the Holy Ghost Good and bad beleevers and unbeleevers speak often the same good words but they cannot speak the same things nor from the same principles nature speaks in the one in the other grace The one may say very passionately he hath sinned and sometimes almost drown his words in tears but the other saith repentingly I have sinned and floods his heart with Godly sorrowes Thirdly to clear it yet more the general confession of the Saints have these four things in them First Besides the fact they acknowledge the blot that there is much defilement and blackness in every sin that it is the onely pollution and abasement of the creature Secondly They confess the fault that they have done very ill in what they have done and very foolishly even like a beast that hath no understanding Thirdly They confess a guilt contracted by what they have done that their persons might be laid lyable to the sentence of the law for every such act if Christ had not taken away the curse and condemning power of it Confession of sin in the strict nature of it puts us into the hand of justice though through the grace of the new Covenant it puts us into the hand of mercy Fourthly Hence the Saints confess all the punishments threatned in the Book of God to be due to sin and are ready to acquit God whatsoever he hath awarded against sinners O Lord righteousness belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face as at this day to the men of Iudah and to the inhabitants of Ierusalem Dan. 9. 7. And as in this confession for the matter they acknowledge the blot the fault the guilt the punishment of sin so for the manner which sets the difference yet wider between the general confessions of wicked and Godly men they confess First freely Acknowledgements of sin are not extorted by the pain and trouble which seazeth on them as in Pharaoh Saul and Judas But when God gives them best dayes they are ready to speak worst of themselves And when they receive most mercies from God then God receives most and deepest acknowledgements of sin from them They are never so humbled in the sight of sin as when they are most exalted in seeing the salvations of the Lord. The goodness of God leads them to this repentance they are not driven to it by wrath and thunder Secondly they confess feelingly when they say they have sinned they know what they say They taste the bitterness of sin and groan under the burdensomeness of it as it passes out in confession A natural mans confessions run through him as water through a pipe which leaves no impression or sent there nor do they upon the matter any more taste what sin is then the pipe doth of what relish water is Or if a natural man feels any thing in confession it is the evil of punishment feared not the evil of his sin committed Thirdly they confess sincerely they mean what they say are in earnest both with God and their own Souls Blessed is the man in whose spirit there is no guile Psal 32. 2. The natural man casts out his sins by confession as Sea-men cast their goods over-board in a storm which in the calm they wish for again They so cast out the evil spirit that they are content to receive him again when he returns though it be with seven worse then himself Even while they confess sin with their lips they keep it like a sweet bit under their tongues And wish it well enough while they speak it very ill Fourthly they confess beleevingly while they have an eye of sorrow upon sin they have an eye of Faith upon Christ Iudas said he had sinned in betraying innocent blood Mat. 27. 4. but instead of washing in that blood he defiles himself with his own he goes away and hangs himself No wicked man in the world continuing in that state did ever mix Faith with his sorrowes or beleeving with confessing he had sinned So much for the clearing of the words and the sence of this general confession Hence observe first While a Godly man maintains his innocency and justifies himself before men he willingly acknowledges his infirmity and judges himself before God Iob had spent much time in wiping off the aspersions cast upon him by his friends but he charges himself with his failings in the sight of God Secondly observe God speakes better of his servants then they doe of themselves When God speakes of Job we find not one blot in all his character all is commendation nothing of reproof He saith c. 1. v. 21. in all this Job sinned not but for all that Job saith I have sinned A hypocrite hath good thoughts of himself and speakes himself faire He flatters himself in his own eyes until his iniquitie be found to be hateful Psal 36. 2. A godly man thinks and speaks low of himself he accuses himself in his own eyes though his integrity be found very acceptable with the Lord. Thirdly observe The holiest man on earth hath cause to confess that he hath sinned Confession is the duty of the best Christians First The highest form of believers in this life is not above the actings of sin though the lowest of believers is not under the power of it And if the line of sinning be as long as the line of living then the line of confessing must be of the same length with both While the Ship leaks the pump must not stand still And so long as we gather ill humors there will be need of vomits and purgings Secondly Confession is a soul-humbling duty and the best have need of that for they are in most danger of being lifted up above measure To preserve us from those self-exaltations the Lord sometimes sends the Messenger of Satan to buffet us by temptations and commands us to buffet our selves often by confession Thirdly Confession affects the heart with sin and ingages the heart against it Every confession of the evill we do is a new obligation not to do it any more The best in their worst part have so much freedome to sin that they have need enough to be bound from it in variety of bonds Fourthly Confession of sin shews us more clearly our need of mercy and indears it more to us How good and sweet is mercy to a soul that hath tasted how evil and how bitter a thing it is to sin against the Lord. How welcome how beautiful is a pardon when we have been viewing the ugliness of our own guilt Fiftly Confession of sin advances Christ in our hearts How doth it declare the riches of Christ when we are not afraid to tell him what infinite sums of debt we are in which he onely and he easily can discharge how doth it commend the healing vertue of his blood when we open to him such mortal wounds and sicknesses which he only and he easily can cure Wo be to those who commit sin abundantly that grace may abound but
it is our duty to confesse sinne aboundantly that grace may abound Lastly Though we need not confesse sin at all to informe God he knowes our sins though we will not make them known and hath an eye to see though we should not have a tongue to confes Though I say we confesse not to informe God what we are or what we have done yet we must confesse to glorifie God While we shame our selves we honour him My sonne saith Joshua to Achan c. 7. v. 19 give I pray thee glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession unto him Every attribute of God receives this gift of glory by mans confession Justice is glorified and mercy is glorified patience is glorified and holinesse is glorified Holinesse is glorified in opposing sin and patience in sparing the sinner mercy is glorified in pardoning sin and justice in receiving satisfaction at the hand of Christ for the pardon of it Fourthly observe Holy confession of sin leades the way to gratious pardoning of sin Job begins the next verse with a vehement prayer for pardon And why doest thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity Sin concealed and kept close growes upon us And it growes three wayes First in the strength of it Secondly in the guilt of it Thirdly in the terrour and vexation of it Psal 32. 3 4. When I kept silence my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long Confession is a meanes to obtaine the abatement of sin in all three The strength of it is weakened the guilt removed and the terrour overcome Then heare the counsell of the Prophet Isa 43. 26. declare that thou mayest be justified Thus farre of the words as they are a confession of sin I shall now handle them as they are a concession or a grant that he had sinned and so the sence may be given thus I have sinned what shall I doe unto thee As if he had said Let it be granted or subpose that I have sinned and sinned as deepely as my friends have charged me supâ—â—â—e I have been as wicked as they imagin what thâ—n if this were my case what shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men The later words plainly import a question What shall I doe unto thee But the sence of the question is not so plaine The question may be taken two wayes Either affirmatively or negatively Take it affirmatively and so the sence is what shall I doe that is Lord direct me councell me order me teach me what becomes me to doe in such a case in such a sinfull condition as I either confesse my selfe to be in or am supposed to be in That 's the affirmative sence What shall I doe The word which we translate do signifies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a radice pagnal respondet Graeco 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 est agere cum energia effectu Piscat working or doing under a two fold qualification 1. Working with great willingnesse and readinesse of mind and hence it is applied to the workings of sin in naturall men who work with the greatest freedome that can be Man sins naturally and therefore freely he is carried on with a full swing with tide and wind he sins nothing in himself contradicting or giving a contrary vote He is a true worker of iniquity Psal 5. 5. 2. Working with energie and successe and the doing of a thing not only effectually but willingly Numb 23. 23. What hath God wrought When God works he works thoroughly he doth not his busines to halves So Isa 26. 