I may say fed and fattened from heaven All Vegetatives grass herbs plants flowers trees all Sensitives beasts of the earth fowls of the air yea and rational creatures too all men who breath in the air and walk upon the earth are refreshed and fed by the influences of heaven by the clouds and stars Further the Stars send down their influences not only upon living creatures in their three ranks but even upon inanimate creatures the minerals the stones that lye deep under the earth the precious gems with those of a courser grain receive much from the influences of the Stars So then all earthly bodies receive and derive their vigor and beauty from the heavenly the Sun and Moon have the greatest power and there is a very great power in the Stars and Constellations in the Pleiades Orion and Arcturus for the production of great effects Secondly In that 't is said Canst thou bind or stop the Influences of Pleiades Observe It is not in the power of man of any man to hinder or stay the virtue of the stars from falling down upon the earth What God will do by the creature no man can undo If God set those heavenly bodies at liberty and bids them send down their influences man cannot lock them up nor imprison their powers nor bind them from working And hence we may inferr First if none can bind the influences nor stay the comfortable virtue of the stars when God is pleased to let them out then much less can any bind or hinder the influences of the Spirit When God is pleased to send his Spirit to work upon the heart of man who can lett him There is a threefold influence or work of the spirit of God upon the soul of man First To enlighten or to give the light of the knowledge of his own glory in the face of Jesus Christ Who can hinder God when he purposeth thus to instruct and teach the ignorant and make them wise unto Salvation wiser than their teachers who can hinder it Secondly To convert to work faith and repentance together with love humility c. These graces are destilled and drop down from the Spirit of God upon the soul and who can hinder the Spirit from working them in the most hardened and unbelieving souls in the most vain proud and presumptuous soul the barren'st wilderness dryest heath such are persons unconverted are made fruitful by the influences of the Spirit Thirdly To refresh and comfort There are unspeakable influences of joy destilled from the spirit upon believers and when God will let them down from heaven who can lett them what can let them All the troubles and sorrows all the pains and tortures that men can invent or inflict upon a believer cannot bind these influences of the Spirit nor hinder joy in believing The greatest evils of this life can neither shut up nor shut out that comfort which the Spirit speaketh The most churlish winds that can blow from the coldest quarters of the world cannot chill much less kill or blast those fruits of the Spirit Love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness saith meekness temperance mentioned by the Apostle Gal. 5.22 23. The soul grows green like a Garden or Pasture in the Spring the soul bud's blossom's and brings forth these blessed fruits abundantly when fed with these dainties and delicacies of the Spirit Those great floods of trouble and persecution which the Serpent any where or at any time casts out of his mouth cannot prevail against the least drop of Consolation wrought in the heart by the Spirits influence Paul and Silas were bound in Prison but there their persecutors could not bind the sweet influences of the Spirit from comforting them nor daunt them by any terror from triumphing in Christ they could sing in Prison yea they sung at Midnight Secondly We may Inferr If God hath placed the Stars in heaven to drop down sweet influences upon us then at every sight of the Stars our hearts should be raised up in the admiring thoughts of the wisdom goodness and power of God We usually look upon the Stars as if they were only so many lights bespangling the Canopy of heaven and sparkling as so many fires in the firmament but we seldom consider their virtues their influences or the wonderful effects which they produce How few are there who behold the heavens with Davids eyes Psal 8.3 4. When I said he consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast made What is man that thou are mindful of him God is mindful of man not only to give him light by the Moon and Stars by the benefit whereof he sees other things but God gives many unseen benefits by the Moon and Stars The influences of the Stars are as beneficial to us Qui negat esse Deum spectet modo fidero câ—li Sidorâ— qui spectat non negat esse Deum and as great a treasure as their light We indeed have great cause as we are commanded Psal 136.7 8 9. to pay the tribute of thanks to God for setting up the Sun Moon and Stars in the heavens to give us light O give thanks to him that made great lights the Sun to rule by day the Moon and Stars to rule by night Yet we must not confine our thankfulness to God for them only as they give us light for they give us heat as well as light and wonder working influences as well as either Moses their civil Father blessing the twelve Tribes as Jacob their natural Father did before his departure out of the world thus bespake the blessing upon Joseph Deut. 33.13 14 15. Blessed of the Lord be his land for the precious things of heaven for the dew and also for the deep that coucheth beneath and for the precious fruits brought forth by the Sun and for the precious things put forth by the Moon and for the chief things of the ancient mountains and for the precious things of the lasting hills and for the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof c. Here we have two sorts of precious things First The precious things of heaven Secondly The precious things of the earth of the hills and mountains The former precious things are the cause the latter the effect The precious things of heaven are the influences of the Sun and Moon under which we are to comprehend the influences of the Stars these cause or produce the precious things of the earth that is Grass Hearbs with all sorts of Vegetables growing upon the surface of the earth they produce also the precious things of the ancient mountains and of the lasting hills that is gems or precious stones gold and silver together with all sorts of inferiour minerals Now if the Stars by their influences yield us all these precious things have we not much cause to admire both the power of God who hath implanted those vertues and opperations in them as also his
our lives these are or may be seen of men yet they must not be brought forth that we may be seen in doing them but that men seeing our good works may glorifie our Father which is in Heaven Matth. 5.16 Our inward good fruits which are indeed our choicest and most spiritual good fruits are of three sorts First Good Thoughts To do good is best for others but to think good or to have many good thoughts is the best proof that we our selves are good Solomon saith Prov. 12.12 The root of the righteous yieldeth fruit The root of a righteous man is his heart and the first-fruits of a good heart are good thoughts He is a precious person and hath a precious heart that can say as holy David did Psal 139.17 How precious are thy thoughts unto me O God how great is the sum of them That is the thoughts which I have of thee O God are exceeding precious unto me and I have many very many of them more than I am able to sum or reckon up Secondly Good affections are good inward fruits such are godly sorrow joy in God love to God longing after God Psal 27.4 Psal 42.1 2. Isa 26.9 hatred of evil all these movings of the heart are good and precious fruits Thirdly which are the issue and result of both the former good purposes and holy resolves to cleave fast to God to stick as David expresseth it Psal 119.31 to his testimonies wayes and truths at all times especially in times of trial or to continue with Christ in his temptation these are very good inward fruits Psal 17.3 Dan. 1.8 Acts 11.23 Outward good fruits are of two sorts First Good words are good fruits The lips of the righteous feed many Prov. 10.21 Edifying words Eph. 4.29 words of exhortation to good Heb. 3.13 words of reproof as to evil Gal. 6.1 words of comfort to the sad and sorrowful 1 Thess 5.14 all these words are good fruits Secondly Good works first of holiness towards God secondly of righteousness and love towards all men thirdly of charity to the poor all these are outward good fruits and all these the Lord looks for where-ever or upon whomsoever he sends the rain of his word JOB Chap. 38. Vers 28 29 30. 