they teach thee Certainly they shall thou shalt not come away empty undirected uncounsel'd Shall not they teach thee How could they teach They were dead and gone they were past many ages before Bildad may be conceived to answer Though the fathers are dead yet they will speak to thee and counsell thee as well as if they lived and stood before thee with our selves They shall teach thee and they shall instruct thee And more then that they will not onely teach thee in a complement and speak words to thee but they will speak their very hearts to thee thou shalt finde that they will give thee cordial counsell They will utter words to thee out of their heart Vtter words out of their heart The meaning of that is either First in generall they will give thee the reall conceptions of their mindes about these points they will speak sincerely they will not speak to thee from the teeth outward but from the heart inward Secondly they will speak wisely and judiciously to thee about these things they will utter not so much words as oracles to thee out of their heart The heart is the seat of knowledge and understanding and a wise man is homo cordatus a hearty man Eloquia ex corde proferre est sapienter loqui sapiens cordatus dicitur stultus excors a man with a heart and a fool in Scripture is said to be a heartles man a man without a heart he cannot utter words from his heart who wants a heart he utters them from his mouth or from his tongue A fools heart is in his mouth and a wise mans mouth is in his heart he speaks that which lies in the in-most recesses and closets of his spirit he speaks from meditation he brings what he speaks to his heart Cor loquitur quae animus praemeditatus est os loquitur sine meditatione and from his heart utters what he speaks Christ assures us That a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil things Every heart is a treasury When a good man speaks evil he speaks not from his heart though he hath a stock of sinfulnesse in him but from his lips and when an evil man speaks good he speaks it not from his heart but from his lips for he hath no stock or treasury of good within An hypocrite speaks good with a heart and a heart with a double heart A fool speaks without a heart yet of the two it is better to have no heart then two Or we may take the meaning of the words as a secret reproof of Job If thou wilt look after these fathers and search them they will not speak as thou hast done rashly unadvisedly and indiscreetly but they will speak from their hearts they will utter things of weight and serious consideration From hence observe First That old men are presumed to have a great stock of knowledge Go to the fathers they will certainly teach thee Every man should labour to have a proportion of knowledge to his proportion of years we should not be children in understanding when we are men in time The Apostle reproves such as are so Heb. 5.2 When saith he for the time you ought to be teachers look upon the yeers that are gone over your heads and you ought to be teachers you should have much in your hearts for the instruction of others yet so it is you have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God and you are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat Secondly observe They who are dead and gone yet speak to us as if they were living Bildad sends Job to the ancient fathers Go they will teach thee and utter words out of their heart Whilest we consider what they have spoken and done it is as if they now spake Heb. 11.4 Abel by faith offered a better sacrifice then Cain and being dead he yet speaketh They who are dead speak by their works and they speak by the words which they spake while they were alive The records which they have left give us counsell to this day When the rich man it is the scope of the Parable I say when the rich man Luk. 16 2â— desired that Lazarus might go from the dead to speak to his brethren Abraham answers him They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them c. If they hear not Moses and the Prophets neither will they be perswaded though one rose from the dead They have Moses and the Prophets but Moses and the Prophets were dead and gone how have they Moses and the Prophets they have not the men before them but they had their writings and records they who read the Prophets writings hear their speakings Books are silent voices If Moses and the Prophets may be heard when dead and gone then much more may we hear Christ since he died and rose and his Apostles who are dead And whereas some have an opinion that they do not know the minde of Christ or that they cannot reform the Church or their Churches till Christ himself come from heaven to do it or till there be Apostles sent personally to do it they wanting an Apostle cannot order the vvorship and ordinances of God and therefore conclude against a present Church-state I say to such if that be your ground that you must have Christ and his Apostles to settle all for you you have your desires Look into the vvorks and vvord of Christ into the vvritings and practices of his Apostles both for your rule and patern If Abraham could say they have Moses and the Prophets they may hear them surely vve may say much more we have Christ and his Apostles vvhom vve may hear and consult about all the institutions and orders that concern the frame of his Church We need not stay till Christ come down in person from heaven or till new Apostles are sent and furnished vvith instruction for this vvork for we have Christ and his Apostles already vve hear what Christ spake vve read the rules vvhich he gave concerning the vvaies of his vvorship and government of his Church in all the essentiall and constitutive parts of either to the end of the world Thirdly observe They that teach others should teach their own hearts to speak It is best speaking to others with the heart The heart will teach better then the tongue yea better then the understanding â—he word which comes from the heart of the teacher goes soonest to the heart of the hearer Fourthly observe The heart is the true repository or treasury of holy truths You may see where the fathers the holy men in ancient time laid up truth they utter words out of their heart then truth was laied up there Truth is as it vvere the heart of God and therefore we must put it into our hearts
