of their hearts is to God and they love God with all their hearts which is the fulfilling of the Law So that the obedience of the Angels in Heaven is made the copy and patterne of our obedience here on earth as Christ hath taught us to pray though I say the Angels are thus perfectly righteous in reference to the Law yet there is a higher righteousnesse and holinesse in God There 's but the holinesse of obeying a Law God hath the holinesse of being a Law They have a holinesse without spot yet it is but a finite a created holinesse now what comparison is there betweene finite and infinite created and uncreated therefore though there be no blemish in the obedience of Angels none in their nature none in their lives yet God puts no trust in them he cannot lay the weight of his confidence upon them because they are creatures The next clause doubles this point And the Heavens are not cleane in his sight There is a difference among Interpreters what these Heavens are The Chaldee Paraphrast and some of the Ancients understand the Angels as in the former part of the Verse and they say the Angels are called the Heavens under a twofold consideration First Because Angels are like the Heavens in their spirituality and incorruptibility in their order and subordination among themselves as also in their power over sublunary or earthly bodies Secondly By a Synechdoche because the Angels have their habitation in Heaven that 's their dwelling place so Master Broughton translates Nor they of Heaven be cleane in his eyes that is the Inhabitants of Heaven are not cleane in his eyes Caeruleus Tibris caelo gratissimus amnis i. e. diis vel caelicolis Virg. l. 8. The Heathen Poet calls those whom he supposed dwellers in Heaven by the Name of Heaven describing a pleasant River he calls it A River pleasant to Heaven that is to those who are in Heaven Others by Heaven understand the Saints in Heaven not the Angels and that also upon a twofold reason First Because God is said to dwell in the Saints Sancti in quibus tanquam in caelis habitare dicitur Deus caeli dicuntur quae allegoria frequentissima est inter antiquos patres Pined they are his habitation and wheresoever God dwels he makes a Heaven Secondly Because the Saints not onely those in Heaven but they on earth have their conversation in Heaven Phil. 3.20 As carnall and earthly minded men are called Earth because their hearts and conversations are fixed to the earth so spirituall and heavenly minded men may be called Heaven because their hearts and conversations are fixed in Heaven Thirdly We may rather understand it in a proper sense the heavens that is The heavenly bodies are not cleare in thy sight the heavens are the most excellent and purest part of the Creation And therefore this interpretation or rather plaine construction of the words suites the scope of Eliphaz fully who as he spake before of the Angels who are the purest of all rationall creatures so here of the heavens which are the purest of all inanimate creatures Caeli qui maxÃmè sunt lucidi suas habent maculas partesque crassiores magisque opacas materiales in re igitur er fectissima vidit Deus ma ulas Pineâ— yet these are not pure in the sight of God therefore no man is The heavens have a kinde of uncleannesse in them the Moone hath her spots yea the Moone is but a spot if Philosophers may be credited who tell us that all the Stars in their sense the Moone is a Star are but as the spots of Heaven A Starre as they define being the thicker and grosser part of its Orbe The heavens themselves are so fine and liquid so thin and fluid that they cannot hold the light therefore the Lord made those Celestiall bodies the Sunne Moone and Stars more compact and grosse that so they might both receive and retaine the light as also transmit and give it out to the World here below These are spots in the Heavens and though they appeare as the glory or Beauty-spots of Heaven to our sight and are so indeed yet these are not cleane in the sight of God Againe the heavens are furthest removed from all earthly dregs and drosse In conspectu ejus Aliud est purum esse simpliciter aliud purum esse coram Deo ut justus justus coram Deo differunt Luc. 1. 6. Drus so that they are cleane not onely in regard of their nature and constitution but also in regard of their site and position being placed so far from the sinck of the World the earth they never received any staine or defilement from it yet these heavens are not cleane in his sight God doth not make that which is cleane not cleane by his seeing it but his sight is infinitely above all the cleannesse which he sees That may be cleane considered simply or in it selfe which before God or to the eye of God is as an uncleane thing Hence Note God is so clear-sighted that the cleanest creatures are uncleane in his sight the very cleannesse of the creature is uncleannesse before him much more compared to him For if one creature may be so cleane that another creature which is cleane may be sayd to have no cleannesse in comparison of it Then surely God is so cleane that the cleanest creatures have indeed no cleannesse in comparison of his The Stars are very beautifull bodies and full of light yet the Sunne hath so much light that it darkens all the Stars and causeth them to disappeare when it appeareth Now if the Stars have no light in the sight of the Sunne what light hath the Sunne in the sight of God he that puts all the perfections that the creature hath into the creature hath infinitely more perfection in himselfe Those excellencies which are divided and scattered all the Creation over are not onely contracted and united in God but unconceiveably exceeded by him Job having thus layd downe the former part of his argument he applyes it Vers 16. How much more abominable and filthy is man who drinketh iniquity like water Concerning the Saints he sayd onely God puts no trust in them and concerning the Heavens They are not cleane in his sight But now that he speakes of man he doth not say God puts no trust in him or he is not cleane in his sight but he layes load upon him He is abominable and filthy and as if that were not enough he aggravates it with How much more abominable c. If he put no trust in glorified Saints in whom yet there is no iniquity then no marvell if man be called abominable who drinketh iniquity like water The whole Verse is a description of mans sinfulnesse First of the sinfulnesse of his nature in those words He is abominable and filthy Secondly of the sinfulnesse of his life He drinketh iniquity like water How much more
enjoy more fully the presence of God Yet God himselfe sayd at the first when man was created It is not good for man to be alone There was no morall evill in that alonenesse for when God spake this word there was no such evill in the visible World but God called it evill because it was so inconvenient for the civill well-being and inconsistent with the naturall propagation of man And therefore as in reference to both these evils God sayd with his own mouth It is not good for man to be alone so in reference to the former of the two God sayd by Solomon Two is better then one and woe to him that is alone Eccles 4.9 10. Job puts his alonenesse among his woes Thou hast made desolate all my company But it may be said Had Job no company Were not his Freinds about him Did not these three come to mourn with him and to comfort him And had they not been in discourse with him all this while Yes he had company but it was not suitable company he had evill ones about him as he complaines Chap. 19. and Chap. 30. and though his three Freinds were good men yet to him they were no good company because so unpleasant in their converse with him Hence Note Some company is a burthen We say of many men Wee had rather have their roome then their company Man loves company but 't is the company of those he loves The comfort of our lives depends much upon society but more upon the suitablenesse of society It is better to dwell in the corner of a house top then with a brawling Woman in a wide house Prov. 21.9 And it is better to be in a Desert among wilde Beasts then in a populous City among beastly men This made the Prophet desire a lodging in the Wildernesse Jer. 9.2 The Countrey about Sodome was pleasant like the Garden of God yet how was the righteous soule of Lot vexed with the filthy and unrighteous conversation of the Sodomites How uneasie are our lives made to us by dwelling among either false Freinds or open Enemies In the Creation when God said It is not good for man to be alone he subjoynes Let us make him a helpe meet for him Adam had all the beasts of the earth about him but they were no company for him man knowes not how to converse with beasts or employ his reason with those that have none As it is not good for man to be alone so to be in company that is not meet for him is as bad or worse then to be alone Therefore saith God Let us make him a helpe meet for him the making of a Woman brought in meet company for mankinde yet some men are as unmeet company for men as beasts are and are therefore in Scripture called Beasts Paul fought with such beasts at Ephesus there are few places free of them and many places are full of them David cryes out Woe is me that I am constrained to dwell in Mesech c. There was company enough but it was wofull company The Primitive Saints associated themselves they continued in fellowship one with another as well as in the Apostles Doctrine or in breaking of bread and prayer Acts 2.42 They were all of one minde and were therefore fâ—t to make one body The communion and fellowship of the Saints is the lower heaven of Saints And the making of such a company desolate is the saddest desolation that can be made on earth Communion of Saints in Heaven is one great accession