as indeed though not in thy sence it is so what hast thou done how hast thou helped him that is without power how savest thou the arme that hath no strength how hast thou performed the part of a friend eyther in comforting me or in counselling me so the words are a close Ironicall rebuke of what Bildad sayd in the former Chapter Thou camest to strengthen and helpe me consider how well thou hast made good thy owne intendment how hast thou helped him that is without power thou hast spoken words fitter to weaken then to strengthen to cast downe then to raise up and so hast quite mistaken the matter Thou shouldest not have amplyfyed the power and majesty of God before a man in my condition Thou shouldest rather have opened the doctrine of free-grace and of the fatherly affection of God to his poore servants and children while they are under his sharpest corrections Thy words should have been like oyle like milke and honey but thou hast spoken very hard words if not gall and wormewood to my wearied soule Though what thou hast spoken be in it selfe true yet it is to me improper and unsuitable out of time and unseasonable and therefore weigh with thy selfe How hast thou helped him that is without power We may paralel this context with that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.8.10 where with much holy derision he rebukes the over-weening and high opinion which the Corinthians had of their present attainements and perfections in spiritualls Now ye are full now ye are rich ye have reigned like Kings without us and I would to God that ye did reigne that we might reigne with you As if he had sayd I could wish with all my heart it were as well with you as you thinke it is that we also might have a part with you in those gloryes of the Gospel But I feare ye are onely puft up with notions and that your portion is but smal in true solid spirituall knowledge I feare ye have little except in conceit and there ye have a great deale too much and upon the same account he puts it upon them againe at the 10th verse We are fools for Christs sake but ye are wise in Christ we are weake but ye are strong ye are honourable but we are despised Thus Job here ye looke upon me as a weake man as a man of no power but you are wise and learned see how you have played your part and discharged your duty you thinke you have a wonderfull faculty in helping the weake in saving those who are ready to perish in teaching the unlearned in counselling the unwise whereas I am neyther so weake nor ignorant nor destitute of counsel as you thinke I am and if I were your oration is wide of the marke or reacheth not my case and therefore can doe me no good How hast thou helped him that hath no power And which is the same in other words How savest thou the arme that hath no strength The arme is an eminent member of the body and in Scripture it often signifies strength because the arme holdeth out and acteth the strength of the whole body How hast thou saved the arme that hath no strength that is the man that hath no strength There is a threefold strength first naturall which is twofold first of the mind or inward parts secondly of the body or outward parts secondly there is a civill strength which is the command or Authority which a man hath over others thirdly there is a spirituall strength which is the command which a man hath over himselfe both in doing good and in avoyding evill or both for the due enjoyment of good and induring of evill When Job saith How savest thou the arme that hath no strength we may expound it both of the first and third sort of strength For Job had indeed lost the strength of his body and his friends thought he had lost the strength both of his parts and graces Which is more cleare in the next interrogation Vers 3. How hast thâ—s counselled him that hath no wisdome To give counsel is the worke of the wise and they who are unwise have most need of counsel though they seldome thinke so And it may be a very disputable question who is the wiser man he that gives good counsel or he that readily receives it makes good use of it Good counsel directs how to judge of things how to speake and how to act In the multitude of Counselers there is safety saith Solomon and they must needs be unsafe who eyther have none to give them counsel or refuse wholesome counsel when 't is given Counsell is to a man without wisdome as bread is to a man that is hungry or as cloaths to a man that is naked Master Broughton translates What doest thou counsel without wisdome Right counsel is the very spirits of wisedome but thy counsel is flat and hath no spirits in it Thus his translation referrs the want of wisdom to the counsel which Bildad gave Job but ours refers it to Job to whom Bildad undertook to give counsel How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom As if he had sayd Thou O Bildad lookest upon me as a man without wisdome If I am so I doe not perceive that thy counsel is like to make me much wiser Thy counsel will even leave me where it found me and 't is wel if it doe not put me backward What strange kinde of counsel is thine How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdome From all these cutting questions put together Observe First They who are weake and without wisdome should be holpen and tenderly dealt with by grave and gratious counsel The words of the wise conveigh strength to the weake comfort to the sorrowfull and counsel to those who know not what to doe See the tendernesse of Christ to the weake Math 12.18 19. Behold my servant whom I have chosen and my beloved in whom my soule is well pleased I will put my spirit upon him and he shall shew judgement unto the Gentiles He meaneth not judgement as judgement is opposed to mercy Jesus Christ did not come in that sense to shew judgement to the Gentiles he did not come to bring wrath upon them but he came to shew mercy to the Gentiles to those who were sinners of the Gentiles who sat in darknesse and in the shaddow of death he shewed mercifull judgement he shewed them the knowledge of God he reformed and purged them from their sins and sinfull Idolatryes he brought them into a holy state and order under Gospel Government this is the judgement which Christ brought to the Gentiles this judgement is a mercy he shall bring Judgement to the Gentiles How shall he doe it he shall not strive nor cry neither shall any man heare his voyce in the streets that is he shall not deale boysterously and contentiously he shall not be vexatious and rigorous he shall not act as a
Church Lest saith he such a one should be swallowed up with over-much sorrow Sorrow of any sort even sorrow for sinne may possibly have an excesse or an over-muchnes in it and when ever it hath so beyond the end for which it serves for sorrow is not of any worth in it selfe but as it serves to a spirituall end When I say sorrow hath such an excesse then not onely the comforts but the gifts and usefullnes of the person sorrowing are in danger to be swallowed up by it Secondly Water doth not onely swallow up but enter in while it covereth the body it fills the bowells Thus affliction like water fills within as well as covers without David complaines that his afflâ—ctions did so Psal 69.1 Save me O God for the waters are come in unto my soule Not onely have these waters sweld over mee but they are soakt into mee Inward or soule-afflictions as well as outward and bodyly afflictions are set forth by waters Psal 109.18 As he cloathed himselfe with cursing like as with his garment so let it come into his bowells or within him like water and like oyle into his bones Liquids penetrate so doe afflictions Thirdly As the water is not mans proper Element hee lives and breathe in the ayre not in the water So affliction is not our proper Element though it be due to our sinne yet it is not proper to our nature Man was not made to live in affliction as the fish was made to live in the water and therefore as it is said The Lord doth not willingly afflict nor grieve the Children of men Lam. 3.33 'T is as it were besides the nature of God when he afflicts the children of men So it is sayd Heb. 12.11 No chastning for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous Man is out of his Element when he is under chastnings Hee was made at first to live in the light of Gods countenance in the smiles and embraces of divine love As man is out of his way when he sins so he is off from his end when he suffers He was not designed for the overwhelming choaking waters of sorrow and judgement but for the sweete refreshing ayre of joy and mercy It often proves a mercy in the event to be covered with these waters To be covered with them that we may be washed by them is a mercy but onely to be covered with them especially as Eliphaz here saith Job was to be deeply covered with them is a deepe and soare affliction Abundance of waters cover thee Hence note That as God hath treasures of mercy and abounds in goodness so hee hath treasures of affliction and abundance of wrath As God hath abundance of waters sealed up in the Clouds as in a treasury and hee can unlocke his treasury and let them out whensoever he pleaseth eyther to refresh or overflow the Earth so hee hath abundance of afflictions and hee can let them forth as out of a treasury when he pleaseth And as wee read Ezek. 47. that the waters of the Sanctuary those holy waters were of several degrees first to the Ankles secondly to the knees then to the Loines and then a river that could not be passed over abundance of waters Thus also the bitter waters the waters of affliction are of severall degrees some waters of afflictions are but Ancle-deepe they onely make us a little wet-shod there are other waters up to the knees and others to the Loynes and others wee may rightly call abundance of waters a Sea of waters I am come into deepe waters saith David Psal 69.2 or into depth of waters where the floods overflow mee And having sayd Psal 42.6 O my God my soule is cast downe within mee He adds in the next words v. 7. Deepe calleth unto deepe at the noyse of thy water-spouts All thy waves and thy billowes are gone over me Where by deepe to deepe by waterspouts by waves and billowes he elegantly sets forth his distresse in allusion to a Ship at Sea in a vehement storme and stresse of weather when the same wave upon whose back the vessel rides out of one deep plungeth it downe into another Thus the afflicted are tossed and overwhelmed in a Sea of trouble till they are at their wits end if not at their faiths end Take two or three Deductions from all these words layd together Wee see by how many metaphors the sorrows of this life are set forth even by snares and feares and darknes and waters Hence note First That as God hath abundance of afflictions in his power so hee hath variety of wayes and meanes to afflict the sonnes of men eyther for the punishment of their sinne or for the tryall of their graces If one will not doe it another shall if the snare will not feare shall if feare will not darknes shall and if darknes will not the waters shall and if waters of one hight will not doe it hee will have waters deepe enough to doe it abundance of waters shall doe it hee hath variety of wayes to deale both with sinners and with Saints Secondly Consider the inference which Eliphaz makes Therefore snares c. are upon thee That Is because thou hast done wickedly in not releeving and in oppressing the poore therefore snares have entangled thee This though false in Jobs particular case yet is a truth in General And it teacheth us That There is an unavoydable sequell between sinne and sorrow Looke upon sinne in its owne nature and so the sequell is unavoydable sinne is bigge with sorrow as affliction burdens the sinner so sinne is burdend with affliction Sinne hath all sorts of affliction in its bowells and wee may say of all the evills that afflict us they are our sinnes Sinne is formally the transgression of the Law and sinne is virtually the punishment of transgressors Many I grant are afflicted for tryall of their graces as hath been shewed before but grace had never been thus tryed if man had not sinned Sinne is the remote cause of all afflictions and it is the next or immediate procuring cause of most afflictions Would any man avoyde the snare let him feare to sinne would he avoyd feare let him feare to doe evill would he keepe out of darkness and not be covered with abundance of waters let him take heed hee drinke not iniquity like water let him have no fellowship with the unfruitfull workes of darkness God tells the sinner plainely what portion he is to expect Say woe to the wicked it shall be ill with him for the reward of his hands shall be given him Isa 3.11 Wee may as well hope to avoyd burning when we run into the fire or dirtying when we run into the mire as to escape smarting when we run into sinne Yet more distinctly wee may consider all those evills comprehended under those words in the Text Snares darknes c. eyther in reference to wicked men or to the Saints Snares and darknes upon the wicked are the
us We sucke and are satisfied with the breasts of consolation by beleeving Isa 66.11 that is we beleeving draw forth that sweetnesse of the promise which the word declares to be the portion of Beleevers Thus spirituall delight is made up and therefore Saints are sayd to rejoyce in beleeving with joy unspeakeable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1.8 that is having as much and as cleare a manifestation yea participation and tast of that Glory in beleeving which is prepared and reserved for them against the next life as they are capable to receive and more then they are able to express in this life Then shalt thou delight thy selfe in the Allmighty We may looke upon the words first as a command and then observe That it is our duty to delight our selves in God Delight in God is both a priviledge and a duty it is commanded in the Law and it is promised in the Gospel God is pleased to give us many things in the world not onely for necessity but for delight A heathen looking upon the various provisions which the Great Creator hath made not onely for the maintenance of man in his being but for his comfortable and pleasurable being Some of which affect the sences the eye the eare the tast c. others are sweetly contentfull to the understanding with all the faculties of the soule He I say concludes this from it Neque enim necessitatibus tantuâ— nostris provisum est usque in delicijs amâ—mur Sen l. 4. de Benif c. 5. The bountifull Creator hath provided for more then our necessity or he hath provided more then will barely serve our turne to live upon we are loved even up to our delights Now I say though the Lord hath provided delights for us in the creature yet it is our duty our greatest our highest duty to delight chiefly in the Lord to delight in him first and to delight in nothing but in reference unto him nothing should be pleasing to us but as there is an impresse or stampe of the love of God upon it or as it tasts of his goodnesse And indeed what can delight us long but this thought that God delighteth in us or that we are a delight to God that God is Good and that God is good to us having tasted his goodnes we should love and delight in him above all our delights The Psalmist Psal 137.6 preferred Jerusalem above his chiefest joy how much more should we preferre the God of Jerusalem above our chiefest joy God delighteth in man whom he hath made and who is his son by Grace next to Jesus Christ who is his son by nature and Jesus Christ delighteth in man whom he hath redeemed and should not man delight in his maker in his father in his redeemer We have a most divine description of the delight which the Father takes in Christ his Son and which Christ taketh in his redeemed ones Pro. 8.30 31. Then was I by him as one brought up with him and I was daily his delight Christ was the delight of his father and he delighted in his father rejoycing alwayes before him rejoycing in the habitable parts of his earth and my delight was with the sons of men Jesus Christ himselfe takes up many of his delights with the sonnes of men whom he calls the habitable parts of the earth even those of the sonnes of men that are a habitation of God through the Spirit Hae sunt piorum delicia suvâ—ssimae voluptaâ—es deo placaâ— to fâ—ui cujus eliam deliciae sunt habitare intereos qui ipsum animo reverentur colunt Now I say as the delight of the Father is in the Sonne and the delight of the Sonne in the Father and the delight both of Father and Sonne in the Saints in the habitable parts of the earth or with the sonnes of men so the delight of the sonnes of men should be in the Father and in the Sonne there should our delight be there should we take our highest contentment Secondly The words are rather to be taken for a promise Then shalt thou have thy delight in the Lord Then that is when thou turnest from sinfull delights or delight in sin I assure thee of spirituall delight Whence observe That they who mourne for and turne from sinne shall have delights in the Lord. When once sinne is bitter to us the Lord will be sweete to us and untill sin be bitter to us the Lord is not sweete to us sinne hinders our delightfull enjoyment of the creature it puts gall and wormwood into our dish and cup it is that which makes all relations grievous and burthensome to us yet this is but a small matter that it hinders us from the contentment and sweetnesses which are to be had in the creature sinne takes us off from delighting in God That soule cannot delight in the Almighty who loveth and continueth in the love of sinne If such professe delight in God it is but a false boast and a high presumption it is impossible for such to delight in the Lord indeed Job Chap. 27.10 saith of the hypocrite Will he delight himselfe in the Allmighty will he alwayes call upon God He may pretend to a delight in the Allmighty he may have some flashes some raptures but his joyes and delights are not in the Allmighty what joyes soever he hath they are in somewhat below God the hypocrite may delight himselfe in somewhat received from the Almighty in some present benefit or future expectation that he hath from the Almighty he cannot delight in the Allmighty himselfe or in God as God As it is impossible in the nature of the thing for a man to delight in sin and in God too so God hath sayd that he who hath a delight in sin shall not finde any delight in him God hath sayd Delight thy selfe in me and I will give thee the desires of thy heart Psal 37.4 But if any man will follow the desires of his owne heart he shall not delight himselfe in God Sinne separateth between God and us Isa 59.2 that is it separates between the comforts and mercies which are in God and us sin doth not cannot separate us from the power or presence from the eye or justice of God so sinne doth not separate for God is nigh to sinners both to see what they are doing and to punish them for what they â—â—ve done sinfully but sin separates from all those delights that flow from God from those joyes which his people take in him yea sin breeds a strangenesse between God and the soule so that the soule that loveth sinne cannot have any holy familiarity or converse with God The Lord saith to those who repent Isa 1.18 Come let us reason together c. As if he had sayd I am now ready to debate the matter with you that repent and how great soever your sinnes have been they shall be blotted out Whereas before the Lord tells them that he was