per loquelae instrumenta in verba formate Bald. And how long shall the words of thy mouth be as a strong winde The Hebrew word for word runs thus And the words of thy mouth a strong winde We resume in this later clause How long and adde be like to supply the sense There is no tearm of comparison expressed in the originall yet the strength of one is implyed and therefore to fill up the meaning we render And how long shall the words of thy mouth be as a strong winde M. Broughton translates it without a note of similitude How long wilt thou talk in this sort that the words of thy mouth be a vehement winde Words are air or breath formed and articulated by the instruments of speech Hence breath and words are put for the same in divers Scriptures Psal 33.6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth Breath in the later clause is no more then word in the first for it was a powerfull word which caused all the creatures to stand out in their severall forms So Isa 11.4 He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips or with the winde of his lips shall he stay the wicked It is not blowing upon wicked men that will slay them but it is speaking to them there is a power in the word of a Prophet when spoken in the Name of Christ which destroyes those who will not obey it Hos 6.5 I have hewed them by my Prophets I have slain them by the words of my mouth Secondly * Graeci latini Prophetas quosdam ex Hebraeo Cabiros cognominarunt ob insignem eorum ad extra gravitatem loquacitatem idem dicti Corybantes Bold Quos Authores latini Divos potes seu potentes vocant Graecis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dicuntur ab hac voce quae potem sive potentem denotat Drus Ad magnanimitatem referri potest quod corpore attenuato exhaustisque viribus fortiter tamen persisteret in loquendo respondendo Cajet Iobi oratio non fuit frigida languidased vehemens concitata Pined Bildad is conceived to allude to a certain sort or sect of men For from Cabir here translated strong the name of certain Poets or old Prophets is derived whom the Greeks and Latines called Cabirs or Cabirims These men had an affected outward gravity yet were full of words and much given to Battologie repeating the same things over and over Bildad ranks Job say some with those Prophets How long shall the words of thy mouth be like those roming Cabirs who by a needlesse multiplying of words grated the eares and burdened the spirits of all the hearers Why doest thou speak as if thou couldst carry the matter with empty words and bare repetitions Thirdly The word strong winde may note the stoutnesse of Jobs spirit or the magnanimity he exprest in his words Jobs language was not cold and chill as if his breath were frozen but he spake with hight and heat The spirit and courage of a man breaths out at his lips How long shall the words of thy mouth be a strong winde When wilt thou yeeld to God and lie humbly at his feet What a heart hast thou Thou speakest as big as if thou hadst never been touched as if God never laid one stroke upon thee thou hast a weak body but a stiff spirit Thou speakest as if thou wouldst bear all down before thee and by thy boldnesse storm and bluster those out of countenance who are here to give thee counsell Fourthly Take in the similitude How long shall the words of thy mouth be as a strong winde That is how long wilt thou speak so much and speak so fiercely For the word Caber is more then Gadol which signifies barely great Gramarians note that it signifies both continued quantity and discreet quantity multitude and magnitude How many words wilt thou speak and how great words wilt thou speak Spiritus multiplex ermones oris tui Vulg 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spiritus multiloquus Sept. Shall thy words be as a great various enfolded winde so the Vulgar Wilt thou blow all the points of the compasse at once and like a whirle-winde invade and circle us on every side Such words are like a strong winde First Because of their blustering noise There are stormy and tempestuous words The tempest of the tongue is one of the greatest tempests in the world Passionate language troubles both the air and ear makes all unquiet like an enraged angry winde Secondly In such words as in stormy windes there is great strength to bear all down before them or to sway all to that point they blow for As all the trees in a forrest look that way which the winde sits so all the spirits in any Assembly are apt to turn that way which words bearing a fair shew of reason direct How often are the judgements and opinions of men carried by words either to good or evil to truth or errour And unlesse a man have good abilities of judgement and reason to manage what he knows or holds and to make himself master of it It is a hard thing upon a large winde of anothers discourse not to have his opinion turned Hence the Apostle Tit. 1.11 speaking of vain-talkers saith Their words subvert whole houses as a strong winde so strong words blow houses down They subvert whole houses as that subverts the frame and materials of the house so this the people or inhabitants of the house when Christ breathed graciously towards Zacheus he said Luk. 19.9 This day is salvation come to this house when false teachers breathe erroniously subversion comes to many houses The Apostle Ephes 4.14 using this similitude about the doctrines of men adviseth us to look to our ground and that we be well rooted That we be no more children tossed too and fro and carried with every winde of doctrine as if he had said The winde that blows from the lips of seducers unlesse you be well established will carry you to and fro like children or wave your tops up and down as trees yea endanger the pulling you up by the roots Thirdly Strong words are as strong windes in a good sense for as many strong windes purge and cleanse the air making it more pure and healthy so those strong wholesome windes from the mouths of men purge the minde of errour and cleanse the soul of sinne This is the speciall means which Christ hath set up to cleanse his people from infectious and noisome opinions These he disperses and dispels by the breath of his Ministers in the faithfull and authoritative dispensation of the Gospel Fourthly There are ill qualities in strong windes some are infectious windes they corrupt the ayr conveying ill vapours to the places on which they breathe So there is a strong unwholsome winde of words which carries unto
