your selves despise it It is most just with God that they who loath his will should at last loath their own desires And that the creatures should not long please them who take no heed to please the Creator The least mixture of Gods displeasure sowres our sweetest contents and makes our very pleasures loathsome Where also by the way we may observe the great difference between earthly and spirituall things The best of earthly things used too much or too often grow loathsome Angels food Manna or Quailes will not goe down long with us But Christ the spirituall Manna and all heavenly things the more we have of them and the longer we are dieted with them the more we shall delight in them These will not loath us after two or five or ten or twenty dayes or after a whole months feeding on them No we shall feed on them dayes without number or the whole day of eternity without any loathings use and delight shall never cease or abate appetite shall renew every moment though our enjoyment be but one and the same Yea the Saints shall be so farr from loathing the pleasant cup of glory that they ought not to loath and Christ strengthning them they shall not loath the bitter cup of sorrow Their stomachs shall not turne though dieted more then two or five or ten or twenty dayes with the bread of adversity and the water of affliction That is the first sense of the word in allusion to nauseating at the sight or long use of meate Loath not the chastning of the Lord. Or the word may seeme to carry a reference to physick or medicines as well as meate which you know is many times given in a better pill or in a distastfull potion The sick man is apt to loath the potion brought him and turne his head away from it what he take it no not he He had rather die then drink such a draught he is ready to through it against the wall and spil it one the ground rather then drinke it But then his friends or the Pbysitian perswade with him Be not angry though it â—e loathsome to your stomach yet it is wholesome for your body It is an enemy only to your disease therefore loath it not So here Eliphaz as it were brings in God standing like a Physitian or a father or a tender mother at the beds-side where a sick child oâ— friend lies using many entreaties and perswasive reasons to take a bitter potion my child or my friend doe not loath doe not dispise no nor distast this medicine doe not cast it away though it â—e bitter in your mouth yet take it downe and the effects of it will be sweet to your whole body We find in Scripture afflictions compared to a cup Our Lord Jesus calls all his sufferings for our salvation a cup and it was a cup tempered with the venome and poison with the gall and wormewood of all our sinnes it was a loathsome potion indeed and such as would have turned the stomachs of all men and Angels to have drunke it So much of the first sense of the word as it signifies loathing whether in respect of meates or medicines Now forasmuch as here is a charge given under this notion not to loath chastnings We may observe There is or possibly may be an aversnesse in the best of Gods children for a time from the due entertainement of chastnings He speakes as if most were loth to take them downe and therefore he exhorts not to loath them Even the Lord Jesus Christ so farre as he was partaker of our nature seemed to loath the bitter cup of sufferings Hence he prayed hard once and againe ye a third time Father if it be possible let this cup passe from me Mat. 26. 39. Yet at another time he speakes as if he had been a thirst for that cup and angry with Peter who would have hindred his draught The cup which my Father giveth me shall I not drinke it Joh. 18. 11. and shortly after he indeed drunke it up to the bottome Affliction is also a bitter cup to the Saints and they as Christ pray again and again yea thrice against it because to sense no chastning seemeth joyous but grievous Heb. 12. 11. through grace perswades them to drinke it and faith gives them a tast of much sweetnesse when they have drunke it As a sick man is backward to take a distastfull medicine till his reason hath overcome his sense so a godly man is unwilling to beare afflictions till his faith hath overcome his reason Nor can he quietly endure the troublesome smart of the rod till he is assured of the peaceable fruits of righteousnesse which grow from it to those who are exercised by it When the Apostle is carryed up on those Eagles wings of assurance to see a house not made with hands eternall in the Heavens then he groanes earnestly under the burden of his earthly Tabernacle and desires to die yet looking upon death he saw no forme or comelinesse in that why he should desire it and therefore he seemes to correct himselfe at least to draw his mind plainer with the next drop of his pen Not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that mortality may be swallowed up of life He speakes somewhat like a man who in a time of heate hastily strips himselfe to goe into the water but putting a foot in and finding it cold calls for his cloathes againe The Apostle in a true holy heate of spirit had in his desires almost stript himselfe of his body but putting a foot into the grave he found that so cold that he had no great mind to it and therefore had rather keepe on the cloathing of his body and have a suite of glory over it then lay it downe The Saints desire to live with Christ but in it selfe they desire not to die They had rather their mortality should be swallowed up of eternall life then their temporall life should be swallowed up of mortality They that have grace like not the disunions of nature Now as it is in the case of death which iâ— to the Saints the last and greatest affliction so likewise in the case of all afflictions which are as renewed and lesser deaths Though they embrace and kisse them both in a holy submission to the will of God and in an assured expectation of their own good yet they have nothing pleasing in them much which creates so much loathing that the best doe but need counsell and encouragement to take and digest them And then if there be some aversnesse even in the best from these potions of affliction tempered with the mercy and goodnesse of God no wonder if there be an abhorrence in wicked men from those deadly potions mixt only with his wrath and justice The Psalmist presents the Lord to us with a cup in his hand Psal 75. 8. In the hand of the Lord there is a cup the wine thereof
passe out against him A if he had said Let not God spare me let him write â—s bitter a sentence against me as he pleaseth for my part I would not conceale the word of the most High but I would publish his judgement and sentence against me yea I would praise him and extoll him for it The vulgar Latine to this sence I would not contradict the word of the holy One Let him not spare me for as for my part whatsoever God shall determine and resolve whatsoever word God shall speake concerning me I will never withstand or open my mouth against it This is a truth and carries in it a high frame of holinesse when we can bring our hearts to this that let God write as bitter things against us as he pleaseth we will never contradict his word or decree but our minds and spirits shall submit wholly and fully to his dispositions of us and dispensations towards us It is as clear an evidence of grace to be passive under as to be active in the word of God Not to contradict his writ for our sufferings as not to conceale what he speaks for our practise But I rather stick to the former interpretation Job giving this as a reason of his great confidence in pursuing his petition for death because he had been so sincere holding forth the word of God both in doctrine and in life And so we may observe from it First That the testimony of a good conscience is the best ground of our willingnesse to die That man speakes enough for his willingnesse to die who hath lived speaking and doing the will of God and he is in a very miserable case who hath no other reason why he desireth death but onely because he is in misery This was one but not the only reason why Job desired death he had a reason transcending this I have not concealed the words of the holy One and I know if I have not concealed the word of God God will not conceal his mercy and loving kindness from me David bottoms his hopes of comfort in sad times upon this Psal 40. 9 10. I have preached righteousness in the great Congregation I have not refrained my lips O Lord thou knowest he was not actively or politickly silent I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart if lay there but it was imprisoned or stifl'd there I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvations I have not concealed thy loving kindness and thy truth from the great Congregation Upon this he fals a praying with a mighty spirit of beleeving vers 11. Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me O Lord let thy loving-kindness and thy truth continually preserve me for innumerable evils have compassed me about The remembrance of our active faithfulness to the truth of God will bear up our hearts in hoping for the mercy of God He that in Davids and in Jobs sence can say I have not concealed the words of the most high may triumph over innumerable evils and shall be more then a conquerer over the last and worst of temporal evils death God cannot long conceal his love from them who have not concealed his truth Secondly observe positively That the counsels of God his truths must be revealed God hath secrets which belong not to us but then he puts them not forth in a word nor writes them in his book he keeps his secrets close in the cabinet of his decrees and counsels but what he reveals either in his word or by his works man ought to reveal too It is as dangerous if not more to conceal what God hath made known as to be inquisitive to know what God hath concealed Yea it is as dangerous to hide the word of God as it is to hide our own sins And we equally give glory to God by the profession of the one as by the confession of the other Paul with much earnestnesse professes his integrity about this as was even now toucht Act. 20. Fourthly observe That the study of a godly man is to make the word of God visible I have not concealed that is I have made plain I have revealed or I have published the words of the holy One Much of Jobs mind is concealed under that word I have not concealed For in this negative there is an affirmative as if he had said this hath been my labour and my businesse my work in the world to make known so much of the will of God as I know This was the work of Christ here below Father I have glorified thee upon earth I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do Joh. 17. 