the Lord hath blessed that is as the smel of a fruitfull feild So it may be sayd that the earth or land where a man lives Describit quomodo sese gereresoleant ut suae maleficia coÌ„modius tegant eligunt sibi sedâ—s in vastis locis unde dicit nec se convertit ad vias vinearum quia vineae in locis cultis sitae sunt non procul ab urbibus Merc and his portion in it is cursed while he lives in a barren desolate land which looks as if it were under the perpetuall curse of God And according to this interpretation the later part of the verse and he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards may be thus understood He comes not into any fruitfull fields Vineyards are planted in a fruitfull soyle and fruitfull vines are full of the blessing of God Thus as the portion of the wicked in the earth is alwayes cursed by a decree from God so it may be sayd that their portion is sometimes cursed by their owne Election because for the better secreting and hiding of themselves from the eye of Justice they spend their dayes in such places as by reason of their wastnes and barrennes seeme to confesse themselves under a curse Their portion is cursed in the earth Hence note First Sin brings a Curse with it When Jâ—b had described the wickednesse of these men their murthers their adulteries and their thefts he concludes Their portion is Cursed Sin calleth for a Curse from men and it calleth for a Curse from God Solomon saith Pro. 12.26 He that withholdeth Corne that is who hoards it up and will not sel it at a reasonable rate resolving to make a dearth when God hath made none he who thus withholdeth Corne the people will curse him Now if the people curse him that will not let them have corne for money then much more him that stealeth or taketh away their corne without money He that destroyeth other mens goods gets a Curse in stead of good Eliphaz saith Chap. 5.3 I have seene the foolish taking roote but suddenly I Cursed his habitation that is I saw his habitation was Cursed or under a curse I knew what would become of him shortly In some Cases it may be lawfull for man to wish a Curse upon man and the Curse of man may be the Curse of God too and usually it is so when any man is generally cursed by men Vox populi vox dei The voyce of the people is the voyce of God When a man is followed with a Curse from the most of men good and bad it is an argument that there is a Curse gone out from God against him and that his portion is Cursed in the earth Sin is the deserving or procuring Cause and the wrath of God is the inflicting or productive Cause of the Curse Balaak hired Balaam to Curse the people of God but the Curse could not take the traine was laid but he could not make the powder take fire the Curse came not why the reason is given yea Balaam himselfe gives it Numb 23.21 He that is God hath not beheld Iniquity in Jacob neither hath he seene perversnes in Israel If there had been iniquity that is any national iniquity or publicke iniquity persisted in and not repented of among them that had brought the Curse inevitably but though Balaam laboured to Curse them though he went from hill to hill and tryed all meanes to get an opportunity to Curse them yet he could not for saith he God hath blessed them and I cannot reverse it There is no Iniquity in Jacob nor perversnes in Israel therefore their portion was blessed in the Earth Sin in whomsoever it is hath a Curse in the belly or bowels of it Even Christ himselfe taking our sin upon him was necessitated to take the Curse upon him which was due to our sin Christ taking our sin upon him was as the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 5.21 made sin for us that is an offering or a sacrifice for our sin yea as the same Apostle saith Gal. 3.13 He was therefore made a Curse for us And if Christ who having no sin in him did onely take our sin upon him could not avoyd the curse how shall they avoyd it who having no part in Christ have all manner of sin in them But it may be objected All men sin and yet many have no appearance of a Curse upon them nor is their portion Cursed in the earth I answer First This assertion is to be limited to unbeleevers or ungodly men Secondly unbeleevers and ungodly men are under a Curse though the Curse doe not breake out and appeare visibly upon them As the portion of a godly man may be blessed though there be no appearance of the blessing when nothing appeares upon him but affliction and the Cross yet the Godly man is blessed The Cross of a Godly man is like the prosperity of a wicked man The former hath an outward Cross but a Blessing at the bottome the latter hath outward prosperity but a curse at the bottome and bitternes in the end Againe the peace of the prophane is like the grace of hypocrites onely a shew hypocrites have a shew of grace an appearance of holynes yet they are but painted Sepulchres full of rottennes within So the wicked have a shew of peace and prosperity of benefits and blessings but a curse is within them and a curse hangs over them ready every moment to drop downe upon their heads For Secondly His portion is cursed that is 't is under a curse though the curse be not actually inflicted As the mercies of God are sure to his people yet many times very slow they come not presently but they will come So also the wrath and curse of God will surely come upon the wicked though as to outward effects impressions they are slow and long in comming Actings of mercy are for an appointed time Every vision is for an appointed time as the Lord told his Prophet Hab. 2.3 The vision of Judgement and wrath is for an appointed time as well as the vision of love and mercy That is all the love and all the wrath the blessing and the curse which are revealed in any way of vision are for an appointed time but at the end the vision will speake and not lye if it tarry waite for it for it will surely come and not tarry As it is I say in the visions of mercy and blessing so in those of wrath and of the curse They are for an appointed time in the end they will speake Sometimes the Curse is quick it apprehendeth the sinner in the very act it takes him in the manner as Phineas did Zimri and Cozbi And as Psal 78.30 While their meate was yet in their mouthes the wrath of God came upon them The sound of the Curse is sometimes at the heeles of sin at other times the sound of the Curse is a great way behind the sin no
in man to desire God to strike through his pride and it is a great act of mercy to man when God doth so The more God smiteth our sins the more he declares his love to and his care of our soules The remainders of pride in the Saints shall be smitten through but sinners who remaine in their pride shall be smitten through themselves God whose power and understanding are made known by smiting through the proud waves of the Sea will at last make his Justice and his holynes knowne by smiting through the proud hearts of men or rather men of proud hearts Proud men strike at God yea kicke against him no wonder then if he strike and kicke them All the sufferings of Christ are wrapt up under that one word His humiliation implying that as he was smitten for all our sins so most of all for our pride That man whose pride is not smitten to death or mortifyed by the death of Christ shall surely be smitten to death even to eternall death for his pride As God understandeth thoroughly who are proud so by his understanding he will smite through the proud JOB CHAP. 26. Vers 13 14. By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens his hand hath formed the crooked Serpent Lo these are parts of his wayes but how little a portion is heard of him but the thunder of his power who can understand JOB hath given us a particular of many illustrious works of God what he doth in the depths below Et ut in opere ipsius pulcherrimo desinam hic ille est qui coelos illa enarrabili pulchritudine exornavit spherae illae suis giris undique coelos serpeÌ„tium instar percurreÌ„tes sunt opus manibus ipsius tornatum Bez and what in the hights above in this verse he gives another instance and that a very choyce one upon the same subject As if he had sayd After all this large discourse which I have made of the workes of God I will conclude with that which is the most remarkeable peice of them all This is he who hath adorn'd the heavens with that unutterable beauty wherewith they shine and the spheares which wind and turne round about the heavens like Serpents are smoothed and polished by his hand Vers 13. By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens The Spirit of God is taken two wayes in Scripture First q. d. visua voluntate ut nomen spiritus saepius in scriptura usurpatur sed malo ipsum dei spiritum almum accipere quo omnia deus fecit Merc for the power of God Secondly and so here for God the power as distinct from the Father and the Son By whom God wrought all things in the creation of the world Gen 1.2 The Earth was without forme and voyd and darkenes was upon the face of the deepe and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters It is a rule in Divinity That the external workes of the Trinity are undevided and so the Three Persons concurred in the making of the world God the Father created and is called Father in Scripture not onely in relation to the Eternall ineffable Generation of God the Son but also in reference to the production of the creature God the Son or the Eternal Word created Joh. 1.1 2 3. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God All things were made by him and without him was nothing made that was made God the Spirit or Holy-Ghost he likewise created and He onely is mentioned by Moses distinctly or by name as the Agent in the original constitution of all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non simplicem motionem denotat sed qualem columba perficit cum evis ad excludendum pullos incubat Rab Selom Verbum â—ranslatum ab avibus pullitiei suae incubantibus Jun. And the Hebrew word rendred in our translatioÌ„ moved the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters by which the Agency of the Spirit in that Great worke is expressed caryeth in it a very accurate significancy of that formative vertue or power which the Spirit put forth about it For it is a metaphor taken from birds who sit upon their eggs to hatch and bring forth their young ones and so importeth the effectual working of the Spirit whereby that confused masse or heape was drawne out and formed up into those severall creatures specifyed by Moses in the Historie of the Creation Among which we find the Garnishing of the heavens spoken of here by Job is reported by Moses for the worke of the fourth day Further we may consider the heavens first in their matter and being secondly in their beauty and ornaments Job speakes of the latter By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 adornavit decoravit pulchrè fecit God hath not onely created but pollished and as it were painted or embroydered the heavens The originall word implyeth the making of them beautifull contentfull and pleasant unto the eye this is the Lords worke And therefore as the whole world because of the excellent order and beauty of it is exprest in the Greeke by a word that signifies beautifull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so some parts of the world have a speciall beauty and lustre put upon them beyond the rest The heavens are not like a plaine garment as we say without welt or guard but they are laced and trimmed they are enamel'd and spangled they glister and sparkle in our eyes with rayes and beames of light By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens If it be asked what is this garnishing of the heavens I answer the setting or placing in of those excellent lights Sunne Moone and Starres in the heavens are the garnishing of them Light is beautifull and the more light any thing hath the more beauty it hath Precious stones have much light in them those lights the Starres are as so many stones of beauty and glory set or moving in the heavens Light as diffused and shed abroad in the ayre is exceeding delightfull and beautifull but light as it is contracted and drawne together into the Sunne Moone and Starres is farre more beautifull light in the ayre pleaseth the eye but light in the Sunne conquers and dazzel's the eye by the excessive beauty and brightnesse of it In the first day of the Creation God sayd Let there be light and there was light but in the fourth day he sayd let there be lights that is let there be severall vessells to receave hold and containe light and then to issue it out among the inhabitants of the earth Gen. 1.14 And God sayd let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signes and for seasons and for dayes and for yeares and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth and it was so And
cleane There is a reason why wee should rather doe small things then great as to the outward act but I say if the spirit of a man be crosse-grayn'd and lie against the duty he is as unfit and as back-ward to doe a little as to doe a great deale he will not so much as give water to God or man or if he doe give it he doth not give it with a heart let out in love to God or in compassion to the most needy man It is a hard matter with him to give or doe at all but it is an impossible matter for him to give or doe with a ready or chearefull minde Thus the Covetous man the hard-hearted worldling cannot give so much as water a worldly man never thinks that himselfe hath enough of the world and he never thinks that others have too little when he is full he thinks all others are full enough too Such narrow-hearted creatures the Prophet Isayah describes Chap. 32.6 7. who as they practise hypocrisie and utter error against the Lord so they practise oppression and utter cruelty against man to make empty the soule of the hungry and to cause the drinke of the thirsty to fayle The Instruments also of the Churle are evill What Instruments doth he meane Some say the instruments of his commerce his weights and measures he pincheth the poore there that 's true those instruments of the churlish Merchant or Tradsman are evill Yet wee may rather expound it more largely for all the meanes whether persons or things whether agents under-officers or courses and devices which the churlish man useth as instruments to compasse and bring about his purposes all these savour of himselfe they are evill that is false treacherous and lying in waite to deceive For as it followe He deviseth wicked devices to destroy the poore with lying words even when the needy speaketh right or as wee put in the margin when he speaketh against the poore in Judgement Thirdly Note That a little is much reckoned upon by those that are in need or have nothing Water is a welcome mercy to the thirsty to the weary to those who are ready to dye with heate and travell The rich man in hell would have been glad of a drop of water to coole his tongue Sicera the General of Jabins Army beggs of Jael to give him a little water for saith he I am thirsty Judg. 4.19 The full soule loathes the hony-Combe that which is sweet and delicious the full stomack loathes it but they that are weary hungry and thirsty a piece of bread a Cup of water how pleasant how sweet Such are glad of any thing who are in want of all things Much is little to them who have much a little is much to them who have but little The weary will thanke you more for water then the wanton will for wine The weary asked but for water to drinke and could not get it thou wouldest not give it Fourthly Eliphaz describing a wicked man fixes most upon this sinne his unmercifulnesse to the poore And there is a generall truth in it That to be without Compassion to the poore is the marke of a wicked man They who have found the compassion of God to their own soules as every godly man hath cannot shut up the bowels of their compassion towards the pined body of man The Apostle John puts the question 1 Ep 3.17 How dwelleth the love of God in him that doth so The love of God eyther as taken for the love of God to us or for our love to God dwelleth not in him in whom there dwells no love to man Now if the love of God dwell not in a man God dwelleth not in him and if God dwell not in him Satan doth and what can he be called but wicked in whom the wicked or the evill one dwelleth Thus the wicked Edomites dealt with the people of God when they were wearied in their March thorow the Wildernesse Wee read the children of Israel thus bespeaking the Edomites Numb 20.17 18 19. Let us pass I pray thee thorow thy Country wee will not pass thorow the fields or thorow the vineyards neither will wee drinke of the water of the wells c. wee will put you to no trouble no charge wee will be content with the common waters which we finde abroad this is all that wee desire when wee shall be weary and thirsty in our travells And Edom said unto him Thou shalt not pass by mee least I Cutt thee off with the sword And the Children of Israel sayd unto him wee will goe by the high way and if I and my Cattell drinke of thy water I will pay thee for it I will onely without doeing any thing else goe thorow on my feet See what a spirit Edom was of when Israel put it to the lowest wee will drinke none of the water of your wells or if we doe we will pay for it No Edom was so hard-hearted that he would neyther give nor sell them water they shall not have it eyther of free cost or for money thus uncompassionate was hee towards a People that were travelling that were weary and thirsty The Inhabitants of Tema are commended for their tendernes to men in distresse Isa 21. 