will stop this sword from going on If he speak to the sword the sword shall wound no more We may entreat the sword to wound no more as they Jer. 47.6 cried out O thou sword of the Lord how long will it be ere thou be quiet put thy self into thy scabbard rest and be still The answer was How can it be quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against Askelon c. Our answer might be changing place the same How can it be quiet seeing the Lord hath given it a charge against England A word from God draws and a word from God sheaths the sword He that commands the Sunne and it riseth not can command the sword and it smiteth not the fire and it burns not the water and it drowns not the Lions and they devour not How happy are they who serve the Lord over all Observe fourthly seeing He commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not That The daily rising of the Sunne is an act of grace and favour to the world The Sunne doth not rise alone of it self it is the Lord as we may say that helps it up every morning Therefore it is said Mat. 5.45 He makes his Sunne to rise His Sunne mark how Christ speaks of the Sunne as Gods own that Sunne which he can either cause to rise or not to rise cause to rise upon one people and not upon another He makes his Sunne to rise there is an act of common grace in making it to rise upon any especially in making it to rise upon all upon the evil and upon the good Mat. 5.41 That God makes the Sunne rise to give them light who use their eyes onely to rebell against the light how admirable is it Lastly As to the speciall aim of Job we see what a proof we have of the omnipotency of God He is great in power and mighty in strength Why because he can stop the Sunne He that can stay the Sunne what can he not doe We say to men that attempt impossibilities Climb up to the Moon it is more to stay the Sun than to climb the moon And if the Lord be able to overcome this difficulty what difficulty can he not overcome Here 's a clear proof of the infinite power and wisdome of God Qui efficit noctem diem nam donec oritur sol est nox adveniente die quasi obsignatae occultantur stellae Juâ— He speaks to the Sunne and it riseth not And He sealeth up the stars The Sunne is the light of the day the stars the light of the night He sealeth up the stars Some take it to be a Periphrasis or a description of night and day because till the Sunne riseth it is night and when day appears the stars are sealed up or disappear The Sun riseth and the stars are obscured we see them not So the former clause He commandeth the Sun and it riseth not is a description of the night and this later he sealeth up the stars is a description of the day The plain sense of both being this He maketh both night and day Secondly say others This seal is set upon the Sunne in behalf of the stars He sealeth up the Sunne for the stars that is Pro stellis signavit â—â—solem signaculo quasi in favorem stellarum Deus continet solis splendorem in altero Haemispherto Cajet in favour of the starres that the starres might sometime appear in their lustre and glory to the world he keepeth the Sunne from appearing But as we translate we may better keep the seal upon the stars He sealeth up the stars And so sealing may import either of those two things First The safe custody of the stars He sealeth up the stars that is he preserveth the stars in their orbs in the places where he hath set them they shall never drop out Sealing is often used for assurance and safe-keeping Darius Dan. 6. Anrulos non tam oâ—natus quam custodiae gratia olim inventos diâ—it Macrobius l. 7. Saturn c. 3. sealed the stone upon the den of Lions that so Daniel might not be rescued or fetcht out from the danger The Jews that they might keep Christ fast enough seal'd the stone of the sepulchre wherein his body was laid Mat. 27. And in a spirituall sense the sealing of the Spirit is to make the soul safe in the love and favour of God A soul that is sealed by the Spirit of God is secured of the love of God and shall never drop out of his heart So He sealeth up the stars is He makes the stars firm and fast in their Sphears But rather Secondly Sealing is for secrecie or for the hiding of a thing from the sight of others So in the sealing of letters that they be not seen and of treasures that they be not stoln or taken away Deut. 32.34 Job 14.17 Thus the Lord seals up the stars Clausae videntur cum non videntur Stellae omnia coeli lumina vetur characteres quidam efficiunt librum Pined when he clouds or obscures the stars and will not let them be seen Some make it an allusion to a book The heavens are a great volume wherein many truths of God are written his name is there and the stars are as so many characters or letters of his Name He often seals up this great volume and so blots these letters that no man can read or distinguish them Thirdly The meaning of He sealeth up the stars may be taken thus He keeps in and closes up the vertue and influences of the stars he stops those treasures which usually come down from the stars upon the earth Naturall Philosophy teaches us that all the fatnesse and fruitfulnesse of the earth is convaied from the heavens Heaven nurses and suckles the earth and if the Lord please he can dry up those brests seal up those influences stop those secret workings which the heavenly bodies have upon the earth Observe hence That the influences of the heavens are in the hand of God to let them out or stay them as he pleaseth As he can seal up the spirituall treasures of heaven that the soul shall receive no light comfort or refreshing from them in ordinances so he seals up the naturall influences of the heavens that the earth and the fruits of it here below shall receive no quickning no refreshing from them And the earth languishes when the Lord suspendeth and sealeth up the naturall influences of heaven as the soul languisheth when the Lord stops up the spirituall influences of heaven when he seals up that star of Jacob that day-star from on high Jesus Christ What we hear of God in naturall things should keep us in continuall dependance upon him for spirituals he seals with the comforts of his own Spirit and he seales up all comforts from our spirits Verse 8. Which alone spreadeth out the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the sea This verse gives us a further argument
we read of a Ship in which Paul sailed to Rome whose sign was Castor and Pollux two Pagan Sea-gods It is said that God brought all the beasts of the earth to Adam that he should give them names but he brought not the host of heaven to Adam that he should give them names he named them himself Psal 147.4 He telleth the number of the stars he calleth them all by their names Men are not able to tell the number of the stars they tell distinctly but to a thousand three hundered or a few more and they are not able to tell all these by distinct names but they are constrained to reckon them by constellations where a whole family of stars are called by one name The Lord hath made it his speciall priviledge to tell the number of the stars and to call them all by their names And these are named in the Text for all the rest Observe Thirdly Some stars are more excellent of greater vertue and name then others when these are named it is for speciall reason The Lord nameth these as stars of more then ordinary dignity These are in degree next to the Sunne and Moon when a few are named for many we usually name the chiefest as the whole people of the Jews are set forth by the heads of their Tribes by the Chiefs and when a Nation is spoken of it is by those greater names the Magistrates and the Ministers These are named because they have most to doe and the greatest businesse in a Nation So these stars are here named because they are of speciall use and influence The Apostle gives us this clearly 1 Cor. 15.41 There is one glory of the Sunne another of the Moon and another glory of the Starres for one star differeth from another star in glory One star hath a more honourable name then another Some starres God doth not vouchsafe to name particularly to us when others which are of greater glory are As in a building some parts of it are chief The foundation the top stone the corner stone the strength and beauty of the whole building are comprehended under these God hath made differences and degrees in all creatures in the heavenly as well as earthly The names of most stars are concealed as being of a lower degree And we finde that whensoever in Scriptare stars are spoken of scarce any are named but these and these are often named which implies their superiority and dignity The Prophet urges this as an argument of humblest addresses unto and dependance upon God Amos 5.8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars that is Pleiades and Orion and turneth the shadow of death into the morning c. He doth not say Seek him that maketh all the stars the Lord made all But because he hath given so much vertue and excellency to these these only are reported as of his making Here Which maketh Arcturus there Seek him which maketh the seven stars As if he had said In those stars God hath laid out much of himself and made his power and wisdome most visible How much hath God in himself who hath communicated so much to one senslesse creature And though stars differ thus one from another yet they envy not one another Which lessons us to be content though God make our names lesse named in the world than the names of many of our brethren though he trust more talents to or put more light into others than into our selves One star differs from another star in glory but no star envies anothers glory Fourthly Job being about to declare the power and wisdome of God gives instance