is here Jer. 23.23 24. Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not afarre off Can any hide himselfe in secret places that I shall not see him saith the Lord doe not I fill heaven and earth saith the Lord All these expostulating questions are resolved into this one position God is every where And though some reade the first not as a Qâ—estion but as an Assertion Thus I am a God at hand and not a God afarre off yet the sence is the same God therein affirming that he is ever neere us and never afarre off from us wheresoever we are Though God be in those places which are furthest off from us as well as in those that are neere at hand yet God himselfe is never afarre off from us but alwayes at hand When Solomon had set up the Temple 1 King 8.27 He was sure of the presence of God in it and therefore did not speake doubtingly but admiringly when he asked But will God indeed dwell on earth that is will God manifest himselfe gloriously on the earth behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot conteine thee how much lesse this house that I have builded Solomon knew that heaven could not conteine that is limit God much lesse could the house which he had builded Yet the Lord made the Temple another heaven to himselfe it was as his second heaven there the Lord had a kinde of glorious residence beyond what he had in any other part of the world Now the Assemblyes and Congregations of the Saints are in a speciall manner the dwelling place of God and his second heaven He dwells so much in the Churches that he seemes not to dwell at all in any part of the world beside 2 Cor. 6.16 17. I will dwell in them and walke in them Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the uncleane thing and I will receive you God who is in all the world dwels onely in and with his people They who separate from whatsoever is unholy have him neerest them who is altogether Holy To conclude this poynt we may make use of that distinction of the Schooles to cleare the difference how a corporall substance and a spirituall as as also how a spirituall created and uncreated substance may be sayd to be in a place All bodyes are in place circumscriptively spirituall substances created Angels and soules of men are in place definitively Wee cannot draw a line about an Angell as about the body of a man yet the Angel is so in this place as not in another but God who is a spirit and uncreated is in place repletively that is he filleth all places where he is but is not limited by any place where he is He is as some have not unfitly spoken a Spheare whose center is every where and whose circumference is no where This is a mystery which indeed we are not able to comprehend by reason but we must take it downe by faith The Lord is in the height of heaven yet so there as he is not shut up there But if any shall yet querie How is the Lord every where how is he in heaven and in earth is it so as the Sunne may be said to be every where the Sunne is seated in heaven yet is by way of communication on earth the Sunne by light heate or influence is all the world over in some degree or other yet the Sunne moves onely in his Orbe Or is God so every where as a Soveraigne Prince who though in person he reside here or there yet in power and Authority he is every where within his own Dominion I answer No These allusions are farre below this truth God is every where not onely as the Sunne by light heate and influence not onely as a Prince by his power and Authority but as we speake in person and in his Essence Further the Lords presence in all places is not as that of the aire which is more every where then the Sunne the aire is every where filling all places and so encompassing all bodies as if it made them all but one Great body yet that part of the aire that is in one place is not in another for the aire is divisible Divina essentia est tota intra omnia tota extra omnia nusquam inclusa aut exclusa omnia contineus a nullo contenta nec propterea immistu rebus aut rerum sordibus inquinata August Epist 55. ad Dard But we must not take up any such apprehensions of God for as he is every where so he is wholly every where God cannot be divided or parted as the ayre is may The Divine Essence as one of the Ancients hath expressed this astonishing mysterie is whole within all things and whole without all things no where included no where excluded conteining all things conteined of nothing yet not at all mingled with the nature of these things nor defiled with their pollutions That which the Philosopher speaks of the soule of man That it is all in the whole body and whole in every part of the body comes neerest this mystery Some quarrell at that expression about the soule yet there is a truth in it The soule is indivisiâ—le much more God wheresoever he is he is all and altogether he is every where and every where all So he is in the height of heaven and so he is on earth below But if God be every where why doth Christ teach us to pray Our father which art in heaven Mat. 6.13 And when the Heathen made that scoffing demand Where is now their God Why did David Answer Our God is in heaven Psal 115.2 3. To these and all other Texts of like import wee may answer heaven is not there spoken of as bounding the presence of God but as guiding the faith and hope of man In the morning saith David Psal 5.3 will I direct my prayer unto thee and will looke up When the eye hath no sight of any helpe on earth then faith may have the clearest visions of it in heaven And while God appeares so little in any Gratious dispensation for his people on earth that the enemy begins to scoffe Where is now your God Then his people have recourse by faith to heaven where the Lord not onely is but is glorious in his appearings From whence as he seeth how it is with us so he seemes to have a kinde of advantage to relieve us But as some Scriptures seeme to confine God to heaven so other Scriptures seem to deny that he is every where on earth Thus Moses sayd to the people of Israel Numb 14.42 Goe not up for the Lord is not among you And againe Deut. 7.21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them for the Lord thy God is among you with some the Lord is with others the Lord is not and he is with the same persons at one time not at another How then can it be sayd that the
of the earth as Philosophy teacheth us though to appearance not bigger then the blase of a Candle nor broader then the palme of a hand Fourthly Consider also the difference of the Starres in their greatnesse and magnitude they are all great but not all of a greatnesse not all of one size Astronomers divide the Starres into sixe magnitudes We should likewise observe and wonder at their light which is their glory the light of the Starres is the glory of the Starres and so the more light any Starre hath the more glory it hath Thus one Starre differeth from another Starre in glory 1 Cor. 15.41 But I shall not stay upon these things having insisted somwhat largely upon them at the 9th Chapter v. 9. Whether I referre the Reader Onely note here that as the Starres of heaven are of several degrees God hath not levell'd them eyther in light or magnitude so he hath diversly distributed the light of parts and gifts of understanding and knowledge of estate and power to and among the children of men here on earth 'T is good for all that all are not alike The universe could not be eyther so beautiful or so orderly if every particular had the same beauty or were of the same order And he that cannot be content to have lesse and to be lesser then another is altogether unfit not onely to be as great or to have as much as another but to be or have any thing at all Nor is any man more fit to be more then he is then he that can rejoyce while another is more then he Secondly Note The creature leads us to God That 's the tendency and scope of all that is here asserted Eliphaz calls not Job to the meditation or contemplation of the Starres to leave him there Some study the heavens much but their lives are earthly they study the Starres yet there is nothing but dirt in their hearts and the reason is because they study the Starres for the Starres sake and not for Gods sake and make the Starres their end not their way or as Starres to lead them to God This is the reason why many Astronomers and Philosophers who busie their heads and minds much in speculation about the nature of the heavenly bodyes know not at all what it is to have their conversations in heaven or to minde the things that are above Wee should so behold the glory of the Starres as from thence to inferre that God is much more glorious yea that these things which were made glorious have no glory in comparison of that Glory which made them Plato taught his Scollers to say The earth is beautifull the heavens are more beautifull but God who made the earth and the heavens is more beautifull then both The visible creature shewes the invisible God Psal 19.1 2. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke But O how glorious is the invisible God who hath made such visible creatures and what a work-Master is he who hath set up such a work Rom. 1.20 The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearely seene being understood by the things that are made even his eternall power and godhead The things that are made carry us to the maker of them and they tell us that none but he who hath an eternall power and godhead could possibly make them The Heathen thought the Sunne Moone and Starres to be Gods therefore certainly there is very much of God much of the glory and power of God to be seene in them And Job saith which doth plainly shew that in nature it is so Chap. 31.26 If I beheld the Sunne when it shined or the Moone walking in brightnesse and my heart hath been secretly inticed or my mouth hath kissed my hand this also were an iniquity to be punished by the Judge for I should have denyed the God that is above That is if I have been inticed to worship the Sunne or Moone as ravisht with their beauty for 't is so farre from being a sin that 't is a duty to behold the Sunne when it shineth and the Moone walking in brightnes but so to behold them as to adore them or doe obeysance to them which was the custome of the Heathen expressed it seemes among them by kissing their hand as we doe at this day in token of respect and reverence to men above us this is an iniquity even that grosse iniquity of Idolatry or worshipping the creature in stead of or more then the Creator who is blessed for evermore Now I say inasmuch as these creatures have so much of God in them that many Heathens have mistaken them for God how will it condemne us of dulness and stupidity if we be be not led to God in the knowledge and beholding of them For as to make these creatures Gods so not to see God in these creatures is to deny the God that is above Thirdly While we behold the Starres of heaven it should exceedingly both humble us and make us thankful for whose use comfort and accommodation in this life God set up those Glorious Lights God did not make them for his owne use he had no need of them he was from everlasting without any of these creatures The Starres are nothing to him The Sunne is nothing to him yea in that state of glory where we shall injoy God for ever we shall have light without Sunne so that these lights were made for our use and for ours onely while we are walking in the darke vale of this present world Now while we behold the height of the Starres how high they are and consider for whom as well as by whom they were made even for us for poore us who are but dust and ashes This should at once lay us low in humblenes looking upon them as an honour to great for us and rayse us up in thankfullnes because the benefit and comfort of them is so great to us Thus David speakes in that excellent prophecy of Christ Psal 8.3 When I consider thy heavens the worke of thy fingers the Moone and the Starres which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindfull of him and the sonne of man that thou visitest him As if he had said thou hast made all these creatures for man see what a heaven what starrs God hath framed and set up for man Lord what is man that thou art mindfull of him Thus behold the height of the starres how high they are as to lead thee unto God and to admire his highnes so to be humbled at thy own basenes and to be thankfull for his benefits Eliphaz having laid downe these two Propositions God is on high and the Starres are high proceeds to make an inference from both which he formeth up by way of supposition from Jobs owne mouth Vers 13. And thou sayest how doth God know As if Eliphaz had said thou art so farre from making that right improvement which thou
and 't is usuall in Scripture to speake that in negative words which was before spoken in affirmative As to be naked and to have no covering are the same so hell and destruction are the same and these two are often put together Pro. 15.11 Hell and destruction are before the Lord how much more the hearts of the children of men Though we know not where hel is nor what is done there though wee know not what is become of those that are destroyed nor what they suffer yet God doth and if the secrets of hel and devills are knowne to him then much more the secrets of the hearts of the children of men And as that proverb teacheth us that nothing is hid from God because hell and destruction are not so another proverb delivered in the same forme teacheth us that nothing in the creature can satisfie the desires and lustings of man even as hell and destruction can never be satisfied Prov. 27.20 Hell and destruction are never full so the eyes of men are never satisfyed The Devill who is the great executioner of the wrath of God is exprest by this word as hell is called destruction in the abstract so the Devill is called a destroyer in the concrete Revel 9.11 And they had a King over them which is the Angel of the bottomlesse pit or hell whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon but in the Greeke tongue hath his name Apollyon both the one and the other the Hebrew and the Greeke signifie the same thing a destroyer The Devill who is the Jaylour of hell is called a destroyer as hell it selfe is called destruction from the Co-incidency of these two termes Note Hell is destruction They that are once there are lost and lost for ever The reason why hell is called destruction is because they that are cast to hell are undone to eternity We read of a City Isa 19.18 which was called the City of destruction because it was to be utterly destroyed Hell may be called a City of destruction not because it shall ever be destroyed but because it shall ever be full of destruction and nothing but destruction shall be there There is no estate on earth so miserable but a man may be delivered out of it but out of hell there is no deliverance Heman saith Psal 88.11 Shall thy loving kindnesse be declared in the grave or thy faithfullnesse in destruction There grave and destruction are put together much more may hell and destruction be put together or for each other What ever comes into the grave is destroyed it rots and perisheth much more doth hell destroy all that comes thither And looke as the grave is to the body now a destroyer consuming so hell is to the soule now and will be to soule and body after the resurrection a destroyer tormenting The loving kindnesse of God shall not be declared in Hell nor any faithfullnesse of his in destruction unlesse it be his faithfullnesse according to what is threatned in the Word to destroy The Apostle Peter sayth 1 Ep 3.19 20. that Christ by the Spirit went and preached to the Spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah c. It is true that Christ by the Spirit in the ministery of Noah did preach to those Spirits who were disobedient in the time when Noah preached and were in prison or in hel in the time when Peter wrote But Christ did not preach by his Spirit in the ministery of Noah or any other way to Spirits who were in prison or in hel while he preached to them There are no Sermons in hel nor any salvation there The loving kindnesse of God is aboundantly declared on earth but it shall not be declared in hel As there is nothing felt in hel but destruction so there is no salvation offered to those who are in hel There 's teares enow and mourning enough in hel but there is not the least Godly sorrow in hel which onely worketh repentance to salvation August lib. 21. de Civ dei cap 17. not to be repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 One of the ancients hath reported the opinion of some in his time who thought that though there be destruction in hel yet not eternal destruction but that sinners should be punished some a lesse others a longer time and that at last all shall be freed and yet saith he Origen was more mercifull in this poynt then these men for he held that the Devill himselfe should be saved at last Of this opinion I shall say no more in this place then this one thing which he there sayd These men will be found to erre by so much the more foulely against the right words of God so much the more perversely by how much they seeme to themselves to judge more mercifully for indeed the justice of God in punishing sinners is as much above the scale of mans thoughts as his mercyes in pardoning them are let not sinners flatter themselves in a hope of salvation when they are in hel who have neglected salvation while they were on the earth For as the Apostle saith Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape that is how shall we escape falling into hel if we neglect so great salvation so I may say how shall any escape by getting out of hell who neglect so great salvation Hel is destruction and as because heaven is a place of happinesse and salvation therefore heaven and happinesse heaven and salvation mutually or reciprocally signifie one another to obtaine heaven is to obtaine salvation to obtaine heaven is to obtaine happines So because hel is a place of misery and destruction therefore hel and misery hel and destruction signifie the same thing nor can they be separated Againe when he sayth Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering we learne There is nothing hid from the eye or knowledge of God Philosophy and reason teach us that the vertue and force of the heavenly bodyes the Sunne Moone and Starres doe not onely act upon those parts of the earth which are uppermost but send their influences and powers to the lowest parts or bowels of the earth for as was sayd before according to the ordinance of God dead things are formed there Now I say as the power of the heavenly bodyes reacheth downe into the earth much more doth the power and light of God reach into hell it selfe I will not stay upon any curious enquiries where this hell is wheresoever it is God seeth it Hel is naked before him therefore sayth David Psal 139.8 If I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there that is there thou art by thy power and inspection thou seest what is in hell and if so how much more doth God behold what is done heere upon the earth if hell be naked before him then the earth is naked before him if destruction have no
rule and governe the floods for a while but he ruleth and governeth them alwayes he sitteth upon them king for ever even untill day and night come to an end Thirdly note The waters shall never totally overflow the earth As God hath given them a bound so such a bound as shall keepe them in compasse for ever And as we have an assurance in the power of God that he can keepe or compasse the waters with bounds to the end of the world so also we have his promise and his faithfullnes engaged that he will maintaine those bankes and bounds and keepe them in such repayre that the waters shall never prevaile over them Gen. 9.8 9 10 11. And God spake unto Noah and to his sons with him saying and I behold I establish my Covenant with you and with your seed after you c. neyther shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood neyther shall there be any more a flood to destroy the earth And as mankinde is under this promise of freedome from an universal deluge so every godly man may rise up to this assurance that no waters of any sort can wet so much as the sole of his foote or the hemme of his garment but as they have leave and commission from him who hath compassed the waters with bonnds untill the day and night come to an end JOB CHAP. 26. Vers 11 12. The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproofe He divideth the Sea by his power and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud JOB still proceedeth in the enumeration and illustration of the mighty works of God what he doth in the clouds and what in the heavens was shewed from the former context Here Job tells us what the Lord doth with the heavens He who made the heavens and stretched out the North over the empty place can make these heavens totter in their place and tremble when he pleaseth The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproofe There are three things to be enquired into for the opening of this verse First What is meant by the pillars of heaven Secondly How the pillars of heaven may be said to tremble and be astonished Thirdly What we are to understand by the reproofe of God Columnae coeli i. e. Angeli contremiscunt Aquin Angelos vocat columnas coeli quia sâ—ilicet eorum officio admâ—nistratur motus coelorum Aquin when he sayth they are astonished at his reproofe The pillars of heaven tremble There are various opinions about these pillars first many of the Latins hold that these pillars of heaven are the Angells by whose assistance say some Philosophers the motions of the heavenly bodyes with their orbes or spheares are guided and maintained And doubtlesse as the Angels have great employments upon and about the earth so also in and about the heavens and therefore may not improperly be called the pillars of heaven in which sence also the Angels are called the powers of heaven as some interpret Math 24.29 where Christ prophesieth that immediatly after the tribulation of those dayes the Sunne shall be darkened and the Moone shall not give her light the starrs shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall be shaken Many of the antients interpret those powers of heaven by the Angels as if the Lord would doe such things in that great day as should trouble and astonish not onely men on earth but the Angels in heaven who may be called the pillars of heaven as some eminent men for parts and power are called the pillars of the earth And wee may suppose them pillars of heaven not for the strength and sustainement of heaven Stabilitaâ—eÌ„ permanenteÌ„ in natura angelorum intelligamus nemine Columnarum Philip but for the beauty and ornament of it As we see many pillars in stately Pallaces which are not placed there to beare up the weight of those buildings but only to adorn beautifie them Or Angels may be called the pillars of heaven because of the firmenes and stability of their owne nature not as if they were any firmenes or establishment unto heaven Secondly By these pillars of heaven are conceaved to be meant the high mountaines of the earth which seeme to touch the heavens according to sence and so to sustaine and beare them up as pillars but this opinion not being grounded upon any truth in nature but onely upon a popular errour though it be a truth that even these supposed pillars of heaven tremble at the reproofes of God I shall not insist at all upon this interpretalion Thirdly These pillars of heaven say others are the ayre for as the lowest parts of the earth are called the foundations of the earth because the foundation of a building is layd lowest so the lower parts of heaven the ayre which is sometimes called heaven yea the firmament of heaven Gen. 1.20 may be called the pillar of heaven 'T is true also that the Lord maketh dreadfull combustions by stormes and tempests in the ayre insomuch that those pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproofe But I shall not give this neyther as Jobs meaning here Terra tota velut orbis totius fundamentum ac firmanentum Merc Fourthly By the pillars of heaven others understand not the ayre or the mountains but the whole body on globe of the earth Thus David speakes 2 Sam. 22.8 Then the earth shooke and trembled the foundations of heaven moved and shooke because he was wroth where the foundations of heaven in the latter part of the verse may be expounded by the earth in the former part of the verse For if we consider the whole fabricke of the world together then the earth seemes to be the foundation or pillar of heaven And frequent experiences in all ages especially in some parts of the world have felt and reported the trembling of the earth We commonly call it an Earth-quake and Philosophers teach us that the reason of it in nature is the strength of vapours included in and striving to make their way out of the bowels of the earth And as this trembling of the earth hath a reason in nature so it is often caused by speciall command from God as a reproofe of the sinfullnes of man or to awaken him from his sin yet Fifthly I rather conceive that this phrase The pillars of heaven is used onely in a generall sense and not particularly intended eyther of Angels or mountains of the ayre or of the earth but that the pillars of heaven are the strength of heaven the strength of a building consists in the pillars that beare it up take away the pillars and it falls downe as Sampson sayd to the lad that held him by the hand suffer me that I may feele the pillars whereupon the house standeth and when he had once moved them the house fell Judg. 16.26.30 so that when Job sayth the pillars of heaven tremble the
Lord is every where present I answer when Moses sayth and many other Texts which speake in the same forme that God was sometimes with his people and somtimes not we are not to understand it at all of a local presence or absence but of a favourable presence or absence Thus God is with some persons and not with others thus he is sometime present with sometime absent from the same person It was this favourable presence for which Moses did so earnestly entreate the Lord Exod. 33.15 If thy presence goe not with us carry us no further That is unlesse thou please to be with us to prosper our way and protect us in it let us stay where we are This presence of God is a high favour indeed and God is thus present but in few places comparatively of the whole earth Once more those Scriptures may seeme to imply that God is so in heaven that he is not also upon the earth which speak of his coming downe from heaven to earth Gen. 11.5 And the Lord came downe to see the City and the Tower which the Children of men builded Whence some may inferre if he came downe to see the City then he was not there before and if so then he is not universally present in all places Againe Gen. 18.20 21. And the Lord said because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sinne is very grievous I will goe downe now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me and if not I will know This passage yeelds the same difficulty and objection To both which we may adde that of David Psal 14.2 The Lord looked downe from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any that did understand He doth not say God was among the children of men here below but being in heaven as a man standing upon a high place or Tower he looked downe I answer These Texts speake of God after the manner of men or they speake thus not to teach us how God knowes what is done on earth but to confirme and assure us that the Lord doth clearely and certainly know whatsoever is done by or among men on earth even as clearely certainly as a man knoweth any thing by his view upon the place God knoweth all things presently without searching though never so secret and all things certainly without enquiring though never so doubtfull God neyther ascends nor descends He doth not come downe by any motion but he comes downe to our apprehension He shewes us after our way that he knoweth because we cannot conceave his way of knowledge If I would assure another man that I certainly know such a thing I tell him I came from the place I saw it or I beheld it with my own eyes now that 's all that is intended when 't is sayd The Lord came downe from heaven to behold and see the Tower of Babell and the condition of Sodom Or it is to admonish all Magistrates and Judges that they passe no sentence of punishment eyther upon places or persons upon bare hearesay and reports but that they first enforme themselves fully of the matter of fact as Job professed his course was in all legal proceedings Chap. 29.16 The cause which I knew not I searched out Thus wee see notwithstanding all these apparances from Texts of Scripture to the contrary That this Scripture-truth standeth firme The Lord is so in the height of heaven that he is every where also here upon the earth From which take these two Deductions First Seeing the Lord is every where present we should be every where holy For where soever he is he is the holy Lord That was the charge which God gave to Abraham Walke before me and be upright As if he had sayd Wheresoever thou walkest walke as having me present with thee and be upright in my presence I saith David a type of Christ Psal 16.8 have set the Lord alwayes before me he is at my right hand I shall not be moved He that by faâ—th eyes God continually as his protector in trouble shall not be moved with any evill that he suffers and he that eyes God by faith as his patterne in holinesse shall not be moved from doing that which is good This thought The Lord is at our right hand keepes us from turning eyther to the right hand or to the left It is said of Enoch that he walked with God Gen. 5.22 and though the Historie of his life be very short yet 't is sayd of him a second time ver 24. That he walked with God He walked so much with God that he walked as God he did not walke which kinde of walking the Apostle reproves 1 Cor. 3.3 as men He walked so little like the world that his stay was little in the world He was not saith the Text for God tooke him He tooke him from the world to himselfe or as the Author to the Hebrewes reports it he was translated that he should not see death for he received this testimony that he pleased God Secondly It followeth if God be every where present That the godly are never out of the reach of God to helpe them and that the wicked are never out of the reach of God to punish them Isa 43.2 When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt The presence of God is the protection of Saints in the evill which they suffer and they who doe evill cannot be hid from his punishing presence There is no running from God It is said of Jonah Chap. 1.3 That he fled from the presence of God Whether fled he The Text saith he fled to Sea but did not God finde him there He fled from the commanding presence of God but he fell into the angry presence of God We have a large description in the 9th of Amos how carnall men hope to shift out of the hand of God I sayth the Lord will slay the last of them with the sword though they dig to hell thence shall my hand take them We read what wise counsell the servants of the King of Benhadad gave him after he had been defeated by the King of Israel 1 King 20.23 24 25. Their Gods are Gods of the hils therefore they were stronger then we but let us fight against them in the plaines and surely we shall be stronger then they Make thee an Army like the Army that thou hast lost horse for horse and Chariot for Chariot and we will fight against them in the plaine and surely we shall be stronger then they and he hearkened to their voice and did so Why did they desire to fight them upon the plaine they thought God was a God of the hills and not of the valleys but ver 28. A man of God sayd to the King of Israel thus saith the Lord because the Assyrians have said the
