of which the wicked man beleeves he shall not returne First Some understand it of the darknesse of sin but a wicked man cannot be sayd to despaire of that about which he never had any hope Pii spe se armant in spem contra spem sperant Merc. or desire Secondly Some understand darknesse litterally and plainly of the darknesse of the night and interpret thus He beleeves not that he shall returne out of darknesse that is he is so haunted with feares every night when he lyes downe that he thinks he shall never live till the morning This is a good sense Thirdly Others understand this darknesse to be death he hath a perfect sound of dread when death comes because he beleeves not that he shall returne out of that darknesse The resurrection is the consolation of the Saints in the midst of greatest dangers and thickest darknesse because though they dye yet they beleeve they shall returne out of darknesse But a wicked man who beleeves or hopes for nothing beyond the time of this life if he be once cast into the Grave either thinkes he shall lye there for ever or if he beleeves he shall rise yet he doth not beleeve that he shall rise out of darknesse for he shall rise in darknesse and goe downe to everlasting darknesse Fourthly A fourth expounds it of internall darknesse the darknesse of his spirit or of those mists and clouds which hang about his minde A godly man falling into this darknesse doth not actually beleeve he shall returne out of it for such a faith were his returne out of it but a wicked man as he hath no ground so no possibility continuing in the state he is to beleeve it Saul had a wofull dark spirit and beleeved not that he should returne out of it by the helpe of God therefore he went to a Witch a Counsellour of the Prince of darknesse for helpe But fifthly I rather conceive as often elsewhere so here by darknesse is meant outward affliction When the destroyer comes upon him and he is cast into a sad darke condition he hath no faith for himselfe that he shall returne out of it or be delivered from it This is an extreame agravation of the miserable state of a wicked man who either hath no outward prosperity or his prosperity is nothing to him he enjoyes it not but if ever he fall into outward misery how great is his misery so great that he gives himselfe for gone a lost man for ever He beleeves not that he shall returne out of darknesse Observe hence That a wicked man neither doth not can beleeve deliverance from evill First He hath no ground to beleeve promises are the foundation of faith A wicked man may be under promises of conversion from his sin but he is not under any promise of mercy while he continues in his sin the whole Book of God yeelds him not in hat state any speciall promise for so much as a bit of bread when he hath bread he hath it from providence not from a promise or but from a generall promise He is fed as a Beast is fed the Lord being the preserver of Man and Beast He cannot have a speciall promise himselfe not being an heyre of promise Therefore when he falls into darknesse he hath no ground to beleeve Whereas a godly man never hath so much ground to beleeve as when he falls into darknesse because then he hath more promises then before his outward losses gaine him the advantage of many sweet promises which till then he could not plead for the succour and nourishment of his faith As a wicked man hath no promise of God in the sense explained at any time so a godly man hath most promises of God in evill yea in the worst of times And as a wicked man hath no ground to beleeve so he usually hath no heart to beleeve as he hath no reason to hope for better things so he hath no courage his spirit sinks and fails when his state doth Abigall had no sooner told Nabal that the destroyer was comming upon him in his prosperity but his heart sunke within him like a stone and he dyed away presently Secondly The best of a wicked mans faith that he shall returne out of darknesse is but a presumptuous fansie or meer Foole-hardinesse A good man is like a Childe in his Fathers house who takes no care but casts all upon his Parents in the greatest storme he commits the helme to Christ as Pilot he can say as David Psalm 42. when he is in trouble Why art thou disquieted O my soule He cals his soule to question and would have his soule give him a reason Why art thou troubled my soule hope in God for I shall yet praise him But a wicked man hath no God to hope in therefore he cannot say I shall yet praise him That man cannot cast his burden of cares upon the Lord Psal 55.22 who cares not how he burdens God with his sins therefore he must beare and sinke under both burdens himselfe He cannot beleeve that he shall returne out of the darknesse of trouble who delights and sports in the darknesse of iniquity Againe Consider this is brought as a proofe of the wofull condition of a wicked man It is misery