treasure I need not stay to tell you The Judgements of God saith David Psal 19.10 are more to be desired then Gold yea then much fine gold And againe Psal 119.72.127 The law of thy mouth is better to me then thousands of Gold and silver And ver 127. when he saw how some made voyd the Law of God he sayth Therefore I love thy commandements above Gold yea above fine Gold As if he had sayd because I see some men esteeme and reckon thy law as if it were drosse and throw it up as voyd and antiquated or taking the boldnes as it were to repeale and make it voyd that they may set up their own lusts and vaine imaginations because I see both prophane and superstitious men thus out of love with thy Law therefore my love is more enflamed to it I love it above gold which leads the most of men away captives in the love of it and I esteeme it more then that which is most esteemed by men and gaines men most esteeme in this world Fine Gold yea as he sayd Psal 19. more then much fine Gold Secondly Observe A high and reverentiall esteeme of the word of God workes the heart and keepes it close to the obedience of the word Job having said before I have kept the commandements of his mouth I have kept his wayes and not declined I have not gone back now comes to the spring of all this constancy in obedience I have esteemed the words of his mouth c. Love is the spring of action and esteeme is the top of love we love nothing which we doe not esteeme and what we love much we thinke we can never esteeme enough And what we thus love and esteeme we strive to keepe close unto They that receive the truth and doe not receive the love of it quickly turne from it to beleive a lye yea God therefore sends them strong delusion to beleive a lye because they received not the love of the truth As not to love the truth is a sin so it is punished with another sin the love of error Though we have taken much truth into our understandings yet unlesse we take it into our affections also we cannot hold it long 'T is love which holds the heart and the word together No man willingly obeyes that Law which he doth not love Before David could say The Law is my meditation all the day he sayth O how I love thy law Ps 119.97 The hypocrite who hates instruction and casts the word of God behinde his backe that is slights and vilifies it to the utmost for so much to cast behinde the backe imports the hypocrite I say who thus casts the word of God behinde his backe will be talking of the word and have it much in his mouth yea he will mouth it so or be so talkative about it that God reproves or checks him for it Psal 50.16 Vnto the wicked saith God What hast thou to doe to declare my statutes or that thou shouldest take my Covenant in thy mouth So then the hypocrite was very busie with his tongue and he could speake much of that which he loved never a whit But was the hypocrite a man of his hands also was he busie in obeying the word which he had cast behinde his back The next words of the Psalme ver 18 19 20 21. tell us what he was busie about even this he was breaking the Law as fast as he could When thou sawest a theife then thou consentest with him and hast been partaker with Adulterers c. The inditement is large and upon many heads yet all true and is therefore closed with These things hast thou done ver 21. I the Lord am witnes and so is thy owne Conscience That Scripture is a cleare glasse wherein we may see how all they will use the Law of God who doe not highly esteeme the words of his mouth We may read Jobs text backward for their character Their feete have not held his steps his way have they not kept but declined they have gone back from the commandement of his lips And why so for they have esteemed the words of his mouth no more then their un-necessary food no more then the scraps that fall from their Table no more then as the Proverb saith their old shoes I have esteemed the word of his mouth more then my necessary food When Job saith I have esteemed the word of his mouth c. It is as if he had sayd this is enough for me that God hath sayd it to make me esteeme it Hence observe Thirdly Whatsoever God saith is to be esteemed for his owne sake or because he hath sayd it As God needs not borrow light from any what to speake so he needs not borrow testimony or Authority from any to ratifie what he hath spoken He is to be beleeved for himselfe His words need no sanction but ipse dixit I the Lord have sayd it or thus saith the Lord that is enough to silence all queryes and disputes both about the truth of what is delivered and the necessity of our obedience to it As the word of Gods mouth is to be obeyed so it is therefore to be obeyed because it is the word of his mouth That he hath sayd it must command our faith As he is the true God so he is the God of truth Every word of his mouth is pretious As what God hath spoken must be the rule of our faith so that he hath spoken it must be the reason of our faith I have esteemed the words of his mouth c. Lastly From both these verses we may take notice of the severall steps by which Jobs piety did arise to so eminent a hight First He strongly tooke hold of the steps of God Secondly He diligently kept his way Thirdly He declined not eyther to the right hand or to the left Fourthly He went not backe from the Holy commandement both which negatives may be resolved into this affirmative He walked very closely and exactly with God in utmost perseverance Fifthly He tooke a delightfull care about all those things which the word of God called him unto even beyond all the care which he tooke for those things which are most conducible to and necessary for the comforts of his body or natural life JOB CHAP. 23. Vers 13. But he is in one minde and who can turne hinc and what his soule desireth even that he doth IN this verse Job is conceived by some at once making discovery of his owne infirmitie and of the soveraignty of God But though all agree that they carry a full discovery of the soveraignty of God yet many are so farre from judging them a discovery of Jobs infirmitie that they rather discover the strength and hight of his Grace and holines To cleare the whole matter we may take notice That there are three apprehensions about the scope and sence of these words First As if in them Job renderd a reason
