himselfe What the day of darknesse is learne upon the former Verse He beleeveth not that he shall returne out of darknesse there I shewed a fivefold darknesse here I shall reduce it to one of these two The day of darknesse is either the day of death or the day of affliction so 't is taken Eccles 5.17 All his dayes hee eateth in darknesse that is hee is in sorrow all his dayes Though he hath Sun light or Candle light enough at his Table yet he hath no light in his heart So the Prophet Amos 5.20 Shall not the day of the Lord be darknesse and not light Even very darke and no brightnesse in it There is a day of the Lord which is nothing but light and there is a day of the Lord which is nothing but darknesse that is of tribulation and anguish upon the soule that sins The Prophet Joel calls it A day of darknesse and of gloominesse a day of clouds and of thick darknesse He knowes that the day of darknesse is Ready at hand The word which we translate ready signifies two things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paratum firmum stabilem certum esse denotat Drus First that which is prepared Secondly that which is established or confirmed We translate to the former the day is ready or prepared others render to the latter sense the day is established and setled his day of darknesse shall certainely come upon him And whereas wee translate Ready at hand noting the neernesse of the danger Others Tygurina per manum intelligere videtur ipsa impiorunt scelera per paraphrasim sic sententiam elucidat Scit quod suis factis periculosa tempora accersierit to note the cause of the danger render He knowes that his owne hand hath made a day of darknesse that is The villanies and wickednesses which he hath committed cause the clouds of judgement to gather and look black upon him his unrighteousnesse hath hastned on his ruine and wrapt him up in darknesse He hath brought an evill day upon himselfe by his evill deeds or as the Prophet speaks His destruction is from himselfe He hath pulled downe his House with his owne hands and is the sole author or contriver of his owne sorrows This is an experienced truth but I rather take the words as we render The day of darknesse is ready at hand that is it is neer and will shortly seize upon him Hence Observe First Many a wicked man growes into an assurance of his approaching misery It is as hard to perswade some wicked men that their state is naught as it is to perswade some good men that their state is good yet as many of the Saints conquer unbeleife and come not onely to have some hopes but high assurances that there is a day of mercy at hand for them that they are in a present happy state and eternall happinesse waite for them so a wicked man after long debate may have his unbeleife conquered and though he hath been sowing pillowes under his owne elboes though he hath slighted all the Counsells Admonitions and threatnings of faithfull Freinds though notwithstanding all this he continue long speaking peace to his owne soule and saying all is well yet I say this man may have his unbeleife conquered and know at last that there is a day of darknesse ready at hand when his eyes are opened to see what he hath done and what he hath been he sees that God hath rejected all his confidences and that he shall never prosper in them Secondly Observe That for a man to be assured of his owne misery is the height of misery Eliphaz puts it here among the punishments of wicked men This assurance makes his heart shake this knowledge is full of feare and therefore full of torment As to know that a day of light and deliverance is ready at hand is light while we are in darknesse and deliverance while we are in trouble So to know that a day of darknesse and misery is ready at hand is darknesse to wicked men while they are in externall light and misery in the midst of all their mirth And as it is the highest comfort of the Saints to know that they have eternall life to know that they are in the favour and live in the love of God a man may be in it and not know it and then though he shall doe well at last yet his state is but uncomfortable and he that is an heyre of Heaven may walke as an heyre of Hell with a troubled spirit but to know that it is so this is Heaven before we come at Heaven so it is the deepest sorrow of any man in this life to know that he hath eternall death an assurance of this setled upon the spirit though I conceive a man cannot have an absolute assurance of it yet to have strong impressions upon the spirit that he shall never be saved or that Hell is prepared for him this is Hell before he is cast into Hell A soule that doubts of mercy and of the favour of God is in a very sad condition but the condition of that soule is unexpressibly sad which is assured of judgement and of the wrath of God Thirdly Observe That as a wicked man may know that he shall be miserable in the end so hee may know that his misery is neere at hand An evill conscience awakened is the worst Prophet it is full of sad presages like Micah to Ahab Haec est paenae impii pars nou modica quod cogatur ipse sibi ominari malum Pined it never Prophesied good but evill and it doth not onely Prophesie of evill afarr off but neer or ready at hand 'T is true an evill conscience usually puts the evill day farr off 2 Pet. 3.4 There shall be scoffers saying Where is the day of his comming c. The day of darknesse is farr enough off it hath been long talked of but we doe not see it say these despisers But when an evill conscience is awakened then he sees evill neer and himselfe dogg'd at the heeles or as the former Verse speakes Waited for of the Sword As a Beleever when the eye of faith is cleare sees mercy neer at hand Faith makes God neer and then all good is neer So an Unbeleever when the eye of his conscience is cleared sees misery neer Observe Fourthly The misery of a wicked man is unmoveable His day of darknesse is established by an irrevocable decree there is no getting it off he is under a Divine Fate A day of darknesse may come over the Saints but that day blows over David sayd once of his day of light It shall never be dark and of his Mountaine it shall never be removed yet he was deceived But a wicked mans day of darknesse shall never be light nor can he use any proper meanes to turne his day of darknesse into light He cannot pray and it is pâ—â—â—er that turnes darknesse into light he cannot