in the eye of the world yet at last himself and his family shall be so clean removed and swept away his name and memory so blotted out that there shall not be any print or foot-step of his being upon the face of the earth Whence note That the memory of wicked men shall perish for ever none shall own them If they be asked about them they shall say We have not seen them Peter in his temptation denied Christ Mat. 27. when they asked him saying Art not thou one of his Disciples No saith he I know not the man As the Saints under temptation and as hypocrites in their daily conversation deny Christ so the time will come when hypocrites and wicked men shall be denied themselves their places shall say We know them no more They shall be remembred only as Pilate is remembred in that which is called the Apostles Creed who stands there upon record for his wickednesse cowardize and injustice in condemning Christ whom he knew to be innocent Wicked men are either forgotten or else remembred with a brand of disgrace They who have been adored and flattered and crept to like little gods shall not be owned by the meanest men Even their parasites who have hung about them will fall off from them and say Who we know them we know no such men It is prophesied Zech. 8.23 of the Jews who are now a despised and scattered people yet still a people in the heart of Christ that God will bring them forth at last and they shall be a people so much honoured that ten men out of every Nation shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying We will go with you for we have heard that God is with you The despised Saints such as the world hath cast out and said We will not see or take notice of them shall be honoured or envied of all Men will be glad to take hold of their skirts and say Come let us go with you O that we might have a part and a portion with you for we know that God is with you O that we had lived the lives and might die the deaths of the righteous O that our beginnings had been and that our later ends might be like theirs Likewise a time will come when hypocrites and wicked men shall be despised by their admirers and cast out as not worth the looking on by their grossest flatterers It was a great honour which the Oratour gives Homer Cic. in Orat. pro Arch. poet a Heathen Poet who was a man of such reputation that many great Cities strove for him One said he was born here another said he was born there a third among us was the place of his birth All desired to own him because he was a man highly honoured for his learning in those times So on the other side every place shall be ashamed of some men this place shall say we have nothing to do with him and that place shall say we have nothing to doe with him one shall disclaim him and another shall disclaim him all shall refuse him It shall be the honour of Saints to be desired of all and it shall be the shame and punishment of wicked men to be cast out and disregarded by all They who despise God shall at last be lightly esteemed among men Bildad having thus enlarged his similitude in all the parts of it and at last laid the hypocrite as low as forgetfulnesse so low that no man will own him as he is alwaies so low that God will not own him he concludes tryumphantly against him Verse 19. Behold this is the joy of his way and out of the earth shall others grow Here 's his conclusion This is the joy The word which we translate joy signifies the highest joy a kinde of leaping for joy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dicitur quando gaudio gestimus ut canes solent quando peregre advenienti Domino adulantur En haec est exultatio viae ejus ironicâ—â—s dictum Haec est laetitia qua sibi placebit in magnitudine suâ Viam appellat statum in quo erat q. d. en quo redeat ejus gaudium dum ita sese efferret Merc. It is an allusion to dogs or spaniels who you know when their Masters come home leap about them for joy and in their language bid them welcome Such a joy is here meant a joy lifting up the heart a leaping an exulting joy The word is often applied to the joy of the Saints they rejoyce and as it were leap about Jesus Christ they triumph in the favour of God The leaping the exulting joy the best joy all the joy which an hypocrite hath is but this vvhich hath been described Is it not a desirable joy a goodly joy sure the words are ironicall This is the joy of his way Of his way Way is taken for the course purpose and institution of a mans life for the tenour of his conversation which he holds in the world This is the joy of his way This is it The particle is demonstrative This is it which I have told you as if he had said cast up all the comfort and happinesse of that flourishing tree of the hypocrite this is all that it comes to his end is to be rooted up and not so much as to be owned by those that knew him before There are three things which I should observe from this This is the joy of his way First That an hypocrite may have much joy in his way He may rejoyce much in his condition and thinke all 's well False hopes can produce false joyes False faith brings forth a comfort like it self a fading comfort a shadow of comfort as that is but a shadow of faith The fancy of faith is usually fuller of joy then true faith Satan helps forward this joy and God for a time will not hinder it Faith though feigned gives the soul a sight of such things as are worth the rejoycing in and a supposed title to them will move joy as well as a reall title doth The stony ground received the word with joy The promises are delicious to the sensitive and rationall part as well as to the spirituall and regenerate part Hence Heb. 6. they that fall away are said to have had tastes of the joyes of the world to come An hypocrite may thinke himself in heaven sometimes and then like one in heaven he cannot but rejoyce He may have a glimpse of heaven upon earth all whose heaven is earth This is his joy Secondly This may be demonstrative and answers the question what is his joy It is this His worldly comforts his flourishing outward condition is his chiefest joy Then note The joy of hypocrites is chiefly boâ—tomed upon outward things It is not the joy of the Lord no nor joy in the Lord Rejoyce in the Lord and again I say rejoyce is the Gospell-command An hypocrite cannot rejoyce thus When he rejoyces in the Lord