they are sayd to take skin and all They who are so unmercifull that they will not leave a ragge to cover the skin are justly charged with that unmercifullness which will not leave so much as their skin to cover their flesh yea as it followes in the same place that they would gnaw their bones they will have all Cloaths skin and bones from another rather then not have enough for themselves Cruelty joyned with Covetousnesse knows no bounds Eliphaz having thus shewed some of those particular evills which he supposed Job had done proceeds to shew what Good he had not don Sins of omission render a man as foule and vile as sins of commission doe He that doth not the good which he ought and can doth evill Vers 7. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drinke thou hast withheld bread from the hungry Thou hast not given water to the weary Water is a very Common thing and the word which is here used takes in all naturall waters the whole Element of water Seing then water is not under lock key but lyes open to all commers how comes it to be any mans gift I answer first If we understand the words literally strictly yet somtimes especially in some places to give a cup of water to drinke or a bucket of water to wash in is no small charity to a wearied traveller But secondly I conceive Job is taxed with not giving water to shew his refusing to doe the smallest charity So wee finde it expressed Matth. 10.42 when Jesus Christ would assure us that the least office of love or respect which we doe to a distressed Saint to a Beleever upon that account as he is a Beleever Non inania in eos etiam levia quae sub frigidae aquae nomine designat officia esse decerint Hilar. shall be rewarded hee gives it in this language Whosoever shall give to drinke to one of these little ones a Cup of Cold water onely in the name of a Disciple verily I say unto you hee shall not lose his reward As by one of these little ones he meanes any the least of Beleevers or righteous Persons so by the gift that he speaks of water or Cold water a Cup of Cold water he meanes the least of favours Cold water is a cheape commodity and a little cold water onely a cup of it cannot as some things cannot because they are worth so much be prized because it is worth so little yet he that gives but this little thing this almost nothing in the name of a Disciple hee shall not lose his reward So here to set forth the hardness of Jobs heart as Eliphaz conceived he puts it in these termes Thou hast not given water no not cold water to those that are weary As if he had said thou hast not onely denyed a feast or a banquet of wine which might put thee to some cost and charges but thou hast denyed then water cold water which is not chargeable at all which doth not so much as put thee to the cost of a little fire to heat it or of any ingredient to mix with it thou hast denyed them this cheapest charity venit vilissima rerum Hîc aqua Horat Sat 1. An old Poet speaking of a place where water was sold saith That which is lowest prized a thing of no price water is sold here Thus farre hast thou O Job saith Eliphaz fallen below the Law of love Thou hast not given water And to whom did he not give it The next word answers that Querie To the weary That is thou hast not given water to them to whom it doth most properly belong or who had perfect need of it the weary the thirsty There are some to whom wee may very well refuse to give water or any other refreshment of nature they have enough if not too much already not onely in possession as the rich but in use or abuse rather as the intemperate and the drunken To give water to such is to powre water into the Sea but thou hast not given it to the weary not to those who are like the dry and parched ground In that the matter of charity is placed in water observe That charity is accepted and uncharitablenes condemned in the smallest matter It is not the quantity of the gift but the affection of the giver it is not the quantity of that which is denyed to be given but the heart of him that denyes it which the Lord takes notice of be it much or be it little that is given if it be given with an honest and willing minde the Lord accepts it and be it much or be it little that is denyed if it be denyed with a churlish and uncharitable spirit the Lord is displeased with it and the lesse that is which is denyed the more sinfull is the denyal the more is the Lord displeased with it When crusts or crums of bread which fall from our Table are denyed when a cup of cold water is denyed how cold is charity and is it not crumbled into a lesser nothing then those crums Wee should honour the Lord with our substance and our charity should not onely have cost in it but liberality in it how doe they honor God with their substance who will hardly give to him that is to his poor the shadow of their substance If the Lord should command us to give some great thing to testifie our charity should we not doe it how much more when he saith give but water to the weary for my sake and I account you charitable Secondly Note That Churlish and hard hearted Persons stick at small matters as well as at great It is supposed Acts 5.15 that the very shadow of Peter was healing to the sicke There are some so hard-hearted that they would hardly bestow their shadow upon the poore to doe them good It troubles them to part with the least Imaginable Benefit or to doe the least Imaginable courtesie not onely great things but small things even the smallest things the chippings of their loafe the parings of their apple yea the very huskes which their swine eate as the letter of the Parable concerning the prodigal intimates Luk. 15.16 are stuck at as too much for them who have nothing And thus the heart of a wicked man is stated to the whole businesse of obedience his heart is as much against obedience in a small matter as in a great he is so farre from swallowing the camell of holy duty that he straines at the very gnats of it and if a mans spirit be against obedience it selfe in its owne nature if his spirit be unsutable to it let it be a duty of the least or lowest degree he cannot but sticke at it The servants of Naaman the Assyrian sayd to him Had the Prophet bid thee doe some great matter wouldest thou not have done it how much more when he saith unto thee Wash in Jordan and be
man is of impurer eyes then to behold the glory and holiness of God in cleare manifestations of it and therefore heaven is the seate the habitation of his holinesse and of his glory Hence we may take two further inferences First That our hearts and our eyes should be lifted upwards the whole currunt of Scripture speaks of God as above in heaven And that 's the reason why the Apostle Col. 3.1 exhorts Sett you affections on things above and not on things here below And as on things above so most of all upon God who is above Sursum corda The old word was Lift up your hearts and David sayth in prayer Psal 25.1 I lift up my soule to thee And againe Psal 123.1 Vnto thee lift I up mine eyes O thou that dwellest in the heavens Yea our Lord Jesus Christ himselfe when he prayed Joh. 17.1 Lift up his eyes to heaven and said Father the houre is come glorifie thy Sonne c. The eye lift up to heaven is a signe of the heart lift up to heaven and that corporeall visible action serves to fix our most spirituall affections upon the invisible God 'T is indeed an easie thing to lift the eyes up to heaven but it is very hard yea impossible without a divine assistance to lift up the heart to heaven the heart of a prophane worldling mudds so much in the earth that he seldome lifts up so much as his eyes to heaven and how much or how often soever a hypocrite lifts up his eyes to heaven yet still his heart muds in the earth The eye lookes upward naturally but if ever the heart looke upward 't is a worke of Grace Secondly Then serve the Lord with reverence and holy feare in in all your addresses to him and appearings before him Wee reverence those who are on high on earth and shall wee not reverence him who is higher then the highest him who is in the hight of heaven While Christ bids us say Our Father which art in heaven he teacheth us as to pray with confidence because God is our father so to pray with reverence because he is a father in heaven Matth. 