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
2.1 and he gives them what they have as they are his creatures as he hath given them a subsistence and a breathing in the world so he allots them maintenance in the world So then to receive by donation from God may note any way of possession What wicked men inherit by succession and descent from their ancestours is a gift of God Yea what they get and hold by violence and oppression is a gift of God The earth which wicked men tear out of the hands of the godly the earth which they stain with the bloud of lawfull owners that they may enjoy it even this is said to be given unto them by God in that common way of providence Nebuchadnezzar was a cruell oppressour yet he had the earth given him by God Jer. 27.6 Now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon my servant and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him God gave him the land yet Nebuchadnezzar invaded it and got it by violence God sent him Isa 10.6 but he went of his own errand vers 7. He had no thought of serving the will and commands of God but of serving his own ambition and covetousnesse yet of this cruell oppressour the Lord saith I have given him all these lands c. Thus The earth is given Into the hand of the wicked There is a question whom we are to understand by these Donees or the receivers of this gift Some expound the text with a speciality of the devil The earth is given into the hand of that wicked one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is us the Prince of the air so the Prince of this world and hath great power upon the earth But take it of wicked men who are the servants and heirs of Satan as the Saints are the heirs of Christ and receive all things from him so wicked men are the heirs of Satan his children and what they receive as a common gift from God they receive by a speciall gift from Satan The devil boasted to Christ Mat. 4. All these things will I give thee if thou will fall down and worship me Though the devil be a very beggar and hath not a shoe-latchet of his own to give yet for such services and homages he gives out large possessions of the world common providence so ordering it to wicked men his vassals Hence these words are interpreted as a reason of that confusion before spoken of Si flagellatur innocens quid mirum cum mundi judices corruptissimi sint Terrae potestas permissa est impiissimo daemoni qui dicitur mundi rector I de efficit ut reges principes judices quasi obvelatos haberent oculos caecè sine discrimine de rebus judicantes Eugub No wonder if innocent men are under the scourge for the earth is given into the hand of the wicked When they have most power who have least honesty things must needs be turned up-side-down and all put into disorder What can be expected from such a tyrannous Prince as Satan from such wicked instruments as rule under him but continuall disturbance amongst the children of men especially that good men should goe by the worst Godly men are like to have but little peace while these have the preeminence The devil clouds the understandings and vails the eies of those Princes and Judges whom he in this sense advances And justice is equally wounded and distorted when Judges cannot see Things as when they see Persons in judgement The bounty of God to the wicked is an occasion of their injury to the righteous But rather take the words which was hinted before as an argument whereby Job further proves that there can be no ground of judgement upon any mans spirituall estate by the appearances of his temporall for as righteous and innocent persons are under the scourge and laid low in the world so wicked men have the earth given them and are exalted I finde some reading the text as an expostulation Wherefore is the earth given into the hand of the wicked Wherefore doth he cover the faces of the Judges As if Joh did chide with God about this unequall carriage of things in the world and called him to give a reason of it But we have found Job in other places acquitting himself from the suspitions of such a charge and therefore I cannot joyn with these in laying it upon him here Job doth not complain but affirm That the earth is given into the hand of the wicked Whence observe First Wicked men may abound in earthly things They may have the earth and the fulnesse of it The earth and all that is earthly their bellies are filled by God himself with hidden treasure Psal 17.14 Precious things are usually hidden and all that 's named treasure though it be but earthly hath a preciousnesse in it Hidden treasures of the earth fill their bellies who sleight the treasures of heaven and whose souls shall never have so much as a taste of heavenly treasures riches and honour are the lot of their inheritance who have no inheritance among those whose lot is glory They have the earth in their hands who have nothing of heaven in their hearts they bear sway in the world who are slaves to the world they govern and order others at their will who are led captive by Satan at his will Be not offended and troubled to see the rains of government in their hands who know not how to govern themselves or to see them rule the world who are unworthy to live in the world Remember the earth is given into the hand of the wicked We must submit to the judgement of God though it leave us under the injustice 〈◊〉 men And we have little reason to envy them a great portion 〈◊〉 his life who have all their portion in this life The most wise God who hath all things to dispose disposes them with infinite wisdom He gives good things to those that are evil but he gives better things to those who are good He hath a Benjamins messe a rich portion for his own children after all these disbursments to the children of disobedience Their portion lies not in earth and dust or in the rubbish of the world Heaven is given into the hand of the Saints Spirituall blessings in heavenly things are given into the hand of the Saints The pardon of sin the love and favour of God the bloud of Jesus Christ peace of conscience joy in the holy Ghost are gifts worth the having These are given into the hand of the Saints As for the earth He giveth that into the hand of the wicked and yet all that is not given into their hands Wicked men have not all the earth and some wicked men have none of the earth The Lord often makes the portion of his own people fat and plenteous and the portion of his enemies lean and poor Heaven hath not all the
be humbled under the mighty hand of God If we know not what God hath done he can quickly doe enough to make himself known They who will not see the hand of God when it is lifted up that they may be humbled shall see it and be ashamed Isa 26.11 if the removing and shaking of our mountains doe not awaken us the overturning of them shall That 's the next act of divine power in this noble description And overturneth them in his anger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertit subvertit significat versionem vel in nibilum vel in formam aut qualitatem aliam vel in locū alium The word signifies to over-turn a thing so as to change the form and fashion of it yea to bring it to nothing not only to remove a thing out of its place but to take away the very being of it and to remove it out of the world He not only turns mountains into mole-hils but into plains yea into pits they shall not be mountains any longer nor any thing like a mountain It is much to remove a mountain and set it in another place but more to crumble it in a moment all to dust that you shall not finde a piece or a clod of it The Prophet threatens the obstinate Jews in such a language Isa 30.13 14. Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall swelling out in a high wall whose breaking commeth suddenly at an instant and he shall break it as the breaking of the Potters vessel c. So that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sheard to take fire from the hearth or to take water withall out of the pit He overturneth them in his anger Anger in man is a mixt affection made up chiefly of these two ingredients sorrow and revenge Some call anger the boiling of the bloud about the heart or the boiling of the heart in bloud The fumes whereof rise so fast into the brain Ira suror brevis that anger sometimes dislodges reason and is therefore called by others a short madnesse The word in the text signifies the Nostrils and the Scripture frequently applies that to anger 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ira inde transfertur a l nasum qui est instrumentum trae in quo ira precipuè apparet Fames morabilèm in nasum conciunt Plaut because anger is seen and made visible in the nostrils Quick breathing is a sign of anger God is without parts and passions he is not angry as man but is said to be angry when he doth like man in his anger The Lord is not moved or stirred by anger but he is angry when he makes motions and stirrings in the creature he lets out the effects of anger but himself hath not the affection much lesse the perturbation of anger Hence observe That the troubles and confusions which are in the creature are tokens and effects of the anger of God As the setling and establishment of the creature is an effect or sign of his goodnesse or as these tell us that God is pleased So when the Lord hurls the creature this way and that way when he tosses it up and down as if he cared not how this is an argument of his anger when Moses came down from the Mount and saw what the people of Israel had done how they had made a golden calf and polluted themselves with idols such a passion of anger came upon him that he threw the Tables of the Law out of his hand and brake them So when the Lord would signifie his displeasure he throws the creature out of his hand and breaks man against man Nation against Nation as a Potters vessell one against another The comfort and well-being of the creature consist in this that God holds it in his hand if he doe but let it goe out of his hand it perishes much more when he casts it with violence out of his hand The Prophet Hab. 3.8 describing the great confusions which God made in the world questions thus Was thine anger against the rivers Was thy wrath against the sea that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation God being angry with the enemies of his people made strange work amongst them Rather then his people shall not be delivered the world shall be confounded Was the Lord angry with the sea when he compelled the rivers to change their courses and discover the bottome of their chanels as in the passage of his Israel thorow the red sea No God was not angry with the sea but with Pharaoh and his host with the oppressours and troublers of his Israel and when he was thus angry he check'd the course of nature and turned things up-side-down When David was in a distresse and his enemies encompast him round about what then Then the earth strook and trembled Tanta extiti◠divinae irae vis pro Davide contra hostes defendendo ut videbatur orbē invertere omnia miscere c. Pined the foundations of the hils were moved and were shaken because he was wrath Psal 18.7 That God might rescue David out of the hand of trouble he troubled the foundations of the earth he made the world shake and Kingdoms tremble that his David might be setled upon his throne The Lord threatneth Hag. 2.6 that he will shake the heaven and the earth and the sea and the dry land he will move all creatures why so He shakes them for the setling of his Zion vers 7. I will shake all Nations and the desire of all Nations shall come and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of hostes When the Lord comes against the superstition and idolatry and profanenesse and wickednesses of the world in anger no wonder if Kingdoms shake yea he therefore shakes Kingdoms that he may establish Jerusalem a quiet habitation a tabernacle that shall not be taken down not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken Isa 33.20 We are waiting when God will shake Babylon and in his anger overturn the seven mountains thereof Babylon is built upon mountains upon seven mountains to note the strength and power of it yet the Lord will remove Babylon out of her place and overturn those mountains in the fiercenesse of his anger and in jealousie poured out Then every Island shall flee away and the mountains shall not be found Revel 16.20 That is the remotest and strongest places which owned and maintained Babylon shall either be converted or confounded they shall appear no more under that spirituall notion though in a naturall and civill they doe remain That which is not as it was is spoken of as if it were not A great change in our condition is called a change of our very being The anger of God overturns things as if it did annihilate them Job goes on Verse 6. Which shakes the earth out of her place
Further There are Church-pillars as well as State-pillars men of eminency in knowledge and learning in parts and piety These are pillars of the Church of God So the Apostle cals James and Peter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 2.9 As the Church it self is the pillar of truth so some particular members are pillars of truth bearing it up and holding it forth as pillars doe the Laws or edicts of Princes and Common-wealths As these pillars are of Gods setting up so of Gods bearing up In great shakings of the earth Common-wealth-pillars tremble and Church-pillars tremble yea they would fall did not the Lord sustain them with his hand From all learn the instability of the creature If that which is the basis or foundation of all outward comforts be so easily shaken and tost up and down what are the comforts themselves If Kingdoms and Common-wealths totter who can stand fast When the Saints feel the world shake and tremble under them their comfort is They have received a Kingdom that cannot be shaken Neither man nor devils have any power to shake it and God will not shake it nay with reverence we may speak it the Lord cannot shake that Kingdom for it is his own he cannot doe any thing to his own wrong or dishonour Earth may but heaven shakes not neither shall any of the pillars thereof tremble for ever We have seen two acts of the mighty power of God first in removing those mountains those great massie parts of the earth Secondly In shaking the whole masse of the earth Now the thoughts of Job grow higher and he ascends from earth to heaven and brings an instance of the power of God there in the 7th verse Verse 7. Which commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not and sealeth up the stars And the instance which he makes in the heaven stands as heaven doth to earth in a direct line of opposition to that which he gave about the earth The earth in all the parts of it is a setled fixed body â—â—cut de natura terrae est immobolitas qâ—â—es ita de naturâ coeli ut semper moveatur Aquin. and therefore the power of God is clearly seen in causing it to move but the Sunne is a moveable body a creature in continuall motion and therefore the power of God is clearly seen in checking and stopping the motion of it It cals for as strong a hand to make the Sunne stand still as to shake and remove the earth The staying of that which naturally cannot but move and the moving of that which naturally cannot but stand still require a like power and that which stands as the earth doth or moves as the Sunne doth requires an Almighty power to move or stay it Which commandeth the Sun and it riseth not Which commandeth the Sunne He describes God in the posture and language of a King giving out commands He commandeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dixiâ— illud dicere est cum potestate imperandi God is the Soveraign of the Sunne Yet the word in the Hebrew is no more but he saith or he speaks to the Sunne so Mr Broughton translates He speaks to the Sunne that it riseth not We clearly to the sense He commandeth the Sun because the Word of God to the creature is a Law or a Command upon the creature He commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not The phrase implies an ordinary or a common event But when was there such a thing as this How rare are such events I may ask Did the Lord ever command the Sunne that it should not rise Or did ever any day appear when the Sun did not appear we may answer four or five waies First Non ad factum sed ad Dei potentiam refertur qui si velit possit vicissitudinem ortus occasus solis tollere Olymp. Some conceive Job speaks only of what God can doe as in the former instance not of what he ever did He never actually gave out his command to the Sunne that it should not rise but he hath power to doe it if he pleaseth Many things are spoken of the power of God as presently done which onely are things possible for him to doe That 's a good interpretation of the place Secondly We may carry it further for when he saith It riseth not we need not take it strictly as if the Sunne were staid from making day at all but it may note any stop or sudden disappearing of the Sunne The Sunnes rising is the Suns appearing Non oritur sol tantum est non apparet nam vâ—tas solis apparitio quedam est Bold and when the Sunne disappeareth or is hidden it is to us as if the Sun were not risen Thus God hath actually more then once given out a command to the Sun not to rise Lavater in his comment upon this place reports that in the year 1585. March 12th such a darknesse fell upon the earth that the fowls went to roost at noon as if it had been Sunne setting and all the common people thought the day of judgement was come That of the Prophet is true in the letter as well as in the figure Amos 4.13 He maketh the morning darknesse And Chap. 5.8 He turneth the shadow of death into the morning and maketh the day dark with night The holy story records one famous act of God commanding the Sunne to stand still Josh 10.12 When Joshua was in pursute of his enemies he praied that the day might not hasten down Sunne stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon And the Sunne stood still c. Joshua speaks as if himself could command the Sunne Sunne stand thou still he talks to the Sunne as to his servant or childe stand still It was indeed at the voice of Joshua but by the word and power of God that the Sunne stood still So the Text resolves There was no day like that before it or after it no day so long as that that the Lord hearkned to the voice of a man So then the Lord hearkned to the voice of a man and then the Sâ—â—â—â— hearkened to the voice of a man First the Lord hearkned and then the Sunne hearkned that is by a command from God at the request of a man the Sunne stood still Thirdly It may be understood of ordinary eclipses which are disappearings of the Sunne and though they come in a course of nature and are by naturall light fore-seen many years before they come yet there is somewhat in them which should fill us with high thoughts of the power of God And though an eclipse of the Sun be no miracle yet God once made and can again make a miraculous eclipse When Christ the Sun of righteousnes was shamefully crucified the Sun in the heavens as ashamed to look upon that act as from man of prodigious cruelty and injustice hid his face and from the sixth hour that is Dionysius Areopagita from
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
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
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.
