high-noon there was darknesse over all the Land unto the ninth hour that is till three in the afternoon Matth. 27.45 This eclipse was miraculous first because it was the full of the moon Which as we receive from Antiquitie caused a great Philosopher not knowing what was doing or who was suffering at Jerusalem to cry out Either the God of nature suffers or the frame of nature dissolves 2. Because it was universall as some affirm over all the world or as others which makes it more strange that it was only in the Land of Judea all the world besides enjoying the light of the Sunne at that time Which miracle stands opposite to that in Aegypt which was plagued with darknesse when the Israelites in Goshen enjoyed light whereas then Judea where the Israelites dwelt was covered with darknesse the rest of the world enjoying light Fourthly Some referre this speech of Jobs to that particular plague of darknesse for three daies in Aegypt last mentioned which they conceive was then fresh in memory and so Job had reference especially unto that when he saith He commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not For though God at that time did not give a command to stop the Sunne from rising upon all parts of the earth yet he commanded the Sunne not to rise upon that part when his own people had light in Goshen the Lord charged the Sunne not to rise upon the Aegyptians This is a more distinct act of the power of God For as he speaks Amos 4.7 to note the accuratenesse as well as the power of God in his judgements concerning the rain I commanded the clouds saith he and I caused it to rain upon one City and caused it not to rain upon another City So the Lord can cause the Sunne if he please to rise upon one Countrey and not upon another upon one Nation and not upon another upon one City and not upon another Thus we may understand it He commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not upon one people though it shineth upon others according to the manner of that Aegyptian plague Lastly We may interpret it of any extraordinary tempestuous time He commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not that is he makes such storms and tempests and causeth such vapours and clouds in the air that the Sunne is mufled up and is as if it did not rise Such a day he means it of any troubles and afflictions we have described in the Prophet Joel Chap. 2.2 A day of darknesse and of gloominesse a day of clouds and thick darknesse as the morning upon the mountains But how is a day of darknesse as the morning c. The speech intends thus much that this darknesse shall spread it self as suddenly as the morning light spreads it self upon the mountains which being highest are blest and gilded with the first issuing raies of the rising Sunne God is said to command the Sunne not to rise when he vails and masks the face of the Sunne with sudden clouds as if there were no Sunne at all but clouds Paul in his voiage to Rome was under such a tempest and the Text saith That neither Sunne nor starre for many daies appeared Act. 27.20 they were as if the Sunne had not risen for many daies Such stormy gloomy weather God can make Ezek. 32.7 When I shall put thee out I will cover the heaven and make the stars thereof dark I will cover the Sunne with a cloud that is I will put a black vail or cloak upon the heavens that the Sunne shall not put out any light when I put them out when I extinguish thee I will for a time extinguish the Sunne also The constellations of heaven are often expressed sympathizing with the dispensations of God on earth Isa 13.10 Joel 2.31 Mat. 24.29 He commandeth or speaketh to the Sun Observe hence First The bare word of God is a command Os in Scriptura pro voluntate saepe accipitur significat enim locutionem locutione enim homines quid volunt manifestant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He speaks to the Sunne and it riseth not The Apostle useth that word about the creation of light 2 Cor. 4.6 The Lord who commanded light to shine out of darknesse hath shined in our hearts the Greek is The Lord who spake light out of darknesse which we translate The Lord who commanded the light out of darknesse The words of God are Laws and therefore the ten Commandments that part of the word which carries the name of commands from all the rest is yet called The ten words of God The Greeks call the ten Commandments the Decalogue or the ten words so many words so many commands The devil seems to acknowledge this great power of God only that he might abuse it in Christ that his word was a command If thou be the Sonne of God Mat. 4.3 command that these stones be made bread The Greek is If thou be the Sonne of God speak to these stones that they become bread or speak these stones into bread he would take that as a proof of his Divinity If thou be the Sonne of God doe this God can doe this his Word is a command to all creatures for whatsoever he imposeth upon them they must submit to it therefore doe thou so likewise speak to these stones or command these stones to become bread It should be matter of comfort to us while we remember that every word of God is a command upon all creatures He hath made a decree which shall not passe Psal 148.6 The Hebrew is only a word which shall not passe his word is a decree which none shall reverse Secondly As from the former clause He commandeth the Sun we learn that every word of God is a command so from that which followeth and it riseth not We may learn That every creature obeies the command and submits to the will of God Men often speak and speak in the highest language of commanding and yet the thing is not done but whatsoever the Lord speaks is done Every thing hath an ear to hear his voice who made both voice and ear Psal 148.8 Fire and hail snow and vapour stormy winde fulfilling his Word Senslesse creatures act at Gods command and goe upon his errand They fulfill his Word The Lord sent a message unto Hezekiah to assure him that his sicknesse was at his command because the Sunne was 2 King 20.9 10. Shall the shadow goe forward ten degrees or goe backward ten degrees in the diall of Ahaz either way saith the Lord I can doe it either way as thou shalt ask a sign it shall be done And Hezekiah answered It is a light thing for the shadow to goe down ten degrees but let the shadow return backward ten degrees Yet he knew the Lord did not offer him a light thing in either when he said Shall the Sunne goe forward or backward The Sunnes going forward was within a degree as great a matter as it 's going backward but Hezekiah
of the mighty power of God See how Jobs discourse moves from earth to heaven and from the heavens down to the sea He searches for the wonders of Gods power and wisdome in heaven and earth and in the waters Before he shews God stopping the course of the Sunne and sealing up the stars now spreading out of the heavens and treading upon the sea He spreadeth out the heavens The heavens in reference to the earth are the upper part of the world The heavens are as it were the roof of the great house which God made or as a spangled Canopy over our heads He spreadeth out the heavens The word is of the Duall number in the Hebrew and hath divers derivations which are considerable to enlighten us in the point 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à He spreadeth out the heavens Some derive it from Shem which signifies a name a name of honour and dignity Men of Name are men of renown Gen. 6.4 Nomen gloria decus quia coelum est nominatissima pars mundi Mâ—rtin in Lex â—bilos Anshi Hashem the heavens are the most glorious beautifull and renowned part of the Creation Their name is above every name of inanimate creatures Others because there are waters above in these heavens derive the word from Sham which is an adverb of place and Majim which signifies waters as much as to say there are waters or there is the place where God hath fountains and stores of water All his waters are not upon the earth he hath waters and springs in heaven A third takes it for a simple not a compound word Paulus Fagius in Gen. 1. being neer the Ishmaelitish word Shama noting only superiority in place high or above A fourth opinion derives it from Schamem which signifies to be amazed or to make one at a stand with wonder And the reason is given because the heavens are such a vast stupendious body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Obstupuit propter insignem vastitatem istius corporis quae ipsa nos aspicientes in stuporem rapit Pisc in Gen. 1. that if a man look upon them exactly they will amaze him Who can observe the Sunne Moon and Stars and not wonder and be transported at their vastnesse and beauty at the swiftnesse and regularity of their motions it is above the reach and apprehension of naturall reason how the Lord should fashion and spread out such heavens But what are these heavens which he spreadeth forth Heaven is sometimes expressed with an addition the highest heavens the third heavens in 2 Cor. 12.12 The heaven of heavens 1 King 8.27 Paul was rapt up to the third heavens that is in visions and revelations he was brought as neer to God himself as a creature possibly can Of this heaven we are to understand that Gen. 1.1 where Moses saith In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and void He doth not say the heaven which God created at first was without form and void but the earth was without form and void for that heaven was a perfect creature We read further of the creating of those heavens which we see of the visible heavens which are the continent of the Sunne Moon and Starres But In the beginning God created the heaven that heaven which by way of eminency is called The habitation of his holinesse and of his glory Isa 63.15 This was created in the beginning and then it is conceived the Angels were likewise created but the earth which was then made was an imperfect creature and all other corporeall creatures with their severall forms and fulnesse were extracted out of that earth which was without form and void The very heavens which we see were made out of that first earth the Sunne Moon and the Stars yea the very light it self was made out of that earth that generall heap of matter which the Lord created at first and is said to have been without form and void But the heaven which we call the heaven of heavens the third heaven or the highest heaven was a perfect creature the first day made without any pre-existent matter whatsoever by the power of God This heaven is the largest of all the heavens which God spread out Secondly Take heavens for the visible heavens I intend not to stay upon philosophicall considerations only what the Scripture holds forth we finde heavens put first for the starry heavens or the firmament where the stars have their motion that 's the heaven meant Gen. 1.17 Psal 8.7 Psal 19.1 This aâ—cording to the doctrine of Astronomers is distinguished into severall orbs and sphears in seven of which seven speciall starres are said to move and all the rest to be fixed in the eighth The Apostle Jude seems to give a hint of those planeticall orbs Jude v. 13. where he justly reproacheth unsetled spirits by the name of wandering stars or planets to whom is reserved the blacknesse of darknesse for ever Thirdly Heaven is taken in Scripture for a nearer heaven for all that which is below the Moon for the air and the clouds Hence the birds are said to flie in the heavens and Gen. 8.2 the rain from heaven was restrained that is the rain from the clouds for there is no rain in that heaven above the clouds Triplex est coelum aerium sidereum ac aliud his superius invisible divinum Dam. l. â— de orthodoxa fide Heaven is a building of three stories The first story is the air and the clouds up to the moon The second story reaches all the planets and stars The third story is also called the third heaven or the heaven of heavens the place of his most glorious residence who filleth heaven and earth All these heavens the Lord spreadeth out There is a threefold spreading forth of a thing First By contusion or beating with hammers as a masse of gold or silver c. is spread into thin plates and leaves Secondly By way of rarefaction or attenuation water is rarefied by fire and so are metals when they are melted or caused to runne with extreme heat In allusion to which Elihu speaks in his challenge to Job Chap. 37.18 Hast thou with him spread out the skie which is strong and as a molten looking-glasse The skie is of a weak sleight matter not hard massie or elementall yet it is strong the nature of it being incorruptible the figure of it round and indissoluble And it is compared to a looking-glasse for the clearnesse of it those instruments were made some of glasse some of steel or brasse molten and polisht for that purpose Thirdly A thing is spread forth by unfolding the parts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Extendit disteâ—dit sicut tentoriâ—m as a tent or a curtain is spread and thus the spreading of the heavens is described Psal 104.1 2. O Lord thou art cloathed with honour and majesty thou stretchest out the heavens
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.