somewhat besides the Lord causeth his joy He rejoyces in his green boughs in his goodly branches in his supposed strong root but to rejoyce in God as God he knows not how Davids joy was the opposite of this Psal 4.6 Lord lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon me and that will put gladnesse in my heart more then in the time that their corn and wine encreased Let me have the Sun-shine of thy love and then though I have nothing but darknesse and clouds from the world I shall rejoyce But what saith the hypocrite let my corn and wine encrease let the Sunne of outward prosperity shine warm upon me let me have my greennesse of creature-contentments let me have credit and fair repute among men these will put gladnesse in my heart These glad his heart when he hath not a dram of grace or goodnesse there Thirdly The joy of an hypocrite is but for a moment It is a perishing joy This is the joy of his way you see what it amounts to how well it last His greennesse is turned into withering his root rots and his fruit fals off This is his joy He is like those spoken of in the Epistle of Jude vers 14. Trees twice dead and plucked up by the roots That 's the conclusion of the hypocrite he hath a name to live but he is dead twice dead naturally dead in sinne and judicially dead under wrath he was born spiritually dead and his whole life is a passage to eternall death He hath rejoyced a while but he must mourn for ever The portion of hypocrites is weeping and gnashing of teeth Mat. 24.51 Their joy is but for a morning or a day weeping comes at night that night hath no morning after it And out of the earth shall others grow Some read Out of the earth shall somewhat else some other thing grow We out of the earth when these are removed other persons shall grow who shall inherit the place and possesse the dwelling of these prosperous trees For he follows the similitude of a tree when or where one is pulled up another is planted and grows up in it's room Or others shall possesse what he hath gotten In which sense Job speaks Chap. 27.16 17. Alij qui alieni erunt ab eo quasi è terra alia germinabuÌ„t in bona ipsius su cedeâ—tes juxta illud repositâ—e sunt justo opes peccatoris Dâ—â—l Though he heap up silver as the dust and prepare raiment as the clay he may prepare it but the just shall put it on and the innocent shall divide the silver Which words may be a Comment upon these Out of the earth shall others grow that is others shall rise up God will bring a new generation to enjoy his ill-gotten substance and eat the sweet of all his labours Solomon Eccles 2.18 was much afflicted because he knew not who should grow up after him I hated saith he all my labour which I have taken under the Sunne because I shall leave it to a man and I know not what he shall be whether a wise man or a fool It is a part of the vanity which lies upon man-kinde that after all a mans labour and pains he must leave all unto some body he knows not certainly who But there is a greater and sorer vanity upon the hypocrite he seldome staies to take his part He shall not rost that which he hath takâ—n in hunting Pro. 12. that is he shall not have the benefit himself of what he hath but others unthought of shall come out of the ground and grow in his place This is the upshot or summe of all his misery he hath laboured for others in temporall things and he hath got nothing for himself in spirituall things Further the words may carry this sense That When wiâ—ked men are taken away the righteous shall grow in their roome Pull up the bryars and thorns and then vines and fig-trees lilies and roses will grow the better When wicked men are removed good men will prosper Again Out of the earth shall others grow they were not worth the ground they went upon though they were worth a great deal of ground therefore out of the ground shall others grow God will raise up a generation which shall be more faithfull and serviceable unto him There is a fourth sense of this expression Out of the earth shall others grow that is out of the meanest and lowest condition others shall grow and so it carries an opposition between the condition of an hypocrite and of a godly man The hypocrite in his flourishing greennesse shall be cut down to the ground but they whose hearts are sincere and upright though they are as low as the ground though they are upon the earth and are trodden down as mire in the streets yet they shall grow up They who were growing high shall be cut down and they who were below shall grow up such as they feared not nor suspected shall prevail over them They who are lowest even as low as the earth shall be raised built up and set on high in the world when God speaks the word There is an Exposition of this whole context about which because many close with it I shall give a brief account Divers of the learned understand this third similitude not as describing the state of an hypocrite but as an instance in opposition to the state of an hypocrite set forth by the rush and by the spider in the former verses Hence it is that the Italian version begins the sixteenth verse thus But the perfect man is green before the Sun c. And so the sense may be given to this effect As if Bildad had said Though hypocrites wither like a rush or like a flag though they are suddenly swept down like a spiders web yet a godly man is a green tree before the Sunne he is not like a rush without water but like a tree planted by the rivers side which is able to endure the heat of the Sunne yea the hottest Sunne of persecution His branches shoot forth in his garden he is no wilde tree no tree of the forest or of the wildernesse he is a tree of the inclosed garden which if it want the water from the clouds the Gardener will take care to water it with his hand Or his roots are wrapped about the heap about the fountain he is strongly set and he hath water continually to feed and supply his branches Thus the Church is so described by Balaam Numb 24.6 How goodly are thy tents O Jacob and thy tabernacles O Israel as the valleys are they spread forth as gardens by the rivers sides as the trees of Lign aloes which the Lord hath planted and as Cedar-trees besides the waters Thus the godly mans roots are wrapped about the fountain and there he is fruitfull though the Sunne shine hot upon him yet it cannot exhale his moysture faster then the river can supply him with