vve have used them both for our owne good and the good of others I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe thus saith the Lord Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised Jer. 31.18 Ephraims outward moanes were as musick in the eares of God Ephraim did not murmure against God but he bemoaned himselfe Ephraim was not angry at his chastisement but Ephraim mourned being chastised God heard this fully in hearing hee heard it or it pleased him to heare it It is our duty to testifie our sorrow by the saddest notes of a troubled spirit and it is a delight to God when vve doe so not that hee delights in our sorrows but he delights in the witnesse vvhich vve beare to his wisedome righteousnesse and faithfulnesse in sending those sorrowes I heard Ephraim bemoane himselfe Will an offendor that lookes for mercy come before the Judge in rich apparrell or in some affected dresse Comes he not rather in his Prison clothes puts he not on the garments of heavinesse The Messengers of Benhadad put dust on their heads and ropes about their necks and sack-cloth on their loynes when they came to mediate for the life of their Master And thus the Lord speakes to the Israelites Exod. 33.5 when they had sinned and he was wroth Put off your Ornaments that I may know what to doe with you Ornaments are uncomly when God is threatning judgements It is time for us to lay by our bravery when God is about to make us naked Sack-cloth sowed upon the skin and our horne in the dust are the best ensignes of an afflicted state The Prophets counsell indeed is Joel 2.13 Rend your hearts and not your garments Rending the garments may be taken not onely strictly for that act but largely for all outward actings of sorrow Yet when he saith Rent not this is not a prohibition of but a caution about the outward acting of their sorrow Not in Scripture is not alwayes totally negative it is often directive and comparative So in this place Rend your hearts and not your garments is your hearts rather then your garments or be sure to rend your hearts as well as your garments The one must be done the other ought not to be left undone See more of this Chap. 1. Vers 20. upon those word Then Job rent his Mantle Thirdly Observe Great sorrow produceth great effects and leaveth such impressions as testifie where it is The Apostle saith of the sorrow of the World That it worketh death 2 Cor. 7.10 The sorrow of the World may be taken two wayes First For the sorrow of carnall worldly men whose sorrow for sin is only a vexing of their hearts not a breaking or humbling of their hearts which being separate both from true faith for the pardon of sin and from any reall purpose of leaving their sin worketh death both temporall death often wearing out their naturall life lingringly and sometime destroying their naturall life violently as in Judas as also hastning them on to eternall death of which it selfe is a foretast or beginning Secondly This sorrow of the World is a sorrow for the losse of or disappoyntments about worldly things This also worketh both those deaths in meere worldly men and when it is excessive as under a temptation it may be in a godly man it may be sayd to worke the death of the body in him yea great and continued sorrow though it be not excessive worketh towards this death in a godly man drying his bones and drawing out his spirits as is cleare in Job on whose eye-lids the very shadow of death sate while hee wept and sorrowed 'T is hard to dissemble a little griefe but a great deale cannot be hid As godly sorrow manifests it selfe in excellent effects upon the soule of which the Apostle numbers up seven at the eleventh Verse of that Chapter For this selfe same thing that yee sorrowed after a godly sort what carefulnesse it wrought in you yea what clearing of your selves c. Now I say as godly sorrow manifests it selfe in manifold effects upon the soule so doth the sorrow of the World set its marks upon the body As a good mans heart is made cleane by weeping the teares of godly sorrow so every mans face is made foule by weeping the teares of worldly sorrow and as godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation and life eternall so the sorrow of the World vvorketh an entrance to temporall death yea we may say that godly sorrow doth sometimes worke temporall death Paul was afrayd lest the incestuous person while he was repenting might be Swallowed up with over much sorrow 2 Cor. 2.7 vvhich as vvee are to understand cheifely of a swallowing up in the gulfe of despaire so we may take in that also as a consequent of the other a swallowing of him up in the Grave of death as if hee had sayd The poore man may both despayre and dye under this burden if you let it lye too long upon him As soone as Heman had sayd in his desertion My soule is full of troubles he presently adds And my life draweth nigh unto the Grave I am counted with them that goe downe to the pit free among the dead Psal 88.3 4 5. To which he subjoyns Ver. 9. Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction and then expostulates Vers 10. Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead Shall the dead arise and praise thee As if he had sayd These sorrows will bring me to my grave or in the language of Job On my eye-lids is the shadow of death Till wee enjoy a life beyond the reach of all sorrows wee shall not be beyond the reach of death Hence that promise Revel 21.4 God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes and there shall be no more death neyther sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more paine And as that life which hath no death in it shall have no sorrow in it so that life which is a continuall death the life of the damned is nothing else but sorrow There shall be weeping and wayling and gnashing of teeth for evermore Mat. 13.42 Their eyes shall ever weep their faces shall ever be foule with weeping and on their eye-lids the shadow of death shall dwell for ever Fourthly The hand of God being heavy upon Job he defiled his horne in the dust and fouled his face with weeping he regarded neyther the beauty of his face nor the dignity of his condition all was nothing to him Learne from it Great afflictions take off our respect to the World and all worldly things What is honour What is Gold or Silver What is a goodly House What is a beautifull Wife and pleasant Children What are fine cloathes or a faire face in a day of sorrow or in the approaches of death Spirituals are highest prized when we are lowest Grace shines clearest in worldly darknesse but the light of worldly enjoyments is darknesse to us and that vvhich some esteeme as a Sun is but a
speakes of it in the most comfortable expressions Death it selfe is so embalmed yea and cloathed in the holy language that there is even a sweetnes and a beauty in it When a man hath worne a suit of Apparrell a great while and hath even worne it out or it becomes foule and nasty would he not be glad to put that off and get a new one upon his back therefore death is called an uncloathing a putting off the flesh there is no hurt in that when a man hath tyred himself all the day at his work would he not gladly go to bed therfore death is called rest or sleep Under these or the like considerations held forth in Scripture we may as it were burie al hard thoughts of death as was further shewed Chap. 14.12 especally while we remember that as now life is by many degrees bits or morsels swallowed up of mortality so then death shall at one bit or morsell be swallowed up of life 2 Cor. 5.4 For Christ hath not onely conquered but abolished death and hath brought not onely life but immortality to light through the Gospell 2 Tim. 1.10 Life is good yet when it may be sayd of a life it shall dye that puts an evill into life But if life be good how good is immortality which is a life that cannot dye Sixthly Note Job is very importunate to have a blot upon his good name wiped out his conscience was cleere his soule was well he could say Chap. 13. Hee is my Saviour and I know that I shall be justified yet because he was under aspersions and harsh censures he hastens to have these taken off because he was to dye shortly If we should