to the joy of Heaven And 't is a great comfort to the Saints in the midst of all the ill neighbourhood which they meet with here to remember that they shall meet with no ill neighboures there none but Freinds there none but loving Freinds There shall not be a crosse thought much lesse a crosse word or action among those many millions of glorified Saints for ever nor shall there be any among them there but Saints no tares in that feild nor chaffe in that floore no Goates in that Fold no nor any Wolves in Sheep-skins no prophane ones there no nor any Hypocrites there Uunsutable company would render our lives miserable in Heaven it self If God should say to the godly and the wicked as David once did to Mephibosheth and Ziba Thou and Ziba divide the Land divide Heaven among you might they not answer with reverence as Mephibosheth did to David Nay let them take it all to themselves O our soules come not into their secret and unto their assembly let not our honour be joyned if Swearers Adulterers Lyers should be our company in Heaven Heaven it selfe were unheaven'd and everlasting life would bee an everlasting death And that which further argues the burdensomness of unsutable company is that even wicked men themselves cannot but confess that they are burdned with the company of those who are good if such come in presence where they associate in any sinfull converse how weary are they of their company How do they even sweat at the sight of them And how glad are they when such turne their backs and are gone the onely reason why they like them not is because they are not like them and they are not good company because they are good All company is made desolate to us which is not made suitable to us Job had many about him yet he complaines Thou hast made desolate all my company Job goes on yet to describe his troubles he wanted desireable company about him but he had store of witnesses against him he was emptyed of his comforts but filled with sorrowes as might be seen in the symptomes and effects of sorrow Vers 8. Thou hast filled me with wrinckles which is a witnesse against me and my leannesse rising up in me beareth witnesse to my face As if he had sayd Though I hold my peace and say nothing Si vellem caelare aut verbis extenuare dolorem meum rugae meae testimonium daub c. though I doe not aggravate my griefe yea though I should extenuate and hide it yet there are witnesses enow of it my wrinkles speake my griefe and my leannesse shewes that I am feasted with the sowre hearbes of sorrow That 's the generall sense of this Verse Thou hast filled me with wrinkles It is but one word in the Hebrew we might render it Thou hast wrinkled me or as Master Broughton Thou hast made me all wrinkled The word is not found in this sense any where else in Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rugas contraxit active corrugavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corrugastime Non alibi quam in hoc libro in scriptura reperitur Quod succidisti me testimonio est Merc. but very frequently among the Rabbins There are also two other significations of it which Interpreters have taken in here First It signifies To cut off or to cut downe Chap. 22.15 16. Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have troden
dishonourable unto God Job who here wept to God in his low estate had often rejoyced in God in his best estate and preferred him before his cheifest joy They may confidently weep to God in sad times who have delighted themselves with God in comfortable times Secondly Observe Liberty of addresse to God when men scorne and reject us is the great priviledge of the Saints Every man cannot do this can the men of the world powre out teares to God when they are scorned by the world can they powre out prayers to God when they are ill intreated by the world Can they goe into the imbraces of God when they are cast out by men they cannot They can vexe themselves when they are vexed by others and perhaps vexe those that vexe them they can be angrie when they are scorned and perhaps scorne their scorners but how to spread their condition before God or to powre out tears to him they know not they who can doe thus are honoured by God when scorned by men and God will powre out comforts into their bosomes who can powre their teares into his they can never be at any losse who finde out God to weepe to Job having thus given the reason of his appeale to Heaven enforceth it farther with a stong wish according to our translation which is also confirmed by the concurring vote of divers other translations Vers 21. O that one might plead for a man with God as a man pleadeth for his Neighbour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vtinam disputare posset vir cum deo et filius hominis sodali suo Pagn Optat ex aequari haeo duo hominis cum deo et hominis cum homine disceptationem Merc. Certe hic aliquid subauditur ut et quis deo viro vel ut faciat ac concedat Deus sc hoc viro Merc. The Summe of his desire may be drawne up into this Breife that he might argue his case as freely with God as men of the same rank and degree argue out their cases with one another Some expound it as a correction of his boldnes in appealing to God As if he had said I have indeed called God to witnes but what am I or what is my Fathers house that God should descend to my concernments The infinit distance which is between the Creator and the creature seemes to forbid and check my motion bidding me keep within my owne line or spheare and medle with my equals But O that I might speake with God as man with man or man for man I doubt not but I should carry the day and prove my selfe innocent not that Job intended a controversie with God or would stand upon his defence with the most high I have before shew'd how far this was from the temper of his broken spirit All that he intends by the proposall of this desire is the gaining of an opportunity to set himselfe right in the opinion of men by that impartiall dâ—cision of his cause which he was vvell assured God would give upon the whole matter in question betweene him and his friends if once he would be pleased to vouchsafe him a free and familiar hearing of it As if he had further said I have not apealed to Heaven because I am unwilling to have my condition knowne on earth Vtinam mihi conâ—ederetur causam meam adversum vos apud Dei Tribunal disceptare sicut agere homines cum hominibus consueverunt Bez. that men should see the worst of me for my desire is that I might plead before God as a man for his Neighbour and that I might be laid open in open Court by the evidence of witnesses and a full examination of my cause Taking these explications of the text in the forme of a wish The scope of it seemes to be the same with what he spak before Chap. 9. 33.34.35 God is not a man as I am that I should answer him and we should come together in judgement neither is there any Dayes-man betwixt us c. In which words as in these before us while Job lifts up the Majesty of God and humbleth himselfe as unworthy to have to doe with God yet he discovers the vehement longings of his soule to receive a judgement or determination from God in this suit or controversie which had depended so long between him and his friends The Observations which arise from this reading and sence of the Text are of the same straine with those formerly given upon that and some other passages where Job knowing his own uprightnes and integritie declares not only willingnesse but extreame earnestnesse to have his cause tryed at the Bar and before the Tribunal of God who both saw his wayes and searched his heart who as he had justified him from all guilt in reference to himselfe by not imputing sinne unto him so he would justifie him against the sinnes which men imputed to him by saying he was not at all guilty These points having been more then once hinted already I shall not insist upon them here Secondly The words are rendred as noting the designe which Job had in powring out teares to God and then the connection betweene this and the former verse stands thus Apud Deum stillat oculus meus utdisceptet causam viri cum deo sicut filius hominis causam amici sui Jun. I powre out teares to God that he would be pleased to plead the cause of a man with God as the Sonne of man pleades the cause of his friend Mr. Broughton joynes fully with this Vnto the puissant doth mine eye drop that he mould decide the cause for earthly-wight before the puissant as the sonne of Adam doth with his Neighbour Our translation carries the sence of a wish that a man might have liberty to plead with God as man with man this carries the sence of a wish that God would plead the cause of a man with God as a man pleades the cause of his friend which is indeed to desire God to be his advocat Ad Deum stillat oculus meus ut judicet viro cum Deo silium hominis respectu proximi sui Coc. How God is an advocat with God wil appear further in the prosecution of the text A third reading keepes to this dependance upon the former verse and to the same scope of this yet varyes the translation Thus Mine eye powreth out teares to God that he would judge for a man with God and that he would judge the Sonne man in respect of his Neighour The first reading makes the latter branch of the vvords a description of the manner how Job desired to plead with God even as man doth with man The second makes it a description of the manner how Job desired God to plead the cause of man with God even as man pleades with man This third makes it a second distinct desire and the whole verse to consist of two distinct desires First That God would judge for a man