among other things in this He maketh Arcturus Orion c. Then observe The power and wisdome of God shine eminently in the stars The power and wisdome of God shine in every grasse that grows out of the ground yea in every clod of earth much more then in the stars of heaven Much of God is seen in those works of God yea so much that many have been drawn to make them gods There is so much of God seen in the heavens that not only Heathens who had not the true knowledge of God but his Covenant-people who knew him and whom he knew above all the Families of the earth have been drawn away to worship the host of heaven That place before cited Deut. 4. hinteth as much Take heed lest when thou liftest up thine eyes to heaven and seest the Sunne and the Moon and the stars even all the host of heaven thou shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them If thou lift up thine eies to the stars and not higher even to God who made the stars thou wilt quickly mistake the stars for God or make the stars thy god the heart of man is mad upon idolatry Read how often the Jews are taxed with this sinne 2 King 21.3 and in 2 King 17.16 and in Amos 5.26 which clears this truth that much of the power and wisdome of God is stamped upon the stars if God did not much appear in the stars so many had not taken the stars for God or given them which is proper and peculiar to God religious worship There are five or six things which shew the power of God and his wisdome in making of the stars First The greatnesse of the Stars such vast bodies shew an infinite power in their constitution It is incredible to ordinary reason unlesse men have skill and learning to make it out and to lay the course of nature together that the stars are so great The Sunne is reckoned by Astronomers to be one hundred sixty six times bigger than all the earth The Moon indeed which is called a great light is thirty nine times lesse then the earth yet that magnitude is farre beyond common apprehension Some other of the planets are almost an hundred times bigger then the earth And whereas the fixed stars are distinguished into six magnitudes or differences of greatnesse Those of the first magnitude which are many are conceived to be one hundred and seven times bigger then the whole earth We look upon a star as if it were no bigger then the blaze of a Candle and the Countrey-man wonders if the Moon be bigger then his bushell or broader then his Cart-wheel If the most judicious enter the consideration of these things they may soon come to amazement that so many stars in the heavens should be more then an hundred times bigger then all the earth And if there are such vast bodies in heaven what a vast body is heaven That continent must needs be exceedingly exceeding vast which contains so many exceeding vast bodies in it If we get but a nook or a corner of the earth for our portion we presently thinke our selves great men yet what is all the earth to the heavens And what are the heavens we see to that heaven which is unseen to which these are but a pavement The heavens which are to us a roof are but a floor to the
should depart or abide in the flesh but the straight was not in reference to himself he was assured dying would be to him but a travelling to Christ and therefore death was to him an easie election His straight was only this whether he should not abide still in the flesh to to supply the needs of the Church and forbear glory a while that he might prepare others for glory The same Apostle 2 Cor. 5.4 saith in the first verse We know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God an house made without hands eternall in the heavens When their faith was thus upon the wing soaring up to the assurance of an house made without hands they grew weary of their smoaky cottages presently they could not endure to live in those poor lodges corruptible bodies having a view of such glorious pallaces therefore he adds In this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is from heaven The word signifies groaning as a man that hath a weighty burden lying upon him which makes him fetch his winde even from his bowels The body is the burden rather then the house or the clothing of the soul when once the soul knows it shall be clothed with an house which is from heaven As I said before much of hell in this life makes wicked men vveary of this life so also doth much of heaven Cic. in Tuscul Quest de Cleombroto The Roman Oratour tels us that a young man who lived in great prosperity having read Plato about the immortality of the soul was so affected that he threw himself violently from a high wall into the sea that he might have a proof of that immortality by his experience of it The Gospel forbids such haste and knows no such vvaies to happinesse As Christ not vve hath purchased that estate so Christ must lead us we must not thrust our selves into the possession of it but yet the earnests the fore-tastes and first-fruits of heaven which the Saints finde in this life though they be such as eat the marrow and fatnesse such as may have the very cream and spirits of the creature to live upon make them groan often and earnestly for the next life This is good but heaven is better Lastly Which is the case of this text the Saints may grow vveary of their lives from the outward afflictions and troubles of this life Sicknesse and pains upon the body poverty and vvant in the estate reproaches and unkindenesses put upon our persons vvith a thousand evils to vvhich this life is subject every day cause many to vvish and long for an end of their daies And though they are ready to submit to the vvill of God if he have appointed them to a longer conflict vvith these evils yet they cannot but shew their vvillignesse yea their gladnesse to part vvith their lives that they may part vvith such troubles accompaning their lives And as the afflictions of the body naturall so of the body politike may make them vveary of their lives How many in Germany and Ireland have been so vvearied vvith hearing the voice of the oppressour that they have vvished themselves in their graves only to get out of their hearing And vvith us since these troubles began have not many been tired with living Have they not cried after death and wooed the grave as being weary of the world The Prophet Isa 32.2 speaks of a weary land A man meaning Christ shall be as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land The land it self being insensible could not be weary but he cals it a weary land because the inhabitants living in the land were wearied with the troubles and continuall vexations which they found there In these cases the soul of a believer stands like Abraham when the Angels passed by at the tent door of his body ready to come forth looking when God will but call yea he cries out that he may be called in the language of Job My soul is weary of my life I will leave my complaint upon my self I will speak in the bitternesse of my soul I will leave c. That is I will carry my complaint no further it shall trouble none but my self The originall signifies also to strengthen or fortifie Nehem. 3.8 They fortified Jerusalem unto the broad wall we put in the Margin They left Jerusalem to the broad wall So the sense of Job may be this My pains do not abate but increase why then should I remit or abate my complaint I will strengthen my complaint as long as my sorrows are strengthened My complaint That word hath been explained before it signifies an inward as well as an outward complaint and that most properly Some translate it so here I will groan in silence with my self Per mittam mihi mussitationē Tygur Silentio egomet ingemiscam Philosophabor Polychron Deponam à me querimoniam meam Jun. But the text requires rather that we interpret it of an externall complaint formed up into words The Septuagint are expresse and so is Austin I will leave my words upon my self both interpreting it of a vocall declaration of his minde and meaning The greatest difficulty lies in those words upon my self One renders I will leave my complaint off or lay it aside from my self As if Iob meant to give over this work of complaining and to compose his heart to quietnesse how unquiet soever his estate continued But his following practice seems to confute this interpretation and to deny any such intention Others give this sense I will speak at my own peril and if any danger or inconvenience come of it I will bear it my self I will run that venture Job uses such language chap. 13.13 Hold your peace let me alone that I may speak and let come on me what will We may glosse it with that heroicall resolution of Queen Esther Esth 4.16 So will I go in unto the King which is not according to the Law and if I perish I perish The Hebrew preposition hath various acceptions Praepositio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frequenter per super nonnunquam per cum aliquando per adversus redditur Nihil contra Deum in me tantum desaeviam Pined First As we It is translated Vpon Secondly With. Thirdly Against Fourthly Concerning or about We may take in any of or all these translations And from all the meaning of Job seems to rise thus I intend not to speak a word against God I will not charge the Almighty with injustice or with rigour to doe which were highest wickednesse I purpose indeed to complain but I will complain only upon or with my self concerning or against my self I will not utter a word against the wisdome of God or accuse his providence I will not shoot an arrow against heaven or send out a murmur against the most high There are two waies of leaving our complaints
