friends To be afraid of provoking God to cast us down Deut. 17. 13. they shall hear and fear and do no more presumtuously What shall they hear They shall hear how God hath cast men down or cast down a Nation by his judgements they shall hear of this and fear How shall they fear they shall fear to doe presumtuously fear to provoke that God who can thus cast down men and Kingdoms It is good to be thus afraid but there is a sinful fear when fear disorders or unfits us to put our hands to the help of those who are cast down and to administer comfort to those who are in sorrow such was the casting down and the fear here meant They were so afraid that they could not lend Job a hand or give him advised counsel to support his spirit I shall adde one Observation from the general scope of the similitude That an unfaithfull friend failes us most when we have most need of him That is the summe of all In winter when there is water in every ditch those brooks abound with water but in the summer especially in a dry summer when the rain of the land is dust as Moses speaks these brooks are dust too they vanish and are consumed out of their place they afford no refreshing at all When the man that went down from Hierusalem to Jericho and fell among theeves Luke 10 30. lay in the way stript and wounded even half dead A certain Priest came that way saith the text and when he saw him he passed by on the other side and likewise a Levite when he was at the place came and looked on him and passed by on the other side but the Samaritan went to him not from him and had compassion on him Job speaks very neer this language but fully this sence of his friend They like the uncharitable Priest and Levite passed by him as the streams of brooks they pass away Whereas they should have been like the good Samaritan a fountain a river of settled springing comfort to him This is the great difference between the love of God and that of most men God is the best friend to us at all times he is best to us in the best times if we had not him to friend it would be very ill with us when we have most friends But God is best of all to us in the worst times a best friend to us when we have no friends he is our spring when the rain falls but he is our surest sweetest spring when there is neither rain nor dew upon the face of the earth Therefore he is compared as Jer. 2. so in other places unto a living fountain where you may be sure to find water in the hottest season This infinitely commends the love of God beyond that of men who at the best are but broken cisterns which leak out the comforts they are trusted with and for the most part are but like Jobs brookes they turn aside and passe away when we have most need of them It is observed of the Samaritans in Josephus that when ever the Jews affairs prosper'd they would be their friends and professe much kindnesse but if the Jews were in trouble and wanted their assistance then they got them far enough off they would not have to do with them or own them The rich man hath many friends saith Solomon Prov. 14. 20. but the poor is hated even of his own neighbour Vbi deficit pecunia labascit amicitia Worldly friendship ends with riches and he that wants mony seldom abounds with friends But consider how farre this is from the very nature of a brother and from the law of friendship Solomon Prov. 17. 17. describes a true friend to be one who loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity As if he had said this is the reason God hath raised up relations and made men neer one to another because himself orders there shall be times of adversity when they shall have need of one another Some render the place A brother is born in adversity as if the meaning were That when a man is in trouble God raises up a brother to help him Or as the Septuagint hath it A brother is born for this end and purpose to help in adversity Therefore a brother loses the very end and purpose why he was born if he refuse to help those who are in adversity Ruth was a true pattern of a faithful friend and brother though a daughter I went out full saith her mother in law but the Lord hath brought me home empty But though she was emptied of the world yet Ruths heart was full of loue to her I will not leave thee God do so to me and more also if ought but death part thee and me So saith faithfulness in friends especially in Christian friends It is one of the greatest duties and commendations of Christian profession to stick to and stand by one another be it fowl weather or be it fair blow the winds high or low let it be stormy or calme ever to be the same The Heathens wondered in the primitive times at the great love of the Christians to one another Let us take heed we do not put Heathens naturall carnal men to wonder O how little do Christians love one another Let us not give them occasion to say O how the Christians hate one another how like are they at best to streames of brooks who fail when their friends and brethren need the benefit of their assistance Let me only give you this caution God suffereth men to be thus unfaithful unto men yea sometimes a Christian brother to Talia patitur Deus suis accidere ne hominibus nimis fidunt sed omne solatium spem fiduciam in ipso solo vivo vero Deo ponant Lavat fail a Christian brother which is their sin and ought to be their sorrow I say God leaves them to this evil of their own hearts that we may have a greater good out of it then the highest actings of their love and faithfulnesse could estate us in Namely that we may learn to trust upon God alone and may better know what creatures are Trust not in a brother Jer. 9 4. so as to let out your hearts upon him think not you are safe in the love of a brother no not of a godly brother The Apostle 1 Tim. 6 17. to draw off rich men from trusting in their riches useth this argument Charge them that are rich that they trust not in uncertain riches but in the living God Why should they not trust in riches He giveth the reason in the Epithite uncertain They are uncertain riches therefore trust them not So we may say of men trust not in men no not absolutely in godly men for the best of men are uncertain possibly they may be as these streames of brooks whose waters failed Psal 146. 3. Put not your trust in Princes nor in the son
so resolved to contest and contend with man who is but dust and ashes The words following though I adhere rather to the former interpretation carry somewhat toward it Verse 18. That thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment Here are two acts more about which the question is put What is man that thou shouldest visit him every morning And what is man that thou shouldest try him every moment That thou shouldest visit him every morning To visit is taken three wayes and they may all be applied to this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Visitavit in bonum in malum text To visit is first to afflict to chasten yea to punish the highest judgements in Scripture come under the notion of visitations Exod. 34. 7. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children that is punishing them And in the Prophet Jer. 5. 9. Shall not I visit for this shall not my soule be avenged on such a Nation as this Jer. 48. 44. when God came against Moab with those terrible judgements it is called the yeere of their visitation I will bring upon it even upon Moab the yeere of their visitation And it is a common speech with us when a house hath the plague which is one of the highest stroakes of temporall affliction we use to say such a house is visited Then observe Afflictions are visitations They are called so because then God comes to search our hearts and lives afflictions are Gods searchers and examiners Jerusalem is threatned to be scearcht with candles and that was the time of Jerusalems visitation To search with a candle notes the most accurate searching as the woman when she had lost her groate lighted a candle and sought diligently till she found it she visited every hole to find it out When you see the Lord afflicting then he is visiting he lights a candle to search every corner of your lives And if afflictions be Gods visitations it is time for man to visit himselfe when he is afflicted We should visit our soules when God visits our bodies our estates our families or the Kingdome where we live Woe to those who doe not visit themselves when God visits them The Prophet calls to this duty in a time of saddest visitation Let us search and try our wayes Lam. 3. Yet further If God in affliction visit us let us visit God let us answer his visitation of us with our visitation of him Lord in trouble have they visited thee they powred out a prayer when thy chastning was upon them Isa 26. 