Lord is God of the hills and not of the valleys therefore will I deliver this great multitude into thy hand As if he had said however you deserve not in the least that I should owne you or assist your cause yet that I may confute the blasphemous and derogatory principles of these Syrians I will give you a second victory against them even in the valleys where they suppose they have you at an advantage and shall deale with you beyond the extent of my power and Territory Though God had no cause to respect the honour of the Israelites yet he could not forget the honour of his owne name which was obscured by those superstitious Syrians The most received Doctrine Divinity of the Heathens confined their Gods to certaine places some to this City some to that some to the hills some to the plaines some to the Sea others to the Land 'T is sayd that the same night in which Alexander the Great of whose Conquests Daniel Prophesied was borne that the Temple of Diana at Ephesus was burnt to the ground And the Heathens gave this as the reason of it because Diana was absent from hir Temple being gone to assist at the birth of Alexander implying that their Goddess was so in one place as she could not attend what was done elsewhere Such were the grosse conceits which they had of their Gods and they imagined the God of Israel to be such a one as their owne The veriest Idolater in the world presumes his God as good as any is But Jehova the living God hath taught us to say Who is a God like unto thee and our experiences have sealed to it that there is none like the God of Jesurun who rideth on the heavens for thy helpe and in his excellency on the skyes Deut. 33.26 And wee have learned to comfort our selves in all places and streights in this assurance that he is the God of the hills as well as of the valleys of the Sea as well as the dry Land and that he is as truely present in the lowest depths as in the highest heavens Is not God in the height of heaven And behold the height of the Starres how high they are The Hebrew is Behold the head of the Starres The head of a man is the highest part of him and the head of any thing is the top of it Behold the head or height of the Starres how high they are Starres are high but God is higher many creatures are high but God is high above all creatures The creature is strong but God is stronger the creature is wise but God is wiser the creature is glorious but God is infinitely more glorious The glory wisdome strength and highest height of the creature is but a glimpse of what God is The Starres are high I shall not enter into an Astronomicall Discourse about the Starres or the height of Starres I shall not meddle with a Jacobs staffe to take the elevation of the Starres no need of such Discourse here all that is intended by Eliphaz is a proofe that God is infinitely exalted in his highnes and majesty above the Starres Behold the height of the Starres how high they are This word behold in Scripture is often applied to things of wonder To say behold is not a calling for the bare act of the eye to see the height of the Starres but it calls for a worke of the minde duly to consider of and to wonder at their height Some creatures especially the heavenly are not onely usefull but wonderfull and 't is as hard to understand them as it is comfortable to enjoy them The Hebrew word for Heaven cometh from a roote which signifies to amaze and astonish And indeed there are naturall wonders and mysteries enow in the heavens to astonish any considering man And the true reason why we are no more astonisht at them or doe no more admire them is because we doe so little consider them We often see or looke upon the Starres but we seldome behold them And therefore David saith Psal 8.3 When I consider the heavens the worke of thy fingers the Moone and the Starres which thou hast ordained what is man that thou art mindfull of him As the beholding and consideration of our owne workes will make us ashamed because they appeare so bad so the consideration and beholding of the works of God will make us astonisht because they appeare both so good and great Behold saith the Apostle 1 Joh. 3.1 what manner of Love the father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God even this transcendent Love of God in our Adoption is passed by as a small matter by those who will not take the paines or rather the pleasure and leysure to behold and consider the manner of it No mervaile if the power of God in making the highest Starres be passed by as a low thing by those who doe not behold that is diligently consider them Behold the height of the Starres how high they are Wee are called to consider this Hence note That it is our duty to contemplate the excellency of the creature God hath not onely given us the booke of the Scripture but of the creature and we must attend to the reading of this as well as of that even to the reading of every lease and line of it There are foure great leaves of this booke First the heavens secondly the earth thirdly the Sea fourthly the aire These are the foure great leaves of this booke of the creature in every one of which we should labour to be expert Scholars and spel out the name and minde of God in them For though as I said before beholding notes wondering yet wee must not behold them to wonder at them like children but we must behold them to learne somewhat from them or to be instructed by them as men Behold the Starres First In their number As God said to Abraham Gen. 15. 5. Looke now towards Heaven and tell the Starres if thou be able to number them and he said unto him so shall thy seed be 'T is matter of wonder that God should make so many of those eminent Lights that he should set up so many flaming torches in heaven for man to see his way and worke by on earth That God who hath spread this Canopie over our heads should also embroyder it with such a multitude of Golden spangles which render it as much our delight as it is our duty to behold them Secondly Behold the Starres in their order they move by rule they keepe their rankes none of them goe out of their place or forsake their station They who are skilled in the motion of the Starres know where to have them a hundred yeare hence In the 5th of Judges it is said The Starres in their courses fought against Sissera Thirdly We should consider the Starres in their magnitude what vast bodyes they are Some of them are bigger then the whole body
oughtest of these truths that the Lord is in the height of heaven and that he hath made those high and glorious lights in heaven that indeed thou doest quite pervert his meaning in making them Thou sayest how doth God know In stead of honouring God who formed these lights thou art darkning his honour and ecclipsing the light of his omniscience For whereas thou shouldest have sayd seeing God is on high and hath made the Starres which are so high surely nothing can be hid from his knowledge Thou sayest How doth God know And there is a twofold saying of this first a saying with the tongue secondly with the heart The vaine heart of man hath many sayings and this among the rest Dicis 1 verbis prolatis 2 mentis cogitatione falsa persuasione How doth God know Psal 14.1 The foole hath said in his heart there is no God And he that saith in his heart How doth God know speakes as foolishly as that foole doth who saith There is no God To deny that or doubt whether God knoweth all things is not onely to doubt but to deny that God is at all He is not God who knoweth not all things And thou sayest how doth God know The conjunctive particle And is here put as a causal And thou sayest that is therefore thou sayest how doth God know So the sense is more cleare Is not God in the height of heaven c. He is And what then The use thou makest of it is this Thou sayest how doth God know so the particle is used Gen. 49.16 He saw that rest was good and he gave his shoulders to the burthen c. that is therefore he gave his shoulders to the burthen Thou sayest How doth God know Wee may answer First Negatively Not by sence as wee eyes and eares are ascribed to God improperly in Scripture nor doth God know by discourse drawing one thing from another but in the Affirmative he knowes intuitively he knowes every thing nakedly in it selfe Againe Some read What doth God know how farre doth his eye extend what are the objects of his knowledge To this we may answer God knoweth all things even the hearts of all the children of men There are no secrets to God But whether wee expound it of the manner or matter of divine knowledge the sence is the same eyther an affirmation that God did not know all things or at least a doubt whether he did or no. Thou sayest How doth God know But where and when did Job say this Job might challenge Eliphaz bring your proofes and witnesses against me why doe you impute such thoughts to me and frame such imaginations in my breast certainly Job never spake this and as surely Job never thought this yet Eliphaz puts it directly upon him What was his ground Existimabet haec consequi ex Jobi dictis quasi necesse sit eum qui dicat improbos prospere agere existimare etiam deum res humanas noncurare Merl. onely as the former crimes of uncharitablenesse and injustice his breaking the armes of the fatherlesse c. were fastned upon him because of the feares snares and darknesse in which he was as if he must needs have done those evills because he endured so much evill Jobs sufferings were great and therefore according to the Logicke of Eliphaz his sinnes must needs be very great So here he hath onely this to prove his supposition that Job said How doth God know because Job had sayd that God doth sometime prosper wicked men and afflicts the righteous As if he who sayth that God suffers wicked men to prosper in this life must needs also say that God regards not the things of this life so that Eliphaz seemes to speake thus We have heard thee saying that the wicked prosper and that the godly are afflicted what need we any further witnes that thy opinion is God neyther takes notice nor care of the things here below Out of thine owne mouth we condemne thee as Guilty of this blasphemy That Thou sayest How doth God know Hence observe First That good men are sometimes charged with saying and doing the worst and vilest things Thus 1 King 21.13 Naboth was accused of blaspheming God and the King Christ himselfe was taxed with blasphemy more then once Matth. 9.3 And behold certaine of the Scribes said within themselves this man blasphems There they did not openly averre it but they said it within themselves At other times they spake it openly Joh. 10.33 The Jewes answered and sayd for a good deed we stone thee not but for blasphemy because thou being a man makest thy selfe God And againe Matth. 26.65 He hath spoken blasphemy ye have heard his blasphemy To speak or doe well and heare ill was the portion of Christ and may be the portion of the holyest of those who are Christs Secondly Note That when men are heated in dispute they are apt to make false inferences from the tenets and sayings of their opposers Eliphaz sayth Job denied providence whereas Job adored it that he denyed Gods knowledge of the good and evil done in the world because he maintained that good men receive evill and evill men good in the world When we deny transubstantiation or that the bread is changed into the very substance of the body of Christ Papists inferre that we deny that Christ spake truely when at his Last Supper he said This is my body and they will hence force it upon us that we say God is not omnipotent because we affirme that it is inconsistent with the nature of a true humane body such as Christ hath now in heaven though glorified and spirituall to be in many places at once For as some deny the omnipresence of the divine nature so Papists affirme the omni-presence of the humane nature And say they while we deny this we deny the omnipotency of God Others charge us that we make God the author of sinne and that according to our tenet all the impiety and wickednesse that is in the world lyeth at his doore because we affirme That God hath passed an Eternal absolute and unchangeable decree concerning all the sonnes of men When all other arguments fayle how usuall is it to make the divinest truths guilty of the most uncomely and ugly consequences that are imaginable Further Thou sayest How doth God know Take it eyther of the inward or of the outward saying eyther of the tongue or of the heart saying so Eliphaz would prove from it that certainly Job was a wicked man And his inference had been true if he could have proved it true that Job had sayd so Hence observe That to have evill thoughts or to speake evill of God is the character of a wicked man He that is good must needs both thinke and speake good of God David doth often aggravate the wickednesse of his enemies from the language of their hearts and tongues Psal 10.11 He hath said in his heart God hath forgotten he
hides his face he will never see And againe Psal 144.7 8 11. Send thy hand from above rid me and deliver me out of great waters from the hands of strange children whose mouth speaketh vanity and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood If the mouth speaketh vanity the hand is full of falsehood we may even feele deceite in their hands whose mouthes speake any kinde of vanity but especially this which is the vainest vanity of all How doth God know or surely God doth not know Such the Psalmist rebukes Psal 94.4 5.7 How long shall they utter and speake hard things What things were those The next words shew us They breake in peeces thy people c. yet they say the Lord shall not see c. understand ye brutish among the people he that formed the eye shall he not see There is no greater argument of brutishnes and ignorance then to question the knowledge of God or to say How doth God know And which is the same in other words can he judge through the dark cloud As if Job had further argued thus I am safe enough from the knowledge of God for as he is high above me so there are dark clouds between him and me Can he judge through the dark cloud My opinion is he cannot For knowledge goeth before judgement Si non novit ergo nec judicare potest ad rectū enim judicium requiritur cognitio causae He that knoweth not certainly can never judge rightly Justice is pictured blind in reference to persons but not in reference to things or causes Justice must take no notice of this or that man whether he be great or little high or low a neere friend or a stranger Justice is blinde as to all these considerations and knoweth no man but Justice must know every mans case and cause unlesse man know that how can be judge and if God know not that how can he judge He must have light to see what is done before he passe Sentence upon what is done therefore Can he judge through the darke cloud Surely he cannot Thus the Atheist concludeth indeed and thus Eliphaz represents Job concluding in his owne heart there is not onely a great distance between God and me not onely is he in the height of heaven and I below on earth but there are many gloomy clouds between him and me As he is high above me so there are such impediments in the way that he cannot see me The Vulgar reads Et quasi per caliginum judicat Vulg. He judgeth as through darknes Now the best of Saints see God through a Glasse darkly or in a ridle 1 Cor. 13.12 And secure sinners thinke that God seeth them onely through a cloud darkly or as Eliphaz speaketh through a dark cloud he knoweth not clearly but dimly To judge through a cloud is to judge of things confusedly not distinctly by guesse or conjecturally not exactly or face to face This is all the sight which an evill heart alloweth God if he allow him any concerning his wayes and actions They who doe things which cannot abide the light are willing to beleeve that all they doe is in the darke Theirs are works of moral darknes and therefore they please themselves with thinking that their works are hid eyther in natural or artificiall darkness It is sayd of the Lord in Scripture Psal 97.2 Clouds and darknes are round about him while judgement and righteousnesse are the habitation of his throne but these imagine that God cannot proceed in judgement and righteousnesse because clouds and darkness are round about him It is sayd 1 King 8.10 11 12. The cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the Priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Then spake Solomon the Lord said that he will dwell in the thick darkness Reade Exod. 20.21 Deut. 5.22 Psal 18.11 God is light saith the Apostle John 1 Ep 1. and he dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto 1 Tim. 6.16 How then can he be said to dwell in thick darknes I answer those Scriptures which say that God dwells in darknes that clouds and darknesse are round about him teach us that God and his wayes are much hid from us we are not able to look up to him or see clearely what he doth much lesse can we see what his counsells are The clouds and darknesse which are about him doe not hinder his sight of us but our sight of him Our darknes is no darknes to him but his darknes yea his light is darknes to us Againe God is sayd to dwel in a cloud to reprove our boldnes and curiosity who are too apt to pry into what is not to be knowne and to neglect our duty in what we know or to neglect the knowledge of our duty God hath some reserves in counsells some of his providences are wrapt up in clouds Hee will be trusted and honored in what he is not seene or knowne Not to know these things is indeed our nescience but not our ignorance and not to seeke after the knowledg of these things is our duty not our sloath Thus God who dwels in light dwels also in a cloud for he dwells in light that no man can no nor ought to approach unto Wee may come neere his light by faith but wee cannot come neere his light by knowledge There is such an infinite such an overcomming light in God that it is a darknes to us the most Eagle-like eyes of a humane understanding are not onely dazzel'd but quite blinded with his brightness Now as no man can judge through this light of God so some men are ready to say and thus Eliphaz brings in Job saying that God cannot judge through dark clouds through clouds and darknes Nor doth Eliphaz bring in Job saying thus only by way of doubt or question but by way of averrement and resolution in the next verse Vers 14. Thick clouds are a covering to him that he seeth it not This verse is but an explication of the 13th Can he see through the dark cloud There he puts the question here he gives a peremptory answer he cannot certainly for Thick clouds are a covering to him that he cannot see The Hebrew for thick clouds is but one word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nubes dictae sunt a densitate a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 densum esse q d. sicut nos latet deus ita deum latent nostra coelestia illi tantum patent which in the roote signifies Thickness or to be thicke Some clouds have a kinde of thinnes in them and are as it were transparent Others are more grosse and opacous quite hindering and intercepting our sight of all that is beyond them with these saith Eliphaz thou O Job vainely conceitest that the sight of God also is intercepted so that as we cannot see God so God cannot see us A vayle
in Heaven it is a Condescention in him to take notice of any creature yet he doth not onely humble himselfe to behold things in Heaven but things in the Earth and in this who is like unto the Lord our God this is his glory and for this he is to be glorified yea to be cryed up with this admiring Elogium Who is like unto the Lord our God None among the sons of men are like him in this yea there is no God like unto the Lord our God in this Wee have cause to say considering our vilenes What is man that thou shouldst take notice of him 'T is too Great an honour for man but it is no dishonour to God to take notice of the meanest man The greatnes of God appeares as in the making so in the governing and disposing of the smallest things The power of God is seene in making a fly or a worme as well as in making an Elephant or the vast Leviathan So also is his wisdome and providence seene in the observing and ordering of those businesses and motions of the creature which compared to others are but as a fly to an Elephant or but as a worme to Leviathan There is nothing doth more detract from the greatnes of God then the denyall or dis-beleefe of his cognisance of and care about little things And as it shewes the exactest perfection of holynes attaynable by man in this life when he taketh an account of and reproves himselfe for the least sins whether they be omissions of that good which he is commanded to doe or commissions of that evill which he is forbidden to doe So it is an undenyable argument of the exactly and absolutely perfect holynes justice goodnes and faithfulnes of God that he taketh an account of and will certainly reward or punish every man for the least good or evill which he hath done This is the glory of him who walketh in the circuit of heaven that he sees all to the center of the earth Eliphaz having thus detected and reproved as he thought those thoughts and assertions of Job which detracted so much from God as if he did not marke the wayes of men proceeds to put the question to him whether himselfe had well marked the wayes of wicked men JOB CHAP. 22. Vers 15 16. Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have troden Which were cut downe out of time whose foundation was overflowne with a flood 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THe word translated to marke notes a diligent observation So it is used Chap. 10.14 If I sin then thou markest me that is thou takest exact or strict notice of mee and thou wilt not acquitt mee from mine Iniquity Psal 37.37 marke the perfect man Observare dei actiones imprimis ipsius judicia magna pars scinentiae est and behold the upright that is take speciall knowledge of him for the end of that man is peace Psal 107.43 who so is wise will observe or marke these things hee shall understand the loving kindnes of the Lord. So here Hast thou marked hast thou with diligence and seriousnes of spirit observed the old way which wicked men have troden Senitam saeculorum vel seculi aeternam aut aeternitatis nam ea omnia denotat vox 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rab Kimchi The Hebrew is The way of age the way of ages or as some read the Eternall way the way of Eternity David prayeth Psal 139.23 24. Lead me in the way everlasting that is Lead me in the way of holines and righteousnes which leads to eternity Which yet one of the Rabbins expounds as a periphrasis of death for death is called the way of all the earth 1 King 2.2 the way of all flesh Josh 23.14 As if David had sayd Lord if upon search thou findest that I walke in any way of wickednes that is of willfull sinning then destroy me lead me to my grave yea cast mee with the wicked to hell or to everlasting condemnation Master Broughton thus Hast thou marked the way of the old world But what was this way of the old world about which Eliphaz questions Job whether he had taken notice of it yea or no The way of the old world may be taken two wayes First For the way of their sinnes Secondly For the way of their punishment First Hast thou marked the old way of their sinne and the old way of their sinne may be Considered under a twofold notion First As it was the way of their opinion Secondly as it was the way of their practice Some restraine it here to the way of their opinion and Interpret Eliphaz as chiefly intendding that Hast thou observed the old way that is the old Erroneous opinions which were in the first ages of the world In those times there were not a few like thy selfe who eyther flatly denyed or belyed the providence of God who sayd as thou doest How doth God know Surely he hath forsaken the earth and intermeddles not with what is done here below Thus a learned Interpreter expounds the Text Ad eos opiniâ— haec referenda est qui vixeruÌ„t tempore diluvij censebantqueâ—ollendam providentiam Vatabl Gigantes religionis contemptores Berosus with reference to their ungodly opinion They saith he who lived in the time of the floud denyed Providence Hast thou O Job marked their opinion and Consider'd it And that this wicked Error did prevaile in those times may be Collected from what is reported by Berosus of the Giants of whom wee read in the 6th of Genesis ver 4th There were Giants in the earth in those dayes Among other of their abominations this saith he was one or this was a Chiefe one the roote or source of them all they blasphemed God and contemned Religion they thought there was no Supream Power none to whom man was accountable for any of his actions Hast thou marked this old way of Error In pursuance of which Interpretation Custodiendi verbum pro sequi exponitur Merc the words which we render Hast thou marked may be Expounded thus Hast thou taken up the old way art thou a follower of that Sect of that Tribe who have gone in that wicked way doest thou also maintaine their blasphemy that God takes no notice of man This notion holds faire with what he had said before Secondly As it may be referred to those abominable Atheisticall opinions which raigned in those times so to the wicked Practices to the old Customes and sinfull Courses which were followed in those times for where a wicked opinion is lodged in the heart what kinde of wickednes is there that they may not breake forth in the life And so here the old way is the way of sinne the corrupt Course and practices of that debauched generation especially the way of pride and ambition which appeared much in the titles given them Mighty men men of name or as we render Men of renowne They were men of honour and name
