now fasting is in season not feasting now humbling is in season not rejoycing Or if any feast now let them feast as if they feasted not and rejoyce as if they rejoyced not let them feast as remembring the affliction and bonds the hunger and wants of our distressed bretheren Therefore in those feastings which have a kind of necessity in them you should labour to have your hearts exceedingly above your feasting not to ye so low as the creature it is ever very sinfull to have your hearts drowned in the creature but now especially when you heare the voyce of the Sword threatning to take the creature from us and see God clashing them together as if he meant to staine the beauty and sowre the pleasures of them all Verse 5. And it was so when the dayes of their feasting were gone about that Job sent and sanctified them c. This verse containes the holy practise of Job You saw before that he had grace in his heart now you may see grace in his life Holy practise makes grace visible There it lay in the habit here it comes forth in the act Concerning this holy practise of Iob we may note these three things for the division of the verse 1. The Actions about which this holy care of Iob was exercised They are two 1. He sent and sanctified them And 2. Offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all 2. The ground of this holy practice of his what moved Iob after their feasting thus to send and sanctifie them The ground was this For Job said it may be that my sonnes have sinned and cursed God in their hearts 3. The constancy of Iob in this his holy practice he did not this by fits now and then but thus did Job continually And it was so that when the dayes of their feasting were gone about that Job sent and sanctified them That is the first thing that we are to explaine and open unto you Job sent and sanctified them How could Iob sanctifie his sonnes or his daughters A Parent indeed may provide riches for his children but can he provide grace also A parent may put Money in their purses but can he put holinesse in their hearts too that it is said here that Iob sent and sanctified them Is not sanctification the proper worke of the Spirit of God doth not the Holy Ghost alone sanctifie For the clearing of this Whereas it is said that Job sent and sanctified them First Some expound the meaning thus that Job sent up prayers to God to sanctifie them And indeed prayer is a sanctifying ordinance As prayer requireth a holy heart so prayer will make a holy heart make the heart that prayes holy yea many times get holinesse into anothers heart Secondly Others say he sent and sanctified them that is he sent them to the place that was appointed for sacrifice where he intended to sanctifie them or where in the holy duty of calling upon the Name of God and of offering sacrifice they were to be sanctified He sent and sanctified them he sent them to the place where the Sacrifice should be offered that so they might be sanctified But thirdly I rather take it thus he sent and sanctified them that is he sent a message to them to command them to prepare and to fit themselves for the holy duty of offering the burnt offering or sacrificing For to sanctifie in Scripture notes two things 1. The infusion of a holy habit the infusion of a new principle into the soule 2. A preparation of the soule to holy duties Now when it is said that Job sent and sanctified them it is not meant as if Iob did infuse holy habits into his children as if it were in his power to make them gracious Indeed that is impossible it is only the worke of the Spirit of God no man can come at the spirit of another but the Spirit of God But this is it hee sent to them to prepare themselves to advise and warne them to prepare themselves that they might be ready for that holy duty for the duty of sacrificing And this preparation to holy duties is often called sanctifying as Gen. 35. When Iacob was called to Bethel to offer sacrifice and to build an Altar he said to his houshold verse 2. Put away the strange gods that are among you and be cleane that is sanctifie you or be you sanctified and let us arise and goe up to Bethel and I will make there an Altar unto God c The preparation to the sacrifice was a cleansing or a sanctifying of them So Exod 19.20 when the people were to be prepared to receive the Law the Lord saith unto Moses Goe unto the people and sanctifie them to day and to morrow that is prepare the people or warne the people that they prepare themselves for the receiving of the Law And likewise in the 1 Sam. 16.5 it is said that Samuel did that which the Lord spake and came to Bethlem and the Elders of the Towne trembled at his comming and said Commest thou peaceably And he said Peaceably I am come to Sacrifice unto the Lord sanctifie your selves and come with me to the Sacrifice that is prepare your selves to come to the sacrifice So sanctification is preparation And Ioh. 11.55 to name no more The Jewes Passeover was nigh at hand and many went out of the Countrey up to Hierusalem before the Passeover to purifie themselves or to sanctifie themselves that they might be fit and ready for the sacrifice So then this sanctifying of them was a preparing of them for the sacrifice There were solemne rules given afterward when the forme of the Church Order and Discipline was established by Moses but even now before that the Law and light of nature taught this besides the teaching of God that they must be sanctified before they came to sacrifice Iob sent and sanctified them then they came to that holy service This is the first act of Iob. We may here observe first the time when Iob sent to sanctifie them it was when the dayes of their feasting were gone about Iob did not take them off from their feasting or deny them the liberty of their feasting But when the dayes of their feasting were gone about then he sent and sanctified them The point we may note from hence is this That It doth well become godly Parents to give their Children leave to take moderate refreshing and recreation one with another Iob did not severely and austerely forbid them and say what doe you feasting and spending your time idly one with another why doe you spend so many dayes in feasting He never interrupted them till the dayes of their feasting were gone about It becommeth Parents to loose the reines of governement so farre as to give them leave for their refreshing to let themselves out in honest wayes of recreation by their mutuall society Iob did not call them to this holy service from their feasting but when the
but to change their cloathes you have the expression in that place concerning Jacob be cleane saith he and change your garments It might be a changing by washing but I rather conceive that it was a change by putting on of other cloathes There was also another externall requisâ—te to the preparing and sanctifying of themselves and that was by abstaining for a time from the lawfull use of the marriage bed you have the command expresly in that 19th Exod. 15. Be ready against the third day come not at your wives and there are other the like places 1 Sam. 21.4 The Priest said There is no common bread under mine hand but there is hallowed bread if the young men have kept themselves at least from women if they have but that outward preparation the meaning is if they had kept themselves from their Wives David affirmes it was so in the words following The Apostle giveth the same rule in 1 Cor. 7.5 speaking of that point Defraud not one another saith he except it be with consent for a time that you may give your selves to fasting and prayer So that the Holy Ghost therein intimates such an abstaining as was preparatory to solemne duties that you may give your selves to fasting and prayer extraordinary duties call for extraordinary preparations These outward preparations were so necessary that when the people failed in them Hezekiah prayed for pardon 2 Chron. 30.18 19. The good Lord pardon every one that prepareth his heart to seeke God the Lord God of his Fathers though he be not cleansed according to the purification of the Sanctuary though their hearts were upright though they had hearts rightly prepared yet he prayeth that God would pardon the want of those outward preparations The principall preparation is of the heart and the washing of our wayes therefore we find how the Lord contendeth with them in Isa 1.10 11 c. where he speakes of those oblations and great services of the Jewes I hate your solemne feasts bring no more vaine oblations c. Why your hands sc your lives are full of blood wash yee make you cleane put away the evill of your doings from before mine eyes cease to doe evill learne to doe well c. As if he should say What doe you come to me in these holy duties except you prepare and fit your selves accordingly I cannot abide that unholy persons should come about holy things The very Heathen had this Notion they would not admit any to come to their religious services unlesse they were prepared That saying of Aeneas in the Poet to his Father when he came from the Warre is a cleare proofe Tu genitor c. Father doe you meddle with the sacrifices but as for me it is a sinnefull thing to touch them till I have washed my selfe in the fountaine This was an outward externall right amongst them for cleansing themselves The very Heathen saw they must not meddle with their holy things till they were cleansed therefore they had one that cryed out to the people when they came to sacrifice All you that are uncleane and prophane goe farre away from these sacrifices Not only the word of God but the very light of nature taught them not to meddle with holy things till they were sanctified Therefore specially looke to this when you have any sacrifice any duty to performe be prepared and sanctified within and without before you come to the duty It is true that the duty sanctifies but it is seldome that the duty sanctifies us unlesse we be sanctified for the duty They get most holinesse from the duty who are most holy before they come to the duty besides the great danger of comming unprepared Take heed how you heare not only heare but take heed to prepare your selves for hearing So looke to thy feete it hath the same sence when thou comest into the house of God prepare thy selfe be not hasty least thine be counted but the sacrifice of fooles So much of the first act of Jobs holy care He sent and sanctified them JOB 1. part of verse 5. and verse 6. And rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all For Job said It may be that my sonnes have sinned and cursed God in their hearts Thus did Job continually Now there was a day when the sonnes of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them NOw followes the second Act of Jobs holy care He rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all It is ill to performe a holy duty with neglect of preparation It is as bad to make preparation and then neglect the duty We see both joyned in Job he is carefull to prepare and he is as diligent to performe He rose up early This notes the extraordinary diligence and zeale of Job toward God in this duty He was so zealous that he riseth not only in the morning but early in the morning In Scripture to doe a thing in the morning and to doe a thing diligently are the same Psal 101.8 I will early destroy the wicked of the Land the word is I will destroy the wicked of the Land in the morning and the meaning is only this I will with all diligence and all care roote out of the Land all wicked persons So there is an expression Prov. 7.15 which illustrates this where the wicked woman the harlot tells the young man that shee came forth to meete him and diligently to seek his face the originall word there is to seek thy face in the morning and yet we know that in verse 9. it was in the twi-light in the evening that she met him But the Hebrew phrase is I came forth in the morning to seeke thy face that is as it is rendred I came forth diligently to seeke thy face So this comming forth of Job in the morning be-besides the time that it was at such an houre the beginning of the day notes the great diligence and exceeding care of Job about this worke Yet more exactly it is not only said he rose in the morning for there is a great latitude in the morning there are divers houres which all are called morning but it is said he rose early in the morning in the very beginning or first of the morning As it is commanded Exod 23 19· The first of the first fruits of the Land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord. God would not only have the first fruits but the first of the first fruits if there were any ripe sooner then others God would have them some fruits that ripen'd after were first fruits but God would have the very first of them So here Job gave God not only the first fruits of the day but the earliest time in the morning which is the first of the first fruits of the day Early in the morning Then Observe 1. That
to lay his siedge nearer and closer to Iob presuming that though he had not prevailed at the first yet he shall at the second charge let me charge him but once more and then see his fall He will curse thee to thy face JOB 2.1 2 3 4 5 6. Verse 1. Againe there was a day when the sonnes of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came also among them to present himselfe before the Lord. 2. And the Lord said unto Satan from whence commest thou And Satan answered the Lord and said from going too and fro in the earth and from walking up and downe in it 3. And the Lord said unto Satan Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the Earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evill and still he holdeth fast his integrity although thou movedst me against him to destroy him without cause 4. And Satan answered the Lord and said skin for skin yea all that a man hath will he give for his life 5. But put forth thine hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face 6. And the Lord said unto Satan Behold he is in thine hand but save his life AS the Prophet Ezekiel when in vision he had beene shewed one abomination was led forward to a second and a third and a fourth with Come see a greater abomination than this or these Or as the Angell proclaimeth in the Revelation One woe is past and another woe is at hand The same may we say concerning this History of Jobs sorrowes Having shewed you his first affliction in the former Chapter I must now leade on your attentions with Come behold a second a greater then that and having shewed you one woefull day I must now shew you a second Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves This whole Chapter presents us in the generall with Jobs second tryall About which wee may observe these particulars 1. The occasion of it 2. The causes of it 3. The manner of it 4. The consequents of it 1. The occasion of it was Satans appearing at that heavenly Session and being there questioned about that former affliction of Job he answers with slander and desireth that Job may be brought about to a second tryall 2. The causes of this affliction as of the first are two 1. God And 2. Satan 1. God permitting and limiting it 2. Satan provoking and then inflicting it Both are laid downe in the words of the context now read to the end of the sixth verse 3. The manner of this affliction was the striking and smiting of Jobs body with a sore and noysome disease which you have contained in ver 7 8. 4. The Consequents of this affliction or what followed upon it and those are three 1. His wives sinfull councell ver 9. As soone as she saw him thus smitten What saith shee doest thou still retaine thine integrity Curse God and die There 's her counsell 2. His wise and holy reply ver 10. 3. His friends loving visit vers 11 12 13. They hearing of the affliction of Job came from a farre country to see him and to comfort him These are the distinct parts of the whole Chapter These six verses descipher the occasion and the causes of Jobs affliction Satan inciting and provoking the Lord and the Lord permitting and limitting Satan The three first containe the same matter which we have opened and explained in the former Chapter and they are almost word for word the same therefore I shall not need to stay long upon them Only I shall enquire a little further about two things First about the day of this great appearance And secondly about the persons appearing who are said to be the sons of God To the former of these the Jewish Doctors contend much That this was the first day in the recourse or returne of the yeare intimating if not contending that the first day of every yeare was as Gods day of generall Audit in which he conveen'd or called together his Angels to give him an account of all the passages and dispatches of the yeare past and to give them instructions what to doe the yeare comming which opinion I leave under the censure of a learned Interpreter as grosse and groundlesse Others fixe it upon the last day of the weeke affirming that this was the Sabbath day And that this was a convention or Assembly of the Church on Earth for the solemne worship of God upon that day which is here called A presenting themselves before the Lord in concurrence with which opinion the sonnes of God must needs be interpreted holy men I find some affirming that men are not called the sons of God in all the old Testament but the Angels only And so they take that Text Gen 6.2 The sons of God saw the daughters of men c. for the Angels either good or bad who being taken with the beauty of those daughters assuming bodies came into them of whom came the Giants A conceit as monstrous as those Giants and fitter for a fabulist then a Divine On the other extreame Chrysostome denyes that the Angels are at all called the sonnes of God We may walke safely in a middle way betweene these two For both Angels and men are called the sonnes of God Why Angels are called the sons of God hath been shewed Chap. 1. v. 6. Men are called the sons of God for two reasons either for their power or greatnesse so they Gen. 6.2 might be called the sonnes of God because great and powerfull on the earth Or rather secondly for their piety and holinesse by which they resemble God and in which they serve God as a sonne doth the Father Indeed the Apostle affirmes that the priviledge of sonship was brought-in by the Incarnation of Christ who is said In the fullnesse of time to be made of a woman c. That we might receive the adoption of sonnes Gal. 4.5 But in Scripture a thing is spoken of as newly done when it is more fully done Joh. 7.39 The Holy Ghost is said not to be given at that time because he had not been so plentifully given And the Apostle to the Hebrewes speakes as if the way into Heaven had been but then opened because it was then more clearly opened Heb. 9.8 So we are said to receive the adoption of sons when Christ came in the flesh because then our son-ship was more apparant though before it was as reall So then according to this Interpretation the sence of the words is That upon the Sabbath day when the servants of God the faithfull of that age and place were met together to celebrate the publick worship of God Satan the evill spirit who is ever ready to oppose and resist us to interrupt and hinder us when we appeare before the Lord in holy duties came also among them to