on this ground be carefull to settle our outward estates and credits how much more should we be carefull upon this ground to see that our soules be well settled How should each one say I will hasten to get my sins pardoned my person justified I will hasten to have all cleer between God and my soule For when a few yeares are come I shall goe the way whence I shall not returne And if I doe not see these things done while I am here I shall never come back to see them done nor can they be done at all in the place whither I am going There is no repenting no reforming no beleeving in the grave if our spirituall change be not before our naturall change it will never be This â—rgument should provoke us to settle the affaires of our soules speedily It is not unlawfull nay it is a duty to vindicate our credit and to order the affaires that concerne this life because we have not long to live The hast of death should make us hast our worke even the worke of this life much more upon this ground should we see that our hearts be setled that our eternall peace be setled how should the haste of death make us haste the worke of the life which is to come But as it should make us hasten that worke so it must not make us huddle that worke or slubber it over or doe it to halves Such haste is waste indeed For if we leave our soules halfe setled and our peace halfe made and our repentance and turning to God in the midd way we shall never come againe to finish and perfect them no more then we shall to begin them Therefore set speedily about the worke and give your selves no rest till the worke be perfected for when a few dayes are come you shall goe the way where yee shall not returne Lastly Which was Jobs speciall case It is an affliction for any man to dye under a blott of disgrace Our credit and good name should be precious to us while we live especially wee should be carefull to dye with good credit and not to let a blott lye on us when wee are going out of the World Job would not dye under the name of an Hypocrite or an Oppressour with which black titles he had been charged by his Freinds It is a mercy to goe to the Grave with honour among men and to dye desired though it be enough that we goe to our Grave having honour with God and being desired of him A good name is a Box of oyntment powred forth and a good report especially among those that are good is as the embalming of our memories to posterity And yet the Saints are not so sollicitous for repaires in honour because of that esteeme which they have of their owne esteeme that 's the straine of ambition and they have learned to goe through good report and evill report through honour and dishonour they know how to goe forth without the Campe bearing the reproach of Christ But they are unwilling that Christ should beare their reproach or that his name should be dishonoured through them And therefore seeing they desire while they live to adorne the Doctrine of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in all things they cannot but be carefull before they dye to remove from their owne names whatsoever might reflect dishonour upon his How neer Job was in his owne opinion to the valley of the shadow of death is yet more evident in the first words of the next Chapter Here he onely tells us he must dye shortly there he tells us upon the matter that he was dead already here he saith When a few yeares are come I shall goe there he saith not onely that he had no more yeares to come but no more dayes My dayes are extinct c. JOB CHAP. 17. Vers 1 2 3 4 5. My breath is corrupt my dayes are extinct the Graves are ready for me Are there not mockers with me And doth not mine eyes continue in their provocation Lay downe now put me in a surety with thee who is he that will strike hands with me For thou hast hid their heart from understanding therefore shalt thou not exalt them He that speaketh flattery to his freinds even the eyes of his Children shall faile THE beginning of this Chapter pursues the Argument layd downe in the close of the former Or as a learned Expositor speaks Job in this doth enliven the premises Hoc capite intendit inanimare praemissa Aquin. and as it were put fresh spirits into what he had spoken before For whereas he had before desired the Lord to hasten his cause to a day of hearing because his day of death hastened Cha. 16. Vers 22. When a few yeares are come I shall goe the way whence I shall not returne Here to shew that hee was a dying man he describes himselfe as a dead man My breath is corrupt my dayes are extinct the graves are ready for me Secondly There Job made an appeale to God O that a man might plead with God as a man pleads with his Neighboâ—r Vers 21. And hee gives the reason why My Freinds scorne mee Vers 20. He doth the same here in other language Vers 2. Are there not mockers with me And doth
metaphor taken from fire from a Torch or Candle which is the sense of the Tygurine translation My dayes faile as a Candle or as a Lamp which when the oyle is consumed goes out Mr. Broughton keeps to the metaphor of fire Deus mei ritu lucernae deficiunt Tygur My dayes are quenched There is a flame of life in the body the naturall heat is preserved by the naturall moysture these two Radicall heat and Radicall moysture worke upon each other and as long as Radicall moysture holds out to feed the Radicall heat life holds out but when the heat hath once sucked and drunk up all the moysture in some acute diseases it drinks all at a draught as the flame drinkes up the Oyle of the Lampe Vita extinguitur quando humor nativus in quo vita consistit extinguitur then wee goe out or as Job speakes here Our dayes are extinct Excessive moysture puts out the fire and for want of moysture it goeth out Hence Note First Mans life as a Fire or Lampe consumes it self continually There is a speciall disease called a Consumption of which many dye but the truth is every man who dyes dyes of a Consumption he that dyes of a Surfet may be sayd in this sense to dye of a Consumption The fewell and food of mans life is wasted sometimes more sparingly and gradually but 't is alwayes consumed except in those deaths which are meerely occasionall or violent before man dyes Againe Job speaks peremptorily My dayes are extinct He was not then dead but because hee saw all things in a tendency to death and was himselfe in a dying posture therefore he concludes My dayes are extinct Hence note Secondly What we see in regard of all preparatorie meanes and wayes ready to be done we may speake of as already done The Scripture speakes often of those things which are shortly and certainly to come to passe as come to passe and as the Apostle argues in spirituals We know that we are translated from death to life because we love the Brethren and he that believeth hath eternall lif So we may argue about naturals he that is sick beyond the help of meanes and the skill of the Phisitian is translated from life to death and we may conclude of a man in this case he hath tempoall death or he may say of himselfe as Job doth in the next words The graves are ready for me The Originall is very concise it is only there The graves for me we supplie those words Are ready And because of that shortnes of the Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sepulchra mâ—hi