or abide in him or no. And Bellarmine in his 5th book and 5th Chapter concerning justification citeth it to prove That a believer cannot know that he is justified but must believe blinde-fold or take the work of justification by grace in the dark For saith he God goeth by us and we see him not he passeth on and we perceive him not Allenâ—ssi â—e huÌ„c locum citat Bellarâ—inus ut probet nuâ—uÌ„ fidâ—lem scire an justificatus sit Coc. That is as his glosse speaks God commeth in favour to justifie or he leaveth under wrath and yet man remains ignorant both of the one and of the other state Surely he was at a great pinch to finde a proof for his point when he was forced to repair to this Scripture to seek one Providence toward man-kinde not the justification of a sinner is the proper subject of this text And as there is nothing for a blinde-fold justification here so many other Scriptures are expresly against it To say that a man cannot know when God loveth him or shineth upon him is to contradict what our Saviour asserts Joh. 14.17 I will send the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but ye know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you Ye know him saith Christ to his people the Saints see God in a spirituall sense or in his workings upon their spirits And though God works much upon our spirits which we know not yet we have a promise of the Spirit by whom we know God in his workings Few know when God is nigh or when he is a farre off what his goings away mean or what his commings But when he cometh to the Saints they know he commeth and when he hideth or departeth from them they know his hidings and departures Hence their joies and over-flowings of comfort when he manifests his presence and hence their bitter complainings and cryings after him where he seems to absent himself and hide his face yet this Text hath a truth in it in reference to the inward and spirituall as well as the outward and providentiall dealings of God that sometimes He goeth by us and we see him not he passeth on also and we perceive him not Hence learn First That God is invisible in his essence and incomprehensible in many of his actions Mans eie cannot see him Mans understanding cannot comprehend what he doth But why speaks Job this as a matter of wonder if it be the common condition of man-kinde Behold he passeth by and I see him not who can see him who can perceive or comprehend him When Moses Exod. 33.20 desired to see his face the Lord answers No man can see my face and live God spake to Moses face to face that is familiarly as a man speaketh to his friend yet Moses did not could not see the face of God No man can see God in his essence or nature A sight of God would astonish yea swallow up the creature It is death to see the living God and man must die before he can see God so fully as he may and know as he is known But though the face of God be invisible yet his back-parts may be seen Behold saith the Lord to Moses there is a place by me stand thou there upon a rock and thou shalt see my back-parts thou shalt see much of my glory shining forth as much as thou canst bear as much as will satisfie thy desire were it a thousand times larger then it is though not so much as thou hast not knowing what thou askest desired of me My Name shall be proclaimed Gracious and mercifull c. the back-parts of God may be seen the invisible God discovereth much of himself to man and shews us a shadow of that substance which cannot be seen Some may object that of the Prophet Isaias crying out Woe unto me for mine eies have seen the King the Lord of hosts Chap. 6.5 Seen him could Isaias see him whom Job and Moses could not Isaias did not see him in his essence and nature but in the manifestations and breakings forth of his glory His train filled the Temple saith the Text vers 1. or his skirts It is an allusion to great Kings who when they walk in State have their trains or the skirt of their royall robe held up T' was this train which Isaias saw He saw not God who was present but he saw the manifest signs of his presence That speech of Isaiah seemed to savour of and border upon highest blasphemy and was therefore charged as an article of accusation against him he was indited of blasphemy for speaking those words I have seen the Lord his enemies taking or wresting it as if he had made the Lord corporeall and visible with the eie of the body And it is conceived he was put to death upon that and one other passage in his prophecy Cha. 1.10 calling the Princes of Judah Princes of Sodom and the people thereof the people of Gomorrah But though God be thus invisible in his essence yet there is a way by which the essence of God may be seen And of that Moses to whom the Lord said Thou canst not see my face the Authour to the Hebrews saith Heb. 11.24 That he saw him who was invisible the letter of the text carries a contradiction in the adjunct it is as much as if one should say He saw that which could not be seen The meaning is He saw him by the eye of faith who could not be seen by the eye of sense faith sees not only the back-parts but the face of Jehovah the essence of God is as clear to that eye as any of his attributes yea his essence is as plain to faith as any of his works are to sense Thus he is seen Whom no man hath seen nor can see 1 Tim. 6.16 not the Saints in heaven they are not able to see the Lord in his essence He passeth by them there and they see him not in heaven we are promised a sight of him yet not that fight Blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall see God and without holinesse no man shall see the Lord then holy men shall see him the state of the Saints in glory is vision as here it is faith 2 Cor. 13.12 We shall see him face to face and as he is 1 Joh. 3.2 These Scriptures which speak of the estate of the Saints beholding God in glory are not to be understood as if the nature and essence of God could be seen for no man hath seen that nor ever shall but they are meant of a more full and glorious manifestation of God We shall see then face to face that is more plainly for it is opposed to seeing him in a glasse we see him now in a glasse that is darkly in ordinances in duties in his word and in his works but there shall be no need of these glasses in heaven We
