an hundred and ten years Gen 50. ult Job if we take in that common account of the antecedent part of his life lived longer than any of these even two hundred and ten years The fifth Commandement hath this promise Exod. 20.12 Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy dayes may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee And the Apostle calls that the first Commandement with promise Eph. 6.2 that is the first Commandement with an explicite promise all the Commandements have promises implyed to those that obey them Eliphaz assured Job of this blessing in case of his repentance Chap. 5.26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age like as a shock of Corn cometh in his season And in this he was a true Prophet Now that long life is a blessing I would shew briefly under these six considerations First It is a blessing to have a long opportunity of doing good of being useful and serviceable to our generation long life gives an advantage for that Secondly It is a blessing to have opportunity to gain experiences First of the various providences of God towards men whether in wayes of judgement or of mercy Secondly to get experiences of the manners of men of the vanity unfaithfulness and inconstancy of some men and of the goodness faithfulness and constancy of others Though we sometimes smart in getting our experiences yet it may be a great blessing to have them Thirdly It is a blessing to have an opportunity to hold forth the grace of God to us and the graces of God in us by a holy example The longer we live a natural life the more we may manifest the power of a spiritual life to those among whom we live Fourthly It is a blessing to have opportunity for improvement and growth in grace to attain the highest stature in and pitch of holiness This benefit we may make of long life even encrease in grace as our years encrease and grow better as we grow older Fifthly It is a blessing to have opportunity to bring up our children in the nurture and fear of God long life gives liberty for this Lastly it is a blessing to behold the blessing of God upon our posterity long life gives us opportunity for this blessing and this was Jobs blessing eminently In all these respects and many more might be added long life is a blessing Yet let me give this corrective Long life is but a common blessing it is no distinguishing blessing it is not a certain love-token from God to man Bad men have lived long as appears both in sacred and common Histories Old age is then a blessing and good indeed when we are old in goodness or grow old doing good Solomons conclusion reacheth this fully Prov. 16.31 The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness And Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes Better is a child that will be ruled than an old and foolish King that will receive no counsel When we may say of any as the Lord said of some Ezek. 23.43 O ye that are old in adulteries when any are old in sin woe to such an old age Better to die young than live to old age and then die in sin To live to be old men the old man not dying in us O how sad To see sin young when the man is old how odious a sight is that Then only old age is good when we are good in old age They only die in a good old age as it is said of Abraham Gen. 25.8 who are good dying old The sinner of a hundred years old shall die accursed Isa 65.20 So then it is knowing not ignorant old age it is prudent not foolish old age it is gracious not vicious old age which is indeed the blessing and therefore though it be a blessing look upon it as a common blessing As riches are good to us our selves being good so is old age such is a life of many years in this world good only to those who are good and do good Secondly When it is said Job lived an hundred and forty years we are not to take his living for a bare continuance or indurance in life for so many years but we are to understand his life or living so long Vivere est valere with the cloathing of it with the good of it he lived that is he lived comfortably honourably peaceably this hundred and forty years We commonly say To live is to be well to live is to flourish Some live whose life is a kind of death As they who live in sinful pleasure are dead while they live so also are they who live in great worldly sorrow Job lived comfortably and contentedly all that long time of his latter life even an hundred and forty years Hence note Secondly Long life in health peace and prosperity is a blessing indeed To live long in the enjoyment of good is very good What man is he saith David Psal 34.12 that desireth life and loveth many dayes that he may see good Keep thy tongue from evil c. To live long and see good that is enjoy good is the utmost that can be desired in this life That 's the blessing or the good promised in the renewed state of Jerusalem Isa 65. where after the Lord had spoken of new heavens and new earth he adds at the 22d verse They shall not build and another inhabit they shall not plant and another eat for as the dayes of a tree are the dayes of my people and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands He doth not say they shall live long but they shall enjoy long that which they have built and planted none shall invade nor take away from them Some conceive this hath reference to the thousand years prophesied of Rev. 20. wherein the Church shall enjoy perfect felicity in this world To live long in the sweet enjoyments of health honour peace and plenty for soul and body is a full blessing I grant some good men live long who yet do not alwayes enjoy good their old age especially is accompanied and encumbered with many bodily distempers and grievous pains Though grace sets us above the decayes of nature and the troubles of this life yet grace doth not exempt nor give us priviledge from either so that greediness after many years is commonly a greediness only after many infirmities Isaac was a good old man yet 't is said of him that when he was old his eyes waxed dim so that he could not see Gen. 27.1 Old age and dim eyes and deaf ears shaking hands and palsied trembling joynts with manifold diseases are seldom found asunder Therefore Job had an extraordinary blessing to live long and free from all these evils and so have any who do so Barzillay was a good old man yet 2 Sam. 19.25 he was so benummed and his natural senses so enfeebled that he did not enjoy his life
by Châ—ist in that invitaâ—ion to his Spouse Cant. 2.10 11 12 13. My beloved spake aâ—d said unto me Rise up my love my fair one and come away f r lâ— the wiâ—ter is past the rain is over and gone that is thy affl cti ns are ended thy clouds of soâ—row and thy tears aâ—â— over-blâ—wn and wiped away and now behold a succession of beâ—â—eâ— things even of whatsoever may call out thy joys and renew thy comfâ—â—ts fâ— the flowers appear on the earth the time of the singiâ—g â—f birds is câ—me the voice of the turtle is heard in our land the figge-tree putteth forth her tender figges and the Vines with the tender grape give a good smell Here 's a new face of things indeed what can be added to the felicity of that estate which is shadowed under these Metaphors Such a Summer of spiritual felicity in temporal liberties after a winter of temporal sufferings in her spirituals did Christ invite his Church in general unto And this may relieve particular Christians in their afflictions The cold Frost seldome lasts long never alwayes Thirdly Though Cold and Frost be pinching and troublesome while they last yet they have a very good effect upon the Earth while they last First they mellow the Earth After a lasting Frost the clods of Earth crumble easily whereas if it lie all the Winter without a Frost they are more stiffe and not so fit for husbandry Thus afflictions mellow the heart of man and make it more fit for Gods husbandry As Frost dries up the ill humours of the Earth so doth affliction those of the soul and thereby prepares it to receive the seed of the Word When God afflicts his people it is for their profit that they may be partakers of his holiness that is that they may profitabâ—y improve all those means which he hath appointed to make them more holy And hence Fourthly As Frost and Cold kill the weeds and worms which eat the roots and hinder the growth of Herbs Corn and Plants so afflictions kill our lusts those worms and weeds that breed and grow in our hearts alwayes hindering the fruitfulness sometime to the utter unfruitfulness of the seed of the word sown among us and upon us Matth. 13.22 The frost of affliction is a means to prevent the worm which breeds naturally out of the corruption of our hearts even that terrible worm spoken of Isa 66.24 the worm of conscience As there are worms of corruption Pride Covetousness Wrath Wantonness c. in our hearts so out of these that tormenting worm breeds called the worm of Conscience Now the frost of affliction which God sends upon us is very effectual as to kill these worms of corruption which eat the roots of our graces and hinder our fruit-bearing so to prevent the life of that worm of Conscience which as the Prophet speaks in the place last named never dyeth Therefore as when the Lord sends frost though it make us shake and we have a hard time of it yet no man riseth up in passion and saith I had rather dye and be out of the world than live in such a season No men know that a frosty season is a wholesome season and they know Summer will come and make amends So when we are in the Winter of affliction let us not be impatient nor unquiet let us not think that the frost will ruine and undo us Though Ice be upon every water though Icicles hang upon every twig do not think this will be at all for your undoing it may be much for your bettering Cold weather doth good as well as hot and if we should have all hot and no cold it might be very ill very bad to us therefore be not troubled at the cold nor afraid of ice and frost they will not hurt you unless you hurt your selves by your impatience under them And when 't is coldest you may warme your selves at the fire or Sun-shine of this hope that ere long the weather will be warmer As Athanasius said of the trouble given the Church by that Apostate Julian It is but a Cloud it will soon be over so may I say according to the allusion in this Text it s but a Winters frost Summer will come This should be the comfort of all that fear God in a day of evil feared or felt When Christ Mat. 24.32 33. had soretold the signs of his coming he said Learn a Parable of the Fig-tree when his branch is yet tender and putteth forth leaves ye know that Summer is nigh So likewise ye when ye shall see all these things know that it is near even at the door As when we shall see those dreadful appearances which are the fore-runners of Christ coming so when we shall feel any chilling frosts of affliction then we may know that Summer is at hand when the night is darkest the light is nearest when Winter is hardest a thawing Sun leading in the Spring is approaching towards us There is but one kind of cold or frost which we have cause to fear and that is the frost of unkindness or the coldness of affection to God and one another and I warn all to take heed of that because it is but too too probable that this frost and cold will hang about the hearts of many in the latter days yea is it not visible are we not sensible of that frost begun at least in these days as Christ himself prophesied of those latter days Mat. 24.12 The love of many shall wax cold is not love to God very chil is not charity to man among men of a complexion as cold as ice at this day Take heed of this frost of this cold let not your hearts be frozen in love to God or Man It is sad when the streams of charitable bounty are frozen and the waters of compassion hidden as with a stone when the very bowels of men are Ice and their hearts harder to one another than the nether mil-stone There are two things much to be lamented whenever they are seen or felt among the Sons of men especially among those who profess themselves the Servants of God The first is heat of anger and wrath The second is coldness of love and zeal As that heat is apt to kindle unnatural fires so this coldness may provoke the Lord to kindle judiciary fires or fiery judgments The coldness of the air will not hurt us nor can the frost of any affliction much annoy us if our love wax not cold if the frost of uncharitableness to one another and of unzealousness if I may so speak for God and his concerns take not our affections JOB Chap. 38. Vers 31 32 33. 31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion 32. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons 33. Knowest thou the Ordinances of Heaven canst thou set the dominions thereof in the earth THe Lord
AN EXPOSITION WITH Practical Observations CONTINUED UPON The Thirty-eighth Thirty-ninth Fortieth Forty-first and Forty-second being the five last Chapters of the Book OF JOB Being the Substance of Fifty-two Lectures or Meditations By JOSEPH CARYL Minister of the Gospel JAMES 5.11 Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is pitiful and of tender mercy LONDON Printed by M. and S. Simmons and are to be sold by Robert Boulter at the Turks-head near the Royal Exchange 1666. TO THE Christian Reader TO Those especially of the City of London who have been THE PROMOTERS Of this WORK SIRS THE end of a thing saith Solomon Eccl. 7 8. is better than the beginning thereof Not that all things end better than they begin some persons begin well and some things are begun well which end and are ended not so well that I say not very ill Through the All-disposing providence of God and the importunate call of not a few worthy friends I began this Work and now after twenty-four years travel making twelve stages in so many parts the whole is come forth I am come to the end of it And truly I might justly be reproved at least for dulness and indiligence or counted a very slow-paced Traveller had I spent that twenty-four years the best of my time and strength in measuring so short a journey But as I have this to say towards an Apology for my over-long stay in this work that I have had frequent diversions for a considerable part of that time quite from it so the whole time which I have spent in it hath been but a diversion or time I hope honestly stoln either from my rest or from that which was my more proper work And now that I have at last ended what I began all that I shall say of it is that I have ended it Whether I began it well or have ended it well and whether or no the end be better than the beginning is not for me to say Should I say that I began it well and have ended it well or that the end is better than the beginning it were a piece of most immodest pride and should I say the contrary of both or of either it might deservedly be called more than a piece of proudest modesty Such as it is from the beginning to the end 't is what my weakness with the strength of Christ given in what my small industriousness with the blessing given down from above could attain unto And I humbly give thanks to the Father of lights from whom every good gift and every perfect gift cometh for any light received or held out towards the understanding of this Book in which who sees not there are many things as the Apostle Peter saith of Saint Pauls Epistles hard to be understood so hard to be understood that though I am confident through the grace of God with me I have not wrested them to my own hurt or the hurt much less destruction of others as 't is there said the ignorant and unstable do the other Scriptures to their own destruction yet I am not ashamed to acknowledge that I fear I have not attained so clear an understanding about some of them as to clear them which hath been my desire with satisfaction to the understanding of others However if what I have attained to may be in any measure serviceable to the Church of God or helpful to any poor soul in an afflicted condition such was Jobs I have reached one great end aimed at and if God have any glory by it I have reached the greatest end which can be aimed at And though the work should be found to have many defects possibly mistakes in it yet the ingenuous Reader will candidly interpret them or charitably cover them knowing that failings are common to humane frailty in the best of men how much more in the meanest of them And I shall account it a great kindness if I may be friendly minded of those defects that so if ever any of these Pieces shall be admitted to come out again an amendment may be made and the Work grow up to more perfection This last Part now coming forth contains the whole transaction from first to last between God and Job none speaking but they two and Job but very little Elihu having finisht his speech in the close of the thirty seventh Chapter the Lord himself appeared at the entrance of the thirty eighth in a Majestick and tremendous manner bespeaking Job out of a vehement and tempestuous whirlwind and taking up the same argument which Elihu had so much insisted upon before for the conviction of Job carrieth him in discourse quite through the universe thereby farther to convince him by the view and consideration of his mighty and admirable works of creation and providence how ignorant and weak he was in himself how altogether unable and incompetent to contend with God and therefore how rash and inconsiderate he had been in not submitting how great soever his sufferings were more quietly to him And as Elihu said Chap. 35.11 That God teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth and maketh us wiser than the fowls of Heaven so doubtless one great scope which the Lord had in his eye throughout that discourse was to teach Job and with him us that his care was much more over him and is over us than over the beasts of the earth or the fowls of heaven And hereupon having shewed his own infinite power and wisdom as also his goodness and tender compassions in providing for all sorts of irrational living creatures he left Job and leaves us to make the Inference how watchful he is over how respectful to man a rational as well as a living creature Our blessed Saviour preaching upon the same subject to his Disciples expresseth the Inference Mat. 6.26 Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet yâ—â— heavenly father feedeth them are ye not much better than they And again vers 30. Wherefore it God so cloath the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more cloath you O ye of little faith Jesus Christ saw it necessary to make these express applications to his Disciples who at that time were both of little faith and of little understanding But here the Lord left Job a wise and knowing man to pick or spell out his meaning and make application to himself while he told him so particularly how his providence at once over-ruled maintained The roaring Lion the wild Goat the wilde Ass the stubborn Unicorn the strong Horse the mighty Behemoth among the beasts of the earth the devouring Raven the proud Peacock the foolish Ostrich the swift winged Hawk and the high-soaring Eagle among the fowls of the air as also the formidable Leviathan among or rather representing all the fishes of the Sea
himself down to speak and treat with dust and ashes What a wonder is it that the Lord of Heaven and Earth should admit and enter into a parly with man who is but a well-shaped clod of Earth Solomon was in a kind of amazement at the mercy when he said at the Dedication of the Temple 1 Kings 8.22 But will God indeed dwell on Earth And may not we that God should come down to confer with an afflicted bed-rid man on Earth I know some are of opinion that the Lord spake by an Angel to Job however here was the Lords presence it was Jehovah who manifested himself to Job what Ministry soever he used Thus the Lord is pleased often to interpose in the case and cause of his afflicted servants though we see him not nor have such formal apparitions as here in the Text. The Lord the high and lofty One who dwelleth in the high and holy Place dwelleth also with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit and be dwelleth with him to revive him Isa 57.15 Therefore surely he manifests himself to him in his loving-kindness which is better than life and the very life of our lives The Lord who hath Heaven for his Throne and the Earth his footstool saith by the same prophet Isa 66.1 2. To this man will I look and lest any should take this man to be one of the mighty ones of this world he giveth us both a signal specification and clear character of this man to whom he looketh even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and that trembleth at my Word And if the Lord look to such a man if he vouchsafe him his gracious â—ye doubtless he also reveals himself graciously and freely to him Secondly The Lord came here to instruct and teach Job Several persons had dealt with him before and they very worthy good and learned persons and they came with a purpose to do him good yet all would not do All that his three friends said who undertook him first in their turns was to little purpose in appearance And though Elihu a spritely young man discours'd him with much life and heat yet neither could he do the business Jobs spirit began indeed to yeeld upon the last engagement of Elihu with him yet he did not convince him fully God came at last and he prevailed he did the deed Then the Lord answered Job Hence Note We need the teachings of God besides all the teachings of men that we may rightly know him and our selves together with the intendment of his dealings with us and our own duty under them 'T is the mercy of the New Covenant that we shall be taught of God and not by man onely nor alone As here Job had three or four so we may have thrice three men toyling with us a long time in vain The work is never well done till God comes and though we have not such appearances of God now yet he doth the same thing in effect to this day This and that man a thousand men yea a man who is an Interpreter one of a thousand as Elihu spake may be labouring upon the conscience of a sinner and never bring things home either to convince or comfort him till God is pleased to come in by the power of his blessed Spirit and then who can but be convinced and comforted Hence our Lord Christ had no sooner reported the Covenant Promise out of the Prophet They shall be all taught of God John 6.45 but presently he makes this inference from it Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me We may say to all who are savingly wrought upon as Christ to Peter upon that Confession which he made Matth. 16.16 Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God Flesh and blood hath not revealed this to you but your Father which is in Heaven Impossibile est deum discere sine deo Iraen l. 4. adversus Haret c. 10. A deo discendum quicquid de deo intelligendum Hilar. l. 5. de Trin. It was said by one of the Ancients it is impossible to know God without God And so said another We must learn all that from God which we understand of God Unless God be our Tutor we shall never be good Scholars We know neither God nor our selves any further than God teacheth us Christ saith Be not called Masters for one is your Master even Christ Matth. 23.8 There are two sorts of Masters 1. Ruling or Commanding Masters 2. Teaching Masters To the former we are Servants to the latter we are Scholars In the eighth verse Christ speaks of Teaching Masters as of Ruling Masters at the tenth verse Now when Christ would not have any man take upon him or own the Title of Master or Teacher his meaning is that no man should arrogate to himself the honour of principal Teacher which is the peculiar of God but to acknowledge that all mans teaching is nothing without Gods as the Apostle also saith 1 Cor. 3. We must learn from God whatever we know aright either of God or of our selves Eliphaz Bildad and Zophar spake much of God to Job but Job was never effectually humbled till God spake Thirdly Note As God here by his Word so alwayes the Word of God is the true determiner of controversies and resolver of doubts No question can be truly stated but by the Word of God Rectum est index sui obliqui As the statutes of the Lord are right Psal 19.8 So they shew what is right and what is not A strait Rule declares it self to be strait and detects the crookedness of whatsoever is crooked The last appeal in all things doubtful is to the Law Isa 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no light or as the Margin hath it no morning in them The Sun of righteousness hath not risen upon them who speak and hold unrighteous things Search the Scriptures saith Christ John 5.39 or as 't is well rendred in the Indicative Mood Ye search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life Nor did they think amiss in thinking so but that which Christ secretly reproved while he said so was that they did amiss or contradicted the Scripture in their lives while they boastingly thought so Not what this or that man saith but what God saith is the true ground of mans faith Sumamus exlibris divinitus inspiratis solutionem questionum Theod. l. 1. Hist Eccles c. 7. It was a worthy speech of Constantine in the Nicene Council Let us take out of that Book divinely inspired the solution of our Questions It is not what the Fathers say nor what the Pope saith nor what Councils say but what the Word of God saith that must be heard and relied upon for salvation The Word is the Judge that is the rule of Judgement As here God was the
personal Judge of this so his Word must ever be the Normal Judge of all controversies Fourthly Note The Day of Judgment is like to be a terrible day Here was a little day of Judgement here God came to determine a matter between Job and his three friends and that was a terrible day in it we have an image or representation of the last Judgement Day God appeared in a Storm in a Whirlwind what think you will be the Lords appearance when he comes to judge the whole World The Psalmist speaking of some particular day of Judgement which should fore-run the general judgement sets it forth in dreadful Metaphors Psal 50.3 4. Our God These are the words of Gods faithful servants assuring themselves of a gracious deliverance from the cruelty of wicked men by the goodness and mighty arme of God Our God say they shall come that is he shall certainly come though he seem for a while to defer and put off his coming and shall not keep silence as he hath been thought to do either in not answering the prayers of his people or in not punishing the presumption of his and their enemies as he also said he did at the 21th verse of this Psalme and then woe to the wicked for A fire shall devour before him God will then appear as a consuming fire and a mighty tempest of wrath and indignation round about him so that there can be no escape either before or behind on one side or the other And then v. 4. He shall call to the Heavens from above and to the Earth that is to the heavenly and earthly Powers as witnesses against the ungodly and as aids and assistants that they may judge his people that is assert their integrity and maintain them in it Now I say if there have been or shall be such dreadful appearances of God in this world for the vindication of his people and the avenging of them upon their enemies what will his appearance be when in the end of the world he shall come as the Apostle Jade speaks v. 14 15. of his Epistle with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgement upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodlily committed and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him That is either directly or reflexively in letting their tongues loose to speak against them The Apostle Paul having said 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things that is the fruit of the things done in his body that is while he was in the body whether it be good or bad he adds at the eleventh verse Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men As if he had said We know that will be a terrible day Christ will come and answer sinners out of a Whirlwind when he comes to Judgement and therefore We being fully perswaded of this our selves perswade men by all means to beleeve and repent and get the peace of their souls well and surely setled upon good Gospel terms in this world that so they may find peace in the great Day of Judgement which will be the commencement or beginning of another world They who know the terror of the Lord will both perswade others and be perswaded themselves to look after reconciliation with God that when Christ cometh terribly they may appear before him comfortably or that he may not be a terror unto them in that day Fifthly Forasmuch as the Lord answered Job out of the Whirlwind as was said to affect him with the awe and reverence of his great Name while he was speaking Observe The Word of God is to be heard with reverence with fear and trembling or with an holy awe of God upon our hearts Why did the Lord speak out of a Whirlwind Surely that Job might see his distance or that he was but as a feather even like a rolling thing or thistle-down before the Whirl-wind which the Lord could scatter and blow away with the least breath of his mouth as that allusion in the Prophet intimates Isa 17.13 And questionless all the wicked in the world who contemn the Word of God preached by his Ministers Locutione domini blanda dulcedo ejus ostenditur per tempestatem vero potestas ejus metuenda monstratur Greg. l. 28. c. 2. will be blown away by it as thistle-down or a rolling thing before the Whirl-wind of the Lords fierce anger and displeasure All such shall be carried away with a strong irresistable wind and cast into the bottomless pit of perdition for ever The Lord who sometimes speaks out of a Whirl-wind hath a whirl-wind alwayes at his command to scatter those like chaffe who obey not what is spoken as he threatned the enemies of Jacob Isa 41.16 Sixthly From Gods speaking out of the Whirlwind Note God is present with his in troublous dispensations 'T is no argument that God is not with us when storms and whirl-winds are up whether with respect to Nations and Churches or particular Persons Do not think God is gone because there is a storm Read Psal 18. v. 6 7 8. Psal 23.4 Psal 91.15 Isa 43.2 3. and you shall find that in the worst appearances the Lord is present The Prophet speaks it expresly Nahum 1.3 The Lord hath his way in the Whirl-wind and in the storm and the Clouds are the dust of his feet When and where it 's dark and troublesom the Lord is there and there he is most that 's the Prophets meaning also when he saith The Clouds are the dust of his feet By Clouds we may understand not so much the Clouds of the Air as cloudy Providences these are round about him while Judgment and Justice yea while Mercy and Goodness are the habitation of his Throne And these Clouds may be called the dust of his feet in a Figure we know where Travellers pass often their feet make a dust now it shews that the Lord doth act much in the Clouds that is in dark Providences because 't is said They are the dust of his feet as if he moved so much and so long in them that he raised a dust with his motion Do not think the Lord is gone when whirl-winds and storms that is outward troubles come The Lord answers out of the whirl-wind as often as he answers us by terrible things in Righteousness and thus he often answers us Psal 65.5 Seaventhly and Lastly comparing the manner of Gods coming and speaking to Job with his intent in coming and speaking to him The manner in which God came and spake was in a Whirl-wind but what was his purpose was it to blow the poor man away no it was but to himble him and then to comfort and restore him Observe The outward appearances of God are often very terrible when he intends nothing buâ— mercy and love to his people What more dreadful
second of Providence in general chiefly in the Meteors from the 22d verse to the end of this Chapter the third of special Providence towards the Beast of the Earth and the Fowls of the Ayre from the first verse of the 39th Chapter to the end So that the proof of this Assumption that Job had no hand gâ—ve no counsel no furtherance no assistance in the Works of Creation and Providence I say this Assumption contains the history of the greatest things in all the parts of Nature for whatsoever belongs to true Philosophy may be reduced to it or clearly diâ—covered in it and herein we are taught the true use of Philosophy even to raise the mind of man to the contemplation of the Eternity Power and Wisdom of God as also of our own frailty weakness nothingness and so to sit down in an humble submission to whatsoever the Lord doth with us or ours in this world So much of the argument and general scope of this whole discourse The Lord begins with the Work of Creation thereby humbling Job to this Confession that he had nothing at all to do with it Vers 4. Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth Quando deus interrogat ubi eras revocat in mentem Jobo quis sit ex quo quam brevis aevi Codur We have the Creation asserted in these words and God is pleased to speak of it metaphorically by a comparison drawn from Architecture or the model of a Building Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth Eliphaz put a question of a near impoâ—t with this Chap. 15.7 Art thou the first man that was born or wast thou made before the hills Here the Lord speaks the same language Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth Wast thou made before the World Antelunares There was a sort of men spoken of by the Ancients called Proselunes Men made before the Moon who boasted that they were a people before the Moon was made others said they were before the Earth The Scripture tells us that man was made out of the Earth well then might the Lord demand Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth Wast thou before the Earth Or before the Moon Where wast thou Surely thou wast no where thou wast not in being when I laid the foundations of the Earth foâ—asmuch as thy foundation is of the Earth thou art but dust of the Earth therefoâ—e where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth Thou hadst no Being then unless in my decree and purpose for the bringing of thee forth in thy season and generation We may say every man was somewhere when God laid the foundations of the Earth he was in the Purpose Decree and Counsel of God which was from Eternity Every man had a being in the mind of God when God laid the foundations of the Earth but where wast thou or any man as to any existence when I laid the foundations of the Earth Now if this be thy case thou hast no reason to be so high and big in thy own thoughts or to speak so discontentedly about my dealings with thee Do I need thy counsel in governing the World who needed it not in making the World Where wast thou c. And here we may take notice of the difference of Scripture language in this point with respect to our Lord Jesus Christ by considering the different language of the Scripture concerning Christ we have a clear argument to prove the God-head of Christ or that he is God by Nature forasmuch as he had his existence when God laid the foundation of the Earth Hear what Wisdom substantial Wisdom that is Jesus Christ spake of himself Prov. 8.22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way that is in the beginning of his ways of Creation before his works of old I was set up from everlasting from the beginning or ever the Earth was Where wast thou saith God to Job when I laid the foundations of the Earth But Jesus Christ the true Wisdom saith he was before the Earth was When there was no depth I was brought forth when there was no fountain abounding with water While as yet he had not made the Earth nor the fields nâ—r the highest parts of the dust of the World When he prepared the Heavens I was there When he set a compass upon the face of the depth When he established the Clouds above when he strengthened the fountains of the deep When he gave to the Sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandements When he appointed the foundations of the Earth Then was I by him as one brought up with him and I was daily his delight rejoycing alwayes before him c. You see how the Spirit speaks concerning Christ the true Wisdom the substantial Wisdom he was before God laid the foundations of the Earth therefore he is God he is eternal But when God comes to speak to Job a man he saith Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth John 1.1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and by him all things were made Jesus Christ had a hand in making the World in laying the foundations of it the work is ascribed to him Here 's the glory of Jesus Christ above all creatures and this is an unanswerable proof of the God-head and Divinity of Jesus Christ as 't is of mans frailty when the Lord demands Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth 'T is as if the Lord had said Remember how short a time thou hast been how little a while it is since thou cam'st into the World There are two things which men should much consider First How little a while they have been in this World Secondly How little a time they have to stay in this World Where wast thou When I laid the foundations of the Earth The Hebrew is but one word Where wast thou when I founded the Earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In fundare me vel cum fundarem we say When I laid the foundations of the Earth What 's a foundation There are four things to be noted about a foundation First A foundation is the lowest part of a building The Top or Head-stone Zach. 4.7 and the foundation-stone are at utmost distance the one highest the other lowest the one first laid down the other last set up Secondly The foundation is an unseen part of the building we behold the super-structure the walls and towers when raised we behold the battlements and pinnacles but we cannot behold the foundation that 's an unseen part of the building Thirdly The foundation is the most necessary part of the building There are some parts of a building which are onely for ornament and beauty there are other parts of a building which though they are somewhat necessary yet not much necessary the building might stand
verse they confess not only their being in him throughout all generations but his most blessed Being before all generations Before Mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the Earth and the World even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God The first Being is an eternal Being and therefore the Prophet saith Isa 57.15 God inhabiteth Eternity The Eternal dwells in Eternity But what is Eternity One of the Ancients calleth it Aeternitas est interminabilis vitae tota simul et perfect possessio Boeth de Consol l. 6. The perfect possession of a boundless or limitless life whole and all at once Eternity hath no terms nor bounds of beginning or ending 'T is a possession of all at once there is nothing past or to come but all is alwayes present to God Note Fourthly God is the fountain of all being he hath given a being to all things The Apostle Paul Acts 17.28 discoursing with the Athenians having said In him we live and move and have our being convinceth them further by that saying of their own Poets for we are also his off-spring We spring from him as from a root or fountain With him is the fountain of lives Psal 36.9 even of natural life as well as of spiritual and eternal Every life every being is but a stream issuing from Jehovah And as every life is from God so also is the being of all things without life The Lord gave the liveless Earth its being its beginning Some Naturalists have asserted the eternity of the World and so the eternity of the Earth They could not compass which way or how the World could have a beginning and therefore said it had none Here we have the Founder of the World God himself teaching man this Divine Philosophy about the beginning of the World and taking it to himself I laid the foundations of the Earth When the Heathen Philosopher read what Moses had written concerning the Creation of the World Thus the Heavens and the Earth were finished and all the host of them Ger. 2.1 He presently said The man speaks wonders but how doth he prove what he hath spoken Where are his demonstrations He would put Moses to his proof but Moses's proof was faith in the testimony of God Through faith we understand that the Worlds were framed by the Word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear Heb. 11.3 We understand the Work of Creation yet not by the strength of natural reason but through faith which gives credit to the Word of God and perswades the heart that the report therein made is a truth Plato in Timaeo For though some Philosophers have evinced by arguments grounded upon reason that the World was made yet that it was made by the Word of God either the Essential Word the Son of God spoken of John 1.1 who is the efficient cause of it or by the Declarative Word spoken of in this place of the Hebrews which was the means or instrumental cause of making the World Gen. 1.3 6. This I say cannot at all be understood by reason but purely and only by faith because it is so revealed in the Scriptures Fifthly In that the Lord here saith I laid the foundations of the Earth Observe God hath made the Earth firm and immoveable The stability of the Earth is of God as much as the being and existence of it Psal 104.5 He laid the foundations of the Earth that it should not be removed for ever There have been many Earthquakes or movings of the Earth in several parts of it but the whole body of the Earth was never removed so much as one hairs breadth out of its place since the foundations thereof were laid Archimedes the great Mathematician said If you will give me a place to set my Engine on I will remove the Earth It was a great bâ—ag but the Lord hath laid it fast enough for mans removing Himself can make it quake and shake he can move it when he pleaseth but he never hath nor will remove it He hath laid the foundations of the Earth that it shall not be removed nor can it be at all moved but at his pleasure and when it moves at any time it is to mind the sons of men that they by their sins have moved him to displeasure There hath been or will be a shaking of the Earth in mercy for we have it in a promise Heb. 12.26 Whose voice then namely at the giving of the Law shook the Earth but now he hath promised saying yet once more I shake not the Earth only but also Heaven Some understand this promise as fulfilled at the coming of Christ in the flesh at which time indeed there were notable and amazing motions and alterations both in Heaven and Earth Others expound it of the Day of the ultimate Judgement not a few of some great providential dispensations of God which shall shake not the Earth only but also the Heavens as taken in a Metaphor for earthly and heavenly things referring to the Church of God and the Kingdomes of Men. I shall not interpose in this matter about the sense of that Text but onely say whatever the Apostle meant by Earth or Heaven and the shaking of it yet this remains as an unshaken Axiom that the Fabrick of the Earth properly taken stands fast The Lord hath laid the foundations of it that it should not be removed David to shew the stedfastness of his faith put that supposition Psal 46.2 Therefore will not we fear though the Earth be moved The Prophet also did the like to assure us of the stability of the Covenant of Grace Isa 54.10 yet we need not fear that either the Earth shall be removed or the Mountains depart Such suppositions shew indeed the immoveableness of the Word which God hath spoken not the moveableness by any natural power or natural decay of the Earth whose foundations he hath laid And hence the Psalmist argues the Lords faithfulness to his Word Psal 119.90 Non magis moveronaturaliter terra quam quiescere coelum potest Bold All earthly things move but the Earth wherein all these motions are made stands still Eccl. 1.4 The Earth can no more move than the Heavens can stand still Some modern Philosophers have turned the scale of Nature and would perswade us that the Heavens stand still and the Earth moves but 't is good for us to stand to and abide by the Scripture which tells us the Earth stands still and abideth or it abideth that is it standeth as the Margin explains it Psal 119.90 And that it standeth still or abideth not only because it hath still a being as things in motion have but because it is still or stands without moving is so much my faith as well as my sense that I see no reason to be moved from it Sixthly The Power and Will of God are the onely foundation of the Earth 'T is said by the Psalmist
he hath founded it upon the waters as was shewed before yet that cannot be meant properly for how can water a fluid body naturally bear up or sustain the Earth a heavy body and not at all boyant We all see it hangeth or standeth in the ayre But what foundation can the ayre be to the Earth which will scarcely bear a feather It remains then undeniable that the Will and Power of God are the foundations of the Earth Rationi nihil occurrit cui innitatur terra si divinam exceperis voluntatem Nazian Orat. 24. There 's nothing can be given or assigned in reason if you look not to the Will of God for the foundation of the Earth Besides that there 's no bottom for it One of the Ancients giving a description of the Creation saith All things are laid up in his Power and Will these are the foundations the stay and establishment of all things Omnia reposita existimo in ejus potestate quod voluntas ejus sit fundamentum universorum Ambr. l. 1. Hexam c. 6. And as it is so with respect to the standing of the Earth so with respect to all those great things which God hath promised to do in the Earth the foundation of them all is his own Power and Will or his Powerful Will The foundation laid in Election and the foundation laid in Redemption by Jesus Christ other foundation can no man lay for all our spiritual comforts present priviledges and future hopes 1 Cor. 3.11 These foundations I say were laid in the Will of God Lo I come to do thy Will O God Heb. 10.7.9 The Will of God is the foundation and establishment of all things whether Natural or Civil Spiritual or Eternal Seventhly From the scope of these words we may Observe God who hath made the Earth by his Power doth also govern it and man who inhabits it And therefore man ought to be quiet and sit down in his governing as well as in his Creating Will. To convince and perswade Job of this is as hath been toucht the purpose of God in all that followeth He that hath made the World governs the World and if so shall poor creatures you or I or any other though a Job find fault with his government of it Will a Master-Builder suffer any one to find fault with his work who understands not how to lay a stone in it much less to give the rule or direction for the whole work Forasmuch then as the Lord is not only the Master-Builder but the sole Maker of this great House the World it becomes man for whose use it was made to acquiesce or rest quietly in his Government of it Surely the Maker of all things hath a right to dispose of all things and therefore all persons are to be satisfied in his disposal of them From the whole verse and the observations given upon it take these Scripture inferences First The Scripture makes this inference from it God is one and there is none like to him Isa 40.26 Isa 46.8 To whom will ye liken me to whom will you compare me I am he that stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth there 's none like to him in Wisdome none in Power who laid the foundation of the Earth There was never such a visible piece of work done in the World as the making of the World therefore theâ—e is none such as the Maker of the World The hypocrite is brought in dreaming that God was altogether such as himself Psal 50.21 And 't is as it hath been the common guise of Idolaters to think that God is no better than their Idol But what the Lord by his Prophet Jer. 10.11 12 taught the captive Jews to say to their great Lords the Babylonians the same hath he taught us to say to all Hypocrites and Idolaters The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens Then presently followeth as in Job He hath made the earth by his power he hath established the world by his wisdom and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion As if it had been said Will ye imagine that the Idols which you have made are like him who made you and all things And 't is considerable that whereas the whole Prophesie of Jeremy is written in the Hebrew Tongue this eleventh verse which holds out at once a testimony and a threatning against those Idolaters is written in the Chaldean Language with which the Jews by their long Captivity in Babylon were well acquainted that so the Babylonians might hear of it and know that the God of Israel who made heaven and earth was altogether unlike their gods who did never so much as arrogate to themsâ—lves any hand in much less the sole power of making heaven and earth Secondly Take this Scripture inference Seeing the Lord hath laid the foundations of the earth by his own Power and Wisdome then He is the Proprietor of the whole earth or the whole earth is the Lords proper possession Psal 34.1 The earth is the Lords aâ—d the fulness thereof the Lord made it and it is his He was not called nor set a work to build this great House for another but he made iâ— as by his own power so for his own pleasure all the inhabitants of the earth are his tenants and not only the earth but the whole stock and furniture of it is his For as the Lord made the earth so all that the earth is stored with Thus spake Abraham Gen. 14.22 to the King of Sodome who bid him take the goods to himself I have lifted up my hand unto the Lord the most high God possessor of heaven and earth that I will not take from a threed even to a shoe latchet c. As if he had said The Lord who is possessor of heaven and earth is my portion my possession and he can give me enough of the earth yea he will give me heaven also therefore I will not take any thing of thine lest thou shouldest say I have made Abraham rich The Lord who is possessor of the earth can give his people what earthly portions or possessions of the earth he pleaseth And let us remember what earthly portions soever we have in this world we have no reason to boast seeing all is the Lords and we are but his stewards and tenants at will And because 't is the Lords earth which we possess let us also remember to pay our rent our quit-rent to him that is thanks duly and daily lest we provoke him to distrain upon us or to take the forfeiture and turn us out of all Many hold lands from great Lords to pay only some small rent or service in a way of acknowledgement O let us remember to pay our rent to our Great Land-Lord The Lord of the whole earth They who acknowledge what they have is his or that they have and hold all they have
of him will honour him with what they have even with their substance and with the first fruits of all their increase Prov. 3.9 Thirdly We may infer Seing God founded the earth He is also the Ruler of it And that the Lord rules the earth is a mercy to all men on the earth The Lord reigns let the earth rejoyce Psal 97.1 That is men of the earth have cause to rejoyce because they have God who is infinitely both wise and good to rule them The Lord is King over all the earth sing ye praises with understanding Psal 47.7 And surely they who understand what a King he is will praise him Fourthly We may be encouraged to go unto God or apply our selves to God about all things here on earth seeing â—e hath laid the fouâ—dations of the earth The Lord having invited his people to ask him things to come concerning his sons and concerning the work of his hands to command him Isa 45.11 adds this in the next words as an encouragement to do so I have made the earth and created man upon it As if he had said Ask of me whatever you would have me do or would have done on earth for I am he that created the earth It may help our faith much when as David expresseth it Psal 11.3 the very foundations of earthly things are destroyed to consider that God laid the foundations of the earth In such a case it may be said as it followeth there in the Psalme What can the righteous do but may it not be said even in that hard case when foundations are destroyed What cannot the Lord do who laid the foundations of the earth This argument the Psalmist also useth Psal 124.8 Our help stands in the Name of the Lord who made heaven and earth Though earth and heaven shake and seem to be confounded or mingled together yet he who made heaven and earth without help can give us help or be our helper If our help stood in the best of men made of earth they might fail us but while our help stands in him that made the earth he will never fail us for he hath said he will not Heb. 13.5 and their experience who have trusted the Lord hath said it too Psal 9.10 This is the great priviledge of all that believe they may address to God by Christ for any thing in this earth because he is the Maker of it and having made it by a word speaking what cannot he do for them if he speak the word Fifthly Let us be much in praising the Lord for his wisdom power and greatness all which gloriously appear and shine forth in his laying the foundations of the earth David makes this a special part of Divine praise Psal 136.6 VVe should not onely praise the Lord for the great things he hath done on the earth but for this that he hath made the earth The work of God in laying the foundations of the earth calls as loudly for our praise as any thing except our redemption from the earth Rev. 5.9 chap. 14.3 which ever God wrought upon the face of the earth The making of the earth calls us to praise the Lord First Because he hath made so vast a body as this earth is or because he hath made such a large house for us Secondly Because he hath founded it so miraculosly hanging upon nothing that appears but in the ayre yet standing more firmly than any house built upon a rock Thirdly VVe should praise the wisdom of God that hath formed it so exactly and adorned it so richly It 's not a house huddled and clapt up together without skill or art though it was made word a word speaking in six days yet it was made with infinite wisdom as is more particularly held out v. 5. where the Lord speaks of laying the measures thereof and stretching the line upon it as also of fastning the foundations and laying the câ—rner-stone thereof all which â—â—ew it is not a house clapt up in haste but made with admirable exactness so that as 't is usual when great houses are built there were great acclamations made at the building of it as we have it the seventh verse of this Chapter then the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy to see such a magnificent pile reared up Lastly Take this inference If the visible world be such a building what is the invisible world the City having foundations which God hath prepared for those that love him Thus much of the first part of Jobs Conviction he had nothing to do in laying the foundations of the earth and he had as little in setting up and finishing that goodly structure as will appear in that which followeth Yet before the Lord proceeded any further to question Job about this great work of Creation he requires or calls for his answer in the close of this fourth verse to the question propounded in the former part of it Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the Earth Declare if thou hast understanding God challengeth Job to answer The Hebrew is If thou knowest understanding And so the word is used Isa 29.24 where we render They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding or as the Margin hath it shall know understanding Again Huram said 2 Chron. 2.12 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel that made heaven and earth who hath given to David the King a wise son endued with prudence and understanding The Original is thus strictly read Knowing prudence and understanding Daniel spake in the same forme chap. 2.21 He giveth wisdom to the wise and knowledge to them that know understanding To know is a work of the understanding No man knoweth any thing but by the help of his understanding The understanding is the first or Master-wheel in that noble engine the soul of man and when rightly informed and inlightned all the other wheels or faculties of the soul move aright unless over-poized by passions and self-ends Every rational creature hath an understanding yet every rational creature doth not know understanding that is doth not is not able to speak knowingly or to use and act his understanding knowingly about every matter The Lord supposeth Job might be defective here and therefore bespeaks him thus Declare if thou hast understanding or knowest understanding As if he had said The things which I question thee about may possibly be too high or too big for thy understanding Si perituâ— sis tantarum rerum Vatab. such as possibly thou canst not reach And hence some render or rather paraphrase the Text thus Declare if thou art skilful in such great things as I now speak of If thou art so wise as thou seemest to be by thy former contesting with my provideâ—ces declare thy wisdom in this point wherein I know thou wilt but declare thy ignorance thy infancy or inability to speak as one speaks Thou wilt shew thy self but a child while thou