Cum mutila sit oratio indifferens est ut variis modis porfici possit there have been many conjectures for the supplie or filling up of the sence Some thus The graves for me that is there is nothing for me to thnke of now but only a grave I may lay aside all other businesse and attend that alone how I may lye downe in the dust with peace I am not a man for this world it is best for me to retire or withdraw my soule quite from the earth seeing I have no hope to keepe my body long out of it or if I doe let out my soule to the earth it shall be only to so much of it as will hold my body or serve to make me a grave The graves for me Secondly The graves for me that is I desire or wish for nothing but a grave A grave for my money as wee say of a thing that we greatly desire so saith Job A grave for me As if he had more largely spoken thus As I perceive I am going to the grave so I desire to goe thither I have as to this sence made a covenant with death Sepulchra mihi supple opto quaero cogito aut quid simile Sepulchra mihi inhiant ego sepulchris q. d. Aliis omnibus rebus valedico atque renuncio Jun. and an agreement with the grave The grave and I shall not fall out now that I am ready to fall into it For if I had my vote or might put downe in writing what I would have I would write A Grave A Grave for me as I am declining and decaying in my body so my spirit and my minde are as willing that my body should decay I am as ready for the grave as that is for me A grave for me So the words carry a reciprocation of readinesse betweene Job and the Grave The grave gapes for me and I gape for the grave Wee may parallell this kinde of speaking with that in the Booke of Canticles Chap. 2.16 where the Spouse saith My beloved is mine and I am his The Originall is My beloved to me and I to him There are no more words then needs must be The largenesse of their affection bred this concisenesse in language My beloved to me and I to him We are to one another as if we were but one The expression notes two things First Propriety My beloved to me or my beloved is mine that is I have a propriety in him Secondly It notes possession I have him I have not onely a right to him but I enjoy him I have not onely a title but a tenure God hath given me Liverie and Seisin as our Law speakes he hath put me into possession of Jesus Christ and I have given Jesus Christ full possession of me I am no longer my owne but his and at his dispose So here The grave for me and I for the grave The grave is my right yea the grave is my possession The grave is a house that every one hath right to and some are so neere it that they seeme possessed of it The grave is mine saith Job or I am as a dead man ready to be carryed to my grave The grave is not made ready till man is undressed by death and so made ready for the grave We say of very old men though in health and we may say of very sick men though young They have one foot in the grave Job speakes as having both his feet in the grave Yea wee may say that Job speakes as if he had not onely his feet in the grave but which is farr more his heart in the grave There are many who have their feet in the grave whose hearts are at furthest distance from it Job had both Heman Psal 88.4 5. describes his condition in such a language My soule is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh to the grave I am accounted with them that goe down into the pit I am as a man of no strength free among the dead like the slaine that lye in the grave whom thou remembrest no more and that are cut off from thy sight That Scripture may be a Comment on this My breath is corrupt my dayes are extinct the graves are ready for me Further Job speakes in the Plurall number he saith not the grave is ready for me but The graves
our hearts and our thoughts are the writings of our hearts when our purposes and thoughts are broken the Tables of our hearts are broken Hence Observe First Right purposes are good but it is not good to live upon purposes Action must presently follow resolution and performance must be speeded after purposes else they are to little purpose When David had sayd I will confesse my transgressions unto the Lord Psal 32.5 he instantly confessed them And when he sayd I will take heed to my wayes Psal 39.1 he instantly tooke heed to them His purpose was in nature before his practice but in time they went together There is a double danger in delaying purposes First That the minde of the purposer may change and his spirit grow flat towards them Secondly that the seasons may change and though hee have a mind yet he may want means and opportunity to performe them There is danger in both wayes and much sin in the former way of breaking purposes The danger of both will be more discovered in the second Observation Secondly Observe When great afflictions come especially when death comes all our purposes are broken off As man is apt to busie himselfe about many things which he cannot know so about many things which though they are possible to be done yet he shall never doe It is in man to purpose but wee must aske leave of God before we can performe Crosse providences breake many purposes but death breakes all All our purposes concerning the World and the things of the World dye with us When the breath of great Princes goeth forth Psal 146.4 In that very day all their thoughts perish Great Princes are full of great thoughts but they who cannot keep themselves from perishing shall never keepe their thoughts from perishing The imaginary frames which they set up the contrivances plots and projects of their hearts are all swept away like the Spiders webb or broken like the Cockatrices Egge when themselves are swept away from the face of the Earth and broken by the power of death The thoughts of many Princes and Politicians dye while themselves live Achitophels purposes were broken and disappointed while himselfe looked on and he was so vexed to see it that hee executed himselfe because his purposes were not executed In these times of publick shaking how many purposes have we seen goe to wrack They who have been long laying their designes and brooding upon their counsels have had their egs broken in a moment their thoughts blown away like Chaffe before the wind or the lightest dust before the whirlwind Now as the purposes of many about gathering riches about taking their pleasure about advancing themselves to or establishing themselves in honor and high places have perished before they dyed so when such dye all their purposes shall certainly perish And as the purposes of all about worldly things perish in the approaches of death so doe the purposes of some about spirituall and heavenly things How many have had purposes to repent to amend their lives and turne to God which have been prevented and totally broken off by the extremity of paine and sicknesse but chiefly by the stroake of death when they have as they thought been about to repent and as we say turne over a new leafe in their lives they have been turned into the Grave by death and into Hell by the just wrath of God Some interpret this Text as Jobs complaint of the unsettlement of his thoughts about heavenly things and the breaking of his purposes in the pursuit of eternity He could not make his thoughts about Heaven hold or hange