seemed to depart farre from the Church of the Jews with how much fervency do they cry after him Isa 51.9 Awake awake put on strength O arm of the Lord awake as in the ancient daies c They double and treble it upon him and cry with an out-stretched voice Art not thou he that hath cut Rahab and wounded the dragon What a clamour what a holy stirre was here to awaken God God himself sometimes seems as it were willing to take his rest as when he said to Moses Let me alone he spake like a man that is in bed or very sleepy Doe not trouble me let me alone as he in the Gospel Luk. 11.7 when he was awakened in the night to come and give bread unto his neighbour Doe not trouble me saith he the doors are shut and I am in bed with my children I cannot rise and give thee let me alone Thus in some sense the Lord expresses himself to his people I am now in bed doe not trouble me Let me alone What must we do in this case We must knock harder at the door as he in the Gospel did For whom though his neighbour would not rise and give him because he was his friend yet because of his importunity he rises and gives him as many loaves as he needed We must be the more importunate to awake God by how much he seems more unwilling to hear us our modesty in this case pleases him not we must call and call again He will take it well at our hands if we doe so We must give our selves no rest and let him take none so the Prophet resolves Isa 62.1 For Jerusalems sake I will take no rest I will never give over praying and at the sixth verse I have set watchmen upon thy wals O Jerusalem which shall never hold their peace day nor night you that make mention of the Lord keep not silence and give him no rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth If the Lord should carry it in the present answers of his providence as if he were willing to rest and desired not to be troubled in this businesse be not you so put off but with a holy boldnesse and confidence come to him and awaken him take no answer till ye have an answer He is best pleased and most at ease when in prayer we give him no rest Lastly Observe If God doe but awake for us all is presently well with us If the eye of God be upon us for good that brings us in all good therefore Zech. 2. ult when the Church was in her return from Babylon the Prophet concludes with an exultation of spirit Be silent O all flesh before the Lord for he is raised up out of his holy habitation it is this word He is awaked out of his holy habitation now be silent O all flesh before the Lord All flesh ye that are the wicked of the world ye that are enemies be ye silent leave your boasting your reproaching and blaspheming for the Lord is awaked now he begins to stirre for his people he will stop your mouths shortly All flesh takes in the Church and people of God too O be ye silent in regard of your fears and doubtings murmurings and distracted complainings silence all these why The Lord is awaked he is raised up out of his holy habitation that is he that seemed before to confine himself to those higher regions and as the Atheist speaks in Job to walk in the circle of the heavens not intermedling with the earth This God is now awaked he is raised out of his holy habitation and now ye shall know that he orders all things here below therefore be silent O all flesh When Christ was asleep Matth. 8.25 A grievous tempest arose saith the text insomuch as the Ship was covered with waves When storms and tempests are upon the Church God is then asleep though even then he directs the storms and gives law to the proud waves But what did the Disciples in this storm They awoke Christ Master save us we perish and assoon as ever Christ was awakened He rebuked the storme and there was a great calm Thus when we are tost up and down with contrary windes and in danger to be split and sunke if God once awake all is calm How quietly may they sleep for whom God wakes I doe not say they should sleep carelesly but confidently they may God doth not wake for us to the intent we should sleep in security but we may sleepe quietly when He shewes himselfe awake for us who indeed never slumbereth nor sleepeth And if God awake not for us all our watchfulnesse is as uselesse to us as our sleepinesse The watchman waketh but in vain except the Lord keep the City Except he awake our watching can doe no good and if he awake good will come though we be asleep It is our duty to be carefull and it is our comfort that the care of God is enough for us The eye of divine providence helps us in many humane improvidences What their happinesse is for whom God awakes see in the next words He will make the habitation of thy righteousnesse prosperous This is the second degree or step of mercy promised when the Lord awakes he vvill awake to purpose We say of some men Early up and never the near They awake and doe little work but if God awakes see what he doth He will make the habitation of thy righteousnesse prosperous Some of the Rabbins understand these words as a description of the soul The habitation of thy righteousnesse that is Anima est justitiae omniū virtutum domicilium Aben. Ezr. thy soul shall prosper because the soul is the proper seat of righteousnesse and holinesse Righteousnesse belongeth to the inward man Righteousnesse being a spirituall thing is housed and lodged in the spirit that 's the habitation of it There are others of the Jews who take this habitation of righteousnes for the body because the body is the habitation of the soul in which righteousnesse is seated and so the habitation of righteousnesse by a second remove is the outward man The Lord shall blesse thy body which now lieth in a wofull plight distemper'd and disfigured with sores and sicknesses But rather take the word habitation in those two ordinary Scripture-senses either strictly for the place where Job dwelt or more largely for all that did belong unto him The habitation of a man is all his estate and all that appertains to his estate He will make thy habitation that is thy children thy servants thy fields thy cattell thy stock thy all to be prosperous 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Chaldee Paraphrase readeth Significat domū vel speciem pul chritudinem justitiae tuae Tar. He will make thy beautifull place to be prosperous The word signifies beauty as well as an habitation as was shewed upon Chap. 5. ver 3. thither I referre the Reader
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
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„
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
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.