16. Would you know what the visiting of God is It is praying unto him They visited thee they powred out a prayer when thy chastning was on them We visit Heaven in our afflictions when we pray much in our afflictions When God visiteth us let us visit him never give over visiting him til he remove his visitation from or sanctifie it to us That 's the first sense Secondly To visit in a good sence signifies to shew mercy and to refresh to deliver and to blesse Ruth 1. 6. Naomi heard how the Lord had visited his people and given them bread Gen. 21. 2. The Lord visited Sarah and she conceived c. Exod. 3. 16. The Lord hath surely visited his people when they were upon dawnings of deliverance out of Egypt That greatest mercy and deliverance that ever the children of men had is thus expressed Luke 1. 68. The Lord hath visited and redeemed his people Mercies are visitations when God comes in kindness and love to do us good he visiteth us And these mercies are called visitations in two respects 1. Because God comes neer to us when he doth us good Mercy is a drawing neere to a soule a drawing neere to a place As when God sends a judgement or afflicts he is said to depart and go away from that place so when he doth us good he comes neere and as it were applies himself in favour to our persons and habitations 2. They are called a visitation because of the freenesse of them A visit is one of the freest things in the world There is no obligation but that of love to make a visit because such a man is my friend and I love him therefore I visit him Hence I say that greatest act of free-grace in redeeming the world is called a visitation because it was as freely done as ever any friend made a visit to see his friend and with infinite more freedome there was no obligation on mans side at all many unkindnesses and neglects there were God in love came to redeeme man Thirdly To visit imports an act of care inspection of tutorage Idiotismus est elegans apud Hebeaeos pro eo quod est diligentissime exactissime rem investigare Bold and direction The Pastors office over the flock is expressed by this act Zech. 10. 3. Acts 15. 36. And the care we ought to have of the fatherlesse and widdows is exprest by visiting of them Pure Religion saith the Apostle James is this to visit the fatherlesse and widdowes in their affliction Jam. 1. 27. and Mat. 26. 34. Christ pronounceth the blessing on them who when he was in prison visited him which was not a bare seeing or asking how do you but it was care of Christ in his imprisonment and helpfullnesse and provision for him in his afflicted members That sence also agrees well with this place What is man that thou shouldest visit him that is that thou shouldest take care have such an inspection over him look so narrowly to and provide for him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Singulis mane quotidie mane mane autem fieri dicitur quod quotidie fit ac diligenter seduloque Drus That thou shouldest visit him every morning Fvery morning The Hebrew is in the mornings And the word here used for morning is considerable There is a two-fold morning which the Jewes distinguished exactly by their watch One morning was that which they accounted from an hour before Sun rising from the very first breaking of the day till the Sun appeared above the Horizon which is about the space of an hour And the word which they use for it is Shachar which signifies to be darkish or blackish because that first morning is somewhat darke And so the a Latini vocant dilucuium quasi diei lucula i. e. parva lux latine word diluculum which is for the first morning is by Crittiques called a little of the day But their other morning was the space of an houre after Sun-rising and the root of that word signifies to seeke or to enquire to enquire diligently And the reason why they expresse the second morning so is because when the Sun is up we may seeke and search about our businesse or go on in our callings and affairs The height of the day they call the b Reliquum diei tempus quasi ob majorem lucis intensionem vocant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ghetsem
care for Oxen God doth care for Oxen The Apostle having shewed the goodnesse of God to beasts providing by a law that they should not be muzled presently he questions Doth God take care for Oxen As if he had said surely there is some what more in it or saith he it altogether for our sakes Not altogether doubtlesse God had regard to Oxen But for our sakes no doubt it was written that is chiefly for our sakes That he which ploweth should plow in hope and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope So when Christ speaks of the Lillies Mat. 6. If God so cloath the Lillies of the field how much more will he cloath you You shall have the strength of his care to provide for you to feed and cloath you thus God sets his heart upon man he lookes to his people as to his houshold to his charge he will see they shall have all things needfull for them And so not laying to heart which is the contrary signifies carelesnesse Isa 47. 7. It is reported of Babylon Thou saidst I shall be a Ladie for ever so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart that is thou didst not regard these things to take care about them And Ezek. 40. 4. the expression is very full where God cals the Prophet to attention and he calleth him all over Behold saith he with thine eyes and heare with thine eares and set thine heart on all that I shall shew thee He wakens the whole man See and see with thine eyes Heare and heare with thine eares and set thine heart upon it the sum of all is be thou very intentive and diligent about this businesse to the utmost Secondly To set the heart notes an act of the affections and desires A man sets his love upon what he sets his heart that 's the meaning of Psalm 62. 10. If riches increase set not your heart upon them That is let not your love your affections your desires close with these things when riches abound let not your desires abound too It is an admirable frame of heart to have narrow scant affections in a large plentifull estate He is the true rich man who loves his riches poorly Set your affections on things that are above Col. 3. 2. Thirdly To set the heart notes high esteeme and account this is more than bare love and affection 2 Sam. 18. 3. when a counsell of warre was held by Davids Commanders about going out to battell against Absolom they all vote against Davids person all undertaking upon this ground they will not care for us they will not set their hearts upon us or value us their hearts are set upon thee thou art the prize they looke for and therefore the heate of the battell will be against thee Againe 1 Sam. 4. 20. When the wife of Phineas was delivered of a son a son is the womans joy and glory yet the text saith when the women that stood by told her that a son was borne she answered not neither did she regard it she did not set her heart upon it because the glory was departed from Israel In either of these sences the Lord sets his heart upon man he greatly loves man The love of God to man is the spring of mercy to man yea love is the spring of love love acted springs from a decree of love Deut. 7. 7. The Lord thy God did not set his love upon you c. because ye were more in number then any other people but because the Lord loved you Love also led in that highest work of mercy the giving of Christ God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son Josh 3. 16. As love is the spring and root of all the reall duty which mans performes to God and is therefore called the fulfilling of the law Our love fulfilleth the will of God so the love of God is the root of all that good we receive his love fulfilleth our will that is whatsoever we will or ask according to the will of God the love of God fulfills it for us Our love fulfills the law of Gods command and Gods love fulfills the law of our wants and lawfull desires His heart is set upon us and then his hand is open to us Further God doth not only love man but his love is great and his esteeme of man very high and he reallizes the greatest love by bestowing the greatest mercy How did God set his heart upon us when he gave his Son who lay in his bosome for us He set his bosome upon us when he gave us his Sonne who came out of his bosome Hence let us see our duty Should not we set our heart upon God when God sets his heart upon us the soveraignty of God cals for our hearts He as Lord may use al that we have or are And there is more than a law of soveraignty why we should give God our hearts God hath given us his heart first he who calleth for our hearts hath first given us his What are our hearts to his heart The love of God infinitely exceeds the love and affection of the creature What were it to God if he had none of our hearts But woe to us if we had not the heart of God This phrase shews us the reason why God calls for our hearts he gves us his own it is but equall among men to love where we are loved to give a heart where we have received one how much more should we love God and give him our hearts when we heare he loves us and sets his heart upon us whose love heart alone is infinitely better then all the loves and hearts of all men and Angels There is yet a fourth consideration about this expression the setting of the heart Setting the heart is applied to the anger and displeasure of God so the phrase is used Job 34. 