nulla mihi illaâ—o injuria Bol. Take the words as a direct assertion Thou wilt bring me into the dust again So they may have reference to the decree of God concerning man as those before had to the creation of man As if he had said By creation and naturall constitution I am frail and weak made of the clay by thy purpose and decree I am appointed unto death Thou wilt bring me into the dust again therefore spare me for the short time I have to live Some change the conjunction And into the adverb of likenesse so to note a right power or priviledge and the text runs in this form Remember that as thou hast made me of or as the clay so thou maist it is thy priviledge none can contradict thee in it and thou doest me no wrong in it thou maiest as thou hast purposed bring me to the dust again Though it be common and naturall to all creatures mixt of elements to be resolved and turned back into that out of which they were made that is to die yet to man it is more then naturall there is a decree upon it besides the naturality of it Man dieth by a statute-law of heaven To die is a penalty inflicted upon man for sinne for he had not been under a necessity of dying if he had not sinned And therefore though God formed man as the holy story informs us Gen. 2.7 out of the dust of the earth yet so long as man stood he never said to him To dust thou shalt return God only put a supposition that in case man did fall he should surely die But when man had fallen by sin then he hears what he was and what he must be For dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return Gen. 3.19 As if God had thus bespoken sinfull man Thy body was framed out of dust and now I charge this burden upon thee thou shalt return to the dust again It is a Question and I shall touch upon it Whether death were naturall to man or no Whether man were made mortall or whether he made himself mortall Some affirm That death was naturall not accidentall or occasionall to man-kinde They argue for this opinion First thus Adam died not the death of the body or a naturall death when he had sinned therefore the death of the body was not inflicted for sin upon his person and his posterity but was seated in or a consequent of his nature I answer Though Adam died not presently a naturall death yet he was presently made subject or liable unto death the sentence was past upon him though the sentence was not executed upon him A malefactour who is cast at the barre is a dead man in law though he be reprieved from the present stroke of death Again Though death it self did not instantly seize upon him yet the symptoms of death and tokens of mortality did Fear and shame pains and distempers sweat and wearinesse quickly shewed themselves as so many harbingers or forerunners of his approaching dissolution we see and feel death in these before we see or feel death it self These bid us prepare our bodies for the grave and our souls for heaven Secondly Others reason thus Christ hath delivered his people the elect from all that punishment which the sin of Adam did contract and deserve but Christ hath not delivered his elect his own people from turning to the dust Godly men die as well as the ungodly believers as well as infidels therefore say they the death of the body was not procured by sin I answer Whatsoever is an evil in death Christ hath delivered his people from he hath taken away all that from death which is punishment or annoiance though death be not taken away Christ hath freed us from the effects of sin as he hath freed us from sin it self that is from their prevalence and dominion over us not from their presence or being in and upon us Hence the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. triumpheth over death O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory As if he had said Death once had a power over man to sting him to death death once had a victorious power and would have bin the great conquerour riding in triumph over all the posterity of Adam but now death hath neither sting nor sword to use against believers it hath nothing of victory over the Saints It is now but a sleep a sleep in Christ a rest from labour a putting off the rags the worn rags of mortality that we may be dress'd in the robes of glory The evil of death is removed and that which remains of death the separation of soul and body proves the greatest good to both it being but a preparatory to their everlasting union Thirdly It is argued That death and corruption were naturall to man because the matter out of which man was made was dying and corruptible Omne principiatum sequitur naturam principiorum for that which is made must follow the nature of that principle out of which it is made The effect cannot be say they more noble then the cause nor the subject constituted more durable then that which goes into its constitution To clear up an answer to this we must distinguish of a three-fold immortality 1. A primitive simple independent essentiall immortality this is proper and peculiar to God in which sense the Apostle affirmeth He only hath immortality 1 Tim. 6.16 2. There is a derivative dependant essentiall immortality Some substances have no seed of corruptibility nor of death in them Being either separate from all matter which is the seat and root of corruption as the Angels or united to matter yet so as not being produced from it or having any affinity with it such are the souls of men Whole man in his creation was not immortall either of these waies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graec. Int. a part of man was but man was not created immortall Man was of a middle state and condition neither altogether so mortall nor altogether immortall but capable of either 3. There is an immortality by the power or gift by the mercy or justice of God The power and justice of God shall give an immortality to the bodies of the damned in hell they shall ever live a dying life who were dead all while they lived They who have slighted the mercy of God shall be upheld by his power to endure his justice to all eternity wicked men would have sinned with delight for ever upon the earth if they could have lived for ever upon the earth and they shall live for ever with pain in hell to suffer for their sinne The power goodnesse and mercy of God shall much more give immortality to the bodies of the Saints in glory they who have had a will to delight in obeying God that short time they lived on earth shall have a power to live for ever in delight praising God in heaven The body of man
highest heavens A second thing which shews the mighty power and wisdome of God in the stars is the multitude of them they are innumerable Man cannot tell them only God can they are like the sand of the sea for number A multitude of little sands make a huge body then how great a body doe a multitude of great bodies make Thirdly The swiftnesse of their motion that these mighty vast bodies should be carried about every day so long a journey and never tire or wear shews infinite power and wisdom Fourthly This is more admirable the exact order of their motion That innumerable stars should move continually in the heavens and yet not one of them move out of course this regularity of their motion is setled by an ordinance of heaven Jer. 31.35 where the Lord to assure his people that he would be steady and stedfast in the waies of his love to them and that he would not cast them off tels them that he would be as firm to them in his Covenant as he is in the ordinances of heaven Thus saith the Lord which giveth the Sunne for a light by day and the ordinances of the Moon and of the stars for a light by night c. As if he had said I have made a statute and a decree which is irrepealable and irrevocable concerning the motion of the stars There is an ordinance of heaven for it so that as the celestiall bodies cannot but continue the course I have assigned them for the enlightning of these inferiour parts while the world lasts So the Covenant which I have made with you shall not fail to give you light Thus he infers in the next verse If these ordinances depart from before me saith the Lord then shall the seed of Israel also cease from being a Nation before me for ever but that cannot be I have established these starres by a firm and perpetuall decree therefore you are much more established And such is the exactnesse of their order and motion that the stars of heaven are frequently in Scripture called an host or an army Now an army as it consists of many persons which is one reason why the stars are called an host so an army rightly marshalled is cast into an exact form and so regular for motion that it is one of the good liest sights in the world Now the stars are the host of heaven they stand as it were in battalia they keep rank and file there is not so much as one of that great multitude out of place therefore Judg. 5.20 where they are said to fight against Sisera they are described fighting in courses The stars in their courses fought against Sisera as if the stars had been drawn up now one regiment then another regiment of them to charge upon Sisera and his host the heavens fought and the stars fought that is the Lord by an heavenly power and influence of the stars confounded Sisera and all the enemies of Israel Fifthly There is a most efficacious vertue in the stars It is a secret vertue and it is a strong irresistable vertue no power in the creature can stop it Therefore God challenges Job in the 38. of this book of Job v. 31. Canst thou binde the sweet influences of Pleiades or loose the bands of Orion There are influences in the stars and canst thou binde them Is it in the power of any creature to stop the issues and out-flowings of the stars Their influences are so efficacious that none can binde them but he that looseth them none can binde them but the hand and power which made them there is so much efficacy in