it is said that David smote Moab and measured them with a line casting them down to the ground even with two lines measured he to put to death and with one full line to keep alive and so the Moabites became Davids servants and brought gifts Some understand this act of David in measuring the Moabites with a line strictly and literally that David having made a full Conquest of their Country did cause it to be measured with a line and then appointed or allotted two thirds of the Land together with the inhabitants to ruin and destruction receiving only the third of the people to mercy and reserving only a third part of the Land to be planted by them Others take it only allusively that having conquered them he used them and their Country at his own pleasure as we do that which we measure out by line But whether we take Davids measuring the Moabites with a line in the one sense or in the other it fully reaches this third notion of it under hand Here in the Text when the Lord demanded of Job Who hath stretched the line upon it It is as if he had said Shew me if thou canst who hath given this great building this fabrick of the earth such symetry such a proportion and evenness that no fault or flaw can possibly be found in it From these two figurative expressions in the fifth verse implying the exactness of the earths frame Note The frame of the world is every way and in every respect proportionable and beautiful 'T is done as it were by measure and line The Lord is infinitely above the use of measures or lines yet condescending to our understanding he gives us to know that 't is as perfect a piece as if he had done it by measure and by line Survay the whole world or any part of it is it not a most exact piece The heavens are as the roof of the house the earth as the floor and foundation of it those elements aire and water as the walls and sides of it The lower parts of the earth are as pillars and bases hills and high mountains appear like emboslements of the earth to the eye of the beholder What can be added whether we consider the compleatness of the whole or the symetry of the parts Have we not reason to say admiringly or to cry out as Psal 104.24 O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thâ—u made them all the earth is full of thy riches so is the great aâ—d wide sea c. Our hearts should be drawn up by all the works of God to admire his workmanship That thy name is near thy wondrous works declare said David Psal 65.1 speaking of the Woâ—ks of Providence and that the name of God is near his Works of Creation declare also his name is written upon them that is his power wisdome and goodness And therefore when we behold this Woâ—k of God in special his laying the measures of the earth we should admire both his goodness wisdom and power There are five things in this part of the Creation the earth as expressed to be done by line and measure which may raise up our admiration of God First The greatness of the work It is a vast peece or pile a huge fabrick though but a point to the Heavens We admire great buildings but what are the greatest buildings upon earth to the earth it self which the Lord hath built Secondly The harmony or uniformity of the building and so the beauty of it Thirdly The compactness of the building as knit close together and so the firmness of it Fourthly That all was done in so short a time We say Rome was not built in a day Solomon was seven years in building the Temple 1 Kings 6.38 And he was thirteen years in building his own house 1 Kings 7.1 And doubtlesse Solomon laid out all the power and skill he had for the setting up of those buildings But behold a greater building than either the Temple which Solomon built for God or the house which he built for himself set up as we say in a trice The Lord finished all his work in six dayes and that part of it the earth in one Nor did the Lord take either six dayes to finish the whole work or one to finish any one part of it because he needed so much time to do it in but because he would not do it in less Fifthly The Lord did all this without the use of any instrument rule or compass axe or hammer though here is mention made of a measure and of a line The skilfullest Aâ—chitect cannot raise up any considerable building without these though he hath the platform and idea of it in his head yet take away his line and his rule and he can do nothing But such is the glorious skill and power of God that though he is pleased to speak of a measure and of a line yet we must not be so gross as to think that he made use of any The whole work was natural to God and therefore he needed no artificial helps nor was any instrument employed in it but only his own creating word and will Some faithless Atheists of old and possibly there are such at this day asked in scorn with what tools and instruments with what ladders and scaffolds this building was set up But let us at once pity such in their unbeliefe and horrible prophaneness and labour to edifie or build up our selves in grace and holiness in the faith and fear of his great Name who built this world without tools or instruments without ladders or scaffolds Secondly As our hearts should be drawn out in admiration so in thankfulness forasmuch as God hath made such a world for us he hath laid the foundations of the earth he hath measured it out and stretched the line upon it that we might have the use of it that we might tenant and inhabit this house Man is the chief inhabitant of the earth that other creatures dwell there is for the service of man then let us be thankful Our greatest cause of thankfulness is that the Lord hath made another house for us of which the Apostle professeth his assurance 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that when the earthly house of this Tabernacle whether of our body or of the body of this world is dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens O how should we rejoyce in he thankful for that house But that we have this inferiour house built for us which is also a building of God an house not made with hands but purely and immediately by the power of God is and should be continual matter of great thankfulness Thirdly Seeing the Lord hath thus laid the measures of the earth and stretched forth the line upon it seeing he hath made such an exact building for us this earth let us walk exactly and orderly upon this earth which he hath made
As he hath laid his measures in framing the earth so we should keep our measures in living upon the earth He hath stretched out his line upon it and we should take heed that we do not exceed our line God hath given a line by which mans conversation should be squared as exactly as any building is or can be by line As the work of God for us is beautiful so should our works be We as to our spiritual state are a Creation a new noble Creation And certainly he who made the earth this old outward Creation in such exactness hath also made the new Creation our spiritual heavenly state much more if more may be exactly he hath made it by measure and by line Let us therefore walk and speak yea and think by measure and by line let us appear and approve our selves as the building of God as the work of Gods holy Spirit fair and beautiful Many profess godliness but do they appear as Gods Workmanship as if God had stretched his line and laid the measure of the New Spiritual Creation upon them Beleevers are the Workmanship of God Eph. 2.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and so they should appear as created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them The Apostle saith Phil. 1.27 Let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ whom ye believe in The Gospel is an exact thing ordered in all things as David spake of it 2 Sam. 23.5 under the notion of the everlasting Covenant Now saith St. Paul Let your conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ let it be an orderly conversation I may say also let your conversation be such as becometh the earth ye walk upon that 's an accurate frame the Lord hath made it in measure and stretched the line upon it Let us take heed we be not found walking besides that line those measures which he hath given us Fourthly If God hath been thus exact in framing the earth as it were by line and measure for us if he hath given us so perfect a piece to inhabit and dwell in while we are in this sinful state What do you think is that paradise which he hath prepared for us in our sinless state VVhat are the measures of our heavenly City VVhat the lines that have been stretched out upon those eternal Mansions If visible things which our eye seeth are so taking what are things invisible And if this earth which we tread on be a Looking-glass as indeed it is wherein we may see the wisdom and power of God what will heaven be How will that reflect the wisdom power and goodness of God If this world be a beauty and is therefore expressed by a word in the Greek signifying beauty 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comeliness decency what will that world be which is to come Thus much of the exactness of the building The next verse holds out the strength and firmness of it Vers 6. Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened Or who hath laid the corner-stone thereof Two things make a building strong and firm First The fastening of the foundations Secondly The right laying of the Corner-stone VVe had the laying of the foundations at the fourth verse here we have the fastening of them If a foundation be laid loosly the building will not stand Christ in the Parable Mat. 7.27 speaks of a foundation laid in the loose sand that could not make a firm building But the house which had its foundation laid on a compacted rock or had the rock for a foundation stood fast in all winds and weathers The Lord hath not only laid the foundations of the earth lis qui nos percunctantur cuinam corpori veluti subjecto fundamento tam immensum hoc terrae pondus innitatur dicamus oportet quod in manu terrae sunt omnes fines terrae Basil in Psal 94. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Immersus infâ—ous impressus hinc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 oâ—â—ulus quod digito vel potius digitus ei infigitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basis columna â—ui aliquid innititur imponitur atque ab ea gestatur but hath fastened the foundations he hath built upon a Rock You will say what is that rock-like thing upon which the foundations of the earth are fastened I answer it is nothing but the power and will of God The will and power of God are the pillars or bases upon which the earth is fastened and made sure for ever The word which we translate foundations is often in Scripture rendred sockets Exod. 26.19 chap. 35.11 chap. 38.27 Cant. 5.15 Now sockets are places cut in timber and stone or cast in mettal in which the several strengthning pieces of a building are fastened and such is the foundation to a house the fastening of it Foundations are laid in the ground and beams are fastened with sockets Mr. Broughton translates Whereupon are the foundations thereof sunk fast We usually say we must sink a foundation Foundations are sunk and then the Superstructure fastened on it Further Take notice The word which here we render foundations or sockets is not that which properly signifieth a foundation And from it the word Adon is derived which signifieth a Lord or Master or chief among men because Lords and Princes are or should be as the sockets and pillars of a Nation to fasten and secure all in their places and upon the fall of Princes often followeth the fall and ruin of Nations The Spanish word Don or Lord is supposed a derivative from it Per literam in fine additam praecedente Camets And from this Appellative one of the proper Names of God is formed by the addition of a letter in the end Under which royal Title he is represented to our faith as the Lord and Upholder of all things Some have observed that God is called by this Name one hundred thirty and four times in Scripture All which shew that he who is the Creator is also the Sustainer and Supporter of the whole fabrick of Nature such is the significancy of this word Now when the Lord asks Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened There 's no answer can be given to this question but what was given to the former God hath fastened them upon himself in his power and will they stand sure Or who hath laid the Corner-stone thereof Or Who hath cast her Corner-stone As if he had said Videntur obscure significari poli terrae Grot. Lapis anguli i. e. qui positus est in angulo Pisc Who made the parts of the earth to keep so close together and to keep up one another This is another very considerable part in a building As strong buildings must have a sure foundation to hold up the whole so they must have corner-stones to hold the parts together The corner-stone bindeth and strengtheneth the fabrick as well as gives beauty and ornament to it There are two sorts
neither foundation nor corner-stone Remember O Job and well consider that as when in the beginning I saw the earth without form and void Gen. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I by a creating word commanded it into form and fulness So when thou seest nothing but Tohu and Bohu confusion and disorder voidness and darkness in the earth even then I am laying the measures of Justice and stretching the line of Truth and Equity upon all that is done or suffered and will bring forth my work in full perfection Nothing shall be amiss or out of order when my work is finished how much soever it may seem to be amiss as to beginnings or present actings Therefore O Job leave off thy complainings and rest quietly in my dealings Some have questioned the Natural Works of God yet 't is impossible to mend any part or the least pin of them And 't is as impossible for the wit and understanding of Men or Angels to mend any thing in the Providential Works of God That 's the scope of this discourse even that the consideration of Gods power and wisdom in making the world should bâ—idle our curiosity and awe our spirits when they begin to quarrel with yea but to query about any thing that God hath done though it appear to us altogether irregular and confused or as done without either line or measure The Lords work is beautiful and glorious 't is also sure and strong As his Promise or Covenant is ordered in all things and sure 2 Sam. 23.5 So are his Providences too for they are the issues and accomplishments of his Promises oâ—dered as to means and sure as to the end They shall end oâ— issue in b inging about the things which are laid in the foundation and corner-stone of his purposes counsels and decrees all which work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose Rom. 8.28 And to convince Job from the Works of Creation that he ought not only to acquiesce or rest quietly under the Works of Providence whatsoever they were but to rejoyce in them the Lord tells him in the next verse that there was great rejoycing yea shouting for joy when the foundations of the earth were fastened and the corner-stone thereof laid JOB Chap. 38. Vers 7. 7. When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy THere are two opinions among learned Interpreters concerning the general state of this verse First Some here reassuming the first words of these questions proposed at the fourth verse by God to Job Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth c. make this the second instance of Gods mighty power in the works of Creation Where wast thou when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy As if the Lord had said I have as yet questioned thee only where thou wast when I made the earth which is the most inferiour part of the world But now I purpose to rise higher in my discourse and therefore I put these questions to thee Where wast thou when I set up the morning stars those sparkling lights which shine to the earth through the firmament of heaven as also the sons of God those blessed spirits all which sang together and shouted for joy at the appearance of my power and wisdom Secondly Others connect these words in a continued sense and sentence with the verse going before Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth c. at which sight the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy Taking the words thus they carry an allusion to or are a similitude taken from noble buildings or structures whose foundations use to be laid with solemnity and their corner-stones to be set up with shouting and acclamation That it was anciently customary to make such acclamations at the laying of the foundation of some eminent building besides what is clear out of humane Authors and Histories we have several Scripture evidences The 87th Psalm throughout setting forth the structure of the Gospel Church of the spiritual Zion by way of prophesie begins thus His foundation is in the holy mountains there 's the foundation of Zion laid Then followeth as at the second verse The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee O thou City of God! Selah As if he had said there was a great acclamation high praises at the laying the foundation of Zion with which the Psalme closeth more expresly v. 7. As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there all my Springs are in thee Again Psal 118.22 23 24. there is no sooner mention made of the corner-stone the stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner but presently we have acclamations about it This is the Lords doing it is marvelous in our eyes This is a blessed work indeed This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoyce and be glad in it That corner-stone of salvation Jesus Christ being laid as I may say all the stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy This is the day which the Lord hath made If we go to those material buildings which were figurative of the Church and Christ we shall find the like Ezra 3.10 When the Jewes at the return of their Captivity began to build the Temple the Text saith at the tenth verse And when the builders laid the foundation of the Temple of the Lord then they set the Priests in their apparel and with their voices with the Levits and the sons of Asaph to praise the Lord. As soon as the foundation was laid they were all in song and raised up in holy rejoycings though some of the old men who remembred the first Temple wept when the foundation of this was laid That Scripture Zach. 4.7 speaks of the same thing where the Prophet in the Spirit fore-seeing the disappointments of all the enemies of the people of God thus triumphs over them by faith Who art thou O great Mountain before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shouting That is the building of Hierusalem or the restoring of the Temple shall be brought to perfection and then they shall cry grace grace unto it Now in allusion to the practice both of men in common and of the people of God in special at the raising of great structures the Lord tells us here that when he laid the foundations of the earth and when he fastened the corner-stone thereof there was a Triumph made Then the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy Thus we have the state of this verse either taking it for another instance of the power of God in creating the Stars and the Angels or else subjoyning it as an acclamation
to the former instance of the power of God the Stars and Angels rejoycing at the laying of the foundations of the earth And the general reason why the Lord bâ—ings in the stars and the sons of God rejoycing at the laying the foundations of the earth and finishing that work we may conceive to be this that the Lord would thereby convince Job of his murmuring and complaining or of the unquietness of his spirit under the works of his providence As if he had said The stars and all the sons of God rejoyced at the founding of the Earth extolling the work Monetur Jobus ut exemplo angelorum dei opera miretur laudet non sugillet Scult and congratulating the appearances of my power and glory in it Now who art thou that when I have put forth my power and wisdom in this work of my providence towards thee thou shouldst complain and find fault with what I have done instead of resting and rejoycing in it Surely O Job thou thinkest my works of providence are imperfect though my work of Creation was not but consider was the Creation in the very first part of it such as caused all the sons of God to rejoyce and wilt thou who sayest thou art a son of God sit unsatisfied with any of my works Thus the Lord handles Job and from that testimony which the stars and his sons gave of the Works of Creation reproves him for his unquietness under his Works of Providence So much for the general state of the words Yet to clear them farther in general before I come to the particulars there are three veins of interpretation opened about them First Some interpret this whole verse concerning the stars or the heavenly bodies not only taking the first part of the verse literally for the stars in heaven but by the sons of God in the latter part of the verse they understand the stars in a figure as I shall shew more fully when I come to the opening of those words Thus they expound the whole verse concerning the glory and praise which the stars in heaven gave to God for the Work of Creation at the laying of the foundations of the Earth Hieronymus Gregorius Beda A second sort of Interpreters expound the whole verse of the Angels and not of the Stars properly at all they suppose the morning Stars to be Angels in a figure and the Sons of God to be Angels in the letter and so expound the whole verse of the Angels as if the words were a description only of that joy which the Angels of Heaven only expressed when they saw God beginning the Work of Creation or laying the foundations of the Earth The third sort of Interpreters divide the sense expounding the first part of the verse properly for the Stars those studs of light with which the Heavens are adorned whâ—ch in their kind are brought in singing at the Creation of the Earth and by the Sons of God in the latter part of the verse they understand the Angels those spiritual substances who are the Native Inhabitants of Heaven they especially are represented shouting for joy when that work was begun I cannot adhere to the first sort of Interpreters giving all to the Stars nor to the second giving all to the Angels though that hath many learned Authors who press it hard but following the middle way shall take the former part of this verse for the Stars of Heaven and the latter for the Angels in Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sunt steâ—â—ae quaedam singulares quae non aliis admistae solae feruntur Sydora vero quae in aliquod signum stellarum plurium composita feruntur Macrob. l. 1. c. 14. Matutinas nominat meo judicio quod sub auroram magis splendere videantur Merc. When the morning Stars sang together There are single Stars and Stars as I may say in a combination commonly called a Constellation There is an Evening Star and a Morning Star which yet are but one called by the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by the Latines Lucifer The light bringer because that Star appears very bright immediately before day-break or before the Sun riseth and the same Star which ushered or led in the Sun in the morning comes behind the Sun in the evening and is then called Hesperus The Evening Star Here the Lord speaks in the plural number of the morning Stars not in the singular of a morning Star And the Lord calls them morning Stars say some because the Stars appear most clearly and shine most brightly near the approach of the morning or break of the day Secondly Others conceive them so called Sydera summo mundi mane lucentia mequâ— suo formoso splendore landantia because they were created or formed in the very morning of the World they were early made For though as I shall touch afterward as to their perfection the Stars were made the fourth day yet their Creation is comprehended in the work of the first day under those general words Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth the Heavens contained all the Stars in their materiality though not yet formally produced for the Stars being but the thicker part of the Heavenly Orb when the Heavens were made the Stars were also made and may therefore be called Morning Stars as being made in the Morning of the World early made Thirdly They may be called Morning Stars because they according to their manner exprest their joy early or betimes in the Morning of the World or as soon as the Lord had laid the foundations of the Earth Those things which are done early Qui mane aliquid aggrediuntur opus Matutini dicuntur Nec minus Aeneas se matutinus agebat Virg l. 8. Idem est matutina astra laudant atque mane laudant Sanct. are done in the morning and they who do things in the morning have the denomination of the morning upon them The Poet anciently said Aeneas was Matutinus A Morning Man because he was early at his work so these may be called Morning Stars because they were early at work singing the praise of God Thus the reason why the Wolf hath this Epithite An Evening Wolf is because he doth his work he comes forth for his prey in the evening Hab. 1.8 Zeph. 3.3 In the former Prophet the Chaldean Horse-men are compared to Evening Wolves for fierceness and in the latter the Judges of Israel are set under the same comparison for blood-sucking cruelty And as thus upon different accounts some are called Morning Men others Evening Men so 't is upon no good account that any are called Night-men though the general reason of it be the same with the former because they do their bad work or works of darkness under the shadow and favour of the Night The Thief the Murderer the Adulterer are Night-men all these are wont to do their work in the Night Job 24 13 14 15 16.
of thy workmanship have cause to do it more than and above all they cannot but be speaking and talking of thy Kingdome and Power which are very glorious Upon which account the tongue of Man especially the tongue of a Godly Man is called his glory I will sing and give praisâ— said David Psal 108.1 even with my glory What is that his tongue the chief bodily instrument of divine praises The Stars in their courses once fought against the enemies of God Judg. 5.20 and they alwayes in their places sing the praises of God Let it not be said that Saints are silent So much of these words as the Stars are taken properly There are some as I said before who take these Stars metaphorically or figuratively for the Angels and then their singing is proper and there are two reasons given why by the stars in this place we should understand the Angels First If we consider the truth or course of the History because the Earth being created the first day the Stars were not in being till the fourth day unless we comprehend them as was said before as to their matter and reallity under those words of Moses In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth but as to their appearance and formality so they were not till the fourth day and if so how could they sing the praises of God at the laying of the foundations of the Earth A second reason is given from this Chapter because God speaks of the Stars afterwards vers 31 32. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades the seven Stars so called or loose the bands of Orion c. Here the Lord treats with Job about the Stars in proper sense therefore probably the Morning Stars here mentioned are not to be taken properly but tropically for the Angels And the Angels may very well be called Stars or Morning Stars by a Metaphor because of their spiritual beauty and excellency in which they out-shine all the Morning Sâ—ars yea that special Morning Star commonly known by the Name of Lucifer or Light-bringer Though the Angels have not a visible bodily beauty yet they have a better beauty than any body 'T is said of Stephen Acts 6.15 when he stood before the Council They beheld his face as it had been the face of an Angel Angels being Spirits have no visible faces but because Angels are in their nature and qualities beautiful creatures therefore Stephen having an extraordinary beauty stampt upon him is said to have the face of an Angel And as beautiful persons may be said to look like or resemble Angels so Angels may be said to look like or resemble Stars The Church for the lustre of her graces is said to look forth as the Morning fair as the Moon clear as the Sun Cant. 6.10 and so may the Angels as the Stars The Apostle saith of those false Apostles who would needs be accounted Stars faithful Ministers of Christ in the Firmament of the Church they are transformed into Angels of light 2 Cor. 11.14 that is they would appear like Angels of light The holy Angels are Angels of light The seven Stars are the seven Angels saith Christ expounding the Vision to John Revel 1.20 This shews that Angels and Stars have a ve y great similitude so that as there in one sense so here in another the Stars may signifie the Angels And the Angels may very well be called Morning Stars because they were the first of living Creâ—tures their Creation being supposed to be though Moses expresseth nothing of it comprehended within that of the Heavens In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth the Heaven and the heavenly Inhabitants the Angels The evil Angel the Devil that fallen Angel is also called a Morning Star That Title Lucifer Son of the Morning which the Prophet bestows on the Assyrian Isa 14.12 for his pomp and pride properly belongs to the Devil the Arch-Devil a fallen Angel or the Primier of the fallen Angels yea Jesus Christ himself is called the Day-Star 2 Pet. 1.19 and under another far different expression the Morning Star Rev. 2.28 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and he saith of himself Rev. 22.16 I am the bright and Morning Star Thus Christ who is the Angel of the Covenant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lord of Angels the Creator of Angels is called the Morning Star All these Scriptures bear testimony that it is not strange to expound Stars by Angels And therefore when the Lord saith The Stars sang together according to this interpretation upon which yet I shall not insist but leave the Reader to his own opinion it is but the same with that which followes in the close of the verse to which I now proceed And all the Sons of God shouted for joy Acies Angelorum Chald. Angeli mei Sept. The Chaldee Paraphrase is express that the Sons of God are the Angels rendring The Armies of Angels shouted for joy And the Septuagint are as clear for it saying When all my Angels sung for joy both leave out our Translation the Sons of God and put that which is the Exposition into the Text the Angels of God That the Angels are called Sons of God hath been shewed before chap. 1.6 There was a day when the Sons of God came together that is the Angels and Satan the evil Angel came also among them The Devil or evil spirit thrust himself into the assembly of the good Spirits or holy Angels who are the Sons of God If any ask how the Angels are the Sons of God I answer First Negatively They are not the Sons of God as Jesus Christ is Angels became the Sons of God in time Jesus Christ is the Son of God from Eternity The Apostle Heb. 1.5 puts the question To which of the Angels said he at any time thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee The Angels are the created Sons of God Jesus Christ onely is his onely begotten Son Angels are the Sons of God by meeâ— gâ—ace and favour the Lord accounting them as Sons accepting them as Sons using and respecting them as Sons as he doth also all true believers who likewise are the Sons of God But Jesus Christ alone is the Son of God by Naâ—ure or by an eternal generation and was so declared in the fulness of time both by his Incarnation and Resurrection which many conceive to be the Apostles intendment in those words This day have I begotten thee taken out of the second Psalm and quoted Acts 13.33 as also Heb. 1.5 Secondly In the Negative The Angels are not the Sons of God by Regeneration nor by Adoption Thus Believers only are the Sons of God John 1.12 To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the Sons of God even to as many as believed on his Name Believers are the Sons of God regenerated and adopted Angels are not so The holy Angels needed not Regeneration nor as they were created
our thoughts to the praise of God to sing and shout his praises Did the Stars take them properly and did the Sons of God the Angels rejoyce when the work first began and is not the work to be rejoyced in now 't is finished Though sin hath sullied the work yet the glory of God is still transparent in it the power goodness and wisdom of God are gloriously seen in the things that are made Rom. 1.20 not onely were they seen but they are â—een to this day The creatures are still a glass wherein we may â—â—hold the invisible things of God even his eternal Power and God-head so that they who glorifie him not in and for those works will be found and left without excuse They are a book a volume consisting of as many leaves and lines as there are distinct sorts of creatures wherein we may read the great God plainly described to us and if so let us remember our fault this day Is it not our sin and shame that we are so little in admiring God for this work which set all the Angels in heaven a singing a shouting a wondring There are several things in the Works of Creation which well considered will soon provoke us to singing and to shouting First The multitude of Creatures Secondly The various kinds of Creatures Thirdly The beauty and excellency that is in the Creatures Fourthly The profit and the usefulness of the Creatures These laid together should draw out our praises and cause us to exalt the power wisdom and goodness of God manifested in and by his Creatures Lastly Consider what was iâ— that caused the Angels to â—hout for jâ—y when they saw this woâ—k of God begun Surely it was the appearance or manifestation of God shining brightly in the Work of Creation Hence Observe The discoveries of the power wisdom and goodness of God should stir up and engage every man and cannot but effectually stir up and engage those who are wise and good to rejoyce in God Somewhat of God is stamped or there are certain lines of his transcendent perfections drawn upon every Creature here a line of wisdom and there a line of power here a line of goodness and there a line of mercy the sight of these should cause us to shout for joy especially that this God the Creator of the ends of the Earth is our God for ever and ever and will be our guide even unto death How many lines have we of God in the World which we have not read much less studied and commented upon In how many things is God visible and yet we see him not nor acknowledge him as we ought Take onely these two things by way of inference from the whole First To be of a praising of a rejoycing spirit iâ—â—o be of an excellent spirit of an angelical spirit Let us imitate â—he Angels in praising God The Angels are called the Sons of God because they imitate him let us imitate the Angels in praising God so shall we approve our selves the Sons of God too Secondly Consider The Angels rejoyced at the laying of the foundations of the Earth The Earth was made for man Heaven was the Angels habitation they were well provided for if there had never been an Earth they had been provided for yet they shouted for joy when God laid the foundations of the Earth for the use of man and beast Hence take this Inference It shews a good spirit to rejoyce at the good of others or to be pleased with that which is beneficial to others though it be no benefit to us This argues an excellent spirit an angelical spirit Some if they are well housed and provided for care not whether others are housed and provided for or no nor can they rejoyce at the good of others but as their own good is concern'd In glory we shall be like to the Angels our very bodies shall be like to the Angels living without food without sleep without marriage in Heaven we shall neither marry nor be given in marriage but shall be like the Angels O let us strive to be like the Angels in our minds now as we hope to have our bodies like the Angels hereafter even clothed as the Schoolmen call them with angelical endowments Unless our spirits are like the Angels here unless we have hearts like the hearts of Angels in this World we shall never have bodies like them hereafter or in the World to come JOB Chap. 38. Vers 8 9 10 11. 8. Or who shut up the Sea with doors when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb 9. When I made the Cloud the garment thereof and thick darkness a swadling band for it 10. And brake up for it my decreed place and set bars and doors 11. And said Hitherto shalt thou come but no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed THe Lord having questioned Job about the Fabrick of the Earth and shewed the triumph and acclamations of Angels at it in the former Context He next leads him to the waters or carrieth him to the Sea there to consider his Works of wonder As Moses in the beginning of Genesis having summarily and in general spoken of the Creation of Heaven and Earth descendeth to particulars so here we have the Lord passing from one part of the Creation to another from the Creation of the Earth to that other great part of the Creation the Waters or the Sea Vers 8. Who shut up the Sea with doors c. In these words we have First The Creation of the Sea Secondly Its Constitution both set forth by most elegant Metaphors The Creation or Production of the Sea is shadowed by allusion to an Infant breaking forth out of the womb Vers 8. The Constitution or settlement of the Sea is carried on in suitable Metaphors to the end of the eleventh Verse Vers 8. Or who hath shut up the Sea with doors when it brake forth c. We have here First The Birth or Nativity of the Sea Secondly What God did with the Sea when it was born and issued out of the womb Then God shut it in with doors and prepared garments and swadling bands for it then he restrained the rage force and fury of it and held it as his prisoner or captive in bonds As soon as an Infant is born it is bound up and swadled and as soon as the Sea as I may say was born or come into the World God took order with it and to keep it in order he provided doors to shut it in and garments to bind it up with What the Scripture speaks of Gods coercing the Sea may be reduced to two heads First To that restraint which he laid upon the Sea presently upon its Creation some say the first others the third day of the Creation according to that Gen. 1.9 God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so Thus the
than humane he commanded his chair to be set on the Sea-shore at the time of flood and sitting down thus bespake that Element I charge thee not to enter my land nor wet these robes but the sea keeping on its course he rose up and spake in the hearing of all about him Let all the inhabitants of the world know that vain and weak is the power of Kings and that none is indeed worthy of that Name but he that keeps both heaven and earth and sea in obedience Thirdly Then tremble at the power of God who can let the sea loose upon us in a moment We tremble at the sea if it break loose then tremble at the power of God who can let loose the sea It is he that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth the Lord is his Name Amos 9.6 Fourthly when the sea breaks bounds in any degree either when we see a storm at sea or a deluge at land let us go only to the Lord who onely can still the raging of the sea and put swadling-bands about it even as if it were a child God alone is to be invocated when the winds are tempestuous and threaten either a deluge at land or a wrack at sea Heathens invoked Neptune and Aeolus Popish votaries call upon St. Nicholas and St. Christopher Let us learn of the Disciples who fearing to be swallowed up of a tempest went to Christ and said Master save us we perish Matth. 8.27 The poor Mariners in Jonah called every one upon his God Jorah 1.5 but none of them called upon the true God It is Jehovah the Lord the true God onely that raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves of the sea and it is he that maketh the storm a calm Psal 107.24 25 29. Fifthly If the sea so vast and violent a creature receive the bridle from God and is bound up by him even as an infant in swadling-bands how much more should man receive the bridle from him The Lord saith to the sons of men hitherto shall ye come and no further hitherto your works and actions shall go and no further yet how do the men of the world over-flow and break their bounds The prophet makes this application clearly Jer. 5.22 23. Fear ye not me saith the Lord will ye not tremble at my presence which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass it and though the waves thereof toss themselves yet can they not prevail though they roar yet can they not pass over it but this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart they are revolted and gone As if he had said The sea doth not revolt against my command but this people doth they are more unruly than the sea All the wicked at best are like the troubled sea that cannot rest as the Prophet speaks Isa 57.20 How much worser then are they than the sea when they are at worst Lastly We may hence infer for our comfort If the Lord hath put bounds to the natural sea what unnatural sea is there to which the Lord cannot put bounds There is a five-fold metaphorical sea to which the Lord hath said hitherto shalt thou come and no further Or at least he hath said though thou come hither thou shalt come no further This the Lord hath said First To the sea of mans wrath The wrath of man is a grievous sea and of that David saith Psal 76.10 The wrath of man shall praise thee the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain Let men be as angry as they will let them be as stormy as a sea yet the Lord hath said hitherto shall ye come and no further For Psal 65.7 He stilleth the noise of the seas the noise of their waves and the tumult of the people Yea great men raging like the sea are sometimes stopt by very small matters such as the sea-sands The Chief-priest and Elders of the people were offended at Christ and therefore questioned his Authority yet forbare to answer his question as they had most mind to do it for fear of the people Matth. 21.23 26. Secondly He bounds the sea of the devils rage The devil is a sea in bonds We read of a special thousand years wherein it is prophesied that Satan shall be bound Rev. 20.2 yet indeed he is alwayes bound else no man could live a quiet hour for him nor have any rest from his furious temptations and vexations but his professed slaves and votaries Thirdly There is a sea of Affliction which we meet with in this world the Lord bounds that also and saith hitherto it shall come and no further 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it Fourthly The Lord sets a bound to the sea of prophaneness and ungodliness in the world that 's a sea that would over-flow all and that is a sea fâ—r whose over-flowing we have cause to pour out floods of tears Hence that prayer of David Psal 7.9 O let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end Did not the Loâ—d put an end to the prophaneness and ungodliness of men they would be endless in prophaneness and ungodliness The unjâ—st knoweth no shame Zeph. 3.5 That is he is never ashamed of any injustice but would go on to do unjustly and wickedly in infinitum who knows how long Fifthly The Lord sets a bound to the sea of error and false dâ—ct ine the Lord saith Hitherto shalt thou c me and no further Error would be as extravagant and boundless as the sea if the Lord did not bound it Epiphanius in his treatise of heresies alludes to this Scripture for the comfort of himself and oâ—hers when he saw such a high-grown sea of error broken in upon the Church As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do such ungodly men withstand the truth of Christ but saith the Apostle 2 Tim. 3.9 They shall proceed no further Did not the Lord give a stop to the spirit of seduction that goeth out from the Devil and the false Prophet it would bring in a deluge of delusions upon the whole world and as Christ himself hath fore-warned us Matth. 24.24 deceive if it were possible the very Elect. But there is a bar and a bound for this sea also though they come hitherto to this and that person with their errors to this and that point of error yet they shall proceed no further and here even here their proud and poisonous waves shall be stayed JOB Chap. 38. Vers 12 13 14 15. 12. Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days and caused the day-spring to know his place 13. That it might take hold of the ends of the earth that the wicked might be
shaken out of it 14. It is turned as clay to the seal and they stand as a garment 15. And from the wicked their light is with-holden and the high arm shall be broken THe Lord in dealing with Job had already put sundry Questions to him about the earth and about the sea as hath been shewed in the former part of this Chapter here the Lords calls his thoughts up into the ayre or bids him look to the heavens and duly consider the light of the Sun In this the Lord intends the same thing which he had done before while he was questioning Jâ—b about the Earth and the Sea namely to humble him and bâ—ing him â—o a full submission by shewing him his weakness and utter insufficiency as also to set forth his own wisdom power and greatness Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days c. We may gather up the general sense of these four verses in oâ— this brief sum As if the Lord had thus bespoken Job If thou answerest that the things I have already questioned thee about were before thy time and therefore must needs be done without either thy counsel or assistance then I ask thee farther Hast thou ever hastened or retarded hast thou quickened or stopt the rising of the Sun at any time since thou wast born or hast thou ever caused the morning light in any one of these Jew days which thou hast seen to spread it self far and near even every where to the uttermost parts of the earth that so those evil doers and night-birds who being children of darkness cannot but hate the light and love the works of darkness might by its rising be at once discovered and affrighted This seems to be the purpose and scope of God in these words More particularly Vers 12. Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days That 's the first Question Hast thou since thy days given the morning its charge to Mr. Broughton translates implying that every morning the Sun receives as it were fresh orders from some hand or other now hast thou given out orders for â—â—e morning light Doth the day-light obey thee Doth the Sun arise at such times and places as thou hast appointed Hast thou commanded it so we render The word notes commanding with fullest authority Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vâ—tâ— jubâ—re oâ—essâ— exhibere sisterâ— in actum â—oâ—spectum edâ—câ—re Imperium voluntatis efficaâ— intelligitur quod statim sequitur effâ—ctus a command to appear and be ready upon duty a command to stand forth and do what is enjoyned This word of command is most proper unto God Psal 33.9 He spake the word and it was done he commanded and it stood fast The command of God is a creating command it puts things into act his saying gives them a being his calling them to work makes them work or sets them a work Now saith God Hast thou commanded the morning Hast thou O Job such a word of command upon any câ—eature for the producing of any effect motion or action Hast thou commanded The morning Aâ—anando latine dicitur mane quâ—d cum sole manâ—t dies abâ—â—ience By the morning the Lord means the morning light As if he had said Hast th u raised the Sun out of its bed and brought forth the morning hast thou like the Master or Lord of this great family the World called up thy servants and set up thy light for them to work by hast thou commanded the morning that is caused the Sun to rise which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber and rejoyceth as a strong man to run a race Psal 19.5 No saith the Lord it was not 't is not thou that commandest the morning it is I that command the morning I commanded the first morning Gen. 1.5 I said Let there be light and there was light and the evening and morning were the first day It was I who the fourth day said Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons for days and for years It was I that made two great lights the Sun and Moon the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night Gen. 1.14 15 16. The first morning and all the mornings the light-bearer or the light-bringer came forth and appeared at my command not at thine Hast thou commanded the morning Since thy days There is somewhat special in those words Since thy days We may take them either of these two ways First As if the Lord had said Cum dixit A diebus tuis Ostendit id antequam ille nasceretur factum esse perpetuum illum naturae ordinem in manu dei esse non hominum Merc. Was there no morning before thy days Or Was there not a morning befoâ—e thou hadst a morning in the world Did the birth of the morning wait till thou wast born Did it not look forth noâ— appear till thou didst appear Surely there were mornings hundreds of years before thou hadst a morning in the world The morning did not stay for thee nor for thy day Secondly Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days That is since thou camest into the world hast thou had the honour priviledge and power to awaken and call up the morning as thou dost thy houshold servants Know O Job that as there was a morning before thou wast born or hadst a day in the world so since thy day thou hast neither made the morning nor raised up the morning light that power is now in my hand as it was before thou wast in being thou art but of yesterday of a few days there was a morning before thy days and since thy days many have continued and come forth daily yet not at thy command but at mine As I brought forth the light in the first day of the Creation so the fourth day I created the Sun into which I gathered the light and at whose rising the morning shews it self Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days 'T is a daring Question thou hast not I have done it and not thou Hence Note First What God will have done he can command to be done or it shall be done at his command The Lord needs not labour to produce the most difficult effects he can produce them as a Lord by a word speaking he needs not intreat nor treat about the bringing forth of any matter his will is enough to bring it forth What God will have done shall be done Thus it was at the beginning when God created all things and gave them a being and thus it hath been ever since for the moving of all things to their several ends and issues to this day all hath been done by a word of command David Psal 148. calling the Sun Moon and Stars to praise the Lord gives that as the reason vers 5. for he commanded and they were created Now I say as
our blessed Saviouâ— the light and life of the world hath counselled us Let our light shine and so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorifie our father which is in heaven Matth. 5.16 We that have light commanded for us every day how should we be lights and go forth as the Sun casting out our rays and beams in a holy and godly conversation And while we go forth and walk in such a conversation we go forth and walk as the Sun in its strength we enlighten all the world where we come and dazel the eyes of the wicked world or of the wicked in the world Sixthly How should we who have light commanded for us avoid all the works of darkness yea We should as the Apostle exhorts Rom. 13.12 13. cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light we should walk honestly as in the day As in the day which the light of the natural Sun makes and as in the day which the light of the mystical Sun our Lord Jesus Christ hath made Seventhly Remember as God hath commanded a morning for us here so he will command a light or a morning a morning light for all our actions hereafter As God hath made the the light so he will bring all things to light Many now live in the light of this world whose works are in the dark as well as theirs are works of darkness Now as the Lord hath commanded a morning to shine for us to worke by so he will have a morning wherein all our works shall be seen 1 Cor. 4.5 He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and the manifest the counsels of the heart Men may dig deep to hide their counsels from God but God knows how to bring them and their counsels to the morning and will cause a light to shine upon them though they have no light of truth or righteousness in them God will bring every work into judgement with every secret thing Eccl. 12.14 We must all appear saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.10 or we must all be manifest we must appear and so must our works too Those works of men shall be light as to their discovery which are nothing but darkness as to their impurity Those deeds which have no light in them shall come in the clearest light and be plainly seen to the bottom both by Men and Angels The Lord who hath commanded this moâ—ning light for us to do our work in will command another morning light to judge our works in and to give us the reward of them And let all the wicked of the earth to whom the morning of any day because they are in danger to be discovered by it is as the shadow of death Job 24.17 Let them I say consider how many thousand deaths that morning will be to them which will actually fully and impartially discover all their wickedness with all the secrets of it Lastly Consider if the Lord hath bestowed so great a mercy upon us in commanding the morning or in giving us light the light of the Sun then let us be minded how great a mercy the Lord hath bestowed upon us in commanding the light or morning of the Gospel to come upon us It was night with us and so it would have been for ever for any means we could have devised or used to help out selves out of it till God commanded Christ the bright Morning Star Rev. 22.16 and Sun of Righteousness to rise and shine upon us How unspeakable a mercy is it that such a light should appear to us who not only were in darkness but were darkness If we account it a mercy that God hath commanded a morning to shine to us O what a mercy is it that we have a Christ to shine upon us That the Day-Star from on high hath visited us That he who is the true light that enlightens every man that cometh into the world John 1.9 hath risen upon us both to scatter the darkness of sin and ignorance and to chear our souls with the sweet beams of his healing wings So much of the first part of the verse Hast thou commanded the mâ—rning since thy day 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sâ—ir◠〈◊〉 auâ—â—râ—◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aurora dâ—ssâ—runt Nam prima dici 〈…〉 diâ—tum 〈…〉 hâ—c a nigri◠〈◊〉 specio ut vid tur Nam 〈◊〉 res sub diâ—â—rulo apparere inâ—pturâ— nigricâ—â—â— viâ—entur Câ—c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eâ—t nigrescâ—re bin nigrescentem lucem scil diluculum significat Sol varie nec uno loco oritur quotidie ejus loâ—â—s mutatirut sol ascendit aut descendit in signis Zodiaci Merc. And caused the day-spring to know his place That is when and where it should break forth and appear every morning The day-spring is exprest by a different word in the original from the morning light it implieth the first of the morning when the air is darkish or duskish we commonly call it the gray of the morning The word signifies to be dark or that darkness which we call twilight When the day-spring ushers in the morning there is a kind of dimness in the light Now saith the Lord Hast thou caused the day-spring to know its place hast thou taught it where to shew it self to the world The Lord speaks nere of the day-spring as if it were a rational creature that took instructions or a word of direction where to begin the morning light God not man hath taught the day-spring to know its place We have a like expression Psal 16.11 Thou wilt shew me or thou wilt cause me to know the path of life Thus the Lord makes the day-spring know the path to its own place The day never springs twice immediately in one place but is in a continual variation as Astronomers with experience teach The place of the light or Sun-rising differeth every morning and from thence we have the difference of the dayes The Sun passing through the twelve signs of the Zodiack beginning with Aries c. I shall not trouble you with their names which have been devised and are used only for learning sake the Sun I say passing every year thâ—ough these twelve Signs all which Astronomers present unto us under various forms or figures such as themselves fancied most useful to subserve the understanding of that Art according to the situation of these Signs through which the Sun runs his course in the Heavens the day-spring to us on Earth changeth its place every day appearing sometimes more southerly and sometimes more easterly as the Sun either ascends to the Summer Solstice at which time the day is at longest and the night at shortest as about the eleventh of our Moneth called June or when it descends to the Winter Solstice at which time the day is shortest and the night longest as about the eleventh of our December To which we may add the Suns coming in its