14. If he set his heart upon man all flesh shall perish together that is if God be resolved to chastise man to bring judgements upon him all flesh shall perish together none shall be able to oppose it As it is the hightest favour to have God set his heart upon us in mercy and love so it is the highest judgement to have God set his heart upon a man in anger and in wrath to set his heart to afflict and punish The Lord answers his own people Jer. 15. 1 2 3. that notwithstanding all the prayers and motions of his beloved favourites in their behalfe his heart could not be towards them Then his heart was strongly set against them or upon them in extreame anger therefore he concludes they that are for the sword to the sword and they that are for destruction to destruction c. If God set his heart to afflict he will afflict and he can doe it And there may be such a sense of the text here What is man that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him that thou shouldest come
this truth Heare it and know thou it for thy good So much concerning the Division or Parts of this first Speech or dispute made by Eliphaz in answer to the former complaint powred out by Job against the day of his birth and the night of his conception in the third Chapter The six Verses lately read containe as I said before the first Argument we have the Preface in the second Verse and the Argument it selfe in the four following The point which Eliphaz desires to prove and clear is this that Job was guiltie of hypocrisie of close hypocrisie at the least if not of grosse hypocrisie The Medium or reason by which he would prove it is the unsuitablenesse of his present practise to his former Doctrine His actions under sufferings contradict what himselfe had taught other sufferers And this speaks him guilty The Argument may be thus formed That mans religion is but vaine and his profession hypocriticall who having comforted others in and taught them patience under affliction is himselfe being afflicted comfortlesse and impatient But Job thus it is with thee thou hast been a man very forward to comfort others and teach them patience yet now thou art comfortlesse and impatient Therefore thy religion is vaine and thy profession is hypocriticall Is not this thy feare Here is a goodly religion indeed a proper peece of profession and such is thine this is all thou art able to make out Thus you have the Logicall strength or the Argument contained in the words We shall now examine them in the Grammaticall sense of every part as they lye here in order And first for the Preface If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved but who can withhold himselfe from speaking The words import as if Eliphaz had said thus unto Job we thy friends have all this while stood silent we have given thee full liberty and scope to speak out all that was in thine heart let it not grieve thee if we now take liberty to speak our selves and indeed a necessity lies upon us to speak Two things Eliphaz puts into this Preface whereby he labours to prepare the minde of Job readily to hear and receive what he had to say unto him First he tels him that he speaks out of good will and as a friend to him If we assay to commune with thee wilt thou be grieved Pray doe not take it ill we meane you no harme we would but give you faithfull counsell we speak from our hearts not from our spleen we speak from love to thee let it not be thy griefe Secondly he shewes that he was necessitated to speak as love provokes so necessity constrains who can withhold himselfe from speaking either of these considerations is enough to unlock both eare and heart to take in wholesome counsell What eare what heart will not the golden key of love or the iron key of necessity open to instruction when a friend speaks and he speaks as bound when kindnesse and dutie mix in conference how powerfull If we assay or try The word signifies properly to tempt either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tentavâ—t in bonum vel in malum periculum fecit expertus est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A lyâ—um quasi Graculum vel loquutoâ—ium dictum quod Deus inde responsa daret for good or evill and because in temptation an assay or experiment is made of a man how bad or how good he is Therefore the word is applyed to any assaying or experimenting of things or persons This very word is winning and gaining upon Job We will but try a little if we can doe thee any good or bring lenitives to thy sorrowes we will not be burthensome or tedious we will but assay to commune with thee The word notes serious speaking The place where God communed with his people in giving answers from Heaven is express'd by this word 1 Kings 6. 19. The Oracle he prepared in the house within c. or the communing-place where God spake Wilt thou be grieved The word signifies to be extreamly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fessus corpore vel animo insanivit furiit wearled even unto rage or fainting Here Elipphaz seemes to hint at Jobs former distemper'd speeches If we speak wilt thou promise us not to fall into such a fit of passion as even now thou wast in And yet whatsoever comes of it or howsoever thou takest it I must discharge my duty and my conscience therefore he addes who can withhold himselfe from speaking That is no man can withhold himselfe from speaking in such a case as this to heare thee speak thus would even make a dumb man speak Christ saith in the Gospel If these should hold their peace the stones would cry there is such a sense in these words if we thy friends should hold our peace when thou speakest thus the very stones would cry out against thee for speaking and against us for holding our peace The Hebrew word translated withhold signifies to shut up a thing so as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clausit coâ—â—cuit 1 Kings 8 35. that it cannot come out It is applyed to the locking up of the Clouds that they raine not to the holding in of fire that it cannot break forth Jer 20. 9. where the Prophet very elegantly fits it to the restraining of speech which is the very point in hand His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones I was weary with forbearing So it implyes that the friends of Job had as it were a fire in their bosomes which they could no longer restraine they were as Clouds full of water full of deaw and raine they were not able to suspend themselves from dissolving and showring upon Job both reproofe and counsell advises and exhortations We may observe from this Preamble That it is wisdome to sweeten reproofe with friendly insinuations Reproofe is a bitter Pill it is a wholesome yet a bitter Pill and there is need to wrap it up in Gold and Sugar that pleasing both eye and palat it may be taken downe the better It is the Apostles counsell to his Galatians Gal. 6. 1. Brethren if a man be overtaken with a fault yee that are spirituall restore such an one in the spirit of meeknesse The word restore is an allusion to the Art of Chirurgerie in setting a bone out of joynt soft words and a soft hand fit the Patients minde to endure that painfull operation By fals into sinne the soule breaks or disjoynts a bone he that will set such a minde must handle it gently We may observe the holy skill of some of the Saints in prayer preparing God for receiving of Petitions by prefaces and humble insinuations as it were getting within him Thus did Abraham Gen. 18. when he prayed for Sodome Let not my Lord be angry if I who am but dust and ashes speake unto thee There is such a spirituall art in winding a reproofe into