them that if God let them go on in their naturall vigour their effects are wonderfull I saith the Lord Hos 2.21 22. will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth and the earth shall hear the corn and the wine and the oil and they shall hear Jezreel As if he had said The heavens are next in power to me they are second to my self in working Therefore I will hear the heavens the heavens cannot do it unles I give them a commission but I will hear the heavens I will leave a power in the heavens And the heavens shall hear the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the earth shall hear the corn c. There is a gradation a descent from God to us and the heavens are the next receptacle the immediate vessel receiving and taking in power and vertue from God to defuse and send down upon the creatures here below I will hear the heavens and they shall hear the earth Sixtly Observe That the stars and constellations of heaven can do nothing of themselvs but as they receive order commission from the Lord. He maketh Arcturus and Orion c. They have great power but it is the Lord that maketh them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non tantum facere sed etiam aptare disponere dirigere praeparare significat That word He maketh doth not so much signifie the Creation as the providentiall disposition of the stars as was noted in the Exposition of it He maketh them that is he orders and disposeth them or he acts the stars he trims up those lamps of heaven the word is so used 2 Sam. 19.24 Mephibosheth while David was in trouble had not dressed his feet the Hebrew is He had not made his feet that is he had neglected his body now saith Job the Lord is he that makes dresses or trims up those lamps of heaven though they have a naturall vertue yet that vertue is quickned by providence Providence is a continued creation He maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades The stars are the servants of God they receive orders and directions from him for all they do And the reason why the Lord did so often call his people off from gazing upon the stars and reproved star-gazers was because they looked no further than the stars they thought the stars did all they did not eie God that made Arcturus Orion c. but they only eied Arcturus c. Therefore he threatens the star-gazers and monethly prognosticatours who took upon them to resolve future events by the conjunction of planets and planetary aspects placing an uncontrolable power in the hands of the heavens and stars whereas I saith the Lord make Arcturus I made him and I make him do what I command not what you fore-tell Therefore Isa 44.24 25. the Prophet speaking of Gods work in making the heavens and the stars presently adds how he befools men that will prophesie from the stars as if they could tell infallibly what shall come to passe I am the Lord that maketh all things that stretcheth forth the heavens alone that spreadeth abroad the earth by my self What follows That frustrateth the tokens of the liars and maketh diviners mad I stretch out the heavens some will needs prophesie out of the heavens I have set the stars in the heavens and they are for signs Gen. 1.14
but I have not set them for Prophets If any presume to declare or resolve what shall be done I resolve to punish their presumption I take delight to frustrate men who delight in this and to befool them who would be thus wise This is my name The God that stretcheth out the heavens alone and that maketh diviners mad Great disappointments enrage and some men lose their reason when they lose the credit of doing things above reason Because they cannot be as Gods to fore-tell good or evil they will not be so much as men He makes the diviners mad The Law was peremptory and severe against them Deut. 18.9 There shall not be found amongst you any one that useth divination or is an observer of times why not an observer of times may we not observe times and seasons May we not look up to the heavens and consider their motions Yes we may observe times holily but not superstitiously as if some times were good others bad some lucky others unlucky as if the power of God were shut up in or over-ruled by his own instruments and inferiour causes this is dishonourable unto God and thus the Jews were forbidden to use any divination or to observe times The heavens and stars are for signs but they are not infallible signs They are ordinary signs of the change of weather Mat. 16.2 3. They are ordinary signs of the seasons of the year Spring and Summer and harvest and winter they are ordinary signs of a fit time to till and manure the ground to plow sowe and reap The earth is fitted and prepared for culture by the motion of the heavens The heavens are at once the Alphabet of the power and wisdom of God and of our works we may read there when to do many businesses Gen. 8.22 While the earth remaineth seed-time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and day and night shall not cease Those seasons shall continually return according to the time of the year measured by the Sun Moon and Stars Thus they are signs of ordinary events And God sometimes puts the sign of an extraordinary event in them Mat. 24.29 Immediately after the tribulation of those daies shall the Sunne be darkned and the Moon shall not give her light and the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken which some understand allegorically others literally of strange apparitions and impressions in heaven either before the destruction of Jerusalem or the day of judgement So Act. 2.19 20 c. Thus God puts a sign in them of extraordinary events But shall man from them prognosticate and fore-tell extraordinary events as when there shall be famine and pestilence war and trouble in Nations This the Lord abhorreth The counsels of God about these things are written in his own heart what is man that he should transcribe them from the heavens But if men will say they are written there God will blot out what they say and prove theirs to be but humane divinations yea that they were received from hell not written in heaven Isa 47.13 I will destroy the signs of them that divine let now the Astrologers the star-gazers the monethly Prognosticatours stand up and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee Behold they shall be as stubble they shall not be able to deliver themselves It is good to be a starre-beholder but a wicked thing to be a starre-gazer that is to look upon the stars so as if we could spell out the secret providences of God and read future events in the book of those creatures It is our duty to look upon the heavens as they declare the glory of God but it is a sin to look upon the heavens as if they could declare the destinies fates and fortunes of men All which vanities are largely and learnedly confuted by M Perkins in his book called The resolution of the Countrey-man about Prognostications Now that the successe of every creature is in God not in the stars we may see first in the order of the creation God created the earth and commanded it to bring forth fruit upon the third day but the lights in the firmament were made the fourth day The earth can bring forth without the midwifery or help of the heavens God himself made the earth fruitfull without yea before the stars were made Philo Judaers de opificio munâ—i Upon which one of the Ancients gives this observation Surely saith he the Lord in his providence made the earth fruitfull in all its glory before he put the stars in the heavens to the intent to make men see that the fruitfulnesse of the earth doth not depend upon the heavens or stars God needs neither the rain of the clouds nor the warmth of the Sun to produce these effects He that made all second causes to work in their ranks can work without the intervention of any second cause And because the Lord fore-saw men would dote much upon second causes and venture to prognosticate by the heavens the fates of men and the fruitfulnesse of the earth therefore he made the earth fruitfull before he made Arcturus or placed those constellations in the heavens Secondly The providence of God works under the decree of God His providence is the execution of his decree Therefore we must not bring the decrees down to providence but we must raise providence up to the decrees Thirdly The heavens and those heavenly bodies Arcturus c. are but generall causes there are speciall causes besides of the earths barrennesse or fruitfulnesse of tempests at sea and troubles at land and the Lord is able to invert all causes to work beyond causes without causes and against causes So that nothing can be infallibly fore-told from the positions conjunctions or revolutions of those heavenly bodies Lastly Observe That it is our duty to study the heavens and be acquainted with the stars In them the wonderfull works of God are seen and a sober knowledge in nature may be an advantage unto grace Holy David was such a student Psal 8.3 When I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained Consideration is not a transient or accidental but a resolved and a deliberate act Shall we think that God hath made those mighty bodies the stars to be past by without consideration Shall men only pore upon a lump of earth and not have their hearts lifted up to consider those lamps of light Shall man make no more use of the stars then the beasts of the earth do namely to see by them When I consider thy heavens saith David Heaven is the most considerable of all inanimate creatures and more considerable then most of the animate and Davids when when I consider the heavens notes not only a certainty that he did it but frequency in doing it Some of the Rabbins tell us that when Isaac went out into the field to meditate Gen.