6.9 The Preacher Eccl. 5.2 makes this an argument why wee should be taken up in high thoughts of God why we should speak in a reverentiall manner both of him and to him Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God He puts as it were a double bridle upon man in his drawing neere to God first upon his mouth Let not thy mouth be rash and secondly upon his heart for the heart will talke at random as well as the mouth yea the heart will talke more at random then the mouth can and there is praying with the heart alone as well as with the heart and mouth together therefore sayth he Let not thy heart be hasty to utter any thing before God Why for God is in heaven and thou art upon the earth therefore let thy words be few Here are indeed two arguments to enforce this composure of spirit first the highnes and Greatnes of God secondly the lownes and vilenes of man Consider God is above and thou art below not onely in regard of place but of state and dignitie of power and majesty The being of God in heaven notes not onely a power of soveraignty to command us but a power of ability both to punish and to provide for us to punish our rashnes and to supply all our wants wherewith we acquaint him and humbly mention before him therefore Be not rash with thy mouth and let not thy heart be hasty c. The same Solomon in the same booke allegorically describing the declined decrepid condition of man saith of the old man that he is afraid of that which is high Eccl. 12.5 Young men will be clambering and ascending but old men are afraid of that which is high they dare not goe up a high steepe place least their strength or breath should fayle or least their braine should turne and they through giddines tumble downe Old men love to keepe upon levell or even ground and are afraid of that which is high Surely both young and old have reason to be afraid of him that is high to have reverentiall thoughts of God who is in the highâ— of heaven higher then the heavens The distance of man from God as God is in heaven and man on earth is great and the dissimilitude of man to God as God is holy and man corrupt is farre greater eyther of these Considerations single is enough but both these layd together is aboundantly enough to keepe the heart in an humble selfe-abasing frame before the Lord. 2ly Taking these words Is not God in the hight of heaven As the supposed speech of Job thou sayest God is in the hight of heaven that is confined to heaven so that he looks no further but thou art deceived God is not lockt up in heaven he looks to all things here on earth As the earth is the Lords and the fullnes of it as to right propriety so the earth is the Lords with all the fullnes of it as to care and providence Though there be a distinctnes in the manner or manifestation of his being in heaven and on earth yet he is as truly and as much on earth as he is in heaven Hence note God is omnipresent or every where Though we are to adore and worship God as in heaven yet we must not shutt up God in heaven as he is in heaven so he is upon the earth also he is with us yea he is in us he is in all places not circumscribed by any nor limited to any place God is present in all places and fills all places with his presence onely he doth not declare his presence alike in all places The Lord appeares where and as he pleaseth but he cannot be otherwise or otherwhere then he is and that is every where While the Psalmist queryed Whether shall I goe from thy presence He was so farre from imagining that any such place could be found that in the very next words he concludeth God to be every where by an enumeration of all places Psal 139.7 8. If I ascend up to heaven thou art there if I make my bed in Hel behold thou are there Hel standeth in utmost opposition to heaven as heaven in Scripture-language is the highest so hell is the lowest place now sayth David If I make my bed in hell thou art there If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the utmost parts of the sea even there shall thy hand leade me and thy right hand shall hold me That is there I shall findâ— thee efficaciously present with me The Lord having said Isa 66.1 Heaven is my throne presently adds and the earth is my footstoole So the earth is called because its scituation in nature is below the heavens his throne is there his footstoole
true God now I say if they who do but set up a new worship for the true God make a strange God what then doe they who in their hearts set up a new God that is who frame Conceptions of God which himselfe never gave ground for in his word Such was the Conceit which Eliphaz had of Job when he presumes him saying How doth God know Can he judge through the dark cloud Secondly From the particular misapprehension of God imposed by Eliphaz upon Job And thou sayest How doth God know c. Observe Sinfull men fancie to themselves that God eyther doth not or cannot take notice of them in their sinfull wayes Thus they reason Can he see thorow the dark Cloud and conclude Thick Clouds are a Covering to him that he seeth not and he walketh in the Circuit of heaven What Eliphaz layes to Jobes charge falsely is often charged by the Holy Ghost upon wicked men truely Psal 10.11 Hee hath said in his heart God hath forgotten he hides his face he will never see it Who this He is whose heart speakes this language appeares clearely in the former part of the Psalme where he is more then once called The wicked ver 2 3. and where more then one of his wickednesses are described ver 7 8 9 10. His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud under his tongue is mischiefe and vanity he sitteth in the lurking places of the villages in the secret places doth he murder the innocent c. After all this he sayth in his heart God hath forgotten that is he hath forgotten the poore whom I have under my power therefore I may safely oppresse them He hideth his face he will never see it that is God will never take any knowledge either of my doings or of their sufferings We have a sample of the same impiety Psal 73.11 And they say how doth God know and is there knowledge in the most high behold these are the ungodly in the world c. And againe Psal 94.6 ver They slay the widdow and stranger and murther the fatherlesse here are their workes of darknesse yet they say the Lord shall not see neither shall the God of Jacob regard Not onely did they presume that the Lord did not see but that he should not The Lord shall not see As if they could stop or blinde the eyes of God as easily as they had blinded their owne Consciences Take one Instance further Ezek. 8.12 Then said he unto mee Sonne of man Seest thou what they doe hast thou seene what the Ancients of the house of Israell doe in the darke Every man in the Chambers of his Imagery for they say the Lord seeth us not he hath forsaken the Earth Much like the language here He walketh in the Circuit of heaven hee hath other busines to doe then to minde us As God is sometimes sayd to forsake the Earth in wrath to punish the sin of