and wicked men then saith the Lord ver 14. I will confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee that is I will yield thee the cause I will acknowledge that thou who canst thus bring down the pride of men in the height of their iniquity art also able to help thy self out of all thy misery yea that thou art able to contend with me who often have done and still can do these great things with ease with the turning of my hand with a word of my mouth yea then I will confess that thou art as I am that thou art God as I am But alas poor worm thou canst do none of these things therefore humble thy self and be quiet under mine afflicting hand This seems to be the general scope of the holy Ghost in these five verses even yet further to convince Job that he had not an arm like God nor could thunder with a voice like him forasmuch as he could not put forth such acts nor shew such effects of power as God both had and could put forth and shew in the face of all the world Vers 10. Deck thy self now with majesty c. Deck or adorn thy self the word signifieth to adorn to put on ornaments make as fair a shew of thy self as thou canst The Apostle Gal. 6.12 speaks of some who desired to make a fair shew in the flesh The Lord bids Job make as fair a shew of himself as he could in flesh Deck Thy self Let thy majesty proceed from thy self Thus it is with God he needs no hand to adorn and deck him to apparel him or put on his robes as the Kings and Princes of the earth need others deck them others adorn them and put on their robes but the Lord decks himself Now saith the Lord to Job Deck thy self as I do With majesty and excellency Kings and Princes are decked with majesty and excellency at all times a majestick excellency is inherent in their estate and when they shew themselves in state or shew their state they put on their Crowns and Robes Thus saith the Lord to Job Put on majesty and excellency Both words signifie highness exaltation and are often used to signifie pride because they that are high and exalted are usually proud and are alwayes under a temptation to be proud of their highness and greatness And these words which here in the abstract we translate majesty and excellency are rendred in the concrete proud vers 11 12. Behold every one that is proud vers 11. Look upon every one that is proud vers 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Majesty is proper to Kings and therefore we speak to them in that language Your Majesty Excellency belongs to persons of great dignity we say to Princes and great Commanders Your Excellency because they excel and exceed others in honour and power Moses spake so of God Exod. 15.7 In the greatness of thy Excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee In the greatness of thy Excellency or in the greatness of thy lifting up and exaltation the word notes both Gods high magnificence Psal 68.35 and mans pride or haughtiness Psal 10.2 The wicked in his pride or haughtiness of spirit persecutes the poor Deck thy self with Majesty as a King and with Excellency as a Prince put on thy Emperial robes and thy Princely garments Yea further Array thy self with glory and beauty Dicimus etiam nidui dedecore vel ignominia nam quare ornamur vel dedecoramur ea elegantèr niduâ— dicimur Diuâ— Here are two other ornamental expressions Glory and Beauty Glory is man in his best array or mans best array yea Glory is God in his best array or Gods best array The perfect happiness of man in heaven is called glory mans best suit is his suit of glory Grace Gloria est clara cum laude notitia Ambros 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Notat spendorem claritatem quae efficere potest assensum confessionem apud spectatores ad gloriam ipsius quòd omnia â—gat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Deus non habet circundatum decorem quasi superadditum ejus essentiae Sed ipsa essentia ejus decor est Aquin. which is our best suit on earth is sometimes called glory 2 Cor. 3.18 We are changed from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord that is fâ—om grace to grace Mans first change is from sin to grace his second is from grace to grace or from one degree of grace to another Grace is glory begun and glory is grace perfected Now as glory is mans best suit so glory is as I may say Gods best suit He is as the God of all grace 1 Pet. 5.10 so the God of all glory for all glory is to be given unto him and his glory will he not give to any other The glory of God is twofold First Essential and internal for ever unchangeably abiding in himself indeed the very Essence of God is glory Of this we read Exod. 33.18 I will make all my goodness pass before thee I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy this kind of glory I will shew thee but thou canst not see my face and live that is my essential glory Secondly There is a providential or external glory of God the manifestations of God in his greatness goodness and power are his glory Thus 't is said at the dedication of Solomons Temple 1 King 8.11 The glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord that is there was a glorious and wonderful manifestation of the presence of the Lord in his house Whatever God manifests of himself whether his power or his goodness or his mercy or his grace or his patience or his justice is his glory The Lord often arrayeth himself with these glories that is he declares both by his word and by his works that he is powerful good merciful gracious patient and just towards the children of men The Scripture calleth God the glory of his people Psal 106.20 that is it is the glory of any people or that which they should glory in that God is known to them or that they are owned by God But the idolatrizing Jews changed their glory into the similitude of an Ox that eateth grass that is they changed God who was their glory and in whom they should have gloried into the form of an in-glorious beast while they either worshipped the image of a beast or their God in that image And it is considerable that the Apostle Rom. 1.23 at least alluding to as the reference in our Bible intimates if not quoting that place last mentioned in the Psalm whilst he speaks of the idolatrous Gentiles doth not say as there They changed their glory c. for the true God was not the glory of the Gentiles in those dayes they owned him not as their only
to make resistance against death and his spiritual strength was so much that it caused him to make no resistance against it or rather at once joyfully to embrace and overcome it Thirdly These words so Job dyed being full of days may have this spiritual meaning His days were full He did not live empty days or void blank days but as he was full of days so his days were full full of good works and holy duties That mans days are empty though he be full of days or how many days soever he hath lived who hath lived in vanity and done little good with his life But we have reason to say Job dyed full of days because his days were full of good done as well as of good received he had not a long being only but a long life in the world living to good yea his best in duty both to God and man Thus Job dyed being old and full of days From this latter part of the verse Observe First When a godly man dyeth he is satisfied with the time he hath lived he hath his fill of days he craves no more Though no length of this life can satisfie him yet he is satisfied with the length of his life A godly man in some cases may crave a little more time He may say as Psal 102.24 O take me not away in the midst of my days and as elsewhere O spare me a little that I may recover my strength before I go hence and be no more Psal 39.13 Yet this is a truth specially as to good old men living as Job had done when they dye they have had their fill of living A Heathen said and he spake it after a heathenish manner Si mihi quis Deus largiatur ut ex hac aetate repuerascam in cunis vagiam valdè recusem Cato If any God would give me the priviledg to be young again and to cry in a Craile I would not thank him for it I have had living enough If a vertuous Heathen hath said so by the light of reason and morality then doubtless a godly Christian may much more say so through the power of faith and grace It cannot be said of all men who dye as Job did being old that they in this notion dyed as Job did full of days For as some godly young men have been fully satisfied with a few days and have said they have lived as long as they desired and could say with Paul We desire to be desolved and to be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1.23 Yet some old men are very much unsatisfied with their many days some old men would be young again This argues they have made but little improvement of their days or that they have got little if any thing of that all their days which should be the study of every day an interest in the death of Christ and so a readiness for a better life For an old man to wish himself young again is like one who with great labour hath clamber'd up a steep hill and wisheth he were at the foot or bottome of it again 't is as if a man who having been long tost in a storm between rocks and sands is got near a safe harbour should wish himself out at sea again They have not a true tast much less a lively hope of that life which is to come who would return to this upon such hazardous and uneasie terms Secondly As these words note a readiness or a willingness to dye Observe A good man is willing to leave this world He is not thrust nor forced out of it but departs he is not pluck't off but falls off like ripe fruit from the tree His soul is not required of him as 't is said of the rich man Luke 12.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but given up and resigned by him he is not taken but goes out of the world It is said indeed Psal 57.1 Merciful men are taken away by Gods commission given to death from the evil to come but they are not taken away from as being unwilling to part with and leave any present good A gracious man hath usually a readiness to dye in a twofold notion First As readiness signifies preparedness Secondly As readiness signifies a willingness to dye And always the first readiness promotes the second The more prepared any one is to dye the more willing he is to dye That man can say Lord now let thy servant depart in peace whose eye of faith hath seen his salvation We saith the Apostle speaking of believers 2 Cor. 5.8 are willing to be absent from the body that is to dye And the word there used signifies not only the freest choice but if I may so speak the good will or good pleasure of mans will as it often signifies God's As a godly man hath a peculiar way of living so of dying and the reason of both is because he sees blessed eternity beyond time and himself by a well-grounded that is a Scriptural hope a partaker of the blessedness of it Thirdly Note They dye full of days who fill their days or whose days are full That is who fill their days with or whose days are full of the fruits of righteousness of faith and repentance of love and charitableness Stephen Acts 6.8 was full of faith and power They dye full of days in old age who as it is said Psal 92.14 bring forth such fruit in their old age Nulla dies sinelinea Apelles Diem perdidi Vespatian who dye as Dorcas Acts 9.36 full of good works and almes-deeds which they have done It was said of a famous Painter No day past him without drawing a line A Romane Emperour said I have lost a day when he did no good that day We may well reckon those days lost in which we do no good in which we draw not some white line some golden line of grace and holiness Then what account will their days come to who pass not a day but they draw black lines filthy lines of sin and wickedness or whose days are all blotted with the worst abominations of the day they live in If those days are empty and lost wherein we do no good and are not made better what then becomes of their days and where will they be found but in the Devils Almanack who do nothing but evil and daily become worse and worse So then they only dye full of days who live doing the will of God and denying their own who live mortifying corruptions and resisting temptations who live exercising their graces and answering their duties to God and man This this is to live our days and to dye full of days Again as their days are full who are full of grace in themselves and of good works towards men so are theirs who are full of the mercies and blessings of God especially theirs whose days are full of soul mercies and blessings whose hearts are full of peace with God full of joy
God in our selves there is no standing before God without a Mediator and there is no Mediator but Jesus Christ who is both God and Man or God-man for man to stand before God in Thus much of the first use or inference which the Lord makes from all that he had said of Leviathan The second inference followeth in the next verse Vers 11. Who hath prevented me that I should repay him As in the former verse the Lord gave us instruction concerning his own all-sufficiency and irresistible power Who can stand before me So in this he instructs us concerning his own absolute independency Who hath prevented me that I should repay him Both which parts of the Application the Lords shuts up with an Assertion of his universal soveraignty and lordship over all creatures in the close of this 11th verse Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine Who hath prevented me that I should repay him Master Broughton renders Who gave me any thing first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quis precessit me that I may pay him again These words the Apostle Paul plainly alludes to some conceive he quotes them in the 35th verse of the 11th Chapter of his Epistle to the Romans Who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his counseller or who hath first given to him and it shall be recompensed unto him again So saith Saint Paul and here the Lord himself saith Who hath prevented me that I should repay him as much as to say Who hath first given to me and it shall be recompensed unto him again Who hath prevented me The Lord seems in these words Quis ostendit mihi viam in cretione totius mundi Vatebl to make proclamation all the world over to enquire among Angels and Men who it is or whether there be any one that can come forth and say he hath prevented him To prevent is to be aforehand with another in courtesie or kindness in help or assistance God prevents man in all these but no man hath prevented God in any one of them We may give a three-fold interpretation of this divine challenge First Who hath prevented me or who was afore-hand with me in the work of Creation who helpt me to make Leviathan you see what a piece of work he is how vast how dreadful a creature he is who helped me or who gave me any help in the forming or creating of him Several expound this question of the Lords independency in the work of creation none began to him none directed him how to create none counselled him what to create The Apostle useth that word Who hath been his counseller No man hath been the Lords counseller nor did he need any counsel in or about any of his works And as none were his counsellers to give him advice so none were his helpers to give him any assistance to bring the work about no hand hath been put to it but his own no hand was at it nor in it but his own I am he saith the Lord Isa 54.24 that maketh all things that stretcheth forth the heavens alone that spreadeth abroad the earth by my self I have done all alone all by my self the Angels did not help me As God made the Angels without help so he used not the help of Angels in making any thing else Secondly Who hath prevented me in governing and disposing the affairs of the world I have had no counsel hitherto for that And shall any now take upon them to teach me the art of government Thirdly In general Who hath prevented me that is who hath done me any good office who contributed the least benefit to me to whom am I beholding for the