go abroad doing mischief following wicked purposes when the light appears dis-appear with-draw and play as we say least in sight Job 24.13 The wicked are they that rebel against the light they hate it cannot endure it they are like the wild beasts of the earth that raven in the night but in the day couch in their dens and coverts no man can tell where to find them Psal 104.20 21 22. Thou makest darkness and it is night wherein all the beasts of the forrest do creep forth c. The Sun ariseth they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens Thus the wild beasts are shaken out of the earth when the light appears and so are wicked beast-like men John 3.20 Every one that doth evil hateth the light And as such hate the spiritual light of the Gospel so they do not very well like the natural light of the day Wicked men decline the light and are called darkness and their works are called the works of darkness and therefore when the Sun ariseth theeves robbers and all of those wicked trades may be said to shake themselves out of the earth He that doth evil hates the light he looks upon light as an enemy Fourthly These words Mane judicia exercebantur Drus Grot. Sensus horum verborum è ut improbi die exorto trahantur ad judicia ac ita terra excutiantur Pisc That the wicked might be shaken out of it are rather to be understood of the wicked as often apprehended in the morning for evil done in the night When the day-spring appears it discovers wicked men who being taken examined and tried are by the Sentence of the Judge and Decree of the Magistrate shaken out of the earth God the Supream Judge seems to search the whole earth by the Candle of the Sun as he once threatned to search Jerusalem with candles Hence Note First Light is a discoverer Light makes all things manifest As the light of the Word discovers the evil that is in the works of wicked men and makes that manifest so the light of the Sun discovers the persons of wicked men and makes them manifest We cannot distinguish white from black nor can we see where men are nor what they are doing till light be-friend us And as the natural light makes things manifest so much more doth spiritual light the light of Law and Gospel By the power of that light wicked men are shaken and driven out of their sins by that light they see judge and condemn themselves And thus the wicked are indeed shaken out of the earth that is out of their earthly state of sin and unbelief Secondly Note Wicked men and light are at no good agreâ—ment He that will continue in any evil bears no good will to any kind of light Odit lucem qâ—i turpiter agit There is nothing more uncouth and displeasing to a man that resolves to live in sin than the light of the Word yea many times than the light which shines in the air Such say as he of old when the day begins to break Lux inimiâ—a propirquat Virg. Our enemy is coming Common day-light which is a great good much more divine light which is a far greater good is counted an evil by evil ones What communion hath light with darkness said the Apostle 2 Cor. 6.14 And as they who are light ought not to have any complying communion with darkness so they who are darkness cannot have or hold any pleasing communion with light Thirdly If we take these words as holding out one main design of the Providence of God in sending the light every morning namely that the wicked may be shaken out of the earth This shews that wicked men should be speedily proceeded with and the earth unburdened of them The ordinary use of the light is that men may go forth to their labour Psal 104.23 Now as that is one great use of light that man may see his honest labour and be guided to or in the works of his calling so another great use of it is to apprehend wicked men who do dishonest work and bring them to judgement David said Psal 101.8 I will early or in the morning destroy all the wicked of the land As soon as ever the light takes hold of the ends of the earth if I can I will take hold of evil doers that is I will not delay much less stop the course of justice against them that do wickedly This was a kingly resolve Early will I destroy the wicked of the land This was the Prophets counsel Jer. 21.3 Execute judgement in the morning that is with the first opportunity It is not good to be rash in judgement nor is it to be slack in judgement Wicked men are a burden to the earth therefore 't is fit with the first when there is no other remedy to unburden the earth of them There is yet another reading and exposition of this latter part of the verse taking the word rendred wicked not for persons Bolduc but for things and then 't is read in the Neuter gender The light takes hold of the ends of the earth to shake wicked or evil things that is those things which are noxious to the earth out of it The heat of the Sun rising upon the earth exhales and draws out hurtful vapours from the earth which abiding in the bowels of it would hinder its fruit-bearing or make it barren This sense is prosecuted all along by some Interpreters quite thorow the 14th and 15th verses but I shall not stay upon it The Lord having shewed this use of the light which he commands every morning shews in the next verse some other uses or effects of it Vers 14. It is turned as clay to the seal and they stand as a garment This verse saith a learned Expositer is so difficult Locus difficilis est quo in extricando si aliquis dixerit aliquid vorisimile a benigno lectore respuendum non est Sanct. that he not to be refused who offers any thing probable towards the opening of it I conceive it may best be understood as an Exposition of those words in the former part of the 13th verse That it might take hold of the ends of the earth it is turned as clay to the seal that is the earth is turned as clay to the seal for when the light passeth through the air it sets as it were a new stamp upon the earth And then the former part of the 15th verse may be taken as an Exposition of the latter part of the 13th verse That the wicked might be shaken out of it and from the wicked light is with-holden that is they are utterly destroyed and so shaken out of the earth It is turned as clay to the seal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sicut lutum sigilli i. e. cui sigillum imponitur Genitivus adjuncti Pisc and they stand as a garment Here are two metaphors to set
out the renewed face of the earth upon the rising of the Sun or the appearance of the morning light First From clay altered by the seal Secondly From mans putting fresh garments and ornaments upon his body It is turned as clay to the seal That is The approach of light makes a great change upon the face of the earth even as if it had received a new or fresh impression as clay doth from a seal A piece of clay is a rude lump without form or figure but if you take a seal and stamp it that clay readily receives any figure or coat of arms engraven on the seal and so 't is turned from what it was in appearance Thus the meaning seems to be this The earth before the Sun riseth is like a rude piece of clay in the night we see no more beauty in the earth than if it had no beauty at all go to a well composed garden walk there in a dark night you cannot discern the figure of any border nor the rarest beauty of any flower nor the pleasantest fruit of any tree planted there your eye cannot take in nor feast it self upon any of those delights while darkness covers the face of the earth but when the light comes Terra ad Solis exâ—ntum immutâ—ta novas infinitus rerum aspâ—ctabilium formas instâ—rluti quod siguli aâ—bitrio effirgitur recipiet quibus tanquam vesto versicolori induatur â—ez then you see the form and figure of every thing before you then the earth is turned as clay to the seal the Sun as it were stamps and impresseth a new beauty and bravery upon it and then the earth which lookt like a void or rude heap appears in its form and figure whether natural or artificial This sense is much insisted upon in opening this Scripture and 't is a good sense setting forth that benefit of the light causing the earth to appear in its propeâ— shape which night or darkness had hidden or obscured Hence Note The shining of the light puts a new face in appearance upon the face of the earth Things that appear not are as if they were not Nothing appears but by the light This is most true of spiritual light when that ariseth upon any place or people that place or people are turned as clay to the seal onely with this difference the natural light of the Sun doth only manifest what figures or stamps are already impressed upon the earth it doth not make any there which were not there before but where the Sun-shine of the Gospel comes though it were a place as rude as Barbarisme it self 't is turned into another shape the people are quite another people in their manners and conversation It was so with this Nation we were once as rude heathens as any in the world but by the light of the Gospel we were turned as clay to the seal we received the figure of Grace the figure of Christianity And at this day in those places among the Indians where the Gospel hath lately come marvelous changes are wrought upon them they have another stamp upon their tongues another kind of language another stamp both upon hand and foot another kind of working and walking than before As the light of the Gospel discovers evil persons to themselves a natural man knows not of what shape he is till he sees himself in that light so it makes them good and puts a new stamp a new figure upon them it makes them indeed new creatures new men they are turned through the mighty power of the Spirit accompanying that light as clay to the seal Such that is as bad as could be were some of you saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.11 but ye are washed c. that is ye are now other manner of men than once ye were It is turned as clay to the seal And they stand as a garment They stand Who stand as a garment The things of the earth they stand to look on as a garment All thingâ— present themselves before us in a goodly hue when the Sun riseth then they appear in their beauty the whole body of the earth is then clothed to the eye of every beholder Hoc hemistichium impersonaliter accipio Sistent sc omnes res tanquam cum vestimento i. e. ornatissina omnia lucis beneficio apparent Coc. As light it self is like a golden robe which the earth puts off every night and puts on again every morning so light shews us all those goodly things which are the earths robes or with which the earth is clothed as with a garment The earth is not onely as a thing without form but as a naked thing as a body without clothing to appearance till the light appears but as soon as the light appears then whatsoever may be called the earths clothing and apparel appears also If any would know more distinctly what the clothing apparel or garment of the earth is I answer First That may be called the earths garment which grows out of it the grass corn herbs flowers trees all these vegetables are as a garment upon the earth Secondly Not only vegetables but animals the beasts of the earth are as a garment to the earth Psal 65.13 The pastures are clothed with flocks the valleys also are covered with corn Corn is to the valleys what flocks are to the pastures their clothing Thirdly Artificial things as well as natural are also the earths garment All those fair buildings Towns and Cities all those goodly Edifices and Pallaces any where raised upon the earth are they not as a garment to the earth so then fruits and flowers growing out of the earth flocks and herds living upon the earth Vt ea mutata sicut argilla sigillari sisterentur illi velâ—â— indumento obducto Jun. i. e. ut cohiberentur improbi à pergendo sceleribus suis promovendis tanquam si obvolverentur panno vultus aut pedes ipsorum ut sequâ—ns versus amplius explicat Jun. Vt mutetur ea sicut lutum cui sigilluxi imprimitur sistentur illi tanquam velati indumento Vt moris erat velari sontes Pisc houses and dwellings built on the earth are a clothing to the earth and they appear to be so by the coming forth and appearance of the light that shews the beauty and figure of the earth the trimings and adornings of it Those things are to the earth as a rich embroidered garment and light manifests them to be so There is yet another exposition of this 14th verse They stand as a garment that is the wicked spoken of in the latter end of the former verse and are there said to be shaken out of the earth who are also spoken of in the following verse where it is said Their light is with-holden and their high arm shall be broken These wicked ones when the light shines are made to stand forth as in a garment That is saith one Author noted in the Margin the wicked
about to frame and O how many how exceeding many or innumerable are they yet God saw not onely some or many but every one of them It was said by one of the Ancients upon this place Profundum mâ—ris deuâ— ingreditâ—r quâ—ndo visitare mentes etiam pressâ—â— sceleribus non dedignatur Greg. l. 29. c. 7 God goes to the depth of the sea as often as he goeth into the depth of mans heart and beholds what is there And there â—e beholds not onely the great but small beasts as the Psalmist calls the fish of the sea that is not onely great but small lusts and foolish imaginations the huge multitudes and shoals of vain thoughts which swim and play in that wide sea of mans heart are distinctly seen and as distinctly judged as if but one were there Thirdly From the scope of this place note That seeing we cannot search into the depth of the sea it should stay our curiosity in searching into and stay us from discontent when we cannot find the depth of Gods Counsels concerning us and of his Providences towards us There is a dutiful search into the Works of God David speaks of it Psal 111.2 The works of the Lord are great sought out of all those that have pleasure in them They are sought out that is they who have pleasure in them do and will endeavour soberly to search them out as much as may be but let all take heed of searching them wantonly or presumptuously that is either to satisfie their curiosity or with an opinion that they can reach the depth of them The Lord would have us satisfie our selves in the ignorance or rather nescience of those natural things which he hath not made known to us Surely then which is as hath been said the scope of this Chapter we should be satisfied though we in some cases know not nor can perceive the reason of Gods providential dealings either towaâ—ds particular persons and families or his Church in general Will any wise or sober man vex and disquiet himself will he be angry and pettish because he knows not all the secrets of the earâ—h and sea as some say Aristotle the Philosopher was to death and drowning because he could not find out the reason why the sea in one place ebbed and slowed seven times in one day Why then should we be impatient because the reason of Gods proceedings with the sons of men or of the strange ebbings and slowings of things in the sea of this world is secreted and hidden fâ—om us And therefore when we are not able to enter into the springs of this sea nor to walk in the search of this depth let it not trouble us but humble us as it did Job to whom the Lord put these questions and proceeded to put more and more hard questions if harder can be in the next words Vers 17. Have the gates of death been opened or revealed unto thee Or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death Here is another strange question Who among the living hath had the gates of death opened to him Oâ— hath viewed the doors of the shadow of death We read often in Scripture of the gates of death Psal 9.13 Num illius profunda quae verè dixirim mortis regiam c. rimatus es Bez. Psal 107.18 and which is all one of the gates of the grave Isa 38.10 but who knows what these gates are yet we may say something towards the clearing of this question A gate in strict sense is that by which we are admitted into any place and so the gates of death are That whatsoever it is by which we enter into death or go into the black hall of the grave Again The gates of death are any great and eminent danger Then we may be said to be at the gates of death when our lives are in great hazard to be lost either by the violence of enemies or by any violent sickness In the former sense David spake in way of supplication Psal 9.13 Have mercy on me O Lord consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me thou that liftest me up from the gates of death that is from deadly danger In the latter he spake by way of narration in his elegant description of the sick Psal 107.18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat and they draw near unto the gates of death that is they are ready to die or sick unto death And thus said King Hezekiah upon his sick-bed and as he thought a little before upon his death-bed Isa 38.10 I shall go to the gates of the grave I am deprived of the residue of my years that is of those years which I might have reckoned upon as mine according to the common account of mans life or the usual course of nature These are the more general gates of death and about these all agree But there are several opinions what should be specially intended by the gates of death in this place Portae mortis sunt causae corruptionis quantum advirtutes corporum â—â—lestium Aquin. in loc First One riseth very high saying that by the gates of death we are to understand the visible heavens because the heavenly bodies send down sometimes malignant influences which have a mighty power to corrupt the bodies of men here below so causing death to carry them away Thus he imagins death issuing out of the clouds as out of opened gates upon men on earth But that 's a far fetcht interpretation Secondly Oâ—hers go to the utmost contrary point and say by the gates of death we are to understand Hell The Papists give a description of several receptacles for souls departed under the earth they make at least three distinctions First Limbus Patrum The place where they affiâ—m the souls of the Fathers were before Christ came in the flesh and had accomplished the work of our redemption here on earth Secondly Purgatory the place where the souls of all that die not in mortal sin as they distinguish are reserved to be purged by temporary punishments before they can get to heaven Thirdly The lowest of all is that which we call Hell the place of the damned whither all go say they and we too who die in sin without repentance This place of torment some take for the gates of death But seeing the Lord is here speaking of natural things not of moral actions not of the consequents of them rewards and punishments therefore though we may truly call Hell the gates or power of death yet that notion as well as the former is altogether heterogeneal in this Text. Thirdly Several expound the gates of death in connection with the former verse for the depth or bottom of the sea where many dead carcases lie rotting all such as are cast away by shipwracks or die at sea being usually thrown into the deep and therefore at last the sea shall give up her dead as well as the earth Fourthly The gates of death
mysteries of the Gospel are hidden from us till God is pleased to reveal them so in nature there are many things which are mysteries and secrets to us till God makes them known to us And there are some things which God will no more open to us than he hath the gates of death or the doors of the shadow of death And if so then as God will never blame us for not knowing those things which he hath hidden so we should not busie our selves with any enquiries about hidden things Though the secret of the Lord be with those that fear him Psal 25.14 yet they that fear him will not dare not meddle with nor search into the Lords secret Therefore Lastly Observe Whatsoever God is not pleased to reveal to us or is pleased to hide from us that we should be content not to know and be satisfied that it is hidden from us Deut. 29.29 The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but those things which are revealed belong unto us and our children for ever It is both our duty and our interest to be content with our own share or to be satisfied with what belongs to us and not to invade Gods peculiars or reserves It was Jobs fault he would be entring into the secrets of God but saith God Have the gates of death been opened unto thee or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death if not then be not troubled that those things are not opened to thee which I have reserved to my self God hath not straitned us in any needful point of knowledge there is enough opened to us though the gates of death be not Is it not enough for us that in the glass of the Gospel God hath set before us the mysteries of eternal salvation unless he also acquaint us in the day of our trial which was Jobs case with all the whole mystery of his temporal dispensations The Lord having urged Job with these hard questions about the depth of the Sea and the gates of death seems now to offer him a more easie question in the next verse Vers 18. Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth Declare if thou knowest it all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Sic terram elegantèr circumloquuntur nâ—m qui quid sub coelo â—â—reâ— terra est â—er terram ambit Drus The Septuagint render Hast thou perceived the breadth of that which is under the heavens Under the Cope or Canopy of the heavens Hast thou perceived how broad that is which is spanned or compassed about by the heavens that is as we translate the breadth of the earth That which is circled or suâ—rounded by the aereal heavens is the earth Hast thou perceived the breadth of that Though the earth be better known to man than the depth of the sea yet no man ever saw the whole earth Many parts of the earth are deserts and unpassable by man The best Writers say the whole compass of the earth is 21600 miles yet that is rather a supposition than a demonstration no man having ever visited or viewed the whole face of the earth We find Job 11.9 length ascribed to the earth and breadth to the sea But in this place the Lord having ascribed depth to the sea gives breadth to the earth We are not here to take the breadth of the earth according to the rules of Geography for so the length of the earth is from East to West Terrae latitudo hoc in locâ— est universus terrae ambitus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pluralis a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 latitudo In qualibet re major dimensâ—o vocâ—tur longitudo minor latitudo Aquiâ— and the breadth from North to South but breadth is here put sinecdochically for all the dimensions or the whole circumference of the Earth As it the Lord had said Dost thou know how big how spacious the Earth is The breadth of the Earth imports the largeness of it opposed to straitness or narrowness and to shew that here the breadth contains all dimensions the word is in the Plural Number Hast thou known the breadths of the Earth that is the whole compass of it how broad and how long and so how big the Earth is Hast thou perceived the breadth of the Earth Hence Note First The earth is a huge vast body That is very big whose bigness is not easily perceived if at all perceivable and such is the breadth or bigness of the earth Whence take this double Inference First If the earth be such a great thing that a man cannot perceive the breadth or dimensions of it then how great are the heavens The earth in comparison of the heavens is but as a point 't is as little as is imaginable O what a broad thing is heaven if the earth be such that we cannot reach the breadth of it Secondly If the earth be so great how great is God who made the heavens and the earth too That 's it which God would lead Job to the consideration of even of his own infinite greatness How great is God who made this great earth To him as the prophet Isaiah speaks chap. 40.15 16. The Nations the people of the earth are but as the drop of a bucket and as the dust of the ballance He weighs the mountains in scales and the hills in a ballance He holds the dust as one single grain in his hand What a nothing are all things to God seeing the earth is a nothing to the heavens God puts the question to Job Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth and we may put that question into this negative Proposition O Job Thou hast not perceived the breadth of the earth The wisest of men know not the breadth or bigness of the earth Some have undertaken to tell us how great the circle of the earth is but theirs are but guesses though somewhat may be said that way yet no man can give it exactly and therefore the Roman Orator attempting to write about the earth and the dimensions of it prefaceth or apologizeth thus for himself De Geographia dabo operam ut tibi satisfaciam sed nihil certi polliceor magnum opus est Cicero ad Atticum l. 2. ep 4. I will do my endeavour to satisfie thee about Geography or the dimensions of the earth but I promise nothing of certainty 't is a great work Hast thou known the breadth of the earth Declare if thou knowest it all As if the Lord had said I have put the question to thee come now answer me declare what thou knowest let me know what her thou knowest it all God provokes or challengeth Job to say his utmost We may refer these last words either strictly to the immediate question only or generally to all the questions before yet I conceive they are rather to be restrained to the last question concerning the breadth of the earth because they run in the singular number Declare if thou knowest it all
that is if thou knowest all of the earth There were many paâ—ts of the earth which Job knew not at all therefore he could not know it all We at this day after all the improvements which have been made by Navigation little in use in Jobs days for the discoveâ—y of the earth are yet forced to write upon some places as we may see in our best Maps of the World Terra incognita this part of the earth is unknown If we now do not surely Job then did not know it all Further When the Lord saith Declare if thou knowest it all his meaning is not If thou hast any knowledge at all about it all for there is no wise no understanding man but hath some measuâ—e or degree of knowledge as about the depth of the Sea so about the breadth and measures of the Earth but the meaning of these words Declare if thou knowest it all is if thou knowest the all of it if thou knowest it throughly For as these words have reference to the object to be known so to the manner of knowing There are many that know something and some that know many things yet none that know all things no not the all of any one thing The Apostle speaking of spiritual things saith We know in part and the truth is we know but a part of natural things of the sea of the earth and we know them but in part So then when the Lord saith If thou knowest it all his meaning may be this if thou hast a distinct and demonstrative knowledge of the thing Declare it I know thou mayest give conjectures and propose probabilities but I know also that thou neither knowest it all nor the all of it God hath given us a certain knowledge about things that refer to eternity and to salvation to them we must stick and abide by them but as to these things all that we know is but little and about that little we labour under many uncertainties Declare if thou knowest it all Hence Observe First God is willing that man should make the best of himself God was ready to hear Job what he could answer to his Question When God put the question to Adam Gen. 3.11 Hast thou eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat And when he put questions to Cain Gen. 4.6 Why art thou wroth and why is thy countenance fallen As also vers 9. Where is Abel thy brother He was ready to hear what eiâ—her the one or the other could say for themselves nor would he have cut them short in their plea if they could have pleaded any thing for their justification Now as God was willing to hear what they could answer to his questions about their evil works so he is willing to hear what any can answer which was Jobs case to the questions which he proposeth about his own works and their behaviour under them Seconâ—ly From the scope of the words Note The most knowing men know but little of that which they know As we know nothing at all of some things so there is nothing of which we know the all or of which we have a perfect knowledge a knowledge to which nothing can be added They who know most of any thing know almost nothing of it How far then are they from knowing it all David having spoken of the knowledge of God Psal 139.2 3 4 5. concludes vers 6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me it is high I cannot attain unto it Man is so far from an ability to attain such a knowledge as God hath the knowledge of the most secret things of man the knowledge of his thoughts afar off that he is not able to attain the perfect knowledge of the plainest things We must stay for perfect knowledge till we come to another state when all clouds of ignorance shall be scattered when we shall see no more through a glass darkly but face to face when we shall know all that is to be known of God and of the Works of God when we shall be enabled to declare all our knowledge about them and to give proof that we know them all Truly to know God the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent is eternal life while we live here in this world but to know the true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent fully yea to know any thing fully is reserved for us in that eternal life which we wait for in the world to come There are three things which make up the happiness of our soul-state in eternal life First The due order of the Affections when they shall ever be set upon right objects and upon them in a right measure Secondly The due motion of the Will when it shall ever chuse that which is good and nothing but good Thirdly The clear and unerring light of the Understanding The proper object of the Understanding is truth The chief ornament and delight of the Understanding is the knowledge of the truth And the Understanding is not more debased and dishonoured by not endeavouring to know than an understanding man is vexed and troubled when he cannot compass the knowledge of that which he desires and endeavours to know Indeed Solomon the most knowing man among all the sons of men hath concluded Eccles 1.15 That in much wisdome there is much grief and that he that encreaseth knowledge encreaseth sorrow Yet this grief and sorrow arise not from knowledge attained but from the great pains study and travel which we take in this world for the attainment of it or from the doubts and uncertainties which remain in our minds about many things when we have got the best and clearest knowledge of them attainable in this life Whereas in our heavenly state we shall neither have any trouble in getting knowledge nor shall any doubt or uncertainty remain in our minds about the things we know For the beautiful face of truth shall in a momenâ— be unvailed to us and the curtain drawn away by the hand of God which interposed between us and the light so that there shall not any mist or darkness not any doubt or scruple hang in our minds about any truth And thus we may answer that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 13.8 saying That in heaven Knowledge shall vanish away What nothing but ignorance in heaven Surely nothing more unsutable to nor unbecoming the glory of that state Ignorance may better be the Mother of Devotion here as Papists with ignorance enough have affirmed than in heaven the companion of our joy The Apostle then means that such knowledge as now we have shall vanish that is knowledge so gotten as now it is In heaven there are no Schools nor Universities nor Tutors nor Teachers Again Knowledge of so imperfect a degree as now it is of shall vanish away The knowledge which Solomon had on earth will be but ignorance compared to the knowledge which the Saints have and shall have in heaven
As we took no care of our selves nor could before we were so all the care we take for our selves while we are can avail us nothing without God Which of us by taking care can add one cubit to his stature Matth. 6.25 and which of us by taking care can add one moment to his life all is in the hand of God And 't is our duty to live as free from all troublesome cares while we are in the world as we were free from any care at all before we came into the world It is enough that God hath undertaken for us and would have us sit down in his care of us Christ said Matth. 10.29 30. with respect to sufferings Fear not for are not two sparrows sold for a farthing and one of them falleth not to the ground without your Father It is God who orders and disposeth the life of a silly bird and by him the very hairs of our head worthless excressions are numbred surely then the days of your lives and all the changes of them are ordered disposed and numbred by him And if so we should in this sense be as quiet and as much at ease in our spirits concerning the things of this life as we were before we lived Light had its dwelling place appointed and darkness was disposed of without any care of ours and all our care can neither create light for us nor remove any darkness that is upon us Let us onely be careful of that duty we are called to and leave the burden of our cares to him who hath called for them Psal 55.22 and would have us rest in this assurance that he careth for us 1 Pet. 5.7 what cannot he command for us in our places who commands light and darkness to their places therefore it will be our wisdome at once to take as much pains and as little care as we can JOB Chap. 38. Vers 22 23. 22. Hast thou entred into the treasures of the snow Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail 23. Which I have reserved against the time of trouble against the day of battel and war JOB was last questioned about the habitation and interchanges of light and darkness Here the Lord questions him about those two Meteors the Snow the Hail As if he had said Possibly thou wilt confess thou knowest not how to answer the former question but perhaps thou art better skill'd in and acquainted with the matter which I shall next propose well then I ask again Vers 22. Hast thou entred into the treasures of the snow c. There is a two-fold entring into any place First In body Secondly In mind The body of Job nor of any man never entred into the treasures here spoken of nor could Jobs mind nor the mind of any man enter fully into them that is comprehend how vast how great they are We had this phrase Hast thou entred at the 16th verse of this Chapter There the question was put about his entring into the springs of the sea here about his entring into The treasures or store-houses of the snow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thesaurus Aspotheca promptuarium The word imports any place or repository where stores of any kind are laid up and kept for use The Poet calleth Bee-hives the Treasuries of honey and so may Cellars be called the Treasuries of Wine and Oil c. The Clouds are the Treasuries which contain the stores or treasures of Snow and Hail Those places out of which God is said either to bring good for the use and comfort of man or evil for his hurt and punishment are usually in Scripture expressed by this Word Thus spake Moses encouraging the people of Israel to obedience Deut. 28.12 The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure the heaven to give thee rain unto thy land in his season c. And God hath his just and righteous treasures of wrath even as men heap up and have their evil and unrighteous treasures of sin Deut. 32.34 Rom. 2.5 Thus the Apostle James tells ungodly rich men chap. 5.3 Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days Which may be understood of their getting their treasures of riches so unrighteously in their days as would prove a heaping together of wrath against themselves in the last days or day of the last Judgement Treasures of good or evil imply three things First The secrecy of what is laid up Secondly The safety of it or that it is surely laid up Thirdly That there is store or great quantities of it laid up A little is not a treasure The snow may well be called a treasure in all these respects for 't is secretly laid up no man can see it and 't is safely laid up none can reach or take it away there are also vast quantities or great abundance of it Hast thou entred into the treasures of the snow As if the Lord had said Thou O Job hast often seen the snow fall and thou mayest easily perceive that it falls out of the clouds but hast thou ascended or can any ascend unto those airy regions where snow is generated and laid up as in a treasure If not surely then no man can ascend to heaven and there search out or discover the mysteries and secrets of Wisdom and Justice in my works here below unless by the wings of faith and the light of a spiritual understanding which sits down satisfied in this conclusion that all is wisely and justly done which God doth whether in heaven or earth To bring Job to this acknowledgment was the design and purpose of God as hath been toucht before in all the questions propounded to him in this and the next Chapter Hast thou entred into the treasures of the snow What the snow is the nature and the wonders of it was spoken of and shewed at the sixth verse of the 37th Chapter All that I shall further add for the opening of this question is that when God speaks here of the treasures of snow we are not to understand it as if he had great heaps of snow formally amassed up together in any place of the air as men lay up treasures of money or corn or of any other useful matter but the words are an elegant Metaphor the meaning onely this God hath abundance of snow ready at his will and dispose at his call and command whensoever or wheresoever he is pleased to make use of it for 't is as easie with God at any time to draw out and powre down abundance of snow as if he had infinite store of it kept alwayes by him He no sooner speaks the word but the face of the earth is covered and its bosomes filled with silver showers Hast thou entred into the treasures of the snow Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail These treasures of hail are of the same nature with those of snow and so to be understood as the former but there is a difference in the form of snow and
that is the Lord marks and hits the fittest time to come in and help his out of trouble Thus as they who reserve things do it till a season of using them presents it self so God reserves the snow and hâ—il till he hath a season an opportunity to use them what that is himself as was said expresseth in the Text it is The time of trouble or of straits When trouble comes straits come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ad tempus arctum vel Angugustiae and great troubles reduce us to great straits and compel us to say as that good King Jehosaphat did 2 Chron. 20. We know not what to do The Septuagint render The time of the enemies that is when I am resolved to punish or destroy my enemies The word signifies both trouble and an enemy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in tempus hostis Sept. and both may well be comprehended under one word seeing no trouble is more troublesome nor can put us to greater straits than the appearance of a powerful enemy which was Jehosaphats case when in a time of trouble he cried out We know not what to do And this notion of the word as taken for an enemy falls in clearly with the latter clause of the verse Against the day of battel and war As if the Lord had said When my enemies come forth against me these are the Weapons this the Ammunition which I at any time can and often do make use of in the day of battel and war 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Praeliuci The word rendred battel signifies to aâ—proach because in a day of battel enemies or opposites approach one to another 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vesci and charge each other The word rendred war springs from a root signifying to eat because the sword of war is a great eater and devours the bodies of men Now when God breaks forth in anger against obstinate sinners his enemies and brings any sore and destroying judgement upon them he is said to have war with them or to make war against them Who would set the briars and thorns in battel against me saith the Lord Isa 27.4 So then Both the time of trouble and the day of battel and war spoken of in this Text are the time and day of the Lords wrath and vengeance declared against his implacable and incorrigible enemies Snow and hail are treasured up and reserved against this time of trouble against this day of battel and war Hence Note First God hath a check upon all creatures He reserves or stops them as and as long as himself pleaseth He can prohibit snow and hail and command them not to come As they will surely come at any time if he commands them to come so if he commands them not to come till such or such a time they will not come till then The soveraignty of God is absolute over the creature When Nebuchadnezzars understanding returned to him then he praised and honoured him that liveth for ever Dan. 4.34 whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and confessed vers 35. that he doth according to his will in the army of heaven that is the Angels the Sun Moon and Stars as also the Meteors Snow and Hail c. all or any of these are the army of heaven an army raised in the heavens in this army God doth according to his Will as well as among the inhabitants of the earth Secondly Observe God is very patient he doth not presently take vengeance nor bring trouble though he be alwayes provided for it and able to do it As he retaineth not his anger for ever so he restraineth it long because he delighteth in mercy Mic. 7.18 As mercy moves the Lord speedily to receive repenting sinners into favâ—ur so it prevails with him to be very slow in sending judgements upon those that are impenitent The Lord reserved or kept back the waters of the flood a hundred and twenty years from drowning the Old World though as they provoked and even dared him to do it every day by their presumptuous sinnings against his warnings so he was able to do it any hour or moment of the day Thirdly Note Trouble hath its time or season There is a time for every purpose under the Sun Eccl. 3.1 Men have times for their purposes and so hath God much more for his he hath his times for quietness and times for trouble And as sin is the cause and sourse of all trouble so when sin is ripe trouble is ready When men have filled up the measure of their sin then God pouts down trouble upon them or makes it a time of trouble that they may taste and see and be convinced how evil and how bitter a thing it is to sin against the Lord. The Amorites were full of iniquity when God spake to Abraham Gen. 15.16 but their iniquity was not full and therefore their time of trouble the time when their Land spewed them out to make room for the Children of Israel was not till a long time after Fourthly Note Times of trouble are specially known to and appointed by God As he reserves his stores of vengeance for those times so he knows those times Wise Princes reserve stores against that evil time of war c. yet when that evil time will be they know not but to God all times are known David said Psal 31.15 My times are in thy hand that is my times of peace and trouble of joy and sorrow are at thy dispose thou cuttest out my times not onely as to the length or shortness of them but as to the form and condition of them Now if the Lord disposeth and ordereth our times what they shall be whether troublous or prosperous then he must needs know what times will be times of trouble Fifthly Note Present impunity is no assurance of future indemnity to sinners Judgement is but reserved and the instruments of it snow and hail c. kept up for a while Prodigals and spend-thrifts may boast but the date of the bond will come out and then an arrest comes Let sinners remember the instruments of divine vengeance are only reserved they are not broken nor cast away and whosoever are found in sin their sin that is the punishment of their sin sooner or later will find them out Numb 32.23 As God sometimes defers to give out mercy to his faithful people but never denies it them so he often defers the trouble of the wicked but never they continuing to do wickedly acquits them from it The Apostle Peter prophesying of false teachers who shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and shall bring upon themselves swift destruction 2 Pet. 2.1 saith of them also v. 3. Whose judgement now of a long time lingreth not and their damnation slumbreth not Though all seems to be well with them at present and hâ—th been so a long time yet their misery is certain it neither
lingers nor slumbers as to the Lords time though it may seem to have done both in theirs The wicked how long soever they escape judgement are not preserved from it but onely reserved to it as followeth in the fourth and ninth verse of that Chapter As the fallen angels are reserved in everlasting chains of darkness that is in chains that will hold them fast enough for ever unto the Judgement of the Great Day or to the Great Day of Judgement Which intimates two things concerning the fallen Angels First That their torments are not yet at the greatest nor their sufferings at the highest Secondly That their punishment is unavoidable for they can never break nor file off those chains As I say the fallen Angels are said to be reserved to judgement in chains of darkness at the sixth verse of the Epistle of Jude so at the 13th verse of the same Epistle it is said that to seducers and false teachers who cause many to fall The blackness of dareness is reserved for ever they have it not but 't is reserved for them Their present impunity is no assurance of their future indemnity From the latter part of the verse where the time of trouble is called The day of battel and war Observe First Obstinate and impenitent sinners make war in a manner with God himself Though they send not a Herald formally to defie him yet a resolved progress in sin let God say what he will and do what he will is a real defiance of him or a bidding him do his worst Gigantes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicti It was said of the old Giants men of great stature They were fighters against the Gods We may say men of all statures even dwarfs and pigmies for bodily stature raise war against the great God by presumptuous sinning Did not men make a war upon God by doing evil God would never make war upon them by sending evil Men are vain when they fall into sin but they are worse than vanity when they stand out in sinning Who saith the Lord Isa 27.4 would set briars and thorns against me in battel none but a mad-man will I would go thorow or as the Margin hath it march against them I would burn them together Can briars and thorns abide contending with God who is a consuming fire If God send forth an army of his meanest and most contemptible souldiers flies from the air lice from the earth even a mighty Pharaoh must call for a treaty and beg a parly If he command snow and hail much more lightning and thunder out of the clouds to fight against his enemies how soon are they overwhelmed and confounded 'T is best therefore never to begin this war and the next best is speedily to sue for peace Secondly Observe A day of battel and war is eminently a time of trouble There may be trouble where there is no war but where war is there cannot but be trouble War or the sword is not onely one of those four sore judgements but the first of the four with which God threatned Jerusalem to the cutting off or utter destruction of man and beast Ezek. 14.8 Every battel of the warrier is with câ—nfused noise and garments rolled in bloud Isa 9.5 Confused noises are the musick of a battel and bloody garments the bravery of it then prize peace pray for peace That as the Apostle directs 2 Thess 3.16 The Lord of Peace himself would give us peace alwayes by all means For though that may be doubted and queried which some have fully asserted That the most unequal peace is to be preferred before the justest war yet the justest war may bring though peace and honour at last yet in the mean time innumerable troubles and evils with it Thirdly Note God can make any creature hurtful and afflictive to us Snow is of great use and serves much to advance the fruttfulness of the earth and is joyned with rain in that effect Isa 55.10 As the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud c. by the concurrent blessing of God So c. Snow as well as rain is a blessing to the earth not an affliction yea snow is used by some as a delicacy to cool their drink in hot Countries and seasons which use of it was first found out by that monster of men Nero saith Pliny who thus declaims and pâ—otests against his intemperance Heu prodigia ventris â—li nivem illi glaciem potant paenasque montium in voluptatem gulae vertunt Plin. l. 19. c. 4. l. 31. c. 3. O the prodigies of luxury some drink snow others ice and so turn the punishments of the mountains so he calls snow and ice as to present sense into their own pleasure or to serve their voluptuousness Now though the snow according to Gods appointment be profitable to the earth and is used by some men to serve their pleasures and please their sensual appetite yet God can make a scourge of it if he pleaseth and destroy both our profits and pleasures by it He can afflict us not onely with strong and stormy winds not onely with dreadful thunder and lightning but with snow which is soft as wool and hail-stones which usually children sport and play with He hath destroyed sinners not onely by lions and bears and such like ravenous beasts but with frogs and mice with lice and locusts as was toucht before There are two things which shew the mighty power of God in the Creature First That he can make the most devouring and destructive creatures harmless and hurtless to us Thus he stopt the fiery furnace from so much as cinging a hair or impressing the least smell of burning upon those three worthies Dan. 3.27 He also shut the mouths of those hungry Lions not onely from tearing and totally devouring but from touching Daniel to hurt him chap. 6.22 Secondly That he can make the most harmless and hurtless creatures to hurt us How powerful is God who can crush the strongest man on earth by the weakest of his creatures There was much of God in it that some of his people of old through faith out of weakness were made strong waxed valiant being 't is like before of a fearful spirit in fight turned to flight the armies of the aliens Heb. 11.33 34. And is there not much of God in it when any sort of creatures weak and inconsiderable in themselves are armed by him to conflict with and get the victory over his strongest and proudest enemies Fourthly Note God can make a time of trouble terrible He hath a reserve of snow and hail in his treasury against the time of trouble against the day of battel and war As God can make a day of trouble comfortable to his servants he can be a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest as rivers of water in a dry place and as the
the Armories or Arcenals of Heaven and the Scripture both in this Text of Job and in several other places besides those which have been mentioned sheweth what Ammunition what instruments of the Lords fierce anger and fiery indignation are stored laid up or reserved there against the time of trouble against the day of battel and war with the rebellious world Now Forasmuch as snow and hail c. are at once the Lords Host and his Arms by which he fights against the wicked we may take notice of these five following inferences for the help of our meditations about this matter and to make all that hath been already held forth from these two verses more profitable to us First God needeth not borrow help from man on earth when he would be avenged on his enemies If he doth but speak the word and declare his will it is enough The heavens the clouds of heaven will bâ—ing him Armies and Arms without number He that covers the earth a foot deep with snow can cover all as we say over head and ears with it He that powres down showres of hail no bigger than a pease can send it of a talent weight as 't is expressed Rev. 16.21 God cannot want Armies at any time for his day of battel and war who can make any thing serve him effectively as an Army and therefore they who being in distress see no more help in man than David when he said Psal 142.4 I looked on my right hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me how well soever I was known to him refuge failed me there was no man that cared for my soul that is that regarded what became of me I was left at six and sevens to sink or swim to shift for my self as well as I could they I say who are thus distressed having an interest in God need not despair nor despond seeing the Lord can charge or press any creature for our aid and help yea can help us without the aid of any creature Secondly Take heed of provoking God who hath sâ—ch Armes and Armies alwayes at command 'T is dangerous medling wiâ—h a prepared enemy God can never be suâ—prised not taken unprovided As the wicked bend their bow and make ready their arrow upon the string that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart Psal 11.2 So the Lord hath his bow alwayes bent and his arrow made ready upon the string openly to shoot at the false in heart Though it be usually long before he takes revenge yet 't is not because he is unready and cannot but because patient and will not take it sooner He is alwayes able to avenge himself not onely speedily but presently As he will do what he hath spoken so he can do what he will with a word speaking Thirdly Would we not fear snow or hail or any missive weapon of heaven then let us get God to be our friend in whose hand and at whose command they are No creature moves but by direction from God and surely he will never direct them to the hurt though often to the affliction and correction of those whom he loves As such are in league with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field are at peace with them so also are the stars of heaven and all the meteors snow and hail c. in the air Fourthly God will charge them with hardness of heart and impenitency who humble not themselves when he fights against them with these weapons Every judiciary shower of hail though it break not our heads yet it should break our hearts That hail which doth any hurt to the works of our hands should work good upon our hearts And therefore the Lord complained when his hail-stones left no more sign or impression upon his peoples hearts than they did upon a rock or stone Hag. 2.17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all your labours yet ye turned not to me saith the Lord. This Scripture teacheth us two useful lessons First When God smites any thing that is ours or belongs to us he smites us If our fields or gardens be smitten we are smitten Secondly God expects we should and even wonders if we do not turn upon such smitings He looks upon them as hardned sinners who melt not by every afflictive fall of hail from heaven They are even resolved to be bad who mind not being good or better when evils fall upon either them or theirs Fifthly Hasten to make peace with God when he gives signs and alarums of war God had no sooner said to Israel Amos 4.12 Therefore that is because thou hast not taken the alarum by former judgement therefore thus will I do unto thee O Israel that is I will bring some sorer judgement upon thee than any of those already brought but he adds and because I will do this unto thee unless prevented by speedy repentance prepare to meet thy God O Israel As if God had said Consider as Christ adviseth on another occasion Luke 14.31 whether thou art able with thy ten thousand to meet me with my twenty thousand all the power of man is not onely less by half as ten thousand to twenty thousand but indeed nothing at all to the power of God and if not as I know thou art not then I counsel thee while I onely tell thee I will do thus unto thee but am yet a great way off possibly from coming to do it prepare to meet me send an Embassage of prayers and tears and desire conditions of peace It will be too late to call for a composition or to think of a treaty when the trumpets have sounded and the battel is joyned If we get not through Christ our peace made before the day of battel and war in this world I mean before temporal judgements aâ—e actually come upon us and have taken hold of us we may smart soundly before we have our peace and pay dearly for it before we have it But if we prepare not to meet God and get our peace made through Christ before the day of battel and war in the next world I mean before Death and the Eternal Judgement come upon us we shall not onely smart soundly and pay dearly for that wretched neglect of our season but must perish for ever under an impossibility of having our peace made The Day of Gods battel and war with the wicked in the next world is Eternity Here in this world God saith to the worst of sinners to him that is but briars and thorns Isa 27.5 Let him take hold of my strength that is of my Grace or of my Son which are my strength to save sinners that he may make peace with me and I assure him his assay shall not be in vain he shall make peace with me I am no inexorable God yea I am easie to be intreated if treated with when and in whom and in such a way as I have offered my self