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Denotatur in illo verbo activa provocatio indignatio irritatio Caligavit ab indignatione oculus meus Vulg. or tropically for the understanding Some interpret Job of the eye of the minde and that hath complyance with the translation vvhich is also given of the latter clause as I shall shew vvhen I come thither But I rather take it literally for the eye of the body Mine eye that is That Organ of sight which is as the Glasse or light of the vvhole body even that is dim by reason of Sorrow The word signifies more then ordinary sorrow it signifies sorrow vvith indignation or from provocation Jobs sorrow had a touch of indignation and it stirred him up to some undue provocations Sorrow is taken two wayes Actively Passively Actively for the sorrow sorrowing Passively for the sorrow sorrowed Magna cogitatio obcaecat adducto intus visu in morbo comitiali aperti nihil cernunt animo caligante Plin. lib. 11. c. 37. de oculis lachrymis Sorrow is the affliction it selfe or sorrow is that passion vvhich moves in us vvhen vve are afflicted By reason of sorrow mine eye is dim Sorrow is a wast both to the vitall and visive powers Psal 6.7 Mine eye is consumed because of greife Againe Psal 31.9 10. Have mercy on me O Lord for I am in trouble mine eye is consumed with greife yea my soule and my belly This effect of greife hath been toucht before Chap. 16.16 Mine eye is dim by reason of sorrow And all my members are as a shadow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Formavit Members That is First all the members of my body Secondly the Hebrew beares it all the creatures and imaginations of my minde are as a shadow The same word is used Gen. 6.5 The thoughts of the imaginations of mans heart that is The figments Creata in◠ea quasiuinb a omnia Merc. Per creata alij membra alii cogitationes volunt Rab. Lev. Vocabulum illud quadrat in illa omnia quae externa figura aut interna cogitatione effigiantur hinc multi legunt cogitationes phantasias Pagn Reg. Vatabl. or features of things vvhich are formed up there are evill and onely evill continually Wee put All my thoughts in the Margine of our Translation As if he had sayd My minde is so enfeebled that I can scarse thinke or frame any solid notion my minde is so unsetled that I know not how to make up my thoughts or bring them to a rationall issue about any point Sorrow weakens the intellective part as vvell as the sensitive As if hee had sayd My minde which heretofore was apt to conceive and to bring forth the exactest Ideas and platformes of truth I who could shape and fashion excellent meditations am now so weak-headed that I can scarse put two thoughts together and all I doe is but a shadow to what I have been able to doe This is a faire sense yet considering the context I rather understand it of the members of his body vvhich vvere so decayed and poore that he look'd like a Skeleton or as vvee say of such an Anatomy nothing being left but skin and bone nothing but a pack of bones so that hee vvas rather the shadow and appearance of a man then a man Hence Observe The sorrowes of the minde breake the body as well as the minde This effect of sorrow hath been met with in other places and particularly Chap. 16.16 I shall onely add that although godly sorrow as was there shewed may worke deeply to the expence of bodily strength yet there is a very gracious promise Isa 58.11 that God will make the bones of such fat that is Fill them with marrow vvhich is the strength of the vvhole outward man And they who are weakned by the continuall exercises of godly sorrow here are in preparation to an estate vvhere they shall sorrow no more There will be no dimm eyes in Heaven nor members like a shadow Our vile body shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body and all teares and mourning shall flee away Perfect happinesse is inconsistent vvith a blubbered eye And though in Heaven a Saint may be called Adam because his body for the substance of it shall be the same that it was here on earth though extreamely refined and sublimated yea spiritualiz'd yet earth still now I say though a Saint in Heaven after the resurrection may in this sense be called Adam made of Earth yet no Saint can be there called Enosh that state being incapable of the least mixture of sorrow JOB CHAP. 17. Vers 8 9. Vpright men shall be astonied at this and the innocent shall stirr up himselfe against the Hypocrite The righteous also shall hold on his way and he that hath cleane hands shall be stronger and stronger IN the two former Verses Job shewed the greatnesse of his affliction from a twofold effect In these two Verses he shewes two reasons vvhy his afflictions vvere so great not as Eliphaz and his Associates had suggested because hee was a great sinner or had sinned beyond the common line of man but First That men even upright men might be astonied at the strangenesse of this dispensation of God and of his strength supporting a vveake creature under it and carrying him through it God will doe some things which shall at once teach and astonish his people and gives them not onely matter of instruction but cause of wonder Secondly That the innocent and righteous might be encouraged by my example to proceed vigorously in the vvayes of holinesse notwithstanding all the opposition they finde from men and the afflictions layd upon them by the hand of God for as much as the favour of God shines in upon mee through all these Clouds and I have no doubt of his love though I feele all this smart Naki non tam in conscientia purum a peccato quam ab omni passione humanoque respectu immunem virum hic significat Bold Vers 8. Vpright men shall be astonied at this Who is an upright man hath been opened before yet here the upright man is a man free from passion and prejudice as well as from hypocrisie and false-heartednesse The word which we translate Astonied signifies astonishment with admiration or such an admiration as leaves a man astonied and senselesse or puts him quite beside himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tacitu miratus est prae admiratione stupuit when naturall reason is much overpowred we act as if we had had no reason Vpright men shall be astonied Master Broughton reads it in the Imperative Mood Let upright men be astonied at this Hee carries the same forme to the end of the context Let upright men be astonished at this and let the innocent stirr up himselfe against the Hypocrite Let the righteous hold on his way and let him that hath cleane hands be stronger and stronger As if the words contained a use of exhortation or direction
whom God comforts shall say Thou hast comforted me and I was comforted This the Apostle speaks out to the praise of God 2 Cor. 1.3 4. Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of mercies and the God of all consolations all consolation belongs to God he hath all comfort in his owne power and dispose there is not any creature in the World can give out the least dram of comfort to us without the commission or leave of God it is possible for one man to give another man riches but he cannot give him comfort man may give honour to man but he cannot give him comfort A man may have a pleasant dwelling a loving Wife sweet Children and yet none of these a comfort to him The consolation of all our possessions and relations is from God Whosoever would have comfort must trade to Heaven for it that 's a commodity can be found upon no earthly coast you may fetch in wealth from many coasts of the earth but you cannot fetch in comfort till you addresse your selves to the God of Heaven We can procure our owne sorrow quickly but God onely makes us to rejoyce our releife from outward affliction or inward griefe is the gift of God He onely can comfort us in outward afflictions who can command the creature and he onely can comfort us against our inward griefes who can convince the conscience None can doe either of these but God therefore consolations are from God Luther spake true It is easier to make a World then to comfort the conscience the Hebrew phrase to comfort used in diverse places of the old Testament is To speake to the heart Now God onely can speake to the heart man can speake to the eare he can speake words but he can goe no further Therefore the act and art of comforting belongs properly to God Christ is the true Noah Lamech saith of Noah Gen. 5.29 This man shall comfort us concerning our worke and the toyle of our hands it was not in Noah to comfort but as God made him a comfort and he was said to comfort as a type of Christ Christ is true comfort He is comfort cloathed in our flesh he is as it were comfort incarnate Noah sent a Dove out of his Arke which returned with an Olive branch Jesus Christ sends the holy Ghost who is called the Comforter with the Olive branch of true peace to our wearied souls and to shew that it is now the highest act of Christs love care as mediator to give comfort he promised to send the holy Ghost when himselfe was taking his leave of the Church in regard of any visible abode or bodily presence being ready to ascend and step into Heaven he sayd I will send the comforter When God rained fire and brimstone from Heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah it is sayd by some of the Ancients that he sent a Hell out of Heaven But when he powres the holy Spirit from Heaven upon his Sion we may say he sends a heaven out of heaven Heaven above is nothing else but holy comfort and the comforts of the holy Spirit are the onely Heaven below How highly then ought we to esteeme how carefully to maintaine communion with God who hath all comfort seeing comfort is more to us then all we have If wee have comfort let our estate be what it will we are well enough comfort is as the spring of our yeare as the light of our day as the Sun in our Firmament as the life of our lives Have we not reason then to draw yea to presse neerer unto God who