28. Hath the Rain a Father or who hath begotten the drops of dew 29. Out of whose Womb came the Ice and the hoary frost of Heaven who hath gendred it 30. The Waters are hid as with a stone and the face of the deep is frozen THe Lord having questioned Job in the former context about the course of the Rain and the free dispensation of it even to those places where no man is and to the Wilderness where there is no man here he questions him about the cause and original of the Rain and not only of the Rain but of the Dew the Ice and the Frost So then in these three verses we have four Questions First about the Rain and Secondly about the Dew in the 28th verse Thirdly about the Ice and Fourthly about the Frost in the 29th verse together with the marvelous force and effects of it vers 30. Vers 28. Hath the Rain a Father The Inquiry is who is the Father of the Rain that is who is the Author what is the cause of it Not as if the cauâ—e of that or of the other Meteors here mentioned could not at all be known but to shew First That much of them all is unknown There are many things in this lower Sphear beyond mans Sphear even these are not propagated altogether according to our understanding or apprehensions of them Secondly To shew that he must be plentifully stored with all sorts of good who as a Father begets and as a Mother brings forth such useful and necessary things for the preservation of living Creatures Thirdly To shew that these creatures are not produced by causes which are constant and unvariable in nature but proceed from and daily depend upon the power and will of God who somtimes checks and stops the course of Nature and at other times impregnates it for the production of these effects or brings them forth by the Midwifery and help of second causes Fourthly When the Lord propounds the Question under this Relation of a Father he would shew or teach us that he gives Rain and Dew to the earth as a father gives food and other requisites to his children Further This seems to be the design of God in putting these Questions to Job that forasmuch as he could not fully comprehend the causation and production of these things much less was able to cause or produce them himself but must receive them from the power and according to the dispose and providence of God therefore he should refer all his concernments to the same Providence and so rest satisfied whether God sent him a sweet and refreshing Rain and Dew or a grievous and afflictive season of Ice and Fâ—ost Thus we may conceive the general scope of this Context Now to the particulars Hath the Rain a father The question may be resolved both negatively and affirmatively First Negatively the Rain hath no Father that is on earth or among men There is no creature power that can produce a drop of Rain Secondly affiâ—matively Hath the Rain a father Yes it hath God is the Father of the Rain The Rain is not fatherless there is one who will own the Rain as his child or issue The causation of Rain is a great secret in nature a secret about which though wise and learned men have discoursed much and given out much light about it yet they have not reached the utmost nor attained the full knowledge of it and the reason of that is because the Rain hath a Father whose wayes and workings as in the first constitution of Nature so in the daily motions of it exceed our knowledg Hath the Rain a father Not on earth Nor are the Heavens the Father of the Rain the God of Heaven is As not a shower no nor a drop of Rain falls on the earth at the will or by the power of man Si quis alium praeter Deum pluviae patrem quaerat is erit vapor qui ex humidis locis entractus eâ— alevatus a Solo concrescit in nebulam aut nubem et inde a Sole repefactus liquescit et solvitur Sanct. so not by the power of the Sun drawing up the vapours and dissolving the Clouds nor by the Winds scattering the Clouds The Sun may shine the Moon may change the Winds may blow and turn long enough yet no Rain till the Lord gives the Word Some and that not improperly have called the Sun The father of the Rain The Sun draws up those vapours from the earth into the Air which are the matter of Rain and there those vapours are condensed into Clouds and afterwards rarified and dissolved into Rain yet these natural causes produce these effects only as God sets them on work and he can
suspend their working as often as he will And therefore the simple and plain meaning of this question is the Rain owes its original to God and must call him father And that 's the observation which riseth out of this question Hath the Rain a Father God and God alone is the Father of the Rain Without him it had never been and that it is continued is by his power and providence that the frame of nature is so disposed that second causes are so ordered and furnished as to produce Rain proceeds from or comes to pass by the Lord alone The Prophet spake this in a time of great drought Jer. 14.22 both in the negative and in the affirmative and he proposed two questions or the question twice intending the negative First Are there any among the Vanities of the Gentiles that can cause Rain By the vanities of the Gentiles we are to understand their Idol gods Idols are vanities or nothings and can they who are nothing do this great thing give Rain That 's the first question Can Idols cause Rain surely they cannot But will it not rain of course will not the Heavens one time or other yield Rain That 's the second Question Can the Heavens give showers No As Idols or false gods cannot give Rain so neither can the Heavens if forbidden give Rain they act not their power in their own power The Heavens cannot give Rain if God gives them a command to the contrary and the God of Nature can check and countermâ—nd the course of Nature both on earth and in the Heavens when he will Though those bottles the Clouds be never so pregnant and full of Rain yet he can stop them So then neither the Idols nor the Heavens can do it if God say No yea if he give not forth a word of command if he bids not the course of Nature proceed the Heavens over our heads will be Brass and the eaâ—th under us as Iron and therefore the Prophet in the latter part of the verse tells us expresly who is the Father of the Rain Art not thou he O Lord our God Therefore will we wait upon thee for thou hast made all these things As if he had said O Lord thou hast made them and therefore thou hast both the right and the power to dispose of them What can be said more clear and full for the confirmation of this poynt Many other Scriptures say the same thing Read Deut. 28.12 Psal 147.8 Jer. 5.24 Amos 4.7 So then though there are natural causes of Rain yet God is the first cause and it is at his pleasure that these natural causes either pâ—oduce their effects or are stayed from pâ—oducing them It Rains not by accident nor by any concatenation of second causes but according to the appoyntments and pleasure of the great God 'T is no small part of our duty to eye God in causing these common things and 't is a great piece of Atheism or a disowning of God to tye them up to natural causes Now If God be the Father of the Rain we may hence infer First That God is the Father of all Creatures and the supream cause of all effects in the creatures As a Father is the second or instrumental cause of his Sons Being so God is the supream efficient cause of all Beings and Entities Not only Animals and Rationals but the very inanimates and sensless creatures are of a Divine extraction God is the Fountain of their Being And if God be and must be acknowledged as the Father of all Creatures even of the Rain then Secondly God is much more the Father of Mankind The Apostle voucheth that to the superstitious Athenians as a Divine truth out of their own Authors Acts 17.28 As certain also of your own Poets have said for we are also his off spring we are sprung from him as Branches from the Root or as Streams from the Fountain Not that we are as the Streams with the Fountain or the Branches with the Rooâ— of the same Nature with him which to imagine were highest Blasphemy but we take or receive our Nature from him that is he hath made us to be what we are and in him that is in dependance upon him we live and move and have our Being Thirdly If God own himself as a Father to all things and to all men in a general way of Nature then much more doth he own himself a Father to all his people in a way of grace What the Apostle saith of his Title Saviour 1 Tim. 4.10 He is the Saviour of all men especially of those that believe so I may say of this Relation Fatâ—er God is the Father of all men but especially of those that believe The fatherhood which stands in gâ—ace is the highest