was the former promise Thou shalt be built up and all evill shall depart away from thy Tabernacle Iniquity which properly signifies the evill of sin is often put in Scripture for the evills of trouble and suffering and as all acknowledge this to be a truth so some judge it the truth specially intended in this place I shall therefore briefely note from it That when we truely returne to God from sin then suffering evills depart from us and ours For though the Lord be pleased to dispence variously for triall of his people and often suffers the evill of affliction to hang about their Tabernacles who desire sincerely and endeavour faithfully to put all iniquity farre from their Tabernacles yet this is the promise of God and this hath been often experienced by Godly men That God hath turned trouble out of their doores when they have humbly and zealously laboured to turne sin out of their hearts Eliphaz having incouraged Job by this generall promise he draweth it forth into particulars And that first in reference to outward things Vers 24. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brookes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 munire Aurum lectissimum quasi ab igne munitum aut quod sit hâ—mini munimentum Then that is when thou hast acquainted thy selfe with God then when thou hast laid up his law in thy heart then when thou hast returned to the Almighty thy selfe and put away iniquity farre from thy Tabernacle Then thou shalt lay up gold as dust c. The word which we render Gold signifies to fortifie or to defend and it is translated a defence at the 25th verse Solomon saith Eccl. 7.12 not onely That wisdome is a defence but that money is a defence that is it procures defence and Gold is the chiefe of money Though Gold be not a defence formally yet virtually it is Gold defends it selfe against all the forces of fire and it is a principall meanes of defending us against the fire and fury of the Greatest dangers Thou shalt lay up Gold as dust c. But Christ sayth Math. 6.19 Lay not up treasures for your selves on earth And it was a rule given concerning the King of Israel in the Leviticall Law long before Israel had a King Deut. 17.17 He shall not greatly multiply to himselfe silver and gold How then doth Eliphaz say that he who repents shall lay up gold as the dust is that fit worke for him I answer the words are not to be understood as an exhortation to bend his endeavours to the gathering of riches but as a promise from God that he shall by a blessing from above gather store of riches here below Thou shalt lay up gold as the dust By gold here and silver in the next verse we are to understand all manner of riches because gold and silver are the chiefe riches therefore all is contained under them And when he sayth Thou shalt lay up gold as the dust the words receive variety of renderings some thus Thou shalt lay up gold above the dust as if he should say thou shalt have more gold than dust which is a straine of rhetoricke expressing aboundance Others read Thou shalt lay vp gold upon the dust As Psal 24.2 He hath founded it upon the Seas A third renders Thou shalt lay up gold by the dust Like that Psal 1.3 A tree planted by the river side A fourth thus Et pone in pulvere Aurum Coc Noli animum auro apponere nimisque illud diligere sed nihili aestima deijce in terram unde ortum est aestima ut terram lapides petrae Scull Pone ubi deus Natura posuit Coc. by way of counsell And lay gold in the dust Which two latter readings are expounded as a direction given to Job how he should lay up gold he must not lay up gold in his heart and spirit but in the dust or by the dust As if he had said Put that purer dust that better concocted and refined dust in the common dust put the dust to dust put thy gold in its proper place where God and nature put it 'T is but dust and so a fit companion for the dust yea say some 't is as if Eliphaz had sayd Doe not so much as make roome for it in thy house provide not chests for it let it lie where it had its originall It came from the dust there leave it returne it backe to its owne Country to the place of its nativity A Heathen hath this notion concerning gold and silver c. And he labours much to shew that the site position of these things in nature holds forth how we ought to receive and estimate them Nulli nos vitio natura conciliat nihil quideÌ„ quod avaritiam nostram irritaret posuit in aperto pedibus aurum argentuÌ„ sub jecit calcandum ac premendum dedit quicquid est propter quod calcamur premimur Sen ep 94. Even nature by which he meanes the ordinary course set in nature draws us off from coveting Gold and silver there is nothing which may provoke or stirre up covetousnesse which God hath advanced or set up high in the order of nature Gold and silver are the chiefe objects of Covetousnesse now both these as also whatsoever else man is pressed about and as it were trodden underfoote in the dirt for by burdensome or covetous cares God hath thrust or trodden under our feete Gold doth not fall out of the clouds of heaven hut lieth under the clods of the earth there God hath put them to be trampled and trodden under our feete that we might scorne to have our affections trampled upon and trodden underfoote by them or such things as they So then All that this interpretation or translation aymes at in saying Gold must be put in the dust is onely to shew us that our estimations should be taken off from it or that we should place it as low in our thoughts as God hath placed it in the order of nature And this is a spirituall sense suiting that of our Saviour Lay not up for your selves treasures on earth make not great preparations to keepe your earthly treasures especially let them not be kept in your heart or lie there where Christ onely and the treasures of heaven ought to be layd up Put your gold in the dust or let it be esteemed as dust seing at best it is but wel concocted dust So Gold and silver are called Amos 2.7 That paâ—t after the dust of the earth upon the head of the poore So the Prophet describes their extreame covetousnes who will be rich though it be by empoverishing those who are poorest Yet I conceive in this place Eliphaz hath another ayme And that where be saith Thou shalt lay up Gold as the dust his meaning onely is thou shalt lay up plenty of Gold or â—â—ou shalt gather much riches for the
a thing and it shall be established unto thee and the light shall shine upon thy wayes When men are cast downe then thou shalt say There is lifting up and he shall save the humble person He shall deliver the Island of the Innocent and it is delivered by the purenesse of thine hands IT hath appeared in opening the whole Context of which this is a part how Eliphaz presseth Job with promises assuring him that not onely good but great good should accrew to him by his returning to God and acquainting himselfe with the Allmighty And in the foregoing verse That great benefit was shewed The Lords hearing the prayer of such as doe so Thou shalt make thy prayer to him and he shall heare thee and thou shalt pay thy vowes Here Eliphaz gives in another excellent promise Thou shalt also c. that is moreover and beside what I have said I adde this Vers 28. Thou shalt also decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 scidit abscidit secuit divisit Metaleptice secuit lites definivit decrevit Importat hoc verbum decretum cum quadam separatione unius rei ab alia Bold Thou shalt decree The word here translated to decree signifies properly to divide to cut asunder So it is used 1 Kings 3.25 when Solomon gave sentence between the two women that were harlots concerning the living Childe he sayth Divide the Childe my decree is that the Childe shall be divided Now hence by a Trope the word signifies also to decree to descide or to determine a matter because in all decrees about or determinations of a Controversie there is as it were a Cutting off the buisines a laying aside of one thing and a sticking to another When the whole matter is debated and weighed in Councell then the result and issue of all is drawne up and given out in a decree So that to decree is to divide or separate one thing from another resolving upon that which we conceive most just and reasonable Thou shalt decree a thing The Hebrew is Thou shalt decree a word Verbum pro re frequenter per Metonymiam adjuncti it is usuall in that language to put word for thing And when he saith Thou shalt decree a thing wee are not to understand it at large as if whatsoever were decreed should be established but the meaning is thou shalt decree that which is right and good in it selfe and good for thee For the decree being made by a godly man wee cannot suppose that he should decree any thing but that which is just and good and so the signification of the former word is well applyed to this Thou shalt decree that is thou having by deliberation and serious discussion considered what is right and having cut off all evill from thy sentence thou decreeing such a thing it shall be established unto thee There are yet two opinions concerning this decree as it is an exposition of the former promises Thou shalt be heard and Poterit esse pracedentis partis expositio Decernes offerre vota et deus illa rata efficiet vel rata semper fundes verba Piâ—ed thou shalt pay thy vowes that is what thou suest for by prayer on earth shall be decreed for thee in heaven That is thy prayer shall certainly be performed thy prayers shall not be lost no They shall be as the Statutes and decrees of heaven It is said of Eliah 1 Kings 17.1 what he decreed was done and what was his decree his decree was his prayer See how he speaks as if he had the command of heaven and earth as if he had carryed the keyes of the Clouds at his girdle As the Lord God of Israel liveth before whom I stand there shall not be dew nor raine these yeares but according to my word But what was this word of Elijah the Apostle James expounds that for us he telleth us what this word was when Eliah sayd it shall be according to my word Jam. 5.17 Elias was a man subject to the like passions as wee are and he prayed earnestly that it might not raine and it rained not on the earth for the space of three yeares and six months And he prayed againe and the heavens gave raine and the earth brought forth her frruit The Apostle explaines what the word of Elijah was even a Prayer-word he prayed and sought the Lord in that thing and his prayer was as certainly performed to him as if he had the whole power of decreeing what he would have Thus here thou shalt powre out a prayer and thy prayer shall be as a decree established with God So we read Gen. 32.24 in the report of Jacobs wrestling with the Angel that the word of Jacob was as a decree I will not let thee goe except thou blesse me I will have a blessing and it is said as a Prince hast thou power with God and with men and hast prevailed Jacob had what he would in prayer he decreed a thing and it was established to him The prayers of Saints are decrees with God and 't is but reason they should be so because their prayers answer the decrees of God or they pray for that which God hath decreed and indeed there is no Saint or Godly man would pray any other prayer or aske any thing of God but what God hath determined and decreed before to give As a Godly man would doe nothing but what God hath commanded so he would aske nothing but what God hath decreed This is a comfortable truth yet I rather conceive the sence of this place more generall and not tyed up to that of prayer and therefore Secondly Thou shalt decree a thing that is thou shalt take up a resolve or a purpose thou in thy wisdome and prudence shalt say in thy heart I will doe such a thing or I would bring such a thing to pass Ordinabis per tuam providentiam facturum aliquid quasi rem non futuram incertam sed quasi divina jam voluntate constitutam illam habebis Aquin. and it shall come to pass or be established For as many men mett together in Councell make Decrees so any man in himselfe may make a decree and we alwayes make decrees in our own minds before wee joyne in any decree with others first wee speake in our mindes then we speake out our mindes Thou shalt decree a thing that is thou shalt resolve to goe such a way or to doe such a thing and it shall be done Now this Case of decreeing must be understood with a Caution suppose the thing it selfe be just and lawfull as wee touched before yet a man must not make absolute decrees that 's the priviledge of God he onely can make peremptory decrees who hath all things in his power we must decree submissively to the will of God and say if the Lord will if the Lord please wee will doe such a thing The Apostle James 4.12
praised and honoured him that liveth for ever whose dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdome is from generation to generation and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing and he doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what dost thou that is none may so much as question much lesse reprove him for any thing that he doth Though there are many who in the pride of their hearts and through the forgetfullnes of their duty will presume to question God about what he hath done and even controule his doings yet of right or according to rule none can Hence the Apostle having asserted the soveraignty of God he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth brings in some questioning his proceedings but he checks them soundly for their boldnes in questioning and instructs them by many upbrayding questions that they ought not to put that or any such question Thou wilt say then ver 18 19 20. why doth he yet finde fault for who hath resisted his will nay but who art thou ô man that repliest against God shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lumpe to make one vessell of honour and another of dishonour what if God were willing to shew his wrath in some as well as his grace mercy in others what have you or I to doe with it who gave you or I leave to examine God upon intergatoryes about it Thus he pleads the power or prerogative of God this must silence all our queries and satisfie all our doubts none may aske him a reason of what he doth the reason is in himselfe The will of God is his reason and there is all the reason in the world it should for his is not onely a soveraigne will but a just and a holy will Solomon saith Eccl. 8.4 Where the word of a king is there is power and who may say unto him what dost thou In all lawfull administrations it is true of kings and supream earthly powers in what forme soever none may say unto them what doe yee their word must stand much more is this true of him who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords who is the supream power of heaven and earth all whose wayes are equall and his dispensations righteous though we see not the equity and righteousnesse of them That is not onely great but the greatest power which none may question Fourthly This also demonstrates the greatnesse of Gods power that none can stop or hinder him in what it hath a minde to doe what he appoints he executes and none can stop it or as Nebuchadnezzar speakes in the place before mentioned Dan. 4.35 stay his hand The hand of the strongest power upon the earth may be and hath been staid kings have had a check their hands have been stayd but none can stay the hand of God I will worke saith he and none shall let it Isa 43.17 God should doe but little worke in the world if men could let it Wicked men would let or hinder God in all his workes and the godly through their mistakes would hinder him in some of his workes but none can He speaks to the Sunne and it shineth not yea he speakes to the Sunne and it moveth not This is the greatnesse and the muchnes of the power of God But saith Job Will he plead against me with this great power All this power God hath and this power he can put forth but he will not put it forth against me saith Job 1. And what was Job that he should be thus confident and rise up to such a strong assurance that God would not use his strength against him Job was a godly man a man fearing God a man perfect and upright a man full of faith even full of faith though he lived in dark times and under dark dispensations yet I say he was a man full of faith in the Redeemer Now it is no wonder if a man of this character a man thus qualified and priviledged had this confidence and was much assured that he should prosper and speed in it That God would not plead against him with his great power Hence Observe A godly man may be confident that God will deale gently and graciously with him or That God will deale with him according to the greatnes of his mercy not according to the greatnes of his power The greatnes of the power of God is an exceeding great comfort to the sincere because they know it is acted towards them in the greatnes of his mercy It is comfortable to heare that the Lord who as the Prophet describes him Nah 1.3 is great in power is also slow to anger the greatnes of mans power doth usually quicken not clogg his passions but it is more comfortable to know that God who is great in power is quick and speedy to shew mercy And hence it is that a true beleever rejoyceth in the power o◠God as well as in his mercy because he knoweth that God hath declared himselfe powerfull for him as well as mercifull He knoweth God will not put forth power alone or nothing but power towards him God doth exercise all his refreshing attributes and divine perfections in dealing with Saints Whereas upon the wicked he exerciseth his power chiefely though not onely What if God to make his power knowne endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction saith the Apostle Rom. 9.22 God pleads with the wicked according to the tenour of the Covenant of workes but with Beleevers according to the Covenant of grace in which he doth as it were uncloath himselfe of his power and cloath himselfe with love mercy goodnesse and tendernes to his people The Lord as the Psalmist speakes Psal 93.1 is cloathed with strength wherewith he hath girded himselfe he is cloathed also with mercy and with that he hath girded himselfe he pleads with his people I grant in righteousnesse as well as in mercy as the Apostle speakes Rom. 3.25 26. God hath set forth Jesus Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his rightenesse for the remission or passing over of sins that are past through the forbearance of God to declare I say at this time his righteousnesse and the justifyer of him that beleeveth in Jesus The justice or righteousnesse of God was never so fully declared as in Christ for God did not spare him at all but he having taken our debt upon him discharged it to the utmost farthing God pleaded against Christ with his great power and with his perfect righteousnesse To which plea Christ made answer with as Great a power his being the power of God and with as perfect a righteousnes his being also the righteousnesse of God And hence it
first the murderer and his darke wayes ver 14. Secondly the adulterer and his dark wayes ver 15 16 17. Thirdly Job sheweth that though the wicked doe all this and are not presently punished yet that they are under a secret curse which shall surely overtake them ver 18 19 20. Fourthly Upon this he againe revives the mention of their sinne first against the poore ver 21. Secondly against the rich ver 22. Together with their punishment though late yet at last ver 23 24. Fifthly He re-asserts all that he had sayd by challenging all men to disprove him if they could in what he had sayd ver 25. So much of the state and generall scope of the whole Chapter Vers 1. Why seing times are not hidden from the Almighty doe they that know him not see his dayes Locus subdifficilis salebrosus Merc This as a learned interpreter gives his opinion of it is a hard Text and there are various renderings of it I shall touch upon them and then draw out that which may be suteable for observation First The whole verse may as some conceave be rather read thus Why are not times hidden from the Almighty seing they that know him doe not see his dayes The meaning of which translation is this it might make a man that is not well instructed in the wayes and providences of God to thinke that God takes no notice of the times that passe nor of the things done here below seing the best of his servants could never yet make it out that he punisheth ungodly men according to their deeds in this world Surely then we may say That times are hidden from God for were it not so godly men could not but see his dayes his judgement-dayes upon the wicked and things would not be in such confusion and disorder as they are So that Job either shewes what men doe ordinarily conclude from Gods indulgence and patience towards the wicked and his seeming slacknes and slownes in avenging the wrongs of his owne people even that as God is in heaven so thicke clouds are a covering to him there and that he seeth not what is acted on the earth As if eyther the Lords eye did not reach this inferior world or that he would not trouble himselfe about it Surely times are hidden from the Almighty or Secondly that Job speakes his owne passions and temptations about this poynt As if he had sayd I am tempted to thinke that times are hidden from the Almighty because he doth not send present releife to his people nor present wrath upon his enemies Such temptations are discovered in other Scriptures Psal 73.2 My feete saith David had almost slipt when I saw the prosperitie of the wicked when the wicked and unholy were not punished presently according to Justice he was urged and tempted to think that God did not regard justice nor declare himselfe in his holines as he ought And though the Prophet Jeremiah durst not question the righteousnesse of God yet he knew not in this case how to give an account of it as hath been noted heretofore from his questionings Jer. 12.1 2. Why doth the way of the wicked prosper c. And with this the following parts of the Chapter seeme to carry a fayre correspondence wherein he enumerates many grosse practises impieties of wicked men notwithstanding which they passe out of this world in worldly peace Thirdly One of the antient Rabbins reads the words as a wish Quare non sunt abscondita q. d. aequioâ—i animo ferrem si essent abscondita Aben-Ezr or a desire Why are not times hidden from the Almighty As if he had sayd I could wish they were hidden from the Almighty and I could beare it better if God did take no notice of times then that taking notice of them he should not set them in order and redresse what is amisse but I passe that Fourthly The Latine translation is positive and direct Ab omni potente non sunt abscondita tempora Vulg Latini videntes interrogationem blasphemam opinionem contâ—nere quasi aut abscondita esse dicat aut optet i. e. dominum tempora quae hic fiunt non curare aut non videre sine interrogatione verterunt Merc Times are not hidden from the Almighty yet they that know him are ignorant of his dayes and the reason why they leave out the interrogation is given thus because they thought there was a kinde of impiety yea blasphemy in it to say or querie Why are not times hidden from the Almighty As if Job must in saying so either affirme that times were indeed hidden from the Almighty or that he wished they were Therefore to avoide that inconveniency they turne it into a direct negative proposition Times are not hidden from the Almighty And many of the Jewish Writers stumbling at the same stone have judged Job as denying the providence of God or his care of times and seasons here below but upon divers occasions Job hath been vindicated concerning this poynt therefore I shall not stay upon it A fifth translation gives it thus If times are not hid by the Almighty how comes it to passe that they that know him doe not see his dayes as if he had sayd were it not for this or were it not thus that God doth hide times or that times are hidden by God that is that Gods providences are carried in secret and run a great while as some rivers doe as it were under-ground it could not be but that they that know him that is wise and holy men as we shall see afterward should see the effects and issues of those judgements The judgements of God saith Job are delayed in their execution or executed in so secret a way that they are mostly and to the most of men undiscerned Wherein he fully opposeth what Eliphaz sayd Chap. 20.16 They are cut downe out of time that is they are presently cut downe no sayes Job God hideth their times that is he puts stops and delayes upon the times of his revenge or as he speakes Chap. 21.19 He layeth up wrath for his children but themselves are not presently cut downe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cur quare Cur a Saddai nan occultara sunt tempora Sixthly Thus Why are not or why should not times be hidden by the Almighty so Mr Broughton As if he had sayd What reason can be given of this why times are not hidden by the Almighty or why should it not be thought right and just that times should be hidden by the Almighty who can question God if he will hide times and judgements or who shall say it is unequall The Hebrew particle Min signifies as well by as from we say why seing times are not hidden from the Almighty they say why should not times be hidden by the Almighty This rendering beares a cleare and a profitable sence and therefore I shall give this observation from it God doth hide times from men
so cares not who sees him some are ambitious to be seene while they doe so and though any should be so modest that they doe not desire to be seene while they doe so yet no man that doth so is affrayd to be seene and usually such come to the light to the light of other mens knowledge and they would come further into the light of their own knowledg such are free to come to light of all sorts that their deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God when a man comes to the light he gives a fayre evidence that his workes are wrought in God how ever it argues both that he desires they should be such as are wrought in God as also that he is willing they should come to the tryall whether they are wrought in God or no that is whether they be so wrought as if God did worke in him or whether there be any appearance in them that he hath wrought them in the light and love in the strength and helpe of God Now as when a man comes willingly to the light it shewes that he hath an honest perswasion in his breast that his workes are good So when we see any seeking corners and shunning the light by which others may see them or that light by which they may see themselves this shews that they have a troublesome conviction upon their consciences that their workes are so farre from being wrought in God that they are wrought against God that is against his mind and will This the Apostle teacheth in the example of the old Gentiles Rom. 2.15 They shew the worke of the Law written in their hearts their conscience bearing them witnesse and their thoughts in the meane while accusing or excusing one another Were there not an unextinguishable light in nature by which even a natural man may have some glimmerings of and discernings between good and evill he would no more avoyd the sight of others when he doth evill then when he doth good And seeing he thus naturally avoydes the view and sight of all men when he doth evill This doth more then intimate that there is a Judge above nature who without respect of persons will reward every man according to his workes Conscience is Gods Deputy in man and what that being rightly enformed doth in man God will doe too Wee are so assured by the Apostle John 1 Joh. 3.21 If our heart condemne us God is greater then our heart and knoweth all things As if he had sayd this is an argument that there is a God to condemn because the heart condemnes For God is greater then the heart God is the supreame Judge the infallible Judge the heart is but an under-officer unto him Why should the heart of a man smite him why should he be troubled when he hath done evill why should he be so troubled to be seene in doing evill were it not that there is a God who judgeth both the hearts and wayes of men While the foole saith in his heart there is no God Psal 14.1 the heart of a foole sayth there is a God while he saith in his heart there is no God to see my sin his heart saith to him cover thy sin that it may not be seene and what English can we make of this saying of his heart but this There is a God For though Job spake here of such grosse sinners as have reason enough to hide themselves and their doings from the eyes of men lest they should bring them both to shame and punishment yet even those sinners are fearefull to have their sins discovered who need not feare any punishment but from the hand of God Secondly Observe Sin befools the sinner or sinners are very foolish They are glad if they can escape the eye of man when as their sins are alwayes under the eye of God What is the eye from which darknesse can hide us to that eye which seeth through darkenes If one see them saith the text they are in the terrors of the shadow of death and yet they are not terrifyed that One seeth them That One seeth them alwayes who is more then all men and yet they are satisfyed if they are not seene of men That which they would not doe if a little childe did see them they dare doe though the Great God of heaven and earth see them What the Prophet speakes of feare in reference to suffering wee may say much more of feare in reference to sinning Isa 51.12 13. Who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall dye and forgettest the Lord thy Creator Who art thou surely thou art so far from being a Godly man that thou art lesse then a man in this thing even a foole and a beast What doest thou feare to sin in the presence of a man or when a man who shall dye seeth thee and forgettest that the Lord thy maker seeth thee that he seeth thee who hath stretched forth the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth Well might the Apostle 2 Thes 3.2 joyne these two together unreasonable and wicked men and give the reason of both in the words which follow for all men have not faith Where there is no faith there is much wickednesse and he who is much in wickednesse is nothing in reason Faith is above reason but not against it wickednesse is not onely below reason but quite against it They who act against that rule which is given by God to man act also against that reasō which is given by God to man No man acts so much against faith as he who doth not beleeve that God seeth him in all his actings nor doth any man act more against reason then he who beleeveth that God seeth him and yet is more afraid to be seene of men then he is to be seene of God JOB CHAP. 24. Vers 18. He is swift as the waters his portion is Cursed in the earth he beholdeth not the way of the Vineyards THere are foure Apprehensions concerning the general scope of these words First Job is conceived here describing a fourth sort of wicked men or the same men acting a fourth sort of wickednes for having as hath been shewed from the former words first drawne out the doings of the murtherer and secondly of the Adulterer and thirdly of the theife at land digging through houses he in the fourth place as some Interpret the text proceeds to discover the Pyrate who is a theife upon the water a Sea-theife He is swift as the waters or he is swift upon the waters The letter of the Hebrew is He is swift upon the faces of the waters he moves in and upon all waters It is usuall in Scripture to call the outward part of any thing the face of it as the face of the heavens is that part of the heavens which doth outwardly appeare to us or is next to our eye O ye hypocrites sayth Christ Math. 16.3 ye can discerne the face of