14. They brought water to him that was thirsty they prevented with their bread him that fled They gave water and bread unasked The wants of the distressed moved them though they made no motion for the supply of their wants They act most like God who prevent us with their favours Even the light of nature leads to it How unnatural then are they who deny water to them who being weary and thirsty begge for it The mercy of God by Jesus Christ is highly Commended to us upon this Consideration that he gives it not onely in bounty but in Compassion there is not onely liberality but there is a pity in it therefore he saith Matth. 11.28 Come unto me all yee that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest To give ease and refreshment to those that are weary and heavy laden hath not onely bounty liberality but Pity and Compassion in it Psal 136.23 Thanks to God who hath remembred us in our low Estate It is an act of grace for God to remember us in our highest Estate in our most flourishing Estate but to remember us in our low Estate then to give us in refreshings and Comforts this is a clearer act of Grace As it is said Ps 68.9 Thou O God didst send a plentifull raine whereby thou didst confirme thine inheritance when it was weary As the goodnesse of God is most seene in giving water to the weary so is the wickednesse of man in denying it Eliphaz urgeth Job further with this uncharitablenesse And thou hast withholdden bread from the hungry He gave no water and he withheld bread The word is sometimes rendred to hide to deny Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat
reader to his choyce I shall only give the observation which riseth clearely from this God never giveth wicked men any just cause to be weary of him He never doth them any wrong and he often gives them many a blessing and have they any reason to bid him depart he is usually very patient towards them and doth never bring any evill upon them till they have doubly deserved it and have they any reason to be displeased at that yea whensoever he punisheth them in this world he punisheth them then their sinnes deserve indeed there is a punishment behinde adaequate and commensurate to their sinne but they shall never be punished beyond what or more then their sin deserves Seeing then their punishment in the next life though it will be great beyond imagining yet shall not be great beyond deserving and all their punishments in this life are lesse then the demerit of their sinne As was paenitentially confessed by Ezra in the name of the Jewes after they had been broken by the sword and brought into captivity for their sinne Chap. 9.13 Seeing I say 't is but thus with them when 't is worst with them What hath the Allmighty done against them is not all their destruction meritoriously from themselves Againe How much soever God punisheth them in this life they have no reason to complaine or say to God depart from us for even those punishments are messages from God to awaken them out of their sinnes and so to prevent worser punishments therefore when God perceived that stubborne people going on in their sinnes telleth them he will smite there no more as implying that it was his favour to smite them Isa 1.5 Why should ye be smitten any more ye will revolt more and more Surely then such have no reason to say to God depart from us when he smites them as if he did them ey ther hurt or wrong seing he smites them that they might returne unto him Those judgements of God are a mercy which are sent to teach man his duty Now if the judgements of God have somtime mercy in them and never have any injury in them what hurt or injury can there be to man in the service of God Hath the Allmighty done any thing against them whom he lovingly invites to the doing of his will And yet some complaine of wrong when they are onely called to doe what is right and cry out as if God hurt them when he doth but governe them The Lord calls his murmuring people to account about this thing Mich. 6.3 O my people what have I done to thee that is what hurt what wrong have I done unto thee and wherein have I wearied thee testifie against mee As if he had sayd thou hast nothing to bring against me in evidence unlesse it be my kindnes as it follows ver 4. For I brought thee up out of the Lord of Egypt and redeemed thee our of the house of servants and I sent before thee Moses Aaran and Miriam O my people remember c. Consider all my dealings with thee all the deliverances I have wrought for thee all the Statutes and Ordinances all the Lawes and Commandements which I have given thee and then let thy Conscience speake What have I done unto thee which is an evill to thee or wherein have I wearied thee in the things which I have required thee to doe I have done many good workes for thee and I have commanded thee to doe many workes such workes as are not onely good in themselves but good for them who doe them for which of these is it that thou art weary of me There is not that wicked man in the world but God may say to him what have I done to thee or what have I called thee to doe that thou shouldest be weary of mee that thou shouldest desire me to depart from thee Thus if we reade the words in this latter sence What hath the Allmighty done against them They carry a reproofe of their ingrâ—titude against God who had not hurt them yea who had done them good If we reade the words in the second sence What can the Allmighty doe against them They carry a high contempt and slight of his power as if God could doe them no hurt If we reade the words in the first sence according to our translation which I rather pitch upon they carry upon contrary termes a like contempt of the power of God as if he could doe them no Good What can the Allmighty doe for them Vers 18. Yet bee filled their houses with good things The Hebrew is And be filled their houses with good things wee translate yet which better cleares the meaning and scope of the Text according to our reading of the former verse They say to God depart from us and what can the Allmighty doe for them yet he filled their houses with good things As if he had sayd they thought God could doe nothing for them Horum quidem domos ipse impleaver at bonis Jun q. d. Dei benificijs abusi sunt turpitèr tanquam de spolijs dei ipsius triumphaverunt Jun whereas indeed he did all for them all the good they had they had it from God He filled their houses that is he gave them abundance he did not onely put some good things into their houses but he filled their houses with good things they had a plentifull state God gave them a rich portion in the good things of this world his corne his wine his oyle his flax his gold his silver were their portion He filled them and they rebelled against him He bestowed many benefits upon them which they abused to serve their lusts and vainely triumphed in what he freely gave them as if they had been spoyles forcibly taken from him Hence Observe first That God doth them good that are evill Christ perswaded his hearers and us in them upon this account to love their enemies That they and we might be the children of our father which is in heaven For he maketh his Sunne to rise on the evill and on the Good and sendeth raine on the just and on the unjust Matth. 5.45 As God hath some peculiar people so he hath some peculiar blessings and good things which the world in common shares not in but he hath a sort of blessings and good things which are the common share of the world raine and Sun fat and sweet Gold and silver are such good things as their hearts and houses are often filled with whose hearts and house are empty of goodnes These good things God gives them who know no more why he gives them then they did why he did not suddenly bring evill upon them of whom the Apostle speakes Rom. 2.4 Despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse and forbearance and long-suffering not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance when God doth good to those that are evill whether it be by bestowing good upon them or by withholding evill
feare Gladnes faith and glorying which is faith triumphant are peculiar to the upright when the arrow of God wounds the wicked Wee have this double effect againe exprest upon the same occasion Psal 107.42 He powreth contempt upon Princes and causeth them to wander in the wildernesse where there is no way but he sets the poore oh high the righteous shall it and rejoyce What shall they see not only the Godly poore set on high but ungodly Princes filled with contempt that 's part of the spectacle which the righteous shall behold and beholding rejoyce yet this is not all for it follows And all iniquity shall stop her mouth The abstract is put for the concrete iniquity for men of iniquity And so the meaning is men of iniquity or wicked men shall stop their mouths their mouths shall be stopt With shame and feare they shall have nothing to say when the Lord doth this They shall not mutter a word against the workes of God but as Hannah speakes in her Song 1 Sam. 2.9 shall be silent in darknes A like report rayseth the hearts of the people of God into a holy merriment Psal 97.8 Sion heard and was glad the daughters of Judah rejoyced What was the matter what good newes came to Judah what to Sion the Text resolves us Because of thy judgements O Lord The answer is not because of thy mercies or because of thy goodnes O Lord but because of thy judgements and those were dreadfull ones ver 3. A fire goeth before him and burneth up his enemies round about Confounded be all they that serve graven Images c. ver 7. Sion heard of it and was glad Once more Psal 58.10 The righteous shall rejoyce when he seeth the vengeance he shall wash his feete in the bloud of the ungodly Not that the righteous delight in bloud or proudly insult over the worst of enemies The Psalmist doth only in hyperbolical straines of Eloquence borrowed from the language of triumphant conquerers expresse a compleate and glorious victory The stile is of the same signification with that Psal 68.23 That thy foote may be dipped in the bloud of thine enemies and the tongue of the doggs in the same When so much bloud is shed that the foote may be dipt and washed in it that doggs may lap it up like water this argues a great destruction and when the wicked are thus destroyed the righteous shall rejoyce But here it may be queried What matter of joy is this why should the righteous rejoyce in the sorrowes of the wicked is it not alike sinful to be troubled at the joyes and to rejoyce at the troubles of our brethren The light of nature condemns rejoycing over those who are in misery and we have an expresse Scripture against it Pro. 24.17 Rejoyce not when thine enemy falleth let not thy heart be glad when he stumbleth And David puts it among the sins of his enemies Psal 35.15 In my adversity they rejoyced And he professed ver 13. that when they were sicke his cloathing was sacke cloath and that he humbled his soule with fasting David was so farre from rejoycing when his enemies were ruined or dead that he mourned when they were but sicke and would not eate when they could not And as Davids holy practice denyed it so doth Solomons divine precept Rejoyce not when thine enemy falleth How then shall wee reconcile these Texts I answer there may be a rejoycing at the afflictions and troubles of others which is not onely unbecoming and unseemely for the righteous but very sinfull As First To rejoyce and be glad meerely because an enemy is fallen into misery is both unseemly and sinfull And so we are to understand Solomons Proverbe Rejoyce not when thine enemy falleth Some understand this of falling into sinne Hee makes himselfe a sinner indeed who rejoyceth because another hath sinned He that rejoyceth because another hath sinned rejoyceth upon the matter because God is dishonoured Such joy is a kinde of thanksgiving for Satans victory But as to rejoyce because another falls into sin is the worst fall into sinne so to rejoyce meerely because an enemy falls into misery is worse then our owne falling into misery He shewes that he hath not the heart of a man in him who is glad at the misery of any man And he who rejoyceth thus when his enemy falleth doth himselfe fall much worse The ruine and downfall of an enemy suppose him the vilest enemy considered in it selfe is meate and drinke to none but revengefull and envious spirits David was much troubled and chargeth it as an extreame peece of folly upon himselfe Because he was envious at the foolish when he saw the prosperity of the wicked Psal 73.3 Now it is an issue flowing from the same principle purely to envy the prosperity and purely to rejoyce in the adversity of the wicked Nero was justly reckoned a monster among men who could sing when himselfe had set Rome a fire And they have some-what of a Neronian spirit in them who can sing when they see their enemies consuming in the fire God delights not in the misery of man as it is misery upon man nor doe they who are taught of God Secondly As to rejoyce or be glad at the destruction of enemies meerely because they are destroyed so to rejoyce upon private ends or respects because they being taken out of the way and removed out of the world we hope to have more scope and roome in the world for our selves or because we hope to step into their places to fit downe in their seates to possesse our selves of their lands and riches to fill our selves with their spoyles upon this account to rejoyce when wicked men fall when the Lord powres out contempt upon Princes because I say we hope to be gainers by it is alltogether uncomely for the righteous Let the righteous take heed to themselves that they be not found thus rejoycing in the calamities of the wicked They who doe so are eyther but pretenders to godliness men who are onely of the faction of the righteous for though they who are righteous indeed are farre from a faction yes there are a sorâ— of men who professe righteousnesse as if it were nothing but a faction now I say they who thus rejoyce are but eyther of the faction of the righteous while they are really of the number of the wicked or if they are really righteous who doe so and I confesse that a righteous man may doe so David which was acting the counter-part envied their prosperity and by the same reason any godly man may be acted out in joy at their adversity but now I say if they who are really righteous doe so we must conclude them under a sore temptation and they will at last conclude of themselves as David did in the counter-case Psal 73.22 so foolish have we been and ignorant even as a beast before thee You will say then how may or doe the righteous rejoyce