4. What this work was he shewes vers 6th I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world Lasty observe That it is a dangerous thing for any man to conceale the word of God either in his opinion or in his practice For it is as if Job had said if I had ever concealed the words of God I had bin but in an ill case at this time God might now justly reveale his wrath against me if I had concealed his word from others or God might justly hide his mercies from me if I had hid his word from men Smothered truths will one time or other set the conscience in a flame and that which Jeremiah spake once concerning his resolution to conceale the word of God and the effect of it will be a truth upon every one who shall set himselfe under a resolution to doe what he under a temptation did Jer. 20. 9. Then I said I will not make mention of him nor speake any more in his name what followes Then his word was in my breast as a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary with forbearing If a gracious heart hath taken up such a sodaine resolution to conceale the word of God he quickly repents of it or smarts under it He findes that word as a burning fire in his bones he is not able to bear it I was weary with forbearing saith the prophet Nothing in the world will burthen the conscience so much as concealed truth and they who have taken a meditated resolution that they will not reveale the word of God may be sure that word will one time or other reveale it selfe to them in the Light and heat of a burning fire seeding upon their consciences I have not concealed the words whose words The words of the Holy One Who is that The Holy One is a periphrasis for God When you hear that Title The holy One you may know who is meant This is a Title too bigge for any but a God All holinesse is in God and God is so holy that properly he onely is Holy Hence the Scripture sets God forth under this as a peculiar attribute The Holy One The Prophets often use this addition or stile The Holy One of Israel The Holy One Is One separate or set apart from all filthinesse
similibus locis Scriptura in telligenda est de statu mortuorum in morte quis consitebitur tibi post resurrectâ—onem pii laudabunt Deum sed ante illam quamdiuerunt in sepulchro nemo confitebitur ei anima corpore simul Drus Iuxta raturae cursum hic loquitur regans rediturum â—ominem ubi hine excessit Reâ—urrectio mortuorum divinum supra naturam opus est quo hic non respicit nutuâ—e tantum consuctum ordinem afferens quomodo intellïgendâ— sunt qâ—aecunque talia in hoc libro in Psalmis alijs Scripturae libris occurrunt Psal 115. 17. The dead praise the not c. there is no work device or businesse at all in the grave Eccl. 9. 10. The hand works not the tongue speakes not The eye shall no more see this good Iob expresses himself by an act of the eye which carries the greatest strength for refreshing to the whole man All the joy and pleasure we shall have in Heaven comes in by sight we shall see him as â—e is The heholding of God in Christ is the beatificall vision much of the good which we have in this world comes in by the sense of seeing and all the good of the next is placed in seeing therefore he doth not say I shall no more taste good or no more feele good but no more see good * Per Analogiâ— ad summi boni possessionem quae in visione consistit aliorum honorum possessio rectè dicitur videre bona because the chiefest good eternal good consists in vision therefore proportionably our present good doth so likewise Sick Hezekiah speaks in the language of sick Job I said I shall not see the Lord even the Lord in the land of the living I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world Isa 38. 11. When Hezekiah thought he should die he describes the state of the dead by a deprivation of all those comforts which are taken in by the sight of the eye But you wil say how saith he I shal not see the Lord He doth not say absolutely I shall not see the Lord But with a modification thus I shall not see the Lord even the Lord in the land of the living But did Hezekiah see the Lord in the land of the living or while he lived Yes as Moses saw him that was invisible so did Hezekiah God makes himself visible to the Saints in this life Though God cannot be seen in his essence in Heaven much lesse on earth yet he is seen in his works in the acts of his providence and in his ordinances we may see the goings of God in the Sanctuary and behold the beauty of the Lord while we enquire in his Temple Psalm 27. 4. So that when Hezekiah saith I shall not see the Lord in the land of the living his meaning is I shall not behold God in his great works and in the ordinances of his holy worship and in the Congregations of his holy people In all these God is visible and most in the last and therefore he saith I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world God is visible in all creatures but most in man and among men most in his Saints and among his Saints most when they meet in the comely order of his house and worship The ignorant and unlearned coming into such a sacred throng sees so much of God that he is convinced and goes away reporting that God is in them of a truth In Christ is seen the brightnesse of his Fathers glory and in the Saints much of the beauty of it is seen Christ is the express image of his person and in the Saints so meeting much of his image is expressed First in that Job betakes himself to God O remember that my life is wind c. Observe That In our distresses it is better to cry to God then to complaine to creatures God is usually the last but he is alwayes the best refuge when we have told over the story of our sorrowes and sad condition and powr'd our wants into the bosomes of our most faithfull friends yet this Apostrophe is sweetest to the soul when we can turn unto God O remember me It is said of Hezekiah in his sicknesse that he turned himself unto the wall and prayed he turned from the people from those that were about his bed unto the wall why what was the wall to him Or what could the wall doe for him surely nothing As good turne to an Idol for helpe or ease as to a wall yea such a turn to the wall turnes the wall into an idol Good Hezekiah had no thought of the wall nor had he any message to any image hanging there But as 't is probable many of his loving Subjects and servants were weeping about the bed of their sicke King and he had been discoursing of his disease and telling them of his sicknesse but at last he turns to the wall that is he leaves speaking to the company and turnes away from them that he might have communion with God and his first word of prayer is the same with Jobs Remember now O Lord Isa 38. 3. Creatures are but creatures and when they have done their best for us it may be they can doe no good for us when they have tried all their skill and all their strength and stirred the utmost of their abilities to give us counsell and ease we must say to them all stand by and come to Iobs Turne O Lord remember That man is most to be bemoaned who can make his moane to man only He who knows not how to complaine to God or to speake out his sorrowes and his griefes in the eare of Christ shall gaine little though he receive much by complaining to the creature But so long as we have a God to turne to and spread our cause before though men turne from us yea though they turne against us and forget us yet it is enough that we have said O Lord remember Secondly from the matter which Iob puts God in mind of namely his naturall frailty and fleeting condition that he was a passing wind Observe It is an argument moving the Lord to compassion to mind him of the frailty of our condition There is no argument from our selves so effectuall to draw out the bowels of Gods compassions toward us either in regard of our spirituall or temporall estate as this to tell him how fraile we are The Psalmist shewes this the motive of mercy often to that ancient people the Jewes Psal 78. 38. He being full of compassion forgave their iniquity and destroyed them not yea many a time turned he his anger away and did not stirre up all his wrath But what moved the Lord to deale thus with his people What was it out of himselfe We know the inward moving cause was his own free-grace but what did he look upon abroad in the creature He remembred that they were but flesh
Amos 5. Non ultra dissimulabo ei scelera tua Pang Merc. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 your wickedness or your sin and that carries a fair sense for when a man pardons or will not punish an offence he seemes to take no notice of it for that properly is to dissemble a thing as simulation is to pretend that which is not so dissimulation is to take no notice or not to hold forth that which is God passeth by and dissembles the sins of men in a gracious way when he will not observe or look upon them to question or punish them The Greek word Matth. 26. 39. answereth this Hebrew where our Lord Christ ptayeth earnestly about the removal of the cup Father saith he if it be possible let this cup pass away from me In the same sense that sin is said to pass away the cup of Gods displeasure and wrath passes also away when sin is pardoned therefore Christ prayed thrice that the cup might pass away from him that he might not be dealt with as a sinner but that there might be a course found out to spare him and save the glory of his fathers justice Yet he submits not my will but thy will be done if it must not passe away I am contented it should not passe Thus far we have seen what is meant by pardoning and taking away A word upon those two terms transgression and iniquity which are the objects on which pardoning mercy workes Why doest thou not pardon my transgression and put away mine iniquity Trangression and iniquity are words of great significancy for in them all manner of sins especially sins of a greater stature are comprehended The former transgression notes a violation of the Commands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Propriè rebellio peccatum ex superbia Non simplex qualiscunque sed malitiosa temeraria transgressio of God with a high hand or a rebellion of the mind when pride of spirit shews it self very much There is a spice of pride in every sin Because of pride saith Solomon cometh contention all the contentions we maintain against the word and will of God rise from the pride of our own hearts because we cannot submit to the will of God but in some sins pride holds up her head more proudly Such sins this word notes it is not simply any sin but sin very proudly and rebelliously committed The latter word Iniquity imports the crookedness and inequality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Incurvationem declinationem à recta via ad animum translata significat per versitatem melitiam Curvi mores of a thing when it turns this way or that way and extends not in a straite and right line Hence it is applyed to the vitiosity and perverseness to the crookedness and inequality of mans nature Our nature is a crooked peece and that makes all the crookedness in our lives The Latines speak so in a moral sence they call ill manners and ill manner'd men crooked men and crooked manners David Psal 51. 