perfect Whereas in other places he justifies himself and saith that he was perfect if you read the 29th and 30th Chapters of this book you shall finde them to be but a continued justification of himself or a manifest of his own innocency There he proclaims how holy he had been and how righteous in all his waies that he had put on judgement as a robe and justice as a diadem that he had delivered the oppressed and distributed of his fulnesse to the necessities of the poor Those two Chapters being a professed Catalogue of his good deeds why is he so shie and modest here I answer In this and the like expressions Pius sensus pulchrè expressus in hac Jobi disputatione nunc peccatum suum dimisse confiteÌ„ t is nuÌ„c justitiaÌ„ suam acerrimè defendeâ—tis Merl. while Job saith He will not justifie himself or say he is perfect he declines the plea of personall righteousnesse or perfection in the sight of God as hath frequently appeared in this argument But in those Chapters and in other places where he is upon his defence he speaks only in reference to the charge of his friends As if he had said Ye accuse me for an hypocrite and censure me deeply I can justifie my self and plead my innocency with you though I have not a word to say for my self before the Lord I will bear any thing at his hands let him say of me and doe with me what he pleaseth I will take shame to my self and give him glory but as for you my friends I will justifie my self in your sight I am not the man ye take me for These speakings are not crosse to each other but helps us to understand Jobs sense in this argument He stands much upon his integrity but it is to his friends he humbles himself in the sight of his own vilenesse but it is to God Paul Rom. 7.24 bewails his sinfulnesse O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of sinne and of death I finde a law in my members rebelling against the law of my minde Yet when he answers false Apostles about his personall carriage and the discharge of his Apostleship then he saith I know nothing by my self 1 Cor. 4.4 I am charged thus and thus I am slandered so and so but my conscience acquits me I know nothing by my self The sinfulnesse of his nature made him groan and sigh out O wretched man that I am The sincerity of his heart made him boast and sing out like a happy man as sorrowfull but alwaies rejoycing A man may be conscious of his own naturall corruption and yet confident of his own practicall integrity If I say I am perfect it shall also prove me perverse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These words in strictnesse of sense referre to the inward purpose of his heart ad facta 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad animuâ— referuntur or bent of his minde as the former did to the outward way of his life If I say I am perfect that is if I say there is no meditated obliquity in my heart no intended goings astray or wanderings no close hypocrisie or falsenesse there if I should say I am perfect in the bent and purposes of my heart yet this is not such as I dare appear before God in As if I justifie my self by the actings and puttings forth of my life My mouth will condemn me So if I say I am perfect in the thinkings and secret motions of my spirit it will prove me perverse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word which we translate perverse signifies to wander as a man uncertain of his way Prov. 28.18 Who so walketh uprightly having the frame of his inward man right he shall be saved Qui certo est proposito 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 qui vago diverso qui se dividit distorquet in duas vias Coc. In Hebraâ—o simplex est perversuaevit me but he that is perverse in his waies having a wandering vagrant minde going sometime this way and sometime that holding somewhat of this and somewhat of that but nothing to purpose or steadily of any thing this man shall fall at once a man of an uncertain spirit shall have a certain downfall But was Job thus perverse No Job was perfect and not perverse yet a boast of his perfection had been a proof of his perversenesse Nothing discovers an evil heart more then a profession of it's own goodnesse It shall prove me perverse What shall prove me perverse Some referre it to the former clause My mouth or the speaking of those words I am perfect shall prove me perverse Penversus evadaâ— Others referre it to God God will prove me perverse if I justifie my self The Seventy leave it without restriction to any antecedent If I say I am perfect I shall go away perverse or I shall appear perverse Observe hence that famous Gospel-doctrine No man can be justified before God by the works of the law Nobilis locus clarissimè ostendens neminem ex lege justificari Coc. It is as noble a proof of free justification in the old Testament as any in the new The Saints have been acquainted with this truth from the beginning That man is nothing in himself and that free grace doth all The doctrine of free grace is no new doctrine the doctrine of free will is Prov. 20.9 Who can say I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sinne And that he must say who justifies himself before God Every legall justiciary takes up this language I have made my heart clean I am pure from my sinne It is a task too hard for men yea for all the Angels in heaven to make one heart clean only Jesus Christ is able to fetch out the