it goeth to the West and so when it comes from the North and goes to the South but we know not whence it comes and whither it goes as to the way of it we know not how it comes to passe or is brought about That 's done by the sole command of the Lord who hath the whole Creation at his beck and whose word every creature obeys moving and going where and when he himself gives order It is the Lord who by the light or by what means seems good unto him scattereth the East-wind or any other wind upon the Earth The next Question concerns the waters Vers 25. Who hath divided a Water-course for the over-flowing of waters The former Question was about the parting of the Light here we have a Question about the Division of the Waters Who hath divided c. The Hebrew Word for a River comes from this Root and so also doth the Latine Word Pelagus Quis dedit imbri vehementissimo cursum Vulg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rivus Pelagus nomen habet quod ex illo dividantur deriventur flumino which signifieth the Sea out of which Rivers are derived and divided into the Land From this word also the Elder or First-born Son of Eber was called Peleg Gen. 10.25 and the Text gives us the reason why he was so called For saith Moses in his days the Earth was divided that is it was distinguished into several Coasts and Countries and by several Names which before lay all as it were in one Common There have been too many hurtful divisions in the Earth that is of men on Earth ever since in another sense and are at this day It is sad to see the spirits opinions and practices of men so much divided but it was and is useful to have both the soil of the Earth and the body of the Water divided Here we have the division of the Waters Who hath divided a Water-course for the over-flowing of waters There is a two-fold division of water We read of the former in the description of the Creation Gen. 1.7 where the Lord divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters that were above the firmament and it was so The division here intended is of the waters above theâ—e the Lord makes a division of the waters and gives them their courses The word rendred Water-courses signifies to ascend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ductus aquae or to be on high because the course of the water is from above or from on high Water moves alwayes from a higher place Water naturally floweth downward 't is a heavy body and cannot ascend naturally therefore the course of the water is from above Quis nisi ego cursum dat aquis è coelo defluentibus veluti percanales ab hominibus manu-factos Homines suos Aquae-ductus per terram efficiunt sed deus per aerem nubem distribuit Merc. Inundationem aquarum non terrestrium sed c. Merc. As men make Aqueducts Water-courses or Conveyances for water by artificial pipes of Lead or Wood as we see in this City or by Channels cut in the Earth so the Lord hath his Water-courses above he hath his Pipes his Channels in the Clouds Who hath divided a Water-course For the over-flowing of waters The Word signifies a great inundation or a pouring forth of water a Chataract Moses describing the Deluge saith Gen. 7.11 The windows of heaven were opened And when at any time it rains it may be said the Lord in some degree opens the windows of heaven We are not to understand as was toucht before this over-flowing of water of the waters flowing upon the Earth but of the waters flowing from Heaven down upon the Earth for the Lord speaks not of Floods on Earth to destroy but of plentiful and seasonable rain to nourish the fruits of the Earth as is clear from the 27th verse Now saith the Lord Who hath divided a Water-course for these waters that they might not come down as I may say in a Full-sea but as by or in pipes and channels to refresh the Earth The Lord hath his Water-works in Heaven as men have theirs on Earth This elegant Metaphor shadows out that certain Rule or Law of Nature which the Lord hath given those waters above when they are commanded to slow down for the use and service of Man and Beast here below The Lord enquires of Job for the Author of these upper Water-works Who hath divided a Water-course for the over-flowing of Waters Hence Note God makes a division of his stores and treasures of water in the clouds as himself pleaseth or the course of the water is directed by God where to fall and when As God hath divided the Earth to the Sons of men Acts 17.26 as he hath determined their times and the bounds of their habitation so he hath also divided the waters for the Earth the waters that are above and he proportions them according to his own will Amos 4.7 I caused it to rain upon one City and I caused it not to rain upon another God is so good that usually he causeth his rain to fall upon the jâ—st and upon the unjust Matth. 5.44 But he can cause the rain to fall distinguishingly and not promiscuously It was the saying of a Heathen in his fourth Book concerning the bestowing of benefits chap. 28. The gods give many benefits to unthankful persons Dii multa ingratis tribuunt sed illa bonis paraverant contingunt autem etiam malis quia separari non possunt Nec poterat lex casuris imbribus dici ne in malorum improborumque râ—ra defluerent Sen. de â—enef l. 4. c. 28. they provided them for the good but they fall to the share â—f the bad because it is impossible to divide them And instancing in rain he saith No law can be given to the falling showers or to the showers when they fall that they distill not upon the lands of wicked men Thus what that Scâ—ipture in Matthew saith God doth out of choice to shew his goodness that this Heathen said their Gods did but of necessity because they could do no otherwise If they sent rain upon the just the unjust must have it too he thought there was no avoiding of that but this Text in Job and many more up and down the Scripture teach us that God can put a law upon the showers of rain he hath his Water-courses and câ—n direct the rain to what place and persons he will he can command it to fall by his law when and where and upon whom he appoints God retains his sâ—veraignty for a distinct distribution of the wateâ—s though to declare his bounty and mercy he usually makes no difference but distributes it alike to all The Lord is so good that he feeds his enemies and nourisheth a world of wicked ones or the wicked world every day yet he retains his Empire over the clouds still and he divides a Water-course
Lord sends his rain upon the wilderness he hath done so and he hath promised to do so still that is he hath sent and will send the rain of the Gospel upon the Heathen Some Nations are a wilderness as they live in a wilderness so they are themselves a wilderness a desert and we have a promise that the Lord will cause the rain spiritual rain to fall upon this wilderness Isa 35.1 2. The wilderness and the solitary places shall be glad for them for whom for the Church and for the sending forth of the Gospel by them and the desert shall rejoyce and blossom as the rose it shall blossom abundantly and rejoyce even with joy and singing the glory of Lebanon shall be given to it the excellency of Carmel and of Sharon That is it shall be fertile and fruitful in spirituals as those places Lebanon Câ—rmel and Sharon which was the glory and excellency of them were in temporals But how should the wilderness and solitary places attain this glory That 's shewed at the sixth and seventh verses for in the wilderness shall waters break out and streams in the desert and the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty land springs of water This Prophesie contains a promise of sending the Gospel and with that the Holy Spirit who is often compared in Scripture to water to those who were or are in their soul-state as a dry heath or as a barren wilderness This prophet doth not only hold out a like promise in the same Metaphors but explains it thus Isa 44.3 4 5. I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground what is meant by water and floods we may learn from the next words I will pour my spirit upon thy seed and my blessing upon thine off-spring and they shall spring up as among the grasse as willows by the water-courses that is they shall grow and flourish internally in grace and knowledge and not onely so but they shall openly professe it and avouch it as it followeth in the fifth verse One shall say I am the Lords and another shall call himself by the Name of Jacob c. That is they shall give up their Names to be enrolled and registred as our Annotators express it in Gods Church-book or among his faithful servants In deserto pluere est verbum dei gentilitatè praedicare Greg. l. 29. Moral c. 16. It was the saying of one of the Ancients with respect to this Allegory To send rain upon the desert is to preach the word of God unto the heathens And the Lord magnifies himself in the dispensation of this spiritual rain when as he sends it upon his Garden the Church so also upon the wilderness the Heathen that the wilderness may become a garden and the desert a paradise that they knowing the Lord and believing on him may be joyned to the Church Thus also the Lord divides a water-course to cause it to rain on the earth where no believing man is on the wilderness where there is no good man The reason of his so doing is given expresly in the next words Vers 27. To satisfie the desolate and waste ground and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth Here is the reason of sending rain upon the wilderness it is to satisfie the desolate and wast ground Mr. Broughton renders The wast and vast ground The Vulgar Latine renders Inviam desolatam Vulg. The unpassable ground or at least that which none passes and so being disused lies wast and desolate But in what sense soever 't is desolate or by what means soever it became desolate the Lord sends rain to satisfie it that is to water it abundantly Vt riget ad satietatem usque satisfaction is to have our fill The very wast ground shall have enough enough to allay the heat and drought of it enough to make it fruitful and enough to fructifie the trees and plants that grow there and so to feed and fatten the beasts thâ—t live there The Vulgar Latine renders Vt impleret c. Vulg. Satur dierum plenus dierum synonyma sunt Drus That he may fill the desolate and wast ground that which is filled is or should be satisfied To be full of dayes in Scripture is to be satisfied with living A man may have lived many dayes yet not be full of dayes but he who is full of dayes as 't is said of some of the Patriarchs is not hungry after more time or dayes in this world therefore to be filled and satisfied import the same thing And to be sure they who are not satisfied when they are full will not be satisfied when they are empty But however it is with man we know the earth spoken of in the Text is fully satisfied it gapes for no more when 't is filled with rain And this the Lord will send To satisfie the desolate and wast ground But why is the Lord so careful to satisfie the desolate and wast ground The ground is a senselesse thing that feels not the want of rain I answer The Lord doth not satisfie the ground for the grounds sake but for their sake who live upon and are maintained by the ground Fruit-bearing trees and grass are maintained by the moisture and fatnesse of the ground beasts are maintained by those fruits and grasse therefore the Lord satisfies the ground with rain that it may satisfie the trees and grasse and they the beasts that live upon it So then the Lord satisfieth the ground that it may satisfie all sorts of vegetables growing out of the ground and that they may satisfie all kinds of animals living upon the ground Such a gradation we find Hos 2.21 22. I will hear saith the Lord I will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oil and they shall hear Jezrael that is my people We may run up the meaning of this promise backwards thus When my people whom I now call Jezrael in a way of promise as in a way of threatning chap. 1.4 being pressed with hunger and famine cry to the corn and the wine and the oil for food they shall hear them and when the corn and wine call to the earth for moisture to feed them that shall hear and when the earth calls to the heavens for rain they shall hear and when the heavens call to God for orders to carry rain he will hear them It is for mans use that God makes the earth fruitful and where there are no men 't is for the beasts sake that he satisfieth the desolate and wast ground Hence Note First God is not wanting to any of his creatures according to their state He will not let the senseless ground suffer hunger and thirst overlong that shall have food after its kind or proper for it Secondly Note Even the Earth knows when it hath enough It is
our lives these are or may be seen of men yet they must not be brought forth that we may be seen in doing them but that men seeing our good works may glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Matth. 5.16 Our inward good fruits which are indeed our choicest and most spiritual good fruits are of three sorts First Good Thoughts To do good is best for others but to think good or to have many good thoughts is the best proof that we our selves are good Solomon saith Prov. 12.12 The root of the righteous yieldeth fruit The root of a righteous man is his heart and the first-fruits of a good heart are good thoughts He is a precious person and hath a precious heart that can say as holy David did Psal 139.17 How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them That is the thoughts which I have of thee O God are exceeding precious unto me and I have many very many of them more than I am able to sum or reckon up Secondly Good affections are good inward fruits such are godly sorrow joy in God love to God longing after God Psal 27.4 Psal 42.1 2. Isa 26.9 hatred of evil all these movings of the heart are good and precious fruits Thirdly which are the issue and result of both the former good purposes and holy resolves to cleave fast to God to stick as David expresseth it Psal 119.31 to his testimonies wayes and truths at all times especially in times of trial or to continue with Christ in his temptation these are very good inward fruits Psal 17.3 Dan. 1.8 Acts 11.23 Outward good fruits are of two sorts First Good words are good fruits The lips of the righteous feed many Prov. 10.21 Edifying words Eph. 4.29 words of exhortation to good Heb. 3.13 words of reproof as to evil Gal. 6.1 words of comfort to the sad and sorrowful 1 Thess 5.14 all these words are good fruits Secondly Good works first of holiness towards God secondly of righteousness and love towards all men thirdly of charity to the poor all these are outward good fruits and all these the Lord looks for where-ever or upon whomsoever he sends the rain of his word JOB Chap. 38. Vers 28 29 30. 28. Hath the Rain a Father or who hath begotten the drops of dew 29. Out of whose Womb came the Ice and the hoary frost of Heaven who hath gendred it 30. The Waters are hid as with a stone and the face of the deep is frozen THe Lord having questioned Job in the former context about the course of the Rain and the free dispensation of it even to those places where no man is and to the Wilderness where there is no man here he questions him about the cause and original of the Rain and not only of the Rain but of the Dew the Ice and the Frost So then in these three verses we have four Questions First about the Rain and Secondly about the Dew in the 28th verse Thirdly about the Ice and Fourthly about the Frost in the 29th verse together with the marvelous force and effects of it vers 30. Vers 28. Hath the Rain a Father The Inquiry is who is the Father of the Rain that is who is the Author what is the cause of it Not as if the cauâ—e of that or of the other Meteors here mentioned could not at all be known but to shew First That much of them all is unknown There are many things in this lower Sphear beyond mans Sphear even these are not propagated altogether according to our understanding or apprehensions of them Secondly To shew that he must be plentifully stored with all sorts of good who as a Father begets and as a Mother brings forth such useful and necessary things for the preservation of living Creatures Thirdly To shew that these creatures are not produced by causes which are constant and unvariable in nature but proceed from and daily depend upon the power and will of God who somtimes checks and stops the course of Nature and at other times impregnates it for the production of these effects or brings them forth by the Midwifery and help of second causes Fourthly When the Lord propounds the Question under this Relation of a Father he would shew or teach us that he gives Rain and Dew to the earth as a father gives food and other requisites to his children Further This seems to be the design of God in putting these Questions to Job that forasmuch as he could not fully comprehend the causation and production of these things much less was able to cause or produce them himself but must receive them from the power and according to the dispose and providence of God therefore he should refer all his concernments to the same Providence and so rest satisfied whether God sent him a sweet and refreshing Rain and Dew or a grievous and afflictive season of Ice and Fâ—ost Thus we may conceive the general scope of this Context Now to the particulars Hath the Rain a father The question may be resolved both negatively and affirmatively First Negatively the Rain hath no Father that is on earth or among men There is no creature power that can produce a drop of Rain Secondly affiâ—matively Hath the Rain a father Yes it hath God is the Father of the Rain The Rain is not fatherless there is one who will own the Rain as his child or issue The causation of Rain is a great secret in nature a secret about which though wise and learned men have discoursed much and given out much light about it yet they have not reached the utmost nor attained the full knowledge of it and the reason of that is because the Rain hath a Father whose wayes and workings as in the first constitution of Nature so in the daily motions of it exceed our knowledg Hath the Rain a father Not on earth Nor are the Heavens the Father of the Rain the God of Heaven is As not a shower no nor a drop of Rain falls on the earth at the will or by the power of man Si quis alium praeter Deum pluviae patrem quaerat is erit vapor qui ex humidis locis entractus eâ— alevatus a Solo concrescit in nebulam aut nubem et inde a Sole repefactus liquescit et solvitur Sanct. so not by the power of the Sun drawing up the vapours and dissolving the Clouds nor by the Winds scattering the Clouds The Sun may shine the Moon may change the Winds may blow and turn long enough yet no Rain till the Lord gives the Word Some and that not improperly have called the Sun The father of the Rain The Sun draws up those vapours from the earth into the Air which are the matter of Rain and there those vapours are condensed into Clouds and afterwards rarified and dissolved into Rain yet these natural causes produce these effects only as God sets them on work and he can
suspend their working as often as he will And therefore the simple and plain meaning of this question is the Rain owes its original to God and must call him father And that 's the observation which riseth out of this question Hath the Rain a Father God and God alone is the Father of the Rain Without him it had never been and that it is continued is by his power and providence that the frame of nature is so disposed that second causes are so ordered and furnished as to produce Rain proceeds from or comes to pass by the Lord alone The Prophet spake this in a time of great drought Jer. 14.22 both in the negative and in the affirmative and he proposed two questions or the question twice intending the negative First Are there any among the Vanities of the Gentiles that can cause Rain By the vanities of the Gentiles we are to understand their Idol gods Idols are vanities or nothings and can they who are nothing do this great thing give Rain That 's the first question Can Idols cause Rain surely they cannot But will it not rain of course will not the Heavens one time or other yield Rain That 's the second Question Can the Heavens give showers No As Idols or false gods cannot give Rain so neither can the Heavens if forbidden give Rain they act not their power in their own power The Heavens cannot give Rain if God gives them a command to the contrary and the God of Nature can check and countermâ—nd the course of Nature both on earth and in the Heavens when he will Though those bottles the Clouds be never so pregnant and full of Rain yet he can stop them So then neither the Idols nor the Heavens can do it if God say No yea if he give not forth a word of command if he bids not the course of Nature proceed the Heavens over our heads will be Brass and the eaâ—th under us as Iron and therefore the Prophet in the latter part of the verse tells us expresly who is the Father of the Rain Art not thou he O Lord our God Therefore will we wait upon thee for thou hast made all these things As if he had said O Lord thou hast made them and therefore thou hast both the right and the power to dispose of them What can be said more clear and full for the confirmation of this poynt Many other Scriptures say the same thing Read Deut. 28.12 Psal 147.8 Jer. 5.24 Amos 4.7 So then though there are natural causes of Rain yet God is the first cause and it is at his pleasure that these natural causes either pâ—oduce their effects or are stayed from pâ—oducing them It Rains not by accident nor by any concatenation of second causes but according to the appoyntments and pleasure of the great God 'T is no small part of our duty to eye God in causing these common things and 't is a great piece of Atheism or a disowning of God to tye them up to natural causes Now If God be the Father of the Rain we may hence infer First That God is the Father of all Creatures and the supream cause of all effects in the creatures As a Father is the second or instrumental cause of his Sons Being so God is the supream efficient cause of all Beings and Entities Not only Animals and Rationals but the very inanimates and sensless creatures are of a Divine extraction God is the Fountain of their Being And if God be and must be acknowledged as the Father of all Creatures even of the Rain then Secondly God is much more the Father of Mankind The Apostle voucheth that to the superstitious Athenians as a Divine truth out of their own Authors Acts 17.28 As certain also of your own Poets have said for we are also his off spring we are sprung from him as Branches from the Root or as Streams from the Fountain Not that we are as the Streams with the Fountain or the Branches with the Rooâ— of the same Nature with him which to imagine were highest Blasphemy but we take or receive our Nature from him that is he hath made us to be what we are and in him that is in dependance upon him we live and move and have our Being Thirdly If God own himself as a Father to all things and to all men in a general way of Nature then much more doth he own himself a Father to all his people in a way of grace What the Apostle saith of his Title Saviour 1 Tim. 4.10 He is the Saviour of all men especially of those that believe so I may say of this Relation Fatâ—er God is the Father of all men but especially of those that believe The fatherhood which stands in gâ—ace is the highest and most excellent fatherhood which God beareth to any of his Creatures As to this â—he Apostle Jam. 1.18 saith Of his own will begat he us by the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his Creatures that is as I conceive that believers they only are begotten with the word of truth considered with all other creatures to whom God is a Father in a common way should have the honour to be called the chief of his creatures The first fâ—uits were chief among the fruits of the earth The first born both of man and of beast were the Lords portion Exod. 13.1 therefore chief This honour have all the Saints the Birth-right is theirs and theirs is the Blessing They as all holy things are dedicated to God and graciously accepted with him as a chosen Generation as a peculiar people He who is Lord over all and Father of all both things and persons as they stand in the whole compass of Nature is eminently and with endeared affections a Father to all them who believe and are actually in a state of grace Fourthly If God be a Father to all creatures and to man more than to inferiour creatures and to true Beleevers more than to other men then as his fatherhood is extended so is his fatherly care God will not be wanting to any as a Father to whom he is upon any account a Father He takes care of the fruits of the earth and of the beast of the field and of all mankind he feeds them all and cloaths them all and protects them all but they who are a kind of first-fruits of his creatures and bears the image of his holiness or his Image in holiness have a special portion and proportion of his care over them and love to them and provision for them What can he deny to us as a Father who hath vouchsafed to be our father Hath the Rain a father Or who hath begotten the drops of Dew This latter part of the verse is of the same meaning with the former The word which we translate hath begotten Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Chal et de viro et de muliere dicitur et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 generavit in Hiphil de viro tantum Merc. is applyable to either Parent man or woman in a different Conjugation as Grammarians speak but in the Conjugation here used it is proper only to the man and therefore they who translate who hath conceived wrest this Text and depart from the Original sence of the word as here expressed in which the Metaphor of or the Allusion to a Father is still continued Who hath begotten The drops of dew The Lord doth not ask who hath begotten the Dew but the drops of Dew Drops are very small things yet the great God who made the mighty waters of the Sea makes also the small drops of Dew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Guttas tantum hic extat Sunt qui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 exponunt quasi fluctus quod in magna abundantia fluctuum more ros effundatur c. Merc. Ros est vaporis terrae propinqui noctúque resrigerati in aquam concretio Some derive the Original word which we render drops from a Root that signifies a flood as implying that though the Dew falleth in single drops yet being fallen there is much of it even a flood of it Others deriving the word from at least judging it hath near alliance with a word signifying a drinking Cup or a Vial render who hath begotten the Cups or Vials of Dew We heard of the Dew at the 19th verse of the 29th Chapter where Job to set forth the prosperity of his former condition said The Dew lay all night upon my branches Vapours drawn up from the earth in the day by the heat of the Sun are returned in Dew by the moderate coolness and stilness of the night The remote efficient cause of Dew is the heat of Heaven raising vapours from the earth The next efficient cause of Dew is the temperate coolness and quietness of the night for if the night be windy the Dew falls not and if the night be very cold the vapours are congealed and hardned into a frost 'T is only in temperate seasons that we find those dâ—ops of Dew hanging like so many Orient Pearls upon the grass leaves and Flowers at once adorning and refreshing them Vapores sereno tempore medium aeris regionem ascendentes resolvuntur frigore in guttas tenues Arist l. de mund c. 1. Plin. l. 2. c. 60. We may take notice of two things in the falling of the Dew First It falls very silently Secondly very abundantly No man hears the Dew fall nor can any number the drops of Dew which fall Hushai used both these allusions in that piece of loyal counsel which he gave for the defeating of the counsel of Achitophel 2 Sam. 11.12 where he advised Absalom te gather all Israel from Dan to Beersheba as the sand which is by the sea for multitude and so saith he we will light upon him as the Dew falleth upon the ground that is we will come so silently upon him and in such numbers even as the drops of Dew upon the ground that he shall not be able to avoyd us no more than he can avoyd the Dew which in one and the same instant falls upon the field or Country all over An Army comes with an intent to fall upon the enemy like a storm yet it may be said to come and fall upon him like a Dew both because it comes alwayes like a multitude and because it comes somtimes very silently to surprize him at unawares Who hath begotten the drops of Dew Hence Note as before of the Rain so here of the Dew God is the father of the Dew as well as of the Rain The Dew differs not much from the Rain both are of the same nature and they have the same Father and he will be own'd in the Dew as well as in the Rain The Prophet Haggai reproving the returned Jewes Chap. 1.10 for their neglect in not building the Lords House represents the Lord thus speaking to them Because of my house that is wast and ye run every man to his own house that is you eagerly and violently running is a violent exercise pursue your private ends and interests not minding nor promoting my honour and worship Therefore the Heaven over you is stayed from Dew and the earth is stayed from her fruit The want of Dew makes many wants If we want but the Dew of Heaven we shall quickly want the fruits of the Earth We usually take notice of the want of Rain but we seldome take notice of the want of Dew or pray for the falling of it nor do we give thanks for it as for Rain when we see it fallen and sweetly filling the bosome of the earth Yet the with-holding of Dew though Dew be a less mattâ—r than Rain is a greater Judgment than the with-holding of Rain for 't is a sign that the Judgment of drought is at the height or in the perfection of it when the Lord doth not only with hold the Rain which is the greater mercy but the Dew too which is the lesser O how dry must the earth be when it hath not only no plentiful showers of Rain but not so much as a drop of Dew And therefore when the Prophet Eliah would shew the extreamity of the Famine which was coming upon Israel he made that high protest 1 Kings 1.17 As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand there shall not be Dew nor Rain these years but according to my word Not only shall ye have no Rain but no Dew and when the Heaven is stayed from giving Rain or Dew the Earth must needs be stayed from yielding fruit or food And so great is the Lords care in disposing the Dew of Heaven that Solomon tells us Prov. 3.20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up and the Clouds drop down Dew As if he had said The Dew doth not steal down upon the earth without Gods knowledge not a drop of it destils upon the earth without his orders and privity And when 't is said By his knowledg the Clouds drop down Dew it hath this in it God knows what moysture is meet for the earth whether little or much Dew or Rain though I conceive we may take the word Dew in this Text of the Proverbs synechdochically for any or all the moysture that falls from Heaven as by the breaking up of the depths in the former part of the verse we are to understand all the moysture which riseth from and is conveighed up and down in the lesser or greater Channels of the eaâ—th The Lord doth so much know how useful and beneficial the Dew is to the Earth that it is said to drop down by his knowledge as if the Lord did exercise a very special knowledg about it The Clouds are Gods Vessels which being lockt up by him keep in their precious liquoâ— and being opened by him pour it down in Rain drop and destil it down in Dew whereof Solomon in the place last cited
assureth us there is not a drop that falleth but he takes notice of it and therefore saith by his knowleâ—ge the Clouds drop down Dew And indeed such and so wonderful is the destillation of the Dew that it may well be said to drop even through his divine fingers The Dew is very useful and beneficial to the earth two wayes or in two things chiefly First Iâ— moystens the earth Secondly It cools the earth When Isaac was giving the blessing to Jacob he put this in particularly Gen. 27.28 God give thee of the Dew of Heaven the fatness of the earth and plenty of Corn and Wine implying that the fatness of the earth causing plenty of Corn and Wine is caused by the Dew of Heaven Answerable to this blessing given by Isaac to his son Jacob is that promise or prophesie given out by Moses Deut. 33.28 The Fountain of Jacob shall be upon a Land of Corn and Wâ—ne also his Heavens shall drop down Dew By the Fountain of Jacob some understand the posterity of Jacob or the whole house of Israel spread abâ—oad like the overflowing of a Fountain to which David seems to allude Psal 68.26 Bless ye God in the Congregations even the Lord from the Fountain of Israel or as the words may be rendred Ye that are of the Fountain of Israel Now saith Moses in that Prophesie The Fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and wine that is upon a plentiful land also his heavens shall drop down Dew that is he shall have the best blessings of heaven Temporal blessings as Canaan was of heaven being but a shadow of spiritual and eternal blessings And when the Lord would shew how plentious in mercy chiefly in spiritual mercies he would be to his people he saith Hosea 14.5 6. I will be as a Dew unto Israel and he shall grow as the Lilly and cast forth his roots as Lebanon his branches shall spread and his beauty shall be as the Olive tree and his smell as Lebanon Thus the Lord spake by the Prophet in allusion to those great effects which the natural Dew produceth on Earth Solomon having said Prov. 19.12 that the just and deserved wrath of a King is like the roaring of a lion presently adds but his favour is as the Dew upon the grass that is he exceedingly comforts and refresheth the hearts of all upon whom his favour falls And when the Prophet Micah chap. 5.7 would shew how great a blessing the people of God would be to any place where they were cast he saith The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people how as Dew from the Lord and as showers upon the grass By the remnant of Jacob he means the chosen and faithful remainder of Jacob after many scatterings and trials those few of the people of God in the midst of the world wheresoever they are shall be as Dew upon the g ass that is they shall be a great blessing to them The woâ—ld will scarce let that remnant be any where in some places of the world there are scarce any of them yet see of what benefit they are to any place They are as Dew from the Lord. The Apostle useth such an expression concerning himself and other faithful Ministers of the Gospel 2 Cor. 2.15 We are unto God a sweet favour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish that is we are a means of salvation and eternal life to them that are saved and we offer eternal life and salvation to them that perish So saith the Prophet concerning all the remnant of Jacob they shall be in the midst of many people as a dew upon the grass that waiteth not for man nor tarrieth for the son of man they shall be as a Dew from the Lord that is there shall be a great multitude of them and they shall be as a Dew that is they shall distill sweetly upon those many people as a Dew from the Lord and as the showres upon the grass that tarrieth not for man nor waiteth for the sons of men The grass in the field is not watered by man as herbs and flowers in a garden are and therefore may be said not to tarry nor to depend upon man nor upon the sons of men but upon God for the Dew and Showers of heaven to water it Thus those many people shall have help and sweet supplies though men neglect them yet God will take care of them and send the remnant of Jacob some or other that are faithful to be as a Dew from him upon them to make them grow and be fruitful Before I pass from this verse we may consider a threefold allusion of the Dew First To Christ himself One of the Ancients expounding that place Judges 6.37 40. where Gideon desired as a sign from the Lord that he would save Israel by his hand that the Dew might fall on the fleece the floor remaining dry and afterward that the Dew might fall upon the floor the fleece remaining dry concludes Ros in vellere Christus in virgine Rupertus in Hos 14. The Dew in the fleece is Christ in the Virgin Jesus Christ indeed came down from heaven as the Dew for the refreshing and comforting of poor sinners he came down also as a Dew to make us fruitful and grow as the Lilly and to cast forth our roots as Lebanon Secondly In the Dew there is an allusion to the word of God preached The dispensers of the Gospel are compared to Clouds Moses was a Cloud and his speech distilled as the dew Deut. 32.2 that is it came down sweetly and efficaciously As the manna and the dew fell together Exod. 16.12 14. so the graces comforts and powers of the Spirit come with the word there 's dew with the Manna and Manna with the dew When the dew of divine doctrine comes down Christ the Manna comes down too Thirdly It carries in it an allusion to that sweetness of affection that is among brethren Psal 133.1 Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwel together in unity then follows vers 3. As the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion for there the Lord commanded the blessing even life for evermore Love and unity among brethren is like dew it refresheth them and makes them fruitful They who provoke one another to love will also to good works Heb. 10.24 Unity makes a great increase Small things grow great by concord Concordia parvae res crescunt discordia magnae dilabuntur whereas discord dwindleth or reduceth great things to little things and at last to nothing So much of Gods Father-hood or relation to the Rain and Dew In the next words he is pleased to enquire of Job concerning the original of Ice and Frost Verse 29. Out of whose womb came the Ice These words are an elegant Metaphor taken from Child-bearing What woman can the Ice call Mother
having questioned Job about his skill and knowledge in those Meteors the Rain the Dew the Ice and Frost all which were wrought in the Air rises yet higher questioning him about the Stars of heaven and their ordinary effects upon the earth and all sublunary bodies In these three Verses the Lord points at the four quarters or seasons of the year over which the four Stars or Constellations mentioned in this context have a predominance according to the appointment of God in the course of nature He points at Spring and Winter in the 31. verse he points at Summer and Autumn in the 32. verse and he speaks of both more generally in the 33. verse The sum of the 31. verse may be thus given as if the Lord had said O Job Canst thou alter the seasons of the year First Canst thou retard or keep back the Spring canst thou hinder the rising and appearance of the Pleiades or seven Stars so called canst thou stop the destillation of their influences proper to the introduction of that season Or Secondly Canst thou keep off the Winter that it come not or hasten it away when it is come by dissolving the colds and frosts with which the constellations of that season bind up the earth and so shorten that unkind and comfortless quarter of the year This is the plain meaning of the Text and of those hard or strange words Pleiades Orion Mazzaroth Arcturus used in it all which Constellations are conceived to have their special operations upon the four quarters of the year respectively For â—fficit quidem Sol accessu recessu suo istas anni tempestatos sed habet praeterea adjunctâ—s adjuvantes causas Merl. though the access of the Sun hath the chief hand in making Spring and Summer and the recess of the Sun in making Autumn and Winter yet the Sun doth it not alone but hath the aid of other adjuvant causes in nature by which those great changes are in part effected and produced Further the Reader may take notice that three of these four Stars or Constellations as expressed in our Translation Pleiades Orion Arcturus are not literally in the Hebrew Text nor were they known by those names when either Job or the Pen-man of this book lived but were long after brought into use by the learned Grecians and from them derived unto us and we make use of these names according to the received opinion expounding the Hebrew names by them I shall not stay here in opening their derivations or significations in either language having done it already at the ninth verse of the ninth Chapter of this book where Job himself spake of these constellations attributing this glory to God that he it is who makes Arcturus Orion Pleiades and the Chambers of the South which last are supposed to be the same with Mazzaroth here in this verse Vers 31. Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades That is canst thou stop their rising or the giving forth of their influences which open the earth by a kindly warmth cause grass and corn herbs and flowers plants and trees of all sorts to spring and put forth canst thou bind them up from exerting their natural effects and proper operations certainly thou canst not He that is bound cannot do what he would nor what he could nor what he daily did when at liberty The Philistims had a great mind to bind Sampson supposing that then he could not put forth his mighty strength to mischief them Prisoners when bound and laid in chains can do nothing As there is a binding to do so a binding not to do and that not only with material cords Pleiades sunt septem stellae qâ—ae ortu suo primae navigationis tempus ostendun â—â—unde Graecis dicuntur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est navigare Vergiliae Latinis à vero quo tempore oriuntur but metaphorical vows oaths and promises We commonly say He that is bound must obey But can any bind the Stars to obedience what or who but God can bind or stay either the constant motions or ministrations of the Stars Sampson could not be bound by the Philistims till he betrayed himself and discovered the secret where his strength lay Who knows where the strength force and vertues of the Stars lye or if any knew that secret could they climb up to the Stars and cut off that lock wherein their strength lyeth or break the pipes by which their influences are conveyed down to the earth Canst thou bind The sweet influences of Pleiades The word rendred Influences signifies Delights or delicacies Fructus delicatos Pagn or delicate fruits and therefore that Garden full of sinless pleasures which God himself planted for man in his state of primitive innocency and felicity is called from this word the Garden of Eden Gen. 2.15 that is a place of delight commonly known by the name of Paradice and hence we well translate sweet Influences the Hebrew is Delights 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est deliciari aut voluptate deliciis abundâ—â—e Mr. Broughton translates Delicacies and the interlineal Canst thou bind the delicate fruits that Pleiades brings forth That is the green herbs the flowers with other delicacies and delights which accompany the Spring canst thou hinder their budding or appearing at Spring-time When the deformity dirt of Winter depart or pass away then there is a new face of things then every bush flourisheth then the trees and fields put on their ornaments then the singing of birds fills the Air and makes it resound with their harmony and melodious musick The word is rendred Dainties Gen. 49.20 and an adverb coming from this is used Lam. 4.5 They that did fare delicately are desolate in the streets As also 1 Sam. 15.32 Agag came unto him delicately Canst thou bind the sweet Influences Of Pleiades The Greeks express Winter by a word just of the same sound 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Hebrew word Chymah by us rendred Pleiades as if this respected the Winter or were a cold Constellation but certainly here it relates to the Spring and considering that in this place the Pleiades are said to give out sweet Influences the delights and delicacies of the earth the word must needs be meant of or intend a benigne and favourable Star a Spring-star rather than a Winter-star and therefore the Latines give this Constellation its name from the Spring Vergiliae quasi veris vigiles because then it appears of which see more Chap. 9.9 Further When this Star or company of Stars these Pleiades or seven Stars are spoken of by name we by a Synechdoche may understand all the Stars for what influence soever any Star is impowered with or putteth forth who can hinder Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades Hence observe First God hath planted a virtue in the Stars of heaven which they shed down upon the earth The creatures of the earth are as
I may say fed and fattened from heaven All Vegetatives grass herbs plants flowers trees all Sensitives beasts of the earth fowls of the air yea and rational creatures too all men who breath in the air and walk upon the earth are refreshed and fed by the influences of heaven by the clouds and stars Further the Stars send down their influences not only upon living creatures in their three ranks but even upon inanimate creatures the minerals the stones that lye deep under the earth the precious gems with those of a courser grain receive much from the influences of the Stars So then all earthly bodies receive and derive their vigor and beauty from the heavenly the Sun and Moon have the greatest power and there is a very great power in the Stars and Constellations in the Pleiades Orion and Arcturus for the production of great effects Secondly In that 't is said Canst thou bind or stop the Influences of Pleiades Observe It is not in the power of man of any man to hinder or stay the virtue of the stars from falling down upon the earth What God will do by the creature no man can undo If God set those heavenly bodies at liberty and bids them send down their influences man cannot lock them up nor imprison their powers nor bind them from working And hence we may inferr First if none can bind the influences nor stay the comfortable virtue of the stars when God is pleased to let them out then much less can any bind or hinder the influences of the Spirit When God is pleased to send his Spirit to work upon the heart of man who can lett him There is a threefold influence or work of the spirit of God upon the soul of man First To enlighten or to give the light of the knowledge of his own glory in the face of Jesus Christ Who can hinder God when he purposeth thus to instruct and teach the ignorant and make them wise unto Salvation wiser than their teachers who can hinder it Secondly To convert to work faith and repentance together with love humility c. These graces are destilled and drop down from the Spirit of God upon the soul and who can hinder the Spirit from working them in the most hardened and unbelieving souls in the most vain proud and presumptuous soul the barren'st wilderness dryest heath such are persons unconverted are made fruitful by the influences of the Spirit Thirdly To refresh and comfort There are unspeakable influences of joy destilled from the spirit upon believers and when God will let them down from heaven who can lett them what can let them All the troubles and sorrows all the pains and tortures that men can invent or inflict upon a believer cannot bind these influences of the Spirit nor hinder joy in believing The greatest evils of this life can neither shut up nor shut out that comfort which the Spirit speaketh The most churlish winds that can blow from the coldest quarters of the world cannot chill much less kill or blast those fruits of the Spirit Love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness saith meekness temperance mentioned by the Apostle Gal. 5.22 23. The soul grows green like a Garden or Pasture in the Spring the soul bud's blossom's and brings forth these blessed fruits abundantly when fed with these dainties and delicacies of the Spirit Those great floods of trouble and persecution which the Serpent any where or at any time casts out of his mouth cannot prevail against the least drop of Consolation wrought in the heart by the Spirits influence Paul and Silas were bound in Prison but there their persecutors could not bind the sweet influences of the Spirit from comforting them nor daunt them by any terror from triumphing in Christ they could sing in Prison yea they sung at Midnight Secondly We may Inferr If God hath placed the Stars in heaven to drop down sweet influences upon us then at every sight of the Stars our hearts should be raised up in the admiring thoughts of the wisdom goodness and power of God We usually look upon the Stars as if they were only so many lights bespangling the Canopy of heaven and sparkling as so many fires in the firmament but we seldom consider their virtues their influences or the wonderful effects which they produce How few are there who behold the heavens with Davids eyes Psal 8.3 4. When I said he consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast made What is man that thou are mindful of him God is mindful of man not only to give him light by the Moon and Stars by the benefit whereof he sees other things but God gives many unseen benefits by the Moon and Stars The influences of the Stars are as beneficial to us Qui negat esse Deum spectet modo fidero câ—li Sidorâ— qui spectat non negat esse Deum and as great a treasure as their light We indeed have great cause as we are commanded Psal 136.7 8 9. to pay the tribute of thanks to God for setting up the Sun Moon and Stars in the heavens to give us light O give thanks to him that made great lights the Sun to rule by day the Moon and Stars to rule by night Yet we must not confine our thankfulness to God for them only as they give us light for they give us heat as well as light and wonder working influences as well as either Moses their civil Father blessing the twelve Tribes as Jacob their natural Father did before his departure out of the world thus bespake the blessing upon Joseph Deut. 33.13 14 15. Blessed of the Lord be his land for the precious things of heaven for the dew and also for the deep that coucheth beneath and for the precious fruits brought forth by the Sun and for the precious things put forth by the Moon and for the chief things of the ancient mountains and for the precious things of the lasting hills and for the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof c. Here we have two sorts of precious things First The precious things of heaven Secondly The precious things of the earth of the hills and mountains The former precious things are the cause the latter the effect The precious things of heaven are the influences of the Sun and Moon under which we are to comprehend the influences of the Stars these cause or produce the precious things of the earth that is Grass Hearbs with all sorts of Vegetables growing upon the surface of the earth they produce also the precious things of the ancient mountains and of the lasting hills that is gems or precious stones gold and silver together with all sorts of inferiour minerals Now if the Stars by their influences yield us all these precious things have we not much cause to admire both the power of God who hath implanted those vertues and opperations in them as also his
goodness who hath ordained both those causes and their products or effects for the benefit and comfort yea for the contentment and delight of man What is man that God should be thus mindful of him that for his sake and use or for the sweetning of his passage through the Wilderness of this troublesome world he should impregnate the earth by the sweet influences of heaven It hath been said Let him look to the Stars of heaven who denies the God of heaven and doubtless he will not only not deny but not so much as doubt that there is a God in heaven who duely considers the pure nature and the irresistible operations of the Stars of heaven Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades Or loose the bands of Oâ—ion We can neither bind what God lets loose Tune coeli naturae ordinem immutabis ut quod Astrum Pleiadum sol vit constringas aut quod Orion constringit solvas Merc. nor loosen what God binds What Christ affirmed of himself in regard of spirituals Rev. 3.7 These things saith he that hath the key of David that openeth and no man shutteth that shutteth and no man openeth the same is true also in regard of naturals and therefore the Lord had no sooner said to Job Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades but he adds or loose the bands of Orion There are several opinions concerning these two Constellations of heaven yet all agree in this that one of them is a benigne Constellation and very comfortable to the fruits of the earth and that the other is as sharp and churlish that the one is very friendly and favourable to all living creatures but that the other is a bitter and as it were a killing Constellation and therefore the Lord saith Canst thou loose the bands of Oâ—ion When once Orion hath and holds the earth as it were in bands and chains when Orion hath got the earth in his clutches and huggs it in appearance to death in his cold armes who can rescue it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est inconstantem varium esse quasi signum quod inconstantiam perturbationem aeris efficiat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aut attrahentia Orionis aperies Drus Aut Lora Orionis dissolves Jun. Vox Hebraea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 traxit Funes ejus sunt operationes quibus tempestates velut furibus attrabit frigore constringit terram Scult Sidus hoc oritur in principio hiemis terram tanquam loris constringit Pisc Nimbosus Orion Virg. The Pleiades open the earth and set all free they call up the quickening moisture and draw out the verdure of every growing thing But Orion holds all in bands Orion is a hard natured Constellation the Oâ—iginal word signifies to be unconstant vexatious and unquiet because under the Dominion of this Star the aire is usually troublesome and unquiet Canst thou loose c. The word imports opening what is fast shut or loosing what is fast bound When a man is in bands we say loose him from his bands Now saith the Lord Canst thou loose the bands of Orion that is canst free the aire from those colds and frosts which bind the body of the earth and all things growing out of the earth in winter season The word rendred bands comes from a root that signifies to draw hence some translate The Traces of Orion Traces are those bands by which Horses being fastned to Carts or Wagons draw them after them Which expression alludes to that natural power planted in this Star by which according to Gods appointment it draws rain storms and cold freezing winds after it and so binds up the pores of the earth Now saith the Lord to Job canst thou with all thy skill aâ—d strength loose those bands and set the earth at liberty Thou canst not Oâ— this Orion see more at the 9th Chapter ver 9. I shall only say thus much further here That these words stand in direct opposition to the former shewing that as Job could not stop those Benigne Stars the Pleiades from giving forth their vertues to the earth so he could not loose the bands of that severe and harsh Star nor divert the effects which it brings upon the earth Canst thou loose the bands of Orion Hence learn first in general Cold is a binder a great and mighty binder Winter binds the earth from bearing and it binds the hands of men from working when a man is extream cold he can make little use of his hands And as Natural so Spiritual cold is a great binder A cold heart is a bound heart When the heart hath in it no heat of love to God or hath not been heated with a sence of the love of God when the heart hath in it no heat of zeal for the glory of God nor for the good of men when these sad colds are upon the heart 't is bound indeed He that hath this cold upon him can say but little to God and will say and do less for God He is bound not only hand and foot but tongue also Take heed of cold upon your hearts it will hinder you from holy activity bind you up from duty both towards God and man He that is only luke-warm will do God little service can do none that is pleasing and acceptable unto God but he that is key-cold as we say neither will nor can do any thing at all that may be called Service The Apostle Paul Acts 20.22 was bound in the Spirit to go to Jerusalem which was a great service for Christ that is The heat of true affection which the instinct of the holy Spirit caused in him engaged him beyond all power of revocation to undertake that hazardous journey But when any are bound in spirit by the coldness of their affections to Christ they always prove hand-bound and foot-bound I may say without affectation according to the use of that word in our language hide-bound also as to any thing that is good especially if it be as it was in the Apostles case now mentioned either dangerous or costly And when a soul is in those bands of the Mystical Orion the evil spirit surely none but God can loose them seeing none but he can loose these in the Text. Canst thou loose the bands of Orion the Winter-bands Hence note Secondly It is not in the power of man to loose what God binds The Lord put the question to Job about his works that he might see his own weakness and utter inability to undo his providential workings When God had Job in bonds it was not in his power to loose his bonds by his strength and striving The providences of God were to him as Orion to the earth cold and sharp causing the frost of adversity to bind him so strongly that he could by no means loose himself Christ saith to his Disciples about Church-censures rightly laid and Church-approbation