us very great though we should have it all as ours or in our possession How little a thing is all this world and how little a part hath any one of this little The whole world is but little what then is a little part of it which yet is all that falls to the share of the greatest men in this world Philosophers say that the whole body of the earth and Sea together is but as a poynt or pricke with a pen compared to the heavens and yet there are very few of the great men of the earth who possesse so much as a mathematicall poynt or pricke with a pen in the body of the earth Wee may say that the day of the greatest man in the world is but a day of small things The Prophet to encourage the meane beginnings of Sions deliverance Zech. 4.10 sayd Who hath despised the day of small things As if he had sayd I know many doe it some hoping and others fearing that these small beginnings will have smaller endings or end in nothing but in the joy of the enemies and in the sorrow and disappoyntment of the friends of Sion But I say unto you take heed of despising the day of small things that is the least appearances of deliverance and salvation to Sion Now as we are not to despise the workes of God because they are small so we have no reason to be proud of but even to despise the things of the world for they are small Men have great thoughts and make much adoe about small things when they have to doe with the greatest things on this side heaven The greatest things that continue onely for a little while are but tittle worth then how little worth are those things which besides that they continue but a little while are themselves but little Though wicked men are exalted yet no man hath cause to be troubled at it or envy them They are not blessed because exalted for they are exalted but a little and that onely for a little while It should not be much to us what any man is as to worldly enjoyments no nor what we our selves are as those enjoyments seeing whatsoever others are or whatsoever we are in that capacity is but for a little while The Apostle saith 2 Cor. 4.18 We looke not at the things which are seene but at the things which are not seene that is we make not the things of the world our scope but the things which lye beyond this world which are seene by faith onely And the reason why he looked not at these things which are seene was because the things that are seene are temporall those things which are seene will not be long seene they are but for a while and therefore not to be much looked after The Things which are not seene shall be seene for ever they are eternal and therefore most worthy to be looked after The world hath beauty and glory in it but this staines the beauty of all earthly glory that it may be so quickly stained The evills and troubles of this world should not much trouble us nor the afflictions of this world present much afflict us because they are but for a while suppose a godly man be cast downe and laid low in reference to the world he is laid low but for a while therefore no great matter to him he hath no great reason to be troubled at it as the Apostle argueth in the same Chapter ver 16. For this cause we faint not for our light afflictions which are but for a moment c. therefore he calls them light how great and how heavy soever in their owne nature though they were as heavy as a mountaine he calls them light because as to their duration they were but for a moment We say A light thing carryed a great way or a great while becometh heavy He that puts onely a pound-stone in his pocket will be very sencible of and much burdened with the weight of it before he comes to the end of a long journey whereas a great weight is not much burdensome if it be not much borne Now as worldly evills and troubles are light because but short so are worldly comforts and honours especially the worldly comforts honours of wicked men of whom it is expressely sayd not onely by way of assertion in which sense it may be sayd of all men but also by way of commination They are exalted for a little while Againe as the profession of hypocrites hath a kinde of appearing goodlinesse and beauty but it is little worth or it is of no worth because they endure but for a little while they are but Temporyes as the word is in the parable of the Sower Or as the Lord complaineth by his Prophet Hos 6.4 O Ephraim what shall I doe unto thee O Judah what shall I doe unto thee for your goodnesse is as a morning cloud and as the early dew it goeth away goodnesse it selfe is scarce good goodnesse is little worth if it be but as a morning cloud if it be but as the dew that goeth away when the heate of the Sunne commeth The worth and glory of true grace stands in this that it stands and endures for ever let the world turne which way it will true grace stands its ground and turnes not away Now if all the goodnesse and pretended holynes of hypocrites and formalists be nothing worth because it is like a cloud or a dew onely for a little while how little worth is the exaltation of wicked men which goeth away and is as quickly gone as a cloud is scattered and blowne away by the wind or a dew exhaled by the rising Sunne We may say of all the glory of the wicked as the same Prophet Hosea sayth of Ephraim Chap. 9.11 As for Ephraim their glory shall flee away like a bird from the birth and from the womb and from the conception that is it shall quickly depart by their glory some understand their children As if he had sayd Their children shall flee from the birth that is if borne alive they shall dye as soone as borne Their children shall flee from the wombe that is they shall not be borne alive they shall be abortives Their children shall flee from the conception that is they shall not be so much as conceived Wee may read the Prophet backward and beginning with the last first say Their glory that is their children or whatsoever else they glory in and make their glory shall flee from conception that is it shall not be conceaved or have any being at all and if conceived and so have a being yet it shall flee from the wombe that is it shall never come to a compleate being but shall be marr'd in the making or if it be borne and so have a perfect being yet it shall flee from the birth that is it shall dye as soone as borne and come to its grave in stead of or as soon as to a cradle Thus
appearance is there is nothing but peace And as There is nothing but peace in heaven where God declares himselfe most clearely so they to whom God declares himselfe most clearely on earth are most for peace the neerer and the liker wee are unto God the neerer wee are unto peace and the more wee like it All true peace floweth out from God and the more of a healing and peace-making spirit appeares in any man the more of God appeares in him Lastly By way of inference Take this First Seeing God makes peace in his high places or in heaven above how easily can hee when our breaches are widest make peace in these low places of the earth And because as it is his property so his promise to doe it wee should waite upon him for and urge him with the fullfilling of this promise that he who makes peace alwayes in the high places of heaven would make that five-fold peace in the low places of the earth Secondly Seeing God is able to make peace in all places hee can also make warre in all places The same power doth both and Bildad shewes the preparations of God for warre as wel as his sanctions of peace For he hath innumerable Armyes under his command as it follows in the next verse Vers 3. Is there any number of his Armies and upon whom doth not his light arise There seemes to be somewhat a strange conjunction between these two verses hee maketh peace and Is there any number of his Armies One would thinke wee should heare of nothing but warre when we heare of such numberlesse armies God hath innumerable invincible armies alwayes ready for warre yet hee is most ready to make peace yea he who is The Lord of Hosts is also stiled The Lord of peace 2 Thes 3.16 This likewise speakes the dominion power and Majesty of God in that he maketh peace and can make warre His armyes are at hand and those no contemptible ones As if Bildad had thus bespoken Job It is in vaine for thee who art a weake man to thinke of contending with God who hath numberlesse armyes to take his part against all opposers The word which wee translate Armyes properly signifies Troopes Is there any number of his troopes And this is given in name to one of the Patriarchs Gen. 30.11 And Leah sayd a Troop cometh And shee called his name Gad. A troop is a little Army and a great Army consists of many troopes Wee say Is there any number of his Armies When the Scripture sayth that God hath armies it is not to be understood as if God needed them eyther to protect himselfe or to suppresse his enemies The Lord of hosts himselfe is infinitely stronger then all the Armyes and hosts of which he is Lord. Earthly Princes have their Armyes and guards to protect their persons and dominions from danger and invasion They want armyes to helpe their friends abroad and to defend their Subjects at home Woldly Princes borrow power from others to protect themselves while they undertake to protect others But God is the guard of his guards and the strength of his owne armyes Princes are saved by their Armyes but God is the safety of his armyes The Gods of the earth are afrayd of what man may doe unto them but the God of heaven is not onely above those feares but also above all want of mans doing any thing for him So that as God is not worshipped with mans hands as the Apostle tells The Athenians Act. 17.25 as though he needed any thing so neyther is he assisted by mens hands or by any hand as if he needed any thing seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things And therefore when the Lord is sayd to have Armyes it is eyther to signifie first that he hath all things at his command and is full of power or secondly that although he can doe all things by himselfe yet he will use the agency of the creature to effect his purposes This question Is there any number of his armyes resolves it selfe into this negative There is no number of his armyes or there is no numbring of them But what are these armyes of God First The Angells are his armyes we reade of one Angel that destroyed a whole army 2 Kings 19.35 And it came to passe that night that the Angel of the Lord went out and smote in the campe of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand and when they arose early in the morning behold they were all dead corpses If one Angel destroyed an army what cannot an army of Angels doe The Angels of God are armyes without number We read them expressed by such great numbers as render their numbers inexpressible So in Daniels vision of the Glory of God Chap. 7.10 A fiery streame issued and came forth from before him thousand thousands ministred unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him that is an innumerable company stood before him Christ sayd to Peter when he drew his sword and sought to rescue him from the Officers of the High-Priest that came to arrest and bring him to Judgement Put up thy sword againe into his place for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father and he shall presently give mee more then twelve legions of Angels Math. 26.53 Here is an army of Angels Christ speaketh in the Roman phrase who reckoned their armyes by legions as we doe by regiments Six thousand six hundred sixty six was the number of a legion as some affirme and if so Then twelve legions make Seventy nine thousand nine hundred ninety two a great Army but saith Christ my father can send more then twelve legions But how many more no man can say Christ pitcheth upon a great certaine number to shew that hee might have what number hee would if hee did but call for them Secondly The Sunne Moone Starres are the Armyes of God Judges 5.20 They fought from heaven That is the heavenly or aeriall meteors wind thunder hayle did as it were joyne their confederate forces for the destruction of Israels enemies as they had done before Josh 10.11 and as they did afterward 1 Sam. 7.10 yea as it followeth in the same place the Starres in their courses fought against Sisera The Starres charged like an Army in battel array raysing stormes and dreadfull tempests by their influences and so might be sayd to fight against and ruine the whole army of Sicera By all which Rhetoricall expressions the Spirit would lead us to understand that the Lord himselfe by invisible powers did fight against Sisera while Israel fought him with a visible power Surely if the Starres be the Lords armyes wee may well say is there any number of his armyes When the Lord would shew Abraham that his seed should be an innumerable army hee brought him forth and sayd looke now towards heaven and tell the Starres if thou be
fayre yet she hath her spots But God is fayre without any spot and therefore the fayrenes of the Moone is no fayrenes at all to his There is another reading of the words Behold even to the Moon and it doth not extend its tents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et non expandit lumen suum in modum Tenâ—oâ—â— Complut or doth not extend its light like a tent for when the light is spread first out it is like the spreading of a tent upon the mountaines To which the Prophet Joel seemeth to allude Chap. 2.2 in that phrase As the morning spread upon the mountaines Behold to the Moone and it doth not spread out its light nor extend its tents Our translation reacheth the sence fully It shineth not Yea the Starres are not pure in his sight The Starres are supposed higher and greater then the Moone The Starres are pure and splendid bodies as hath been shewed from other places of this booke So that when Bildad saith The Starres are not pure it is not an absolute denyall of their purity but as himselfe expounds it they are not pure in the sight of God The Starres have neyther those spots nor those changes which the Moone hath they are a more cleare and a more certaine light yet Even the Starres are not pure in his sight and wee may reckon the Sunne among the Starres too though sometimes they are spoken of distinctly Sunne Moone and Starres Thus Bildad pleads the excellency of God above the most excellent creatures how much more above man who is now cast much behind many of the creatures through the corruption of his nature and is not disparaged by being compared to the meanest of them Behold even to the Moone and it shineth not and the Starres are not pure in his sight Hence Observe The glory or beauty of the most glorious and beautifull Creatures is no glory no beauty compared with the glory and beauty of God Bildad instancing in the most beautifull Creatures takes in the beauty of all the creatures all which is but a ray a beame of his infinite light but a drop of his infinite Ocean their glory is but an effect of his and though the meanest of them are perfect in their state yet the best of them are not perfect in degree It was sayd anciently Looke upon the heavens they are beautifull looke upon the earth that also is beautifull but he that made heaven and earth is infinitely more beautifull then eyther of them both or then both of them When God had finished the worke of Creation it is sayd Gen. 1.31 And God saw all that he had made and behold it was very good How then is it sayd here that the Moone shineth not and that the Starres are not pure in his sigh I answer First as before all things which God made were good as creatures but nothing was as good as the Creator Secondly I answer the creature is not now so good as it was when first created the sin of man did not onely pollute and staine the glory of man but of the whole creation and therefore the Apostle sayth Rom. 8.20 21 22. That the creature was made subject to vanity not willingly but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope because the creature it selfe also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travelleth in paine together untill now From this illustrious context it appeares that God for mans sin hath put the whole creation to disgrace and suffering and that all creatures are fallen from their first perfection by the fall of the first man The very lights of heaven are made darke and the Starres impure by mans impurity Now if by the sin of man those creatures who in themselves are sinlesse even the Moone and Starres have contracted defilement and are not without blemish in the sight of God then how much lesse is man by whom they have taken this infection free from blemish or infection himselfe as Bildad inferres in the next words and close of the Chapter Vers 6. How much lesse man that is a worme and the son of man which is a worme As if he had sayd If the Sunne Moone and Starres are not pure in his sight how much lesse is man pure Nor is Bildad content to say how much less is man but he giveth a very debasing comparison of man How much lesse is man that is a worme Cum precedit sententia negativa particulae illae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 commodè redduntur quanto minus Pisc and the son of man which is a worme How much lesse We may say also how much more is man impure in his sight So the original words are often rendred as the reader may see in those places Prov. 11.31 Prov. 15.11 Bildad layeth man as low as he can shewing that he is so farre below the Starres that hee is as low as a worme and if the Starres be impure in the sight of God how much more is man a worme What 's a worme what a darke dull thing is a worme to a Starre yet that is not so dull a thing to a Starre as a Starre is to God therefore if the Starres be not pure in his sight how much lesse man that is a worme A worme is one of the meanest Creatures and the word that is here used signifieth the meanest of wormes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vermis parvus in carne aut caseo nascens properly and strictly those little wormes which breed in flesh or Cheese or in any other kinde of food when it is corrupted The word is used Exod. 16.24 where it is said of the Manna that was reserved contrary to the command of God That it bred wormes such a worme is man and Bildad is not content to say this once but he saith it againe And the son of man which is a worme Here is the same thing doubled And 't is doubled by Bildad to assure us of the truth and certainty of of it as if he had said I am not afraid to averr what I have spoken I have said it and I say it againe how much lesse man who is a worme and the son of man which is a worme The son of man that is any man high or low rich or poore learned or unlearned they who are at greatest distance in themselves meete all in this They are wormes To be called the son of man imports the meanenes of man and minds man of his weaknes and frailty Ezekiel the Prophet is often spoken to by the Lord in this stile Son of man the reason given by some is this because hee was a man often rapt up in the visions of God or had the visions of God sent downe to him hee was a man that lived so much in heaven that hee might even forget that hee was of the earth therefore the
redeemer c. that stretcheth forth the heavens alone and spreadeth abroad the earth by my selfe Hence note As the heavens in creation so the heavens in their dayly motion are stretched out and ordered by God Isaiah 40.22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants thereof are as grass-hoppers that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtaine and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in The Prophet entitles God to this with a speciall emphasis It is He that doth it as if he had sayd God doth it and none but he and in this he eminently declares that He is God Who ever stretched out such a curtaine or canopy as the heavens who ever pitched such a tent to dwell in This is a tent or a Tabernacle which though it shall be changed yet as the Prophet speakes of Sion in her beauty and glory Is 33.20 Shall not be taken downe not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed neyther shall any of the cords thereof be broken Againe Consider the heavens have no outward support They are stretched out over the empty place Which demonstration of the power of God will be more cleared and hightned in the next words And he hangeth the earth upon nothing If any say heaven is a thin body there needs no great matter to keepe that up What will they say to the earth which is a grosse and heavy body a body of an unconceivable weight who can count or cast up the weight of the earth or how much the earth weigheth God not onely stretcheth out the thinne heavens over the empty place but he hangeth the earth that mighty masse of the earth upon nothing he hath not so much as a pegge in the wall so the word signifieth to hang it upon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appendit suspendit He hangeth the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est nomen compositum ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quid quasi dicas nihil quicquam Drus Philosophi rationem reddunt quod illa sit in suo centro in quo res naturalitèr quiescunt ideoque terra ponderibus librata suis quiescat When he sayth the earth we are to understand both earth and water the whole terrestiall globe This he hangeth upon nothing The Original word is a compound which in its parts may be rendred not any thing at all that is nothing But how can any thing be hung upon that which is nothing if it hang it must be upon somewhat Philosophers tell us that the earth hangeth upon its Center and so is poysed by its own waight and cannot moove which Center or imaginary point is nothing But the Scripture sayth the earth hath a foundation And David Psal 24.2 tells us expressely what that foundation is The earth is the Lords and the fullnesse thereof the world and they that dwell therein for he hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods According to this Scripture the Sea is the foundation of the earth the floods are the basis of it How then doth Job affirme that He hangeth the earth upon nothing That indeed which David affirmes may seeme very strange that the earth should be founded upon the sea and established upon the floods is the sea a fit foundation for the earth and can that which is stable and unmoveable be established upon that whiâ—h is the Embleme of instability floods and waters Jacob sayth of Reubâ—n Gen. 49.4 unstable as water and can floods or waters be the whole earths establishment the earth is rather the foundation of the water and many Philosophers tell us that the sea is higher then the earth and therein is the power of God seene that hee holds in the sea as with barrs or as with a bridle lest it overwhelme the earth how is it then sayd the earth is founded upon the sea I answer the word that wee translate upon signifieth by neere together with so he hath founded it upon the sea is by the sea Super flumina est juxta vel secus flumina quis enim terram initifluminibus dixerit Drus or neare the sea that is the sea and the land are next neighbours they dwel so neere each other that the one seemes to dwel upon or be the foundation of the other There are waters within the earth whence it is sayd that at the time of the Flood Gen. 7.11 as the windows of heaven were opened so the fountaines of the great deepe were broken up and wee read of the waters as placed under the earth Exod 20.4 yet if we say the earth is upon the waters sence contradicts it and if wee consider the whole globe together wee cannot say which is uppermost for in a spheare or round figure there is neyther uppermost nor lowermost but all the parts are equall and alike being placed one by another not one upon another So that the text in the Psalme which saith the earth is founded upon the seas doth not at all dash against nor contradict this of Job which sayth He hangeth the earth upon nothing Againe There is another Scripture that seemes to oppose this and from which we may inferre that surely the earth hath somewhat to sustaine it Psal 104.5 Who layd the foundations of the earth that it should not be removed for ever Wee put in the margin Hee founded the earth upon her basis if the earth be founded upon a basis or pillar then it doth not hang upon nothing I answer the foundation or basis in the Psalme doth not oppose the earths hanging upon nothing for the foundation or basis which upholdeth the earth is not any created power without or extrinsicall to the earth God did not build the earth as wee doe houses first laying the foundation and then seting up the walls and roofe there is no such thing imaginable in the worke of God But the foundation or basis of the earth is the infinite and invisible power of God who made the earth The will and word of the Builder is the pillar which sustaineth this building The thin ayre is all the appearing foundation of the earth For as the heavens hang over the ayre so the earth hangs in the midst of the ayre What then is the basis and foundation of the earth I answer which may be the poynt of observation from these words The earth is upheld by the infinite and allmighty power of God The earth hath no pillar but hangs like a ball in the ayre we should looke upon it as a miracle did we see a little ball but of an ounce weight hanging in the ayre without support Non fundamâ—ntis suis nâ—xa subsistit terra nec sulchris sâ—isstabilis perseverat sed dominus statuit terram fundamento voluntatis suae continet Amb Hexam 6. the ayre will scarce beare a feather throw a feather up into the ayre and it will descend unlesse kept up
by a breath of winde and yet this huge vast globe of earth and water hangs as a ball in the ayre and we scarce wonder at it The Poets fained an Atlas to beare up the heavens with his shoulders God is the Atlas that beares up the heavens and the earth too the upper globe and the under globe too he made all things by himselfe out of nothing and he supports them by himselfe upon nothing We have an excellent expression of the power of God in this thing Isa 40.12 Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and meted out heaven with the span and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountaines in scales and the hills in a ballance God made all things in weight and measure and hee keepes the weight and measure of all things As the earth was not till his word and will gave it a being so his word and will alone is all-sufficient to uphold it in that being God hath not hanged the earth upon any thing but himselfe who is indeed infinitely more then all things Take two or three deductions from this Grand Conclusion First The same power which made the world supports and maintaines it Thus the Authour to the Hebrewes sets forth the dignity of Christ the Son of God Chap 1.2 3. Whom he hath appoynted heyre of all things by whom also he made the worlds both the naturall civill and spirituall worlds with all the changes and successions which have been in them who is also the brightnes of the glory of God and the expresse image of his person upholding all things the naturall frame of the world as wel as the civill and spirituall frame of it by the word of his power or by his powerfull word which as it once commanded all things into a being so now it commands all things into that continuance of their being in which they are Which power the Apostle attributes againe to Christ Col. 1.17 He is before all things and by him all things consist Sin made the world shake And had it not been for a second creation the first creation had been ruin'd and lost The earth and all our concernements who live upon the face of the earth hang upon nothing but the will of God If he let us goe we fall though all the powers on earth would underprop and uphold us and if he hold us up we stand fast though we have no more of any earthly power to prop us up with then the earth hath which is propt up with and hangeth upon nothing Secondly God can doe the greatest things without any visible meanes This worke of God in hanging the earth as it doth is to be numbred among the greatest workes that ever he did and thus it hangs without any the least appearing meanes to hold it up There are three arguments given in Scripture of the mighty power of God First That he workes by small even the smallest meanes wee have reason to wonder when effects exceed all visible causes as it shewes the great power of God when he stops great meanes from doing any thing when he causeth men to labour in the very fire that is to toyle and sweat themselves to the utmost for very vanity that is without any hoped for issue or advantage Some labour in the fire for very vanity because all they get by their labours is worth nothing but others may be sayd to labour in the fire for very vanity because with all their labours they can get nothing And this is of the Lord this is an effect of the Lords power to make the power of man in the use and improvement of the best and choycest meanes ineffectual So on the other side it is a great magnifying of the power of God when by a litle power put forth by the hand of a weake instrument he produceth great effects The Apostle James brings it in with a behold Chap. 3.5 Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth When great matters are done by small meanes we have reason to extoll and cry up the power of God Secondly It argues the great power of God when he doth great things by meanes that are improbable or that seeme no way sutable to such an end as Christ cured blindnesse with clay spittle which meanes had no sutablenesse to such an end the curing of blindnesse The meanes used to cure Naaman had no sutablenesse for such a cure and Naaman was so sencible of it that he was very angry with the Prophet about it as if his leprosie could be cured by so slight a thing as that was he thought he would have done it with some ceremony or in an extraordinary way yet this shewed that the cure was wrought by a divine power because it was wrought by so improbable an application As the power of God appeares in doing great things by small meanes so by doing great things by unlikely meanes Thirdly It shews the power of God much more to doe great things without the use of any meanes at all Such actings are creatings as the Apostle speakes of the Creation Heb 11.3 Through faith wee understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things that are seene were not made of things that doe appeare Nothing appeared out of which this world was created There was no pre-excistent matter out of which the world was made The world was made out of nothing That Goodly fabrick of heaven and earth which is now seene was made of that which was never seene no man can tell what were the materialls of which God made the world Now as God shewed his infinite power at first in making all things of that which did not appeare so the great power of God doth appeare now in doing great things without the appearance or external concurrence of any thing The Lord turnes whole Nations sometimes by nothing things are done and no man can tell how they were done or by what We love to have a fayre Appearance of meanes when we attempt great matters But God loves to act when and where nothing appeares We honour God most when we are sencible that the greatest meanes is nothing without him and that he himselfe is enough when no meanes at all appeares to sence It is Gods usuall way to doe things in a way which is not used and eyther to use no helpe or that which signifyeth nothing Thus the Apostle describes the dealing of God in bringing soules to himselfe by a holy calling and in removing whatsoever standeth in the way of that call 1 Cor 1.26 For yee see your calling brethren how that not many wise men after the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called c. some wise and mighty men are called lest any thing in man should seeme too hard for the Grace of God and not many wise and mighty men are called lest any thing in man should seeme to contribute to or helpe