and most excellent fatherhood which God beareth to any of his Creatures As to this â—he Apostle Jam. 1.18 saith Of his own will begat he us by the Word of Truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his Creatures that is as I conceive that believers they only are begotten with the word of truth considered with all other creatures to whom God is a Father in a common way should have the honour to be called the chief of his creatures The first fâ—uits were chief among the fruits of the earth The first born both of man and of beast were the Lords portion Exod. 13.1 therefore chief This honour have all the Saints the Birth-right is theirs and theirs is the Blessing They as all holy things are dedicated to God and graciously accepted with him as a chosen Generation as a peculiar people He who is Lord over all and Father of all both things and persons as they stand in the whole compass of Nature is eminently and with endeared affections a Father to all them who believe and are actually in a state of grace Fourthly If God be a Father to all creatures and to man more than to inferiour creatures and to true Beleevers more than to other men then as his fatherhood is extended so is his fatherly care God will not be wanting to any as a Father to whom he is upon any account a Father He takes care of the fruits of the earth and of the beast of the field and of all mankind he feeds them all and cloaths them all and protects them all but they who are a kind of first-first-fruits of his creatures and bears the image of his holiness or his Image in holiness have a special portion and proportion of his care over them and love to them and provision for them What can he deny to us as a Father who hath vouchsafed to be our father Hath the Rain a father Or who hath begotten the drops of Dew This latter part of the verse is of the same meaning with the former The word which we translate hath begotten Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Chal et de viro et de muliere dicitur et 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
draw in or hide his arm but when he delivered them then he was said to stretch it out Thirdly As the arm of God is for the protection and delivering of his people so for the destroying of his and their enemies God hath a destroying arm and of that Moses spake Deut. 33.27 The eternal God is thy refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee that 's sometimes the work of the everlasting arms of God and shall say destroy them Fourthly The Lord hath an assisting helping strengthning arm to carry us thorough any good work or duty which he calleth us unto Isa 53.1 Who hath believed our report and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed that is who hath received power to believe and do according to what the Lord hath revealed The arm of God works powerfully not only upon the outward man but upon the heart of man for the converting and saving of souls Psal 110.3 In the day of thy power thy people shall be willing The power of God put forth upon the inner man for full conviction and sound conversion is greater than any power that worketh upon for or against the body of man God hath a mighty arm for all these purposes and for many more even for as many as he is pleased to make use of it or employ it in And if any ask How mighty is his arm I answer No man knoweth how mighty it is only this we know It is Almighty What the might of Almightiness is who can understand Moses spake admiringly more than knowingly to this point Psal 90.11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger The anger of God is beyond comprehension and so is his love Who knoweth the power of his love We are exhorted Eph. 3.19 To know the love of God which passeth knowledge What the heighth depth length and bredth of divine love are anger no man knoweth nor doth any man know the dimensions of divine power The Apostle speaking of God as a Spirit saith 1 Tim. 6.16 Whom no man hath seen nor can see So we may say of God as powerful no man knoweth nor can know how powerful he is He must be as powerful as God who knoweth how powerful God is Only this we may say First his power is so great that he can do all things and he can do all things with ease There is nothing hard to God Hard things are easie to God Some things are hard and others easie to men but to God all things are alike Not only is nothing too hard for the Lord as he said to Abraham Gen. 18.14 but the truth is nothing is hard to him Secondly His power is so great that he can do whatsoever he willeth or hath a mind to do Job 23.13 He is in one mind and who can turn him and what his soul desireth even that he doth And as the Lord can and will do whatever he hath a will to do so to clear the point a little further we may boldly say he hath a will to do all things of these three sorts First He hath a will to do whatsoever he hath promised purposed or determined to do Now if we duly weigh what great things there are in the promises and purposes in the counsels and decrees of God to do in the world we may soon conclude with truth and sobriety that great things will be done in their proper times and seasons Secondly The Lord doth assure us he hath a will to do whatsoever we ask of him in faith and according to his will If we have a rule for our asking or if we ask by rule we have a Gods word for it that it shall be done and given to us according to our askings 1 John 5.14 And this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his will he heareth us What is that is it only that he perceives or knows what we ask no his hearing is the granting and giving what we ask God is engaged by his gracious promise that his arm shall do all that we pray for right for the matter and aright for the manner in faith and in sincerity Thirdly It is the will of God to do whatsoever is for the real good of his people though possibly they ask it not It is the will of God not only to do what we ask but many times more than we ask As God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think Eph. 3.20 so he actually doth for us much more than we ask or think The Lord expects we should pray for every good thing which he hath promised and therefore he had no sooner made many large and most gracious promises of doing great things for the Church with this assurance Ezek. 36.36 I the Lord have spoken it and I will do it But presently he adds vers 37. Thus saith the Lord God I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them We should extend our prayers and our seekings to the utmost line of the word or our prayers should be commensurate both to prophesies and promises Prayer helps them all to the birth and they seldom bring forth alone And indeed prayer is nothing else in the matter of it but a turning or putting the promises into petitions t is a suing out the good of the promise Yet there are some good things in the promises which we cannot reach or at least are not mindful of There is a great latitude in the promises The Commandements of God are exceeding broad Psal 119.96 Who can find out all the duty of them And doubtless the promises are exceeding broad who can find out all the mercy in them The Apostle Peter 2 Epist 1.4 calls them exceeding great and precious promises they are exceeding good and they are exceeding great they are as great as they are good and who hath a heart great and good enough to see and sue out all the good and great things in them Now I say though possibly we ask not for all the good of the promise at least not expresly yet it is the will of God to do all that for us and to bestow all that good upon us which he hath promised He hath preventing grace his first grace he alwayes giveth unasked When he begins to manifest himself to a poor soul to bring him out of a state of darkness is such a soul begging this of God no he is running from and rebelling against God I am found of them that sought me not saith the Lord Isa 65.1 Now as they who are not the Lords receive grace to become his unasked so they that are the Lords through grace receive many mercies unasked God will not fall in giving all that he hath promised though we fail in asking some things promised His arm is powerful enough to do what he willeth and this is the will of