duly given Mat. 18.18 Whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Where man binds in Gods way God binds too and where man looses in Gods way God looses too but take it either in natural or spiritual things it is not in the power of man to bind where God looseth nor to loose where God bindeth Canst thou loose the bands of Orion If God appoint cold to bind the earth man cannot loose it and if God will bind man with the cords and cold iron of any affliction man cannot free himself In the hottest natural season of the year man may be in cold providential bands and under them he must abide till the Lord breaks the frost and set him free It is said of Joseph Psal 105.17 18 19. He was sold for a servant his feet were hurt with fetters he was laid in iron or as the Margin reads it His soul came into iron But how came he out did he himself loose the bands of that Orion who cast him into prison surely no the Text tells us otherwise he lay fast enough in bands until ver 19. the word of the Lord came the word of the Lord tryed him But what was this Word of the Lord some say it was the word of God to Pharoah in a dream concerning the seven years of plenty and famine which may be said to try Joseph none but he could interpret it that may be said to unloose his bands because it was the occasion of his deliverance and advancement But I rather conceive the word that came was the word of Gods decree and promise made to Joseph in a dream for his advancement above all his brethren Gen. 37.6 7 8. When once the time came that this Word of God must come to be fulfilled then the bands of Orion were loosed for then saith the Psalmist ver 20. The King sent and loosed him even the Ruler of the people and let him go free And as it was with Joseph so with Job and so will ever be If the cold winter blasts of any adversity bind up our comforts either in our callings or relations there is no unloosing them unâ—il the word of the Lord come Solomon giveth this counsel Eccles 7.13 14. Consider the work of God that is his working in the world The reason of this counsel follows For who can make that strait which he hath made crooked Solomon intends this specially of the dealings of God in the world not that there is any crookedness or unrighteousness any iniquity or injustice in the ways of God but he means by crooked that which is troublesom and grievous Now if God himself make a thing crooked till he himself make it strait it is not in the power of all the men in the world to do it The moral sense of that Text is the very same with the point in hand If God bind who can loose There is no striving no contending with the providences of God we must deal with and apply to God himself for the altering of them we cannot alter them our selves we must desire him to mend his work we cannot This Solomon plainly intimates in the next or 14. verse In the day of prosperity be joyful but in the day of adversity consider in a time of adversity things grow crooked and awry from what we would have and desire or from what is comfortable to us for God hath set the one over against the other to the end that man should find nothing after him Sometimes he makes things crooked sometimes strait sometimes he gives a day of prosperity sometimes of adversity that no man may be able to say directly what shall be next And seeing there is no loosing the bands of Orion till God himself loose them therefore let all who are companions in tribulation say one to another as they in a like case are represented Hosea 6.1 Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath wounded and he will heal he hath torn and he will bind us up Oâ— as this Text speaks He hath bound us and he will loâ—sen us Thirdly From both the paâ—ts of the verse considered together these negatives upon man must be resolved into affirmatives as to God He can bind the sweet influences of Pleiades he can loose the bands of Oâ—ion Whence note God can both stop the ordinary course of our comforts and deliver us from our troubles when he pleaseth God can stop those things from comforting us and those persons from shewing us any favour whose dispositions are as benigne to us as Pleiades are to the earth and he can give us favour in their eyes who naturally are as churlish as Nabal and as sharp as Orion to the earth He can make a Wolf a Shepherd and those a safety to his servants whose hearts were to swallow them up The earth shall help the woman that is the worst of the world the Church God made Ravens feed Eliah 1 Kings 17.4 And he said of Cyrus whom he calls a ravenous Bird Isa 46.11 He is my Shepherd Isa 44.28 Thus the Lord looseth the bands of Orion And when he hardens their hearts against us who formerly were tender towards us or when he turns their hearts to hate us who formerly loved us and shewed us favour then the Lord may be said to bind the sweet influences of Pleiades What sweet influences of favour did the people of Israel receive from Pharoah and the Egyptians at their first coming thither and long after yet afterwards what grievous Task-masters were they to them their favours were all restrained and changed into yokes and bands whence was this The Psalmist answers fully Psal 105.25 He that is God turned their heart that is the heart of the Egyptians to hate his people to deal subtilly with his servants and cruelly too Thus the Power and Name of God is both wayes magnified Whenas we have the most benigne Pleiades dropping down sweet influences upon us God can stop them and when we have the hardest bands of Orion upon us the Lord is able to loose them This glory is due to God in all the changes which we meet with in this world whether from good to bad from the favours to the frowns of men or from bad to good from their frowns to their favours from their bands to their embraces all is of God And I conceive the scope of God in these questions was chiefly to bring Job to that conclusion The next verse bears the same sense Vers 32. Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season or canst thou guide Arcturus and his Sons This also is a denying Question Canst thou thou canst not bring forth Mazzaroth in his season The word rendred to bring forth is applyed First to the birth or bringing forth of children Gen. 15.4 Secondly to the earths bringing forth flowers fruits Judg. 13.14 Thirdly to the rising of the Sun or
Stars Gen. 19.23 Neh. 4.21 Thus here canst thou cause Mazzaroth to rise and go forth Or canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth What 's that Some Interpreters conceive Sunt collectionis syderum quae usus obtinuit ut vocentur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi parva animalia alii vero dicunt signifiâ—are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sydereum canem Chrysost apud Orus Colligunt quidam hic Mazzaroth esse quod ibi dicebatur penetralia Austri Merc. Remotiora siâ— na Heb. separationes i. e. sidera à nobis qui sub polo arctico degimus ut Jobus separata sic autem vooantur sidera meridionalia quae oriuntur in principio aestatis Pisc that by Mazzaroth we are to understand those Constellations which Astronomers call the twelve Signes of the Zodiack which are expressed for learning sake by the fancied names of living creatures so that according to this interpretation the Suns appearance in or passage through those monthly signs is the bringing forth of Mazzaroth in his season But most generally they are taken for the Southern Stars and thought to be the same with those Chap. 9.9 Called the Chambers of the South and seeing the other three are named there it is not improbable that under this word the fourth is intended Master Broughton calls them far Stars in the South The letter of the Hebrew imports that and the Seventy derive it from a root â—hat signifies to separate or disperse because those Stars are far separated or are at a great distance from us who lye under the Northern Pole Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season that is canst thou make that Constellation appear in its proper time thou canst not Hence take these brief Notes The Stars of heaven are brought forth by special order and appointment As men are brought forth at such a time in such a place so are they by an order from God The Stars of heaven are not under any law of man on earth no nor of the Angels in heaven Psal 19.4 5. In them speaking of the heavens hath he that is the Lord set a Tabernacle for the Sun which is as a Bride groom coming out of his Chamber every morning to visit his Spouse the earth and rejoyceth as a strong man to run a race what is there spoken of the Sun is true of Mazzaroth and of all the Stars whether planted in the Northern or Southern in the Eastern or Western parts of heaven 'T is the Lord who brings them all forth and that in their season Note secondly The Stars of heaven have their seasons and keep their seasons They keep them punctually to a minute to a moment they know their times and they keep time they have their seasons of rising and their seasons of setting Psal 65.8 Thou makest the out-goings of Morning and Evening to rejoyce Some Stars go out in the Morning others go out in the Evening their times are various but they all keep their time Psal 104.19 The Sun knoweth its going down that is the time of its going down the place of its going down In this we may see what we should do or our own duty Let us come forth in our season The Stars are brought forth in theirs and shall not we happy are they that come forth and bring forth in their season To hit time is a mercy as well as a duty Paul indeed said of himself 1 Cor. 15.8 that he was an abortive or born out of due time An abortive in nature is one that comes into the world before the due time Paul as to his spiritual birth or new birth through grace was not nor can any one be new-born before the due time We may rather say that we are new-born too late than too soon or before our time Paul might say he had been too long a proud Pharisie a formal professor and at last a persecutor of those who professed the truth of the Gospel in truth and therefore in that sence Paul was not an abortive or born out of due time namely before his time But Paul might say so of himself that he was so First Because he was the last of the Apostles that was called The other Apostles were called by Christ while he lived here on earth Paul was called by Christ from heaven after his death and departure from the earth Secondly He was born like an abortive or those that come out of due time because of the violence and grievous pangs which accompanied his new-birth He was smitten from his horse to the ground and lay as one dead in his passage to his new-life Such was the suddenness and violence of his conversion that it was most like an abortion Thirdly The Apostle himself seems to give the reason in the next Verse we know abortives are usually very weak and imperfect children and less in body than those born in due time Now such was Saint Pauls humility so low was he in his own thoughts that he calls himself vers 9. the least of the Apostles not meet to be called an Apostle In all these or in any of these notions the Apostle Paul might say he was born out of due time yet both as to the truth and seasonableness of his conversion he was born in due time and in his full time Now as there is a due time a season for our spiritual birth so for our fruit-bearing in spirituals It is said of every godly man Psal 1.3 He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season that is seasonable fruit The Stars appear in their season and so should the fruits of every Gospel-professor If we should see Winter-stars in Summer and Summer-stars in Winter if the Sun should rise at Mid-night or go down at Mid-day how prodigious would that appearance and disappearance be if the Sun should not rise and set just at the time we look for him it would breed horror and put all men into an amazement But now the Lord brings forth Mazzaroth and all the Stars in their season O therefore let us look to our seasons we shall be reproved else by the Stars of heaven Mazzaroth will be a witness against us Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season Or canst thou guid Arcturus with his Sons A radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 duxit placidè sensim sicut pastoroves Arcturus est stella insignis quae oritur in principio Autumni Hebraei putant esse septem stellas quae semper apparent in nostro hemisphaerio à congregatione sic dictas nam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est congregatio Merc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sive Cynosura supra alias stellas in apice caeli tanquam mater in alto supra filios suos sedens cum iis certissima ratione circumducitur Coc. Here 's a fourth question Canst thou guid The word signifies to guid or conduct gently softly canst thou guid them as a Shepheard guids his flock
canst thou guid them as a Father guids his Family his Wife Children and Servants canst thou direct them their course how or which way to go Some think he useth the word guid because this constellation represents the form of a Wain or Wagon and is by us commonly called Charles-wain or the greater Bear Canst thou guid Arcturus That 's another Constellation seated in the Northern Pole notably conspicuous to us in a clear night 'T is the Sea-mans mark or guid The Lord who guids that Star hath made it a guid to the Sea-man in the night by looking to that he knows how to make his course Canst thou guid Arcturus With his Sons Some read Arcturus and her Daughters Master Broughton and her Children We render in the Masculine Gender and his Sons There is one principal Star and several other Stars that stand as Children about their Father or Mother and therefore the Lord expresseth them by that familiar Allusion Arcturus and his Sons canst thou guid them Hence Note First The Stars have a Guid a Governour The Stars move as directed God himself is the guid of the Stars not Man As a Shepheard guids his flock in the fields so the Lord guids the Stars in that spacious field of the heavens yea he names and numbers them as a Shepheard doth his flock Psal 147. He telleth the number of the Stars and call's them all by their names The Prophet exhorting the people to lift up their eyes on high that is to the heavens presently adds and behold who hath created these things Isa 40.26 that is the heavens and the fuâ—niture of them he bringeth out their host by number that is the host of the Stars As an Army is enrolled and numbered how many thousands they are so doth the Lord bring forth that host by number and calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might for that he is strong in power not one faileth There 's not one of the host of heaven not one of the Stars that faileth but comes forth at Gods call and appears as it were in rank and file when and where the Lord gives command Thus the Prophet speaks of the Stars as Gods host and of the Lord as a Commander or General of an army knowing their number nature place and office mustering and marshalling them oâ—dering them out upon service as he pleaseth And whereas in the best disciplin'd armies of men many fail when drawn out to service some for fear others through unfaithfulness not a few through weakness and sickness here 's neither weak nor sick neither an unfaithful nor a fearful one in this host not one faileth Nor doâ—h the Lords memory fail for he calls them all by their names which shews the perfect remembrance and exact knowledge which the Lord hath of them all It is reported as a wonder Plin. lib. 7. c. 24. Valerius Maximus lib. 3. c. 7. of Cyrus King of Persia that he having a vast Army yet knew them by face and was able to call every man by his name What then shall we say of this wonder The Lord who guideth Arcturus and his Sons who leads out this innumerable Army of the Stars knows every one of them by name and sends them forth by name upon what enterprise or service he pleaseth The Lord having questioned Job about those four eminent and well known Constellations Pleiades in the Spring Orion in the Winter Mazzaroth in the Summer and Arcturus with his Sons in the Autumn to convince him that as he was not able nor any man else to alter the natural motions or courses of the Stars so that neither he nor any man else was able to alter the course of his providence The Lord I say having done questioning Job about these four notable Constellations of heaven in special proceeds to interrogate him more generally about the whole heavens in the next Verse Vers 33. Knowest thou the Ordinances of heaven canst thou set the Dominions thereof in the earth Surely as thou knowest not the special laws by which I govern the Pleiades Orion Mazzaroth and Arcturus so not the general laws by which the heavens are governed Knowest thou the Ordinances of heaven The word here rendred Ordinances is often rendred in the Psalms statutes laws decrees knowest thou the laws or statutes of heaven The word rendred heaven is of the dual number as Grammarians speake because in what part soever of the earth any man stands the heaven is cut in two parts as to him by the Horizon whereof one part is over him and the other under him As there is a heaven above us so a heaven below us though wheresoever any man is on earth heaven is above him Knowest thou The Ordinances of heaven Now the Ordinances of heaven may be of two sorts First Those which God hath given to the heavens The heavenly bodies move according to his constitutions who made heaven and earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly Those which the heavens give to the earth or to man on earth The heavens may be said to impose their laws upon the earth men being guided and directed by the changes and motions of the heavens how to order many of their motions and actions on the earth those especially which concern the earth The heavens give these common laws as I may say to men concerning the earth First When to Till the earth Secondly When to cast their Seed into the earth Thirdly When to reap and gather the fruit of the earth When to perform any part of Husbandry to the earth is known only by the heavens that is the heavens by their motions and vicissitudes shew men the seasons of doing these and these works on earth And if men obey not these laws of heaven nor observe their seasons they loose all their labour and cost bestowed on the earth Again when he saith knowest thou the Ordinances of heaven the meaning may be this Are the heavenly bodies disposed or impowered by thy wisdome hast thou given them vertue to work upon inferiour bodies I hast thou made the statutes by which they are governed or by which they govern That 's the Lords Prerogative Hence note First The heavens are under a law they have their statutes They are under a law in a three-fold Respect 1. In respect of their motion how and whither they shall move 2ly They are under a law as to their influences where and on whom they shall drop them down 3ly Which necessarily follows the former They are under a law as to their effects and operations upon the Creatures whether for good or for evil The heavens can neither hurt nor help us but according to higher order This threefold law may be understood in that one Scripture Jer. 31.35 Thus saith the Lord which giveth the Sun for a light by day and the ordinances of the Moon and of the Stars for a light by night Note Secondly What all the Laws and Ordinances of heaven
are is a secret to man Knowest thou them saith God to Job There are some Ordinances of heaven or some things for which heaven is ordained which are easily and commonly known such are the changes of seasons with the division of night and day of winter and summer There are also sec et Ordinances and Orders given to the heavens according to which they produce many unexpected and extraordinary â—ffects here on earâ—h as Drought and the consequent of it Famine Infection in the air and the consequent of it Pestilential diseases and Mortality Who knows these ordinances of heaven and if these are so unknown then we may conclude First If man know not such like secret Ordinances of heaven surely he is much less able to understand the secret counsels of heaven We know but litle of those things that are commonly seen and felt among us but there are reserves which we cannot know at all Secondly We may hence also conclude If the heavens have their statutes and Ordinances as to their motion c. then much more hath man statutes and ordinances according to which he should move The heavens never move but according to ordinances Let us be sure that whatever we do à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praefectus ideo non nemo praefecturam vertit Drus. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod Augustinus interpretatur commutationes coeâ—i we have an ordinance or word of God for it either express or consequential If the heavens be under such a rule shall we think God hath left man at random or without a rule how to speak and think and do in this world It is dangerous to move without an ordinance much more to move against an ordinance we should take heed of acting besides a Law much more of acting against a Law Knowest thou the Ordinances of heaven and as it followeth Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth Cast thou set his force upon the earth Ponere dominium est facere ut dominetur quasi dominum constituere Hoâ— homo non facit sed solus Deus Drus. So Mr. Broughton translates To set the dominion is to make one have dominion and as it were to appoint a Lord or Governour in the earth This is not mans work but Gods As if God had said to Job Canst thâ—u give power to or impower the Stars to rule day and night to cause diversity of weathers and of seasons to which all things here below must submit or with which they must needs comply The word which we read Dominion signifies an under dominion an inferior dominion it signifies a Magistracy or power under a Power The Hebrew language hath two words the one signifying the power of a Judge who gives the rule of the Law and the other Qui simplicitèr judicat sententiam pronunciat dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sed executor qui judicatum exequitur cogit refractarios obedire sententiâ—â— judicis dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 here used signifying the power of a Sheriff who sees execution done A person may be in power and have great command yet not the first or chief command The Heavens have not a supream or an absolute command over the earth but a dominion by way of administration they have and that a large and great one Heaven hath a dominion so far as to execute and fulfil that which God the supream Judge orders determines and gives forth both concerning persons and things here on earth The heavens have a ministerial dominion respecting most changes wrought in this world Their ministry respects not only the constant and usual changes of times and seasons barely considered but they have also a ministry with respect to those usual and rare changes which according to the appointment of God befal the persons and conditions of men in this world Canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth Thou canst not but I can and have I have set and determined what dominion the Heavens shall have upon the earth or how they shall exercise their dominion Hence observe The Heavens have a power on the earth Some Astrologers give them a power of doing all on the earth as if both our lives and livelihoods depended wholly upon the Aspects of Planets It is not this mans endeavour say they nor that mans skill but all flows from the Stars These make or put the Heavens which are Gods work into the place of God himself they put the heavens into the place of the God of Heaven All things are in the hand of Heaven say they We say All things even the Planets themselves are in the hand and at the dispose of God We grant and this Text proves that the Heavens have a great power upon the earth we cannot but see and feel what the Sun doth upon the earth we see it distributes the year into four seasons Summer and Winter Spring and Autumn we see it makes Equinoxes twice in the year when days and nights are of an even length and as many Solstices in one of which dayes are of greatest length and nights in the other We see how the Sun brings forth several effects in those several seasons even the generation or corruption of natural things We know also that as the North draws the Magnete or Load-stone so the Sun the Heliotrope a flower so called because it follows the motion of the Sun It is said also that the Sun hath a great power upon the Cock who therefore croweth about midnight as if he did then congratulate or welcom the return of the Sun from the Antipodes to our Hemisphear Though these instances are not demonstrative or concluding yet they are probable evidences of the Heavens dominion in the earth Further 't is generally agreed that the Moon hath a great Power upon the waters causing the ebbing and flowing of the Sea as also upon those inhabitants of the Sea Shelfish because they are observed to increase with the increase of the Moon and to decrease at the wane of it Nor may we deny the heavens have a dominion upon the bodies of men for though we subscribe not to those fancies of Astronomers who have fixed a special star as ruling the special parts of mans body as you see in Almanacks who tell us also That in the body of man the Sun answers the heart Mars the gall Jupiter the liver Mercury the mouth and tongue Saturn the head though I say we subscribe not to these no nor to those other sentiments of theirs who ascribe a special dominion to the seven Planets over the seven ages or stages into which the course of mans life is commonly divided that is First Infancy to the dominion of the Moon Secondly Childhood to Mercury Thirdly You h to Venus Fourthly Adolescency or the young mans state to the Sun Fifthly Compleat manhood to Mars Sixthly Old age to Jupiter Seventhly extream or decrepid old age to Saturn yet doubtless
the Stars have a great power upon the bodies of men as well as upon Plants and all sorts of Vegetables subordinately to the power and appointment of God who ruleth all things and persons according to the pleasure and uncontroulable soveraignty of his own will Again Naturalists tell us and many are not far from believing them that the Planets have great power over minerals and metals They say Gold is under the dominion of the Sun Silver of the Moon Iron of Mars Lead of Saturn and that Tin and Coppar are under the dominion of that Planet by them called Jupiter Now whether or no God hath set these metals under the peculiar dominion of these stars I will not dispute not will I deny that there may be a natural sympathy and congeniality between them nor that their influences may be very operative and effectual towards their geneâ—ation production and full concoction in the bowels of the earth Only let us take heed that we be not found giving that to the Heavens which God hath not given them Remember the dominion here intended of the heavens over the earth is a ministerial not a supream dominion 't is not I dare say any such dominion as those Astrologers cry up who would perswade or make us believe First That the dispositions and manners of all men are under the dominion of the Planets and Stars Secondly That the very way and course of every mans life is ordered by the dominion of Stars and Planets Thirdly That all the successes and events good or bad of mens actions and undertakings depend upon the Stars and Planets Fourthly which some have adventured to affirm That the rise and fall of great persons and families together with the growths and declinings of whole Kingdoms and Common-wealths are under the dominion of the Stars Fifthly That the flourishings and decayings of Arts and Sciences depend upon them Yea Sixthly That the stars operate much towards the planting and progress towards the rooting up or going back of Religion But this Scripture intends not any such dominion of heaven over the earth Moses hath told us long since what this dominion is Gen. 1.14 And God said let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and for years The ordinary lights or stars of heaven are always for ordinary signes and seasons and sometimes there are extraordinary lights seen in heaven or the ordinary are seen appearing in an extraordinary manner to signifie that God is about to do extraordinary things or to bring forth extraordinary times and seasons So then they who say the heavenly bodies have no power or produce no effects upon the earth or earthly bodies oppose not only the testimony of sense and daily experience but this and other express testimonies of Scripture And as for those who ascribe all those things before mentioned or any one of them absolutely to the dominion of the heavenly bodies or luminaries they put them in the place of God himself and overthrow the common foundations of Religion which teacheth us to depend wholly upon God for all things which teacheth us also to trust in him alone and to look upon his favour not the favourable looks or aspects of the Stars as the fountain of all our good as also to fear him and his displeasure alone not the displeased looks of the Stars as the fountain of all penal evils Therefore let us in these things speak and think according to sobriety All that I shall add for the conclusion of this Point is First Let us be warned and awakened by the signes of Heaven but let us not be dismayed at them let us leave that to the Heathen who know not God Jer. 10.2 or rather let us pray that the Heathen may no longer be left under that blindness and bondage Secondly If any would know what shall come to pass or would acquaint themselves with future events whether with respect to persons or Nations let them not go to nor consult Star-gazers but the holy Scriptures the Word of God for he hath given us a written word wherein as in a glass we may see First What God would have us to do and how to order the whole course of our lives Secondly What good what blessings what successes we are like to have or may expect through his free favour to us in Christ we walking humbly holily believingly before him Thirdly What evils what crosses what curses what miseries what mischances as we speak we are subject to and may fear if we walk proudly impenitently frowardly in the way of our own hearts We need not go to the Stars if we would know what is like to befal us in this life let us consult the Promises and they will tell us what good we shall receive if we believe and obey let us go to the threatnings and they will tell us what evils will be our portion if we are unbelieving and disobedient Let us fear God not the Stars let our hope be in God not in the Stars If we are evil and do evil the most auspicious conjunctions benigne and promising appearances of the Stars in our nativity will never produce us any true good and if we are good and do good their most inauspitious harsh and threatning appearances shall do us no hurt It needs not trouble us under what Star we were born if we are new born One being told that the Stars in power or which had the dominion in his birth bare him no good will answered I care not for that I have had a second birth Do not my words saith the Lord Mic. 2.7 do good to him that walketh uprightly doubtless they do and so they will let the Stars do their worst Let us sit down quietly in this assurance That whatsoever rule or dominion Heaven hath in the earth the dominion of God is over and over-ruleth the Heavens JOB Chap. 38. Vers 34 35 36 37 38. 34. Canst thou list up thy voice to the clouds that abundance of waters may cover thee 35. Canst thou send lightnings that they may go and say unto thee Here we are 36. Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts or who hath given understanding to the heart 37. Who can number the clouds in wisdom or who can stay the bottles of heaven 38. When the dust groweth into hardness and the clods cleave fast together IN the context of these five Verses return is made to the Meteors of Heaven The Lord having questioned Job about the Stars those pure heavenly bodies the Pleiades Orion Mazzaroth and Arcturus with his Sons here puts the question afresh about the aireal bodies or the natural works of God in the Air. The first question concerns the Clouds and the effects or births of them the waters Vers 34. Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds That is canst thou do it effectually Canst thou speak so loudly that
the clouds above may hear thee and so powerfully that they will obey thee Any man the meanest man may lift up his voice toward the clouds but no man no not the mightiest man can lift up his voice to the clouds and be heard that is be obeyed by them Thou canst not command the clouds Though a man speak and speak aloud though he lift up his voice as God bid the Prophet to his people like a Trumpet to the clouds yet the clouds will be deaf at his voice as deaf as sinners commonly are at the voice of a Prophet though lifted up like a Trumpet The voice here intended is an effectual voice such a voice to the clouds is proper and peculiar to God alone Numquid descendet ad te pluvia imperio â—uâ— Vatabl. whose power and Empire is so great and large that he can stretch forth his voice to the clouds far and near all the air over and cause them both to appear at his call and presently to empty themselves and pour out their waters according to his direction upon any coast or quarter of the earth The text is singular Canst thou lift up thy voice to the cloud canst thou lift up thy voice to any one of them as it were by name We render it plurally Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds to any one or to all of them That as it followeth abundance of waters may cover thee As if the Lord had said If I lift up my voice to the clouds they presently dissolve and melt and abundance of waters flow down to cover man and beast to cover the fields the corn the grass nor is it any marvel if the clouds those thin and upon the matter liquid bodies melt and slow down at the voice of God whenâ—s at his voice the mountains flow down and the rocks themselves even the hardest rocks are melted into waters or give forth abundance of water Num. 20.8 Eliphaz said to Job at the 22. Chap. of this book and the 11. Vers Abundance of waters cover thee The words are the same there and here but the sence is very different Eliphâ—z meant it there of metaphorical waters the waters of affliction with which God covered yea almost over-whelmed and drowned Job But the Lord speaks here of natural waters Job could not call to the clouds and get abundance of those waters to cover him nor was he able in a way of command to get one drop of water from the clouds The words are plain and the scope of them obvious even to convince Job yet further of his inability and frailty or that he ought to leave God to the government of the world to the government of Persons Families and Nations for as much as himself was not able to govern a cloud nor to order out the least shower of rain Hence Note Man hath no absolute or soveraign power over any creature Clouds will not be commanded cannot be commanded by the greatest and mightiest of the sons of men Job was a great Prince himself yet he could not neither can the greatest Princes of the world command a shower nor a drop of rain to fall from the heavens Man cannot command the clouds to rain either when he will or where he will or how much he will these powers belong to God alone Yet in one sen e man may lift up his voice to the clouds and abundance of waters will cover him There is a twofold voice of man Fiâ—st A commanding voice And secondly A praying voice Let man lift up his commanding voice to the clouds as long as he will he shall get down no rain but if man by faith lift up his praying voice to the clouds that is to God in whose hand the clouds are he may get rain yea abundance of waters to cover him Zach. 10.1 A k ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain so the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain to every one grass in the field At the voice of man humbly praying the Lord makes bright clouds or as our Margin hath it lâ—ghtenings which fore-run black clouds to those God gives showers of rain and those showers of rain give every one grass that is they cause all sorts of Vegetables to spring and flourish in the fieldâ— both for man and beast This was one of the cases which Solomon put in his prayer at the dedication of the Temple for the Lords answering of prayer 1 Kings 8.35 When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against thee if they pray towards this place and confess thy name and turn from their sins when thou afflictest them then hear thou in heaven and forgive the sin of thy servants c. and give rain upon thy land When the clouds are lockt up when they are as brass over our heads prayer moves the Lord to open them or to melt them down into showers for the refreshing and fructifying of the earth The Apostle James Chap. 5.17 18. tells us that â—lias covered the earth with abundance of rain by lifting up his voice in prayer Elias saith he was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months And he prayed again and the heavens gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit The holy history makes the same report 1 Kings 18 45. And it came to pass in the mean while that the heaven was black with clouds and wind and there was a great rain c. If we would have rain we must ask for it and lift up a praying voice to God who commands the clouds it is a vain thing for us to lift up a voice to the clouds in our own name to command them to give us rain in the season of it And as this is true of the clouds and rain so of all creatures Their powers and vertues their efficacies and influences are not at our command but if we look up to God and wait upon him in prayer he can command them all to give out their vertues both to serve our necessities and accommodate our delights Now as in this question God shews Job his insufficiency to command water so in the next to command fire from the clouds Vers 35. Canst thou send lightnings that they may go and say unto thee here we are What lightning is hath been shewed once or twice already in this and the former Chapter and therefore I shall not stay here in any discourse either about the nature or the wonderful effects of lightning But the Lords manner of speaking and his purpose in speaking here about the lightning is very considerable and calls for further discourse Canst thou send lightnings that they may go c. As if the Lord had said If thou canst not prevail with the clouds to send rain canst thou prevail
they are As the number and nature of the stars so of the clouds which are beneath the stars exceed mans wisdom The least and lowest works of God are above mans reach how much more his greatest works and those which are far above Yet further from this word which we translate to number to declare or demonstrate that precious stone the Saphir mentioned often in Scriptures hath its name Quis sapphirinas effecit nubes sapientia Jun. and so the Text is rendred thus who can make the clouds saphâ—rine or like a Saphir the meaning is who can make the clouds bright and clear l ke the Saphir-stone The Saphir is a most pleasant resplendent and beautiful gem That glorious throne which was shewed the Prophet in vision Ezek. 1.26 had the apâ—earance â—f a Saphâ—â—-stone that is it had a most excellent and illustrious appearance Now saith the Lord who can make the clouds dark of themselves like a Saphir-stone that is serene pleasant beautiful and delightful to the eye God can make bright clouds Zech. 10.1 clouds wonderful fair and pleasant to behold even as pleasing to the eye as a precious Saphir As this translation holds out a truth in it self so 't is very sutable to that which followeth Or who can stay the bottles of heaven Clouds darken the heavens Hunc interpretationem postulâ—â—e videtur antithesis quum additur lagenas coeli quis collocet q d. quis â—oelum num â—â—renum ac sulum nunc verò nubilum reddat Pisc but when the Lord stayeth the clouds from rain then the heavens are clear like a Saphir God can make the heavens cloudy or clear Who can stay the bottles of heaven that is the clouds who can stay them or as the Hebrew strictly who can cause them to lye down Master Braughton renders who can destill the barrels of heaven The word here used signifies a bottle or any vessel wherein liquor is preserved and it may be taken either foâ— a bottle made of skin a leathern bottle or for a bottle made of clay an earthen bottle a Potters bottle as 't is called Isa 30.14 The clouds are like a leathern or an earthern bottle which as it holds the liquor so being unstopped and held up the liquor runs out who can stay the bottles of heaven that is if God once unstop the clouds they presently pour down in and who can stay them from raining no man can That 's a plain sence as if the Lord had said who can hinder the clouds from giving down rain if once opened who but I can restrain the rain which is heavy of it self and tends naturally downwards from falling out of the clouds There is another reading of this part of the verse Conâ—entum coeli qun dormire faciet Vulg. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per quinque puncta significat Nâ—hlium in strumentum musicum utri simile habens chordas quae pulsantur who can slay the harmony of heaven The Vulgar Latine renders who can make the musick of heaven sleep that is cease or be quiet The reason of this translation is this because the same word which signifieth a bottle signifies also a musical instrument somewhat resembling the form of a bottle Psal 33.2 Thus some take it here as intending that musical or melodious harmony which antient Philosophers have affiâ—med is made by the motion of the heavenly sphears yet by this they do not mean a proper musical sound or harmony such as the Pythagoreans dreamed of which some other learned men have said is so sweet and ravishing that if we did but hear iâ— we could neither eat nor drink nor sleep Yea they tell us that Moses while he did not eat nor drink nor sleep those forty days in the Mount was all that while taken up and ravished with that Musick but you may put that among Jewish fables Sober men following this translation who can stay the musick of heaven understand by it only the harmonious concord and agreement which all the heavenly Orbes unfailably observe in their several courses without the least jarr or discord That 's a truth shewing the great wisdom and power of God who hath put the heavens into such a sweet order that they move not only constantly but harmoniously Though the motion of the heavens makes no audible or proper musick yet it makes an intelligible or metaphorical musick that is the heavens move orderly there is an agreement in their motion which is the the sweetest musick in heaven among Saints and Angels and among good men on earth We say of men moving peaceably in their places as becomes them there is a harmony among them And how blessed a thing would it be to see all sorts of men moving orderly in their spheres what a harmony would it make to see every one doing his duty and doing it in his place whereas to omit duty makes our lives useless and to do it out of our place makes us troublesome and unharmonious And therefore though I insist not upon this reading yet it were well if all would insist upon the moral of it labouring to make harmony as much as may be in all their motions But I pass from it and rest in our own Who can stay the bottles of heaven that is who can make them leave raining The Lord by a late question convinced Job that no man can make it rain vers 34. Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds that abundance of waters may cover thee and by this question he would convince him that no man can obstruct or hinder the rain Who can stay the bottles of heaven Hence observe It is God who stayeth or restraineth the clouds from raining Should not the Lord put stopples into those bottles should not he close up those barrels they would drop down continually and in stead of watering drown the earth When in the days of Noah the Lord opened the bottles of heaven forty days together who could stop or stay them Did not the clouds pour down till the whole world was over-whelmed and unless the Lord did now stay the clouds and forbid them to give out their whole stock they would again over-whelm the world There are Seas of waters above our heads God keeps them in from hurting the earth and lets them out to help iâ— The next verse intimates at least this power of God over the clouds and the season when he exerciseth it Who can stay the bottles of heaven Vers 38. When the dust groweth or is poured into hardness and the clods cleave fast together The Margin of our Bibles gives us the former part of the verse in a very different translation thus When the dust is turned into mire The earth hath had its fill if not too much rain when the dust is turned into mire And when 't is so who but God stayeth the bottles of heaven from pouring down overmuch But I shall only open the reading in the Text of which there are
two interpretations First Some expound it of staying the rain when there is most need of rain or when the earth wants it most or in a time of drought For then the earth groweth hard like a molten-pillar and the clods thereof cleaving one to another make clefts in the body of the earth In a time of great drought the earth at once cleaves asunder and runs closet together as it were to succour it self Who stayeth the bottles of heaven when the earth is chapt and gapes for rain to soften and cool it Surely man doth it not nor can he be said to do it unless meritoriously It is God alone who efficiently stays the clouds from rain in a time of drought or when the necessities of the earth call aloud for it Taking the words in this sense Observe God can stop any of our mercies as here the rain when we have most need of them I saith the Lord Amos 4.7 have withholden the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest and I caused it to rain upon one City and caused it not to rain upon another City one piece was rained upon and the piece whereupon it rained not withered One months drought before harvest threatens a scarsity or dearth of Corn but two yea three months drought must needs usher in a dreadful famine Voce◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—â—o sermentâ—tiâ—â—m â—erbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quâ—d â—â—gnificat â—â—rmentari atque intâ—mescere E. Pisc The second interpretation of these words seems yet more clear Who can stay the bottles of heaven when the dust groweth into hardness and the clods cleave fast together that is who but God can stop rain when there is no farther need of rain As it the Loâ—d had said When the bottles of heaven have given out so much rain as may sit the earth for fruit-bearing or when the ground hath had its fill so that the light dust is turned into lumps of earth and that dust which was raised and tossed with every breath of wiâ—d is clodded and agglutinated by water into a massie substance when I say 't is thus with the earth who can stay or stop the bottles of heaven from raining more to the spâ—il of all but my self So then the true use of rain is held forth in this 38. vers namely that the dust of the earth being moistened with rain may coalesce or be joyned close together This I conceive is the most natural and proper sense of the Text. For the earth which by drought was cruâ—bled into dust rain falling plentifully upon it is knit again into one body like meal or flower into which leven is put and so is made ready to receive Humore aquae terrae puries continentur uniuntur quae ante disjunctae fuerant Merc. Vt perfusio sit formentandae terrae ut conglutinentur glebae Jun. Trans I. e. ut terram quum pulverulenta est ab ariditate immissis pluviis sermentet ad glebarum comâ—agem rerum ex ea nascentium alimentum Jun. nourish and b ing forth whatever grain is cast into the bosome of it Rain falling upon the dust embodies it The ground moulders in a time of drought but when rain comes that hardens it The dust as we commonly say slyes before but as drought cleaves the earth so rain causeth the parts to unite anâ— then the earth which like a heap of sand would not hang together becomes solid and fit for tillage Now when so much rain hath fallen as prepares the earth and as the word imports fermentates or levens it to receive the seed cast into it then who stayeth the bottles of heaven Hence note First Rain compacts the earth As moisture loosens compacted things so it compacts or knit together loose things The earth is soon made dust by droughts and it would be a very dust-heap if it had no moisture to reunite it The Lord threatens his people in case of disobedience Deut. 28.24 to make the rain of their Land powder and dust that is they should have dust and powder instead of water Long drought turns the earth to dust In this learn how great a mercy there is in rain Secondly note The Lord knows when the earth hath had sufficient rain And therefore unless in judgement he will not let the clouds run wast he will stay his bottles from letting down one drop more when once the dust by rain falling upon it groweth into hardness and the clods cleave fast together Note Thirdly 'T is a mercy when the earth hath enough that God stops the bottles As it is a duty when we have drank enough to stop the bottle that is to give over drinking so 't is a mercy that the Lord stops the bottles when the earth hath drank enough When the earth hath enough the Lord sometimes will not stop the bottles of heaven but lets them pour down rain till the fruits of the earth are utterly spoyled and this he doth for the punishment of mans sin always and sometimes for the punishment of those special sins mans unthankfulness for and abuse of the fruits of the earth that is because he did not stay the bottle when he had taken enough Now if the Lord knows when to give rain and when to stop it with respect to husbandry and the natural fruits of the earth then doubtless he knows and will take care to give rain for the souls of his people when they have need Psal 68.2 Thou O God didst send a plentiful rain whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance when it was weary which is specially meant of spiritual rain There are bottles of heaven which water souls The Preachers of the word are those bottles or clouds which hold and destil the mystical rain the Lord will not stop them till he sees the hearts of men made fit to bring forth the fruits of righteousness holiness he will not stop I say that spiritual rain till this be effected unless in judgement to a people that have despised the rain and slighted those showers of divine doctrine against such the Lord will stop the bottles of heaven then their souls turn to dust and their hearts become hard as rocks or like the mountains upon which neither rain nor dew falls fruitless and barren of every good word and work JOB Chap. 38. Vers 39 40 41. 39. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the Lion or fill the appetite of the young Lions 40 When they couch in their dens and abide in the covert to lie in wait 41. Who provideth for the Raven his food when his young ones cry unto God they wander for lack of meat THe Lord having by a multitude of questions proposed to Job concerning inanimates or creatures without life such as are the Earth the Sea the Heavens the Clouds and Meteors having I say by these questions convinced him of his weakness and insufficiency as also of the transcendent power and wisdom which abideth