or abide in him or no. And Bellarmine in his 5th book and 5th Chapter concerning justification citeth it to prove That a believer cannot know that he is justified but must believe blinde-fold or take the work of justification by grace in the dark For saith he God goeth by us and we see him not he passeth on and we perceive him not Allenâ—ssi â—e huÌ„c locum citat Bellarâ—inus ut probet nuâ—uÌ„ fidâ—lem scire an justificatus sit Coc. That is as his glosse speaks God commeth in favour to justifie or he leaveth under wrath and yet man remains ignorant both of the one and of the other state Surely he was at a great pinch to finde a proof for his point when he was forced to repair to this Scripture to seek one Providence toward man-kinde not the justification of a sinner is the proper subject of this text And as there is nothing for a blinde-fold justification here so many other Scriptures are expresly against it To say that a man cannot know when God loveth him or shineth upon him is to contradict what our Saviour asserts Joh. 14.17 I will send the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Ye know him saith Christ to his people the Saints see God in a spirituall sense or in his workings upon their spirits And though God works much upon our spirits which we know not yet we have a promise of the Spirit by whom we know God in his workings Few know when God is nigh or when he is a farre off what his goings away mean or what his commings But when he cometh to the Saints they know he commeth and when he hideth or departeth from them they know his hidings and departures Hence their joies and over-flowings of comfort when he manifests his presence and hence their bitter complainings and cryings after him where he seems to absent himself and hide his face yet this Text hath a truth in it in reference to the inward and spirituall as well as the outward and providentiall dealings of God that sometimes He goeth by us and we see him not he passeth on also and we perceive him not Hence learn First That God is invisible in his essence and incomprehensible in many of his actions Mans eie cannot see him Mans understanding cannot comprehend what he doth But why speaks Job this as a matter of wonder if it be the common condition of man-kinde Behold he passeth by and I see him not who can see him who can perceive or comprehend him When Moses Exod. 33.20 desired to see his face the Lord answers No man can see my face and live God spake to Moses face to face that is familiarly as a man speaketh to his friend yet Moses did not could not see the face of God No man can see God in his essence or nature A sight of God would astonish yea swallow up the creature It is death to see the living God and man must die before he can see God so fully as he may and know as he is known But though the face of God be invisible yet his back-parts may be seen Behold saith the Lord to Moses there is a place by me stand thou there upon a rock and thou shalt see my back-parts thou shalt see much of my glory shining forth as much as thou canst bear as much as will satisfie thy desire were it a thousand times larger then it is though not so much as thou hast not knowing what thou askest desired of me My Name shall be proclaimed Gracious and mercifull c. the back-parts of God may be seen the invisible God discovereth much of himself to man and shews us a shadow of that substance which cannot be seen Some may object that of the Prophet Isaias crying out Woe unto me for mine eies have seen the King the Lord of hosts Chap. 6.5 Seen him could Isaias see him whom Job and Moses could not Isaias did not see him in his essence and nature but in the manifestations and breakings forth of his glory His train filled the Temple saith the Text vers 1. or his skirts It is an allusion to great Kings who when they walk in State have their trains or the skirt of their royall robe held up T' was this train which Isaias saw He saw not God who was present but he saw the manifest signs of his presence That speech of Isaiah seemed to savour of and border upon highest blasphemy and was therefore charged as an article of accusation against him he was indited of blasphemy for speaking those words I have seen the Lord his enemies taking or wresting it as if he had made the Lord corporeall and visible with the eie of the body And it is conceived he was put to death upon that and one other passage in his prophecy Cha. 1.10 calling the Princes of Judah Princes of Sodom and the people thereof the people of Gomorrah But though God be thus invisible in his essence yet there is a way by which the essence of God may be seen And of that Moses to whom the Lord said Thou canst not see my face the Authour to the Hebrews saith Heb. 11.24 That he saw him who was invisible the letter of the text carries a contradiction in the adjunct it is as much as if one should say He saw that which could not be seen The meaning is He saw him by the eye of faith who could not be seen by the eye of sense faith sees not only the back-parts but the face of Jehovah the essence of God is as clear to that eye as any of his attributes yea his essence is as plain to faith as any of his works are to sense Thus he is seen Whom no man hath seen nor can see 1 Tim. 6.16 not the Saints in heaven they are not able to see the Lord in his essence He passeth by them there and they see him not in heaven we are promised a sight of him yet not that fight Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall see God and without holinesse no man shall see the Lord then holy men shall see him the state of the Saints in glory is vision as here it is faith 2 Cor. 13.12 We shall see him face to face and as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 These Scriptures which speak of the estate of the Saints beholding God in glory are not to be understood as if the nature and essence of God could be seen for no man hath seen that nor ever shall but they are meant of a more full and glorious manifestation of God We shall see then face to face that is more plainly for it is opposed to seeing him in a glasse we see him now in a glasse that is darkly in ordinances in duties in his word and in his works but there shall be no need of these glasses in heaven We
perfect Whereas in other places he justifies himself and saith that he was perfect if you read the 29th and 30th Chapters of this book you shall finde them to be but a continued justification of himself or a manifest of his own innocency There he proclaims how holy he had been and how righteous in all his waies that he had put on judgement as a robe and justice as a diadem that he had delivered the oppressed and distributed of his fulnesse to the necessities of the poor Those two Chapters being a professed Catalogue of his good deeds why is he so shie and modest here I answer In this and the like expressions Pius sensus pulchrè expressus in hac Jobi disputatione nunc peccatum suum dimisse confiteÌ„ t is nuÌ„c justitiaÌ„ suam acerrimè defendeâ—tis Merl. while Job saith He will not justifie himself or say he is perfect he declines the plea of personall righteousnesse or perfection in the sight of God as hath frequently appeared in this argument But in those Chapters and in other places where he is upon his defence he speaks only in reference to the charge of his friends As if he had said Ye accuse me for an hypocrite and censure me deeply I can justifie my self and plead my innocency with you though I have not a word to say for my self before the Lord I will bear any thing at his hands let him say of me and doe with me what he pleaseth I will take shame to my self and give him glory but as for you my friends I will justifie my self in your sight I am not the man ye take me for These speakings are not crosse to each other but helps us to understand Jobs sense in this argument He stands much upon his integrity but it is to his friends he humbles himself in the sight of his own vilenesse but it is to God Paul Rom. 7.24 bewails his sinfulnesse O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sinne and of death I finde a law in my members rebelling against the law of my minde Yet when he answers false Apostles about his personall carriage and the discharge of his Apostleship then he saith I know nothing by my self 1 Cor. 4.4 I am charged thus and thus I am slandered so and so but my conscience acquits me I know nothing by my self The sinfulnesse of his nature made him groan and sigh out O wretched man that I am The sincerity of his heart made him boast and sing out like a happy man as sorrowfull but alwaies rejoycing A man may be conscious of his own naturall corruption and yet confident of his own practicall integrity If I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These words in strictnesse of sense referre to the inward purpose of his heart ad facta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad animuâ— referuntur or bent of his minde as the former did to the outward way of his life If I say I am perfect that is if I say there is no meditated obliquity in my heart no intended goings astray or wanderings no close hypocrisie or falsenesse there if I should say I am perfect in the bent and purposes of my heart yet this is not such as I dare appear before God in As if I justifie my self by the actings and puttings forth of my life My mouth will condemn me So if I say I am perfect in the thinkings and secret motions of my spirit it will prove me perverse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word which we translate perverse signifies to wander as a man uncertain of his way Prov. 28.18 Who so walketh uprightly having the frame of his inward