heaven proper and the pillars of heaven in a figure tremble at or are astonished at these loud reproofes Hence observe The greatest strength of the creature trembleth at the angry dispensations and appearances of God As the lifting up of the light of Gods countenance puts joy into the heart more then corn wine the best things of this world so the darkenes of Gods countenance puts more trouble and sorrow into our hearts then gall and wormewood the worst of the world can doe David describes at large in what a kinde of hudle and hurry the world was in such a day Psal 18.13 14 15. Then the earth shooke and trembled the foundations also of the hils moved and were shaken because he was wroth The Lord also thundered in the heavens and the highest gave his voyce hailestones and coales of fire he sent out his arrows and scattered them and he shot out lightnings and discomfited them then the channels of waters were seene and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke O Lord at the blast of the breath of thy nostrills What David there spake of thunder and lightning and hayle-stones hath been visibly effected for the destruction of the enemyes of the people of God and for the deliverance of his children The history of Joshuah gives us a famous instance at the 10th Chapter and though it be not recorded that David obtained victoryes by such immediate helpes from heaven yet it is not improbable considering the tenour of this Psalme that he did And we have a notable instance of a victory obtained by Thunder and lightning in the History of the Church whence that Christian Legion of Souldiers who had earnestly prayed that God would appeare for their help was called The Thundering Legion But whether we expound this context in the Psalme literally and strictly as expressing what God did for David in this kinde Or figuratively as expressing onely thus much that God did wonderfull things in one kinde or other in helping David against his enemyes or whether we understand it mystically of what God doth to and for the soules and spirituall estates of men yet it holds forth in all the utter inability of man to beare up when the Lord shewes himselfe in any terrible demonstrations of his presence Againe Psal 104.32 He looketh on the earth and it trembleth he toucheth the hills and they smoake There is a twofold looke of God First there is the looke of Gods favour and thus Saints often pray that God will looke downe from heaven upon them this looke is the releiving yea the reviving of the soule secondly there is a looke of displeasure an angry a frowning looke when clouds and stormes are seene in the brow Thus in the Psalme God is sayd to looke on the earth frowningly childingly and then it trembled he toucheth the hills and they smoak that is they are as all on-fire The natural hils smoake at Gods touch and so doe the metaphoricall hills when God toucheth the great men of the earth they smoake presently they fret and fume till they breake out into a flame of rage heating and vexing both themselves and all that are neere them Isa 50.2 Behold at my rebuke I dry up or I can dry up the Sea I am as able to doe it now with a word of my mouth as I once did it for the deliverance of your forefathers Exo 14.21.29 I make or I can make when I will with my rebuke the rivers a wildernesse that is as dry as a desert or wildernes useth to be their fish stinketh because there is no water and dyeth for thirst What strange worke doth the rebuke of God make By that he drieth the sea by that he maketh the river a wildernes and as he doth this by the power of his reproofes upon the sea and rivers natural so upon the sea and rivers mysticall He can dry up those worldly helpes which seeme as inexhaustible as the sea and as lasting and constant to us as a river which is fed with a continuall spring And when any power riseth up against us as deepe and dangerous as the sea as wel supplyed and seconded as a river yet we need not feare for God can presently dry it up and make us a passage over it or through it Yea they who are as well bottom'd and foundation'd as the earth shall quickly feele the effects of his power Psal 114.7 Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord at the presence of the God of Jacob. But some may say if the earth trembleth at the presence of God then the earth must alwayes tremble for God is alwayes present or what is the presence of God there spoken of I answer as there is a presence of God that maketh all those that enjoy it to sing for joy In thy presence is fullnesse of joy and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 so there is a presence of God that is very terrible to the creature yea that presence of God which is comfortable to his people is terrible to his enemyes for when the Psalmist had sayd ver 2. Judah was his Sanctuary and Israel his dominion that is a people sanctifyed to him and governed and protected by him presently it followeth The sea saw it and fled Jordan was driven backe The mountaines skipped like rams and the litle hils like lambs The Psalmist perceaving all things in such a trembling fit and confusion seemes to wonder what the matter was and therefore puts the question What ayled thee O thou sea that thou fleddest yea mountaines that ye skipped c And presently maketh answer Tremble thou earth at the presence of the Lord As if he had sayd the cause of all this terrour and trouble among the creatures was nothing else but the presence of God And if the very sence-lesse creatures were sencible of his wrathfull presence how much more must man both be sencible of it and stoop unto it This the Lord insinuates by a cutting question Ezek. 22.14 Can thy heart indure or can thy hands be strong in the day that I shall deale with thee I the Lord have spoken it and will doe it The Lord by his Prophet speakes there to a people that had a double strength they were strong hearted and they were strong handed they had much force or outward power and they had much courage or inward power but neyther hand-strength nor heart-strength neyther force nor courage shall avayle you in that day saith the Lord that I shall deale with you after the dealings of an enemy in wrath and Judgement God strengthens the hands of his servants and encourageth their hearts to endure his severest dealings with them But when he commeth to deale severely with those who are rebellious and wicked their hearts who are stoutest among them shall not be able to endure nor can they strengthen their hands They who have strengthned their hearts and hands most to commit sin shall be
God made two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night he made the starres also and God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth God in Creation did with the light as he did with the waters which being made were divided the waters above the firmament were divided from the waters under the firmament and the waters under the heaven he gathered together into one place Gen. 1.9 God prepared a certaine great vessell into which the waters were called and gathered that they should not spread over the earth as they did at first which gathering together of the waters God called Seas Gen. 1.10 Thus the light which was spread and scattered through the ayre over all the earth God gathered into severall vessells Pulchritudo es ornamenta coeloruÌ„ stellae sunt sicut terrae animantia et plantae Sanct and the gathering together of light he called Sunne Moone Starrs which are as Job here calleth them the garnishing of the heavens Moses epitomiseth or briefly summs up his larger narrative of the Creation in these words Gen 2.1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them that is they were finished not onely as to their essentials but ornamentalls not only was the foundation layd the walls and pillars the beames and rafters of that goodly structure set up and perfected but all the furniture of it was brought in and the beautyes of it compleated Now as gemms minerals plants trees and all living creatures are the Garnishing of the Earth and the host of God there so the Sunne Moone and Starrs are the garnishing of heaven and the host of God there David speaketh of these distinctly Psal 33.6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth All creatures whether placed in heaven or earth are for their number their strength their order their readynes at a call or command the host of God Earthly Princes shew their power in their hosts and armyes of what power God is both his acts and his hosts aboundantly declare And as these creatures are the armyes or host of God in heaven and earth so they are the Adornings and Garnishings of heaven and earth Job in this place speaketh onely of the former By his Spirit he hath Garnished the Heavens Onely here take notice that some expound the word Spirit for the winde which bloweth in the ayre and so render the text thus By his winde hee garnisheth the heavens As if this were Jobs meaning that God sending forth the windes dispelleth and scattereth those clouds foggs and mists which often cover the face of the heavens and hinder our beholding their glory and garnishings According to this interpretation the garnishing of the heavens is nothing else but the removing of that which obscureth the Garnishing of them And it is true that when the heavens are maskt over with clouds and darknesse God by the winds cleareth the ayre and so reneweth the face of those heavenly bodyes But I passe by this and shall onely insist upon the former exposition of these words as being more sutable with Jobs scope and more expressive of the power and Glory of God in the great things which he hath wrought for us By his Spirit hee garnisheth the heavens Hence learne First We ought joyntly to acknowledge and give glory to the Father Son and Spirit in the worke of Creation Solomon in his advice to the young man sayth Eccl 12.1 Remember thy creators in the dayes of thy youth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 creatorum tuorum Mysterâ—um Sanctae Trinitatis Pisc Wee translate in the singular number creator but the Hebrew is plural Creators intimating the mystery of the Holy Trinity as Moses also is conceaved to doe in that plural expression Gen 1.26 And God sayd let us make man in our image after our likenes And though this be added in a way of Eminency when the particular creation of man is set downe yet we are to understand it so generally of the whole worke of Creation and as of the worke of Creation so of all other divine workes towards the creature Redemption is the worke of the Father and of the Spirit as wel as of the Son and sanctification is the worke of the Father and of the Son as wel as of the Spirit The three persons worke together onely they have a distinct manner of working according to which each worke is chiefely attributed to that person and so creation is specially appropriated to the Father Redemption to the Son and Sanctification to the Holy Ghost Seing then all Three worke together in all things towards us All three ought to be equally and eternally honoured worshipped loved and obeyed by us By his Spirit he hath garnished the Heavens Secondly Observe The heavens are full of beauty God hath not onely made them but adorn'd them What a rich and Royall Canopy hath God hung over the heads of poore wormes dust and ashes God did not thinke it enough to give us a house unlesse he gave us also a pleasant house he was not satisfied in setting up a large fabricke for us unlesse he also furnished and garnished it for us God hath made the world not onely usefull but contentfull to us he hath fitted it not onely for our necessity but delight The earth is beautifull but the heavens exceed in beauty The heavens are the Ceiling of our house and the Starres are like Golden studs and sparkling Diamonds in that Ceiling We may inferre three things from the Garnishing of these heavens First If the heavens which we see are so glorious what are the heavens which no eye hath seene If God hath thus discernably adorned the first and second heavens how unconceaveable are the ornaments of the third heavens If nature hath so much beauty in it how beâ—utifull a thing is Glory If God hath prepared such heavens as our eyes see for those who hate him then surely eye hath not seene eare hath not heard nor hath it entred into the heart of man to understand what those heavens are which God hath prepared for them and for them alone who love him The light of these visible heavens is but darkenes to that inheritance of the Saints in light The Moone-light if I may so speake of that state shall be better and more illustrious then the Sun-light of this and the light of the Sunne shall be sevenfold as the light of seven dayes in that Great day when the Lord shall perfectly bind up All the breaches of his people and heale the stroake of their wound God who by his Spirit hath garnished these heavens will be himselfe with his Son and Spirit the eternal Garnishing of those heavens Secondly Seing God hath been so bountifull and munificent as to Garnish the heavens for us even for us by his Spirit seing he hath provided such
serpent and he shall slay the Dragon that is in the Sea Where we may note by the way that our translaters render those very original words a peircing serpent in this text of Isayah which they render a crooked serpent in Job and I conceave it is better translated peircing for so bolts or barrs are rather then crooked another word being also used in Isayah which we translate crooked For serpents are both straite and long like a Barre Malo hic coetuÌ„ intelligi balaenam Merc A coeli ornatu ad maris ornatuÌ„ tanquam ad aliud extremuÌ„ descendit Pined Intelligo Balaenam insigne inimis opus divinae potentiae efficacitatem voluntatis atque arbatrij ejus singularitèr comprobant Coc they are also crooked can winde themselves into a circle when they please or see it for their advantage Now the long Bar-like or as we say crooked serpent which Job here saith the hand of God hath formed is according to this interpretation the Whale-fish or Leviathan which is the greatest not onely of all the fishes in the Sea but of all living creatures and therefore may well be brought here by Job as an instance to demonstrate the mighty power of God whether in forming or wounding of him especially considering that God himselfe when he would humble and abase Job in the sight of his owne meanenes as he had led him to the meditation of many of his great workes in nature throughout the 38th 39th and 40â—h Chapters of this he bestowes the whole 41â—â— Chapter in a large particular and Rhetoricall description of the Leviathan and though he had sayd of the Behemoth or Elephant Chap. 40.19 He is the chiefe of the wayes of God yet he saith more of the Leviathan or Whale Chap. 41.33 34. Vpon earth there is none like him who is made without feare he beholdeth all high things he is a king over all the children of pride As if he had sayd The Elephant is the chiefe of all sensitive living creatures upon the earth but the Whale is greater then the Elephant therefore he exceeds all creatures moving upon the earth The Whale is so vast turbulent a living creature that he is joyned with the Sea which is the vastest and most turbulent creature without life Thus Job speakes Chap. 7.12 Am I a Sea or a Whale that thou settest a watch over me implying that the Whale is among sensitive creatures as the Sea is among insensitive the greatest and most unruly of them and therefore hath as much need to be watched by a divine providence as the Sea it selfe hath Thus the Psalmist describing the great workes of God putteth the Leviathan or Whale among the chiefest of them Psal 104.24 25 26. O Lord how manifold are thy workes in wisedome hast thou made them all the earth is full of thy riches so is the great and wide Sea wherein are things creeping innumerable both small and great beasts There goe the Ships there is That Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein Thus we see how the Scripture consents in exalting the power and wisedome of God in this part of his worke the forming of this long and mighty or as we translate the Substantive Epithete crooked serpent And therefore Job might wel claspe these two together while he was studying to exemplifie in particulars the greatnes of the workes of God his garnishing or peopling the heavens with such infinite variety of Starres especially with the Sunne and his forming of and so storing the Sea with such infinite variety of fishes especially with the Leviathan For as the Sun is a Prince among the lights of heaven so Leviathan is a Prince a King among the fishes of the Sea His hand hath formed the Crooked or rather the long Serpent And if any should object against this interpretation that it seemes unsutable to call the Whale or Leviathan a Serpent I answer that the text in Isayah Chap 27.1 before alledged may wel beare us out in it which though it be to be understood of the Devill or of his instruments the enemyes of the Churches peace and safety yet calleth Leviathan the peircing which word in the Original as I hinted before is here in Job rendred crooked Serpent and in the immediately following words That crooked Serpent and the Dragon that is in the Sea Wherefore restg chiefely if not onely in this interpretation that Job having gone up in his discourse to the heavens and the garnishing of them came downe to the Sea and to the furnishing thereof and instances in that creature which is chiefe in the Sea The Leviathan thereby to exalt and lift up the glory of God in his workes of creation and providence Observe The Sea as well as the heavens and all the inhabitants thereof declare the mighty workes and workmanship of God As the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy-worke Psal 19.1 So the earth declareth the glory of God and the Sea sheweth his handy-worke The least creatures preach the power of God how much more the greatest All beleevers are taught of God and every thing we see teacheth us somewhat of God and this they teach us especially that God is the former of them all The Hand of God hath formed the Eagle and a lesse powerfull hand then Gods could not forme a fly The hand of God hath formed the Elephant and a lesse powerfull hand then his could not forme a mouse The hand of God hath formed Leviathan and a hand lesse powerfull then his could not forme a shrimpe As Jesus Christ was declared many wayes to be the Son of God but as the Apostle saith Rom. 1.4 He was declared to be the Son of God with power or powerfully declared to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead So all things that are created declare that their Creator is God But he is declared with power or powerfully declared to be God by many of the creatures Who can make any thing to live but the living God Who can make Great things but the Great God His hand hath formed the crooked serpent And seing the Lord hath formed the crooked serpent even those creatures that are most dreadfull and dangerous to man then the most dreadfull and dangerous creatures are under the power of God hee formed them and therefore he can restraine and curb them As it is sayd of Behemoth Job 40.19 He that made him can make his sword approach unto him that is though he be too strong for man yet God who gave him that strength hath infinitely more and can easily Master him yea and give a weake man skill and power to doe it so though it be sayd Job 41.26 of Leviathan that the sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold the speare the dart nor the habergeon yet God who made him can make his sword approach to him or as some render the words under hand His hand hath
highest of the learnedst of the holiest of the best of men Can a man be profitable unto God The word is El The strong God Can the strongest man be profitable unto the strong the mighty the omnipotent the Almighty God Can he be profitable Can he bring any advantage gaine or profit to God Should he reason with unprofitable talke saith Eliphaz Chap. 15.3 or with words that bring in no Profit A word of the same root signifies a Treasurer who is a keeper of publique Profits Esay 22.15 Goe get thee unto this Treasurer even unto Shebna Can a man be profitable Thus Eliphaz reproves Job for insisting so often upon his own innocency as if that were an Advantage to God As if he had said how holy or righteous soever any man is the Lord receives no advantage by him So that Eliphaz it seems apprehended Job trusting or boasting of somewhat in himselfe as if he had thought God his debtor or that hee had done somewhat for which God was beholding to him And upon this ground that God is debtor or beholding to no man Eliphaz undertakes Job And though his supposition was false yet his position was true and gives us this profitable observation That the best of men cannot oblige God or merit any thing at his hand That which is our duty to doe cannot merit when we have done it We cannot oblige either God or man by performing our owne obligation Thus Christ argues Luk. 17.7 Which of you having a servant ploughing or feeding Cattell will say unto him by and by when he is come from the field goe and sit downe to meate And will not say unto him make ready wherewith I may sup and gird thy selfe and serve me till I have eaten and drunken and afterward thou shalt eate and drinke Doth he thanke that servant because he did the things that were commanded him I trow not So likewise yee when yee have done all these things which are commanded you say wee are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to doe Where Christ proves that because the servant had done no more then was his duty to doe therefore he did not merit in doing it When you have done all that is commanded you say yee are unprofitable servants He that doth all those things that are commanded him is a man indeed a man of worth a man of men yet let that be granted that he reacheth to the utmost line of the Command he is an unprofitable servant he hath but done his duty There is another Parable in this Gospel of Luke that seems to be somewhat opposite to this Chap. 12. v. 36 37. And ye your selves be like unto men that waite for their Lord when he will return from the wedding that when he cometh and knocketh they may open to him immediately Blessed are those servants wâ—om when the Lord cometh he shall finde so watching that is at their worke Watching is not meant here of a bare waking or not being asleep for a man may watch in that sense and yet be as bad as a sleeper To be found awake and yet idle to be found awake yet doing nothing is as blameable as to be found asleep So that to be found watching is to be found intent upon and labouring in the work of the Lord. Blessed be those servants whom when their Lord cometh he shall find so watching what wil he do Verily I say unto you that he shall gird himselfe and make them to sit down to meate and will come forth to serve them In the 17th Chap. Christ saith If a servant have been hard at worke in the service of his Lord even as a man that is come from Plow or from feeding his Cattell yet his Master doth not say to him sit downe to meate but first bids him gird him self and serve him and afterward goe to meat But here 't is said the Lord presently girds himself and makes his servants sit down to meat and will come and serve them so that here he speaks as if the Lord were much beholding to these servants whereas before hee speaks of them as unprofitable servants to whom he was not at all beholding For the clearing of these two Parables we are to distinguish them by their scopes The scope of the Parable in the 12th Chapter is to shew that the diligent servant shall receive much from the hands of the Lord or that the labour of the diligent servant shall not be in vaine or unprofitable to him But the scope of the Parable in the 17th Cha. is to shew that the most diligent servant cannot doe any thing that is profitable unto his Lord. He may do that which may be profitable to himselfe but he can do nothing that can be profitable to his Lord that 's the scope of the 17th Chapter which falls in fully with the Text and Observation that I am now upon There is a wide difference between these two parables To shew what a diligent servant may expect is one thing and what the most diligent servant can challenge or require is another For indeed those servants in the 12th Chapter to whom the Lord administers the Supper or to whom he ministers at Supper must say that they are unprofitable servants to the Lord though they are to acknowledg to the praise of their Lord that his service hath not been unprofitable unto them and they must say so upon these Considerations First he is their Lord they his servants not their owne 1 Cor. 6.20 Yee are bought with a price yee are not your owne therefore glorifie God in your bodies in your spirits which are Gods God is the owner of our bodies and spirits our selves are the Lords Now if we our selves our bodies and our spirits are the Lords then much more are our services his If the person be anothers all the work done by him must be his too Secondly the house wherein these servants are feasted is the Lords The whole fabrick of heaven and earth is his house He hath set it up to entertain and feast his people in Thirdly All the cheere and good things with which the Lord feasteth his servants all the comforts which grace holds out in this life or glory in the next life are of his owne provision the whole furniture of the Table is of his cost and charge therefore they are obliged to their Lord not their Lord to them he is indeed profitable unto them but they are not profitable unto him They by their sloath and idlenesse might deserve to be sent supperlesse and hungry to bed but by all their pains and diligence they could not deserve their Supper Can a man be profitable unto God Secondly Observe That God is absolutely Independent and Perfect in him selfe If there be an impossibility that man should be profitable unto God then he is Self-sufficient and altogether Independent in reference to man He that cannot receive any addition is perfect in himselfe and he that
