eternall death or going downe to the pit of hell Fourthly In that this word deliver him is given to the messenger Observe God conveighs deliverance and mercy to us by men like our selves He will have the creature beholding to the creature for his mercy though mercy come freely and only from himselfe God delivereth the sick and the sinner in such a method that we may owne though not stay in his messengers as the instruments of his favour God who can doe all things by himselfe will not doe many things but by meanes He saith to the messenger Deliver him from going downe to the pit You will say How can a Minister or a Messenger deliver the sick from going downe to the pit I answer as was touched before he delivers him by declaring to him the minde of God by acquainting the sick with the promises of deliverance and by pressing him to believe and rest upon them by assuring him that as God is able to performe the promise so he is faithfull and willing to performe it yea that he hath given some tokens for good that he will deliver him from going downe to the pit Thus the worke of Gods free grace mercy and power is oftentimes attributed to instruments and second causes because they have their place and use in the bringing about the purposes of God for the good of his people Hence some men are called Saviours And Saviours shall come up on mount Zion Obad v. 21. No man can save either from temporall or eternall destruction He that is our God is the God of salvation and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death Ps 68.20 yet saith the Prophet there shall come Saviours that is God will rayse up worthy men principall men as another Prophet cals them Mic 5.5 who shall destroy Zions enemies Thus Paul admonisheth Timothy Take heed to thy selfe and to thy doctrine continue in them for in so doing thou shalt save thy selfe and them that heare thee 1 Tim 4.16 The Apostle James Chap 5.20 speakes the same thing He which converteth a sinner from the errour of his way shall save a soule from death and shall hide a multitude of sins And the same Apostle faith as to the case in the text at the 15th verse of the same Chapter The prayer of faith shall save the sicke Though none can save yet many are means of our salvation And the Lord is pleased to honour those who are the meanes of any salvation so farre as to say They save It is indeed the duty of all to ascribe the all of every worke and piece of salvation and deliverance to God only When the people stood wondering at Peter and John after they had healed the lame man Peter answered Acts 3.12 Ye men of Israel why marvel ye at this or why looke ye so earnestly on us as if we by our own power or holiness had made this man to walke The God of Abraham c. hath glorified his Son Jesus As if they had said Therefore doe ye also glorifie him not us for delivering this lame man Though God is pleased to put much honour upon man by speaking of what himselfe doth as if man had done it yet he will not give the glory of what he doth to any man nor may any take it God saith to the messenger deliver him from going downe to the pit but woe to that messenger who saith when he is delivered I have delivered him from going downe to the pit Thus we see the spring of the sick mans recovery it is from the graciousness of God and we see the meanes of it God gives a warrant to his messenger saying Deliver him from going down to the pit But what is the procuring or meritorious cause of this deliverance As the Text hath shewed us the first moving cause The grace of God so it shewes us the meritorious cause by which his deliverance is procured Things are so ordered in the Covenant of grace that though the Lord acts with infinite freeness yet he hath appointed and ordered a way in which alone he will doe what he freely doth This is expressed in the last clause of the verse Fer I have found a ransome But where did God find it certainly in his own bosome in his own heart Jesus Christ came out of the bosome of the Father there he was God found him in and with himself God did not find the ransome by chance nor did he find it by advice and consultation with others but he found it in himself in his own infinite wisdome and goodness that is he contrived it he invented i◠there This rare this most excellent thing a ransome is the Lords own invention I have found it I know how to doe this man good I know how to save him and doe my own honour and Justice no hurt no wrong my honour is saved Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotet expiationem aut redemptionem tum etiam pretium quod pro redemptione offertur Significat etiam cooperire linire aut operire bitumine quasi pristinam faciē rei alicujus aut immunditiem abscondere quod elegantèr refertur ad ab stertionem peccati Pined my Justice is satisfied in doing it I have found a ransome The word here rendred a ransome signifies in the Verb to cover or to hide that which before lay open that it appeare no more Grace brings another face upon things a new face I may say upon our souls The covering of sin elegantly denotes the pardon of sin And what reason have we to be thankfull and rejoyce when sin our soul durt and deformity is covered We have very foul faces I meane outward conversations and more foul souls or inward inclinations till the Lord is graciously pleased to put a covering upon them If we cover our own sins we shall have no mercy but if the Lord once cover our sins he cannot deny us mercy that being it self our greatest mercy and the fruit of his great mercy The Mercy-seat so famous in the Mosaicall Poedogogy is exprest by this word which properly signifieth a Covering The Mercy-seat was it self a Covering of pure gold laid over the Arke in which Arke the Law was put Exod. 25.17.21 Thou shalt put the Mercy-seat above upon the Arke and in the Ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee And as the dimensions of the Arke were two Cubits and a halfe in length and a Cubit and a half in breadth so the same were the dimensions of the Mercy-seat Vers 10.17 which figured that as the Mercy-seat fully covered the Arke wherein the Law was so Christ should fully cover all our sins which are transgressions of the Law The righteousness of Christ is as long and as broad as the Law and so our sins being covered with that shall never appeare against us Therefore also from above this Mercy-seat between the two Cherubims the Lord said vers 22. I will meete thee and I will
Gospel and to prepare the way for Christ by whom grace and truth came The Baptist was as it were the loop and button between the legall and the Gospel dispensation therefore his name might well be called John And there is frequent use in Scripture of the Adverb which comes from this Verb to signifie injuries received without desert or undeservedly Ps 7.4 Yea I have delivered him that without cause was mine enemy or that was mine enemy gratis And again Psal 35.7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit which without cause have they digged for my soul Yet more as the word signifies the doing of good gratis or when there is no desert so any injury done gratis or when no provocation hath been given the party so to doe Now as all the mischief which the wicked plot against or doe to the people of God is undeserved and floweth meerly from their malice so all the good which God doth for his people is undeserved and floweth purely from the fountaine of his free grace or from his compassions which faile not And surely the Lord deserveth highest praises from man for any good he doth him seeing what he doth is gratis or undeserved Further This Hebrew word Chinnam answers the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred freely Rom. 3.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gratis i. e. ejus gratia Bez We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ How can unjust men deserve justification Therefore Mr Beza translates We are justified gratis that is by his grace Againe When it is said then he or the Lord is gracious it may be taken two wayes First as to be gracious implyeth the intrinsecall graciousness of his nature or that mercifullness and kindness which dwells in the heart of God and which indeed is God for the graciousnesse of God is the gracious God thus God is alwayes and altogether gracious he is infinitely and uncessantly gracious Secondly when it is said he is gracious it may note only the graciousness of his acts and dispensations thus as I may say the Lord is gracious ad hinc et nunc as he sees cause at this time he is gracious and not at that time that is he puts forth acts of grace now and not then The Lord puts forth acts of grace both according to the pleasure of his own will without respect to any thing in man as also without respecting what man is or doth according to his pleasure And thus we are chiefly to understand it here then he is gracious God is gracious in his nature alwayes and alwayes alike gracious but he is not alwayes alike gracious in his dispensations or in giving forth acts of grace he is gracious to man according to his secret will as he pleaseth but he is gracious according to his revealed will as man pleaseth him Hence Observe first The first cause and spring of all our mercies is the graciousnesse of God Or All our mercyes flow out from the grace of God That 's the fountaine yea that 's the Ocean which seeds and fills all the Channels of mercy which stream to us as our happiness in this world and for our everlasting happiness in the world which is to come All is of grace fundamentally or because the Lord is and will be for ever gracious Thus the Lord spake to Moses Exod. 33.19 I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious My mercy shall flow our when and to whom and where I please And the proclamation which he made of himselfe in all his royall Titles runs in the same straine Exod. 34.6 The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gracious long-suffering and aboundant in goodnesse and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity If we consider God first in doing us good Secondly in forgiving us the evill which we doe Thirdly in delivering us from the evills which we now suffer Fourthly in delivering us from the feare of future sufferings all is from grace and from free grace He doth us good though we are undeserving any good that 's grace yea he doth us good though we are ill deserving and that 's more grace He doth all for us through grace First in spiritualls and Secondly in temporalls not only doe the good things of eternall life but the good things of this present life flow from grace unto his own people Not only the health of their souls but the health of their bodyes not only deliverance from hell but deliverance from sickness also flow from his free grace in Jesus Christ Therefore of all their mercies and salvations both as to the foundation and top-stone of them the people of God must cry as the Prophet Zachery Chap. 4.7 foretells the people of God should say of that longed for deliverance when that great mountaine should become a plain before Zerubbabell grace grace unto them That is grace hath begun them and grace alone will maintaine continue and perfect what it hath begun As there is nothing in us except our misery which moves the Lord to begin so there is nothing in us but our inability which moves the Lord to perfect what he hath begun He seeth we cannot and therefore he will perfect what he hath begun and all this he doth that he may exalt his own name and perfect the praise of his free grace towards us More distinctly that all comes from grace or from the graciousness of God may note these five things to us First not only that God doth all for his people freely or without desert But Secondly that he doth all things willingly or without constraint for his people Thirdly that he doth all things forwardly for his people He doth very much unaskt and unsought and he is not much askt or hardly drawne to doe any thing for his people Though he hath said of some things I will be sought unto or inquired after that I may doe them for you Ezek. 36.37 yet his mercies are never forced nor wrested from him by intreaties but flow from a principle of love naturally as water out of a fountain Fourthly he doth all rejoycingly even with his whole heart and with his whole soul Mercy pleaseth him and he is pleased with occasions of shewing mercy 't is no burden to him to doe us good mercy proceeds from his nature and therefore he delighteth in mercy Mic 7.18 yea to be mercifull is his nature and therefore he cannot but delight in it Fifthly graciousness being the very nature of God implyeth that he will do us good liberally and constantly or that as the Apostle James speaks he giveth liberally and upbraideth not he doth not upbraid us with our poverty who receive nor doâ—h he upbraid us with the riches of the gifts which himself bestoweth And because they flow from his nature therefore he doth not in the least empty himself how much soever he fills the creature with his gifts or goodness Some men
upon the matter even exhaust and undoe themselves by liberallity unto others and they who give most or have most to give cannot alwayes give It is said in this Book Chap. 37.11 By watering he wearieth the thick cloud that is God commandeth the cloud to give raine so long that it hath not a drop more to give but is quite spent Springs or fountaines are never wearied or spent with watering because their waters come as freely and as fast as they goe God is an everlasting spring of grace and goodness He is not wearyed nor emptyed by what he giveth out to or doth for the creature because all floweth from his naturall graciousnesse as from a fountaine Then he is gracious I would urge the second reference of that word then a little further It was shewed before that it might refer First to the extreamity of the sick man Secondly to the sick mans humiliation or the right disposure of his spirit to receive renewed acts of grace and favour from the Lord. Hence observe Secondly God usually dispenseth or giveth out acts of grace when we repent and turne from sin Si aegrotus ille monitis illius nuncij paruerit ac proinde resipuerit tum c. Pisc when we believe and lay hold upon the promise Then he is gracious It is said Isa 30.18 Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious The Lord hath alwayes a gracious disposition a gracious nature he alwayes hath a store and a stocke a rich stocke and store of mercy by him but he doth not alwayes give it forth no he waits to be gracious that is he waits till we are in a fit frame till we are in a due temper to receive his grace And because as to the dispensings of grace God waits to be gracious therefore many retard and hinder their owne good they are not yet in a frame to receive their vessell is not yet seasoned to hold mercy The Lord waited to be gracious to David after his grievous fall and therefore he did not give Nathan a Commission to say Thy sin is done away till Davids heart was broken and had said 2 Sam 12.13 I have sinned against the Lord But when once that word fell from him then Nathan declared how gracious the Lord was to him As soone as David said I have sinned that 's an act of repentance presently Nathan said the Lord hath done away thy sin that 's an act of grace When did Ephraim heare a word of comfort from God The Prophet tells us Jer 31.18 19 20. I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himselfe that is mourning over and bewayling his sin saying thou hast chastised me and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoake We have him there also praying Turne me O Lord and I shall be turned c. Upon this how graciously how meltingly did the Lord speak Is Ephraim my deare son is he a pleasant child since I spake against him I doe earnestly remember him still or in remembring I remember him my bowells are troubled for him I will surely have mercy on him Now I will manifest my grace and acquaint him with my goodness The Lord was very gracious to Saul afterwards Paul he sent Ananias to him with a message of mercy as to restore the sight of his bodyly eyes so to assure him that he should be an instrument in the hand of Christ to open the eyes of many and a chosen vessel to beare his name before the Gentiles and Kings and the Children of Israel Acts 9.15 But when was this message delivered him the text tells us v. 11. For behold he prayeth the man is in the dust he is brought upon his knees his spirit is broken that word he prayeth comprehends the whole worke of a gracious soule as to his humiliation and returning to the Lord. In the parable of the prodigall Son his father is represented abundantly gracious to him but he did not signifie it he did not send the ring not the rich robe to him when he was abroad in a strange Country among harlots drinking and wasting his estate time and strength vainely we read of no acts of grace to him then but when being pinched with famine and hunger he came to himselfe and began to bethink himselfe of coming back to his fathers house and that he had brought himselfe by his own folly to beggery and want and husks when he was upon these termes or resolves to goe home to his father and cast himselfe at his feet as unworthy the name or priviledge of a Son then his father ran to meete him fell on his neck and kissed him then he put on the ring and cloathed him with the robe then he killed the fatted calfe and made a feast for him All which sceane of mercy doth but hold out this one word in the text Then he is gracious There are two sorts of gracious acts of God First some are acts of absolute grace or of preventing grace These are put forth upon and exercised towards the creature before there is any the lest preparation in the heart to draw them out or invite the bestowing of them Thus the grace of God in election is absolutely free there was no prevision of any qualification in man moving God to elect him And so that wonderfull act of grace in which election first descends and discovers it selfe effectuall vocation is absolutely free God calls a sinner when he is in the heat and hurry of his evill wayes pursuing his lusts in the height of his pride and in the hardness of his impenitent heart Now if when God first calleth a sinner there is nothing in him but sin What can move God to call him but free grace A third absolute act of grace is justification God doth not justifie a sinner for any thing that he finds or sees in us As to us 't is altogether free He justifieth the ungodly Rom 4.5 when that wretched infant was in its blood which expresseth a miserable uncleane poluted condition then was a time of love Ezek 16.8 then was God gracious What loveliness was there in that infant representing the best of men in that fallen naturall estate to draw out the love of God nothing at all yea she was altogether unlovely yet then saith God thy time was the time of love or then was the time of putting forth love in her conversion and vocâ—tion Then I sayd unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live And because the thing might seeme not only strange but even impossible that the heart of God should be towards such a wretched one for good the word is doubled yea I sayd unto theâ— when thou wast in thy blood live These acts of absolute free grace are the glory of the Covenant of grace for if the Covenant should hold out acts of Grace only upon our pre-dispositions when should we receive any act of grace The promise is not of this tenour I will pardon them when
going into the pit and his life shall see the light Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with man To bring back his soule from the pit and to be enlightned with the light of the living WE had the blessed issue of the Lords dealing with the sick sinner in the former verse Now in the two first verses of this context we have the same case and issue put in generall with reference to any man And in the two latter Elihu recapitulates or summes up the whole matter and then applyeth it to Job personally and particularly in the three last verses of the Chapter He looketh upon men c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inspexit intentis et fixis oculis intuitus est The word notes a strict beholding and fixing both of the outward and inward eye that of the mind with that of the body T is here after the manner of men attributed to God He marks and animadverts upon men how it is with them or how they stand disposed and affected Yet there is a difference among interpreters who is the antecedent to the word He. He looketh upon men The doubt or question is to whom this relative pronowne He hath respect whether to God or to the sick man lately spoken of Some understand it chiefly of the sick man recovered He looketh upon men That is the sick man looketh upon those about him Qui hoc modo afflictus fuit resipiscens intuetur homines et diciter Drus and saith I have sinned and perverted that which is right As if being raised from his sick bed he should raise himselfe up to give glory to God by confessing and acknowledging before men that he had sinned in perverting the rule of righteousness given him to walke by and had found by dear-bought experience that it profited him not The Italian translater saith He afterwards shall turne himselfe toward man and say c. That is Fructum alium miserecordiae domini in afflictum subjungit quod ille liberatus et culpam suam coram caeteris hominibus agnoscet et dei miserecordiam in se confitebitur ut alios aedificet c. Merc he shall preach Gods grace to sinfull man and propose himselfe an example of it magnifying the grace of God to him and acknowledging his owne vileness They who insist upon this exposition render the 28th verse as the continued speech of the sick man making it out to this effect I have sinned and perverted that which â—as right yet he hath delivered or will deliver my soule from going into the pit and my life shall see the light It must be granted that to look upon or behold man is in Scripture a descriptive periphrasis or circumlocution expressing a man recovered from some dangerous deadly sickness And therefore when Hezekiah thought his sickness was to death and his case desperate He thus bemoaned himselfe Isa 38.11 I shall not see the Lord even the Lord in the land of the living I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world But saith Elihu the sick man being perfectly recovered talkes with and looks upon men And the first discourse he issueth is a confession of repentance for his iniquity I have sinned I have perverted that which was right and it profiteth not And his next is a confession of praise for his recovery He hath delivered or I am assured he will deliver my soule from going downe to the pit and my life shall see the light This is a profitable exposition and much insisted upon by some very learned interpreters and therefore I shall make a little improvement of it by this briefe observation It is our duty being recovered from sickness to confess and make knowne the goodness of God and our sinfulness to those that are about us There is a three-fold confession First of faith that we believe what God hath revealed and promised to doe for us Secondly of prayse that we thankfully acknowledge what God hath done for us according to his promise Thirdly of repentance that we are heartily sorrowfull for and bewayle what we have done against the command of God We should be ashamed to sin before men but let us not be ashamed to confesse our sinfullness and in some cases our speciall sins before men Though we neither impose nor extort particular confessions from men as the Papists doe yet it is good for men who have been under the afflicting hand of God and have had great experience of his mercy in raising them up to declare what God hath done both for soule and body that others may be bettered by their experiences But I shall not stay upon this because our translation which is cleare and safe runs another way making the antecedent to this he to be God He that is God looketh upon men and saith If any say I have sinned and have perverted that which is right and it profited me not Then as it followeth He will deliver him from going downe to the pit and his life shall see the light The sence of the context in Generall is plaine God looketh upon men and if he seeth them penitent he will have mercy upon them and deliver them or give them that which is better then bodily deliverance More distinctly He looketh upon men It is the work of God at all times to look upon men and he looketh so upon all men as if he had but one man to look upon His look upon men is not a bare look but a considering and an observing look He so looks upon men that he looks through them He looks upon them and takes notice what they are how it is with them what they are doing and at what they are driving He looks upon them to consider both the frame of their hearts and the course of their lives yea his looking is an expecting he so looketh upon man as looking for somewhat from man or as desiring to see somewhat in him Though God hath no need of us nor of any thing we can doe yet he looketh waiteth or hath an expectation of somewhat to be done by us He looketh upon sick men to see how they take it with what patience they beare affliction what the workings of their hearts are what their repentings what the actings of their faith such things as these the Lord looketh for from most men mostly from men under the rod under sad sorrowfull dispensations And the words following shew what it is expressely which the Lord looketh for Yet before I open them note in generall God loves to see occasion of doing good to man What we love to doe we love the opportunities of doing it The Lord is good and he loveth to doe good and therefore he is expressed as one troubled when he wants as one pleased when he hath the occasions of doing it We may take up that sence eminently from that most patheticall wish Psal 81.13 14 15 16.