hath all comfort in his hand and without whom the best things cannot comfort us Not our riches nor our relations not Wife nor Children not health nor beauty not credit nor honour none of these can comfort us without God and if God please he can make any thing comfort us he can make a crust of dry bread a feast of fat things a cup of cold water a banquet of Wine to us And as he can make our comforts crosses so our crosse a comfort as David speakes Psal 23.4 Thy rod and thy staffe comfort me not onely the supporting staffe but the correcting rod shall comfort if God command it to be a comforter Who would not maintaine communion with this God who can make a comfort of any thing who can answer every crosse with a comfort If we have a thousand crosses God hath ten thousand comforts hee can multiply comforts faster then the World can multiply crosses Againe if God be the God of all consolation then goe to God for consolation as the Angel said to the women when they came to the Sepulcher enquiring for Christ Why seek yee the living among the dead he is risen he is not here So I may say Why seek yee living comforts among dead or dying creatures Seeke them there no longer Job complaines in this Booke When I sayd my bed shall comfort me then thou scarest me with dreames Chap. 7. Job went to a wrong place when he went to his bed for comfort most soules misse of comfort because they goe to a wrong place for it one goes to his bed another to his freind for comfort a third to his wife and Children these saith he shall comfort me alas why seeke yee the living among the dead none of these can comfort though these may be meanes of comfort Who or whatsoever is the instrument God is the author of all our comfort whatsoever hand brings it God sends it God saith Paul who comforteth those who are cast downe comforted us by the comming of Titus 2 Cor. 7.6 Titus was a good man and brought good tydings yet Paul doth not say that the comming of Titus did not comfort them but saith Paul God comforted us by the comming of Titus T is not your freind who comforts you but God who comforts you by the comming of such a freind when you are in sorrow by sending in such reliefe when you are poor by sending such medicines when you are sick such salves when you are sore such counsell when you are in doubt and know not what to doe Once more It is happy for Saints that consolation is in the hand of God if it were in the hand of the creature sure they should have but little of it but it is in the hand of God There are these foure considerations which may comfort Saints that comfort is in the hand of God First Considering his nature he is willing and ready to do good he is full of compassion and to shew mercy pleaseth him more then it releeveth us Secondly Considering his relation to his people he is a Father Will a Father let a Child lye comfortlesse when he can help him he is our Husband he is our Freind all relations provoke God to give out comfort to the Saints Thirdly Considering his Omniscience and Omnipresence he knowes where the shooe wrings he knowes what comfort we want a
King saith Christ Luke 14.31 going to make Warr against another King doth not first sit downe c. As if he had sayd The Kings of the Earth are not so foolish so brainlesse and counsellesse to contend with those whom they cannot match they will hardly venture a Battell with ten thousand against twenty thousond they will rather make a disadvantageous Peace then proceed in a Warr upon such disadvantages The King of Israel reproved the challenge which the King of Judah sent him by the Parable of the Thistle in Lebanon aspiring to match with the Cedar in Lebanon 2 Kings 14.9 What 's a Thistle to a Cedar Then what is man to God See then what a reasonlesse yea senselesse creature man is who will needs goe out against God to Battell though all the number he can muster is not onely as disproportionable as ten thousand to twenty thousand as a Thistle to a Cedar but more then one single man is to a Million of men or then a bruised Reed to the strongest Oake God with ease made all the power of man alone and he though alone can more easily destroy it it cost him but the speaking of a word to set it up and he can pull it downe with yea without a word speaking Many men have been styled The great The strong The mighty But no man ever durst owne this style The Almighty This title of God in the Text The Almighty should make the mightiest of men the Nimrods of the World afraid to meddle yea to think a thought of medling with God The absurdity of men in strengthening themselves against the Almighty may appeare yet more distinctly in three particulars First He that is Almighty is stronger then All there cannot be two Almighties Hence the Apostle argues 1 Cor. 10. Will you provoke the Lord to anger are you stronger then he It is base and cowardly to provoke those that are weaker then our selves it may give us trouble enough to provoke those who are as strong as our selves but it is either madness or desperatnesse to provoke those who are stronger then our selves And when the Apostle demands or rather expostulates Are yee stronger then he His question cals for this positive assertory answer we are infinitely weaker then he and therefore there is no prevailing against him not onely not in all things but not in any thing It is possible for a weake Enemy to prevaile sometimes upon a mighty Enemy The Romans who commanded the world for many ages and were too strong for any Nation did yet receive some foyles though they were never conquered yet they were somtimes worsted not only by surprisals and Ambuscadoes but in the open field and even petty Princes gave checks for a while to some of their designes But El-Shaddai the Almighty God never received any defeat nor is he within the possibility of a surprize Secondly Not onely cannot the Lord be defeated but he cannot be endammaged he never lost as we say so much as a haire of his head nor did he ever suffer so much as the scratch of a Pin. The Romans obtained some Victories with such extreame losse and hazzard that it hath been sayd Two or three more such Victories would utterly undoe them they who were never defeated or foyled have yet been greatly endammaged in Battel and their clearest gains have not bin without some losse but the Almighty never lost the worth of a thread or drop of blood in all those innumerable Victories which he hath gained Thirdly Man cannot so much as hinder or retard the designes of God He transcends all the impediments and throws open all the Barracadoes that are set in his way He will worke and who shall let him Isa 43.13 There is no putting of a barr in his way and therefore if any should answer the question Who shall let it Yes there are some will let it the great men the Nobles of the Earth say no they will let it But they shall not saith God in the next Verse Vers 14. For your sake speaking to his people in Captivity I have sent to Babylon and have brought downe all their Nobles The Originall word for Nobles signifies also Barrs the Barrs of a door or Castle gate as we put in the Margin of our Bibles to note that Nobles and great men should be the strength of a People and a stop to the entrance of any evill among them but if in stead of that they prove like Barrs onely to hinder the good of a People and to lye crosse in all publike proceedings then the Lord the Lord of Lords and King of Kings brings them down and breaks them all to peeces I will worke and who shall let it The Nobles the Bars shall not though Bars of Iron to Gates of Brasse It was sayd in opening the words that stretching out the hand is the posture of a madd man Consider this and then say Is it not the maddest madnesse to stretch out the hand against God or to strengthen our selves against the Almighty to oppose him against whom it is impoâ—sible not onely to prevaile but to doe him the least hurt or give him the least check or stop in his way If wee should see a man set his shoulder against a Wall of Brasse or blow a Feather against it hoping to overturne and batter it downe would not we say this man is either a Fool who never had the use of reason or a Mad-man who hath lost his reason He that opposeth the counsells and wayes of God can no more overthrow them then a Feather can a Wall of Brasse or the touch of a little finger the strongest Tower The Psalmist represents us with these simple attempts Psal 2.1 2 c. Why doe the Gentiles rage and the people imagine a vaine thing The Kings of the earth take counsell c. Come let us breake their bands and cast their cords away from us What followes He that sits in Heaven shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision He sees how poore how inconsiderable these motions and commotions both of the Many and of the Mighty are to give check to that Decree of his Almightinesse to set his Son upon the holy Hill of Sion Eliphaz hath not yet done with his description of the impotent rage of man against the Almighty God O sinfull vaine man whither wilt thou goe What wilt thou doe next The next Verse tells us Vers 26. He runs upon him even on his necke upon the thick Bosses of his Bucklers This 26. Verse is an amplification or aggravation of the madnesse of a wicked man who when he hath strengthened himselfe against God as he thinks and hopes sufficiently then he runs upon him c. Eliphaz carrieth on the metaphor of a Battell which before it is fought Armies are mustered and drawne up in view of each other and then to shew their courage they stretch out their hands draw their Swords and as soone as the Signall