fulfilled or done on earth as it is in Heaven Thus we see the second Propnsition cleared for the understanding of these words That as the Lord takes pleasure in those who are righteous by the imputed righteousnesse of his Son so even in those also who are reghteous by the Implanted righteousnesse or holinesse of his spirit Thirdly God takes pleasure to see a sincere and upright person justifie himselfe or plead his owne justice against all the false accusations and suspitions of men The Lord likes it well to hear a man who is falsly accused to stand up and maintaine his own innocency yea it is our duty and we are bound in conscience to maintain our own innocency So David in the seventh Psalm and in the eighteenth Psalm justified himselfe against Saul And thus Job all along in this Book justified himselfe against the opinion of his friends in this sense God takes pleasure when we are so righteous in all our dealings and perfect in all our wayes that we dare encounter whosoever speaks the contrary and can wash off all the aspersions which either misguided and mistaken friends or professed Enemies cast upon us You have now had those three affirmative Propositions for the understanding of the Text. Take three more in the Negative First God hath no pleasure to see us justifie our selves before him or to plead our own righteousnesse with him yea he is extreamly displeased at it This some conceive the chief thing which Eliphaz aimed at Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou doest justifie thy selfe No thou dost highly provoke him in doing so to plead with or to justifie our selves before God that we are righteous is worse then all our unrighteousnesse for this overthrowes the whole design of the Gospel which is 1 Cor. 1.29 That no flesh should glory in his presence but be that glorieth let him glory in the Lord. And Rom. 3.19 20. The Law convinceth all That all the world may become guilty before God therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall be no flesh justified in his sight God will have every mouth stopped or cry guilty and therefore for any one to open his mouth and justifie himselfe before God is to overthrow the Gospel They are ignorant of the righteousnesse of God who goe about to establish their own righteousnesse Rom. 10.3 And as God hath no pleasure in them who boast of their righteousnesse to justifie themselves before him so Secondly God hath no pleasure in them who boast of their owne righteousnesse and contemne others Though a man may assert the righteousnesse of his Conversation against all them who question it yet God resents it highly when any proclaim their own righteousnesse to the despising of others Christ speaks a Parable against those in the 18th of Luke v. 9 10 11. who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others Two men went up into the Temple to pray the one a Pharisee the other a Publican The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himselfe God I thank thee that I am not as other men are extortioners adulterers unjust or even as this Publican Here was one that advanced his owne active righteousnesse and he did it with the contempt of another I am not as this Publican The Lord takes no pleasure in this yea the Lord is highly displeased with this And Isa 65.5 the Prophet represents the Lords indignation against this pharisaicall spirit in dreadful eloquence Stand by thy selfe come not near to me for I am holier then thou Thus they pleaded their righteousnes in contempt of others These saith the Lord are a smoak in my nose that is greevous and displeasing a fire that burneth all the day Thirdly God hath no pleasure at all in any of our righteousnesse either in the righteousnesse of our Justification or the righteousnesse of our Sanctification as the least addition to his owne happiness The reason of it is because as was shewed from the former Verse God is self-sufficient and hath no dependance at all upon the Creature So that what pleasure soever the Lord hath in the righteousnesse of our Justification or of our Sanctification we cannot put it to this account that we add any thing to his happines All the pleasure which God taketh is in himselfe or in the fulfilling of his owne good pleasure in Christ And therefore the work which Jesus was to doe on Earth is called the pleasure of God Isa 53.10 Deus nullis rebus quae extra ipsum sunt tangitur aut mutatur It pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soule an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand That pleasure of the Lord was the work which the Lord put into his hand or which he gave him to doe even the bringing about his eternal purpose for the recovery of lost man that 's a work in which the Lord takes pleasure so much pleasure that the Prophet calleth it His pleasure And thus the Apostle speaks Eph. 1.5 6. Having predestinated us to the adoption of Children by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his owne will c. The good pleasure of God is onely in his owne will that 's his pleasure The Lord delights to see his will accomplisht in the saving of sinners as well as in the obedience of Saints that 's a part of the good will of God why doth he take pleasure in the obedience of Saints even because his own will is done It 's not any thing in us that doth it So when he saves us the pleasure which he takes is in the fulfilling of his owne will rather then in our salvation Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous Vers 4. Will he reprove thee for fear of thee Or will he enter with thee into judgement The Question is to be resolved into this negative He will not reprove thee for fear of thee c. Will he reprove thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 arguit redarguit corripuit judicavit The word signifies first to argue or dispute and so to convince by the authority of reason Secondly to plead so to convince by evidence of the Law and fact Mich. 6.2 Hear yee O Mountaines the Lords Controversie and ye strong foundations of the Earth for the Lord hath a controversie with his people and he will plead with Israel The Mountaines and the strong foundations of the earth are the great men of the earth or Magistratical powers with these the Lord threatens a Controversie and that he will plead or argue his cause with them Thirdly it signifies to argue or plead not with words onely but with blowes to reprove with correction Job 5.17 Happy is the man whom thou correctest The word which here we render reprove is there rendred to correct which is reproving by blowes Fourthly
numberless of our sins There is an Arithmeticall as well as a Geometricall infinity in sin Thus the Septuagint as was sayd before render the Text Are not thine iniquities innumerable That hath a kinde of infinity which cannot be numbred but cannot our sinnes be numbred are they infinite in number I answer sinnes may be considered two wayes first in their species and kinds secondly in their acts if we consider sinnes in their species and kinds so they are not innumerable for it is possible to number up all the severall heads divisions and kinds of sinne but if we consider sin in reference to acts so every mans sins are innumerable yet this innumerablenes of sins in reference to acts may be considered either absolutely or as to us The acts of sin are not absolutely or in themselves innumerable but as to us they are innumerable they are more then any man can number John sayth Rev. 7.9 After this I beheld and lo a great multitude which no man could number besides those that were sealed of every Tribe of all Nations and kindreds c. This great multitude was not in it selfe without number but as to mans arithmeticke it was no man could number it The haires of our head and the sands of the Sea are numerable to God but to us innumerable David Psal 40.12 speakes first of innumerable evills and then of innumerable sinnes innumerable evills compasse me about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me so that I am not able to looke up they are more then the haires of my head therefore my heart faileth me when he sayth they are more then the haires of my head his meaning is they are innumerable I can no more tell the summe of my sinnes then the summe of my hayres Christ to assure his Disciples in time of their afflictions and sufferings that he will take care of them tells them The very hayres of your head are all numbred Mat. 10.30 As if he had sayd seing God taketh care of those inconsiderable not parts but excrements of the body surely then he will take care of those more noble parts of your bodies and most of all of that most noble part of you which is your all your soules The hayres of our heads are innumerable to us but God numbers them The sins of our hearts and lives are all numbred by God Thou tellest my wandrings sayth holy David Psal 56.8 he meanes it of his wandrings by persecution and 't is as true of his wandrings by transgression But what man knowes the errors or wandrings eyther of his heart or life Psal 19.12 He that hath fewest sins hath more then he can number and therefore every mans sins are to him in number infinite Fourthly Iniquities may he called infinite in reference to the will or the spirit of him that committeth those iniquities those sinnes are without bounds to which man would never set a bound The natural man would never end sinning therefore his sins are without end or infinite The Prophet Jer. 13.27 speakes reproveingly to that people in the name of the Lord I have seene thine adulteries and thy neighings the lewdnesse of thy whoredome and thine abominations on the hills in the feilds wo unto thee O Jerusalem wilt thou not be made cleane when shall it once be As if be had said O Jerusalem thou hast no will to be made cleane or thou wouldest never be cleane if thou mightest have thy will When shall it once be The time is yet to come when thou wouldest have it to be so thou hast a mind to pollute thy selfe still but no minde to wash thy selfe from thy pollution The sins of a person or people are then infinite or without end when they discover that they have no minde to leave sinning A godly mans desires to doe good are infinite and so are the desires of a wicked man to doe evill This Prophet had spoken to Jerusalem in the same language Chap. 4.14 How long shall vaine thoughts lodge in thee when wilt thou be weary of these lodgers when wilt thou bid these guests be gone whom thou hast thus long bid welcome The Church of God doth sometimes suffer evill to lodge very long in her even in the middest of her as it were at her very heart but the world lodgeth or lieth continually in evill 1 Joh. 5.19 and there as it is the world it will lie for ever soakt and steept in evill Some give this as one reason to justifie the infinitnesse or everlastingnesse of the punishment that is laid upon impenitent sinners in hell The damned are under endlesse sufferings because they would have sinned without end Vellet sine fine vivere ut posset sine fine peccare Greg. A wicked man would live long yea he would have no end of his life here he would live ever that he might sinne ever therefore the Lord giveth him a life not such a one as he would have but such a one as he deserves to have which is indeed a death for ever They dye eternally for sin who would have lived eternally in sin Take a Scripture or two more to illustrate this way of the infinity of mans sinne Jer. 8.5 Why is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetuall back-sliding they hold fast deceite they refuse to returne Here are three phrases noting this one thing First They hold fast deceit secondly They refused to returne thirdly Their's was a perpetuall back-sliding or as some reade it an eternall rebellion an obstinate rebellion a strong and mighty rebellion the Seventy call it an impudent shamelesse rebellion all these are proper Epithites of that obstinacy and setlednesse of resolution which is in the heart of man by nature to continue in sinne yet there is a further rendering of the words which as the Originall will beare so it hath an elegancy in it Why is this people of Jerusalem slidden backe by a conquering or a prevailing back-sliding A perpetuall back-sliding hath conquest or triumph attributed to it upon a twofold consideration first in reference to other sinnes finall obstinacy or impenitency lifts up its head above all other sinnes and sits as King among them impenitency under any sin committed is greater then the sin committed not to repent of the evill we have done is worse then the evill which we doe Impenitency seales the soule under condemnation Repentance conquers sin but impenitency is the conquering sin Secondly 't is called a triumphing or conquering sinne because it seemes as it were to carry the day against the mercy and goodnesse of God that 's a sad conquest indeed not that any sinne no nor impenitency for sinne exceeds the mercy and goodnesse of God for his thoughts of mercy are as high above our acts of sin as they are above our thoughts of his mercy that is as high as the heaven is in comparison of the earth Isa 55.9 But the mercy of the Lord is said to be overcome by perpetuall backslidings
issues of divine wrath While these sad dispensations are sent out and meete with Saints they are the issues of divine love For though a godly man may provoke God to anger and finde by many evidences that God as to his actings is angry with him yet as to his person he alwayes loves him And therefore as a wicked mans Table is made his snare so he is assured that his snare shall be made to him a Table that his darkness shall worke light his evills good to him He is also assured that the Lord will dâ—liver him out of these snares and cut the coards of the wicked Psal 129.4 That hee will deliver him from feare from darknes and bring him up out of the abundance of waters which cover him as David speaks Psal 32.6 For this that is because thou art so gracious shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayst be found The Hebrew is in a finding time which according to our translation notes the season when God may be found as the Prophet speaks Isa 55.6 Yet it may be well expounded for the time when trouble finds that is takes hold of the godly man And so the word is used Psal 116.3 The paines of hell gat hold of me we put in the Margin found me In which sence the word is used also Psal 21.8 Thine hand shall finde out that is take hold of and apprehend all thine enemies thy right hand shall finde out those that hate thee Now in this finding time eyther when God may be found or when trouble finds a godly man he setting himselfe to pray hath this promise surely in the floods of great waters they that is the floods of great waters by which are meant great dangers shall not come nigh him that is the Godly man to hurt or drowne him Sometimes prayer keeps the flood off and alwayes prayer delivers the Godly man out of the flood Wicked men have no minde to come nigh God with their hearts and so some enterpret the latter part of this verse in the Psalme nor will God admitt them nigh unto himselfe in the floods of great waters And the floods of great waters shall not which is the scope of our reading come nigh the Godly man for his hurt when he drawes nigh to God in prayer with his heart Thus wee have seene the sinnes of Job drawne out into a Charge and the Judgement of Eliphaz upon it what the event the sequell or Issue of those sinnes was snares and feares and waters and darkness There is yet one thing further that I shall here take notice of from the constant course of Jobs friends in dealing with him Wee see that still they charge him with sinne and still insist upon it that all his afflictions miseries were the fruits of his sinne Job as hath appeared in opening severall passages of this Booke hath as often disproved their inference and denied that his sufferings were caused by his sinne at least not by any such way of sinning as they charged him with Labouring also much to enforme them that God hath many other reasons why he afflicts his people and that God might take libertie to afflict him though he were no such kinde of creature as they rendred him yet notwithstanding all hee could say eyther to purge himselfe or better conforme them they persevered in the same opinion both concerning his person and the cause of his afflictions Whence Note It is hard to convince those who are under a mistake whether about persons or doctrines Error is as binding upon the conscience and as strongly embraced by the affections as truth is For it binds and is embraced not in the name of an error but in the name of truth And men are therefore wedded to and in love with their owne conceptions because how monstrous and hard-favoured soever in themselves yet nothing is more beautifull in their eye then they No man fayth the Apostle ever hated his owne flesh but loved and cherished it The flesh of our minds such are all false principles and positions is more loved and cherished by us then the flesh of our bodies Besides when men have once taken up an opinion they thinke it a dishonour to lay it downe againe 'T is rare to finde a man that will yeeld up his Judgement though it be a misguided one or acknowledge that he is in an error though he begins to take some knowledge or at least some suspition of it A light intimation or onely the Appearance of a probability will amount to a proofe against eyther persons or doctrines which we like not but the clearest demonstrations will hardly raise a Jealousie against what we like Let Job say what he will in his owne case he cannot be beleeved by his friends and his friends will say againe what once they had sayd though it had been more then once before fully answered The present age hath given us sad experiences of this thing For as many have been unstable and tossed to and fro with every winde of false doctrine so others have been stubborne and unmoved from their errors though the strongest winds of truth have breathed yea blowne hard upon them And those prejudices which have with so much severity been taken up by brethren against brethren how doe they remaine in many minds as mountaines unmoved to this very day I know not which is worse unsetlednes in the truth and an easiness to let it goe or tenaciousnesse in an error and a hardnes to let it goe Nor doe I well know which is worse a readiness to take up hard thoughts of our brethren or an un-readines to lay them downe Were the lawes of love to man and zeale for God observed these extreames would alwayes be avoyded Pure zeale for God would fixe us in the truth and make us more easie to be brought off from our most applauded errors True love to man would cause us to examine every ground of suspicion against a brother twice before we doe indeed suspect him once And it would cause us to rejoyce in any appearance of his innocence whereby we might discharge our owne Spirits of all suspicions concerning him Our love as the Apostle prayes Phil. 1.9 ought to abound in knowledge and in all Judgement That is wee ought to love Judiciously as well as affectionately or sincerely So that true love will not over-looke the faults of another nor will it approve against light Yet true love is ready to entertaine any light offered that grounds of suspition may be removed and we restored to a right understanding of our brethren JOB CHAP. 22. Vers 12 13 14. Is not God in the height of heaven and beholds the height of the Starres how high they are And thou sayest How doth God know can he judge through the dark cloud Thick clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not and he walketh in the circuit of heaven IN the former part of this
Chapter wee have found Eliphaz charging Job with those hainous crimes injustice and uncharitablenesse towards man in these three verses he proceeds to charge him with a higher crime even irreligiousnesse and impiety against God as if at least Job doubted if not denied the providence of God about what is done here below or affirmed that he neither rewarded the righteous according to their good nor punisheth the wicked according to the evill which they have done That 's the scope of this context in which wee may observe First A twofold truth held forth Secondly A wrong suggestion of two errors as arising from those truths Thirdly An indeavour to prove and make good what he had wrongfully suggested The two truths are contained in the 12th verse first God is in the height of heaven secondly The Stars are very high these are cleare truths from these Eliphaz makes a wrong suggestion as if Job upon those grounds of Gods being in the height of heaven c. had pleased himselfe with this conceit that God could not at such a distance take notice of what passeth among or is acted by men in this inferior world Ver. 13. And thou sayest how doth God know can he judge through the dark cloud As if he had sayd God being in the height of heaven cannot know much lesse judge concerning the state of things here below Why what should hinder Hee tells us what in the 14th verse where which was the third thing he endeavours to prove his suggestion Thick clouds are a covering to him that he seeth not that 's the first proofe and then we have a second in the latter end of that verse God hath other things to doe then to minde what is done here he hath higher businesses and imployments then to look upon us who are creeping upon mole-hills and engaged about a heape of earth for he walketh in the circuit of heaven that is there lieth his great worke he hath enough in a nobler Spheare to imploy himselfe in and therefore surely thou thinkest that God takes no care at all or not such speciall care about the affayres and wayes of men This is the summe and scope of these three verses They are a new charge of impiety upon Job as shutting up or restraining the providence of God to the things of heaven alone and we see how Eliphaz frames arguments and proofes of the point for Job which as will appeare afterwards never came into his heart Now though Eliphaz misapplyed all this to Job yet herein he fully characters clearly paints out the spirit of carnal men for such secure themselves in their evill wayes upon this presumption that God takes no notice of them or that he hath something else to do then to trouble himselfe with what they are doing Ver. 12. Is not God in the height of heaven Nonne deus sublimior est coelo Pagni Nonne deus coelum alium tenet Tygur Nonne deus in sublimitate coelorum Mont Deus sublimitas coelorum Hebr There are divers readings of these words first thus Is not God higher then the heavens A second thus Doth not God possesse the high heaven The Originall may strictly be renderd God the height of heaven that is God is above all heavens we render well God is in the height or sublimitie of heaven This Question Is not God in the height of heaven is taken three wayes First Some read it as an Exhortation given by Eliphaz to Job to draw off the motion of his thoughts most of all the setled bent of his heart from those inferior things his losses troubles his sorrows paines and sicknesses he would divert his minde from these worldly sorrows and raise it up to heavenly enjoyments Is not God in heaven As if he had sayd Why standest thou poring upon things below Why dwellest thou so much upon thy dunghill and thy present poverty God is in the height of heaven consider him there This is both a safe and a very spirituall way to ease our minds of all the troubles and sorrowes which we meete with in this world could we but ascend in Spirit to the height where God is could we by an eye of faith looke to him live upon him and in him all burdens would be light and pressures easie to us Secondly This question may be taken as a plaine assertion or affirmation and it is of the same value signification with this God is in the height of heaven there he is and from thence he beholds all the children of men their wayes and workes Thirdly Is not God in the height of heaven May be understood not as the question of Eliphaz and so his affirmation but as the question of Job and so his supposition As if Eliphaz apprehended Job thus speaking in his heart Annon deus est inquis in altitudine coeli Jun. Is not God sayest thou in the height of heaven or doest not thou O Job say thus God is in the height of heaven I grant that he is there but I deny that he is there in thy sence or according to thy opinion He is not concluded or shut up there he is not so in the height of heaven but that he mindeth what is done upon the earth yea in the very depths of hell As if he had sayd Thy thoughts and conceptions of God are too strait and narrow Thou speakest much below God while thou sayest he is in the hight of heaven While thou confinest God to heaven thou makest him like thy selfe on earth From these words in the two former Expositions Observe That the hight of heaven or heaven above is the place of Gods speciall residence Heaven is my throne sayth the Lord Isa 66.1 the throne is the seate of a Prince there he declares his power and his state his glory shines from his throne A Prince looks like a common man when he is abroad in the world but when upon his throne then the rayes of Majesty break forth and he appeares as he is Thus the holy Prophet begs a gratious look of the Lord from heaven Isa 63.15 Looke downe from heaven the habitation of thy holinesse and of thy glory Heaven is called the habitation of Gods holinesse and of his glory because his holinesse and glory shine forth more in heaven then upon the earth little of the holinesse of God is discovered to us here though so much of it breaks forth here as causeth the heart of carnal men to quarrell with it continually Nor are any able with these eyes or rather with these hearts to beare the glory of God or endure his holines When but some extraordinary glimpses of these appeared to Esayah he cryed out Wo is me I am undone or cut off because I am a man of uncleane lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of uncleane lips for mine eyes have seene the King the Lord of Hâ—sts Isa 6.5 As God is of purer eyes then to behold iniquity so
of thick clouds seclude his sight Nor is this the onely reason why thou art overcome with this ignorant perswasion Thou hast a second which though possibly thou wouldest conceale yet will not I and this is it Thou also sayest He walketh in the circuit of heaven As if thou hadst sayd suppose God can see through the thick cloud and so my former reason should fayle yet I know well enough that the Great God of heaven hath other matters to meddle with other affaires to busie himselfe about then to trouble himselfe with me He walketh in the circuit of heaven we are not to take walking as a meere motion but as walking notes imployment he walkes in the circuit of heaven that is he is wholly taken up there When the Lord asked of Satan Whence comest thou he answered Hoc verbo videtur connotari studium inquirendi Pisc From going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and downe in it Now what doth Satan when he walks up and downe the world doth he walke like an idle vagrant that hath nothing to doe doth he walke with his hands in his pockets as having no businesse doth he walke meerly to take the aire or to take his pleasure to see and be seene no when Satan walks about the world his walking is working he goeth about to tempt to try to lay snares and baits to catch and captivate the soules of men So here when it is sayd God walketh in the circuit of heaven the meaning is his businesse yea even his whole busines lyes there He hath enough to doe in heaven and therefore hath no leysure to attend what is done on earth That 's the scope and tendency of these words which Eliphaz fastens upon Job He walketh in the circuit of heaven We are sure enough of him The words carry the same sence with that speech of the whorish woman Pro. 7.18 19 20. Come saith shee let us take our fill of love till the morning let us solace our selves with loves But the young man might possibly object your husband will come home and that will spoyle all No saith she never feare it he is farre enough out of the way The good man is not at home he is gone a long journey He hath taken a bag of money with him and will come home at the day appointed That is he will not come home till the day appointed he hath great busines abroad and he hath carried money enough with him to beare his charges till he hath don his busines He is riding and running in a farre Country and minds not home nor hath he the least suspition of what we doe at home Thus when the sinner is about to depart farre from his duty he puts or conceives God farre from him He walketh in the Circuit of heaven From the Generall scope of Eliphaz in the 13th and 14th verses Observe First Carnal men frame conceptions of God like themselves Thus the hypocrite is described Psal 50.21 Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thy selfe Not that he thought God was a man but that God had such thoughts of good and evill as man hath As if what is right in mans eyes were so in the eyes of God also or as if what did not displease man were pleasing or not much displeasing unto God When the Lord sayth Esay 55.8 My thoughts are not your thoughts nor your wayes my wayes he doth plainly intimate that they did begin to frame thoughts of God like their owne but saith God as the heavens are higher then the earth so are my thoughts then your thoughts and my wayes then your wayes That is as my thoughts have a vastnes in them to all things beyond yours so especially in this thing the performance of my promise for the pardon of sinne O how unlike is God to man in this God is not more unlike man in his absolute freedome from the least inclination to commit any the least sin then he is in the admirable freenes of his inclination to pardon any even the greatest sinne Men are commonly not onely unmercifull to those who wrong them but revengefull and when once offended are hardly drawne to a reconcilement and seldome so fully reconciled but that somwhat of offence stayeth behinde But the thoughts of God are not so He is slow to wrath and ready to forgive He quickly pardons the offence and receives the offender into favour no more retaining the memory of his offence as to his hurt then if he had never offended Thus the Lord would assure sinners that his thoughts in pardoning sinne are not as theirs And it is but need he should doe so For when sinners begin to be awakened they frame such thoughts of God as to pardon of sin as they have in themselves when they looke upon their sinnes as too bigg to be pardoned by man they conclude presently the Lord cannot or will not pardon them And as many under temptation frame thoughts of God like their owne about the pardon of sinne so it is the constant course of wicked men which is indeed the worst of their sinnes to frame thoughts of God like unto themselves while they commit and continue in sinne Man should not dare to Imagine any thing of God in reference eyther to his justice or mercy eyther about the punishing or pardoning of sinne but what he hath declared of himselfe all that wee Imagine beside that is the making of another God There are many false gods made with mens hands but the hearts of men make many more The heart of man makes thousands of false or strange gods Every undue every wrong Imagination of God is the forming up of a strange of a new god When we ascribe to God such a kinde of power such a kinde of knowledge such a kinde of holines such a kinde of justice such a kinde of mercy as is common to the creature in all this wee frame up a new god to our selves And thus those Gentiles of whom the Apostle speaks Rom. 1.21 25. Became vaine in their Imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened in what was their foolish heart darkened in false notions of God therefore they are said ver 29. to change the glory of the Incorruptible God into an Image made like to Corruptible man and to birds foure-footed beasts and creeping things Now as there is the changing of the glory of the Incorruptible God into the Image of a Corruptible man that is into the Externall Image of a Corruptible man for some set up false gods in the likenes of men So there is a Changing of the glory of the Incorruptible God into the Internall Image of a Corruptible man that is into such thoughts and Conceptions as are ordinarily in men Let such consider that if to make a worship of our owne for the true God be indeed to set up a false god all they worship false gods who set up a strange worship for the
