be seasonable if not when we see them dying and going to the grave yet some when they visit sick friends will not speak a word of either they fear it may hasten death to hear of it that speaking of the grave may put them into it then which I know no fear more foolish or more to be feared Yea some will forbid visiters to mention death when their Relations lye sick O doe not speak of death to my Husband saith the Wife c. But remember it if the sick are drawing near to the grave they that visit them should remember them of the grave both in prayer and in conference to speak of death cannot hurt the body but the not speaking of it may hurt the soul and hinder it from getting out of the snares both of spirituall and eternall death Yet godly prudence and great caution is to be used about it none should doe it bluntly nor suddenly but having by discreet insinuations first hinted to the sick man his danger of death we should then by faithfull counsells prepare him for it and by comfortable Scripture cordialls strengthen and arme his spirits against it Such savoury and well mannaged discourses of death may through the blessing of God be a savour of eternall life to the sick man and will not in the least prejudice his recovery from sickness when his soul draweth near to the grave Aâ—d his life to the destroyers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mortificantibus Mont The Hebrew is to those that kill or to lâ—fe destroyers There is a difference among Interpreters who are here intended by these Destroyers to whom the sick mans life draweth near or who are these life destroyers First some thus his life to the destroyers that is to his enemies that are ready to destroy him But that 's improper to the text which speaking of sickness cannot intend any destroying enemy but the last enemy which is to be destroyed death or the antecedents and usuall attendants of it sicknesses Ad Angelos morti praefectos non incommodè resertur sequentis versiculi ratione habita ubi Angeli vitam annunciantis unius de mille mentionem facit ut 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intelligas mortis â—umcios Merc Secondly by the destroyers others understand Angells who are commission'd and sent of God to cut the thread of life and to take mortalls out of this world by mortall diseases and so the destroying Angell in this verse stands in opposition to that comforting Angell spoken of in the next verse if there be a messenger or an Angell c. That Angells have such a Ministry is clear 2 Sam. 24.16 Where David having chosen to fall into the hands of God an Angell is presently dispatcht to doe execution upon his people And when the Angell stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it the Lord repented him of the evill and said to the Angell that destroyed the people it is enough stay now thine hand c. That destroyer so he is called Exod. 12.23 who slew all the first borne of the Egyptians Gods last and greatest plague upon them his tenth plague is by most interpreted to be an Angell yea by some a good Angell because appointed and directed by God to spare his people the Jewes and to poure out his vengeance upon the Egyptians his and their enemies For most usually the wicked are plagued by good Angells and the good as Job in this book was are afflicted by evill Angells Howbeit that text say some Psal 78.49 leadeth us rather to beleeve that it was an evill Angell He cast upon them meaning the Egyptians the fiercenesse of his anger wrath indignation and trouble by sending evill Angells among them Yet possibly those Angells which destroyed the Egyptians are called evill Angells not because they were so in their nature but because they were Ministers of evill to that hard-hearted people Which way soever we take it there is a truth in it applicable to the Scripture here in hand And so some expound that of Solomon Prov. 17.11 An evill man seeketh only rebellion therefore a cruell Messenger shall be sent against him The text may be rendred a cruell Angell that is an Angell with a Message of wrath and destruction shall be sent unto him The Apostle 1 Cor. 10.10 speaking of those dreadfull judgments which God sent upon his people the Jewes in the Wildernesse such as we are like to find in these Gospell times if we provoke him for all those things are said to have happened unto them for Types or examples vers 11. And there he gives us warning neither murmure ye as some of them also murmured and were destroyed of the destroyer That is by the Pestilence or Plague as 't is expressed Numb 14.12 37. which the Apostle Paul calleth a destroyer because doubtless it was executed by some invisible destroyer or Angell The Devill whom John in the Revelation Chap. 9.11 calleth the Angell of the bottomlesse pit is there also set forth by this Title whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon The Devill is the Apollyon the Abaddon both which signifie a destroyer yea the Devill Heb. 2.14 is said to have the power of death as if he were set over that sad work and Lorded it over dying men yet let us know to our comfort the Devill hath not the power of death as a Lord or Judge but only as an Executioner thus the sick mans life may be said to draw nigh to the destroyer that is to the destroying Angell or to the messenger of death Thirdly we may take the destroyers not for persons sent to destroy but for diseases and sicknesses these are destroyers And thus it may be said of a sick man his life draweth nigh to the destroyers that is he is in the hand or under the power of such