12. Thou hast wrought all our works in us that is thou hast brought them to passe they have succeeded through thy help and the influences of thy blessing The word being taken in this height of sence the question for an affirmation What shall I doe that is shew me direct me what to do we may observe from it First That What to do in case of sin is a point of the highest consideration I have sinned what shall I do If ever we have need to go and aske counsell to sit down and debate the mater with our sevles or others it is when we have sinned Such is the nature of sin and such the consequences that it calls us to highest consideration what to do about it Matters of great consequence are matters of great consultation Sin hath an influence upon an eternity If any thing be more worthy your thoughts then that let it have them Secondly Look upon the question as following Jobs confession Observe thence That sincere confession of sin makes the soule very active and inquisitive about the remedies of sin I have sinned the very next word is What shall I doe Many make confession of sin who are never troubled about the cure and redresse of sin Lord what shall I doe is not the next question to Lord I have sinned Nay it may be the next action is to sin over the same sin they have confest As soon as those Jewes heard of the foulenesse of their sin in crucifying Christ and of the sadnesse of their condition their question is like this of Job what shall we doe what shall we doe that we may be saved As Christ speakes to the woman of Samaria Job 4. 10. when he offered her the water of life If thou didst know the gift of God and who it is that speakes unto thee thou wouldest have asked c. That is if thou wert sensible of the excellency and vertue of this water and thy need of it thou wouldest be very inquisitive how to get it how to have a tast of it As in regard of Christ and the benefits we have by him so of sin and the evils which come by it When a man hath confest and acknowledged his sin we may say to him if thou didst but know what thou hast confest if thou didst but know what thou hast acknowleged thou wouldest presently be asking how shall I get free how shall I get clear of these sins which are so deadly poisonous destroying condemning He that is but sensible what the wound of sin is wil never be at rest never give over enquiring til he hath found a plaister or a medicine for it He that knowes what he saith when he saith I have sinned will resolve as David in another case that his eyes shall not have a winke of sleep till he sees where to have helpe against it Thirdly In that he saith what shall I doe Observe That a soule truly sensible of sin is ready to submit to any termes which God shall put upon him What shall I doe unto thee O thou preserver of men Put what termes thou wilt upon me I am ready to accept them That was the sence of their question Acts 2. 32. what shall we do shew us the way let it be what it will we will not stand making of conditions we will not pick and choose this we will doe and that we will not doe
atque in summa aqua extaret Herod l. 1. b Montanus ex iib. Mifna cap. de phase was anciently the Emblem of everlasting forgetfulness or of a resolution never to recal that which was resolved †A learned Hebrician observes that it was a custome among the Jewes to take those things which they abominated as filthy and unclean and cast them into the sea which act noted either the purging of them or the overwhelming them out of sight for ever And a like usage is noted by * Iosephus Aeosta l. 5. de Historia Natur Moral Novi orbis a reporter of the manners of the Americans that those barbarous people either desciphering some wicked thing upon a stone or making a symbole or sign of it used to throw it into a river which should carry it down into the sea never to be remembred Thirdly Pardon of sin is noted by washing and purging to shew that the filthiness of it is removed from us Psal 51. 2. Fourthly By covering Psal 32. 1. and by not imputing ver 2. Fifthly By blotting out Isa 43. 25. and blotting out as a thick cloud Isa 44. 22. All these notions of pardon concurre in this one that sin passes away is lifted up and taken off from the Conscience of the sinner when it is pardoned The summe of all which is read in that one text Jer. 50. 20. In those daies and in that time saith the Lord the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none c. why For I will pardon them whom I reserve So that pardoned sin in God's account is no sin and the pardoned sinner is as if he had never sinned Forgiveness destroys sin as forgiving a debt destroyes the debt and cancelling a Bond destroyes the Bond. Thirdly observe When sin is pardoned the punishment of sin is pardoned Both words signifie both the punishment and the sin and Job having complain'd that he was set up as a mark and wounded by sharp afflictions now seeks ease in the surest and speediest way the pardon of sin why doest not thou pardon my transgression c. There are three things in sin The inward matter the foul evil the stock the root of sin which is natural corruption dwelling in us and flowing out by actions Secondly The defilement and pollution of sin Thirdly The guilt when we say sin is pardoned or taken away it is not in the former though in pardoned persons corruption is mortified and the actings of it abated but in the latter the guilt is taken away which is the Obligation to punishment and so the punishment is taken away too nothing vindictive or satisfactory to the justice of God shall ever be laid upon that soul whose sin is pardoned Hence Isa 33. 24. the Prophet fore-shewing how happy a pardoned people shall be assures them The inhabitant shall nâ—â— say I am sick the people that dwell therein shall he forgiven their iniqâ—â—ty When iniquity is forgiven our infirmity is cured When the soul is healed the body shall be recovered Both the body natural and the body politick Plague and sword and famine and death all these evils go away when sin goes Judgments are nothing else but unpardoned sins sin unpardoned is the root which giveth sap and life to all the Troubles which are upon man or Nation And as sin committed is every judgment radically that is there is a fitness in sin to produce and bring forth any evil upon man so pardon of sin is every Mercy radically when you have pardon from thence every other particular Mercy springs you may cut out any blessing any comfort out of the pardon of sin particular Mercies are but pardon of sin specificated or individuated brought into this or that particular Mercy of all blessings you may say this is pardon of sin that 's pardon of sin and t'other is pardon of sin Forgiveness destroyeth that wherein the strength of sin lies it destroyeth our guilt and to us abolisheth the condemning power of the Law in these the strength of sin lies Hence when the people of Israel had committed that great sin in making the golden Calf the first thing Moses did was to pray for the pardon of sin and he did it with a strange kind of Rhetoricke Exod. 32. 32. Oh this people have sinned a great sin and have made them gods of Gold And now if thou wilt forgive their sin what then Moses There 's no more said Moses is silent in the rest it is an imperfect speech a pause made by holy passion not the fulness of the Sentence Such are often used in Scripture as Luk. 13. 9. And if it bear fruit what then Our own thoughts are left to supply the event Our translaters add well The Greek translators supply that in Exodus thus If thou wilt forgive them their sin forgive them We may supply it with the word in Luke If thou wilt forgive them well As if Moses had said Lord forgive them and then though they have done very ill yet I know it will be very well with them God cannot with-hold any mercy where he hath granted pardon for that with the antecedents and requisites of it is every mercy Moses knew what would follow well enough if they were pardoned and what if they were not therefore he adds And if not blot me I pray thee out of thy book which thou hast written If their sins must stand upon record Moses would not he knew if they were an unpardoned people they were an undone people all miseries would quickly break in upon yea overwhelm them and he desired not to out-live the prosperity of that people If Israel must bear their sins they must also bear the wrath of God and if their sin be but taken off then his love is settled on them God gives quailes sometime but he never gives pardons in anger Fourthly observe The greatest sins fall within the compass of Gods pardoning mercy The words in the text are of the highest signification Job speaks not in a diminutive language he is willing to lay load upon himself they whose hearts are upright will not stand mincing the matter and say they have sins but theirs are small ones sins not grown to the stature of other mens As the sins of a godly man may be very great sins so when they are he acknowledges that they are I know not where to set the bounds in regard of the nature or quantity of sin what sin is there which a wicked man commits but a godly man possibly may commit it excepting that against the holy Ghost These Job did and the Saints may put to God in confession and as he did not so they need not be discouraged to ask pardon for them because they are great The grace of the Gospel is as large as any evil of sin the Law can charge us with The grace of the Gospel is as large as the curse of the Law whatsoever the Law can call or
the beasts of the field so Kings and Magistrates are chiefe the most eminent among the sons of men Christ is called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah from the prerogative of his power and the excellency of his Kingly condition above all others his name being King of Kings and Lord of Lords Secondly the Devil is compared to a Lion he is called a roaring Lion because of his cruelty and devouring nature He goeth about like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devoure And the Lions here in the Text how old soever they be are whelps of this old Lion the Devil not great men in general but wicked great men men mighty in power and mighty in sin mighty sinners It is frequent in Scripture to shadow out powerfull wicked tyrannicall men by the name of Lions and the reason is because they imitate the qualities and conditions of the Lion A man acts by reason and a beast acts by sence or passion reason is the difference between a man and a beast therefore when man either acts against reason or without reason the name of a beast is justly put upon him and the name of that beast most fitly whose qualities passions he most resembles man in regard of his headstrong unrulinesse is compared unto a Horse and to a Mule Psal 32. 9. Be not as the Horse or as the Mule which have no understanding whose mouth must be held in wit with bit and bridle Be not unruly For subtilty man is called a Fox for flattery or filthinesse a Dog or a Swine and here for rapine and cruelty a Lion Thus the Prophet Nahum elegantly Chap. 2. 