sin and provoke When God afflicts his people he hardens his heart against them and it is seldome that he hardeneth his heart against them till they harden their hearts against him And the truth is if they who are dearest to him do harden their hearts against him if they quarrell and contend with him if they rise up against his commands or neglect his will he will make their hearts submit or he will make their hearts ake and break their bones If they harden their hearts against his fear they shall feel his rod upon their backs and spirits too Which of the Saints ever hardened himself against God and hath prospered No man whether holy or prophane righteous or wicked could ever glory of a conquest over God or triumph after a war with him JOB Chap. 9. Vers 5 6 7 8 9 10. Which removeth the mountains and they know not which overturneth them in his anger Which shaketh the earth out of her place and the pillars thereof tremble Which commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not and sealeth up the starres Which alone spreadeth out the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the Sea Which maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiadis and the chambers of the South Which doth great things past finding out yea and wonders without number JOB having in generall asserted the power and wisdome of God he must have infinite power and wisdome against whom no man ever prospered by contending Having I say asserted this in generall he descends to make a particular proof of it as if he had said I will not only give you this argument that God is mighty in strength because no man could ever harden his heart against him and prosper he hath foyl'd all that ever medled with him but besides I will give you particular instances of it and you shall see that the Lord hath done such things as speak him mighty in strength and prove him as powerfull as I have reported him These particulars are reported in the 5 6 7 8 9. verses all closed with a triumphant Elogy in the tenth Subjicit Job confirmationem proximè praecedentis syâ—ogismi ab effectis potentiae sapientiae Dei quae amplissima oratione describit Merl. Which doth great things past finding out yea and wonders without number The Argument may be thus formed He is infinite in power and wisdome who removeth mountains and shakes the earth who commands the Sunne who spreads out the heavens and disposeth of the starres in the firmament But the Lord doth all these things he removeth mountains he shakes the earth he commandeth the Sun c. Therefore he is mighty in power and infinite in wisdome The first part of this argument is here implied The assumption or the minor is proved in the 5 6 7 8 and 9. verses by so many instances Here then is an evident demonstration of the power of God from visible things from acts apparent to the eye As if he had said If you have not faith to beleeve that God is infinite in power let your senses teach it you for he removeth mountains and they know it not He overturneth them in his anger c. He removeth mountains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That 's the first instance The word which we translate to remove Senescere quia quae sic inveterascunt forticra robustiora cum tempore solent evadere ideo idem verbum significat roborari 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. signifies to wax old and strong because things as they grow in age grow in strength There is a declining age and an encreasing age Things very old impair and things growing older encrease in strength we have the word in that sense Job 21.2 Wherefore doe the wicked become old yea they are mighty in power he putteth these two together growing old and mighty in power The Septuagint render Who maketh the mountains wax old because that which waxeth old is ready to vanish away Heb. 8.13 or to be removed and taken away as the Ceremoniall Law was of which the Apostle speaks in that place And because growing old implies a kinde of motion therefore the word also signifies motion even locall motion a moving from or out of a place Gen. 12.4 Abraham departed he removed from the place where he was This locall motion is either naturall or violent of this later understand the Text Which removeth the mountains The mountains There are naturall mountains and metaphoricall or figurative mountains it is an act of the mighty power of God to remove either Some understand this of metaphoricall or figurative mountains and so mountains are great men men of eminency or of preeminency the Kings and Princes of the world Chaldeus per montes intelligit reges qui loco movet reges fortes ut montâ—s Targ. The Chaldee is expresse for this sense He removeth Kings who are as strong and high as mountains For as God hath ordered the superficies of the earth and made some parts of it plain others mountainous some valleys and some hils So he hath disposed of men some men stand as upon levell ground men of an ordinary condition others are as the low vallies men of a poor condition others are as the high mountains over-topping and over-looking the rest The word is used in this metaphoricall sense Isa 41.15 I will make thee saith the Lord to the Prophet a new threshing instrument having teeth And what shall this new threshing iestrument do Thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat them small and shalt make the hils as chaff Here is a Prophet sent with a flail or a threshing instrument and his businesse is to thresh the mountains and to beat the hils the meaning is thou shalt destroy the great ones of the world the hils the mountains those that thinke themselves impregnable or inaccessible But how could the Prophet thresh these mountains and what was his flail Gideon Judg. 8.7 threatens the men of Succoth that he will tear or thresh their flesh with the thorns of the wildernesse and with briars And Damascus is threatned because they threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron Am. 1.3 That is they put them to extreamest tortures Our Prophet could not thus torture men His threshing instrument having iron teeth was only his tongue the instrument of speech With this he beat those proud mountains to dust that is he declared they should be beaten and destroied Of such a mountain the Lord by his Prophet speaks Jer. 51.25 Behold I am against thee O destroying mountain saith the Lord which destroiest all the earth Behold I will stretch out mine hand upon thee and will roll thâ—e down from the rocks and make thee a burnt mountain This mountain was the proud State of Babylon which was opposite to the Church of God this devouring mountain shall at last be a devoured mountain devoured by fire therefore he cals it a burnt mountain Thus Zech. 4.7 Who art thou O great mountain before Zerubbabel thou
