that call upon him for pardon of thy great sin in standing out in contention with
Verse 18. Wherefore hast thou brought me forth out of the womb Why but was not that a mercy David esteemed it so and gives God the glory Psalm 22.9 But discontent is an utter enemy to thankfulnesse The bird sings not till she have taken up her stand to her mind Some mens eyes are so bleared and glazed with tears for what they want that they cannot see what good they have cannot see mercies for blessings Job here in a distemper wisheth himself as he had done before chap. 3. Who can understand his errors Psalm 19.12 either unborn or presently dead without the distance of one day betwixt his birth and his burial In quo errorem erravit non levem vir alioqui pientissimus this was a worse wish then if he had desired that his life might be presently taken away from him for herein he sheweth himself unthankful to God for all his former benefits and not so only but angry with God for the good he had done him thus we have seen dogs in a chafe fly at their masters and children in a pelt strike at their parents But these were the voices of the flesh lusting against the spirit which afterwards being justly reprehended for them first by Elihu and then also by God himself he repressed and repented of in dust and ashes Psalm 42.6 Oh that I had given up the ghost and no eye had seen me sc with delight for what pleasure is there in seeing a dead corps especially a still-born child see Gen. 23.4 with the Note This text teacheth us saith an Interpreter what sad effects extreme grief and pain worketh in the very best it distempereth their spirits and so disturbeth them that their complaints look like the blasphemies of the wicked and they sometimes wish absurd things dishonourable to God and prejudicial to themselves Verse 19. I should have been as though I had not been Here he sings the same song as chap. 3. and 6. It is hard to say how oft a child of God may discover the same infirmity Our lives are fuller of sins then the firmament is of stars or the furnace of sparks I should have been carried from the womb to the grave He makes mention of the grave as a desirable place which yet in the two last verses he describeth as a place of darknesse and disorder Thus Job himself was in the dark and in his passion he throweth out words without wisedome Itaque solicitè orandus est Dius saith one here God is therefore to be earnestly intreated that when we are hard put to 't with pain and misery we may not give way to unruly passion nor suffer our tongues to out-lash as they will be apt to do See Psal 39.1 confer Psal 22.77.88 89. and we shall see David well nigh as far out as Job in his complaints and wishes but God can put a difference between the godly and sin in them as between poison and the box that holdeth it He can also pity them as we do poison in a man which yet we hate in a toad c. Verse 20. Are not my dayes few And oh that they might not be also evil sith I shall not much trouble the world oh that I might not find much trouble in the world What man is he that would fain see good dayes saith David Psalm 34.12 What man is he that would not saith Austin in answer to him Job and David joyn in one and the same suit for a truce from trouble sith their time here was so very short Psalm 39.13 and 89.47 Cease then and let me alone After he had vented his passions he fals again to his prayers Ye have done all this wickednesse saith Samuel to the people who had been over-importunate for a King yet turn not aside from following the Lord c. 1 Sam. 12.20 Whilest prayer stands still the whole trade of godlinesse stands still Saints though they have sinned yet must not restrain prayer but go home to God again with shame in their faces and tears in their eyes and he will speak peace only they must be sensible that their Father hath spit in their faces c. That I may take comfort a little A modest request the poor man speaks supplications begs a farthing They who are lowly make low demands Oh that I were but a door keeper oh that Ishmael might live in thy sight c. Verse 21. Before I go whence I shall not return Before I go out of this world never more to return hither to enjoy the comforts that are here to be had Death is a departure hence 1 Pet. 1.15 Luke 9.31 And so the Ancients Irenaeus Clement and others used to call it I shall change my place but not my company said that dying Saint who had here walked with God in uprightnesse Tertul. and was now to bid adieu to all worldly interests The old Romans were wont to say of a dead friend Abiit eversurus est He is gone and will come again It seems hereby that they had some darke notions of a Resurrection whence also their Poets called a dead body a soul animamque sepulchro condimus The Hebrews did the like Virg. Aeneid Numb 5.2 and 9.10 and 19.11 Hag. 2.14 as having a more sure word of Prophesie and Job was clear in this point firmly believing the resurrection of his body chap. 19.26 27. It must needs be therefore that he speaks here of not returning into this world See the like chap. 16.22 Psalm 39.13 2. Sam. 12.23 Even to the land of darknesse c. See the Note on verse 22. Verse 22. â—â—land of darknesse c. This is not a description of hell and of the state of the damned as some would have it for Job never meant to come there no more then Jacob did Gen. 37.35 and 42.38 But it is such an elegant description of the grave 〈◊〉 exceedeth the phantasie of Poets and the rhetorick of all heathen Orators There is something like it in Davids Psalms especially Psalm 88.11 12. where the grave is called a place of perdition a land of forgetfulnesse and of darknesse whereinto they who descend praise not God Psalm 115.17 In respect of their bodies they do not they cannot Isai 38.18 Hell indeed is much more a land of darknesse as darknesse it self it is that outer-darknesse a darknesse beyond a darknesse as the dungeon is beyond the prison and the pains of hell are the chains of darknesse now death is â—eâ—â—â—aâ—binger to the wicked and hence it is so dreadful in the apprehension and approach of it that mens hearts do even die within them as Nabals did through fear of death and they tremble thereat as the trees of the wood or leaves of the forrest with Ahaz Isai 7.2 Darknesse we know is full of terrour the Egyptians were sorely a frighted by their three dayes thick darknesse in so much as that none stirred off his stool all that while Exod. 10.23 and it was the more
day So man by nature is licentious running as his lusts carry him to all manner of sin and giveth not overrunning till he is weary he will not be held in by any reins or kept to do the work he should by any yoak which the Lord by teaching seeks to put upon him Surely saith another God is fain to deal with such Marbury as men do with frisking jades in a pasture that cannot take them up till they get them to a gate Theatr. hist pag 127.128 so till the hour of death c. Thomas Blaverus chief counsellour sometime to the King of Scots believed not that there was God or divel heaven or hell till he came to die and then cryed out he was damned so also died one Arthur Miller Sword against swear pag. 34. Hist of world and before him a desperate Dean of Pauls When death comes saith Sir Walter Raleigh which hates and destroys men that is believed But God that loveth and maketh men he is not regarded O eloquent death O mighty death whom none could advise thou art able to perswade c. Verse 13. If thou prepare thine heart viz. to meet God Amos 4.12 humbly submitting to his justice and heartily imploring his mercy The summe of what Zophar saith in the following verses is this if thou truely repent thou shalt prosper as if not thou shalt perish this he might have said more fitly to most of us who are deeply guilty saith Lavater then to Job who was nothing so sinful as we are and yet much more penitent But Zophar calls upon him to quarrel with his faults and not with his friends and to break off his sins by repentance without which if he should have peace it would be but like those short interims between the Egyptian plagues And stretch out thine hands towards him Heb. And spread thy palmes to him so in prayer for pardon of sin and power against sin for this stretching out or spreading of the hands is a prayer-gesture wherein Gods people come formâ pauperis holding out the hand to receive mercy as beggars do an alms or as men beg quarter for their lives with hands held up or lastly as he that is faln into a ditch or deep pit and cannot get out lifteth up his hands and cryeth out for help See Exod. 17.11 12. and 19.29 1 Kings 8.22 Psalm 141.2 It appeareth that the Ancients prayed not with their hands joyned together or a little way lifted up but with their arms stretcht abroad and the palms of their hands turned up towards heaven Verse 14. If iniquity be in thine hand put it far away Cast away all thy transgressions and throw thy lusts out of service Hands lifted up in prayer must be pure 1 Tim. 2.8 for the fountain of goodnesse will not be laden at with foul hands Isai 1.15 16. Good therefore is the counsel of Jeremiah chap. 4.14 and of St. James chap. 4.8 The Priests had their laver to wash in before they sacrificed and their brazen altar to offer on before they burnt incense He that comes to pray having not first purged himself of all filthinesse of flesh and spirit doth say the Jew-doctors as he that cometh to offer a clean beast but holds an unclean one in his hand By iniquity in the hand here Beza and others understand wrong-dealing either by fraud or force by strength or slight of hand and then Zophar presseth Job to restitution away with it saith he send it home to the right owner else you will cough in hell and the divels will laugh at you saith Latimer And let not wickednesse dwell in thy Tabernacles i. e. In thy family Josh 24.15 â—sth 4.16 and where-ever else thou hast to do I and my house will serve the Lord saith Joshuah I and my maids saith Esther Davids care for the reforming and well-ordering of his houshold and of his whole kingdom See Psalm 101. throughout Such a man is really as he is relatively Those Governors of families and countries shew themselves perfect strangers to the practice of repentance who make no other use of their servants and subjects then they do of their beasts whiles they may have their bodies to do their service they care not if their souls serve the divel This will lye heavy one day Verse 15. For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot c. Repentance must be performed in faith or else it will prove to be poenitentia Iscariotica a Judas-like repentance Lord said that dying Saint cast me down as low as hell in repentance and lift me up by faith into the highest heavens in confidence of thy salvation Zophar that he may move Job kindly and rightly to repent promiseth him thereupon malorum ademptionem bonorum adeptionem freedome from evil and fruition of good And first thou shalt lift up thy face without spot i. e. Thou shalt be full of comfort and of confidence not casting down thy countenance as guilty Cain but looking up boldly and cheerfully as St. Steven did Acts 7.15 they saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel Ibat ovans animis spe sua damna levabat Yea thou shalt be stedfast Or durable and compact as a molten pillar thine heart shall be established with grace thy mind with peace thine outward estate with a lasting felicity And shall not fear sc The losse of those enjoyments To be freed from the fear of evil is better then to be freed from evil and a great part of the Saints portion both on earth and in heaven lies in their deliverance from fear Luke 1.74 Psalm 112.7 See Zepb. 3.13 Isa 17.2 Repent and thou shalt fear no more a revolution of any thy troubles Verse 16. Because thou shalt forget thy misery There being no fear left or foot step thereof remaining to renew thy grief Gen. 41.30 Remember thy former trouble thou shalt with thankfulnesse for a better condition now but no otherwise all the marks of former affliction shall be worn out See Isa 65.16.13 so that thou shalt discount all the evil thou hast endured And remember it as waters that passe away As a land-flood soon gone as a light cloud quickly over or as Noahs flood which that good man thought upon when it was past with thankfulnesse to God offering sacrifice for his safety So shalt thou Job and as a man seldome thinketh how much water passeth by his habitation by day and by night or if he do yet it s no trouble to his mind no more shall the remembrance of by-past miseries be to thine Verse 17. And thine age shall be clearer then the noon-day The rest of thy life which thou givest for lost shall be the very prime part of thy time for glory Solid glory springeth out of innocency of life beneficence toward all men acts done valiantly and succesfully with justice and moderation of mind whereunto is added the constant applause of good men proceeding from an admiration
desperation And the like is recorded of Mr. Rob. Bolton Psal 119.109 Aliqui suspicantur Jobum respondentem c. Pineda But of any good man that destroyed himself we read not Davids life was in his hand continually and he in daily danger of losing it yet have I not forgotten thy law saith he which flatly forbiddeth all the degrees of self-murther as the worst sort That Satan tempted Job to this sin some do probably collect from this text A man is to expect if he live but his dayes saith a Reverend Casuist to be urged to all sins to the breach of every branch of the ten Commandments and to be put to it in respect of every Article of our Creed Verse 15. Though he slay me yet will I trust in him Though he should multiply my miseries and lay stroke after stroke upon me till he had dashed the very breath out of my body yet he shall not be so rid of me for I will hang on still and if I must needs die I wil die at his feet and in the midst of death expect a better life from him Dum expiro spero shall be my motto The righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 yea his hope is most lively when himself lieth a dying superest sperare salutem my flesh and my heart faileth saith he but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever Psalm 73.26 True faith in a danger as the blood gets to the heart John 14.1 and if it self be in good heart it will believe in an angry God as Isai 63.15 16. the Church there thought she should know him amidst all his austerities yea in a killing God as here yea as a man may say with reverence whether God will or no as that woman of Canaan Matth. 15. who would not be damped or discouraged with Christs either silence or sad answers and therefore had what she came for besides an high commendation of her heroical faith But or neverthelesse I will maintain mine own wayes before him We have had the Triumph of Jobs trust here we have the ground of it viz. his uprightnesse the testimony of his conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity he had his conversation in the world 2 Cor. 2.12 This was his cordial without which grief would have broke his heart Psalm 69.20 this was his confidence even the clearnesse of his conscience 1 John 3.21 Uprightnesse hath boldnesse and that man who walks uprightly before God may trust perfectly in God Job was either innocent or penitent He would therefore either maintain his wayes before God and come to the light Quem poenitet peccasse pene est innocens Sen. Agam. that his deeds might be manifest that they were wrought in God John 3.21 Or else he would reprove and correct his wayes so the Hebrew word signifieth also that is he would confesse and forsake his sins and so be sure to have mercy according to that soul-satisfying promise Prov. 28.13 Verse 16. He also shall be my salvation So long as I judg my self God will not judg me 1 Cor. 11.33 Nay he will surely save me for God will save the humble person Job 22.29 Merlin in loc what is humiliation but humility exercised Non est igitur inanis electorum fides res evanida nec infirma saith an Interpreter here therefore the faith of Gods elect is no empty or vain thing but a light shining from the spirit of God and such as overcometh the very darknesse of death It is a sure testimony of Gods good will toward us and an infallible perswasion of our salvation such as slighteth the worlds false censures overcometh temptations of all sorts laugheth at death and through the thickest darknesse of affliction beholdeth the pleased face of God in Christ through whom we have boldnesse and accesse with confidence by the faith of him Eph. 2.12 For an hypocrite shall not come before him No that 's a priviledg proper to the Communion of Saints therefore I am no hypocrite as you have charged me to be chap. 4.6 and 8.13 for I dare both offer to maintaine my wayes before him to be upright for the maine and I doubt not but he will be my salvation and that I shall appear before him in heaven this no hypocrite shall ever doe How should he say when as he is an unclean caytiffe as the Hebrew word signifieth flagitiosus so Vatablus rendreth it a flagitious impious person a very juggle so the Septuagint a fair professor indeed but a foul sinner Caneph Corant Deo dolus non ingreditur moyled all over and even buried in a bog of wickednesse he is a wicked man in a godly mans cloaths saith one He doth but assume religion saith another as the divels do dead bodies without a soul to animate them He is like the painted grapes that deceived the living birds or the golden apples with this motto No further then colours touch them and they vanish He knowes that he is naught and that God knowes it too how then should he approach him or appear before his throne No he dare not for the very shew of his face doth testifie against him as the Prophet speaks in another case or if he do he shall not be able to subsist there Psalm 5.5 he shall not stand in judgment Psalm 1.5 but shall runne away with these or the like words in his mouth Who amongst us shall dwell with the devouring fire who amongst us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Isai 33.14 Woe unto us who shall deliver us out of the hands of this mighty God 1 Sam. 4.8 None Mat. 24.51 for he shall surely assign you a part with the divel and hypocrites when as the righteous shall give thanks unto Gods Name and the upright only shall dwell in his presence Psal 140.13 Verse 17. Hear diligently my speech Heb. Hearing heart that is incline your ears and hear as Isai 55.3 Mark and attend hear me not only but heed me too interrupt me not neither give me the slip as it may seem they were ready to do when they heard him professe such a deal of faith and hope under so many and heavy afflictions wherein they thought that either he was besides himself or at least besides the cushion as we say and utterly out See verse 6. and observe that it is but needfull often to stirre up our auditors to attention Job makes more prefaces then one to be heard so do the Prophets often Hear the word of the Lord Hear and give ear be not proud for the Lord hath spoken it So doth the Arch-prophet more then once Revel 2. 3. And Matth. 13.19 Who hath ears to hear let him hear All Christs hearers had not ears or if they had yet they were stopped or if open yet the bore was not big enough O pray that God would say unto us Epphata be opened for a heavy ear is a singular judgment Verse 18. Behold
drunkards that they deserve double punishments first for their drunkennesse and then for the sin committed in and by their drunkennesse so do all men deserve double damnation first for the corruption of Nature signified by those legall pollutions by bodily issues and then for the cursed effects of it Gen. 6.5 Rom. 7.8 But it may bee Job here had an eye to that promise made to Noah after the flood Gen. 8.21 where the Lord moveth himself to mercy by consideration of mans native corruption even from his child-hood for he knoweth our frame c. Psalm 103.14 that is as the Chaldee Paraphrast explaineth it he knoweth our evill figment or thought which impelleth to sin hee knoweth it and weigheth it See the like Isa 48.8 9. Wee may beseech the Lord to spare us when we act sin because our natures are sinful but let not any go about either to palliate or extenuate their acts of sinne by the sinfulness of their natures as those doe who being told of their evil pranks and practises plead for them saying Wee are flesh and blood c. Not one Fortes creantur fortibus bonis but no meer man can bring forth a clean child out of unclean seed Adam begat a son after his own image Gen. 5.3 Corruptus corruptum That which is of the flesh is flesh John 3. Sin is propagated and proceedeth from the union of body and soul into one man That phrase Warmedin sinne Psalm 51.5 is meant of the preparation of the body as an instrument of evil which is not so actually till the soul come But we should not be so inquisitive how sin came in as how to be rid of it like as when a fire is kindled in a city all men are more careful to quench it then to question where and how it began Now there is one only way of ridding our hearts of sinne viz. to run to Christ and to believe in him For if the Son make you free ye shall 〈◊〉 indeed and hereunto both the Chaldee Paraphrast had respect likely when he rendred this text Cannot One that is Cannot God As also the Vulgar Latine Nonne tu qui solus es Canst not thou alone sc by thy merit and Spirit according to that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.11 Verse 5. Seeing his dayes are determined c. God hath set every man both his time whether shorter called here his dayes or longer the number of his months they have both their bounds which none can passe and also his task Acts 13.25 Hieron ep ad Fu. John fulfilled his course in brevi vitae spatia tempora virtutum multa replevit and he lived long in a little space he wrought hard as not willing to be taken with his task undone So verse 36. David after hee had served his owne generation and had done all the will of God fell on sleep See more of this on chap. 7.1 Thou hast appointed his bounds Heb. His statutes It is appointed for all men once to die Heb. 9.27 once for all and for ever it is appointed and this statute is irrepealable Here then we see the cause why some likely to live long die soon and others more infirme live longer God hath set the bounds of each ones life to a very day Virg. The bounds may be passed which our natural complexion setteth the bounds cannot be passed which the providence and will of God setteth Stat sua cuique dies Verse 6. Turn from him that he may rest Heb. Look away from him i. e. from me look not so narrowly and with such a critical eye upon mine out-strayes thus to hold me still on the rack look not so angerly afflict me not so heavily but let me rest or cease from my present pressures and doleful complaints and spend the span of this transitory life with some comfort and then let the time of my departure come when thou pleasest Till he shall accomplish as an hireling his dayes That is saith the Glosse till I am as willing to die as a labouring man is to go to supper and to bed The word rendred accomplish signifieth properly to acquiesce and rest in a thing and vehemently to desire it The Saints when they die shall rest in their beds Isâ—i 57.2 they rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 presently straight upon the stroke of death no sooner have they passed under the flaming sword of that punishing Angel but they are forthwith in Paradise Here they are seldome quiet but tossed up and down as the ball upon the racket or ship upon the waves and hence it is that they sometimes fret or faint as Job and speak unadvisedly with their lips these firm mountains are moved with earth-quakes these calm seas are stirred with tempests and truly whosoever hath set himself to do every dayes work with Christian diligence to bear every dayes crosses with Christian patience and is sensible of his failings in both libentèr ex vita qunsi pleno passu egredietur saith one he will be full glad to be gone hence and be as weary of his life as ever any hireling was of his work See the Notes on chap. 7.1 2. Verse 7. For there is hope of a tree c. Here Job setteth on his request verse 6. with a reason God loveth a reasonable service and liketh well that we reverently reason it out with him And for the literal sense all things saith Gregory are so plain that there is no need to say any thing to that it being no more then this either I shall have comfort in this world before I die or never here therefore grant me rest now This argument Job illustrateth 1. By a dissimilitude here 2. By a similitude Merlin verse 11 12. The dissimilitude betwixt a tree and a man is this a tree may be hewed and felled yet feel no pain Again succisa repullulat imbribus irrigata a tree cut down if well watered will spring and sprout up again But now man as he is very sensible of every stroke of Gods hand neither can he suffer sickness or other affliction without smart so when once cut down by death he can by no means be recovered he cannot revive without a miracle Verse 8. Though the roots thereof wax old in the earth And so the more unlikely to shoot forth again Trees also have their old age wherein they decay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And the stock thereof die in the ground Heb. in the dust as it needs must when cut off from the root it lieth along on the earth It was by a miracle that Aaroâ—s rod flourished not only all the plants of Gods setting but the very boughs cut off from the body of them shall 〈◊〉 and be fruitful Verse 9. Yet through the sent of water it will bud Heb. from the smell of waters a sweet Metaphor saith Merlin sense being attributed to things senselesse as smelling to the fire Judg. 16.9 and
here to trees which are said to turn themselves and their roots after a sort to take in the smel of the water and thereby refreshed to bud and bring forth boughs like a plant This is check to those that live under the droppings of the ordinances and yet are like the Cypress-treâ— which the more it is watered proves the lesse fruitful and being once out down it never springs again whence the Romans who believed not a resurrection were wont to place a Cypresse-tree at the threshold of the house of death as Pliny and Serâ—iâ—s tell us Serv. in Virg. l. 4. Plin. lib. 16. cap. 32. Verse 10. But man dieth and wasteth away Heb. strong and lusty man Homo quantumvis rooustus Vat. dieth and wasteth away or is cut off sc worse then a tree for he growes no more or is discomfited vanquished as Exod. 17.13 and 32.18 sc by death and so carried clean out of this world Yea man giveth up the ghost Homo vulgaris plebeius All of all sorts must die whether noble or ignoble as Rabbi Abraham here observeth Job is very much in this discourse about death and surely as Nazianzen wisheth of hell so could I of death Vtinam ubique de morte dissereretur oh that it were more in mens minds and mouths then it is And where is he q. d. No where above ground or if he be putrefit teterrimè olet he putrifies and stinks filthily and as his life is taken away so is his glory yea being once out of sight he growes by little and little out of mind too little thought of less spoken of many times not so much as his name mentioned or remembred in the next generation Eccles 1.11 There is no remembrance of former things or men neither shall there be any remembrance c. So Eccles 2.16 and 8.10 and 9.5 Hence the state of the dead is called the land of forgetfulnesse Psalm 88.12 And Psalm 31.12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind Heathens also say the same Hor. lib. 4. Carm. 7. Cum somel occideris de te splendida Minos Fecerit arbitria Non Torquate genus non te facundia non te Restituet pietas Verse 11. As the water fall from the sea He sets forth the same truth by an elegant similitude drawn from the drying up of waters Look how these after some exundation of the sea or some great river are separated and left upon the reflux thereof behind the rest upon the land which cannot return for then they must ascend which is impossible to nature nor continue but do utterly dry up Sanctius Abbot and evaporate So c. verse 12. Others read it thus As when the waters from the feafail the flood decaieth and dryeth up so when mans life is taken away it returns no more while this world lasteth God hath made in the bowels of the earth certain secret wayes passages and veins through which water conveigheth it self from the sea to all parts and hath its saltnesse taken away in the passage Thence are our springs and from them our rivers but in hot countryes and dry seasons springs are dry and rivers want water exceedingly as at this time they do March 7. 1653. So when natural moisture decayeth in man he faileth and dieth the radical humor that supplement and oyl of life is dried up and can be no more renewed till the last day when yet it shall not be restored to the same state and moisture but instead of natural rise spiritual 1 Cor. 15. Verse 12. So man lieth down sc in the dust of death or in the bed of the grave his dormitory till the last day Vt somnus mortis sic lectus imago sepulchri And riseth not scil To live again among men so Psalm 78. Man is compared to a wind which when it is past returneth not again If it be objected that we read of three in the old Testament and five in the new raised from death to life besides those many that arose and came out of the graves after Christs resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared unto many Matth. 27.52 53. It is answered 1. These few raised by Gods extraordinary power do not infringe the truth of what the Scripture here and elsewhere affirmeth of all mankind according to the ordinary course of nature 2. Even those men also afterwards died again and vanished no more to return or appear again in this world Till the heavens be no more i. e. Never say some interpreters to wit vi suâ by his own strength and to a better condition in the land of the living so the word until is used 2 Sam. 6.13 Matth. 5.26 and 1.25 ut piè credimus How sound and clear Job was in the point of the Resurrection we shall see chap. 19. and because he falls upon it in the words next following here some understand these words thus They shall not rise till the general resurrections when these heavens shall be changed and renewed Psalm 102.25 26. Isaiah 65.17 2 Peter 3.7.10 11. Rev. 21.1 They shall not awake Out of the sleep of death nor be raised viz. by the sound of the last trump till the last day But raised they shall be and sleep no more viz. when the heavens shall be no more And till that time the bodies of the Saints are laid in the grave as in a bed of down or of spices to mellow and ripen this is matter of joy and triumph Isa 26.19 Dan. 12.2 when they were to lose all so Heb. 11.35 The wicked also sleep in the grave Dan. 12.2 but shall awake to everlasting shame and contempt ib. their sick sleep shall have a woful waking for they shall be raised by vertue of Christs judiciary power and by the curse of the law to look upon him whom they have pierced and to hear from him that dreadful discedite Depart ye cursed c. Verse 13. O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave As in a sweet and safe repository sanctuary Sepulchrum est quasi scrinium vel capsa in quam reponitur corpus my soul mean-while living and raigning with thee in heaven expecting a glorious Resurrection and saying How long Lord Holy and True The fable or fancy of Psychopannychia hath been long since hissed out though lately revived by some Libertines that last brood of Beelzebub our Mortalists especially who say that the body and soul die together But what saith the Apostle Rom. 8.10 If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sinne but the spirit is life because of righteousnesse Now that Job thus woos death and petitions for the grave it is manifest that he saw some good in it and that he promised himself by it Malorum ademptionem bonorum adeptionem freedom from evil and fulnesse of good we should learn to familiarize death to our selves and put the grave under the fairest and easiest apprehensions think we hear God
upon him as silver and although he now crushed him together and brake him to pieces as the silver-smith doth an old piece of plate which he means to melt yet that he would in the grave as in a furnace refine him and at the Resurrection bring him out of a new fashion Lo this is the right Logick of faith to make conclusions of life in death and of light in darknesse to gather one contrary out of another Verse 16. For now thou numbrest my steps Or But now thou numbrest c. thou keepest an exact account of every sin of mine of every step that I have trod awry yea though it be but some wry motion of my mind as the Septuagint here translate so curious art thou and critical in thine observations of mine out-strayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 See chap. 10.14 But is this Job that speaketh or some other How confident was he 〈◊〉 while and comfortable in the hope of a glorious resurrection but now down again upon all four as we say and like an aguish man in a great fit of impatiency which holdeth him to the end of the chapter But for this who knoweth not that every new man is two men that in the Saints the flesh is ever lusting against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh that in the Shulamite is as it were the company of two armies maintaining a continual contest Cant. 0.13 â—said I am cast out of they sight yet I will look againe toward thine holy Temple Jon. 2.4 See the Note there Dost thou not watch over my sin This is the same with the former but without a figure The Rabbines have a saying that there is not any doubt in the law but may be resolved by the context the Scripture is its owne best Interpreter Verse 17. My transgression is sealed up in a bag As the writings or informations of a processe which is ready to be sentenced Deut. 32.34 Hos 13.12 Thou hast as it were sealed up and made sure work with all my sins saith Job to have them forth-coming for the increase of my punishment Look how the Clark of Assizes saith one seals up the indictments of men and at the Assizes brings his bag and takes them out to read the same against them so God dealt with Job in his conceit at least The truth is God had not sealed his transgressions in a bag but had cast them behind his back a bag God hath for mens sins and a bottle he hath for their tears Psalm 56.8 Now Job was one of those penitents that helped to fill Gods bottle and therefore he saw at length though now he were benighted all his sins bag and all thrown into the sea and sinking as a waighty milstone in those mighty waters of free-grace and undeserved mercy And thou sowest up mine iniquity Adsuèsne aliquid iniquitati meae so the Tigurines translate i. e. Wilt thou sew or adde any thing to mine iniquity wilt thou tye to it that tag as a Martyr phraseth it of the Lawes malediction conjoyning the punishment to the sin Adsuere ad iniquitatem est poenas poenis continenter adjungere Merl. Some make this an explication of the former q. d. the bag is not only sealed but for more surety sewed too and that purposely for a purchase of punishment as some sense it Verse 18. And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought q. d. If thou Lord proceed to deal thus rigidly with me viz. to number or cipher up my steps to watch over my sins to seal them up in a bag c. and all this in fierce wrath that thou mayest lay load upon me what mountain what rock what other creature is ever able to abide it chap. 6.12 chap. 7.12 Job had said before Is my strength the strength of stones Am I a sea or a whale Were I these or any the like robustuous creatures yet could not I expect to stand before the displeased Omnipotency who takest the hills like tennis-balls and crackest the rocks like a Nut-shell See Hab. 1.4 5 6. with the Notes And the rock is removed out of his place As in earth-quakes it sometimes falleth out See on chap. 9.5 or by reason of the sea underlaking it decayeth in time and waxeth old as the Hebrew word signifieth Verse 19. The waters weare the stones Gutta cavat lapidem c. the weakest things wear out the hardest by often falling upon them or continual running over them so doth Gods wrath though let out in minnums secretly but surely consume Hos 5.12 I will be unto Ephraim as a moth and to the house of Judah as rottennesse or that little worm teredo that eats into the heart of wood and rots it Thus he plagued the Egyptians by lice and flies There may be much poison in little drops Thou washest away the things that grow out of the earth Or Thou ever-flowest as once in the general deluge when the face of the earth was grown so foul that God was forc'd to wash it with a flood and frequently since we see that after great rains there are huge floods that marre whole meadows and corne fields not only discolouring but drowning all their beauty and plenty This is the fourth comparison used in this and the former verse where a man would wonder saith an Interpreter Olymp. audire Jobum in medus â—rumuis philosophantem to hear Job in the midst of his miseries making use of his philosophy and travelling thus in his thoughts for illustrations of his own case over mountains and rocks c. Thou destroyest the hope of man viz. In destroying the things above-mentioned or so thou destroyest c. though some reserve the raddition to the next verâ—â— so Thou prevailest against him c. i.e. So thou never ceasest with thy might to cast down sorry men till such time as they changing countenance and departing with an heavy and sorrowful heart thou violently throwest them out their lives and hope ending together if they have been wicked as if godly yet their vain and groundlesse hopes of prosperity and plenty c. come to nothing though over the red sea yet Gods people may be made to tack about two and forty times in the wildernesse Verse 20. Thou prevailest for ever against him This and the rest of the words to the end of the Chapter some make to be the Application of the Similitudes Others an Amplification only of what he had said Thou destroyest the hope of man Thou must needs when thou overmatchest and over-masterest him and art never worsted Exod. 15.3 the Lord is called A Man of War the Chaldee there hath it The Lord and Victor of Wars And the word here rendred Ever cometh from a root that signifieth to finish conquer and triumph And he passeth scil Out of the world by a violent or untimely death Violenâ—â— mortâ— aut certe immaturà Merlin with as ill a will many times as the unjust Steward did out
fugitivus Tertul. as Cain that Caitiff and those Hivites with their hornets of a clamorous conscience worse to them then if their bodies had been tormented with stings or torn with stripes Exod. 23.28 What a sound of terrour in their ears frighted those Syrians 2 Kings 7.6 And those Persians and Saracenâ— overcome by Theodosius Panice terrore incusso saith the Historian afraid of their own shadowes they desperately cast themselves into the River Euphrates and there perished above an hundred thousand of them Auno Dom. 394. Fusic The wicked flyeth when none pursueth Prov. 28.1 The sound of a shaken leaf chaseth him Lev. 26.36 when the righteous is bold as a Lion and not dismayed at evil tidings Psal 112.7 His heart is balanced with the fear of God and thence it is that he floateth steddily blow what wind it will he sailes to the Port stormes and tempests do but beat him into it In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him Heb. In peace when he shal say Peace and safety 1 Thes 5.3 When he is at the highest he shall be destroyed Dan. 4.30 31. In the fulnesse of his sufficiency he shall be in straits Job 20.22 his short Spring shall have an eternal Winter Psal 92.7 Vltimus sanitat is gradut est morbo proximus say Physicians the utmost degree of health is nearest to sickness so the wicked when nearest misery have greatest prosperity Verse 22. He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness He despondeth and despaireth of a better condition sighing out that doalful ditty Desperat qui summus est diffidentiae greadus Jun. Spes fortuna valete he looks for no further light and delight of former comforts he knowes that they that go down into the dark pit cannot hope for Gods truth Isas 38.18 There being left them neither hope of better nor place of worse And he is waited for of the sword Or looked upon by the sword which waiteth as it were an opportunity to slay him Circumspectans undique gladium so the Vulgar He looketh this way and that way as fearing the Murderer his guilt representing to him on all sides nothing but naked swords he believeth that they will assassine him in his bed This was the case of Saul who suspected his best servants of Dionysius the Tyrant who durst not trust his own daughter with his throat Of Alexander Pheraeus who would not go to bed to his wife Thebe whom he loved Tul. Offic. lib. 2. till he had first searched the room and her pocket for edge-tools Dan. Hist 249. Of Richard the third who after the death of his two innocent Nephewes had fearful dreames and apprehensions insomuch that he did often leap out of his bed in the dark and catching his sword which alway naked stuck by his side he did go distractedly about the Chamber every where seeking to find out the cause of his own occasioned disquiet saith the Chronologer Tiberius felt the remorse of conscience so violent Tacit. that he protested to the Senate that he suffered death daily through fear of death whereupon the Historian maketh this profitable Observation Tandem faâ—inora fâ—agitia in supplicium vertuntur Heinous sins will at length have heavy punishments Verse 23. He wandreth abroad for bread saying Where is it He is hard put to it for necessaries and would be glad of a piece of bread as 1 Sam. 25.36 Herodot This was the case of Pythias once so rich that he entertained a million of men even Xerxâ—s his whole huge Hoste for three dayes space at his own proper charge but afterwards so poor that he dyed through hunger And the like befell Gillimer King of Vandales of whom it is storied that being overcome and beleagured by Bellisarius he sent to him for a Sponge to dry his tears a Cittern to ease his grief and a piece of bread to save his life Bellisarius himself was afterwards glad to beg his bread And Henry the fourth Emperour of Germany after ten years Raign was desposed and driven to the like exigent whereupon he is said to have made use of those words of Job chap. 19.21 Have pity upon me have pity upon me O ye my friends for the hand of God hath touched me And there is no doubt but Eliphaz glanceth at Job in all these expressions as if he were the man whom he here describeth with much Eloquence but small charity He knoweth that the day of darknesse is ready at his hand His conscience telleth him that he is not yet at worst he knowes in himself say the Septuagint that further evil shall be upon him that his misery is inevitable and at next door by and this knowledg being ful of feare is also full of torment it is even hell afore hand and above ground Verse 24. Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid Or Scare him not only out of his comforts Mentis inops moritur Epist Hist Gal. Plut. but out of his wits and senses too as it did Charles the great Cardinal of Lorrain See Deut. 28.34 Tullus Hostilius the third King of Romans deriding the Religion of his Predecessour Numa as that which did emasculate mens minds was afterwards so terrified that he set up and worshipped two new gods viz Pavorem Pallorem Trouble and anguish which he had perpetually present with him as Lactantius reporteth What a pitiful agony Vitellius the Emperor was in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when Vespasians Army marched toward Rome is notably set forth by Dio in his life Not long after that at the sack of Jerusalem some Jewes killed themselves left they should fall into the hands of Vespasians souldiers Hic rego non furor est ne moriare mori They shall prevail against him Or begirt him as a King is inviron'd in peace by his Guard in War by his Army Or They shall destroy him as a King ready to the battle doth his enemies forces which he routeth and ruineth Fear hath a deadly force upon feeble spirits neither is it nay wonder that they ring their bells backward when things begin once to be on fire Verse 25. For he stretcheth out his hand against God Worthy therefore to have a dead Palsie transfused into it or dryed up as Jeroboams was when but stretched out against a Prophet and as Valens the Emperors hand was made unable to hold a pen when he would have subscribed a Warrant for the banishing of Basit Such a Giant-like generation there are to this day among men as face the heavens cast down the gantlet against God Erecto collo valido impetu arrogantiâ incurvi cervicâ saith Brentius upon the Text with stiff necks full force and insufferable insolence as it were on purpose to crosse the Almighty and to wrestle a fall with him they sin with an high hand Levit. 26.21 Numb 15.30 and do as wickedly as they can Jer. 3.5 yea with both hands earnestly Mich 7.3 Persecuting his