him I look upon the proud man and bring him low now let me see you do so too Canst thou with a look only abate their pride and bring down the pomp of man Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath Hence note First There is wrath in God God knoweth how to cast forth his wrath as well as to send forth his love Habet ira Domini suam energiam nunquam egreditur vana or shed it abroad as the Apostles word is Rom. 5.5 in the hearts of his justified ones by the holy Ghost which is given unto them The wrath of God saith the same Apostle Rom. 1.18 is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness The wrath of God is such as we can neither First withstand nor Secondly avoid there 's no out-running no making an escape from it but only by Jesus Christ and therefore the Apostle gives that glory to him alone 1 Thess 1.10 Even Jesus which delivered us from the wrath to come There is a wrath to come which God will scatter over all this sinful wicked world blessed are they that are delivered from it Yea not only is there wrath in God but a fierceness of wrath terrible wrath such as will cause the wicked as was said before to run into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth Isa 2.19 Let us mind this wrath and the fierceness of it and let us bless the Lord who hath sent Jesus Christ â—o deliver us from this wrath and from the fierceness of it When wrath shall be cast abroad upon the wicked world that it falls not upon the godly is the fruit of highest and freest love And though they sip of the cup yet that they drink not the dregs of it is rich mercy Psal 75.98 In the hand of the Lord there is a cup and the wine is red it is full of mixture and he powreth out the same in this powring out possibly a godly man may drink somewhat of it especially in a time of common calamity but the dregs thereof all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them It is of the Lords mercy and because his compassions fail not that we are delivered from the fierceness of his wrath and from drinking the very dregs of the cup of his displeasure Consider further upon whom this wrath will be exercised Cast forth the rage of thy wrath behold every one that is proud and abase him This the Lord bids Job do to shew what himself usually doth Hence note First The Lord takes special notice of proud persons He beholds them he locks upon them As it is said Saul 1 Sam. 18.9 He eyed David from that day forward that is which was his great sin he cast a revengeful envious eye upon him Thus when the holy God seeth wicked men gâ—ow lofty and proud he eyeth and beholdeth them from that very day with an eye of just revenge or with a purpose to break them and be revenged on them God beholds them as I may say with an evil eye that is with an intent to bring evil upon them He saith David Psal 138.6 knoweth the proud afar off As it is said of the Father of the humbled Prodigal in the Parable Luke 15. When he was yet a great way off his father saw him and had compassion So God quickly spies out a proud man even a great way off and hath indignation against him or as we may rather expound the Psalm He knoweth the proud afar off that is a proud man shall never come near him he will not admit him into his presence much less into his imbraces To be known afar off is to be far from the favourable or respectful knowledge of God yea to those whom the Lord knows afar off in this world he will say in the next I never knew you depart from me ye workers of iniquity Mat. 7.23 Secondly Note God is able to and will cast down proud men That which he would have Job do he himself as was said usually doth He beholdeth the proud and abaseth them he layeth them low Nebuchadnezzar that proud Monarch was brought to that confession Dan. 4.37 Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and honour and extol the King of Heaven all whose works are true and his ways judgment and those that walk in pride he is able to abase If men will be proud and lofty the Lord both knoweth very well how and is able very easily to bring them down And as he knows how and is able to deal with proud men so he desires and delights to deal with them above all sorts of sinners his greatest contests are with the proud Isa 2.12 13 14. The day of the Lord of Hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty and upon every one that is lifted up in his own conceit especially and he shall be brought low and upon all the Cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up and upon all the Oaks of Bashan and upon all the high mountains c. What meaneth the Prophet by these is the Lord angry with trees and mountains These are but the shadows of great and proud men the day of the Lord shall be upon every one of them and his hand will be heavy upon them in that day Proud men look upon themselves much above others but as God is above them so he loves to shew himself ahove them especially when they shew out their pride As Jethroe said to Moses Exod. 18.9 11. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them God sheweth himself above all when he acts above proud men and acts them down in their proudest actings And as the Lord delights to bring proud men down so he will certainly do it he is resolved upon it He looketh upon every one that is proud to abase him The Angels that fell were proud they kept not their first estate but left their habitation they did not like the state wherein God had placed them and therefo e God cast them down and he hath reserved them in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day Jude 6. When man in Paradise began to be proud and would be more than God made him God made him above all earthly creatures but he would be as God as his Creator he would be as it were the founder of his own happiness pride and unbelief at once took hold of him and led him to his sin-fall and then followed his fall his judgment-fall God cast him down God abased him and not only that proud man but man-kind for his pride they being in him his pride was theirs And to this day God hath all along set his face against all proud men and the pride
Ezek. 6.9 They shall loath themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations And when the Lord had promised to bring the children of Israel to their own land he tells them what work they shall be at there Ezek. 20.43 There shall you remember your ways and doings wherein you have been defiled and ye shall loath your selves in your own sight for all the evils that ye have committed Once more in that Prophet chap. 36.31 Then shall ye remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good and shall loath your selves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations In all these Scriptures we have loathing of self for sin and evil done And as there is a loathing of sinful self in true repentance so Secondly Of righteous self or a loathing of our selves in the good in the best that we have done We may soon see that in the best of our duties which will stir up this self-abhorrence or which gives us cause enough to abhor our selves So Job did as to all the glitter of his moral vertues of which he spake so much before in several places especially in the 31. chapter He that truly repents doth not only abhor his sin so as never to commit it again but he abhorreth his righteousness so as never to trust in it at all Thus the Apostle spake Phil. 3.7 8. I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ What did he account loss not only the evil that he had done but all the good that he had done he accounted that but dung that he might be found in Christ not having his own righteousness which is of the law Self-righteousness is gold and to be embraced in conversation but 't is dung and to be abhorred in justification Job abhorred his own righteousness from the beginning of this dispute in that point though he spake so much of it chap. 9.31 If I wash my self with snow water and make my hands never so clean yet shalt thou plung me in the ditch and mine own cloaths shall abhor me or as in the Margin my own cloaths shall make me to be abhorred What means he by his cloaths Surely not the cloaths that were upon his body but his moral cloathing his own works of righteousness according to the law These cloaths saith he will make me to be abhorred I see I cannot be accepted in them nor justified by them Job was clear in that before but now he doth not only abhor his own righteousness as to trusting in it but as to talking so much of it or so much as to talk of it Christ saith Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth that is take not much notice of thy own good deeds As a repenting person will not touch at all with his former evil deeds so he will not talk nor take much notice of his own good deeds The best of himself is little to himself Before I pass this point it may be enquired First what this self-abhorrence which accompanies true repentance works in those that have it with respect to sin or sinful self I answer It works these five things First A dislike of sinful self he grows into a distast with sin it relisheth