is the profit of integritie that thou holdest and huggest it so fast Doest thou still retaine thine integritie This I conceive is the summe of the question it is an upbraiding a reproaching question and from that we may observe First That those things which commend us most to God usually render us most contemptible before the world Doest thou still retain thine integritie She slighteth him and scorneth him for this whereas God highly commends him speakes it to his praise That which is highly esteemed amongst men is abomination in the sight of the Lord. And that which the Lord esteemes highly man abominates Secondly this It is the endeavour of Satan and his instruments to perswade that the profession of holinesse is vain and unprofitable Satan hath taught wicked ones and they like forward Schollars say it without book say it openly It is a vain thing to serve the Lord Satan would faine infuse this cursed principle into the hearts of Gods own people and make them beleeve their faith is also vain Doest thou still retain thine integritie Come take a little counsell at the last work like a wise man wilt thou hold a thing thou canst get nothing by Take it on my word thou canst not thrive this way thou canst make nothing of it what dost thou meane to go on madding in such a course as this Thou shalt never get bread by it to put in thy head no nor water to wash thy hands All thou gettest by it will be a knock a rod upon thy back a dishonour upon thy name And wilt thou still be so strait-lac'd and hold fast thy integritie Thirdly observe further from Satans intendment in putting such words as these into the mouth of Iobs wife That his great designe is to take advantage from outward troubles and ill successes to discourage the hearts and weaken the hands of Gods people in holy duties That was his project quite to discourage Iob and from the ill successe he had in the service of God to get him put off his Livery and give over his service It is the course that the world instructed by Satan as here Iobs wife was still holdeth with the people of God Their language is Why are you so precise why so not c Doe you not observe you get nothing by your prayers nothing by your fasting nothing by your holinesse All that you have got you may put in your eyes and see never the worse Shew us some of your gaines what have you got where are your deliverances where are your victories where is your Salvation you have prayed till you are almost undone you have fasted till all is almost lost things are worse then they were will you still goe on in these duties of fasting and praying of humbling and seeking of waiting and beleeving This is the language of Satan this the divinity of Hell And I shall answer it in one word It is far better to die praying then to conquer blaspheming Such doctrine may stop up a hypocrites mouth and weaken his heart from duty But it will more open the mouths enlarge the hearts of those who are sincere Will the hypocrite alwayes call upon God will he delight himselfe in the Almighty saith Job No he delights in God no longer then God gives him worldly delights nor calls upon God any longer then sensible blessings are sent in unto him If God stayes his hand he stopps in duty he quickly takes out Satans lesson and will no longer hold his integrity But Grace shewes us wages in the worke A godly man hath his fruit in holinesse and therefore though he receives no outward fruit he still holds fast his integrity But what would Jobs wife advise him to doe in case he should let goe the holinesse of his life That followes in the next words having endeavoured to take him off from one course she directs him to another Curse God and dye Here is the second part of her counsell cursed counsell indeed Curse God and dye It is the same Originall word which we have opened before and met with two or three times already In the proper signification it noteth blessing and so the word is by many expositors rendred in this place Blesse God and dye Mr. Broughton translates it so in one entire sentence Doest thou still retaine thine integrity blessing God and dying We must therefore examine both sides that we may find out more fully the sense of these words Some take the words in a good sense and some take them in an ill sense Some take the words in a good sense Blesse God and dye And others who translate Blesse God and dye doe yet expound it to an ill sense First Some make a good construction out of these words of Jobs wife affirming that she gave her husband wholesome advice and so they render the words Blesse God and dye to this sense What doest thou still stand upon termes with God wilt thou not humble thy selfe shouldest thou not rather Blesse God that is pray unto God humble thy selfe and seeke his face so to blesse signifies to pray to make supplication Thou seest in what a dolefull condition thou art therefore blesse God make thy humble prayer before God and die that is desire him to take thee out of this miserable world to release thee of thy paine begge that he would cut the thred of thy life which to appearance is the only remedy of all thy troubles death will be thy best friend Thou mayest die with more ease then live as thou doest Thy life is a continuall death it were better for thee to die once then to die daily Mr. Beza is very strong in this opinion excusing yea acquitting Jobs wife in making this motion to her husband He grants indeed that she being deceived and over-wrought by Satan did work strongly for him yet denies that either the counsell in it selfe or in her intendment was evill He layes the whole matter thus That she observing her husbands silence under the hand of God in these great afflictions suspected that he stood too much upon his own integrity that he was too well opinionated and conceited of his own worth or that this proceeded from fearednesse of conscience and insensiblenesse of Gods dealing and his own condition and therefore she adviseth him to consider that surely God was very angry with him to consider that God had brought all this evill upon him to humble him and should he now defend his owne innocencie should he either be silent and not acknowledge his sin or stand upon termes with God in defence and justification of himselfe Doest thou persevere in those high thoughts of thy selfe will not all this bring thy stomack down what will not thy uncircumcised heart be humbled Doest thou still retaine thine integrity doest thou still leane upon that broken reed thy owne integrity Blesse God that is confesse thy sins and acknowledge thy transgressions Indeed confessing of sin is a blessing of God
Under which name he with all spirituall wickednesses the opposers of Christ and of his Church are comprehended by the Prophet Isa 27.1 In that day the Lord with his sore great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the piercing serpent even Leviathan the crooked serpent and he shall slay the Dragon in the sea Now they that raise up this misticall Leviathan the Devill are surely the vilest men But who doe thus or how can this be done They are said to raise up Leviathan who seeke occasions of sinning such as doe not stay till Satan tempts them but they as it were tempt Satan They are so hasty so forward to doe evill that they think the Devill comes not fast enough and therefore they doe even goe out to meete provoke and raise up the Devill they invite temptation There is a truth in this All sins are not from the temptations of Satan our own hearts are not only the soyle and have in them the seed of all sin but they are sunne and raine to warme and water those seedes that they may grow And as a godly man from the new principle at first planted in him by the holy Ghost doth often stirre up the holy Ghost to come and helpe him he doth not alwayes stay till the holy Ghost sensibly comes but finding his own weakenesse and wants and deadnesse to and in duty he goeth and stirreth up the Spirit of God and prayeth that the holy Ghost would breath upon him quicken and enliven him in prayer and other holy duties So many ungodly wretches doe not stay for Satan or waite till he comes to tempt them but they such is their desperate wickednesse and delight in sin wish that he would tempt them oftner They doe not only keepe open house and open heart for him ready to entertaine and welcome him when he comes but they goe forth to solicit his company and his coming This is to stirre up Leviathan So that the whole sense according to this exposition may be given to you thus as if Iob had said Let this night be cursed with a grievous curse even with as black and foule a curse as can be moulded and fashioned in the hearts or spit out of the mouthes of the vilest miscreants even of such as are so set upon sin that they hate the light and curse the day which either the Sun makes in the aire or which knowledge makes in their hearts lest that should stop and hinder them in the acting of sin yea let such a curse be upon it is they use to vomit out who are so set upon mischiefe and engaged to their lusts that they pray in aide from the Devill to assist and quicken them in their wickednesse that so their naturall corruptions being oyled and smoothed with his temptations their motions to sin and indeed to Hell may be swifter and more violent These are they that give diligence to make their damnation sure These are they from whom the kingdome of Hell suffers violence and these violent ones rather then not have it will take it by force Surely their damnation sleepes not who least they should not sin enough awaken the Devill to shew them sinning opportunities To such as these according to the interpretation now suggested Iob commits his night to cursing Let them curse it who curse the day c. Now though there be a truth in the things which are asserted in this opinion taken abstractedly though it be a truth that wicked men are such as curse the day of ayre-light and the day of knowledge-light though they are often so madde to be sinning that they provoke and tempt the Devill yet I will not give this for the sense and meaning of the words rather you may take it and make use of it as an Allegory upon then an Exposition of the Text. The last opinion with which I shall conclude the opening of the words is this That Iob in this verse doth allude to the custome of his own Countrey and of other Easterne Countries who had certaine persons amongst them both men and women whom upon solemne occasions either of joy or sorrow they were wont to hire or call in for reward to come and helpe them out either in rejoycing or in mourning We find mention of such in Scripture divers times who were thus called and invited or hired to mourne and lament in times of sad and sorrowfull accidents whether personall or publick These had Lachrimas venales teares to sell or sale-teares making both a profession and a profit of mourning Such the Prophet speakes of Ier. 9.17 18. Thus saith the Lord Consider ye and call for the mourning women he speakes of them as of a society or sister-hood well knowne and as well custom'd and cunning women that they may come that is women cunning in mourning And let them make hast and take up a wailing for us that our eyes may runne downe with teares and our eye-lidds gush out with waters for a voice of wailing is heard out of Zion How are we spoiled And ver 20. Teach your daughters wailing and every one her neighbour lamentation you see it was an art taught amongst them for death is come up into our windowes c. In 2 Chron. 35.25 We have a record to the same effect concerning the lamentation for Josiah And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah and all the singing-men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day So that there were both men and women prepared and usually called forth to lament such occasions of sorrow Againe Amos 5.16 Therefore the Lord the God of Hosts the Lord saith thus wailing shall be in all streets and they shall say in all the high-wayes Alas Alas And they shall call the husbandman to mourning and such as are skillfull of lamentation to wailing Observe here different mourners they shall call the husbandman to mourning and such as are skillfull of lamentation to wailing You see he speakes of two sorts of persons they shall call the husbandman to mourning Husbandmen are such as mourne when they mourne when they mourne they mourne indeed they mourne down-right but besides these who mourned Ex animo really there was another sort who did but personate sorrow and act a part in griefe So saith the Prophet Call in some who are skilfull of lamentation men or women who have studied the point and know how to move a passion and to heighten an affection beyond that which the plaine husbandman can doe Let the husbandman mourne but besides that let there be art and solemnity in the mourning call in those that are skilfull of lamentation There was a kind of profession trade or art of mourning Which is further evidenced 2 Sam. 14.2 Joab sent to Tekoah to fetch thence a wise woman which is interpreted in the words following to be a woman skilfull in lamentation and said unto her I pray thee faine thy selfe to be a mourner Thou art a cunning
man saith he that hath his quiver full of them that hath many such arrowes such are children of the youth verse 4. There are some rich and covetous men that are in this point beyond others rich in folly You shall heare them pride themselves that they have no children or but few this they conceive sets them off in the opinion of the world for the richer men whereas one child is more riches then all the things that are in the world And we know it is an ordinary thing though indeed it is a very sinfull thing to say 't is true such an one is a rich man he hath a faire estate but he hath a great charge a great many children as if that did take-off from his riches or make him lesse happy as if he were the poorer because he hath a larger share of that ancient first blessing upon man Be fruitfull and multiply and replenish the Earth 4. Note this To have many sons to have most sons amongst our children is the greater outward blessing Iob is described here in the most exact method of outward blessings he had sonnes and his sonnes out-number his daughters he had 7. sonnes and but three daughters And the reason why most sonnes among children are the greater blessing is cleare because sonnes beare up the name and are a greater support unto the family 5. To have many sonnes and daughters too is yet a compleater blessing For by daughters the family is increast and other families are joyned and knit and united to that family And to have sons and daughters both is the perfection of that naturall blessing because man was so made at the first he was made male and female As it is with the soule and the body though the soule be more excellent than the body yet the soule alone is not so perfect as when soule and body are together because though the body be not so strong in constitution and noble in condition as the soule yet body and soule in creation were joyned together therefore their greatest perfection consists in their union So likewise it is in a family though sonnes in nature are more perfect yet because it was the first institution of a family male and female therefore the fullnes and compleatnesse of the blessing is in the union of both Iob had many sons and daughters likewise this made the blessing more compleat And then lastly observe this Children many children in the family are in themselves no impediments either of piety towards God or iustice toward man As soone as ever Iob was described in all his perfections it is added he had so many sonnes and so many daughters though he had so many children to looke to and provide for yet he omitted neither duty toward God nor duty toward man There are many who thinke it some excuse if not excuse enough for their neglect for their sleighting holy duties or sleightnesse in the holy duties of hearing praying and the like oh they have a great many children and they must rise early and they must worke late they can spare no time or but little for the publike or private or secret worship of God specially for any thing that is extraordinary so that these cares steale away not onely those times that might be bestowed in an extraordinary manner upon their soules but even the ordinary times are stolen away by them also Further some thinke themselves by this in part excused for their