part of his character or commendation Thou art reported to be a man fearing God is not this thy feare Feare is taken either for the whole compasse of Gods worship or for that awfulnesse of affection with which we worship God which we ought to mingle and mix in all our actions and duties Therefore saith the Apostle Heb. 12. Let us have grace to serve him with reverence and godly feare And Psalme the second Serve the Lord with feare God is to be served in love and yet God loves no service which hath not this ingredient Holy feare Feare is the most proper affection which we creatures dust and ashes who are at such an infinite distance from God can put forth in his worship God condescends so farre as to be loved by us yea he calleth for our love as a friend or as a father as a familiar as one in neer relation but considered in his Majesty glory and greatnesse feare is the most suitable affection in our approaches unto God The name of God in some languages is derived from feare and God is expresly called Fear by Jacob Gen. 31. in that dispute with Laban where he telleth him Except the fear of his father Isaac had been with him c. Verse 42 And Jacob sware by the fear of his father Isaac Verse 53. that is by that God whom his father Isaac feared Jacob was a man so holy that he would take nothing into his mouth to swear by but onely the holy Name of God Religious swearing is one of the highest acts of worshipping as vaine swearing is one of the highest acts of prophaning the name of God Thy confidence The word which we translate confidence signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Inconstantia levitas per Antiphrasin constantia considenâ—ia also and that most properly folly inconstancy levity when the Prophet Jeremy reproveth the idolatry of those times speaks to worshippers of Idols he expresses it by this word They are altogether bruitish and foolish Jer. 10. 8. And holy David Psalme 49. 13. speaking of wicked men who make riches their portion and who lay out all their endeavours in the raising of an outward estate gives this account of their practise in the 13 Verse This their way is their folly this is the course that worldly men take and they think it is a very wise course but indeed their way is their folly Some translators reade that text this their way is their confidence as here in Job and so they make the sense out thus this way of worldly men in gathering riches in heaping up abundance of these outward things is their confidence that is they have nothing else to trust unto they have nothing beyond the world to trust unto this their way is their confidence So againe Prov. 15. 26. A foolish man or a man of folly despiseth his mother And once 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 more Psal 85. 8. where the Psalmist goeth up like Habakkuk to his Watch-tower to hearken for an answer of his prayer I will hearken what the Lord will say for he will speake peace unto his people but let them not returne againe to folly So some reade it in this Text of Job is not this thy fear thy folly that is was it not meere folly for thee to bragge and boast of thy feare sc That thou didst feare God c. But the word is often taken in a contrary sense as we translate for constancy or confidence and sometimes for hope and thus Job 31. 24. If I have said to gold thou art my hope or my confidence and Chap. 8. 14. speaking of the Hypocrite whose hope shall be cut off the same word is used and Prov. 3. 26. The Lord shall be thy confidence and he shall keep thy foot from being taken and not to heape many places Psal 78. 7. That they may set their hope in God In this sense it is generally understood here Is not this thy fear and thy confidence sc all the trust thou hast placed in thy God Feare and confidence are acts of naturall worship Confidence or Trust is the resting of the soule upon another here the resting of the soule upon the Word or promises of God upon the power faithfulnesse and truth of God an act thus put forth by the soule is confidence Now saith Eliphaz is not this thy confidence thou hast spoken much of resting and trusting upon God and his Word upon his power and faithfulnesse is not this that which thou hast all this while talked of See what a goodly confidence it is Doth it look like a proper piece of grace Confidence is an act beyond faith a soule confiding walkes in a higher Region of grace and comfort than a soule only believing there may be believing where there is not this confiding As patience is hope lengthned so confidence is hope strengthned Assurance is the highest degree of faith and confidence is the highest degree of assurance It carries with it first cheerfulnesse opposite to sorrow secondly courage opposite to fear and despondency of spirit thirdly boldnesse adventurousnesse opposite to cowardice Confidence having a good cause and a good call will take a Beare by the tooth or a Lion by the beard Fourthly it notes boasting or a kinde of spirituall wise bragging opposite to sinfull modesty or concealement of what God hath done for us Or take it thus Confidence is the noblest exercise of faith which looking steadily upon God in himselfe and in Christ through the promises raises the soule above all fears and discouragements above all doubts and disquietments either about the removing of evill or the obtaining of good Hence confidence is well called the rest of the soule therefore such as attaine to confidence are said to be in peace in perfect peace Isay 26. 3. Him wilt thou establish in perfect peace whose heart doth trust upon thee And this act of confidence or trust is proper and peculiar to God no creature must share in it This is worship commanded in the first precept Thou shalt have no other Gods before mee Whatsoever we confide in unlesse it be in subordination unto God we make it our God And it is one of the highest acts of the soule not onely as we respect the taking in our own comforts but also the giving out glory unto God This confidence is well coupled with holy feare the more we feare God so the more we trust him such feare is the mother and nurse of confidence But confidence is directly contrary yea contradictory to carnall feare he that trusts God indeed leaves both soule and body temporall and eternall estate with him without ever sending a fearefull thought or a jealous looke after either It followes And the uprightnesse of thy wayes It is the word used in the description of Job Cap. 1. 1. There it is in the concrete perfect here in the abstract uprightnesse We may reade it Is not this the perfection of thy wayes
same dungeon and be bound with the same chaine he may be slaine with the same sword burnt at the same stake eaten up with the same famine So that both in the materiality and likewise in the graduality of it it may be the same on both yet upon one it is a correction upon the other a judgement What then is this correction And where will the correction and the judgement part I conceive that the infirmities of the Saints and the sins of the wicked differ as judgements and corrections differ Now look upon those sins which we call the infirmities of the Saints they may be the same in the matter the same in kind yea possibly the same in the degree I meane respecting the outward rule given by God and the outward act committed by man with the sins of those who know not God or who in sinning go against their knowledge Then where doe they part Surely where corrections and judgements part And where is that Especially in two things First in the manner how 2. In the end why they are inflicted First the Lord never corrects his children with such a heart as he carries in laying trouble upon the loynes of wicked men The heart of God is turned toward his children when he corrects them but his heart is turned from a wicked man when he punishes him The Lord is even pained that I may speake as the Scripture often doth in this point after the manner of men I say the Lord expresses himselfe as pained as grieved as if every stroake went to his owne heart when he strikes his children When he is about to strike he is as it were unresolved whether he shall strike or no and as soon as he hath stricken he as it were repents that he did strike them All which motions of his heart the Lord shews us in the highest strains of passionate Rhetorick Hos 11. 8 9. But when he takes the wicked in hand to punish them we reade of no passion ascribed to him but these delight or joy and the effect of them laughter hatred or indignation and the effect of these mocking at them Pro. 1. 26. I will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh And when he resolves upon the destruction of his enemies he speaks as if then he had unburden'd himselfe and his heart were lighter then before Isa 1. 24. Ah I will ease me of my Adversaries and avenge me of my enemies Secondly the difference is as broad about the end When God layes the rod of correction upon his child he aimes at the purging out of his sin at the preventing of his sin at the revealing of a fatherly displeasure against him for his sin The Lord would only have him take notice that he doth not approve of him in such courses When these ends are proposed every affliction is a correction But the afflictions of the ungodly are sent for other ends First to take vengeance on them Secondly to satisfie offended justice justice cries aloud against them and they have nothing to interpose but their bare backs or naked soules The Lord comes as a severe Creditor and bids them pay that which they owe or suffer and to prison because they cannot pay Secondly observe A child of God is in a happy condition under all corrections As man in a naturall or civill capacity at his best estate is altogether vanity Psal 39. 