filth and rubbish that lodgeth in and pollutes our spirits To be a heart cleanser is the peculiar work and honour of Christ. Quot tenebrae quot nubes quot maculae quem non pudebit si fidem suam innocentiam ad illustre illud legis speculum contempletur Coc. A man that knows himself and sees his face in the glasse of the word which flatters no man will never say I am clean nor will he say I can cleanse my self How many spots and blots how many defects and deformities will that glasse represent unto him which he is not able to heal or fetch out Every mans face will blush who sees his heart or his life in that glasse unlesse he Who beholding himself goeth his way and straight way forgetteth what manner of man he was Jam. 1.24 Secondly Observe Job had received testimony from God He could produce Letters testimoniall subscribed by the hand of heaven that he was a just and a perfect man one that feared God and eschewed evil Yet this Job let God speak as well as he will of him will not
will lay aside my heavinesse I will comfort my self It is a hard thing to comfort others Luther said It is as easie a work to raise the dead as to comfort the conscience but it is harder for a man to comfort himself Eliphaz gave testimony to Job in the fourth Chapter vers 3 4. that he had upholden him that was falling and had strengthned the feeble knees But now it is come upon thee and thou faintest it toucheth thee and thou art troubled Thou who hast holpen others canst not help thy self Yet here Job was upon a resolve to comfort himself I answer Though it be a truth that no man is able to comfort himself no more then he can convert himself and that a man is no more able to change his heart from sorrow to joy then he is able to change his heart from sin to grace yet a man may attempt or assay he may use means to comfort himself When Job saith I will comfort my self the meaning is I will doe the utmost I can I will not be behinde in my endeavours I will take the best course and improve all opportunities to get out of these dumps whosoever will prescribe me a way or direct me to a remedy of these sorrows I will submit to it I will comfort my self From whence note That What a man really endeavoureth to doe that he may be said to doe I will comfort my self Why Because though he were not able to attain such an end Joy and comfort lieth beyond the line of the creature yet he reached at it he attempted and assaied all means to comfort himself Thus the salvation of a man is ascribed to himself A man is said to save himself though salvation belongeth to the Lord even temporall salvation but especially eternall salvation yet a man may be said to save himself As the Apostle 1 Epist 4.16 exhorts Timothy to walk by a holy rule to settle himself in his studies to read the Scriptures and to meditate in them to be faithfull in dispensing of the Gospel assuring him If thou dost these things thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee Save thy self No man can be his own Saviour he may be as well his own Creatour Timothy was thus encouraged because in so doing he did all that a man ought who expects salvation That was the way to though not the cause of salvation Salvation is all Christs yet he who doth his best to save himself may be said to save himself Thus also a man comforts himself converts himself instructs himself when he putteth himself out to the utmost of gifts graces and opportunities to doe or attain duties and blessings No man saith the Prophet doth stir himself up to take hold of the Lord. The word in the Prophet signifies to awake or to watch no man wakes or watches his opportunity to take hold of the Lord. It notes also that action of old birds who flutter with their wings and beat up their young ones to urge and provoke them to use their wings and flie abroad Thus he complained because the lazy dull-hearted Jews did not raise up and waken their hearts to doe what they could though to doe it was more then they could Secondly Observe That a man in affliction may help on his comforts or his sorrows I will comfort my self I will leave off my heavinesse Some adde to their afflictions and are active to aggravate and encrease them they make their night darker and obscure the light of counsell that is brought unto them they joyn with Satan their enemy and by the black melancholy vapours of their own hearts stifle the consolations that are administred them by faithfull friends Like Rachel Jer. 31. they refuse to be comforted when reviving Cordials are offered they spill them upon the ground and will not take in a drop they are so farre from comforting themselves that they will not receive comfort from others The Prophet seems to be resolved upon the point he would go on in sorrows Look away from me I will weep bitterly labour not to comfort me Isa 22.4 As sometimes a man under great affliction bespeaks comfort from others O I am in a sad case come comfort me shew me how I may get ease from these sorrows Many beg praiers and send bils of their afflictions desiring to have them spread before the Lord in the Congregation that some comfort may be dropt from heaven into their diseased bodies or wounded spirits Others sleight praiers and care not to be comforted as if it were an ease to them to mourn and a refreshing to be in heavinesse There is a two-fold ground upon which comforts are thus put off 1. Some put off their comforts upon