least mite That I should repay him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is that I should be engaged to repay him The word which we render to repay signifies properly to make peace because when debts are paid and what is due discharged then all is quiet there is no matter of difference remaining As if the Lord had said If any one can produce any bill or bond or make proof that I stand indebted to him I am ready to satisfie him and to discharge all my obligations Who hath prevented me that I should repay him Hence note First God will not be in any mans debt If any can make it good that they have prevented him that they have given him counsel or assistance in his works of creation and providence or that they have done him the least courtesie they shall receive to the full worth and value of it What we do in way of duty to the Lord he is ready to reward us for it we shall not lose our labour though God be no gainer by it And though it be through his grace strength and assistance that we do any good yet we shall be rewarded as if we had done it alone Surely then God would not be in our debt if we could do any thing alone or that did in it self oblige him Secondly Note God is afore-hand with us not we with him The Lord prevents us we do not prevent him That 's it which the Lord would then have Job and now us to understand by this question Who hath prevented me even that himself hath prevented us all and in all by his grace and goodness in any good we have received or done David waited for this preventing grace Psal 59.10 The God of my mercy shall prevent me he shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies he shall prevent not only my endeavours but even my desires and wishes Yet what in this Psalm he professed an assurance of in another Psalm to shew that our assurance of mercy must not give a stop to duty he puts into a prayer Psal 79.8 O remember not against us former iniquities let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low The Lord hath preventing mercies for his people in their low estate Though we do not prevent the Lord though we are not before-hand with him by our preparations and prayers by our repentings and reformings in our low estate yet he hath mercies ready and prepared for us yea though we come forth to meet the Lord as we are advised Amos 4.12 humbling our selves before him in prayers and tears yet this doth not prevent the Lord but he prevents us by his grace and favour helping us to mourn and pray And as the Lord alwayes prevents us by helping us to pray so he sometimes prevents us with an answer to our prayers before he helps us to pray Isa 65.24 It shall come to pass that before they call I will answer and while they are yet speaking I will hear that is they shall have an answer to their prayers before they have made their prayers so that when we have made many prayers and have been long in prayer much fasting and humbling our selves yet mercy prevents us Mercy comes usually before
Earth alone The Lord can begin and finish how and when he pleaseth He is a rock and his work is perfect As in spirituals he is the Author and finisher of our faith Heb. 12.2 so in temporals he is the Author and finisher of all our comforts deliverances and salvations When we have no help at all in our selves nor in any creature there is enough to be had in God Hosea 14.3 With thee the fatherless find mercy that is they find mercy with thee and if mercy then help who are as helpless as a fatherless child they especially who look upon themselves as fatherless what help and strength what fathers or friends soever they have in this world if God be not their help and strength their friend and father When we are convinced that only God can help us when we have other helps then God alone will help us though we have no other helpers as he promised Judah Hosea 1.7 I will have mercy upon the house of Judah and will save them by the Lord their God and will not save them by bow nor by sword nor by battel by horses nor by horse-men As if the Lord had said I will do all for Judah my self alone though I could have others to do it by It is seldome that God hath as School-men speak an immediate attingence upon any effect he commonly useth instruments yet he sometimes hath and hath as often as himself pleaseth As our mercies are alwayes of grace only so sometimes they are wrought out by the power of God only And what power soever is seen working at them 't is his power that doth the work his wheel is in every wheel Sixthly What cause have we to magnifie the free grace and mighty power of God He is able to do for us though all oppose him and he is willing to do for us though none nor we our selves prevent him Such is the power of God that he can overcome all opposition in others against what he hath a mind to do for us and such is the freeness of his grace that it over-passeth or rather passeth by all those indispositions in us which might cause him to forbear doing or have no mind to do any thing for us Seventhly If none have prevented the Lord if all the good we have and all that we shall have floweth freely to us then we should be very thankful to God for every good we have received very full of purposes to praise him for whatever we shall further receive This Inference the Apostle makes in the last words of Rom. 11. Of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen Let us never be found sacrificing to our own net nor burning incense to our own drag as if by them our portion in spirituals or temporals were fat and our meat plenteous Let us put praise far from our selves and say with the Psalmist Not unto us not unto us but to thy name O Lord be praise and glory Lastly Let us be very humble The Lord puts this question to Job to humble him it was shewed in the beginning of the Chapter that the design of God in presenting this vast creature Leviathan to the view or consideration of Job was to humble him for seeing the Lord hath made all things and can do all things of himself and doth them for himself let us lye in the dust before him let us take heed of pride high thoughts and boasting words in any thing we have and are let us say as the Apostle Rom. 3.27 Where is boasting where is pride he answers It is excluded But by what Law why cannot boasting come in is it kept out by the Law of works by any thing that we have done No boasting would never be shut out if we could do any thing of our selves therefore saith he this comes to pass by the Law of faith by casting our selves wholly upon God both as to our justification and salvation That God doth all things of himself should render us nothing in our selves Who hath prevented me that I should repay him The Lord having made these uses of what he had said concerning Leviathan proceeds to a general assertion as was said in the close of this 11th verse Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine Possum illi amplam mercedem si velim reddereddere cum omnia quae sub coelo uspiâ—â— gentium sunt mea sint meum est aurum These words are interpreted by several of the Jewish writers in connexion with what went before thus Who hath prevented me and I will repay him As if the Lord had said Do not think that I have not enough by me to repay you for your counsel and assistance if you dare say I have had any from you for Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine That 's a good sense shewing the Lords sufficiency to make good his offer Some make great promises of what they will do when they have not wherewithal to do it Yet rather Secondly We may expound this assertion as carrying on the former Argument or further to prove that no man can prevent the Lord seeing all is his already Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine saith he The creatures are all mine I challenge all I lay claim to all whether therefore I give to one or take from another no man hath reason to question me or to ask of me a reason why I did or do so for all is my own And when the Lord saith Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine his mean-is not only that all under heaven but that heaven it self and all that is in heaven is his also The Lords Estate or Right is not confined to the things which are under the heaven So that when he saith Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine he saith in effect all is mine Thus Moses expoundeth this assertion Deut. 10.14 Behold the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lords thy God the earth also with all that therein is The reason why the Lord speaks here only of this estate under heaven is because he was discoursing with Job of this inferiour world and the furniture of it and it was enough for him to understand as to the present debate that all under heaven was the Lords but in truth not only is the Earth the Sea the Air with all their fulness and furniture the Lords but the Heaven and the Heaven of Heavens is the Lords with all their beauty and glory Hence note The Lord is the great proprietour of all things in this world Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is the Lords or all is the Lords First by creation he hath given all things their being Secondly all is the Lords by preservation he keepeth all things in their being Jesus Christ upholds all things by the word of his power Heb. 1.3 that is by his powerful word The same commanding word which gave all
AN EXPOSITION WITH Practical Observations CONTINUED UPON The Thirty-eighth Thirty-ninth Fortieth Forty-first and Forty-second being the five last Chapters of the Book OF JOB Being the Substance of Fifty-two Lectures or Meditations By JOSEPH CARYL Minister of the Gospel JAMES 5.11 Ye have heard of the patience of Job and have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is pitiful and of tender mercy LONDON Printed by M. and S. Simmons and are to be sold by Robert Boulter at the Turks-head near the Royal Exchange 1666. TO THE Christian Reader TO Those especially of the City of London who have been THE PROMOTERS Of this WORK SIRS THE end of a thing saith Solomon Eccl. 7 8. is better than the beginning thereof Not that all things end better than they begin some persons begin well and some things are begun well which end and are ended not so well that I say not very ill Through the All-disposing providence of God and the importunate call of not a few worthy friends I began this Work and now after twenty-four years travel making twelve stages in so many parts the whole is come forth I am come to the end of it And truly I might justly be reproved at least for dulness and indiligence or counted a very slow-paced Traveller had I spent that twenty-four years the best of my time and strength in measuring so short a journey But as I have this to say towards an Apology for my over-long stay in this work that I have had frequent diversions for a considerable part of that time quite from it so the whole time which I have spent in it hath been but a diversion or time I hope honestly stoln either from my rest or from that which was my more proper work And now that I have at last ended what I began all that I shall say of it is that I have ended it Whether I began it well or have ended it well and whether or no the end be better than the beginning is not for me to say Should I say that I began it well and have ended it well or that the end is better than the beginning it were a piece of most immodest pride and should I say the contrary of both or of either it might deservedly be called more than a piece of proudest modesty Such as it is from the beginning to the end 't is what my weakness with the strength of Christ given in what my small industriousness with the blessing given down from above could attain unto And I humbly give thanks to the Father of lights from whom every good gift and every perfect gift cometh for any light received or held out towards the understanding of this Book in which who sees not there are many things as the Apostle Peter saith of Saint Pauls Epistles hard to be understood so hard to be understood that though I am confident through the grace of God with me I have not wrested them to my own hurt or the hurt much less destruction of others as 't is there said the ignorant and unstable do the other Scriptures to their own destruction yet I am not ashamed to acknowledge that I fear I have not attained so clear an understanding about some of them as to clear them which hath been my desire with satisfaction to the understanding of others However if what I have attained to may be in any measure serviceable to the Church of God or helpful to any poor soul in an afflicted condition such was Jobs I have reached one great end aimed at and if God have any glory by it I have reached the greatest end which can be aimed at And though the work should be found to have many defects possibly mistakes in it yet the ingenuous Reader will candidly interpret them or charitably cover them knowing that failings are common to humane frailty in the best of men how much more in the meanest of them And I shall account it a great kindness if I may be friendly minded of those defects that so if ever any of these Pieces shall be admitted to come out again an amendment may be made and the Work grow up to more perfection This last Part now coming forth contains the whole transaction from first to last between God and Job none speaking but they two and Job but very little Elihu having finisht his speech in the close of the thirty seventh Chapter the Lord himself appeared at the entrance of the thirty eighth in a Majestick and tremendous manner bespeaking Job out of a vehement and tempestuous whirlwind and taking up the same argument which Elihu had so much insisted upon before for the conviction of Job carrieth him in discourse quite through the universe thereby farther to convince him by the view and consideration of his mighty and admirable works of creation and providence how ignorant and weak he was in himself how altogether unable and incompetent to contend with God and therefore how rash and inconsiderate he had been in not submitting how great soever his sufferings were more quietly to him And as Elihu said Chap. 35.11 That God teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth and maketh us wiser than the fowls of Heaven so doubtless one great scope which the Lord had in his eye throughout that discourse was to teach Job and with him us that his care was much more over him and is over us than over the beasts of the earth or the fowls of heaven And hereupon having shewed his own infinite power and wisdom as also his goodness and tender compassions in providing for all sorts of irrational living creatures he left Job and leaves us to make the Inference how watchful he is over how respectful to man a rational as well as a living creature Our blessed Saviour preaching upon the same subject to his Disciples expresseth the Inference Mat. 6.26 Behold the fowls of the air for they sow not neither do they reap nor gather into barns yet yâ—â— heavenly father feedeth them are ye not much better than they And again vers 30. Wherefore it God so cloath the grass of the field which to day is and to morrow is cast into the oven shall he not much more cloath you O ye of little faith Jesus Christ saw it necessary to make these express applications to his Disciples who at that time were both of little faith and of little understanding But here the Lord left Job a wise and knowing man to pick or spell out his meaning and make application to himself while he told him so particularly how his providence at once over-ruled maintained The roaring Lion the wild Goat the wilde Ass the stubborn Unicorn the strong Horse the mighty Behemoth among the beasts of the earth the devouring Raven the proud Peacock the foolish Ostrich the swift winged Hawk and the high-soaring Eagle among the fowls of the air as also the formidable Leviathan among or rather representing all the fishes of the Sea