5. So in a spirituall capacity he is altogether happinesse in his worst outward estate Happy is the man whom God corrects he is a gainer by correction If he looseth any thing it is but the drosse of his corruptions By this therefore Isa 27. 9. shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sinne Corrections are not sent to take away his comforts but to take away his corruptions That fire which God kindles upon his children shall burne only as it did the materiall bonds of the three children in Daniel the spirituall bonds of their iniquity that they may be more free to righteousnesse Againe Crrections are not manifestations of wrath but an evidence of his love and of their son-ship Whom I love I chastise Rev. 3. 21. And if ye endure chastning God dealeth with you as with sons Heb. 12. 7. The love of God is better then life and to be a son of God is the highest priviledge of his love Where shall we be happy if not in that which assures us of such love and of love in such a relation Hence the Apostle concludes 2 Cor. 4. 12. So then death worketh in us death that is our daily sufferings and endurings He speakes indeed especially of sufferings for the truth from the cruell hand of man but it is true likewise of all sufferings under the correcting hand of God Those stroakes which are deadly to our bodies may yet worke for us And what worke they The seventeentth verse answers the question Our light afflictions which are but for a moment worke for us a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory The sufferings of the Saints are active and their passions opperative But how doe they worke Not by way of merit or earning Our blood cannot oblige God but by way of preparation The Lord sends afflictions to fashion and cleanse our hearts as fit vessels to hold an exceeding weight of glory Our bearing the heaviest afflictions doth not weigh so much as the least graine of glory yet they fit our hearts for an exceedingly excellent weight of glory We cannot say properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they worke any glory but by an Hyperbole in speech we say they work towards an Hyperbole in glory And if any doubt can a man be happy when his outward comfort is gone Doubtlesse he may For a man is never unhappy but when he hath lost that wherein happinesse doth consist The happinesse of a godly man doth not consist in his outward comforts in riches in health in honour in civill liberty or humane relations therefore in the losse of these he cannot be unhappy His happinesse consists in his relation to and acceptance with God in his title to and union with Jesus Christ While he keeps these priviledges and these he shall keepe for ever what hath he lost if he loose all besides these He hath not lost any thing discerneable out of his estate Suppose a man were worth a million of money and he should loose a penny would you think this man an undone man No His estate feeles not this losse and therefore he hath not lost his estate If a man should buy a thousand measures of corne or cloath and should loose the given handfuls of the one or inches of the other would ye say that this man had lost either his corne or his cloath All the things of the world and they only are looseable which a godly man hath are not so much to his estate as a penny to a million They
others complaine too much when we our selves feel nothing but is it any wonder to heare a man groane that hath a burthen upon his backe as heavy as the sand of the Sea Is it any wonder to heare a man cry out whose flesh is filled with poysoned arrows shot from a bow bent and drawn by the arme of omnipotency Is it any wonder if that man feare who is incompast about with terrours Is it any wonder if that man be troubled who hath the terrours of the Almighty incamping about him Why Eliphaz thou wouldst not think that an Oxe or an Asse were reprovable if the one should low when he hath no grasse and the other bray when he hath no fodder if it be so that the very irrationall creatures doe according to reason when they complaine upon their wants doest thou think me desperate or irrationall in complaning of mine Alas all my fodder and my grasse all my comforts and refreshings are taken from me Dost thou not see how upon a due consideration of my estate all thy reproofes may be wiped off from me or retorted upon thy self what great matter is it if thou dost not complain who sittest at ease and knowest no sorrow Thou art in green pastures or full barns thou hast grasse and fodder in abundance and therefore hast no cause of complaint Thus in the generall But Job answered and said To answer is here taken properly he answers to a charge reproofe or argument At the third Chapter verse the first when Job beganne to speake it is said Job answered and said In Scripture language answering is often put for speaking though none have spoken a word or made any proposall before But here answering is taken in a strict sense as it notes a reply to somewhat before spoken Job answered and said Note this from it It is the duty of a man to answer when he is questioned or charged It is the Ahostles rule 1 Pet. 3. 15. Be ready alwaies to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you As a man in duty ought to give a reason of the hope that is in him so in duty he ought to give a reason of the sorrows that are in him and of the complaints that proceed from him We must answer for our passions as well as for our speeches we must answer for our sorrows and for our joyes and for our feares as well as for our hope or for our faith These must all be answered for and when any shall charge us about any of these we must be ready to give a reason of them as the Apostle advises there in the case of our hope with meeknesse and feare It is our duty to answer thus both in reference to our selves and others First It is our duty in reference to our selves that wee may vindicate that which should be more precious to us then the gold of Ophir our own credit or sincerity No man ought to despise his owne integrity or reputation so as not to stand up for it Therefore Job growes resolute in that point professing that he would hold his integrity till he died he would never let that goe but answer stiffely for it It is justice to dis-asperse our selves and give witnesse to our own wronged innocency A man is more bound in duty to stand up for himself then for any other by how much he is nearer to himself then to others Secondly It is our duty to answer in respect of others and that Job might have an eye unto namely to satisfie those who are scandalized by what we have either done or spoken Suppose it be not a scandall given suppose it be onely a scandall taken as this of Job was Job did nothing purposely to scandalize them nor any thing which upon a due consideration was a scandall but his friends had taken scandall at what he spake his impatient complainings therefore he was bound in duty to satisfie them and to shew further grounds wherefore he so complained Silence when we Si accusatus non respondeat aut criminis convictus aut certé suspectus videatur Pined are charged either makes a full conviction or strengthens suspition And in this case if Job had held his peace he had either yeelded the cause and confes'd himself guilty or at least his friends should have had cause to grow higher in their jealousies of his sincerity To right our selves is not a point of indifferency but of dutie self-Selfe-love is the rule of our love to others He who neglects his own wronged honour will not be very carefull which yet he ought of his neighbours O that my griefe were throughly weighed Griefe may be considered two wayes either Passively or Actively Griefe taken Passively is the thing which we suffer or which is grievous to us affliction it selfe is called griefe Take griefe Actively and then it is the sorrow we expresse under the pressures of grievous afflictions The word in the Hebrew is translated sometimes anger sometimes indignation sometimes wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ira indignatio hoc loco ira est que◠imonia valde iracunda vel molestia quam ex morbi ulcer is gravitate concipiehat Merc. Notat dolorem quem quis capit ex re adversa displicenti Coc. It is the same which Eliphaz useth Chap. 5. v. 2. where he saith Wrath killeth the foolish man Eliphaz began his speech with that word hinting at Job as if his wrath and impatience towards God had discovered him for a foole or a wicked one Now Job returning answer begins with the first word of Eliphaz his speech As if he had said You told me that wrath kils the foolish man but O that my anger or the wrath which you conceive to be in me that griefe which I have expressed were fully weighed you would quickly see that it is not the anger or wrath of a foole you would find reason for my passion and that not the want of wisedome but the plenty or weight of my griefe hath wrought out these complaints Therefore my desire is O that my griefe O that my sorrows powred forth in my former lamentation were throughly weighed you have but guessed at them yet you have not weighed them or if weighed them yet not throughly weighed them you have not weighed them which you ought as you would weigh gold to a grain or to the turning of the scale or if so your beame is not a true one nor your ballance the ballance of the Sanctuary you have weighed me but by a common beame or I fear by false ballances and a bagge of deceitfull weights O that my griefe The Vulgar Latin translates O that my sins namely for which I am thus afflicted were throughly weighed Vtinam peccata mea Vulg. As if the meaning of Job were to lighten his sin and to aggravare his suffering But doubtlesse that was none of Jobs mind or meaning neither will the