be answered for whether good or bad Math. 12.36 37. For every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment for by thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned that is it shall be rendered to thee according to thy words or as thy words have been so it shall be with thee Nor secondly are we to take the works of a man exclusively or in opposition to his thoughts as if God would render to man what he hath acted outwardly but not what he hath acted inwardly or would passe by his thoughts We must give an account of our thoughts which are the spring of our works as well as of our words which are the publishers and proclaimers of them God shall bring every work saith Solomon Eccl. 12.14 to judgment and every secret thing the most secret whispers of the tongue and the most secret plottings contrivings devisings designings yea the simple and single thinkings of the heart These are not only the moulds and principles of every work but every one of these is a work and all of them the whole work of the inner man whose work or what is wrought there is chiefly as well as only under the inspection and eye of God Againe The work of a man shall he render unto him c. He doth not say the works of another man shall he render to any man but the work of a man shall he render to him he that doth the work shall have the reward the works of one man shall not be rendered to another but every mans own works shall As the faith of another man shall not help us if we have no faith Abrahams faith who had a mighty faith will doe us no good if we have no faith of our own so the good works of another man shall doe us no good if we have none of our own And as not the good works so the evill works of others shall not be rendered to us The hurtfull works of others shall not hurt us if we doe no hurt I grant we may partake of the evill works of others yea we may make other mens works our own either by consenting to them before they are done or by approving them after they are done or by not reproving them when we have opportunity In these and many other cases we may make other mens evill works our own and so farre as other mens works are our own God shall render them also unto us Hence that caution given by the Apostle to Timothy 1 Tim. 5.22 Lay hands suddainly on no man neither be partaker of other mens sins keep thy self pure They that partake in any of those wayes mentioned before or in any other way of any mans sins may also quickly partake of his punishment Thus John heard a voyce from Heaven Rev. 18.4 saying come out of her that is out of Babylon my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Not only is that work ours which we doe but that also may be ours by participation which others do And by what title soever a work becomes any mans the worke of the man shall God render unto him And he will cause every man to find according to his wayes This latter part of the verse containes the same thing with the former in another cloathing of words In semita virt inveniet eum Some read the Text thus and he will find every man in his way let man goe in what way he will God will meet with him That 's a truth God will meet or find a man in a good way to incourage guide assist and reward him And God will meet or find a man in an evill way to stop oppose and punish him God will find every man in his way and man shall find God to him according as the way is wherein he findeth him We render very well and fully to the sence he will cause every man to find according to his way I find an Interpreter over-curiously distinguishing between a mans work and his way which doubtlesse here in effect Cajetanus are the same yet there may be a graduall difference 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 via actiones significat quatenus ad finem diriguntur Quemadmodum via initur metae et termini causa Emphaticè via dicuntur actiones ad certum finem directa Coc work being taken for this or that particular act and way for a continued course either good or evill Againe The way of a man may be considered in association with his ends Every man goeth such or such a way for some speciall end no man takes a step in any way without a purpose nor doth any wise or good man take a step in any way without a good purpose Yet there is finis operis an end or issue of the work as also finis operantis an end proposed by the worker And oftentimes that proves to be the end of a work which was not the end purposed by the worker The end of a mans work or way proves sometimes better and sometimes worser then he proposed Possibly a man may not find according to that end of his way and work which he intended not whether good or evill But assuredly whatsoever good or evill end a man proposeth to himself when he enters upon his work or way God will cause him to find accordingly So that when Elihu saith God will cause every man to find according to his way he intimates that God will not only render to man according to the matter of his work or outward path of his way but well considereth every mans scope and intendment or what he would have his work issue in and causeth him to find as he findeth that to be As the end which man proposeth to himselfe hath a great influence upon his way so upon his account with God about it This is a good sence God will cause every man to find according to his way both as his way is taken for the matter or course of his actions as also sor the scope and design of them Hence Observe First Every man shall have according to what he hath done Our receivings will be according to our layings out whether good or evill God is so farre from doing any man wrong that every man shall have his due reward Psal 62.12 Also to thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou renderest to every man according to his work And lest any should hope to escape the evill which at least some of their evill works deserve by the secrecy of them that hope is quite dashed because God is the searcher and seer not only of our works but of our hearts Prov. 24.12 Doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it and he that keepeth the soul doth not he know it what followes and shall not he render to every man according to his works Solomon speaks in that place
Psalmes The 32d Psalme as also the 42d Psalme is called Maschil as much as to say a teaching or an instructing Psalme a Psalme giving understanding and requiring deep and serious consideration Thus in the text they would not consider nor understand nor know nor contemplate any of his wayes The Hebrew is all his wayes that is none at all of them The wayes of God in Scripture are taken in a two-fold notion First for those wherein he would have us walk such are the wayes of his commandements they are called the wayes of God because he directs us to walke in them A holy life consists in our walking with God and we cannot walke with God any further or any longer then we keep in the wayes of his commandements It is sayd of the children of Israel after the death of Joshua Judg 2.17 they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in obeying the commandements of the Lord but they did not so To obey the commandements is to walke in the way of them Taking the wayes of God in this sence when Elihu saith They would not consider any of his wayes his meaning is they did not intend nor had any heart to set themselves to learne the mind of God revealed in his word concerning their duty or what they ought to doe they know not the wayes of God practically The word properly denotes the wisdome and prudence which stayeth not in notion but proceeds to action These men lived as if they had never heard of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad prudentiam sapientiam practicam rerum agendarum pertinet at least never understood the Law of God which is the rule of life They considered not the wayes of God to walke in them as Moses exhorted the people of Israel Deut 29.9 Keep therefore the words of this covenant to doe them Secondly The wayes of God are those wherein himself walketh the works of God are the wayes of God the works of his providence either in mercy or in judgement either in doing good or in doing evil that is poenal evil these are the wayes of God in these God shewes himself as in a way in these he goeth forth in his power and goodness in his mercy and justice All these divine glories and perfections are discovered in the works of God Thus David is to be understood when he saith Psal 25.10 All the wayes of God are mercy and truth to them that fear him and keep his Covenant that is all the providential works of God are mercy and truth though all of them are not mercy in the matter or precisely taken as works done though none of them are mercy respecting some persons to whom they are done for many of them are materially chastisements afflictions and crosses to good men and all of them are wrath and judgement to evil and impenitently wicked men yet they are all mercy in the issue or result of them to good men or to those who fear God and keep his covenants For whether he do good or whether he do evil whether he wounds or whether he heals all these providential wayes of God are as truth in themselves so mercy to his people or as the Apostle concludes Rom. 8.28 They work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to his purpose In both these sences we may expound this Text They would not consider any of his wayes that is they would neither consider the Lawes of God which were the way wherein they should walk towards him nor would they consider the works of God which are the wayes wherein himself walketh towards them This was the spirit of that evil generation intended in this Scripture they had not much understanding in and less consideration of the wayes of God Hence first we may take notice Elihu doth not say they did not consider his wayes but they would not It was not so much an act of carelesness and negligence as of contempt and rebellious resolution Hence Observe Evil men have no will to consider or understand the good wayes of God yea their will is against such an understanding A natural man liketh not to retain God in his knowledge Rom. 1.28 Now he that doth not like to retain God in his knowledge or had rather think of any thing then of God he can never while such like to retain the wayes of God in his knowledge he that layeth God out of his thoughts will much more lay the law of God out of his thoughts The natural man hath not only a blindness in his minde which hinders him from discerning the things of God they being discernable only by a spiritual eye but he hath an obstinacy in his Will or he hath not only an inability to know but an enmity against the knowledge of that which is spiritual He shuts his eyes and draws a curtain between himself and the light which is ready to dart in upon him away with this light saith he Thus he rebelleth against the light and as his understanding is dark so his affections are corrupt Solomon gives us all this in the expostulations of wisdome with wicked men Prov. 1.20 21 22. Wisdome cryeth c. How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and the scorners delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge That which a man hateth he hath no will no minde to know An impotency or inability unto God argues a very sad condition but a rebellion a frowardness a wilfulness against it demonstrates a condition much more sad not to know because we have no means of knowledge will make us miserable enough but not to know because unwilling to receive or because wilfully set against the means of knowledge renders any mans condition most miserable Such were these in the Text They would not consider any of his wayes Secondly Elihu saith not they did not know any of his wayes or they knew not which way to go but they would not consider them There is no man but knowes some yea many of the ways of God that is of those wayes wherein God would have him to walk these wayes of God are written in the heart by nature there is an impression of the Will of God upon every soul though not such an impression or writing as grace maketh there that 's another kinde or manner of work for when once through grace the Law of God is written in and impressed upon the heart then the heart is suited to the Law yea the heart is not only conformed unto but transformed into the Law of God whereas by nature the Law is written only so far as to give us the knowledge of the Law and a conviction of that duty or conformity which we owe to it The men here intended by Elihu knew the Law or wayes of God by the light of a natural conscience but not by the light of a renewed conscience and therefore they would not consider any of his wayes
considerations from it 599 600 E Eagle how she reneweth her strength 419 Eare twofold 290. The eare naturally stopt against the teachings of God 291. Seven Eare-stoppers 291 God openeth the eare by foure meanes 292. Eare how it tryeth words 499. The use of the eares 501. How the word must be tryed by the eare before 't is submitted to 502 503. The reproofe of those who use their mouthes more then their eares 504. Eare its power 850 Earth what it signifieth in Scripture 576 Easiness to follow or be led by others very dangerous 99 Eldership twofold 36 Election an act of absolute free grace 397. Election as an act of man vid chusing Elihu what that name signifieth 11 Eloquence how it may be burdensome 191 Error an error cannot alwayes be maintained 105. Errors both of understanding will and wayes many times secret to us 818 Evill not to know to doe evill or to be a bungler at it is best 130 131. The spirit of a good man is set against it 132. They that doe evill have reason to expect evill 138. Example of superiors in doing evill very powerfull 778 Examples of Gods Judgements are to be eyed and marked 686. Exemplary punishment all beholding 694 695 Three reasons why some are punished so 696 Excuse they who excuse a fault shew they have a mind to continue in it 549 Exercise of the soule under affliction in what it doth consist 796 Eyes of God what they signifie 656 Eyes see more then an eye 843 F Face of a man why put for his person 119 Face of God what and what it is to see his face 431. Face of God sometimes hid from his people and why 433. It is the sole priviledge of the favourites of God to see his face 434 It is our greatest joy and happiness to see the face of God 435. Face of God what it signifieth 727. The hiding of Gods face notes three things 727. How the face of God may be seene 729. Not to behold the face of God what it imports 729 730. Hiding of Gods face from nations Vide Nations The hiding of Gods face is exceeding grievous to his people 755 577. Caution to beware of provoking God to hide his face 756 Faith our faith not be pinn'd upon men how great or ancient soever 67. Faith is our vision of God in this life 432 Father a relation or title of great honour and comfort 849 Father-hood God the fountaine of it 849 Favourites to God who 427. A godly man is used by God like a favourite 429 430 433 Feare twofold 42. A good feare what they seldome doe amisse who feare they may 44 Flattery is iniquity 127. A twofold flattery opened 127 128. The other extreame to be avoyded 129 Flattery is a wrath-provoking sin 135. To suffer our selves to be flattered is very dangerous 136. To give flattery hath a double danger 136 137. More sinfull to flatter those that doe evill then to doe evill 231 Flesh what meant by it in Scripture 349 350. Flesh a fading thing 352. Flesh called grasse in two respects 352. Six practicall inferences from the fadingness of the flesh 354 355. Man not called flesh till after the fall 595 Flight or to flee for our lives is a grievous Judgement 648 Folly refusall of obedience to God the folly of man 64 Forgiveness of sin Vide pardon Fortune the wickedness of ascribing any thing to it 583 G Gaine of worldly things a strong temptation 454 Gifts of the mind wisdome and understanding come from God 55 56 57 Gluttony kills more then the sword 367 God is to be eyed in all our wayes 140. God who gives us life fits us also for all the services of this life 172 173. God so good that he never seekes occasions or advantages against us nor needs he we give him too many 215 216. We are apt to have hard thoughts of God when we suffer hard things 222. We should maintaine good thoughts of God when we suffer evill 223. God is great the use of it 234 235. Vid Greatness of God His power and dominion absolute he gives no account and why 253 254. His word of command is effectuall 419. God usually deales with men according to what they doe 438. Vnworthy thoughts of God should be rejected with indignation 554. God neither doth nor can doe any unrighteousness 556 557 574 578. Two inferences from it 572. Those foure things which cause men to doe wrong are at furthest distance from God 573. All things and times as present to God 574. Power of God primitive and unlimited shewed in five particulars 579 580. A fourefold universality of the power of God 582 583. Admonition to those that are in and under power from that consideration 584 585. God can easily doe whatsoever he hath a mind to doe 591. Two inferences from it 592. God is most just shewed in three things 616. That God is just in punishing proved by seven particulars 617. God can doe the greatest things alone 653. Two inferences from it 654. God how he hideth himselfe 668 Justice of God Vide Justice What God hath a mind to doe he can and will doe 689. All should follow after God 702. God his teaching Vide teaching Good men they that are truely good and gracious are willing to know and see the worst of themselves 824 Good in the doing of it many sins are mingled as well as it is sinfull not to doe good 819 Gospel knowne from the beginning 412 Government a spirit for it the most proper gift bestowed upon Princes 56 God taketh care of the government of the world or to maintaine government 684 Good what is properly our good 510. Goodnesse and strength where they meete how usefull 555 Grace though it abideth alwayes yet it doth not act alwayes alike where it is 247. Two eminent acts of grace in God towards man 299 All our mercies flow from the free grace of God 393. That all comes from grace implyeth five things 394. God usually gives out acts of grace when we repent c. 395 Graciousness of God opened 391 392 To be gracious notes two things â—n God 393. Two sorts of 〈…〉 acts 〈◊〉 Great men wisdome 〈…〉 with them 63 64. Therefore no taking things upon trust from them 64 65 Greatness of men or their abilities either to reward or hurt us must not turne us from the right 122 123 Greatness of God opened 234. Five inferences from it 235 236. We may both say and believe that God is great and yet not answer it in our practise 239. who they are that indeed acknowledge God in his greatness 240. Our not laying to heart the greatness of God causeth our unsubmission to him 241 Guilt a godly man is as carefull to avoyd the act of sin as to be freed from the guilt of it 799 H Halting of two sorts 213 Hand striking the hands together in a twofold signification 692. Hands clapping of them in a threefold sence 861. Hand
among the learned It would be too great a diversion and possibly an unprofitable one to stay upon them We have him here described First by his name The Hebrew Etymologists say This proper name Elihu signifieth He is my God or my God is he And as he is described by his name so by his nativity or parentage Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite of the kindred of Ram. His Fathers name Barachel signifies in the Hebrew one whom God hath blessed or the blessing of God The sons name was my God is the Lord. And the fathers name was the blessing of God or one whom God hath blessed We may note a piece oâ— holy devotion in the old fathers in giving significant names to their children And surely it may be of much use to give our children good and significant names such names as carry a remembrance of duty or of mercy When Alexander the Great met with a common Souldier whose name was Alexander He said to him Be sure thou doe nothing unworthy the name of Alexander His name had a great encouragement in it to gallantry in warre And it is noted of Diadumenus Ego curabo ne desim nomini Amoninorum that having obtained both the Empire and the name of Antoninus he said I will labour all I can that I may not be injurious to the name of the Anthonines This should be much more our care and study where holinesse makes the name honourable John signifieth the grace of God And as I remember it is the saying of one of the ancients concerning a bad man so called Thy name is John but thou art not John thy name signifieth grace but thou art not gracious Ambrose said to the virgin Agnes or Anne There is chastity in thy name doe not contradict thy name So Jerome writing to Pammachius which name signifieth a fighter against all Do thou saith he fight against all sin against the Devill the world and thy owne corruption The same Author writing to Melecius which signifies Honey sweetness Have thou saith he the sweetnesse of honey in thy manners And to Probus he writes Thy name signifieth honesty Then be thou an honest man The Apostle exhorts 2 Tim. 2.19 Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity It is a great argument seeing all who professe the Gospel are called Christians from Christ that therefore they should adorne that most worthy name by worthy walking And let me say to all those whose names signifie any thing of God of Grace or goodnesse ye have a good and gracious name let not your actions be a reproach to God nor a shame to the profession of his grace A good heart will make a good use of every thing and is provoked to have more then a name for that grace or goodnesse which is in his name even to be really that which his name is How should an Elihu whose name signifies He is my God labour after this holy assurance that God is his How should a Barachel whose name signifieth the Blessing of God be alwayes praying and waiting for the blessing of God or returning praise to God both in heart and life for all his blessings Elihu the son of Barachel The Buzite Here Elihu is described by his family as before by his father The Buzite that is coming from Buz. Yet there is a difference about that some say he had that name from the place where he dwelt we read Jer. 25.23 of a place called Buz. Others say he was called the Buzite from the name of his family As he descended from Buz the son of Nabor Abrahams brother Gen. 22.21 Miâ—cah hath borne children unto thy brother Nahor Huz his first born and Buz his brother Master Broughton is cleare in it who gives this glosse upon the text Elihu the Buzite of Buz Abrahams brothers son of the family of Ram famous then for knowledge Rebecca and Jacob seeme to have left religion in Nahors house Thus farre he Jerome saith Hieron in tract Heb super Genesm Elihu was descended from the second son of Milcah whom the Septuagint call Bauz from him was Balaam the sorcerer who according to the Tradition of the Jewes was this Elihu spoken of in the book of Job at first an holy man and a Prophet but afterwards an apostate But I leave that as a Rabbinicall Tradition Apparet quod sicut Eliu dicitur Buzitis quia originem traxit ex Buz ita dicitur de Ram rationae maternae originis Melcha enim mater Buz fuit filia Aram unde et 70 loco Ram legunt Aram Proindé sicut tres reges visitaverunt Job causa amicitiae ita Eliu causa cognationis de qua vendicavit sibi in Job plusculum audacioris licentiae Ianson Quis iste fuerâ— quaerunt interpretes Gramatici certant adhuc sub judice lis est Drust We have yet a further description of Elihu in the Text. Of the kindred of Ram of the family or posterity of Ram. Who this Ram was is much controverted by Interpreters nor is the controversie yet ended who this Ram was Some say he was that Ram spoken of Ruth 4.19 But it is not likely that he was so ancient as Job or if he were he would not leave the Israelites from whom Pharez was descended to dwell among the Edomites Others say he was that Aram mentioned Gen 22.21 But neither doth this appeare true for then Elihu could not be a Buzite but must draw his line from Kemuel the brother of Buz. The Chaldee Paraphrase tells us he was Abraham And to cleare this 't is said as our owne learned Annotators have given it that he had a threefold gradation in his name First he was called only Ram which signifieth high Secondly Abram which signifieth A high father Thirdly Abraham which signifieth the high father of a multitude But upon which to determine I conceive it impossible nor is there any great matter in it Only this seemes cleare that the family of Ram was some great and illustrious family in those times and we may take notice how distinct and punctuall the penman of this book was in describing the pedegree of Elihu And there may be two reasons why the Spirit of God directed him to be so First because he was but a young man Neutrae sententiae accederom sed Ram alium quempiam fuisse putarim virum celebrem et clarum ex familia Nahor Merc And therefore as Saul 1 Sam. 17.56 when he saw David a young man he asked after his parentage Enquire whose Son this stripling is I would faine know his kindred So the kindred of Elihu is thus distinctly set downe that he who by reason of his youth was little knowne as to his person might be the better knowne by his Ancestors or parentage Secondly His parentage is thus distinctly set downe to assure us that this is a true history For some have made the whole booke of Job to be but a
