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
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
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
no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the Earth Isa 62. ver 6 7. This duty is now doubled on us by the great afflictions and greater feares of Sion When Christ was in his agony he prayed more earnestly Luk. 22.44 And when his Church is in an agony we ought to pray more earnestly At such a time we must mingle more fire with our prayers we must pray more fervently At such a time we must mingle more water with our prayers wee must pray more repentingly We must with Jacob Hos 12. weepe and make supplication At such a time we must mingle more faith with our prayers we must pray more beleevingly In a word at such a time every prayer must be a pleading yea a wrestling with God a wrestling with resolution not to let him goe untill wee have got a blessing till wee prevaile with God to destroy his Churches enemies as Satan in the text moved God to destroy Job his servant and his friend So it followes Thou movedst me against him to destroy him To destroy him The word Destroy signifieth to swallow up or to devoure You have it Gen. 41.4 where it is said that the seven leane eares and seven leane kine did devoure or eat up the seven full eares and the seven fat kine And Exod. 7.12 the text saith That Moses his rod did swallow up the rods of the Magicians Psal 124.3 Vnles the Lord had been on our side they had swallowed us up quicke In all these places it is the same word we have here thou movedst me to destroy him In the former Chapter where Satan desired God to touch Job I shewed what kind of touches Satan desired to lay upon the people of God you see it now cleared by God himselfe Thou movedst me to destroy him to swallow him up Thy words were moderate and diminitive doe but touch him but thy intentions were bloody and destructive thou movedst me to destroy him to make an end of him that was thy meaning Without cause But will the Lord the wise God doe any thing without cause A wise a prudent man will not doe any thing without cause though Satan may be so brutish and unreasonable to move God to doe a thing for which there is no cause would the Lord be so perswaded by his motion to doe it without cause The text seemeth here to speake so thou movedst me to destroy him without cause and God hearkned to his motion before and gave him up all his estate to doe with it what he pleased Briefly to cleare this Without cause It is the same originall word used in the former Chapter Doth Job serve God for nought or without cause as was then opened so here Thou movedst me against him to destroy him without cause or thou movedst me against him for nothing or for nought We may consider this phrase of speech without cause three wayes First in reference unto Satan Secondly in reference unto God Thirdly in reference unto Job himselfe From each of these considerations light will shine into this point First in reference unto Satan God tells Satan thou movedst me against him without cause that is Job never gave thee any cause why thou shouldest make such a motion against him Job had never wronged thee or done thee any hurt as David saith of his enemies they are mine enemies without cause I was never injurious or unjust unto them So Satan was Jobs enemy without cause Job never gave him occasion Indeed the holinesse and goodnesse of Job was Satans griefe and Satans trouble but for any other trouble or wrong Job never did him therâ—fore without cause it was in reference unto Satan 2. In reference unto Satan without cause that is Thou didst not alleadge any sufficient cause or charge him with any particular crime thou didst onely bring in a generall suspition against him there was not so much as a common fame as you know it was a course to accuse men upon common fame So saith God here it was nothing but a suspition raised out of thine owne braine as indeed those common fames that we heard of not long since upon which many were accused yea condemn'd were only suspitions borne in the brains of those men So here Job was charged meerly upon the suspition of Satan there was no crime directly alleadged nor any evill report in the world against him cause was not shew'd legally therefore without cause thou movedst me against him 3. In reference unto Satan without cause that is it now appeareth upon the tryall that thou didst move me against him without cause that which thou didst pretend to be the cause was not found in Job thou pretendest he was an hypocrite and served me for himselfe now thou seâ—st thy selfe confuted it appeareth he did serve me for nought sincerely and not for his owne endâ— He is no painted sepulcher no rotten self-seeker If we consider the words in the second place with reference unto God Thou didst move me against him without cause then we must take heed of thinking that God doth any thing without cause No the wise God doth every thing in number weight and measure he doth every thing upon great reason upon the highest reason God will not doe the lowest thing but upon the height of reason he doth the least thing upon greater reason than the greatest Polititians in the world doe the greatest Therefore God had reason important reason to give Job up to be afflicted He did it for the tryall of Job he did it for the magnifying of his free-grace and the graces of his free Spirit in his weake creature he did it that Job might be set up as