and resideth everlastingly in himself he now undertakes Job for the same ends by putting him questions about the living creatures and those of three forms or sorts First About the beasts of the earth Secondly About the fowls of the Air. Thirdly About the fish of the Sea The Lord gives particular instance or makes inquiry about thirteen kinds of living creatures whereof seven abide upon the earth five in the air one in the waters The seven creatures inquired about which abide on the earth are First The Lion Secondly The wilde Goat Thirdly The Hind Fourthly The wilde Ass Fifthly The Vnicorn Sixthly the Horse and Seventhly The Elephant under the name of Behemoth as is most generally conceived The five creatures inquired about that live in the air are First The Raven Secondly The Peacock Thirdly The Ostrich Fourthly The Hawk and Fifthly The Eagle Of the third sort namely such as live in the water or in the Sea Job is questioned only about one the Leviathan or the Whale a creature of a vast magnitude of so vast a magnitude that take all the other twelve creatures and joyn them together the Leviathan exceeds them all in magnitude as will appear in the description given of him at large in the one and fortieth Chapter The Lord in this latter discourse with or questioning of Job seems to descend or to put matter of easier resolution to him than he had done before and doubtless he doth yet he doth it for the greater and fuller conviction and humiliation of Job As if the Lord had said If O Job thou findest thy self puzled and unable to give any tolerable answer and resolution to the questions which I have proposed about the whole bulk or body of the earth and Sea or about those great things that are wrought in the heavens and in the air then consider how thou art able to answer my questions about these lesser things which are also near unto thee the beasts of the earth fowls of the air and the fish of the Sea The Lord even in these works makes manifest his glorious perfections far exceeding the reach and apprehension of man as well as in yea more than in those other works of his mentioned before There are two things especially of which the Lord would convince Job with respect to these living creatures First Of his care and providence in the provision that he daily makes for them Secondly Of his power and wisdom in the extraordinary strength and strange qualities which he hath bestowed upon them and indued them with in some of which they much surpass man the master-piece and master of the whole invisible Creation The general scope and aim of God in putting questions to Job about these living creatures seems to answer a secret doubt which some might have concerning his pâ—ovidence True the Lord governs the Heavens the Stars the Thunder the Lightnings the Rain but doth he look after things below Yea the Lords care and providence about inferior creatures is very great condescending to the very wilde beasts of the earth Ego qui omnio justa dispensatione procuro circa te tantum O Job videbor injustus Philip. to the fowls of the air as also to the fish of the Sea and hence the Lord would have Job understand that surely he had a much greater care of him and of the affairs of the children of men Who can but conclude That if the Lord hath such a respect to these irrational creatures which live only the life of sence then much more hath he a care of man and among men of good men who are his children and of them most of all in their afflictions and troubles So that the Lord by these questions seems to bespeak Job thus How comes it to pass that thou shouldst so much as doubt whether I take care of thee or no when I take care of and look to the wilde beasts of the earth to the fowls that flie in the air yea to the fish that swim unseen in the Sea Or thus Am I thus solicitous to look after Lions and Goats Hinds and Vnicorns the Ostrich and the Peacock c. am I so careful to look after these creatures Vt disâ—at Job Deum non saevum esse in suos qui tam beneficus sit in feras Chrysost many of which are of very little use to man and some of them a trouble to man and dost thou think I will not have a care of thee learn therefore from what I now question thee about that I can never be cruel to thee or forgetful of my faithful servants who am mindful of the bruit beasts and ravenous birds This seems to be the general tendency of the Lords discourse with Job continued from the close of this 38. Chapter quite through the 39. a great part of the 40. and the whole 41 Chapter Having thus given a prospect of the whole I shall now proceed to the particular animals here named and to that first which is not only named in the order of the Text but is looked upon also as first in dignity a King among beasts the Lion Vers 39. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the Lion The Lord speaks thus because the Lion is a beast of prey he liveth by hunting by hunting catching and seeding upon other beasts the Lion is a Nimrod in the world a mighty Hunter Naturalists say he is so curious in his diet that he scorns to feed upon any carcase that he hath not hunted and killed himself or that hath not been hunted by a Lion He will not touch a carcase that lies dead in the field but what he feeds upon is what he conquers and kills and that therefore it is here said Wilt thou hunt the prey for the Lion thou needst not he is able enough to hunt for himself Yet some Travellers report that there is a little beast called Jackal somewhat bigger than a Fox who usually doth that service for the Lion to hunt the prey for him and may be called the Lions Hunter Purchas Pilgr Mr. Purchas in that Book called his Pilgrimage â—â—â—s us this relation The Lion saith he hath the Jackal for his Vsher which is a little black shag-haired beast about the bigness of a Spaniel which when the evening comes hunts for his prey and coming on the foot follows the scent with open cry to which the Lion as chief hunter gives diligent ear following for his advantage If the Jackal set up his chase before the Lion comes in he howls out mainly and then the Lion seizeth on it making a grumbling noise whilst his servant stands by barking and when the Lion hath done the Jackal feeds on the relicks Thus far that industrious collector of observations from most of the remote parts of the world And though neither Pliny nor any natuâ—al Historian no nor any Interpreter upon this Text that ever I met with have given any intimation that the Lion hath such a servant
to hunt the prey for him yet the testimony of those ingenious Travellers or Navigators upon whose report of what they have seen or heard in those Countreys the worthy Author above-named makes this relation this testimony I say may be a probable ground for such an Exposition of the Text that the Lord had in his wise providence provided one to hunt the prey for the Lion Though I conceive the sense of the place to be moâ—e general namely that the Lord himself hath one way or other taken care that even the Lion shall have his prey and that neither Job then nor any one else needed take care in that matter How great an argument that might be both for Jobs conviction and consolation will appear afterwards Wilt thou hunt the prey For the Lion The word rendred Lion signifies a stout Lion Mr. Broughton renders the hardy Lion others the old Lion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Leoni vetulo qui viribus deficientibus non amplius potest venari sed à juvenibus capta praeda rugitu eum ad participationem praedae vocantibus alitur Aelian l. 9. Histor Animal c. 1. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the old Lion and there 's a double interpretation with respect to that translation That either here is meant a Lion come up to his full strength and so every way able to provide for himself or that by the old Lion is meant a Lion gâ—own so old and weak with old age that he can no longer provide for nor hunt the prey for himself and therefore the Lord saith Wilt thou hunt the prey for the old Lion that cannot hunt for himself dost thou provide for the Lion that cannot pâ—ovide for himself 'T is I who provide a prey for the old Lion that cannot hunt the prey for himself This is a good sense and I shall touch it in the Observation However 't is plain that by the Lion in the first part of the verse is meant an old Lion for he stands opposed to the young Lion in the latter part of the veâ—se Wilt thou hunt the prey for the Lion Naturalists speak many things of the nature of the Lion to whom I refer the Reader I shall have occasion to touch some of them while I mention what the Scâ—ipture saith of him The Lion bears a four-fold resemblance in Scripture First The Lion is the emblem of a King Judah whose tribe was the stock of Kings or the tribe Royal is called a Lions whelp Gen. 49.9 Thus spake Jacob Judah is a Lions whelp from the prey my Son thâ—s art gone up he stooped down he couched as a Lion and as an old Lion who shall rouse him up The Kings of the earth are compared to Lions First Because of their greatness and supe iotity What the Lion is among beasts Kings are among men their chiefs Secondly Because of their stoutness and courage Solomon saith of the Lion Prov. 30.30 He is strongest among beasts and turneth not away for any That is he is not afraid of any beast To be bold as a Lion is a sacred as well as a common proverbiâ—l noting greatest boldness Aristotle saith Nunquam in locis patentibus fugit aut metuit pedetentimque discedit Arist the Lion never flies oâ— makes any hasty retreat let the danger be what it will in open view but goes off keeping his own pace A modern Writer speaks thus The Lion in Africk is more fierce than in colder climate He shrinkâ— not in danger except some covert of Woods hâ—dâ—s him from witnesses and then he will take the benefit of a flight which otherwise he seems to disdain Such is the true spirit of Kings Leoni tantum ex feris clementia in supplices Plin. l. 8. c. 16. Satis est prostrasse Leoni Vigilans oculus sceptro impositus perpetuae vigiliae symbolum est they are much above ignoble fears Thirdly Lions resemble Kings because of their mildness and nobleness to them that submit Fourthly Because of the stateliness of their gate and majesty of their aâ—pect Fifthly Because of their vigilancy and watchfulness The Lion sleeps say Naâ—uralists with his eyes open he sleeps as if he were not asleep and as some observe he often moves his tail while he sleepeth as giving notice that he is not as we speak fast asleep And as the Lion is an emblem of earthly Kings so Secondly of the Lord Jesus Christ the King of heaven and earth the King of Kings To shew his supeâ—eminent excellency he is called a Lion Rev. 5.5 There was found none wâ—rthy to open the Book but the Lion of the tribe of Judah Now Jesus Christ is compared to a Lion upon all those accounts before named for which worthy and heroick Kings are so compared for First Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords Rev. 19.16 He is highly exalted he hath a name given him above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth Phil. 2.9 10. And as Jesus Christ is like the Lion for his superiority so Secondly for his clemency true nobleness of spirit towards those who yield unto him 'T is enough indeed to humble our selves before this Lion How ready must Christ be to receive and embrace humbled sinners who humbled himself to death that he mâ—ght save sinners even while they were proud and rebelled against him Thirdly Jesus Christ is a Lion also in respect of his watchfulness over his Church This Lion that keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps Psal 121.4 and Fourthly for his invincible courage and strength always ready to be put forth for his Church The Prophet Isa 31.4 compares Christ to a Lion that will not be frighted Like as the Lion saith he and the young Lion roaring on his prey when a multitude of Shepherds is called out against him he will not be afraid of their voice nor abase himself for the noise of them so shall the Lord of Hosts himself come down to fight for mount Sion and for the hill thereof As if the Prophet had said God will protect Jerusalem against all her enemies the Assyrian forces are there specially intended no more regarding or fearing them than a fierce Lion in the prime of his strength will regard or fear a company of simple Shepherds that shall attempt to rescue his prey from between his teeth And because of this Lion-like power and courage of Christ so his Church another Prophet saith that tâ—e Church herself shall be as a Lion Mâ—c 5.8 And the remnant of Jacob that is the true Church shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people who are enemies and unbelievâ—ng as a Lion among the beasts of the forrest as a young Lion among the flocks of sheep or rather as the Margin haâ—h it Goats who if he go through both treadeth down and teareth in pieces and none can deliver That is as our late
wild Goats of the rock bring forth What these Goats here called wild Goats 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rupicapra à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scandit ascendit quòd montes rupes ascendit and wild Goats of the rock are is commonly known The word which we render wild Goats signifies in the Hebrew ascending or clambering because Goats are clambering creatures getting up the steepest rocks and ascending the height of hills and mountains which they do many times exceeding dangerously seeming rather to hang by their feet than to go upon them Pendentem summa capream de rupe videbis Casuram speres decipit illa canes Martial Ibices quasi avices eò quòd instar avium ardua excelsa teneant Thus the old Poet fancied them when he said You may see the wild Goat hanging upon the rock you may hope she will tumble down presently But she deceives the hunter and his hounds though she seems to hang uncertainly yet she keeps her footing steddily The Latines have a word signifying wild Goats which criticks say comes from another latine word signifying a bird or flying fowl because Goats may be said rather to fly than go upon those craggy places or rather to use wings than feet Such are the creatures here called wild Goats and that with an addition wild Goats Of the rocks Because they specially delight in rocky places or because they breed and bring forth in rocks It is said 1 Sam. 24.2 that Saul in his pursuit of David came with a select army of three thousand men to seek him and his men upon the rocks of the wild goats which Scripture fitly answers this which calls them wild Goats of the rock Saul did not seek David only in the plains and valleys where flocks of sheep feed but upon the craggy rocks and precipices where wild Goats take up their quarters or use to feed This shewed his implacable rage and revengeful spirit against an innocent person that rather than not take him and have his will on him he would undertake an expedition not only tedious but very hazardous to himself and his army Wrathful men will not only not spare others but not themselves But to the Text Knowest thou the time when the wild Goats of the rock Bring forth that is their young ones 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verbum ipsum quod dâ—lere significat sumâ—tur pro parturire Merc. The word translated bring forth signifies pain and sorrow There is so much pain in bringing forth that bringing forth and pain may well be signified by one word The pains of the wild Goats in bringing forth here implyed are expressely spoken of at the third Verse But why did the Lord enquire of Job here whether he knew the time the exact time of their bringing forth is that a secret I answer doubtless it is a secret and such a secret as few are acquainted with Wild Goats come little under the eye or sight of men in that work they bringing forth upon inaccessable placeâ— câ—aggy rocks and mountains men cannot without much difficulty reach that piece of knowledge And therefore the Lord might well ask of Job Knowest thou the time when the wild Goats of the rock bring forth I may say also the Lord puts this familiar question to Job that he might the more awaken him into the consideration of his own weakness and utter inability to find out the secret of his other works As if the Lord had said thou canst not discover so much as the birth of the wild Goats how then canst thou find out the births of my wonderful providences My providences bring forth wonderful births and much more unknowable by thee than the birth and bringing forth of the wild Goats Thus the Lord would check his curiosity he who was unable to give him an account concerning the state of those poor creatures must not think himself able to pry into the great and unsearchable works of God in the amazing products of his providence towards the children of men Before I pass from these words it will not be unprofitable to mind the Reader how as one of the Antients hath hinted we may moralize or spiritualize this Text Gregor l. 30. mor. c. 16. there being much of the disposition or condition of a godly man especially of a faithful Teacher typed or fairly represented in the nature and qualities of these wild Goats First As these wild Goats seek both their food and rest their repast and refuge in rocks So the godly abide and dwell in the rock that is in the Lord Jesus Christ they look to him alone both for refuge and refreshing both for comfort and safety while they are in this world Christ is the rock upon which the Church is built Mat. 16.18 And as the state of the true Church in general so of every true believer is built upon this immovable rock the Lord Jesus Christ Secondly As the rocks so the mountains are much desired by the wild Goats Psal 104.18 The high hills are a refuge for the wild Goats Thus David was eying the hills for help Psal 121.1 I will lift up mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help What were these hills Surely neither the material nor metaphorical hills of this world of which latter the people of God spake Jerem. 3.23 disclamingly Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of mountains that is from the greatest power of man or men What the hills were to which David lifted up his eyes for help himself tells us at the second verse of that Psalm My help cometh from the Lord which made heaven and earth As the affections of a godly man are set upon the things above not upon things below Col. 3.2 so his confidences are set upon God who is above not upon men here below Thirdly These wild Goats are very agil active creatures much in motion full of life full of spirits and so they resemble a godly man he is a man of motion of spiritual motion and he desires his motions and speed may be more and more speedy in the ways of God As David resolved to run the ways of Gods commandements when God should please to enlarge his heart so doubtless he prayed that God would enlarge his heart to run those ways And how often did he pray for quickning grace and liveliness that being delivered from a slow dull flegmatique spirit he might be active and full of holy fire about the things and for the things of God Fourthly Wild Goats of the rocks in those countries where they abound are much pursued and diâ—quieted by hunts-men as that passage which I before quoted from a Heathen Poet intimates so good men the best of men are often hunted and disturbed in this world there are hunters of men as well as hunters of beasts Nimrod was a mighty hunter Gen. 10.9 he was a hunter of men Saul
any one of them yea how humble should we be though adorned with them all Hence that Apostolical check to proud ones 1 Cor. 4.7 What hast thou that thou didst not receive and if thou hast received it why dost thou glory or boast as if thou hadst not received it In these words he more than implyeth two things First That they who have received those goodlier feathers of spiritual gifts and graces are in danger of being lifted up by them Secondly That they ought not The Angels who fell had goodly feathers and they were lifted up not only in pride with what they had received and were beholding to God for but in pride to have more or get higher and not be beholding to God for it There is a temptation in any good thing a great temptation in goodly things to pride and therefore we had need to pray when we have any thing that is goodly whether it be natural civil moral or spiritual to be kept humble and preserved from pride The Apostle Paul was in danger to be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations which he had when caught up to the third heaven 2 Cor. 12.3 7. The best men on earth may be over-heated by what they have received from heaven and the flesh may take occasion as by the commandement to work in us all manner of concupiscence Rom. 7.8 so by our raptures in spirit to puff us up with that special concupiscence called pride The Peacock here spoken of is so far transported with his fine feathers that he may be called the picture of pride We have a common saying in our language Such a one is as proud as a Peacock or he is a proud Peacock A Peacock and a proud person are alike in several things First As the Peacock is proud of his feathers so is he of his cloaths One of the Ancients reproving pride in cloathing said In habitu non calor sed color requiritur magisque vestium quam virtutum cultui insistitur Bern. in his time It is not so much the warmth of their cloathing but the curious dye or colour of the cloth which is regarded and most insist more upon the trimming of their vestures than upon the increase of their vertues Secondly A Peacock as he is proud of his feathers so he loves they should be seen or he loves to shew his fine feathers The Peacock spreads his plumes so doth a proud person Not only he that is proud of his apparel affects to be seen but he that is proud of his gifts knowledge learning eloquence how doth he spread these plumes and affect applause As the vain-glorious Pharisees thought nothing they did in Religion worth the doing unless they were seen in doing it so vain-glorious persons think nothing they have worth the having unless they make others see they have it Thirdly A proud man is like to the Peacock in his exulting clamorous voice or cry Such love to talk high and are very loud they love to be heard as well as seen and to hear themselves speak in the hearing of others Fourthly The Peacock say Naturalists however he hath very goodly feathers yet hath but a very weak head Pavo infirmum habet caput superbus imbecille judicium 'T is so with proud persons whatever fine shews they make their intellectuals are but course and they that are proud of the strength of their heads of their wit and understandings have indeed the weakest heads of all There is much folly lodged in that mans head where much knowledge lodgeth if pride lodge in his heart too And seeing God gives in this sense foolish men as this foolish bird fine feathers we need not envy them for their folly in being proud of their fine feathers debaseth them more in the sight of God than their fine feathers can honour them in the sight of men Usually proud persons have little that is good in them but how much soever they have it will be little more to them than a fine feather because they think it so much that they are proud of it Fifthly Naturalists say the Peacock and it is as true of a proud person is an Angel in aspect Angelus aspectu pede latro voce Gehenna or to look on he makes a goodly shew a thief in his foot i. e. he goeth softly without noise yet hath a voice like hell crying out and shrieking very unharmoniously to the ear A proud person may be an Angel in aspect but he is a thief in his feet he goeth softly yet deceitfully and there is a hell in his voice A loud boasting tongue is as troublesom and unpleasant to the ear as a brawling and usually boasters are brawlers too For as Solomon hath concluded it Prov. 13.10 By pride cometh contention Lastly Proud ones are like the Peacock because that which persons are most commonly proud of is of little worth The Peacock is proud of his feathers which are worthless things fit only for children to play with And though it is a truth that some men as was said before are proud of such things as are excellent in themselves and of a great intrinsick value yet as was also said before whatsoever a man is proud of will to his account be no better than a Peacocks feather A man that is proud of his beauty and apparel of his riches and outward splendor may truly be said to be proud of a feather Solomon the wisest of Kings and taught by the Spirit of God hath written vanity and insufficiency upon all worldly things And if a man be proud of his understanding knowledge or any internal endowment which are things of real excellency they all become vain to him yea if a man be proud of his graces though they shall never be utterly vain to him yet so far as he is proud of them they are vain to him being hindred by the present prevailings of corruptions from doing that which is one of the most proper works of them the keeping him humble empty and nothing in his own eyes Gavest thou goodly wings to the Peacocks And wings and feathers unto the Ostrich Several Translators as was toucht before find two distinct fowls in this latter part of the verse An pennam Ciconiae aut Struthio camelo dares Jun. Mr. Broughton saith Gavest thou feathers to the Stork and Ostrich and so others Our Translators put it thus in the Margin The feathers of the Stork and Ostrich The occasion of this difference in translating arises from the original word used last in this verse which commonly signifies a feather only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pluma pennae vel juxta quosdam Struthiocamelus quasi pennatus dictus Burtorf 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ciconia sic dicta à beneficētia quasi beneficam dicas à nomine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hic significat Struthiocamelum per antiphrasin eò quòd avis illa minime sit benefica ut quae laboret singulari
confirm what this Text in Job speaks of her that God hath not imparted to her understanding Hence Note First Some beasts of the earth and birds of the air have somewhat that may be called wisdom so much at least as serves their turn and directs them to do what is best for themselves and theirs Though the Ostrich is short of this short pittance of understanding yet most irrational creatures have it Note Secondly Whatever looks like wisdom and understanding in a brute creature beast or bird is the gift of God God is said not to give or impart wisdom an understanding to this brute creature therefore he gives it others Wisdom such as it is in beasts and birds must be acknowledged to be a gift of God Not only every good gift in man but every good gift in beasts their strength their swiftness their subtilty and craft their fore-cast are of the Lords plantation in them Thirdly Note God hath not given a like portion or measure of wisdom and understanding to all brute creatures Some have in their capacity a great deal others very little so little that they may be said to have none at all as the Ostrich in the Text who though in some things she hath understanding yet as to her eggs and young ones is a careless witless animal As there is a difference among men in wisdom and understanding some have a great portion given them of God others have so little that they may be said to have none The natural man hath no spiritual understanding Isa 27.11 This is a people of no understanding therefore he that made them will not have vercy upon them and he that formed them will shew them no famour What! were they brutes and beasts no possibly they were witty and subtle enough for the world but they were a people of no spiritual understanding Men full of natural understanding may have none that is spiritual And As to natural and political wisdom and understanding there is a great difference among men Some have enough to rule Kingdoms others not enough to govern a family no nor their personal affairs yea some men are so low in parts and understanding that God may be said to have deprived them of understanding or not to have imparted wisdom to them And this offers us a ground of useful meditation Let us bless God that men have more wisdom than brutes and if any man have more wisdom and understanding than his neighbour let him acknowledge the goodness and bounty of God to him in it for who hath made thee to differ in natural wisdom and understanding As the Apostle speaks of that great difference among men grace and no grace Who hath made thee to differ how is it that one man hath grace and an other hath no grace hath man made himself to differ in grace No it is of grace that any have grace So who hath made thee to differ in common wisdom and understanding what thy self surely no. You that seem to have as much wisdom above other men as men have above beasts have not any of your selves it is God who makes all men differ from beasts in understanding and it is he that makes one man differ from another in understanding He that hath almost as much understanding above other men as men have commonly above beasts hath it all of God Understanding is not of nature nor is it gotten though it may be improved by study and industry gold and silver cannot purchase it nor can our pains procure it What man receives not he hath not nor hath any man more than he hath received Now if common wisdom be of God and we owe him the glory of it how much more is spirirual wisdom which is to fear him and spiritual understanding which is to depart from evil Job 28. ult the gift of God! What a mercy is it to have wisdom First To know God in Christ whom to know is eternal life Secondly To know our selves lost miserable and undone for ever without Christ Thirdly To know the difference between good and evil between light and darkness truth and error sound doctrine and damnable right worship and superstitious or idolatrous Fourthly To know our duty what is incumbent upon us in this life The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way Pro. 14.8 where to walk what to do that he may keep tite and close to God to know upon what bottom he is settled and upon what ground he treads Fifthly What a mercy is it for us that live here on earth to see our way to that eternal life in heaven Lastly What wisdom and understanding hath God imparted to his people and how thankful should they be for it that they are able while on earth to converse and have communion with himself in heaven The Apostle saith Phil. 3.20 Our conversation is in heaven with whom there with God True believers know how to converse with God and can say in their measure as the Apostle John 1 Ephes 1.3 Truly our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ This wisdom hath God imparted to his faithful servants and how thankful should they be for it The least ray of wisdom is from him that in beasts and that in common men much more that in godly men The wisest in the world would have had no more wisdom than an Ostrich had not God provided better for them and given them a richer furniture of internals or intellectuals Further consider this Ostrich as a goodly bird having beautiful feathers yet not a dram of wisdom or understanding Hence Note Fourthly Many creatures have a bodily beauty and strength yet little wit and understanding The Ostrich hath a bulky strong body as well as beautiful feathers but her brains are as light as her feathers And is it not so with some men their gay feathers are visible but where is their understanding Note Lastly The same creature way want wisdom in one point yet have it in another The Ostrich who as to taking care of her young ones hath no understanding is yet reported by Naturalists to be very subtle in some things for when she is pursued by the Hunter she gathers up stones with her claws and casts them back to the hurt of her pursuers 'T is so likewise among men some are wise enough in this or that matter while miserably blockish and defective in all things else And of all wicked men the Prophet hath left this character They are wise to do evil but to do good they have knowledge And that the Ostrich hath this piece of knowledge and cunning to do a mischief to those who intend her one may be collected from her confidence in that case spoken of in the next verse Vers 18. What time she lifteth up her self on high she scorneth the Horse and his Rider Before we heard of the folly of this creature now of her pride and confidence What time or at the time when she
〈◊〉 accipiter à radicè 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod plumam vel pennam significat quasi nomen habeat in Hebr. à volando Deut. 14.15 The Hawk in its kind or all kinds of the Hawk are excepted out of their food or not admitted at their table Those creatures which were useful to get man some kind of food might not then be at all the food of man in the Jewish Nation Nor will it be unprofitable upon this occasion to take notice how the Lord then set bounds and limits to the appetite of man which is so apt to exceed He forbids several creatures to the Jews for some of which possibly we can give no reason but his Soveraignity he would have it so and others were forbidden because possibly feeding upon them was not so wholesome for the body of man and others God did except from the table of the Israelites because of some quallities which he did not like in them and for that reason it is conceived the Hawk was excepted The Jews might not feed upon the Hawk because she is a bird of prey and lives by ravening and killing other birds such was the law among the Jews and though that law be now taken away Dicitur Latinè accipiter ab accipiendo propter insitam et insatiabilem rapacitatem Accipiter avis regia quae plus animo quâ—m angulis estarmata quod in quantitate corporis natura denegat hoc ei invirtute aâ—dacia animi rependit Isidor l. 12. Noctuae à caeteru avibus infestatae auxiliatur accipiter bellum partitur Plin. l. 10. c. 17. Falco sacer diâ—â—issimè volat nec deserit ad duarum triumvè aut quatuor horarum spatium ac si in aere immotus consisteret Albert. as the vision shewed Peter Act. 10.15 yet there are few that make Hawks their meat or eat of them The word by which the Hawk is exprest in the Latine signifies to take or catch whereby her ravening nature is denoted because she catches and snatches all she can for her living Some of the Ancients tell us that the Hawk is a very princely bird who though she hâ—th not much in bulk of body yet hath much in the generosity of her mind and is therefore joyned here with the Eagle as if this were the Princess and the Qâ—een of birds And some report that there is no other among all the fowls of the air that dares contend with the Eagle but the Hawk Aristotle reckons up ten sorts of Hawks and Pliny sixteen But I shall leave that discourse to Faulconers It is enough for the opening of this Scripture to intimate somewhat in generat of the Hawk Doth the Hawk fly The Hawk is described as flying Some creatures are for going some for running but the excellency of the Hawk is in flying And flying here is not to be taken in a general sense as opposed to running or going for so it is common to all the birds of the aire there 's not the least not any of the winged kind but can fly little or much But when he saith Doth the Hawk fly flying is to be understood specially of swift flying and of long continued flying The Hawk flies with wonderful swiftness Hence among the Egyptians the Hawk was a Hierogliphick of the winds And as the Hawk moves with wondeâ—ful swiftness so with great perseverance Naturalists tell us and it is the experience of many that the Hawk will abide upon the wing two three yea four hours together in the pursute of or in waiting for her prey and hence some of the Ancients have made the flying of the Hawk or the Hawk in his flying an emblance of perseverance The Hawk moves in the air as if he abode immoveably there Doth the Hawk fly by thy wisdom or understanding Thou seest how perseveringly the Hawk flies and how cunningly or wisely to her best advantage Doth the Hawk fly thus by thy wisdom or hast thou taught the Hawk to fly thus hast thou instructed the Hawk to make this use of her wings no the Hawk flieth by my wisdom I have given her this strength and taught her this skill for God takes it unto himself it is by my wisdom and instruction that the Hawk flyeth The Vulgar Latine reads thus Doth the Hawk feather her self Numquid per sapientiaÌ„ tuam plumescit accipiter Vulg. or get her feathers by thy wisdom Our Translation runs to the use of her feathers this to the groweth of her feathers as if it had been said Dâ—th the Hawk get her feathers by thy wisdom or hast thou set her feathers so exactly in her wings This reading may be taken two ways First Dost thou make the Hawks feathers grow at first dost thou plant those feathers in her wings surely no. Secondly Dost thou renew the Hawks feathers When the Hawk hath mued or least her feathers as they who are acquainted with Hawks know their natural custome is dost thou cause them to grow again surely no thou didst neither at first plant her wings with feathers nor when she hath cast her feathers dost thou cause those feathers to renew that 's a good reading But I shall keep to our own Doth the Hawk fly by thy wisdom Hence note First The Lord hath given man some creatures more to serve his pleasure than his necessities Whatever service the Hawk doth to man in catching the prey the Partridge or Phesant or other fowl man might serve himself of them as many do some other and cheaper way and not by hawking The Moralists could say speaking of such like creatures Man was loved by the supream Maker of all things Vsque ad delicias homines à supremo conditore amantur Senec. even to his delight and content God hath given such swift wings to the Hawk not only to set forth his own power but for mans pleasure Hawks are for the sport and delight of Princes and great men and seeing God hath made some creatures for the delight more than for the necessity for the pleasure more than for the need of man O how should man take heed of displeasing God! Doth the great God of heaven and earth provide Hawks for mans pleasure and shall man take no care to please God! 'T is lamentable to consider how most men displease God by oaths and profanations of his Name while they are taking that kind of pleasure And I may say there is no kind of sport which the indulgence of God hath allowed man wherein God is more provoked and dishonoured than in this What swearing what cursing is there in following this Game If Hawks and Spannels please not men in the pursuit of their pleasures how is the Name of God rent and torn to his high displeasure How vain is that man who takes pleasure in sin or who sins in taking his pleasure He makes his short pleasure-time a seed-time without repentance of his everlasting paines and sorrows Secondly Whereas the question is put
at the last day Our late Annotators dealing with these words as reported Luk. 17.37 say that by the flight of the Eagle is signified the sudden assembling of the Saints unto Christ coming unto judgement answerable to that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.52 as also to that 1 Thes 4.17 Now though according to this allegorical interpretation of the Texts in St. Matthew and Luke Christ is the carcass and believers the Eagles yet I shall close my interpretation of thâ—s Text in Job to which both the Evangelists allude by shewing that in other Scriptures such things are spoken of Christ himselâ— as hold out a likeness between him and the Eagle in many respeâ—â—s First As the Eagle is the royal bird the Princess or Queen of birds so Jesus Christ is the Prince of the Kings of the earth Rev. 1.5 And again Rev. 19.16 King of Kings and Lord of Lords As the Eagle among birds so Christ among both men and Angels hath the preheminence Secondly As the Eagle mounts up so also did Jesus Christ Psal 68.18 Thou hast ascended on high yea so high hath Christ ascended that the Eaglâ—â—annot follow him The Heaven to which natural Eagles mount is as I may say but a pavement to that which Jesus Christ ascended to Christ had a high slight he mounted up to the heaven of heavens far above all visible heavens Eph. 4.10 he is made higher than the Heavens Heb. 7.26 Thirdly Hath the Eagle a piercing eye so hath Jesus Christ he not only from the height of the clouds whither the Eagle mounts but from the highest heavens can look into the secret of every mans heart even into the hell of a bad mans heart and see what 's doing there what 's lying there It was said of Christ while on earth John 2.25 He needed not that any should testifie of man for he knew what was in man and still he looks quite through man through the wisest closest and most reserved among the sons of men All things are naked and open before the eyes of him this Eagle with whom we have to do his eyes behold afar off Fourthly Historians tell us the Eagle fights or wars with Dragons and Serpents and overcomes them Jesus Christ this Eagle hath fought with that great dragon the devil and bruised the head of the Serpent Gen. 3.15 Fifthly The Eagle is very tender and careful of her young ones Now as an Eagle saith Moses Deut. 32.11 12. stirreth up her nest that is those in her nest fluttereth over her young spreadeth abroad her wings taketh them beareth them on her wings so the Lord alone did lead him and there was no strange God with him God bare the Israelites on Eagles wings out of Egypt and brought them to himself Exod. 19.5 that is he brought them speedily and safely and so he bore them all the years of their journeying in the wilderness The Eagle beareth her young ones upon her wings that they may be safe she must be hurt before her young ones can while she bears them there Thus Christ bears his people on his wings yea in his bosome The eternal God is their refuge and underneath are the everlasting Arms Deut. 33.27 Sixthly Naturalists tell us the Eagle gives her young ones of her own blood Aelian l. 14. cap. 14. when she cannot get other blood for them to drink or suck This is most true of Christ he suffered himself to be wounded for us his hands and feet yea his very heart was pierced that we might have his blood to drink in believing My blood saith he Joh. 6. is drink indeed Seventhly The Eagle is long lived Aquila vocatur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propter longae vitatem vivit annos centum Epiphan The Greek expresseth her by a word signifying longevity and some give the reason not only from the excellent temperament and constitution of her body but also because she lives in such pure air free from ill vapours and noisom smells Jesus Christ is not only long lived but he lives for ever he was from everlasting and will be to everlasting he is the King eternal 1 Tim. 1.17 the eternal father Isa 9.6 Thus we see how Christ is like the Eagle in these seven particulars I shall shew seven more wherein true Christians also are like the Eagle First Doth the Eagle flie high so do they by the wings of faith They mount up saith the Prophet Isa 40.31 with wings as the Eagle Secondly Hath the Eagle a clear sight doth she see far off so Saints by faith can see far off Isa 33.17 Their eyes see the King in his beauty they behold the Land that is very far off Which Scripture though it be properly and litterally meant of beholding King Hezekiah in his earthly glory yet it is much more verified of a believers seeing his King the Lord Jesus Christ in his heavenly glory and of his beholding Heaven which may well be called the Land of farness and distances or as we translate The Land very far off Stephen the Protomartyr had a clear intellectual spiritual eye when he said Acts 7.56 Behold I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God Believers have a clear Eagle-eye here and they shall have a much clearer eye hereafter when they shall see Christ as he is 1 John 3.2 All Saints will be more than eagle-eyed in glory Thirdly Doth the Eagle dwell on a rock so doth every true believer Isa 33.16 His place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks bread shall be given him his water shall be sure The Apostle tells us who the rock is 1 Cor. 10.4 The rock which followed them was Christ Fourthly Doth the Eagle renew her strength So do believers when any oldness is coming upon the new creature as it doth sometimes then they renew their strength by looking to Jesus Christ who is at once their righteousness and their strength He satisfieth their mouth with good things so that their youth is renewed as the Eagles Psal 103.5 As the Lord often bâ—ings his people low by bodily sickness and weakness and then renews their natural health and strength So when there are decays and declinings upon their souls he renews their spiritual health and strength Isa 40.31 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strengh and then as was said before they shall mount up with wings as Eagles The Eagles youth is renewed by the growth and succession of new feathers of the same kind in the place of the old but a believer reneweth his youth or strength by casting off gradually the remainders of the old man which is corrupt and by putting on more of the new man who is quite of another kind created after God in righteousness and true holiness Eph. 4.24 Fifthly Can the Eagle look fully upon the Sun Surely helievers have not only as clear but as strong a sight as the Eagle they can look upon Jesus Christ the
Son of righteousness with open face For as this Son of righteousness hath said behold me behold me Isa 65.1 and again Look to me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth Isa 45.22 that is all ye that dwell on earth even to the ends of it so he gives a power or a spiritual eye to behold and look upon him and that beholding or looking is a healing to them as the beholding of the Sun is to the natural eye of the Eagle Mal. 4.2 To them that fear my name shall the Son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings Sixthly Do Eagles suck blood both young and old so do believers The first living of the new creature is upon blood every godly man drinks the blood of Jesus Christ by faith as offered to him both in the promises and in the Ordinances of the Gospel A believer could not live a moment nor have any subsistence in grace if he had not as the Eagle blood to suck in and drink A godly man is nourished by a believing contemplation upon the sufferings of Christ and the effusion of his blood Seventhly Doth the Eagle feed upon the slain so believers feed upon Christ as slain Christ by his death is become our food to eternal life Joh. 6.51 53. Though the raised and glorified body of Christ be entred into the full possession of a divine and eternal life and though we by faith look to Jesus Christ not according to the flesh nor as dead but as living and sitting for ever at the right hand of the Father there making intercession for us yet we must look to him as entring into the holy place by the sacrifice of himself and with his own blood not with the blood of others Heb. 9.24 25 26. The Apostle told the Corinthians I determined to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ and him crucified that is so to know him as to feed upon him my self and so to make him known to you that you might feed upon him also Further It is considerable that as believers in Scripture are compared to Eagles and the Lord is said to have born the old Church of the Jews upon Eagles wings so under the Gospel Eagles wings are said to have been given to the Christian Church whereupon she was born out of the reach of danger Rev. 12.13 15. And when the Dragon saw that he was cast to the earth he persecuted the woman that brought forth the man-child And to the woman were given two wings of a great Eagle that she might flie into the Wilderness that is convenient and sufficient means to further her slight and retirement into her place wheresoever it is where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent All the means of the Churches escape from danger are shadowed by two wings not but that God hath more means than two by which his providence works and procures the safety of the Church but because it had been improper speaking of her flight to express more wings than two For the Seraphims which are described having each one six wings Isa 6.2 yet two of them only were put to that use of flying And these two wings given the Church are said to be the two wings of an Eagle because among all the winged tribes Eagles are stâ—ongest and swiftest of wing they can fly fastest and they can fly furthest as in height so in length Nor are the wings given the Church barely called the wings of an Eagle but of a great Eagle implying not only the best kind of wings but the best wings of that kind not only the wings of an Eagle but of a great Eagle By all which is meant the wise and tender care of God over his Church in times of greatest danger when the Dragon become a Serpent or the Serpentine Dragon seeks most to annoy her Thus far the Lord hath been interrogating Job not only about the inanimate creatures the Heavens the Air the Sea the Earth but also about several Animals in the least of which because they not only have a being but life sense and motion more of the power wisdom and goodness of God shines forth than in the greatest of the former And all the questions proposed to Job in these two Chapters have as hath been hinted heretofore and should be constantly minded this general scope to convince as then Job so now all men both of their own nothingness and of the all-sufficiency wisdom care and power of God who hath so wisely made and doth so wisely dispose of all the creatures which he hath made And therefore man who hath received more from God than they all and of whom God is more tender than of them all should submit to the dispose of God in all things without disputing about much more without murmuring at or complaining of his dispensations in one kind or other The Lord though he had done much in the way of interrogating hath not yet done interrogating Job concerning the works of his hands Nevertheless before he proceeded any further to enquire of him about the creatures he saw it fit to feel his pulse a little by a close application of what he had already said mingled with high language and cutting reproofs thereby to try what effect this forepassed discourse had wrought upon him or whether he were come to a more humble and submitting frame than before as will appear in opening the former part of the Chapter following JOB Chap. 40. Vers 1 2. 1. Moreover the Lord answered Job and said 2. Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him he that reproveth God let him answer it IN the two former Chapters we have heard what the Lord said to Job out of the Whirlwind with what questions he apposed him about the works of Creation and Providence To all or any of which Job being unable to make Answer especially to give a present and perfect Answer the Lord it seems gave him some little respite to recollect himself in expectation of his Answer but finding him silent proceeds in this Chapter to urge him yet further upon the whole matter for an Answer yea the Lord having said all this to him â—sets it home upon him with this sharp reprehension Moreover the Lord answered Job and said shall he c. As if he had said O Job hadst thou diligently considered my work of Creation in making and my work of Providence in governing this whole world even the motions of the least and most inferiour Creatures therein contained surely thou hadst never ventured to think what thou hast uttered and now thou canst not but see how unduly thou hast complained of my proceedings with thee nor canst thou be unconvinced how unable thou art to enter into the secrets of my Counsel for as much as the causes of many lesser and common things in the world are secrets unto thee and such as exceed the reach of thy understanding Thus
man and made him vile even viler than the dust out of which he was made Thirdly Man is vile with respâ—ct to all those evil consequences and effects of sin which have possessed or are ready to possess First our bodies such are weakness sickness pains and all manner of diseases Secondly our names such are reproach infamie and disgrace Thirdly our estates such are poverty and want Fourthly our persons imprisonment and restraint Fifthly our souls such are blindness and ignorance in our minds stubborness in our wills inordinacy in our affections These consequences of sin as well as sin it self especially those consequences of sin which are themselves sinful as those last mentioned are render us vile From this first Observation take these four inferences First If man be vile in that threefold respect before spoken of he is so in many more then let not any man prize himself much We do not prize vile things without us why then should we much prize our selves who are vile We are very apt to have thoughts of our selves beyond our selves or to think of our selves beyond what is meet Did we remember that we were vile high thoughts of self would soon down and we would cease from our selves as well as from other men saying Wherein are we men to be accounted of Isa 2.22 The best man of meer men hath but a little breath in his nostrils and he hath much sin in his soul wherein then or for what as a natural man is any man to be accounted of Did we know our selves more understandingly we should know our selves less valuingly In which sense Job said Chap. 9.21 Though I were perfect I would not know my soul It is our ignorance who and what we are which causeth us to have high thoughts of our selves as it is our ignorance who and what Christ is which causeth us to have such low thoughts of him and such slow or slight desires after him Joh. 3.10 Secondly As because we are vile we should take heed of prizing our selves much so we should more take heed of being proud of our selves at all Indeed where the former is where any person man or woman sets too high a price upon self it is very hard to abstain from pride in self for pride in self arises from over-prizing of self We first think too well of our selves and then are lifted up in our selves As it is through the power of faith that our hearts are lifted up to God and in God so whensoever our hearts are lifted up in our selves glorying in our own attainments or to our selves gaping after our own ends it proceeds from pride Thirdly See the exceeding goodness of God who hath put honour upon vile man We have made our selves vile and so we should reckon our selves yet the Lord is pleased to esteem his people highly and make them honourable Isa 43.4 Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable Job was vile as he confessed in his own sight yet he was precious in Gods sight And thus the Lord estimates all that are godly all that are true believers â—hough vile and of no value in themselves nor in their own sight yet precious they are in his sight Since thou wast precious in my sight thou hast been honourable We are never truly honourable till precious in the sight of God There is a bubble which the world calls honour a wind of fame with which many are much affected and with which some are invested who are not at all precious in the sight of God The best the truest honour ariseth from preciousness in the sight of God they who are esteemed by God are indeed persons of estimation His grace shewed favourably and freely to us his grace working mightily and effectually in us puts a blessed worth upon us though we are vile in our selves and so accounted by the world Fourthly See the goodness of God in this also that though we are vile yet he is pleased to set his heart upon us and to mind us We little mind vile things light things trifles we lightly pass by We are but a light thing a vile thing in our selves yet God not only hath us in his heart but sets his heart upon us Thus spake Job in the lowest ebbe of his outward felicity and he spake it admiringly as well as truly Chap. 7.17 What is man that thou shouldst magnifie and that thou shouldst set thine heart upon him When he saith What is man it is as it he had said Man is but a vile thing yet the Lord is mindful of him yea magnifieth him And though the Lord forbids us to set our hearts or affections on earthly things Col. 3.2 on the best of earthly things all which are comprehended under that one word or title Riches Psal 62.10 And though the reason why he forbids us to set our hearts upon these things is because they aâ—e vile yet he is pleased O infinite goodnesse to set his heart upon us though we are vile and considered as sinful much more vile than they even than the vilest of them We have the like question put again Psal 144.3 Lord what is man that thou takest knowledge of him or the son of man that thou makest account of him What is man 'T is a diminishing question implying that man is a vile thing or a nothing Is it not then a wonderful thing is it not the fruit of rich and free grace that God should take an account or make such an account of man And if God sets his heart upon man who is so vile how should man set his heart upon God who is so infinitely excellent God may be said to descend surely he condescends exceedingly when he sets his heart upon vile man The Lord humbleth himself saith David Psal 113.6 to behold that is to take any notice of or to take into his consideration the things that are in heaven and in the earth how much more doth he descend condescend and humble himself when he sets his heart upon vile man Now doth God set his heart upon vile man which is an humbling to him and shall not vile man set his heart upon the great and glorious God which is not only his duty but his felicity his honour and exaltation Again Job saith I am vile What was Job a godly man sure a holy man by Gods own testimony yet even he speaks at this low rate of himself Behold I am vile Hence note Secondly The better we are the less we esteem our selves and still the better and better we grow the lower are our thoughts of our selves There is no greater argument of height in grace than low thoughts of self Next to faith in Christ self-denial or to deny our selves is the great duty of the Gospel Mat. 16.24 Now as to deny our selves is to be very low in our own eyes so it is one of the highest acts of grace in us and requires not only truth of of grace but