chesed a reproach to any people Secondly Impiety and cruelty harshness and severity Thirdly It signifies any abhominable wickedness Levit. 20. 17. where Moses speaking of incest incest between brother and sister calls that abomination by this word Chesod A wicked thing That may have a good name the nature whereof is so ill that it is not to be named Further The word as we translate imports more than a bare act of pitty or commiseration as suppose a man see his brother in misery compassionates him but relieves him not this is not pity Such the Apostle James describes in his first Chapter vers 15. If a brother or a sister be naked and destitute of daily food and you say unto them be filled be warmed be cloathed poor creatures ye are hungry yea are naked I pitty you I am sorry to see you thus be filled be cloathed I wish it were otherwise with you and yet in the mean time he gives them nothing wherewith either to cloath or feed them Is this fulfilling the law of love Is this charity Nothing lesse The pity here spoken of is not a verbal piety Our saying to a brother in trouble be comforted or I would course were taken for you I wish you well with all my heart and so we bestow a mouth-ful of good words but not so much as a morsell of bread or a cup of cold water Good words alone are cheap charity to mans expence and they are so cheap in Gods esteem that they will not be found of any value at all in the day of reckening good words not realized if they be found any where will be found in the treasures of wrath This is not the pitty which Job teacheth us should be shewed to him that is afflicted The Apostles quesion shakes such out of all claime to this grace 1 John 3. 17. whosoever saith he hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother in need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how doth the love of God dwell in him Though a mans mouth be open with good words yet if he shut his bowels from good deeds there is no love to God or man hous'd in that mans heart It is no Pitty to speak of onely to speak pitty and therefore the Apostle addes verse 18 My little children let us not love in word and in tongue but in deed and in truth that 's the true meaning of this word to him that is afflicted pitty should be shewed But you my friends have not given me so much as the sound of pitty you have not bemoaned me much less have you relieved me which is the substance of pitty reall pitty You have not loved me in tongue giving me good words much less in deed and in truth Deed-pitty is both the duty and the disposition of a godly man therefore this word Chasid in the concrete is often used in Scripture to signify a godly man He is one that hath obtained much grace and pitty from the Lord and he is kind gracious and pittiful unto men The holy Proverb assures us That a good man is merciful pittiful to his beast much more to a man and most of all to a godly man who is his brother in the nearest bond And it is considerable how this word was used by way of distinction among the Jewes who cast their whole people or nation into three ranks and it is grounded upon Rom. 5 6 7. where the Apostle alludes to those three sorts First There were Reshagnim ungodlymen the prophane rabble Secondly there were the Tsadikmi righteous men And thirdly there were Chasidim good men or pittiful mâ—n scarcely saith the Apostle will one die for a righteous man for a man fair and just in his dealings peradventure for one of the Chasidim for a good man some one may chance to dy He that had been pittiful might haply find pitty and having done so much good in his life all would desire he should live still But herein God commended his love to us that while we were â—et sinners Reshagnim in the worst raâ—ke of men Christ died for us No man had either love or pitty enough to die for them who had so much impiety The farthest that the natural line oâ— mans pitty can reach is to do good to those who do him good or are good Pitty notes out such a sort of men and such a sort of actions as Antiqui vocant Ciconâ—am pietatis cultricem Ciconiis pietas eximia est Soâ— are fullest of love of bowels of brotherly kindeness and compassion Hence the Stork which by divers of the ancients was put for the Emblem of love and benignity is exprest in the Hebrew by this word Levit. 11. 19. The Storke is very tender towards her young ones and her young ones are as tender of her when she is old as naturalists have observed So then this word imports the height of all offices and affections of love from man to man especially from Christian to Christian in times of trouble and cases of extremity This Pitty you should have shewed me saith Job But he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty That is he forsakes all godlinesse goodness and religion Fear takes in all that 's good and so it is conceived that Job retorts the words of Eliphaz in the fourth chap. Is this thy fear or where is thy fear thy Religion Now Job saith Is this your fear You have forsaken the fear of the Almighty Is this your Religion to deal so harshly with a distressed friend or to give him such cold comfort Surely you have forsaken that fear of the Almighty which you charged me with Have not I reason to ask Is this thy fear or to conclude You have forsaken the fear of the Almighty These words are diversly rendred Some thus He that takes away pitty from his friend hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty And Qui tollit ab â—mico suo misericordiam timorem Domini derelinquit Vulg. that 's a truth and a good sense though not so clear to the letter of the Text. Mr. Broughton joins this with the former verse By him whose mercy is molten toward his friend and who leaveth the fear of the Almighty So referring this melting to mercy and not to the man joining it with the former thus Have not I my defence and is judgment driven away from me by him whose mercy is molten away toward his neighbour and who leaveth the fear of the Almighty As if Job had said Eliphaz doest thou thinke thou haste driven away all wisdome from me by thy dispute Doest thou think that I have lost my reason as thou hast lost thy pitty Thou thinkest wisdome and understanding have forsaken me but it appears by thy dealings that thou hast forsaken the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdome Thirdly it is rendred in the contrary sense The word Chesid An dissoluto à sodali suo convitium et quod timorem omnipotentis
deseruerit An hac amicitiae jus c. ut nunc ego à vobis audio Merc. being taken for reproach and harsh dealing and so the meaning is made out with a kind of admiration thus Should reproaches be cast upon a man that is afflicted from his friend should he be told that he hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty and that wisdome is driven from him Do you think I am not able to discover your dealings should you go about to reproach me in this condition should you tell me thus harshly that I am departed from the fear of God Is this thinke you a fair carriage towards me when you saw me melted and afflicted you should have given me sweet and comfortable words not reproachfull words Job according to this sence sound his friends dealing with him as the Jews with Christ to whom being a thirst they gave vinegar to drink Or as David in the type speaks they gave me gall for my meat and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink here seems to be a like meaning You have given me reproaches in stead of comforts slandered me instead of refreshing me and is this the course you should take As Absalom said to Hushai 2 Sam. 16. 