an example of patience he did it to discover the slander of the devill therefore he did it for strong reasons it was not without cause in reference unto God himselfe Lastly If we consider it in reference unto Job it was not absolutely without cause neither for though there was not that cause in him which Satan pretended namely grosse hypocrisie yet if the Lord should search and sift him narrowly as if he should search and sift the holiest of his servants his pure eyes and holy nature would find sinne enough in them which might justifie him or shew to his justice sufficient cause take the sinne in it selfe not onely to afflict them temporally but to lay his hand upon them for ever Should God I say have tryed him thoroughly and looked upon sinne in it selfe he might finde cause to afflict him in regard of his sinne So then absolutely in reference unto Job it was not without cause God might have found cause in regard of his sinne But there were other causes in reference unto Job it was to try Iob to exercise Iob it was that Iob might have further honour after the tryall There might have been a reason in sinne if the Lord had marked iniquity And there were many reasons in referrence to his good why
They love cursing they cloath themselves with cursing as with a garment Psal 109.17 18. Cursing as one of the Ancients complained in his time is now made the common weapon of anger and wrath wishes that evill which because of weaknesse it cannot worke If cursing could have done it we had not been a people at this day How often hath Balack out of feare or envy at our prosperity sent to Balaam I meane the false prophet that dwels on the seven hils come curse Israel come defie England how often hath that Balaam curs'd our Israel We have heard of his Anniversary Anathemaes wherein this Church and state have been struck with the thunder and lightning of his Papal curse But the curse causelesse saith Solomon shall not come And we may say to England as Moses did to Israel concerning Balaams curse Deut. 23.5 Neverthelesse the Lord thy God would not hearken unto Balaam But the Lord thy God turned the curse into a blessing unto thee because the Lord thy God loved thee And what David prai'd about Shimei's curse we have seene come to passe The Lord hath requited us good for his cursing 2 Sam. 16.12 We have far greater cause to feare the blessing of Rome then the curse of Rome But to returne The result of all is this When God pronounceth a curse he makes it to be a curse man at the worst can but wish a curse and pronounce it Man is but the minister God is the Master of the curse God can inflict it man can but think or wish it Another thing here questionable is Whether it be lawfull to curse the creature Job curseth his day The rule of the Apostle is Rom. 12.4 Blesse and curse not In some cases to curse is Gods command and our duty and then we are Gods ministers for wrath against the wicked Many times man though forbidden curses then it is his sin and he is Satans minister for evill against his brother There are some cases wherein we may curse When the Patriark Jacob was upon his death bed and bed of blessing he yet pronounced a curse upon the rage and anger of his two sonnes Simeon and Levi Gen. 49.7 Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath for it was cruell I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel We may curse the plots and counsels of wicked men enemies of Christ and of his people we may curse the persons of wicked men as implacable enemies of Christ and of his people So David more then once in the Booke of Psalmes yet it is to be considered that some of those Psalmes are Prophecies of a curse not pronunciations of a curse And in all lawfull cursings we must observe these two rules First To aime the curse at the destruction of the sin not of the sinner Secondly Where the sinner appeares incorrigible yet to desire the clearing up of Gods Justice in punishing not the punishment it selfe To curse any thing or person passionately is infirmity To curse any thing or person maliciously is grosse impiety There is a third doubt the resolving of which will further cleare the Scripture to us that is Whether a day be an object capable of a curse or no It is a question moved by the Schoole-men whether a blessing and a curse doe belong to any but a reasonable creature or whether any thing else be a subject capable of a blessing or a curse And they resolve it that nothing is properly the subject of blessing and cursing but a reasonable creature Therefore a day which is a part of time is in it selfe incapable of a curse Those things only are capable of penall evils which are capable of morall evils A day is not cannot be morally evill though there be many morall evils acted in the day The Apostle adviseth us to redeeme the time because the dayes are evill Ephes 5.15 Times are called evill in regard both of troublesome evils and sinfull evils From evill men and evill manners dayes are denominated evill yet dayes in themselves are not evill morally and so not lyable to a curse which is a penall evill Further Those creatures which have life in them and have no reason in them are on the same ground incapable of a curse whereas it is said that God cursed the ground and cursed the serpent Gen. 3.14 17. neither the ground nor the serpent were cursed in themselves or for their own sakes The serpent an unreasonable creature had not the knowledge of God and the earth a senslesse creature could not