as by stopping them so by putting them forward The Princes of Zoan are become fooles saith the Prophet Why The Lord hath a mingled a perverse spirit or a headlong vertiginous â—pirit in the midst thereof and they have caused Aegypt to erre in every worke thereof as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit Isa 19. 13 14. Verse 14. They meet with darknes in the day time and grope at noon day as in the night Here is a further agravation of the misery upon crafty froward Counsellours They meete with darknes in the day time Some understand this for the darknesse of trouble falling upon these men suddenly in the day of their prosperity as if the holy Ghost had said In the day time of their greatest glory when they think their Sun at the height then they are clouded and over cast they meet with the darknes of sorrow and are benighted in a moment Amos 8 9. I will cause the Sun to go down at noon and I will darken the Earth in the clear day it is meant of great afflictions as the next words interpret And I will turn your feasts into mourning But rather by darknes in the day time we are to understand the Diurnae tenebrae ignorationem denotant rerum clarissimaâ—um ignorance of those things which are very plain and clear They meet with darknes in the day time that is they are puzled to find out and discover those things which are as cleare as the light God often sends such a spirit of giddiness and blindness upon the counsels of his enemies that easie things are hard plaine things obscure and common questions very ridles to them They meet with darknes in the light There is a double light necessary to the seeing or discovery of a thing First an externall light And secondly an internall light External light is of the Medium or place in which we see the aire must be enlightned Internall light is of the Organ or instrument by which we see the eye must be enlightned Though there be much light in the aire a blind eye sees nothing So the meaning of these words may be explained They meet with darknes in the day time though these men have outward light though the busines they are about be plaine a clear case as we speak yet they are so darkned in their understandings that they canot apprehend or make it out The Idoll sheapheard is threatned with this woe Zach. 11. 17. The Sword shall be upon his arme his power shall be broken and upon his right eye his understanding shall be darkned The Idol shepheard shall be like an Idoll having eyes but seeing not He was before a blind Seer sinfully and now he shall be a blind-Seer judicially Aâ— that wicked Priest so these wicked Politicians in the text shall have a sword upon their right eye a wound in the best of their understandings which shall make them also blind-Seers and make the light to be darknes round about them The latter clause clears it farther They grope at noon-day as in the night To grope at noon-day is the description of a blind-man For what the eye is to a man that sees the same is the hand to a man Palpare in meridâ—e est caeci periphrasis Caecus tentat palpat manibus antequam pedem effeâ—t Praebent manus â—aecis â—ulorum usus ministeâ—ia Sanct. in ca. â—9 that cannot see A man that sees looks his way but a blind man feeles it his hand is in stead of an eye to direct his way They as it is said in the text Grope at noon-day as in the night When the Sodomites were smitten with blindnesse They wearied themselves to find the door of Lots house Gen. 19. 11. And when the Philistines had put out Sampsons eyes and he was brought to make them musick at their feast he said to the lad that held him by the hand Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth c. he could not see them but he could grope or feel them out Groping infers either want of light or want of sight These in the text had light enough therefore the failing was in their eys They grope at noon-day This fearfull judgement the Lord threatens against his own people Deut. 28 29. Thou shalt grope at noon-day as the blind gropeth in darknes And it was brought upon them as themselves lamentably complaine Isa 59 10. We grope for the wall like blind-men and we grope as if we had no eyes we stumble at noon-day as in the night In that as it is here added as a further aggravation of the judgment of God upon these who thought themselves Eagle-eyed all eye and all the world blind That they shall meet with darknes in the day time We may observe first It is a sore judgement not to see when there is light It is like starving at a full Table or perishing with thirst in the midst of a fountaine It is a great judgement not to have light to see by but it is a greater judgement not to see by the light It is a great judgment to a people when they have not the light of the Gospel when Christ who is the light is not shiningly preached among them but if light shine if Christ be preached and a people see it not This is a farre greater judgement The poore Gentiles before the light of the Gospell came to them sate in darknes and in the shadow of death and in that estate they could only like blind men grope after God as the Apostle elegantly expresses it Act. 17. 27. He hath made of one bloud all Nations of men c. that they should seek the Lord if haply they might feel after him and find him The Gentiles were inexcusable if they did not find the Lord by Feeling after him in the darke What then are they who find him not by seeing in the light The Apostle shewes us them as lost men and blinded by Satan to whom the light of the glorious Gospel doth not shine when it shines 2 Cor. 4 3 4. To grope in Gospel-light to be in darknesse when truth is at her high-noon is as the shadow of death It is the worst of sins to sin against the light and it is the worst of judgements not to see the light by which we may avoid sinne The heat of divine wrath breaks out in this when abused light is hunished with want of sight or when light is sent and eyes taken away Isa 6. 9 10. When the Prophet brought killing light to the Jews he saith See ye indeed but perceive not that is because ye have had light and would not see beleevingly Now ye shall have light which ye shall not see perceivingly or distinctly as the man in the Gospell saw but he did not perceive when he saw men walking as trees he had not a distinguishing eye or a discerning sence as the Apostle speaks Heb. 5. 14. But why shall
in expectation of a crop who would put his plough into the ground to receive nothing The Apostle argues from this as a dictate of nature Cor. 9. 10. He that ploweth ploweth in hope And James 5. 7. The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth having bestowed his labour he doth not count it labour lost It is even so with wicked men when they are sinning they think themselves thriving or laying up that in the earth a while which will grow and increase to a plentifull harvest What strange fancies have many to be rich to be great by wayes of wickednesse Thus they plow in hope but they shall never be partakers of their hope yea they shall be ashamed of their hope their sin will deceive them And that which will make their poverty most burthensome is their hope of riches the expectation they had to gain will make their losse their breaking and their undoing intollerable Fourthly observe from these Metaphors That every sinfull act persisted in shall have a certaine sorrowfull reward it shall assuredly be answered with judgement tribulation and anguish Assuredly it shall Are not plowing and seed-time an assurance of the harvest They that goe forth vainly rejocing bearing that poysonous seed shall doubtlesse come againe and bring their sheaves of sorrow with them That which God promised Gen. 8. 22. in regard of naturall husbandry he hath threatned in regard of this mysticall husbandry after the flood he promised that while the Earth remained Summer and Winter Seed-time and Harvest should not cease So it is here onely with this difference the Lord useth all means to disswade and prevent the seed-time of sinne But when notwithstanding all those threatnings men will be sowing iniquity he hath made an everlasting Decree as firme in its kinde as that about the waters of Noah that Harvest shall follow and every such soule shall both reape and eat the fruit of his plowings and sowings Fifthly observe That the punishment of sinne may come long after the committing of sinne the one is the seed-time and the other a reaping-time there is a great distance of time between sowing and reaping The seeds of sin may lie many yeares under the furrowes A man may commit a sinne in his youth and not finde the harvest of it till his old age How many as Job complains but in a worse sense then he in their old age are made to possesse the sins of their youth and feele that which they have forgot The Husbandman in that place before mentioned James 5. 7. waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it and through the long patience of God some wicked men though they thought their sins not sowed but buried for ever and never desire to see or heare of them yet in a sense some wicked men I say wait long for the noxious fruit of their owne hearts Sometimes indeed the seed-time and harvest of sin are found in the same houre and while a man hath scarce ended his sin his punishment begins The Prophet describing the plenty and prosperity of the Church in the latter dayes tels us That the ploughman Amos 9. 13. shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him that soweth the seed The returnes of sinne are to some as quick and plentifull judgement rides post after them the reaper overtakes the sower or the man reapes as soon as he hath sowed wrath arrests him in the very act of sinning And we may say as Elisha in another case is 2 King 6. 32. not the sound of his Masters feet behinde him The sound of punishment is at the very heels of sin That black Oxe comes as swift as a Leopard treading upon his heeles And though sometimes it comes slowly as an Oxe yet alwayes it treads hardest when it comes slowest A wicked man may commit evill an hundred times Eccles 8. and his dayes of peace be prolonged for his harvest of wrath like Habbakuks vision of mercy is for an appointed time but in the end it will not lye though he would tarry for it it will not tarry The naturall harvest belies sc failes some mens hopes but Spem menitia seges this mysticall harvest shall not bely his feares if he have any it shall bely his presumption how much soever he hath Sixthly observe That the punishment of sinne shall be proportionable to the degrees of sinne He shall reape the same saith the Text the same in degree So the Scripture speakes and so experience teacheth concerning naturall sowing a mans harvest is gradually such as is his seed-time if he have sowne much in an ordinary course he shall reape much The Apostle alludes to this where he speakes of the seed of charity If ye sow sparingly ye shall reape 2 Cor. 9. 6. sparingly on the other side if ye sow plentifully ye shall reape plentifully Sometimes through the judgement of God which can easily breake through the principles of nature it commeth to passe as it is Hag. 1. 6. Ye sow much and reape little God makes the harvest thinne and leane when the seed-time was thick and plentifull but in regard of sinning I speake of such as goe on impenitently in their sinnes and have not Christ to take off their sinne from them such persons as sowe much shall be sure to reape much They shall be beaten with many stripes who impenitently multiply their transgressions Seventhly observe Punishment shall not exceed the desert of sinne They reape the same The same equall in degree or quantity not beyond the degree of sinning In nature the corne â—eap't is more then the corne sowne sometimes a hundred fold sometimes sixty sometimes thirty as Christ speakes in the Parable of the Sower Math. 13. But the punishment of sinne reaped is not a graine more then the sin committed All the punishments of this life are lesse then sin as Ezra confesses After all that is come upon us for our evill deeds and for our great trespasse seeing that thou our God hast punished us lesse then our iniquity c. Chap. 9. 13. And in the life to come the damned shall not be punished more then sin deserveth yea I may say with reverence to his Almighty power God cannot punish a sin beyond that proportion which it deserveth and the reason is this Infinite power cannot inflict a punishment beyond that which infinite Justice doth require Infinite Justice is offended and must be satisfied if not satisfied by Christ then by the person himselfe offending therefore infinite power cannot lay upon a man more then his sin doth deserve though it may easily lay more upon him then his nature can endure So then all that wicked men beare in this life is lesse and all they shall beare in hell will not be more then the deserts of sin or the demands of Justice An objection may seeme to lye against this from that award of judgement against Babylon Double to her
and will not the Lord doe so Isa 3. 10 11. Say ye to the righteous it shall be well with him for they shall eate the fruit of their doings woe unto the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him But how doe the dispensations of God answer this direction to man when his providence seemes to huddle up all together to make the same portion serve both the righteous and the wicked I answer it first in the generall and then in some particulars In the generall the troubles of the righteous are good for them and therefore they have that which is promised God saith say to the righteous it shall be well with him when a righteous man is troubled it is vvell with him therefore he hath that which God promiseth him and when a wicked man prospereth it is ill with him therefore he hath that vvhich God thratneth against him Outward mercy is judgement to wicked men and their prosperity is their undoing therefore do not think that God varies a tittle from the tenour of his word when he saith it shall be ill with wicked men and yet you see them prosper for it is never worse with them then when they prosper then when they think it is best and when the world thinks so too the prosperity of fools shall destroy Prov. 1. them and what prosperity is there in destruction The meat in their mouthes is as a sword in their bowels If you saw the Lord formally sending a Sword to devoure wicked men you would think it justice the prosperity of wicked men is as sharpe as a Sword that can but destroy and so doth this It is their judgement that they are without judgements and not to be smitten is their scourge Now more particularly to answer this objection about the justice of God And it will be but needfull considering the times we live in threaten us with a common deluge or an overflowing scourge vvhich may sweep away both good and bad together First in reference to the godly Are they in a sad estate outwardly are they in great afflictions I answer though they are afflicted yet they prosper When they are impoverished they are enriched when they are as having nothing they possesse all things What is there vvhat can there be even in their saddest estate which doth not conduce to their good vvhich will not be a benefit unto them For first their troubles are but trials now is there any hurt in a triall or perturbation in a probation Troubles try their graces and their corruptions too Trouble tryes grace that it may be honour'd and corruption that it may be mortified there is no hurt in all this rather it is a most happy condition which makes grace conspicuous whereby a mans best side his inside wherein his glory lies The Kings Daughter is glorious within is turned outward That Scripture Dan. 11. 33 34 35. is very pregnant to the point in hand where the Prophet foretelling troublesome times saith They that understand amongst the people shall instrust many yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame by captivity and by spoyle many dayes They that understand that is godly men shall fall by these judgements some of them by the sword they shall utterly be cut off some by flame they shall be burnt to ashes others by captivity and by spoile their estates shall be plundered their persons imprisoned How doth this answer the justice of God will carnall reason object that it shall be thus ill with the righteous to whom the Lord promiseth it shall be well Yes well enough For it followeth Now when they shall fall they shall be holpen with a little helpe and some of them of understanding shall fall that is by captivity and by spoile to try them and to purge them and to make them white Here are two remarkable ends why They of understanding fall into these evils First for probation to try them Secondly for cleansing and purgation to purge them and make them white Gold is never wrong'd by being tryed A spotted garment a distempered body are not damnified by washing or by purging To be freed from filth without and bad humours within the body is more then a common favour How high an act of favour then is it to have ill humours and filthy spots washed purged out of the soule Such base humours a good man may have as call for these strong working pils Spoyling and Captivity to cast them out Now those men of understanding have no more hurt intended them by God when they fall into spoilers hands then when a diseased body fals into a Physitians hand or when a defiled garment fals into a Fullers hand sc to purge and make them white Affliction is a cleanser Christ is the onely lavatory and his blood the onely Fountaine to wash away the guilt of sinne yet God hath other Fountains and Lavatories to wash away the pollution of sin That blood cleanses in this sense also principally and all the waters or fires of affliction have no efficacy at all to refine or cleanse but in vertue of that blood A Crosse without a Christ never made any man better But with Christ all are made better by the Crosse We may then say at least that it is well with the righteous in affliction forasmuch as through the blessing of God they are bettered by affliction When you see a godly man cast out in the open aire and having the waters of sorrow powred continually upon him know that he is only laid out a whitening and will appeare shortly more resplendant then ever Secondly afflictions are sent to humble Pride is such a weed as often growes in the best soyle Now that which humbleth us cannot hurt us we lose nothing by the abatements of our pride no the more pride loses the more we gain And we seldome or never lose any thing but by pride Now saith God Deut. 8. 