compounded dust and we shall ere long crumble into dust We are every day going back and shall shortly be gone back to what at first we were These considerations should wither and nip the buddings of selfe-confidence and bring down the height of mans spirit I also am formed out of the clay We may take notice of one thing farther Elihu speaking here of his own naturall formation gives it in this stile I also am formed out of the clay This is a peculiar Scripture-expression or the proper phrase of the holy Ghost not of a heathen Author Poet or Orator They at best had only some rude notions about this mystery of mans originall His formation by the power of God out of the earth Which may enforme us that the Saints and people of God in those elder and darker times were familiarly acquainted with the doctrine of the creation Gentes enim hoc de primi hominis facta a deo plasmatione ex terraformatione mysterium penitùs ignorarunt Bold and knew well how to speake in a Scripture language though they had not then the written word or Scriptures For 't is a question whether these transactions were before the giving of the Law or after However they were versed in Scripture truths and in those formes of speech by which God gave out his minde to their forefathers Here 's Scripture phrase I also am formed out of the clay And therefore Elihu as sencible of anothers frailty by the experience which he had of his own subjoynes this Assurance of his respect to Job's weakness in what he should further say Vers 7. Behold my terror shall not make thee afraid neither shall my hand be heavie upon thee Elihu had given Job much security already that he would deale fairely with him and here he gives him a promise for it As if he had said I give thee my hand I plight thee my truth that my terror shall not make thee afraid nor shall my hand be heavie upon thee Veruntamen miraculum meum te non terreat Vulg The vulgar translation reads my miracles or what I will doe in any strange and unusuall way shall not terrifie thee Indeed miracles haue a kinde of terror in them But we need not put such a straine upon the Text. The word which we translate terror signifies that which is most terrible and dreadfull to man even the Magistrates throne Vox 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 terrorem denotat saepe illum qui in facie regis judicis principis elucet the presence of great Princes of which Solomon saith Pro 20.28 The King sitting upon the throne scattereth all evill with his eyes that is with the terrible looks of Majesty which God hath stampt upon him The Prophet Jer 50.38 useth this word to expresse idols or false Gods by and he câ—lls them so either in a holy scorne O these dumbe idolls which have eyes and see not eares and heare not feete and walke not are doubtlesse very shrewd and terrible things are they not have we not great reason to feare what these doughty Gods will say or doe who can neither say nor doe any thing Thus he might call them in a way of scorne or he calls those Idolls terrible things Jehim from the event because foolish vaine ignorant men did exceedingly feare them or were much terrified by them and God left them to their owne feares and terrors as he spake by the Prophet Isa 66.4 I also will chuse their delusions and bring their feares upon them As if he had said Because they being vainely deluded have chosen to feare that which was not to be feared therefore I also will make this my choyce to bring that upon them which they feared and hoped to avoyd by following and worshipping Idolls or by their Idolatrous worship Now whereas Job was afraid of the terror of the true God Elihu who presented himselfe in Gods stead tells him my terror shall not make thee afraid And we may well conceive that Elihu spake this ironically concerning himselfe for having sayd before I am but a piece of clay surely then my terror cannot make thee afraid What terribleness is there in a piece of clay Terror minimè potest esse in massa luti qualis est omnis homo in a clod of earth What are the most terrible of the sons of men that they should be a terror to us we ought not to trust in the mightiest among men why then should we feare them or what need we feare them Who art thou saith the Prophet Isa 51 1â— 13. that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall dye and of the son of man that shall be made as Grasse and forgettest the Lord thy maker We never feare men unduely till we doe one of or both these things either first forget God who made us or secondly forget of what other men are made I am but a piece of clay saith Elihu what matter of terror can I be to thee I wonder In that Elihu giveth Job such a promise Behold my terror shall not make thee afraid Note Man should shew himselfe faire and meeke to men especially to a man in affliction It is possible for a man though he be but clay as another man is yet to cloath himselfe as it were with terror yea as the neck of the horse is said to be clothed Job 39.19 with thunder He may put on a kinde of dreadfulnesse as a Garment and appeare very formidable to his brother Some men indeed appeare to men as a Wolfe to a poore sheepe or as a Beare and Lyon to a Lamb. Though but clay yet how scaringly doe some men look and Lord it over their brethren they will rore upon them like a Lion and rend them like a Beare clouds and darkness are in their faces and storme sits upon their browes There is a terriblenesse of man to man Thus the holy Prophet Isa 25.2 saith The blast of the terrible one is like a storme against the wall Yea some men are not only dreadfull like savage beasts but like devills they even act or play the devill with their brethren How farre have they departed from their duty and broken all the lawes of love which command us to be as God one to another in kindness in mercy and compassion I grant Magistrates by their place and office are said to be terrible yea a terror but it is to evill doers Rom 13.3 Rulers are not a terror to good workes but to the evill that is not to those whose workes are good but to evill workers And to them they ought to be a terror For they doe not beare the sword in vaine that is to hold it in their hands or let it rust in the scabbard and never strike with it As they are Ministers of God so avengers towards men to execute wrath upon him that doth evill Againe Gospel-Ministers in some cases are to be terrible they may be Boanergesses sons of
then Ish The wisest and most accomplisht the most perfect and mightiest of men as well as he is greater then Enosh sorrowfull or miserable man I answer the word Enosh is not to be taken exclusively as if when he saith the puissant is greater then the sorrowfull man he were not also greater then the greatest or strongest man but it notes that all men or man considered in his best estate is but weaknesse and wretchedness when put in the ballance with the great God or the puissant Lord what is man saith David one of the best and greatest of men a King Psal 144.3 that thou takest knowledge of him or the son of man that thou makest account of him Now if it be even too much that God should make any account of man then what is any man in account to God O what man or Angel is able to cast up the account how much the great God is greater or more then man The words are plaine only there is somewhat yet to be added or touched upon to cleare up further the scope of Elihu in speaking thus to Job which I shall endeavour to cleare and make out when I have given a note or two from the words as they are a plaine proposition God is greater then man Hence Observe First God is Great He that is greater then the Greatest is certainly great he that is higher then the highest is high This greatness of God is every where celebrated in Scripture The Prophet Isa 12.6 calls the inhabitant of Zion to cry out and shout why For great is the holy One of Israel in the midst of thee that is the holy one of Israel who is in the midst of thee is both Great in himselfe and declares his greatness in thee Mal 1.14 I am a great King saith the Lord of hosts and my name is dreadfull among the heathens I need not stay to give particular Scriptures to hold forth the attribute of Gods greatness his greatness runs through all his attributes Whatsoever God is he is great in it He is great in power Psal 56.3 Psal 147.5 he is great in all sorts of power great in authoritative power and great in executative power As God commandeth what he pleaseth to be done so he can doe what he commandeth The power of man in doing is not alwayes commensurate with his power in commanding but Gods is He needs no helpe much lesse any leave to execute what he willeth Againe God is great in wisdome he hath the compasse of all things in his understanding God is so wise that he is called the only wise God 1 Tim 1.17 The wisdome of men and Angels is folly to his God is great also in his goodnes so great that Christ himselfe as man would not be called good but told him that called him so by way of rebuke There is none good but one that is God Math 19.17 Holy David brake out into the admiration of that goodness which God hath layd up yea of that which he dayly worketh for man How much more did he and ought we to admire that goodness which is not so much in himselfe as himselfe Psal 31.19 O how great is thy goodnesse which thou hast layd up for them that feare thee which thou workest for them that trust upon thee before the sons of men The goodnesse which God acts and puts forth for the creature is a great goodnesse Isa 63.7 Neh 9 25â— but that goodnesse which is the goodnesse of his nature is a goodnesse as great as God is a goodnesse infinite in greatnesse Againe how often is God called great yea admired for his greatnesse in mercy When David 2 Sam 24.14 made choyce to fall into the hands of God he gave this reason of it For his mercies are great He is also great in wrath we read 2 Kings 23.26 of the fiercenesse of his great wrath And how great is his Love First in redeeming us by Christ Joh 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son c. God loved us so much in that gift that no man could ever tell how much love he hath given us in it Secondly His love is great in quickning us with Christ Eph 2.4 God who is rich in mercy for the great Love wherewith he hath loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickned us together with Christ His love both in redeeming and quickning us is so great that while we are called to the greatest study after the knowledge of we are told we cannot know the greatnesse of it Eph 3.18 That you may know the Love of God which passeth knowledge I will not stay upon this Attribute the Greatnesse of God onely take these five briefe inferences from it God is Great Then First God can doe great things the greatest things for us every thing is in working as it is in being they that are but little can doe but little God being great in his being that is in his power in his wisdome in his goodnesse in his mercy how easily can he doe great things The Scripture is abundant in shewing forth the great things which God hath done and will doe 2 Sam 7.22 23. Job 5.9 Psal 71.19 Psal 86.10 Psal 92.5 Psal 111.2 Psal 126.2 3. Psal 136.7 17. Joel 2.21 The workes of God in all ages and in all places have borne the stamp of and given testimony to his excellent Greatnesse We say There is nothing great to a great mind or to a man of a great spirit A Great spirited man will overcome not only great difficulties but seeming impossibilities yea he is glad to meete with greatest difficulties because they match the greatnesse of his mind Then certainly the Great God doth nothing but great and can doe the greatest things 'T is no matter how great the things are which we have need to be done for us if we can but interest the Great God in the doing of them God can doe great things in wayes of mercy for his people and he can doe great things in wayes of Judgement against his enemies Though his enemies be Great Oakes and Cedars he can hew them downe Amos 2.9 Though his enemies be as great as the greatest mountaines he can remove and level them Who art thou O great mountaine before Zorobabell thou shalt become a plaine Zech 4.7 that is the great power of God with Zorobabell can overthrow or overturne those powers which oppose or stand in the way of his Church and people though they appeare as inseparable and immoveable as a Great Mountaine Secondly If God be Great then he can pardon great transgressions you that are great sinners feare not Were not God a great God the least of our sins could not be pardoned were not he great in mercy and great in goodnesse our hearâ—s would fayle us yea our faith could have no bottome to come to him for the pardon of our great sins But why should great sins discourage us to aske
Thirdly Such strivings with God are the exercisings of our lusts and corruptions Then is the time for anger and discontent or any evill affection to come forth and act their part Fourthly Striving with God is an argument that sin hath much strength in us and that corruption hath got a mighty hand over us Fifthly Striving with God layeth us open to all the temptations of Satan to all the fiery darts of the Devill Our shield is gone when once we strive with God who is our shield in all Satans strivings and assaults against us And then we stand naked before that armed enemy Sixthly Striving with God doth at once unfit us for every good duty and putteth us further off from every desired mercy Seventhly and lastly Striving against God makes man most like the Devill who is the most unquiet and discontented creature in the world and is alwayes both striving with God and vexing at his owne condition The devill 's sin at first was striving with God and 't is the summe of all his actings and workings against man ever since None resemble the devill more lively then male-contents and who are they but such as strive and struggle against the afflictive providences of God Now for the preserving and keeping of our hearts from this great this complicated sin a sin containing many sins in it and disposing us to all sin Lay these things to heart First let us consider our own nothingness in comparison of God God is all and what are we we are nothing and shall we strive with God shall folly strive against wisdome and weaknesse against strength When the Prophet would comfort the people of God against the strivings of the nations with them he doth it upon this consideration Isa 40 17. All nations before him are as nothing and they are counted to him lesse then nothing and vanity To whom will ye compare him And surely we may by the same argument much more deterre all men from striving with God Shall single persons strive against him to whom not only they but whole nations are nothing yea and lesse then nothing Secondly Doe we find our selves under a crosse or in a hard condition remember we have deserved no better As we are nothing so we have deserved nothing Jacob to keepe his spirit quiet in a time of great distresse confessed Gen 32.10 Lord I am unworthy of the least of thy mercies As if he had sayd I have no reason to complaine or be angry to fret or vex at this dispensation yea though thou shouldst let the cloud of my brothers wrath breake upon me and swallow me up for what am I If we consider we have deserved no good we shall never strive with God about any evill that befalls us especially if we consider Thirdly That we are ill-deserving or such as deserve the greatest evills None of us suffer but what our owne sin hath procured yea sin might have procured us soarer sufferings Every sin hath a crosse in the belly of it And shall we strive with God because of our crosses when our sins have made them Fourthly Why should we strive with God about these things are they worth the striving with God about surely they are not wotth the striving with men about much lesse with God If we were in the best outward estate that ever any man enjoyed in this world yet we were not then got a step beyond vanity Psal 39.5 Every man in his best estate is altogether vanity Suppose God should give you a blank and bid you sit downe and write what you would have as to your outward state and then bestow it upon you yet in this best estate you and your all are altogether vanity And will ye strive with God for taking a vaine thing from you Will you be so much dissatisfied for the taking away or want of that which could not satisfie you when you had it nor can when you have it againe If a man had all these comforts which he strives for they could not make him happy why then should he strive because they are removed from him But as they are vanity because unable to satisfie when we have them so they are vanity because of our uncertainty to hold them Yea suppose we hold them as long as we can have them it is but a while And shall we strive with God about loosing that which at longest we cannot keepe long To be sure these things are not necessary for us Christ sayd to Martha There is one thing necessary Luke 10.42 But a worldly comfort of any kind is not the neceâ—â—â—â—y thing which Christ there intends And shall we strive with God about unnecessaries Fifthly Know afflictions are the portion of the people of God in this life They are the corrections of a father and there is no son but hath his correction or may have it And shall we strive with God for sending us our portion our son-like child-like portion Sixthly I would say this to believers Why will ye strive with God about any of your afflictions they are for your good and benefit And will ye strive with God because he is doing you good let your afflictions be never so sad never so sore and to sence never so bad yet God is doing you good by them be not angry with your owne good Lastly Why doe we strive with God under our afflictions He loveth us as much under affliction as in a prosperous condition God is tender to his in their troubles and shall they be harsh to him when he is so tender towards them A parent that hath but nature will tender his child most when sick and weak and will not God Let us take heed we be not found striving with or having hard thoughts of God while the bowels of his most tender compassions are moving towards us To shut up this whole poynt As Christ when he saw his Disciples in danger to be carried away with the feare of man saith to them Luke 12.4 5. Be not afraid of them that can kill the body and after that have no more that they can doe But I will forewarne you whom you shall feare feare him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you feare him Now as because men are apt to feare yea mostly to feare that which they should not Christ sheweth them whom to feare So as hath been shewed because men are very apt to strive but they commonly strive with those and about those things which they should not Therefore I will tell you with whom and with what ye should strive If ye will needs be striving pray First Strive with the sin in your owne bosomes strive with your owne lusts and corruptions One of the great Gospel duties which we are called to is to mortifie our earthly members To strive with all inordinate affections with pride with envie with love of the world and with uncharitablenesse to the death is our duty if ye will