fullennesse of spirit black and dark spirits love to bathe themselves in sorrow Sorrow is the bath of drooping spirits and it is Satans bath too Melancholly is commonly called The devils bath he takes delight to wash in the streams of our unnecessary tears Sorrow for sinne puts the devil to the greatest sorrow Godly grief is a grief to Satan but he delighteth in our worldly sorrows as the devil may be delighted if he have delight in any thing this is one thing he delights in our forbidden sorrows Some sorrows are as much forbidden as any pleasures The devil is as much pleased with our unlawfull sorrows as he is with our unlawfull pleasures And he labours as much to make us pleased with them 2. Others help on their own sorrows and lessen their comforts through forgetfulnesse or ignorance they as the Apostle chides the Hebrews Chap. 12.5 have forgotten the exhortation which speaks unto them as unto children Now as wicked men rejoyce because they forget or know not their ill condition So godly men are sad when they forget or know not how good their condition is Yet Job supposes the review of his good estate would neither check his sorrows nor establish his peace If I say I will forget my complaint I will comfort my self I am afraid of all my sorrows Thirdly Observe Man is not able to comfort himself we can make our selves crosses but we cannot make our selves comforts A man may say as Job did Chap. 7.13 to his bed comfort me or to his riches comfort me or to his wine and good chear comfort me or to his friends comfort me He may say to all outward acts of pleasure to merry company and musick eomfort me Yea a Saint may say to his graces and holinesse comfort me and yet none of these can comfort him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or they comfort him in vain Timuit expavit prae metu se abstrahere timorem denâ—tat imminentis calamitatis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat dolore affiâ—ere interdum figurare Qui materiam aliquam ut lucum vel ceram figurat manibus digitis is illam premendo quasi dolore afficit Bold Est elegans metaphora verba alicujus figurare nam
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
can see We may see a thing and not know what we see But the eye of the Lord seeth and discerneth at all distances There are none so neer him but he knows what they are neernesse doth not hinder his sight and there are none so farre from him but he can discover what they are remotenesse doth not hinder his sight And indeed all things are present with him as in time so in place God is nearest Deus non soluâ— est proximus objecto sed est intimè cum illo conjunctut even next to every object He is in every place yet not included by any he is in every thing yet not mixed with any Prov. 15.3 The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good His eies are upon the waies of man he seeth all his goings Job 34.21 and that this seeing is a distinguishing sight another Scripture clears to us His eye-lids try the children of men Psal 11.5 Let them be what they will and where they will his eye-lids do not only see but try that is he hath a distinct and a certain knowledge or a criticall sight of the state and condition of every man 5. Man seeth but the colour and skin the face and out-side of things or persons but God seeth the in-sides and looks into the very bowels of them He is a searcher and discerner of the heart He seeth the spirit as soon as the face Our clothes are not more open to him then our brests and bosoms An Heathen wished for a window there and if we had windows there we could not see what 's there An eye of flesh cannot reade the meaning of our spirits but the Lord can look into the heart without a window yea we are all window to him and he at every turn looks not only upon us but into us It was prophecied of Christ Isa 11.3 He shall not judge after the sight of his eyes neither reprove after the hearing of his ears that is he shall not judge as a meer man but as God he shall not judge according to fair appearances or flying reports He shall judge with righteousnesse and reprove with equity Man whose eyes are of flesh should not judge according to appearance yet because his eyes are of flesh he cannot judge of that which doth not appear But God who calleth those things which are not as if they were judgeth of those things which appear not as if they did appear 6. An eye of flesh may be deceived The sight of man is subject to manifold deceptions Many things put a stop to the sight of the eye The eye of man is in danger of as many fallacies as the understanding and the understanding is entangled with many fallacies by the eye But there is no errour in the sight of God nor any deception of his eye you cannot by any art or device by any policy or hypocrisie by any masques or disguises by any simulations or dissimulations make that appear to him which is not or make it appear to him otherwise then it is The heart of man saith the Lord is deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked who can know it only the Lord who makes can answer this challenge so he doth in the next words I the Lord search the heart I try the reins even to give every man according to his waies and according to the fruit of his doings How can that which is deceitfull receive according to its doings but by knowing all its doings and all it's deceits As the tongue the greatest