together even those thoughts were full of gaps and empty spaces or rather like Ropes of Sand. Many honest and gracious soules have found worke enough upon a death-bed or a sick-bed to attend the paine and infirmity of their bodyes When they have purposely set themselves the habituall bent of their hearts being alwayes set that way actually to seek God Non poterat jugi contemplatio in rerum divinarum ut quondam solebat intendere propter vim doloris Phil. to meditate upon the precious promises to put forth fresh lively workings of Faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ they have been suddenly recalled yea even forcibly fetcht back by some violent assault of paine or a previous charge of death So that those thoughts which should be and they desired that they might be like their objects most durable and steady were yet more like some odd ends or broken pot-sheards more like vanishing flashes or wandring fansies then that beautifull frame of heart or those well combined and fastned meditations which they intended For though all the troubles of this life and the approaches of death it selfe cannot breake disappoint or scatter those fixed purposes and thoughts which a Beleever hath had Propter multiplices animi motus perturbationes jam dolebat jam timebat nunc se erigebatin spem meliorem nunc iterum concidebat or those results and resolves which he hath often made in his own soule about the hopes and concernments of eternall life yet he may be pitifully puzzled amuzed and interrupted in his present motions and meditations about them Hence take this Caution Seeing not onely our worldly thoughts perish but our spirituall thoughts may be much broken by strong temptations and variety of bodily distempers in times of trouble and sicknesse let us hasten to settle our purposes and thoughts about eternall life yea to see our soules passed from death to life before we see sicknesse and sorrow much more before we see our selves ready to passe from life to death Purposes to repent or to minde heavenly things not onely may but for the most part are broken off and lost when sicknesse and sorrow finde us Beware of this deceit of the Devill who tells us we shall have leasure to seek God when wee are sick and that we shall have a faire opportunity to settle all the affaires of our souls when we are going out of the body then he tels us we shall have nothing else to doe and therefore we shall surely do it then Let not Satan deceive us with these vaine words for then he intends us most blowes then is his season to breake our thoughts into a thousand peices and to vex us with the splinters even when we lye upon our sicke beds or are bewildred with affliction There is scarse one of twenty but findes breakings and convulsions upon his thoughts at the same time when he feeles them upon his body How often have sick men been heard to say We cannot set our selves to think seriously of Heaven or to act Faith c. To suffer and be sicke is worke enough for any man at one time He had not need to have his greatest worke to doe when he hath such worke to doe They who have had brave spirits and fixed holy purposes upon their death-beds were such as had been long excercised in them before
need not wonder though some who are watchful against them are deceived by them but it would be a wonder and such a wonder as yet was never seen if they should not be deceived who never watch against them First Our owne hearts which have not onely an impotence or weaknesse as I noted before whereby they are apt to be deceived but there is in our hearts an activenesse yea an efficacy to deceive we are not onely passive but active we are seldome if at all deceived till wee deceive our selves And as some men are very active in deceiving others so all men are active in a degree to deceive themselves Jer. 17.9 The heart of man is deceitfull and desperately wicked The heart is deceitfull in reference to a threefold object First The heart would deceive God himselfe and impose upon the All-wise That 's the designe of a Hypocrite his businesse is to deceive God though the issue be the deceiving of himselfe Secondly The heart of man is deceitfull in contriving wayes to deceive and supplant other men The complaint of the Prophet goes very high upon this Mich. 7.2 The good man is perished out of the Earth and there is none upright among men they all lye in waite for blood they hunt every man his brother with a net To lye in waite is the act and a Net is the instrument of a Deceiver The Prophesie of Christ goes yet higher Matth. 24.24 For there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signes and wonders insomuch that if it were possible they shall deceive the very Elect. Deceit workes to its utmost possibility when it puts hard to deceive those whom to deceive is impossible If Elect men could be deceived God should be deceived in his Election But this is impossible and therefore that is the man who is elect is deceiveable but because he is an elect man he cannot be deceived And though an elect man may be deceived in some things for even he is subject to errour because he is still while in this World the subject of sin yet he cannot be so farr deceived in any thing as to null or frustrate his election How restlesse is man to deceive man seeing he ceaseth not his endeavour to deceive where he cannot prevailingly deceive Thirdly Which I conceive the Text in Jeremiah specially aymes at the heart of man is very busie to deceive himselfe 'T is bad enough to deceive others but to deceive our selves is worse and that not onely because it makes us more miserable but more sinfull Selfe-deceit is the most sinfull deceit The heart of man is desperately wicked there is no hope that it will leave off to doe wickedly seeing it is of counsell against its owne peace And surely man is not onely under a possibility to be deceived in regard of the impotence and blindnesse of his heart but also under an impossibility not to be deceived in regard of the skill and unwearyed activity of his heart to deceive himselfe Secondly Man hath another deceiver continually about him The World and all that is in the World The lust of the flesh the lust of the eye and the pride of life all these are but as so many snares and juggels to cozen and deceive poore man Thirdly The Devill who is The Deceiver of whose devices we are not ignorant saith the Apostle he is full of tricks and plots he hath his methods his arts to deceive Ever since the Devill deceived himselfe he hath been studying how to deceive man he doth not onely goe about like a roaring Lyon but like a subtle Serpent and a cunning Fox seeking whom he may devour or he is a Lyon to devour those whom he hath first deceived as a Fox or as a Serpent Man is a perswadable creature Gen. 9.27 God shall perswade Japhet to dwell in the Tents of Shem The Originall word there used to perswade signifies also to deceive because perswasions are often made as Engines or baytes to deceive There is also a kind of holy fraud in the Gospell and man is as it were deceived into the obedience of it Being crafty I caught you with guile I fetcht you over did I not saith Paul 2 Cor. 12.16 Now as man is somtimes deceived for his good so he is often and easily deceived for his hurt by these three deceivers Satan