the former context exalted the power and wisdom of God in many instances and closed all with an admiring sentence He doth great things and unsearchable marvellous things without number He in these words seems to give a proof of those attributes of Gods works that they are innumerable and unsearchable c. Verse 11. For loe he goeth by me and I see him not he passeth on also but I perceive him not As if he had said I am not able to reckon how often he worketh for I cannot alwaies perceive when he worketh I am not able to search out all his great and wonderfull actings for I cannot see him in many of his actings He goeth by me and I see him not The Lord is said to goe by us not in regard of any locall motion for he that filleth all places moves to none Doe not I fill heaven and earth is the Lords query of himself to those who thought to play least in sight with him And he convinces them that they could not be hid from him in secret places because he fils all places There is no place to be found beyond the line of heaven and earth both which God fils Jer. 23.24 Then his motion is not locall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mutavit variavit rem vel locum denotat mutationem conditionis vel loci Mol. in Ps 90. 6. but providentiall God doth not move to act but his acting is his moving He goeth by us doing marvellous things for us and we see not when he is doing or what he is doing The other word here used He passeth on is of the same sense yet more peculiar and proper to the motion of spirits we had it in the fourth Chapter vers 15. A spirit passed before me saith Eliphaz when he speaks of the vision that appeared It signifies to change and vary either place or condition The transitory changablenesse of the creature is expressed by it Psal 102.27 Thou doest change them and they shall be changed the creatures passe on as from place to place so from condition to condition The fashion of them passeth away 1 Cor. 7.31 They have not only a perfective change but a corruptive change but of the Lord he saith Thou art the same and thy years shall have no end The word is used for changing by oppressive destruction Prov. 31.8 Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction or death Such as are appointed to that great change are called a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filij excidij i. e. qui traâ—untur excidio Jun. in loc The Sons of change or destruction Thus the Originall So that the word signifieth any change or motion whether perfective or corruptive The Lord saith Job passeth on he maketh changes he worketh sometimes to perfect sometimes to destroy but I perceive him not I am not able to make out what he doth Here are two words one referring to sense the other to understanding He goeth by me and I see him not that is my senses cannot finde him He passeth on also and I perceive him not that is he destroieth he buildeth he planteth he rooteth up but I am not able to apprehend him or unriddle the meaning of his wonderfull works He doth great things and things unsearchable b NoÌ„ est una interpretatio hujus divini ac cessuâ— recessus Pined There is much variety of opinion about the meaning of these words though I think the meaning is clear in that generall I have now given Yet I will touch a little First Some interpret Jobs discourse conversing still in and about the c Multa sunt naturalia quorum suprenum auctorem Deum vel opus inchoantem vel ab opere cessantem noÌ„ observamus atque ita praecedenti sententiae haec innectitur tanquam illius subjecta ratio Id. Quemadmodum sit in omnibus extra omnia supra omnia sciri non potest Olymp. naturall works of God the earth the heavens the waters and the air of which he had spoken before as also about the body of man Act. 17.28 In him we live and move and have our being God is about us he is ever with us and yet we observe not either when he begins to work or resteth from working How he is in all things without all things and above all things is not known Secondly Others take his going and passing for the acts of his d Deum venire miserentis est discedere punientis Phil. Presb. Aquinas ad beneficia praestita vel denegata refert Transit eum quem impunituÌ„ relinquit Drus favour or dis-favour He goeth by me in bestowing favours and He passeth on in taking them away his accesses or recesses in mercy or judgement his love and his wrath are often indiscernable He goeth by me he passeth on he varieth his workings and I perceive him not To passe by is taken sometimes for sparing pardoning or shewing mercy The Lord by his Prophet Amos 7.8 reports severall judgements from a full execution of which he was taken off yet at last he resolves I will not passe by them any more it is the word here that is I will not have mercy on them any more I will not spare them any more the next time I come with my drawn sword in my hand I will be sure to smite and wound before I put it up I will not passe by them any more So He passeth by me may note here the sparing mercy of God The Lord spareth man many times and pardons him not suffering his whole displeasure to arise when man takes no notice but is insensible of it The word is used in this sense Prov. 19.11 It is the glory of man to passe by an offence that is to spare a man that hath offended not to punish him or take revenge and it is ordinary in our phrase of speech to say I will passe you by for this time that is I will not take any severe notice or strict account of what you have done And we finde in the same prophecy of Amos that to passe thorow notes judgement and wrath in the opposite sense In the fifth Chapter vers 17. In all vineyards shall be wailing Why For I will passe thorow thee 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In interiori tuo or I will passe into thy bowels or inwards So the letter of the originall that is I will come to judge thee I will passe thorow thee as a revenger and wound thee deeply insomuch that in all vineyards there shall be wailing why in all vineyards When he saith There shall be wailing in all vineyards it implies there should be wailing every where for if there were joy in any place it would be in the vineyards vineyards are places of mirth and refreshing grapes make the wine which makes glad the heart of man Therefore when he threatens That in all vineyards there shall be wailing it is as much as
the great Monarchs who were as the mountains and hils of the world bowed under the Lord. The word is used to the same sense Isa 49.23 where the Lord promiseth his people That Kings shall be their nursing Fathers and Queens their nursing Mothers they shall bow downe to thee with their face toward the earth and lick the dust of thy feet The Church shall have the honour to be honoured by the Kings and Princes of the world they being converted shall bow downe so low to the Scepter of Jesus Christ held forth by the Church as if they would lick up the very dust and shall employ their power and authority for the good and protection of the Church The speech of Israel Gen. 27.29 in his prophetick blessing upon Jacob Let thy mothers sons bow downe to thee and of Jacob in his upon Judah Gen. 49.8 Thy fathers children shall bow downe before thee note greatest honour and subjection to them both The meaning of all is plainly this That except the Lord himself suspend his own act and restrain his anger no power in heaven or earth how strong how proud how confident of successe soever is able to force him or to alter him Helpers shall not help themselves much lesse those to whose help they come against the minde and purpose of God Observe here first Those passions which are ascribed to God are fully under the command of God The passion of anger is ascribed to God yet the anger which we say is in God hath no power over God Mans anger usually masters him but God is alwaies master of his anger that is he can turn and with-draw his anger when he pleaseth There is no perturbation in God when he is offended he is not moved his motions are all without upon the creatures he hath none in his own bosom The passions of the Lord are his most serious counsels determinations and we therefore say he is angry because those counsels of his acted look like the effects of anger Secondly observe That It is not in the power of man to turn away the anger of God He doth not say except men by praier or other means stop the anger of God but Except the Lord with-draw his anger all help is vain Praier is said to appease the wrath of God and to stay his anger Moses stood in the gap and Aaron came out with incense to turn away his wrath yet it is an act of Gods will which turns away his anger not the force of our praier praier therefore prevails with God because he hath said it shall He is infinitely free when himself acknowledges that we laythe powerfullest restraint upon him when the Lord is turned by praier it is his will to be turned it was his counsell and is his command that praier should be made as a means to turn him and it is his promise that he will turn to us when we pray Then it appears to us that the Lord hath decreed to do a thing when he stirs up the hearts of his people to pray for the doing of it and that he is purposed to with-draw his anger when he draws out their hearts strongly to entreat his favour Thirdly observe That untill God be appeased towards a person or a people there is no remedy for them in the world The proud helpers shall stoop under him If the helpers themselves fall who can rise by these helpers if they are cast down how shall we be upheld by them What if the people of a provoking Nation associate themselves together or associate themselves with other Nations or call in help and aid from all that are round about them shall they therefore escape in their wickednesse they shall not escape Unlesse God help our helpers they are helplesse to us When many companies and great Commanders repaired to David at Ziklag David went out to meet them Chron. 12.17 and said If ye be come peaceably to help me mine heart shall be knit to you but if ye be come to betray me c. Amasai who was chief of the Captains answers v. 18. Thine are we David and on thy side thou son of Jesse peace peace be unto thee and peace be to thy helpers for thy God helpeth thee Our helpers cannot give us peace unlesse God give them peace our helpers must be helped by God before they can give us help The anger of God breaks all the staves we lean on and makes them as reeds which wound rather then support till God is quiet all is unquiet and when he is unpacified men shall be unpacified or their peace shall be to our losse As if he with-draw his anger enemies shall oppose in vain so except he with-draw his anger friends shall help in vain Lastly They who strive to deliver those whom God will destroy shall fall themselves before God If God be resolved upon the thing not only they that are helped but the helpers also shall stoop under him helpers cannot help themselves when he is angry they shall be like Idols which have eyes and see not hands and cannot act either to save themselves or those that trust upon them The greatest strength in the world without God it is no better then an Idol which is nothing in the world Strength cannot be strong for it self and help cannot help it self Our help stands in the Name of the Lord which made heaven and earth and not in the name of any creature under any part of heaven or upon the face of the whole earth JOB Chap. 9. Vers 14 15. How much lesse shall I answer him and chuse out my words to reason with him Whom though I were righteous yet would I not answer I would make supplication to my Judge JOB having in the former passages of this Chapter lifted up the glory and majesty of God in his power and justice and shewed the utter insufficiency of creatures to implead his justice or to rescue themselves out of the hand of his power he now draws his speech nearer home and calling his thoughts from those remoter journies up to the heavens and among the stars over the mountains and hils down to the depths of the sea and foundations of the earth about all which he had discoursed I say calling his thoughts from these remoter travels he comes now closer to the matter and from all those premisses deduces a conclusion iâ— the words of the Text to vindicate himself from that charge which his friends laid upon him as if he were a contender with the power or an accuser of the wisdome and justice of God From the folly and blasphemy of both which imputations he disasperseth himself in these two verses by an argument taken from the greater to the lesse and we may form it up thus He who is so strong wise and just that all the powers in heaven and earth are not able to oppose or stay him surely I I alone or single I a poor weak creature am not able to
his wrath offer thousands of silver and gold he will not stay judgement a minute for it Prov. 11.4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath In the day of mans wrath they sometimes will but never in the day of Gods Thirdly Affection and neernesse of relation pervert judgement Many have clean hands free from bribes and stout hearts free from fears yet they are overcome with affection and relations these put out the eye of justice The Lord is above all relations As he commands us in our cleaving unto Christ not to know father or mother Yea to hate Father and mother wife Etiamsi fuisset Ieconia mihi charissimus quē semper in oculis serrem Jun. c. and those are neerest to us that we may keep close unto Christ So himself doth not know the neerest relation to pervert judgement or doe wrong in favour of it Hence he saith of Coniah Jer. 22.24 Though Coniah be as the signet upon my right hand yet will I pluck him thence Let him plead neernesse as men doe such a man is of your bloud or alliance pray spare him God will not spare the signet on his right hand that is he will not stop justice upon any pretence of neernesse or usefulnesse 5. God is exact take them dictinctly both in judgement and in justice He is as curious in searching out the cause as in sentencing the person As ready to acquit the innocent as to condemn the guilty as carefull to relieve the oppressed as to chasten the oppressour as * Pervertii jus qui non punit improbos pervertit justitiam qui non remunerat justorum bona opera Drus zealous in rewarding those who deserve well as in punishing those who doe evil Not to reward is as great injustice as not to punish What God hath promised shall be performed and what he threatens shall be inflicted He will neither discourage goodnesse by neglecting it nor encourage sinne by winking at it He hath bread in one hand and a sword in the other Thus we see The Lord is most exact in justice Psal 48.10 The right hand of the Lord is full of righteousnesse His power and might are his right hand and that right hand hath nothing but righteousnesse in it Few men come to that of Laban It is in the power of mine hand to doe thee hurt but I will not most doe as much hurt as is in their power God hath all power in his hand but he wrongs no man As none have now any cause to say that they have received wrong from the hand of God so at last all shall confesse they have not Further Bildad speaking upon supposition that God was wronged injustice teacheth us That It is a duty to vindicate the justice of God whensoever we hear i◠wronged When we hear any wounding God is his faithfulnesse truth or justice we should presently stand up to plead for him What will God be unfaithfull Will God pervert judgement Will God be untrue c. Thus we should plead for God When Jeremy could not make out the justice of God he is an advocate for his justice Lord thou art righteous yet let me plead with thee He would not have the matter once questioned though the manner was enquired Lastly Observe That The judgements of God may be secrets to us but they are never injuries to us Justice is in all the dealings of God but his justice is not alwaies visible His judgements are founded upon reason when upon his will for his will is the highest reason God cannot be unjust and he ever punishes those who are He is so farre from subverting judgement that he subverteth Kings and Magistrates yea Nations and Kingdoms for subverting judgement To subvert a man in his cause the Lord approveth not Lam. 3.36 The Hebrew is The Lord seeth not That is he doth not see it to approve it but he doth see it to punish it He is an avenger of those who will not avenge the oppressed And as he looks for judgement in all places so especially among his own people upon whom he bestows most mercy Isa 5.2 When the Lord done so much for his vineyard He looked for judgements and behold oppression for righteousnesse but behold a cry God makes privy search thorow a Nation to finde this jewell Judgement between man and man in commerce which is commutative justice judgement from Magistrates to the people which is distributive justice for these God is searching at this day one of the greatest sins among us is the perverting of judgement And untill judgement return to man how can we expect mercy should return from God Jer. 5.1 Runne to and fro thorow the streets of Jerusalem and seek in the broad places thereof if you can finde a man if there be any that executeth judgement that loves the truth and I will pardon it A Land is seldom fill'd with the judgements of God till it is emptied of judgement among men What a sad thing is it that there should be so many cries against injustice on earth in a time when there is so much crying out for mercy from heaven That in such a time when the judgements of God are upon our selves we should not learn righteousnesse to act it among our selves I am perswaded the Sword of warre had been rusting in it's sheath to this day if the Sword of justice had been used as it ought both to punish offenders and protect the innocent And when the sword of justice shall be both waies imployed I doubt not but the sword of warre shall be sheathed again and imployed no more but be beaten into plow-shares and our spears into pruning hoks Keep ye judgement saith the Lord by his Prophet Isa 56.1 for my salvation is neer to come and my righteousnesse to be revealed God hath done terrible things in righteousnesse among us and we hope he will doe comfortable things in righteousnesse among us seeing the righteous destructions of God have been upon us and his righteous salvations we hope are neer us let not our righteousnesse be farre off JOB Cap. 8. Vers 4 5 6 7. If thy children have sinned against him and he have cast them away for their transgression If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes and make thy supplication to the Almighty If thou were pure and upright surely now he would awake for thee and make the habitation of thy righteousnesse prosperous Though thy beginning was small yet thy later end should greatly encrease THese four verses contain the first confirmation of the former generall position That God is just which is resolved out of those Questions Doth God pervert judgement or doth the Almighty pervert justice He doth not Then God is just there 's the Position And as that Position consisteth of two parts so also doth this proof or confirmation of it 1. That God doth not pervert judgement taking judgement under that strict notion for punishing of offenders he proveth by the example of
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