God to fulfil or make good all his promises Men often out-promise themselves but God doth not Hast thou an arm like God Hence take these inferences First If the Lord hath such a mighty arm Then let us take heed we do not provoke the Lord to turn his arm against us That 's the use which the Apostle makes of this point and which naturally floweth from it 1 Cor. 10.22 Do ye provoke the Lord to anger are ye stronger than he The Apostles sense hits the language of the Text fully as if he had said Have you an arm like God There 's no comparison between yours and his He can crush you before the moth Job 4.19 that is as soon as or before a moth is crushed which crumbleth to dust with the least or lightest touch of the hand or little finger Secondly If the Lord have such an arm Then let us labour to get and engage the arm of the Lord for our help Men love to be on the stronger side and some resolve to be on the stronger side though it should be or not regarding whether or no it be the worser side Now seeing all have a natural desire to interest themselves where the greatest strength is because there probably and rationally the greatest safety and best shelter is then how should we labour to get and assure an interest in God which cannot be done but by being on Gods side that is by keeping close to him in all the duties of holiness and righteousness for doubtless he is strongest his side is not only a good but the best not only a strong but the strongest side Hath any man an arm like God can all men should they joyn all their arms in one make an arm like Gods They cannot Nor is there any arm strong but in or by the strength of Gods arm As old dying Jacob spake while he was blessing his son Joseph Gen. 49.24 The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him but his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. How were his arms made strong How did his bow abide in strength It was by the hands that is by the power of the mighty God of Jacob. Nothing made him strong nor to abide in strength but the arm of the mighty God In this arm of God the Church triumphed of old Psal 124.1 2 3. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side now may Israel say If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when men rose up against us then they had swallowed us up quick when their wrath was kindled against us Their wrath was kindled into a burning flame yet we were not burnt much less utterly consumed because the strong God was with us or because as the Psalm concludeth Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth What help can we need at any time which he cannot give us who made heaven and earth without any help or helper It is an impregnable Tower of comfort that at what loss soever we are we may find help or help is to be had in God Thirdly If God hath such a mighty arm Then let us trust him We may trust to his strength and when his strength is indeed trusted to our trust is withdrawn from all other strengths We may use the arm or strength of creatures while we trust in the arm or strength of God but while we trust in the strength of God we must trust in no strength but his nor if we really trust him can we When Senacherib King of Assyriah invaded Judah with a mighty Host Hezekiah thus incouraged his people 2 Chron. 32.7 8. Be strong and couragious be not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Assyria nor for all the multitude that is with him for there be moe with us than with him with him is an arm of flesh but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battels and the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah King of Judah They had an arm what arm not an arm of flesh like Senacheribs but the arm of the Lord for their help and that carried the day Created power is too slight to be trusted but the power of the Creator calls all for our trust We cannot trust creatures too little as to success nor can we trust God too much Hath any man an arm like God A fourth Inference may be this If the Lord hath such an arm such power This should encourage us to the duty of prayer We are easily perswaded to seek to him for help who hath strength to help especially when we know that he hath an inclinableness of will to help us Hath not the Lord a strong arm hath he not an inclinable will Let us then in all our needs pray as the Church did Isa 51.9 Awake awake put on strength O arm of the Lord the Lord and his arm are the same awake as in the ancient dayes in the generations of old art thou not it that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon The Lord hath a mighty arm yet his arm or power seemeth to be sometimes as it were asleep that is not to act or not to take notice how it is or how matters go with the Church Now when at any time it is thus our duty is to awaken the Lord by earnest prayer Awake put on strength O arm of the Lord. It is a mercy when we have an heart to pray and a God to pray unto who can quickly put on strength that is give undeniable evidences that he hath a strong arm yea infinitely the strongest arm which may be A second observation taken or arising from these words as spoken comparatively Hast thou an arm like God The arm or power of the creature is nothing to the arm or power of God no creature hath an arm like Gods There is nothing in the world considered in a gradual difference so unlike another as the arm of God and the arm of man are Mans arm is so small a thing compared with Gods that it is a very nothing not so much as a candle to the Sun nor as a drop to the Ocean nor as one single dust to the globe or body of the whole earth No Rhetorick can speak diminutively enough of mans arm compared with Gods nor can any divinity uttered by men or Angels yet how apt is man to have too high thoughts of mans arm and too low of Gods Were it not that men are apt to have too high thoughts of mans arm and too low of Gods this question had never been put to Job Hast thou an arm like God Job had been a man of as big an arm as most in his dayes 'T is said of him that he was the greatest of all the men of the East Chap. 1.3 And he said of himself Chap. 29 25. That he sate
or rather as the Prophet there speaks will not behold it no not when it shines in the plainest demonstrations whether of wrath against wicked men or of love and mercy to the godly as clearly as the Sun at noon day Secondly As we should tremble at the majesty of the Lord so admire his excellency they that excel others especially they who excel all others in any kind are much admired The Lord is cloathed with excellency how then should we admire him and say Who is a God like unto thee This God is our God Thirdly Seeing the Lord is cloathed with glory we should glorifie him and that First in his essential glory Secondly in the glory of his acts and operations We should glorifie him for the greatness of his power especially for the greatness of his grace because the grace and mercy of God are his glory as the Apostle spake in that prayer Eph. 3.16 That he would grant you according to the riches of his glory that is of his grace and favour towards you to be strengthned with might by his Spirit in the inner man And as the grace and goodness of God is his glory so also is his holiness Exod. 15.11 Who is a God like unto thee glorious in holiness Let us glorifie God in and for all his glories in and for the glory of his power mercy grace and holiness Fourthly God is arrayed with beauty Beauty is a taking thing then how should our souls delight in the Lord We delight in things that are beautiful we love beauty how should this draw forth our love our affections to God! All the beauty of the world is but a blot 't is darkness and a stained thing in comparison of the Lords beauty the beauty of his holiness and therefore if we have a love to beauty let us love the Lord who is arrayed with beauty even with the perfection of beauty Lastly In general Seeing the Lord is deckt with majesty and excellency arrayed with glory and beauty let us continually ascribe all these to God What God is and hath shewed himself to be we should shew forth 1 Chron. 29.11 Thine O Lord saith David is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty for all that is in heaven and in earth is thine David ascribed all to God there as also Psal 145.10 All thy works praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee they shall speak of the glory of thy Kingdom and talk of thy power to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious majesty of his Kingdom thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations Thus Saints are to blazon the name of God and to make his praise glorious The Apostle Jude concludes his Epistle with this Doxology To the only wise God our Saviour that is Jesus Christ be glory and majesty and dominion and power now and ever Amen Further to remember the majesty and excellency of God may and should be First an incouragement to serve him Who would not serve a Prince who is decked with majesty and excellency who is arrayed with glory and beauty who would not serve such a King as this How ambitious are men to serve those who are deckt with worldly majesty and excellency shall not we have a holy ambition to serve the Lord who is thus decked and arrayed Secondly This may exceedingly hearten and embolden us against all the danger we may meet with in the Lords service If we encounter with hardships and hazards in Gods work let us remember he that is cloathed with majesty and excellency c. can protect us in his service and reward us for it we can lose nothing by him though we should lose all for him life and all Thirdly This should fill our souls with reverential thoughts of God continually Did we know the Lord in these divine discoveries of himself in his majesty and excellency in his glory and beauty how would our hearts be filled with high thoughts of him we would neither speak nor think of God but with a gracious awe upon our spirits Fourthly This should provoke us in all holy duties to do our best The Lord reproved the Jews Mal. 1.8 when they brought him a poor lean sacrifice Offer it now unto thy Governour will he be pleased with thee or accept thy person Shall we put off God who is full of majesty and excellency of glory and beauty with poor weak and sickly services such as our Governours men in high place power will not accept from our hands but turn back with disdain upon our hands The worship and service of God consists not in a bodily exercise nor in any outward beauty he is a spirit and must be worshipped in spirit and in truth that is in truth of heart and according to the truth of his word which the Apostle calls the simplicity that is in Christ 2 Cor. 11.3 The glory and beauty of God is spiritual and the beauty that he must be served with is above all the inward beauty of faith and love and holy fear in our hearts Fifthly If God be thus deckt with majesty c. This may assure us in praying to him and calling upon him that we shall not seek him in vain It is worth the while to attend such a God and pour out our hearts before him We may safely depend upon God for all seeing majesty and excellency are his The Lords prayer by which we are to form or unto which we should conform all our prayers concludes with this thine is the kingdom power and glory all is thine and therefore we have great encouragement to ask all of thee Men can give to those that ask them according to the extent of their power There is a confluence or comprehension of all power in the majesty excellency and glory of God and therefore he can give whatsoever we ask Now as that God is thus deckt and arrayed with majesty and excellency is implied in this Text so 't is also implied that he hath thus deckt himself while he saith to Job Deck thy self with majesty and excellency Hence observe Secondly The majesty and excellency the glory and beauty of God are all of and from himself He is the fountain as of his own being so of the majesty and excellency of the glory and beauty of his being he decks and arrays himself he is not decked by others Moralists say honour is not or resides not in him that is honoured but in him that honoureth yet here honour is seated in him that is honoured We honour God and give glory to him but we cannot add any honour to him all is originally in himself he is the beginning without beginning of his own majesty And as Gods majesty is his own so of his own putting on he borroweth nothing from the creature nor needs he any creature to deck him He is not what others will make
Merc. Rigor caudae i. e. Genitalium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De libidine accipio libidinatur caudam instar cedri i. e. libidinâ—ndo facit instar cedri Coc. Penem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jun. Membrum Genitale Pisc Scult Others say it cannot be so understood for though the Elephant be a vast creature in all other parts yet his tail is but small and smaller than seems to answer the vast proportion of so great a beast and therefore cannot resemble a Cedar Secondly Others expound the Original word of his snout or trunk which is of great force and strength and they conceive it may well be understood of his trunk or snout both because that is great and long like a Cedar as also because the trunk being so principal a part of this beast it is not probable the mention of it should be wholly omitted in this description and so small and inconsiderable a one as the tail taken notice of Thus Mr. Beza renders He moveth his prominent part or trunk which is as the Cedar And the latter part of the verse he renders to the same sense The sinewes of the terriblenesse thereof are wrapped together that is though his trunk be very great yet he easily turneth it as he listeth or at pleasure it being wholly compact of sinewes strongly twisted together and is of such force that it may well amaze and terrifie a man of greatest courage The word which we translate stones properly signifieth fears and is so rendred in all other places of Scripture where it is used and hence that reading of Mr. Beza The sinewes of the terriblenesse thereof This opinion is altogether disliked by Mercer I leave it to the Readers judgement Thirdly Many expound it of his genitals and connect the sense with that which followeth The sinews of his stones are wrapt together Or as Mr. Broughton platted in and out as branches As if it had been said Nervi quos medici cremasteras vocant à testibus ad penem deducentes ramis arborum conseruntur in the heat of his lust he erecteth or moveth his generative part like a strong Cedar-tree being corroborated from natures conduit pipes the sinews of his stones which are complicated or wrapt together like the roots of a great grown tree in the earth or like its branches in the air Vers 18. His bones are as strong pieces of brass Bones are the strength and stability of the body and they keep the body strait Bones are to the body as posts to a house the stayes and supporters of it Bones also are as an armour or corselet on the body to defend and preserve the more noble parts the heart liver and lungs from danger and annoyance and therefore it was necessary the Lord should speak of Behemoths bones when he spake of his strength His bones Are as strong pieces of brass As bars of steel saith Mr. Broughton or as conduit pipes of brass so the words may be read and then they refer to those bones that are hollow Some conceive his bones are said to be as strong pieces of brass because the Elephant cannot bow that 's an old opinion as if he were all bone and had no joints which opinion is at large confuted by a learned Physician Dr. Brown of vulgar errors lib. 3. c. 1. in his book of vulgar Errors who proves and experience teacheth that the Elephant hath Joynts with his bones as other living creatures have though not so apparent His bones being great and strong he must needs be very strong It is said Gen. 49.14 Issachar is a strong asse Asinus Osseus i. e. robustus The Hebrew is Issachar is a bony asse which we well render a strong asse able to bear great burthens strength lying so much in the bones And to shew that the bones of the Elephant are more than ordinarily strong they are compared to brasse Job saith in his complaint at the sixth Chapter Is my flesh brass Am I strong like brass The bones of the Eleare so and not only so but His bones are like bars of iron The word here rendred bones is not the same as in the former part of the verse Mr. Broughton translates by a general word his hard parts are like staves of iron But we may well keep to the word bones yet understand them of a different sort of bones as in the former part hollow bones so in this latter solid bones or in that lesser in this greater bones or in that upper bones which are as rafters in his lower bones those in the thighs and legs which are as posts His bones are like bars of iron Iron is the strongest of all metals as we read in the vision of the four Monarchies Dan. 2.1 The image had a head of gold signifying the Babylonian Monarchy breasts of silver signifying the Persian belly of brass signifying the Grecian but it had legs of iron signifying the Romane Monarchy of which 't is said in the 40th verse The fourth Kingdom shall be strong as iron forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things So then when the Lord saith His bones are like bars of iron this importeth that the bones of Behemoth are exceeding strong as strong as if made of iron We call a very strong man iron-sides The Elephant hath iron-sides His bones are as bars of iron Bochartus denieth not that the bones of the Elephant are very hard and strong yet affirms from some Authorities that the bones of the Hippopotame are harder If it be so yet the Elephants bones are hard and strong enough to answer the comparisons in this part of the description of Behemoth Now hear the Epiphonema the triumphant conclusion which the Spirit makes of all this Vers 19. He is the chief of the wayes of God The word is He is the head of the wayes of God Or he is the beginning of the wayes of God as the word is used Gen. 1.1 In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth There is a twofold beginning or head as we may say First there is a beginning as to time so the word is taken in Genesis There in the beginning is in the first of time God created the Heavens and the earth so Gen. 10.10 The beginning of his Kingdom was Babel or there he began his Kingdom the beginning in time as well as place was there Secondly There is a beginning which notes priority in dignity though not in time beginning imports excellency and is as much as chief 'T is usual in several languages to call that which is chief the first or head of any thing Exod. 30.23 It shall be of pure myrrh the Hebrew is head of myrrh that is chief or prime myrrh purest myrrh Thus said David Psal 119.160 Thy word is true from the beginning The Hebrew strictly taken is The beginning or head of thy word is true or truth As if David had said That which is most eminent and
the beasts that perish How sad is it to see men who have understanding yea who are as to worldly concerns men of great understanding like horses and mules who have no understanding They who have not a right understanding an understanding to know and do the will of God a good understanding have all they and none but they that do his commandements Psal 111.10 are in Scripture sense men of no understanding What a reproach is it to any man what a blot in the Eschucheon of a man in honour that it should be said of him and he not able with truth to gain-say it that he hath not so much understanding as an Elephant that he is not so docile and teachable as an Elephant that he is not so gentle and tractable as an Elephant What not so obedient to due commands not so submissive as an Elephant what not so serviceable and useful as an Elephant what not so modest and chast as an Elephant what not so compassionate not so faithful as an Elephant O how should it shame us The Scripture often shames us with our coming behind beasts Isa 1.3 The Ox knoweth his owner and the Ass his masters crib but Israel doth not know my people do not consider They have not so much knowledge nor consideration as the Ox and the Ass So again Jerem. 8.7 The Stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the judgment of their God Nor was this a reproof to the prophane world but to the professing people of God the Jews that they were not so knowing nor skilled in the judgments of God that is to know and do what the judgments of God called them to do and be as the Crane and Swallow were observant of and knew what to do and where to be in all changes of times and seasons And thus the slothful man is reproved Prov. 6.6 Go to the Ant thou sluggard consider her ways and be wise thou hast not so much wit as an Ant. This were a shameful rebuke upon Heathens let it not fall upon any who profess themselves Christians Fourthly If beasts exceed man in some things then how much doth God exceed man in all things The reason why God presented this Behemoth to Job was to let him see how much himself exceeds man seeing Behemoth is not so much to him as the least fly to man All creatures put together are but as the dust of the ballance and as the drop of the bucket to God Thus we should raise our selves and wind up our hearts into a consideration of the greatness and Almightiness of God when we behold great and mighty creatures The greatness of the creatures should be as a ladder to lift us up to God and thereby to take measure as we are able or as well as we can for indeed we cannot of his immensurable greatness that 's the right use of their greatness And if by the sight and consideration of these creatures we do not fall down and humble our selves if we lye not at the foot of God who is infinitely above these creatures and our selves too we neglect the scope of this Scripture and of all Scriptures of like import God is known via eminentiae by way of eminency in every creature mostly in the most eminent creatures such as this whose description hath been thus far opened Now having had this high encomium of Behemoth from the Lords own mouth he is the chief of the ways of God what follows even this that how great soever this creature is God knows how to deal with him and God would have Job understand that also that how great soever he had made him he was able to match him yea to over-match him Behemoth is no match for God For as it followeth in the close of this 19th verse He that made him can make his Sword to approach unto him He that made him These words are a periphrasis or a circumlocution of God The Text doth not say God can make his Sword to approach unto him but He that made him can c. Hence Note God must and will and he loves to be owned as a Maker God hath often revealed himself under this Title The Maker of heaven and of earth and of all things both in heaven and in earth God is the Maker of all in a threefold sense and he loves to be acknowledged as such in them all First he is the Maker of all things persons in their natural being Secondly he is the Maker of all persons in their civil being He makes the rich and he makes the poor he makes the high and he makes the low that is he makes one man rich and another poor one high and another low in this world Thirdly he is the Maker of all persons in their spiritual or holy being he makes a man good who was bad he makes him humble who was proud he makes him heavenly that was earthly he makes him spiritual who was carnal and not only fleshly but in the flesh Rom. 8.8 The making of the new-man is that for which the Lord is specially to be owned and honoured We are to honour God as he is the Maker of all creatures but we are especially to honour him as he is the Maker of the New-creature To be the Maker of the creatures great or small is the sole priviledg of God And let us remember that as God himself hath made all things so he hath made all things for himself that is All beings ought to live unto him and act for him who is the first being to him who hath given us life and breath and all things and in whom we live and move and have our being unto him we should dedicate our life and breath and all things And did we truly know which every one presumes he knoweth God to be our Maker or as our Maker it would have a mighty influence upon our hearts and lives and even make us live to God What should not we do for him that made us and what cannot he do with us that made us as the Text here speaks of the great Behemoth He that made him Can make his Sword approach unto him There are two readings of these words First thus He that made him made his Sword to be near him That is as God made Behemoth so God made a Sword for him that is according to this reading for his use or for him to use God hath made him a weapon But what is the Sword which God hath made him They who insist upon this reading taking also Behemoth to be the Elephant say 't is that natural member commonly called his Trunk that is to the Elephant as a Sword both to defend himself and to offend and wound those that molest him Thus Mr. Beza glosseth it God who made him hath furnished him with convenient weapons or with a weapon fit
Elephant it cannot savour of pertinacy to give them so much respect as to lay them before the Reader and leave him to his own choice in this matter And First Let us consider that in which Bochartus joynes those four Worthies Pagnine Arias Mercer and Junius Premit fluviuÌ„ ita ut non festinet confidit quod Jordanem educet in os suum whose translation runs thus He checks a River so that it hastneth not he is confident that he can draw out Jordan into his mouth Here indeed are great Hyperbolies 'T is high language to say an Elephant by interposing his body like a bank can stay the course of a River or swallow it down at a draught yet it would be no hard labour to shew that the Scripture hath many expressions in it of as high a strain as this We read of Cities walled and fenced up to heaven Deut. 9.1 And the Evangelist John supposeth Chap. 21.25 that if all things which Jesus Christ did in the dayes of his flesh here on earth should be written that even the world it self could not contain the books which should be written But I shall not stay upon this nor doth the learned Bochartus insist upon it he could admit the Hyperbolies in that translation if the translation it self were consistent with the Hebrew Text in reference to which he takes five exceptions against that translation to every one of which I shall only give my apprehension and so pass on The first is That the Authors of this translation suppose the Hebrew word for River and that for Jordan to be of the accusative Case as Grammarians speak whereas in the Original they have no note of the accusative Case prefixed I may say to that The note of the accusative Case is not alwayes prefixt where the word is so taken especially where the word can be no otherwise taken as in the sense of these Translators it cannot be in this place for they taking Behemoth to be the agent in both parts of the verse as also the River in the former part and Jordan in the latter to be patients could not suppose any otherwise of those words than that they are of the accusative Case whereas Bochartus taking Behemoth to be the patient and the River in the former part as also Jordan in the latter part of the verse to sustain the place of Agents must needs suppose the contrary Secondly saith he Those words ita ut so that are not in the Hebrew I answer such is the conciseness of the Hebrew tongue that all Translators make use of some fitting words which they distinguish from the pure Text by a different character in printing and writing to clear up the sense of the Text in the notion of their translation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thirdly he saith The word rendred to Hasten signifieth not to hasten simply but to hasten for fear That 's yielded on all hands and in that sense I shall make use of it in opening our own translation All that I shall say to this exception is that the learned Authors of this translation who wel understand the full signification of that word might conceive that the same word is not alwayes used by the holy Ghost in the same latitude of signification and therefore render this word which signifies to hasten for fear barely to hasten Further I may add that this word which signifies to hasten for fear is rendred also barely to fear and why not then barely to hasten The one translation leaving out the former part of the full sense as the other doth the latter part of it The fourth exception respects only the phrase or manner of speech used in that translation as not yielding a commodious sense I shall say no more but this to it that when either man or beast drinks he doth both draw out and draw in he draweth the liquor out of the vessel and into his mouth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fifthly 'T is said the word used by Job signifies neither to educe or draw out nor to induce or draw in but to break forth as appears Job 38.8 Judg. 20.33 Dan. 7.2 It doth so in those three places now mentioned yet all the Lexicographers which I have seen render the Verb educere as well as erumpere by a word signifying the force of another drawing out a thing as well as the breaking out of a thing by its own force And so a Nowne substantive derived from this Verb is used Psal 22.9 which place we render thus Thou art he that took or drewest me out of the womb And though it be true that Infants may be said to break out of the womb yet 't is not by any power of their own but by the power of God and therefore it may much rather be said that God takes or draws them out of the womb than that they break or make their way out Thus far of this translation as also of the grounds of that learned Authors dissatisfaction with it All which objections riâ—e up also against our English translation both being neaâ— the same in words and fully the general scope and sense And I would adde this for the honour of our Translators that I am much perswaded they did not render the Text thus as persons prepossessed with an opinion that the Elephant must needs be intended here under the title Behemoth but because they then saw good ground for it in the Grammatical construction and meaning of the Hebrew Text. What they would do now were they living upon the discovery which this worthy person hath lately made I dare not say but shall proceed to the explication of this verse as they have left it Behold he drinketh up a River The word which we translate to drink up signifies to rob Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat ad se rapere per vim vel per fraudem to oppress so some render it here He robbeth a River he steals away all the water that 's a high strain of Rhetorick to express Behemoths great drought he drinks as if at a draught he meant to drink a River dry And hasteth not There is a twofold rendring of that First thus He drinketh a River that it hasteth not referring this not hasting to the River and then the meaning is He drinks so deep that he even stops the current or course of the River A River whose waters are either drawn away or neer dryed cannot run with wonted swiftness This is another hyperbolical strain as if an Elephant were able to exhaust a River Great Armies have stopped the course of Rivers with drinking they have drunk Rivers dry in allusion to which it may be said of the Elephant He drinketh a River that it hasteth not So Mâ— Broughton reads it Loe he robs a River that it hasteth not We translate He drinketh a River And hasteth not That is the Elephant doth not hast This may have a twofold reference First To his
God in our selves there is no standing before God without a Mediator and there is no Mediator but Jesus Christ who is both God and Man or God-man for man to stand before God in Thus much of the first use or inference which the Lord makes from all that he had said of Leviathan The second inference followeth in the next verse Vers 11. Who hath prevented me that I should repay him As in the former verse the Lord gave us instruction concerning his own all-sufficiency and irresistible power Who can stand before me So in this he instructs us concerning his own absolute independency Who hath prevented me that I should repay him Both which parts of the Application the Lords shuts up with an Assertion of his universal soveraignty and lordship over all creatures in the close of this 11th verse Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine Who hath prevented me that I should repay him Master Broughton renders Who gave me any thing first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quis precessit me that I may pay him again These words the Apostle Paul plainly alludes to some conceive he quotes them in the 35th verse of the 11th Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans Who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his counseller or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again So saith Saint Paul and here the Lord himself saith Who hath prevented me that I should repay him as much as to say Who hath first given to me and it shall be recompensed unto him again Who hath prevented me The Lord seems in these words Quis ostendit mihi viam in cretione totius mundi Vatebl to make proclamation all the world over to enquire among Angels and Men who it is or whether there be any one that can come forth and say he hath prevented him To prevent is to be aforehand with another in courtesie or kindness in help or assistance God prevents man in all these but no man hath prevented God in any one of them We may give a three-fold interpretation of this divine challenge First Who hath prevented me or who was afore-hand with me in the work of Creation who helpt me to make Leviathan you see what a piece of work he is how vast how dreadful a creature he is who helped me or who gave me any help in the forming or creating of him Several expound this question of the Lords independency in the work of creation none began to him none directed him how to create none counselled him what to create The Apostle useth that word Who hath been his counseller No man hath been the Lords counseller nor did he need any counsel in or about any of his works And as none were his counsellers to give him advice so none were his helpers to give him any assistance to bring the work about no hand hath been put to it but his own no hand was at it nor in it but his own I am he saith the Lord Isa 54.24 that maketh all things that stretcheth forth the heavens alone that spreadeth abroad the earth by my self I have done all alone all by my self the Angels did not help me As God made the Angels without help so he used not the help of Angels in making any thing else Secondly Who hath prevented me in governing and disposing the affairs of the world I have had no counsel hitherto for that And shall any now take upon them to teach me the art of government Thirdly In general Who hath prevented me that is who hath done me any good office who contributed the least benefit to me to whom am I beholding for the least mite That I should repay him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is that I should be engaged to repay him The word which we render to repay signifies properly to make peace because when debts are paid and what is due discharged then all is quiet there is no matter of difference remaining As if the Lord had said If any one can produce any bill or bond or make proof that I stand indebted to him I am ready to satisfie him and to discharge all my obligations Who hath prevented me that I should repay him Hence note First God will not be in any mans debt If any can make it good that they have prevented him that they have given him counsel or assistance in his works of creation and providence or that they have done him the least courtesie they shall receive to the full worth and value of it What we do in way of duty to the Lord he is ready to reward us for it we shall not lose our labour though God be no gainer by it And though it be through his grace strength and assistance that we do any good yet we shall be rewarded as if we had done it alone Surely then God would not be in our debt if we could do any thing alone or that did in it self oblige him Secondly Note God is afore-hand with us not we with him The Lord prevents us we do not prevent him That 's it which the Lord would then have Job and now us to understand by this question Who hath prevented me even that himself hath prevented us all and in all by his grace and goodness in any good we have received or done David waited for this preventing grace Psal 59.10 The God of my mercy shall prevent me he shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies he shall prevent not only my endeavours but even my desires and wishes Yet what in this Psalm he professed an assurance of in another Psalm to shew that our assurance of mercy must not give a stop to duty he puts into a prayer Psal 79.8 O remember not against us former iniquities let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low The Lord hath preventing mercies for his people in their low estate Though we do not prevent the Lord though we are not before-hand with him by our preparations and prayers by our repentings and reformings in our low estate yet he hath mercies ready and prepared for us yea though we come forth to meet the Lord as we are advised Amos 4.12 humbling our selves before him in prayers and tears yet this doth not prevent the Lord but he prevents us by his grace and favour helping us to mourn and pray And as the Lord alwayes prevents us by helping us to pray so he sometimes prevents us with an answer to our prayers before he helps us to pray Isa 65.24 It shall come to pass that before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear that is they shall have an answer to their prayers before they have made their prayers so that when we have made many prayers and have been long in prayer much fasting and humbling our selves yet mercy prevents us Mercy comes usually before
Earth alone The Lord can begin and finish how and when he pleaseth He is a rock and his work is perfect As in spirituals he is the Author and finisher of our faith Heb. 12.2 so in temporals he is the Author and finisher of all our comforts deliverances and salvations When we have no help at all in our selves nor in any creature there is enough to be had in God Hosea 14.3 With thee the fatherless find mercy that is they find mercy with thee and if mercy then help who are as helpless as a fatherless child they especially who look upon themselves as fatherless what help and strength what fathers or friends soever they have in this world if God be not their help and strength their friend and father When we are convinced that only God can help us when we have other helps then God alone will help us though we have no other helpers as he promised Judah Hosea 1.7 I will have mercy upon the house of Judah and will save them by the Lord their God and will not save them by bow nor by sword nor by battel by horses nor by horse-men As if the Lord had said I will do all for Judah my self alone though I could have others to do it by It is seldome that God hath as School-men speak an immediate attingence upon any effect he commonly useth instruments yet he sometimes hath and hath as often as himself pleaseth As our mercies are alwayes of grace only so sometimes they are wrought out by the power of God only And what power soever is seen working at them 't is his power that doth the work his wheel is in every wheel Sixthly What cause have we to magnifie the free grace and mighty power of God He is able to do for us though all oppose him and he is willing to do for us though none nor we our selves prevent him Such is the power of God that he can overcome all opposition in others against what he hath a mind to do for us and such is the freeness of his grace that it over-passeth or rather passeth by all those indispositions in us which might cause him to forbear doing or have no mind to do any thing for us Seventhly If none have prevented the Lord if all the good we have and all that we shall have floweth freely to us then we should be very thankful to God for every good we have received very full of purposes to praise him for whatever we shall further receive This Inference the Apostle makes in the last words of Rom. 11. Of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen Let us never be found sacrificing to our own net nor burning incense to our own drag as if by them our portion in spirituals or temporals were fat and our meat plenteous Let us put praise far from our selves and say with the Psalmist Not unto us not unto us but to thy name O Lord be praise and glory Lastly Let us be very humble The Lord puts this question to Job to humble him it was shewed in the beginning of the Chapter that the design of God in presenting this vast creature Leviathan to the view or consideration of Job was to humble him for seeing the Lord hath made all things and can do all things of himself and doth them for himself let us lye in the dust before him let us take heed of pride high thoughts and boasting words in any thing we have and are let us say as the Apostle Rom. 3.27 Where is boasting where is pride he answers It is excluded But by what Law why cannot boasting come in is it kept out by the Law of works by any thing that we have done No boasting would never be shut out if we could do any thing of our selves therefore saith he this comes to pass by the Law of faith by casting our selves wholly upon God both as to our justification and salvation That God doth all things of himself should render us nothing in our selves Who hath prevented me that I should repay him The Lord having made these uses of what he had said concerning Leviathan proceeds to a general assertion as was said in the close of this 11th verse Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine Possum illi amplam mercedem si velim reddereddere cum omnia quae sub coelo uspiâ—â— gentium sunt mea sint meum est aurum These words are interpreted by several of the Jewish writers in connexion with what went before thus Who hath prevented me and I will repay him As if the Lord had said Do not think that I have not enough by me to repay you for your counsel and assistance if you dare say I have had any from you for Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine That 's a good sense shewing the Lords sufficiency to make good his offer Some make great promises of what they will do when they have not wherewithal to do it Yet rather Secondly We may expound this assertion as carrying on the former Argument or further to prove that no man can prevent the Lord seeing all is his already Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine saith he The creatures are all mine I challenge all I lay claim to all whether therefore I give to one or take from another no man hath reason to question me or to ask of me a reason why I did or do so for all is my own And when the Lord saith Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine his mean-is not only that all under heaven but that heaven it self and all that is in heaven is his also The Lords Estate or Right is not confined to the things which are under the heaven So that when he saith Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine he saith in effect all is mine Thus Moses expoundeth this assertion Deut. 10.14 Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lords thy God the earth also with all that therein is The reason why the Lord speaks here only of this estate under heaven is because he was discoursing with Job of this inferiour world and the furniture of it and it was enough for him to understand as to the present debate that all under heaven was the Lords but in truth not only is the Earth the Sea the Air with all their fulness and furniture the Lords but the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens is the Lords with all their beauty and glory Hence note The Lord is the great proprietour of all things in this world Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is the Lords or all is the Lords First by creation he hath given all things their being Secondly all is the Lords by preservation he keepeth all things in their being Jesus Christ upholds all things by the word of his power Heb. 1.3 that is by his powerful word The same commanding word which gave all
things their being in the beginning hath hitherto preserved their being and will to the end And not only so but Thirdly all things are his in possession the Lord hath all in his hand In whose hand soever the things of the world are they are all in the Lords hand As Abraham said in his Treaty with the King of Sodom Gen. 14.22 I have lift up my hands to the most high God the possessor of heaven and of earth Psal 24.1 The earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof the world and they that dwell therein that is they are all at his dispose And again The world is mine and the fulness thereof saith the Lord himself Psal 50.12 and therefore if I were hungry that is if I needed any thing I would not tell thee that is complain to thee or go a begging to thee who art but a beggar I can help my self and take what and where I will There is a fourth title by which all things under heaven are the Lords even by Redemption The Lord hath restored the whole world to a kind of new life by the death of his Son Jesus Christ is the Saviour of all men especially of them which believe 1 Tim. 4.10 All have some benefit by redemption and so whatsoever is under the whole heaven the whole Systome of heaven and earth is the Lords by redemption though the specialty of redemption be theirs only and intended to them only who believe who as they have a peculiar portion a Benjamins Mess in the grace of redemption so the Lord calleth them his peculiars Exod. 19.5 Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the earth is mine And they are called the Lords portion Deut. 32.9 The Lords portion is his people Jacob is the lot of his inheritance Thus as all under the whole heaven is the Lords so all is his by a fourfold title by the titles of creation and sustentation and possession and redemption All things visible and invisible have been created are sustained and possessed by him as their great Lord and all things visible have been redeemed by him from present perishing and a world of them in this world that they should never perish but have everlasting life John 3.16 From this general Assertion That whatsoever is under the whole heaven is the Lords take these following Inferences First Then the Devil is a lyar a great lyar for Mat. 4. in his last assault against Christ he boasted that he would give him all the Kingdoms of the earth and the glory of them whereas the truth is he hath not a shoe latchet at his dispose While the Devil saith all is mine the truth is nothing is his but a lye of that he is the father As he hath not given a being to the least worm so he cannot dispose of the least worm he is not worth a straw for all is the Lords Secondly Hence we learn That there is a lying spirit in most of the children of men even in all them who look upon any thing they have as their own There is a sense in which we have a right to and a propriety in what we have and may call it ours but that spirit which moves in most of the children of men is a lying spirit when they say this and that is their own David Psal 12.4 brings in the wicked saying With our tongue will we prevail our lips are our own who is Lord over us What have not we who have so many Lordships the Lordship of our selves the Lordship of that little piece of our selves our lips But were not their lips their own not in the sense they spake it as if they were accountable to none for them for their next word was Who is Lord over us Thus most do they look upon their lips and all the members of their body as their own but what saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.20 Glorifie God in your body and in your spirit which are Gods And vers 19. Ye are not your own Your body is not your own but it is the Lords then much less are the things that you have your own your Land is not your own nor your cattel your own the beasts of the earth are not your own nor the fishes of the Sea your own nor is a hair of your head your own nor a pin upon your sleeve they are all the Lords Is it not then a lying spirit which possesseth very many among the children of men who look upon themselves and what they have as their own Their houses and lands are their own their gold and silver are their own who is Lord over them or theirs O let such remember that themselves their houses and lands their gold and silver are the Lords and that the Lord saith expressly The silver is mine and the gold is mine Hag. 2.8 Thirdly If all be the Lords then the Lord is able to supply the wants of all who wait upon him and to supply them plentifully The Lord supplieth the wants of all creatures The Lord keepeth a great house he feedeth all that he hath made he provideth food for Leviathan he satisfieth every living thing Psal 145 16. and Psal 115.16 The heaven even the heavens are the Lords but the earth hath he given to the children of men that is whatsoever of the earth the children of men that is men in common or mankind have the Lord hath given it to them and seing his own children have need of it surely he will not deny it them The Lord I say hath given the earth to the children of men and if the Lord hath bestowed the earth on men as men then much more hath he the earth to bestow upon his own children Christ in his Sermon upon the mount Mat. 6.32 assureth them of it Your heavenly father knoweth that ye have need of these things Food and cloathing is in your fathers hand your father is rich he is rich indeed and therefore he can supply your wants If children do but remember that their father hath such and such lands and houses they think they shall be well provided for how much more may a godly man say my father hath a great deal of land the whole earth is his and therefore I shall be provided for The Apostle improves this position twice 1 Cor. 10. First to makâ— use of our liberty in eating whatsoever is fold in the shambles asking no question for conscience sake for saith he the earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof vers 26. He makes use of it Secondly to perswade us not to abuse our liberty ver 28. But if any man say unto you this is offered in sacrifice unto idols eat not for his sake that shewed it do not offend him and for conscience sake do not offend thy self The earth is the Lords and the fullness thereof As if he had said why shouldst thou trouble thy self or others by eating such meat seing there is enough
as one gives his character pride throughout or nothing else but a piece of pride extreamly proud Videre pro contemnare Totus superbia est Nicetas Thus to behold is to contemn and in that sence we find it used in many Scriptures so some expound that Cant. 1.6 Look not upon me because I am black because the sun hath looked upon me that is do not contemn me saith the Church because of my blackness by persecution So Job 37.24 He that is God respecteth not any that are wise of heart The Lord looks upon the wisest men of the world as unworthy of a look he looks upon them as infinitely below him and if any are proud of their wisdom he looks upon them with disdain he beholds them and despiseth them and their wisdom It is said of Goliah 1 Sam. 18.42 when David came to him he beheld him and disdained him that is he beheld him with disdain When the Giant looked about and saw David a youth he disdained him as no match for him Leviathan is such a Goliah He beholdeth all high things be they never so high with a kind of disdain Hence Note They who are great in any kind are very apt to despise others or to look upon them with disdain as if they were nothing to them Looks of disdain despising looks are very common in the world With what a disdainful eye did the Pharisee behold the Publican Luke 18.9 11. I am not as other men are Extortioners Vnjust Adulterers or even as this Publican this pittiful fellow Pride in self is always accompanied with contempt of others and causeth it The Title of that Parable in the 16th of Luke is He spake this Parable to certain that trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others 'T is the spirit of a Leviathan he beholds all high things how much more low things with disdain Yet Thirdly Some expound these words as an argument not of the pride Nihil meditatur non magnum est peririphrasis animi res magnas consectantis sc respicere ad id quod sublime est et nunquam in re humili sensum aut intentionem defigere Sanct. Non vacat exiguis rebus adesse Jovi but greatness and nobleness of Leviathans spirit who as he is the highest of elementary animals so he beholds all high things he will not meddle with inferiour matters they are below him Great men are for great matters The Heathens said of their Jupiter He had no leisure to attend upon or have to do with small affairs Small matters will not go down with Leviathan he is alwayes looking at great Such is the spirit of worldly men they like Leviathan behold all high things not the high things of Heaven but the high things of earth they are not heavenly-minded but high-minded A godly man is heavenly-minded a carnal man is high-minded David professed Psal 131.1 Lord my heart is not haughty nor mine eyes lofty neither do I exercise my self in great matters in things too high for me What was too high for a King for a David yet King David said his heart was not haughty nor his eyes lofty looking at high things he looked at those things which concerned his duty to serve God and his generation by the will of God or as God would have him Acts 13.36 he was heavenly-minded and not high-minded Solomon speaks of a generation Prov. 30.13 O how lofty are their eyes and their eye-lids are lifted up What generation was this Habet hoc magnanimus ut mediocribus contentus maxima negligat Sen. Superbus vero pusillum animum habet ergo nunquam mediocribus contentus est sed inhiat ad majora It was the generation of proud vain men O how lofty are their eyes who can tell how lofty they are no mean thing will content them They have such a hunger after high things that nothing low is food for them A godly man is not satisfied with matters which are truly low and small to him the greatest things in the world are so yet the lower the lesser the least things of this world will serve his turn as to contentation with them Leviathan beholdeth all high things and therefore as it followeth He is a King over all the children of pride That is he is the chief of all proud ones Master Broughton renders it thus he is a King over all wild kind And a Modern Interpreter abroad Estque regina super omnes feras Jun. Ipseque regem agit in feroces universos Tygur Inter omnia superba primas tenet est facile princeps Merc. Filias superbiae i. e. superbos juxta idioma Hebraeorum Filius rei alicujus nuncupatur phrasi Hebraico qui re aliqua insigniter excellit rendring the Hebrew word by a Latine feminine saith she is a Queen over all the wild kind or over all savage beasts Thus several render it according to the strict words of the Hebrew he is a King over all wild beasts The Septuagint translate he is a King over all that are in or that inhabit the waters others that move upon the earth as the learned Reader may see in the margin Now because those wild ones of one kind or another are proud and prouder than tame beasts therefore we render He is a King over all the children of pride That 's an Hebraisme children of pride for proud children or for those that are extreamly proud They who excel in any thing are ellegantly called the children of it as if they were begotten by it or born of it they bear the likeness of it as children do of a parent Some persons as Leviathan here are so like pride that they may well be called children of pride as if pride it self had begotten them and were their father or the mother that brought them forth and nursed them or brought them up But why is Leviathan called a King over all the children of pride I conceive the chief reason to be that which I shall give in this Observation because Leviathan hath more to be proud of than the proudest of the world They that have most to be proud of in nature have not so much to be proud of as Leviathan What had any natural man as to the body to be proud of in comparison of him is he proud of his strength 't is weakness to the strength of Leviathan Is he proud of his comeliness or the exact composure of his body Leviathan excels him in that In many particulars Leviathan hath that in him which may occasion pride or him to be proud beyond thousands And we may conceive that the reason why the Lord brings this in the close is to humble Job who had carried it too proudly In superbis narrationem terminat ut ostentat hoc praecipuè Job fuisse timendum ne Diabolus qui cum expetierat adtentandum praecipuè eum ad superbium inducere conaretur Aquin. and stoutly towards God And