enough that the destroyer shall come upon him but this is more miserable he cannot beleeve deliverance from destruction Hence Observe That want of faith in time of affliction is more greivous then affliction It is worse not to beleeve deliverance then to fall into trouble as the life of faith is the best life so the life of unbeleife is the worst life Despaire of good is the greatest evill Faith is not onely the support and reliefe of the soule in trouble but it is the victory and tryumph of the soule over trouble Faith doth not onely keep the soule alive but lively Faith keeps the soule fat and in good plight Faith is a sheild both against temptation and affliction But every blow falls upon the bare skin of an unbeleever Faith is a sheild both against the fiery darts of the Devill and with a difference against the fiery darts of God also Let God himselfe cast his darts at a Beleiver Faith secures him from hurt though not from wounds yea his very wounds through a worke of faith shall worke his good It is the comfort of a man that feareth God and obeyeth the voyce of his Servants that while he walketh in darknesse and hath no light he is bid to trust in the name of the Lord and to stay upon his God Isa 50.10 But while a man that doth not feare God walkes in darknesse and hath no light his misery is that he can neither trust in God till light comes nor that light will ever come How happy are the righteous to whom light ariseth in darknesse How unhappy are the wicked who being in darknesse conclude that the light will never arise Faith makes all
beleive and it is Faith that turnes a day of darknesse into light he hath not a Christ to goe unto and it is Christ onely who can turne darknesse into light death to life and the Waters of sorrow into the Wine of joy his darknesse shall never be removed who hath not Christ who is light to remove it Verse 24. Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid they shall prevaile upon him as a King ready to Battell In this Verse we have a double effect of those troubles which are the portion of a wicked man the first effect is They shall make him afraid the second effect is They shall prevaile upon him both which are illustrated by an elegant similitude they shall make him afraid and they shall prevaile upon him as a King ready to Battell Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid Trouble without and anguish within so some expound He shall have straits in his state and a strait upon his spirit both meeting shall not onely afflict him but make him afraid The word may be translated to fright rather then to make afraid 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 angustia They shall scare him not onely out of his comforts but out of his wits and senses There is a threefold feare First Naturall Secondly Spirituall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Perterâ—uit pertuibavit To be spiritually afrayd is good and to be naturally afrayd is not evill So Christ was not onely afrayd but amazed Mark 14.33 Thirdly There is a distracting vexing feare which is both a passion and a perturbation This is at once the sin and punishment of wicked men Consider with what weapons and instruments God fights against a wicked man he doth not say Sword and fire shall make him afraid Armies of enemies shall make him afraid but trouble and anguish shall doe it God can create and forme weapons in our owne hearts to fight against us Inward anguish is farr more greivous then any outward stroak Rom. 2.9 Tribulation and anguish shall be upon every soule that sins whether of Jew or Gentile Anguish is the edge of tribulatioâ— both joyned wound soule and body yea strike thorougâ— both at every blow Hence Note It is worse to be afraid of evill then to feele it Every thing is to us as we apprehend it good is not pleasing to us nor evill afflictive to us unlesse we think it so They who are not afraid of death welcome it when it comes others through feare of death are held in bondage all the dayes of their life Secondly Observe Distracting feare is the portion of a wicked man The troubles of the righteous are many but their feares are few Psal 112. His heart is fixed he shall not be afraid 'T is not sayd he shall not heare evill tydings I know no man whose eares are priviledg'd from such reports but he shall not be afraid I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against me round about Psal 3.6 Though I walke in the valley of the shadow of death I will feare no evill Ps 23.4 are the resolves of faith Whosoever hath much feare hath but little Faith Wherefore are ye afraid O ye of little Faith Mat. 8.26 and how can they but be afraid when stormes arise who are of no faith when Faith increaseth feare decreaseth and when Faith is come to the height feare is gone where there is no Faith there can be nothing but feare trouble and anguish shall make him