11 12. Where is the dwelling place of the Lions and the feeding place of the young Lions that is where is the dwelling place of oppressors and cruell tyrants And Ezek. 19. 1 2. Take up a lamentation for the Princes of Israel and say what is thy mother a Lionesse she lay down among Lions she nourished her whelps among young Lions the tyrannicall Princes in Israel were thus described And so is tyrannicall Pharaoh Ezek. 32. 2. Take up a lamentation for Pharaoh King of Egypt and say unto him thou art like a young Lion of the Nations In generall Solomon Prov. 28. 15. telleth us That as a roaring Lion and a ranging Beare so is a wicked Ruler over the poore people And the Apostle Paul speaking of his escape from the jawes of that persecuting Emperour saith 2 Tim. 4. 17. I was delivered out of the mouth of the Lion that is out of the mouth of Nero who was ready with open mouth to devoure and destroy me or as some taking it for a proverbiall speech noting any eminent danger I was delivered from the extreamest hazard of death even as a man rescued out of a Lions mouth and pull'd from between his teeth And it will not be amisse for the clearing of this a little further to give you some speciall things wherein the resemblance may be taken between the Tyrant the oppressing Ruler or any oppressing great one and the Lion we may draw the picture of a Tyrant by a Lions face in these respects 1. In regard of his pride statelinesse and distance which he affects to hold towards others The Lyon is a proud and stately creature 2. Tyrants resemble Lions in regard of courage and animosity Couragiousnesse in any noble or good way in which sence Prov. 28. 1. the righteous are bold as a Lion is the courage of Saints But to be valient and couragious in doing mischiefe in wronging and oppressing the weak or innocent is the courage of a Beast Courage out of the way of truth and justice is Lionlike cruelty 3. They are Lions in regard of their strength Lions are the strongest of creatures what is stronger then a Lion say they in resolving Sampsons Riddle and Prov. 30. 30. a Lion which is strongest among beasts tyranny must have strength to back it Hence they who meane to oppresse fortifie themselves with titles and priviledges with honours and relations Solomon considering the oppressions that were under the Sun observes tears on the one side and strength on the other On the side of the oppressors there was power Eccles 4. 1. 4. They are Lions too in regard of their subtilty The Lion is a subtle creature as well as a strong creature he hath a great stock of policy as well as power though we usually oppose the Lions skin and the Foxes skin yet many times they both meete in one Some are double skin'd as well as double cloath'd Hence we have that phrase Psal 10. 9. comparing a wicked man to a Lion he lieth in waite secretly as a Lion in his den which teacheth us that the Lion waites and watches for his prey And so doe these wicked men Psal 17. 12. Like as a Lion that is greedy of his prey and as it were a young Lion lurking in secret places 5. They are like Lions especially in their cruelty in blood-sucking cruelty the Lion is a devouring beast therefore when the Devill is called a Lion it is said he goeth about to devoure And God himselfe when he would be exprest in his resolutions of judgement so as he will not have mercy upon a man or upon a nation is pleased to take upon him this name too Hos 5. 14. I will be unto Ephraim as a Lion and as a young Lion to the house of Judah I even I will teare and goe away and none shall rescue him that is I am resolved to execute judgement to the uttermost upon him So Chap. 6. 1. The Lord hath torne which is properly the act of a Lion And Job Chap. 10. 16. complaines thus to God Thoa huntest me like a fierce Lion And Isa 38. 13. Hezekiah fearing that God would not shew him that mercy to raise him from sicknesse cries out as a Lion so will he break all my bones So that when the Lord would expresse himselfe in ways of judgement and resolvednesse to goe on in judgement he takes upon him the name of a Lion But such is the very nature of wicked men Such the Prophet Micha bespeaks Chap. 3. 2. Heare this O heads of Jacob and ye Princes of the house of Israel it is not for you to know judgement who hate the good and love the evill who pluck off their skins from off them and their flesh from off their bones noting Lion-like cruelty in those who should have been as sheapheards to feed and protect the people 6. They are compared to Lions in regard of their terrible roaring the Lyon roareth terribly so terribly that when the Lyon Animalia fortia vocem edunt gravem ut Leo Taurus Arist Tanta illi vâ—cis eliciendae natura praestitit instrumenta ut animalia lon gè ipso celeriora solo saepe rugitu capiantur Basil Hexam Homil 9. Leo aliquid nubu habet circa super cilia sc aspectum minimè serenum Arist roareth the beasts of the forrest
truth in the universall experience of it we are not to understand it thus as if all persons all Lion-like persons at all times perish and are destroyed and scattered abroad But Eliphaz speaks of what is usually done or he speaks of what God can easily doe at any time and of what God may justly doe at all times Lions fierce Lions tyrants oppressors he both may and can scatter when he pleaseth Yet we find that God hath permitted some Lions to live fully and to die quietly they spend all their dayes in roaring and rending in tearing and devouring and yet themselves are not devoured God often suspends this Justice but it is for weighty reasons for in a word First If God should destroy all Lion-like men the joynts of the world would be unloosed and the bands of humane society broken asunder God forbad the children of Israel to destroy all the Canaanites least the beasts of the field should multiply c. Secondly If God should hunt all these Lions out of the world his own people would live by sense rather then by faith and seeme to be terrified by the visible actings of wrath rather then allured by the promises of mercy or tenders of free-grace Thirdly He deferres them untill they have sucked blood enough rent enough and done evill enough even fill'd up the measure of their sin and fulfill'd the righteous purpose of God by their unrighteousnesse As these Lions fill their own bellies so they fulfill Gods counsels therefore he lets them alone that they may doe his worke though they little thinke of it and lesse intend it Lastly Eliphaz speaks of what God did frequently in those times of the world wherein they lived for then God dealt more by outward judgements then in these Gospel times As his mercies are now more spirituall so usually are his judgements JOB Chap. 4. Vers 9 10 11. Now a thing was secretly brought unto me and mine eare received a little thereof In thoughts from the visions of the night when deepe sieepe falleth on men c. THis part of the Chapter from the twelfth Verse unto the end containeth the third Argument by which Eliphaz labours to convince and reprove Job of his impatient complainings In the whole context we may observe two generall parts 1. The Argument it selfe by which he reproves him 2. The confirmation or the proofe of that Argument The matter of the Argument is contained in the seventeenth Verse Shall mortall man be more just the God shall a man be more pure than his Maker The Argument may be formed thus That man carrieth himselfe rashly and sinfully who would seeme more just and pure then God his Maker But thou Job carriest thy selfe as if thou wert more just then God thy Maker Therefore thou carriest thy selfe very sinfully and rashly He confirmes this Argument two wayes 1. By an Argument taken from Divine authority 2. By an Argument taken from reason His Argument taken from Divine authority lies in the former five Verses of this context sc 12 13 14 15 16. I may give it thus That is to be received as a truth which God from heaven immediately declareth to his servant in a vision But God hath declared and revealed this to me in a vision that he who contends with God carrieth himselfe very sinfully Therefore it is to be received as a truth The first part of the Argument is unquestionable that it is a truth which God revealeth from Heaven in a Vision And that God had revealed this unto Eliphaz from Heaven in a Vision he himselfe at large declareth in those five Verses describing both the manner how and the time when this truth was revealed to him His second Argument from reason is grounded upon the common logicall rule of arguing from the greater to the lesse Vers 18 19 20 21. The summe of it may be thus conceived That which would be folly and sinfull boldnesse in Angels if they should aspire and take upon them to doe is much more sinfull in a mortall man But if Angels should goe about to justifie themselves or stand upon termes with God it would be sinne and folly in them Therefore it is much more sinne and folly in mortall man to justifie himselfe before God c. The Major or the first proposition is undeniable The second proposition is proved and illustrated to the end of the Chapter Wherein is shewed in what condition man now standeth how weak and how poore a thing a man is compared unto an Angel therefore if it would be sinne and folly in Angels to compare with God it must much more be sinne and folly in man So we see how Eliphaz confirmes the major proposition of the first Syllogisme The second proposition or assumption which he inferres upon Job But thou Job carriest thy selfe so as if thou wert more just than God he proves by that sad expostulation Chap. 3. And takes that for granted We may forme it thus He that complaineth of God as if he had done him wrong makes himselfe more just then God But thou Job hast made such a complaint Chap. 3. as if God had done thee wrong in afflicting thee or in giving and in continuing thy life under such afflictions Therefore thou seemest to make thy selfe more just then God or to say that God hath dealt unjustly or injuriously with thee This I take to be the Logick of the remaining part of this Chapter And having cleared his manner of reasoning in generall I shall descend to open particulars Now a thing was secretly brought unto me and mine eare received a little thereof I must yet resolve a question before I explaine the tearms the question is this Whether this were a true vision sent from God or whether it were only feined by Eliphaz thereby to gain authority to what he spake There are many Expositors of great name who are very confident that this vision was a fiction or holy fraud a vision of Eliphaz his own braine not a vision from Heaven Some have gone further maintaining that it was a vision sent from Hell an illusion of the Devill thereby to strengthen the hands of Eliphaz in vexing and troubling Job It cannot be denied but that many have pretended visions from God when they have received none they have belyed the Almighty with their Dreams and Revelations when they have seen nothing Thus 1 Kings 22. 11. Zedekiah the false Prophet takes upon him to have had a vision from God by which he would confirme Ahab in his counsell to goe up to Ramoth Gilead And Zedekiah the sonne of Chenaanah made him hornes of iron and he said thus saith the Lord with these shalt thou push the Syrians till thou have consumed them And in the prophesie of Jeremiah you have Hananiah the false Prophet not onely speaking the language but dressing himselfe in all the formalities of a vision he comes forth with a yoke upon his neck and breakes it before the people and telleth them