5. bewaileth his birth sin under this notion I was born in iniquity And he that was first borne in the world applied this word to himself saying my iniquity the Peccata denotat quae fiunt ex 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 destinata malitia seu proposito cum sc mens videt quod aequū est tamen indulgens cupiditatibus sequitur deteriora Moller in Psal 106 6. perverseness the crookedness of my waies is greater than can be forgiven or made straight Gen. 4. 13. So that this word also take it strictly implies more than a bare act of sin arising from infirmity weakness or inanimad vertency it rather notes those sins which are committed from a crooked purpose from an ill or false bent of the heart when the mind sees that which is right and good just and straite and yet turns to crooked paths and follows that which is perverse and worse Take one thing further This word in Scripture signifies not only the act of such sins but secondly the punishment of them Psal 31. 10. Gen. 19. 15. And thirdly it is put for the means of expiation or pardon Hos 4. 8. They eat up the sin of my people and they set their heart on their iniquity But how did the Priests eat up the sin and set their hearts on the iniquity of the people Sin can make us but a hungry banquet The text bears variety of interpretations But to the point in hand sin is here put for the sacrifices offered up for sin out of divers of which the Priests had a portion for themselves to eat so that the Prophet here describes the horrible prophaneness of those degenerate Priests who set their hearts upon the sacrifices because themselves were fed by them not because the people came to seek the favour of God and make their peace by them when they had sinned As Physitians may be said to eat the diseases of the people and set their hearts upon their sicknesses when they because their own gain is in it are pleased to hear of spreading sicknesses c. Or as Lawyers eat the contentions and quarrels of the people when they are glad to hear of Suits c. because they grow rich by it So those base-spirited Priests were said to eat the sins of the People and set their hearts on their iniquities because they were glad to have of a multitude of sacrifices their provisions being inlarg'd by them So that then iniquity is the sacrifice for iniquity in which sense also Christ is said to be made sin for us namely a sacrifice for sin 1 Cor. 5. 21. From the words thus opened we may observe First to whom Job addresseth himself for pardon is it not unto God And why doest not thou pardon my transgression God onely can pardon sin Pardon is his act his proper and peculiar act he can do it and none can but he We read it among his royal Titles Exod. 34. 7. the Name of God is proclaimed in this stile The Lord the Lord God mercifull and gratious long suffering and abundant in goodness and in truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression an sin Pardoning sin is put the last of those seven attributes in which the Lord manifested himself to Moses as being that wherein all the former are summ'd up and into which they conveigh their several blessings to make man compleatly blessed or to shew that none can be a pardoner of sin but he who is vested with all those foregoing glorious titles and therefore none but God alone Hence the Prophet Micah chap. 7. ver 18. puts the question and challenges all the world Who is a God like unto thee pardoning iniquity Shew me one if you can there is no sin-pardoning God besides thee Who is a God like unto thee pardoning As if the Prophet had said some will be or have been offering at this work but they all have been or will be found
It was in the night and in that part of the night when deepe sleepe falleth on men that is in the former part or beginning of the night for the first sleepe is the deepe sleepe and we use to say that a man especially a weary hard-wrought man is in a dead sleepe when hee is in his first sleepe The word signifies an extraordinary sleepe It is used Gen. 2. 21. where it is said that God caused a deepe sleepe to fall upon Adam when he took out his rib and formed the woman The Seventy translate it extasie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some compare it to a Lethargie a man in a Lethargie can hardly be awakened Such a sleepe as Saul was in 1 Sam. 26. 12 when David came into the trench and took away the Speare and the Cruse of water from his bolster Such an one as Jonas was in while the ship was almost sunke with the tempest Jonah 1. 5. In both places we have this originall word At the time when such sleepe sals on wearied man Eliphaz had this vision And be speaks very Tempus erat quo prima quies morâ—alibus aegris Incipiâ— dono Divum gratissima seâ—pâ—t In somnis ecce ante occulos maestissimus Hector Visus adesse mihi Vâ—â—g 20. Aeniad elegantly that this deepe sleepe falleth on men because such sleepe seems to oppresse the spirits as a heavie weight the body it fals as heavie as Lead upon all a mans senses and overcomes them we say ordinarily a man fals asleepe and it is as true of sleep that it fals upon a man and fals with such a weight that man is not able to stand under it We say also a men is heavie to sleep for sleep like a heavie thing comes down upon him and then down comes he Heathen Poets tell us that at this time they had visions or delusions rather Satan imitates God in what he can that he may deceive with better successe We may abserve from hence First Seeing Eliphaz had this vision when deep sleep falleth upon men that the power of Gods Spirit works through all naturall impediments when tired nature is willing to fall or cannot stay it selfe from falling into a deep sleep then God can awaken us with his visions and make us see when we cannot hold open our eyes When God will reveale his minde to the soule he overcomes the imperfections of the body Sleepinesse is an imperfection if a man be sleepy he is unfit to hear While the eye is thus shut the eare cannot be open That sleeper in the Acts fell down dead while Paul was preaching Yet when God comes by his mighty power and Spirit though a mans eare be shut he can break through and get into his heart The Word hath taken some napping and nodding Yea God breaks in by his Almighty power in the revelations of his will not only when men are in a dead naturall sleep but when they are in a sleep of spirituall death The Word breaks open the barres of the grave and loosens John 5. 25. the bands of death Secondly for as much as Eliphaz had this vision when deep sleep falleth on men himselfe being kept awake or waking Observe That when we are most retired from the world then we are most fit to have and usually have most communion with God If a man would but abridge himselfe of sleep and wake with holy thoughts when deep sleep falleth upon sorrowful labouring men he might be entertained with visions from God though not such visions as Eliphaz and others of the Saints have had yet visions he might have Every time God communicates himself to the soul there is a vision of love or mercy or power somwhat of God in his nature or in his will is shewed unto us David shewes us divine work when we goe to rest The bed is not all for sleep Commune with your owne heart upon your bed and be still Psal 4. Be still or quiet and then commune with your hearts and if you will commune with your hearts God will come and commune with your hearts too his Spirit will give you a loving visite and visions of his love When Jacob fearing the rage of his brother had put himselfe into the best posture of defence he could and had sent his wives and children his servants and his flocks over the River the Text saith Gen. 32. 24. that Jacob was left alone which is not to be understood as if his company had left or deserted him Jacobs solitarinesse was not passive but elective He having disposed of all his family withdrew himself and stayed alone and what then then he had a vision indeed Then there wrestled a man with him untill the breaking of the day he spent not the night in carking and caring what should become of him the morrow No he retires to pray for a blessing upon his former cares and a blessing he obtains It is observable also concerning Isaac Gen. 24. 36. that he went out into the fields to meditate or as others read it to pray Some foolishly glosse upon it that Isaac being delighted in Astronomy went out to contemplate on the Stars But I believe the walk of Isaac's spirit was above the Stars It is a sweet O sancta anima sola esto ut soli omnium serves reipsam quem ex omnibus tibi elâ—gisti An nescis â—e verecunduni hâ—â—ere spoâ—â—um c. Bernard expression of Bernard If thou wouldest meet Christ in speciall communion doe thou of tentimes retire thy selfe Oh chast and lovely soule doest thou not know thou hast a modest Spouse that will not come to thee in the throng of worldly company and employment Come my beloved saith the Spouse Cant. 7. 11. let us goe forth into the fields and lodge in the villages Let us get from the tumult of the Creature He loves to find his Spouse alone retired into a Chamber or into a Closet or in the fields and Groves in the Gardens and shady walks or in thoughts upon thy bed having ihe Curtains drawn and all the world shut out Some have visions in the night when deep sleep falleth upon men but what are their visions surely they are visions of darknes not of light visions of Hell rather then visions of Heaven The Proplet complains of such who devise evill upon their beds they plot and contrive mischief upon their beds or they have visions of uncleannesse visions of covetousnesse visions of oppression black infernall visions How much better is it to be blind then to have such visions to be asleep then have such waking thoughts But to lye awake in our beds with thoughts of Christ is far more sweet then the sweetest sleep And in the day could we make more vacations from the world we should have more businesse in Heaven Most men are mudding in the earth all day and if they wake in the night earthly care keeps them awake There are many thousands whom