either immediate from himselfe in those dreames and visions to the Prophets or mediate by the Prophets And though now God doth not speake to us immediately as he did to the Prophets before Christ came in the flesh and to the Apostles after he was come in the flesh yet All the Propheticall and Apostolicall writings are the speakings of God to us besides what he dayly speaketh to us answerable to what is written both inwardly by the workings of his Spirit and outwardly by the workes of his providence For he speaketh once c. Hence note In what way soever God reveales his minde unto man he speakes unto him Every manifestation of the will of God to us is a Sermon what man speaketh to us according to the word of God is to be received as the word of God For as God speaketh to us though not formally yet expressely in the holy Scriptures which are his word so he speaketh to us vertually though not expressely by his works And that First by his workes of creation by them God is continually opening and manifesting himselfe to man in his wisdome power and goodnesse He speaketh to us Secondly by his works of providence whether first they be works of mercy every mercy hath a voyce in it every blessing a speech or secondly whether they be works of judgement Micah 6.9 The Lords voyce cryeth unto the Citie and the man of wisdome shall see thy name heare ye the rod and who hath appointed it Sicknesses and losses the crosses and troubles that we meet with in the world cry aloud to us especially when they make us as they often doe cry aloud As the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy worke day unto day uttereth speech and night unto night sheweth knowledge Psal 19.1 2. so those things that are done and acted night and day utter the mind and speak out the heart of God unto man For God speaketh once yea twice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in una pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in una vice The Hebrew is in once that is for one Turne or Time or by one meanes or way The word once hath a threefold signification in Scripture all which are applyable to the text in hand First Once is as much as surely certainly verily irrevocably Thus Psal 89.35 Once have I sworne by my holinesse that I will not lie unto David That is I have surely sworne certainly sworne irrevocably sworne my word yea my oath is out and it is immutable That which God in this sence once saith it is alwayes sayd or 't is sayd for ever how much more that which he swareth Thus the Apostle argueth Heb 6.17 18. God willing more abundantly or more then needed as to him and the truth of the thing in it self to shew unto the heires of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lye namely his promise and his oath we might have strong consolation c. In like notion we may expound that once which we finde Heb 9.27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die or to dye once and after that cometh the judgement Some referre once to dye as if the meaning were it is appointed unto men to dye once that is men must expect to dye a naturall death which happens but once and once at least equivalently will and must happen to all men Others referre the once to appointed in the sence of this present exposition It is appointed once that is God hath certainly and firmly appointed established and decreed this thing he hath ratified it in heaven that men must dye This statute is irrevocable The thing is appointed and there is no reversing or revoking of that appointment This is a good sence and sutable enough to the scope of Elihu God speaketh once that is what he speaketh is a sure and certain word an infallible word the word setled for ever in heaven Psal 119.89 his promise is not only sure but most sure As the Apostle speakes 2 Pet. 1.18 19. And this voyce which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy Mount We have also a more sure the Comparative imports the Superlative a most sure word of prophecy whereunto ye doe well that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a darke place untill the day dawne and the day-starre arise in your hearts As the whole propheticall so the whole historicall and doctrinall word of God is most sure being once spoken it is spoken for ever And written as with a pen of iron and the point of a Diamond and that upon a rocke which cannot be removed That which was vaine-gloriously and beyond the line of man sayd of the Law of the Medes and Persians Dan 6.8 is only true of the word of God it altereth not Secondly This once speaking Semel loquitur deus et secundo id ipsum non repetet Vulg Quia quod sufficienter factum est iterare superfluum est Aq notes the speaking of a thing so sufficiently or fully that there is enough sayd at once and so no more needs be sayd The vulgar translation takes up this sence God hath spoken once that is he hath spoken fully or sufficiently for mans instruction and admonition at once and therefore he translates the latter part of the verse thus And he doth not repeate it the second time That which is done at once sufficiently needs not be done a second time This is a truth There is a sufficiency and a fullnesse in the word of God once spoken there needs nothing to be added or as others expound this translation When once God speakes that is resolves and determines a thing he doth not as man who often repents of what he hath purposed bring it into a second consideration for he cannot erre and therefore he needs decree but once But though this be a truth yet I doe not conceive it to be the meaning of this place because it doth not well agree with what goes before and lesse with that which followeth at the 29th verse Loe all these things worketh God oftentimes or as our Margin hath it twice and thrice with man And therefore here Elihu rather intimates the variety of those wayes by which God reveales himselfe to man then the sufficiency of any one of them For though we grant any one of them sufficient yet God out of his abundant goodnesse is pleased to reveale himselfe more wayes then one and more times then once Thirdly This once may be taken exclusively so iâ— Scripture once is once and no more once and not againe or as we say once for all and so it is opposed to the repeating and acting over of the same thing Thus Abisha sayd to David 1 Sam 26.8 God hath delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day now therefore lâ—â— me smite him I pray thee
very great progress in his spirit Both these wayes we may understand it here though chieflly I conceive in the latter Sometimes God keepeth man either by his power or by perswasions and commands sent to him from setting so much as one foot forward in any sinfull way leading to the pit yet often he suffers him to goe on a great way and when he is advanced far towards yea is near very neer to the pits brink even ready to drop into it then then the Lord graciously keeps his soule from falling into it This word is used â—in the negative twice to set forth the high commendation of Abraham Gen. 22.12.16 When God had commanded Abraham to offer his Son and he was so ready to doe it that presently God tells him Now I know thou fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld or kept back thy son thine only son from me Abraham might have had many reasonings within himselfe to keep back and withhold his Son from being a Sacrifice but saith the Lord thou hast not withheld or kept him back There the word is used in the negative as also upon the same occasion at the 16 verse of the same Chapter And so by Job Chap. 7.11 Therefore I will not refraine or keep back my mouth It is as hard a matter to keep back or hold the mouth in as it is to keep back a head-strong horse with a bridle Therefore the Holy Ghost useth that Metaphor Psal 39.1 But saith Job I will not refraine my mouth I will not keep it back let it take its course I will speak in the bitternesse of my spirit The word imports powerfull acting take it either in the negative or affirmative When the tongue is kept back 't is done by a mighty power of grace and O how great as well as gracious is that power which the Lord putteth forth to keep back a poor soul that is going going apace too from falling into the pit He keepeth back His soul from the pit But doth the soul fall into the pit I answer first The soul is often in Scripture by a Synecdoche put for the whole man He keepeth back his soul that is he keepeth him from the pit secondly possibly 't is said he keepeth his soul from the pit to teach us that man by running on in sin ruines his best part it is not only his body and his skin that he destroyeth by sin but his very soul 'T is a mercy that God telleth us aforehand the worst of that danger and the greatnesse of the hazard or how great a matter we venture upon evill wayes and workes He keepeth back his soul from the pit What pit The word is rendred variously First thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foveat corruptio mors he keeps back his soul from corruption Eruens animam ejus a corruptione Vulg. The word is used for corrupting by sin Gen. 6.12 And God locked-upon the earth and behold it was corrupt for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth that is all men were grown wicked and stark naught In the very next verse vers 13. The same word is used to denote corrupting by punishment due to sin Behold I will destroy or corrupt them with the earth that is I will destroy the face of the earth or deface the beauty of the earth and I will also destroy all men from off the face of the earth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Prohibebit animam ejus a fovea Targ. Secondly the Septuagint render He spares his soul from death Thirdly the Caldee Paraphrase as we He prohibits his soul from the pit these three corruption death and the pit are of neer aliance and the same word in the Hebrew tongue signifieth corruption the pit and death The pit or grave is the place of corruption and the seat or house of death We find the pit and destruction put together Psal 55.23 they shall goe to the pit of destruction So then the same word may well serve to signifie a pit corruption and death because in the pit dead bodies or carkasses putrifie and corrupt Yet David prophecying of Christ speaks his assurance of escaping corruption Videre foveam est amplius quaÌ„ sepeliri nimiruÌ„ ut is demum perfectè dicatur videre foveam non qui ad tempus est in fovea sed qui ejus vim corruptricem experitur sive videt corruptionem in ea videre enim est sentire sive pati aliquid Coc. though not the pit or grave Psal 16.10 Thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption or the pit It is this word that is thou wilt not suffer him to corrupt in the pit of the grave though being dead was buried and laid in the pit yet he did not see corruption in the pit That is corruption had no power no mastery over him for he loosed the bonds of death it being impossible that he should be held by them the third day yea with the first of that day or as soon as it might be truly said that it was the third day Christ was buryed in the latter part of the sixth day of the week and arose early the first day of the week even when it did but begin to dawn towards the first day of the week Math. 28.1 And therefore seeing as naturalists according to Scripture evidence Joh. 11.39 testifie corruption doth not naturally take hold of the body till the fourth day after death The dead body of Christ was altogether free from corruption or Christ as was fore-shewed by David in the Psalme saw no corruption Further this word pit is taken not only for death the grave and corruption but for those contrivances and plots which are made and laid for any mans death or distruction Thus David said of his malicious and subtle enemies Ps 7.5 Fovea denotat omnia vitae discrimina Pin. Into the pit which they have digged themselves are fallen that is they are taken in their own plots Those words of the Psalmist are an allusion to Hunters or Fowlers who make pits to ensnare birds or beasts we must not imagine that there were pits literally made for David but the pit was a plot or a contrivance to doe him mischief and he blessed God that as himself had escaped that mischief so that the mischief-plotters and contrivers were taken with it themselves We have David speaking againe under the same metaphor Ps 9.15 The Heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made And Psal 35.7 Without cause they have hid for me their net in a pit which without cause have they digged for my soul that is they have laid a plot to undoe and destroy me And if we take pit in this sence it may hold well enough with the scope of the Text for what is the pit into which pride and evill purposes thrust sinfull man but that mischief and misery which Satan is continually plotting against him And from this mischievous plot
the meaning scope and mind of any sentence or the purpose of man in what he speaketh Thirdly there is the divine of spirituall interpreter who labours to bring the truths of God and the heart of man together The Apostle having treated about prophecying concludes 1 Cor. 14.25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest and so falling down on his face he will worship God and report that God is in you of a truth as if the man that beleeved not or one unlearned for of such he speaks vers 24. had said surely these men understand what is in my heart for they have brought the truth of God and my heart together so that I must confesse God is in them that is there is a divine wisdome or interpretation in them When Elihu faith If there be an interpreter we are to understand him in this last sence not of one that can interpret words like a Grammarian or give the scope and sence of words like a Logician but of one that hath a divine skill to bring the truths of God home to the heart of man that is to convince informe an ignorant conscience and to comfort relieve and support a troubled conscience If there be an interpreter Hence note The Ministers of Christ are the interpreters of the mind and good will of God toward poor sinners They interpret the mind of God as to peace and reconciliation as to grace and salvation as well as to duty and holiness of conversation 'T is the nicest and hardest thing in the world to interpret the mind of God aright to a sinner to bring his heart to a closing with the great truths and promises of the Gospel he that can doe this skilfully is worthy the name of an interpreter The Apostle saith of him who is but a babe in Christ and useth milke that is lives upon the lower and more easie principles of faith he is unskillfull in the word of righteousnesse Heb. 5.13 that is he knowes not how to make out and mannage for his own comfort the doctrine of free grace through the alone righteousness of Jesus Christ And therefore as first God himself is the author and fountaine of this grace as secondly Jesus Christ is the purchaser or procurer of the fruits of this grace to sinners as thirdly the effectuall worker of our hearts to receive this grace as also the witness-bearer and sealer of it to our souls is the holy Spirit as fourthly the word of the Gospell is the Charter and Covenant of this grace so fifthly the Ministers of Christ are the interpreters of this grace and they are or ought to be skillfull in this word of righteousness Their skill and duty is first to explaine what the Covenant is and rightly to lay down how the sinners reconciliation to God is wrought Secondly to make a sutable and seasonable application of it or to bring it home to the souls and consciences of poor sinners as they find their state to be And as the Ministers of Christ are Gods interpreters to his people so they are the peoples interpreters unto God They are the former two wayes First by opening the mind of God to his people Secondly by urging and pressing them to receive it both for their direction and consolation They are the latter four wayes First by laying open and spreading the peoples wants and weaknesses before God Secondly by confessing their sins and transgressions to God Thirdly by intreating the Lord for them or by praying for mercy pardon and forgiveness in their behalfe for sins committed Fourthly by giving thanks in their name for mercies received Thus they are first Gods mouth to the people in preaching declaring the Gospel Secondly the peoples mouth to God in prayer and thanksgiving And in both performe the worke and Office of an interpreter And if the Ministers of the Gospell are interpreters Then First Every Minister must be acquainted with the mind of God He must have skill in the mystery of the Gospel How shall he be able to interpret the mind of God to sinners who is not acquainted with the mind of God We have the mind of Christ saith the Apostle of himselfe and his fellow-labourers in the Gospel 1 Cor. 2.16 and when he saith we have the mind of Christ his meaning is not only this that they had the mind of Christ written in a book but they had a cleare understanding of it and so were fitted to interpret it to others Secondly As he must have the knowledge of the mystery so he must have the tongue of the learned Isa 50.4 That he may be able to speak a word in season to him that is weary that is to the wounded and troubled in conscience This is the interpreter intended by Elihu He is one that hath learned and is taught of God Humane learning the knowledge of Arts and Sciences is good and hath its use but divine learning or learning in divine things that is to be divinely learned 't is possible for one to have learning in divine things and not to be divinely learned is absolutely necessary to make him an interpreter It is not enough to know divine things but he must know them divinely or by the unction and teachings of the Spirit The Apostle John Rev 10.8 is commanded to eat the book this eating of the book signifieth the spirituall knowledg of divine truths in this sence we know no more then we eat then we as it were turn into our own substance that which is eaten becomes one with us the mystery of the Gospell must be eaten by the interpreter of Gospell mysteries A man cannot interpret the mind of God till he knows it and he cannot know the mind of God unlesse God himself reveals it so the Apostle argueth 1 Cor. 2. from 12 to 16. As no man knoweth the mind of a man but the spirit of a man that is in him so the things of the spirit of God knoweth no man but the spirit of God and he to whom the Spirit of God doth reveale them And therefore though a man may have an abillity to interpret the word of God as 't is an excellent book a book full of admirable knowledge he may I say have an abillity to interpret it soundly by humane learning yet no man can doe it savingly and convertingly but by the help of the Spirit Psal 25.14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will shew them his Covenant he will shew it effectually he will make them know it Thus David prayed Psal 119.18 Lord open thou mine eyes that I may behold wonderous things out of thy Law Naturall parts and humane learning arts and languages may give us an understanding of the tenour and literal meaning of the Law of God but none of these can open our eyes to behold the wonders of the Law much lesse the wonders and mysteries of the Gospell The opening of our eyes to behold these
uprightness is which the interpreter sheweth First Some expound it of Gods uprightness and then the sense runs thus God sendeth an Interpreter to shew unto man his uprightness that is his own right and just dealing with man As if Elihu had sayd Gods messenger shall convince this troubled man that God doth not wrong him how much soever he doth afflict him or that God is upright and faithful in his dealing with him This David acknowledged Psal 119.75 In faithfullness thou hast afflicted me that 's a good sense of the words and very sutable to the purpose of Elihu who was about to convince Job that his complainings were very sinfull and uncomely seeing God neither had nor would nor indeed could doe him any wrong God is faithfull just and right yea God is good and mercifull to man when he corrects him sore Mr Broughton gives this interpretation of his own translation To tell the earthly his rightfullness that is God his mercy The uprightness of God is that by which he doth righteous things Equitatem illius i. e. dei qua omnia et nominatim ipsos laborantes regit et gubernat Jun This uprightness of God consists not only in his holiness in his love of that which is good and in his hatred of evill but also in his preservation of man according to his word of promise 'T is the righteousness of God that through the death and intercession of his Son he should save and heale the believing and repenting sick sinner Secondly And more clearely as I conceive to the present scope of this place the Antecedent to His is the sick man And then to shew unto man his uprightness is to shew him his owne uprightness But you will say Is the messenger or interpreter only to tell man how good he is and what good he hath done and so to flatter him into a good opinion of himselfe or of his owne good deeds I answer This shewing unto man his uprightness may be taken First As implying the mans ignorance of that uprightness which he hath or that he hath an uprightness but doth not know nor understand that he hath it 'T is so sometimes with the sound godly man as well as with the sicke when though in bodyly health yet he is discomposed and troubled in mind For then though he hath an uprightness of heart an integrity towards God or as Job speakes of himselfe the root of the matter in him that is though he be truely converted and really godly yet he seeth it not such temptations of Satan and troubles of mind assault him such clouds of doubt and darkness are upon him that he is not able to make out his owne state In this case the faithfull messenger or interpreter coming to him and inquiring how it is with him picks out this from him that there is an uprightness and an integrity of heart in him towards God and that his state is good though he cannot discerne it For as the life and state of grace is alwayes a secret to those who have it not so 't is often a secret to those that have it Some men never few men alwayes understand their own condition and 't is very hard to make them understand it For as it is with many hypocrites and with all presumptuous ones you cannot beat them out of a good opinion of themselves though they are stark naught rotten at heart and have nothing to salve themselves up with but a little boldness and confidence yet they will not be perswaded off from their false foundations and deceitfull bottoms they will be good in their owne eyes upright in their owne opinion and doe not doubt but all 's well with them and will be well with them alwayes Now I say as it is with some hypocrites and all presumptuous ones they thinke themselves to have an uprightness which they have not so many are upright and sincere who see it not and 't is a very hard worke the hardest worke that the Ministers of the Gospel have to make them understand and see their owne uprightness Secondly The word uprightness and the shewing unto man his uprightness here spoken of Quid ipsum facere pro officio oporteat Bez Quid hominem agere aequum sit sc ut agnitis peccatis dei gratiam propter merita salvatoris imploret Scult takes in the whole duty yea and the whole priviledge and interest of a Godly man or that which will be his uprightness and set him right both before God and his owne conscience To shew unto man this his uprightness is to shew him when he is right and how he may be setled in a right state in such a state as will be to him like Mount Sion which cannot be removed Thus the uprightness of man comprehends the whole business both of faith and repentance or all that which a sinner is called both to doe and believe for the repayring and mending of his lost and ruin'd state for the putting and settleing him in such a state as the Lord may owne him as his and be gracious to him This whatsoever it is is mans uprightness or righteousness and the shewing unto man this his uprightness is the bringing him word in the name of Christ that God justifieth him from the guilt of all his sins and accepteth him into his favour Hence observe The great duty of the Ministers of the Gospel is to cleare up to man whether he be upright or how he may stand upright with God This observation takes in both parts of the exposition To shew unto man how it is with him what his present state and condition is and to shew unto man what he ought to be or how he may be in a safe condition this is the worke of that messenger and interpreter who is one among a thousand this is a blessed worke and thus it must be done First Man is to be shewed the uprightness of his state or that which must be and be had to make up the uprightness of his state which is First His first-repentance or conversion to God Fallen man can never come into a right stateâ— till he returne to God from whom he fell A mans sinfull state is a crooked perverse and wretched state repentance or returning to God is the bringing of a man right againe it brings him to his uprightness even to that state wherein he was first made Loe this have I found saith Solomon Eccl 7.19 that God hath made man upright but they have sought out many inventions Solomon doth not discover the severall branches and streames of mans sinfullness but the roote and spring of it he doth the corruption of his nature by the fall For as he found that God made man upright so mutable subject to temptation and as easily yeilding to the temptation as admitting himselfe to be tempted and so not resting in that way and meanes of happiness as the Devil his tempter did not which the wisdome and