himself down to speak and treat with dust and ashes What a wonder is it that the Lord of Heaven and Earth should admit and enter into a parly with man who is but a well-shaped clod of Earth Solomon was in a kind of amazement at the mercy when he said at the Dedication of the Temple 1 Kings 8.22 But will God indeed dwell on Earth And may not we that God should come down to confer with an afflicted bed-rid man on Earth I know some are of opinion that the Lord spake by an Angel to Job however here was the Lords presence it was Jehovah who manifested himself to Job what Ministry soever he used Thus the Lord is pleased often to interpose in the case and cause of his afflicted servants though we see him not nor have such formal apparitions as here in the Text. The Lord the high and lofty One who dwelleth in the high and holy Place dwelleth also with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit and be dwelleth with him to revive him Isa 57.15 Therefore surely he manifests himself to him in his loving-kindness which is better than life and the very life of our lives The Lord who hath Heaven for his Throne and the Earth his footstool saith by the same prophet Isa 66.1 2. To this man will I look and lest any should take this man to be one of the mighty ones of this world he giveth us both a signal specification and clear character of this man to whom he looketh even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and that trembleth at my Word And if the Lord look to such a man if he vouchsafe him his gracious â—ye doubtless he also reveals himself graciously and freely to him Secondly The Lord came here to instruct and teach Job Several persons had dealt with him before and they very worthy good and learned persons and they came with a purpose to do him good yet all would not do All that his three friends said who undertook him first in their turns was to little purpose in appearance And though Elihu a spritely young man discours'd him with much life and heat yet neither could he do the business Jobs spirit began indeed to yeeld upon the last engagement of Elihu with him yet he did not convince him fully God came at last and he prevailed he did the deed Then the Lord answered Job Hence Note We need the teachings of God besides all the teachings of men that we may rightly know him and our selves together with the intendment of his dealings with us and our own duty under them 'T is the mercy of the New Covenant that we shall be taught of God and not by man onely nor alone As here Job had three or four so we may have thrice three men toyling with us a long time in vain The work is never well done till God comes and though we have not such appearances of God now yet he doth the same thing in effect to this day This and that man a thousand men yea a man who is an Interpreter one of a thousand as Elihu spake may be labouring upon the conscience of a sinner and never bring things home either to convince or comfort him till God is pleased to come in by the power of his blessed Spirit and then who can but be convinced and comforted Hence our Lord Christ had no sooner reported the Covenant Promise out of the Prophet They shall be all taught of God John 6.45 but presently he makes this inference from it Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me We may say to all who are savingly wrought upon as Christ to Peter upon that Confession which he made Matth. 16.16 Thou art Christ the Son of the Living God Flesh and blood hath not revealed this to you but your Father which is in Heaven Impossibile est deum discere sine deo Iraen l. 4. adversus Haret c. 10. A deo discendum quicquid de deo intelligendum Hilar. l. 5. de Trin. It was said by one of the Ancients it is impossible to know God without God And so said another We must learn all that from God which we understand of God Unless God be our Tutor we shall never be good Scholars We know neither God nor our selves any further than God teacheth us Christ saith Be not called Masters for one is your Master even Christ Matth. 23.8 There are two sorts of Masters 1. Ruling or Commanding Masters 2. Teaching Masters To the former we are Servants to the latter we are Scholars In the eighth verse Christ speaks of Teaching Masters as of Ruling Masters at the tenth verse Now when Christ would not have any man take upon him or own the Title of Master or Teacher his meaning is that no man should arrogate to himself the honour of principal Teacher which is the peculiar of God but to acknowledge that all mans teaching is nothing without Gods as the Apostle also saith 1 Cor. 3. We must learn from God whatever we know aright either of God or of our selves Eliphaz Bildad and Zophar spake much of God to Job but Job was never effectually humbled till God spake Thirdly Note As God here by his Word so alwayes the Word of God is the true determiner of controversies and resolver of doubts No question can be truly stated but by the Word of God Rectum est index sui obliqui As the statutes of the Lord are right Psal 19.8 So they shew what is right and what is not A strait Rule declares it self to be strait and detects the crookedness of whatsoever is crooked The last appeal in all things doubtful is to the Law Isa 8.20 To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this Word it is because there is no light or as the Margin hath it no morning in them The Sun of righteousness hath not risen upon them who speak and hold unrighteous things Search the Scriptures saith Christ John 5.39 or as 't is well rendred in the Indicative Mood Ye search the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life Nor did they think amiss in thinking so but that which Christ secretly reproved while he said so was that they did amiss or contradicted the Scripture in their lives while they boastingly thought so Not what this or that man saith but what God saith is the true ground of mans faith Sumamus exlibris divinitus inspiratis solutionem questionum Theod. l. 1. Hist Eccles c. 7. It was a worthy speech of Constantine in the Nicene Council Let us take out of that Book divinely inspired the solution of our Questions It is not what the Fathers say nor what the Pope saith nor what Councils say but what the Word of God saith that must be heard and relied upon for salvation The Word is the Judge that is the rule of Judgement As here God was the
holy so they fell not from that holiness in which they were câ—eated and therefore Christ is not to them a Redeemer for their restauration but onely a Head for their confirmation and establishment Col. 2.10 As for the Angels which fell they are reserved in chairs of darkness to the Judgement of the Great Day they have â—o share in Redemption theiâ— fall is irrecoverable Thus we see how the Angels are not the Sons of God But how then are they the Sons of God I answer Affirmatively The Angels may be called the Sons of God in a sixfold sense First As Adam is called the Son of God Luke 3.38 in his primary Constitution or by Creation so Angels are the Sons of God as they are his Creatures Secondly Angels are called the Sons of God because of Gods great affection to them as well as his creation of them Such as we much affect and love intrinsically we are ready to call our Children Sons or Daughters The Lord bears abundance of love to the Angels therefore he calls them his Sons Thirdly If we consider their place or station The Angels wait upon God they are near to him they stand about his Throne as Sons to receive his Blessing and Commands There are three things specially considerable in the Angels First Their Nature so they are Spirits or spiritual Substances Secondly Their Offices so they are the Messengers and Ministers of God Thirdly Their Dignity or nearness to God so they are his Sons Christ the onely begotten Son is in the bosome of the Father John 1.18 that is he is nearest him and hath most intimate communion with him The Angels are so near to God that though they are not in his bosome yet they alwayes behold his face Matth. 18.10 that is stand in his presence as being in high favour with him and are therefore in that respect called his Sons Fourthly Angels may be called the Sons of God because of that constant uniform obediential frame that is in them towards God A Son honoureth his father Mal. 1.6 It should be the disposition and in the heart of every Son to do so And seeing it is not only fully the disposition of Angels and in their hearts to do so but they have alwayes actually done so the holy Angels may truly say unto God as the elder brother is brought in saying to his father Luke 15.29 Lo these many years even ever since the Creation we do serve thee neither have we transgrest at any time thy commandment either by leaving undone what thou hast bidden us do or by doing what thou hast forbidden us therefore Angels having the genuine spirit of Sons towards God may in that regard also be stiled the Sons of God Fifthly They may be called the Sons of God because of their essential likeness to God or their likeness to him in Essence God is a Spirit he is incorporeal the Angels also are incorporeal they are Spirits though the difference between God and Angels be as great as can be conceived yea unconceivable God being the Creating Spirit and they but created Spirits God being an Infinite Spirit and they but finite Spirits yet the Angels bear a resemblance to God in their essence as well as in their qualifications and may upon that ground likewise be called the Sons of God Sixthly Angels are called the Sons of God because they imitate him Do good to them that hate you saith Christ Matth. 5.44 that ye may be the Children of your Father which is in Heaven that is imitate God carry it towards evil men towards men that are evil to you or do you evil as God doth and this will be both an evidence that you are the Sons of God and God will honour you with the Title of his Sons The Angels imitate God in mercy and love and compassion as also in their good works their ways being all holy just and good pure and righteous Further they shew much kindness and tenderness to the children of men they doubtless are patient towards the froward and do good offices as they are called and deputed to those who deserve little good Now being like God by imitation they may be called the Sons of God Thus we have some account in these particulars why or how the Angels are called the Sons of God But what did these Sons of God the Angels when Spectators of the Worlds Creation The Text tells us Signanter astris tanquam inferioribus laudem Angelis tanquam superioribus attribuit Jubilationem Aquin. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significatur apprabatio illius operis cum gaudio They shouted for joy Some put a difference between that which is attributed to the Stars taking the Stars properly and the Angels as if here it were spoken signanter by way of excellency the Staâ—s did sing but the Angels shouted The word rendred to shout for joy signifies in general to make any great or loud cry sometimes for sorrow or consternation of mind When the army of the Mâ—dianites amazed wiâ—h Gideons stratagem of the pitchers and lamps ran and fled 't is said they cryed and their cry is expressed by this word Judges 7.21 When an army runs they make only a confused noise or shout for fear and sorrow But mostly and most properly the word signifies to shout for joy and in a way of triumph as when an army is victorious and ready to divide the spoil or as in the time of harvest or vintage when the fruits and good things of the earth are gathered in and such is the shouting here intended The Angels the Sons of God did not only sing as the Stars when the foundations of the Earth were laid but they shouted for joy It is but one word in the Hebrew which we render shouted for joy The Angels did not onely approve but applaud the works of God Further Consider the generality of this divine Plaudite or applause All the Sons of God shouted for joy As before the Lord saith The Stars sang together so here All the Sons of God not one of them was left out every one bare a part in this triumph they all with one accord with one heart and one voice joyned in it All the Sons of God there was not one dissenting voice shouted for joy Hence First I might refute their opinion who denied Angels and Spirits as the Sadduces did Acts 23.8 but I shall not stay upon that Further It being said All the Sons of God shouted for joy Note The Sons of God the holy Angels are of one mind It is a most blessed sight and hearing when all the Sons of God joyn in one thing It was not a part of the Sons of God it was not here one and there another but all of them Behold saith David Psal 133.1 how good and how pleasant a thing it is for brethren to dwell together in unity The Angels who aâ—e Bâ—ethren the Sons of one Father did all joyn together
in this duty The Apostle speaks concerning the Woâ—k of the Ministry 2 Cor. 6.1 We as workers together those words with him are put in by the Translators and the supply is to a very good sense We as workers together with him that is with God For he is pleased to use his Ministers as Workers together with himself Yet it may well be understood concerning the Ministers of the Gospel only joyning in this one thing that is with one voice or one cry beseeching sinners to be reconciled unto God chap. 5.20 and that as it followeth in the close of this first verse chap. 6. They receive not the grace of God in vain All Ministers should be workers together As all the Angels were siâ—gers together and shouters together so the Ministers of Christ should be workers together That which is the work of one is the work of them all and they should all joyn in it And how sad is it to see those who call themselves and would be accounted the Sons of God divided in their work and way when one rejoyceth in that which to another is cause of mourning when one mans meat is as we speak proverbially another mans poyson or one mans comfort another mans grief How many are there who cannot joyn in rejoycing and thanksgiving for works of God I mean Providential Works as eminent in their kind as the Creation Work or the laying of the foundations of the Earth That will be a blessed day when we shall see the full effect of that prophesie Zeph. 3.9 Then will I saith the Lord turn to the people a pure Lip of Language that they may all call upon the Name of the Lord with one consent or shoulder Here 's a promise of all as one and of all with one consent shoulder inward outward man associated in prayer or calling upon the Name of the Lord which by a Synechdoche includes all the parts and takes in the whole compass of the worship of God The accomplishment of this prophesie was the scope of Apostolical Prayer Rom. 15.5 6. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another according to or as the Margin hath it after the example of Christ Jesus that ye may with one mind and with one mouth glorifie God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ All the Sons of God in the Text were of one mind and had as it were but one mouth the joy of one was the joy of them all All the Sons of God on Earth have this principle in them to rejoyce in God and to magnifie God for his mercy onely all have not the same light They that have not an habitual principle in them to praise God in and for his works are not of his family they are not worthy to be reckoned Sons of God who have not a readiness or present disposition in them to joyn with all or with any of his true Sons in shouting for joy at his gracious appearances in his mighty works of mercy as also in humbling themselves together with them at the terrible appearances of his dreadful works of Judgement or at the usual prognosticks or fore-runners of them Again Taking the Stars for the Angels they were Morning Stars the Angels sang and shouted for joy in the Morning Hence Observe The very first appearances of the power and wisdom of God in his works should put us upon the work of praise and rejoycing We say truly better late than never but 't is best to be early and with the first in a good work David did not onely awake early or in the morning to praise God but as the Hebrew may be rendred he awakened the morning Psal 57.8 David was a morning man in praising of God so were the Angels 'T is healthful both for soul and body to be morning men to be early both in praising God and praying to him God requires and he infinitely deserves the first fruits of our time our youth which is the morning of our life the first fruits of our age should be dedicated to God Eccles 12.1 and so should the morning which is the youth if I may so speak of every day Our first thoughts should be of God and with God as soon as we awake we should set open the door of our hearts by meditation to let God in and knock open the doors of heaven by prayer and supplication to get in to God It should not be unlamented that the course of most men runs so contrary to this their senses are no sooner loosed from the bands of sleep but they let loose their thoughts and set the doors of their souls wide open to sensitive sometimes to wicked and sensual objects and so shut out God and matters of greatest moment to and about their immortal souls How unworthy are such of this blessed relation under which the Angels those early praisers of God are here represented Sons of God Thirdly In that it is here said All the Sons of God shouted for joy that is all the Angels then created Observe They who have joyned in some outward worships of God may yet fall off and apostatize Here all the Angels of God joyned in this thanksgiving at first yet soon very soon after a great part of the Angels rebelled against God and became Apostates for presently upon the Creation of man which was the sixth day there was a Devil a Tempter who overthrew man yet here we have all the Angels in a holy Quire Hypocrites are forward to joyn in acts of praise in acts of prayer in acts of hearing who yet in time of temptation fall away and so fall into as bad a condition as the fallen Angels of whom the Apostle Jude saith vers 6. that not having kept their first estate or principality but leaving their own habitation appointed them of God he hath reserved them in everlasting chains both of Providence and Justice under darkness unto the Judgement of the Great Day Fourthly Observe The great business of Angels and that which they are most bent to is to praise God Psal 103.20 Psal 148.2 Isa 6.3 And as at the birth of the World the Angels shouted for joy so at the birth of Jesus Christ who was the Author of the second Creation as well as of the first the Angels shouted for joy suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God Luke 2.13 To praise God is heavenly work 't is angelical work the most proper work of the Sons of God We shall not alwayes have need of praying but we shall alwayes have cause to be praising and shouting for joy This shout will remain to all eternity Praise is the most spiritual work and requires the most spiritual frame of heart and therefore the chief of that work is reserved to an estate wherein not only our souls but our bodies too shall be altogether spiritual Fifthly Note The Work of Creation should continually call up
our thoughts to the praise of God to sing and shout his praises Did the Stars take them properly and did the Sons of God the Angels rejoyce when the work first began and is not the work to be rejoyced in now 't is finished Though sin hath sullied the work yet the glory of God is still transparent in it the power goodness and wisdom of God are gloriously seen in the things that are made Rom. 1.20 not onely were they seen but they are â—een to this day The creatures are still a glass wherein we may â—â—hold the invisible things of God even his eternal Power and God-head so that they who glorifie him not in and for those works will be found and left without excuse They are a book a volume consisting of as many leaves and lines as there are distinct sorts of creatures wherein we may read the great God plainly described to us and if so let us remember our fault this day Is it not our sin and shame that we are so little in admiring God for this work which set all the Angels in heaven a singing a shouting a wondring There are several things in the Works of Creation which well considered will soon provoke us to singing and to shouting First The multitude of Creatures Secondly The various kinds of Creatures Thirdly The beauty and excellency that is in the Creatures Fourthly The profit and the usefulness of the Creatures These laid together should draw out our praises and cause us to exalt the power wisdom and goodness of God manifested in and by his Creatures Lastly Consider what was iâ— that caused the Angels to â—hout for jâ—y when they saw this woâ—k of God begun Surely it was the appearance or manifestation of God shining brightly in the Work of Creation Hence Observe The discoveries of the power wisdom and goodness of God should stir up and engage every man and cannot but effectually stir up and engage those who are wise and good to rejoyce in God Somewhat of God is stamped or there are certain lines of his transcendent perfections drawn upon every Creature here a line of wisdom and there a line of power here a line of goodness and there a line of mercy the sight of these should cause us to shout for joy especially that this God the Creator of the ends of the Earth is our God for ever and ever and will be our guide even unto death How many lines have we of God in the World which we have not read much less studied and commented upon In how many things is God visible and yet we see him not nor acknowledge him as we ought Take onely these two things by way of inference from the whole First To be of a praising of a rejoycing spirit iâ—â—o be of an excellent spirit of an angelical spirit Let us imitate â—he Angels in praising God The Angels are called the Sons of God because they imitate him let us imitate the Angels in praising God so shall we approve our selves the Sons of God too Secondly Consider The Angels rejoyced at the laying of the foundations of the Earth The Earth was made for man Heaven was the Angels habitation they were well provided for if there had never been an Earth they had been provided for yet they shouted for joy when God laid the foundations of the Earth for the use of man and beast Hence take this Inference It shews a good spirit to rejoyce at the good of others or to be pleased with that which is beneficial to others though it be no benefit to us This argues an excellent spirit an angelical spirit Some if they are well housed and provided for care not whether others are housed and provided for or no nor can they rejoyce at the good of others but as their own good is concern'd In glory we shall be like to the Angels our very bodies shall be like to the Angels living without food without sleep without marriage in Heaven we shall neither marry nor be given in marriage but shall be like the Angels O let us strive to be like the Angels in our minds now as we hope to have our bodies like the Angels hereafter even clothed as the Schoolmen call them with angelical endowments Unless our spirits are like the Angels here unless we have hearts like the hearts of Angels in this World we shall never have bodies like them hereafter or in the World to come JOB Chap. 38. Vers 8 9 10 11. 8. Or who shut up the Sea with doors when it brake forth as if it had issued out of the womb 9. When I made the Cloud the garment thereof and thick darkness a swadling band for it 10. And brake up for it my decreed place and set bars and doors 11. And said Hitherto shalt thou come but no further and here shall thy proud waves be stayed THe Lord having questioned Job about the Fabrick of the Earth and shewed the triumph and acclamations of Angels at it in the former Context He next leads him to the waters or carrieth him to the Sea there to consider his Works of wonder As Moses in the beginning of Genesis having summarily and in general spoken of the Creation of Heaven and Earth descendeth to particulars so here we have the Lord passing from one part of the Creation to another from the Creation of the Earth to that other great part of the Creation the Waters or the Sea Vers 8. Who shut up the Sea with doors c. In these words we have First The Creation of the Sea Secondly Its Constitution both set forth by most elegant Metaphors The Creation or Production of the Sea is shadowed by allusion to an Infant breaking forth out of the womb Vers 8. The Constitution or settlement of the Sea is carried on in suitable Metaphors to the end of the eleventh Verse Vers 8. Or who hath shut up the Sea with doors when it brake forth c. We have here First The Birth or Nativity of the Sea Secondly What God did with the Sea when it was born and issued out of the womb Then God shut it in with doors and prepared garments and swadling bands for it then he restrained the rage force and fury of it and held it as his prisoner or captive in bonds As soon as an Infant is born it is bound up and swadled and as soon as the Sea as I may say was born or come into the World God took order with it and to keep it in order he provided doors to shut it in and garments to bind it up with What the Scripture speaks of Gods coercing the Sea may be reduced to two heads First To that restraint which he laid upon the Sea presently upon its Creation some say the first others the third day of the Creation according to that Gen. 1.9 God said Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear and it was so Thus the
worldly desires as much as a man living alone in a wilderneâ—s withdraws from worldly businesses he is weaned from and mortified to the plenty and pleasures which a City life courts him with nor is he afraid of the threatnings of any who would drive him from his duty His soul searcheth after and he feeds upon the green things which every where grow upon the mountains of the holy Scriptures both for his instruction and consolation All this I grant as was said before is true of a godly man raised to any high degree of spiritualness and walking much in the Spirit He is in the world yet sits loose and free from the bands and baits of it Howbeit this warrants no man to loose himself from all bands of service in the world much less to be so gross as literally to make that his house which God hath made the house of the wilde Ass The wilderness or to take the barren Land for his dwelling As this verse hath shewed us the house and dwelling of the wilde Ass so the next shews us how he carries it in the wilderness Vers 7. He scorneth the multitude of the City neither regardeth he the crying of the driver Ansignis metaphora ad notandum indoâ—itam naturam He scorneth the Hebrew is He laugheth at or slighteth c. The Lord speaks of this wilde Ass after the manner of men who laugh at those things which they contemn despise or scorn as much below them or contrary to them The word is rendred by laughing Psal 2.4 Job 5.22 It is said also of the good woman Prov. 31.25 She shal rejoyce in time to come which others render thus She laughed at time to come that is she having so well and wisely provided for time to come is not at all burdened with cares about it There may be a double reason why this wild Ass scorns or laughs at the multitude of the City First Because it is no way pleasing to his nature he hath no desire to a City to a sociable life Secondly He may be said to scorn the multitude of the City because though a multitude should come out of a City to take him yea as great a multitude as a City can make yet he is not afraid for he knows he can shew them a fair pair of heels and by his swiftness of foot keep out of their hands and maintain his liberty Farther The words translated The multitude of the City 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Copia ie opes divitiae q. d. nihil appetit ex abundantia exuperantiavò civium Malit in sterilibus locis raram malam herbam quaerere quam in urbe servire pro victu copioso Gerit ergo paupertatis imaginem cap. 24. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may be rendred The abundance or plenty of the City If there be abundance any where it is in Cities and therefore heaven is called a City because of the great abundance of all good there and all in God Thus the word is rendred Psal 37.16 A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked that is than all their large sums of money of gold and silver as also than their large inheritances of houses and Lands The word may bear that sense in the Text and 't is a good sense the wild Ass scorns the abundance of the City he can content himself with the barren Land he cares not though he fare hard so he may live free from hard labour he scorneth both the multitude and plenty of the City Neither regardeth he the crying of the driver The word is He heareth not that is he obeyeth not the crying of the driver This is spoken in opposition to tame beasts for such must regard the crying of the driver else they must smart for it if the driver speaks they understand his language they must mend their pace and follow their work more closely or seel the drivers lash Here then is a farther description of the liberty of the wild Ass he is not brought to work by any thing that the driver can say or do he is not afraid either of his words or blows The word which we translate Driver signifies an Oppressor so 't is rendred Job 3.18 It signifies also an Exactor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Querelam ejus qui tributum colligit Sept. The seventy translate He regardeth not the hasty call or citation of the gatherer of Taxes or of Tribute There are two sorts of Exactors First Vocatur autem Exactor non modo qui tributa exigit sed qâ—i p ras â—rget Drus those that exact Tribute Secondly those who exact Labour Now he that drives cattel urgeth them to work both by hand and tongue and so exacts labour of them Hence the word is used to express the Task-masters of the Israelites in Egypt Exod. 5.6 who indeed exacted labour of them and made them serve with rigor From these Oppressors with the Exactors of labour the wild Ass is free he is at such liberty that he regards not the cry of the driver Exactor or Oppressor nor will he be brought to work by fair means nor by foul As that was a proverbial speech to shew the tranquility of those times Isa 14.8 Since thou art laid down no feller is come up against us So this seems to be a proverbial speech shewing the liberty of the wild Ass at all times He regardeth not the crying of the Driver From the former part of the verse When 't is said He laughs at or scorns the multitude of the City Taking the word City as opposed to the wilderness or barren Land Note Cities as they are full of company so they are accompanied with all manner of outward plenty and fulness If good things are to be had any where for love or money it is in Cities and therefore they who dwell in great Cities where there is such a multitude of people and abundance of all things should remember their priviledge 't is a mercy they are not in a wilderness or in a barren Land Secondly In that it is said He scorns the multitude of the City Note No society no company pleaseth but that which is sutable What cares the wild Ass for the company of men he had rather be among the wild Asses than among the best and wisest men Bad men who are like wild beasts scorn the company of good men and it is as true of good men that they have no joy in the company of bad men yea they are often burdened with their company The content of our lives doth very much consist in our harmony with and congeniality to those whom the are engaged to converse with Thirdly Take the word in the other sense as noting the abundance or plenty that is in the City the wild Ass had rather be in his barren Land than there Hence we learn Liberty is more pleasing than plenty and a wilderness with poor fare than a City where