defence is dismayed That word which is common to all places of safety being supposed by our translators as the proper name of some one place of more eminent safety Further although this word Exalted implies safety yet in the Originall we have two words They are exalted to safetie He that is exalted according to the sence of that word is safe But to shew the compleatnesse of their safety safety or salvation is expressed He is exalted to safety with salvation or he is safely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Endyadis exalted in safety It is a full and a perfect safety to which God exalts his mourners and oppressed servants They are as safe as salvation it selfe can make them That 's the force of the Hebraisme From the former clause of the verse we may observe First That advancement is the gift of God He setteth on high those that are low Psal 75. 6 7. Promotion commeth neither from the East nor from the West nor from the South neither this way nor that way nor any way of man but God putteth downe one and setteth up another When a man is advanced by the favour of a Prince it is God that setteth him up If a man be advanced by the vote of the people yet it is God that setteth him up Though a man be advanced by that which may seeme to have most contingency in it by a lot yet it is God that setteth him up Prov. 16. 33. The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. The Lord gives speciall direction to mans peradventure and certainly determines what we call contingent Secondly observe They that are low and mourning are nearest to exaltation and safety To be very low it is to be as it were in a due posture and readinesse to be exalted very high He setteth the low on high Luk. 1. 51. He hath put downe the mighty from their seate and hath exalted the humble and meeke or hath exalted the lowly and the meeke We are not to understand it onely of those who are low that is lowly in minde that frame of heart which is wrought above in the highest heavens is in this sense lowest upon the earth but we may understand it likewise of those who are low in their estates many that are low in mind may be high in place a man may have aboundance of humility in the height of outward eminency Therefore I say we must take in both Before honour goes humility as a high mind before a fall Prov. 15. 33. And Psal 113. 6 7. He raiseth up the poore out of the dust and listeth the needy out of the dunghill that he may set him with Princes c. And as it is in reference to particular persons so to the Church and people of God in generall when they are low then look for their raising up The Scripture is frequent in this Deut. 32. 36. Psal 12. 6. Psal 102. 13. And in that notable place Isa 33. 9 10. The Ambassadours of peace weepe bitterly the earth mourneth and Lebanon languisheth and Carmel shakes off her fruit c. All places every creature is brought in mourning with that mourning people When it was thus with them Now will I arise saith the Lord now will I be exalted now will I lift up my selfe There are three Nowes for it to note That the speciall Now of their exaltation But the text saith God would then be exalted Was he brought low God is alwayes alike exalted in himselfe but he is not alwayes alike exalted in his people therefore when he saith now will I be exalted the meaning is I will exalt this people who are low that my name may be exalted and lifted up in the sight of all people Therefore our low estate should be so farre from sinking that it should lift up our faith in beleeving deliverance and exaltation A low estate is a great advantage for faith faith hath surest footing when we lye prostrate upon the ground There faith stands firmest because there faith meets with most promises Promises are the foundation of faith The people of God have never so much of the word about them as when they have least of the world about them The covenant sits closest to us when we are divested of the creature When the river is at the lowest ebbe we are sure the tide is comming in The night is darkest a little before day breakes When the dayes are shortest and the winter sharpest then the spring of mercy is at hand As the highest flourish of ungodly ones is the immediate forerunner of their downfall Psal 92. 7. When the wicked spring as the grasse what then would you know the meaning of it The next words are a comment upon the former It is that they shall be destroyed for ever So the lowest downfall of the godly is usually the immediate forerunner of their advancement When the godly wither as the grasse the interpretation of it is That they shall flourish for ever Observe in the third place from that word exalted to safety That God can set his people on high beyond the reach of all their enemies Beyond the reach of their heads or counsels and beyond the reach of their hands and swords Isa 33. 16. The munitions of rockes shall be their place of defence He setteth them on high that no ladders can be found long enough to scale these rocks nor any Artillery or engine strong enough to batter them downe And least any should say but we will hold the siege till we starve them out it followes in the text Bread shall be given him his waters shall be sure I remember a story in Alexanders warres that when he came to besiege the Sogdians a people who dwelt upon a rock or had the literall munition of rocks for their defence they jeered him and asked him whether his Souldiers had wings or no Unlesse your Souldiers can fly in the ayre we feare you not It is a most certaine truth when God exalts a people he can set them upon a rock so high that unlesse their adversaries have wings and those more then Eagles wings to soare higher then God himselfe they are beyond annoyance He carries his owne upon Eagles wings what wings then must they have who get above his people There are these two things about which the thoughts of men are most conversant The one is to be set on high the other is to be set in safety They both meet in the mercy here promised He setteth on high those that are low that 's their honour He exalts them to safety that 's their comfort The first thoughts of men are spent to get a great estate but their next thoughts are to keep and protect it Experience hath often shewed us the men of the world rolling riches and Titles together into a mountaine but it hath been a mountain of snow one hot day hath melted all down The mountain of outward blessings upon
they not perceive when they see The Prophet tels us because the Lord had said Shut their eyes least they see The work of a Prophet is to open eys but when men wilfuly shut their eys then God shuts them judicially and blinds them with light The Apostle quoting this text Acts 28. 27 expounds it so Their eyes have they closed least they should see for this God closed them that they could not see Paul was preaching and he preached Christ the true light The Sun of righteousnesse Behold the misery spoken of in this text They met with darknes in the day time This is the condemnation that light is come into the world and men love darknes rather than light Why love they darknesse Because they see not the light And because they see not the light therefore they cannot love it It is impossible to see the light the beautifull face of the truth as it is revealed in Christ and not to love it A Heathen said if vertue much more if Gospell truth were seen every eye would be taken and every heart led captive by it A great part of the world hath not this light to see and the greatest part of those who have this light see it not They must needs meet with darknesse who are darknesse in the day-time And they must grope at noon day as in the night who are night If men heare the law and the testimony and neither speake nor doe according to that word it is as the Prophet gives the reason because there is no light in them or as the Hebrew No Morning in them Isa 8. 20. Till the day starr arises in our hearts the day before our eyes is night Secondly observe Plain things are often obscure to the wisest and most knowing men They grope at noon day as in the night That which a man may see with halfe an eye as we say these men who thinke themselves All eye cannot see Men of acute and sagacious understandings men quick-sighted like Eagles prove as dull as Beetles Owles and Bats see in the darke better then in the light And in a sense it is true of these they can see about the works of darknesse but the light of holinesse and justice they cannot see The reason is given in that of Christ The light that is in them is darknesse no wonder then if the light without them be darknes if the inward light the light that iâ— in them be darknesse how great is that darknesse so great that it quite darkens the outward light Inward darkness is to outward light as a great outward light is to a small one in regard of our use or benefit it extinguishes and overcomes it Hence these men cannot see the plainest object in the clearest light Light shineth in darknes and the darknes comprehendeth it not Joh. 1. 5. Christ breaks forth into a vehement gratulation to his Father Mat. 11. 