will blow upon and blast his substance which is the fort and strength Isai 10.14 He resolvs he will be rich 1 Tim. 6.9 and is set upon it God to crosse him saith here He shall not be rich but I will make a poor fool of him according to that Jer. 17.11 As the Partridge sitteth on eggs and hatcheth them not so he that getteth riches and not by right shall leave them in the midst of his dayes and at his end shall be a fool There is a curse upon unlawful practises though men be industrious as in Jehoiachim Jer. 22. it is God that giveth power to get wealth Deut. 8.18 Our care can no more add a penny to our estate then it can a cubit to our stature Mat. 6.27 He shall not prolong the perfection thereof Vulgar He shall not send forth his root in the earth A man shall not be established by wickednesse saith Solomon but the root of the righteous shall continue Prov. 12.3 See the Note there Verse 30. he shall not depart out of darknesse But be held under remedilesse misery being ever blasted and benighted till God at last breathe forth upon him his final displeasure When God hath brought wicked men into straits there he holdeth them not so the godly Psal 34.19 they are sure of deliverance in due season And as before the morning light is the thickest darknesse so before help hardest trials Post tenebras lux Hom. 16. is the Christians motto not so the ungodly they are ex tenebris in tenebras infeliciter exclusi infelicius excludendi as Austin hath it to passe out of one darknesse into another till they be cast into utter darknes The flame shall dry up his branches That Ventus urens exiâ—cans of Gods wrath shal blast and consume not his Off-spring only but all his beauty and bravery hee shall be as a tree that is thunder-struck Zack 11.16 and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away God will blow him to destruction his very breath shall leave him breathlesse Isai 11.4 Psal 18.15 Job 4.9 See the Note there Others understand it of the wicked mans mouth and make this to be the sense He shall be so cholerick and impatient in his trouble that he shall send out his last breath suddenly in a passionate fit So did Nerva the Emperor likewise Valentinian Wenceslaus King of Bohemia and our Henry the second Verse 31. Let not him that it deceived trust in vanity Let it suffice him that he hath been once already deceived by the uncertainty of riches which were never true to those which trusted them nor never will be 1 Tim. 6.17 As Charendas was wont to say of going to sea and another of going to Law That he wondred not at those that go once but at those who go a second time So may we at those that having found the deceitfulnesse of sin and the instability of Creature-comforts that they should again be drawn in and deceived This folly Eliphaz here forewarneth Job of and would not have him twice stumble at the same stone but deliver his soul if ever God should restore him again and say Is there not a lye in my right hand Why feed I upon ashes c. Isai 44.20 For vanity shalt be his recompence i.e. Poverty and misery shall be his portion as shame shall be the portion of fools Prov. 3.35 As he hath sowed the wind so he shall reap the whirlewind whereof he is likely to have a great catch Hos 8.7 See the Note there Verse 32. It shall be accomplished before his time Heb. in not his day That recompence forementioned of calamity and death shall be hastened so that they shall not live out half their dayes Psal 55.22 but dye tempora non suo Eccles 7.15 then when it were better for them to do any thing rather then to dye sith they perish in their corruptions they are killed with death Rev. 12.33 See Prov. 10.37 Death ever taketh a wicked man unprovided Brent in loc Haec enim vena nobis ab Adam agnata est ut nullam 〈◊〉 ad suspendiâ—m aptam invenium possimus neque unquam caro â—â—urtem eliget nisi pâ—essa judicio We naturally dream of an immortality here neither yeild we to dye till there be a necessity Lavat in loc Miserandum est autem saith one but it is a pitiful thing that being all so desirous of life we should so little care for those things that would lengthen out lives such as are piety justice temperance c we forget that short way to long life Psal 34.12 His branch shall not be green Heb. His crooked or bowed down branch this is his full estate or numerous issue those boughs of his laden and bowed down with fruit shall not be green but blasted and dryed up ramificans ejus non virescet It is a misery to be the branch of a wicked stock for such as they leave the rest of their substance to their little ones Psal 17.14 So they leave them Gods curse as Joabs Legacy 2 Sam. 3.29 or as Gehazies Leprosie 2 King 5.27 a wretched bequeath Vers 33. He shall shake off his unripe grapes as the vine Filios intelligit per batra pueros per florem saith Vatablus i.e. By unripe grapes he meaneth the wicked mans sons growne up and by flowers of the Olive his little ones and so it is the same with the former only flourished over with two similitudes He that is God will snap off his sowre grapes as she vines so Broughton rendreth it Epist 7. Luctâ—osa foecunditas such as was that of Laetae in Hierome who buried many children is a sore affliction If the bud or flower decay what hope can there be of fruit Others understand it of the untimely death as before or of the decay of his wealth and possessions Verse 34. For the congregation of hypocrites shalt be desolate Heb. Of the hypocrite where he seemeth to point at Job as by the unripe grapes and blasted flowers of the Olive he had understood Jobs children and possessions vers 33. Now the whole congregation or train and retinue of the hypocrite God will nunest and ruinate saith Eliphaz they shall all be as one desolated so the Original hath it And fire shall consume the Tabernacles of bribery Heb. The Tabernacles of a bribe Under these two heads saith one we may reduce all sorts of sinners sinners against God under the notion of Hypocrites and sinners against men under the notion of Bribe-takers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the Septuagint that is Receivers of Gifts Muncra sunt honor aria vel corruptoria Lavat in loc and the Hebrew word signifieth a Gift in general it is taken also for a bribe because very many gifts are bribes Now houses built by bribes or very many gifts shall be consumed and come to nothing Jer. 22.13 14 15 16 17. Hab. 2.9 10 11 12. See the Note there This Eliphaz
of the world Rev. 13.8 and to the Jewes the Ceremonial Law was in stead of a Gospel Verse 22. When a few years are come c. Heb. years of number that is years that may easily be counted and cast up The years of the longest liveâ— are but few they may be quickly numbred This ran much in Jobs mind and made him very desirous to be cleared before he dyed that he might not go out of the world in a snuff Then shall I go the way That way of all flesh 1 Kin. 2.2 which Job feareth not to do as knowing whom he had trusted and that death should be unto him the day break of eternal brightnesse Whence I shall not return See chap. 7.9 10. and 10.21 with the Notes CHAP. XVII Verse 1. My breath is corrupt WHich argueth that my inwards are Imposthumated and rotten so that I cannot in likelihood have long to live Oh therefore that I might have a day of hearing and clearing before I dye But Job should have remembered that there will be at the last day a resurrection of names as well as of bodies which he that believeth maketh not haste Howsoever it was not amisse for Job so grievously diseased and now well in years to bethink himself of death and to discourse of these three particulars that speak him a dying man In the old the Palm tree is full of bloomes the map of age is figured on his forehead the Calendars of death appear in the furrowes of his face the mourners are ready to go about the streets and he is going to his long home according to that elegant description Eccles 12. Varro de're rust l. 1. c. 1. He should therefore say with Varro Annus octogesimus wie admonet ut sarcinas colligam c. It is high time for me to pack up and to be gone out of this life Or rather as Simeon Lord now let thou thy servant depart in peace c. My dayes are extinct As a candle Prov. 13.9 Or Cut off as a web so some read it The Original word is found only here The graves are ready for me Heb. The graves for me q.d. I bid adieu to all things else and as the grave gapes for me so do I gape for the grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I would it were even so as Basil said when Valens the Arian Emperor threatned him with death But why doth Job speak of graves in the plural Surely to shew that he was besieged with many deaths or else because the dead are buried as it were first in their grave-cloathes and then in the coffin and then in the Beir or Hearse and lastly in the Sepulcher which every place did as it were proffer to Job and threaten him with death in regard of his many paines and pressures by the scoffs and taunts of his friends For Verse 2. Are there not mockers with me Heb. If there be not mockers with me q.d. despeream Let me be punished or let me be blarned for wishing to argue it out with God so some Jew-Doctors sense it job had before complained of his friends jearing and girding at him chap. 16.20 To be mocked in misery is no small aggravation thereof See what is threatned Prov. 1.26 The Proverb is Oculus fides faâ—a non patiuntur jocot There 's no jesting with a mans eye faith and fame Junius readreth the Text thus For as much as there are no mockings with me I meane honestly and deal plainly and yet mine eye continueth in their provocations neither can I be set right in their opinions so prejudiced they are against me And doth not mine eye continue in their prevocâ—â—miums Heb. Lodg or tarry all night in their provocations or bitternesses Broughton readeth In those mans vexing lodgeth mine eye that is I lodg not so much in roy bed as in the thoughts of my friends unâ—â—â—â—nesse And indeed saith one a man may sleep better upon bare boards then upon hard words Some refer it to the eye of his mind lifted up to God in prayer but yet no sweetnesse coming from him either internally or externally The former is rather to be followed Verse 3. Lay down now put me in a surety with thee This Job speaketh not to Elâ—â—â— as K. Moses Beza and some others would have it but to God himself as chap. 16.7 whom he desireth to lay down or appoint as Exod. 1.11 and put in Christ as a Surety to plead for him See Heb. 7.22 and so Brentius expoundeth it There is one only surety saith he one only Intercessor the Lord Jesus Christ who if he appear not in the eyes of our faith we have none else that can undertake for us to God neither is there any creature which can stand in the judgement of God though he would never so fain be Surety for us Thus he And accordingly our late learned Annotatours reading the words thus Appoint I pray thee my Surety with thee who is he then that will stâ—â—ke upon my hand that is Appoint Christ who is with thee in heaven and hath undertaken to be my Surety appoint him I say to plead my cause and to stand up for me and then no man will dare to contend with me And so it is futable to the Notes on chap. 16.21 and to Rom. 8.33 The Vulgar Latine not altogether from the purpose saith Brentius translates the whole verse thus Put me near thy self and then let whose will contend with me Verse 4. Thou hast hid their heart from understanding that is Thou hast hidden understanding from their heart thou hast left them in the dark destitute of a right judgement whilst they condemn me for wicked because grievously afflicted and thence it is that I do so confidently appeal to thee in Jesus Christ sith my friends are so far mistaken in this controversie If God give not both light and sight if he vouchsafe not to irradiate both Organ and Object the best will be bemisted Every good gift and perfect cometh from above even from the Father of lights Jam. 1.17 It was he that made Reverend Doctor Sibbs as one saith of him Spiritually rational and rationally Spiritual One that seemed to see the insides of Nature and Grace and the world and heaven by those perfect Anatomies he had made of them all Therefore shalt thou not exalt them Therefore thou shalt not give them honour so Broughton rendreth it But that 's not all Liptoti est saith Mercer it is a figure wherein lesse is said and more is meant Thou shalt not only not exalt them but thou shalt also abase and humble them this contestation shall be nothing at all to their commendation in the end It is the found knowledg of the truth according to godlinesse that exalteth a man and makes him to be accounted of and the contrary Howbeit many great and good men have been greatly mistaken in very great controversies and transactions as was Luther Doctor Resolutus sed non in omnibus
least of grosse ignorance Knowest thou not this which every one knoweth that is not a meer Novice and which is proved by the examples and experience of all ages To wit Malis male esse that it shall be ill with the wicked This is a generally received maxime and the Histories of all ages do plainly and plentifully confirm it Hinc collige diligenter observanda esse c. Merlin Hence we may well gather that Gods Judgements against wicked persons are to be diligently observed out of the Histories of all ages both divine and humane Since man was placed upon the earth Heb. Since he placed man upon the earth viz. in that earthly Paradise the Garden of Eden planted on purpose for mans pleasure where neverthelesse he stayed not one night as some gather from Psal 49.12 Pecoribâ— morticinis but soon by his sin became like the beasts that perish that dye of the murrain saith Junius and so are good for nothing Cain for like cause was cast out the old world drowned Sodom and her sisters consumed with fire c. There cannot be one instance given to the contrary of that which is here affirmed viz. Verse 5. That the tryumphing of the wicked is short Heb. That the shouting of the wicked is from neer it is of no long standing but like a blaze of thorns that is quickly extinct or as a bubble in the water that is soon down The pleasure of sin is but for a season Hujus sententiae exemplum habes in Goliah saith Brentius here An example of this sentence we have in Goliah 1 Sam. 17. And another in his Country-men the Philistines who had twice beaten the Israelites and taken the Ark 1 Sam. 4. but this tryumph was soon at an end and so was that of the Jewes when they had crucified Christ and now danced upon his grave as the Proverb is but he arose in despite of them and set up his Trophies Say that the tryumph of the wicked should last as long as life what 's that to the infinite Punctum est quod vivimus puncto minus But wicked men commonly dye before their time as Solomon phraseth it Eccles 7.17 that is by an untimely death they live not half their dayes Psal 55.25 God cuts them off that others may live more quietly and whiles they live their comforts are not sincere but mixt with many molestations Little knoweth the world where their new shooes pinch them as that roman said One little drop of an evil conscience can trouble a whole sea of the wicked mans tryumphs The joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment Zophar had a strong conceit that Job was but an hypocrite one that was wicked before God in heart notwithstanding his fair pretences and prosessions of piety and should therefore be led forth with the workers of iniquity Psal 175.5 as cattel led to the slaughter or as Bulls led to the Altar with Garlands on their hornes and Musick by their sides Act. 14.13 but suddenly they feel and fall under the murthering Axe Such is the hypocrites joy and Zophar would he should know so much being sensible of this that himself was the party in speech sith his prosperity had ended in misery and God had dashed all his comforts Verse 6. Though his excellency mount up to the heavens Though he conceit himself and would have others hold him to be more then a man and to accord him divine honour If his pride ascend even up to heaven so the Vulgar rendreth it If his gifts ascend up to heaven so the Septuagint and indeed hypocrites are ever lifted up with their gifts as some Corinthians were with their waxen wings 1 Cor. 8.1 being enriched in all utterance and knowledge and coming behind others in no gift 1 Cor. 1.7 yet were they babes at best and carnal walking as men chap. 3 2 3. their Religion was more in notion then in motion They had the spiritual Rickets grew big in the head c. as the Moon they encreased in light but not in heat In which respect also and for her external priviledges Capernaum is said to be lifted up to heaven Matth. 11.23 And the Temporary to taste of the heavenly gift to partake of the powers of the world to come Hebr. 6.4 5. And his head reach unto the clouds Aequalis astris gradior faith He in the Poet and Bibulus in Coele est Sen. in Thiest Cic. ad Attic. saith the Oratour The Heathen Rhetorick is but dull stuff to that in this Book and indeed in this one Chapter An hypocrites head is oft above the clouds of heaven when his heart is beneath the clods of the earth Like the Eagle which when he soareth highest of all even out of sight almost hath his eye all the while upon his prey below Or like the Apricock tree which shoots up and leanes upon the wall but is fast rooted in the earth This whole Allusion may be unto a tree like that of Nebuchadnezzar whose height was great and reached unto heaven Dan. 4.10 11. with 22. Or that of the Amorite whose height was like the heighth of the Cedars and he was strong as the Oaks Amos 3.9 Verse 7. Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung Then the which nothing is more filthy an detestable See this exemplified in Herod Haman Boniface the Eight bloody Bonner buried in a muck-hil c. The word rendred dung hath its denomination from rowling because it is rolled out of doores and swept out of sight Many instances hereof might be given in the pristine and moderne Persecutors punished with ignominious and disgraceful ends Sisera and Jabin perished at Endor and became as dung for the earth Psal 83.10 Jehorans died undesired Julian the Apostate abhorred Isai 14.23 God hath for such a Beesome of Destruction They which have seen him Where is he They which have seen him with wonder shall now see him with horrour when they see him at such an under such an ebbe such a dead low water See this exemplified in that proud Caldean Isai 14.4 12 16. Tam subito casu quae valuere ruunt Verse 8. He shall flee away as a dream c. As a delightful dream is soon forgotten so shall it he with the hypocrite His felicity is meerly imaginary his joy is but as the commotion of the affections in a dream which comes to nothing Isai 20.7 8. A man that is to be hanged next day may dream over night he shall be a King A man that sleepeth upon a steep Rock may dream of great possessions befalne him and starting for joy may fall to the bottom and mischieve himself Psal 73.20 As a dream when one awaketh so O Lord when thou awakest thou shalt despise their image that is their painted pageant of outward pomp Surely such of all men walk in a vain shew or in an image Psal 39 6. their seeming prosperity hath no tack consistence in it themselves
open a way to his hard heart by his glistering sword which accordingly befel him Terrors are upon him Heb. the terrible upon him which some interpret of Divels hell-hags The Vulgar rendreth it Then horrible outs shall come upon him The word is used for Gyants Deut. 2.10 The Emins shall fall upon him that is men of fierce and cruel spirits But better take it for terrors as we render it and so the sense is That the wicked when he sees he must needsly dye is surprized with greatest anxieties and perplexities of spirit as beholding that threefold dreadful spectacle Death Judgement Hell and all to be passed through by his poor soul Verse 26. All darknesse shall be bid in his secret place That is saith Diodate wheresoever he shall think to find a place of safeguard there shall he meet with some horrible mischance Men that are proscribed and sought for to death usually hide themselves as divers Jewes did in Privies at the last destruction of Jerusalem and were thence drawn out to the slaughter The Duke of Buckingham in Richard 3 his time was betrayed by his servant Bannister Appianus telleth of a Roman hid by his wife De Bell. Civ Rom. and then discovered by his wise to the Murtherer to whom she soon after also was married Others render and sense the words thus The wicked shall come into darknesse propter abscondita for his secret sins And others thus R. Sel. All darknesse is laid up for his hid treasures that is God or men have taken order that hee shall lose his riches as well as his life though he hide them never so secretly A fire not blowne shal consume him i. e. say some calamities whose causes shall be unknowne and shall proceed immediately from God See Isai 30.33 Many of the Greeks interpret this Text of Hell with its unquenchable fire Matth. 3.12 which being created by God and kindled by its breath that is by his Word it burneth everlastingly Albeit God many times punisheth wicked men here with fire from heaven as he did Sodom Nadab and Abihu those Captiances of fifties with their companies 2 King 1. Tremellius rendreth it thus A fire consumeth him non accensum flatu I say Him not kindled by blowing but burning of his own accord Vt stipule aut stupae Ut cremium aut arefactum liguum as stubble fully dryed or hurds or sear wood See Nab 1.10 with the Note It shall go ill with him that is left His posterity shall never prosper but be rooted out Eliphaz and Bildad had said the same thing and all to pay poor Job whose family was now ruined It shall surely go ill with him or He shall be wringed saith Broughton alluding belike to the sound as well as the sense of the Hebrew word Verse 27. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity Job had called heaven and earth to record of his innocency chap 16.17 18. This is not to do now saith Zophar for all creatures have conspired thy ruine and contributed thereunto Wind Fire Sabeans c. so that he that hath but half an eye may see thee to be a wicked person Such as are wicked indeed not only secundum dici as Job but secundum esse as Ahab cannot look to heaven above or to earth beneath without horrour to think even these if other witnesses faile shall bring to light their secret sinnes and come to give testimony against them before the great Iudge at the last day And the earth shall arise up against him Night will convert it self into Noon against the evil-doers and silence prove a speaking evidence Earth cryed Cain guilty the Stars in their courses fought against Sisera as a Traytor and Rebel to the highest Majesty Yea Servi ut taceant jumenta loquentur the Asse hath a verdict to passe upon Balaam A Bird of the Aire shall carry the voice that but whispereth Treason Eccles 10.20 Yea if nothing else will reveal iniquity it will reveal it selfe It will prove like the Oyntment of the right hand of which Salomon saith that it wrayeth it self Prov. 27.16 Verse 28. The increase of his house shall depart All his posterity shall be destroyed and so shall his prosperity too even all at once with a sudden ebb in the day that God visiteth him with his wrath and righteous judgements All the wicked mans wealth and revenue shall be wretchedly wasted and embezelled by one meanes or other And his goods shall flow away As waters The Apostle saith The fashion of the world passeth away viz. as a hasty headlong torrent or as a Picture drawn upon the ice Thou carriest them away both persons and things as with a flood Psal 90.5 Verse 29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God A portion God alloweth the wicked in this life Psal 17.14 As a King when he reprieveth a Traytor alloweth him a subsistence prisoners pitance at least Yes the worst of men divide the wealth and honors of the world between them for a time Nebuchadnezzar had Tyrâ—s as pay for his paines in Egypt And the whole Turkish Empire is nothing else but a crust cast to his dogs by the great house keeper of the world saith Luther But besides this God hath provided a far other portion for them saith One and that by way of inheritance never to be parted from them viz. all the forementioned miseries and many more all torments here and tortures in hell This is the inheritance Quam nunquam deserere non magis quam seipsos pottrunt which will stick to them as close as the skin to the flesh or the flesh to the bones it falls to them as the inheritance doth to the heir chap. 27.13 and 31.2 or as the mess of meat doth to the invited Guest Misery is the heritage of the wicked as they are children of disobedience and their wages as they are workers of iniquity their present prosperity also is a piece of their punishment Isai 1.5 Prov. 1.32 The words of Zophar are ended Let others reply as they please but he hath done Prastat herbam dare quam turpiter pugnare No surer sign of an evil cause then a powerlesse pertinacy CHAP. XXI Verse 1. But Job answered and said Disproving and refuting that Proposition of theirs concerning the infelicity of the ungodly by Reason by Experience and by Divine Authority All which evince and evidence that neither is prosperity a proof of mens innocence nor adversity a mark of their wickednesse as Zophar and his fellowes would have it And that they might not any more interrupt him nor think him too rough he useth a gentle Preface craving attention and pressing them thereunto by many Arguments in the six first verses Verse 2. Hear diligently my speech Heb. In hearing hear The Greek hath it Hear hear that is hear me out have so much patience with me as not to interrupt me any more yea hear with understanding Let your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
timely gathered into their Barnes and Granaries and so by Off spring Germina they taking it literally conceive to be meant their plants Multos sanos vegetos vivaces trees flowers fruits all which come kindly and grow to their minds But better interpret it of their children and nephews whom they have many healthy lusty and lively and not unfitly compared to seed as if the parents were but only the husks and to branches or sprigs because they may be and must be bent betime to the best things before they be aged and crooked in their evil practises refusing to be rectified And their Off-spring before their eyes This is the same with that before and is repeated because a singular happinesse to see their children prosper as much as themselves This is a third time instanced ver 11. Verse 9. Their houses are safe from fear Seculi Latitia est impunita nequitia No domestical scords no forraign disturbances but peaceable possession and enjoyment of that they have as much welfare as David wished to Nabal 1 Sam. 25.5 Thus shall ye say to him that liveth that is that liveth prosperously for that 's the only life Peace be to thee and to thine house and to all that thou hast Neither is the rod of God upon them So that they seem to themselves and others to be out of the reach of Gods rod. They are not in trouble as other men neither are they plagued like other men Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain August c. Psa 73.5 6. Vermis divitiarum est superbia It is hard for the rich not be high-minded 1 Tim. 6.17 Verse 10. Their Bull gendreth and faileth not c. All things hit and nothing misseth to make them happy and wealthy they have profit and pleasure at will the world comes tumbling in upon them as Townes were said to come in to Timotheus his toyles Pluâ— in Syll. whiles he slept and so they seem to be the only heires of those Promises Exod 23.26 There shall nothing cast their young nor be barren in the Land So Deut. 7.14 whereunto notwithstanding they are perfect strangers Laban and Nabal for instance Verse 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock Sunt quide eorum vitulis intelligunt recens natis saith Mercer Some understand it of young Calves but better of young children which have here their name from a root which signifieth wickednesse naughtinesse to shew what little ones are not Innocents as we call them not pueri quasi puri 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is both a fool and a child The first blanket wherein a child is wrapt is woven of sin shame blood and filth Ezek. 16.4 6. Hence Infants were circumcised and their foreskin cast away to shew that themselves had deserved to be so served Parents therefore should strive to mend that by education which they have marred by propagation Wicked parents think not on this though they send out their little ones like a flock but tend them not keep them not from the Wolf of hel who seeketh to devour them And their children dance Exiliunt vitulantur châ—reas ducunt they skip and leap up and down Nemo sobrius saltat Cic. as young cattle and are taught to dance Artificially which no sober man will do saith Cicero And the better Dancer the worse man said Diogenes Verse 12. They take the Timbrâ—l and the Harp They take them and are taken with them being melted in sensual delights which wise men slight The Philosopher told the Fidlers that he could be merry without Musick Aristotle said Jupiter is happy Plut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and yet no Musician One in Plutarch saith of the Scythians That though they had no Musick nor Vines amongst them yet they had God It is here alledged as a piece of their lasciviousnesse and luxury that they took or touched the Timbrel c. Not but that Musick is lawful for it is the gist of God and a noble Note there these wicked and their children lived in pleasure upon earth which is not a place for such a purpose God did not cast man out of one Paradise that he might make himself another James 5.5 and were like the people of Tâ—mbuâ—â—â— in Affrica who are said to spend their whole time in singing and dancing It is not good for men to take pleasure in pleasure to spend too much time in it as Salomon did and afterwards Cleopatra It was not simply a sin in Esau to go a hunting but yet the more he used it the more profane he waxed and came at length to contemn his birth-right They rejoyce at the sound of the Organ Their mirth was meerly carnal they did rather revel then rejoice Their chearfulnesse did not end in thankfulnesse their Musick made them not more heavenly minded as it did that late Learned and holy Mr. Esty who when he sat and heard a sweet consort of Musick D. Hall Art of Div. Medit. seemed upon this occasion carried up for the time before hand to the place of his Rest saying very passionately What Musick may we think there is in heaven The Instrument here mentioned hath its name as Mercer noteth Ab amore oblectatione lusu From love delight and sport Amabit sapiens cupient caters saith Sâ—utea Verse 13 They spend their dayes in wealth Or in mirth Hebr. In good They wallow in wealth and have the world at will even more then heart could wish as David phraseth it in Psalm 73. which may well serve for a Comment upon this Text And the rich glutton for an instance He in his life-time received his good things and in a moment went down to the grave Luke 16.25 True it is that this is not every wicked mans case for some of them live wretchedly and dye lamentably being held long upon the rack of a torturing Disease as Jehoram all which is to them no other then a Type and foretaste of hell whither they are hasting And in a moment they go down to the grave Ad inferna to hell saith the Vulgar they spend their dayes in wealth and end their dayes in woe their merry dance determineth in a miserable downfall Thus that rich man dyed and was buried and in hell he lifted up his eyes being in torment c Luke 16.22 23. But though the same Hebrew word signifieth hell and the grave both which have their names from their unsatiablenesse Prov. 30.15 16 yet here in a sutablenesse to what went before the grave is to be understood and the sense is Dicto citius moriâ—â—tur they dye easily suddenly sweetly without much pain of body or trouble of mind there are no bonds in their death saith David Psal 73. They dye without much ado like a lamb or like a lamp that goeth out of it self when the oyle faileth they go quickly and quietly to the grave some wicked persons indeed dye piece-meal by a complicate Disease and a long lingring
in the dark cast into straits inextricable plunged into sorrowes inexplicable and yet all these are but the beginning of sorrows For How oft cometh destruction upon them Utmost destruction irresistible ruine that comes on in manner of a black cloud or fierce storme undoing calamity overflowing scourge a tempest from which there is no covert The Vulgar renders it thus How oft is there an inundation upon the wicked God distributeth sorrowes in his anger Gives them their lot of greatest sorrowes as by a line Luke 12.46 such sorrowes as a travelling woman suffereth Spec. bell sac or such as were those of Monsieur Mylius an ancient Minister at Heidelberg when taken by the Spaniard first they abused his daughter before his eyes and then they tyed a small cord about his head which with truncheons they wreathed about till they squeezed out his braines The Text implyeth that though in this world many sorrowes are to the wicked yet these are no supersedias to their sufferings in hell Psal 32.10 but now they receive only a small portion or part of their punishments there they shall be paid to the full here they sip of the top only of Gods cup there they shall suck up the dregs thereof though they have eternity to the bottom This shall be the portion of their cup and but a portion Psal 11.6 Verse 18. They are as stubble before the wind Lest any man should say How can these things befal those that are so strongly set firmly built Well enough saith Job sith when they are best bottomed or underlaid they are but as stubble before the wind c. Haec consideranda saith Mercer these things would be laid to heart for hereby it appeareth that the wicked shall be destroyed suddenly and certainly certò citò penitus Isai 17.13 That they can no more stand before a punishing God then thistle-down before a whirle-wind or a glasse-bottle before a Cannon-shot Verse 19. God layeth up his iniquity for his children that is the punishment of his iniquity whilst he visiteth the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate him Exod. 20.5 Neither doth this contradict that of the Prophet Ezekiel The son shall not dye for the iniquity of his farher chap. 18.17 Nor that of the Apostle Every man shall bear his own burden Gal. 5.6 for the meaning of those worlds is that no man be damned for the sin of his father nor one man for the sin of another unlesse by commission or approbation or some way or other he make it his own But for temporal punishments there is none but by occasion of others sins may have their portion in them and wicked parents leave Jobs Legacy to their children see 2 Sam. 3.29 yea though they prove to be good children 1 King 14.12 13. for whom God layeth up their parents iniquity in the treasures of his justice to be produced in due time He rewardeth him For every transgression and disobedience that is every Commission and Omission receiveth a just recompence of reward Heb 2.2 God will abate him nothing And he shall know it Know it to his cost Vexation shall give understanding he that before this judgement came would know nothing of the bitter effect of sin upon him and his now hath his eyes forced open as the blind Mole is said to have by the pangs of death and cryes out with the Lyon in the snare Si prascivissem Oh! if I had foreknown the mischief c. The wicked are wise too late the fool passeth on and is punished he knows not the evil of sin till he feels it Verse 20. His eyes shall see his destruction His slaughter saith the Greek his breaking to pieces saith the Chaldee this he shall see with his eyes the destruction of his person and ruine of his Family The sight of evil is a grief to see as well as the feeling of it is a pain and that 's complete destruction which is not only felt but seen Zedekiah first saw all his children slain and then had his eyes put out Mauricâ—us had the like woful sight and then was stewed in his own broth by the Traytor Phâ—â—as And he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty Heb. The scalding hot wrath worse than that Cup of boyling Lead turned down the throat of a certain drunken man by the command of the Turkish Bashaw Jerusalem drank wrath to drunkenness and had none to guide her as a drunken man had need to have Isa 51.17 The Nations were to drink it to madness Jer. 25.10 Babylons brats shall drink of the wine of God's wrath Rev. 14.10 Poyson in wine works more furiously than in water their irreparable ruine is set forth to the eye as it were when Rev. 18.21 an Angel a mighty Angel taketh a stone a great stone even a milstone which he casteth and with impetuous force thrusteth into the bottom of the sea whence it cannot be buoyed up Now what is a mighty Angel to the Almighty God who hath his Name Shaddai from destroying as some are of opinion Verse 21. For what pleasure hath he in his house after him Hoc est Omnia impiorum etiam post mortem eorum maledicta erunt saith Brentius All that belongs to the wicked shall be accursed even after their death though some are so desperately set upon wickeness that they will have their swinge whatsoever come of it either to themselves or their children after them Sic fere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sunt improbi so unnatural they are many of them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sueton de Tâ—berio that so they may satisfie their own sinful and sensual desires let their posterity sink or swim let them shift as they can they care not Dives in Hell seemed somewhat careful of his brethren but self-love moved him to it for he knew well that if they were damned he should be double damned because they had sinned by his example and encouragement When the number of his months shall be cut off in the midst Mortis periphrasis that is when he shall die saith one But that 's not all Impius moritur importunè The wicked dieth in an ill time for himself then when it were better for him to do any thing then to die Many of them live not out half their dayes Psal 55.25 Eccles 7.17 God cut off Elies two sons in one day and further threatned their father that there should not be an old man left in his house for ever 1 Sam. 2.32 Hezekiah when he thought he should die complained that he had cut off his life like a Weaver Esa 38.12 who cuts off the Web from the Thrum But the Saints such as he was die not till the best time not till that time when if they were rightly informed they would even desire to die Verse 22. Shall any teach God knowledge None but a presumptuous Fool will take upon him to do that such