is a Jewell of the greatest price that women can weare so it is a most rich and precious Jewell for a man to weare and as at all times so then especially meeknes and peaceablenes of spirit becomes man when God seemes to come in anger and to be at warre with him Bildad sayd of Job Chap. 18. v. 4. He teareth himselfe in his anger As if he had sayd the man's mad or distracted now Eliphaz adviseth him Be at peace be quiet This is a good interpretation and wee may note from it That it is our Duty to sit downe quiet and satisfied under the saddest dispensations of God A submitting spirit under an afflicting hand how comely is it To be at peace in our selves when all is unquiet about us how blessed a sight is it there are some who trouble themselves a great deale more than all the troubles that are upon them can Man is naturally a very unquiet creature an angry peece of flesh when God is angry he is apt to storme till his heart is subdued to God he cannot beare the hand of God Wicked men naturally as the Prophet Esay found them Chap. 51.20 are like a wilde Bull in a netâ— full of the fury of God and not onely so but full of fury against God throwing up the dust and moyling themselves when the nett of God hath caught them or when God hath caught them in his net God catcheth his owne people in his net many times as well as the wicked His owne people are like a dove in a net but the wicked are like a wild Bul in a net I grant the Doves will flutter a while when the net hath caught them Impatiency doth often breake out in the best of Saints it is a hard thing to keep the heart quiet within while our estate is unquiet without and to be at peace in our selves when God seemes to be at warre with us It is hard for us to hold our peace much more to be at peace in an afflicted condition yet this lesson though very hard Saints have learned David saith Psal 39.9 I was dumbe I opened not my mouth because thou didst it His was not a sullen silence but a patient silence He had not a word to say against God when God speake hard words against him yea when God was at blowes at sharpes with him Paul also had learned in every estate to be content Phil. 4.11 how ever the world went with him he was at peace Cum eâ— pacem habe in gratiam redi qui nunc alienatus es velut hostis Secondly Be at peace may refer unto God and so it is but the heightening of our acquaintance with him for first there must be an acquainting and then a making up of peace when friends fall out they must first speake with one another before the breach can be healed if they doe not treate there can be no reconciliation After treating comes peace As peace is the fruit of the lips Isa 57.19 when God treates with man by man so when man treats with man and when man treats with God Acquaint now thy selfe with him call for a treaty and therein make thy peace Be at peace with him do not any longer continue thy unholy warre with God Eliphaz supposing Job as a man setting himselfe against God had reason to bespeake him thus Hence note That till wee doe acquaint our selves with God wee can have no peace with him The wicked are like the troubled Sea whose waves cast up mire and dirt there is no peace to the wicked saith my God Isa 57.21 why no peace to the wicked the wicked have no acquaintance with God they are strangers they are afarre off from God and God beholds them afarre off therefore there is no peace to them if they have any peace it is a false peace a deceitfull peace or it is but a short peace which will quickly break out into a warre againe when once Conscience is awakened when that sleeping Lyon is rouzed what will become of all their peace they will then â—â—â—d indeed that their soule is among Lions and that they have been onely secure not safe or that theirs hath been at best a trâ—â—e onely not a peace no peace till acquinted with God and no acquaintance with God can produce peace but that which is by Jesus Christ He is the Peace-maker who is also the Mediatour sinners cannot have peace by any immediate acquainâ—â—â—â—e with God for he is a consuming fire and sinners standing alone are but as dry stubble before him When wee are made nigh to or acquainted with God by the blood of Jesus Christ then and not till then are we at peace with him Acquaint thy selfe with him and be at peace no peace without acquaintance with God no acquaintance with God but by Christ therefore no peace but by Christ Secondly Observe That God is ready to give peace to or to be at peace with those that acquaint themselves with him Acquaint thy selfe with him and be at peace as if he should say â—â—ou shalt certainly be at peace with him if thou doest but acquaint thy selfe with him for the Lord will not alwayes chide his love is everlasting but his anger towards his câ—â—â—â—â—es but foâ— a moment As the wisdome of God in man so much more the most wise God is Gentle and easie to be entreated The Lord is found of those who seeke him not Isa 65.1 Surely then he will be found of those that seeke him he is not implacable no nor inexorable The Lord hath declared himselfe full of Compassion to returning sinners so full of compassion that he seeks the acquaintance of sinners and beseeches them to be reconciled to him much more will he be acquainted with them who beseech him that they may be reconciled to him Fury is not in me saith the Lord Isa 27.4 5. who would set the bryars and thornes in battel against me that is who would be so foolish as to encourage sinfull men to be so foole-hardy as to stand out against me or contend with me for alas as it followes in the text I would goe through them I would burne them together There 's no dealing with me upon those termes but I will tell you upon what termes a 〈◊〉 may deale with me Let him lay hold of my strength that he â—â—y make peace with me and he shall make peace with me that is he shall nâ—â— loose his labour he shall find peace if he take hold of my strâ—â—gth One would thinke he should rather have sayd let him take hold of my mercy and goodnes but he saith Let him take hold of my strength To oppose the strength of God is most dangerous but by faith to take hold of it that 's both the duty and the priviledge of an humbled sinner Proud sinners oppose the strength of God humbled sinners take hold of it as their strength As a man seing another whom he hath offended but is
unable to resist or make his party good with him with much submission takes hold of his arme or weapon endeavouring by earnest suit to stay him from smiting And indeed to take hold of the strength of God is to take hold on his mercy The strength of God to save sinners lyes in his mercy and that mercy is in his Son who is his strength to save sinners if a sinner lay hold of this strength the mercy of God in his Son that he may make-peace with God if this be his designe he shall make peace there shall not be a treaty with God in Christ for peace in vaine if a sinner should take hold of the strength of his owne righteousnes performances if he should take hold of the strength of all the Angels in heaven he could not make peace with God nor would God agree with him upon those termes Such a soule must returne re infecta without his errand God is ready to be at peace with 〈◊〉 but we must have our peace in his way not in our owne Acquaint now thy selfe with him and be at peace And this peace whether in our selves or with God is no light or unprofitable thing as Eliphaz to provoke Job to pursue and seeke after it tells him in the last words of this verse Thereby good shall come unto thee Thereby whereby or by what what is it that shall procure or produce this good The answer is at hand Thy acquaintance with God thy being at peace will procure all good things for thee Acquaint thy selfe with him and be at peace be at peace in thy own spirit be quiet be at peace with God be reconciled every way good shall come unto thee Mr Broughton renders Prosperity shall come unto thee the sence is the same Others read in stead of good shall come unto thee thy comings in shall be good thou shalt have a good revenâ—â—â—ood income Proventus tuus erit bonus Drus whereas before evill came upon thee now thy coâ—â—â—gs in shall be good This also is of the same meaning with our translation I shall not need to stay upon the opening of the words there is no difficulty in them From their dependance in that he saith Acquaint thy selfe with him and be at peace so shall good come unto thee These words are brought in by way of inference upon the former whence Observe That when wee are estranged from God good is estranged from us God can stop the Influences of all our mercies from us he can lay an embargo upon all Creatures from bringing any good to us the there be store of treasure and rich Commodity in the place yet he can barre up all that no good can come unto us yea the Lord in such cases doth often lay a stop upon the spirit of prayer in his own people and when the heart is stopt that we cannot pray then usually good is stopt and kept back from coming to us Prayer is that which fetches in mercy and good things through the love of God in Jesus Christ Prayer may have a twofold stop First prayer may have a stop in the heart secondly Prayer which comes forth of the heart may have a stop in heaven the Lord doth even shut out-prayer sometimes and when prayer is shut out no good can get out to us Prayer is sent upon a message to heaven and if our messenger be shut out of doores and not admitted in what answer can we expect by his message And the Lord as he doth stop such from the receiving of further good so from the receiving of good by what they have already Wee may have that which in the nature of it is good and yet have no good by it God can stop the creature in our hands that it shall not at all give us any Comfort as well as he can stop any creature-comfort from comming into our hands Unlesse the Lord in one sence stop the creature it quickly leakes out all the Comfort which he hath put into it and proves to us indeed what sin hath made it a broken Cistern And unlesse the Lord open the creature the creature cannot give forth that good which it hath It will be to us as a Cisterne without a vent to passe out the water for our use There 's many a one who hath enough in his hand take it in any kinde but he enjoyes nothing of it because the Lord locks up the conduit or the cisterne and then how much good soever there is in it there 's none for him It is all one to us whether we have onely a broken Cisterne for our portion or a Cisterne alwayes lockt up for as the one lets all the water run out so the other holds all the water in we are as farre from good if our Cisterne hold all as if it held nothing at all It is then not onely our duty and our holines to acquaint our selves and be at peace with God but our wisdome and our interest For it is as he pleaseth alwayes and usually as we please him that eyther we have any thing that is good comming to us or that any good commeth to us by that which we have Secondly Note which is a Corallary from the former observation That the renewing of our Communion with God and making peace with him is followed with all manner of mercies and good things So shall good come unto thee There was never any man a looser by acquaintance with God Gods acquaintance is a gainfull acquaintance Our acquaintance with God should we consider it abstractly and separate from all benefit but his very acquaintance yet that is benefit enough God is the chiefest Good and therefore when we enjoy him we enjoy all Good The enjoyment of God himselfe is infinitely more then the enjoyment of all created good things that come from God Friends are sometimes in those heights of friendship and noblenes of spirit one to another that they count the enjoyment of one another to be more then all the benefits they can heape upon or reape by one another it is your good Company saith such a friend and your acquaintance that delights me more then all the good you can bestow upon mee And is not God much more so to us Thus I say acquaintance with God alone is all good but besides as the poynt leads us to consider God gives out good things from himselfe to all his holy acquaintants temporall or bodily good comes to us by his acquaintance and so also and that chiefly doth spirituall or soule good Acquaint thy selfe with God and the dewes of grace showers of the Spirit shall fall into thy bosome Acquaint thy selfe with God and spirituall Comfort shall flow in unto thee spirituall strength shall flow in unto thee thy soule shall be filled as with marrow and fatnes And as good shall come to thee in person so to thine to thy family and posterity good shall come And as God will cause good to
what he saith to mee and then reverently submit thereunto Further This forme of speaking I would know the words and I would understand c. seemeth to imply a vehement desire in Job to know the minde of God concerning him As a man that is accused longs to heare the minde of the Judge as for others 't is not much to him what they say for him or against him As Paul spake in a like case 1 Cor. 4.3 With me it is a very small thing to be judged of you or of mans judgement c. he that judgeth me is the Lord that is to his judgement I must stand He is above all Hence note First That a godly man is carefull to understand the answer and determinations of God concerning him I would know the words that he would answer mee and this not onely according to the supposition which Job makes here if God should speake to him personally or mouth to mouth but in what way soever God should speake to him It is the great care of a Godly man to know the word of God written and deliver'd over to us as the rule of our life and faith for indeed therein wee have our judgement and our answer as Christ saith the words that I speake they shall judge you at the last day that is by the word you shall be judged Likewise it is the care of a Godly man to understand what God speakes to him by his workes and providences by his rods and chastnings In these the Lord speakes to us and gives us answers They who are wise will study to know and understand them We may conceive that Job had respect to two things especially about which he desiered that he might understand the answer and words of God to him First That God would shew him the true Cause of his affliction for he did not take that to be the Cause which his friends had so often suggested and so disputed upon that Fallacy all along which Logicians call The putting of that for a Cause which is not the Cause Therefore Job hoped to know of God what he would say as to the reason why he did Contend with him Secondly What God would say to him by way of Direction and Councell by way of remedy and redress he was sollicitous to understand the minde of God and what God expected from him under this dispensation So that Jobs scope was not at all as Eliphaz suspected to plead his owne righteousnesse and holy walkings before God as if God had been beholding to him for them and so must needs grant him as having deserved it whatsoever he should aske But that he might be acquainted with the holy will and purpose of God concerning himselfe and to be instructed by him about the grounds and ends of his long and sharpe affliction that so he might beare it more chearefully and more fruitfully As also and that principally that he might heare from his Majesty which was the great poynt in controversie between him and his friends whether he did correct and chasten him as a son or punish and take vengeance on him as on a rebell and so set him among the examples of caution for sinners in time to come Secondly Note A Godly man rests in the Judgement of God Si me nisontem pronunciaret cum gaudio si sontem cum patientia sâ—sciperem sententiam ejus Scult Job would not rest in his friends judgement but in Gods judgement he would rest and enquire no further I saith he freely yeeld up my selfe to that if the Lord should pronounce mee Innocent I would rest in his sentence and be thankfull if the Lord should pronounce mee faulty yet I would rest in his sentence and be patient yea then I would aske mercy and begg his grace for the pardon of my faylings God is an Infallible Judge and therefore no man ought to question his determinations Indeed Every mouth shall be stopped and all the world become guilty before God Rom. 3.19 that is acknowledg theÌ„selves guilty before him when he judgeth And as there is no avoyding the judgement of God so a godly man desires to rejoyce in it Good is the word of the Lord sayd Hezekiah 2 King 20 19. When a very sore sentence was past against him and he sayd is it not Good if peace and truth be in my dayes By good in the former part of the verse he meanes just and equall as if he had sayd though this word be full of gall and wormewood yet it is no other then I and my people have deserved and drawne upon our selves By good in the latter part of the verse he meanes Gracious and mercifull as if he had sayd God in this sentence hath mixed the good of justice and equity with the good of graciousnes and mercy or in the midst of Judgement he hath remembred mercy Thus also when God gave sentence by fire against the two sons of Aaron Moses sayd to Aaron This is that the Lord spake saying I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and before all the people I will be glorified Lev. 10.3 Now when Aaron heard this the text saith And Aaron held his peace He murmured not he contradicted not but rested patiently in the judgement of God And thus Job was resolved to give himselfe up to the judgement of God whatsoever it should be And we shall finde him in the next words hoping strongly to finde God very sweete and gratious to him could he but obtaine a hearing at his Judgement seate JOB CHAP. 23. Vers 6 7. Will he plead against me with his great power No but he would put strength in me There the righteous might dispute with him so should I be delivered for ever from my Judge JOb still prosecutes the proofe of his integrity from his willingnesse to appeare before God and plead his case at his throne and as in the two former verses he told us what he would doe upon supposition that he could finde God and have accesse unto him even that he would state his case and then fill his mouth with arguments he would also seriously attend and strive to understand the answer which God should give him So in these two verses he holds out what entertainment he assured himselfe of in this his addresse to God as also what confidence he had of a faire hearing and of a good issue As if he had said O Eliphaz you have often deterred and over-awed me with the Majesty of God as if he would certainly crush such a worme as I am and that I could not at at all stand or abide a tryall before him in Judgement Eliphaz hath spoken to that sense at the 4th verse of the former Chapter Will he reprove thee for feare of thee will he enter with thee into judgement dost thou thinke that God will condescend so farre as to treate with thee but know O Eliphaz that I am not afraid of the presence of God for