Neque consistit firmus cum sonus tubae editur Jun. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So Mr. Broughton renders expresly Neither stands he still when the sound of the trumpet is heard This interpretation suits best with the scope of the place nor doth the force of the Hebrew Verb oppose it for the Adjective which comes from the Participle of it is often used to signifie firm stable sure durable yea and the Verb it self is often taken in that sense Psal 78.37 They were not stedfast or stood not fast in his covenant So Deut. 28.59 the Lord threatned Plagues of long continuance that is standing Plagues or such as should hold long and not stir from the place Thus also it is said Exod. 17.12 The hands of Moses were steady until the going down of the Sun The same word doth elegantly signifie both to believe and to be steady or stand fast seeing it is faith or believing in God which alone makes us steady or stand fast in all occasions or temptations to the contrary and therefore in this place we may most conveniently render He standeth not firm he stands not still or keeps not his place at the sound of the trumpet but is unquiet and in motion as having an ardent desire to be in the battel as soon as ever he hears the trumpet sound Stare loco nescit Virg. One of the ancient Poets expresseth this quality of a valiant horse almost in the same words and altogether to the same sense He knows not how to keep his place or he cannot as we say for his heart stand still So that as the eagerness of the horse for the battel even before the signal given is set forth in those words vers 21. He paweth in the valley and in the former part of this verse where 't is said He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage so the same height of spirit after the signal given is further expressed in these words thus translated He standeth not still no ground will hold him he will be gone if he can get head when once he hears the sound of the trumpet Hence note What we have much mind to do we are glad of an opportunity to do it and readily embrace it The Apostle saith of the old Patriarks Heb. 11.15 Truly if they had been mindful of that is if they had had a mind to that Country from whence they came out they might have had opportunity to have returned Now as a man will not do that for which he hath an opportunity when he hath no mind to it so if a man hath a mind to do any thing how soon doth he make use of the very first opportunity to do it And doubtless it was a great trouble to the Philippians who had a true desire to shew their care of and love to the Apostle Paul that they lacked opportunity to shew it and give a real proof of it Phil. 4.10 As opportunity is a gale to carry us on to action so a willing mind is a gale to carry us to the improvement of any offered opportunity for action Let us do good saith the Apostle Gal. 6.10 as we have opportunity He that is slack to do good when he hath a fair gale of opportunity to it declares plainly that his mind is becalmed and that he hath not the least breath or gale of willingness in his mind to do good It is our duty not only to accept an opportunity to do good when it falls tight in our way but even to step out of our way so it be in a good way to seek it Davids enemies sought occasion and so did Daniels Chap. 6. to do him a mischief and shall not we seek occasions to shew mercy c. Let us like the horse in the Text no sooner hear the sound of the Trumpet a lawful call to any duty for which we have also an open door but as he rejoyce in it stand still no longer with a dull shall we shall we in our mouths but be gone up and be doing Vers 25. He saith among the trumpets ha ha and he smelleth the battel afar off the thunder of the Captains and the shouting This verse seems to give a reason of what was last said in the former especially according to the latter Translation of it As if it had been said Therefore the generous horse cannot stand still but is impatient of every moments delay when he hears the trumpet sound because he is not only not astonished at it but rejoyceth wishing for nothing more than the battel of which he knows the sounding of the trumpet to be a signal He saith among the trumpets Ha ha Some render these words not barely as we among the trumpets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Quando tubarum clangor validus intenditur vox 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 constat praepositione Beth particula 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quae non est tantum adjectitia Euphonica sed copiam etiam significat Codurc but thus At the full sound of the trumpet or When the trumpet hath sounded long and sufficiently then he saith Ha ha Reading the words thus we may connect them with the latter part of the former verse Neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet that is when the trumpet begins to sound he doubts whether it be to the battel or no but when the trumpet sounds long when the sufficiency of the trumpet sounds or when it sounds sufficiently so that it manifestly appears the battel is nigh or at hand then he saith Ha ha That the word de in Bede is significative and imports sufficiency is the opinion of many interpreters and that it is of the same sense in this Text as in that Isa 40.16 Lebanon is not sufficient to burn nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt-offering Thus here at the sufficiency of the trumpet that is when the trumpet sounds sufficiently abundantly or clearly or as our old English translation hath it when the trumpets make most noise he saith ha ha There are others of note who judge that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de is only a syllabical addition of no signification or adding nothing to the Preposition ב Be Ad tubae soninitum Trem. Inter buccinas Pag. and so render the words only thus At the sound of the trumpet or as we Among the trumpets he saith ha ha And that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 De is only expletive not significative and so that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Bede is no more than the Preposition ב Be put alone some would confirm by other Texts of Scripture where it is conceived to be so used Hab. 2.13 Behold is it not of the Lord that the people shall labour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the fire and the people shall weary themselves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for vanity Arnold Boot Animad Sac. l. 3. c. 11. These words are sound also Jer. 51.58 in both which saith
bad men and that 's the first Case Secondly When good men are vexed oppressed and trodden under feet as mire in the streets what risings of heart and what unsatisfiedness of spirit is there in many good men In both these Cases there is much contending with God though in both our hearts upon many accounts should acquiesce and rest in the will of God who in the former doth not declare himself a friend to evil men nor doth he in the latter declare himself an enemy to those who are good But seeing there is a spirit in man even to contend with God let us watch our selves in this thing that such thoughts rise not or let us carefully suppress them as soon as they are risen It is good for us and our duty to keep down the Contendings of our hearts with men for we are very apt to be out with one another 'T is sad to see breaches the fruit of heart-burnings between man and man But much more should we keep down those contendings yea qâ—ench the first sparkes which may kindle heart-burnings about the works of God for they may soon come to be Contendings with him For the close of thiâ— point take these four Considerations which may move all sorts of men to watch their hearts against Contendings with God whether as to his dealings in the world or with themselves First Remember Whatsoever the Lord doth he may do for he is an absolutely sovereign Lord and therefore not to be contended with about any thing he doth because no way accountable for any thing he doth as hath been shewed upon several occasions offered in opening this Book He is Lord of our being and hath given to all life breath and all things as the Apostle told the superstitious Athenians Acts 17.25 and may not he do what he will to all beings in whom all have their being and who hath given all things to all which concern that being He is our Maker and hath not the potter power over the clay to do what he will with it Hath not the Creator power over the creature to dispose of it as he pleaseth Isa 45.9 Let the potsheard strive with the potsheards of the earth If any will be striving let them strive with their like potsheards with potsheards not potsheards with the potter to whom they are so unlike The Lord used no other aâ—gument but this to quiet all Psal 46.10 Be still and know that I am God remember that and you will either not begin or quickly have done contending with God Yet in that Psalm the Lord is represented making most dreadful work Come behold the works of the Lord what desolations he hath made on the earth Though God make that which was as a garden to become a desolate wilderness yet contend not with him be still and know that he is God Secondly Remember whatsoever work the Lord makes in the world it is all righteous workâ— there is nothing amiss in it He is a rock said Moses Deut. 32.4 His work is perfect for all his wayes are judgements not as judgements are opposed to mercies but to injustice as it followeth in that verse a God of truth and without iniquity just and right is he To this David gives witness Psal 145.17 The Lord is righteous in all his wayes and holy in all his works Not only is he righteous and holy in this and that way or work but in all his wayes and works in wayes of judgement as well as in wayes of mercy in wayes of destruction as well as in wayes of salvation He is righteous in pulling down as well as in building up in rooting up as well as in planting Now if there be a righteousness in all the wayes and works of God who shall contend with him about any of his wayes or works Thirdly All the works of God have an infinite wisdom in them they are done wisely even in exactest wisdom and shall we fools contend with him who is not onely a wise God but the God onely wise Rom. 16.27 and all whose works are done in and according to the Idea or platforme of his own infinite and eternal wisdom The foolishness of God saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 1.25 is wiser than men that is the wisest men are meer fools to God or that work of God which some men call foolishness is infinitely more wisely done than the wisest work that the wisest men in the world ever did or can do with all their wisdome Fourthly Let all that fear and love God especially take heed of contending with God about any of his works for God is good to all such in all his works and all his works are good to such Shall any contend with God about that which is for their own good Not onely are those works of God good to such which are good in themselves that is which we call good being favourable providences and for our comfort and support in this world but even those works of God which we call cross providences or providences which bring the Crosse with them are all good to such even to all them that love God and are the called according to his purpose Rom. 8.28 Shall they contend with God about any thing who hear and may be assured that he hath an intendment of good to them in all things Psal 73.1 Truly God is good to Israel that is though he afflicts them and the Cup be very bitter which he gives them to drink yet he is good to them Or thus Truly God not the world or though the world be not is good to Israel Once more we may take the Psalmist thus Truly God is good to Israel not so as to them to the world though as it followeth in the Psalme they enjoy never so much worldly good These Considerations may perswade all not to contend with God about his works to which I shall adde onely this counsel If the works of God are grievous to us at any time let us go the right way to work in our Contendings with him For I do not urge this point as if we should sit still and let the Lord alone as he seemingly said to Moses Exod. 32.10 when he dealeth out hard and grievous things to us There is a contending with God by supplication and prayer by mourning and humiliation this becomes us when the works of God are hard when they are breaking desolating scattering and afflictive towards us Take heed of discontent with providence yet wrestle and contend earnestly with God by prayer when providences go hard with you or with the whole Israel of God Moses in a holy manner assaulted God and contended with him in that case and therefore the Lord said to him in the place last mentioned Let me alone as we say to a man that contends and strives with us Let me alone Moses was contending with the Lord about that dispensation but it was in a gracious way and so may we yea so must we The Lord
and â—readless drinking in the two last verses of the Chapter Behold he drinketh up a River and hasteth not for fear he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth not an ordinary River but Jordan a high expression to shew the extream thirst of this creature according to our reading and how large a cask he hath to hold his liquor He trusteth that he can draw up Jordan with his mouth he taketh it with his eyes he thrusts his head into the water up to the eyes and his nose pierceth through snares By these six particulars this creature is described upon all which I shall adde somewhat distinctly and briefly Behold now Behemoth which I have made with thee God calls Job to a very attentive consideration being to enter upon a discourse about the creature Behold is a usual word of attention it also is a word which carries admiration in it it gives us warning that the matter following is of no ordinary importance and surely that which followeth here is not Behold now Behemoth Hence note The works of God especially his great works are very attentively to be considered Let 's not think it a matter of indifferency whether we consider these works of God yea or no. Here is a Behold prefixt lest we should say what should we stay our minds upon beasts upon Behemoth or Leviathan we have other more spiritual objects to think upon 'T is true we have but we must take heed of slighting these objects especially when God doth as it were travel by his Spirit to set them forth before the eye of our mind in their utmost grandure and excellency We should not pass the least work of God lightly by much less should we so pass by the great works of God We should not lightly pass by the least mercy of God but think much of little mercies little mercies are great mercies to us seeing we are less than the least of them as Jacob spake Gen. 32.10 but we must especially consider great mercies great deliverances great salvations upon them our minds must stay or make a stand and our meditations dwell We are also to consider and well to view all our sins our little sins our least failings seeing they have a greatness in them as being committed against the great God and as being able to do us great hurt and to draw down great wrath upon us if not repented of and turned from but our great sins must much more be viewed and considered And every godly man doth so he holds the eye of his soul upon the ugly face of great sins especially to discover the deformity and iniquity of them to the utmost that he may be greatly humbled for them Now as we should not lightly pass by our least mercies and sins but very deeply consider our great mercies and sins so we should not neglect the least creature the least work of God the great wisdom and power of God are visible in the least but we should seriously consider the more noble creatures and the greater works of God whether they be works of creation or woâ—ks of providence I may say as Christ Mat. 23.23 about tything mint annise and cummin these things ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone Christ used a piece of rhetoâ—ick when he said You should not leave them undone his meaning was you should do those greater things of the Law judgement righteousness and faith with greatest exactness So I say in this case you are not to leave the least pieces of Gods work in creation or providence unviewed unconsidered unmeditated but his