They have lightly esteemed me I am not so much to them as new clothes who am indeed their life I am not so much remembred as unnecessary curiosities from whom they receive all things necessary and whose favour is the one thing necessary 4. To forget God is to depart from God We stay with God no longer then we remember him as we cannot have communion with truth so not with the God of truth without an act of memory Heb. 12.5 Ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord c. A word forgotten is to us of no more use then a word never spoken We are without all the good we forget and to forget God is Ephes 2.12 to be without God in the world or to live on earth as if there were no God in heaven either in regard of mercy to be received or of duty to be performed Hypocrites forget God all these waies though their naturall memory may be good yet spirituall memory and that only holds spirituall things they have none Observe hence First That the hypocrite is a forgotter of God Every wicked man is forgetfull of God Hence we finde these put together Psal 9.17 The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the Nations that forget God But this is the speciall character of an hypocrite he is a forgetter of God Consider this saith the Psalmist ye that forget God that is ye hypocrites consider this 〈◊〉 50.22 for he speaks of such as had taken their covenant of God in their mouths What hast thou to do vers 16. to take my Covenant in thy mouth As if he had said thou professest to be in Covenant with me to have an interest in me Yet when thou sawest a thief then thou consentest with him and hast been partaker with adulterers thou givest thy mouth to evil c. Hypocrites take the Covenant of God in their mouths but cast it out of their lives God is near in their mouths but from their reins Jer. 12.2 If the hypocrite did not forget that God is about his bed and about his path and espieth out all his waies he could not be so false with God so polluted in his waies so rotten in his inward parts If an hypocrite did not forget that God being a spirit delighteth to be worshipped in Spirit he would never be satisfied in worshipping him with his body If he did not forget that God is jealous that he will not hold them guiltlesse who take his name in vain he durst not which is his every daies work take the name of God in vain Secondly observe That forgetfulnesse of God howsoever it seems no great matter yet is exceeding sinfull a wickednesse of the highest stature Forgetfulnesse of God is therefore a great wickednesse because God hath done so many things to be remembred by What could the Lord have done more to make himself remembred then he hath done Have I been a wildernesse to Israel or a land of darknesse saith the Lord Jer. 2.31 the words are an aggravation of their forgetfulnesse As if the Lord had said I have been a light to you wheresoever you goe and wheresoever I goe my steps drop fatnesse for you and am I forgotten Where can we set a step but we tread upon a remembrance of God Every creature holds forth God unto us He hath left his remembrance upon every ordinance Doe this in remembrance of me saith Christ in that great ordinance of his Supper yea all the works of his providence are remembrancers of him He leaves an impression of his wisdome holinesse justice power upon all he doth Now for us to forget God who hath as it were studied so many waies to fasten himself in our remembrance must needs be extreamly sinfull Further it is very sinfull to forget God because God doth so abundantly remember us He hath not only done that which may cause man to remember him but he hath man alwaies in his remembrance especially his own people He hath graven them upon the palms of his hands and they are continually before him They who desire to preserve their friends fresh in memorie get their pictures in their houses or engrave them upon rings and jewels which they wear alwaies about them But he that cuts the image of his friend in his flesh or draws it upon his skin how zealous is he of his friends remembrance Pictures and annulets may be lost but our hands cannot fall off When the Lord would shew how mindefull he is of his Church he assures her that he carries her picture alwaies about him not drawn upon a Tablet or engraven upon the signet of his right hand but upon the palms of his hands as if he should say I must lose my self before I can lose the sight of memory of thee Isa 49.16 He remembers her so that he cannot forget her And because the characters and stamps of nature are more abiding and indelible then those of art therefore he saith vers 15. Can a woman forget her sucking childe that she should not have compassion on the sonne of her womb Yea they may forget yet will not I forget thee A woman may break the bonds of nature but God will never break the bonds of his own free-grace May not all this raise us into Davids rapture of holy admiration Psal 8. Lord what is man that thou art mindefull of him and the sonn◠of man that thou visitest him with such remembrances What is a wicked man that God should give him bread to eat and clothes to put on And what is a godly man that God should give him Christ to eat and cloath himself withall That God should remember us is a wonder of mercy but what a wonder of unthankfulnesse is it that we should not remember God What or who is God that man should be so mindelesse of him Is not God worthy of all our remembrance Is it losse of time to call God into our thoughts Do we ever or in any thing remember our selves so much as when we remember God most It is a wonderfull favour that God should be mindefull of us at all and is it not a wonderfull sinne that man should be so unmindefull of God Thirdly Observe That Forgetfulnesse of God is a mother-sinne or the cause of all other sins It is the cause of this sinne of hypocrisie Bildad puts it as a fruit of forgetting God Forgetfulnesse of God is three-fold First A forgetfulnesse that there is a God Secondly A forgetfulnesse who or what manner of God he is Thou thoughtest that I was such an one as thy self Psal 50. Thou forgettest what manner of God I am thou presumest that will serve my turn which serves thine or that every thing will please me which pleases thee thou saiest because it is no great trouble to thee to steal and lie c. therefore it is no great trouble unto me neither Thirdly To forget
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
in the eye of the world yet at last himself and his family shall be so clean removed and swept away his name and memory so blotted out that there shall not be any print or foot-step of his being upon the face of the earth Whence note That the memory of wicked men shall perish for ever none shall own them If they be asked about them they shall say We have not seen them Peter in his temptation denied Christ Mat. 27. when they asked him saying Art not thou one of his Disciples No saith he I know not the man As the Saints under temptation and as hypocrites in their daily conversation deny Christ so the time will come when hypocrites and wicked men shall be denied themselves their places shall say We know them no more They shall be remembred only as Pilate is remembred in that which is called the Apostles Creed who stands there upon record for his wickednesse cowardize and injustice in condemning Christ whom he knew to be innocent Wicked men are either forgotten or else remembred with a brand of disgrace They who have been adored and flattered and crept to like little gods shall not be owned by the meanest men Even their parasites who have hung about them will fall off from them and say Who we know them we know no such men It is prophesied Zech. 8.23 of the Jews who are now a despised and scattered people yet still a people in the heart of Christ that God will bring them forth at last and they shall be a people so much honoured that ten men out of every Nation shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying We will go with you for we have heard that God is with you The despised Saints such as the world hath cast out and said We will not see or take notice of them shall be honoured or envied of all Men will be glad to take hold of their skirts and say Come let us go with you O that we might have a part and a portion with you for we know that God is with you O that we had lived the lives and might die the deaths of the righteous O that our beginnings had been and that our later ends might be like theirs Likewise a time will come when hypocrites and wicked men shall be despised by their admirers and cast out as not worth the looking on by their grossest flatterers It was a great honour which the Oratour gives Homer Cic. in Orat. pro Arch. poet a Heathen Poet who was a man of such reputation that many great Cities strove for him One said he was born here another said he was born there a third among us was the place of his birth All desired to own him because he was a man highly honoured for his learning in those times So on the other side every place shall be ashamed of some men this place shall say we have nothing to do with him and that place shall say we have nothing to doe with him one shall disclaim him and another shall disclaim him all shall refuse him It shall be the honour of Saints to be desired of all and it shall be the shame and punishment of wicked men to be cast out and disregarded by all They who despise God shall at last be lightly esteemed among men Bildad having thus enlarged his similitude in all the parts of it and at last laid the hypocrite as low as forgetfulnesse so low that no man will own him as he is alwaies so low that God will not own him he concludes tryumphantly against him Verse 19. Behold this is the joy of his way and out of the earth shall others grow Here 's his conclusion This is the joy The word which we translate joy signifies the highest joy a kinde of leaping for joy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dicitur quando gaudio gestimus ut canes solent quando peregre advenienti Domino adulantur En haec est exultatio viae ejus ironicâ—â—s dictum Haec est laetitia qua sibi placebit in magnitudine suâ Viam appellat statum in quo erat q. d. en quo redeat ejus gaudium dum ita sese efferret Merc. It is an allusion to dogs or spaniels who you know when their Masters come home leap about them for joy and in their language bid them welcome Such a joy is here meant a joy lifting up the heart a leaping an exulting joy The word is often applied to the joy of the Saints they rejoyce and as it were leap about Jesus Christ they triumph in the favour of God The leaping the exulting joy the best joy all the joy which an hypocrite hath is but this vvhich hath been described Is it not a desirable joy a goodly joy sure the words are ironicall This is the joy of his way Of his way Way is taken for the course purpose and institution of a mans life for the tenour of his conversation which he holds in the world This is the joy of his way This is it The particle is demonstrative This is it which I have told you as if he had said cast up all the comfort and happinesse of that flourishing tree of the hypocrite this is all that it comes to his end is to be rooted up and not so much as to be owned by those that knew him before There are three things which I should observe from this This is the joy of his way First That an hypocrite may have much joy in his way He may rejoyce much in his condition and thinke all 's well False hopes can produce false joyes False faith brings forth a comfort like it self a fading comfort a shadow of comfort as that is but a shadow of faith The fancy of faith is usually fuller of joy then true faith Satan helps forward this joy and God for a time will not hinder it Faith though feigned gives the soul a sight of such things as are worth the rejoycing in and a supposed title to them will move joy as well as a reall title doth The stony ground received the word with joy The promises are delicious to the sensitive and rationall part as well as to the spirituall and regenerate part Hence Heb. 6. they that fall away are said to have had tastes of the joyes of the world to come An hypocrite may thinke himself in heaven sometimes and then like one in heaven he cannot but rejoyce He may have a glimpse of heaven upon earth all whose heaven is earth This is his joy Secondly This may be demonstrative and answers the question what is his joy It is this His worldly comforts his flourishing outward condition is his chiefest joy Then note The joy of hypocrites is chiefly boâ—tomed upon outward things It is not the joy of the Lord no nor joy in the Lord Rejoyce in the Lord and again I say rejoyce is the Gospell-command An hypocrite cannot rejoyce thus When he rejoyces in the Lord
sin and provoke When God afflicts his people he hardens his heart against them and it is seldome that he hardeneth his heart against them till they harden their hearts against him And the truth is if they who are dearest to him do harden their hearts against him if they quarrell and contend with him if they rise up against his commands or neglect his will he will make their hearts submit or he will make their hearts ake and break their bones If they harden their hearts against his fear they shall feel his rod upon their backs and spirits too Which of the Saints ever hardened himself against God and hath prospered No man whether holy or prophane righteous or wicked could ever glory of a conquest over God or triumph after a war with him JOB Chap. 9. Vers 5 6 7 8 9 10. Which removeth the mountains and they know not which overturneth them in his anger Which shaketh the earth out of her place and the pillars thereof tremble Which commandeth the Sunne and it riseth not and sealeth up the starres Which alone spreadeth out the heavens and treadeth upon the waves of the Sea Which maketh Arcturus Orion and Pleiadis and the chambers of the South Which doth great things past finding out yea and wonders without number JOB having in generall asserted the power and wisdome of God he must have infinite power and wisdome against whom no man ever prospered by contending Having I say asserted this in generall he descends to make a particular proof of it as if he had said I will not only give you this argument that God is mighty in strength because no man could ever harden his heart against him and prosper he hath foyl'd all that ever medled with him but besides I will give you particular instances of it and you shall see that the Lord hath done such things as speak him mighty in strength and prove him as powerfull as I have reported him These particulars are reported in the 5 6 7 8 9. verses all closed with a triumphant Elogy in the tenth Subjicit Job confirmationem proximè praecedentis syâ—ogismi ab effectis potentiae sapientiae Dei quae amplissima oratione describit Merl. Which doth great things past finding out yea and wonders without number The Argument may be thus formed He is infinite in power and wisdome who removeth mountains and shakes the earth who commands the Sunne who spreads out the heavens and disposeth of the starres in the firmament But the Lord doth all these things he removeth mountains he shakes the earth he commandeth the Sun c. Therefore he is mighty in power and infinite in wisdome The first part of this argument is here implied The assumption or the minor is proved in the 5 6 7 8 and 9. verses by so many instances Here then is an evident demonstration of the power of God from visible things from acts apparent to the eye As if he had said If you have not faith to beleeve that God is infinite in power let your senses teach it you for he removeth mountains and they know it not He overturneth them in his anger c. He removeth mountains 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That 's the first instance The word which we translate to remove Senescere quia quae sic inveterascunt forticra robustiora cum tempore solent evadere ideo idem verbum significat roborari 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. signifies to wax old and strong because things as they grow in age grow in strength There is a declining age and an encreasing age Things very old impair and things growing older encrease in strength we have the word in that sense Job 21.2 Wherefore doe the wicked become old yea they are mighty in power he putteth these two together growing old and mighty in power The Septuagint render Who maketh the mountains wax old because that which waxeth old is ready to vanish away Heb. 8.13 or to be removed and taken away as the Ceremoniall Law was of which the Apostle speaks in that place And because growing old implies a kinde of motion therefore the word also signifies motion even locall motion a moving from or out of a place Gen. 12.4 Abraham departed he removed from the place where he was This locall motion is either naturall or violent of this later understand the Text Which removeth the mountains The mountains There are naturall mountains and metaphoricall or figurative mountains it is an act of the mighty power of God to remove either Some understand this of metaphoricall or figurative mountains and so mountains are great men men of eminency or of preeminency the Kings and Princes of the world Chaldeus per montes intelligit reges qui loco movet reges fortes ut montâ—s Targ. The Chaldee is expresse for this sense He removeth Kings who are as strong and high as mountains For as God hath ordered the superficies of the earth and made some parts of it plain others mountainous some valleys and some hils So he hath disposed of men some men stand as upon levell ground men of an ordinary condition others are as the low vallies men of a poor condition others are as the high mountains over-topping and over-looking the rest The word is used in this metaphoricall sense Isa 41.15 I will make thee saith the Lord to the Prophet a new threshing instrument having teeth And what shall this new threshing iestrument do Thou shalt thresh the mountains and beat them small and shalt make the hils as chaff Here is a Prophet sent with a flail or a threshing instrument and his businesse is to thresh the mountains and to beat the hils the meaning is thou shalt destroy the great ones of the world the hils the mountains those that thinke themselves impregnable or inaccessible But how could the Prophet thresh these mountains and what was his flail Gideon Judg. 8.7 threatens the men of Succoth that he will tear or thresh their flesh with the thorns of the wildernesse and with briars And Damascus is threatned because they threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron Am. 1.3 That is they put them to extreamest tortures Our Prophet could not thus torture men His threshing instrument having iron teeth was only his tongue the instrument of speech With this he beat those proud mountains to dust that is he declared they should be beaten and destroied Of such a mountain the Lord by his Prophet speaks Jer. 51.25 Behold I am against thee O destroying mountain saith the Lord which destroiest all the earth Behold I will stretch out mine hand upon thee and will roll thâ—e down from the rocks and make thee a burnt mountain This mountain was the proud State of Babylon which was opposite to the Church of God this devouring mountain shall at last be a devoured mountain devoured by fire therefore he cals it a burnt mountain Thus Zech. 4.7 Who art thou O great mountain before Zerubbabel thou