worke of God by Creation and God worketh in all places by his providence The workes of creation would run to ruine if God did not sustaine and as it were keepe them in reparation by the workes of providence yet as God worketh in some men and by some men more then in nnd by others some persons are to him as his right hand he calls them forth to be greatly instrumentall to him So hee worketh in some places and nations and by some places and nations more then he doth in or by others God is a free Agent he worketh where he will and he pitcheth upon some speciall places and persons according to the pleasure of his owne will to worke in and by more then many others And seing according to this Interpretation The left hand where he is said to worke so eminently is the North. Wee may observe First That God worketh more in the Northern parts of the world then he doth in the South And the reason of this may be because the Northern parts of the world are more inhabited and peopled then the Southern are And which may be a second reason of it The Inhabitants of the Northern parts of the world are more civillized and better instructed then the Southerne Now the providences of God are most remarkable where there are most people and they best taught and instructed where the natural faculties of man are most raised and sublimated by art and regular education there or by them God doth his greatest workes those places are as it were the stages whereon he acts and brings to issue the secret purposes and counsels of his heart both in wayes of judgement and in wayes of mercy Besides we finde that the Northerne Nations have in all ages been the most active and warlike The Fourth Monarchy That of the Romanes whose seate was more Northerly then any of the former three was the most active and warlike of the Foure and extended its Dominion by extreame and unwearyed industry further then any had done before And those irruptions of enemies and Armyes which gaue the greatest checke to the Romane Greatness and often plum'd or pull'd off the Feathers of that mighty Eagle were still made by those people who lived and were bred up in climates more cold and Northerly then they as all Historyes doe with one consent make good Insomuch that it grew into a Famous Proverb Omne malum ab aquilone All evill comes from the North that is all troubles invasions and devastations are brought upon the Nations by some hardy people or other coming out of the North. And the holy Scriptures of the Prophets are full of this observation Jer. 1.14 15. Then the Lord sayd unto me out of the North an evill shall breake forth upon all the Inhabitants of the land For lo I will call all the familyes of the kingdome of the North saith the Lord and they shall come and they shall set every one his throane at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem c. By The North in this prophecy he meanes Chaldea and Babylon which are scituate North from Jerusalem And by all the familyes of the kingdomes of the North he meanes all the Northerne parts under the obedience of the King of Babylon who should readily follow and serve him in his warres against Judea Againe in the same Prophet Ch 4.6 I will bring evill out of the North Ch. 6.1 Evill appeareth out of the North ver 22 A people comes forth from the North Chap. 10.22 Behold a great commotion out of the North. And when the Lord promised to remove far away from his people the Northerne Army Joel 2.20 he therein promised them the removall of all Armyes and troubles because the North had most of all if not alone troubled and harrazed them with Armyes Againe In the North the Gospel which is the highest teaching and instruction hath been more generally and more clearely published then in the Southern parts of the world so that in allusion to that of the Prophet Isa 30.26 we may say That the light of our Northern Moone hath been as the light of the Southern Sun and that the light of our Sun hath been seven-fold to theirs even as the light of seven dayes And according to the greatnes of Gospel light the dispensations and changes which we have been under have been very great we especially in this Northern Nation with those adjoyning to us and united with us under one Government have had full Experience of and may therefore giving glory to God seale to the truth of Jobs position That God worketh on the left hand or in the North. Have not we found God working in the North What changes what variety of action have our Northern parts both seene and felt What wonders of mercy and salvation what terrible things in righteousnes hath God wrought of late among us The heavens and the earth States of all sorts The heavenly and the earthly and of all degrees the higher and the lower have been terribly shaken in these Nations Providence hath wrought to amazement in our dayes The Nations round about have heard the report of it and wondered Many have and will have cause to say of us what hath God wrought on the left hand in our North God hath been at worke indeed Moreover we finde that Mount Sion which was not onely an eminent part of the literall Jerusalem but a figure also of the mysticall Jerusalem or whole Church of God under the Gospel Heb. 12.22 This Mount Sion I say is Geographically described in our Northerly scituation Psal 48.2 3. Beautifull for scituation the joy of the whole earth is Mount Sion on the sides of the North the City of the Great King God is knowne in her pallaces for a refuge As if he had sayd in Sion on the sides of the North God worketh wonderfully as it follows expressely v. 4 5. for lo the kings were assembled they passed by together they saw it and so they marveiled they were troubled and hasted away that is Kings conspiring against the Church were so terrified with the evidences of Gods power working mightily there that they fled away or as another Scripture phraseth it They came one way and returned seven And in this forme of speech is both the then Jerusalem and the Church ever since expressed in that boast which the king of Babylon who was a type of all the enemies of the Church cloathed with mighty power and soveraignty makes against her Isa 14.13 I will sit also that is erect my throane upon the Mount of the Congregation on the sides of the North. Mount Sion was called the Mount of the Congregation because there the people of God the Jewes were famously knowne to congregate often together and this saith that proud boaster on the sides of the North. And to compleate this notion of the workings of God in and from the North Christ himselfe is sayd to be raysed out of the North
Nineveh should be over-throwne yet when they turned from what they had done God turned from what he sayd he would doe And did he not change his mind in reference to his promise to Zion as there in reference to his threatning against Nineveh The promise to Zion runs in this tenour This is my rest for ever here will I dwell for I have desired it Psal 132 14. Yet the Lord removed out of Zion he departed from Jerusalem and gave it into the enemies hands How many miseries and captivities did that people undergoe long agoe and how are they scattered from Jerusalem into all Lands unto this very day How then shall we reconcile the Text and poynt in hand with these quoted Scriptures and many others of a like interpretation How is God unchangable or in one minde when we read of his repenting what he had done of his saying what he would doe and yet not doing what he had said both in his promises in his threatnings How can these changes and the Lords unchangeablenes stand together or how is he but in one minde the tenour of whose doings doth so often vary both from what he hath formerly done and from what he hath professed he would doe In a word How is the Lord constant to what he sayth he will doe when eyther he doth it not or doth the quite contrary to it He that repenteth is not in one minde seing repentance is a change of the minde First I answer Repentance properly taken notes a change of the minde But in an improper or allusive sence there may be repentance without any the least change of the minde When God is sayd to repent as in those texts alledged we are to understand it improperly or onely in allusion unto man The Scripture in many other things speakes of God eyther as condescending to mans understanding or as alluding to the common actions of man God doth not act as man doth yet by such expressions as hold out what and how man acts we may come the more easily to understand what God doth As in the present instance when man repents he doth these two things First He ceaseth to doe what he began to doe he breakes the thread of his former motions Secondly When man repents that he hath done or made such a thing he is ready to deface and destroy that which he hath made or done When man repents that he hath set up such or such a thing he removes and takes it downe Thus God is sayd to repent not because his minde is changed but because as a man that repenteth he ceaseth to doe what he did or he destroyeth that which he had made Thus the Lord is said to repent his making of Saul king because he meant to remove him from being king And to repent that he had made the world because his purpose was for the sin of man to deface and destroy the present beautie and excellency of the world which he had made God often puts forth the effects of repentance toward man but the repentance of a man never put forth any effect upon God Secondly We may answer thus God often minds a change Aliud est mutare voluntatem aliud velle mutationem Aquin par 1. q. 19. art 7. But he never changes his minde And so all those Scriptures before mentioned note onely that God did minde a change or make a change But not that he did change his minde There is a vast difference between these two to minde or determine a change and to change the minde or determination As for instance a man that is resolved to weare garments sutable to the season of the yeare and temperature of the weather in the heate of summer it is his minde to weare light and thinne garments that he may be coole and in the cold of winter his minde is to weare heavier and thicker garments that he may be warme Now if this man when winter comes leaves off his light thinne garments puts on those that are heavier and thicker he cannot be sayd to change his mind for his minde was alwayes to weare change of garments according to the season of the yeare and temper of the weather And thus the Lord according to the changes which he finds among men for the better or for the worse doth both minde and make eminent changes among them as to his providentiall administrations whether in wayes of Judgement or of mercy but in these he never changes his own minde forasmuch as his mind was everlastingly fixed in case of such emergencies to make those changes in his administrations and dealings with the sons of men Thirdly For further answer We are to distinguish between the outward sentence and declaration of God and his secret purpose or decree God doth often change his sentence or the declaration But he never changeth his purpose decree or counfell Quaest But is not that externall declaration the minde of God also Answ I answer These denounced sentences or declarations are the minde of God yet they are not the same with the counsels and purposes of God but serve for the fullfilling and bringing of them about for by the change which the sentence revealed worketh in man the counsel of God not revealed is effected The frustrating of the one fulfills the other And the Lords designe in such declarations of his minde is to bring about or accomplish his purposes and counsells God did purposely declare or pronounce a sentence of death against Hezekiah by the Prophet Isaiah to the intent that his counsell concerning the continuance of Hezekiahs life might be fulfilled And he sent the Prophet Jonah to publish a sentence of utter destruction against Nineveh purposely that his counsel concerning the preservation of Nineveh might be accomplished The Lords counsel and purpose was that Hezekiah should live and recover out of that disease But how did he fulfill this even by sending him a message of death which caused him to weepe sore and pray and cry earnestly to the Lord for life Thus saith the Lord set thine house in order for thou shalt die and not live Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed unto the Lord saying c. But then it may be questioned was that word of the Lord true which he sent to Hezekiah by the Prophet saying thou shalt dye The sentence published was true and would certainly have come to passe according to the order and working of second causes for looking to them Hezekiah must die his sicknes was unto death In those dayes was Hezekiah sicke unto death Doubtlesse his Physitians and all that were about him gave him over for a dead man Onely God could restore him and the way wherein he would restore him was by prayer So for Nineveh if we consider the desert of their sin the sentence was true Nineveh shall be destroyed But the Lord sent his Prophet to tell them of their approaching destruction that they might fast and turne
of the way by the perswasion of others A subtle head and a smooth oyly tongue may worke them off from their owne resolutions It hath been a question disputed among moral Philosophers Whether a wise man may be an uncertaine or a various man And they resolve it Negatively Wisdome is as balast which keeps the minde from floating And it hath been sayd of a wise man among the Heathen that the Sun might as soone be thrust out of his line as he from the line of Justice yet let no man glory in man no not in wise men The wisest and most constant among men may doe unwisely and prove unconstant The most resolved among the children of men may be wrought upon and brought over to what they purposed not But this is the glory of God that as he is in one minde so none can turn him or make him in two None can turne him out of the way eyther of his intended Judgements or promised mercies what he hath a minde to doe he will not be put by the doing it We may affirme three things concerning the workes of God or concerning God in his workings First The workes of God are so full of mystery that none can fully comprehend them there is much in his ordinary workes beyond man and his extraordinary workes are all beyond man We by reason of our indiligence see but little of any of his workes and some of his workes are such as we can see but a little way into them with all our diligence Secondly The workes of God are so full of righteousnesse that no man can justly reprove or finde fault with them They who come with the most curious critical eyes to examine the workes of God shall not finde any flaw or defect in them There have been many who through their presumptuous folly have found fault with the workes of God but there was never any who with his most refined wit could finde a fault in them The Jewes of old complained of and quarrel'd at the wayes of God as unequall Ezek. 18.25 but when it came to tryall they could prove nothing but the inequality of their owne Thirdly The workes of God are so full of power that none can put a stop to or hinder the accomplishment of them These are three excellent perfections of the workes of God And the last is that which is here under hand Hezekiah though a great King was not able to bring a worke about which he had a minde to The rescue of Jerusalem out of the hand of the Assyrians and therefore he sends this pitifull cry to the Prophet Isaiah 2 King 19.3 The children are come to the birth that is the busines is ripe for execution and there is no strength to bring forth The workes of the strongest men may sticke in the birth for want of strength to bring them forth But the workes of God never sticke in the birth upon that or any other account He is in one minde and who can turne him There are foure wayes by which men are usually turned off from or stopped in their workes but by none of them will God be turned when he hath a minde to worke First Men are often stopt by outward power they doe not eyther that good or that evill which they would because they cannot and their cannot possibly doth not lie in this that they have not a power in themselves proportionable to the worke or because they have medled with a matter too great for them and for which they are no match but they therefore onely cannot doe what they would because they are hindered from doing it A man may have ability to master the worke he is about to doe yet not to master the impediments that stand in the way of it But all the power of the creature cannot hinder God If he will worke none can let him Isa 43.13 The power of men is weaknesse unto God And that which lookes like weaknesse in God is stronger then the united strength of all men 1 Cor. 1.25 The foolishnes of God is wiser then men and the weaknesse of God is stronger then men Secondly Men are or may be turned by counsel or advice and some who could not be stopt by power have yet been stopt by perswasion An eloquent tongue hath prevailed where a violent hand could not We read how Abigail prevailed upon David a mightie warrier and mightily resolved to destroy Nabal and all his house 1 Sam. 25.22 So and more also doe God unto the enemies of David if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall David spake not onely peremptorily but with a kinde of adjuration And he was upon his march with foure hundred armed men at his heeles to put his purpose into Execution Yet a discreet woman goes out to meet and turne him from his course and turne him she did she did it effectually But what could Abigail a woman doe to prevaile with David and his Souldiers What she did she did by perswasion she layed arguments before him and managed them with so much pathetical rhetoricke and clearnes that he could not withstand her ver 32.33 And David said unto Abigail Blessed be the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meete me and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou which hast kept me this day from coming to shed bloud and to avenge my selfe with mine owne hand Thus men may be turned from what they have resolved especially when they doe not well deliberate before they resolve But God cannot be turned by any counsel or advice seing whatsoever he purposeth to doe he doth it upon the unerring advice and counsel of his owne will Those passions of anger and jealousie in which as he is set forth to us in Scripture God is sayd to act are yet the issues of infinite deliberation He that doth all things by the best counsel can never be turned by any Thirdly Men are often turned by petition when they will not by argument and you may entreate them to desist from what they were about to doe though you cannot advise them out of it And we know that of all things prayer is the most prevailing with God Nothing hath ever turned God so much as prayer hath and yet prayer it selfe in the sence here intended cannot turne God We must not thinke that we change God by our prayers though when we pray God often makes a gratious change for us Whatsoever his minde is to doe he doth it yea though prayer stand in his way Wee may say that the greatest providentiall changes that were ever made in the world God hath made them upon the prayers of his people yet he never changed his owne minde in the least at the prayer of his people The Lord calls his people earnestly to call upon him so and meeting him by prayer to stop him when he is preparing to doe some great thing against them