Hoast of Senacherib an Angel smote bloody persecuting Herod Angels by name if not by nature powre out the seven vials of Gods wrath in the Revelation And at the last day Angels shall hurry the wicked to Christs Tribunall they are heavenly Pursivants and they shall bundle the Tares up together as fuell to be throwne into everlasting burnings Matth. 13. 41 42. And it may be a great comfort to us that God hath such servants When visible dangers are round about us we should remember God hath invisible servants round about us There are more with us then against us as Elisha told his fearfull servant 2 Kings 6. And in that low estate of the Church Zech. 1. 8. the Prophet is shewed Christ in a vision standing among the Mirtle trees in the bottome the Mirtle trees in the bortome noted the Church in a low estate and behinde him there were red Horses speckled and white that is horsemen speckled and white These diverse coloured Horses were Angels appointed for severall offices as the learned Junius with others interprets it The red horses being appointed for judgement the white for mercy and the speckled as he conjectures for mixt actions being sent out at once to protect and help the people of God and to execute wrath and judgement upon the adversary Thus we see the services of the Angels they are servants yet such as the most wise God put no trust in therefore we have an Angel better then Angels even the Angel of the Covenant the Lord Jesus into whose hands our safety is committed to whose care the Church is left in whom God puts the whole trust knowing that this great Angel is and for ever will be faithfull in and over his house to his highest delight and the Churches compleatest welfare And his Angels he charged with folly Nec in Angelis suis ponet lumen Tagn Nec in Angelis suis posuit lucem exactissimam Vatab. Angelis suis posuit vesaniam Tygur In Angelis suis ponet glorationem Bibl. Reg. In Angelis suis reperit vanitatem Sym. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 à radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Splenduit luxit claruit Metaphoricè in piel spiendidum illustrem claâ—uÌ„ reddidit laudavit praedicavit Per Antiph rasin inglorius insanus furore actus fuit insanivit There are very different readings of this part of the Verse Some as M. Beza read it thus He trusted not in his servants though he had put light into those his messengers Others reade it with a negation in both parts He put no trust in his servants neither hath he put light in his Angels Another thus neither hath he put perfect light in his Angels Mr. Broughton differs from all these Behold he holdeth not perfection to be in his own servants and in his Angels he judged no clear light to be Another sort read it to these senses He charged or put madnesse in or upon his Angels he put or charged vaine boasting in or upon his Angels he found vanity in or amongst his Angels he observed some evill amongst his Angels Now that which hath given occasion to this variety of translatings is the different senses which the Originall yields us The Hebrew word is very fruitfull of significations and hath as the Oracle told Rebecca concerning two contrary Nations two contrary meanings in the wombe of it and that makes the strugling amongst Interpreters The word in its proper sense signifies to shine forth with a resplendent brightnesse so Chap. 29. 3. Job wisheth O that I were as in moneths past when the candle of God shined upon my head it is a Verbe of which the word folly in this text of Job is a derivative And Isay 14. 12. Hielel signifies the Morning star whose shining brightnesse hath obtained the name Lucifer Light-bringer or Light-bearer How art thou fallen from Heaven O Lucifer sonne of the Morning How art thou fallen from Heaven Hielel thou shining day-star Thus the word properly signifies shining or brightnesse or to shine and be bright and hence by a Metaphor to be Famous or renowned or to make one renowned or famous or to paint out a man with praises because a man is as it were decked with light and hath rayes of brightnesse cast upon him when he is honoured and adorned with praises Due commendations are to a man as a robe or vesture of light which makes him shine to all about him And hence the word Halelujah is derived praise ye Jah or the Lord used frequently both in the beginning and end of the Psalmes in the beginning of the Psalmes by way of exhortation and in the end by way of acclamation crying up the honour and glory of God And to note that in passage it is well observed that this word Hallelujah is first used in the old Testament Psal 104. 35. where the utter consumption of sinners is mentioned and in the New Testament it is first used Rev. 19. 3 6. where the utter consumption of Antichrist is prophesied Judgement on the wicked is matter of high praise to God Thirdly the word signifies by the figure Antiphrasis or contrary speaking to boast and brag vainly foolishly or vaine foolish boasting To commend or extoll our selves is pride running mad and arrogance distracted It is the highest dotage to be in love with our owne wisdome and folly to publish our own works There may be wisdom though oftentimes there is a great deale of folly in commending others but in commending our selves there can be nothing but folly therefore the very same word which signifies to boast and commend our selves signifies both the concrete to be mad vaine or foolish and the abstract madnesse and folly thus in Eccles 2. 2 12. the word is used I said of laughter thou art mad I turned my selfe to behold wisdome and folly and madnesse and Psal 75. 4. I said unto the fooles deale not foolishly or to the mad-men do not play the mad-men that is do not exalt your selves for so he clears his meaning in the fifth Verse Lift not up your hornes on high speak not with a stiffe neck that is a neck stifned with pride and a horne lifted up with vaine-glory or self-confidence From this variety of significations the variety of translations before toucht ariseth First they who read it He put light into those his messengers take the word in a proper strict sense making out the meaning thus that God having put the light of excellent knowledge into the Angels could not yet trust them all their speculative knowledge and high raised illuminations were not enough to make them steadily and steadfastly holy that is the intent of Mr. Beza's interpretation He trusted not to his servants though he had put light into those his messengers For those who retaining the word light translate negatively neither hath he put light in his Angels or neither hath he put perfect light into his Angels or as Mr. Broughton In his Angels
or commanding stamps justice upon it as is clear in the case of Abrahams call to sacrifice his son and the Israelites carrying away the jewels of the Aegyptians If then the act of God whose will is the supream law makes that lawfull which according to the common rule is unlawfull how much more doth the act of God make that great which in ordinary proportion is accounted small Againe When it is said God doth great things we must not understand it as if God dealt not about little things or as if he let the small matters of the world passe and did not meddle with them Great in this place is not exclusive of Little for he doth not onely great but small even the smallest things The Heathens said their Jupiter had no leisure to be present at the doing of small Non vacat exignis rebus adesse Jovi things or it did not become him to attend them God attendeth the doing of small things and it is his honour to doe so the falling of a Sparrow to the ground is one of the smallest things that is yet that is not without the providence of God the haires of our head are small things yet as not too many so not too small for the great God to take notice of Christ assures us this The very haires of your head are all numbred Mat. 10. 29 30. We ought highly to adore and reverence the power and inspection of God about the lowest the meanest things and actions Is it not with the great God as with great men or as it was with that great man Moses who had such a burthen of businesse in the government of that people upon his shoulders that he could not bear it therefore his Father in law adviseth him to call in the aide of others and divide the work But how The great matters the weighty and knotty controversies must be brought to Moses but the petty differences and lesser causes are transmitted and handed over to inferiour judges And it shall be that every great matter they shall bring unto thee but every small matter they shall judge Exod. 18. 22. But God the great Judge of Heaven and earth hath not onely the great and weighty but small matters brought unto him the least motions of the creature are heard and resolved disposed and guided by his wisdome and power You will say What is this greatnesse and what are these great things I shall hint an answer to both for the clearing of the words There is a two-fold greatnesse upon the works of God There is so we may distinguish First the greatnesse of quantity Secondly the greatnesse of quality or vertue That work of God which is greatest in the bulk or quantity of it is the work of Creation How spacious huge and mighty a fabrique is Heaven and earth with all things compacted and comprehended in their circumference And in this work so vast for quantity what admirable qualities are every where intermixt Matter and forme power and order quantity and quality are so equally ballanced that no eye can discerne or judgement of man determine which weighes most in this mighty work Yet among these works of God some are called great in regard of quality rather then of quantity As it is said Gen. 1. 