as was Alphonso the wise the Fool rather who feared not to say openly Roderic sanct Hâ—st Hispan p. 4. ch 5. That if he had been of Gods Council at the Creation some things should have been better made and marshalled The wisest men are benighted in many things and what light soever they have it is from the Father of Lights whose judgements are unsearchable and his wayes past finding out what a madness were it therefore for any mortal to prescribe to the Almighty or to define whom when by what means and in what measure he must punish offendors Herein Jobs friends took too much upon them and he gives them the telling of it wishing them to be wise to Sobriety and not to give Laws to God who well knoweth what he hath to do and how to order his earthly kingdom To disallow of his dealings is to reach him knowledge which is greatest sawciness Seeing he judgeth those that are high Excelsos in excâ—lsis the Angels who are so far above us in all manner of excellencies and yet are ignorant of the wisdom of Gods wayes which they know but in part for how little a portion is heard of him Job 26.14 His judgements therefore are rather to be adored than pryed into Mirarioportet non rimari let us rest contented with a learned ignorance Verse 23. One dieth in his full strength Iste moritur There 's one dieth in his very perfections or in the strength of his perfection when he is in the Zenith in the highest degree of earthly felicity And he seemeth to point at some one eminent wicked person well known to them all Confer Eccles 9.2 God is pleased to do wonderful contradictory things in mans reason so that we must needs confess an unsearchableness in his wayes In hoc opere ratio humana talpâ magis caecâ—est saith Brentius In this work of his humane reason is blinder then a Mole Averroes turned Atheist upon it and Aristotle was little better as being accused at Athens and banished into Chaelcis quod de divinitate malè sentiret Being wholly at ease and quiet At ease in body and quiet in minde The common sort ask What should ayle such a man The Irish What such an one meaneth to die Verse 24. His Brests are full of milk and his Bones c. He is well lined within as we say having abundance of good blood and fresh spirits in his body fat and plump and well liking He is enclosed in his own fat Psal 17.10 His back is well larded and his bones are moistened with marrow which Plato saith Plat. in Timâ—â— is not only the sourse and seminary of generation but the very seat of life Now such a state of body as is here described is no defence at all against death saith Job Nay it is a presage and a forerunner of it many times For ultimus sanitatis gradus est morbo proximus say Physicians the highest degree of health is nearest to sickness We many times chop into the earth before we are aware like a man walking in a field covered with Snow who falleth into a pit suddenly Verse 25. And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul Heb. And this dieth with a bitter soul in a sad and sorrowful condition having suffered many a little death all his life long as godly men especially use to do being destitute afflicted Heb. 11. tormented seldom without a cross on their backs and then dieth not only in the sorrows of death but in the sorrows of life which to him hath been a liveless life because a joyless life And never eateth with pleasure Either because he hath but Prisoners pittance which will neither keep him alive nor suffer him to die Or if he sit at a full table yet his body is so ill affected by sickness or his mind with sorrow that he finds no good relish in what he eateth That it is better with any of us see a mercy and be thankful Verse 26 They shall lye down alike in the dust and worms c. Death and Afflictions are common to them both as Eccles 9. How then do ye pronounce me wicked because afflicted and free among the dead free of that company c And the worms shall cover them Who haply were once covered with costliest cloathing The best are but worms-meat why then should we pamper and trick up these Carcasses câ— Verse 27. Behold I know your thoughts sc By your words as it is no hard matter for a wise man to do Prov. 20.5 for otherwise God only knoweth the heart 1 Pet. 1.24 Psal 139.3 it is his royalty But when men discover their thoughts by their discourses looks gestures c. we may say as Job doth here I know your thoughts and that by the wicked wretch described by you my self is intended this I am well aware of though you hover in generals and speak in a third person Lib. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oblig Bartolus writeth of Dr. Gabriel Nelâ— â—hat by the only motion of the Lippes without any utterance he understood any mans thoughts The like some say they can do by looks The Italians have a proverb That a man with his words close and his countenance loose may travel undiscovered all the world over And the devices which you wonderfully imagine against me viz. To take away as it were by violence my Credit and Comfort this is the foulest theft avoid it Verse 28. For ye say Where is the house of the Prince Ye say though not in so many words yet upon the matter Where is this mans Jobs princely pomp and port that but even now was so splendidous A Prince they called Job in a jear Per ironiâ—m antiphrafin Vaâ—ab and by contraries saith Vatablus because he had been rich and should have been liberal and munificent but had not been so The Apostle calleth the Pharisees and Philosophers in like sort Princes of this world 1 Cor. 2.8 And where are the dwelling places The Palaces large and lofty Junius ut sunt pratoria et principum aedes as the houses of Princes use to be Lavater rendreth it Taberâ—â—cillum babitaculâ—t 〈◊〉 The Tabernacle of Tabernacles as Gentlemens houses amongst us are called Places Halls Courts c. Of the Wicked viz. Of Job and his Children the eldest sons especially which was blown down chap. 1.18 As if it might not befal a good man also to have his house plundered burnt his children brained c. They had often in their discourses jerked at Jobs children Verse 29. Have ye not asked them that go by the way The cause of that their rash judgement Job sheweth here to be their ignorance of things known to every ordinary passenger and such as whereof there are many pregnant proofes and Examples every where Some by them that go by the way understand men by experience such as have gone many voyages c. made many observations in their Travels of things
any it is meerly because it stands in the light of their wicked wayes as the Angel did in Balaams way to his sin Nor abide in the paths thereof They have no stability Hos 6.3 nor settledness in well-doing They follow not on to know but soon give over the pursuit and practise of holiness not caring to adde to Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge c. 2 Pet. 1.3 Verse 14. The murderer rising with the light Betimes whiles it is yet darkish for here Job sheweth how those that do evil hate the light and take the fittest opportunities for a dispatch of the deeds of darkness daily digging descents down to Hell and hastening thereto as if they feared it would be full before they come thither They spend therefore the whole day in wicked pranks and practises proùt videtur commodum as shall seem best for their purposes interdin latrones nocte fures agunt By day they do what mischief they may in woods and desarts at night they return into the City and there play the theeves hoping to do it un-observed Bernard Thus every such one may better say then that Ancient did Totum tempus perdidi quia perdite vixi I have lost all my time by spending it loosely and basely I have been too faithful a drudge to the Devil whom Christ calleth a murthâ—rer Joh. 8. and Tertullian calleth Furem Veritatis a thief of the Truth Two notable Theeves of Naples Rain de Idol Rom. prafat whereof one was called Pater-noster and the other Ave-Maria had murthered an hundred and sixteen several persons at several times and in divers places These were worthily put to a cruel death by the Magistrate who possibly might by his connivence and slackness in doing his office be himself guilty of some of those murders sith to restrain justice is to support sin and not to correct is to consent to the Crime Hemingius maketh mention of a Felon who was indicted of seven murders while the Judge was studying what grievous punishment should be inflicted upon such a bloody villain an Advocate steps to the Bar and pleading for him proved That the Judge was guilty of six of the murders for thâ—â— the Felon was not put to death for the first offence Killeth the poor and needy Without Authority such as Magistrates have to kill Malefactors and Souldiers in a lawful Battel to kill their Enemies Sum Talbotti pro occidere inimicâ—s meos Speed this blunt boisterous sentence was written upon the renowned L. Talbots Sword whilest he warred in France and without any present necessity for his own lawful defence as Exod. 2.22 when he must either kill or be killed provided that he endeavour first to save himself by flight if possibly he can For that Tenet of Soto a Popish Casuist is the most false Quia fugs est ignominiosa That it is lawful for a man in his own defence to kill another because it is a shame to flie And that also of Navarrus that for a box on the ear it is not unlawful to kill another Ad bonor em recuper 〈◊〉 for the recovering of his honour And in the night is as a thief That is very thief for this as is magis expreâ—◠〈◊〉 veritatis as Mercer speaketh he would not seem to be but yet is an arrant thief ending the day with theft which he began with murder How these two sins go commonly coupled see Hos 4.2 and Isai 13.16 Verse 15. The eye also of the Adulterer waâ—teth Observeth expecteth and longeth till it cometh Vt videas illâ—m non precare infirmitate sed malitiâ saith Vatablus This sheweth that he sinneth not of infirmity but of forethought malice and wickednesse which he plotteth and ploweth as the Scripture phraseth it purveying for the flesh Quotidie perire me sentio Suer Rom 13. ult putrifying alive under a â—abe of impure lusts and daily perishing therein as Tiberius at Caprea by his own confession This beast was not ashamed of his detestable filthinesse as being a most impure and impudent defiler of other mens beds But the Adulterer here spoken of seeks the covert of the twilight and another of a disguise He putteth hu face in a secret place so the Hebrew hath it wrapping it in his cloak or getting on a Vizzard which saith he shall render me unknown and none eye shall see me For as for Gods eye either he conceits him blind or presumes him indulgent not doubting or an easie and speedy pardon This is charged upon David 2 Sam. 12.10 Because thou hast despised me c. viz. in thinking to sin secretly not considering mine All-seeing eye not caring though I looked on c. therefore shall all come to light verse 12. Sin secretly committed shall bee strangely discovered yea perhaps the sinner himselfe shall confesse his sinnes as Judas So sooner on later God wil bring every work into judgement with every secret thing Ecclesiasâ—es 12.14 See also Ecclesiasticus 23. Verse 16. In the dark they dig through the earth c. Heb. He digs through houses i.e. the Adulterer doth to come at his Strumpet with whom he had agreed upon a place of meeting for that evil purpose and in whose bosome by night the dark and black night as Solomon calleth it Prov. 7.9 he spareth not to bury his name substance soul and carcasse whilst they glut their unclean desires by the favour of the darknesse This is a bitternesse beyond that of death Eccles 7.26 But the divel presenteth his Butter in so Lordly a dish that the soul spies not the hammer and nail in his hand till he have driven it into the Temples Roger Mortimer who digged that hole at Notingham Castle and was afterwards hanged at Tiburn a just reward of his Ambition and Uncleannesse had the experience of this They know not the light i.e. They brook it not but run full butt against it because it discovereth and disquieteth them See on ver 13. Verse 17 For the morning is unto them as the shadow of death i.e. They are in deadly fear lest the light should bewray them and expose them to condigne punishment How fearful was Judah of being shamed after he had thus sinned Gen. 38.23 And how forward to save his credit by sending his Kid by the hand of that hang by Hiram Ter. in Eun. That young man in Terence was sore ashamed to be seen in the Eunuchs garment a token of his Uncleannesse whereas to have done the deed did nothing so much trouble him But the children of light hate and shun sin more for the filth that is in it then for the fire that is in it the blacknesse of that coal offendeth them more then the heat of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plato condemneth the Poets for setting forth Jupiters Adulteries whereby the people were drawn to the like wantonnesse and for saying it were no matter though men did commit sin so they could hide it
Si non castè saltem cautè say the Popish Shavelings who are sometimes taken in the manner as was that carnal Cardinal Cremonensis Acts Mon. fol. 1065. Ibid. 1905. Barns Funccius Luth. Coloq the Popes Legat here in Hen. 8. dayes and Dr. Wâ—ston Dean of Windsor in the Raign of Queen Mary apprehended in Adultery and for the same deprived of all his Spiritual Livings by Cardinal Pool Pope John the twelfth being taken a bed with another mans wife was killed immediately by her husband In Germany a Gentleman of note and his Harlot were served in like sort as Luther relateth So was Reâ—â—â—ldus the Eighth King of Lombardy and Sergui a King of Scotland Of all these P.Mel. Chron. Lang. Chron. and many more esusdem furfuris it may well be said as here that being noted and notified they were in the terrors of the shadow of death Which death to escape Verse 18. He is swift as the waters He stayes not long in a place but flies away swiftly like the River Tigris swift as an arrow out of a bow to avoid punishment Heb. He is light upon the face of the waters The meaningâ—s saith One they are as a light thing upon the streams of water running swiftly and carrying it away with speed Some that it is spoken in respect of their swift passing on from one wickednesse to another or their never being settled after such wickednesse committed but alwayes ready to be overturned as a ship that is unballasted and so to be drowned in the sea Their portion is cursed on the earth Cain-like they wander up and down à corde suo facti fugitivi but their sin will surely find them out neither can they run out of the reach of Gods rod c. This Job saith lest any should gather from what he had said before that it should be alwayes well with the wicked and ill with the godly Some take it curse-wise thus Let their portion on earth be accursed neither let them turn themselves to the Vineyards scil either to dresse them or to taste of the fruits of them He beholdeth not the way of the Vineyards That is say some to run away by them which were common wayes to Cities but by some other obscure by-way that he may not be found In Vineyards something is to be done at all times that way therefore they take not lest they should be discovered and punished Beza rendreth it He turneth not into the way that is the nature of the Vines which by cutting and pruning sprouteth out and becometh more profitable Others sense it far otherwise The concise brevity and ambiguity of the words together with the change of number hath caused a cloud upon them Verse 19. Drought and heat consume the snow waters Here also brevity hath bred obscurity Snow waters as they are more subtile so they sooner sink into the dry earth so dye the wickeds quickly and easily See chap. 21.13 31. There are that read the whole verse thus In the drought and heat they rob and in the snow waters they sin to the grave that is they rob and run into other flagitious practises in all weather Summer and Winter and never give over till they dye They persist in their sins saith Calvin wherein they have been nuzzelled up even to their grave This is a good sense Luther tells of one filthy Adulterer so set upon that sin that he was heard to utter these abominable words If I were sure to live here for ever and that I might still be carried from one Brothel-house to another I would never desire any other heaven then that Vae dementiae impietati Theat Hist pag. 568. This beastly man breathed out his wretched soul betwixt two harlots Once I knew a most odious Adulterer of seventy years old saith another great Divine who having wasted his flesh and state with harlots and lying neer death was requested thus Potter call upon God M. Dan. Rog. he replyed with his ordinary oathes Pox and Wounds is this a time to pray I knew saith a third Reverend man a great swearer who coming to his death-bed Satan so filled his heart with a madded and enraged greedinesse after sin Mr. Bolton that though himself swore as fast and as furiously as he could yet as though he had been already among the bannings and blasphemies of hell he desperately desired the standers by to help him with Oathes and to swear for him Athenaeus reporteth of one covetous Mammonist that at the hour of his death he devoured many pieces of Gold and sewed the rest in his coat commanding that they should be all buried with him And our Chroniclers write of King Edward 1. that he adjured his son and Nobles Dan. Hist 202. that if he dyed in his Expedition against Bruce King of Stots they should not interre his Corps but carrie it about Scotland till they had avenged him on that Usurper Verse 20. The Womb shall forget him Some read it The merciful man forgetteth him scil because himself was mercilesse Or because he was a trouble to the world and a common Pest therefore good men are glad to be so rid of him and in stead of sighing over him say Let the worm feed sweetly on him 't is well he is gone as he lived wickedly so he dyed wickedly let him be no more remembred or honourably mentioned but moulder away and fall as a rotten tree Others interpret the words of the sudden and easie death of the wicked thus The womb shall forget him that is saith Beza being once dead neither his mother nor his wife do bewail and lament his death because without that pain and torment that many suffer when they depart the world The wormes shall feed sweetly on him Moritar impunitus he maketh the worms a feast with his fat Corps as Dr. Taylor Martyr made account to have done if buried in Hadley Church-yard and feels no pain He shall be no more remembred And this is reckoned up as a piece of his happiness See Eccles 8.10 with the Note there And wickednesse that is the wicked person that crooked piece that can hardly ever be set straight again Shall be broken as a tree As a rotten tree blown down by the wind Verse 21. He evil intreateth the barren that beareth not Who had more need to be comforted then further afflicted But Homo homini Daemon Jacob and Elkanab loved and comforted their wives under this crosse The Vulgar rendreth it He hath fed the barren whereupon some expound it of wicked mens feeding Whores and maintaining them for their pleasure keeping them barren that they may keep their beauty And doth not good to the widow i.e. Doth her much hurt for not to do good is to do evil Mark 3.4 He hath afflicted his barren wife and evil intreated the poor desolate widow his mother What marvel then if the womb forget him c. if his wife bewail not so unkind an husband
goodnesse Surely all the good that is in the Creature is but a spark of his flame a drop of his Ocean Verse 4 How then can man be justified with God Homo frivolus so the Tygurines translate How can frivolous man sorry man Morbis mortique obnoxius Man subject to diseases and death how can such a man so mortal and miserable a masse of Mortalities a Map of miseries a very mixture and compound of dirt and sin be justified with God How can he be perfect of himself without the gift of grace without an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the Just One who alone is the propitiation for our sins 1 John 2.2 Rom. 3.25 who is made unto us of God wisdome righteousnesse c. 1 Cor. 1.30 Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman And therefore born in sin and under a curse the sign whereof appeares in the womans bearing and bringing forth Gen. 3.6 Our whole Nativity is impure Hence in the Law it is commanded that the woman should be unclean seven dayes that the child should be circumcised on the eighth day and that the mother should remain three and thirty dayes in the blood of her Purification Levit. 13. for by Nature we are all children of wrath and That which is born of the flesh is flesh Neither can any one bring a clean thing out of an unclean Chap. 14.4 See the Note there Surely as a slave begetteth a slave so doth a sinner beget a sinner Hence we are loathsome to God as a toad is to us because poison is in the nature of it Infantes ergo non sunt insonâ—es Infants are not Innocents though we commonly call them so because free from actual sin they having not yet sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression as the Apostle expresseth it Rom. 5.14 But the first sheet or blanket wherein they are covered is woven of sin shame blood and filth as may be seen Ezek. 16.4 6 This should teach us modesty and lowly-mindednesse Vnde superbit homo cujus conceptiâ— turpis Verse 5. Behold even to the Moon and it shineth not i.e. Either descend in thy thoughts from the highest Orbs as low as the Moon Or else ascend from Gold Gems Jewels and other Orient resplendent Creatures as high as the Moon and Stars and comparing them with the surpassing Majesty of God thou shalt find no more beauty or brightnesse in them then is in a lump of earth or clod of clay those heavenly Lights will appear to be as so many snuffs Or if thou canst discover no spots and blemishes in them yet God can without the help of any such Perspective Glasses as Galiâ—â—aeus gat him to discry mountains in the Moon Some think it was by Moon light that this speech was uttered and therefore the Moon is mentioned But as the Moon is confounded so the Sun also is ashamed when the Lord of hostes wil display the beams of his glory Mr. Abbot Isai 24.23 and 60.19 There is a Learned Interpreter who thus paraphraseth the Text Consider that by reason of the Fal of man the very creatures that in themselves are sinlesse yea the very Moon and Stars that are so far from earth and so neer to heaven have contracted defilement and are blemished so that with God for mans sake and by mans sin even they are not accounted free from pollution in his sight Thus he The visible heavens are defiled by our sins and must therefore be purged by the fire of the last day as of old the Vessel that held the Sinne-Offering was to be broken if earthen or to passe the fire if of better Metal Yea the Stars are not pure in his sight What ever they are in ours A thing that I see in the night may shine and that shining proceed from nothing but rottennesse There is a comparative imperfection and impurity in the Stars and Angels chap. 4.18 Verse 6. How much lesse man that is a worm He saith not as a worm but a worm it self So Psal 22. I am a worm and no man nullificumen hominis as Tertullian somewhere phraseth it Vermis parvus in carnc out caseo nascent Exod 16.24 David in the Arabick signifieth a worm saith One to which he may seem in that Psalm to allude The word here rendred a worm signifieth a small worm bred in cheese or flesh a Mite a Maggot Others say it signifieth rottennesse which hath no strength Hereby man convinced of his infirmity vanity and impurity should learne Virium suarum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 agnoscere to give glory to God and to take shame to himself And the Son of man which is a worm Lumbricus quo vix quidquam contemptius nominari potest So vile and abject a creature is man The greater is Gods mercy to look upon such a walking dunghil Learn hereby to know God and thy self which is the highest point of heavenly wisdom CHAP. XXVI Verse 1. But Job answered and said BIldad had vexed him with his impertinencies and superfluous discourses of Gods Attributes as if Job had denied them or doubted of them which was far from him witness this Chapter He therefore rippleth up Bildad with a continued smart irony in the three next following verses letting loose the reines to his justly conceived grief and indignation and invading his adversary with these sharp questions by way of wonderment Verse 2. How hast thou helped him that is without power q.d. Full well hast thou done it surely See a like irony Mark 7.9 and 1 Cor. 4.8 10 Thou art a very goodly comforter and with a great deal of Wisdome thou hast framed thy discourse to my present necessity Thou lookest upon me as a poor forlorn strengthlesse fruitlesse creature Thou shouldst therefore have set thy self to support me and shore me up by uttering not only commoda sed accommoda things true and profitable but things fit and sutable to my distressed condition Thou hast spoken much of the Majesty and purity of Almighty God wherein I well accord thee but these are words of terror such as I can hardly bear Of strong Physick we say Quòd nec puero nec seni nec imbecillo sed robusto â—conveniat That it is not for children or old folks or weak ones but for the stronger sort it is not for every complexion and state So neither is every discourse for all sort of people It is a singular skill to be able to time a word Isai 50.4 and to set it upon its wheels Prov. 25.11 to declare unto a man his righteousness which not one of a thousand can tell how to do it like him Job 33.23 to seek to find out pleasant words such as have both goads and nailes in them Eccles 12.10 11. to prick them on to duty and to fasten them to the right as pales are to their railes to divide the Word of God aright 2 Tim. 2.25 and to give every one his portion in the due season
hath done them good Josh 24.20 their preservation proveth but a reservation Verse 10. Will he delight himself in the Almighty viz. When trouble cometh upon him as in the former verse No this is Christianorum propria virtus a practise that none can skill of but Gods people saith Hierâ—me to rejoyce in tribulation and then to continue instant in prayer Rom. 12.12 for deliverance with some confidence grounded upon former experience Crâ—â— cuiâ—â— is inuncta est saith Bernard Together with the Crosse they have an unction from the Father annointed they are with that Oyle of gladnesse 1 Pet. 2.14 the Spirit of glory and of God which resteth upon â—heâ— and refresheth them amidst all their sorrowes and sufferings and hence their delight in the Almighty yea though he frown and lay upon them as he did upon Jâ—â— with his own bare hand Not so the hypocrite for why he hateth God an his heart as doth every evil-doer Bernard John 3.20 Est 〈◊〉 talium pâ—na Deus utpot◠〈◊〉 est â—t quid talibus am invisuâ— God is light and therefore hated as a punishment to such inanspicate night-birds He is holinesse but the hypocrite filthinesse as his name also importeth How thâ—n can be delight himself in the Almighty What complacency can there be where is such an â—tter contrariety They that love the Lord haâ—e evil Psal 81 2◠〈◊〉 so doth not any hypocrite leave it he may but not loath it Paâ—t with it he may as Jacob did with Benjamin lest otherwise he should starve or as 〈◊〉 with Michael lest he should lose his head but his heart is glued to it still he hath a months mind to be doing if he durst Finally He is without faith and therefore without joy and peace of conscience And as for his Spider-web of hope a little wind bloweth it down The world hath his heart and so the love of the Father cannot be in him 1 John 2.15 He leaneth upon the Lord and saith Is not the Lord amongst us Mic. 3.11 yet is he rootedin the delights of life Like as the Apricock tree leaneth against the wall but is fast rooted in the earth Will he alwayes â—all upon God Heb. Iâ— every time No nor scarce at any time Indeed as beggâ—rs have learned to 〈◊〉 so have some hypocrites to pray Isai 26.16 They have powred forth charm when thy chastening was upon them When he slew them then they sought him and they returned and enquired after God Psal 78.34 But this was only a prayer of the flesh for â—ase and not of the Spirit for grace They spoke God fair as the Divel did Christ only to be rid of him Thus 〈◊〉 when on the rack roâ—â—ed out a consession and called for a Prayer Joaâ— in danger of death hangs on the hornes of the Altar The Captivated Jews fasted and prayed for seventy years to get off their thaines rather then their sins Zech. 7.5 which Daniel therefore reckoned lost labour chap â— 13. But many wiâ—â—â—d men though in prosperity they have some short-wishes such as was that of â—â—laâ—â—s Numb 23.10 wherewith compare that of David Psal 26.9 and see a difference or perhaps are able by strength of wit and one money to pray handsomely yet in adversity they set their mouthes against heaven 〈…〉 Wolves and howle upward they curse their King and their God and look upward saith Isaiah chap. 8.21 they murmure and mutiny as the Israelites in the wilderness they banne and blaspheme as did that Israelitish womans son Lev. 14.11 and Micahs mother Judg. 17.2 A Parrot may be taught to talk like a man Histories tell us of one at Rome that could repeat the whole Creed but let him be but beaten and he returnes to his own natural harsh voice So an hypocrite while all goes well with him may seem very devout at his Orisons but lay thy hand upon him saith Satan to God concerning Job presuming thereby to prove him an hypocrite and he will curse thee to thy face chap. 2.5 But say he be somewhat better conditioned as they call it and for a while pray to God for ease and help yet he will not pray alwayes he will not persevere in prayer follow on to pray wait upon God for an answer and be content to want it if God see good to deny it He cannot draw nigh to God with a true heart such a heart as is well satisfied if God may be glorified though himself be not gratified in full assurance of faith Heb. 10.22 Which is saith Brentius Orationis medulla the marrow of prayer Hence Saint James calleth it the prayer of faith chap. 5.15 Afflictions cause a Saint to seek out Gods Promise the Promise to seek Faith Faith to seek Prayer and prayer to find God to find him at length For he is a God that hideth himself Isai. 45.15 But what saith faith I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will look for him Isai 8.17 See this exemplified in the woman of Canaan who fetcht Christ out of his retiring room by the force of her faith Mark 7.24 and prayed on though denied She would not be said nay or set down either with silence or sad answers but shewed her self a woman of a well knit resolution such as could credere invisibilia sperare dilaia amare Deum se ostendentem contrarium as Luther speaketh Believe things invisible hope for things deferred and love God when he shewes himself most angry and opposite Now this the hypocrite who is an Infidel cannot skil of He is short spirited and cannot hold out in prayer cannot as our Saviour taught by that Parable Luke 18.1 alwayes pray and not faint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shrink back as sluggards do in work or Cowards in War Oratio est res ardua magni laboris saith Luther Prayer is a hard work and a man must tug at it and stick to it as Jacob did who wrestled and raised dust as the Hebrew word signifieth he held fast and hung on yea he held with his hands when his thigh was lamed Let me go saith God bespeaking his own liberty No thou shalt not saith Jacob until thou blesse me Lo such is the generation of them that seek God in sincerity of them that seek thy face this is Jacob Psal 24.6 One thing have 〈◊〉 desired of the Lord and that I will seâ—k after saith David Psal 27.4 If his suit had not been honest he would never have begun it But being so he will never give it over till he hath prevailed he will pray till he faint and then to it again Psal 119.81 82. Rejoycing in hope patient in tribulation continuing instant in prayer Rom. 12.12 So doth not the hypocrite for want of an inward principle If God come not at a call he is out patience and ready to say with that profane Prince 2 Kings 6.33 Behold this evil is of the Lord and what should I wait
for the Lord any longer Away to the Witch of Endâ—r to the god of Eâ—ron Flecterâ— si nequeâ— saperos Acheronta movehâ— This Job would not do and therefore no hypocrite Verse 11. I will teach you by the hand of God That is by the help of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or concerning the hand of God what is in the hand of the Lord so the Septuagint what things he is wont to do by his power Deo juvante subministrante facultates Vat. and what are his usual proceedings his actual and efficacious providence Act. 4.28 That which is with the Almighty I will not conceal Neque celaâ—o ut res divina comparatae sint so the Tigurines translate Envious Masters use to hide from their Scholers the best and chiefest part of their skil It is reported of that spotted beast the Eyux that knowing that his urine will congeal into a procious Stone and so stand man in stead of pure envy when he pisseth he maketh a hole in the ground to cover it Cardan speaking of one that had a Receipt that would suddenly and certainly dissolve a stone in the bladder and dyed not imparting his Skill to any one I doubt not saith he but that man went to hel quòd mâ—riens artem sâ—am mortalibus iâ—viserit because he envied his skil to those that survived him Job was none such but what he knew of Gods mind and manner of dealing which bath no certain Law nor invariable rule but dependeth upon his â—â—er pleasure he was ready to impart to his friends who measured Gods actions by a wrong rule Verse 12. Behold all yâ— your selves have seen it And can say as say as much to it as I can in these sc that God afflicteth good men as well as bad c Ecce 〈…〉 ves â—â—â—nes spâ—culationibâ—â— theologiâ—is 〈…〉 quare tam vanas opiniones habetis So the Tigurine translation hath it that is But behold whereas all ye have spent your time in theological speculations how is it that ye have taken up such vain opinions The Hebrew runs thus Behold you all have seen 〈◊〉 are seers and he that is now called a Prophet was before-time called a Seer 1 Sam 9.9 ye are knowing men and of great experience why then do ye go against your own knowledge by speaking vainly and vilely notwithstanding Why then are ye thus altogether vain Heb. And why is this that ye are vain in vanity sc Whilest ye assâ—rt that Gods love may be known by prosperity and his hatred by adversity and whilest ye conclude me an hypocrite because afflicted for so they had all done with one consent Bildad chap. 8.13 Eliphaz chap. 15.34 and Zophar chap. 20.5 When as yet Job had given sufficient proof to the contrary The matter was clear enough but they did datâ— operâ— for the â—once obscure it this was a vanity of vanities and Job tells them as much Verse 13. This is the portion of a wicked man with God q.d. So ye say and so I say too for herein I will not deny to comply and to chime in with you Zâ—phar had said the same in effect and used the self same expressions that Job here doth chap. 20.29 See the Notes there But must Job therefore be an hypocrite though he continue to hope and pray and delight in God amidst all his miseries vers 8 9 10 Negâ—tur He had spoken much before of the wicked mans prosperity now to â—event mistakes he discourseth largely of his punishment and how ill he beareth it And the heritage of oppressours c. Of feirce and formidable tyrants that are a terrour to others These are the rewards they shall receive from the God of Recompences the Almighty who can well enough deal with them and delights to get him a name in their just destruction Verse 14 If his children 〈◊〉 he multiplyed it is for the sword As were Ahabs seventy sons for instance 2 King 10.1 whom he had begotten after that God had threatned to root out his posterity He therefore as it were to cross the Almighty gives himself so much the more 〈◊〉 to the work of Generation but this was Ephraim like to bring fouth 〈…〉 Hos 9.13 See the like of Aâ—atiaâ— and his forty brethren slain at the shearing house in the same Chapter And his offâ—spring Heb. His issâ—â—s or egressions his sâ—â—ts or branches his pledges so Mercâ—â— â—â—death it Shall not be satisfied with bread i e. Shall be pined and a faâ—ished which their wicked Parents by heaping and hearding sought to prevent but it could not be And this shall be a more cruel kinde of death than the former Tacit. Lam. 4.9 Drusus the son of Tibeâ—â—us Nâ—râ— was put to this death so was our Richard the second at Pomfret Castle Sanders that Traytour in Ireland 〈◊〉 and many others Verse 15. These that 〈◊〉 of him sall â—e 〈…〉 death That is Shall be presently and privately 〈◊〉 as 〈◊〉 it whitout any 〈…〉 Or they shall be so hated that he man shall speak well of 〈◊〉 when they are dead but their came shall be 〈◊〉 and shall not with them so others understand it Or they shall be buried alive 〈…〉 in a fit of an Apoplexy Sepeliâ—â—ur adhuc vivi moribundi Vatab. And when as he recovered of thâ—â—â—it in his 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 for help his wife Ariadue was so kind as to deny it 〈◊〉 They like is recorded of Scotus the great Schoolman Diâ—date saith that 〈…〉 that the wicked dying are plunged into everlasting death which only it the true death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Agreeable whereunto is that phrase Rev. 2.23 I will kill her children with 〈◊〉 It is are thing to die 〈◊〉 anoter thing to 〈◊〉 with death this last is when death 〈…〉 Hell when it 〈◊〉 Hell 〈…〉 of it This is a woful death indeed And his Widâ—â—s 〈…〉 One 〈◊〉 are one of the 〈…〉 their 〈…〉 so they die unlamented by their own widows for in those dayes men took many wives as now the Turks do so many as they are able to maintain and very coursely they use them who are glad that they are thus rid of them who were wont to lay upon them with their unmanly fists or otherwise to abuse them Of King Edwin it is said that he lived wickedly died wishedly And of Henry the second that hearing that his son and successor John had conspired against him he fell into a grievous Passion both cursing his sons and the day wherein himself was born and in that distemperature departed the world which so often himself had distempered and had now every mans good word to be gone hence See Jer. 22.18 Cum mors crudelem repuisset saevn Neroâ—m Credibile est multos Roman agit asse jocos Verse 16. Though he heap up silver as the dust Silver and Gold what are they else but white and red Earth the guts and garbage of the Earth as one saith Yet how greedy of
to be had above ground may some say but what under-ground Not there neither faith Job for the Abysse saith that is if it could speak it would surely say It is not in me and the Sea gives us in the same verdict dig to the centre of the earth dive to the bottom of the sea you shall hear no tale or tydings of her she neither groweth with gold and precious stones in the earth nor with Pearls and Coral in the sea we must be taught of God and the holy Spirit must joyn himself to our chariot as Philip did to the Eunuches Act. 8.29 he must teach us this wisdom from above or we can never learn it Isa 54.13 A man may read the figure on the Dial but he cannot tell how the day goes unless the Sun shine upon the Dial We may read over the book of the Creature and the book of the Scripture but we cannot learn to purpose till the Spirit of God shine into our hearts 2 Cor. 4.6 The Gospel is full of jewels but they are lockt up from sense and reason 1 Cor. 2.10 The Angels in heaven are searching into these sacred depths 1 Pet. 1.12 and know not so much but they would fain know more of this manifold wisdom of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 3.10 that hath such an abundance of curious variety in it as the word there signifieth even such as is seen in the best pictures or textures Verse 15. It cannot be gotten for gold Non emitur nec aestimatur it is not purchased or procured with money as other learning may en precium praestantiam sapientiae with a great sum obtained I this freedom said that Colonel Act. 22.28 So may many say of their learning they have sufficiently paid for it Cleanthes parted with all he had for learning Plato gave thirty thousand Florens for three Books Reuchlin gave the Jew that taught him Hebrew a Crown for every hours pains Hierome got his skill in that language with the hazard of his life and held it a good bargain Hen Beaeuford in Hen. 6. time Act. and Mon. But here 's no such trading see Act. 8.18 19 20. Fie quoth that rich and wretched Cardinal when he saw he must die will money do nothing will not death be hired may not heaven be purchased No no God is no Money-merchant his Kingdom is not partum but paratum Mat. 25.34 his grace is gratuitous Mat. 13.11 To you it is given and what more free than gift to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God And to you it is given freely given on the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him Vega. c. Phil. 1.29 That proud merit-monger that said Gratis non accipiam I will not have Grace or Grace or Glory of free-cost could not but go without both Verse 16. It cannot be valued Heb. Thrown on the ground as Wares were wont to be and are yet when they are set to sale and to be prized or valued With the gold of Ophir The word here rendred gold is not the same with that in the former or those in the following verses Five several times gold is here mentioned because so highly prized among men and in four several words Jerom on Jer. 10. observeth that the Hebrew have seven several words for gold and five several sorts are here instanced That here mentioned is a special name for the most splendent and glistering gold Psal 45.10 Dan. 10.5 Cant. 5.11 Of it comes Michtam of David or Davids golden Psalm Psal 16.1 his ingot of gold Broughton thinks it to be no Hebrew word but the name of gold in Ophir Obrizium dictum volunt quasi Ophirizium Ophir is Peru say some Others an Iland in the Indies where the most precious gold was to be had called also gold of Parvaim 2 Chron. 3.6 This is supposed to be in Havilah Gen. 2.11 It is called perfections of gold 2. Chron. 4.21 With the precious Onyx or the Saphir The Onyx is a stone said to be found in the River Ganges and to be of a white colour like the white of a mans nail whence it hath its name See of it Plin. lib. 37. cap. 6. Boet. Hist Gem. lib. 2. cap. 90. The Saphir is a stone of a sky-coloured blue or of a light-coloured purple Verse 17. The gold and the chrystal cannot equal it For Chrystal some reade Diamond others Adamant It hath its name from its purity and transparency Junius rendreth it therefore nitidissima gemma It seems to be saith One the last attempt of nature and makes us finde heaven on earth And the exchange of it shall not be for jewels or vessels or fine gold Of Phez-gold so Broughton renders it and would have it come from Fesse in Barbary The Arabians now call gold Phes Of this solid fast gold were made many precious Jewels or Vessels like that French coyn in the Historian Vas auri puri puti in qua plus fâ—rmae quam ponderis in which was not so much weight as workmanship Prov. 25.11 Apples of Gold in Lattices of Silver or put in a Case of Silver cut-work Verse 18. No mention shall be made of Coral No talk of Coral or Carbuncle of Pearl or any other the rarest and richest Jewels in all the world We read of Cleopatra that vying with Antony in luxury she drunk up a Pearl of incredible price dissolved in vineger and of Charles Duke of Burgundy Macrob. Sat. lib 5. cap. 17 Alsted Chronoâ— that in the Fight at Nansey he lost a Diamond of that worth ut eo tota aliqua regio emi posset that therewith a man might have bought a whole country It was afterwards set in the Popes triple-Crown but no way worthy to be mentioned in the same day with wisedom For the price of Wisdom is above Rubies Which are so called from their lovely redness see Lam. 4.7 Pearls some render it of which Pliny saith Plin. lib. 9. c 35. Principium culmenque rerum omnium pretii margaritae tenent Pearls are the principal of all precious things They were so of old but they are not so now-adayes What huge sums were once given for Saints Reliques as they called them and Popes-Pardons but now the world is grown wiser England is no more a babe there is no man here Acts Mon. 990 but now he knows that they do foolishly that give gold for lead more weight of that then they receive of this This and much more to the same purpose speaketh Henry 8. in his protestation against the Pope who yet as a faint Chapman went not to the price of this true wisdome as appeareth by that publick speech of his in Parliament There are many that are too busie with their new Sumpsimus and others that dote too much upon their old Mumpsimus the new Religion though true he envied the old though his own he despised being as a speckled bird or a cake half baked c.