probable that they who know him should know times too for to whom should God communicate his secrets but to those who are neere to him to those that are his As if he had sayd Give me a reason if you can why God to whom all things and times are knowne from eternitie should not make knowne these times to those that know him And so the argument may be formed in this manner Such as know God should know his dayes if any know them But they that know God doe not know his dayes therefore God keepes his dayes close to himselfe so that whereas Eliphaz supposed Job as doubting the providence of God Chap. 22. ver 12 13 14. and asks the question ver 15th Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have troden Job answers here I deny not the providence of God but I deny that all the wayes of Gods dealing with wicked men are obvious to the eye of Godly men and shew me reason if you can seing God knoweth all times why the way of his judgements are so little visible to them which know him But who are they that are described by this circumlocution They or the men that know God We may take them in a twofold notion First More Generally for all godly men for all who are truly such know God Secondly More specially for those Godly men who know God more then others there are some who have a peculiar knowledge of him and dayly intimacy with him who live as it were in his bosome and see what is in his breasts comparatively to others And further because words of knowledge comprehend the affections in Scripture by those that know him much we are to understand those that love him much that delight in him much that feare him much and obey him much Now though we may expound this text of truely Godly men at large yet the latter sort are chiefly meant why seeing times are not hidden from the almighty doe not they that know him godly men yea his favourites who know most of his minde who as they are after his heart so in his heart eminently why doe not they who know him thus See his dayes Diem domini appellamus cum judicium suum exercit in impios Whose dayes and what dayes doth Job here intend The former part of the verse answers the first question They are the dayes of God And to the second question I answer The dayes of God are those dayes wherein he worketh or brings forth some great worke whether it be a worke of Judgement or a worke of mercy For as Times in the former part of the verse so dayes here include the things done in those dayes and hence Mr Broughton renders wayes not dayes None sayth he that know him see his wayes Whensoever God doth somewhat among men which declares him in an eminent manner to be God that in Scripture is called the Day of God Thus the Prophet speakes Isa 2.12 The day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty and upon every one that is lifted up and he shall be brought low And upon all the Cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up c. Thus the day of the Lord is the day of his judgement among men I passe not for mans day or for the judgement of man sayth Paul 1 Cor. 4.3 And when he saith 1 Cor. 3.13 The day shall discover it He meanes a day of tryall will discover every mans worke whether it be silver gold hay wood or stubble The day of discovery will be a Glorious day of God The Civilians have an expression which reacheth this notion of a day They say of a man that hath had judgement in the highest Court from whence there is no appeale Summum obijsse diem dicunt Jurisconsulti vid Bold He hath passed his last day that is his highest and greatest triall because then there is no more medling with him or bringing the suite about againe Such are the dayes of God of which Job here speaketh Why seing times are not hidden from the Almighty doe they that know him not see his dayes From the former part of the verse Note First That times are knowne perfectly knowne to God Yea not onely are times perfectly knowne to God but firmely fixed and most wisely disposed of by him men may know that which they have no power to dispose of but the knowledg of God and his power run paralel through all times and things So that as when the text sayth Times are not hidden from the Almighty it notes that they are fully knowne to him so also that they are uncontrouleably disposed and ordered by him And as times are knowne to God so he makes them knowne when and to whom he pleaseth When Joseph had revealed to Pharaoh both the matter and the time concerned in his dreames then saith Moses Gen. 41.45 Pharaoh called Josephs name Zaphnath paaneah which say some signifies in the Egyptian language The Saviour of the world Which name say they Pharaoh might give him because by his advice in laying up stores of corne in the yeares of plenty such a world of men or so great a part of the world was saved from perishing by famine in the yeares of scarcity But say others deriving the word from an Hebrew roote it signifies a revealer of secrets Which title of honour Joseph well deserved and was most proper to him seing he had revealed that Great secret unto Pharaoh both that there should be a famine as also the time and season of it But where had Joseph this secret was it from any astrologicall skill of his owne He tells us plainely whence it was at the 15th and 16th verses of the same Chapter for when Pharaoh had sayd to Joseph I have heard say of thee that thou canst understand a dreame to interpret it He presently answers first Negatively It is not in me and then affirmatively God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace See the like in that most remarkeable passage Den. 2.17 18 19 20 21. From all which we learne that God knoweth times and changeth times that is makes great changes in times according to the counsell of his owne will First If we take time for the succession of dayes weeks months yeares and ages thus the Lord knoweth times The number of the dayes of man the precise number of the yeares and ages wherein any worldly state or power shall continue are not hidden from him Secondly Times are not hidden from God as times are taken for the seasons and opportunities of action The Lord knowes what time will be as a wheele or as a socket fitted for the carrying on or establishing of every worke We are often troubled at this and misse our season but God knoweth every season he knoweth the times and therefore can time every worke exactly And the Hebrew word here used 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotat congruum tempus properly signifies
knew him as a favourite that is trusted with secrets So David speakes Psal 25.14 The secret of the Lord is with them that feare him There is a secret in the plainest truths and doctrines of Godlines both in Law and Gospel and many know the doctrine who know not the secret any common professor may know the doctrine but the sincere onely know the secret that is the power and efficacy the sweetnes of comfort of the doctrine There is also a secret of God with his in blessing and prospering them in the world of which Job speakes Chap. 29.4 as there is also a secret and imperceptible curse which the Prophet calls the Lords blowing upon what men have in their possession or for their use Hag. 1.9 But besides these there is a secret of favour which is the sealing of the Spirit the gift of the hidden Manna and of the white stone with a new name in it which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it Rev. 2.17 This secret of the Lord is with them that feare him and there is yet another secret of his with them even the secret of his purpose and intendment concerning his owne providentiall workings Which while many or all see yet they know not the meaning of them I meane it not onely of the wicked and carnall but even of many who are holy and spirituall in the maine The secrets of providence are knowne onely to some choyce ones to some of an excellent Spirit and high attainements to some Abrahams c. intimate friends who are to God as his owne soule There is a secret of the Lord which is with all them that feare him yet some of his secrets are not with many of them who feare him What Job spake in the 12th Chapter of this Booke ver 2. reproving the pride of his friends Yee are the men and wisdome shall dye with you you I trow have ingrossed all wisdome and others must borrow of you The same we may speake soberly and approvingly of some humble Godly men they have the knowledge of God and it is but little that others have though they have a saving knowledge Some conceive the Prophet upbraiding the Jewes Isa 58.2 As if they affected to be looked upon not onely as such as know God but as such as know him intimately and were his bosome friends They seeke me dayly and delight to know my wayes as a nation that did righteousnesse and forsooke not the ordinance of their God they aske of me the Ordinances of Justice they take delight in approaching unto God They who doe indeed as these Jewes seemed to doe may be numbred among those of the highest forme that know God Why doe they that know him not see his dayes Here Job hath found out somewhat knowable which they who know God doe not alwayes know and that is as hath been shewed the season of his judgements Hence Note First The judgements of God are often eyther deferred carried so closely and secretly that the wisest and holyest men cannot alwayes discerne or see them The judgements of God are often deferred in this life and they are very often concealed though presently executed That is not alwayes true which Eliphaz asserted Chap. 22.19 The righteous see it and are glad the innocent laugh them to scorne The righteous sometimes see the judgements of God upon wicked men his care watching over themselves but they do not alwayes see eyther for as a wicked man may doe evill a hundred times that is very often and goe unpunished as is intimated Eccl. 8.12 So a wicked man may be punished a hundred times and yet not one of his punishments seene Some judgements of God are great and sore which yet fall not under the observation of the best of the wisest of the holiest in the world They that know him doe not see his dayes God for terror and warning to others doth judgement upon some openly Deut. 7.9 10. Know therefore the Lord thy God he is God the faithfull God who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keepe his commandements to a thousand generations and repayeth them that hate him to their face to destroy them He will not be slacke to him that hateth him he will repay him to his face Here are two things in this Text concerning the judgements of God That they shall come first suddenly secondly openly they shall come suddenly God will not be slack they shall come openly God will repay them to their face as they sinned openly so they shall be punished openly Thus God repayd the Sodomites he payd them to their face so he repayd Pharaoh and so the rebelling Jewes and he was not slack for as the Psalmist saith while the meate was in their mouth the wrath of God fell upon them Thus 't is sometimes yet judgements are often deferred and hidden What the Apostle speakes Rom. 9.22 is applicable here God willing to shew his wrath and make his power knowne indured with much long suffering the vessells of wrath fitted for destruction there are vessells of wrath fitted for destruction throwne to hell not onely to a temporall but to an eternall destruction yet God did indure them with much long suffering that is he did not presently powre out wrath upon them he was so farre from casting them presently to hell that he did not afflict them with any trouble in this life but indured them with much long suffering and patience David was much astonished with this consideration Psal 36.6 Thy righteousnesse is like the great mountaines thy judgements are a great deepe Take both together Thy righteousnesse is like the great mountaines the mountaines of God that is thy righteousnesse indures and remaines inviolable But though it be so yet the execution and actings of thy righteousnesse are not alwayes decerneable for thy judgements are a great deepe that is when God doth execute and put forth his righteousnesse few see it his judgements are a great deepe many deepes who can goe to the depth of them how unsearchable are thy judgements saith the Apostle Rom. 11.33 they are such and so deepe that none can reach the bottome of them and therefore no wonder if they are sometimes hidden from those that know God Secondly Whereas Job sayth Why seing times are not hidden from the Almighty doe they that know him not see his dayes We may Note That if any thing which God doth in this world be seene by any Godly men are in the Greatest likely-hood to see it And that upon a twofold ground first because they have the best eyes and sences most exercised to discerne what God is doing And as this is because they have the best internal light and purest principles to make this discovery with So in the second â—lace because they stand fayrest in the eye of God to have his providences manifested and expounded to them For as God by the Spirit expounds his word so his workes to his choycest servants
wherein with respect to Christ apprehended by faith hee absolveth the beleever from sin and death and doth repute him just and righteous unto eternal life Of this the Apostle treates at large in the 3d 4 â—â— and 5th Chapters of the Epistle to the Romanes and in that to the Galatians This doctrine of free justification is the foundation and corner stone of all our comfort For whereas there is a double change in the state of a sinner first a relative change secondly an absolute and reall change The one is made in sanctification the other in Justification Sanctification is a reall change subduing corruption destroying the power of sin in us but Justification is not a Physicall or real change in the person it doth not make him that is unrighteous righteous in himselfe nor is man at all Justified in this sence by any selfe-righteousnes but it is onely a relative change as to his state To Justifie is a Law-terme signifying the pronouncing or declaring of a man righteous So that Justification is an act of God upon us or towards us Sanctification is an act of God in us This blessed Grace of Sanctification alwayes followeth the grace of Justification as an effect or fruit of it and though it may easily be distinguished from it yet it can no more be separated or divided from it then heate from fire or motion from life Yet I concave that Bildad in this place doth not speake of Justification in that strict Gospel sence as it imports the pronouncing of a man righteous for the sake of Christ or as if he supposed Job looked to be pronounced righteous for his owne sake But Bildad speakes of Justification here as to some particular act As for instance If any man will contend with God and that Bildad chargeth Job with as if God had done him some wrong or had afflicted him more then was need is he able to make this plea good and give proofe of before the Throne of God How can man be Justified with God There is a fourefold understanding of that phrase with God First Thus If any man shall presume to referre himselfe to the Judgement of God shall he be justified all at last must appeare before the Judgement of God whether they will referre themselves to him or no but suppose a man referre himselfe to God as Job had done by appealing to him can he be Justified Will God upon the tryall examination of his cause give Judgement or sentence for him But in this sence it is possible for a man to be justified with God and thus Job was justified by God at last against the opinion and censures of his three friends Secondly To be Justified with God is as much as this If man come neere to or set himselfe in the presence of God shall he be justified Man usually lookes upon himselfe at a distance from God he looks upon himselfe in his owne light and so thinkes himselfe righteous but when he lookes upon himselfe in the light of God and as one that is neer God will not all his spots and blemishes then appeare or rather will not he himselfe appeare all spot and blemish When he is once with God will he be any thing with himselfe but an impure and wretched creature In this sence Bildad might check Jobs boldnes in desiering to come so neere God even to his seate which would but have made him more vile in his owne eyes and discovered to him his owne impurities as it did to the Prophet Isayah Chap. 6.5 and as it did also to Job himselfe when he attained his wish and got so neere to God that he called it a seeing him with