feele the power of God therefore the curse upon those creatures was only in order to and as a punishment of the sin of man The Text is expresse Gen. 3.17 Cursed be the earth for thy sake The earth there comprehends all the creatures living on the face of the earth besides man These are cursed for mans sake As those creatures at the first received not a being or a blessing for themselves but for mans good so they receive not any evill or curse but for mans punishment So we are to understand those places in Deut. 28. Cursed be thy basket and thy store c. God threatens a curse on these creatures the fruits of the earth c. in order to mans disobedience But it shall come to passe if thou wilt not hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God to observe to doe all his Commandements c. that all these curses shall came upon thee and overtake thee ver 15. Observe That the curse is threatned to come on them to overtake them When the basket was curs'd when the increase of the kine and the flocks of the sheepe were cursed man was cursed For we may say in the letter as David did in a figure when the Angell of the Lord smote his people with the pestilence 2 Sam. 24. Alas what have these sheepe done that they should be smitten with a curse As in pulling downe the house of a Traitor the revenge is not taken against the materials of the house but against the Master of the house So then for the resolution of this point take it thus No creature below man is or can be accursed by God or man properly terminately or ultimately That is in it selfe or for it selfe or from it selfe but only improperly and relatively namely with respect to what man should doe hath done or suffered First in reference to what man should doe so Christ cursed the fig-tree to teach man either the duty of fruitfulnesse to the glory of God or of faith in the power of God Secondly in reference to what man hath done the sin of man thus God cursed the serpent and the ground The serpent was cursed both for admonition to man and for a punishment on man God to admonish man how much he hated sin punishes an irrationall instrument of sin and by that enmity planted in the serpent as a curse punishes mans too much familiarity with the serpent
Gender for another are frequently observed in Scripture by the learned in the Originalls Secondly The relative word is conjectured to be put in the Feminine gender because women were most usually called forth to that worke of mourning And it is further observeable that where the Scripture speakes of those actions of mourning or rejoycing or loving which are workes of affection it useth to ascribe them to women rather then to men because they are quicker in affection and faile of affection then men and so more ready to act or expresse such joyes or sorrowes then men are For the close of this point I shall adde the apprehension of a learned Expositor who taking the words in this last sense as referring to those solemne mournings yet conceive that the word Leviathan must stand here in the letter not as if Job had any intendment to speake of the fish Leviathan or to allude to fishing for Leviathan but either because Heathens in those execrations did invoke or provoke Leviathan that is the Devill Or because in those solemne songs of lamentation Leviathan was a word much used or Leviathan was the first word of some of those lamenting songs For in execrations strange uncouth dreadfull words were purposely used the more to affect and astonish the hearers Now there is no word more dreadfull then Leviathan whether we take it for that sea-monster the Whale or for that Hell-monster the Devill And so the meaning is this Let them curse it who curse the day who are ready to raise up Leviathan that is Let those mourners who sing that most passionate song of mourning which begins with or is entitled Leviathan It is ordinary among us to call for a song or to call a song by the generall subject matter of it or by the first word of it And so many bookes of Scripture have their names in the Hebrew from the first word as the booke of Genesis is called Beresith or In the beginning And Exodus Veele semoth that is And these are the names because both begin with those words in the Hebrew So the song which was the forme of those Lamentations might be called Leviathan because saith this Authour it began with that word and he alledgeth a proverbiall tradition for it out of Mariana which he had received from a Jew that it was forbidden upon the Feast-day to raise up Leviathan That is they might not take up that execratory song which beginneth with Leviathan I only present this opinion because it suites with and illustrates the former notion of solemne mourning Thus I have with as much speed and clearnesse as I could given you the meaning of these words That which favours their sense most who keepe to the word Leviathan is that this booke speakes afterward of Leviathan to shew the power of the creator in that powerfull creature And I find the very same phrase of raysing or stirring up Leviathan used in that place chap. 41. ver 10. None is so fierce that dare stirre or raise him up The Hebrew word which there we translate stirre in this third chapter is translated raise Leviathan Yet I rather encline to the latter exposition respecting mourning both because it hath the authority of our English Bible to countenance it our Translators putting mourning in the Text and Leviathan in the margin As also because it carries a clearer