afraid that 's the first effect But that 's not all anguish doth not onely feare the wicked man but prevailes against him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 circumivit Angustia vallabit Vulg. Some render Trouble and anguish intrench about him The sense is the same it is such an intrenchment as concludes in a conqeust the beseiger prevailes A second reads it thus Trouble shall make him afrayd and anguish shall intrench about him The Originall joynes the two Substantives together and the Verbe is plurall Terrebit eum tribulatio angustia vallabit eum Trouble and anguish shall make him afrayd they shall prevaile against him From this second effect Observe Evill shall get the upper hand of evill men A good man possibly may be afraid and afraid sinfully excesse of feare may take hold of him but he shall not be prevailed against Pro. 24.16 The just man falls seven times a day into affliction and trouble and riseth up againe trouble may throw him down but it cannot keep him downe Mic. 7.8 Rejoyce not against me O mine enemy when I fall I shall rise the Church rises in her falls and shee sometimes foresees her rising when shee is fallen The wicked fall and rise no more And whereas the Saints are more then conquerours through him that loveth them wicked men are more then conquered they are utterly ruined lost and vanquished because not beloved There are two battells wherein we cannot stand without the strength of Christ First The battell of inward temptation Secondly The battell of outward affliction We are no match for either unlesse Christ be our Second Satan hath desired thee saith Christ to Pâ—ter to winnow thee as Wheate hoping to finde or make thee Chaffe But I have prayed that thy Faith faile not Peter fell into temptation yea he fell in the temptation yet because Christ undertook for him the temptation could not prevaile against him And as there is no conquest over Satans temptation but by the strength of Christ so none over affliction which is Gods temptation but by the strength of Christ 1 Cor. 10.13 There hath no temptation that is no affliction taken you but what is common to man yet no man can stand under that alone which may befall any man therefore it followes But God is faithfull who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able c. Man alone is not sufficient so much as to thinke one good thought how then shall he thinke good thoughts enow alone either to scatter a temptation or to beare an affliction To carry the soule out in such a conflict requires more then one good thought yea more then many good thoughts it requires good actings yea and sufferings too how shall he doe this without the strength of Christ No wonder then if the lesser of these yea the least of the lesser the least affliction prevaile against a wicked man and if while he runs with Foot-men they weary him how shall he contend with Horses with trouble and anguish shall not these prevaile against him as a King ready to battell Which is the illustration of the wicked mans downefall Trouble and anguish prevaile against him But how Not a little not with strength onely enough to turne the scale of the conflict but mightily even with much strength to spare As a King ready to battell There are foure interpretations for the making out of
sentence is but one word in the Hebrew yet more then a single word it is elegantly doubled in construction to imply double affliction Grammarians tell us that two words put together or the same word twice put encrease the sense Ordinary words will not serve to expresse an extraordinary condition he speakes great and compounded words because his sorrows were great and compounded sorrows Jobs was not a single but a double breaking yea his vvas a manifold breaking He vvas often broken and utterly broken the repeated stroaks which fell upon him by divine dispensation from all hands had beaten him to dust and atomes He hath broken me in sunder Further The root of the vvord signifies to make voyd to dissipate to scatter to bring to nought or to make nothing of Psal 33.10 The Lord brings to nought the counsell of the heathen So againe Isa 8.10 It is used often for breaking the Law by frequent and vvilfull sinning against it Proud sinners vvould break the Law in sunder or pull it all in peices They have made voyd thy Law Psa 119 As if they would not onely sin against the Law but sin away the Law not onely vvithdraw themselves from the obedience of it but drive it out of the World they would make voyd and repeale the holy acts of God that their owne wicked acts might not be questioned and lest the Law should have a power to punish them they vvill deny it a power to rule them that 's the force of the simple vvord here used as applyed to highest transgressing against the Law of God Now as vvicked men by sinning vvould batter the Law to peices so God by afflicting doth sometimes