his eye Chap 42.5 Then we have not a word more of pleading his cause before God His mouth was stopt and he abhorred himselfe repenting in dust and ashes Thirdly Can man be justified with God that is if man compare himselfe with God an he be justified one man may compare himselfe with another and be justified And thus the fâ—ithfull people of God are called righteous and just in Scripture comparatively to wicked and unrighteous men But how can any man be just or righteous compared with God in comparison of whom all our righteousnesse is unrighteous and our very cleanenes filthy Fourthly To be justified with God is against God that is if man strive or contend with God in any thing as if God were too hard and severe towards him eyther by withholding good from him or bringing evill upon him can man be justifyed in this contention or will God be found to have done him any wrong without all question he will not From the words taken in a generall sence observe Man hath nothing of his owne to Justifie him before God There are two things considerable in man first his sinne secondly his righteousnesse his worst and his best all grant man cannot be justified by or for his sins nor can he at all be justifyed in or for his owne righteousnesse And that upon a twofold ground First Because the best of his righteousnesse is Imperfect and no Imperfect thing can be a ground of Justification and acceptance with God For though God doth justifie those who are imperfect yet hee never justified any man upon the account of that which is Imperfect God never tooke cockle-shels for payment he must have pure gold and he seeth wel enough what poore stuffe what base coyne the best of our righteousnesse is and therefore cannot admit any of it in justification For the purpose of God is to exalt himselfe in Justice as wel as in mercy by the justification of sinners And therefore the Apostle sayth Rom. 3.25 26. That God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse and he is not content to say it once but saith it againe To declare I say his righteousnesse that he might be just and the justifier of him that beleeveth in Jesus Secondly All the righteousnesse wrought by man is a due debt how can wee acquit our selves from the evill wee have done by any good which we doe seeing all the good we doe we ought to have done though we had never done any evill When we have done our best we may be ashamed of our doings we do so poorly But suppose we had done richly and bravely suppose our workes which indeed are full of drosse were pure gold and silver were precious stones and Jewels yet they are already due to God Wee owe all and all manner of obedience as wee are creatures And wee can never justifie our selves from our transgressions by satisfying could we reach them our obligations There is enough in Christ to justifie us but there is nothing in our selves All that Christ did was perfect and Christ was under no obligation to doe any thing but what he willingly submitted to doe for us This booke of Job beareth as great a testimony to this truth as any How often doth
He spake great things of the power and holynes of God but Jobs case called him to speake as much if not more and rather of the goodness and kindnes of God He spake enough to humble and cast Job downe at the sight of his natural uncleanenes but he should have spoken more to rayse him up and comfort him by shewing him that fountaine which is opened to wash in for sin and for uncleanenes Wee may quickly entangle a soule by speaking truth unlesse we shew him all that ruth which belongs to his condition The Scriptures have plenty of truth in them and are therefore able to make as wise unto salvation They are profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction for instruction in righteousnes The Scripture is like that River spoken of Gen. 2.10 which went out of Eden to water the Garden and from thence it was parted and became into foure heads Paul in that place now mentioned 2 Tim. 3.16 shewes us the Scripture parting it selfe into foure heads first of Doctrine for establishing the truth secondly of reproofe for removing of error thirdly of correction for the beating downe of ill manners fourthly of instruction for building up in a holy conversation That so as it there follows the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good workes that is in Jobs language that he may be able plentifully to declare the solid truth the thing as it is and as knowingly to declare General truths so to apply them discerningly to the state of every person A fayling wherein Job is supposed to charge Bildad with in the next verse Vers 4. To whom hast thou uttered words Here Job taxeth Bildad with inconsideratenesse in reference to the person to whom he spake To whom hast thou uttered words hast thou considered to whom thou spakest Quem docere voluisti nonne eum qui fecit spiramentum Vulg The vulgar translation referrs it to God whom wouldst thou teach wouldst not thou teach him who made the breath surely thou takest upon thee to teach him who is the teacher of us all Thus many carry on the sense of this fourth verse according to the second interpretation of the second and third verses With which presumption Job taxed his friends once before and that in expresse termes Chap. 21 22. Shall any teach God knowledge seeing he judgeth those that are high But I conceive Jobs meaning is onely to shew Bildad that he had not well advised about his case and condition before he spake for Bildad might say is this a question to be asked to whom have I uttered words have not I been speaking to thee all this while art not thou the man for whose sake we are here met and about whom we have had all this dispute Why then doest thou aske to whom hast thou uttered words Job doubted not who it was to whom he spake but Job questions him as fearing he was not well acquainted with or had not enough layd to heart the state of the man to whom he spake dost thou know what my condition is and hast thou suited and cut out thy discourse to my condition to whom hast thou uttered words Hence note We should well consider the state of every person to whom we speak and apply our speech or doctrine accordingly Bildad in the former Chapter had been setting forth the power majesty and dread of God as also his infinite purity befoâ—e whom the Angels are not-cleane now sayth Job to whom hast thou uttered these words should I be thus dealt with thus handled who am a man cast downe already and under the terrours of God Is this discourse though an undoubted truth sutable to my condition Thou shouldst rather have represented God to my faith in his goodnesse and mercy in his long suffering and patience in his tendernesse and gentlenesse towards sinners thou shouldst have proclaimed that name of God to me which is his Glory Exod. 34.6 The Lord The Lord gracious and mercifull long suffering and aboundant in goodnes and truth this had been a description of God a proclamation of God fit for a man in my case Whereas thou hast onely told me of his mighty power and dominion of his Hosts and Armyes doest thou know to whom thou hast uttered these words Jesus Christ when here on earth considered to whom he was uttering words and therefore tells his Disciples Joh. 16.12 I have many things to say unto you but ye cannot beare them now Christ would not put new wine into old botles but attemper'd his speech to the strength and capacity of his hearers Some must heare that which they cannot beare when that springs from their passion and impatience especially when from their love to and resolvednesse to goe onne in sinne Amos must not forbeare to speake though Amaziah cry out The Land is not able to beare all his words But we must take heed of forcing words upon any which they cannot beare or are not fit to heare eyther by reason of their afflictions and temptations or by reason of their present infirmities and incapacities The Apostle 2 Tim. 2.15 bids Timothy study to shew thy selfe approved unto God he doth not meane it in his private course of life and dayly converse which is the duty of every beleever but in his publicke course of life or converse as a Minister of the Gospel in that sayth he study to shew thy selfe approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed what kind of workman was Timothy his worke lay in the Word shew thy selfe a workeman and a Master in thy worke rightly dividing the word of truth how is the word to be divided he doth not meane of a gramaticall nor of a logicall division though there may be a use of these divisions of the Word but the dividing of the word intended by Paul is the dividing of it spiritually to the severall states and conditions of men giving to such a word of instruction to others a word of reproofe to a third sort words of comfort This is dividing the word aright And in doing this Paul would have Timothy declare himfelfe a workman that he needed not be ashamed He would have him know to whom he uttered words to know when he spake to sinners and when to Saints when he spake to the afflicted and when to them that were in a comfortable estate He would have him know when he spake to those who were hardned in their sin and when to those whose hearts were broken under the weight and sence of sin And thus as every man who uttereth words so Ministers of the Gospel especially should be well advised to whom they utter them For as the same garment will not serve every body to weare nor the same bed to lye upon so the same word will not serve every soule We must not doe as the tyrant who made one bed serve all his guests and they that were too long for it were cut shorter and they who
and 't is usuall in Scripture to speake that in negative words which was before spoken in affirmative As to be naked and to have no covering are the same so hell and destruction are the same and these two are often put together Pro. 15.11 Hell and destruction are before the Lord how much more the hearts of the children of men Though we know not where hel is nor what is done there though wee know not what is become of those that are destroyed nor what they suffer yet God doth and if the secrets of hel and devills are knowne to him then much more the secrets of the hearts of the children of men And as that proverb teacheth us that nothing is hid from God because hell and destruction are not so another proverb delivered in the same forme teacheth us that nothing in the creature can satisfie the desires and lustings of man even as hell and destruction can never be satisfied Prov. 27.20 Hell and destruction are never full so the eyes of men are never satisfyed The Devill who is the great executioner of the wrath of God is exprest by this word as hell is called destruction in the abstract so the Devill is called a destroyer in the concrete Revel 9.11 And they had a King over them which is the Angel of the bottomlesse pit or hell whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon but in the Greeke tongue hath his name Apollyon both the one and the other the Hebrew and the Greeke signifie the same thing a destroyer The Devill who is the Jaylour of hell is called a destroyer as hell it selfe is called destruction from the Co-incidency of these two termes Note Hell is destruction They that are once there are lost and lost for ever The reason why hell is called destruction is because they that are cast to hell are undone to eternity We read of a City Isa 19.18 which was called the City of destruction because it was to be utterly destroyed Hell may be called a City of destruction not because it shall ever be destroyed but because it shall ever be full of destruction and nothing but destruction shall be there There is no estate on earth so miserable but a man may be delivered out of it but out of hell there is no deliverance Heman saith Psal 88.11 Shall thy loving kindnesse be declared in the grave or thy faithfullnesse in destruction There grave and destruction are put together much more may hell and destruction be put together or for each other What ever comes into the grave is destroyed it rots and perisheth much more doth hell destroy all that comes thither And looke as the grave is to the body now a destroyer consuming so hell is to the soule now and will be to soule and body after the resurrection a destroyer tormenting The loving kindnesse of God shall not be declared in Hell nor any faithfullnesse of his in destruction unlesse it be his faithfullnesse according to what is threatned in the Word to destroy The Apostle Peter sayth 1 Ep 3.19 20. that Christ by the Spirit went and preached to the Spirits in prison which sometime were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the dayes of Noah c. It is true that Christ by the Spirit in the ministery of Noah did preach to those Spirits who were disobedient in the time when Noah preached and were in prison or in hel in the time when Peter wrote But Christ did not preach by his Spirit in the ministery of Noah or any other way to Spirits who were in prison or in hel while he preached to them There are no Sermons in hel nor any salvation there The loving kindnesse of God is aboundantly declared on earth but it shall not be declared in hel As there is nothing felt in hel but destruction so there is no salvation offered to those who are in hel There 's teares enow and mourning enough in hel but there is not the least Godly sorrow in hel which onely worketh repentance to salvation August lib. 21. de Civ dei cap 17. not to be repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 One of the ancients hath reported the opinion of some in his time who thought that though there be destruction in hel yet not eternal destruction but that sinners should be punished some a lesse others a longer time and that at last all shall be freed and yet saith he Origen was more mercifull in this poynt then these men for he held that the Devill himselfe should be saved at last Of this opinion I shall say no more in this place then this one thing which he there sayd These men will be found to erre by so much the more foulely against the right words of God so much the more perversely by how much they seeme to themselves to judge more mercifully for indeed the justice of God in punishing sinners is as much above the scale of mans thoughts as his mercyes in pardoning them are let not sinners flatter themselves in a hope of salvation when they are in hel who have neglected salvation while they were on the earth For as the Apostle saith Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape that is how shall we escape falling into hel if we neglect so great salvation so I may say how shall any escape by getting out of hell who neglect so great salvation Hel is destruction and as because heaven is a place of happinesse and salvation therefore heaven and happinesse heaven and salvation mutually or reciprocally signifie one another to obtaine heaven is to obtaine salvation to obtaine heaven is to obtaine happines So because hel is a place of misery and destruction therefore hel and misery hel and destruction signifie the same thing nor can they be separated Againe when he sayth Hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering we learne There is nothing hid from the eye or knowledge of God Philosophy and reason teach us that the vertue and force of the heavenly bodyes the Sunne Moone and Starres doe not onely act upon those parts of the earth which are uppermost but send their influences and powers to the lowest parts or bowels of the earth for as was sayd before according to the ordinance of God dead things are formed there Now I say as the power of the heavenly bodyes reacheth downe into the earth much more doth the power and light of God reach into hell it selfe I will not stay upon any curious enquiries where this hell is wheresoever it is God seeth it Hel is naked before him therefore sayth David Psal 139.8 If I ascend up into heaven thou art there if I make my bed in hell behold thou art there that is there thou art by thy power and inspection thou seest what is in hell and if so how much more doth God behold what is done heere upon the earth if hell be naked before him then the earth is naked before him if destruction have no