the World and his owne Heart perswade him by an unholy deceit to dwell in the Tents of sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bis potest sumi cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 credet ne credat in vanitatem cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 deceptus deceptus inquam per vanitatem ne in eam fida Againe Some who by vanity understand sin read the word Vanity twice Let not him that is deceived by vanity trust in vanity that is Let not him that is deceived by sin trust in sin which interpretation yeelds us this truth Sin is deceitfull or thus Sin doth nothing but deceive The Apostle Heb. 3.13 chargeth sin with deceit to its very face Exhort one the other while it is called to day least any of your hearts be hardned through the deceitfulnesse of sin there are three eminent evils in sin First There is a pollution in sin it defiles Secondly There is basenesse in sin it dishonours Thirdly There is a deceitfulnesse in sin it would make us beleeve we shall be and receive that which it is not able to performe Hence the Apostle Rom. 6.21 puts the question to those who were once the servants of sin What fruit had yee then in those things whereof you are now ashamed He asketh them and bids them aske their owne hearts what fruit had you as if he had sayd I know when you were servants of sin your sins promised you great matters great rewards the Tree of sin seemes to be loaded with fruits the bowes of it looke as if ready to break with goodly fruits fruit pleasant to the eye sweet to the taste and desireable to make one wise but I beseech yon tell me what fruit had you in those things wh reof you are now ashamed If you be ashamed to tell me I will tell you The end of those things is death that 's all the fruit which the Tree of sin beares Sin deales with us as Jaell with Sisera Judges 4.18 Shee stood at the Tent doore when he came panting from the Battell and said to him Turne in my Lord turne in shee took him into her Tent and layd him downe covered him warme and when he asked her for Milke shee gave him Butter Butter in a Lordly dish here were fine words and seeming promises yet shee honestly deceived him Shee put her hand to the Naile and her hand to the workmans Hammer and nayled his temples to the ground Thus sin bids us turn in promises to cover us warme gives us Butter in a Lordly dish but never tells us of that wofull end and wretched catastrophe which it
be able to get off in haste There are many who have struck yea wounded their owne hearts incurably by striking hands for their Freinds Goe to the Courts of Justice and there is nothing more frequently heard of then the sighes of Sureties He disassures his owne Estate who assures for others Secondly As Contracts and Suretiship for Money were confirmed by striking hands so it is very probable that those suretiships which were given about Tryals and for appearing to the Action of the Plaintiffe in Judgement were also confirmed by that outward ceremony in which sense we are to understand it here Further The word which we translate to Strike signifies also to Fasten which shewes another part of the ceremony for as striking so joyning and clasping of hands was used Once more the word signifies Clangere tuba Complosis manibus sonus editur and oft is applyed to the sounding of a Trumpet or the giving of any sound This also carries on the same allusion because when two men strike hands they make a sound the interpretation of which is that the bargaine is made or it speâ—kes the parties agreed and hence that knowne expression among us Of striking up a bargaine or a businesse Thus the whole Text is carryed on in termes alluding to the ordinary proceeding eyther in becomming bound with another for Money or in giving assurance to performe and stand to the arbitrement or award of those who shall judge and determine any matter in difference But how are wee to apply this to the present case Lay downe now put me in a surety with thee who is hee that will strike hands with me There are three or foure expositions given about it First That Job in these words desires God to give surety that he would stand to the judgement which should be given or he would have God assure him Da fidejussorem apud te qui in hac contentione quae mihi tecum intercidit spondeat te staturum iis quae judicata fuerint ut te non tanquam judicem geras sed tanquam litigato rem Merc. Familiarius quam par erat cum Deo agit Merc. that hee would not deale with him according to the severity of his Justice or the excellency of his Soveraignty as a Judge but descend to such a course as is usuall among men while they are engaged in any controversie between themselves Job hath spoken the same sense cleerely before in some other passages of this Book especially Chap. 9 33 34. But this sense is not cleere to the scope of the present place And therefore as they who maintaine it confesse that Job was somewhat too bold with God so wee may say that they are somewhat too bold with the Text. For the reason or ground upon which Job desires that God would give him a surety hath no correspondence with this interpretation Vers 4. For thou hast hid their heart from understanding Now what coherence is there betweene these two that Job should say Thou hast hid their heart that is the heart of these men from understanding therefore give mee a surety that thou wilt proceed with me after the manner of men Besides the words of the fifth Verse oppose it yet more He that speaks flattery to his Freind the eyes of his Children shall faile Now for Job to desire God to put him in a surety that hee would deale thus or thus with him because the man who speakes flattery to his Freind his Childrens eyes shall faile hath no argument at all in it yet the abetters of this Interpretation mollifie all by saying that Job spake from a disturbed spirit being much moved with the ill dealing of his Freinds and though there may be some inconsistence with the context yet the Text considered in its owne compasse beares it well enough but I passe from it Secondly That Job desires God to appoint a Surety betweene him and his Freinds who should undertake both Gods cause and his against them three As if hee had sayd Lord my Freinds have wronged me and they have wronged thee too O that thou wouldest provide a man furnished with wisedome and a spirit of discerning both to right thy honour and to cleare up my integrity Such a one was Elihu who appeared shortly after upon the Stage and there acted such a part as this Thirdly say others Job desires that God himselfe would be his Surety and take up the whole matter betweene him and his Freinds which hee also did in the latter end of this Book giving judgement for Job and blaming the miscarriage of his Freinds So the word is used Isa 38.14 when Hezekiah lay sick even unto death he prayed Lord I am oppressed undertake for me It is this word Be Surety for me A learned Translator renders it Weave me through or weave me to the end for the word signifies the Thred in weaving Pertexe me Jun. called the Woofe which being put upon the Shuttle is cast through the Warpe in making Cloath whether Linnen or Woollen thus it is used Lev. 13.52 and so these words of Hezekiah carry on the Allegory of the tenth Verse I sayd in the cutting off of