break good men to peices Consider what course usage the holy Law of God hath in the hearts and lives of vvicked men O how they tear it and vex it and batter it every day Thus doth the Lord deal vvith many of his holy servants vvho had they their vvish would not make the least breach in the Law and vvhose hearts are often broken vvith godly sorrow because they cannot but break it yet to these he doth not onely give a bruise or a blow but breaks them asunder There is yet another elegancy in the signification of the vvord For as Hebreicians observe it notes a bruising like that of Grapes or Olives vvhich are trodden in a presse to make Wine or Oyle Confractus sum velut uvae aut olivae in torculari hence also a Noune from this Verbe signifies the Wine-presse Isa 63.3 Now Grapes and Olives being trodden are broken and bruised in peices not onely is their forme and beauty totally spoyled but all their sweetnesse juyce and liquor is vvrought out of them and they are left as a dry lumpe Now look vvhat Grapes and Olives are vvhen taken out of the Presse even such a lumpe vvas Job he vvas broken asunder in the Wine-presse though not of Gods vvrath as his Freinds mis-judged yet in the Wine-presse of his chastisements and severest tryalls all his vvorldly moysture vvas squeezed out and his earthly glory vvas quite defaced he had nothing left of that but as it were a dry huske yet his spirituall estate was still juicy and his soule by these pressings treadings and breakings had distilled much sweet Oyle and Wine and much more was still remaining in him From these heightned significations of the word layd together Observe in generall God doth not onely afflict those whom he loves but afflict them soarely and severely He afflicts some not onely to the empayring and abating but to the undoing and ruining of their outward comforts and worldly enjoyments Nothing can be sayd to descipher an afflicted state beyond what this word will beare And that God doth afflict his chosen ones to the utmost rack of this phrase will appeare also from all that follows to the end of the fourteenth Verse the opening of which will be a continuall proofe and illustration of this great and often experimented truth upon and among the precious Sons of Sion This I shall hint all along besides those observations which arise out of them He hath broken me asunder and what follows in the same Verse He hath also taken me by my neck and shaken me to peices Is not this to deale severely A loving Father takes his Son about the neck and kisses him what a rough salute did the Lord give this Son of his when he tooke him by the neck and shook him to peices Such a carriage seemes not to be after the manner of men much lesse after the manner of Fathers yet this was the manner of God to Job who was also his Freind and Father He hath taken me by my neck The neck is as the tower and strength of the body and when a man is taken by the neck he is assaulted in his chiefest strength and taken at the greatest advantage There is a threefold metaphor or allusion in these words which being considered distinctly will let out their meaning yet more fully First They beare an allusion to Wrestlers who take one another by the neck or collar he that is the strongest not onely takes his Antagonist by the neck but shakes him as if he would shake him to pieces God wrestled with the Patriarch Jacob literally and corporally though the greatest labour and stresse of Jacobs wrestling was spirituall and internall And when he saw that he prevailed not Jacob prevailed with God for so much strength that now God could not according to that dispensation prevaile against Jacob yet he touched the hollow of Jacobs thigh and made him halt God wrestled with Job not corporally yet in corporall things the stresse also of his wrestling was spirituall and he prevailed with God and over Satan yet God was pleased not only for the present to touch a joynt and make him halt but even to shake every joynt and limbe to peices Secondly It is an allusion to Sergeants or Bailiffs that are sent to arest men for debt or for their evill deeds This sort of men are boysterous enough they having power will not forbeare to lay hold on Persons obnoxious and take them by the neck when they attach them We have that usage expressed Matth. 18.28 The evill Servant to whom the Lord had forgiven ten thousand Talents a vast debt found one of his fellow Servants who owed him an hundred pence an inconsiderable summ and would needs exact the utmost from him the Text saith The same Servant went out and found one of his fellow-servants which ought him an hundred pence and he layd hands upon him and took him by the throat saying Pay me that thou owest He took him by the throat the word signifies properly to choake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Premebat sauces illius debitoris tanquam suffocaturus obtorto collo premebat Eras or to take another so rudely by the throat as to choake or as wee say throttle him It is translated to choake with water Mark 5.13