pro divinis operibus humarum captum excedeÌ„ tibus non pro forensi judiciali actu Olymp. These are called the judgements of God Rom. 11.33 How unsearchable are his judgements and his waies past finding out that is the severall acts which he passes upon men his providences outward dispensations for he speaks of casting off of the Jews and laying them aside for so long a time which is one of the greatest if not the greatest judgment which God ever burdened his own Covenant people with These saith he are past finding out And then If I come to speak of judgement is If I speak with God about his judgements shewed in those terrible providentiall acts upon others or upon my self and cite him to answer for what he hath done towards me or them Who is able to plead Who will undertake this cause against the Lord Who shall set me a time to plead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In suo Kal condicere convenâ—re tempus constituere propriè significat In Hâ—phil sicut hiâ— convenire facere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Conventus statis horis lo cis aggregari solituâ— Caetus Collegium Ecclesia Congregatio It is but one word which we translate To set a time to plead but the sense is very large and various it signifies to appoint constitute or prescribe either time place or persons any or all the circumstantials of action It is here translated by divers in reference to the time and by some in reference to the place And because the people of God are to meet at appointed times and places for solemn and publike worship therefore this word signifies the Church or the Congregation which is alwaies to meet by publike appointment at such a time or in such a place lest there should be scatterings and confusions amongst those who should be most unanimous and harmonious It is taken also for any meeting Psal 48 4. Loâ— the Kings were assembled or gathered together And Amos 3.3 Can two walk together except they be agreed That is except they be friends They who have not one heart seldom have one way Or except they be agreed that is upon time and place two men cannot converse or have any businesse one with another unlesse they consent and appoint where and when if one be for this time and place and the other for that they can never walk together It is put for a set time 2 Sam. 24.15 the Lord having sent the pestilence upon Jerusalem for the sinne of David in numbering the people it is said the pestilence destroied from the morning even to the time appointed the Lord had set the pestilence a time it wrought to that time and no longer Further The word is applied to any Covenant pact Ohel-Mogred Tabernaâ—ulum testimonij i. e. publicae fidei in Deuâ— homines contestatae c. Pined or mutuall agreement Hence the Tabernacle is indifferently called The Tabernacle of the testimony or The Tabernacle of the Congregation because there God confirmed and setled his Covenant and made an agreement with his people and his people resorted to the Tabernacle to have the articles of that Covenant made good to them by his own appointment Hence I say it was called The Tabernacle of witnesse The Tabernacle of the Testament or The Tabernacle of the Covenant Upon this ground also all the solemn feasts of the Jews were exprest by this generall word they being all observed at set times and places And for this reason the word is used for the grave So in the 30th of this book of Job ver 23. which we translate thus The house appointed for all living Beth. Mogned there is a time when and a place appointed where all that live shall be laid down when they die or where their bodies shall be housed after they are dissolved therefore it is called The house of appointment the house which the Lord hath setled both for time and place where it shall be made and when we shall be carried to it No man goes to his grave by accident The Lord hath appointed man his place and bounded his habitation when he is dead as well as while he lived Again For a clearer understanding of this it may have an allusion to that course which is observed in Courts of Justice where when either Plaintiff or defendant wants counsell to plead for him the Court assigns counsell and it is observed by the learned Praetor dicere solebat Si advocatum non habet ego dabâ— that among the Romans the Pretor would say What Is there none to plead for him I will appoint one to take his cause into consideration and to plead for him It is ordinary with our Judges to appoint counsell as also time and place when and where to hear causes The words may have an allusion to this course of Judges If I come to judgement who will assign me counsell Where shall I get any one to plead this cause and to stand up for me against the Lord Nemo audet pro me testimonium dicere Vulg. There is yet another understanding of the word as having reference to the testimony or witnesse which is brought in So the Vulgar reads it No man will be so bold as to give in evidence for me or be a witnesse on my behalf Take all these senses If I come to judgement who c. I shall get none to give in evidence for me none to plead for me I shall get none to assign counsell for me none to appoint time and place for a hearing Therefore I may as well contend with God by strength as by judgement The summe of all is Job confesses in case he had a minde to goe this way he should not finde any in the world to assist or help him in it We have had divers passages of like nature with this wherein Job declared his utter inability to plead with God therefore I shall but briefly note one thing from it There is no standing before God in judgement by the help of any creature Who shall set me a time to plead Or Who shall be my pleader One man cannot doe it for another all the Angels in heaven are not able to doe it for any man If man enter into judgement with God men and angels cannot help him As the Apostle speaks in another case about the want of love If I speak with the tongue of men and Angels and have not charity it profits me nothing So if we should speak for our selves or others for us with the tongues of men that is with the tongues of the most excellent Oratours or pleaders yea with the tongues of angels with tongues that exceed all that men can speak yet in judgement with God these will be but sounding brasse and tinkling Cymbals Job goes yet a step further If I should undertake to manage my cause my self some clients will desire their counsell to stand by and they will argue their