to stones and pillars have been the preservatives and memorials of his wonderfull works The works of God are his holinesse justice power mercy truth made visible The administrations of God in one age are for the instruction of all ages God spake with Jacob only in person at Bethel yet there the Scripture saith he spake with all his posterity Hos 12.4 He found him in Bethel and there he spake with us It is then a debt to posterity to shew them what God hath done for us Observe Secondly That it is our duty to enquire into the dealings of God in all ages It was their duty before the word was written and it is a duty still The works of God are to be studied and read over as well as his word Deut. 4.20 32. Ask now of the daies that are past which were before thee since the day that God created man upon earth and ask from one side of heaven to another enquire every way to see whether ever God dealt with a people as he hath dealt with thee whether God did ever assay to take to himself a Nation from the middest of another Nation by temptations and by signs and by wonders c. Enquire this of all the former times So Deut. 32.7 Remember the daies of old consider the years of many generations ask thy father and he will shew thee thy Elders and they will tell thee The Psalmist promises to rehearse what these were enjoyned to record Psal 78.3 4. I will open my mouth in a parable I will utter dark sayings of old which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us Our speaking of and enquiring into what God hath done shews the harmony between his word and works And the former providences of God are food for our faith as well as the promises of God Thirdly That which I shall rather insist upon is this True antiquity ever gives a testimony to the truth Hence the Prophets send the people back to antiquity Jer. 6.16 Enquire for the good old-way Every old way is not a good way but in every good old way we may walk safely and see the footsteps of truth Quod antiquissimum verissiâ—um It is a received rule That is truest which is ancientest It is certainly so for truth is not only ancient but eternall Truth is as old as God himself for truth is nothing else but the minde of God truth was with God from everlasting Truth is commonly called the daughter of time yet in a sense it is the mother of time for it was before time was and therefore no question that which is ancientest is truest Yet there is a great abuse of this principle Look back to antiquity and consult with your fathers say many and see what they did how they believed But what is the antiquity they call us to consult with It is not as Moses spake in that place of Deuteronomy antiquity since God created man upon earth or since Jesus Christ was upon the earth and gave out his Gospel-laws but it is the antiquity of some later ages and editions an antiquity far short of what is indeed the ancient time The Apostle 1 Joh. 2.7 gives us the definition of an old commandment This is the old commandment which was from the beginning Our sinfull nature is called the old man and yet it is a corrupt man It is called the old-man not that it is older then the new man the new man is not of a younger house or later date then the old man Holinesse was before corruption And the image of God upon man elder then sinne the image of the devil There are many corruptions in doctrine in opinion in worship in practice which go for very old And there are many doctrines which we call new truths Is it because those corruptions are older then these new truths No new truths are elder then the oldest corruptions That which we call the new world was created in the beginning though discovered but yesterday So new truths were given from the beginning only they were unknown till of late and we may well conceive that some goodly regions of truth are still terra incognita undiscovered God having reserved them for the honour and industry of some divine Columbus who may give us an exacter sea-card of divine mysteries then the world hath yet seen though enough hath been seen from the beginning for the safe steering of our course to heaven He that would enquire and make a diligent search for truth must goe to the first institutions That 's the old commandment which was from the beginning The Prophet Ezekiel Chap. 23.43 speaks of some who were grown old in adulteries that is old in adulterating and corrupting the truth and worship of God That which is old may be old in evil and fuller of errours then it is of daies We finde when the good Kings of Judah reformed they did not search only into what was done in the ages immediately before them or what their next fathers had done but they searcht what was done in the times of their godly fathers how many removes soever distant from them Hezekiah 2 Chron. 29.6 tels the Levites that their fathers were in an errour that they had trespassed and done that which was evil in the sight of the Lord and had forsaken him and Chap. 30.5 speaking of the observation of the Passeover he saith They had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written therefore v. 7. he dehorteth them saying Be not ye like your fathers which trespassed against the Lord God of your fathers he doth not mean that they should not be like their first fathers who had the truth purely committed to them and so worshipped God purely but be not like your immediate fore-fathers or your corrupt fore-fathers how many descents and generations so ever ye can number from them And this was a thing so strange that when Hezekiah sent the Posts from City to City thorow the Countries of Ephraim and Manasseh with this message that he would have a reformation according to the first institution or patern and would not have them stay in what their fore-fathers had done It is said vers 10. That they laughed the messengers to scorn and they mocked them what must we now be wiser then our fathers Yes saith he you have done evil a long time you and your fathers therefore I must bring you back to your first fathers in comparison of whom the fathers you claim by were but children and those degenerate children It is said of Josiah's reformation 2 King 23.22 That there was not the like from the daies of the Judges nor in all the daies of the Kings of Israel and Judah he went to the very beginning of all there had not been such a thing done before So that if any should have objected why may not such a reformation serve us as served those Kings and Judges No saith Josiah I will search
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
rage of the mysticall as of the literall waters yea we finde these two matcht together Psal 65.7 He stilleth the noise of the seas the noise of their waters and the tumult of the people Hence the Apostle Jude vers 13. cals wicked men raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame The Lord sitteth upon these flouds yea the Lord sitteth King for ever Psal 29.10 There are other mysticall waves even waves within us which will not be trodden upon by any foot but Gods There is a sea of wickednesse in every mans heart by nature Every wicked man is nothing but a sea he is a sea of wickednesse The wicked Isa 57.20 are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest And as the windes blow from all quarters of the heavens and strive upon the seas So there are divers lusts which as windes strive upon the face of mans heart the lust of pride the lust of covetousnes the lusts of ambition of envy of malice these enrage and swell the waters The Lord treads upon the high waves of this sea also he restrains and keeps lust down by his power it would drown all else These raging waves swell too high in his own people it is the work of his Spirit to tread these down and when the windes of severall temptations raise those waves he it is that commands them down Who amongst us is there that one time or other findes not corruption raging as the high waves of the sea How mighty and powerfull is the Lord in that great work of his effectuall grace treading upon the waves of this sea remaining corruption in his servants and children Verse 9. Which maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the South In the verse immediately before we heard of the power of God in stretching out the heavens and in this we have his excellent skill and infinite wisdome displaied in adorning decking and beautifying those heavens which he had stretched forth He hath not only drawn out a vast piece of work In astroruÌ„ pulchritudine situ ordine vi stupendiso in haec infortora operationibus admirabilis prorsus creatoris magnificentia magnitudo plurimuÌ„ clucet Bold like a large Canopy such are the heavens but he hath embroidered this Canopy and set it with rich sparkling stones he hath made severall engravings images figures and representations upon it Or we may make the connexion with the later clause of the former verse Job having said that the Lord treadeth upon the high waves of the sea that when the seas are most stormy and tempestuous they are at his command and that their confusions are under his Empire and order he adds this verse by way of answer to a possible objection For some might say the motion of the seas is from the power and influences of the stars Cum multa sint astra hominibus fluctibus infensa eorum praecipuè memâ—nit quorum vis ad ciendas tempestates hominibus magis est explorata San. from the rising and setting of the moon with other planets and constellations True saith Job yet the Lord is he that treadeth upon the waves of the sea it is the Lord that orders them and not the stars Though the stars and constellations have a dominion over the seas in their ebbings and flowings motions and revolutions yet there is a Lord who hath power not only over the seas but over that which over-powers the seas even over the stars of heaven He maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the South which stars according to the doctrine of Astronomy have a speciall power upon the seas Either of these waies we may make the connexion First That Job would expresse the adorning of the heavens after he had spoken of their making and stretching forth Or secondly He would teach us that though the heavens work upon the seas yet God works upon the heavens He maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the South I shall endeavour to speak of these distinctly The holy Ghost giving us such a Text it is not lightly to be passed by And though here are strange words and uncouth expressions yet we may I hope bring them down to an easie meaning and fit them to the understanding of the simplest I shall touch a little in the generall before I come to every one in particular Iob under these names couches many of the stars of heaven Stella est densior pars orbis ideo lucent astra non coeli quia hi diaphani sunt rari asâ—ra autem densa eoque lucem retinentia reflectentia Migir Phys A Star according to Philosophy is the thicker part of its orb â—r sphear it is thicker then other parts of the heavens for otherwise as it could not hold the light so it could not reflect and send forth the light It could not be a vessel for light or a conveiance for light Light was created the first day Gen. 1.3 but the lights were created the fourth day Gen. 1.14 that is certain vessels were created to hold the light And God said Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven that is let the light which is now scattered thorow all be gathered in certain receptacles fit to keep and yet fitted to transmit and disperse it into all parts of the world Let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light vers 15. Of these lights or stars some are called moving and others fixed That 's the doctrine of Astronomers and it is the doctrine of the Scripture The Apostle Iude ver 13. calling some wandering stars seems to admit of that distinction of the stars into wandering and fixed The unfixt or wandering stars are seven known by their names and motions These in the Text are none of them these are placed above them The seat of these Asterismes is in the eighth sphear to take that doctrin for granted though many dispute it or story of the heavens so the Prophet Amos speaks Chap. 9.2 He buildeth his stories in the heavens we put in the margent sphears He buildâ—th his sphears in the heavens which being one above another are elegantly called the stories of heaven And in the eight sphear innumerable stars are fixed Some of which fall under speciall observation and numeration Astronomers give us a Catalogue of a thousand three and twenty stars which they exactly distinguish which is the ancient account And since that we have had many more discoveries by those noble Navigatours who have made thorow-lights to the world that the East might look into the West and the South into the North The travell study and experiments of these Masters in navigation have brought us in an additionall number of three hundred stars more And so we reckon a thousand three hundred and twenty three fixed stars known by name of which these in the text are a part Thâ— other stars are both innumerable and unnameable beyond number and