16. That God made two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night Sunne and Moone these are great lights not that there are no lights great but these or that both these are greater then all other heavenly lights for many Stars are greater then the Moon as the doctrine and observation of Astronomers assures us but the lesser of these is great in regard of light and influence excellency and usefulnesse to the world And as to these works of creation so the works of providence are great works When God destroyes great enemies the greatnesse of his work is proclaimed When great Babylon or Babylon the great shall be destroyed the Saints song of triumph shall be Great and marvellous are thy works Lord God Almighty just and true are thy wayes thou King of Saints Rev. 15. 3. Great and marvellous works why Because thou hast destroyed great Babylon and hast executed great judgement and powred out great wrath So great works of mercy and deliverance to his people are cryed up with admiration And hath given us such a deliverance as this saith Ezra Chap. 9. 13. when the Jewes returned from their captivity out of Babylon That mercy was a kind of miracle that deliverance a wonder and therefore he mentions it in termes of admiration Such deliverance as this How great So great that he had neither words to express nor example to paralell it but lets it stand nakedly by it selfe in its native glory Such deliverance as this The Spirituall works of God are yet far greater the work of redemption is called a great salvation the conversion and justification of a sinner the pardon of our sinnes and the purifying of our nature are works as high above creation and providence as the Heavens are in comparison of the earth Take two or three Corolaries or Deductions from hence As first It is the property of God to doe great things And because it is his property he can as easily doe great things as small things Among men Great spirits count nothing great A great spirit swallowes and overcomes all difficulties Much more is it so with the great God who is a Spirit all Spirit and the father of spirits To the great God there is nothing great He can as easily doe the greatest as the least 1 Sam 14. 6. 2 Chron. 14. There Animo magâ—â— nihil magnum is no restraint to the Lord to save with few or by many or it is nothing with thee to help whether with many or with them that have no power It is not so much as the dust of the ballance with God to turne the scale of victory in battell whether there be more or lesse Seeing all Nations before him are but as the dust of the ballance as nothing yea lesse then nothing So that whether you put him upon any great work or small work you put the Lord to no more stresse to no more paines in the one then in the other for he doth great things and to doe them is his property not his study his nature not his labour He needs not make provisions or preparations for what he would have done the same act by which he wills the doing of a thing doth it if he wills What great things hath the Lord done in our dayes We may say as the Virgin Luke 1. 49. He that is Mighty hath done to us great things and Holy is his Name and as they Acts 2. 11. We have both heard and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Magnalia Dei seen the great things of God done amongst us and I believe greater things are yet to be done It was a great work at the beginning
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
world that the losse of a world is not discerned in their estate and worldly gaines are not often discerneable in their estates therefore though in Christ they are heires of all things and all is theirs yet their ranke and titles are among the poore Fifthly observe They are poore ones yet what devising and plotting is here against them Crafty counsels drawne swords envenom'd tongues strong hands lifted up Against whom are all these Against the poore Note thence That Wicked men plot against the people of God how poore and low soever they be As David said unto Saul 1 Sam. 24. 14. After whom is the Facis quod est tanto rege indignum dum me tenuissimum tanto comiâ—atu persequeris Jun. in loc King of Israel come out after a dead dog after a flea As if he had said whom dost thou pursue thou doest that which is unworthy and much below so great a King wilt thou set thy strength against my weaknesse Why dost thou arme against him by whose conquest thou canst get no honour Alas I am but a poore man a meane subject no match for thee I wonder you trouble your selfe so much in following or opposing me I am in comparison but as a dead-dog or as a flea A dead dog cannot bite or if I bite it is but a flea-bite A dead dog can doe no hurt and a living flea can doe but little The people of God as such never have any will to doe wrong and it is seldome that they have any power to doe wrong and yet the world is all up in pursuit against them What 's the reason of it what 's the matter The truth is how poore and low soever they are yet there is an eye of jealousie awake upon them The world looks upon them as a suspected party the world hath secret misgivings that one time or other they must rise upon their ruines and therefore they will keepe them downe yes that they will as long as they can What a distance was there between Haman and Mordecai the one sate in the gate and the other stood at the Kings elbow and had his eare yea and his signet upon the matter at his command yet this Haman must needs oppresse Mordecai because he would not bow Haman had a jealous eye upon him he was a suspected person Though he could not reach Haman yet Haman fear'd he might undermine him Againe there is a continuall Antipathy between the two seeds and Antipathy is incureable To oppose the godly is not so much the disease as the nature of wicked men And we know antipathies are against the whole kind revenge against this or that individuall is no ease to it Antipathy is not spent but in the consumption of the whole kind It is not this or that sheepe which the wolfe hates but every sheepe fat or leane shorn or unshorne that 's all one to the wolfe he will suck the blood of a sheepe that hath not a lâ—ck of wool upon his back as greedily as if that sheepe had a golden fleece Let a godly man be poore or rich low or high their sword shall be unsheath'd and their mouth open'd against him the old hatred and quarrell is against all Haman thought scorne to lay hands on Mordecay alone wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jewes Hest 3. 6. He hated those whom he never saw those who had never wrong'd him haply had bowed unto him yet because Jewes dye they must Sixthly observe But he saveth the poore God delights to help the poore He loves to take part with the best though the weakest side Contrary to the course of most who when a controversie arises use to stand in a kind of indifferency or neutrality till they see which part is strongest not which is justest Now if there be any consideration besides the cause that draws or engages God it is the weaknesse of the side He joynes with many because they are weake not with any because they are strong therefore Psa 10. 14. 18 Hos 14. 3. he is called the helper of the friendlesse and with him the fatherlesse the orphans finde mercy By fatherlesse we are not to understand such only whose parents are dead but any one that iâ— in distresse as Christ promiseth his Disciples Joh. 14. 18. I will not leave you orphans that is helplesse and as we translate comfortlesse though ye are as children without a father yet I will be a father to you Men are often like those clouds which dissolve into the sea they send presents to the rich and assist the strong but God sends his raine upon the dry land and lends his strength to those who are weake This poore man cryed and the Psal 34 6. Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles Forget not the Congregation of thy poore for ever The truth is he never Psal 7. 4. 19. firgets them They are graven upon the palmes of his hands such poore are his treasure his Jewels as the signet upon his right hand Therefore alwayes in his eye yea alwayes in his heart though they lye in the dirt or be trodden under foot like mire in the streets The Prophet makes this report to God of himselfe Isa 25. 4. Thou hast been a strength to the poore a strength to the needy in his distresse a refuge from the storme c. Thus farre Eliphaz hath given instance of the great marvellous and unsearchable works of God in a double reference First to wicked crafty oppressors Secondly to poore helplesse innocents He shuts up this narration with a double effect of these works upon those two sorts of men First shewing what effect they produce in the poore namely hope Secondly what in the wicked namely shame and confusion of face Vers 16. So the poore hath hope and iniquity stoppeth her mouth Here is the conclusion or result of all the Epiphonema or exulting close in which Eliphaz perfects the story of those admirable works of judgement and of mercy So the poore hath hope c. This Originall word for poore varies from the former though a radice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Exhaustus de humo repropriè per metaphoruÌ„ de viâ—ibus corporis opibus attenuatus tenuis fortunae homo the persons and their estate be the same That word noted them full of desire and this which is the cause of it empty of comforts Properly it signifies one that is exhausted or drawn dry Poore persons are exhausted persons exhausted of their strength exhausted of their estates exhausted of friends and credit in the world It is a metaphor taken from rivers ponds or pooles that are drawn dry when we would take the fish or take away the defence which they give to forts or Cities Isa 19. 6. And they shall turne the rivers farre away and the Brookes of defence shall be emptied and dried up which also enlightens that text Isa 33. 21. Where the righteous Lord will be