Man so wicked men say he alwayes forsakes the Earth in neglect both of their sin and punishment And as Idolaters who have a minde to other gods are willing to beleeve that God hath forsaken the earth as to the protection of them Wee say they are in danger God takes no care of us therefore blame us not if we betake our selves to other Gods for protection If he had not forsaken us we had not forsaken him So all sorts of resolved transgressors who have a minde to any sinfull way are willing to beleeve that God hath forsaken the earth as to any observation of them Wee may doe what we list for God doth not minde or regard what we are doing If we thought he did indeed see us we durst not thus sinne against him But seeing he doth not trouble himselfe with any care about us why should we trouble our selves with any feare about him Now this Presumption that God doth not see us in what we are doing opens a doore to the doing of all Evill Security from danger is the great encouragement unto sin Though wicked men would not be lesse sinfull yet they would not sin so much or be so full of sin did they not vainely flatter themselves out of the sight of God Every Man would faine beleeve that God doth not see him when he is doing that which he would not have seene or be seene in doing it And how do men please themselves in this false hope that God doth not see them when they doe that which is displeasing unto God! From the Intendment of Eliphaz to Convince Job that the Clouds are no Covering to God and that the Circuit of heaven doth not Confine him Observe Thirdly God is omniscient hee knowes all things Thou sayest thus How doth God know I tell thee God doth know And thou hast an argument upon thy backe if thou hast none in thy heart to prove it thy sence or feeling may teach thee if thy reason or understanding doe not and by thy suffering thou mayest see that God seeth what thou hast been doing This great truth That God is omniscient or knowes all may easily be knowne and ought to be beleeved by all When the Lord had made the world in six dayes Gen. 1.31 He saw all that he had made All was in view at once hee had a Prospect of the whole Creation in his eye And as all his own Creatures so all our Creatures are seene by God hee seeth all that himselfe hath made and hee seeth all that wee have made or are making day by day Gen. 6.5 God saw that the wickednes of man was great in the earth and that every thought of the Imagination of the thoughts of his heart was onely evill Continually or every day The Lord saw that is the Lord knew fully infinitely more fully then we know those things which wee see every Imagination or figment of the thoughts of mans heart The figment of our thoughts is what the minde fashioneth or maketh up within it selfe by thinking corrupt nature keepes a constant mint of evill imaginations in the head as it hath a sinke of filthy affections in the heart The minde of man hath a formative faculty in it And the same word which the Holy Ghost useth to signifie the worke of God in making man Gen. 2.7 The Lord God formed man out of the dust of the earth or dust out of the earth the same word I say is used in the Noune Gen. 6.5 to signifie the imagination of man because that is alwayes shaping moulding or forming one sort of thoughts or other naturally none but ugly evill thoughts These are the creatures which man as fallen is the maker of and he maketh as I may say infinite creatures he is forming them continually in his imagination that 's the shop wherein there 's a dayly Creation such as it is of monstrous wickednesses till God by his new Creation changeth the frame and nature of it Now I say as God seeth his owne creatures so he seeth
feare Gladnes faith and glorying which is faith triumphant are peculiar to the upright when the arrow of God wounds the wicked Wee have this double effect againe exprest upon the same occasion Psal 107.42 He powreth contempt upon Princes and causeth them to wander in the wildernesse where there is no way but he sets the poore oh high the righteous shall it and rejoyce What shall they see not only the Godly poore set on high but ungodly Princes filled with contempt that 's part of the spectacle which the righteous shall behold and beholding rejoyce yet this is not all for it follows And all iniquity shall stop her mouth The abstract is put for the concrete iniquity for men of iniquity And so the meaning is men of iniquity or wicked men shall stop their mouths their mouths shall be stopt With shame and feare they shall have nothing to say when the Lord doth this They shall not mutter a word against the workes of God but as Hannah speakes in her Song 1 Sam. 2.9 shall be silent in darknes A like report rayseth the hearts of the people of God into a holy merriment Psal 97.8 Sion heard and was glad the daughters of Judah rejoyced What was the matter what good newes came to Judah what to Sion the Text resolves us Because of thy judgements O Lord The answer is not because of thy mercies or because of thy goodnes O Lord but because of thy judgements and those were dreadfull ones ver 3. A fire goeth before him and burneth up his enemies round about Confounded be all they that serve graven Images c. ver 7. Sion heard of it and was glad Once more Psal 58.10 The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance he shall wash his feete in the bloud of the ungodly Not that the righteous delight in bloud or proudly insult over the worst of enemies The Psalmist doth only in hyperbolical straines of Eloquence borrowed from the language of triumphant conquerers expresse a compleate and glorious victory The stile is of the same signification with that Psal 68.23 That thy foote may be dipped in the bloud of thine enemies and the tongue of the doggs in the same When so much bloud is shed that the foote may be dipt and washed in it that doggs may lap it up like water this argues a great destruction and when the wicked are thus destroyed the righteous shall rejoyce But here it may be queried What matter of joy is this why should the righteous rejoyce in the sorrowes of the wicked is it not alike sinful to be troubled at the joyes and to rejoyce at the troubles of our brethren The light of nature condemns rejoycing over those who are in misery and we have an expresse Scripture against it Pro. 24.17 Rejoyce not when thine enemy falleth let not thy heart be glad when he stumbleth And David puts it among the sins of his enemies Psal 35.15 In my adversity they rejoyced And he professed ver 13. that when they were sicke his cloathing was sacke cloath and that he humbled his soule with fasting David was so farre from rejoycing when his enemies were ruined or dead that he mourned when they were but sicke and would not eate when they could not And as Davids holy practice denyed it so doth Solomons divine precept Rejoyce not when thine enemy falleth How then shall wee reconcile these Texts I answer there may be a rejoycing at the afflictions and troubles of others which is not onely unbecoming and unseemely for the righteous but very sinfull As First To rejoyce and be glad meerely because an enemy is fallen into misery is both unseemly and sinfull And so we are to