the stars which are under the Southern pole are hidden from us and are enclosed lodged as in a chamber God locks them up in his treasury and they are secrets to this part of the world the southern Pole being under or below our Horizon In the artificiall sphears of heaven we finde few Asterismes or descriptions of the starres about those parts there are many but we perceive them not And the vertue and operation of these chambered hidden stars is as strong as of those which appear in greatest lustre and beauty Again When he saith Which maketh Arcturus c. his meaning is Which makes them appear or do their office These stars were made when the heavens were made and Jobs discourse is not about creation but providence So that to make Arcturus c. in the sense of this Text is only this to order the times of their rising and setting to distinguish the seasons of the year and to produce their severall effects in every season which providentiall acts are here especially aimed at Thus he maketh Arcturus to rise about the middle of September which is the time of the Equinox when the civill day and night are even and share the hours of the naturall day equally between them Or as others account this star rises about eleven daies before the Equinox So by Arcturus we may understand that season of the year And he maketh Arcturus is he orders and disposeth of the season commonly called Autumn Orion shines forth in our Hemisphear about the moneth of December and by that winter is designed The Pleiades begin at the spring therefore called Vergiliae because they arise vere in the spring and disappear or go down toward winter The chambers of the South are fiery stars which have their chief influence upon us in heat of Summer And so we may put the Text into these plain expressions He maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the South That is First He makes and orders Summer and winter spring and harvest because these stars divide the four seasons of the year Or secondly thus He makes hot and cold wet and dry storm and calm Or thirdly as these foâ—â— constellations are assigned to the four chief points of heaven Arcturus is known by all who know any thing in the heavens to be seated about the Northern Pole whose opposites are those stars in the chambers of the South Orion dwels in the East and the Pleiades in the West So the plain English of the words is this That the Lord by his mighty power and wisdome ordereth and appointeth the motions of heaven from East to West from North to South Lastly To clear up the sense of this Text we must understand these four constellations Synecdochically these being put for all the rest For as God orders these so every star in the firmament the least are under his eie and at his dispose as well as the greatest But because these are the most eminent usefull and efficacious in their appearances motions and influences therefore these are named He maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiades and the chambers of the South We may observe from the words thus opened divers profitable instructions First All the stars are placed in the heavens by the speciall designment of God for the use and good of man Moses Deut. 4.19 gives a caution to Israel from the Lord that they should take heed of imitating the Heathens in their abominations and this is one particular Lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven and when thou seest the Sunne and the Moon and the stars even all the host of heaven shouldest be driven to worship them which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all Nations under the whole heaven Observe that The Lord thy God hath divided them unto all Nations under heaven Therefore take heed that thou do not worship them They are the work of God they are creatures and worship which is proper to the Creatour must not be given to them It is a remarkable Text Lest saith he thou shouldest be driven to worship them How driven Not by externall force and power but driven by the strong inclination of thine heart ravished with such beautifull objects The excellency that is in the works of God hath power to draw yea to drive the heart of man to commit idolatry Job shews this while he acquits himself so industriously from it Chap. 31.26 27. If I beheld the Sunne when it shined or the Moon walking in brightnesse and my heart hath been secretly enticed or my mouth had kissed my hand this also were an iniquity to be punished by the Iudge c. Some translate that Deut. 4. in this language of Iob Lest thou be deceived tâ— worship the Sunne Moon and stars and host of heaven this is very considerable but the thing I chiefly note in that Scripture to the point in hand is this That the Lord hath made and appointed the stars to the severall parts of the heavens he hath divided them to all Nations under the whole heaven Some stars are the portion of one people others of another As the earth is an inheritance divided among the children of men so also are the stars and heavens Per hanc divisionem intelligit ordinem morum planetaruÌ„ qui in suis orbibus ita disponuntur ut unaquaeque regio suo tempore eorum gaudeat influxibus Pined We seldom consider what riches we receive from that part of our inheritance most think they live by the earth only No saith Moses The Lord hath divided the heavens the Sunne Moon and Stars unto all Nations under heaven He hath setled it what starre such a Land shall have and in what seasons as also what proportions of the Sunne and Moon for light heat and influence He hath made them for the children of men Man is fed and cloathed warmed and cherished from heaven more then from the earth and the lot and divisions which we have of the earth are naturally and usually good or bad rich or barren pleasant or unpleasant healthy or unwholsome according as the aspects of the heaven and stars are more or lesse benigne or favourable unto them Moses Deut. 29.26 reproves the ingratitude of the Jews by this argument Because they went and served other gods and worshipped them gods whom they knew not and whom he had not given to them So we translate But the letter of the Hebrew gives it thus who had not given to them or divided among them any portion As if Moses had said The Lord divided and gave the heavens and the stars among you and these base dunghill-gods never gave you so much as a clod of earth and will ye depart from Jehovah to serve them Secondly Observe God knoweth the number the names and the nature of all the stars He gives them speciall names These in the translation are names of mans imposition Yet the holy Ghost uses Heathenish names in the new Testament Act. 28.11
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
should not have sipt or tasted Est non est Octimestris partus Hippocr much lesse have drunk so deep of this cup of sufferings It is said of Abortives who die in the womb and of such as die immediately after they are born They are and they are not they who live but a moment in nature shall live for ever A life here lesse then a span long Abortivuâ— pro non nato ceâ—setur in jure will be eternity long yet as to the world such a life is no life such a being no being Lawyers say They who die before or as soon as they are born are reckoned as unborn they make no change in states they never had a name or an interest in the world and so they go for nothing in the world The Prophet Obadiah verse 16. threatens Edom That they shall be as though they had not been that is they must perish and their memoriall with them Some are so thrust out of the world that they shall be as if they had never been and some come into the world so that their being was as if they had never been A short life is by common estimation no life As in heaven where we shall live for ever we shall be as if we had ever been So on earth some live so little that they are as if they never were That which hath an eternall duration and shall never end is as if it had ever begun and that which is but of a short duration and ends quickly is as if it had never begun The reason why the fruit of sinne goes for nothing is because the pleasure of sinne is but for a season and that a very little season What fruit have ye of those things whereof ye are now ashamed That is Ye have no fruit or your fruit was nothing we may say of all the pleasures of sin their cradle is their grave or more near Iobs language they are carried from the womb to the grave So he speaks next of himself I should have been carried from the womb to the grave I should have passed without noise or notice There would have been little trouble with me in the world I should have made but one journey and that a short one The speech is proverbiall From the womb to the grave Proverbiale est ab uâ—ero ad sepulchrum cum quis simulac natus est moritur is the motto of Infant-death The Septuagint read it as an expostulation Wherefore was I not carried out from the womb to the grave It would have been a happinesse to me either not to have been at all or to have had a being but equivalent in common account to a not being And thus it had been with me if my first step out of my mothers womb had been into the womb of that grandmother the earth Iob is often upon the same point renewing his desires after death he did so as hath been toucht at the third Chapter and at the sixth and now he is as fierce and fresh upon it as ever A godly man may often discover the same infirmity Whilest the same stock of corruption remains in us it is productive of the same corrupt fruit There is a seminall vertue in the earth look how often it is plowed and sowed so often it sends forth a crop there is a seminall vertue in the earthly part of man which makes him to put forth evil as often as occasion plows and temptation soweth his heart Verse 20. Are not my daies few Cease then and let me alone that I may take comfort a little Are not my daies few There is a difference in the reading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Primo adjungunt colo Numquid non paucitas dierum meâ—rum finiatur brevi Vulg. Annon pauci dies mei cessantes sc deficientes â—arg Annon paulisper diebus meis cessabit Juâ— Many translatours joyn the verb Cease with this clause so that whereas we read Are not my daies few Cease then and let me alone they read Will not my few daies cease then let me alone that I may take comfort a little M Broughton and he hath a second varieth yet further Will not he leave off a little in my daies Instead of applying the word few unto daies Are not my daies few they taking in the verb joyn it to the act of God Will not he leave off a little in my daies That is Will not God forbear a little to trouble me Will not he give me a breathing time in my daies which are but few Surely he will he will not be so strict with me I doubt not of a gracious answer to this humble petition But rather follow our sense and let the first clause be a question Are not my daies few And then the next words are an inference or use which he makes from it Cease then and let me alone c. Are not my daies few The question doth affirm Yes my daies are few The sense may be made out one of these three waies and not unprofitably by all three First thus As a justification of his former wishes and desires to die Have I not upon good reason wished that I had never lived Who can be in love with a short life and a long trouble Are not my daies few Or Secondly As an answer to such as objected against him for wishing he had not lived Doe you know said they what you have said Is life such a small matter with you Or doe you understand what you desire when you desire death Is deformed death become a beauty in your eye What ever you think of it life is a precious jewel Yes saith Job I know very well what life is and I know of I had died before I was born I had not lost much life What 's the life of a few daiis The life of eternity is worth the having and esteeming but why should you think I have wished away a matter of moment when I wished away this life For are not my daies few Whence observe The losse of a whole life in this world is no great losse We cannot lose a great deal when all is but a little nor many when we have but a few in all He looseth but a few daies who dieth the first day then what have we got when we have lived according to the calculation of nature many daies Job makes this an argument to satisfie others about his wish that all his days had bin cut off May not we satisfie our selves by it when a piece or a part an end the worst end of our daies is cut off What if we have abated ten or twenty of those years which possibly we might have lived Twenty years are but a few daies for a whole life consisting of three twenties and ten is but a few daies This we are sure of that the few daies we loose on earth shall never be missed in heaven it will be no abatement to our comfort there to