injustice toward men they have a great family and if they deale somewhat hardly and sticke as close as they can in all businesses they may be borne with for they have a great many children and they must looke to provide for them they else were worse then Infidels and hence they take liberty to doe what honest Infidels were asham'd of Iob you see was upright though he had so many sonnes and so many daughters to provide for It is ill with those whose gaine for their children is any losse to their souls but woe when any to gaine for their children loose their souls doing like those in Na. 2.12 The Lyon did teare in peeces enough for his whelpes and strangled for his lionesses and filled his holes with prey and his dens with rapine By the Lyon there is meant those oppressours that lived in Nineveh and by their whelpes are meant their children and by Lionesses their wives they had wives and children and they must have meanes and estates for them Iob as I may say had whelpes and a lionesse wife and children yet he doth not teare for them Nay though hee had so many to provide for yet hee rather giveth out to others What hungry belly was not filled with his meat And what naked backe was not cloathed with his wooll He did not say I have children to feed and to cloath and therefore you can have nothing You see though he had many children and a great charge yet how compleate he was in his duty to God and in his duty to man he failed not either in the duties of worship and holinesse nor in the duties of justice and uprightnesse JOB 1.3 4 5. His substance also was seven thousand Sheepe and three thousand Camels and five hundred Yoke of Oxen and five hundred shee Asses and a very great houshold so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East And his Sonnes went and feasted in their houses every one his day and sent and called for their three Sisters to eat and to drinke with them And it was so when the dayes of their feasting were gone about that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all c. THE Holy Ghost having shewed us the qualities of Jobs person in the first verse the Olive-plants round about his Table being the first outward blessing in the second Now proceeds â—o shew also his outward estate his stock of Cattell His substance was seven thousand Sheepe c. Concerning the outward Estate of Job we may note in this â—hird verse 1. The severall kinds of his stocke Sheepe Camels Oxen and Asses 2. The severall numbers of each of these kinds Seven thouâ—â—nd Sheep three thousand Camels c. It is said His substance was seven thousand Sheepe c. We 〈◊〉 our language call the estate of a man his substance and a rich â—an we call him a substantiall man though indeed riches are but â—ternall and accidentall yet they are called the substance of a man 〈◊〉 cause they make him subsist and stand by himselfe he needs not the â—op and helpe of others The word here in the Hebrew which we translate substance is indifferent to signifie any possession but especially it signifies possession or substance by Cattell Therefore in those times wherein the estates of the great men of the earth were most in Cattell this expression was chiefly used The Septuagint renders it And
single thred All his outward estate was kept without not a shred not a thread got into his spirit Take this for a third reason why the Holy Ghost doth thus exactly set forth the estate of Iob sc that he might appeare to be an exact holy man From the whole take these Observations First We see here Job a holy man very full of riches Then Observe That riches are the good blessings of God God would never have bestowed them upon his Job else Least we should thinke riches evill they are given to those who are good And least riches should be thought the chiefest good they are given to those that are evill It is a certaine truth that God never gives any thing in it selfe evill to those that are good nor doth he ever give the chiefest good to those that are evill Therefore it shewes that riches are good because the godly have them and it shewes that they are not the chiefest good because the wicked have them When the Gospell calls us to renounce the world to cast off the world it calls us to cast the world out of our affections not out of our possession To hold and possesse great riches is not evill it is evill to set our hearts upon them Secondly Iob was described before A just man an upright man that is a man just in his dealing a man that gave every one his owne He did not decline no not a haires bredth if possibly he could from the line of Justice Commutative or Distributive yet this Iob is exceeding rich Hence observe That Plaine and honest dealing is no hinderance to the gaining or preserving of an estate Honest dealing is no stop no barre to getting There is a cursed Proverbe amongst us which some use and it is to be feared some walke by it That he which useth plaine dealing shall die a Beggar You see Job that was a plaine man a just dealing man yet is full of riches the nighest and the safest way to riches is the way of justice Woe to those who by getting riches get a wound in their owne consciences What will it advantage any one to gather many goods when in the meane time his heart tells him that all have a bad Master What will it advantage any to load to fraight his Ship by trading on forbidden Coasts when by doing this he splits and makes shipwracke of his soul If you would goe the ready way to attaine the things of this life walke in the wayes of God Honesty and Justice Uprightnesse and truth will leade you to the highest and greatest estate with Gods blessing All other riches are poverty all other gaine is losse There is a fire in an estate ill gotten which will at last consume it A man builds with timber that hath a fire in it that layes the foundation of his estate by sinne he layes up iniquity for his children And so doth God Job 21.19 It is commonly said likewise Dives aut iniquus aut iniqui haeres A rich man is either an unjust man or the heyre of an unjust man In Psal 82. the wicked are put for the rich How long will you iudge uniustly and accept the persons of the wicked That is the persons Divitum aut Potentum of rich or great men so it is to be understood for Judges would never accept the persons of wicked men if they were poore if they be in equall ballance with others in regard of outward things and then the opposition that is made in the next words Defend the poore and fatherlesse shewes that the rich are there meant These great ones are called wicked because saith the Glosse they usually get and uphold their greatnesse by wickednesse Such is the course of the world and it is the shame of the world much more of Christians We see in Jobs practise that riches may be attained and maintained too by righteousnesse Job was rich and iust Thirdly In that Iob a man fearing God was thus rich thus great See here the truth of the promises God will make good his promise concerning outward things to his people Godlinesse hath the promises of this life as well as of that which is to come As it hath promises made to it so it hath promises performed to it Iob a man fearing God a godly man is very rich Indeed not many rich not many mighty not many honourable not many great ones are called and so not many of those that are called are mighty and rich and great and noble yet some such are that the truth of the promises may appeare somtime in the very letter to the eye of sence as it alwayes doth to the eye of faith Doe not feare that you shall be poore if you turne godly for godlinesse hath the promises of this life and there was a rich Iob a rich Abraham a rich Isaac a rich David and many other godly rich God will performe when it is good for them the promises of outward good things to his children outwardly Fourthly Here is another Observation from this place Iob was frequent in holy duties he was a man fearing God that is as we explained it in the first verse he was much verst in the wayes of holy worship he did not serve God by fits or at his leasure but continually yet he was very rich Note hence Time spent in holy duties is no losse no hinderance to our ordinary callings or to our thriving in them Iob serves God so frequently that it is called continually yet he grows in wealth abundantly The time that he spent in the service of God did not rob his purse impoverish his family or hinder him in his dealings and businesses of the world Iob maintained both his callings he maintained his generall calling in the wayes and service of God and his speciall or particular calling in his relations unto men both went on together and they were no hinderance one to another but a furtherance rather The time we spend in spirituall duties is time gain'd for secular The paines we take in prayer c. whets our tools and oyls our wheels promotes all we go about and getteth a blessing upon all This meets with another blasphemy very frequent in the world If a man professing godlinesse goe backward in his estate especially a man that is taken notice of for his extraordinary zeale and constancy in holy duties Then the clamour is O you see what hearing of Sermons hath brought him unto you see what comes of his praying and fasting he ha's followed these things you see till he is undone I say two things unto these men First Many are thought to goe backward in their outward estate because they doe so much in spirituall duties when indeed they are so farre from doing too much that they doe too little and that rather is the reason why they thrive not The body may be exercis'd often when the spirit workes but seldome if at all in holy things and this
dayes of their feasting were gone about Secondly Iob sent to sanctifie his children though they were in their own houses though they were at their own disposing for it appeares they had families and housholds of their owne though they were men and women growen Yet Iob sent to sanctifie them Observe hence That Parents must not cast off the care of their children though they are growen up though they are men and women Some thinke that if they looke to their children at Schoole and breed them up a while and have given them some instructions in their youth they need not then trouble themselves any further Whereas the care of parents ought to live as long as they and their children live together Iobs care went after his children to their houses He sent to them to bid them prepare themselves Thirdly Though these were as we say men and women growne yet as soone as their Father sends the message to them they all submit and all obey then Observe That Children that are growen up or have houses and families of their owne ought yet to yeeld all reverence and submission to the lawfull commands counsells and directions of their Parents Doe not thinke you have outgrowen obedience and honour to Parents when you are growen in yeares still we see these thought themselves under their Fathers command and counsell there is not one of them replies what need my Father trouble himselfe about us No but all willingly prepared themselves and came for he offred burnt offerings aocording to the number of them all therfore certainely they all came Fourthly From the matter of this Act what it was that Iob did the text saith he sent and sanctified them after their feasting he did not send a messenger to them to aske them how they were in health whether they had not surfeted themselves or had got any distemper he did not send to know how the accounts went in their families whether they had not spent too much but the matter that he had his eye and his heart upon was that they might be sanctified and fitted for holy duties From hence observe That A Parents maine and speciall care should be for the soules of his children The care of many Parents is onely to inrich their children to make them great and Honourable to leave them full portions and estates to provide matches for them but for sanctifying their children there is no thought of that Nay many are afraid their children should be sanctified some Parents cannot abide their children because they suspect them sanctifyed Such Parents are the Devills children Iobs greatest care was that his children should be sanctified And every Parent ought to say of his naturall children as the Apostle Iohn doth of his spirituall children Ep. 3. v. 4. I have no greater joy then to heare that my children walke in the truth Fifthly Iob was a holy person and you see which way his care lies that his children may be holy then take this Note in the generall Hee that is a holy person himselfe desires to make others holy too Holy Iob would have all his children holy As it is with the wicked a wicked man would faine have all wicked with him he would faine scatter his wickednesse and diffuse his poison unto others The drunkard would faine have companions with him in his drunkennesse c. And so the man that is truly godly would make others godly too As Paul said to K. Agrippa I would to God that not only thou but also all that heare me this day were both almost and altogether such as I am Grace is attractive It desires to draw others into fellowship A good man would not be happy alone Sixthly Sanctification you see here is ascribed unto Iob he sent and sanctified them and all that he did was but to give them counsell and warning to sanctifie themselves As if he should have said goe to my children and bid them prepare themselves warne them that they may be ready against the sacrifice that they fit themselves for it yet the text saith that Job sanctified them Then we may observe from this That The good which others doe by our advice and counsell is reckoned as done by our selves While we provoke others to goodnesse that good which they doe is set upon our account as if we had done it As the wickednesse the sin which another commiâ—s by the advice and counsell of any man is set upon the score of that man If another doe ill by thy advice the ill is reckoned to thee if one should come and say as Absolom said to his servants Marke ye now when Amnons heart is merry with wine and when I say unto you smite Amnon then kill him feare not have not I commanded you Not only did the servants kill Amnon but Absolom killed Amnon because he commanded them to kill him You know what is said of David he did but send a Letter concerning the death of Vriah and the charge cometh Thou hast slaine Uriah with the Sword of the children of Ammon All the evill others commit by thy counsell direction advice command or consent is as done by thy selfe So on the other side all the good others doe by our counsell advice promotion admonition instruction and the like that good shall all be reckoned to us If another be holy by thy advise it will be said thou hast made him holy thou hast sanctified him Lastly Observe That Holy duties call for holy preparation We must not touch holy things with unholy hands or with unholy hearts I will wash my hands in innocency and so will I compasse thine Altar O Lord was Davids resolution Psalm 26.6 therefore Job intending a solemne duty a sacrifice which did containe the summe of all Religion concerning the externall worship of God sends solemnely to his children to prepare themselves O come not to the sacrifice except you be sanctified It is a point so cleare that I shall need but only to name it to you How and wherein they should sanctifie themselves and what course they took for the sanctifying and preparing of themselves for that duty doth not appeare in this place but afterwards when God gave them the Law he prescribed them a rule what they must doe that they might be sanctified the Jewes had speciall directions for their preparations Some things were outward and some inward I will but touch For the outward they were commanded to wash their cloathes Exod. 19. that place before quoted Sanctifie them to day and to morrow and let them wash their cloathes Not that God regarded cloathes but he aymed at somewhat further if the cloathes must be washed certainely then the heart must be washed he pointed at that in the washing of their cloathes In Leviticus and Numbers other outward preparations are commanded as the abstaining from all things that were uncleane they must not touch any thing that was uncleane and then sometimes they were not only to wash their cloathes