Verse 19 The Topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it Of the Topaz see Plin. lib. 36. cap 8. It seemeth to have the lustre of Gold and purity of Chrystal and those agreeable mixtures of colours which make the purple of Kings The operations of this Stone are many and rare as Rueus sets them forth Lib. 2. cap. 9 Neither shall it be valued with pure gold Plato saith as much of moral wisdome 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 No Gold or Gem so glistereth And elsewhere he saith that if moral vertue could be beheld with mortal eyes mirificos sui amores excitaret it would wonderfully enamour men Aurelius the Emperour would say That he would not leave the knowledg he might learn in one houre for all the gold that he possessed Alphonsus King of Arragon professed That he would rather chuse to lose his Jewels then his Books his Kingdomes whereof he had many quam literas quas permodicas scire dicebat Val. Max. Christian 118 237 then that little Learning he had attained unto Many have been so taken with the study of the Mathematicks that they could have lived and dyed in it Vae igitur stupari nostro Leo Digges Wo then to the world because of wisdome This incomparable Wisdome of God in a mystery as the Apostle calleth it Haec quia prâ— vili sub pedibusque jacet Ovid Money is most mens study not without an horrible neglect of pietie which yet is the principal thing Prov. 3. and profitable to all things 1 Tim. 4.8 as that which hath the promise of both lives ibid. Now the Promises are exceeding great and precious things 2 Pet. 1.4 even the unsearchable riches of Christ Ephes 3.8 Such gold as cannot be too deer bought Matth. 13.44.46 nor too far fet no though so far as the Queen of Sheba came to hear the wisdome of Solomon and could have been content to have changed her throne for his footstool Sure it is she was no niggard but parted with abundance of precious things and sweet odours for that wisdome which she held and worthily far more sweet and precious then all her annual entradoes Sure it is that if the mountaines were Pearle the huge Rocks Rubies and the whole Globe a shining Chrysolite yet all this were nothing to the worth of the wisdome here commended How greatly bound then are Gods people to blesse his Name for communicating unto us this unvaluable treasure by his Word and Spirit 1 Cor. 2. Hath he not written for us excellent things in counsels and knowledge Prov. 22.20 hath he not made his Son that essential wisdome of his to become unto us Wisdome Righteousnesse Sanctification and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 Should some earthly Prince give us a rich Ring off his finger wherein there were a Chrysolite a Saphire a Topaz or some other precious Stone how highly would we honour him and what would we not be ready to do or suffer for him And shall we not much more do so for God rich in mercy plenteous in goodnesse abundant in kindnesse and in truth who giveth us all things richly to enjoy O pray for that blessed sight Ephes 1.18 and 3.18 and reckon one grain of grace more worth then all the gold of Ophir one remnant of faith beyond all the gorgeous and gay attire in the world Verse 20. Whence then cometh wisdome c See the Note on verse 12. q. d. No where surely is she to be found but with God the fountain of wisdome vers 23. To seek her elsewhere is but laborious losse of time witnesse the Philosophers anxious but bootlesse disquisitions after the Summum Bonum the true blessedness of chief good about which there were eight several opinions and yet all out Verse 21. Maxima pars eorum quaescimus est 〈◊〉 pars corâ—m quae nescimus Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living As hath beene before set forth verse 13. They that see most into it see but in part and must needs say that the greatest part of their knowledg is the least part of their ignorance Something they know of his revealed will but nothing at all of his secret Whereunto we may add that there are many occult qualities in nature the reason whereof the wisest men undertand not And kept close from the fowles of the Aire Which yet fly very high and seem to touch the clouds of heaven as the Eagle which delighteth in high-flying Some wil have the Angels elsewhere set forth as winged creatures to be here meant who although they stand alwayes in Gods presence and see much of his Majesty yet not at all nothing neer Isai 6. they cover their faces with their wings as with a double scarf as not not able to behold his glory and make their addresses unto him with greatest self-abasements Verse 22. Destruction and death say c That is the dead in the grave and damned in hell Junius as some glosse it Others man in his corrupt estate though a child of death yet capable of salvation and the wisedome of God hath found out a way to save him by his Son letting in life by the car according to that Hear and your souls shall live The dead in sins and trespasses shall hear the voice of the Son of God in the preaching of the Word and shal live Vatabl. Isaiah 55.3 the life of grace here and of glory hereafter John 5.25 These have heard of Gods wisdome in his various dealings with the sons of men and that with their ears both with the gristles that grow on their heads and with the inward ears of their minds so that one sound hath pierced both but yet the one half hath not been told them they can truly say as the Queen of Shâ—ba said to Solomon Thou hast added Wisdome and goodnesse to the fame 1 Kings 10.7 And as David in the person of Christ Psal 16.11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life whereby is hinted that Christ himself as man did not so fully understand in the daies of his flesh the unconceivable joies of heaven as he did afterwards when his whole person was glorified with the glory which as God he had with the Father before the world was John 17.5 Verse 23 God understandeth the way thereof The only wise God who alone knowes her price knowes her retreat Haec sunt inferni mortis verba saith Brentius These are the words of hell and of death But we may better take them as spoken by Job himself which yet are to be understood not as if Job thought that there was any place out of God where his wisdome might be sought or any way out of himself to go to it But these things are spoken after the manner of men saith Merlin for wisedome is in God yea God is wisdome it self For the wisdome of God is nothing else but the most wise God sith whatsoever is in God is God Therefore seeing he is well known to
presently confessed the fact Job Manl. loc com pag 290 and was executed for it Verse 17. And I brake the jawes of the wicked It is a mercy to have Judges saith One Modò audeant quaesentiunt as the Oratour hath it so they dare do as their consciences tell them they should do Job was such a Judge Cic. pro Milom he feared not to encounter and keep under those unruly Beasts and Belialists who oppressed the poor and then doubted not to oppose with crest and brest whatsoever stood in the way of their humours and lusts Hîc forti magnoque animo opus fuit saith One Here Jobs courage was put to the proof if ever Is it nothing to break the Jaw-bones of the wicked to take the prey out of the Lions mouth and to rescue the oppressed from the man that is too mighty for him Is it nothing to encounter the Hydra of sin to oppose the current of times and torrent of vice to turn the wheel over the wicked and to leave them as powerlesse as old Entellus in Virgil did Dares whom his fellowes led away well beaten and well nigh broken Jactantemque utroque cáput Virg. Aeneid crassumque crúorem Ore rejectantem mistosque in sanguine dentes And pluckt the spoile out of his teeth i.e. I made him make restitution of his ill gotten goods whether by fraud or force So that Jobs Court we see was not vitiorum sentina sed virtutum Officina his course was Parcere subjectis debellare superbos to fuccour the afflicted and to punish the proud 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dio. Augustus the Emperor was wont to say That such an one only was fit to be a Magistrate that was free from foule offence himselfe and could withstand the corruptions of the times keep a constant countermotion to the evil manners of the multitude as Cato was ever inveying against covetousnesse and riot in the Roman State Here also we have in Job the lively picture of a good Magistrate much better then that of Caesar Borgia that Villain De Principe P. 185 whom Machiavel proposeth as the only pattern for Princes to imitate Verse 18. Then I said I shall dye in my nest Heb. I shall expire and breath out my last by a natural death in my house and amidst my people as a bird dyeth in his nest when he hath lived his utmost Pollicebar mihi securitatem I promised my self a prosperous and long life all health and happinesse Brent This some make to be a fault in Job as it was likewise in David when in his prosperity he said I shall never be moved Psal 30.6 And indeed the holiest hearts are apt in such a strait to grow proud and secure like as wormes and wasps eat the sweetest apples and fruits But others are of judgement That this was a commendable confidence in Job grounded upon Gods Promises and the conscience of his own uprightness an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual security a blessed calme and composednesse a Sabbath of Spirit flowing from faith and causing joy This was all well only that of Bernard must be carefully heeded and held to Laeti simus non securi gaudentes in Spiritu sancto sed tamen caventes à recidivo Be merry we may but not carnally secure rejoycing in the Holy Ghost but yet beware that we backslide not David by misreckoning of a point missed the Haven and ran upon the Rocks Psal 30. And Job here seemeth to have been mistaken by taking the promises of outward happiness with out exception of the cross for the which he is afterwards reproved by Elihu and also by God himself And Shall multiply my dayes as the sand i.e. Very long by a Scripture hyperbole Gen. 22.17 and 32.12 and 41.49 The Septuagint read As the Phoenix The Vulgar Latine as the Palm-tree which is reckoned among the long lived trees as is likewise the Phoenix among the longest lived creatures R. Solomon saith he liveth a thousand yeers others five hundred and then dyeth in his nest made of Frankinsence and Myrrhe and other sweet Odours which being kindled by the heat of the Sun he is burnt to ashes they say out of which ashes a long time after cometh another Phoenix How true all this of the Phoenix is I have not to say Let them that will reade more in Gesners History of Birds or let them look upon Lactantius his Poem called the Phoenix with Betuleius his Comment Verse 19. My root was spread out by the waters Heb. Opened to the waters which therefore had free recourse to it and much refreshed it Hereby he describeth his flourishing condition when time was through the perpetual inflowings of Gods free Grace and favour And the dew lay all night upon my branch Pernectabat because in the night the dew falleth Beza thus Paraphraseth this whole verse For downward the root of my good and upright conscience was spred out by the everflowing waters of Gods bountifulness with which it was daily watered and upward the boughs growing out of this root to wit my children my servants my flocks of sheep and in a word my substance were washed with the coelestial dew which from heaven fell down upon them so that by this blessing of God they were marvellously increased Verse 20. My glory was fresh in me i.e. I had daily new accessions to mine honours and I was herein like a Bay-tree that is alwayes green This was also Josephs happiness in Egypt David in the Court of Saul Mordecai's and Daniels in the Court of Persia and Queen Elizabeths concerning whom besides that famous Epitaph set upon her Tomb by command of King James Thuanus a French Historian testifieth that the Lady Anna Atestina Mother to the Guises and Nemours pronounced her to be Glorioâ—â—ssimam omnium quae unquam sceptrum gestarunt felicissimam 〈◊〉 The most glorious and happiest Woman that ever swayed Scepter Among her Subjects the got a continual increase of honour and respects by coupling mildness with Majesty and stooping yet in a stately manner to the meanest sort but especially by setting up God and his sincere Service wherever she had to do trusting God with her precious life so much sought for by Popish Assassinates which whiles her Contemporary Henry 4. of France durst not do he loft his life and much of his honour witness that known Anagram Borbonius once Bonus orbi now Orous boni And my bow was renewed in my hand That is I had fresh and new supplies of strength Robur meum instaurabiâ—ur masusque reddetur Vatab. by friends and otherwise outwardly and inwardly according to that above Chap. 17.9 The righteous also shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger See Gen. 49.24 1 Sam. 2.4 Verse 21. Vnto me men gave eare and waited i.e. Such a gift I had in flexanimous Oratory that my Auditours were held as it were by the ears in great
partem interiorem which yet should move more slowly by night because then the heat is drawne into the internal parts Verse 18. By the great force of my Disease is my garment changed soil sudore cruâ—te sanit sanguine By the matter that my Disease forceth outward in Boils and Botches is my garment which once was decoru Magistratus insigne the Ensign of my Authority utterly stained and spoiled loathsom to my self and noysom to others Merlin Totum cruentem sordidatum Merc. Every one say some Chymicks hath his own Balsom within him his own bane it is sure he hath Physicians hold that in every two years there is such store of ill humours and excrements ingendred in the body that a vessel of one hundred ounces will scarce contain them Now if these by Gods appointment for he is the great Centurion Matth. 8.9 who hath all diseases at his beck and check break outward what an ulcerous Leper and Lazar must that man needs be This was Jobs case and Munsters who called his sores Gemmas preciosa Dei ornamenta Gods Gems and Jewels Job Manl. loc câ—â— p. 127 where with he decketh those whom he loveth and King Philips of Spain who besides many other diseases had ingentem puris ex ulceribus reaundantiam qua binas indies scutellas diuits paedore impleret Abundance of filthy matter issuing out of his sores Carol Scriban Instit Princep cap. 20 insomuch as that no change of cloathes or Art of Physicians could keep him from being devoured by Lice and Vermine thereby ingendred It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat It is become so stiff and starky that it wrings me and hurts me as an uneasie collar girds and gripes a mans neck As the edge of my coat in gards me so Broughton readeth it Beza rendreth this latter part of the verse thus He God compâ—sseth me about as the collar of my coat Piscatoâ— the whole thus By the greatnesse of his Gods strength which he putteth forth in scourging me with diseases my garment changeth it self putteth on as it were another 〈◊〉 of scabâ— and scurf As the mouth of my coat he God girdeth me 〈…〉 he pincheth my body with diseases But the former â—â—â—ding is better Verse 19. He 〈◊〉 cast me into the mire My Disease hath so Vatablus senseth it Others God hath as it were trampled me to dirt thrown me into the kernel and so done me the greatest disgrade that can be And I am become like dust and ashes Like a dust-heap behind the door cadâ—veiâ—â—â—◠〈…〉 saith Mercaâ— Being covered all even saith Beza with the 〈◊〉 and 〈…〉 that full from my 〈◊〉 I am become more unlike unto the unprofitable dust and ashes then unto a living man Dust and ashes are not more like one another then their names are in the Original sic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cinis See Gen. 3.19 and 18.17 Verse 20 I cry unto thee and thou dost not hear me This was a sore trial that God should cast him into straits and there leave him His enemies indeed he usually dealeth so by Ezek. 22.20 and 29.5 but not by his servants Heb. 13.5 Or if he do leave them yet he will not forsake them The mother leaves her child sometimes but when he setteth up his note and cryeth lustily she hasteneth to help him So doth God But now Job cryed unto him and was not heard or answered to his thinking at least and that was a great cut to him as Psalm 22.2 I stand up scil To make supplication to my Judg as Haman stood up to make request for his life Esth 7.7 as the Publican stood and prayed Luke 18.13 and as Moses and Samuel are supposed to stand before God in prayer for their people Jerem. 15.1 Hence that Proverb amongst the Jewes Absque stationibus non staret mundus Did not the Saints stand in prayer the world could not stand And thou regardest me not This was but a Mistake in Job for the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his eares are open to their prayers Only God answereth our prayer non secundum voluntatem tamen ad utilitatem Not alwayes or as soon as we would but doth that which is better for us and takes it ill to be misconstrued as he was by Job witnesse the next words bloody words indeed Accusat ergo Job Dominum mendacii Brent Contumeliosus viderispotest Merl. and not far from Blasphemy Verse 21 Thou art become cruel to me Mutatus es mihi in tyrannum thou art turned Tyrant towards me so Brentius rendreth it and the like he had said before chap. 16.13 and 19.8 9 10. out of the vehemency of his pain and he sense of his flesh which should have been silenced and faith exalted the property whereof is to pick one contrary out of another as life out of death assurance of deliverance out of deepest distresses Deut. 32.36 and to perswade the heart that God concealeth his love out of increasement of love and in very faithfulness afflicteth his darlings that he may be true to their souls Psal 1.19.75 With thy strong hand thou opposest thy self against me Heb. Thou batest me Satanically hatest me Intestinum odium exerces adversum me Tremell and accordingly thou dost practise all thy might upon me Thus Job in his heat and that he may not seem to rage without reason he subjoyneth Verse 22. Thou liftest me up to the wind Thou whifflest and wherriest me about as chaff or thistle-down Pro libidine tractas me thou usest me at thy pleasure Brent Thou causest me to ride upon it Upon the wings of the wind lifting me up aloft that I may fall with the greater poise as the Eagle is said to do the Tortoise Vt lapsu graviore ruam Thou dissolvest my substance Or Thou meltest my wisdome I have neither flesh nor reason remaining The issue that he expecteth of all these his forementioned miseries followeth Verse 23. For I know that thou wilt bring me to death Such hard thoughts had Job of God and such heavy thoughts of himself Nam experior mors avocat me so Tremellius For I feel it death calleth me away Sic ludis mecum ut facilè conjiciam mihi moriendum esse saith Brentius Thou so dalliest with me that I plainly perceive I must shortly dye there 's no avoiding of it 2 Cor. 1.8.9 10 Thus good Job was pressed out of measure above strength insomuch as be despaired even of life and had the sentence or denunciation of death in himself c. But God was better to him then his fears and delivered him from so great a death this is usual Qui nil sper are potest desperet nihil And to the house appointed for all living That is the grave Psal 49.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 89.48 that Congregation house of all living as heaven is called the Congregation house of the first born Heb. 12.23 the publick or
common meeting place as Isai 14.13 the house of constitution or assignation to all living as the Hebrew here hath it that is to all men who are by an excellency called every creature Mark 16.15 as being the best living creatures upon earth Verse 24 Howbeit he will out stretch not his hand to the grave He will not dig up the dead as the Papists dealt by Bucer and others to afflict them any more Quid facere poterunt Occident Nunquid resuscitabunt ut iterum occidant What can they do said Luther concerning his enemies who threatned him Will they kill me but what then Will they raise me up to life again that they may kill me again No Charles the Fifth Emperour when he might have done that and was moved to do it would not Mors requies aerumnarum Dead men are at rest was Chaucers Motto There in the grave the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest chap. 3.17 Thus Job speaketh going no further then the afflictions of the body as being for his own part fearlesse of eternal punishment But as for the wicked when they dye out of bodily misery it is but as the mans flying from a Lion and a more savage Bear meeteth him or going from it into the house this house mentioned in verse 23. and that more venemous Serpent the Divel who hath the power of death Heb. 2.14 there biteth him Amos 5.19 Though they cry in his destruction i.e. Whiles God is crushing or killing of them Or Is there any cry in his destruction It was never yet known that dead men made moane what ever the Popish Legenders tell us of one that cryed out I am dead I am judged I am damned which gave occasion to Bruno to found the Carthusian Order Verse 25. Did I not weep for him that was in trouble Rursum per pathos excandescit Here Job wondreth Mercer and is much moved again at his unpitied condition sith himself was so pitiful to the afflicted He could safely say with Cyprian Cum singulis pectus meum copulo moeroris funeris pendera luctuosa participo cum plangentibus plango cum destentibus desteo He had teares ready for the afflicted and wept with those that weep not for a Complement as the Brasilians who Vt flerent oculos erudière suos Nor out of melch-heartednesse Ovid. as Gordian the Emperour who would weep for the beating of a boy at School But out of hearty compassion and commiseration as good Nehemiah chap. 2.2 and those Christian Hebrewes chap. 10.33 34. Now for as much as the merciful have the promises of mercy made unto them Matth. 5.7 James 2.13 And all men say Ab alio expectes alteri quod feceris Job marvelleth at others hard heartednesse toward him and expostulateth the unkindnesse Was not my soul grieved for the poor Into whose case good Job put himself and so became mendicorum maximus as Salvian saith of Christ Ad Eccles Carbol l. 4 because he shareth with his Saints in all their necessities he drew out not only his sheaf but his soul to the hungry Isai 58.7 10 and satisfied the afflicted soul this was right Contristata est anima mea super egenum Some render it Restagnavis lachrymis anima mea My soul stood with tears like a standing pool Others ustulatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My soul burneth which is agreeable to that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.29 Who is weak and I am not weak Who is offended and I burn not Verse 26 When I looked for good According to that general rule and the common course of Gods proceedings With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again Matth. 7.2 With the merciful thou wilt shew thy self merciful Psal 18.16 Middah cenegedh middah say the Hebrewes Men shall have measure for measure like for like Hence Job expected to have all things at will but it fell out somewhat otherwise and this puzled him he could not unriddle these cross occurrences He could almost find in his heart to think that he was therefore so little pitied by others because he had been so pitiful to others When I waited for light then came darknesse Things grew every day worse and worse with me mending like sowre Ale in Summer as we say Thus it fates many times with Gods best servants these children of light walk in darknesse neverthelesse let them trust in the Name of the Lord and stay upon their God in the faile of all outward comforts Isai â—0 10 Habak 3.17 18. This is the tryumph of faith which tells the soul that things must go backward before they can come forward and when matters are at worst they will mend Verse 27 My bowels boyled and rested not Being tossed and tumbled with continual boyling and bubbling Ollae more insonuerunt Merc. rumbling and making a rattle as the word signifieth whether through passion or compassion With most compassionate sympathy saith one learned Paraphrast did my bowels yearn over the afflicted so that I could have no quiet in my self for grieving and taking thought for them I was seldome or never without sorrow for some one or others affliction The dayes of affliction prevented me Prevision should have hindred this prevention Evils fore seen come no whit the sooner but far the easier It is a labour well lost if they befall us not well spent if they do whereas coming on the sudden they find weak minds secure make them miserable leave them desperate Expect them therefore and prepare for them Darts foreseen are dintless Verse 28 I went mourning without the Sun Ater ambulo sed non ob Solem I am not Sun-burnt but heart burnt black and discoloured without because parched and dryed up within by the force of my disease and my griefe wherewith I am pained pined and even perished I stood up and cryed in the Congregation Which was not very handsome but I could not hold Rise I did and roar I must amidst the preass of people whatever they should think of me So Mordecai went out into the midst of the City and cryed with a loud and a bitter cry and came even before the Kings gate c. Esth 4.1 2. In extreme heavinesse men care not to keep decorums Verse 29. I am a brother to Dragons c. i.e. I utter a very lamentable voice or rather noise like Dragons which sucking the Elephants blood till he fall down dead upon them and quell them with his huge bulk make an horrible howling Plin. Solin so horrible and hideous say some that they amaze yea kill those that hear it And a companion to Owles I give forth rude and confused cryes as if I howled with Owles or grunted with Ostriches We use to say of such that they roar like Beares and bellow like Bulls filling the air with their Out-cryes Young Ostriches cast off by their Dams Job 39.14 Lam. 4.3 make pittiful moan so do the young Ravens for
and from above and from on high By all these expressions Job affecteth himself with the due apprehension of the divine Majesty that he may be wise and beware how he fall into the punishing hands of this living God The Lord your God saith Moses to the people is God of gods and Lord of lords a great God a mighty and a terrible Deut. 10.16 19. c. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your hearts cut off and cast away that filthy foreskin shave your eye-brows as the Leper was to do pull out your right eyes c. So Joshua God saith he is an holy God he is a jealous God be will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins sc unless you will part with them though never so dear or delicious chap. 24.19 Verse 3. Is not destruction to the wicked yes that 's their portion their inheritance and so Job makes answer to his own question proposed in the verse aforegoing The ruine of impure souls is infallible unsupportable unavoidable if God hath aversion from all other sinners he hath hatred and horrour for the unchast such stinking goates shall be set on the left hand and sent to hell where they shall have so much the more of punishment as they had here of sensual and sinful pleasure as sowre sawce to their sweet meats Rev. 18.7 Not to speak of the miseries they meet with here which are not a sew in their souls hardness of heart or horrour of conscience in their bodies soul and lothsome diseases such as will stick to them when their best friends forsake them in their names indeleble reproach and infamy like an iron-mole which nothing can fetch out like the Leprosie which could never be scraped out of the walls in their estates poverty even to a piece of bread Prov. 6.26 Harlots are Poscinummia Crumenimulge suck-purses Luk. 15.14 In their posterity as Jericho was built so is uncleanness plagued bath in the oldest and youngest It goes through the race till it have wasted all Corpus â—pes animâ—n faman vim lumina Scortum Debilitat perdit necat anfert eripit what And a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity Even such as is unusual and extraordinary as upon the Sodomites who going after strange flesh were thrown forth for an example as Juda hath it Verse 7. So those Benjamites Judg. 20. the Trojans the Lacedemonians at Lenctra Zimri and Cozbi Zedekiah and Ahab Jer. 29.22 Elies two sons Heraclius the Emperour Muleasses King of Tunes in Barbary bereft by his own son Amida another Absolom not of his Kingdom only but of his eyes too put out with a burning hoâ—iron those eyes of his that had been full of adultery and could not cease to sin In Hebrew the same word signifieth both an eye and a fountain to shew saith One that from the eye at a fountain floweth both sin and misery Verse 4. Doth he not see my wayes and count c yea sure he doth so and the conscience of Gods Omniscience who would soon take him tripping kept him from this great wickedness So it did Joseph but so it did not David who is therefore said to despise God and his commandement 2 Sam. 12.9 10. to do evil in his sight and this was no smal aggravation of his offence Ne peccar Dum ipsi vider I have seen the lewdness of thy whoredome Jer. 13.27 Even I know and am a witness saith the Lord Jer. 29.23 That should be a powerful retentive from 〈◊〉 Prov. 5.21 And count all my steps Doth not he cipher them up Hebeus 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 rate not my wayes only my counsels and cogitations but my steps also that is all mine outward attempts and actions A most needful and useful consideration 〈◊〉 to keep men within the compass of obedience See this doctrine of Gods singular providence plainly and plentifully set forth Psal 139.1 2 3 4. Verse 5. If I have walked with vanity As they do who disquiet themselves in vain in heaping up riches by evil arts by deceits and covin in bargaining by getting other mens means fraudmently c. The getting of treasures by an evil tongue or any the like indirect course is a vanity tossed so and fro of them that seek death Prov. 21.6 Eventually such do seek death though not intentionally they spin a fair thred to strangle themselves both temporally and eternally Such vain and vile wayes therefore Job carefully declined Furtum á Virg. vocatur inane Aencid 6. for he knew them to be both base and bootless Ephraim fed upon the wind the balances of deceit were in his hand if thereby he filled his purse with coyn yet he had emptiness in his soul Lucrum in arca damnum in conscientia filled he was with aire and that aire was pestilential too his breath and death he drew in together Job would none of that Or if my foot hath hasted to deceit If I have been nimble and active to go beyond and defraud another in any matter 1 Thess 4.6 which what is it else but crimen stellionatus the very sin of cozenage and this not only acted but arted after long trading in it as the words of walking and hasting seem to import Verse 6. Let me be weighed in an even balance Heb. Let him weigh me Examinet me saith Tremellius David with the like confidence Search me O God saith he Psa 139.23 24 and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me any course of sin that is grievous to God or man wherein I have walked or my foot hath hasted Job would not rest in his own hearts applause neither would he be borne down by his friends false charges but puts himself into Gods hands to be weighed and then makes no question but his present sufferings will be found heavier than his former miscarriages in his inter-dealings with men for matter of gain and that there is some other cause though what he knoweth not for which God doth so grievously afflict him See David doing the like Psal 7.4 26.2 That God may know mine integrity i.e. That he may make known mine innocency and upright-heartedness in this particular of commerce with others that I have not dealt deceitfully Otherwise if God should weigh the best that are in a balance they would be found too light if he mark iniquities no man living can be justified Psal 139.3 143.2 If he turn up the Bottom of the Bag all our secret thefts will out and come to reckoning It is an idle conceit of some ignorant folk That God will weigh their good deeds against their bad and they shall well enough set off with him by the one for the other This they have drawn as they have not a few other fopperies from that practise of Popish Priests to perswade people that when men are at point of death St. Michael the Archangel bringeth a pair of balances and putteth in one scale their good works
Ministers are said to be in Christs stead 2 Cor. 5.20 A great mercy that he will treat with us by men like our selves I also am formed out â—f the clay Et non ex meliore Intoâ—ffictus of the same make and matter with thy self cut out of the same lump dig'd out of the same pit He alludeth to Gen. 2.7 the wonderful formation of those Protoplast as a Potter moldeth his Pots cutting them out of the lump And the like God doth for men still by that viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is in the seed making it prolifical and generative Verse 7. Behold my terrour shall not make thee afraid This Job had earnestly desired of God chap 9 24. 13.21 and Elihu as a cunning Disputant presseth him with his own words I am not saith he neither is it fit any mortal man should by his terrour and power ravish another of his right Religion Giants are called Emim Formidable and Nephilim because men fell before them through fear as some Zanzummims do the meaner sort of people by their belluine greatness as the Pope and his Janizaries do the Hereticks as they call those of the reformed Religion that will not reneague it not once hearing what they can say for themselves Either you must turn or burn say they This is monstrous immanity Neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee Brentius rendreth this verse thus Ecce frons mea non terreat te inclinatio mea super te non gravet Behold my forehead cannot fright thee neither can my bowing down upon thee surcharge thee I shall neither brow-beat thee nor quell thee with my weight that thou shouldest refuse to reason the case with me Periculosum est contra cum scribere qui porest proscribere illi contradicere qui pâ—â—â—st aqua igni interdicere It s ill meddling with those that are armed with great power and can as easily undo a man as bid it be done I must needs acknowledge you the better scholer said Phavorinus the Philosopher to Adrian the Emperour qui triginta habâ—s legiones Aelius Spart who hast thirty Legions at command But here was no such disparity or cause of fear in Job from his compere Elihu Verse 8. Surely thou hast spoken in my hearing Here beginneth the Charge Pro Plancis and it is for words Quae levitèr volant non levitèr violant Nihil tà m volucre quà m maledictum nihil faciliùs emittitur saith Cicero Nothing is so swift as an evil word nothing is more easily uttered But should a man set his mouth against heaven and utter errour against the Lord Isa 32.6 Should he toss that reverend Name of God to and fro with such impiety and prophaneness as if his speech could have no grace but in his disgrace as if Augustus Caesar were dealing with some god Neptune Lonicer theatr historic or the three sons trying their Archery at their fathers heart to see who can shoot nighest Surely as God is the avenger of all such so an Elihu cannot hear it and not be kindled Good blood will not bely it self Psal 139.20 21. They speak against thee wickedly and thine enemies take thy name in vain Do not I hate them O Lord that hate thee I hate them with a perfect hatred c. The very Turks have the Christians blaspheming of Christ in execration and punish it in their Prisoners when through impatiency or desperateness they break out in this kind What a shame is it then that our Kanters that last brood of Beelzebub should till alate be suffered to affirm That Christ is a carnal or fleshly thing and to contemne him by the notion of The man dying as Jerusalem c Can we hear these hellish blasphemies without ears tingling hearts trembling c When Servetus condemned Zuinglius for his harshness he answereth In aliis mansuetus ero in blasphemiis in Christum non ita In other things I can bear as much as another but when I hear Christ blasphemed I am altogether impatient for why in this case patience would be blockishness moderation mopishness toleration cowardise Madness here is better than meekness c. Verse 9. I am clean without transgression Clear as the picked glass without defection Nitidus ego 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à Syriaca voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pectere I am innocent Heb. Neat and compt not a hair out of order as it was objected to Pompey the great Neither is there iniquity in me Nothing crooked or obtort But had Elihu ever heard Job saying thus Or did not he rather misinterpret his words Some proud Monk hath been heard to say Non haheo Domine quod mihi ignoscas I have not done any thing Lord that needeth thy pardon The reporter of Bellarmines life and death telleth us that when the Priest came to absolve him he could not remember any particular sin he had to confess till he went back in his thoughts as far as his youth But good Job had no such conceit of himself as may appear by many passages of his as chap. 9.2 and verse 20 21. chap. 14.4 c. Only out of the greatness of his grief and the unkind usuage of his friends who spared not without all reason to revile him as a most wicked and ungodly liver he did estsoones cast out some rash and harsh words against God see chap. 10.7 16.17 23.10 11. 27.5 and hence this Accusation here laid against him as a Perfectist or self-justitiary Verse 10. Behold he findeth occasions against me Or Breaches he picks quarrels with me and would fain find out somewhat in my carriage wherefore to break friendship with me and to break me in pieces But did Job ever say in this sort Not expresly so but by consequence and to the same purpose chap. 9.17 13.24 14.17 16.9 19.11 He counteth me for his enemy This indeed he had said and somewhat more chap. 13.24 16.9 30.21 as if God of his meer pleasure had made cruel wars upon him and exercised all kind of hostility against him as a vanquished enemy See the Note on chap. 13.24 19.11 Verse 11. He putteth my feet in the stocks c. See chap. 13.27 14.16 with the Notes Verse 12. Behold in this thou art not just In this thy Expostulation with God as if he had dealt unjustly with thee think the same of thy postulation or unreasonable request that God should give thee a reason why he so grievously afflicteth thee verse 13. thou art nothing less then what thou holdest thy self to be viz. just pure innocent Sorex suo perit indicio the Mole betrayes himself by casting up the mould and so dost thou good Job by throwing forth words without wisdom as God himself will once tell thee chap. 38.2 Canst thou be just whose words are thus unjust Never think it Thus Elihu is as nimble with Job but far more ingenuous as that Jesuite
Martyrologue it is reported that having with infinite paines finished that elaborate Work of his the Acts and Monuments of the Church in eleven years space never using the help of any other man Mr Clark in his Life he grew thereupon so leane and withered that his friends know him not Now if sorrow and hard study will so macerate a man what marvel if long and sharp sicknesse and thereby extreme stomacklesnesse cause leanness and deformity And his bones that were not seen But could hardly be felt for flesh and fat now they stick out as in an Anatomy so that you may count them as also the veines and sinewes his body is become a very bag of bones a skin-bottle in the smoak as David hath it Verse 22 Yea his soul draweth neer unto the grave His soul that is His body as ver 18. for Elihu was no Mortallist neither dreamt he of a Psychopannychia He is in the very confines of death and no wayes likely to recover he is free among the dead as the Psalmist hath it And his life to the destroyers Lethalibus malis to deadly evils saith Trâ—mellius Mortiferis i.e. Morbis to those messengers of death deadly Diseases saith Vatablus To those that kill viz. Gentiles multa de Parcis fabulati sunt to the Angels by whom God sometimes destroyeth men as 2 Sam. 24.16 17. saith Piscator To enemies say other Pollinctoribus to the Bier-carryers say the Tigurines and so Beza paraphraseth so that hee stands not in need of any remedy or help of any thing more then of those who should carry his carcass unto the grave Verse 23. If there be a messenger with him An Angel say some but one man may be an Angel to another as Bradford was to Dr. Taylor Martyr who usually called him That Angel of God John Bradford If some Prophet or Teacher sent of God See Judg. 2.1 Mal. 3.1 Rev. 1.20 to the sick man who seeth his face as the face of an Angel and receiveth him as an Angel yea as Christ himself Gal. 4. in whose stead he is 2 Cor. 5.20 bringing the Embassage of reconciliation ibid. then which what can be more acceptable An Interpreter scil Of Gods holy Will who may assure the sick party that it is God who visiteth him in very faithfulnesse that he may be true to his soul that he doth it in mercy and in measure not to ruine him but to reduce him by repentance from dead works and by faith in Christ Jesus c. who may also set him in a course and pray for him as James 5.16 Dr. Vsher tells us that even in the times of Popery amongst our forefathers the ordinary instruction appointed to be given to men upon their death-beds was that they should look to come to glory not by their own merits but by the vertue and merit of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ that they should place their whole confidence in his death only and in no other thing and that they should interpose his death betwixt God and their sinnes betwixt them and Gods anger Serm. on Eph. 4.13 This was right and considering the times admirable This was better then that blasphemous direction they give elsewhere to dying men to say Conjunge Dâ—mine c Conjoyn O Lord mine obedience to all those things which Christ suffered for me c. One among a thousand Vnus è millibus not Vnus è similibus as the Vulgar Latine hath it by a gross mistake such as that Translation hath many One among a thousand he is said to be for the scarcity of such as can time a word comfort the afflicted conscience and speak to the heart of a poor distressed Creature who laboureth under the sense of sin and fear of wrath O quam hoc non est omnium This very few can skill of Luther who was excellent at it himself telleth us That it is a work every whit as hard as to raise the dead to life again Go ye rather to them that sell said the wise to the foolish Virgins and those are rare scil such faithful and wise distributers of Gods grace Isaiah 50.4 as having the tongue of the Learned and being instructed for that purpose to the Kingdome of heaven can comfort the feeble minded shore up and support the weak c. such a choice man is worth his weight in gold and O how beautiful are his feet Angelicall his face To declare â—n o man his uprightnesse Or His Righteousnesse that is Either the righteousnesse of Christ who is his peace or His that is the righteousnesse of his own experience how he hath been raised and received to mercy Or His to clear up to him his spiritual estate and shew his evangelical righteousness consisting more in purpose then in practice in confession of our imperfection then in any perfection we can attain unto It is not so much our inherent righteousnesse in regard of the worth dignity and excellency of it much lesse purity and perfection in it but as it is a fruit of Gods love and token of his favour a signe of our Adoption and Justification and a pledge of our glorification that yeeldeth comfort And this it will do when skilfully made out to a poor soul by a godly Minister and set on by the hand of that holy Spirit whereby the Saints are sealed to the day of Redemption Eph. 4.30 and 1.13 Verse 24. Then is he gracious unto him and saith If the sick man thus counselled and comforted repent and believe the Gospel delivering himself up to God and to that his Messenger by the will of God Mercy and Truth shall be with him he shall be cured on both sides as that Palsie man was Matth. 9.2 the Lord shall raise him up if it may stand with his eternal welfare But howsoever if he have committed sinnes it shall be forgiven him James 5.15 Both the guilt and filth of them shall be taken away so that he shall be able to look death in the face with everlasting comfort as being made to him â—anua vitae porta coeli a postern to let out temporal but a street door to let in eternal life Deliver him from going down to the pit Tel him from me that he shall not dye but live and declare the works of the Lord as Psal 118.17 Nay say to this righteous man tell him so from me that it shall be well with him and very well Isai 3.10 Redeem him from going down to the infernal pit that is declare that Redemption to him wrought for him by Christ and apply it to his conscience powre the oyle of grace into his broken vessel and assure him in mine name and by mine Authority that I am his salvation Whose sinnes soever ye my faithful Ministers remit they are remitted unto them and whatsoever ye loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Matth. 18. â—8 Joh. 20.23 But all this ministerially and declaratively not absolutely and out
execution And it profited me not Sin is an ill Pay-master and sends home all her servants by weeping crosse The best that can come of it is shame Rom. 6.21 and godly sorrow working repentance 2 Cor. 7.10 but usually the end of these things is death this is the just hire of the least sin Rom. 6.23 It not only profiteth not what ever it promiseth but prejudiceth and proves pernicious This penitent man thanks his sin for his late sicknesse and yet thinks he hath escaped fair too for so some render the Text Non aquale fuit Nec poenas condiguas dedi My punishment hath been lesse then men offence See Ezra 9.13 with the Note there Ver. 28. He wil deliver his soul from going c. God wil heal him and lengthen out his life Or the sick man will by his unfained repentance procure his own reprieve and deliverance from deadly danger Some make these words to be the sick mans thankful confession He hath redeemed my soul c. not unlike that of David Psal 116.8 and that of Hezekiah Isai 38.17 And his life shall see the light He shall not only live but live happily and comfortably a joylesse life is no life Verse 29. Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes Heb. Twice thrice such is his patience that he tryeth all conclusions as it were and beateth long with mens evil manners one while casting them down and making them believe he will pitch them into hell and another while raising them up again and restoring them that if nothing will do he may pay them all at once for the new and the old as he did haâ— and Pharaoh and Nineveh because they despised the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing or not weighing that the goodness of God should have led them to repentance Rom. 2.4 5. Wo be to him that will not be warned at the first second or third time See Am. 1.3 and 2.1 c. with the Notes R. Solomon would thence infer That God pardoneth a man only thrice and then if he take not warning to hell he must and this he thinketh to be Elihu's meaning â—here But this is to limit the Holy One of Israel who â—â—ltiplyeth pardoâ— as we multiply sinne Isai 55.7 and further addeth for our comfort vers 8. That his thoughts are not our thoughts nor his wayes our wayes but as the heavens are higher then the earth c. We are apt to measure God by our models to cast him into a dishonourable â—â—ould and to think him like our selves in Mercy Power and other of his Attriâ—â—tes Xenâ—phanes was wont to say that if the creatures were put to paint the Creator they would surely conceit him to be like themselves because a creature cannot think of any thing higher then a creature So dealâ— we for the most part with Almighty God But he is God and not man he is Jehovah that changeth not neither is there any God like unto him for pardoning iniquity not once but often Micah 7.8 9. See the Note there He who commandeth us to forgive an offending brother seventy times seven times in a day if he say It repenteth me What will not himself do in such a case Verse 30 To bring back his soul from the pit i. e. That he may save him from temporal and eternal destruction which is the most excellent fruit of affliction sanctified We are judged of the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world So that a Saint may say Periissem nisi periissem I had been undone had I not been undone Ferre minora volo ne graviora ferans To be inlightned with the light of the living To live comfortably Consâ—icuâ—s sit inter homines Mercer and to be famous among the Saints who had they not been reduced by affliction would have perished infamous and obscure wrapt up in the sheet of shame and going out in a snuff Verse 31. Mark well O Job hearken unto me For I speak from God and for God It was a good speech of Austin to Manicheus contesting with him for audience Hear me hear me said Manicheus Nay saith Austin Nec ego te nec tu me sed ambo audiamus Apostolum dicentem Peccatum non cognovi c. Neither will I hear thee nor do thou hear me but let us both hear the Apostle saying I had not known lust c. Verse 32. If thou hast any thing to say answer me Heb. If thou hast words yet not empty words but such as may bear weight and make for thy defence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Verba habet 〈◊〉 rebus Erasmus Some mens discourses are nothing else but words Hermodorus of old was said to â—ell words for want of better Commodities Erasmus was noted for a very wordy man Turrian for a great Trifler Corniculas citius in Africa quam res rationâ—sque solidas in ejus scriptis reperias saith one Elihu would have no such words nor any wise man else for they are very irksome yea vexatious Speak for I desire to justifie thee Not to condemne thee as these three have done but to hear thee and clear thee as much as may be This was fair dealing Some are so eristical and teasty that they will not hear the adverse party or bear with any that dissent as the Jesuits many fierce Lutherans yea Luther himselfe as appeareth by his bitter invectives against Carolostaeaius Zuinglius all the Helvetian Churches that would not receive the Doctrine of Consubstantiation Tantane animis coelestibus irae He would not once hear the contrary party nor read their Books but called them Arch Divels and all that ever was naught as he doth in his Epistle to the Senate of Frankford Verse 33. If not hearken unto me Elihu is much in calling for attention so are all the Prophets and Christ the Arch Prophet as Matth. 13.9 where although it might seem superfluous to stir up such to hear as had come from all parts for that purpose and now hung upon his holy lips as the babe doth on the brest Luke 12. ult yet he well knowing our heedlesnesse and ficklenesse doth it once and again leaving all Ministers an example to do likewise Hold thy peace Viz. Whiles I am speaking interrupt me not but have patience Some men as they have fel in aure gall in their eares as some Creatures are said to have so they have fire in their tongues which they presently spit at all that offend them in the least And I shall teach thee wisdom A good inducement to thee to hear I will not trouble thee with trifles nor detain thee with endless and needless discourses but set before thee Gods wise procedings and bring thee to such a sight of thine own folly as shall render thee restless till set right for heaven CHAP. XXXIV Verse 1. Furthermore Elihu answered and said i. e. HE prosecuted his former Discourse Pronunciâ—ns itaque Eliu Elihu going on