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
a cause to complaine Thanksgiving will be all our worke and the worke of all in heaven And by how much we are the more in thanksgiving and the lesse in complaining on earth unlesse it be of and against our selves for sinne the more heavenly we are When we are stricken we should complaine as little as we can and we should alwayes be able to say as Job here That our complaint is not greater then our stroake JOB CHAP. 23. Vers 3 4 5. Oh that I knew where I might find him that I might come even to his seate I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments I would know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say unto me JOb having shewed in the former verse how bitter and how sad his Condition was even farre beyond his owne Complaint and that his stroake was heavier then his groaning he now turnes himselfe from earth to heaven from the creature to the Creator from man to God Job had been among his friends a great while they had debated the matter long but all in vaine and without fruit to his soule he had yet received no Comfort What will he doe next see here his address to God Vers 3. O that I knew where I might finde him that I might come even to his seat O that I knew The Hebrew is who will give me to know c. The words are a forme of wishing ordinary among the Jewes Who will give or who will grant mee this or that O that I knew c. And it Intimates or Implyes two things First A vehement and strong desire after somewhat much desierable who will give mee this or where shall I have it Secondly It Implyes selfe-Inability or selfe-Insufficiency to attaine and reach the thing desiered As if Job had said I am not able of my selfe to finde him O that I knew where I might finde him O that I eyther had the light of this knowledge in my selfe or that some body would enforme and teach mee O that I had a friend to Chalke mee out the way to lead mee by the hand and bring mee neer to God Quis mihi tribuat ut cognos cam inveni am illum Vulg. The vulgar latine Reading fixeth both those acts upon God as the Object O that some one or other would give mee to know and finde him As if his wish and longing desire were first to know God secondly to finde him or in finding to know him Our translation determines this knowing in Job and finding upon God O That I knew where I might finde him Who it is that Job would finde is not exprest in the text by name nor is there any Anticedent in the verse before with which we can Connect this relative him Yet 't is beyond question or dispute that he meanes God O that I might finde him that is God But why did he not say O that I knew where to finde God but O that I knew where to finde him I answer He doth it because his heart being full of God he supposed that those to whom he spake had their hearts full of him too and so would easily understand whom he meant or that he could mean none but God Wee finde such kinde of abrupt speeches as I may call them in other Texts of Scripture still arising from fullnes and strength of affection in the speaker See how Solomon begins his Love-song his Song of Songs The Song of Songs which is Solomons that 's the title of it How doth it begin Let him kiss mee c. Here is a strange Exordium to a Song none having been spoken of before Let him kiss mee with the kisses of his mouth by whom the Church would be kissed shee expresseth not but her heart was so full of Christ so full of love to Christ her Bridegroom her husband that shee thinks it needlesse to mention him by name when shee speakes of him whose kisses shee desiered Her love had passed through the whole Creation through men and Angels through all things here below and fixt it selfe onely upon Christ her Lord and Love Therefore shee never stood speaking personally of him but onely relatively and leaves all to understand whom she intended Thus saith Job O that I knew where I might finde him when as he had not spoken of any distinct person before in this Chapter And wee have a like passage flowing from a like abundant love to Christ in the 20 â—h of John ver 15. where Mary comes to the Sepulchre Christ being risen and the Angel seing her weepe asked her the reason of it To whom shee replyed Because they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him having thus said shee turned her selfe backe and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus he saith unto her Woman why weepest thou whom seekest thou Shee supposing him to be the Gardiner said Sir if thou have borne him hence tell me where thou hast laid him Shee never names Christ but onely saith If thou have borne him hence c. because her heart was full of Christ shee thought his heart was full of him too and that hee understood her well enough whom she meant though shee sayd not whom shee meant Thus in the present text Job was to God at that time as Mary to Christ at a losse for him not knowing where to finde him God was as it were removed from him as Christ was risen from the Sepulchre Therefore he complainingly and affectionately enquires O that I knew where I might finde him My soule is a thirst for God my heart pants after him O that I knew where I might finde him The Hebrew word signifieth to finde Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat saepius obviam habere quemquam vel alâ—cui obvium fieri by going out to meet a man or as we say to light upon him As Ahab said to Elijah 1 King 21.20 Hast thou found or met mee O mine enemy and he answered I have found or met thee So the word is used 2 King 10.13 Jehu mett with the Brethren of Ahaziah King of Judah In the Margin wee say Jehu found the Brethren of Ahaziah that is he mett them upon the way for he went out to meet them Read also 1 Sam. 10.3 As if the sence were thus given O that I knew where I might finde him that is whither I might goe to meet him though I should not finde him by accident or as wee say stumble upon him I would goe out I would travell and take paines upon hopes to meet him Secondly That word signifies so to finde as to take hold and apprehend to take fast hold of a thing and then O that I might finde him is O that I might lay hold on him if I knew where I might have him I would lay fast hold on him and cleave close to him So the word is used Esay 10.10 As
he being but dust and ashes should thus presse upon God and that he was afterwards reproved for it in the 38th Chapter of this Booke verse the first and second Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlewinde and said there he found him who is this that darkeneth Councell by words without knowledge gird up now thy loynes like a man for I will demand of thee and answer thou me And againe in the 40th Chap. ver 2d 3d 4th 5th Shall he that Contendeth with the Almighty instruct him he that reproveth God let him answer it Then Job answered the Lord and said Behold I am vile I will lay my hand upon my mouth Once have I spoken but I will not answer yea twice but I will proceed no further As if he had acknowledged his error and overboldnes in pressing upon God as in other places so also in this O that I might come even to his seate Yet I conceive that Job in this passage doth but put forth the nobler and higher actings of his faith and that he speaks this not as forgetting the distance of dust and ashes from the glory of God or from the glorious God but as remembring the promise and as insisting upon his priviledge as a beleever who is invited to come and to come with boldnes to the throane of Grace For though that promise was not given out as to the formality of it in those times yet the vertue of it was though in a lower degree then now To come with boldnes to the throne of grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denetat loâ—um praeparatum a â—adice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In voce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 puâ—o esse metotonymiam q d. vsque ad locuÌ„ in quo ipse proâ—ptus paratusque est ad audiendum ubi sui copâ—am facit Coc. Representat deum tanquam supremum Judicem in solio excelso sedenteÌ„ jusque suum unicuique reddentem Bold sounds much like this to come even to his seate and this Job did not onely as emboldened by the clearnes of his conscience towards men but as by the freenes of the Grace of God in Christ towards him In pursuance whereof it is well conceived by a learned enterpreter that there is a metonymie in the word which signifies a prepared seate that is such a seate as whereon God presents himselfe to poore sinners prepared and ready to give them both admittance to himselfe and a gratious audience of their requests and suites The word which wee translate seate signifieth a prepared place a place fitted implying somewhat speciall and peculiar unto God Heaven is called the habitation of his holines and of his glory Esay 63.15 yet wheresoever the Lord is hee makes it a heaven Thus also he can make any place where he is a hell The wicked shall be punished with everlasting fire from the presence of the Lord 2 Thes 1.9 that is the very presence of the Lord shall be a hell and torment to them The Lord can be both terrible and gratious in his presence any where yet he is somewhere more gratiously some where more terribly present Some cannot beare those expressions The Throne of God the seat of God heaven and hell As if these were but the Imaginations fancies and fictions of mans braine But the Lord hath his seates and dwelling places whence and where he declares himselfe both in mercy and in judgement both in his holines and in his glory Isa 6.1 I saw also the Lord sitting upon his Throne high and lifted up Thus the Lord manifested himselfe in vision to the Prophet and David confesseth Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever Psal 45.6 that is thy Power and Soveraigntie David speakes not of a material Throne such as Kings have the Power and Soveraignty of God are his throne wheresoever he is and is pleased to declare himselfe in his soveraignty and power So that when Job saith O that I might come even to his seate or throane the meaning is O that I might come as neer him as possibly I may I would not stand at a distance or keepe aloofe off as a guilty malefactor but draw neere to him in a holy and well-grounded confidence Thus Job speakes in answer to that Charge of Eliphaz in the former Chapter Is not thy wickednes great and thine iniquities infinite Now saith Job you shall see what my sinnes are and what my guilt seing I dare venture even to the very throne of God where no hypocrite dares appeare While Job professeth That if God after the manner of men should sit in open Judgement there will be such a Judgement at the last day he would come neer to him and not be afraid he seemes fully assured of his owne integrity or of the goodnes of his cause as also that God would be good unto him Hence observe That true holines and uprightnes hath abundance of Confidence before God Adam having sinned and the guilt of his sin being upon him durst not come to the Seat to the Throne of God God came to him in the coole of the day to examine and question him about his sin but he hid himselfe among the trees of the garden he withdrew not daring to abide him and that 's the state of all sinners who have the guilt of sin upon them they hide they run from God when once their Consciences are awakened As sin in the act of it is a turning or departure from the holines of God so sin acted or sin in the guilt of it causeth not onely a departure but a running and a hiding from the justice of God Guilty sinners are so farre from coming up to his Seat that they cannot endure to come in his sight a malefactor hath little minde to come before the Judge or to the Bench where the Judge sitteth Solomon saith Prov. 20.8 A king that sitteth in the Throne of Judgement scattereth away all evill with his eyes Wee may understand it thus he scattereth evill actions and evill persons evill workes and evill workers with his eyes there 's not an evill man willing to appeare or that dares to appeare before him They who are selfe-condemned must needs be afraid that others will condemne them also Magistrates sitting in Judgement are terrible to guilty malefactors Or thus Hee scattereth the evill with his eyes that is he makes evill men reveale and scatter their most secret evills by his prying into them and industrious Examination of them that evill or wicked practice which they had bound up in their hearts and said none shall know it he scatters and discovers Solomons proverb carryes an experienced truth in it both wayes And we may argue from it That if an earthly King or Magistrate sitting on the Throne scattereth all evill with his eyes how much more doth God neither any evill matter nor any evill man can stand before him And seing the Lord discovers all the evill that is in the hearts and wayes of men what
from their evill wayes and so his purpose for their preservation might be accomplished Thus the outward sentence is changed but the minde of God is not changed And these changeable sentences were decreed by God to bring about his unchangeable decree Fourthly I answer When God is said to repent the change is not in God but in us God is alwayes the same but wee are not God is so much the same that he never alters and man is so little the same that he is alwayes altering and when he hath done evill it is good for him that he is so God did not change but Noneveh changed by turning from sin and Hezekiah changed by improving more in prayer and therefore he dyed not at that time nor were they then destroyed The change is in the creature not in God when that is changed which God speakes concerning the creature He is still unmoveable in the same minde all the motion is in the minde of man It is in this case as with a ship putting out to Sea When a ship sets out from the harbour and sayles by the shoare the unexperienced passenger thinkes the shore moves from the ship whereas indeed the ship onely moves from or by the shore So when we thinke God changeth or is moved the change or motion is onely in our selves In one dispensation we take notice of the love of God and in another of his wrath in a third of his justice and in a fourth of his mercy These are changes upon us but not in God And these shew that God changeth his course towards us but they are no proofes of a change in God For the love of God and the wrath of God the justice of God and the mercy of God are still the same but we changing are cast sometime under the effects of his love and sometimes of his wrath we are sometimes under the saddest droppings of his justice and sometimes under the sweetest influences of his mercy As when a man changeth his aspect and turnes about his body to another poynt That part of the heaven which was before at his right hand is now at his left yet the heavens are as they were they doe not change eyther their position or their motion but the man hath changed his Thus the wrath and love the Justice and the mercy of God stand alwayes at the same poynt but man turneth sometimes Justice-ward and sometimes mercy-ward now he faces the wrath and anon the love of God And doing so he meetes with many changes in the dispensations of God toward him but there is no change in the minde of God toward him And seing God is unchangeable or in one minde take this by way of deduction from it 'T is the duty of man to submit himselfe unto and acquiesce in the minde of God Seing the mind of God rests we ought to rest in the mind of God that is we ought to resigne up our selves and to resolve our minds into the mind and our wills into the will of God What ever pleaseth God should please us He is in one minde and that one minde of his hath nothing in it but justice and righteousnes toward all nothing but goodnes and mercy nothing but loving kindnesse and faithfullnesse toward his peculiar people As the minde of God revealed in his word should be the rule of our actions so the minde of God revealed by his workes should be the rest or ease of all our passions The minde of God is that by which we are to guide our selves in all we doe and to that we must yeeld in all we suffer While we see some sorely discomposed in their spirits yea vext beyond all reason at the dispensations of God have we not reason to beleive that they have never heard or at least not well learnt and digested this great truth That God is in one minde When the minde of God is done himselfe is pleased and should not whatsoever pleaseth God please us also yea though it be in it selfe bitter and unpleasant to us A gratious heart tasts sweetnesse in Gall and Wormewood considered under this notion as it is the will and minde of God he should drinke it or feed upon it It was a strange power that David had over the people of Israel or it shewes that they had a very strong opinion of his justice and integrity when it is sayd 2 Sam. 3.36 Whatsoever the King did pleased all the people What was sayd of him we should say in the highest sence of God whatsoever he doth should be pleasing to all his people It was once the saying of a Court-flatterer That which pleaseth the King Placet mihi quod regi placet dixit Harpalus Apud Herod lib. 1. pleaseth mee We cannot flatter God in saying so It is but our duty to say so we sin if we say not and say not with our hearts Whatsoever pleaseth God pleaseth us He acts below both the duty and priviledge of a man who resolves himselfe into the will of any man how high soever or though he be King-High and he acts above both the state and proportion of a man though much below the duty of a Christian who doth not resolve himselfe into the will of the most high God who is higher then the highest of the Kings of the earth He vainely supposeth himselfe God-High who submits not to the will of the most High God Whatsoever God doth or will have done man should say Even so be it as God will have it But some may say if it be so then it seemes we may not endeavour to extricate our selves from or to get a removall of any of those evills troubles or afflictions which at any time presse and greive us For answer to this scruple I say First It is our duty in every trouble that God layeth upon us to seeke unto God and to use all good meanes for the taking of it off from us But Secondly We must not seeke unto God for the removing of any evill from us as being displeased with his laying it upon us we must be quiet under our troubles and yet we may both desire and endeavour to be quit of them Though God be in one minde yet that doth not necessitate man to one condition nor hinder him from seeking a better then that wherein he is I have insisted the longer upon this poynt because Job gives it as a general answer to all his friends queryes about him and as the best expedient for reconciling the difference between them and him He is in one minde And who can turne him Hence learne That as God is unchangeable in himselfe so none can alter or change him Some men are of a very steady spirit they are not in and out as we say forward and backward let them alone and they are true to their own principles and they will be true to others according to their promises Yet possibly these men may be turned aside and led out
The providences of God and their seasons are not carried plaine to every mans eye and why should not times be thus hidden by the Almighty God doth not hide that time from us wherein we ought to doe our worke he sheweth us plainely not onely what we ought to doe but when we ought to doe it to every worke there is an appoynted time and the present time is our time for most workes yea for all those workes which have a proper tendency to eternity but though God doth not hide the times from us wherein we should doe our worke yet he doth often hide the time from us wherein he will doe his own worke and why should he not he hides the time wherein he will punish the wicked and breake the power of his enemies and he hides the time wherein he will revive his owne people and deliver the afflicted There are sometimes which God keepeth Insita est mortalibus incredibilis quaedam ea quae futura sunt praenoscendi cupiditas and will keepe in his owne power as Christ told the Disciples Act. 1.6 7. when they asked him Lord wilt thou at this time restore againe the kingdome unto Israel It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which God hath put in his owne power That is which he hath not put forth or discovered to the sonnes of men All times are in Gods power but those which he reserves from men and keepes under lock and key these he hath more especially put in his power God will not let those times appeare to men wherein himselfe is purposed to appeare The time of those workes of God are wrapt up in greatest darknesse when they shall be done which being done shine forth with greatest light and God will have it so First To reprove and stop the curiosity of man There is nothing more naturall to man then a desire to know both what shall be hereafter and when that hereafter shall be we are very negligent and carelesse in seeking out the season of that which we our selves should doe Homo est animal curiosum but over-carefull and curious in seeking out the season of what God will doe Man is given to vaine curiosity and he is in nothing more vainely curious then in an itch to know the times which God hath hidden from him Most men are great questionists and their questions mostly are about times and seasons when shall this and that be The Disciples of Christ discovered this spirit more then once When Christ had told his Disciples that of those Goodly buildings to which they admiringly poynted him There should not be one stone left upon another that should not be cast downe Math 24.2 They a while after came unto him privately saying tell us when shall these things be and shall be the signe of thy coming and of the end of the world It did not satisfie them that Christ had told them such should be unlesse he also tell them the time and season when they should be The Apostle found this humour stirring much in the Church of the Thessalonians for having spoken of the resurrection of the body and that then the Lord himselfe shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voyce of the Arch-Angel and with the trump of God 1 Thos 4.15 16. He to prevent their inquisitivenes about the time when this should be begins the fifth Chapter thus But of the times and seasons brethren yee have no need that I write unto you Which implies that either they had intimated such a querie to him desiring to be acquainted with the time and season of those things or that he foresaw they would be enquiring and making it their next question when shall these things be when shall the deceased Saints be raised and the living caught up when shall Christ descend from heaven with a shout c Some have made it their study to unvaile the times which God hath hid and to uncover his secrets And it is no part eyther of the honour or ornament of these times Mathematicorum geneâ—hliacorum vesana temeritas that Astrologers and Mathematicians have been so bold in these studyes As if the starres of heaven were eyther betrusted with the secrets of the God of heaven or being so would be unfaithfull Secretaryes bewraying his secrets and putting those times and seasons into the power of man which God hath put into his owne power Ancient historyes tell us that the Princes of the world have been very greedy after this forbidden or at least unrevealed knowledge Being more desierous to know what should come to passe in after times then diligent in the duties of the present time Whereas indeed which is A second reason why it is so God therefore hides the issues and events of future times that we might be kept to present duties to the work and businesse of the day He conceales from man the precise day of his death that he might every day be preparing to dye If men had all times in their hands they would quickly lay the greatest and best part of their worke out of their hands Thirdly God hideth times to try the faith of his own people whether they can depend upon him in the darke whether when they know not when the time shall be or what a day may bring forth they can yet freely trust him for all their dayes He that lives by faith at all times troubles not himselfe about what shall be next in time nor what the next times may be Fourthly God hideth times that we may be guided by rules not by events That we may steere our course through this world according to his divine appoyntments not according to humane successes Upon all these and many more accounts why should not times be hidden by the Almighty But I shall proceed with our reading to open that and give some notes from it Why seeing times c. As if Job had sayd seing the Lord knoweth all times seing times are not hidden from him what is the reason why those who know him and are neerest to him doe not know times also or thus God knoweth times they are not hidden from him why doe not they know times that know him We are not to take time here nakedly or naturally as it notes dayes moneths and yeares measured out by the motion of the Sunne Moone and Starres but time is to be considered providentially as cloathed with all the varieties of action and event which are imaginable as incident to the affaires of mankinde in this life Why seing times are not hidden from the Almighty c. When Job saith Seing times are not hidden from the Almighty his meaning is that Times are clearely and fully knowne to the Almighty The whole verse taken together seemes to be a deniall of what is in it selfe very probable for seeing God knoweth times Potest esse negata connexio causae probabilis cum effecto Coc it is most