man right he shall be saved Qui certo est proposito 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui vago diverso qui se dividit distorquet in duas vias Coc. In Hebraâ—o simplex est perversuaevit me but he that is perverse in his waies having a wandering vagrant minde going sometime this way and sometime that holding somewhat of this and somewhat of that but nothing to purpose or steadily of any thing this man shall fall at once a man of an uncertain spirit shall have a certain downfall But was Job thus perverse No Job was perfect and not perverse yet a boast of his perfection had been a proof of his perversenesse Nothing discovers an evil heart more then a profession of it's own goodnesse It shall prove me perverse What shall prove me perverse Some referre it to the former clause My mouth or the speaking of those words I am perfect shall prove me perverse Penversus evadaâ— Others referre it to God God will prove me perverse if I justifie my self The Seventy leave it without restriction to any antecedent If I say I am perfect I shall go away perverse or I shall appear perverse Observe hence that famous Gospel-doctrine No man can be justified before God by the works of the law Nobilis locus clarissimè ostendens neminem ex lege justificari Coc. It is as noble a proof of free justification in the old Testament as any in the new The Saints have been acquainted with this truth from the beginning That man is nothing in himself and that free grace doth all The doctrine of free grace is no new doctrine the doctrine of free will is Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sinne And that he must say who justifies himself before God Every legall justiciary takes up this language I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sinne It is a task too hard for men yea for all the Angels in heaven to make one heart clean only Jesus Christ is able to fetch out the filth and rubbish that lodgeth in and pollutes our spirits To be a heart cleanser is the peculiar work and honour of Christ. Quot tenebrae quot nubes quot maculae quem non pudebit si fidem suam innocentiam ad illustre illud legis speculum contempletur Coc. A man that knows himself and sees his face in the glasse of the word which flatters no man will never say I am clean nor will he say I can cleanse my self How many spots and blots how many defects and deformities will that glasse represent unto him which he is not able to heal or fetch out Every mans face will blush who sees his heart or his life in that glasse unlesse he Who beholding himself goeth his way and straight way forgetteth what manner of man he was Jam. 1.24 Secondly Observe Job had received testimony from God He could produce Letters testimoniall subscribed by the hand of heaven that he was a just and a perfect man one that feared God and eschewed evil Yet this Job let God speak as well as he will of him will not
will lay aside my heavinesse I will comfort my self It is a hard thing to comfort others Luther said It is as easie a work to raise the dead as to comfort the conscience but it is harder for a man to comfort himself Eliphaz gave testimony to Job in the fourth Chapter vers 3 4. that he had upholden him that was falling and had strengthned the feeble knees But now it is come upon thee and thou faintest it toucheth thee and thou art troubled Thou who hast holpen others canst not help thy self Yet here Job was upon a resolve to comfort himself I answer Though it be a truth that no man is able to comfort himself no more then he can convert himself and that a man is no more able to change his heart from sorrow to joy then he is able to change his heart from sin to grace yet a man may attempt or assay he may use means to comfort himself When Job saith I will comfort my self the meaning is I will doe the utmost I can I will not be behinde in my endeavours I will take the best course and improve all opportunities to get out of these dumps whosoever will prescribe me a way or direct me to a remedy of these sorrows I will submit to it I will comfort my self From whence note That What a man really endeavoureth to doe that he may be said to doe I will comfort my self Why Because though he were not able to attain such an end Joy and comfort lieth beyond the line of the creature yet he reached at it he attempted and assaied all means to comfort himself Thus the salvation of a man is ascribed to himself A man is said to save himself though salvation belongeth to the Lord even temporall salvation but especially eternall salvation yet a man may be said to save himself As the Apostle 1 Epist 4.16 exhorts Timothy to walk by a holy rule to settle himself in his studies to read the Scriptures and to meditate in them to be faithfull in dispensing of the Gospel assuring him If thou dost these things thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee Save thy self No man can be his own Saviour he may be as well his own Creatour Timothy was thus encouraged because in so doing he did all that a man ought who expects salvation That was the way to though not the cause of salvation Salvation is all Christs yet he who doth his best to save himself may be said to save himself Thus also a man comforts himself converts himself instructs himself when he putteth himself out to the utmost of gifts graces and opportunities to doe or attain duties and blessings No man saith the Prophet doth stir himself up to take hold of the Lord. The word in the Prophet signifies to awake or to watch no man wakes or watches his opportunity to take hold of the Lord. It notes also that action of old birds who flutter with their wings and beat up their young ones to urge and provoke them to use their wings and flie abroad Thus he complained because the lazy dull-hearted Jews did not raise up and waken their hearts to doe what they could though to doe it was more then they could Secondly Observe That a man in affliction may help on his comforts or his sorrows I will comfort my self I will leave off my heavinesse Some adde to their afflictions and are active to aggravate and encrease them they make their night darker and obscure the light of counsell that is brought unto them they joyn with Satan their enemy and by the black melancholy vapours of their own hearts stifle the consolations that are administred them by faithfull friends Like Rachel Jer. 31. they refuse to be comforted when reviving Cordials are offered they spill them upon the ground and will not take in a drop they are so farre from comforting themselves that they will not receive comfort from others The Prophet seems to be resolved upon the point he would go on in sorrows Look away from me I will weep bitterly labour not to comfort me Isa 22.4 As sometimes a man under great affliction bespeaks comfort from others O I am in a sad case come comfort me shew me how I may get ease from these sorrows Many beg praiers and send bils of their afflictions desiring to have them spread before the Lord in the Congregation that some comfort may be dropt from heaven into their diseased bodies or wounded spirits Others sleight praiers and care not to be comforted as if it were an ease to them to mourn and a refreshing to be in heavinesse There is a two-fold ground upon which comforts are thus put off 1. Some put off their comforts upon fullennesse of spirit black and dark spirits love to bathe themselves in sorrow Sorrow is the bath of drooping spirits and it is Satans bath too Melancholly is commonly called The devils bath he takes delight to wash in the streams of our unnecessary tears Sorrow for sinne puts the devil to the greatest sorrow Godly grief is a grief to Satan but he delighteth in our worldly sorrows as the devil may be delighted if he have delight in any thing this is one thing he delights in our forbidden sorrows Some sorrows are as much forbidden as any pleasures The devil is as much pleased with our unlawfull sorrows as he is with our unlawfull pleasures And he labours as much to make us pleased with them 2. Others help on their own sorrows and lessen their comforts through forgetfulnesse or ignorance they as the Apostle chides the Hebrews Chap. 12.5 have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto them as unto children Now as wicked men rejoyce because they forget or know not their ill condition So godly men are sad when they forget or know not how good their condition is Yet Job supposes the review of his good estate would neither check his sorrows nor establish his peace If I say I will forget my complaint I will comfort my self I am afraid of all my sorrows Thirdly Observe Man is not able to comfort himself we can make our selves crosses but we cannot make our selves comforts A man may say as Job did Chap. 7.13 to his bed comfort me or to his riches comfort me or to his wine and good chear comfort me or to his friends comfort me He may say to all outward acts of pleasure to merry company and musick eomfort me Yea a Saint may say to his graces and holinesse comfort me and yet none of these can comfort him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or they comfort him in vain Timuit expavit prae metu se abstrahere timorem denâ—tat imminentis calamitatis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat dolore affiâ—ere interdum figurare Qui materiam aliquam ut lucum vel ceram figurat manibus digitis is illam premendo quasi dolore afficit Bold Est elegans metaphora verba alicujus figurare nam