1. If you would have an account vvhy I brought my people about in the wildernesse through so many difficulties know this vvas my designe it was to humble them God resists pride wheresoever he findes it they in vvhom pride totally prevailes are Gods enemies and he resists them they in vvhom pride hath some yea great prevalency may be Gods friends and God will resist pride in them the difference is observable betvveen resisting of pride and resisting the proud the resisting of the person and the resisting of the sin The great resistance vvhich God makes against the pride of mans heart is by the rods of affliction he vvhips them into humility and by taking away carnall comforts takes them off from carnall confidence And O blessed affliction which makes us lesse to our selves and all creatures lesse to us We are never so much in Gods eye as vvhen vve are least in our own nor have vve ever so much of God as vvhen vve expect little or least from man say therefore
judiciary hardning of their hearts and a hard heart is the greatest judgment on this side Hell As there is a naturally inbred and sinfully acquired hard heart so there is a judicially hardned or a divinely inflicted hard heart When to a naturall hard heart and an acquired hard heart which men get by many repeated acts of sin the Lord adds a judicially hardned or inflicted hard heart then wrath is heated to the hottest and judgment is within one step of Hell Especially if we consider that every houre of such prosperous impenitence and hardnesse of heart encreases punishment and adds to the treasury of that wrath which is stored up against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God Who thinks that man happy who is let alone only to gather a mighty pile of wood and other fuell of flames to burne himselfe while ungodly men saem to the world to be gathering riches honour and pleasure hey are but gathering a heap of wrath and a pile of fire which at the last will flame so bright that it will make a revelation of the formerly secret but ever righteous judgement of God Lastly To shew that God is just in all his dealings both the righteous and the wicked learne from the end of both That we may fully discover the Justice of God we must looke upon all his works together while we looke only upon some particular peece of Gods dealings with a godly man he may seeme to deale very hardly with him or if we looke but upon some particular peece of his dealings with a wicked man God may seeme very gentle and kind towards him but take all together and the result is exact justice It was a good speech of a moderne writer We must Non est judicandum de operibus Dei ante quintum actum Per. Mart. not judge of the works of God before the fifth act that is the last act or conclusion of all This and that part may seeme dissonant and confused but lay them all together and they are most harmonious and methodicall Hence David Psal 37. after he had a great dispute with himselfe about the troubles of the righteous and the prosperity of the wicked and was put hard to it how to make out the Justice of God resolves all in the close with this advice ver 37. Marke the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace Though a righteous man die in warre yet his end is peace whereas though a wicked man die in peace yet his end is warre It is said Deut. 8. 16. that all which God did to his people in the wildernesse was that he might doe them good at the latter end Come to the end therefore and there you shall find justice visible We often loose the sight of justice in our travailes and passage through the world mountaines and hils interpose which we cannot see over or through but when we come home and arrive at the end of our travailes Justice will appeare in all her state and glory rendring to every man according to his deedes To them who hy patient continuance in well doing seeke for glory and honour and immortality eternall life but unto them that are contentious and doe not obey the truth but obey unrighteousnesse indignation and wrath Joshua concludes the story of the people of Israel in their passage to Canaan with the highest testimonies of Gods justice and faithfulnesse though God dealt with them so variously in the wildernes that they often murmured in their tents as if he had done them wrong yet in the close you shall find how exact and punctuall the Lord was with them Josh 21. 45. There failed not ought of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel all came to passe And in that other text Josh 23. 14 Behold this day I am going the way of all the earth and you know in all your hearts and in all your soules that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you all are come to passe unto you and not one thing hath failed thereof How admirably just was God in his word If a man promise many things we take it well if he performe some of the chiefe and them in the chiefe though some what may faile God promised many things and performed all and which is more all of every one of those many things promised The texts compared make this out the one saying That not one thing failed of all the good things which God spake concerning them And the other That not ought of any good thing failed So then they had every good thing in kind with each particular part and degree of every good thing And for the truth of all this Joshua makes his appeale to themselves and to that in themselves which was best able to determine it All their hearts and all their soules which words doe not only referre to every person as if the meaning were The hearts and soules of you all but rather to all that is in every person All their hearts and all their soules that is understandings memories consciences affections yea sences their eyes and eares their hands and mouthes could bring in witnesse from their severall operations to this great truth And surely God in the end will deale as well with every Israelite as he did with all Israel A time will come it will come shortly when every Saint shall say in all their hearts and in all their soules that not one thing nor ought of any one good thing which the Lord hath said concerning them hath failed I shut up this in the words of Christ to his Disciples when they were amused about that act of his the washing of their feet John 13. 7. What I doe ye know not now but ye shall know hereafter Stay but a while and all those mysteries and riddles of providence shall be unfolded Though clouds and darknesse are round about him yet Judgement and Justice are the habitation of his Throne Psal 97. Mortall man never had and at last shall see he had no reason to complaine of God mortall man shall not be more just than God nor shall man be more pure than his maker And so much for the fifth Conclusion That God neither doth nor can doe any injustice to the creature he is just in his nature just and holy in all his wayes The sixth or last Conclusion is this That to complaine of Gods Iustior sit oportet qui immeriâ—ò affligitur quâ qui immerio affligit dealing with us is to make our selves more just and pure than Gods or when any person or people complaine of Gods dispensations toward them they though not formally yet by way of interpretation make themselves more just and pure than God This was the point wherein Eliphaz labours much to convince Job supposing that he had thus exalted himselfe