if we doe it not This is expressed in some and implyed in all solemne Oaths and Covenants The present point extends not to this sort of imprecations Secondly Imprecations of penall evills may be used for the stronger deniall or disavowing of any sinfull evill of which we are suspected or with which we are directly charged To this sort of imprecations the present point is confined This was Jobs case he was deeply charged to have done wickedly and he as deeply denied that he had done so Thus David imprecates evill upon himselfe Psal 7.3 4 5. The title of the Psalme shewes the occasion of it Shiggaion of David that is Davids variable or delightfull song or Davids solace concerning the words of Cush the Benjamite that is either of Saul himselfe whose ill disposition towards him he closely taxeth under the word Cush which signifies a Blackmoore or Aethiopian or it may designe some of Sauls Courtiers who had done ill offices to David and accused him of a conspiracie to take away Sauls life as appeares 1 Sam. 24.9 And David sayd to Saul Wherefore hearest thou mens words saying Behold David seeketh thy hurt Now David composed this Psalme in his owne vindication and feares not to call downe vengeance upon his owne head if he were guilty O Lord my God if I have done this if there be iniquity in my hands that is this iniquitie if I have done this If I have rewarded evill to him that was at peace with me what then Hee imprecates Let mine enemy persecute my soule and take it yea let him tread my life downe to the earth and lay mine honour in the dust David laies all at stake soule and life and honour in the highest actings of holinesse towards God and integritie towards man He that is in Davids case and hath Davids conscience may doe the like and feare no hurt The Woman suspected of Adultery was by the Law Num. 5. to imprecate and wish evill on her selfe if shee did not speake true in denying it For the Priest was commanded to bring the Woman and to put the offering on her head and then to give her the water of jealousie to drink saying This water which causeth the curse shall goe into thy bowels to make thy belly to swell and thy thigh to rot and the Woman was to answer Amen Amen As if shee had said I pray God this misery may come upon me in case I have been false or unfaithfull to my Husband Thus the Woman confirmed the curse and tooke it upon her selfe if shee were defiled or testified her Faith in God that he would cleare her innocencie shee being not defiled and therefore the word Amen was doubled And here it will not be impertinent to remember how the superstitious heart of man hath in times of former ignorance and darknesse invented and adventured upon wayes of tryall in doubtfull cases with some resemblance to possibly in imitation of this appointment of God among the Jewes Versteg Restitut of decayed Intal in Antiq. Chap. 3 d. The old Saxons had their Ordeal which word signifies Due part or Dome and Judgement There were foure sorts of Ordeal by which when manifest proofes were wanting they attempted or indeed tempted God to finde out whether the party accused were guilty or guiltlesse The first was by Combat in which the person accusing offered with the perill of his life at any weapon to prove his accusation and if the person accused did refuse the challenge or did either yeeld or was slaine in the fight he was without further evidence adjudged culpable The second was by Fire in which the person accused were to take red hot Iron in their bare hands or to go bare-foot and blindfold where red hot Irons were layd and if they did either step between them or stepping upon them felt no harme this was a declaration of innocency The third tryall was made by Hot boyling water into which if the person suspected thrusting his naked Arme sound no evill effects he was pronounced guiltlesse The fourth was by cold water into which persons accused having a coard tyed about them were cast and if they sunke to the bottome and continued a little there till they were drawne up they were held faultlesse all these tryalls were made with prayer and invocation upon the name of God that the truth might be made knowne These customes drew their first breath from Paganisme and were continued by some who professed Christianity till clearer light convinced them of their vanitie and unwarrantable boldnesse with the Name of God Now as all imprecations used with these or the like Ceremonies and circumstances invented by man are wicked and unlawfull so those which are in themselves lawfull are used by most unlawfully And therefore I shall give some rules and bounds beyond which we may not passe without sinfull presumption First An imprecation must be used onely in very great serious