sin or errour How often are the spirits and manners of men infected and poison'd by such a breath Fifthly They may be compared unto strong windes in regard of the lightnesse of them the winde hath little solidity in it and that 's it which Bildad especially reproveth in Job here are a great many words much of the tongue but here 's little matter Words without weight are but winde when you gather them up weigh and consider them fully you can make nothing of them ther 's no tack in them Winde will not feed no more will such words but wholesome and faithfull words are meat and drinke strength and nourishment to the soul Sound discourse yeelds a well tempered understanding many refreshing morsels Lastly They are like strong windes for the swiftnesse of them words passe speedily and fill all quickly Their line is gone out thorow all the earth and their words to the end of the world Psal 19.4 Another Psalm speaks as much of wicked men Their tongue walketh thorow the earth Psal 73.9 as the winde runs from one part of the world to another So doe words when they are sent upon an errand either to doe good or to doe hurt Therefore God chose the Ministery of the Word as an instrument to save his people And it is the fittest instrument running swiftly into the ears and so conducting truth into the hearts of thousands at once Upon the day of Pentecost Act. 2.2 3. when the Disciples met together the text saith Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty winde and it filled all the house where they were sitting first comes a rushing winde what followeth There appeared unto them cloven tongues with fire These represented the manner how the Gospel should be conveyed thorow the world The holy Ghost is sent in tongues to shew that by tongues tipt and inspired acted and moved by the holy Ghost the world should be subdued to the knowledge of Jesus Christ The tongue is the chief Organ of speech And observe with the tongues there comes a wind a rushing wind implying that words spoken by those tongues should be as a mighty rushing winde and like that winde which filled all the house where they sate should fill the world even all Nations with the sound of the Gospel that like a strong winde they should bear down the errours sins and lusts of men before them and like a wholsome winde purge and winnow out all the filthines and uncleannesse the chaff and dust of mens spirits By cloven tongues and a rushing winde wonders have been wrought in the world As those unruly talkers Tit. 1.11 subverted so those who talk by rule have converted whole houses The winde of words blows both good and evil to the world and we may as much encourage holy tongues Let your words he long and long a strong winde as check a vain talker in the language of Bildad How long shall thy words be a strong winde From this generall reproof Bildad descends to a speciall charge against Job 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Injustè aget judicans Sept. Thesis est dicendorum Verse 3. Doth God pervert judgement or doth the Almighty pervert justice As if he had said Job thou hast spoken words which like a strong winde pervert all things and turn them up-side-down But Doth God pervert Doth he turn things up-side-down This blasphemy is the interpretation of many of thy complaints Thou seemest to lay this aspersion upon God But with indignation I speak it doth God pervert judgement The Question is resolvable into a vehement negation God doth not pervert judgement neither doth the Almighty pervert justice He gives it with a question for greater emphasis Doth God pervert judgement Dost thou thinke he will Farre be it from thee to thinke so Injustice lies farre from the heart of God justice lies at his heart He loveth judgement Psal 37.28 To clear the Text I shall briefly touch upon the single terms 1. God 2. Almighty 3. Judgement 4. Justice And then shew what it is to pervert judgement and justice from all it will appear how extremely opposite it is to the very nature of God to pervert either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fortis potens Doth God The word is El signifying the strong God the mighty God the powerfull God In the second clause Doth the Almighty pervert justice We have the word Shaddai which name of God was largely opened at the seventeenth verse of the fifth Chapter I shall not stay upon it here but only as it respects the point in hand Shaddai netat robustum sufficientem ad omnia perpetraÌ„da executioni mandaâ—da quae facienda jud caverit aliqui vertunt invictum Alij vertunt ubetrimum abundantem coplosuÌ„ cujus virtus munificentia per omnia permeat cujus uberibus bonitare omnia alantar nutriantur qui nullius indiget qui bonorum nostrorum nulla cupiditate tangitur Pined 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Quod sic explicant qui cunctarum rerum naturas summo ordine equitate constituit is in te affligerdo quod justum est non subvertet and so there are three interpretations of that title observable 1. It notes God all-sufficient to doe what he pleaseth or to effect what he designeth if he gives direction for any judgement to be executed he is Shaddai It shall be done As he is El a powerfull Judge to give sentence so he is Shaddai an Almighty God to execute the sentence There is no resisting his power no getting out of his hands his name is Shaddai Secondly The word signifies one who hath all abundance plenty and fulnesse in himself As also whose power goodnesse and bounty flow out to the supply of others himself having no need to receive from any other He is a fountain of all for all Hence Shaddai cannot but doe justice He that hath abundance in himself needs not take bribes to pervert justice Needy Judges are often covetous Judges they who have not a fulnesse of their own are under a great temptation to wrong others to supply their wants But he that gives to all needs not receive from any This consideration sets God infinitely above one of the strongest temptations to injustice Thirdly The word Shaddai is rendered The maker of all things Will the Almighty the maker of all things who hath set the world in such an exquisite forme and order who hath given so much beauty to the creature will he put things out of order or doe such a deformed act as this pervert justice He that is the maker of all things and hath made them in number weight and measure will he turn the world up-side-down or make confusion in the world it is not possible he should So then the name Shaddai in these three senses is aptly applied to God in opposition to the perverting of justice As Abraham debates the matter with him Gen. 18.25 Shall not the
gracious is to doe that which is desired by a supplication the same word in the Hebrew signifies both an act of lowest humility in us namely the making a supplication and an act of the highest grace in God namely the granting of a supplication Hence observe First In seeking God we must look to receive all from his free-grace and undeserved favour Seek unto God and make thy supplication to him Mercy in God is the spring of all the mercies received by man What can a beggar who comes to a King ask upon desert That 's the condition of every one that comes to God we are a company of beggars the riches both of temporall and spiritual blessings are treasur'd up in God Blessed are the poor in spirit they who look upon themselves as mean and low as not having a rag of goodnesse about them as emptied of themselves are the vessels which God will fill He that is full loatheth a honey-comb and he that thinks he is full is loathed so much by God that his reall emptines shall never be filled When Jacob held God so fast that he would not let him go without a blessing he had quite let go all hold yea or opinion of his worthines to receive a blessing I am lesse then the least of all thy mercies Gen. 32.10 Then we are fit to receive great things from God when we are little then fittest when we are least in our own eyes Yea we must supplicate God not only as a beggar but as a traitour or a rebell doth a King who hath not only nothing in him to commend him to his acceptance or procure his favour but much to provoke his wrath and incurre the weight of his displeasure Every sinne in it self renders us rebels against God And though his own people comming unto him in Christ are under another notion they are his sonnes yet even they ought to have such apprehensions of themselves for sinne Abraham believed in him that justifieth the ungodly Rom. 4.5 Even Abraham after he was justified in the sight of God through faith looked upon himself as ungodly in reference to his own works In all our approaches to God we should reflect upon our selves not only as having many wants and no worthinesse but as having many sinnes and of our own no goodnesse God in justice visits iniquity upon them that hate him Exod. 20.6 And he sheweth mercy unto thousands of them that love him and keep his Commandments They who love God and keep his Commandments receive all from mercy Justice punisheth those who break the Commandment but mercy doth them good who keep the Commandments We have at any time sin enough to merit the wrath of God but we never have goodnesse enough to merit his favour And as no objection from our sinfulnesse can obstruct the way of free-grace from moving towards us so no argument from our holinesse can open the way for free-grace to move towards us In all our duties we are to lie in the dust yea we are to lay our duties in the dust and to seek all of God in humble supplications Consider this verse in connexion with the former and then two points are observable from it Bildad assuring Job that though his sons had fallen by their sinne yet if himself would seek unto God and make his supplication it might be well with him teacheth us First That the fals of others whether into sinne or under judgement for sin should be warnings to us Thou seest what is become of thy sons let them be as a looking-glasse for thee Children may teach their parents parents are often whipt upon their childrens backs The hand of God upon others points towards us and while they are smitten we are instructed The Apostle summes up the most remarkable judgements which fell upon the Jews in their passage from Aegypt to Canaan and closeth all with this application to Christians These things happened unto them as ensamples and they are written for our admonition c. to the intent that we should not lust 1 Cor. 10.11 As if he had said God let them fall into the hand of their sinnes and their fals may help us to keep our feet Their fals were types so the word is these things happened unto them typically in them we may see what God will doe with us if we take their course and goe their way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proprè significat notā insculptā pulsatione seu percussione effectam Beza in Joh. 20 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 percutere Vnde Ars Typographica The Greek is very elegant and expressive of this sense For a type is such a form or representation of a thing as is made by hard pressing or striking of it such as we see in stamps and seals It is the leaving of a mark with a blow implying that the Lord by those strokes upon his ancient people left marks upon their bodies or printed letters there the Greek word for a Printer is a Typewriter which were legible to their posterity and are to this day Hence the scarre which the nails made in the hands of our blessed Saviour upon the crosse is called The print of the nails or The type of the nails Joh. 20.25 Such a type or print sufferings leave behinde them How many such types have we this day Where can we goe but we may see the print of the Sword and thrust our hands into wounded sides Let us not be faithlesse but believing The Apostle Peter 2 Epist 2.6 brings the apostate Angels the old world filthy Sodome as admonitory examples unto those that should live ungodly They made themselves evil examples by committing sinne and God made them good ensamples by punishing them for their sin Secondly From the connexion observe That they who are equall in sinne may be unequall in punishment Job was in the judgement of his friends as deep in sinne as his children but though he had sinned like them or more then they yet he might be unlike them in suffering or suffer lesse then they God saith Bildad hath taken them quite away he hath but wounded you and if you seek unto God he is ready to heal you The same sinners for matter are in heaven and in hell that is take two who have committed the same sins for matter and for degree also as sinne is a transgression of the Law and the one of these may be found in heaven and the other in hell at the last day Yea I believe there are many in heaven that have committed greater sins then some that are in hell It is not the matter of sinne committed but the obstinacy impenitency or unbelief of the sinner which bindes on the guilt and seals up the sinner to judgements temporall and to condemnation eternall Verse 6. If thou were pure and upright he would awaken for thee c. Bildad counsels Job to seek God yet he puts in a caution If thou wert pure and upright As
store of water they are sensuall they must please their appetites and delight their palates The Apostle describes them so They serve not the Lord Jesus but their own bellies they must be supported with the affluence of outward things else they cannot hold out in profession Whereas the godly and true believers can live when the water is drain'd or dry'd away when outward things fail and are gone So the Prophet Habakkuk professes Chap. 3. ult Although the fig-tree shall not blossome neither shall fruit be in the vines though the fields shall yeeld no meat and there be no herds in the stalls yet I will rejoyce in the Lord and will joy in the God of my salvation A godly man will grow when all the world decaies to him he will rejoyce in God when all outward comforts fail him hypocrites must have sensuall supplies or they are lost A feigned love of spirituall things is ever joyned with a true love of worldly things Christ speaks of some who followed him more for the loaves then for the word And Judas followed his Masters bag more then his Master Fifthly Bulrushes or flags yeeld no fruit at all they only make a fair shew hypocrites how green so ever they are what shew or profession soever they make yeeld no fruit of holinesse Sixtly A bulrush or a flag withers sooner then any other herb that is then other herbs that are not seated so near the water And this agrees well with the hypocrite for when the hypocrite begins once to wither he withers quickly He never had any true life and he will not long appear to have any When one that hath made a fair profession begins to decay he decaies sooner than a meer civil man a civil man will hold out in honesty and justice a great while but a hypocrite gives over holinesse and godlinesse presently Besides God blasts and withers an hypocrite sooner than any other man because he hath abused and wronged God more then any other man When judgements come they fall first upon hypocrites The hypocrites in Zion tremble Isa 33. Trembling will take hold upon the prophane and openly wicked but trembling takes hold foonest upon hypocrites they have most cause to tremble who were confident without a cause False hope is the parent of reall fear and they who believe without repenting shall repent without believing Verse 13. So are the paths of all that forget God and the hypocrites hope shall perish So are the paths So that is