necessary practise in Chyrurgery and to that the holy Ghost may allude in this place When they perceive a wound or a sore to which medicines Illa est vox Domini percutiam ego sanabo hoc faciunt medici Ferrum gestant câ—rare veniunt Clamat secandus secaâ—ur saevitur in vulnus ut homo sanetur Aug in Ps 50. Chyrurgus saepe vulnus infligit ferro sibi spatium ad commodam curationem aperit cannot well be appied and so unfit for healing either to make a new wound in the whole flesh or to make the first bigger The murderer wounds to kill and the Physitian wounds to cure He comes as it were arm'd with instruments of cruelty The patient whose flesh is to be launced cryes out but yet he launces him The patient whose flesh is to be seared cryes out but yet he sears him He is cruell to the wound while he is most kind to the wounded An ignorant man would wonder to see a Chyrurgion when he comes for healing make the wound wider yet so he must do and he doth it upon urgent reasons As when the orifice is not wide enough to let in the medicine or to let out the corruption or cannot admit his searching instruments to the bottome In such cases he saith Vnlesse I increase your wound I cannot cure it Thus often times the Lord is compelled to wound that he may heale or fit our wounds for healing Our wound is not wide enough to let out the sinfull corruptions of our hearts to let in the searching instruments and corrasives of the Law or the blame and comfortable applications of the Gospel We may observe from the sence of the words That The woundings and smitings of God are preparatories for our cure and healing It is said Isa 53. 5. of Christ that with his stripes we are healed and it is in this sence a truth that we are healed with our own stripes We are healed with the stripes of Christ meritoriously and we are healed by our own stripes preparatorily the stripes of Christ heale us naturally our own stripes heale us occasionally or his in the act ours in the event Prov. 27. 6. Faithfull are the wounds of a friend his wounds are faithfull because he wounds in faithfulnesse The healings of many are unfaithfull They heale the hurt of the daughter of my people deceitfully is the Lords complaint by the Prophet they skin over the wound but they doe not cure it Let the righteous smite me it shall be a kindnesse and let him reprove me it shall be an excellent oyle which shall not break my head Psal 141. 5. Much more may we say Let the righteous Lord smite me and it shall be a kindnes to me let the righteous Lord reprove and correct me it shall be as an excellent oyle which shall not breake mine head it shall heale my heart How healing then are his salves whose very sores are a salve Secondly Take the words in the plaine rendring of them noting onely thus much that God makes sore and bindeth up So we have two distinct acts often ascribed to God in a figure to set forth judgement and mercy the afflictions and deliverances of his people Hos 6. 2. Let us return unto the Lord for he hath torne and he will heale us he hath smitten and he will bind us up 1 Sam. 2. 6. The Lord killeth and maketh alive Deut. 32. 39. See now that I even I am he and there is no God with me I kill and I make alive I wound and I heale Hence observe It is the property of God to take care of all the sicknesses sores or evils of his peopls As God is the great correcter and instructer of his people so he is the great Physitian of his people If he make a wound he will take care for the healing of it He doth not make sores and leave others to bind up Mighty men wound but they take no care for healing they can impoverish and spoyle but they care not to repaire they can pull down and root up let who so will build and plant Shaddai the Almighty God doth both If he break thy head come to him humble thy selfe before him and he will surely give thee a plaister which shall cost thee nothing but the asking And whereas he doth not willingly afflict or grieve he doth most willingly comfort and heale the children of men Lam. 3. 33. He speaks of it as a paine to himselfe to make us sore but to make us sound is his delight and pleasure Satan is the Abaddon the destroyer and he only destroys he makes wounds but he heals none he kills but he makes none alive The second branch of the verse He woundeth and his hands make whole is but a repetition of the same thing yet with some addition to or heightning of the sence To make sore and bind up are not so deep either in judgement or in mercy as to wound and make whole The word used for wounding imports a dangerous and a deadly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Transfodit transfixit vel cruentavit wound or to make a man all gore blood It signifies to strike quite thorough and it is divers times applied to note that stroke which God gives his worst enemies Psal 68. 21. But God shall wound the head of his enemies or he shall strike them quite through the head Verse 23. He shall dip his foot or make it red in the blood of the ungodly And Psal 110. 5. The Lord shall strike through Kings in the day of his wrath Hence observe That God sometimes makes very deep and great wounds in his own servants Such wounds as by the sight of the eye you cannot distinguish them from the wounds of his mortall enemies He strikes thorough both heads and hearts of his own people Or as Simeon said to the blessed Virgin Mary Luke 2. 35. A sword pierceth through their soule also But then lastly note God never makes a wound too great for his own cure The power of God to save is as great as his power to destroy his healing power and his wounding power are of the same extent His justice cannot out-act his mercy both are infinite And not onely doth he heale the wounds which himselfe makes but he can heale the wounds which men make even all the wounds which the utmost power and malice of man can make He is able to doe more good to shew more mercy than all creatures are able to doe hurt or mischiefe We finde the state and condition of a people sometimes so wounded and sick that men have despaired of recovery Being consulted they may answer your sore cannot be bound up and your wound cannot be healed your estate is gangren'd and past cure So he said as was toucht before Isa 3 8. In that day shall a man sweare saying I will not be an healer for in my house is neither bread nor cloathing Alas I heale you
my people and thy people That is those Armies of flies which invade thy people shall not meddle with my people To see one perish with and our selves saved from the sword is redemption in war To see others hunger-starved and our selves still fed is redemption from famine though our selves were never in the hands or between the teeth of famine A people devided from the troubles of others are redeemed from those troubles Such redemption our Saviour speaks of Mat. 24. 40 41. Two shall be in the field the one shall be taken the other left two women shall be grinding in the Mill the one taken the other left In Famine Famine is the want of bread and bread is the stay and staffe of life Lev. 26. 26. Isa 3. 1. Psal 105. 16. when this stay is gone our lives fall quickly or slip away When this staffe is broken the thread of life breaks too Man goes by the bread in his belly more than by the staffe in his hand Except bread hold us by the arme and stay us up down we fall Famine is so like or so near or so certaine a harbinger of death that the text puts them together In famine he shall redeem thee from death Famine is numbred among the sore judgements of God if it be not the sorest judgement Ezek. 6. 11. Jer. 24. 10. And therefore redemption from it is one of his choicest outward mercies We may collect how sore a judgement famine is by the effects of it First It causeth faintnesse and madnesse Gen. 47. 13. Secondly Hunger burneth Deut. 32. 24. That word is not used in the Hebrew except here Famine kindles a fire in the bowels When the naturall heat hath no fewell put to it to feed upon it feeds upon nature Sutable to this is the description of lamenting Jeremiah in the famine of Jerusalem Their faces are blacker then a cole Lam. 4. 8. and Chap. 5. 10. Our skin was black like an Oven because of the terrible famine Both the coal and the oven contract their blacknesse from burning heat Thirdly It causeth pining and languishment Lam. 4. 9. Fourthly Shame and howling Joel 1. 11. Fifthly Rage and cursing Isa 8. 21. Lastly It breaks all the bonds of nature and eats up all relations Read that dreâ—dfull threatning Deut. 25. 53 54. and that dreadfull example Lam. 4. 10. Tender mothers eating their children Famine eats up our bowells of compassion and then it eats our bowells by relation And which comes yet nearer Famine is such a devourer that it causeth man to devoure himself The Prophet describes a man in a fit of Famine snatching on the right hand and yet hungry eating on the left and yet unsatisfied when he cannot fill his belly abroad he comes home to himself and makes bold with his own flesh for food Every man eating the flesh of his own arme Isa 9. 20. We read of many great Famines in Scripture and withall of Gods care to redeem his people from them Abraham Gen. 12. who at the call of God denied himself and came out of his own into a strange Land was presently entertained with Famine One would have thought God should have made him good chear and have spread a plentifull table for him causing his cup to over-flow while he was in a strange Land and a meer stranger there yet he met with a famine but the Lord redeemed him from that famine by directing him to Aegypt that famous store house for his people Jacob and his sons were redeemed from famine in the same Egypt afterward their house of Bondage It is a precious comfort to have bread in such a promise as this when there is none upon the Board God takes care for the bodies of his people as well as for their souls he is the father of both and the provider for both And while we remember what sore afflictions have bin upon many Nations and people by famine While we remember Samaria's Famin 2 Kings 6. Jerusalems Famin Lam. 4. and that storied by Josephus in the Roman siege of that City While we remember the late famins in Germany and the present one in many parts of Ireland While we consider that the Sword threatens this Nation with famine Surely we should labour to get under such a promise as this is that we may plead with God in the midst of all scarcity and wants Lord thou hast promised to redeem Thine in famin from death There is no dearth in Heaven And whatsoever dearth is on Earth the plenty that is in Heaven can supply it How sad would it be if your poor children should come about you crying for bread and you have none to give them How much sadder would it be if your poor children should be made your bread and ground to pieces between your teeth as in the famin of Jerusalem In such a time to look up to God in the strength of this promise will be a feast to us though we should perish in the famin But how doth God redeem from famin First The Lord can make the barrell of meal and the oyle that is in the cruze though but little yet to hold out and last while the time of famine lasts Such a miracle redeemed the poor widdow from death in that great famin 1 Kings 17. Secondly He can redeem by lengthning one meal to many days Elijah went forty dayes in the strength of one dinner Man liveth not by bread without God but man may live by God without bread Thirdly Not onely are the stores of the creatures his and the fruitfulnesse of the earth at his command but if he please he can open the windows of Heaven he can bring bread out of the clouds he can make the winds his Caterers to bring in Quails and abundance of provision for his people Thus also he can redeem his from death in the time of famine Or fourthly He can doe it in a way of ordinary providence by making the land yeeld it's naturall increase and by giving strength to the Earth to bring forth plentifully for the use of man Fifthly While the common judgement lasts he can make some speciall provision for his And make a redemption of division as he did in another case for his people Exod. 8. 