and he wept plentifully much eye-water doth not cleanse but foule the face My face is foule with weeping Facies mea inturnuit a fletu Vulg. or my face is swolne and my cheekes blubbered with weeping saith the Latine Translator Note here three sorts of teares spoken of in Scripture First There are teares of worldly sorrow Secondly Teares of godly sorrow Thirdly Teares of Hypocrisie The last sort is applyable to both the former it respects sometimes worldly sorrow and sometimes godly sorrow for both may be feyned Such were those teares Jer. 41. when Ishmael had killed Gedaliah the Text saith Ishmael went to Mizpeh and met the men weeping all along as he went as if he had been greatly troubled for the afflictions of the Land but they were Crokadiles teares Ishmael wept onely till hee had gotten those men as a prey in his power and then he destroyed them Ishmael was a State-hypocrite and seemed full of compassion that he might get an opportunity to vent his malice There are many Church-hypocrites who can foule and disfigure their faces with weeping as Christ reproves the Pharisees Matth. 6.16 while they have no thought of washing or reforming either their hearts or lives Jobs face was foule with weeping but his heart and life were cleane he needed not straine for teares or weep by art how could hee restraine teares whose troubles were enlarged The word which we render foule is doubled in the Originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Facies mea faedata est a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lutum hic duplicatur ut ante ad augendam fignisicationem which speakes thus much that his face double-dirtyed or double-dyed in his owne teares Neither yet was this all the argument of his reall sorrowes for he had not onely quite wept away his beauty but he had almost wept away his life too and was even dead with griefe as it followes in the next words And on my eye lids is the shadow of death That is Mine eyes are darkned and I looke like one that 's ready to give up the Ghost As if he had sayd My sorrow may be seen upon my eyes and eye lids which with extremity of griefe and multitude of teares are even wasted away and sunke in my head as when a man is dead or dying Much weeping weakens the eye-sight yea some are sayd to weepe out their eyes David gives us that effect of weeping Psal 6.7 I water my couch with teares that is I weep abundantly then it followes Mine eyes are consumed because of my griefe And Psal 38.10 My heart panteth my strength faileth as for the light of mine eyes it is also gone from me I am even growne blinde with sorrow or as the Church bemoanes her sad estate Lament 2.11 Mine eyes doe faile with teares Abundance of teares bring fayling of eyes and hee that useth his eyes to much weeping shall have little use of them for seeing Hos gestus in humiliationibus Orientales etiam Graecos usurpasse testatur videt Plutarchus in libello de superstitione Densissima caligo est oculis meis offusa Merc. wee may assigne the reason of it from nature because continuall powring forth of teares spends the spirits and so weakneth the viâ—ive power Now as death is a totall privation of sight so they whose sight is much impayred looke somewhat like the dead Hence Jobs complaint On my eye-lids is the shadow of death Shaddow of death notes the cleerest appearance the strongest signes of death Or this shadow of death upon his eye-lids together with the fouling of his face in the former clause may be an allusion to some fashions or customes of mourners in those times or places This phrase which also often occurrs in other Scriptures was opened Chap. 3.5 thither I referr the Reader Thus we have Jobs behaviour in his affliction by a twofold act and a twofold effect of it The first act was Sowing sack-cloth on his flesh The second was Defiling his horne in the dust The first effect was Foulenesse upon his face The second was Death upon his eyes Hence Observe First They are most sensible of the hand of God who are most submissive to it As Jobs afflictions were great so was his sorrowe and so was his submission Sorrow is not contrary to patience Job was the most patiâ—nt and the most sorrowfull man in the World There is an immoderate sorrow inconsistent with patience but great sorrow is not onely consistent with patience but an argument of it and unlesse we have some sorrow we are not patient at all how can he be called patient who either feeles not or slights his affliction It is as ill a symptome of a diseased soule to be unsensible of judgements as to be unsensible of mercies Unlesse wee feele the rod wee cannot heare the voice of the rod nor receive instruction by it To be as a Trunk or a Stone under correction is not to be patient under it but to despise it Humble your selves under the mighty hand of God is the advice of the spirit by the Apostle 1 Pet. 5.6 As God humbles us for sin or for the tryall of grace so they who have grace receive power to humble themselves and to humble our selves is not onely an act but an high act of grace both the grace of God toward us and the graces of God in us are exalted when wee are low in our owne eyes Secondly From the manner of this sorrowful humiliation He sowed sack-cloth upon his skin and defiled his horne in the dust Observe That as God letteth out visible tokens of his afflicting hand upon us so we should let out visible tokens of our humiliation under his hand As we are visibly afflicted so we should be visibly affected We may make our humblings seene though we must not doe it to be seene As the light of our active obedience should so shine before men that they may see our good workes and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Matth. 5.16 So also should the light of our passive obedience shine before men that they may see our holy sufferings and glorifie our Father which is in Heaven It is as great a sin to boast of our poverty as it is to boast of our riches and as great a vanity to be proud of a crosse as to be proud of a Crowne yet it is an honour to God when men see that we are not ashamed either of poverty or of a crosse The crosse should be carryed upon our shoulders not put up in our pockets God loves to see us owne our troubles as well as our comforts and as hee will condemne those who wrap the Talent of their gifts and abilities in a Napkin and hide it from the use of others so he doth not approve those who wrap up their crosses and afflictions in a Napkin and hide them from the sight of others especially considering that even these also are Talents for which we stand accountable how
vocantur quae Ebraeis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in quibus sacrificabant idolis Caeterum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proprie de Deo usurpatur de caelo de Deo in singulari numero de caelo in utroque Drus Dicitur Deus testis in excelsis propter locum aptissimum ad contemplandum tanquam in sublimi specula quicquid agitur Pined wherein the false gods were worshipped or the true God falsely Job puts that word into his appeale which belongs properly to God and signifies in Scripture the place of his glorious residence Jobs record was not onely on high but Bemerumim the Hebrew is Plurall in the heights Some translate it in the Superlative not in excelsis on high but in altissimis in the highests As if he had sayd My witnesse is above all witnesses and therefore he is a witnesse above all exception And Job did well for his purpose to say his record was on high not onely because of the dignity of that which is high but for the advantage which hee hath who is on high or in the highest to be a witnesse God is sayd to be a witnesse in Heaven or on high to shew how easily he can observe and take notice of those things which are below God hath eyes infinitely pure and piercing he beholds all things and hee beholds them from on high as from a watch-tower which renders the object more obvious to the eye The sight is soone intercepted upon a levell but The Lord saith David Psal 14.2 looked downe from Heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seeke God If but one had sought God God had found him out but the report which he makes upon that surveigh tels us They are all gone aside they are altogether become filthy there is none that doth good no not one Vers 3. Further he saith My witnesse is in Heaven or on high implying that he was such a witnesse as was able to protect him a witnesse who is above all feare and who needs no favour Some witnesses are not onely men of no state but of no conscience Such underlings will be hirelings upon Oath against the truth and are ready to testifie any thing for hope of gaine or for feare of a frown My witnesse saith Job is in Heaven my record is on high such a witnesse he is as cannot be corrupted by gifts such as hath no need of any mans gifts seeing he gives to all men life and breath and all things Hence Observe First That as God is the Judge of all men so hee is their witnesse God is the Judge of all the earth and God is the witnesse of all the earth too Jer. 29.23 Because they have committed villanie in Israel and have committed adultery with their neighbours Wives and have spoken lying words in my name that I have not commanded them even I know and am a witnesse saith the Lord Hee saith not I know and am Judge but I know and am witnesse Let no man hope to escape the judgement of God because there is none to witnesse against him for if God hath not the witnesse of man if our sin be a secret to all the World yet God hath alwayes two witnesses First Our owne conscience Secondly Himselfe An earthly Judge must not be a witnesse his duty is to give sentence not to give evidence hee must determine according to what is alleaged and proved upon testimony given but he cannot give testimony he cannot be Judge and Party too But God is so transcendently Soveraigne that hee is both Judge and Partie he pronounceth sentence and gives in evidence Christ is called The faithfull and the true witnesse