Palace his Rags into fine linnen c. yea as Jeremy's rags helped to draw him out of the dungeon so do afflictions work out to Gods people an exceeding exceeding eternal weight of glory Here perhaps they may be held under but to him that overcometh wil the Lord Christ grant to sit with him in his throne Rev. 3.21 The deluge of calamities may assault them but it shall certainly exalt them They shall have Crownes on their heads and Palmes in their hands and walk arm in arm with Angels Some of the Hebrewes by Kings here understand Angels as if it were written 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not Melachim but Maleachim Yea he doth establish them for ever and they are exalted Or When they are exalted This no earthly Prince can promise himself Dionysius who thought his Kingdom had been tyed to him with cords of Adamant was at length driven out of it But Christs Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and he will not raign alone if we suffer with him we shall also raign together Rom. 8. Verse 8. And if they be bound in fetters If it so fall out that through abuse of their prosperity and preferment they wander as they are men out of the right way and God sends out afflictions as his Pursuivants to attach them and say them in cold irons for their correction and to prevent judgement Psal 107.10 And be holden in cords of affliction Or Poverty so that irretiti funibus miserè vixerint as the Tigurines here translate they have onely prisoners pittances which will neither keep them alive nor suffer them to dye Verse 9. Then he sheweth them their work By these sharp waters he cleareth up their eye-sight and gives them to see their sin the mother of their misery Vexatio dat intellectum Smart makes wit Manasseh for instance and the Prodigal Herodot lib. 1. Liv. decad 1. l. 5. and King Croesus with his Nocumenta documenta and Tullus Hostilius with his excess of devotion when once he had paid for his learning And their transgressions that they have exceeded Heb When they prevail that before they grow too potent they may cast them away Ne illis victi in Gehennam descendant lest they hale them into hell Mercer Verse 10. Hee openeth also their eare to Discipline See on chap. 33.16 And commandeth that they return from iniquity Unlesse they will have it to be their ruine whereof obstinate sinners who refuse to return seem to be ambitious Affliction sanctified is Lex practica a practical Law saith One it is Verus Scripturae commentarius an excellent Comment upon the Scripture saith Another David could not learn Gods Statutes till taught by this Free-School-master curst enough and crabbed but such as whereby God openeth mens eares to Discipline and speaketh to them to return from iniquity which is a piece of learning that people cannot pay too dear for Verse 11 If they obey and serve him they shall c. Heb. They shall finish they shall spend and end their dayes in prosperity and their yeares in pleasure as Joseph Job and some others have done who lived and dyed with glory Howbeit this Promise is to be understood with exception of the Crosse which yet God both can and to his will make profitable and pleasant as he did to that godly Prince who being asked How he could so well endure so long and hard imprisonment answered That he had therein felt the divine Consolations of the Martyrs But Haud facilè invenies multis è millibus unum Virtutem pretium qui putet esse sui Verse 12. But if they obey not they shall perish by the sword In gladium transibunt they shall passe away by the sword that is some evil end shall befal them and worthily because they would not be warned which is both a presage and desert of utter ruine Lesser and lighter judgements where they work not are foretokens of greater and heavier at the heels of them as the black horse in the Revelation followeth the red And as clouds cluster against a storm one following in the neck of the other unlesse the Sun break forth and scatter them so do Gods judgements usher in one another and every lesse a greater unless Repentance and better obedience take up the matter And they shall dye without knowledge Heb. Because they were without knowledge and wilfully so It was not a bare â—escience but an affected ignorance that undid them Some render it Non praesentientes they shall dye suddenly and before they have bethought themselves It should be our care that death do not suddenly surprize us No guest comes unawares to him who keeps a constant Table Every sharp affliction is a warning piece and let us so conceive of it Stillicidia praecedunt ruinam Verse 13. But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath Or Yet Or Howbeit q.d. These fowle sinners that have turned repentance into a form and converted conversion it self into sin though they see bad men made good and good men made better by their afflictions and incorrigible persons destroyed before their eyes yet they amend not by Gods hand upon them but are the worse for it as Iron grows more cold after a heat and as naughty boyes are more stupid and more stubborn after a whipping Hypocritis nihil stupidius These hollow hearted ones heap up wrath against the day of wrath as St. Paul makes up this saying Rom. 2.5 which shall fall upon the Jew first because of his pretence to Religion and then upon the Gentile Nemo enim magis iram meretur quam amicum simulans iniÌ„micus saith Bernard No man more deserveth wrath upon wrath then a feigned friend but true enemy Such are all hypocrites whether gross or close And hence our Saviours severity against such in the Gospel but especially Mat. 23. Neither let any such Goat in sheep-skin think to steal on Christs right hand at the last day He shall uncase such and cashiere them yea cast them into the hottest fire of hell whereof hypocrites are as the Free-holders and other sinners but as Tenants to them for they shall have their portion with the Devil and hypocrites Some render it Ponunt irâ—m and expound it incandescunt in Deum When they are afflicted they wax hot against God they gather wrath as a toad swelleth when handled as a Serpent gathereth poison to spue out at those who meddle with him They cry not when God binds them Cry they do after a sort as Hogs do when to be stuck or dogs when tyed up from their meat Murmure they do and expostulate a wrong with God as those Isa 58.2 3. Non ita Deos coluimuâ— as that heathen hypocrite said We have not served God so well that he should serve us no better but pray they do not unlesse it be as those hypocrites in Zachary chap. 7. who fasted to themselves and prayed for their own ends more to get off their chaines then their sinnes They bear fruit
to themselves as Ephraim and see what comes of it Verse 14 They dye in youth They dye before their time as Solomon expresseth it then when it were better for them to do any thing then to dye for they are killed with death as Jezebels children were Rev. 2. Their soul dyeth as the Hebrew here hath it Their soul perisheth among the boyes their life among that buggerers as Beza translateth this Text and thus Paraphraseth Therefore as accursed before God they dye and are reckoned amongst those impure young men whose youth being spent in all filthinesse and uncleannesse was subject to that most abominable lust which is not to be named The sum of all is saith Brentius Hypocrita peribit turpiter The Hypocrite shall once come to a shameful end And when the fowle sinner shall be damned what shall become of the faire Professour God will lead such forth with the workers of iniquity yea with the worst kind of sinners Sodomites for instance shall he punish them Verse 15. He delivereth the poor in his affliction Oft in this life as he did David signally Psal 34.6 2 Tim. 4. This poor man meaning himself cryed and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles So he pulled Paul out of the mouth of the Lion yea and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and preserve me unto his heavenly kingdome where the Saints shall be sure of full deliverance and shall say of their afflictions as that Adulteress said of her accusers John 8. They are all gone He openeth their ears in oppression Or By oppression as by a key he openeth the eares of their hearts to holy and wholsome counsel This Elihu had said before but he saith it again for that end and purpose that Job might rowse up and raise up himselfe to the hope of a comfortable restauration for as much as God afflicteth not his to destroy them but to make them partakers of his holinesse and that once done to deliver them Verse 16. Even so would he have removed thee c. The sin revocat ad hypothesin Here Elihu applyeth to Job that which he had more generally discoursed concerning godly mens afflictions turned to their greatest good if they be careful to improve the same Heb. He would have perswaded or gently removed thee Out of the strait c. Heb. Out of the mouth of the strait A Metaphor from wild beasts that hold some prey in the mouth saith Piscator Or from a pit narrow at the top and wide at the bottom as R. Solomon and some others who understand it of hell Brentius to the same sense rendreth the Text thus Eripiet te ab ore angustiae lato sub quo nullum est fundamentum He shall deliver thee from the broad mouth of straitness under which there is no bottom And that which should be set on the table c. Thou shouldst eat of the fat and drink of the sweet thou shouldst have knowne no want of any thing if thou hadst not been wanting to thy selfe in making the best use of thy troubles See Psal 23.5 Verse 17. But thou hast fulfilled the judgement of the wicked But thou contrarily blusterest against God and blurtest out such words that thou seemest to be as bad as the worst and to have little or no goodnesse in thee See chap. 34 8. It is a shame to Gods people to symbolize with the wicked to be carnal in their speeches or carriages and to walk as men 2 Cor. 3.3 They should so speak and so do as those that shall be judged by the Law of liberty Jam. 2.12 Judgement and justice take hold of thee Thou art worthily attached by the divine justice which thou hast quarrelled Verse 18. Because there is wrath beware lest he take thee away with his stroak Beza readeth it thus Surely it is wrath take heed lest with stroakes it take thee away i.e. Certainely the wrath of God doth in this thy calamitie most manifestly shew it self Oh beware lest he double his stroakes and beat thee to pieces for thy disobedience and stubbornesse With the froward God will wrestle Psal 18.26 and adde to their miseries seven times more and seven times and seven to that Levit. 26.18 21 24 28. Then a great ransome cannot deliver thee Heb. Turn thee aside or help thee to decline that is to escape no though thou shouldst offer thousands of Rams or ten thousand Rivers of Oyl as Mie 6.7 Verse 19. Will he esteem thy riches Tremellius rendreth it Thy Nobility Others read it thus Will be regard thy crying in thine adversity Or That thou shouldst not abide in adversity See Proverb 10.2 and 11.4 with the Notes No not gold Which yet can do much with men The Hebrew word signifieth finest gold Job 22.24 and hath its name from defending because gold is a mans defence With men it may be so but not with God Zeph. 1.18 See the Note there Others read it No not in affliction Nor all the forces of strength Which are poor things in comparison of God whose weaknesse is stronger then men Conantia frangere fraâ—gunt 1 Corinth 1.25 He need but to arise and his enemies shall be scattered yea all that hate him shall flye before him Psal 68.1 As the Rocks repel the greatest waves so doth God his enemies Verse 20. Desire not the night c That is as some sense it do not thou peevishly desire death see chap. 7.15 lest it comes too soon and it do by thee as it doth by many an one whom it cuts off in judgement For surely in the state thou art now in thou oughtest to fear an extraordinary kind of death an inlet to eternal destruction as in the Deluge Sodom and Egypt Others render it thus Neither let it disquiet thee in the night how people are destroyed out of their place that is in the night season Vatabl. when thy mind is void of cares puzzle not thy self how and why some Nations perish and not others but rather rest thy selfe upon Gods providence and unsearchable wisdome Beza and trouble not thy head in searching out the cause of this so sudden misfortune Brentius makes this the sense Noli impiè agere Desire not the night that is Deal not wickedly by complaining against God and impatiently bearing his hand as Theeves and Adulterers desire the night for dispatch of their deeds of darkness Think not thou to hide thy self in the dark from the dint of Gods displeasure When people are cut off in their place Heb. Ascend under them i.e. Rise that they may fall Psal 102.10 as the light of a candle when it is ready to go out flieth up and then vanisheth away Or as the corn is first taken up by the hand of the Reaper and then cut off and laid flat on the ground Verse 21. Take heed regard not iniquity This especially of blaming Gods judgements as if they were unequal No more of that saith
Elihu Cave tibi ne conjicias oculos ad vanitatem Beware thou cast not an eye towards such a vanity or iniquity as that is This was very good counsel and it is very well observed that this whole following Treatise to the end of the thirty seventh chapter is as it were a gentle lenitive of that foregoing sharp rebuke which otherwise was likely to drive Job beside all patience For this thou hast chosen rather then affliction That is this forementioned iniquity of speaking rashly and wickedly against Gods proceedings with thee this thou hast chosen rather then to bear thine affliction or thy poverty patiently Now this was an ill choice for Epist 3. quas non oportet mortes praeligere saith Zuinglius What deaths ought not a man rather to make choice of what torments not rather undergo yea into what deepest gulf of hell it self not rather enter then wittingly and willingly to sin against God The ancient Martyrs would not be delivered upon base termes Heb 11.35 Tertul. Daniel chose rather to be thrown to the Lions then to violate his conscience and so to have a Lion roaring in his own bosome The Primitive Christians cryed out Ad Leonem magis quam Lenonem I had rather enter into hell being clear from sin and innocent quam peccati sorde pollutus coelorum regna tenere then go to heaven if I might besmeared with the filth of sin faith Anselm I had rather leap into a Bonfire and be burnt said another of the Ancients then commit any sin against God Pintâ— ir Daniel Some write that there is a certain little beast called the Mouse of Armenia which will rather dye then be defiled with any filth insomuch that if her hole be besmeared with dirt she will rather chuse to be taken then polluted Such ought the servants of God to be Verse 22. Behold God exalteth by his power Vulg. God is high in his strength He both exalteth himself and others whensoever he pleaseth Beza reads it Behold God in his strength is above all q.d. It is he that must restore thee if ever thou beest restored Who teacheth like him Vulg. None amongst the Law-givers is like unto him But the word Moreh signifieth a Doctor or a Teacher as Moreh Nebuchim a Teacher of perplexed things an unriddler of Riddles He knowes all things exactly and does all things with singular skil and understanding He hath many wayes of teaching people and making them to profit Isai 48.17 and one is by afflictions which Luther therefore fitly calleth Theologiam Christianorum the Christians System of Divinity as hath been before noted Mr. Ascham was a good School-Master saith one to Q. Elizabeth but affliction was a better Verse 23. Who hath enjoyned him his way q.d. Wilt thou take upon thee to teach this great Teacher how to govern the world This were a strange kind of arrogancy Or Who can say Thou hast wrought iniquity Gods judgements are sometimes secret but alwayes just Let not men reprehend what they do not yet comprehend but content themselves with a learned ignorance till God shall further discover himselfe saying of Gods Works as Socrates did of a certain Book that he had read What I understand therein is very good and so I think is that I understand not When we come into an Artificers shop we see many Tooles the use whereof we know not and yet we conclude they are of some use Why then should men rashly censure Gods proceedings which are many times in mediis contrariis In Genes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz. in Cypr. as Luther was wont to say brought about by contrary means that he may be the more admired as Nazianzen giveth the reason The Artificer with a crooked Tool makes straight work The Apothecary maketh of a poisonful Viper a wholsome Triacle so here Far be it from us therefore to charge God with iniquity for this were with those mad Manichees to affirme Manichaeorum diabolicus sarcasmus Paraeus That till he had created light he dwelt in darkness as if God were not an eternal Light 1 John 1.5 1 Tim. 6.16 Verse 24. Rememember that thou magnifie his works His work of Creation wherein the wisdome power and goodnesse of God is clearly manifested Rom. 1.19 in that glorious structure of the heavens especially which men behold Or his work of Administration and Gubernation whereof David saith All thy Works praise thee O Lord that is they yeeld matter of magnifying thee and thy Saints shall blesse thee Psal 145.10 Remember that this be done saith Elihu Junius by Gods Works here understandeth Noahs Flood Which men behold Or Whereof men do sing saying Id quod prudentes viri olim veluti gnomâ quadam communi sententiâ jactarunt dicentes Omnis homo aspicit c. Brent as in the next verse Verse 25. Every man may see it scil In quo est vel mica bonae mentis for a brutish man knoweth it not Psal 92.6 7. But stupidus est dignus cui oculi eruantur saith Plato He is a very blockhead and worthy to have his eyes pulled out of his head who looketh not above him and about him that he may magnifie and admire the wisdom of the Creator of all and Preserver of mankind Man may behold it afar off For heaven is far above earth and it is a wonder that we can look to so admirable an height and that the very eye is not tired in the way And for things that are neerer to us we see them but as through a glass obscurely our knowledg of them is very imperfect 1 Cor 11.13 the reason of many things is above our reach We read of one who had spent above forty yeares in finding out the Nature and Property of Bees and yet was not fully satisfied of many things therein Verse 26. Behold God is great Yea he is maximus in minimis Greatest and most of all seen in the meanest creatures as in Ants more then in Elephants c. Brent God sheweth in his works of all sorts se aliquantum esse sed quantus sit ruâ—sus operibus involuit that he is very great but how great he is that appeares not Neither can the number of his years be searched out How should they say when as his countenance is beyond all count Psal 102.24 27. Dan. 5 Yeares are here ascribed unto him and he is elsewhere called Ancient of dayes and the haires of his head are said to be white like snow Rev. 1.14 but all this is spoken of God after the manner of men and should teach us neither curiously to enquire into his counsels nor discontentedly to complain of his doings Verse 27. For he maketh small the drops of water Here Elihu beginneth to instance the greatnesse of God in his works and particularly in the Meteors many of which Aristotle confesseth he understood not And this I dare say saith a learned Interpreter here that there
the sea regarded him not Xerxes beat the sea and cast a pair of fetters into it to make it his prisoner but to no purpose God here chides it by an elegant Eclipsis or Aposiopesis Illic ponet sc ventus elationem fluctuum tuâ—rum and it is quieted immediately as Jon. 1. Matth. 8. Think the same of the waters of Afflictions Verse 12. Hast thou commanded the morning since thy dayes It may be thou wilt say These are ancient things done long before I was born but ask me of things within my reach and remembrance Well then what saiest thou to the Sun-rising Hast thou either lengthened or hastened it at any time since thou wert born causing it to rise at such or such an hour in such or such a point of heaven according to the divers degrees and situations of the Zodiak No this is more than ever any man could do The day is thine the night also is thine saith David Thou hast prepared the light and the Sun Thou hast set all the borders of the earth thou hast made summer and winter Psal 74.16 17. If all the Emperours and Potentates of the earth should conjoyn their forces to hinder or hasten the rising of the Sun they could never do it Joshua did indeed stop the course of the Sun but that was by the power of God set a work by his faithful prayer Whence One cryeth out O admirabilem piarum precum vim ac potentiam quibus etiam coelestia cedunt O the admirable power of Prayer force of Faith which is such as the visible heavens are sensible of and giveth way to how then should earth or hell stand before it And cause the day-spring to know his place The word day-spring comes from blacknesse for it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clear light at first but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aurorasic à nigrore dicta qui eam comitatur rather dark than light Verse 13. That it might take hold of the ends of the earth That is suddenly illighten the whole Horizon for which cause also David ascribeth wings to the morning Psal 139. so that the light is not a body nor as some will have it a substance but an accident The truth is no man can tell what it is of any certainty an admirable creature it is surely a divine and heavenly thing than which nothing is more desirable nothing more profitable Two excellent uses of it are here set forth 1. To refresh men by the sight of the earth and the things thereon 2. To set us upon serious employments such as is the punishment of evil doers for so some interpret those next words That the wicked might be shaken out of it sc By banishment or rather by death inflicted upon them in the light for their deeds of darknesse Or at least that those Lucifugae tenebriones those inauspicate night-birds who hate the light because their works are evil might be shamed and shunned Their Motto is Jam lux inimica propinquat See chap. 24. vers Virg. 13 17. Verse 14. It is turned as clay to the seal That is The earth now discerned by reason of the aire inlightened The sense is this Like as clay in the lump that hath no figure stamped upon it is changed by a seal impressed Piscator and receiveth the figure of the seal upon it self so the earth which by night was without form by reason of darknesse when once the Sun is up is figured as it were that is it shewes the several figures stamped upon it And they stand as a garment All the several fruits flowers and various workmanship of God in her produced creatures that grow thereupon Abbot appear as a stately garment or ornament on a man Mat. 6.28 29. the Sun-beams shining upon it as lace Verse 15. And from the wicked their light is with-holden They have no such joy of those comforts which the light affordeth but as it discovereth their dark practises Ephes 5.13 so it bâ—ingeth them forth to condigne punishment Vtpote indignos qui hac luce fruantur And his high arm shall be broken i. e. His strength tyranny and power whereby he oppressed others as with an out-stretched arm lifted up to strike with violence this shall be broken as Moabs was Jer. 48. and as all the wickeds shall be but the Lord upholdeth the righteous Psal 37.17 It is well noted that this verse is an Exposition of the latter part of vers 13. as the former verse was of the former part And well might Mercer say of this and the three following Chapters Sunt hac alta insignia munulla difficilia these are things high and excellent and somthing dark and difficult Verse 16. Hast thou entred into the springs of the sea Heb. Into the teares of the sea Vsque ad ploratamaris Job 28.11 for springs poure out water as eyes do teares and the same Hebrew word signifieth an eye and a spring because saith One the eye is of a watery constitution or to shew that from it as from a spring or fountain did flow both sin it self the cause of sin and misery the punishment of both and because by it came the greatest hurt therefore God hath placed in it the greatest tokens of sorrow iisdem quibus videmus oculis flemus Now if Job cannot fathom the Sea much lesse can he the deep counsels of God Or hast thou walked in the search of the deep Et in vado voraginis ambulasti No that 's Gods walk alone Psal 77.19 whatever the Papists legend of their St. Christopher Verse 17. Have the gates of Death been opened unto thee sc That thou shouldest know when how and of what Disease every man shall die together with the state and condition of the dead Or hast thou seen the doers of the shadow of death No nor any man living hath ever seen those dark and dismal receptacles of the dead called here the shadow of death that is so dreadful that they were enough to strike a man dead Verse 18. Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth Heb. The bredths i. e. the length also and circumference thereof Geographers define the length of the earth from East to West the bredth from North to South and they have their supputations and conjectures Frigidae sunt et leves conjecturae Mercer Pencer and others tell us that if there were a path made round the earth an able foot-man might easily go it in 900. dayes Which if he could yet what mortal man though he should live 900. years could ever visit and view the whole face nature and dimension of the earth wherein are so many deserts and bogs unpassable Or what Job can give a reason why God made the earth of such a length and bredth and no more when he could so easily have done it How much lesse can he of Gods secret and unsearchable judgements and why should he so desire to know the cause wherefore he is
Pageants And by this passage some conjecture that not the Whale but the Sea-dragon is here described Let it be what it will it must needs be a great heat within this great Fish that sendeth forth as it were burning lamps and sparks of fire and a strong sulphurous breath he must have like the out-bursts of Aetna by this description Aristotle saith the Whale is of an hot fiery nature and that he hath Lungs and breatheth a pipe or passage also he hath in his fore-head Lib. 4. 〈◊〉 anim cap. 〈◊〉 whereat he throweth out the water he hath taken in either by his breathing or eating This transparent water thus with a force thrown up against the Sun-beams may bear a shew of lightning or burning lamps Verse 20. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke c. Whiles his meat heateth in his stomack for concoction Sufflati as if fire were put under some great reaking pot or Caldron boyling Heb. blown for of blowing comes boyling Verse 21. His breath kindleth coals Or Would kindle coals as a Smiths bellows if there were any to kindle Such a kindle-coal was Arrius and Hildebrand of old the Jesuites at this day and not a few others Prov. 26.21 Es 33.10 your breath as fire shall devour you Some mens tongues are like Gun-powder which touched with the least spark will instantly be in the face Jam. 3.6 A flame goeth out of their mouths enough to set the whole course of Nature on fire Verse 22. In his neck remaineth strength Aristotle saith that among Fishes De part 〈◊〉 lib. 3. the Dolphin Whale and such as breath have necks proportionable to their bodies The word rendred remaineth is in the Hebrew lodgeth or abideth all night so spoken saith One because the Whale as also the Dolphin sleepeth with his head erected above water And sorrow is turned into joy before him i.e. He knows no sorrows he fears no hurt but alwayes rejoyceth bearing himself bold upon his strength God having made him to sport in the sea Psal 104.26 Others read it And before him danceth fear Pavor Pallor Tullus Hostilius his two gods men dance or start for fear Verse 23. The flakes of his flesh are joyned together Heb. The fallings Meland Tremell or the refuse and vilest parts as the word is rendred Am. 8.6 Now if God be so punctual in the description of these also can any one think that he hath let passe any thing in the holy Scriptures that belong to our Salvation What need is there then of humane traditions They are firm in themselves Heb. Moulton Firm they must be because so joyned together Vis unita fortior but dissention is the mother of dissolution England is a mighty Animal saith a great Polititian which can never die except it kill it self They cannot be moved Or He cannot be moved He may say as Terminus of old Nullicedo I give place to none unlesse I please Verse 24. His heart is as firm as a stone He is corpore corde validissimus Of the sword-fish Plutarch saith that he hath a sword but not an heart to use it But the Whale hath courage to his bulk his heart is as firm as a stone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as his head saith Scaliger is as hard as a flint In the hearts of some creatures saith Aristotle is found a bony or grisly hardness but the Whales heart is all as it were a bone and this bone as a stone As a pair of the neather milstone Metae upon which the whole weight lyeth the Greek call it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 18.6 the Mill-Ass because it is the bigger and harder of the two The vulgar here for the neather Mill-stone hath the smiths-Anvil which by hammering is made harder Verse 25. When he raiseth up himself the mighty are afraid When he shewes himself like some moving mountain upon the surface of the water the most assured Pilotes or passengers are seized with fear of death and seek to make peace with God as those Marriners did Jon. 1.5 6 c. By reason of breakin gs Broughton reads of shiverings They purifie themselves Expiantse they beg pardon of sin and prepare to die Others render it aberrant they are dispirited and know not what course to take Others again they purge downwards their retentive faculty being weakned with fear they let go their excrements as Loper the traytour did when he was upon his tryal before the Lords of the Council and as God somewhere in Ezekiel threatneth his rebels that for fear of his displeasure they shall not be able to hold their water Verse 26. The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold So close are his scales so thick his skin that there is no wounding of him There was not of old it seemeth But now there is a way found of shooting and piercing of him so that he dieth with an horrible noise and out-cry Nor the Harbergeon A defensive weapon will be as uselesse as those other offensive for the Whale will soon swallow up the armed as well as the unarmed Verse 27. He esteemeth iron as straw and brasse as rotten wood He makes nothing of any thing that shall be done against him Bears and Lions may be wounded with hunting-weapons other Fishes with Eele-spears and the like not so the Whale or not so easily Verse 28. The arrow cannot make him flee Heb. Sons of the bow as chap. 5.7 Sparks are called sons of the coal Arrows were then as much in use as bullets are now Sling-stones are turned with him into stubble Those stones which the sling castes with so much force make as little impression upon his body as a festraw would which the hand of a child should push Verse 29. Darts are counted as stubble When any thing in the Decrees or Decretals likes not the Pope he sets Palea that is stubble upon it or Hoe non credo so doth this Leviathan upon all kind of weapons he slightes them The word here rendred darts is as strange as the weapon it signifieth is to us unknown lapides ballistae an engin whereby great stones were thrown against Walles or Towers as now Cannon-bullets to make a breath in them Catapulta aries vel simile aliquod tormentum Be they what they will the Whale fears them not no though they were as terrible to others as those two great pieces of Ordnance cast by Alphonsus Duke of Ferrara the one whereof he called the Earthquake the other Grandiabolo the great Devil Verse 30. Acumina testacea Sharp stones are under him Heb. Sharp pieces of the potsheard which prick him no more than if he lay upon the softest couch◠so hard is his belly He spreadeth sharp-pointed things upon the mine When he might lye softer he scorns it as our hardy forefathers some two or three hundred years agoe who ordinarily lay upon straw-pallets covered with canvas and around log under their heads instead of a bolster Hollinshed As
As a dutiful and docible Scholar who should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I will ask thee questions and hang upon thy holy lips for an answer Verse 5. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear God hath ordained that as death entred into the world at first by the ear poisoned by that old Man-slayer Genes 3. so life shall enter into the soul by the same door for it is Hear and your soul shall live Isai 55.3 And The dead in sins and trespasses shall hear the voice of the Son of God sounding in his Ordinances and shall live the life of grace here and of glory hereafter John 5.25 This great mercy Job had received and he thankfully acknowledgeth it But behold a greater But now mine eyes hath seen thee Not only in the temple and whirl-wind those clear testimonies of thy presence but by some other special glorious apparition so some think and by a Spirit of Prophecy as the Hebrewes would have it by the inward teaching of thy Spirit howsoever as Vatablus senseth it Et quando Christus Magister quà m citò discitur quod docetur saith Austin When God by his Spirit taketh in hand to teach a man he soon becometh a skilful Scholer Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia saith Ambrose The Spirit is not long in teaching those that commit themselves to his tuition The hypocrite knowes God but by hear-say as a blind man knoweth colours such may say as those in the Psalm Audivimus famam something we have heard and some confused notions we have got concerning God and his will but they are meerly disciplinary but not intuitive id est Per speciem Propriam c. Such as transformes the soul into the same Image it is not that claritas in intellectu quae parit ardorem in affectu That light in the understanding that kindleth the affections Job was such witnesse his next words Verse 6. Wherefore I abhor my self Aspernor illa so Tremellius I utterly dislike those my former base and bald conceits of thee my hard and unsauoury speeches mine impatient and imprudent carriages Horreo quicquid de meo est ut meus sins as Bernard expresseth it Reprobo meipsum so Brentius I do utterly reject my selfe I condemn mine own folly I eat those words of discontent at thy righteous proceedings Dignasanè quae per jugulum redeant Abiicio vitam meam so Mercer and Lavater render it Displiceo mihimetipsi ac pervelim ut aliter dixissem ac fecissem Lavat Jerem. 6.26 and 25.34 Virg. Aeneid lib. 12. I cast away my life and look upon it as lost if thou shouldst take the forfeiture I humbly put my self into the hands of justice yet in hope of mercy I repent in dust and ashes As in an expresse and publick pennance I throw my self here upon the ground I put my mouth in the dust Lam. 3.24 Canitiem iâ—â—mundo perfusam pulvere turpo I sprinkle dust and ashes upon mine head in token that I have deserved to be as far under ground as now I am above ground I repent my presumptuous misbehaviour with as lowly a spirit as ever I sinned with an high Lo this was paenitentiam agere quod est pro malo bonum reponere saith Brentius This was true repentance to change evil for good as piety for blasphemy chastity for fornication charity for envy humility for pride Christ for Satan And Reformation is the best Repentance saith Luther Such as so repent are sure of comfort The word here rendred I repent signifieth also to take comfort as Ezek 32.31 It is repentance unto life Acts 11.18 and such as accompanieth salvation Hebr. 6.9 Neither is it wrought in any man but by a saving sight of Almighty God in his Greatness and Goodness such as may make him at once to tremble and trust as Job did here and Isaiah chap. 6.1 5. Verse 7. And it was so that after the Lord had spoken these words to Job And Job those other again to God it soon repented the Lord concerning his servant Pro magno delicto parum supplicii sat is est patri A little punishment is enough to a loving father for a great fault Comfort ye comfort ye my people saith the Lord for alass they have received of my hand double for all their sins Terent. Isai 40.1 2. So it seemed to him who is all bowels and who in all their afflictions is equally afflicted God weeps on his peoples necks tears of compassion they weep at Gods feet tears of compunction Oh beautiful contention The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite Because he was the ancienter man of greatest Authority and he that passed the heaviest censures upon Job doing enough to have driven him into desperation My wrath is kindled against thee Thus God passeth not sentence on Jobs side till he had first angerly repressed and reprehended those three friends of his who had assailed him without all right and reason Let Gods servants hold out faith and patience sooner or later they shall be righted And against thy two friends Bildad and Zophar Who stuck so close to thee and chimed in with thee against a better man then any of you all As for Elihu he is neither commended here nor condemned He spake well for the main but many times took Job at the worst and misconstrued his speeches He is therefore punished as Ambassadors are used to be when they commit undecencies with silence which is the way royal to correct a wrong The other three had great cause to be much troubled and terrified at that short but sharpest speech of God My wrath is kindled against you for Who knoweth the power of Gods wrath saith David It is as the Messenger of death Psalm 90.11 and Harbinger of hell God never said so much to Job in all those long and large speeches he made unto him for he knew that milder words would do and he loveth not to over-do Ille dolet quoties cogitur esse ferox By the way observe That although these three had offended more then Job yet he was afflicted and they escaped free Judgement beginneth at Gods house neither have any out of hell ever suffered more then those Worthies of whom the world was not worthy Heb. 11. For ye have not spoken the thing that was right And yet they seemed to be all for God and to plead his Cause against Job throughout But as in some things they were much mistaken so they had their self-respects and were much byassed in their discourses Hypocrites and Heretikes saith Gregory here seem unto men more righteous but God accepteth them not for all their plausible pleas and specious pretences Luke 16.15 Ye are they said our Saviour to the Pharisees who justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts for that which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination in the sight of God As my servant Job hath They also were Gods servants but because they had lent
cadent damnabunâ—ur at the Great Assizes they shall bee cast and condemned Revel 6.17 For the great day of his Wrath is come and who shall be able to stand If the righteous scarcely be saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear 1 Pet. 4.18 Surely no where but in Hell their own place Acts 1.25 not before God for he is a consuming fire Heb. 12. ult and they chaff or stubble fully dried See Isa 33.14 Not before Christ for he shall come in flaming fire rendring vengeance c. 2 Thess 1.7 not in Heaven for it 's an undefiled inheritance neither may any dirty Dogge trample on that golden pavement Revel 22.15 Not any longer on Earth defiled by their iniquities and therefore to bee purged by the fire of the last Day for the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up 2 Pet. 3.10 R. David Kimchi by Judgement here understandeth the day of the wicked mans death and indeed his Deaths-day is his Doomesday when he must take a fearful farewell and breath out his Soul and hope together with the breath of the same dying groan Job 27.8 11.20 Hinc illae Lachrymae hence that loth-to-depart though some set a good face upon it when to dye as Sir Thomas Moore who dyed for the Popes Supremacy with a light jest in his mouth Vespasian likewise dyed with a jest and Augustus in a Complement This was but the Hypocrisie of mirth for Death is the King of terror to a Natural man See Heb. 2.15 1 Sam. 15.32 28.20 Saul at the message of death swooned quite away and fell all along Quantus quantus erat as Peter Martyr phraseth it yea good Hezekiah wept when sentenced to death and the approach of it was to him Mar mar bitter bitterness Isa 38.3.17 he must have his faith at his fingers ends as one saith that will dye actively But all men have not faith 2 Thess 3.2 and those few that have are not always assured that their hearts shall live for ever as Psal 22.26 and that Death the Devils Serjeant to drag wicked men to Hell shall be to them the Lords Gentleman-usher to conduct them to Heaven as Mr. Brightman expresseth it Nor Sinners in the Congregation of the righteous They shall never set foot within heavens Threshold within that general Assembly that sacred Panegyris ample Amphitheatre the Congregation-house of crowned Saints and glorious Angels Tertullian saith of Pompies Theatre which was the greatest ornament of old Rome that it was Arx omnium turpitudinum a receptacle of all kind of Ribaldry and Roguery Not so Heaven There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lye Rev. 21.27 Augustin The Irish air will sooner brook a Toad or a Snake than Heaven a Sinner Mali in area nobiscum esse possunt in horreo non possunt Chaff may be with Gods good Corn on the floor but in the Garner it shall not For Christ will throughly purge his floor and gather his Wheat into the Garner but will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire Mat. 3.12 Vers 6. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous Or acknowledgeth approveth administreth and ordereth all things to their eternal Salvation as may appear by the opposition wherein there is a Rhetorical Aposiopesis Gods knowledge of men and their ways is not meerly Intuitive but Approbative of the good and Vindictive of the evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Providence which is the carrying on of his Decree is that helm which turns about the wholeship of the Universe with singular skill and justice Dominus diligit dirigit viam id est vitam omne institutum justorum See Psal 37.18 142.4 Nahum 1.7 Prov. 2.8 with the notes there God knows the righteous by name Exod. 33.17 knows them for his own looks upon them and their whole course with singular delight and complacency they are his Hephzibah Isa 62.4 the dearly beloved of his Soul Jer. 12.7 Verba notitiae apud Hebraos secum trahunt affectum But the way of the ungodly shall perish Their practices and persons shall perish together be done away be lost for ever And why because the Lord knoweth them not unless it be for black Sheep as we say or rather for reprobate Goats Mat. 25. Hence their Souls are flung out as out of the middle of a sling when the Souls of the Saints are bound up in the bundle of life with the Lord their God 1 Sam. 25.29 PSAL. II. Vers 1 VVHy do the Heathen rage Why or for what The Psalm beginneth abruptly with an angry interrogation q.d. What are they mad to attempt such things as whereof they can neither give any good reason nor expect any good effect The Lord Christ of whom David was both a Father and a Figure as here appeareth shall surely reign maugre all the rage and resistance of his enemies who may seem to be ambitious of their own destruction and are therefore in this Psalm schooled and counselled to desist Nothing is more irrational than irreligion Why do the Heathen tumultuously rage or hurtle together Fremunt ferociunt When the Philistines heard that David was made King in Hebron they came up to seek him and to unking him 2 Sam. 5.17 so the Heathen and People that is Gentiles and Jews would have dealt by Christ Acts 4.25 26. The Devil ever since hee was cast out of Heaven tumultuateth and keepeth ado so do unruly spirits acted and agitated by him Dan. 6.15 Then those men kept a stir with the King against Daniel it is the same Hebrew word that is here and possibly Daniels spirit might think of Davids terms John 11.33 Jesus troubled himself but after another manner than these his enemies his passions were without mud as clear water in a Chrystal Glass what was an act of power in Christ is an act of weakness if not of wickedness in others 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 4.25 The Apostles Greek word for this in the text denoteth rage pride and fierceness as of Horses that Neigh and rush into the Battel And the people imagine Heb. meditate or mutter a vain thing an empty design that shall come to noting Niteris incassum Christi submergere puppem Fluctuat at nunquam mergitur illaratis Dipt may the Churches Ship be but not drown'd Christ will not fail her enemies to confound Some think that by this muttering people are meant such as act not open outrages against Christ but yet in words murmur and mutiny whispering Treason Vers 2. The Kings of the earth set themselves Or stand up as if they would do the deed and bear down all before them The many had acted their part vers 1. and now the mighties shew themselves but go off again with shame enough The Spanish Frier used to say there were but few Princes in Hell and why because there were but few in all It was a