and weighty matters Woe to those who wish evill on or curse themselves about trifles some have been heard to wish themselves Hanged yea Damned upon small occasions Secondly It is not enough that the matter be great and â—erious unlesse it be done with serious deliberation and selfâ—xamination as also with highest reverence of God who â—nowes our hearts and will judge both our wayes and â—ords Thirdly It must be done with a desire to honour God as â—uch as to exonerate our selves David knew Gods Name â—as blasphemed by those who misjudged him Here 's a man â—hat would be thought so holy and religious before God see how perfidious and disloyall he is to his King When David saw the honour of God concerned in him He was bold to say Lord if I have done this thing let him persecute my life and take it he hath persecuted my life but he could not take it hitherto but let him take it if this be so Fourthly Be sure that you are cleare in the matter and that you imprecate in truth God is an avenger of falshood much more of studied falshood It is hard to deprecate his wrath when we have spoken falsly surely then he will poure out his wrath upon their heads who imprecate it to cover their falshood The Jewes accused Christ falsly and as earnestly prayed judgement against him crying out to the Judge Let him be crucified But when they saw they could not prevaile with importunity and that Pilate who was doubtfull of the justice of their clamour tooke water and washed his hands and said Behold I am free from the blood of this man then in a rage they imprecate Let his blood be upon us and upon our Children Matth. 27.25 As if they had said Be not thou so scrupulous to condemne him if thou thinkest him innocent let the vengeance of his innocent blood fall upon us and our posterity When a man is accused rightly and the Judge rests unsatisfied the accuser may say to satisfie the Judge Let his blood be upon my head I have
metaphor taken from fire from a Torch or Candle which is the sense of the Tygurine translation My dayes faile as a Candle or as a Lamp which when the oyle is consumed goes out Mr. Broughton keeps to the metaphor of fire Deus mei ritu lucernae deficiunt Tygur My dayes are quenched There is a flame of life in the body the naturall heat is preserved by the naturall moysture these two Radicall heat and Radicall moysture worke upon each other and as long as Radicall moysture holds out to feed the Radicall heat life holds out but when the heat hath once sucked and drunk up all the moysture in some acute diseases it drinks all at a draught as the flame drinkes up the Oyle of the Lampe Vita extinguitur quando humor nativus in quo vita consistit extinguitur then wee goe out or as Job speakes here Our dayes are extinct Excessive moysture puts out the fire and for want of moysture it goeth out Hence Note First Mans life as a Fire or Lampe consumes it self continually There is a speciall disease called a Consumption of which many dye but the truth is every man who dyes dyes of a Consumption he that dyes of a Surfet may be sayd in this sense to dye of a Consumption The fewell and food of mans life is wasted sometimes more sparingly and gradually but 't is alwayes consumed except in those deaths which are meerely occasionall or violent before man dyes Againe Job speaks peremptorily My dayes are extinct He was not then dead but because hee saw all things in a tendency to death and was himselfe in a dying posture therefore he concludes My dayes are extinct Hence note Secondly What we see in regard of all preparatorie meanes and wayes ready to be done we may speake of as already done The Scripture speakes often of those things which are shortly and certainly to come to passe as come to passe and as the Apostle argues in spirituals We know that we are translated from death to life because we love the Brethren and he that believeth hath eternall lif So we may argue about naturals he that is sick beyond the help of meanes and the skill of the Phisitian is translated from life to death and we may conclude of a man in this case he hath tempoall death or he may say of himselfe as Job doth in the next words The graves are ready for me The Originall is very concise it is only there The graves for me we supplie those words Are ready And because of that shortnes of the Language 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sepulchra mâ—hi Cum mutila sit oratio indifferens est ut variis modis porfici possit there have been many conjectures for the supplie or filling up of the sence Some thus The graves for me that is there is nothing for me to thnke of now but only a grave I may lay aside all other businesse and attend that alone how I may lye downe in the dust with peace I am not a man for this world it is best for me to retire or withdraw my soule quite from the earth seeing I have no hope to keepe my body long out of