shalt become a plain The Prophet is assured that all the power and strength which opposed it self against the reformation and re-edification of Jerusalem should be laid levell with the ground Per montes intelligit regeâ— qui si ut moÌ„tes firmitate â—o hore perstant Râ—â— Dav in Ps 14â— 5 So we may interpret Psa 144.5 He toucheth the mountains and they smoke the meaning is when God doth but lay his hand upon great men upon the mightiest of the world he makes them smoke or fune which some understand of their anger they are presently in a passion if God do but touch them Or we may understand it of their consumption A smoking mountain will soon be a burnt mountain In our language to make a man smoke is a proverbiall for destroying or subduing And besides there are mountains in this figurative sense within us as well as without us The soul hath a mountain in it self and it is an act of the great power of God yea of an higher and greater power of God to remove inward than it is to remove outward mountains Isa 40.4 The Prophet fore-shewing the comming of Christ and the sending of the Baptist to prepare his way tels us Every mountain and hill shall he made low Christ did not throw down the outward power of men who withstood him he let Herod and Pilate prevail but mountains and hils of sinne and unbelief in the soul which made his passage into them impassible he overthrew These mountains of high proud thoughts the Apostle describes 2 Cor. 10.14 Casting down imaginations and every high thing and bringing into captivity every thought every mountainous thought to the obedience of Christ These are metaphoricall mountains the power of sinfull men without us and the power of sinne the pride of our own hearts within us It is a mighty worke of God to remove these mountains But these are not proper to the Text for the instances which follow being all given in naturall things shew that those here intended are naturall mountains Taking mountains for earthly materiall mountains it is doubted how the Lord removes them There are different opinions about the point Some understand it of a naturall motion * Montes naturae sua generabiles sunt corruptibiles additione partium generanâ—ur detractione partiuÌ„ corrumpuntur Aquin Caj Minimè mirandum est fi quaâ— terrae partes quae nunc habitantur olim mare occupabat quae nunc pelagus sunt oâ—im habitabantur sic campos montes par est invicem commutari Sâ—â—b l 17. Philosophers disputing about mountains and hils conclude that they are subject to generation and corruption by the addition of many parts they are generated that is kneaded or gathered together and become one huge heap of earth and by the detraction falling and crumbling off or taking away of these parts they are removed again Thus we may expound that Job 14.18 And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought Yet this cannot be the meaning of Job here For though we grant that doctrine of the Philosophers that there is a generation of mountains and so a corruption of them yet that corruption is so insensible that it cannot be put among those works of God which raise up the name of his glorious power * Divina poteâ—tia in â—aâ—â—longa segni montium remotione non se praebet valdâ— mirabileÌ„ cuâ— remo fere 〈◊〉 qui eam rem videat Pined That which fals not under observation cannot cause admiration Slow and imperceptible motions make small impressions either upon the fancie or understanding That here spoken of is quick and violent and by it's easie representation to the eye causeth wonder and astonishment in the beholders And so it imports a removing them by some violent motion Thus the Lord is able to remove and hath removed mountains sometimes by earthquakes sometimes by storms and tempests sometime those mighty bulwarks are battered with thunder-bals discharged from the clouds Psal 97.5 The hils melted like wax at the presence of the Lord. Hils melt down when he appears as a consuming fire Psal 104.32 He looks upon the earth and it trembleth and he toucheth the hils and they smoke Those rocky mountains are as ready to take fire as tinder or touch-wood if but a spark of Gods anger fall upon them God by a cast of his eye as we may speak can cast the earth into an ague-fit he makes it shake and more tremble with a look He by a touch of his mighty arm hurls mountains which way he pleaseth as man doth a Tennis-ball We read Isa 64.1 How earnestly the Prophet praies O that thou wouldst rent the heavens and come down that the mountains might flow down at thy presence Where he is conceived to allude to Gods comming down upon Mount Sinai at the giving of the Law Exod. 19. which is said To melt from before the Lord God of Israel Judg. 5.3 Some understand it of that day of Christ when he shall come to judge the world others of that day when Christ came in the flesh to save the world then the mountains were levell'd according to the preaching of the Baptist but rather the Prophet being affected with the calamitous condition which he fore-saw the Jews falling into entreats the Lord to put forth himself in some notable works of his providence which should as clearly manifest his presence as if they saw the heavens speaking as of solid bodies renting and God visibly comming down then those difficulties which lay in the way of their deliverance and looked like huge mountains of iron or of adamant would presently dissolve like waxe or ice before the Sunne or fire The Prophet Micah describes the effects of Gods power in the same stile Chap. 1.3 4. Behold the Lord cometh forth out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth and the mountains shall be molten under him Ex quo hoc loco non absurde colligitur fuisse proverbium ad significandum maximam olique Deo convenietem potentiam Bold and the valleys shall be cleft as wax before the fire and as the waters which are poured down a steep place So to remove mountains is used proverbially Job 18.4 Shall the earth be forsaken for thee or shall the rock be removed out of his place that is shall God work wonders for thee or God will alter the course of nature as soon as the course of his providence To say God can remove mountains is as much as to say he hath power to doe what he will and the reason is because mountains are exceeding great and weighty bodies mountains are firmly setled now to remove a thing which is mighty in bulk and strongly founded is an argument of greatest strength The stability of the Church is compared to the stability of mountains Psal 125.1 They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion which cannot be removed but
and the pillars thereof tremble This is a second instance but in higher expressions of the same power of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e terram universam Sept. Which shakes the earth out of her place He had said before God removeth mountains Mountains are great bulky bodies but no mountain is so great as the Globe of the whole earth Now saith he the Lord doth not only shake mountains some great parts of the earth but if he pleaseth he can take up the whole earth and throw it out of its place as a man would take up a little ball and throw it into the air He shakes the earth out of her place The word which we translate to shake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Non significat motum naturalem sed commotionem quandaÌ„ ex metu trepidationem tremorem Didacus Astunica putat hunc locum illustrari posse ex sententia Pythagoricorum existi mantium terraÌ„ moveri natura sua Copernieus signifies a violent motion of the minde caused either by fear Deut. 2.25 or grief 2 Sam. 18.33 we read of a trembling heart from both Deut. 28.25 It is also applied to civill shakings and commotions by the troublesome spirits of men Prov. 30.21 For three things the earth is disquieted And to unnaturall shakings of the earth by the power of God 2 Sam. 22.8 c. So in the text Some expound this of a naturall motion Those men have surely a motion and turning in their brains who tell us that there is a continued motion of the earth that it turns and never stands still they would ground the motion of the earth upon this Scripture translating thus Which moveth the earth in her place But the text tels us that the earth hath pillars and not wheels Pillars are made for rest not for motion Further This text speaks of it as of an act of Gods anger therefore no ordinary act appointed in nature and the word notes a violent motion not a naturall But we need not stand to refute this motion As when some denied all motion a Philosopher to prove it rose up and walked So when any affirm or give reason for this motion we may shew their senses that the earth stands This shaking then is extraordinary the Lord who made the earth firm upon pillars can make the earth move as if it went on wheels This he doth first by earthquakes these shake the earth as it were out of her place and make it tremble Histories are full and many mens experience can give instances of such terrible shakings of the earth This earthquake is not meant here for there is a reason in nature for that Philosophers dispute much about it and tell us when there is a strong vapour included or imprisoned in the bowels of the earth that vapour seeking vent maketh a combustion there and so the earth shakes This indeed shews the mighty power of God but it is in a naturall way whereas the text seems to imply somewhat more somewhat beyond the learning of Philosophers and Naturalists Besides the text saith He shaketh the earth out of her place Whereas an earthquake shakes the earth in her place and causes it to tremble upon the pillars thereof But did God ever shake the earth out of her place We must understand the text conditionally We have not any instance that the Lord hath actually done so but this supposition may be put The Lord can remove mountains and shake the earth not only in but out of her place We finde such conditionall expressions often put in Scripture not as if the things ever had been or ever should be done but if the Lord will he is able to doe them Amos 9.5 The Lord God of Hosts is he that toucheth the land Terrificam capitis concussit terque quaterque Caesariem cum qua terraÌ„ mare sidera moâ—it Ovid. Met. and it shall melt that is if the Lord doe but touch the land he can melt it As the three children cast into a fiery fornace had not so much as a garment or a threed about them touched with it because the Lord forbad the fire to burn So if the Lord bid a spark but touch us it shall melt and consume us as if we were cast into and continued in a fiery fornace As a word made so a touch shall mar the world when God will yet he hath not done thus unto this day So in the text He shakes the earth out of her place imports what God can not what he hath or will do Note from it That the Lord is able to doe greater things then ever he actually hath done He hath not put the earth out of her place the earth is where it was but he can displace it God hath never acted any of his attributes to the height for they are infinite he never acted power so high but he is able to act it higher He hath never acted mercy in pardoning so farre but he is able to act it further a greater sinner then ever yet was pardoned may be pardoned A greater enemy then ever was overcome may be overcome He hath runne with foot-men and they have not wearied him and he is able to contend with horses in a land of peace he was never wearied and he knows how to wade thorow the swellings of Jordan It is comfortable to consider that the Lord cannot only doe the same things again which he hath done but he hath never done to the utmost of what he is able to doe he can out-doe all that he hath done as much as the shaking of the whole earth out of her place is more then to remove a mountain yea or a mole-hill of earth And the pillars thereof tremble We have the pillars of heaven Chap. 26.11 here of the earth The pillars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Columna erecta a stando dicta The word in the originall signifies to stand upright to be erect because pillars doe so There are two sorts of pillars upon which there is a different interpretation of the word There are first Supporting pillars And Secondly Supported pillars Or there are pillars for ornament and pillars for strength We set up pillars or pinacles upon the tops of great buildings for ornament and they are supported pillars We may call mountains such pillars for as when some stately palace is built great pillars or pinacles are set upon the towers and battlements so the Lord having framed the earth hath set up mountains as great pillars for the adorning of it He shaketh the earth and the pillars thereof tremble it is true of these upper pillars the mountains they tremble But I take it rather to be meant of supporting pillars under-pillars which bear the frame above and are as the bases or under-props of the earth Psal 105. Who laid the foundation of the earth the earth hath a foundation the Hebrew is He hath founded the earth upon her basis alluding to a building
we read of a Ship in which Paul sailed to Rome whose sign was Castor and Pollux two Pagan Sea-gods It is said that God brought all the beasts of the earth to Adam that he should give them names but he brought not the host of heaven to Adam that he should give them names he named them himself Psal 147.4 He telleth the number of the stars he calleth them all by their names Men are not able to tell the number of the stars they tell distinctly but to a thousand three hundered or a few more and they are not able to tell all these by distinct names but they are constrained to reckon them by constellations where a whole family of stars are called by one name The Lord hath made it his speciall priviledge to tell the number of the stars and to call them all by their names And these are named in the Text for all the rest Observe Thirdly Some stars are more excellent of greater vertue and name then others when these are named it is for speciall reason The Lord nameth these as stars of more then ordinary dignity These are in degree next to the Sunne and Moon when a few are named for many we usually name the chiefest as the whole people of the Jews are set forth by the heads of their Tribes by the Chiefs and when a Nation is spoken of it is by those greater names the Magistrates and the Ministers These are named because they have most to doe and the greatest businesse in a Nation So these stars are here named because they are of speciall use and influence The Apostle gives us this clearly 1 Cor. 15.41 There is one glory of the Sunne another of the Moon and another glory of the Starres for one star differeth from another star in glory One star hath a more honourable name then another Some starres God doth not vouchsafe to name particularly to us when others which are of greater glory are As in a building some parts of it are chief The foundation the top stone the corner stone the strength and beauty of the whole building are comprehended under these God hath made differences and degrees in all creatures in the heavenly as well as earthly The names of most stars are concealed as being of a lower degree And we finde that whensoever in Scriptare stars are spoken of scarce any are named but these and these are often named which implies their superiority and dignity The Prophet urges this as an argument of humblest addresses unto and dependance upon God Amos 5.8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars that is Pleiades and Orion and turneth the shadow of death into the morning c. He doth not say Seek him that maketh all the stars the Lord made all But because he hath given so much vertue and excellency to these these only are reported as of his making Here Which maketh Arcturus there Seek him which maketh the seven stars As if he had said In those stars God hath laid out much of himself and made his power and wisdome most visible How much hath God in himself who hath communicated so much to one senslesse creature And though stars differ thus one from another yet they envy not one another Which lessons us to be content though God make our names lesse named in the world than the names of many of our brethren though he trust more talents to or put more light into others than into our selves One star differs from another star in glory but no star envies anothers glory Fourthly Job being about to declare the power and wisdome of God gives instance among other things in this He maketh Arcturus Orion c. Then observe The power and wisdome of God shine eminently in the stars The power and wisdome of God shine in every grasse that grows out of the ground yea in every clod of earth much more then in the stars of heaven Much of God is seen in those works of God yea so much that many have been drawn to make them gods There is so much of God seen in the heavens that not only Heathens who had not the true knowledge of God but his Covenant-people who knew him and whom he knew above all the Families of the earth have been drawn away to worship the host of heaven That place before cited Deut. 4. hinteth as much Take heed lest when thou liftest up thine eyes to heaven and seest the Sunne and the Moon and the stars even all the host of heaven thou shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them If thou lift up thine eies to the stars and not higher even to God who made the stars thou wilt quickly mistake the stars for God or make the stars thy god the heart of man is mad upon idolatry Read how often the Jews are taxed with this sinne 2 King 21.3 and in 2 King 17.16 and in Amos 5.26 which clears this truth that much of the power and wisdome of God is stamped upon the stars if God did not much appear in the stars so many had not taken the stars for God or given them which is proper and peculiar to God religious worship There are five or six things which shew the power of God and his wisdome in making of the stars First The greatnesse of the Stars such vast bodies shew an infinite power in their constitution It is incredible to ordinary reason unlesse men have skill and learning to make it out and to lay the course of nature together that the stars are so great The Sunne is reckoned by Astronomers to be one hundred sixty six times bigger than all the earth The Moon indeed which is called a great light is thirty nine times lesse then the earth yet that magnitude is farre beyond common apprehension Some other of the planets are almost an hundred times bigger then the earth And whereas the fixed stars are distinguished into six magnitudes or differences of greatnesse Those of the first magnitude which are many are conceived to be one hundred and seven times bigger then the whole earth We look upon a star as if it were no bigger then the blaze of a Candle and the Countrey-man wonders if the Moon be bigger then his bushell or broader then his Cart-wheel If the most judicious enter the consideration of these things they may soon come to amazement that so many stars in the heavens should be more then an hundred times bigger then all the earth And if there are such vast bodies in heaven what a vast body is heaven That continent must needs be exceedingly exceeding vast which contains so many exceeding vast bodies in it If we get but a nook or a corner of the earth for our portion we presently thinke our selves great men yet what is all the earth to the heavens And what are the heavens we see to that heaven which is unseen to which these are but a pavement The heavens which are to us a roof are but a floor to the
24.63 The subject of his meditation was the starres or the heavens It is good to take field-room sometimes to view contemplate the works of God round about Only take heed of the former folly of Astrologicall curiosities confining the providence of God to secondary causes avoid that and the heart may have admirable elevations unto God from the meditation of the works of God Psal 19.1 The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work if the heavens declare the glory of God we should observe what that glory is which they declare The heavens preach to us every day Their line is gone out thorow all the earth and their words to the end of the world Psal 19.4 Sun Moon and Stars are Preachers they are universall preachers they are naturall Apostles the world is their charge their words saith the Psalm go to the ends of the earth We may have good doctrine from them especially this doctrine in the text of the wisdom and power of God And it is very observable that the Apostle alludes to this text in the Psalm for a proof of Gospel-preaching to the whole world Rom. 10.18 So then faith commeth by hearing and hearing by the word of God But I say have they not heard Yes verily their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the end of the world The Gospel like the Sun casts his beams over and sheds his light into all the world David in the Psalm saith Their line is gone out c. By which word he shews that the heavens being so curious a fabrick made as it were by line and levell do clearly though silently preach the skill and perfections of God Or that we may read divine truths in them as in a line formed by a pen into words and sentences the originall signifies both a measuring line 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat lineam non modo extensam hoc est funiculum sed etiam scriptam hoc est scripturam Par. in Rom. 10 and a written line Letters and words in writing being nothing but lines drawn into severall forms or figures But the Septuagint whose translation the Apostle citeth for Kavam their line read Kolam their sound either mis-reading the word or studiously mollifying the sense into a nearer compliance with the later clause of the verse And their words into the ends of the world Pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thus I have endeavoured to make those things plain which are here represented to vulgar ears under strange unusuall and hidden expressions Job is full of Philosophy and Astronomy he was a great student in the heavens doubtlesse and a holy student Job having given these severall instances gathers them all into a generall conclusion in the tenth verse Verse 10. Which doth great things past finding out yea and wonders without number These words are repeated from the discourse of Eliphaz in the 5th Chap. v. 9. I would seek unto God and unto God would I commit my cause which doth great things and unsearchable marvellous things without number I will not stay in a particular disoussion of them but refer the Reader to the place before cited where the text is opened at large and particular observations given from it Take only this observation in generall That A godly man labours to exalt God both in his thoughts and in his words with heart and tongue when God depresses and humbles him most Mark in what a condition Job was when he speaks thus honourably of the name and power of God One would think Job had little reason to extoll the power of God which he felt to his own smart Job was stript of all he had his outward comforts were taken from him and the arrows of the Almighty wounded his very spirit Now when he had wounded Job thorow and thorow thorow flesh and thorow spirit even at this time when God appeared making no use of his power but to undo Job Job is in his Encomium all in the praise and commendation of God He endites a Chapter on purpose to set forth the power and wisdom of God while he imploied both to make his afflictions both great and accurate This shews the admirable frame of his spirit in all his distempers his heart stood right and he would speak good of God what evil soever befell him from Gods hand Let God afflict with his power yet a gracious heart rejoices in it A gracious heart will lift up that power which weakens and throws it down Let the Lord imploy his wisdom to undo to impoverish such a man to bring him into such straits that he cannot get out yet he hath enlarged thoughts of that wisdom He sees God is as wise in troubling us as he is in delivering That language of Spira is the right language of hell I judge not his person but his speech who in a great temptation spake thus I would I had more power then God or O that I were above God He was angry that God had so much power because God used his power against him A carnall man would be above God especially if God at any time puts forth his power against him When he is hard bestead and hungry he frets himself and curses his King and his God looking upward Isa 8.21 to murmur at God not to pray unto him or speake good of him Tertullian Illud est impiorum ingenium ut Deum non ulterius celebrent quam cum benefacit Fer. It is observed by one of the Ancients concerning the Heathen That if God did not please them he should be no longer God Such are our hearts by nature if God do not use his power wisdom mercy for us we presently wish he had no power wisdom nor mercy for any in the world we would be above God unles God will serve us but an holy heart saith thus Let God improve his power and wisdom which way he pleaseth if to afflict and chasten me yea to destroy and cast me to hell his be the power for ever I extoll his power Nature can only praise God and speak good of him when he is doing of us good But grace prompts the heart to indite a good matter and bids the tongue be as the pen of a ready writer to advance God when sense feels nothing but smart and sees nothing but sorrow round about Then grace is in her heights when she can lift up God highest while he is casting us down and laying us lowest When we can honour God frowning as well as smiling upon us smiting and wounding as well as kissing and imbracing us then we have learned to honour God indeed JOB Chap. 9. Vers 11 12 13. Loe he goeth by me and I see him not he passeth on also but I perceive him not Behold he taketh away who can hinder him who shall say unto him What doest thou If God will not withdraw his anger the proud helpers doe stoop under him JOB having in