that he cannot but cry out Who can understand c. O cleanse c. The most perfect Saints are the most sensible of their imperfections as the more delicate the Senses are the more sharply are they affected with what offends them Rom. 7.14 1 Cor. 15.9 10. Alas for us saith one good man Ipsa lachrymae sunt lachrymabiles we had need to weep over our tears sigh over our sobs mourn over our griefs c. Look how when we have swept a room never so clean saith Spinaeus if the Sun do but come into it at the windows De instit Christian we soon espy abundance of filthy motes mingled with the beams thereof so is it with our hearts when once illightned What a blinde buzzard then was he that said Non habeo Domine quod mihi ignoscas Lord I have nothing for thee to pardon And no wiser was Bellarmine that great Scholar but ill read in his own heart if that be true that is reported of him viz. that when the Priest came to absolve him he could not remember any particular sin to confess till he went back in his thoughts as far as his youth Of Philip the Third King of Spain Val. Max. Christ 263. it is said that he lived so strictly that he never committed any gross Crime or wilful wickedness yet coming to dye he cried out O that I had never reigned O that I had lived a private life in the Wilderness that I might not have now to answer for not doing the good or hindering the evil that I might have done in my government Cleanse thou me from secret faults Secret from my self many of them sins of ignorance and of inadvertency secret from the world more of them heart sins but not secret from the Lord Psal 90.8 Heb. 4.13 These are of daily and hourly incursion involuntary and unavoydable infirmities yet are they sins properly so called and we must be cleansed from them by the Merit and Spirit of Christ they must be repented of in general at least and then there is a pardon of course for them and they do not usually distract and plunge the Conscience Vers 13. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins Heb. With-draw inhibit for we are naturally prone to the worst of sins even the best of us and to lye buried with the World in a bog of wickedness adding rebellion to sin and doing wickedly with both hands earnestly unless God reign us in and restrain us from such enormities Midrash Tillin in Psal 191. Pray we therefore as here Etiam â superbiis contine servum tuum Davids Murthering Vriah was a sin of this sort The Rabbins here observe how the Propher riseth in his request first for pardon of lesser sins and then for power against greater like as a Begger say they first craves a little water and then a Morsel of bread We should do so Let them not have dominion over me Sin will rebel but it must not reign in our mortal bodies it must not play Rex and bear sway in the soul Pray hard against that in chief Ne iniquit as victrix dominetur that our lusts be not our Lords that vice vanquish us not Then shall I be upright Then when I have gotten both pardoning and prevailing-grace to bee cleansed from infirmities and kept from presumptions and arrogancies which cum temerario ausu fastu fiunt contumaciter I shall bee upright in Gods account and entire in his obedience And I shall bee innocent from the great transgression That sin unto death 1 John 5. 16. that wickednesse with a witnesse for which there remaineth no more sacrifice Heb. 10.26 and unto which a way is paved by sins of presumption with an high hand committed against knowledge and conscience Vers 14. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations c. Sint ad beneplacitum verba c. Let both my words and thoughts as well as my life and actions bee to favourable acceptation let them be such as may suit with thy law and will Midrash 〈◊〉 lin O Lord my strength Heb. My Rock In Mare velin Marah velin hoc mundo say the Rabbines In the Sea of sorrow and all along the Wildernesse of this World And my Redeemer Or My near-kinsman who is Jesus Christ in whom we may look for all good from God by vertue of the Covenant This David well understood and therefore hee layeth all the weight on this O Lord my strength and my Redeemer PSAL. XX. A Psalm of David Or Concerning David so Kimchi Or for and on the behalf of David so Aben-Ezra David as a Prophet dictated this form of prayer to bee made by the people for himself their King when hee went forth to fight their battels probably against the Ammonites and Syrians or when hee fled from Absolom and was to help them from the City by his prayers 2 Sam. 18.3 as Aben-Ezra thinketh Vers 1. The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble Great men though gracious as David have their distresses and must pray for themselves then not trusting to the prayers of others for them as did that prophane Earl of Westmorland Camden who said that hee had no need to pray sith hee had Tenants enough to pray for him The name of the God of Jacob defend thee Heb. set thee in an high place such as Gods name is Prov. 18.10 the righteous run thereto and are safe as in a Tower of brasse or Town of war By the name of God is meant Deus nominatissimus the most renowned God saith Junius and worthy to bee praised as Psal 18.3 And hee is called the God of Jacob here saith Another first because Jacob was once in the like distresse Gen. 32.6 7. secondly because hee prayed to the like purpose Gen. 35.3 thirdly because hee prevailed with God as a Prince and there God spake with us Hos 12.5 fourthly because God of Jacob is the same with God of Israel and so the Covenant is pleaded Vers 2. Send thee help from the Sanctuarie Or From his holy heaven saith Tremellius without which vain is the help of man God is all the Dooer in battels and whencesoever the sword comes it is bathed in Heaven Isa 34.5 whatsoever Ajax Timotheus Atheniensis and other Atheists think to the contrary God will send from Heaven and save mee saith holy David And strengthen thee out of Sion i. e. Out of the Assemblies of the Saints where they are praying hard for thy well-fare See Psal 76.2 3. with the Note Vers 3. Remember all thine offerines Before they went to war they were wont to offer sacrifices as did Saul though by his over-haste therein hee lost his Kingdome 1 Sam. 13.9 From the people of God the Heathens also had learned this course and custome Io Paean is in force Jehovah Peneh that is Lord look upon us The Devil Gods ape had taught the Athenians when they began the battel to use these words
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comliness The Protestants at Lions in France called their publick meeting-place Paradise And the place where thine honour dwelleth i.e. Where thou thy self dwellest or thine Ark which is called Gods glory 1 Sam. 4.21 Psal 78.61 yea Gods self Psal 132.5 and Gods face Psal 105.4 Vers 9. Gather not my soul with sinners I have loved thy House which sinners never delighted in therefore gather not my soul with sinners so the Syriack senseth it Let me not dye the death of Sinners for I never cared for their company so the Rabbines See the Note on vers 5. Let me not share with them in punishment for I could never abide their practice Balaam would dye the death of the righteous but he liked not of their life Euchrites would be Craesus vivens Socrates mortuus Sir Walter Rawleigh would live a Papist there being no Religion like that for Licentious liberty and lasciviousness but dye a Protestant We have some that would gladly dance with the Devil all day and then sup with Christ at night live all their lives long in Dalilaes lap and then go to Abrahams bosome when they dye But this cannot be as David well understood and therefore both eschewed the life of a wicked person and deprecated his death Gather not or take not away c. The righteous is taken away Heb. gathered Isa 57.1 as men gather Flowers and candy them preserve them with such to be gathered David would hold it an happiness but not with sinners with sanguinaries for such are gathered but as house-dust to be cast out of doors Vers 10. In whose hands is mischief Wicked contrivance Here we have the true portracture of a corrupt Courtier such as Sauls were Vers 11. But as for me I will walk Whatever others do their example shall be no rule to me to deviate See my Righteous mans recompence D. 1. Redeem me c. For I am likely to suffer deeply for my singularity Vers 12. My foot standeth in an even place i.e. Mine affections are in an equal tenour A good man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the scales of his minde neither rise up toward the beam through their own lightness or their over-weening opinion of prosperity nor are too much depressed with any load of sorrow but hanging equal and unmoved between both give him liberty in all occurrences to enjoy himself I will bless the Lord For performance of promises chiefly in that great Panegyris Heb. 12. PSAL. XXVII Vers 1. The Lord is my light That is my comfort and direction he that dissolveth all my clouds of serrours within and troubles without To these all hee opposeth Gods All-sufficiency as making for him and as being All in all unto him Light Salvation Strength of Life what not and there-hence his full assurance and such a masculine magnanimity as feareth not the power of men and Devils be they who they will and do what they can Animo magno nihil est magnum When a man can out of this consideration God is my light inthings of the minde and my Salvation in things of the body as Aben-Ezra expoundeth it contemn and reckon all things else as matters of small moment it shews he hath in truth apprehended God and this is true holy magnanimity The Lord is the strength of my life He that keeps life and soul together saith Aben-Ezra as the Spirits do soul and body and therefore Quis potest me interimere saith Kimchi who can do me to death Of whom shall I be afraid Faith fortifieth the heart against distrustful fears which it quelleth and killeth In a fright it runneth to the heart as the bloud doth and releeveth it setting it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of the Gunshot of Creature-annoyances Expertus loquor for Vers 2. When the wicked even mine enemies came upon me Made impression upon me with utmost violence and open mouth as if they would have devoured me Cannibal-like or as a Lion doth a sheep inhumanissimè ferarumque more saith Junius barbarously and beastly They stumbled and fell Irritis conaitibus corruerunt they utterly lost their design as did those Amalekites who had sacked Ziglah 1 Sam. 30. and Saul often If a man stumble and fall not he gets ground but if after much blundering hee kiss the ground hefalleth with a force Davids enemies did so Corruerunt conciderunt they were irreparably ruined Vers 3. Though an Host should encamp against me See Psal 3.6 with the Note We should propound the worst to our selves the best will bring with it as wee say especially if we finde our faith to be in heart and vigour as here Davids was Though War shouldrise against me War is a complexive evil and is therefore called so by a specialty Isa 45.7 I make peace and create evil that is War Sin Satan and War have all one name saith a learned Divine evil is the best of them the best of sin is deformity of Satan enmity of war misery In this will I be confident In this In what In this one ensuing Petition saith Aben-Ezra or in this that I have said before The Lord is my light and my Salvation in this confident gloriation of mine which is such as an unbeleever is a perfect stranger unto Vers 4. One thing have I desired of the Lord One thing above the rest Every of Gods suppliants hath some one special request that he mainly insisteth on Ut cultu Del libeto legitimouti possit Jun. and King Davids was the liberty of Gods Sanctuary and enjoyment of his publick Ordinances Hoc primus petit hoc postremus omittit This was dearer to him than Wife Children Goods all This Sute he knew to be honest and therefore he began it and being so he is resolved never to give it over but to prosecute it to the utmost and to persevere in prayer which is a great vertue Rom. 12.12 till he had prevailed That will I seek after As Gods constant Remembrancer who loveth to be importuned and as it were jogged by his praying people Herein David shewed himself a true Israelite a Prince of God and as Nazianzen stileth Basil the Great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a man of desires flowing from the Spirit He knew well that a faint Suter doth but beg a denial That I may dwell in the House of the Lord i.e. In the place where was the Ark with the Prophets Priests Levites Asaph and his brethren c. with whom David desired to be taken up in the service of God free from Secular cares and delights at times convenient Pyrrhus told Cyneas that when he had finished his Wars once he would then sit still and be merry The Roman Generals when they had once triumphed over their enemies might take their ease and pleasure for ever after But good David resolves to improve his rest when ever God shall grant it him to perpetual piety That I may dwell saith he or sit in the house of Jehovah
wasted the Fig-tree Christ cursed so forcible is his curse Vers 37. Mark the perfect mâ—n c. As we must treasure up experiences our selves so we must stir up others to do the like There is a wo â—o such as consider not the operation of Gods hands Isa 5.12 For the end of that man is peace Though his beginning and middle may bee troublesome yet his end his after-and at least shall be peace He shall by death enter into peace rest in his bed Isa 57.2 Vers 38. But the transgressours c. Here the end is worse than the beginning Sin ever ends tragically The end of the wicked shall be cut off Their end is not death but destruction they are killed with death Rev. 2.23 life and hope end together Vers 39. But the salvation of the righteous c. 〈◊〉 ut paâ—oâ—i◠〈◊〉 coâ—â—lectar their salvation temporal and eternal is of the Lord so is also the destruction of the wicked as is here necessarily implied He is their strength c. That they faint not sink not under the heaviest burden of their light afflictions which are but for a moment Vers 40. And the Lord shall help them c. He shall He shall He shall Oh the Rhetorick of God! the safety of the Saints the certainty of the Promises PSAL. XXXVIII A Psalm of David to bring to remembrance Made purposely for a memorial both of what he had suffered and from what he had been delivered See 1 Chron. 16.4 Exod. 30.16 Lev. 2.2 6.15 Recordatâ—â—â— autem intelligitur miserie ex misericordia Psal 132. Isa 62.6 63.7 It is probable that David had so laid to heart the Rape of his Daughter Tamar the Murther of his eldest Son Amnon the flight of his next Son Absolom and other troubles that befell him Basil thinks Absoloms conspiracy Ahitophels perfidy Shimeies insolency c. that it cost him a great fit of sickness out of which hardly recovering he penned this and some other Psalms as the 35.39 40. but this especially for a Momento to imminde him of his own late misery and Gods never-failing mercy to him Both these we are wondrous apt to forget and so both to lose the fruit of our afflictions by falling afresh to our evil practices as Children soon forget a whipping and to rob God our Deliverer of his due praises like as with Children eaten bread is soon forgotten Both these mischiefs to prevent both in himself and others for we are bound not only to observe Gods Law but also to preserve it as much as may be from being broken David composed this Psalm for to record or to cause remembrance See the like title Psal 70. and for a form for a sick man to pray by as Kimchi noteth not to be sung for those in Purgatory as some Papists have dreamed Vers 1. O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath He beginneth and endeth the Psalm with Petitions filleth it up with sad complaints wherein we shall finde him groaning but not grumbling mourning but not murmuring for that is not the guise of Gods people He beginneth with Eheu Jehova non recuso coargui castigari Correct me O Lord but with Judgement not in anger lest thou bring me to nothing Jer. 10.24 See Psal 6.1 with the Notes Vers 2. For thine arrows stick fast in me i. e. Sicknesses of body R. Obadiah Deus amatquod sagittat Aug. and troubles of minde Job 6.4 Psal 18.14 the Jew-Doctors say that he had a Leprosie for fix Months and that the Divine presence was taken away from him so that he complained not without cause But these were sagitta salut is saith Chrysostom Arrows of Salvation Love-tokens from the Lord not unlike Jonathans arrows 1 Sam. 20.36 and he had been fore-warned of them by Nathan the Prophet 1 Sam. 12 and so bore them the better Praevisa jacula minus forinnt Darts fore-seen are in a manner dintless And thine band presseth me sore Heb. Thou lettest down thy hand upâ—s me Now Gods hand is a mighty band 1 Pet. 5.6 and the weight of it is importable but that Vna eademque manus c. Vers 3. There is no soundness in my flesh because of 〈…〉 This was the immediate cause of Davids misery it came from â—ove displeased and 〈…〉 sins seldom â—â—â—pe better But blessed be our Almighty 〈…〉 who 〈◊〉 health out of sickness by bringing thereby the body of death into a Consumption Neither is there any rest in my bones â—is repetit mere lâ—gentium He saith the same thing twice as Mourners use to do but with an aggravation of his pain reaching to his very bones Because of my sin This was the remote cause of his present sufferings and is the true Mother of all mans miserie Now when these two Gods wrath and mans sin meet in the soul as physick and sickness in the stomack there must needs be much unrest till they be vomited up by confession T is as naturall for guilt to brâ—â—d disquiet as for putrid matter to brâ—â—d vermin Let God therefore be justified and every mouth stopped Vers 4. Sicut aquae praevalentes in quibus erat absorptus Kimchi For mine iniquities are gone over my head So that I am even overwhelmed by them and almost drowned in perdition and destruction The Gospel is post naeufragium tabula and assureth us that God hath cast all our sins into the bottom of the Sea and this keepeth the head of a sinking soul above water As an heavy burden How light soever sin seemeth in the committing it will lye full heavy even as a Talent of lead Zach. 5.7 or as an huge Mountain Heb. 12.1 A facie irae tuae A facie peccati mei A facie stulritiae meae when once we come to a sight and sense of it when Gods wrath and mans sin shall face one another as the former verse hath it according to the originall Vers 5. My wounds stink and are corrupt What his grief or disease was we read not some say the Leprosy some take all this allegorically the word rendred wounds Livores vibices turnices signifieth stripes scarres wailes mattery soares running ulcers the effects of the envenomed arrowes of the Almighty Could we but foresee what sin will cost us we durst not but be innocent That we do not is extream foolishnesse as David here acknowledgeth Because of my foolishnesse In not considering aforehand the hainousnesse of my sinâ—nor the heavinesse of the divine displeasure The word signifieth unadvised rashnesse Prov. 14.17 and t is probable he meaneth his great sin with Bathsheba wherein he was miscarried by his lusts to his cost See Psal 107.17 18. Because of my foolishnesse i.e. Quia non praveni Nathanons confessione saith R. Obadiah because I prevented not Nathans comming by a voluntary confession of my sin unto the Lord. Vers 6. I am troubled Heb. wryed I am bowed down c. Incurvus et prorsuâ— obstipus arroque vulâ—u squallidus
be desolate for a reward a poor reward but such as sin payeth to her servants the wages of sin is death Sin payeth all her servants in black mony See Psal 35.21 The ward here rendred reward signifieth an heel It is as if the Prophet should say Let one desolation tread upon the heels of another â—ill they be utterly undone Vers 16. Let all those that seek thee rejoyce viz. When they hear of my deliverance The Saints have both their joyes and griefs in common with their fellow-members as being in the body Heb. 13.3 both in the body of Christ and in the body of sleth and frailty Vers 17. But I am poor and needy A stark begger neither will I hide from my Lord as once Josephs Brethren said to him when they came for com mine extream indigency my necessitous condition I am one that gets my living by begging Yee the Lord thinketh upon met Hee is the poor mans King as hath been said and Christ is 〈…〉 as Augustine hath it that is he gives with the Father and at same time prayes with the suter who must therefore needs speed Thou art my help and my deliverer make no tarrying Deliver mee speedily lest I perish utterly God saith One is sometimes troubled with too much help but never with too little we are sometimes too soon but he is never too late PSAL. XLI A Psalm of David Of the same sense with the four former Psalmes saith Kimchi Vers 1. Blessed is his that considereth the poor Heb. That wise by 〈◊〉 concerning the poor The poor weakling whose health is impaired whose wealth is wasted Austin rendreth it Qui praeoccupat vocem 〈◊〉 He that prevenreth the request of the poor begger wisely considering his case and not staying till he â—â—ave which possibly out of modesty hee may hee Ioth to do The most interpret it of a charitable Judgement passed upon the poor afflicted not holding him therefore hated of God because heavily afflicted as Jobs friends did At vobis 〈◊〉 sit qui de me quantumvis calamitoso rectius judicatis so Beza here paraphraseth Well may you fare my friends who censiâ—â—e better of mee though full of misery and deal more kindly with mee The word Masâ—hil signifieth both a prudent Judgement and a desire to do all good offices Faith One. It signifieth to give comfort and instruction to the weak faith Another wisely weighing his case and ready to draw out not his sheaâ— only but his soul to the hungry Isa 58.10 This is a blessed man presupposing him to be a Beleever and so to do it from a right Principle viz. Charity out of a pure heart of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1.5 The Lord will deliver him i.e. The poor weakling and the other also that dealeth so mercifully with him both shall be delivere according to that of our Saviour Matth. 10.41 Delivered I say he shall be in due time supported in the mean while a good use and a good Issue he shall be sure of Kimchi Some make it Davids prayer The Lord deliver him c. Others the mercifull mans prayer for the poor-afflicted Vers 2. The Lord will preserve him and keep him alive Life in any sense is a singular mercy Why is a living man sorrow full Lam. 3.39 if he be alive though afflicted he hath cause to be thankfull how much more if alive to Righteousness The Arabick here interpreteth it dabit 〈◊〉 filios in quibus post mortems vivat he will give him Children in whom he may live after his death And he shall be blessed upon the earth With wealth and other accommodations so that the World shall look upon him as every way blessed And thou wilt not deliver him into the hands of his enemies Heb. Do not thou deliver him This maketh Kimchi conclude that all this is but oratio visitantis consolatoria the prayer of him that visiteth the sick man for his comfort Vers 3. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing Whether through sicknesse of body as Isa 38.2 or sorrow of heart for in such case also men cast themselves upon their beds 1 Kin. 21.4 This God and not the Physicians will do for the sick man die septimo on the seventh day saith R. Solomon when he is at sickest Thou wilt make all his bed Heb. Thou wilt turn thou wilt stirre up Poâ—hers under him that he may lye at ease and this by the hand of those poor whom he had considered Or Thou wilt turn all his bed That is his whole body from sicknesse to health as Kabvenaki senseth it Vers 4. I said Lord be mercifull unto mee heal Heal mee in mercy and begin at the inside first Heal my soul of sin and then my body of sicknesse Heal me every whit These to the end are the sick mans words saith Kimchi And this is the Character of the Lords poor man to whom the foresaid comforts do belong saith Another For I have sinned against thee He cryeth peccavi not perit Sanat ionom in capite orditur he beginneth at the right end Vers 5. Mine enemies speak evill of mee Notwithstanding my pitty and devotion that 's no target against persecution Davids integrity and the severity of his discipline displeased these yokelesse Balialists they were sick of his strict government and longed for a new King who would favour their wicked practices such as was absolom whom they shortly after set up David they could not name because be did Justice and Judgement to all the people These â—bertines were of the Eâ—â—◠〈◊〉 loquaces ingeniesi in prafect 〈…〉 eulpam infamiam non effugiat such as loved to speak evill of dignities and could not give their governours how blamelesse soever a good word When shall be dye and his name perish Nothing lesse would satisfie their malice than utter extermination But David recovereth and his name surviveth when they lie wrapt up in the sheet of shame Vers 6. And if he come to see mee That is Achitaphel or some such hollow-hearted Holophanta Plaut Ore pro mea sinitate orant sed cordequaerunt malum Midrash Tillin He speaketh vanity Pretending that he is very sorry to see mee so ill at ease and letting fall some Crocodiles tears perhaps Has heart gathereth iniquity to it self As Toads and Serpents gather venom to vomit at you When be goeth abroad be telleth it Boasting to his treacherous Brotherhood of his base behaviour Vers 7. All thas hate mee whisper together against mee Heb. Mussitant they mutter as Charmers use to do These whisperers are dangerous fellows Rom. 1.29 like the wind that creepeth in by chinks in a wall or cracks in a window A vente percolato inimice reconciliato libera nos Demine saith the Italian Against mee do they devise Cogitant quasi coagitant Vers 8. An evill disease say they â—leaveth fast unto him Heb. A thing of Belial Omnes impietates quas perpetravit R.
Solom a vengeance hath befallen him God for his foul offence hath put him over to the Devill to be tormented by a pestilentiall disease that will surely make an end of him So Genebrard that mad dog in the fourth book of his Chronology Anno Dom. 1564. reckoning up those diverse diseases whereof Calvin dyed all which was well known to be false addeth An Herodes terribilius animam Satana reddiderit equidens nascio whether Herod yeelded up his soul to the Devill in a more horrible manner Lib. 5. cap. 1. I know not With as little charity did Evagrius say of Justinian the great Law-giver ad supplicia justo Dei judicio apud inferos luenda profect us est he went to hell-torments Lib. de Miffi privats Anno 1533. when he dyed by Gods just Judgement And Luther of Oecolampadius se credere Occolampadium ignit is Satane telis hast is confossum â—ubitanea morte periisse tant â—â—e animis calestibus ire This false conceit is sufficiently confuted by the history of his life and death set forth by Simon Grynaus as also is that concerning Calvin by his life written by Beza and others Vers 9. Yea mine own familiar friend Heb. The man of my peace This was a great cut to David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Sophacles what greater wound can there be than a treacherous friend such as was Abitophel to David Judas to our Saviour Brutus to Julius Casar who was slain in the Senat-house with three and twenty wounds Ann Dom. 337 given for most part by them whose lives he had preserved Magnentius to Constans the Emperour who had formerly saved his life from the Souldiers fury Michael Balbus to the Emperour Leo Armenius whom he slew the same night that he had pardoned and released him This evil dealing made Socrates cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Friends there is hardly a friend to bee found and Queen Elizabeth complain that in trust she had found Treason and King Antigonâ—s pray to God to preserve him from his friends and King Alphonsus to complain of the ingratitude of his Favourites In whom I trusted So did not our Saviour in Judas for hee knew him better than so and therefore this clause is left out Joh. 13.18 where hee applieth this saying to himself Hieroâ—s and some others apply the whole Psalm to Christ and for that end they render these words actively Cui credidi to whom I entrusted or committed my ministery Who did eat of my bread My fellow-commoner with whom I had eaten little less than a bushel of Salt A mans enemies are many times those of his own house the Birds of his own bosom Judas dipt in the same dish with Jesus beâ—rayed him with a kiss Caveatur of culuns I scarioticuns Hath lifâ— up his heel against me Heb. Hath magnified the heel or the feet-sole sc to supplant me or to trample upon me or to spurn against me Metaphera ab equis calcitreâ—ibus saith Vatablus a Metaphor from unruly and refractory Horses See Judg. 15.8 it importeth contempt despite and cruelty Vers 10. But thou O Lord be merciful unte me As storms beat a Ship into the harbour so did mens misusages drive David to God and as Children meeting with hard measure abroad hye home to their Parents so here And raise mee up From off this bed of weaknesse and from under their feet of insolency and cruelty That I may requite them Not in a way of private revenge for that was utterly unlawfull and would not bear a prayer but of Justice as I am a King and a lawfull Magistrate The fear of this might happily make Ahitophel foreseeing that all would be naught on Absoloms side to save the hangman a labour Vers 11. By this I know that thou favourest mee This is the triumph of trust and the fruit of faithfull prayer ever answered sometimes before it is uttered sometimes in and sometimes after the act but we may be sure of an un-miscarrying return if we pray and not faint Luk. 18.1 even such as shall bring us word that God favoureth our persons Vers 12. And as for mee thou upholdest mee in mine integrity Which earth and hell had conspired to rob mee of but in vain through thy help My shield is yet in safety My faith faileth mee not nor yet mine innocency in regard of men or the Righteousnesse of my cause And settest mee before thy face for ever So that being never out of thy sight I cannot possibly be out of thy mind Confer 1 King 17.1 Vers 13. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel Thus he sweetly shutteth up this first book of the Psalmes as some distinguish with a patheticall doxology redoubling his Amen Fiat Fiat to shew his fervency and most earnest desire that God should be blessed by his whole Israel This was the custome of the Scribes to do saith Kimchi when they had finished any book The other four books of Psalmes as they are reckoned end in like manner From everlasting to everlasting i.e. From the beginning of the World to the end of it or as the Chaldee hath it from this World unto the World to come Amen and Amen So be it and so it shall bee Dictio est acclamationis approbationis confirmationis The Rabbines say that our Amen in the close of our prayers must not be first hasty but with consideration 1 Cor. 14.16 Secondly nor maimed or defective wee must stretch out our hearts after it and be swallowed up in God Thirdly nor alone or an Orphan that is without faith love and holy confidence The spirits of the whole prayer are contracted into it and so should the spirit of him that prayeth PSAL. XLII Maschil for the sons of Korah Korah and his complices were swallowed up quick by the earth in the Wildernesse for their gain-saying Num. 16. but some of his sons disliking his practice escaped and of them came Heman the Nephew of Samuel a chief singer 1 Chron. 6.23 Now to him and his Brethren 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nocumenta documenta was this and some other of Davids Psalms committed both to be kept as a treasure and to besung in the Sanctuary for comfort and instruction under affliction according to the signification of the word Maschil whereof See Psal 3â— title Vers 1. As the Heart panteth after the water-brooks Heb. As the Hind Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for in females the passions are stronger saith an Interpreter here quicquid volunt valde volunt This Creature is naturally hot and dry De nat aniâ— 1.6 cap. â—â— about Autumn especially as Aristotle testifieth but when hunted extream thirsty Chrysostom and Basill say that she eateth Serpents and so is further inflamed by their poyson Now as the hunted and heated Hind glocitat breatheth and brayeth after the water-brooks Sopanteth my soul after Thee O God He saith Amo te Dâ— mine plus quam 〈◊〉 mos me Ben not after my former dignity and
measure to trust in it that is to think our selves simply the better and the safer for it as our Saviour sheweth and this Disciples after some wonderment at length understood him so Mark 10.23 24. Hence that strict charge 1 Tim. 6.17 And boast themselves in the multitude of their riches Contrary to Jer. 9.23 This Psalm sets forth the better gloriation of a Beleever in the grace of God and in his blessed condition wherein he is lifted up above the greatest Worldings Vers 7. None of them can by any means redeem his brother And therefore all Mony that hath been given for Masses Diriges Trentals c. hath been cast away seeing Christ is the only Redeemer and in the other World Mony beareth no Mastery neither can a man buy off death though hee would give never so much Death will not regard any Ransome neither will he rest content though thou givest many gifts as Solomon saith in another case Prov. 6.35 Fye quoth that great Cardinal Beanford will not Death be hired Act. Mon. in H. 6. Will Mony do nothing Wherefore should I dye being so rich If the whole Realm would save my life I am able either by policy to get it or by riches to buy it c. Lewis the Eleventh would not hear of death all the time of his last Sickness but when he saw there was no remedy he sent for the Holy Water from Rhemes together with Aarons rod as they called it and other holy Reliques Epit. Hist Gall. Balth. Exner. Val. Max. Christ p. 391. thinking therewith to stop Deaths mouth and to stave him off but it would not be O Miser saith one thereupon hoc assidue times quod semel faciendum est Hoc times quod in tua mann est ne timeas Pietatem assume superstitionem omitte mors tua vita erit quidem beata atque eterna Vers 8. For the redemption of their soul is precious i.e. the price of life is greater than that any man how wealthy soever can compass it Mony is the Monarch of this World but not of the next And it ceaseth for ever i.e. The purchase of a longer life ceaseth there is no such thing beleeve it Job 36.18 19. Deut. 23.22 Zech. 11.12 To blame then were the Agrigentines who did eat build plant c. as though they should live for ever Vers 9. That be should still live for ever As every wicked man would if it might be had for mony for he knoweth no happiness but to Have and to Hold on the tother side the Grave he looketh for no good whereas a godly manholdeth mortality a Mercy as Phil. 1.23 he hath Mortem in desiderio vitam in patientin as Fulgentius saith he desireth to dye and yet is content to live accepting of life rather than affecting it enduring it rather than desiring it And not see corruption Heb. The pit of corruption The Chaldee understandeth it of Hell to the which the wicked mans death is as a trap-door Vers 10. For he seeth that wise men dye likewise the fool This to be a truth etiam muta clamant cadavera the dead Corpses of both do preach and proclaim by a dumb kinde of eloquence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Death maketh no difference Pallida mors equo c. It is appointed for all men once to dye It lieth as a mans Lot as the word signifieth Heb. 9.27 and all men can say We are all mortal but alas we say it for most part Magis us◠quam sensu more of custom than feeling for we live as if our lives were rivetted upon Eternity and we should never come to a reckoning Heu vivunt homines tanquam mors nulla sequatur Ant velut infernus fabula vana foret And the bruitish person perish His life and his hopes ending together But it would be considered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that wise men dye as well as fools good men dye as well as bad yea good men oft before the bad Isa 57.1 Jeroboams best Son dyed before the rest because there was some good found in him And leave their wealth to others Nec aliis solùm sed alienis to meer strangers this Solomon sets forth as a great vanity It was therefore a good speech of a holy man once to a great Lord who had shewed him his stately House and pleasant Gardens You had need make sure of Heaven or else when you dye you will be a very great loser Vers 11. Their inward thought is that their houses c. Some joyn this verse to the former and read the words thus Where as each of them seeth that wise men dye likewise the fool c. yet their inward thought is c. they have a secret fond conceit of their own immortality they would fain beleeve that they shall dwell here for ever The Hebrew runneth thus Their inwards are their houses for ever as if their houses were got within them as the Pharisees goods were Luke 11.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So here Internum vel interiora not the thoughts only but the very inmost of the thoughts of wicked Worldlings the most retired thoughts and recesses of their souls are about these earthly things these lye nearest to their hearts as Queen Mary said when she dyed Open me and you shall find Calice at my heart It was a pittiful case that a rotten town lay where Christ should and yet it is ordinary They call their Lands after their own names So to make them famous and to immortalize them at once Thus Cain called his new-built City Enoch after the name of his Son whom he would thereby have to be called Lord Enoch of Enoch This is the ambition still of many that take little care to know that their names are written in Heaven but strive to propagate them as they are able upon Earth Nimrod by his Tower Absolom by his Pillar Alexander by his Alexandria Adrian by his Adrianople c. But the name of the wicked shall rot Prov. 10.7 and those that depart from God shall be written in the earth Jer. 17.13 c. Vers 12. Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not Howsoever he think to eternalize himself and be grown never so great dye he must whether Lord or Losel and dye like a beast a carrion beast unless he be the better man but only for his pillow and bolster At one end of the Library at Dublin was a Globe at the other a Skeliton to shew that though a man was Lord of all the World yet hee must dye his honour must be laid in the dust The mortal Sythe saith one is master of the royal Scepter and it moweth down the Lillies of the Crown as well as the Grass of the field Perperam accommodatur bic versiculus saith another this verse is not well interpreted of the first man Adam to prove that he sinned the same day wherein he was Created and lodged not one night in Paradise He
of man commendeth the righteousness of God Rom. 3.4 5. To thee O Lord God belongeth righteousness but unto us confusion of face saith Daniel chap. 9. Vers 5. Behold I was shapen in iniquity This he alledgeth viz. his original pravity not as an excuse but as an aggravation of his actual abominations which he saith were committed out of the vile viciousness of his nature See Psal 58 3 4. The Masorites here observe that the word rendred iniquity is full written with a double Vau to signifie the fulness of his sin whole evil being in every man by nature and whole evil in man which when the Saints confess they are full in the mouth as I may so say they begin with the root of sin not at the fingers ends as Adenibezek did stabbing the old man at the heart first and laying the main weight upon original corruption that in-dwelling sin as the Apostle calleth it Rom. 7.14 that sin of evil concupiscence as the Chaldee here that peccatum peccans as the Schools Tully belike had heard somewhat of this when he said Cum primum nascimur in omni continuo pravitate versamur Assoon as ever we are born we are forth-with in all wickedness Augustine saith Damnatus homo antequam natus Man is condemned as soon as conceived And in sin did my mother conceive me Heb. Warm me This Aben-Ezra interpreteth to be our great Grand-mother Eve Qua non parturiebat antequam peccabat David meant it doubtless of his immediate mother and spake of that poyson where-with she had warmed him in her wombe before the soul was infused Corruption is conveyed by the impurity of the seed Job 14.4 Job 3.6 31. Sin may be said to be in the seed incoative dispositive as fire is in the Flint Let us therefore go with Elisha to the Fountain and cast salt into those rotten and stinking waters And for our Children let us labour to mend that by education which we have marred by propagation Vers 6. Behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts Quam tamen mihi defuisse res ipsa demonstrat but this truth hath not been found in me when I acted my sin in that sort and did mine utmost to hide it from the world I have shewed little truth in the inward parts but have grosly dissembled in my dealings with Vriab especially whom I so plied at first with counterfeit kindness and then basely betrayed him to the sword of the enemy Sinisterity is fully opposite to sincerity trcachery to truth And in the hidden parts thou shalt make me to know wisdom Thus by faith saith one he riseth out of his sin being taught wisdom of God Others read it Thou hast made me to know c. And yet have I sinned against the light of mine own knowledge and Conscience although thou hast taught me wisdom privately E◠eheu quam familiaritèr as one of thine own Domesticks or Disciples Some make it a prayer Cause me to knew wisdom c. Vers 7. Purge me with Hysop and I shall be clean Sprinkle me with the bloud of Christ by the Hyssop-bunch of faith not only taking away thereby the sting and stink of sin but conferring upon me the sweet savour of Christs righteousness imputed unto me See Heb. 9.13 14 19. where he calleth it Hyssop of which see Dioscorides lib. 3. chap. 26.28 David multiplieth his sute for pardon not only in plain terms but by many metaphors Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow So we cannot be by any washings of our own though with Snow-water Isa 6.46 The Brides Garments are made white in the Lambs bloud Rev. 1.14 the foulest sinners washed in this Fountain become white as the snow in Salmon Isa 1.18 1 Cor. 6.11 Eph. 5.27 Peccata non redeunt Vers 8. Make me hear joy and gladness God will speak peace unto his people he createth the fruit of the lips to be peace Isa 57.19 c. No such joyful tidings to a condemned person as that of a Pardon Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee Feri feri Domine nam à peccatis absolutus sum said Luther Davids Adultery and Murther had weakned his Spiritual condition and wiped off all his comfortables but now he begs to be restored by some good Sermon or sweet promise set home to his poor soul That the bones which thou hast broken may rejoyce By leaping over Gods pale he had broke his bones and fain he would be set right again by a renewed righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost by his former feelings of Gods favour Vers 4. Hide thy face from my sins We are not able to indure Gods presence much less his Justice for our sins nor can there be any sound peace of Conscience whiles he frowneth His favour is better than life but his displeasure more bitter than death it self See 2 Sam. 14.32 And blot out all mine iniquities See how one sin calleth to mind many thousands which though they lye a sleep a long time like a sleeping debt yet wee know not how soon they may be reckoned for Make sure of a generall pardon and take heed of adding new sins to the old Vers 10. Create in mee a clean heart O God His heart was woefully soiled with the filth of sin and the work of grace interrupted he therefore prayeth God to interpose and begin it again to set him up once more to re-inkindle those sparks of the spirit that lay almost quite smothered to put forth his almighty power for that purpose to farm that Augean stable of his heart to sanctify him throughout in spirit soul and body and to keep him blamelesse unto the comming of his son 1 Thes 5.23 Andrenew a right spirit within mee Or a firm spirit firm for God able to resist the Devill stedfast in the faith and to abide constant in the way that is called holy Vers 11. Cast mee not away from thy presence Deprive mee not of communion with thee and comfort from thee for that 's a peece of Hell torments 2 Thes 1.9 Cains punishment which possibly David might here mind as being guilty of murther And Sauls losse of the Kingly Spirit 1 Sam. 15.15 might make him pray on And take not thine holy Spirit from mee David knew that he had done enough to make the holy Spirit loath his lodging he might also think that the Spirit had urterly withdrawn himself and others might think as much beholding his Crosses Jer. 30.17 But the gifts and callings of God are without repentance and where the Spirit once inhabiteth there he abideth for ever Joh. 14.16 an interruption there may bee of his work but not an intercision and a Saint falling into a grosse sin may lose his jus aptitudinale ad calum but not his jus heredit arium his fitnesse but not his right to Heaven that holy place Vers 12. Restore unto mee the joy of thy salvation He had grieved that holy thing that Spirit of
which compare vers 9 10 11. of this Psalm For thereupon David put into a great perturbation as vers 4 5. wished for the wings of a Dove not the pinnions of a Dragon that he might flye farro away Vers 1. Give ear to my prayer O God Davids danger was present his prayer therefore is pressing being not the labour of his lips but the travell of his heart The breath that commeth from the lips is cold not that which commeth from the lungs Hide not thy self As men when they are not willing to be sued unto will not be seen Vers 2. Attend unto mee and hear meâ— Heb. Answer mee that is grant mee deliverance from this death which threatneth mee This is his sense as appeareth by the sequel though at present be could not instance but only beggeth audience I 〈◊〉 my complaâ—â— Hâ—b I tassâ— this way and 〈◊〉 I am so much troubled ut meipsum lamentando huc illuc versare mire agitare cogar Prae dolore moveo me nunc huc nuâ— illuc Campeâ—sis And make a noise Plango perstrepo Of our Saviour it is said that being in an agony he prayed more earnestly He bent as it were all his nerves and set up his note Luk. 22.44 Vers 3. Because of the voice of the enemy He may very well intend Shimeies bitter revilings 2 Sam. 16.5 c. For they cast iniquity upon mee They tumble it on mee as men do stones or any thing else upon their besiedgers to endammage them so did these sin shame any thing upon innocent David to make him odious And in wrath they hate mee Heb. They satanically hate mee Vers 4. My heart is sore pained within mee No otherwise than a woman is pained in travel cordicitus doleo And the terrours of death are fallen upon mee Caused doubtlesse by the deep sense and conscience of his late grievous sins Vers 5. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon mee Fearfulness of heart and trembling of body which last falleth out Timor cordâ— tremor corpris when as the Spirits flying back to the heart to relieve it leave the outward parts destitute And horrour hath over-whelmed mee This was Davids infirmity for he should have better fortified his heart against that cowardly passion of fear the Devill also had a finger in it At another time David could better resolve and say What time I am afraid I will trust in thee Vers 6. And I said O that I had wings like a Dove Ut citissime longissime fugerem that I might swiftly fly far off from Absoloms pursuers as the Dove saveth her self by flight and not by fight scoureth away to the Rocks and deserts Jer. 48.28 Many fouls are swifter of flight than Doves but these hold out better R. Jonah saith that whereas other birds when they are wearied with flying do rest them upon rocks or trees and are taken the Dove doth not so but letteth down one wing and flyeth with the other and thereby escapeth the pursuer R. Jonah apâ— Kimchi For then would I flee away But whither he saith not because he knew not The Church in the Revelation fled into the wilderness Rev. 12. God provided a Pella for those primitive Christians Luther being asked where he would be at quiet from his enemies answered Sub caelo some where God would secure him Vers 7. Lo then would I wander farre off Farre from the force and fury of these breathing Devills Jeremy wisheth the like as being tired out by the ungodly practices of his countrymen chap. 9.2 And many a dear Child of God forced to be in bad company cryes O that I had the wings c. Or if that O will not set him at liberty he takes up that Woe to expresse his misery Woe is mee that I sojourn in Meshech c. And remain in the Wildernesse Among wild beasts which were better than to abide with these Lycanthropi men more cruel savage and bloody than any beasts Vers 8. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm c. I would thrust my ship into any creek in the whole World go as farre as my leggs nay wings could carry mee Of the swiftnesse of the Doves flight see Plin. l. 10. c. 37. and how David hastened his flight from Absolom see 2 Sam 15.14 Vers 9. Destroy O Lord and divide their tongues Heb. Swallow them up O Lord and divide their tongues by an allusion as some conceive to those two famous Judgements of God upon Dathan and Abiram first Numb 16. and then secondly upon the Babel-builders Gen. 11. both which were thrown out for examples to all succeeding ages as St. Jude saith of the Sodomites Jud. 7. and are to be considered of by the Saints as here in their prayers against their enemies How God answered this prayer of David see 2 Sam. 17.1 c. For I have seen violence and strife in the City i. e. In Jerusalem something I have seen but more outrages I have heard of since Absolom with his army came into it The rude souldiers plunder the poor Citizens at pleasure and cannot agree among themselves in dividing the spoil Vers 10. Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof The ruffianly souldiers do as in garrisons is usuall Or Violence and Strife do so that in no place are good men in safety from rapines and robberies Mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it What work may be thought make the common souldiers among the women especially when Absolom openly defileth his Fathers concubines in the sight of all Israel 2 Sam. 16.22 when Tilly took Magdeburg in the late German wars besides many other outrages the Ladies Gentlewomen and others like beasts and dogs they yoked and coupled together leading them into the woods to ravish them Such as resisted they stripped naked whipt them cropt their ears and so sent them home again Vers 11. Wickednesse is in the midst thereof As if it were no longer as once Theopolis but Poneropolis for all kind of naughtinesse there Deceit and guile depart not from her streets The Vulgar hath it Vsura dolus Usury and guile and Theodorets note here is Not andum est non modo Novi Testamenti perfectionem sed Legis statum faenus damnare that Usury is condemned in both old and new Testament Vers 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For it was not mine enemy that reproached mee Achitophels perfidy and villany troubled David more than all the rest there not being any wound worse as Sophocles saith than the treachery of a friend he being such a kind of enemy quem neque fugere neque fugare possumus as Bernard hath it whom we cannot easily prevent See Psal 41.9 Then I could have born it Though as a burden but nothing so grievous I should not have much mattered it Vers 13. But it was thou a man mine equall Heb. According to my rank my compeer my collegue mine Alter-ego my