it or if I doe let out my soule to the earth it shall be only to so much of it as will hold my body or serve to make me a grave The graves for me Secondly The graves for me that is I desire or wish for nothing but a grave A grave for my money as wee say of a thing that we greatly desire so saith Job A grave for me As if he had more largely spoken thus As I perceive I am going to the grave so I desire to goe thither I have as to this sence made a covenant with death Sepulchra mihi supple opto quaero cogito aut quid simile Sepulchra mihi inhiant ego sepulchris q. d. Aliis omnibus rebus valedico atque renuncio Jun. and an agreement with the grave The grave and I shall not fall out now that I am ready to fall into it For if I had my vote or might put downe in writing what I would have I would write A Grave A Grave for me as I am declining and decaying in my body so my spirit and my minde are as willing that my body should decay I am as ready for the grave as that is for me A grave for me So the words carry a reciprocation of readinesse betweene Job and the Grave The grave gapes for me and I gape for the grave Wee may parallell this kinde of speaking with that in the Booke of Canticles Chap. 2.16 where the Spouse saith My beloved is mine and I am his The Originall is My beloved to me and I to him There are no more words then needs must be The largenesse of their affection bred this concisenesse in language My beloved to me and I to him We are to one another as if we were but one The expression notes two things First Propriety My beloved to me or my beloved is mine that is I have a propriety in him Secondly It notes possession I have him I have not onely a right to him but I enjoy him I have not onely a title but a tenure God hath given me Liverie and Seisin as our Law speakes he hath put me into possession of Jesus Christ and I have given Jesus Christ full possession of me I am no longer my owne but his and at his dispose So here The grave for me and I for the grave The grave is my right yea the grave is my possession The grave is a house that every one hath right to and some are so neere it that they seeme possessed of it The grave is mine saith Job or I am as a dead man ready to be carryed to my grave The grave is not made ready till man is undressed by death and so made ready for the grave We say of very old men though in health and we may say of very sick men though young They have one foot in the grave Job speakes as having both his feet in the grave Yea wee may say that Job speakes as if he had not onely his feet in the grave but which is farr more his heart in the grave There are many who have their feet in the grave whose hearts are at furthest distance from it Job had both Heman Psal 88.4 5. describes his condition in such a language My soule is full of troubles and my life draweth nigh to the grave I am accounted with them that goe down into the pit I am as a man of no strength free among the dead like the slaine that lye in the grave whom thou remembrest no more and that are cut off from thy sight That Scripture may be a Comment on this My breath is corrupt my dayes are extinct the graves are ready for me Further Job speakes in the Plurall number he saith not the grave is ready for me but The graves
verbis multum pollicetur re nihil praestat Bez. Blandiebantudum externa bona illi pollicebantur Merc. they made him large promises of a restauration that his estate should be like the morning that he should outshine the very Sun and be a great man againe Thus they spake Chap. 5.19 20. Chap. 8.5 Chap. 11.15 16 c. hee looked on all these fayre promises as flatteries because in his owne thoughts he was a dead man and his calamities past all hope of recovery in this World As if hee had sayd Why doe you feed me with such vaine hopes and prophesie to me of Wine and of strong drinke of earthly honour and riches of length of dayes and of a multitude of yeares yet behinde in the race of this present life I cannot but call this flattery and a departure from the laws of freindship For alas My dayes are extinct my breath is corrupt and yet you are telling me of long life and good dayes in this World And indeed this is at once the custome and the fault of many who visit their Freinds upon the borders of death they thinke they are not freindly unlesse they labour to give them hopes of life and deliver their opinion peremptorily We doubt not but you will doe well enough you will recover from this sicknesse and getting over this brunt and see many dayes This is flattery it is our duty to speake comfortably to our dying Freinds to set forth the love of God and his readinesse to pardon to prepare them for a better life and to make their passage out of this more easie But when wee see them at the Graves mouth when death is ready to seize on them then to tell them of long life is rather the office of a Flatterer