correspondence and agreement both with Antecedents and consequents both with the matter and with the frame of Jobs complaint and curse in this chapter Taking the words in this sense that Job calls to have his night cursed in such a solemne manner as those hired mourners used to lament and bewaile the dayes of humane calamities we may observe First That hope of profit will turne some spirits into any posture Lamenting and mourning is an unpleasant worke but profit and reward sweetens and makes it pleasant Some men will be in any action so they may get by it they will mourne for hire and curse for hire So did Balaam Balaam was sent for to curse the people of God Numb 22. He made many delayes and seemingly conscientious scruples yet at last he goâ—s about the worke as black and bad as it was But what overcame him and answered all his doubts about the undertaking of such a worke The Text in Peter resolves us he loved the wages of unrighteousnesse He that loves wages will quickly love any work which brings in wages Upon the stage you might have any passion for your money Joy and sorrow love and hatred all acted and personated beyond the personall temper or occasions of the men meerely for reward And which is the highest argument of a mercenary spirit some act holinesse for hire and are godly for outward gaine Secondly In that Job calls others to mourne over and condole that night Observe That some troubles exceed our own sorrowes And we may want the eyes and tongues of others to expresse them by My heart saith Job is not large enough and I have not art enough to act much lesse to aggravate my own afflictions let them doe it whose profession and practise it is to curse the day Sometimes the mercies which we receive and the joy that the soule conceives is more then we can expresse or be thankfull enough for and then we send to others both private Christians and whole Congregations desiring them to help us to lend us their hearts and their tongues their affections and their voices in that Angelicall worke the praises of our God Let them blesse God who blesse the day who are vers'd in dayes and duties of thanks-giving who are ready to raise up their rejoycings David saith Come and heare all ye that feare God and I will declare what he hath done for my soule Psal 66.16 He had not told them what God had done for his soule but to gaine the help of their soules in praising God for what he had done Sometime also a Christian is so engaged in prayer for the obtaining of a mercy and finds his heart so much below his suite that he calls out to all those who have any holy skill in praying pray for me pray with me the businesse is too bigge for me alone How earnestly doth Paul begge prayers Now I beseech you bretheren for the Lord Jesus Christs sake and for the love of the Spirit that ye strive together with me in prayers to God for me that I may be delivered c. Rom. 15.30 As it is thus in praying and rejoycing so it may be in mourning and in sorrowing And troubles are very deepe when they exceed our own sorrowes as mercies are very great when they are beyond our own praises Wee in this Nation have cause to feare such troubles even such as may cause us to invite the hearts and spirits the bowels and compassions of all the Christians in the world to come and lament over us we may be forced to send not only for the Husbandman
wrestle for it or the Crowne they must strive for it We must dig for heavenly hidden treasure before we have it And yet both the treasure and the strength to dig for it are freely given Fourthly observe That Those things which we esteeme most we labour to secure most It is said that they digg'd for treasures and that the treasures were hid I told you in opening the words there is a naturall hiding of treasure and an industrious hiding Take it in the last sense men that have treasures will labour to preserve them why because treasures are much esteemed and the things we esteeme most we preserve most In the Hebrew the word that signifies treasure signifies the hiding of treasure or hidden treasure Among all treasures spirituall treasures are most hidden they are so hidden that they are called mysteries or secrets The knowledge of Christ was a hidden treasure for some thousands of yeares the Apostle in his time calls it the mysterie which was kept secret since the world began Rom. 16.25 Againe he calls it the wisedome of God in a mystery even the hidden wisedome which God ordained before the world unto our glory which none of the Princes of this world knew 1 Cor. 2.8 9. And as spirituall knowledge so our spirituall life is called a hidden life your life is hidden with God in Christ Col. 3.3 And as our life so our spirituall comforts are hidden therefore called Hidden Manna Rev. 2.17 All our spirituall estate is treasure and it is all hidden treasure so hidden that the Saints dig deepe to find it and when they have found it they hide it as Christ shewes us Mat. 13.44 speaking of the Kingdome of God which he compares to a treasure hid in the field the which when a man hath found he hideth He hideth it not to obscure it from the light but to secure it from danger Mary hid those pretious sayings of Christ her Son and her Saviour in her heart Luk. 2.51 And David having found the Commandements of God which he prized above any treasure above thousands of gold and silver he hid them in his heart Thy word saith he have I hid in my heart that I might not sinne against thee Psalm 119.11 Verse 