Lord for me that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me Acts 8.24 But we read not that he prayed for himself The prayers of others are rarely beneficiall to any unlesse they either pray or have a desire to pray for themselves Elihu represents the sick man praying for himself he shall pray Vnto God There 's the object of prayer Hence Note Prayer in sicknesse and in all other cases must be directed unto God and to him only Divine addresses are fit for none but God For First none are worthy of this honour but God Prayer is so great a part of that honour and worship which is due to God that it is often put for his whole worship Mine house saith the Lord Isa 56.7 shall be called an house of prayer for all Nations Secondly none can heare that is answer prayer but God there is no help to be had but in him As it is his glory to be prayed to and such a glory as he will not part with to any other so it is in vaine to pray to any other In vaine is salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of Mountains that is from the greatest worldly Powers truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel Jerem. 3.23 God only was David's Hills Psal 121.1 2. I Lift my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my helpe what these hills were himselfe explaines in the next verse My help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth Baals Priests called upon Baal they cryed Baal hear us but saith the Text thâ—re was neither voyce nor any that answered 1 Kings 18.26 It is not only sinfull but senceless to pray to any other then God alone That popish Doctrine of invocation to Saints and Angells is not only a will-worship but folly and dotage Fourthly He shall pray c. Hence Observe If we would have any mercy from God we must ask it God is ready to give but he looks to be intreated and he will be intreated What God hath promised to doe for us his doing of it must be obtained by prayer Working prayer worketh the promises to their issue yea prayer worketh the prophecies whether of salvation upon Sion or ruine upon Babylon to their issue Promises and prophesies are the express will of God and shall certainly be fullfilled in their season yet if we desire their fullfilling we must pray that he would fullfill them and 't is a token for good that God is about to fullfill them when the hearts of his people are drawne out much in prayer for their fullfilling There are some mercies in the promises rightly called preventing mercies they come upon us before we ask such is the mercy of out vocation conversion or turning to God we are naturally so far from praying while we are in the state of nature that we are continually blaspheming or dishonouring the name of God but as for persons converted who are eminently called heires of the promise that is of the good in the promise if they will have any good out of a promise they must aske it When the Prophet had declared many prophesies of good and great and glorious things which God would doe for his people he concludes with this direction from the Lord. Ezek. 36.37 I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel to doe it for them As if the Lord had said I will not doe these things unasked as you looke I should doe these things for you so I look you should pray unto me that they may be done A promise was made to Abraham Gen. 22.17 that his seed should be multiplyed as the Stars of Heaven now might not Isaac his Son have said God hath promised me children what need I pray for them but Isaac knew better he knew that the promise was to be brought to the birth by prayer therefore he entreated the Lord that he might have children Fifthly from these words He shall pray compared with the next and he that is God will be favourable to him Observe The Lord is ready to hear when we pray ready to give when we ask As prayer is honourable and delightfull to God so fruitfull to man Ask and it shall be given you seek and you shall find Math. 7.7 He shall pray unto God and he will be favourable unto him Prayer shall not be lost nor vanish into aire There was never any faithfull prayer lost though the prayers of many have not been answered in kind that is they have not had the very thing they asked for yet they have had an answer to their prayers and though prayer be not alwayes answered in our time yet there is a time wherein all faithfull prayers shall be answered one age reaps the fruit of those prayers which another age hath sowne The seed time is one age the harvest in another Latter Generations get good by the prayers of the former Though we who pray see not the fruit of it yet many shall find the fruit of it and how often doth the fruit of prayer appear presently how often doth the answer come in upon the very putting up of the request Isa 65.24 Before they call I will answer and while as they are yet speaking I will hear While the word is in their mouth the mercy shall be put into their hand While the Church Acts 12.5.16 was praying Peter came in among them As if God had said there 's your prayer What the Propâ—et Elisha said 2 Kings 6.33 of the messenger sent to apprehend him Is not the sound of his Masters feet behind him The same may we say somtimes of this messenger holy and fervent prayer is not the sound of the mercy prayed for at the very heels of it Thus close doth Elihu put the sick mans prayer and the answer of God he shall pray unto God And he will be favourable unto him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Graecis est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat vehementer velle ac delectari Merc That is he shall have a gracious and a speedy answer he will be favourable unto him or he will accept him as Mr. Broughton renders 'T is a very comfortable word it notes not only to wish well to or to be at peace but to be well pleased with another yea to be delighted and take pleasure in him 'T is not barely to be appeased and reconciled to lay down wrath and displeasure conceived against a man but it notes much sweetness of spirit towards him and full content or complacency in him Psal 149.4 The Lord taketh pleasure in his people they are as the joy of his heart he will beautifie the meek with salvation he will not only save them but adorne them with salvation they shall not only be delivered after they have layen among the pots Psal 68.13 from the blackness and filth of their adversity but they shall have a beauty put upon them or as it followeth in that Psalme last
O that my people had hearkned unto me and Israel had walked in my wayes I should soone have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves but their time should have endured for ever I should have fed them also with the finest of the wheate c. As if the Lord had sayd How glad should I have been if my people had been but fitly qualified to give me occasion of removing all evill from them and of doing them all manner of good The holy Prophet speakes the heart of God in the same readiness Isa 30.18 Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious unto you therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you As if he had sayd The Lord expects your reformation that he may not proceed in rigour against you or as some conceive rather he only delayeth his putting an end to your troubles till ye are humbled expecting a seasonable time to shew you that mercy in bestowing of which he will exalt and advance his owne name and honour when once he seeth you fitted and duely prepared to receive it The Lord saith David Psal 14.2 looked downe from heaven upon all the children of men to see if there were any did understand and seek God There he is represented looking downe from heaven to see if any did understand as here he looketh upon men to see if any doe repent saying I have sinned c. The Lord often yea alwayes looketh downe upon Nations Cities and people to see if any have a right understanding of him or a will with upright affections to him The Lord at this day is looking upon the sick and looking upon the sound to see if there are any who are going on faithfully in a right way or repenting that they have gone wrong He looketh upon men And if any say I have sinned c. In this latter part of the verse we have the matter expressed which the Lord looketh upon men for 't is repentance and godly sorrow for sin If any say I have sinned That is if any repent When the Lord saith If any say I have sinned he doth not meane it of a bare saying so but if any say so laying his sin to heart if any say so from a true sence of the evill of sin if any say so burden'd with sin and tasting the bitterness of it if any shall say I have sinned and say it thus then c. The word which we translate sinned notes a mistake of our ayme or way As if it had been sayd If any man say I have gone besides the line and done besides the rule Sin is in all men a missing of the mark and a stepping out of the right path it is also in very many as 't is expressed in the next clause a perverting of that which is right If any say I have sinned and perverted that which is right 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 curvus obliquus contortus perversus Latini dicunt curvos mores The word implyeth more then ordinary sinning more then sins of infirmity which arise from ignorance and mistake even those which are committed with a resolvedness of spirit and purpose of heart or they imply not those sins which a man falls into unadvisedly and unawares but those which he commits upon deliberation and in the eye of the Law that shewing him plainly what is right and that he ought not to pervert it So then in strictness of sence to pervert that which is right is to be willingly yea wilfully unrighteous The Church making a graduall confession of her sin by three steps puts this word in the midst Psal 106.6 We have sinned with our fathers we have committed iniquity 't is this word or done that which is crooked and perverse we have done wickedly Cain the first man born sinned thus Gen 4.13 My punishment is greater then I can beare so we render or as we put in the margin mine iniquity is greater then can be forgiven Cains sin was a perversness he knew he perverted that which was right in slaying his brother So that here we have the confession of sin with the aggravation of it a notorious sin The penitent person doth not only say I have sinned but I have sinned greatly or I have perverted that which was right To sin and to pervert that which is right are materially the same only the latter intimates the manner how a sin is committed namely when we would not be ruled by the Law but accommodate the Law as if it were a leaden or lesbian rule to serve our lusts so perverting that which was right that we might countenance and embolden our selves in doing wrong If any aske What is right Surely right is First The Law Secondly that which is done according to Law The statutes of God are right rejoycing the heart Psal 19.8 The word of God is right and the rule of right yea it is a ruling right To pervert that which is right or to pervert the law of righteousness is to act against the light and convictions of conscience which will be our Judge One of the latine interpreters useth a harsh and course word to presse this by yet full and proper to the scope Peccavi et rectum torrificavi Cajet Praevaricatus sum à probitate Tygur I have tâ—rtified or writhed and bended that which was right Another renders it I have prevaricated from that which was right Our word gives the sence fully enough I have sinned and perverted that which was right Hence note First Sin must be confessed The Lord looks for it He looketh upon men to see whether any will say I have sinned He will have their sin out of their own mouths When Nathan brought the parable home to David and sayd Thou art the man he presently fell into confession I have sinned 2 Sam 12.13 But some may say Is this confession of sin sufficient to say I have sinned I answer First a generall confession of sin or that we have sinned is not sufficient unlesse we are also willing and ready to confesse before the Lord all our particular sins Some are ready enough to say they have sinned who yet will scarse be brought to acknowledge any particular sin yea many say Peccatores se esse plerique confitentur etiam qui se vel peccasse non credunt Greg l. 24. Moral c 12. they are great sinners who know not how or in what they have sinned not what it is to sin Therefore barely to say I have sinned is not a Gospel confession of sin I answer Secondly Though a generall confession is only expressed in this and many other Scriptures yet a speciall confession is intended The prodigal Son Luke 15.19 sayd I will returne to my father and I will say to my father I have sinned against heaven and against thee and am no more worthy to be called thy Son He did not
for all the comforts of this and the next life All the blessings of this temporall life and the perfect blessedness of eternall life are comprehended in light So that when 't is sayd his life shall see the light the sence riseth thus high He shall be happy forever so extensive is the favour of God to repenting persons that time is too narrow for it everlasting light shall be their portion From the former branch of the words thus opened He will deliver him from the pit Observe All our deliverances are of God As there is none can deliver like God so none can deliver but God If he gives out the word that such a man shall goe to the pit it is not in the power and skill of all the Princes and Physitians in the world to save or stay him from it And how low and desperate soever any mans condition is if God say the word he is deliver'd and reprieved from going downe into the pit Secondly From the connexion with the former verse the sick man having made this confession I have sinned and perverted that which is right and it profiteth me not the Lord presently delivers him c. Observe God is ready to deliver humble praying and believing sinners That command hath a promise joyned to it Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver The 107th Psalme speakes this quite through where we find many sorts of perishing persons crying unto God and God delivering them from perishing when they cryed As when sin cryeth God will afflict so when sinners cry God will relieve them in or bring them out of their affliction From the latter branch His life shall see the light Note Naturall life and light are a great blessing God promiseth much when he promiseth life and light The light of this life is no small mercy how much greater is the light of spirituall life But who can conceive how great a mercy the light of eternall life is yet all this God speakes to the humble and believing sinner when he saith His life shall see the light Secondly Comparing the two parts of this text together He will deliver him from going downe to the pit and his life shall see the light Observe The mercy of God to humble sinners is a compleate mercy Here is not only deliverance from evill but the bestowing of good it is much to be kept from going downe into the pit but it is more to see light the light of comfort here and the light of glory hereafter The mercy of God to his people is great in temporalls greater in spiritualls greatest in eternalls The benefit of redemption to shew the fullness of it is set forth two wayes First by our freedome from evill Secondly by our enjoyment of good John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life He shall not perish that is he shall be delivered from going downe to the pit he shall have everlasting life that is as the text speakes his life shall see the light Elihu having at large drawne a description or narration of the whole proceeding of God with sinfull man in all the parts and particulars of it gives a briefe of all that he sayd in the two next verses Vers 29. Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with man Vers 30. To bring back his soule from the pit to be enlightned with the light of the living As the Apostle after he had discoursed at large about the dignity of Christs Priest-hood gathers up all together Heb 8.1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum we have such an high Priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens So Elihu having spoken much of the severall wayes by which God revealeth himselfe to man and works him to a sight of his sin and penitentiall sorrow for it recollects and summes up all in these words Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes with man c. In these two verses we may take notice chiefly of two things First The frequency of Gods dealing thus with man v. 29th Lo all these things worketh God oftentimes Secondly The designe and purpose of God in doing so That he may bring back his soule from the pit and be enlightned with the light of the living Lo all this worketh God oftentimes with man Here 's the application of the former Doctrine Elihu presseth his hearers with it and bids them lay it to heart As if he had sayd I have not been speaking of things in the clouds but of what is really and dayly acted among the children of men Lo or behold all these things There are foure speciall significations in Scripture of this word Lo or behold and they may all foure meete in this place First It imports some new unheard-of and wonderfull thing Isa 7.14 Lo or behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son That a virgin should bring forth a son is a wonder of wonders a wonder so much above the course and power of Nature so much beyond the compasse comprehension of reason that men and Angels have reason to be astonished at it Secondly 'T is prefixed to shew some extraordinary impulse or readinesse of spirit for action Thus Christ speaketh in that other noble prophecy of him Psal 40.7 Then said I Lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of me I delight to doe thy will O my God yea thy Law is within my heart Lo I come that is I am ready to come I am prest upon the work I am under the pressure and command of my own spirit as well as under thy appoyntment and decree to undertake and finish that worke of mans redemption Thirdly It frequently implyeth matter worthy of weight and deepest consideration That 's usefull and remarkeable which is thus prefaced Thus Solomon speaking of the field of the slothfull man saith Prov 24.31 Lo it was all growne over with thorns and nettles had covered the face thereof and the stone wall thereof was broken downe As if he had sayd Marke this is a thing to be attended the sluggards field is full of thorns that is in a spirituall sence slothfull hearts are full of lusts and vanities In this language the Church invites all to consider the Glorious excellencies of God Isa 29.9 Lo this is our God And thus Christ speakes of the woman whom he had healed on the Sabbath day Luke 13.16 And ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan hath bound lo these eighteene yeares be loosed from her infirmity on the Sabbath day As if he had sayd Pray consider the case and speake your mindes Fourthly 'T is often used in a way of strong assertion and affirmation intimating the certainty of what is spoken Gen 1.29 And God said Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed And