thus it comes to passe Sic sane illis accidit usu venit talis est eorum conditio Drus this is the way and the end of all those who forget God The path of a man is taken two vvaies First For his state and condition Psal 1. The way of the wicked shall perish that is the vvhole state of a wicked man shall perish Secondly For his course and conversation Job 33.11 He putteth my feet in the stocks he marketh all my paths that is he takes notice of the vvhole course of my life all my conversation all my tradings and dealings are before God This path of mans course and conversation is two-fold There is an internall and there is an externall path The internall is that of the minde the minde hath it's course the heart hath a vvay Isa 57.17 He went on frowardly in the way of his heart The external path is that of outward actions That which we usually doe is our path Thus the actions and works of God are called the paths of God Job 40.19 Behemeth is the chief of the waies of God Prov. 8.22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way before his works of old Psal 77.13 Thy way O God is in the sanctuary that is thy actings and doings are seen there Our actions are compared to a path in two respects 1. Because we are frequent in them that which is a mans course he treads every day 2. They are called our paths because they lead us to same end every path leads us to some place or other Some actions lead to life and some to death some lead to heaven some to hell some to Christ and some to Satan to one of these ends we are travelling and journeying all the daies of our lives Of those that forget God To forget God imports these four things 1. Not to think of God we forget that which we minde not The first act of remembring is thinking The thief on the crosse prayed Lord remember me when thou commest into thy Kingdom that is think of me for good God is not in all the thoughts of a wicked man â—o obey or honour him and a wicked man is not in all the thought of God in this sense to blesse or pardon him 2. To forget God is to disobey God or not to doe the will of God Deut. 8.11 Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God in not keeping his Commandments As to remember God is to do the will of God Eccles 12.1 Remember thy Creatour in the daies of thy youth that is do the will of thy Creatour in the daies of thy youth so to forget God is to disobey God not to doe his will God is said to forget us when he doth not our will that is when we in prayer propose â—uâ—dâ—â—fe to God to doe them for us the not doing of those things for us into forget us David expostulates Psal 77.9 Hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious He had praied much at the beginning of the Psalm with successe I cried unto God with my mouth even unto God with my voice and he gave ear unto me He puts up other requests which finding no present answer or sensible acceptance he cries out Hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious Now as when the Lord doth not our will he is said in Scripture to forget us so when we do not the will of God we indeed forget him 3. To forget is lightly to esteem to sleight the Lord. That which a man highly esteems he keeps in his memory and treasure it up there and when a man forgets a thing Oblivio affert contemptum especially when he wilfully forgets it he disrespects it he sleights and contemns it Jer. 30.14 All thy lovers have forgotten thee that is thy lovers care not for thee they sleight and esteem lightly of thee When a man comes not at one whom he loves he is said to forget him Jer. 2.32 Can a maid forget her ornaments or a bride her attire A maid hath a great esteem of her ornaments especially of her wedding ornaments and therefore she is often thinking of them it may be she can hardly sleep the night before for thinking of the rich garments yea the bracelets and bables she is to wear upon the wedding day Can a bride forget her attire Will she throw these by the walls as we speak or cast them at her heels Yet saith the Lord My people have forgotten me daies without number
go on boldly till he meets with opposition he will work in a fair day till he meets with a storm and dangers threaten but there he gives over He that is not acquainted with the assurance office of heaven will seldome if at all runne hazards here on earth True trust brings God and the soul together but the hypocrite never comes near God and then no marvell if he be afraid to come near danger Note from it before we put the words together thus much That an hypocrite hath a trust of his own a trust like himself Whose trust An hypocrite doth most things which the upright and sincere hearted doe and he seems to have every thing which the upright and sincere hearted have Doe they pray so doth he Doe they hear se doth he Do they fast so doth he Have they faith He hath a faith too Have they the fear of God he also hath a kinde of fear Have they zeal so hath he yea the zeal of hypocrisie burns hotter for a blast then the zeal of sincerity He hath grace proper to his state false grace for his false heart he hath trust such as it is a trust which belongeth to all of his rank see the character of it in the next words It shall be a spiders web 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tam animal quam rete ejus quod solet contexere significat The Hebrew is It shall be the spiders house the web is the house of the spider We have the same word Isa 59.5 They weave the spiders webbe Isaiah speaks of such pretenders They trust in vanity and speaklie These were the spiders web which they weaved But why is the trust of the hypocrite compared unto the spiders web I shall clear that in four or five particulars which will be as so many notes upon this text 1. Because the profession and all the works of an hypocrite are very weak and unstable as the spiders web is There is a kinde of curiosity in them but there is no strength or stability in them The spider works very curiously but her house will not bear any stresse of weather much lesse force of battery The spiders web is no match for a broom or a whisk Thus it is with the profession the trust of hypocrites you may see a neat spinning a fine threed of profession accurate weavings and contrivances but when it comes to a push it is not able to stand if you doe but touch it 't is gone Some will stand out longer then others yet all fall as Christ assures us Mat. 7. ult it is the hypocrite who buildeth his house upon the sand to have a house built upon the sand is no better then to have a house built in the cicling when the storm comes that house fals and when the broom comes this must down 2. The trust of an hypocrite is called a spiders web because he fetches and frames it as it were out of his own bowels that whereunto he trusteth is wrought out of himself That 's the nature of the spider she hath no extrinsecall materials to build her house with she doth not hew her stones out of any quarry or fetch her timber from any forest as we may allude the materials which she hath she fetcheth out of her own bowels The Bee makes an house and fetcheth the materials from this and that flower so the Bee makes a comb for a house but the spider sucks no flowers Thus it is with hypocrites their trust and hope is as the spiders web made out of their own substance they eviscerate themselves they fetch all out of themselves The meaning is all their trust is in their own duties in their own strength in their own stock in their own gifts upon these they build these are their house We finde the Pharisees trust thus grounded such was his house Luk. 18. I fast twice a week I give alms I pay all men their due He was very exact in righteousnesse according to the Law upon this and out of this he makes his house this is to make an house like a spider Though it be our graces we trust upon our trust will be a spiders web The believer is well compared to a Bee the Bee hath an house and honey but the Bee fetcheth all from abroad from herbs and flowers Believers have their house to dwell in and their honey to feed upon but they such all from the promises of Christ yea they suck it from Christ himself they rest not in the letter of the promises but they go to Christ who is the matter promised and the accomplisher of all the promises Here they build their house and hew out the pillars of it 3. Their trust shall be a spiders web in the issue it shall perish like a spiders web How is that Assoon as the house comes to be cleansed down go the spiders webs when the house is swept the cob-webs are first swept away Thus it is with the trust of all hypocrites when God sweeps his house his Church he quickly sweeps out these spiders webs Isa 14.23 the Prophet speaks of the besome of God the judgements of God are the besome of God by which he sweepeth his house God hath a double besome or a double use of his besome he hath a besome of destruction and a besome of purgation It is a besome of destruction to hypocrites and it is a besome of purgation to his Saints When either the besome of destruction or the besome of purgation is in hand the trust of hypocrites is swept away When the Prophet describes the Lord in his great and terrible judgements Isa 33.14 the text saith The sinners in Zion are afraid fearfulnesse surprizeth the hypocrite who shall dwell with devouring fire God provoked is a devouring fire How shall stubble and spiders webs stand before him When trouble comes the trust of hypocrites goes to wrack they tremble then for their trust is but a spiders web it cannot stand one stroak or endure the flaming heat The hope of a godly man grows strongest in times of trouble he is purified in the fire and the hope of an hypocrite weakens till it be none at all in times of trouble it is cast out of doors amongst the rubbish or is consumed with the fire 4. Take this parallel between the spiders web and the profession of hypocrites The spider makes his web to catch and ensnare others to catch the poor flies She hath a double use of her house to lie in it and to entrap flies in it Her house is a snare The profession of an hypocrite is a spiders web in this notion he makes it to catch flies with to ensnare and deceive the simple that he may prey upon them He would count godlinesse a poor thing did he not make a gain of godlines That brings him in food and cloathing he lives upon it This his deceitfull web is so fine spun and fairly woven that you cannot easily discern any
judgement under the roof and goodly fabrick of this house Out of these three sorts of materials spirituall gifts spirituall duties and supposed spirituall graces upon all these and out of these he buildeth and thinks he hath made an house that shall stand for ever The point I shall give you taking in those three sorts of materials is That gifts duties and supposed graces are the stay and the staff the house and the strength of hypocrites Upon these they lean and in these they secure themselves they rest upon this bottom for eternity Hence they even dare to plead with God himself about it Mat. 7.22 Many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy Name and in thy Name cast out devils and done many great wonders They trusted upon Have we not prophesied Have we not praied Have we not done wonders They thought those sufficient materials to build them a tower which should reach heaven it self who can doubt but they who do such things as these shall do well The gift of prophecy the power to cast out devils and work miracles sound high and make a great noise Yet at last this tower of their confidence proves but a Castle in the air or a spiders web How confident were they who could plead thus with God He hath opened the secrets of heaven to us and do you thinke he will shut the gates of heaven upon us We have preached we have been instruments of saving others and shall not we be saved ourselves We have cast out devils and shall we be cast to the devil We have not walked in an ordinary tract of Profession but we have traded in wonders and done miracles we have amazed the world with reports of the great things we have done is all this nothing Thus they plead with Christ as if he were bound to save them by the law of these services yet Christ tels them Depart from me I know you not Surely thought they God will fetch his fewell for those everlasting burnings from among the rude Heathens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysost or debauched drunkards adulterers c. not from among us Were it not a wonder greater then any we have wrought if we who have wrought great wonders should not be admitted One of the Ancients represents them in such an amazement What means this strange unexpected answer from Christ Depart c. Must we depart who have lived so near thee Must we be damned whom thou hast thus honoured The Apostle Paul Rom. 2.17 speaking of the hypocriticall Jews discovers such a confidence Thou restest in the Law as a man resteth in his house there he sleeps is quiet so these in the Law there they were quiet that is in the priviledges and outward profession of the Law or in a literall and outward obedience to the Law The Jews built their house upon or with legall righteousnesse Thou restest in the Law Tibi applâ—u lis quod legem scriptam acceperis quòd frequenses in lectione auditione legis he speaks both by way of narration and likewise by way of redargution He tels what they did and how ill they did in doing so Paul rejects this as refuse stuff as hay and straw as drosse and dung as confidence in the flesh Phil. 3.3 c. Those things which acted or enjoyed are spirit being trusted to are flesh So Prayer is flesh ordinances are flesh the righteousnesse of the Law is flesh yea Grace it self trusted to is flesh The duties which Christ hath appointed are the house of the hypocrite but Christ himself is the house of the upright He