Revel 3.14 And yet All judgement is given into his hand John 5.22 27. God judgeth upon his owne knowledge not upon the knowledge of others and therefore as there can be no fayling in so no avoyding of his judgement Secondly Observe It is lawfull to appeale to God or to take God to witnesse An Oath is the calling of God to witnesse and whensoever we appeale to God or call him to witnesse it is an Oath The Apostle Paul tooke an Oath when he sayd Rom. 1.9 God is my witnesse whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospel of his Son that without ceasing I make mention of you in my prayers Thus in highest holinesse he sware that he prayed for the Romans spirituall good while he was absent from them and had never so much as seene them and that he passionately desired to be present with them and see them that hee might impart unto them some spirituall gift Because being a meere stranger he had not yet made his actions a witnesse of his love to them and because no man can be an unerring witnesse of another mans heart or of the moving of his affections therefore he calls God to witnesse who alone knowes the heart and can tell how much we love eyther himselfe or one another He speakes as much though in another case to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 1.23 Moreover I call God for a record upon my soule that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth As if he had sayd By this my earnest adjuration I assure you that the reason why I have deferred my comming to you was not from any levity of minde or change of purpose in me but onely because I was unwilling to use such severity as the distempers among you call for and would have pressed mee unto being present We find him in the same tenour of speech towards the Philippians Chap. 1.8 For God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Christ that is I call God to witnesse I love you And againe 1 Thes 2.5 Neyther at any time used wee flattering words as you know nor a cloak of covetousnesse God is witnesse As if he had sayd Had I used flattering words you might witnesse it and that I have not used a cloake of covetousnesse God is witnesse I might have worne a cloak of covetousnesse so closely that you could not have seene it but God could he can judge through the darkest clouds and see through the thickest cloaks and coverings but I appeale to him whether I have put on such a cloake or no. As Paul by Oath purged himselfe from covetousnesse of spirit so Abraham protested by Oath against all covetous practices Gen. 14.22 I have lifted up mine hand to the most high God the possessour of Heaven and Earth that I will not take any thing that is thine This gesture of lifting up the hand when an Oath is taken is there put for an Oath it selfe by which Abraham appealed to God as a witnesse of his sincere intentions in taking up those Armes for the rescue of his Nephew Lot and that as he had overcome his Enemies so he had overcome covetousnesse which was of the two the farr more noble victory This calling of God to witnesse is
light and puft up with knowledg Secondly vvhen men are unthankfull for the light and vvill not acknowledge God the giver of it Thirdly vvhen men grow vvanton or vaine in the light vvhen they abuse it and having the light vvalke in darknesse All vvhich reasons of Gods vvithdrawing light as many Scriptures testifie so they are all testified in that one Scripture Rom. 1.21 22. Fourthly As God may be sayd to hide the heart from understanding by a totall withdrawing of light so by vvithholding it for a time or in part by clouding or eclipsing it God hides the heart of some men from understanding onely in such a point or at such a season giving them light in other things yea and in that thing too at another season This fourth way I conceive most proper to this Text of Job for his Freinds vvere not under that terrible judgement of a totall hiding their hearts from understanding onely the light was with-held from them in and about that transaction As vvhen Christ after his resurrection appeared to those Disciples Luke 24.26 the Text saith Their eyes were held that they should not know him And Vers 31. Their eyes were opened and they knew him Thus God at one time holds the intellectuall eye of some good men that they cannot discerne such or such a Truth yet afterwards he opens their eyes and they discerne it Hence Observe First The wisest men doe not see all truths nor are they able to judge of all matters These were vvise men very vvise men they spake excellent things and very understandingly about God they gave Job very good counsell but yet they failed here Elihu Ch. 32.9 saith Great men are not alwayes wise vve may say vvise men are not alwayes wise and as no man is wise at all times so there is no man wise in all things We cannot conclude that because a man hath given a right judgement in some one or in many points that therefore we may trust his decisions in all points As God hides all wisedome from some men so he very rarely if at all trusts any one man or sort of men at one time with all vvisedome Jobs Freinds were vvell acquainted with and they have acquainted us with many excellent notions about that great Doctrine of Providence but they were much mistaken about the Providence of God with Job nor did they shew themselves acquainted vvith that excellent Designe of God in his afflicting Providences thereby to try the strength and manifest the graces vvhich hee hath bestowed upon his people Secondly Observe The hiding of the heart from and the opening of the heart to understanding are the worke of God We see no further then God gives us light and so farr as he leads us we goe right if hee vvithdraw vve turne aside and quickly vvander from the way of truth and righteousnesse We have nothing of our owne but sin and ignorance wisedome is of God Every good and perfect gift comes from above As God hides all Gospell-truths and mysteries from vvorldly vvise men so no Gospell mysterie is knowne to any man till God discover and make it knowne Matth. 11.25 At that time Jesus answered and sayd I thanke thee O Father Lord of Heaven and earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent but hast revealed them unto babes By vvise and prudent he meanes wordly vvise men meere Philosophers and Politicians or hypocriticall Professors such as the Scribes and Pharisees were from these God in judgement hides the things of the Kingdome of Heaven and reveales them unto Babes even to such as are at the greatest distance in naturall considerations from the capacity of such rich and heavenly manifestations There is no greater argument that God opens the heart to understand then to see Babes understand If true knowledge in spirituall mysteries vvere from man they vvho have most of man in them vvould have most of that knowledge but vvee are taught by experience that such men as the World calls Fooles doe not erre in the way of holinesse Isa 35.8 And that the course of all Worldly vvise men is a continuall erring from that vvay and that some godly men who are higher by head and shoulders then some of their Brethren in naturall wisedome have run into and maintained errors whither can we ascribe all this but to the power of God Moses speakes of the many signes and miracles which God wrought in the midst of that people vvhich they did not understand Why what was the reason Moses tells us expressely vvhat Yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to conceive nor eyes to see nor eares to heare to this day Deut. 29.4 They had sensitive eyes and eares yea they had a rationall heart or minde but they vvanted a spirituall eye to see a spirituall care to heare a spirituall heart or minde to apprehend and improve those wonderfull vvorkes of God And these they had not because God had not given them such eyes eares and hearts Wonders without grace cannot open the eyes fully but grace without wonders can And as man hath not an eye to see the wonderfull workes of God spiritually untill it is given so much lesse hath he an eye to see the wonders of the Word of God till it be given him from above and therefore David prayes Psal 119.18 Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wonderous things out of thy Law And if the wondrous things of the Law are not much seene till God give an eye then much lesse are the vvondrous things of the Gospell The light of nature shewes us somwhat of the Law but nothing of the Gospell was ever seen by the light of nature Many who have seene and admired some excellencies in the Law could never see and therefore have derided that which is the excellency of the Gospell till God hath opened their heart to understanding Thirdly Observe It is a great judgement to have our hearts hidden from understanding in the things of God It is a sore judgement not to have the light but it is a sorer judgement not to see by the light when we have it To have a heart hid from understanding is farr worse then to have a heart unable to understand Our inability to understand ariseth two vvayes First From a naturall infirmity in the understanding Secondly From the naturall obscurity of the matter presented to the understanding Plaine truthes are not apprehended by a weake understanding and the strongest understanding cannot apprehend some obscure truthes as the Apostle Peter saith of Saint Pauls Epistles that in them there are some things hard to be understood 2 Pet. 3.16 Now as there is an affliction in it not to be able to understand any truth which God hath revealed for our use so there is much wrath and judgement in it when God hides understanding from the heart in any of those things which he hath revealed for our use but especially in those things which are necessary