diseases as probably will destroy him That seems to be Mr. Broughtons understanding of the words Praestat generale est et ad omnia mortis signa et mortifera quicquid illud sit referre Merc who renders his soul draweth nigh to the grave and his life to killing maladies Whatsoever is a death-bringer whatever is deadly or mortall to man may be comprehended under this expression The Destroyers And so these words His life draweth nigh to the destroyer may signifie only thus much he is deadly or as we commonly expresse it mortally sick There 's no hopes of him he is past recovery the Physitians have given him over Heman Psal 88.3 4 5. speaks to this sence and near in this language of himself My soul is full of troubles my life draweth nigh unto the grave I am counted with them that goe down into the pit I am as a man that hath no strength Free among the dead like the slaine that lye in the grave whom thou remembrest no more Heman was alive yet with respect either to the anguish of his soul
helples as is imaginable yet the Lord is able to save them he wil do it in the fittest season As this is true in reference to Princes and Nations in their publique capacity so private Christians may take up the comfort of it What though great distress and affliction be nigh and no hand to save you yet the Lord can save without hand if you are low he can raise you though none lend a hand to raise you if poor he can enrich you if weak he can strengthen you though you have no means for either It is an everlasting spring of comfort that the Lord can do all things without hand that he needs not be beholding to the creature nor stands in need of their help to effect either threatned judgments against Babylon or his promised mercies unto Sion Thus we have seen Elihu describing the righteous though severe dealings of God both with people and Princes who despise his counsels and provoke his wrath The reason why they fall under his wrath is further discovered in the next words JOB Chap. 34. Vers 21 22. For his eyes are upon the wayes of man and he seeth all his goings There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves IN the former verse Elihu reported the judgement of God both upon the people and upon the Princes of the earth In a moment shall they die c. In these two verses he gives us a proof that the Lord is righteous in judgement both upon Princes and people or he assignes the ground of it That the words are a reason of the former the Causal Particle in the beginning of the 21th verse puts it out of question Vers 21. For his eyes are upon the wayes of men As if he had said God doth not these things he troubles not Nations and Nobles People or Princes by an absolute and soveraigne power or because he will but he finds just cause to do it What men do is enough to justifie God in what they suffer He hath alwayes power enough in his hand to destroy all men and to turn this world back into its first nothing but he never useth his power nor puts it forth without cause For his eyes are upon the wayes of man c. God is a Spirit the simplicity of his Essence is his first and highest perfection he is purely incorporeal yet as the passions of man's minde so the members of his body are often in Scripture attributed unto God we read of the face of God of the hand of God of the ear of God and as in many other places so in this of the eyes of God Now as the ear of God notes only his power of hearing and the hand of God his power of working so the eye or eyes of God note only his power of seeing knowing and discerning the wayes of men And when Elihu saith his eyes are upon the wayes of man his meaning is only this he clearly discerns and understands the wayes of man These words his eyes are upon the wayes of man intimate First A present act he doth not say they were or they will be upon the wayes of man but they are Secondly They imply as a present so a continued act his eyes are so upon the wayes of man that they are never off them The eyes of God dwell as it were upon the wayes of man His eyes are said indeed to run to and fro through the whole earth 2 Chron. 16.8 yet they do not wander from one object to another but are fixed and setled upon every one Thirdly they imply an intentive act or the seriâ—usness of the heart of God upon the wayes of man We may behold a thing and yet take no great notice of it but when our eyes are said to be upon any thing this imports they are busied much upon it Fourthly This manner of speaking signifieth not only a clear sight but that which is operative carrying with it a most exact scrutiny or disquisition of the wayes of men according to that expression of the Psalmist Psal 11.4 His eyes behold his eye-lids try the children of men God doth not only behold but his eye-lids try the wayes of men that is he so looks upon them that he looks through them and discerneth what they are to the utmost God doth not only behold the body and bulk of our actions but the soul and spirit of them and while he seeth them he seeth into them All this and much more then we can apprehend is comprehended in those words His eyes are upon The wayes of man The word is plural not way but wayes which shews the extensiveness of the sight or knowledge of God The word being put indefinitely is to be taken universally His eyes are not confined to this or that object to this or that place to this or that person but his eyes look over all His eyes are upon the wayes of man Yet further the wayes of man may be distinguished First As they are either internal or external The internal