not his renewed palate and so will not like unsavoury meat go down with him Secondly A hatred of sinful self 'T is but an easie step from distast and dislike to hatred That soon falls under our displeasure which pleaseth us not No sooner did Amnon dislike his sister Tamar whom he inordinately liked a little before but the Text saith 2 Sam. 13.15 He hated her exceedingly so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her Thirdly An indignation against sinful self The spirit of a true penitent riseth against sin as against an open enemy or a false friend 2 Cor. 7.11 Fourthly An utter aversation or alienation from sinfull self As they who live in sin are averse and alienated from the life of God that is from holiness so they who repent of sin are alienated and turned away from the sins of their former life Fifthly and lastly An opposition against sin There is not barely a turning away from it but a war against it a desire to destroy and mortifie it to do it as I may say the greatest mischief we can Thus dislike is followed with hatred and hatred with indignation and indignation with aversation and aversation with opposition wrought and rising up in a penitent soul against sin But Secondly it may be asked why doth a repenting soul abhor sinful self I answer He doth it upon these four considerations First Because it appears to him as a filthy thing Ezek. 16.5 Psal 38.7 Prov. 12.22 All which Scriptures shew that as sin is a filthy thing in it self so it appeareth such to a repenting soul They that love their sins look upon them as fine things or as their beauty but to a repenting soul nothing appeareth more dirty and filthy and who abhors not that which is so to him Secondly A repenting soul looketh upon sin as a hurtful thing to him We naturally turn from and abhor that which is so We abhor the poyson of a Toad and the sting of a Serpent To taste the one or to be bitten by the other is no more deadly to the body than sin is to the soul Thirdly A repenting soul is sick very sick of his sins they have burdened his conscience as unwholsom food doth the stomack Now if a man abhors that which hath made him stomack-sick much more will he abhor that which hath indeed and not so much from the quantity as from the quality and nature of it made him conscience-sick Fourthly A repenting person hath vomited or cast up his sins by an humble confession of them alwayes to God and in some cases to men Repentance is the souls vomit Now as any man loaths his own vomit so a man truly repenting loaths the sin which he hath thus vomited Upon all these accounts a repenting soul loaths sinful self or sin in himself Thirdly But why doth a repenting soul abhor righteous self I answer First Because he is convinced that self-righteousness is a weak imperfect thing even in sanctification and therefore he is so far from boasting of it or trusting in it that he hath a kind of abhorrence of it Secondly He seeth that as to justification it is a filthy abominable thing Isa 64.6 All our righteousness are as filthy rags And as he abhors it because 't is unfit and incompetent in it self for that use so because 't is utterly inconsistent with the tenour of the Gospel wherein God hath removed all mans righteousness how pure soever it may be from that use and directed us to look only to the righteousness of Christ for that use which the Apostle calls the righteousness of God Rom. 10.3 and that in a twofold
kindred The kindred of Christ are called his brethren Mark 3.31 Then came his brethren and his mother standing without that is his kindred for whether Christ had any brother in a strict sence as born of the same Mother we have nothing from Scripture to affirm it is generally agreed that he had not his brethren were his kindred at large Abraham spake truly though not the whole truth Gen. 20.12 when he called Sarah his sister that is his kinswoman Moses called Israel brother to the Edomites who were distant from that people many degrees they descending from Esau these from Jacob Numb 20.14 Thus saith thy brother Israel that is Israel that is of thy blood though a great way off Isaac being their common Father Thus here all Jobs brethren and sisters are all his kindred and not only these but All that were of his acquaintance before The Hebrew is All that knew him before that is had familiarity and converse with him before Christ Mat. 7.22 said of those that did so hotly press acquaintance upon him I know you not ye are not of those that I know or have had fellowship with you are none of my acquaintance So that there was a collection of all Jobs relations and friends at that time they all flockt to him and thronged about him as to and about some strange sight the fame of his restoration was soon blown all the Country over Hence the Septuagint render the words paraphrastically Audierunt omnes fratres quae cunque acciderant ei venerunt Sept. All his brethren heard all that had befallen him and so they came But where was his wife There is no mention here of her return she had spoken as a foolish woman Chap. 2.10 and did not answer the duty of her relation after that as he complained Chap. 19.17 My breath is strange to my wife though I intreated for the childrens sake of mine own body yet doubtless she returned to her duty and honoured him as her head and husband now at last else the mercy had not been compleat but defective in a very considerable part of it Now in that Jobs restoring or the repair of his losses began with the return of his friends Observe The loss of friends is a great and grievous loss He that loseth the affection of friends loseth a great possession a great interest Friends indeed are great helps great helpers to be in a friendless condition is to be in a helpless condition to have friends is a very valuable mercy Let us bless God that we have men to friend us above all that God is our friend Secondly These words Then came all his brethren imply that when he was in an afflicted condition none of his friends came at him neither those that are here called his brethren and sisters nor those that are called his acquaintance Hence observe In times of affliction worldly friends will leave us and godly friends may prove strange to us Doubtless among those brethren sisters and acquaintance of Job some that I say not many were godly yet even they left him in the day of his distress Men are but men and they oftentimes shew themselves unconstant to man As Christ had those that followed him for the loaves Amicitia mundi sequitur marsupium so have we too Friendship followeth the purse the bag and when all is gone such friends are gone When Christ himself was in affliction those that were in neer relation to him his very Disciples left him they all left him and Peter denied him When the Apostle Paul was in a great affliction and stood as a prisoner to answer for his life before Nero his friends durst not appear At my first answer saith he 2 Tim. 4.16 no man stood with me all men forsook me He had not a friend that would own him nor appear for him in the time of his affliction and persecution and he prayed that God would not lay it to their charge that they had been thus unfriendly to him Then First Let us not trust in friends no not in a brother and not only not in a brother at large but not in a brother in the strictest sence not in a brother of the same blood and bowels with us no not in a brother of the same faith with us Mich. 7.5 Trust ye not in a friend put ye not confidence in a guide keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lyeth in thy bosom Trust not in neerest friends no not in godly friends they may fail Though we are to trust them so as not to suspect them yet we are not to trust them so as to rely upon them or to make them our strength for then they prove Egyptian reeds which will not only not support but wound us That 's good counsel Isa 2.21 Cease ye from man let him be who he will though a brother though of most intrinsick and neerest acquaintance though never so great and potent yet cease from him the reason there given is his breath is in his nostrils the man is frail his life is short and uncertain he may not last long And we may take another reason from the Point in hand his love is uncertain as well as his life and his affections seldom last long let us therefore have weaned affections from those that affect us and are friendly to us Then Secondly 'T is our wisdom to get Christ for a friend he is a friend for ever He that would have a friend to stick to him in adversity as well as prosperity let him get Christ to be his friend who is unchangeable whose love fails not that 's our greatest and surest interest Christ having loved his own which were in the world he loved them unto the end John 13.1 That 's the spirit of unfeigned friendship Prov. 17.17 A friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity That 's true of a real friend who lives up to the rule of friendship He loveth at all times and therefore to the end When the Prophet Malachi saith Chap. 1.6 A son honoureth his father his meaning is a son should or ought to honour his father or a son who knoweth his duty will honour his father so a friend ought to love at all times and a true friend will yet that Scripture in the Proverbs is chiefly true of Christ and absolutely true of him only he alone is such a friend as loves at all times Hence that divine challenge Rom. 8.35 Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ And then the Apostle proceeds from who to what As no person so no thing can separate us from the love of Christ Shall tribulation or anguish or peril or sword shall these separate us from the love of God no these shall not these cannot these cannot make Christ strange to us nor love us the less he loves in tribulation as well as out of tribulation in streights as well as in our greatest inlargements