it is Gods due and our duty to dedicate the morning the first and best of every day unto God Psal 5.3 My voice shalt thou heare in the morning in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will looke up We have a saying among us that the morning is a friend to the Muses that is the morning is a good studying time I am sure it is as true that the morning it is a great friend to the Graces the morning is the best praying time Againe In that Job did rise so early in the morning to offer sacrifice and did this because he was afraid that his sonnes had sinned as we shall see afterward Hence Observe 2. That it is not safe to let sinne lye a moment unrepented of or unpardon'd upon our own consciences or the consciences of others If a mans house be on fire he will not only rise in the morning or early in the morning but he will rise at mid-night to quench it certainly when you have guilt on your soules you have a fire in your soules your soules are on a flame therefore you had need rise and rise early and get up as soon in the morning as you can to get it quenched and put out And offered burnt-offerings There were divers sorts of Sacrifices among the Jewes when the law or rules of sacrificing were established There were first Whole burnt-offerings 2. Trespasse-offerings 3. Sinne-offerings 4. Peace-offerings That which Job is here said to offer was a burnt-offering an Holacost or whole burnt-offering so called because it was altogether consumed there was no part of it reserved for the Priest or for the people but all was offered up unto God Of other Sacrifices as the sinne-offering and trespasse-offering there were parts and portions reserved for the Priest and part of the Peace-offerings for the people as you may see by that expression of the Harlot Prov. 7.14 I have at my house Shelamim Peace-offerings now they did feast upon the Peace-offering for she invited him to a feast But the burnt-offering was wholly consumed the word in the Hebrew doth signifie an ascension or a thing lifted up He offered burnt-offerings word for word out of the Hebrew it is He lifted-up an elevation he caused an Ascension to ascend elevabat elevationem or ascendere fecit ascensionem And it was so called because the Sacrifice which was a whole burnt-offering was all consumed upon the altar And did as it were evaporate or ascend up unto God It was called a lifting-up or a thing lifted-up for three Reasons 1. Because when the Sacrifice was offered the smoake of it did ascend and besides there were sweet odours put upon the Altar which did fume up also with the Sacrifice towards heaven and so the Sacrifice took it's denomination from ascending and going upwards 2. Because the Priest when hee offered the Sacrifice did lift it up upon the Altar and hold it toward Heaven to God 3. Because at that time when the Sacrifice was a burning all the people that were present did lift-up their hands and their eyes but especially their soules and their spirits heaven-wards and powred themselves forth in prayer unto God That of David in Psal 141.2 will give some light to this Let saith he my prayer be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening Sacrifice David at that time as Interpreters note upon the Psalme was barred the enjoyment of the publike ordinances he could not come to sacrificing as formerly he had done now he seekes unto the Lord that he would accept of the lifting up of his hands and heart in stead of Sacrifice as if he should say Lord I have not a Sacrifice now to offer unto thee I am hindered from that worke I cannot lift that up but I will lift up what I have and what will please thee better then a Bullocke that hath hornes and hoofes I will lift-up my hands and my heart unto thee and let these be accepted for sacrifice and all Prayer which is a Sacrifice of the Gospell it is nothing else but A lifting up of the soule an elevation of the spirit unto God So some of the Ancients call prayer an Ascending of the soule unto God And in allusion unto this Hezekiah when he sent to Isaiah the Prophet to pray for him in that time of distresse and day of trouble saith Goe and desire the Prophet to lift-up his prayer for the remnant that are left alluding to the sacrifices which were wont to be lifted up The like expression of prayer you have Psal 25.1 Lord saith David I lift-up my soule unto thee Hence Prayers not answered not accepted are said to be stopt from ascending Lam. 3.44 Thou hast covered thy selfe with a cloud that our prayer should not passe through When you meet with such expressions in the old Testament concerning prayer you must still understand them to be allusions to the Sacrifices because the Sacrifices were lifted up and did ascend That for the Act. For the person It is said that Job offered these Sacrifices Job rose early and offered c. Was not this to usurpe upon the Priests office Was it not this for which King Vzziah was reprehended and told by the Priests It appertaineth not to thee to burne Incense unto the Lord but to the Priests the sonnes of Aaron and was he not smitten with leprosie for doing of it I answer in a word by that rule of the Ancients Distinguish the times and Scriptures will agree It was Job that offered and Job had right to offer The time wherein Job offered Sacrifice doth reconcile this it was before the giving of the Law as we have shewed in the opening of the former points about the time when Job lived now in those times the Father or the elder of the Family was as a Priest to the whole Family and he had the power and the right to performe all holy family duties as the duty of sacrificing and the like this you may see carried along in all the times before the Law was given in the holy Stories of the Patriarks they still offered up the Sacrifice But it may here be further inquired If it were before the Law was given who taught Job to offer Sacrifice Where had he the rule for it I answer this was not will-worship though it was not written worship For howsoever Job did offer Sacrifice before the Law of sacrificing was written yet he did not offer a Sacrifice before the Law of sacrificing was given for the Law of sacrificing was given from the beginning as all the other parts of worship used from the beginning were God could never beare it that men should contrive him a service therefore Job did not offer up an offering unto God according to his owne will a thing that he had invented to pacifie and to please God with God had been so farre from accepting that he could not have
borne such a devised worship God doth never trust man with the making of holy Institutions There is nothing doth please him in any act of worship unlesse he sees himselfe obeyed Obedience is better then Sacrifice and therfore a Sacrifice which is not out of obedience cannot be accepted he that sacrificeth doth but offer up a beast but he that obeyeth offereth up himselfe sacrificeth his owne will It could not be therfore but that Job had a word a word as all the world had at that time a word given by God and so carried downe from one to another by tradition as it was for more then 2000. yeares All the will that God would reveale or had revealed to them was carried from hand to hand or from heart to heart from the Fathers to the children till at the last the Law was written and the Scripture penned by Moses So then Job offered Sacrifice according to an Institution though it was not an Institution written yet it was an Institution sent foorth and given by God Himselfe Yet there is a third Quere upon it Suppose that there was an Institution of God for sacrificing why did God call for Sacrifices What is his meaning Doth God delight in the bloud of Bulls and Goats Thou delightest not in sacrifices saith David thou desirest not burnt offerings And what was the Sacrifice unto Job or unto his sonnes Could the killing of a Beast take away sinne Why then doth Job when he feareth that his sons had sinned goe presently and offer Sacrifice For answer It is true that the Sacrifices in themselves were nothing either to God or man they could doe no good they had no power in them either to pacifie God or to purge the soules of men But looke upon the Sacrifice as it was an Institution and then God saw his Sonne Jesus Christ in it and was well-pleased and likewise man beheld and believed Christ in it and was purged When the Sacrifice was offering man saw Christ suffering this tooke away his sin and pacified his conscience A Sacrifice in it self as it was the killing or burning of a Beast had no vertue in it but as it had respect unto Christ so God saw the death of his son and that satisfied him and man saw the death of his Saviour and that justified him Againe it was not the bare Sacrifice that was effectuall but the faith of Job and the faith of his sons carried up in prayer these mingled with the Sacrifice wrought the cure Therfore we find in the time of the Sacrifice still the people were at prayer they knew the Sacrifice the Incense could doe nothing but as joyned with the faith of the Sacrificer in prayer We reade Luk. 1.10 when Zacharias the Priest was offering the Incense within in the Temple the Text saith that the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of Incense The Incense might burne long enough and yet the anger of God burne too the Incense might burne and yet the people not purified but consumed But while the Incense was burning while the Sacrifice was offering the people were praying and beleeving These actings of faith and powrings out of prayer made the Sacrifice as effectuall for man so acceptable unto God Then in that he offered burnt-offerings which burnt-offerings were made when he feared that his sons had sinned these offerings typing out and leading them to Christ and his death We may note this That Christ was ever the only remedy and cure of sin As soone as ever there vvas any feare of sinne presently they had recourse to a sacrifice and what was that They went to Christ Christ hath been the helpe against sin in all the generations of the world from the first and will be to the last If any man sin saith the Apostle John we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation for our sinnes He is the Propitiatory Sacrifice for our sins It follows According to the number of them all That is he offered for each of his sonnes a Sacrifice There were some Sacrifices which did serve for the whole Congregation as we may see in Levit. 4.13 14. and in divers other Chapters of that booke Besides these there were personall Sacrifices Levit. 1. where the Lawes about Sacrifices are set forth If any soule had sinned that particular soule must come to the Priest and bring a Sacrifice for his sin So here Job doth not offer only one generall family sacrifice for them all but he offereth up a distinct particular sacrifice for every particular son This teacheth us First That every one is saved and pardoned by the speciall and particular actings of his owne faith Every soule must beleeve for it selfe Every one must have a sacrifice We have Congregationall prayers and we have personall prayers now it is not enough for people to pray in publike with the Minister or for the Minister who is the mouth of the Congregation to God to offer up a prayer for the pardon of the people But every one must apart and by himselfe sue out his own pardon which is as it were his owne sacrifice by offering up and tendering of Jesus Christ unto God for the pardon of his sins Then againe you may note in that Job offered a Sacrifice for every one of his sons That it is not enough for Parents to pray in generall for their children but they ought to pray particularly for them As Parents who have many children provide portions according to the number of them all and proportion out their care personally according to the number of them all and in the Family they provide meat and cloathing according to the particular number of them all So likewise they ought to be at a proportionable expence in spirituals to lay out and lay up prayers and intercessions according to the number of them all not only to pray in generall that God would blesse their children and their family but even to set them one by one before God and so beg and sue out a speciall blessing upon the head of every one of them as without all question Job did when the Sacrifice for every son was made he sent up a prayer to God for the pardon and acceptance of every son That for the opening of the second act in the Text first he sent and sanctified them and secondly he offered burnt-offerings according to the number of them all Now follows the ground or the reason of this act of Job both in sanctifying them and in offering Sacrifices for them For Job said it may be my sonnes have sinned and cursed God in their hearts Holy duties must be grounded upon reason There must be a reason why we pray before we pray we must see cause for it and great cause too To pray out of custome and formality to offer sacrifice onely because it is a day of Sacrifice is not praying nor sacrificing Job had a speciall
are a farewell to God But I shall lay by this interpretation for the proofes come not home no nor neere the point In both those places blessing is not put barely for departing and besides departing in those Texts is taken in a good sense Jacob departed from Pharaoh not in a way of deserting him but in a way of saluting him So Joab departed from the King not that he did revolt from him as they would have the word to import a kind of revolting and apostatizing from God but onely he did obeysance and went away about his businesse therefore this interpretation cannot stand There is a fourth exposition much laboured by Sanctius and would it hold it were an excellent exposition according to the letter of the Text Thus It may be my sonnes have sinned and not blessed God in their hearts and so he makes those words to be exegeticall the explication of the former what the sinne of Jobs sonnes was It may be my sonnes have sinned and if you would know what they have sinned in I feare they have forgot to give God the glory for the refreshing they have had by the creatures they have not blessed God This were an excellent and cleare sense But the way he takes to make it out is very obscure For he doth it only by this rule when saith he there is a negative particle in the former a negative likewise is to be understood in the following clause His rule he cleares by divers instances But we find in thâ—s place no negative particle as Non or Ne or the like in the former part of the verse and how there should be a negative in the latter I cannot understand according to his rule Ne fortâ— It is here said It may be my sons have sinned that is a word of doubting not denyall rather an affirmative then a negative and have not blessed now saith he though that particle not be not in the Hebrew yet it must be understood of course because there is a negative particle in the former part How he can make ne forte peradventure a negative particle I doe not well apprehend yet the sense in it selfe is very good It may be my sonnes have sinned and not blessed God in their hearts Some would reade it with an Interrogation though I question whether the Grammer will allow it Thus It may be my sonnes have sinned and have they blessed God in their hearts As if he had said I feare they have not blessed God or not blessed him cordially Neglect of or slightnesse in such a duty calls for sacrifice Lastly That meaning which our Translation leads unto is most commonly taken by Interpreters both Ancient and moderne Namely That here in this Text the word Barach is to be expounded by cursing It may be my sonnes have sinned and cursed God in their hearts I shall present you with the grounds of this Interpretation and how it is made good And then leave it to the Readers judgement whether to choose this or those former which have had any countenance shewed them For in a Scripture which may without impeachment of any truth admit divers sences I would not be so positive in one as to reject all others Now this Translation is maintained by a figure either by an Antiphrasis which is the speaking of a thing sounding one way when it is meant another way when there is an opposition betweene the letter of the word and the meaning of the word Thus 1 King 21.13 Naboth is charged for blessing God and the King sc cursing Or by an Euphemismus that is when some filthy or execrable matter is expressed by a word of a fairer signification So in Scripture the uncleanenesse of some things is covered with a word that so the offensivenesse of it may be removed both from the eare and phancy As for example that vessell wherein nature doth unburthen it selfe it is called a vessell wherein there is no pleasure and so the word that the Hebrews use for a Harlot signifies properly a Holy woman as Gen. 38. when Judah asked whether they saw the harlot the word in the Hebrew Kedesah signifies a holy woman by an Antiphrasis or by an Euphemismus Yet some thinke a harlot so called because holinesse being the dedication of a thing or person such dedicate and give themselves up to or are possess'd with a spirit of uncleanenesse But to the Text take it by an Euphemismus or faire speaking It may be my sonnes have sinned and cursed God in their hearts they even abhorring to use such a word concerning God expresse it by blessing It may be my sonnes have sinned and blessed God in their hearts So the Latines use the word Sacrum pro execrandâ— that which is the most execrable thing they call a sacred thing Now taking it thus according to the common streame of Expositors upon the place it may yet be doubted how Job could suspect his sonnes of this that they should curse God I answer to that Here we are not to take cursing either for that abhominable act at which Heathens blush the casting of open reproach upon the Name of God or for a malitious and virulent though secret blaspheming of God and sending defiance to Heaven in their hearts But to curse God in the heart doth signifie any irreverent undue unfit unholy thought of God any thought unbecomming the Glory and Majesty of so great a God which how quickly the heart may send out especially at a feast who feeles not who findes not God is said to be cursed when he hath not that reverence and honour which belongs to him whose Name is Holy and Reverent In that sense only we are to understand the word cursing here And Mr. Broughton gives a translation which lets in some light to this It may be my sonnes have sinned and little blessed God in our hearts that is they have not had such high such holy thoughts of God as became them they have little blessed God carelesse thoughts of God are little blessing of God and both amount to a cursing of God So that the sense which results is this As if Job should have said I am well enough satisfied concerning my sonnes that they have not broadly blasphemed God that they have not beene such as have torne his Name with oathes cursings and execrations yet notwithstanding I know the heart is a deceitfull thing there are many starting holes in it it quickly conceives and closely conceales a sinne and therefore I am very doubtfull though my sonnes have carried it fairely and well in their actions and words while they feasted that yet their hearts have been loose and their affections vaine I am afraid they have cursed lightly regarded or little blessed God in their hearts Observe First That we ought to keepe our hearts with all manner of keeping in every thing we goe about If your hearts are disorderly it is a kind of cursing God Remember not only to keepe your