17. Is this thy kindnesse to thy friend when he seemed to fall away from David unto him So Iob might speak to Eliphaz Is this thy kindnesle to thy friend to load him with reproaches when you see him over-laden with afflictions A fourth thus Shall he that consumes by the reproaches of his friend forsake the fear of the Almighty The meaning whereof is this Doe Qui tabescit ab amico suo proâ—ro etiam timorem omnipotentis retinquet Foelices soli videntur sapere miseri desipere you think that all men whose riches and comforts are lost have lost their reason and judgement And doe you think that they who are reproacht by men doe not fear God The world commonly judges none wise but they that are rich And that they fear God most who rejoyce most But my practise and example I doubt not shall consute that opinion and give all the world to know that a man consumed and spent by the reproaches of men and the stroakes of God may yet fear God and keep up his stock to the full in holinesse and in wisdom Contabescens charitatem non tam dicitur erga guem socij charitas contabescit quam quuÌ„ per sociâ— charitatem preposter ram fcilicet sine scientia exercitam contabescit Cocc Fifthly This melting is referred not to the pitty of his friends but to Job melting or consuming by that which they called pity Thus. Shall he be charged to have forsaken the fear of the Almighty who consumes by the charity of his friends that is who is more afflicted by the counsels which his friends in love give him then by all his other afflictions As the mercies of the wicked are alwayes cruel Prov. 12. 10. So sometime the mercies of the godly are especially when they give preposterous and indiscreet counsel and this interpretation suites well with the title which Iob gave his friends Miserable comforters are ye all Chap. 16. 2. That is you have done your good will to comfort me but God hath not shewed you the way nor given you the tongue of the learned that yee might know how to minister a word in season to him that is weary and so notwithstanding all your good intentions ye have added to my miseries A sixth thus * Hunc dissolutum prae doloribus ab amico ejus exhibenda misericordia dereliquit eundem dissolutum timor Saddai dere inquit Horum duorum versiculorum terminos ita digerimus ut in posteriori vâ—x dissolutus sit mascu ini generis accusativi casus â—egaturque à verbo dere inquit cujus duo nominativi sint misericordia timor Saddai ille verò dissolutâ—s sit Job loquente de seipso in tertia persona Apparet ex hoc explâ—atione â—um nominativo ut in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa 31. 1. Ezr. 1. 5 Coc. Dissoluto à socio ejus benignitas est sc impendenda alioqui timorem Omnipotentis deserit Drus Vau apud Hebraeos varie sumitur interdum pro a ioqui That pity which friends should shew this man melted with afflictions hath forsaken him but hath the fear of the Almighty forsaken him also The meaning whereof may be made out to this effect As if Job had said thus You plainly see that there is no help in me for my pains and uncessant troubles have quite bereaved me of all that strength upon which I should naturally subsist And as for you my friends that pitty and compassion which you should afford a man thus melted with sorrows is quite fled and gone from your hearts and lips But what then Is the fear of God departed also from this sorrowful soul It is confessed strength is gone from my body and I see pitty towards me is gone from your soules O how miserable then were I if I should goe from my God and forsake his fear You shall see that though the pitty of men hath forsaken me a melted man yet as you object the fear of God hath not A seventh reading varying from ours only in a word gives the sence very fair and easie * to him that is afflicted or melted pitty should be shewed by his friend otherwise he forsakes the fear of the Almighty Whereas we say but he forsaketh this translation saith Otherwise he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty that is if a man do not shew pitty to his friend in affliction that man sheweth that he hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty Thus as I hinted at the entrance of this passage Interpreters are much divided about the Grammatical construction of these words There is a truth in every sence given and their variety may teach us to adore the fulness of the holy language which leads our thoughts so many wayes as also to be humbled for our own blindness of mind and narrowness of heart to see or comprehend the mind of God fairly written to us But I take the last to be the clearest meaning of Job in this passage and that to which most of the former are reducible and therefore staying upon this sence I shall give two or three observations from it First It is the common duty of friends and the speciall duty of godly friends to pitty and help one another in affliction I say to pitty and to help for that is the compasse of the word we have not done our duty in pittying the distressed unless we come to real assisting them We satisfie not our obligation to the bond and Law of love by giving comfortable words As that faith which is alone without works doth not justifie us so that pitty which is alone without works doth not justifie our faith such empty pitty will goe for little better then cruelty and not
to help will be interpreted oppression Word-pitty is but the leafe of love Deed-pity is the fruit of it As we should labour to be filled with all the fruits of righteousness which are by Christ so with all the fruits of love of compassion and of tenderness for these also are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God Phil. 1. 11. Observe secondly That the fear of God is ever joyned with love to our brethren True religion that we mean by fear hath a double bond in it a bond of obedience to God and a bond of love to men The Apostle puts so much of religion in the latter that in one place he makes it all religion the very definition of religion Jam 1. 17. Pure religion and undefiled before God what is it It is this to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction This is religion and pure religion that is this is a great branch of religion and a special fruit which springs from that goodly tree religion To visit the fatherless is more then to lock upon them and ask them how they doe To visit them is to help them It is like that visit in it's proportion which Christ made into the distressed world He visited and redeemed his people or he visited his people to redeem them And the fatherlesse to whose visit religion lead us are not only poor children or Orphans whose parents are lately dead and they not able to shift for themselves but the fatherlesse are all the afflicted who want our help or patronage Every helpless and comfortless soul is as an Orphan without parents as a widow without a husband To relieve such is pure religion In the 1 John 4. 20. the Apostle makes that an everlasting conviction against any man that he loves not God if he loves not his brother If a man say he loveth God and hateth his brother there is no medium in this point between hating and not loving or between hating and not helping it it be in our power he is a lyar for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen how can he love God whom he hath not seen Job puts it so here you should shew pitty to your friend in affliction but you forsake the fear of the Almighty and where fear of God is not the love of God is not Love to God is visible in love to man And in affliction the love of man to man is made most visible A true friend can hardly be discovered in prosperity and a false friend can hardly be hid in adversity Lastly observe It is not enough not to be cruel to or not to grieve the afflicted We must shew them favour and doe them good The light of nature condemns the oppressour and the light of religion condemns them who shew no pity JOB Chap. 6. Vers 15-22 My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brooke and as the stream of brooks they pass away Which are blackish by reason of the yce and wherein the snow is hid What time they wax warm they vanish when it is hot they are consumed out of their place The paths of their way are turned aside they goe to nothing and perish The troops of Tema looked the companies of Sheba waited for them They were confounded because they had hoped they came thither and were ashamed For now yee are nothing yee see my casting down and are afraid JOB having in the former verse begun to charge his friends with unkindnesse proceeds in this Context to illustrate his charge by a similitude To make their unkindness yet more notorious and visible he sets it out by things which are visible that so their own eyes or experiences might convince them as well as his Discourse The whole similitude is extended from the 15th to the 21th verse The sum of all is this That Job had found his friends like those brooks which hold least water when there is most need and greatest enquiry for water they gave him no comfort when he was nothing to the eye but sorrow He was parcht and scorcht in those hot regions and fiery climates of affliction and they gave him not to his tast so much as a drop of water to cool his tongue to ease his complaints That in general For the better understanding of this elegant similitude we may observe the parts of it We have here 1. The Protasis or proposal 2. The Exegesis or explication 3. The Apodosis or application of this similitude Or more plainly we have four things considerable in it The similitude is 1. Proposed 2. Explained 3. Confirmed 4. Applied It is 1. Proposed vers 15. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brooke c. 2. Explained vers 16 17 18. Which are blackish by reason of yce and wherein the snow is hid what time they wax warm they vanish c 3. Confirmed vers 19. 20. The troops of Tema looked the companies of Sheba waited for them they were confounded because they had bope c. 4. Applied to them vers 21. For now ye are nothing ye see my casting down and are afraid So much for the parts now to the opening of the words Vers 15. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook c. My bretbren The word signifies first a brother of the same bowels so brother is taken in the strictest sence a natural brother 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Frater propinquus vel qui eadem professione gente moribus vel amicitia frater est Etiam tribuitur inanimatis quae similitudinem quandam invicem habent Chemnit in Harm Evang. Veraamicit ia est quaedam fraternitas animorum aequalitas Secondly a brother of the same bloud any kinsman Thirdly it signifies any one that is knit to us in affection or like us in manners and disposition Fourthly it notes all those who are bounded with us in the same Nation or associated in the same profession though scattered all the world over As in Scripture that relative word Father is taken not onely for a natural Father but for any Leader Guide or directour of others in spiritual or civil respects so they who are near one to another in civil or spiritual respects are called brethren though they be never so far distant in bloud or place And it is observable that this word likewise is attributed to things inanimate or without life when they have a similitude or likeness one to another So Exodus 25. 20. The faces of the Cherubims shall took one to another The Hebrew is each man to his brother And Exodus 26. 3. 5. The curtains of the Tabernacle the loops and vers 17. the Tennous are all called woman and sister because they were all to be of the same materials and dimensions 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Frater cognationem habet cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unus vel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pariter quoniam qui similes sunt vel in uno conveniunt fratres dicuntur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
as one that travelleth and thy want as an armed man Want strips us but is it selfe not only cloathed but armed Evils have so much life and strength in them that they are compared to the strongest who live armed men Hence observe first It is an aggravation of unkindnesse to those who are in want not to be kind to them when they are modest in asking a supply of their wants Love ought to prevent asking and should be moved to give most to them who being in need complain least Again He speakes this to wipe off that aspersion as if the losse of his estate were the thing which grieved and pinched him so sore Did I say unto you bring me a reward c. It is an argument that a man overloves that which he hath lost when he is over-importunate to have his losses repaired If you had seen me call out unto you for an estate then you had reason to think that the losse of my estate was the losse of my patience Thirdly Observe the temper of a gracious heart under losses and afflictions A gracious heart under losses is not forward to complain to creatures or to ask help of men Did I say bring unto me or give me a reward of your substance He complaines to God and sheweth him his trouble he openes his want to God and asketh supplies of him but he is very modest and slow in complaining to or in suing for help at the hand of creatures It is not unlawful for those that are in want to make their losses and wants known to men It is a duty rather so to doe onely it must be done with caution least when we ask of creatures too importunately we give an argument against our selves that we are too much in love with creatures As it is reproved in those Rulers before spoken of Hos 4. 18. that they did love give ye It is a crime in the rich to love give ye And certainly it is a sin at least an infirmity in those that are poor and in want to love give ye or to say as Iob here had not bring to me Solomon speakes of the daughters of the horsleach that they are alwayes crying give give noting their insatiable thirst after blood Some poor are alwayes crying give give which notes a very inordinate desire after riches Iob is very careful to take off the suspition of such a blemish from himself I did not say bring ye or give ye me of your substance It is the duty of those that are full to give to their empty brethren it is their sin if they give not and it is their shame if they are not most free in giving to those who are most modest in asking But when God hath emptied us we should not be eager in filling our selves When God takes creatures from us we should take heed of pursuing them we should not doe any thing which may argue our hearts glued to them when the Lord hath loosen'd them out of our hands It is an honour to a poor Christian when in his greatest straights he can approve himself to God and men and can say as the Apostle Acts 20. 33. I have coveted no mans silver or gold or apparel It is as sinful to covet in our wants as it is in our abundance And it is as bad if not worse to be greedy of the creature when we are empty as when we are full A poor man oppressing the poor Prov 28. 3. and covering from the rich are sights of equal abomination Vers 24. Teach me and I will hold my tongue and cause me to understand wherein I have erred c. This and the next verse contain the fourth branch of Jobs reply and the general sence of them is a submission of himself to his friends if yet they should speak reason or discover his error Teach me and I will hold my peace as if he had said Though I have to the best of my understanding thus far acquitted my self and cleared mine own innocency though I have as I think with truth and justice laid this charge of uncharitablenesse and unfriendly dealing with me upon you yet you shall see I am ready to hear you I am teachable if you can yet teach me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iecit projecit per metaphoram 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rigavit quando transfertur ad pluviam quae lapidum sagitarum instar ex coelo decidit in terram eamque ferit rigat foecundat Hinc per Metathoram significat etiam docere Quod doctrina veluti instiletur animis dicentium ininutatim indatur eosque impuat I will keep silence and if you cause me to understand wherein I have erred I shall doe so no more Teach me The Original word notes in strict sence to cast a thing forth to throw a thing as a dart or a stone is thrown either downward or upward or in a direct motion forward Hence by a Metaphor it signifies raine because raine is as it were darted forth from the clouds and cast down upon the earth And from hence yet one remove further the Metaphor is carried to signifie teaching Hence the holy Prophet is commanded to drop his word Ezek. 20. 46. 21. 2. Sonne of man set thy face toward the south and drop thy word towards the south Sonne of man set thy face toward Jerusalem and droop thy word toward the holy places And the reason is this because Doctrines Truths and wholesome Instructions are instilled and cast down among the people or dropt into their spirits as rain is cast or dropp'd from heaven upon the earth And so we may read the word◠out of the metaphor thus rain down upon me doe ye O my friends like clouds full of water dissolve and showre down instructions upon me and see if I doe not receive and drink them in And from this word all doctrine and instruction in the Hebrew is called Torah Prov. 13. 1. and Psal 1. 1. And the Jewes by way of eminency call the five books of Moses as also all the books of the old Testament the Torah that is the Law or rule of holy doctrine which God rained down from Heaven and distilled graciously upon his people for their growth in knowledge and in holiness And so a Teacher from the same root is called Moreh Job 36. 22 Who teacheth like Him who raineth like him there is no man can distill truths as God doth Moses Deut. 32. 2. elegantly sets forth his preaching by an allegory of rain and dew My doctrine shall drop as the rain my speech shall distil as the dew as the small rain upon the tender herb and as the showres upon the grasse And the Apostle Paul Heb. 6 7 8. compares a taught people to ground that is well watered with rain For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it and bringeth forth fruit is blessed but that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected and is nigh unto