understand Solomons Proverbe Rejoyce not when thine enemy falleth Some understand this of falling into sinne Hee makes himselfe a sinner indeed who rejoyceth because another hath sinned He that rejoyceth because another hath sinned rejoyceth upon the matter because God is dishonoured Such joy is a kinde of thanksgiving for Satans victory But as to rejoyce because another falls into sin is the worst fall into sinne so to rejoyce meerely because an enemy falls into misery is worse then our owne falling into misery He shewes that he hath not the heart of a man in him who is glad at the misery of any man And he who rejoyceth thus when his enemy falleth doth himselfe fall much worse The ruine and downfall of an enemy suppose him the vilest enemy considered in it selfe is meate and drinke to none but revengefull and envious spirits David was much troubled and chargeth it as an extreame peece of folly upon himselfe Because he was envious at the foolish when he saw the prosperity of the wicked Psal 73.3 Now it is an issue flowing from the same principle purely to envy the prosperity and purely to rejoyce in the adversity of the wicked Nero was justly reckoned a monster among men who could sing when himselfe had set Rome a fire And they have some-what of a Neronian spirit in them who can sing when they see their enemies consuming in the fire God delights not in the misery of man as it is misery upon man nor doe they who are taught of God Secondly As to rejoyce or be glad at the destruction of enemies meerely because they are destroyed so to rejoyce upon private ends or respects because they being taken out of the way and removed out of the world we hope to have more scope and roome in the world for our selves or because we hope to step into their places to fit downe in their seates to possesse our selves of their lands and riches to fill our selves with their spoyles upon this account to rejoyce when wicked men fall when the Lord powres out contempt upon Princes because I say we hope to be gainers by it is alltogether uncomely for the righteous Let the righteous take heed to themselves that they be not found thus rejoycing in the calamities of the wicked They who doe so are eyther but pretenders to godliness men who are onely of the faction of the righteous for though they who are righteous indeed are farre from a faction yes there are a sorâ— of men who professe righteousnesse as if it were nothing but a faction now I say they who thus rejoyce are but eyther of the faction of the righteous while they are really of the number of the wicked or if they are really righteous who doe so and I confesse that a righteous man may doe so David which was acting the counter-part envied their prosperity and by the same reason any godly man may be acted out in joy at their adversity but now I say if they who are really righteous doe so we must conclude them under a sore temptation and they will at last conclude of themselves as David did in the counter-case Psal 73.22 so foolish have we been and ignorant even as a beast before thee You will say then how may or doe the righteous rejoyce
said to be the midst or Center of the body now saith he keep the law in the very midst of thine heart in the safest place as the heart is the safest place the middle of the body so the middle of the heart is the safest place of the heart So vve may understand that of David I have hid thy Commandements in my heart Psal 119.11 And Deut. 6.6 These words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart that is thou shalt lay them up there Of this laying up the law in the heart vve are to understand Eliphaz here as if he had sayd O Job thou hast often heard of the law but thou hast been a forgetfull hearer now heare it and hold it now as the Apostle exhorts the Hebrewes Heb. 2.1 give the more earnest heed to the things which thou hast heard or shalt hereafter heare lest at any time thou shouldest let them slip or thou shouldest run out as we there put in the margin as a leaking vessel Further This laying up the vvord in the heart is opposd unto a bare barren knowledge it is not enough to have the vvord of God in our heads that is to know it it is not enough to have the word of God upon our tongues that is to speake of it but we must lay it up in the heart For though the heart in Scripture takes in the understanding and the whole soule yet chiefly it respects the affections lay up the word in thine heart that is let thy affections be vvarm'd with it vvhile thy memory retaines and keepes it and thy understanding is enlightened vvith a true notion of it Hence Observe First The word of God is a precious thing We doe not lay up trifles and trash but precious things and treasure vve lay up our Plate and Jewells our Gold and Silver the vvord of God should be more to us than thousands of gold and silver it is the most precious Jewell 't is treasure and therefore it must be laid up Secondly The heart is the Arke or Cabinet in which the word must be laid up There was an Arke or Chest provided for the law Exod. 25.21 and that Arke was Christ he was typified by it and indeed the law would be too hot for our hearts too hot to lye there if it had not first layne in the heart of Christ wee since fallen could never have been an Arke for it if he had not been The tables of the law were laid in the Arke and the Arke in which the lavv vvas put had a mercy-seat vvhich did cover it all over The dimensions of the Arke and of the mercy-seate were exactly the same two cubits and a halfe in length and a cubit and a halfe in breadth Exod. 25.10.17 so that nothing of the law could appeare or rise up in Judgement against poore sinners The propitiatory or mercy-seate covered all Now as Christ hath been the Arke of the law to protect and cover us from the condemning power of it so the hearts of beleevers must be the Arke of the law where it must be layd up with a readines of minde to yeeld our selves up to the commanding power of it David prophecying of Christ saith Psal 40.10 I have not hid thy righteousnesse within my heart yet he had said before I delight to doe thy will thy law is within my heart To cleare which Scripture take notice that there is a twofold hiding of the righteousnesse or vvord of God in the heart First so as to obscure or conceale it from others in that sence David saith I have not hid thy righteousnesse in mine heart I have declared thy faithfullnes and thy salvation and not concealed thy loving kindnesse and truth from the great Congregation And thus no man ought to lay up the truths the law the promises of God in his heart to conceale and stifle them there Secondly There is a hiding of the law in our hearts first that it may be safe lest Satan or the world should snatch it from us Secondly That we may further consider of it when a man hath got an excellent truth or Scripture he should lay it up in his heart to ponder and meditate more upon it to draw out the sweetnes and to experience the power of it Thirdly That vve may have it ready at hand for our use and so the Scribe instructed for the kingdome of heaven is described by bringing forth out of his treasury things both new and old How sad is the condition of