hearts when you are praying and when you are hearing and when you are in holy duties but remember to keepe your hearts when you are feasting and refreshing your selves when you are in your callings when you are buying and selling c. Secondly Note That sinnes of the heart sinnefull thoughts are very dangerous sinnes Job could not accuse his sonnes of load blasphemies he only suspected the silent sinnes of the heart yet he offereth sacrifice for them Againe When Iob hath nothing to charge his sonnes with but onely sinnes of the heart you see it is with an It may be my sonnes have cursed God in their hearts he doth not speake directly or positively that they have done so Whence note That no man can positively conclude what is wrought in the heart of another The heart is Gods peculiar as he only hath the lock and key of the heart to shut or open it so he only hath a window to looke into it we may guesse at the heart we may say it may be further we cannot goe The hearts of men often come forth at their mouthes and appeare in their actions and then indeed we may conclude their hearts are naught For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and the hand worketh but unlesse we have that testimony unlesse the heart give that witnesse against it selfe we can only suspect it It may be thus or thus God alone can tell when we curse him in our hearts and if we goe on impenitently in them irreverent thoughts will be interpreted a cursing of God Thus did Job continually This is the third thing to be opened in this verse to wit the constancy of Job We have seene the Acts of his spirituall care and the ground of it his feare least his sonnes had sinned Now we have the constancy of this duty Thus did Job continually Continually The Originall is all the days thus did Job Cunctis diebus all dayes that is all the dayes that this occasion did offer it selfe When his sonnes went to feasting then ever Job went to praying and to sacrificing Continually or all the dayes doth not import that Job did offer sacrifice every day This continually is to be understood in the renewed seasons All the dayes are those dayes wherein occasion was given We are then said to doe a thing continually when we doe it seasonably so those places of Scripture are to be understood Pray without ceasing not that a man should doe nothing else but pray but that he should labour to have his heart in a praying frame alwayes and should actually pray as often as duty requires such an one prayes alwayes So here Iobs offering sacrifice continually noteth only the constancy and perseverance of Iob in the duty that so often as there was an occasion renewed Iob renewed this service and holy care concerning his sonnes for reconciling them unto God Iob had many other things to doe in the world he had a calling yet he offered sacrifice continually It is an excellent point of spirituall wisedome to drive the two trades for Heaven and Earth so as that one shall not intrench upon another for a man to pray so as that it may be said he prayes continually and for a man to follow his calling so as that it may be said he followes his calling continually In that he offered sacrifice as oft as his sonnes did feast Observe this That the heart of man is continually evill Doe not thinke that one sacrifice will serve the heart of man when it hath failed once in a duty and thou hast humbled thy soule for that thinke not thus now my heart will forbeare when I come to such a duty or to such a businesse again now I have taken order with my heart I need not feare any more no the heart will sinne over the same sinne a thousand times it will sinne continually You see here Iob sacrificing every time his sonnes feasted he knew their hearts were apt to conceive those sinnes at any time therefore he seekes God for them at all times Further Observe That renewed sinnes must have renewed repentance Thus did Job continually Till you have done sinning you must never give over repenting If there be a leake in the Ship that lets in the water continually the Pumpe must worke continually to carry it out We are leaking vessels all of us sinne commeth in sin is renewed there must be the pump of repentance to cary it out againe Lastly We may note this Iob did it continually Job was not good by fits That which a man doth out of conscience he will doe with perseverance Nature will have good moods but grace is steady Thus did Job continually whatsoever his affaires or businesses were whatsoever was laid by he would not lay by this duty of sacrificing Let this suffice for the 5th verse containing the care of Job over the soules of his children And so in these five verses already opened we have First Seene the dignity and sincerity of Jobs person Secondly The fullnesse and prosperity of his condition Thirdly The holinesse and piety of his life Certainely a man thus raised thus glorious set up thus in temporalls and in spiritualls thus furnished with substantialls and adorn'd with circumstantials abounding in whatsoever could make a man great and happy both in the eye of God and man surely such a man as this a man thus compleate wanted nothing but some want to try his sincerity in this fulnesse And now behold this hastening upon him God having thus fitted and qualified him will now try him try him like gold in the fornace of affliction You may see matter gathering for this and the fire kindling in the next part of the Chapter Verse 6. Now there was a day when the sonnes of God came to present themselves before the Lord c. Take this in the generall from the connection of the two parts Vsually where God gives much grace he tryes grace much To whom God hath given strong shoulders on him for the most part he layeth heavy burthens As soon as Job is spoken of thus prepared the next thing that follows is an affliction Now there was a day c. And so we are come to the second maine division of the Chapter which is the affliction of Job and that is set forth from this 6th verse to the end of the 19th And least we should conceive it to have come upon him by chance it is punctually described foure wayes 1. By the causes of it ver 6 7 c 2. By the instruments of it ver 15 16. c. 3. By the manner of it ver 14 15 16 c. 4. By the time of it ver 13. First his afflictions are set forth in their causes and that is done from the sixth verse to the end of the twelfth And the causes are three-fold First The efficient causes and they were two 1. The supreame and principall efficient cause and that was God ordering
great and mighty power therefore Eph. 1.21 they are called Principalities and powers far above principalities and powers and might and dominions that is farre above all Angels They are called the sonnes of God because they are like God in power and dignity Then againe they are called the sonnes of God because they serve God as sonnes chearfully willingly readily They do not obey as slaves as servants as the best of servants they obey better than the best of servants they obey as children they goe about their worke with filiall and sonne-like chearfullnes and delight Thirdly they are called sonnes because of the great priviledge that God doth vouchsafe them he doth use them as his children as his sonnes they are his Courtiers they are neare him alwaies attending him and continually see his face They have the priviledge of sonnes Came to present themselves before the Lord. Not that the Angels are at any time out of the presence of God for Christ is expresse in that Mat. 18.10 Their Angels doe alwayes behold the face of my Father But they are then said to come and present themselves before God when they come upon some speciall businesse or upon some speciall occasion As it is with us here upon the Earth we are never out of the presence of God for Psal 139. Whether shall I goe from thy presence Yet when we come to pray and are in other holy duties we are said to present our selves before God and to draw neare unto God and God is said to draw neare unto us at such a time and yet God is ever with us and we ever with him So when it is said here that the Angels came and presented themselves before the Lord it noteth only this their readinesse either to give an account of what they had done or to receive directions from God what to doe The Angels are most willing to goe about the service and worke of God and that is all that is here meant by their presenting themselves before the Lord for otherwise they are ever in his presence as Luk. 1.19 The Angell answered and said I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God and am sent to speake unto thee I am Gabriel that stand he speakes in the present time even now while I am speaking unto thee I stand in the presence of God The Angell while he goeth into the world is not absent from God he beholdeth the face of God alwayes The Schoole-men have an odde distinction they say there are assisting Angels and there are ministring Angels Those Angels that are assistants stand alwayes before God and never are sent out about the world upon any occasion Others are ministring spirits as Heb. 1.14 Are they not ministring spirits sent forth to minister for them who are the heires of salvation This is Schoole doctrine But there needs no such distinction of some to be assisting or attending and some to be ministring Angels for wheresoever they are they are alwayes in the presence of God and their presenting themselves before God notes only their preparednesse to attend the Lords service in whatsoever he shall employ them And Satan came also among them That is the chief of the evill Angels as it is conceived The word Satan signifieth an Adversary and so it is often times applied to men as concerning Solomon it is said that while he did walke exactly with God there was neither adversary nor evill occurrant the word in the originall is there was no Satan in his kingdome and in the 1 King 11.14 it is said The Lord stirred up Satan an Adversary against Solomon and that accusation which those wretches in Ezra c. 4. sent against the building of Jerusalem is called Sitna they sent Sitna an accusation or an opposing letter It comes from the same root any kind of opposition is called Sitna from Satan who is an opposer It is sometimes used more generally concerning any opposition as the Angell that came to oppose Baalam Numb 22.34 I wist not saith Baalam that there was an adversary that stood in the way But how can it be said that Satan should come among the sons of God I said before that it was but an alluding speech to the dealings of men in their sessions and assemblies and there is no necessity to make every particular of it hold Wee may conceive it thus Satan came also among them It is not said that the sons of God and Satan came and presented themselves before the Lord Satan did not joyne himselfe in with them Satan did not offer himselfe for any good service but thither hee came being so ordered by the over-ruling power of God But can Satan come into the presence of God No otherwise than a blind man can come into the Sun he comes into the Sun and the Sun shineth upon him but he sees not the Sun Satan comes so into the presence of God that he is alwayes seene of God he is never so in the presence of God as to see God It is question'd whether the lapsed Angels ever saw God at all while they stood because if they had seene God it is conceived that vision would have been their confirmation But it is most certaine that the lapsed Angels since their fall never saw God nor ever shall though it be said here Satan came among the sons of God you know what the Apostle Jude teacheth That the devils kept not their place but are reserved in chaines of darknesse against the judgement of the great day We shall open that afterward when we come to speake of his compassing the earth how he doth compasse the earth and yet is reserved in chaines of darknesse But I say there is his seat there is his place and all that is spoken of him in this doth not inferre any the least glimpse or fruition of God or communion with the Angels In regard of his nature he is still a spirit but in regard of his sin he is a miserable spirit he hath lost his excellency though he hath not lost his nature And being a spirit he hath power to passe and repasse to goe up and downe the world to ascend and descend at his pleasure as good Angels may and can when God doth permit him We see here the good Angels are called the sons of God in this learne the priviledge of beleevers they partake with the Angels in this title the Apostle saith Behold what manner of love the Father hath shewed that we should be called the sonnes of God if you would know what manner of love it is it is as great as the Angels in Heaven have Christ tooke not upon him the nature of Angels but hath given us the honour of Angels Fallen Angels could not share with us in the benefit of redemption but we share with the Angels that stand in the priviledge of Son-ship We are the sons of God as well as they and in somewhat beyond them they are created sons but not as we
regarding and not putting upon the heart by not regarding Then here hast thou put Job upon thy heart that is hast thou seriously weighed and considered Job As if God had said I am sure in thy travels and wandrings about the world thou couldest not choose but take notice of Job he is my jewell my darling a speciall man among all the sonnes of men He is such a spectacle as may justly draw all eyes and hearts after him when thou walkedst didst thou not make a stand at Jobs doore I cannot but looke upon him my selfe and consider him therefore surely thou hast considered him The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his heart is upon them too A wicked man hath not the eye of God a godly man hath his heart and shall have it to all eternity The summe is This Question teacheth us That amongst all the men that dwell on the face of the earth Job was the most considerable Hast thou not considered my servant Job It is as if one should say to a man come from this City into the Countrey were you at Court or have you seen the King Because he is the most eminent and considerable person So God here speakes to Satan upon his account of walking about the earth hast thou taken notice of Job A godly man is the most considerable man in the world But then you must put your heart upon him not your eye onely for then as it was said of Christ Isa 53.3 you may perhaps see no beauty in him his inside is the most considerable thing in the world As a wicked man is the most unconsiderable not worthy the looking unto though he be never so great as Elisha said to the King of Israel Surely as the Lord of hostes liveth before whom I stand were it not that I regard the presence of Jehosaphat the King of Judah I would not looke toward thee nor see thee thou art not a man saith he that deserveth so much as to be looked upon A godly man is therefore described to be one in whose eyes a vile person a wicked man is despised But secondly in reference to Satan Some reade these words not by way of question but by way of affirmation thus thou hast considered my servant Job Thou hast been abroad in the world surely then thou hast taken notice of my servant Job thou hast considered him that is of all men in the world thou hast set thy selfe about Job to tempt him and to try him when thou camest to Jobs house there thou madest an assault there thou tryest the uttermost of thy strength to overcome him thou consideredst him what to do against him how to overthrow him tel me hast thou not found him a tuffe peece Didest thou ever meet with such an one in the world before To consider a thing is to try all wayes how to gaine it or how to compasse such a thing as Samuell said to Saul when he was seeking his fathers Asses As for thine Asses that were lost set not thy mind on them that is doe not trouble thy selfe doe not beat thy braines to consider which way to goe to find them or where it is most probable to get them So here thou hast set thy mind or considered my servant Job that is thou hast beat thy braines and set all thy wits on worke what course to take with greatest advantage to destroy my servant Job Take the words in that sense and they yeeld us this Instruction That Satans main temptations his strongest batteries are planted against the most eminent godly persons When Satan sees a man that is eminent in grace against him he makes his hottest and subtilest assaults he sets his heart upon such a man yea and vexeth his heart too about him Satan is most busie at holy duties one said he saw in a vision ten devils at a Sermon and but one at the market and about holy persons As for others he doth not trouble himselfe about them for they as the Apostle shewes are led captive by the devill at his will if he doe but whistle as it were they easily follow him and come after him presently so that he needs not set his heart or vex himselfe about them But when he commeth to a Job he sets all his wits and all his strength a worke bends all his thoughts to consider what course to take to assault such a strong hold of grace If he can get such a man downe then there is triumph indeed he sings victoria Then if we may so speake there is joy in hell as there is joy indeed in heaven at the conversion of a sinner So there is a kind of joy in hell when one sinnes that is converted If any thing can make the devils merry it is this to give a godly man the foyle though they see he is past their reach to destroy him yet if they can but blemish or disgrace him if they can but trouble and disquiet him this is their delight Hence it is that Generall Satan with his legions of darknesse those infernall spirits encampe about such persons with deadly hatred As when an Army meets with a strong Castle or City they sit downe and there consider what course to take for the besiedging and gaining of it Hast thou considered my servant Job The title which God gives Job is very observable My servant Job A Servant you know is one that is not at his owne dispose but at the call and becke of another so the Centurion describes a servant For saith he I am a man under authority and I have servants and I say to this man goe and he goeth and to another come and he commeth Servants are at the word of another they are not sui juris in their own power therfore Aristotle calleth Servants living tools or living instruments breathing instruments because they are at the will of another to be used and imployed at the discretion of their Master Here God calleth Job his servant And he calleth him so First by way of distinction or difference my servant that is mine not his owne many are their owne servants they serve themselves as the Apostle saith They serve not the Lord Jesus but their owne bellies they serve their owne lusts divers lusts and pleasures Job is not such an one he is my servant Many are Satans servants as if God should have said to Satan here Satan thou hast gone about the world and thou hast found a great family of thine owne thou hast found many servants in all places but hast thou considered my servant There is one I am sure that oweth thee no service and by his good will will doe thee none hast thou not found my servant Some are the servants of men but Job is my servant not a servant of men to subject himselfe to their lusts either for hope or feare He is not as the Apostle speakes the servant of men