inane Other Kingdoms have their times and their turns their rise and their ruines not so Christs and this is great comfort His name shall be continued Filâ—â—â—â— nomini 〈◊〉 it shall be begotten as one Generation is begotten of another Heb. His name shall be childed that is so continued as Families are continued there shall bee a constant succession of Christs Name to the end of the World there will still be Christians who are his Children Heb. 2.13 14. The old Hebrews tell us that Jâ—nnâ—n the Hebrew word â—ere used is one of Christs Names And men shall be blessed in him Or they shall bless themselves in him viz. in Salomon but especially in Christ of whom Salomon was but a shadow All Nations shall call him blessed If all Generations shall call the Mother of Christ blessed Luke 3.48 how much were Christ himself Vers Sunt verba leribae ut hodit Aben-Ezra ex R. Jehudah 18. Blessed be the Lord God 〈…〉 these are the words of the Psalmist say the Rabines blessing God who had given Leâ—â—gneph church strength to him fainting to finish the Second Book of the Psalms as he had done the Firsst or rather praising God for all the 〈…〉 the Lord Christ Vers 19. And blessed 〈…〉 so unsatisfiable and unweareable are the 〈…〉 a Christ And 〈◊〉 God expecteth that 〈…〉 by all his at all 〈…〉 Vers 20. The Prayer 〈…〉 PSAL. LXXIII A Psalm of Asaph Who was not only an excellent Musician but a Prophet also an Oratour and a Poet not unlike for his stile to Horace or Persius This and the ten next Psalms that bear this name in the front consist of complaints for most part and sad matters Vers 1. Truly God is good to Israel Or Yet God is c. Thus the Psalmist beginneth abruptly after a sore Conflict throwing off the Devil and his fiery Darts where-with his heart for a while had been wounded It is best to break off temptations of corrupt and carnal reasonings and to silence doubts and disputes lest wee be foyled Hee shoots saith Greenham with Satan in his own bow who thinks by disputing and reasoning to put him off To such as are of a clean heart Such as are Israelites indeed and not Hypocrites and dissemblers For as for such as turn a side unto their crooked wayes the Lord shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity as malefactours are led forth to execution but Peace shall be upon Israel Psal 125.5 upon the Israel of God Gal. 6.16 Vers 2. But as for mee my feet were almost gone i. e. I was wel-night brought to beleeve that there was no divine providence as the Athenians did when their good General Nicias was worsted and slain in Sicily as Pompey did Thucid. when having the better cause he was overcome by Cesar as Brutus did that last of the Romans as he was called for his courage when beaten out of the field by Anthony he cryed out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now I see that vertue is nothing but all things are moderated by Fortun whom he charged his children therefore to worship as a goddesse of greatest power My steps had welâ—nigh slipt Quasi nihil effusi sunt gressus mei that is as Kimchi interpreteth it Status meus crat tantillus quasi nullus esset pre figendo peds locus I had scarce any fastening for my feet my heels were gone almost What wonder then that Heathens have been stounded and staggered Cum rapiaent mala fata bonos ignoscite fasso Sollicitor nullos esse putare Deos. Saith Ovid. And to the fame purpose another Poet. Marmoreo Licinies tumulo jacet Cato parve Pompeius nullo quis putet esse Deos Vers 3. For I was envious at the foolish Heb. At the Bragadochies the vain-glorious the mad-boasters I aemulated and stomached their prosperity Jact abundis compared with mine own far-worse condition Godly men though cured of their spirituall phrenzy yet play oft many mad tricks one while fretting at the prosperity of their adversaries and another while murmuring at their own afflictions or plotting courses how to conform themselves to the World c. When I saw the prosperity of the Wicked This hath ever been a pearl in the eyes not of the Heathens only but of better meu See Jer. 12.1 2 Habbak 1.3 Psal 37. c. Yet Seneca writeth a treatise of it and sheweth the reasons if at least he beleeved himself therein Erasmus passeth this censure of him Read him as a Pagan and he writeth Christian-like read him as 2 Christian and he writeth Pagan-like Vers 4. For there are no bands in their death Or No knots and knorles they dye without long sicknesse or much pain or trouble of mind If a man dye â—ike a Lamb and pass out of the World like a bird in a shel he is certainly saved think some The wicked are here said to dye quietly as if there were no loosening of the band that is betwixt soul and body Julian the Apostate dyed with these words in his mouth Vitam reposcents natura tanquam debitor bonae fidei redditurum exulto Anomian that is I owe a death to Nature and now that she calleth for it as a faithfull debtour câ—â—t lib. 7. 〈◊〉 Diodor. I gladly pay it The Princes of the Sogdians when they were drawn forth to death by Alexander the great carmen more latumtium etcinerut tripuâ—isque gaudium animi ostentare caperunt They sang and danced to the place of execution But their strength is firm They are lively and lusty they are pingues praevalidi fat and fair-liking fat is their fortitude so some render it Others strong is their porch or Palace Vers 5. They are not in trouble as other men But live in a serene clime under a perpetuall calm as he did of whom it is storied that he never had any crosse but at last was nailed to a cross Polycrates I mean King of Egypt Marullâ—â— telleth us that Ambrose comming once to a great mans house who boasted that he had never suffered any adversity Marul l. 5. c. 3. he hasted away thence and said he did so we una cum â—omine perpetuis prosperitatibus uso periret lest he should perish with the man that bad been so extraordinarily prosperous And no sooner was he and his company departed but the earth opened and swallowed up that mans house with all that were in it Vers 6. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain The pride of their hearts breaketh forth in their costly habits whiles they are torquati auro ac gemmis amicti setting up their plumes as Peacocks which have their names in Hebrew from the joy they take in their fair feathers so do these glory in their pride and are puffed up with a foolish perswasion of their own prudence Vermis divitiarum est superbia Charge the rich that they be not high-minded 1 Tim. 6.17 He is a great rich man saith
He chose it for his love and then loved it for his choice The word Tribe we borrow from the Romans who at first divided the multitudes into three parts called thereof Tribes The Hebrew name signifieth a rod or scepter and fitly agreeth to Judah Vers 69. Like high palaces Not places as some books absurdly have it Like the earth There shall be a Church to the Worlds end Vers 70. He chose David also God chuseth not as man doth 1 Cor. 1.26 yet Alexander the great advanced Abdolominus a poor Gardiner to be King in Sidon And took him from the sheep-folds The art of feeding cattle and the art of ruling men are sisters saith Basill Vers 71. From following the â—â—es So Saul from seeking Asses Agathocles from making pots Hist tripart lib. 9. Valentinian 〈◊〉 c. Plaâ—illa called upon her husband Theodosius the Emperour to remember from what mean estate God had called him to the highest honours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers 72. So he fed them c. See vers 70. He was not malus vir bonus prâ—â—ceps as is said of our Richard the third but every way accomplished and active for the good of his subjects PSAL. LXXIX A Psalm Of like subject with Psalm 74. bewayling the same calamity of the Jews whether under Nebuchadnezzar or Antiochus is uncertain but foreseen by Asaph or described by some other Prophet and committed to some of Asaphs successours to be sung Cantant justi etiam in adversis as birds in the Spring tune most sweetly when it raineth most sadly Vers 1. O God the Heathen Ex abrupto ordâ—tur q. d. canst thou endure it Is it not high time for thee to set in Lo they have filled the breadth of thy land O Immanuel Isa 8.8 that is O thou who art God with us who givest with the Father Cum parte dator inter nos petitor Aug. who prayest with the suitor and who in all our afflictions art afflicted The holy Temple have they defiled Spoliando funestando omnia profana impiaque munera obeundo See Psal 74.7 They have laid Jerusalem on heaps In rudera into an Orchard-keepers cottage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. saith the Vulgar An elegant Hypotyposis Vers 2. The dead bodies of thy Servants Either they denyed them the honour of buriall which is reckoned among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the dues of the dead or else they mangled their dead bodies and exercised their rage upon them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. as the Papists did upon Husse and Zuinglius and many of the English Martyrs A barbarous practice as Pausanâ—as judged it in Herodot Callâ—ope The flesh of thy Saints c. Of thy beneficiaries whose souls are with thee in Heaven these have not so much as a burying-place on earth but lye like common carrion Morticina like cattle that dye of the murrain and are most ignominiously dealt withall And yet these are Gods Saints and in some sense Martyrs Vers 3. Their blood have they shed like water They made no more reckoning of it than of ditch-water and were ready to say as Hannibal did when he saw a ditch full of mens blood O formosum spectacutum O beautifull sight Contemptim vel abjecte And there was none to bury them Either none to bury them at all Immaniatis est Scythicae non sepelirâ— mortuos Sen. ad Maâ—tiam which the Jews accounted worse than death Eccles 6. and the Romans extreme cruelty Or none to bury them cum ritibus with the accustomed rites and ceremonies as Jacob was buried Gen. 50. but not Jeconiah Jer. 22.18 Vers 4. Wee are become a reproach to our neighbours To the Edomites Philistines Syrians Tyrians c. who do now compose comedies out of our tragedies A scorn and derision to them that are round about us Quorum opprobriis Iudibriis contumeliis sumus expositi This was more grievous to them than stripes or wounds saith Chrysostom because these being infflicted upon the body are divided after a sort betwixt soul and body but scorns and reproaches do wound the sould only Hebet quendam aculeum contumelia they leave a sting behind them Act. 5 in Ver. as Cicero observeth Vers 5. How long wilt thou be angry c Or How long wilt thou be angry for ever The Psalmist knew that the enemies were but Gods executioners and that if he were but once pacified they should soon be put out of office Shall thy jealousy viz. For our Idolatry Exod. 20. Vers 6. Pour out thy wrath c. Even the full vials of it That have not known thee More than by the book of the Creatures wherein there is indeed a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something of God manifested Rom. 1.19 20. even his eternal power and God-head rendring men without excuse but nothing of his goodness and patience leading them to repentance chap. 2.4 That have not called upon thy Name A note of prophaneness Psal 14.4 Vers 7. For they have devoured Jacob As Wolves and other ravenous creatures do the simple sheep His dwelling-place Or his cottage his sheep-coat Vers 8. O remember not against us former iniquities Or The iniquities of them 〈◊〉 were before us wherewith we also are justly chargeable the sin of the golden calf saith the Arabick here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diodor. Curt. lib. 7. an ounce whereof is in all our sufferings to this day say the Jews Alexander slew the Branâ—hidae and utterly destroyed their City because their Fore-fathers had long before indeavoured to betray Greece into the hands of Xerxes Speedily prevent us Lest they come too late for we are at last gasp Vers 9. Help us for the glory of thy Name A speeding argument God will do much for his own glory his wife as it were Purge away our sins Which nothing can do but tender mercy Vers 10. Where is their God See Psal 42.3 So Turks at this day when they have the better of Christians cry where is the Christians God We are the right Musalmans c. By the revenging of the blood of thy Servants c. For the which make thou inquisition and do justice Vers 11. Let the sighing of the prisoner c. It was lately in many places of this land a like difficult thing to find a wicked man in the enemies prisons or a godly man out of them The sights of such were shril in Gods ears Preserve thou those that are appointed to dye Heb. The children of death those that being destined to destruction seem to be as much in deaths power as children are in their Parents The Arabick rendreth it Redime filios occisorum Redeem the children of those who are slain lest the name of their Parents be blotted out Vers 12. Into their bosomes Full measure pressed down shaken together and running over Luk. 6.38 See Isa 65.6 7. Jer. 32.18 Wherewith they have reproached thee viz. In reproaching us who do quarter armes as
his prime and pride Thou hast covered him with shame Selah Thou hast wrapped him up in the winding-sheet of shame Lord this is true Vers 46. How long Lord c. Here faith prevaileth against flesh and falleth a praying and at length a praising God Vers 47. Remember how short See Psal 39.5 Wherefore hast thou c. As thou mayest seem to have done unlesse they may chearfully serve thee and enjoy thee Vers 48. What man is he that liveth c q. d. Sith dye we must let us live while we may to some good purpose Selah q.d. Mark it and meditate well and oft on this savoury subject Vers 49. Lord where are c. q. d. Thou seemest to have lost them and we would fain find them again for thee Vers 50. Remember Lord Thou seemest to have forgotten us and our sufferings and we would fain remind thee Verse 51. The fool steps of thine anointed Heb. The heels or foot-soles that is his doings and sufferings The Chaldee and others render it tarditates mor as Christi tui the delayes of thy Christ in comming whom therefore they twit us with velut tar digradum vel loripedem claudum and say where is the promised Messiah Vers 52. Blessed be the Lord c. sc For a Christ or for adversity as well as for prosperity and this not formally and slightly but earnestly and with utmost affection Amen and amen PSAL. XC A Prayer of Moses Made by him belike when he saw the carkasses of the people fall so fast in the wildernesse committed to writing for the instruction of those that were left alive but sentenced to death Numb 14. and here fitly placed as an illustration of that which was said in the precedent Psalm Vers 48. What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave Selah Vers 1. Lord thou hast been our dwelling place In all our troubles and travels thorough this wildernesse and before we have not been houselesse and harbourlesse Maon habitaculum tutum for Thou hast been our dwelling-place our habitacle of refuge as some render it We use to say A mans house is his castle The civile-law saith De domo sua nemo extrahi debet aut in jus vocari quia domus tutissimum cuique resugium atque receptaculum No man ought to be drawn out of his house at the sute of another because his house is his safest refuge and receptacle He that dwelleth in God cannot bee unhoused because God is stronger than all neither can any one take another out of his hands Joh. 10. Here then it is best for us to take up as in our mansion-house and to seek a supply of all our wants in God alone It was a witty saying of that learned Picus Mirandula God created the Earth for beasts to inhabit the Sea for fishes the Air for fouls the Heaven for Angels and stars Man therefore hath not place to dwell and abide in but the Lord alone See Ezek. 11.16.2 Cor. 6.8 9 10. Vers 2. Before the Mountains were brought forth And they were made at the creation not cast up by the Flood as some have held Moses first celebrateth Gods eternity Eccles 7.14 and then setteth forth mans mortality that the one being set over against the other as Solomon speaketh in another case God may be glorified and man comforted which is the main end of the holy Scriptures Rom. 15.4 and far beyond those consolatiunculae ◠Philosophicae Vers 3. Thou turnest man to destruction Ad minutissimum quiddam so Beza rendreth it to a very small businesse to dust and powder Others ad contritionem vel contusionem by turning loose upon him diverse diseases and distresses thou turnest him out of the World Eccles 1.13 And generally thou layest of all and singular sons of men Return ye Your bodies to the earth according to the decree Gen. 3.17 18 19. your souls to God that gave them Eccles 12.7 And here the course of mans life is compared saith One to a race in a Tilt or Turney where we soon run to the end of the race as it were and then return back again Intelligit Moses vit am humanam similem osse gyro saith Another Mans life is compared to a ring or round we walk a short round and then God gathers us in to himself One being asked what Life was made an answer answerless for he presently turned his back and went his way We fetch here but a turn and God saith Return yee Children of men This some make to be an irony as if God should say Live again if yee can Some apply it to the Resurrection others to Mortification and Vivification Vers 4. For a thousand years in thy sight c. q. d. Live men a longer or shorter space Serius aut citius thou endest their days and in comparison of thine Eternity Punctum est quod vivimus puncto minus it is a small space of time that the longest liver hath upon earth 2 Pet. 3.8 Psal 39.5 Non multum sane abest à nihilo Some would hence inferre that the Day of Judgement shall last a thousand years sides sit penes authores When it is passed We judge better of the shortness of time when it is past And as a watch in the night Which is but three hours space for Souldiers divide the Night into four Watches and our life is full of the darkness of errour and terrour Vers 5. Thou carryest them away as with a floud Suddenly violently irresistibly by particular Judgements besides that general necessity of dying once Heb. 9.27 This is set forth by a treble comparison of Flouds Sleep and Flowers here and indeed the vanity and misery of mans life is such as cannot sufficiently be set forth by an similitudes See Vers 9 10. They are like a sleep Or dream the dream of a shadow saith Pindarus the shadow of smoke saith another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They are as grass An ordinary comparison Isa 40.6 Jam. 1. Vers 6. In the morning it flourisheth So doth man in his prime and vigour his bones full of marrow his brests of milk In the evening it is cut down So is man by Deaths mortal Sythe which moweth down the Lillies of the Crown as well as the Grass of the Field In the evening grass will cut better and the Mowers can better work at it Vers 7. For we are consumed by thine anger Justly conceived for our sins ver 8. this is a cause of death that Philosophy discovereth not as being blinde and not able to see farre off and therefore cannot prescribe any sufficient remedy against the fear of death such as is here set down vers 12. but such as made Tully complain that the Disease was too hard for the Medicine and such as left men either doubtful Socrates for instance or desperate and devoyd of sense as Petronius in Tacitus Qui in ipsis atriis
mortis delicias quaesivit solaced himself with singing such light Sonnets as this Vovamus mea Lesbia atque omemus Rumoresque senum severiorum Omnes unius aestimemus assis And by thy wrath are we troubled Consternati sumus Symmachus Aquila transtulerant acceleravimus Death stings us and sticks us the motion and mention of it is terrible to us through sense of sin and fear of wrath Heb. 2.15 Vers 8. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee As a Judge doth the misdeeds of a Malefactor together with the proofs and evidences Our secret sins Which we either never took notice of or had utterly forgotten the sins of our youth some render it but not so well those sins which we had hoped to have secreted such was our hypocrisie In the light of thy countenance This light thou hast made use of for the discovery of our inmost evils those that lye most up in the heart of the Country as it were as the murmurings and misbeleef of our hearts c. these thy pure eyes more clear and radiant than the Sun it self have plainly discerned Nature teacheth us that the fiery eye needeth no outward light but seeth extramittendo by sending out a ray c. Vers 9. For all our days are passed away Heb. Do turn away the face See vers 3. We spend our years as a tale that is told The grace whereof is brevity q. d. dicto citins Some render it as a thought that ariseth and passeth To this sence the Greek Poet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Chaldee hath it Ut flatus oris in Hyeme as the breath of ones mouth in Winter See Jam. 4.14 Vers 10. The days of our years are threescore c. So Solon in Laertius saith the term of mans life is seventy years this few exceed and fewer attain to To the same sense speaketh Macrobius also Lib. 1. Som. cap. 6 saying Septies deni anni à Physicis creditur meta vivendi hoc vitae humanae perfectum spacium terminatur c. The Fathers lived longer but as mens wickedness increased so their days decreased and now their lives are daily shortned the Generations dispatcht away that the World may the sooner come to an end If Moses and Aaron of old and Johannes de temporibus and some few others of latter time live longer even to an hundred or more these are singular examples and it is of the generality that the Psalmist here speaketh And if by reason of strength D. Maior c. One readeth it thus And if by fortitude fourscore years even their latitude is labour and sorrow that is this inlarging of the time bringeth nothing but labour and misery because now the body is diseased c. For it is soon cut off As a Web or as Grass And we flee away As a Bird upon the wing or as an hour of the day Qui nescit quo vita modo volat audiat horas Quam sit vita fugax nos docet iste sonus I am not eternity said Epictetus but a man that is a small part of the whole as the hour is of the day Enchirid. I must therefore come and go away as the hour doth Vers 11. Who knoweth the power of thine anger None doth sith it is such as no man can either avoyd or abide and such is mens stupidity that few will beleeve tiâ—l they feel it no though their lives be so short and uncertain Even according to thy fear so is thy wrath Ira tua non est minor timore nostro let a man fear thee never so much he is sure to feel thee much more if once he fall into thy fingers Vers 12. So teach us to number our days The Philosopher affirms that man is therefore the wisest of Creatures Bâ—uâ—a non numerant because he alone can number But in this Divine Arithmetick of numbring our days to the which all other is not to be compared no though we could as Archimedes boasted number the Stars of Heaven or the Sands by the Sea shore God himself must be our Teacher or wee shall never do it to purpose R. Solomon observeth that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred So here if taken as numeral letters maketh Seventy and they yeers of our life are seventy out of which say other Rabbines if we deduct the time of Childe-hood and Youth which is vanity the time of sleep repose repast and recreation which is more than the one half and the time of affliction and grief which we enjoy not what a poor pittance will life be reduced unto That we may apply our hearts Heb. That we may cause them to come for naturally they hang off and make strange Vnto Wisdom To the true fear of God and mortification of sin which is the sling of death and makes it a trap-door to hell This is hard to do but must bee done or men are undone for ever To live with dying thoughts is the way to dye with living comforts Vers 13. Let it repent thee Or comfort thou thy servants Vers 14. O satisfie us early As thou didst our Fathers with Manna Vers 15. Make us glad according Let us have a proportion at least Vers 16. Let thy work appear Thy proper work which is to shew mercy for to do Justice is thy work thy strange work Isa 28.21 And thy glory unto their children That they at least may enter into the Land of Canaan according to Numb 14.31 Vers 17. And let the beauty of the Lord c. i.e. The bounty the Italian rendreth it La Giocondita jucunditas Domini sit innos And establish thou the work c. Thus we had all need to pray for Nullius est felix conatus et utilis unquam Consiliam si non detque juvetque Deus PSAL. XCI VErs 1. He that dwelleth in the secret place c. The safety of a Saint is in this whole Psalm Quo nihil neque solidius neque splendidius dici potest set forth to the life Verbis vivis animatis sententiis spiritus fâ—rvore flagrantissimis Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty Under the pleasant and assured defence of God he shall lodge under the shadow of Shaddai and there sing away care and fear Vers 2. I will say of the Lord I dare say it is so as I have said said the Psalmist whom the Jews make to be Moses and I will presently make proof of it in my self Non verbis solum praedicans sed exemplis Some conceive that the Beleever having heard the former Proposition vers 1. is here brought in professing his faith and saying to the Psalmist Behold I dwell in the secret place of the most High and shall I abide under the shadow of the Almighty The Answer follows Vers 3. surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the Fowler i. e. Of the Devil and his Emissaries 2 Tim. 2.26 who by force and fraud seek to
virtually as ost as we offend WhO crowneth thee with loving kindness c. Incircleth and surroundeth thee with benefits so that which way soever thou turnest thee thou canst not look beside a blessing See the Note on vers 3. Vers 5. Who satisfieth thy mouth Heb. Thy jaws so that thou art top full eating as long as eating is good God alloweth thee an honest affluence of outward comfortsâ— Open thy mouth wide and he will fill it Psal 81.10 So that thy youth is â—eâ—â—ed like the Eagles The Eagle is of all birds the most vegetous and vivacious renewing her youth and health they say at every ten years end by casting her old feathers and getting new till she be an hundred years old Aquisae senectus Proverâ—â— Augustins observeth that when her bill is overgrown that she cannot take in her meat she beateth it against a rock and so exâ—â—it 〈◊〉 roâ—â—â—i she striketh off the combersome part of her bill and thereby recovereth her eating That which hindreth our renovation saith he the Rock Christ taketh away c. See Isa 40.31 Vers 6. The Lord 〈◊〉 c. The words are both plural to shew that God will execute omnimodam justitiam judicium all and all manner of justice and judgement relieving the oppressed and punishing the oppressor to the sull Vers 7. He made known his wayes unto Moses Even right Judgements true Laws good Statutes and Commandements Neh. 9.13 14. The Rabbins by wayes here understand Gods Attributes and Properties Middoth they call them those thirteen proclaimed Exod. 34. after that Moses had prayed Exod. 33. Shew me thy wayes and the next words favour this interpretation Vers 8. The Lord is merciful and gracious These are Moses his very expressions Exod. 34.7 Theodoret calleth him worthily The great Ocean of Divinity c. His acts to the children His miracles in Egypt and all along the wilderness where they sed upon Sacraments Vers 9. He will not always chide His still revenges are terrible Gen. 6.3 with 1 Pet. 3.19 but God being appeased towards the penitent people will not shew his anger so much as in words Isa 57.16 Neither will be keep his anger for ever Much less must we Levit. 19.18 Eph. 4.26 though against his enemies God is expresly said to keep it Nab. 1.2 Vers 10. He hath not dealt with us after our sins Heb. Our errors our involuntary and unavoidable infirmities According to our iniquities Heb. perversly committed for of these evils also the Saints are not free but God beaâ—eth with more than small faults especially if not scandalous Vers 11. For as the heaven is high above the earth How high the third heaven is cannot be conjectured But for the middlemost heaven wherein the Sun Moon and Stars are placed how exceeding high it is may be guessed and gathered in that the Stars whereof those of the first magnitude are said to be every one above a hundred and seven times as big again as the whole earth do yet seem to us but as so many sparks or spangles See Prov. 25.3 Eph. 4.10 So great is his mercy The heavens are exceeding high above the earth but Gods mercy to his is above the heavens Psal 108.4 The original word Gabbar here used is the same with that Gen. 7.20 used for the prevailing of the waters above the mountains Vers 12. As far as the East c. And these we know to be so far asunder that they shall never come together The space also and distance of these two is the greatest that can be imagined Deut. 4.32 Psal 113.3 Isa 45.6 So far hath be removed out transgressions The guilt of them whereby a man stands charged with the fault and is obliged to the punishment due thereunto See Isa 43.25 and 38.17 Mic. 7.19 Ezeck 33.16 Peccata non redeunt Discharges in Justification are not repealed called in again Vers 13. Like as a Father pitieth There is an ocean of love in a fathers heart See Luke 15.20 Gen. 33.2 13 14. and Chap. 4.3 how hardly and with what caution Jacob parted with Benjamin Sozomen maketh mention of a certain Merchant who offering himself to be put to death for his two sons who were sentenced to dye Lib. 7. cap. 24. and it being granted that one of the two whom he should chuse should be upon that condition delivered the miserable Father aequali utriusque amore victus equally affected to them both could not yeeld that either of them should dye but remained hovering about both till both were put to death So the Lord pitieth c. So and ten thousand times more than so For he is the Father of all mercies Parentela and the Father of all the Father-beeds in heaven and earth Eph. 3.15 Vers 14. For he knoweth our frame Our evil concupiscence saith the Chaldee Figulinam fragilem constitutionem nostram saith Junius that we are nothing better than a compound of dire and sin He remembreth thâ—â— we are dust Our bodies are for our souls are of a spiritual nature divinae particula aurae and sooner or later to be turned to dust again Vers 15. As for man his dayes are at grass The frailty of mans life intimated in the former verse is here lively painted out under the similitude of grass as likewise in many other Scriptures See Psal 37.2 and 90.5.6 c. As a slower of the field so be flourisheth Take him in all his gaâ—ety his beauty and his bravery he is but as a flower and that not of the garden which hath more shelter and better ordering but of the field and so more subject to heat weather pâ—lling 〈◊〉 or treading down Isa 40.6 7 8. Vers 16. For the wind passeth over it and it is gone Heb. It is not that is it neither continues any longer in being nor returns any more into being So here Job 14.7 8 9 10 11 12. And the place thereof shall know it no more Though whilst it stood and flourished the place of is seemed as it were to know nothing but it the glory and beauty of it drew all eyes to it c. Think the same of men in their flourish soon forgotten as dead men out of mind Psal 31.12 Vers 17. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting God is from all eternity and unto all eternity kind to all that fear him in what age of the world soever they live And his righteousness unto childrens children That is his kindness or bounty for so the word Tsedacâ—ah should be taken according to Psal 112.3 9. 2 Cor. 9.9 Vers 18. To such as keep his Covenant For else they shall know Gods breach of promise as it is Numb 14.3 4. Neither shall it benefit them to have been born of godly parents And to those that remember his Commandements That resolve to do them though in many things they fail Qui faciunt praetepta etiamsâ— non perficiant that wish well to that which they can never compass Psal
c. Heb. That they would confess it to the Lord both in secret and in society This is all the rent that God requireth he is content that we have the comfort of his blessings so he may have the honour of them This was all the fee Christ looked for for his cures Go and tell what God hath done for thee Words seem to be a poor and slight recompence but Christ saith Nazianzen calleth himself the Word Vers 9. For he satisfieth the longing soul c. This is a recaâ—iâ—ulation of the first part vers 5 6 7. and setteth forth the reason why the Redeemed should praise God out of the sweet experience they have had of his wonderful providence and goodness toward them And filleth the hungry soul with good things This flower the blessed Virgin picketh out of Davids garden among many others out of other parts of holy Scripture wherein it appeateth she was singularly well versed and puts it into her Posie Luke 1.53 Vers 10. Such as sit in darkness c. Here come in the second fort of Gods redeemed or rescued Ones viz. captives and prisoners whose dark and doleful condition is in this verse described And in the shadow of death In dark caves and horrid prisons where there is Luctus ubique pavor plurima mortis imago Such was Josephs first prison Jeremies miry dungeon Lollards Tower the Bishop of Londons Cole-house c. Being bound in affliction and irâ—â— Or in poverty and ivâ—n as Manasseb was Many are the miseries that poor prisoners undergo Good 〈◊〉 had the experience of it and Zegedians and the Mattyâ—â— and divers of Gods dear servants in the late waâ—â— hâ—tâ— A certain-pious Prince discoursing of the dangers that were to bâ—e then expected for the profession of Religion said Nibisse magâ—s metuere quâ—m diururnos carceres that he feared nothing so much as perpetual imprisonment Vers 11. Because they rebelled against the words of God Sin is at the bottome of all mens miseries as the procreant cause thereof For God afflicteth not willingly nor grieveth the children of men Lam. 3.35 but they rebel against his words written in the Scriptures or at least in their hearts and so he is concerned in point of honour to subdue them And contemned the counsel A foul fault See Luke 7.30 Verse 12. Therefore he brought down their heart That proud peece of flesh Quod erat elatum verba Dei contempsit saith Kimchi which had stouted it out with God and thought to have carried it away with a strong hand as Manosseh that sturdy Rebel till God had hampered him and laid him in cold irons Vers 13. Then they cryed unto the Lord See vers 6. And be saved them c. This is comfort to the greatest finners if they can but find a praying heart God will find a pitying heart and rebels shall be received with all sweetness if at length they return though brought in by the cross Vers 14. He brought them out of darkness He sent his Mandamus as Psal 44.4 and that did the deed as Act. 5.19 and 12.7 Vers 15. Oh that men c. See vers 8. Vers 16. For he hath broken the gates of brass If Sampson could do so how much more the Almighty whom nothing can withstand Nature may be stopped in her course as when the fire burnt not Men may not be able to do as they would Angels good or bad may be hindred because in them there is an essence and an executive power between which God can step at his pleasure and interpose his Veto But who or what shall hinder the most High Vers 17. Foâ—ls because of their transgression Propter viam defectionis suae by means of their defection their departing away from the living God through an evil heart of unbeleef Heb. 3.12 And because of their iniquities The flood-gates whereof are set open as it were by that their defection from God For now what should hinder Are afflicted Heb. Do afflict themselves procure their own ruthe if not ruine and so prove sinners against their own souls as those Num 16. Vers 18. Their soul abborreth That is theirâ—st mach loatheth it as unsavoury though it be never so dainty An appetite to our meat is an unconceivable mercy and as we say A sign of health And they draw neer to the gates of death Jam ipsum mortis limen pulsant as till then little sense of sin or fear of the wrath to come See Job 33.19 20 21 22 23. with the Notes Vers 19. Then they cry c. Quando medicus medicine non prosunt saith Kimchi when Physicians have done their utmost See vers 6. Vers 20. He sent his word and bealed them He commanded deliverance and it was done unless there be an allusion to the essential Word who was afterwards to take flesh and to heal the diseased And delivered them from their destructions Heb. From their corrupting-pits or graves which do now even gape for them And he calleth them theirs quia per peccatum faderunt eas saith Kimchi because by their sin themselves have digged them Vers 21. Oh that men c. See vers 8. And for his wonderful works Men are misericordiis miraculis obsesse and it were no hard matter to find a miracle in most of our mercies Vers 22. And let them sacrifice c. If they have escaped sickness let them offer a Passeover and if they have recovered a Thank-offering Heathens in this case praised their Esculapius Papists their Sebastian Valentine Apollonia c. Earâ— of wax they offer to the Saint who as they suppose cureth the ears eyes of wax to the Saint that cureth the eyes c. But it is Jehovah only who healeth us And declare his Works c. Memorize and magnifie them Vers 23. They that go down is the Sea in ships Here we have a fourth specimen or instance of Gods gracious and wise dispensations towards men in their trading or traffiquing by Sea These are said to go down to Sea because the banks are above it but the water is naturally higher then the land and therefore Saylers observe that their ships flye faster to the shore than from it But what a bold man saith the Poet was he that fiâ—st put forth to Sea Illi robur et triplex Circa pectus erat qui fragilem truci Commisit pelage ralem Primus Hec timuit praetipitem Africum c. Harat. Od lib. â— 3 That do business in great waters Merchants and Matriners who fish and find Almug or Coral saith Kimcht who do export and import commodities of all sorts Vers 24. These see the works of the Lord c. In Sea-monsters as Whales and Whirlepools and sudden change of weather and the like not a few Ebbs and Flows Pearls Islands c. These are just wonders and may fully convince the veriest Atheist that is Vers 25. For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind c. Of this Seneca
though an heathen could say Inter caetera providentiae uivina opera boc quoque dignum est admiratione c. Among other works of the Divine providence this is admirable that the winds lye upon the Sea for the furtherance of Navigation c. Vers 26. They mount up to heaven they go down c. An elegant hypolyposis or description of a storm at Sea like whereunto is that in Virgil. Tollimur in coelum curvate gurgite iidem Subducta admanes imos descendimus undâ Tollimur in câ—â—â—um nanc 〈◊〉 tadimus undas Their soul is melted because of trouble They are ready to dye through sear of death Junius understandeth it of extreme vomiting as if they were casting up their very nâ—â—â—ts Anocbarses for this cause doubted whether he should reckon Marriners amongst the living or the dead And another said that any man will go to Sea at first I wonder not but to go a second time thither is little better than madness Vers 27. They reel to and fro c. Nutart nautae vacillant cerebro pedibus And are at their wits end All their skill and strength faileth them at once they can do no more for their lives Heb. All their wisdome is swallowed up that is the art of Navigation is now to no use with them Vers 28. Then they cry unto the Lord Then if ever Hence that speech of One Qui nescit oraâ—e discat navigate He that cannot pray let him go to Sea and there he will learn See vers 6. Vers 29. He maketh the storm a calm He that is God Almighty whose the Sea it and he made it Psal 100. not the Pagans Neptune or the Papagans St. Nicholas So that the waves thereof are still If therefore the voluptuous humors in our body which is but as a cup made of the husk of an Acorn in respect of the Sea will not be pacified when the Lord saith unto us Be still every drop of water in the Sea will be a witness of our monstrous rebellion and disobedience Vers 30. Then are they glad because they be quiet All is husht on the sudden as Mat. 8.26 both their fears and the Seas outrages being quickly reduced to a peaceable period So he bringeth them to their desired haven This is more than they then wished for God is many ties better to men than their prayers Vers 31. Oh that men would c. See vers 8. Vers 32. Let them exalt him also in the Congregation c. i.e. In all publick meetings Ecclesiastical and Civil Vers 33. He turneth vivers into a wilderness Hitherto the Psalmist hath set forth Gods good providence in delivering men from divers deaths and dangers now hee declareth the same in his just and powerful transmutations in nature whilst according to the good pleasure of his will he changeth mens condition either from good to evil or from evil to good beyond all expectation It is even He that doth it whatsoever a company of dizzy-headed men dream to the contrary as One phraseth it It is God who dryeth up those Rivers whereby the land was made fat and fertile Isa 41.17 Vers 34. fruitful land into barrenness Heb. Salâ—â—ess See Luke 14.34 35. Deut. 29.23 Jud. 9.45 Sals beendeth barrenness by eating up the lat and moisture of the earth Some think the Psalmist here alludeth to Sodâ—me and her sisters turned into the dead Sea For the wickedness of them that dwell therein Hereof Judea is at this day a noble instance besides many parts of Asia and Africa once very fruitful now since they became Mabemetan dry and desert Judea saith One hath now onely some few parcels of rich ground found in it that men may guess the goodness of the cloath by the fineness of the shreds Greece which was once Sol sal gentium saith Another terrarum flos fons lite rarum nunc vel Priams miserands manus nunc in Graecia desideremus Graeciam 't is nothing like the place it was once Vers 35. He turneth the wilderness c. Some place a again God to shew his power and providence of steril maketh to become fertil Polâ—â—ia for instance and other Northern Countries Germany and France were of old full of Woods and Lakes as Cesar and Tacitus testifie now 't is otherwise So in America at this day So divers desert places of Egypt and Ethiopia when once they became Christian became fruitfull Vers 36. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell As our English and other Plantations in America where sundry poor people get fair estates That they may prepare a City The building of Cities is of God and so is their conservation Vers 37. And sow the fields and plant vineyards These are noble imployments such is the ancient Patriarchs we re much in and the most honorable among the Romons as Coriolanus M. Curius Cate Major c. Our forefathers if they could call any one Bonum colonum a good husbandman they thought it praise enough saith Cicero Which may yield The thankful earth yeelding by Gods blessing her gratum onus full burden to the laborious tiller Vers 38. He blesseth them also c. See Prov. 10.12 Psal 127.1 Jam. 4 15. They are out that rest in natural causes Vers 39. Again they are minished Minorati sunt This also is of the lord who hath treasuries of plagues and cannot be exhausted Vers 40. He poureth contempt c. See Job 12.21 24. with the Notes Poena tyrannoram est contemptus exilium nex saith Genebrard All their policy or King craft cannot save them Vers 41. Yet setteth be abe poor The godly poor as he did David And maketh him families like a flock of sheep which multiply exceedingly in a short space Vers 42. The righteous shall see it and rejoyce It shall cheer them up to see that the reigns of Government are in Gods hand and to behold such love in such providence And all iniquiry shall stop her mouth Shall be down in the mouth as we use to fay See Job 5.16 and have her tongue chambered Vers 43. Whose is wise Heb. who is wise q d. not many Rari quippe boni Exclamatio querulatoriâ— Piscat None but those that observe providences and lay up experiences which if men would do they might have a Divinity of their own were they but well read in the story of their own lives Even they shall understand c. And as for those providences that for present he understandeth not rejicit in Dei abyssâ—s he beleeveth there is a reason for them and that they shall one day be unridled PSAL. CVIII VErs 1. O God my heart is fixed For the five first verses of this Psalm see the Notes on Psal 57.7 8 9 10 11. And for the eight last see the Notes on Psal 60. vers 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. PSAL. CIX A Psalm of David Written by him usque adâ—â— terribili bâ—rrifica eratiom saith Beâ—â—â— in such terrible terms as