22. Which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave Having said that they long for death and dig for it as for hidden treasure Now supposing that they find death he shewes how it affects them they rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can find the grave There is little or no obscurity in these words only consider the emphasis of this expression the word which we translate rejoyce or rejoyce exceedingly noteth such a rejoycing as breakes forth in some outward gesture as when a man doth leape for joy And Mr. Broughton translates it thus which joy till they skip againe noting an extraordinary joy and gladnesse when they can find the grave that is when they die Yet some joyne the sense of this verse with the former to carry on or lengthen out the similitude thus Which long for death and digge for it as for hid treasures And finding death they are affected as they who seeking for treasures find a grave For if in digging they did but hit upon a grave then they thought themselves sure of treasure and great riches because treasure and riches was used to be put into graves as was shewed in opening the fifteenth verse of this Chapter The sense is faire and comes up to the same point from either of these expositions Observe hence first That What at one time we feare most in that at another time we may exceedingly rejoyce Death is dreadfull and the grave is a place of darkenesse yet here is joy and rejoycing yea exceeding joy and rejoycing when they find the grave Secondly They rejoyce in it but why It was that which they had longed for that which they had long sought for if at another time they had bin shewed the grave or commanded into the grave they would have taken little pleasure in it The same thing inflicted or threatned by another is dreadfull to us which desired by our selves is pleasant and delightfull It pleaseth us to have our desire satisfied though the thing desired be never so unpleasant And to be eased of present evill makes a future evill appeare in the likenesse of a persent good For Joy is an affection of the mind arising from the apprehension of some present good even as hope springs from the apprehension of some good that is to come Further We may consider the issue of all these acts after they had longed for death and digged for death and found death presently upon the finding of it they rejoyce and rejoyce exceedingly Hence observe That which any one truely desireth and endeavoureth to find causeth him to rejoyce when he hath found it If you desire death and seek for the grave the finding of these will be to you as life and as a house of mirth How much more then shall we rejoyce having found good things the best things after earnest longing and digging for them When the wise Merchant had found the treasure hid in the field the next words enforme us of his joy Matth. 13.44 When the man after long seeking on the mountaines had found his lost Sheepe and the woman after lighting her candle and sweeping her house and diligent search had found the lost groat they both rejoyced and called in their neighbours and friends to rejoyce with them Luk. 15. It troubles a man to be found of that or him whom he hates or feares Hast thou found me O mine enemy saith Ahab to Eliah 1 King 21.20 And it cannot but delight us to find that or him whom we love and long for Have I found thee O my friend will such an one say And if a miserable man rejoyces exceedingly when desiring he finds death and a grave how will the soule leape for joy when we shall find him who is the longing and desire of all Nations Jesus Christ. How exceeding exceedingly will the soule rejoyce when we shall find what we have so much longed for not death but life and life not only in Christ but with Christ when we shall find not the house of the grave but a house of glory and glory in the height an exceeding excelling superexcellent weight of glory And by this effect we may make proofe of grace here If thou hast found Christ in ordinances in duties in meditation in prayer in the promises for here in these things the longing soule diggs after Christ joy will at one time or other fill thy heart yea thy heart will leape for joy thou wilt rejoyce in Spirit as Christ did in his Father Luk. 10.21 For this joy is a fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 and one of the first fruits And God seldome misses to give the soule a tast of this joy at the first or presently after conversion though afterwards clouds may
indeed provokes God many times to blast an outward estate It is a common fault that when we see those whom we conceive godly faling in outward things wee are taken up onely in finding out answers how to acquit the justice of God in his promises What shall we say to such a promise Seeke first the kingdom of God and his righteousnes and all these things shal be added unto you We trouble our selves often to satisfie the point in reference to the justice of God and the truth of his promise We seldome suspect whether or how they have performed the condition of the promise We should rather doubt that they have not evangellically performed the condition then trouble our selves so much with seeking how to satisfie the justice of God in answering the ingagement and promise on his part For without all question they that doe seeke according to the tenour of that condition God will administer all things unto them Or secondly we should say thus rather that they who are so much exercised in wayes of communion with God have surely gain'd a great spirituall estate And that now God brings them to the proofe of it by losses in their temporall estates These or the like interpretations we ought to make if we see them going backward in outward things who have beene very forward in spirituall things And so much concerning Iobs outward estate in regard of his riches both what they were in the kind and in the number In the next place his outward happinesse is described by the unity and concord of his children Verse 4. 