great works his Behemoths you should behold study and admire or behold and study with admiration When I consider saith David Psal 8.3 the Heavens the work of thy hands the Sun and the Moon c. This implyeth that David did often consider the Heavens those great pieces of Gods work as also the great Luminaries there placed and moving with admired swiftness and evenness continually Though we are chiefly to behold spiritual things yet we must not think our time lost in beholding natural things though we should specially behold Gods gracious woâ—ks the works of grace the workmanship of God in framing the new creature yet we must also behold the old creation and view every piece of it especially the great pieces of it Again though we should behold and be looking to the Author and fiâ—isher of our faith though we should as the Baptist called some to do in his time and all to do in all times John 1.29 Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world our eyes and our hearts the eye of our faith should be upon Christ the Lamb of God more ten thousand times more than upon Leviathan or Behemoth yet 't is our duty to behold Behemoth and Leviathan Jesus Christ saith Isa 65.1 Behold me behold me 'T is the word here in Job Jesus Christ speaks there as if he would call off our eys and hearts from all things in the world to behold himself and in comparison so we should He is the most amiable sight or spectacle in the world and therefore ought to be the desire of our eyes yet in their places there are other worthy spectacles for us to behold especially as they hold forth and as in them we may behold the power wisdom and goodness of God Let no man say we lose our time in a due meditation upon any of the creatures which God hath made for he hath made them that we should behold and meditate upon them Behold now Behemoth The word Behemoth is applicable to or may signifie any greater or great beast of the field Gen. 3.14 The Lord said unto the serpent because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pecus majus and above every beast of the field And again Every beast of the forrest is mine saith the Lord Psal 50.10 and the cattel upon a thousand hills Hence some conceive that we are here to understand beasts in general the word Behemoth being in the plural number Behold now the beasts as if the Lord pointed at all the beasts of the field in this Behold And ' â—is a truth we are to consider them all but it is very improbable that in this place God calls Job to behold the beasts of the field in general and not rather some one in special And I may give four reasons for it First Because in the former Chapter God had spoken of divers particular beasts of the earth and therefore doubtless here also he speaks of some particular beast Secondly That creature which is joyned with Behemoth in this discourse is by most taken for a particular kind of fish in the Sea and therefore 't is most congruous that Behemoth should denote some particular kind of beast at land Thirdly and chiefly The description given here of Behemoth will not fit all sorts of beasts in the
a favourite Abraham was a favourite God called him his friend and Job was a favourite The Lord shews favour to many who yet are not his favourites Kings and Pâ—inces shew favour to all their faithful subjects yet but one possibly is a Favourite The Lords chief favourite is his Son Jesus Christ he hath his ear continually I knew said Christ John 11.42 that thou hearest me alwayes Now as Christ is a favourite above all men so among good men some have favour with God above others A King will hear a favourite when he will not a common person Our Annotators upon this very place tell us out of Mr. Fox that when Sir John Gostwich had falsely accused Arch-Bishop Cranmer to King Henry the VIII he would not hear him nor be reconciled to him till Cranmer himself whom he had wronged came and spake for him Thus the Lord will not be reconciled to some till the wronged party intercedes for them Yet we must remember that the power or effect of all our prayers depends upon Jesus Christ alone by him it is that any have access to the father and he is the way to the holiest the beloved in whom God is well pleased whom he heareth always and through whom God heareth his best beloved favourites on earth Observe Fifthly It is a great mercy to have the prayers of a good man going for us The Lord told not Eliphaz and his two friends of any thing else that Job should do for them he only saith Job my servant shall pray for you If the Lord doth but stir up the heart of a Job of a Moses of a Jacob a Wrestler in prayer to pray for us who knows what mercy we may receive by it And therefore when the Lord forbids his favourites to pray for a people as sometimes he doth it is a sign that such are in a very sad condition yea that their case is desperate Jeremiah was a mighty man with the Lord in prayer and the Lord said to him Jer. 14.11 Pray not to me for this people for good Jeremiah was forward to pray for them but the Lord stopt him Pray no more not that the Lord disliked his prayer but because he was resolved not to forgive them though he prayed for them therefore he said pray not The Lord would not let such precious waters run wast as the prayers of Jeremiah were They are in a remediless ill condition of whom the Lord saith pray not for them Of such the Apostle spake 1 John 5.16 If any man see his brother sin a sin not unto death he shall ask and God shall give him life There is a sin unto death I say not that he shall pray for it The pardon of a sin unto death is not to be prayed for Every sin deserves death but every sin is not unto death They who sin so are past prayer and in how woful a plight are they whose sins are past prayers They who have been much in prayer themselves and afterwards fall off from or walk contrary unto their prayers come at last to this miserable issue that either they give over praying for themselves or others are stopt from praying for them And though an outward bar be not laid upon their friends prayer as in Israels case yet there may be a bar upon the spirit of such as used to pray for them It is a bad sign when the Lord shuts up the heart from praying for any one and it is a sign of mercy when the Lord inlargeth the heart of any that are godly to pray for others Sixthly Observe Prayer for another doth not profit him unless he be faithful himself I ground it upon the text Job shall pray for you but you must carry a sacrifice which implied their faith and they must carry a sacrifice to Job and that implied their repentance and both implied that they prayed for themselves also It is in vain to offer a sacrifice without faith and repentance being in this frame My servant Job shall pray for you Conjunctis precibus nihil impetratu impossibile est Conjunctae autem preces esse non possunt ubi est offensio Coc. vid. The prayer of faith prevails not for those that go on in their unbelief and impenitency Job prayed for his friends and they repenting and believing he prevailed for them The reason why the Prophet Jeremiah in the place before mentioned as also chap. 7.16 was commanded not to pray for that people was because they were a hardened people in their sins and therefore his prayers could do them no good Yea the Lord told him cha 15.2 that though not only he but other great favourites joyned in prayer for them it should do them no good Though Moses and Samuel stood before me my mind could not be towards this people The reason why those eminent favourites and mighty men in prayer could do no good was as was said before because they were unbelieving and hardned in their sins as appears upon the place The Prophet Ezekiel speaks the same thing chap. 14.14 Though these three men Noah Daniel and Job this Job that we have in the text were in it they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness saith the Lord. Jobs prayers obtained good for his friends but the children of Israel were in such a condition that though Noah Daniel and Job were praying for them they should get no good by it their sins were so high and their hearts so hard that the prayers of the holiest men in the world could not prevail with God for mercy It cannot be denied but the prayers of a godly man may profit a wicked man an unbeliever an impenitent person for his conversion to the faith and the bringing of him to repentance but they profit not any man who as he hath not faith so continues in his unbelief Yet I grant that the prayers of a believer may profit such an unbeliever as to the avoiding of some temporal evil or as to the obtaining of some temporal good as is clear in Abrahams prayer for Abimelech Gen. 20.7 But how much soever a godly man prayeth for the pardon of a wicked mans sin or the salvation of his soul he shall never be pardoned or saved unless himself repent and believe They who never pray in faith for themselves shall not get favour with God by any prayer of faith made by others for them Now as from this and such like Scriptures it appears that the prayers of godly men for good men here on earth are very pleasing unto the Lord and receive great answers So they do absurdly who from this Scripture infer that the Saints departed pray for us as if they knew or understood our condition and they do more absurdly who living here on earth pray to the Saints in heaven to pray for them The Scripture speaks nothing of prayers to departed Saints nor of departed Saints praying for us the Scripture speaks only of the living
good and what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God That is as he requireth of thee to exercise justice toward all men and mercy to the poor or any in misery so to walk humbly with himself that is to acknowledge thou hast need of the righteousness of a Saviour and of the mercy of a God how much righteousness and mercy soever thou hast exercised towards others When we are low in our own eyes then are we highest in Gods eye when we as it were reject our selves and all that we have done as unworthy of any acceptation then are we most accepted of the Lord. Fourthly Among Believers they are most accepted with God who are most fruitful in their lives and do most good in their places and according to their opportunities The Lord loveth a fruitful Christian Many are barren trees unfruitful ground little can be seen of good which they do these are a burden to God But when a Christian as it is said of Christ Act. 10.38 goeth about doing good when a Christian as Christ giveth the account of his own life John 17.4 Glorifieth God on earth and finisheth the work which God gives him to do O how acceptable is such a one to God! And therefore Let us labour to know and do what is acceptable to the Lord. The Apostle would have us prove what is acceptable to the Lord Eph. 5.10 that is First study the Word to find out what is acceptable to the Lord. Secondly approve and embrace with our whole hearts what we find to be so Thirdly practice and do what we have so approved or embraced And because the Scripture speaks of some duties which are specially acceptable to the Lord I shall instance the Point in a few particulars First Doing right to every one Prov. 21.3 To do justice and judgement is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice This is true or may be affiâ—med of justice both commutative and distributive To do justice in our dealings with men called commutative justice is more acceptable than sacrifice that is than any outward worship given to God without this 'T is true also of distributive justice which is done by Magistrates in rewarding good men and in punishing them that do evil these works of justice also are more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice Secondly The true worship and service of God which the Apostle calls sacrifice is highly acceptable to God Rom. 12.1 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service These first Table-duties when in consort with those former second Table-duties are highly honourable and therefore cannot but be highly acceptable to the Lord. Sacrifice to God without justice to man is meer hypocrisie Justice to man without sacrifice to God is no better than Heathenish morality Both united are the beauty of Christianity Thirdly To serve Christ that is to aim at the honouring as well as the enjoying of Christ with our Gospel-priviledges and liberties is exceeding acceptable The Apostle having said Rom. 14.17 The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but righteteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost presently adds vers 18. He that in these things that is in righteousness and peace and joy in the holy Ghost serveth Christ is acceptable unto God that is this shews he is a person accepted with God The doing of things purely acceptable to God is a clear and strong argument of our acceptation with him Fourthly To do any good we do be it little or much with a willing mind is very acceptable to God 2 Cor. 8.12 If there be first a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man hath Though it be little that we have yet if the mind be free if there be much of the will in it though but little of the purse if we have no more to give or give according to what we have if there be much of the heart in it though but little of the hand if we do according to the power that is in our hand the Lord hath a very great respect to it Fifthly To be much in prayer for others especially for those that are in power over us is very acceptable to the Lord 1 Tim. 2.2 3. I exhort that supplications c. be made for all men for Kings and all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour As it is good and acceptable in the sight of God that we should lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty under Kings and all in authority so that we should pray for Kings and those that are in authority Sixthly When children do well requite their parents that saith the Apostle 1 Tim. 5.4 is acceptable unto God Seventhly To suffer patiently for well-doing is greatly pleasing unto God 1 Pet. 2.20 In a word they among good men are most acceptable of God who are most zealous in doing any thing in a right manner which for the matter is acceptable unto God Observe Thirdly As the Lord accepteth some godly men more than others so he accepteth some godly men for others The Lord doth not speak here of accepting Job strictly for himself but of his acceptation in the behalf of his friends Him will I accept that is for you I will be intreated by him I will not give you the honour to be intreated by you but to him I give it I will be intreated by him The Prophet Elisha said to the King of Israel 2 Kings 3.14 Were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the King of Judah I would not look toward thee nor see thee he would not vouchsafe that bad King a look but for the respect that he bare to good Jehoshaphat And it is a truth that God would not have so much respect to some good men were it not for the sake of some others who are better Yet that the Lord accepts one mans person more than anothers or one mans person for another is primarily and principally in and for the sake of Jesus Christ Job had acceptation with God more than his friends and for his friends he had the former by his being in Christ and the latter as he was a figure of Christ No mans person no mans work is accepted of otherwise than in relation to Christ The Apostle affirms this fully Eph. 1.6 He hath made us accepted in the Beloved Christians are beloved but Christ only is the Beloved we are accepted in him the beloved as to our selves and 't is in the beloved that any are accepted more than others or for others Take this Inference from the whole The Lord accepted Job praying for others then he will accept a good man praying upon right