22. And lastly We may improve this promise not only for redemption from death in famine but for plenty of consolation though we should die in famine When the bread is quite taken away from your Table your hearts may feed upon such a word as this as upon marrow and fatnesse Christ can feast your soules when your bodies are ready to starve he can fill your spirits with joy and sweetnesse when there is nothing but leannesse in your cheeks Thus the Prophet Habakkuk triumphs in God Habak 3. 17. Though the Fig-tree shall not blessom neither shall fruit be in the Vines the labour of the Olive shall faile and the fields shall yeeld no meat The flock shall be cut off from the fold
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
chesed a reproach to any people Secondly Impiety and cruelty harshness and severity Thirdly It signifies any abhominable wickedness Levit. 20. 17. where Moses speaking of incest incest between brother and sister calls that abomination by this word Chesod A wicked thing That may have a good name the nature whereof is so ill that it is not to be named Further The word as we translate imports more than a bare act of pitty or commiseration as suppose a man see his brother in misery compassionates him but relieves him not this is not pity Such the Apostle James describes in his first Chapter vers 15. If a brother or a sister be naked and destitute of daily food and you say unto them be filled be warmed be cloathed poor creatures ye are hungry yea are naked I pitty you I am sorry to see you thus be filled be cloathed I wish it were otherwise with you and yet in the mean time he gives them nothing wherewith either to cloath or feed them Is this fulfilling the law of love Is this charity Nothing lesse The pity here spoken of is not a verbal piety Our saying to a brother in trouble be comforted or I would course were taken for you I wish you well with all my heart and so we bestow a mouth-ful of good words but not so much as a morsell of bread or a cup of cold water Good words alone are cheap charity to mans expence and they are so cheap in Gods esteem that they will not be found of any value at all in the day of reckening good words not realized if they be found any where will be found in the treasures of wrath This is not the pitty which Job teacheth us should be shewed to him that is afflicted The Apostles quesion shakes such out of all claime to this grace 1 John 3. 17. whosoever saith he hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother in need and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him how doth the love of God dwell in him Though a mans mouth be open with good words yet if he shut his bowels from good deeds there is no love to God or man hous'd in that mans heart It is no Pitty to speak of onely to speak pitty and therefore the Apostle addes verse 18 My little children let us not love in word and in tongue but in deed and in truth that 's the true meaning of this word to him that is afflicted pitty should be shewed But you my friends have not given me so much as the sound of pitty you have not bemoaned me much less have you relieved me which is the substance of pitty reall pitty You have not loved me in tongue giving me good words much less in deed and in truth Deed-pitty is both the duty and the disposition of a godly man therefore this word Chasid in the concrete is often used in Scripture to signify a godly man He is one that hath obtained much grace and pitty from the Lord and he is kind gracious and pittiful unto men The holy Proverb assures us That a good man is merciful pittiful to his beast much more to a man and most of all to a godly man who is his brother in the nearest bond And it is considerable how this word was used by way of distinction among the Jewes who cast their whole people or nation into three ranks and it is grounded upon Rom. 5 6 7. where the Apostle alludes to those three sorts First There were Reshagnim ungodlymen the prophane rabble Secondly there were the Tsadikmi righteous men And thirdly there were Chasidim good men or pittiful mâ—n scarcely saith the Apostle will one die for a righteous man for a man fair and just in his dealings peradventure for one of the Chasidim for a good man some one may chance to dy He that had been pittiful might haply find pitty and having done so much good in his life all would desire he should live still But herein God commended his love to us that while we were â—et sinners Reshagnim in the worst raâ—ke of men Christ died for us No man had either love or pitty enough to die for them who had so much impiety The farthest that the natural line oâ— mans pitty can reach is to do good to those who do him good or are good Pitty notes out such a sort of men and such a sort of actions as Antiqui vocant Ciconâ—am pietatis cultricem Ciconiis pietas eximia est Soâ— are fullest of love of bowels of brotherly kindeness and compassion Hence the Stork which by divers of the ancients was put for the Emblem of love and benignity is exprest in the Hebrew by this word Levit. 11. 19. The Storke is very tender towards her young ones and her young ones are as tender of her when she is old as naturalists have observed So then this word imports the height of all offices and affections of love from man to man especially from Christian to Christian in times of trouble and cases of extremity This Pitty you should have shewed me saith Job But he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty That is he forsakes all godlinesse goodness and religion Fear takes in all that 's good and so it is conceived that Job retorts the words of Eliphaz in the fourth chap. Is this thy fear or where is thy fear thy Religion Now Job saith Is this your fear You have forsaken the fear of the Almighty Is this your Religion to deal so harshly with a distressed friend or to give him such cold comfort Surely you have forsaken that fear of the Almighty which you charged me with Have not I reason to ask Is this thy fear or to conclude You have forsaken the fear of the Almighty These words are diversly rendred Some thus He that takes away pitty from his friend hath forsaken the fear of the Almighty And Qui tollit ab â—mico suo misericordiam timorem Domini derelinquit Vulg. that 's a truth and a good sense though not so clear to the letter of the Text. Mr. Broughton joins this with the former verse By him whose mercy is molten toward his friend and who leaveth the fear of the Almighty So referring this melting to mercy and not to the man joining it with the former thus Have not I my defence and is judgment driven away from me by him whose mercy is molten away toward his neighbour and who leaveth the fear of the Almighty As if Job had said Eliphaz doest thou thinke thou haste driven away all wisdome from me by thy dispute Doest thou think that I have lost my reason as thou hast lost thy pitty Thou thinkest wisdome and understanding have forsaken me but it appears by thy dealings that thou hast forsaken the fear of God which is the beginning of wisdome Thirdly it is rendred in the contrary sense The word Chesid An dissoluto à sodali suo convitium et quod timorem omnipotentis
care for Oxen God doth care for Oxen The Apostle having shewed the goodnesse of God to beasts providing by a law that they should not be muzled presently he questions Doth God take care for Oxen As if he had said surely there is some what more in it or saith he it altogether for our sakes Not altogether doubtlesse God had regard to Oxen But for our sakes no doubt it was written that is chiefly for our sakes That he which ploweth should plow in hope and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope So when Christ speaks of the Lillies Mat. 6. If God so cloath the Lillies of the field how much more will he cloath you You shall have the strength of his care to provide for you to feed and cloath you thus God sets his heart upon man he lookes to his people as to his houshold to his charge he will see they shall have all things needfull for them And so not laying to heart which is the contrary signifies carelesnesse Isa 47. 7. It is reported of Babylon Thou saidst I shall be a Ladie for ever so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart that is thou didst not regard these things to take care about them And Ezek. 40. 4. the expression is very full where God cals the Prophet to attention and he calleth him all over Behold saith he with thine eyes and heare with thine eares and set thine heart on all that I shall shew thee He wakens the whole man See and see with thine eyes Heare and heare with thine eares and set thine heart upon it the sum of all is be thou very intentive and diligent about this businesse to the utmost Secondly To set the heart notes an act of the affections and desires A man sets his love upon what he sets his heart that 's the meaning of Psalm 62. 10. If riches increase set not your heart upon them That is let not your love your affections your desires close with these things when riches abound let not your desires abound too It is an admirable frame of heart to have narrow scant affections in a large plentifull estate He is the true rich man who loves his riches poorly Set your affections on things that are above Col. 3. 2. Thirdly To set the heart notes high esteeme and account this is more than bare love and affection 2 Sam. 18. 