25. I thanke thee O Father Lord of heaven nnd earth because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes The wise and prudent could not see so much as children They were so wise in their own conceits that they could not conceive the things of God As it is in spirituals so likewise in regard of civill counsels God hides wisedome from the wise and understanding from the prudent They shall not be able to doe or see what a child might have done or seen they shall doe such things and so absurdly that a child would not do them Mysteries are plain when the Lord opens and plainest things are mysterious when he shuts the eyes of our understanding Thus farre Eliphaz hath set forth the power and justice of God against subtill crafty counsellours Now he shews the opposite effect of his power and goodnesse Vers 15. But he saveth the poore from the Sword from their mouth and from the hand of the mighty But he saveth the poor It is very observeable in Scripture that usually if not alwayes after the mention of judgement and wrath upon the wicked the mercy goodnesse and love of God unto his own people are represented least any should thinke that judgement is a worke wherein God delighteth he quickly passeth from it and concludes in what he delighteth Mercy As he retains not his anger for ever towards his own people so he stay â—s not long upon the description of his anger against his enemies because he delighteth in mercy Mich. 7. 18 A subject of mercy is most pleasant both to the hand and pen of the Lord. He wishes rather to write in hony than in gall and to draw golden lines of love then bloudy lines of wrath Satan is a Destroyer and he doth nothing but destroy and pull down The Lord destroyeth and he pulleth down he defeats and disappointeth but he hath another worke besides he saves and delivers he builds up and revives the hopes of his people He saveth the poore These poore are Gods poore Some may be called the Devils poore for they have done his worke and he hath given them poverty for their wages Satan will give all his hirelings full pay when they die The wages of sin is death while they live many of them receive only the earnest of it poverty and trouble All that are poore stand not under the rich influences of this promise He saveth the poore Wicked poore are no more under Gods protection then wicked oppressouâ—s or wicked rich men are This poore man cryed and the Lord heard Ps 34. 6. Not every or any poore man Some poor men may cry and the Lord heare them no more then he did the cry of Dives the rich man in hell Luk. 16. Forget not the Congregation of thy poore Psal 74. 19 Thy poore by way of discrimination There may be a greater distance between poore and poore then there is between poore and rich There are many ragged regiments Congregations of poore whom the Lord will forget for ever But his poore shall be saved And these poore are of two sorts either poore in regard of wealth and outward substance or poor in regard of friends or outward assistance A rich man especially a godly rich man may be in a poore case destitute and forsaken wanting patronage and protection God saveth his poore in both notions both those that have no friends and those that have no estates The Hebrew word for Poor springs from a root signifying desire 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radiâ—e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est desiderare quasi pauper omnia deâ—ideret cum nihil habeat inde Ebion haerâ—tiâ—us quasi mentis inteligentiae inops Schiud Quia omnibus indiget omnia cupit gâ—ata habeâ— Rab. Da. and the reason is because poore men are commonly rich in desires They that are full of sensible wants are full of earnest wishings They that are emptiâ—st of enjoyments are fullest of hopes and longings And the reason why poverty of spirit in our spirituall
unto us a place of broad rivers A river that shall not be drawn dry or sluced out as Euphrates was by Cyrus when he took Babylon but shall sill its bankes and shoares perpetually that is the Lord will be there a perpetual defence A river that shall never be impoverish'd but shall keep a full stock and treasure of streames and waters Dalilah had her name from this root and it carries an elegant allusion to the qualities of all Dalilahs or insinuating lascivious women they drayne the strength exhaust the purses dry up the credit wast the All of the mightiest Sampsons whose hearts are entangled by their flatteries or ensnared by their beauties The poore have hope The word hath been opened at the 6th verse of this Chapter to note strong and earnest expectation The poore man observing the wonders which God doth in the world cannot be out of hope though he be out of possession And though his own strength be gone yet he lives upon the strength of Christ he hopes strongly that 's the force of the word when he feeles no strength When I am weake saith the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 12. 10. then am I strong that is I am strongest through hope in Christ when I am weakest through sense in my selfe More distinctly this hope may be taken two wayes 1. For the object or thing hoped for 2. For the act or grace of hope In the former notion of hope the sense runnes thus God having taken the wise in their own craftinesse and disappointed the device of the crafty having delivered the poore from the sword from their mouth and from the hand of the mighty now the poor hath the thing he looked for the thing he prayed for the thing for which he hath been seeking and waiting upon God So the poore hath hope that is he hath the mercy he expected salvation from the sword c. he is made partaker of his hope by those glorious administrations of the justice and mercy of God Hence observe First Gods poore hope for good in the worst times When deliverance comes these poore have but that which they looked for they looked for light when they were in the darkest condition When they were exhausted they knew God was not exhausted and when they were drawn dry they knew the Lord was not though their treasure was spent yet they were assured the treasury of Heaven was full When strength is gone and money is gone and friends are gone yet God is not gone and therefore they know the good may come which they hope for Turne ye to the strong holds ye priseners of hope saith the Prophet Zech. 9. 12. The people of God though prisoners are yet prisoners of hope that is they have hope of deliverance and enlargement in their greatest streights The power of God is never imprison'd and while his people can make this out their spirits are not Secondly observe It is no vain thing to hope in God The poore hath his hope The Prophet brings in the Jewes thus trumphing in God Isa 25. 9. And it shall be said in that day What day was that The former verse points it out A day wherein death shall be swallowed up in victory wherein teares shall be wiped away from off all faces c. And in that day the people of God shall thus boast of God and as it were shewing him to the world shall say Loe this is our God we have waited for him and he will save us This is the Lord we have waited for him we will be glad and rejoyce in his salvation vaine hopes fill our face with shame but hopes fulfilled fill our hearts with rejoycing The poore hath his hope he can shew his hope 't is visible As Hannah when she came to present her Son unto Eli For this child I prayed as if she should say Sir here is my prayer you could not heare my prayer when I was in the Temple you thought I was drunken but now you may see my prayer here it is for this child I prayed and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asâ—ed of him 1 Sam. 1. 27. So the soule saith In such a time of trouble personall or nationall I was praying and seeking God I was beleeving and hoping men knew not understood not the workings of my soule toward Christ yet now they may see them here is the thing I prayed for here is that I hoped for So first the poore hath hope Secondly The poore hath hope that is the grace of hope or the gracious actings of hope and taking it so the sense rises thus So that is God having done such great things in disappointing the devices of the crafty and in saving his poore by this meanes the poore come to have hope the grace of hope strengthned and confirmed in them Hence observe That The experience we have of Gods power and mercy in saving us out of former troubles breeds and nourishes hope against future times of trouble So the poore hath hope Though the poore man was in a hopelesse condition before yet now seeing the works of God he hath hope laid up for ever Psal 64. 9 10. All men shall feare and declare the workes of God for they shall wisely consider of this thing And what followes The righteous shall be glad in the Lord and trust in him that is if they have fail'd in their trust hâ—â—etofore and not given God honour by confiding in him yet these wonderfull works of God of which he speakes in that Psalme worke this hope Rom. 5. 4. Tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope Graces have a generation one from another though all have but one generation from Christ at once We have here the genealogy of hope in three descents Experience is the next or immediate parent of hope So the poore hath hope Thus it is begotten 2 Cor. 1. 10. God who hath delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in him we trust that he will yet deliver us An armed daring Goliah should be looked upon as vanquisht already when we can but remember a vanquisht Lion and a Beare Againe The poore hath hope He doth not say God having thus destroyed the ungodly and saved his own people from the sword c. now they have liberty now they have peace now they have aboundance of riches and prosperity but he makes this the issue now they have hope Whence note That Hope is a greater and better possession unto the people of God here than all the great and good things which they possesse Put as much into their hands us you can there is more than that put in their hearts by hope The poore hath hope he lookes over all his possessions and pitcheth upon expectation as his portion The estate which a beleever hath in the promises is more than the estate he hath in possession Riches in the promise is better than riches in the chest And so the deliverances and
thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh This verse contains a second paire of evills First The scourge of the tongue Secondly Destruction Two things are here to be enquired into about the former 1. What is meant by the scourge of the tongue 2. What it is to be hid from it The scourge of the tongue Mr Broughton reades it thus Quo tempore lingua flâ—gallabit homines Drus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In piel est detrahare vel nocere lingua Thou shalt be delivered or thou shalt be hid when the tongue whippeth And another to the same serce At what time the tongue shall be scourging of men thou shalt be secured from it And that word Leshon the tongue in Piel signifies to detract to traduce or slander the same word is used both for the instrument of the tongue and one of the worst acts of the tongue calumination or we may render it according to the exact lettter of the Hebrew elegancy to Betongue a man We use such a kind of speaking in our language as to strike a man with a cudgell or a Cane-staffe is to cudgel or cane a man and if a man be shot with a pistol we say he was pistol'd so a man smitten with anothers tongue is said in the Hebrew to be Betongu'd or such an one hath betongu'd him We leave the Verbe and translate by the Nowne From the scourge of the tongue In construction Beth In is often rendred 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saepe redditur per Min 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Min From as Grammarians know Thou shalt love the Lord thy God in all thy heart or from thy whole heart or from the heart-root So here Thou shalt be hid in the scourge that is thou shalt be hid from the scourge when the tongue is lashing and whipping thou shalt be hid from the lash and scourge of tongues But what may we understand by this scourge of the tongue First Some take it for publique accusations before a Judge or Magistrate Many scourge their brethren at the Tribunal of Princes Rev. 12. That accuser of the brethren that traducer the Devill is conceived to make those accusations by his agents in those times before the heathen Emperours against the Christians The Christians in that age were extreamly scourged by malignant and malevolent tongues tongues set on fire of hell as the Apostle James speaks Chap. 3. 6. And so the scourge of the tongue may be that punishment which they by false accusations obtained against the innocent their tongues got judgement against them sometimes to be scourged or whipt therefore also that very work of the tongue is well called scourging Our Lord Jesus was crucified upon the tongues of the Jewes before he was crucified upon the crosse by the Romans The Jewes cryed out first crucifie him crucifie him here was the crosse of the tongue The conspirators against Jeremiah advise thus Chap. 18. 18. Let us smite him with the tongue that is let us accuse him to the King that he may Accusemus eum apud regem omni industria ratione efficiamus ut publica sententia vapuleâ— Flagellum linguae est poena in judcio constituâ—a postulata fieri à calumniatoribus be smitten by a publick sentence In this sence a man is imprisoned by the tongue banished by the tongue hang'd and burn'd by the tongue that is the tongue doth all these virtually or vitiously rather by false accusations causing these things to be done actually and formally Secondly Others interpret the scourge of the tongue to be those terrible and dreadfull reports which amaze lash and afflict the spirit about the approach of dangers As when a report is rung in the eare that an invading enemy spoylers and plunderers arm'd with power and malice are at hand to take away estates liberties and lives How many have bin beaten about the ears and scourg'd with such Alarums Jer. 50. 43. it is said The King of Babylon hath heard the report of them what report was it and of whom A spie rides in and kills the King with his tongue strikes him thorough with his tongue before he was toucht with the sword of the Medes and Persians How He brought him a sad report that the enemy was upon his march then it follows The King of Babylon hath heard the report of them and his hands waxed feeble anguish took hold of him and pangs as of a woman in travell We find the like expression Isa 28. 18 19. They who had slighted the judgements of God and said when the overflowing scourge shall passe thorough it should not come neare them even these saith God shall be vext when they doe but heare of a scourge coming neare I will send a report and it shall passe over morning by morning and it shall travell by day and by night and what shall be the effect of it It shall be a vexation saith the Lord onely to understand the report You shall not onely be vexed when the enemy is come and thrusts a sword into your bowells and fire into your houses but you shall be vext at the noise of his coming it shall be a vexation to you to heare the report It is a great mercy to be delivered and hid from this scourge of the tongue and this is promised him who feares God Psal 112. 7. No evill tydings shall make him afraid A heart which hath trembled at the voice of God instructing him shall not tremble at the voice of men reporting evill to him Many a man is more afraid than hurt and more perplexed with the hearing of evill tydings then others are with seeing or feeling the evill The Lord threatens Ely to doe such a thing in Israel and against his house that both the eares of him that hears shall tingle 1 Sam. 3. 11. But Thirdly Some translate thus He shall be hidde when the Quidam cum vâ—gâ—bitur Imguae ut sit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Drus Merc. tongue wandreth or walketh about for the same word which signifies a scourge by the alteration of a point in the Hebrew signifies to run to and fro It is the word used in the first Chapter where Satan reports himselfe A Goer to and fro about the earth There is an expression Psalm 73. 9. sutable to this sense though the Originall word be not the same They set their mouth a-against the Heavens and their tongue walketh thorow the earth The tongues of many take long journeyes while themselves sit still Kings are said to have long hands but many of their subjects have long tongues and strike their brethren with them many hundreds of miles off the tongue travels from towne to towne from City to City and scourgeth one here and there another And while these men send their tongues about a wandring to wound here and there this and that mans credit He is a happy man that can be hid from them
and when he wills he can reach the life Secondly observe If God put out his power no creature can stand before it If God doe but let loose his hand man is cut off presently It is but as a little twigge or as grasse before the sith or before a sword there is no more in it As when God openeth the hand of his mercy he satisfieth the desire of every living thing Psal 145. 2. So when God looseth the hand of his judgements he takes away the life and comforts of every living thing God hath a hand full of blessings and mercies if he please but to open that hand all things are filled with comfort God hath another hand full of judgments and afflictions if he open or loosen that all creatures fall before him like a withered leafe The reason why the enemies of God live and are mighty is because God doth not fully loosen his hand against them if he would but unprison his power and let out his hand he can with ease destroy and cut them off in a moment Therefore the prophet prayes but for this one thing Psalm 74. 11. That God would pluck his hand out of his bosome why with drawest thou thy hand even thy right hand pluck it out of thy bosome Lord saith he this is the reason why enemies yet prevail thy hand is tyed up that is Thine owe act hath tyed up thy hand thy will stayes thy power or thy power is hid in thy will Gods power kept in by his will is his hand in his bosome Among men a hand in the bosome is the embleme of sloth Prov 19 24. Man hides his hand in his bosome because he will not be at the paines to worke God is said to hide his hand in his bosome when it is not his will and pleasure to work therefore he saith Lord if thou wouldest but let loose and put out thy hand all mine enemies shall be consumed And that 's the reason why there are such various dispensations of providence in these times when the enemy prevailes God with draweth his hand he keepeth his hand in his bosome And when at any time his servants have victorie it is because his hand hath liberty If God holds his hand men stretch forth theirs in vain Observe Thirdly Assurance of a better life will carry the soule with joy through the sorrows and bitterest pains of death It was not any Stoical apathy or ignorant regardlessenesse of life which raised the heart of Job to these desires He did not invite his end like a Roman or a philosopher or by the height and gallantry of naturall courage set the world at nought and bid defiance to destruction But he had laid up a good foundation against this day upon this he builds his confidence He knew as Paul that he had Christ while he lived and should have gaine when he dyed The joy which was set before him made him over-look the crosse which was before him So much of his request now he tels us the consequence or effect it would have upon him in case it were granted Vers 10. Then should I yet have comfort yet I would harden my selfe in sorrow Let him not spare for I have not concealed the words of the holy One Then should I yet have comfort If I had but this suit granted I were refreshed notwithstanding all my sorrows the very hope of death would revive me Nothing doth so much refresh the soule as the hearing of a Prayer and the grant of a desire when desire cometh it is as a tree of life saith Solomon therefore Job might well say when my longing comes I shall have comfort and lest any should think that as David would not drinke the water he so longed for when it was brought unto him So when the cup of death should be brought to Job he might put it off somewhat upon those termes which David did and say I will not drinke it for it is my bloud my death therefore he adds Yea I would harden my self in sorrow As if he had said though some call hastily for death and repent with as much haste when death comes yet not I I would harden my selfe c. The Hebrew to harden hath a three-fold signification among the Jewish writers though it be used but this once onely in all the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Significat 1. Solidare roborare 2. Calefarere urere 3 Orare suppliciter praecari Scripture And hence there is a three-fold interpretation of these words I would harden my selfe in sorrow It signifies 1 To Pray or to beseech 2 To heat or to Warm yea to scorch and to burn 3 To harden or to strengthen strengthning is hardning in a metaphor According to the first sense the text is rendred thus Then should I yet have comfort yea I would pray in my sorrow that is I would pray yet more for an increase of my sorrow that I might be cut off If I had any hope that my request should be granted this hope would quicken my desire and I would pray yet more that I might obtain it Secondly as the word signifies to warm or to heat the sense