seldome doe at the first he calleth againe and againe twice or thrice or often-times that is as often as he seeth it good needfull or expedient to doe it And we may suppose that Elihu useth this number twice or thrice in allusion to the customes of men whether civil Magistrates or Churches who when they deale with others about any fault committed or offence given they doe not take them at the very first default but warne and admonish them twice or thrice or send them as the case may require severall Citations to appeare and either to acknowledge their guilt or acquit themselves of it These things worketh God twice or thrice Tiibus vicibus i. e. multoties sed utitur numero ternorio ut congruat humanae consuetudini per quam solent homines ter moneri vel citari Aquin And remember it is but twice or thrice which speech though it may be well rendred as we say oftentimes yet it is not very often once is no number twice is the least number and thrice is but a small number two or three witnesses are the least number of witnesses that can be admitted in any business That the Lord will doe this twice or thrice proves that he will doe it severall times men shall have meanes and frequent meanes but twice or thrice may not be very often much lesse alwayes there is a stint and a determinate number in the breast of God and that we might not expect to have his patience lengthned out alwayes to us 't is put into the smallest numbers All these things worketh God twice or thrice with man The word by which man is here expressed is no ordinary word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non quelibet viruÌ„ importat sed ut plurimum nobâ—lem illustrem vel aliqua ratione spectabilem Bold 't is that word by which signifieth the highest and greatest of men God deales thus not only with inferiour persons and mean men but with great men with men of note with men of power and strength let men be as strong and stout as they will God can tame them and bring them to his foote Further when he saith Lo all these things God worketh oftentimes with man This appellative man may be taken two wayes First Personally or individually that is he worketh thus oftentimes with the same man God is put to renew his actings more then once with one and the same man because he will not bow nor obey at first Secondly We may take this word man specially as implying severall men or men of all sorts as well as any one man of a sort That manner of speaking is frequent in the old Testament Job 1.4 And his sons went and feasted in their houses man his day q. d. unicunque hominum solet deus praedicta suae voluntatis judicia manifestare ut sit oratio distributiva Bold or every one his day So Jon 1.7 And they sayd every one to his fellow or man to his fellow so here God worketh these things oftentimes with man that is with severall men as seemeth good to him The speech is distributive For though we are not to understand it so largely as if God dealt thus with every particular man yet he deales thus with many men even with as many as himselfe pleaseth or hath purposed Lo All these things worketh God oftentimes with man Hence note Such is the goodness of God that though man is not wrought upon presently or at the first yet he will come a second or a third time to carry his worke through with him 'T is a mercy that God will speake once or use any means once with us 't is mercy that he will speake any one word in any one way to bring us off from sin 't is mercy that he will send one vision or one affliction to awaken us out of our security or one messenger to instruct us once in our duty but when the Lord is pleased to use severall meanes and those severall meanes severall times how doth the aboundant mercy and graciousness of God appeare in this And as the mercy of God in generall so the patience of God in speciall appeareth aboundantly in it The Lord waites to be gracious he waites the working of this or that means of a second and third meanes and he waites the working of them all over againe and againe or oftentimes here is patience with long-sufferance Secondly Observe God will perfect his worke and bring it to an issue with sinfull man God would not give over working to humble Job till he had fully humbled him And this made Job almost amazed at Gods dealing with him Chap 7.17 18 19. What is man that thou shouldest magnifie him and that thou shouldest set thy heart upon him And that thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment Job seemed much troubled at this instancy of God with him and therefore expostulated in the next words How long wilt thou not depart from me nor let me alone till I swallow downe my spittle But for all his crying God would not depart from him nor let him alone for a morning no nor for a moment till he had finished his worke and accomplished his will both in him and upon him till he had brought his heart into a due frame and temper under his mighty hand If once or twice will not doe it he will doe it thrice The Lord is not weary either of working or waiting God is a rocke saith Moses Deut 32.4 and his worke is perfect and of all his workes that of grace is most perfect His visible providentiall works are perfect or shall be before he hath done with them or put his last hand to them but his invisible spirituall workes are most perfect as God worketh often to bring man out of the state of sin to grace so he will not cease working till grace be perfected he will worke till that worke is wrought to the height till the top-stone of it is set up or as the Apostle phraseth it Eph 4.13 Till we all come to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ Though a man hath been once truly humbled yet God humbles him againe that he may be humbled gradually as well as truly to his own mind They that are humbled by affliction may need more afflictions to humble them The same meanes by which faith and repentance are wrought at first doe also encrease and strengthen faith and repentance Those meanes by which a man is at first purged are very proper for his further purging John 15.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit As no man can be a true branch hypocrites and formalists are branches only in appearance and profession they were never truly purged now I say as no man can be a true branch till he is purged so God purgeth
will but believe and obey him should he tell us he hath riches of mercy and that every one who will come shall have his share yet we should never have any if left to our owne chusing 'T is a worke therefore both of mercy and power which keepes us from the pit God had much adoe to keepe Lot from being consumed in Sodome He had warning to be gone yet he was loth to goe The text saith Gen 19.16 While Lot lingred the men layd hold upon his hand and upon the hand of his wife and upon the hand of his two daughters the Lord being mercifull to him and they brought him forth and set him without the City else probably he had lingred till he had perished Surely if God did not thrust sinners out of the Sodome of this world as we say by head and shoulders they would perish in it and with it How wonderfull is the goodnesse of God who doth all these things not only to keep poore creatures from going downe to the pit both temporally and eternally but also that they may be enlightned with the light of the living JOB Chap. 33. Vers 31 32 33. Mark well O Job hearken unto me hold thy peace and I will speak If thou hast any thing to say answer me speak for I desire to justifie thee If not hearken unto me hold thy peace and I shall teach thee wisdome THese three verses containe the Epilogue or conclusion of Elihu's first addresse to Job In which we may consider these three things First He perswadeth him to a due attention and silent consideration both of what he had sayd or should say further v. 31. Mark well O Job hearken unto me c. Secondly He gives him liberty and faire leave to reply if he should please to what he hath already spoken v. 32. If thou hast any thing to say answer me speake To which concession or invitation he adds a very friendly and an ingenuous reason in the close of the verse For I desire to justifie thee Thirdly He professeth his owne readiness to proceed and speak further with him or to carry on this discourse in case Job had nothing to reply v. 33d If not hearken unto me hold thy peace and I shall teach thee wisdome Vers 31. Mark well O Job hearken unto me In this verse Elihu calls for a two-fold attention First to those things he had already spoken Secondly to those things which he was yet to speake What he had already spoken he desireth him to consider and make reply if he pleased as is cleare v. 32. and as to what he had yet further to say he desireth his attention and submission as it followeth v. 33. If not hearken unto me hold thy peace Mark well O Job hearken unto me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 magnam mentis attentionem donotat quae sit cum gestu puta aurium arrectione Cornel a Lap in Pro 2.3 Here are two words of attention marke and hearken and both very significant ones The word rendred mark signifieth to attend with utmost diligence it it sometimes rendred by hearkning Isa 32.3 The eyes of them that see shall not be dim and the eares of them that heare shall hearken that is they who heretofore through the just judgement of God for their willfull shutting their eyes and eares inseeing did see but not perceive and in hearing did heare but not understand Isa 6.10.29.10 compared with Math 13.14 shall at last see clearely and attend diligently to the will of God delivered to them yea it seemes to note some speciall gesture as the lifting up of the eare to heare For as there is a lifting up of the voyce in the zealous speaker so of the eare in the diligent hearer To marke is to heare and observe to heare and lay to heart the things which are spoken Mark well O Job and hearken That 's a word of a large extent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 auscultavit exaudivit dicto obediens fuit paruit to hearken is more then to heare it takes in not only first the worke of the eare but secondly the worke of the minde 't is hearing first with understanding secondly with beleeving yea thirdly it takes in the worke of the whole man in obeying or submitting to what is spoken Thus God sayd to Adam Gen 3.17 Because thou hast hearkned unto the voyce of thy wife that is because thou hast obeyed her voyce and done the thing she perswaded thee to After hearkning comes doing Lastly it includes also a worke of the affections hearkning is with delighting that which we hearken to we are pleased with 't is like good musick sweet unto us in this compasse and extent we may expound these words Mark well O Job and hearken unto me And these words especially the former of the two rendred marke are often used in Scripture when the people of God desire and begge that he would take notice of and attend unto their prayer Thus David more then once Ps 5.2 Hearken unto the voyce of my cry my King and my God for unto thee will I pray Psal 66.19 but verily God hath heard me he hath attended to the voyce of my prayer Psal 130.2 Lord heare my voyce let thine ears be attentive to the voyce of my supplication Now as when we desire that God would heare our prayer we desire that he would be very attentive to our prayer and not only so but doe what we pray for and that our prayers may be welcome acceptable and delightfull to him so when we are sayd to marke and hearken to what is spoken to us all the powers of our inward man the understanding will and affections are at worke in hearing Hence note He that will profit by hearing must be an attentive hearer He must mark and hearken a fruitfull hearer doth more then heare he markes not only is his eare at worke but his minde his heart his whole soule is as it were transformed into an eare or is active at his eare There are many and it were well there were more hearers of the word but there are few markers of the word many come to Sermons yet but few hearken unto Sermons every hearer is not a marker not a hearkner to what he heareth and not being so he can scarcely be called a hearer for they only that are markers shall attaine that mark of which the Apostle speaks Phil 3.14 I presse toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus What is our mark in hearing is it not salvation by Christ and glory with him Now unlesse we are markers we never presse towards much lesse attaine that mark the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Mark well O Job hearken unto me hold thy peace and I will speake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fodit fundum aravit Metaphoricè cogitavi◠fodit cogitatione intentus vel attentus fuit rei alicujus cōficiendae sicut orator
we chuse it as wel as doe it that is unlesse our hearts close with it and pitch upon it Solomon Prov 1.29 chargeth the simple for not chusing what was good they did not chuse the feare of the Lord. By the feare of the Lord he meanes the true worship of the Lord or any worke of obedience by which we testifie a holy feare of him possibly they might doe the feare of the Lord possibly they worshipped the Lord they prayed to him and heard his word but they did not chuse the feare of the Lord they did not sit downe and judge that best or most necessary but tooke it up by accident or by custome or for company because they saw others doe it It will not turne to our account to be found doing good unlesse we chuse to our selves that which is good Our elections are more eyed by God then our actions and the setting of our hearts then the work of our hands Thirdly From the latter branch Let us know among our selves what is good Note First There 's nothing worth our knowing but that which is good Whatsoever hath a morall or a spirituall good in it is worthy to be knowne the truths the workes the wayes of God are the most desireable good things to be studied and knowne Psal 4.6 There are many will say who will shew us any good What 's their good Corne wine oyle gold silver houses lands c. these are their good and these are all their good but though a godly man knoweth that these are good things and blesseth God for any portion in them yet that which he call's his good and the good is of a higher nature We commonly call worldly things our goods but we mis-call them if we call them our good The Favour of God is our good grace is our good faith and love and hope and righteousnesse are good above all God himselfe is good and to know and enjoy him in Christ through the Spirit is our chiefest good here and will be all our good hereafter Let us know what is good From the Comparative sense of the words Let us know what is good that is if there be a better to be had let us know that Observe It is not enough for us to have the knowledge of good things but among good things the best are to be sought out to be knowne and attained to This was a speciall branch of the Apostles prayer for the Philippians Phil 1.10 That ye may approve the things that are excellent or the things that differ in excellency Some are contented to sit downe in the lowest forme of Christs Schoole if they have but any thing which they may call good or true right and sincere they looke no further any thing satisfieth them which will serve turne to keep them from perishing they have no holy aspirings nor godly covetous desires after the best things and the best of the best God is willing and hath promised to give us not only good things but the best things Psal 81.16 He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee 't is a mercy to have wheat but the finest of the wheat and honey out of the rock not ordinary honey but the best honey the purest honey are greater mercies We by our sins deserve that God should as the Prophet speakes Isa 30.20 give us the bread of adversity and the water of affliction that is either that he should give us adversity in stead of bread and affliction in stead of water or that he should feed us with the coursest bread with huskes and bran and give us bitter waters the waters of Marah to drinke yet he in mercy gives us pleasant bread and wel-tasted water yea were we better he would give us the best bread the finest of the wheat and our cup should be sweeter to us then the sweetest honey The reason why we have not of the best is because we are no better Yea God now gives us not only good things but the best of good things even himselfe his Son and Spirit who are best of all O how excellent is this loving kindness therefore let us not only look after good things but the best of good things to honour God and lift up his name to the highest in this world Let us labour to know and doe the best things and give God our best services and purest praises even the male of our flocke the first-borne the strength of our whole soules To these highest attainments Elihu perswades those wise and knowing men promising to joyne with them in that search Come let us beat out the business with diligence that we may at last chuse Judgement and know among our selves what is good what is best JOB Chap. 34. Vers 5 6 7 8 9. For Job hath said I am righteous and God hath taken away my Judgement Should I lie against my right my wound is incurable without transgression What man is like Job who drinketh up scorning like water Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity and walketh with wicked men For he hath said It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himselfe with God THe Preface hath been dispatcht the context of these five verses containes the whole charge or bill of complaint drawne up by Elihu against Job consisting of many particulars This charge is double The first part whereof is contained in the 5th and 6th verses the second in the 7th 8th and 9th verses In the first charge he alledgeth foure things against Job two in the 5th verse and two in the 6th The two things alledged against him in the 5th verse are First That Job insisted too much upon his owne righteousness Job hath said I am righteous Secondly That he reflected too boldly upon the righteousness of God yea that upon the matter he had accused God of unrighteousness or injustice God hath taken away my Judgement Vers 5. For Job hath said I am righteous That 's the first charge Job hath said Elihu gathers up and collects those passages of Jobs complaint which he found most faulty and layeth them as we say in his dish Job hath said we may well remember and he cannot deny it for he hath said it not once only but often not lightly but seriously and assertingly I am just or righteous that is I have sufficiently shewed my innocency and the equity of my cause but I am not permitted to declare and hold it forth in such a way as I would before my Judge yea the Lord proceedeth with me not in the ordinary way of Justice but being above law afflicts me at his pleasure though I am innocent This is the summe of what Job said as often as he hath sayd I am righteous The first particle which we render for imports Vocabulum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quia certitudinem et firmam asseverationem hic importat q.d. profecto equidem
all flesh perisheth and turneth again unto what it once was dust 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Hebrew word which we render to gather signifieth to add one thing or person to another When Rachel had conceived and bare a son Gen. 30.22 23. she called from this word his name Joseph and said the Lord shall add to me another son Thus here If God add or gather to himself his spirit and his breath that is the spirit and breath of man c. We may distinguish between these two Spiritus animam flatus vitam quae ab anima provenit conservatur significat ego opinâ—r idem esse hoc loco Sanct. spirit and breath Some insist much and curiously upon this distinction The spirit denoting the soul or the internal rational power of man and the breath that effect of life which followeth or floweth from the union of soul and body The life of man is often expressed by breath Cease ye from man whose breath or life is in his nostrils Isa 2.22 If once man's breath goeth out his life cannot stay behinde the spirit of a man is in this sence distinct from his breath for when the breath is vanished and is no more the soul or spirit liveth The Apostle in his prayer for the Thessalonians 1 Thess 5.23 puts soul and spirit together The very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved harmless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ There 't is most probable by the soul he intends the inferiour powers in man or his affections and by the spirit his higher powers of reason and understanding yet the spirit is often put for that whole part of man which is contradistinct to his body Into thy hands I commend my spirit that is my soul not forgetting my body And I conceive we may safely expound it here in that latitude as comprehending the whole inner man Yet it is all one as to the sence of this place whether we take spirit and breath distinctly or for the same the spirit being so called from spiration or breathing If he gather unto him his spirit and his breath The gathering of the spirit and breath of man unto God is but a periphrasis or circumlocution of death or of man's departure out of this life when man was formed or created Gen. 2.7 it is said God breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living soul And when man dyeth his breath or spirit may be said to be gathered or returned back unto God so then the meaning of Elihu in this double supposition If he set his heart upon man if he he gather to himself his spirit and his breath is clearly this if God were once resolved or should but say the word that man must presently die die he must and that presently Hence Note First God can easily do whatsoever he hath a minde to do If he do put his heart upon the doing of any thing it is done Men often set their hearts yea and their hands unto that which they cannot do if men could do that which they set their hearts to do or have a minde to do and thereupon set their hands to do we should have strange work in the world 'T is a mercy to many men that man is often frustrated in his thoughts and purposes in his attempts and undertakings and 't is a glorious mercy to all that have an interest in God that God never lost a thought nor can be hindred in any work he setteth his heart upon He that can lett or stop all men in their works can work and none shall lett or stop him What God will do is not defecible or undoeable if I may so express it by any power in heaven or earth And as God can do what he will and ask no man leave so he can do what he will without trouble to himself 't is but the resolve of his will the turning of his hand or the cast of his eye all which are soon dispatcht and 't is done Thus God breathed out his wishes for the welfare of Israel Psal 81.13 O that my people had hearkned unto me c. I should soon have subdued theâ—r enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries As if he had said I could and would have eased them of all their enemies even of all that rose up against them easily even with the turning of my hand What is more easily done or moâ—e speedily done then the turning of a hand Many things are hard to man and indeed very few things are easie to him except it be to sin or to do evil he can do evil easily some things are not only hard but too hard impossible for man but there is nothing hard much less too hard for God he can easily do the hardest things yea the hardest things are as easie to him as the easiest for as Psal 139.12 Darkness hideth not from the sight of God the darkness and the light are both alike to him so hardness hinders not the work of God hardness and easiness are both alike to him if he set his heart upon it From this general truth take two inferences First How should we fear before this God How should we tremble at the remembrance of and walk humbly in our highest assurance with this God We are much afraid to displease those men who can easily hurt us and in whose hand it is to ruine us every hour But O how little are we in this thought to fear the Lord to take heed of displeasing the Lord who can with ease either help or hurt either bring salvation or destruction who in a moment can thrust the soul out of the body and cast both into hell Secondly We may hence make a strong inference for the comfort of the people of God when their straits are most pinching and their difficulties look like impossibilities and are so indeed while they look to man when their enemies are strongest and the mountains which stand in the way of their expected comforts greatest if then God will be entreated to set his heart and cast his eye upon them their straits are presently turned into enlargements difficulties become easie and mountains plains If we can but engage the Lord his own promise is the surest engagement and indeed all that we can put upon him or minde him of if I say we can thus engage the Lord to be with us who can be to our hurt many will be to their own against us Secondly Note Our life is at the beck dispose and pleasure of God He can gather the spirit and the breath to himself whensoever he pleaseth Psal 104.29 Thou hidest thy face and they are troubled and thou takest away their breath they die and return to their dust If God hideth his face from us 't is death while we live but if he take away our breath we cannot live but die Psal 90.3 Thou