The superiour may ask the inferiour and call him to an account Every inferâ—our Judge and Court is accountable to those above that is the highest Court and he the highest Judge to whom no man can say What doest thou The Parliament of England is therefore the highest Judicatory in this Kingdom because their actions are not questionable in any other Court one Parliament may say to another What hast thou done This Parliament hath said to Parliaments that have gone before What have ye done in making such and such Laws No power of man besides their own can question some men much lesse can any man question God and say to him What doest thou He is supreme there is no appeal to any other higher Judge or higher Court. Hence observe Whatsoever God resolveth and determineth concerning us we must bear it and quietly submit No man may say unto him What doest thou Quicquid de nobis Deus statuit libenter ferendum est Why doe ye sit still saith the Prophet Jer. 8.14 Assemble your selves and let us enter into the defenced Cities and let us be silent there for the Lord hath put us to silence and given us waters of gall to drinke because we have sinned against him The Lord hath put us to silence that is the Lord hath done these things and we are not to question him about them or to ask him what he hath done or why he hath done thus Therefore let us be silent say they Let us not murmure at and complain over our own sufferings much lesse tax and charge God for his doings It becomes us to obey Gods suspension to be silent when he puts us to silence The Lord never silences any unlesse in wrath to those who would not hear from speaking in his name and publishing his vvord But he hath silenced all from speaking against his works and it will be ill with us if our passions how much soever God seems to act against us shall take off this suspension The Lord is uncontrollable in all his works When Nebuchadnezzar Dan. 4.35 came to himself and began to think and speak like a man after he had been among the beasts see what an humble acknowledgement he makes concerning God All the inhabitants of the earth saith he are reputed as nothing and he doth according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him What doest thou Here we have both parts of Jobs speech none can stay his hand which is the former and none can say unto him What doest thou which is the later That great Monarch acknowledged he had no power to question God though he at that time had power to question all the men upon the earth Nebuchadnezzar speaks like Job A wicked man may make a true report of God Many speak right of the Lord whose hearts are not right with him Nebuchadnezzar was converted from beastlinesse but I finde not that he was converted to holinesse He came home to his own Court but I see no proof that he came home to the Church of God yet see how divinely he speaks and how humbly he walks not so much as offering to ask God who had chang'd him from a Commander of men to a companion of beasts What doest thou We may ask the Lord in one sense what he doth Yea the Lord doth nothing in the world but his Saints and servants are enquiring of him about it He invites them to petition for what they would have Ask of me things to come concerning my sons and concerning the work of my hands command ye me Isa 45.11 Though man cannot order or enjoyn the least thing upon God yet at the entreaty of his people he is as ready to doe as if he were at their command And as we are thus envited to ask things to come so we are not totally denied to ask about things already done We may ask him in an humble way for information not in a bold way of contradiction We may in zeal to his glory not in discontent with our own condition expostulate with him about what he hath done So Joshua Chap. 7.7 8. Alas O Lord God wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side Jordan c. but how durst Joshua speak thus What if God vvould destroy them vvas it not his dury to bear it and let God alone Yes doubtlesse and such I doubt not vvas the frame of Joshuas spirit If Israel only had been to suffer Joshua had held his peace at least from such language but he saw a further matter in it the glory of God vvas like to suffer in their sufferings the close of his praier betraies this holy disposition of his heart vers 9. And what wilt thou doe unto thy great name As if he had said Lord the matter were not much though the name of Israel were blotted out from under heaven so thy Name were written in fairer characters But I fear a blow to Israel will be a blot to thy name and therefore I have taken upon me to pray this praier unto thee and I have praied rather for thee than to thee All praiers are made to God and yet some are made for him Not that he hath any want or is in any the remotest possibility of any danger but only for the promoting of his glory and that the world may not have occasion of a dishonourable thought of him whose honour never abates in it self or in the eyes of his own people Thus we may ask him what he hath done and why he hath brought such desolations upon his people But we may not ask him what he hath done either to question his right to doe it or to question his righteousnesse in doing of it No creature may put the question upon either of these terms What hast thou done much lesse conclude Thou hast done that which thou hast no right to do or thou hast been unrighteous in doing it Either of these is highest blasphemy for whatsoever the Lord doth he hath right to doe and whatsoever the Lord doth he is righteous in doing it Hence it followeth by way of corollary That The Lord is of absolute power He is the Soveraign Lord Lord over all there is no appeal from him no questioning of him Solomon speaketh of the power of a King in this language Eccles 8.4 Where the word of a King is there is power and who may say unto him What doest thou But is there nothing which a King doth about which it may be said unto him What dost thou And what is this word of a King The word of a King is the Law of his Kingdom all that a King doth or speaks besides the Law he speaks as a man not as a King and that 's the meaning of Solomons
When I pray I should believe but as my case stands I cannot believe clouds and darknesse are upon me Faith is the strength of praier Whatsoever ye ask in praier believing ye shall receive Mat. 21.22 Praier without faith it is like a Gun discharged without a bullet which makes a noise but doth no execution we may put out a voice in speaking but except we put out faith in speaking we doe but speak we doe not pray As the Word of God comming upon us doth us no good prevails not upon our hearts unlesse it be mixed with faith Heb. 4.2 The word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it So the word that goes out from us the word of praier prevaileth not at all with God obtaineth nothing from him unlesse it be mixed with faith All the promises are made to believers All things are possible to them that believe Mar. 9.23 Ask in faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the winde and tossed Jam. 1.6 To ask in faith is to ask resting upon the power of God whereby he is able upon his truth whereby he is faithfull and upon his goodnes in Christ whereby he is ready to make good his promises He that asks thus doth not waver Few are without doubting but all sound believers are without wavering The Greek word signifies to question or dispute a thing a degree beyond doubting as when a man is at no certainty with himself being sometime of one minde sometime of another The judgement being so carried that the man is at variance with his own brest or is between two vvaies not knowing vvhich to take We translate the word in the 4th of the Romans vers 20. by staggering Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief The similitude vvhich the Apostle James uses illustrates this sense He that wavereth is like a wave of the sea vvhich by tempestuous vvindes is sometimes carried up to heaven and anon down to the deep A man vvho is tossed with such vvaves of unbelief staggers like a drunken man in his practice and profession he is now on this side to morrow on that he doth not only stagger or halt in his vvay but he staggers and halts between two vvaies and is therefore called vers 8th A double minded man The praiers of such a man are faithlesse praiers and therefore fruitlesse praiers Let not that man think he shall receive any thing unlesse a rebuke and a deniall of the Lord vers 7. There are no promises made to such and therefore no mercies convaied to such Believing praier is gaining praier yet they vvho believe least presume most Hence the Apostles check Let not that man thinke as if he had said I know such vvill flatter themselves into a perswasion of great matters They will have high thoughts but they shall receive nothing Observe Fourthly That how strongly soever a godly man acts faith for the answer of his praiers yet he hath no faith that his praier deserves an answer I would not believe that he had hearkned to my voice Christ calleth the Spouse to praier Can. 2.14 Let me see thy countenance let me hear thy voice for sweet is thy voice and thy countenance comely Christ loves praier The praiers of the Saints upon earth are musick in heaven That invitation to the Spouse Let me hear thy voice seems to be an allusion to those vvho loving musick call upon a friend vvho hath a good voice or exquisite skill to play upon an instrument Come sing us a song play us a lesson let us have a fit of mirth Thus I say Christ speaks to the Church Come let me hear thy voice 't is sweet I know thou hast a sweet one But the Saints judge their own voices harsh and unharmonicall they are apt to thinke their praiers jarrings and discords at the best but a rude noise not a composed air in the ear of God Faith makes our praiers melodious because it carries us out of our selves A believer lives not in the sound of his own praiers but of Christs intercession What are vve that vve should expect any acceptance upon our own account or say this We have gained this We have obtained thus God hath heard us or thus vve have vvrestled it out vvith God As when we have performed all our duties we must say We are unprofitable servants so when we have obtained all our sutes we must say We are unprofitable petitioners I will not believe that God had hearkned unto My voice What 's mans voice that God should hear it Observe Fifthly That a godly man sometimes cannot believe his praier is heard when it is heard Though he cals and God answers yet like Job he believes not that God hath hearkned to his voice He cannot think his praier is heard though one should come and tell him it is heard When the Jews returned from Babylon the mercy was so great Forsan hoc dicit quia saepe prae nimia laetitia non credimus verum esse quod maxime verum esse optamus Drus that they could not believe they had it when they had it When thou didst turn our captivity we were as them that dream Psal 126.2 The deliverance was incredible they could not thinke they vvere delivered Their return to Jerusalem was suspected for a dream of it in Babylon The Church praied vvithout ceasing for Peter vvhen he was in prison Act. 12.5 yet when the Lord brought him out of prison and he vvas knocking at the door of the house where they were assembled while they vvere knocking at the door of heaven for his deliverance yet they would not believe the report of the damosell who said he stood before the gate They tell her she is mad vvhen she affirmed it with sobriety as well as vehemency then they have another help for their unbelief It was not Peter but his Angel Thus it is to this day with the Saints in their great personall sutes and petitions both about spiritual things and temporal they are so overcome astonished and amazed at the goodnesse of God that though they see the thing done yet they can scarce believe it is done As if a Prince should send a message to a poor man by some great Lord and tell him he hath bestowed honour and favour upon him the poor man is ready to say I cannot believe it the blessing is too big for him to digest and let down into his narrow heart no saith he sure it is not so Though the people of God ever preserve a high respect and esteem of the works of God towards them yet their faith is often below his workings and they cannot receive or take in mercy so fast as it commeth faith widens the vessels of the soul to receive much but God can pour in faster then faith can widen the soul to receive Sixthly Observe Faith hath it's decaies Faith doth not keep
trials of the Saints They are occasions to shew forth their vertues and their graces They give proofs both to God and the world what manner of men they are Tried ones are precious ones many others are so but these appear what they are they have shewed their metall All true faith is good but tried faith is best 1 Pet. 1.7 That the triall of your faith that is that your tried faith being much more precious then of gold that perisheth may be found unto praise c. Prudens futuri temporis exitū Caliginosa nocte premit Deus Ridetque si mortalis ultra Fas trepidat c. Horat l 3. Car Od. 29. Besides these two interpretations I shall adde for a close two more which may further illustrate the meaning of this laughter ascribed to God at the triall of the innocent First or Thirdly He laughs at the fears and sad fore-casts of his people who not being able to look thorow second causes and see the ends of things in their beginnings presently judge all 's lost the Church must be ruin'd and the Saints undone because thus tried Now God knowing the end of all actions not only at their beginning but from the beginning yea from eternity he looking thorow the blackest clouds and darkest nights upon the issues of all things derides the simple conjectures of men about them The very Heathens have given us such a notion of God in laughter Secondly or Fourthly God laughs at the laughter and derides the joies of wicked men who see his innocent ones tried For they say in their hearts and it may be with their tongues Happy we who have scaped such a scouring we would not have been in their coats for a world better die then live to bring our selves into such troubles Or thus Now the day is ours we have prevailed These men are catcht and entangled we shall doe well enough with them now The Lord hearing such language at the triall of the innocent laughs to thinke how those wretches shall see themselves deceived when they see these who were fallen rising again or God by their fall raising others and setting his King upon his holy hill of Sion Lastly As God laughs at the triall of the innocent so let the nocent and impenitent remember and tremble at it that God will laugh at the approach of their torments and mock when their fear commeth when their fear commeth as a desolation and their destruction as a whirlwinde Job having thus shewed how the innocent are afflicted shews in the next verse how the wicked are exalted from both he infers that there can be no judgement made of any mans inward state whether he be innocent or wicked upon his outward state whether he be prosperous or afflicted The innocent are under the scourge and the wicked are upon the throne and who doth these things but God himself that 's the sum of this 24th verse Verse 24. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked he covereth the faces of the Judges thereof if not where and who is he The earth is given into the hand of the wicked The earth Earth may be taken strictly for the element of earth as it is opposed to fire water and air Not so in this place But more largely earth is put for all earthly things as Psal 115.6 The heaven of heavens is the Lords but the earth hath he given unto the children of men that is he hath divided all earthly comforts as a portion or inheritance among men their lot falleth there Thirdly Earth is put for the inhabitants or people of the earth Psal 100.1 Praise him all ye earth so the Hebrew which we translate Praise him all ye people of the earth Isa 24.4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away that is they who dwell on the earth Fourthly By the earth we may understand speciall Countries or Nations tracts or parts of the earth Fiftly The earth is put for earthly minded men and for the false Church Revel 14.3 The Saints are redeemed from the earth that is God hath fetcht them out from amongst false worshippers and impure ones he hath rescued them from the world of Idolaters and from the superstitious multitude In this place earth is to be understood in the second third or fourth notion namely for all earthly comforts or for the Provinces and Kingdoms of the earth or for the inhabitants and people of the earth These are given into the hand of the wicked Given The Lord makes as it were a deed of gift of these things unto wicked men So in the 15th of this book ver 19. Vnto whom alone the earth was given and no stranger passed among them which some expound of the righteous No stranger passed among them that is none came in to invade them Or as others render it No strange thing that is no unjust thing came in amongst them they had the earth in their own power and rightfull possession Nihil alienum sc injustum Jun. To be given noteth two things or there is a double act of giving There is a gift by providence and a gift by promise When the Lord is said to give the earth into the hand of the wicked we are to understand it of that common providentiall gift whereby he disposeth of all things to all men no man hath any thing but by the gift of God Thus wicked Jeroboam had the Kingdome of Israel given him and so had hypocriticall Jehu for four generations They served the providence of God and the providence of God exalted them Act. 17.26 He hath made of one bloud all Nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation that is he hath as it were chalked out and drawn a line where the bounds and habitations whither the dominions and possessions of such men shall be extended and where they shall be confined That 's a gift of providence There is a speciall gift of promise peculiar to believers Ro. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but gave him to die for us how shall he not with him also freely give us all things that is all worldy things or we may take in whatsoever else concerns our spirituall estate besides Christ All the things of Christ yea and all worldly things come in to the Saints as a gift by Christ who is himself the greatest gift that ever man received or that God could bestow How shall he deny us any thing when he hath given us him who is above all things 1 Cor. 3.22 23. Whether Paul or Apollos or the world all is yours for ye are Christs Believers enjoy earthly things by an heavenly title Christ is their conveiance In this sense the earth is not given to the wicked the Lord gives them nothing in Christ or for Christ as a Saviour in the Covenant of Grace Christ as a Lord hath bought the wicked 2 Pet.