my dayes c. and of the twelfth Verse I have cut off like a Weaver my life he will cut me off with pining sicknesse In both which Verses Hezekiah compares mans life to a peece of Cloath in the Loome which is made sometimes shorter and sometimes longer and wheresoever it ends the Woofe or running Thred is cut off Hence Hezekiah prayeth Lord these sicknesses like a sharpe Knife threaten to cut the thred of my life yet I beseech thee doe thou weave on weave me to the end of that Warpe which is given to man in the common course of nature and let not this sicknesse cut my thred in the mid-way This is a good sense of the Text. But when our Translators render the word Vndertake for me the meaning is I am sore oppressed with the violence of this sicknesse which like one of the Sergeants of cruell death hath arrested me nor is there any way for me to escape unlesse thou O Lord rescue me out of its hands or as it were give Bayle and become surety for me I am opprest O Lord undertake for me David having done a great peece of Justice which contracted him much envy and had drawne many Enemies upon him thus bespeakes God Psal 119.121 122. I have done judgement and justice leave me not to mine oppressors be surety for thy Servant that is mainetaine mee against those who vvould wrong me because I have done right put thy selfe or interpose betweene mee and mine Enemies as if thou wert my pledge Impartiall justice upon oppressors layes the Judges open to oppression but they who run greatest hazzards in zeale for God shall finde God ready to be their Surety when they pray Be surety for thy servants And thus we may conceive Job entreating the Lord to be his Surety and
Tophet which is the word of the Text is ordeined of old yea for the King it is prepared he hath made it deepe and large the pile th reof is fire and much wood the breath of the Lord like a streame of brimstone doth kindle it In these words saith my Author there is a cleere description of that kinde of torture called Tympanization or Drumming with which the King of Assyria is eyther threatned in specie particularly and properly or by a Synechdoche to shew that God would lay severe punishments upon him For saith the Prophet Through the voyce of the Lord shall the Assyrian he beaten downe which smote with a Rod He smote with a Rod but he shall be beaten downe with a Staffe for in every place where the grounded staffe shall passe or every passing of the Rod founded that is Of the Rod founded in the Decree of God which so establisheth it that no power nor policy of the Assyrian shall avoyd or remove it For though God will not let the Rod of the wicked rest upon the lot of the righteous Psal 125.3 yet the Rod of God shall rest upon the lot of the wicked There shall be the rest thereof Zech. 9.1 The Rod of God by the lighting down of his arme V. 30. shall strike home to yea into the flesh of his Enemies and there make deep gashes or cuts running like so many rivelets with blood and saith hee The Lord shall lay it upon him or as our Margin hath it Shall cause it to rest upon him when the Lord layes it on let who so will or rather who so can and indeed none can take it off The Lord shall lay it upon him and as it follows it shall he with Tabrets and Harpes which as most Interpret of the joy which the Jewes should have at the downefall of the Assyrian so my Author expounds it suitably to his Notion of the manner of Gods smiting the Assyrian which should be as a Drum or Tabret is smitten with many repeated stroakes which in some exercisings of that Art passe so thick and so uncessantly that the Sticks seeme to rest upon the Drum as also the finger upon the Harpe and not to move at all off from eyther even thus shall God lay his Staffe upon the Assyrian and in battells of shaking will he fight with it or with them that is by the shaking of Battels or by frequent renewed Battels will he fight with and destroy them For as it followes Tophet is prepared of old that is The Engine upon which he shall be tortured the forme and manner of which is in many particulars described out of ancient Writers by the Author of this exposition but I shall not stay upon them This Tophet is prepared of old or from yesterday that is God hath prepared it aforehand and made it ready He hath made it deep and large that is proportionable in all iâ—s dimensions for that use and purpose yea for the King it is prepared the great King of Assyria which is added because this was a punishment for common men yet the King saith he shall be thus tortured he shall no more escape the hand of God then the meanest of his Subjects and hee shall be handled in the same manner as the meanest among them shall The dishonour of such a suffering is a greater punishment to a great King then the paine of it yet he cannot be dispensed with yea for the King it is prepared The pile of it is fire and much wood What 's the meaning of that My Author answers This punishment of drumming was sometims but preparatory another first they were beaten and then they were burned and therefore saith he before the Engine a great fire was made into which when they were tortured by beating offenders were cast and consumed to ashes Jubet amoveri noxialem stipitem plebeia clarum paena me damnet virum Prud. in Rom. Martyr Our Martyrologyes tell us of some who have been first hanged and then burned and ordinarily among us when Traytors are put to death a fire is made at the place of Execution into which their bowells are cast when their bodies are cut up and quartered Thus here The pile thereof is fire and much wood And the breath of the Lord as a streame of brimstone doth kindle it that is The Lord being extreamly angry with and incensed against the King of Assyria will therefore kindle this fire of his wrath totally to consume him But here it may be demanded Did any of the Kings of Assyria who captivated and afflicted the Jewes suffer such a kinde of death as this I suppose none of them did Some tell us that the Army of Senacherib which invaded Judea was overthrowne and destroyed by the Angell in that place called Tophet or in the Valley of Hinnon which is also given as a reason why that word is used in the Prophet but Senacharib himself was slain in the Temple of his Idol 2 K. 19.37 Nor is it as I conceive the minde of our Expositor to conclude from hence that the King of Babylon was put to death by such a torture but onely to shew under the description of that kinde of death that the death and destruction of the King of Babylon should be very terrible and that God would judge him even as notorious offenders are both to a painefull and a shamefull end As this Interpretation of the Prophet gives much light to that of Job so it is an ingenious conjecture upon that place and carries a faire correspondence both to truth and reason Nor is there that I have met with any Interpreter who doth not understand that Text of Isaiah in its first and literall sense of the temporary judgements which God threatned to powre out upon the State and King of Babylon as most in a Tropologicall and Allusive sense Interpret it of eternall judgement in Hell which is indeed a fiery Tophet and is prepared of old yea for the King it is prepared for the great King of Assyria as well as for the meanest person There is a seventh Translation and Exposition of these words which takes the former part of the Verse as was toucht upon the last and reads the whole thus For he will make me a Governour among the people Nam fore ut instituat me ad praesidendum populis quamvis tympanotribarum materia ante fuerim Jun. Restituet me Deus in dignitatem meam altius provehet Jun. though I have thus been made as matter for the Fidlers or Taberers Song So that as the former Exposition renders the Text as a complaint proceeding from Jobs griefe that he who had been a Great Man a Governour of the people should be now punisht as a slave or as a Malefactour so this renders it as a Prophesie proceeding from his Faith That God would restore and raise him againe to be a Governour among the people though now he was the scorne and derision of