ascend into the hill of the Lord c. and answered it vers 4 5. He that hath clean hands and a pure heart who hath not lift up his soul to vanity nor sworn deceitfully he shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness that is a righteous reward or a reward according to righteousness from the God of his salvation Solomon asserts the present performance of what is only promised in this Psalm he saith not The just shall receive the blessing but they have actually received it Prov. 10.6 Blessings are upon the head of the just By the just man we may understand First him that is in a justified state or him that is just by faith Secondly him that walks in a just way or that do justly And they who are indeed justified are not only engaged by that high act of grace to do justly but are either constantly kept in doing so or are soon brought to see they have not done so and to repentance for it Just and upright men in these two notions are so much blessed that they are a blessing Prov. 11.11 By the blessing of the upright is the City exalted As an upright man wisheth and prayeth for a blessing upon the City where he liveth so he is a blessing to it and that no small one but to the greatning enriching and exaltation of it He that is good in his person becomes a common good to Cities yea to whole Nations such are a blessing because they receive so many blessings Pro. 28.20 A faithful man shall abound with blessings This faithful man is one that acts and doth all things faithfully as appears by his opposition in the same verse to him that maketh hast to be rich of whom the Text saith he shall not be innocent that is he must needs deal unfaithfully or unrighteously for in making such post-hast to riches he usually rides as we say over hedge and ditch and cannot keep the plain way of honesty Thirdly As they who are in a state of grace and they who act graciously in that state so they who worship holily or holy worshippers have a special promise of the blessing As Sion is the seat of holy worship so there the Lord commandeth the blessing upon holy worshippers Psal 133.3 And again Psal 115.12 13. He will bless the house of Israel he will bless the house of Aaron he will bless them that fear the Lord both small and great that is the generality of holy worshippers shall be blessed The fear of the Lord is often put in Scripture for the worship of the Lord and so they that fear him are the same with them that worship him Fourthly They are the blessed of the Lord who trust the Lord for all and so make him the all of their trust Psal 34.8 O tast and see that the Lord is gracious blessed is the man that trustith in him that is in him only or alone being convinced of the utter insufficiency of the creature That man is cursed who trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm Jer. 17.5 therefore pure trust in God hath the blessing Fifthly They that are a blessing unto others shall have the blessing from the Lord. What it is to be a blessing to others read at large in the 29th Chapter of this Book vers 11. and in 31. Chapter vers 20. They that do good to others they especially who do good to the souls of others are a blessing to others Now they who do good they shall receive good themselves Prov. 11.25 The liberal shall be made fat and he that watereth shall be watered also himself He that watereth is a common good a blessing to the place where he lives a blessing to the rich a blessing to the poor a blessing to relations a blessing to strangers upon such the Scripture assures the blessing of the Lord. Sixthly They who promote the worship and service of God they that are friends to the Ark of God shall be blessed 2 Sam. 6.11 The Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom because he entertained the Ark shewed kindness to the Ark and was ready to do any service for the Ark of God he will be a friend to the true friends of his Church Seventhly They shall receive a blessing of God who strive in prayer for his blessing Jacob was blessed but he wâ—estled for it They that would have it must ask it with a gracious importunity they that seek it diligently shall find it These are the chief characters of the persons whom the Lord will bless And seeing his blessing is so effectual for the procurement of our good we should above all things labour to procure his blessing When Jacob wrestled with the Angel he asked nothing of him but a blessing Gen. 32.26 He did not say I will not let thee go except thou deliver me from my brother Esau he did not say I will not let thee go unless thou make me rich or great he only said I will not let thee go except thou bless me let me be blessed and let me be what thou wilt or I can be What should we desire in comparison of the blessing of God seeing his blessing strictly taken is the fruit of his fatherly love A man may be rich and great and honoured among men yet not beloved but he that is indeed blessed is certainly beloved of God Esau could not obtain the blessing Now what saith the Lord by the Prophet of him as the Apostle quotes the Prophet Rom. 9.13 Esau have I hated Esau got much riches but he could not get the blessing for he was hated of the Lord and therefore it is said Heb. 12.17 He found no place for repentance though he sought it carefully with tears that is he could not make Isaac repent of blessing Jacob though through a mistake yet according to Gods appointment he could not prevail with him no not by tears to take off the blessing from his brother Jacob and place it upon himself And the reason why the blessing remained with Jacob was because he was loved of God The blessing must go where the love goes The loved of the Lord are and shall be blessed and they who are blessed have all good with a blessing Read Gen. 24.35 Gen. 26.13 Gen. 28.3 2 Sam. 6.11 Psal 107.38 Yea as God giveth all good with a blessing so he giveth himself who is the chief good best of all and blessed for evermore to those whom he blesseth Then how should we desire the blessing of God or to be blessed by God It is wonderful how passionately and even impatiently the Votaries of Rome desire the Popes blessing they think themselves made men if they can but have his blessing I have read of a Cardinal who seeing the people so strangely desirous of his blessing Quando quidem populus hic vult decipi dicipiatur said Seeing this people will be deceived let them be deceived But we cannot be too desirous of a blessing from