wayes of man are the wayes of his heart as the Prophet hath it Isa 57.17 He went on frowardly in the way of his heart And these wayes of the heart our inward wayes are first our thoughts what we imagine and conceive secondly our affections what we love and what we hate what we rejoyce in and what we mourn for declare the way of our hearts Thirdly The wayes of the heart are a man's purposes resolutions and intentions what to do Fourthly The wayes of the heart are man's designes or his aims what he drives at or proposeth as his end in all that he doth In this latitude we are to understand the present Text when Elihu saith the eyes of God are upon the wayes of man remember they are upon his thoughts upon his affections upon his purposes upon his designes and aimes all these are before the Lord as it is said of Christ Johâ— 2.25 He needed not that any should testifie of man for he knew what was in man that is both the state of his heart and all the movings of it And if the Lord's eyes be upon the internal wayes of man then certainly they are upon the external wayes of man if he knoweth what work the heart is at or about certainly he knoweth what the hand is at or about He that knoweth which way the minde goeth cannot but know which way the foot goeth His eyes are upon the external wayes of man but 't is his chief glory that his eyes are upon the internal wayes of man Gen. 6.5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth He saw man's actions or outward wayes were very wicked but besides that saith the Text He saw that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually He saw the wayes within what was formed up or as the word there notes what creatures were made and fashioned in the minde of
purpose Lastly consider God withdraweth man from his sinfull purpose all or any of these wayes by putting forth his mighty power with them For his word alone his works alone his patience alone the counsell of man alone would not doe it if God did not stretch forth his own arme in and with these meanes for the doing of it Nothing is any further efficacious then as God is with it Numb 22. Balaam was going on in his wicked purpose being sent for by Balak to curse the people of God And though the Lord sent his Angell to be an adversary to him in his way vers 22. so that his Asse turned out of the way into the field yet Balaam went on in his purpose yea though the Angell standing between two walls caused his Asse to turne so suddenly that she crusht Balaams foot against the wall vers 25. yet Balaam went on in his purpose Once more though the Angell went further and stood in a narrow way where there was no way to turne to the right hand nor to the left so that the poor Asse fell down under him v. 27. and speaking as the Apostle Peter expresseth it 2 Epist 2. with mans voyce rebuked the madnesse of the Prophet Yet so mad he was that all these checks and warnings could not withdraw him from his purpose And what the Lord did at that time to Balaam by an Angell that he doth by some other means and providences to stop many from their evill purposes who yet will not be stopt He speaks to them in the ministry of his word he speaks to them in his works he spreads their way with roses he hedgeth up their way with thorns he bestoweth sweet mercies upon them he sends sharp afflictions upon them to withdraw them from their evill projects and purposes yet on they goe like Balaam unlesse he send more then an Angell even his holy Spirit to withdraw them Lastly Elihu reports it as a speciall favour of God to withdraw man from his purpose Whence note It is a great mercy to be hinder'd in sinfull purposes and intendments Disappointments are acts of grace when we are acting against grace If God stop us from doing evill not onely by his word but by blowes or by a hedge of thorns yea if he stop us by a drawn sword it is a great mercy Though God throw us to the ground as he did Saul afterwards Paul when he went with a bloody purpose to vex and persecute the Saints Acts 9. let us count our selves exalted and rejoyce in it more then in any worldly exaltation 'T is a rich mercy to be kept from executing an evill purpose though by our owne poverty and outward misery The doing of that which is sinfull is worse then any thing that can be done to us or endured by us as a stop against sin Sin hath death in it sin hath wrath in it sin hath hell in it sin hath Devill and all in it therefore to be kept from sin let it be by what means it will if by paines and pining sicknesses if by reproaches and disgraces yea if by death we have cause to blesse God The greatest and sorest Judgement which God powres upon sinfull men is to let them alone in or not to withdraw them from their sins To be suffered to goe on and prosper in sin is the worst of sufferings the last of Judgements the next Judgement to hell it selfe and an infallible signe of an heire of hell Thus the wrath of God waxed hot against Israel when he gave them up to their owne hearts lusts and they walked in their owne Councel Psal 81.11 This was the highest revenge that God could take upon that sinfull people He sayd a little before Israel would none of me when God wooed them they were so coy they would have none of him and then said he goe on take your fill of sin I give you up to your owne hearts lusts The Lord did not say I gave them up to the sword to the famine or to the pestilence but to their owne hearts lusts and to walke on in their own way That person or people may be sure God hath purposed evill against them whom he will not withdraw