many that have heard much but laid up little or nothing at all of all that vvord which they have heard Some having laid it up in their note books are satisfied with that 't is good and usefull to doe so but doe not let it lye there get a Copie of it in your hearts a few truths in your hearts are better to you then many truths in your bookes no man was ever saved by the vvord in his booke unlesse that vvord were also written in his heart God commanded the Jewes Deut. 6.8 9. to vvrite the law upon the post of their houses and on their gates to bind them as a signe upon their hand and as frontlets between their eyes They were commanded also to put fringes upon the borders of their garments Numb 15.38 vvhich our Saviour calls Phylacteries Math. 23.5 these were ribands of blue silke or as some say scroles of parchment upon which the law being first wrought or written and then bound upon their garments they were to looke upon it and remember all the commandements of the Lord Num. 15.39 Vanissimi profecto pharisaei illi qui cum ipsi non servarent in corde mandaâ—a at membranulas decalogi complicantes quasi coronaÌ„ capiri facientes phylacterium eoc sua proprictate Custoditâ—rium est Bold Now saith Christ they make broad their Phylacteries and enlarge the borders of their Garments as much of the lavv as you vvill upon theiâ— Clothes but none of it in their hearts Thus the proud Scribes and Pharisees went about as it were Clothed with the vvord of God but his vvord was farre from their hearts nor did it appeare in their lives it is a meere vanity to have much of the law in our bookes while vve neglect to keepe it in our hearts and act it in our wayes The former is good but it doth no good without the latter The want of this the laying up the vvord in the heart causeth the great want of Saints in the things of God and as many loose that Grace which they seemed to have so many are at a losse in the use of that Grace which they have because they have not laid up the vvord of God in their hearts so carefully as they ought We say proverbially Sure bind and sure find They who would surely finde the comfort of the word of God when they need it had need to bind it sure when they receive it JOB CHAP. 22. Vers 23 24.25
little way but it must be put farre away There are severall degrees of putting away sin first There is a putting it away out of our practice or conversation so that it hath no visible being or abode in us or with us This is a putting of sin away but this is not a putting of sin farre away Secondly There is a putting of it out of our affections or out of our hearts not as if we could keepe it while we are in the body from having a place or dwelling there but as keeping it from having a throane or reigning there This is to put sin very farre away from us it is no great thing to put sinne out of our hands but 't is hard to get it out of our hearts hypocrites will possibly lay downe the practice of it but still their spirits cleave to it they are not at all alienated from the love of it but onely restrained from the acting of it such are oftentimes kept from doing iniquity but they do not at all put away their iniquity much lesse put it far away As it is with a naturall man in reference to his doing of Good so to his not doing of evill If good be at any time in his practice yet it is farre from his spirit he hath no minde to it he cannot say the law of God is in his heart or that he delights to doe it so if evill be at any time put out of his practice yet it is still in his spirit his minde is toward it he cannot say that his heart is withdrawne from it or that he hates it No but as the Prophet Ezekiel speakes of the stubborne Jewes Ezek. 11.21 Their heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things As every Godly man is in the maine like David A man after Gods owne heart and walketh after the heart of God so every ungodly man is a man after the heart of the devill and every Idolater or worshipper of false Gods who is one of the worst of ungodly men is after the heart of his false gods and he walketh after the heart of his false Gods which the Prophet calls detestable things Whatsoever is most after the heart or according to the desires and commands of an Idol that the Idolatrous heart walketh after that is he loves it he delights in it and thus doth every naturall mans heart walke after the heart of his lust though sometime his feete walke not after it or he may seeme to lay it out of his hand But he that turnes indeed from sin deales with it when he is repenting of it as the Lord doth when he is pardoning it How is that The Lord in pardoning sin puts it farre from us Psal 103.12 As farre as the East is from the West so farre hath he removed our transgressions from us That is he hath removed them from us to the utmost imaginable distance for such is that of the East from the West they and we shall no more meete together againe then the East and West shall or can meete at all And thus in repenting a godly man desires to put his sin as farre from him as the East is from the West that he and they may never meete together in the practice of them as he is assured that God hath so pardoned them that they and he shall never meete together in the punishment of them Thou shalt put away iniquity farre from thy Tabernacles Innuit ante hac â—ec Jobum nec e us filios culpa vacasse ideocum eversum filios extinctos Merc In which words he includes more then his owne personall repentance for by the Tabernacles we are to understand the whole family or household the tabernacle conteining is put for the persons contein'd in this Eliphaz seemes to strike at Job for his former course as if he said Wickednesse hath lodged not onely in thy heart but in thy house in thy family children and servants And this surely was it which provoked the Lord to crush thy family of children and their servants with the fall of a house now therefore I counsel thee to put away iniquity from thy tabernacle that is from all that belong to thee from all that are under thy shadow and are committed to thy trust and charge Hence observe That they who repent truly should indeavour to purge sinne not onely from themselves but from all that belong to them They should cleanse not their persons onely but their families they should sweep their houses as well as their hearts from sin Gen. 35.2 Then Jacob said to his household and to all that were with him put away the strange Gods or the estranging Gods such are Idols they are not onely strange because new Gods and strange because 't is a strange or wonderfull thing that man should be so besotted as to worship such things for Gods but they are estranging Gods because they withdraw or steale away the heart from the true God therefore sayd Jacob put away the strange Gods that are among you and be cleane and change your garments This outward changing of their garments signified the changing or cleansing of their soules God principally lookes at that and the outward ceremony hath no acceptance at all without the inward sincerity In comparison of which as the Lord said in Joel Rent your hearts and not your garments so he would say here change your hearts and not your Garments