is given thus Then should I have comfort yea I would warm my selfe in my sorrow And so it refers it to those refreshings which his languishing soul his soul chilled as it were with sicknesse and sorrows should receive upon the news of his approaching death This newes saith he would be as warm cloaths to me it Hac spe certissin â moriendi incalescerem refocillarer would fetch me again out of my fainting to heart of dying But besides a warming or a refreshing heat the word also notes scorching burning heat Mr. Broughton takes that signification of the word I shall touch that and his sence upon it by and by We translate according to the third usage of the word I would harden my self and so the construction is very fair I should yet have comfort yea I would harden my self in sorrow that is I would now set my selfe to endure the greatest sorrowes and afflictions which could come upon me for the destroying and cutting off the threed of my life And so he seems in these words to prevent an objection before hinted Why Job dost thou desire to be cut off and to be destroyed thou hast more pain upon thee already then thou art able to bear thou cryest out of what thou hast thou must think when death comes thy wound will be deeper and thy pain sharper Iob seemes to answer I have considered that before I know there will be a hard brunt at parting I prepare for it and am thus resolved I would harden my self in sorrow that is I would set my selfe to bear the pangs and agonies of death if I had but this hope that my miserie were near expiring The Apostle useth that phrase 2 Tim. 2. 3. in his advices to young Timothy Thou as a good souldier of Jesus Christ endure
gale of love breathing through the covenant of Grace And as the life of man is compared by Job to a cloud so to that which is the matter of the cloud by the Apostle James Chap. 4. verse 14. where he puts the question what 's the life of man Is it not saith he even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away A vapour is exhaled from the earth by the heat of the Sunne and is the matter out of which the cloud is made Mans life is not only like a cloud which is more condense and strong but like those thin vapours sometimes observed arising from moorish grounds which are the original of clouds and more vanishing then clouds Even these are but vanishing enough to shadow the vanishing decaying quickly dis-appearing life of man As the cloud consumes and vanishes the next words speak out the mind of the comparison So he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more The grave is a descent And the word which is here used for the grave is Sheol about which many disputes are raised among the learned The root of it signifies to desire or to crave with earnestness and the reason given is because the grave is always craving and asking Though the grave hath devoured the bodies of millions of men yet it is as hungry as it was the first morsel still it is asking and craving The grave is numbred among those things which are not satisfied Prov. 30. 16. In the Greeke of the new Testament it is translated Hades which by change of letters some form out of the Hebrew Adam and Adamah the earth unto which God condemned fallen man to returne Gen. 3. 19. We find this word Sheol taken five wayes in Scripture 1. Strictly and properly for the place of the damned Prov. 15. II. Hell and destruction are before the Lord how much more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then all the hearts of the children of men God looks through the darkness of hell which is utter darkness Tam infernus quam sepulchrum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. Status mortuorum vel sepalchrum nam ut anima de corpore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 de sepulchro usurpatur Ps 16. Drus 2. It is put Metaphorically for great and extream dangers or miseries which seem irrecoverable and remediless these are figuratively called hell because hell properly taken is a place from whence there is no recovery There 's no release from the chaines of darknesse all changes are on earth Heaven and hell know none When David praises the Lord Psalm 86. 13. for delivering his soul from the lowest hell he meaneth an estate on earth of the lowest and deepest danger imaginable Mercy helpt him at the worst To be as low as hell is to be at the lowest 3. The word signifies the lower parts of the earth without relation to punishment Psal 139. 8. If I go down into hell thou art there He had said before if I ascend up into Heaven thou art there by Heaven he meanes the upper Region of the world without any respect to the estate of blessednesse and hell is the most opposite and remote in distance without respect to misery As is he had said let me go whither I will thy presence finds me out 4. It is taken for the state of the dead whether those dead are in the grave or no Psal 30. 3. Isa 38. 18 19. Gen. 37. 35. In all which places to go out of the world is to go to Sheol Jacob in the text alledged Gen. 37. 35. said he would go down into the grave to his son mourning yet Jacob thought his Son was devoured by a wild beast he could not goe down into the grave to his son for the bowels of a wild beast was his supposed grave but he meaneth only this I wil even die as he is dead So Numb 16. 33. where that dreadful judgement of God upon Korah Dathan and Abiram is storied it is said that they their sheep and their oxen and their tents and all went down into Sheol that is they were all devoured and swallowed up But 5. Sheol signifies the place where the body is layed after death namely the grave Prov. 30. 16. Man hath a demension of earth fitted to the dimensions of his body this portion or allotment is his Sheol Yet it signifies the grave only in generall as it is natural to man-kind not that grave which is artificial and proper to any particular man this the Hebrew expresses by another * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 word He that goeth down to the grave goes to his long home to a house out of which he is never able to see or make his way and Ainsw in Gen. 37. therefore it followes He shall come up no more No that 's sad news indeed to go down to the grave and come up no more Are all the hopes of man shut up in the grave and is there an utter end of him when his life ends Shall he come up no more Many of the Greek writers tax Job as not acquainted with the doctrine of the Resurrection as if he either knew not that mystery or doubted at this time of it And some of the Rabbins say plainly Hic abnegat Iob resuscitationem mortuorum Rab. Sol. Non negatur resurrectio ad vitam sed ad similem vitam Pined he denied it But he is so cleare in the 19th Chapter that we need not think him so much as cloudy here And if we look a little farther himself will give us the comment of this text When he saith he shall come up no more it is not a denyal of a dying mans resurrection to life but of his restitution to the same life or to such a life as he parted with at the graves mouth They who die a natural death shall not live a natural life again therefore he addeth in the next verse Verse 10. He shall return no more to his house He doth not say absolutely he shall return no more but he shall return no more to his house he shall have no more to do with this world with worldly businesses or contentments with the labour or comforts of the creature or of his Family He shall return no more to his house But some may say how doth this answer the comparison That as the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more for we find another description of clouds Eccles 12. 2. where the text saith that the clouds return after raine So that it seems though clouds vanish and are consumed yet they returne and come againe The clouds are like bottles full of raine or spunges full of water God crushes these spunges or unstops these bottles and they are emptied and in emptying vanish away but yet Solomon affirms the clouds return after raine how then doth Job say that as the cloud vanisheth so man goeth to the grave
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Levavit evexit sustu li◠signifies to ease or to lift up or to ease by lifting up if a man have a burthen upon him the way to ease him is to lift it off from him so Job here I lye down upon my couch with a burthen of heavy sorrows upon me God knows hoping my couch will be a means to take off that burthen a while that I may have a little breathing but to my grief I find it doth not The use of sleep is to unburthen the spirit and take off the load of cares The word is used in that sense Magnum est peccatum meum prae tollendo vel majus quam ut tolli possit Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quam ut remittatur mihi quam ut sustinere possim Jun. Gen. 4. 13. about the sin of Cain which lay upon him as a heavy burthen My sin saith he is greater than can be forgiven so some translations or greater than I can beare word for word thus my sin is greater than can be taken off Forgivenesse is the taking sin off from us it is the word here used for easing my sin is greater than I can be eased of as if Cain thought his sin a burthen which the arme of mercy could not lift from his shoulders Pardon is the easing of the conscience sin the burthening of it sin is a burthen and so is sorrow My couch saith he shall ease my complaint by taking off or at least intermitting the troubles which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In retractatione five meditatione miseriae apud animum Loquen mecum cause me to complaine or my couch shall ease me in my conplaint when I am meditating revolving and rowling my troubles up and down in my thoughts then my couch and I am discoursing together and reasoning out the matter but no ease comes We may observe from hence first That a man in paine expects ease from every change My bed saith Job shall comfort me my couch shall ease my complaint every thing he sees raises his hope every man that comes to him he lookes upon as a messenger of good newes I said this shall help me and that shall help me surely if I had such a thing saith a sick man it would do me good if I had such meat I could eate if I had such drink my pallat would relish it if I were in such an ayre it would restore my health and I should get up againe As a Bee goes from flower to flower to suck out somewhat so man from instrument to instrument from meanes to meanes from bed to couch still hoping