troubler of the world no man can tame so the heart the greatest impostour in the world no man can discover but God and he can do it easily and doth it continually 7. When it is said the Lord hath not eyes of flesh he seeth not as man seeth the meaning is his knowledge is not imperfect as the knowledge of man is An eye of flesh hath bin but a while and can be but a while and therefore cannot attain much knowledge We are but of yesterday and know nothing saith Bilaad c. 8. He that hath but little experience must needs have more then a little ignorance Experience breeds knowledge and brings to perfection in knowledge The eye of God is from everlasting If he had not as he hath all knowledge in and from himself he might have fetcht it in before this time from what he hath seen And he having seen all things must needs have perfect knowledge whose knowledge had been perfect though he had never seen any of these things Besides As this phrase an eye of flesh imports thinnesse of experience and thence imperfection of knowledge so grossenesse of spirit and dimnesse of understanding to attain knowledge When Peter made that gracious confession Mat. 16.16 Thou art Christ the Sonne of the living God Christ answers Carò significat aliquia pingue obtusum crassuÌ„ minime subtiâ—e aut perspicax Blessed art thou Simon Bar-jona for flesh and bloud that is man hath not revealed this unto thee but my Father which is in heaven As if he had said All men are flesh and bloud so dull-sighted and blinde that they could never have perceived this truth by any study or observation it comes only by gift and revelation The eye of God is not an eye of flesh in this sense neither All spirits have much clearnesse of understanding much sharpnesse and quicknesse of apprehension The devil being a spirit Daemon though now a wicked spirit hath one name from knowledge How much more knowing is he who is The spirit the Creatour of the spirits of all flesh and the Creatour of those spirits which subsist without flesh Further Sight is put for judgement and seeing for judging Judging is an act beyond knowing Judgement is the result of knowledge So Thou dost not see is Thou dost not judge as man judgeth 1. Mans judgement is often hindered by his affections Num vides more hominum siâ—ut illi ex facie judicas ut affectibus ducaris siâ—ut illi His judgement is hindred by divers affections especially by love and the nearnesse of relations man can hardly see a fault and a friend a sin and a son together Love makes knowledge as ignorance and light as darknesse Christian charity covers a multitude of sins from private revenge and harsh censures But humane charity coverâ— a multitude of sins from publike justice and wholsome admonitions The former keeps from rigid severity this endangers to cockering flattery It is not thus with God He seeth not as man seeth They who have the greatest interest the nearest relation to God are seen what they are and shall be judged as they are God hath indeed an infinite largenesse of affection to poor sinners and the lap of his garment of love covers every day a multitude yea many multitudes of sins But he doth not this because his love to the persons offending hinders his eye from seeing but because
shall be the patern of ours as here upon earth the spirits of believers are of the same fashion with Christs the same minde is in the Saints which was in Christ there is but one draft of grace in the main upon the souls of all holy men and that is a copy of Christs his being the originall So in heaven the bodies of all believers shall be of the same fashion with Christs There shall be but one draft of glory in the main for degrees do not vary the kinde upon the body of Christ and the bodies of all his members In reference to this future change of the body the body in its present state is vile Secondly Hence it follows That as we must not undervalue the frame of mans body in generall as imperfect so we may not despise any for their speciall bodily imperfections It is God who hath made and fashioned them round about It is said 2 Sam. 5.8 that the blinde and the lame were hated of Davids soul Yet to hate any for defects in the body is a very great defect in the soul and to contemn any for naturall blemishes is a spirituall blemish How then could David hate the blinde and the lame and not sin or are we to number this among his sins There are two expositions of those words upon either of which we may clear the difficulty First That when David sent to summon that fort the Iebusites who were the defendants trusting in the strength of the place told David in scorn that he must first conquer the blinde and the lame As implying that blinde and lame souldiers were garison good enough to deal with his great Army upon the advantage of such a fortresse Secondly The blinde and the lame may rather be the Idols and strange Gods which the Iebusites worshipped of whose protection they were not the lesse confident because the Jews counted them but blinde and lame As if they had said even these gods which you call blinde and lame see well enough what ye are doing and will come fast enough and too fast for your ease to our aid and succour These blinde and lame gods were justly hated of Davids soul but he had learned better then to hate men who were made lame or blinde by God Thirdly Seeing all men are fashioned round about by the hands of God then as we