would be found in him Phil. 3.9 not in duties or inherent graces Saints desire that much grace may be found in them but they dare not be found in graces they would ever be acting graces but never thrusting to them Secondly Observe An hypocrites hope is high and strong that his estate is good now and that he shall receive good at the last He leaneth upon this house Some are without hope in the world of whom we may speak as the Apostle of an heretike Tit. 3.11 they are condemned of themselves Some men have the sentence of condemnation in their own hearts But there are others as you see here who have great and strong confidences in themselves who live and die with this confidence too This they do upon the former witnesse As the Apostle John speaks concerning the witnesse which the Saints have for heaven There are three which bear witnesse c. and these three are one So there are three which bear witnesse to the hypocrite and these three are one they agree in one to deceive as the other to give assurance First The world that giveth many a man a witnesse and letters testimoniall that his estate is good his neighbours say so they flatter him and cry peace peace to him Secondly Satan applauds him the devil gives him his good word and tels him that certainly his estate is very good Thirdly His own heart will seal to all he shall have the witnesse in himself as it is spoken of the true believer So that the hypocrite having such witnesses a witnesse within himself a certificate under the hand of Satan and letters commendatory from the world all this must needs give him strength of hope that his house shall stand for ever But see the issue He leaneth upon his house What then It shall not stand The word signifies to stand firmly and strongly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stetit subsist it mansit or to continue standing He thought that the materials which he had brought together and the hopes which he had raised upon them would have been as Mount Zion that cannot be removed but he leaneth upon it and it shall not stand Whence observe All that an hypocrite trusteth unto shall deceive him at the last It shall not stand Their webs shall not become garments Neither shall they cover themselves with their works Isa 59.6 The language is proverbiall importing highest disappointment Who would weave a web if he knew he should never have a garment by it Or work hard when himself must go naked Jer. 7.1 2. the Lord sends to the people by his Prophet Say to this people Trust not to lying words that is words which will deceive and fail you you trust and lean to them but they will fall away from you What were those words Even that they had a goodly house to lean to they cried The temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord but I hope that 's a strong house as well as a beautifull a man may lean upon that upon the temple of the Lord and do well No The temple of the Lord leaned upon will be but a spiders web God gave the Jews a temple to worship him in and many of them worshipped the temple We adore every duty we depend upon and give the Ordinances of God the honour of God
like a curtain God took the vast matter folded together and spread it as a curtain tabernacle or tent And the * Hîc Dolapum manuâ— hîc saevus tendebat Achillis Virg 2. Aeneiad Iuxta hortos tendâ—bat Suct in Galb c 12. de Germanâ—rum Cohorte Et milites tendere omnes extra vallum jussit Tac l 13. Latine word which carries the interpretation of this in the Hebrew is frequently applied by ancient Authours to the pitching of tents in warre In this third sense we are specially to understand the Text Alone spreadeth out the Heavens And so this spreading is either an exposition of the nature of the heavens Gen. 1.8 The Lord said Let there be a firmament the Hebrew is * CoeluÌ„ sive firmamentum vocaâ—ur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eo quid est expansum extensum super terram Solus sine cujusquam auxilio Let there be an expansion or a stretching forth These heavens are so much spread forth that they are called a thing spread forth and so the text is a description of the heavens in their first Creation Or it may referre to the words going before and so these are a reason to shew that God can command the Sunne and seal up the stars why He spreadeth forth the heavens that is the heavens are all of his making and at his disposing he set the Sunne there and put the starres there he fashioned the orbs in which they are placed and therefore he can stay the Sun and seal the starres And as he thus spreadeth out the heavens so which is more observable He spreadeth them out alone When a piece of hangings or the like of a large extent is to be spread forth one man cannot doe it many hands are put to that work Instrumentum creationis creatura esse non potest It is an axiome in Divinity That no creature can be an instrument in Creation this stretching forth of the heavens is an act of Creation therefore he alone doth it there is none to help him Yet we finde that God had some other with him when he stretched out the heavens though it be here attributed to him alone and though Elihu expostulates with Job in this point Chap. 37.18 Hast thou with him spread out the skie which is strong and as a molten looking-glasse Elihu would bring down the thoughts of Job which he conceived were too much lifted up by shewing that God did this alone Solus quia nemo extra ipsum cuÌ„ ipso sed una cuÌ„ iâ—so illi qui in ipso per identitatem substantiae sunt verbo enim Domini firmati sunt coeli spiritu oris ejus omnis virtus eorum Solum enim divinitas sacit quae ut una ita sola Job saith he didst thou hold one part of this great Curtain or Canopy of heaven in thy hand and God another and was it so spread out between you No neither man nor angel was his helper who then was with God in this work Solomon tels us Prov. 8.27 When he prepared the heavens I was there when he set a compasse upon the face of the depth Who was that I wisdome was there Jesus Christ was there Christ was he by whom God prepared and stretched forth the heavens No creature was there only the uncreated creating Sonne of God God created alone that is without the help of any creature but he created all things by the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God All things were made by him and without him was not any thing made that was made Observe from hence First The heavens are as the royall tent and pavilion of the Lord. He spreadeth them out The Lord is often exprest comming out of the heavens with warlike preparations There his tent is pitcht and he sitteth there as a great Commander in his pavilion to give out Orders to his Armies He hath an host in heaven and therefore he hath a tent in heaven or rather heaven is his tent The Lord hath his way in the whirlwinde and in the storm and the clouds are the dust of his feet Nah. 1.3 God pitches his battell in heaven The stars in their courses fought against Sisera He fought from heaven from thence he discharged his great Artillery his Cannons thundered and lightened against the enemies of his people He hath also his store-houses for ammunition his Magazines there Job 38.22 Est allâ—so ad armamentaria publica ubi armorum ma hinarum tormentorum ingens apparatus reconditur B l. Quicquid habeÌ„t telorum armamentaria coeli Juven Sat. 13. Hast thou saith God to Job entred into the treasures of the snow Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail which I have reserved against the time of trouble the day of battell and warre He speaks of heaven as of a great store-house where he hath his arms his powder and ball all his warlike provision laid up against the day of battell Heathens have spoken such language calling storms and tempest hail and thunder The weapons and engines of the Armory of heaven Secondly In that he saith He stretcheth out the heavens alone observe That the Lord needs not the help of any treature to doe his greatest works He hath power and he hath power in himself to doe what he hath a will should be done let all the creatures in the world stand still yet God can carry his work forward What work is like this the stretching forth the heavens There cannot be a work of so much difficulty under heaven as the spreading forth of the heavens He who did that alone what can he not doe alone Though men will not though men cannot help the Lord can and will alone Isa 59.16 He saw that there was no man and wondered that there was no intercessour no man to do no man to speak in that businesse not a man appeared what then Doth the Lord say well seeing there is no man to do I also will let it lie No Therefore his arm brought salvation unto him and his power sustained him he did it alone Paul speaks of himself that at his first appearing before Nero all men forsook him not a man would own him but saith he The Lord stood by me 2 Tim. 4.15 This is a great encouragement to us in great affairs and businesses in the greatest straits and difficulties of the times if men forsake and desert the Lord alone can doe all for us if men have not power to doe what they have will to doe nor will to doe what they have power then remember He that stretcheth out the heavens alone can order our works alone compose our differences alone conquer our enemies alone God alone is infinite greater stronger wiser then all creatures together God can be now as he will be hereafter all in all unto us God is enough for us without any creature yea God and all that he hath made cannot do more than God
saith he men are not my Judges God is my Judge It is a comfort to the Saints to remember that God is their Judge Job vvas not afraid of God in that relation no it was a rich consolation to think that God vvas his Judge He is a righteous Judge a mercifull Judge a pitifull Judge we need not be afraid to speak to him under that notion Iob saith not I vvill make supplications to my father vvhich is a sweet relation but vvhich is most dreadfull to vvicked men he considers God as a Judge The Saints are enabled by faith to look upon God as a Judge vvith assurances of mercy Lastly Observe The whole world stands guilty before God Rom. 3.19 Every mouth must be stopped Iob vvill only make supplication he had nothing else to doe or say We doe not present our supplications unto thee for our righteousnesse but for thy great mercy Dan. 9.8 We can get nothing from God by opening our mouths in any other stile or upon any other title then this of an humble acknowledgement of our unworthinesse the lower we goe in our own thoughts the higher we are in the thoughts of God and we finde the more acceptance with him by how much the lesse acceptance vve think vve deserve Nothing is gained from God either by disputing or by boasting All our victory is humility JOB Chap. 9. Vers 16 17 18. If I had called and he had answered me yet would I not believe that he had hearkned unto my voice For he breaketh me with a tempest and multiplieth my wounds without cause He will not suffer me to take my breath but filleth me with bitternesse THis holy man having abased himself in the sense of his own inability and unrighteousnesse before the Lord and disclaimed the least intendment of contending or disputing with him as vvas seen in the former context now confirms it by a further supposition in the 16 17 18. verses and so forward As if he had said Ye shall finde I am so farre from vvording it with God or standing upon mine own justification vvith him though I have pleaded mine integrity before you my friends that I here make this hypothesis or supposition If I had called and he had answered yet would I not believe that he had hearkned unto my voice There is much variety in making out the sense of these vvords 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. The Septuagint read it negatively If I had called and he had not answered me I would not believe c. Most of the Hebrew vvriters fall very foul upon Job and tax him harshly for this speech What Would he not believe that God hearkned unto him when he had answered him Is not this unbelief a plain deniall of providence Atrae loliginis succum hic aspergit Rab. Levi. Asserons JobuÌ„ nâ—gare provident tam sivecuram particularium Coc. Verba diffiâ—entis desperantis de divina misericordia Opinio Rab. Moyses R. Levi. apudi Merc. or at least of speciall providence I would not believe that he had hearkned unto my voice is in their sense as if he had said I thinke God takes no care or makes no account of particulars he looks not after this or that man what he speaks or for what he praies I can scarce believe that my condition is under the care of God or that he will take notice of me if I should call upon him or if I plead before him what shall I get by it Doe ye thinke he will descend to the relief of such a one as I am Why then doe ye move me to call upon him c. If I should pray and if he should answer me I can hardly be perswaded that he will pity me and do me good A second opinion casts him into the deeps of despair as if Job had altogether laid aside hope of receiving any favour by calling upon God or of comfort by putting his case to him Iudaicum commentum atque Jobi sanctitate indignissimum Pined But all these aspersions are unworthily cast upon Job a man full of humility and submission to the will of God his frequent praiers and applications of himselfe to God doe abundantly confute all such unsavoury conjectures But the Jewish Commentatours carry on their former strain being all along very rigid towards this holy man very apt to put the vvorst constructions upon doubtfull passages and sometimes ill ones upon those vvhich are plainly good More distinctly There is a difficulty about the Grammaticall meaning of one word in the text vvhich carries the sense two vvaies If I had called and he had answered me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alij invocare alij provocare vertunt The Hebrew vvord vvhich vve translate call signifies sometimes to pray and sometimes to plead or challenge An act of invocation or an act of provocation it is rendered both waies here By most as we If I had called upon him that is if I had praied or made my sute unto him By some If I had sent in my plea as to begin a sute of law with him or my challenge as to enter the combate with him c. As it is taken for a challenge so the sense lies thus If I should stand upon terms with God and call him to an account to make good what he hath done And he had answered me that is if he had condescended to give me an account of his vvaies yet I would not believe that he had hearkned unto my voice that is that he had yeelded to me or acknowledged that he had done me wrong Shall I who am but dust and ashes prevail in my sute and get the day by pleading and contending vvith the great God of heaven and earth Take the word as it signifies invocation or calling by vvay of petition Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee And so two or three interpretations are offered Tam infirma est caro ut etiaÌ„ propositis divinis promissionibus nolit credere Isidor Clar. First Some in favour of Job conceive that he speaks this only through the infirmity of his flesh that it was sin within him that spake and not Job according to that of the Apostle Rom. 7. Not I but sinne that dwelleth in me So Job speaks as if he did not believe that God would hear him when he praid but whose voice was this Not Jobs but his sinnes the corruption the infirmitie of Job gave out such language not he As we may say in reference to an action I did it not but sinne that dwelleth in me so to a word I spake it not but sinne and corruption that dwelleth in me gave out such language Secondly I would not believe that God had hearkned to me Plerique Latini ad eas conditiones referunt quas oratio efficax requirit quarum defectus non exaudimur atque ea ratione sibi timere Jobum though he had answered me may referre