he judgeth no cleare light to be putting a negative particle in both branches of the Verse whereas in the Hebrew there is no expresse negation in the latter These I say are led by this reason or rule It is frequent in Scripture when there is a negative in the former clause of a Verse then to understand a negative also in the latter clause though none be exprest For instance Psal 9. 18. The needy shall not alway be forgotten the expectation of the poore shall not perish for ever so we read but in the Hebrew the latter clause is the expectation of the poore shall perish for ever there is no Negative in the Originall but our Transtators and not only they but all that I have seen upon the place render it so supplying the Negative particle of the former in the latter clause of that sentence And without that negative the sentence is not only imperfect but untrue Thus The needy shall not alwayes be forgotten the expectation of the poore shall perish for ever this were a contradiction but reading it the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever makes the whole a truth and congruous in it self Againe Pro. 17. 26. To punish the just is not good to strike Princes for equity so the letter of the Hebrew but we reade it thus To punish the just is not good nor to stricke Princes for equity I might give ynu other examples but a tast may suffice Thus in the Text before us when it is said in the first clause he put no trust in his servants we take up the negative and say in the second neither hath he put light into his Angels or he did not put light in his Angels or he put no perfect light in his Angels or he judged not cleare light to be in his Angels Secondly they who according to our Translation render it madnesse or solly vain boasting or vanity these take the Originall in that figurative sence before given When a man from a reflection upon his own worth boasts out his own praises which because it is a point of extreame vanity and folly therefore the word is elegantly applyed to signifie folly c. He charged his Angels with folly He put or laid folly upon or to his Angels He put for so the Hebrew word bears Not that the vanity which is in Angels is of Gods putting but the folly that is in them he puts to them or charâ—eth it upon them or layeth it to their charge As we say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Such a one put it home upon him that is he charged him soundly or fully with such a crime or offence To charge is a judiciall or Law-term implying that the Lord sitting in judgement to examine the state of Angels charged them by way of accusation and upon triall found them in a sense guilty of that which though they had not formed into any one sin yet might be formed and shap'd into any sin Folly or vaine-glory Having given some account of those tearms Charging and Folly He charged his Angels with folly it growes to a great doubt what Angels we are here to understand what Angels did God thus charge with folly The quere or doubt lies whether we shall lay this charge at the doore of the good Angels or of the bad or of both Many of the Ancients restrain it to the evill Angels to the Apostate Angels God put no trust in them he saw folly in them taking it for confessed that the Angels which stood the good Angels are trusty servants discreet and wise farre from either unfaithfulnesse or folly such as God hath put trust in and they never deceiv'd his trust such whose obedience is made the pattern of ours by Christ himself in his patterne of prayer Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven And would the Lord regulare us by them who are themselves irregular or make them our copy in doing his will whose folly renders them unfit to be trusted with the doing of his will Therefore say these such a charge suits not the state and condition of the good Angels Others cast it upon the good Angels that God put no trust no not in them I conceive from either there may be a good sense though I incline to the latter For in the Apostate Angels take it in the broadest sense God saw no light no goodnesse no faithfulnesse at all they have plainly discovered themselves and shewed not only weaknesse and unfaithfulnesse but wickednesse and utmost folly But to confine it to the evill Angels or to understand it chiefly of them is too narrow for the Text especially seeing Angeli boni exse nihil habent nisi insantam negativè i. e. nullam exse sapâ—entiam nullam veritatem bonitatem nullam this is but a light a too easie charge for those Apostate Spirits to say onle thus that God found unfaithfulnesse in them and charged them with folly for in them rebellion was found and they stand charged to this day with High Treason against the Crowne and dignity of the King of Heaven and are therefore committed to prison and reserved in chaines of darknesse to the judgement of the great day As for the good Angels God may be said to charge them with folly without any wrong either to the holinesse of their nature or the stedfastnes of their obedience For upon examination or intuition rather he finds they have no wisdome or stability but by Divine bounty and establishment As the apostate Angels were positively full of folly and unfaithfulnes so the good Angels might be charged with folly negatively namely that they had no faithfullnesse but as assisted and propt up But we may take the Angels in a third or middle consideration neither for the fallen or apostate Angels nor for the good and confirmed Angels as distinct or since this distinction But by Angels we may understand the Angelicall nature the whole complex nature of Angels in their creation and constitution was such as God could not trust fully unto such as he saw folly in We may demonstrate this plainly because a great part of the Angels and it is questioned whether or no the geater part but it is clear that a great part of the Angels a whole Regiment at least proved disloyall and fell together therefore the Angelicall nature in that abstracted notion is subject to folly and unfaithfulnes as well as man although they are of a more excellent make and constitution then man God looking upon Angels in generall saw they were not to be trusted the event also shewing many of them who were as good by nature as they who stand falling from him discovering their folly and nakednesse to all the world But it may be questioned yet how there could be folly in the Angelicall nature for as much as God viewing and reviewing all the works which he had made saw every thing which he had made and behold it was very
swallow them downe They have been kept so short that like empty and sharpe set stomackes they waste all when they come where they may have their fill That estate which is got by the oppression and kept by the base covetousnesse of parents is usually spent out in riot and luxurie A hungry heire devours the harvest Thirdly The hungry may be taken for those poore oppressed ones whose estates those Nimrods of the world had unjustly and cruelly ravisht from them They whom wicked men make hungry and leane by their exactions and cruell dealings come at last though unbidden and unwelcome guests to eat the bread from their Tables And these poore Hungry-ones are conceived by some to be Wisedomes children the people of God whom those wicked fooles had stript of their estates and would have eaten them too like bread Psal 14. So the Septuagint renders it The just or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the godly shall eat up or devoure the harvest of this rich worldling Put both these together and this may be the sense The hungry eateth up his harvest that is the godly poore whom this man had unjustly opprest and even put to starving God by his just judgement shall send in to take free Quarter to eat their fill of his harvest and never reckon with their host From that sence take this note That God doth sometimes give the riches of wicked men to poore godly men whom they have opprest Job himselfe Chap. 27. v. 16. gives us this truth in expresse termes where speaking of a wicked man he saith Though he heap up silver as the dust and prepare raiment as the clay he may prepare it let him prepare it let him scrape it together as fast as he can but the just shall put it on and the innocent shall divide the silver that is those just and innocent persons whom he had wronged shall by a divine retaliation enter upon his estate The wicked grind the faces of the poor to make themselves bread but at last the poore shall make bread of their corn and griest We may see the tract and foot-steps of this judgement in our dayes How many sons of violence who have made many persons yea families hungry naked and desolate are now made desolate and naked God hath so wrought and answered us by terrible things in righteousnesse that Oppressed Innocents have been put into the houses and have fed upon the fatnesse of Vnrighteous Oppressours Must we not say verily there is a God that judgeth the earth when we see this vengeance And for the rest may we not say as those searchers of Canaan Caleb and Joshua made their report when the rest complained of impossibilities Numb 14. 9. Let us not feare them for they are bread for us that is we shall easily get in amongst them and live upon their estates Let us not feare those giantly sons of Anak who have fleec'd the poore of Gods flock and knaw'd their bones for by the power and justice of God they are bread for us they have made hungry ones enow to eate up their own harvest Fourthly We may take the hungry yet more largely for any In communi quicunque raptor depraedator famelicus appellatur Pined that are low and poore whom God stirres up and sends in judgement as his teeth to consume and eate up to devoure and destroy the portion of such fat ones Every spoiler is a hungry one spoilers devoure as if they had never eaten in their lives they sweep all away The word which we translate to eate up signifies the most fierce kind of eating when a man eates as if he could never have enough And therefore it is applied to the eating of fire which we know is the most hungry thing in the world nothing will satisfie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est acrius quam nostrum comedere significat enim coÌ„edeÌ„â—o consumere Ingentem aviditatem comedentis prae sesert adeo ut de igne quae omnia avidè depascit utatur the appetite of that hungry element the more it eates the more hungry and devouring it is Hence that adjunct of fire Isa 29. 