from their evill purposes The severity of the wrath of God against the Gentiles is exprest and summ'd up in this Rom 1.26 28. He gave them up to vile affections he gave them up to a reprobate mind to doe things which were not convenient A naturall man left to himselfe will soone doe such things as nature it selfe abhorreth and blusheth at The same dreadfull doome is denounced Rev 22.11 He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he that is filthy let him be filthy still I will not withdraw him from his way let him goe on and perish let him goe on and sink downe to the pit of perdition for ever As St. John in the Revelation foretelling the Church given up or left to not in great sufferings of all sorts Here is the patience of the Saints So when we see the world given up and left in great sinnings of any sort especially if to sinnings of all sorts we may truely and sadly say Here is the wrath of God 'T is therefore a great mercy if God will any way withdraw man from his sinfull wayes and purposes especially when he taketh such gentle wayes as dreams and visions counsels and instructions to withdraw man from his purpose and as it followeth in this verse to hide pride from man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 texit operuit imponendo aliquid quo tegas The word which we render to hide is to hide by casting a covering a vayle a garment or any other thing over what we desire should be hid Prov 12.23 A prudent man concealeth knowledge it is this word he doth not pretend to know so much as he knoweth he puts a vayle upon his own abilities as Moses upon his face when there was such a shining beauty imprinted there rather then reveales them unnecessarily or uncalled 'T is the foolish man or he that hath but a shew of wisdome who loves and affects to be shewing it But to the text The word is used also to note that gracious act of God his pardoning the sin of man Psal 32.1 Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven and whose sin is covered God covers our sins in the riches of his grace by the perfect righteousnesse of Jesus Christ Now there are two wayes by which God hideth pride from man First by pardoning it Secondly preventing it Here to hide pride from man properly is not to pardon it when acted but to prevent or keep man from the acting of it God indeed hides the pride of man by pardoning it and that 's a high act of grace and he hideth pride from man by keeping man from doing proudly or from shewing his pride in his doings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 superbia excellentia The word rendred pride
commune with thee There was a gracious manifestation of the presence of God above the Mercy-seat because that typified Jesus Christ the true Propitiatory or ransome covering and hiding out of the sight of God for ever all our defections iniquities and transgressions And hence the same word which signifies expiation or redemption signifieth also the procuring cause of our Redemption here called as also in the New Testament A Ransome I have found a Ransome A ransome is properly a price demanded for release out of bondage And when the Captive is released the price is paid To be redeemed and to be ransomed is the same thing Isa 35.9 10. The redeemed shall passe there and the ransomed of the Lord shall returne and come to Sion and everlasting joy upon their heads they shall obtaine joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away Graeci dicunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod non est aliud quam sanguis Christi in quem et vetores crediderunt Merc Thus here Deliver him saith the Lord from going downe to the pit I am satisfied I have found a price a ransome Both Law and Gospel meet in this here is the Law by which the man being humbled confesseth his own sin and the wrath of God due to it Here is also the Gospel by which he hath been taught to beleeve that his sins are pardoned and the wrath of God turned away from him for the ransome which Christ hath paid So then 't is not as popish Expositers tell us I have found a ransome that is I have found the mans good workes I have found his repentance I have found his tears his prayers his almes I now see that in him for which I may be propicious to him and deliver him from the sickness under which he is detained Apparet in homine aliquid aequitatis ex quo ei misererâ— possum quam quaerebam Aquin thus they generally make somewhat in man or done by man his ransome at least to have a share in it The heart as was shewed before is prepared for deliverance by the workings of faith and repentance But the ransome upon which deliverance is given is nothing at all wrought in us or by us Woe to us notwithstanding our prayers and repentance our reformations and humiliations To put these in place of a ransome or to hope for deliverance from the pit upon their account is to pervert the whole Gospel Others give a better sence yet not clear enough thus He hath humbled himself and I am as well satisfied as if I had received a ransome but I lay that by also For when God saith I have found a ransome we are to understand it of a reall ransome of full pay or satisfaction not of a ransome by favour and acceptation This satisfaction to the justice of God is only and wholly made by Jesus Christ without any the least contribution from man The perfect ransome which the Lord finds is the blood of his own Son which is called the blood of the Covenant because thereby the Covenant is confirmed and all Covenant mercies assured to us Upon this price or ransome God