with it because it staies so little with us Hence Job concludes this similitude They see no good My good daies run so fast that I cannot see the good of them Not to see good is not to have the least experience of good For the eye takes in it's objects and judges of them so much Philosophers teach sooner then any other sense The eye is not long about it's businesse It is the sense of quickest dispatch So that it is as if Job had said The good things of this life are so transient that I am so farre from feeling or tasting them c. that which is done with the least delay Omnia mihi praerepta sunt priusquam ea senserim Bez. and expence of time I have not time enough to see them When men ride upon speed or when any thing passes swiftly before us we have but a glimpse scarce a sight of those objects Besides To see good is to enjoy good as was shewed Chap. 7. vers 7. And when he saith they scil his daies saw no good his meaning is that he saw no good in his daies Till there is a consistency or a fixednesse of good there cannot be a full enjoyment of good The reason why in heaven we shall have so much happinesse is because all the good in heaven is a fixed good Time passes but eternity stands Eternity is a fixed Now. The things of heaven shall not perish in the using nor shall the fashion of them passe away In heaven vision will be everlasting we shall ever see good and that ever-seeing shall be an ever-enjoying of good Here on earth we see God thorow a glasse darkly and we see all good in such post-haste passingly that we rather see it not then see it Especially while we remember that good passes by us in the company yea in a croud of evils our sight of it as when we are called to behold one man riding speedily among many must needs be hindered Yea oftentimes evils stand so thick about us while good posts by us that we cannot look thorow them to the good which is before us In heaven as good stands to our eye so it stands alone there 's no interposition of evil to eclipse the beauty or darken the sight of it There we shall see and see nothing but good Here we see much besides yea see either none at all or very little good and that but a little They flee away they see no good From the Post who runneth upon the Land Jobs next comparison carries us to the motion of a ship at sea and anon to that swifter motion of an Eagle in the air Verse 26. They are passed away as the swift ships as the Eagle that hasteneth to the prey They are passed That is my daies are passed and with them all the contents and comforts which I had in those daies we are to take daies as cloathed with all their contentfull occurrences and circumstances They are passed away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or they are glided away insensibly As the swift ships 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Navis ab 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Not only as the ships but as the swift ships A ship is a fabrique for the sea In Pibil obvenire occurrere fecit quae sic dicta est quod remigum aut ventorum impetu impedatur seratur a house upon the sea a moveable house and as it moveth variably so it moveth swiftly The inconstancy of the windes makes the motion of the ship unconstant and the strength of the windes makes the motion of the ship swift So that to say His daies passed as a ship is an aggravation of their sudden passage A ship passeth without any stop from it self The ship needs not stay to bait to sleep or rest while it is upon it's journey whatsoever they doe who are within the ship the ship moves on if they prepare it for motion Job puts an emphasis upon this comparison His daies were not only as a ship but as a swift ship there is much in that addition The Hebrew is My daies are as the ships of Ebeh which is diversly rendred Ebeh flumen rapidissimum in Arabia Rab. Sâ—l Bold 1. Some take the word Ebeh to be the name of a river in the Eastern part of the world about Arabia neer the place where Job lived A late traveller hath observed a river of a very swift motion neer Damascus and not farre from the sepulchre of Job Now a ship that moveth in a swift river besides that it may have the winde hath also a great addition to the speed of it's motion from the force and strength of such a current Thus saith Job My daies move as the ships upon Ebeh as ships upon the streams of that fierce swift river which goe down with speed as we see boats with the tide and so proportionably greater vessels where there is a river and a current proportionably to bear and carry them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desideravit Naves voluntarie vel desid rij sc summo desiderio ad portum properantes 2. Others conceive the word not as a proper name but as signifying desire from Abah to desire with earnestnesse and then the sense is rendered thus My daies are passed away as ships of desire that is as ships which being laden with rich commodities the Master and the Pilot desire earnestly to bring the ship speedily to her port that so they may put off the commodities and make sale of the rich lading that is in her The winde doth not so much fill the sails of such a ship as desire doth the mindes of her mariners Vir defiderioruÌ„ Thus Daniel was called a man of desires because he was a man so precious and desirable A ship richly laden is much desired such a ship is a great charge to the owners and merchants they therefore send to speed the ship home as fast as they can Thus saith Job My daies passe as a ship that hath the most desired commodities 3. The Chaldee and others give a further note upon it deriving the word from Abah whence Ebih which signifies a stalk growing up early from the earth Fructus primitivus and bringing forth the first ripe fruit of any kinde and so it is put for any early ripe Summer fruit for early plums apples cherries c. Naves poma portantes Vul. And then the sense is My daies are like to a ship which carrieth early fruit So the Vulgar Like a ship carrying apples Now a ship that carries such fruit makes great haste Pertranseunt cum navibus fructus delicatos portantibus Targ. because the fruit will spoil and rot if not speedily put off Ripe fruit is a commodity that will not keep unlesse they have a quick passage all is lost My daies saith Job passe even as a ship that carries ripe Summer fruit which are hasted away with all speed lest they perish before they
heart-burnings among friends and brethren We have a proverbiall speech among us A lean arbitration is better then a fat judgement It is better to the parties they shall get more by it the charge of obtaining right by law many times eating out all and sometimes more then all alwaies a considerable part of that which the law gives us as our right We use to say to dissenters Be friends the Law is costly 'T is very costly to most mens purses and to some mens consciences 'T is rare if a man wrongs not his soul by seeking the rights of his credit or estate Secondly Observe That no creature can umpire the businesse betwixt God and man There is a two-fold reason of it Oportet ut in judice sit altior sapienâ—ia quae sit quaâ— regula ad quam examinantur dicta utriusque partis First He that is our umpire is supposed wiser then our selves They who cannot agree need more wisdom then their own to work their agreement But there is no creature wise as God yea there is no creature wise but God who is therefore called The God only wise God is best able to judge of his own actions No man hath been his Counsellour Rom. 11.34 much lesse shall any man be his Judge Men sometimes abound too much in their own sense but God must abound in his His will is the rule of all much more his wisdom or rather his wisdom is the rule of all because his will is his will and wisdom being the same and of the same extent both infinite Oportet ut in judice sit major potest as quae possit utramque partem comprimere Secondly He that is a Daies-man or Vmpire must according to the rules before spoken of have power to compell the parties to submit or stand to what he shall determine But as we cannot lay any restraint upon God from doing what he will so we cannot lay any constraint upon him to do what we will Who shall force the Lord To whom hath he given an assumpsit or ingaged himself under a penalty to perform what he shall award The Lord doth whatsoever he pleaseth both in heaven and earth and he will do no more then he pleaseth Perswasion cannot move him much lesse can power compell him He that is above all in power cannot be dealt with any way but by perswasion And he who is above all in wisdom cannot be perswaded by any against his own will There is indeed a Daies-man betwixt God and man but God himself hath appointed him God hath referred the differences betwixt himself and man unto Jesus Christ and his own good will and free grace moving him thereunto he stands engaged in the bonds of his everlasting truth and faithfulnes to perform what Jesus Christ as Mediatour should ask for us unto him we may safely commit our cause and our souls with that assurance of the Apostle 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day Christ God-man is umpire between God and man what we trust him with shall not miscarry he will make our cause good and our persons acceptable before God at that great day It is infinite mercy when we were neither able to mannage our own cause nor to finde out any in heaven or earth who could that then God himself should finde out one in wisdom and power like himself one who thought it no robbery to be equall with God to be our Daies-man Many of the Ancients interpret this Text either as Jobs desire and praier that Christ would come in the flesh O that there were a days-man betwixt us or as a prophecy of Jesus Christ to come as our Daies-man in the flesh There is no Daies-man yet but a Daies-man shall come The sense is pious but the context will not bear it In the 16th Chapter v. 21. and Chap. 17. v. 3. We shall finde Job speaking clearly of the Mediatour Jesus Christ and of his great work of atonement between God and man But here he seems to keep to the present controversie about the businesse of affliction not of salvation Take two or three consectaries flowing from the whole matter First Job at the lowest speaks highly of God and humbly of himself The greater his afflictions were the purer was his language He was not able to grapple with God and there was none to be found who could umpire the matter betwixt them The will of God is the supreme law What he will do with us we must be content he should The secrets of his providence are beyond our search and his judgements above our reach Secondly The greatnesse and transcendency of God should keep us low in our own thoughts Our knowledge of God is the present cure of our own pride The knowledge of God causeth us to know our selves and that which makes us know our selves cannot but make us low in our selves Though a proud man is commonly said To know himself too much yet the truth is he doth not know himself enough no nor at all as he should know himself Many are proud of and with their knowledge yet pride is the daughter of ignorance Some pride lodges in every mans heart because more then some ignorance doth Job had some of both in his why doth he lay the thought of the infinite glory and soveraignty of God so often to his heart but to keep down or to cure the swellings of his heart Thirdly It is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of God He is not a man as we are we are not able to match him and there is among men no Daies-man betwixt us David made it his election 2 Sam. 24. To fall into the hands of God and not into the hands of man And it is best for us to fall into the hands of God as David put himself into his hands with respect to his great mercies But woe unto uâ— if we fall into his hands as contenders with his great power Shall we thus provoke the Lord Are we stronger then he It is our duty when we do and our priviledge that we may cast our selves into the hands of God when the hand of man oppresses us Satis idoneus est patientiae sequester Deus si injuriam deposueris juxta eum ultor est si damnum restitutor si dolorem medicus si mortem rescuscitator est Tertul. l. de Patient for as one of the Ancients speaks sweetly and feelingly If thou doest deposit thy injuries with him he is able to revenge thee if thy losses he is able to repair thee if thy sicknesse he is able to heal thee and if thy death he can raise thee up and estate thee in life again Thus I say it is best to fall into the hands of God in expectation of mercy through the Mediatour but it is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the