head for yet my prayer shall be in their calamities that is if ever they who are my reprovers fall into calamity though they may think they have provoked me so by reproving me that they have lost my love and have cast them out of my prayers or that I will never speak well of them or for them again yet I will pray for them with all my heart as their matters shall require I will pray for them when they have most need of prayer even in their calamity Some heighten the sense thus The more they sharpen their reproof the more I think my self bound to pray for them It shews an excellent spirit not to be hindred from doing good to others by any thing they do or speak against us nor by their sharpest though perhaps mistaken reproofs of us Thus it was with this good man Job prayed for his friends who had spoken much against him and not only reproved him without cause but reproached him without charity and God turned his captivity when he prayed for them Hence observe Secondly Prayer for friends especially for unkind friends is very pleasing to God and profitable to us We never reap more fruit or benefit by prayer our selves than when we lay out our selves in prayer for others and then most when we pray for those who have deserved least at our hands Prayer for unkind friends is the greatest kindness we can do them and the noblest way of recompencing their unkindness Holy David was much in this way of duty and found the benefit of it Psal 35.12 13. They rewarded me evil for good to the spoyling of my soul but as for me when they were sick my cloathing was sackcloth I humbled my soul with fasting that is I was greatly affected with and afflicted for them in their affliction and see what followed My prayer returned into my own bosom There is some difference about the Exposition of those words but I conceive that is clear in it self as well as to my purpose that David received fruit and a good reward for those prayers As if he had said If my prayer did them no good it did me good if it did not profit them it profited me my prayer returned into my own bosom I found comfortable effects of it We never gain more by prayer than when we pray for those by whom we have been losers we never find more comfort by prayer than when we pray heartily for those by whom we have found much sorrow whatever good we pray for in the behalf of others falls upon our own heads and the more we pray for good upon the heads of those that have done evil to us the more good is like to fall upon our own heads and hearts Christ saith Mat. 10.13 When ye come into an house salute it Christ means not a Courtly complemental salute but a Christian spiritual salute wishing them mercy and peace as is plain by that which followeth and if the house be worthy let your peace come upon it but if it be not worthy let your peace return to you As if he had said When ye come into an house good or bad salute it if the house be good they shall receive the benefit of your prayer if not you shall have the benefit of it your selves though they get no good by your good wishes to them or prayers for them yet you shall This is more expresly assured us again by our blessed Saviour Luke 10.6 Into whatsoever house ye enter first say peace be to this house bestow a prayer upon them and if the Son of peace be there your peace shall rest upon it if not it shall turn to you again your prayers shall not be lost nor shall ye be losers by your prayers Hence take these two Inferences First If when we pray for friends for unkind friends God be ready to do us good then he will be much more ready to do us good when we as he hath commanded us pray for professed or real enemies The worse they are if not so bad as to be past prayer by the Apostles rule 1 John 5.16 for whom we pray the better are our prayers and an argument as of our greater faith in God so of our greater love to man Yet this is not to be understood as if we should pray for the prosperity of enemies or evil men in their evil purposes or practices this were to pray at once for the misery of Sion for the downfal of Jerusalem and the dishonour of God Our prayer for enemies should only be that God would change their hearts and pardon their sins as was touched before I grant we may in some cases pray Lord overturn overturn them or as David against Achitophel Lord turn their counsels into foolishness yet even then we should also pray with respect to their persons Lord turn them turn them The Gospel teacheth us to do so Luke 6.28 Bless them that curse you pray for them that despitefully use you Not that we should pray for a blessing on them as they are cursers and despisers but that they may repent and give over their cursed cursings and despiteful usages The Apostle is full for this Rom. 12.14 Bless them that persecute you bless and curse not vers 19. Avenge not your selves And as we should not avenge our selves so we should be sparing in prayer that God would take vengeance and if ever we put up such prayers beware they flow not from a spirit of revenge We indeed are sometimes afraid to be over-gentle and kind-hearted towards them that offend us and this bad Proverb is too much remembred If we play the Sheep the Wolf will eat us up as if to do our duty were to run further into danger and that it must needs turn to our wrong not to avenge our wrongs But know if we carry it meekly like sheep we have a great Shepheard who will take care of us and is able to preserve us from the Wolf Consider these two things in praying for enemies or for those that have any way wronged us First If by prayer we gain them 't is possible by prayer to turn a Wolf into a Sheep then it will be well with us they will be our friends Secondly If they continue Wolves and enemies still God will be more our friend and turn the evil which they either intend or do us to our good A second Inference is this If God be ready to deliver us from evil and do us good when we pray for others then he will be ready to do us good and deliver us from evil when we pray for our selves This Inference appears every where in Scripture And as the Lord himself hath often invited or encouraged us to the duty of prayer for our selves by this promise take one instance for all Psal 50.15 Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorifie me that is thou shalt have both occasion and a heart to glorifie
person This is as groundless a dream as the other about his cattle and so I leave it For That his children were really slain with the fall of the house where they were feasting the history makes evident in the first chapter and that he had the same number of children not the same children restored is all that is evident in this Only here a question ariseth and some trouble themselves much about it to little purpose how to make good that of the 8th ver where 't is said The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before whenas he had but just so many sons and daughters as he had before Here is no doubling of them and it may be thought that the Lord being now blessing his latter end more than his beginning should have given him more children double children because the more children the greater is the blessing I answer First Negatively The reason why his children were not double though his cattle were was not First Out of any want of power in God he could have doubled his children as well as his cattle Nor was it Secondly For want of love or good will to Job Nor was it Thirdly As Tertul. lib. de patientia c. 14 one of the Antients Tertullian gives the reason that Job might never want something to exercise his patience with while he lived forasmuch as he saw himself shortned in that mercy Nor was it Fourthly As Aquinas conceived because if his children had been doubled as well as his estate then his children would not have had a double estate nor more than they should have had before Forty proportionably divided among twenty yields each of them no greater a portion than twenty will do to ten Nor was it Fifthly Because the Lord would not have him over-burdened with cares about their education none of these were any reason why Jobs children were not doubled to him in number as well as his cattle And therefore I answer affirmatively First For the word double or twice as much in the Text which this seems not to come up unto we may easily salve that difficulty for the Text speaks not of persons but of things or of his substance with respect to doubling or a twice as much As for his children they come in with an also as an additional blessing to all the rest He had also seven sons and three daughters Secondly Those words twice as much need not be taken strictly as was shewed before Job might and doubtless did receive a double mercy in his children though their persons were not doubled nor multiplied as will appear further afterwards Thirdly I answer it was the pleasure of the Lord to give him no more than the same number of children and that may suffice us Fourthly Some of the Ancients are much pleased with this other answer saying Job in a sence had his children doubled for his slain children were not lost but gone before and lived still in a blessed state They having immortal souls and being the seed of the righteous their father had reason to believe them safe in Abrahams bosome Those children are not lost to their parents when they dye Tibi non perit qui Deo non perit Non numero sed valore quod occultè insinuatur in filicabus quae pulcherrimae fuisse leguntur Aquin. who are not lost to God or are not themselves lost children Fifthly Though Jobs children were not doubled in number as his cattle were yet we may judge them doubled to him in goodness and vertuous qualities The beauty of his daughters is expressely noted in the following words And shall we think that God who had a blessing for Job blessed his children only with fading bodily beauty doubtless their minds were more richly indowed and their souls more beautiful than their bodies And if Jobs daughters were such we may well conceive his Sons were not inferiour to them in gracious qualifications and that they much exceeded the sons he had before his affliction Some have spoken doubtfully at least of Jobs former children as if though good yet not very good and they give two reasons for it out of this book First Because when they went to feast at each others houses Job used to offer sacrifice feaâ—ing his children had cursed God in their hearts Secondly Bildad chap. 8.4 seems to lay a blot upon his former children If thy children saith he have sinned against him and he have cast them away for their transgression c. which may intimate the sinful miscarriages of his former children in the course of their lives as well as that dreadful accident by which they dyed Yet I conceive we need not cast any such blot upon them they might be good though these were better and so a double mercy to their father He had also seven sons and three daughters Hence note Children are great blessings When the Lord told Abraham Gen. 15.2 I am thy shield and exceeding great reward Abraham said Lord what wilt thou give me seing I go childless As if he had said what is an inheritance without an heir Children are a blessing which God many times denieth his own children God denied Abraham that blessing long yet gave it him at last Abrahams servant reporting the blessings of God bestowed upon his master put this as chief Gen. 24.35 The Lord hath blessed my master greatly he is become great he hath given him flocks and herds silver and gold men servants and maid servants what follows and Sarah my masters wife bare a son to my master when she was old Abrahams servant counted this the complement of all his masters outward blessings that as the Lord had given him a great estate so a son to inherit and possess it after him And if children be a blessing let all who have them take heed of looking upon them as a burthen And seing they are a blessing of the Lord seing they come from him let all who have them be admonished to bring them up for him or as the Apostle directs In the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Whatever we receive from God we should use for him and return to him our estates should be serviceable to the Lord and above all we should labour to make our children serviceable to him Thus we have seen the three parts of Jobs restauration First His friends Secondly His wealth Thirdly His children were restored to him But Job had four losses and we hear nothing about the restoring of the fourth First He lost his substance Secondly His children Thirdly His health Fourthly His friends Here 's a restoring of three of them but nothing is spoken of the fourth which I place third the restoring of his health Now health being the chief of outward blessings better than sheep and oxen and whatever we can have in this world why was not the restoring of that mercy mentioned I answer Though the restoring of his health and strength be not exprest verbally yet it is exprest
an hundred and ten years Gen 50. ult Job if we take in that common account of the antecedent part of his life lived longer than any of these even two hundred and ten years The fifth Commandement hath this promise Exod. 20.12 Honour thy Father and thy Mother that thy dayes may be long in the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee And the Apostle calls that the first Commandement with promise Eph. 6.2 that is the first Commandement with an explicite promise all the Commandements have promises implyed to those that obey them Eliphaz assured Job of this blessing in case of his repentance Chap. 5.26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age like as a shock of Corn cometh in his season And in this he was a true Prophet Now that long life is a blessing I would shew briefly under these six considerations First It is a blessing to have a long opportunity of doing good of being useful and serviceable to our generation long life gives an advantage for that Secondly It is a blessing to have opportunity to gain experiences First of the various providences of God towards men whether in wayes of judgement or of mercy Secondly to get experiences of the manners of men of the vanity unfaithfulness and inconstancy of some men and of the goodness faithfulness and constancy of others Though we sometimes smart in getting our experiences yet it may be a great blessing to have them Thirdly It is a blessing to have an opportunity to hold forth the grace of God to us and the graces of God in us by a holy example The longer we live a natural life the more we may manifest the power of a spiritual life to those among whom we live Fourthly It is a blessing to have opportunity for improvement and growth in grace to attain the highest stature in and pitch of holiness This benefit we may make of long life even encrease in grace as our years encrease and grow better as we grow older Fifthly It is a blessing to have opportunity to bring up our children in the nurture and fear of God long life gives liberty for this Lastly it is a blessing to behold the blessing of God upon our posterity long life gives us opportunity for this blessing and this was Jobs blessing eminently In all these respects and many more might be added long life is a blessing Yet let me give this corrective Long life is but a common blessing it is no distinguishing blessing it is not a certain love-token from God to man Bad men have lived long as appears both in sacred and common Histories Old age is then a blessing and good indeed when we are old in goodness or grow old doing good Solomons conclusion reacheth this fully Prov. 16.31 The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness And Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes Better is a child that will be ruled than an old and foolish King that will receive no counsel When we may say of any as the Lord said of some Ezek. 23.43 O ye that are old in adulteries when any are old in sin woe to such an old age Better to die young than live to old age and then die in sin To live to be old men the old man not dying in us O how sad To see sin young when the man is old how odious a sight is that Then only old age is good when we are good in old age They only die in a good old age as it is said of Abraham Gen. 25.8 who are good dying old The sinner of a hundred years old shall die accursed Isa 65.20 So then it is