Now Jacob was very carefull that this blessed change of Garments betokening the change and cleansing both of heart and life should be the livery of all his family and household Family sinnes bring family judgements as well as personall and they that have the charge of a family have in a great degree a charge of soules as well as of bodies every Master of a family hath cure of soules And he is to see so farre as lieth in him that no sinne nor wickednesse remaine or be harboured in his family that his children and servants live not in ignorance nor in any evill In the 6th of Numbers Moses gives charge to the Congregation That they should depart from the tents of those wicked men Corah Dathan and Abiram it is dangerous to be neere the families of the wicked but it is more dangerous to have wickednesse remaining in our family in our servants or in our children And if Masters endeavour not by all due meanes to remove sin out of their family that in a little time may remove them out of their family or as we say eate them out of house and home Thou shalt put away iniquity farre from thy Tabernacle Thus much of this part of the verse in the first sence as iniquity is taken for sin yet Further as the word iniquity is taken for punishment thou shalt put away iniquity or the effects of iniquity farre from thy Tabernacle and then the words are both a new promise and a further explication of what is meant by being built up which
can give perfect boldnes in comming to the Throne of God but onely an Interest in Jesus Christ in whom the throane of God is become a Throane of grace to sinners Were it onely a Throne of Judgement and Justice no flesh could stand before it but being a Throne of grace the worst of sinners who wait for grace may come neer and the neerer they come the welcomer they are A godly man is never better then when he is neer God and then thinks himselfe best when he is neerest unto God all his happines in this life and his glory in that which is to come doth consist in his nearenes unto God Secondly Whereas Job saith O that I might come even to his Seat Observe A Godly man is willing that God should Judge both his Person and his Cause That 's the designe of Job he had appealed from the Judgement of his friends and begd the Judgement of God He was resolute in it to stand or fall according to his sentence But why was Job so desirerous of the Judgement of God why would he goe to his Throne and appeale to him When men make appeales from one Throne to another they have their reasons for it When Paul said I appeale to Caesar Act. 25.11 doubtless he was fully perswaded that he should find better termes with Caesar then among the Jews So when Job saith I appeale to God which is the highest appeale and beyond which there lyes no appeale doubtlesse Job was fully perswaded that he should finde better termes at Gods tribunal then he had found among his friends And Job might have many grounds of better termes from God For First God is wise even a God of Judgement who would not receive Judgement from a wise and understanding Judge especially from him who is wisdome and understanding Secondly God is Omniscient there are many wise Judges but no Omniscient Judges in the world Princes are said to have long hands and very cleare eyes they can reach farre and see farre but they cannot see all but God is able to Judge the secrets of all hearts for he sees all secrets and knowes what man cannot For that reason a godly man loves the Judgement of God because he knowes his heart And for the same reason wicked men hypocrites especially are afraid of the Judgement of God they know if their outward actons should come to be scan'd much more if their hearts should be turn'd outward it must needs goe ill with them Most hypocrites carry it faire onely for a while before the world they at last discover themselves the disease breaks out at their fingers ends or at their tongues end Their words or works discover the rottennes of their hearts and the formality of their profession But some hypocrites carry it fayre to the world all their dayes and feare not the Judgement of men yet even then a thought of the Judgement of God is dreadfull to them whereas the Saints even all who are sincere desire God to Judge them for indeed their hearts are better then their wayes and their affections then their actions and they know that God discernes with what heart and spirit every thing is done as well as what is done He doth not Judge by appearances as we ought not Joh. 7.24 and therefore his is a righteous Judgement God doth not judge things as they appeare but as they are unlesse they are as they appeare and whatsoever their appearance is he can judge them as they are He can judge by discerning what is in the deepe and follow a matter to the very spring of it therefore I 'le goe to God saith the upright heart my desire is that he should Judge my cause Thirdly The Lord is a gratious and a mercifull Judge he is as full of pity as he is of wisdome and as ready to relieve as he is quick-sighted to discerne Fourthly The Lord is very patient First patient to heare and secondly patient to beare Patience to heare is a great encouragement many Judges are weary of the worke they will not heare a poore man out but God will and God is patient also to beare with and passe by the faylings of his people whose uprightnes he knowes Lastly A Godly man knowes that God his Judge hath received an atonement that he is made for him and upon grounds of Justice and righteousnesse is become his friend Some who have bad Causes yet come up to the Throne of man boldly because they know the Judge is made for them by a bride and so will give sentence on their side be it right or wrong Saints know that the Judge is made for them but made in a holy manner not with base bribery to blinde his eyes to pervert justice but he hath received an atonement he is appeas'd and satisfied by a Mediator at his owne appointment If God should search the best of Saints narrowly they must needs fall in judgement yet they know they shall stand in judgement because the Judge is reconciled to them by Christ yea Christ who made the Atonement and is the reconciler is the Judge this encourageth Saints to come to God For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son much more being reconciled we shall be saved by his life Rom. 5.10 The case standing thus with beleevers who seeth not ground for their appeale from the judgement eyther of open enemies or as Job did mistaken Friends O that I might come even to his Seate In the two next verses Job tells us what he would doe if his appeale were granted and himselfe admitted to the seate of God Vers 4. I would order my Cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments Vers 5. I would know the words which he would answer mee and understand what he would say unto mee Thus he describes his intended behaviour before his Judge in allusion to legall proceedings where the Plaintiff brings in his bill and the Defendant his answer I would order my Cause before him The Hebrew word which wee translate to order 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est militare verbum atque dicitur de aciebus quae certa ratione ac ordine disponuntur is a military terme properly used for the ordering of an Army or the putting of them into a Posture for a battell we call it Marshalling an Army And hence it is applyed to the ordering of any other thing Psal 23.5 Thou wilt prepare a Table for mee in the midst of mine enemies to order a Table is to set dish by dish there is a kinde of method in setting dishes at great feasts Thou wilt prepare a Table for me Againe Ps 50.21 God speakes to the hypocrite about his sinfull doings I will set them in order before thee that is those sins and confused practices of which thou hast sayd in thy heart I shall never heare more of them shall be brought forth and set like a terrible Army in ranke and file