nothing but the Word we shall never profit by the Word It is the Spirit given with the Word and the Spirit given with the rod by which we profit under both or either Psal 94.12 Blessed is the man saith David whom thou chastenest and teachest out of thy Law Chastning and divine teaching must go together else there will be no profiting by chastning God was Jobs teacher as well as his chastner Job received many lessons from God he taught him quire through the 38th and 39th Chapters and he taught him quite through two Chapters more before he said I know that thou canst do every thing Thus far of Jobs knowledge Let us a little consider the first object of it here expressed the omnipotence of God I know That thou canst do every thing Hence observe First God is good at any work That is at any work that is good he can do every such thing nothing comes amiss to him Among men one man can do this thing and another can do that thing and a third can do more than either but where will you find a man that can do every thing One man is for counsel another for action one man can build a house and another can till the ground several men have their several arts and mysteries and it is well if one man can do any one thing well But God is for all We have a saying and 't is a great truth He that will be doing of every thing Aliquis in omnibus nullus in singulis is no great doer in any thing that is he never excels in any But as the Lord can do every thing so he is exact and perfect in every thing that he doth The best creature is only a particular good but God is an universal good there is every good in God all the good that is scattered in the creature is eminently in him Now as God is an universal good so he is an universal Agent he is in working as he is in Being He can do every thing for us as well as be every thing to us We need not fear if we bring this or that thing to God that he hath no skill in it as it is with men if you bring this thing to a man he is excellent at it but bring another thing and he knoweth not how to turn his hand to it but whatsoever we have to do if it be according to the will of God he hath power and wisdom enough to do it The Lord had power enough to give a being to all creatures and hath he not power enough to do all things in and about the creature cannot he preserve in all dangers and provide in all wants cannot he furnish with all gifts and give success cannot he overthrow the high and exalt the low cannot be restrain the wrathful and subdue the obstinate cannot he weaken the strong and strengthen the weak cannot he make fools wise and wise men foolish surely he can do all these things for he can do every thing Secondly from these words take that grand assertion God is omnipotent his power is infinite This is a principle one of the great principles of Religion an Article of Faith yet I shall not enlarge upon it having met with it in other places of this book Only consider here how Job infers this principle he infers it from the discourse which the Lord was pleased to have with him in the four former Chapters wherein the Lord told him of many things that he had done I have done this and that in the heavens above and in the earth below I have made Behemeth and Leviathan God had told him of his doings Ex mirabilibus recensites scivit Job atque collegit Deum omnia posse non quasi per inductionem sed per deductionem plurium ex uno principio Janson whence Job inferred I know thou canst do every thing He doth not make this conclusion by way of induction there is such a way of argumentation in Logick but by deduction God hath done this and that and the other therefore he can do all things if he can do this what cannot he do if he can make and subdue Behemoth what cannot he do and if he can make and master Leviathan what cannot he do Christ Luke 5.20 argueth his omnipotency or Godhead in the same manner for having healed a poor man and said unto him Man thy sins are forgiven thee the Pharisees were very much offended with that word saying Who is this that speaketh blasphemy who can forgive sins but God alone Christ knowing their thoughts said What reason ye in your hearts whether is it easier to say thy sins are forgiven thee or to say rise up and walk I have healed the man doth not that argue a divine power why may not I then say Thy sins are forgiven thee He that can by his own might do one mighty or miraculous thing can do all things Such is the power of God that as I said before he hath no limit to it but his own will And seeing the will of God is the limit of his power let us take heed of desiring him who can do every thing to do any thing for us which is not according to his will Let us bound our desires let us take heed of saying this is our desire and God can do every thing therefore this which we desire Consider is your desire according to the will of God We cannot urge God with his Omnipotency to do any thing that is our desire if we are not first clear in it that our desire is agreeable to his will Unless we have a rule for our desire or we desire by rule we can have no well-grounded confidence that God will do that for us which we desire God is almighty not to do what we will or forge in our brain but to do what himself willeth Papists say the bread is turned into the very body of Christ but say we we see and feel and tast but bread They presently fly to this God is able to do all things or he can do every thing this is to abuse the Omnipotency of God Hath the Scripture declared any such thing yea hath not the Scripture declared the quite contrary that Sacraments are but signs of things not the things themselves This is my body said Christ but he said not my body is this Christ willed that his body should be represented by bread he will not that bread should be changed into his body The power of God must not be urged beyond his will He have no revelation of the will of God that he will transubstantiate the bread at the holy supper into the body of Christ but he hath given it as a sacred symbole of Christs crucified and broken body upon which we are to feed by faith That God can do whatsoever he willeth hath a two-fold use First Of comfort to all true believers Nostrae difficultates Deo per faciles sunt
his Spirit Every man saith Christ John 6.45 That hath heard learned of the father cometh unto me that is All that are taught of God believe on me And the more any learn of the father the more they come to abide the more closely with the Son Job understood more of God and the mind of God more in all those questions he put to him concerning the heavens the earth the Sea concerning the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the Air concerning Behemoth and Leviathan than ever he did before The more immediate and extraordinary revelations of God are alwayes accompanied with notable effects And though few profit in knowledge according to the measure of the mediate and ordinary Revelation yet probably the more revelation we have of that kind the more we profit Fifthly Job had these great discoveries after God had kept him long in affliction Hence note God doth usually reveal himself most to his people after great sufferings Hence some are of opinion that in these words Job pointed at his two states First that of his prosperity then he heard of God only by the hearing of the ear Secondly Of his adversity then his eye saw him that is he greatly profited in the knowledge of him There are two things which God usually bestows upon his people in the day of or soon after their affliction First more cordials and consolations He gives that strong drink to those that are ready to perish that wine unto those that be of heavy hearts He bids them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more as Solomons metaphors may well import Prov. 31.6 7. Secondly as the Lord gives more consolation in such a day so more illumination the head is bettered by it as well as the heart Many have got much inward light or knowledge both of God and of themselves of their mercies and of their duties by being or after they have been brought into much outward darkness Davids experience taught him this else he had never said Psal 119.71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes He had never learned either to know the Statutes of God better or to keep them better by his affliction if God had not been with him and revealed himself further to him in the day of his affliction Lastly Note When God manifests himself much to any man great impressions are left upon him As will appear further in opening the next verse Vers 6. Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes This verse concludes that part of the Chapter which I call Jobs humiliation He made confession before of his own ignorance uttering things that he understood not things too wonderful for him which he knew not he confessed also the great goodness of God to him in that he had both heard of him by the hearing of the ear and also that his eye had seen him from all which he inferr'd this resolve of deepest self-abasement before God Wherefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes This word wherefore is diligently to be attended for 't is the hinge upon which the whole matter turneth This wherefore may have a double reference First To the sight which he had gained of his own folly weakness and vileness of which having made confession in the former words he adds wherefore that is for as much as I am thus convinced of mine own sinfulness I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes Secondly This wherefore may have reference to those higher clearer and fuller manifestations of God to him He had heard of God by the hearing of the ear there was much in that but now his eye had seen him he had a light or a discovery of the excellency and Majesty of God as much surpassing and exceeding what formerly he had as eye-sight doth the hearing of the ear Wherefore the light being come thus fully in upon him concerning the glory soveraignty goodness faithfulness and all-sufficiency of God he cryeth out I abhorr my self c. The Hebrew word signifieth the greatest disgust against himself a kind of reprobating himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat nauseare vel reprobaro cum fastidio abjicere abominare or as we speak a turning of his stomack at the thought and remembrance of what he had said and was Some render wherefore I reprehend or reprove my self but to abhor our selves is more than to reprehend or reprove our selves Others I reject I despise I slight my self I turn away from my self All these renderings shew to how little or low an account Job was now come in his own sight Our reading I abhor takes in all the rest and more The Lord useth this word negatively concerning his people Levit. 26.11 I will set my tabernacle amongst you and my soul shall not abhor you the meaning is my soul shall greatly delight in you And at the 15th verse of the same chapter affirmatively of them If you shall despise my statutes or if your soul abhor my judgments then c. despising is less than abhorring To abhor the judgments of God is to cast them not only out of our affections but out of our judgment too and to judge them unworthy or unfit to be owned and obeyed Again at the 30th verse of same chapter I will destroy your high places and cut down your images and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols and my soul shall abhor you that is I will manifest the utmost and highest of my displeasure against you Once more in the same chapter When they be in the land of their enemies I will not cast them away neither will I abhor them To abhor is to cast away and to look upon a person or a people as cast-aways Read also Deut. 7.26 Deut. 23.7 Psal 5.6 Psal 129.163 Prov. 24.24 Jerem. 14.21 Amos 5.10 chap. 6.8 Zech. 11.8 from all which texts we may collect the weight and great significancy of this word To abhor things or persons imports the deepest displicency or dislike towards either I saith Job abhor My self The word my self is here supplyed by our translators The Hebrew is only this wherefore I abhor leaving us to suppose what he did abhor Our translators make the suppliment thus I abhor my self that is whatsoever may be called my self self-wisdom self-righteousness self-strength self-ends and I would see the end of sinful-self Another translation saith I abhor those former things Illa priora q. d. non tantum illa prius à me cogitata dictaretracto sed etiam detestor Bez. that is whatsoever I formerly thought or spake amiss I do not only dislike them I do not only retract and recant them but I abhor them And if you would know what those former things were which here he renounceth and abhorreth you may take it in these seven words First I abhor that ever I cursed the day of my birth Secondly I abhor that
and insignificant Bellarminus l. 1. de poenitentio c. 7. SS percurramus Some Popish Writers make the essence of repentance to consist in these or such like outward signs but though we deny that yet we grant these may be signs of true repentance For as to bow the knee is not to pray although he that prayeth usually boweth the knees as a sign of an humble heart in prayer so to sit in the dust and weep is not to repent although the truly penitent usually do so The essence of repentance consists in a broken heart for sin and in breaking off the course and custome of sin turning to God fully Further this outward ceremony of sitting in dust and ashes intimates the greatness of Jobs repentance or that he repented greatly under a deep sense of and with bitter mournings for his former miscarriages in the time of his affliction Hence note Sixthly A soul truly humbled maketh a very serzous work of repentance Poenitet me ex enime studiosissimè quod illis externa symbolis significabatur Jun. It is a common thing to say I repent but few know what it is to repent in dust and ashes They who repent indeed judge arraign and condemn themselves as at Gods tribunal they put their mouths in the very dust Repentanâ—e is heart work and deep work they who are brought in a spiritual sense to dust and ashes find it so Though some sinners corrupt themselves and their ways more deeply than others yet all sin is of a deep dye and corrupts deeply and therefore calls for deep for heart-deep mournings and repentings in dust and ashes Note Seventhly God will not give over dealing with his sinning servants till he hath brought them to true contrition for their sins How long was Job dealt with by his friends and by Elihu and by God himself before his heart was wrought into this frame and temper to repent in dust and ashes It was long before he understood that God might break in innocent person to pieces and give no account why God did not give over afflicting Job till he came to that acknowledgment Job said Chap. 40.4 I am vile and it might be thought that had been repentance sufficient But though Job was then brought low yet he was not brought low enough he cryed I am vile but till God spake to him of Behemoth and Leviathan he repented not in dust and ashes Ephraim said Jer. 31.18 19. Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke turn thou me and I shall be turned thou art the Lord my God Surely after that I was turned I repented and after that I was instructed I smote upon my thigh I was ashamed yea even confounded because I did bear the reproach of my youth The Lord never left smiting Ephraim till he made him smite upon his thigh If we do not come home in the work of repentance by words God will fetch us home with his rods In the eighth place If we consider this repentance of Job with what followeth presently upon it his restauration Observe When we are deeply humbled and brought low we are near our exaltation When Job lay in dust and ashes God was about to set him upon a mountain a mountain of prosperity and that a higher one than ever he was upon before Psal 126.5 6. They that sow in tears shall reap in joy they that go forth weeping bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing their sheaves with them Therefore take the Apostles counsel 1 Pet. 5.6 Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God and what then he will exalt you in due time The due time of our lifting up is at hand when we are laid low and sincerely humbled under the hand of God Jobs humiliation and restauration did almost synchronize or come near in time together Ninthly Note True repentance endeth in true joy The word which signifies to be grieved signifieth also to rejoyce and Job found it so he was comforted as soon as fully humbled Repentance issueth in joy three ways First There is joy in heaven when a sinner repenteth Luke 15.7 As he that found his lost sheep brought it home and rejoyced in it more than over the ninety and nine that did not go astray So saith Christ there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance True sorrow on earth maketh joy in heaven Secondly There is joy in the Church The godly on earth rejoyce at the known repentance of a sinner When the prodigal son came home his father said to his discontented brother It was meet that we should make merry and be glad for this thy brother was dead and is alive again he was lost and is found The Apostle greatly rejoyced at the repentance of the Corinthians 2 Cor. 7.9 Now I rejoyce not that ye were made sorry but that you sorrowed to repentance Their sorrow occasion'd his joy yet not that but their repentance was the cause of it There is no better joy on earth than that which ariseth out of the dust of repenting sorrows As the Apostle John had no greater joy than to hear that his spiritual children walked in the truth Ephes 3.4 So what greater joy can we have than to see any who had gone astray from returning to the truth Thirdly Repentance issueth in joy chiefly to the soul repenting If other mens repentance causeth our joy our own will cause it much more 2 Cor. 7.10 Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of The Apostles meaning is more than he speaks repentance not to be repented of is repentance to be rejoyced and gloried in We cannot take comfort in our sins but we may take much comfort in repenting for our sins as that repentance is joyned with faith in Christ who hath given us power to repent and who is for himself to be rejoyced in Lastly Take this general note from the whole matter The speakings of God to man whether mediate or immediate are mighty and effectual The speaking of man to man barely can do nothing but the speaking of man to man in the power of God will do much how much more if God himself speak God spake to Job and these mighty effects followed First Self-abhorrence Secondly Deep repentance Thirdly Full submission to the will of God Fourthly A readiness to testifie by all due means how vile how miserable he was yet cleaving fast to and depending fully upon God by faith in the promise for mercy peace and pardon Fifthly A change both of mind and manners both in thought word and way Job thought no more as he had done he spake no more as he had done he acted no more as he had done in that condition he was another manner of man than before a good man he was before but now a better he came out of the fire of that affliction and
the highest threat I go away and ye shall dye in your sins John 8.21 They that dye in their sins dye a double death at once a temporal and an eternal death together And to those who have got the sting of death pulled out that is the guilt of sin removed and washed off by the blood of Christ I would Fourthly Take this caution If you would have death easie to you dye more and more to sin daily Some who are dead to sin may find much life of sin remaining in them and they who have much of the life of sin in them will never dye easily they will find strong bands in their death which in another sense some wicked men find not Psal 73.4 While either sin or self or the world are lively in us death will be greivous to us Therefore let them who are dead to sin never think themselves dead enough to it while they live they who are most dead to sin and the world have the sweetest and most comfortable passage out of the world So Job dyed Being old It must needs be that Job was an old man when he had lived an hundred and forty years after all his changes before this change came Why then is it added he died being old or being an old man Surely to teach us this lesson Old age and death cannot be far asunder 'T is a truth young men and death are not very far asunder youth and death are at no great distance but when we see an old man we may conclude that death and he are very near neighbours While we see an old man with his staff in his hand we may say he carrieth a rapper in his hand by which at every step he knocks at the door of the grave There is no man not the youngest man that can reckon certainly upon one day beyond what he hath and therefore Solomon admonisheth us Prov. 27.1 Beast not of to-morrow for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth And the Apostle James checks those who would reckon upon a day he tells them upon the matter That they reckon without their hoast James 4.13 Go to now ye that say to day or to-morrow we will go into such a City and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain And then at the 14th verse Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow for saith he What is your life it is even a vapour that appeareth for a little while and then vanisheth away They that are youngest have not a day nor an hour in their power to reckon upon what then have they that are old We may say of them They are even past their reckoning A woman near her time will sometimes say she hath but a day to reckon and some will say they have never a day to reckon old men may say so they have not a day to reckon Young men may dye old men must dye Then let old men be much in the meditation of death let them be often looking into their graves their gray hairs that do so are found in the way of wisdom Job dyed being old There was no longer staying for him in this world Once more Job dyed being old And full of days There is a twofold fullness First A fullness of satiety Secondly A fullness of satisfaction They are full in a way of satiety who loath that which they are filled with 't is burthensome to thâ—m They are full in a way of satisfaction who having enough are pleased and desire no more Some expound this Text of Job in the former sence he was full of days that is he had a fullness of satiety upon him he had lived so long that his life was a burden to him he had lived till he was weary of living his life was tedious and grievous to him It is said Revel 9.6 In those days shall men seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to dye and death shall flee from them That which most flee from some pursue and it fleeth from them None are so unfit to dye as they who upon the account spoken of in that Text seek death and desire to dye I do not conceive that Job was full of days in the former notion as the stomack may be full of meat and loath it or be burthened with it but as having had enough of it though well liked to the last morsel And I am sure he was not full of days when he dyed in the latter notion as one wearied with the troubles of his life for all his latter days were a blessing to him and he blessed in them all His last days in this world being his best days of worldly enjoyment he could have no reason upon any worldly account to desire a departure out of the world I grant a good man though he hath not lived many days may be full of days even to weariness by reason of his temptations corruptions and sins of which kind of weariness the Apostle speaks 2 Cor. 5.2 In this earthly house of the body we grown earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven And upon this account possibly Job himself might be weary of his life and desire the death of his body that he might be delivered from the body of that death But Jobs worldly life was as sweet as it was long he was as full of blessings as he was of days and therefore doubtless he was only satisfied with living not tired with it He did not loath his natural life nor did he hunger after a longer life in this world he hungred after eternity not time He did not hunger after a longer life as they do who have their portion in this life how long soever they have lived A worldly man is never satisfied with living in the world he never hath his belly full of living here while he sees he may as Job might fill his belly with the good things of this life But as Job had lived very long and very well on earth so he knew there was a better life to be had in heaven and therefore was full of days both as having had many and as having no desire after more on earth As he was not which David deprecated Psal 102.24 taken away in the midst of his days so he was willing to come to the end of his days and for that reason might well be said to dye being old and full of days Secondly These words so Job died being old and full of days may note as his willingness to dye so the easiness of his death he was come to a full ripeness for death Fruit that is fully ripe is soon gathered and sometimes drops off alone from the tree Job was every way ripe for death his body was ripe he was full of days his soul was ripe he was full of grace surely then his was a spontaneous death a very sweet way of dying His natural strength was not much being old
his can be disappointed 800. Two inferences from it 802. How God may be seen shewed four ways 824 Godly man like the Hind in five things 313 314. The latter end of a godly man best 985 Goodness of God two things sheâ—â— 882 Gospel where it comes makes a great change 136 137. Gospel-rain sent upon the Heathen who are as a wilderness 210. Why God takes away the rain of the Gospel from any place 214. The Gospel only gives both liberty and ability to repent of sin 842 Grace called glory 568 Grace preventing God is aforehand with us 699. Grace received may occasion pride 734. Encrease in grace is the best encrease 995 Grass-hopper his motion 436. What the Hebrew word for a Grashopper signifieth and why 437 Great things cannot ordinarily be done by small means God can 665 H Hail what it is 180. God hath store of hail and snow 180. Hail and snow used by God as his artillery to fight against evil men 190. Five Inferences from it 192 193 Happiness of eternal life made up of three things 161 Hard dealing they that deal hardly with others are hardned against them 406. They are very hard-hearted who deal hardly with those that are young and tender 407. To be hard to neer relations is very unnatural 408 Hardned sinner how like Leviathan 767 Hardship good for Christians to inure themselves to it 769 Harmony or musick in the motion of the heavens what 273 274 Harrow spiritual twofold 368 Hawk what the Hebrew word signifies 468. Hawks flie swiftly long 468. The Hawk hath her skill in flying from God 470. Sun represented by the Hawk 472. A twofold resemblance of the Hawk 473 474 Health twofold 683 Heart hard power of God in softning it 230. Why the same word in Hebrew signifies the heart and a Picture as also a Cock 270 Heart the flesh of it harder than the flesh of any other part of the body 751. Hardness of heart threefold 751 Heaven Ordinances of heaven of two sorts 251. What Laws or Ordinances the heavens give the earth 251. The heavens under a Law in three respects 252. The Ordinances of heaven are a secret to man 252. Inference from it 253. What the dominion of heaven is in the earth 253 254. Opinion of some Astronomers about the dominion of the heavens 255 256. Caution about this 256 257 Heaven why called a City 339 Heliogabalus a chief dish at one of his great suppers 414 Heliotrope a flower why so called 254 Hermites their way of life not approvable 336. Two cases wherein we may desire solitude 336 Hinde what the Hebrew word signifies 311. A twofold allusion of the Hinde 312. How the number of their months is a secret 317. Hindes have sore pain in bringing forth their young 320 321. The help she hath in that condition 321. Inference from it with respect to women in travel 322 Hope in vain three wayes 682. Hope puts us upon action 684. It is vain to act when we see no hope of success 685. Two Inferences from it 685. Lost hope is the greatest loss 686 Hoâ—se six sorts of Horses 423. The strength of a horse Gods gift 424. The goodness of God in making so strong a creature serviceable to man 425. Five Inferences from the strength of the horse 425 426. man very apt to trust in horses 427. What meant by thunder with which his neck is said to be cloathed 429 430. The horse in his rage is terrible 434. How the motion of a horse may be compared to that of a Grashopper 436. Horse a valiant beast 438. The Horse how an emblem of a bold and hardned sinner 463. How the Horse is an emblem of a bold Saint or servant of God 464 Humble A sâ—ul truly humbled and made sensible of sin will do any thing at the command of God 920 921 Humility the better we are the lower thoughts we have of our selves 516. The dealings of God with man aim much at the humbling of him 517. God shews most favour where he sees most humility 519. Two things humble us 835. A great tryal of humility what 880 Hunger makes industrious 343 484. Hunger after the Word when sad 485 Hypocrite like the Ostrich in five particulars 395 396 I Jackal a little beast that is said to hunt the prey for the Lion 280 Ice see frost Idolatry of the Jews why worse than the idolatry of the Gentiles 569 Jehovah what it signifieth and why the Lord repeated himself to Job by that name in the latter part of this Book 7 8. Ignorance our ignorances are to be bewailed and confessed before God 814 Impatience floweth from ignorance 811 Impunity present no assurance of future indempnity 186 Intercession of Christ ever prevailing for us 945 946 Isaiah the Prophet how and why put to death 823 Issue of actions to be remembred before we act 679 Judge two parts of a Judges office 868 Judgement God will bring every one to a reckoning 28. Judgement-day will bring all things to light 125. Judgement of God why his providential dealings are so called 539. It is impossible to stop or reverse the judgement of God 539 540. When we do not submit to the judgement of God we may be said to reverse it 541. Mans pleas for his dissatisfaction with the judgement of God 541 542 Justice to be done speedily 134 Justifie he that is much in justifying himself under the afflicting hand of God seems to condemn God 544. We should justifie God in all things 544 545 K Kings resembled by the Lion in five things 282 Knowledge we know not the all of any thing or any thing fully 159 160. Perfect knowledge our happiness in the next life 161. How knowledge is said to vanish in the next life 161 162. Man by reason of his short life hath little knowledge 175. God hath given irrational creatures a knowledge of what is best for their own preservation 472. God hath not concealed the knowledge of himself and of his will from man 724. Knowledge oppâ—sed not only to ignorance but to lesser degrees of knowledge 791. Knowledge a growing thing 792. A twofold encrease in knowledge 792. Experimental knowledge best 793. Afflictions a means to encrease knowledge 794. 'T is a good degree of knowledge to confess we know little 815. Oâ—r profiting in knowledge is according to the measure of Gods revealing himself to us 827. Knowledge of our selves humbleth us 834 L Labour food not to be had without labour 366. Labour taken two wayes in Scripture 373. Labour in vain what and when 410 412 Laughing at any thing shews we slight it or fear it not 765 Leviathan what the word signifies 668. What Leviathan is 668. Leviathans greatness 664. None upon earth like him in two things 775. His pride 781 Liberty See Freedom Liberty better than plenty 341 Life of man shortness of it 46. Mans life nothing comparatively 48. Life short 176. Two things as to our life should humble us 176. Long
Lord reduced it to a certain place Secondly To that restraint which God laid upon it after this reducement that it should no more return to overflow the Earth Both these restraints or laws put upon the Sea are contained in this Context the former of them in the eighth and ninth verses As soon as the Sea issued out of the Earth God set up its doors and made it bands The latter of these the giving of a special Law that when it was shut in it should no more break forth but according to his appointment we have in the tenth and eleventh verses where it is said I brake up for it my decreed place and set bars and doors and said hitherto shalt thou come and no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed So then here we have First Bounds and limits assigned by God to that vast and unruly Element the Water that the Earth might be habitable and useful both for man and beast And Secondly We have the Lord restraining all power or liberty which naturally it would have had and taken to violate or break those bounds For had not God given the Waters of the Sea such a special command though bounds had been assigned them they would quickly have broken their bounds These two orders of God differ much though not in the time when they were given out yet in the nature of the thing and both suppose the Sea in being when these orders were given out For when it is said vers 8. It brake forth as if it issued out of the womb this implieth its birth and nativity and when God saith He shut it up with doors this supposeth that it not onely had a being but that it was violent and furious and would have over-flowed all and regained as large a Territory as it possessed at first when it issued out of the womb of the Earth even the face of the whole Earth if the Lord had not bridled and restrained it Yet further and more distinctly to open the words in their Order Quis Haec vox recte 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 repetitur â—x versu 5. 6. Drus Vers 8. Or Who shut up the Sea with doers The disjunctive particle Or succeeds those disjunctives ver 5 6. Who did this Or Who did that Or Who a third thing concerning the Earths formation Here again Or Who shut up the Sea with doors The Hebrew is onely Shut up the Sea with doors the word who is repeated out of the fifth and sixth verses The Lord by this query or question put to Job would then have him and now us know that it was himself alone that did it It was the Lord who bridled the Sea and shut it up with doors As if he said Where wast thou O Job when I did this great thing as thou gavest no assistance towards the laying of the foundations of Earth and the fastening of the corner-stone thereof so tell me what assistance didst thou give me in bringing forth and setling the vast Sea Or at least if thou canst give me an account hâ—w these things were done and how they continue as they were done by an everlasting decree who hath shut up the Sea with doors was it I or thou or any other Creature Thus the Lord still brings Job upon his knees by humbling questions knowing that he was not able to take any of that honour to himself He poor man had no more to do in this great work than he had in the former and therefore he ought to submit to the works of God in providence whatsoever he was pleased to do seeing all the works of Creation were done by God alone without his counsel or assistance Who hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saepe est protegere aliqui legunt â—bsâ—psu vel circumsepsit ac si esset a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sopio cum siâ— a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tego obiego operio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 autem per samech significat ungere Drus Shut up the Sea with doors There is a two-fold rendring of that word translated Shut up We take it from a root which signifies to hedge in or compass about as also to protect because those things which are compassed about with strong hedges are under protection and safe from danger Water being a fluid body spreads it self over all the water cannot contain it self in itâ— own bounds fluids cannot but it must be bound it must be shut in or shut up The Lord shut up the Sea as the waters of a great River are shut up by flood-gates or as the waters upon which a Mill is built some carry the allusion to that are pent for the service of it and are caused by art to run gradually or by inches as the Master of that useful engine gives direction Thus the Lord shut up the Sea The Sea is a great Convention or Assembly of Waters as Moses spake Gen. 1.10 The gathering together of waters the Lord called Sea The Sea is a confluence or meeting of waters There may be a great water yet that not the Sea the confluence of all or many waters together that is Sea The waters being thus gathered or assembled by the Lords Summons or Command he hedged them in or shut them up Secondly Others render Who anointed the doors of the Sea Quis valvat maris inunxit Codur when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb They who give this Translation derive the word from a root which signifies to anâ—int Some Interpreters insist much upon this sense of the word and I find one who asserts it as the onely sense of it in this place Who anointed the doors of the Sea that is the passages by which the Sea issued forth And saith he the reason why other learned Interpreters pitch upon that Translation of shutting up the Sea with doors is because they knew not what to make of anointing the doors of the Sea nor to what practice such an expression should allude that the doors of the Sea were anointed whereas indeed that notion of the Word beaâ—s the fairest allusion and proportion to the Metaphor of Child-bearing begun in this and carried on as it were professedly in the next verse under which the Spirit of God is pleased to express the coming forth and original of the Sea Now saith my Author Quaerit dominus a Jobo quae lucina praesuerit parentis naturae puerperlo quan do est enixa mare Id. it is a thing commonly known both to Physitians and Mid-wives that those parts of the body by which the Infant comes into the world uâ—e to be anointed for its more easie passage Thus saith God to Job Didst thou anoint the doers of the Sea when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb It was my Mid-wisery my wisdom and skill not thine that brought the Sea into the World and gave it an easie birth or delivered the Earth of it without
we are well fitted for mercy alwayes before we have merited or deserved it But saith not David Psal 88.13 Vnto thee have I cryed O Lord and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee Here David seemed to be afore-hand with God Who hath prevented me saith God yet David said My prayer shall prevent thee The meaning is only this That David would pray very early and very earnestly or that David would watch unto prayer and so if possible even prevent God not that his prayers did indeed prevent God but he was resolved to set so hard to and sit so close at the duty of prayer that if such a thing could be he would even prevent him he would as we may say take God before he was awake as the Psalmist spake elsewhere Arise O God why sleepest thou Their prayer may be said to prevent God who pray early and earnestly according to that of David Psal 5.3 My voice shalt thou hear in the morning O Lord in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will look up And again Psal 119.140 Mine eyes prevent the night watches He was at it very early he sought the Lord very diligently That 's all we are to understand by such expressions for the Lord is then afore-hand with us in mercies when we are most early and most instant in our duties The Lord who is the beginning and the end and who knows the end of all things from the beginning often gives us our end or what we aimed at in prayer before we begin Thirdly Note God is self-sufficient he can do his whole work alone Take it in the instance of the Text he needs no help to create Leviathan nor needs he the help of any creature to destroy Leviathan what he made without help he can as I may say unmake make without help The Lord who is all-sufficient to do any work or bring what he pleaseth to pass for us is also self-sufficient or able to do any work or what he pleaseth for himself that is to please himself It is a great honour to God that he can command what he will and whom he will to help him in any of his works but it is a far greater honour to the great God that he needs not any help to do or bring about any of his works When the Apostle had said Who hath given to him and it shall be recompenced unto him again Rom. 11.35 He presently gives this reason which is the point in hand ver 36. For of him are all things that is he is the sole efficient of all things all things are from him as from the first principle or mover and he orders all things as it followeth in the same verse through him are all things Deus est omnè modo omnium rerum causa 1. Causa efficiens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. Causa administrans 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. Causa finalis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad quem omnia quasi in circulum redeunt As of him are all things in their constitution so through him are all things in their dispensation We have the work of creation in the first part of the verse Of him are all things and the work of providence in the latter Through him are all things that is he dispenceth and disposeth all things And thus spake the same Apostle to the great Philosophers at Athens Acts 17.28 In him we live and move and have our being As if it had been said Of him are all things and through him are all things and therefore to him are all things All creatures turn about as in a circle to their Creator all things end in him or he is the end of all as all things began in him and by him This truth is a spring of comfort and consolation to all the faithful or from this general head many streams flow which may both instruct and comfort the City of God From hence we may learn or be instructed First Creatures one or other men or Angels cannot merit any thing at the hand of God Man gives God nothing but what he first receives from him for who hath prevented him therefore there 's no merit preventing-mercy excludes and shuts it out of doors Secondly which followeth upon that God is debtor to no creature he oweth us nothing we owe him all Deus factus est debitor non aliquid à nobis accipiendo sed quod ei placuit promitiendo Aug. de verb. Dom. Ser. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nihil aliud est quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deus enim propriè non retribuit sed tribuit Who hath prevented me saith God If we have any thing we have it from him but he hath nothing from us therefore we are in his books he is not at all in ours All that God is indebted to us is by his promises which proceed freely from himself we receive no good upon the worthiness of what we have done but because he hath assured us we shall receive good if we do good so and so or are such and such God gives us much but retributes us nothing all his rewards are free gifts or pure alms Thirdly God can do no creature any wrong Man hath no right to any thing he hath inherent in or arising from himself nor hath man obliged God at all to give him any thing therefore he can do man no wrong how little soever he gives him or how much soever he takes from him So that if any man shall say he will not contend with me by right but by might and shall complain that something is taken from him which he would not or not given him which he would what right hath any man to plead with God upon who hath no right to any thing but by the gift of God Fourthly Then the grace of God to man is altogether free Many expound this Scripture as denying the fore-sight of mans works or worthiness of his faith or perseverance in grace as to the grace of Election God did not elect us because he foresaw any worthiness in us Nemo ut divina illum subsequatur gratia prius aliquid contulit Deo si ergo electi praeveniente se gratia sequuntur reprobi juxta quod merentur accipiunt de miserecordia inveniunt electi quod laudent de justitia non habent reprobi quod accusent Bene igitur dicitur quis ante dedit Greg. nor will he save us upon the desert of any thing done by us The foundation-stone of Election and the top-stone of Salvation are laid in free grace Fifthly We have no reason to be discouraged what deficiency soever we see in the creature as to any thing we desire God should do for us forasmuch as none have prevented God either with counsel or assistance in any of those great things which he hath already done either for our selves or others What cannot he do for us alone who made Heaven and
a favourite Abraham was a favourite God called him his friend and Job was a favourite The Lord shews favour to many who yet are not his favourites Kings and Pâ—inces shew favour to all their faithful subjects yet but one possibly is a Favourite The Lords chief favourite is his Son Jesus Christ he hath his ear continually I knew said Christ John 11.42 that thou hearest me alwayes Now as Christ is a favourite above all men so among good men some have favour with God above others A King will hear a favourite when he will not a common person Our Annotators upon this very place tell us out of Mr. Fox that when Sir John Gostwich had falsely accused Arch-Bishop Cranmer to King Henry the VIII he would not hear him nor be reconciled to him till Cranmer himself whom he had wronged came and spake for him Thus the Lord will not be reconciled to some till the wronged party intercedes for them Yet we must remember that the power or effect of all our prayers depends upon Jesus Christ alone by him it is that any have access to the father and he is the way to the holiest the beloved in whom God is well pleased whom he heareth always and through whom God heareth his best beloved favourites on earth Observe Fifthly It is a great mercy to have the prayers of a good man going for us The Lord told not Eliphaz and his two friends of any thing else that Job should do for them he only saith Job my servant shall pray for you If the Lord doth but stir up the heart of a Job of a Moses of a Jacob a Wrestler in prayer to pray for us who knows what mercy we may receive by it And therefore when the Lord forbids his favourites to pray for a people as sometimes he doth it is a sign that such are in a very sad condition yea that their case is desperate Jeremiah was a mighty man with the Lord in prayer and the Lord said to him Jer. 14.11 Pray not to me for this people for good Jeremiah was forward to pray for them but the Lord stopt him Pray no more not that the Lord disliked his prayer but because he was resolved not to forgive them though he prayed for them therefore he said pray not The Lord would not let such precious waters run wast as the prayers of Jeremiah were They are in a remediless ill condition of whom the Lord saith pray not for them Of such the Apostle spake 1 John 5.16 If any man see his brother sin a sin not unto death he shall ask and God shall give him life There is a sin unto death I say not that he shall pray for it The pardon of a sin unto death is not to be prayed for Every sin deserves death but every sin is not unto death They who sin so are past prayer and in how woful a plight are they whose sins are past prayers They who have been much in prayer themselves and afterwards fall off from or walk contrary unto their prayers come at last to this miserable issue that either they give over praying for themselves or others are stopt from praying for them And though an outward bar be not laid upon their friends prayer as in Israels case yet there may be a bar upon the spirit of such as used to pray for them It is a bad sign when the Lord shuts up the heart from praying for any one and it is a sign of mercy when the Lord inlargeth the heart of any that are godly to pray for others Sixthly Observe Prayer for another doth not profit him unless he be faithful himself I ground it upon the text Job shall pray for you but you must carry a sacrifice which implied their faith and they must carry a sacrifice to Job and that implied their repentance and both implied that they prayed for themselves also It is in vain to offer a sacrifice without faith and repentance being in this frame My servant Job shall pray for you Conjunctis precibus nihil impetratu impossibile est Conjunctae autem preces esse non possunt ubi est offensio Coc. vid. The prayer of faith prevails not for those that go on in their unbelief and impenitency Job prayed for his friends and they repenting and believing he prevailed for them The reason why the Prophet Jeremiah in the place before mentioned as also chap. 7.16 was commanded not to pray for that people was because they were a hardened people in their sins and therefore his prayers could do them no good Yea the Lord told him cha 15.2 that though not only he but other great favourites joyned in prayer for them it should do them no good Though Moses and Samuel stood before me my mind could not be towards this people The reason why those eminent favourites and mighty men in prayer could do no good was as was said before because they were unbelieving and hardned in their sins as appears upon the place The Prophet Ezekiel speaks the same thing chap. 14.14 Though these three men Noah Daniel and Job this Job that we have in the text were in it they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness saith the Lord. Jobs prayers obtained good for his friends but the children of Israel were in such a condition that though Noah Daniel and Job were praying for them they should get no good by it their sins were so high and their hearts so hard that the prayers of the holiest men in the world could not prevail with God for mercy It cannot be denied but the prayers of a godly man may profit a wicked man an unbeliever an impenitent person for his conversion to the faith and the bringing of him to repentance but they profit not any man who as he hath not faith so continues in his unbelief Yet I grant that the prayers of a believer may profit such an unbeliever as to the avoiding of some temporal evil or as to the obtaining of some temporal good as is clear in Abrahams prayer for Abimelech Gen. 20.7 But how much soever a godly man prayeth for the pardon of a wicked mans sin or the salvation of his soul he shall never be pardoned or saved unless himself repent and believe They who never pray in faith for themselves shall not get favour with God by any prayer of faith made by others for them Now as from this and such like Scriptures it appears that the prayers of godly men for good men here on earth are very pleasing unto the Lord and receive great answers So they do absurdly who from this Scripture infer that the Saints departed pray for us as if they knew or understood our condition and they do more absurdly who living here on earth pray to the Saints in heaven to pray for them The Scripture speaks nothing of prayers to departed Saints nor of departed Saints praying for us the Scripture speaks only of the living
on earth praying for those that live on earth Job was alive in the body and so were those three men to whom the Lord said My servant Job shall pray for you The Lord having assured Eliphaz and his two friends that Job would pray for them giveth them encouâ—agement to go and desiâ—e his prayers by a gracious promise For saith he him will I accept and threatneth them in case they should forbear in the next words Lest I deal with you according to your folly in that ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right like my servant Job First Of the gracious promise him will I accept The Hebrew saith his face will I lift up Acceptation with God is the lifting up of the face of man then man lifteth up his face with boldness when he is accepted with God When God refused to accept Cain and his offering his countenaâ—ce fell or was cast down Gen. 4.5 Unless the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon us as David prayed Psal 4.6 we cannot with any comfort much less with true confidence lift up our face or countenance unto God That 's the significancy of the word Him will I accept God is no accepter of persons as the word is often used in Scripture Deut. 10.17 The Lord is a great God mighty and terrible which regardeth not persons It is the same phrase in the Hebrew with this in the Text he lifteth not up faces that is the Lord doth not accept persons upon any outward respect First The Lord doth not accept persons for their personableness as I may say the Lord doth not delight in any mans legs his delight is in them that fear him Psal 147.10 11. he doth not accept men for their goodly stature as he told Samuel when he would needs have poured the oile upon the first-born of the Sons of Jesse 1 Sam. 16.7 Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature because I have refused him for the Lord seeth not as man seeth for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart 'T is the beauty of holiness and integrity in the heart not the beauty of fairness upon the face with which God is taken 't is a lowly mind not a high stature which God accepts Secondly The Lord is no accepter of persons as to the nation or country where they were born or live Thus the Apostle Peter spake Acts 10.35 I perceive that God is no respecter of persons but in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him God doth not prefer Jews before Gentiles Barbarians or Scythians that a man had his birth in this or that Nation neither helps nor hinders acceptation with God Thirdly The Lord accepteth no mans person for his riches Prov. 11.4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath No mans person is acceptable to God for his purse or his penny no not at all Fouâ—thly The Lord â—ccepteth no mans person for his worldly greatness honour and dignity He poureth contempt upon Princes Psal 107.40 The day of the Lord is against the hills and mountains Isa 2.14 The great God regardeth not any man meerly for greatness the Lord accepts no mans person upon these or any such like accounts He only accepts the persons of those that fear him and do his will Suscipit faciem Deus quando precantem câ—audit The Lords acceptance of any person in the sense of this promise concerning Job is First To shew favour and manifest affection to him Secondly To honour aâ—d highly esteem him Thirdly Which is here specially intended to answer his prayers and grant his requests not only for himself but for others When a person is once accepted his prayers shall not be denied nor suffer a repulse The Lord accepteth persons as a King the persons of those loyal Subjects who come to intreat his favour and pardon for those that have offended him and rebelled against him he grants their suit and treats them fairly In this sense the Lord maketh promise to Eliphaz and his two friends that he will accept Job Hence Observe First It is a very high favour and priviledge to be accepted of God Him will I accept saith the Lord of Job This was a favour beyond all the favours that follow after in the close of the book about the doubling of his estate If Jacob Gen 32.20 was so taken with a hope of acceptance by his brother Esau Peradventure he will accept me If when he was accepted by Esau he said chap. 33.10 I have seen thy face as though I had seen the face of God and thou wast pleased with me Then how much more should we rejoyce in this assurance that God hath accepted of us and that he is pleased with us If the Apostle Rom. 15.3 prayed so earnestly and desired others to strive with him in prayer to God that his service which he had for Jerusalem might be accepted of the Saints then how much more should we pray that our services may be accepted of God and rejoyce when they are accepted The Apostle made it his chief work to get acceptation with God 2 Cor. 5.9 Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent that is whether living or dying we may be accepted with him we are ambitious of divine acceptation The word which we translate labour noteth a labouring after honour which ambitious men labour much after implying that to be accepted with the Lord is a very high honour indeed the highest honour There is a two-fold acceptation First Of our persons Secondly Of our services The former is the ground of the latter and Jesus Christ is the foundation of both Ephes 1.6 He through glorious grace hath made us accepted in the beloved Jesus Christ is so dearly beloved of the father that he is called The Beloved as if only beloved The acceptation of our services is often promised in Scripture as a high favouâ— Exod. 28.38 Ezek. 20.40 41. Isa 56.7 This Moses prayed for in the behalf of the Tribe of Levy which Tribe was appointed to offer sacrifice and to pray for the people Deut. 33.11 Bless Lord his substance and accept the work of his hands What was the work of Levies hands it was to offer sacrifice to which prayer and intercession was joyned That Levi who had the priest-hoâ—d fixed in the family of Aaron should be accepted in the work of his hands was a blessing not only to himself but to many more This David prayed earnestly for Psal 19.14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight O Lord my strength and my redeemer He put up a like prayer Psal 119.108 Accept I beseech thee the free-will-offerings of my mouth O Lord. This was the prayer of Araunah for David 2 Sam. 24.23 The Lord thy God accept thee So great a priviledge it is for our persons and services to be accepted with the Lord