hide themselves from God yet they come to this that God hideth himself as not regarding what they do from them Hence David affirms of the wicked man Psal 10.11 He hath said in his heart God hath forgotten he hideth his face he will never see it Many say in their hearts God seeth them not while with their tongues they confess he is an all-seeing God The heart hath a tongue in it as well as the head and these two tongues seldome speak the same language While the head-tongue saith we cannot hide our selves from the sight of God the heart-tongue of wicked men will say God will hide himself from us he will not see But if their heart speak not thus then as the Prophet saith Isa 29.15 They dig deep to hide their counsels from God surely they have a hope to hide their counsels else they would not dig deep to hide them Their digging is not proper but tropical as men dig deep to hide what they would not have seen in the earth so they by heir wits plots and devices do their best to hide their counsels from God and they say who seeth who knoweth We surely are not seen either by God or man Now 't is very natural for sinners to endeavour the hiding of themselves from God upon a two-fold account First To avoid shame All sinners are not altogether deboist all have not altogether baffled their own consciences they have a kinde of modesty they would not be seen sinning it troubles them not to do evil but a fear to be detected in doing it is their trouble Secondly Sinners hide themselves for fear so Adam did he wa◠afraid as well as ashamed I was afraid said he because I was naked and I hid my self Gen. 3.10 The Prophet tells us of such Isa 2.21 They shall go into the clefts of the rock and into the tops of the ragged rocks for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his Majesty when he shall arise to shake terribly the earth We finde all sorts call to the hills to hide them for fear of him that sate on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb Rev. 6.15 16. Secondly Observe How much soever sinners attempt yet they cannot hide themselves from God Let them study never so long and dig never so deep they cannot be hid Where can a sinner be hid from him who is every where Or what thing can be our covering from him in whose sight all things are open Then let none think they have made a good market in sinning when they have hid their sins from the eyes of men what will it avail to hide your selves from men when you lie open and manifest to the eye of God read Psal 139.12 Amos 3.2 The Apostle saith 1 Tim. 5.24 25. some mens sins are open before hand going before to judgment that is other men quickly see what they are can judge what they have done and some men they follow after though they were hidden at the first yet they are afterward discovered unto men often as alwayes unto God As they are not hid from God now so he will bring them forth at last in the sight of men that the Apostle adds in the next verse Likewise also the good works of some are manifest before hand and they that are otherwise cannot be hid The word otherwise may have a two-fold reference First to the word manifest As if he had said though the good works of a man be not presently manifest yet they cannot be long hid they shall be opened and revealed Secondly The word otherwise may refer to good works and so it reaches the point fully that is those works which are not good or otherwise then good cannot be hid though men labour much to hide them Sinners leave off your hiding leave off your hiding for you shall not be hid There is no way for sinners to hide themselves from God they may hide themselves in God in the love in the favour and mercy of God Thus sinners may hide themselves in God but from God they cannot be hid Christ is a hiding place unto his people and he is so in a double respect First from trouble or in time of trouble thus David spake Psal 32.7 Thou art my hiding place The name of the Lord is a strong Tower saith Solomon Prov. 18.10 the righteous runneth into it for shelter in time of trouble and is safe The Prophet is express in this Isa 32.2 A man that is Christ shall be for a hiding place from the winde a covert from the Tempest Christ is truly so as to the outward troubles and storms which men raise against his people in the things of this life he is so especially as to those internal troubles and storms which Satan or our owne unbelieving hearts raise against us about the things and concernments of the next life That man who is also God who is God-man is the hiding place of humbled sinners against the assault of all evils whether temporal or spiritual Secondly As Christ is a hiding place from those troubles which men bring us unto for righteousness sake or which Satan and our own hearts bring us into by raising questions about our interest in the righteousness of Christ So he is a hiding place for us against our own unrighteousness Sinners or unrighteous persons cannot hide themselves from Christ And as Christ is the best hiding place from bodily dangers so he is the only hiding place from soul-danger Any sinner may hide himself in Christ as to the guilt of sin whose eyes are opened to see and acknowledge his sin Or more distinctly sinners under a fourfold consideration may hide themselves in Christ First if humbled sinners Secondly if confessing sinners Thirdly if reforming sinners Fourthly believing sinners Christ is a hiding place to all such sinners Cum videri nos non credimus in sole clausos oculos tenemus Illum à nos abscondimus non nos illi Greg. l 25. c. 6. And seeing no sinner can hide himself from the wrath of God by any means of his own devising or contriving Let all sinners give over such vain contrivements and learn that Gospel wisdome to hide themselves in Christ from that wrath which is to come When we labour to hide our selves any other way we lose our labour and do not hide our selves from God but God from our selves that is we hide the favour and mercy of God from our selves Lastly Observe Men are not easily perswaded that they cannot hide themselves from the sight of God That hath much hold of us which we are often warned to avoid This is not the only place of the whole Scripture no nor of this particular book where this truth is held forth There are many and many Scriptures wherein this common truth is pressed upon us And doth not this if not strongly infer yet intimate at least that man doth not easily believe it Yea Is it not an argument
of his hands Indeed God doth much in the world he walketh in many dark and hidden wayes which though we consider we cannot fully understand Thy way saith Asaph Psal 77.19 is in the sea and thy path in the great waters and thy foot-steps are not known God hath many invisible works both of mercy and of judgement yet we should be though not curiously yet seriously searching as much as possibly we can Arcana imperii even into those wayes of God which are unsearchable we should consider though we cannot search them out But as for those works of God that are visible and plain which are written as it were with the beams of the Sun which are so plain and obvious that he who runs may read them to neglect the consideration of these or lightly to pass them by how sinful is it Those works of God which are most plain have wonders in them if we could finde them out As in the plainest Text of Scripture there is a world of holiness and spiritualness and if we in prayer and dependance upon God did sit down and consider it we might behold much more of those wonders then yet appear to us It may be at once reading or looking we see little or nothing as Elijah's servant when he went once he saw nothing therefore he was commanded to look seven times What now saith the Prophet O now I see a cloud rising like a mans hand and by and by the whole surface of the heavens was covered with clouds So you may look lightly upon a Scripture and see nothing and look again and see little but look seven times upon it meditate often upon it and then you shall see a light like the light of the Sun 'T is thus also with the works of God we pass many of them by as small matters but when throughly considered there is a wonderful depth in them now not to consider those wayes of God wherein he is so visible and which are the actings and exercising of his power goodness wisdome and faithfulness this must needs be a very great sin Isa 26.11 Lord when thy hand is lifted up they will not see they take no notice of it much less lay it to heart but they shall see they shall be made to see one way or other and be ashamed for their envie at the people or as the margin hath it towards thy people As godly men see the hand of God and are both confirmed and comforted for his mercy to his people so wicked men shall see and be both ashamed and confounded because they both envyed the people of God that mercy and opposed it They who will not see the works of God to give him glory shall see them to their own shame God hath given us his works of Creation that we should consider them daylie as David did Psal 8.3 When I consider thy heavens the work of thy fingers the Moon and the Stars which thou hast ordained What is man c. How was the Psalmist ravisht with that contemplation And so may we while we consider the works of Providence whether works of judgement or works of mercy whether vengeance upon the wicked or deliverance for the godly Let us therefore set our selves to this soul-ravishing and God-exalting work the consideration of the works of God And we are the more engaged to do it because God hath fitted man among all creatures in this lower world and he hath only fitted man to give him glory by considering his works The beasts of the earth cannot glorifie God by considering his works 't is true both they the fowls of the ayr with the fifh of the sea according to their kinde praise God but man only is fitted and furnished with an intellect or understanding faculty to consider and so to draw out from all the works of God those peculiar excellencies which make his Name glorious Now for man to leave such a faculty unexercised and unacted as they who consider not the works of God do is not only a dishonour to God but a degradation of himself As it is the priviledge and happiness of a man to enjoy the benefit of the works of God so it is his holiness and his duty to consider the beauty of them And to all who brutishly lay by the works of God without consideration let me adde this consideration God considers all your works or wayes and will not you consider the works the wayes of God! Of this be sure whether you consider the wayes of God his Word-wayes or Work-wayes of this be sure God will consider your wayes certainly he will those wayes of yours which in themselves are not worth the considering or looking upon your sinful wayes though they are so vile so abominable that if your selves did but look upon them and consider them you would be utterly ashamed of them yea though they are an abomination to God while he beholds them yet he will behold and consider them The Lord who is of purer eyes then to behold any the least iniquity to approve it will yet behold the greatest of your iniquities and your impurest wayes to consider them Thou saith David Psal 10.14 Thou beholdest mischief and spite to requite it God beholdeth the foulest dirtyest wayes of men their wayes of oppression and unrighteousness their wayes of intemperance and lasciviousness their wayes of wrath and maliciousness at once to detest detect and requite them If the Lord thus considereth the wayes of men even these filthy and crooked wayes of men should not men consider the holy the just and righteous wayes of God And that God considers all the wayes the worst of wayes of the sons men appeares further in the next verse Vers 28. So that they cause the cry of the poore to come up to him and he heareth the cry of the afflicted If the wayes of men come up to God then surely God considers the wayes of men even their vile and base wayes their wicked and unworthy wayes how can he but consider those wayes the cry of which cometh up to him So that they cause the cry of the poore to come up to him Effectum hujus malitiae affectatae ostendit Aquin Here Elihu expounds to us or gives us more particularly what those wayes of God were which those men would not consider as also what the sin of those mighty ones was which provoked God to strike them as wicked men in the open sight of others The wayes of God which they would not consider were the wayes of his righteousnesse and justice of his compassion to and care for the poore they went quite crosse to those wayes of God For they caused the cry of the poore to come up to him But doe ungodly men bring the cry of the poore up to God Certainly they have no such purpose and therefore those words So that they cause the cry of the poore to come up unto him Note only a consequent of what those
which some Princes have held out to all the world as the rule of their reigning He that knoweth not how to dissemble Qui nescit dissimulare nescit regnore knows not how to reigne Dissimulation is a great part of hypocrisie there is dissimulation both as to the things of God and the things of men Some if they knew not how to dissemble in both at least with men would not believe that they knew how to rule over or governe men Now as many who are great and in power make little conscience to dissemble or make use of hypocrisie to carry on their government and secure themselves so most hypocrites have a mind and will use all meanes not forbearing those which are bad enough to get into power and make themselves great The spirit of hypocrisie is an aspiring spirit Againe Elihu saith That the hypocrite reigne not lest the people be ensnared here 's not one word of the good government or protection of the people which should be the maine businesse of those that reigne The text speaks only of snares That the hypocrite reigne not lest the people be ensnared Hence observe Thirdly Hypocrites getting into power doe either secretly or openly wrong and oppresse the people They lay snares for them in stead of being shields to them Hypocrites in power ensnare chiefly two wayes First By their ill example there is a great snare in that Inferiors are very apt to be formed up according to their mould and manners who are above them Râ—gis ad exemplum totus componitur orbis the example of Kings and Princes are seldome unconformed to by their Subjects There is a great power in example what is done perswades as wel as what is spoken And the errors of those that rule become rules of error men sin with a kind of authority through the sins of those who are in authority Jeroboam made Israel to sin not only by commanding them to worship the Calves at Dan and Bethel but by commending that Idolatous worship to them in his owne practise and example Secondly They ensnare the people by sinfull and bad Lawes The Prophet denounceth a woe distinctly unto men of severall ranks and places Hos 5.1 Heare ye this O Priests and hearken ye house of Israel and give ye eare O house of the King he directs his speech in that three-fold division First to the Priests Secondly to the body of the people Thirdly and chiefly to the house of the King why to the house of the King Because ye have been a snare on Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor That Scripture may be interpreted First as an allusion to such as were wont to hunt upon those mountaines Mizpah and Tabor were famous places for hunting there they were wont to set netts and lay snares to catch their game now saith the Prophet ye have been even like hunters spreading netts and laying snares Nimrod is called a mighty hunter before God He was a hunter of men more then of wild beasts Now look what nets and snares are to wild beasts the same are sinfull lawes to the consciences of honest and upright-hearted men And it is wel conceived that the Prophet there referrs to those ensnaring Lawes made by Jeroboam and the succeeding Princes in the Kingdome of Israel whereby they endeavoured to draw off the people of God from his true worship and vexed those who kept close to it Secondly some expound those words Ye have been a snare on Mizpah and a net spread upon Tabor to signifie their setting spies upon those mountaines to watch and so to give information who went to the solemne feasts that so they might be proceeded against according to those ensnaring Laws Which way soever we take it 't is cleare that Scripture reproves and threatens Judgement against the Priests and Apostatizing people of Israel complying with if not provoking the the ruling powers to trouble those who could not digest the Idolatrous worship set up by Jeroboam at Dan Bethel upon a politique consideration lest the people going to Jerusalem should fall off from him and weaken the kingdome of Israel in his hand Another Prophet complained Mic 6.16 The Statutes of Omri are kept Omri was a king of Israel a successor of Jeroboam both in his power and hypocrisie he also pretended a zeale for the worship of God after his owne devising and therefore made ensnaring Statutes to entangle those that were sincere and persevered in the true worship which the Statutes of God appoynted The Prophet speakes of a strange kind of bridle or of a bridle used for an unusuall purpose Isa 30.28 There shall be a bridle in the jawes of the people causing them to erre A bridle is put upon the head of a horse or mule as David speaks Psal 32.9 not to cause either to erre or goe out of the way but to keep them in the way 'T is evident by the context of this Chapter as also by the expresse text of the 37th Chapter v. 29. that this bridle was the Lords power against Senacharib and his host whereby as with a bridle in their jawes he diverted them from their purpose of besiedging Jerusalem 'T is a truth also to which we may warrantably enough apply those words of the Prophet in a way of allusion that good lawes are like a bridle in the jawes of a people the multitude or the most would else be like head-strong horses if authority did not keep them in 'T is a great mercy when Laws are as a bridle to keep us from erring but 't is sad when any Lawes are a bridle in the jawes of a people causing them to erre or go out of the way of the Laws of God such Laws are not which all Lawes should be rules but snares Such were the Lawes of Jeroboam and the Statutes of Omri in Israel of old and what Nation is there that hath not had experience in one age or other of such Lawes as have been a bridle in their jawes causing them to erre or a snare to their souls and consciences Fourthly When Elihu saith That the hypocrite reigne not lest the people be ensnared he intends an act of divine wrath upon hypocrites abusing their power to the hurt of the people Hence Note God is highly displeased with Princes and Magistrates when they ensnare the people We read Isa 3.12 how the people of Israel were ensnared and how the Lord was highly displeased with those who did ensnare them O my people they which lead thee cause thee to erre and destroy the way of thy paths Thy Leaders mislead thee There are two sorts of Leaders First Spiritual Leaders the Ministers and Preachers of the Word now as of old the Priests Levites and Prophets were Leaders of the people and somtimes proved their misleaders Jer. 23.1.3 in Spirituals Secondly There are Leaders of the people in Civil things such are all Princes and Magistrates We may understand that Text in the Prophet Isaiah of