as a challenge not as a profession of his fixed purpose to oppose what his Freinds should say in maintenance of their opinion but onely as a desire of their attention to what hee had yet to say for his Come returne now as if hee had thus expressed himselfe Yee are not right let mee set you right and instruct you better learne of me you have need enough to be taught for I have not found a wise man among you Thus David calls his Schollers about him Psal 34.11 Come yee Children hearken unto me and I will teach you the feare of the Lord. The former glosse shewed the strength and courage of Jobs spirit this the piety and holinesse of his spirit 'T is our duty in meeknesse to instruct those who oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth 2. Tim. 2.25 Thirdly Invitat amicos ad mutandam sententiam Pined Rescipiscete Jun. The words are more generally taken for an invitation to repentance Come now returne Some translate the word Returne in this Text by Repent which is the sense of it in a hundred Texts of the Old Testament Repentance is a turning and returning all returning supposeth eyther our being out of the way or that we have gone as farr as our businesse lyes in that way The returning of repentance supposeth only the former for every step in sin is quite out of our way what have wee to doe in the way of sin but onely to come out of it our businesse lyes not there all that we doe there must be undone againe or else wee are undone for ever In this returning of repentance we may consider first the terme from which and secondly the terme to which wee are called to returne The terme from which is twofold First Sinfull practices Secondly False and erroneous opinions Job doth not deale with his Freinds about the former hee did about the latter they were under a grand mistake concerning the Doctrine of providence and from that he invites them to a speedy returne The terme to which we are to returne in the actings of repentance is threefold First To our selves Secondly To God Thirdly To him whom wee have wronged or from whom we sinfully dissent Job may be interpreted as calling his Freinds to a returne in this threefold reference Ad se redire etiam Eatinis dicitur qui ad bonam mentem redit Grot. First As repentance is a returning to our selves a man that is carried away either to false opinions or into wicked courses is gone from his neerest home 'T is a duty to deny our selves but 't is a sin to depart from our selves And as it is a sin to depart from our selves so every sin is a departure from our selves therefore repentance which is a turning from sin must needs be a returning to our selves The Gospel represents the repentance of the Prodigall Son under this notion Luke 15.17 And when he came to himselfe he sayd c. He had not been with himselfe a long time before yet at last he came to himselfe this was his first step to repentance An impenitent person is not onely out of his way but out of his wits he is gone not onely from Divine truth and holinesse but from his owne naturall reason and prudence if so whensoever he repents he returnes to himselfe Secondly Repentance is a returning to God If thou wilt returne O Israel saith the Lord returne unto me Jer. 4.1 The grace of repentance is most frequently and most suitably expressed by this act of returning to God and they who doe not repent are every where sayd not to returne to God Amos 4. c. Yet have yee not returned unto me Thirdly Repentance is a returning to man We must not be ashamed to acknowledge our faylings one to another or to returne to them in duty from whom we have departed eyther by not giving them their due or by accusing them unduely We must not be ashamed of returning to them by submitting to the truth from whom wee have departed by following or holding any errour Thus Job may be conceived counselling and calling his Freinds to a returne in these three senses given First to themselves Secondly to God Thirdly to him whom they had so long opposed But though all three may be included yet the scope and designe of Job seemes to intend the third Returne and come now that is Returne to me let not truth fare the worse for my sake doe not you cast it off because I hold it It is not enough to turne from any evill whether of opinion or practice and returne to the obedience of God but we must also returne to the love of good men and unite with them in the truth But why must they returne Job gives the reason expresly in the latter part of the Verse For I cannot finde one wise man among you All the wayes of sin and errour are wayes of folly they stampe a man for a Foole and unwise whosoever walkes in them I cannot finde one wise man among you When he saith I cannot finde It shewes that he had endeavoured to finde he had been seeking for a wise man among them but he found none The Lord saith David Ps 14.2 looked down from heaven upon the Children of men to see if there were any that did understand and seek after God but he found none They are all gone aside Vers 3. Job seemes to have been upon such an inquiry He had looked over his Freinds and weighed them one by one but he found not one wise man among them The Preacher Eccles 7.27.28 counting one by one to finde out the account found but one man that is one wise or good man among a thousand No marvaile then if Job found not one among three yet considering what three these were men numbred among the Worthies possibly the first three of that age and place it may justly be mervailed why Job should speak at so low a rate or so sleightly of them Was he not too censorious and rigid too bold and adventerous to speake thus concerning men of such gravity authority and reputation for wisedome and learning yea and for holinesse too as these three were Shall we say that this censure proceeded from Jobs wisedome or from his passion Was he wise in saying so or so much as charitable I answer Job did not speake this from any ill will to his Freinds or from contempt of them it had been not onely unfreindly but very sinfull to have done it That word of Christ had its truth in those times Hee that is angry with his brother unadvisedly shall be in danger of judgement and he that saith to his Brother Racha which signifies an empty fellow or a man that hath nothing in him shall be in danger of a Councell but he that saith thou Foâ—le shall be in danger of Hell stre Matth. 5.23 Job did not call his Freinds Fooles when he sayd
our hearts and our thoughts are the writings of our hearts when our purposes and thoughts are broken the Tables of our hearts are broken Hence Observe First Right purposes are good but it is not good to live upon purposes Action must presently follow resolution and performance must be speeded after purposes else they are to little purpose When David had sayd I will confesse my transgressions unto the Lord Psal 32.5 he instantly confessed them And when he sayd I will take heed to my wayes Psal 39.1 he instantly tooke heed to them His purpose was in nature before his practice but in time they went together There is a double danger in delaying purposes First That the minde of the purposer may change and his spirit grow flat towards them Secondly that the seasons may change and though hee have a mind yet he may want means and opportunity to performe them There is danger in both wayes and much sin in the former way of breaking purposes The danger of both will be more discovered in the second Observation Secondly Observe When great afflictions come especially when death comes all our purposes are broken off As man is apt to busie himselfe about many things which he cannot know so about many things which though they are possible to be done yet he shall never doe It is in man to purpose but wee must aske leave of God before we can performe Crosse providences breake many purposes but death breakes all All our purposes concerning the World and the things of the World dye with us When the breath of great Princes goeth forth Psal 146.4 In that very day all their thoughts perish Great Princes are full of great thoughts but they who cannot keep themselves from perishing shall never keepe their thoughts from perishing The imaginary frames which they set up the contrivances plots and projects of their hearts are all swept away like the Spiders webb or broken like the Cockatrices Egge when themselves are swept away from the face of the Earth and broken by the power of death The thoughts of many Princes and Politicians dye while themselves live Achitophels purposes were broken and disappointed while himselfe looked on and he was so vexed to see it that hee executed himselfe because his purposes were not executed In these times of publick shaking how many purposes have we seen goe to wrack They who have been long laying their designes and brooding upon their counsels have had their egs broken in a moment their thoughts blown away like Chaffe before the wind or the lightest dust before the whirlwind Now as the purposes of many about gathering riches about taking their pleasure about advancing themselves to or establishing themselves in honor and high places have perished before they dyed so when such dye all their purposes shall certainly perish And as the purposes of all about worldly things perish in the approaches of death so doe the purposes of some about spirituall and heavenly things How many have had purposes to repent to amend their lives and turne to God which have been prevented and totally broken off by the extremity of paine and sicknesse but chiefly by the stroake of death when they have as they thought been about to repent and as we say turne over a new leafe in their lives they have been turned into the Grave by death and into Hell by the just wrath of God Some interpret this Text as Jobs complaint of the unsettlement of his thoughts about heavenly things and the breaking of his