a byas in all that he doth he is carryed by the gaine of godlinesse not by any delight in godlinesse thus to serve God Job is mercinary he serveth God for hire Job hath not any desire to please God but to benefit himselfe Job doth not seeke the glory of God but he seekes his owne advantage This is the sense which the words have in reference to the person of Job that as once Satan accus'd God unto man so now he accuseth this man unto God He accus'd God unto man Gen. 3. When God had forbidden him to eate of the Tree of knowledge of good and evill and told him that in the day he did eate thereof he should surely die You shall not surely die saith Satan for God knoweth that in the day you eate thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evill As if he should say God hath not forbidden this tree because it will doe you any hurt but because he would be God alone he would have all the knowledge to himselfe he hath an ill intent he knowes that if you eate of it you will be like him as gods knowing good and evill So heere hee accuseth man to God Job serveth you indeed and offereth you sacrifice and obeyeth you but it is that he may get by you that he may receive more and more from you he likes the pay the reward not the worke he cares not for God but for the good that commeth from him This is the accusation which here the slanderer casteth upon all the holy services and duties of Job Thus in briefe you see the sense I shall give you some observations from it The first is this It is an argument of a most malignant spirit when a mans actions are faire then to accuse his intentions The Devill hath nothing to say against the actions of Job but he goes downe into his heart and accuseth his intentions Malice mis-interprets the fairest actions but love puts the fairest interpretation it can upon foule actions Malice will say when a man doth well it is true he doth it but it is for vaine glory it is to be seene of men it is for his own ends it is for gaine But when a man doth ill love will say this he hath done through ignorance or inadvertency or violent temptations love covers a multitude of sinnes as fairely as possibly it may with wisedome and with justice How faire a cover did Christ himselfe put upon the foulest act that ever was in the world upon his own crucifying Father forgive them they know not what they doe they doe it indeed but they doe it ignorantly So Peter afterward I wot saith he that through ignorance you did it as did also your Rulers Love excuseth what is ill done in another and malice accuseth what others doe well Let such men learne from hence that in so do â—â—â—y are the mouth and tongue of Satan Secondly We may observe from hence That it is an argument of a base and an unworthy spirit to serve God for ends Had this been true of Job in Satans sense it had indeed spoyled and blemished all that he had done Those that come unto God upon such termes they are not holy but crafty they make a trade with God they doe not serve God it is not Obedientia but Mercatura as one expresseth it it is merchandizing with God not obeying him There is reward enough in God himselfe there is reward enough in the very duties themselvs work and wages go together Therfore for any to be carried out to the service of God upon outward things argues a base an eartthly spirit As sin is punishment enough unto it selfe though there were no other punishment though there were no hell to come after yet to do evill is or will be hell enough unto it selfe So to do good is reward enough unto it selfe A Heathen Poet observed it as a brand of Infamy upon the age wherein he lived that most did repent that they had done good or were good gratis or for nought that the price of all good actions fell in their esteeme unlesse they could raise themselves If a Heathen condemn'd this how damnable is it among Christians But here a Question will arise and I shall a little debate it because it doth further cleare the maine point May we not have respect to our owne good or unto the benefit we shall receive from God Is it unlawfull to have an eye to our owne advantage while we doe our duty Must we serve God for nought in that strict sense or els will â—od account nothing of all our services I shall cleare that in five briefe Conclusions and these will I suppose fully state the sense of this Text and of this speech The first is this There is no man doth or possibly can serve God for nought God hath by benefits already bestowed and by benefits promised out-vyed and out-bid all the endeavours and services of the creature If a man had a thousand paire of hands a thousand tongues and a thousand heads and should set them all on worke for God he were never able to answer the ingagements and obligations which God hath already put upon him Therfore this is a truth that no man can in a strict sense serve God for nought God is not beholden to any creature for any worke or service that is done unto him Againe secondly this is further to be considered The more outward blessings any one doth receive the more he ought to serve God and the more service God lookes for at his hands That is another Conclusion Therefore we find still that when God hath bestowed many outward blessings upon any either persons or Nations he chargeth an acknowledgement upon them Hos 2.8 She did not know that I gave her corne and wine and oyle and multiplyed her silver and gold which she bestowed upon Baal therefore I will come and recover it saith God You having received this you ought to have served me with it You see how God upbraideth David 2 Sam. 12.7 8. I annoynted thee King of Israel and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul and I gave thee thy Masters house and thy Masters wives into thy bosome and if this had beene too little I would moreover have given thee such and such things How is it then that thou hast despised the Commandement of the Lord to doe evill in his sight As if he should say the more I bestowed upon thee the more obligations thou shouldest feele thy selfe under to obey me faithfully In the third place it is lawfull to have some respect to benefits both received and promised by way of Motive and incouragement to stir us up and quicken us either in doing or in suffering for God Moses Heb. 11.26 had respect to the recompence of reward therefore it is not unlawfull and Christ himselfe Heb. 12.2 looking at the joy that was set before him These
upward that is they shall speake basely of their King and of their God in whom they have trusted and whom they have followed he speakes of those wretches that did seeke to false gods or worship the true God falsely they shall curse their King and their God It is the very same that here Satan promiseth himselfe and undertakes with God that Job will doe Doe but make him hungry saith he and hard bestead and he will fret himself and curse thee It was very ordinary among the Heathen to doe so when their gods did not please them then they would curse their gods The Poets bring them in often raging against their gods as he speakes of the mother that found her sonne dead she calls the gods and the starres cruell she flies in the face of heaven presently who would serve such gods as these are that thus slay my son c. Satan interprets Job to be a man of the same temper Aquinas takes the word properly Touch all that he hath and he will blesse thee to thy face And endeavours to make out the sense thus touch all that he hath and thou shalt see he hath blessed thee to thy face he reades it in the Preterperfect tense that is if thou afflict him thou shalt find that all his former Religion was nothing but meere out-side formality that he served thee only from the teeth outward served thee to thy face he blessed thee pray'd unto thee and honour'd thee only to thy face He had no regard to thy worship in his heart he did not worship thee ex animo because he loved thee or delighted in thee but gave thee an outward complemental blessing because thou didst blesse him outwardly As the Apostle directs servants Eph. 6.6 Not with eye service as men pleasers Satan makes Job an eye-servant to God or as if like those of whom Christ complaineth Math. 15. in the words of the Prophet He had drawne nigh to God with his lipps while his heart was farre from him The heart of Job hath beene farre enough from thee he only blessed thee with his lips and to thy face Indeed this interpretation hath a faire face but touch it by a serious examination and it will be found without a heart The construction of Gramar is quite against it and for us to change the Text and make it to speake in the Preterperfect tense of a thing past whereas the words are in the future tense of an act to be done for the time to come is too much boldnesse with Scripture Therefore though that opinion hath a plausible sense in it yet I shall lay it by and take the ordinary translation that he indeed intended this that Job would breake forth into blasphemous revilings of God if God did but try him with an affliction And when he saith that Job would doe it to his face the meaning of it is that he would doe it openly he will curse thee openly he will curse thee boldly he will not goe behind the doore to tell tales of thee but he will speake of it before all the world that thou art a cruell God an unjust God and a hard master he will tell such tales of thee even to thy very face We have a like speech Gal. 2.11 When Peter was come to Antioch I withstood him to the face saith Paul that is openly I did not goe behind his backe to tell Peter his owne but I told him it to his face plainly openly before them all as it is explained vers 14. I said to Peter before them all that were then present Jerome because he would not have Peter receive such an open repoofe judging it would be a disparagement to Peter to be rebuked by Paul gives a quite contrary sense of those words of Paul I withstood him to his face that is saith he I did speake somewhat roughly to him before them but there was no such thing in my heart I did it but to his face very slightly least I should offend the Jewes whose Apostle Peter was and I did it to his face a little that I might satisfie the Gentiles who were scandalized by Peters walking otherwise in my heart I had no quarrell with Peter he and I agreed well enough As if Paul had made but a shadow fight ad faciendum populum to delude the people But we must not be thus wise I withstood him to his face is not opposed to withstanding him cordially but to a withstanding of him secretly or behind his backe So here he will curse thee to thy face that is he will curse thee as the Greeke Scholiast hath it openly and impudently himselfe indeed was afraid least his sonnes had cursed God in their hearts but for all his nicenesse and seeming feare of his childrens sinning in secret he will curse thee with impudence he will not only curse thee in his heart but the curse will breake out at his lipps Out of the abundance of his heart his mouth will speake blasphemie against God He will curse thee to thy face We may give some exemplifications what it is to curse God to blaspheme God thus to his face You may reade what it is Mal. 3.14 Your words have beene stout against me saith the Lord you have spoken to my very face why what had they spoken to the Lord What have we spoken say they so much against thee Ye have said It is vaine to serve God and what profit is it that we have kept his Ordinance and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts c. This is to curse God to his face when the wayes of God are blasphemed and the worship of God reported as unprofitable when men say it is in vaine to serve God when they cast aspersions and bring up an evill name upon any holy duty this is to blaspheme God They did only speake against the service of God and they thought they had not blasphemed God in it Wherein have we spoken against thee yes saith God you have spoken against me in that you have spoken against and discredited my wayes So if Job had said the wayes of God are unprofitable and I see now it is in vaine to serve God and to feare him this had beene blasphemy and cursing of God to his face David was neare upon the very brinke of this blasphemie Psal 73.13 when he said I have cleansed my heart in vaine and washed my hands in innocency because saith he I am plagued every morning the judgements and afflictions that were upon him began to make him breake out thus But he presently be fooles himselfe for such speeches and by that repaires God in his honour Secondly To quarrell and be angry with the Providence of God as if he were not wise or just or good in his dispensations either to particular persons or to the Church This I say likewise is a cursing a reproaching of God Thirdly To curse the servants and people of God is to
from Heaven to consume them That is conceived by Expositors to be an especiall reason why the sheepe were consumed namely to cast Iob upon this apprehension that his very Sacrifices were rejected of God that he might conclude of himselfe as Solomon saith of the wicked that his Sacrifices were an abomination to the Lord and to shew that God would now have no more of his Sacrifices God himselfe made one Sacrifice of them all But Origen brings in Job excellently retorting this suggestion upon Satan I sacrificed now one and then another of my Sheepe to God but now blessed be God who hath accepted all my flocke as one Burnt-offering Againe The Sheepe were consumed by fire as to make Job conceive that his former services were rejected so to take him off and discourage him from offering any more such services to make him despaire of ever thriving in the way of those duties and conclude surely God is so angry now that all my services all my sacrifices will never appease him nor profit me therefore I were as good lay by these duties as performe them when I get no good This is a dangerous temptation if Satan by such prejudices against holy duties can cause us to lay them by the day is wonne for then the soule is left naked and unarm'd We have not then so much as a bulrush in our hands to smite him or a paper breast-plate to secure our selves If we give over praying and seeking we have no ground to expect Christ either assisting or protecting us That for the second affliction While he was yet speaking there came also another and said the Caldeans made out three Bands and fell upon the Camels and have carried them away c. This is the third affliction the taking away of the Camels the destroying of the servants that waited upon them There is not much to stay upon in this having before opened most of the passages of it in the 15th verse While he was yet speaking there came also another and said the Caldeans made out three Bands Caldeans sometime note a condition or a ranke of men such as were Diviners Soothsayers and Astrologers these are in Scripture called Caldeans As the Indians called such skilfull persons Gymnosophistes and the Persians called them their Magi and the Romans called them Augures so the Assyrians called them Caldeans When Nebuchadnezzar dreamed a dreame it is said that he sent for the Diviners and the Astrologers and the Caldeans and afterward the Caldeans take up all he said to the Caldeans and the Caldeans said to the King The Caldeans were put for all those that undertooke the art of divining and interpreting dreames But here by the Caldeans are to be understood not a condition of men but a Nation of men or the people inhabiting Chaldea frequently spoken of by the Prophets and described to the life by the Prophet Habakkuk chap. 1. where the Lord threatned to send the Caldeans against his people and then describes them That hastie and bitter Nation their Horses are swifter then the Leopard and more ravening then the evening Wolves Such a kind of people they were who were stirred up by Satan to take away the Camels of Job These are said to make out three Bands to spoile They were a people like the Sabeans delighting in warre and robbery so much the Etymologie of their Name Chasdim which is the word in the Originall implieth being derived from Sadad which signifieth to robbe and spoile These were a wicked generation yet these prevaile over the estate of Job victory doth not alwayes attend a just cause