rottennesse of his spirit blisters upon his tongue in unsavoury speeches so those passions and affections of the heart joy and sorrow anger and heavinesse appear in the face and we may read the distempers of the heart in the disguisednesse of a look Cordis index vultus totusque homo est in facie Nomen faciei in Scriptura sâ—gnificat exteriorem hâ—bitum sicut facies terrae coeli reip Bold Latina vox facies significat non solum os ocutos genas sed formam omnem modum facturam totius corporis à faciendo dictaâ— Aul. Gel. The face is the Index of the heart that tels you how things goe within Therefore Job saith If I leave off my face meaning as we translate If I leave off heavinesse which is so evident in my face or which is as easie to be seen as my face If I resolve to appear chearfull and merry and will not let clouds darken my countenance any longer yet c. The face is put generally for the appearance or out-side of any thing as we say the face of the earth the face of the heavens the face of the Church or Common-wealth So that To leave off heavinesse or the face is to leave off all shew of heavinesse As Joseph left off his tears of joy Gen. 43.30 31. who having eased his heart of his joyfull sorrows by weeping secretly in his chamber Washed his face went out and refrained himself Thus Iob would have washed his mournfull tears from his face he attempted to refrain himself but he could not his sorrows were too strong for him and as he could not remove so he could not dissemble them For this leaving off is to be taken as the precedent act of forgetting for an affected resolved laying aside If I make it my businesse to be chearfull and leave off my heavinesse yet c. Observe hence Sorrow is not easily shaken off Sorrow sticks close It is very hard for a man to play the hypocrite with his sorrow or dissemble the sadnesse of his heart but it is farre harder to be really delivered of it Sorrow is a companion that will not be cast off with a word A man may more easily cover his sinne then his sorrow Many can put a visour of holinesse upon their faces when nothing but wickednesse is in their hearts but it is not easie to make a shew of comfort when nothing but sorrow is in the heart Grief will out Heavinesse in the heart is like the ointment in the right hand of vvhich Solomon speaks Prov. 27.16 that it bewraieth it self One said of a merry Atheist He laugheth to thee and to me that is he seems to laugh but he mourns to himself the mans heart is heavy If it be not so yet it may be so with all wicked men when they are merriest in the face they have reason to have sorrow even unto death in their hearts it is a hard thing I say to put sorrow out of the face much more to get it out of the heart when it is lodged there once it will not soon be dispossess'd The Apostle Heb. 12.1 exhorts To lay aside every weight and to cast off the sinne that doth so easily beset us he means it of the sinne of nature which we bear about us this sinne saith he doth easily beset us but let us cast it off that is let us study and strive to lay aside this heavinesse of sinne which is the truest cause of the heavinesse of sorrow One would thinke that a man needs not much perswasion when he hath an heavy burthen upon his shoulders to lay it aside yet so it is man can hardly be perswaded to lay aside this burthen and it is the businesse we have with your souls every day to perswade you to lay it aside It is a weight that easily besets us Now as we need much exhortation to cast off the weight of this sinne which is so pleasing so also of sorrow though it be unpleasant When sorrow besets us it leaves us without ease but sorrow easily besets us Iob found it a hard task to lay aside his burden Because his friends thought he fed too much upon his afflictions therefore he tried what he could doe but it would not doe If I say I will leave off my heavinesse I well comfort my self c. See the issue by and by I will comfort my self Comfort is the very life of our lives the spring of our year the light of our day the Sunne in our firmament the complement of mercy and therefore Christ gives his Church the summe of all mercy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that one promise of sending the Comforter The Hebrew word signifies to strengthen Roboravit confortavit vires collegit Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because when a man is cast down with sorrows his spirit is weakned Comfort is the repair of strength If I say I will comfort that is corroborate and strengthen my self Psal 39.13 O spare me saith David that I may recover my strength or that I may a little comfort my self The Septuagint renders it That I may get my life again that I may be enlivened and re-insouled or fetch back my soul again Here if I say I will comfort my self Take heart at grasse as we say and play the man then my sorrows renew upon me But some may object How is it that Job takes upon him to comfort himself Is it any wonder if Job came short of comfort when he went to himself for comfort Comfort is not a commodity to be found in the hand or power of any creature the great God hath all that in his own hand if any man will have comfort he must trade to heaven for it It is the honour of God to be called The God of all comfort 2 Cor. 1.3 that is the God who hath all comfort at his dispose As some Kings have a denomination from the great staple commodities of their Kingdoms Our King is called The King of the wooll because wooll is the chief commodity and more plentifull here then in any Countrey of the world Another is called King of the wines and another of the flax Comfort is the staple commodity of heaven and God is called The God of all comfort not only because the chiefest and best comforts are in his hand but because there is not the least imaginable comfort to be had out of his hand He hath the monopoly of comfort or rather the solegift of comfort We can trouble and perplex our selves but God only can comfort us And he is the God of all comfort of all sorts and of all degrees of comfort the God not only of spirituall but of worldly comfort of temporall comfort as well as of eternall As the joyes of the holy Ghost are in his hand so are the joyes of civil relations the joy of meat and drinke the joy of riches and honour are in his hand also How then saith Job I
like men have transgressed the Covenant they have done like themselves When we see men vain and wicked and sinfull and covetous and earthly we may say of them they have done like men and how wonderous and glorious things soever God doth we can but say He hath done like God As a consectary from the whole take this caution If God is not a man as we are then God must never be measured by the rule and line of man Man hath not line enough to measure God by The Lord exceeds man in all he is not only above mans infirmities but he is above all his perfections The Lord is not only not weak as man is weak or unholy as man is unholy but the Lord is not strong as man is strong nor holy as man is holy nor just as man is just nor wise as man is wise Then man must not venture to judge of the wisdome of God by his own wisdome or of the justice holinesse and strength of God by his own strength holinesse and justice Man is not able to measure God in any of his Attributes and in three things especially man should take heed of measuring God in his actings First In the great work of election In this man is very apt to be meddling and to be measuring God by the line of naturall reason or of civil justice the Apostles dispute beats down this presumption Rom. 9. We read there how man begins to bustle and startle at that great conclusion vers 18. Therefore he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth If it be thus saith he if every mans state be peremptorily determined by the will of God if he loves and hates before men have done either good or evil Why doth he finde fault for who hath resisted his will What need any trouble themselves about the way when their end is under an unmovable decree Why should any strive to forsake evil and doe good on earth seeing it was resolved in heaven what should become of them before they had done either good or evil Thus the pride and ignorance of man cavils at the decrees of God But stay saith the Apostle O man who art thou that repliest against God! He is not a man as thou art he hath done what he hath done by vertue of his just prerogative and therefore he is not unjust in doing it Besides if ye will needs argue from reason then see how common reason confutes this blasphemy Hath not the Potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessell unto honour and another unto dishonour What if God hath done thus and what if he will doe thus What hast thou to doe with it Know thy place and keep thy rank art not thou clay in the hand of the Potter Secondly Measure not God by your own line in his providentiall dispensations He may have a method of his own in giving or taking away in pulling down or building up in wounding or healing in abasing man or in raising him because all is his own He who hath a right to all can wrong none and he who possesses all is debtour to none Thirdly Measure not God by your own line in the matter of your ordinary approvings and that two waies First Doe it not in your approving of things And Secondly Doe it not in your approving of persons Take heed first of measuring God by your selves in your approving of things as if because you approve it therefore God surely doth This misconceit hath been the cause of almost all and almost all the cause of all the superstition idolatry and will-worship that ever was in the world Man thinks God must needs like any thing which is done to his honour hence because the adorning and adoring of images bowing to altars using of unwritten Ceremonies are directed to the honour of God therfore man concludes surely God likes them Whereas nothing pleases God but what himself appoints he is never honoured but when he is obeyed As no man hath been his counsellour to direct him what to doe with us So no man can be his counsellour to direct him what to require of us Not that which we commend is approved but that which the Lord commends Secondly Take heed of this in your approbation or estimation of persons Not be whom you commend is approved but he whom the Lord commends We should judge of men as we believe God judges Or to come nearer let no man think himself is approved of God because he is approved by himself Many flatter themselves in their own eyes till their iniquity is found to be hatefull Psal 36.2 Christ intimates this speaking to the Pharisees Luk. 16.15 Ye are they that justifie your selves ye have high thoughts of your own worth and glory in your own excellencies and ye think God hath high thoughts of you that he glories in you too but let me tell you That which is highly esteemed amongst men is an abomination in the sight of God We are the men said the Pharisees ours are excellent gifts thus they admired and doted upon themselves but the Lord found them out and what they highly esteemed he abominated Some write and subscribe their own letters testimoniall and can get no hand to them but their own Not he who commends himself is approved but he whom the Lord commends such shall finde that their own good word would do them no good He is not a man as they are He saith Job is not a man as I am that I should answer him And we should come together in judgement It hath been shewed what judgement is at the 19th verse of this Chapter and at the third verse of the eighth Chapter therefore I shall not now stay upon it only as to the matter in hand Judgement may be taken three waies First For pleading which is but preparatory to judgement 1 Disceptatio mutur◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rationum 2 Iuris definitio 3 Exactio castigationis debiti Merc. the opening and arguing of the case or fact under triall Secondly For the decision and determination of the case according to law or the award of judgement Thirdly For the inflicting and executing of the sentence according to the judgement awarded Here Job chiefly intends the first He is not a man as I am that I should answer him and we should come together in judgement that is that I should plead argue and debate my matters with him before any other Judge God and man cannot come together to be judged for all man-kinde must receive their judgement from God Vt veniamus pariter in judicium Or nearer the Hebrew which sutes the former clause better He is not a man as I am that we should come alike to judgement No we should be very unlike very unequally matched in judgement Man and man who are upon even terms in their nature may yet be upon such uneven terms in their condition that
living God upon contempt of mercy obtained by the Mediatour So the Apostle argues Heb. 10.26 If men sinne wilfully after they have received the knowledge of the truth there remaineth no more sacrifice for sinne but a certain fearfull looking for of judgement and fiery indignation c. Thence concluding vers 31. It is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the living God They who sleight the bloud of Christ and neglect the great salvation tendered to sinners bâ—â—im can have no more sacrifice for sinne Wicked men crucifie to â—hemselves the Sonne of God afresh and put him to open shame Heb. 6.6 But God will not crucifie his Sonne or put him to open shame again for them God will not make another Gospel for them as he must if they be saved who contemn this No there remains no more sacrifice for sinne these men who once with all man-kinde fell into the hands of God by transgressing his Law are now under another notion fallen into his hands even by the contempt of his Gospel and now God saith I will deal with them alone for they have refused the Daies-man whom I sent and who was ready to lay his hand upon us both It had been unconceivably sad with us all if as in the case of Jobs temporall lost estate there was no Daies-man between God and him on earth so in the case of our spirituall lost estate there had been no Daies-man between God and man in heaven But it will be unconceivably more sad with those who having bad the tender of such a Daies-man shall be found contemners of him Greatest love neglected breaks forth and ends in greatest wrath JOB Chap. 9. Vers 34 35. Let him take his rod away from me and let not his fear terrifie me Then would I speak and not fear him but it is not so with me WE have shewed in the two former verses Job renouncing and protesting against all thought of contending at all with God He is not a man as I am that I should answer him Exploratum est me non posse Deum coram superiore aliquo judice sistere quo â—irca superest ut ipse s t supremus juâ—ex apud quem ego pro me dicere paratus um si coÌ„trabat flagellum calam tatis quo me cedit extenuet formidinem majestatis qua concutior â—â—ned c. In these two he desireth God not to contend with him as if he had said Lord I will not plead or dispute with thee and I know such is thy soveraignty thou maiest doe whâ—t thou pleasest with me Yet oh that thou wouldest be pleased to abate of the severity of thy proceeding and to remit the fiercenesse of that wrath wherein thou appearest against me that I might have liberty to spread my câ—ndition in thy presence I have no friend to take up the matter for me but I would open my case in a few words my self if I might obtain a cessation but for the time of treaty if thou wouldst forbear fighting while I am speaâ—ing Let him take h s rod away from mâ— and let not his fear terrifie me Then would I speak c. Let him take his rod away from me The rod hath divers acceptions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Virga baculus quâ— nascitur ex arhore ant radice arboris The word Sh bet in the Hebrew is taken sometimes strictly for a branch bough or sprig growing forth from the stock of a tree and because a rod or a staff is made of the branch of a tree therefore the same word signifies both Secondly It signifies a Scepter the Scepter of a King which emblems the power of a King Ahasucrus held forth his golden Scepter to Queen Esther in token of acceptance Esth 5.2 And because in ancient times as the learned observe they were wont to make Scepters of such rods Sceptrum quod priscireges majestatis se veritatis gratia manu tenebant baculus erat and all Scepters have the form or shape of a rod therefore the originall expresses the rod and the Scepter by the same word Gen. 49.10 The Scepter Shebet the rod shall not depart from Judah nor a Law-giver from between his feet Thy Scepter O God is a Scepter of righteousnesse Psal 45.6 that is thou usest thy Scepter righteously The Scepter notes two things 1. Authority to judge or command 2. Power to correct or punish both are included in that prophecy of the Kingdom of Christ Psal 110.2 The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Sion that is he shall invest thee with power to govern as the next words expound it Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies Commanders in warre direct with a rod or leading staffe and Magistrates punish with a rod in times of peace Sceptrum significat regium Dominium cujus signum erat sceptrum Tribus quâ—e ex uno paâ—re tanquam baculâ—s ex una arbore nata est Percussio punitio plaga quae fit baculo Hence thirdly By a Metonymy the Scepter imports dominion rule and government it self Amos 1.8 I will cut off him that holdeth the Scepter that is who hath the government in his hand Fourthly The word is often used in Scripture to signifie a Tribe or a family of persons because a tribe is as a branch sprung from one stock so the twelve Tribes of Israel like twelve branches sprung from that great and ancient stock the Patriarch Iacob Lastly The word signifies punishment or correction correction is often given with a rod therefore to be under the rod is to be under punishment Thus the Lord threatens to visit the transgression of the house of David with a rod and their iniquity with stripes Psal 89.32 The rod and reproof give wisdom Prov. 29.15 The rod hath a voice Hear the rod saith the Prophet Mic. 6.9 but t is best when a voice is joyned with the rod and instruction mixed with correction Quinque apud Hebraeos sunt nomina pro baculo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bold Bold in loc There are in the Hebrew to note that by the way five words which signifie a rod or a staff Some resolve that seeming contradiction which is in the two Evangelists Matthew and Mark by the different signification of these words When Christ Matth. 10.10 as also Luk. 9.3 sent forth his Apostles to preach the Gospel among other instructions and directions given them for their journey this is one Take no staves But Mar. 6.8 Christ commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey save a staff only One Evangelist saith they must not take staves and in the other they are bidden to take staves Now say these in Matthew and Luke where he forbids his Disciples to take staves he expresseth himself by the word in the text Shebet which signifies a correcting or smiting staff 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Take no staves to smite and strike with Baculus vel virga