ad percutiendum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye go out with a message of peace in your â—â—uths let there not be so much as an instrument of contention in your hands But in Mark he useth the word Misnan which signifies a staff to lean upon Take a staff to rest or ease your selves upon or to help your selves on in your travell Virga vel baculus ad sust entandum A walking staff but not a striking staff Thus they reconcile the difference But though this interpretation be good yet this ground of it appears not either in the Syriack which in both texts hath the word Shebet or in the Greek which expresses both by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So then we must rather say that the same word signifies a staff for both uses and that when Christ forbids his Disciples a staff he means a staff to strike with Preachers must be no strikers according to the Apostles rule in Timothy and that when he bids them take a staff he means a walking staff Iunerant Preachers might be wearied with travelling as well as with speaking But to the Text. The rod which Job desires might be removed Nihil aliud postulat Iob quam ut Deus vel mittigaret vel penitus auferret ab eo flagella sc morbos dolores Non aâ—at pro jure sed gratiae moderationi faciat locum Coc. is That sore affliction which the soveraign power of God laid upon him and exercised him with As if he had said Lord thou dealest with me upon the height of thy prerogative and I acknowledge thou maiest do so But my humble sute and prayer is that thou wouldest afflict me lesse then thou hast though thou hast not afflicted me more then thou maiest Thou hast not injured me at all but ô that thou wouldest relieve me He speaks to this sense with a little variety of words Chap. 13.20 21. Onely doe not two things unto me then will I not hide my self from thee with-draw thine hand from me and let not thy dread make me afraid And in a language not unlike this he describes the peace and prosperity of wicked men Chap. 21.9 Their houses are safe from fear neither is the rod of God upon them We finde also that Elihu who undertook Job and debated the matter with him when these three had no more to say or would say no more He I say perceiving what it was which Job had complained of as an impediment of speaking unto God promises that himfelf would give him no such impediment or cause of complaint Chap. 33.7 Behold my terrour shall not make thee afraid neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee As if he had said The Lords hand hath been heavy upon thee and his terrour hath made thee afraid but take my word I will deal gently and mildly with thee My terrour shall not make thee afraid neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee So that Jobs desire is only this That he might have ease or release from â—is present sorrows And 't is not improbably conceived that he alludes to the custom of the Judges in those Eastern Countries who laid a rod upon some offenders in token of condemation and took it off from others in token of absolution of grace and favour Take thy rod away from me Affliction is called a rod in a three-fold consideration 1. Because of the smart of it Afflictions are grievous and painfull to flesh and bloud They grieve and pain the outward man while the inward man takes pleasure in them I saith Paul take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in persecutions in necessities in distresses for Christs sake 2 Cor. 12.10 that is my spirit doth for no affliction not that for Christs sake is joyous for the present but grievous to the flesh For as the Spirit would not doe those evils of sin which the flesh would and doth The evil which I would not that I doe was Pauls cry Rom. 7.19 So the flesh would not endure those evils of sorrow which the Spirit would and doth And as a believer delights in the Law of God after the inward man when corruption is vext and troubled at it so a believer delights in the rod of God after the inward man when corruption is most impatient and unquiet under it Hence the Apostles counsell to the dispersed Jews Rejoyce when ye fall into divers temptations Jam. 1. that is into divers afflictions the flesh hath it's sense and feels smart but the Spirit is armed with faith which overcomes the smart Affliction were not so much as a rod if it did not make us smart and we are not so much as Christians if we cannot bear the smart with patience or overcome it with faith 2. Affliction is called a Rod in regard of the hand that useth it A sword is in the hand of a Judge and a Rod in the hand of a father God deals with his people as a father with his children in afflicting them When we most provoke his fatherly displeasure against us he doth not wish as Balaam when his Asse offended him that there were a sword in his hand to slay us he only takes up a rod to scourge us Hence 3. Affliction is called a rod in regard of the end for which it is sent A rod is not prepared to kill nor is it an instrument of cruelty A rod is not for destruction but for correction There are indeed destroying rods which God will destroy and save his people who are destroied by them I will destroy the rod of the oppressour Isa 9.4 Nebuchadnezzar the rod of Gods anger was a destroying rod yet they among the Jews who feared God were only corrected while they were destroied The Lord means no hurt to those who are good when he makes them smart and die under the rod of those who are evil If ever any man might think he had a sword in his bowels rather then a rod upon his back Job might yet even he cals it a rod while he cals to God for the removing of it Remove thy rod away from me And seeing he cals to have it removed we may observe That it is lawfull for to pray against affliction We may pray to be eased of that which we must be patient under To be discontented with affliction is sinfull buâ— it is no sinne it is a duty to desire the taking of it away For 1. We may pray for the preventing of afflictions therefore we may pray for the removing of afflictions we may pray Lord keep thy rod off from us therefore we may pray Lord take thy rod off from us 2. Afflictions themselves are evil There is no good in them nor can they doe us any good of themselves The good commeth from a superiour work from those admirable influences and concurrences of God upon and with corrections The rod is an evil in it self and will make us worse unlesse the Lord make it a blessing to us Some are