restores the sick sinner and pardons him he heales both his body and his soul And that Job had knowledge of this ransome as the only meanes of deliverance appeares Chap. 17.3.19.25 Deliver him for I have found a ransome Hence Observe First The redemption or deliverance of man by a ransome is the invention of God and the invention of God only If all men on earth yea if all the Angells in Heaven had sat from the foundation of the world to this day in counsell beating their braines and debating this question How man sinfull man might be delivered out of the hand of the Law or from that condemnatory sentence under which the Law had cast and detained him with satisfaction or without dammage to the Justice and righteousness of God they could never have found it out nor any thing like it This is Gods own invention or if God had said to fallen man I see thou art in a lost pitifull condition but sit down and consider how I may doe thee good and not wrong my selfe how I may relieve thee and not dishonour my selfe I will freely doe it If God I say had given man a blank to write downe what he would have done to bring this about he could never have found it out but must have perished for ever in his sin The thought of a ransome in this way had never entred into the heart either of men or Angells if God himself had not revealed it Therefore the Apostle Peter having spoken of the great diligence of the old Prophets searching into and inquiring about that great mystery the way and means of mans salvation câ—ncludes 1 Epist 1.12 Which things the Angells desire to look into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word there used notes a curious prying into that which hath some veyled or secret rarity in it We may conceive the Apostle in that word alluding to the Cherubims which by Gods command to Moses were made with their eyes looking downe to the Mercy-seat or propitiatory in the Holy of holyes Exod. 25.20 figuring the ransome in the Text yea and expressed by the same Hebrew word The living Angells doe that which those representative Angells seemed to doe they look earnestly at the mystery of our redemption made or ransome given by Jesus Christ There is such an exquisiteness in this invention the deliverance of man by Christ that the Angells desire to look into it even as men desire to see rare inventions And this exceedingly commends the wisdome of God in our redemption that it was a secret to the very glorious Angells They did not know it but as it was made knowne to them nor did God as it seemes make it knowne to them firstly or immediately but it was revealed to them occasionally by the revelation of it first to the Church as the Apostle doth more then intimate Eph. 3.10 To the intent that now unto principalities and powers in heavenly places that is the holy Angells might be known by the Church the manifold wisdome of God As if had it not been for the light given to and spread abroad in the Church the Angells had been in the dark to this day about that matter And doubtless if the Angells did not gather up their knowledge of that mystery by the ministery of the Apostles preaching it to the world in a way of information yet by their contemplation of what was done in the Church of the goodness of God to the Church they saw as in a glasse that manifold wisdome of God which before they saw not or were ignorant of Now if the holy Angells knew not this mystery but as it was revealed much lesse could man We saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 2.6 7 8 9. speake wisdome among them that are perfect yet not the wisdome of this world nor of the
Princes of this world that come to naught But we speak the wisdome of God in a mystery c. which none of the Princes of this World know Ecclesia ex Judaeis paritèr ac gentibus collecta quasi speculum est in qu◠contemplantur Angeli mirì ficam dei sapientiam quam antea nesciebant Cato who use to be the most knowing men in the World for had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory As if he had said surely the Princes of the world would have adored not reproached and crucified Christ had they understood who he was or the worke which he came about And therefore the Apostle calls it not only a mystery but a great mystery and that there is not the least question but 't is a great mystery 1 Tim. 3.16 Without controversie great is the mystery of godlinesse God manifest in the flesh this great mystery which from the beginning of the World hath been hid in God Eph. 3.9 that is in the counsell and decree of God hath been also some way or other revealed by God almost as soon as the world began It was revealed to Adam by the promise of the womans seed and to Abraham by promise that in his Seed all the Nations of the earth should be blessed It was revealed to the Church of the Jewes in Ceremonies and Prophesies and it hath been revealed to the Church both of Jewes and Gentiles by the Spirit in the preaching of the word ever since Christ paid this ransome to this day and it had been hidden to this day if the Lord had not revealed it 't is therefore the Lords invention Let me add this by way of inference We honour men that bring forth any rare invention And if it be an invention which also produceth profit and advantage to mankind how are the Authors of it admired and their names recorded All the inventions of the most refined wits in the world are dull pieces to this invention the redemption of man by Christ And as there is the stamp of an infinite unchangeable wisdome upon it so the profit which comes in by it