can see We may see a thing and not know what we see But the eye of the Lord seeth and discerneth at all distances There are none so neer him but he knows what they are neernesse doth not hinder his sight and there are none so farre from him but he can discover what they are remotenesse doth not hinder his sight And indeed all things are present with him as in time so in place God is nearest Deus non soluâ— est proximus objecto sed est intimè cum illo conjunctut even next to every object He is in every place yet not included by any he is in every thing yet not mixed with any Prov. 15.3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good His eies are upon the waies of man he seeth all his goings Job 34.21 and that this seeing is a distinguishing sight another Scripture clears to us His eye-lids try the children of men Psal 11.5 Let them be what they will and where they will his eye-lids do not only see but try that is he hath a distinct and a certain knowledge or a criticall sight of the state and condition of every man 5. Man seeth but the colour and skin the face and out-side of things or persons but God seeth the in-sides and looks into the very bowels of them He is a searcher and discerner of the heart He seeth the spirit as soon as the face Our clothes are not more open to him then our brests and bosoms An Heathen wished for a window there and if we had windows there we could not see what 's there An eye of flesh cannot reade the meaning of our spirits but the Lord can look into the heart without a window yea we are all window to him and he at every turn looks not only upon us but into us It was prophecied of Christ Isa 11.3 He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes neither reprove after the hearing of his ears that is he shall not judge as a meer man but as God he shall not judge according to fair appearances or flying reports He shall judge with righteousnesse and reprove with equity Man whose eyes are of flesh should not judge according to appearance yet because his eyes are of flesh he cannot judge of that which doth not appear But God who calleth those things which are not as if they were judgeth of those things which appear not as if they did appear 6. An eye of flesh may be deceived The sight of man is subject to manifold deceptions Many things put a stop to the sight of the eye The eye of man is in danger of as many fallacies as the understanding and the understanding is entangled with many fallacies by the eye But there is no errour in the sight of God nor any deception of his eye you cannot by any art or device by any policy or hypocrisie by any masques or disguises by any simulations or dissimulations make that appear to him which is not or make it appear to him otherwise then it is The heart of man saith the Lord is deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked who can know it only the Lord who makes can answer this challenge so he doth in the next words I the Lord search the heart I try the reins even to give every man according to his waies and according to the fruit of his doings How can that which is deceitfull receive according to its doings but by knowing all its doings and all it's deceits As the tongue the greatest troubler of the world no man can tame so the heart the greatest impostour in the world no man can discover but God and he can do it easily and doth it continually 7. When it is said the Lord hath not eyes of flesh he seeth not as man seeth the meaning is his knowledge is not imperfect as the knowledge of man is An eye of flesh hath bin but a while and can be but a while and therefore cannot attain much knowledge We are but of yesterday and know nothing saith Bilaad c. 8. He that hath but little experience must needs have more then a little ignorance Experience breeds knowledge and brings to perfection in knowledge The eye of God is from everlasting If he had not as he hath all knowledge in and from himself he might have fetcht it in before this time from what he hath seen And he having seen all things must needs have perfect knowledge whose knowledge had been perfect though he had never seen any of these things Besides As this phrase an eye of flesh imports thinnesse of experience and thence imperfection of knowledge so grossenesse of spirit and dimnesse of understanding to attain knowledge When Peter made that gracious confession Mat. 16.16 Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God Christ answers Carò significat aliquia pingue obtusum crassuÌ„ minime subtiâ—e aut perspicax Blessed art thou Simon Bar-jona for flesh and bloud that is man hath not revealed this unto thee but my Father which is in heaven As if he had said All men are flesh and bloud so dull-sighted and blinde that they could never have perceived this truth by any study or observation it comes only by gift and revelation The eye of God is not an eye of flesh in this sense neither All spirits have much clearnesse of understanding much sharpnesse and quicknesse of apprehension The devil being a spirit Daemon though now a wicked spirit hath one name from knowledge How much more knowing is he who is The spirit the Creatour of the spirits of all flesh and the Creatour of those spirits which subsist without flesh Further Sight is put for judgement and seeing for judging Judging is an act beyond knowing Judgement is the result of knowledge So Thou dost not see is Thou dost not judge as man judgeth 1. Mans judgement is often hindered by his affections Num vides more hominum siâ—ut illi ex facie judicas ut affectibus ducaris siâ—ut illi His judgement is hindred by divers affections especially by love and the nearnesse of relations man can hardly see a fault and a friend a sin and a son together Love makes knowledge as ignorance and light as darknesse Christian charity covers a multitude of sins from private revenge and harsh censures But humane charity coverâ— a multitude of sins from publike justice and wholsome admonitions The former keeps from rigid severity this endangers to cockering flattery It is not thus with God He seeth not as man seeth They who have the greatest interest the nearest relation to God are seen what they are and shall be judged as they are God hath indeed an infinite largenesse of affection to poor sinners and the lap of his garment of love covers every day a multitude yea many multitudes of sins But he doth not this because his love to the persons offending hinders his eye from seeing but because
The greatest wonders of creation are unseen God hath packt many rarities mysteries yea miracles together in mans chest All the vitall instruments and wheels whereby the watch of our life is perpetually moved from the first hour to the last are locked up in a curious internall cabinet where God himself prepared the pulleys hung on the weights and wound up the chime by the hand of his infinite power without opening of any part As our own learned Anatomist elegantly teacheth us in the Preface to his sixth book Fourthly The dimensions proportions and poise of mans body are so exact and due that they are made the model of all structures and artificials Castles Houses Ships yea the Ark of Noah was framed after the measure and plot of mans body In him is found a circulate figure and a perfect quadrat yea the true quadrature of a circle whose imaginary lines have so much troubled the Mathematicians of many ages Fifthly In every part usefulnesse and commodiousnesse comelinesse and convenience meet together What beauty is stampt upon the face What majesty in the eye What strength is put into the arms What activity into the hands What musick and melody in the tongue Nothing in this whole fabrique could be well left out or better placed either for ornament or for use Some men make great houses which have many spare rooms or rooms seldom used but as in this house there is not any one room wanting so every room is of continuall use Was ever clay thus honoured thus fashioned Galen gave Epicurus an hundred years to imagine a more commodious scituation configuration or composition of any one part of the body And surely if all the Angels in heaven had studied to this day they could not have cast man into a more curious mould or have given a fairer and more correct edition of him This clay cannot say to him that fashioneth it What makest thou Or this work he hath no hands Isa 45.9 The Lord hath made man so well that man cannot tell which way to be made better This work cannot say He that wrought me had no hands that is I am ill wrought as to say you have no eyes you have no ears are reproofs of negligence and inadvertency both in hearing and seeing So when we say to a man Surely you have no hands our meaning is he hath done his work either slothfully or unskilfully But this work of mans body shall not need to say unto God he hath no hands he hath given proof enough that hands and head too were imploied about this work Let us make it appear that we have hands and tongues and hearts for him that we have skin and flesh bones and sinews for him that we have strength and health and life and all for him seeing all these are also derived from him as appears in the next words Thou hast granted me life and favour Job having thus described the naturall conception and formation of his body descendeth to his quickning and preservation When God had formed man out of the dust of the earth he then breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living soul and thus when God hath formed man in the womb given him skin and flesh bones and sinews then he gives life and breath and all things necessary to the continuation of what he hath wrought up to such excellent perfections Our divine Philosopher teacheth us this doctrine Verse 12. Thou hast granted me life and favour and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit This verse holds out to us the great Charter of God to man consisting of three