great affliction and now a little comfort would go a great way with him When the people of Israel were in bondage under Pharaoh and his task-masters and had heavier burdens laid upon them they do not so much as move for a totall release from their task but modestly complain There is no straw given unto thy servants and they say to us Make brick As if they had said Let us have straw and we are willing to make brick A poor man cries out for a half-peny for a farthing not for hundreds or thousands He that is ready to starve will not ask good chear or a plentifull feast but let me have a crust of bread or a little water When Dives was in hell what did he desire of Abraham Did he beg to come into his bosome Doth he say Lazarus is in a good place let me come too No he desired but a drop of water and what was a drop of water to flames of fire O how would it delight the damned in hell to think of a cessation but for one hour from their pain What a joy would it be unto them if it should be told them that a thousand or ten thousand years hence they should have one good day or that they might be let alone to take comfort a little They who are low make low demands Think of this ye that enjoy much comfort and swim in rivers of pleasure Let not the great consolations of God be small to you when you hear Job thus instant and importunate for the smallest Let me alone that I may take comfort a little But why is he in such haste for a little comfort One ground is in the former words My daies are few and he backs it with a second in the next If it come not quickly it will come too late I am ready to take my last journey Therefore let me take a little comfort Verse 21. Before I go whence I shall not return even to the land of darknesse and the shadow of death Before I go That is before I die Death is a going out of the world Periphrasis moriendi qui m ritur dicitur abire unde abitionem pro morte veteres usurparunt Drus Christ intimates his death under this notion Joh. 16.7 If I goe the Comforter will come And I go from you c. Dying is a journeying from one region to another Death is a changing of our place though not of our company Before I go Whether Whence I shall not return That 's a strange journey indeed That which pleaseth us in our longest journeys while we live is a hope of returning to our own homes again But when we die we take a journey from whence there is no returning Not return Shall not man return when he dieth Is death an everlasting departure an eternall night No Man shall return but he shall not return to such a life or state as he had before Fidem resurrectionis non laedit Pin. He is gone for ever out of this world and out of all worldly interests Job believed a resurrection or a returning from the grave by the power of God and he knew there was no returning by the power of nature or by the help of any creature In that reference we go whence we shall not return So David speaks of his dead Infant I shall go to him but he shall not return to me Indicat nullam esse vim in natura cui pareat mors cui receptacula animarum obediaÌ„t reddereque cogaÌ„tur quem semel receperunt Pin. 2 Sam. 12.25 When once we are shut up in those chambers of death and made prisoners in the grave though all the Princes in the world send warrants for our release we cannot get released The pertinacy and stiffnesse of the grave is such as yeelds to none We are fast shut up when we are shut up there Love and the grave will hardly part with that which they have closed with and are possessed of The grave is one of those three things which are never satisfied or say it is enough Prov. 30.15 And as it is unsatiable in receiving so it is as close in keeping it will part with nothing A grave is the Parable of a covetous man he is greedy to get and watchfull to hold when his money goes into his purse he saith it shall not return The grave hath a strong appetite to take down and as strong a stomack to digest Till God as I may so speak by his mighty power gives the grave a vomit and makes the earth stomack-sick with eating mans flesh Veteres Romani dicere solebant abâ—it reversurus est resurrectionem carnis haud obscurè innuentes Ter. Salve aeternum mihi maxime Palla Aeternumque vale Virg. Aenead it will not return one morsel At the resurrection this great Eater shall cast up all again And as they who take strong vomits are put into a kinde of trembling convulsion all the powers of the body being shaken such will the prognosticks be of the resurrection there was an earth-quake when Christ arose God made the earth shake and commanded it to give back the prisoner because it was not possible that he should be holden of it And when God speaks the word it will not be possible for the grave to hold us prisoners till then it will It was usuall among the Ancients to say of a dead friend He is gone and he will come again intimating a resurrection Heathens not knowing nor believing it call earth Valeant qui inter nos dissidiuÌ„ volunt Terent. An eternall leave-taking or farewell never to meet again Observe from this description of the grave That the statutes of death are unrepealable Death is an everlasting banishment from the world I shall goâ— whence I shall not return This may lie very sad upon their spirits Animula vagula blandula c. quae nunc abibis in loca Aâ—r. who have not a better place then the world to go to when they go from the world To go whence we shall never return and yet where we cannot endure to be a moment is deepest misery Such a man cannot chuse but set out with a sad heart And that 's the reason why wicked men whose consciences are awakened go so unwillingly to this sleep they know whither they are going only they know they cannot return Make ye friends 't is Christs counsel of the Mammon of unrighteousnesse that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations Luk. 10.9 Mammon of unrighteousnesse that is say most Interpreters Mammon gotten unrighteously but surely Christ would not teach any to make men our friends by that which makes God our enemy Quod est falsum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ab Hellenistis usu HebraeoruÌ„ dicitur Hens exercit Sacr. They translate better who render it Make ye friends of the false or unfaithfull Mammon that is of that Mammon which will deceive and leave you shortly