to mankind is infinite and inestimable How then should we honour God both for bringing this wonderfull invention to light and giving us the benefit of it freely It had been great mercy if God had delivered us upon our finding out and proposall of a way to him but he hath not only delivered us but found out a way himself and plotted how we might be delivered What a glorious mercy is this When Darius saw how Daniel was insnared by his act or decree he was extreamly troubled and saith the Text Dan. 6.14 he was sore displeased with himselfe and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him and he laboured beating his braines and studying till the going down of the Sun to deliver him yet could not but cast he was to the hungry Lions only he told him vers 16. Thy God whom thou servest continually he will deliver thee Darius could not find a ransome any meanes of deliverance for his servant and great Favourite Daniel But when we had brought ourselves into a snare and must have been cast to the Lions for ever to be torne by them the Lord brought forth this rare invention a ransome whereby we poor sinners are delivered out of the mouth of the roaring Lion who goeth about continually to devoure us Secondly Inasmuch as deliverance is got by ransome Observe Our deliverance is costly Soules are precious they are dear ware Blood and that the blood of Christ is their ransome Math. 20.28 Rom. 3.2.5 Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 Heb. 9.12 Rev. 5.9 in comparison of which all the treasures of this world are trash our Gold and Silver corruptible and our very righteousness a corrupt thing Deliverances are obtained three wayes First By power or plaine force thus Abraham delivered his Nephew Lot when he was carryed captive Gen. 14.14 He armed his trained servants born in his house three hundred and eighteen and rescued him I may say the Lord Jesus hath delivered us thus even by force and power he hath beaten all our enemies and having broken and spoyled principallities and powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it his Crosse spoken of in the former verse or in himselfe that is in his own personall power not by any aide or forreigne assistance received from men or Angells Secondly Deliverance is obtained by price or payment When our friends or country-men are taken Captives by Turkes or others we cannot send an Army to rescue them but usually we doe it by ransome we buy them againe out of the enemies hand or out of bondage Jesus Christ hath delivered us not only by power but by price it was not as hath been already shewed by gold or silver but by his own most precious blood 1 Pet. 1.18 Jesus Christ hath delivered us out of the soul destroying hand of Satan by force but he delivers us out of the sin-revenging hand of his Father by price Christ owed the Devill nothing nor doe we but blowes but having undertaken our cause he owed his Father as much as our debt and deliverance from it amounted to a vast summe yet he had enough to answer it to the utmost farthing and did and so delivered us There is a third way of deliverance and that is by supplication and intercession which may be considered two wayes First by our own prayers and supplications Secondly by the prayers and supplications of others which prayers of others are properly called intercessions The intercession of a man with man may deliver him from the wrath of a man And the intercession of a man with God hath wrought the temporall deliverance of some both persons and Nations and therefore when the Lord was resolved not to spare his people he forbad the intercession of the Prophet Jer. 14.11 Pray not for this people for their good And he professed Jer. 15.1 Though Moses and Samuel those two mighty Advocates stood before me praying he meanes for them yet my mind could not be towards this people cast them out of my sight In that God would not deliver his people upon their intercession is an argument that he often doth But 't is the intercession of Christ alone which carryeth it with God and that alwayes carryeth it for the Father alwayes heareth him that is granteth his requests for the deliverance of his people both from temporall spirituall and eternall evills This intercession of Christ is the fruit of his blood shed or of the ransome paid down for us For as his blood purchaseth our deliverance so by his intercession it is given in or applyed to us We have the impetration of our pardon by Christs sufferings and the application of it by Christ interceding for us So then we are delivered both by power and price and prayer in severall and distinct respects But the present text speaks of deliverance only by a
remove out of place and power Thus a man is taken away when his authority is taken away Secondly There is a removing or taking of a man out of the world Thus they are taken away whose persons are destroyed cut off and perish The mighty both wayes or either way are often taken away The persons of many mighty men have fallen and many more of them have fallen from their places and powers Here they are under a generall threatning They shall be taken away But how shall they be taken away the text answers without hand It is somewhat strange that they who are mighty and have such power in their hand should be taken away and no hand touch them or without hand We use to say of a thing strangely gone or gone we know not how It cannot be gone without hands yet thus the Lord deales judicially with the mighty of the world They shall be taken away without hand There may be a threefold