destruction Every mouth must be stopped and all the world become guilty before God upon that account Rom. 3.19 yet God doth not destroy And that he hath no content in destroying he bindes it with an Oath Ezek. 33.11 As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked c. as if he had said I am not bent upon your destruction I had rather be taken off and save you I pardon I will not destroy If any shall say Hath God no pleasure in destruction Hath he not a will to destroy as well as to save I answer God hath pleasure in destroying but it is in the destruction of those who obstinately resist his Will who refuse both his counsel and his Covenant to such indeed he saith Prov. 1.26 I will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear that is the thing you feared cometh as desolation c. That the men in whose calamity God laugheth are such is evident by the character given of them at the 25th verse Ye have set at nought all my counsel and would none of my reproof As if God had said you have laughed at my counsel therefore I will laugh at your calamity The Lord will declare himself delighted in their destruction who have despised instruction and he will glorifie himself in the actings of his Justice upon them who have slighted and put by the tenders and entreaties of his mercy Yet still God declareth himself more pleased in acting and putting forth his saving power then his destroying power The Prophet Hos 11.8 9. most pathetically represents as it were a debate in the breast of God himself between his Justice and his Mercy How shall I give thee up Ephraim How shall I deliver thee Israel How shall I make thee as Admah How shall I set thee as Zeboim Mine heart is turned within me my repentings are kindled together v. 9. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger I will not return to destroy Ephraim We see after the debate the Lord determines for sparing not for destroying So then though he can and will not only destroy but laugh at the destruction of obstinate sinners yet he loves to spare rather then to destroy Thirdly From the connexion of these two pardoning and sparing mercy God saith first I pardon and then secondly I will not destroy who are they whom God will not destroy they are are such as he pardons Hence Note Pardoned persons shall never be destroyed As soon as Nathan had said to David the Lord hath put away thy sin the very next word is this thou shalt not dye 2 Sam. 12.13 if Davids sin had not been pardoned Daved must have dyed for it 'T is a Logical Maxime When the Cause is taken away Sublata causa collitur effectus the Effect is taken away Sin is the cause of destruction therefore when God takes away sin which is the cause destruction the effect must needs be taken away too pardon destroyeth sin therefore how can they that are pardoned be destroyed Pardon swallows up sin As the Apostle speaks of life 2 Cor. 5.4 That mortality might be swallowed up of life Here mortality swallows up our lives by degrees but hereafter mortality shall be swallowed up at once of life Now as life shall then swallow up mortality so pardon at present swalloweth up sin for as in our glorified state there shall never any thing of mortality appear so in a pardon'd estate nothing of sin shall appear as to hurt us Sin pardoned cannot be found Jer. 50.20 In those dayes and in that time saith the Lord the iniquity of Jacob shall be sought for and there shall be none and the sins of Judah and they shall not be found why not The Lord answers for I will pardon them whom I reserve And if their sins shall not be found surely they shall not be found guilty and therefore not destroyed God may chasten them whom he hath pardoned but he will not destroy those whom he hath pardon'd pardoned persons may smart and smart greatly for sin but they shall not dye eternally for it they shall not be destroyed for it David was pardoned yet God told him the sword shall never depart from thy house and the Lord told him particularly of a sore destruction upon a part of his house presently because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of God to blaspheme thou being a Professor hast opened the mouths of the wicked against profession therefore though thou shalt not dye yet the childe also that is born unto thee shall surely dye There are two things which the pardon of sin takes away First the power or reigne of sin where-ever sin is pardoned the strength of it is subdued God doth not pardon sin as Princes do they may pardon an evil doer and yet he still remain as evil and as ready to do evil as ever they may pardon a thief and yet he continue to be a thief still but if God pardons a drunkard an adulterer or a thief he doth not remain a drunkard or an adulterer or a thief still God takes away the power of that sin which he pardoneth Secondly The pardon of sin takes away the punishment of sin it may leave some chastisement but it wholly takes away the punishment The Popish doctrine saith the fault is taken away by pardon but there is a commutation of the punishment eternal punishment is changed into temporal either in this life or that to come hence their doctrines of Purgatory and of Prayer for the dead c. all which stuffe comes in upon this account They cast all men into three sorts some are Apostles and Martyrs men very eminently godly and they go immediately to heaven there are another sort and these are Apostates from or persecuters of the faith notorious sinners these go immediately to hell there are a third or middle sort of ordinary sinners and they go immediately after death neither to heaven nor hell but to Purgatory where they must bear the punishment of their sins till they can be prayed out Christ hath only got so much favour for them say they to change their eternal punishment into a temporal The grace of the Gospel knows nothing of this Doctrine that tells us when sin is pardoned all is pardoned both guilt and punishment both temporal and eternal nothing remains but only chastisement how sorely soever a believer suffers in this life yet strictly taken it is but a chastisement and there remaineth nothing for him to suffer in the life which is to come And if so then Pardon of sin is a precious mercy 'T is so First Because it proceeds from the precious mercies of God Secondly Because it comes thorow the precious blood of Christ Col. 1.14 Thirdly Because it opens a door to all precious mercies as sin unpardoned with-holds all good things from us Jer. 5.25 so sin pardoned opens the door for all mercy
to flow in upon us Christ said to the sick man Matth. 9.2 Be of good cheer thy sins are forgiven thee Fourthly It is a precious mercy because it stops and keeps off all evils and judgements strictly so called I forgive I will not destroy Our comforts cannot stand before the guilt of sin and our troubles cannot stand long before the pardon of sin Isa 33.24 The highest wtath of God appears in this when he will not pardon and it argues the greatest displeasure of man against man when he prayeth that he may not be pardoned That was a most dreadful prayer of the Prophet Isa 2.9 The mean man is bowed down and the mighty man humbles himself therefore forgive them not here was a prayer that they might not be forgiven and the ground why he prayed so seems to be as strange as the matter of it was dreadful Is it a sin to be excepted from pardon to see a mean man bow down and a mighty man humble himself The meaning is they bowed themselves not to God but to idols all bowing and humbling our selves either to worship an idol or in idol worship is rebelling against God We have a like prayer Jer. 18.23 the Prophet having spoken of the plots and devisings of the people against him turns himself thus to God Thou knowest all their counsel to slay me forgive not their iniquity neither blot their sin from thy sight Nothing can be wisht worse to any man then this that his sin may never be pardoned And here it may be questioned how the Prophet could make such a prayer which seems to have the height of all uncharitableness in it I answer first The Prophet was led by an extraordinary Spirit to do this Secondly We are not to conceive that the Prophet prayed for their eternal condemnation but that God would call them to a reckoning and make them feel the evil of their own doings There is a sin unto death for the pardon of which we are not to pray 1 John 5.16 yet there is no sin about which we are to pray that it may never be pardoned The worst prayer that can be made against any man is that he may not be pardoned and there is nothing better to be prayed for then pardon It shewed the height of Christs love when hanging on the Cross he prayed thus for his enemies Luke 23.34 Father forgive them they know not what they do And the Protomartyr Stephen breathed out a like spirit of charity while he was breathing out his life in a shower of stones powred upon him from more stony hearts Acts 7.60 with this prayer Lord lay not this sin to their charge Thus I have finished this 31th verse both according to our own Translation and that other insisted upon by many of the learned only from the connexion of this verse with the next according to the latter reading To God who saith I pardon I will not destroy it should be said that which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more Observe The very consideration that God is ready to pardon sin should make us resolved against the committing of sin The sin-pardoning mercy of God is one of the highest and most spiritual arguments by which the soul is kept from sin There is forgiveness with thee saith David Psal 130.4 that thou mayst be feared that is because thou art so merciful as to forgive sinners therefore they ought to fear thee in doing what thy will is and in avoiding whatsoever is contrary to thy will 'T is prophesied that frame of spirit shall dwell upon the people of God in the latter dayes Hos 3.5 They shall fear the Lord and his goodness that is Si scirem homines ignoraturos Deos ignoscituros tamen non facerem Sen◠they shall fear to offend the Lord because he is so good and ready to pardon It was said by a Heathen and it may shame many who profess themselves Christians that a heathen said so if I did know that men should never know the evil which I do and that the gods so he speaks in their language would pardon and forgive the evil which I do yet I would not do it Surely the spirit of a true believer must needs rise thus high and higher upon the clear grounds of Gospel grace and discoveries of the free love of God Cannot a true believer say though I know that God will pardon my sin though he hath declared that my sin is pardoned and though I could be assured that men should never know of this sin if I commit it yet I will not do it To God who saith I pardon it should be said I will sin no more I shall now proceed to the 32d verse which stands fair to either reading Vers 32. That which I see not teach thou me if I have done iniquity I will do no more Some carry the general sence of these words as if spoken by God himself to Job and spoken by an irony or in scorn as if he had thus bespoken him If I have afflicted thee beyond thy desert or have overthrown thy judgement that Job had more then once complained of Si quid me fugit in te affligendo vel si quid errarem tu me doceas Si te venando perperam egi vel injustè me habui non ultra id fecero 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Merc. if I have not kept to the true rules of reason and righteousness in chastening thee if in my dealings with thee I have done amiss or have not done thee right Shew me wherein O Job and I will afflict thee so no more I shall not stay upon this but take the words according to our Translation as the whole verse intends a further description of a person deeply humbled under and sensible of the hand the chastening the afflicting hand of God who having said with respect to all known sins in the former verse I will offend no more saith here in this verse concerning all unknown sins That which I see not teach thou me and if I have done iniquity I will do no more That which I see not There is a two-sold sight First Corporal the sight of the bodily eye Secondly Intellectual the sight of the eye of the minde or of the understanding when Elihu represents the penitent afflicted person speaking thus What I see not c. he intends not a corporal sight but an intellectual Seeing is here as often elsewhere in Scripture put for knowing the understanding is the eye of the soul How blinde and dark are those men who have no understanding in the things of God! Eph. 4.18 When Christ had sayd For judgement am I come into the world that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blinde some of the Pharisees said unto him John 9.41 are we blinde also have we no eyes Jesus said unto them If ye were blinde ye should have
taken two wayes in Scripture 191 To be taken away without hand what 638. To doe a thing without hand notes three things 650 Hast often doth hurt 483 Haters of all good many such 610 Health to be prayed and praised for 366. Health to be carefully preserved 367. Health and strength of body the gift of God 417 Hearers severall sorts of faulty hearers 146. Six considerations upon which the whole mind of God is to be heard 147 148. He that would be a profitable hearer must be an attentive hearer 476. The most prudent speakers are also patient hearers 483. The sin of those who either heare and doe not or doe not heare 505 Hearing good men may be dull of hearing 498. The sense of hearing is a great mercy and of great use to mankinde 501 505 Hearkning more then hearing 144 145. What it is to hearken 146 475 Heart and tongue should goe together 154. Three wayes in which men speake against their own hearts 155 Heart of man prone to and fixt in evill 299. Setting of the heart upon any thing what it notes 587. Heart the severall wayes of it 657 Heartless man who 552 Hearty man or man of heart what it signifieth 551 Holiness two things argue much the holiness of any mans heart 15. Holiness consists in our keeping close to and imitation of God 706 Holy things the iniquity of them not easily discerned 819 Honour how to be given all men 128 Humble God is highly pleased with the humble 427 Humbled a truely humbled soule much in the exercise of a fourfold duty 803 Humility low thoughts of our selves best 45. Three degrees of humility 129 Hypocrites much discovered by sickness and affliction 359. What the Hebrew word for a hypocrite imports 758. Two sorts of hypocrites 759. A Hypocrite is hated of God and hurtfull to man 761 The nature of an hypocrite 761 A threefold distinction of hypocrites 761 762. A fourefold designe of hypocrites opened in their making profession of religion 763 764. Foure things by which hypocrites may be discovered 768 769. They love to be seene and are very censorious 770 771. Severall considerations moving all to take heed of hypocrisie 773 774. Hypocrites rarely converted 775. Hypocrites are high-minded and look after Great things 776. Hypocrites under the power of covetousness and ambition 776 777. Hypocrites getting power abuse it to the wronging and ensnaring of the people 778. They ensnare two wayes 778. A hypocrite is most unfit for publick service 781 I Idolls how and why called terrible things 189 Jealousie Vide suspition Ignorance It is the duty of the most knowing to confesse their ignorance 820. Sins of ignorance need pardon 820. They who have but little knowledge are little troubled at their ignorance 820 Imitation It is not good to imitate any in what they doe ill 98 99. Imitation of God is our holiness 706 Incorruptibility twofold 170 Indians their modesty in not speaking before their Elders 38 Infirmities it is uncharitableness to take much notice of them in others but holiness to take notice of them in our selves 217. God is not strict to take notice of our infirmities 218 Iniquity what strictly 202 Interpreter taken three wayes 375 A threefold interpreter 375 376 The Ministers of Christ are the interpreters of the mind of God to sinners 376. Ministers are the peoples interpreters to God foure wayes 377. Two inferences from it 377 378. True interpreters very rare 379. Interpreters or Ministers few in a twofold reference with the reasons of it 380 381. Interpreters in truth but few compared with those who are so in title shewed five wayes 381 382. Faithfull interpreters to be much prized 383. The great worke of an interpreter or minister is to shew man his uprightness or how he may stand upright with God 386 The interpreter sh uld be very tender towards troubled soules 390 Innocency is our safety 200 Instruments God can furnish such as he calleth to his worke with gifts proper for their worke 112. Why God useth instruments 584. God can worke without instruments 653 Injustice the sinfullness of it 553 555 Inspiration of God what meant by it 52 The inspiration of God sufficient to qualifie all men for all duties and without that nothing can 56 57 Seven usefull inferences made from it 57 58 59 Intercession of Christ sues out our deliverance 411 John of Times why so called 46 John what it signifieth and why the Baptist was so called 392 Job his innocency had a threefold testimony 205. Five things in favour of him while he spake so much of his owne innocency 205 206. His patience how to be considered 242 Judges it is abominable for them to doe unrighteous things 553 559 Judging before we judge we must heare diligently 498. We must take time to judge of things 504 508 Judgements of God must needs be all right 662. Visible Judgements make secret sins visible 687 Judgement taken two wayes in Scripture 65 507. A threefold notion of Judgement in Scripture 517. Judgement how it is taken from a man 518 Julian once a great pretender to Christianity 768 Just some thinke they are just enough if they give man his right though they deny God his right every day 231 232 Justice nothing should weigh with us but truth and right and that in a fivefold opposition 121. Justice perverted five wayes 555. Foure things cause men to pervert Justice 573. Some men are haters of Justice 610. To hate justice is a most hatefull thing 611. Justice-haters are most unfit to be Governours 613. The Justice of God shewed divers wayes 616. God will not allow any man a liberty to complaine of his Justice 674. God never wronged any man 676. God doth Justice upon some sinners openly 695. A threefold reason of it 696 Justification wherein it consists 17. Justification of our selves two wayes What lawfull what unlawfull 18 Justification an act of absolute free grace 397 Justifie to justifie our selves layeth us open to the reproofe of others 17. To justifie is taken foure wayes in Scripture 17 18. In two cases a man may justifie himselfe 18 19. Five wayes shewed wherein men justifie themselves sinfully 21 22. How God is sayd to justifie the ungodly 22. To justifie our selves rather then God very blasphemous 23. When or how we may be sayd to justifie our selves rather then God 24. Two inferences about this sin 25 26 Justified persons have confidence to looke up to God 436. Such are righteous 440. A justified person when and how he may loose the sight of his righteousness 441. When that sight returnes Joy returns 442 K Keeping a man back three wayes 326 Kings and Princes It is most uncomely and sinfull to revile them in word 626. 'T is a degree of blasphemy 627. With what tenderness though with plainness and by what rules the faults of Princes are to be reproved 628 629 Know not to know taken three wayes 130. The choycest servants of God may be short of
soule or body he gives him a new life he brings him in one respect back from the grave and in another from hell As a sick man he is brought from the grave and as a sinner he is brought from hell Great deliverances are a kind of new creation And fresh blessings are to us as fresh beings Take these two inferences from it First How should they who have been under great outward afflictions praise the Lord when they are delivered They who having had the sentence of death in themselves should look upon themselves when restored as men raised from the dead And how should sinners praise the Lord when he hath reconciled them to himselfe and pardoned their sins In doing this for them he delivereth them from wrath from hell and from eternall death Let such praise the name of the Lord and say as in the text He hath delivered our soules from the pit Secondly Let such live unto God having received a new life from God They that have received a new temporall life from God ought to dedicate it unto God how much more they that have received new spirituall life They that have received it indeed cannot but dedicate it unto God This negative mercy calls aloud for all that we are or have to be given up to God but that positive mercy which followeth calleth yet lowder for it And to be enlightned with the light of the living Nomen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non sumitur pro quibuslibet hominibus hac vita fruentibus sed pro diviâ—ibus potentibuâ— vivere est vigere valere Sunt qui ad futuram vitaÌ„ referunt sed id sâ—nam quidem Allegoricè intelligi postquam ad literam de hac vita intellecteru Merc Take it for temporall spirituall or eternall life all these ends are accomplished in those mercifull workes of God to poore sinners some restraine the text to the light of this temporall life others enlarge it to the light of spirituall and eternall life We are enlightned with the light of the living When the comforts of this life are restored much more are they who are restored to the comforts of their spirituall life and so to the hope of eternall life By the living we are not to understand those who are barely on this side the grave and yet breath in the ayre or who have only a weake shadowed spirituall life which they scarce know of or perceive The living here are they that live comfortably and prosperously both as to soule and body Thus 't is sayd in that Prophecy of Christ Psal 72.13 He shall live and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba prayer also shall be made for him continually and dayly shall he be praised Christ lives to purpose he lives as a Prince in power and dignity yea he is the Prince of life It was more then a sensitive or rationall life which Davids faith was assured of when he sayd Psal 118.17 I shall not dye but live his meaning was I shall live honourably and triumphantly declaring with joy the workes of the Lord. Thus here To be enlightned with the light of the living is to enjoy a comfortable life or to live happily Hence note A troubled state is a dark state sickness and sorrow whether inward or outward are darkness They are darkned with the darkness of the dead whose life is wrapped up in anguish and sorrow Secondly Note The designe and purpose of God in all his ordinances and providences towards his people is for their good All that hath been sayd before emptieth it selfe into these sayings To keep back his soule from the pit and to be enlightned with the light of the living The Lord hath no eye in these workes to his owne gaine but mans good The Lord doth not willingly grieve nor afflict the children of men Lam 3.35 He taketh no pleasure in it abstractly considered nor doth he look for any profit by it Much lesse doth he it as it follows v. 36. meerely to crush under his feete all the prisoners of the earth All that he expects by it as to himselfe is to be glorified by all for himselfe is above all and therefore designeth himselfe in all yet the glory which God hath by man is only the manifestation of his glory not any addition to it The benefit which God aymes at in afflicting man returnes to man He would have man bettered by affliction and as soone as man is bettered by affliction every thing shall goe better with him and he shall be delivered from affliction Rom 8.28 All things worke together for the good of them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose And as all things worke together for the good of them who are the called according to his purpose so it is the purpose of God that all things should worke together for their good and that is not a successless purpose Indeed every rod upon the backs of the wicked hath a voyce in it to call them from the pit of death and destruction and to be enlightned with the light of the living but God makes this call effectuall to all his elect none of whom shall perish with the world So that a godly man should be so farre from judging himselfe dealt with as an enemy as Job in his extremity did when he is most sorely afflicted that indeed he may see the love and fatherly care of God in it All the providentiall dispensations of God worke to glorious ends Sometimes for the outward good of his people in this life alwayes for good as to their spirituall and eternall life Therefore lay aside hard thoughts of God whatsoever hard things he is a doing or you are suffering The wayes in which God leads us may possibly be very darke yet they run to this poynt to keep us from the pit of darkness and that we may be enlightned with the light of the living Thirdly Note Man would undoe himselfe both for here and for ever if God did not worke wonderfully for him and powerfully keep him from destruction All these things God worketh twice and thrice to keep our soules from the pit man left to himselfe would run head-long upon mischiefe in this world upon eternall misery in the world to come Nothing but the hand of God can hold man from ruining himselfe The heart of man is so set upon sin that he will rather loose his soule then leave his lust and will rather dye then that shall 'T is as easie to stay the motion of the Sun or to turne back the course of nature as to stay or turne back the naturall motion or course of the heart in sinning An almighty power must doe the latter as well as the former So that if the Lord did not put forth more then mercy even mercy clothed with power no man could be saved should God wish us never so well and tell us what good he hath layd up for us if we