to make resistance against death and his spiritual strength was so much that it caused him to make no resistance against it or rather at once joyfully to embrace and overcome it Thirdly These words so Job dyed being full of days may have this spiritual meaning His days were full He did not live empty days or void blank days but as he was full of days so his days were full full of good works and holy duties That mans days are empty though he be full of days or how many days soever he hath lived who hath lived in vanity and done little good with his life But we have reason to say Job dyed full of days because his days were full of good done as well as of good received he had not a long being only but a long life in the world living to good yea his best in duty both to God and man Thus Job dyed being old and full of days From this latter part of the verse Observe First When a godly man dyeth he is satisfied with the time he hath lived he hath his fill of days he craves no more Though no length of this life can satisfie him yet he is satisfied with the length of his life A godly man in some cases may crave a little more time He may say as Psal 102.24 O take me not away in the midst of my days and as elsewhere O spare me a little that I may recover my strength before I go hence and be no more Psal 39.13 Yet this is a truth specially as to good old men living as Job had done when they dye they have had their fill of living A Heathen said and he spake it after a heathenish manner Si mihi quis Deus largiatur ut ex hac aetate repuerascam in cunis vagiam valdè recusem Cato If any God would give me the priviledg to be young again and to cry in a Craile I would not thank him for it I have had living enough If a vertuous Heathen hath said so by the light of reason and morality then doubtless a godly Christian may much more say so through the power of faith and grace It cannot be said of all men who dye as Job did being old that they in this notion dyed as Job did full of days For as some godly young men have been fully satisfied with a few days and have said they have lived as long as they desired and could say with Paul We desire to be desolved and to be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1.23 Yet some old men are very much unsatisfied with their many days some old men would be young again This argues they have made but little improvement of their days or that they have got little if any thing of that all their days which should be the study of every day an interest in the death of Christ and so a readiness for a better life For an old man to wish himself young again is like one who with great labour hath clamber'd up a steep hill and wisheth he were at the foot or bottome of it again 't is as if a man who having been long tost in a storm between rocks and sands is got near a safe harbour should wish himself out at sea again They have not a true tast much less a lively hope of that life which is to come who would return to this upon such hazardous and uneasie terms Secondly As these words note a readiness or a willingness to dye Observe A good man is willing to leave this world He is not thrust nor forced out of it but departs he is not pluck't off but falls off like ripe fruit from the tree His soul is not required of him as 't is said of the rich man Luke 12.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but given up and resigned by him he is not taken but goes out of the world It is said indeed Psal 57.1 Merciful men are taken away by Gods commission given to death from the evil to come but they are not taken away from as being unwilling to part with and leave any present good A gracious man hath usually a readiness to dye in a twofold notion First As readiness signifies preparedness Secondly As readiness signifies a willingness to dye And always the first readiness promotes the second The more prepared any one is to dye the more willing he is to dye That man can say Lord now let thy servant depart in peace whose eye of faith hath seen his salvation We saith the Apostle speaking of believers 2 Cor. 5.8 are willing to be absent from the body that is to dye And the word there used signifies not only the freest choice but if I may so speak the good will or good pleasure of mans will as it often signifies God's As a godly man hath a peculiar way of living so of dying and the reason of both is because he sees blessed eternity beyond time and himself by a well-grounded that is a Scriptural hope a partaker of the blessedness of it Thirdly Note They dye full of days who fill their days or whose days are full That is who fill their days with or whose days are full of the fruits of righteousness of faith and repentance of love and charitableness Stephen Acts 6.8 was full of faith and power They dye full of days in old age who as it is said Psal 92.14 bring forth such fruit in their old age Nulla dies sinelinea Apelles Diem perdidi Vespatian who dye as Dorcas Acts 9.36 full of good works and almes-deeds which they have done It was said of a famous Painter No day past him without drawing a line A Romane Emperour said I have lost a day when he did no good that day We may well reckon those days lost in which we do no good in which we draw not some white line some golden line of grace and holiness Then what account will their days come to who pass not a day but they draw black lines filthy lines of sin and wickedness or whose days are all blotted with the worst abominations of the day they live in If those days are empty and lost wherein we do no good and are not made better what then becomes of their days and where will they be found but in the Devils Almanack who do nothing but evil and daily become worse and worse So then they only dye full of days who live doing the will of God and denying their own who live mortifying corruptions and resisting temptations who live exercising their graces and answering their duties to God and man This this is to live our days and to dye full of days Again as their days are full who are full of grace in themselves and of good works towards men so are theirs who are full of the mercies and blessings of God especially theirs whose days are full of soul mercies and blessings whose hearts are full of peace with God full of joy
God to error from the true worship of God to idolatry and from communion with God to creature-comforts and contentments you go after vain things which cannot profit To be vain and to be unprofitable are the same thing Take heed of sin for you cannot make any profit of it you cannot raise any true revenue out of it you will one time or other be ashamed as the Prophet speaks of all those revenues your hope that way is vain Secondly Then how vain a thing is it to oppose the Church of God! Why because there is no ground of hope for success in that attempt The world hath been upon it all along but they could never effect nor accomplish what they have imagined they have done all but prosper in it they never had their end which is the end or total destruction of the Church Pharaoh would oppose and vex Israel the Church of God and keep them low but he could not attain his end for the more he oppressed them the more they multiplied therefore all such are said to imagine a vain thing Psal 2.1 2. Why do the Heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing the Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed but all in vain Nothing less came of it than what they imagined or their imaginations came to nothing yea brought them to nothing I saith the Lord Zach. 12.3 will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces If any meddle with Jerusalem they will find they lift at a very heavy stone and that they meddle not with their match they shall surely be not only overmatcht but overthrown at length who do so The Church is founded upon a rock and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it Mat. 16.18 that is neither the counsels nor confederacies neither the power nor the policy of men or devils shall be able to prevail against it The History of the Church saith of Dioclesian a cruel persecuter that for very vexation he gave up the Government of the Empire because he saw he could not suppress Christianity by all his machinations against the Christians And doubtless they in the Gospel John 12.19 were not a little troubâ—ed when they said among themselves Perceive ye how we prevail nothing Behold the world is gone after him Thirdly Note The loss of hope or hope lost is the greatest loss When God would shew mans worst condition he saith His hope is in vain he doth not say his labour is in vain but his hope is in vain that pincheth most of all and that 's it which will pinch Hypocrites most at last who were in hope of injoying God but not only their labour but their hope shall be in vain when they come big with expectation and say Lord Lord we have done thus and thus when as the foolish Virgins they shall knock boldly and cry earnestly Lord Lord open to us the answer given them will be only this I know you not that is I know you not for mine as you presumed your selves to be even while you walked not as mine in wisdom but in your own folly This loss of hope will grieve more than the loss of Heaven As Christ told the Pharisees You shall weep and gnash your teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God and you your selves thrust out You thought that you should be saved above all men but saith Christ you shall be thrust out and lose your hopes This the Lord speaks to shew the worst of their condition who attempt to take Leviathan Their hope shall be in vain In the latter part of the verse the Lord gives us a farther account why their hope is in vain Shall not a man be cast