6. A flame of a devouring fire or the flame it is the word of the text of an eating fire a fire whose stomack is able to digest all the materiall creatures in the world So Job 1. it is said that the fire of God or a great fire did eate up the sheepe the fire came hungry and consumed them such is the force of the word here used and secondly it is applied in Scripture to the eating of the sword which alas we know is very hungry too My sword shall devoure flesh Deut. 32. 42. Thirdly it is applied to savage beasts Gen. 37. 33. when Jacob bewaileth the losse of his sonne Joseph he saith an evill beast hath devoured him Fourthly the cruelty of persecutors in whom wild beasts and sword and fire are all met if not swallowed up The cruelty I say of persecutors is expressed by this word They eate up my people like bread Psal 14. 4. Wild beasts and sword and fire and above all the persecuting spirits of men are the most hungry and speedy devourers such a devouring shall consume the harvest of these foolish men The hungry shall eate it up Here we may observe That They who consume others shall at last be consumed themselves Such as have raised themselves upon the ruines of others shall raise others by their own ruine God will send devourers to eate up the estate of those who have devoured the estates of their brethren especially if they have devoured the estates of his own people The Apostle Gal. 6. 7. gives this generall law Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reape He that sowes oppression or makes his seed-time to be the reaping of his neighbours harvest may find reapers which he hired not in his field at harvest The Prophet Isaiah denounceth a woe against those that joyne house to house by oppression and what is the woe their houses shall be made desolate So Zeph. 3. 19. I will undoe all that afflict there And Jer. 30. 16. They that devoure thee shall be devoured and they that spoile thee shall be a spoile and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey It is just with God 2 Thes 1. 6. to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you The rich man who hoards up that for himselfe and for his children which he hath pulled out of the bellies of others shall have his meate devoured from his table and pul'd from between his teeth The hungry eate up his harvest but where doth he find it He takes it even out of the thornes There is some difficulty in that expression Mr Broughton reades it The hungry shall eate up his harvest which he had gotten thorough the thornes And others thus he shall fetch it out from among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spinae aliqui deducunt a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
keepe a feast to me in the yeare Exod. 23. 14. Three times in a yeare all thy males shall appeare before the Lord ver 17. The candlestick had three branches Exod. 25. 32. and three cubits was the height of the Altar Exod. 27. 1. Three Cities of refuge were appontinted for the manslayer Deut. 19. 7. and the addition made is of another three ver 9. Three witnesses gave the compleatest evidence requireable as Two the least admittable in the law Deut. 17. 6. That besides a rule there was a mystery in most of these I think no man doubts though what the mystery was may be presumption in any man to determine Of this we are sure that the highest mystery and perfection of all numbers and things is found in One Three That Three in One The sacred Trinity And in the common speech of most if not of all languages Thrice happy Thrice great Thrice honourable note a man advanced to the very pinnacle of Happinesse Greatnesse and Honour The number Three or the Numeral Thrice imply a compleatnesse in all numbers That the number six notes perfection may be seene in the work of Creation The Lord could as easily have made the world in six or in one moment as in six dayes but the Lord saw it good to take a compleate number of dayes for so compleate a worke God threatens Gog his perfect and compleate enemy with a compleate punishment or with judgement in perfection The justice of God can be as compleate in punishing as the malice of man can be in sinning Ezek. 39. 2. I am against thee O God the chiefe Prince of Meshech and Tubal I will turne thee backe and leave but the sixth part of thee so we translate yet in the margin of our books we find the Hebrew thus I will strike thee with six plagues or I will draw thee back with a hooke of six teeth Seven is a famous number implying First multitude Secondly perfection The barren hath borne seven saith Hannah in her song 1 Sam. 2. 5. that is many she is a compleate mother she hath a flourishing family many children And in opposition to this Jer. 15. 9. She that hath born seven languisheth that is she that had many children now hath none Seven devils were cast out of the woman Luk. 8. 2. that is a multitude of devils So the seven Spirits the seven Churches the seven Trumpets the seven Seales the seven Vials c. in the Revelation speake the compleatnesse and perfection of each in their kind whether good or evill and that is appliable to the particular sense of the text Prov. 24. 16. The just falleth seven times a day that is he falleth often almost continually into trouble and yet he rises againe God delivers him The Hebrew word Shebange is neere in sound to our English seven and to note that seven is a compleate full number the same Hebrew word signifies seven and full seven and satisfied or compleate And the word to swear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Septem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saturatus impletus abundavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Juravit inde juramentem a Septenario numero ut quidam patant quod juramenta fieri debeant multis adhibitis idoneis multumque confirmatis testibus et causis is of the same extraction in that language with the word seven the reason is added because in or about an oath many and important causes and grounds are required But to passe from single numbers I shall consider them in construction or conjunction as here six and seven He shall deliver thee in six troubles yea in seven there shall no evill touch thee Some understand this strictly and precisely of those two numbers six and seven And expound the text by the enumeration of those six or seven particular evils made by Eliphaz in the following verses For having said in generall that God will deliver his in six troubles and in seven he reckoneth up severall troubles and gives us as it were a catologue or a particular of those evils by name amounting to six or seven As 1. Famine 2. Warre 3. Scourge of the tongue 4. Destruction 5. Evill beasts 6. Hurtfull stones here are six and if a seventh evill come upon thee in seven no evill shall touch thee But I rather take this expression six yea seven to be a fixed number put for an unfixed a certaine number for an uncertaine and that uncertaine number to be a great number the greatest number any number imaginable We find this kind of speaking frequently in Scripture In the thirty third of this booke of Job v. 29. Loe these things God workes twice and thrice which we translate these things God workes often-times when numbers are doubled with an increase in the latter it notes a mighty growth of the whole number Twice and twice we know is but foure times but twice and thrice may be more then five times twice and thrice is oftentimes no man knowes how often We find the number next above this in the same signification Three and foure are put for many very many Amos 1. 3. For three transgressions of Damascus and for foure Some understand it of three or foure speciall sins of which Damascus was chiefely guilty namely 1. Idolatry 2. Incest 3. Luxurie 4. Oppression Or Three may be taken for a Cardinal number and Foure for an Ordinal for the Fourth as if some fourth sin were so sinfull and had such a malignity in it as the Lord would not pardon Thus Foure is put for the fourth Prov. 30. 15 18 21 29. Three things are never satisfied yea foure things say not it is enough That is a fourth thing sc fire being the most insatiable of all the rest saith not it is enough The copulative particle and is often in Scripture taken comparatively for much more Psal 125. The mountaines are round about Jerusalem and the Lord is about his people So the Hebrew we translate by a comparative of similitude As So. But more emphatically to the scope of the place by a comparative of excesse Thus As the mountaines are about Jerusalem sc to fortifie and defend it so much more is the Lord about his people fortifie and defend them In this sense we may take the copulative And in Amos. For three transgressions the Lord would not turne c. but much more for a fourth would he not turne away the punishment thereof The former three were enough to provoke the Lord to destroy you but for this fourth he is resolved to be irreconcileable and will destroy you Others adde Three to Foure which make seven as if the Holy Ghost had said for seven that is manifold transgressions of Damascus I will not turne away c. But rather take the numbers distinct for Three and Foure that is for the many for the multitude of transgressions committed in Damascus I will not turne away the punishment thereof Not that the mercies of God are exceeded by any number