then of a Freind We shew more love to our dying Freinds by offering our counsels and tendering up our prayers for their fitnesse to depart out of this life then by shewing our desire that they should live and our loathnesse to part with them Secondly Jobs Freinds may be sayd to speake flattery to God and then the words are an Argument from the greater to the lesse as if he had sayd If he who speakes flattery to his freind a man like himselfe shall be punished then much more shall he who speakes flattery to God But you will say How can God be flattered There are two wayes of flattering men First By promising them more then we intend Secondly By applauding them more then they deserve When we cry up those for wise men who are little guilty of wisedome or commend those as good who are very guilty of evill both these are straines of flattery It is impossible to flatter God in this latter sense for we cannot speake of God higher then he is his glory wisedome and goodnesse are above not onely our words but our thoughts But we may flatter God in the first sense by promising him more then we intend they on their sick beds doe but flatter God who tell him how good and holy they will be when their hearts are not right with him Yet neyther is this the flattery of God which Job may be supposed to suggest against his freinds The flattery here suggested is their justifying the proceedings of God in afflicting Job by condemning Job as if there had been no way left to cleare up the righteousnesse of God but by concluding that Job was unrighteous This manner of arguing Job calls Speaking wickedly for God and talking deceitfully for him This he also calls The accepting of his person Ch. 13.7 8. As if they had been the Patrons and Promoters of Gods cause and honour while they thus pleaded against Job and layd his honour and innocency in the dust That there is a sinfull flattery of God in such a procedure against man was shewed more largely in the place last mentioned to which I referr the Reader for his further satisfaction He that speakes flattery to his freind What of him The next words tell us what The eyes of his Children shall faile But shall he himselfe escape Shall not hee smart for it Saith not the Scripture Whatsoever a man sowes that shall hee reap the sower shall be the reaper This is not spoken to free the Flatterer from punishment but to shew that more then he shall be punished for his flattery as he himselfe shall not escape so he may bring others also into danger with him As sin spreads it selfe in the pollution of it so in the punishments of it When but one sins many may be defiled and when but one acts a sin many may be endangered a man knowes not upon how many he may bring evill when he doth ill himselfe The eyes of his Children shall faile What is meant by the failing of the eyes was shewed Ch. 11.20 where Zophar saith The eyes of the wicked shall faile and their hope shall be as the giving up of the ghost In generall 't is this They shall be disappointed of their hopes or they shall expect so long and nothing come that their eyes shall faile with expectation The eyes of his Children shall faile Some by Children understand not his naturall Children or the Children of his body but his Children in a figure Morum atque vitae imitatores Aquin. such as imitate and follow him who take his course and tread in his pathes for as they are called the Children of the Devill who are like him and doe his workes and as we are called the Children of God not onely in reference to our new birth and spirituall generation but also in reference to our new obedience and holy actions Mat. 5.44 45. So they may be called a mans Children who resemble him in his manners as well as they who issued from his loynes Hence Note First The punishment of sin doth not alway rest or determine in him that committed the sin The bitter fruits of sin are often transmitted and handed over to those who had no present hand in them when they were committed The whole Familie and Posterity of sinners may smart many a day after and inherit the sins of their Progenitors as well as their Lands when the Father purchaseth or provides an Inheritance for his Childe by flattery or any other indirect way the eyes of his children may faile for it I have met with this point before Cha. 15.33 34. and elsewhere therefore I onely touch and passe from it Secondly Consider the particular sin against which this judgement is pronounced It is the speaking of flattery Hence Observe The sin of flattery is a very provoking sin That sin which shall be punished in posterity is no ordinary sin Those good actions which the Lord promiseth to reward in posterity or in after times have a speciall excellency in them It shewed that the deed of Jehu in destroying Ahabs House and rooting out his Idolatry though Jehu himselfe was a very bad man and did it with a bad heart yet I