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 This verse sets forth the third part of Iobs happinesse in respect of his outward estate He had children and many children in the second verse Here in the fourth we find all these children sonnes and daughters agreeing and feasting one with another We may note from the words foure things concerning this Feasting 1. Their alacrity and chearefullnesse which most doe observe out of that expression they went and feasted which phrase in the Hebrew signifies the doing of a thing with chearfulnes and readinesse 2. Their unanimity It is not said that some two or three of his sons feasted but his sons indefinitely all his sons and not onely his sons but his daughters the three sisters were called too So that they were all of one mind they all met together in love though they were ten in number they were but one in heart the same in spirit 3. The place where they feasted it was in their houses they did not goe to suspected places but in their owne private houses and families where it was most convenient and where they might celebrate those meetings with most security both for their bodies and for their soules 4. The frequency of that feasting it was not onely once but every one his day They did meet at every one of their houses upon a speciall and a set day Every one his day some make the sence thus they feasted in their houses one every day as if it had been a continuall feast with them they feasted all the weeke long and they would seeme to allow it by the moderation used in their feasting out the words every one his day note a course a certaine time wherein they did feast not a continued feasting Some conceive it was upon their birth-dayes whether that be so or no there is nothing appeares from the Text only it is said They feasted every one his day And they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drinke with them In that we may observe 3. things 1. The humanity of the brethren they would not banquet alone and leave out their sisters but they sent and called them 2. The modesty of the Sisters that they would not come but upon speciall invitation they were not forward of themselves but they were sent and called for 3. The end of this invitation it was to eat and to drinke with them As under the notions of bread and water or bread and wine all necessaries for food are comprised so under the actions of eating and drinking the whole businesse of feasting is contained Luk. 12.19 Isa 22.15 Eccl. 2.24 There is nothing further in the words that we need stay longer in opening or clearing of them We shall onely give you some few notes out of them His sons went and feasted in their houses every one his day This is set forth as the third part of Jobs outward happines Then note we first That The love and mutuall agreement of children is one of the greatest blessings to a parent The love of children is the fathers blessing and it is a great blesâ—sing How many fathers have their hearts rent and divided by thâ— rents and divisions that are amongst their children It doth blaâ— and wither all the comfort the Parent hath to see that there is no agreement of love no correspondency of affection amongst those that come all from the same bowels from the same loynes Thâ— is a blessing which was not common in the world no not in thosâ— times Adam had not this blessing Adam when he had only two sonnes they could not agree but one murthereth the otheâ— Abraham enjoyed not this blessing when he had but 2 sons oneâ— mocking the other Ishmael is mocking Isaac Isaac fail'd of thâ— blessing he had but two sonnes and one threatned to murther thâ— other The dayes of mourning for my father are at hand then wilâ— slay my brother Jacob. This was not Iacobs blessing he had 〈◊〉 sons there was one of them Joseph the common Butt of aâ— his brethrens envy they did all spight him the Archers did shoâ— at him and grieved him sorely and hated him They could not aâ— agree there were divisions among them It is no ordinary bleâ—â—sing then You see David a holy man yet what divisions weâ— there among his children one murdereth another Absolom cause Amnon to bee murthered Adonijah riseth up against Solomon he cannot beare it that his brother should have the Crowne Yâ— see then that it is a blessing and it is an extraordinary blessing Therfore take notice of it you that have an agreeing family children that live together in love and unity looke upon it as a speciall blessing from God Secondly We may observe That It is a very comely thing for brethren and sisters to live together in unity In Jobs children we have that of Psalm 133. fullfilled Behold he calls all to looke upon it how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity Such a sight may draw all eyes after it Jobs children were many in number in heart but one in love the same And as there is nothing more troublesome so nothing more uncomely and unnaturall than rents and divisions in a family Thirdly we may