company of speare-men or archers are called a company with reeds The word by us rendred company is the beasts of the reeds those men that are like beasts savage cruell and bloody these are as bruits and beasts of the earth so they are descipher'd in the next verse The multitude of the buls with the calves of the people And we find the word signifying a company of wicked ones and a company of Saints in the same verse Ps 74. 19. O deliver not the soule of thy turtle dove unto the multitude of the wicked The Hebrew is unto the company of the beasts Forget not the Congregation or the beasts of thy poore for ever there the same word is taken as in Psal 68. 10 for a company of Saints or the poor people of God In the Scripture of the new Testament it is frequent to shadow wicked men under the names of beasts beasts of the earth so that of Paul hath been taken 1 Cor. 15. 32. If I have fought with beasts at Ephesus after the manner of men with beastly men cruell men men like unto beasts in their qualities and dispositions though others understand it of his being cast unto the beasts to fight with them which was a cruelty those persecuting times exercised against the Christians So 1 Tim. 4. 16. Paul saith he was delivered out of the mouth of the Lion Nero that cruell tyrant is supposed to be the Lion the beast of the earth he aimeth at And the Apostle Tit. 1. 1. gives this character of the Cretians they are evill beasts If we take it here in this sence it is a truth and a very comfortable truth that godly men shall be delivered from the fear of beastly and cruell men or as the Apostle calls them unreasonable or absurd men who have not faith But rather understand here beasts of the earth properly for those fierce and cruell creatures hurtfull to man Once man had power and dominion over all the creatures the wildest beasts were tame to him in his state of innocency till he rose up and rebelled against God the creatures were subject unto him but man rebelling against God the creatures rebelled against man hence it is that man naturally is surprised with fear at the approach and sight of strong and cruell beasts and therefore it is here spoken as a speciall mercy and priviledge of the godly that they shall not be afraid of the beasts of the earth The beast of the earth are hurtfull to us three ways First naturally many beasts by nature are very dreadfull to man as the Lion the Bear the Wolfe and such other fierce strong and bloody beasts Scondly Tame beasts such as we daily use and subdue to our service are often by accident hurtful to us The Horse and the Ox have many times been destructive to their owners Thirdly which I conceive is the thing chiefly aimed at here beasts hurt judicially in a way of wrath from God There are divers places in the book of God wherein God threatens to arme the creatures against those who sin against him and that when his people should forget their duties the beasts should forget their subjection Deut. 32. 24. I will send the teeth of beasts upon them And Jer. 15. 3. I will appoint over them foure kinds saith the Lord the sword to slay and the dogs to teare and the fowles of the heaven and the beasts of the earth to devoure and destroy You see God can have an army any where if he pleaseth an army of dogs to destroy an army of fowles of the aire an army of the beasts of the earth to subdue a rebellious people And Ezek. 14. 21. This is one of the four sore judgements that God denounceth against Jerusalem The sword and the famine and noysome beasts and the pestilence Thus in a judiciall manner they were very terrible and dreadfull and so were numbred among the sorest evills or judgements which God sent upon a Nation for their wickednesse To all or any of these wayes this promise may be inlarged Thou shalt not be afraid of the naturall cruelty the casuall hurtfulnesse or the judiciary rage of beasts when sent by God with commission to punish the beastlinesse of men How this cometh to passe that beasts of the earth hurt not godly men is said down in the next verse which I shall a while open and then give you some Notes and Observations from both together Vers 23. For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee This verse containes the reason why he should not be afraid of the beasts of the field and here is somewhat more got into the reason than was before in the promise the ground of the promise is higher and carried farther than the promise it selfe The promise was to be delivered from the fear of beasts and that thou mayest be certaine of it know God will not suffer so much as a stone to do thee hurt thou shalt be at league not onely with the beasts of the earth but with the stones of the field Thou shalt be in league The word is frequently used in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â—â—legii quia elegamur personae inter quas res conditioâ—es propter qâ—as foedâ—s initur Buxt old Testament to signifie that solemne gracious covenant of reconciliation between God and man established in the blood of Christ A league or covenant is a very solemne act an act of reason and of the highest reason an act of judgement and deepest deliberation therefore it may be doubted how a league can be entred with stones which have no life or with beasts which have no reason We read Gen. 31. 41. of a league or covenant made at or upon an heap of stones between Jacob and Laban but this is very strange and unheard of to make a league with a heape of stones For the claring of this we must enquire into two things 1. What these stones are 2. What this league with stones doth import First For the Stones There are divers opinions about them and many Interpreters have exceedingly stumbled at these stones Some change these stones into men strong men or the strongest of men That of Job in the next Chapter hath some allusion to it ver 12. Is my strength the strength of stones A strong man is strong as a stone The Chaldee Paraphrast understands by stones the Law which was written in stones Thou shalt be in league with the stones that is the Law written in tables of stone shall never hurt thee But that as to this text is a meare conceit though in it selfe a great truth and our greatest comfort that believers are at league with those Law-stones which left in power and hostility would have broken all man-kind to pieces and ground them to power Christ hath made peace for us with the Law The Law
thy selfe or friends thou shalt die as some translate in a good old-age or as Mr. Broughton thou shalt die in lusty old-age Time shall not wither thee nor drinke up thy blood and spirits Thou shalt have a spring in the Autumne and a Summer in the winter of thy life As it was with Moses Deut. 34. 7. who died when he was an hundred and twenty yeares old yet saith the text His eye was not dimme nor his naturall force abated This is to die in a full old-age full of daies yet full of strength and health It is a great blessing when a man is in this sense youthfull in old-age when others see with foure eyes and goe with three leggs he uses neither staff nor spectacles but renews his strength like the Eagle Or we may take the sense more generally for any one that liveth long and liveth comfortably as it was said of Abraham Gen. 25. 8. That he died in a good old-age an old man and full of yeares He died in a good old-age The young-man is counsel'd To remember his Creator in the dayes of his youth before the evill daies come Eccles 12. 1. What are those Those evill daies are the daies of old-age The words following being an Allegoricall elegant description of old age Old-age in it selfe is the evill day The lives of many old-men are a continuall death They live as it were upon the racke of extreame paines or strong infirmities therefore it is a speciall blessing for man to be old and yet to have a good old-age that is a florid comfortable old-age To have many yeares and few infirmities is a rare thing In some old-age flourishes and in others old-age perishes Job gives us this difference in the use of this word Chap. 30. 