knowing not ignorant old age it is prudent not foolish old age it is gracious not vicious old age which is indeed the blessing and therefore though it be a blessing look upon it as a common blessing As riches are good to us our selves being good so is old age such is a life of many years in this world good only to those who are good and do good Secondly When it is said Job lived an hundred and forty years we are not to take his living for a bare continuance or indurance in life for so many years but we are to understand his life or living so long Vivere est valere with the cloathing of it with the good of it he lived that is he lived comfortably honourably peaceably this hundred and forty years We commonly say To live is to be well to live is to flourish Some live whose life is a kind of death As they who live in sinful pleasure are dead while they live so also are they who live in great worldly sorrow Job lived comfortably and contentedly all that long time of his latter life even an hundred and forty years Hence note Secondly Long life in health peace and prosperity is a blessing indeed To live long in the enjoyment of good is very good What man is he saith David Psal 34.12 that desireth life and loveth many dayes that he may see good Keep thy tongue from evil c. To live long and see good that is enjoy good is the utmost that can be desired in this life That 's the blessing or the good promised in the renewed state of Jerusalem Isa 65. where after the Lord had spoken of new heavens and new earth he adds at the 22d verse They shall not build and another inhabit they shall not plant and another eat for as the dayes of a tree are the dayes of my people and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands He doth not say they shall live long but they shall enjoy long that which they have built and planted none shall invade nor take away from them Some conceive this hath reference to the thousand years prophesied of Rev. 20. wherein the Church shall enjoy perfect felicity in this world To live long in the sweet enjoyments of health honour peace and plenty for soul and body is a full blessing I grant some good men live long who yet do not alwayes enjoy good their old age especially is accompanied and encumbered with many bodily distempers and grievous pains Though grace sets us above the decayes of nature and the troubles of this life yet grace doth not exempt nor give us priviledge from either so that greediness after many years is commonly a greediness only after many infirmities Isaac was a good old man yet 't is said of him that when he was old his eyes waxed dim so that he could not see Gen. 27.1 Old age and dim eyes and deaf ears shaking hands and palsied trembling joynts with manifold diseases are seldom found asunder Therefore Job had an extraordinary blessing to live long and free from all these evils and so have any who do so Barzillay was a good old man yet 2 Sam. 19.25 he was so benummed and his natural senses so enfeebled that he did not enjoy his life
puts us upon prayer 819. Prayer prevails much with God not only for our selves but for others 890. Prayers of others may prevail with God for us when our own cannot 891. Prayers of good me for us a great mercy 892. How prayer for another doth not profit unless he be good 893 894. Prayers of good men though over-bold yet graciously answered 9. Necessity puts meer Nature upon prayer 302. If we would have we must ask of and pray to God 303. Prayer what it is 936. A godly man ready to pray for others and prays sometimes more for others than for himself 937. Vneven walkings hinder prayer in a two-fold respect 937 938. Prayer for unkind friends yea for enemies a duty and very pleasing to God 938 939 941. What and whose prayer pleasing to God 942. Seven things in prayer make it so pleasing to God 943 Preparation to duty needful especially to great duties 37 536 Preservation God hath given all creatures means to preserve themselves 635 Pride fine feathers make proud birds and men too 390. See Peacock Much pride in the heart of man 506. Pride a very provoking sin shewed four ways 585 586. What any one is proud of may be called his pride 731. There is a kind of pride in bruites 733. Great attainments and injoyments occasion pride 733 P iestly Office two parts of it 888 remises made by God shall surely be performed 924. Promises of two sorts 925 Proprietor God is so of all things in the world by a four-fold title 705. Thirteen inferences from it 706 707 708 Prosperity of bad men should not offend good men 398 Proud men how Gods eye upon them 579. God casts down the proud 579 580. God can easily do it 581. Inferences from it 582. Who may be called proud 582 583. Proud ones why not to be feared nor envied 584 585. What proud ones do 585. Proud and wicked the same 588 590. The true knowledge of God and of our selves will keep down pride 835 Providence of God governs all 53. We should rest in his disposal of things 53. Providences of God cannot be altered by man 214. Providence extended to meanest creatures 302 314. Providence preserves that which is left in danger 403. Providences shall at last appear spotless 505. Providential works of God beautiful and orderly 72 Purgatory what 152 Pythagoreans opinion of Musick made by the motion of the heavens 273 Q Questions which in Scripture signifie rebuke and contempt 22 23. These questions what is man and who art thou what they import in Scripture 29 R Rain ordered and distributed by God 203 204. Rain sent to places uninhabited 206. And why 207. God hath rain enough in store for all places 213. Who the father of rain four reasons why God propounded that question to Job 217. God alone is the father of the rain 218 219. Four inferences from it 220 221. Rain got by prayer 260. God only stayeth the clouds from raining 274. He knows when the earth hath had rain enough 277 Ravens why the killing of them near Cities is prohibited 294. The signification of Hebrew and Greek words 295. The raven provided for by God 296. How their young ones cry to God shewed three ways 299. Whence it is that old ravens neglect to feed their young ones 300 Reason mans natural reason is the gift of God 267 Reconciliation to those whom we have wronged necessary 886. What we must do for our reconciliation to God and man 920 Rejoycing at the good of others very good 91. We are apt to rejoyce in that wherein we excel 443. We should rejoyce in nothing but God 443. Relations when nearest natural relations leave us God will not 304. Not to take care of relations how unnatural 408 409 Repentance see sin Bad men think of repentance in eminent dangers 758. 't is a duty to repent in times of danger 759. Repentance or repenting why expressed in the Hebrew by a word signifying both grief and joy 830 831. Repentance hath a twofold change in it 831. Repenting in dust and ashes what it implieth 832. True repentance is joyned with self-abhorrence 835. Five inferences from it 839. What repentance is opened and described in four things 841. 842. New sins call for new repentings 845. Open sins must have open repentance 847. True repentance ends in joy three ways 849. Repentance in God what 929 Reproving implieth two things 507. There are two sorts of reproving commendable and a duty 508. Reproof not to be deferred 855 Reward of wrath 950 Rewarder God is a bountiful rewarder of his servants 949. He rewards both for doing and suffering 958. Inferences from it 951 Rhinoceros what kind of beast 346. Two things noted of him 347 Rhodians how they honoured the Sun and why 123 Riches why said to make themselves wings like an Eagle 475 Righteousness no standing before God in our own righteousness 695. How our righteousness is to be abhorred 836. Why a repenting person abhors it 838 S Sacrifice must be offered by a Priest 881. Sacrifices for sin were appointed by God not devised by man 883. Every sin must have a sacrifice 884. Why the sacrifice was called sin 884. Why seven bullocks c. Sometime commanded for sacrifice 885 Safety to be sought on high 419. Nature teacheth us to provide for it 482 Salt land the same with barren land in Scripture 333 Salvation neither corporal nor spiritual by man 598. God can save alone 599. Three inferences from it 600. To save by a self-power the sole prerogative of God 601. To imagine that we can save our selves how sinful shewed in four things 601 602. Satisfaction what it is 211 Scriptures have dark places in them yet are not dark 30 Sea a twofold restraint of it 93. Two sorts of sea-dooâ—s 96. What the womb is out of which the sea brake 96. Sea how it resembles God in four things 99. The world in three things 99. 100. The heart of man in three things 100. God rules the sea as easily as a Nurse the Child 102. The Lord hath made a place for the sea 104. Doors and bars of the sea what 10â— The sea left to it self would over-flow all 107. God only keeps the sea in compass 108 109. Infereâ—ces from it 110. A fivefold metaphorical sea to which the Lord puts bounds The sea exceeding deep 148. The sea an embleam of obscure and hidden things 149. Three wonders in the fish of the sea 664 Season the Lord appears in the fittest season 6. We should do all in season 248 855 Secrets nothing a secret to God 149. Secrets some man must not search into 156 Seed taken two ways 376 Self-sufficiency of God 700. Comfort and instruction flowing from it 701 702 Servant honourable tâ— be Gods servant 873. Profitable and easie to be so 873 874. Six things shewing who are Gods servants 874 875 Service should be done willingly both to God and man 358. Service should be rewarded 363 Seven a number of
perfection 878 Sight spiritual of Divine truths notes three things 826. Sight of any thing which we much desire pleaseth us much 654. Sight of the eye a clearer evidence than hearing 822 Silence two-fold 754 Sin deprives us of God 140. Great sins hasten judgment 141. A good man may sin often but he will not take leave to sin once 524. Sin heartily repented of is not persisted in 525. Sin dangerous 680. It is a vain thing to sin 685. They who venture upon sin are cruel to themselves 692. No standing before God in sin 696. Sin makes God and many creatures terrible to us 730. Two things shew the greatness of sin 885. Sinners obstinate make war with God 187. Sinners punished with that which is most cross to their lusts 592 Sinning with a high hand what 141 Singing a part of worship an expression of joy 78 Smoak what it is 742 Snow by whom first used to cool his drink 188 Solitude or a solitary life when to be chosen 336 337 Solstices when 127 Soul why mans glory 569 South why the Hawk stretcheth her wings to the South 471. The Allegorical sense of it 471 472 Speaker two things the grace of a speaker 31 Spears of two sorts 762. Spirit a threefold work of the Spirit upon the soul of man 239 Stag or Hart two things observed of him by Naturalists 211 212 Stars morning-stars why so called 76. In what sence stars may be said to sing 78. Three wayes they sing 79. God hath planted a vertue in the stars 238. No man can stop the vertue or influences of the stars from falling upon the earth 239. Two Inferences from it 239 240. Influences of the stars as beneficial to man as their light 240. The stars have their seasons of appearing appointed them by God 247. An Inference from it 248. The stars have a guide 250 Stewards how all are so 28 Stork good and full of pity as her name in the Hebrew signifies 393 Strength great strength needful for great work 367. Great strength may do great work 367. Some have great strength yet not to be trusted with any work 370. How strength may be trusted 370. Three sorts of men to be considered with respect to strength 370 371. A willing mind better than great strength 375. Strength is of God 424. Great strength makes us joyful in sorrows 748 Submission twofold 887. How we must submit even to inferiours whom we have wronged 887 Suffering we have no cause to fear loss by suffering for Christ 952 Sun the light of it wonderfully extensive and diffusive 130. Sun why called the Father of the winds 199. The power of the Sun upon the earth 254. Why the Egyptians pictured a Hawk to represent the Sun five reasons of it 472 Sutableness of any thing to us is the cause of delight 295. 340 Swadling-band of the Sea what 101 Sword hath a terrible face 448. Sword of God any thing that he useth to destroy by 637 T Teaching of God necessary else mans profiteth not 16 820. Gods teaching is effectual for all purposes seven especially 821 Temptation Satan tempts us much to two things 509 Terror good men may sometimes see the terrible appearances of God 532. God will not cease them till he hath brought man to his purpose 532. The terror of God against the wicked 534 728 Thoughts of man all known to God 803. Three Inferences from it 804. Eight sorts of thoughts to be taken heed of 805 Thunder and lightning ordered by God 205. To thunder what it signifieth in Scripture 558. A thunder or mighty power goeth out in a tenfold voice of God 559 560 Time all creatures keep time better than man 118 128. Time weakens the strongest earthly creatures 291 Tongue why called the glory of man 80 569. Tongue hard to be ruled 521 522 Trees some love watry grounds others dry 645 Treasures or Treasuries of any thing what they import 178 179 Trouble hath its time 185. Times of trouble are specially known to and appointed by God 185. God can make a time of trouble either terrible or comfortable 189 Trust what may be given to strength what not 370. Three things required in those we trust with any business 374. Trust in man or in any meer creature a threefold evil issue of it 555 V Vile to be vile notes three things 511. Man at his best estate is vile 512. Man is vile in three respects 513. Four Inferences from it 513 514. The more God reveals himself to us the more our vileness appears to us 518 Visitation twofold 144 Understanding to know iâ— the work of it 57. The understanding is the master-wheel turning all the faculties of the soul 57. Understanding should go before speaking 58. How irrational creatures may be said to have understanding 414 Unicorn what the Hebrew word signifieth 346. Some deny that there is any such beast in the world 347. He is very strong 367. Unicorn by whom and in what resembled 380 381 Union a threefold union or joyning together in one very pleasing to God 914 Unity among the Ministers of the Gosspel how desirable 86 87. Unity a great means of safety 735 Voice of God a tenfold voice of God exceeding powerful 559 560 W War a day of battel and war is eminently a day of trouble 187 Water in the clouds divided to the earth as God pleaseth 203. The Lord orders the waters in four respects 204 Whales cast upon unusual coasts are a warning to them 783 Whirlwind what 11. Three opinions concerning the wâ—irlwind out of which God answered Job 11. Why God answered Job out of a whirlwind 12 13. Wicked men have a title to good things 139. They shall be broken though high and strong 142. They are like the Hawk in three things 474 Wicked who in a large sense who in a strict sense 587 588. The wicked shall come to a sad conclusion 593. God will at last rid the world of wicked men 594. No outward advantage shall secure the wicked from mischief 595 Wilderness of two sorts 207 Will a kind of will in beasts 358. Service should be done with the will 358. A willing mind doth much 375 Will of God the foundation of the earth and of all things 52 53 Will of a godly man against all sin 526 Winds under the c mmand of God 209. The way of the wind a secret 201 Wings of the morning what 129 Wisdom where the seat of it in man 267. Common wisdom is of God 268. Six Inferenceâ— from it 268 269. God makes one man differ from another in wisdom and understanding 416. A great mercy to have wisdom in six things 416 417 Wolf evening wolf why so called 77 Womb what the womb is out of which the Sea issued 96 97 Word of God is and how it is the determiner of controversies 17. Word to be heard with reverence 19. Word of God heard a great mercy 825. Word to be heard with diligence 825. A fourfold work of