the Lord my God will enlighten my darknesse for by thee I have run thorow a troop and by my God have I leaped over a wall Psal 18.28 29. that is I have done great things and I have overcome the greatest difficulties through thine assistance Will God shine thus upon the counsel of the wicked Or will he help the evil-doer Iob denieth it and therefore praieth Shew me why thou contendest with me I know thou bearest no good will to those who are wilfull in doing evil nor takest thou pleasure in those who take pleasure in iniquity But doth not the Lord give good successe to those who are evil Doth the way of the wicked never prosper Prospereth it not so far sometimes that godly men stumble in their way and are offended I answer God maketh his Sunne to shine upon the evil and the good but himselfe never shineth upon the evil Wicked men receive benefits from God but they receive no blessings from God There is a two-fold light First The light of Gods providence Secondly The light of Gods countenance The light of Gods countenance never shines upon the counsel of the wicked they have only the light of his providence He never shines upon them to favour them though he often shines upon them to prosper them A man may have much good shewed him and yet no good will shewed him The clouds and darknesse which at any time cover the counsels of the righteous are clearer then all the light which shines upon the counsels of the wicked God varies his dispensations often but he never varies his affections whatsoever he doth against the righteous he never hates or dislikes them and whatsoever he doth for the wicked he never loves or likes them But who are the wicked intended in this text upon whose counsels God will not shine There are four apprehensions about it who are wicked all agree but who these wicked are is not agreed Some refer the word to his friends I know thou wilt not favour their sinfull censures and rash judgements concerning me Surely they shall receive little thanks and lesse reward for these discourtesies thou wilt not go forth with them or give witnesse to what they have done thou wilt not confirm or attest what they have spoken Job I grant found little comfort from his friends but I doe not finde that they gave him evil counsel much lesse that they took wicked counsel against him The Lord reproved them for the errour of their speech but he did not reprove them for the wickednesse of their persons Indeed Iob charges them deeply Chap. 13.7 Will you speak wickedly for God Yet I do not believe that he judged them wicked A thing in it self wicked may be spoken and yet the speaker not be wicked Therefore I would not think Job aims at his friends or fastens so deep a charge on them though they had charged him so deep Secondly Others conceave Job means the devil and his angels Wilt thou shine upon Satans counsel As when Ahasuerus being enformed of that conspiracy against the Jews enquired who is he and where is he that durst presume in his heart to doe so Queen Esther said the adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman Chap. 7.5 6. So might Job have answered the Lord. My adversary and enemy is this wicked Satan He laid the plot and hath stirred up all these evils against me I know Lord thou wilt not take Satans part thou wilt not help him who would be the destroyer and murderer who is the great malignant and projectour against thy servant Thirdly Others take the wicked here for the Sabeans and Caldeans who were the instruments of Satan in spoiling and robbing Job of his goods and substance That they were wicked we need not question yet Fourthly Take it rather in generall for all or any wicked men upon whose waies God seems to shine when he gives successe to their works of darknesse Hence observe First Wicked men are sometimes prospered in their counsels and walk in pleasant though evil waies God gives delight to those in whom he hath no delight And they have many good things from him who never had one good thought from him Thousands are prospered and hated at the same time When Dionysius in the story had rob'd an Idol-Temple and at his return by sea had a fair gale and pleasant weather to waft him home with the spoils See said he how the heavens smile upon us and how the gods are pleased with what we have done The like conclusions many draw from the premises of outward prosperity surely the true God is pleased with us but there is a cloud upon this Sunshine and darknesse in all this light Observe Secondly The Lord hates the counsel of wicked men He is so farre from shining upon that he indeed darkens their counsels He casts darknesse upon them even the darknesse of his heaviest displeasure when themselves think and the world saith all is light about them Zech. 1.15 Thus saith the Lord I am very sore displeased with the Heathen that are at ease They had their pleasure but God took no pleasure in them I am very sore displeased with these Heathens that are at ease that is I approve not their courses yea my wrath is kindled against their persons The light which shines upon wicked men turns all at last into heat and they have alwaies the heat of Gods anger mixed with their light a heat not to warm but to consume and burn them up As when the Lord sends the clouds and darknesse of outward affliction upon his own people he sends likewise the beams of his everlasting love into their hearts So he clouds and darkens wicked men while his candle shineth upon their heads JOB Chap. 10. Vers 4 5 6 7. Hast thou eyes of flesh or seest thou as man seeth Are thy daies as the daies of men Are thy years as mans daies That thou enquirest after mine iniquity and searchest after my sinne Thou knowest that I am not wicked and there is none that can deliver out of thy hand JOB proceedeth upon the same argument and as in the third verse he had removed three things inconsistent with and dishonourable to the justice of God So in the two verses following he removeth two more And as he thus acquits the Lord from injustice or unrighteous dealing with him so he appeals to the Lord who was able he knew to do it upon certain knowledge to acquit him from all the unjust charges with which his friends had burdened him Thou knowest that I am not wicked c. Hast thou eyes of flesh or seest thou as man seeth The Question is to be resolved into this negation Lord Thou hast not eyes of flesh Lord Thou seest not as man seeth as if Job had thus spoken Lord I have been long afflicted with grievous pains I am as a man hanging upon a rack to draw out and force a confession from him Lord why is it thus
Is there any beauty in darknes in thick darknes where there is no order in darknes where the very light is darknes One of the greatest plagues upon Egypt Nostri theologizantes ad infernum referuÌ„t sed Iob ad sepulchrum respexit Merc. was three daies darknes what then is there in death naturally considered but a plague seeing it is perpetuall darknes If death be such in it self and such to those who die in sin how should our hearts be raised up in thankfulnes to Christ who hath put other terms upon death and the grave by dying for our sins Christ hath made the grave look like a heaven to his Christ hath abolished death not death it self for even believers die but all the trouble and terrour of death the darknes and the disorder of it are taken away Christ hath mortified death kill'd death so that now death is not so much an opening of the door of the grave as it is an opening of the door of heaven Christ who is the Sun of righteousnes lay in the grave and hath left perpetuall beams of light there for his purchased people The way to the grave is very dark but Christ hath set up lights for us or caused light to shine into the way Christ hath put death into a method yea Christ hath put death into a kinde of life or he hath put life into the death of believers All the gastlinesse horrour yea the darknes and death of death is removed The Saints may look upon the grave as a land of light like light it self yea as a land of life like life it self where there is nothing but order and where the darknes is as light Jobs reply to Bildad and complaints to God have carried his discourse as far as death and the grave he gives over in a dark disordered place God still leaving him under much darknes and many disorders of spirit As his great afflictions are yet continued so his weaknesses continue too His graces break forth many times and sometimes his corruption Both are coming to a further discovery while his third friend Zophar takes up the bucklers and renews the battel upon what terms he engages with Job how Job acquits himself and comes off from that engagement is the summe of the four succeeding Chapters FINIS Errata PAg. 18. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 63. l. 5. for 29. r. 19. p. 69 l. 39. for 7. r. 29. p. 152. l. 21. for need r needs p. 201. in marg fòr Apollo r. Achilles in some copies p. 311 l 17. dele the. p. 331. l. 2. dele in p 430. l 22. for affliction r. afflictions p 361. l. 37. for Apologues r. Apologies ib. l. 38. put in to after arguments p. 366. in mâ—rg for polluerunt r. polluerent p. 401. l. 27. for an idol u r. idols are p 413. l. 22. for wearied r. weary p. 418. l. 27. dele not A TABLE Directing to some speciall Points noted in the precedent EXPOSITIONS A ABib the Jewish moneth why so called p. 73 Adamant why so called 160. Affliction A good heart give â— testimony to the righteousnesse of God in the midst of greatest afflictions p. 14 God laies very sore afflictions upon them that are very dear to him p. 279. Afflictions continued cause â—s to suspect that our praier is not answered p. 280. A godly man may be much opprest with the fears of affliction p. â—54 There was not such a spirit of rejoycing in affliction among the Saints of the old Testament as is under the New p. 358. After purgings God goes on sometimes with afflictions p. 372. It is lawfull to pray against affliction p. 399. Affliction removed three waies p. 400. Great afflictions carry a charge of wickednesse upon the afflicted p. 432. An afflicted person is very solicitous about the reason of his afflictions p. 436. Afflictions are searchers p. 469. Afflictions affect with shame p. 573. Vnder great afflictions our requests are modest p. 579. Age what meant by it taken three waies p. 55. Ancient of daies why God is so called p. 460. Angels falling why their sinne greater then mans and God so irreconcilable to them p. 506. Anger in man what it is p. 180 How God is angry p. 181. The troubles that fall upon the creature are the effects of Gods anger p. 181. It is not in the power of man to turn away the anger of God p. 247. How praier is said to do it 10. The anger of God is more grievous to the Saints then all their other afflictions p. 433. Answering of two kindes p. 250. Antiquity True antiquity gives testimony to the truth p. 58. What true antiquity is p. 59. Appearance we must not judge by it p. 360. Arcturus described p. 209. Assurance that we are in a state of grace possible and how wrought p. 479. Awake In what sense God awakes p. 37 38. His awaking and sleeping note only the changes of providence p. 39. Two things awaken God the praier of his people and the rage of his enemies p. 40. B BItternesse put for sorest affliction p. 285. The Lord sometime mixes a very bitter cup for his own people p. 286. Body of man the excellent frame of it p. 516. Five things shew this p. 517. Body of man an excellent frame p. 494. How called a viâ— body ib. Bones and sinews their use in the body of man p. 516. C CAbits a sect of babling Poets p. 7. Cause Second causes can doe nothing without the first p. 493. Chambers of the South what and why so called p. 210. Chistu the tenth moneth among the Jews why so called p. 209. Christ is the medium by which we see God p. 231 Clay that man was made of clay intimates three things p. 504. Commands God can make every word he speaks a command p. 192. Every creature must submit to his command ib. God hath a negative voice of command to stay the motion of any creature p. 193. Comfort comes only from God p. 348. Yet a man in affliction may help on his own comforts or sorrows p. 351. Comforts put off upon two ground ib. Commendation To commend our selvâ—s very unseemly p. 296 297. Conâ—emnation hath three thing in it which make it very gâ—evous p. 432. It is the adjudging a man to be wicked p. 434. Conscience A good conscience to be kept rather then our lives p. 303. God and conscience keep a record of our lives p. 540. Consent to sinne how proper to the wicked p. 478. Contention Man naturally loves it p. 150. Man is apt to contend with God p. 152. Especially about three things p. 153. Man is unable to contend with God in any thing p. 154. Counsels of wicked men not shined on by God p. 447. Custom in sin what p. 476. D DAies-man who p. 385. why so called p. 386. Five things belonging to a daies-man p. 387. A three-fold posture of the daies-man in laying on his