2. Yea whereto might the strength of their hands profit me in whom Chelad old-age was perished As if he had said some old-men are active and strong but these who were faded and flatted in all their abilities in what stead could they stand me They were a trouble to themselves and therefore could be no comfort unto others This full old-age is explained further by way of similitude He shall die in a full age lie as a shock of corne commeth in in his season When a young man dye he is as greene corne The Psalmist imprecates that some may be like the grasse or corne on the house-top that withereth before it is cut downe whereof the mower Psal 129. 6 7. filleth not his hand nor he that bindeth up the sheaves his bosome The life of a man sometimes is like corn growing upon the house top that withereth Or as it is in the parable of the sower Mat. 13. like the corne that fell on the high-way side or among stones and thornes which came not in in it's season it never staid the ripening or reaping but was eaten up or dried or choaked before the harvest Now here man is compared unto corne sowed in good ground well rooted and continuing out it's season and is brought in ripe at harvest Old-age is the harvest of nature Some divide mans life into seven parts comparing it to the seven planets Some into five comparing it to the five acts of an interlude but commonly the life of man is divided into foure parts and so it is compared to the foure seasons of the yeare And in that division old-age is the winter-quarter cold and cloudy full of rheumes and catarrhs of diseases and distellations But here old-age is the harvest though thou art a very old-man thou shalt not die as in winter but thou shalt die as it were in harvest when thou art full ripe and readie as a shock of corne that is laid up in the barne The generall judgement of the world is compared to a harvest and death which is a particular day of judgement is a harvest too Those words He shall come to his grave as a shock of corne are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ascendere significat â—vanescere velut in auras tolli velè medio tolli further considerable the Hebrew is He shall ascend as a shock of corre and that referring to death is sometimes translated by cutting off or taking away Psal 102. 25. Cut me not off in the midst of my daies The letter is Let me not ascend in the midst of my daies Whether it have any allusion to that hope or faith of the Saints in their death that they doe but ascend when they die or to their disappearing to the eye of sence when they die because things which ascend vanish out of sight and are not seene In either sence when the Saints are cut downe by death they ascend 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propriè significat acervum frugum qui in And they are elegantly said To ascend as a shock of corne because that is taken from the earth and reored or stackt up and so by a Metaphor it signisies a Tombe or a monument errected or high-built over a dead corpse much after the manner of a shock of corn area erigitur Metaphoricè tumultum ceu currulum teâ—rae vel monumentuÌ„ sepulcro imposiâ—um So the word is used He shall remaine in the tombe or Heape Job 22. 32. So then the sum of this verse is a promise of comfort and honour in death He shall die in a full age when he is readie and ripe for death Yet this is not to be taken strictly that every godly man dies in such a full old age in an age full of daies or full of comforts Many of Gods best servants have had evill daies in their old age their old age hath had many daies of trouble and sickness of paine and perplexity But thus it is with many in old age and this is especially to be look't upon as an Old Testament promise when the Lord dealt more with his people invisible externall mercies Yet in one sense it is an universall truth and ever fulfilled to his people for whensoever they die they die in a good age yea though they die in the spring and flower of youth they die in a good old age that is they are ripe for death when ever they die when ever a godly man dies it is harvest time with him though in a naturall capacity he be cut down while he is green and cropt in the bud or blossome yet in his spirituall capacity he never dies before he is ripe God ripens his speedily when he intends to take them out of the world speedily He can let out such warme rayes and beams of his Spirit upon them as shall soone maturate the seeds of grace into a preparednesse for glory whereas a wicked man living an hundred yeaers hath no full old-age much lesse a good old-age he is ripe indeed for destruction but he is never ripe for death he is as unreadie and unripe for death when he is an hundred years old as when he was but a day old He hath not begun
friends from the 13 unto the 24 verse To him that is afflicted saith he pity should be shewed from his friend my brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brooke c. Fourthly He yet submits himself to their judgement and direction if they would speak reason to him at last and come home to his case indeed or if they could fully and candidly discover to him any errour he was willing to be rectified This he professes and it is a most ingenious profession in the 24. and 25. verses Teach me saith he and I will hold my tongue and cause me to understand wherein I have erred c. As if he had said All that you have spoken hitherto doth not reach my condition ye have quite mistook my case yet you shall see I doe not stand out against you because I will stand out it is not my will that opposes what you have spoken but my understanding therefore if you can shew me better reason I lay down the bucklers and yield my selfe a prisoner to your selves and unto truth I delight not to lengthen out contentions nor am I resolved to have the last word Teach me and I will hold my tongue Fifthly He adds an expostulation mixed with an aggravation An expostulation about and an aggravation of their high jealousie and low opinion of him in the 26. and 27. verses Doe ye imagine to reprove words and the speeches of one that is desperate which are â—â— wind As if he had said Doe you think that you have had to deale with a man that onely makes a noyse or speaks a great many words which have more sound then sence doe ye think I am out of my wits and in stead of arguing with you doe onely rave like a mad man at you Ye have not had vaine windy words from me but words full of weight and matter words of truth and sobernesse wherefore then doe you speak thus Doe ye imagine to reprove words and the speeches of one that is desperate Doe ye think I speak like one who knows not what he speaks Or that I have at once lost my hope and my understanding Sixthly He gives them advice and admonition to take better heed to what they should after say if they intended to to say any more or to continue their counsell and discourse with him in the three last verses of this sixth Chapter Now therefore be content looke upon me for it is evident to you if I lie returne I pray you c. In the 7th which concludes his speech he offers three things especially to be observed First A renewing of many arguments and considerations by which he confirmes the equity of his request to have his life cut off upon which sad subject he insists from the beginning of the Chapter to the end of the 17th verse Is there not an appointed time to man upon the earth Are not his dayes like the dayes of an Hireling c. Secondly After all his high straines of contest with man we have an abasement of himselfe as unworthy that God should take notice of him either by mercies or judgements in the 18. and 19. verses What is man that thou shouldst magnifie him and that thou shouldest visit him every morning c. A godly man will stand when he sees cause upon his termes with men but he ever falls low before and hath not a word to reply against God He is sometime angry when men vilifie him but he ever admires why God should magnifie him What is man c. Thirdly He concludes his speech with an humble acknowledgement of his own sinfulnesse and with an earnest request for the pardon of his sin Lord saith he I have sinned what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men vers 20 c. After all this heat and passion after all these complainings Jobs heart lay levell before the Lord yea he abases himselfe to exalt and give glory to God with humble confession and an earnest supplication for the pardon of his sin Thus we have the generall parts and substance of his answer to that charge of Eliphaz in the two former Chapters But Job answered and said c. In these words and the three following verses Job gives us the refutation or rejection of that reproof given him by Eliphaz And he refutes it by shewing the reason why Eliphaz as he supposed was so sharpe and bitter in reproving