down at the sight of him Is there any hope of taking him at whose very sight a man shall certainly be cast down There is a twofold casting down First a casting down by outward violence when a man is thrust down as we speak by head and shoulders Thus David cast down Goliah by a sling and a stone Secondly There is a casting down by inward trouble as we usually say such a man is mightily cast down Trouble of spirit heart-vexation and fear cast down many before any hand toucheth them Christ speaking of Capernaum saith Luke 10.15 And thou Capernaum which art exalted to heaven shalt be thrust down to hell As if he had said thou hast been high in thy expectations and highly priviledged in thy enjoyments having had the Gospel preached to thee but thou shalt not only fall down but thou shalt be thrust down into hell with a kind of violence When the Lord in the Text saith Shall not one be cast down we are to understand it of a casting down by the strong impression of astonishment and fear of dread and trouble seizing upon the mans spirit who comes near Leviathan and therefore it followeth Shall not one be cast down At the sight of him A man shall no sooner see him but he shall sink and if so then how little hope hath any one to grapple with him and to take him There is small hope of overcoming this Leviathan when a man at his sight or as far off as he can see him is so afraid of him as to be cast down with fear The very sight of a Whale is a terror to Mariners and Sea-men they are afraid their Ship may be overturn'd and spoyled by him Some read the words thus Will he be cast down even at the sight of him and they give this meaning of it Will the Leviathan be cast down at the sight of a man when he cometh prepared to take him Thou thinkest Leviathan a poor spirited fish or that he will be afraid of thy looks or to see thee as other fishes are who when they see or apprehend a man near scuttle away as we say but thou wilt find Leviathan is a fish that will not be afraid at the sight of thee This is a good sense but I conceive that before given more sutable that the sight of Leviathan or a Leviathan as soon as seen is so terrible that a man will be stricken with fear as soon as he seeth him Shall not one be cast down at the sight of him Hence note First The sight of the eye worketh much upon the heart The Lord saith not Shall not one be cast down by the force of him but at the very sight of him The eye hath a mighty operation upon the inward man yea upon the whole man the eye hath a mighty force upon the heart as to three things First It hath a mighty force upon the heart as to joy If we see a person that we have a great deal of love for how do we rejoyce presently at the sight of him 'T is true also of things It is
said of Jacob Gen. 45.27 When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him his spirit revived it put a new life into him to see that which gave him much assurance that he should see a person that was the desire of his eyes his beloved son Joseph it revived the old man and made him even young again And as a pleasing sight made old Jacob as it were begin to live again so old Simeon rejoyced so much at the sight of Christ that he had done with living or had enough of it and therefore said Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy salvation that is he had seen Christ with the eye of his body and he had a sight of Christ by the eye of his faith this sight lifted him above all things seen A sensitive sight of good doth very much chear refresh and rejoyce the heart much more an intellectual sight how much doth the sight of faith refresh the soul and cause us to rejoyce It is said of believers They rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious at the sight which they have of Christ by faith 〈◊〉 1.8 Whom having not seen ye love in whom though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Whom having not seen that is with bodily eyes and in whom though you see him not that is sensitively yet believing What is believing it is the sight of the soul Faith gives the soul a view of Christ in all his excellency and glory in his love and in his loveliness in his righteousness and holiness faith gets a view of Christ in all his beauty and beholding him we rejoyce with joy unspeakable If the sight of the bodily eye causeth the soul to rejoyce how much more the sight of the eye of faith the eye of either fixed upon desirable objects affects the heart with joy Secondly The sight of the eye fixt upon sorrowful objects affects the heart with sorrow Lam. 3.51 Mine eye affects my heart said lamenting Jeremiah that is seeing the calamities that are upon my people I cannot but weep and mourn Christ saith of the yet blinded and hardned Jews They shall look on me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn Zach. 12.10 They shall shed tears of true repentance when they shall see him with an eye of sence joyned with an eye of faith whose blood they shed Some of them saw him once with an eye of sense without an eye of faith and then they shed his blood but when they shall see him with both or only with an eye of faith they shall mourn for shedding it When good Nehemiah heard in what a ruinous condition the City Jerusalem was he sate down and wept and imourned certain dayes Neh. 1.4 his ear affected his heart how much more would his eye had he been a spectator as afterwards he was of those ruines Thirdly The sight of the eye affects the heart with fear There are some sights very dreadful so saith the Text and Point Shall not one be cast down at the sight of him This leads to a second Note which is this The Lord hath put a terribleness upon some creatures with respect to man Man is a terror to some creatures yet others are a terror or very terrible to man Let us consider and usefully remember this for it is a fruit of sin What is the reason we are cast down at the sight of any creature we may thank our sins for it all our troublesom passions came in aâ—â—hat door Why is man afraid or seized with a kind of horror at the sight of a Toad or Serpent of a Bear or Lion loose How comes it to pass that man whom God made Lord over all the creatures doth fear any especially so many of them Is not this a consequent yea an effect of sin When God made the Covenant with Noah Gen. 9.2 God blessed him and his sons and said unto them be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every fowl of the air upon all that moveth upon the earth and upon all the fishes of the Sea the fear and dread of you shall be upon them 'T is of the Lord that any of the creatures are afraid and stand in awe of us we have deserved that the very Sheep and Dove should be a terror to us 'T is of the Lord that the fear and dread of us is upon any creature and 't is from our sin that any creature is a fear and dread to us It is a mercy that so many creatures are afraid of us that any of the creatures stand in fear of us is a fruit of the goodness of God and that we are afraid of any creature is a fruit of our sin Let us make a good use of this word Shall not one be afraid at the sight of him And hence we may infer If the sight of some creatures astonish us how will the sight of God of an angry God astonish us All the dread and terribleness that is in a Lion or Bear or Dragon what is it to what is in God With God is terrible Majesty The terribleness of the most terrible deadly creature yea of death the King of terrors is but a scare-crow to the terribleness of God and it is God who hath planted terror in any creature in man especially What is the reason why Kings and inferiour Magistrates are so terrible to evil men is it not because God hath planted such a terribleness in them or hath cloathed them with his own garment terrible majesty towards evil doers Rom. 13.3 4. Now I say if some creatures are so terrible that a man is cast down at the sight of them then how terrible is God! The Apostle John Rev. 6.15 16 17. represents a world of wicked ones or all the wicked of the world cast down at the sight of Jesus Christ The Kings of the earth the great men the rich men and the chief Captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every free-man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand Some are cast down at the sight of Leviathan but all the unbelieving world shall be cast down at the sight of Christ all the unbelieving Kings Princes and Potentates of the world shall be cast down before Christ O how dreadful will he be to them and therefore I would conclude with that let us be cast down at the sight of sin which hath caused the sight of the creature and of God also to be so dreadful to us God had never been terrible to us had