The way of the wicked often prospers and the way of these wicked Caldeans prospered so often that the Prophet Habakkuk complaines to God as one scandaliz'd at it Thou art of purer eyes then to behold evill and canst not looke on iniquity wherefore lookest thou upon them that deale treacherously and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous then he If ever wee should be brought upon a like case to argue it thus with God or as Jeremie did chap. 12.1 to plead with God about his judgements let us remember to establish our hearts before we open our mouthes with the Prophet Jeremies conclusion in that place Righteous art thou O Lord though the wicked devoure the man that is more righteous then he It is very rare that God makes one good man his rod to scourge another he usually makes the worst of men his rod his staffe his Sword to inflict either tryalls or judgements upon his people The durty Scullion scowres the silver vessell and makes it both cleane and bright for his masters use Verse 18. While he was yet speaking there came also another and said thy Sonnes and thy Daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest Brothers house Verse 19. And behold there came a great wind from the wildernesse and smote the foure corners of the house and it fell upon the young men and they are dead and I only am escaped alone to tell thee THis was as the fourth and last so the greatest of all Satans assaults the most fierce and terrible charge that Job had all the day and Satan reserves this untill the evening till Job was spent and spiritlesse as he hoped I shall note this in generall from it That Satan usually keepes his greatest strength and most violent temptations unto the last When he thinkes we are at the weakest then he commeth with his strongest assaults If Satan had sent Job word of the death of his children first all the rest would have beene as nothing to him he would not have regarded the losse of his Cattell when he heard that all his children were crushed to death by the fall of the house As some one great evill falling upon us takes the heart off from having any sense or joy in a lesser good so one great evill swallowes up the sense and feeling of a lesser evill that great evill which fell upon the Wife of Phineas when she heard that the Arke of God was taken afflicted her so extreamely that she could not at all rejoyce in the birth of her sonne she had no sence of that Here was therefore the cunning of Satan lest Job should have lost the smart of the lesser afflictions least they should have beene all swallowed up in the greater he brings them out in order the least first the greatest is reserved for the last We observe in warre that when once the great Ordnance are discharged the Souldiers are not afraid of the Musket so when a great batterie is made by some thundering terrible judgement upon the soule or upon the body or estate of any man the noyse and feares of lesser evills are drown'd and abated Therefore Satan keepes his greatest shot to the last that the small might be heard and felt and that the last comming in greater strength might find the least strength to resist it
that prayer For sitting we have 2 Sam. 2.18 When Nathan brought that message unto David concerning the building of the house of God that it should be deferred till his sonnes time the Text saith That David went in and sate before the Lord and said who am I O Lord And in the end he saith Therefore have I found in my heart to pray this prayer unto thee We also find walking in prayer Gen. 24.63 Isaac went out into the field to pray He walked and pray'd we translate it to meditate but in the margin of your bookes you find it to pray as being nearer the Hebrew So that walking and sitting and standing are likewise praying gestures or postures of holy worship But chiefly that posture of bowing downe the body or bending the knee is the worship posture so it followes in the Text. He fell upon the ground and worshipped And worshipped To vvorship is to give to any one the honour due unto him So the rendering unto God that love that feare that service that honour vvhich is due unto him is the worshipping of God that 's the Scripture definition Psal 29.2 Give unto the Lord the honour due unto his name then followes by vvay of exposition Worship the Lord in the beauty of holinesse that is in his holy Temple in his beautifull Sanctuary or in the comely honour of his Sanctuary So that worship is the tendering of honour to the Lord in a vvay honourable to him namely according to his own vvill and Lawes of vvorship vvhich is intimated by comming to worship him in his beautifull Sanctuary where all things about the service of God vvere exactly prescribed by God And then there was beauty or comely honour in the Sanctuary vvhen all things vvere ordered there by the rule of his prescription varying and departing from vvhich vvould have filled that holy place vvith darknesse and deformity notwithstanding all the outward lustre and beauty had bin preserved The worship of God is two-fold there is internall worship and there is externall worship Internall worship is to love God to feare God and to trust upon him these are acts of inward worship these are the summe of our duty and Gods honour contained in the first Commandement And so you may understand vvorship in the Text. Iob fell downe and worshipped that is presently upon those reports hee put forth an act of love and holy feare acts of dependance and holy trust upon God in his Spirit saying to this effect within himselfe Lord though all this be come upon me yet I will not depart from thee or deale falsly in thy Covenant I know thou art still the same Jehovah true holy gracious faithfull All-sufficient and therefore behold me prostrate before thee and resolving still to love thee still to feare thee still to trust thee thou art my God still and my portion for ever Though I had nothing left in the world that I could call mine yet thou Lord alone art enough yet thou alone art All. Such doubtlesse vvas the language of Iobs heart and these were mighty actings of inward worship Then likewise there is externall worship which is the summe of the second Commandement and it is nothing else but the serving of the Lord according to his owne Ordinances and institution in those severall wayes wherein God will be honoured and served this is outward vvorship and as we apply our selves unto them so we are reckon'd to worship God Job worshipped God outwardly by falling to the ground by powring out supplications and by speaking good words of God as we reade afterward words tending to his owne abasement and the honour of God clearely and fully acquitting and justifying the Lord in all those works of his providence and dispensations towards him This is worship both internall and externall Internall worship is the chiefe but God requireth both and there is a necessity of joyning both together that God may have honour in the world Internall worship is compleat in it selfe and pleasing unto God without the externall The externall may be compleat in it selfe but is never pleasing to God without the internall Internall worship pleases God most but externall honours God most for by this God is knowne and his glory held forth in the world Externall worship is Gods name Hence the Temple was called the place where God put his Name sc his worship by which God is knowne as a man by his name They that worship God must worship him in Sprit and in Truth In Spirit that is with inward love and feare reverence and sincerity In Truth that is according to the true rule prescribed in his word Spirit respects the inward power Truth the outward forme The former strikes at hypocrisie the latter strikes at Idolatry The one opposes the inventions of our heads the other the loosenesse of our hearts in worship Observe further that it is only said Job fell downe and worshipped nothing is said of the object to whom he did direct his worship or whom he did worship The object is not exprest but understood or presupposed And indeed worship is a thing so proper and peculiar to God that when we name worship we must needs understand God For nothing but God or that which we make a god is or can be worshipped Either he is God whom we worship or as much as in us lies we make him one What creature so ever shares in this honour this honour ipso facto sets it up above and makes it more then a creature The very Heathens thought every thing below a God below worship therefore there needed not an expression of the object when the Text saith Job worshipped that implyes his worship was directed unto God yet there is a kind of worship which is due to creatures There is a civill worship mentioned in Scripture as well as divine worship Civill worship may be given to men And there is a two-fold civill worship spoken of in Scripture There is a civill worship of duty and there is a civill worship of courtesie That of duty is from inferiours to their superiours from children to their Parents from servants to their Masters from Subjects to Kings and Magistrates These gods must have civill worship As Gen. 48.11 vvhen Joseph came into the presence of Jacob his father he bowed downe to the ground this vvas a civill vvorship and a vvorship of duty from an inferiour to a superiour And it is said of the brethren of Judah Gen. 49.8 when Jacob on his death-bed blessed the 12. Tribes Thy brethren shall worship thee or bow downe to thee It is the same vvord used here in this Text. Judahs honour vvas to vvield the Scepter the government was laid upon his shoulders now he being the chiefe Magistrate all the rest of the Tribes all his brethren must vvorship him or give civill honour unto him Secondly There is likewise a worship of courtesie vvhich is from equals when one equall vvill bow to another or vvhen a
he had many weakenesses upon him yet he preached the Gospell And then it followes in the next verse My temptation which was in my flesh you despised not observe he calleth his bodily infirmity a temptation The afflictions of the body are great temptations to the soule It is very considerable to this purpose what the Apostle James saith when he speaks of the severall conditions of the Saints and their duties in them Chap. 5. v. 13 14. Is any man afflicted let him pray he speakes that in generall Is any man merry let him sing Psalmes Is any man sick Is he pained by sicknesse in his body What shall he doe then He doth not say Is any man sick let him pray but Is any man sick let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him As if he should say A sick man is very unfit to pray himselfe though for himselfe he hath need to call others to pray with him and for him he hath enough to doe to wrastle with his pain and conflict with that affliction In other afflictions let him pray but if he be sick let him send for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him A diseased body unfits the mind for holy duties The prayer of sick Hezekiah is called chattering like a Crane or Swallow so did I chatter Isa 38. it was rather chattering then praying such a disquietnesse and uncomposednesse was upon his spirit thorough or by the infirmity of his flesh Paine is a piercing shaft in Satans quiver of temptations Though the spirit of a man will sustaine his infirmity yet oftentimes a wound in the body wounds the soule and the diseases of the flesh make the spirit sick A wounded spirit no man can beare and a wound in the body is a burden too heavy for many men And if it be so Then the pain and the weaknesse of the body is no advantage to repentance and returning unto God How pittifully are they mistaken who put off repentance till their bodies be in paine till they are sick and weake they doe it upon this ground because when they are in paine they thinke they shall repent with more ease Observe if Satan thinks to have such an advantage upon a holy man as to make him blaspheme when he is in paine doest thou thinke paine will be an advantage to thy repentance It is said that at the powring out of the fourth Viall Rev. 16.9 when God did smite the inhabitants of the earth and scorched them with great heat that they blasphemed the Name of God they did that which Satan presumed Job would doe and they repented not to give him glory It is a woefull thing to put off repentance to a pained body paine in its own nature fits us rather to blaspheme and turne from God then to returne to him Never thinke to have helpe for the cure of your soules by the diseases of your bodies usually we find that either sick persons repent not or theirs is but a sickly repentance At the most paine can but restraine your lusts it can never heale them The actings of some sins are quickned by diseases At the most a disease can but abate the acts of sin it can never destroy the life of it Death it selfe cannot kill sin The sins of wicked men live when they are dead the grave cannot consume them no nor the fire of Hell wast their strength the sins of unbeleevers shall remaine not only in their guilt but in their power to all eternity So much of Satans motion But put forth thy hand now and touch his bone and his flesh and he will curse thee to thy face Verse 6. And the Lord said unto Satan Behold he is in thy hand but save his life Here we have the Lords grant unto that motion of Satan He is in thy hand but save his life Thou mayest doe with his bone and his flesh what thou wilt He is in thine hand We have opened what it is to have a thing put into the hand in the former Chapter where the same expression is used therefore I shall passe those words here Note only this that the Lord saith here He is in thy hand to prevent Satans cavill as if he had said Thou movest me to touch his bone and his flesh well lest thou shouldest say that I have dealt too gently with him and have smitten him with favour I will put the rod or staffe into thine hand doe thou with 〈◊〉 bone and his flesh what thou canst spare him not We know the Lord is able to strike stronger stroakes and give deeper wounds infinitely then Satan can if he pleaseth yet the love of God to his children stops his hand and breakes the blow He corrects in judgement and debates in measure Isa 27.8 when he strikes his children he strikes them as children gently Thus 2 Sam. 7.14 speaking of Davids family If he commit iniquity saith God I will chasten him with the rod of men the word there used is Enosh which signifies a weake man I will chasten him with the rod of a weake man of one that hath but a weake arme or hand the hand of a sickly fraile man A weake a sickly man cannot strike very hard Thus saith God I will chasten thy children if they commit iniquity they shall rather see my care then feele my power in their corrections Now I say lest Satan should pretend partiality God puts Job into Satans hand and gives him liberty to lay on as hard as his hand acted with utmost malice could smite him thou hast liberty to smite him into the very valley of the shadow of death to bring him so neere death that he may looke into the graves mouth but no further Save his life Here is Satans chaine the limitation or restraint of his power When God puts any of his servants into Satans hand he keepes Satan in his owne hand And as all the Elect are in Gods hand to keepe them from taking hurt so the Devill is in Gods hand to keep him from doing hurt to his Elect. Save his life The word Nephesh here used signifieth properly the soule and the soule is in Scripture often put for the life because the soule is the spring the fountaine of life life is derived or diffused into the body from or by the soule and as soone as the soule is parted from the body life departs Hence both this Hebrew word and the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 have their names from breathing or respiring For life goes out when breath goes out when we cease breathing we cease living Our life is but a blast a breath the Lord formed man out of the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrills the breath of life and he became a living soule Gen. 2.7 This is that vitall spirit by which all quick things move therefore Beasts Birds Fish and creeping things are called living soules Gen. 1.20 24. And