royall grants First Life Secondly Favour Thirdly Visitation The bounty of God appears much in granting life more in granting favour most of all in his grant of gracious visitations Thou hast granted me life c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vitas fecisti Mont. Vitam disposuisti mihi Sep. Quasi debito loco ordine The letter of the Hebrew is Thou hast made or fitted for me life and favour The soul is the ornament of the body life the lustre of our clay Thou hast not thrown or hudled my life into my body Thou hast put it in exquisitely and orderly The frame of the body is an exquisite frame but the frame the faculties and powers the actings and motions of the soul are farre more exquisite The inhabitant is more noble then the house and the jewell then the cabinet As the life is better then meat and the body then artificiall raiment Mat. 6.25 So the life is better then the body which is to it a naturall raiment Thou hast granted me life c. Life is here put metonymically for the soul of which it is an effect as the soul is often put for the life whereof it is a cause We translate in the singular number life the Hebrew is plurall Thou hast granted me lives But hath a man more lives then one Some understand Job speaking not only of corporall but spirituall life as our naturall life is the salt of the body to keep that from corrupting so spirituall life or the life of grace is the salt of the soul to keep that from corrupting Secondly Thou hast granted me lives that is say others temporall life and eternall life Thirdly Lives may be taken for the three great powers of life Man hath one life consisting of three distinct lives For whereas there is a life of vegetation and growth such as is in trees and plants and a life of sense and motion such as is in beasts of the earth fowls of the air and fishes of the sea And a life of reason such as is in Angels whereby they understand and discourse these three lives which are divided and shared among all other living creatures are brought together and compacted into the life of man Whole man is the epitome or summe of the whole Creation being enriched and dignified with the powers of the invisible world and of the visible put together under which notion we may expound this Text Thou hast granted me lives a three-fold life or a three-fold acting and exercise of the same life Thou hast granted me lives Observe hence Life is the gift of God With thee is the fountain of lives the well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vena vitarum or the vein of lives Psal 36.9 The Psalmist alludes either first to waters which flow from a fountain and so doth life from God Or secondly To metals With thee is the vein of lives as all minerall veins the veins of gold and silver of lead and iron c. lie as it were in bank in the bosom and bowels of the earth so doth life in God There is not the lest vein of this quick-silver in all the world but comes from him Or thirdly The Psalmist alludeth to the veins of the body which as so many rivers and rivolets derive their bloud from tha◠red-sea the liver God hath a sea of life in himself
expression our labour in the Lord shall not only not be in vain but abundantly advantageous This of Job I will not lift up my head fals in sense below his expression for his meaning is I will abase my self before God I will be so farre from priding my self or walking as the daughters of Jerusalem are described by the Prophet Isaiah 3.16 with a stretched forth necke that I will rather hang downe my head Mâ—seri infoelâ—ces capite demisso in terram dejecto ambulant Sâ—nct To hang or hold down the head in Scripture noteth humbling and sorrow when Christ bids his people lift up their heads with joy because the time of their redemption was drawing nigh it implied that their heads would hang down with sorrow whâ—le that redemption was further off The Jewish fasts are described in part by this posture of sorrow Isa 58.5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen A day for a man to afflict his soul Is it to bow down his head as a bull-rush Times of fasting are times of mourning and then it seems they used to hang down the head as a sign of mourning Hence observe That a godly man how upright and holy soever he is walks humbly with God The more holinesse any soul hath the more humility it hath Humility is a great part of our holinesse much more then is it an argument of holinesse The Pharisee Luk. 18. who thought that he was righteous lifted up his head full high he would not lose an inch of his commendation and therefore commends himself He is his own reporter of what he had done and who he was but the poor Publican durst not lift up his eyes to heaven his spirit hung down as well as his head yet he was the righteous man and went home justified rather then the other It is the scope and design of the Gospel to make and keep us humble God hath set up the way of saving us by faith that he might take away boasting and that no flesh might glory in his sight Secondly If Job would not lift up his head though righteous what shall we judge of those who lift up and carry their heads so high though they are wicked There is no reason any man should be proud of his goodnes what a madnes then is it for wicked men to be proud of or in their naughtines Thirdly Though Job was very thankfull for and joyfull in yet he durst not lift up his head or be proud of the white robes and costly raiment of imputed righteousnesse What then shall we say of them who are proud of the dirty rags and filthy raiment of their own inherent righteousnesse A godly man walketh tremblingly lest he should offend therefore he saith If I am wicked woe unto me and he walketh humbly when he doth not offend therefore he saith though I am righteous yet I will not hold up my head Job hath often breathed out the humility of his soul in former passages therefore I shall not insist upon it here Saturitas haec respicit animae ventriculum qui tantam aerumnarum copiam vix potuit concoquere Pined I am full of confusion therefore see thou mine affliction I am full That is my minde is full The spirit hath a stomack or a capacious vessel for the receiving either of good or evil of joy or sorrow Jobs spirit had received in as much evil and sorrow as ever it could hold and more then he could well digest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod est cremare ignominia enim efficit pudorem qui est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in corde in vuliu sicut ignis I am full of confusion The word signifies shame and burning heat because shame appeareth with a burning heat or blush in the face which is also called confusion of face Blushing puts the face into a flame Some take confusion here for shame rendering the text I am full of shame Erubescentes vultus habent flaÌ„mantes Sanc. or of ignominy which ignominy might arise two waies Either from that reproach which his friends cast upon him while they branded him for a wicked man and an hypocrite I am full of reproach so full that I might justly be ashamed yea confounded if I were such as they describe me Or from that reproach which his afflictions cast upon him Poverty is no shame to a beggar who was born poor but poverty is a shame to a man who hath been rich and lived in honour The originall word holds this forth most properly being opposed to that which signifies weightinesse and honour because honour is a weighty thing as this signifies lightnesse and shame because shame is a light thing or a thing of nought Our Translatours rendering the word confusion seem to intend somewhat else besides shame Confusion notes a disorder and an uncomposednesse of spirit When a man knows not what to do or whose counsel to follow When a man cannot make up his thoughts or bring them to any issue When the minde is like a skain of ravell'd silk which will neither winde nor draw then we are in confusion And this I conceive was it which Job chiefly intends when he saith I am full of confusion Hence observe Great sorrows distract the minde and bring a man to his wits end While we suffer much we scarce know what to doe Trouble upon the sensitive part troubles the understanding Confusion upon our estates makes a confusion in our mindes It is very hard to keep our spirits in order while our houses and businesse are out of order every affliction makes some confusion without us and it is exceeding rare if affliction make not much confusion within us I saith Job am full of confusion See thou mine affliction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est imbecillitas maximè quae est a majore vi vim supprimente statuÌ„ miserum cum succumbentia notat There is a two-fold sight of affliction First By a bare intuition discerning it Secondly By a gracious compassion delivering us from it The former sight God alwaies hath of all our afflictions neither our sins nor our sorrows can be hidden from him The later he sometimes suspends and will not see what he cannot but see He will not see so as to relieve what he cannot but see so as to observe It is this second kinde of sight which Iob entreats and praies for here See thou my affliction that is pity me in my afflfction The word which we render affliction noteth weaknesse and casting down or that weaknesse which ariseth from casting down an oppressing affliction which like some great weight lies heavy upon us There are different readings some thus Videt vexationeÌ„ homo qui vexatur videt Deus qui eam respicit propitius est Druâ— I am filled with affliction and see my sorrows The Chaldee thus I will satiate my self with shame and I will see my affliction Man seeth his affliction by feeling it