must not despise any for their bodily imperfections so not envy any for their bodily perfections Some are as much troubled to see another have a better body or a more beautifull face as many are alike sinfully both to see another have a better purse or a more plentifull estate then themselves Fourthly Let not the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus If thy earthly Tabernacle be not so highly so strongly built if the materials of it be not so pure or not so exactly tempered if thou hast not so good a constitution so elegant a composition if thou art not so adorn'd and polish'd as some others are yet be not discontented the hands of God have made and fashioned thee round about It is a great honour to a vessel that he made it though he have made it in this sense a vessel of dishonour Fiftly If God hath fashioned our bodies then we must not put them out of fashion It is dangerous to deface the work of God to undo that which God hath done to unmake that which God hath made How sad is it that any should pull down a building of Gods own setting up without warrant from God! Self-murder or the murder of another is an high affront to God and should have a severe revenge from man He that sheds his own bloud takes revenge upon himself And who so sheddeth mans bloud by man shall his bloud be shed for in the image of God made he man Gen. 9.6 As what God hath joyned by a civil so by a naturall band Let no man put asunder Lastly If thou art made and fashioned by God then let God have the use of all thou art Let God dwell in the house which he hath set up Let thy body be imploied for God he that made it hath most right to it Every thing in man shews forth the wisdom and goodnesse of God towards man let every thing in man shew forth obedience and submission unto God This was the ground of Davids praier Psal 119.73 Thy hands have made me and fashioned me give me understanding that I may learn thy commandments as if he had said Lord I would use this body this soul this all which thou hast made for thy glory therefore give me understanding that I may learn thy will I would not do the will of another while I dwell in thy house and am thy tenant at will I would not imploy those members which thou hast given me to fulfill the Law of sin or the commands of Satan The Apostle is clear upon this argument in reference to redemption 1 Cor. 6.19 Ye are not your own ye are bought with a price therefore glorifie God with your bodies and in your spirits which are Gods Now as in the work of redemption we are of God by grace so in the work of creation we are of God by nature The reason holds in both glorifie God with your bodies which are not your own but Gods It is usuall in letting out of houses to put a clause in the lease that the house shall not be imploied to such and such uses but only to such as are expressed in the indenture Surely the Lord who hath built and furnished these houses hath taught us how to imploy them and what trade to exercise in them even the trade of holines Take heed you do not let out any room or corner of a room in this house for sin to trade in or for the work of iniquity This is to let out a house of Gods making to the devils using Yet thou dost destroy me The word signifies to swallow up 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Absorbere est morsicatim destruere Coc. Deglutio significat omnimodā exterminationē resumque omnium profundissimum exitium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and to swallow up with greedinesse Psal 52.4 Thou lovest all devouring or swallowing words words which swallow down thy neighbours credit and devour his good name as one morsel The holy Ghost expresseth our finall victory over death by a word which reacheth this sense 1 Cor. 15.54 Death is swallowed up or drunk down in victory death is drunk up at a draught Christ called his sufferings by which he got this victory a cup. The Apostle uses the same word again 2 Cor. 5.4 That mortality might be swallowed up of life When this mortall shall have put on immortality death shall be swallowed up in victory that is there shall be a compleat victory over death and not only so but mortality shall be swallowed up of life In heaven there shall be no death nor any thing like
expression our labour in the Lord shall not only not be in vain but abundantly advantageous This of Job I will not lift up my head fals in sense below his expression for his meaning is I will abase my self before God I will be so farre from priding my self or walking as the daughters of Jerusalem are described by the Prophet Isaiah 3.16 with a stretched forth necke that I will rather hang downe my head Mâ—seri infoelâ—ces capite demisso in terram dejecto ambulant Sâ—nct To hang or hold down the head in Scripture noteth humbling and sorrow when Christ bids his people lift up their heads with joy because the time of their redemption was drawing nigh it implied that their heads would hang down with sorrow whâ—le that redemption was further off The Jewish fasts are described in part by this posture of sorrow Isa 58.5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen A day for a man to afflict his soul Is it to bow down his head as a bull-rush Times of fasting are times of mourning and then it seems they used to hang down the head as a sign of mourning Hence observe That a godly man how upright and holy soever he is walks humbly