are ready for us and we have made our bed in the darknesse it is not for us to looke for life here indeed to live to us is Christ but to dye is gaine A Beleever can willingly part with all his earthly possessions for heavenly hopes much more can he joyfully part with all his earthly hopes for the possession of Heaven Thirdly from these expressions The Grave is my house I have made my bed in the darknesse Note A Beleever looks upon death as a state of rest As the whole house is a place of rest compared with the World abroad so the Bed is the speciall place of rest Revel 14.14 Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth they rest from their labours and their workes follow them They shall follow their worke no more who are followed by their works The Grave is the house and bed of the body to all who dye Heaven is the house and rest of the soule to all those why dye in the Lord. Saints have here a rest in their labours they shall hereafter have a rest from their laboures Lastly Whereas the bed of death is made in darknesse Observe There is nothing desireable in death as considered in it selfe A darke condition is the worst condition Darknesse which in Scripture signifies all evill is a word good enough to expresse the state of death by What desireablenesse there is in death what pleasures in the Grave will appeare further in those arguments which death useth to invite us home to its house the Grave in the next Verse vvhich tels us our most lovely companions yea our sweetest and most endeared relations there are Corruption and Wormes Vers 14. I have sayd to corruption Thou art my Father and to the worme Thou art my Mother and my Sister Hyperbolae sunt quibus significat se omnem jam vitae cogitationem abdicasse Jun. This Verse is of the same sense with the former onely here Job breaks into an elegant variation of new metaphors and hyperbolicall expressions I have sayd That is I have as it were called to and saluted the retinue and attendants of death as my freinds and kindred As I have made my bed in the Grave and as that is my house so now I am finding out my houshold relations I say to this Thou art my Father and to that Thou art my Mother and Sister 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est clamare vocare appellare per electionem nominare elegans prosopopeia per quam Job tumulum alloquitur Bold The word which we render I have sayd c. signifies not barely to say but to cry or call out I have called out to corruption so Master Broughton To the pit I cry O Father O Sister O Mother to the Worme not barely I have sayd but I cry and not barely I cry Father to the pit but he adds also a note of exclamation O Father Secondly The word imports not generally a calling or crying out to any one that comes next but to some speciall person by way of election and choice or to such as vve know vvell and are acquainted with as the termes of Father Mother and Sister imply Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat etiem occurrere alicui nam occurrentem solemus salutatione vel interrogatione aliqua proprio nomine appellare Further the word signifies not onely to call aloud and to call with election but to goe forth on purpose to call a Freind or to invite him in As when we see an acquaintance comming towards us or our dwellings we step out to meet and welcome him so the word may beare in this place As if Job seeing death drawing towards him had gone out and said O corruption my Father O wormes my Mother my Sister vvelcome vvelcome such an elegancy the word yeelds us I shall not here stay upon any anxious disquisition about the propriety of these relations how Job cals corruption his Father and the vvorme his Mother and Sister or in drawing out comparisons about them vve are to looke onely to a generall proportion not to an exact propriety in these words there 's no need to make out parallels between corruption and a Father or betweene wormes and a Mother or a Sister Onely thus much may be asserted particularly First He speakes thus to shew that he looked on death not onely not as an enemy but not as a stranger Death and he were well acquainted Secondly He speakes thus to shew that death vvas not only not a stranger to him but as one of his kindred He vvas upon as fayre termes vvith death as vvith Father and Mother Thirdly Job speakes thus to shew Vt ostendat mortem sibi in votis esse cunctis illum amicitiae necessitudinis nomininis compellat Pinet that he did not onely looke upon death as in a neere relation to him but as having a kinde of delight and contentment in death vvhat is more sweet to a man vvho hath been in a long journey and is returning home then to thinke that he is comming to his Father and Mother to his Brethren and Sisters As nature gives us kindred by blood so it is a custome to adopt and stampe to our selves kindred by kindnesse one vve call Father and another vve call Mother one is our Brother a second is our Sister a third our Cozen by the mutuall tyes or by the receits and returnes of curtesie Thus we are to take these compellations as intimating vvith vvhat spirit Job entertained the thoughts of death even with no other then if he had beene to fall into the embraces of Father and Mother and Sister He sayd to corruption as we should say to wisedome Prov. 7.4 Say unto wisedome thou art my Sister and call understanding thy Kinswoman that is Acquaint thy selfe with and be familiar vvith vvisedome so shalt thou keepe thy selfe vvhich is both thy vvisedome and thy happinesse a stranger From the strange Woman Vers 5. Further it may yet be enquired what it is which Job cals Corruption and the worme I have sayd to corruption c. What is this corruption There are two opinions about it First Some interpret him speaking to the corruption and wormes which had already seized upon his body for his diseases and ulcerous sores had bred corruption and wormes As if he had sayd I may well call corruption my Father for I am already full of corruption I may well call the worme my Mother my sister for the wormes creep in and out at my sores continually my body is as if it had layne already in the Grave full of corruption and wormes Secondly Others expound him speaking to and of the corruption and wormes which waited his comming into the Grave The vvord in the Text which wee translate Corruption signifies also the Grave because bodies doe not onely corrupt in the Grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fovea corruptio quod in fovea corpus corrumpitur but