should depart or abide in the flesh but the straight was not in reference to himself he was assured dying would be to him but a travelling to Christ and therefore death was to him an easie election His straight was only this whether he should not abide still in the flesh to to supply the needs of the Church and forbear glory a while that he might prepare others for glory The same Apostle 2 Cor. 5.4 saith in the first verse We know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God an house made without hands eternall in the heavens When their faith was thus upon the wing soaring up to the assurance of an house made without hands they grew weary of their smoaky cottages presently they could not endure to live in those poor lodges corruptible bodies having a view of such glorious pallaces therefore he adds In this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is from heaven The word signifies groaning as a man that hath a weighty burden lying upon him which makes him fetch his winde even from his bowels The body is the burden rather then the house or the clothing of the soul when once the soul knows it shall be clothed with an house which is from heaven As I said before much of hell in this life makes wicked men vveary of this life so also doth much of heaven Cic. in Tuscul Quest de Cleombroto The Roman Oratour tels us that a young man who lived in great prosperity having read Plato about the immortality of the soul was so affected that he threw himself violently from a high wall into the sea that he might have a proof of that immortality by his experience of it The Gospel forbids such haste and knows no such vvaies to happinesse As Christ not vve hath purchased that estate so Christ must lead us we must not thrust our selves into the possession of it but yet the earnests the fore-tastes and first-fruits of heaven which the Saints finde in this life though they be such as eat the marrow and fatnesse such as may have the very cream and spirits of the creature to live upon make them groan often and earnestly for the next life This is good but heaven is better Lastly Which is the case of this text the Saints may grow vveary of their lives from the outward afflictions and troubles of this life Sicknesse and pains upon the body poverty and vvant in the estate reproaches and unkindenesses put upon our persons vvith a thousand evils to vvhich this life is subject every day cause many to vvish and long for an end of their daies And though they are ready to submit to the vvill of God if he have appointed them to a longer conflict vvith these evils yet they cannot but shew their vvillignesse yea their gladnesse to part vvith their lives that they may part vvith such troubles accompaning their lives And as the afflictions of the body naturall so of the body politike may make them vveary of their lives How many in Germany and Ireland have been so vvearied vvith hearing the voice of the oppressour that they have vvished themselves in their graves only to get out of their hearing And vvith us since these troubles began have not many been tired with living Have they not cried after death and wooed the grave as being weary of the world The Prophet Isa 32.2 speaks of a weary land A man meaning Christ shall be as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land The land it self being insensible could not be weary but he cals it a weary land because the inhabitants living in the land were wearied with the troubles and continuall vexations which they found there In these cases the soul of a believer stands like Abraham when the Angels passed by at the tent door of his body ready to come forth looking when God will but call yea he cries out that he may be called in the language of Job My soul is weary of my life I will leave my complaint upon my self I will speak in the bitternesse of my soul I will leave c. That is I will carry my complaint no further it shall trouble none but my self The originall signifies also to strengthen or fortifie Nehem. 3.8 They fortified Jerusalem unto the broad wall we put in the Margin They left Jerusalem to the broad wall So the sense of Job may be this My pains do not abate but increase why then should I remit or abate my complaint I will strengthen my complaint as long as my sorrows are strengthened My complaint That word hath been explained before it signifies an inward as well as an outward complaint and that most properly Some translate it so here I will groan in silence with my self Per mittam mihi mussitationē Tygur Silentio egomet ingemiscam Philosophabor Polychron Deponam à me querimoniam meam Jun. But the text requires rather that we interpret it of an externall complaint formed up into words The Septuagint are expresse and so is Austin I will leave my words upon my self both interpreting it of a vocall declaration of his minde and meaning The greatest difficulty lies in those words upon my self One renders I will leave my complaint off or lay it aside from my self As if Iob meant to give over this work of complaining and to compose his heart to quietnesse how unquiet soever his estate continued But his following practice seems to confute this interpretation and to deny any such intention Others give this sense I will speak at my own peril and if any danger or inconvenience come of it I will bear it my self I will run that venture Job uses such language chap. 13.13 Hold your peace let me alone that I may speak and let come on me what will We may glosse it with that heroicall resolution of Queen Esther Esth 4.16 So will I go in unto the King which is not according to the Law and if I perish I perish The Hebrew preposition hath various acceptions Praepositio 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 frequenter per super nonnunquam per cum aliquando per adversus redditur Nihil contra Deum in me tantum desaeviam Pined First As we It is translated Vpon Secondly With. Thirdly Against Fourthly Concerning or about We may take in any of or all these translations And from all the meaning of Job seems to rise thus I intend not to speak a word against God I will not charge the Almighty with injustice or with rigour to doe which were highest wickednesse I purpose indeed to complain but I will complain only upon or with my self concerning or against my self I will not utter a word against the wisdome of God or accuse his providence I will not shoot an arrow against heaven or send out a murmur against the most high There are two waies of leaving our complaints
knowledge of us beyond ours though he know us better then we know our selves yet no man can tell the Lord Thou knowest that I am not wicked but he who knows that he is not The excellency of our condition consists in being godly the comfort of it consists in knowing that we are godly When David offers himself to the triall Psal 139.24 Search me O Lord and see if there be any way of wickednesse in me He speaks not as doubting whether he were wicked or no but as being assured that he was not As if he had said There are many weaknesses in me I know but I know not of any wickednesse He that offers himself to Gods search for his wickednesse gives a strong argument of his own uprightnesse The best of the Saints may be at a losse sometimes for their assurances and not know they are good They may stand sometimes hovering between heaven and earth yea between heaven and hell as uncertain to which they shall be accounted Yet many of the Saints are fully perswaded they are Saints and sit with Christ in heavenly places while they are wâ—ndering here upon on the earth A godly man may know this two vvaies First By the vvorkings of grace in his heart Secondly By the testimony of the Spirit with his heart First By the vvorkings of grace in his heart 1 Joh. 2.3 Hereby we know that we know him if we keep his Commandments and chap. 3.14 We know that we are passed from death to life because we love the brethren There may be such workings of grace in the heart as may amount to an evidence of grace What our being is is discernable in our workings The word is as clear as light that our justification may have a light or evidence in our sanctification though no cause or foundation there Grace is the image of Christ stamped upon the soul and they who reflecting upon their souls see the image of Christ there may be sure that Christ is theirs Christ hath given all himself to those to whom he hath given this part of himself Secondly This may be known by the testimony of the Spirit with the heart 2 Cor. 5.5 He that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God God sets up a frame of holinesse in every believer He hath wrought us and how are we assured that he hath Who also hath given us the earnest of his Spirit The graces of the Spirit are a reall earnest of the Spirit yet they are not alwaies an evidentiall earnest therefore an earnest is often superadded to our graces There is a three-fold work of the Spirit First To conveigh and plant grace in the soul Secondly To act and help us to exercise the graces which are planted there Thirdly To shine upon and enlighten those graces or to give an earnest of those graces This last work the Spirit fullfils two waies First By arguments and inferences which is a mediate work Secondly By presence and influence which is an immediate work This the Apostle cals witnesse-bearing 1 Joh. 5.8 There are three that bear witnesse in earth The Spirit and the water and the bloud The Spirit brings in the witnesse of the water and of the bloud which is his mediate work but besides and above these he gives a distinct witnesse of his own which is his immediate work and is in a way of peculiarity and transcendency called the witnesse of the Spirit Hence that of the Apostle Paul We have not received the spirit of the world but we have received the Spirit which is of Christ that we may know the things that are freely given us of God 1 Cor. 2.12 The things freely given may be received by us and yet the receit of them not known to us therefore we receive the Spirit that we may know what is given us and what we have received The Spirit doth as it were put his hand to our receits and his seal also whence he is said To seal us up to the day of redemption Ephes 4.30 Sixthly Observe A godly man dares appeal to God himself that he is not wicked He dares stand before God to justifie his sincerity though he dares not stand to justifie himself before God Job had often laid all thoughts of his own righteousnesse in the dust but he alwaies stands up for his own uprightnesse God is my witnesse saith the Apostle Paul Rom 9.1 whom I serve in my spirit in the Gospel of his Sonne I serve God in my spirit and God knows that I do so I dare appeal unto him that it is so God is my witnesse When Christ put that question and drove it home upon Peter thrice Simon Lovest thou me Lord saith he Thou knowest all things Thou knowest that I love thee Joh. 21. As if he had said I will not give testimony of my self thou shalt not have it upon my word but upon thine own knowledge It were easie for me to say Master I love thee with all my heart with all my soul but I refer my self to thy own bosome Thou knowest I love thee So when Hezekiah lay as he thought upon his death-bed he turned himself to the wall desiring God to look upon the integrity of his life Lord remember how I have walked before thee in truth Isa 38.3 I do not go to the world for their good word of me I rest not in what my Subjects or neighbour Princes say of me Lord it is enough for me that what I have been and what I am is laid up safe in the treasury of thy thoughts This brings strong consolation when we take not up the testimony of men nor rest in the good opinion of our brethren but can have God himself to make affidavit or bear witnesse with us and for us That such a man will say I am an honest man that such a man will give his word for me is cold comfort but when the soul can say God will give his word for me The Lord knows that I am not wicked here 's enough to warm our hearts when the love of the world is waxen so cold and their tongues so frozen with uncharitablenesse that they will not speak a good word of us how much good soever they know by us Seventhly Consider the condition wherein Job was when he spake this he was upon the rack and as it were under an inquisition God laid his hand extream hard upon him yet at that time even then he saith Lord thou knowest that I am not wicked Hence observe A man of an upright heart and good conscience will not be brought to think that God hath ill thoughts of him how much evil so ever God brings upon him The actings of God toward us are often full of changes and turnings but the thoughts of God never change A soul may be afflicted till he is weary of himself yet he knows God is not weary of him Whomsoever he hath once made good he cannot but for ever esteem good
condition Vnderstand ye brutish he speaks to men who acted more like beasts then men He that planted the ear Shall he not hear He that formed the eye shall he not see As if he had said He that made the ear is all hearing and he who formed the eye is all eye all sight The argument holds strong from Gods power in forming man to his power of knowing man and to his power of disposing man I am teneo hujâ—â— rei causam cum enim manus illius me fecerint jure suo potest Deus me destruere Cajet That 's the first way of dependance Secondly Job may be conceived as rendering an account of those things about which he had taken the boldnesse to interrogate the Lord at the third verse Here he answers his own question as if he had said now I see well enough why thou maist despise and destroy thy work It is thy work I will go no further for a reason to vindicate thee in breaking me to pieces then this That thine hands have set me together Thou hast made me and thou maiest unmake me thou hast rais'd me up and thou maiest pull me down So the copulative vau in the originall which we translate by the adversative yet is taken for a conjunction causall and so it is frequently used in Scripture Gen. 30.20 Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return The sense is Dust thou art therefore to dust thou shalt return Exod. 15.23 24. The waters were bitter and the people murmured that is The waters were bitter therefore the people murmured thus here Thine hands have made me and fashioned me therefore thou dost destroy me He that builds the house at his own charge and by his own power may ruin it at his own pleasure Ex sua formatione artificis misericordiam movet ex commemorato pristino beneficio alia denuò efflagitandi ansam arripit Pined Thirdly The words may carry the sense of a strong motive to prevail with God to handle Job more gently or to deal more tenderly with him why The Lord had bestowed much care and cost to make and fashion him therefore he will surely pity and spare him There is a naturall motion of the heart in every agent towards the preservation of that which proceedeth from it Creation is followed with providence If a speechlesse and livelesse creature could speak and understand it would argue with it's maker in Jobs case as Job doth Dost thou yet destroy me David strengthens his heart to ask good at the hands of God because he had spoken good concerning him 2 Sam. 7.27 Thou O Lord of Hosts God of Israel hast revealed to thy servant saying I will build thee an house therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this praier unto thee Now if David were not only emboldned to ask but even assured to receive mercy because God promised to build him a house that is to prosper his estate and family how much more might Job be encouraged to pray for and expect mercy from the hand of God because God had already framed and built that naturall house his body The Prophet Isaiah being about to plead with God for new mercies presents him with a catalogue of his old mercies Chap. 63.7 8 9. I will mention the loving kindenesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord according to all that the Lord hath done unto us and the great goodnesse towards the house of Israel which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving kindenesses c. Having thus at large told the Lord what he had done the Prophet in a holy zeal contends with him about what he was doing vers 15. Look down from heaven and behold fromâ— the habitation of thy holinesse and of thy glory where is thy zeal and thy strength the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies towards me Are they restrained Doubtlesse thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us c. As if he had said That great sea of thy goodnesse hath sent out abundant streams of good things heretofore and are all those streams now dried up and the springs exhausted What 's become of thy zeal and strength and compassions Are they all spent and gone Thus Job seems to plead here thine hands have made me Et sic repentè praecipitas me Vulg. Antithesi beneficiorum amplissimorum in se à Domino collatoruÌ„ exaggerat iram qua nunc in se desaevit ac afflictiones quibus exagitatur Jun. thou hast done thus and thus for me and wilt thou now destroy me According to this interpretation the later clause of the verse is rendered by an interrogation Thine hands have made me and fashioned me and dost thou yet destroy me What thou my maker destroy me Remember I beseech thee so in the next verse that thou hast made me as the clay and wilt thou bring me into the dust again Thus by a specification of the great outward benefits which he had received from the hand of God he seems to aggravate his present sorrows and to solicite future mercies Thine hands Hands are often ascribed to God as was shewed vers 3. Many things are made with the hand The maker of all things is without hands and yet he is all hand Hence all things that were made are said to be made by the hands of God not only the forming of man but the forming of the heavens and of the earth is the work of his hand Psal 102.25 Psal 95.5 both are put together Isa 48.13 Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth and my right hand hath spanned the heavens Wheresoever the great works of God are exprest a hand usually is exprest as the instrument working them yet his hand wrought the least as well as the greatest a worm of the earth as well as man upon the earth or the Angels in heaven The heads of men have run into great variety of opinion about these hands forming man First Many of the Ancients understand by the hands of God Ambros in Hexam Hom. 11. Basil c. The Sonne of God the second Person in the Trinity and the holy spirit of God who is the third Thine hands have made me that is the Sonne and the holy Spirit who were assistant to and of counsell with the Father at the Creation of man And God said Let us make man in our image after our likenes Gen. 1.26 Others expound hands literally and formally not as if God had hands that 's below their conceit but thus It hath been said of old that when God at first formed man the Sonne took upon him an outward shape or the shape of a man and so say they Christ not made man but in the form of man formed man Thirdly The hands of God are all second causes which God useth toward the production of any effect Causis secundis veluti quibusdaÌ„