or excommunicated from the society or communion of the faithfull and so no more to be remembred among the Saints or to have his name blotted out of the Church-records though he had been so great a planter and propagater of the Churches There are two Scriptures that speake of such writings or holy records Isa 4.3 It shall then come to passe that he that is left in Sion and he that remains in Jerusalem shall be called holy even every one that is written among the living or to life in Jerusalem Many might live in Jerusalem who were not written among the living or to life in Jerusalem Thus to be written to life or among the living is to be written in the Catalogue of those who are reckoned to have a life of Grace holynes and sanctification here as also to be heyres and expectants of a life of Glory hereafter Againe we have a like evidence of this Ezek. 13.9 My hand shall be upon the Prophets that see vanity and that divine lies they shall not be in the assembly of my people neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel As when the Lord brought the people of Israel out of Aegypt he commanded them to be mustered or numbred Num. 1.2 3. Thus also when they returned from the Babylonian Captivity they were numbred againe Ezr Chap. 2. Neh. Chap. 7. Now those records in which their names were written are conceaved to be the writings of the house of Israel mentioned in this 13th of Ezekiel as also the Booke of the living or to life in the fourth of Isaiah at least that both these Scriptures allude to those records And it was the custome of the Jewes that when any of them acted wickedly his name was rased out of those records as unworthy to be remembred among the people of God and was looked upon as a dead man yea as a damned man who hath no name in the booke of life so often mentioned in Scripture or whose name might be sayd to be blotted out of it From all which it appeares how great a curse it is to be no more remembred with respect and honour which Job affirmes shall be the condition of wicked men Which he further confirmes in the last clause of the verse And wickednesse shall be broken as a tree Here the abstract as elsewhere frequently in Scripture is put for the concrete That man who obstinately perseveres in sin is not onely wicked but wickednesse it selfe Psal 107.42 All iniquity shall stop her mouth that is such men as are full of iniquity shall have nothing to say or object against the righteous dealings of God but shall be silent in darkenes So Job 35.13 men extreamely vaine are called vanity and we usually call crafty men craft covetous men covetousnesse and proud men are called pride So a man much given to peace is in Scripture-language called peace Psal 120.7 I am peace or I peace but they make themselves ready for warre They who are much carryed to or in any thing are sometimes called by the name of that thing or they take the name of it upon themselves Thus David spake Ps 109.4 For my love they are my adversaries but I give my selfe to prayer The Hebrew is I prayer David was so much set upon prayer that he was prayer it selfe and a wicked man is so set upon wickednesse that he is wickednesse it selfe Wickednesse shall be broken as a tree What tree The text determines not but speakes indefinitely as a tree We may understand it first of a barren tree barren trees are broken and cut downe The word broken imports violence and so a violent breaking wicked men shall be broken violently Christ sayth of the Barren tree Luk. 13.8 Cut it downe why cumbereth it the ground Fruitfull trees adorne and beautifie the ground but barren trees doe onely burden and cumber it As good not to be as to be good for nothing The wicked shall be cut downe and broken as a barren tree secondly which provokes more to breaking they shall be broken as a tree that bringeth forth distastfull bitter poysonous fruite It is not good to let a tree live which brings forth evill and deadly fruit If they deserve to be broken who bring forth no fruit then much more they who bring forth none but noughty fruit Now as the wicked are alwayes barren of good fruit so they are alwayes bearing evill fruit nor can they beare any other Doe men gather grapes of thornes Thirdly they shall be broken as a tree that is rent and shivered both body and boughes with a tempest or storme of thunder and lightening Thus many tall and goodly trees are broken and thus the wicked shall be broken a storme a tempest from heaven shall breake them The downefall and destruction of wicked men hath been insisted upon from other passages of this booke and therefore I forbeare to adde any thing further here JOB CHAP. 24. Vers 21 22 23. Hee evill entreateth the barren that beareth not and doeth not good to the widdow Hee draweth also the mighty with his power hee riseth up and no man is sure of his life Though it be given him to be in safety whereon hee resteth yet his eyes are upon their wayes JOb having shewed the miserable conclusion of wicked men begins afresh to describe their further progress in wickednesse in the 21th and 22th verses Vers 21. Hee evill entreateth the barren Here 's another part of his wickednesse having robbed and murthered the innocent having committed adultery where he could have opportunity and admittance Nos putamus explicari non quid improbus faciat sed quibus supplicijs deus ipsorum posteros etsi ad tempus stare videantur deijciat Merl Consociat sc deus ei sterile non parituram viduam non afficit bono Jun Neque vivo ei neque mortuo uxor◠benedicit Jun Tollit deus sc è medio liberos ejus vel opibus potestate honore florentissimos Jun hee proceeds to afflict the barren and vexe the widdow The word which wee render to evill entreate hath severall significations and I finde Interpreters accordingly varying about the sence of the whole verse First The word signifies to associate or joyne together Thus Mr Broughton to whom others joyne renders it he adjoyneth the barren which hath not borne childe whereas our translation holds out the further actings of wicked men in sin this shews the further progress of God in punishing them for sin For the relative hee in the text is not referr'd to the wicked man but to God himselfe hee that is God joyneth the barren that hath not borne childe or that shall not beare and he doth no good to his widdow that is God sendeth him a barren wife and when he dyes his widdow shall live in misery This gloss Master Broughton gives upon his own translation God sendeth after him a barren wife that hee should have no helpe by Children and
should thinke that this is meant of the resurrection of the body Christ speakes of that distinctly ver 28. Marvel not at this for the houre is coming he doth not say as before and now is in the which all that are in the Graves dead bodyes shall heare his voyce and come forth they that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evill unto the resurrection of damnation As if Christ had sayd That powerfull voyce and a voyce lesse powerfull then that will not doe it which is able to rayse dead bodyes bodyes mouldered into dust from the earth and cause them to live againe that voyce I say is able to rayse a dead soule from a state of sin to newnes of life The Apostle saith as much while he calleth the preaching of the Word a savour of life unto life in them that are saved 2 Cor 2.16 They smel and tast life even eternal life at the receaving of the Word And as it is the meanes of conveighing life to those who are dead in sinne so of recovering and renewing life to those who are dead in sorrow Worldly sorrow or the sorrow of the world worketh death 2 Cor. 7.10 and extreame spirituall sorrow or the extreame sorrow of the soule about spiritualls puts us into a kinde of death Thus Heman spake of himselfe in that case Ps 88.4 5. I am counted with them that goe downe into the pit I am as a man that hath no strength free among the dead like the slaine that lie in the grave whom thou remembrest no more and they are cut off from thy hand As Heman was counted among the dead by others so he was like a dead man in his owne account too as he speakes at the 15th verse I am afflicted and ready to dye from my youth up while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted He was not ready to dye of bodyly diseases but of soule terrours nor could any thing revive him or fetch him backe from that death but the favour of God shining to him in the word of promise how glorious is the word by the workings of the Spirit which causeth the spirit to come forth and maketh them who were free among the dead become free among the living This effect and fruit of the word Job expected from his friends before and now from Bildad but all in vaine As their so his discourse with Job was fruitlesse and ineffectuall Much hath been spoken but I have got nothing I have got no spirit no refreshing my heart is no whit cheared nor my soule comforted both you and the rest of your brethren have proved miserable comforters to me To whom hast thou uttered words I am no better then if you had sayd nothing And whose spirit came from thee not mine for as yet notwithstanding all your reasonings my spirit is not returned to me I am as deepe in sorrow as ever I was There is yet another reading of this last clause of the verse given by Mr Broughton And whose soule admired thee The same word may signifie to admire and to come forth because the soule or spirit of a man comes forth as it were to gaze upon those things and persons which he admireth As if Job had sayd Possibly O Bildad thou presumest that thou hast spoken like an Oracle of Wisdome even much beyond the rate and proportion of ordinary men or of what is common to man and therefore doest expect to be applauded yea to be admired But whose soule is come forth by reason of thee who hath admired thee not I nor doe I know that any man hath reason so to doe unlesse it be because thou hast so much mistaken my meaning and intention in what I sayd and hast sayd things so improper to my condition Some have the persons of men in admiration because of advantage Jude v. 16. and others desire no other advantage but to be cryed up and had in admiration I dare not say that Bildad was a man of such a spirit though this translation whose soule admired thee seemes to charge him with such a folly JOB CHAP. 26. Vers 5 6 7. Dead things are formed from under the waters and the inhabitants thereof Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering He stretcheth out the North over the empty place and hangeth the earth upon nothing IN the former part of this Chapter Job reproved the last discourse of Bildad as unprofitable not that it was so in it selfe for that was true and a great truth which he spake of the greatnesse of God but the method which he used and the application of it to his case made it so How hast thou helped him that is without power c. In this Context and the subsequent part of the Chapter Job enters upon or reassumes the same argument or subject which Bildad had handled before The power soveraigntie and dreadfullnes of God in his workes both of Creation and providence all the world over Job would let Bildad understand that he was not unacquainted with the doctrine that he had prest upon him in the former Chapter As if he had sayd Doest thou thinke that I know not these things surely I can tell thee as much yea more of the power of God then thou hast spoken and thereby thou shalt see that I am not to learne nor to seeke in this matter yea I will point and paint out the power of God not onely in the visible heavens but in those things which lye unseene I will goe downe to the deepes to the bottome of the mighty waters I can tell thee that he is not onely admirable above but beneath in so much as nothing is bred or brought forth whether animate or inanimate in the vast Ocean but it is by his power and at his disposing Yea I will goe as low as hell and search the power of God there I will also ascend up to heaven and speake of the great things that God doth in the ayre and in the clouds and among the starrs whereby you may see that I am no stranger to such divine Philosophy and therefore this was not the poynt you should have insisted upon or that I needed to be informed in That 's the general scope and aime of Job in these words I shall now touch upon the particulars Dead things are formed from under the waters Jobs first instance concerning the power of God is about things under the waters Dead livelesse inanimate things are formed there Properly that onely is a dead thing which hath sometime lived wee cannot say a stone is a dead thing because it never had any life neither can wee say that water or earth are dead things for they never had any life but those things that have had life whether vegetative or sensitive or rationall as man or beasts or plants when once that life is withdrawne from any of them that is properly called a dead thing Yet in a generall
till God unlocke it Thirdly This also is wonderfull that when at the word of God the cloud rents yet the waters doe not gush out like a violent flood all at once which would quickly drowne the earth as it did Gen 7.11 When the windowes of heaven were opened but the water descends in sweete moderate showers as water through a Cullender drop by drop and streame by streame for the moystning and refreshing of the earth And God caryeth the clouds up and downe the world as the keeper of a Garden doth his watering pot and bids them distill upon this or that place as himselfe directeth The clouds are compared to bottles in the 38th Chapter of this booke v. 37th these God stops or unstops usually as our need requireth and sometime as our sin deserveth Amos 4.7 I have withholden the raine from you and he can withhold it till the heavens over us shall be as brasse and the earth under us as iron I sayth the Lord of his vineyard Isa 5.6 will also command the clouds that they raine no raine upon it The Reader may finde further discoveryes about this poynt at the 5â—h Chapter v. 10th Onely here I shall adde First That we depend upon God not onely for grace and pardon of sinne but for raine and fruitfull seasons Secondly When we have raine let us acknowledge that God hath rent the cloud and given it us that he hath loosed the Garment wherein he had bound the waters Pro. 30.4 that they may issue downe upon us Thirdly When the cloud rents not let us goe to God to doe it Are there any among the vanities of the Heathen that can cause raine Surely there are none Jer 14.22 And therefore the Prophet Zech 10.1 sends the people of God to him for it Aske ye of the Lord raine in the time of the latter raine so the Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of raine to every one grasse in the feild Onely he who bindeth up the waters in his clouds can unbinde the clouds and cause them to send out their waters Job having thus shewed the power of God among the clouds and upper waters riseth yet higher in his discourse and from these waters wherein as was toucht before God layeth the beames of his chambers he ascendeth to the chambers themselves even to the throane of God there Vers 9. He holdeth backe the face of his Throane and spreadeth his cloud upon it There are three things to be enquired into for the explication of the former part of this verse First What is here meant by the Throane of God Secondly What by the face of his Throane Thirdly What by holding it backe To the first Querie I answer That according to Scripture Heaven or that place above in opposition to the earth or this sublunary world is called the throne of God and that not the inferior heaven or ayre which in Scripture is more then once called heaven but the supreame or highest heavens Thus the Lord speaketh by the Prophet Isa 66.1 The heaven is my throne and the earth is my footestrole where is the house that ye build unto me c. Thus also our Saviour in his admonition against swearing Math 5.34 saith Sweare not at all that is rashly neyther by heaven for it is Gods throne nor by the earth for it is his footestoole Againe Mat 23.22 Hee that sweareth by heaven sweareth by the throne of God The reason why heaven is called the throne of God is because there he manifests himselfe as Princes doe upon their thrones in greatest glory and majesty as also because there he is more fully enjoyed by glorifyed Saints and Angels God fills heaven and earth with his presence yet he declares his presence more in heaven then here upon the earth Heaven is the throne of God but Quidam faciem esse hominis putant os tantum oculos et genas quod Graeci prosopon dicunt quando facies sit forma omnis et modus et factura quaedam totius corporis a faciendo dicta sic mentis coeli Maris facies probe dicitur Gel libâ— 13. c. 28. Secondly What is the face of his Throne I answer The face of a thing is taken for the whole outward appearance or for the appearing state of it As the face of a mans body is not onely that fore-part of the head which we strictly call so but the forme and structure of the whole body is the face of it And in that sence the word is applyed both to those great naturall bodyes the Heaven and the earth as also to a civill body or to the Body-politicke of a Citie and Common-wealth Thus whereas we render Isa 24.1 Behold the Lord maketh the earth empty and maketh it wast and turneth it upside downe c. The Hebrew is and so our translaters put it in the margin he perverteth the face thereof that is he changeth the state and outward forme of things and putteth them into a new mould or model respecting order and Government And so we commonly speake after great publicke changes The very face of things is altered or things have a new face And thus the Psalmist expresseth the gratious and favourable changes which God maketh in the things of this world Psal 104.30 Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are created Coeli vultus est coeli superficies concavastellata quae nos respâ—cit Albert and thou renewest the face of the earth that is all things appeare in another hiew and fashion then before So then the Face of the Throane of God is that part of heaven say some which looketh towards us or which we looke upon All that Greatnes and beauty of heaven which our eye reacheth unto and which appeares to us as a vast Canopy set with spangles or studs of Gold such are the Starrs to our sight But I rather conceave The face of the throne of God to be the visible and full demonstration of that infinite light and glory wherein God dwelleth and which appeareth or is given forth to the blessed Saints and Angels who are sayd to be about his throne according to their measure and capability of receaving it The face of his throne taken thus he holdeth backe from us alwayes in this life and as the face of his throne is taken in the other sence he often holds it backe from us About which it remaines to be enquired Thirdly What is meant by holding backe the face of his throne To hold backe seemes to be the same as to hide cover Est tollere apparentiam coeli Cajet or conceale the face of his throne for when any thing is held backe it is concealed and hidden out of sight Thus God doth often hold backe or cover the face of his throne as the face of it notes the Appearances of heaven towards us with clouds as it is sayd in the report made of that terrible storme wherein Paul had almost suffered shipwracke
Acts 27.20 Tenere faciem throni est coelum occultare et obducere nubibus That neyther Sun nor Starrs in many dayes appeared here was a holding backe or covering of the face of the throne of God And thus our experiences have often found it held backe the face of heaven being masked or vayled over with naturall clouds and vapours Againe if we take the face of the throne of God for that eminent manifestation of himselfe as in heaven Thus also God holdeth backe the face of his throne by covering it with a Metaphoricall cloud as it is expressed Psal 97.1 2. The Lord reigneth c. clouds and darknesse are round about him that is we can see no more of his glory in reigning then we can see of a Kings throne which is covered with a Canopy and compassed about with curtaines Job gives this plainly for the interpretation of this former part of the verse in the latter part of it And spreadeth his cloud upon it That is upon the face of his throne Wee may take this cloud first properly thus God covers the heavens from the sight of our eyes Secondly improperly as clouds note onely secrecy and privacy Thus God spreadeth a cloud upon his throne to hide it from the eye of our understanding so that we can no more comprehend the glory of God in himselfe or in his wayes and workings towards man then we can see the Sunne Moone and Starres when muffled and wrapt up in thicke clouds Thus David speaketh of the Lord Psal 18.11 He made darkenes his secret place his pavilion round about him were darke waters and thicke clouds of the skyes But the Apostle saith 1 Tim. 6.16 That God dwelleth in light How then doth the Psalmist say there and elsewhere that he made clouds and darknes his secret place and his pavilion I answer As the Lord is light and hath no darkenes at all in him Joh 1.5 so as to himselfe he ever dwelleth in light and hath no clouds nor darkenes at all about him And therefore when it is sayd that he spreadeth a cloud upon his throne and maketh darkness his secret place or his secret place darke we are to understand it in reference to our selves for whensoever God hideth himselfe or the reason of his dealings and dispensations from us Then the cloud is spread upon his Throne When God is sayd to spread a cloud over us or any thing we have it noteth his care over us and his protection of us Isa 4.5 And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion and upon her assemblyes a cloud and smoake by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night what is meant both by this cloud and flaming fire is clearely expounded in the last words of the verse for upon all the glory shall be a defence or a covering Thus I say a cloud spread by God upon us implyeth that we are under his covert and defence But when God spreadeth a cloud upon or covereth himselfe with a cloud this implyeth all the Scripture over the hiding and concealing of himselfe and his workes from us And in this sence Job sayth He holdeth backe the face of his throne and spreadeth a cloud upon it Hence note First God hath a throne Kings have thrones much more hath God who is the King of kings King Solomon made himselfe a great throne of Ivory and overlayd it with the best Gold 1 Kings 10.18 Kings have formall Thrones God hath a real one Hee hath all power in his hand and this he administreth according to the pleasure of his owne will both in heaven and earth Note Secondly God manifesteth himselfe in heaven as Princes upon their thrones so heaven is the throne of God And where God acts most our affections should be most and our conversation most Where the Throne is thither the great resort is many flocke to the Court. As it will be our glory hereafter to be in heaven or about the throne of God for ever in person so it is our grace to be dayly there in Spirit while we are here The earth is Gods footestoole yet many make that their throne Heaven is Gods throne and many make that their footestoole They tread and trample upon the things of heaven while they set their hearts upon the things of the earth 'T is a sad mistake when men set their feete where they should set their hearts and prophane the throne of God not onely by levelling it with but by laying it lower then the ground Observe Thirdly God hideth his owne glory from the sight of man He holdeth backe the face of his throne he will not suffer the lustre of it to appeare but spreadeth a cloud upon it Indeed we are not able to beare the cleare discoveryes of divine Glory 1 Tim. 6.16 God dwelleth in light which no man can approach unto though he were permitted and offered the priviledge to approach unto it God dwelleth in and is possessed of that infinite perfection of light that no creature is capable of When Moses made that petition to God Exod 33.18 I beseech thee shew me thy glory The Lord answered v. 20. Thou canst not see my face for no man shall see me and live It seemes that while God spake with Moses his glory was overshadowed or that God to use Jobs language in the text held backe the face of his throne and spread a cloud upon it and therefore Moses begg'd the removall of it or that his glory might breake through it and shine unto him Wel sayth God thou canst not see my face as if he had sayd If I should grant thee that request thou art not able to enjoy it or make use of it for as my nature is altogether invisible so thou canst not beare the super-excelling brightnes which the cleare manifestations of my immediate presence would dart forth upon thee for that Glory of my presence is too great a weight for humane fraylety to stand under it would astonish rather then comfort thee and in stead of refreshing confound and make thee as a dead man No man shall see my face and live Man must dye before he can in that sence see the face of God and then he shall as the Apostle speakes 1 Cor 13.12 see face to face and know as he is knowne So that though we are much short of the happines of the next life while we see as through a glasse darkely and God holdeth backe the face of his throne yet it is a mercy to us while we are in this life that he doth so because we are not able to abide the sight of him face to face or to behold the face of his throne As Christ had many things to say to his Desciples which they were not able then to beare so Christ hath purchased such mercyes and priviledges for his people as they are not able to beare while they are on this side the grave Every state hath enjoyments suitable
because the Lord will not be mercifull to such thus final impenitency may be called a triumphing or conquering sin seing the mercy of God seemes to yeeld unto it They will not humble themselves to seeke mercy yea they slight and despise mercy therefore they shall not finde mercy The Prophet Jeremie represents the LORD thus expostulating againe with the Jewish Nation Chap. 5.22 23. Feare ye not me sayth the Lord will yee not tremble at my presence which have placed the sand for the bound of the Sea by a perpetuall decree that it cannot passe it and though the waves thereof tosse themselves yet can they not prevaile and though they roare yet can they not passe over it but this people hath a revolting and rebellious heart they are revolted and gone The words as I conceive have these two things in them first that the Lord is to be feared who doth such things who sets bounds to the Sea c. Secondly that the wickednesse of mans heart is admirable or rather that we are to be astonished at the wickednesse of mans heart which is more boysterous and disobedient then the raging waves of the Sea The Lord sets bounds to the waves of the Sea which waves in their owne nature are altogether boundlesse liquid waves have no bounds of their owne yet the Lord having put bounds to them they are kept in bounds The sand bounds the Sea so that though the waves thereof tosse they cannot prevaile though they roare they cannot passe over but this people have revolted and are gone As if he had said I the Lord have put a bound to the Sea I have also set a bound to the wickednesse of mans heart what is that my Word my Law The Law of God is a moral bound to stop and keepe in compasse the raging waves of mans corruption God doth not alwayes put an externall bound by sword and judgement to stop men whether they will or no from sinne but he alwayes puts a morall bound to stop them this is supposed in the Text I put a bound to the Sea to the Sea also of mans heart to the wickednesse that is there but this people are revolted and gone they have broken all my bounds even that perpetuall decree of my righteous Law Now as when the Sea breaks its bounds the waters flow infinitely there is no stopping them so when the heart of man breaks bounds revolts and is gone he sinnes infinitely he makes no end of sinning By these Scriptures we may understand in what sense the iniquities of wicked men may be sayd to be infinite though nothing is infinite in a strict and proper sence but God himselfe Is not thy wickednesse great and thine iniquitie infinite But hath Job given Eliphaz any just occasion of this surmise that his sin was in this sence infinite Did he ever observe eyther wickednesse in generall or those particular wickednesses which he presently enumerates taking a pledge denying reliefe of the poore stripping the naked c had he seene any of these evills acted by Job certainly he had not Job was a man of another frame of life then these things import these blacke lines and colours would never make the picture of Jobs heart or life this is as ill a draught of a man as could be made yet Eliphaz puts all this upon Job at least by supposition is it not thus but what reason had he for this supposition none but this the greatnesse of his affliction the infinite troubles that were upon him God set no bounds to Jobs sorrows therefore he thought Job had sinned beyond all bounds Hence observe Wee are ready to judge their sinnes great who are the greatest sufferers Though we know nothing by them though we can charge nothing upon them yet this thought riseth naturally in us when we see any under great and extraordinary sufferings surely they are great and extraordinary sinners The worst of sinners never suffered more in this world then the best of Saints Witnes those Jewish Worthyes whose torments are reported by the Author to the Hebrewes Chap. 11.37 and as these were adjudged to suffer because they were thought the worst of sinners so doubtlesse many who saw them suffer thought them such though they knew nothing done by them to make them such Read also this Spirit Luk. 13.2 Act. 28.4 This hath been formerly observed from other passages in this booke and therefore I onely touch it and passe away Againe Eliphaz seemes to take Job off from the wrong ground of his sufferings and tells him though he looked to other reasons yet the true reason was the greatnesse of his wickednesse and the numberlesnes of his iniquities Hence observe That few thinke of or hitt upon any other cause of suffering but sinne Sin is so much and so often the cause of suffering that we doe it no wrong to suspect it as the cause of all sufferings and it is indeed one kinds of cause causa sine qua non of all our sufferings so that we can hardly wrong sin by this suspition but we may easily wrong both God and man by it When the blind man came before Christ his Disciples asked him saying Master who did sin this man or his parents that he was borne blind they could hit upon nothing but sin why the man was borne blind Joh. 9.2 But at the third verse Christ answered Neither hath this man sinned nor his parents he vindicates both from this suspition What man was this and who were his parents that they sinned not were they cleane from sinne not so neyther but the meaning of Christ is this neither hath this man sinned nor his parents so as that eyther his sin or theirs should be reckoned the speciall cause why he was borne blind There was somewhat else in it which the Disciples tooke no notice of nor did they understand Christ doth not deny but that a mans owne sinne and the sin of his parents may be a cause of blindnesse but neither the one nor the other was the cause in that mans case as if Christ had sayd Can you thinke of nothing else why a man is afflicted but onely his sinne There are many other causes of suffering besides that The cause why some suffer is the tryall of their graces The cause why many suffer is to beare witnesse to the truth and to encourage others both in the profession of it and in persecutions for it And Christ particularly assignes another cause of the sufferings of the blind man That the worke of God might be made manifest in him That the worke of God in his power and mercy might be seene in restoring this man to his fight therefore was he borne without the power of seing The blindnes of that man was an occasion to make a very glorious discovery of God Much of God had not been so eminently seene at that time if that man had alwayes seene Many are cast downe upon beds of sicknesse or into a
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