him And further he shews cause why he rejects his counsell or consolation The reason upon Amicos taxat quod antequam ipsum reprehender ent non expendissent suam miseriam Coc. which he puts off those reproofs is this because Eliphaz had not duly considered his sorrowes or was not so sensible of them as a man should be that undertakes a friend in his condition The sum of his argument against what Eliphaz had spoken may be thus formed He cannot duly reprove or convince another of impatience in complaining who hath not fully weighed those calamities which are the cause and ground of those complaints But Eliph z thou hast not fully weighed and considered my case and condition my troubles and calamities which are the ground and cause of my complaints Therefore thou canst not duly reprove or convince me of impatience The Assumption or second Proposition of this argument is couched in the second verse O that my griefe were throughly weighed and that my calamity were laid in the ballances together As if he had said I had never received such harsh censures such a judgement or reproofe if thou hadst duly weighed my sorrows if thou hadst faithfully studied my case thou hadst never rebuked me thus The weight of his calamity himselfe expresseth two ways First Comparatively at the third verse by putting it into the ballance with the sand of the sea For now saith he it would be heavier than the sand of the sea Secondly He sets forth the greatness of his calamity demonstratively by declaring in what manner he had been afflicted My affliction is not an ordinary affliction I am wounded with the arrows of the Almighty and those poisoned arrows and those arrows drinking up my spirits I have not onely some single great affliction or many small ones upon me but I have terrour and terrours yea I have an army of terrours yea an army of terrours always incamping about me and charging me continually why Eliphaz thou didst never clearly consider these things much lesse hast thou had a sympathy or fellow-feeling of them Thou hast not bin afflicted in my afflictions Thou hast not sorrowed my sorrowes nor wept my tears Therefore it is that thou hast so sharply reproved me and put so much gall and wormwood into thy discourse So then the summe of this first part may be thus given taking it out of those high and hyperbolicall straines in which his passion was carried as if Job had thus answered Eliphaz It is an easie matter to slight that which a man doth not know and to thinke
and I look for somewhat but it is in vain I cannot enjoy it So the word is used Psal 78. 33. where the Psalmist describes the sinful distempers of the people of Israel and Gods anger towards them They beleeved not his word c. What then Therefore their dayes did he consume in vanity and their years in trouble The dayes of all men are consumed in vanity as we said before but here was somewhat more judicial and poenal It is a sore judgment to consume our dayes in vanity as that people did As soon as they came out of Egypt they were in a fair way to Canaan but God leads them about by the wildernesse and there lets them wander out forty years expecting and waiting for Canaan but no Canaan came or they came not to Canaan this was the spending of their yeares in vanity because they were travelling to their desired rest but enjoyed it not they went toyling up and down the wildernesse as in a maze finding no way out but at the door of the grave their carkasses fell in the wildernesse thus their dayes were consumed in vanity So saith Job I possess months of vanity that is months wherein I am tired out in continual troubles and they are fruitlesse issuelesse troubles I have no sensible benefit by them I see no end of them my hopes are frustrate and put far off from me And are not these months of vanity Observe hence first Troubles will prevail upon us whether we will or no. I am made to possess c. As if Job had said I would fain have got over these months of vanity or worn them out but whether I will or no I am made to possesse them The bands of affliction are too strong for the creature to break when the Lord sends trouble he will make a man possesse it how displeasing soever it is It is best for us to submit where we cannot remedy and to yeeld quietly to that which we cannot avoid Secondly Observe Troubles come to us as our natural inheritance I am made to possess months of vanity they are as mine inheritance and I would wave my right but I cannot There are two parts of our natural patrimony sin and sorrow both these descend to us and we are made to possess them till we come to our purchased inheritance reserved in Heaven for us Observe thirdly That though every mans life have vanity in it yet some men have more that is more troubles and trials more disquietments and disappointments The common condition of all men in their best estate is that they are altogether vanity but the vanity of some men is more vaine their afflictions more afflicting their troubles more troublesome and their sicknesse more sick than their brethren Job speakes as if he had spoil'd all the world of this inheritance and had engross'd all vanity to himself I am made to possesse moneths of vanity That vanity which is the portion of all men seemes sometimes to be the portion of one man alone I am the man that hath seen affliction saith the Prophet Jeremie Noctes plâ—nae vigilijs anxietatibus Noctes laboris i. e. laboriosas Menses babco omni solatio vacuos ut nec iâ— noctibus quidem liceat mihi quiesce e. Allusie ad servi merceuarij nocturnam quierem Pined Lam. 3. 1. why is that such a strange sight who hath not seen affliction True but Ieremy had seen more then most and therefore he speakes as if he only had seen affliction I am the man And we arisome nights are appointed to me Wearisome nights Or nights of labour and wearinesse As if Iob had said though the servant be wearied all day yet the night is not wearisome to him he rests at night but I am wearied in the day and wearied in the night wearisome nights are appointed to me the night which is given unto others for rest is measured out to me in watchings and in sorrowes And this is a great aggravation of his sad condition it is said before that he had moneths of vanity yet it might be supposed his nights were comfortable intervals of refreshing As a man may say I have had seven years of hard labour yet it is supposed he rested all the nights of those years so when Iob saith I had moneths of vanity it might be conceived he had at least sometimes a good night therefore he adds wearisome nights are appointed to me I speake not after the rate of ordinary men whose moneths labour is a moneth of dayes my labouring moneths include the night also A strong healthy man goeth sorth to his labour and to his work untill the evening Psal 104. 23. But a sick weake man goeth forth to his labour in the evening * Nox aegris maxime infesta est toti sunt in cogitandis malis suis The night is most laborious to sick men then they revolve their troubles and being free from visits of friends they visit their own afflictions and study their own distempers freely Are appointed to me The Hebrew is * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Numeravit supputavit unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mensis quod juxta lunae cursum menses numeramus Non quancumque rationem numerandi de otat sed artificialem Arithmeâ—â—câ—m neque illam quam vocant AdditioneÌ„ sed substractionem Are numbred or reckned to me as if he should say God sets down my nights by tale or by scores It is an arithmaticall word is notes to number by art skil And some observe that it notes Arithmetique in that operation of it which we call substraction or subduction not that which we call addition or multiplication Wearisome nights are numbred or appointed to me in a kind of substraction that is God takes or substracts the night out of the moneths and makes them as wearisome and as troublesome to me as the dayes are And because those things which are thus numbred by way of separation or substraction are usually appointed or appropriated to some speciall Qui in hac ratione numer andi quaedam subducuntur quasi separantur ideo significat scorsim destinare ad aliquem specialem usum use therefore the word is well translated to appoint or constitute if you see a man separate or substract one thing from another it is an argument that he hath a reason for what he doth and intends it to some extraordinary purpose The word is so taken here to note a speciall end to which these nights being substracted from the rest of his time were appointed namely they were to be as Jobs pay and reward He was troubled all day and if he looked for his reward or comfort in the evening this was given him A night as wearisome as his day or he had an ill nights rest given for his hard dayes labour The Prophet gives us the word in such a sence Isa 56. 11 12. He tels the Jewes their sin in the former