purposes in the pursuit of eternity He could not make his thoughts about Heaven hold or hange together even those thoughts were full of gaps and empty spaces or rather like Ropes of Sand. Many honest and gracious soules have found worke enough upon a death-bed or a sick-bed to attend the paine and infirmity of their bodyes When they have purposely set themselves the habituall bent of their hearts being alwayes set that way actually to seek God Non poterat jugi contemplatio in rerum divinarum ut quondam solebat intendere propter vim doloris Phil. to meditate upon the precious promises to put forth fresh lively workings of Faith upon the Lord Jesus Christ they have been suddenly recalled yea even forcibly fetcht back by some violent assault of paine or a previous charge of death So that those thoughts which should be and they desired that they might be like their objects most durable and steady were yet more like some odd ends or broken pot-sheards more like vanishing flashes or wandring fansies then that beautifull frame of heart or those well combined and fastned meditations which they intended For though all the troubles of this life and the approaches of death it selfe cannot breake disappoint or scatter those fixed purposes and thoughts which a Beleever hath had Propter multiplices animi motus perturbationes jam dolebat jam timebat nunc se erigebatin spem meliorem nunc iterum concidebat or those results and resolves which he hath often made in his own soule about the hopes and concernments of eternall life yet he may be pitifully puzzled amuzed and interrupted in his present motions and meditations about them Hence take this Caution Seeing not onely our worldly thoughts perish but our spirituall thoughts may be much broken by strong temptations and variety of bodily distempers in times of trouble and sicknesse let us hasten to settle our purposes and thoughts about eternall life yea to see our soules passed from death to life before we see sicknesse and sorrow much more before we see our selves ready to passe from life to death Purposes to repent or to minde heavenly things not onely may but for the most part are broken off and lost when sicknesse and sorrow finde us Beware of this deceit of the Devill who tells us we shall have leasure to seek God when wee are sick and that we shall have a faire opportunity to settle all the affaires of our souls when we are going out of the body then he tels us we shall have nothing else to doe and therefore we shall surely do it then Let not Satan deceive us with these vaine words for then he intends us most blowes then is his season to breake our thoughts into a thousand peices and to vex us with the splinters even when we lye upon our sicke beds or are bewildred with affliction There is scarse one of twenty but findes breakings and convulsions upon his thoughts at the same time when he feeles them upon his body How often have sick men been heard to say We cannot set our selves to think seriously of Heaven or to act Faith c. To suffer and be sicke is worke enough for any man at one time He had not need to have his greatest worke to doe when he hath such worke to doe They who have had brave spirits and fixed holy purposes upon their death-beds were such as had been long excercised in them before
are ready for us and we have made our bed in the darknesse it is not for us to looke for life here indeed to live to us is Christ but to dye is gaine A Beleever can willingly part with all his earthly possessions for heavenly hopes much more can he joyfully part with all his earthly hopes for the possession of Heaven Thirdly from these expressions The Grave is my house I have made my bed in the darknesse Note A Beleever looks upon death as a state of rest As the whole house is a place of rest compared with the World abroad so the Bed is the speciall place of rest Revel 14.14 Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth they rest from their labours and their workes follow them They shall follow their worke no more who are followed by their works The Grave is the house and bed of the body to all who dye Heaven is the house and rest of the soule to all those why dye in the Lord. Saints have here a rest in their labours they shall hereafter have a rest from their laboures Lastly Whereas the bed of death is made in darknesse Observe There is nothing desireable in death as considered in it selfe A darke condition is the worst condition Darknesse which in Scripture signifies all evill is a word good enough to expresse the state of death by What desireablenesse there is in death what pleasures in the Grave will appeare further in those arguments which death useth to invite us home to its house the Grave in the next Verse vvhich tels us our most lovely companions yea our sweetest and most endeared relations there are Corruption and Wormes Vers 14. I have sayd to corruption Thou art my Father and to the worme Thou art my Mother and my Sister Hyperbolae sunt quibus significat se omnem jam vitae cogitationem abdicasse Jun. This Verse is of the same sense with the former onely here Job breaks into an elegant variation of new metaphors and hyperbolicall expressions I have sayd That is I have as it were called to and saluted the retinue and attendants of death as my freinds and kindred As I have made my bed in the Grave and as that is my house so now I am finding out my houshold relations I say to this Thou art my Father and to that Thou art my Mother and Sister 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est clamare vocare appellare per electionem nominare elegans prosopopeia per quam Job tumulum alloquitur Bold The word which we render I have sayd c. signifies not barely to say but to cry or call out I have called out to corruption so Master Broughton To the pit I cry O Father O Sister O Mother to the Worme not barely I have sayd but I cry and not barely I cry Father to the pit but he adds also a note of exclamation O Father Secondly The word imports not generally a calling or crying out to any one that comes next but to some speciall person by way of election and choice or to such as vve know vvell and are acquainted with as the termes of Father Mother and Sister imply Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat etiem occurrere alicui nam occurrentem solemus salutatione vel interrogatione aliqua proprio nomine appellare Further the word signifies not onely to call aloud and to call with election but to goe forth on purpose to call a Freind or to invite him in As when we see an acquaintance comming towards us or our dwellings we step out to meet and welcome him so the word may beare in this place As if Job seeing death drawing towards him had gone out and said O corruption my Father O wormes my Mother my Sister vvelcome vvelcome such an elegancy the word yeelds us I shall not here stay upon any anxious disquisition about the propriety of these relations how Job cals corruption his Father and the vvorme his Mother and Sister or in drawing out comparisons about them vve are to looke onely to a generall proportion not to an exact propriety in these words there 's no need to make out parallels between corruption and a Father or betweene wormes and a Mother or a Sister Onely thus much may be asserted particularly First He speakes thus to shew that he looked on death not onely not as an enemy but not as a stranger Death and he were well acquainted Secondly He speakes thus to shew that death vvas not only not a stranger to him but as one of his kindred He vvas upon as fayre termes vvith death as vvith Father and Mother Thirdly Job speakes thus to shew Vt ostendat mortem sibi in votis esse cunctis illum amicitiae necessitudinis nomininis compellat Pinet that he did not onely looke upon death as in a neere relation to him but as having a kinde of delight and contentment in death vvhat is more sweet to a man vvho hath been in a long journey and is returning home then to thinke that he is comming to his Father and Mother to his Brethren and Sisters As nature gives us kindred by blood so it is a custome to adopt and stampe to our selves kindred by kindnesse one vve call Father and another vve call Mother one is our Brother a second is our Sister a third our Cozen by the mutuall tyes or by the receits and returnes of curtesie Thus we are to take these compellations as intimating vvith vvhat spirit Job entertained the thoughts of death even with no other then if he had beene to fall into the embraces of Father and Mother and Sister He sayd to corruption as we should say to wisedome Prov. 7.4 Say unto wisedome thou art my Sister and call understanding thy Kinswoman that is Acquaint thy selfe with and be familiar vvith vvisedome so shalt thou keepe thy selfe vvhich is both thy vvisedome and thy happinesse a stranger From the strange Woman Vers 5. Further it may yet be enquired what it is which Job cals Corruption and the worme I have sayd to corruption c. What is this corruption There are two opinions about it First Some interpret him speaking to the corruption and wormes which had already seized upon his body for his diseases and ulcerous sores had bred corruption and wormes As if he had sayd I may well call corruption my Father for I am already full of corruption I may well call the worme my Mother my sister for the wormes creep in and out at my sores continually my body is as if it had layne already in the Grave full of corruption and wormes Secondly Others expound him speaking to and of the corruption and wormes which waited his comming into the Grave The vvord in the Text which wee translate Corruption signifies also the Grave because bodies doe not onely corrupt in the Grave 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fovea corruptio quod in fovea corpus corrumpitur but