upon the rock unshaken unmoved He that is held up by everlasting armes shall stand fast for ever In all this Job sinned not The words referre to what was past For Job afterward did faile and sinned with his lips through vehemency of paine and heate of disputation he spake some things rashly though nothing blasphemously So he confesses Chap. 42.13 I have uttered things that I understood not But in all this so farre as Job had gone he had not sinned with his lips As Samuel after many victories and deliverances sets up a stone or a pillar with this inscription Eben-Ezer The stone of helpe saying Hitherto hath the Lord helped us 1 Sam. 7.12 So here the holy Ghost doth as it were erect a pillar raise a monument of Jobs compleate and glorious victories over Satan Thus engraven Hitherto In all this Job hath not sinned Yet you may remember that such speeches concerning the Saints are to be understood in a qualified sense not in an absolute sense For who can bring a cleane thing out of that which is uncleane Perfection out of imperfection Not to sin is here our duty and should be our endeavour it shall be our reward in Heaven On earth we are said not to sin when we desire not to sin as hath bin more at large shewed upon those words of the last verse of the former Chapter In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly There reade the point handled more distinctly For the opening of these words note only this that when it is said In all this Job sinned not There is more to be understood then is exprest for Job did not only not sin but he overcame and triumphed gloriously over Satan he did excellently and he spake excellently in all this So then these words carry the sense not only of a bare acqittall but of a high approbation In all this Job sinned not with his lips With his lips Some of the Jewes inferre from hence that he sinned in his heart because it is said he did not sin in words they conceit there was some irregularity in his thoughts Surely if his heart had been disorder'd his tongue would have been disorder'd too for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh therefore it is rather an argument that his heart was free from sin because his tongue was In all this Job sinned not with his lips That is he did not murmure or repine or blaspheme these are the sins of the lips Observe first Not to sinne is the highest and truest the most honourable and lasting victory of all This victory God himselfe applauds the holy Ghost will cry you up for strength and valour when you come off from a temptation untouch't you shall be recorded for it among Christs worthies In all this Job sinned not And secondly To governe the tongue under great and sore afflictions is a high act of grace It is spoken as matter of wonder In all this Job sinned not with his lips Moses you know was a meeke man yet he was so put to it that he spake unadvisedly with his lips He opened his lips so unadvisedly that God shut him out of the temporall Canaan for it rash words cost him deare David was a very holy man and very carefull over his tongue Psal 39.1 I said I will take heed to my wayes that I sinne not with my tongue I will keepe my mouth with a bridle And knowing though as the Apostle James teacheth us we put bits into the Horses mouthes that they may obey us we can turne about their whole body Jam. 3.3 that no bridle of his putting could keepe his mouth he puts this worke into the hand of God praying with all earnestnesse Set a watch O Lord before my mouth keepe the doore of my lips Notwithstanding all this we find him sinning with his lips more then once Psal 73.13 Verily I have cleansed my heart in vaine and washed my hands in innocency And againe Psal 116.11 I said in my hast all men are lyars Job had the preheminence in this he sinned not with his lips no not when he was afflicted and smitten with bitter words He that offendeth not in words saith the Apostle James is a perfect man he is a perfect man indeed who can rule his tongue and so keepe the doore of his lips as that he offends not either by silence or by speech The lips doe offend both wayes negatively as well as positively by speaking and by not speaking Sometimes silence is a loud sinne not speaking is to some on some occasions a crying sin Job sinned not with his lips either by being silent when he should speake or by speaking wherein and when he should be silent And so much concerning this second consequent of Jobs affliction His wives sinfull counsell with his prudent and gracious answer sharpely yet moderately rebuking strongly yet lovingly convincing her folly In and by both faithfully indeavouring at once to discover and cure her errour The third consequent of his affliction now followes namely the visit of his friends described in the three last verses of this Chapter which leads us into the body of the Booke with all the debates disputes and arguments held and maintained with much acutenesse of wit and strength of reasoning between him and these three his friends and visitants JOB 2.11 12 13. Now when Jobs three friends heard of all this evill that was come upon him they came every one from his owne place Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuite and Zophar the Naamathite for they had made an appointment together to come to mourne with him and to comfort him And when they lift up their eyes afarre off and knew him not they lifted up their voice and wept and they rent every one his mantle and sprinkled dust upon their heads towards Heaven So they sate downe with him upon the ground seven dayes and seven nights and none spake a word unto him for they saw that his griefe was very great THese three verses containe the third generall consequent of Jobs second affliction In the division of the Chapter we called it his friends visit In which visit we may here observe First The number of the visitants They were three Now when Jobs three friends Secondly We have here the names of these visitants Eliphas the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite Thirdly We have the occasion of their visit And that was the report of all the evill that was come upon Job Now when Jobs three friends heard of all this evill that was come upon him then they came Fourthly We have the ground of this visit It was a mutuall agreement or a compact made betweene them so saith the text For they had made an appointment together to come Fifthly We have the end or the intendment of their coming what they aimed at in visiting Job And the end is exprest in the Text to be two-fold 1. To communicate with him in his
PAine of the body very powerfull to disquiet the mind p. 248. Parable what it is p. 326. Parables grounded on known customes p. 398. Passion It is lawfull to shew passion in the cause of God when his glory is concerned p. 288. We may expresse our passion by reproofes ib. Patience A man may be patient and yet complaine under his afflictions p. 339. Five things in afflictions to cleare this p. 340. Perfection or to be perfect what p. 24. The kinds of it ib. In what sense the Saints are perfect in this life p. 25 26. Perish What it is to perish p. 335. How a day may be said to perish ib. p. 336. Perseverance that which a man doth out of conscience he will doe with perseverance p. 76. Possession of good things without the enjoyment of them is a great evill and trouble p. 444. Poverty is Gods gift as well as riches p. 292. Power Neither men nor Devils have any power to hurt till God give commission p. 138. Prayer how it may be said to move God p. 231. We must pleade with God in prayer p. 232. Prayer Satan would discourage us one of prayer and holy duties p. 276. Praise They who doe well shall be sure to have praise from God p. 219. Preparation Holy duties call for holy preparation p. 57. Prisoners of two sorts p. 430. Theirs iâ— a sad condition p. 431. To visit Prisoners a worke very pleasing to Christ p. 431. Sighing is the language of Prisoners p. 431. Punishment of losse worse then the punishment of sense p. 354. Q QUantity Naturall and civill p. 434. Questions What it imports when God askes a question p. 86 87. R REason We are apt to thinke there is no reason for that for which we see no reason p. 443. Repentance Renewed sins must have renewed repentance p. 76. Repentance not to be put off to a pained body p. 249. Reproofe lawfull 288. How to be qualified with meeknesse ib. c. Reproofe prevailes most when backe with reason p. 292. Resurrection a birth p. 200. Rest of confidence and rest of contentation p. 474. Riches Three reasons why the Holy Ghost is so exact in describing Jobs riches p. 41 42. To be rich and holy argues much riches of holinesse p. 42. Riches are the blessing of God p. 43. Honest dealing no stop to the getting or keeping of riches p. 44. Riches and all outward comforts may be lost in a day when we least suspect p. 150. All our care cannot secure them p. 151. Roaring under affliction notes extreame affliction p. 464 c. S SAcrifices foure sorts of them under the Law p. 61. Why the whole burnt-offering is called an ascention three reasons of it p. 61 62. The Father of the Family was as Priest before Moses p. 62. The law of sacrificing given though not written from the beginning p. 63. Wherein the benefit of a sacrifice did consist and what made it effectuall to man p. 63 64. Sanctification How one man may be said to sanctifie another p. 53. To sanctifie notes two things ibid. He that is holy desires to make others holy p. 56. Satan what the word imports p. 81 82. How Satan comes into the presence of God p. 82. He that opposes good is the Devils picture p. 84. Satan is in a two-fold chaine though he walke all the world over p. 89. His going to and fro what it imports p. 91 92. Satan No place free from his temptations p. 92. Very active to doe mischiefe p. 92 93. Satan boundlesse in malice p. 140. Satan is speedy in executing where he hath power to hurt p. 143. How the will of God and Satan may meet about the same thing p. 138. He cannot compel p. 153. Wicked men doe his will while they are doing their own p. 155. He loves to worke by instruments p. 156 Satan labours to worke in us hard thoughts of God p. 163. Satan very powerfull page 175. Meere malice moves Satan against the people of God page 235. When one meanes will not prevaile he tries another p. 247. And more prevalent or strong ibid. He makes use of such instruments to teâ—pt by as are most effectuall p. 273. Scriptures the excellency of them in themselves p. 3. and above all other writings p. 4. Scripture in all parts of equall power and authority p. 4. Scripture many wayes difference'd p. 4. Sepulchers See Graves Seasons and opportunities Satan is very watchfull to take the fittest time in doing mischiefe p. 147. We should be as wise to doe good p. 143. Servants of God God hath servants in the worst places p. 24. It is an honour to serve God faithfully among the wicked ibid. What it is to be Gods servant Godly men are his servants three wayes p. 96 97. Servants of God surrounded with enemies therefore surrounded vvith protections p. 115. God is the guard of his servant 〈…〉 And of the meanest thing 〈…〉 them ibid. Servants of two sorts p. â—â—7 Sinne brought in servility p. 438. No servant at his own dispose ibid. Shadow of death what p. 355. Shiloh why Christ was so called p. 472. Shaving the head what it imports p 183. Sincerity commends us unto God p. 30. Sincere persons are in Gods esteeme perfect persons p. 31. Where there is sincerity toward God there will be honesty toward men p. 31. It is most opposed by Satan p 227. A godly man will hold that whatsoever he looses ibid. It is our armour p. 228. Sinners in three degrees p. 425. Sinne Not safe to let sin lye a moment upon the soule p. 60 61. In what sense a man may be said not to sin p. 66. Three degrees of sinning p. 67. We may quickly sinne while we are about lawfull things p 69. Sinne spoiles us of all both honour and comfort p. 84. In what sense we may be said not to sinne in this life p. 215 c. Silence is best in great sorrowes for then a man is unfit either for counsell or comfort p. 320. Solitarinesse is a sad condition p. 363. What solitarinesse good p. 368. Sonnes of God who p. 223. In what sense son-ship is said to be brought in when Christ was borne ibid. Sorrow is good only as it tends to joy p. 310 311. Great sorrowes hinder speech p. 324. Man sees sorrow as soone as he is borne p. 392. Soveraignty of God should silence all complaints p. 〈…〉 God can doe us no wrong p â— Soule Tâ—â—â—etiousnesse of it p. 243. Starres a three fold benefit to the night p. 383. Suspition It is no breach of charity to suspect ill of others while it leades us to doe them good p. 68. A suspition that we or others have sinned is ground enough to seeke for pardon ibid 69. Sword A terrible judgement p. 157. How worse then Famine p. 158. T TEmptation Foure steps of Satans worke in temptation p. 153. Satans suits temptations to mans temper and condition p. 158. The most violent temptations are reserved to the
present himselfe before the Lord. I propose this as an opinion to which my owne inclination is not strong These words with the context as was noted in the former Chapter seeming to me rather a representation of Gods providence towards man then a description of mans worship tendered unto God Againe there was a day It may be yet further enquired how much time passed betweene the first and this second day of appearance Some affirme it was the immediate day after others the immediate Sabbath after A third opinion deferrs it to the yeare after Satan cunningly delaying the businesse all that while to the intent he might more fully see how the former affliction wrought what effects it had or would have upon Job before he attempts a second The text resolveth us in neither of these but leaveth it indifferent and undetermined saying onely Againe there was a day It is most probable that there was such a distance of time betweene these two afflictions as was competent to a full discovery of Jobs spirit under the first As when Christ was tempted and had foyled Satan in that temptation it is said the Devill departed from him for a season he left him probably to see what effects might follow upon the former temptation So Satan having tempted Job and tempted him by a temptation though one in the generall yet with a foure-fold assault foure severall messengers making as it were foure charges upon him he leaveth him for a season and againe when there was a day he returnes to renew the assault and battery I shall passe-over the two verses following in all that they containe opened in the former Chapter But in the latter end of the third verse there is somewhat added very materiall where the Lord bespeakes Satan concerning Job Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the Earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evill This was the Character which God gave of him before in the former Chapter but now he goeth on And still he holdeth fast his integrity although thou movedst me against him to destroy him without cause This is superadded to his testimony his commendation is enlarged Job you see hath gained in this conflict he was described before as an holy man now he is described as a tryed man as an approved souldier Job hath obtained this honour in the former combate with Satan a glorious addition to his character As the patience and other graces of Job did increase so did the testimony of God increase concerning him Note from this addition only in the generall thus much That such as honour God God will honour If we doe any new or further service for God God will adde some further honour and respect unto us If we do or say or suffer any thing extraordinary for God God will say or doe somewhat more than ordinary concerning us The old character did not serve when Job had done this new service God will never conceale any of our graces no nor the improvement of any of our graces If we speake but a word for God we shall heare of it againe God takes it and pens it downe as it is said Malac. 3.16 They that feared the Lord spake often one to another and the Lord hearkened and heard and a booke of remembrance was written God sets it downe presently So he recorded what Job had spoken and gives it him in at the next meeting with Satan We can never loose either by doing or suffering for God All shall be recompenced to the utmost farthing As it is usuall with Kings and great-men of the world for great services done them especially in warres and battels to make additions to the titles of honour to give some new motto's or put some new devices in the Coate-armour of those who serve them Thus doth God here Job having play'd the man as we say or rather the Saint in that former combate he hath a new title of honour put into his stile Now it is not only Job a man that feareth God and escheweth evill but Job a man that holdeth fast his integritie Consider the words themselves And still he holdeth fast his integrity The words And still or to this present time may have a double reference First barely to the time past Job was not only a perfect and a sound man in former times but hee is so still so at present Or rather secondly it referres to the affliction and losses hee had suffered as hee was in former times so hee is at this time as he was in prosperous times so hee is in troublesome times When the day was light and cleare to him Job was a perfect man and now the day hath nothing but darknesse and gloominesse in it Job is a perfect man still though wounded in his estate and broken in his outward comforts yet he is as sound and whole in his spirit as ever he was Though cattell servants children be dead and gone be spoyl'd and lost yet grace is safe and faith tryumphs hee still holdeth fast his integrity Holdeth fast This which we translate by two words is but one word in the Hebrew Our language is not comprehensive enough to expresse the fullnesse of that word in a word Iob doth not only hold his integrity but he holdeth it fast the word implyes a strength in holding to hold a thing firmely And more the word hath a further Emphasis in it it signifieth not only to hold a thing by that degree of strength wherewith formerly we did hold it but it doth import thus much to waxe stronger in the holding of it to prevaile or increase in strength As when David sent Ioab to number the people Ioab was unwilling and said to the King Now the Lord thy God adde unto the people an hundred-fold but why doth my Lord the King delight in this thing Then it followes Notwithstanding the Kings word prevailed against Joab That which is there translated And his word prevailed is the same with this we translate here Holdeth fast the Kings word did take a prevailing hold upon Ioab or held him fast to the doing of the Kings command though he would have got oft from the businesse So we may understand it here still he prevaileth or waxeth stronger in his integrity The same word is used by the Prophet Malachi cap. 3.13 14. where God convinceth those proud spirits that puffed at his service Your words saith he have been stout against me That which we translate have been stout is the same with this in the text of Iob your words have beene stout that is they have growne stronger and stronger against me and my waies you are confirm'd in wickednesse whereas your hearts should have beene brought downe and humbled you are increast and hardned in your obstinacy and rebellion Such is the strength and meaning of the word in this place Iob by this opposition growes more strong and stout in his