with God The more holinesse any soul hath the more humility it hath Humility is a great part of our holinesse much more then is it an argument of holinesse The Pharisee Luk. 18. who thought that he was righteous lifted up his head full high he would not lose an inch of his commendation and therefore commends himself He is his own reporter of what he had done and who he was but the poor Publican durst not lift up his eyes to heaven his spirit hung down as well as his head yet he was the righteous man and went home justified rather then the other It is the scope and design of the Gospel to make and keep us humble God hath set up the way of saving us by faith that he might take away boasting and that no flesh might glory in his sight Secondly If Job would not lift up his head though righteous what shall we judge of those who lift up and carry their heads so high though they are wicked There is no reason any man should be proud of his goodnes what a madnes then is it for wicked men to be proud of or in their naughtines Thirdly Though Job was very thankfull for and joyfull in yet he durst not lift up his head or be proud of the white robes and costly raiment of imputed righteousnesse What then shall we say of them who are proud of the dirty rags and filthy raiment of their own inherent righteousnesse A godly man walketh tremblingly lest he should offend therefore he saith If I am wicked woe unto me and he walketh humbly when he doth not offend therefore he saith though I am righteous yet I will not hold up my head Job hath often breathed out the humility of his soul in former passages therefore I shall not insist upon it here Saturitas haec respicit animae ventriculum qui tantam aerumnarum copiam vix potuit concoquere Pined I am full of confusion therefore see thou mine affliction I am full That is my minde is full The spirit hath a stomack or a capacious vessel for the receiving either of good or evil of joy or sorrow Jobs spirit had received in as much evil and sorrow as ever it could hold and more then he could well digest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quod est cremare ignominia enim efficit pudorem qui est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in corde in vuliu sicut ignis I am full of confusion The word signifies shame and burning heat because shame appeareth with a burning heat or blush in the face which is also called confusion of face Blushing puts the face into a flame Some take confusion here for shame rendering the text I am full of shame Erubescentes vultus habent flaÌ„mantes Sanc. or of ignominy which ignominy might arise two waies Either from that reproach which his friends cast upon him while they branded him for a wicked man and an hypocrite I am full of reproach so full that I might justly be ashamed yea confounded if I were such as they describe me Or from that reproach which his afflictions cast upon him Poverty is no shame to a beggar who was born poor but poverty is a shame to a man who hath been rich and lived in honour The originall word holds this forth most properly being opposed to that which signifies weightinesse and honour because honour is a weighty thing as this signifies lightnesse and shame because shame is a light thing or a thing of nought Our Translatours rendering the word confusion seem to intend somewhat else besides shame Confusion notes a disorder and an uncomposednesse of spirit When a man knows not what to do or whose counsel to follow When a man cannot make up his thoughts or bring them to any issue When the minde is like a skain of ravell'd silk which will neither winde nor draw then we are in confusion And this I conceive was it which Job chiefly intends when he saith I am full of confusion Hence observe Great sorrows distract the minde and bring a man to his wits end While we suffer much we scarce know what to doe Trouble upon the sensitive part troubles the understanding Confusion upon our estates makes a confusion in our mindes It is very hard to keep our spirits in order while our houses and businesse are out of order every affliction makes some confusion without us and it is exceeding rare if affliction make not much confusion within us I saith Job am full of confusion See thou mine affliction 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est imbecillitas maximè quae est a majore vi vim supprimente statuÌ„ miserum cum succumbentia notat There is a two-fold sight of affliction First By a bare intuition discerning it Secondly By a gracious compassion delivering us from it The former sight God alwaies hath of all our afflictions neither our sins nor our sorrows can be hidden from him The later he sometimes suspends and will not see what he cannot but see He will not see so as to relieve what he cannot but see so as to observe It is this second kinde of sight which Iob entreats and praies for here See thou my affliction that is pity me in my afflfction The word which we render affliction noteth weaknesse and casting down or that weaknesse which ariseth from casting down an oppressing affliction which like some great weight lies heavy upon us There are different readings some thus Videt vexationeÌ„ homo qui vexatur videt Deus qui eam respicit propitius est Druâ— I am filled with affliction and see my sorrows The Chaldee thus I will satiate my self with shame and I will see my affliction Man seeth his affliction by feeling it