to find reliefe or mitigation at least for his troubled mind or pained body Secondly observe hence That the most probable or proper meanes are unable of themselves to give us any ease or comfort What is fitter to give a man rest than a bed what is more proper to give one refreshing than a couch but Job goes to his bed in vaine and goes to his couch in vaine nor this nor that nor tother administred him any help Creatures are not able of themseves to give out the comforts committed to them Their common nature must be assisted with a speciall word of blessing or else they doe us no good If God will command a bed to comfort us it shall comfort us if he will say to a couch ease such a mans complaint it shall ease his complaint Job saith it and his saying could not effect it Nay if God will say to a hard stone give such a man rest he shall rest and sleepe sweetly upon it when another shall not get a wink of sleep upon a downe pillow If God say to a prison give such a man rest he shall find rest there if God speake to bonds and fetters give such a man content and pleasure he shall find not only contentment but pleasure in bonds and fetters if God say to flames of fire refresh such as are cast into your armes the fire will obey him and refresh them The most probable meanes cannot help us of themselves and a word from God will make the most improbable meanes helpfull to us yea that which is destructive shall save us For as God can create that good for us which is absent so he can as it were uncreate the evill that is present Providence can take away or suspend that hurting and destroying power which creation gave no creature is able to help or to hurt if God forbid and lay his restraint upon it Bread cannot nourish or cloathes warme us if he say they shall not poison shall not kill or fire burne us if he say they shall not Mans saying is but saying Gods saying is doing Man may say to his bed comfort me to his riches and honours content me to his wife and children please me to wine and musick make me merry he may lay his command or send his desires to all creatures and yet remaine comfortlesse contentlesse mirthlesse Pleasure it selfe will not please him nor the having of his will satisfie his mind at his own saying or biding Observe in the fourth place That rest and sleepe are from the especiall blessing of God When I said to my bed do it the bed could not sleepe is not from a soft bed or from an easie couch Psal 127. 2. For so he giveth his beloved sleepe that is sleepe with quietnesse or extraordinary quiet refreshing sleepe which some have noted in the Grammar of the text The Hebrew word Shena for sleepe being with Aleph a quiet or resting letter otherwise than is usuall in that language He giveth sleepe to his Jedidiaths as the word is there alluding to one of the names of Solomon The Lord gives sleepe sometimes as a love token to his beloved The connection is somewhat obscure the words before run thus It is in vaine for you to rise up early to sit up late to eat the bread of sorrow for so he giveth his beloved sleep how is sleepe a consequent of fruitlesse labour and eating the bread of sorrow these rather hinder sleepe Some referre it to the words of the first verse Except the Lord build the house they labour in vaine that build it except the Lord keep the City the watchman waketh but in vaine for so he giveth his beloved sleepe the Lord watches and takes a care of a City and family and thus gives his people rest and quiet sleep they are not awakened with alarms or surprizes of the enemy Others reade it thus for surely he will give his c. that is notwithstanding the ungodly are eaten up with cares to provide bread for themselves and families to eate yet without faile the Lord of his meere mercy will give food convenient to his people by their labours and quiet sleepe which includes all inward contentments with it So Prov. 3. 24. Thou shall lie downe and thy sleep shall be sweet And Psal 41. 3. there is a speciall promise made to
Hajom i. e. corpus sive robur dici Bold body or strength we the heat of the day either morning may be here meant though the word bears the later properly Thou doest visit him every morning that is as soone as the Sun is up yea as soone as day breakes or there is any light thou art visiting Mans visits are usually in the afternoone it is an extraordinary thing to visit one in the forenoone more extraordinary to visit in a morning and most early in a morning Gods visits are extraordinary visits they are visitings in the morning and visitings every morning as often as the morning returnes so often doth God come to visit not a morning that we misse him To doe a thing every morning notes first the doing of it alwayes or secondly the certaine doing of it Thou doest visit every morning that is as surely and as certain as the Sun riseth and the morning cometh so certainly doth God visit man Or thirdly it notes the speed the hast that God makes to visit He visits in the morning that is betimes God delayes not untill noone much lesse stayes till it be night but he cometh in the morning Psal 46. 5. God shall heare her and that right early the Hebrew is God shall heare her in the morning betimes speedily The late coming in to work in the vineyard is exprest by coming at the eleventh houre they came speedily who came in the morning at the first houre And to shew that we ought not to continue in wrath and keepe up our anger it is said let not the Sunne goe downe upon your wrath that is do not continue all day angry let your anger goe down speedily even before the Sunne In this sence Job saith that God visits man every morning as a Hic ad conservationem generalem providentiam pertinet Metaphora a pastoribus singulis matutinis oves suas recensenntibus Coc shepheard his flock least any should be hurt or straied we may apply it as before in the several sences of visitation either to Gods visiting of us in afflictions or in mercies he afflicts if he pleases continually speedily certainly And as sure as the Sun riseth and the morning cometh so sure God visiteth his with mercies therefore his mercies are said to be renewed every morning Lam. 3. 23. or fresh every morning Unlesse God bring new mercies every day the old would not serve we cannot bring the mercies of one day over to another The mercies of a former day will not support us the next therefore they must come every morning sufficient for the day is the evill thereof Mat. 6. and but sufficient for the day is the good thereof As we are therefore commanded to pray every day for our daily bread the bread you had the last day will not serve this day you must pray for the bread of this day and for a blessing upon it that God would visit your bread and your store in mercy So if need require God afflicts every day And the hearts of some men want as much the rod every day as bread every day they could not be without affliction every day to keep them in order God will be as carefull to correct his children as to feed them If a man be watchfull over his own wayes and the dealings of God with him there is seldome a day but he may find some rod of affliction upon him But as through want of care and watchfullnesse we loose the sight of many mercies so we doe of many afflictions Though God doth not every day bring a man to his bed and breake his bones yet we seldome if at all passe a day without some rebuke and chastning Psal 73. 14. I have been chastned every morning saith he Psalmist Our lives are full of afflictions and it is as great a part of a Christians skil to know afflictions as to know mercies to know when God smites as to know when he girds us and it is our sin to overlook afflictions as well as to overlooke mercies Secondly Take the word as it imports care and inspection Then observe The care of God is renewed every morning The eye of God is alway upon us He visiteth so as he telleth all our steps he tels our very wandrings He visiteth us so that we can turne no way but he is with us his eye of inspection as a Tutour as a guide is ever upon us he lookes to his people as a shepheard to his flock who knowes their wandrings And try him every moment It is of the same sence with the former Try him The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Periculum fecit expertus est tentavit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. signifies an exact and through triall Some take it to be an allusion to the practise of those who set the watch in Armies or Garrison Townes who least their Centinels or Watchmen should sleepe use to come suddenly upon them possibly divers times in a night to try whether they are faithfull and wakefull The Prophet Isaiah hints at such a custome chap. 21. The watchman is set v. 6th Goe set a watchman let him declare what he seeth The watchman is tried v. 11. He calleth to me out of Seir watchman what of the night watchman what of the night And it is observed in forraigne parts that their watchmen in Frontier Towns are tried every houre of the night the token being their giving so many tolls with the Bell hanging in their Watch-tower as the great City-clock strikes This is a good sence of the place the Lord visits ns every morning and tries us every moment that is very very often as often as may be to see whether we keep our watches and stand duely upon our guard But secondly it may note a triall as a Schollar is tried by examination We call it Probation day when the proficiency of Schollars is examined God cometh to examine and make probation of mens proficiencie what have you gotten how have you improved such times such opportunities for the gaining of spirituall knowledge what have you learned what know you more of your selves what more of God and Jesus Christ whom to know is eternall life Thirdly It may note triall by affliction There are three words 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifie the troubles which God brings upon man They are First strictly Judgements which he sends in wrath upon enemies Secondly Chastisments and corrections Thirdly Temptations or trials these are proper to his children Hence observe Afflictions are trials The Lord proves what grace there is in the heart he tries what corruption there is in the heart by affliction There are many graces in the heart of man untried and there are some that cannot be tried till God bring him to an houre of trouble There are many corruptions in the heart of man which he taks no notice of nor can till