the Israel of God for only such are fit to praise God excellent words become not a fool the Lepers lips are to bee covered Vers 3. Let the house of Aaron now say Ministers are Chieftains Heb. 13.7 17. and should be as the chief Chanters in Gods praises Vers 4. Let them now that fear the Lord say See Psal 115.11 and observe that the Psalmist beateth upon the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as doth also the Apostle 2 Cor. 6. â— Now now now saith he because for ought we know t is now or never to day or not at all the dead praise thee not Psal 6.6 That his mercy c. This is the fourth time in four verses as Psal 136. in every one of those twenty six verses like as a Bird that having gotten a Note recordeth it over and over Vers 5 I called upon the Lord in distress Heb. out of distress q. d. I celebrate not God mercy of course but out of experience The Lord answered me Heb. Jah answered me with a large râ—â—â—â—th See Psa 4.2 Vers 6. I will not fear c. See Psal 36.4 11. Vers 7. The Lord taketh my part with them that help me Not only as one of my helpers but instead of all and more than all How many reckon yee me at said that General to his Souldiers who were afraid of their enemies numbers Cui adhaereo praest He whom I take part with must needs prevail Vers 8. It is better to trust in the Lord c. Luther on this text calleth it Artem artium mirificam ac suam artem non fidere hominibus that is the Art of Arts and that which he had well studied not to put confidence in man as for trust in God he calleth it Sacrificium omnium gratissimum suavissimum cultum omnium pulcherrimum the most pleasant and sweetest of all Sacrifices the best of all services we perform to God Than to put confidence in man Quia mutatur aut fortuna aut voluntas aut vita saith Genebrard because either men may dye or their affections may dye or their wealth decay Vers 9. Than to put confidence in Princes In ingenuis Great mens words saith one are like dead mens shooes he may go bare-foot that waiteth for them Surely men of high degree are a lye Psal 62.9 Vers 10. All Nations compassed me about This is still the condition of Christs Church in this evil world to be hated of all and set against with utmost might and malice Haud perinde crimine incendii quam odio humani generis convicti sunt saith Tacitus of those Christians at Rome put to cruel deaths by Nero who having for his pleasure fired the City fathered it upon them as people hated of all men But in the name of the Lord i.e. by faith in Gods power and promises Wee might also do great exploits against our Spiritual enemies did we but set upon them with Gods arms and with his armour did we but observe the Apostles rule Whatsoever yee do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus c. Col. 3.17 Vers 11. They compassed me about yea c. They thought to make sure work of me indeed as Saul and his men when they hemmed him in at Mâ—on 1 Sam. 23.26 as the Churches enemies when they had gotten her as a Bird into the sâ—aâ—â— of the Fowler Psal 124.7 as when the adversaries said They shall not know neither see till we come in the middâ—st among them and stay them Neâ— 4.11 But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them Eâ—â—rvaâ—â— â—â—eidâ—â— The word signifieth Non 〈◊〉 dormiâ—uti â—â—â—iâ—gâ—râ— victâ—riâ—â— sed â—â—rtami prâ—lâ—aâ—â—i Moller Plat. in Syl. that hee foiled not his foes without pains and peril Towns were said to come into Thâ—â—thâ—us his toyls whiles he slept but that was but a fiction of those that 〈◊〉 him Vers 12. They â—â—â—possed me about like Bees Like so many swarms of Bees which being angred Venâ—â—â—m Morsibus inspirant spicula caca relinqnunt Affixa venis animasque in 〈◊〉 pâ—â—â—â—t Virgil. Bees to be revenged lose their stings Aristâ—t and therewith their lives or at least they become drones ever after Wicked men are no less spiteful they care not to undoe themselves so they may wrong the Saints yea they are not unlike the Scorpion of which Pliny saith that there is not one minute wherein it doth not put forth the sting They are quenched or kindled aâ— the fire of thorns Which is quickly kindled and as quickly quenched Ex spinis non â—â—un exbones 〈◊〉 leaving no coals behind it See Eccles 7.6 The enemies of the Church may make a blaze but they are but a blast Vers 13. Thou hast thrust sore at me Thou O Saul or thou Ishbibenob 2 Sam. 21.16 or thou O Satan setting such a work But the Lord helped mee Hee sent from heaven and saved mee hee came in the nick of time as it were out of an Engine Vers 14. The Lord is my strength and song i.e. The matter of my song and mean of my joy Trust in God shall once triumph Vers 15. The voice of rejoycing c. q.d. Though themselves are but travellers and their habitations tabernacles or tents yet are they not without the joy of their salvation which is unspeakable and full of glory so that they go merrily on their way feeding on this hony-comb as once Sampson and Gods Statutes are their songs in the house of their Pilgrimage Psal 119.54 The right hand of the Lord c. This and that which followeth is the righteous mans ditty which hee singeth uncessantly See on vers 4. Vers Haec est vox Epiniâ—il 16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted By right hand here some understand the humanity of Christ Gods hand and our handle whereby wee come to take hold of God The right hand of the Lord doth valiantly Thrice hee celebrateth Gods right hand to set forth his earnest desire to say the utmost or in reference to the sacred Trinity as some will have it Vers 17 I shall not dye but live This hee was well assured of by Faith as was also the Church in Habbakkuk chap. 1.12 Art not thou from everlasting O Lord my God mine boly One wee shall not dye Learned Keckerman lying on his death bed and desirous if it had so pleased God to have lived a while longer for the finishing of those excellent peeces hee had in hand made use of these words of the Psalmist I shall not dye but live and declare the works of the Lord hee was then upon his system of naturall Philosophy but God had otherwise appointed it and hee submitted Vers 18. The Lord hath chastened mee sore Corripuit me seria severa castigatione and yet David was his darling But hee hath not given mee ever to death It might have been worse may the afflicted Saint say and it will yet bee better
Sanctuary-men continens pro contento Hearts and hands must both up to Heaven Lam. 3.41 and God bee glorified both with spirits and bodies which are the Lords 1 Cor. 6.20 And bless the Lord Like so many earth'y Angels and as if yee were in Heaven already say Vers 3 The Lord that made Heaven and Earth And therefore hath the blessings of both lives in his hand to bestow See Num. 6.24 Bless thee out of Zion They are blessings indeed that come out of Zion choice peculiar blessings even above any that come out of Heaven and Earth Compare Psal 128.5 and the promise Exod. 20.24 In all places where I put the memory or my name I will come unto thee and bless thee PSAL. CXXXV VErs 1 Praise yee the Lord praise yee Praise praise praise When duties are thus inculcated it noteth the necessity and excellency thereof together with our dulness and backwardness thereunto O yee Servants of the Lord See Psal 134.1 Vers 2 Yee that stand in the house See Psal 134.1 In the Courts Where the people also had a place 2 Chron. 4.9 and are required to bear a part in this heavenly Halleluiah Vers 3 Praise the Lord for the Lord is good scil Originally transcendently effectively hee is good and doth good Psal 119.68 and is therefore to bee praised with mind mouth and practice For it is pleasant An angelicall exercise and to the spirituall-minded man very delicious To others indeed who have no true notion of God but as of an enemy it is but as musick at funerals or as the trumpet before a Judge no comfort to the mourning wife or guilty prisoner Vers 4 For the Lord hath chosen God 's distinguishing grace should make his elect lift up many an humble joyfull and thankfull heart to him And Israel for his peculiar treasure Such as hee maketh more reckoning of than of all the World besides The Hebrew world here rendred peculiar treasure seemeth to signifie a Jewell made up of three precious stones in form of a triangle Segullâ—h 〈◊〉 dici Sâ—gol 〈…〉 The Saints are Gods Jewels Mal. 3.17 his ornament yea the beauty of his ornament and that set in Majesty Ezek. 7.20 his royall Diadem Isa 62.3 Vers 5 For I know that the Lord is great As well as good vers 3. This I beleeve and know Job 6.69 saith the Psalmist and do therefore make it my practice to praise him And that our Lord is above all Gods Whether they bee so deputed as Magistrates or reputed as Idols Vers 6 Whatsoever the Lord pleased This the Heathens did never seriously affirm of any their dunghill deities sure it is that none of them could say I know it to bee so De diis utrum sint non ausim affirmare said one of their wise men Vers 7 Hee causeth the Vapours Not Jupiter but Jehovah See Jer. 10.13 Hee is the right Nubâ—coga Maker of the Metcors whether fiery aiery or watery Job 26.8 9 28.26 27 37.11 15 16. 38.9 See the Notes there Hee maketh lightenings for the Rain Or With the Rain which is very strange viz. that fire and water should mingle and hard stones come cut of the midst of thin vapours Hee bringeth the winde out of his treasuries Or Coffers store-houses where hee holdeth them close prisoners during his pleasure This the Philosopher knew not and thence it is that they are of so diverse opinions about the winds See Job 36.27 28 c. Job 37. throughout Vers 8 Who smote the first-born of Egypt And thereby roused up that sturdy rebell Pharaoh who began now to open his eyes as they say the blind mole doth when the pangs of death are upon him and to stretch out himself as the crooked Serpent doth when deadly wounded Vers 9 Who sent tokens and wonders Vocall wonders Exod. 4.8 to bee as so many warning-peeces Vers 10 Who smote great Nations Who by their great sins had greatly polluted their land and filled it with fiâ—th from one end to another Ezra 9.11 And slow mighty Kings Heb. Bony big mastiff fellows quasi â—ssâ—tâ—s five 〈◊〉 as the word signifieth Vers 11 Sihon King of Amorites A Giant like Cyclops And Og King of Bashan Of whom the Jews fable that being one of the 〈◊〉 Giants hee escaped the flood by riding affride upon the Ark. Vers 12 And gave their lands for an heritage Which hee might well do as being the true Proprietary and Paramount Vers 13 Thy Name O Lord c. Else O nos ingratos Vers 14 For the Lord will judge his people Judicabit id est vindicabit hee will preserve them and provide for their wel-fare And hee will repent himself This is mutatio rei non Dei effectus non affectus Some render it Hee will bee propitious Others hee will take comfort in his Servants See Judges 10.16 Vers 15 16. The Idols of the Heathen See Psal 115.4 5 6 c. Vers 17 Neither is there any breath in their mouths If they uttered Oracles it was the Devil in them and by them As for those statues of Daedalus which are said to have moved Aristot Diod. Sic. Plato spoken and run away if they were not tyed to a place c. it is either a fiction or else to be attributed to causes externall and artificiall as quick-silver c. Vers 18 They that make them c. See Psal 115.8 Vers 19 Bless the Lord And not an Idoll Isa 66.3 as the Philistines did their Dagon and as Papists still do their hee-Saints and shee-Saints Vers 20 Yee that fear the Lord Yee devout Proselytes Vers 21 Blessed bee the Lord out of Sion There-hence hee blesseth Psal 134.3 and there hee is to bee blessed Which dwelleth at Jerusalem That was the seat of his royall resiance per inhabitationis gratiam saith Austin by the presence of his grace who by his essence and power is every where Enter praesenter Deus hic et ubique potenter PSAL. CXXXVI VErs 1 O give thanks unto the Lord This Psalm is by the Jews called Hillel gadel the great Gratulatory See Psal 106.1.107.1.118.1 For his mercy endureth for ever His Covenant-mercy that precious Church-priviledge this is perpetuall to his people and should perpetually shine as a picture in our hearts For which purpose this Psalm was appointed to bee daily sung in the old Church by the Levites 1 Chron. 16.41 Vers 2 For his mercy endureth for ever This is the foot or burthen of the whole song neither is it any idle repetition but a notable expression of the Saints unsatisfiableness in praising God for his never-failing mercy These heavenly birds having got a note record it over and over In the last Psalm there are but six verses yet twelve Hallelujahs Vers 3 O Give thanks to the Lord of Lords That is to God the Son saith Hierâ—â— as by God of Gods saith hee in the former verse is meant God the Father who because they are no more but one God
strengthened the weak hands Loose and lax feeble and infirme through many terrors and troubles to these thou hast spoken words which have been as sinews to their hands and as strength to their joynts Job had comforted the feeble-minded or the dispirited the sick at heart and sinking under the sense of sinne and fear of wrath 1. Thes â— 14. This is an harder work then to raise the dead to life saith Luther this â—â—â—â—ne of a thousand can skill of Job 33.23 he must have feeding lips and an heaâ—â—â—g tongue that shall do it O quam hoc non est omuâ— um The Christian Romans were able to do it chap. 15.14 And holy Job was both able and apt for he did it to many True goodnesse is diffusive of it self and is therefore compared to the most spreading things as fire water Sun-light c. Verse 4. Thy words havâ— upholden him that was falling So forcible are right words well timed and fitted to the present necessity they shore up the tottering they catch him before he comes to ground and prevent his fall This made Latimâ—r blesse God that ever he came acquainted with that fellow-prisoner of his that Angel of God as he called him John Bradford he and Ridley so long as they lived upheld Cranmer by their words and letters who soon after fell to the grief of the godly party but rose again by repentance It is storied of Vrbanus Begius Mr. Clark in his life a famous Dutch Divine that meeting with Luther at Goburg he spent a whole day in conference with him about matters of great moment of which himself writeth that he never had a more comfortable day in all his life The Earle of Darby's accusation in the Parliament house against Mr. Bradford was that he did moâ—e hurt so he called good evil by letters and conferences in prison Acts Mon. then ever he did when he was abroad by preaching Thou hast strengthened the feeble knees That bend and buckle under a back-burden of afflictions this was to be like unto God who doth not crush but cherish the worm Jacob he doth not break the bruised â—eed nor quench the smoaking flax hee Hâ—spiseth not the day of small things nor slighteth the well meant weaknesses of his upright-hearted people Now Job as a partaker of the Divine Nature resembled God herein and made it his work to comfort the abject to strengthen and straighten those that were bowed down with paines and pressures to be eyes to the blind and feet to the lame chap. 29.15 to distribute spiritual almes which is far the best in many respects as were easie to instance Verse 5. But now it is come upon thee This is a galling But hitherto Eliphaz had commended Job now he dasheth all and draweth a black line over that he had spoken once To commend a man with a But is a wound in stead of a commendation it sounds like that which is said of Naaman 2 Kings 5. â— he was an honourable and a valiant man But a leper it sprinkleth black upon white and so smutteth a mans good name which is slander in an high degree It is come upon thee What is come the evill thou fearedst by thine owne confession chap. 3.25 26. Or now it is come to thy turne to act what thou hast taught others And thou faintest Thou art down on all four most shamefully degenerating into a faithlesse pusillanimity and unbelieving impatiency to the scandall of the weake and scorn of the wicked Nay thou art not only in a maze but in a rage so that thy reason seemes tired as much as thy strength thou layest about thee like an Hercules furens a man stark mad See the word used in this sense Prov. 26.18 Gen. 47.13 It toucheth thee and thou art troubled It toucheth thee but so tender thou art and delicate that a light touch disquieteth thee like as some mens flesh if but razed with a pin rankleth strait Invalidum omne naturâ querulum saith Seneca the weaker any thing is the more complaintfull And thou art troubled Pitifully put to 't as if utterly undone because toucht a little Mira verò constantia But is this you that were the great teacher that were so forward and forth-putting to presse others to a patient and peaceable behaviour under Gods hand should not thy words be made visible by thine actions and thy patient mind maâ—e known to all men fith the Lord is at hand Hypocrites can talk of duty as if their tongues did run â—pâ—n pattens they talk by the talent but act by the ounce as did those Pharisees Matth. 23.3 Rom. 2.21 that shamed goodnesse by seeming good Eliphaz here reproacheth Job for such an one as both here and every where he and his two companions are too hot and harsh in their censures passed upon him which God also giveth them the telling of chap. 42. Verse 6. Is not this thy feare thy confidence c Or thy folly q. d. Is not thy religion a meere foolery and hast not thou rather acted religion play's devotion and the fear of God then been serious therein This was a most bitter scoffe a cruell shake and came near his heart Like as nothing vexed David more then when they laid his religion in his dish asking where is now thy God So here By this alteration that affliction hath wrought in thee thou mayest easily see what thou art viz. a very painted hypocrite hard weather shewes what health empty vessels set neere the fire crack quickly At the parting way every dog followeth his own Master Afflictio virum arguit c. Affliction shewes a man it turnes the inside outward the bottome of the bag upward bringing that which was at the bottome to the top as that stick cast into the water made the iron swim 2 King 6.6 Doth it not appeare saith Eliphaz here that thou hast been meerly mercenary serving God whilest he prospered thee and now kicking against him because hee afflicteth thee See how neer this man cometh saith Mercer to that first instigation of Satan chap. 1.9 in hoc Satanae factus minister herein acting the divels part though unwittingly as Peter also did Matth. 16.22 23. The uprightnesse of thy wayes and thy hope q. d. Thou hast taken to thy selfe many fair titles and made a great flaunt as if there were none such but what is it all come to Is it any better then a flask a foppery a name and not a thing Or if it be a reality make proofe of it True grace is operative and will not lie dormant Verse 7. Remember I pray thee who ever perished being innocent Why that hath many a one as the world counteth and calleth perishing the Righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart Isa 57.1 And it was given unto the Beast to make warre with the Saints and to overcome them Rev. 13.7 So it seemed to bee though so it never was Rev. 12.11 The first man that dyed dyed for
Religion so early came Martyrdome into the world and John Baptist was put to death in prison without all shew of law right or reason as if God had beene nothing aware of any such matter Acts Mon. as that Martyr phrased it Indeed if Eliphaz meant it of perishing eternally neither Job nor any one else could produce an instance of a godly man so perishing but for temporall miseries 't is sure that never any out of hell have met with more then the most holy and harmlesse heires of heaven see Heb. 11. and you will say so But the Scriptures haply were not written when Eliphaz uttered this speech howbeit he might have observed the contrary to what he here seemeth to affirme appealing to Jobs own experience for proof And the truth is if men were so well read as they might in the story of their owne lives they might have a Divinity of their own by noting experiments such as that 119 Psalm is in a manner wholly made up of Remember saith hee here and the Philosopher saith that experience is nothing else but multiplex memoria because of the memory of the same thing often done ariseth experience Eliphaz therefore after that he had given Job his turne to search his experiences brings forth his owne in the next verse Verse 8. Even as I have seene And therefore can boldly say for what so sure as sight See Numb 11.23 Gen. 34.1 2. Diligent inspection of a thing and deepe consideration upon it makes confidence which is the fruit of experience They that plow iniquity and sow wickednesse Here 's plowing and sowing a mysticall husbandry Sinners are sore labourers great pains-takers they plot and plow they sow and reap they dig and delve Prov. 16.27 they weave and spin Isa 59.5 They busie their heads and beat their brains as hard students in their black-art they labour even unto lassitude Jer. 9.5 Hence they are called workers of iniquity the vulgar rendreth this text Qui operantur iniquitatem and sinne is called a work of the flesh How can those but work hard in digging descents to hell who have the divel for their task-master who continually spurres them on to a quick dispatch of the deeds of darknesse Arant serunt occant scelera as the divels hinds and horses they drudge night and day turning up all the corruptions in their hearts and conveniences in the world for the effecting of their wicked devises And sow wickednesse Nemo repente fit turpissimus Sin goeth on gradually here is first plowing 2 Tim. 3.13 and then sowing wicked men and seducers grow worse and worse til at length they are even Satanized being transformed into sins image and bereft of all passive power of awaking out of the snare of the divel being taken alive by him at his pleasure 2 Tim. 2.26 Reape the same Not the same day it may be but too soone to their sorrow they receive the guerdon of their sinne Sooner or later it is sure he that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity Prov. 22.8 Jer. 4.18 As every body hath its shadow so hath every sinne its punishment and many times the one is so like the other that a man may safely say such a punishment is the product of such a sinne Gal. 6.7 Men shall reap the same they sow and good reason Give them bloud to drink for they are worthy Rev. 16.6 God loves to make him a name amongst men by his Art of Justicing as One calleth it in that most exact way of counter-passion or retaliation And Adonibezek hath got him a fame of ingenuity by acknowledging as much Judg. 1.7 Verse 9. By the blast of God they perish He puts himself to no great pain to punish them but blowes them away as so many dust-heaps he nods them to destruction saith the Psalmist Ps 80.16 he can as easily do it as bid it to be done Sic Caesar Metello Psal 64.1 If the Lord do but arise his enemies shall be scattered and all that hate him flye before him If he but put his head out of the windows of heaven as it were and say Who is on my side who all the creatures who for fear of him had hid themselves as worms wriggle into their holes in time of thunder shall look out presently and offer him their service so that he cannot possibly want a weapon to tame his rebels or a way to bring the wicked to condign punishment He is Eloah as he is here called that is The puissant One the mighty strong God as Isa 9.6 before whom all Nations are as the drop of a bucket or as the dust of the balance No more able to stand against him Isa 40.15 then is the glasse-bottle against a Cannon shot or down-thistle before a whirl-wind Behold I will send a blast upon him saith God concerning Sennacherib 2 King 19.7 and so set him going So elsewhere he threatneth to tread down his stoutest enemies as straw is troden down to the dung-hill Neither shall he much trouble himself in doing this For he shall onely spread forth his hands in the midst of them as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth his hands to swim c. Isa 25.11 12. to signifie that he shall do it with greatest facility The motion in swimming is easie not strong for strong violent strokes in the water would rather sink then support It is said that by a look of his out of the pillar of fire and of the cloud he troubled the hoast of the Egyptians Exod. 14.24 and as the Rocks repelled the boysterous waves Coâ—antia frangere frangunt so did He the enemies of his people By the breath of his nostrils they are consumed Heb. By the wind of his nostrils This is the same with the former Onely it is conceived that Eliphaz here alludeth to the manner of the death of Jobs children by a mighty wind so strong as if God himself had breathed it out By the breath of his mouth He made the world Psalm 33.6 and by the same breath can He as soon and as easily unmake it againe as he did in the generall Deluge whereunto the Chaldee Paraphrast holdeth that Eliphaz here referreth the remembrance of which standing monument of Gods wrath was fresh and well known when this was spoken Verse 10. The roaring of the Lion c. Lest any should think saith an Interpreter that the blast of God above-mentioned carryeth away only strawes and feathers Mr. Caryâ— light and weak persons into perdition Eliphaz addeth the weightiest and the strongest The roaring of a Lion c. q. d. God by his blast can take away or break the strongest the mightiest lion-like men c. Under the shadow of which allusions he closely strikes at Job who was once a great man a fierce spoiling Lion in the apprehension of his friends and yet God brought him down Of tyrants and Oppressors compared to Lions and why see Nahum 2.11 12. with the Note and Prov. 28.15 with the note
of so great vertue This Zophar promiseth Job upon his true repentance with a daily increase thereof as the Sun shineth more and more unto the perfect day Fame followeth vertue as the shadow doth the body at the very heels If there be any vertue if any praise saith the Apostle Philip. 4.8 Where the one is the other will be Abel for his faith and righteousnesse is yet spoken of as some render Hebr. 11.4 though dead long agoe The Righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance Psalm 112.6 Thou shalt shine forth thou shalt be as the morning Isai 58.8 Or If thou dost wax obscure yet thou shalt match the morning which disperseth darknesse and conquers it by the approaching light Look how the Moon wadeth out of a cloud so shall thine over-cast righteousnesse break forth as the light and thy judgment as the noon-day Psalm 37.6 Verse 18. And thou shalt be secure because there is hope It 's a spiritual security that 's here promised which is a fruit of faith quelling and killing distracting and distrustful fears faith I say unfaigned 1 Tim. 1.5 which produceth hope unfailable Rom. 5.5 Hope is the daughter of faith but such as is a staffe to her aged mother Yea thou shalt dig about thee That is saith one Interpreter by searching to find out how to do all things for the best thou shalt prosper in all Others sense it thus Eugub Tigur thou shalt be secure as they that lye in trenches Rabbi David Thou shalt dig only about thy city and not need to make any walls about it for thy security Others Lavater thou shalt labour hard and sleep soundly thereupon Or thus God shall so encompasse thee with his safe protection as if thou dost but dig a place to pitch thy tent in thou shalt enjoy thy self safelier therein then otherwise thou wouldst do in a walled city And thou shalt take thy rest God will keep off those gnats of cares and fears that might disquiet thee We read of some great Princes that could not sleep as Ahasuerus Esth. 6.1 Daniel Thulin Richard the third of England and Charls the ninth of Franc after that barbarous Massacre at Paris but David could Psalm 3. and 4. because God was his keeper No marvel that Philip sleepeth soundly when Antipater his fast friend watched by him the while Job and all Gods beloved ones shall sleep on both ears Psalm 127.2 rest securely and comfortably What should hinder In utramvis aurem when the keeper of Israel who neither slumbreth nor sleepeth shall watch over them for good Verse 19. Thou shalt lie down and none shall make thee afraid Thou shalt walk about the world like a conquerour being ever under a double guard the Peace of God within thee Philip. 4.7 and the Power of God without thee 1 Pet. 1.5 neither shall any enemy come upon thee in the night to fright and to disturb thee which is a great mercy It is not long since we of this Nation did eat the bread of our souls in peril of our lives neither could we rest in our beds for the sound of the trumpet the alarm of warre Destruction upon destruction was cryed c. Jer. 4.19 20. Should this ever be forgotten Yea many shall make suit unto thee Heb. Shall intreat thy face yea they shall tire thee out with their intreaties Many seek the Rulers favour Prov. 29.26 he is even thronged with suitors so that he cannot be without a Master of Requests Hence the Poet Orpheus faineth that Litae or Supplications and Petitions are Joves daughters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orph. in Arg. and that they are ever attending at his throne Here then Zophar promiseth Job that upon his return to God he shall be as great a man as ever and that many yea that his very enemies shall not only not molest him but fear his power Jer. 30.17 and beg his favour And whereas once it was this is Job whom no man feeketh after then the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour Psalm 45.12 and all that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the foals of thy seet Isai 60.14 See Isai 45.14 Rev. 3.9 Prov. 19.6 Lo this is the honour God putteth upon holinesse Holy and reverend is his name and therefore reverend because holy so also is ours Psalm 111.9 Isai 43.4 Howbeit we have cause to complain that in these last and worst times Omnes quodammodo mali esse coguntur ne viles habeantur Sal. lib 4. as the Turks count all fools to be Saints so men with us account all Saints to be fools and not a few turn to unholinesse lest they should be despised Verse 20. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail Contraries illustrate one another and Zophar willing his words should stick and work thinks to leave a sting in Jobs mind by telling him what he must trust to if he persist in his sin And first his eyes shall saile Vt vehementiùs vellicet fodiat inopinatum ut putabat Job◠animum Merl. Speed The eye is a principal part of the body and the failing of the eyes followeth either upon some sudden fright or upon much weeping Damen 2. Psalm 88. and 38. we read of one Faustus son of Vortiger King of Britain who wept out his eyes or too long looking after the same thing or on the same object The wicked saith Zophar shall never want frights and griefs they shall also look many a long look after help but none shall appear Lam. 4.17 their hopes shall be fruitlesse their projects successelesse And they shall not escape Heb. refuge or flight shall perish from them◠miseries and mischiefs they shall never be able to avert or avoid many sorrows shall be to the wicked Psalm 32.10 and although they may think to get off of out-run them yet it will not be Amos 2.14 Psalm 142.4 Saul for instance God hath forsaken me saith he and the Philistims are upon me 1 Sam. 28.15 Their hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost Broughton rendreth it Their hope is nought but pangs of the soul Of that which yeildeth but cold comfort we use to say It comforteth a man like the pangs of death the Vulgar hath it Their hope shall be the abomination of their soul the Tigurine Their hope shall be most vain even as a puffe of breath which presently passeth away and cometh to nothing Some Rabbines make this the sense Their hope shall be as the snuffing of the breath that is they shall be so angry at their disappointments that they shall vex and snuffe at it According to our translation the wicked mans hope is set forth as utterly forlorn and at an end for any good ever to befall him The godly mans hope is lively 1 Pet. 1.3 and the righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 Cum expiro spero is his motto whereas the wickeds word when he dieth is or may
be spes fortuna valete my life and hope endeth together Spes eorùm expiratione animae so Tremellius rendreth the text Death causeth in the wicked a total despair and a most dreadful schreek giveth the guilty soul when it seeth it self launching into an infinite ocean of scalding lead and considereth that therein it must swim naked for ever CHAP. XII Verse 1. And Job answered and said BEing nipped and netled with his friends hard usage of him and harsh language to him but especially with Zophars arrogant and lofty preface in the former chapter he begins now to wax warm and more roughly and roundly to shape them an answer Verse 3. No doubt but ye are the people The select peculiar people the only Ones as a man is put for a good man Jer. 5.1 a wife for a good wife Prov. 18.22 a name for a good name Eccles 7.1 As Athens was said to be the Greece of Greece Silius and as one promising to shew his friend all Athens at once shewed him Soloâ—â— or as the Latine Poet saying of Fabius Maximus Hic patriuest murique urbis stant pectore in uno So saith Job by an holy jear not to disgrace his friends but to bring them to more modesty and moderation if it might be Certes ye are not one or two men Vatab. but specimen totius orbis an Epitome of the world or at least the Representative of some whole people ye have got away all the wit from my self and others whom ye look upon as so many wilde asses colts in comparison of your selves Thus the Pope Simon Magus-like gives himself out to be some great thing Acts 8.9 even the Church-virtual and that in his brest as in Noahs Ark is comprehended all wisedome and worth ye know nothing at all saith he Caiaphas-like to all others Job 11.49 So do his Janizaries the Jesuits who will needs be taken for the only Scholars Politicians and Orators of the world The Church say they is the soul of the world the Clergy of the Church and we of the Clergy the Empire of learning is ours c. And wisedome shall dye with you As being lookt up in your bosomes Suetonius telleth us of Palaemon the Grammarian that he was heard to say that Learning was born with him and would dye with him The Gnosticks would needs be held the only knowing men Illuminates in Spain the only spiritual men Sweâ—kfeldians in Germany stiled themselves the Confessors of the glory of Christ our Antinomians the Hearers of the Gospel and of free-grade But what saith Solomon Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth Prov. 27.2 And that which had been much to a mans commendation if from another soundeth very slenderly from himself saith Pliny Aben Ezâ—â— and Rabbi Levi set another sense upon this verse Ep. 8. lib. 1. as if it were no 〈◊〉 but a plain assertion to this effect Questionlesse you are to be counted 〈◊〉 the common sort of people see John 7.49 Neither is there in you any thing excellent or extraordinary that ye should be looked upon as drained from the dregs or sifted from the brans of the very vulgar your wisedome if ever you had any is even dead and decaied with you and you have out-lived your prime c. Verse 3. But I have understanding as well as you Think not that you have engrossed all the knowledg and that you have the monopoly of wisedom in your brests for surely I may come into the ballance with you and claim as great a share in understanding as your selvs Zophar was pleased to call me hollow and heartlesse chap. 11.12 But I have an heart so the Hebrew here hath it that seat of understanding and that shall appear in the ensuing discourse where Job proveth that by solid arguments concerning Gods power wisedom c. which Zophar had but barely propounded And whereas this patient man was not without his impatiencies yet he discovereth more grace even in his distempers then his friends did in their seeming wise carriages Breaking out in the body shewes strength of nature Some infirmities discover more good then some seeming beautiful actions I am not inferiour to you Heb. I fall not lower then you See Nehem. 6.16 Esth 6.13 Job 13.2 He meaneth that he was much their superiour and did better understand the doctrine of Gods providence then they This he speaketh not out of any vain-glory or ambitious boasting but as David and Paul and others after them did commending themselves either in defence of their own wronged innocency or when it appeared unto them that the concealing of their good parts and practises might turn to the hindrance of the truth or to the hurt of the Church or to the impairing and impeaching of Gods glory In these cases self-commendation is not unseemly but a Job may lawfully stand upon not his comparisons only but his disparisons also Yea who knoweth not such things as these Viz. That God rewardeth the righteous and punisheth the ungodly The Heathen saw this by the rush-candle of natures dim light Doth not nature it self teach you saith Paul 1 Cor. 11.14 And again This ye know that no whoremonger c. hath any inheritance in the kingdome of God and of Christ Eph. 5.5 Verse 4. I am as one mocked of his neighbour Those that should countenance and comfort me contemn and scorn me I am their laughter and pastime so he took it sith they sat so heavily upon the skirts of his conscience and would not weigh his reasons brought in his own defence Who calleth upon God and he answereth him i. e. I Job do make God my refuge when these jeering neighbours of mine do shame my counsel Psalm 14.6 and would mock me out of my religion but God favoureth me though men frown and where humane help faileth divine appeareth Or thus rather I am derided of those who professe to call upon God and to hear often from heaven They are hard-hearted to me though themselves have liberally tasted of Gods tendernesse and they pull up the bridg of mercy before me which themselves have oft gone over The just upright man is laughed to scorn Shame shall be the promotion of fools Prov. 3.35 and such a dissembler as Doeg may well be derided Psalm 52.6 7. But what hath the righteous done And why should just upright Job be laughed to scorn Isa 8.18 But this is no news Christ and his people have ever been for signs and for wonders in this mad world alwaies besides it self in point of salvation He that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey or is accounted mad Isai 59.15 If he will needs be a just upright man if he will live godly in Christ Jesus if he be so set upon it that none shall hinder him he shall suffer persecution this of the tongue howsoever 2 Tim. 3.12 A wolf flieth not upon a painted sheep we can look upon a painted toad with delight it is
and in the other their sins and that if those weigh down these they are â—aved as if otherwise they are damned But what saith an Ancient Vae hominum vitae etiamsi landabili c. Woe to the best man alive if God should weigh him in a balance of justice sith his sins would be found heavier than the sands of the Sea Job 9.15 10.15 Verse 7. If my step hath turned out of the way sc Of justice and equity in tâ—â—ding and trâ—ffacking to get the Mammon of unrighteousness No the Sun might sooner be turned out of his course as it was once said of Fabricius than Job out of the track of truth and honesty He had said laws upon his feet his eyes and his hands too binding them all to the good behaviour Witnesse the next words And mine heart walked after mine eyes As it doth too often to the coveting other men Goods which St. John casteth the lust of the eyes 1 Epist 2.16 Alexander the Great called the Persian Maids Dolores oculorum the griefs of the eyes The wedge of Gold and Babylonish Garment proved to be so to covetous Achan Josh 7.21 and Nabotâ— Vineyard to that Non-such Ahab 1 King 21.2 He was even sick of it and could not be cured but by a Sâ—llet out of it Hence the law flatly forbiddeth men to go after the sight of their eyes and the lust of their hearts for these are seldom â—undred Numb 15.39 Eccles 11.9 Unruly eyes like Jacobs sheep too firmly fixed on unlawful objects make the affections bring forth spotted 〈◊〉 Job would therefore set a guard upon them Oculus cor sunt proxeneta peccati Hebr. Proverb .. lest they should prove 〈◊〉 of wickedness to the heart as that hang by Hiram the Adâ—ttamâ—te was to Judah Gen. 38.20 There is an easie passage for evill through the eyes into the heart saith 〈◊〉 And if any blot hath cleaved to my hands If I have been fingering that which was not sit for me to meddle with viz. evil-gotten goods whether by bribery usury deceit or the like the very touching whereof will blot and benumb the hands as Pliny writeth of the fish Torpedo and as scholers know that Demosthenes a great Lawyer by poizing Harpalus his goblet was tempted and swayed to favour his Cause to the great danger of his Countrey and his own indeleble infamy Verse 8. Then let me sow and another eate God loves to retaliate and let him do so to me according to that he hath threatned Deut. 28 30 c. and as he executed upon Laban Nabal Saul Haman others The Greeks have a Proverb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some sow that which others reape This Job wisheth may befal if he had been oppressive and injurious as Eliphaz had wrongfully accused him chap. 22.6 Yea let my off-spring be rooted out Or Let that which I have planted be pluckt up by the roots It is commonly seen that oppressours and unconscionable persons procure their own ruth and ruine and he that gathereth the fruits of another mans tree pulleth his own up by the roots 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They who spoyle houses which they builded not Job 20.19 shall when they cease to spoile be made a spoile and when they have made an end of dealing treacherously be treacherously dealt with themselves Isaiah 33.1 Verse 9. If my heart hath been deceived by a woman By a she-sinner as they call such a strange woman as the Scripture whose lips are snares 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hinc 〈◊〉 persuadeo whose hands are bands whose words are cords to draw a man in as an Ox to the slaughter Prov 7.21 whose face is as a glass wherein whiles larks gaze they are taken in a day-net Here Job disavoweth and disclaimeth the sin of Adultery purging himself as it were by Oath as before he had done of fornication and of wrong-dealing These sins he reckoneth up either as they came to minde or else in such order as men are many times tempted to them Young people are prone to fornication Job when young had kept himself clear from that iniquity When men have got some yeares over their heads and are entred into the world as they call it they usually grow greedy and gripple they are set upon 't and will be rich however they come by it Job was none such neither verse 5.7 Afterwards when married they are sick of a Pluâ—isie and as the Devil who sets them a work they long to be sowing another mans ground Matth. 13.25 The temptation to fornication is strong but to adultery stronger God doth often punish fornication unrepented of Adulterium quasi ad alterius torum with strong and vexing honings and hankerings after strange flesh But Job either was never troubled in this kinde or else when the temptation came he was sure to be ever out of the way The Devils fire fell upon wet tinder and if he knockt at Jobs door there was no body at home to look out at the window and let him in for he considered the punishment both humane verse 11. and divine verse 12. due to this great wickedness Or if I have laid wait at my neighbours door Either as waiting the opportunity of his absence as Prov. 7.19 or as insinuating my self into her familiarity whiles she was standing in her door Of the Italian Women one giveth this Character That though witty in speech and modest in outward appearance yet they are magpies at the door Goats in the garden Devils in the house Angels in the streets and Syrens in the windows Jobs heart was not deceived by any such neither sought he to defraud his brother in any such matter 1 Thess 4.5 6. See the Note on Job 8.4 Verse 10. Then let my wise grind unto another i.e. Let her be his slave as Lam. 5.13 Exod. 11.5 Matth. 24.41 Or rather let her be his Where and may my sin Vatab. Alicnas Permolere uxores Horat. Sic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i.e. molcre apud Theocrit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est coire which hath served her for example serve her also for excuse Not that Job would Hereby license his wise to commit filthiness as those Lituanians who have their Connubii adjutores coadjutors in wedlock and prize them far above all their acquaintance as Maginus relateth and as some wittals amongst us pandars to their own beds who either for gain or for a quiet life wink at their wives disloyalty and as Wood culvers or silly Hedg-sparrows hatch and bring up that which Cuckow 's lay in their nests but to set forth by this horrible imprecation how extreamly he abhorred the sin of Adultery And let others bow down upon her A clean expression of an unclean act Some Borborologi podicentex ore faciunt being like Ducks that ever have their noses pudling in puddles sic hi spurcitias Veneris eliminant delight in ribaldry and obscene language as did Proculus the Emperour and before him that
shall go to the generation of his fathers i.e. To the grave or albeit he come to the age of his Fathers that is live here very long They shall never see light Either have any sound comfort at death or any part in Gods Kingdom Vers 20. Man that is in honour and understandeth not Versus amabeus See ver 12. there is but little difference Stultitians patiuntur opes The more a man hath of worldly wealth and the less of Spiritual and heavenly understanding therewith the more bestial he is and shall be more miserable Caligula called his Father-in-law Marcus Silanus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a golden brute Quid cervo ingentia cornua cum desit animus Vel mihi da clavem vel mihi telle seram PSAL. L. A Psalm of Asaph Who was both a Musick-master 1 Chron. 25.2 and a Psalm-composer 2 Chron. 29.30 The most are of opinion that this Psalm was made by David and committed to Asaph to be sung after that Israel had been afflicted with three years Famine and three days Pestilence and the Angel had appeared to David Jun. and set out the place where the Temple should be built 2 Sam. 21. 24. 1 Chron. 21.18 22.4 Vers 1. R. Nahum ap Nebien The mighty God even the Lord Heb. The God of gods whether they be so deputed as Angels Magistrates or reputed only as Heathen-deities 1 Cor. 8.9 Jehovah or Essentiator is Gods proper Name Some say God is here thrice named to note the Trinity in Vnity Hath spoken sc By the mouth of his holy Prophets which have been since the world began Henoch the seventh from Adam spoke much like Jude 14. The Rabbines say that this Psalm is De die judecii futuro of the Day of Judgement Others that it is the Lords judging of his Church drawn according to the model of the great and last Judgement whereunto it serveth as a preparation or a warning-peece And called the earth from the rising c. The habitable part of Gods earth the sons of men Prov. 8.31 with Mal. 1.11 These are all called to attest the equity of Gods proceedings against an hypocriticall Nation Children that were corrupters For God hath thus farre instructed all men that He is to be honoured of all with all manner of observance Rom. 1.20 Let this be pressed upon all sorts said Zalencm the Locrian Law-giver in the preface to his Laws 1. That there is a God 2. That this God is to be duely worshiped Vers 2. Out of Sion the perfection of beauty Heb. The whole Perfection Perfectissim◠pulchritudini◠locus Tre◠or the Universality of beauty because there especially was Gods glory set forth in his holy ordinances and more clearly manifested than in all his handy-work besides See Psal 48.2 God hath shined Like the Sun in his strength sometimes for the comfort of his people as Psal 80.1 sometimes for the terrour of evill-doers as Psal 94.1 and here But evermore God is terrible out of his holy places Psal 68.35 89.7 Vers 3. Our God shall come and shall not keep silence He doth daily come and sit upon the tribunall in his Church by the Ministery of his Servants Mat. 18.17 who must reprove sinners with all authority and shew themselves sons of thunder that they may save some at least with fear snatching them out of the fire Jude 23. as Peter Act. 2.40 and Paul 2 Cor. 5.11 but especially when to work upon the Proconsul Paulus Sergius he set his eyes upon Elymas the sorcerer as if he would have looked thorough him After which lightening followed that terrible thunder crack O thou full of all subtlety and all mischief thou child of the Devill thou enemy of all Righteousness wilt thou not cease to pervert the streight wayes of the Lord Act. 13.9 10. A fire shall devour before him As he gave his law in fire so in fire shall he require it And it shall bee very tempestuous round about him Not before him only but round about him lest the Wicked should hope to escape by creeping behind him That was a terrible tempest that befell Alexander the great Curtius lib. 8. ex Dioder and his army marching into the Country of Gabaza when by reason of continuall thundering and lightening with hailstones and light-bolts the army was dis-ranked and wandred any way many durst not stirre out of the place c. Tremellius rendreth it wish-wise but in a parenthesis Les our Lord come and let him not be silent The Saints know that they shall bee safe when others shall smoak for it because God is their God Vers 4. Hee shall call to the Heavens from above and to the earth That these dumbCreatures may be as so many speaking evidences against an unworthy people and witnesses of Gods righteous dealings against them See Deut. 32.1 Isa 1.2 Mic. 6.2 The Chaldee thus paraphraseth He will call the high Angels from above and the just of the earth from beneath Vers 5. Gather my Saints together unto mee This seemeth to be spoken to the Angels those active Instruments and executioners of Gods Judgements By Saints here understand professors at large all that live in the bosome of the Church visible and partake of the externall priviledges only such as are in the Vine but bear no fruit Joh. 15.2 have a name to live but are dead Rev. 3. such as whose sanctity consisteth only in covenanting by sacrifice Basil saith that such are called Saints to aggravate their sins as a man that hath an honourable title but hath done wickedly and is therefore the rather to be condemned When one pleaded once with a Judge for his life that he might not be hanged because he was a Gentleman hee told him that therefore he should have the Gallows made higher for him Those that have made a Covenant with mee by Sacrifice But were never brought by mee into the bond of the Covenant for then the rebels would have been purged out from among them as it is Ezek. 20.37 38. Vers 6. And the Heavens shall declare his Righteousnesse Those Catholick Preachers whose voice goeth out aloud to the end of the World Psal 19.4 See vers 4. For God is Judge himself And front him is no appeal every transgression and disobedience from him shall receive a just recompence of reward Heb. 2.2 even those corruptions that are most inward and lye up in the heart of the Country as it were those pollutions not of flesh only i.e. worldly lusts and grosse evills but of spirit also 2 Cor. 7.1 more spirituall lusts as pride presumption formality self-flattery carnall confidence in externall legall worships the sin principally taxed in this Jewish people here in the next verses Vers 7. Hear O my people and I will speak c. What sweet and winning language is here for a preface Gods proceedings against sinners whom he might confound with his terrours is with meeknesse and much mildnesse Gen. 3.9.11 4.9 Mat.