nulla mihi illaâ—o injuria Bol. Take the words as a direct assertion Thou wilt bring me into the dust again So they may have reference to the decree of God concerning man as those before had to the creation of man As if he had said By creation and naturall constitution I am frail and weak made of the clay by thy purpose and decree I am appointed unto death Thou wilt bring me into the dust again therefore spare me for the short time I have to live Some change the conjunction And into the adverb of likenesse so to note a right power or priviledge and the text runs in this form Remember that as thou hast made me of or as the clay so thou maist it is thy priviledge none can contradict thee in it and thou doest me no wrong in it thou maiest as thou hast purposed bring me to the dust again Though it be common and naturall to all creatures mixt of elements to be resolved and turned back into that out of which they were made that is to die yet to man it is more then naturall there is a decree upon it besides the naturality of it Man dieth by a statute-law of heaven To die is a penalty inflicted upon man for sinne for he had not been under a necessity of dying if he had not sinned And therefore though God formed man as the holy story informs us Gen. 2.7 out of the dust of the earth yet so long as man stood he never said to him To dust thou shalt return God only put a supposition that in case man did fall he should surely die But when man had fallen by sin then he hears what he was and what he must be For dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return Gen. 3.19 As if God had thus bespoken sinfull man Thy body was framed out of dust and now I charge this burden upon thee thou shalt return to the dust again It is a Question and I shall touch upon it Whether death were naturall to man or no Whether man were made mortall or whether he made himself mortall Some affirm That death was naturall not accidentall or occasionall to man-kinde They argue for this opinion First thus Adam died not the death of the body or a naturall death when he had sinned therefore the death of the body was not inflicted for sin upon his person and his posterity but was seated in or a consequent of his nature I answer Though Adam died not presently a naturall death yet he was presently made subject or liable unto death the sentence was past upon him though the sentence was not executed upon him A malefactour who is cast at the barre is a dead man in law though he be reprieved from the present stroke of death Again Though death it self did not instantly seize upon him yet the symptoms of death and tokens of mortality did Fear and shame pains and distempers sweat and wearinesse quickly shewed themselves as so many harbingers or forerunners of his approaching dissolution we see and feel death in these before we see or feel death it self These bid us prepare our bodies for the grave and our souls for heaven Secondly Others reason thus Christ hath delivered his people the elect from all that punishment which the sin of Adam did contract and deserve but Christ hath not delivered his elect his own people from turning to the dust Godly men die as well as the ungodly believers as well as infidels therefore say they the death of the body was not procured by sin I answer Whatsoever is an evil in death Christ hath delivered his people from he hath taken away all that from death which is punishment or annoiance though death be not taken away Christ hath freed us from the effects of sin as he hath freed us from sin it self that is from their prevalence and dominion over us not from their presence or being in and upon us Hence the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. triumpheth over death O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory As if he had said Death once had a power over man to sting him to death death once had a victorious power and would have bin the great conquerour riding in triumph over all the posterity of Adam but now death hath neither sting nor sword to use against believers it hath nothing of victory over the Saints It is now but a sleep a sleep in Christ a rest from labour a putting off the rags the worn rags of mortality that we may be dress'd in the robes of glory The evil of death is removed and that which remains of death the separation of soul and body proves the greatest good to both it being but a preparatory to their everlasting union Thirdly It is argued That death and corruption were naturall to man because the matter out of which man was made was dying and corruptible Omne principiatum sequitur naturam principiorum for that which is made must follow the nature of that principle out of which it is made The effect cannot be say they more noble then the cause nor the subject constituted more durable then that which goes into its constitution To clear up an answer to this we must distinguish of a three-fold immortality 1. A primitive simple independent essentiall immortality this is proper and peculiar to God in which sense the Apostle affirmeth He only hath immortality 1 Tim. 6.16 2. There is a derivative dependant essentiall immortality Some substances have no seed of corruptibility nor of death in them Being either separate from all matter which is the seat and root of corruption as the Angels or united to matter yet so as not being produced from it or having any affinity with it such are the souls of men Whole man in his creation was not immortall either of these waies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graec. Int. a part of man was but man was not created immortall Man was of a middle state and condition neither altogether so mortall nor altogether immortall but capable of either 3. There is an immortality by the power or gift by the mercy or justice of God The power and justice of God shall give an immortality to the bodies of the damned in hell they shall ever live a dying life who were dead all while they lived They who have slighted the mercy of God shall be upheld by his power to endure his justice to all eternity wicked men would have sinned with delight for ever upon the earth if they could have lived for ever upon the earth and they shall live for ever with pain in hell to suffer for their sinne The power goodnesse and mercy of God shall much more give immortality to the bodies of the Saints in glory they who have had a will to delight in obeying God that short time they lived on earth shall have a power to live for ever in delight praising God in heaven The body of man
q d. in me jam seme◠mortuo pene confecto Merc. my pains know not only no period but no pause I have storm upon storm grief upon grief here much and there much I am all waies and everywhere again afflicted though already half-dead with affliction Whence observe God doth often renew the same or send new afflictions upon his choisest servants One would think that light should follow darknesse and day succeed the night that though sorrow continue all the night yet joy should come in the morning that after wounding we should have healing and after sicknesse health So they promised themselves Hos 6.1 Come and let us return unto the Lord for he hath torn and he will heal us he hath smitten and he will binde us up yet many have felt wounding after wounds and smiting after blows darknesse hath stept after darknesse and their sorrow hath had a succession of greater sorrows It was a speciall favour to Paul when Epaphroditus was restored Phil. 2.27 He was sick nigh unto death but saith he God had mercy on him and not on him only but on me also and why Lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow God would not do what some of his enemies thought to do adde affliction to his bonds therefore he healed Pauls helper and kept him alive in whom he so much delighted Sorrow upon sorrow is a mournfull bearing yet many a precious Saint hath born that coat The promise to the Church is That her peace shall be as a river and her prosperity as the waves of the sea Isa 66.12 When the Church shall come to her full beauty and attain a perfect restauration then her peace shall be a continued peace she shall have peace upon peace everlasting successions of peace a river being supplied and fed with a constant stream the waters that flow to day will flow again to morrow peace like a river is peace peace or perpetuall peace Sions peace shall not be as a land-floud soon up and as soon down again but as a river and which yet heightens it her prosperity shall be as the waves of the sea If the winde do but stir upon the face of the sea you shall have wave upon wave waves rolling and riding one upon the back of another Such shall be the prosperity of Zion on earth for a time and such it will be for ever in heaven there peace shall be as a river to eternity and prosperity as the waves of the sea joy upon joy and comfort upon comfort riding and rolling one upon the back of another As it shall be thus with the peace of the Church at last so it may be with the afflictions of the Church or of any member of the Church at present Their afflictions may be as a river and their sorrows as the waves of the sea coming on again and again renewed as often as abated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mirabilis sis in me Again Thou shewest thy self wonderfull or marvellous against or upon me Both renderings are consistent with the originall Marvellous upon me That is thou dost not punish or afflict me in an ordinary way Marvels are not every daies work Thou takest a new a strange course to try me such afflictions as mine have no parallel such have scarce been heard of or recorded in the history of any age Who hath heard of such a thing as this thou seemest to design me for a president to posterity Mirificum fit spectaculum homo qui tam dira patitur tam constanti invictoque animo or to shew in my example what thou canst do upon a creature Thou shewest thy self marvellous upon me As Moses speaks concerning Korah Dathan and Abiram when they murmured and mutined against him and against Aaron If these men die the common death of all men or if they be visited after the visitation of all men then the Lord hath not sent me but if the Lord make a new thing and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up then c. The Lord to manifest his extream displeasure against those mutineers did as it were devise a new kinde of death for them If these men die the common or the ordinary death of all men then the Lord hath not sent me These men have given a new example of sinne and surely God will make them a new example of punishment Iob speaks the same sense Thou shewest thy self marvellous upon me thou wilt not be satisfied in afflicting me after the rate or measure of other men All the Saints should do some singular thing and many of them suffer some singular thing The Apostle assures his Corinthians 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation taken you but that which is common to man Iob seems to speak the contrary A temptation hath taken me which is not common to man Further These words Thou art marvellous upon me have reference to God who sent those afflictions as well as unto the afflictions which he sent As if he had said Lord thou actest now besides thy nature and thy custom thou art mercifull and thou delightest in mercy Thou art good and thou doest good how or whence is it then that thou art so fierce against me and pourest out so many evils upon me I could not knowing thee as I do have beleeved though it had been told me that thou wouldest have been so rigorous and incompassionate if a professed enemy had done this he had done like himself and had been no wonder unto me But now as thou hast afflicted me till I am become a wonder unto many so thou O Lord art become a wonder unto me and to all who hear how thou hast afflicted me Meek Moses made himself a wonder when he broke out in anger Every man is wondered at when he doth that which he is not enclined to doe or not used to do Is it not a wonder to see the patient God angry the mercifull God severe the compassionate God inexorable Thus saith Iob Thou shewest thy self marvellous upon me Hence observe First That some afflictions of the Saints are wonderfull afflictions As God doth not often send his people strange deliverances and works wonders to preserve them so he sends them many strange afflictions and works wonders to trouble them And as many punishments of sin upon wicked men so some trials of grace upon godly men are very wonderfull The Lord threatneth the Jews Deut. 28.59 that he would make their plagues wonderfull he would make strange work among them And he saith of Ierusalem I will wipe it as a man wipeth a dish wiping it and turning it up-side down or wiping it and turning it upon the face thereof 2 King 21.13 To see a great City handled like a little dish or a strong Nation turned topsie turvy as we say or the bottom upwards is a strange thing It is an ordinary thing to see cups platters turned up-side down but it is not ordinary to see Kingdoms and Nations
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
oppose or stay him But as I have cleared by those former instances God is so strong wise and just that all the powers of heaven Cum robust issimae illae creaturae moÌ„tes mare coeli ei cedaÌ„t et quaecunque rohore efferuntur praestant quanto minus egâ—â— Merl. the sea the mountains and the pillars of the earth the Sunne Moon and Stars together with the greatest and mightiest of the children of men are not able to resist him Therefore I a poor weak creature lying here in this sad condition am not able nor have I any design to do it Only the conclusion of this syllogisme is exprest in the fourteenth and fifteenth verses the premisses are couched in the foregoing context Here take notice in generall that Job fals in the conclusion somewhat below the premisses There the intendment was to demonstrate strongest creatures unable to resist the power of God But Job speaks lower of himself I am so farre from being able to set my strength against the strength of God that I acknowledge I am not able to hold discourse with him or to speak with him about these things I have not only no power to oppose but I have no words to oppose him Verse 14. How much lesse shall I answer him and chuse out my words to reason with him Si robusti nihil valent contra illum quanto minus ego debi lis infirmus homuncio Dâ—u How much lesse The word is used in the fourth Chapter How much lesse in them that dwell in houses of clay Both Texts bear the same sense If he charge his angels with folly and put no trust in those his servants then how much lesse in them who dwell in houses of clay So the argument lies here If those mighty and powerfull creatures and the mightiest of the children of men are not able to contend with God Nunquam animo finxi quod vos de me fingitis me posse aut velle illi ex aequo respondere pâ—ned How much lesse shall I answer him and chuse out my words to reason with him As if he had said It never so much as canâ—â— into my thoughts to contend with God I confesse I have complained grievously about my troubles and have spoken some things unadvisedly but it never entred into my heart to quarrell with God or stand in battell aray against him no not so much as in a battell of words How much lesse shall I answer Shall I answer There is a two-fold answering both appliable to this Text. First There is an answering by way of fact a reall answer or answering to a condition Thus one man answers another that is of equall power and strength of the same measure in abilities and gifts with him Thus also as Solomon speaks Prov. 27.19 Face answers face in the water that is the face seen in the water is of the same feature and complexion with that which looks upon the water Thus bodies and buildings answer one another when they carry the same dimensions and thus money answers all things because it bears value with every thing Secondly There is answering by word which is two-fold First Contradictory Secondly Satisfactory The former is that which the Apostle forbids servants to use Tit. 2.9 Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters and to please them well in all things not answering again Servants cannot plaase their masters unlesse they answer to what they are demanded and they cannot please their masters if they oppose what is duly commanded this answering again is unseemly in servants The later kinde of answering is that which the Apostle Peter charges upon all Christians 1 Epist 3.15 Be alwaies ready to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meeknesse and fear To answer thus is every mans duty both to God and man To answer by contradicting the command of God is rebellion To answer by satisfying the demands of God is a duty To answer by a proportion to the power or wisdom of God is infinitely beyond mans ability Job abhor'd the first he was ready as well as he could to perform the second and therefore Job is chiefly to be understood of the third How much lesse shall I answer him That is I doe not look upon my self as a match for God as if I had strength proportionable to his strength or wisdome sutable to his as if I could thunder like him I do not thinke that I am able to answer his reason by my reason no I am so farre from an ability to answer him with reason that I know not how to chuse out words to reason with him How much lesse shall answer him c. From the whole observe before I come to particulars A godly mans tâ—oughts are lowest of himself Job had gone thorow the severall series of the creatures and finding them unable to contend with God concludes himself more unable then they Doubtlesse he might have answered God as well as any If any are able to contend with God godly men are they have the greatest strength Such of them especially as Job a man of that height and elevation of spirit in holinesse of whom God had given his word That there was none like him in the earth What creature except an Angel came so nigh the Creatour as Job and yet when he had looked over them all he saith How much lesse shall I He thought any one might enter the lists and contend with the Lord better then he Man having reason is more able then all the irrationall creatures and amongst men godly men and among godly men they who reach the highest degrees of godlinesse are most able and yet Job a man set upon the top and pinacle of all perfection attainable in this life saith How much lesse shall I They of whom God hath the highest thoughts have the meanest thoughts of and put the lowest rates upon themselves No man ever received a fairer or more valuable certificate from God then Job did and yet no man could speak more undervaluingly of himself then Job did Secondly Observe The more we know God the more humble we are before him Job having much knowledge of God quickly found out his own utter insufficiency to deal with God How much lesse shall I answer him Not that he had lesse ability to answer God then others but being more acquainted with God and living nearer God then others he saw his own insufficiency more then others The more communion we have with God the more knowledge we have of God the lesse and the lower we are in our own eyes The reason why men are so full of pride is because they are strangers from God they know nothing of him as they ought And proportionably as any one is further distant from or more ignorant of God the more doth pride prevail upon him even as humility grows more humble in proportion to his nearer approaches