waves but he was asleepe And his Disciples came to him and awoke him saying Lord save us we perish And he saith unto them why are ye fearefull O ye of little faith then he arose and rebuked the winds and the Sea and there was a great calme This is a plaine exemplification and exposition of Jobs assertion by his understanding he smiteth through the proud When the Sea was as furious as a mad man who hath lost his reason and will heare none yet then Christ by his divine power and wisedome made it as obedient as they who have and act most reason are when they heare the most rational and pressing perswasions or we may say that he husht the Sea as a mother doth her crying childe and rock't it into a sleepe yea he doth not onely calme the Sea but kill it or strike it dead as the word of the text imports There is a particular sea which is called The Dead Sea But God can make all the seas Dead Seas and then he delights most to doe it when they threaten to swallow up all living This may be a great support to us among the stormes which we meete with here at land When men and nations are divided and raging against one another God can quiet them It is an easie matter to make divisions among men but it calls for much holy skill and wisedome even the wisedome of God to heale and soder them And when the spirits of men are proudest and lifted up like the high waves of the sea then usually t is Gods time to appeare and strike them through At his word as the Prophet speakes Isa 11.13 The envy of Ephraim shall depart and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off Ephraim shall not envy Judah and Judah shall not vexe Ephraim Whence is it that Ephraim envyeth Judah whence is it that Judah vexeth Ephraim is it not from their pride saith not Solomon Pro 13.10 By pride commeth contention How then shall the contention between Ephraim and Judah cease but by striking through their pride When there is lesse pride among men there will be more peace and God will smite the proudest rather then his people shall not have peace As the Jewes were divided among themselves so likewise were the Jewes and Gentiles Till Christ reconciling both to God in one body by the Crosse did slay enmity thereby Eph 2.16 And how did he slay their their enmity even by smiting through their pride and humbling their spirits under his owne crosse or sufferings by which and the throane of Grace they were at once reconciled to God and one to another Secondly That God who can appease the rage of the proud seas can also appease or destroy the rage of the proudest men who oppose his people So some understand that Zech 10.11 where we have a prophesie of bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt and Assyria into their owne land And he shall passe through the sea with affliction and he shall smite through the waves in the sea and all the deeps of the river shall dry up that is Christ the deliverer of his people shall passe through the nations who are like the red Sea standing in the way of his peoples returne and he will afflict them or bring much affliction upon them and he will smite those who like proud waves shall threaten to swallow them up so that the deepes of the river even those hindrances which it was thought could never be removed shall dry up at his command or rebuke and the pride of Assyria shall be brought downe and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away that is they who shall then be to the people of God as Egypt and Assyria were of old hard Taske-masters and leaders of them into Captivity shall be subdued and removed when they are proudest and in their greatest power 'T is matter of strong consolation to all the faithfull that they serve a God who is able to reconcile the divided spirits of his own people one to another and cause all their envy to depart from them who is able also to reconcile their greatest adversaryes to them and eyther to stay their enmity or to slay them as enemyes Thirdly 'T is matter of comfort to the people of God For he who can appease the rage of the Sea can also appease the rage of Satan and smite through the proud waves of his Temptations Satan goeth about continually to raise stormes and vex poore soules O the rage of temptation that many poore soules are under how doe the billowes of it rise like a violent sea wave after wave gust after gust As God himselfe rayseth stormes of temptation against a poore soule thus David spake in his owne case Psal 42.7 Deepe calleth unto deepe at the noyse of thy water-spouts all thy waves and thy billowes are gone over me which yet in due time he will appease so when Satan by his leave or command direction or permission rayseth stormes of temptation which he hath no mind to allay but rather to encrease and double dayly more and more yet O wearyed and weather-beaten soule be of good cheere the Lord can smite through the proud enemy Satan with all his floods and waves of temptation and make a calme Lastly Let them also remember this and be comforted who finde proud waves proud lusts and corruptions stirring and raging like a Sea within them For that which is said by the Prophet of the wicked is true in part of the righteous and sometimes it is in a very great measure fullfilled in them The wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest Isa 57.20 that is they are like the Sea in a storme which is so not onely because of the unquietnesse of their spirits about the providences and dealings of God with them but because their violent lusts hurry them this way and that way as the sea is toyled and tossed by the windes this I say is true also in part of Saints some more some lesse are like a troubled Sea yea they have a Sea of sinfull lusts within them which the Lord is pleased sometimes to divide and stirre up their corruptions storme and bluster and Satan labours to make them bluster more more We dayly heare the complaints and cryes of soules thus tossed comming to Christ as his Disciples once did and crying to him Master save us we perish we feare we shall be over-whelmed and drowned in this Blacke Sea of our corruptions To such Christ saith O ye of little faith wherefore do ye thus feare cannot I smite through the proud the proud waves of your hearts Is unbeliefe the proud wave that ye feare will swallow you up Christ can give you such an encrease of faith as shall swallow up your unbeliefe is pride it selfe the proud wave that is like to overwhelme you Christ who smiteth through the proud in Judgement will also smite through thy pride in mercy It is a great act of Grace
and can wound Leviathan the crooked Serpent He can put a hooke in his nose and bore his jaw through with a thorne And thus God can doe also with those who are Leviathans and crooked Serpents in a figure The Devill and all cruel-minded men who doe his worke and cary on his designe against the people of God as is expressed in that lately alledged Scripture Isa 27.1 In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish Leviathan the peircing Serpent that is those enemyes and persecuters of his people who seeme to be as strong and invincible as Leviathan and as subtle and dangerous as the most peircing stinging Serpent Thus the Lord assured his faithfull ones Isa 54.16 17. That no weapon formed against them should prosper for saith he I have created the Smith that bloweth the coales in the fire and that bringeth forth an Instrument for his worke and I have created the waster to destroy Therefore I can hinder the waster from destroying and make all his weapons edgelesse poyntlesse no more able to wound then a straw or a rush How soone can God blunt and abate the keenest spirits of men and weaken their strongest armes when he seeth they will but doe mischiefe with them He that causeth motion can stop it and he that giveth power can call it in or breake it where it is While God is on our side who made all we need not feare who are made against us Though they have teeth like Lyons and stings like Serpents we are safe The hand of God can kill and wound for His Hand hath formed the crooked Serpent Vers 14. Lo these are parts of his wayes but how little a portion is heard of him but the thunder of his power who can understand Thus Job concludes after he had given an enumeration or Induction of many particulars he doth as it were hold them forth in his hand to the view of all men Behold or lo these are parts of his wayes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 finem extremitatem denotat The word which we render parts signifyeth the end or extremity of a thing There is a twofold extremity first that which is utmost or furthest from us secondly that which is hithermost or neerest to us The word takes in both Ne me putetis omnia enarrasse vix enim extremam partem attigi Coc and is used for both in one text Psal 19.6 His going forth that is the going forth of the Sunne is from the end of the heaven and his circuit unto the ends of it As if he had sayd the Sunne compasseth the heaven round and visiteth both the hithermost and uttermost as to us extremityes of it In the present text of Job we are to understand it of the hithermost extremity or of that which is next us implying that there are many and much more glorious things to be spoken of God if we were able to comprehend them reach the uttermost end or extremity of them And that it is so to be understood here is plaine from the next words But how litle a portion is heard of him Ecce hae sunt orae viarum ejus Coc Licet quae dixi siensibus nostris et judicio maxima esse videantur et verè sint stupenda respectu tamen divinae potentiae non sunt nisi minutiae peripsemata minimaque particulae eorum quae fecit ac facere potest Bold Extrema viae erunt opera minora nostri captus Coc In complyance with which sence some render the text thus These are the edges or borders of his wayes as if Job had sayd I have shewed you onely the borders I have not led you into the heart of the Country or into the midst of the workes and wayes of God much lesse to the furthest extremity or outside of them I have indeed spoken of very great and wonderfull things yet all that I have sayd is but litle to what might be sayd or at least to what really is I have given you but as it were the parings and chipings of Gods workes I have not gone to the bottome nor reached the depth of them So that Job seemes to distinguish these effects and workes of God about which he had discoursed from some greater workes which he was not able to attaine unto nor make any discovery of There are not onely Celestiall but super-celestiall workes of God wee cannot well apprehend much lesse comprehend what he hath wrought under the heavens which are onely the outside of his workes much lesse those which are above the heavens For as none of the works of God appeare to us or have been found out by us in their fulnesse and utmost extent so God hath done some great works which doe not at all appeare to us And those things which appeare are but small parts or parcels in comparison of those which as yet doe not appeare to us Lo these are parts of his wayes The wayes of God are spoken of in Scripture under a twofold notion First As the wayes in which God would have us walke so the commandements and statutes of God are called the wayes of God Psal 119.33 Teach me O Lord the way of thy statutes and I shall keepe it unto the end Secondly The wayes of God are those wherein he comes and reveales himselfe to us Via dei illius opera sunt agendi rationes quibus ad nos ille venire dicitur quia in his prodit ad nos et progrediendo se magis magisque nostris sensibus accommodat Coc As that is a mans way wherein or whereby he is knowne so in whatsoever God manifesteth or maketh himselfe knowne to us that is the way of God Isa 55.8 My thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your wayes my wayes saith the Lord. That is my wayes of mercy are as farre above your wayes of mercy as your dutyes are below my wayes of holynes yea what are your wayes of sinfulnes in doing evill to my wayes of graciousnes in pardoning the evills which ye have done Man hath a vast and a large heart in sinning but the vastnes and largenes of mans heart in sinning is but scantnes and narrownes to the largenes and vastnes of Gods heart in pardoning We may understand the Lord speaking in eyther of or in both these sences My wayes are not as your wayes And in general the way of God is that wherein he acteth or revealeth himselfe towards us whether it be in mercy or in Judgement in love or terrour God hath some wayes which we may call foule and troublesome wayes such are his wayes of judgement he hath other wayes which we may call fayre and delightsome wayes such are all his wayes of mercy And as God comes to us continually in one or other of these wayes of providence so he came forth of old in the way of creation Prov 8.22 The Lord possessed mee in the beginning of his way
layd up in the dust 241. The natural place of Gold should abate our desires after it 242. Gold the most excellent metal in five respects 382 Grace renders a man precious 383. The glory of grace is that it continueth 659 Greatest and strongest as easily cast downe by God as the least or weakest 665 Growth of Grace 397 H Hands purenes of hands what 290 Hardnes of heart in sin when the sinner can feed upon it 494. Hard heart trembles not at the reproofes of God 790 Heart lift up to heaven the worke of Grace 106. Laying up the word in the heart hath a twofold opposition 225. The heart of man is the Arke where the word of God must be layd up 227. Truth in the heart better to us then truth in the booke 228. Heart of man makes more false Gods then his hand ever made 128. The word to be hid in the heart 407. Soft heart what several sorts of it 457 Heathens confined their Gods to certain places 114 Heaven is the place of Gods speciall residence 105. 111. Two inferences given from it 106. Heaven and hel know no changes 779 Heavens what the garnishing of them is 804. Visible heavens are full of Beauty 807. Severall inferences from it 807 808 Hel in what sence it consumes those who are cast into it 624. What meant by hel in Scripture 746. Hel is destruction 747. Hel expressed by eight words in Scripture 751 Heresie like a flood yet bounded by God 777 Hiding the word of two sorts 227. Three ends of hiding the word in the heart 228 Hidings of God from his people 367 368. God hideth himselfe five wayes 368. God will be as hid to his people sometimes after the use of much meanes to finde him 371 High places of God what they are 684 Holynes the Lord takes pleasure in it three reasons why 22 23. Why we should be every where holy 113. Holynes hath boldnes with God 261 328. Holynes gives us weight and honour 602 Holy-Ghost sin against the Holy-Ghost what it it in general 557 Honour a threefold honour arising to God by the fall of the wicked 189 Houses God hath two speciall houses 808 Humble persons of two sorts 287. Humble persons under the speciall care of God 288 Hypocrites some not discovered in this world 330. Hypocrites feare the judgement of God or to be tryed by God 330. An hypocrite cannot rejoyce that God knoweth him shewed in three things 377. Hypocrites cannot hold out when they come to the tryall 384 I Jelousie guilt makes men full of it 642 Ignorance wicked men love it 554. A twofold ignorance 560 561 Imitation of God our duty 390 Impenitency under sin cōmitted worse then the sin committed 44 Imprisonment when a cruelty 54 Inconstancy of a carnal man shewed two wayes 602 Industriousnesse of the wicked in sinning 517 518 Infinite what Nothing strictly infinite but God 40 Innocent oft charged with foulest crimes 83. Innocent taken two wayes in Scripture 192 Joy at the troubles which befall wicked men how lawfull 186 187. What kind of joy that is not and what it is 192 Judge God the most desireable Judge to the godly and sincere five grounds of it 429 430. A Godly man rests in the Judgement of God 336. God is every way fitted to be a righteous Judge 378. In a Judge two things specially needfull 378 Judging man apt to judge favourably of himselfe hardly of others 48. We must take heed of Judging upon suspition 48. What Judging of others forbidden 49 Judgement wicked ripe for judgement sometimes before ripe in years 143. Judgements of God have somewhat of mercy in them 168. Judgements of God upon the wicked how matter of Joy to the righteous 184. Why the Judgements of God upon the wicked are not visible 482 Jupiter Hammon why so called 618 Justice how blind and how seeing 124 Justice must be done for the example of others 182 183 Justice of God honoured by the fall of evill men 189 Justification selfe justification extreamely displeasing unto God 24. God hath no respect to our righteousnes in the busienes of Justification 29. Justification what it is 700. Man hath nothing of his owne to justifie him before God two grounds of it 702. A twofold Justification 703 K Keeping the way of God twofold 392 Knowers of God or they who know God who they are 473. Every Godly man is a knower of God 476. Some godly men know God much more then others who are godly too 478 Knowing and understanding taken two wayes 334. 372 Knowledge evill men will act against their owne knowledge 555. Knowledge of God how and what God knoweth 121. The most secret wayes of man even the way within him is knowne to God 373. A general inference from this knowledge of God 374. It is the Joy of the upright that God knowes their most secret wayes 374. That God knowes the wayes of a godly man assures him of three things 375. Nothing is hid from the eye or knowledge of God 749. All our knowledge of the wayes and workes of God is but in part 819 L Labourer not to be wronged 536. Nothing cheape but poore mens labours why sayd so 538. It may be a dangerous thing to be the labourers purse-bearer but for a night 539 Land-markes the removing of them very sinfull 489 Law of God the Elegancy of the Hebrew word whereby it is expressed opened 220. Law taken two wayes 222. To receive the Law what it is 225. God onely can give a Law to the conscience 224. Law how written in our hearts by God and how by our selves 226 Left-hand declining what it importeth 396 Levelling principles confuted by the naturall state of the creature 117 Leviathan or Whale the mighty power of God in forming the Leviathan 814. An inference from it 815 Liberty threefold where the Spirit is 262. Life of man in what sence it should alwayes hang in doubt to him 641. How no man is sure of his life 643 Light of God fourefold 695 Light God is with all men by a twofold light 157. Light threefold shining upon the wayes of a Godly man 282. Light twofold 550. Wicked love not the light neyther to see what good they should doe nor to be seene in the evill they doe 554. Light internall against which the wicked rebel twofold 550. Holy truth is light 551. How divine truth is like light shewed in severall resemblances 552. Sinning against light exceeding sinfull 557. Foure degrees of sinning against light 558 They who sin against light are ready for every sin 560 Looke of God twofold 652 Love true love to man will not easily conceave or nourish suspition 102 Love we cannot be constant in that which we doe not love or affect 561 Lusts and corruptions like a stormy Sea within us 801 802 Lyars men are made lyars two wayes 670. The worst that can be sayd of a man is that he is a lyar 672 Lye false doctrine is a lye 671