understanding of that expression First Thus The mighty shall be taken away without hand that is they shall have no hands to help them or they shall be destitute of all humane helpe Sometimes God leaves or strips the mighty naked they who have had great power and many thousands standing up to defend them Frequenter manus pro ministerio sed frequentissime pro opâ— et auxilio ponitur Pin have not a hand for them and so are taken away without hand no man drawing a sword or striking a stroake for them Secondly To doe a thing without hand is to doe it with the smallest appearance of second causes or instruments We are ready to say there must be a great deale of tugging to get the mighty downe who like Oakes are strongly rooted and highly growne who looke like mountaines which cannot be removed yet saith Elihu the Lord can take them away without hand that is easily without any trouble at all little meanes or very improbable meanes being used to effect it So then to doe a thing without hand is to doe it as if we put no hand no stresse to it when we doe it As they who move swiftly or lightly are sayd to goe without setting a foot on the ground Dan 8.5 the He-Goate came and touched not the ground he did rather fly then goe So to doe a thing as if we did not put a hand to it is to doe it with the greatest ease imaginable Absque manu armatorum Aquint Thirdly To doe a thing without hand is to doe it without any visible meanes at all even by the immediate stroake or power of God There is a hand of God in all things that are done in the world but some things are done without any other hand and are therefore most properly sayd to be done without hand Thus the Lord is able to doe the greatest things even to take mighty men from the earth no hand of man appearing or joyning with him in the action Nutu tantum dei Merc Now because God usually sets instruments a worke to effect his will in the world and to bring about his counsels therefore in what work soever he either quite leaves or seemes to leave instruments out that work is sayd to be done without hand The stone which shall grow up to be a great mountaine that is the kingdome of Christ is called a stone cut out without hands Dan 2.34 that is without humane power The kingdome of Christ shall be set up so much by the power of God without any earthly contribution that it shall confessedly be sayd to be set up without hands Though we ought not to neglect the coming and advancement of the kingdome of Christ in the world yet we should not be anxiously carefull about it when we see little or no meanes for it yea though we see great very great meanes set against it because a stone cut out without hands shall doe it The Apostle useth this forme of speaking both as to eternalls and spiritualls Concerning the former he is expresse 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved we have a building of God a house not made with hands eternall in the heavens that is a house of Gods own immediate making a house to the making whereof man hath added nothing The fabrick of this visible world is a house made without hands much more is heaven and the glorious unseene state which Saints shall have hereafter The house above or state of Glory is wholly of Gods making And as our eternall estate is expressed by a house made without hands so our spirituall estate is called by the same Apostle A work done without hands Col 2.11 where having asserted our compleatness in Christ v. 10. he adds In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands The external literal circumcision was made with hands there was an operation of man in it the cutting off the foreskin of the flesh but in the spiritual circumcision man hath no hand it is the work of God alone as also that effectual faith is which alwayes accompanieth it and is therefore called v. 12. the faith of the operation of God There is a temporary faith which we may call a faith of the operation of man but true saving faith is the operation of God and may be sayd as the spirituall circumcision which was signified and shadowed by the corporall to be made without hands Now as the Scripture speakes both of spiritualls and eternalls which are made without hands Indicatur divinum supplicium cujus nulla humana causa assignari aut quod nulla humana vi declinari potest so this text speakes of externalls and providentialls in the same language The mighty shall be taken away without hand that is without any creature-helpe or visible humane hand what ever is done without a visible hand is done by the hand of God Elihu intimates a punishment upon the mighty which as to the effecting of it cannot be assigned to any thing in man much lesse can the effecting of it be hindred by man The hand of God is most visible in doing that which no visible hand hath done or can undoe They shall be taken away without hand Hence note The mightiest have no might against God That cannot be avoyded by any humane power which is done without humane power God slew the first-borne of Egypt and destroyed the Assyrian hoast without hand he did it by his Angel no hand appearing against them The Lord smote Herod and he died without hand Acts 12.23 Immediately that is presently as the Greeke word imports 't is true also immediately that is without humane meanes as our English word also imports the Angel of the Lord smote him and he was eaten of wormes and gave up the Ghost What a poore worme was that mighty man in the hand of God when God slew him without hand and commanded the wormes to eate him Jesus Christ who is also the