3. when a counsell of warre was held by Davids Commanders about going out to battell against Absolom they all vote against Davids person all undertaking upon this ground they will not care for us they will not set their hearts upon us or value us their hearts are set upon thee thou art the prize they looke for and therefore the heate of the battell will be against thee Againe 1 Sam. 4. 20. When the wife of Phineas was delivered of a son a son is the womans joy and glory yet the text saith when the women that stood by told her that a son was borne she answered not neither did she regard it she did not set her heart upon it because the glory was departed from Israel In either of these sences the Lord sets his heart upon man he greatly loves man The love of God to man is the spring of mercy to man yea love is the spring of love love acted springs from a decree of love Deut. 7. 7. The Lord thy God did not set his love upon you c. because ye were more in number then any other people but because the Lord loved you Love also led in that highest work of mercy the giving of Christ God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son Josh 3. 16. As love is the spring and root of all the reall duty which mans performes to God and is therefore called the fulfilling of the law Our love fulfilleth the will of God so the love of God is the root of all that good we receive his love fulfilleth our will that is whatsoever we will or ask according to the will of God the love of God fulfills it for us Our love fulfills the law of Gods command and Gods love fulfills the law of our wants and lawfull desires His heart is set upon us and then his hand is open to us Further God doth not only love man but his love is great and his esteeme of man very high and he reallizes the greatest love by bestowing the greatest mercy How did God set his heart upon us when he gave his Son who lay in his bosome for us He set his bosome upon us when he gave us his Sonne who came out of his bosome Hence let us see our duty Should not we set our heart upon God when God sets his heart upon us the soveraignty of God cals for our hearts He as Lord may use al that we have or are And there is more than a law of soveraignty why we should give God our hearts God hath given us his heart first he who calleth for our hearts hath first given us his What are our hearts to his heart The love of God infinitely exceeds the love and affection of the creature What were it to God if he had none of our hearts But woe to us if we had not the heart of God This phrase shews us the reason why God calls for our hearts he gves us his own it is but equall among men to love where we are loved to give a heart where we have received one how much more should we love God and give him our hearts when we heare he loves us and sets his heart upon us whose love heart alone is infinitely better then all the loves and hearts of all men and Angels There is yet a fourth consideration about this expression the setting of the heart Setting the heart is applied to the anger and displeasure of God so the phrase is used Job 34. 14. If he set his heart upon man all flesh shall perish together that is if God be resolved to chastise man to bring judgements upon him all flesh shall perish together none shall be able to oppose it As it is the hightest favour to have God set his heart upon us in mercy and love so it is the highest judgement to have God set his heart upon a man in anger and in wrath to set his heart to afflict and punish The Lord answers his own people Jer. 15. 1 2 3. that notwithstanding all the prayers and motions of his beloved favourites in their behalfe his heart could not be towards them Then his heart was strongly set against them or upon them in extreame anger therefore he concludes they that are for the sword to the sword and they that are for destruction to destruction c. If God set his heart to afflict he will afflict and he can doe it And there may be such a sense of the text here What is man that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him that thou shouldest come
8. 17. where the first prophecie of Isaiah is quoted is very emphatical when Christ had heal'd many of their outward distempers this reason is added That it might be fufilled which is written sc Isa 53. 9. himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses Now Christ took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses when he took and bare our sins when he took sin he took that which was the necessary fruit of sin our sicknesses and our sorrows For as in Scripture Christ is said to be made sin for us that is with the sin he bare those affiictions and sorrows which are the consequents of sin so here when it is said He bare our sorrows and our sicknesses it takes in the bearing of those sins which procured and produced those sorrows The Greek words used by the Evangelist are ful with this sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assumpsit sccum atque recepit quasi ad se transtulit He took them to him he received them upon himself he as it were translated them from poor sinful man to his owne body The word also imports his taking our sins and sicknesses upon him as a vesture or a garment and so wrapping himself in them We know our sins by nature cloath us as a garment ours is not only a burden but a cloathing of sin and filthiness Take away his filthy garments saith the Lord concerning Joshua the high-Priest then follows and unto him I said I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee and I will cloath thee with change of raiment Man saw not his own nakedness till he was cloathed with sinne Gen. 2. Christ to answer that cloaths and wraps himself with our sins as we our selves were wrapped about and cloathed with them he cloaths himself with our sorrows as we our selves were cloathed with sorrow In which sence among others Christ may be called a man of sorrows as we may call a man cloathed with raggs a man of raggs and a man cloathed with silke a man of silkes The second word of the Evangelist Mat. 18. 17. signifies to bear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Porter bears a great burthen Christ took up that burthen onder which all the Angels in heaven would have sunk he took it up like a mighty Sampson and carried it out for us The scape-Goate was a type of this Levit. 6. 22. And the Goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited or a land cut off and separated from other lands and people figuring hereby the total abolishing of our sins which being carried into a land where no man dwels shall be as lost and gone for ever not to be found when they shall be sought for who can find that which is where no man ever was pardon'd sin is carried and as it were hid out of the sight both of God and man for it is not and that which is not is not according to man to be seen In allusion to all which Christ Jo. 1. 29. is pointed at by the Baptist with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Behold the Lumb of God that takes away the sins of the world he takes sin off from the world upon himself and carries it away no man knows whither That for the first word pardon why doest thou not pardon my sin The second word is rendred by our Translatours Take away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Est 1. simpliciter praeterire 2. interire perire evanescere mori why doest thou not take away mine iniquity Others thus Why doest thou not cause mine iniquity to pass away Or Why doest thou not put away mine iniquity So we rranslate 2 Sam. 12. 13. where assoon as David confest his sin saying I have sinned Nathan answers and the Lord hath put away thy sin he hath made it to pass away The word signifies first simply to pass away or to pass by Secondly to die perish or vanish away that which passes by us is vanished as to us So the word is taken Psal 37. 36. where David speaking of the flourishing estate of wicked men saith I have seen the wicked in great prosperity flourishing as a greene bay tree yet he past away and loe he was not A man unpardoned sees or should see his sins growing up as a mighty tree sin unpardoned flourishes like a green bay-tree it roots in the soul and guilt nourishes it but when pardon comes sin passes away and it is not because that which gave it sap is not Further this word which is very considerable is applied to Quando dicitur de mandato pacto juramento significat transgredi violare peecare the committing of sin as well as to the pardoning of sin For when it is joyned with those words The Commandements of God the Statutes of God the Word of God or the like it signifies to violate to break the bounds to transgress for in sinning a man passes by the Word and Commandement of God the precepts which God hath given and the charge God hath laid upon him he goeth away from all when man sins he passeth by the Commandment of God and when God pardons he passeth by the sin of man or he causeth his sins to pass away So that this word Take away put away or cause to passe Transire facis e. i. impunitum retir quis condonas notes the removing of sin both in the guilt and punishment When sin is past by all the punishments due to sin are passed by the sinner shall never be toucht or feel the weight of Gods little finger in judgement when God comes with his revenges he passes such by as in that plague of Egypt the slaying of the first born which was therefore called the Lords Passeover in memorial whereof that great ordinance was appointed the Jews of keeping the Passeover and eating the Pascal Lambe Exod. 12. 13 14. In this sense the word is used Amos 7. 8. when God was resolved to punish and charge the sins of that people upon them he saith Behold I will set a plumbe-line in the middest of my people Israel and what follows I will not again pass by them any more God came before once and again armed to destroy them but when he came he past by them he put up his sword he unbent his bow he stopped up the vials of his wrath when a cloud of blood and judgements hung over their heads he sent a breath of mercy and caused it to pass over them but now saith he I will not again pass by them any more that is I will surely punish them so the next words interpret the high places of Isaac shall be dissolate and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid wast Some translate that in Amos I will not any more dissemble Verbum Ebraicum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quoties in scripturis sanctis ex persona Dei ponitur pro poena accipiendum est ut ncquâ—quam apud eos maneat sed pertranseat Hieron in