labourers yet it is extendible to all honest labourers in what kinde or way soever For if the mouth of the labouring oxe should not be muzled then much more the mouth of a labouring man should not be muzled that reaps the corne and treadeth the wine-presse that is such should not be sent away hungry and thirsty The Prophet Jer. 22.13 thunders out a threatning against those who deale thus with the labourer Woe to him that builds his house by unrighteousnesse and his chambers by wrong that useth his neighbours service without wages and giveth him not for his worke As some unrighteous men build chambers and houses with the gold and silver which they have wrongfully gotten from the rich so some build their houses by getting the labour and paines of the poore wrongfully from them that is by denying them the wages which is due for their worke Woe to such sayth the Lord. And againe James 5.4 the Apostle chargeth this upon the rich Behold saith he the hire of the labourers that have reaped downe your fields which is of you kept backe by fraud cryeth and the cryes of them which have reaped are entred into the eares of the Lord of Sabaoth or of the Lord of hosts As if he had sayd the Lord who hath all the Armies of heaven and earth in his power even he hath taken notice how ye wrong the labourer and he will put forth his power to avenge their quarrel The Lord of hosts is the poore labourers friend and he will be his Avenger It is a sin crying for vengeance that when a poore man hath sweat out his strength to doe service to the rich he should not have his wages given him to renew his strength and revive his spirits for further labour The Apostle 2 Thes 3. gives a charge that they that will not labour should not eate we heare saith he that there are some who walke among you disorderly working not at all now then they that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that with quietnesse they worke and eate their owne bread and ver 10. If any will not worke neither should he eate But as they that will not worke have no right to eate what they eate they steale so they who worke should eate else they are deprived of their right Woe be to those who eate and worke not in some kinde or other and woe be to those who doe not give them to eate who worke who compel or but call the poore to treade their wine-presses and then let them suffer hunger and thirst This sin is committed not onely by the totall denying of reward and wages that 's the grossest way of it But First This sin is committed when the poore man receives not a reward proportionable to his labour when he hath not what answers his worke but his wages is so scanty and short that he is not able to make a living of it for the comfortable according to his degree maintaining of his charge many are apt in this case to oppresse the labourer while they pay him They will give him somewhat but it shall be so short and poore that he is not able to subsist upon it Hence that common speech among us that there is nothing cheape but poore mens labour men care not so their worke be done though the workman be undone They care not though the sweat of his brows will scarse as 't is usually phras'd finde him water to wash his hands Secondly This sin is committed when the labourer is defrauded of that which hath been agreed for when cavills are raised and so the hire detained This the Apostle James reproves Chap. 5.4 speaking of the labourers hire which saith he is of you kept backe by fraud they did not tell them plainely they should have no wages but they quarrelled with them about their worke ye have not done your worke well or not so soone as ye should and therefore they will not pay them or they pay them to halves Thus some by fraud and cavills detaine the labourers hire as others doe it by open violence or flat denyall Thirdly This sin is committed by delaying to pay the labourer We finde in Moses Law the equity whereof remaines to this day that not onely the denying or defrauding of the labourer concerning his hire is charged as sinfull but the very delaying of it Suppose you pay all at last yet if you cause the poore to waite long for what is their due this will be reckoned an oppression therefore sayth the Law Deut. 24.14 15. Thou shalt not oppresse an hired servant that is poore Minus solvit qui minus tempore solvit and needy at his day thou shalt give him his hire Thou shalt not oppresse him so much as by deferring it for a day neither shall the Sunne goe downe upon it Consider how strict the righteous Lord and our great Master is in this poynt That Masters should deale well with their servants and day-labourers The Sun must not goe downe upon it Why for he is poore and sets his heart upon it Which is not to be understood like that Psal 62.10 If riches increase set not thy heart upon them that is doe not fix your affections upon your riches thinke not your selves happy because ye are rich but when Moses sayth the poore labourer sets his heart upon it the meaning is this the poore labourer having wrought hard all day thinkes of his wife and family for whom he is to provide and then remembers that at the evening he shall have his wages I sayth he shall have somewhat at night though I worke hard all day therefore sayth the Lord give it him at his day let not the Sunne goe downe upon it he reckons to have it when he goeth home therefore disappoint him not It may be a dangerous thing to be a labourers purse-bearer for a night if he desire to have his hire and you able to pay it to deteine his wages upon those termes is sinfull for he hath set his heart upon it and fully expects it therefore disappoynt him not doe not make him ashamed of his hopes This is the sinne which Job describes here the wicked take yea exact worke of the poore and then take or deteine their wages also They must make oyle for them and tread their wine-presses and suffer thirst This sin cryeth and this oppression makes the poore groane as it follows in the next verse Vers 12. Men groane out of the Citie and the soule of the wounded cryeth out yet God layeth not folly to them This verse shewes two things first the sad effects of oppression it makes men groane and cry secondly the frequent and long impunity of oppressors yet God layeth not folly to them Men groane out of the Citie They vex not onely the Country but the City too for as before hee described Country-oppressors so now City-oppressors oppression is a sinne that filleth both City and Country